Here is your news for April 20 2020.
We’re starting today with news from WWE’s recent releases, as whilst many were
cut from the company, Dan Matha is having a particularly hard time.
On Twitter, the former NXT Superstar posted some pretty banged-up selfies,
revealing that he had recently been in a car wreck, where he was ejected from the
window. He said:
Boy do I have a crazy ass story to tell all of u. From the world getting *******down,
to getting ejected through my window and then being released by the WWE. It’s
been a wild, I mean WILD 21 days. Tune in to my IG live at 1 & I’ll Drop all the
details your little heart could desire.
In that Instagram Live video, Matha promised that fans will see him return to the
ring despite these setbacks, and said that his future is looking even better than
before, despite being released.
The former NXT Superstar also gave a shout-out to those who helped him during
his troubled upbringing, and advised those laid off to focus on things they can
control at this time, rather than focussing on the job they’ve lost.
Given that nobody in the UK can run a show right now, it’s possible that WWE may
end up releasing more NXT UK stars, but for now Matha needs to focus on healing
up from that car wreck first.
We’ve got some more unfortunate news from the recent WWE releases now, as
Curt Hawkins was also cut from the company, and this couldn’t come at a worst
time for the former Tag Team Champion.
In a blog, Hawkins’ wife Lizzie wrote about how she broke down in tears after the
dreaded call from WWE came, mentioning that it was just one week prior that the
company wanted him to fly to Orlando for RAW.
“Why do I feel helpless? For starters, I am 30 weeks pregnant. It’s not the most
satisfying feeling when your husband loses his job and you don’t have one for you
both to fall back on. I always said the past year, if I needed to get back into work I
could and would get back into my field(thinking like 4-5 years if his contract didn’t
renew), not expecting him to lose his job when I’m 2 months away from having
our child let alone during a pandemic. Though I don’t regret my time at home, I do
feel guilt and anxiety about the decision I made last year with a new baby on the
way but this is something I just have to deal with right now.”
We can only hope things turn around for Hawkins, Lizzie, their daughter McKenzie
and their child on the way, as being pregnant at a time like this certainly adds
another layer of complication to this worrying situation.
Obviously, this past Wednesday was a sad day in WWE, that has earned the
nickname Black Wednesday, but in the days since, many have been wondering
whether these cuts were needed.
According to Dave Meltzer, the answer is no, as he reported that WWE didn’t
need to cut staff, and had money to operate. He said:
Interesting stat: If WWE cut its dividend to owners, going largely to the chairman,
in half, the savings would pay every single cut wrestler & agents money for 2 years
and 2 months. If they cut dividend completely, 4 years and 4 months.
When one fan proposed that if WWE didn’t pay investors such a big dividend, then
they’d have much more money to cover them at this moment, Meltzer replied, saying:
They’ve got plenty of money to cover them during the crisis, $500 million to be
exact from their own mouths, and they don’t need to dip into that. Brandon
Thurston estimated $127 million in profits this year based on not seeing another
penny from house shows in 2020.
Ringside News recently reported that some on Wall Street are seeing this situation
as a way to protect McMahon- family money, and after the recent XFL Closure hurt
Vince’s credibility, these releases will help him keep his money, and see the
WWE’s stock rise.
We’ve got some news from The Rock now, as given his commitments in
Hollywood, the Brahma Bull hasn’t wrestled in a very long time.
Though all the money in the world can’t force the People’s Champion to risk a
return, that didn’t stop The Rock speaking about a dream match with Roman
Reigns on his Instagram live stream. He said:
“Rock vs Roman Reigns — is it possible? Sure, anything is possible. I’m always
open and that’s the cool thing about professional wrestling is there’s an
adaptability to pro wrestling and you never say never in pro wrestling and you
never say never with Vince McMahon who has been one of my mentors in
business for a very long time and we’re very, very close friend and confidant.
You never say no.”
“You know for something like that to happen I think the venue would have to be
right. I think the business model has to be right I’m very close with
Roman, we’re family, so we’ll see.”
Though a Rock-Roman match is an encounter many fans want to see the question
is whether WWE would be able to get the Great One back, especially after Vince
McMahon told his employees not to mention Roman on screen, due to him being absent.
Now, we previously reported that the state of Florida deemed WWE an essential
business, after some possible shady backstage-deals, and these deals were
enough to get some mainstream attention on MSNBC.
During All In with Chris Hayes Dave Zirin, sports editor of the Nation said “this
stinks to high heavens and it stinks with quid-pro-quo.”
Backing up his claims that favours were exchanged Zirin mentioned the timeline of
events, including Linda McMahon promising a Super PAC donation of $18.5 million
for Florida, the same day the state deemed WWE an essential service.
After mentioning the recent layoffs and the company’s immediate rise in stock
afterwards, Zirin capped off his points by mentioning Vince McMahon being on
Trump’s re-opening committee.
It’s clear that WWE has a lot of eyes on them at this time, and the company isn’t
exactly a pretty picture, but for now, fans will have to decide for themselves
whether this is a case of quid-pro-quo.
We all know that a lot of Super stars were released this week, but a lot of big
names from backstage were let go as well, including one of the company’s most-
veteran workers.
During the Grilling JR podcast, Conrad Thompson revealed that Kerwin Silfies, who
worked as a WWE director since the 80s, has been furloughed, meaning he isn’t
getting paid, but will hopefully be called back.
With an IMDB page that includes working on RAW, WrestleManias, Royal
Rumbles, Survivor Series’ and Summerslams, Silfies is one of the biggest unsung
heroes of WWE, and his departure from the company will certainly be felt in a big way.
We’ve got more news from Vince McMahon now, as , it wasn’t too long ago that
the boss decided that the company needed to provide live content, reportedly due
to believing their would lose money promised to them in their TV contracts.
Now, that has changed, as the WWE was able to work out a deal to go live, but
also tape episodes in advance at the same time.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer stated the NBC/ Universal and FOX weren’t
answering press inquiries about the matter, and added:
“Vince did that because he was afraid, I do not know whether Fox or
NBC/Universal hinted to Vince about the weekly thing — it is in the contract. Vince
thought because if it’s in the contract if I do more taped shows they can screw the contract.”
“There is a lot of press inquiries that these guys didn’t answer like ‘are you gonna
cut their money if they don’t produce live programming?’ I think at some point
both companies did tell Vince this week ‘we will not cut your money if you don’t
go live.’ So Vince changed the schedule and he made it not go live.”
Hopefully, the current situation won’t last so long that WWE has to change it’s
summer plans, as though Summer slam is scheduled to take place in Boston, that may change.
In fact, it was recently reported that WrestleMania 37 isn’t a sure thing, after the
opening of the SoFi Stadium was delayed, and time will tell whether WWE has to
host their showcase of the immortals without a crowd, once again.
We’re looking at SmackDown now, as though Mandy Rose recently topped the list
of the most active athletes on social media list, the Golden
Goddess is a pretty private person.
An example of this is that most fans don’t know that she has a boyfriend in real
life, but this mystery man is apparently secure enough to deal with Otis.
Speaking to tvserieshub.tv, Rose spoke about how her angle with Otis began, and
her boyfriend’s reactions to it, saying:
Otis always was around in NXT and posting pics of me and talking about how much
he liked me. In a cute way, not a creepy way. This continued on and I thought it
would be great if this became a storyline, especially once Otis entered
WrestleMania. I actually went to Vince McMahon myself and pitched the idea and he loved it.”
“My boyfriend doesn’t have an issue with it. It’s all a storyline and entertainment.
If he got jealous of this, or if any guy did, it wouldn’t work out, honestly.”
Whilst Mandy and Otis are lovebirds on TV, that’s where their relationship stops,
and it’s good to see her real- life relationship with her boyfriend is so secure, that
he isn’t threatened by the Doz.
From one female Superstar in WWE to another now, as Liv Morgan returned to
WWE in late last year during the wedding of Lana and Bobby Lashley, revealing
herself as the jilted lover of the Ravishing Russian.
Whilst fans speculated on what would come next for the two, the ******* storyline
between the pair was quickly dropped, and this week, Dave Meltzer and Bryan
Alverez explained why on Wrestling Observer Radio.
On the show, Meltzer noted that RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman may be the
reason why fans never saw a fully-fledged storyline with Morgan and Lana, saying:
“From what I was told, it was Paul looking for a spot in the wedding thing to pop
people but there was no plan to follow up on it.”
This isn’t the first time Heyman has done this, as he had a similar moment in ECW
between Beulah mcgillicutty and Francine, that also was never followed up on.
Given that the angle with Rusev, Morgan, Lana and Lashley was quickly dropped
after the Bulgarian Brute was pulled from TV due to contract negotiations, before
his release this week, fans never saw an angle between Lana and Morgan.
Who knows what we could have seen had the angle been actually pushed, and
whilst Sonya Deville, a real-life *******, has pushed for an angle involving her
having a crush on Mandy Rose, it looks like WWE won’t be going in that direction anytime soon.
We’ve got some sad news to report now, as longtime WWE referee Jack Lotz died
last Saturday, at the age of 86.
Lotz had a role in some of wrestling’s biggest moments, including Hulk Hogan’s
first WWF Championship win, and officiated the boxing match between Roddy
Piper and Mr. T at WrestleMania 1.
A Korean war veteran before donning the stripes, Lotz served as a ref for over
three decades, mostly in the WWWF and later in WWF.
Lotz wasn’t just a referee however, as he also was an actor, and even appeared in
Raging Bull, and a few episodes of The Sopanos during his career.
We hear at Slat Rock send our deepest condolences to Lotz’ family, friends, and
everyone who watched him control the action, inside the ring.
Back to SmackDown now and over the past few weeks, fans have seen a series of
videos highlighting Jeff Hardy as one of the show’s top stars, and that included this
past Friday’s video that focussed on his drug issues and recovery, ahead of a feud
with Sheamus that will focus on his past.
It was in 2009 that Hardy was arrested for substances, including steroids, that fans
watching these video packages may not get the whole truth, as Dave Meltzer pointed out:
“When they are talking about those arrests and they were showing those clips of
those news stories on his arrest, they erased the steroids on the arrest and
mentioned everything but the steroids. He had a large amount of steroids when
he was arrested at that time.”
After Hardy was arrested in September 2009, TMZ wrote an article with the
headline “Former WWE Champ busted for steroid pills,” though the headline
shown in the package by WWE doesn’t mention the steroids.
Even the body of the text is different in the video package, as whilst it mentions
Hardy being found with hundreds of Vicodin and Soma pills, as well as a residual
amount of powder cocaine, the snippet has had the line about him being found
with 555 millilitres of anabolic steroids removed.
This isn’t the first time WWE has swept steroid issues under the rug, as the night
after Brian Pillman died in 1997, the company focussed on his abuse of
prescription pills instead of his use of steroids, and we can only hope that Hardy is
finally clean for good, after entering rehab late last year.
And finally today we’re ending with news from Lana, as the Ravishing Russian isn’t
pleased about being snubbed from the Money in the Bank poster.
Despite Lana and her on-screen husband Bobby Lashley seemingly being on the
out after growing tensions between the two, the Ravishing one stood by her man,
who also isn’t on the poster, and took to Twitter, claiming that the pair make
ratings when they don’t even try.
As of right now, neither Lana or Lashley are booked for Money in the Bank, and
whilst that could change in the weeks to come, WWE’s marketing team didn’t
have a reason to include them at this time.