Meanwhile, WWE’s lawyers will all be updating their CVs.
It also appears that Vince will still be in control of creative. Not that Bruce Pritchard, should McMahon and Lauranitis be kicked to the curb, will be much different. There’s a reason he’s remained so long.
Lots of speculation regarding what did Stephanie know and when, and whether or not her hiatus was tied to this. Also people speculating because she was addressed as Ms., not Mrs., in the press release. Mostly people talking out their asses - nothing with any legs at this point.
@Martin_Hyde I also started watching in the early 70s when I was single digit years old. Back when McMahon was just an announcer (and not a very good one) and I knew nor cared nothing about the owners. Didn’t know at all that he was just paying his dues and being groomed to take over.
Riddle dedicated his match with Reigns to Randy Orton, who will, in fact, be out the rest of the year. He proceeded to lose.
Brian Piccolo: When you dedicate a game to someone, you are then supposed to go out and win it, idiot. You know, Pat O’Brien never said, “Let’s blow one for the Gipper.”
Brock Lesnar came out after the match, laying waste to Reigns and the Usos, and it’ll be yet another Reigns/Lesnar match, with the winner no doubt disappearing with both belts for a couple more months, at SummerSlam.
Well, turns out Vince was only out to greet the fans, and did nothing controversial. Riddle’s promo was cringy, saccharine lines run through a BRO filter. Otherwise, SD was pretty unremarkable. Looks like they’ve shied away from RL-based angles, so there was no trainwreck to witness.
The title match was pretty good, except it was obvious they were not going to make Riddle the champ. I didn’t expect a clean win for Roman though. Maybe somebody will figure out the WWE Universe came to see Riddle and not the guy who still can’t wrestle.
As for Vince, the man is a genius. While the board of directors decides on his fate he announces he will be on Smackdown, and gets a monumental ovation for waving to the crowd. Ratings will show a surprising number of viewers tuning in to Smackdown, then leaving after Vince’s brief appearance. Yeah, they’re not getting rid of that guy.
The Reigns/Lesnar match at SummerSlam will be a Last Man Standing match.
Sadly, we have seen the passing of two former WWE referees in the past few days. Dave Hebner passed away Friday, and Tim White passed away last night. Dave was famous for being the twin brother of WWE referee Earl Hebner and confusing Hulk Hogan in title match. Dave became a full time referee after that. Tim traveled with Andre the Giant on the road at Andre’s insistence, and the relief of all the other road managers. He was also the referee when Undertaker threw Mankind off the Hell in a Cell. He severely injured his shoulder while refereeing in 2002. After surgery he briefly resumed his career but quickly injured his shoulder again. He would later work for WWE at events and autograph signings, he was well known and liked among the wrestlers and often requested to accompany them. Timmy was also my good friend for the past 25 years. He was a wonderful man in and out of the ring. His positive attitude was infectious. He will be greatly missed by many people.
yeah, I just read that sorry you lost a friend. I bet he had cool Andre stories tho
That’s cool you knew Tim White, I had seen a number of “shoot” interviews he had done, he seemed to really love the business and have had a long and happy career in it. It also sounded like he was a bit of a party animal himself, considering no less than Ric Flair once remarked it is a “miracle that Timmy White is still alive” based on how hard he would go back when he was riding with Andre. Sounds like someone who lived life to the fullest.
It looks like a lot of big stars of wrestling really liked him given the response on Twitter to his passing. Have they released a cause of death? I hadn’t heard he was unwell.
Indeed. Almost every one involves a bar.
Living life to the fullest was what he was all about. He’s had health issues to deal with, but he probably wore himself out. He was on the go constantly, if it wasn’t for work he was off to see his many friends and relatives. I’m really going to miss him.
yeah honky tonk man had a good one about when him andre and the house show crew went to the hotel bar in texas
May his memory be for blessing.
John Laurinaitis has been placed on indefinite leave and Bruce Prichard has taken his place as head of talent relations.
Brother Love has issues of his own, but he’s WAY better than Johnny Ace, and he might even treat the women’s division with some semblance of dignity.
Vince only works with 3 people: Dunn, Pritchard, and Laurenitis. I guess everyone else has ideas of their own, and that doesn’t work for Vince.
Kevin Owens must be incredibly embarrassed after both Ezekiel and Elias were both on the show last night. No fake Elias by Damien Sandow, the real one sitting there live. We know he’s the real one because he still can’t play the guitar. I can’t wait to see them in a tag team match.
When the storyline started, I was pissed because WWE was ruining a perfectly good character in Elias.
I’ve been having fun, however, watching Kevin Owens slowly lose his mind. But shit, after this match at Money in the Bank, give both men something else to do. These feuds last too long.
you know I dont understand why everyone is surprised Randy Orton is such a prick in character I mean cowboy bob wasn’t known for being a nice guy … and I remember his dad wasn’t all that nice either
AEW Dark Taz/Excalibur moment of the day
Taz is mostly back to his bananas state this week.
- Taz points out that Anthony Bowens couldn’t be at ringside during Max Caster’s match because the entrance ramp isn’t handicap accessible.
- Excalibur intimidates Tony Schiavone.
- Taz and Ex discuss making water available for the Wingmen’s sax player.
- Peter Avalon and Cesar Bononi do a double flex pose. Taz remarks they look like father and son, then adds “we got enough of those.”
- What’s the deal with Mark Sterling’s clipboard? Is it a list? That’s already been done.
- Ex, after Deebs and Martinez get the victory, notes they don’t look happy with the win. Taz replies “You’ve never seen my matches.”
- Satnam Singh’s ears are bigger than some guys in the locker room.
- Taz makes other announcers run for the hills.
Devlin MacCabre vs Diamanté
Ex: Devlin with a trip, and grabs a side headlock. Smart move there.
Taz: Yeah, very smart, instead of doing the traditional drop-down, she rolled into her opponent’s feet. Seen people do that in the past, very unique.
Ex: Diamanté…
Taz: Maybe it’s an overstatement. I’m trying to back off from overstatements. It wasn’t “very unique,” it was “unique.”
Ex: Yeah. Very unique. Oh, wow, we’ll get to that later.
Diamanté stomps MacCabre in the corner. Referee Bryce Remsburg pulls her off.
Taz: Referee Bryce Remsburg, he’s got a mean streak, he’s always angry, that guy. It’s guys that aren’t tall. Guys that have these complexes. That’s what I heard.
Ex: (chuckles) Diamanté, far leg hook there…
Taz: I’m a lot taller than Bryce, by the way. The referee here, ladies and gentlemen? That’s Bryce. You’ve seen me next to Bryce. I’m a giant.
Ex: I have seen you.
Remsburg admonishes Diamanté for not breaking her hold.
Ex: A lot of attitude to Diamanté.
Taz: I tell you, he’s always angry, he’s always pent up, he always thinks he’s the boss around here. This ref, they have too much power. Bryce Remsburg, he’s drunk with power, dammit!
Silas Young is now in AEW! He’s fodder for Hangman Page, but my fantasy booking is inching closer to actuality!
Tony Kahn, you are under my power >>>> Your will is my will >>>> Book Silas Young as Darby Allin’s abusive uncle nowwwwwwww
Forbidden Door is this Sunday, and it looks like we now have the full card;
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Jay White (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Adam Cole vs. Adam Page
- Interim AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
- AEW Women’s Championship: Thunder Rosa (c) vs. Toni Storm
- All-Atlantic Championship: PAC vs. Miro vs. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Malakai Black
- ROH Tag Team Championships/IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, winners-take-all: FTR (c) vs. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan (c) vs. Roppongi Vice
- Zack Sabre Jr. vs. a wrestler of Bryan Danielson’s choosing
- The Young Bucks, El Phantasmo, & Hikuleo vs. Darby Allin, Sting, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi
- Eddie Kingston, Shota Umino, & Wheeler Yuta vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, & Minoru Suzuki
- Shane Strickland & Keith Lee vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- Pre-show match: Max Caster & The Gunn Club vs. Kevin Knight, The DKC, Alex Coughlin & Yuya Uemura
I’m not too crazy about the cavalcade of six-and-eight-man matches that always pop up on NJPW undercards, and the timing of this show is a little unfortunate since Punk and Danielson are both missing it, but overall it sounds worth watching. I’m particularly interested in who ZSJ’s mystery opponent is, since Danielson promised “the best technical wrestler in the world”. I wonder if William Regal’s coming out of retirement for one more match, or we’re going to see a debuting Claudio Castagnoli (formerly Cesaro) make his appearance.