Graves/Booker T Situation – By now everyone is aware of the rumors that Corey Graves got Booker T demoted from the RAW broadcast team. While not confirmed, a source close to the situation did tell me this morning that a lot of it was Booker T not being able to separate character from reality. The constant barrage against Booker while on commentary was seen by Book as disrespectful. There was a sense of “…who is this guy” type of mentality from Booker to Graves.
The source did go on to say that it might be overblown to a degree, with Booker trying to spin his overreaction into something more story-line based, but the initial outburst I’m told was as close to real as it could be. Booker is unhappy with Graves, and Graves doesn’t seem to give a damn. On Twitter this morning Graves Tweeted out a quote from Sun Tzu, from the Art of War. The quote read “Thus the expert in battle moves the enemy, and is not moved by him”. Choosing to end the tweet with (Yes, this is what you think it is). Graves has never been one to mince his words, or duck his detractors.
The worrisome part of all this is Booker’s threats against Graves that were made live on his radio show about jumping and assaulting Graves. Booker was apparently so furious about getting demoted that he immediately blamed Graves for “…making him look bad”, despite that all being on Booker. With Booker T’s recent comments about dismissing the rapes of Mike Tyson and Tupac, this may of been WWE’s way of distancing themselves from Booker. Booker made insinuations that what happened to Tyson and Tupac were more public outcry than actual rape and that the two men merely behaved inappropriately.
Mike ended up taking her to the hotel room. Whatever happened in the hotel room we’ll never know, but what was claimed was Mike Tyson did something inappropriate with her and she filed charges. Mike Tyson ended up going to prison because of this. And then, Tupac Shakur, he’s in a club! He’s in a club and the woman is on him. And he’s on her and whatnot. Do you know what I mean? And she claimed he did something inappropriate and boom! Tupac Shakur went to jail because of this!” Booker continued, “these guys, it ruined their lives. It takes a long time to rebuild, even after allegations of rape. Proving it in court is one thing, but in the eye of public opinion, that’s something totally different. That [doesn’t] go before the grand jury. That [doesn’t] go before a jury of your peers of 12. It [doesn’t] happen like that!
He was attempting to defend Enzo Amore, but it really just came off like he was a rape apologist. And that’s something that the modern day WWE just can’t abide by. Booker T may be one of the last relics of the “Old Boys Club” and could just be on his way out to pasture, like Jerry Lawler.
Heat on Top In Ring Talent? – Remember when everyone was all like “The WWE is working with independent talent?! HOW CAN THIS GO WRONG!” Well….let’s count the ways. Tyler Bate, one of the top talent in WWE and the indies today, remains an indy wrestler. He has no formal contract with any major company. This is known and has been known for some time. However, thee current word going around according to Dave Meltzer is that Tyler Bate has heat with the WWE due to having to miss a show they wanted him for. The WWE doesn’t like being slighted, so it’s not that surprising that they’re burying Bate at the moment for missing a tour in early 2017 while he was WWE UK Champion. Bate apparently got bookings set well in advanced, with the WWE coming in and telling him to drop those bookings in favor of a WWE tour they were running. When Bate couldn’t rework the bookings, he declined the WWE bookings. It should be emphasized that they called Bate way late for the tour, and expected him to drop everything. I’ve asked around, and apparently the pay outside of the WWE tour was alleged to be better, but that’s not confirmed at this point. Since losing the UK Title, he’s only won 4 matches out of 11. Both wins were tag team matches.
Major NWA Title Match Set – Billy Corgan announced via YouTube that Tommy Dreamer would get his NWA Title shot at Nick Aldis at an upcoming House of Hardcore show. The event is scheduled to happen on March 24th, at the 2300 Arena in Philly. If you can’t attend, it’ll be broadcasted live on House of Hardcore’s Twitch channel.
Quick Hits – WWE is holding a Latin American Tournament with wrestlers from many South American countries, that’ll be produced by William Regal for the WWE Network. RAW’s new theme will in fact be Papa Roach’s “Born for Greatness”. The more things change. IMPACT personality and UFC fighter Colby Covington wishes Ronda Rousey success in the WWE, he just hopes she doesn’t taint the pool for other MMA fighters to make the jump. James Ellsworth revealed that he had a segment set for the 2016 edition of SummerSlam by working with Heath Slater, who at the time was “unsigned” by RAW or SmackDown.