Here's your wrestling news for May 27th 2021
And your headlines for today include
WWE Fired Yet Another Company Executive!
WWE Holds An Urgent Internal Meeting After Massive Layoffs!
WWE Announced Jimmy Smith As RAW’s Lead Announcer; Smith Reacts!
Big Title Change Expected At AEW Double Or Nothing!
Sammy Guevara Talks Sasha Banks Again!
Eric Bischoff Set For AEW Dynamite Return!
Ex WWE NXT Star Recalls Confrontation With Drake Wuertz!
WWE Wrestler Exposed His Groin To V ince McMahon In A Meeting!
Jim Ross Addresses Controversy For Saying Randy Orton Is The Best Wrestler In The world And More!
We’re kicking off today with WWE, who cut through their management team earlier this week, and now another name has been fired
from the company. As reported by TalkSport, Dam Humphreys, who was the company’s International Vice
President for Communications has been released, after being a major part in the forming and maintaining of NXT UK.
Humphreys is just one of dozens of names WWE released this week, with President Nick Khan planning to take over the roles of international
employees, as the Khan, also the company’s chief revenue officer, continues to grow in influence behind the scenes.
After such a rollercoaster week for the company, which saw dozens of names backstage be released, WWE hosted what was called a
“reassurance meeting,” yesterday, that didn’t live up to it’s name. WrestleVotes tweeted out that WWE’s meeting
was only for the quote “power-players,” including Nick Khan, and there was nothing of real substance discussed, saying that this’ll maintain
the status quo. When fans critiqued WrestleVotes for reporting this lack of change at all, the account pointed
out that this is a story in itself, as this meeting, which was supposed to be a “reassurance” to employees, has not assured worried staff
of anything. This week’s mass layoffs saw both Khan and Kevin Dunn gain more influence backstage,
as Khan will personally oversee WWE’s international work, whilst Dunn has a lot more control over TV and content production.
Bonuses and raises were axed this year due to ‘budget cuts’, despite the company announcing record profits, and whilst the
employees may not be pleased about this, at least they still have a job in WWE.
Though dozens of people lost their jobs this week, Jimmy Smith gained one, as he’s been announced as the newest RAW commentator.
As first reported by F4WOnline and later confirmed by WWE, Smith is set to replace Virk as RAW’s new play-by-play announcer,
and began his professional career as an MMA fighter, competing in a total six fights with a 6-5 record, before he was offered
a job to host the Discovery Channel’s ‘Fight Quest.’ He would then go on to host the second
season of NBC's American Ninja Warrior and continued to be a part of the show until the end of the third season.
Smith will join the red brand with a lot more combat commentary experience than Virk, as he worked with Bellator from 2010-2017
and has been working with Michael Cole lately, who has praised his work and found him to be very versatile.
Adnan Virk reportedly left WWE as the company’s travel demands were too much for him on top of other projects he’s involved in, and now fans
will be listening to Jimmy Smith when they tune into RAW.
Whilst Virk didn’t exactly wow fans with his commentary, as he constantly seemed out of his depth, fans haven’t been pleased with
this change. Many fans have criticised WWE for bringing in Smith, and in a statement, the new RAW
commentator revealed that he does have a connection to wrestling that Virk lacked, saying:
“Hey guys, well it’s been a busy day. Apparently @WWE liked my work so far. I know I’m stepping into a new world (I WAS
Mr. Perfect and Bruiser Brody fanatic however) but know I’ll do everything I can to honor the athletes and fans. Watch Monday and judge
my work for yourself.” Unlike Virk, Smith seems to have at least been a fan of wrestling, and when a fan shared a
a 2019 tweet from Smith, saying he hadn’t watched WWE since grade-school, the fan wanted to see the odds if he lasts more than
five weeks, and Smith said he’d take that bet. We’ll have to see how he does on his first night on RAW next week, but hopefully fans
will give him a chance to prove himself, before they bury his skills behind the announcer’s desk.
Smith is replacing Adnan Virk, who parted ways from WWE earlier this week, and it hasn’t taken long for offers to come to the former RAW
commentator. Just one day after his departure, Virk received quite the unique proposal from adult website
CamSoda, offering him $50,000 to do play-by- play for their upcoming Fight Circus MMA Pay-Per-View on June 19th.
That event will feature such spectacles including a ‘Siamese boxing tag-match’ where teams will be tied together, an Muay Thai fight inside a phone
booth, and a 2-on-1 main event featuring former UFC fighter Will Cope. The entire show will be happening in Thailand,
which may make it difficult for Virk to work the show, but after weeks of being berated by wrestling fans, Virk could soon be back
behind the commentary desk, with 50 Grand in his pocket.
AEW news next, as this Sunday’s Double or Nothing will be a huge event for the company, with plenty of title matches announced for the
show. Though a total five title matches have been announced, fans should only expect one
title change, according to the latest Betting odds. The odds say that after a year on top, Hikaru Shida’s reign as AEW Women’s World Champion
will end, as Britt Baker is the heavy-favorite to win the title. The odds for the AEW World tag team title
match between the Young Bucks against Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston is dead-even, whilst TNT Champion Miro is the heavy
favourite to retain against Lance Archer.
There’s no odds in yet for NWA Women’s Champion Serena Deeb’s title match, but AEW World Champion Kenny Omega is expected to
retain against Pac and Darby Allin, in what’ll be a huge night for the All-Elite promotion.
Sammy Guevara will be at Double or Nothing, competing as part of the Inner Circle in the Stadium Stampede, despite a career-
jeopardising controversy last year. That controversy started when a 2016 interview clip resurfaced, where the AEW star said he
wanted to sexually force himself on Sasha Banks, causing AEW to immediately suspend him and have him take sensitivity training
classes.
Speaking to Inside the Ropes this week, Guevara opened up about those classes, saying:
“The Sasha stuff, those were bad comments on my end from years ago. [It was] just immaturity. And I have grown since then. [My] whole thing
too last year, I did the sensitivity training. I don’t know everything, and I am not going to pretend like I do. So, when they said to do this training
I said ‘Let me look at it from a silver lining [perspective]. You know, I could learn some stuff from this, probably.’ And I did learn
some stuff.” “That’s what life is about. Nobody is perfect. We’re human, and [being] human means we
make mistakes. And so I feel like when you make a mistake it is just important to try to learn, grow and go on. Life is just going to keep going.”
We’ll have to see what’s next for Guevara, but he’s obviously trying to change his behaviour, and now fans can once again see the Spanish
God on TV, as he prepares for his second Stadium Stampede match at Double or Nothing.
Now, this week’s Dynamite was moved to Friday thanks to the NBA Playoffs, but AEW has a special guest for this special show.
During Busted Open Radio, Chris Jericho confirmed that Eric Bischoff will be on tomorrow’s show, as part of a special
celebration of the Inner Circle, adding that if this is the stable’s last show, they’re going out all-guns blazing.
As of right now, the odds are split between whether the Pinnacle or the Inner Circle will win this Sunday’s Stadium Stampede match
which’ll see the Inner Circle disband should they lose, and Jericho is willing to go out in a blaze of glory.
Earlier this month, WWE released controversial referee Drake Wuertz, after a series of run-ins in NXT, and now another one of these has
come to light. Alongside Wuertz, EJ Nduka, aka Ezra Judge was released this month, and while speaking
Fightful, discussed a ime when he stood up for himself after being unfairly berated by Wuertz.
The story goes that during his first week with NXT, Nduka was being respectful, helping to build the ring alongside Ashante
Adonis, when Wuertz called him ‘boy’ and told him to move on to something else:
“He looks at us and says, ‘You two get up here right now and put the pads on the turnbuckle’. I slowly turn and look at him and said, ‘We’re
doing this right now. We’re going to finish this and then we’ll get to that.'
“He snaps, just yelling at the top of his lungs, ‘NO! YOU GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW!’ I slid into the ring, everyone is watching. I got up
and in his face and said, ‘Don’t ever talk to me like that again. Not even my father talks like that to me.”
Nduka added that he got some serious praise for standing up for himself, especially from NXT trainer Robbie Brookside, who saw that there was no
reason for Wuertz to yell at him. The former Superstar added that Wuertz quickly backed down after they discussed the matter
as the former referee was clearly difficult to work with for several Superstars.
One person fans won’t see on this tour is Kurt Angle, who enjoyed one of the best first-runs with WWE from 1999 to 2006.
It’s no secret that a series of injuries caused Kurt to develop an addiction to painkillers, and Kurt recently spoke about an injury in a place you
really don’t want to injure. Speaking on his show, Angle revealed a time when he exposed himself to Vince McMahon,
saying: “It was a production meeting Vince was in the front and everybody else was in the back,
between them and pulled my pants down to my ankles and I showed Vince my groin. It was all black and blue, I mean my penis, everything was
black from the injury. It was an abdominal tear, a groin tear and a hamstring tear, all three at the same time
Released from WWE for refusing to go to a company -sponsored rehab, Kurt would join TNA mere months after his 2006 departure, before returning to WWE in 2017.
Angle was part of last year’s April 15th releases, but has said he remains loyal to the company, so we may not have seen the last of him just yet.
Now, Jim Ross recently said that he considers Randy Orton the best wrestler in the world, even better than AEW Champion Kenny Omega, which unsurprisingly
didn’t go down well with the AEW crowd. Not only did they shoot some venomous tweets at JR, but Omega also hit-out at the legendary
commentator, mocking JR for the one time he referred to the Cleaner as the WWE Champion. During Grilling JR, the WWE Hall of Famer
addressed the controversy, saying it wasn’t a besmirchment of omega at all. He said:
“We have a little controversy going about who I apparently said that I thought Randy Orton was the best wrestler in the world. People forget that
recruited these guys. I’ve had a business association with a guy like Randy Orton since day one. Coach Barry Switzer said, ‘You recruit
these kids for life’ and I kind of take that to heart. I’ve helped a lot of guys who got down on their luck and needed a check, what have you,
way past WWE days.” JR added that he wasn’t besmirching Omega at all, saying nothing could be further from the truth,
and explained that when discussing the best wrestler, that the whole topic is highly subjective, as there’s no right or wrong answer. He added:
“I don’t know what the criteria is for these things. Anybody that can debate me and tell me that Randy Orton is not one of the best in the world
will have a hard time winning that argument. Anybody can debate me and say, ‘Well, I think Kenny Omega is.’ Well, you make a good point.
I don’t have any problem with that. Kenny Omega is the AEW Champion. He’s a hell of a hand. There’s no doubt about it, but golly. People are so
sensitive right now, but that’s the whole tone and tenor of social media.”
“I’m not so sure how great in some sense that social media is for pro wrestling today, because it’s one little blotch, one little missed word,
one little missed move, and it becomes a major issue. It’s getting a little bit predictable first of all, but it’s getting a little bit tired, if you know what I’m
saying.” Simply put, being the ‘best’ is a matter of opinion, one that JR has in favour of Randy Orton, even
even if fans didn’t appreciate the AEW announcing putting over someone from Vince McMahon’s company.
What’s your take on this controversy and JR’s response? Sound off in the comments.
And we’re ending today with Kofi Kingston, who knows what it’s like to be in the ring with Randy Orton, and he’s clearly on JR’s side during this
controversy. Speaking with the Daily Star, Kingston discussed the Viper, saying that Orton
should be in the conversation for the greatest of all time: "To be able to last so long… he’s even more
compelling now in a lot of different ways. So as a performer, you can’t have the conversation [about the greatest] without having Randy be
in there, from the longevity alone. That doesn’t happen by accident.”
Debuting in 2002, Orton has been a main-stay of WWE for 19 years, and has had an incredible career, one that his old nemesis feels puts him in
line for being considered the greatest of all time.