Leighty’s WWE 205 Live Review: 01.21.22

– As previously reported, The Usos beat RK-Bro on last night’s edition of WWE SmackDown to unify the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships. The Usos are now undisputed tag team champions. Following SmackDown, WWE issued a storyline announcement for Riddle and Randy Orton, noting they both underwent medical evaluations following the post-match attack by The Bloodline.

UPDATED: WWE has taken an additional step toward Sasha Banks and Naomi over their walking out of Raw, removing their merchandise sections from WWE Shop. As PWInsider originally noted, all of Banks and Naomi’s merchandise has been pulled from the website and their sections no longer exist. Searching for either star comes up with no results.

Conrad Thompson says that he is “disappointed” that Ricky Steamboat put out a statement saying that he turned down a match against Ric Flair at Starrcast. As noted yesterday, Steamboat addressed reports that there was a working plan for him to be part of the match with Flair to take place at Starrcast V, saying that he had decided to turn the match down.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that WWE has lined up plans for Roman Reigns’ next three opponents for the next three WWE PPVs. According to the report, he will defend against Matt Riddle on July 2 at the Money in the Bank PPV. His next opponent will be Randy Orton at Summerslam on July 30. Then, he will face Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle on September 3.

In the latest episode of his To Be the Man podcast (via Fightful), Ric Flair spoke about his return to the ring this July and said he’s not doing it because he needs the money. Here are highlights:. On those concerned about him ruining his legacy: “For the 30%...

– The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Ric Flair and his longtime girlfriend Wendy Barlow are back together. Flair had previously announced in January that they had split up. – WWE has posted a new video looking at the top ten ‘insane’ cage match moments. – WWE Shop...

Former WWE Superstar Ahmed Johnson was recently interviewed by Gregory Iron, during which he discussed his planned WWE Championship match with The Undertaker at the Canadian Stampede In Your House event in 1997, which never actually happened as he was injured and replaced by Vader. If original plans had gone ahead Johnson believes he would have won the title for The Nation of Domination and most significantly he would have become the first black WWE Champion. Check out the highlights below (per Fightful):

In an interview with WrestleZone (via Fightful), ‘Road Dogg’ Brian James spoke about whether or not wrestling fans actually like the wrestling part of wrestling. He argued that there’s no money in that and people just want to be entertained. Here are highlights:. On the Gunn Club:...

– PWInsider reports that Johnny Elite, who made his AEW debut on last night’s Dynamite, has not signed a deal with the company. However the door is said to be open for future appearances. – Stevie Ray and Brian Bosworth were backstage visiting last night. – It seems the...

AEW has posted the video of Bryan Danielson’s scary ring mishap that took place after the AEW Rampage taping. As previously reported, Danielson ended up with his leg caught between the ring and the elevated ramp during the post-main event attack by the Jericho Appreciation Society on himself and Jon Moxley. AEW posted the clip of the incident with Bryan Danielson and you can see it below.

In an interview with Wrestling Inc, Killer Kross and Scarlett Bordeaux said that they make just as much money on the independent scene as they did in WWE. Here are highlights:. Scarlett on how much money they make now: “Financially, I will just say it — we are making the same as a WWE main roster salary.”

– During a recent interview with Sportskeeda’s Kevin Kellam, Paul Heyman spoke about a potential matchup between WWE Undisputed Universal Champion Roman Reigns and The Rock. Below are some highlights:. Heyman on a possible matchup between The Rock and Roman Reigns: “We can speculate all we want about Dwayne...

– PWInsider reports that Laredo Kid vs. Speedball Mike Bailey will kick off tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling on AXS TV. – Major League Wrestling (MLW) released the following preview for tonight’s episode of Fusion TV:. 5150 crossed the line when they tossed the Von Erich family’s World...

WWE has announced two more matches for tonight’s episode of WWE Smackdown in Grand Rapids, MI. They include Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn and Xavier Woods vs. Butch. Here is the updated lineup for tonight’s episode:. * Tag Team Title Unification Match: RK-Bro (RAW Tag Team Champions) vs....

Impact Wrestling has announced four matches, including a qualifying bout for Ultimate X, for next week’s show. The company announced the following matches on tonight’s episode for next Thursday’s Impact Wrestling, which airs on AXS TV:. * Ultimate X Qualifying Match: Trey Miguel vs. Alex Shelley. *...

Hello everyone, it’s Friday so it’s time for another episode of WWE Smackdown. Tonight we’re scheduled to get the tag team title unification match when RAW tag team champions RKBro battle the Usos. At the moment that’s our only announced match, but we’re almost certain to get Ronda Rousey’s next opponent soon, plus they’re still building up Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre, Sami Zayn continues to exist and his budding feud with Shinsuke Nakamura might continue, and WWE might remember that Ricochet is the Intercontinental champion. There’s obviously still a fair bit up in the air after Naomi and Sasha Banks had their issues with management, and we might be able to get some clarity going forward. Well there’s a lot of possibilities for tonight, so let’s see what happens.

WWE fans in attendance saw a tag team match before tonight’s Smackdown took place. PWInsider reports that The Viking Raiders defeated Jinder Mahal and Shanky in the pre-show dark match. – CJ Perry, the former Lana, has launched her official BrandArmy website. The WWE alumna launched the exclusive content...

NJPW broadcast the latest NJPW STRONG episode on May 21 via NJPW World. The matches for the show ere pre-taped on April 10 at The Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. Check out the full results below (per Fightful):. * Ren Narita vs. Chris Dickinson went to a time limit...

WWE has filed trademarks related to a new character name. Fightful Select reports that the company filed new trademark applications on May 17th for Giovanni Vinci and Gio Vinci. The trademarks are described as follows:. Mark For: GIOVANNI VINCI trademark registration is intended to cover the categories of entertainment services,...

WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long was reportedly never offered a WWE Legends contract when he was inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame in 2017, according to an exclusive report from Wrestling Inc. They discovered the news when via former WWE referee Mike Chioda spoke about his friendship with the former WWE Smackdown General Manager during AdFreeShows.com’s Monday Mailbag earlier this week. Check out what Chioda had to say of Long below (per Wrestling Inc.):