EXCLUSIVE Rumor Roundup: Becky Lynch About to Sign New Contract, Uncle Howdy's debut, WWE PLE start time, and more!

Good Tuesday afternoon faithful Cageside Seat readers. Hope everyone had a spectacular Mother’s Day weekend. 

 

Speaking from personal experience, when you have two young toddlers those couple of days can be a bit chaotic (or really any day when you have children).

 

Which is why I’m playing catch up on this week’s Monday Gorilla Position.



The reigning Women’s World Champion very well could have wrestled her final match — a no contest against Dakota Kai — on Monday Night Raw last night (May 13). At least for the foreseeable future.

That’s a statement that may sound like pure poppycock to some, but unless something changes over the next couple of weeks, Lynch’s WWE contract is going to expire.

Rough estimate — based off recent reporting — gives The Man and WWE until the end of May to come to terms. Potentially, even less time than that.

It would be almost unfathomable to think that WWE could come this close to letting one of it’s biggest stars hit free agency, but it’s basically become the company’s modus operandi these past few months.

Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest all signed long-term, big money contract extensions this year,

 

each talent putting pen to paper with the clock on their previous deals ticking extremely close to their expiration date. Just a few weeks for Rollins and McIntyre. 

 

In the case of the current World Heavyweight Champion, Fightful Select reported Monday that Priest’s new contract wasn’t finalized until mere days before the deadline.

Why is WWE waiting until seemingly the last minute to get some of these deals done? Could be any number of reasons. Including the sheer volume of contracts that were set to expire in 2024.

Back in 2019, the company reportedly inked dozens of Superstars to five-year extensions to keep them from negotiating with an upstart competitor in AEW.

 

 

Cody Rhodes obviously wasn’t one of them, but his rise to the top of the WWE mountain since returning home in 2022, put him in line for a major raise this year.

The American Nightmare confirmed just ahead of WrestleMania XL that he did agree to a new contract that will keep him in WWE beyond his 40th birthday.

Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Rey Mysterio and Finn Balor have all signed new deals as well, while Kevin Owens recently revealed his is set to expire in about nine months — although he says he has no desire to sign elsewhere.

Another key component to WWE’s current contract conundrum is former EVP of Talent Relations Dan Ventrelle, who left the company earlier this year.

Reports indicated that Ventrelle did not receive high marks for the work he was doing during his brief tenure with the company.

 

Several backstage apparently pointed the finger in his direction as to why so many deals were approaching their expiration date.

While negotiations with some members of the locker room started months ago, Becky Lynch told The MMA Hour ahead of WrestleMania that she had not yet been approached by anyone in the company about a new deal.

Those conversations are now reportedly taking place, but as of this writing, nothing has been finalized. And the days are falling off the calendar fast.

There’s no way WWE is going to let Lynch get away, right?

 

Judging by how she’s getting booked, I’d say higher ups are very confident The Man will keep coming around for years to come.

Similar to how the creative team proceeded with Drew McIntyre during WrestleMania season, Becky Lynch is being positioned on Raw as though she’s going to be hanging around through the summer and beyond.

Case in point, she was booked to win the Women’s World Championship when Liv Morgan was a prime candidate to carry the gold following Rhea Ripley’s unfortunate injury.

In theory, Lynch could put Morgan over in a major way at King and Queen of the Ring before heading off to her next endeavors — whatever they may be.

Even if Becky did drop her Championship to Liv Morgan next Saturday, Triple H has spent the last few weeks setting The Man up as the lynch-pin (get it?) of the Raw Women’s Division.

She conducted an in-ring interview with Michael Cole where she put over future opponents like Zoey Stark, Alba Fyre and her tag team partner Isla Dawn.

 

Like sharks stalking their next meal, Damage CTRL has been circling Lynch ever since her first night on Raw as the WWC.

 

That has now set-up multiple future encounters with the Red Brand’s newest stable, the latest of which happened this past Monday night.

Then there’s the budding mentorship/partnership with her fellow Irish lass-kicker and recent NXT call-up, Lyra Valkyria, who has saved Lynch from a 3-on-1 beat down at the hands of Damage CTRL two weeks in a row.

It certainly doesn’t appear that The Man is on the verge of exiting the company and yet... we wait.

Losing Becky Lynch would be a major blow to WWE. She’s a fan favorite, proven ratings draw and merchandise mover. She’s also a ring general and a locker room leader.

 

One who greatly cares about the betterment of the entire women’s division and does everything she can to make her opponents look strong, even when she’s going over. Even if it takes some time.

Those who have read Becky’s memoir The Man: Not Your Average Average Girl, may remember

 

what she told Bianca Belair during SummerSlam 2021 — the night of the infamous 26-second squash match in Lynch’s shock return to WWE following the birth of her daughter.

In her memoir, Lynch recalled consoling Belair — who was emotionally caught up in the moment — by promising that she would make it right by her in the long run.

 

Fast forward to WrestleMania 38 in Dallas where The EST won her Championship back in a 20 minute barn burner, and The Man was proven true to her word.

The two would go on to have an equally as exhilarating rematch at SummerSlam 2022, where Belair again went over en route to achieving the longest Women’s Championship run in modern history.

 

A match, by the way, that Lynch wrestled the vast majority of with a severely separated shoulder — without missing a single beat.

Becky achieved most of her Hall of Fame accomplishments prior to her daughter being born, but it’s the work she’s done the last three years that has really cemented her as an all-time great.

Her battles with Belair, Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax, Trish Stratus, Rhea Ripley, Tiffany Stratton and others have produced some of the best storylines, and without question, some of the best in-ring work of her entire career.

The Man is truly at the top of her game and she only appears to be getting better.

Her potential departure would be made all the more devastating for WWE — at least in the interim — with both Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley still out with injury.

 

Save for the Queen of the Ring Tournament, everything involving the Raw Women’s Division has been set up to go through Becky Lynch.

 

With the goal of her helping elevate the likes of Liv Morgan and Lyra Valkyria to main event status.

Is WWE prepared to pay The Man what she’s worth? A figure unbeknownst to us, but has been speculated by some as having the potential to be the largest contract of any woman in pro wrestling history.

One thing we know for sure is that if WWE is not willing to pony up in these situations, Tony Khan will to pull a major star to AEW.

 

Even if Lynch told The MMA Hour’s Ariel Helwani that she’s WWE or bust. Money, as they say, talks.

Perhaps money is not the deciding factor, though. We never truly know where someone’s motivations lay.

After a grueling WrestleMania season, that was made all the more hectic by her coinciding book tour, Lynch may want to take a few months off and enjoy being a Mom throughout the summer.

 

Spend some quality time with her family — away from WWE — while Seth Rollins continues to rehab from knee surgery.

The 37 year-old could also finally be ready to pursue those long rumored Hollywood projects. Everything needs to be taken into account.

 

If it were a simple decision, one would think a deal would have been hammered out by now.

Wrestling is in Becky Lynch’s blood. It’s her great passion in life, forged in the early days of her youth. She’s sacrificed so much to get where is today and earned every bit of her success.

 

If it’s soon to be good-bye, chances are it’s only good-bye for now. The Man will most certainly come back around one day.

But who’s to say for sure?

We’ll be getting an answer on her immediate WWE status, one way or another, in the very near future. Maybe as soon as today. Stay tuned.