Burgundy LaRue

On the flip side, AEW executives shouldn't get involved in Twitter arguments. That's punching down relative to their positions, too. For everything thrown at Triple H and Stephanie, fairly or not, they don't get mixed up in stuff like that.

It's strange how often they talk about how he's a great wrestler (which he is), only to have him need his four-and-a-half foot, 90-lb manager cheat for him every week. If they ever put Andrade in a full-on feud, his opponent needs to point out exactly that.

Rumor is the call-up was/is short term to help her become more acclimated to WWE. She'll be back in NXT if she's not already.

I think you're on to something.The Rock had Roman at the media junket they had in Hawaii, which meant he was interviewed by almost every mainstream outlet. He still does press with a number of non-wrestling people. It's about connecting the dots to get to the big moment. Roman is quietly doing that. I've had conversations with those who think Roman will be a B-level action movie star at best. My response has been "And?" Sitting on almost any film set is easier than getting slammed to the mat 250+ days a year. He doesn't have to reach Rock status to be successful. He can take whatever roles Jason Momoa turns down and be in good shape. Roman and Becky are providing voices for a joint WWE Studios/Paramount Animation project that seems poised for a major release next year. Roman can stack the role on top of his Hobbs & Shaw appearance. With that, he looks like an up-and-comer with The Rock as a supporter. It wouldn't surprise me if Rock is doing something similar with Becky. Get the two people in current WWE with a chance of making it beyond wrestling into the fold and see where it goes. As for Cena, I think he's doing what Rock did for a while, and that's distance himself from wrestling to establish an identity away from the ring. We're at a point where Rock's wrestling career is barely a blip in his overall story. Cena may end up in the same category.

It'll be interesting to see what RAW does in the ratings. SmackDown's numbers increased despite being taped. But that's different from fans having the results for 2-3 days like we do with RAW.

If Reigns getting hurt and sick was a breaking point, then Rollins blowing out his knee and Bray giving folks the mumps should disqualify them, too. My guess is they're giving it a year to see if Roman stays healthy. He's coming back from a cancer relapse, after all. He's said in interviews that the relapse caused an enlarged spleen that could have ruptured if he took the wrong bump. Another thing to consider is Roman may have wanted to take a step back for a while. The vitriol he received over the years had to be exhausting. Roman handled it well, but I doubt he's complaining about not dealing with it since his return. WWE has a main event heel problem. Roman's working with who is available. Outside of Bryan's fantastic heel run, no other bad guy is on that level. So Corbin, Lashley and McIntyre is it for any top face. They refer to him as the face of SmackDown and he's clearly the biggest star they have. If they push him back toward the Universal title and a WM match with Bray as I think they will, then it all works out.

Just a pony show for the shareholders who heard the Saudis were late paying for the last show. Calms them down and gets WWE stock back on track. And as Coffey mentioned, it guarantees that WWE will put on two shows every year. Having Rollins give a speech to anyone is rich. He's terrible at social media. He's almost always gotten to about any little thing. His run as a top guy has fizzled again. He doesn't even have the 'trying to get to Buffalo for SD' as an excuse to why he left early. He bounced so he could be with Becky while they were missing family events and other commitments. But why expect better from a guy who's always had a bad attitude, going back to his FCW days. He nearly got fired for being a PITA back then. He's a combination of HHH and HBK without the smarts, finesse or swagger. He doesn't even have the good sense to be neutral like Cena and Reigns on some of WWE's weirdness. Rollins can't read a room, and it's killing him with fans and probably his fellow wrestlers by now.

From what I've seen, Rollins traveled to Dubai to be with Becky, who was there doing a CrossFit session with a group of kids. Don't know if he sprung for his own ticket or if someone got him on a private flight. At least the SD crew were trying to make it back in time to work that show. No doubt FOX wanted them there and someone tried to make it happen. That's business. But if Rollins got to skip Saudi early to be with his fiancée while nearly everyone else was stuck, that ain't good. Someone also mentioned that Lashley was likely put on the charter flight because of his former military career. Lacey was seemingly gone early too, so that makes some sense. Guess it's some sort of clearance thing.

That's true, and honestly, who want to upset the Saudi royal family/government. Or any government, for that matter. Apparently, it doesn't look like any money from the May show has been reported by WWE so far. They put it under "Other Revenue" in their quarterly reports, and I guess it hasn't been counted for yet. So WWE not getting paid for that show, along with this one, seems to have some merit.

Most of the guys who left early are on SD. They, along with the SD production crew with them, left in hopes of getting back in time. So they have a reasonable explanation. The only eyebrow raiser on the list I saw was Bobby Lashley, who's on RAW. Something that throws a wrench into the conspiracy is Atlas Air's official statement. I haven't heard of any airline who openly admits something is their fault if it actually isn't. I won't count out the possibility of something bad happening. But Atlas Air took blame and at least 20 folks got out, even after the private jet set, when whatever started going down. I don't know if it's as bleak as some are making it. There are a lot of theories, but nothing concrete to this point, other than Atlas Air saying there were mechanical issues. EDIT: just saw @El Boricua's post. That's what I've read, too.

They're going at a pace with Reigns. I think some of that comes from Roman himself. It seems he appreciates the breather from what was years of turmoil from all sides. Plus, it was a cancer relapse, hardly the thing to take lightly. They literally called Roman the Face of SmackDown during the draft. He's still a top talent. I think they were hoping Rollins would become a true top guy during this time. We see how that's crashing and burning. It's Roman for SmackDown and Becky for RAW for best honors. Part of the Ambrose equation is he had the misfortune of going against a red-hot and newly-turned AJ Styles, who moved to SmackDown during the 2016 draft with him. Roman had two fantastic and memorable matches with AJ pre-draft whereas Ambrose seemed to get swallowed up by the building Cena-Styles rivalry. KS is correct in Ambrose showing up drunk at a few WWE events, he did so during a couple of HOF ceremonies. Ambrose has legitimate reasons for frustration concerning his WWE tenure. But like most wrestling stories, it's complicated.

Alexa is a 6-time champ. Her being traded is easily blockbuster in kayfabe.

Charlotte not being on SD is surprising. She did lots of promotional work during the summer leading into the move. FOX supposedly was firm on having her. Heyman apparently wanted Aleister for RAW. Those two, along with Andrade and Zelina, have to be on the same show because of marriages/relationships. You'd think the priority would be to put Charlotte where you want and have the other three follow. I could see it being a problem, FOX had plans for Charlotte that went up in smoke with her going to RAW.

You'd think the porn industry would be happy to see their interracial cuckold stories make their way to regular cable on RAW. Hey, maybe Brazzers is trying to cuck WWE!

Picture Rollins going along with the ECW crowd like Cena at ONS 2006. Think of him absorbing 15 minutes of vitriol like Roman at the post-WM 33 RAW after beating Taker. We can't because he couldn't. Those dudes threw themselves into the lion's den of hateful fans. Rollins couldn't even be on RAW last night. A lot of his problems would disappear if he stayed off social media. Stop arguing with the trolls and get thicker skin. Nearly every other WWE star has dealt with worse BS. I realize a lot of it is crappy. But act like a top star and get a handle on it.

That was the time a blizzard hit the East Coast, the show was cancelled for fans but they taped it inside a studio. And considering how often Roman and Cena went out there with fans crying for their heads, they've shown they can handle the heat.

And there is no way Rollins handles the fallout as well as Reigns did. Roman absorbed the heat and learned to thrive on it. Rollins deletes his Twitter when Sasha fans got too hot for him. He is in for a very bumpy ride.

This may have killed Seth Rollins as a main eventer for good.

I was fine with three matches, too. But a lot of fans have been complaining about it. So now we get a longer card with matches we've seen and no one is interested in seeing again. Could have been a 2-hour show, now it's been doubled. Careful what you wish for.

If Meltzer's word is being used to gauge SD's quarter-hour breakdowns, he's also mentioned Reigns increasing viewership when on RAW using the same metrics. He never loses numbers for them. Plus, Roman was sent back to RAW with the Wildcard Rule because Rollins apparently tanked the ratings for a couple of weeks. Roman seemed to stabilize them. Reigns also gets them legit mainstream publicity. As @hammerva said, he was on Thursday Night Football. He also did some online interviews for GQ and Vanity Fair. They just announced a partnership with Leukemia & Lymphoma Society USA, and Roman is the face for that. They're trying to build Becky Lynch to that level and it's funny to think she's taken her fiancé's spot in that regard. But it's not a surprise. Everyone else--Roman, Becky, Charlotte--always look professional when doing media. Rollins dresses like a kid being forced to play nice with his family for Thanksgiving dinner, and he still somehow manages to wear his usual skinny jeans.

WWE has buffered itself by turning this into AEW vs NXT. One could argue AEW should handily beat WWE's third brand, just to play devil's advocate. TNT has been a wasteland on Wednesdays and USA was limping by with Suits, which just ended. If these numbers stay in this ballpark, both networks will be happy. NXT will need to bring in more of the 18-49 demo, but the overall figures are good. But also looking at the numbers, AEW and NXT combined didn't beat what some felt was an average-to-pretty bad RAW this week. If we accept RAW's 2.5 or 2.6 million viewers as the core fanbase, then 200-350K fans didn't tune in to either show. That's the million-dollar question: how can pro wrestling bring in new viewers? Both NXT and AEW have been decently promoted, yet only maintained 90% of the core. There are new fans to be had, but I don't see where either show is promoting the necessary talent to pull them in.

Or, USA is trying to offset the loss of RAW along with the Chrisley reality show empire likely going down in flames. WWE keeps the USA network somewhat viable. Which leads me to this question: is there hope that NXT will fail? I don't ask that sarcastically. It feels that a lot of fans are now finding ways to take dumps on NXT, for whatever reason. Why?

I don't know if Rollins being on Team Hogan for the Saudi show means much. Most of those shows are non-canon. And if the WWE title is defended over there, that covers a world title being showcased for the event. Part of me wonders if Roman and Becky will eventually split their time between shows. The Wildcard Rule is supposed to be done with the upcoming draft. But the WC Rule partly began because USA didn't like how RAW's ratings crashed. They apparently felt some of that was due to Roman moving during the Superstar Shake-Up. With how they're being presented as the current era's biggest stars, maybe they give Roman and Becky that flexibility? Say it's due to be the 2K20 cover athletes if they need an excuse.

Rollins is far less likely to leave WWE. That's a common factor between him and Triple H. So is the reason for why they won't leave: it's because no one is interested in them beyond wrestling. It's not that they wouldn't have or won't. It's because they couldn't and can't.

The Fiend should win on Sunday. But with him beating Brock twice, along with all the legends' endorsements and WWE trying to make him/Becky their new power couple, it's hard to see where Rollins loses. At the very least, he leaves the PPV still Universal Champion to a schmozz. Rollins isn't meant to be a top-tier guy. He doesn't carry himself like one, he doesn't have the components to become one. We would have seen progress toward that if he was by now. But no. That the only mainstream attention he gets these days is from being engaged to Becky is telling. Whatever IT is, Rollins doesn't have IT.