Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk News - I’m Oli Davis.
I’m Not Crying.
You’re Crying As adults with jobs and bills and mortgages
and needing to replace the back wheel on my car to stop it from trying to turn left all
the time, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the cynical side of wrestling fandom.
They’re burying Finn Balor.
Shane McMahon is a terrible authority figure.
Who really is Byron Saxton?
Really, though, we’re kids at heart - cheering on superheroes and buying into the make-believe
world of professional wrestling.
So when you see child fans who are as into wrestling as wyou were when you were a kid,
it brings memories back of those unquestioning, simpler times.
When you’re just happy to see Finn Balor make an entrance, Shane McMahon is a cool
daredevil and Byron Saxton is very funny on commentary.
So prepare yourself for feels, because here’s our phenomenal WWE Champion granting a young
fan’s wish at a Smackdown live event: “Her sign says “All I want is a hug from
AJ Styles” and he went above & beyond for this little girl!
AJ has a heart of gold!
😭😭😭💙❤️ #WWERoanoke” Anyone?
No?
And the feels aren’t done there.
After surprising a wrestling-fan couple at their wedding several weeks ago, Reddit user
Donsburt shared that Kevin Owens saw a young fan holding a ‘Fight Owens Fight’ sign
at a house show, so he let her come backstage afterwards to pose for photos.
Sadly, shortly following that photo, Owens pop-up powerbombed the girl onto the steps
behind them.
Kayfabe.
But following the recent release of James Ellsworth, AJ and KO might find themselves
down another jobber act on Smackdown.
Singh Brothers Done On Smackdown?
Despite Jinder Mahal attacking AJ before his Singh Brothers handicap match on this week’s
episode, the WWE Champion still managed to overcome the odds with a fantastic second-rope
Styles Clash on both men.
Increasingly frustrated with the man who took his title, Jinder then beat down both of his
Singh Brother goons following the match.
It’s very reminiscent of how Ellsworth was written off TV before WWE announced his release
- where he was also beaten up by his boss, Carmella.
PWInsider have reported that “There was talk several weeks back that [The Singh Brothers]
were going to be replaced as Mahal's seconds by other talents, but then it quieted down”.
But with this week’s beatdown angle from Mahal, Mike Johnson speculates the Brothers
have been written off Smackdown.
The Singh Brothers debuted for WWE in last Summer’s Cruiserweight Classic tournament.
They later wrestled on the premiere episode of 205 Live, and would debut on the main roster
in April as part of Jinder’s repackaging as a main eventer.
But if the Singh Brothers are done on Smackdown, who are the “other talents” that could
reportedly replace them as Mahal’s henchpeople?
Perhaps Jinder could be backed up by the grace of an eagle (ca-caw!), the strength of a bull
(snort!), the smarts of a dolphin (eek), the fearlessness of a dog (woof!), and the passion
of a tiger (roar!) to become…
The BeastMaster WWE Raw & Smackdown Ratings
This week’s Raw dropped way below the 3 million number with a disappointing 2.75 million
viewers.
Smackdown, however, fared much better - up in the ratings for the fourth week in a row,
averaging 2.68 million viewers, which isn’t that far off from the Raw number.
But far more important are your ratings.
55% of you thought Raw was AvRAWge, while 63% thought Smackdown was Smack Bang in the
Middle.
Spoilers: there’s been a big title change on NXT!
And what’s the latest with CM Punk’s UFC return?
Click the videos to the left to find out, press subscribe and support WrestleTalk - order
issue 1 of the WrestleTalk Magazine now.
I’ve been Oli Davis, and that was wrestling.