I'm going with Kyle O'Reilly. He was poised for a big singles run, then NXT 2.0 started and he was cast aside in favor of new faces, and he took the L to a very green Von Wagner. Adam Cole went to AEW to be with his closest buds and his partner, Britt Baker.
KOR and Cole were leaving around the same time. I don't think KOR was going to get pushed to the main roster though, whereas that's all Cole really had left to do. I don't think being closer to Britt was a huge factor, though it certainly was a huge bonus. I think it was the realization that any move to the main roster was going to be absolutely awful for him.
People often forget working for the WWE was Cole's dream. It was probably very hard for him to say "naw, I'm out"
That kind of sounds like Cesaro to me. He was over with the fans and everybody in the company except for Vince. He can match up physically with anybody including Brock and has more ring ability than 98% of the roster.
Last edited by CactusJack; 07-27-2022 at 10:03 PM.
That kind of sounds like Cesaro to me. He was over with the fans and everybody in the company except for Vince. He can match up physically with anybody including Brock and has more ring ability than 98% of the roster.
'moving up to a roster led by Triple H' makes it sound like someone in NXT. The first two that came to mind were O'Reilly and Cole for me too. I'm leaning more towards O'Reilly.
I wouldn't doubt though if Cesaro might be having second thoughts now depending on how his relationship with HHH was.
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“You think because he [Vince McMahon] tweeted that ‘I’m retired’ that he’s not going to be hands-on?
“I don’t think the structure there, I don’t think the — what’s the word I’m looking for — I don’t think the culture there changes at all. I think it is what it is.
“I’ll put it to you like this. They — oh boy, people are going to be real ####ing mad about this, but #### it. Mercedes [Sasha Banks] and Trinity [Naomi] leave, and they announce on SmackDown that, ‘Gosh darn, we are so disappointed in them, they really let our fans down.’
“Brock splits. Comes back, obviously, I know he worked the show. Where is Michael Cole saying, ‘Brock Lesnar really let these fans down.’ I walked out. I walked out, they went on TV and called me a quitter. What’s changed? What’s the difference? You’re going to attack these two ####ing poor women who’ve just kind of had enough and they walked. They have bigger balls than everybody there.
“So what’s changed? There’s nothing much that’s changed. There’s people that talk about it and there’s people that do it. The people who lick the boots and have the audacity to go on live television and say that about those two women. ####ing cowards and bootlickers. ####’s ridiculous. Why didn’t they do it to Brock? They did it for me. You know?
I'm not sure Punk is right here...probably more just his axe to grind with Stephanie and HHH.
I've seen the Brock and Sasha/Naomi comparisons and the one big change is the guy that was in Michael Cole's ear that told him to say that was gone. And the other difference is Brock did come back to the show that night.
I know it's easy to turn it into a gender issue but Vince did the same think to Austin, and the same thing to Punk when they walked out. If anything what they said when Austin walked out was even more scathing than what they said about Sasha and Naomi.
To me HHH coming back does show that things have changed - because for whatever reason Vince had really started to cut him out of the inner circle even before his health issues popped up.
Sure the culture won't change overnight - that's the case with any business. But the more they can get rid of guys like Vince, Laurenitis, Dunn, etc then hopefully it will improve over time.
Last edited by SuperMatt18; 07-28-2022 at 03:04 PM.
Also I don’t like the guy but Logan Paul is surprisingly Athletic.
He could actually end up being really good for the WWE
That frog splash was maybe best air someone can get at the company besides Montez ford
Whomever is doing the producing and training for these celebrities matches last few years is killing it, it was always just jokey squashes for the most part up until bad bunny, the jsckass guys, and now Paul key be the best
He also managed to get a face pop from the crowd which I wouldnt have guessed before he came in, he could be an incredible heel
This show definitely felt different than the vince ones, more than raw and smackdown did
Most obvious one was Cole on commentary was great, when hes not getting lines and catchphrases screamed into his headset. They even called it out, graves said something like, I liked it better when you couldnt have an opinion, and cole said that's changed, a lot is changing
I would guess teaming bailey with dakota and Io is a hunter thing too.
Really entertaining show, hot start with becky and Bianca, no real down periods
Profits and Usos wasnt as good as money in the bank but that was such a huge bar
Drew's mini promo had him more over thwn I expected, crowd is gonna be insanely hot for main event at clash at the castle
Main event was exactly the bonkers car crash it should have been, the tractor lifting the ring and roman falling back was peak entertainment
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This show definitely felt different than the vince ones, more than raw and smackdown did
Most obvious one was Cole on commentary was great, when hes not getting lines and catchphrases screamed into his headset. They even called it out, graves said something like, I liked it better when you couldnt have an opinion, and cole said that's changed, a lot is changing
I would guess teaming bailey with dakota and Io is a hunter thing too.
Really entertaining show, hot start with becky and Bianca, no real down periods
Profits and Usos wasnt as good as money in the bank but that was such a huge bar
Drew's mini promo had him more over thwn I expected, crowd is gonna be insanely hot for main event at clash at the castle
Main event was exactly the bonkers car crash it should have been, the tractor lifting the ring and roman falling back was peak entertainment
I thought it was a pretty fun PPV with a lot of nice twists with the return of Edge with the Brood entrance. Bailey returning with IO and Dakota.
A really fun and psychical main event
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Also I don’t like the guy but Logan Paul is surprisingly Athletic.
He could actually end up being really good for the WWE
As much as Miz is pretty polarizing, there's a reason why he gets put in with celebrities all the time and they pull off really good matches together.
Miz might not be the most athletic guy out there, I think the WWE trusts him to break in celebs, he's creative and he doesn't hurt people in the ring, and because he's so entwined in the WWE office, he's not going to let his ego get in the way.
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As much as Miz is pretty polarizing, there's a reason why he gets put in with celebrities all the time and they pull off really good matches together.
Miz might not be the most athletic guy out there, I think the WWE trusts him to break in celebs, he's creative and he doesn't hurt people in the ring, and because he's so entwined in the WWE office, he's not going to let his ego get in the way.
Yep, him and Sami are clearly there two most trusted in that
They are safe, sell incredible, and are great on the mic to build the hype
Yep, him and Sami are clearly there two most trusted in that
They are safe, sell incredible, and are great on the mic to build the hype
I mean a lot of people don't like Miz, and I get it, he works really safe, and a bit soft, but he's always been more then entertaining. I still think his best work was against John Cena, and he does a knock off imitation.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
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Miz was very frustrated, he was Intercontinental champion and wasn’t being on TV much. I was very frustrated that they weren’t clearing me to wrestle despite numerous doctors having cleared me to wrestle, and you know, I understand why but that’s a long story anyways.
What his initial plan was for the angle following Miz’s now famous Talking Smack promo:
So, we came up with this plan and the original thing Mike (The Miz) and I came up with was that I was going to f—king deck him. We wanted to get under each other’s skin so much that it was plausible that I would legit be angry enough to punch him and so, that was the intent. And then I was going to punch him, and the idea was either they’re going to fire me or it’s going to make people want to see the match so much that they’re going to have to clear me to wrestle but then Mike did such a great job – intuitively, I felt was better to walk off. Because it was like, God, this is so good leave him with his heat. He was so good. He was magic.
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Bailey with Dakota and Io is something Bailey had wanted and pitched before Dakota Kai was released.
I was hoping they would bring Tegan Nox back as well. I've been a fan of her and her determination in coming back from her injuries. But I get a sense that she's done wrestling at this point.
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