WWE: Slim Jim Reportedly Pulling Sponsorship for Royal Rumble, More on The Rock Joining TKO Board & Reigns Match Plans, Bayley

Jan 26, 2024

Slim Jim Reportedly Pulling Sponsorship Deal for Royal Rumble 2024

As noted before, a lawsuit was filed on Thursday by former WWE employee Janel Grant against TKO Group Executive Chairman Vince McMahon accusing McMahon of committing sex trafficking and sexual abuse towards Grant during her time in the company.

WrestleVotes reported that their sources stated that Slim Jim recently informed WWE officials that they will be pulling their sponsorship for this Saturday’s Royal Rumble 2024 event.

It was also reported that it is currently not known if this is only for this Saturday’s event or if Slim Jim is pulling out of all of their sponsorship deals with WWE in light of the recent McMahon news.

Hearing rumblings that Slim Jim has notified WWE they are pulling their sponsorships from tomorrow’s Royal Rumble event. It is yet to be determined if they will remain partners in the future.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) January 26, 2024

More on Dwayne Johnson Joining TKO Board of Directors & Potential Match with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40

As noted before, TKO Group announced this past Tuesday that they had appointed Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the newest member of their Board of Directors. Besides his new executive job with TKO Group, Johnson also had made his surprise return to WWE earlier this month and teased a potential match against Roman Reigns. This match is currently planned to potentially take place at this April’s WrestleMania 40 event.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Johnson had signed a deal with TKO to join their Board of Directors on January 3rd.

In regards to Johnson’s in-ring future in WWE, Meltzer reported that those spoken to within WWE stated that Johnson had yet to officially sign a new talent deal with the company as of the time of his report. Those spoken to reportedly also stressed the term “yet” for their statement due to it being known that he is willing to wrestle again and wants to have a match with Reigns at WrestleMania.

In regards to WWE’s current plans for a potential The Rock vs. Reigns match, Meltzer reported that WWE officials have not locked in their plans for this match to take place at WrestleMania 40. WWE officials reportedly are currently looking at how much the Saudi government would be willing to pay extra to get this match for a future Saudi event instead. Despite WWE officials considering the idea of holding off this match for a future Saudi event, one source spoken to reportedly stated that Johnson has been “headstrong” over wanting this match to take place at WrestleMania 40.

Bayley on Her Current Career & WWE Women’s Division Goals for 2024

Uproxx held a recent interview with Bayley. One of the topics discussed included Bayley’s thoughts about winning this year’s Women’s Royal Rumble match and headlining WrestleMania being a dream goal of hers but her bigger goal and purpose is wanting to give back and help make WWE’s Women’s Division become even bigger.

“Whether it’s women in NXT right now or whether it’s someone backstage like an Indi Hartwell or Candice LeRae that isn’t getting that TV time, that can be main event superstars, I think that is one of my main purposes here. I’ve been a champion and as much as I want to main event WrestleMania and get that singles match, as much as I want to win the Rumble, if it’s not in the cards for me, it’s okay because I understand what my purpose is. That’s to make the division bigger than it is and just give back and share my equity.”

Bayley also gave her thoughts about wanting 2024 to be the year that she cements her legacy in wrestling.

“To me, this year in particular is about cementing my legacy and my career. I’ve done a lot up until this point. With Damage CTRL, I feel like I’m on a different level than everybody else, even the women that I came up with, because it comes with a different responsibility.
Bringing up Dakota [Kai], bringing up girls and vouching for them, it’s a different type of responsibility than just having to worry about yourself. The fact that I’ve been able to do that successfully and add to it that IYO is the champion right now just puts me on a different level. I think this year is going to solidify who I am and what I’ve brought to the industry and to the company.”