WWE Rumors on Sami Zayn as a 'Top Guy'; Ronda Rousey's Injury; Stone Cold on Return

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from WWE and AEW.

Sami Zayn Seen as 'Top Guy' in WWE Moving Forward

The Sami Zayn push doesn't appear to be ending this weekend at Wrestlemania.

Fightful Select reported WWE management looks at Zayn as a "main-event talent" and described him as the "MVP" of the company.

The former honorary Uce is set to team with Kevin Owens to take on the Usos for the undisputed WWE tag team championships at WrestleMania. The match is a culmination of the best long-term storytelling WWE has done in several years, with Zayn vaulting to the top of the card as he's helped elevate The Bloodline storyline into the legendary stratosphere.

It seems like a mortal lock that Zayn and Owens will start the crumbling of The Bloodline during WrestleMania weekend before Cody Rhodes finishes the job against Roman Reigns on Sunday night.

The fact that WWE sees Zayn as a cornerstone moving forward is rather heartening given a year ago he was being used in a celebrity match against Johnny Knoxville.

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Ronda Rousey Dealing With Broken Forearm

Ronda Rousey's in-ring absence finally has an explanation.

Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio said Rousey has been recovering from a broken radius bone.

The former UFC star has not wrestled since competing in a live event Feb. 26. It's unclear whether the injury happened in that match or prior; her last televised match was Feb. 17, and before then she had not wrestled since losing her SmackDown title to Charlotte Flair on Dec. 30.

Rousey is slated to make her in-ring return this weekend at WrestleMania, teaming with Shayna Baszler as part of the women's tag team showcase. It will be interesting to see how much Rousey is actually in the ring versus allowing Baszler to do the bulk of the work given her injury status.

Once Rousey is fully healed and ready to go, it seems preordained the two MMA stars will wind up with a tag team title run.

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Stone Cold Says WWE Pitched Several Ideas Before WrestleMania 38 Return

Stone Cold Steve Austin's in-ring return almost never happened.

The WWE Hall of Famer said the company pitched him a number of ideas before he wound up agreeing to last year's match with Kevin Owens.

"Oh, I turned them down several times until they kept coming back with different creative," Austin said on the Out of Character podcast. "[Kevin Owens] was always in the conversation, I was down with that because I love that guy, he's awesome. On the inside, I was knocking his head off so many times, because I hadn't thrown a punch in 19 years and I told him when we got finished, 'Dude, I cannot believe you didn't give me a receipt out there.' That's the good-natured heart of KO. I think he was thrilled to be out there and I was thrilled to be with him. It took some talking, we got everything lined up and you saw what happened."

It's no secret WWE desperately wanted Austin to return to the ring at several point since his retirement, but he resisted all the way until last year.

WWE also reportedly pitched several ideas ahead of this year's WrestleMania, which Austin again declined.

Given Austin's dedication and love of the wrestling business, this should come as no surprise. He's been protective of his legacy and his character throughout his career.

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