205 Live Superstar Ariya Daivari posted the following on remarks on Twitter in response to a “certain wrestling critic” who had some unflattering words about 205 Live:
Love my job. pic.twitter.com/AWwMlCocOG
— Ariya Daivari (@AriyaDaivariWWE) June 1, 2017
For those of you who may not know, Rusev was set for a big match at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view. After being traded to Smackdown Live in the Superstar Shakeup, Rusev declined to show up on the brand unless he received a WWE Championship match. It looked like this was the direction WWE was going in. It would have been perfect too. Randy Orton vs. Rusev.
Orton could win in his hometown and Rusev becomes a member of Smackdown Live. However, plans changed and Jinder Mahal is the current WWE Champion. Orton gets his rematch for the belt at Money In The Bank, which leaves Rusev as the odd man out.
So where does he go from here?
There’s the obvious choice of coming out during the championship match and costing Orton the match. This would in turn set up a feud between Rusev and Orton. Rusev would look strong if he came out of this feud on top, but WWE would probably not have Orton lose two feuds in a row.
The next option would be interfering in the Money In The Bank ladder match, costing a superstar their chance at winning. It could work, but I have a better idea. Rusev should attack AJ Styles before the match, take his place in the ladder match, and capture the briefcase.
You may be questioning yourself, wondering how on earth is this a good idea? Well, let me explain. Styles is the one guy in this ladder match (besides Nakamura possibly) who really doesn’t need to be in this match. They can get a shot at the gold any day. They are both pretty expendable at this point. Styles will more than likely get a shot within the upcoming year, so having him miss out on this opportunity won’t hurt him.
If Smackdown Live wants to capitalize on the return of Rusev, then he needs to return in a big way. Keep him off of television until the night of Money in the Bank. Rusev shows up and destroys Styles, making him unable to compete in the ladder match. Shane McMahon declares Rusev as the replacement since he is the one that caused all this mess. Rusev goes on to shock the world and win the Money in the Bank contract. It’s an outcome few, if any, would expect to happen going into the event. Seeing as how Smackdown Live has been booking on the shock value as of late, this would be right up their alley.
Not only would we see Rusev return in grand force, but we would also see him thrown into a rivalry with the hottest guy in the WWE. It’s a win-win for Rusev, who hasn’t been utilized the way he should’ve been throughout his short career. Rusev has all the tools to be a mega heel, and him going against Styles would only add to it.
Russo is joined on today’s show by Jeff Lane.
Earlier this week, Dave Meltzer tweeted out that RAW’s rating last week was low due to the fact that the show wasn’t taped live since they were overseas. Russo doesn’t understand why these guys can never admit that a show sucks. The ratings are going down every week, and this week’s ratings weren’t an anomaly. Meltzer needs to stop making excuses for WWE.
Lane also points out that a fan asked Meltzer if WWE had given any thought to the Tag Team Title match main eventing the Extreme Rules PPV. Meltzer answered by saying that those meetings haven’t taken place yet. Russo says that it must be nice for Meltzer to be invited to all of WWE’s meetings. Russo says that Meltzer doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.
Russo points out that this is the same guy who said that A.J. Styles would be moving to RAW in the latest Superstar Shakeup and that obviously didn’t happen. Meltzer didn’t issue an apologize to his error, and for the fact that he’s ripping off all of his subscribers. He says that all these dirt sheet writers just talk out of their asses.
While speaking with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, former WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio talked about WWE having a monopoly on the wrestling industry. He also claims that several talents that left the indecent promotions have taken pay cuts up to 80 percent and he feels that several top Superstars of the company are being paid nothing.
“It’s horrible for the business, but you cannot blame that company. That company is doing what a company is supposed to do—monopolize, get the best talent from everywhere, and try to destroy the competition. They’re smart, you cannot blame them. The problem is with the talent. Just going there to be there with the promise of being on TV, but not even charging good money for your work, is not good business. We as wrestlers need to remember that this is a business. We started because we love the business and we stay in it because we have a lot of passion for it, but you have to be rewarded for your work. I was there and saw some of the main guys, new top heels, and new top babyfaces, get paid nothing for their matches. The new talent joining NXT is taking pay cuts to work there, sometimes even 80 percent less. You need to be rewarded for your work in a business.”
You can check out the full interview here.
Former WWE Superstar Shelly Martinez announced on YouTube that she will be retiring from professional wrestling after this year.
“I’ve slowed down a lot but I haven’t retired yet but based on me just keep trying to make freaking wrestling work..”
She continued, “The time has definitely come and one of the signs that I know that wrestling is done for me is a couple. I’ve been having a real hard time these last couple of months and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ has been promoted and now is out. For those of you that know that me and Dave Bautista got in a fight backstage, that’s how I got fired – so it’s been interesting for me to drive around town and I see Dave Batista’s face everywhere.”
“There’s a lot of healing that I did through all of that but I was finding myself getting depressed. I would wonder why am I depressed and I would backtrack my day and a lot of times it was triggered by Batista.”
She then said that if she didn’t get fired then she probably wouldn’t live where she lives now and she probably wouldn’t have met her boyfriend if she had stayed with WWE. She said she is thankful for what she has now but she is “tired of the BS and I’m tired of the fake and phoniness” from the wrestling business.
While speaking on the Pancakes and Powerslams podcast, former NXT Superstar Marcus Louis revealed that he was originally planned to take the leadership role in the SAnitY faction.
“Initially, SAniTy was supposed to be Sami Callahan, myself, and Sawyer Fulton. [We] were the the three people who were supposed to be SAniTy at first. I was told about this idea in late 2015. It was September 2015, I think, I was told by Triple H himself. He came [and said], ‘I have this great idea for you guys. We’re gonna bring you in as a trio of sort of like punk-looking people, sort of like Mad Max.’ And then it was supposed to be Crowe, myself, and Fulton. But he was like long-term, and it was a long shot already. So Callahan left NXT, and then there was a different talk. They were talking about bringing in somebody new to be the leader of this faction.”
You can check out the full interview here.
During a Q&A session on his Facebook account, Kurt angle was asked which mid-card WWE Superstar he thinks can be a main eventer in WWE. Angle said that Neville could be a top star and compared him to former WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio.
“I really like Neville. He has the ability to cross over from the 205 division to the HWT division. He’s so talented as a wrestler, and his character is strong. He can speak very well, and his style will mesh well with the heavyweights. Almost like Rey Mysterio was able to mesh with the big boys. Neville is very talented.”
Former WWE Superstar Ricardo Rodriguez announced on Facebook that he has retired from in-ring competition.
He wrote, “So I have decided to hang up the boots and just train/teach. I’m better at that, anyways, plus real life is getting in the way.”
For those who don’t remember, Rodriguez was part of Alberto Del Rio’s act as his personal ring announcer during Alberto’s first run with the company. WWE and Rodriguez parted ways on July 30, 2014. Since his departure, he has been working the indie circuit.