All Elite Wrestling

WWE's MVP and AEW's Chris Jericho reportedly had a confrontation at a Houston hotel last month.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Michael Perry of Ringside News), the incident occurred on May 18 when AEW was in Houston for Dynamite, and saw MVP interrupt a conversation between Jericho and fellow AEW star Matt Hardy.

Those who witnessed the argument reportedly thought it was a joke at first, but things eventually got "tense." It ended when Jericho got on an elevator and said he "doesn't fight jobbers," which reportedly led to MVP "screaming about it in the lobby."

It is believed that the confrontation stemmed from an exchange Jericho and MVP had on Twitter in November 2020.

Jericho tweeted a conspiracy about how long it was taking to finalize the result of the United States presidential election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, which led to MVP replying and telling him to delete the tweet:

About five months later, MVP confirmed that Jericho had blocked him on Twitter.

Jericho and MVP were previously co-workers in WWE from 2007 to 2010 before Jericho took a hiatus and MVP got released.

They wrestled each other on several occasions during that time, including Jericho and Big Show twice successfully defending the WWE Unified Tag Team Championships against MVP and Mark Henry in 2009.

Jericho, who was a multi-time world, intercontinental and tag team champion in WWE, signed with AEW in 2019 and became the promotion's inaugural world champion.

Meanwhile, MVP returned to WWE in 2020 as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble match and stayed on to manage Bobby Lashley to a pair of WWE Championship wins. Currently, MVP is a part-time wrestler and the manager of Omos.

During his first stint in WWE, MVP was a two-time United States champion and held the tag team titles once with Hardy.

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Reported Reason for Removing Edge from Judgment Day

Edge's removal from the Judgment Day stable on Monday's episode of Raw reportedly may have had something to do with a disagreement regarding the direction of the group.

According to Fightful Select (h/t WrestlingInc's Kellie Haulotte), WWE wanted to take a "supernatural route" with Judgment Day, but Edge was against the idea.

WWE had reportedly planned well ahead of time for Finn Balor to join Judgment Day, but the decision to have him replace Edge as the group's leader reportedly wasn't made until hours before Raw went on the air.

After Edge, Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley beat Balor, AJ Styles and Liv Morgan in a six-person tag team match at Hell in a Cell, Judgment Day vowed to add another member on Raw.

Balor announced that he had seen the light and wanted to align himself with Judgment Day before Priest talked about getting rid of the weak link, which led to him and Balor attacking Edge.

Judgment Day was first formed at WrestleMania 38 in April when Priest helped Edge beat Styles. Then, at WrestleMania Backlash, Ripley joined the group by helping Edge defeat Styles again.

Now, it looks like Edge is set to transition back to a babyface role after his brief heel run, and the circumstances surrounding the sudden switch have left some fans confused.

Although the route to the switch may have lacked logic to some degree, it could turn out to be the best possible move for all involved.

Balor will now have the opportunity to lead his own heel group, while Edge can be a top babyface while Cody Rhodes is out with a torn pec.

Being a face is likely the best role for Edge given all he overcame to get back to WWE, and it shouldn't take much of the fans to embrace the Hall of Famer once again.

Punk Discusses Injury, Interim Title Decision

In a YouTube video posted Tuesday, AEW world champion CM Punk discussed the injury that will keep him out of action for the foreseeable future.

On last week's episode of Rampage, Punk announced that he suffered an injury that would require surgery, meaning he would be unable to defend the AEW world title. It was clarified after the promo that Punk would not be relinquishing the title, and instead, an interim champion would be determined.

In Tuesday's video (h/t WrestlingInc's Sai Mohan), Punk expressed gratitude for AEW for allowing him to remain champion while healing, as well as for the wrestlers and fans for supporting him:

Punk also divulged a discussion he had with AEW president Tony Khan, saying: "I probably wasn't as clear as I should have been. I offered to relinquish the title and Tony told me that under no circumstances was I allowed to do that."

After Punk made his announcement, Khan laid out the plans for the interim AEW World Championship in a press release.

On Wednesday's episode of Dynamite, the winner of a battle royal will face Jon Moxley, and the winner of that match will move on to Forbidden Door where they will face the winner of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Dominion.

The winner of the match at Forbidden Door will be the AEW interim world champion, and they will eventually face Punk to determine a definitive champion.

Punk ascended to the top of AEW at Double or Nothing less than a year after making his AEW debut, as he defeated "Hangman" Adam Page for the AEW World Championship.

Raw Ratings Up After Rhodes' HIAC Performance

WWE Raw experienced a significant bump in viewership on Monday, and Cody Rhodes may have been a big reason why.

Rhodes courageously fought through a torn pectoral muscle at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view on Sunday, beating Seth Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match.

Cody opened Raw with a promo before getting interrupted by Rollins, who shook his hand. Rollins later returned with a sledgehammer and attacked Rhodes, likely writing him off television so he can undergo surgery.

Per Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline, Raw had its best viewership numbers in the first hour, which is when Rhodes was featured.

Additionally, Raw did an average of 1.87 million viewers and a 0.52 rating in the 18-49-year-old demographic, which were both major bumps from the previous week.

Compared to the Memorial Day episode of Raw, Monday's edition was up 25 percent in viewers and 24 percent in the 18-49 demo.

Meltzer noted that the numbers marked Raw's best since the post-WrestleMania episode of Raw in April.

It was also reported by Meltzer that Raw was second only to the Western Conference Finals NHL playoff game between the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers in almost every major demographic, except 18-49-year-old women, which Raw won.

The challenge for WWE moving forward will be maintaining those numbers for Raw, especially since Rhodes is likely to be off television for months while he recovers from the torn pec.

Further showcasing established stars like Rollins, Bianca Belair, Edge, Becky Lynch and others could help, as could featuring undisputed WWE universal champion Roman Reigns on the show, or bringing in part-timers like Brock Lesnar or John Cena, the latter of whom is scheduled to appear on the June 27 Raw.

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Brandi Comments on Cody Wrestling Through Injury

Advisable medical decision or not, Cody Rhodes went into Hell in a Cell on Sunday with a torn pec and came away victorious.

The match was, quite frankly, a career-defining moment for Rhodes and one of the most jarring displays of fortitude in wrestling history. Not only did Cody wrestle essentially with one arm, he put on a banger with Seth Rollins and came away victorious.

We all expect Rhodes to miss several months in the aftermath of the injury, but no one could stop talking about the performance late Sunday night. Included in those astounded: Rhodes' wife, Brandi, who said she will use the moment as a lesson for the couple's daughter.

As far as life lessons on perseverance go, what Cody pulled off Sunday night is a pretty great one.

That being said, maybe tying a bull rope around your arm while having a torn muscle in your body is where we can draw the "I can't" line as acceptable.

WWE Building Toward Becky vs. Bianca at SummerSlam

Even though Becky Lynch was part of Sunday's triple-threat match for the Raw women's championship, she has not gotten a chance at a one-on-one rematch.

It turns out that's because WWE is saving it for a marquee event.

Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio said he expects Lynch vs. Belair to take place at SummerSlam.

“I would figure that’s SummerSlam [Becky Lynch vs Bianca Belair]. It was very clear that they were holding that match off for a while," Meltzer said. "I don’t think they’re going to wait for Mania because they don’t have the depth, probably, to wait til Mania. But, I figure they’ll wait to SummerSlam for that and that’s why they didn’t do it here.

"Really, they didn’t even want Becky in the match here. It was just one of those things where, and I was a little bit surprised, because I figured, eh, just go with a singles match with Asuka, but for whatever reason, they decided instead to go with a three-way.”

A Lynch vs. Belair rematch on the summer's biggest stage would make some level of sense, though Big Time Becks has spent months needling Trish Status as well. If the WWE Hall of Famer is willing to make a comeback, that could be a way to get three different marquee women's matches on the card: a Ronda Rousey match, Lynch vs. Stratus and whoever is chosen to take on Belair.

Bryan Danielson Injured but Not Seriously

The injury bug is eating away at the top of AEW and WWE's cards.

From Cody Rhodes to CM Punk to Kenny Omega, both companies are dealing with major stars needing extended time off television.

Luckily, it seems Bryan Danielson will not be joining that list.

Danielson was conspicuously absent from AEW's California debut last week and missed a meet-and-greet with fans because of an undisclosed injury. However, Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer reported Danielson is only expected to miss one-to-two weeks with the injury.

That's a massive relief to an AEW roster that suddenly got thin at the top overnight because of a rash of injuries. AEW has generally had good luck with its stars staying healthy, allowing the company to tell elongated stories over several months (or years) without missing a beat.

It does not appear Danielson's injury is serious enough to warrant any alterations in his planned storylines. With the Forbidden Door pay-per-view just weeks away, it'll be interesting to see how AEW sets up his potential New Japan opponent without getting physical.

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