MVP appeared on Booker T.'s podcast after The Horror Show at Extreme Rules.
Apollo Crews was not present at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, having not been cleared to perform. He continues to have a difficult time building momentum.
Impact will have an Impact Plus special with Lariato Pro Wrestling on September 12. Doc Gallows, Eric Young, Crazzy Steve, and Johnny Swinger are all advertised. Good to see them running special shows again.
Kayla Braxton discussed her health and the response to her returning to WWE. Anyone in the public eye is going to get maliciously trolled, it looks like.
WWE's swamp fight was filmed in Florida.
Vince McMahon personally laid out the Eye For An Eye match, which was taped Sunday afternoon. That's a little surprising given that he usually goes for the "sports entertainment" silliness rather than a grudge match that serious.
- Vince cut out a more revealing sequence of Rey Mysterio losing an eye, which involved prosthetic makeup. This was taped, but Vince didn't like how it looked. That probably explains why the match was taped earlier in the day instead of being live like most of the rest of the show (everything except the swamp fight).
Asuka vs. Sasha Banks at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules had a disputed ending to drive viewership to Raw. The ending was changed the day of the show. The "on the fly" booking is getting scary.
"The Bump" this week will feature Bubba Ray Dudley, Big E, Tegan Nox, and Robert Stone. I can't help but think WWE will be tempted to use Bubba Ray in the ring again. If he's willing to be a mid-level supporting character, I'm on-board.
The Best of WWE this week will feature Drew McIntyre's road to the WWE Championship.
FS1 will no longer air Summerslam 1992 next week, as a Major League Baseball game will have that timeslot instead. There is no word on whether they will air the WWE content at another time.
WWE Network's ECW additions are events from 1996 through 1997 that were originally released on home video. Those lead up to their first PPV, Barely Legal.
Kairi Sane is believed to have finished up with WWE at Monday's TV taping. She remains on good terms with the company, so it's possible we see her as an ambassador for WWE's business in Japan. I hope we see more successful joshis in WWE in years to come.
The Good Brothers appeared on "Being The Elite" this week, spoofing their WWE tenure. It's good to see they're on good terms with the AEW crew again, and they can collectively joke about the pair re-signing with WWE.
- Alex Abrahantes also appeared on the show.
WWE's Monday taping started over an hour later than scheduled due to extensive rewrites. I feel like WWE changing things frequently and heavily is becoming more and more prevalent. I could see it being a side effect of Vince having not much else to do during COVID.
Bobby Fulton had successful surgery for internal bleeding. I hope he recovers fully.
Dustin Rhodes' upcoming Rhodes Wrestling Academy has launched a Twitter account. I like the potential for an AEW feeder system, or him otherwise building stars of the future.
Dark has announced:
- Diamante vs. KiLynn King
- Best Friends vs. Brady Pierce and Sabby (formerly NXT's Tino Sabbatelli)
- Scorpio Sky vs. Aaron Solow
- Hikaru Shida vs. Rache Chanel in a non-title match
- The Butcher & The Blade vs. Brandon Cutler and Peter Avalon
- Kip Sabian vs. Corey Hollis
- Ricky Starks vs. Will Hobbs
- Darby Allin vs. Robert Anthony
Rey Mysterio was at Monday's WWE taping, so he could appear on next week's show.
Simone Johnson spoke to Alicia Atout.
Maria Kanellis and Mike Bennett are on the most recent ROHStrong podcast, as well as ROH's latest "Week By Week" episode. It certainly looks like they're in line for a return when ROH starts running again.
Hana Kimura's ROH tribute episode was released on YouTube as an extended cut.
Impact's teases of Aces & Eights and the former Rusev were simply red herrings. There are no plans on either at this time. I do hope we haven't seen the last of Miro.
Rob Van Dam was at Impact's TV tapings this week. He hasn't been seen since the Cancel Culture stable was dropped. I'm curious what he'll do next.
Impact is looking at another "IPWF" show. Save it for Thanksgiving.
Ric Flair's wife has tested positive for COVID-19. Unfortunate that we haven't seen him on TV lately. I hope he's staying safe.
NXT is advertising a huge announcement from William Regal. I expect it will be revealing the next Takeover special.
Raw has announced:
- Drew McIntyre vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship. McIntyre chooses the stipulation.
- Asuka vs. Sasha Banks for the "undisputed" Raw Women's Championship
WWNLive is holding a closeout sale for all EVOLVE and related content following WWE's purchase of EVOLVE.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. The storyline has always been that The Fiend is the dark side of Firefly Fun House Bray, rather than him fully being one character or the other. So nothing's been ruined on that front. Bray has wanted to convince Braun to join him without The Fiend being involved, though that clearly didn't come to pass so now The Fiend has come out again. It definitely felt like they wanted to build Braun's reign up a bit before he faced The Fiend at Summerslam, so that explains why we got the previous version of Bray, but that also makes sense as part of Bray wanting to get Braun on his side without giving into what The Fiend wants.
2. Honestly those examples feel like Vince getting out of his comfort zone after he didn't "get" the Broken Universe style of things or making the actual ring work important with heated grudge matches, fighting champions, and the like. WWE has gotten away from automatic rematches and people not earning title matches (the Dolph situation being a step back from this). And let's not forget all the new faces that have been added to TV over the past year or so. It absolutely feels like he's tried to give critics what they want more than he has in the past, but clearly it has failed pretty heavily.
3. I wouldn't say that, but we definitely see the same few names over and over (much as we often do with the men).
4. Probably not McIntyre as much as a lot of the Triple H recruits who were successful outside of Raw and Smackdown precisely because they didn't fit Vince McMahon's vision of a superstar. It's been apparent for years there's a big disconnect between the type of talent Vince pushes and the type of talent Triple H signs, which has led to dissatisfaction on both sides.
5. Slater was still under that 90-day out clause of his contract, so he was almost certainly paid what he would have been paid had he appeared in February.
More wrestling tomorrow.
2. Honestly those examples feel like Vince getting out of his comfort zone after he didn't "get" the Broken Universe style of things or making the actual ring work important with heated grudge matches, fighting champions, and the like. WWE has gotten away from automatic rematches and people not earning title matches (the Dolph situation being a step back from this). And let's not forget all the new faces that have been added to TV over the past year or so. It absolutely feels like he's tried to give critics what they want more than he has in the past, but clearly it has failed pretty heavily.
3. I wouldn't say that, but we definitely see the same few names over and over (much as we often do with the men).
4. Probably not McIntyre as much as a lot of the Triple H recruits who were successful outside of Raw and Smackdown precisely because they didn't fit Vince McMahon's vision of a superstar. It's been apparent for years there's a big disconnect between the type of talent Vince pushes and the type of talent Triple H signs, which has led to dissatisfaction on both sides.
5. Slater was still under that 90-day out clause of his contract, so he was almost certainly paid what he would have been paid had he appeared in February.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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