I dunno, if he showed up for a date they requested and then at the last second they decided not to use him, I can see where he might be rather upset at not being paid for the day.
A rumor has hit the Internets this morning about the Brock situation which, if true, is absolutely damning.
According to the story, Roman Reigns tested positive for steroids over the weekend, and Vince * overrode the Wellness Policy and chose not to suspend him. * When Brock found out, he told Vince he wasn’t going to fight Reigns because being associated with a juicer would make it difficult or impossible for him to return to UFC, and asked that he be allowed to put over Cena or Daniel Bryan at 'Mania instead. Vince refused to change the main event either, and that’s why Brock backed out.
It’s possible that it’s not true, but it certainly has the ring of truth to it, and if it is true… Seriously, Vince needs to retire.
That is just insane.
I mean, it’s almost TOO insane to be true. It can’t be true.
…I mean…
…right?
PWInsiderchecked it out and WWE says it isn’t true.
Jeez, what a house of cards this Roman builds.
I’m going to stick to my hypothesis. He flew out in his personal airplane, spent money to get there, they wasted his time and didn’t pay him for an appearance. He left angry before the show ended, because why the hell would he stay to the end of a show he’s not needed for?
Well, they would say it’s not true, wouldn’t they? It’s not like they’re flat out going to say “Yes, we tried to cover up the fact that we caught one of our top stars using drugs in gross violation of the agreement we came to with the federal government after the last time we got caught doing that.”
It could be false, but it just sounds truthy. If it’s not, then presumably we’ll find out in the next few days why Brock really walked out and whether he’s coming back. (FWIW, Reigns worked a dark match at last night’s Smackdown taping, but apparently wasn’t part of the televised part of the show, and Heyman wasn’t there either.)
I thought the policy was, Vince could overrule a suspension, but the violation still had to be made public (e.g. on the website).
Pretty much zero chance of it being true. There’s way too much risk involved if the facts leak out - especially if Linda ever wants to be a Senator.
However, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is all part of a storyline. Remember when Daniel Bryan was “released” from WWE a few years ago after choking an announcer with a tie, only to come back two months later?
Here’s a prediction for late March and April:
Reigns beats Brock for the title at WM
The crowd boos him out of the stadium
The next night, on RAW, the crowd boos him out of San Jose Arena
“Coincidentally,” the next house show set for northern California is cancelled without explanation.
#EatSleepShootOnReigns
That was legit, not a storyline. He spent several months wrestling in the indies before he was rehired.
They “let him” wrestle in the indy circuit. If they were serious about letting him go for what he did, then they would not have brought him back - and certainly not just two months later like they did.
Part of it might have been to disassociate “Daniel Bryan” from “Bryan Danielson.” It wouldn’t be the first time Vince changed a name during someone’s run; Bob “Spark Plug” Holly was originally (Thurman) Sparky Plugg, but the announcers just started calling him by his “new” name one day without explanation (in fact, despite their best attempts to cover it up, you can still hear Howard Finkel introduce him under his old name in that match).
A delayed start to work means a delayed STC (I’m liking the nickname…) NXT review.
Wait, what happened again?
Scorpion vs. BULL! BULL!: This match reminded me of a Smackdown match where two guys who are in different rivalries wrestle each other. Honestly can’t remember much about it other than Hideo won and then got beaten with a feathery selfie stick. I like how the selfie stick also got its own chant.
Lu-cha Lu-cha vs Tye Dillinger and JJ ican’tremeberhislastname: A weird match really. For whatever reason JJ leaves and lets the dragons get the win. I’m not completely against this though. NXT needs some good black guys and JJ can be a pretty good one. Hopefully this goes far. His leaving allowes Tye to make a challenge. Which leads us to…
Tye Dillinger vs. Baron Corbin: A classic Corbin match that’s a squash. Was this where Solomon Crowe did his stairwell promo? If not, oh well…he talked about stuff.
Bayley vs Becky Lynch: My poor Bayley. When’s the last time she won? It’s been a while hasn’t it? Although I do like Becky Lynch, I just HATE her new ring gear…wannabe superhero is not her bag, baby. She needs heavier music, her jeans, her plaid, and let her rock it out. Anyone else notice Bayley’s stomach is much tighter now? I certainly did. mmm mmm
Finn Balor vs Brain Kendrick I love Finn’s entrance so much, and can’t wait until he’s on a PPV or a RAW and when the lights go up on the up-beat on his song, and the whole audience puts their arms out…just awesome. Just like with Rhyno, I don’t know who Brian Kendrick is, but he did pretty well. He either sold his ankle really well, or he powered through an injury with gusto…either way I was pretty impressed. Awesome powerbomb spot on Finn’s head. Ouch.
I’ll give KO his own section here. It was pretty good. I liked that he had the spot with the announcer and I like his motivation. He’s a heel with a face purpose…talking about his wife and kids and he is really really hard to just hate. Good show overall and I continue to love the Full Sail crowd. Can’t wait til I can be a part of it.
Some REALLY BIG NEWS just hit the internets (and this is 100% confirmed, not a probably false rumor like I posted yesterday);
Rey Mysterio Jr. has been released.
He’s been asking for his release for quite some time now, and IIRC he hasn’t been on TV since just after last year’s Royal Rumble (you know, the one where he went in at #30 and got booed for not being Daniel Bryan.) There’ve been rumors for a long time that he’s been wanting to work for Lucha Underground, and Alberto El Patron said a few days ago that he decided to work there because of someone big who would be debuting there soon - could it be?
Been a long time coming and fully expected. Just no way he was ever going to wrestle for them again.
Hell, given that we haven’t seen Los Matadores and El Torito on TV for a couple of months, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them released in the annual Post-Wrestlemania clearance sale.
Dario Cueto would be more than happy to offer them some “unique opportunities,” I have no doubt.
*BAWNNNGAAAAHHHWANNNGGHH
BAAAANNNNHHH*
I’m a day late because the snows made my cable line go snap.
Let’s see, how many disgruntled ex-WWE persons are there to greet Rey Mysterio when he bursts on the scene? Chavo, Ryck, Alberto, Johnny… I am so looking forward to seeing Rey again. We’ll see how the guy who put lucha on the mainstream map copes with Dario’s machinations…
which he exercised again as he decreed that Drago and Aerostar would go best 3 out of 5 falls, with the winner getting another “unique opportunity.” Will this be another gauntlet where the winner of this series of matches will actually be the loser? The gods crave adversity, and will only welcome those warriors who overcome overwhelming odds.
Prince Puma vs Cage comes to an end when Konnan throws in the towel. Again, the lithe and deceptively strong Puma has an awesome match with the brutal gorilla Cage. I like that Cage will occasionally no-sell, but eventually collapses like a redwood when Puma pours on the offense. Despite being bloodied by Cage in the previous match, Konnan still treats Puma like garbage, Perhaps this is more of complying with the gods’ desire for their warriors to overcome diversity. Even if the battle is lost, the war can still be won.
Pentagon Jr. disables another nobody, in tribute to his yet-to-be-named master. This differs from a Baron Corbin-type series of squashes in that there will be resolution of some kind, and not just to pair off with whoever’s available.
Cuerno vs Mundo is turning into an excellent rivalry. Cuerno isn’t as fancy as the other luchas, but I love his panther-like pounces. Mundo’s also shedding whatever nice-guy image he has left and getting mean.
Finally, we see Black Lotus imprisoned in the trunk of a cadillac with her mouth duck-taped. The trunk opens, and a lucha tells her it was necessary. I thought it was Cuerno at first, but that wouldn’t make any sense. Was it Blue Demon? Anybody know? Smapti? I’m thinking this means the lucha removed her from her vendetta for her own good, as the thing in the basement should not be tampered with.
*BAWNNNGAAAAHHHWANNNGGHH
BAAAANNNNHHH*
OLAY OLAY OLAY OLAAAAAAY
NXT recap: What STC said.
Like Rhyno, The Brian Kendrick is a wrestling gypsy. He’s been in RoH, TNA, and a zillion other promotions. When he was in WWE, he teamed up with Paul London, another technical-but-scatterbrained marvel, and they got beat up a lot. I remember there was some skit where Kendrick accidentally squirted Vince with mustard backstage, so the boss had him go against monsters like Brrrock and Big Show and get beaten bloody. He didn’t seem as spry as usual in his match with Finn. Maybe he’s holding back on the suicide approach so he doesn’t have to retire early like Corey Graves.
KO really sucked the life out of the announcer’s booth when he joined in. I just knew Alex Riley was going to pay for his comments about friendship. KO is like that drunk silent redneck who stews and comes up with reasons to hate somebody, then jumps them.
I didn’t get to see Smackdown last night. Did I miss anything?
Oh yeah!
Rollins cashed in his money in the bank and Brock came out, but during the match Sting came out from the rafters and beat Rollins with his bat. But he looked a little off…so then out comes Stephanie with a bottle of liquid.
She grabs a mic and says “We’ve had enough of you Sting!” and sprays this mystery liquid all over Sting, who then falls to the ground like it’s acid. The bottle falls and we can see it’s (HA!) makeup remover!
Camera goes back to sting who stands up and it’s Vince who says “IT WAS ME ALL ALONG!!!”
I don’t think we’ve seen this one before - I replayed that final instant a few times and didn’t recognize him at all.
Also, I believe what he said was “What do you know about lucha libre?”, implying that he intends to train her.
On an unrelated topic, did anyone else see commercials for RoH’s PPV during Lucha Underground? It’s this Sunday night, and it’s got a pretty strong-looking card - Jay Brisco defending the world title in a four-way, Jay Lethal defending the TV title against El Patron, Maria Kanellis vs. ODB, and AJ Styles vs. ACH among other matches, and it’s been announced that Samoa Joe will be appearing as well. The price is a bit high ($45 sure ain’t no NINE NINETY-NINE), but I have Sunday night off work and I’m tempted to order it, if only to support their venture into actual live PPVs.
Ok that obviously didn’t happen. But unmasking and hearing Vince saying IT WAS ME ALL ALONG is one of the funniest things to me…
The most intriguing thing to happened surrounded the IC belt.
DB is giving a promo, BNB interrupts for no goddamn reason to talk about the stolen IC belt. Out comes Dean Ambrose and the two of them tussle while DB looks on. DB then looks at the belt and thinks “Well this is pretty, I like white things (his latin wife nonwithstanding) so I’ll look at this” He looks at it as Dean stares him down…gives the belt to Dean, and starts yessing.
Later in the night he is in a match with BNB because how-dare-you-interrupt-my-promo with R-Truth on commentary. The entire time this match is happening the belt is in the corner and BNB is obsessing over its security (as opposed to giving to…you know…security). They fight, R-truth talks, and eventually does a Bugs Bunny sneak and steal the belt.
Fast forward to after the match. Ambrose confronts Truth backstage and asks about the belt. Truth says he won it, but he gives the belt to Ambrose anyway.
Later in the night they advertise for 'Mania: BNB vs. “multiple opponents”. Presumably Truth, Ambrose, and DB.
I like the other story better.
The RoH PPV does look like a hoot, but IIRC they aired matches from the last one over the regular show about a month later. Don’t know if they’ll do it again, but I think they only get a few thousand buys, so they may as well.
Seth Rollins crashes the Daily Show! Our boy is now a bona fide suh leb ritty! I love that contemptuous laugh.