So unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 12 months then you likely know
that we are in the midst of a global pandemic.
And if you have been living under a rock, well done you, staying home is exactly what
you should be doing, but you might want to put the news on once in a while some crazy
stuff has been happening.
So the pandemic has affected wrestling in a variety of ways, not just stopping fans
being present for most shows, changing plans at the last minute, but also disrupting training
schedules for the athletes.
Well WWE has decided that training be disrupted no more as Fightful Select are reporting that
the WWE Performance Center is set to resume it’s usual training schedule with talent
expected to attend live training five days a week.
It also reported that this decision is not a popular one.
Especially considering that stars will reportedly receive one COVID-19 and then be expected
to train for a full week.
Which obviously increases the risk of infection.
Fightful said there are “plenty of frustrated names” at the Performance Center with many
thinking this is too soon to return to full-time training - WWE had previously been holding
virtual classes a few days of a week.
It’s also clearly WWE contract season as it appears a bunch of agreements are up and
the company is trying to re-sign a lot of talent before they’re snapped up by a waiting
AEW, who I’m imagining are like the crocodile in Peter Pan, always lurking in case someone
falls in the water.
Yesterday we brought you the news that Ricochet was one of the names reportedly considering
leaving the E when his three year deal with the company expires which was reported to
be next week by Wrestling Observer Live.
Which lead internet discussion to ping pong between oh yeah he’s leaving and oh no he
isn’t for much of the day - there’s a word for that bouncing back and forth motion,
I’m just gonna call it trevoring.
Well Trevor no more ye rumours, because the human rubber band himself has waded in to
put a stop to all the talk, retweeting a ringside news article titled “Ricochet could be leaving
WWE this week” saying “this is fake”.
While Ricochet certainly hasn’t had the world’s most awesome super fun experience
of the main roster in terms of successes, he did always say long before he joined that
WWE was his wrestling dream so I guess he’s not quite ready to trevor off his own dream
just yet.
Matt Riddle is another man whose contract was reportedly coming up this month and for
whom there’s still a bit of mystery about what’s going on.
Reports came out a week ago that Riddle had signed a new contract for moar money and was
being backed by the likes of Hulk Hogan as the next big thing, but then Bryan Alvarez
on wrestling observer live said Riddle might not have signed that deal just yet.
What’s it called when there’s a question that’s like a conundrum and you’ve got
to work it out.
I’m gonna call it a Matt, we need to work out this Matt.
The reason I need to know is because Riddle has been tweeting about his old work.
Prior to Matt’s career in WWE and wrestling he had a successful career in UFC, but he
was released after failing multiple drug tests due to testing positive for marijuana.
When asked to give it up he said I don’t ‘juana.
Well yesterday the UFC and the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced that they are
changing their drug policy so that cannabis is no longer considered a violation of their
‘performance-enhancing drug’ policy.
Riddle retweeted the news saying it “I got the greatest birthday gift of all today, maybe
9 years late but still an amazing birthday gift”.
In the midst of of contract negotiations tweeting your old boss is usually a bit suss, but here
it all makes sense because two of Riddle’s prior wins had been overturned because of
his drug policy violations, leaving his record at 8-3 and 2 no contests, with this new ruling
he goes up to 10-3 bro.
The contract miasma isn’t exclusive to WWE though as across the very very large pond
in Japan there’s chat about Jay White.
After losing to Kota Ibushi at Wrestle Kingdom 15, Jay staged a tantrum, said he was done
with the promotion and now his profile is missing from the official NJPW site.
This could just be commitment to storyline, but this does feed into all the rumours that
he could be heading to WWE.
He is also advertised for an event in March though and NJPW is usually quite cautious
about advertising people if there is even the remotest chance they might not appear
at the show - because they’re decent, unlike some other more mercenary companies which
I won’t name, but I will make flash onscreen repeatedly.
The contract miasma isn’t even exclusive to this decade as Impact EVP and advisor to
the AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, Don Callis has been talking about turning down WWE in
an interview with Chris Van Vliet.
The second handsomest guy in wrestling media, after Tempest, which is why he wears the mask,
to gaze upon his face is to fall in love.
Way back in 1997, Callis was working with WWE as Jackyl leading the Truth Commission,
but he told Chris he “never had an interest in being a pro wrestling manager or being
a color commentator.”
Callis always had his sights set on running things and making the top level decisions,
he always wanted to be the invisible hand.
So when WWE said to him “Oh, maybe you should be on creative”.
He though “I did not want to be boxed into working in a cubicle for anyone in any office
anywhere doing anything.
So I just kind of pushed back and said, ‘that's not why I signed here.
I signed here to be a wrestler.’
Ultimately, that didn't work out.”
What is working out though is his new role in one of the most intriguing and most talked
about storylines in all of wrestling right now, and what he has done is massively increased
the relevance and prestige associated with Impact too, so props to you Don.
You know last week, when I said I’m tired of living through history....
Yeah…
More of that happened again this week as US President Donald Trump was impeached for a
second time.
This, funnily enough, made it another tough old week for NXT and AEW whose normal Wednesday
night war now includes the threat of actual war.
Despite the major news coverage AEW managed to steady the course and draw 762,000 viewers
for the second night of their New Years Bash which is 100,000 better than last week’s
figures.
It also got .30 rating in the all important 18-49 demographic, which I’m told is good
and was the number 31 show on all of cable.
Meanwhile, NXT, without a special event like last week’s New Year’s Evil saw viewership
down from 641,000 with just 551,000 tuning in.
Without the promise of marquee matches and up against an AEW special and the news, NXT
just couldn’t draw in the ratings.
For the first time, the NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will now also feature a women’s
version, with the tournament set to kick off on next week’s episode.
The opening tournament match will be Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter vs Mercedes Martinez
& Toni Storm, with the two other teams of Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell and Shotzi Blackheart
& Ember Moon also announced for the tournament.
But there may be a little main roster action going on, as former SmackDown Women’s Champion
and more importantly former Women’s Tag Team Champion Bayley has taken to Twitter
for a direct approach for her entry in the tournament.
“.@TripleH put me in the women’s Dusty tournament”
While Bayley didn’t mention a potential partner, her successful team with Sasha Banks
may be out the window based on their blood feud over the summer leading to Hell in a
Cell last year, but she has been teaming with Carmella in recent weeks on SmackDown.
But this also is out of the question according to Bayley, as she responded with a definitive
“No” to a fan who asked to see the duo together in NXT.
Maybe Billie Kay can hand in her resumé.
But from Billie Kay to AJ, that kinda rhymes, and AJ Styles’ success in WWE has been rather
unprecedented considering his long tenures with Impact and New Japan, which Vince McMahon
generally looks down upon, preferring to focus on his own homegrown talent.
However one of the things that sold new fans on AJ Styles upon his debut was his entrance
music.
The now iconic “they don’t want none” talking about how great it is being a redneck.
You know, classic AJ Styles really.
Well as it turns out, the music was originally planned for somebody else, which seems a lot
more fitting.
Appearing on WWE’s The Bump, AJ confirmed his music was originally planned for his former
Impact colleague, James Storm: “The only thing I was worried about when
they were calling me a redneck – which I am, I make no excuses, I am a redneck – but
I didn’t want people to go, ‘Oh so he’s a hillbilly,’ or something like that, which
is totally different than a redneck.
And let it be known that that music wasn’t made for me.
It was made for someone else.
It’s always been mine, you know what I mean?
It was made for James Storm.
It may have been made for James Storm, but it was written for AJ Styles.”
For those unaware, Storm had a brief run in NXT prior to Royal Rumble 2016, where AJ made
his debut, but decided to re-sign with Impact instead of NXT.
However the whole “I’m a redneck” thing seems to fit Storm a little better than Styles,
wouldn’t you say?
Stay tuned to WrestleTalk as we’ve got a big WrestleTalk Podcast episode with Dave
Bradshaw airing later today!
So subscribe and enable notifications so you can be notified first once that’s live!
Contract details for WWE talent have been leaked, and some of them are on much lower
pay!
Press the video to the right to find out more, and press the video below that to hear more
about Riddle’s contract status and whether he’s leaving WWE.
Subscribe here for more wrestling news and reviews, I’ve been El Fakidor Laurie Blake,
Jam That Jam.