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Top 10 Wrestling Stories of the Week 3/25: Cody Rhodes Signs With WWE, AEW Faction Gets a Name, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 25th March 2022
cody rhodes aew wwe

Welcome back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday tearing up your bracket, that you missed WWE Smackdown? Perhaps you spent all day Monday trading your wrestling shoes for wrestling boots, and missed Raw.

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

10. Ric Flair and Mike Tyson Create Cannabis Line

One of the greatest pro wrestlers and one of the greatest boxers of all time, are now business partners. This week it was announced that Mike Tyson’s cannabis company Tyson 2.0, will be producing Ric Flair-themed cannabis products. Flair himself promoted the joint venture on Twitter, stating that soon his fans everywhere “can get in the Ric Flair state of mind – limousine riding, jet-flying, feeling good, and ‘WOOOOO!’” It is unclear at this time if smoking the product will also lead to divorce.

9. AEW 2021 Award Winners Revealed

AEW finally got around to announcing their 2021 Award Winners this week. AEW announced the winners on a YouTube show, directly before AEW Dynamite aired. The major awards went to Sammy Guevara with Breakout Male Star, Jade Cargill for Breakout Female Star and Kenny Omega for Wrestler of the Year. It may seem strange to some that AEW waited until the end of March to announce the winners of these awards, but you have to remember that Tony Khan has been very busy making major announcements every week.

8. FTR and The Briscoes to Face Off at ROH Supercard of Honor

After months of anticipation, The Briscoes and FTR will finally be facing off. This week it was announced that the two teams will face each other at ROH Supercard of Honor on Friday, April 1st. Anticipation for this matchup has been growing ever since FTR confronted the Briscoes at ROH Final Battle last December. ROH Supercard of Honor will be the first ROH show that will be run with Tony Khan as its owner. Interestingly Supercard of Honor will be airing at the same time as AEW Rampage, meaning Khan will actually be competing against himself. We shall have to see with AEW competing against ROH, if they will choose to mention ROH five times an hour instead of WWE. (Ring of Honor)

7. Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray Win the NXT Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic

The finals of the NXT Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic were held this past Tuesday on NXT. The finals saw Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray defeat Wendy Choo and Dakota Kai to win the tournament. Shirai and Kay Lee Ray then announced that instead of going for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles, they would cash in their title shot for the NXT Women’s Title instead. Shirai and Kay Lee Ray will now join Cora Jade in challenging Mandy Rose for the NXT Women’s Championship at NXT Stand and Deliver on April 2nd. John Canton has also petitioned to wrestle Mandy Rose, but so far that challenge has not been accepted. (TJRWrestling)

6. Veer Mahaan to Finally Re-Debut on Raw on April 4th

After over five months of vignettes, we finally have a date of when Veer is coming to Raw. Starting way back on October 25th, vignettes have been airing on Raw that Mahaan would be “coming soon” even though he was already on Raw for months before that. This week on Raw a new vignette aired, stating that Veer Mahaan would be returning to Raw after WrestleMania 38 on April 4th. Many fans are sad that the “Veer is Coming” vignettes will be coming to an end, as it is the most long-term storytelling that WWE has done in years.

5. WrestleMania to Reportedly Stay a Two Night Event

The days of 7+ hour WrestleMania’s may be over. This week it was reported that WWE is considering making WrestleMania a two-day event permanently. WWE moved to the two-night format back at WrestleMania 36 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. WWE has since continued the two-show format for WrestleMania 37 and 38. Personally, I don’t understand the hatred of the 7-hour Mania, as I was at WrestleMania 35 with my two sons and the one son who survived said he enjoyed the extra-long show. (TJRWrestling)

4. Raw Tag Team Title Match Set For WrestleMania 38

The Raw Tag Team Title Match is now official for WrestleMania 38. This past Monday it was announced that RK-Bro (Chad Gable and Randy Orton) will be defending the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships in a Triple Threat Match at WrestleMania 38 against Alpha Academy (Chad Gable and Otis and The Street Profits (Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins). Amazingly with this defense, Orton will be the first wrestler in WWE history to walk into WrestleMania as a WWE Champion, a World Heavyweight Champion, an Intercontinental Champion, a United States Champion and a Tag Team Champion. This of course is assuming that Orton is walking at all after spending the entire day with Riddle. (TJRWrestling)

3. Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley and William Regal Faction Gets a Name

It was a good week for Tony Khan, as he got to form another faction. This week on Dynamite, Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley defeated the Varsity Blonds while William Regal was on commentary. After the match, Moxley did a promo stating how much he respects Regal. Moxley then said that the seal of approval from Regal is a badge of honor, and that he and Danielson have earned it. Moxley then invited other wrestlers to try to earn that badge of honor as well, calling the group the Blackpool Combat Club. We shall have to wait and see which AEW wrestlers get to go from Dark to Blackpool. (TJRWrestling)

2. Gable Steveson Wins Second NCAA Championship

Former Olympic Gold Medalist and future WWE Superstar Gable Steveson, added another championship to his resume this week. Steveson captured his second NCAA Heavyweight Championship this past Saturday in Detroit. After winning, Steveson left his wrestling shoes on the mat, officially retiring from amateur competition. Steveson is now heading to be a part of the WWE Raw brand, with him reportedly going to be at WrestleMania 38. Steveson is now likely destined to capture many more titles in the WWE, as long as they don’t change his name to Stevey G.

1. Cody Rhodes Reportedly Signs With WWE

After weeks of speculation, it seems that we finally know the future of Cody Rhodes. This week it was reported by PWInsider that Rhodes has officially signed with the WWE. Chris Jericho on his Podcast Talk is Jericho also stated that Rhodes has rejoined the WWE. Rhodes will reportedly debut at WrestleMania 38, in a match against Seth Rollins. Rhodes going back to the WWE is surprising to many people, especially since Rhodes himself has said he would not go back. Clearly, however, millions of dollars can make anyone forget Hard Times. (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 betting heavily on Butler to win it all, then follow me on Twitter @Fowlerwrestlin1.