Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk Super News - I’m Oli Davis
Press the thumbs up and leave a comment down below because I’ll be replying to people
FROM OUTTA NOWHERE after this video goes live. And today’s episode is more packed than
a last-minute SmackDown booking meeting, with the continued fallout between Becky Lynch
and Nia Jax, how this weekend’s Survivor Series match being scrapped could actually
be a good thing and the real reason why Daniel Bryan turned heel, and it’s not what you
would think. But first…
...John Cena just went full John Cena. Hot off releasing his best selling children’s
book, debuting someone else’s haircut at Super Showdown and refusing to work Crown
Jewel because of how that might negatively impact his Hollywood acting caree I mean,
because of various human rights abuses - Cena has made sure we can all very much see him
now, in a new advert for SKYY Vodka:
There’s just too much hair going on he-I can’t deal with CHANGE.
A rather silly boyband parody then. Or maybe not, as Cena told Business Insider why he
did the vodka advert. It’s his humble part in healing the socio-political divide in the
United States. “I think [Proudly American is] a message
that’s not only good now, but it’s good anytime and anywhere. I think, no matter what
the situation — if it’s hard political times or if it’s everybody playing nice
together — the message of embracing diversity is important every single day, no matter where
you are on your history timeline.” Oh God he’s running for President too. Yeah,
actually I will have some vodka. Sorry John, but I’ve got a Segway…
...and my votes already for the first female President of the United States, The Man Blood
Becky Lynch… she’s a female man Since WWE wisely went with Becky’s wild
fan reactions and presented her as a babyface since her feud with Charlotte ended at Evolution,
she’s somehow become even more over with the audience. So over, in fact, even the guy
we were just talking about John Cena has posted an image of her on his really weird Instagram
page. The next highpoint of Becky’s latest run
was to be easily the biggest moment in her career so far - facing Ronda Rousey at the
Big 5 pay-per-view Survivor Series in a champion vs champion match.
And according to John Pollock of POST Wrestling, it was going to be even bigger - as the backstage
plan had Lynch vs Rousey as the show’s main event.
Unfortunately, in Raw’s brilliant closing angle - where Becky attacked Ronda backstage,
and then led a SmackDown lady invasion of Raw, an accidental punch from Nia Jax broke
Lynch’s nose and gave her a concussion, and doctors won’t medically clear her to
compete at this Sunday’s event. Becky vs Ronda was by far the most exciting
match on a rather weak Survivor Series card, and arguably one of the most anticipated bouts
of the entire year, and it being called off sucks. But there may be a ginger lining.
Becky chose Charlotte as her replacement to face Ronda on this Tuesday’s SmackDown . Which
is very interesting for two reasons. 1) WWE kept the Women’s Championship on Becky,
implying they have faith in her and her recovery, and b) Charlotte vs Ronda has been a rumoured
WrestleMania 35 match since Rousey’s debut back at the Royal Rumble. If they’re moving
that forward to this Sunday, perhaps they’re saving Becky vs Ronda for an even bigger stage.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, that’s exactly what’s being planned backstage.
WWE officials have reportedly been cooling on the Charlotte vs Rousey WrestleMania match
over the last few months, as Becky catching fire has seen many fans turn on Charlotte.
Boo the woo and all that. And now the much anticipated Becky vs Ronda match for Survivor
Series has been called off due to injury, Dave Meltzer has revealed “right now the
plan is for Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch to headline WrestleMania” - as Roman Reigns
will obviously not wrestle on the show due to his leukemia diagnosis, and the Triple
H/Batista match is in question due to Hunter’s torn pec.
The storytelling possibilities between then and now are tremendously exciting, with Charlotte
and Becky putting aside their differences on this week’s SmackDown and Shayna Baszler
forming a faction with Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke at Evolution putting in place two parts
of the long-rumoured MMA Four Horsewomen vs WWE Four Horsewomen feud. And it just so happens
both Sasha Banks and Bayley are free, having nothing to do at Survivor Series…
Rousey herself has teased the Horsewomen feud by referencing the warring factions on The
Gram: “I’m really sorry to hear The Millennial
Man will not be showing up for her legally arranged ass whooping on November 18th at
the Staples Center. Unfortunately now everyone knows if someone hauls off and punches you
for real, your face implodes. I suggest you keep practicing your tough guys faces in the
mirror, should be very effective physical therapy. And have fun watching Korean soap
operas on Netflix or whatever the hell the Millennial Man does with her free time.
She poked the bear and ran like a bat outta hell when the bear awoke - Feeding me her
favorite frienemy and fellow #FAUXhorsewoman @charlottewwe is a new level of manipulative
cowardice, even for The Millennial Man.” Strong words. But don’t worry. Becky’s
got stronger: “Ronnie, TL/DR. When I got my face broke
I got up, owned you THEN showed up the next day looking to fight some more. When you got
your face broke you hid for a year under your blankie. Your mind is as weak as your jaw,
& I’m going to move heaven & earth to come destroy them both.”
Another player in this whole storyline - both real life and kayfabe - is Ronda’s next
Raw women’s title challenger Nia Jax, who, coincidentally, was the one who gave Becky
Lynch a concussion. It’s a work!
As many fans were so excited about seeing Becky take on Ronda this Sunday, a considerable
amount of criticism has been directed at Jax for her careless punch, with Bryan Alvarez
of F4WOnline even calling for her to go back to developmental:
“That was not an inadvertent elbow. She punched her right in the face. I don't want
anyone to lose their job, but at the very least Nia needs to be sent back to developmental
for awhile. This isn't the first, second or even third time this has happened.”
Despite some strongly worded defence from Ryback - wank away granted! - Fightful have
revealed there is heat on Nia backstage, and, as Alvarez points out, this is just the latest
botch by Jax. GoodGuyRev has posted a list of Nia’s botches,
both wreckless and just plain-stupid looking, on Reddit - which includes: a spot that recently
gave Zelina Vega a concussion at Evolution, not catching a Charlotte moonsault off the
top rope to the outside properly, and hitting a shoulder breaker right on her head, and
putting Bayley out of last year’s SummerSlam with a separated left shoulder.
But this is pro wrestling, so Nia Jax is using this to get heel heat from fans…
Jax tweeted following the Becky announcement: “Hey...we don’t deliver mail, things happen.
Is anyone gonna ask me about how my fist feels?” - with a real life fist emoji!
But because she’s the best, Becky replied to that too:
“You gave me your best sucker punch, but I got back up to destroy your whole roster.
They won’t let me fight, but I’ll get back up from that too. It’s what I do. So
enjoy your one free shot, because as bad as my memory is now, I haven’t forgotten you,
bitch.”
With the Becky Lynch injury scrapping Survivor Series’ most anticipated match, many presumed
the craziness on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown - where Daniel Bryan won the WWE Championship
from AJ Styles and turned heel in the process - was a last-minute change to get people to
tune in for the pay-per-view. It turns out, though, Becky’s injury had
nothing to do with the title change. Dave Meltzer has revealed on Wrestling Observer
Radio that Vince McMahon decided Bryan would beat AJ for the WWE Championship over the
weekend, days before Becky suffered her concussion. This was because McMahon didn’t want a AJ
vs Brock Survivor Series rematch, so SmackDown was to see Styles drop the belt to get the
Bryan vs Brock dream match that was originally planned for SummerSlam 2014.
The initial plan, though, was to have a babyface Bryan fight a heel Lesnar on Sunday, as that
dynamic makes a lot more sense. But Bryan had reportedly been pitching for a heel turn
for a while now to freshen up his character, and when the Becky match had to be scrapped,
that was when Vince gave him the greenlight to turn villain.
“Vince decided to do it all at once, let’s shake things up… It’s like, ‘We’ll
make a big move today that everybody talks about’.”
And it’s a move that appears to have worked, as despite a disappointing 2.44 million viewership
figure for Raw - with its third hour being the second lowest third hour in modern history
- SmackDown was up 11% from the previous week, with an average of 2.31 million viewers.
But far more important are your ratings! 66% agreed with my 4 out of 5 Cor for Raw, while
44% awarded SmackDown the top rating of SmackDamn, way out of step with Luke’s Smack Bang in
the Middle opinion. Which brings us onto SmackDown’s lead producer...
This week I had the help of our terrific WrestleTalk Live in London crowd to choose a wrestler
and decide what we’d tweet them. It was SmackDown Producer Road Dogg.
“@WWERoadDogg hey u didn't no? Why is smackDown so gr9grate? Who is your favorite? DANCING
LADY EMOJI GUITAR EMOJI please retweet much love OD x”
I got nothing… he was probably busy. Turning Bryan heel because we didn’t let him do
that to Becky
...but at WrestleTalk’s Live in London show on Tuesday, we got something much better than
Road Dogg getting back to us. We got Keith Lee!
And
we got Sami Callihan! Everyone should check out Sami’s Wrestling Revolver promotion,
by the way, it’s really cool. We even got… Adam Pacitti. I WILL WIN MY
JACKET BACK ONE DAY! But most importantly, we got to meet a bunch
of the SWAFT Nation in real life. Genuinely thank you all so much for coming and supporting
WrestleTalk. Literally. Here’s a picture of someone giving me a piggyback (happy birthday
again, Loretta). What are the 32 longest title reigns in WWE
History? Click the WrestleTalk.com link onscreen now to find out! And watch our shocked review
of Daniel Bryan’s heel turn by clicking the video in the top left! I’ve been Oli
Davis, and that was wrestling.