Here's more wrestling news for June 4th 2021
And your headlines for afternoon include
The Rock Sends An Encouraging Message To Recently Released WWE Superstar!
Shaul Guerrero On Why She Couldn’t Use Her Last Name In WWE!
Alexander Wolfe Comments On Velveteen Dream Controversy!
MVP Looking To Add Two Smackdown Stars To The Hurt Business?
Tom Phillips Recalls The Time Stephanie McMahon Legitimately Slapped Him!
Adam Pearce Confirms New Backstage Position With WWE!
What Is The Current Status Of Alexa Bliss ?
Why Booker T Heavily Criticized Aleister Black ?
Impact Wrestling Bringing Fans Back For Slammiversary And more!
We’re starting today’s video with WWE’s most recent releases, as Ruby Riott has broke her silence on her release.
In a statement, the former Superstar said how she was lucky to have made it to WWE, and is unsure what’s next in her career, but wherever
she goes next, she’ll have the support of The Rock Responding to her statement on Instagram
the Brahma Bull said that Riott will resurface, stronger, wiser and better, and thanked her for an awesome birthday video.
Riott established herself in the wrestling industry before WWE and can do so again, and we imagine having one of wrestling’s
biggest ever names on her side will be a huge confidence boost in the coming months.
One person who knows about being cut from WWE is Shaul Guerrero, who signed in 2010 and worked in FCW and NXT until her 2014 departure.
The daughter of the late Eddie Guerrero, fans had high hopes for Shaul, but that attitude wasn’t shared inside WWE.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Shaul discussed her WWE tenure, and why she worked under the name Raquel Diaz,
rather than her much-more recognisable family name. She said: “I remember being told, I’m not going to say by
who, that if you suck, we can’t drag your family’s name in the mud… like they never said I had to be as good as my dad, but there
was always little things like that which are hard to ignore. That was day one.”
After leaving WWE, Guerrero would return to wrestling in 2018, and served as a ring announcer for AEW last August, where
she was thankfully able to work under her real name.
Back to the present, and last month, WWE parted ways with Velveteen Dream, after a year of claims made against him that haunted his career.
Dream faced claims of misconduct with minors, though WWE’s investigation came up fruitless, though the company reportedly never contacted
his accusers. Alexander Wolfe is another person who WWE recently cut, and this week, during an
interview with Wrestling Inc, he described Dream as a great character, even though they didn’t have much of a personal friendship.
Speaking about the claims against Dream, Wolfe added:
“This publicity is totally s--t, and if he really did that, you have to prove it. You can’t just be a guy on the internet, and there’s a lot of
people who just accuse somebody for the sake of getting famous. You have to go to the police.”
Wolfe added that unless Dream’s accusers are willing to go to court, complete with a lawyer, judge and jury, then their claims cannot be
taken seriously, and went on to criticize social media as a whole. “The internet is full of guys who try to hurt you
when you’re famous… I hate all of social media. Social media is probably a curse and also a good thing.”
Wolfe added that if Dream did do anything he’s accused of, then he should be punished, but It seems the former Imperium star doesn’t believe
these claims. Regardless, these claims dogged Dream’s career, with the hashtag #FireVelveteenDream
trending whenever he’d appear on TV, and though WWE have said his release, like all, were due to budget cuts, we doubt that the
claims against the former North American Champion helped him out.
Over to RAW, and whilst the Hurt Business now consists of just the Almighty WWE Champion Bobby Lashley and MVP, the latter
has said he’s always on the hunt for new clients. This week, MVP may have found two new
Superstars to add to the business, as he shared a photo with SmackDown’s Street Profits, teasing that they’d been in talks about working
together. The official ‘WWE on FOX’ Twitter account was interested in a potential team-up, but fans
had a much more mixed response. Whilst some hoped to see MVP lead a team, possibly against Paul Heyman’s team in a
Survivor Series collision, other fans wondered why they should be excited, as the Profits could be fired any day, referencing WWE’s recent cuts.
Another fan suggested that in addition to the Profits, MVP signs Bianca Belair and Ricochet to the Hurt Business, and time will tell whether
MVP adds any more names to his growing enterprise.
More release news, as in addition to the six Superstars, Tom Phillips confirmed his departure from WWE, a week after it was first
reported that he was gone. Phillips had a lengthy tenure in WWE, and during the December 21st 2015 RAW, even
got slapped by Stephanie McMahon, who was irate to see Dean Ambrose defeat Sheamus in a Steel Cage match.
Speaking on the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch, Phillips discussed this encounter, saying:
“I never took a conventional bump in the ring but there was one. I think it was before Christmas in 2015, I think it was the Slammys,
which was also coinciding with RAW, and Stephanie McMahon just slapped me, for lack of a better term. But yeah, knew about
it and everything. It was so much fun. It seems weird but Corey Graves [Phillips’ fellow commentator] standing right off
camera at the time and just staring at me like a big brother being like, ‘Yeah, this is gonna be fun.’ It’s a rite of passage. It was great.
That was full contact. Stephanie is a wonderful human being. I have had nothing but great interactions with her, but if you ask anybody
that’s taken the Stephanie McMahon slap, she means it. And that’s a good thing, because it’s live, it better not look improvised.”
Throughout her career, Stephanie has slapped some big names, from Steve Austin to The Rock to Ronda Rousey, and Phillips should be
proud of having succeeded this rite of passage in WWE.
One person we imagine will one-day receive a Stephanie McMahon slap is Adam Pearce, as he continues to serve as WWE’s authority
figure on TV. Pearce isn’t just a TV personality though, as he also has roles behind the scenes, and it was
reported in April that he’d been named WWE’s Director of Live Events. Speaking to Give Me Sport this week, Pearce
confirmed the reports of his new role as accurate, but said that fans will still see him officiating RAW and SmackDown.
Pearce’s new role comes as WWE prepares to go back on the road with a 25-city tour starting next month, and if WWE is able to get back on
the road full-time, then Pearce will certainly be busy, juggling his roles on and off-screen.
Last month, Alexa Bliss was heartbroken after her pet pig Larry Steve passed away, and his death came after Bliss struggled to find a vet
willing to treat him. Now, the RAW Superstar is taking steps to ensure that no-one else goes through the same struggle
as she’s raised over $16,000 for a pig rescue in Florida, which’ll be named after Larry Steve. Speaking to TMZ, Bliss said she plans on rescuing
more animals, and specifically praised pigs for their emotional intelligence. Bliss added that several pet owners who have
larger, non-traditional pets, have been in contact with her, sharing similar stories of vets not wanting to treat their animals.
The former Women’s Champion was absent from last week’s RAW because of Larry Steve, and it’s impressive that she’s channelling her grief
into such a productive cause.
More release news, as Aleister Black’s departure this week took fans by surprise, but Booker T had a much different reaction.
While speaking on his Hall of Fame podcast, the former World Champion discussed Black with his co-host Brad Gilmore, who said that Black
had the intro and look to become a star in WWE. Booker responded, saying: “
It did look cool but understand you just can’t get that gimmick and think because of the smoke and mirrors, you’re going to go out there
and get over. Aleister Black is a good worker but I’m looking for a guy that’s ‘talent’… Aleister Black was a guy that didn’t set himself
apart from the rest of the guys in the locker room.” With Black gone from WWE, we’re interested to
to see where he’ll go next, despite Booker’s belief that he didn’t do enough to stand out.
AEW News, and we’re sending our congratulations to Hangman Adam Page, who is preparing to be a father.
On Instagram, Page announced that he and his wife Amanda are expecting their first child, and shared an ultrasound photo and a selfie with
his wife. Page said that they’re excited, terrified, but mostly overjoyed, and has been married to
Amanda since 2016. Page last competed at Double or Nothing, where he defeated Brian Cage in the show’s
opener, and we’re once-more sending our congratulations to the happy couple on becoming parents.
And we’re ending today with news from Impact Wrestling, as the company Slammiversary event will happen with live fans.
On Twitter, Impact confirmed that a limited number of fans will be able to attend Slammiversary at Skyway Studios in
Nashville Tennessee, and that tickets will go on sale today. Though they’ve been piping in fan noise for
while, it’s just not the same as a live crowd, and now Slammiversary will have a much more natural feel with a limited number of
fans in attendance.