Here is your news for May 15th 2020
And your headlines include
More NXT Releases Continue To Be Revealed
Asuaka’s First Title Défense is against an Unexpected Challenger
WWE Reportedly Puts Big Storyline On Hold
Chris Jericho Open Up on his Backstage heat And More!
We’re kicking off today with more news from WWE’s recent releases, as it wasn’t
too long ago that the company cut a ton of staff, both onscreen and offscreen.
These cuts were explained as part of a cost-cutting measure, and even though
they didn’t reveal any NXT releases, those are still coming out.
Earlier this week, Rachel Ellering confirmed she had been released, and this
follows on from her boyfriend Kassius Ohno confirming his departure from the company.
Including these two, the list of releases from the gold brand is now 11, and it’s
possible that more releases from NXT are yet to come.
Hopefully, everyone who was released from NXT will be able to land on their feet,
as their 30-day non-compete clause should be finished soon and though there’s
still no indie scene at the moment, hopefully that will change sooner rather than later.
Despite these releases, the gold brand continues to air each Wednesday, and this
week’s show saw a few injuries take place
During his match against Tony Nese, as part of the Interim NXT Cruiserweight
Champion tournament, Jake Atlas suffered a contusion in his right eye, but is not
expected to miss any time in the ring.
Former NXT and Universal Champion Finn Balor also suffered a bruised knee
during the attack from Damian Priest, and his condition is being monitored with
his status being unknown at this time.
Hopefully, Balor won’t miss too much action, but it goes to show injuries can
happen at anytime in a wrestling ring.
From NXT to RAW now, as Asuka captured the RAW Women’s title without even
knowing it at Money In the Bank, and following her unique title victory the
Empress of Tomorrow has issued an open invitation via tweet.
Quoting David Bowie’s Dancing in the Street, the Grand Slam winner said that she
was calling out around the world, and asked if anyone was ready for a brand new beat.
It didn’t take long for a returning Mickie James to answer the challenge, saying
that she’d never been handed anything in wrestling, especially not a title, and
plans on being at RAW and taking the RAW Women’s
Championship from the new Champion.
The Empress of Tomorrow responded to this challenge by telling James to bring it
on, as it seems the pair will face on this Monday.
If WWE does have this match take place then that means it will have already taken
place, as WWE recorded next week’s RAW during a multi- day shooting, earlier this week.
We’re looking ahead to tonight’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, as this
week’s show will feature a segment for Mr Money in the Bank Otis.
After capturing the coveted briefcase last Sunday, Otis will be the guest on Miz
TV, and though it wasn’t confirmed, it’s likely he’ll be accompanied by Mandy Rose.
Tonight’s show will also see Charlotte Flair return to the blue brand with the NXT
Women’s Championship, as they’ll be plenty to see when SmackDown emenates
from the Performance Center tonight.
Of course, the reason that this week’s SmackDown is taking place from the
Performance Center is because of the ongoing global situation, as according to
reports, the company has had to nix a major upcoming story line for the very same reason.
According to WrestleVotes, the lengthy major storyline was supposed to play out
over the Summer, and was compared to Vince McMahon’s limo exploding in 2007,
and the Nexus’ invasion three years later.
Now, that storyline has been put on hold due to the situation, as WWE is being
forced to tape shows on a closed set, without any fans, and the report indicated that
the lack of a crowd was a key decision maker in putting the mystery storyline on hold.
Though we don’t know what storyline WWE had planned, hopefully fans will get
to see it one day, presumably when crowds are allowed to attend WWE events once again.
One man who knows all about being in big storylines is The Undertaker, and
arguably one of the biggest, most shocking moments of his career came at
WrestleMania 30.
In addition to the show seeing Daniel Bryan win the WWE World Heavyweight
Champion and John Cena beat Bray Wyatt, the show will live on in the memory of
fans who saw The Undertaker’s Streak be broken at the hands of Brock Lesnar.
Whilst fans have debated for years whether the streak should’ve ever been
broken, The Phenom himself weighed in during an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s
MMA show, saying:
“Internally and the way this business works, I knew some day it would end. In our
industry, you don't walk away like Floyd [Mayweather], undefeated, or Rocky
Marciano. It just doesn't happen that way in wrestling.”
The Deadman added that the idea of the Streak ending was something that had
been on his mind for a while, though not everyone back stage agreed with the
Beast making it 21-1. He said:
“Most of my peers and people that I work with thought it was a horrible decision,
and I just asked Vince, 'are you sure? Is this what you want?' He was like, 'if it's
not Brock, who can beat you?'
It was recently reported that Edge declined breaking the streak in 2008, and whilst
the Deadman’s streak may no longer be a draw at WrestleMania, the Deadman
continues to remain a huge part of the WWE’s biggest show.
Back to SmackDown now, and whilst tonight's show will see the start of the
Intercontinental Championship tournament, former Champion Sami Zayn still isn't
happy about being stripped of the gold.
When the WWE on FOX Twitter account asked fans who they think the new
Intercontinental Champion should be, Zayn replied as only he can, saying the new
champion should be quote "ashamed of themselves."
Zayn hasn't been seen on WWE TV for several weeks due to the ongoing global
situation, and though a bracket for the tournament hasn’t been revealed yet, fans
can expect the former Champion to be hungry for the title he never lost when he
returns to programming.
Now, we all know that WWE has had to host shows without crowds for the past
couple of months, but it looks like this may be changing very soon.
This week, FOX’s play by play announcer Joe Buck spoke to Sirius XM, and
revealed that the Network is planning on playing crowd noise and placing digital
fans in some stadiums. He said:
“It’s pretty much a done deal. I think whoever is going to be at that control is going
to have to be really good at their job and be realistic with how a crowd would react
depending on what just happened on the field."
With FOX bringing in fans and crowd noise for their NFL shows, it’s possible that
WWE could be the next to have noise once again, though time will tell whether
WWE actually goes ahead with having digital fans.
From WWE to AEW next, as Brodie Lee has certainly done big things in the
company, including having a very special name for one of his moves.
Recently, the Inner Circle’s Santana retweeted a clip from a Big Boss Man Vs.
Kenta Kobashi match, which showed the former correctional facility officer’s
incredible athleticism, which isn’t too different from the former Luke Harper himself.
AEW referee Bryce Remsburg went on to explain that Lee uses this style of
clothesline himself, which he refers to as The Boss Man, and described it as a
wonderful legacy for the WWE Hall of Famer who sadly passed in 2004.
In response, Lee himself simply commented “true story,” and time will tell
whether Lee uses the Boss Man when he faces Jon Moxley for the AEW World
Championship at Double or Nothing.
Back to WWE now, and we’re looking back at WrestleMania 36 now, as though
the show was forced to take place without a crowd, that decision was made only
after a lot of fans had bought tickets for the show.
Now, Ringside News is reporting that not all fans have been refunded for their
Mania tickets yet, and mentioned on reader in particular who bought the tickets
for their son’s birthday, and is now $259 out of pocket, because Ticket Center
hasn’t refunded their money.
Though Ticket Center promises a 100% money-back guarantee on their website,
those who have tried multiple times to contact the service are being ignored,
which must be very difficult for fans who expected WrestleMania 36 to be a night
they’ll never forget.
Recently, TicketMaster made a change to their policy regarding refunds, claiming
that postponed events are no longer covered, and with Ticket Center still proudly
listing their own money-back guarantee, hopefully some resolution for this
problem can be found, and those who paid a lot to attend the Grandest stage of
them all, will get their money back.
We’ve got news from referees next, as according to Ringside News, Vince
McMahon has sent out an order that officials need to be respected in the ring, and
appear to be more legit.
This new directive from the boss may explain why RAW’s tag match between
Rollins and Murphy against Mysterio and Aleister Black ended with so much
confusion, as the referee called for the DQ when many believed a rule hadn’t been broken.
This ruling was later explained online, as the referee made their authority known,
and it’ll be interesting to see how those in the striped shirts are treated on WWE
programming from now on.
News on Seth Rollins as he is going to be a father and this is a very special time for
him and his fiance Becky Lynch. The Man had a hard announcement to make on
Raw this week, but it is also a happy time.
The Monday Night Messiah shared a picture of Becky Lynch moments after
discovering she is pregnant. It was a big moment for them and he decided to share it with fans.
“I took this a few moments after we got the best news of our lives and I don’t think
could’ve captured anything more beautiful. I can’t put into words how much it
means to me. Thank you all for your support over the last couple of days.
December can’t come soon enough!”
Becky and Seth’s baby is due in December. We’ll have to see how long it takes The
Man to make a return to WWE. She might never return in the same capacity as
she was before. There are a lot of unanswered questions, but at least they are
happy and healthy.
And finally today we’re ending with news from former AEW World Champion Chris
Jericho, as before he was making waves as part of the Inner Circle, he was feuding
with some of WWE’s all-time greats, including Triple H.
Speaking to Rich Eisen this week, Jericho said that the pair had issues with each
other backstage as well, and explained to listeners how these tensions were
diffused. He said:
“In the early 2000’s, we didn’t have much [likeness] for each other, but we always
had great matches, and I think that’s one of the reasons why. We just had this
professional rivalry, maybe a bit of a personal dislike [for each other]. But fast
forward five, six, seven years, you get to be older and wiser and think back. Why
did we have so many problems? Why did we hate each other? Why didn’t we like
each other? And now we’re friends.”
Jericho added that he believes there was a lot of professional rivalry between the
two when they were younger, and compared it to a rock band that breaks up, only
to reunite 10 years later which much better attitudes.
With that said, we don’t expect the former AEW World Champion to be feuding
with WWE’s COO in the ring anytime soon, but fans can look back at some of the
great matches between the two, which was fueled by their real-life heat and
animosity the pair had for each other backstage.