Wrestling

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Undertaker Compares Omos to Andre the Giant

The Undertaker knows what it takes to be a successful big man in WWE, and he sees something special in Omos.

During an appearance on WWE's The Bump, Taker heaped praise on the imposing tag team partner of AJ Styles:

The Phenom noted that while there will never be another Andre the Giant, he believes Omos is the closest thing to the legendary WWE Hall of Famer. He also called Omos "special" because of his size and ability.

The 7'3" mountain of a man played college basketball at Morgan State and South Florida before signing a developmental deal with WWE in 2019. It wasn't long before Omos got the call to the main roster in 2020.

Omos has been Styles' bodyguard and tag team partner, and he even held the Raw Tag Team Championships with The Phenomenal One.

Lately, Omos has enjoyed some success on his own, including on Sunday at Survivor Series when he won the 25-man interbrand battle royal.

It seems inevitable that Omos and Styles will eventually go their separate ways, and once that happens, WWE figures to give Omos a huge push individually since his stature makes him stand out from the rest of the roster.

While it remains to be seen if Omos has the personality and wrestling ability needed to be a star on his own, his size undoubtedly gives him an advantage.

Gargano Reportedly Signs 1-Week WWE Extension

Johnny Gargano has reportedly signed a short-term contract extension with WWE to ensure he will be able to work the Dec. 5 NXT WarGames pay-per-view.

According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, Gargano signed a one-week extension with WWE, meaning his contract will now expire on Dec. 10 rather than Dec. 3.

Sapp also reported that Gargano and WWE continue to hold negotiations for a potential long-term extension if the two sides can reach a deal.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton) recently reported that WWE made a "strong" contract offer and was pushing "very hard" to sign him to a long-term deal.

Gargano's situation seems similar to the one Adam Cole was involved with in August and September before he made his All Elite Wrestling debut at All Out on Sept. 5.

Cole also reportedly signed a short-term extension with WWE in August, which allowed him to finish his feud with Kyle O'Reilly and put O'Reilly over at NXT TakeOver 36.

Once the extension ended, Cole decided to leave WWE in favor of AEW, and he is now a part of The Elite with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks.

It is possible Gargano could take a similar route, although he has long been considered the heart and soul of NXT. He also could make an impact on WWE's main roster if given the opportunity.

For now, the final match scheduled for Gargano under a WWE contract will be a WarGames match at NXT WarGames with Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Pete Dunne and L.A. Knight facing Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Tony D'Angelo and Grayson Waller.

Top Dolla Talks Possible Reasons for Hit Row's Release

Following the shocking release of Hit Row last week, Top Dolla explained some potential reasons why the decision was made by WWE.

Appearing on Busted Open Radio (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Matthew Wilkinson), Top Dolla recounted placing a call after WWE released B-Fab from the group and the company a few weeks ago:

"They got mad when Briana got released that I called up to the office. I was like, 'I don't understand why you'd release Briana when we are a foursome group.' You take Briana out of the group and yeah, we're still cool, and yeah, we can still do all the same things, but we are just every three-man wrestling group."

Top Dolla also said he felt WWE higher-ups weren't happy when he, Isaiah "Swerve" Scott and Ashante Thee Adonis took it upon themselves to record a new theme song following B-Fab's departure:

"They were upset because when they took Briana out of the group, they wanted to re-do the song. So they did like a remix of the song, but the song doesn't sound the same without her part of it. So what we did was, we went in the studio and made a new song. I guess they were upset that we made a new song, but we are a rap group. How are we a rap group if we can't make a song? Then we are just wrestlers."

The release of Hit Row came as a huge shock since they were a red-hot group in NXT before getting called up as part of the WWE draft.

Hit Row only made a few appearances on SmackDown before their release from the company, meaning they never got a legitimate chance to show what they were made of on the main roster.

Hit Row was a group unlike any WWE had ever had before, and they seemingly had the ability to accomplish a great deal thanks to their varied skill set as a stable.

Instead, all four members of Hit Row are now free agents, meaning they could try to reprise the act elsewhere once their 90-day non-compete clauses are up.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from WWE and AEW.

The Rock Was Originally Slated for Survivor Series

WWE went all in on The Rock for Sunday's Survivor Series pay-per-view, celebrating the 25th anniversary of his debut and promoting his new Netflix movie, Red Notice. Conspicuously absent from all The Rock hoopla was, you know, The Rock. Some fans left Barclays Center disappointed the program came and went without an appearance from The Great One, who is in Europe filming a movie.

It turns out, however, that WWE's original plans for the pay-per-view did include a Rock appearance. 

Andrew Zarian of the Wrestling Observer reported The Rock was originally slated for an appearance but later had to pull out because of his schedule. The initial plans included Rock as recently as July, but by September it was clear he would not be able to make it.

WWE's promotion for his Netflix film was a separate deal, so the plans moved forward without his presence. 

It was nevertheless a surprise that Rock didn't make an appearance via video to thank fans, even if he could not be there in person.

Bray Wyatt to Appear at WrestleCon

Bray Wyatt will be in Dallas for WrestleMania weekend—just not as an in-ring competitor. 

WrestleCon announced Wyatt will be among the more than 200 wrestlers who will be attending the event, which is scheduled to return in full force for 2022. The annual gathering has not been held at full capacity since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wyatt's 90-day non-compete with WWE ended in October, but he's yet to sign with a wrestling company. His next project is a horror film that was announced to begin filming this month.

WWE shockingly released Wyatt in July.

Charlotte Flair Not Leaving WWE 

Charlotte Flair is here to stay. The SmackDown women's champion addressed speculation about her departure, saying she has no plans of leaving WWE.

"I didn't work this hard to just go, 'Goodbye,'" Flair said on The Masked Man Show.

Rumors of Flair's departure have been swirling for much of 2021 after her father, Ric, and fiance, Andrade El Idolo, both left WWE on their own accord. Flair has also been dealing with backstage drama, with some saying she's difficult to work with and her well-publicized altercation with Becky Lynch.

Still, it should surprise no one that Flair is sticking around. WWE has treated her wonderfully and paid her handsomely during her run with the company. She may be the most protected person on the roster not named Roman Reigns.

It's almost certain she wouldn't receive the same dollar amount or level of protection in AEW, whose fans may even revolt against her. Flair isn't the most popular name in the hardcore internet wrestling community, which comprises much of AEW's rabid fanbase.

Flair is fine just where she's at. She's almost certainly a WWE lifer. 

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Carmella and Queen Zelina are the new tag team champions in the women's division after dethroning Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. on Raw Monday night.

Zelina delivered a Code Red to Nikki to earn the victory. 

The result ends Nikki and Ripley's reign at 63 days. The pair didn't have much of an opportunity to establish themselves as a tag team.

They beat Natalya and Tamina for the gold on Sept. 20 and made a successful title defense on Oct. 4.

That proved to be the only time Ripley and Nikki defended the titles on WWE programming. Any tag team-related storylines were effectively sidelined during the build to Survivor Series. Ripley, Zelina and Carmella all represented Team Raw in a winning effort over Team SmackDown on Sunday.

Zelina and Carmella could theoretically have a strong run together. They're great heels who play well off one another, and Zelina can feel especially confident after having won the inaugural Queen's Crown tournament in October.

But the new champions will struggle to overcome the problems that have plagued the tag team belts almost since their inception in 2019. WWE has treated them as a total afterthought, and that has led fans to follow suit.

The company has also significantly thinned out its women's division over the last few years through roster cuts. That makes it almost impossible for any two wrestlers to establish themselves as a formidable team for more than a few months at a time.

Ripley, for example, is already being mentioned as a possible contender for Raw women's champion Becky Lynch, which doesn't bode well for her partnership with Nikki.

Losing Monday might actually signal bigger things to come for the 25-year-old.

Nikki, on the other hand, continues going in the wrong direction. Rather than serving as a springboard, her cashing in of the Money in the Bank briefcase may have been more of an aberration.

A fan jumped over the barricade and tackled Seth Rollins on the entrance ramp during Raw on Monday night.

Rollins was walking to the back following a match with Finn Balor when the fan suddenly entered the picture and took him to the ground. WWE security and referees responded quickly to subdue the fan.

WWE issued a statement on the incident, noting the fan—who was taken into custody—will be "prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law":

This wasn't the Monday Night Messiah's first unexpected brush with the WWE Universe. A fan walked alongside him to the ring during a 2015 edition of Raw.

While not a common occurrence at WWE shows, that this happens at all is still concerning. One of the worst examples came in 2002 when a fan pushed a ladder out from Eddie Guerrero as he was scaling the rungs.

Luckily, it appears Rollins was unhurt from Monday's incident.

The fan, meanwhile, was escorted out of Barclays Center.

They might be wrestling for competing promotions right now, but WWE legend Jeff Hardy isn't giving up hope on reuniting with his brother, Matt, in the ring.

In an interview with Sportskeeda (via WrestlingInc's Matthew Wilkinson), Hardy listed off his goals at this point in his career, once of which is to team up with Matt.

"Whether it’s here or over there. And over there could be anywhere," he said. "Like you said, contracts expire, people get released, it happens all the time so anything is possible in or outside of wrestling."

Matt and Jeff's last match together was in April 2019 on SmackDown Live. They defeated The Usos to capture the SmackDown tag team titles but had to soon relinquish the titles after Jeff was injured. 

Matt's contract with WWE expired in March 2020, which paved the way for his move to All Elite Wrestling. His younger brother continues to compete for WWE, most recently representing Team SmackDown at Survivor Series in a traditional elimination tag team match.

Jeff turned 44 in August, while Matt celebrated his 47th birthday in September. They're both clearly in the twilight of their in-ring careers, so time is running out to see The Hardy Boyz again.

The Rock was mentioned several times during Sunday's Survivor Series pay-per-view as WWE celebrated the 25th anniversary of his debut, but fans hoping he'd show up at Barclays Center were sorely disappointed.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported The Rock was not in attendance because he's in Europe filming a movie. COVID-19 travel restrictions and quarantine laws would have prevented him from making the trip in a way that would not impact his filming schedule.

Perhaps the only surprise is that The Rock did not make any sort of taped appearance from Europe to thank fans. That would have been a more realistic scenario than him making a surprise in-person appearance—something WWE is unlikely to do given Rock's starpower.

It's possible, if not likely, the next time we see The Rock on WWE programming is when he's setting up one last feud with Roman Reigns. The possibility has been talked about enough—both by The Rock and Reigns—that it seems inevitable for WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles two years from now.

By then, hopefully the pandemic is under better control worldwide and it's more feasible for someone with The Rock's schedule to be on WWE programming regularly. 

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from WWE and AEW.

WWE Worried Survivor Series Main Event Would Run Out of Time

Mike Johnson of PW Insider reported there was a "minor freak out" backstage that Sunday's Survivor Series main event between Roman Reigns and Big E may have to be cut short for time. WWE had a hard out of 11:35 p.m. ET at Brooklyn's Barclays Center and was running out of time as the main event approached.

Backstage officials were particularly frustrated with the length of time the entrances for the men's Survivor Series match took. The entrances for that match took 13 minutes on top of a match that took 29:56 to complete.

Keep in mind that RK-Bro vs. The Usos took only 14:50, and Omos' battle royal win took 10:45. The entrances alone for a match should not take as long as a match itself.

In the end, WWE got off the air with plenty of time to spare, but this is something they should clean up in the future. 

Survivor Series Match Order Underwent Changes

Johnson reported that one source said the match order for the event had been in place for weeks, but members of the production crew had the event blocked in the inverse order early Sunday afternoon.

That would explain a Fightful Select report that initially said Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair would main event, and Roman Reigns vs. Big E would close. Fightful later said the order was changed not long before showtime.

Lynch and Flair main-eventing arguably would have been the better choice given the amount of heat—both in real life and kayfabe—that existed in their feud. The feud between Reigns and Big E was more paint by the numbers WWE booking.

Survivor Series Match Producers

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Damian Priest: Abyss

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair: Tyson Kidd

Men's Survivor Series Match: Shawn Daivari, Adam Pearce, Shane Helms

The Usos vs. RK-Bro: Shane Helms

Women's Survivor Series Match: Tyson Kidd, Pat Buck

Roman Reigns vs. Big E: Michael Hayes

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

WWE can't seem to win, with the latest example being Sunday night's Survivor Series main event that featured Roman Reigns getting a win over Big E in a Champion vs. Champion showdown. 

This time, the company went out of its way to book a smart contest that made both guys look great and managed to avoid a dirty finish. 

But The Rock didn't show up, which left fans disappointed after endless teases. 

Teases, because The Great One showing up to finally take on Reigns in a family blood feud after the current universal champion has ran through the rest of WWE is clearly where this long-term storyline continues to go. 

And Sunday night, WWE leaned hard into the idea of The Rock for his 25th Anniversary at Survivor Series. There were seemingly endless video packages chronicling the legend's first stop at the annual pay-per-view, never mind where he proceeded to go from there. 

So much so, Vince McMahon even got involved in some silly cross-promotion for Rock's new movie, Red Notice. He showed up with a prop from the movie in the form of a golden egg, claimed it was worth hundreds of millions, then had several backstage segments with it, at one point even sitting down with Reigns to discuss it. 

The overtures were very clear and frankly, what better way to finish off a poorly built show—bar Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch—than to have The Rock come out and scold Reigns? 

It's all unfortunate because the match itself was outstanding. And kudos goes to WWE—most probably thought it would do a dirty finish in some fashion in order to protect the loser, if it named a winner at all. And Paul Heyman, The Usos and others didn't mess with what was a thrilling main event. 

But Reigns and Big E made it work, going out of their way to sell the threat of the latter. He's a relative newcomer on the main event stage and the audible trash talking and even shaking off Superman Punches to The Tribal Chief's dismay was fantastic. 

Instead of some silly finish, the Superstars worked in smart storytelling, that being Big E's hurt leg. It ultimately cost him the match, which made Reigns look smart and gave off the aura that the loser would've stood a better chance, all things equal. 

Unless Reigns is the one who "stole" the egg and that leads to The Rock showing up next week during a weekly broadcast, the event honoring the legend's 25th anniversary will get remembered as one that missed a big opportunity and was more silly marketing gimmick than anything else. 

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com put it best: 

Maybe fans should've adjusted expectations after Omos won a boring match named "The Rock's 25th Anniversary 25-man Dual-Branded Battle Royal."

Looking ahead, things will go back to a normal routine, for better or worse. WWE's booking for characters is cause for concern that Big E might not ultimately benefit from the rub given Sunday night. And Reigns, being one of the only guys to win for SmackDown during the event, will get to go on talking about carrying the brand while surging toward another showdown with Brock Lesnar. 

Had WWE made good on the teases and had Rock show up to at least express his disappointment in his cousin's behavior, fans would've still been enthralled. It would've been an electric moment and sure, Reigns-Lesnar is this year's WrestleMania, but the seeds for a real Rock return and feud would have been planted. 

It's hard to recall an event from WWE like this where a returning star would make loads of sense for current storylines, then had an entire event in their honor, only for that star to just...not be a part of it. 

It almost felt like WWE wasn't sure how to handle it all, either. There was plenty of pre-show speculation that wondered whether Flair vs. Lynch or what ended up being the main event would actually close the show. Call it another lose-lose—if Flair and Lynch close the show (they probably should have), there's likely a fan expectation that something wild like a Ronda Rousey return could be in the cards. 

In a way, it was a fitting way for the show to end. WWE botched the build to all but one match, seemingly at random throwing names into matches while trying to promote this idea that "brand superiority" matters just a little while removed from a draft that reshuffled the rosters.

And the tease—not just the poor build for an annual event that continues to be an afterthought—might have played a large part in what was a flat Barclays Center crowd for most of the night as fans waited for a potentially epic pop that just never happened. 

Like anything, WWE can squeeze its way out of this issue from a booking perspective and eventually get The Rock involved. But it's a shame that a stunning display by Reigns and Big E will remain overshadowed by a tease that never came to fruition.

Paul Heyman doesn't think Roman Reigns and The Rock are headed for a collision course at WrestleMania 38.

Heyman told Ariel Helwani of BT Sport there is not enough time to build a proper storyline and seemed more interested in Reigns continuing his storyline with Brock Lesnar:

“This coming April? Not a chance. Number one, I would want to spend a lot more time on that storyline instead of bum-rushing it. For something that enormous? I’d want more time in it. Number two, I think Dwayne’s schedule for next year is in place and he’s not available, and even if he was, I don’t think it would be a bigger box office at the moment than, if you look at a trajectory right now, isn’t it Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns? Did [Crown Jewel] end the storyline or did it make it more compelling, more intriguing [to see the rematch]?

“Or Big E, Big E vs. somebody, or Drew McIntyre? I don’t know. I could certainly make the case to see Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre as well. Is there a time and a place for Roman Reigns vs. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson? Absolutely. Is Hollywood the place to do it? Seems like a natural place for The Rock to main event his final main event at WrestleMania, but I don’t think this coming April is the place for Roman Reigns for Dwayne Johnson.”

Reigns defeated Lesnar at Crown Jewel after Heyman threw the Universal Championship into the ring and allowed the Head of the Table to hit Lesnar. That feud put Heyman in the middle given his long-term relationship with Lesnar, and it still wasn't 100 percent clear where his allegiance was at after the match.

Lesnar was then written off television after attacking WWE officials. He seems like a strong bet to return at the Royal Rumble to set up a Reigns rematch at WrestleMania 38.

The Rock has long teased a WWE return, and his only natural partner currently on the roster is Reigns, his cousin. With WrestleMania 39 taking place in Los Angeles, the overwhelming odds are WWE will wait on his retirement match.