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We're back again with the biggest rumors going around in the happening world of the WWE. It was a busy day at the rumor mills. It always is whenever a new edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio drops.
WWE's writing team underwent a major shakeup with long-time writers being shuffled across the board. Sticking to writing, this week's Raw saw a change in the scripts as most of the promos weren't given word-to-word to the Superstars.
Elsewhere, the company is trying their best to convince a promising Superstar from leaving. WWE is also planning on having another draft in October that is expected to set in place steady rosters going forward.
Officials backstage are also particularly high on a very misused Superstar. And how can we forget Erick Rowan? The former Wyatt Family member is enjoying the best phase of his career at the moment and there are rumors about a new look being in the works for the former Wyatt Family member.
So without any further delay, here are the top rumors of the day:
#1. WWE trying to convince Kacy Catanzaro to stay
Despite being an NXT Superstar who hasn't been pushed as a top talent on the yellow brand, the report of Kacy Catanzaro possibly leaving WWE has been getting extensive coverage over the past few days.
There are many reasons for the same. She made her name for herself on American Ninja Warrior before coming to the WWE. However, her current popularity is partly because she dates Ricochet and WWE thoroughly highlighting the relationship on social media.
Casey Michael of Squared Circle Siren - who first broke the news of Catanzaro asking for a release due to a back injury - gave an update on the situation by stating that the company is trying to convince her to stay.
Meltzer had reported a couple of days ago that Catanzaro had not committed to her decision of leaving just yet, but her departure seemed inevitable as per backstage sources.
Catanzaro's first tweet since the rumour of her exit was released hinted that she may not be going anywhere.
However, the tweet aside, the NXT Superstar is on course to leave the company unless WWE offers her a deal that she just won't be able to refuse.
#2. Changes in WWE's writing team
The fans are used to the shakeups on TV but the company also makes a few alterations backstage from time to time. The writing teams of both Raw and SmackDown were subjected to big changes this week.
As revealed by the Wrestling Observer, SmackDown Live's lead writer Ryan Ward has left his position. The official reason has been revealed to be a personal leave. Ward has been replaced by Ed Koskey, who has been a long-time lead writer on Raw.
Former lead writer of 205 Live, Jonathan Baeckstrom has taken over the reins on Raw in place of Koskey.
The past few weeks have seen Vince McMahon being hands-on with the scripts of SmackDown. Reports of McMahon completely changing the script have been a norm for the past few episodes and a change in the writing hierarchy was long overdue.
Ed Koskey will now take over from Ward and will be working closely with Eric Bischoff. Koskey has been a WWE employee for almost 18 years and has been a pivotal figure in the scripting of the shows for the past 10 years. He is also the vice president of creative writing and will be a big asset to the blue brand.
As for his replacement on Raw, Baeckstrom had been working as the lead writer on 205 live for nearly three years and is considered to be a close aide of Paul Heyman. The Executive Director of Raw reportedly got Baeckstrom along with him when he assumed his new role on Raw.
#3. Unscripted nature of this week's Raw
During the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer was discussing how WWE's heavily scripted NXT will go head-to-head with AEW's weekly television and during the same, he revealed that most of the promos on the most recent episode of Raw weren't scripted word-for-word.
"By the way, on RAW this week. Several of the promos were not scripted word-for-word, which is interesting."
He even explained how AEW is planning on doing the exact opposite of how WWE has been running its shows.
"I’ll tell you what, the one thing as far as Wednesday goes is it’s going to be a heavily scripted show vs a show with no writers. Legitamelty, they are not hiring writers, and we’re going to see a live 2-hour show with no writers, just wrestlers, you know, coming up with storylines, and going out there and have them cut promos and you know, knowing the bullet points.
They want to memorize their promos, they can, if they don’t want to memorize their promos, they don’t have to. But there is not going to be any word-for-word stuff.Let’s face it, a lot of the scripted promos. We’ve all complained about it forever for the obvious reasons they’re badly delivered and lifeless and all that. We are going into a new era or a new concept and we’ll see if pro wrestling needs scriptwriters to be effective to television."
Paul Heyman's influence is quite evident from the way promos are being delivered every week on Raw. It seems like WWE is also moving to a more unscripted format for its product which would feel more natural to the fans.
WWE is slowly shifting to a new era without undue restrictions and that can only be best for business.
#4. WWE officials are very high on Samoa Joe
It's sometimes frustrating to be a Samoa Joe fan. Just when you think WWE is going all the way with the former TNA World Champion, Joe loses a big feud and all the momentum goes down the drain.
However, the inconsistent booking doesn't mean that the officials don't like him. The scenario backstage is quite the opposite in reality.
It was revealed on the Wrestling Observer Radio that officials in power are very high on Samoa Joe and that could only mean one thing. A little bit of patience and Joe will be given the push he deserves very soon.
Here's what Meltzer had to say about Joe while talking about the King of the Ring tournament:
"I know that there are people in power who are very high on Joe, although I don’t think that Joe needs to win the King of the Ring because Joe is such a good talker and people believe he is a badass and he can lose and stay somewhat strong. When I say lose and stay strong, and that becomes an excuse to beat him all the time and then they somehow don’t stay strong and then they wonder why."
Samoa Joe is one of the most seasoned and well-rounded performers on the roster who has never been able to truly cement himself as a main event player. Countless losses in high-profile feuds have not helped his cause, yet, Joe continues to be over with the WWE Universe. The company recognizes his value and will eventually give him the spotlight to shine when the time is right.
#5. Update on the next WWE Draft
As reported first by POST Wrestling's John Pollock, the WWE Draft will be returning on the Raw and SmackDown episodes in mid-October.
The SmackDown episode of October 11th and the Raw episode of October 14th will reportedly host the Draft. The talents have been informed that there will be 'strong boundaries' between brands.
As reported first at the end of July by Sportskeeda's Tom Colohue, the wild card rule will also come to an end as a result of the Draft. However, it was also noted by PWInsider that 'things change on a whim' in WWE, so the fans should be prepared for anything to happen.
SmackDown will move to the Fox Network on October 4th onwards and the company wants to revert to a hard brand split moving forward. It was also additionally stated that the draft could see a few moves being made which would also include NXT Superstars.
#6. New look for Erick Rowan
The White Sheep of the Wyatt Family is now being positioned as a top star on SmackDown after he laid out Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan and cut a decent promo on the most recent episode of the blue brand. We never imagined that would happen but here we are and it wasn't that bad. Rowan put in a pretty solid performance.
After weeks of unwanted twists and turns in the long-drawn Roman Reigns mystery attacker angle, it was finally confirmed that Erick Rowan was the man behind the attack, however, he did it all without Daniel Bryan's consent. Rowan is now all on his own and is on course for a very lucrative match against Roman Reigns at the upcoming Clash of Champions PPV.
Rowan could debut a new look for his match against The Big Dog on September 15th as Kim Dylla of Kylla Custom Wear possibly teased new Viking gear for the Superstar on Instagram
Dylla has worked on the in-ing gears of many Superstars in the past and she may be working on some fresh gear for Rowan.
Her Instagram post read:
"#TodaysOffice : #WWE @wwe #SmackdownLive Just finished fitting my good friend @erickredbeard #Rowan in some cool new #Kyllacustomrockwear gear - WWE #MetalShirt club #TodaysShirt selections repping @enslavedofficial and @solstafir_official #JustVikingThings"
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