Here's your wrestling news for July 5th 2021
And your headlines for today include
What Did WWE Management Inform Samoa Joe About Main Roster Callup?
FINN BALOR Drops Interesting Bullet Club Video!
KENNY OMEGA Fires Back At Fans For Copying WWE Superstar!
Brian Cage Legit Unhappy About AEW Fyter Fest Poster Snub!
Why WWE Wanted Moose On Main Roster!
AEW Star Is Tired Of Fans Sending Unsolicited Photos To Her DMs!
John Morrison Trolls Ricochet ; Ricochet Strongly Reacts!
AEW Star Might Not Return After Doing ‘Very Well’ In Career Outside Of Wrestling!
"A Big Fight Broke Out" - Former WWE Referee Recollects WWE Wrestlers Brawling With Real Fighters!
Tucker Kills WWE Money In The Bank Rumor! And More!
We’re kicking off today with Samoa Joe, who returned to NXT last month, marking his first appearance on the gold brand
since January 2017. Initially debuting in WWE on NXT in 2015, Joe was instantly impressive, becoming
a two-time NXT Champion before his call-up. Now, fans can find him as William Regal’s
enforcer, and during an Out of Character podcast appearance, Joe confirmed the rumour that like Kevin Owens, he was told
not to expect to be called-up to the main roster ever in his career. He added: “People think I get hurt when I hear that,
but I’ve experienced this my entire career everywhere I’ve gone. Everywhere.” Joe gave some examples of people not
having faith in him, saying that Dutch Mantel didn’t believe in him when he started in TNA:
“I remember I’m going to walk out for my match on Impact, my very first match. And he [Mantel] looks me up and goes ‘well son,
you only get one chance to make a first impression. Doesn’t look like you’re about to make a good one. Alright, go out there
and get them kid.’ I had known Dutch for a little bit, so I’m dying laughing as I walk through the curtain. So being
doubted walking through the door is absolutely, I’m numb to it.” WWE’s higher-ups may not have expected
much from Joe, but he more than delivered upon joining the gold brand in 2015. The irony of this, is that most NXT
Superstars probably dread being called-up, as many have gone underutilised by Vince McMahon, and for now, Joe is perfectly
happy in NXT, as he continues to work towards an in-ring return.
Finn Balor hasn’t been seen in NXT since losing the NXT Title to Karrion Kross, and as rumours persist of a return to the
main-roster, the Prince is having fun on social media. On Twitter, Balor shared a video of a fan
wearing a Bullet Club shirt, and made sure that viewers saw the logo of the infamous group.
A few years ago, it was quite common to see Bullet Club shirts out in the wild, but they’re not as popular anymore.
Balor’s short video certainly got a huge reaction from fans, and with Balor not the only Bullet-Club alum in WWE, who knows
if a reunion could happen on RAW or SmackDown. If Balor does re-join the main-roster this
year, he probably won’t come alone, as Karrion Kross, Bronson Reed and others have all had tryouts as of late, and with
Balor looking more than ready to go again, his return to the main-roster could be a highlight of 2021, especially if he has the
club by his side.
AEW news next, as AEW World Champion Kenny Omega recently appeared with a new look, which reminded fans of a certain
King of Kings. Sporting a long handle-bar moustache, many considered Omega’s new look as
another reference to WWE and Triple H circa 2006, but that isn’t the case. When a fan said that Omega’s new look
has quote ‘Harley Race Energy’ Omega said that’s exactly where he got his inspiration from, and that the Game never crossed
his mind. We’ll have to see how long the Cleaner keeps this new look around, which is in
tribute to one of the toughest men to ever grace the squared circle.
Omega is expected to headline AEW Fyter Fest, which’ll air on the 14th and 21st of July, but not every match is getting a ton
of focus. Although Brian Cage and Ricky Starks will face for the FTW Title at the show, you
wouldn’t know it by looking at the poster, which doesn’t feature either man.
On Twitter, Cage lashed out at the promotional material, saying that despite the show being in Starks’ hometown,
and Austin being a city very close to his wrestling career, that they can’t get on the poster.
Cage also used the hashtag #WrestleCircus, referencing the promotion he once worked for in Austin, and among other great
performances, once faced Tessa Blanchard in a fantastic intergender match. Given that Cage is turning face, it’s out of
character for him to be mad about this poster, as it seems the Machine is genuinely mad about being snubbed.
For the past few years, WWE has been signing up as much talent as they can, with Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Robert
all coming from Impact Wrestling. One major name from Impact that WWE hasn’t signed is Moose, but that’s not
for lack of trying. Fightful Select reports that, WWE was trying to sign Moose, and the plan was
for the former NFL star to head straight to the main-roster upon joining. WWE never made an offer, but the interest
was there, and in response, as Impact made a huge play to re-sign him. In June, Moose revealed that his contract
with Impact was ending, but he’s since inked a new multi-year deal with the company.
Moose’s new contract reportedly has a substantial increase from his previous arrangement with the company, and though
he’s been challenging Impact World Champion Kenny Omega lately, that would have never happened had WWE got their
way.
As the second-ever AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose is a major success in wrestling, and has a ton of fans supporting her,
but unfortunately, some people have to take things a step too far. On Twitter, Rose fired off a tweet about fans
who take it too far, sending unsolicited pictures of their genitals to her account. She said:
GUYS! I really can’t believe that we STILL have to have this discussion but I PROMISE you \there is NOTHING cute about unwanted D
pics…i’m going to start a social media where you need to attach your bank account to sign up, and if you do this
bullshit you get charged real money This is something Rose has spoken about in the past, but it seems she’s having to
to make herself clear to fans who didn’t get the message the first time. The Native Beast likes to have fun on
social media, recently teasing opening an OnlyFans account, but this week was no joke, and we can only hope that the
people sending these pics cut it out immediately.
Back to WWE, and tonight, Ricochet and John Morrison are set to face off in a rematch, after last-week’s encounter
ended in a double count-out. It’s no secret that Ricochet has been a wrestling fan for years, and even met
Morrison years before he signed with WWE, something that Johnny Drip-Drip hasn’t forgotten.
On Twitter, Morrison shared a photo of him and a younger Ricochet, complete with Ricochet sporting long hair, and wished
his ‘biggest fan’ a happy fourth of July. Following up with a video promo, Morrison used plenty of water puns, calling himself
Johnny Drip Drop and the Flood Stud, which got a response from Ricochet himself.
The former U.S. Champion warned Morrison to watch his mouth when talking about a ricochet, saying that a ricochet is liable to
to hot anything nearby, including Morrison, the Miz or anyone in the Money in the Bank ladder match.
Both men are confirmed for the Men’s Ladder match, and a victory tonight will give one of them a ton of momentum
heading into July 18th.
More from AEW next, as the company has a huge roster, which means that not everyone gets screen-time every single
week. Fans haven’t seen Melanie Cruise since the Nightmare Collective disbanded,
making her last AEW match a victory over Red Velvet during an August 2020 AEW Dark.
Now, fans may not see Mel again, as Fightful reports that her career outside of wrestling is doing very well, though
it’s not noted what her day job is when she’s not in the ring. It’s also reported that Mel isn’t being
factored into any imminent creative plans, and though the company could bring her back to TV soon, the wrestler is doing
pretty well for herself, without having to take a single bump.
If you’ve been a wrestling fan long enough, you’ll have seen plenty of multi-man brawls on-screen, but these incidents also happen
out of the ring too. In 2005, WWE stayed at the same hotel as a group of kickboxers in Manchester
England, and within minutes of WWE’s bus arriving in the early hours of the morning, a fight broke out between the two sides.
Speaking to James Romero of Wrestling Shoot Interviews, former WWE ref Mike Chioda discussed the brawl, saying:
Everybody was running off the bus, we were all fighting, dudes just throwing around, and it was a good old time there.
It was Batista in that brawl, Benoit was in that brawl. Everybody, everybody was just all over the place because it was a
good amount of guys. Despite the pleas of John Lauriniatis for the wrestlers to stop, all hell broke loose,
and said that many people in the brawl were tired, drunk and fired up. Amazingly, no-one got fined after the brawl,
last year, he said police were there when the fight broke out, and no-body was arrested.
Chioda insisted that the Superstars who fought were just defending themselves, and It goes to show that some of the most
exciting action in WWE doesn’t happen on-screen.
And we’re ending with WWE, who made the shocking decision last year for Otis to win Money in the Bank, and fans speculated
on when he’d cash-in on. One popular theory is that Otis, who was in Heavy Machinery, would cash-in on the
SmackDown Tag Team Champions, but that didn’t happen, as Tucker turned on Otis at Hell in a Cell, causing him to lose the
the briefcase to The Miz. Speaking to The OTR show recently, Tucker revealed that WWE never had plans for a tag
team briefcase cash-in. He explained:
“Vince doesn’t feel like the tag division can really draw money. At least that seems to be the way that they’re booked. Even
when they have a super emotional story, they might get twenty minutes at the most… the Money in the Bank is like one of the
biggest things in the company, it’s one of the biggest prop gimmicks that there is. It’s a ticket to a world title… It would be
nice to think they’d use it for us to win the tag team championships, but I don’t think it was the plan. And if it was, it never got
there.” Instead of cashing-in with Otis, Tucker was released on April 15th this year,
leaving WWE without any titles, and despite what some fans believed, a tag-title briefcase cash-in was never even