WWE Rumors on Will Ospreay, LA Knight, Royal Rumble; Cena Calls Roman Reigns GOAT | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

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

WWE Could Land Will Ospreay

Will Ospreay is almost certainly leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling when his contract expires in February, but there he heads is anyone’s guess.

An AEW run has long been viewed as the overwhelming favorite, yet Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio said WWE can’t be discounted.

“I would not say anything is definite with Ospreay, but people who think that it’s a guarantee it’s AEW, just put it this way, WWE is absolutely in the picture,” Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio. “I’ve said this before, but WWE is in the picture, AEW is in the picture, it’s whoever’s going to give him the best offer, and he’s going to go for both sides.”

Looking at the tea leaves, AEW remains the favorite to sign Ospreay. He recently signed Barry Bloom, the agent to several high-profile AEW stars, as his representation. The 30-year-old also has several built-in feuds with AEW talents and has been working with the company for years at this point in-between NJPW gigs.

Perhaps most importantly, AEW will give Ospreay the freedom to occasionally wrestle indies or go back to NJPW for runs when needed.

That said, if Ospreay wants to fully leap into the deepest end of the wrestling pool, that is and probably always will be WWE.

LA Knight Not Expected to Win Royal Rumble

In a result that was completely expected, LA Knight lost to Roman Reigns over the weekend at Crown Jewel.

WWE was never ending Reigns’ run as champion in the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday. Any feud he has between now and the Royal Rumble—if there even is a feud—will be treading water to set up whatever WWE has in store for WrestleMania.

Unfortunately for LA Knight, it does not appear he’s in those plans.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reported WWE has no plans on Knight winning the Royal Rumble or competing against Reigns for a title at WrestleMania. There is reportedly an internal belief Knight has “reached the peak of his popularity.”

Even if Knight is at his peak, it’s certainly a high one. He’s among the most over acts in all of pro wrestling with fans, and his merchandise is flying off shelves. At the very least, it would be a surprise to not see Knight win a midcard championship.

If we’re looking ahead for a few months, perhaps a Logan Paul vs. Knight feud for WrestleMania would make some sense.

John Cena Calls Roman the GOAT

WWE may be billing John Cena as the “Greatest of All Time,” but the 16-time world champion thinks that moniker belongs to someone else.

During an appearance on After the Bell, Cena called Roman Reigns the best the business has ever seen.

“He’s a sponge, and he’s athletic, super intelligent, and a fan of this, and I mean all of this. Most importantly, a fan of psychology,” Cena said. “I say the WWE Universe is the biggest superstar we have. Roman navigated those waters without them. Here’s the thing with Roman, I don’t think Roman is Roman if he doesn’t have a time to work in front of no crowd. The crowd is so against the fact that the company believed in Roman Reigns…I set the precedent of ‘Company guy, see ya.’ Everyone has a tough hill to climb once they become pushed. There is a giant ray behind the curtain, we all know that too. ‘We have to be careful how this happens because we don’t want this to happen.’

“That absolutely happened with Roman. It was when the crowd wasn’t there that you’re able to take more chances, that Roman could be himself. There wasn’t anyone to be like, ‘That sucked, that didn’t work,’ because you don’t have the instant feedback. Night after night, it becomes this extremely nuanced soft-spoken character that is not the ‘welcome to SmackDown!’ that they’re used to. As soon as they bring people back in, he had done such a riveting program, that it was, ‘Man, I want to see this guy.’ He has done it better than anybody I have ever seen. He’s the Greatest of All Time, in my opinion.”

Reigns is certainly in the greatest championship run we’ve seen in the modern era. With his current run, Reigns has already passed Cena in terms of total days as a world champion in WWE and ranks on the short list of longest titleholders in company history.

Whether Reigns is actually the greatest in history or Cena is holding the company line is worth discussion. Very few—if any—fans would put Reigns on a Mount Rushmore of greatest performers in the history of the sport at this point. Ric Flair, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret Hart, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Cena would all get mentioned well in advance of Reigns on any Mount Rushmore.

That said, wrestling is subjective and it’s possible Cena feels Reigns has surpassed them all.

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