Mike Bennett and his real life wife Maria Bennett-Kanellis appear to be done within the WWE. They join the Revival as talents wanting out of their deals with the company and they may not be the only one’s. While no one is expecting this to happen, due to their high value at the moment, it doesn’t change that talent are by and large unhappy. The duo are apparently hoping to return to Ring of Honor, where Bennett was being groomed to be a top guy before heading to other pastures. This may be to follow the entry path for NJPW but that’s only a guess at this point.
Another WWE name on his way out the door is apparently Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler has wasted his career for the better part of six years re-signing lucrative deals that did nothing for his name value or brand. The promotion continually squandered him and his potential but he kept taking that WWE money and played the role of the good whore. Too harsh? Don’t care. Ziggler, while still known as HEELZiggler on Twitter, has erased any mention of his WWE persona from the account. Word from various outlets, including PWInsider have Ziggler leaving the WWE when his deal is up in January. Some also claim he’s not leaving at all. It should be noted that a comedy tour is currently being planned, something Ziggler has been doing in his off time, and his brother is active on the touring circuit as well, wrestling for most of the last three years. The duo may be looking to unite since they were both under WWE contract in 2013.
As for the Revival, outlets are confirming that they have asked for their release Monday after their match.
Part of the reason for the rise in unrest and the desire to go where you feel appreciated is the fact the WWE has stockpiled their talent. They keep shoving newer and shinier toys on top of toys they just got, thus never giving anything the opportunity to make an imprint. The WWE is that spoiled asshole from the down the street. Huh, go figure. They’re the assholes in another metaphor.
This has been highlighted even more recently by Dave Meltzer’s recent report that the WWE will now begin a predatory policy of doubling any offer the competition gives a wrestler, assuming they sign a new deal on the spot; without looking the deal over or necessarily having an attorney present. If the talent doesn’t sign the offer right there, and re-enters negotiation, the value for the contract offer drops dramatically. This idea is one a lot of scummy companies use, attempting to lure someone in on via the salary, but then finding ways of restricting them in every other capacity.
With all this being the current talk, you have to wonder what the future holds for the WWE and their talent. Clearly talent are realizing all the money in the world can’t buy respect; and that’s something that apparently Andrade Almas told former Los Ingobernables member Rush about. He advised Rush to sign with ROH and take their six figure offer. While other outlets have reported the sum, I won’t. That’s none of our business. It should also be note that Rush’s exclusiveness to ROH is only in Canada and the US, and can still wrestles elsewhere outside of those two countries. However back to the point at hand, the note that Andrade shied his friend away from the WWE should tell you everything you need to know about the WWE. They’ve bottomed out the talent pool and are only signing those guys who had ‘dreams’ of competing at WrestleMania. But now with more and more people realizing the WWE doesn’t know what they’re doing anymore, the lure of money over legacy no longer has the same pull. What would you rather do, wrestle on a major promotion, albeit in less eyes but making an influence on your brand? Or working on a streaming platform, once a month, knowing that you have to deal with the next big thing in order to ever get space to move up? The WWE is drowning, and with opt-out clauses on their new big cable deals, and still concerning ratings (despite an uptick), the WWE may be heading for the “too big to fail” situation. Where the thing that’s too big to fail, eventually does just that.
In Other News…
Major League Wrestling has signed Jacob Fatu, son of the Tonga Kid Tama. He’s expected to get a big push for MLW as a heel.
In All Elite Wrestling signing news, the promotion has acquired Jungle Boy Nate Coy. Coy, real name Jack Perry, is the real life son of Riverdale star Luke Perry. Coy got his big break on the same show that saw David Arquette nearly die. The company wanted him under a two year deal, but the father-son duo opted for something shorter term for the 21 year old up-and-comer.
Kenny Omega was at the Tokyo Sports Awards wit Kazuchika Okada to accept the award for Best Bout 2018, and Omega made a declaration that he
“...wouldn’t stand on the Tokyo Sports stage next year, that he would still be putting on [Match Of The Year] performances on a large international platform.” The translation coming courtesy of NJPW’s Chris Charlton. This further casts doubt on Omega’s desire to return to NJPW and that rumored issue he had with Tanhashi seems all the more real.
And bad news for IMPACT fans, as Matt Sydal has announced he’s going under the knife and will miss several months due to knee issues. It should be noted that Sydal’s injury isn’t that serious, as it’s only torn cartilage. He’ll only miss about a month of action.