AEW News & Rumor Roundup: WWE legend angry at John Cena and The Rock; Details on Ronda Rousey's major appearance; top titles to be merged?

Welcome to the March 3, edition of the AEW News and Rumor Roundup. In today's edition, we'll cover the WWE legend who was recently angry at John Cena and The Rock, details on Ronda Rousey appearing at a major event, which top titles are likely to be merged soon, and more.

Without any further ado, let's get into it.

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#5. Dustin Rhodes criticized The Rock and John Cena attacking Cody Rhodes

A few weeks ago on Friday Night SmackDown, The Rock asked Cody Rhodes to give him his soul in return for all the luxuries he desired. However, the latter refused the offer at WWE Elimination Chamber 2025.

John Cena won the men's Elimination Chamber match on Saturday. Following his win, he turned heel and attacked Cody Rhodes, allying with The Final Boss.

It was a gruesome segment where The American Nightmare was left bloodied in the middle of the ring. WWE legend Dustin Rhodes (erstwhile Goldust) went on X to criticize their attack on his younger brother.

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#4. Marina Shafir on Ronda Rousey's blockbuster appearance on ROH

Ronda Rousey left WWE after SummerSlam 2023. She then retired from pro wrestling but returned to the ring soon after in October in the independent circuit, including Tony Khan's ROH.

The Arm Collector made her ROH debut on the November 17, 2023, edition of ROH on Honor Club, where she teamed up with Marina Shafir to defeat Athena and Billie Starkz.

Shafir was a recent guest on Talk is Jericho, where she described how Ronda's ROH debut came to be.

“She calls me up, she called me up a couple of months beforehand, or maybe like a month beforehand. She’s like ‘I got to wrestle with Shayna [Baszler] and then I got to Shayna. I really want to wrestle with you. This needs to happen.’ I’m like ‘no s**t Sherlock, let’s make this happen. I walk out, I’m in the ring, Ronda’s music hits, as she’s walking out, I’m watching her walk in and she’s like looking at me taking off her belt and her Gi and she’s like ‘Marina, we’re about to f*k s*t up,’ and I’m like ‘oh God yes.'"

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#3. AEW International Championship and Continental Championship to be merged?

Kazuchika Okada is the current AEW Continental Champion and Konosuke Takeshita currently holds the International Championship. However, according to the reports, AEW might merge the two titles soon.

Fightful Select recently reported that AEW is potentially planning to merge the two titles and turn them into one belt. It is yet to be confirmed whether AEW will move ahead with the idea, but Kenny Omega's upcoming match with The Alpha could prove to be a major catalyst in the decision-making. Fans expect The Cleaner and The Rainmaker to face each other, possibly for a unified title.

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#2. Gabe Kidd goes off in an expletive rant against AEW

Gabe Kidd is one of the most controversial stars in the pro wrestling industry. He's not afraid to speak his mind or take a shot at fellow wrestlers, which has gained him quite a bit of notoriety in the field.

He wrestled in a match against The Butcher on AEW Collision on February 19, 2025, and successfully defeated his opponent in a rather quick match. He recently appeared on Hey! (EW) where he boasted about his win over The Butcher and also verbally attacked Tony Khan's company.

"F**k AEW. F**k everyone who works here, f**k the staff backstage, f**k the people who set up the stage, the catering staff, f**k the makeup girls, and f**k the makeup guy as well. F**k the rest of you and everyone else on this platform. [...] Any wrestler on this platform - NJPW is the best wrestling in the world. My man wants to talk about, 'AEW, this is where the best wrestle.’ It sure didn’t look like that last week when I ran through one of the longest-standing roster members (The Butcher), someone who has been here from the beginning. I treated him like a little kid sitting in the airplane seat in front of me, kicking my seat, moving back, making funny faces. [...] And I slapped the s**t out of him," Kidd said.

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#1. Eddie Kingston wants to fight Sheamus

Sheamus is one of the heavy hitters in WWE. Speaking on Wrestling with the Narrative with Will Turner, AEW star Eddie Kingston stated he wished to wrestle against WWE Superstar Sheamus.

"I want to fight him so bad. I want to wrestle him very much. I just want — it’s mostly about machismo, that I can show that I’m better and beat him. But also, the other part is I like his style," he said.

The Mad King has been out of action since May last year after he suffered a torn ACL and meniscus. He wrestled his last match at Resurgence 2024, where he lost the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship to Gabe Kidd in a No Rope Last Man Standing match.