Steve is the Founder of RingsideNews, AllWrestlingNews, and Wrestling dot News. He has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He first got into website development at the time and has been focusing on bringing his readers the best professional wrestling news at it’s highest quality.
As seen at Sunday’s WWE Backlash event, The Fashion Police faced The Usos in a losing effort for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship Titles. This match saw a lot of comedy and overall got a lot of negative and positive feedback from fans on social media.
Dave Meltzer discussed this match on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer indicated that The Fashion Police are just a comedy act and shouldn’t be taken seriously. Meltzer also added that the only reason they received a shot at the tag team titles is because the company is trying to buy some time for the next challengers, The New Day.
WWE has been keeping The New Day off television while Kofi Kingston recovers from his injury. PWInsider reported earlier today that they are expected to return to SmackDown this coming Tuesday to promote a WWE Network special. It is unknown if they will actually be returning full-time on this show, or if it is just for a one-time appearance until they are ready to return.
Eric Bischoff is joined on today’s show by his co-host Nick Hausman.
Bischoff opens today’s show speaking about the tweets sent out by Rip Rogers and Randy Orton last weekend. He says that for the most part, he agrees with the points made by both men. He says that he has always liked Orton and he has a lot of respect for Orton personally and professionally.
On the other hand, for as long as Bischoff can remember, veteran performers have had an issue with the young wave of performers that were making their way into the business.
When he was working in WCW, veteran performers in their late 30s and 40s at that time were complaining about guys like Chirs Jericho and Rey Mysterio Jr., because those guys were bringing a new element to the wrestling business and it was different compared to what the veteran performers were accustomed to. Bischoff says that this cycle appears to repeat itself in 5-7 year cycles.
Jericho welcomes Jinder Mahal to the show.
Jericho mentions that Mahal appeared to come out of nowhere to become the new number one contender for the WWE Championship. He says he was told the day before winning the 6-pack challenge on Smackdown Live that he was going to become the number one contender. Concerning his run as an enhancement talent prior to this, Vince McMahon told him that WWE’s audience has a short memory and Mahal says, “I guess we’ll all find out about that”.
Mahal says he got pretty down on himself emotionally after being released from WWE a couple of years ago. He was drinking a lot and his weight ballooned to 260 lbs. He realized that he needed to change his lifestyle, so he began dieting and getting into shape, and soon enough WWE came calling. He says that Impact Wrestling actually called him about coming to work for them as well, but he chose to come back to WWE.
He says that during those two years he was very negative and was working the indie scene and just didn’t care. As soon as he started to care about himself and his wrestling again, everything changed and opportunities started to arise again. He says he’s remaining very positive now, and he keeps a daily planner of his goals. One of his goals is to have the best body in WWE, and another is to win the WWE Championship.
Summer Rae has been out of action since August after suffering an injury and is finally ready to return to action.
Dave Meltzer reported on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that Summer is ready to return and was backstage at television last week. It’s being said that the reason she hasn’t returned on television is because the company needs to find a spot to place her.
The feeling is right now that both RAW and SmackDown have enough active females so they need to find a place to write her in on television. It’s unknown which brand she will end up on. We will keep you updated.
Lawler opens today’s show speaking about this past weekend’s tweets from Rip Rogers and Randy Orton. First off, he says that he’s obviously a fan of Randy Orton and his work, and he’s been a fan of Rip Rogers for years. He thinks both of those men have a point in their concerns regarding the state of indie wrestling.
He believes that the issues lie in the fact that a lot of young indie performers are trying to get their foot in the door in the wrestling business. When they have an opportunity at an indie show, they try to do whatever they can to show the promoter that they’re worth hiring again for a future show.
Lawler agrees with Rogers in the sense that there’s no ‘kayfabe’ anymore. Performers work their match, shake each other’s hands and then go on social media and thank each other for the match. Lawler’s not sure that the performers are even to blame, because it’s the way the business has developed over the last number of years.
He also points out that competitors in all other sports often shake each other’s hand after their match or game, so perhaps it’s not the most ridiculous concept for wrestlers to congratulate each other and put each other over at the end of a match or a feud.
Ryback is joined on today’s show by his co-host Pat Buck.
Ryback informs that he spoke with his good friend Wade Barrett recently, and Barrett believes he still has some gas left in the tank for an in-ring return. Barrett is currently during commentary work right now, but Ryback feels it’s only a matter of time before Barrett returns to in-ring action.
Buck informs that on occasion he receives emails from people wanting to attend his wrestling school who suffer from physical disabilities. He then has to break the bad news to them that they probably don’t have a chance at having an in-ring career. Ryback says that if you’re in that situation and you love the business that much, you can try to get into the business another way.
He says that these individuals can also benefit from attending wrestling school regardless of whether they can actually compete in the ring or not. For example, if they have aspirations of becoming a Manager or a commentator in the business, going through the motions in a wrestling school will help them earn respect from their peers and they will gain a better understanding of the business.
Indie wrestler Ricochet issued the following remarks regarding Randy Orton’s recent comments about how indie wrestlers perform their matches:
“Guys, not everyone is going to like every style of wrestling. Same in any sport or music, movies & pretty much every form of entertainment. So just enjoy what you like! And I dunno about you all but I’ve always thought Randy was awesome! Still is! I just love wrestling, every type. Wish more people were this way. It’s an amazing art that I’ve been blessed to make a living from. I feel that us as wrestlers, expressing our style of wrestling is what makes it an art. Not someone else’s opinion of it.”
Goldust sent out the following tweet on the matter:
Former WWE Superstar Batista also had some words:
Steve is the Founder of RingsideNews, AllWrestlingNews, and Wrestling dot News. He has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He first got into website development at the time and has been focusing on bringing his readers the best professional wrestling news at it’s highest quality.
While speaking to Interactive Wrestling Radio, Lucha Underground Producer Vampiro was asked about rumors of Lucha Underground possibly doing a talent exchange with Impact Wrestling. Vampiro mentioned that maybe it could happen later down the road someday but for now that is the deal between AAA and Impact and not Lucha Uderground.
“No, that is not going to happen. That is a deal between AAA and Impact. Impact will have matches on AAA shows, for example. We will integrate some of our talent into TNA. Hopefully, eventually, way down the line, maybe do some inter-company angles. Baby steps. We want to do it right.”
Vampiro also commented on the return of Lucha Underground Season 3 on El Rey on May 31st.
“I think everybody’s kind of waiting on it, you know what I mean? There’s such a cool vibe around the show. After such a long time, people are getting used to the idea that we are a TV show based on wrestling and there is going to be a season split. I think in this day and age, it is refreshing to have that. The other companies that are going strong, you really don’t mind it if you miss a week or two or even a month. It is almost too much sometimes. TO have us coming back, we’ve got people ready for it. It is a pretty good feeling. We’re all motivated!”
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