WWE Rumors on Vince McMahon Backstage, Liv Morgan, Ripley, Mysterio & Bron Breakker
Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.
WWE Superstars Reportedly Not Talking Much About McMahon Doc
Ahead of the debut of the Mr. McMahon series Wednesday on Netflix, the documentary reportedly was not a hot topic of discussion within WWE.
According to PWInsider.com (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News), there was "not a lot of talk" backstage at Monday night's Raw regarding the docuseries, which focuses on Vince McMahon's time as the chairman, CEO and head of creative for WWE.
The series was developed over multiple years and featured sit-down interviews with McMahon, as well as several other huge names in the world of professional wrestling.
While there was likely always going to be some time spent on the various scandals McMahon was involved with during his time with WWE, the landscape changed back in January when former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit against McMahon.
Per Khadeeja Safdar of the Wall Street Journal, the lawsuit named WWE, McMahon and former WWE head of talent relations John Laurinaitis as defendants. In it, Grant alleged that McMahon sexually assaulted and sexually trafficked her to others, including Laurinaitis, over the course of their relationship from 2019 to 2022.
That came on the heels of a previous investigation by the WWE board of directors, which found that McMahon paid millions of dollars to multiple women through non-disclosure agreements in exchange for them remaining silent about sexual relationships with McMahon and sexual misconduct allegations against him.
On Monday, McMahon released a statement on X in which he condemned the producers of the docuseries for attempting to "leave viewers intentionally confused" about the difference between the Mr. McMahon character and Vince McMahon the person:
After Grant filed a lawsuit against McMahon, he resigned from his position with TKO, leaving him completely unattached to the company he purchased from his father in 1982.
Now, it is a new era of WWE, as Triple H is in charge of creative and Nick Khan is serving as president of the promotion.
WWE is seemingly attempting to move forward and leave McMahon in the past, as it has not promoted the Mr. McMahon series at all despite the involvement of many people currently and formerly with WWE.
WWE Has Reportedly Long Planned Ripley vs. Morgan Stipulation
On Monday night's episode of Raw, Rhea Ripley announced that her match against women's world champion Liv Morgan will have a unique stipulation.
As Ripley and Morgan battle for gold at the Bad Blood premium live event, Dominik Mysterio will be locked inside a shark cage.
According to PWInsider.com (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), WWE has been planning the Mysterio shark cage stipulation "for several months," meaning it was not a late addition despite it not getting announced until two weeks before Bad Blood.
The Ripley-Mysterio-Morgan angle has been among the most compelling in pro wrestling for months, and given the heat Dom generates as a heel, the shark cage stipulation makes a ton of sense.
Ripley and Mysterio were an on-screen item for a long time until Morgan injured Ripley and forced her to vacate the women's world title.
Dominik helped Liv win the title and retain it on multiple occasions while Rhea was out, but it always seemed like he was doing it inadvertently.
Mysterio and Ripley tried to rekindle things when she returned, but Dirty Dom stabbed her in the back at SummerSlam, as he helped Morgan again and then passionately kissed her after the match.
Ripley has been out for revenge ever since, and she can achieve it at Bad Blood by winning the title back from Morgan with Dominik looking on from inside a cage.
Breakker Reportedly Set for Babyface Turn
After surprisingly dropping the Intercontinental Championship to Jey Uso on Raw, Bron Breakker is reportedly expected to undergo a significant character change.
According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Mukherjee), WWE is "definitely building" toward a Breakker babyface turn despite his success as a heel in recent months.
Meltzer pointed to the fact that Breakker has been trying to get the crowd involved by barking, which is often a telltale sign that WWE is trying to get fans behind a performer in anticipation of a turn.
During his time in NXT, Breakker excelled as both a face and heel, but he has essentially been a heel exclusively since getting called up.
His villainous persona made for a great rivalry with the beloved Sami Zayn, which resulted in Breakker winning the IC title at SummerSlam, plus he wrote Ricochet out of the company by viciously attacking him in a backstage segment.
With that said, it is also easy to root for Breakker since he is an explosive athlete who has entertaining matches and comes from a wrestling background as the son of Rick Steiner and nephew of Scott Steiner.
Breakker has all the tools needed to be a top star in WWE for many years to come, and a face turn would be a huge step toward making it happen.
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