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Top 5 Wrestling News Stories Of The Week 15/08: Hulk Hogan Declares Trumpamania Will Run Wild, Vince McMahon Previoulsly Stopped WWE’s Latest Signing From Joining The Company, Tony Khan Disputes Cody Rhodes’ AEW Story & More

By John Duffy • Published 21st July 2024
Vince McMahon

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.

Seth Rollins Won’t Wrestle At SummerSlam, Handed Interesting Role

Seth Rollins WWE WrestleMania

Seth Rollins’ involvement at WWE SummerSlam may not be what many would expect.

Returning from injury at Money in the Bank, Rollins challenged Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight Championship where if Rollins lost he would no longer be able to challenge Priest for the title.

Following a botched pin where Priest did not kick out and the referee did not count to three, Drew McIntyre’s music hit once again after The Scottish Warrior won the briefcase earlier in the night. Cashing in his contract to make the match a triple threat, McIntyre was cost by CM Punk for a third time and squandered his opportunity to become champion. As Punk sat on the announce desk and smiled, an irate Rollins approached Punk and he also lost a future opportunity at the title.

On the next episode of Raw, Punk and Rollins stood face-to-face with Rollins warning Punk that there were consequences to his actions. Despite The Visionary having issues with The Best in the World and letting it be known there is tension on numerous occasions, their differences won’t be settled in Cleveland.

A report from Wrestle Votes has now revealed that Rollins will be added to Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk as the special guest referee.

Source states the current plans have Seth Rollins as the special guest referee for the CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre SummerSlam match. Creative is proceeding under the assumption that Punk will be ready for action, with the anticipated clearance date set for the Monday beforehand, 7/29.

Tony Khan Appears To Dispute Recent Cody Rhodes Claims

Tony Khan AEW

Tony Khan has spoken about the creation of AEW.

During a recent interview, Cody Rhodes said he “hated” the narrative presented by the Young Bucks that he was the last EVP to sign with AEW. Rhodes said that while the statement was technically true, as he was the last to put pen to paper, he was the first person to meet Tony Khan as part of a vetting process.

Now Khan has given his side of the story in an interview with Liam Crowley for Comicbook stating:

“I first had the idea, I believe on April 6th, 2018. I was at a party in Beverly Hills. I was with my friend Kevin Reilly, who was at the time the President of TBS and TNT. This was before my good friend Mr. David Zaslav had taken over. It was a different era. It was still WarnerMedia, it was not Warner Bros. Discovery.

There were lots of things happening back then in the world of wrestling and TV rights in 2018. There was a big opening and opportunity for somebody to launch a wrestling promotion if it was done the right way, at the right time, with all the necessary resources that we had.”

“I just needed to find a TV partner and in Kevin, I found a potential TV partner. It took me another year after that to actually get a deal on paper, but Kevin was interested. We had a lot of meetings about it and I had opened a door that I would never close.”

“It was a few months after my first conversation with Kevin Reilly that I had my first conversation with Matt and his wife Dana. The first person I talked to out of The Elite was Matt and Dana. They called me on July 3rd, 2018,” Khan mentioned. “I think Nick thought, ‘This guy’s crazy.’

Everybody’s heard charlatans come out of the woodwork in wrestling, and they’d seen a lot of that, and I don’t think those guys were going to take it seriously, but something about my approach intrigued Matt. Honestly, I think it was the fact that it’s coming from the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars is what it was. I think it gave us a lot of credibility.

After that I met with Cody’s agent, Brian Wittenstein, because Matt reached out to Cody and said this was a great call,” Khan continued. “I talked to Matt and Nick together, and then met Brian, and then Brian introduced me to Cody and we had all these great talks.”

Hulk Hogan Wants “Trumpamania” To Run Wild On America

Hulk Hogan Republican RNC

Hulk Hogan has given his endorsement to Donald Trump in what was one of the most bizarre speeches in American political history.

One of the guest speakers at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Hogan took the stage and gave a passionate speech to show his support for Trump, complete with his signature shirt rip to reveal a Trump T-shirt underneath. The speech also contained multiple references to Hogan’s wrestling career including his rivalry with Andre The Giant and winning the World Championship at WrestleMania 5, which took place at Trump Plaza.

At one point comparing Trump and JD Vance to his previous partnership with “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Hogan made reference to the assassination attempt on Trump that occurred on July 13th. Stating that Trump was his “hero” on multiple occasions, Hogan declared that Trumpamania would run wild:

“What happened last week, when they took a shot at my hero and they tried to kill the next President of the United States, enough was enough! I said “Let Trumpamania run wild, brother! Let Trumpamania rule again! Let Trumpamania make America great again!”

Fans Divided As New TNA World Champion Crowned

TNA Impact April 18 Nic Nemeth Moose

At TNA Slammiversary, a new World Champion was crowned, but not everyone is happy about it.

Nick Nemeth defeated Moose, Josh Alexander, Steve Maclin, Frankie Kazarian and Joe Hendry in Six Way Elimination to win the title for the first time in his career. However, fans in the arena and on social media were unhappy with the result.

Over the past few weeks, Hendry’s stock has increased massively due to his appearances on NXT and many fans believe TNA not capitalising on his popularity was a big mistake.

How Vince McMahon Put A Stop To WWE’s Latest Signing

The WWE Hall Of Famer Who Says Vince McMahon Is "The Best Heel Character In History"

Hikuleo is WWE’s latest signing but according to reports it would have happened a long time ago if it weren’t for Vince McMahon

Fightful Select has confirmed that former New Japan Pro Wrestling star Hikuleo has signed a deal with WWE. The former NJPW Strong Tag Team Champion had been expected to finish up with NJPW earlier in the summer and will now follow his brothers Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa to the US.

No start date for the star has yet been clarified but he could have a big part to play when Roman Reigns returns to the company as The Bloodline issues look set to run and run. It was noted that there had been interest in bringing all three of Haku’s sons into WWE in 2023 but after Vince McMahon forced his way back into power, a hiring freeze was put in place prior to WWE’s takeover by Endeavor.