Here's more wrestling news for August 26th 2021
And your headlines for Afternoon include
AEW Changed Plan For CM Punk’s Rampage Debut! Drew McIntyre’s Reacts!
Fans Drag AEW For Booking Lackluster Match On Dynamite!
Eva Marie Breaks KayFabe & Opens Up About Doudrop! Drops A BIG Hint About The Upcoming Storyline!
Released WWE Wrestler Says Vince McMahon Made Things Weird During Stephanie McMahon Makeout Scene!
Paul Heyman Talks How He Made Homage To His Father With The Help Of Brock Lesnar!
Sad News Concerning Pat McAfee!
Samoa Joe Reveals What Vince McMahon Actually Thinks About WWE NXT!
Jon Moxley Confirmed To Face Japanese Wrestling Legend At AEW All Out!
Brock Lesnar Get Into A Real-Life Fight Over Girlfriend!
Why Britt Baker Urged Tony Khan? And More!
We’re kicking off with CM Punk, who’s AEW Rampage debut could not have gone better in the eyes of most fans, but what fans saw in
the United Centre last Friday wasn’t the original plan. Speaking on What Happened When,
Tony Schiavone revealed that the original plan called for him to introduce Punk, and that Tony Khan made the call for Schiavone
to do the introductions. Schiavone argued that what he needed to say ahead of Punk should be minimal, before
meeting Punk in his dressing room at Rampage, where the former WWE Champion was hanging with a few friends, including ECW’s
Sign-Guy Dudley. It was during their discussion that Khan came in and changed the script, saying that Punk
didn’t need an introduction, and would come out on his own, a decision that Schiavone more than agreed with.
On last night’s Dynamite, Punk and Schiavone finally shared the ring, as the legendary announcer interviewed AEW’s newest signing
in the middle of the ring, and we’re looking forward to what the Best in the World does next as part of his multi-year deal with the
the company.
Punk has previously said that his debut was wrestling’s worst kept secret, but that didn’t mean Tony Khan wanted the fans or the
wrestlers to know everything ahead of time. According to Fightful, Khan never outright told the roster Punk was joining AEW until he
up in person, and was listed as a “guest” on the card for the show. Punk wasn’t hidden backstage, and was more
than happy to interact with the wrestlers, and he’ll be seeing a lot more of these same people now that he’s with AEW for the considerable
future.
As one of wrestling’s biggest stars of the 2000s, Punk couldn’t have been cheap for Khan to sign, but money wasn’t a concern for the AEW
President and CEO Speaking on the Le Batard and Friends show, Khan discussed Punk’s debut, and how
he isn’t surprised that the former WWE Champion has set a record for the most shirts sold on PW Tees in just 24 Hours.
Calling signing Punk “one of the best deals I’ve ever done in my life,” Khan said it wasn’t really about the money, but said that Punk has been
so generous, spending time with the fans, and paying for the post-Rampage ice- cream bars out of his own pocket
When asked if Punk has already paid for himself at this point, Khan said:
Yeah, I mean, I do think so I think in terms of what this has done for our business, I really believe that as soon as we saw the results
from this before we even got started, I knew this was the best deal we could have possibly done.”
There’s no word on just how much Punk is being paid as part of his multi-year deal with AEW, but he didn’t return to wrestling after
seven years for a lowball deal, but according to Khan, no amount of money was too much to pay for the former WWE World Champion
Immediately after his debut on Rampage, some WWE Superstars referenced Punk’s appearance, but avoided using his name or
AEW in their tweets. One person who is happy to see Punk is Drew McIntyre, who’s pleased to see the former
World Champion back in the ring. Speaking to Pro-Wrestling Bits, McIntyre was asked for his view on Punk’s debut, and said:
Just anything that’s good for wrestling, I’m all about. I was outside the company — 2014 to 2017, working in the independents and with
IMPACT, and just trying to make wrestling a healthier, better place, and it’s healthy right now. It’s in an incredible place. It helps that
WWE is still at the top leading the charge, and anything that can make it better I’m all about. So, yeah, if it makes a positive difference,
it gets a thumbs up from me.” Punk has singlehandedly brought back a significant amount of interest in pro-wrestling,
as fans who fell out of watching are now back to see what Punk does next, and that’s completely fine according to
the first-ever Scottish WWE Champion
In just a few years, AEW has built a loyal fanbase, but those same fans weren’t thrilled with this week’s Dyanmite.
Just days after CM Punk’s debut on Rampage, expectations were high for last night’s show, and on Twitter, fans voiced their objections to
the card, with many believing that the Gunn Club vs Factory match belonged on AEW Dark or Dark: Elevation rather than Dynamite
Other fans expressed a total lack of interest in either faction heading into the match, whilst some said that the company had missed a
golden opportunity to keep the momentum going after last Friday’s epic Rampage. Fans weren’t thrilled with last night’s tag team
match, which did little to make QT Marshall seem like a credible threat to his All Out opponent Paul Wight, as fans believed that
booking the tag-match was a major misfire for the usually red-hot AEW.
In June, Eva Marie made her return to WWE TV after teasing an Eva-lution, and has been working with Doudrop ever since.
The pair were originally tag team partners, but after Marie’s loss to Alexa Bliss at Summerslam, Doudrop mocked her, seemingly
starting a feud between the two. Speaking to Scott Fishman, Marie discussed her storyline with Doudrop, saying that fans
have no idea where it’ll go next: ”Doudrop is absolutely incredible. I mean she’s such a great athlete, but being able to get
paired with her, work together and then our storyline is so different than what you see on RAW, on SmackDown. I love where we’re
going in the Alexa Bliss storyline too because everything is so unexpected. And that’s what makes people want to tune in and watch.
Whether you like it or you don’t, you know you want to see what’s gonna unfold and what’s going to happen. I’m excited to where we end
up and where we go. Because every single week it’s different where the WWE Universe thinks they know, but they have no idea.”
It remains to be seen how the storyline between Eva Marie and Doudrop continues on RAW, as for now, most fans are massively invested
in either woman.
In the summer of 2000, WWE’s top angle was a love-triangle, as Kurt Angle looked to drive a wedge between Triple H and Stephanie McMahon
Helmsley. On the August 24th 2000 edition off SmackDown, Kurt planted a kiss on Stephanie
after carrying her backstage, something the Olympic Gold Medalist wasn’t a fan of.
Speaking on his show, Angle recalled the kiss, and how it wasn’t exactly in the most romantic of settings. He said:
It was so nerve racking. Not only that, the director was Vince McMahon. He was three feet away in a chair. I’m kissing Vince McMahon’s daughter
right in front of him, of course I didn’t want to slip her the tongue. I didn’t know what to do, I was so nervous about it because Vince McMahon
is just standing there looking and he’s wide eyed like ‘I want to see this.’ I was like ‘holy crap, this is so weird.’ It was a great moment for
me because it did so much for me but it was really uncomfortable. “What happens [when we go off the air],
Stephanie says ‘Kurt, you kiss like a fish.’ I said ‘Stephanie, what the hell did you want me to do? Your dad is watching us.’”
Angle’s feud with Triple H did elevate him up the card, as he’d end his rookie year in the company as WWF Champion, but he had to
have perhaps the most awkward kiss, in front of Vince McMahon no less, to get to the top.
One person who knows about working with both Kurt is Paul Heyman, who briefly managed the Olympian from 2002-2003.
Heyman has managed some of wrestling’s greats, and returned to WWE in 2012 as the advocate for Brock Lesnar.
It turns out being an advocate is more than just a word for Heyman, as during an appearance on the Out of Character podcast,
he said that the decision to call himself an advocate was a tribute to his father, who served as an advocate as a personal injury
attorney. Heyman has had a lot of monikers, including being the Special Counsel to the Tribal Chief
Roman Reigns, but with Lesnar back in WWE, Heyman could be the Beast’s advocate again soon enough.
We’ve got some worrying news about Pat McAfee next, as won’t be commentating on SmackDown for a while, after testing positive
for C-19. On Twitter, McAfee broke the bad news, adding that he’s out indefinitely, and was
thankful to his wife Samantha and their children, who have all tested negative.
McAfee last appeared on WWE TV at Summerslam, calling the action for SmackDown matches, and is best known out of WWE for his tenure
as a former punter for the NFL Indianapolis Colts. Since debuting on SmackDown as a commentator, McAfee has been praised for the
enthusiasm he brings to the blue brand, and his presence will be sorely missed in the coming weeks.
At the most recent NXT TakeOver, Samoa Joe made history by becoming the first three-time NXT Champion, an odd decision considering
the direction of the gold brand. After all, it’s been reported that Vince McMahon’s plan is for younger stars to be featured
on NXT, something the 42-year-old Joe clearly isn’t. McMahon’s plan to push younger, larger
Superstars is all part of his strategy for NXT to once-again be a developmental brand for RAW and SmackDown, and in a conversation
with French YouTube star Hal, Joe gave his honest thoughts about the Chairman:
I think he perceives it as the future of his company. I think that he’s heavily invested in it. It’s funny, you know, I read all this stuff
that I hear from people. At the same time, he’s probably the biggest proponent of its existence, and much of what has happened in it thus far.
NXT - it’s the future of WWE, and it’s a big reason why I’m excited to be kind of associated with it
NXT may be the future of WWE, but fans haven’t been blown away by McMahon’s plans so far, even if the consensus is that
Joe was the right person to dethrone Karrion Kross at last Sunday’s TakeOver event.
More from AEW, and after reports of an outbreak in New Japan, Jon Moxley’s match for All Out, which was rumoured to be
against a Japanese legend, was in question, but it’s now been confirmed that he will be in action for All Out.
On Dynamite, Moxley confirmed he’ll be facing Satoshi Kajima during the show, and plans to end the Japanese legend’s career on
September 5th, and time will tell if he does just that at AEW All Out.
AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker will be in action at All Out too, but it’s likely she won’t be coming alone.
On the inaugural Rampage, Jamie Hayter returned to AEW, assisting Baker in a post- match brawl with Red Velvet and Kris
Statlander, and her ties to the DMD aren’t just on TV. Speaking to Vince Morales of Milwaukee
Reords, Baker said that after facing Hayter in England, she was the one who nudged Tony Khan and Kenny Omega into
considering her for AEW, and when the world recently started opening up again, she once again nudged the pair to consider
the talented English wrestler. All this work paid off, as now Hayter is signed to a deal with AEW, and could play
a huge role when Baker defends her Women’s World title against Statlander at All Out next month
Now, it’s no secret that Brock Lesnar isn’t fold of other people, and that attitude goes all the way back to his days in OVW.
Recently, former OVW manager Kenny ‘The Starmaker’ Bolin revealed an altercation he had with the future Universal Champion,
all over a misconception over his girlfriend. He explained: "I went to hug his girlfriend, but I was so
hot and sweaty, I didn't want her to touch me and she'd been in my house a 100 times. Her and Brock came over and watched
pay-per-views all the time . . . So I put my arms around, but I didn't wanna touch her because I'm wearing a
silk shirt soaked in sweat and I didn't want her to touch me so I did the Hollywood kiss where I didn't touch her."
Brock is walking through the ring. . . He's coming back to work with the ring crew and he says, ' Bolin, get your hands off my girlfriend.'
I thought he was playing for the crowd because there's about 20-30 people. So I say 'Hey brother no problem.' and I'm just kind of playing
along. He comes over and gets to my face and says "Don't you ever touch her again, you mf'er." I said Brock 'What the hell is the matter
with you man?' He says, 'Don't you ever touch her.”. The situation was eventually resolved when
Sylvester Terkay interfered and got Brock to leave, and Lesnar later apologised to Bolin for the misunderstanding later that night.
Lesnar was just one of many big names Bolin worked with, as he also worked with the likes of John Cena and Bobby Lashley in OVW,
but the Starmaker had to think fast to avoid a beating by the Beast Incarnate.
And we’re ending with former WWE Superstar Virgil, and if you’ve followed his life after the ring, you’ll know that he’s a man who’s always
looking to make a quick buck. Virgil can often be found behind a table, selling autographed photos and merch
to passers-by on the street, and this week, the former wrestler found a very interesting place to set up shop.
On Twitter, a photo went viral of Virgil selling his merchandise on top of the Hollywood Walk of Fame star of Vince McMahon.
Not only did Virgil sell on McMahon’s star, but he did so on the Chairman’s 76th Birthday, and in a message on Instagram, dedicated
the hustle to McMahon himself. Ever the salesman, Virgil also promoted his new game ‘Meat Sauce Madness’ on Instagram,
saying it was his wish for McMahon to play the game. Virgil knows how to stay in the spotlight,
and if McMahon doesn’t want Virgil selling on his square, we’re sure the former Superstar will gladly move elsewhere, for the right price