There is still said to be talk about AJ Lee leaving the WWE, maybe as soon as this Sunday’s TLC PPV. However, her departure has not been confirmed and is not sure thing.
The rumors suggest that her acceptance speech for Diva of the Year at the Slammys was her way of saying goodbye. It’s possible that was her farewell, but again, this is all speculation at the moment.
Seth Rollins recently spoke about CM Punk’s WWE departure during an appearance on the This Is Awesome Wrestling Show. Here are the highlights...
Thoughts on CM Punk leaving WWE: Good for him. Kudos to Punk for finding himself something to do after WWE. He’s made a big splash over the last few weeks between his podcasts and signing with UFC. I wish him the best of luck. I really hope that he has as much success there as he has here. I think it will be very interesting for him to try something new. He’s only been a pro wrestler since he was 18 years old. For him, at his age, to step out of his comfort zone and try something new is pretty admirable and I’m looking forward to seeing how he does.
The way CM Punk left WWE: I think it could have handled better, probably, on both sides. And I think down the road, people involved will say the same thing. But as much as I don’t necessary agree with the way he left, I think I understand, mentally, where he was. This business can take a toll on you. You travel a lot. You get beat up a lot. There’s a lot of frustration that’s involved and mentally, over time, that can wear on you. It can put you in place where you’re a different person. And when you’re not happy with who you are and the person you want to be, you gotta take a step back. You gotta look at things outside the bubble a little bit. I think that’s what he did and I think he realized that he needed to take a step back and see what was going on. And if he didn’t like it, then he can move on. I think they agreed to disagree. Like I said, could have been handled differently from a public relations standpoint on both sides. I think once the dust settles, everything will feel itself out and it should be alright.
If the locker room would welcome CM Punk back to WWE: I don’t see why not. He’s a self-admitted jerk, first of all. And if you listen to his podcast, he didn’t say that he was in a great mood the last few months that he was there. He admitted how grumpy he was and how much of a jerk he was, even more than he already is. I think we would welcome him back. I’m not to hold too much grudges. I think everyone deserves a second chance; an opportunity to redeem themselves. I would welcome him back. I’m sure he would face some resentment, as far as the locker room is concerned. But guys get over that stuff pretty quick. I think if it was best for business, yeah, I would be open to it for sure.
Source: The Wrestling Observer
Also read: More Backstage News On The Rumors That AJ Lee May Soon Be Leaving WWE & MoreThere is a new rumor (which allegedly comes from talk backstage in WWE) that AJ Lee is close to finishing her career in WWE. If she loses the Divas championship to Nikki Bella at Survivor Series, it will be a good sign that she’s on her way out.
One thing you should take into account is that this is the third “AJ Lee leaving WWE” rumor this year. It was reported two months ago that she would lose the title to Paige to end their program and her run in the WWE. When she took time off earlier this year, several reports said it was a “certainty” that she wouldn't be back. This was also when the pregnancy rumors started.
Stay tuned .....
Partial Source: The Wrestling Observer
UPDATE: As noted earlier here on the website, there's been a rumor going around that WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee will be finishing up with the company after Sunday's Survivor Series pay-per-view.
Also read: Rumors Resurface That AJ Lee May Be Close To Leaving WWE Again - Details InsideOn Sunday's Wrestling Observer Radio show, Bryan Alvarez was asked by a caller about the rumor and he noted that he's been hearing the same thing. WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross also addressed the rumor on a recent episode of his Ross Report podcast and confirmed he's also heard the rumors from people within WWE.
AJ Lee has been on the road full time with WWE in recent weeks as Divas Champion. She defends against Nikki Bella this Sunday at the Survivor Series pay-per-view.
ORIGINAL: There is a new rumor (which allegedly comes from talk backstage in WWE) that AJ Lee is close to finishing her career in WWE. If she loses the Divas championship to Nikki Bella at Survivor Series, it will be a good sign that she’s on her way out.
One thing you should take into account is that this is the third “AJ Lee leaving WWE” rumor this year. It was reported two months ago that she would lose the title to Paige to end their program and her run in the WWE. When she took time off earlier this year, several reports said it was a “certainty” that she wouldn't be back. This was also when the pregnancy rumors started.
Stay tuned .....
Partial Source: The Wrestling Observer
According to sources, tonight is Matt Hardy's final date with ROH, barring him signing a new contract with the promotion. Hardy was previously booked for future dates, but the word is that ROH is not happy that Hardy worked the TNA tapings in New York City recently.
Also read: ?Backstage News On ROH Contracts & Their FuturesTNA and ROH are now said to be battling to sign talent. Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly are two names that TNA has been targeting. Due to a strict budget from Sinclair Broadcasting, ROH may have a harder time signing them back to a new contract. Their ROH contracts expired, and TNA has shown interest in Fish and O'Reilly coming to TNA to work with The Wolves.
The following are highlights of a new v2 Wrestling Podcast interview with Christopher Daniels:
On whether Frankie Kazarian will be departing TNA soon: "I can't really confirm 100% but I can tell you that the odds are very good that rather soon the both of us will be doing what we want to do in the world of professional wrestling."
Also read: Christopher Daniels Reveals Why He's Gone From TNAOn why he was released by TNA: "I'm not sure what their reasoning was. It wasn't money, we never even got to (talking about) money. Part of me takes it personally. Anybody that is in some sort of entertainment field where they are their own product, when you're told "No, we don't want you", of course a little bit of you takes it personally."
On rumors that Vince Russo is back in the TNA fold: "I never saw Vince, and the creative team never said one way or the other. They're denying it now, but when I was backstage, Frankie and I never saw any hint that Vince was there."
Also read: Christopher Daniels On TNA Rumors, Russo, WWE, His Future, And MoreOn the likelihood of working with Jeff Jarrett's new promotion: "I'm certainly hoping to work with Jeff Jarrett, I think he's a great mind. I think that if someone could take something and make it out of nothing, I think it's Jeff Jarrett."
On breaking kayfabe: "I definitely respect the business enough to try and protect it as much as possible. When I came up, kayfabe was solid, but now I've seen the change in the mentality. The curtain has been pulled back and it's hard to unring that bell now the word is out. It's one thing for everybody to be in on the gag, but you don't want to make people aware of it while they're watching the product. Like, people know there's a gimmick to magic, but they never really know what the gimmick is. You want them guessing what they're watching."
Also read: Vince Russo Talks: Why He Left WWE, Vince McMahon, Bret Hart & MoreCheck out the complete interview at Podomatic.com.
Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter
At this time, there is a lot of speculation regarding Kurt Angle's future in TNA. Angle's contract expires before he will be physically able to return to the ring from his ACL injury.
Also read: We May Have Seen The End Of Kurt Angle In TNAAlso, TNA is not advertising Angle for the 2015 UK tour, due to his contract expiring in the fall. There are some within the company that feel Angle is "100% gone" when his TNA deal is complete.
The current TNA X-Division Champion Sanada is not currently scheduled for TNA's 2015 "Maximum iMPACT!" tour of the United Kingdom due to the fact that he is not expected to be with the company by that point.
Sanada, who debuted with TNA back in March, is scheduled to leave the company in the fall and return to Wrestle-1 in Japan. The idea is that he will be the promotion's rising mega-star after having championship-level success in a major company in the United States.
Rey Mysterio's contract is the next major deal to expire in WWE. His deal is reportedly up in approximately two months. While he is one of the talents in the company with one of the largest downside guarantees, he is also one of the top merchandise movers currently in WWE.
Mysterio's contract is an interesting situation, as WWE officials would usually start aggressively attempting to re-sign a talent in his situation by this point, however that is apparently not the case.
Speaking of Mysterio, one of the main reasons he was booked to work the non-televised live events in Northern California as opposed to his hometown in San Diego was due to the feeling in the company that he has been booked too often in San Diego. For the record, San Diego ended up drawing the worst crowd among the live events that took place last weekend.
We previously reported that when his current contract expires, Alberto Del Rio may be leaving the WWE. He's been openly talking to people about it in recent months. There are also reports that many do not expect Christian to stay with the WWE once his contract expires.
Christian is 40, and there is a feeling that WWE creative isn't going to do anything significant with him. There were even reports last week that that if WWE found someone "more important" than him, that they would replace him in the Elimination Chamber match. As you know, they wound up going with him but there had been talk of replacing him if the opportunity arose or if someone really "connected with the crowd" going into the pay-per-view. As you can imagine, this didn't go over well with Christian but he kept quiet about it for obvious reasons. He's not the only one. Many mid-card talents are extremely frustrated but do not speak up simply because they know that if hey do, they'll be fired or "jobbed out."
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