Here's your wrestling news for October 6th 2021
And your headlines for today include
WWE Dropped New Day Plans For 2021 Draft!
WWE’s Original Plan For Street Profits Breakup!
WWE’s Current Interest In Bringing Back Braun Strowman; Shares Update On Next Move After WWE Release!
Roman Reigns’ Likely Next Challengers For WWE Universal Title!
Spoiler On WWE’s Plan For Sasha Banks After Draft!
WWE’s Usage Of Profanity On Main Roster Programming!
Goldberg Dragged For Saying He Will Kill Bobby Lashley!
Parker Boudreaux Debuts On WWE NXT 2.0 As “Harland” With New Look; Man Behind The LOOK Revealed!
WWE’s Plan For Finn Balor’s NEXT Opponents Revealed!
AEW Stars Mock WWE's Plans With Adam Cole's Main Roster Run!
Peyton Royce Asked WWE To Send Her Back To NXT Before They Released Her! And more!
We’re kicking off today with the 2021 draft, as once again, the New Day were sent to different brands.
While WWE Champion Big E will remain on RAW, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were drafted to SmackDown, but the company nearly made
fans wait even longer to see this split. We’ve previously reported that the original plan for the draft was for Bobby Lashley to be
RAW’s first draft pick, but in an update from PW Insider, it’s said that Big E wasn’t even meant to be eligible to be picked until Night two of the draft.
The idea behind this is that Kofi and Woods would be drafted on night one, and fans would want to tune in to RAW to see if Big E followed his
New Day brothers to SmackDown. In the end, WWE scrapped this plan in favour of having Big E be RAW’s first draft pick, as the c
company never had any intention of keeping the New Day on the same brand. Perhaps one day the trio will be able to stay on the
same brand for more than a few weeks, but for now, the reigning WWE Champion will once again be working on his own
Not every team was split during the draft, as the Street Profits were both sent to RAW, but only after WWE considered splitting the team up as well.
Given how popular the Profits has been, it makes sense that WWE kept Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins together, but we now know more
about the split that almost was. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed that Dawkins was meant to stay on
SmackDown, but Ford was always going to move to RAW, as his wife Bianca Belair was drafted to the red brand on Night 1.
Meltzer also noted that WWE completely undid their women’s tag-team division, splitting every team other than the Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Thankfully for the Profits, they were kept together, and though Vince McMahon may split Ford and Dawkins up down the line, the pair remain a
a popular tag-team act that fans will get to see each week on RAW.
In June this year, WWE released Braun Strowman from his $1.2 million per year contract, all in the name of ongoing budget cuts.
Since then, it’s been rumoured that Strowman is set to join Impact Wrestling, and will reportedly debut as Titan at Bound for Glory, but it’s also
reported that AEW have spoken to the Monster Among Men As a former Universal Champion and high-profile
name from WWE, it’s hardly surprising there’s a lot of interest in Braun, but that isn’t the case with WWE.
When Ringside News asked a member of WWE’s creative team about the rumours of Strowman coming back, they were told that If
any offer was made by WWE to Braun, he’d be back immediately. That obviously hasn’t happened, and that’s because, a
as the source puts it, “there has been no offer and there is no interest” in bringing back the former Superstar.
Since his release, Strowman has had just one match, defeating EC3 at the recent Free the Narrative 2 event, and wherever he shows up next,
WWE isn’t wanting to bring the Monster back.
Strowman won’t be back in WWE and hasn’t appeared anywhere other than EC3’s Free the Narrative 2, but we won’t be waiting long to see
what he does next. During a brief Twitter AMA, a fan said that they miss seeing the Monster Among Men in action,
and Strowman said that he’s quote “making my mind up soon.” If the reports of him joining Impact at Bound for
Glory are true, then Strowman will be back on TV in just 17 days, but even if the Impact move doesn’t happen, it sounds like the former
Superstar is getting ever closer to joining a company
More draft news, as several top stars were moved between RAW and SmackDown, but this has led to a serious lack of big names for
the blue brand. On his show, Dave Meltzer discussed Universal Champion Roman Reigns, and how
due to the draft, SmackDown is also lacking in top-level babyface challengers for the Tribal Chief.
Sure, SmackDown now has Drew McIntyre, but after him, the show’s next level of faces is King Shinsuke Nakamura, who already holds a title,
and Jeff Hardy, who’s booking in recent months has only hurt his chances of once-again becoming a World Champion
Meltzer added that there are heels for Reigns to face, such as Sheamus and Happy Corbin, but that’d make for a heel vs heel feud which rarely
goes over well with audiences. There’s always the chance that Reigns isn’t the Universal Champion by the time the draft results
come into effect, as he’ll defend his title against Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel, but if the Head of Table leaves Saudi Arabia as Champion, WWE will
have to think of some way to build up more babyfaces for him.
The 2021 draft saw SmackDown reclaim Sasha Banks, who’ll stay on the blue brand, but with a possible change of character.
On his show, Dave Meltzer broke down the new WWE rosters, which won’t go into effect until October 22nd, but unless something changes
dramatically, the Boss could be a fully-fledged babyface from now on. He said: “There is no top women babyface on
SmackDown, I’m figuring that Sasha Banks becomes a babyface, because the other two top women stars are Charlotte Flair
who absolutely shouldn’t be a babyface and Shayna Baszler who appears, based on how she’s being booked is not a babyface.”
SmackDown lost it’s top babyface when Bianca Belair was drafted to RAW, and it’s up to the Boss to fill the shoes of the EST of WWE.
Although SmackDown has some female babyfaces, such as Shotzi and Toni Storm, neither are on the level as the Boss, and unless WWE plans on
pushing Naomi hard very soon, it’s Banks who’ll be carrying the blue brand as their top female face in the coming months
If you’ve been watching WWE in recent weeks, you’ll have noticed an increase in adult language, as dirty jokes and the occasional S-Bomb
are becoming surprisingly common. This is all in WWE’s efforts to score big with the all-important 18-49 demographic, but there
is a limit in Vince McMahon’s PG-rated promotion. That’s according to the sources who spoke to Ringside News, who explained that NXT 2.0
and RAW are definitely going to see more profanity, but SmackDown is not getting the same treatment.
It’s explained that the Blue brand has “standards and practices,” and no, we’re not talking about the Right to Censor rip-off in WCW, but actual
standards set by FOX which prevent SmackDown from going overboard with colourful language.
SmackDown can get away with some off-colour comments, like Roman Reigns’ dig at John Cena being like missionary position, but this line
was definitely a rarity for FOX. Given that most promos are still tightly scripted, fans shouldn’t expect to hear profanity from every
week, and in the case of WWE’s blue brand, the only S-Word fans will be hearing Is ‘SmackDown.’
One person who’s been enjoying the relaxed rules is Bill Goldberg, who’s looking to end Bobby Lashley at Crown Jewel.
In his promos ahead of their upcoming No Holds Barred match, Goldberg has said he’s going to kill and murder the Almighty in Saudi Arabia,
words that are typically banned from WWE broadcasts. Although hearing Goldberg use such violent terms
has been interesting, not everyone is a fan, as during the Tru Heel Heat podcast, Dutch Mantel dragged the Hall of Famer for saying he’ll kill Lashley.
He said: “Everybody knows they’re not going to kill him. Don’t they have laws against killing people?
I mean you can go out there and say ‘I will destroy you’ or ‘I will annihilate you’ or ‘take you apart,’ but murdering people? That’s a bad
word anyway and he shouldn’t have used it.” Godberg won’t actually be murdering Lashley at Crown Jewel, as we doubt the former
Universal Champion is willing to go to prison anytime soon, and although his promos have been interesting, they’ve gone too far for
Mantel’s liking.
Over to NXT 2.0 next, as the colourful brand saw arguably it’s biggest debut on last night’s broadcast.
After Joe Gacy defeated, and later hugged Ikeman Jiro, he exited the ring happy to have won, but his smile vanished when he saw
Harland staring down at him from the stands. Sporting a new shaved head, many fans didn’t realise it was Harland at first, but it was
indeed Parker Boudreaux, who many, including Paul Heyman, have considered the next Brock Lesnar.
It looks like Harland’s first NXT TV feud may be with Gacy, although WWE teased that Gacy may try and recruit the 23-year-old Superstar.
Explaining Harland’s new bald look, PW Torch’s Wade Keller has said that Bruce Prichard thought he looked too much like a babyface
and Parker was asked to shave his head to make him appear more like a monster heel who’ll decimate opponents, akin to Lesnar in 2002.
Harland gave up college football to join the world of pro-wrestling, and we’re curious to see what the next Brock Lesnar does after his debut this week.
Now, Finn Balor, was drafted to RAW this week, and hasn’t waited long in calling out his first two opponents.
In a series of tweets, Balor called out both Seth Rollins and AJ Styles, both of whom were picked by RAW this year.
Balor has history with both men, as he defeated Rollins to become the first Universal Champion at Summerslam 2016, and his history with the
Bullet Club and Styles outside of WWE is well known. These tweets aren’t just Balor’s wishful thinking,
as it’s been reported that WWE is planning these feuds, and this is just the start of something huge to come
After an impressive tenure in NXT, and a strong return to the main roster on SmackDown, Balor is now back on RAW, and is hungry to take down
the pair of former WWE Champions on his road, back to the top of the red brand.
AEW news next, as Adam Cole joined the company last month, after turning down WWE’s offer of a main-roster call-up.
It’s been reported that WWE’s plan was for Cole to change his name, cut his hair and debut as the manager for a heel Keith Lee,
which obviously didn’t transpire. On the latest Being the Elite, AEW’s Dark Order joked about WWE’s plans for Cole, as Alex
Reynolds asked the former NXT Champion to join the Dark Order, on the condition that he cuts his hair.
Cole has certainly impressed in AEW, as he boasts a 3-0 win record, and fans will get to see him, long hair and all, on tonight’s Dynamite
eight-man-tag-team action.
More from RAW, as Dana Brooke night this past Monday didn’t go well, as she became the latest victim of Shayna Baszler.
Not only did Brooke have to deal with the Queen of Spades in the ring, but she had to deal with Corey Graves on commentary, who had some
uncalled for remarks about Brooke’s career. Saying that Brooke should “cut her losses,” implying that she should leave wrestling, Graves
went on to say the 32-year-old Superstar “hasn’t accomplished much of anything.” This led to a backlash online, as fans argued that
even if she’s been losing, Graves shouldn’t have buried her by saying Brooke she should quit wrestling, and now Dana has also chimed in.
In an Instagram story, Brooke said that once you entertain a clown, namely Graves, by responding, you become a clown as well.
Brooke added that she has no plans on ‘cutting her losses’ and Graves, like countless others can continue to watch her work.
On Twitter, the commentator fired off a single middle-finger emoji, though it’s hard to tell if this is aimed at Brooke or not, but there’s no love
lost between the RAW commentator and this Superstar.
And we’re ending today with Peyton Royce, who was released this year despite huge plans rumoured for her.
When the IIconics were split in 2020, it was reportedly because Vince McMahon saw Royce as their next big singles star, on the level of
Bianca Belair, which didn’t happen. Instead, WWE released Royce, and the company wasn’t receptive to the Australian’s creative ideas,
as she told SB Nation recently: “I actually asked to go back [to NXT]. It was kind of being looked into, is what I was told. And then,
, I got released.” WWE’s release came just one month after Royce’s passionate RAW Talk worked-shoot, where she
spoke about her frustration with being overlooked by the company. Instead of the push she was hoping for, this
promo was followed by weeks of Royce sitting backstage without anything to do, and who knows if she’d still be in WWE today had WWE
granted her a move back to NXT.