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The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week 4/23: Garbage Bags, Charlotte Flair “Suspended” on WWE Raw, Ronda Rousey Pregnant, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 23rd April 2021

Welcome back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday trying to call Tony Khan, and miss Smackdown? Perhaps you spent all day Monday stocking up for 4/20, and missed Raw. Worry not, for I have returned with another edition of the Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week.

10. T-Bar and Mace Unmask on Raw

T-Bar and Mace are hoping that someone will care now that they took off the masks. This week on Raw, T-Bar and Mace ended up facing Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman in a Tag Team match. During the match, both T-Bar and Mace ended up having their mask ripped off before actually winning the match by disqualification. To the surprise of no one, Mace ended up being former Raw announcer Dio Madden, while T-Bar is actually former NXT star Dominik Dijakovic. After the match, Mace and T-Bar stated that losing the masks was a good thing for them; most likely because it will now be a lot easier to eat the food in catering. (TJRWrestling)

9. The Pinnacle and Inner Circle to Parley Next Week on AEW

Just one week before their big Blood and Guts Match on May 5th, The Pinnacle and Inner Circle are set to meet face-to-face. This week on Dynamite, Chris Jericho called for the two factions to have a parley. The Pinnacle agreed to the meeting, with it taking place next Wednesday on Dynamite. Luckily for Tony Khan, not every faction in the company wants to meet and talk all at once, as he would need a lot more rings. (TJRWrestling)

8. Sarray Debuts for NXT

Japanese star Sarray made her debut for NXT this week. Sarray made a name for herself in Japan under the name of Saree, before signing with NXT last February. Sarray was supposed to immediately move to the United States after signing but was delayed to this year due to the pandemic. Sarray was successful in her debut match this week, defeating Zoey Stark. The former Saree who is now Sarray will now try to be as successful in NXT as Io Shirai. (TJRWrestling)

7. Pat McAfee Joins the Smackdown Announce Team

WWE decided to punt when choosing a new Smackdown announcer. This past Friday on Smackdown, former NFL punter and NXT Superstar Pat McAfee joined Michael Cole on commentary. McAfee has appeared several times during NXT preshows as well and had a memorable feud with Adam Cole. McAfee did really well on his first night commentary and could have a long successful career doing it. Unless of course, McAfee moves on to do something with Nat King Cole or some Coleslaw instead. (TJRWrestling)

6. Biography of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin Debuts on A&E

The first of multiple biographies legendary wrestlers debuted this week on A&E. Starting off the series was none other than “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. The two-hour special went over many of the highlights of Austin’s career, interviewing many influential people who worked with Austin. Besides Austin himself, such names as Vince McMahon, The Rock, Mick Foley, The Undertaker, Triple H, Jim Ross, Shawn Michaels, Paul Heyman, Shane McMahon, Mark Henry, Lilian Garcia and Bruce Prichard all told stories. Having so many old legends in one place is truly amazing, and something you usually won’t see unless WWE puts on another Saudi show. (TJRWrestling)

5. WWE Possibly Returning to Saudi Arabia This Year

Retired wrestlers everywhere dusted off their boots this week. After having to postpone plans due to the pandemic, it was rumored this week that WWE may be returning to Saudi Arabia at the end of this year.

WWE signed a 10-year contract with Saudi Arabia in 2018, and so far have put on 5 “memorable” shows in the country. We will have to wait and see if such names as Goldberg and even the recently retired Undertaker make an appearance. With as much money as Vince usually offers to do one of these shows, I have a feeling The Undertaker would respond like this if asked.

Undertaker

4. Impact Rebellion to Take Place this Sunday

Impact Wrestling’s biggest PPV in years is set to take place this Sunday night at 8pm ET. The show will be main evented by a title for title match between Impact Wrestling World Champion Rich Swann and AEW World Champion Kenny Omega. To add even more prestige to the match, Mauro Ranallo will be calling the action on commentary. The stakes are truly high for both competitors in this match. For Swann, he could help put Impact Wrestling on the map again. And for Omeg, who also is the AAA Mega Champion, he can turn his championship belts into a faction. (TJRWrestling)

3. Charlotte Flair Gets “Suspended” by WWE

It took Charlotte Flair just one week to be “suspended” by WWE. During the main event of Raw this week, Charlotte faced off against Asuka. The ending of the match saw Charlotte almost defeat Asuka with the Figure-Eight, before Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley distracted her from ringside. This distraction allowed Asuka to pin Charlotte out of nowhere, and get the win. After the loss, Charlotte seemingly snapped and brutally attacked referee Eddie Orengo. For her actions, WWE announced that Charlotte would be fined $100,000 and suspended indefinitely. Coincidentally $100,000 is also the same amount Ric Flair pays in alimony every month. (TJRWrestling)

It’s expected that Charlotte will use the time off to have some dental surgery. She also had some harsh words for the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer as well.

2. Ronda Rousey Announces Pregnancy

Ronda Rousey is about to become The Baddest Mom on the Planet. Rousey and husband Travis Browne announced on their YouTube Channel this week that they were having a baby. The baby is due this September, with Rousey promising to reveal the gender at a later date. Rousey will now join fellow WrestleMania 35 headliner Becky Lynch in motherhood. As for the other competitor in that match Charlotte, we will have to wait and see if Charlotte gives Andrade “The Opportunity” to get her pregnant as well. (TJRWrestling)

1. Mark Carrano Fired After Trash Bag Incident

Senior VP of Talent Relations Mark Carrano is no longer with the WWE. Yesterday on Twitter, Mickie James revealed that WWE sent her personal items back to her in a black garbage bag.

Shortly after several other former WWE Superstars including Gail Kim and Maria Kanellis revealed that they were given the same treatment. This understandably upset the wrestling community, with Mickie James trending on Twitter for several hours. A little while later, Triple H, John Laurinaitis and Stephanie McMahon all tweeted out apologies. Along with the apology, all three of them assured everyone that who was at fault for the act was fired. (TJRWrestling)

Later it was revealed that the person who was fired was Senior VP of Talent Relations Mark Carrano. This move caused an even bigger shakeup in the Talent Relations department, with several other people being let go. Carrano had been with the company since 1998, but despite rumors is in no way associated with this man. (TJRWrestling)

Duke the dumpster

That will conclude another edition of The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week. As always, if you like what I do, please follow me on Facebook and listen to my podcast The BackseatBookers. (Please be aware that it is explicit, as I swear more than racist cops did on Tuesday.)