WWE made some major changes to its creative team earlier yesterday when the company decided to merge the creative teams for its premier shows Raw and SmackDown.
This change was a result of the declining ratings of the Red Branded Show which has seen over 20% decline in year over year audience in the past couple of months.
PWInsider provided some more update on the changes recently and the site notes that the boss Vince McMahon has been “very upset” and openly “frustrated” with Raw of late.
The TV audience has been on a decline across the board for all wrestling shows since the coronavirus pandemic forced companies to halt their regular production and produce shows without a real audience.
However, the Red Brand of WWE has been hit hardest among the shows and 5 out of the last 6 Raw episodes have been the least-watched episodes in the show’s history.
In their response, the officials have decided to relive Paul Heyman of his duties as the Executive Director of Monday Night Raw, a position he took over in June last year.
The company has also decided to merge the creative teams of Raw and SmackDown which will be led by Bruce Prichard to ‘streamline’ their writing process.
Randy Orton has been a top of the class performer for WWE for almost two decades and he does not plan on stepping away from the ring anytime soon.
The Viper recently took part in a media call to promote the Backlash PPV during which he talked about his twitter feud with Tommaso Ciampa among other things.
Discussing the highly physical wrestling style of NXT stars, Orton said that it worries him because they wear and tear your career. Randy then went on to explain that he plans to continue wrestling for at least another decade:
“I’ve been doing this 20 years and I’ll do it another decade. I just turned 40 and my plan is to just keep going until my 50th birthday and I think I would be able to do that and I would be able to support my family for 30 years of wrestling under Vince McMahon because of the way I tell stories in the ring.”
The former World Champion went on to explain that the NXT stars should try to work smarter and improve on their ability to tell a story in the ring because wrestling is a business and they need to make money doing it to pay their bills.
Randy Orton is currently scheduled to face Edge in the ‘Greatest Wrestling Match Ever’ at the Backlash PPV from Performance Center this Sunday night.
Drake Maverick was among the names which were released by WWE in April as part of the coronavirus budget cuts. However, the high flying star was able to turn his luck around and he was recently signed to a new contract by Triple H.
The Game recently took part in a media conference call where he talked about a number of things and also explained why they decided to re-hire the former 205 Live GM.
Triple H mentioned how Maverick managed to capture people’s hearts. He said that they had the option to ignore it or turn it into something and they chose the latter:
“When the release happened, he wasn’t involved in anything but it just happened the way it did, during the process of this tournament, he captured people’s hearts and their imagination and he earned that spot.
It was already out there so you either ignore it or you turn it into something.” said Triple H “We turned it into something based on him and his performances.”
Drake Maverick had been announced for the cruiserweight title tournament before his release. WWE decided to work this into a storyline and built a story where the high flying star was fighting to get his job back.
The former TNA star managed to win people’s hearts through his storytelling abilities in the tournament. Even though he couldn’t win the title, the buzz he created forced the WWE management to change their decision and Triple H re-hired the NXT star.
There have been a lot of speculation about a potential match between Randy Orton and Tommaso Ciampa after the two got into a heated twitter exchange recently.
The Viper took part in a conference call to promote the upcoming Backlash PPV and during the interview; he also talked about a potential match with the former NXT Champion.
Orton said that he would be open to wrestling Ciampa if that’s what Mr McMahon wants him to do before claiming that there are a few things he can help the NXT star with:
“Yeah, as I was saying earlier, whatever Vince gives me to do, whatever my job is in that particular situation, I’m gonna do it.
If it’s working with a Tommaso Ciampa, then I’d be all for it, because I think he’s very talented and I think that theres a few things that I can help him with.”
Randy then mentioned how the former DIY member has been plagued with injuries in his career. The legend killer said that he would like to help Tommaso get a little bit out of his character and slow things down:
“What I worry about Ciampa in particular, is that with all these big injuries he’s had, and we’ve all had injuries, we’ve all worked hurt, we’ve all woke up stiff after a big fight,
But he needs to learn how to tell stories and slow it down and not think that the fans want to see him kill himself.”
Randy Orton will be facing Edge at Sunday’s Backlash PPV from the Performance Center and WWE has been dubbing this match as the “Greatest Wrestling Match Ever.”
WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels was reportedly involved in a heated backstage argument before the NXT Takeover: In Your House event this past Sunday night.
According to FightFul, the Heartbreak Kid who is an important behind the scene figure of the Black And Yellow brand got into a heated debate with another WWE producer before the show went on air.
Though the debate did not have anything to do with the show and it was about the current events in the United States and the issues of racism in the country.
The other un-named producer reportedly claimed that everyone already gets treated the same in United States and these comments did not sit well with Shawn.
The DX member got upset over the remarks and he responded with an explanation on inequality and systemic racism in the country. Though he was professional in the debate.
It appears that things did not reach a breaking point as, despite his anger, Shawn Michaels and the other WWE official worked the Takeover event after the argument.
The WWE veteran has been working with the stars from the NXT brand for a while now and the current NXT Champion Adam Cole is among the names the former World Champion has worked closely with.
This week’s episode of NXT saw a big reveal in the masked man kidnapping storyline. Former Lucha Underground star El Hijo del Fantasma unmasked and revealed himself to be the leader of the mysterious group.
The episode saw the new Cruiserweight Champion come to the ring for an interview about his win over Drake Maverick last week in the finals of the title tournament.
Maverick was the next to come out and demanded a rematch against the masked star. The two mystery man who have been involved in the kidnapping storyline in NXT then came out as well.
It looked as if Drake and Fantasma will team up to take on this challenge as both stood in the ring together, that was until the current champion turned on the former 205 Live general manager and three men took down the high flying star.
El Hijo del Fantasma then went on to remove his mask and announced that he will now be known as Santos Escobar. The two masked men who stood with him were revealed as Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde of NXT.
"I am Santos Escobar. I am the #WWNXT#Cruiserweight Champion, and NO ONE can touch me."
The segment then ended with Escobar hitting a Phantom Driver on Maverick before his peers hit top rope splashes on the former TNA star at the same time.
There is no word yet on what the company is planning for Fantasma after this big reveal and it would be interesting to see if their group adds more members in the near future.
You can check out the complete NXT results at this link.
The tag team of Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne collectively known as the Broserweights had become a fan favourite but their pairing came to an abrupt end due to COVID-19.
The former UFC star recently had an interview with TalkSport, where he discussed a number of things and also revealed the original plans for their tag team.
Riddle revealed that their pairing was originally not supposed to last for long but they were kept together because the fans loved them and they were working well together:
“Bro, all my eggs were in that Broserweight basket, I’ll be honest, they put us together and we formed a team and I don’t think we were supposed to last more than a couple of weeks.
But the fans loved us, we were working really well together and me and Pete get along pretty well” said Matt Riddle “we have pretty good minds for wrestling. Be it on the indies or NXT/WWE, we had it going on and we had a history.”
The Broserweights were originally put together for the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in January but they ended up sticking together after winning the tournament and the duo went on to win the NXT Tag Team Championships in February.
However, Pete Dunne ended up being stuck in UK due to coronavirus related travel restrictions. WWE then made Timothy Thatcher the temporary partner for Riddle. They lost the NXT titles to Imperium in May and Matt was called to the main roster.
During the interview, the former NXT star also talked about his main roster debut on SmackDown and Matt Riddle said that the real money would have been in him attacking Kurt Angle. You can check out his comments at this link.
The recent twitter feud between the former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa and Randy Orton have given fans hope of seeing a match between these two in near future.
However, the latest reports on the matter suggest that this dream match is not going to take place in the foreseeable future as it’s not in the cards right now.
Bryan Alvarez discussed the exchange between Orton and Ciampa on Wrestling Observer Live and he reported that the tweets were not setting up a match between the two.
The exchange could be a shoot or something the two stars organised themselves but it was not set up by the company and they are not part of any creative plans.
This does not necessarily mean that Tommaso Ciampa is not headed to the main roster but the tweets between the two WWE stars are not an indication of the things to come.
Randy Orton is currently scheduled to face Edge in a match at Backlash and there is no news on if the company is planning to continue this feud after the upcoming PPV.
On the other hand, Ciampa lost to Karrion Kross in a short match at NXT Takeover: In Your House PPV this past Sunday night and there have been rumors about a possible main roster call up for him after this bout.
Austin Aries is a star who frequently finds himself in a controversial situation and one such controversy that made a lot of headlines was his departure from Impact Wrestling in 2018.
The former Impact World Champion recently appeared on the In The Room podcast where he talked about things like the diminishing kayfabe in the wrestling business and more.
Talking about his controversial departure from the company formerly known as TNA, Aries confirmed that things did not go as planned and his stint with the company was actually supposed to continue after Bound For Glory:
“It was never intended for me, the way I walked out at Bound for Glory, that was not supposed to be the last that you saw me [there]. That was never the intention, I certainly wouldn’t be trying to create a bunch of controversy for no payoff.
Did it come off exactly as I envisioned in my head before hand? Probably not. Could I have done a couple of things that still would have maybe gotten the point across, without maybe taking on some of the criticism that I’ve seen? Potentially.”
For those who don’t know, the then Impact World Champion Austin Aries was scheduled to defend his title against Johnny Impact at the Bound For Glory PPV in October 2018.
However, their feud blurred the line between a work and a shoot and the two stars started taking personal shots at each other on Twitter.
Their rivalry culminated with a match at the PPV where Aries dropped the title to the now John Morrison but Austin no-sold the finish right after the bell rang and left the arena. This turned out to be his final Impact appearance.
FTR finally made their AEW debuts after months of rumours and speculations last month but the duo have apparently not signed a contract with the company just yet.
The former WWE stars recently appeared on The Experience podcast of Jim Cornette where they talked about their feud with The Young Bucks which has been going on since 2016.
During the interview, the former tag champs talked about their status with the company and FTR revealed that they are currently on a handshake deal with the promotion:
“So, we’re negotiating still, we have a short-term, almost handshake deal, because they want to get this thing [match with the Young Bucks] done finally, because it’s been talked about for so many years. So, we’re not under any long-term obligation with anybody.”
FTR then also talked about their relationship with the company president Tony Khan, saying that the AEW official has full trust in them and this is why he is allowing them to appear on their shows on a handshake deal.
The duo formerly known as the Revival made their first AEW appearance during the May 27 episode of Dynamite and they are set to make their in ring debut for the company against The Butcher and The Blade this Wednesday night.
There have been lots of rumours about the WWE status of Adam Cole recently but latest reports suggest that he is going to stay with the company for a long time.
Britt Baker had recently appeared on the AEW Unrestricted podcast and mentioned the NXT Champion’s history with the Elite. She also hoped that things will come a full circle soon and the NXT star will join AEW in near future.
Some reports that came out after this claimed that Cole’s current WWE contract is going to expire soon, fuelling the rumours about his future with the company.
However, PWInsider provided some updates on his contract recently and the site claims that the current champion has 18 months left on his current deal with the promotion.
The fact that Adam Cole retained the NXT Championship over Velveteen Dream in the Last Chance Backlot Brawl during the NXT TakeOver: In Your House special also indicates that WWE still has plans for the Undisputed Era leader.
This means that the current NXT Champion Adam Cole will not be leaving WWE anytime soon and while we may see him in AEW somewhere down the line, he still has plenty of time left in his current WWE run.
WWE has announced a match between Randy Orton and Edge for the upcoming Backlash PPV and the bout is one of the most heavily promoted matches for the show.
Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer recently provided some updates on the match and he revealed that the fight between these two veterans has already been taped.
WWE has been promoting this collision as the “The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever” and the taped match was described to be “really, really good”
Meltzer further added that it was “two very smart workers working very hard to have the smartest match they possibly could under the circumstances.”
Though the reports of other parts of Backlash being taped are false and the rest of the PPV is expected to be broadcasted live from the Performance Center this Sunday.
Taping this match in advance gives the company a week to do some post-match editing and help the bout live up to the marketing tagline of being the greatest wrestling match.
Edge faced Randy Orton in a last man standing match at WrestleMania 36 from Performance Center which was his first singles match in over 8 years after his surprise in-ring return at Royal Rumble earlier this year.
However, the bout received criticism from fans for its slow pace and after this; Orton challenged Edge to a “straight-up wrestling match” at Backlash earlier last month.
MVP is an internationally known pro wrestler due to his stints with WWE. However, he wasn’t always on a clear path to success and there is a troubled past behind the current achievements of the former US Champion.
The wrestling star joined a gang when he was 12 years old and spent over nine years in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping when he was only 16.
Though WWE still gave him an opportunity for redemption and during his recent appearance on Chasing Glory podcast, MVP revealed what Vince McMahon said to him upon his hiring:
“When I got to the WWE, I was given an opportunity that society wouldn’t give me. Society wouldn’t give me an opportunity to make minimum wage, Vince McMahon said, ‘Yeah, you did some bad things, but everybody here gets an opportunity. You’ve earned an opportunity.’
He gave me an opportunity to become an internationally known professional wrestling superstar.” said MVP “With that came social redemption.”
The WWE star continued by mentioning how he still gets negative comments regarding his past actions but he has served his time in prison and he is a changed man.
MVP originally joined WWE in 2005 and stayed with the promotion till 2010. He returned to the company during Royal Rumble earlier this year and he has been working as a backstage producer and on-screen talent for the promotion since then.
It’s been a while since WWE made the decision to produce shows without an audience due to coronavirus threats but now Triple H is teasing a change in this situation.
A fan posted a selfie in front of the Full Sail University before last night’s NXT Takeover event and he mentioned how he misses being part of the WWE shows.
The WWE Vice President interestingly responded to this tweet from the fan and Triple H teased the return of the audience with just one word in his reply:
The governor of Florida had announced plans for the reopening of the state earlier last month which included the order to allow sporting events to be produced with 25% of the arena capacity.
WWE has also recently eased up their restrictions a bit and started allowing development talents to be used as audience for the shows from the Performance Center.
Since the government is moving forward with their re-opening plans, it’s believed that companies like AEW and WWE could be allowed to have fans in attendance very soon.
This advancement, coupled with the tweet from Triple H has given some hope to the fans, however, we will still have to wait for a timeline to be exactly sure from when can we see the fans return to the wrestling shows.
After months of rumors, WWE has finally confirmed the launch of a free tier for the WWE Network via a press release on their official website this morning.
The free tier will allow fans to access more than 15000 WWE titles without the requirement of a credit card and it’s available on all platforms via the WWE Network app.
“WWE today unveiled the Free Version of WWE Network, the company’s award-winning digital streaming service, unlocking a vast portion of its content library with more than 15,000 action-packed WWE titles now available for free.”
The available programs in the free tier will include latest episodes of Raw, SmackDown and NXT, as well as selected WWE PPVs alongside the usual content available on the company’s YouTube channel such as Top 10 videos and WWE’s The Bump.
Apart from this, the company has also confirmed earlier rumors of the return of Raw Talk, the aftershow for the company’s flagship Monday Night program.
The free tier of WWE Network had been rumored for a while and the company had also hinted at the possibility in previous earning calls but they hadn’t announced any timetable for the same.
Now this announcement from the promotion is surely going to create a buzz among the WWE Universe and it will be interesting to see what other content is available on this tier for the fans.
Update: WWE has now confirmed the return of Raw Talk with the official announcement of a free tier for the WWE Network.
Original: Raw Talk and Talking Smack, the featured talk shows that followed Raw and SmackDown after the return of brand split in 2016 might be coming back to WWE Network, as soon as this week.
The Raw aftershow is currently listed on WWE Network schedule for a premiere at 11 PM EST following this week’s episode of the Monday night show.
While there is no preview available for the show as of yet, and it could change over the course of the day, the program is currently listed on the Network schedule publically.
In addition to this, WWE Network News is reporting that they had heard a few months back that both Raw Talk and Talking Smack were likely returning to the streaming service.
The shows were planned for the free tier of WWE Network after its redesign. This was prior to the pandemic creating delays for many major plans.
Both Talking Smack and Raw Talk premiered after the company re-introduced the brand split and once again created distinct rosters for both Raw and SmackDown in 2016.
The shows became famous for their unscripted nature and fans started liking the programs because it allowed the stars to show some more personality outside of regular WWE programming and gave screen time to the underutilized talents.
The return of these shows has not been confirmed officially but the possibility is enticing and we will have to keep an eye on how the story develops throughout the day.
WWE mentioned on their programming this week that all the talents have been tested for coronavirus but latest report on the matter disputes these claims.
On the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer discussed these claims and he reports that the company did not actually test any of the superstars for COVID-19.
Their testing policy included doing temperature checks on people and asking them if they did not feel well. Previous reports have suggested that they made the talents fill a form asking them about any coronavirus related symptoms.
Many people in the company were “shocked” at this, considering the fact that UFC fighters have tested positive for coronavirus in the past even after passing temperature checks.
It has previously been reported that many people within the promotion are not comfortable being part of these shows in the current environment but they have continued working due to fear of their jobs.
WWE has started using development talent for their programming from this week to add some noise and excitement to their empty arena shows.
Now this report on their coronavirus testing policy creates big concerns regarding the health of wrestlers, not only the ones performing in the ring, but the ones being used outside of the squared circle as well.
Wrestling veteran Haku recently appeared on the In the Room Podcast where he talked about his wrestling career in detail among other things.
The former WWE star first discussed his position on the card saying never working on the top never bothered him. He ran with whatever the officials gave him and did his part.
Talking about his team with Andre The Giant, Haku said that he respected the legend very much and he later explained how Andre was in real-life, outside the ring:
“'(Andre thought) he was the same as you; he never thought that he was bigger. If he drank 16 beers, you had to drink 16 beers with him.
If he drank two or three cases, you had to drink two or three cases with him. There were so many times I had to find the door on the way back to my room; he thought it was funny”
Haku continued to explain that he knew Andre before he came to WWE. He claimed that it was fun to be around the Monster Sized Athlete and it was fun to be in the ring with him.
Haku and Andre The Giant were put in a tag team known as The Colossal Connection in 1989. The two tagged for a year and they even won the Tag Team Championship once before disbanding in 1990.
The coronavirus outbreak has forced the wrestling world to make drastic changes to its programming and bigger companies like WWE and AEW have been running their shows without an audience for a while now.
On the other hand, the smaller companies of the independent circuit have ceased their operation completely because their business is centered around the revenue from the live audience. Though now at least one of them is returning to business.
Indy Wrestling promotion Game Changer Wrestling or GCW has announced an event for later this month which will allow the fans to attend the show.
The event will take place from Indianapolis, IN on June 20. The ticket info for the event will be released later on but the company announced some social distancing guidelines for the show from their Twitter recently:
– Fans are requested to wear face masks – Masks will be provided at the door at no cost for fans in need – Please respect your fellow fans space pic.twitter.com/qecleGPvda
— GameChangerWrestling (@GCWrestling_) May 31, 2020
Both WWE and AEW have been forced to cease their regular operations due to coronavirus and they have been producing shows with no audience since mid-March.
The March 13 episode of SmackDown was the first WWE show to be produced from an empty arena and since then the company has continued the production of their shows from the Performance Center.
The PPV events have also seen the effect of this change and this year was the first time WWE produced WrestleMania as a two night event from multiple locations, without any audience.
AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura are considered to be two of the greatest in-ring performers of the current generation so fans rejoiced when WWE announced a match between the two for WrestleMania 34.
However, the bout between the two wrestling veterans failed to live up to the expectation of the fans and during his recent appearance on the After The Bell podcast, the Phenomenal One explained the reasoning behind it.
Styles first explained that the expectations for their match at the Show Of Shows after their Wrestle Kingdom 10 match were too high and Nakamura also thought the same:
“Expectations are way too high, I know Nakamura [thought so] too because no matter what we would have done in that match, the expectations were way too high.”
AJ Styles On The Difference In Crowds Of NJPW And WWE
AJ then claimed that the crowd is everything. He said the fans set the tone on what is a great match and their match in Japan would have not been declared great in WWE:
“It’s how they respond to it, and in Japan, they’re so respectful. When they do respond, it’s huge. Wow, this is such an amazing match, but had that same match been done in a WWE ring without the same response, it’s not going to be declared as that great of a match.”
Fans are everything. They dictate a great match.” said AJ Styles “It’s just the reality and the truth of the whole thing, and a lot of people don’t understand. The expectations, they were so high because what we did at Wrestle Kingdom. I was like, ‘oh man.’ I still think it was a great match.”
The Former WWE Champion gave the example of the match between The Rock and Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 18, saying that the crowd reaction made it a classic match.
Shinsuke Nakamura challenged AJ Styles for his WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34. Though Styles managed to win this bout after countering a Kinshasa from the Japanese star into a Styles Clash.
Chris Jericho reignited his 10 years old feud with Mike Tyson during last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite and it looks inevitable that the two will have a match in coming future.
The former AEW World Champion recently had an interview with Sports Illustrated where he talked about things like his upcoming cruise, his stadium stampede match and more.
The interviewer compared Jericho’s interaction with Tyson to the rivalry between Roddy Piper and Mr. T, and responding to it, Y2J revealed the kind of match he would like to have with the former boxing champion:
“I loved the concept of Piper-Mr. T, but the actual execution was not good. We’ll never do a boxer vs. wrestler. Either we’ll do a straight up boxing match—I’m not kidding. So what if I’m knocked out by Mike Tyson? I’ve been knocked out by worse — or we’ll do a street fight.
Right now, the match is secondary to the pomp and circumstance that we will have in getting to the spectacle of the pay per view. That’s what wrestling is all about, it’s the story.” said Chris Jericho “People are so focused on the in-ring, which is great, but if there’s no story, there’s no match.”
AEW has removed a match from this week’s episode of their YouTube series AEW Dark after some controversial tweets from one of the involving wrestlers have come to light.
Indie wrestler Clutch Adams was announced to face the self-proclaimed chairman of the company Shawn Spears in a one on one match this week.
However, the company vice president Cody Rhodes was made aware of a series of tweets containing homophobic and racial slurs made by the wrestler seven years ago by the fans.
After this revelation, the AEW official announced on Twitter that Adams’ match has been removed from the upcoming episode of Dark and the company’s official twitter confirmed the same:
Clutch Adams’ had made his AEW debut during the May 19th episode of Dark where he competed against QT Marshall. There is no news on his future with the company but he is most likely done with the promotion.
It appears that the indie stars’ Twitter profile has since been deleted or made private as it’s no longer accessible. Below is the updated line up for the AEW Dark episode for Tuesday:
Billy Gunn with Austin Gunn vs. John Skyler
Brandon Cutler and Peter Avalon with Leva Bates vs. QT Marshall and Dustin Rhodes with Brandi Rhodes
The Butcher and The Blade with The Bunny vs. Jon Cruz and Joe Alonzo
The Montreal Screwjob is one of the most notorious incidents in the wrestling history and the Undertaker, who was the locker room leader at the time, was not very happy about it.
The Dead Man recently appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast where he talked about a number of things and also discussed the infamous incident.
Revealing his reaction to the screwjob, Taker claimed that he was ‘p***ed’ about the whole thing and he felt that he could have been used to get what they needed:
“I was p***ed about the whole thing because I felt like I possibly could have been used to get what we need. Take Shawn out of this, let me do it, and then I’ll do business on the other side and I think Bret probably would’ve gone with that.
“There was such disdain at that time between the two of them, but I was just at the point where if you would’ve just come to me with this too I think I could’ve helped this whole thing out.” said The Undertaker. “I’m right here and you know I’m going to do business. It happened and I was really p***ed.”
The former World Champion continued by saying that he was really disappointed in the whole situation. He also talked to Vince McMahon and told the boss to involve him if something like that happened again because it didn’t have to go down like that.
It’s interesting to note here that Earl Hebner, who was the referee for the match between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart recently had an interview and he claimed that the Montreal Screwjob was a work. You can check out his comments at this link.
Drew McIntyre is one of the few guys in WWE who are allowed to cut their own promos and who don’t have to use the script given to him by the writers word to word.
The WWE Champion recently had an interview with SportsKeeda where he talked about a number of things and discussed the change from scripted to unscripted promos.
McIntyre explained that inevitably, it comes down to Vince McMahon being cool with everything and he revealed how Paul Heyman helped him get the approval:
“I mean, inevitably, it comes down to Vince McMahon being cool with everything and, if it’s working, he’s going to be cool with it.
I think, like, a Paul Heyman knows exactly who I am, what I’m capable of and what I was doing outside of the company, and was maybe looking for that opportunity to let me be myself, to allow Mr McMahon to see that.”
Drew McIntyre then recalled a promo he cut after an episode of Raw and the Executive Director of the show told him that it was the start of his transition from a TV character to just being himself.
Apart from this, Drew McIntyre talked about how he doesn’t use the script given to him by WWE writers and more. You can check out his full interview at this link.
The Stadium Stampede match involving Chris Jericho and others during the AEW Double Or Nothing PPV mostly received praise from the fans but there were a couple of instances that were criticised.
Matt Hardy’s drowning spot was one such angle fans believe should have been altered in the light of the recent tragic demise of the former WWE star Shad Gaspard.
Jericho responded to the fan reaction over the spot during his Saturday Night Special live stream and the former AEW Champion said that it was unnecessary:
“The backlash was not unnecessary, there was the big chuck of Santana and Ortiz kind of ‘drowning’ Matt Hardy under the water as he changed his personas. None of us ever even thought about it. I never even thought about it once.
Looking back on it, there’s a couple of things that were said they we shouldn’t have said,” admitted Jericho “but, the spot itself, Matt’s being doing that for a long time. It’s not like we maliciously set out to do anything disrespectful.
Y2J then said that they should be more cognizant about such things in future but he also claimed that Shad himself would have appreciated the match:
“But, I actually think that Shad would really appreciate that match ’cause he enjoy kind of those goofy sides of that sort of thing.” – Chris Jericho
The Stadium Stampede match saw Matt Hardy teaming up with The Elite to face the Inner Circle and the faces ended up winning this bout.
