CM Punk’s AEW Return Date Revealed: April 14th Live Wrestling News Round-Up

At WrestleMania 39 Rhea Ripley overcame Charlotte Flair to become SmackDown Women’s Champion for the first time.

Speaking during an appearance on the After The Bell podcast, Ripley reflected on the match and its spot on the card. The new SmackDown Women’s Champion said that the quality of the match proved that it should have been in the main event.

“Coming out of that match, I did feel like we stole the show. I feel we went out there and left everything we had in the ring and proved to everyone exactly why we should have been in the main event spot.

Yes, we didn’t have a good build like Sami, Owens, and the Usos; at the same time, Charlotte and I, every time we step in the ring, we bring the brutality, we bring the ferocious when we go out there and we just beat the living crap out of each other. All the praise that we got, it made me happy and made me proud that we went out there and beat the crap out of each other and loved it. It’s a weird feeling. I get it, I do get it,” [H/t to Fightful]

You can read more about Ripley’s comments, here.

Do you agree with Rhea Ripley? Do you think Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley was Match of the Night at WrestleMania 39? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below.

Robert will be back with you tonight from 10pm GMT [5pm EST] for live coverage of Friday Night SmackDown.

Ahead of the show, let’s take a look at what has been announced for the show:

• Shinsuke Nakamura returns to WWE!
• Matt Riddle continues his WAR on The Bloodline.
• Xavier Woods takes on LA Knight.

Not a huge amount announced so far for tonight’s show, but with recent WWE show’s being heavily re-written who knows what SmackDown truly has in store for us tonight.

Will you be checking out the show? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below.

Earlier we noted that before he became one of WWE’s hottest acts Dominik Mysterio was almost sent down to NXT.

Now, wrestling legend Konnan has revealed that he believes Dominik to be a better heel than MJF.

Speaking in a new interview with Nick Hausman, veteran Konnan was asked about the recent reactions to Domnik and his rise as a heel. The former WCW star said that the reaction was “incredible,” noting that no one can touch him as a heel in WWE right now.

“The thing is, he (Dominik) might be a better heel for this one reason,” Konnan began. “People like MJF. People don’t like Dom. So, he is a heel because, you know, he (MJF) went out in Long Island and he was trying to get over and I don’t think Dom would ever do that if he went to San Diego.” [h/t to Haus of Wrestling]

You can read more of Konnan’s comments, including where he thinks MJF could improve as a heel, here.

Do you agree with Konnan’s claim? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below!

Professional wrestling is full of many weird and wonderful moments. One such occurrence went down this month 23 years ago.

Awesome would appear on the April 3rd 2000, edition of ECW on TNN to drop the title in one of the most unique inter-promotional matches in wrestling history.

In response to a clip of the match, Lance Storm, who was a member of the ECW roster at the time, shed further details on the crazy situation.

“Mike Awesome was not allowed in the locker room. He changed in his hotel room and was driven to the building by Doug Dillinger (I believe) and was called via cell phone when his music played, to do his entrance in the front door. After the match he left the same way.”

You can read more from this story, here.

Following on from Omos’ favourite animes, AEW star Dustin Rhodes has taken to Twitter to share his top five all time country music stars.

Rhodes’ list features icons of the genre such as Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, but omits legends Merle Haggard and Hank Williams.

Top 5 all time Country stars.
-George Strait
-Willie Nelson
-Garth Brooks
-George Jones
-Johnny Cash

What's yours?

— Dustin Rhodes (@dustinrhodes) April 14, 2023

The list also doesn’t feature any of country music’s iconic female stars, although Rhodes has since but together his top five all time female country music stars which you can view, here.

Are you a country music fan? What do you make of Rhodes’ list? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below.

Jeff Hardy may be back in AEW but don’t expected him to be getting too physical anytime soon.

 A report from Fightful Select noted that the star is “still physically recovering from a recent surgery.” But there are alternate plans for the next few weeks that don’t involve him wrestling.

Although the report doesn’t mention the exact nature of the surgery, it is likely it’s the same eye surgery Matt Hardy discussed on a recent episode of his podcast.

Are you excited to see Jeff Hardy back in AEW? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below!

During yesterday’s live blog we talked about Chris Jericho brutally blasting a fan who suggested AEW will not sell out Wembley Stadium.

Well yesterday has been and gone, but the story remains relevant as Jericho has once again taken to social media to call out those who are dooming the event to fail before tickets have even gone on sale.

Writing in response to a fan who suggested AEW selling 30,000-35,000 is a realistic goal rather than the full capacity 90,000 – Jericho would tell the fan to “Shut His Ass.”

And how the fuck do you know this? Shut your ass and watch what happens. https://t.co/vahpNxSvIP

— Chris Jericho (@IAmJericho) April 14, 2023

Do you agree with Jericho? Do you think AEW All In will sell out? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below.

Fans have recently been stunned to discover that as well as being the leader of the Omosapians and WWE’s newest giant, Omos is also an accomplished artist with a taste of the Japanese anime art style.

Recently Omos took to Twitter responding to a fan showcasing one of Omos’ drawing of Naruto Uzumaki.

Omos would reply revealing that his favourite animes include; Naruto, Demon Slayer, My Hero Acadamia and many more.

This is very true! I also love Demon Slayer, My hero academia and many more… https://t.co/oKiKOtWWUW

— Jordan omogbehin (@TheGiantOmos) April 14, 2023

Personally, I am more of a ‘Monster’ or One Piece sort of guy…but I am not going to pick an argument with WWE’s ‘Great Ninja’.

You can check out some of Omos’ art, here.

Back in March WWE announced that the King of the Ring tournament would be making a return.

Not only that, it would be joined by a Queen of the Ring tournament, with the winners to be crowned at King And Queen of the Ring on May 27th in Saudi Arabia.

However, on April 13th, WWE announced that the event on May 27th will now be titled Clash of Champions.

It has now been reported by Mike Johnson of PWInsider that the change was a “creative choice.” Although there is no word on who ultimately made this choice.

You can read more about this ‘creative choice’, here.

Do you think WWE should bring back King of the Ring? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below!

On April 11th it was reported that the idea of a huge clash between Brock Lesnar and Gunther had been “floated” for this summer.

Hype around a potential bout reached a peak following the Royal Rumble when Lesnar and Gunther shared an intense staredown during the Rumble match. Although it was noted that the match was being held off, the reports on April 11th gave new hope to fans that the match could be coming soon.

Despite this, it has now been reported by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there are “no plans” for the match to happen any time soon.

You can read Meltzer’s full report, here.

Do you think we see GUTHER vs Brock Lesnar later this year? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below!

In an exclusive interview with Inside The Ropes, DDP was asked by Kenny McIntosh what he thought about the AEW All Out media scrum last year and the CM Punk pipebomb that broke the internet.

Check out his criticisms of Punk’s attitude down below ⬇️

Owen Hart’s death is one of wrestling’s greatest ever tragedies – the premature death of an incredible talent and incredible person.

In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Natalya would open up on Owen Hart, not just the wrestler but the person as well – revealing that she believes he was destined to become WWE Champion prior to his tragic passing.

Speaking on the latest Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Natalya would state:

“I think Owen would have definitely won a World Heavyweight Championship. Owen, he just won in so many other different ways and in so many different things that people just never go to see.

When he would have two days at home, he would go home and like go to a children’s hospital and visit sick kids on his days off with no cameras around, no Twitter, no media attention. [It was] something he did privately.

He helped so many people in our family, he was very unsung. He was an unbelievable person.”

You can read more about Natalya’s recent interview, here.

Do you agree with Natalya? Hit the thumbs down below and let us know!

Sometimes there is no better way to spend your Friday afternoon than watching WWE compilations on YouTube.

The latest instalment in WWE’s Playlist series highlights every single WWE Championship win of ‘The Nightmare’ Rhea Ripley.

You can watch the full video below ⬇️

What has been your favourite Rhea Ripley moment? Let us know by using the ‘Get Involved’ feature at the top of the page!

It was recently reported that following WWE’s merger with UFC, that the company had entered a hiring freeze and would not be looking to add to their roster.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has now noted that talk of a hiring freeze is false, furthermore, WWE remains in talks with “new significant performers.”

“There is also no hiring freeze as has been reported in many places. WWE is still business as usual when it comes to hiring and in talks with new significant performers.”

Recently it was reported that WWE was attempting to sign Brian Cage, following their failed attempts to recruit Jay White and Kota Ibushi, but ‘The Machine’ has since signed a new five year deal with AEW.

Who would you like to see WWE add to their roster? Let us know by using the ‘Get Involved’ feature at the top of the page.

We asked you ‘what would you do if you were Tony Khan’ to help solved the problem of CM Punk.

Over on Twitter, Michael has written in with his – slightly blunter – approach of how to deal with CM Punk in AEW.

Michael has stated that Tony Khan should simply:

“Fire him [CM Punk] and be grateful you rid of him.

Although on paper a very extreme solution, the last weeks of CM Punk return rumours have been met with a lot of responses like this with a section of the AEW audience simply tired of this ‘never ending’ drama.

Do you agree with Michael? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below and remember you can write in, here.

Dominik Mysterio was one of WWE’s top performers leading up to WrestleMania 39, his ongoing heel work alongside SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley has been a weekly highlight of WWE TV.

However, it has now been revealed that prior to his feud with, his own father, Rey Mysterio, things were almost very different for Dominik.

Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Melter would reveal that Dominik Mysterio was almost sent down to NXT by WWE officials in 2022.

“While there is no chance of this happening now, before the decision to start the Rey vs. Dominik program, there was serious thought given to sending Dominik to NXT.”

You can read more about this, here.

Is Dominik Mysterio a future WWE World Champion? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below!

Earlier this month Josh Alexander was forced to vacate the IMPACT World Championship after sustaining a surgery requiring injury.

Now, ahead of IMPACT’s Rebellion PPV, Mickie James has suffered a similar fate.

During last nights episode of IMPACT, James would take to the ring to reveal that she is not medically cleared to compete at Rebellion due to her ongoing rib injuries.

James would leave the Knockout’s Championship and her iconic Cowboy hat in the ring after thanking fans for allowing her a ‘last rodeo’ to prove she could still go.

At Rebellion, Deonna Purrazzo and Jordynne Grace will clash for the vacant Knockout’s Championship.

We asked you ‘what would you do if you were Tony Khan’ to help solved the problem of CM Punk.

Luke O’Shea has written in with his solution:

“TK has to get them all in a room and get some kind of resolution. If the issues aren’t resolved, even if they are split by show, then it’s just a powder keg waiting to go off.”

Luke continues:

“Ideally Punk returns has a big match at Wembley. But it’s a tightrope to walk with the contract situations and the number of people who have issues with him.”

Some very good points raised here by Luke that really highlight the difficult scenario Tony Khan finds himself in.

Do you agree with Luke? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below and remember you can write in, here.

On April 5th AEW announced that it will be coming to the United Kingdom for the first time on Sunday, August 27th.

The event marks not only the first time that AEW has been to the UK but the first time that a wrestling event has been held at Wembley Stadium since SummerSlam in 1992.

The announcement, and more specifically the venue, caught many fans by surprise due to its sheer size.

Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer dived into why the company decided to run such a huge venue.

“The hope is that the show will help the relationship with ITV, and hopefully WBD, since they are marketing this around the 100th anniversary of Warner Brothers and the 100th anniversary of the original Wembley Stadium. They also expect this will strengthen the visibility of the company in Europe, and just running such a big show itself will get the company more exposure.

The brand awareness should hopefully help AEW+ subscriptions in the U.K. and the places it is available in Europe, as well as the visibility could open up business partnerships and television partnerships throughout Europe.”

Dave Meltzer also revealed why AEW chose a potentially underfilled Wembley over a sold out O2 Arena, you can read that here.

This afternoon’s first write in question is a simple one – what would you do with CM Punk if you were Tony Khan?

CM Punk is AEW’s biggest mainstream draw and with a 90,000 seater stadium booked for August AEW need all the stars they can get to ensure the shows success.

However, CM Punk appears to have garnered a massive amount of heat with sections of the locker room [The Elite, Adam Page and Jericho to name a few] and this is causing internal conflict with those within the company [Hobbs, Harwood and Wilder etc.] who have expressed an open desire to see CM Punk return.

Is CM Punk’s star power worth the disruption to the balance of AEW or should Tony Khan cut his losses and look elsewhere to help sell out Wembley?

Let us know using the ‘Get Involved’ feature at the top of the page or by clicking, here.

Chris Jericho and CM Punk are very publicly not on each others Christmas card lists, with Punk even recently branding Jericho a “liar and a stooge.”

With reports circulating that CM Punk could be set to return to AEW in June, Jericho appears to have made it clear that if he does, he wont be working with him anytime soon.

Chris Jericho took to social media, responding to a fan who suggested ‘The Demo God’ would work with anyone he is asked to.

The original post was accompanied by a photo of Punk and Jericho. In response, Jericho wrote back “Not everyone.” While Jericho could be talking generally, many fans have taken this to be in relation to Punk given the circumstances.

You can read more about this interaction, here.

Do you think Chris Jericho is wrong to refuse to work with CM Punk? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below.

Just as things in the world of wrestling looked to have quieted down, CM Punk and AEW had other ideas.

This afternoon we will have all the latest news, reactions and fallout from last nights report that CM Punk’s AEW return has been tentatively planned.

We will also have the latest on WWE’s scrapped King of the Ring PLE, AEW’s ‘soft roster split’ and much more.

If you have anything you would like to see us talk about, let us know by using the ‘Get Involved’ feature at the top of the page.