As if 2020 wasn’t heel enough already, the last two weeks have seen global protests against
police brutality and racial inequality, sparked by the murder of George Floyd.
The outrage on the streets has been mirrored online, with many sharing their own stories
- like Xavier Woods admitting he’s had to spend his entire life how to present himself
as non-threatening - and, on the other side of the argument, Forgotten Sons leader Jaxon
Ryker tweeting his support of Donald Trump’s response to the protests.
Many people, and seemingly every brand with a Twitter account, have rushed to post their
support of Black Lives Matter [FIND WWE TWEET] - in spite of their own complicated past with
race issues [HHH VS BOOKER T].
And now the self-proclaimed Voice of the Voiceless CM Punk has seemingly called those out who
have stayed silent.
“Lotta people snitching on themselves.
When people tell you who they are, believe it.
Might be unfortunate and disappointing if you’re a fan of that person, or if it’s
your grandmother, but f*** ‘em.
Good bye!
(I yield my time, f*** you.)”
A Twitter user replied to Punk, specifically pointing out how AJ Styles has so far stayed
silent on the movement, instead “promoting streams and s*** but couldn’t be bothered
to post anything made it clear how he feels.”
Which Punk replied to, accusing AJ for being prejudice:
“Well.
Come on.
That one has been obvious for years.”
Then replying to another user who said “Cancel culture doesnt do anybody any good.
We need to use this time to help people understand and change their outlooks, rather than label
and shun.”
Punk replied: “I agree to an extent.
Some people you can’t reach.”
And that tweeting someone else that “consequences is the best teacher” for that.
But the tensions aren’t just running high between WWE contracted wrestlers and special
correspondents contracted by Fox for a WWE studio show.
The backstage atmosphere is reportedly also very tense behind-the-scenes in WWE.
The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter has confirmed how much heat Jaxson Ryker has received
backstage for his tweet supporting Trump’s response to the protests earlier this week.
Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Ricochet, Mustafa Ali, even Ryker’s own Forgotten Sons stablemates
all called him out for the post.
And Dave Meltzer writes that the WWE locker room is “fuming” at him.
According to the Observer’s source, Ryker cannot be fired for expressing his political
views because of freedom of speech, but that hasn’t stopped his colleagues’ anger,
and might even halt the Forgotten Sons’ push.
After only being called up in April post-Mania, Meltzer reports it’s possible Ryker’s
faction would be “tough to continue” given the current climate - even if Jaxson hadn’t
tweeted what he did - as their gimmick leans heavily into their shared military past.
Further complicating WWE’s position amidst the protests, one of their released wrestlers
from the mass mid-April firings, Lio Rush, has posted an email he sent management in
late 2018 - which reveals his side of the backstage heat stories from the time, where
the locker room turned on him because he didn’t pay the proper kind of respect to the veterans,
which included things like offering the rest of the roster beers and drinks, and helping
carry their bags off the bus.
In the post, Rush points out: “Please be clear, I am in no way insinuating that the
WWE is a racist company, nor am I commenting on the racial attitudes of any of the companies
individuals.
However, this email shows that I expressed concerns of racial insensitivity and my feelings
as a young African American male to the WWE office during the incidents that have brought
so much negativity to my name.”
And that isn’t the only backstage heat, as more details have come out about Nia Jax…
After initially reporting the Kairi Sane injury on this week’s pre-taped episode of Raw
was Sane’s fault, with his sources saying Kairi was actually in full control of her
bump, others have since put the blame on her opponent Jax, with one telling Bryan Alvarez
Nia needs to be fired “before she cripples or kills somebody.”
Nia just returned from injury herself in April, where she had already injured Kairi in one
of her first matches back with a reckless buckle bomb into the corner - an incident
that has since led to WWE banning the move.
Following that botch, Jax unwisely tweeted about her unsafe track record (where she’s
previously also injured Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Bayley, Ember Moon and more), joking that
she had also injured some ropes after pushing them over.
The Observer now writes that one wrestler watching the latest injury said: “[Jax]
didn’t whip her, she grabbed her by the head and threw/shoved her.
It was 100% Nia’s fault.
She never let Kairi find her balance after pulling her out of the ring, she then pushed
her head down so Kairi would be unable to see and then threw her forward hard head first
off balance towards the steps.
Kairi has zero chance.’
Unfortunately a far more serious WWE injury has come out, as after he returned to Raw
from almost a year out because of knee surgery, Jinder Mahal has appeared to re-hurt that
same knee.
Mahal tweeted a picture of himself post-operation, with the caption: “Unfortunately I had to
go under the knife again to fix some knee issues.
The journey has hit a speed bump, but I will be back stronger than ever.”
And it’s even more terrible timing, because we can exclusively reveal - because we do
exclusives not, don’t you know - the major Championship plans WWE had in store for him,
with Mahal set to go against his former 3MB stablemate Drew McIntyre in the coming months.
Read the full report from WrestleTalk.com’s Louis Dangoor by clicking the link in the
video description below, along with loads of other wrestling news stories, like EC3
teasing he is one of the released WWE wrestlers heading to IMPACT, the awesome sounding NXT
TakeOver set and interesting details on FTR’s AEW contract.
But for now, here’s last night’s episode of SmackDown… in about 4 minutes.
The show started with a recap of the Jeff Hardy angle from last week, followed by Jeff
explaining what happened from his perspective, revealing that he was attacked as he got out
of his car.
And that his attacker had red hair and a red beard.
Gasp - Erick Rowan return confirmed!
Double Gasp - or Erick Rowan’s dropped twin brother return!
The comparisons to last Summer’s massively contrived and intellectually insulting Who
Tried To Kill Roman Reigns storyline didn’t end there, with logic holes so large, you
could drive another car through them to hit Elias all over again.
Sheamus told Hardy to just admit to the crime, causing a scuffle, and setting up a match
between them for This is the Greatest Show Backlash.
Otis beat King Corbin via DQ next, as Corbin attacked him with a chair.
This was pointless.
Ahead of their 2-on-1 Universal Championship handicap match at This is The Greatest Show,
Backlash, Miz & Morrison tried to make Braun Strowman angry so he’s more likely to make
mistakes.
This included McMahon-pleasing hijinks like messing his protein shake and green slime
that accidentally hit Kayla Braxton, and then property damage by smashing his car in.
Boy, that escalated quickly.
In classic Braun style, though, he got his revenge by flipping a vehicle over, that had
Miz and Mirroson inside.
Sonya Deville continued to be one of the best things on SmackDown, attacking Lacey Evans
before the bell for their rematch, but ultimately losing via Mandy Rose distraction.
I’d much prefer Deville to be winning to build a match, rather than losing.
AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan discussed their Intercontinental Championship match next week
- how is that not being billed as the Greatest Match Ever - which set up AJ vs Drew Gulak.
The ensuing match was really fun, with Styles constantly taunting Bryan on the outside,
but that cockiness cost him, allowing Gulak to counter a Style Clash into a rollup for
the win.
We’ve had messy protein shakes.
We’ve had green slime.
Can we make it Vince’s favourite episode ever by including short person jokes?
You’re damn right we can!
As Mojojojo Rawley called Shorty G short, which Cesaro and Nakamura got in on, with
the New Day making the save.
Holla holla, we got a really fast and fun six-man tag off the back of that, with the
New Day pinning Rawley.
And the main event was another great match, with Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross defending their
Women’s Tag Team Titles against Bayley & Sasha Banks.
The finishing sequence was particularly awesome, with Bayley almost costing her and Banks the
win by tagging herself in while Sasha had the Bank Statement on Cross.
But after that gave Nikki a brief comeback, Sasha locked it back in against, and eventually
rolled her up for the win!
The Sasha and Bayley break-up story has felt like it’s been stuck on a treadmill recently,
but them winning the belts is a fantastic new detail to their burgeoning feud, somehow
pushing them further apart, yet making them stuck together, at the same time.
And Bayley’s celebration was genuinely over-the-top funny.
So that was SmackDown in about 5 minutes, let me know what you thought of the show by
leaving a comment down below.
The in-ring wrestling on this show was fun and fast throughout the night, while the promo
segments were hit and miss.
Sonya Deville shouldn’t really have lost, but it furthers the Mandy Rose feud, and the
title change was very well done, so this show gets a low 4/5.
SmackTastic.
Thanks to the wonderful people at WrestleCrate, if you go to WrestleCrate.co.uk and use the
promo code WrestleTalk, you’ll get three photographed portraits inside your first box
when you take out a subscription - including one from me and Luke!
WrestleCrate is a monthly mystery box full of loads of wrestling goodies, which has items
from the biggest promotions in wrestling.
And make sure you go for the higher-tier Crate - as June’s box contains an exclusive autographed
item from Seth Rollins!
Go to WrestleTalk.com right now to read our exclusive about the scrapped Drew McIntyre
vs Jinder Mahal feud by clicking the link in the video description below.
And a fired WWE star is furious at the ...Drake Maverick release work - click the video on
the right to learn more.
I’ve been Oli Davis, and that was wrestling.