Burgundy LaRue

If that pans out--hmm. Demon Balor is clearly supernatural, and the name Damian Priest speaks for itself. But that doesn't fit Rhea Ripley at all, IMO. Her being a goth rock girl into tatts and piercings while kicking ass works. She doesn't need anything extra. The Aleister Black/Ricochet team clicked because they were so different. Their differences were so stark that them being a team rounded back to making sense. We've seen total opposites become buddies and that's how I took their pairing. Good Heavens, Bray Wyatt. I think WWE made some mistakes with him. Then again, only Daniel Bryan, John Cena and Roman Reigns seemed to know what to do with him as a singles guy. So how much tread was on the tires after the prattling promos? Didn't feel like a lot. But The Fiend, for as creative as it was, wasn't meant to be a full-time main event star. Should have just used him as an attraction 3-4 a year. How they had Rollins cowering in corners and crying as Fiend tormented him was awful. That HIAC match ruined Rollins' last face run and it took him a while to round into the Joker-like guy we see today. Seriously--12 Stomps, multiple chair shots, toolboxes to the head--and he still doesn't go down? Worse, they end the match on a flimsy pretense only to have Fiend mandible claw Rollins into oblivion after the bell rings. Rotten stuff. I was glad when Goldberg beat him. Why would Goldberg care about Fiend's spooky mind games? Good luck to the guy, but I can't say I missed Bray/Fiend.

Yeah, it's about the visual. But perception is reality and Cody certainly knows that. It'll be interesting to see how they play it when/if he goes against Roman. That's a two-time cancer survivor who works while managing leukemia. In reality, he's someone you can't play the "I would die for this" card against when it comes to one's health. But wrestling ain't reality.

I mentioned this to someone last night. Seth looks like a goober who couldn't win even when his opponent was at a severe disadvantage. Major props to him, working a match with someone that injured and making it look good is impressive. Wrestlers aren't screwed on straight as it is. They're crashing and falling onto barely covered wooden planks, heavy ropes/cables, and barricades/floors on purpose. Many work 'hurt' without our knowledge. Omega wrestling with vertigo is still a major WTF for me. Reigns was pushing his hernia back in and needed emergency surgery in 2014 because he wouldn't get it taken care of like a rational person. But Cody last night? May as well call it Passion of the Rhodes. Even if there was no risk of him hurting himself more, creating a visual where young wrestlers see an established star do this--it's not good. Wrestling is 31 flavors of messed up on a good day. This adds another warped wrinkle into the mix. And they can't even capitalize on it right away. He's likely out for months if he actually tore the tendon from the bone. He'll be red hot in his return, but who knows what direction everyone else will have taken by then? A lot of variables that even Vince can't control.

Speaking on Sasha: She's vaxxed. She, and everyone on the Crown Jewel show last November, had to be per KSA rules. She may not have been keen on the idea, going back to some of the IG posts she's liked. But she did it, if for no reason but to get a nice payday. As for her wrestling career arc, I think it's a multitude of things. Charlotte was always going to be the one they mega pushed. And they did Sasha no favors with the hot potato game with the women's title between her and Charlotte in 2016. I think they saw Sasha as the woman next to the woman. Not a bad role, but when considering her popularity compared to Charlotte? It feels like a consolation prize. But again, Charlotte was going to get the plum spot for a number of reasons. She seemed to get dinged up regularly for a while. I imagine that lost her some ground with Vince. And then there's the Ryan Satin locker room fiasco, which anyone with an ounce of sense knew was a lie but the naysayers bought into because they didn't like Sasha in the first place. That the lie followed her around while Bayley eventually got to move on tells us this. Couple that with her needing to get her mental health back on track along with her getting attached to The Mandalorian around that same time--it's the makings of her not being a primary focus for the women's division, at least not at the tippy top. And there are other factors going into that--Ronda's arrival, Becky's transition into a top star, Bianca's fast rise. I think Sasha will be out of WWE on her own accord when she can secure consistent acting roles. The Mandalorian is a nice get, but her role is pretty small, and I doubt it pays like WWE. She sticks around, works with her friend Naomi and likely wins the women's tag championship. She splits the workload and doesn't have to navigate anything with Ronda and Charlotte. She'll get regular TV time and can still work on non-WWE projects. At this point, it may be what she wants.

No worries. I was being sarcastic, which admittedly, isn't my strongest suit.

But he's a lapdog baby who only gets by because he makes Vince feel funny in the no-no parts. (Am I doing this right?)

Roman doesn't say anything about Punk unless specifically asked, but he lets it rip when that happens. Roman doesn't like him, and probably never will. The history is out there for anyone who wants to review it again. Disagree with him if that's your take, but Roman has his feelings and to me, they're understandable. Even now, those who claim to like Roman over the past year turn against him quickly the couple of times he's mentioned Punk. So why bother trying to play nice to that guy and his fanbase? Especially if your take is he got everything handed to him and did nothing to deserve his standing. Roman's interviews over the past year have been in semi-kayfabe. The bigger/stronger bit was pretty much in that context. And Punk looked awful in his two UFC fights. Roman probably relished getting in that dig.

Keep in mind that Aleister/Malakai was still with WWE when she re-signed. He's on record as saying she returned so they could travel and be together more often. Then, a month or so later, he gets released. Someone likely realized that hanging Zelina out to dry over the unionization/streaming stuff was a bad look, so giving her a new contract was something of a make-good. And there's no indication AEW was interested in signing her. Plus, her streaming popularity decreased as she wasn't on TV and some fans forgot about her. Maybe she could have went back to TNA/Impact or pursued a full-time acting career. But financially, going back to WWE was her best option.

Exactly, we all know her story. It didn't have to be a match. They could have had Zelina make a short speech that would have been well received. Just a couple of moments would have meant a lot to her, I'm sure.

Yeah, that's the one thing that felt like it went over. Everything else seemed to go as planned. Lousy business. Bad enough not to have a women's match in general, but at least find a way to get Zelina on the show. Chop a couple of minutes from the big segments to make sure it happens. This stinks.

There had been rumors of Cole wanting to weigh his options as his contract was set to expire, and that it would do so around July/August. I doubt Hunter forgot to check that particular paperwork. Cole's an interesting case. He's been treated well in NXT, but there's nothing left for him to do there. He *might* be OK if he went to SmackDown-at least his interactions with Pat McAfee would be fun. He's probably DOA if he goes to RAW, though. And his size will likely be a sticking point. But he brings a lot to the table beyond that.

Over-invested fans were already blaming Alexa for stealing Bray's gimmick. Mickie's statement added fuel to the fire. Mickie came back to say that she wasn't blaming Alexa, but the toothpaste was out of the tube by then. Not that she's wrong, but maybe save it for another day, especially when Alexa had to go private on Twitter over this. @Rah brings up a good point about bringing some wrestlers back on a lower contract. I can see that happening, especially with Bray and Braun. Nick Khan is clearly operating with the formula that if you make X-amount of money, you need to bring in Y-amount of revenue or consistently used on TV to justify your salary. It's harsh, but that's what corporate headhunters do.

It's been said that he took Brodie's death really hard. This could be a case of the wrestler asking for a release to better take care of his mental health.

His age hasn't been publicly said, but I'd guess he's in his mid 40s to early 50s. It's clear Khan is being primed for Vince's spot, if he wants it. He has the business acumen Wall Street wants to keep the company stable. Steph stays where she is and becomes the family figurehead. Or, if NBC Universal offers the motherload for WWE, Khan will broker the deal. Not that he was ever going to run the business side of things, but Hunter being pushed to the fringes is fascinating to watch.

Bianca Belair is a 100% PC wrestler. So is her husband, Montez Ford.