WWE: Seth Rollins Knee Injury Update, Current Plans for Men’s & Women’s Royal Rumble Matches, More News

Seth Rollins Knee Injury Update – Rollins Hopeful of In-Ring Return in “About a Month”

As noted before, Seth Rollins suffered a knee injury at last week’s WWE RAW show in North Little Rock, Arkansas, which was later revealed to have been a torn MCL and partially torn meniscus.

A recent episode of the DC & RC Show podcast featured Rollins as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Rollins providing an injury update and him currently being hopeful of being back to full strength for an in-ring return in about a month.

“WrestleMania is the big thing. That’s the one. You want to do everything you can to get ready for that show. WrestleMania, especially this year, 40 years, it’s going to be huge. I’ve never carried a World Title into WrestleMania. I’ve never even been a champion during the Royal Rumble. This weekend itself is especially important because I’m a prize. Myself and Roman Reigns, we’re a prize. For the first time ever. I’ve been in the Rumble, I’ve been one of the guys trying to get to that spot, but I’ve never been on the other side of it. It feels very cool, in a way, to be on the sidelines. That said, rehab is going to be a pain. Dodged a bullet, the ACL is intact. The ACL is the big one. That one is good. The MCL will heal with time. We’ll get in there, we’ll do some stuff, we’ll check out the PRP and do some rehab. I’m hoping to be back at full strength around a month. Around a month is my timeline. We’ll see what happens. We’re going to take it day to day. I’d like to be back in a month. I don’t want to walk into WrestleMania and that be my first match in two or three months. That’s not going to be good for me. I want to be able to get back in there, test the wheel out, and make sure we’re in a good place. We’ll see how it goes. I’m taking it day by day, and I’m happy we dodged a bullet, and it wasn’t anything too serious that was going to put me on the shelf for six to nine months.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Current Plans for Men’s & Women’s Royal Rumble Matches

Gunther reportedly is the current favorite to win this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match, according to Sports Illustrated.

Justin Barrasso reported that his sources stated that WWE officials currently have plans for Gunther to be the winner of this year’s Men’s match and defeat Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 40.

In regards to the Women’s Royal Rumble match, PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Sonya Deville and Jade Cargill are currently expected to be among the surprise unannounced entrants for this year’s Women’s match.

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WWE News & Notes

As noted before, WWE announced this past Tuesday that they have signed a new television and media rights deal with Netflix for WWE RAW starting in January of 2025. Following the announcement, TKO Group’s stock rose to $90 per share at the close of after hours trading. TKO’s stock closed at $87.91 following Wednesday’s regular trading hours.

Steve Austin recently announced on Instagram that he will be appearing in an ad that will be airing during Super Bowl LVIII on February 11th.

WWE filed a trademark for “Kendal Gray” on January 22nd for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

As noted before, a lawsuit against WWE by a fan named Marvin Jackson who claimed that he was injured while attending WrestleMania 38 in 2022 due to negligence issues by the company was dismissed this past May. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that District Court of Tarrant County, Texas recently informed Jackson and WWE that there will no longer be an appeal hearing and instead the court will issue a future ruling over the appeal request based on recent court records. Johnson reported that no date was given for this upcoming ruling.

In a recent interview with TNT Sports, Jey Uso gave his thoughts about being proud of his cousin’s Roman Reigns great success he has had with his career in WWE. Uso stated “I look at my cousin now, Roman (Reigns), and I’m just happy on how far he’s come. From the day he’s walked into FCW developmental, to which I was there, to present. Inspiring. He’s the blueprint of what hard work does and you can just never knock that and he has great work ethic. All the time that he has off, he deserves all that uce. He earned it.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, Cody Rhodes gave his thoughts about his belief that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is not the type of person who would purposely come in and meddle with his story that has been years in the making. Rhodes stated “You mentioned ‘The Great One’ The Rock, nothing but respect for him. I went and saw ‘Jungle Cruise,’ I’m a Rock fan. I don’t think he’s the type that would come in and meddle with a story that’s been being told over the past two years. I think he’s probably up to something else, but you never know with WWE. I’ll be watching just like everybody else when I’m not wrestling.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with the Battleground Podcast, Ivy Nile gave her thoughts about the differences between her time in NXT and current run on WWE’s RAW brand. Nile stated “So in NXT, you create a very special bond with everyone because you’re at the Performance Center. There’s just this bond that you create with people. It’s like, I have to start over here at Raw. I’ve wrestled people I’ve never wrestled before, you know, and it feels kind of different. In NXT like, there’s some people that I’ve created bonds for life, and I’ll continue to train with them and grow with them and stuff. So, it’s definitely a different transition to kind of work with people that you’ve never really have ever talked with before, and obviously, you’re fighting that person. It’s just like, ‘Wait a second.’ it’s just going to be an adjustment, but it’s definitely something I’m ready for.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with The Pat McAfee Show, WWE President Nick Khan gave his thoughts about the origin of his working relationship with WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque. Khan stated “Paul Levesque [Triple H] is the one who introduced me to WWE. He is the one who first introduced me. When I was an agent, my prior profession, and I was trying to get into the WWE business, Paul had called me an unsolicited call. This is when Tim Tebow had just gotten cut by the Patriots. Paul called me and said, ‘Hey, I just wanted to introduce myself, my name is Paul Levesque.’ ‘Triple H, I know who you are, I remember you as Terra Ryzing.’ ‘Oh, you know WWE?’ ‘Yeah, I know WWE. I grew up a fan. I was an usher at WrestleMania 9. What’s going on?’ ‘What do you think of Tim Tebow against the Big Show at WrestleMania [30].’ I said, ‘What are you thinking?’ He offered some financial terms, I call Tim at the time, ‘What do you think?’ Tim and I had, then, a top-secret, private meeting. Tim Tebow, myself, Vince McMahon, Triple H in Anaheim, California about that. Ultimately, it didn’t happen, but Triple H and I remained in touch, and over time, he was the one who said to me, ‘I think Vince may want to meet with you. I think you told me you were going to be in Dallas this weekend.’ Dallas is where Raw was. ‘That’s good you’re going to be there, if I told Vince you were flying in he’d say don’t do it, but I know you’re going to be there, so plan on meeting with Vince.’ I went the night before. I went, sat in a hotel room, Paul called me, said Vince was ready to meet, went to Vince’s office, met with him, pitched what I had to say, and we shook hands on a deal and here we are.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)