Below are a couple of top WWE news stories of the day, involving SmackDown and Royal Rumble 2023.
• WWE has officially announced the following for this Friday’s episode of SmackDown:
– The Rock will appear and address Cody Rhodes’ challenge
– Bayley & Dakota Kai vs. WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane)
– Carlito vs. Santos Escobar in a Street Fight
While WWE hasn’t announced this yet, PWInsider is reporting that RAW Superstar Cody Rhodes will appear on this episode to confront The Rock and WWE Champion Roman Reigns.
• WWE has initiated legal action against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The lawsuit, filed on February 16th, aims to block the release of a contract between WWE and the City of San Antonio.
Brandon Thurston has reported that the contract’s disclosure would unveil the financial terms of WWE’s agreement to host Royal Rumble 2023 in the city.
WWE asserts that the contract contains proprietary information and qualifies as a trade secret, thus falling under an exemption in Texas’s public information law.
In April 2023, city officials obtained approval from the state Attorney General’s office to withhold the contract from public bidding. However, this stance was reversed recently, with Assistant Attorney General Michelle Garza stating that WWE had not furnished sufficient evidence to demonstrate the confidentiality of the information in question under Texas law.
This change appears to stem from a review prompted by a second records request made prior to October. WWE claims it was notified by San Antonio about this subsequent request.
The lawsuit also involves Intelligence Options, LLC, as another organization subject to a records request. WWE has stated that this request is now irrelevant, as it was linked to a lawsuit that has since been resolved.
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