Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk News!
I’m Oli Davis.
Randy Orton helped create a new wrestling meme from outta nowhere at the weekend, when
he retweeted a critique of the indy match formula - handshake, drawn out move exchange,
this is awesome chant, strike exchange, dive, no sell Indy strongstyle, dive, more strikes,
no sells, dive, flippy floppy sequence, dive, etc.
Dive.
This initially drew responses from a seemingly angry TJP, a surprisingly agreeable Ricochet,
and a merchandise potential realising Will Ospreay.
The Viper didn’t strike again until Bubba Ray Dudley jokingly tweeted about his own
version of the ‘...dive’ - a belly flop from the top rope.
To which Orton harshly responded: “Lol there is a difference between a young
hungry talent diving and an old outta shape 'vet' .......falling”
With a gif of an overweight man falling into an inflatable pool.
Bully himself has now replied: “Dear @RandyOrton ... my tweet had ZERO
to do with you.
Looks like you were wrong...again.
You're still awesome THUMBS UP EMOJI Falling > House of Horrors”
Bubba Ray then addressed the Twitter beef on Busted Open Radio, explaining the two have
had heat with each other for over a decade and a half:
“About 15 years ago there was a live event, a house show match, between me and D-Von and
Randy Orton and Batista.
It was just one of those matches that did not go the right way...I wound up hurting
my back, Randy wound up hurting his leg and his shoulder, Dave wound up hurting his tricep.
It was just one of those nights.
But those guys held a little bit of a grudge from that night, and it went on for a long,
long, long time.”
Bubba thought they had buried that particular hatchet in his last WWE run, so he’s unsure
why Randy singled him out amongst all the initial Twitter replies.
But it’s a theory given more weight when you see who else has tweeted in support of
Orton - the other Evolution member in that story, Dave Batista:
“CRYING WITH LAUGHTER FACE That's my guy!!!
#Evolution” But in defence of ...dives, after Ricochet
pointed out there are many different kinds of wrestling - and all styles won’t appeal
to everybody - CM Punk offered these words of encouragement:
“Other will always try to project their own insecurities on you.
Happiness is priceless.
👇🏼👊🏻 #mondaymotivationorsomes***” But of all the wrestlers - past and present
- who’ve contributed to this debate, the real last word goes to one of the most eloquent
speakers of his, or any, generation.
The Iron Sheik: “GO AHEAD AND DIVE, I BEAT THE F*** OUT
OF YOU EITHER WAY.”
He’s class act.
Kurt Angle revealed on last night’s episode of Raw - which you can watch my review of
right here on WrestleTalk’s YouTube channel - that Braun Strowman will be out with injury
much longer than the originally reported 4-8 weeks.
An article on WWE.com reveals that Strowman underwent surgery last Thursday, where doctors
discovered his injuries were far more significant, realising his elbow had been shattered.
According to the site, Braun “...is expected to miss up to six months of action as a result”.
This means not only would he be absent for his planned Great Balls of Fire - still a
PPV name - Universal Championship opportunity against Brock Lesnar, but also Summerslam,
and possibly even Survivor Series.
Unless - it’s all a fake wrestling storyline!
...dive.
Pro Wrestling Sheet’s James McKenna - a writer for the site that first broke Strowman
was injured and would be out of action for 1-2 months, has tweeted:
“fear not my friends, I have it on good intel that he is still only projected for
4 to 8 weeks for recovery.”
WWE are well known for exaggerating the recovery time of their injured wrestlers to make their
eventual early returns appear even more impressive.
But in the meantime, who will face Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire?
Find out in my review of this week’s Monday Night Raw.
And there’s been a major Bullet Club shake-up.
Reveal their newest member by clicking the videos to the left, press subscribe, and support
WrestleTalk on Patreon.
I’ve been Oli Davis, and that was wrestling.