In this WrestleTalk News, NXT disappointed with WWE, Daniel Bryan to AEW speculation,
New Japan’s Kota Ibushi taken ill and more.
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Roman Reigns to cut a really nice promo on you.
Now I know we’ve got a load of huge wrestling stories to cover today, and I’ll get to
that very shortly, but I want to spend the first part of this video finally talking about
a genuine, really significant problem with how WWE is influencing younger viewers.
Putting out action figure playsets that directly encourage kids to go on destructive rampages
and tear apart public service vehicles.
Britain’s newspaper of record the Daily Star is reporting ‘fuming’ mother Sabrina
Fitzsimons, 41, has blasted WWE’s Wrekkin Slambulance Vehicle playset - complete with
over 8 breakaway pieces for the ultimate wrekkin action and a “spring-loaded stretcher”
that shoots out of the back, whoa! - as “massively inappropriate” which crosses “a line of
ethics and morals," arguing it advocates violence against this country’s beloved NHS and all
its local medical facilities.
Which is extra “offensive” during a pandemic.
There’s not even a ‘don’t try this at home’ warning on the box.
Mattel, the company behind the toy, hasn’t replied for comment.
They’ve got oil on their hands.
So please, please, when you see children start manically pulling the doors off of ambulances
they see in the street, beating its roof like a War Boys drum and howling for the privatisation
of the NHS, just buy them Playmobil next year.
But WWE doesn’t just have heat with totally rational mums.
In the logical conclusion of the company’s backstage politics - WWE now has heat with
WWE.
After a month of tryout matches for the main roster - a rather humiliating process itself
given that’s what NXT is supposed to be for - current NXT Champion Karrion Kross made
his Raw debut on Monday night, stripped of his special entrance, his real life wife valet
Scarlett Bordeaux, and in just under two minutes, his undefeated streak of never being pinned
in WWE.
This was widely criticised by fans, and I called it the company’s biggest creative
mistake since The Fiend losing to Seth Rollins at 2019’s Hell in a Cell.
This wasn’t just a burial of Kross.
By extension, it felt like a burial of the entire NXT brand.
And we’re not alone for thinking that.
According to Fightful Select, NXT talent themselves feel that way too.
Several NXT talent told the site there was “shock and frustration” to their current
champion losing to Jeff Hardy in two minutes on Monday, with one source saying “it felt
like a message was being sent”.
While they didn’t explain what that message was, the speculation is that Vince McMahon
is angry at NXT for losing to AEW in the Wednesday Night Wars.
Kross losing so easily on the main roster, while holding the NXT Championship belt, was
said to be met with “significant frustration” backstage - as many of the top talent in NXT
- like Finn Balor, Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano - have spent the last year building this guy
up to look “as dominant as possible”.
The general mood, however, was said to be “‘not mad, disappointed’ as they felt
this represented how the NXT brand was viewed by higher ups as a whole.”
What do you think is going on with Vince and NXT?
Let me know in the comments down below because I’ll be replying to as many people as I
can for the first 30 minutes after this video goes live FROM OUTTA NOWHERE.
But how did Kross feel about it backstage?
Fightful Select also notes Kross “appeared to be in good spirits backstage after the
match”, which is probably the best reaction you can have to stop being buried even further.
Fall and pray, on the inside.
AEW star Matt Hardy pointed out on Twitter that Karrion shouldn’t even be the champion
anymore: “Why does Kross still have the title?
I thought my brother won it.”
I also said yesterday that NXT is actually a really great developmental system, just
not for the main roster.
For AEW instead.
And according to the recently released Ariya Daivari, that’s a sentiment seemingly shared
backstage.
While the wrestlers would never admit this publicly, Daviari confessed AEW is talked
about “tons” behind the scenes in WWE - saying most of the guys in 205 Live or NXT
have a lot of friends there from their independent days.
The also recently released Buddy Murphy admitted he didn’t even watch Raw for the last year
- staying up to date with his own company using our reviews instead.
And in true WWE style, after realising how much they need live fans in attendance during
the pandemic era, they already seem to be resenting them - filing to trademark the catchphrase
“Complaining Is Not Conversation” earlier this month.
And I agree.
Complaining is YouTube videos.
The other criticised booking decision from Monday’s Raw was Keith Lee making his big
return in the most WWE way possible - losing in 5 minutes in his home state to set up a
more important Goldberg angle.
Thankfully, though, PWInsider now notes Lee is “cleared” from whatever issue had kept
him off TV since February, clarifying his absence was not a creative decision.
It wasn’t all bad on Raw though.
Following Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair’s excellent Money in the Bank match, PWInsider
adds Ripley is now officially considered a babyface backstage - after months of oddly
heelish booking.
And Nikki A.S.H. closed the show cashing in her Money in the Bank briefcase to win the
Raw Women’s Championship.
According to WrestlingNews.co, McMahon has become a big fan of Nikki’s superhero character,
and “she is beloved by everyone in the locker room”, with a lot of merchandise ideas apparently
in the pipeline for her.
McMahon is reportedly just as high on Toni Storm, who is set to debut as a babyface on
this Friday’s SmackDown, with Vince feeling she can become one of the brand’s big stars.
Just setting a reminder for three weeks from Friday.
Monday’s very newsworthy episode of Raw increased viewership 20% from last week’s
near historic low, pulling in 1.9 million viewers - its highest figure since WrestleMania,
and the 3rd best of the year so far.
Hoping to continue that, WWE quickly announced the Summer of Cena - which grates pretty hard
on my CM Punk loving mark heart - promoting him for 15 dates from now to SummerSlam, at
which point he leaves to make a new movie.
One person who won’t be around, though, is The Fiend Bray Wyatt.
PWinsider is reporting there is “still no timetable for his return to active duty for
the company.”
Apart from WrestleMania in April, Wyatt hasn’t actually wrestled in the ring since December’s
Inferno match at TLC.
The original play was for Bray to beat Orton, but it was changed that weekend - perhaps,
and this is my speculation, if WWE realised Wyatt wouldn’t be around for a time following
the show.
As for the actual cause, PWInsider’s sources say there is a specific reason for Wyatt not
being around, but won’t say what it is - just saying the belief is that it’s not a creative
issue.
Gasp!
Daniel Bryan to AEW confirmed.
Given all the WWE returns this week already - Goldberg, Keith Lee, fans, Finn Balor, Alexa
Bliss’ supernatural puppet Lily - you might think that other big name that went missing
a few months ago could be showing up for SummerSlam season too.
Apparently not, according to PWInsider - which is reporting “there has been no discussion
of Bryan returning to WWE and he is not listed on the company's roster” - specifically
noting he’s not in the talent list recently put together for licensing and merchandising
plans through 2021 to 2022, adding he’s not in any of the future Mattel action figure
wave releases.
Not that WWE’s licensing and merchandising plans are 100% future proof though.
The obvious speculation, then, is if Bryan isn’t planned for a WWE return anytime soon,
then could he be showing up in All Elite Wrestling - potentially for their next big pay-per-view
All Out on 5th September?
And that isn’t just fan speculation, as PWInsider notes it’s a fear shared by some
in WWE too.
PWInsider says they haven’t heard anything about an AEW move.
That doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen, though, as that’s exactly what pro wrestling
would tell you.
A month before Sting showed up on Dynamite last December though, WWE removed all his
merchandise from their store, and a quick search shows a lot of Bryan merchandise still
available, some at full price.
But it’s a fantasy booking scenario that’s hard to shake.
We all thought Bryan would show up at the pre-AEW event All In back in 2018, but he
re-signed with WWE instead.
Dave Meltzer did say he had a feeling AEW were planning something huge for the next
few months on a recent podcast, which is sometimes his not-so-subtle way of saying ‘I’ve
heard something that I can’t tell you’.
Or it could be nothing at all.
What do you think Bryan will do next?
Is he just going to be a family man for a bit?
Return to WWE?
Or join AEW and pursue his lifelong goal of wrestling around the world in loads of dream
matches?
Let me know in the comments down below.
Hopefully one of those dream matches will one day include Kota Ibushi, but New Japan
have just announced he’ll miss the next three dates this week because he’s been
diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia.
The company explained this was not a side effect of a Covid vaccination, for which he’s
tested negative.
A decision will be made on his recovery whether he can face Shingo Takagi for the IWGP World
Heavyweight title at Sunday’s huge Wrestle Grand Slam show in the Tokyo Dome.
New Japan have also made a surprise new talent signing: the former Aiden English from WWE,
now going by the name Drama King Matt Morris, who will be joining its English broadcast
team for their Resurgence show in LA on the 14th August - teasing “Could his background
also lead to in-ring involvement?
Time will tell!”
That’s such an anime way of teasing the next episode.
Not to be outdone with having an ex-WWE star debut for them, IMPACT got their first.
At their tapings last night, Drama King joined the promotion, becoming an act with Deonna
Purrazzo as the homecoming king and queen.
Now it’s time for Tempest to review NXT in about 5 minutes.
I bet they address Kross being jobbed out on the main roster…