Latest News #WWE RAW

Whether you loved it or hated it, the Rusev, Bobby Lashley and Lana love triangle storyline was one of the biggest and most pushed of the second half of 2019.

It appears as though the storyline is now over, with Liv Morgan defeating Lana twice on Raw in two weeks, and Rusev not appearing on TV for some time now, and it appears the reason for that is pretty simple.

There’s an ongoing contract dispute between WWE and Rusev, which is the least shocking news of the year so far.

Rusev has been relatively vocal on his Twitter about being less than thrilled with his position in WWE, but said in a recent interview about the Lana storyline that he and his wife were “the luckiest people alive”, so it’s a hard situation to read.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter simply reports:

“Rusev has been off television due to a contract dispute.”

There isn’t a known date for the official end to Rusev’s WWE contract, but wife Lana did sign a new contract towards the end of last year.

The difference between Rusev and Lana is that Lana is primarily used as a manager, something she can probably earn the most money for in WWE.

Rusev on the other hand is likely to want to wrestle as much as possible, and as we know, there are plenty of alternative promotions who would love to bring the Bulgarian on board if he was to leave.

After she lost her NXT Women’s Championship to Rhea Ripley in December 2019, everyone has sort of been waiting for Shayna Baszler to debut on the main roster.

The expectation prior to the Royal Rumble was that Baszler would be winning the match and challenging Becky Lynch at Wrestlemania 36. However, the decision was instead taken to have Charlotte win the match, but don’t worry Baszler fans, she’s still coming to the main roster.

The plan is still for her to challenge Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship, and this is something she will likely do in the next few weeks to set up their feud.

Here’s what Dave Meltzer had to say in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

“Shayna Baszler will be a regular on Raw shortly. She is leaving NXT and this has been planned for a long time, probably close to a year so the thing about not wanting to transfer stars in NXT to the main roster and give the idea NXT is developmental or a stepping stone rather than a third brand doesn’t apply to her.”

Becky and Shayna have already been involved in a match together, with Shayna coming out on top at Survivor Series in the three-way between themselves and Bayley.

Whether this is the start of a huge push for Baszler, or whether it’s being done to cement Becky Lynch as the top star isn’t clear, but this will hopefully be the start of WWE paying attention to the women’s division for the first time since Ronda Rousey left nearly a year ago.

Kairi Sane is one half of the current WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, but according to Dave Meltzer, there’s a good chance she might be leaving the company rather soon.

Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that Sane’s contract is up early next year, and unless she re-signs, or already has, she could be one of the next names to exit WWE and has expressed interest in doing so.

“Kairi Sane, I could definitely see her leaving. I don’t know that she’s gonna leave, but she’s definitely expressed interest in exploring other options.”

Of course, as Meltzer says, he doesn’t know for sure that she’s going to leave, but it’s the final clause of that sentence that would suggest it is certainly a possibility.

On top of that, Bushiroad head Takaaki Kidani recently expressed interest in signing Sane and Io Shirai to Stardom when their WWE contracts expire.

There has certainly been a markup in interest in WWE wrestlers wanting out of the company. Oney Lorcan and Sin Cara are the latest names to come to light having asked for their releases lately.

As mentioned, Sane is one half of the Women’s Tag Champions with Asuka as the Kabuki Warriors. Meltzer added that Asuka seems happy in the United States. Sane is also a former NXT Women’s Champion.

Predictably, WWE lost complete interest in the women’s division once Ronda Rousey left after WrestleMania 35.

However, it seems that it could soon be revived as Natalya has said that Ronda “definitely wants to come back” to WWE.

Speaking to the New York Post, Natalya said:

“Ronda I think misses it a lot. I think that she misses it. I think that she definitely wants to come back, but I think that she’s so focused on having a family and that’s something. … When Ronda makes a promise to somebody, she stands by her word. And she really wants to have a family and she’s really focused on that with her husband Travis.

“So I believe that that right now is her main focus, but I also think she still has a lot of unfinished business is WWE and so, for me, because she kind of fell in love with it more than she even realized she would, I think she’ll be back, but it’s all about timing and I just think her family is coming first right now and I think every woman can relate to that.”

She also admitted that her November 2018 Raw match with Ronda Rousey was completely improvised (which explains a lot).

“We got to call that match in the ring, and very few women can do that. And I’m proud to say we called an 18-minute match in the ring with literally just our passion. And I don’t think Ronda even knew she could do that.

“To me, I was so impressed with her in that night that she was able to just go without having to have practices or rehearsals, no. She and I literally walked through the curtain, met each other in the ring and we just went. We wrestled. We wrestled our hearts out, and by the end of it, both of us were covered in blood, sweat and tears. But that’s what this industry is all about, and Ronda showed me that night she belonged.”