WWE, AEW Rumors on Roman Reigns vs. Riddle and MJF’s Promo; Jeff Hardy Injury Update

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Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe and All Elite Wrestling.

Reigns vs. Riddle at MITB Possibly Off

WWE is reportedly going back on its original plan to have Roman Reigns defend the undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Riddle at Money in the Bank next month.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t WrestlingInc’s Matthew Wilkinson), WWE had planned out Reigns’ next three title defenses to be against Riddle at MITB, Randy Orton at SummerSlam and Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle.

Meltzer noted that while Reigns vs. Riddle isn’t necessarily off entirely, it “probably” won’t happen at Money in the Bank, if at all.

Last week, WWE announced that it was moving Money in the Bank from the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium to a much smaller Las Vegas venue in the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Accompanying the announcement was a new poster that no longer included top stars such as Reigns, Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.

Reigns also hasn’t been announced for Sunday’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, meaning it will be the second consecutive premium live event at which Reigns hasn’t defended his titles since beating Lesnar at WrestleMania 38 to unify the WWE and Universal Championships.

Currently, Riddle is feuding with Reigns’ Bloodline stablemates in The Usos, who recently beat him and Orton to unify the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships.

With Orton now out because of injury, Riddle is teaming with Shinsuke Nakamura. On Monday’s Raw, Riddle and Nakamura beat The Usos by disqualification to earn a future title shot, although it wasn’t announced when the match will take place.

Reported Reaction to MJF’s Promo from AEW Wrestlers

MJF’s fiery promo on Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite reportedly received some strong reactions from fellow AEW wrestlers.

According to Fightful Select (h/t WrestlingInc’s Sai Mohan), many of the AEW wrestlers who were asked about the promo either felt MJF’s reported frustrations with AEW have either always been a work or transformed into one.

Fightful previously reported that MJF had taken issue with his contract and the fact that many of the former WWE talents AEW has signed in recent months are apparently making more than him.

MJF incorporated that into his promo on Wednesday when he criticized AEW President Tony Khan for treating former WWE stars better than him.

At the end of the promo, MJF used profanity and had his microphone cut off, which led to some speculation that it was legitimate, although most believe it was all planned to come off that way.

Since the promo, during which MJF asked to be fired, AEW has removed him from the roster page and removed his merchandise from its website.

The promo came on the heels of Double or Nothing weekend when MJF no-showed at a meet and greet, forcing AEW to give fans refunds or offer them an opportunity to meet a different wrestler.

Fightful also reported that a plane ticket had been purchased for MJF to leave Las Vegas before Double or Nothing, but he ultimately showed up and lost to Wardlow in a virtual squash match.

Some of the wrestlers who spoke to Fightful were reportedly upset over the idea of MJF missing the meet and greet being a work since wrestlers were led to believe it was legitimate and some had to stay late to cover for him.

Fightful initially reported that MJF no-showing was not a work, but the lines have since been blurred because of Wednesday’s promo.

Although it is almost certain that much of what has happened since the meet and greet is a work, many of those who Fightful spoke to believe MJF has real frustrations as well.

Some said he has been “more frustrated” this spring than in the past, and that he isn’t someone who is “always working” angles behind the scenes.

MJF has said that his AEW contract expires on Jan. 1, 2024, and the promo on Dynamite undoubtedly added intrigue regarding whether he will re-sign with the company or jump ship to WWE.

Jeff Hardy Suffered Potential Concussion at Double or Nothing

AEW star Matt Hardy divulged this week that his brother, Jeff Hardy, got injured during their match at Double or Nothing on Sunday.

Speaking on the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), Matt said Jeff was “almost knocked out” very early in their match against The Young Bucks and “got hurt pretty bad.”

Matt added that Jeff was “running on fumes” for most of the bout.

Many fans on social media seemed to notice that the 44-year-old didn’t look like himself during the match, as he struggled to gain his footing on the top rope on a couple of occasions and missed his mark a few times.

Despite that, Jeff managed to make it through the match and even hit a Swanton Bomb outside the ring and onto the steel steps.

Jeff officially made his AEW debut in March following his WWE release and immediately aligned himself with Matt.

Double or Nothing marked their first AEW pay-per-view match as a team, and it came against their former Ring of Honor rivals in The Young Bucks,

Jeff had been scheduled to compete in a 10-man tag team match on Wednesday’s Dynamite, but he was replaced by Darby Allin, presumably because of the injury.

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