Coming up in this WrestleTalk News, Vince McMahon is in love with a divisive WWE star,
Don Callis is FIRED from Impact and much more!
Give us a subscribe for daily wrestling news, you know you want to.
Watching WWE sometimes it can really feel like it wasn’t made for you, and that’s
not because it was made for kids or Republicans, but because it’s made for Vince McMahon
- the direct intersection of those two ideas.
Which brings us to the case of Reginald, the little sommelier who could.
Reg debuted back in 2020 with a returning Carmella, but quickly jumped ship to hanging
out with Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler.
The former Cirque du Soleil athlete has been a fixture of the WWE WOMEN’s Division since
his debut last year, even gaining a win on Raw over Shayna Baszler last month - yeesh.
And the reason for that might now be apparent as according to Fightful Select Vince McMahon
has been a big fan of Reginald since day dot.
The report states that Vince loves Reg’s presentation, delivery and skill set in the
ring - which I think is all fair enough, he’s got a great way of moving, he’s just in
the wrong division.
The report also says that Reginald has been very easy to work with since joining WWE and
has been open to all the pitches the company has given him.
TBF most of those pitches have been ‘do a backflip’ so there’s not a huge amount
to complain about.
For Reginald, anyone who wants to see the women’s division treated well, different
story.
In a move that might well cost me the Jampionship, WWE has moved a very important match from
the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.
Because Rey Mysterio apparently couldn’t wait to go up against Roman Reigns inside
the demonic structure on Sunday and instead asked to do it on Smackdown instead, tweeting:
“It’s eating me up inside.
I can’t wait any longer.
I want the Hell In A Cell match tomorrow night.“
Reigns acknowledged this tweet with a: “Sunday, Friday.
Any day.
Makes no difference to me.”
Well it does to me Chief!!!
You’ve just handed Los Intangibles the Jampionship, what happened to the secret Champions code
of conduct.
Reigns continued: “My special counsel Paul Heyman will handle the paperwork.
I’ll personally handle the warfare”.
I’ll handle the warfare.
Just do it on Sunday.
WWE confirmed the move of the match in a statement, which makes you wonder what they’re gonna
do Sunday?
Is this a way of setting up a tag titles match with the Usos?
Or will Reigns take on Rey and Dominik Sunday?
Or will he just not be there?
That feels like the likely one.
Makes you wonder if they have a better idea for Sunday at all.
Hold the phone because the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has just dropped and provided an
update on this.
Big daddy Dave said: “As far as what happened, there’s no involved reason that made any
sense.
The word we were told is that you can’t describe why, there were just a bunch of discussions
on Thursday and the discussions ended up with “Let’s do it on Smackdown.”
As of press time, the plans were for Reigns to not be wrestling on the PPV.”
So the real reason is no reason: Which seems mad - especially if there’s not a plan in
place, but should be a good bump to ratings for Smackdown hopefully
Because it’s unusual for WWE to second guess themselves about a decision, by which I mean
its completely usual.
For instance reports came out that people backstage were pushing for WWE to rehire Aleister
Black after letting him go in the latest round of releases, after filming a whole set of
promos building to a return where he laid out Big E. Yaknow, reasons to keep him.
Well a new report from PWInsider says that not only is there lots of talk within WWE
about the release of Black with many thinking it shouldn’t of happened.
But also that this doubt about the decision goes right up to the top executives within
the company, with the message being that they thought his release was premature.
Premature/stupid synonyms.
The report also states that AEW’s interest in signing Black has sparked more debate about
his release, though he does have a 90 day non-compete clause so any signing wouldn’t
occur until September.
Samoa Joe was also released this year and returned to WWE with a stellar appearance
on this week’s NXT, so could we see something like that in the future for Black?
Would you like to see Black return to WWE and if so what would you have him do?
Let me know in the comments below because I’ll be replying!
Meanwhile, over the fence and down the garden path at Impact there has been a shake-up onscreen
and off of it too.
Coming out of Against All Odds the big story was the firing of Sami Callihan who is angling
for a shot at Kenny Omega for the Impact World Championship at this year’s Slammiversary.
Kenny’s cronie Don Callis used his power as Executive Vice President to fire Sami and
stop the match - which is not what you want when it sounds like a real good idea.
To untangle themselves from the firing and set-up the story, Impact made some moves on
last night’s episode.
Scott D’Amore was on clean-up duties asking Sami Callihan to allow him to rectify the
situation, which for once Sami agreed to, this brought out Don Callis who said he had
no respect for the wrestlers and fired Sami for the benefit of the company.
A likely story.
Then who should appear but Tommy Dreamer, who was there to represent Anthem management
- he reinstated Callihan and fired Don Callis!
This is a way to write Callis off of TV as it was reported by Fightful and PWInsider
last month that he had already left his backstage role at the company.
Callus has been a fixture on AEW since teaming with Kenny Omega and helping him to an AEW
World Championship win, bringing The Good Brothers into the fold and working with the
entire stable now that the Young Bucks are on board.
During the Double or Nothing media scrum Tony Khan confirmed that Callis, while introduced
as Impact EVP, a role he no longer holds, is part of Kenny Omega’s character and will
be in AEW for as long as Omega is with the promotion.
"Don is a big part of our television.
Don's here every week, so Don is with us at AEW.
He's a part of the team as Kenny's mouthpiece, Kenny's advisor, and Kenny is on the show
every week so Don is on the show every week, and every pay-per-view.
"I mean, he's been [helping behind-the-scenes].
He helps with Kenny's segments, and he's involved, and he's a consultant backstage.
I mean, that's pretty much the same.”
With Callis leaving his role onscreen within Impact as well as offscreen that frees him
up to potentially take a more official backstage role at AEW rather than just remain an on
screen talent and mouthpiece for Omega.
But time will tell if that comes to fruition.
Last night’s Impact also saw a tease for a released WWE star who could be returning
to the company.
After Fire ‘N Flava retained their Knockouts Tag Team Titles against Kimber Lee and Susan,
Kiera Hogan went and got herself tossed into a dumpster by Havok backstage.
Climbing out she found a garbage bag with a piece of tape with the word ‘Mickie’
written on it.
An obvious dig at the way in which Mickie James received her belongings after leaving
WWE, but an excellent tease for a potential return.
With Slammiversary just around the corner this is a time that Impact like to helicopter
in returning stars or released WWE talent to get some good surprises lined up for the
show.
However, they have also been known to tease people they have no intention of signing in
order to build the hype, so take this teaser with a smidge of salt.
Back up the path and over the fence to WWE land there’s an update on WWE return to
the road, specifically regarding the sets for its shows.
Andrew Zarian reported in May that WWE would be looking to introduce new sets for its TV
and now WWE’s Lead Production Designer Jason Robinson has confirmed this.
Speaking with Below the Line he said: “We’re heading out on the road come July
16.
We’re coming out in Houston, Texas on SmackDown, then we’re headed right into our Pay Per
View, Money in the Bank, which is one our favorite Pay Per Views of the year.
Lots of ladders with a briefcase hanging over the ring, so we have two Money in the Bank
briefcases and onto Dallas and then we’re not looking back.
We’re headed forward, so we’re looking at new sets, new staging that we’re building.”
“My next phone call is to the graphics department, talking about augmented reality and how AR
is going to interface with our set, and how we’re going to make some really cool graphics
for set entrances as our superstars enter.”
After a year of every event emanating from the Thunderdome seeing some of WWE’s spectacular
set designs again is going to be exciting.
And they’re going to need those new sets too because WrestleVotes is reporting that
WWE are looking to have more ‘themed’ shows.
They tweeted: “Hearing WWE is potentially looking at more ‘themed’ live shows upon
returning to the road.
Old School RAW, KOTR tourney, Viewers Choice ala Cyber Sunday all possible for late 2021,
early 2022.”
Andrew Zarian also added that a Raw Roulette is highly likely.
We already had a throwback Smackdown where they ARed the iconic fist, which sounds filthy.
But that went over well, so WWE clearly see some value in one-off episodes.
Fightful have been following up WrestleVotes’ reporting and said that they learned that
Fox and USA/NBC were a big part of the push for this to happen and there are several other
NBC Sports-integrated pitches being made.
“Among those are tie-ins with NASCAR, contingent around a major race that integrate race cars
and star drivers.
Another pitch included NFL night for the launch of Sunday Night Football, with football themed
matches and angles, and NFL players and commentators around.
There was also a Wrestling World Cup pitched, which is self explanatory, and would include
all brands.”
Some of this sounds cool, not sure how you integrate cars unless it literally becomes
Crush Hour.
But I will just point out that the last big themed match we had was a zombie lumberjack
match.
And that did not go well.
Fightful said another pitch NBC has made is "points month" where wins, signature moves
and other things rack up "points" for wrestlers.
So an AEW themed month.
If the goal is to make various episodes of Raw and Smackdown marquee, marketable events
then this really is the way to do it and get some cross promotion going - I’m not sure
I’m stoked on themed matches but I’m willing to be convinced.
While brave new frontiers are being carved out as WWE work on the Ricky Bobby edition
of Raw, they are also trying to get back to their old touring ways.
And one important stop on their never ending tour cycle has always been Madison Square
Garden.
PWInsider are reporting that one of their sources has confirmed that WWE has multiple
holds on potential dates in the building over the next year, but these are pencilled in
not pen, when it’s pen then you know you’re serious, am I right freelancers!!
The company hasn’t run an MSG show since December 26th 2019, the house show where Andrade
defeated Rey Mysterio for the United States Championship in one of the feuds that we never
thought would end.
The report also claims that one of the dates on hold is Boxing Day this year!
Happy flipping Xmas.
The latest issue of WrestleTalk Magazine is available now with the excellent Drew McIntrye
as the cover star.
It features mine and the rest of the WrestleTalk's team exclusive opinion on the last month in
the wrestling world.
Plus, this month sees the debut of a brand new feature from our very own Luke Owen.
It's available in major retailers across the UK, but you can also get it delivered right
to your door with worldwide shipping available, or grab a subscription to get yours through
your letter box every single month at www.wrestleshop.com.