Former NXT Champion and big meaty meat man Keith Lee made his full main roster debut
on Monday’s post-SummerSlam episode of Raw - going straight into the WWE Championship
picture, and being booked in a match against the biggest heel in the company Randy Orton
for this Sunday’s Payback.
Which, going by a seemingly large portion of viewers, is a burial worse than him debuting
as the Keith Lee Experience [IMAGE] in a back shaving segment with the Usos.
[IMAGE] Our video yesterday on Lee’s call-up had
comments like ‘Damm Vince is screwing up Keith Lee already 😭😠’ saying they
“hated his debut” - and that now he’s on the main roster, his nickname should be
‘Limited Keith Lee’.
Most of the criticism has been aimed at WWE’s new presentation of Lee - where he was given
new entrance music that was nowhere near as good as his NXT one he sings on, and his new
ring attire of baggy shorts and a vest - sleeveless Keith Lee - which is speculated to be because
Vince McMahon wants his top serious babyfaces to cover up their stomachs if they don’t
have a six pack.
It’s either ‘fat-shaming’, or Vince trying to trick viewers Brock Lesnar has come
back.
These two cosmetic changes have unfortunately completely overshadowed any positive reaction
to how hard Lee was pushed on commentary and in storyline compared to other NXT call-ups
- a low bar, I know - but one WWE did hope over for a change.
And there’s been so much Online Backlash (Online Backlash, title of your pay-per-view
stream), Lee himself has spoken out.
On his new entrance theme, Lee tweeted: “Music is out of my hands.
Period.
Leave it be.
I'll sort it out later.”
And when people brought up his ring gear instead, Lee added:
“Leave it be and have some patience.
Take a deep breath.
It's going to be okay.
I promise.
Let ME handle that stuff.”
Replying to a fan who said Lee doesn’t have to answer the critics, Keith even responded
to them: “Of course I don't *have* to.
I don't owe anyone an explanation.
It is simply my way of showing respect to the people who have supported me.
I don't want people caught up on small things when what *should* be acknowledged is on my
DEBUT, I mixed it up with Orton.
WAY bigger deal” And thanks to Fightful Select, screw you Sean
Ross Sapp - I know what the fans want, not you - we now know the real reason behind Lee
getting a new theme.
And, for once, it wasn’t just a case of the main roster wanting to troll NXT fans.
WWE have reportedly been urging wrestlers to drop any themes written by CFO$ - the producers
behind the golden age of NXT entrance music of the last five years, from Bobby Roode’s
Glorious to The Undisputed Era’s Undisputed.
Cue Kyle O’Reilly air guitar.
Following CFO$’s reported money dispute with their publisher earlier this year, whom
WWE have a quote “terrible” deal with, WWE decided to stop using any of their music.
According to Fightful Select, the publisher gets half of all royalties.
To get around this, WWE have been leaning on their in-house music team, which has failed
to produce memorable songs following the firing of Jim Johnston several years ago.
But even though WWE is urging talent to drop their CFO$ themes, some wrestlers have hated
the new music presented to them so much that they outright rejected to.
Lee, however, is said to have signed off on his.
Hopefully it’s just a placeholder until they come up with something better - especially
with the wrestling music blog Arena Taping tweeting:
“For those unsatisfied with Keith Lee's new theme, he is getting an updated theme
with lyrics by Sergio Veneno at #WWEPayback.”
Does this make you more optimistic about Keith Lee’s main roster chances?
Let me know in the comments down below because I’ll be replying to people FROM OUTTA NOWHERE
WEARING A SLEEVELESS VEST.
Now before we get on with the rest of the news, I’d like to say a big thank you to
this episode’s sponsor SurfShark VPN!
I don’t know about you, but I’ve completed Netflix.
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But I like it when they go to spaaaaace.
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It looks like Stu Bennett has got himself a VPN in real life - because he can now reassess
his previously geoblocked WWE character in the US.
According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, Bennett will be returning to WWE with his Wade Barrett
name for a one-time guest announcer spot on this week’s episode of NXT.
The article notes he “has not signed a full-time deal to re-join the company.”
Despite winning the first season of NXT and being the leader of the Nexus, Barrett was
released from WWE six years after his main roster debut when he told management he wasn’t
going to re-sign his deal.
He’s been focusing on his acting since, and has worked as an announcer for ITV’s
WOS Wrestling and Billy Corgan’s NWA.
But now, to steal a Wade line, I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you.
BREAKING NEWS: The Big Dog is b- No, no - that Cody I love him like a brother
Rhodes is taking an extended break from AEW.
Cody lost his TNT title to Brodie Lee in a brilliantly booked squash main event on Saturday’s
episode of Dynamite.
Afterwards, the Dark Order continued beating up all the Nightmare Family, laying out Dustin
Rhodes, QT Marshall and Brandi’s unconscious bodies next to Cody on the stage, with the
final shot being Cody holding his wife’s hand in his - in an angle that actually made
me cry when I watched it, I was low on sleep after SummerSlam ok, it just got to me.
PWInsider is reporting that Cody will be off Dynamite for “an extended period” to sell
the Dark Order beating - which Mike Johnson speculates could have something to do with
a new TV role he has going into production in Georgia soon, STARZ’s Heels - where “Stephen
Amell specifically asked Cody to take part in the series when Amell's casting was announced
last year.”
The TNT title match appeared to have really helped Dynamite’s ratings as even though
it changed nights, the episode still drew 755,000 viewers - only down 5% from the previous
week, making it the 5th most watched show in the 18-49 demographic.
PWInsider notes that WarnerMedia executives are “extremely happy” with the episode’s
performance - as it showed a loyal audience following AEW to a different timeslot, and
it being up against NXT TakeOver XXX.
But AEW wasn’t the only wrestling show performing better on TV.
As WWE’s ratings appear to be turning around thanks to the Thunderdome.
Monday Night Raw received it’s best viewership figures in months - pulling in over 2 million
viewers, which is up over 350,000 from the previous week.
Performing significantly better in the key 18-49 demo.
Which is quite something, because according to multiple sites, Vince McMahon tore up the
majority of the show and only finished making changes an hour into the episode actually
being on air.
It’s almost comforting in a way, it reminds me of pre-CoVid times.
The Wrestling Observer and Fightful Select added that the biggest victim of the changes
was Raw Underground, which had plenty of content filmed in advance - like matches from Marina
Shafir, Jessamyn Duke, and the pre-announced Ivar vs Dolph Ziggler - but it was all scrapped
last minute.
Yep, that’s the three week push done.
The Thunderdome isn’t all positive and Pikachus though…
Some Thunderdome ‘fans’ streaming their reactions from home have attempted to troll
the broadcast, putting up Fire Velveteen Dream signs, a picture of Chris Benoit, and one
even playing footage of a KKK rally.
WWE has since issued a statement on the wrong kind of ‘pro wrestling show invasion’:
“This abhorrent behavior does not reflect WWE‘s values and we have zero tolerance
for these unacceptable acts.
We are working to ban those involved from future events and per our policies, any inappropriate
actions result in the removal from the live stream.”
Meanwhile, Meh-tribution can petrol bomb all the generators they want.
An image is doing the rounds claiming to have figured out all the masked attackers that
invaded Monday’s main event - speculating that Kayden Carter, Mia Yim, Shane Thorne,
Dominik Dijakovic, Dio Maddin and Chelsea Green are the NXT stars called up to form
the faction.
Perhaps the storyline will actually build to something at the next WWE pay-per-view
following Payback, which, thankfully, isn’t just 3 days after.
Going through the contract between WWE and the City of Orlando for their residency at
the Amway Center, reporter Greg Angel has seen a pay-per-view will take place on September
27th - and that “WWE is getting a great deal.
Paying at least $200K to rent Amway Center” for 78 days.
And now here’s a roundup of everything else in wrestling news!
Triple H revealed in the post-TakeOver media call that new NXT Champion Karrion Kross had
actually separated his shoulder during the main event match.
Kross has since undergone an MRI, and he’s feeling positive, revealing in an interview:
“From my point of view, no [I won’t be out for a significant period of time.”
One of the other big talking points from Saturday’s TakeOver show was the actually really good
debut match of famed podcast and little known NFL star Pat McAfee.
But talking to ESPN, he’s revealed he’s “not under contract to do anything else
with Mr. H” right now.
Someone else who exceeded expectations back in 2019 was Kofi Kingston, who won the WWE
Championship at WrestleMania 35 from Daniel Bryan.
But his championship run never felt like the company was behind him.
Which according to a new series of revelations… is because they weren’t!
Former WWE writer Dave Schilling has tweeted: “No one who had any real sway believed in
Kofi.”
“The plan was Kofi getting squashed by Brock from DAY ONE of his title reign.
DAY ONE!”
Kingston’s treatment was also brought up by Big E on the new episode of Talking Smack,
where he called his loss to Lesnar, and subsequently falling out of the title picture “disrespectful”.
You know who else is disrespectful?
Sean Ross Sapp.
And, you know what, Adam Blampied too.
They both tried to make FTF the official tagline of this channel on our SummerSlam live reactions
- but I know what the viewers want better than anyone.
I know what you want better than you know yourselves.
You want a PG family friendly product.
And that’s what you’ve got here on WrestleTalk now.
And tonight at QuizzleMania X-Seven, I’m going to do the same to partsFUNknown.
I’m going to retain my QuizzleMania championships, and show you all once and for all Oli Is Good
For You.
Especially because I’ve got my bestest bud calling the shots.
With Adam making his competition debut, Luke Owen is filling in as the Quizmaster.
And he’s going to call it right down the middle….
Wink….
Set your reminder for QuizzleMania X-Seven today by clicking the video on the right,
where Adam Blampied’s hair and eyebrows are on the line for charity.
And if we raise enough - he’ll get a Jam that Jam tattoo too.
And what’s the real reason why a WWE star has been suspended?
Subscribe here for daily wrestling news videos, I’ve been Oli Davis, Jam That Jam.