Here's your wrestling news for August 7th 2021
And your headlines for today include
13 WWE Wrestlers Are Released! WWE’s Reason For Mass Releases Are Revealed!
WWE’s Booking Of Finn Balor’s Universal Title Pursuit; Its Implications & More!
What Happened With John Cena After WWE SmackDown Went Off Air?
WWE Imposes MAJOR Restrictions On Wrestling Fans In the Arena!
Are Fans Emotionally Invested In Rollins – Edge Match At SummerSlam?
What Is Keith Lee Doing On WWE Smackdown Last Night?
Tony Khan Denies Making Contract Offer To Adam Cole; Cole Was Asked To Meet Vince McMahon Right Away! And More!
We’re kicking off today with NXT, as even more names have sadly been released from the gold brand.
Yesterday, WWE opted to cut Bronson Reed, Bobby Fish, Mercedes Martinez, Leon Ruff, Tyler Rust, Jake Atlas,
Asher Hale, Giant Zanjeer, Zechariah Smith, Kona Reeves Ari Sterling, Desmond Troy and referee Stephon Smith
Reed, a former North American Champion, was working dark matches prior to main- roster tapings recently, as it seemed he
was poised for a call-up very soon. Bobby Fish was also a surprising cut, as he’s been a fixture of NXT as part of the
Undisputed Era, but the company clearly had no plans for him as a singles star.
Fish had only recently had a match, losing to his former partner and Diamond Mine member Roderick Strong, and with Rust gone,
that leaves Strong the lone active wrestler of the faction. NXT contracts typically have a 30-day
non-compete clause, meaning it’ll be September 6th, just after AEW’s All Out Pay- Per-View, that this latest crop of releases
will be able to compete elsewhere. In a post release statement, Reed said that the monster is back on the loose, and tagged
several other promotions, namely AEW, Impact, Ring of Honor and New Japan. Ari Sterling has also commented, saying
that his pre-WWE name, Alex Zayne is greater than Sterling, indiciating that he’ll be using this name once more.
In his own statement, Desmond Troy said it was about some time he got some adversity, and the former NCAA Wrestler thanked
Triple H and NXT for the opportunity to perform. It’s never good to lose your job, and we
doubt this’ll be the last major release by WWE this year, as the company continues to thin down it’s roster, this week at the
expense of 13 performers.
NXT will have to go over a dozen names on it’s roster, but that won’t be the end of the changes to the black and gold brand.
According to PW Insider, there’s been a lot of backstage talks of repackagaing the NXT brand, and a total overhaul will be happening
They report: There has been lots of talk internally of major changes for the NXT brand including
a new logo, new lighting, a focus on younger talents and a different format to the TV shows. This housecleaning tonight
appears to be part of those changes. Typically, WWE has been releasing talent in the name of budget cuts, but it seems these
releases were more to do with changing NXT as a whole than saving money. Though some of the names released are
older than the typical NXT Superstar, with both Fish and Martinez nearing 40, many Superstars, such as the 32-year-old Reed
and 26-year-old Atlas were still in their primes. Whatever WWE has planned for NXT in the future evidently doesn’t include the 13 names
released this week, and we’ll have to see what major changes make it to TV as part of the repackaged NXT.
Now, at Summerslam 2021, John Cena will look to become a 17-time WWE World Champion when he faces Universal Champion
Roman Reigns, so it’s a bit odd that Finn Balor’s Universal title pursuit feels far more interesting.
For one Balor just returned from a successful two-year stint in NXT, which completely refreshed his character, and immediately upon
his return, he challenged Reigns for a universal title match that the Tribal Chief accepted.
Before their match was confirmed, last week’s contract signing was invaded by Baron Corbin, who hoped for a big money Pay-day by facing
Reigns at Summerslam instead, but it was ultimately Cena who signed, making his match with Reigns official.
Defeating Corbin this week, Balor said how the Finn from two years ago would’ve been smiling, but he isn’t that way anymore and added that
he’ll go through Cena, a man he’s beaten before, to get a Universal title shot, teasing a rematch from 2019.
This new edge to Balor’s character caught the attention of Roman Reigns, saying he understood the Irishman’s frustrations
but warned him to keep the Head of the Table’s name out of his mouth. Jumped by the Usos, the three-on-one
disadvantage was too much for Balor, as SmackDown ended with Finn being choked out with the guillotine.
It seems that Balor Vs. Cena could be happening as soon as next week’s SmackDown, but WWE has booked
themselves into a corner. If Cena win’s Balor’s two years of momentum will be lost, whilst a Balor victory (something
that WWE won’t let happen in John’s first televised match,) would mean that the crowd won’t be as invested in the Cena-Reigns
Summerslam match. With just two SmackDown’s left before Summerslam, time will tell whether these
two contenders face off before the biggest party of the Summer, and who will ultimately face the Tribal Chief at the Pay-Per-View
Summerslam, like all Pay-Per-Views has a card that’s subject to change, and that’s something Balor is counting on happening before August 21st.
Speaking to the German channel ‘WWE The Week’ Balor spoke about potentially facing both men at the biggest party of the Summer
saying: “I’m not sure if the possibility of a Triple- Threat at SummerSlam is off the cards right
now so, if we could somehow finagle that, that would be fantastic but if not, obviously the one reason I’m in SmackDown is to
become Universal Champion so you know, Roman Reigns is who I want.” We previously reported that all plans for
Summerslam could change, as the show may have to take place without live fans, and time will tell which match we get in the show’s
expected main event.
As for Cena, he was advertised for last night’s SmackDown, and despite not making the FOX broadcast, Cena did compete in the ring.
After the show, Cena teamed with the Mysterios to face the Bloodline, a match that WWE have been using each week after
SmackDown and at house shows, and it’s a good way to get Cena involved, but also protect him.
Cena didn’t appear on SmackDown to save Finn Balor, who was being choked out by Roman Reigns, as despite their match at
Summerslam, WWE is focussing on the Balor-Reigns feud for the time being, at least on camera.
Now, before every WWE show, WWE will warn fans that video taping an event is strictly prohibited, and although some
security guards will enforce this, many more let it slide. That won’t be the case, as before
last night’s SmackDown, Tampa’s Amalie Arena sent out a tweet outlining this no- photo or video rule, adding that if anyone
breaks the rules, they’ll be ejected from the building. This tweet, which has since been deleted,
also encouraged fans to wear a mask, but the focus of their statement was on the no recording policy
In his own tweet, Dave Melter said he understood WWE banning fans from taking videos, but said it was way over the line
to block photographs. That didn’t stop some fans, as photos from the show are doing the rounds on social
media, but now fans who do want to capture their own view of the show could risk being kicked out of a WWE TV taping, Pay-Per-View
or live event.
Last night’s show also saw Edge and Rollins continue their back-and-forth feud, and as the two men traded strong words
it’s apparently that there’s no better actor in the business currently than the Rated- R Superstar.
The way Edge expressed that Rollins got under his skin when mentioning his kids was genius and after months of speculation, their match
at Summerslam was made official. We’re pleased to see the match make the card, but the problem is that it’s been common
knowledge for a while now, and WWE waited far too long before making it official. Even those that don’t know WWE’s inner
workings could figure out that this match was in the works after Money in the Bank, and we can only hope that the performance
on August 21st justifies the fact that fans have known about this match for months.
Over the past few weeks, NXT Superstars have been having main-roster try-outs before SmackDown, but last night,
a RAW branded Superstar joined the fray as well. Before SmackDown went on the air, Keith Lee
appeared to face Austin Theory, and while we’re pleased the Limitless One got a win, it doesn’t explain why he was there at all.
The second dark match saw Dakota Kai face Aliyah, the latter of whom was traded to RAW for Mandy Rose, and it was Kai
who won the match. Kai has a golden opportunity at TakeOver 36, where she’ll face NXT Women’s Champion
Raquel Gonzalez, and she certainly picked up momentum with her win last night.
TakeOver 36 could be Adam Cole’s last night in WWE, as his contract expired in July, and he’s agreed to work on a very short-term
deal that’ll expire after the show. Cole’s girlfriend and AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker has said she’ll be
happy wherever he goes, and whilst WWE has yet to offer him a long-term deal, a report came out this week that AEW had
extended an offer. That isn’t the case according to Dave Meltzer, who says he was told by Tony Khan that no
deal was offered to the former NXT Champion at this time. Given that Cole is already under a WWE deal,
the idea of Khan offering a contract during negotiations may have been considered contract tampering, something Khan has
said he wants to avoid. If Cole doesn’t re-sign with WWE and NXT, there’s a good chance a deal will be
extended by AEW then, but for now, Cole’s decision will have to be made without an AEW contract already on his table.
And we’re ending with more Adam Cole news, as re-signing the former NXT Champion has proven to be a high-priority
for WWE. That’s according to a report from Fightful Select, who note that Cole was backstage
during last night’s SmackDown, reportedly for a “high-level meeting,” with the Boss. They said:
WWE sources have indicated that Cole is scheduled to be backstage at tonight’s episode of WWE Smackdown for what is
being called a “high level meeting” with Vince McMahon. We have not been told that Cole is planned to appear on the show
Cole didn’t appear on last night’s SmackDown, and may not ever if he doesn’t sign a new deal with WWE, as the next few weeks
will prove to be a very interesting time in the career of the former NXT Champion.