WWE & AEW News Recap (June 3) - Becky Lynch, Brock Lesnar, TNA's Future & more

Hey everyone, it's been a few days or maybe like a week or more since I wrote and a lot has happened since then in both WWE and AEW and even TNA. It's about 1 in the morning right now and I thought I'd write about some of the more noteworthy developments...

• Lynch's contract situation has been discussed ad nauseam recently and there isn't much in the way of facts to state that hasn't already been said. But in case you've been living under a rock, Lynch's deal with WWE expired on June 1 and the company was unable to sign her to a new deal or any sort of extension. Normally if a talent decides to test free agency, it usually results in them leaving to a rival promotion but that doesn't appear to be the case here at all. Lynch has been reported to be going on an extended leave of absence for family reasons which makes complete sense considering husband Seth Rollins is currently on the shelf with an injury and the couple has a toddler-aged daughter. Let's face it, there's a very good chance that Lynch's daughter needs her more than the family needs money at this stage so that pretty much eliminates the possibility that Becky would be looking to jump ship to AEW. Sources in both companies expect her to eventually return to WWE but when that will be is anyone's guess. However, given that Lynch isn't that old by wrestling standards and is one of the most recognizable female wrestlers in the world, when she decides to return, she will have some very lucrative offers waiting for her and honestly, she holds a considerable amount of leverage given her situation.

• It may seem strange to some people why so many high-profile wrestlers have had their contracts come up for expiration in 2024. We've seen such names as Finn Balor, Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins recently see their deals come close to ending but ultimately agreeing to re-up with WWE. Ricochet, Chad Gable and Natalya's deal are said to be expiring soon and there were reports that Kevin Owens' contract is also up within the year. Back in 2019, WWE locked many of their superstars into multi-year agreements just when it became clear that AEW was going to be launching as a rival promotion as a way to prevent AEW from poaching their wrestlers. Most of those contracts were five years and if you do the math, well here we are. I hate when this happens in my Madden Franchise, by the way. Anyway, it's not an ideal situation for WWE, but the company is in great shape and business is booming and a lot of the top wrestlers, if not all of them, will probably end up sticking with WWE.

• Well, not really. During last month's King & Queen of the Ring PLE in Saudi Arabia, announcer Michael Cole name-dropped Lesnar when talking about the last performer to win the KOTR and then go onto challenge for the title at SummerSlam. Technically, if you go back a little further, Paul Heyman mentioned Lesnar too during his Hall of Fame speech but Cole's reference was a little more unexpected as he really had no reason to bring up that fact. What does this mean? Is Lesnar headed back? I doubt anytime soon, however, it sure does spell out clearly that he hasn't been blacklisted or anything like the company has done with Vince McMahon; suffice to say, WWE would likely be open to doing business with him if it makes sense. The bigger question might be if Lesnar wants to come back as he seems perfectly content to live his life out of the limelight in Saskatchewan or wherever his ranch is. He also got a lot of freedom and control when Vince McMahon was around and the WWE today is very different from the one he left from.

• That's a nice segue to this new WWE, which continues to distance itself from the philosophies and beliefs that were around when Vince ran the company. One of the big ones that was front and center for me this past week was the debut of "All Ego" Ethan Page on NXT. His appearance in itself was fine, but the fact that WWE had him on TV using the "All Ego" trademark and had their commentators even call that out was pretty shocking to me. In the decades that I've followed WWE, whenever a wrestler from another promotion would be brought in, the company would either give him or her a completely new gimmick, often shying away from using their real name if that's what they used before. Jade Cargill is another example where WWE snagged her from AEW and let her use her real name and literally continue the gimmick/character that she established in AEW. Another big change from the Vince-era is WWE's apparent willingness to work with other promotions, not only by bringing in their talent (Jordynne Grace for example) but lend out their wrestlers to these other promotions while under WWE contract.

• TNA dismissed a bunch of employees over the week, including multiple high-ranking officials and it was then revealed that the company has virtually no Marketing department left nor do they have any announced live events beyond August. This all comes just a few months after long-time TNA/IMPACT head honcho Scott D'Amore was shockingly let go and the rumor at the time was that D'Amore wanted to invest in TNA while its parent company, Anthem Sports, was looking to go in the opposite direction. Some have wondered whether this all spells trouble for TNA later this summer, but it sure is weird to me that all this is happening at the same time when a pseudo partnership with NXT has seemingly emerged from nowhere...is that a coincidence or is something big brewing?

• Drew McIntyre returned to action this weekend after taking time off to recover from an elbow injury. McIntyre is gearing up to headline Clash at the Castle later this month, where it seems likely that he will win the World Title from Damian Priest. Of course, the other logical scenario would have CM Punk pop up somewhere to cost him that opportunity, leading to a SummerSlam match between the two which absolutely doesn't need to be a title match. But back to the flip side, would WWE have McIntyre lose two years in a row at this event and this year's event is in his home country, Scotland.
  

• Former WWE and AEW wrestler Mark Henry made an appearance for MLW’s Battle Riot VI this past Saturday in Atlanta. He was accompanied by another former WWE personality, Teddy Long, and the Battle Riot was won by Matt Riddle. Henry doesn't seem ready to leave the wrestling industry but it doesn't seem like either of the Big Two is interested in him at this time.
  
• Former Olympian and recently released WWE developmental talent Gable Steveson signed with the Buffalo Bills, which doesn't come as a huge surprise as it was kinda obvious he was going to try his hand at either football or MMA. Steveson is obviously a tremendous athlete but he will have to overcome some long odds to become a success in the NFL.
  
• Tony Khan continues to negotiate with Warner Bros. Discovery on a new TV deal for Dynamite, Collision and Rampage. A story made its way online last week suggesting that Khan was unhappy at the offer WBD put on the table but then Dave Meltzer reported that the writer who dropped that scoop was a friend or something of the other Khan (WWE's Nick), suggesting that it may have been planted by WWE. The funny thing to me is that Meltzer has long been accused himself of being in the back pocket of Tony. So who to believe?
  
• The other story that has come out of AEW's discussions about a new deal is Tony Khan going on record to state that he would be very open to expanding current programming from five hours to six, speaking of the advantages of having a three-hour block to tell his stories. It sounds like at the very least Collision and Rampage may be packaged together permanently and more unlikely, Dynamite adds another hour.
  
• Vince McMahon's legal woes continue with the United States Attorney requesting Janel Grant pause her civil against Vince, which she agreed to. While this is certainly not good news for Vince because it means the feds are very much still investigating him on a criminal level for sexual abuse, trafficking, etc., the main reason for asking for the civil suit stay is so that McMahon isn't compelled to say something in this suit which could then be used against him in any criminal proceedings. I'm not a lawyer nor am I even familiar with how the United States legal system works, but I think he could plead the 5th and that would protect him but would look bad in the Janel Grant lawsuit. I'm probably totally wrong, so feel free to correct me!
  

Ok, it's late so I'm outta here! You can reach me at news@rajah.com. Go Oilers!