Here's your wrestling news for January 20th 2021
And your headlines for today include
Former WWE Wrestler Talks About The True Colors Of Bill Goldberg!
Riddle Takes A Massive Shot At Goldberg Yet Again!
WWE Edits Ric Flair Kissing Becky Lynch From Royal Rumble ; Reason Behind This Edit Is Revealed!
WWE Set To Hold Mr. Royal Rumble Tournament!
AEW Stars ”Declare” Their Entry Into Royal Rumble Match!
How WWE Covered For Nia Jax Botching Her Lines On RAW?
Paul Heyman Further Teases Adding Member To Roman Reigns’ Stable!
Vince McMahon Not Sharing Ideas For Main WrestleMania Matches!
Renee Paquette Sends Special Invitation To Vince McMahon!
Vince McMahon Booked WWE Angle Knowing It Would Fail!
Bruce Prichard’s Christmas Gifts To Writing Team Causes Major Backstage Heat
Jon Moxley Is Writing A Book!
Current WWE Wrestler Is ‘Absolutely Fuming’ About Her Current Booking In WWE And More!
We’re kicking off today with news from Goldberg, who first shot to stardom during WCW’s heyday.
It wasn’t long into his wrestling career that Goldberg was pushed to the top of the card, and according
to fellow WCW alumni Konnan, this push went to Goldberg’s head. During the UnSKripted Podcast,
Konnan opened up about how Goldberg’s attitude changed as his star rose, saying:
“When you get that super mass popularity that he did, as quick as he did… you start thinking about
yourself different… he was much more humble when he first came in. But he also had a lot of guys who
were trying to knock him off the pedestal, so he was paranoid at the same time.”
Even over 20 years after his first World Championship win, Goldberg’s name is a huge deal in wrestling,
hence why he’s getting a title match at the Royal Rumble, and we can only hope he’s mellowed out
considerably since his WCW days.
Though Goldberg didn’t appear on RAW this week, his parody Gillberg did, and one man who was pleased
to see the legendary jobber was Matt Riddle. Backstage, the King of Bros shared
a photo with Gillberg, and couldn’t resist taking a shot at Goldberg yet again.
Calling the former Universal Champion ‘Willy G’ Riddle said that real legends are your bros, and that Gillberg is 10
times the man Goldberg could ever hope to be. Riddle’s real-life issues with
Goldberg are well-documented, with the former NXT Tag Champion calling the Hall of Famer the worst
wrestler ever, and clearly the Original Bro’s issues with Goldberg haven’t gone away in 2021.
From one Hall of Famer to another as Ric Flair has done a lot in WWE, but not everything the Nature Boy
has achieved ages well. At the 2016 Royal Rumble, Ric Flair forced a kiss on Becky Lynch as a
distraction during her Divas title match against then Champion Charlotte, but now that segment has
been cut from the Pay Per View. No explanation has been given, though we imagine that a man forcing
himself on a woman decades younger than him, even in kayfabe, may have been seen as problematic
backstage. Now, that segment is gone, and although Flair is known for
kiss-stealing, including being involved in a scandalous angle with Lacey Evans, this moment in 2016
was apparently too much for the Network.
We’re entering the Thunderdome next, as WWE’s virtual experience has allowed the company to have
complete control over the crowd reaction on RAW and SmackDown.
Nowadays, WWE doesn’t have to worry about CM Punk chants or fans booing babyfaces, as they are
able to pump in their own crowd reactions, but according to Stephanie McMahon, this wasn’t the original
intention. Speaking at the sports panel at CES 2021, McMahon spoke about what
WWE originally had in mind, saying:
“We didn’t think that we should pipe in audio because that didn’t feel authentic, and it was an experience
that was ‘less than’ to say the least and then we really did start to experiment. We started adding different
technology, we started piping in audio.” Now, WWE has complete control
over the noise from the crowd, and whilst Vince McMahon is no-doubt enjoying having so much control,
we’ll have to see how things change at WrestleMania 37 when live fans return.
We all know that Shawn Michaels is Mr. WrestleMania, but now someone in WWE has a chance to be crowned
Mr. Royal Rumble. On social media, WWE confirmed a 16-man tournament, which will
comprise of a mix of Rumble winners and those with the most eliminations.
The winners of these brackets will be decided by fan votes, with the Mr. Royal Rumble winner being
decided on January 31st, the day of the Rumble Pay Per View. There’s plenty of popular stars from
WWE’s past and presents, and time will tell who is crowned Mr. Royal Rumble this month.
Speaking of the Royal Rumble, more and more names are being announced for the two titular Rumble
matches, including some names you wouldn’t expect. On Twitter, former WWE writer Brian
Gewirtz questioned why WWE Superstars are allowed to announce themselves for the match, and
wondered if the Rumble participants are decided base on whoever ‘declares’ first.
Responding, Karl Anderson declared that both he and Luke Gallows will be entering the Men’s
Rumble match, an impressive feat considering both men were released last year.
The reigning Impact Tag Team Champions, The Good Brothers have most recently made their
presence known alongside Kenny Omega in AEW, but we doubt they’ll get a shot at appearing in WWE
whilst signed to another company. Of course, Gallows tweet was sarcastically poking fun at how there
seems to be no rules for how people qualify for the Royal Rumble matches, though it’d certainly be an O-M-G
moment if the duo made it to the Thunderdome on January 31st.
Back to RAW, and it’s no secret that WWE has scripts that the Superstars must recite word-for-word, but Nia
Jax didn’t get the message of her promo across this week.
During her segment, Jax was meant to deliver her line sarcastically, but that’s not how it came across, and
after coming back to the show, Bryon Saxton made it clear that Jax might not have meant what she said.
During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer speculated on what happened, saying:
“She was supposed to make us think that she was mad at Shayna for saying it, but she didn’t say it
sarcastically enough… He [Saxton] may have been told by Vince, ‘Cover up for her’. That’s what the
announcers do all the time.” Meltzer doubted that Saxton thought of the cover himself, saying that
when the commentators look like idiots it’s usually because of orders backstage, and we’re impressed
WWE were able to cover for this botch so quickly.
Over to SmackDown and Paul Heyman has teased another member to Roman Reigns’ stable.
On Instagram, Heyman shared some fanart of Apollo Crews kissing Reigns’ rings, and given that Heyman
was a fan of Crews during his tenure as RAW director, we’ll have to see if Apollo aligns with Heyman and his stable.
Now, this year’s WrestleMania will be a two-day event in front of a live crowd, but despite a lot of work
needing to be done, Vince McMahon is reportedly keeping things top secret.
Ringside News are reporting that the Chairman has a few of the main matches in his head, but nothing
has been confirmed on the official Mania card. One tenured writer with extensive
knowledge of the situation said that Bruce Prichard is the proverbial ‘dam stopping the flow’ as the Executive
Director of RAW and SmackDown isn’t communicating with the staff.
This source also cited a lack of respect being shown to the staff by higher-ups as an ongoing issue,
and the source noted that there’s currently “no direction except for a constantly changing one.”
WrestleMania planning clearly isn’t where it needs to be, and with the show being a two-day event, McMahon
will hopefully be sharing his ideas soon.
With many decades of being in the wrestling business, Vince McMahon has booked a ton of TV, and he’s
had a lot more faith in some ideas than others. During Off the SKript, Vince Russo
opened up about two storylines McMahon knew would fail, but because Jim Cornette was pulling
for them, he let them play out. Russo explained that the NWA invasion of the WWF in 1998 was
doomed from the start, but McMahon booked it knowing it would fail, as did Cornette’s idea of having Bart
Gunn and Bob Holly team up to form the new Midnight Express.
These claims come just days after it was reported that Vince McMahon booked the Chainsaw Charlie
character as a rib on Cornette as it seems the Boss uses his booking for more than just entertaining the fans
watching around the world.
Renee Paquette next, as the former WWE announcer recently had AEWs Tony Khan on her Oral Sessions
podcast, and is now looking for her next guest. After Khan praised Paquette as a
great host, the former Renee Young took to Twitter to offer an invitation to Vince McMahon himself.
We’ll have to see if Vince McMahon can work an interview into with Paquette into his very busy schedule,
and though we doubt it’ll happen, it’d make for a very intriguing episode if the stars aligned.
One man McMahon has time for is Roman Reigns, who has given his support to the much-anticipated
dream match between himself and the Rock. Speaking to Ryan Satin of FOX
Sports 1, the reigning Universal Champion spoke about WrestleMania 39 going Hollywood
and addressed the dream match, saying: “I think it just makes sense. He’s the
biggest box office attraction for the big screen. So, to be able to take that and match it up with the biggest box
office attraction in sports entertainment, I think some magic would be made.”
This year’s WrestleMania was supposed to be in Hollywood before it was moved to the Raymond
James stadium in Tampa, the original home of WrestleMania 36 before last year’s show was moved to the
Performance Center. WWE getting The Rock back for one more match will be difficult, as
thousands of people rely on him not being injured to act in movies, but Roman Reigns is ready to lock horns
with the Brahma Bull.
Now, it’s no secret that Bruce Prichard isn’t a popular man behind the scenes in WWE, especially given
that the company’s edict blocking third-party deals doesn’t apply to the executive director.
It turns out, Prichard isn’t exactly helping how he’s seen behind the scenes, as according to a source
for Ringside News, the former Brother Love gave out Christmas gifts last month that rubbed
employees the wrong way. The source noted that Prichard gave out gift cards which weren’t a
problem, but each gift card came in a ‘Something to Wrestle With’ branded cards, the podcast
Prichard is allowed to do despite WWE’s rule against third-party dealings.
This led to backstage heat for Prichard, as many saw it as Bruce promoting his outside venture within
WWE, and though he’s considered the most powerful person in WWE not named McMahon, perhaps
Prichard should think more about his gift-wrapping this December 25th.
AEW news now, as the company has filed a trademark for the term Too Sweet.
According to recent filings, AEW c laimed the term on January 14th for use in wrestling and merchandise,
and it’ll be interesting to see if there’s any objections to the filing.
The term and hand gesture has been used by various pro wrestlers over the years, but was made famous by
the Kliq and the New World Order before it was adopted by the reigning AEW Tag Team Champions the Young
Bucks. The Bucks claimed a few years ago that they were sent a Cease and
Desist over the Too Sweet hand gesture, though Tama Tonga recently said that was all a lie, and time will tell
whether WWE or anyone else gets in the way of this major trademark filing.
Speaking of AEW, Jon Moxley has cemented himself in the company with his brawling attitude, but now the
former World Champion is putting down his weapons and picking up a pen.
On her podcast, Moxley’s wife Renee Paquette confirmed the news with AEW CEO Tony Khan that
Moxley will be writing a book, something she says she’s been pressuring him to do for a long time.
She added: He can be a very eloquent speaker and his memory is so amazing.
The stuff he’s able to draw from. The fact that he’s doing it now and writing it himself, I think it’s gonna
be such a badass product Khan added that he’s been able to read some snippets already,
and loves the book so far. Moxley hasn’t wrestled since losing the AEW World Champion to Kenny
Omega on December 2nd, though returned to Dynamite last Wednesday and will be returning to the ring on
tonight’s show. There’s no word on when Moxley’s book will be released, but we’re sure
it’ll make for an interesting read that’ll cover his early years, days on the indies, WWE and AEW whenever it
comes out.
Back to WWE and this time a year ago, Nikki Cross was a prominent member of main roster thanks to her
teaming with Alexa Bliss, but that’s a distant memory now.
Nowadays, Cross is barely seen on WWE’s programming, and admitted to being frustrated in a video on Twitter
saying: I’m angry and annoyed and I don’t want to talk about new years
resolutions or finding my happy place. The Royal Rumble is right around the corner and I have zero
momentum going into it. I have no momentum to even win it
Though her viral videos are gaining attention, it’s not leading to any more TV time, and though she has all the
tools needed to succeed, she’s still waiting on that big opportunity.
More from AEW, as Sting has been confirmed for this week’s Dynamite.
The Icon will quote “congratulate” Darby Allin on tonight’s show, though we’re not too sure what Sting will be
congratulating him about specifically.
And we’re ending today with AEW’s Riho, as the inaugural AEW Women’s World Champion has been stuck in
her native Japan since the global situation caused worldwide travel restrictions.
During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that AEW could now bring her back for work, but it’d
be a difficult process. The problem with this is that AEW doesn’t want to bring her back for a
week’s worth of tapings, as she’d have to quarrantine upon her return for Japan for two weeks, every time
she made the trip. Though AEW doesn’t want to do this with Riho, it’s very similar to what’s
happening with PAC, though Meltzer pointed out that the company has much bigger plans for PAC, and see
the former WWE Superstar as worth the hassle.
There’ll be a time when Riho competes in an AEW ring again, but until the global situation comes to an
end, don’t expect her in the Daily’s Place.