Here's more wrestling news for June 8th 2021
And your headlines for afternoon include
Why Aleister Black Is Taking Sides Of WWE?
WWE planning to add another star to Roman Reigns' faction!
Karl Anderson On Advice He'd Give To Recently Released WWE Talents!
Friday’s WWE SmackDown Draws Second-Lowest Viewership Since Moving To FOX!
Major Setback For AEW After Friday Night Dynamite
Ryback Takes Shot At Paul Heyman’s Weight For Calling Him A Shmuck!
Current AEW Star Took Big Pay Cut To Sign With AEW!
Vince McMahon's heel plans for John Cena that the 16-time champ rejected! And More!
We’re starting today with Aleister Black, who was let go by WWE last week, a decision that shocked fans
considering he’d only returned to TV mere weeks before his release. Though many fans are angry at WWE
for dropping the ball with the former NXT Champion, that’s not how Black wants his fans to feel, as he explained
on his Twitch stream: Don’t get mad at our creative. They try their absolute hardest and there are
are good people working there. I’m very thankful for our creative and have had a good relationship with Bruce [Prichard].
Black added that Prichard tried to protect him in a lot of ways, especially as his moveset and look was far
different to anyone else. He added: The consensus was ‘no one moves like him or has his intensity.’ My style was a
hybrid of traditional wrestling and new age striking. In the last five years, I’ve proven to be one of the
most influential strikers of this generation and I will continue to do that.” Vince McMahon reportedly made the
decision to release Black just as his feud with Big E begun, which now leaves the former New Day star
without an opponent on TV. As for Black, we’ll have to see where he goes next, and it’s good that he’s not
holding any grudges, in case a time comes when WWE wants him back on their roster, hopefully with some
better booking.
One person very safe on WWE’s roster is Universal Champion Roman Reigns, who has held the title for the past 282 days.
Most recently, the Head of the Table has been preoccupied with the return of Jimmy Uso, who is trying to convince
his brother Jey to step away as Roman’s right-hand man. That won’t be happening, as our
sources report that the long-term plans for the Tribal Chief don’t include breaking him away from
the Usos, and the company wants the group to become a tight-knit unit, all on the same page, within a few months.
Those same sources also reported that WWE are considering bringing in another name into the faction, presumably a
member of the Anoa’i family. It was reported that WWE was considering Simone Johnson, daughter
of The Rock as the newest member of the Bloodline, but those plans were ditched because she’s believed to be
too green, and WWE has now decided to go with Naomi, a member of the Anao’i family thanks to her marriage to
Jimmy Uso. The reported plan for Reigns is to face John Cena for the title at Summerslam
2021, with rumoured match against his cousin The Rock for WrestleMania 38.
Whether those matches happen remain to be seen, but it’s clear WWE is making big plans for Roman Reigns, and those
plans involve working with the Usos.
Over the past year, several WWE Superstars have been released, and when someone is cut, fans can usually
find a statement thanking WWE and the fans for their support. It’s practically a tradition for a released
wersler to put out a statement, thanking the company that just let them go, but Karl Anderson would
like to see this practice come to an end. Speaking on his Talk’n Shop podcast
alongside Doc Gallows, Anderson discussed his own release from WWE last year, adding:
"We know what it's like to get canned from WWE. Enough of the 'thank you' tweets. Give me a f****** break. When
you get canned, let it go. How about hashtag 'f*** off.' I don't think less than 24 hours after being fired...take a
second to take a breather. Take it easy with the thank you bulls*** within 24 hours.”
Anderson added that he’s made more money in the past year than he ever did with WWE, presumably because
he’s appearing on both Impact and AEW. If the April 15th 2020 releases have
proved anything, is that wrestlers can thrive after being cut by WWE, and Anderson would like to see more names
not be as grateful to Vince McMahon after being given the pink slip.
Over to SmackDown, and last week’s show failed to impress fans, according to the latest viewing figures.
According to Nielsen via PW Torch, last Friday’s show averaged 1.792 million viewers, making it the
second-lowest viewed edition of the blue brand since they moved to FOX. The only episode with fewer views is
the July 3rd 2020 show, which was on a holiday weekend. Scoring a 0.5 in the 18-49 demographic,
the show saw a 2.33% drop in viewers from the week prior’s 1.928 million viewers, and hopefully SmackDown
can turn around on the road to Hell in a Cell.
SmackDown wasn’t the only show struggling last Friday, as the post- Double or Nothing edition of Dynamite
set a new low for AEW. Despite an appearance by Mark Henry, the debut of Andrade El Idolo
bullrope match between Dustin Rhodes and Nick Comoroto, Dynamite achieved just 462,000 viewers on
TNT according to Nielsen, the lowest number in the show’s history.
Down 12.17% from the week prior’s 526,000, Dynamite also scored a measly 0.19 in the key 18-49
demographic, and the show was down a whopping 36.7% in terms of viewers from the same week in 2020.
We’ll have to see how AEW tries and turn things around, as this record low after one of their biggest shows of the
year is clearly bad news for the company
We’re looking at former WWE star Ryback next, who is no stranger to firing off on social media.
In 2013, after Ryback turned heel, he was paired with Paul Heyman, with the Big Guy being one of the
few talents Heyman couldn’t get over, something that Heyman knew when they first worked together.
When asked during a Highspots Wrestling virtual Q&A about who he knew wouldn’t be a success,
Heyman said: “Ryback. Would you like to know why Ryback? Because he was a schmuck
Now, Ryback has fired back, posting a video of him lifting some serious weight in the gym, and when asked by a fan
how much he’s lifting, the former Intercontinental Champion said it was 2.5 Paul Heymans.
Judging by the video, it appears that Ryback was lifting 590lbs, and he wasn’t afraid to make some weight
jokes about his former manager.
More from AEW now, as Anthony Ogogo left the boxing world for the All-Elite promotion, a decision that
that cost him a lot of money. While speaking to Wrestling Inc, the London 2012 Olympic Bronze Medalist
revealed that he took a paycut from how much he would’ve earned in boxing to come work for AEW,
as he explained: “I took a pay cut to do this. That’s how much I wanted to do this. I took a
massive pay cut to do this. I’m on a developmental contract. I might be their first developmental wrestler.
As it happened, I just developed a hell of a lot quicker than anyone thought I’d develop.”
Ogogo is still learning the ropes, but had a fantastic outing against Cody Rhodes at Double or Nothing, and
whilst he’s on a developmental contract right now, Ogogo can expect those paychecks to increase as he continues
to work hard in All Elite Wrestling.
And we’re ending today with John Cena, who after being rocketed to the top of WWE in 2005, never turned heel in
the company. Cena’s consistent babyface made sense from a business decision,
as he was always popular with younger fans, but there were once plans for Big Match John to embrace
his darker side. On the We Watch Wrestling podcast, former WWE Writer Matt McCarthy
explained how Vince McMahon wanted to figure out a way for Cena to be a heel in some locations, and a
face elsewhere, similar to Bret Hart during the Canada Vs. United States angle of 1997. McCarthy explained:
Vince kept trying to figure out how do we do like a Bret Hart thing? Where he’s a heel in some places, but he’s a
babyface in the rest of the places. Cena was like, ‘If I’m going heel, I want to go full heel.’
Not prepared to push their biggest face at the time as a fully-fledged heel, McMahon never turned Cena heel,
despite many fans hoping for a turn for years. Cena’s last match in WWE was the
Firefly Fun House match, where Cena at least imitated the infamous heel turn of Hulk Hogan with an NWO style
entrance, but John never actually got the chance to turn heel during his year’s as WWE’s top Superstar.