Here's your wrestling news for July 2nd 2021
And your headlines for today include
Vince McMahon Brought ‘Heavy Hitters’ With Him On WWE Performance Center Visit!
WWE Performance Center Wrestlers Shocking Reaction During & After Vince McMahon’s VISIT!
WWE HQ Employees Were Reportedly Let Go Today! Is WWE Done Releasing Talent For 2021? Or Are They More On The Way?
WWE Introduces Three New International Recruits!
Sad News As ‘The Patriot’ Del Wilkes Passes Away!
Why Triple H Reached Out To Jon Moxley!
WWE Wrestler Was Told They Wouldn’t Hire Him Because He’s ‘Short & White’!
Why Roman Reigns Wants To Pass The Torch To Drew McIntyre?
AEW Star Set To Appear In Jackass 4 Movie!
“We Had Ideas For Days” Released WWE Wrestlers Opens Up And more!
We’re kicking off today with WWE, and yesterday, Vince McMahon and other top officials went to the Performance
Center, in a rare appearance by the Chairman. PW Insider reports that the company’s
heavy hitters, namely WWE President Nick Khan, Executive Director Bruce Prichard and Senior Vice President of
Talent Relations were all at the Center with Vince to meet with staff and scout talent.
Their trip was described as “very much a positive day,” despite some employees at the Performance Center being worried
that McMahon had come to fire more people, following on from WWE’s recent widespread cuts.
One source described the day as a “breath of fresh air,” considering how worried people were before McMahon showed up,
and it’s reported that nobody lost their job when McMahon was around. WWE’s Performance Center has been
extra busy lately, as main-roster talent and NXT Superstars have been training there this week, all part of the company’s plan
for everyone to be in peak condition ahead of the return of fans on July 16th. It’s also reported that there was a major
scouting effort, as the company looks to replenish the RAW and SmackDown rosters. WWE’s Performance Center is run by
Matt Bloom, with Shawn Michaels taking on a major role in the past year, and we’ll have to see which Superstars the veterans lose
to McMahon’s main-roster later this year.
For the past year, WWE has been cutting employees from both their talent roster and those working behind the scenes, and this
week, even more names were cut from the company. That’s according to PW Insider, who reported
that several employees were let go yesterday from WWE’s Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut
There’s no word yet on how many people were fired, or who has left specifically, but we can report that some of the releases
came from WWE’s marketing department. These cuts are the latest by Nick Khan, nicknamed The Terminator, who is
overseeing a complete corporate restructure, merging multiple divisions into one department.
We’re sure these won’t be the last people to be let go as part of Khan’s plans, as the company’s constant desire to cut the
budget is costing a lot of people their jobs.
WWE has a lot of people working for the company, despite the cuts in recent months, with one seeing 60 staff members
axed at the same time as part of Khan’s plan to merge multiple departments into one division led by Kevin Dunn.
Superstars with multi-million dollar deals, like Braun Strowman and Lana have also been cut, and fans will just have to get used to
these kind of mass releases. According to Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Pro Wrestling podcast, there’s a
belief in WWE that even more firings are needed, and these sort of widespread releases will be more common heading
into what’s being called a new era for the company. Saying these cuts are needed, at a time
when WWE has never been more profitable is interesting to say the least, but WWE doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon.
It’s also interesting that WWE is releasing staff now, with the company just two weeks away from bringing back fans and
going on tour again, and the company will have to return to normalcy with even fewer people on the payroll.
WWE has been releasing a lot of people over the past year, and though more employees from their Headquarters were cut this
week, they’ve also hired three new stars. On social media and their website, WWE revealed the signing of three new talents
from Asia, who will begin training at the Performance Center soon. Standing at 6-foot-2 and weighing 242
pounds, Feicheng Wang stands out in the small group, and the Chinese recruit trained under Hatley Jackson and
Alexander Otsuka. Sean Tan has also inked a deal with WWE, and the 25-year-old is a former Singapore
Pro Wrestling Southeast Asia Champion. Finally, Jei Yin has joined WWE’s ranks and will begin training in Orlando soon. Yin
placed second in the CrossFit China Open and competed in the Asia CrossFit Championship.
WWE is obviously looking for younger, athletic Superstars, who’ll no doubt be cheaper than keeping some of their current
Superstars, and these three could soon be lighting up WWE NXT.
We’ve got some sad news to report next, as Del Wilkes, aka The Patriot has died aged 59.
Allen Wright Adkins broke the sad news via Facebook of Wilkes death, and at this time, no cause of death has been reported.
Wilkes joined the WWF in 1997 as part of the Canada Vs. USA feud, led by then- heel WWF Champion Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart.
Before entering the ring, Wilkes was an All-American football player for the University of South Carolina, one of just
four consensus All-American football stars in the history of the school. With his red, white and blue mask and
carrying ol’ glory, the Patriot stood out at a time when the WWF was wanting to push away from these kind of gimmicks, and
we’re sending our condolences to the Wilkes family at this sad time.
In 2019, Jon Moxley chose to leave WWE, and has done incredibly well in the two years since departing.
Since leaving, Moxley has competed for New Japan and AEW, being the latter promotion’s second World Champion,
but he still has ties to WWE. Speaking on Oral Sessions, Renee Paquette discussed her husband’s career with the
IIconics, and explained how WWE still has Moxley’s best interests at heart. She said:
“Even when Jon left, there were times when Hunter would pull me aside because Jon was injured coming back from NJPW,
and Hunter kept checking in to make sure he was okay and if we needed anything they would have been able to help him in
any capacity. It was nice to know the olive branch was still extended and it wasn’t that heat-seeking thing that everyone thinks
is. We’ve all spent so much time together and nothing bad went down.” Jon Moxley left WWE in 2019, and he’s
done phenomenally well since, but it’s good to hear that Vince McMahon’s promotion has been on hand to help him and his wife
in the years since.
Last week, Tony Nese was released by WWE, and there’s a lot to his story in WWE, especially how he got a job there in the first place.
Nese recently spoke to Fightful about his time in WWE, and in that interview said he was told before signing that WWE wouldn’t be
interested in him because he’s quote “short and white.” We’re not sure who made that remark to Nese,
who is still short and white, but also has a massive amount of talent and abs to spare. There’s no shortage of companies that could
benefit from having Nese on their roster, but the former Cruiserweight Champion will have to wait for his 30-day non-compete clause
to expire, before he appears anywhere else.
Since returning to WWE TV last year, Roman Reigns has been the #1 star of the company, holding the Universal title with an iron grip as
Head of the Table. Speaking to Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenberg, Reigns was asked who he considers directly
under him in WWE, and revealed that he sees RAW’s Drew McIntyre as #2 on WWE’s roster. He explained
“I could say my favorite #2, Drew. He’s my favorite #2, 3’s whatever you wanna call them. We can rank them. It really don’t matter,
they’re under me. How far under? Who really knows? Who really cares at this point? I mean how strong of a #2 do you wanna be
at this point, and right now my favorite is Drew McIntyre.
“So, in a perfect world if there was an opportunity to pass the torch to him, he’s the one guy I think that has captivated my
attention in that manner, but at the same time he ain’t there and it’s only because I’m still here and so solid within my foothold,
So, the flag is firmly planted in, so I can’t even think about it now, but I mean in order to you know John [Cena] needed someone
to come in so he could go on and do other things and take care of his body, I will eventually need that, but there’s just nobody
at this point.” 2020 was McIntyre’s year, as he won the Men’s Rumble, the WWE title at
WrestleMania and carried the company in unprecedented times. We’ll have to see what the future holds for
both men, as Reigns is rumoured to face John Cena and The Rock down the line, but the Tribal Chief is keeping an eye on
RAW’s Scottish Powerhouse.
AEW news now, and Darby Allin has impressed in the ring, and fans will soon see him on the big-screen.
SlashFilm.com reports that Allin will have a cameo appearance in the upcoming Jackass 4, alongside AEW celebrity wrestler
Shaquille O’Neal, and fans will get to see what they get up to when the film releases on October 22nd.
John Cena news next, and before marrying his wife Shay in 2020, the WWE Superstar had a lengthy relationship with Nikki Bella
which ended in April 2018. Their engagement was called-off when the pair disagreed about having kids, and Nikki
didn’t want John to regret becoming a father just to please her. Now though, Cena has had a change of
heart, as he told the Sun tabloid that now that he’s older and wiser, he realises that part of what makes life beautiful is becoming a parent.
This is a huge change by Cena, who is expected to return to WWE very soon, and we’ll have to see how his return to the
company and rumoured Universal title match at Summerslam will be received.
We’re heading across the pond next, as Kay Lee Ray 649-day reign as NXT UK Women’s Champion recently ended at the hands of
Meiko Satomura, but the Scottish Superstar has reason to celebrate. On Twitter, Ray revealed that she has
married fellow wrestler Stevie Boy Xavier, after the pair first got together in 2007. Xavier is a former two-time ICW World
Champion, as well as an ICW Triple Crown Champion, and we’re sending our congratulations to the happy couple at this
time.
Now, it was previously rumoured that WWE had their eye on Madison Square Garden as one of the locations for their upcoming
tour, and that’s now been confirmed by the company themselves. In a statement, WWE confirmed that the
September 10th SmackDown will air live from MSG, and tickets will go on sale on July 9th. WWE’s last show in the Garden was a boxing
day 2019 live event, which saw Andrade capture the U.S. Championship from Rey Mysterio, and time will tell what’s in store
for the company’s return to the World’s Most Famous Arena.
And we’re ending with the Bollywood Boyz, who were cut from WWE last week, and now the brothers are breaking their silence
on being fired. On the latest episode of Pro Wrestling 4 Life, host Sean ‘X-Pac’ Waltman said being
released sucks, but he’s excited to see where the two go from here, praising the pair for their hard-work.
Gurv Shiri, formerly Sunil Singh said they’re excited too, and added that they both received the call of their release, just as they
were pulling up to training on one of their few days off from the company. Harv, aka Samir, said they had no regrets,
as they were always pitching ideas to the company, and that they’re confident they’ll get booked when the time is right.
Due to having main-roster contracts, the brothers will have to wait 90-days before they can work again, but with Mick Foley
Randy Orton and now X-Pac all having praise for them, we imagine work won’t be hard for the brothers to find.