Below are a couple of top WWE news stories of the day, featuring Cody Rhodes, The Rock, and Jade Cargill.
• The Rock pushed for Cody Rhodes to turn heel and align with him, but Rhodes rejected the idea.
According to the Wrestling Observer, Rock genuinely wanted the partnership, but WWE officials believed a Rhodes heel turn would harm the company, given his current popularity.
Instead, John Cena became involved as a backup plan. The Observer also noted that while he initially thought CM Punk might take the role, it was never considered, as Cena had already agreed.
• Jade Cargill’s WWE return has been intense, but behind the scenes, tensions with Shayna Baszler nearly escalated into a fight in 2024.
According to the Wrestling Observer, multiple sources confirmed a confrontation between Cargill and Baszler before Cargill’s injury in November 2024. Cargill had reportedly rubbed several members of the RAW women’s division the wrong way, leading Baszler to challenge her before WWE management intervened.
The issues stemmed from their feud involving Bianca Belair, Zoey Stark, and Baszler, with some problems arising in the ring and others outside of it. One source even suggested the tension was worse on the SmackDown side than on RAW.
“There was a confrontation that took place a few months ago before the Cargill injury involving Cargill and Baszler.
It’s been confirmed by a half dozen people that it happened, but nobody went into details past Cargill had rubbed enough people in the RAW women’s division the wrong way and Baszler was wanting to fight her until management found out and calmed the situation down.
I don’t know what in particular happened other than it wasn’t just one thing, and the belief is that some of this stemmed from inside the ring in those matches and some didn’t.
Although one woman star said they believed the tension within the SmackDown side was worse than the RAW side.”
