In the latest Wrestling Observer newsletter, there are some more details on the “big reveal” angle that took place last Monday night on Raw.
It’s not clear when WWE decided to go with Jason Jordan as Kurt Angle’s son but Jordan was only told about it last week. They weren’t doing much with American Alpha on Smackdown in recent weeks and this storyline is the reason why. At the very least, WWE must have decided by the time they had Chad Gable wrestling as a singles wrestler on Smackdown. The funny thing is, if you were on social media then you might have seen a photo from inside the arena that showed the American Alpha logo on the big screen before Raw went on the air so the angle was spoiled for some people that were paying attention.
The decision to have Jordan and not Gable in the spot as Angle’s son is likely (at least partially) a rib on Kurt Angle’s known history for dating African American women.
Despite the big reveal coming off flat on TV, Angle did a great job showing emotion. During a Facebook Q & A he was asked how he got himself in the mindset to get himself to cry. He said, “I thought to myself what it would be like to see my son Kody for the first time ever, and didn’t know it for 20 years. I thought if it were real, how would I feel?”
For those of you that have asked if Angle will be wrestling, it doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon. It’s still possible that this storyline will lead to his in-ring return, perhaps, at WrestleMania. Angle has said many times in interviews that he believes that he will wrestle again in WWE. Everything will depend on how he does on the WWE medicals.
Catch up on some of the top WWE News stories from the past 24 hours by clicking on the links below:
- Several wrestlers apparently gone from GFW Impact Wrestling
- WATCH: Brie Bella announces when she plans on returning to the ring
- Backstage news on Brock Lesnar’s status with WWE
- Former World Champion is done with GFW Impact Wrestling
- Another former ROH star is headed to WWE
Vince McMahon reportedly had an issue with The New Day’s return on an episode of Talking Smack
There are more details on the cancellation of Talking Smack in the recent edition of The Wrestling Observer newsletter. It turns out that Vince McMahon made the call to scale back on the show (it’s not completely canceled because it will still air after pay-per-views) because he was not happy with the 7/11 show. Also, the numbers for a fresh live show were not considered to be that good.
Granted, the numbers for 205 Live are not great either but if they canceled that show then it would ruin the cruiserweight division. It’s a shame that McMahon felt that he had to pull it as a weekly show because the show allowed wrestlers to get over their personality with unscripted promos. Many would argue that Talking Smack did more for The Miz in one night than creative has done for him in years.
Although Sports Illustrated reported that McMahon was not happy with the show and believed that it was not on the company’s interest, a WWE source denied the story and noted that the show was not canceled and if he really did cancel the show for that reason then why keep airing it after pay-per-views?
McMahon apparently had an issue with the 5/23 Talking Smack Show. A WWE source told Dave Meltzer, “Despite all rumors, Vince doesn’t hate Talking Smack. Also, he does not watch it but gets a weekly report about it every Wednesday. The one thing he didn’t like was when the New Day appeared right after Kofi (Kingston) got cleared (the 5/23 episode). That was technically their Tuesday night debut and Vince felt the first Tuesday appearance should have happened on Smackdown.”
Renee Young and Jerry “The King” Lawler will host the show after the Battleground pay-per-view.
Update on possible mystery opponents for Breezango at Battleground
WWE is full of mysteries because fans really don’t know what can happen on a weekly basis. The twists and turns a Superstar can go through rivals the greatest soap opera ever written and we’re just along for the ride. One of the more entertaining aspects of SmackDown Live for the past few months as been Tyler Breeze and Fandango’s tandem as they continue their pursuit of the Uggos who trashed their office.
Now that Battleground is coming at us fast we’re promised another big reveal because they will finally face the guys who destroyed their precious detective lair. Dave Meltzer noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE has a couple options in this story and they’re all pretty interesting.
It is noted WWE could bring SaNITy to the main roster to face Breezango. Although NXT’s stable of craziness is slated to take on The Authors Of Pain at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, apparently it’s not out of the cards for them to be an option at this juncture.
Another possibility is the reformation of Luke Harper and Erick Rowan as a tag team. The former Wyatt Family members haven’t really done much lately and never really took off as singles stars. Therefore it might make sense to pair them back up.
Since American Alpha are no more thanks to Kurt Angle’s big reveal on Raw and The Colons are out of commission due to Primo’s injury putting Harper and Rowan back together might be the way WWE goes with this unraveling mystery.
WATCH: Brie Bella announces when she plans on returning to the ring
There are a lot of people out there who have come back from horrible injuries to wrestle for WWE. Some people make a return after fans were sure they’d never see them lace up their boots ever again.
Well, if other people can come back from broken necks and car crashes to wrestle again Brie Bella doesn’t see anything keeping her from returning to the ring after having a baby.
You can see footage from a panel at the San Diego Comic Con below that there was no shortage of outstanding female talent there representing WWE. Two women who had a lot of attention on them were the Bella Twins. But then again, Nikki and Brie are used to that kind of attention at this point.
Brie was asked about the painful process of giving birth to Birdie Joe Danielson and her fourteen inch head. Then she revealed something rather interesting. Brie said she plans on returning to the ring and has a really great coach to help her out. You might have heard of her coach before because it is her husband, SmackDown Live GM, and Bearded GOAT Daniel Bryan.
Brie revealed when she expects to be back in the squared circle to a roar of applause from the crowd in attendance. It will be cool to see Brie return but if Birdie Joe’s momma plans on getting back in the ring she better be prepared to work because as you can see by the panel in the video there is plenty of amazing female talent in WWE these days.
So what do you think? Are you excited to hear her yell “Brie mode” once again in 2018?
https://youtu.be/DfMQcKV0fm0
Alberto El Patron reportedly no longer suspect in domestic violence investigation
This week has been full of news about Alberto El Patron and Paige. But in all honesty that’s not an uncommon thing. There was a recent incident that really worried some fans and resulted in Alberto’s suspension from GFW. Paige and Alberto allegedly got in a pretty heated argument in an Orlando airport and after audio of the encounter leaked online a lot of people were concerned for these two.
But now it looks like things might be clearing up for Alberto at least because Pro Wrestling Sheet reports he has been cleared from all charges in this investigation. The Orlando police department reportedly disclosed that Alberto is no longer a suspect in the case now that Paige is a suspect.
You can hear Paige saying in the audio from the incident that she should be the one charged and apparently that’s exactly what’s happening. While no charges have been filed on the Anti-Diva at this time her part of the case is still open. Close attention does need to be paid to Paige’s part in this investigation because it could result in her termination from WWE.
But at this time Alberto appears as though he is free and clear from this investigation.
Backstage news on Brock Lesnar’s status with WWE
Despite the statement from UFC’s Jeff Novitzky about Brock Lesnar not being in the USASA drug testing pool, there is smoke to the fire regarding Lesnar fighting again. UFC has had a rough year financially and there is definitely interest in getting Lesnar back for a fight because he is one of the few names that would get them a huge pay-per-view buy rate. The belief is that Conor McGregor will fight again but after he gets the monster paycheck from his fight with Floyd Mayweather (rumored to be over $100,000,000), the question will be how long he will want to continue in MMA for far less money. Their other major UFC box office draw, Ronda Rousey, has not officially retired but Dana White has already said publicly that he does not think that she will fight again.
As we reported on Wednesday, Lesnar’s WWE deal expires at WrestleMania. Lesnar is not looking at fighting again until 2018 so he would not need permission from WWE if he waits until after Mania.
The reports about Lesnar not looking to sign a new deal with WWE could have been leaked because Lesnar is looking for negotiating leverage, similar to the last time when he was teasing a return to UFC and WWE came back with a better money offer. There are people in WWE that believe that Lesnar is leaving at Mania but that was also the feeling within the company in 2015 and he ended up signing a new deal. There is a contract option that would rollover for more years if Lesnar does not inform WWE of his plans to leave. At this point, despite what was previously reported, Lesnar has not told WWE that he is leaving and he has not made a decision on what his wrestling plans are.