Daily Update: Royal Rumble, Mustafa Ali, Toni Storm

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SATURDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • PWInsider reported that Ronda Rousey is backstage at the Royal Rumble and that, at the time of their report, was scheduled to be in the women’s Royal Rumble match.
  • Mustafa Ali tweeted today: “no, i would not like to be in rumble. i would like my release.”
  • In a video on her Instagram Stories, Aksana confirmed that she’s at the Royal Rumble. It’s been reported that she’ll be an entrant in the women’s Rumble match.
  • I previewed the Royal Rumble for Sports Illustrated.
  • The Mat Men Podcast will be live on our YouTube channel for a Royal Rumble watchalong starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time.
  • Paul Heyman, The Miz & Maryse, and “Jackass” star Wee Man were guests on today’s pre-Royal Rumble edition of WWE’s The Bump.
  • Becky Lynch told the Associated Press that, when it’s time for The Man to come back around, she’ll go by that nickname again: “When it’s time for The Man to come back around, The Man will come back around. Big Time Becks is what we’re going with now. But we own that. Just so you know that.”
  • Doudrop spoke to Sports Illustrated about how pro wrestling has helped her embrace who she is: “For the longest time, I thought I was an anomaly. I spent so much of my teenage years wishing I was someone else. I hated so much of myself – I hated my hair; I hated being big. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t get any smaller. I didn’t want to be the big girl. But wrestling changed everything for me. Wrestling taught me what makes me different is what makes me special. It took a long time to learn that, but I’m lucky to have had wrestling. People should love themselves, and I want to be here to share that message.”
  • WWE has a “The Build To” video hyping up Lynch and Doudrop’s Raw Women’s Championship match for tonight.
  • On the Cheap Heat podcast, The Miz discussed his feud with Edge: “Bruce (Prichard), I think, was the one that started the whole thing. Actually, I think it was one of the writers, it might have been Ryan Ward. I don’t honestly know how it all came about, but there was like three different ideas on who I was going to have a program with on my first return back. When Edge’s name came up, I lit up because he had only had one match before. We’ve always been on opposite shows or we were both bad guys. We never had a program or a singles match except for the one champion vs. champion match on Raw. We didn’t even work live events. This was meant to be. It was the chance to do Edge vs. Miz and make it mean something and do something that people are going to remember and talk about it. It’s been great and a lot of fun. “
  • In a story for Muscle & Fitness, Beth Phoenix discussed her in-ring future: “I never close any doors in wrestling, because I don’t want to be called out as a hypocrite later when its like ‘you’ve retired like, five times!’ So, I feel great, I don’t have any injuries that prevent me from wrestling, I don’t know what the future brings but I do know that this moment … all I can worry about is this moment in time, and if this is my last match, what a way to go out than beside my husband, in front of my kids, you know, in a stadium, and the Royal Rumble is my favorite pay-per-view so it’s got a fairy tale written all over it.”
  • Before last night’s SmackDown, there were dark matches where Io Shirai defeated Dakota Kai and Tommaso Ciampa defeated Roderick Strong.
  • Sheamus & Ridge Holland, Shinsuke Nakamura & Rick Boogs, and The Usos were interviewed on Talking Smack this week.
  • Shelton Benjamin told Wrestling Inc that it’ll be years before he considers retiring: “I don’t have an expiration date. You look at guys like Goldberg, how old is he? Way older than me. We work a very different style, but father time knows no style. It will be years before I consider retiring. Barring anything catastrophic, I’ve still got a few good years of high-level wrestling.”
  • Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Seth Rollins, and Bobby Lashley are advertised for the Saturday, February 19 Elimination Chamber PPV in Saudi Arabia.
  • 2K Games released a gameplay trailer for WWE 2K22.
  • WWE’s YouTube channel uploaded Drew McIntyre vs. Goldberg for the WWE Championship from Royal Rumble 2021, Sasha Banks vs. Carmella for the SmackDown Women’s Championship from Royal Rumble 2021, and Chad Gable vs. Sheamus from the Royal Rumble 2020 pre-show.

Other Wrestling

  • Toni Storm announced on Instagram that she’s taking bookings at tonistormrobinson@gmail.com.
  • Allison Danger tweeted that she’ll be able to make a short in-ring return this summer and wants a match against Nixon Newell (formerly known as Tegan Nox in WWE): “In 7 days I become a free agent. I’m smarter than ever. Creativity through the roof. I’m ready to make someone’s women’s division THE place to be. But who? I have been that pioneer once, let’s run it again. AND Doctor says he can get me through one short in-ring return this summer. Someone give me @TeganNoxWWE_”
  • Anthony Ogogo’s match against Hari Singh isn’t included on the Peacock/WWE Network version of “PROGRESS 127: And The Word Was PROGRESS…”
  • Kenny Omega, Adam Cole, and WWE’s Xavier Woods ranked their top video games of 2021 for Giant Bomb.