In this WrestleTalk News, WWE announces Triple H address, will he update us on his WWE future?
Free agents rejecting WWE?
And Cody Rhodes creative update!!!
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[SUPPORT WRESTLETALK]
Turns out WWE are not adverse to pinching from the AEW playbook as they’ve really
taken to announcing and announcement - if they get really jazzed about Winnipeg then
you know they takeover is complete.
The Fed said on Twitter that creative head honcho Triple H would be making an appearance
on Smackdown tonight to address the WWE Universe.
I know what you’re thinking?
Didn’t he just do that on Raw?
Sure did!
Didn’t Vince end up sitting in his chair once he’d left gorilla and then took over
the show?
Sounds like that’s what happened.
So what could Trips possibly be saying?
Well, many are speculating it could just be another opportunity to assure fans that nothing
in WWE is changing despite the Endeavor deal and the merging of WWE and UFC into one new
company.
But this also comes after a week in which we were promised nothing was changing on Raw
while meanwhile backstage Vince McMahon had reportedly started running the show again
and it became a mess of last minute changes.
Which then lead to #FireVince essentially trending all week online.
So will this new appearance be even more reassuring that nothing we’ve come to enjoy in the
8 months of Vince’s absence will be changing.
Or will it as some speculation suggests be Triple H addressing his own WWE future?
Be that ‘hey I’m here to stay’ or ‘I’m getting while the getting is good’.
Because the getting is going to be coming soon at least according to Endeavor CEO Mark
Shapiro.
By which I mean the company is gearing up for some releases most likely.
Shapiro was speaking with Puck and noted that the company had bid to acquire WWE three weeks
ago and “Until Saturday, I didn’t even know we had this deal."
So while the takeover was a surprise to everyone, what comes next won’t be to those who know
a thing or two about how businesses work.
Because Shapiro went on to say that in “Anything from H.R. to finance to legal to communications
production to distribution and marketing Across every area, you’re going to find cost synergies;
you’re going to integrate and ultimately highlight and appoint the best and brightest
teams.”
Which is a very fancy way of saying that the company will likely be looking to make a number
of layoffs as they merge independent teams from the UFC and WWE into one cohesive company,
providing that delicious cost synergy that gets Vince McMahon all hot under the mustache.
While this doesn’t seem to suggest that talent are for the chop it remains to be seen
if higher ups in the new company look to the roster for savings opportunities - or whether
under the new regime and Vince reportedly being back more people ask for their release
like the Grizzled Young Vets just this week.
Whose status according to Meltzer is now “up in the air”.
Because it’s not just fans bummed out about Vince being back, backstage the atmosphere
has reportedly taken a monster nosedive with many worried that things have immediately
gone back to the bad old ways.
One thing cited as an indicator of this was the Brock Lesnar/Cody Rhodes angle from Raw
this week, though according to Fightful Select that was not a last minute Vince change, and
was set in stone well before this week with Brock knowing of the plan “nearly a month
ahead of time”.
Which means that Lesnar was likely working when he said goodbye to people backstage last
month as if he was leaving and when he openly contemplated retirement in pre-WrestleMania
interviews.
Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite was a real barn-burner wasn’t it?
Not only did Tony Khan’s latest MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT actually prove to rather major for once, but
we also saw two rather prevalent wrestling news stories put to bed once and for all.
While we’ll get to the other one in a second, the first major question answered on Dynamite
was which company was ‘Switchblade’ Jay White going to choose to go with…
WWE or AEW?
Of course he went for AEW, attacking Ricky Starks and adding some well-needed development
on the Starks vs Bullet Club storyline they’re attempting to tell.
While White’s decision to go with AEW instead of WWE looks rather shrewd considering all
the absolute chaos in WWE at present, it turns out his decision was not a reactionary one.
According to Fightful Select, White’s future was decided ahead of WrestleMania weekend
with WWE aware by then that he would not be signing with the company.
Fightful notes that while there was contact between White and WWE, specifically from both
Triple H and William Regal, higher-ups told Fightful that WWE “failed to communicate
properly along the process” perhaps playing a part in White’s decision.
Despite this “tentative creative plans” were being drawn up for White in WWE and some
higher-ups did still believe they would land his signature as of last week.
However, Fightful does note that Vince’s return could have played a part in WWE not
pursuing White, adding that the fact WWE hasn’t made any significant main roster hires since
McMahon returned…
Another hint at ‘budget cuts’ perhaps?
As for White’s AEW deal, Fightful notes that the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion
has signed a multi-year deal with the company, so yeah this story is over.
No more Jay White WWE fantasy booking.
But what about the OTHER big 2023 news story that got a definitive answer on Wednesday…
that being FTR’s decision to stay with All Elite Wrestling rather than go back to WWE.
Yes, with their tag title victory over The Gunn’s on Dynamite, FTR’s future is sealed.
No more cryptic posts and podcast comments Dax, you hear me?
We won’t take the bait anymore…
probably.
And as for why Dax and Cash chose to stick with WWE, we now have our answer as Dax would
post to social media revealing the decision was based on personal reasons.
In response to a Twitter user who stated that FTR staying with AEW was dependent on them
winning the AEW Tag Titles, Dax would respond:
“GIVE US THE BELTS OR WE’RE GOING BACK TO WWE!”
Definitely not “That schedule keeps me away from my wife and daughter too much & AEW will
allow us to give back to wrestling.”
But it wasn’t just fans responding to FTR’s win as the groups notable BFF CM Punk would
also drop an Instagram story with the closing scene of Dynamite between FTR and Mark Briscoe.
So he’s clearly a proud ol’ dad right now… now please can we get that FTR and
Punk vs Elite trios now?
While FTR and Jay White’s futures have been confirmed to be with AEW, what about another
prevalent name in the rumor mill…
Kota Ibushi?
While Ibushi is known to be a hard man to tie down he has spoken positively about AEW
and WWE since his exit from New Japan at the start of the year, seemingly leaving his options
open as he likes to do.
However, now we may have a clearer indicator of where Ibushi may end up next, as speaking
to Dark Pursoeau Flowsion, Ibushi would state how he feels more at home at AEW, even more
so than in Japan.
“I think I'm more suited to AEW than Japan.
I already thought so during All In.
I have many friends.
There are even the best tag partners”
While Ibushi could show up in AEW at any moment, with major events such as Forbidden Door 2
and of course the return of All In (the event Ibushi headlined originally) perhaps AEW may
hold fire until then.
Either way Ibushi clearly thinks AEW is pretty neat, so there you go Tony, proceed with negotiations.
Ok back to the absolute mess that is WWE now, and this Friday’s Smackdown is HIGHLY anticipated,
not so much because we think it’s gonna be good… no not after THAT Raw on Monday,
but because it should give us a much clearer answer as to who is in fact running the show
in WWE.
Of course we will have the aforementioned Triple H WWE Universe address which will likely
either give us a farewell or another then, now, forever spiel, and we will have the product
itself and the clear indicators that distinguish it between a Vince show and a Trips show.
Such as: (ahem) local medical facility or hospital, Omos or Johnny Gargano, promos or
wrestling, things not making sense or making sense.
While some segments and matches have been announced such as Jey Uso vs Sami Zayn, Rey
Mysterio and Escobar vs Dom and Priest and Imperium vs The Brawling Brutes, one MASSIVE
name looks set to already be skipping out on the show.
I am of course alluding to the ‘Tribal Chief’ Roman Reigns.
According to WRKD Wrestling, who specifies that things in WWE are “volatile” and
“can change on a whim” Reigns is not set to appear, with Smackdown instead seeing a
segment between Jey Uso and Paul Heyman, presumably furthering that narrative we saw on Raw.
So yeah, I guess that means no Roman for a while.
Maybe.
With Cody now facing a Brock problem, it’s hard to see who steps up next, with an eventual
rematch between Rhodes and Roman likely not coming until Brock and Cody’s program wraps
up.
But y’know what WWE, just to ensure that you don’t forget about Cody, how about you
take a look at those merch sales from WrestleMania weekend which were recently revealed by Fightful
Select… oh what’s that?
Cody was the top seller?
Hmm…
That’s curious.
Sounds like you’ve got a world champion on your hands…
no I’m not still bitter… not at all… why Roman whyyyy?
While WWE has been in hot water with its fan base ever since last Sunday night at WrestleMania,
it looks like they may have gotten themselves into a much greater problem last weekend.
During Dominik Mysterio’s WrestleMania entrance which was of course prison themed, because
he’s ex-con Dom.
Various prison imagery was shown, however, it seems that amongst the footage chosen was
actually footage of Auschwitz Prison.
Which is just bafflingly stupid.
While the eventual hype package for Dom was altered to remove said footage for his actual
entrance, on the kick-off show it was presented in full.
This caught the attention of the Auschwitz Memorial Museum, who tweeted an understandably
offended response, calling WWE “shameless” and stating that they don’t believe it was
simply an “editing mistake” on WWE’s part.
As of right now WWE has not yet commented on the incident.
More fallout from WrestleMania now and a WWE star has unfortunately announced that they
have been hospitalized following WrestleMania.
And no, I’m not referring to Shane-O-Mac.
I am referring to one Chelsea Green, who made her WrestleMania debut on Sunday night, competing
alongside Sonya Deville in the four-way women’s tag showcase match… y’know the one.
The one that was pretty much a three way until Ronda and Shayna came in and won.
Anyway, Green who has been delightfully, extremely karen since her WWE return, made teh unfortunate
announcement that following Mania she has been struck by a stomach issue which she would
detail on Twitter… in impressively karen-like fashion.
Green would write:
“I thought I celebrated my first Mania too hard… turns out I actually had a severe
stomach bug & a distended gall bladder.
(Thank god the manager of the ER took care of me.
Will NOT be filing any complaints this weekend.)”
While I’m sure Adam Pierce will be glad to see the back of Green for now, we would
like to offer our well-wishes to Green in her recovery from
this issue.