Well, cue the “Phew, WWE IS FIIIINNEEEEE” advocates. The show is still down significantly from April and it’s not uncommon to see slight spikes after major events. So we’ll see. That being said, lets get into the news.
WWE RAW Rebounds? – There were three major angles coming into play for this show, with Roman Reigns “declaration”, the announcement of Seth Rollins 2k cover (which probably helped some), and the conclusion to the “Who Done It” with Enzo and Cass. RAW also brought back the Revival and Braun Strowman after injuries but neither were announced in advanced. The ratings for the show leaped up to 3.1 after seven straight weeks of being under three million fans a week. This is the highest rating since April 24th.
Daniel Bryan Talks Returning to Wrestling – Daniel Bryan hasn’t wrestled since 2015 after suffering another concussion as Intercontinental Champion. Bryan has been cleared by multiple doctors and he himself have claimed he’s been medically cleared, but the WWE isn’t too keen on putting Bryan back in the ring due to a list of reasons. They’re under fire for their medical standards due to CM Punk, there’s a lawsuit against them in regards to concussions from previous wrestlers, and it wouldn’t look great if he got hurt. Plus there’s the ever present realization that the advertisers might not be too keen on it either. But Bryan is still working hard to return. He talked with Sports Illustrated and said;
I’m working on it. Wrestling is more of a creative outlet, and especially for somebody like me, I view it as my creative outlet. Not all WWE superstars and not all wrestlers view it that way, but that’s how I view it and that’s one of the ways my mind works creatively.
I always think of it in terms of music. You’re not always going to be a huge rock star in music, but musicians can play until the day they die. With sports, it’s different. You can’t always do it until the very end, and that’s a hard reality of sports. The blessings wrestling has given me have allowed me to find some new passions, but it’s really hard when you’ve got that first love and nothing really replaces it.
Impact Wrestling News – Impact has released Gregory Shane Helms, Pat Kenney (Simond Diamond), and Al Snow. The reason was due to Impact having too many producers backstage now with the addition of Jarrett’s own picks. The move was surprising as both Snow and Kenney were Jarrett-era signees. Helms made mention that he wasn’t going to be an “ass-kisser”, while Snow was very complimentary of his time with the company.
In other Impact Wrestling News, Dos Caras, Alberto El Patron’s father, will be at Slammiversary XV. This has lead many to suspect he’ll be the Hall of Fame inductee, which would anger fans to no end as he never competed in the compnay.
Former Tag Champs Breaking Up – There’s rumors online that due to Rhyno working solo matches on the house show circuit coming up, that there might be plans to split him and Heath Slater. With Jinder Mahal, Drew McIntyre, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas all getting rebrandings after years as comedy characters in the promotion, it might make sense that Slater finally gets a real push.
Quick Hits – Jason David Frank (The White Ranger) claims to be able to beat CM Punk in less than 30 seconds. Big Show claims he hates working t.v. tapings. Johnny Mundo claims he left the WWE in part to make an action film, and would eventually create “Boone: The Bounty Hunter”.