New WWE Signing, Mustafa Ali Release Update, Sami Zayn Re-Signs – Audio News Bulletin – January 21, 2022

A new WWE signing seems to have been revealed, an update on Mustafa Ali’s request to be released, a big name has re-signed, and more.

It’s Friday, thankfully, so let’s a look at all the latest wrestling news ahead of the weekend.

You can listen to today’s round-up here:

New WWE Signing Seemingly Revealed

It’s been announced that Cole Karter will be working his final independent show on January 22, which is tomorrow. The show is the International Wrestling Cartel’s Reloaded 8.0.

Karter worked a number of AEW Dark tapings last year, and even appeared on Dynamite in a loss to Anthony Ogogo on April 14.

As pointed out in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the belief is, since he attended a tryout this past December, Karter has signed with WWE, although it hasn’t been officially announced as of yet.

The tweet that Karter has pinned to the top of his Twitter page is screenshots of that tryout and him thanking WWE for the opportunity, calling it the best experience of his life.

Mustafa Ali Release Request Update

There’s been another update in the Mustafa Ali saga after he requested his WWE release last weekend following what was called a “heated argument” with Vince McMahon recently.

Well, according to the latest report from Fightful Select, WWE does not plan on granting Ali his release.

This is despite numerous recent reports suggesting that WWE was willing to release people who request it, as we saw with Toni Storm at the end of last year.

However, it seems that Ali is an exception for whatever reason. The report notes that the term “value” was brought up a lot during discussions between the two sides, but there was nothing specific about the context of the use of that word.

Ali hasn’t been backstage since the aforemention argument with McMahon, which was said to be a result of a pitch McMahon gave Ali that Ali didn’t like.

It was said that Ali still has several years left on his WWE contract.

Sami Zayn Re-Signs With WWE

Speaking of several years left on people’s WWE contracts, that is now the case for Sami Zayn, who has re-signed with the company.

The Wrestling Observer noted that this actually happened around the same time Zayn’s close friend Kevin Owens re-signed, and coincided with Zayn being involved with Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar and the Universal Championship on SmackDown.

Fightful Select mentioned that Ring of Honor was interested in Zayn before it went hiatus, and that AEW talent had said AEW was interested as well.

Zayn looked set for a program with Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura before Nakamura’s hand injury, and is now involved with Johnny Knoxville ahead of the Royal Rumble.

After the news he had re-signed came out, Zayn tweeted: “Sticking around and having fun, that’s the Sami Zayn way”.

Other Stuff

In other little bits of news…

It’s believed Rey Fenix is hopeful to make a return in mid-February after his nasty arm injury

Rey Mysterio was revealed as the cover star for WWE 2K22 and the release date is set for this coming March.

WWE abandoned its trademark for Gunther Stark after the backlash around it being the name of a Nazi Commander. As mentioned yesterday, WALTER is now using the name Gunther on its own.

Finn Balor did his best to reassure Gunther after his name change, tweeting that “everyone hated Finn too”.

It looks like Marina Shafir has been signed by AEW as she has a shirt up on the AEW Shop.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that WarnerMedia took WWE’s recent comment about “gory” AEW matches as a “personal attack against the company in an attempt to hurt their ad sales”.

The February 18 episode of SmackDown will be taped on February 11 due to the Saudi Arabia Elimination Chamber show on February 19.

And NXT talent Javier Bernal, who makes his debut on tonight’s 205 Live and used to be a hair model with long hair, was told by John Laurinaitis he should get a haircut, and did.

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

• Cole Karter
• audio news bulletin
• mustafa ali
• Sami Zayn

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