Roman Reigns didn’t just return to WWE at SummerSlam with brand new teeth - Hi everyone,
I’m here to smile at everything and leave - he also came back with a badass new heel
gimmick, complete with added Paul Heyman.
And soon it might not just be all of us and Heyman calling Reigns our Tribal Chief, as
WrestlingNews.co is reporting he could be getting his own heel faction.
On Friday’s episode of SmackDown, Jey Uso was granted a rematch against Roman Reigns
for the Blue-niversal Championship at Hell in a Cell - which Roman teased would have
the “highest stakes match in WWE history.”
Dog food match return confirmed.
The report notes this is “the next big chapter” in Roman’s heel arc, and, following that,
“there has been talk in creative about Reigns leading a stable with Jey and Jimmy (when
he’s healthy) and others added in the future.”
Like I said after Clash of Champions in my fantasy booking, Roman could start making
anyone he beats declare him their tribal chief, thereby joining his faction.
And the Usos are seemingly set to be the first additions.
Jey himself got excited about the idea in a recent shoot interview, saying: “Imagine
us running that thing full-blown – and I would love to be heel – a heel faction.
Hell yeah, bro!
I wanna see some Samoan Swat Team 2.0 type of things, man.
It’s written by itself, right?”
Who would you like to see in the Samoan Swat Team 2.0?
Let me know in the comments because I’ll be replying to people FROM OUTTA ROMAN REIGNS’
PERFECT SHINY TEETH, JUST GONNA SMILE AT EVERYONE HERE AND LEAVE.
We can rule out at least two WWE stars, as they made their shock returns at last night’s
NXT TakeOver 31 instead.
We’re entering the Spoiler Room Brawl, which has just been renamed the Capitol Spoiler
Center, in 3…
2…
Kenny Omega reunited every Bullet Club member ever in an AEW invasion of NXT.
Just kidding, 1…
Despite fears she might never wrestle again, admitting earlier this year her torn Achilles
might be “career ending”, Ember Moon made her shock return to NXT at last night’s
TakeOver.
After Io Shirai successfully defended her NXT Women’s Championship against Candice
LaRae, a vignette played showing the mystery motorcyclist drive round the block in green
night vision - Randy Orton presumably letting the NXT production team borrow his goggles
- to then reveal herself as Mad Mad Ember Moon on the stage.
The mullet is strong with this one.
Moon had previously wrestled in NXT from 2015 to 2018, winning the Women’s Championship
once, but, like so many others, was called up to the main roster despite them not having
any plans for her.
After 18 months of not doing very much at all, she tore her Achilles while running after
the 24/7 title.
Revealing how badly the main roster botched her call-up, Triple H said on the post-TakeOver
media call there were plans to bring Ember back to NXT even before her injury.
“We had been talking about her coming back here for a while, probably since she was injured,
maybe even before that.
The timing was just here.
She just got cleared.
She's healthy.
The door was open for her.”
And she’s not the only big addition to NXT’s already very stacked women’s division…
Just before Ember’s motorbike riding return, former NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm
turned up on the Titantron to also challenge Io Shirai, announcing she’ll be permanently
moving to the US NXT from this point forward.
Storm is one of the most charismatic wrestlers in the entire company, and her call up…
call across… call sideways move to the full NXT is long overdue.
Storm wrestled in January’s Women’s Royal Rumble match, but hasn’t featured on WWE
TV since the pandemic began.
And while they won’t be competing in the NXT women’s division anytime soon, the backstage
area saw another return - Scott Armstrong, who tweeted from TakeOver:
“Back in the saddle and definitely happy to be a part of the @WWENXT Family!!”
Armstrong, the real life brother of other NXT producer Road Dogg, was furloughed back
in April along with many other backstage staff.
WWE appear to be making decisions on who to fully let go - like the recent release of
longtime employee Gerald Brisco - and who to bring back, like Billy Kidman and Pat Buck.
But surely the biggest return from last night, or ‘debut’ I guess, is the old WCW pay-per-view
name Halloween Havoc…
The TakeOver ran a promo for the spooky themed episode of NXT TV on Wednesday 28th October,
which will see Shotzi Blackheart hosting.
‘Hosting’ in WWE terms, usually meaning ‘briefly winning the 24/7 title’.
Despite WWE owning the rights to Halloween Havoc - one of the most beloved WCW pay-per-view
themes, with its giant pumpkin heads on the stage - they haven’t once used the branding
in the two decades since WCW went under.
It seems to be the latest use of special TV episodes to win Wednesday Night War battles
between NXT and AEW - after NXT’s only victory this year came around another WCW-pay-per-view
revival with the Great American Bash.
Elsewhere on NXT TakeOver, no titles changed hands.
Damian Priest retained his North American Championship against Johnny Gargano, Santos
Escobar beat Isiah ‘Swerve’ Scott to retain his Cruiserweight belt, Shirai beat LaRae,
and Kyle O’Reilly lost to NXT Champion Finn Balor in the main event.
Triple H noted in his post-TakeOver media call that Balor was taken to the hospital
for x-rays of a possibly broken jaw, and Kyle O’Reilly was also being evaluated after
busting his mouth open too.
A surprising new storyline immediately followed their match, with Ridge Holland dumping an
unconscious Adam Cole by the ring, which saw his Undisputed Era buddies Roderick Strong
and Bobby Fish run out to help him.
Also on the show, Kushida beat Velveteen Dream.
Which Triple H might have foreshadowed in his pre-TakeOver call, saying Dream is coming
off a “rough year” and blaming “his immaturity… in his professional life”
for not progressing in his NXT career.
Dream has been plagued by scandals this year: being accused of sexual misconduct by minors,
which Dream himself denied, reportedly being investigated for criminal damage, and crashing
his car.
Whatever plans Triple H might have for him, and Ridge Holland, and the reported Undisputed
Era break up might be torn up quicker than you can say ‘Let’s Randomly Call Up Ricochet
and Aleister Black as a Tag Team Next Week’.
As both Triple H himself, and the actual WWE too, don’t seem to know what’s going on
with their Draft that starts this Friday.
Triple H said “he's genuinely unsure” whether NXT will be part of this Friday’s
Draft during the TakeOver media call - after, earlier that day, WWE posting a tweet implying
they would, asking fans to pick their number one drafts for Raw, SmackDown, and NXT.
That tweet was then quickly deleted, and reposted without NXT.
Just over a year into the USA Network era, it seems like WWE are taking a new tact with
NXT - reinvigorating the brand with a revamped venue.
Because last night’s TakeOver wasn’t from Full Sail University.
It marked NXT’s return to the Performance Center, which has been redone and rebranded
as the Capitol Wrestling Center - a neat reference to the Capitol Wrestling Corporation promotion,
which is one of the McMahon family’s first wrestling companies.
Most of the training has now been moved to a new location, so the venue can now focus
on producing wrestling shows.
Triple H said he wanted this new look to distinguish NXT from Raw and SmackDown’s Thunderdome
production.
But, according to WrestlingInc, it’s also his latest idea to beat AEW.
Apparently, WWE is unhappy that All Elite Wrestling keeps beating NXT in the ratings
and the key 18-49 demographic each week.
And the Capitol Wrestling Center is one way to turn this around by allowing actual fans
to return to shows.
TakeOver saw a mixture of talent and real fans in the crowd, but all in specially made,
CoVid-blocking pods - similar to Michael Cole’s pod that protected him from Jerry Lawler in
2011.
Urgh, heel Michael Cole flashbacks.
NXT is testing all fans with a CoVid screening, temperature check and questionnaire before
they’re admitted, with masks being worn at all times.
The reported aim is to steadily increase capacity over the next few months, barring any positive
cases, so they can have a full stands set up from the start of 2021.
I give it two weeks before the wrestlers plan a spot to go through one of the pods.
But isolating the NXT and 205 Live shows in the Capitol Wrestling Center is reportedly
also a way to protect the main roster too.
Following a large outbreak in the company last month, apparently made worse by NXT talent
crossing over into the Thunderdome as Retribution extras, Dave Meltzer is reporting WWE didn’t
just decide to not film NXT at the Thunderdome to give it its own identity, but also to keep
the main and NXT rosters separate in case of any future outbreaks.
Coronavirus concerns are apparently also why WWE chose to move away from Full Sail University,
who have started admitting students on campus again - which makes running a safely closed
set more difficult.
Before we end this episode, please consider visiting Jim Valley’s Go Fund Me page.
Valley is a longtime presenter for F4WOnline and the Wrestling Observer’s radio shows,
but he’s been missing for the last several months due to his rare autoimmune disease.
This has brought with it increasing medical costs for his family.
You can read his story by clicking the link in the video description below.
Tony Khan, Chris Jericho and Bryan Alvarez are amongst the very generous donations.
What are the 10 best Hell in a Cell matches in WWE history?
Click the video on the right for Adam Blampied’s latest list!
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I’ve been Mr Davis, telling you to get on board.