Top 5 Wrestling News Stories Of The Week 12/09: Drew McIntyre Storms Out Of Interview, AEW Figures “Appalled” By Tony Khan & Chelsea Green Makes WWE History
Each and every week, the weird and wonderful world of professional wrestling never fails to captivate fans with a plethora of captivating stories that make their way into the news cycle.
Whether it’s shocking upsets, dramatic showdowns, or behind-the-scenes drama, the happenings within professional wrestling always keep fans on the edge of their seats.
Here are the Top Five Wrestling News Stories of the Week.
Drew McIntyre Storms Out Of Interview After Blasting Wrestling Industry
Drew McIntyre is not happy with the wrestling industry.
During an appearance at The Busted Open Holiday Party, McIntyre addressed his hiatus, and in the process, delivered a scathing assessment of the wrestling industry and wrestling fandom.
Adding that he could “count on one finger” how many people from wrestling checked on him while he was away, he speculated he may have made a mistake by dedicating so much time to wrestling.
He explained that wrestling was a “family of convenience”, and during his break, he realized how fickle fans are. Then he walked out of the interview to warn that his attitude and philosophy had changed.
“Tomorrow morning I’m still gonna be out there helping the homeless, things that really mean something to me.
But when it comes to Drew McIntyre on TV, Drew McIntyre in general, I really hate to say this ‘cause I didn’t believe it [until] I saw the proof right in front of my face, the lack of contact, and the look in my family’s face, and realizing everything that I’ve missed, that I’m just gonna take from now on.
I’m gonna leave this industry, I won’t be one of those guys, when I was a kid in the locker room during the indies that were just chasing that last paycheck, just chasing that last shot at glory. “Please remember me.”
When I leave, when I retire, I’ll have accomplished everything. And it doesn’t matter if you’re Mark Henry, Bully Ray, Tommy Dreamer, Drew McIntyre, Stone Cold Steve Austin. When you’re gone, they move on, they forget. And it sucks, but it’s true.
So as far as I’m concerned, when it comes to the internet, I don’t give a f*ck about your opinion.”
Jim Ross Confirms AEW Star Has Creative Control
Jim Ross has clarified that Chris Jericho has a lot of control over his AEW career.
Speaking on his Grilling JR podcast, Ross revealed that Chris Jericho books his own programs “more often than not,” before suggesting he’d make a great booker.
“He became one of the biggest stars in wrestling history, and he’s still going. Jericho’s still going.
When you see him on AEW, you see good work. You see a smart program. He gets to book his own stuff, more often than not, and I’m sure glad we got him. I’ve said many times, arguably, over the last two or three years, he’s been kind of the MVP of AEW because he’s stayed in place.
He stayed there, and he built his brand, and now his brand is very strong. It’s a main event brand. When you see Jericho, you just don’t look away because you know something’s gonna happen, and it’s going to come out of his mind.
He’d make a great booker, no doubt about it in my mind,”
Several AEW Figures “Appalled” By Tony Khan Booking Decision
Tony Khan has come under fire from some within AEW.
At Dynamite Winter Is Coming, Toni Storm made her long-awaited return to AEW.
Now without her “Timeless” persona, Storm confronted Mariah May after the latter retained her Women’s Title with a win over Mina Shirakawa. Storm appeared at the top of the ramp as the show went off the air, to the sound of her old music, wearing her old gear.
Storm hasn’t been seen in AEW since losing the Women’s Title to May back at All In and even claimed she’d quit wrestling in November.
Following her return, it was announced Storm would battle Harley Cameron on Rampage, but not everyone was happy about it.
As reported by Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live, many in AEW were “appalled” with Tony Khan’s booking of Storm’s return match on Rampage. However, he suggested those complaints would have been ignored.
“Do you know how many people I talked to in AEW yesterday, and every last single one of them… ‘aghast’ may not even be the right word… ‘appalled’ that Toni Storm’s return is on Rampage.
I swear to god this is true – you could have had 200 people lined up outside Tony Khan’s door last night, one by one, all 200 of them could have gone in there and said, ‘This idea is stupid’, and do you wanna know what’d happen at the end of the night?
He’d have still done it, because that’s what happens.
People argue things with him every single week, and at the end of the day, he does whatever he wants.”
Rey Fenix Raises Eyebrows In WWE With Anti-AEW Tirade
After months of uncertainty, it was reported on December 1st that Penta El Zero Miedo was now a free agent. The star, and his brother and tag team partner Rey Fenix, have been heavily linked with a move to WWE, but the path to the sports entertainment giant has been anything but straightforward.
Rey Fenix has expressed his unhappiness publicly as things between him and AEW threaten to turn ugly. Fenix has hinted that he was left needing a doctor but was ignored by the company at some point. Some believe Fenix may be trying to embarrass the company into offering him his release or by acting out in a way that Tony Khan may be forced to fire him, either option would potentially leave him free to join his brother in WWE or elsewhere.
Rey Fenix has since deleted his posts berating AEW but it seems they were noticed by those in WWE.
WrestleVotes reported that some in WWE were surprised by the developments with Rey Fenix but that doesn’t mean the company isn’t interested in the star anymore:
Hearing that there were those in the WWE that were surprised yesterday with the Rey Fenix tweets. Not to say that they’re not interested anymore, I’m sure that didn’t change, but there were some eyebrows raised over those tweets, especially if you’re going to put that out there publicly.
I think WWE is going to do some digging into what’s going on……So that doctor one, you know, my phone started to buzz a little bit afterwards about just the surprise from a few WWE staffers that really didn’t have a pulse on to what may or may not be going on over there with Rey Fenix.
So I just think it raised eyebrows throughout the whole wrestling world, and it did, certainly, you know, in Stamford.
Chelsea Green Makes WWE History At Saturday Night’s Main Event
Chelsea Green Wins Championship Gold
History was created on 14th December, when the inaugural Women’s US Champion was crowned. After an entertaining and hard-fought encounter, Chelsea Green defeated Michin to become the first-ever Women’s United States Champion.
Green entered the match sporting iconic tights like her husband Matt Cardona’s Zack Ryder gimmick from his WWE run and left the match with the title on her shoulder. With little help from Piper Niven, Chelsea Green was able to finish the match against Michin with an assisted ‘Un-pretty-her’ from the top rope.
With Pyro going off, SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis handed Green the new championship. With a roaring crowd behind her, Green finished her night as the inaugural women’s mid-card champion, and celebrated on top of Niven’s shoulder, before the screen faded out.