WWE TV Megathread

[JRH]

Apparently the singer had no problem with this, so this is actually a non-story.

[El-P]

The story is not about the singer. It's about a confirmation that Def Rebel is using AI. (although I'm guessing it was obvious to some already)

[El-P]

And so they had yet another Hogan tribute on Raw.

But apparently, Brooke didn't get any invite to pay hommage to her father. Nick the Killer did (he's involved in Real American Beer too), but not Brooke.

No further comment. This entire "Hulk Hogan is dead" sequence says *so much* about so many things in pro-wrestling.

[JRH]

During the Santino/Page match last night a random shot from Joe Hendry's entrance vid came on the screen for a few seconds. It must have been an error in the production truck, but I still found it funny.

[The Thread Killer]

1 hour ago, JRH said:

During the Santino/Page match last night a random shot from Joe Hendry's entrance vid came on the screen for a few seconds. It must have been an error in the production truck, but I still found it funny.

It happened three times during the show, I don’t think it was a production error.

[sek69]

Guilia should be thankful Zelina is a tiny, tiny person because she hit Guilia right in the face with her knees on that moonsault. 

[sek69]

Also having an AAA tag team title match on WWE TV is wild and not something I ever expected to see. 

[The Thread Killer]

So what’s your take on that supposed Cena face turn? It’s got to be bogus, right?

[WingedEagle]

7 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

So what’s your take on that supposed Cena face turn? It’s got to be bogus, right?

It felt like they just threw up their hands and decided to get it out of the way. I assume its legit because you know its coming and there's only so much time left to pull it off. Just strange all around. Curious if a Cody heel turn comes next.

[sek69]

So the Karrion Kross stuff is weird. Apparently his (and Scarlett's) contract expired today and WWE moved them to the Alumni section of the website. Kross went on to post part two of his story on Youtube where he stated someone in WWE was telling him to ignore the crowd support he was getting, and whoever was discussing a new contract with him wasn't on the same page as him in terms of what the expectations are.

Now WWE is in a "everything is a work except when it isn't a work, and even then it's still a work" phase after the R Truth and Rollins stuff, but what's odd to me is he's always been a Hunter Guy. When he was in the last round of cuts Vince was around for, Hunter made sure to bring him back despite there really being no demand for it, and continually featuring him to little to no reactions. Now suddenly he's got this online buzz and Hunter just lets his contract lapse? 

So either its a work and WWE is trying to gaslight everyone into thinking there's some great online groundswell for him, or its a shoot and Hunter suddenly lost faith in someone he went out of his way to go to bat for not that long ago. 

[El-P]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

Now WWE is in a "everything is a work except when it isn't a work, and even then it's still a work" phase after the R Truth and Rollins stuff

It's crazy that it's 2025 and they are back to fetishizing Brian Pillman like they all learned booking from Vince Russo circa 98-00. The one side effect this will do (and already does) is diminishing empathy when people really get injured and/or cut, because there will always be the "crying wolf" effect. Also, it's shitty to do that when people actually lose their job, some of which go into a mental health downward spiral afterward (TAFKA Cora Jade). 

Now Kross and Scarlett have confirmed that they are accepting booking. So the idea is that they'll show up on WWE adjacent indie company or TNA (or GCW why not) for a while and make a great comeback because in the end "it's a swerve, bro". And of course, WWE coded fans already talk about how this actually is kayfabe when in fact, no it isn't how it worked. This is shooty-shooty Russo style angle playing with real-life issues of other people. And it never ever produced anything good apart from the initial buzz and shock effect (with diminishing returns galore). 

And if Kross and Scarlett *actually* did not get renewed, then it's hilarious that after all this years he finally got some buzz about him (although I heard nothing but bored feedback from his matches still) and they got cut because how dare they got over on their own (damn, Matt Cardona is never actually gonna see the Fed again, will he ?). In that case, I guess "Look who is showing up in the IMPACT zone !" is coming (which would be hilarious too on so many levels, even if it's actually part of the "work").

[DMJ]

Here's the thing I don't get about the Karrion Kross work/shoot stuff:
 

What's the endgame here?

When they did a similar thing with Punk in 2011 with the Pipebomb Promo and him "leaving the company" with the WWE Championship after Money in the Bank, it was awesome because, well, CM Punk was awesome in 2011 (and John Cena also played his role really well as the reluctant "Corporate" guy who didn't want any favors from John Laurenaitis [an avatar for Vince]). It was a great storyline that they, unfortunately, bungled within a few weeks...but the point still stands, for a brief moment, it was very compelling TV and CM Punk solidified his place in the main event that summer.

Then, a couple years later, they do the whole Danielson story with him being "held back" by the Authority. Again, it was a flawed storyline in many ways and I'm not even going to get into the fact that the WWE went kicking-and-screaming into even running in as the main event of Mania that year. The point is, it worked because Danielson was mega-over and was consistently backing it up with the best match on the card for months and months - tags, singles, gauntlets, whatever. 

But Kross...Kross is not as charismatic as Punk or as good a storyteller in the ring. He's obviously not on the level of Danielson. He's not a beloved comedy character like R-Truth (who people didn't want to see released but didn't necessarily want to see pushed either*).

Kross is maybe a C+ worker on his best day and probably wouldn't even rank in the top 20 on the roster for charisma (and that's without including women, which would probably push him into the upper 30s). They've given him PLE matches and none have been anything above good. At least LA Knight has had a handful of matches where you can see why he got over. Kross' online support seems to be entirely based on the idea that he was "held down" more than any real argument of his merits as a worker.

And, often times, when you do hear someone make the case for him, its a wrestling-version of whataboutism (such as, "But Jey Uso also sucks and he got to win the Rumble!" or "Solo Sikoa has been pushed even more and even longer and also has boring matches"). But at the end of the day, you can't really argue that Kross deserves more just because there are other guys who are boring, or "all entrance," or overexposed. 

So what's the endgame? 

Karrion Kross returns as some sort of unsigned vigilante to attack whoever? And it will lead to an eventual match where he will, if history means anything, once again put on a dull, forgettable 15-minute performance? I mean, if you're going to run this sort of angle, do it with someone whose actually good at wrestling. 


* The sentiment with Truth felt more like people saw the WWE boasting about all this revenue and record-breaking attendance but then got cheap when it was time to re-sign a guy that was really well-liked. 

[El-P]

Honestly the end game will be : nothing. Anyone gives a flying fuck about R-Truth these days ?

[The Thread Killer]

I love Steiner math. 

“You’re 47! And you’re 40! You’re like 100 years old combined!”

[C.S.]

19 hours ago, El-P said:

Now Kross and Scarlett have confirmed that they are accepting booking.

FWIW, someone on Reddit claiming to be a promoter said they tried to book Scarlett and she was "too busy." Grain of salt and all that, but it wouldn't surprise me.

[sek69]

I would expect Kross to show up in GCW since he's already done Bloodsport and appearing in TNA would be too much of a dead giveaway that its all storyline. 

[El-P]

6 hours ago, C.S. said:

FWIW, someone on Reddit claiming to be a promoter said they tried to book Scarlett and she was "too busy." Grain of salt and all that, but it wouldn't surprise me.

"We accept bookings" 😅

3 hours ago, sek69 said:

I would expect Kross to show up in GCW since he's already done Bloodsport and appearing in TNA would be too much of a dead giveaway that its all storyline. 

You mean the GCW which has ran WWE ID Tournament during both Mania and SummerSlam week-end ? And Bloodsports show now are basically a bunch of WWE people beating indy guys too.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised at all to see them pop up at Emergence on Friday.

Meanwhile : 

Yeah. Inspired by the absolutely not French painter Van Gogh and a painting that has nothing to do with Paris (and is not at the Louvres either I believe). Not only this is IA slop, but yeah, thematically, you're all wrong. I mean, idiots gonna be idiots.

The news is they are gonna run a PLE opposing All Out with Cena vs Lesnar. SexTrafficMania indeed.

[sek69]

16 minutes ago, El-P said:

Yeah. Inspired by the absolutely not French painter Van Gogh and a painting that has nothing to do with Paris (and is not at the Louvres either I believe). Not only this is IA slop, but yeah, thematically, you're all wrong. I mean, idiots gonna be idiots.

Well technically *pushes up glasses* Van Gogh painted that  based on the view from the window of the asylum he was at in France, so there is somewhat of a connection. 

[sek69]

What's really funny is depending on what's up with Naomi, Stephanie might not even have a match on the show. 

[El-P]

13 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Well technically *pushes up glasses* Van Gogh painted that  based on the view from the window of the asylum he was at in France, so there is somewhat of a connection. 

Yeah. In Saint-Rémy de Provence. 😆 The fact they just included the Eiffel tower in it makes it even stupider, really. Imagine the dumb-ass prompt.

[Blehschmidt]

55 minutes ago, El-P said:

Yeah. In Saint-Rémy de Provence. 😆 The fact they just included the Eiffel tower in it makes it even stupider, really. Imagine the dumb-ass prompt.

With this company, we're probably lucky she's not eating French Fries

[The Thread Killer]

Don’t know if it’s true, but the prevailing rumor right now regarding why Naomi was pulled from her match with Iyo last night is because she’s pregnant.

[strobogo]

Big Jim strikes again

[sek69]

So Lash and Nia had a pretty entertaining big meaty women slapping meat match on NXT. 

[NotJayTabb]

Given how unimpressive she was on her debut, the continual improvement of Lash Legend over the years has been fun to watch, she's developed into a genuinely fun power wrestler who can't be far from a main roster call up.