Here's your wrestling news for December 18th 2021
And your headlines for today include
Roman Reigns Fires And Attacks Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar Destroys The Bloodline ; How Is The Storyline Proceeding?
WWE Drops Roman Reigns Merch Based On CM Punk Dig!
Female WWE Star THROWS Light On Darby Allin's Abuse Allegations!
WWE’s Booking Of Tag Team Has Gone From Bad To Worst!
Is Drew McIntyre’s Working A Filler Feud On Smackdown?
Tony Khan Lashes Out At FOX News!
WWE Wrestler Gave Up Huge Money From Twitch To Make WWE Return
Kevin Owens could be Released By WWE Under Three Circumstances! And More!
We’re kicking off today with SmackDown, which saw the return of Roman Reigns after a one week sabatical.
Once again, the focus of the show was on Paul Heyman, and who he’s sided with in the ongoing Reigns-Lesnar feud that’ll culminate with a Universal title match
match at Day 1. When we saw Heyman open a car door, it was expected to be Reigns, but it turned out to be for
Lesnar, and Reigns exited from the other door, with an icy demeanour to his special counsel. In the ring, the tension between the three was palpable,
, and the result seemed inevitable as Reigns continued to question Heyman’s loyalty, asking why the legendary manager was protecting Lesnar form him.
Heyman fired back, saying that Reigns had it all wrong and that he was protecting the Universal Champion from the Beast Incarnate, seemingly confirming
where his allegiances lie. Reigns hugged his special counsel, and thanked him of forty years of service for his family, before
informing Heyman he was fired, and flattening him with a Superman punch. The damage to Heyman would’ve been more severe
as Reigns was ready to crush him with a steel chair, had Lesnar not come out for the save, a fully-fledged babyface.
It's the first time since 2015 that he has been a babyface on TV, and while fallout of this will be interesting, but we don't expect much storyline progression to happen
next week on SmackDown. Next week’s SmackDown has already been pre-taped, but there have been some announcements
already made for the show, and we’ll just have to see who can pick up momentum, now that Lesnar once more has his advocate by his side
Roman Reigns has never been afraid to share his opinion, as following CM Punk’ AEW debut in August this year, the Tribal Chief had something to say.
Discussing Punk, who was thrust into a top tier feud after seven years away, , Reigns that the Chicago-Made wrestler was never as good or over as John Cena
and never moved the needle like the Rock. Now, Reigns’ statement has made it on a shirt, as on WWEShop.com, fans can pick up a Needle
Mover shirt, featuring a needle at full and Reigns’ logo. On his 9 years on the main-roster, the Head o
of the Table has had countless pieces of merchandise, and now his dig at an AEW star can be worn by the WWE Universe.
In AEW, Darby Allin is never too far away from his trusty skateboard, but he’s not the only wrestler with a board.
Fans of Cora Jade are well aware that the NXT Superstar also uses a skateboard, and when one fan said the pair should have a skateboarding match
the response they got probably wasn’t what they expected.
In his response, the former TNT Champion took a shot at Jade, saying that skating is a huge part of his life, and implied that the NXT Superstar’s fondness for
skateboarding was a quote “fake character for TV.” Jade didn’t hold back in her response, as she said that being a good person, with no allegations of
abuse against her is a huge part of her life, and not just a character she plays on TV. Cora Jade’s comment was in reference to an
accusation madde by indie wrestler Hawlee Cromwell last year, in which she claimed a popular wrestler had been mentally and emotionally abusive to her.
That mystery wrestler’s identity was seemingly revealed when she posted screenshots from Gigi Dolin, the wife of Darby Allin, who encouraged
Cromwell to delete her tweets aimed at Allin.
After this interaction, both wrestlers were trending on Twitter, and both wisely chose to delete their tweets.
Social media has been abuzz for the past few hours, with fans bashing both Allin and Jade for their tweets.
Allin is considered one of the four pillars of AEW, and was the first person CM Punk wanted to face, while Jade is a rising star of NXT 2.0, and is interestingly
also one of Punk’s favourites, with wholesome clips of the duo floating around online. This was an intense back and forth between Allin
and Jade, and we’ll have to see if either faces any consequences, but that dream skateboarding match certainly isn’t happening.
Back to SmackDown, as the Viking Raiders have been picking up wins since coming to the blue brand, but they’re not exactly building momentum.
Sure, they got a big win over Jinder Mahal and Shanky this week, but it’s done nothing to elevate Erik and Ivar, partly because fans haven’t been given a reason
to root against Shanky or Mahal. If anything, the audience last night seemed indifferent to both teams, and some amount of build-up
leading up to this match to build intrigue would have helped.
With the release of Jeff Hardy, Drew McIntyre will now have to go it alone in his feud with Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss, which may be for the best overall.
On last night’s show, McIntyre was in one of the more enjoyable segments of the night, despite the painful, cringe-inducing jokes by Moss.
What we did enjoy was seeing was seeing McIntyre get the huge babyface pop from the fans, and gave fans a segment to remember.
After McIntyre was told last week that he couldn’t take his sword to the ring, the Scottish Warrior jammed It into the table of Adam Pearce, which was promptly
stolen by Corbin and Moss
They couldn’t pull the sword from the table, but McIntyre could, just like the fabled King Arthur pulling the sword from the stone.
Being as powerful as a mythological hero is a good look for McIntyre, and this realistically sets up a filler feud with Corbin, presumably ending with a
high-profile match between the two next year. If McIntyre is to beat Corbin as expected, then this will move him up the card nicely, and if Brock
Lesnar isn’t the one who’ll dethrone Roman Reigns as Universal Champion, McIntyre could make a great alternative.
Recently, FOX News took aim at AEW, after analysis by Ryan Gaydos showed the shortcomings of AEW’s programming.
In a report on the Jacksonville Jaguars, the football team owned by Tony Khan's father, Shahid Khan, the report also pointed out Rampage and Dynamite's ratings
struggles despite several high-profile signings like CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, and more this summer.
Now, Tony Khan has fired back, saying it’s amusing that FOX would say this, when Dynamite has beaten every single FOX News programme for the past 6 weeks.
Khan gave a very detailed report to back up his claim, and in a follow-up tweet, suggested FOX News focus on their own content instead of looking at theirs.
It'll be interesting to see if FOX News responds to Tony Khan's Twitter rant or if they would prefer to maintain silence, but the AEW President is once
more always ready to explain the ratings of his shows.
Last November, Zelina Vega was released from WWE, mere minutes after she publicly expressed support for unionisation.
Vega had also refused to give up her side-gig on Twitch, going against WWE’s rule against third- party deals, but ultimate returned to the company
the July 2nd SmackDown. It must’ve been a tough decision for Vega to give up her Twitch channel to return, especially as she
was earning considerable money on the streaming platform. In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer
noted that Vega was one of a handful of names who were making serious money on Twitch, and that a data leak revealed she had earned $341,748
between September 2019 to September 2021. When she returned to WWE, Vega said she had unfinished business, and while she’s been
successful since her comeback, becoming the first Queen’s Crown Tournament winner and one-half of the reigning WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions
it cost Vega over $170,000 a year just to get back to WWE.
And we’re ending today with Kevin Owens, who has re-signed with WWE, but his deal doesn’t come with a no-cut clause.
Unlike the contracts for WWE’s very top Superstars, this means he could theoretically be cut tomorrow if the company chose to, as part of their never
ending budget cuts. That’d be a very unwise decision for WWE to make, but there are certain factors why the company
could part ways with him, or any other high profile talent.
In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer explained that WWE’s main three reasons for releasing a talent is 1: if the value of the talent drops
2: if they lose interest, or 3: if the company’s finances take a downward turn, leaving WWE no other option.
Given that WWE has never been more profitable, thanks to their licensing deals, relationship with Saudi Arabia and their contracts with the USA Network and FOX,
that last option is unlikely, As for the other two, WWE losing interest in a Superstar will naturally mean the value of the talent
drops, in what is a vicious cycle that has claimed countless wrestlers. Hopefully, Owens can avoid the same fate as the
likes of Wyatt, Braun Strowman, Karrion Kross and countless others, but the Prizefighter’s career isn’t safe just because of his new multi-year deal.