WWE: WWE’s Current Return Plans for AJ Styles, Seth Rollins on In-Ring Career Future, More News

WWE

Nov 1, 2023

AJ Styles WWE Return Plans Update

AJ Styles has been noticeably absent from WWE programming since suffering a storyline injury at the hands of The Bloodline on the September 22nd episode of SmackDown.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE officials currently have plans in place for Styles to make his official return from his storyline injury on the November 10th SmackDown show in Columbus, Ohio.

Seth Rollins Comments on Future of His In-Ring Wrestling Career

A recent episode of Mythical Kitchen’s Last Meal show featured Seth Rollins as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Rollins thoughts about the future of his in-ring wrestling career due to the history of his back-related issues.

“I don’t intend on stopping any time soon. Like I said, I’m still in that window. The business is hot, I’m having a lot of fun. So I don’t know. I don’t see it any time in the immediate future. Let’s just say that.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

WWE News & Notes

Tuesday’s WWE NXT show featured the official announcement of the return of the Iron Survivor Challenge match for WWE’s NXT Deadline event on December 9th in Bridgeport, Conneticut. It was also announced that qualifying matches will be taking place starting at next week’s show.

WWE recently announced that tickets for their upcoming Elimination Chamber 2024 event in Perth Australia will officially go on sale starting on November 8th for the pre-sale and November 10th for the general public.

2K Games reportedly is currently rumored to be working on a new WWE video game that would feature a tribute to the late Bray Wyatt’s wrestling career, according to Better Wrestling Experience (via Cultaholic). It was reported that it is currently not known if this tribute will be for WWE 2K24 or for a entirely different WWE-based game.

Tuesday marked the eleven year anniversary of Roman Reigns making his official debut for WWE for WWE’s NXT developmental brand.

Headline Planet reported that Becky Lynch will be one of the competitors for the upcoming Celebrity Jeopardy episode on November 15th.

As noted before, NXT talents The Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile made their official main roster debut at this past Monday’s WWE RAW show in Greenville, South Carolina. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that WWE officials were very happy over the Creed Brothers performance during their match against Alpha Academy on the show. WWE officials reportedly were also very happy over Nile’s performance at ringside during the match as well.

In a recent interview with the Irish Mirror, Lyra Valkyria gave her thoughts about her recent NXT Women’s Championship victory. Valkyria stated “It definitely feels like the payoff after years of the grind. I have imagined this so many different ways. The things that you think about are who would I beat? How would I do it? What would I say after? How would that feel holding that title up? What would I be thinking? It’s like an out-of-body experience because all the times I imagined that and then when it happened, it’s just sheer shock so I’m still processing. All the ways I imagined it happening, that wasn’t one of them because it never seemed within the realms of possibility. Becky, who has gone on to main event WrestleMania, one of the most decorated women in WWE. I couldn’t imagine that she could have been NXT Champion in 2023. What were the odds? And how could I see that happening and for me to be the one to dethrone her, it’s a picture that is so perfect I couldn’t have painted it.“

In a recent interview with The Ringer’s The Masked Man Show podcast, NXT talent Mr. Stone stated that he currently has no plans to return to active wrestling following his match with Bron Breakker at Tuesday’s NXT Halloween Havoc 2023 Night 2 show. Mr. Stone stated “I’ve thought about that feeling of getting my hand raised. I do think that it could happen. First and foremost, I’ll be so happy because I’ll know that Vonn will be happy that I got the retribution and I did him good. As far as wrestling again, I don’t know, I’ll have to see how beat up I am after, how I feel after. If, the next day, I barely walk and I can’t play with my kid, then maybe I’ll be happy with that one W and I’ll walk away as a winner. Maybe it’s once a year, once every three years, once every 20 years kind of thing where I feel when it has to be done, it’ll be done. Immediate plans of being an active wrestler again, no, it’s not on my plate. If I do win, I’ll tell you what the celebration is. Kids not going to school the next day, we’re going to Disney World.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with the Black Rasslin’ Podcast, Carmelo Hayes gave his thoughts about his off-air fists raising moment with WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker on the October 10th NXT show. Hayes stated “It’s crazy. In the beginning, I’ve been around ‘Taker, I’ve been around Cena. I’ve been fortunate enough to have an hour conversation with Undertaker, an hour conversation with Cena before. So luckily, I wasn’t unfamiliar with these guys. But just being around them is always cool. You’d be surprised at how chill and laid back they really are. This was a day off, and they were kind of just chilling. You could see, they were so happy to be around the youth of it all. The coolest thing was probably seeing all of them interact, like Shawn and ‘Taker and John and Paul. Just seeming them all interact, I was just like kids, like this is freaking cool. But again, it was just business, and we was pros, and we had to handle it like that. Obviously, we had to let to let our inner human being kind of hold that down for a little bit.” Hayes also stated that his moment with The Undertaker was not a pre-planned moment for the show. Hayes stated “I remember doing the whole thing with Taker, I didn’t know that was going to happen. I was just following him back. I didn’t know what we were doing. I’m just standing there like, ‘Undertaker,’ and we’re off-air, and I’m just kind of following him around like a lost puppy. Then he’s telling me, ‘Wait.’ I go, ‘Oh shoot.’ He’s like, ‘Alright, on three, turn back.’ I’m thinking, okay. Turn back. ‘Alright, back.’ Turn back. ‘Alright. When the music drops. Throw up the arm.’ I was like, ‘Oh shit.’ One, two, three, boom. Then he’s like, ‘Alright, let’s go.’ I got to the back, I was like, ‘That was so freaking cool.’ He just patted me on the back. That’s where I finally let go of all that professionalism and allowed myself to really take it in. It took me three or four days to really soak all that in. That was just amazing. But we gotta do a TV next Tuesday, so I’ll leave that be where that was and focus on what’s next.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

As noted before, WWE recently released their long-delayed Superfan: The Story of Vladimir documentary about long-time WWE superfan Vladmir Abouziede on the WWE Network and Peacock. In a statement sent to PWInsider, Abouziede praised everyone for all the kind words and support they have shown towards him since the release of his documentary. Abouziede stated “I want to thank you all for watching my WWE movie “Superfan.” I want to thank Giancarlo and everyone who worked on the movie. I always wanted my story to be told. I know a lot of people worked hard to finally release the movie and I thank everyone in WWE, the wrestlers in the movie and everyone backstage for making this happen. I want to thank all of my friends who have been with me at wrestling over the years. You are all my brothers and I love you, especially Charlie, Mike and Jon. I am always so happy to take photos and talk with everyone at the shows, because we get to love wrestling together. Wrestling is magic and it cheers me up. Let’s love all wrestling and have fun. I miss my mom and I love her. More than anything else, I am so happy the world gets to know how much she did for me and my family. That is the most important thing. I love you Mom and I know you are proud of me. Thank you again for watching my documentary. See you at the shows. I love you all. Vladimir Abouziede Superfan“