Here is an evergreen comment about WWE programming: Vince McMahon and those in charge seem hesitant to pull the trigger.
This time the subject is Kevin Owens. Or as fans know him, the guy running around in an anti-authority role, shutting down shows, kicking his boss in the rear and giving him Stunners the same way a guy by the name of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin would.
WWE seemed to have a great thing on its hands. Capturing the crowd's undivided attention like that is as rare as it gets, otherwise the company would constantly churn out top guys like Stone Cold.
But seemingly intent on ruining a good thing, WWE made Owens look like a dork in the biggest sense of the word on Tuesday's edition of SmackDown:
"Man to man, father to father, I wish you'd reconsider." In a segment later in the show, Owens apologizes when Shane McMahon demanded it.
And fast forward to the main event: McMahon takes advantage of this new twist and costs Owens his match against Elias and spot in the King of the Ring tournament.
It isn't hard to see what WWE is trying to do here. Owens, fresh off beating Shane at SummerSlam in a match wherein a loss would have cost him his job, is now concerned about a $100,000 fine and how it affects his family because...reasons.
The idea isn't to think too logically about it but to appreciate that characters like Owens can have some nuance. Owens isn't Steve Austin in the sense he's a renegade and nothing can affect him. He's Kevin Owens, and he's talked consistently here and there about his family.
But that doesn't change the fact that what WWE is trying to do here is flat out wrong. Great tweener characters who flip off their bosses remain cool in 2019. It's why WWE keeps rolling out endless McMahon authority figure storylines. But to take a guy with red-hot momentum and reduce him to begging for forgiveness and handshakes and then just shaking his head when he gets taken advantage of—after everything we've seen to the contrary lately—is just disappointing.
This doesn't have that much to do with Owens using Austin's stunner finisher, either. If that were the case, we would be talking about The Fiend as the next Mick Foley. But Owens using that and acting like Austin sure didn't help. Walking back the character, tuning it down, becomes a whole lot harder now—why is a guy bowing down to the boss he just beat using the stunner at all?
Keep in mind, too, this swerve away from the anti-authority Owens who doesn't care means more Shane on programming again. Maybe he's not on both Raw and SmackDown and in the top storylines, but he's a fixture of the show again if this angle with Owens keeps up.
We don't know where this is leading. Owens might end up snapping again in a few months. But he already won a win-or-leave match against Shane on the second biggest pay-per-view of the year. A payoff doesn't really get any bigger than that, and if Owens keeps start-stopping this Stone Cold-type character, fans are just going to tune it out.
And maybe that's the point. Maybe WWE recoils at the thought of pushing just one guy at the top after endlessly doing so with Roman Reigns. But it seems counterintuitive to keeping fans engaged to clip off a character's wings right as they are starting to fly.
WWE has had a ratings problem on its hands for a while, which makes this all the more perplexing. The company has got to find a way to keep the young fans engaged and committed, with not only competition like AEW popping up but also SmackDown's impending move to Fox. A bad dude like Stone Cold at the top of the card is a big way to accomplish this, and fans were seemingly all-in on Owens.
Now, that's hard to say. With any luck, fans can look back on those miserable interactions above and laugh at the speed bump. But it is going to take some brilliant long-term character tweaks, which hasn't always been WWE's strong suit, to say the least. It's also going to need an incredible payoff that somehow has to top the last one.
As a disclaimer, if anyone can overcome this horrendous sidetracking of a stellar development with great fan reaction, it's a guy as talented as Owens. But that requires WWE seeing the problem with this curve in the character to begin with and the company getting comfortable with the pursuit of another Stone Cold-style character.
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Latest on Who Will Run NXT on USA
With NXT set to move from the WWE Network to USA Network for a weekly two-hour show beginning on Sept. 18, there has been plenty of speculation regarding who the chief decision-makers will be.
According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton), there aren't expected to be many significant changes, meaning Triple H will continue to be the person in charge with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon having little involvement.
Meltzer noted that as long as NXT's ratings are good, McMahon will mostly remain "hands-off" since he is already busy with Raw, SmackDown Live and the upcoming debut of the new XFL.
WWE announced the NXT move this week ahead of All Elite Wrestling debuting its weekly show on TNT beginning on Oct. 2.
NXT and AEW will air at the same time every Wednesday night from 8 p.m. ET until 10 p.m. ET, creating the first legitimate head-to-head battle among major wrestling companies since the Monday Night War between WWE and WCW in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
With Triple H in charge, NXT has aired on WWE Network since 2014, and it has consistently produced some of the best wrestling and storytelling in the entire industry.
Maintaining the current level of performance with an extra hour of programming each week could be a challenge, but NXT has so much talent that the second hour may also be a positive in terms of giving more Superstars a chance to shine.
As long as Triple H is still at the helm, it is difficult to be anything other than optimistic about the yellow brand's future.
Stone Cold Comments on Rollins
WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, and he expressed some intriguing opinions regarding Universal champion Seth Rollins on his podcast this week.
During the Steve Austin Show (h/t WrestlingInc.com's William Windsor), Austin praised Rollins, but also called for him to become more animated on the mic:
"Seth's a tremendous worker and I just think, man, when he turns up that entertainment factor, because he's pretty reserved on the horn. And, man, if you go back and watch my promos, I mean, I never know what I'm going to say. I mean, I have things because of storylines and that and angles, so I know where I'm going, but I'll stutter or I'll miss a word, but it's all emotion.
"I think that emotions sell tickets, but also being larger than life sells tickets, so if he could just learn to amp it up a little bit, because every time I had a stick in my hands, I was trying to channel and emit energy and people feed off that."
Rollins is unquestionably one of the top in-ring workers in the world, but it can be argued that his mic work has left something to be desired during his current face run.
While Rollins has gotten more intense at times, especially during his feud with Brock Lesnar, he has also fallen into the trap that many top babyfaces do in terms of pandering to the fans.
Austin mostly stayed away from that during his heyday, yet the fans fell in love with his renegade personality, which is something Rollins could benefit from.
Being positioned as an underdog hasn't done Rollins many favors, but after getting the fans on his side by beating Lesnar at SummerSlam, perhaps the door is open for him to increase his popularity moving forward.
Strowman's Wild Battle Royal Idea
Braun Strowman has flipped over ambulances, cars, dumpsters and pretty much everything imaginable during his WWE tenure, but The Monster Among Men has his sights set on something even bigger.
In an interview with Mat Elfring of Gamespot, discussed his idea of tipping the wrestling ring during a battle royal in order to eliminate his opponents:
"I've pitched a couple of times in battle royals where I come out of nowhere and lift up the ring and dump everybody out of the ring before, so that I think would be a fun one. I don't think there's much left to flip unless I ripped a whole roof off the stadium or something like that. I think I've destroyed about everything they've put in front of me. And lord knows I'm glad I don't have to pay for all the stuff that I break."
Strowman won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35, but there is no doubt that his win would have been even more impactful had he gotten the opportunity to follow through on his concept.
Braun also won the Greatest Royal Rumble last year, and he figures to be a fixture in battle royals for the remainder of his career due to his uncommon size and strength.
Strowman's feats of strength are primarily what got the WWE Universe behind him, and if he and WWE continue to find innovative ways to show it off, he has a chance to be a top Superstar for many years to come.
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Jericho Comments on NXT's Move to USA
All Elite Wrestling star Chris Jericho took to Twitter on Tuesday to address the announcement that WWE is moving NXT from WWE Network to USA Network for a two-hour show every Wednesday night beginning Sept. 18.
Jericho congratulated those involved with NXT and embraced the idea of competition:
When rumors of NXT moving to USA for a head-to-head battle with AEW on TNT surfaced Monday, Jericho appeared on SiriusXM's Busted Open Radio (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Raj Giri) and expressed his belief that adding another hour to NXT and putting it on cable could be a bad move for WWE:
"I think WWE is great, but there's too much WWE as it is. By adding another two hours, that really dilutes the product, it dilutes their mindset, it dilutes the focus. It's a reactionary move that's done by a guy who wants to start a war. We don't care if you want to start a war, that was never our intention. There's no war for us, we're just doing what we're doing. People there don't like that and they're reacting to it, and it just dilutes their own product."
By putting NXT on USA Network, WWE is refusing to give AEW free reign over Wednesday nights. It is also a fairly low-risk move from WWE's perspective since NXT already aired Wednesdays on WWE Network, and the fact that it is staying at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, means the overhead should be relatively low compared to a touring show.
At best, NXT will outperform AEW and allow WWE to stave off any potential threat of legitimate competition. At worst, Triple H will lose his autonomy and the NXT product will change significantly, but there are still positives, such as NXT being elevated to the level of Raw and SmackDown, and its talent being given more time to shine.
Much like all eyes were on Monday nights during the Attitude Era, Wednesday nights will be huge for wrestling come October with both NXT and AEW airing up against each other.
205 Live Facing Uncertain Future
While 205 Live has given cruiserweight wrestlers a platform to shine for nearly three years, it reportedly could be operating on borrowed time.
According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton), there has been talk of 205 getting canceled since it is viewed as a "failed experiment." This is despite the fact that WWE is reportedly planning to hold three-hour television tapings every Friday night when SmackDown moves to Fridays on Fox in October.
Since 205 Live currently airs after SmackDown, it is possible that the arrangement could continue. Per Meltzer, another possibility is that WWE will tape content for a one-hour show to air on FS1, perhaps even as part of the weekly studio show scheduled to air every Tuesday.
Another option could be to move 205 Live to Wednesday nights on WWE Network. It could replace the void left by NXT moving to USA Network and be taped as part of the two-hour NXT tapings every Wednesday night at Full Sail.
In that scenario, the 205 Live performers would likely garner better crowd reactions than they do currently, and it could be a good thing for a product as a whole.
Canceling 205 Live would leave many talented wrestlers without an obvious landing spot in WWE, and it could lead to the rosters for the other brands becoming even more bloated.
Because of that, there would seemingly be value in finding a spot for 205 Live somewhere among the hours of weekly WWE programming.
WWE's Reported Payday for Moving NXT to USA
Moving NXT from WWE Network to USA Network was reportedly a highly lucrative decision for WWE.
According to Meltzer (h/t Giri), USA will pay WWE a minimum of $50 million annually for the right to air NXT. That is in addition to the $265 million USA is paying for Raw per year and the $205 million per year Fox is shelling out for SmackDown.
Considering that and the fact that WWE can provide some counterprogramming to AEW, it is difficult to argue against the decision to make the move.
NXT production will be more costly since tapings are going to take place every week rather than once or twice per month, but the fact that everything is remaining in house at Full Sail helps the cause.
WWE is more lucrative than ever, and the elevation of NXT is another sign that the company is a juggernaut that is in no imminent danger regardless of how strong the competition is.
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SmackDown is scheduled to debut on Fox on October 4, but a different story has been making the rounds lately about another possible move for a WWE show.
According to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, NXT is set to move to USA Network on September 18 with a two-hour format, putting it head-to-head with All Elite Wrestling's weekly TV show, which starts two weeks later on Oct. 2.
This story has gained a lot of traction, and multiple people in the industry have reacted to the rumor:
The announcement was expected to come on Monday's Raw, but WWE never mentioned it once. Other than a brief commercial for NXT on WWE Network and a cameo from The Street Profits, the yellow brand was absent from the show.
Meltzer posted the following tweet to back up his original report:
Even if the announcement happens later and this is all true, this could be a huge mistake on WWE's part. The urge to compete with AEW should not overrule what is best for the brand and the Superstars on the NXT roster.
Let's look at a few reasons why the developmental brand should remain on WWE Network.
(Update: WWE.com officially announced NXT will be moving to USA after this article was originally published.)
Influence From Network Executives
While WWE controls its content, USA Network executives have more say in what happens on their television channel than some people may realize.
If ratings falter, the network can step in and ask WWE to do certain things to correct its course, or in some cases, execs might ask the company to change something to make it more appealing to a mainstream audience.
NXT is Triple H's baby. Vince McMahon still controls WWE, but he has allowed The Game to oversee the developmental system for several years, and many fans feel he has done a great job.
If NXT moves to USA, Triple H and the team of writers working on the show will no longer be the only people with a major say in what happens. In fact, it might lead to McMahon getting more involved with the brand since ratings will actually matter.
NXT is special because it exists outside of the cable television system. WWE can do whatever it wants on its own streaming service, which includes experimenting with ideas it might want to use on the main roster. Once the yellow brand moves to USA, it essentially becomes part of the main roster, which is a completely different issue.
Too Much Pressure on Developmental Talents
The whole point of NXT is to serve as a training ground for talents WWE might want to use on Raw and SmackDown in the future. The Performance Center is where they learn the basics and NXT is where they put everything together.
Wrestlers such as Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn were already veterans and only worked in the developmental system to get acclimated to the WWE style of doing things.
Other talents like Bianca Belair, Kacy Catanzaro and Velveteen Dream are still in the early phase of their careers, and NXT is supposed to be the place where they get to improve and learn before going to the big leagues.
WWE may come up with a new developmental show to replace the yellow brand, but if some of these rookies are expected to carry a weekly program on a major network, they won't be given the proper room to grow.
Too Much Content for Casual Fans
If NXT moves to a two-hour format, WWE will be airing seven hours of television every week in addition to all of the content being made exclusively for WWE Network, such as 205 Live.
Even for hardcore fans, this may be too much. Asking casual fans to devote an additional two hours of their time every week might turn some people off altogether.
Raw going to three hours in 2012 had a negative impact on the show, and it has struggled to find a way to keep fans interested throughout the entire broadcast.
Imagine how hard it would be with another brand to worry about.
Losing What Makes NXT Special
The yellow brand is different from Raw and SmackDown in many ways, and that is the best part about it for some fans.
The shows are held in a small studio at Full Sail University instead of a different arena each week. This gives each episode a more intimate feel than the main roster programs.
NXT almost feels like an indie promotion, especially when you look at the style of wrestling at TakeOver events compared to WWE pay-per-views.
Every TakeOver event has been phenomenal because the men and women of the developmental brand hold nothing back. If they are working a tougher schedule with a two-hour weekly TV show, everything is going to change.
The expanded time would also lead to more talents being overexposed. As stated earlier, network execs are going to want the biggest stars in NXT to appear as often as possible to keep viewers tuning in.
The current format does not rely on ratings because WWE is more concerned about the overall subscriber count for WWE Network than about how many people watch each episode of NXT.
Superstars often go weeks at a time without making an appearance because there is only one hour of time every week, so we never have a chance to get tired of anyone.
Logistical Issues
Let's say NXT continues to be filmed at Full Sail instead of taking place in a different city each week. How does this affect talent schedules if the show is expected to air live on Wednesdays?
The way WWE does things now is more akin to the way things used to be. A few episodes are filmed at a time and aired over the course of three or four weeks. This way, NXT Superstars only have to film once or twice each month.
This allows WWE to do live event tours with the roster and its stars get more time to work on their craft at the Performance Center.
The NXT fanbase is as dedicated as they come, so filling the studio every week wouldn't be difficult. But if WWE plans on having the roster tour for the new weekly show, it might have trouble filling a bigger arena every week with talent most casual fans don't recognize.
WWE has enough to worry about without changing the way its developmental system works just to compete with AEW.
What do you think? Should NXT compete with AEW by going to two hours on USA Network?
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Reigns Reportedly May Not Wrestle at SummerSlam
Despite being one of WWE's top stars, Roman Reigns reportedly may not be part of Sunday's SummerSlam card in Toronto.
According to PWInsider (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton), the planned SummerSlam match between Reigns and Daniel Bryan is being dropped in favor of allowing the Reigns mystery attacker storyline to progress more.
After avoiding injury when a lighting rig fell on him during SmackDown last week and nearly getting hit by a car on Raw, Reigns threatened Buddy Murphy into confessing that he saw Rowan at the scene of the first incident.
In a post-SmackDown video, Bryan denied any involvement and suggested that Murphy said Rowan's name under duress.
Per PWInsider, multiple people have been discussed as Reigns' mystery attacker, and it is possible that neither Bryan nor Rowan will be revealed as the perpetrator.
Since Reigns may not have a match at SummerSlam, the WWE creative team may instead craft a segment to help further The Big Dog's storyline.
Provided Bryan does turn out to be behind the attack, saving a Reigns vs. Bryan match for Clash of Champions, Survivor Series or another pay-per-view is a sensible move since the SummerSlam card is already fairly crowded.
McMahon Reportedly Rewrote Tuesday's SmackDown
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon reportedly made significant changes to the original script for Tuesday's episode of SmackDown Live.
According to PWInsider (h/t Middleton), original plans called for WWE champion Kofi Kingston to main event SmackDown against Andrade. That match was reportedly changed to Kingston and Xavier Woods vs. Bryan and Rowan, and then Big E and Woods against Bryan and Rowan.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Middleton) largely backed up that report but noted that the original plan was Kofi vs. Bryan.
After Bryan and Rowan lost to New Day by disqualification, Reigns attacked Murphy backstage, and Murphy said Rowan was behind the recent attempts to take Reigns out.
McMahon reportedly "tore up" the script hours before SmackDown, which would make it the third consecutive week that reports have made the rounds regarding the chairman making changes to the blue brand's show on the day of the event.
Eric Bischoff was recently named executive director of SmackDown, while Paul Heyman is serving in the same role for Raw. Unlike SmackDown, there have not been reports of McMahon micromanaging the red brand over the past few weeks.
Since Heyman is generally regarded as more of a creative savant than Bischoff, the former WCW's president's perceived shortcomings in that area could be contributing to McMahon's reported actions.
Booker T Reacts to Matt Riddle's Recent Comments
WWE Hall of Famer Booker T responded Tuesday to recent comments made by NXT Superstar Matt Riddle about him and other legends.
Riddle has been outspoken regarding Goldberg since his match against The Undertaker at WWE Super ShowDown in June, which has led to the likes of Booker T, Chris Jericho, Lance Storm and others to defend Goldberg and take offense to Riddle.
In a video posted Monday by Riddle, he threatened to beat up Jericho and called Storm boring (warning: contains profanity):
On Reality of Wrestling (h/t Ian Carey of SE Scoops), Booker suggested that Riddle should take Jericho's advice rather than criticize him:
"I don't know how should I take it. I know if I was a young guy in the business and someone like Chris Jericho gave me a little bit of advice—be that as it may where the guy is working right now—but if Chris Jericho was to give me some words of advice, he might be one of the guys to listen to just because of the career that he's had.
"When the Rock said, 'Know your role and shut your mouth,' you know that's true. Know your role and shut your mouth. When guys back in the day didn't know their role they didn't last very long in the business."
Riddle noted in the video that he "really likes" Booker and doesn't want any heat with him. However, The King of Bros did take exception with Booker questioning his wrestling ability previously: "You said I couldn't work and I'm pretty sure if you watch a couple of my matches, you'll probably realize you were really wrong about that."
In June, Booker said the following about Riddle, per Jeffrey Needham of WrestlingInc.com:
"I was listening to Matt Riddle talk about Goldberg. I got a chance to watch Matt Riddle work. This guy needs a lot of work. You talk about somebody that needs to work on their craft? This Matt Riddle needs to work on his craft and that's coming from Booker T.
"I wish Matt Riddle would come down to my school and get a first class wrestling 101 training. Before Matt Riddle starts talking about anybody, Matt Riddle needs to work on his game and work on it very hard and that's coming from a Hall of Famer. That's coming from one of the best in the business."
Riddle has quickly risen through the ranks in NXT, and he is undoubtedly one of the most over and popular Superstars on the brand.
Due to his in-ring ability, charisma and character, Riddle seems like a fairly surefire bet to be a top star on the main roster in the coming years, but Booker and other veterans seem unimpressed thus far.
Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).
WWE's Big Show is set to star in an upcoming sitcom from WWE Studios and Netflix, appropriately titled The Big Show Show.
According to WWE.com, this will be the first project under the new partnership between WWE and Netflix, and it will also mark the first time a WWE Superstar gets to star in their own sitcom. However, Big Show is not the first to try his hand at something like this.
Back before the WWE Network launched in 2014, the company was trying other ways to diversify itself. It has released several movies under the WWE Studios banner but never made many attempts to produce any television shows outside of its weekly wrestling programs.
Enter Santino Marella. In 2010, the Milan Miracle had been with WWE for a few years, and he had firmly established himself as the top comedy character in the business.
He had formed relationships with both Vladimir Kozlov and Beth Phoenix, and WWE was looking to bring their chemistry to the small screen with a sitcom.
That's right, folks. WWE almost made a situational comedy with Marella, Kozlov and Phoenix, which sounds like WWE's version of Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place, which honestly sounds awesome.
WWE.com confirmed the news and revealed a few plot points. Santino would have been the star, The Glamazon would have been his girlfriend and Kozlov would have played his best friend.
Marella spoke with IGN's Matt Fowler about the show back in 2010: "In two weeks, we're filming the first few episodes of the new Santino Marella sitcom. The first season will air on WWE.com and after that, we'll try to get it to network television."
Unfortunately, the show never aired on WWE.com or any television channel despite having filmed at least a couple of episodes before scrapping the idea.
Marella said the show wouldn't be based around wrestling and even compared it to one of the most popular sitcoms of all time.
He said it would be: "Kind of like Seinfeld with myself. Phoenix is my girlfriend on the show and my best friend is Kozlov. It will be done on the two-and-a-half days that we're off the road and at home. Home for the show is Tampa, Florida."
Anyone who watched Santino's career in the ring knows he has great comedic timing and a willingness to make himself look foolish for the sake of entertaining his fans.
"I was always the class clown, the comedian," he said. "And combine that with 20 years of grappling and you put that together and you get Santino."
The saddest part about all of this is how we never got to see what Kozlov's potential was as a comedic actor. We knew he could wrestle, and his run as a babyface proved he could make us laugh, but that is completely different than acting in a sitcom.
This also could have been Phoenix's chance to become a breakout star had the show been successful. She would have been much different from the standard leading lady in a 30-minute comedy due to her muscular physique.
Had she been a hit with the character, it could have opened a lot of doors for different kinds of actors to land similar roles.
Marella runs a wrestling and MMA school called Battle Arts Academy in his home country of Canada (yes, he is from Canada, not Italy), but had this show proved to be a success, he could have called Hollywood home.
WWE has since branched out into television with reality shows like Total Divas, Total Bellas and Miz and Mrs, which all come across as scripted as any sitcom anyway.
What some people might not know is Kozlov ended up opening up a production company after leaving WWE and has been steadily acting for several years.
WWE did a "Where are they now?" video on him two years ago, and he talked about how WWE gave him a platform for what he is doing now, such as appearing in movies like John Wick.
As for Phoenix, the acting didn't bite her like it has her husband, Edge. She has been working on her commentary skills recently along with appearing on many of WWE's pay-per-view panels.
All three of the potential stars for the failed project have gone on to have successful lives outside the ring, but it would have been awesome if they were able to make a successful television show.
Maybe, if we're lucky, WWE will try another 30-minute comedy someday for the network.
Which current WWE Superstars would you like to see get a shot at starring in a sitcom?
