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Cook’s Top 5: WWE Stories of 2022

New year new story ideas! Cook drops his WWE expectations for what could be the biggest stories of 2022!

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It’s 2022, and you know what that means! It’s time for us to go over what people will be talking about the rest of the year. Last time, we took a look at the non-WWE topics, mostly because Tony Khan had a wild weekend that needed to be discussed. Today, we look at WWE, right after they had a wild couple of days that need to be discussed.

One thing’s for sure, we won’t be lacking for topics of conversation in 2022.

5. Will NIL lead to anything?

To be honest, I expect NIL to lead to nil in 2022. Gable Steveson has other business to attend to this year, namely winning another NCAA Championship. Barring his winning that title, immediately entering WWE and winning their Championship, which seems highly unlikely, you won’t see a dramatic impact from any of the people signed under this program in 2022.

2023 & 2024, now that might be a different story. If people are patient. Patience is a virtue that wrestling executives & fans are usually short on, so we shall see.

4. Will NXT 2.0 get a chance to develop?

It’s no secret that NXT’s re-tooling met with a lot of criticism from the Internet. Many felt that Triple H’s version of NXT was the perfect wrestling product and should never have been tampered with. What’s done is done, and we’ve certainly seen a different presentation on Tuesday nights over the past couple of months. It had some bumpy moments early, but seems to be hitting its stride now. Bron Breakker has been established as a future top guy. The women’s division has been reset with the likes of Toxic Attraction & Cora Jade getting the most attention. Grayson Waller is rubbing shoulders with the likes of AJ Styles.

So far, WWE’s been trying to make this thing work. The question is if they’ll continue trying, and if the fans that gave up on NXT will give it another look.

3. The new strains of the coronavirus that will pop up and take people out of commission for periods of time

I mean, who are we kidding? This covid thing ain’t going away anytime soon. We can easily predict what will happen throughout 2022 and how it will affect WWE.

-New strain emerges
-People get sick
-Wrestling continues

We will continue to discuss it and say the same things we’ve been saying since March 2020. WWE will ignore it as much as possible, only acknowledging it when somebody important gets sick. Which I’m not even saying is the wrong decision, as most of us watch this wrestling stuff to get away from our real-life problems. Traveling across the country is a little more questionable, but I think that ship’s already sailed. People can either attend the shows or not. It’ll be interesting to see how crowds trend while the pandemic continues, and just how thin the roster gets at certain times of the year.

2. Will somebody dethrone the Tribal Chief? If so, will it be somebody new?

Roman Reigns has been Universal Champion for nearly 500 days. If he doesn’t vacate or lose the championship on Friday’s SmackDown, he’ll break the record for longest reign with that championship. For most of his run, there’s been no real threat of him losing the championship. Some tried to tell you that The Demon King could do it, or Edge, possibly Kevin Owens, or any of these other alleged challengers could do it, but if we’re being honest (and we are because this is a Steve Cook column), nobody has posed much of a threat to Roman’s reign.

Well, there is Brock Lesnar. Brock had to settle for winning the WWE Championship on Day 1 instead of the Universal Championship, but he still seems to be coming for the Big Dog. Could we see the titles unified? Will Roman reign all year? Or will somebody actually break through to Roman’s level and knock him off his perch?

1. Who will get released this week?

William Regal WWE NXT Sunshine

By this point, I think we all know that WWE is going to be releasing people on a fairly regular basis. Heck, they released a batch of people while I was in the process of writing this. Fans are going to act shocked and outraged, but there’s really no reason for shock and the outraged aren’t going to do anything about it except be outraged again when more people get canned.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not great when people lose jobs. You especially feel for somebody like Allison Danger, who got 90 days of employment after moving across the country to work her dream job. Most wrestlers of my age group and younger see WWE as the dream. It’s what they grew up on. It’s tough for them to realize that the company they loved most of their lives doesn’t necessarily love them back. They need to realize what WWE is & who they are.

Hey, I’m not going to fault anybody for wanting to work for WWE. Plenty of people do well there. Folks just need to come into the whole thing with eyes wide open. Employment for a lengthy amount of time isn’t a guarantee. More & more people will find this out in 2022.

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Opinion

Chris King: The Wyatt Sicks’ Wasted Potential By WWE

Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.

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Wyatt Sicks WWE

Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.

It’s that time of the year again, folks; it’s unfortunate and downright awful that so many WWE superstars got released today. I’m not going to list all of them, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite factions, 

The Wyatt Sicks. Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Erik Rowan, and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) were something special. After Bo’s brother Bray Wyatt’s tragic passing, WWE felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. Wyatt was one of the most creative and brilliant characters, and Bo would be taking over his brother’s concept and bringing it to life. In 2024, at the end of an incredible documentary highlighting Wyatt’s career and struggles, Bo appeared on the screen portrayed as Uncle Howdy. The last time Uncle Howdy was seen on-screen was at the 2023 Royal Rumble, where Wyatt defeated LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match. Howdy jumped off a structure onto Knight. 

This post-credit scene sparked so much speculation and excitement that Wyatt’s brother would carry on his legacy and possibly debut the faction that was Wyatt’s concept. On the June 17th episode of Monday Night Raw, The Wyatt Sicks made their dramatic debut ,destroying the backstage area as well as “murdering” Chad Gable. It was such an iconic arrival for Howdy as he made his menacing walk from the back into the audience who were chanting “Holy Shit.” The Sicks and American Made (Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers) battled for months, with The Sicks being victorious. On the September 9th episode of Raw, The Sicks defeated them, with Howdy getting the win with Sister Abigail. 

The following year, The Sicks would move over to Friday Night SmackDown, and it seemed like WWE had a plan in place. They would win the tag team championships from The Street Profits and start to look dominant. Now, what should have happened next is Howdy should have won the United States title. The Sicks could have held all the gold over on the blue brand, but it never happened. The Sicks entered into a never-ending feud with The MFT’s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and Talla Tonga.) It started off exciting, and the WWE Universe was red-hot for their interactions. 

After months of repetitive matches and The MFT’s stealing their lantern, the feud grew tiresome and boring. Even Tama asked Solo why they are still holding onto the lantern, as it was destroying them as a whole. Finally on the SmackDown before Mania, Tama

gave the lantern back to Howdy against Solo’s wishes. Please explain to me why both factions fought almost every single week instead of just having one final blowoff match at WrestleMania. 

It should have been either a massive street fight or a falls count anywhere match on the grandest stage of them all. Instead, it turned into a meaningless week-after-week extravaganza that benefited no one. The MFTs won the rivalry, and The Sicks don’t even work for WWE anymore. This was the same criminalized creative process that Wyatt dealt with during his first run in the company. 

We’ll never know how much of a dangerous force The Wyatt Sicks could have been in the WWE. For all their careers’ sake, I hope they stay far away from the company for as long as possible. Every superstar that was cut deserves better!

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Opinion

Chris King: Bloodline Saga: Is This the Right Call For WWE?

Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns 

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WWE Jacob Fatu Roman Reigns Backlash

Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion after his dominant win over CM Punk at WrestleMania 42. On the following night on Monday Night Raw, The OG Bloodline came back together as a well-oiled machine as The Usos stood side by side with Roman. With the WWE Universe asking who would be the first to challenge “The Tribal Chief,” Jacob Fatu shocked the world by answering the call. 

Fatu is running hot after his impressive win over Drew McIntyre and feels like he is ready to become the new world champion. This bloodline segment ended Raw, and it picked right back up on SmackDown with even Solo Sikoa and the MFTs involved. This is now two shows that have been centered around The Bloodline saga, and it’s made me question whether or not WWE should be retelling this story. 

The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa) ran WWE for over four years as Reigns’ henchmen, doing his dirty work to retain his title. Even though Roman has declared he doesn’t want Jey and Jimmy to serve him, it sure seems like WWE are spinning their wheels. Fatu could add a whole new chapter into the story, even if he’s not able to beat Roman at Backlash. “The Samoan Werewolf” could be forced to do the same thing as Jey did all those years ago and fall in line. 

 In my opinion, I feel like Fatu should be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship because that’s a title I feel like he should win. I understand standing up to your blood and trying to prove you’re the best, but I don’t think this is the right move. It feels like 2022 all over again, as The Bloodline is the central focus on both shows. If Fatu doesn’t win, what happens to all his momentum he’s been building over the last two years? 

Why did WWE make this the best choice for storyline purposes? Why couldn’t creative have come up with a different challenger for Roman? There are so many other superstars that could challenge The Tribal Chief, such as Rusev, Bron Breakker, Gunther, or even a returning Sheamus. 

I just can’t help but question WWE’s logic here, and it kind of reminds me of all the times The Shield reunited. Could WWE be pushing the same storyline too many times here? Could the WWE Universe get tired of this rinse and repeat cycle of The Bloodline Saga?

Are we about to see all the weekly episodes solely focused on The Bloodline again? Will it be cinema… Yes. Is there still money in The Bloodline… Yes. Was it the right call? That’s to be determined!

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