Wrestling fans are still reeling over Roderick Strong and his AEW debut on this week’s Dynamite. WNZ has the details on his WWE exit and All Elite entrance. Plus, there’s news on NXT talent Sol Ruca being injured.
Roderick Strong – WWE Exit & AEW Debut
Roderick Strong is officially All Elite and this comes as a surprise to many. He asked the WWE for his release in May 2022 and hasn’t been seen on programming since August 2022.
WHOA @roderickstrong is ALL ELITE! #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/39EJzCgm1H
— SE Scoops (@sescoops) April 27, 2023
Still, reports indicated that as of March of this year, the talent was still under contract with the company. As such, it was interesting to see him swing in and save Adam Cole during a segment on Dynamite this week.
Fightful Select provides a report to give some context into this situation. The report was quick to point out that many AEW wrestlers were “pleasantly” surprised that the talent had signed on with the company.
Roderick Strong – More On His WWE Exit
Meanwhile, the report also notes his WWE exit. Moreover, that 2K Games was recently instructed to not include Strong in the WWE 2K23 game.
In addition, other WWE talent were not given an update on his status. Fightful also states that he had not been at the Performance Center in a while.
This is despite the fact that he was cleared to compete. The report also states the talent’s run spiraled down when Triple H lost power in NXT.
According to Fightful, Trips was behind his push as the highlight within the cruiserweight division. So, when HHH lost authority over the brand, Strong’s push waivered.
The talent trained under Jim Neidhart and has been wrestling since 2000. Roderick undeniably made a name for himself during his time in the Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion.
He stayed at ROH for about 10 years before signing with the WWE. He’s been with the company since 2016.
The good news is that Strong is now All Elite. It’ll be interesting to see where the next chapter of his career takes him.
Speaking of NXT, one of their rising stars is injured. More on this story, below.
NXT Star Sol Ruca Injured
Sol Ruca has offered some incredible performances on NXT as of late. Sadly, it seems she will be sidelined for a bit.
As per Wrestling Observer Radio, she’s torn her ACL. This could mean she’d be out of action for about nine months or so.
It looks like Creative has written her off TV, due to her ACL injury. This week on NXT, she was “attacked” by a mystery person.
Sol Ruca’s History With The WWE
The bad news is that Ruca needs some time off. But with a mystery attack, the good news is she’ll be returning with quite the storyline.
The WWE signed Ruca in March of last year. About three months later, she debuted her first NXT house show, teaming up with Solo Sikoa.
She would then make her TV debut in July 2022. While she would lose a match to Kiana James, two months later she snagged a win during a bout against Amari Miller.
With that said, as Ruca continued on NXT, she’d receive a tremendous amount of praise. Especially during a December 2022 match where she debuted a finishing move called “NXT Level Up”.
The move had her doing a backflip off the turnbuckles, with a cutter on the way down. Triple H would tweet about the finishing move, hinting that Ruca’s wrestling future was bright with the WWE.
Here’s hoping she heals up quickly and is back into action soon. A tweet from Trips praising a performance is a very good sign for things ahead.
