WWE: Original Nixed Plans for DIY Reunion, Jade Cargill on Starting in AEW Being Blessing for Her Career, More News

Oct 6, 2023

WWE’s Original Dropped Plans for DIY Reunion This Past Summer

As noted before, this past Monday’s WWE RAW show featured Johnny Gargano making his surprise return from injury and reuniting DIY with Tommaso Ciampa.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that WWE officials originally had plans in place for Gargano and Ciampa to reunite as DIY during this past Summer.

It was reported that WWE officials had planned for Gargano to make his surprise return at the June 19th RAW show before it was dropped along with many other plans for that night’s show. These plans reportedly involved the originally planned WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Ciampa and Seth Rollins to be quickly ruined by Judgement Day which would have led to Gargano’s surprise return to make the save. It was reported that this would have led to Gargano and Ciampa reuniting as DIY.

Those spoken to stated that several people involved were frustrated by these changes at the time.

In regards to Gargano’s recent injury absence from WWE, it was reported that Gargano had actually been medically cleared for a return since late April and the reason for his absence was due to WWE officials simply just did not have any plans to use him.

Jade Cargill Comments on Starting in AEW Instead of Elsewhere Being Blessing for Her Career

People magazine held a recent interview with Jade Cargill. One of the topics discussed included Cargill’s thoughts on her start in wrestling and the importance AEW had for her wrestling career.

“If you would have told me about three years ago that I was going to be a professional wrestler, I would have probably burst out laughing. I feel like it was a blessing (starting in AEW). I would have never got a better start anywhere else.
I feel like I’m walking into a new light. AEW prepared me. It prepared me to have thick and tough skin. If I would have been a part of such a machine like WWE at a younger age, I would have probably been in my head so much – so much – but because I’ve worn several hats in this life and I’ve already been thrown in the fire, so it’s just prepared me for these moments.”

WWE News & Notes

NFL Hall of Famer and Chicago Bears legend Dick Butkus passed away on Thursday at the age of 80. In regards to wrestling history, Butkus was known for being the special guest referee for the WWF vs. NFL Battle Royal match at WWE’s WrestleMania II event in 1986.

Bayley recently announced on Instagram that she is currently auctioning off the shirt she wore during her match against Charlotte Flair at this past Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Sacramento, California. Bayley also announced that all proceeds generated will go towards the Hawaiian Animals Rescue Foundation to help support animals who were affected by this past August’s devastating wildfire in Maui, Hawaii.

Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that LA Knight was WWE’s top merchandise seller for the month of September. Thurston reported that this was the third month in a row that LA Knight topped WWE’s list for merchandise sellers. The Top Five in order for the month of September reportedly were LA Knight, John Cena, Cody Rhodes, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Rhea Ripley.

WWE filed a trademark for “The Price” on September 28th for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

An episode of Tacoma PD on TruTV from this past August featured Dexter Lumis making a guest appearance.

As noted before, WWE held a new set of tryouts this past September at their Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that WWE officials had informed several talents who had participated at their tryouts that they would find out if they were to receive an official contract or not around three to four weeks after the tryouts.

As noted before, Mustafa Ali was released by WWE as part of a large batch of talent releases this past September. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that NXT officials had planned for Ali to defeat Dominik Mysterio for the NXT North American Championship at this past Saturday’s NXT No Mercy event prior to Ali’s release from the company. It was reported that this led to a lot of frustration by NXT officials over the decision for Ali’s release since it affected the plans they had in place for Ali and the NXT North American title.

In a recent interview with the Busted Open Radio podcast, Ilja Dragunov gave his thoughts about his recent NXT Championship victory at this past Saturday’s NXT No Mercy event. Dragunov stated “When this moment was there, I felt empty, but empty can be good sometimes. I have this thing I say, when one day, when I’m gone, ‘I want to go empty.’ I want to go knowing that I gave knowing that I gave everything that I possibly could. I have nothing to regret, nothing to leave behind, I left all that I had to offer. This is one of those moments where I felt this emptiness but in a very good way.” Dragunov also gave his thoughts on what he can do to elevate the NXT Championship and separate himself from past NXT Champions. Dragunov stated “The thing is, I won’t stop. There is no one in this business who can deliver this kind of emotion, this kind of passion, getting people into the fight. When I fight, people feel like they are into it. They feel the pain, they feel the struggle. Everything I’m working on has become the ultimate symbol, like not even being human anymore, just a symbol that people can hold on. This is what I can offer for the NXT Championship. Being a champion people can believe in. They look at him and see something they want to be in a certain part of their life. This fighting spirit, you can put it in any area of their life and people want to have it. This courage to step up and deliver in the whole sense of their existence.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan provided an update on the status of the development of a film based on him by Netflix. Hogan stated “It was a situation where business-wise, Netflix kind of missed the date as far as a business situation. I had a choice at that time to switch gears. Scott Silver wrote the script, he wrote the Joker and a bunch of other movies. Todd Phillips has done the Joker, Wolf Of Wall Street, all of the crazy stuff that he did. The script came back and it was amazing because my favorite movies are like Scarface, Godfather, True Romance — it was there. All of a sudden there was a business glitch and they tried to fix it a few days later, and I had already decided to move on. My life rights and stuff are somewhere else now and there’s a lot of things that are getting ready to happen. Hopefully, Todd Phillips and Chris Hemsworth will still want to play, there’s still a huge opportunity there. Even before we get into this, I said, if anyone played Hulk Hogan, I’d want it to be Chris Hemsworth. His birthday is the same day as mine. We talked once about the situation, he was all excited because he told me he had never played a real person before. [He said], ‘Oh my gosh, your life, it’s so interesting, this is so crazy. This could be the biggest thing I’ve ever done’ — and Scott Silver, the writer, [tells me] that it’s the most amazing script he’s ever written. It’s powerful, it’s in a different place but there will be an opportunity for everybody to regroup.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)