Uncle Howdy Faction Members Confirmed In Latest Tease; May 14th Live Wrestling News Round-Up

Zelina Vega has explained why she sees her WWE Backlash clash with Rhea Ripley in Puerto Rico was “a missed opportunity.

Despite a huge homefield advantage, Zelina Vega unsuccessfully challenged then-SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley at WWE Backlash last year. While Vega recieved arguably the biggest reaction of the career at the event, she believes an opportunity was missed following the moment.

Speaking on The Bump, Vega explained that she feels getting moved in the brand split killed her momentum and that the company dropped the ball with her overall.

“It feels like a missed opportunity. It feels like that should have been the rocket. That should have been the moment that I continued and went on to continue to fight Rhea. Of course, we got split. That’s what messed this up, the brand split. We had to do the draft and they went to Raw and we went to Smackdown. That’s when everything kind of changed.

Because I was so tunnel vision. Everything was so there, and then it slipped out of my hands. It just feels like constantly, we’re just dropping the ball with Zelina. Constantly, it’s a thing where I’m fighting to get something, to get a sliver of something. I’m salivating over the title all the time. Yet, i’m always put in this position where it’s so close, and yet so far.”

h/t to WrestleZone

It looks like it won’t be too long until we see CM Punk compete inside a WWE ring once more!

Speaking on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer provided a big update on when CM Punk will likely be returning to the ring. Meltzer noted that with Punk having had surgery in January, he could return in late July at the earliest.

Most likely, however, his return could take place in August or September, meaning he may be able to compete at this year’s SummerSlam where’d be expected to challenge Drew McIntyre for the World Heavyweight Championship. However, this could be pushed as far as October if his recovery takes longer than expected.

Punk’s not that far from being back most likely. If he had his surgery at the end of January, you’re looking at the end of July, August, maybe September. It’s not that far away anymore. He might make SummerSlam. And if he can make SummerSlam, Punk and Drew for the title, that makes a lot of sense.

Even if he can’t, you can do it a month after. Punk will be back fairly soon, it’s not as far away as sometimes you think because of that surgery.

h/t to WrestleTalk

WWE has released a new Playlist video recapping the recent feud between Drew McIntyre and CM Punk!

The video features moments like Punk eliminating McIntyre from the Royal Rumble, which kickstarted their issues, to Punk costing McIntyre the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XL last month.

Billy Corgan has denied a report that a spot involving cocaine at an NWA event impacted their deal with The CW.

At NWA Samhain last October, a controversial spot took place where Father James Mitchell, alongside several women and other wrestlers, were seen seemingly consuming cocaine.

As reported by Nick Hausman of Haus of Wrestling a few days later, executives at The CW, who the company were working on a TV deal with, were unhappy over the spot and pushing for the company’s content to air on The CW app instead of their television channel.

Corgan, the current NWA President, was asked directly about the report during an appearance on In The Weeds, denying the idea that the spot had any effect on the company’s relationship with The CW.

After the ‘cocaine spot’ where Sinister Minister and his hot minions were snorting sugar off a table in Cleveland, that story took a life of its own. ‘NWA is going to lose its CW deal, they’ve lost their CW deal.’ About four days after the event, CW, I don’t want to say who, but certainly one of the top people at CW called me and said, ‘What is this all about?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. No one for your world has reached out to me.’

He said, ‘There is no problem over here. We’re reading all these articles and we don’t understand what the issue is.’ ‘So, to be official, there is no issue with what we did?’ ‘No, we think it’s funny.’ There was no issue. It was a completely invented story by either a troll inside the company, a leaker or something.

h/t to Fightful

Legendary WWE announcer Lilian Garcia made a surprise WWE appearance after nearly five years away!

During last night’s edition of Raw, Garcia was introduced by current Raw ring announcer Samantha Irvin. Irvin asked if Garcia would like to help introduce the participants in the next content, which Garcia quickly agreed to before praising Irvin’s own announcing abilities.

Garcia then introduced Kofi Kingston for his King of the Ring Quarterfinal match against Gunther. This marked her first time ring announcing for the company since the 2019 edition of Raw Reunion almost five years ago. Garcia also notably acted as ring announcer for WWE Evolution back in 2018.

Two signature voices throughout #WWERaw history share a special moment in the ring when @SamanthatheBomb welcomes back @LilianGarcia! pic.twitter.com/2QPB0AyKaD

— WWE (@WWE) May 14, 2024

Tonight’s WWE NXT will emanate from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The next NXT Premium Live Event is NXT Battleground in three weeks.

Matches and segments announced for the show include:

• Je’Von Evans vs Noam Dar
• OTM vs Edris Enofe & Malik Blade
• Ivy Nile vs Lash Legend – NXT Women’s North American Championship Qualifying Match
• Sol Ruca vs Izzi Dame – NXT Women’s North American Championship Qualifying Match
• Charlie Dempsey vs Tony D’Angelo – NXT Heritage Cup Match

What are you most excited to see on tonight’s episode of NXT? Let us know your thoughts here!

Cash Wheeler has had the case surrounding his aggravated assault with a firearm felony dropped.

In a major update to the criminal case which stemmed from his arrest last August, PWInsider reports that the case has now been dismissed entirely. This is due to the prosecution has decided to abandon the case, though it’s currently unclear why this decision was made.

Originally, a pre-trial hearing was set for tomorrow, May 15th, at 2pm with a trial proper following on May 20th. These has since been cancelled with the case being dropped. Wheeler plead not guilty throughout the legal process and can now move on without worry of any further legal action regarding the incident.

Last night’s WWE Raw emanated from the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greensville, South Carolina. The next WWE Premium Live Event is WWE King and Queen of the Ring next week.

Segments and matches that took place on the show include:

• IYO SKY defeated Shayna Baszler to advance to the Queen of the Ring Semifinals
• Gunther defeated Kofi Kingston to advance to the King of the Ring Semifinals
• “Big” Bronson Reed defeated Akira Tozawa
• Lyra Valkyria defeated Zoey Stark to advance to the Queen of the Ring Semifinals
• Sami Zayn defeated Otis
• Becky Lynch defeated Dakota Kai by DQ
• The Judgement Day defeated The Authors Of Pain, The Creed Brothers and The New Catch Republic to become #1 Contenders to the World Tag Team Championship
• Jey Uso defeated Ilja Dragunov to advance to the King of the Ring Semifinals

What was your favourite moment of last night’s Raw? Let us know your thoughts here!

Several members of the heavily-rumored upcoming Uncle Howdy WWE faction appear to have been confirmed.

The latest of WWE’s cryptic QR codes appeared during last night’s edition of Raw and featured several cryptic photos. In addition, a floppy disk named “WITCH” can found alongside a date and time, Thursday, May 16th at 4pm, leading many to believe this points to when the first member of the heavily rumoured Uncle Howdy faction will appear.

However, an even greater clue is hidden in the metadata for one of the images, as first pointed out on the SquaredCircle subreddit. The ninth image’s metadata contains a series of Roman numerals, I_XVII_MCMLXXXIVIV_XXI_MCMLXXXIXXI_XXII_MCMLXXXIVIII_VIII_MCMLXXXVII,  which can be converted into several dates.

These dates appear to line up with the birthdays of several rumoured members of the upcoming faction, seemingly confirming thier involvement. The first is January 17th 1984, the birthday of Dexter Lumis; next is April 21st 1989, the birthday of Nikki Cross; and August 8th 1987, the birthday of Joe Gacy.

The last date is November 22nd 1981 which isn’t an exact match to any notable star’s birthday. However, it’s six days off from the birthday of former Wyatt Family member Erick Rowan, who was born on November 28th 1981.

Welcome back to the ITRWrestling live blog! I’ll be with you from 12pm to 6pm BST (7am – 1pm ET) covering all the biggest stories from WWE, AEW, NJPW, IMPACT, and more.

Today’s top stories are:

• Uncle Howdy Faction Members Confirmed In Latest Tease
• Cash Wheeler Aggravated Assault Case Dismissed
• Lillian Garcia Makes Surprise WWE Return