Here's your wrestling news for September 7th 2021
And your headlines for today include
WWE’s Booking Of Bobby Lashley On WWE RAW; His NEXT Opponent & More!
Big change to John Cena's WWE SmackDown Appearance!
WWE’s Interesting Booking Of Alexa Bliss ; Charlotte Flair & Shayna Baszler!
WWE’s Rejected Creative Pitch For Adam Cole Revealed
Bryan Danielson Cuts Promo After AEW All Out; Relationship With Vince McMahon; Battle With WWE! And More!
Bryan Danielson Won’t Wrestle In NJPW Or Mexico!
Bryan Danielson & Adam Cole Have Interesting Encounter After AEW All Out!
Adam Cole Was Surprised To Hear His WWE Contract Expired So Early!
Tony Khan Was Afraid About WEDNESAY NIGHT WARS!
Former WWE Superstars Spotted Backstage At AEW All Out!
Internal WWE Response After Losing Adam Cole & Bryan Danielson To AEW!
Major Accusation By CM Punk On WWE Higher Up’s And More!
We’re kicking off today with RAW, which is seeing two of the show’s top titles get intertwined.
After Randy Orton ended last week’s show by RKO’ing WWE Champion Bobby Lashley, the Viper challenged the Almighty for a title match
at Extreme Rules, which was confirmed shortly after. Following this, RK-Bro sat ringside to see who
would be next to challenge hem for the RAW Tag Team titles, but that match was delayed when Mace and T-Bar laid waste to those
in the match. The match resumed later in the show, this time with Lashley and MVP as entrants, and at one
point, there was an epic face off between Lashley and Omos, who manhandled the WWE Champion in a way no-one has before
It was ultimately Lashley and MVP who got the win, earning a RAW Tag Team Title opportunity against RK-Bro next week, as the WWE and
RAW Tag Team Title pictures are now intertwined. A tag-title is the one championship Lashley needs to earn the WWE Grand Slam, but we’ll have
to see who’s wearing which titles after Extreme Rules.
Over to SmackDown, which this week will be a Super-show which’ll air from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
One person promoted for the show is John Cena, who was meant to team with the Mysterios to face the Bloodline, but those plans
have changed.
"Local advertising tonight during Monday Night Raw lists John Cena as teaming with The Street Profits against WWE Universal Champion Roman
Reigns & WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions The Usos in the main event of this Friday's WWE Super Smackdown taping
at Madison Square Garden in NYC. Cena was initially advertised as teaming with Rey and Dominik Mysterio. MSG's official website has
also be updated to reflect The Street Profits' appearance in the match." It's likely that this match will be a dark main-event,
as Cena’s recent return saw him compete frequently in 6-man tags against the Boodline, but always in dark-matches or at untelevised
events. This Friday’s show will also see SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and Bianca
Belair sign the contract to make their Extreme Rules title match official, but a match between the two this Friday is also advertised, in what’s
also likely to be a dark-match. Friday’s Super-SmackDown will also see Edge Vs. Seth Rollins 2, a rematch from
Summerslam, as the fans in MSG are certainly getting their money’s worth.
Back to RAW, which also saw a series of returns during the three-hour broadcast, as Alexa Bliss returned to make her intentions
clear over the RAW Women’s Title. After missing RAW last week, Bliss’ return was welcomed, especially as the Women’s
title picture has so-far been between the heel Champion Charlotte Flair, her heel challenger Nia Jax, who is now teasing a feud with
fellow-heel Shayna Baszler. It was also great to see Drake Maverick return, though it’s strange that he’s back on RAW
over the 24/7 title, a title that despite being able to be defended anywhere, is now being defended in the ring.
That said, Drake has great comedic timing, and we’re expecting some more hilarious antics from the Brit now he’s back on RAW.
Over to AEW, as Adam Cole debuted at All Out in a shocking way, because there was a time when it looked like he’d be staying with WWE.
Prior to the August 6th edition of SmackDown, Cole and Vince McMahon had a meeting, which was said to go well, but obviously not
well enough to keep him with the company. At the time, it was reported that WWE’s creative had been tasked with ideas for his
main-roster call-up, and one idea has come to light. A member of WWE’s creative team said that
that one pitched idea came from Bruce Prichard himself, which would’ve seen Cole become a heel manager on SmackDown,
but no proposed client was mentioned for the former NXT Champion.
It was said that Prichard really worked on trying to hook-in Cole, but that the former NXT Champion passed on the offer, and contrary to popular
belief, the member of WWE’s creative refuted claims that WWE offered him a million-dollar-a- year contract as it’s been rumoured.
Cole passed on Prichard’s idea, as he did with all ideas that WWE offered him, but had things gone different, then the former Supersta
could’ve been a manager on SmackDown, rather than joining the Elite at All Out.
Cole wasn’t the only huge debut at AEW All Out, as Bryan Danielson is now All-Elite, which was a difficult decision for him to make.
After over a decade in WWE, and being one of their top stars for years, and in the post-All Out media conference, Bryan called his decision
to leave an “internal struggle,” but wanted one part of his life to be “wild,” hence the move to AEW.
Danieslon added that how AEW honoured Brodie Lee also influenced his decision, a reason that CM Punk has also given as to
why he joined the company, and we’ll have to wait and see how Bryan is booked as AEW’s newest signing.
Bryan’s debut comes just over 4 months after his departure from WWE, and it’s nothing short of a miracle that the former WWE World Champion
is wrestling to this day. Fans haven’t forgotten the two years Bryan spent retired due to neck injuries, but in the post
All Out media conference, AEW’s newest star argued that Vince McMahon was too worried when he returned to the ring In 2018. He said
He [Vince] and I have a great relationship. I love him, I do. Sometimes he’s overprotective of me. I want to be able to push my limits.
That’s one of the things that I love about this, is like the physicality of what we do out there and being able to push my limits and being able t
hat here in a safe manner is one of the things that really drew me here.
Bryan went on to say that WWE were willing to let him do other stuff outside the company, but didn’t specify if that included wrestling for
other promotions, something he’d openly said was what he wanted to do. If WWE had plans for Bryan to wrestle for them,
but in other companies, it’s too late now, as the former WWE Superstar is ready to take the risk after years of being coddled by Vince McMahon.
It was in WWE that Bryan started doing the Yes! Chant, which elevated him to superstardom as the top name in the company.
Even before Danielson joined AEW, fans would always chant Yes in anticipation of his arrival, but the man himself may not get to use that three
letter-word nymore. At the post-All-Out media conference, Bryan was asked about using the chant, and said he’s
not sure he can do the Yes chant, because it’s WWE’s intellectual property. He also said that he wants to show respect for
WWE, and though it’s great the fans do it, he may not. That wasn’t all Bryan had to say, as even before
leaving WWE, he made it clear he wanted to work with other companies, but that won’t be happening just yet.
In that same call, Bryan said he wants to work outside of AEW, especially in Mexico and New Japan, but can’t right now, due to travel restrictions.
He added that he can’t quarantine for two weeks just for a couple of shows, and said how he’d love to wrestle in Mexico, but it’s not the
safest thing for him right now. As a husband and father-of-two, Bryan is taking no chances with the ongoing situation, and
while he plans on wrestling in other locations eventually, it simply can’t happen right now.
Fortunately for Bryan Danielson, AEW has a stacked roster of talented stars, including their newest recruit Adam Cole.
Cole and Bryan debuted almost exactly at the same time, and judging by what happened at the media-scrum, it seems their first feuds could
be with each-other. As Cole was leaving, he and Bryan had a tense face-off, and it was Leva Bates who
made sure nothing happened, as Cole exclaimed “I’m a pro!” as he stormed off.
Fans may remember the one match they had in WWE, which happened on the November 1st 2019 SmackDown, and with AEW adding
some serious top-tier talent at All Out, a lengthy feud may already be in the works for the two former Superstars.
Cole’s debut was especially shocking, as he’d only just left WWE, following his short-term deal expiring at the end of August.
It’s been previously reported that many in WWE were surprised when Cole’s original contract expired in July, and at the post-All-Out
media conference, Cole said he didn’t see it coming either: “Yeah so, funny enough, believe it or not,
I was also surprised. Yeah, I was under the impression that it was like six months later. So it was a surprise to me. It was a surprise to
them. It was public knowledge for a lot of people that I had signed a little extension, I was in the middle of a really serious angle
with Kyle O’Reilly, which was very important to me. He’s one of my best friends in the entire world. Then after that is when stuff kind of
opened up for me, but very surprising to me. It was just as surprising to me.”
It was during the post-show media-scrum that Tony Khan spoke about how fast he worked to put Cole’s contract together:
This all came together very quickly, at a time when he didn’t know he was going to be out of his [WWE] contract. I had no idea, he had
no idea, and suddenly he was out of contract very recently and a lot of things came together, it was an amazing time
Khan added that he couldn’t imagine a better person to be at AEW All Out than Cole, who sided with the Elite after the main event.
Before leaving WWE, Adam Cole made it clear that he wouldn’t give up his Twitch channel under any circumstance, and Tony Khan
obviously had no problem letting the former NXT Champion keep streaming, as he’s now All-Elite
Before AEW, Adam Cole was a highlight of NXT, and worked hard for years against Dynamite in the Wednesday Night Wars.
Those wars ended with AEW getting the win, but during that media conference, Tony Khan admitted that Cole struck fear in him during the
war of the ratings. Khan won’t have to worry about Cole taking viewers away from AEW anymore, as now
the former NXT Champion is all-in on making Dynamite the most watched wrestling show on TV.
Cole, Danielson and Ruby Soho all made the jump from WWE to AEW at All Out, but there were plenty more interesting names behind
the scenes. According to Fightful Select, Impact’s Scott D’Amore was there, as were WWE’s Jerry Lawler
and Jeff Jarrett. Eric Bischoff was also found backstage, as was Mike Chioda, and perhaps the biggest name
behind the scenes at All Out was Kurt Angle. They were all there for Conrad Thompson’s live Ad Free Shows event, and we can only
imagine what conversations took place, especially as AEW has made it clear they want to sign the Olympian.
Ric Flair was also at All Out, as he was spotted in Being the Elite paying for the dinner of Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, and Sarah Logan
got to see her Riott Squad sister’s debut in person backstage.
SmackDown’s Zelina Vega was also at All Out, which isn’t too surprising given that she’s married to AEW’s Malakai Black.
There were a ton of names from WWE’s past and present at All Out, which will only add to speculation of more people jumping to the company,
to the company, as WWE may find themselves with a smaller roster soon, without any budget cuts.
From 2019-2021, NXT and AEW Dynamite battled in the Wednesday Night Wars, which ended when the gold brand moved to Tuesday nights
this April. It’s no secret that NXT Superstars and producers would watch Dynamite backstage,
and speaking to sitting Ringside, Tony Khan said it blew his mind that people from WWE would be tuning in to their show.
Khan explained that never during any episode of Dynamite has he considered looking at another wrestling show, saying his focus is on
on putting on the best programme himself, and judging by the numbers, Khan’s being doing just that with AEW Dynamite
WWE lost some of it’s biggest stars to AEW when Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole made their debuts at All Out, but that’s not have the
company sees thing. Although the wrestling community was on fire to see the pair of former Champions debut
last Sunday, WWE saw it as no big deal, as when Ringside News asked in the company, they were told:
“No one here views it as a big loss. Whether that’s right or wrong, that’s the mentality.”
This apathetic mindset isn’t new for WWE, as earlier this year, WWE told Ringside News that they had zero interest in CM Punk, and even less
for Phil Brooks, saying that he can go be AEW’s problem. Responding to reports that WWE is “scared”
of AEW, a member of creative described that narrative as “not entirely accurate.” WWE President Nick Khan has said that WWE’s
focus is on WWE, and will continue to work with the blinders on like a racehorse, oblivious to what other companies are doing.
Even after losing some of their biggest stars, WWE will focus on WWE alone, and time will tell if this strategy ever pays off in the long-run.
All Out also saw the in-ring return of CM Punk, and since his 2014 WWE Walkout, Punk has been highly critical of the company and it’s
practices. Appearing on the Oral Sessions Podcast, Punk spoke about how some talent in WWE
are held back by producers who don’t get their appeal, and said that happened to him, as he explained:
When I showed up there [WWE] and people were like, ‘I don’t get it.’ And I was like, ‘well, you’re 65 and you’re racist. I guess I’m super
stoked that I’m not for you and you don’t get it.’ It’s not for me to get. It’s for the audience to get.”
Not everyone in WWE’s offices may have been a fan of Punk, but the fans certainly latched onto him, as he became one of their biggest s
stars before his 2014 departure. CM Punk is in a different company but remains one of wrestling’s most popular star, and he’s
pleased to be working in a company which he believes are more open to pushing talent that might not fit the status quo.
And we’re ending by looking back to 1996, when the Outsiders, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, shocked fans by appearing on WCW Television,
acting as if they’d been sent by Vince McMahon to kill the competition. This was part of the Monday Night Wars, which
only got bigger with the formation of the New World Order that July, and now comparrisons are being drawn between the Outsiders
and AEW’s Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson. Speaking to the media after All Out, CM Punk made a bold claim about the pair of former
WWE Superstars, saying: I’m not [Hulk] Hogan. I’m not [Randy] Savage. Daniel Bryan and Adam Cole, they’re not The
Outsiders. I see the parallels. This is totally different, and I’ll go ahead and say it, and people can quote me and they’ll be pissed off
about it. To me, this is bigger.” Given that Nash and Hall’s WCW debut led to the biggest, most infamous faction in
wrestling, Cole and Danielson have a tall-order ahead of them if they want to be bigger than the Outsiders, but that’s something Punk
believes is already the case.