This Week in WWE history (Jan 10-16) - Shawn Michaels turns on Marty Jannetty, WWE Hall of Famer passes away

Several interesting moments took place this week in history

This week's news has been dominated by the fact that WWE could be open to a partnership with IMPACT Wrestling for the first time. Mickie James' inclusion in the upcoming Women's Royal Rumble whilst still holding the IMPACT Knockouts Championship has opened another "forbidden door" in the wrestling world.

The other big news is that Roman Reigns has become the longest-reigning Universal Champion in WWE history by beating Brock Lesnar's record. Lesnar held the record with 503 days for a number of years, but Reigns hit day 504 today and takes the record.

History-making. Record-breaking.

@WWERomanReigns is officially the longest-reigning #UniversalChampion at 5️⃣0️⃣4️⃣ days and counting.

Acknowledge the ☝️. https://t.co/yao4srTPIR

It may only be the third week of 2022, but there have been some interesting news stories from the history of WWE.

#5. Batista relinquishes the WWE World Heavyweight Championship - January 10th, 2006

January 13th, 2006: Batista hugs Teddy Long after relinquishing the World Heavyweight Title due to injury. http://t.co/dqSP3tVVas

Batista suffered a tricep injury in his match against Mark Henry at a WWE live event on January 8th, 2006. The World Champion's injury was so bad that he was forced to relinquish his title in the episode of SmackDown just two days later.

Teddy Long went on to announce that the title would be decided in a 20-man battle royal in the SmackDown main event, which saw Kurt Angle eliminate Mark Henry last to win.

This then began the storyline that saw Angle successfully defend the championship against Henry at The Royal Rumble, whilst Rey Mysterio won The Royal Rumble and then went on to headline WrestleMania for the World Championship.

Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio took place at WrestleMania 22, with Mysterio coming out victorious following a West Coast Pop on Orton.

Batista, on the other hand, missed WrestleMania and didn't return to the company until July 7th when he went straight after Mark Henry for causing the initial injury. It wasn't long before Batista was able to reclaim the title he never lost.

Also on this episode of SmackDown, Randy Orton defeated Chris Benoit to win the United States Championship for Booker T. The two men had already competed several times, but following Booker's injury, Orton subbed in for the final deciding match of the series.