2022 Predictions: Pro Wrestling & Beyond

In this edition of The Wrestling Estate roundtable, we share our 2022 predictions for pro wrestling and beyond.

Neal Wagner’s 2022 Predictions

1. AEW will announce the release date of its video game, which will cause WWE to push the release of its next game to horrible results.

2. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard will reunite for one more match against FTR after they turn on Tully.

3. AEW will have the Women’s Championship main event a pay-per-view.

4. The ROH video library will be bought out by WWE and on Peacock by the end of the year.

5. Fans will riot ringside as an AEW pay per view goes off the air with MJF as the new World Champion.

Juan Bautista’s 2022 Predictions

1. The WWE will be sold.

It’s not a matter of if, but when the biggest wrestling company in the world is sold. I don’t believe it tops the $4 billion sell of the UFC from 2016, but with added value to the company, it could happen. The most expensive sports franchise right now is the Dallas Cowboys at $5.7 billion, so a sale between $3-$5 billion wouldn’t be out the question. Liberty Media will make a successful bid. After all, it bought Formula 1 in 2016 for $4.4 billion. While Disney and NBC seem like the obvious choices, Liberty remains under the radar.

2. Kevin Steen is All Elite

I predicted this before Kevin Owens re-signed with WWE.

3. All hell breaks loose in WWE

Now that a potential sale is on the horizon and wrestlers are on the way out, all hell will break loose. The front office can say smile and wave boys, but Charlotte is already not popular backstage. NXT 2.0 will be pushing out talent at an unheard of level and Next In Line has just launched. Something has to give and when it breaks, it won’t be pretty.

4. This might be Tom Brady’s last year

A recent article in Sports Illustrated is making some waves. The quote from Tom Brady that gives a level of perspective is “Winning is a relief now.” He may play until he is 45, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he announces he’s finished.

5. Kyle Busch will win the 2022 Cup Championship

This upcoming year will be fun with new events and new cars. After two years of running average compared to the championship competition, Kyle Busch will come back with a vengeance.

John Corrigan’s 2022 Predictions

Jim Cornette Finds New Co-Host

Kicking off my 2022 predictions with a total shot in the dark. I enjoy listening to Jim Cornette’s podcasts, but history shows that his co-host Brian Last inevitably has a falling out with colleagues. After Last ceased his relationships with John Arezzi and Ron Fuller in 2021, it made me wonder just how long before things get heated with his cash cow. Who knows what would prompt such a breakup, perhaps ol’ Corny will say something too outlandish, but the war of words would be riveting.

Britt Baker Hangs On

Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D., remains the most dominant woman in AEW. Despite international talent returning now that COVID-19 restrictions have lifted, Anna Jay and Tay Conti running on all cylinders and Brandi’s dream of becoming Women’s Champion, nobody will knock the Doc off her throne. Not even Rebel, whose Virgil-like split from the champ in 2022 will draw a huge pop.

Vince McMahon’s Will Revealed

Although the chairman of WWE won’t kick the bucket just yet, some sleuth (perhaps David Bixenspan) will discover Vince McMahon’s will. That’s when we’ll learn Triple H has been removed from it due to NXT losing the Wednesday Night War. Don’t worry, Shane was never in it.

Contra Unit Adds New Member

After Jacob Fatu lost the MLW World Heavyweight Championship and Contra Unit was defeated in War Chamber, the most dangerous faction in pro wrestling will recharge in 2022. Josef Samael will hold tryouts for a new member, with many undiscovered talents on the indie scene making their bids. However, Samael will ultimately welcome Killer Kross into the army of mercenaries.

Green Bay Wins The Super Bowl

Aaron Rodgers is immune all right…to failure!

Jack Goodwillie Goes 0 for 5

Although his 2022 predictions are all quite plausible, let’s just look back on his 2021 predictions and chuckle. “Sting won’t wrestle for AEW in 2021.” “WrestleMania will be inside The Thunderdome.” “Alex Hammerstone signs with NXT.” “Becky Lynch won’t return until WrestleMania 38 season.” “Calvin will submit his Top 20 Hardcore Champions list from 2018.”

Steven Jackson’s 2022 Predictions

1. The 50th Anniversary joint shows featuring NJPW and AJPW will deliver the best wrestling shows of the year…FACT!

2. AEW will come to the U.K. in some shape or form and blow the roof off the joint.

3. Ring of Honor will return in a new form, hearkening back to its earlier indie days, similar to that of GCW.

4. Chris Brookes will win the DDT KO-D Openweight Championship and reign supreme in the WrestleUNIVERSE.

5. Terminus (Jonathan Gresham and Baron Black’s upcoming independent promotion) will become the hottest company on the indie circuit!

Chad Gelfand’s 2022 Predictions

1. Sasha Banks wins the Royal Rumble

Sasha has been outside the title picture to end 2021, but it seems that an eventual feud with Charlotte Flair is inevitable and the perfect way to set that up is to have Sasha do one of the few things she hasn’t done already in her career – win the Royal Rumble.

2. Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair end WrestleMania as the respective Women’s Champions

Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair main evented last year and have proven that they are two of the best and most popular wrestlers in the world, so WWE would be smart to come out of WrestleMania with Bianca and Sasha as the champions to carry their respective shows. Also, for Bianca Belair, the only way for her storyline with Becky Lynch can be salvaged is for her to be the one to dethrone her on The Grandest Stage.

3. Dante Martin gets a shot at the AEW World Championship

Dante Martin is the fastest rising star in AEW, quickly going from a Dark and Elevation mainstay to being featured prominently every week on Dynamite and with good reason. Dante is one of the most incredible athletes to watch in wrestling right now, seemingly defying the laws of physics. In 2022, Dante Martin will continue to rise to the point of earning himself an AEW World Championship shot.

4. Proud and Powerful become AEW Tag Team Champions

Proud and Powerful are one of the best teams in AEW, but have been on the back burner for a while caught in Inner Circle business. 2022 is the time for the tag team to break away from Inner Circle, become major players in the division and finally win the titles.

5. CM Punk turns heel and becomes AEW World Champion

CM Punk’s honeymoon period in AEW seems to be coming to a close and with that, he has been leaning into his heel tendencies in his feud with Eddie Kingston and his promo in Long Island. 2022 Punk fully pulls the trigger and turns heel. Not only will Punk turn heel next year, but he’ll also win the AEW World Championship and dethrone “Hangman” Adam Page.

Jack Goodwillie’s 2022 Predictions

Austin Theory will be the no-brainer choice to win the 2023 Royal Rumble

What am I really saying here? By the end of this year, there will be but one logical choice to win the 2023 Royal Rumble, and that will be Austin Theory. That may be polarizing to some people, but I’m actually trying to get a few 2022 predictions right, and while WWE’s chock full of the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns at the present, what we do know is that someone very important is very high on Austin Theory right now.

That man’s name might rhyme with “Wince Big Man,” but regardless, Theory has quickly become a focal point of the shows, and when WWE is high on someone, it WILL handle with care. It’s when WWE is low or indifferent on talent where they will typically get mishandled, and the public will ask why because when Vince McMahon sees Karrion Kross, he sees something completely different than what, say, Triple H sees, or even what you or I see. But given the way we’ve seen Theory’s stock rise over the past couple months to close out the year, while this year is too soon, he’ll be a set it and forget it choice to win next year’s Royal Rumble. He’ll probably go on to become the world champion thereafter.

What do I think of Theory? He’s alright. A lot of the fascination with him comes with what he CAN do more than the talent he currently is. From an in-ring standpoint, The Miz is his floor and Randy Orton is his absolute ceiling. Most likely, he ends up somewhere in the middle, but the one thing you can say about him is that he’s got no problem projecting personality. Usually it takes younger talent some time to come into their own in that way, but this, along with Theory’s bodybuilding background, has piqued the interest of some very important people, and for that reason, if WWE can keep it in its pants, it could have a big star on its hands this time next year.

Ring of Honor closes doors for good, Tony Khan acquires Sinclair tape library

We’ve delivered a lot of content on this site regarding Ring of Honor’s hiatus and I’ve even mentioned how it would be good business for Tony Khan to acquire the company as a whole. However, I’m here to talk about what’s most realistic, and it does seem possible that the ROH tape library could have Khan’s name on it soon. Mind you, the entire tape library isn’t necessarily for sale, and the full ROH tape library is complicated, anyway. Rob Feinstein, the founder, would figure to own the early years since RFVideo produced those shows, and AXS.tv would figure to own the middle years when it produced the weekly television program up until Sinclair bought the company in 2011.

However, there are still 10 years’ worth of footage up for grabs, and Adam Cole has even found his way into AEW since I penned that piece. He was arguably the face of Ring of Honor during the Sinclair years, and if it’s not Cole, it’s Jay Lethal. Oh, by the way, Lethal has ALSO joined AEW since we published that article, so this makes all the sense in the world. As for Ring of Honor, I don’t see it reopening doors, but I could be wrong. If it does happen to resurface in April as was claimed, it will do so without any star power, juice or anything that made Ring of Honor…Ring of Honor. Because of that, there may not be much of a road to profitability, so where’s the incentive lie for Sinclair? I wouldn’t rule out selling the property either, I just think an acquisition of the tape library is most likely and as for everything else, we’ll just have to see.

GCW hands out exclusive contracts

The forbidden door is great and all, but companies lose a little something when they’re not able to market their talent as their own. Ring of Honor fell into this trap when it began to over-rely on New Japan’s roster to carry its shows. What makes the forbidden door, well, “forbidden,” is that we’ve trained our minds to believe that when someone is a “WWE guy” or a “TNA guy” that they can’t possibly pop up anywhere else, but when they do, it elicits a huge pop and means so much more. That’s why GCW hands out its first exclusive contract to Matt Cardona this year.

Zack Ryder was thought to be over for years in WWE, but regardless of what you think of GCW or deathmatch wrestling, you’ll want to check out any of Cardona’s appearance’s in GCW because it was must-see TV. Exclusive contracts are not nonsense, and they mean different things these days with AEW still allowing its talent to work elsewhere with approval. They do, however, represent a great branding opportunity for talent and company. I’m not sure what GCW’s long term goals are. If it wanted a television deal, with a little work it could secure one given how great the product looks on YouTube. Making someone like Cardona a “GCW guy,” however, might be a happy medium that drives further business for the rising company and opens up the playbook for a whole year of compelling storylines.

WWE poaches its first AEW talent

It’s only a matter of time, isn’t it? In over two years of running television, AEW has had enough roster turnover for you or I to count on no more than two hands. That just isn’t sustainable, both financially and creatively. Eventually, talent will run their course and head elsewhere, or fall out of line and get fired. It’s just the nature of the business we cover, but morale is so high in AEW right now that there’s no real reason to cut anybody just for the sake of space.

One reason we haven’t seen WWE make a play for an AEW talent as of yet has been due to the length of some of the contracts of early AEW contributors, and it’s taken time for some of the younger talent to find their footing on television. Some, like Jungle Boy, are still looking to find themselves. Another reason would be that if WWE were to make a big play for someone like, say, a Hangman Page, it would be an admission that what AEW is doing is working and it’s here to stay. Well, what AEW’s doing IS working and it IS here to stay, but WWE is still a company that likes to live in its own echo chamber and play by its own rules, and one of those golden rules is that, “if we don’t acknowledge you, you don’t matter.”

However, if WWE continues to trim its roster and continues to NOT get people over, who by all accounts should be over, it will, eventually, turn to free agency looking for a fix. I’m not sure what that talent could come in the form of, but Brian Cage would have to be the frontrunner. When AEW signed CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole and Jay Lethal all within two months of one another, someone had to take it on the chin, as there’s just not enough TV time to go around anymore. Of course, there’s always AEW Dark, but I don’t view Dark as part of AEW’s programming. It’s essentially just practice for developmental talent and anyone who it wasn’t able to squeeze onto Dynamite and Rampage in a given week.

By the way, why have two television shows if you’re just going to feature the same talent on each? Tangent aside, if Cage decided to entertain talks with WWE, do you think WWE would shoo him away looking the way he does? Lance Archer is another name who has taken a hit from AEW’s overflowing roster. MJF’s name will continue to come up as long as he’s being compared to The Miz on Dynamite and Rampage. It’s only a matter of time before a member of the AEW roster defects to WWE, and 2022 is the year it will happen.

CM Punk wins AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing 2022, main events All Out 2022 against… IWGP World Heavyweight champion Bryan Danielson

For my 2022 predictions, let’s start with Punk winning the AEW Championship. Punk has given AEW a “main character” presence similar to how guys like John Cena and Steve Austin were booked on Raw back in their respective time periods. He’s all over these shows, and there’s clearly a build to him at least having a title match at some point in 2022. It’ll probably be at Double or Nothing just because it’ll be the first Double or Nothing back in Vegas and Tony Khan and Co. will want to come back to “Sin City” with a bang.

As far as who he takes the title off of, AEW is quickly going to find that someone like Adam Page is a better challenger than champion, so expect a heel to become a transitional champion to get the belt to Punk. It could be MJF, but the wild card is a heel Jon Moxley. One thing I don’t often hear talked about is the time Dean Ambrose faced CM Punk in FCW back in 2011. Punk was probably at his peak in WWE, and was at an FCW house show merely to sign autographs and take pictures with the fans. Ambrose called him out and they went on to have a 10-minute match. After the match, Punk reflected on his time in OVW and compared himself to Ambrose, telling the fans to support their local shows “not because the next CM Punk is sitting back there, but because the first Dean Ambrose is sitting in the back, and Dean, I expect you to have the same set of nuts to come back down here and fight someone who you think is worth it.”

I remember watching that clip at the time and being more sold on Punk than ever before. But now, we really can have Punk fight the former Dean Ambrose in a match that matters. Double or Nothing, the event that Moxley debuted at, would be a great venue. If we’re to assume All Out is in Chicago, then you better believe Punk is going to have a title to defend, and AEW is going to want to make the most marquee match it can.

If Bryan Danielson truly does get his wish to be part of New Japan as well, it would be a major coup to have him return to AEW with some gold to offer up as collateral to make the CM Punk match. As I’m mapping out this hypothetical, that, in essence, is what makes AEW so great. There’s a million different directions it can take its television in 2022, and there’s really no wrong answer. WWE just doesn’t have the same quality to its show anymore. As deep as the prediction goes, I’ll be happy to accept partial credit if any of this does come to fruition. The last thing I want is to be roasted on Twitter by… my own site’s account, so let’s hope I get one of these 2022 predictions right!