On today’s news - WWE rushed their draft plans and kept their talent in the dark about
it, the company is happy with a controversial NXT gimmick, my review of the first night
of the Draft on SmackDown, Tempest’s review of Rampage and more.
So far with Oli as my manservant, I’ve got him wearing a bowtie and saying I’m the
greatest Jampion ever, but I always feel like there’s room for more. Subscribe to the
channel because once we hit 815,000 I’ll get him to do something extra humiliating.
WWE often likes to keep storyline info close to the vest and that could not be more true
than with the WWE Draft as talent reportedly had no clue what their future looked like
ahead of last night’s SmackDown. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reported
that he had spoken to top names on Raw, SmackDown and NXT who all said they had no idea where
they were going to go in the Draft. NXT talent that were spoken to were not even told whether
they would be drafted or not, let alone which brand they would be going to. The talent also
said that this is how it usually is with them not knowing.
The report also notes that as of Wednesday there were names in talent relations who didn’t
even know what the draft plans were. Additionally, the format of the draft was not known as of
Thursday. Boy do they ever sound organized? Wasn’t it reported for months that WWE were
waiting for the Draft to reveal their big plans? After it was revealed that they were
waiting until SummerSlam. And that was after they were waiting for fans to come back. Maybe
they just don’t have big plans. Crazy idea. In years past WWE has relished in the opportunity
to split up as many real life couples in the draft as possible. This often made the draft
a very stressful time for couples for obvious reasons, made even worse by the lack of communication
from WWE creative. This was especially evident in the 2016 draft
as multiple couples were drafted to different brands. This did not appear to be the case
this year as through the first night of the draft no couples have been broken up. There
is still time though. Hey you know that new awful character that
Joe Gacy is portraying on NXT 2.0? Well, WWE is reportedly very happy with the gimmick
and the reaction it has gotten because of course they are.
Dave Meltzer reported the news in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Friday, saying ”The
Joe Gacy woke left gimmick has gotten WWE some mainstream pub[licity], including on
Fox News, which the company is very happy with.”
Gacy has appeared on the last two episodes of NXT 2.0 cutting ludicrous promos throwing
around buzzwords like “safe-space” and “cancelled” and “triggered”, stop
saying people are triggered. It is an actual medical term for people dealing with anxiety,
you absolute morons. The gimmick has gotten WWE some attention
and all mentions of Gacy and his promo from social media after his first appearance on
September 21st. Not sure why though as he appeared on the following episode of NXT 2.0
with no changes coming to his character. It has been several months since WWE came
to terms with the releases of Peyton Royce and Billie Kay, formerly known as The Iiconics.
While their 90-day non-compete clauses have since expired, they haven’t made any appearances
since their releases. That is until now. The duo announced on their
Off Her Chops podcast that they will be making a series of appearances throughout October,
however they will still not be wrestling. The first of which will be tonight, October
2nd at the Legends of the Ring event in New Jersey. They will also be making appearances
on October 9th in Tennessee, October 16th in Baltimore, and a virtual appearance on
October 21st. So if you are a fan of theirs and live in those areas, go show some support.
The duo also recently revealed their new name will be The Iinspiration, complete with the
necessary extra I and it will likely only be a matter of time before they pop up in
another promotion that will be smart enough to keep them together as a team this time.
And now it’s time for my review of SmackDown in about 5 minutes.
It’s the first night of the WWE Draft - and the format, as always, is pretty dumb and
not very well explained. Half of the roster is eligible to be drafted on the first night,
and the other half is eligible to to be drafted on the second night. This involves Raw, SmackDown,
and NXT. So who are in the two halves? We don’t get to know that. Also anyone who
isn’t drafted gets to pick what brand they end up on. Which is a better deal than getting
drafted. So you really don’t want to be drafted. Makes perfect sense. This also means
we have no scope of how well each brand in kayfabe has done on the first night, because
we don’t know any draft pools and who is or isn’t eligible to be picked.
So let’s go through all the picks now, why not?
First off, SmackDown drafted Roman Reigns and Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair.
That’s interesting at least, a bit of a change up and a champion swapping brands,
that’s fun. And with Raw then drafting Big E & Bianca Belair, it lends some credence
to Bianca potentially winning the SmackDown Women’s Championship at Crown Jewel and
taking it over to Raw with her. So far, so good.
In the next round, SmackDown drafted Drew McIntyre, and Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods.
While Big E stays on Raw. So they split up The New Day. Again. Why? Why would you do
that? Big E literally only just rejoined them on Raw, and there were some really interesting
six-man feuds to be had with The Bloodline and the newly reformed Hurt Business. Not
to mention that the three of them together are more than the sum of their parts, and
it would just help Big E on Raw as WWE Champion and would help Kofi & Woods in the tag division
as they would be involved with the top champion, why is this company so incompetent? I don’t
have the energy to get angry today. And I went into this episode with an open mind,
trying to just enjoy myself for what the show is now. But come on. It’s not rocket science.
Raw drafted RK-Bro and Edge, which are good picks. Edge mentioned in a promo later that
being on Raw means a whole new roster of challengers, and I realised that since Edge returned to
WWE in January 2020, he’s feuded with three people: Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and Seth
Rollins. In nearly two years. Granted, there was an injury in there, but even so. Maybe
Edge can actually feud with some of the people he mentioned on his big return promo.
In the third round, SmackDown drafted Happy Corbin and his newly renamed second: Madcap
Moss. And no, that’s not Madcat as I thought it was at first. It’s Madcap Moss, according
to the graphics that scrolled across the screen with the picks. I’ll talk more about him
later. Raw then drafted Nikki ASH and Rhea Ripley,
and then SmackDown drafted Hit Row from NXT, and 1. Very happy for Hit Row and their call
up 2. Very happy they’ve come to SmackDown so I get to watch them 3. Slightly concerned
that they’re going to Sanity them. You know what I mean.
Raw then picked Keith Bearcat Lee to round out the third round, and in the fourth and
final round on the show, SmackDown drafted Naomi and Jeff Hardy, while Raw got The Mysterios
& Austin Theory from NXT. Sure, these picks are fine.
So those were all the picks, and I have no barometer of what brand has done well or poorly,
I just find the kayfabe draft pools to be super weird, because it means the SmackDown
Women’s Champion wasn’t eligible, nor was the United States Champion, or the Intercontinental
Champion, but also all those people who were part of this supposed draft pool who weren’t
picked who we don’t know the identities of can now pick their brand they want to go
to. But this also contradicts a storyline that played out on this show. It’s almost
as if WWE haven’t thought this through at all. Just, switch the brain off and maybe
you’ll enjoy it if you don’t think about it.
So those were the draft picks, what else happened on this show?
Roman Reigns came out after the first round of draft picks and the explanation they gave
to the rope break spot from Extreme Rules was...Pat McAfee on commentary saying it must
have been the gods above. That’s it. Doesn’t matter anyway, on to Brock Lesnar.
Lesnar came out to fight Reigns and stood tall, hitting F5s on The Usos. Alright.
Charlotte Flair is backstage and says she’s on SmackDown now. Woo. Alright.
After a recap of Happy Talk, we got Kevin Owens vs Happy Corbin with Madcap Moss at
ringside. Madcap Moss already has go-away heat for me. In classic WWE fashion, they’ve
taken the one tiny aspect of being happy, laughing, and made that the entire gimmick,
with Moss saying unfunny jokes and the two falling over each other laughing the whole
time. Stop it. Corbin won incredibly decisively with two
End of Days to win. Alright. Drew McIntyre backstage said he’s going
for the Universal Championship. Alright. Edge cut an in-ring promo next, but is interrupted
by Seth Rollins on the tron, who is actually at Edge’s house. Seth then proceeds to walk
a bit around the house, being a dick, eating an apple, drinking some orange juice, dancing
a bit, and then sitting on a seat and putting on the fireplace.
Cut back to the arena, Edge is on the phone telling Beth not to go home, he’s going
to get David and Daniel to go over because Seth is at the house. And then the segment
ends and we never go back to it for the rest of the episode. So I guess Seth...succeeded?
In what he wanted to do? Did he? He wanted to beat the words out of Edge in front of
his wife and children, and instead he ate an apple and sat on a seat.
Alright. Carmella was going to face Liv Morgan again
next - for some reason, even though Liv won clean at Extreme Rules, don’t question it
if you think about it for more than two seconds you stop enjoying the show - but the match
didn’t get underway as Carmella unveiled a new mask to wrestle in, which looked, rubbish.
She beat up Liv and the segment ended. And the crowd chanted you look stupid at her.
And she did. Alright. An 8-man tag match came next with New Day
& Street Profits vs Ziggler & Roode & Alpha Academy, which was some superficial fun that
WWE always puts on in their multi man matches. New Day got the win. Good.
Jeff Hardy backstage was about to be interviewed, but Brock Lesnar walks in so Hardy walks off.
Lesnar said he’d like to thank his good friend Paul Heyman for making sure Brock wasn’t
drafted, because now he’s a free agent and he can do whatever he wants.
It cuts to Roman Reigns, who is quietly furious at Heyman, while Heyman cowers in the corner.
Reigns yells at Heyman and orders him to go to Raw on Monday and make sure The Usos are
drafted to SmackDown. After he leaves, he tells The Usos that if they’re not drafted
to SmackDown to leave Heyman for dead on Raw. This is all really cool right? Loads of character
levels, intrigue, and you’re not sure who’s side Heyman’s on. Until you start thinking
about it, and then it falls apart. Reigns was mad that The Usos didn’t get drafted
to SmackDown on this episode, but that would have only been possible if they were part
of the draft pool for this show. So if they weren’t drafted on this show, they’re
free agents now, as Lesnar just pointed out that he is. So they can pick whatever show
they want to be on. And if they weren’t part of this draft pool, then Reigns is mad
at Heyman for something he can’t control. Also - it’s one thing to make sure The Usos
are drafted to SmackDown, but wouldn’t you want The Usos to not be drafted at all, so
then they could just pick SmackDown? Also Lesnar saying he’s a free agent so he can
do whatever he wants, I mean not really, you just get to pick your brand, you’re not
free to roam between shows. Also how would Heyman have convinced the USA and FOX networks
to not draft Brock Lesnar, probably the biggest name WWE has right now? What possible incentives
could he have given them? None of it makes any sense. It’s almost
as if WWE rushed these plans and didn’t think them through.
And then we got a main event of Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks with Becky on commentary,
where Becky interfered and Banks got the win, and then because it must be in her contract
that she has to stand tall in every women’s segment, Charlotte Flair came out and big
booted Banks and Belair and she and Becky stood tall with their titles in the ring and
on the commentary table respectively. Alright. I’ve said enough about this show. The draft
doesn’t make any sense if you think about it, there was no resolution to the ridiculously
long Edge and Rollins segment. The wrestling was mostly good, but I think this gets a 2/5
from me. And now over to Tempest with a review of last
night’s AEW Rampage.