The WWE Thread

[supersonic]

Observer:

Del Rio evidently has an out clause in his deal next month

[supersonic]

Real-life couple Paige and Alberto Del Rio receive 30 day wellness suspensions.

[famicommander]

Real-life couple Paige and Alberto Del Rio receive 30 day wellness suspensions.

On Paige's 24th birthday, no less.

You've got to figure he takes that out. No idea what her contract status is.

[supersonic]

Sunday, October 9, 2016, NO MERCY is coming to Golden 1 Center. Presale access has begun with offer code WWEFAN. Presale access will close Thursday, August 18 at 11:59 p.m. To access Internet Presale, above offer code must be entered prior to selecting “Find Tickets”. Tickets will go on sale to the general public Friday, August 19 at 10:00 a.m.

Tickets are on sale now for Smackdown LIVE in San Jose October 11. Use presale code: SANJOSE

All 3 Northern California are available for public sale actually on 8/19. Those dates are No Mercy in SAC on 10/9, Raw in OAK on 10/10, and SmackDown in SJ on 10/11.

[supersonic]

Observer:

MVP not being in WWE now is said to be their choice and not his choice. They did come to him first but things changed from the WWE side regarding their wanting him, exactly what that is we’re not clear of

Del Rio (Jose Alberto Rodriguez, 39), and girlfriend Paige (Saraya Jade-Beavis, 24) were announced by WWE as being suspended for 30 days with the suspension starting on 8/18 for violation of the Wellness policy. It’s interesting that WWE announced a suspension as starting the day after the announcement instead of immediately as has always been the case in the past. The story going around is that Rodriguez had an out clause after one year and actually signed in mid-September, so those dates are very close. He could always go back to AAA, but AAA is in tough shape financially, and who knows what the mentality regarding him in Lucha Underground would be. He was brought in for a major push, and the act with Zeb Colter flopped badly and after pinning Cena clean to win the U.S. title and being the guy who put him out of action, he had fallen so far that when Cena came back, they never went in his direction and then he ended up in the going nowhere League of Nations. So this year had to be considered a significant disappointment on all sides. It should be noted that he and Paige both, with no authorization, showed up at the Combate Americas MMA show on 8/11 in Los Angeles, and he was actively promoting the show. He and Combate head Campbell McLaren have a long relationship and McLaren was trying to get him to be the face of their brand, and had a TV announcer deal with him and at one point wanted him to be their star fighter, before he signed his WWE deal. Right now there is a good chance, but not a definite, that he will be leaving when he’s legally able. He is believed to have significant offers from McLaren and from TNA on the table, but there’s no word on anything from Lucha Underground (and he wouldn’t be able to do TNA and Lucha Underground as far as television goes) or AAA (which he could do with TNA, or at least could have before). He could make good money and have more control of his schedule, and would be pushed as a main guy outside of WWE, but he’s not going to be able to make anywhere close to what his current WWE deal was on the outside. It was pointed out this was announced on Beavis’ 24th birthday by people who noted how C.M. Punk got the notice he was fired right before his wedding was to start. While it’s pretty clear with Punk that was not a coincidence, I think in this case the birthday aspect of this is probably a coincidence

There was heat on Ambrose coming off the Austin show last week. The heat wasn’t for his answers or avoiding answering questions or the occasional awkwardness in the show. But the heat was his being negative on creative, because negative on creative means negative on Vince and HHH and they weren’t happy with what he said publicly about Lesnar not wanting to do anything at WrestleMania. The funny thing is that if anything, Ambrose understated his problems at WrestleMania. As noted, it’s very clear Lesnar knew by then he was fighting and he wasn’t going to take any risks or do anything that could possibly get in the way of his training

Regarding Joey Styles, it absolutely was his interview that got him fired. The reaction was that he made it clear he didn’t care what the higher ups thought, and that’s not exactly encouraged there. There was an implied message sent to everyone by the move about what not to say in a public forum, that he “flaunted” using terms that aren’t supposed to be used, that he had talked about it being nonsense that certain wrestlers don’t get pushed because of their size, that he knocked talent for doing too many dives (the office probably wouldn’t care but WWE wrestlers don’t like to be told that from non-wrestlers), has said the web staff is underappreciated by management, knocked the name of the Universal title as well as the Reigns comments (which to me were very political and nice about everything) but just giving credence to the idea the Reigns push is a discussion subject I guess isn’t viewed well. One person of note said, “the fact Cathy (Kelly, who has been very highly regarded for her work by a number of people to me, and people were impressed at her product knowledge such as talking about Booker T’s promotion that a lot of the people in the company and even some of the wrestlers wouldn’t know about) knew what not to say and Joey didn’t boggled my mind.” Styles joke, which turned into a prophesy, that the idea of telling the truth while doing a WWE interview would him fired (and it did) didn’t go over well either

And regarding the double standard, Lesnar’s line on the 8/15 Raw when confronting Slater and saying, “I don’t give a shit about your kids,” which was bleeped out wasn’t scripted. If it was Joey Styles who said it, or anyone underneath (Brad Maddox was fired for less for using the word prick in a dark match), they’d be gone yesterday. As of press time, Lesnar appeared to be in no trouble nor has anything been said about it. Lesnar’s contract is unique as there are provisions regarding what he can and can’t be disciplined for, plus there is always the double standard for what a Cena or a Lesnar can get away with compared to everyone else

So a funny part of the story when Orton did that interview complaining about Lesnar leaving in 2004 because he didn’t like people, apparently Orton said, “Shit, I don’t like people either and I’m still here.” That line got edited off the TV version of course

[supersonic]

Also, this week's Raw in Corpus Christi only drew 6,000. So not only is the crowd notoriously cold quite often, but now can't be bothered to show up when the carnival comes to town. Will it FINALLY be time for WWE to pull back on the frequent stops there?

[supersonic]

Eva Marie receives a 30 day wellness suspension.

[supersonic]

I've gotten consent to publicize this scoop provided by Smolek, who has solid sources regarding this:

WWE would prefer for WrestleMania 34 in spring 2018 to be in the Midwest, which would be the first since 2007. Currently Detroit and Minnesota have the upper hand, with Toronto also believing to be in the mix.

Also remember that Dave Meltzer and Court Bauer reported in May that NYC could be in the mix, and until today the favorite looked to be Philly. In addition, Minnesota alumnus Brock Lesnar's current WWE contract expires in spring 2018.

Smolek stresses that the "final pitch" is a "couple months away" and it'll all depend on which market offers the best bid. No mistake though - DET, MIN, and TOR are at this moment in consideration to host the Showcase of the Immortals in 2018.

[supersonic]

Per Meltzer, Paige and Alberto NOT suspended for the same substance. Paige has plenty of years remaining on her contract. Based on Alberto's current mindset, a real good chance even before the suspension that he will be leaving in September. His departure would save a good chunk of salary for WWE.

[supersonic]

Sasha Banks wellness suspension imminent. LEGIT.

[ROHFanAnthony]

Summerslam was an awesome show before the Rusev/Reigns nonsense and the DUD of a main event! I don't care what anyone says John Cena>Brock Lesnar!

[Big Red Machine]

That was a pretty great show until they screwed us out of the last two matches.

[ROHFanAnthony]

The NYC crowd should have shitted on the main event instead of counting the stupid suplexes. JR recently said in one of his blogs that he was sure this was going to be a competitive match. Boy was he wrong! It was the typical Lesnar 2 moves of doom match! Dean Ambrose was right. He is lazy! He is also juiced out of his mind yet wwe always takes care of him. I don't know what Randy Orton did to get jobbed out like this1 As you can see I am angry. I thought of going to this show so thank God I didn't. NXT I went to and it was awesome.

[Big Red Machine]

The NYC crowd should have shitted on the main event instead of counting the stupid suplexes. JR recently said in one of his blogs that he was sure this was going to be a competitive match. Boy was he wrong! It was the typical Lesnar 2 moves of doom match! Dean Ambrose was right. He is lazy! He is also juiced out of his mind yet wwe always takes care of him. I don't know what Randy Orton did to get jobbed out like this1 As you can see I am angry. I thought of going to this show so thank God I didn't. NXT I went to and it was awesome.

Totally agree about them jobbing Randy out. Randy was hotter than he has been in years, and now they just job him out by giving us a lamer, less important version of the Brock vs. Cena SummerSlam match. What gives?

[supersonic]

Cena vs. Styles was the only piece of what I'd consider quality masturbation material on the show.

[Big Red Machine]

Cena vs. Styles was the only piece of what I'd consider quality masturbation material on the show.

Not an Alexa Bliss fan, then? That's okay. I don't want to share her.

Cena vs. AJ was definitely MOTN. I had it at 9.25/10, but the Women's Title match was also pretty great (8.5/10) and I had Balor vs. Rollins at 8/10. It's not like this was a one-match show. Aside from the IC Title match and the six-woman tag it was all quality stuff up until Roman vs. Rusev.

[supersonic]

I hope all WWE fans remember the annual tradition that's about to start. With SummerSlam out of the way, gridiron season on the horizon, MLB playoffs not far behind that, and then NHL/NBA right behind that, it's the annual lazy/desperate cool-off time of year until late January.

[supersonic]

Meltzer:

Hard-way blood was the plan for Lesnar vs. Orton. Unknown if Orton's pain was a work or shoot, but more likely a work since nobody has gone into a panic behind-the-scenes. Seriously doubts that the blood loss wasn't supposed to be so extreme, even with Lesnar having such lax privileges. Orton has concussions on his resume and Meltzer questions the risk of attempting such a stunt rather than blading. Meltzer speculates that intentional blading would alienate sponsors. Expects Raw ratings to be higher based on TKO curiosity factor.

Banks was not originally planned to drop the Women's Title so soon. She is legit injured and will be off the road for awhile. The injury doesn't confirm or deny that other reasons, such as a wellness failure, for explaining the title change.

Joe isn't injured and was just selling the jaw against Nakamura.

[supersonic]

[Montana]

SS and other random thoughts

Spoiler: show

1) would LOVE for WM to come to Detroit

2) Randy Orton violated the welllness policy - 60 day suspension

3) Why have Reigns and Orton/Brock on AFTER the two title matches. I guess i get they didn't want one belt to seem higher than the other, but it's going to happen eventually. Especially surprising after both matches had poor finishes.

4) WWE needs to pull back the reigns on Brock a bit. May even need to let him go. If he wants to go to MMA, fine... but don't be unprofessional in a WWE ring. WWE has given him a lot of slack... but to go out there and no sell, and basically wanting it to be a one sided match isn't fair. On top of that, hurting opponents.

5) Finn Balor Universal champ?!? Surprising to say the least. Incredible wrestler.... so-so entertainment wise though.

6) Sucks Bray Wyatt and Sami Zayn didn't make the SS card.