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Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from WWE and AEW.
WWE Once Pitched Head-Shaving Angle to Becky Lynch
Becky Lynch may be a natural brunette, but her red hair has become synonymous with her character throughout her main roster run.
It turns out she nearly lost it all as part of an angle.
Comedian Jeff Dye, who dated Lynch in 2018, revealed a WWE writer once pitched a head-shaving angle for The Man.
"When I was with Becky, they didn't know what to do with her and there was a writer that pitched like, 'What if we have you just shave your head and act like you're having a breakdown?' And Becky was like, 'No.' It was even going to move forward," Dye said on Wrestling With Freddie.
"They were like, 'No, we think that's a cool idea.' This writer pitched like she would have to shave her head. [Becky said] 'I'm not going to shave my head. What are you talking about?' And so it never [took off] because Becky stood her ground and was like, 'I'm not doing that.' They never did it, which made me wonder if maybe Shotzi was like, 'I'm going to shave my head for this thing.' And then that same writer was like, 'My story is going to get big. Wait, what? I have a thing for this.'"
Shotzi, whose green hair was previously synonymous with her character, recently shaved her head as part of an angle. While the head-shaving played out on television to further her character arc, Shotzi actually shaved her head in honor of her sister, who lost her hair due to chemotherapy treatments for cancer.
The idea of an unhinged, bald Lynch chasing championships might seem entertaining now, but it would have completely derailed her character arc. Lynch did not come into her own on the main roster until SummerSlam in 2018, and it's likely her whole The Man era never would have taken off if she had not stood her ground.
In the end, Lynch's commitment and belief in herself wound up being the best thing for her career.
Cody Rhodes Reveals Planned Sting Match in AEW
If you asked Cody Rhodes in 2021, he would have told you he was never turning heel in AEW. Ask Rhodes now, and apparently he was playing a "heel" all along.
Inconsistencies in the narrative aside, it was clear the reaction to Rhodes among AEW fans was far more negative than positive toward the end of his run.
Hoping to capitalize on that, Rhodes said AEW pitched The American Nightmare going one-on-one with Sting.
"I was going to wrestle Sting," Rhodes told ComicBook.com's Connor Casey. "I don't think I've ever shared that with anybody and nothing was on paper or anything like that. But I can say I got a tremendous offer from AEW creatively, financially, the full package. You won't hear me say anything bad about AEW or Tony (Khan) or my time there. It was a tremendous offer, but the offer wasn't right for me. What I wanted to get back to was the first goal that I ever had (winning the WWE Championship). But yeah, that probably would've been the endgame. That's what had been discussed, was to get one (match) with one of my heroes, Sting."
Sting and Rhodes had an interesting interaction not long after the former's AEW debut, but nothing came of it.
In the end, Rhodes bolted for WWE last year while Sting remains a part-time performer in AEW. It's interesting that Rhodes seemingly would have been given a one-on-one match with the Hall of Famer, given Sting is yet to compete in a one-on-one during his time in AEW.
Zayn Says Beating Roman for WWE Title Would Have Been 'Perfect'
February seems like a decade ago at this point in the Bloodline storyline, but it was only five months ago when the wrestling world was ready for Sami Zayn to be the one to dethrone Roman Reigns and become WWE champion.
While the creative decision to keep Reigns as champion worked—the Reigns vs. Jey Uso storyline has arguably been the pinnacle of the arc—Zayn says we'll have to see how things play out to determine whether it was the right decision to have him lose at Elimination Chamber.
"It would have been kind of perfect — a storybook ending if I had dethroned Roman. Sure, of course. But if you look at it more, you know, 5 years from now, 10 years from now, if you look at the totality of where it all kind of lies, I think you would just see that that's one great chapter, hopefully, in a story," Zayn told Xfinity Hangouts.
"I think, unquestionably, whether it was the right or wrong decision or whatever it was, if the way it ended, there's no question that had it gone my way, for example, that night in Montreal or at WrestleMania or something like that with Roman, unquestionably would have been a moment that would have definitely been replayed many times."
Zayn may have lost to Reigns in their one-on-one matchup, but he was ultimately the catalyst to the Bloodline breaking up. His and Kevin Owens' victory over The Usos at WrestleMania 39 set the stage for tension between Reigns and his cousins, which led to Jimmy Uso finally turning on The Tribal Chief at Night of Champions—ironically in a match Reigns and Solo Sikoa lost to Zayn and Owens.
While there's no doubt the pop Zayn would have received in Montreal would have been generational, he was a side character in a larger story. It's possible WWE will fumble the bag and wind up with the storyline ending in a dud, but for now, they've earned the benefit of the doubt to let this thing play out.
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