After massively putting over NXT by beating everyone without a proper receipt, Charlotte
Flair was called up to the main roster, again, following Money in the Bank.
Becky Lynch had just found out she was pregnant and would be taking an indefinite period of
time off, while WWE had just found out they’d accidentally built their entire women’s
division around only two people.
Charlotte was originally meant to carry on her run in NXT, but instead she was hastily
moved back to Raw to feud with its new champion Asuka.
These updated plans were reportedly set to go through SummerSlam.
With Charlotte back on the main roster, and in the face of declining ratings across all
shows, WWE started to book her on Raw and SmackDown to create ‘The OmniFlair’!
Because, surely, the only other consistently protected wrestler in the women’s division
wouldn’t also suddenly leave the company for an indefinite period of time.
Jokes, that’s exactly what happened.
After being built up to face Asuka for the Raw women’s championship by beating Liv
Morgan, Ruby Riott and Asuka herself, twice, Asuka just eked out a win over Flair on the
17th June episode.
Nia Jax then attacked Flair backstage, with Charlotte kind of sold, properly writing her
off TV.
There were several conflicting reports about this at the time, with the Wrestling Observer
writing she was taking time off for surgery until January 2021, while TalkSport claimed
she’d likely return for SummerSlam.
Charlotte herself said in an interview that she’d be back in just a few weeks.
But now, on a lengthy Twitter thread, Flair has revealed the real reason she’s had to
step away from WWE: “My air conditioning is broken, and we have
a little free time.
These tweets may be spaced out a bit, but we’re going to talk time off, plastic surgery
and boobs.
The entire world having an opinion on the topic bothers me more than I care to let on,
so we are going to discuss it.
“I’m going to save the history of my boobs for a different bedtime story, so:
Picture it.
Charlotte, North Carolina, 2018.
A young queen, shortly after a career defining Wrestlemania victory, finds herself sicker
than sick at her brother’s house.
A trip to the doctor tells us the likely culprit is silicone poisoning, and that my implant
had been leaking for quite some time.
It was one of the worse cases the doctor had seen.
At that time, I had a few options to fix the issue.
Each option had a specific recovery time.
I love this job more than anything, so I picked the option that allowed me to return the soonest.
That was the choice I made.
Fast forward to a few months ago.
Something felt off, so I went back to the doctor.
Same issue again.
This time, I’m going with an option that I believe will solve the issue long time,
even though the recovery period is a little longer than I would like.
To clarify: I do not have silicone poisoning this time.
The surgery is cosmetic to fix an issue from a prior surgery
I’ll be back when I’m ready.
The body will be rested, and the mind still focused on legacy.
Focused on this job.
Focused on being better.
Always being better.”
If Flair took a longer period of time off back in 2018, there’s a very real possibility
that WWE wouldn’t have treated the women’s division so seriously.
Charlotte effectively sacrificed her own health not just for her spot - as nearly all wrestlers
work through injuries in that regard - but to build up the perspective of women’s wrestling
within the promotion.
So thank you Charlotte, and a speedy recovery.
While you sure did beat a lot of our favourites, over and over again, WWE arguably wouldn’t
be presenting the best women’s division in the world right now, and it’d still be
the same segments of 15 years ago, like women wrestling in dresses or singing karaoke.
Last week, Lana revealed that both her parents had tested positive for CoVid-19, with her
mother even being admitted into intensive care.
Thankfully, Mama Lana is now doing much better, as an update video revealed she had been off
oxygen for more than 24 hours and is no longer in the ICU.
Their family struggles have since taken another turn, as Lana’s real life husband - former
WWE star Rusev, who now goes by his real name Miro - has confirmed in a Twitch stream that
he has also tested positive for CoVid-19.
Miro revealed he first noticed he was losing his senses of taste and smell - one of the
main symptoms of coronavirus - so he immediately went to get a test, which returned a positive
result.
Right now, he only feels fatigued - which he initially thought was just because of him
working out at the gym.
This likely rules him out of a teased debut for IMPACT Wrestling and their big Slammiversary
show this Saturday.
You can follow Lana on Twitter @LanaWWE, and Rusev @ToBeMiro - please do go over there
and send them some love.
It really does make a difference to see support like that when you’re going through something
tough.
Or you could just book them in a storyline that exploits their very real life situation!
In his first feud since returning from an injury slash arrest for a DWI last October,
WWE booked Jeff Hardy in a storyline where he was framed for hitting Elias with his car
while seemingly intoxicated.
It unsurprisingly received a critical reaction from fans, CM Punk and Jeff’s own brother,
AEW wrestler Matt Hardy.
In a Twitter thread of Alex McCarthy calling the junkie storyline not “entertaining at
all and is doing nothing for anyone involved”, a fan KingoftheNorth replied: “Jeff Hardy
is being presented as a junkie with no reason to celebrate his time with us.
What if he relapsed?”
A worry that Matt himself chipped in on: “I’m very happy with how AEW has let me
brand my persona.
Allowing me to help younger talent on & off screen, while also respectfully celebrating
my legacy & contributions to the industry.
I have those same concerns about the unneeded pressure on my brother.”
Matt then clarified his feelings in a separate tweet:
“Make no mistake, from what I’ve seen Jeff do in-ring, he’s looked incredible.
As a performer, I praise his recent performances.
Ultimately, whatever he does is his decision & his alone.
My take on his current story is merely *my opinion*, which doesn’t make it right or
wrong.”
What do you think about SmackDown’s Jeff Hardy storyline?
Let me know in the comments down below where I’ll be replying FROM OUTTA NOWHERE saying
that the big man thinks it’s such good s-word.
In a new clip from WWE Chronicle when Jeff got backstage following his Backlash match
against Sheamus, you can hear Vince McMahon say: “That was f****** awesome.
Holy s***!
It was really good.”
Speaking from outta nowhere… it’s come out there’s been an NXT call up to the main
roster, that we all kind of missed.
WrestleTalk.com’s Louis Dangoor exclusively reported last month - because we do exclusives
now don’t you know? - that Dominik Dijacovic and Chelsea Green were set to make their Raw
debuts soon from NXT, and another name has just been revealed.
And it’s already kind of happened?
WrestleTalk’s arch-nemesis Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful is reporting Vanessa Bourne was
actually called up back in January or February, but still hasn’t made her main roster debut
- which would explain why she’s not been on NXT TV.
Sapp adds that Borne’s call-up was similar to Riddick Moss’s - their deal were expiring
soon and being brought to the main roster was part of them signing a new contract.
But with all the creative changes backstage and real world pandemics, there is no solid
plan on when to debut Bourne on Raw or Smackdown.
And those creative changes are now being done by just one man.
Well, it always has been one man with Vince McMahon, but after firing both Eric Bishoff
and Paul Heyman from their executive director roles on Raw and Smackdown over the last year,
it’s now also being done by Vince’s main McMan, Bruce Prichard.
And according to his podcast co-host Conrad Thompson, he’s noticing the strain of the
job on Prichard: “It's not a little bit of stress, it's a
lot of stress…
every now and again, certainly I'll get a call from Bruce and you can just hear it in
his voice.
He's tired.
He's sleepy.
He's stressing.”
Running both Raw and SmackDown would be rather stressful in the best of times, let alone
a pandemic where you have numerous limitations due to safety precautions and several of your
top stars choosing not to work.
But that isn’t just a WWE problem.
New Japan have found themselves without their top foreign acts because of travel restrictions
- and they responded in a big way at the weekend’s New Japan Cup and Dominion double header.
Not only did EVIL win the New Japan Cup, he won it and joined Bullet Club as their apparent
new leader, replacing Jay White - which led to him main eventing the following day’s
Dominion show against dual IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito
for both titles - which he won, with the help of Dick Togo; becoming the 71st IWGP Heavyweight
Champion, and 25th Intercontinental Champion.
He’s also still the NEVER Openweight Six-Man tag champions with his LIJ stablemates which…
must be awkward now.
He would later accept a challenge from former LIJ stablemate Hiromu Takahashi for both titles.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, EVIL becoming the Bullet Club’s new
leader is a way for New Japan to establish a new top heel in the company while Jay White
and other international stars cannot travel to Japan during this pandemic.
Also on the show, Zack Sabre Jr and Taichi of Suzuki-Gun won the IWGP Tag Team Championships
from Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi, which was originally supposed to be a six-man tag
with Minoru Suzuki, but the scariest man on the planet came down with a fever on July
10th, and New Japan made the call to take him off the show as a precautionary measure.
Speaking of New Japan, they feature in Adam Blampied’s brand new list video of the 20
funniest wrestling moments outside of WWE!
Click the video on screen to check that out, and click the other video to watch the WrestleTalk
Podcast with Luke Owen and Tru Heel Heat’s SP3 talking Matt Riddle as a future Universal
Champion.
You can get more wrestling news by following WrestleTalk_TV on Twitter, and I’m @OliDavis.
That was wrestling.