Greetings all, I'm back for a busy Monday update covering some of the latest WWE & AEW news making its way around online.
- Tonight is the last WWE Monday Night Raw before this weekend's King and Queen of the Ring premium live event in Saudi Arabia. We have the first men's semi-final match between Jey Uso and Gunther and the first women's semi-final pitting IYO SKY against Lyra Valkyria. The winners of those matches will face off against the winners of the remaining semi-finals matches scheduled for Friday's Smackdown which takes place in Saudi Arabia. I'm quite terrible at predicting winners and I feel like Gunther vs. Orton would be a great finale but Uso vs. Tama could also work. On the women's side, IYO vs. Bianca seems logical. Other matches announced for tonight include Sami Zayn vs. Chad Gable and just announced this afternoon, the tag team titles will be on the line as Awesome Truth defends against The Judgment Day duo of The Prince and JD McDonagh.
- Brian Gewirtz, former WWE head writer and a close associate of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, was on a podcast last week and talked about how The Rock's ongoing absence is different this time than past times. He's not wrong because over the past decade, The Rock really hasn't been in WWE and his sporadic appearances were never storyline driven and simply meant to pop a rating or get the media talking. With a massive overhaul of WWE's leadership team that saw Rock join the TKO Board of Directors, it means that he has a bonafide vested interest in the success of WWE, which ultimately is the reason he came back and wrestled at WrestleMania. While I surely don't expect The Rock to be popping up TV every few weeks or for that matter, much at all over the next several months, he's supposedly angling to keep himself relevant in storylines by using his social media reach. Of course, WWE has two potential huge matches with The Rock to play out - against Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns - with the Observer Newsletter previously stating that Rock/Rhodes is the working plan for WrestleMania but I'm thinking it will be Reigns vs. Rock with the Rhodes match happening maybe at a Saudi Arabia event or even SummerSlam.
- In some sad news, Reginald “Reggie” Folks - an aspiring independent wrestler in the Atlanta area - was shot and killed by a now former policeman (Koby Minor) in an incident that screams of all sorts of insanity. The story goes that Folks was working as a Lyft driver and Minor was one of his customers on an early May 15 morning. Sometime during the ride, Minor got it in his head that Folks was part of a gay fraternity and was trying to kidnap and force him into the group so he tried to get out but couldn't as the car was moving. At the next intersection, Folks allegedly reached over into the back seat and Minor shot him in the head, broke a window and fled. He flagged a nearby bystander and admitted to the above series of events. Police arrested Minor and he has been charged with aggravated assault and murder. He was already on a paid administrative leave after being arrested in December of 2023 when he thought he went through a roundabout but went straight through and hit a sign and the curb. That same night he was also charged with possession of a controlled substance that was not in its original container. After being arrested and charged with Folks' death, Minor immediately and permanently resigned from his position.
- Drew McIntyre remains sidelined with an elbow injury but is still primed to be the focal point of next month's Clash at the Castle where it is expected that he will face off against World Champion Damian Priest. There appears to be a good chance that McIntyre will regain his title at the event and move his focus back onto a returning CM Punk, later this summer with another possible storyline with Seth Rollins waiting in the wings too. These two feuds are likely much more appealing to WWE than Priest-Rollins or Priest-Punk.
- Fightfulselect.com's Sean Ross Sapp reported this morning that WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry's contract with AEW is set to expire this month. Henry joined AEW towards the end of May 2021 after spent something like 25 year with WWE and debuted at Double or Nothing on the 30th which would suggest that he inked a three-year deal. AEW usually carries options on their contracts but it's fair to wonder if they will retain Henry's services as he never wrestled for them and served mainly in a backstage role as a mentor/coach type personality, similar to what he did towards his tenure in WWE. He also still wants to wrestle one last match, having last competed in a singles match seven years ago and it's up in the air where that could happen, if it does.
- Tony Khan's name has been all over the news again, mainly for the wrong reasons as people are all over his ass for AEW's declining viewership coupled with complaints with the creative direction of AEW storylines. Eric Bischoff, who seems to absolutely hate Tony and makes me wonder if he's on the WWE payroll, indirectly criticized his booking of Mercedes Mone and then Konnan was on his podcast talking about how Tony went nuts when he booked Dragon Lee and his brother Dralístico to beat FTR for the AAA World Tag Team Championship because the day after, Lee announced he signed with WWE. Konnan also relayed information (second hand actually) about Tony pretty much banning his talent in AEW to watch Royal Rumble last year when Cody Rhodes returned to WWE. Not sure how much of that is true or not as I seem to recall Ricky Starks actually at the Rumble and Konnan could also be pissed that AEW works closely with CMLL and not his AAA promotion. I dunno. Speaking of Starks, anyone know when his contract ends? I can see him in WWE whenever he hits free agency.
- Oh where was I...right, Tony Khan. Anyway, after being dragged through the mud as of late, AEW personalities Billy Gunn and Jim Ross had some positive words for their boss with Ross actually calling him an "alpha male" while comparing him to Vince McMahon. Discuss.
- TKO executive Mark Shapiro confirmed today that WWE will be expanding their deal with Saudi Arabia over the next 6-12 months. We had previously only heard from Turki Alsheikh of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority who strongly hinted that an annoucement would coincide with this weekend's King & Queen of the Ring show. Either way, it looks like a Royal Rumble or WrestleMania in that country is becoming more and more of a reality.
That's it for my WWE & AEW news recap for today. As usual, send me feedback and tips at news@rajah.com.
