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It's been another crazy week in WWE and we're back with our weekly news roundup. We take a look at a number of stories on this week's edition including a released WWE Superstar giving her comments following her release, Roman Reigns throwing shade at a released tag-team and Vince McMahon's reasoning behind why RAW ratings are where they are now.
We also take a look at a number of other stories from the WWE Universe. Stick around for the full details.
Roman Reigns throws shade at recently released Tag-Team
The world is still reeling from the coronavirus outbreak and a number of businesses have had to adjust to the prevailing conditions. WWE released a number of Superstars and other employees as a response and amongst the released Superstars were Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.
Karl Anderson recently posted this photo on Twitter, with the caption asking who the best tag-team in the world were:
Roman Reigns seemed to throw shade at Gallows and Anderson by replying that The Usos were the best in the world in his opinion:
CM Punk reacts to Corbin qualifying for the Money In The Bank ladder match
This year’s Money In The Bank PPV will be very interesting. The Money In The Bank ladder matches will take place at WWE Headquarters will see the Superstars battle all the way from the ground floor to the the roof of the building where the titles will be hanging. They have been dubbed the ‘corporate’ Money In The Bank ladder matches.
Baron Corbin qualified for the men’s MITB ladder match on the latest episode of SmackDown. Corbin is a former MITB winner although his attempt to cash-in the contract was a disaster.
One person who reacted to Corbin’s was former WWE Champion CM Punk:
Triple H on why he won't be in the Money In The Bank ladder match
As we mentioned, this year’s men’s and women’s Money In The Bank ladder matches will take place from WWE HQ with Superstars battling their way from the group floor up to the roof where the briefcases will be hanging.
One person who has ruled himself out of being a part of the match is Triple H. ‘The Game’ recently spoke to Newsweek and revealed that he had “no desire” to climb the ladder:
I have no desire to climb a high ladder and get pushed off of it. There are certain guys that are built for ladders and guys who are and I’m not one of them. My ladder matches have normally involved me whacking someone with it or getting whacked with it a lot. So climbing and falling off of it is not my forte.
Triple H also added that he never does something he regrets:
It's never anything that I regret because you've never seen me do a moonsault for a reason.
Arn Anderson unhappy with WWE releases
As we mentioned, WWE released a number of Superstars and employees earlier this week as part of their response to the prevailing conditions. However, one person who was not happy with these releases at all was WWE legend and current AEW employee Arn Anderson.
On the latest episode of The Arn Show, Arn, the WWE legend revealed why he was unhappy with the releases and felt that WWE could have done without them:
When you’ve got a world crisis like we have and things are the way they are, for all these people, a lot of them very good friends of mine, to lose their job just breaks your heart. The reality of the matter is, which I read and I’m sure is accurate, after cutting all of these guys and before that, the company was in line even with everything that’s happened to have its highest earning year. Unless that is a bold faced lie coming from an independent source, why did you need to cut all these guys if you’re in line to have your biggest year yet?
Sasha Banks allude to a massive SummerSlam match
WWE has been teasing a rift between SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley and her best friend Sasha Banks since WrestleMania. Bayley’s mistake at Mania got Sasha eliminated from the match and there has been visible tension between the two since.
This tension spilled out to social media earlier today and it looks like we could get a massive match between these two Superstars at SummerSlam later this year.
You can check out their exchange below:
Earlier reports suggested that Sasha vs Bayley was the original plan for WrestleMania 36 but WWE cancelled the plan to delay the feud so they could build it better.
Released Superstar teases that he’s the hacker on SmackDown
The mysterious hacker on SmackDown is one of the most interesting storylines in WWE right now. We don’t yet know the identity of the mysterious Superstar but one recently released WWE Superstar recently teased that he was the mysterious entity. Lio Rush took to Instagram and posted the following photo to hilariously tease that he’s the hacker:
Vince McMahon reveals why he thinks RAW ratings have been low
RAW ratings have been on a downward trajectory for a while now and it has been compounded by the current restrictions WWE are having to work with right now. Speaking at the recent Q1 2020 investor call, Vince McMahon spoke about RAW’s ratings and didn’t seem to blame empty arenas for it.
Instead, McMahon said that WWE are currently trying to get new Superstars over and in his opinion, this will take some time. Here’s what McMahon said:
While we may be able to take this negative and already turn it into somewhat of a positive, as far as ratings and what have you are concerned. SmackDown has virtually been no change, very little. RAW has suffered, but not necessarily because of the environment, it’s suffered because we bring in a lot of new talent and to RAW, and it takes a while to get these new talents over. We no longer have Brock Lesnar obviously, but we have a new champion and a lot of new performers coming in. So it takes a while.
Deonna Purrazzo comments after her release from WWE
Deonna Purrazzo was one of the most underused talents down in NXT before the company released her recently as part of their layoffs to deal with the prevailing conditions. Sportskeeda’s Gary Cassidy recently caught up with Purrazzo.
During the interview, Gary asked Deonna about the NXT releases and why there was no announcement by WWE regarding them. Here’s what ‘The Virtuosa’ had to say:
I didn't know if they were going to release NXT people, and when I had gotten the call, they hadn't announced anyone from NXT yet - so I don't know if I was the first or if I was the last - but I just thought, "Screw it, I'm going to announce it on my own and maybe get one step ahead of them on this, and it's going to be on my terms." So, yeah, I don't know. I don't know if they will ever make a statement about it but there was a bunch of people released and I think, by process of elimination, everyone is kind of seeing who those people are but, yeah, it was kind of weird to not announce it.
You can read the original interview with Deonna Purrazzo HERE.
