Paul Heyman revealed his WWE return offer to The Rock in a new MackMania podcast interview.
“I mean, listen, if Dwayne Johnson wants the publicity to lose to Roman Reigns, we’ll give him a title match,” Heyman said. “He doesn’t even have to wait in line or win a battle Royal or whatever, there’s box office there. I’m impressed with what Dwayne Johnson has done outside of WWE and I would counsel Roman Reigns that we could make a special provision to defend the title and smash Dwayne Johnson. Dwayne Johnson wants to take that beating, he is more than welcome to step up to The Tribal Chief, as long as he understands that when the match is over, he’s going to be like everyone else, and that he’s going to acknowledge The Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns.”
Sasha Banks also offered her first tweet during her WWE hiatus, with Banks reportedly set to return to WWE in coming weeks.
She promoted an appearance in a tweet about a non-WWE appearance, though the appearance tweet was mysteriously deleted.
“I’m so excited to see you guys this weekend!!!! I love yoU.”
I’m so excited to see you guys this weekend!!!! I love yoU
💙 https://t.co/X8A6azdFKW— Mercedes Moné Varnado (@MercedesVarnado) August 5, 2022
Another big WWE name just returned to the ring. WWE Hall Of Famer The ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair has been regarded as one of the greatest pro wrestlers to have ever laced up a pair of boots in the world of professional wrestling. He is also a man full of controversies and has had trouble with a lot of pro wrestlers and pro wrestling personalities. One of them includes WWE legend, Teddy Long. Bret Hart also previously called out Ric Flair for ‘flat out lie.’
One of the previous episodes of Vice’s Dark Side Of The Ring last year series focused on the infamous Plane Ride From Hell incident and it immediately brought the heat on Ric Flair, Tommy Dreamer, and others. Things have calmed down since then but it seems Ric Flair is still never afraid of speaking his mind.
Ric Flair recently announced he would have his final in-ring match on July 31 at the Nashville Fairgrounds where he will team up with Andrade El Idolo, who is now his son-in-law and square off against Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett. He ended up winning his final match as well.
According to a report from F4W’s Dave Meltzer (via the Wrestling Observer Newsletter), Ric Flair’s Last Match drew a large enough gate to make it the second-biggest modern-era independent wrestling event in the United States.
Meltzer reports that “Last Match” had 20,000-25,000 buys via streaming and almost 4200 more through traditional PPV buys. Ric Flair’s Last Match saw more than 6,800 fans turn out in Nashville for the event, which resulted in a $448,502 gate. That total would make the Flair event the second-largest indie gate behind 2018’s All In event that had brought in $458,525 from 10,541 paid attendees.
