Major Changes Coming To WWE Operations; December 6th Wrestling News Round-Up

Speaking during a recent live event with Inside The Ropes, former WWE star Scotty 2 Hotty has revealed what he thinks of CM Punk’s shock return to WWE before crediting the divisive star with helping to make wrestling hot again.

Speaking to Kenny McIntosh, Scotty would state:

“I think it’s awesome, I think it’s awesome just because it’s created interest, everybody is talking about it and it’s leant to what’s making everything hot again.

That’s kinda like when you had Nitro and you Lex Luger showing up on Monday Night RAW when you didn’t know he was going to be there and then you know Hall and Nash showed up.

It’s created an interest in a time where it’s hard to create a surprise, a genuine surprise.

I think it’s awesome and I wish we could have got the CM Punk and Omega match you know that would have been great for AEW.”

You can check out Scotty 2 Hotty’s full comments on CM Punk below!

If you use any quotes from this article please provide a h/t to Inside The Ropes for the transcription.

Fresh off his close match with Seth “Freakin” Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship, “Main Event” Jey Uso joins WWE’s The Bump in-studio! Plus, just days before his attempt to win the Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge at NXT Deadline, Trick Williams joins the show.

Check it out!

AEW All In may already be making big bucks (and Young Bucks) but as legendary as it may go on to be… sadly, it will not be “Iconic.”

That’s because ‘The Icon’ Sting has confirmed his retirement and despite an offer will not be competing at AEW All In 2024.

At All In 2023, Sting and Darby Allin defeated Christian Cage and Swerve Strickland in a tag team coffin match. Khan stated in an interview with The New York Post that shortly afterwards he asked The Icon if there was any chance at appearing at the 2024 event:

“I wanted to know if Sting believed he could participate next year, and I knew he felt like he might not have another year left in him when we were at Wembley this year but he was still feeling very good and he wants to stay feeling very good through his retirement,”

In October 2023, the former World Champion informed Khan that he had “a good six months” of wrestling time left, confirming that a match at All In 2024 would not be possible:

“He told me as we approached this ticket on sale that he did not believe he could make it another year in wrestling and have the best chance for a happy and healthy retirement,” Khan said. “He’s doing great right now, and he wants to keep it that way. He plans to keep beating people up and keeping himself healthy.”

WWE has been a changing picture since Triple H took over the role once held by Vince McMahon.

Superstars have return, rules have changed and the very fibre of the WWE has shifted…and Triple H just appears to be getting started.

Under the previous company regime, WWE was the be-all and end-all. While a Superstar is able to be presented on the grandest stage and perform in front of thousands, sacrifices have to be made. With the brutal travel schedule and the show needing to go on, birthdays, anniversaries, funerals and even the birth of children have at times been missed for the benefit of the product. However, according to a company veteran, that has recently changed.

Randy Orton was a recent guest on Logan Paul’s podcast Impaulsive. Orton discussed his relationship with Triple H and how the health scare back in September 2021 was a catalyst for the change:

“He’s very smart with the business. If you have any questions with wrestling, you go to him and you’re gonna get a good answer…as far as a human being, I went to his wedding. I’ve kind of seen him evolve. He has three girls and his oldest girl is just a few years older than mine so we have that in common. I think recently for him because he had the health scare and everything, I think he realizes how important family time is and that’s one thing that has changed…

Back in the day you were missing birthdays, you were missing anniversaries and you were missing holidays. There was really no other way about it [and] you weren’t going to ask for [time] off. Now there’s leniency there. Now, he’ll make sure that you can get home for the birth of your baby or he’ll make sure that you can get home for that birthday because he understands now how important that is. I think company-wide that’s been a change for the better.”

[h/t WrestlingNewsCo]

CM Punk may be one of the most divisive WWE stars of this decade…and we are only three years in.

But, according to former WWE Superstar Maven, ‘The Second City Saint’ had heat with the WWE before he ever signed with the company.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Maven would recall his first encounter with Punk during a tag team match featuring veteran Simon Dean.

Maven would recall how WWE tried to send a message to Punk dur to some “heat backstage” but the ECW veteran refused to let it happen.

Maven would reveal:

“Honestly, I didn’t know who Punk was. I did know that he had carved out a pretty good niche for himself on the independent wrestling scene and he had somewhat of a name.

So, I knew going into it that he was going to be a good worker… This is pro wrestling and you’re always going to adhere to the veteran.

In this case, the veteran was, by far, Simon Dean.

Now, Simon Dean wrestled in ECW as Nova, he had years in the business over all of us in the ring.

90% of this match was put together by Simon backstage. Punk was all ears. He was easy. He was easy-going he was willing to do whatever was needed for the match.

To be honest with you, all of us were listening to Simon, and Simon actually was the one who had the idea moving forward to protect Punk…

One thing management wanted; they wanted us to get the pinfall victory on CM Punk. For whatever reason, I have no clue.

I mean, he wasn’t even a signed talent at the time, but he already had heat in the company.

There were already feathers he had ruffled. I don’t know how, and I don’t know whose. Nova saw it differently. Nova wanted to give the guy a chance…

Simon was always a good gauge of talent. He also might have known that Punk, for whatever reason, had heat backstage and he was just doing everything in his power to protect him knowing that if there was any trouble to be had it was going to fall on us and by us, I mean Simon.” [h/t Fightful]

Dwayne Johnson looks set for a big surprise when he appears on the TODAY show later today.

Taking to social media, the NBC show would tease Johnson’s appearance promising a “big” surprise was coming.

“Tomorrow, Dwayne Johnson joins TODAY for a big surprise. Tune-in tomorrow morning, only on TODAY!”

Late yesterday evening Johnson would respond to the Tweet emphasizing the size of the surprise that was to come.

Taking to Twitter, Johnson stated:

“A big BIG surprise. Blessed day ❤️ Join us tomorrow morning.”

Dwayne Johnson has previously surprised  family members and friends with gifts such as new cars and houses, so there is no limit to what The Great One could be surprising us with today!

Tully Blanchard was a regular of AEW TV during his run with FTR and The Pinnacle, however, the partnership would end suddenly with Blanchard being cut from AEW TV.

Speaking on his abrupt departure from AEW, Tully Blanchard would suggest that somebody was not a fan of his and that is what led to him being cut from programming.

Speaking during a new interview on Wrestling Shoot Interviews, Blanchard would state:

[James Romero]: “How come it [Tully managing FTR] ended so abruptly then?”

[Tully Blanchard]: “Yeah…I wasn’t there anymore.”

[James Romero]: “Why?”

[Tully Blanchard]: “Obviously somebody didn’t like what I was doing…or lack of what I was doing.”

Blanchard would then go on to heap praise on his former allies FTR naming them as the best tag team in the world right now.

“They are probably the best tag team right now, I would have a hard time saying best tag team of all time since Arn and I are already in that position [laughing]…they work very well together and do a lot of good stuff in the ring.”

If you use any quotes from this article please provide a h/t to Inside The Ropes for the transcription.

Watch out world there’s a new ‘Beast’ in town and her name is Mya Lesnar.

Mya, aged 21, is the daughter of Nicole McClain and WWE legend and multi-time World Champion Brock Lesnar.

But the Saskatchewan native has been making headlines of her own recently following an incredible athletic performance.

Lesnar currently competes as a track and field athlete based at Colorado State and recently set a new college record for the shot put with a ridiculous 18.5m throw.

Taking to Instagram, Lesnar would comment on her new record whilst sharing a video of the mammoth feat.

Lesnar states:

“A new PR and a new school record!! Happy with a strong start to my season’.”

It has been a strong year for the Colorado State athlete after winning the weighted throw title at the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships back in February one of six wins during the 2022 – 2023 indoor season and the second of two weighted throw records achieved during the season, the first being a 19.72m throw at the 2023 Colorado Invitational back in January.

You can check out Mya Lesnar’s record-breaking attempt here.

Returning WWE star Randy Orton recently sat down with WWE United States Champion Logan Paul on the latest episode of Paul’s Impaulsive podcast.

During the show Orton would discuss his career so far, returning from injury and his time in OVW.

Speaking on OVW, Orton would share the hilarious story of his first encounter with ‘The Beast’ that is Brock Lesnar.

Orton would reveal:

“I remember the day he [Brock Lesnar] came [to OVW] we were all like ‘what the f*ck.’

So, we’re all talking shit, you know under our breath, and here he comes and back then there wasn’t all this…you know we had one ring in a shitty warehouse and there was like 12 of us.

So here comes Lesnar, we knew he was coming, we get in practice, start doing the rope running drills where you just burn, you just go and um… he [Brock] didn’t hook the first rope.

As I’m sure you’ve been told, make sure you get the arm over that top rope otherwise you’re gonna end up in the bleachers.

Sure enough, that mother*cker he leapt out the ring between the second and third rope and took out like 20 to 30 metal chairs and then just popped up, dusted himself of and was like ‘hah, hah…I bed you’d all like to see that again…hah,hah,hah.’”

If you use any quotes from this article please provide a h/t to Inside The Ropes for the transcription.

Last night’s episode of NXT featured some very sad news for fans of WWE star Wes Lee.

Ahead of his planned title match against Dominik Mysterio at NXT Deadline, the former North American Champion announced to the WWE Universe that he has suffered a back injury and will be forced to miss the match and the next eight to twelve months as he recovers from the injury.

It was then revealed that as NXT Deadline, Dominik Mysterio will defend his NXT North American Championship against Dragon Lee with WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio in the challenger’s corner.

You can watch the moment in full below, courtesy of the WWE YouTube Channel.

Times are changing in the WWE and the latest casualty of cost cutting measures appears to have been announced.

Unfortunately, with WWE running more events than ever comes more costs.

On top of the transportation costs to move equipment from venue to venue, there is the added expense of hiring the shows venue out and with some markets performing better than others, the return on investment is varied, something less than attractive to investors.

TKO President Mark Shapiro commented on the possibility of cutting back on WWE live events at the UBS Global Media And Communication Conference.

Shapiro stated that although the non-televised events are good for growing the brand, shows held in “C and D counties” are proving to be less profitable, and are likely to be scaled back:

“WWE has over 300 events a year, with 170 televised. There is probably, while all those other superstars events, there is a reason to have them because it’s good for the brand, we’re building the audience, we’re putting them on C and D counties, so we’re really stretching the brand and amassing a greater array of eyeballs for all demos, it’s good for our long-term growth. For a margin perspective, they are dilutive. There are probably opportunities, as we go through our efficiencies and synergies, to cut back those non-televised events, which will, of course, push our margin up. We’re going through that exercise now.” [H/t to Fightful.]

You can read a full breakdown of this report and what it means for fans, here.

Good Afternoon!

I hope everyone is doing well and has had a great week so far!

I will be with you from 12pm to 6pm BST (7am – 1pm ET) covering all the biggest stories from WWE, AEW, NJPW, IMPACT and more.

We will be kicking things off today with the biggest stories from the last 24 hours including:

• Major changes are coming to WWE’s operations.
• Rising WWE star injured, could be out for almost a year.
• Randy Orton recalls his hilarious first encounter with Brock Lesnar.
• The daughter of Brock Lesnar sets an incredible athletic record.
• Tully Blanchard shoots on his AEW departure.
• Scotty 2 Hotty credits CM Punk with helping make wrestling hot again.