AEW Stars’ Contracts Expire, Sasha Banks WWE Release Updates, Even More Injuries – Audio News Bulletin – June 29, 2022

AEW

Several AEW stars’ contracts look to have expired, apparent updates on Sasha Banks’ WWE release status, even more injuries, and more.

It’s Wednesday morning and it’s time to get you up to speed on all the news from the world of pro-wrestling. I’m Liam Winnard for WrestleTalk.com, and this is our audio news bulletin for June 29, 2022.

You can listen to this morning’s round-up here:

AEW Stars’ Contracts Expire

As we mentioned a couple of days ago, Fightful Select reported that, following the recent public AEW contract expirations for the likes of Joey Janela and Marko Stunt, there have actually been several more that have gone “under the radar” that we didn’t know about yet.

Since that report that came out, there have been a couple of names that have dropped clues that very much suggest they are included in that conversation.

One of those is Alan Angels, who has blacked out his Twitter profile, removed AEW references from his bio which is now just his booking email, and tweeted the somewhat cryptic message: “Excited for what’s next”.

If that wasn’t enough evidence, the Wrestling Observer is also reporting that Angels’ AEW deal has expired, but he may well continue popping up on a pay-per-appearance situation.

Another name in the mix is Chuck Taylor, who has deleted all of his Twitter history, and his bio also has no mention of AEW, just his booking email, his ProWrestlingTees store, and a link to his Twitch livestream channel.

Both Angels and Taylor are still listed on the roster page on AEW’s website. Angels last wrestled for AEW on June 11, while Taylor’s most recent match for the promotion was in March, and he’s only had six in total this year.

Sasha Banks WWE Release Updates

For a couple of weeks now, there’s been several different reports about Sasha Banks’ WWE release status, and there have now been a couple more developments.

It was Raj Giri of Wrestling Inc who originally reported on June 15 that Banks had been released, but no-one else has been able to verify that, but have acknowledged there is at least some smoke to the situation in the sense that Banks’ lawyers have been in contact with WWE about a potential release.

Well Giri has now provided an update from what he’s heard. He tweeted:

Here’s what I know about Sasha Banks. She was released on June 10th and it came from Erika Schreiber, VP of Business and Legal Affairs for Talent Relations. As for why WWE has not said anything or removed her, the rumor is that leadership is trying to smooth things over

PWInsider also chimed in with their own update yesterday, saying that Banks and Naomi are both still listed on WWE’s roster internally within the company.

We will of course continue to keep you updated on the situation.

Even More Injuries

The injury bug continues to strike as there are now at least three more names we can add to the WWE injured list.

The first of those is Kevin Owens, who missed Monday night’s episode of Raw. Dave Meltzer first reported that Owens missed the show due to a “minor situation”, which was a bit vague, and then PWInsider followed up by reporting that they’d heard Owens was dealing with a “minor injury”.

Another name who missed Raw was Dana Brooke, who was recovering after being involved in a car accident this past week.

And last but not least, Nathan Frazer, who was absent from last night’s NXT, tweeted: “Dealing with a little injury right now, I’ll be back before you know it”.

We send our best wishes the multitude of wrestlers who are dealing with injuries right now, and remember we have updated injury lists for both WWE and AEW at WrestleTalk.com/stats.

Other Stuff

Wardlow was asked about the AEW/MJF situation at a signing, to which he replied: “I know nothing about nothing. Nobody knows. I don’t care. I personally don’t care. Nobody knows”.

Tony Khan tweeted that Forbidden Door made over $1 million in ticket sales and over $5 million from pay-per-view buys.

TMZ reported that the recent domestic violence case against Jake Atlas has been dropped.

Sonny Kiss wasn’t happy with the ‘AEW on TV’ Twitter page after the account had suggested that Ricky Starks would be a great addition to The Baddies group, despite the fact that Kiss has already teased joining and many fans liked the idea. Kiss tweeted: “It’s the shadiness behind this account for me. Y’all know damn well what the fans have been asking for… FOR MONTHS NOW! But go off!”. The AEW on TV account then deleted the tweet about Starks.

Kurt Angle said in an interview with NBC Sports Boston that AEW made him a 10-match offer, but Angle made the call that he can’t go in the ring like he used to, so he opted against it. He said he also turned down a separate offer for a non-wrestling role in order to focus on his new supplements company.

Brock Lesnar is scheduled for both the July 22 and July 29 episodes of SmackDown ahead of challenging Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam on July 30.

Viewership for this week’s Raw, which was sold on John Cena’s return was 1.951 million, which was down 35,000 from the previous week, but was still a really good number, and the 18-49 rating stayed at 0.54.

After last night’s NXT 2.0, the lineup for next week’s Great American Bash is Bron Breakker defending the NXT Championship against Cameron Grimes, Carmelo Hayes defending the North American Championship against Grayson Waller, Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne defending the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship against Roxanne Perez & Cora Jade, Trick Williams vs Wes Lee, the Creed Brothers defending the NXT Tag Team Championship against fellow Diamond Mine members Roderick Strong & Damon Kemp, and Tiffany Stratton vs Wendy Choo.

Also notable from last night’s NXT was that it was the first live show after Troy ‘Two Dimes’ Donovan was released after failing a drugs test, so they wrote him off by implying that Tony D’Angelo and Channing ‘Stacks’ Lorenzo had thrown him off a bridge. Donovan actually reacted on Twitter, by saying: “I’m a good swimmer jokes on y’all”.

And tonight’s AEW Dynamite is headlined by the second ever Blood & Guts match, which will see the Jericho Appreciation Society team of Angelo Parker, Matt Menard, Daniel Garcia, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara and Chris Jericho himself take on the Blackpool Combat Club team of Interim AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz, and Claudio Castagnoli, formerly Cesaro, who debuted at Forbidden Door this past Sunday. Also on the card for tonight’s show is Jade Cargill defending the TBS Championship against Leila Grey, and Orange Cassidy vs Ethan Page. Christian Cage is also set to appear after his phenomenal promo aimed at Jungle Boy last week.

Be sure to stay tuned to WrestleTalk.com throughout the day to keep up with all the news from the world of pro-wrestling, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning for another round-up.

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