In this WrestleTalk News, Mustafa Ali shoots on WWE, more details on WWE’s handling of
the White Rabbit and Finn Balor set to get da big push, plus loads more.
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Since the change in management WWE has been a land of new opportunity for everyone, well
for flippy indie guys and people that Triple H liked in NXT.
I’m joking of course, WWE more recently has had much more to do with all of its talent
and seemingly is content to build up guys like Johnny Gargano, Tomasso Ciampa, Chad
Gable again under Trips leadership.
However, not everyone is yet to have their moment in the spotlight, which must be frustrating
and sometimes those frustrations come out on Twitter - the horrible void we all shout
into.
In response to a fan asking why WWE “won’t go all in” on him, Mustafa Ali tweeted with
his thoughts, saying: “i know why.
and I’ll knock that shit down too.”
Ali has been a bit tougher on his Twitter of late and even says in his bio that he will
“call out hoe behavior” in this case WWE booking be the hoe.
Onto the major mystery gripping the wrestling world at the minute, what in tarnation is
this White Rabbit malarky all around.
Well, as you likely know Fightful Select have been reporting that the reveal internally
at WWE is believed to be for Bray Wyatt.
But a new update has revealed WWE’s overall role in the slowburn reveal.
Fightful said that they were told that not everyone at the company was sold on the QR
code teases, but people backstage are now calling them “a major success” which has
“created even more than the intended buzz for the segment”.
Fightful also said that “WWE creative has been largely hands off with the segments”.
People backstage aren’t exactly sure of the small details involved with the reveal
and only WWE higher ups are aware of the plans and how things will work moving forwards.
The round out this new batch of news by saying that Extreme Rules was supposed to be the
“reveal” of the White Rabbit though they were not told if the person portraying them
would be there in person or not.
Not long now though until we see how deep the rabbit hole goes.
And we’re going to get to see it at a rate of 25 camera cuts in 10 seconds, because fan
favorite producer Kevin Dunn is still with the company.
There was some speculation when Vince McMahon stepped down that his Chief of Global Television
Distribution and Executive Producer would be on the chopping block, because fans wanted
Papa H to give us everything we wanted all at once.
Dunn’s frenetic style of production has been a sticking point for fans for quite some
time, and it’s also not been great for that guys knees following the Seth Rollins chair
shots.
Rumors have come and gone that Dunn was giving marching orders, especially once a report
emerged that Dunn and Stephanie McMahon specifically didn’t get along, and also some discord
with talent backstage over MAGA flags on the production trucks.
Again with rumors swirling again PWInsider did some digging and their new report says
that Dunn’s status in the company is 100% unchanged.
Sticking with WWE, one
Triple H favorite still hasn’t been seen since the changeover in management, that being
the glorious Bobby Roode or Robert Roode.
The mustache breaking former NXT Champion hasn’t been seen on WWE television since
the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal back in April and hasn’t wrestled a house
show since a loss to Omos in late June.
A new post from Roode on Instagram might provide a little clarity as he popped up some picks
from a recent trip to Birmingham, Alabama to undergo some orthopedic treatment of some
kind.
Roode wrote: “Heading home after what is hoped to be a successful trip to Birmingham
AL . Big thank you to Southlake Orthopedics and Andrews Sports Medicine for taking great
care of me this week.”
The reveal of this procedure seems to answer the question as to why Roode has been absent
from WWE recently, the timings line up.
Here’s hoping he makes a speedy recovery and we see him back on screens soon.
One other NXT regular who was gathering dust at the back of the closet for many years,
was Aliyah who has had a sudden career surge in recent weeks.
Alongside Raquel Rodriguez she won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships after coming
out on top of a tournament, before sadly losing them a two weeks later to Iyo Sky and Dakota
Kai.
Aliyah has not been seen on WWE TV since then - and again the answer may be some form of
injury.
Aliyah took to Twitter, posting a picture of some lovely purple bruising on her shoulder
with the caption “never give up”.
Whether this is a full blown injury or something more minor she is resting remains to be seen,
but her tag team with Raquel has seemingly ended in the meantime as Shotzi has replaced
her as Rodriguez’s partner in recent weeks.
Now here is the sort of news we’ve all wanted since Triple H took charge.
Because according to WrestleVotes WWE reportedly has “significant plans” for one of their
stars.
You hear that plans?!
Chance will be a fine thing.
Not only are WWE actually thinking things through, but they’re thinking things through
with regards to Finn Balor.
According to WrestleVotes the former NXT Champion and first ever Universal Champion is a “strong
favorite of the new leadership group” and is line for da big push.
There is also an expectation that the leader of Judgment Day will “play a big role in
the foreseeable future of WWE”.
Now the report didn't have anything exact to say about the plans for Balor, but the
star is on something of a winning streak on Raw and currently has his sights set on recruiting
AJ Styles to the Judgment Day.
Using what can only really be described as tough love, but hey it worked on Dominik.
Balor is also set to face Edge in an “I Quit’ match at Extreme Rules, the outcome
of which will be very interesting in light of this little bit of news.
Following the expiry of his AEW contract on August 31st, Bobby Fish has kept himself in
the wrestling limelight, predominantly through trashing CM Punk on social media on a personal
level as well as poking fun at his MMA skills.
Oh, and there is also the whole trying to convince Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly to
pack in their AEW contracts thing to reform the Undisputed Era in WWE.
Now, while this was denied by Fish, AEW and WWE, it was perhaps still surprising to then
see Fish, who has made his admiration for Triple H very well known, appear at Impact’s
Victory Road event last Saturday.
This appearance has now been followed up by Fish’s debut match in Impact being announced
for Bound for Glory.
Fish joins Bhupinder Gujjar, PCO, Steve Maclin, Moose, Heath, Rich Swann and Gisele Shaw in
this year's Call Your Shot gauntlet match, which grants the winner a championship match
at any time they choose.
Bound for Glory takes place next Friday October 7th so keen Bobby Fish fans (or fellow CM
Punk haters) won’t have to wait long to see whether the veteran gets an immediate
push to the moon in his debut.
The truly devastating Hurricane Ian is currently running rampant across the Florida area, leading
to millions being left without power in their homes, mass flooding and sadly numerous deaths.
This tragedy has unsurprisingly also already had an effect on the wrestling world in particular
AEW who due to the Hurricane were forced to make numerous changes to Wednesday’s Dynamite
card.
As reported by Will Washington on Fightful Select, both Swerve Strickland and Samoa Joe
were planned to appear but were forced to miss the show due to being located in the
Florida area.
While it is unclear what Joe was scheduled to do on the show, Strickland was scheduled
to participate in a backstage segment with The Acclaimed, however due to Swerve’s absence
tag partner Keith Lee ran solo instead.
Everyone here at WrestleTalk would like to extend our thoughts and best wishes to everyone
being affected by Hurricane Ian at this time.
Hurricane Ian’s devastation also had a telling impact on this week’s Dynamite viewership,
with AEW unable to continue their streak of over one million viewers, dropping below that
mark for the first time since August 17th’s Dynamite.
The key demo of 18-49 also unsurprisingly saw a drop of three percent to draw a 0.34
rating and 440,000 viewers in that bracket.
This saw them take the ninth spot in cable rankings for the demo and a position in 20th
overall.
This dip is totally understandable at this present time, and unlikely to be affecting
just AEW, with WWE also concerned for Friday’s edition of Smackdown.
Coverage for Hurricane Ian has dominated the airwaves in the states, with the Weather Channel
remarkably taking seven of the eight spots in the top ten.
AEW certainly had its work cut out for them this week and will be hoping to regain their
lost momentum once the Hurricane hopefully dies down.