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Top 10 Wrestling Stories of the Week 4/15: WWE Unifying Tag Titles, Major UK Show Announced, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 15th April 2022
wwe raw usos rkbro titles

Welcome back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday investigating an army of bots and missed WWE Smackdown? Perhaps you spent all day Monday trying to recall old stories for your new Podcast and missed Raw.

Worry not for I have returned with another edition of the Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week.

10. Lacey Evans Returns to Smackdown

After being away for almost 14 months, Lacey Evans has returned to WWE. This past Friday on Smackdown, a vignette aired of Evans sharing her life story. Evans just gave birth to her son (her second child) a few months ago, which is why she has been off television for so long. Evans explained in the vignette that she moved around a lot when she was young, to avoid her abusive father. Evans then talked about how she was a mother, wife, sister, daughter, US marine and WWE superstar. Evans then stated it doesn’t make her any better than any of these other superstars, but they damn sure aren’t better than her. Evans will continue her story this week on Smackdown, but I am guessing like most women has blocked out from her mind kissing Ric Flair. (TJRWrestling)

9. Tony Khan to Make a Huge Announcement

It has been a few weeks, so it is time again for Tony Khan to make another huge announcement. This week it was announced that on this coming Wednesday’s Dynamite, Khan will appear to make a huge announcement. Just last month Khan appeared on Dynamite to announce that he has purchased ROH. There is no word on what Khan’s announcement this time will be, but my guess is that it is that he has signed the army of bots to five-year contracts.

8. New NXT Tag Team Champions Crowned

Last week MSK was forced to relinquish the NXT Tag Team Championships. This was due to MSK member Nash Carter being released after his wife alleged abuse allegations as well as posted a photo of Nash dressed as Hitler. This week a five team Gauntlet Match was held to crown new NXT Tag Team Champions. In the end, Pretty Deadly’s Elton Prince and Kit Wilson defeated The Creed Brothers to capture the titles. This is Pretty Deadly’s first title reign in NXT, as they just debuted for the brand last week. This is an incredible start for Pretty Deadly, but their quick success is risking upsetting the other ten tag teams that have debuted in the last few months. (TJRWrestling)

7. NXT Superstars Called up to The Main Roster

NXT is going to have to manage with a few less superstars. This past Friday on Smackdown, Imperium’s Gunther and Marcel Barthel debuted with new names. Gunther is now known as the “Ring General” Gunther while Barthel is now Ludwig Kaiser. Kaiser and Gunther were not the only ones to get name changes on Smackdown, as Raquel Gonzalez debuted as Raquel Rodriguez. Finally over on Raw, Tommaso Ciampa is now an official member of the Raw roster. As for now, Ciampa has not gotten a new name, possibly because WWE likes making me have to look up how to spell Tommaso Ciampa every week.

wwe gunther ludwig

6. The Undertaker to Start a Podcast

Normally a former professional wrestler starting a podcast is not news, and would not make this list. When that wrestler is The Undertaker, however, it is a whole different story. This week it was reported that WWE has convinced The Undertaker to do a podcast. The podcast would be similar to Steve Austin’s “Broken Skull Sessions” and would be shown on Peacock. Just a few years ago the very idea of The Undertaker doing a podcast would have been absurd, and thought to be a pipe dream. The stories The Undertaker can tell should make for an amazing podcast, assuming his memory wasn’t as easily erased as a neck tattoo. (TJRWrestling)

5. Matches Announced for WWE WrestleMania Backlash

With WWE’s next big PPV titled Backlash being less than a month away, WWE announced two big WrestleMania rematches for the event. First, Ronda Rousey will get another chance to capture the Smackdown Women’s Championship when she faces Charlotte in an “I Quit” Match. Also in a rematch of one of the best matches at Mania this year, Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes will face off once again. We shall have to see if there will be other WrestleMania 38 rematches at Backlash, although I doubt that Pat McAfee will be getting a chance to avenge his loss. (TJRWrestling)

4. Samoa Joe Captures the ROH Television Championship

For the first time since 2005, Samoa Joe is a champion for ROH. This past Wednesday in the main event of Dynamite, Samoa Joe defeated Minoru Suzuki to become the ROH television Champion. The finish of the match saw Joe hit the Muscle Buster and pick up the win after a very hard hitting match with a ridiculous amount of chops. Tony Khan is not finished featuring the ROH titles this week, as ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham will defend his title against Dalton Castle at Battle of the Belts on Saturday. We shall have to see if ROH can get their own show, or if Khan will just keep cutting women’s matches to make room for them on Dynamite.

3. Satnam Singh Debuts for AEW

Not everything went great for Samoa Joe on Dynamite this past Wednesday. After Joe captured the ROH Television title, the lights went out in the arena. When the lights came back on 7’3” former basketball player Satnam Singh was in the ring. Singh, along with Jay Lethal and Sanjay Dutt, then proceeded to attack Joe, leaving him laying to end the show. Fans did not react well to the virtually unknown Singh, whose offense was slow and unimpressive. Personally, I am excited to see what Singh can do in AEW, as I didn’t even know Omos and The Great Khali had a kid. (TJRWrestling)

2. WWE Officially Announces UK Stadium Show

For the first time since 1992, WWE will host a major PPV (or Premium Live Event) show inside of a stadium in the UK. This week it was announced that on Saturday, September 3rd, WWE will hold a show at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Principality Stadium has a seating capacity of over 75,000 people, which will be the biggest crowd in the UK since the 1992 SummerSlam from Wembley Stadium. No matches have been announced for the show, but Drew McIntyre has stated previously that he would like to face boxing champion Tyson Fury in the UK. Even without announcing a single match, it’s been reported that 59,000 fans have already pre registered for tickets for the show. This number is seemingly very impressive, but we will have to wait for Tony Khan’s investigation to find out how many of them are actually bots. (TJRWrestling)

1. WWE to Unify the Tag Team Championships

WWE isn’t done unifying its championships. This past Friday on Smackdown, Unified WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns told his cousins, the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions The Usos, that he was wanted them to capture the Raw Tag Team Championships as well. This past Monday on Raw, The Usos defeated The Street Profits in the main event to earn a match with Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro. The Usos/RK-Bro match hasn’t been announced yet, but it could be a part of WrestleMania Backlash. I hope that WWE continues unifying titles, and finally unifies the 24/7 Title with the trash can. (TJRWrestling)

That concludes another edition of The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week. Thank you for taking the time to read this each week. Although I often joke, I have recently started refereeing with NYCW and respect more than ever what wrestlers do every week. I wrote an article all about it all right here. If you like what I do, despite my jokes being almost as bad as Jafar without Iago, then follow me on Twitter @Fowlerwrestlin1.