Images via: Lita-WWE, Deeb-Pro Wrestling Fandom, James-SEScoops
WWE legend, Lita, just appeared on SmackDown last Friday, and she also had a run-in with the SmackDown Women’s Champion, Charlotte Flair. This promises that she will not only be in the Royal Rumble women’s match, as was already announced, but this also throws the possibility out there that she may in fact take the whole thing…leading to a match between she and Charlotte Flair down the line at WrestleMania 38 for the title.
This is still unclear, and of course as always, time will tell. Despite her reemergence on WWE TV, a recent report by Fightful Select suggests that AEW was interested in Lita before her WWE return.
The plan according to the report was that Lita was to have worked a feud with none other than Dr. Britt Baker, the Women’s World Champion over at AEW. The report went on to speculate that the feud could have been dragged out; apparently the ideal destination for the bout having been rumored to be September’s All Out.
Can this still happen? This is unclear, as it isn’t clear as to how long her duties with WWE are to last. Will she be at Mania? Who knows? We’ll have to see as it all plays out, but by having her on SmackDown proves that her role in the Rumble should be more significant than just an early elimination, which also makes clear the possibility of larger plans down the line.
The report finished by saying that relations are good between AEW and Lita, so you never know…a reunion of all 3 members of Team Xtreme is possible, dear readers. Of course, we can only hope.
And what of the legendary Mickie James in AEW?
It was recently revealed though, that one WWE legend that AEW never reached out to was Mickie James. She stated this in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani . She said:
“I never was like, technically reached out by AEW. I think they all knew that I was going to work with my husband at NWA. And I really wanted to do this women’s show…My history with Impact too…even with Empowerrr, I was able to kind of bridge some of those gaps and make relationships happen.”
A missed opportunity perhaps on their part? James is also set to compete in the Women’s Royal Rumble for WWE, and yes, as Knockouts Champion for Impact Wrestling, which is of course a first, but she would have fared well in AEW for sure.
Serena Deeb on AEW being the absolute best pro wrestling company
Serena Deeb has been in the business for quite some time and although she has suffered her fair share of ups and downs, she is a dominant force in AEW’s woman’s roster. She spent time in other companies as anyone who knows her story is aware of, so her words should be regarded as coming from a place of great experience indeed. She signed with Tony Khan’s AEW after her release from WWE, which came in 2020.
She started her pro wrestling journey in 2005 and trained at the illustrious Ohio Valley Wrestling school – one in the same that was responsible for the training of the legendary John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Batista, Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley, Randy Orton and so many other epic talents. She has wrestled extensively on the independent circuit as well.
via Zuera of WWE /YouTube
It was during an interview she gave with the heralded Washington Post that she made the following statements.
“I was watching AEW thinking, ‘I want to wrestle there. I stand behind what they’re doing; I stand behind how different it is. The things I had heard about the backstage atmosphere, everything planted that goal into my mind at that point…
A lot of us say this to each other every week; we literally work at the best company in the world. You never feel like, ‘I can’t go to anybody.’ There are other companies where that feeling is overwhelming. They take care of people as human beings, and I think that’s what makes them different.”
She had quite the feud with Hikaru Shida and is set to wrestle again of course, despite the fact that she has reportedly taken a production role behind the scenes in AEW as well.
