Aries rage quits Impact?:
Austin Aries jumped up immediately after being pinned at BFG over the weekend, then flipped off Don Callis and some fans as he walked away from the arena. This was initially thought to be a kayfabe, future angle, but, he has told the office he will not be attending the upcoming TV's, meaning he will miss months of episodes, due to the way the company tape their shows.
The only issue known about is a pre event presser, where a brawl ensued and a sponsor was accidentally knocked to the floor in the melee. Anthem were not happy about how that went down and asked the office to get control of the talent. He has not been fired as of this writing, but is reportedly out of contract. If these are not the reasons, than something is going on, it seems.
KSA revolt grows:
After politicians, fans and mainstream media, now WWE's own talent are expressing concern over the upcoming Crown Jewel event. Sports Illustrated claim that they have spoken to multiple members of the roster, and gotten conformation from them, under the promise of anonymity, that the roster in the whole do not agree with the company's position on the trip, and that they do not want to perform there, citing the ban on the women going, the human rights abuses, the death threats one of the roster got during the last trip, and the recent case of the missing journalist.
Some have criticised talent for not having the courage of their convictions, and to speak out publicly. The Meltzer, though, jumped to their defense...
"It's like the freedom of expression, if you're in WWE, this is one where you cannot express your viewpoint, no matter what it is. Even if you're in favor of it, people are going to jump down your throat. This is probably the biggest conundrum that WWE has been in the middle of in a long, long time. You've got a situation where everyone knows it, everyone's thinking about it, everyone's got an opinion about it but nobody can say a word, and that's really something when it comes to the nature of that culture. It's really scary in a lot of ways, that you have that. You're going to have a lot of individuals that are gonna have a lot of really negative feelings about this. Some will understand it, and justify it for the business reasons and some will just go, kind of like any normal person would go about it - we don't need the money, it makes our business look absolutely horrible to the public. But bringing attention to it will only make it worse."
JBL has also weighed in, telling WWE they should go...
"The idea is that WWE is going to go there. Right now, the official line is that they are monitoring the situation. My personal opinion is that they should go. I think the only way to promote change... look what we did with Cuba, you isolate a country and all you do is impoverish that country. You want to promote change. WWE went to Abu Dhabi, did the first women's match that had ever happened in the Middle East, and the crowd was chanting, in English, 'this is change.' For these Senators to come out and bash WWE on this... I've spent 7 Christmases in Iraq and Afghanistan with WWE. I was with the WWE, first group to go down and visit the Twin Towers, while they were still burning and bodies were pulling out. We were the first group on 9/13 to have a mass gathering. Right after 9/11, people didn't know what was gonna happen. For these guys to hide behind their patriotism and their flag waving, to me, to try and improve their abysmal approval ratings, to me, is wrong. WWE has been at the forefront of change and if you want to change Saudi Arabia, you send something like WWE there."
WWE promise to listen to the worries of the talent as they continue to weigh up the event's future...
"As always, we maintain an open line of communication with our performers, as we continue to monitor the situation."
SD 1000:
Tonight is the 1000th episode of SmackDown...
Official tease...
- WWE Hall of Famers Booker T, Mark Henry and Edge return
- James Ellsworth and Big Show return
- The Undertaker and Kane return to SmackDown
- Evolution reunites with Triple H, Randy Orton, Batista and WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair
- Rey Mysterio returns to face WWE United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura in a non-title WWE World Cup qualifier
- Michelle McCool, Torrie Wilson, Vickie Guerrero and WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long return, plus others
- Advertised matches: Daniel Bryan and WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. The Miz and Samoa Joe; Asuka, Naomi and Charlotte Flair vs. The IIconics and SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch
Evolution:
A number one contenders battle royal has been announced for Evolution. Alum Torrie Wilson, is one of the names to throw her hat into the ring for the bout. A number of the current roster have taken to social media to make their displeasure at their role on the biggest night in female wrestling the sport has ever seen, very obvious, in what looks like an organised campaign by the roster.
Injuries:
Tamina Snuka, Samir Singh and Sasha Banks all came back from injuries on Raw.
John Cena:
John Cena has landed a role in a family comedy called 'Playing With Fire'. He will play a fireman that tries to save a group of precocious children from a blaze they started.
World Cup:
Saudi Arabia's royal family came up with the idea of having a World Cup at Crown Jewel because they are still angry that Qatar won the rights to the 2022 football World Cup.
Poffo tags in:
NJPW are said to be ready to replace The Jackyl as English announcer. Lanny Poffo claims he has an audition to take his seat.
Chris Jericho is not happy about it, telling the company it is a stupid decision.
Injury:
Will Ospreay is out of his upcoming Japanese dates after suffering what he called the most painful injury he has ever had to endure.
DDPC:
DDP is working at the WWE PC this week.
Ex files suit:
Charlotte Flair's former husband is suing her, her dad and WWE for claims made about him in a recent book.
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