WWE: Backstage Update on WWE’s Plans for Jey Uso vs. Gunther at WrestleMania 41, Malik Blade Rehabbing from Torn ACL & Meniscus Surgery and Edris Enofe Rehabbing from Shoulder Surgery, More News

Backstage Update on WWE’s Plans for Jey Uso vs. Gunther at WrestleMania 41

As noted before, this past Monday’s WWE RAW show in Nashville, Tennessee featured the official announcement of Jey Uso vs. Gunther for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 41. Uso selected Gunther as his official opponent for the event as his decision for winning this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that WWE officials had plans in place for a while for Uso to win this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match and Gunther to be his selected opponent for WrestleMania 41.

It was reported that WWE officials plans for this matchup for WrestleMania 41 had been in place well before the Uso vs. Gunther match at this past January’s Saturday Night’s Main Event show.

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Malik Blade Rehabbing from Torn ACL & Meniscus Surgery and Edris Enofe Rehabbing from Shoulder Surgery

WWE NXT talents Malik Blade and Edris Enofe have been out of action for WWE since this past September due to injuries-related issues.

A recent episode of Nikkita Lyons’ Lyons Den Podcast featured Enofe as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Enofe confirming that he has been dealing with a shoulder injury that he had underwent surgery for.

“First and foremost, yes, it is a real injury. I had so many friends come up to me like, ‘Oh, is that a work?’ So, I’m the boy who cried wolf pretty much… I got the stitches and everything. Before I even touch up on that, I definitely wanna say thank you to Faith (Nikkita Lyons) because she was the one who picked me up after my surgery. She took me to go get something to eat too, like right after that. She took me home and then, she also checked up on me. Even at night too. I told her that I wanted to get some things because my mom was coming the next day and without second thought, she was like, I’m on the way. I was like, ‘What?’

I’m great, I’m great. From now until I do return, I’ll just keep working on different things, work on different things to get better in every avenue of who E.N.A. a.k.a. Edris is.”

In regards to Blade, Blade provided an update on Instagram this past December stating that he has been dealing with a torn ACL and meniscus injuries and is currently recovering following surgery he underwent to repair it.

“This is for you that don’t already know. I’m dealing with an injury. A few weeks back, I tore my ACL and meniscus and I had to have surgery. I’m about six weeks out from surgery now so I’m able to walk again now. I’m getting my strength back in the leg. I’m gonna be good but, in terms of wrestling in the ring, I’m gonna be out for a few months. So, it’s just letting everybody know I’m doing good. But you may not see me in that ring for a little bit. But when I do come back, I’m gonna be even better. Appreciate y’all.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

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WWE News & Notes

Wednesday’s WWE Speed show on Twitter featured Shotzi defeating Isla Dawn to advance to the next round of WWE’s newest #1 Contender’s tournament for the WWE Women’s Speed Championship. Shotzi will be facing off against Zoey Stark in the Finals of WWE’s current tournament.

Tuesday’s WWE NXT show featured Izzi Dame turning on Tony D’Angelo and the D’Angelo Family and joining Shawn Spears group. Following D’Angelo’s victory over Ridge Holland in a Steel Cage match to retain his NXT North American Championship, Holland and the D’Angelo’s Family’s Stacks and Luca Crusifino brawled their way to the back. This led to Spears, Brooks Jensen, & Nico Vance coming out from the crowd and confronted D’Angelo, Dame, and Ariana Rizzo in the cage. Before anything else could happen, Dame attacked D’Angelo with a crowbar and laid out Rizzo as Spears looked on happy. Dame then stood aside Spears revealing her as the newest member of his group.

UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier announced on Instagram that Julius Creed will be part of his coaching staff for the upcoming new season of UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter reality competition series.

As noted before, WWE will be debuting a new WWE EVOLVE television series on March 5th on Tubi. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE began filming content for their brand this past weekend at their Performance Center. Johnson reported that the crowd at the tapings was primarily made up of invited guests meaning the chances of spoilers being released are currently unlikely.

WWE recently released two new videos to their WWE Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was a “Ernest “The Cat” Miller relives his WCW debut.” The second new video was a singles match of AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho from WWE Fastlane 2016.

WWE also recently released two new videos to their NXT Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was a NXT North American Championship match of Dragon Lee vs. Oba Femi (c) from NXT Vengeance Day 2024. The second new video was the full June 26, 2013 episode of WWE NXT.

In response to fans on Twitter, AJ Styles clarified the the reason why he wore a P1 logo shirt resembling the one he wore in Ring of Honor for his appearance on this past Monday’s WWE RAW show was due to him owning the logo and he permits the company he works for to sell merchandise with the logo. Styles stated “Just to clarify, I own the logo. I permit a company to sell items with my logo on them when I work there.“

WWE announced one new match for the card of next week’s WWE NXT show on February 18th at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida:

• Zaria & Ruca vs. Meta-Four (Jakara Jackson & Lash Legend)