Here's more wrestling news for August 12th 2021
And your headlines for Afternoon include
Vince McMahon Accused Of Holding Back WWE Superstars!
AEW Allegedly Doesn’t Consider WWE Past When Hiring Free Agents!
Big Name Set For AEW Debut Soon!
Matt Riddle Thinks Adam Cole Could ‘Get Lost In The Shuffle’ On WWE Main Roster!
Roman Reigns Says He Is ‘The Greatest Story Teller Of Our Generation’!
CM Punk Opens Up About Darby Allin’s Comment On AEW Dynamite!
WWE SummerSlam Not Likely To Feature Any Title Changes!
Vince McMahon Was Allegedly Set To Fire Two Former WWE Stars If Unscripted Segment Went Wrong And More!
We’re starting with WWE, and if there’s one criticism that stands out amongst the many about Vince McMahon, Is that he holds down
talent, especially those that get over on their own. Miro, Matt Cardona and Damien Sandow
all found a way to get over with the crowds, but never received the full backing from WWE, which explains why all three have been vocal
about this in the past. Speaking to Title Match Wrestling this week, Heath Slater spoke about his 2016 storyline,
where he wasn’t drafted by either RAW or SmackDown, and said that despite the support of fans, McMahon didn’t want to
give him more TV time, and accused the Chairman of holding back talent. He added: “It was one of those things, man. I already
saw it happen so many times with other guys. The people want it, Vince doesn’t want it. So the people are gonna let you
know they want it, but Vince is just gonna keep that guy back and not gonna give it to you until he wants you to have
it. It was one of those things like, yeah, I heard it, I appreciated it and I loved it.” Released from WWE last year, Slater is
still recovering from multiple surgeries, but his career is far from over, and time will tell whether he can one-day return to WWE,
and fulfil the 3MB prophecy by becoming a World Champion.
With McMahon allegedly holding back Superstars, it’s no wonder why so many have joined AEW, which is known for having far more
creative freedom than WWE. AEW already boasts the likes of Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, Malakai Black, Christian Cage and
reportedly CM Punk, but they weren’t hired because of their success in Vince McMahon’s promotion.
That’s at least what Mark Henry, a fellow WWE alum, is saying, as he told the New York Post this week that a wrestler’s past
experiences don’t influence AEW’s hiring process: “We have elite talent in the business that
you’re in and there are other companies, whether it’s WWE or New Japan or Impact, wherever it is… The other company is
irrelevant at that point. It’s about your individual talent. Talent is gonna rise to the top every time. It doesn’t matter what you did before.”
With AEW Rampage set to premiere tomorrow night, the company will continue to sign more wrestlers to their roster, but where they used
to work won’t be a factor in who gets a contract from Tony Khan, or at least, that’s what the company is saying
AEW already has some huge names as part of it’s women’s roster, and now Kiera Hogan is set to make her debut for the All-Elite promotion.
Before this week’s Dynamite, the two-time Knockouts tag-team Champion competed during the Dark: Elevation tapings, wrestling
Hikaru Shida in her debut match. Hogan came up short against the AEW Women’s World Champion, but as one of
wrestling’s hottest free agents, and with some connections already with the AEW roster, it may be just a matter of time before
she joins the company on a full-time basis. One person who may soon be All-Elite
is Adam Cole, who’s short-term contract with the company will expire after TakeOver 36 on August 22nd.
Last week, Cole had a meeting before SmackDown with Vince McMahon, which reportedly went so well, that the Chairman
has instructed writers to come up with stories for Cole’s main-roster call-up. Matt Riddle knows all about being called up,
but in an interview with Sportskeeda, the former U.S. Champion was dubious about Cole’s chances on either RAW or SmackDown.
“Adam Cole is amazing at what he does. He’s one of the best wrestlers in the world, in my personal opinion. He’s very charismatic,
has a good look, everything else. I don’t know, the main roster’s the main roster. “A lot of people dread going up there because
they don’t know what’s gonna happen to them or what have you, you know, and as they should be. I would say going from the indies,
which is like a small pond, and then NXT is like a small ocean, and when you get to the main roster
you are in the ocean with all the wild animals and the currents and everything else. It’s just a different beast and sometimes you get lost
in the shuffle.” There’s plenty of options for Cole right now, including possibly joining AEW alongside his
girlfriend Britt Baker, but if he does choose to re-sign with WWE, then he’ll have to find his place on the main roster.
At Summerslam 2021, Roman Reigns will defend his Universal title against John Cena, and despite his opponent being a 16-time
WWE World Champion, Reigns doesn’t believe that John is in his league.
That’s according to the Tribal Chief himself, who spoke on the Pat McAfee show, saying:
“Man, like anybody at the top of their game or in an elevated position, I think there’s a polarizing effect. There’s a lot of good things
John Cena has done… obviously Make-A- Wish, he’s a very charitable guy, but when it comes to our profession of sports
entertainment, he’s levels below me in this game. You know what I mean? Entertainment is story-telling, right? I’m
the greatest story-teller of our generation, of our time.” Reigns did acknowledge Cena as a big
movie star, but added that unlike Cena, he’s on SmackDown every week, and doesn’t need some crazy colours and wristbands to
make himself stand out. He added: “So, you know, there are a lot of different things about John that I think we can all
connect to, within the good things he does. But for me, if he would’ve just come here to promote his movie, ‘Suicide Squad, yah!
It’s a good movie! Go watch it!’ … You can open the show, you can pep up the crowd, do that and then I’ll stay in the main even
where I belong, and I’ll close the show, and we’ll be done. The Universal Champion even went on to
claim that Cena had taken aim at him upon returning to WWE to promote the Suicide Squad movie, and told director James
Gunn that he’s welcome for the free publicity.
Today marks day 347 of Reigns’ incredible tenure as Universal Champion, and he’s expected to retain at Summerslam, and
we’ll have to see how things pan out on August 21st, when the Tribal Chief faces his biggest challenge to date.
More from AEW, as CM Punk is expected to debut for the company during next week’s Rampage, and the company hasn’t exactly
kept quiet about the former WWE World Champion. During a Dynamite last month, Darby Allin
said that AEW is the place for anyone who considers themselves the Best in the World, which many saw as a challenge to Punk.
Allin Vs. Punk could very well appear on the card for All Out, but according to Punk himself, Allin’s comments may not have been about him.
Speaking to Sunday Night’s main event, Punk discussed Allin’s comment, and though he didn’t deny that Allin was speaking about him
but offered an alternative, saying: ““Best in the World, that could be anybody. That’s (Daniel) Bryan, right? That’s my
assumption. I hear ‘Best in the World,’ I think Bryan.” Interestingly enough, Bryan is also expected
to join AEW soon, and both he and Allin are the odds-on-favourite to be Punk’s first opponent in AEW.
In that same interview, Punk praised Darby Allin, saying that nobody will do a better dive than the former TNT Champion, but the
former World Heavyweight Champion isn’t convince that Allin’s Best in the World line was about him.
More from Summerslam, as WWE is stacking this year’s card to make the show bigger than WrestleMania 37, but fans in Allegiant
Stadium shouldn’t get too excited on August 21st. Recent odds from BetOnline show that every
single champion is expected to retain their titles, with Bobby Lashley having the best odds to retain his WWE Championship
against Goldberg. The idea that no titles will change hands also means that Big E won’t be cashing in Money
in the Bank, or worse, will cash-in only to be beaten by the champion he faces. Currently, the odds are that Big E won’t cash in,
though there’s currently no odds for the recently announced United States Championship match between Sheamus and
Damian Priest. Given the push Priest has had this year, it’s possible that the Archer of Infamy could
dethrone the Celtic Warrior, but if it happens, it’ll be the only title change on the show. In recent months, Stephanie McMahon
has said fans should expect huge surprises for Summerslam now that fans are back, but those fans shouldn’t expect many
if any title changes next Saturday.
And we’re ending today with Doug Basham, who worked for WWE from 2002-2007, becoming a two-time tag team champion with
his on-screen brother Danny. This week, Doug explained how his career in WWE nearly ended early, all thanks to a 2004
meeting with Vince McMahon. As part of that year’s Tough Enough series on SmackDown (which featured a young Miz
and Ryback) the November 18th episode saw the five contestants try to capture a flag while being blocked by the Basham brothers, who
successfully thwarted all five contestants during the 30-second time limit. Speaking to the Cheap Heat Productions
Podcast, Basham discussed a meeting with McMahon before the show, and the threat he was given by the boss
He [Vince] goes, ‘Now, boys, you see that flag’s gonna be hanging over there underneath that turnbuckle?... Short of killing
anybody, make sure nobody gets that flag.’ And he hit me on the shoulder and walked off And I went to Danny, ‘We’ve just been put on
notice. If anybody gets past us, we’re fired.’ Short of not hurting anybody, nobody got that flag.”
Thankfully, nobody got the flag, and the Basham’s lived to see another day as WWE Superstars, in what was a stressful capture
the flag challenge, not just for the Tough Enough contestants, but the established Superstars as well.