Tyson Kidd Reportedly Helps Indie Name Get Backstage WWE Royal Rumble Booking

An independent wrestler who has largely fallen off the radar amidst the COVID-19 pandemic has reemerged in an unexpected way. 

According to a new report Fightful Select, Jason Cade has been tapped by WWE to start working for the company as a producer, including helping Tyson Kidd produce the women's Royal Rumble match, though it's unclear if this is formally a tryout or what. According to the report, Cade has trained with Kidd and his wife, Natalya, in the past, which helped open this door.

Cade is probably best known for his work in southern indie promotions, particularly in Florida and the Carolinas, but he traveled all over the place. He's had matches in WWE, AEW, ROH, Impact Wrestling, MLW, PWG, GCW, and other notable promotions, but has become increasingly inactive since 2018, and wrestling only sparingly since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in early 2020. Cade has had five matches since 2020, all of which were extra work in Florida for WWE or AEW. Cade's most recent match, in August 2021, saw him (as "Paxton Averill") and Chico Adams (as "Chuckie Viola") lose a squash match to The Creed Brothers in just over two minutes.

As for Kidd, his presence producing the women's Royal Rumble match is almost surely welcome. It was reported last March that his absence from the role in the 2022 women's Rumble match was credited at least in part to both the match not going well and one outside talent declining an invitation to appear in the match. He's been working as a producer since returning to WWE from a career-ending neck injury that he suffered in a June 2015 dark match with Samoa Joe.