Hello, I’m Adam and look, it’s a new thing.
A round-up of the week’s biggest news stories in LIST FORM, because apparently if you cut me I bleed easily to digest information sorted into numerical value.
Anyway, let us know if you like this new format, anything you’d like to see to improve or if you hate all change and me by leaving us a comment. Writing this on Friday so here’s bloody hoping the biggest news story of the week doesn’t break on Saturday.
Of course it will.
10. Eddie Kingston Shoots On WWE
Following the Saturday episode of AEW Dynamite, Eddie Kingston, or what would happen in Martin Scorcese made Space Jam, cut a promo for the live crowd only where he spoke about “the competition” not wanting to hear their fans, and implied that “other channel’s” wrestlers are just there for a paycheck and aren’t respected.
This promoted a typically measured reaction from infamously agreeable AEW and WWE fans, with Bully Ray telling Kingston to “Shut the f*** up and stay in his lane.” Hooray for measured wrestling discourse!
9. Sonjay Dutt Leaves WWE For AEW
With all the WWE releases this year, it’s nice to just see someone quit.
Former X-Division wunderkind Sonjay Dutt has been working as a producer for WWE and NXT since 2019, but reportedly handed in his notice two weeks ago, to immediately turn up backstage in AEW on Wednesday, where he’s now believed to be signed.
8. Rest In Patriot
On Thursday it was revealed on Facebook by a friend that Del Wilkes, best known to wrestling fans as The Patriot has passed away at the way-too-young age of 59.
Wilkes wrestled around the world in promotions like the AWA, WCW and All Japan Pro Wrestling, before arriving for a relatively short stint in WWE.
Fans might remember that he was originally given what would go on to become Kurt Angle’s Medal theme, which he entered to for his biggest WWE match, battling Bret hart for the WWF championship at In Your House: Ground Zero in 1997.
Our thoughts are with the friends and family of Del Wilkes. Rest in peace.
7. Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch get married
I now pronounce you Husband and Man.
Seth Rollins has teased that he and Becky Lynch were getting married on Tuesday, and then WWE congratulated the couple on Instagram.
We’d also like to extend our congratulations for their very happy man-trimony.
6. Wrestling Ratings
WWE Raw got its third lowest rating ever this week, and it’s lowest non-holiday rating of the year, with just 1.57 million viewers.
This is a shame because Raw has started to slowly improve as of late, but also maybe good if this number continues to motivate better, more cohesive shows.
AEW Dynamite has rebounded now back in its Wednesday night timeslot, averaging 883,000 viewers, almost double what it was getting on Friday nights last month.
This could be down to Jim Ross tricking viewers by calling it WWE Dynamite, though.
5. Roman Reigns Buries WWE Roster
Roman Reigns appeared on Peter Rosenberg’s Cheap Heat podcast to say there “ain’t nobody” he can currently pass the torch to, calling Drew McIntyre his very distant number two, but even he “ain’t there”.
And while yes, that’s kayfabe, it’s Roman’s whole Head of the Table, but also oh no it’s kind of true, as right now only part-timers Edge or John Cena seem like viable candidates for Roman right now.
Here’s hoping whoever wins Money In The Bank is positioned well to challenge the Big Head of the Dog Table.
4. Samoa Joe’s In-Ring Return
Samoa Joe has told Ryan Satin’s Out of Character podcast he’s “absolutely” working on getting cleared for an in-ring return in NXT, where he’s also working in the scouting department and “doing more administrative things behind the scenes.”
Joe hasn’t wrestled since February 2020 due to multiple concussions and he was released by WWE in April.
Joe revealed Triple H called him right after he was let go, saying he wanted to bring him back in. Samoa Joe vs Adam Cole as soon as possible, please and thank you.
3. Bronson Reed Loses NXT North American Championship
Bronson Reed lost his North American title this week to Isiah Swerve Scott, Head of the fantastic new NXT stable Hit Row Records.
Reed was spotted having tryout matches at Raw and SmackDown the last several weeks and his name has also reportedly been internally listed as available for the post-SummerSlam draft, leading to speculation that his speedy dropping of the title is so he can be called up to the main roster soon, along with Scarlett Bordeaux and Shotzi Blackheart and Karrion Kross whose main roster entrance is… it’s sad, guys.
2. Vince McMahon Visits The Performance Center
With ratings and live event ticket sales down, Vince McMahon has taken the incredibly rare step of actually acknowledging developmental exists – making a much anticipated trip to the Performance Center to find “younger and bigger guys”.
PWInsider reported that many were worried about the visit, as they feared it could come with more releases, but apparently Vince was a “breath of fresh air” and doesn’t it feel weird to use that phrase in relation to Vince, as we’re reliably informed that Vince’s breath smells like an old gym that’s burned down with a bunch of horses inside.
1. Lana Appears On Talk Is Jericho
In her first interview after being released in April, Lana appeared on Talk is Jericho to talk about her WWE career – recalling how she was “personally” blamed for someone leaking a picture of her and Rusev’s engagement to TMZ while they were feuding, and how she was taken off TV for three months as punishment. She said her release came as a complete shock, but she’s had “different things in wrestling” offered since, and she’s been “ big part of [Miro’s] success behind closed doors in AEW”.
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