Since the pandemic began, we’ve seen a number of WWE’s main roster subtly remove themselves
from television.
For some, it’s because they very understandably want to self-isolate due to health concerns
while coronavirus still spreads throughout society - like some of the biggest stars in
the company Roman Reigns, the then-Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn, and Riddick Moss.
Other top acts are missing throughout the rest of the year for other reasons - like
Edge and Charlotte taking time off for surgery, and Becky Lynch being pregnant.
But many more miss weeks of TV here and there depending on the latest CoVid-19 caseload
at the Performance Center.
June saw an outbreak at WWE’s TV tapings, which reportedly had over 20 positive cases.
But WWE banned any main roster wrestlers from publicly announcing they’d tested positive
for the disease - meaning people just started disappearing from Raw despite currently being
in storylines with little explanation, like Liv Morgan and United States champion Apollo
Crews.
It’s the perfect cover for a wrestler to secretly be taken off TV for another reason.
Austin Theory hasn’t been seen on Raw for almost two months now, last featuring on the
June 8th episode teaming with Murphy against Aleister Black and Humberto Carilo, and wrestling
on Main Event the week after.
Because of all the other people sporadically missing from Raw right now, it was just quietly
assumed he hasn’t been around because of coronavirus reasons.
But Dave Meltzer has reported in a tweet it’s actually because of an “Unannounced suspension
of sorts.”
Meltzer’s ‘of sorts’ wording is potentially telling.
WWE’s Wellness Policy procedure means they have to announce any suspensions of main roster
talent - which Theory has been since March - on their website if they fail a drug test.
Also, he’s been missing for over 30 days, which is the usual first violation term.
All this implies Theory has been suspended for something other than a Wellness Policy
violation.
Before we get on with the rest of the news, I just want to say a huge thank you to this
episode’s returning sponsor… you wanted it back, the dance craze that’s sweeping
the SWAFT Nation, Oli does dem mega moves...
The Muscle Hustle!
The Muscle Hustle is a wrestling/pool RPG super smash up game for your phone - where
you collect, train, level up and evolve hundreds of different wrestlers into your own super
faction - and then flick them at your opponents!
Everyone said it couldn’t be done - even the initial company making it - so the original
development team have taken it over!
And it’s being updated all the time, with new characters, modes and a PVP season now
added.
But don’t just take my words for it.
Here’s comments from you: Dean Gulston demands: More Muscle Hustle,
Oli!
More Muscle Hustle!!!
Tw1s7 gives us a Fun Fact: The Muscle Hustle is actually a VERY GOOD game with a great
community.
And Marcus Medina notes The Muscle Hustle will make more money than XFL in 2020.
VINCE FEARS THE MUSCLE HUSTLE… and is also probably slightly aroused by it.
So support them and support WrestleTalk by downloading the Muscle Hustle now, and also
follow them @themuclehustle on Twitter to get involved with the community.
Come join and do the hustle!
Following months of record low ratings, WWE tried something new, something fresh, something
they’ve never done before with Monday’s episode of Raw: the 90s!
Look at the sexy dancers.
If you haven’t seen it yet, what’s the best way to describe it?
One sports car away from Shane McMahon’s full on mid-life crisis.
Raw Underground sees wrestlers from Raw fight John McClane cosplayers in a simulated MMA
style, in a ring with no ropes while Shane yells commentary over a microphone and three
scantily clad women do generic stripper dancing.
Look at the sexy dancers.
Please look at them and watch our show.
Unsurprisingly, this has prompted many in the wrestling industry to make fun of Raw’s
latest concept.
AEW’s Matt Hardy, who only left WWE in February, tweeted:
“Pretty excited for the Fight Club spoof that’ll happen on #BTE.”
Tommy Dreamer wants WWE to respect the rules: “I have fought @shanemcmahon many times
in a warehouse for real.
1st rule was never talk about Fight Club.
So WHY is this trending?
You literally broke the only rule.”
You had one job, Shane McMahon.
While IMPACT commentator Josh Matthews joked about Denonna Purrazzo vs Kimber Lee - the
latter of whom officially signed with IMPACT yesterday, congratulations and celebrations:
“This one might need to be settled on #IMPACTUNDERGROUND.
Jk Jk” Which his IMPACT colleague Karl Anderson,
who also only left WWE in April, replied: “Please, For the love of God, anything but
that ..” Matt Riddle, meanwhile, said hey, that’s
his idea - bro.
Tweeting a video saying: “The Underground feels so familiar bro…
It looks a lot like Matt Riddle’s Bloodsport from a couple years ago… good thinking bro!”
Matt Riddle’s Bloodsport first took place in 2018 on WrestleMania weekend, which saw
matches presented in a shoot MMA style.
It was rebranded as Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport the following year when Riddle signed with
WWE - who’s also tweeted: “Of course” he did it better.
But not all criticism was so lighthearted.
Comparisons have also been drawn to Chikara’s Crucible storyline from Season 20 - which
wrestler Xavier Farady alleges Raw stole from them, as Chikara sent the episodes featuring
it to WWE when they were in negotiations to put it on the Network just a few months ago.
“I kid you not, @Khristen , this is one of the biggest things I have ever worked on.
I sacrificed so much.
Now I get to see a D- version hosted by Shane McMahon on live television.
It hurts.
If it makes you feel any better, Faraday, there is no way Vince knows what you’re
talking about or what a Chikara is.
Also, Shane has reportedly wanted to do an MMA-influenced wrestling show since the mid-00s.
Maria Kanellis, who was also amongst WWE’s mass firings earlier this year, also shot
hard on the company in response to Raw’s new concept tease:
“WWE doesnt want to build new stars, they want to spike the ratings for a couple weeks
to keep the investors/networks happy.
What WWE doesn’t seem to get, is ratings improve when people care about the story/stars.
Invest in talent, spend the time building stars, stop the laziness.”
“Hahahaha... one night is not building stars.
One night pops the ratings.
One night uses talented individuals as cannon fodder.
Talk to me about the same people in a year and I will eat my words.
Key word, people not person.”
Well the jokes on you Maria.
Because WWE aren’t just doing it for one night.
They’re at least doing it for two - as Shane himself tweeted:
“I hope everyone enjoyed #RawUnderground...lots of work to do but looking forward to week
two.
#WWERaw” with a picture of him seemingly glistening in sweat.
How does he sweat so much?
And maybe to figure out what they’re going to do next, please help us, WWE asked fans
on Twitter to suggest Underground matches they want to see
Which saw the most liked request from Talison Pullido: “Time traveling to fight Shane
McMahon to stop him from creating Raw Underground.”
What do you want to see from Week Two of Raw Underground?
Let me know in the comments down below, because I’ll be replying to people FROM OUTTA THE
SEXY DANCERS, PLEASE WATCH NEXT WEEK, WE’LL HAVE THE SEXY DANCERS BEING SEXY FOR YOU PLLLEEEEASE.
Raw Underground, a new faction, Montez Ford being poisoned - it’s not just us speculating
WWE are chucking stuff at the wall to see what sticks.
That’s reportedly exactly what’s happening backstage according to Wrestling Observer
Radio.
According to Meltzer, Vince McMahon and creative’s mentality right now is to do what worked in
the 90s, i.e. the Attitude Era, in an attempt to turn around the disastrously low ratings
- which is why they’re trying to portray an ‘edgier’ product.
But the proof will always be in the numbers, and Monday’s episode of Raw was up in viewership
over the previous week by… a whole 100,000 people to 1.71 million.
Which is the highest number since June, but is a long way off the early lockdown averages
of over 2 million.
But Raw Underground didn’t just see the return of THE OMNI-SHANE... we also got a
bunch of rascals getting overly excited about property damage!
The whole episode was plagued by ‘technical difficulties’ - things like flickering lights
and audio issues - which was later revealed to be the work of some hooded figures, who
had thrown a molotov cocktail at a power generator.
Which WWE’s commentary team really should’ve figured out, as their own Twitter announced
the new faction before the show.
And now the first details have come out about the new mysterious group...
It was originally believed the faction was going to be called “JUSTUS” - as in, j-u-s-t-u-s
as one word, as WWE had recently trademarked that name along with the significantly better
“Hurt Business”.
But now WWE themselves have revealed on wwe.com that the faction’s name going forward will
be “Retribution”.
Which is actually written all in capitals.
So I guess it should actually be pronounced: RETRIBUTION!!!!!
The WWE.com article adds: “Little else is known about RETRIBUTION,
aside from the fact that causing chaos seems to be their sole motivation.”
Sadly, WWE.com don’t reveal how they know any of this.
Making it almost seem like they’re making it up as they go along.
NXT’s Dominik Dijakovic is being speculated as one of its members, as he’s blacked out
his profile pictures with hidden messages of “We Will Rise” and “From The Ashes”
on his Twitter and Instagram respectively.
We exclusively reported that Dijakovic has been slated for a main roster call up back
in May.
Because we do exclusives now, don’t you know?
While WWE were reportedly planning to have a new Nation of Domination faction on Raw,
I hope RETRIBUTION is actually Right To Censor 2.0!
Back when WWE first discovered the Internet, they’d register loads of different website
domains for various gimmicks.
One of these was RightToCensor.com, for the Attitude Era faction of the same name.
But just like Cody Rhodes watching WCW IPs on eBay, a fan has noticed WWE’s license
for RightToCensor.com has expired - so they bought it themselves and redirected it to
AEW’s website.
So if you watch any Attitude Era shows on the WWE Network and get curious what happened
to those sites, you’ll get sent to WWE’s direct competitors.
And finally today, well done Kurt Angle, who’s celebrating an amazing anniversary after battling
pill addiction throughout his wrestling career.
“Celebrating 7 years of sobriety today.
To all of you who supported me and stood by me, through good and bad, I want to thank
you for not giving up on me.
Salute!
(With a glass of milk in my You Suck cup).
#sobriety #addictionsucks #yourenotalone #recovery” The real reason Shane McMahon returned on
last night’s Raw has been revealed!
Press the video to the right to find out more, and to hear mine and Luke’s thoughts on
what the hell Raw Underground was, press the video below that.
Make sure to check links to The Muscle Hustle in the description below as it really does
help us out, subscribe here for daily wrestling news videos too.
I’ve been Oli Davis, and that was wrestling.