Edge WWE Retirement Date, Johnny Gargano Raw Return Details, More Returns Under Triple H – News Bulletin – August 23, 2022

WWE

Edge’s WWE retirement date potentially revealed, details behind Johnny Gargano’s WWE return, news on even more returns under Triple H, and more.

It’s Tuesday morning, and what better way to start the day than getting caught up on all the latest wrestling news – I’m Liam Winnard for WrestleTalk.com, and this is our news bulletin for August 23, 2022.

Edge Reveals Potential WWE Retirement Date

Edge competed in the main event of last night’s episode of WWE Raw in his hometown of Toronto, Canada, emerging victorious over Damian Priest and with his wife Beth Phoenix evening the odds against Judgment Day’s Rhea Ripley, but it’s what Edge said after the show had gone off the air that made headlines.

He of course had the chance to talk to his hometown crowd after the show, and he told them that, in an “ideal world”, WWE’s visit to Toronto in August next year will be where he has his final match.

Edge had spoken in interviews outside of WWE recently saying he has retirement “in sight”, and it certainly seems like that really is the case.

In full, he said (transcription via Fightful):

“30 years ago, 30 years ago, July 1st, 1992, I had my first wrestling match as Adam Copeland. I knew one day, I’d be standing right here in front of you, I just knew it. What I didn’t dream of is that I would have to retire for nine years and fight, fight with every fiber of my being to get this back. All of you are the reason for that. This is a reciprocal relationship.

“I just went toe-to-toe with one of the best talents and the future of this industry in Damian Priest. I can’t wait to do it some more. I can’t wait to hopefully come back one last time, one last time here in Toronto.

“I’m looking at the calendar, we usually come here in August. So next August, I plan on seeing each and every one of you, and in a perfect world, we’ll all say goodbye to each other that night. Hey, that’s okay, man. This is the place for me to do it. I mean this when I say it — I love all of you. In case you missed it, I love being Canadian.”

Johnny Gargano WWE Return & Details

Another major story from WWE Raw last night was the surprise return of Johnny Gargano, and it’s quite nice that there was a big return that was actually a surprise for once.

Gargano announced that he’s back with WWE, before being interrupted by Theory, his former protege in NXT, who Gargano then kicked in the face because of how arrogant he’s become since their days as teammates.

Anyway, in a post-show report from Fightful, we learned why it was a surprise, and that’s because WWE made an effort to keep it a secret.

Gargano wasn’t listed on internal run-sheets for the show – much of the talent at the show didn’t even know it was going to happen, and much of the production team didn’t know either.

WWE was said to have maintained interest in Gargano during his free agency after his contract expired last December, but the company was respectful of his taking time off.

It was added that IMPACT was never a “serious consideration” for Gargano, while AEW did have several people in the promotion pushing for him, but there wasn’t any word of “advanced negotiations”.

It’s worth mentioning that WWE always wanted Gargano to stay with the company and made him a “great” offer before he took his time off. Obviously he turned the offer down at the time, but the door had always been open, even with Vince McMahon in charge, so it’s not like he’s only back because Triple H is at the helm now – he probably would have returned anyway.

More Triple H WWE Re-Hirings

Gargano isn’t the only noteworthy WWE return we’ve learned about recently though, as Triple H remains a busy man, not only re-signing his favorite talents, but also his former backstage team.

It emerged during the weekend that Jeff Jarrett had departed WWE in his role as Senior Vice President of Live Events Booking, and now we know who’s replaced him.

That replacement is none other than Road Dogg, who was a member of Triple H’s team in NXT, but was released by WWE in January when the company started dismantling HHH’s backstage team.

PWInsider was first to report that Road Dogg had returned, while it was WrestleVotes who followed up with the confirmation that he’s in the role formerly held by Jeff Jarrett.

There could be another similar return in the form of Ryan Katz, who had been a member of Triple H’s NXT creative team, and, like Road Dogg, was let go in January.

Fightful reported that WWE has had “interest” in bringing Katz back, and he’s expected to return if he hasn’t already. For those who don’t know, Katz is actually also the co-host of Road Dogg’s podcast.

Other Stuff

In other little bits of news…

WWE announced another change to the women’s tag team title tournament as Gigi Dolin has sustained an injury, and therefore Toxic Attraction’s place in the semi-final will now be filled by the winning team of a four-way match between the four teams that lost their first round matches.

Speaking of the tournament, it was Dakota Kai and IYO SKY who beat Alexa Bliss and Asuka last night on Raw to earn a spot in the final.

Also on Raw, Trish Stratus appeared as announced and sided with the babyface team in the fight against Kai, SKY and Bayley, which led to Bayley herself making her in-ring return and getting a win over another Toronto hometown hero in Aliyah.

Also, Dexter Lumis kidnapped the Miz, and it was announced that Kurt Angle will be returning for next week’s Raw in his own hometown of Pittsburgh.

For the sake of fairness – Nikkita Lyons took to Twitter to claim that her vaccination status “didn’t have anything to do” with the medical issue that led to her not being on SmackDown in Canada this past Friday.

The new Survivor Series logo is half red and half blue, so it seems like the Raw vs SmackDown theme will be continuing this year.

Police footage emerged via TMZ of Jake Atlas’ arrest from earlier this year where he tried to defend himself by telling police he’s an “international trained superstar”, which got him a lot of negative attention.

WWE’s Kayla Braxton tweeted: “A little over a year ago, I came out publicly about my sexuality. (For those who are just tuning in, I like both) Around the time I came out, a former coworker who’s also gay, made jokes about my revelation. Anyway – he’s now the main character in my new fav movie airing on TMZ”.

In response to a tweet about Edge and Lita, Cardi B wrote: “I used to love them….they was such a sexy ass couple …This was truly my wwe era …even tho I was a Trish Stratus girl I used to love this couple”.

The backstage drama in AEW, revolving largely around CM Punk and Adam Page, was referenced on Being The Elite. Page was giving Dark Order a fake pep talk when a production guy walked in and attempted to tell him that Punk was calling him out, but Page cut him off and told the production guy to “shut the f**k up” because he and Dark Order were in the middle of something important.

And set for tonight’s NXT is the debut of the ‘Grayson Waller Effect’ talk show with guest Apollo Crews; Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs defending the NXT UK Tag Team Championship against Mark Coffey and Wolfgang of Gallus; and Tiffany Stratton vs Wendy Choo in a lights out match.

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