WWE: Backstage Update on Jimmy Uso Health Concerns Over Rikishi’s Comments, Eric Young on WWE & TNA Partnership Being Good For Wrestling, More News

Backstage Update on Jimmy Uso Health Concerns Over Rikishi’s Comments

As noted before, Jimmy Uso has been out of action from WWE since this past April due to an undisclosed injury.

Uso’s father and WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi recently provided an cryptic update on Twitter about Uso’s current health situation during his absence from WWE.

Dear GOD 🙏🏾 for strength & health to continue #JimmyUso #wwe #Bloodline #Anoai #Fatu

Stay prayed for my boy #JonathanFatu pic.twitter.com/X56wecrRIS

— RIKISHI FATU (@TheREALRIKISHI) September 18, 2024

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that his sources within WWE stated that they had spoken to Uso and he told them that he was feeling fine. Sapp reported that no other details regarding Uso’s situation over Rikishi’s comments is currently known.

In following up with people in WWE, they say that they've spoken to Jimmy Uso, who says he's fine.

I don't have any further context beyond that

— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) September 18, 2024

---

Eric Young Comments on Still Talks with Triple H & WWE and TNA Partnership Being Good for Wrestling

Denise Salcedo held a recent interview with TNA Wrestling talent Eric Young. One of the topics discussed included Young’s thoughts about him still talking to WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque and his belief of WWE and TNA’s current working partnership being good for wrestling.

“It comes to no surprise as a person who’s very friendly with Triple H. Not as friendly with Shawn, but we get along very well and spoke a lot and are very friendly. I still talk to Triple H to this day, we’re very good friends. We don’t talk about wrestling much to be honest but we do talk quite often. It doesn’t come as any surprise, it’s good for both sides. What it’s really good for is pro wrestling, because it has people thinking, it has people talking like, oh what if this person shows up or that person shows up. I liken it to, I’m a bit of comic nerd so they have this series of What If comics. What if the Hulk fought Wolverine, what if Swamp Thing teamed up with so and so. It was kind of like fantasy booking, well that’s happening in real time in front of our eyes. I think really, this is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s cool now, but we’re really just seeing the genesis of it. We’re already seeing Joe Hendry show up on NXT, that does a lot of them, Joe Hendry is one of the most popular wrestlers in the entire world right now. Him showing up on their show adds legitimacy to their show because it is populated by a lot of young, inexperienced people. I’ve been inexperienced, you can’t get experience by noting doing it, but they’re learning it as they go and having people like Kazarian, even now we have Hammerstone and Jordynne Grace showing up several times. That only adds to them. Them coming over to us and us being in a partnership only adds to our show and what it does, it has people’s interest and has people talking about what could happen and the beautiful thing is, it could happen. It’s not just a conversation, it’s real. It’s a really cool thing to be a part of and it doesn’t come as any surprise to me that those guys are in control and now this is happening. It’s a joint venture, joint business agreement that is beneficial for both sides. For it not to be happening would be foolish.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

---

WWE News & Notes

Wednesday’s WWE Speed show on Twitter featured Kairi Sane defeating Elektra Lopez in a Quarterfinals round match for the inaugural WWE Speed Women’s Championship tournament. Sane will be facing off against the winner of Candice LeRae vs. Piper Niven in the Semifinal round.

WWE reportedly recently has changed their approach to talks with their talents for new potential contracts, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated WWE officials have now taken a new “very aggressive” approach when it comes to trying to lock down their talents to new deals. Johnson reported that this new approach is to try to sign talent to new deals even if they have a lot of time left on their current contracts. Johnson also reported that WWE officials recently approached Rhea Ripley, Nia Jax, and Liv Morgan for talks for potential new deals.

WWE recently released two new videos on their WWE Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was a tag team match of Eddie Guerrero & Art Barr vs. El Hijo del Santo & Octagon from WCW and Lucha Libre AAA’s co-promoted When Worlds Collide event from 1994. The second new video was a “Batista vs. Triple H – RIVALRY HISTORY: WWE Playlist.”

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that there was a lot of internal praise of Joe Tessitore’s commentary work at this past Monday’s WWE RAW show in Portland, Oregon.

As noted before, this past Friday’s WWE SmackDown season premiere and return show on USA Network featured the debut of “Neva Play” by Megan Thee Stallion with RM from BTS as the new official theme song for SmackDown. Stallion’s song recently debuted at number one on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart.

This past Tuesday’s WWE NXT show featured Roxanne Perez confronting CM Punk and telling him that while she used to be a big fan of him, she realized she should have been a fan of Drew McIntyre instead. McIntyre recently reflected on Twitter about Perez’s comments bashing CM Punk and claiming that McIntyre will end his career at Bad Blood 2024. McIntyre stated “None of this ‘you’re my wrestling daughter’ bs 💩 Only freaks do that. I’m just very proud of you @roxanne_wwe“

In a recent interview with Jazzy’s World TV, WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman gave his thoughts about why he has been very successful in his wrestling career. Heyman stated “I think I’m successful because I never really wanted a real job in my life. I have successfully avoided having a real job for the entire width of my existence. It was probably from my mother saying, ‘You’re a schmuck, nobody is going to like you. Do what you want to do with your life anyway.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent episode of the Off The Top podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and co-host Rikishi gave his thoughts about his son’s Jey Uso’s upcoming match against Bron Breakker for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Rikishi stated “Let’s get a round of applause on that one. I hope they do the right thing, I guess. When I voice my opinion, damn, boy, my forehead starts sweating. I can feel all the heat coming my way. I’m just speaking as a father, though. Tell me any other father would not be speaking up for their son or their daughter. So let’s see what happens. We’ll see what can possibly happen. The way I see the tables turning, I see it turning for the Yeet Man, and then we’ll see from there. Or it might be an outside interference, or I don’t know, it could be another Bloodline member. There’s so many ways we can go with this. This is just my humble opinion.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)