FINALLY! The Vince Era is over and Raw opens hot! That alone is SO refreshing.
“Your daddy ain’t here no more.”
Means so many things.
I watched almost all of RAW to see if there were any drastic changes. Would the announcers say any of the forbidden words, now that Vince was no longer micromanaging them? He apparently has them trained well.
It was interesting that they put Theory in feuds with Reigns, the Usos, Ziggler, McEntyre, Lashley and Lesnar simultaneously. Usually, the MitB winner keeps a low profile and doesn’t brag that they’re going to cash in after the title match. Theory does that and gets swamped, like a tornado-inducing butterfly. He kept adding to his own troubles by being petty and obnoxious. I’m hooked.
They actually kept the Summerslam promos to a minimum and had more wrestling content than usual. I may just have to reactivate my Peacock account.
Pretty good start to the new era. Opening with a fight in progress, new camera angles in use early on, blood freely shown.
Making Theory pay his dues was part of Vince’s scheme, we’ll have to wait to see how that works out, I assume he regains the US title of whatever it is from Lashley but get squashed trading in his briefcase, but everything could have changed for him. I think Theory shows fantastic athletic ability and the basics of a wrestling personality, Vince was one to something with him, but I think he needs more seasoning.
When I saw Theory at an Evolve show many moons ago, he played the role of the rich spoiled brat pretty well. I do like him as the annoying pipsqueak. It’s not Rock or Stone Cold level, but he’s on his way.
I like NXT again.
They took some of the NXT UK talent and added extra dimensions to them. Jordan Devlin played the “just plain mean” sort of heel before, but now as JD McDonagh, he’s an utter psychopath. He acts nice to people at first, then starts layering intimidating comments as to how he can instantly cause permanent damage to their bodies. I’m really amazed at how well he pulls it off. He does more than just recite script.
Then there’s the new version of the Grizzled Young Veterans. They were an awesome tag team in NXT UK. Zack Gibson was the mouth of the team, portraying the wildly obnoxious soccer hooligan, while James Drake played the silent technical master. Now they’ve become The Dyad, the incredibly creepy reformed monster followers of Joe Gacy. Gibson is now clean shaven with an inverse pupil contact lens, while Drake is now clean-shaven and looks like a 70’s era televangelist. I didn’t even recognize them until I did a search.
Summerslam predictions:
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BORK LASER vs. Roman Reigns, Last Man Standing match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Roman beats Brock, Austin Theory cashes in, then Roman beats Theory too. Roman isn’t dropping the belts until next Wrestlemania, and possibly not until the Wrestlemania after that.
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Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair for the Raw women’s championship. Becky wins, because my money is still on a Becky vs. Ronda title unification match for next Wrestlemania.
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Liv Morgan vs. Ronda Rousey for the Smackdown women’s championship. Ronda wins, see above.
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Bobby Lashley vs. Austin Theory for the US championship. Bobby wins in order to set a fire under Theory’s feet for the cash-in later in the night. Now that the “Vince’s golden boy” angle is dead in the water, I expect them to build Theory up more gradually for when he eventually gets a legit shot at the top title.
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Usos vs. the Street Profits for the Undisputed Tag Team Championship, guest referee Jeff Jarrett. JJ is here for one reason and one reason only - to kabong someone over the head with a guitar before he counts a pin for their opponent. I’m gonna say the Profits win here, because Hunter is going to let Jeff be a babyface for the Nashville crowd and it’ll set up some tension within the Bloodline.
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Logan Paul vs. the Miz. If Vince were still running things, they’d paint Paul as a babyface and give him a clean victory. I absolutely loathe that little piece of shit, though, and I think Hunter is wise enough to know that most of the audience does as well, so I’m hoping Miz cleans his clock and then he’s never seen in the ring again.
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Pat McAfee vs. Baron Corbin. Same as above - Vince would have Corbin win, but I’m betting Hunter books McAfee to win.
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Rey & Dominick Mysterio vs. Finn Balor & Damian Priest. They’ve been teasing a feud between the Mysterios for awhile now, so I’m gonna guess that Judgment Day wins here and it sets up Dominick to turn on his dad.
Roman Reigns and Jey Uso when they see Austin Theory about to try and cash in on the Tribal Chief after he beats Brock Lesnar into a bloody pulp:
I’m not sure.
Minus the Vince’s golden boy angle, all that’s really left of the golden-boy gimmick is being the youngest United States champion in WWE history — which, y’know, he constantly trumpeted while he held the title; and which he still constantly trumpets after having lost the title, because, well, that’s his persona.
If you wanted to bring a ‘wild maniac’ schtick to the next level, options come to mind. If you wanted to do that for a ‘brainy strategist’ schtick, or a ‘rich womanizer’ one, likewise. But: if his current schtick needs a shot in the arm, what else is there other than him getting something bigger to brag about?
Granted, but (and I never thought I’d be saying this a few years ago) it’s not time yet for Roman to drop the title. Right now he’s the longest-running champion since the days of Bob Backlund and Bruno Sammartino and Hogan’s first run, and that means that when he finally loses the belts it needs to be an absolutely huge moment on par with the end of the Streak, and he needs to lose it to the person who’s going to be the next John Cena-level generation-defining babyface. He needs to beat the Rock at Wrestlemania next year and keep the titles until at least the Wrestlemania after that, when he can drop them to Bron Breakker or someone comparable.
AEW Dark Taz/Excalibur moment of the day
No references, veiled or otherwise, to VKMcM’s retirement as far as I could tell. Sometimes I go QAnon-level when attempting to find secret messages in wrestling commentary, but everybody needs a hobby.
- The crowd cheered for Mike Orlando because they were in Orlando Florida listening to Tony Orlando.
- Taz pronounces Cameron as “Cammer Ann,” says it’s because he likes to remix ring names.
- Regarding Blake Christian dusting off his shoulder: "Isn’t that a 2002 thing? Even the hat sideways, like Slim Jones (Slim J), that’s a 2001 thing. "
- Rich kids have heart too.
- Taz’s lawsuit with Dante Martin is still pending.
- The Wingmen’s sax player wears a bathing suit while playing.
- Referee Rick Knox was checking Peter Avalon’s mouth for a displaced contact lens.
- During Pac vs LJ Cleary, Taz called the Dublin crowd “Belfast Jones.”
Ryan Nemeth vs. Alex Reynolds
Dasha Fuentes introduces Alex Reynolds as being from " A Long Island."
Ex: Did Dasha just say “A Long Island?” As if there are multiple Long Islands?
Taz: Yes, there’s multiple Long Islands. There’s multiple islands that are long, I believe that Alex is from a long island that’s based in New York, I believe a suburb, and it’s broken down into two counties, of Nassau or something, I’m assuming from a Nassau County, or from a Suffolk County, or from a Long Island. Dasha will hate us forever.
Ex: If we’re not careful, she’s going to go through our bags during the show.
Taz: Well, unless Nemeth beats her to it, but we’ll digress.
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Nemeth jabs Reynolds in the eye and takes him down.
Taz: Don’t let Nemeth behind you. He will literally pick your pocket.
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Reynolds takes down Nemeth with a European Uppercut and kips up.
Ex: Reynolds “on the hop” as you like to say, Taz, with the European Uppercut.
Taz: Well, thank you for giving me credit. Most people give me credit for nothing in this commentary world, but thank you.
Ex: Well, it’s like when I coin my phrase, “Not my zoo, not my elephant” and you gave me credit for it.
…
Taz: And my line is “Not my zoo, not my clown,” because I don’t want to body shame any mammals.
Ex: How is saying “elephant” body shaming elephants?
Taz: Well, you’re calling an elephant fat, that’s why.
Thanks @Knowed_Out , wife was on the phone for the last 3/4 of the show and I had the volume too low and missed lots of their chatter.
I think Belair retains, even if they are setting up for next Wrestlemania, and especially after they knee-capped Belair last SummerSlam. The only thing that makes me doubt this is that they are setting up for Bliss to be the next challenger and I don’t think they are going to turn Bliss, unless they have her backstab Asuka. But I can definitely see them taking the title off of Morgan. Her reign is simply a “thanks for being there” stint, not a “I’m going to carry the SD Women’s division” stint. Only way she retains is a Flair or Bailey return, setting up Rousey-Flair and/or Morgan-Bailey the next big PVE.
I wonder if Paul knows he’s a heel in the fans’ eyes? Miz should win, but I don’t see either turning face. Maybe Styles interferes and Paul & Miz unite against Styles? I don’t know.
McAfee, on the other hand, is a legit face, and should win, hopefully fairly cleanly.
I disagree with the decisions that would make those predictions come true, so they probably will. Roman definitely wins against Lesnar, and Theory if they even fight. What happens with Theory is up in the air without his daddy helping him. I really want to see Liv win one, hoping Charlotte interferes somehow to let her get the win. Becky really has to lose this one. If she wins I’d expect to see more women desert the WWE if wrestlers had any sense (hint: usually they don’t).
heres a thing on logan paul apparently WWE is resorting to old wcw/awa tv tricks :
I wonder if Summerslam is going to be " ok we’re going to finish all of Vince’s storylines and then start new ones … or will they wait until next year to do so since Vince booked so far in advance until he changed his mind anyways …
I don’t see anything wrong with a heel vs. heel fight. WWE rarely has matches where I want any of the competitors to win. It better be an outrageous bloody brawl with the referee knocked unconscious for a substantial amount of time, I don’t want to see a couple of heels conducting a tea party.
Kayfabe. Probably pulled for time. Though if they learned not to run 1000 promos to an audience already watching the PVE, they could probably fit it.
Probably undetermined scheduling even at this point. Was the Riddle vs. Rollins thing catching fire? Both of them are coming off of interrupted storylines, I didn’t see it going anywhere.
interesting rumors i came across :
- According to Wrestlenomics, NXT will hold their next premium live event on Sun., Sept. 4, the same day as AEW All Out.
- A source told The Hard Way’s Leslie Lee III that WWE Executive Producer Kevin Dunn didn’t think Becky Lynch was “attractive enough” to be a champion in the company.
- While he didn’t name any particular wrestler, Freddy Prinze Jr. said on the latest episode of his podcast that when he was on the WWE creative team, “You could pitch for like 20 minutes and Kevin [Dunn] would be like ‘Well I don’t think she’s pretty,’ and all of a sudden six weeks of story would just be gone… ‘Our champ has to be pretty.’”
- Paul Heyman joined Triple H at the WWE talent tryouts in Nashville yesterday, fueling speculation he will have a larger role at the company after Vince McMahon’s departure.
- Ric Flair told Chris Van Vliet that he and Conrad Thompson had plans to include more AEW talent on the Ric Flair’s Last Match card, but “it all became a little political with Tony [Khan].”
I’m almost afraid to ask, but why is Logan Paul a thing in WWE? I understand he has a popular YouTube channel, and remember he got in trouble for showing a hanged man’s corpse in a Japanese forest, but that’s about all I know about him. Do they think he’ll capture the Social Media market for them? They’ve tried that route before with Grumpy Cat, which come to think of it was another Miz angle, and it fizzled like a cat fart.