In this WrestleTalk News, a new Triple H signing denied his WWE return?
MORE backstage chaos and last minute Raw changes and Luke’s review of last night’s Raw.
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In recent weeks and months in WWE, there’s been a distinct lack of new signees, even
with the Raw after WrestleMania traditionally being the time for those sorts of things to
happen.
This is perhaps due to the ongoing reported ‘unofficial hiring freeze’ that also just
happens to also conveniently coincide with the return of Vince McMahon and the sale of
the company to Endeavor… funny that.
But wait, don’t get too down… what if I told you there was ONE surprise return that
WWE still has up their sleeve, one they’ve been sitting on since bloody November.
It was rumoured back in December that WWE has re-signed former Sanity frontman Eric
Young, but we haven’t seen or heard anything about him since.
Well, now Fightful Select are reporting that Eric Young is still under WWE contract, and
was actually signed on November 1st.
Despite his WWE contract, EY was able to finish up his dates with Impact Wrestling, being
kayfabe murdered in the process.
So where the hell is he?
Well, nobody seems to know, as not only has Young obviously not appeared on WWE TV he
also reportedly hasn’t even been on live events or even backstage in any capacity.
It’s a rather peculiar one, Fightful does make note that Young’s hiring was specifically
made for him to compete in a wrestling capacity.
Despite Young’s veteran status he was not hired to just be a producer, coach or any
other non-wrestling role.
Who knows… but perhaps we’ll get an update on this soon.
Stay tuned to wrestletalk.com for any updates.
Speaking of Vince…
It seems like last Monday’s Raw after Mania has forced us down a path of uncertainty ahead
of literally every Raw, Smackdown, heck even NXT, where we ask did Vince write this?
Is this a Triple H show or a Vince show?
Oh god… they said local medical facility again…
However, ahead of last night’s Raw we looked to be steering clear from the creepy mustache
infested waters of Vince, as it was reported by sources such as the Wrestling Observer’s
Dave Meltzer that McMahon was not in Seattle for Raw.
However, that of course doesn’t necessarily mean the show was safe from script rewrites
and last minute changes.
As for talent, following Vince’s Smackdown no-show, Fightful noted that many had a “wait
and see” approach to Vince’s role going forward.
But I know you’ve seen that headline…
it says MAJOR rewrites, that means Vince right?
Well, not this time.
As noted by Corey Graves early in the Raw broadcast, several WWE talents were significantly
affected by travel issues prior to Raw, which was legitimate; both Sean Ross Sapp and Andrew
Zarian would report the same prior to the show, with Zarian stating that it had affected
50% of the roster.
We would see this travel disruption first hand through the forced scrapping of many
previously announced matches such as The Miz vs Matt Riddle and Bianca Belair vs IYO Sky.
While Sky and eventually Riddle would make appearances on the show and play significant
roles, it clearly played a part in disrupting the creative plans.
However, while travel woes were the primary reason for the changes Fightful did also note
that several members of the roster were flown in to Seattle for the show only to be told
that they weren’t actually needed.
With some even finding out the news “right after they landed”, which is a bit rubbish
to say the least.
So… another week of backstage chaos overshadowing the actual show itself, but hey at least it
wasn’t Vince for once.
And now I need to get out of here before Luke comes in and tries to hot tag me.
Goodbye.
As we await Oli Davis’ big speech that will explain everything, it’s time for my review
of Monday Night Raw - aka THE SPONSORED BY RENFIELD edition of Monday Night Raw … in
about five minutes.
The travel issues were immediately on show as Rey Mysterio of all people opened Raw - here's
your customary Brand Split LOL you ordered, m’lord - to cut…
basically the same promo he’s cut on his son since this feud started.
Dom came out to… basically cut the same promo he’s been cutting on his deadbeat
dad since this feud started, but got incredible heat for it.
This is the brilliance of Dom.
You don’t need to change his promos or mess around with things.
Outside of Roman Reigns, Dominik Mysterio is getting the best heel heat in the whole
company.
It led to a match between Finn Balor and Rey Mysterio, which Kevin Patrick called a “Dream
Match”.
Despite happening quite a bit last summer.
Rey managed to stop Dominik interfering once, but not twice as he clocked his dad with the
chain and Balor pinned him with the Coup De Grace.
A nice bit of rehabilitation for Finn after his loss to Edge at Mania, and a decent way
to continue the build to the inevitable tag match with Bad Bunny at Backlash.
Or is it WrestleMania Backlash?
Becky Lynch wasn’t able to team with Lita to defend her tag team titles that I forgot
they had as Lit was attacked backstage by a mystery attacker and taken to the [LOCAL
MEDICAL FACILITY].
She instead teamed with Trish Stratus to defend the belts against Racquel Rodriguez and…
Dakota Kai…
no wait, Aliyah…
no wait, Shotzi…
no wait, Liv Morgan.
Definitely Liv Morgan.
Anyhoo, they won the tag titles when Morgan pinned Trish Status after ducking a chick
kick.
The match had shockingly little crowd reaction for the majority of the match, despite titles
being on the line and a legit hall of famer in the ring wrestling on TV like it was nothing,
but the action was decent with everyone - mostly Becky Lynch - busting their asses to get the
crowd into it.
After the match, Trish decked Becky and turned heel - presumably outing herself as the person
who attacked Lita as well.
Paul Heyman cut a promo to push the idea that Sami Zayn and Matt Riddle are not here tonight
to help Kevin Owens in his match with Solo Sikoa, and Bayley made peacekeeper in her
group who felt one of them should be in the triple threat for the Raw Women’s Championship
instead of Bayley, who said she would speak with Adam Pearce about getting this changed.
Bobby Lashley took on Bronson Reed in a very fun big meaty men slapping meat match.
Like a lot of Bronson Reed matches in WWE, he got no reaction from the crowd, and this
bled into the match early doors.
But Bobby is massively over, and the crowd enjoyed seeing him try to battle this behemoth.
And like a lot of other Bronson Reed matches, the crowd got more and more into him the longer
this went.
They brawled to the outside and the ref counted both men out, leading to a brawl around ringside
with security breaking it up - including Petey Williams so this was a five out of five show.
And then, it was time to hear from Cody WHOOOOOOAhodes.
Cody cut a promo about being embarrassed.
Embarrassed he lost at Mania, embarrassed that he got punked out by Brock the following
day, and embarrassed that he got upstaged by a rubber chicken in the ring on what was
supposed to be the biggest night of his career.
He buried the idea that some fans are defending his loss at Mania by saying ‘he hasn’t
gone through enough adversity’ by pointing out that has been his story since leaving
the company almost a decade ago, and he then challenged Brock to a match at WrestleMania
Backlash.
That’s right, WrestleMania Backlash.
Could have been a slip of the tongue - as it's still advertised as just Backlash on
WWE.com - but could also be one of those odd Vince-decried decisions.
You know, like how Becky called it a local medical facility earlier in the show.
Brock will be on the show next week.
They announced that Logan Paul has re-signed with WWE and even showed that hilariously
photoshopped image he posted on social media, and The Usos took on Alpha Academy in a terrific
little match.
It was clear that this crowd were into The Usos as they got a massive pop when Heyman
name dropped them earlier in his promo, but they came unglued for a lot of this match,
equally going banana for Babyface Chad Gable who continues to rule.
His run with the moonsault to the outside and his diving headbutt for a nearfall was
superb, and also the man to take the fall when The Usos pinned him with the 3D.
A very fun professional wrestling match.
The crowd were less hot for Iyo Sky taking on Piper Niven and Mia Yim in a 3-way to crown
a new number one contender for Bianca Belair - but can you really blame the crowd?
All three of these women *should* be in this position, but have not been presented that
way.
And the crowd responded in kind to that.
I’d wager the large majority didn’t see Sky’s great work in NXT, Niven’s in NXT
UK or Yim’s in Impact.
They’ve only seen what’s been on WWE TV, and that hasn’t been a lot.
Corey Graves even said on commentary that Mia Yim came in with a lot of fanfare but
hasn’t done anything with it since.
Like that’s somehow her fault.
But this match was all about getting people into Iyo.
The commentary team put her over hard, and she was presented as almost the babyface in
the match to get all the shine.
And she won with the Over the Moonsault, pinning Yim.
It was a great performance in a decent match, and sets up Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky which
sounds grand to me!
Let’s hope this push can continue.
Bayley looked on proud after the match, which could be a sign that she’ll be turning babyface
when her team turn on her.
And the main event saw Solo Sikoa beat Kevin Owens who could not overcome the numbers game
against The Usos.
Which was, you know, the story we had in the lead-up to Mania.
I don’t want to sound like the Debbie Downer here, but this is literally what we got two
weeks running just last month.
Sami and Riddle arrived after the bell; running straight from the airport to make the save.
Owens was so damn good in the match, as was Solo, but I do feel like this feud has lost
a little bit of steam.
It’s like booking the same match after a rivalry has finished on MyGM Mode on WWE2K23
- it’s on cool down.
What a difference one week and one less old man can make.
Considering that Triple H only had half of the roster he was supposed to have because
of the travel issues, he did a lot better than Vince did last week with a full-strength
crew.
It wasn’t a brilliant episode by any stretch and largely quite missable, but it was better
than last week.
It was, in fact, three out of five.
And now that’s all done.
It’s time for me to walk to the other side of this room
and join my friends for a speech from Oli Davis.