Daily Update: Becky Lynch-Ric Flair, Tony Khan, Steve-O

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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • On his podcast, Ric Flair called Becky Lynch “generic” while discussing Ronda Rousey’s return to WWE: “It’s huge [Rousey returning]. She’s not Ronnie. She’s Ronda Rousey. Anybody that’s stupid enough to call her Ronnie and make a joke of her presence and what she brings to the company is out of their mind, aka, what is her name now? Big Time Becks? ‘Hey Ronnie. Welcome back.’ Wow, that’s exciting. That’s really exciting. How about, ‘Thank you Ronda for showing up because I’m not ‘The Man’ anymore. I’m generic, who am I, Big Time Becks, The Lass Kicker, I don’t know.”
  • Lynch posted a tweet responding to Flair’s comments: “‘Work so hard your heroes become your rivals. Then, become so good, Ric Flair loses his mind every time you breathe’- Becky Lynch – February 2022″
  • Seth Rollins joined Sports Illustrated and the Pat McAfee Show on Super Bowl radio row today.
  • “Jackass” star Steve-O noted that he had to leave the Royal Rumble immediately on the day of the show due to testing positive for COVD-19. He was at the show with Johnny Knoxville for Knoxville’s appearance in the men’s Royal Rumble match. Steve-O was also supposed to be a guest on WWE’s The Bump the day of the Royal Rumble but was replaced by fellow “Jackass” cast member Wee Man after testing positive.
  • Rob Van Dam told Sportskeeda that he let WWE know that he was available for the Royal Rumble if they wanted him: “I let the WWE know that I was available if they wanted…needed me for the Royal Rumble, and I was on standby with a brand new outfit feeling great, in a great condition. In the end, they did not call me in, but it could happen anytime. I don’t have any plans for it, but I would consider any situation from any company. I would definitely consider it. If it’s right, it’s right.”
  • Goldberg, Ron Simmons, and JBL appeared on WWE’s The Bump this morning.
  • WWE’s YouTube channel uploaded Kane vs. Triple H in an Elimination Chamber qualifying match from the December 12, 2005 episode of Raw, Randy Orton vs. Booker T vs. RVD for the Intercontinental title from the February 9, 2004 episode of Raw, and Cesaro vs. Jinder Mahal from Fastlane 2017.

Other Wrestling

  • In an interview with TVInsider, Tony Khan was asked how many people have been let in on the surprise and know who’s debuting on Dynamite tonight: “Only a handful of people. Very few. I think it’s best kept that way until Wednesday night to let that anticipation continue to build. We have more surprises and fun moments along the way. It’s going to be a lot of great things Wednesday on Dynamite.”
  • TVInsider also asked Khan what goes into deciding whether AEW is going to offer a wrestler a new contract or cut ties with them when their deal expires: “When we started a lot of people had contracts that were a couple of years long and a lot of them are coming up. I have really tried hard to be very considerate of the people on the roster, especially going through the pandemic. That encompassed a long period of time where we were still in our first year of television and going into our second. I kept a lot of people under contract even though I wasn’t necessarily using them on television because I wanted them to still have paying work, which was hard to come by for wrestling during the pandemic where there weren’t any independent shows. Really only two places were running and the other place was cutting people left and right. I did want to give some job security to people. Now with so many wrestlers coming in, I can’t renew all the contracts. I’ve had to make some tough choices based on ability, fan response, or both. I try to maintain the best roster I can for the company and fans.”
  • Khan also spoke to PWInsider about tonight’s surprise debut: “First of all, I do want this to be something that the fans are happy about and I think whenever there’s lots of different names being tossed around, it’s a good thing and there’s a lot of good ideas from the fans and I like to listen to those ideas. Even if you can’t do them all in one night, there might be some stuff you can do in the future. So I have been monitoring that speculation. I like to stay in touch with the fans and follow the feedback. So it’s been really good for us. The last thing I would ever want to do is to disappoint the fans. So I really do believe we’ve got some exciting stuff for them and it should be a great show. And then if there’s more stuff they want to see, hopefully we could do that in the future too. But I know that this Wednesday we’re going to make a lot of people very happy and I love doing that as a fan. The last thing you want to do is have something built up and then people be disappointed. I remember when I was a kid and the higher power turned out to be Vince, that was very disappointing because at school we had spent so much time speculating who it might be and I think our big fear is that it was just going to be Vince. So I don’t want that to happen here. I definitely want people to back different names around and then hopefully a lot of people are going to be very happy with what they get on this show and if there’s more people the fans are calling for them, that the fans want to see, hopefully we can get them in AEW too.”
  • Chris Jericho told PopCulture that he isn’t thinking about when he’s going to retire: “You don’t really think about it. I mean, obviously now at 51, there’s more years behind me than are ahead of me. But if you would’ve asked me five years ago where I was going to go, I probably would’ve said, ‘I’ll probably stop in the next few years.’ But then AEW started and it just rejuvenated everything for me. Not that there’s any comparison, but I think I’m kind of taking on like The Undertaker role in the WWE for his last few years there. Where every time he does something, it’s impactful; it means something. He’s a benefit to have in the locker room. He’s a leader. He’s very experienced. He can tell guys and girls what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong. And it’s just a good person to have around your roster.”
  • Jericho has filed a trademark for “The Influencer.”
  • Joey Janela appeared on Rasslin’ with Brandon F. Walker.
  • Asbury Park Press published a story on Sonny Kiss.
  • Mascara Dorada announced that he’ll be returning to CMLL after his paperwork gets sorted out.
  • A grudge match between nZo and KC Navarro is set for MLW’s SuperFight tapings in Charlotte, North Carolina on Saturday, February 26.
  • An LA Fights vs. Jersey Championship Wrestling show has been added to The Collective 2022 in Dallas. It will take place on Friday, April 1.