Below are some top WWE & AEW news stories of the day, involving Rhea Ripley and Malakai Black.
• Rhea Ripley has been an unstoppable force as the Women’s World Champion and recently surpassed 300 days as champion. Regardless of who steps up to challenge her, all have succumbed to her might in the ring.
Notably, even formidable opponents like Nia Jax have fallen before The Eradicator, even if the encounter didn’t occur in a singles match.
At the Royal Rumble, Nia Jax displayed a solid performance, showcasing her strength and skills. However, her journey in the match was cut short by the unexpected arrival of Jade Cargill, who made a memorable debut by eliminating Jax from the Women’s Royal Rumble match.
Despite this setback, it appears that WWE has big plans in store for Nia Jax’s future.
According to the Wrestling Observer, it seems that Rhea Ripley’s next challenge will come in the form of a showdown against Nia Jax at the Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event.
The event, scheduled for February 24th, is poised to be a pivotal moment in Ripley’s championship reign, as it’s going to happen in Ripley’s home country of Australia.
• On Saturday’s episode of AEW Collision, which went head-to-head with WWE Royal Rumble 2024, FTR & Daniel Garcia defeated House of Black (Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews & Brody King) in an Escape the Cage Trios Elimination match.
This match originally didn’t have the “Escape The Cage” stipulation, but the Wrestling Observer reports that someone in House of Black complained about doing a job, so Tony Khan changed the stipulation.
The Observer also reported that Malakai & Buddy will leave All Elite Wrestling once their contracts expire and then return to WWE:
“Of the guys, I know Daniel Garcia will do a job in a match like that. And I know FTR will do a job because you know, Dax Harwood does a million jobs when the circumstances are right, and Cash Wheeler’s not adversed to it.
So, Malakai Black NEVER does jobs, and when this was going on and I’m watching this, one of the things I was thinking watching this is like, these freaking House of Black guys never do jobs, and here’s the other thing: I was thinking like, what if they win this match and they’re just going like, you know like, two of those three guys are going to the WWE. I mean, they’re going. As soon as they can go, they’re gone.
Even though they were treated like sh*t in the WWE, and they never do jobs here, and they’re still going back to the WWE and my thought is kinda like, why do you keep putting them over when you know they’re leaving?”
Black and Matthews have their partners in WWE (Zelina Vega and Rhea Ripley), so it makes sense for them to return.
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