Steve Austin Believes Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar Should Headline WrestleMania

During a recent installment of the Stone Cold Podcast, Steve Austin talked about Samoa Joe and mentioned that he would put him in the main event of WrestleMania against Brock Lesnar if he had influence on the WWE booking committee.

“If I was booking WWE or if I had influence on the booking of WWE, or whatever, my Wrestlemania main event would be Joe and Brock and I would build it and by the time we got there, people would be going crazy to see it.”

Austin also talked about Nakamura being brought up to the main roster and criticized WWE for booking him like he’s just another Joe Blow.

“You bring him over and he’s going 30-minute broadways with half the damn roster. Debuted down there in WrestleMania 32, NXT, with Sami Zayn, hell of a match. Hell of a match! A lot of credit to Sami Zayn and Shinsuke, but here’s ‘The King Of Strong Style’ and all-of-a-sudden, he comes in and he’s working Dolph [Ziggler] and it took him a long time to finish off Dolph for ‘The King Of Strong Style’. Do you understand where I’m going with this gimmick? That’s booking though. What is the plan? You’ve got this guy who’s one of those talents that just don’t come around every single day. He’s special. He comes in and you treat him like he’s another Joe Blow.”

You can listen to the complete podcast here.

Alberto El Patron Remains Suspended

During today’s Global Force Wrestling conference Call with Dutch Mantell and Bruce Prichard, it was noted that Alberto El Patron’s suspension has not been lifted, despite him being cleared as a suspect in the Orlando airport incident with Paige from earlier this month.

It was noted during the call that the company is conducting their own internal investigation and once they come to a conclusion, a decision will be made.

“We’re doing an internal review of it because it’s something we don’t take lightly,” Mantel said. “When that’s completed, we will release our findings.”

Anthem Sports Refusing to Negotiate with The Hardy Boyz

It doesn’t look like you will see the “BROKEN” gimmick being used by Matt and Jeff Hardy on WWE programming anytime soon, as Anthem no longer wants to negotiate with The Hardy Boyz anymore.

While speaking to Sports Illustrated, Anthem’s Ed Nordholm touched based on the on-going issues between Anthem Sports and the rights to the “BROKEN” gimmick. When asked if The Hardy Boyz initial investment of $3000 into the gimmick would change the dynamic of the ownership, Nordholm explained why he doesn’t think it does.

“No. The company spent millions of dollars producing television last year, including all of the shows that incorporate the various aspects of the “Broken Brilliance.” I don’t know whether Jeff and Matt had some out-of-pocket expenses that they might have had on the volcano and the like, but that would not change, in any way, shape, or form, what their contracts say about who owns the IP. If they had some out-of-pocket expenses, they certainly never brought them to my attention. To suggest that they somehow funded the show is absurd.”

When asked about the possibly selling the intellectual property, Nordholm revealed that the door has been shut on The Hardy Boyz and they never plan on negotiating with them again.

“I’ve stopped thinking about this. We have a show to put on, and a company and a brand. We’ve got things on our plate that are more important than sorting out the “Broken Brilliance.” I made a genuine effort to resolve something to benefit the Hardys as a goodwill gesture to Matt. It didn’t reach a conclusion and we’re moving on. We’re not going back to it, I’m not interested in opening a new dialogue, I’m not interested in opening another conversation about it. We made our best effort, it didn’t happen, and I’m not going to negotiate all over again.”

Bray Wyatt Teases Wyatt Family Reunion

Bray Wyatt sent out the following today, teasing a Wyatt Family reunion:

Wyatt and Braun Strowman are on the RAW brand, while Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are on the SmackDown brand. WWE decided to split the group up around the time of the brand split. There are currently no plans for the group to get back together. However, it is being rumored that Harper & Rowan are the individuals behind the attacks on The Fashion Police.

Title Match Set for Next Week’s SmackDown Live

As seen on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live, AJ Styles pinned Chris Jericho in a Fatal 3-Way for US Championship to capture the title. Kevin Owens announced after the match that he wants his rematch for the Title on next week’s show.

Also confirmed for next week’s show is John Cena facing Nakamura for a shot at the WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal at SummerSlam.