WWE makes cuts
For years, WrestleMania season led some lower card wrestlers in the WWE to face the gamut of emotions.
The WWE’s year begins and ends with Mania, but the company would make annual releases a few weeks after the “Granddaddy of Them All.”
But for the last few years, there wasn’t much noise on the release front.
Friday afternoon, that changed as the WWE announced the release of former Intercontinental champions Bad News Barrett and Santino Marella, as well as Damien Sandow, Hornswoggle, Alex Riley, Cameron, El Torito, and Zeb Colter.
Most of the releases did not come as a surprise as the company has done very little with most of them as of late.
Barrett was in the League of Nations but made it known a few months ago he was leaving when his contract ran out next month.
The biggest surprise to me was Sandow as fans were really into him, but the WWE just never got behind him.
Payback thoughts
Payback took place on the WWE Network last Sunday and the show received solid reviews from readers of this column.
Forest Segal, an online reader from Chicago, was at the event.
“The crowd died during the Enzo situation,” he said referring to the wrestler who suffered a concussion mid-match causing his tag bout with Big Cass against The Vaudevillains to be stopped. “But Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens picked it back up in the match of the night.
“The crowd booed for eight minutes after the show ended in disgust of Roman winning.”
From my perspective, it topped WrestleMania and I am not the only one who feels that way.
“It was better than WrestleMania,” said Jeremy Miller of Monessen. “And it wasn’t even close.”
For Brian Knavish of Oakdale, the McMahon family angle may have some legs under it.
“I like the angle a lot,” he said. “It should make Raw more interesting but I don’t like how they are force feeding Reigns on everyone.”
Chad Carroto of Monessen gave props to AJ Styles.
“Everybody should now know what they call (Styles) the phenomenal one,” he said. “He carried Reigns to his first legitimate singles match ever.”
“I felt bad for Enzo,” Kitty from Grindstone said. “It was his first pay-per-view and he got hurt.
“It looked really bad.”
Matt Byron of Monessen was impressed by Charlotte.
“I think she is on the brink of superstardom,” he said.
Update on WWE injuries
We have already touched base on Enzo’s injury, but when will other stars return?
Seth Rollins will be back in the WWE shortly while Randy Orton will begin training for his return briefly.
Word is that Orton will be back in the ring in June, but whether that means at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando or back in the WWE is still unknown.
Look for the WWE to play that as close to the vest as possible so that his return is a complete surprise.
Ryback update
Things apparently have gone from bad to worse between WWE and Ryback.
He had a meeting with Vince McMahon Monday afternoon prior to Raw and a mutual agreement was made that it would be better for both parties if he went home.
His contract is up this summer and who knows where this will head.
However, things might get murkier over the use of the nickname “The Big Guy.”
The WWE filed a trademark for it in January, but Ryback actually filed one himself in October.
Adam Rose’s suspension
Earlier this week, Adam Rose posted a doctor’s note onto his Twitter page with proof of his doing nothing wrong in leading to his suspension.
All tweets by Rose about the situation were deleted Thursday, so the confusion with the matter continued.
However, by Friday morning he posted the doctor’s note yet again.
WWE star repackaged, has new manager
Darren Young will now be managed by Bob Backland, as seen on Smackdown Thursday.
The slogan that they will use is “Make Darren Great Again.”
Never knew Young was great at one point, but he can definitely be an asset in the WWE if used better.
Name change?
The WWE Global Cruiserweight Series, a 32-man tournament set to air on the WWE Network this summer, has been rechristened The Cruiserweight Classic.
Two more WWE tournaments coming?
The WWE ran a tag team number-one contender’s tournament last month and on Thursday, news broke that the WWE may be considering two more tournaments.
One would be an all-women’s tournament and the other would be the second annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in NXT.
Both tournaments would air on the WWE Network.