Latest on Lita, Cody Rhodes and More

Women’s wrestling dominated the wrestling rumor mill this week, with the Hall of Famers’ upcoming return to WWE television making headlines.

We caught Lita’s return to WWE Raw on Monday as she helped Becky Lynch defeat Bayley in a Steel Cage match, but could one other specific friend make a comeback to even the odds?

The answer to that question and more awaits you in this latest roundup of rumors, which also takes a look at Cody Rhodes and a reported new title in the works for The American Nightmare.

The WWE Universe was in for a surprise Monday night when Lita returned to help Becky Lynch defeat Bayley in a steel cage.

Twitter account WRKD wrestling had the news of the Hall of Famer⁠ comeback – credited to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select – and noted another surprise return in the near future:

Sapp highlighted another spoiler in the tweet, lending credibility to the report:

Lynch’s partnership with Lita and Trish Stratus amplifies the feud with Damage CTRL, giving WWE another high-profile match in an all-new Elimination Chamber Show led by Sami Zayn vs. Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

Lita last appeared on the same pay-per-view a year ago, where she pushed Lynch to the limit in a Raw Women’s Championship match. Stratus hasn’t wrestled since losing to Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam in 2019.

The proposed match seems to indicate that the Babyfaces will emerge victorious, but working against two of the most influential women in pro wrestling history will increase the importance of a Damage CTRL faction that has been unevenly booked and could use a boost.

How much ring rust there is in terms of Lita and Stratus will affect the quality of the competition, but Lynch and Bayley rank among the greatest wrestlers of all time, while Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky have track records to this day to their days at NXT.

Dave Meltzer from Wrestling Observer Radio reported that if The Rock could face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39, WWE would have instituted a new championship for Cody Rhodes.

If that’s not an indicator of the company’s commitment to The American Nightmare, it is nothing.

For the long-term success of WWE and Rhodes as top players, it’s almost better that The Rock didn’t make the deal to perform at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on April 1st and 2nd.

Rhodes has been presented as such a star that while it would have been nice to crown him the first champion of any kind, both he and his story have earned the right to culminate in dethroning Reigns for the first time in 2 years .

But what should this new championship have been called?

The former VP of All Elite Wrestling has expressed his desire to win the WWE Title because it’s the belt that eluded his father, Dusty. Would the highlight of his journey have been failure if he had won a WWE Galactic title? Or an interuniversal-continental world title?

All signs point to a clear “yes”.

Beating Reigns is the obvious reward, but it’s the right one and will only serve to give WWE the marquee babyface that has haunted it since John Cena’s full-time days ended.

If you watched the final moments of Tuesday’s NXT, which saw Jacy Jane betray Gigi Dolin and end Toxic Attraction’s dominance, you might have noticed what felt like a few stiff, hard shots to the latter’s face and head.

Wrestling Watchers LiveBryan Alvarez (h/t Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats) reported that the segment that left Dolin punched and bruised featured a door that didn’t open as planned.

Instead of the door swinging outward and Dolin falling through, it stayed closed, causing her head and face to bang against it. When Jane delivered a particularly nasty boot, she absorbed the brunt of it instead of pushing through and falling to the mat.

While it certainly looked painful, it also made for a more effective angle that sent Jane on fire. It also positioned Dolin as the sympathetic Marty Jannetty to her partner’s selfish and self-centered Shawn Michaels.

Hopefully for Dolin, her run with WWE earns her more success than her comparable predecessor with The Rockers, who struggled to gain traction as a singles competitor.

Impact Wrestling recently optioned Deonna Purrazzo’s contract, extending it through the end of 2023, Sapp reported.

“Fightful Select has learned that Impact Wrestling has exercised the one-year option they had on Deonna Purrazzo, and Purrazzo has not signed a new contract or deal with Impact,” the report said (h/t Wrestling News World).

Regarded as one of the top wrestlers in the industry, Purrazzo has done much to improve the knockouts division within Impact. She has also appeared for AEW in a Ring of Honor Women’s Championship defense against Mercedes Martinez.

The Virtuosa was previously signed to WWE brand NXT.

Needless to say, both AEW and WWE are interested in the 28-year-old based on her record of exceptional performances in the ring against Mickie James, Taya Valkyrie, Mia Yim and others, all of whom were better for being in the ring with her shared and vice versa.

Given the way her WWE run ended, with little pomp or circumstance and limited opportunities, one would lean more towards AEW or some other high-profile promotion before predicting a return to her previous employer.