WWE: Finn Balor Contract Set to Expire Later This Year, Cora Jade Underwent Surgery for Torn ACL, More News

WWE

Jan 24, 2024

Finn Balor WWE Contract Status Update

Finn Balor’s contract with WWE reportedly is currently set to expire later this year, according to Fightful Select.

It was reported that their sources clarified a recent report from WrestlingInc’s Raj Giri that stated that Balor’s contract was set to expire following this April’s WrestleMania 40 event and that Balor has yet to be approached for a new potential deal.

Those spoken to close to Balor stated that his contract will not expire “immediately after WrestleMania” but instead that his deal is set to expire within a few months after the event.

It was also reported that WWE officials have yet to approach multiple talents who currently have their contracts set to expire later this year. Among those with expiring contracts included Becky Lynch and Drew McIntyre.

Cora Jade Torn ACL Injury Update – Jade Underwent Surgery

As noted before, NXT talent Cora Jade suffered a knee injury at a NXT house show event in Dade City, Florida earlier this month. This injury was later confirmed to be a torn ACL injury.

Jade recently provided an update on Twitter stating that she had underwent surgery to repair her knee on Tuesday.

They say that your darkest hour comes before your dawn. TTYL pic.twitter.com/mBTUz1edru
— Cora Jade (@CoraJadeWWE) January 23, 2024

WWE News & Notes

Tuesday was the official 40th anniversary of Hulk Hogan defeating The Iron Shiek for his first ever WWE World Heavyweight Championship victory. WWE aired a video during this past Monday’s RAW show featuring Hogan commemorating his title victory anniversary.

WWE filed trademarks for “Angel Garza” and “Lucien Price” on January 22nd for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Dexter Lumis is currently in the process of opening a new wrestling school in St. Augustine, Florida.

Cameron Grimes reportedly is currently helping train Logan Paul for his upcoming match against Kevin Owens for the United States Championship at this Saturday’s Royal Rumble 2024 event, according to PWInsider.

As noted before, TKO Group announced on Tuesday that they had appointed Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the newest member of their Board of Directors. Besides Johnson, TKO also announced that they also appointed Brad Keywell as another newest member of their Board and have expanded their Board to 13 members going forward.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE officials held an employee meeting on Tuesday at their headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. Johnson reported that this meeting was led by WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque and WWE President Nick Khan and also featured new TKO Board of Directors member Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Johnson reported that this meeting was around 20 minutes in length and was described to be a “rah-rah” type meeting with employees being praised and thanked for their hard work for the company. The Rock reportedly also did his entire The Rock routine and employees popped for it.

WWE reportedly is currently planning to incorporate some sports-based elements into their programming starting with this past Monday’s RAW show, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that this was a topic of discussion backstage during Monday’s show and at WWE’s headquarters on Tuesday. Johnson reported that WWE officials goal is to try to root their product in stronger realism with Cody Rhodes’ being interviewed on RAW “earlier today” with a clock showing the time was one example given of this new change. Johnson also reported that interview segments for shows will reflect this new change as well.

As noted before, WWE and 2K Games announced this past Monday that this year’s WWE 2K24 video game will be featuring a 40 years of WrestleMania special edition. Artist Jonathan Barlett recently denied rumors of the cover art for this edition being AI generated and stated that it was 100% created by him. Barlett stated on Twitter “ummmmmm HI. this is 100000000% human made, by me. But honestly, im gonna triple down on my FUCK A.I, because this is what we deal with now. Skepticism from others that will be quick to jump to a conclusion with out giving it thought. And now here I am defending my hard earned AND learned craft of picture making.“

In a recent interview with TNT Sports, Jey Uso gave his thoughts about being hopeful of getting to compete in a match against his brother Jimmy at WrestleMania 40 and for this match to potentially headline one of the nights of the event. Uso stated “I feel like me and my brother’s angle would be different [from ‘The Bloodline Civil War’ angle going into WWE Money in the Bank 2023 because of] the emotion part. The promo part,” said Jey Uso during an interview with TNT Sports. “Me and my brother, just us. Imagine the fire, imagine the emotion. If you saw it with Roman and you saw it with Sami [Zayn], this would be just amplified 10 times more, electric. I’m excited, ‘Uce. I’m ready just to deliver it to the people and I do want to main event — and I mean main event WrestleMania with my twin brother, man. In front of 100,000 people. Maybe I go on night one and Roman is night two. Like, we still run it. Bloodline is still running this.” Uso also gave his thoughts about being interested in the idea of their father and WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi being the special guest referee for this potential match. Uso stated “Maybe a special referee. I don’t know about that hot tag — I take that back. I think Pops has got one more little run in him.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with CBS Sports, Cody Rhodes gave his thoughts about what it would mean if he did not “finish the story” and win the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 40. Rhodes stated “I guess I wouldn’t to…I feel like I don’t look at it from that perspective, in terms of what would happen if I didn’t get to the finish line because ultimately that’s a failure. It would be a failed year, and I’d hope that that doesn’t come to pass. You can never call it. You mention there being doubt in people’s minds about will it happen, what could potentially happen. Doubt is a beautiful thing, and for people to take the ride with you, I doubted that Daniel Bryan could survive a match with Triple H, and then survive a triple threat match and get out of WrestleMania 30 how he did, but it was a marvelous moment. I don’t mind doubts at all. I just, myself, can’t have any in regards to everything else that’s going on. I have to be straight and narrow as far as where I’d like to go, how I’d like to get there.” Rhodes also gave his thoughts about if his story has to be finished at WrestleMania 40 instead of at a different event. Rhodes stated “That’s a really great question. I feel like it could happen before. It could happen after. But I think it’s all the sweeter if it was to happen at WrestleMania. Last year was about the title, the championship itself, and then the way the match unfolded and being this close to the moment, that made it now a far more personal situation. So I’d love it to be at WrestleMania, no doubt. You never know with WWE, the flow here is quite wild. But I think the story that has been told throughout my whole career, the story that’s been told since the late 70s with my father and the WWWF Championship, I don’t think anyone is looking to step in and hinder that in any way, just because it’s been the story we’ve had and it’s been a real story, and when it’s real, it’s the best.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)