Johnny Knoxville Is Going to WrestleMania, Hook’s Next Feud, More Friday Fallout

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Credit: WWE.com

With All Elite Wrestling’s Revolution pay-per-view right around the corner on March 6 and WrestleMania 38 not far down the line on April 2 and 3, both of America’s major wrestling promotions are in full planning mode.

This week’s Rampage saw QT Marshall attempt to draw out Hook so some of his students could jump him, but his former protege proved to be too much to handle. With each passing week, Marshall becomes more and more obsessed with taking Hook down.

Over on SmackDown, Sonya Deville tried to help Charlotte Flair take out Ronda Rousey, but it ended up backfiring in ways Deville did not anticipate.

We also saw Naomi and Sasha Banks reunite as a team, and Johnny Knoxville threw down a challenge that Sami Zayn did his best to refuse.

Let’s look at some of the biggest moments from Friday’s wrestling festivities. 

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Zayn appeared in the ring to celebrate winning back the Intercontinental Championship he feels was stolen from him almost 15 months ago—when Big E beat him for it on the December 22, 2020, episode of SmackDown. 

He gave an energetic promo about righting the wrong that had been done to him and said he was more than willing to give Shinsuke Nakamura a rematch when he returns from the injury he suffered at Zayn’s hands last week.

This was when Johnny Knoxville made his entrance. After a little back-and-forth trash-talking, the Jackass Forever star challenged Zayn to a match for the belt at WrestleMania 38. 

Zayn refused before he unleashed a beating on Knoxville that ended with a Helluva Kick. While nothing was made official, it’s just a matter of time before this match is booked. 

WWE loves to bring in celebrities for matches. We’ve seen everybody from Snooki to Stephen Amell to Maria Menounos suit up for action, so this is not new or surprising. However, it could end up being hilarious.

Not only is Zayn one of the funniest people in WWE, but he is an incredibly gifted wrestler who could get a good match out of just about anybody. With Knoxville’s willingness to put his body at risk, this might just be one of the most memorable celebrity bouts in ‘Mania history.

Then again, if he wins the title, a lot of fans are going to be furious. We just had a long reign by Nakamura that devalued the title because he was never booked to defend it, so the last thing anybody wants is a champion who won’t even be there every week.

This will be a fun little joke of a match, but it has to end with Zayn retaining if WWE doesn’t want to upset the apple cart. 

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Banks competed in a match against Shotzi this week that saw The Boss win decisively, but that was not the most interesting event involving the Mandalorian star. 

After she celebrated her win, Banks was joined in the ring by Naomi, who loudly declared that she and Banks would be the next women’s tag team champions.

While the prospect of seeing two thirds of Team BAD reunite to win gold would be cool, the way all of this came together felt rushed and haphazard.

Then again, that’s the women’s tag team division in a nutshell. Instead of using its entire roster to create more than a team or two, WWE has let the division dwindle down to almost nothing.

Carmella and Queen Zelina will likely try to weasel their way out of defending the belts, but this segment all but confirmed we will see this match at WrestleMania, where we will almost certainly see a title change, too.

WWE has been inconsistent with long-term storytelling for quite some time, but the company knows how to create memorable moments.

The Boss and Naomi winning titles at ‘Mania would definitely qualify as a feel-good moment for fans of both women, especially after Naomi was stuck in a slow-moving storyline with Deville for the past several months. 

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Rousey appeared for an interview on Friday, but it didn’t take long for Charlotte to come out and voice her displeasure. While she had Rowdy Ronda distracted, Deville attacked the UFC legend from behind by taking out her knee.

The Queen and the co-general manager of SmackDown may have thought they had a good plan, but Adam Pearce informed Deville that upper management has booked her to face Rousey next week on SmackDown.

This is a match a lot of people have wanted to see for a long time. Deville is a former MMA competitor who has never been given her due in WWE, but the odds of this being a competitive fight are slim.

This is designed to make Rousey look strong heading into her big title match against Charlotte at WrestleMania, so there are only two ways this will play out.

Option 1: Rousey handily defeats Deville and gains momentum.

Option 2: Charlotte helps Deville take control by cheating before Rousey wins anyway.

Unless WWE goes with a straight disqualification and beatdown, Rousey is walking away from next week’s show with another win under her belt. 

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Ever since he debuted, Hook has been the object of Marshall’s anger. He sees his former student as a turncoat and has been trying to make an example out of him.

The problem with this plan is Hook being able to take out multiple people at once. Marshall tried to sucker him into an attack by some of his students on this week’s Rampage, but Hook made quick work of everybody before leaving Marshall to shake in his boots.

The battle of teacher vs. student is one we have seen many times in pro wrestling. It’s one of those classic formulas that is always going to be intriguing, especially when it’s clear the student is going to win.

Hook is one of AEW’s breakout stars. Even though he has never spoken a word in a promo, he has built up a large following by being enigmatic and taking out his opponents with vicious suplexes and submissions.

Revolution seems like the only acceptable time for this encounter to take place. If AEW wants to make Hook a star, giving him a win over his former instructor at a PPV is a great way to do it. 

This also gives AEW the chance to put Hook in danger for the first time. If anybody is going to be able to take him to his limit, it’s the man who trained him. Marshall is a great worker who will make the young superstar look great, so regardless of how this is booked, it should produce a satisfying result.