Welcome back to another Monday Morning Q&A where I toss out some questions to get a feel of how you guys and gals are feeling about certain topics.
So here are 5 questions I’d like to toss out for this week. I’ll give my answers, too, but the key here is that I want to know what YOU think! So make sure you chime in!
1) Are you more upset with Becky Lynch beating Bianca Belair like that, happy about Lynch returning and winning the title, a combination of that, or something else?
Roller coaster. I thought it was ridiculous WWE waited until the last second for the Sasha Banks “gotcha”, as that plays too much into the “card subject to change” excuse. They knew far enough in advance. But when Becky Lynch came out, it seemed like it was at least for a purpose to swerve people in a positive means.
However, I see no justification for The Man beating Belair that quickly. That just furthers the gap and then, WWE wonders why there aren’t any new stars. Maybe that’s because when Rhea Ripley was hot, you fed her to Charlotte Flair and she still can’t beat her after a year and a half? Did Belair have to lose in a way that proves Becky is the preferred star? Not even a competitive match or anything?
I can’t imagine WWE has a plan in place that is going to prevent Belair from looking like a fool and I bet they think it’s okay for her to take the hit. People shouldn’t have to take a bad to go with a good. There can be two good things. If either of them turn heel, Belair still looked bad and there were plenty other ways to do it that would have avoided that scenario.
For instance, why couldn’t it have been a Triple Threat with Carmella involved and Belair didn’t take the pin? Or does that make too much sense and would avoid upsetting people, and you can’t have that?
Too much of this “it doesn’t matter if they’re upset or happy, so long as they’re talking at all” philosophy. That shouldn’t apply to company criticism, too, of “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
2) Now that Adam Cole has lost to Kyle O’Reilly and supposedly hasn’t signed a new contract, is this the end of him in NXT? Does he go to Raw or SmackDown, staying in WWE, or does he go to AEW?
For a while, I assumed he’d be staying in WWE and going to Raw or SmackDown. Now, I don’t feel as confident about that.
Nothing in the match itself indicated an exit to AEW, though. Keep that in mind. At least, I didn’t see anything that stood out to me as a middle finger to WWE or anything of the sort.
I’d have assumed, though, that he would have inked a new contract by the time the match was going to take place. They would have sat down this weekend and hammered out the details. I know I would have wanted to if I were in WWE’s shoes.
With all the buzz from CM Punk, momentum is far more on AEW’s side. A lot of his friends are there, his girlfriend is there, and he could stand to be a bigger deal and more successful in the company that wouldn’t take his size and use that against him.
Then again, AEW does have a lot of stars now and are signing even more. Maybe even that’s become a little too overcrowded and it’s better to hedge your bets, have Britt Baker in AEW and Cole in WWE so you have the best of both worlds, and go to Raw or SmackDown.
Gun to my head, if I have to guess, I say he leaves for AEW. Second option, he goes to SmackDown. Third option, he goes to Raw. Fourth option, he stays in NXT. Fifth and final option that is the least likely by far is that he leaves WWE and goes somewhere other than AEW, like New Japan or Impact.
3) What do you think is the trajectory of Bobby Lashley’s WWE Championship leading up to WrestleMania 2022, with or without him?
I had thought Lashley would just beat Goldberg and that would be the end of it, but now, with Crown Jewel coming up and the way that match went down, a rematch seems on the horizon.
This is tough. Brock Lesnar felt like he had to be in the works for Lashley, but WWE once again said no to that. That doesn’t mean it’s not Lesnar vs. Lashley for WrestleMania, but if The Beast Incarnate loses to Roman Reigns ahead of time at Extreme Rules, Crown Jewel or Survivor Series, doesn’t that take the wind out of the sails a bit?
Extreme Rules isn’t going to be anything big, I’m assuming. My guess is Lashley defends against someone on the Raw roster who gets a random No. 1 contender’s spot, like Ricochet or Keith Lee. I love those guys, but WWE will likely write them off as food for Lashley in prep for Crown Jewel.
At Crown Jewel, I’m worried Goldberg wins the title to set up Goldberg vs. Reigns at Survivor Series. Very concerned that’s the game plan.
If Goldberg is champion, I don’t know who fights him at WrestleMania 38 other than Big E. Realistically, who else are you going to have in that match? It shouldn’t be Riddle, as he should be working with or against Randy Orton.
Then again, if Lashley is still champion, who the hell fights him at WrestleMania if not Lesnar? I know I would personally book Keith Lee to win the Royal Rumble and earn that opportunity, but just because I would do it doesn’t mean WWE will.
I’m starting to convince myself Goldberg wins the belt at Crown Jewel, fights Reigns in a champion vs champion match at Survivor Series, and then either drops it back to Lashley who can fight Lesnar at Mania or it’s Goldberg against Big E at WrestleMania instead with some random thing at Royal Rumble like Goldberg beats Sheamus. In any fashion, if Goldberg is champion, I’m not into the idea. Sorry Big E.
4) Who would you like to see Edge face next?
Sami Zayn. There are about a dozen guys I want to see Edge fight for sure and Zayn is one of them I think he could have a fun feud with.
We’ve crossed off Orton, Reigns, Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan. I want to see Kevin Owens vs. Edge, a match against Finn Balor, one against AJ Styles, The Miz, Baron Corbin, etc, but Zayn feels like the most fun to go directly into right now as he’s not busy with anything else.
5) With big changes imminently coming to NXT, what are you most excited about? What are you most nervous about?
I’m most excited about the idea that maybe things actually change for the better. NXT is my favorite product in WWE right now overall, but it’s still not as good as it once was. With the move to USA and the two hours live setup, along with all the releases, it’s lost some of its pizazz. Maybe a fresh direction, possibly with some of the talent moving on to Raw and SmackDown, could make things better.
But what I’m nervous about is that Nick Khan seemed to indicate an anti-indie mentality approach. I don’t want this to be some developmental show where it’s just the big dudes who need seasoning having squash matches against the smaller enhancement talent. IE, I don’t want to see two hours every week of Top Dolla, Bronson Reichsteiner and Parker Boudreaux tossing around Drake Maverick and Ikemen Jiro in four minute squashes and nothing else when I’ve been enjoying Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa killing it in Match of the Year candidates.
Let us know your thoughts about these questions by answering them in the comments!
