Backstage WWE and AEW Rumors Reveal the Latest on Braun Strowman, Adam Cole and More Surprising Developments in Wrestling Promotions .giang

Braun Strowman is back to wrecking anything in his path on Monday nights as one of the top babyfaces on WWE Raw, but The Monster Among Men may have suffered a setback in his latest victory.

The latest on a potential injury to the former universal champion headlines a collection of rumors from across WWE and All Elite Wrestling that also includes potential changes to the NXT presentation, the latest on Adam Cole’s return to the squared circle, and a potential push for one of the great young stars in pro wrestling.

Braun Strowman scored a massive, Seth Rollins-assisted victory over Bronson Reed in the Last Monster Standing match on Raw this week, but he did not emerge from the battle unscathed.

Wrestling Observer Live‘s Bryan Alvarez reported that The Monster of All Monsters possibly suffered a groin tear during the match.

If that is the case, it would be a devastating blow for a Superstar who built momentum in the weeks leading into the match. He underwent serious neck surgery in 2023 and had just begun regularly appearing in the squared circle.

The battles with Reed had been a throwback to the days of heavyweight clashes for supremacy.

If Strowman is sidelined for any extended period of time, it will be interesting to see if WWE can find a way to keep him on television and relevant until he is able to compete again.

Otherwise, the creative team could use the unfortunate timing to continue presenting him as more of a spectacle, in which he would not be overexposed and pop up from time to time for a feud here or there.

Fightful’s Corey Brennan reported that, despite the CW Network listing NXT as a PG-14-rated show, there are no plans to make any significant changes to the presentation of the brand:

“On the topic of the age rating, source in WWE production noted that it would be strange to see NXT and not Raw and Smackdown change age rating, but also lamented that with NXT being on network TV, this could be a way to prevent the need to censor crowd chants and other usages of swear words on the program,.”

The brand’s first episode on The CW saw Roxanne Perez capitalize on interference from Cora Jade to retain the NXT Women’s Championship over Giulia, while Trick Williams defeated Ethan Page to win the NXT title in the main event.

There was no significant change in tone for the show.

Per a press release from WWE, the debut episode on CW delivered the largest rating for an episode of NXT since October 2023, with 895,000 total viewers, up 44 percent from last week. The show peaked at 965,000 viewers for Perez vs. Giulia, per Wrestlenomics.

While it will be difficult to surpass the hype surrounding that first episode, if WWE is able to sustain that number, there will be no need to change the content of the show or alter its tone in any way.

Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp has reported that Adam Cole is expected back in AEW sooner rather than later.

“Fightful Select has learned that word backstage within All Elite Wrestling is that they’re hopeful and even expecting to get Adam Cole back sooner than later, and that wheels have already been put in motion to prepare for that on-screen,” he wrote (h/t Colin Tessier of Wrestle Zone).

Fans last saw Cole at Double or Nothing, when MJF returned from injury to lay him out and put an end to their storyline, which began hot but was adversely affected by ill-timed injury before limping to a conclusion, both literally and figuratively.

The 35-year-old’s absence not only halted his best run to date in AEW, which revolved around the AEW World Championship and may well have ended with him enjoying a run with the title, but it also hampered the impact the Undisputed Kingdom faction would have.

It will be interesting to see how Cole is brought back and in what role.

He has always thrived as a heel so one would imagine he would come back as a villain, but does he resume his role as the face of the aforementioned group or does Tony Khan deliver a quick out to wrap that up and move forward?

Regardless, Cole is too good to sit on the sidelines as long as he has and one can only hope that he is back contributing in a way that maximizes his talents. AEW will be even better for it.

Sapp also reported that Konosuke Takeshita is in line for the most significant push of his AEW career.

“Of late, Takeshita has been appearing in main events, and facing off with numerous top stars in the company,” he said. “Fightful Select is told that isn’t an accident, and Takeshita is expected to get a big push very soon that will see him factored into a major program.”

It is a push long overdue.

Takeshita, despite being one of the most promising young talents on the roster and performing up to the level of his more prominently featured opponents, has not received that one defining push to this point in his run with the promotion.

We may have gotten a sneak peek at it on Wednesday during the fifth anniversary celebration edition of Dynamite, when the 29-year-old attacked international champion Will Ospreay and Ricochet, leaving them lying before grasping the title.

AEW officially announced a three-way for the title for its WrestleDream pay-per-view on October 12 from Tacoma, Washington.

Regardless of whether Takeshita wins the championship in that match, how Khan presents him coming out of the show will determine how serious the push is and what we can expect from him in the weeks and months to come.