Welcome back to another round of Quick Takes—a post that indulges in the topics that aren’t worth dedicating a full article to, but are still on my mind.
Each week, I try to cram in as many smaller talking points as I can via a speedier process, and I invite you to chime in with your own thoughts about these topics and anything else by keeping the discussion going in the comments below! Drop some more talking points in there for everyone to chat it up about, too!
Without further ado, let’s get into this week’s topics.
John Cena and Goldberg “Locks” for WrestleMania…huh?
Remember when it was said that Cena and Goldberg were locked in for WrestleMania? That’s certainly not seeming like the case right now, isn’t it?
I never fully trust these sort of reports to begin with when it’s something I consider low-hanging fruit.
Goldberg has spoken about having a two-match-per-year type of deal before and with Royal Rumble having been advertised, it felt like Mania was the obvious next step. But now, after losing to Drew McIntyre, I can’t honestly see any viable opponents making sense for him at the biggest show of the year…can you? What does he do, just start a random, arbitrary feud with Keith Lee? That’s a bit hollow. Does he just go over to SmackDown and challenge Roman Reigns? Well, that makes Edge’s decision rather clear and kills 2 months of storylines, doesn’t it?
John Cena has also gone on record with Jimmy Fallon and such to say that he’s busy filming Peacemaker and that will prevent him from doing WrestleMania due to COVID travel restrictions. That one is likely too far out of his control, rather than something that’s just total b.s. from the start. Obviously, in a different era where the pandemic isn’t going on, Cena might have been able to just fly out for one quick appearance on the day of the show and it wouldn’t be a problem. Now, with quarantine protocol putting weeks in the way of different travel dates, I just don’t think it’s happening.
Sure, he could be lying. We’ve seen that in the past. But in order to pull that off, WWE would have to keep it a secret up until it happened at Mania itself. Then, not advertising Cena ahead of time would kind of defeat the purpose of advertising a big name to appear to garner interest, wouldn’t it? The people watching Mania will already be watching at that point. You’re better off saying “Cena will be there” and getting more viewers than shocking the people already tuning in.
Lars Sullivan Released
PWInsider reported this week that Lars Sullivan was “quietly released” last month in the sense that he’s gone, but WWE didn’t bother putting out a press release or a statement on the website about it like normal.
From my perspective, this has been a long time coming. Frankly, I don’t know why it took so long to begin with.
When Sullivan was in NXT, I thought he had some promising potential. I never imagined he’d be a top guy or come even close to someone like Batista, Braun Strowman or any of the other monsters from the past, but I thought he could at least be a midcard champion.
Then, one problem popped up after another.
A few of those, like injuries, can be forgiven (to an extent). Others are harder to come back from. But most importantly, when you add all those ingredients together, you end up with a recipe for disaster. Repeated issues with no real positives to balance them out makes you question why it’s worth keeping him on the payroll. Other people with significantly less negativity were fired, but he continued to get paid for months/years despite not contributing anything to WWE’s growth. If anything, he was a detriment, making the company look bad for keeping him and sinking money into a guy who is sitting at home.
It’s crazy to think that this was pretty much his call, supposedly, too. After everything, WWE was willing to stick with him even longer. Weird how some people can seemingly be released for sneezing while others can have a lot of reasons to let them go and they’ll get more opportunities to redeem themselves.
At the very least, credit where it’s due that the call was made to step away. Hopefully, he gets on a better track and things improve for him in whatever is next. And no, I don’t at all wish that means “going to AEW”, but doing something else entirely, which seems to be the case. Pro wrestling just isn’t for everyone, even if that’s the dream job they might have.
Alexa Bliss Stalker
Part of Sullivan’s past was not respecting the boundaries between himself and a yoga instructor as he continually sent her messages on Instagram that went past the point of one incidental mistake in flirting.
It seems a lot of people just don’t understand that sort of thing, for whatever reason, and one thing going on right now that is scary as hell is that Alexa Bliss is dealing with an obsessed fan bombarding her on Twitter, threatening to kill her fiance. This guy keeps creating new accounts and continually talks about how he’s actually married to her and such.
Obviously, he and anyone else in these circumstances (a la Sonya Deville’s attempted kidnapping case or Armando Alejandro Montalvo—a name I shouldn’t know off the top of my head, but due to the amount of times he’s popped up at the Performance Center, I know that better than I know the NXT UK roster) need serious, serious help. And for anyone out there who can’t separate the distinction between watching someone on your screen and reality, if you ever find yourself blurring those lines, you need to take a step back and take care of that underlying issue that is making things difficult to process.
I can only hope the FBI or whoever can step in takes care of this and prevents something terrible from happening. You can’t just continually look at warning signs, brush it aside because “nothing’s happened yet” and then when something does, point the finger at anyone but yourself for not stepping in.
Steve Cutler Released
Lars Sullivan wasn’t the only release this week. Steve Cutler actually had a post on WWE.com about being wished well in his future endeavors.
This is very strange. Obviously, any time someone is released, there’s a bit of intrigue to it. Was he fired? Did he quit? Had his contract expired and it was decided not to renew it? If so, who made that call and why?
But it’s even stranger that this happened after he had been given a new lease by teaming with King Corbin. He and Wesley Blake were The Knights of the Lone Wolf. I guess now, it’s just “King Corbin and The Knight of the Lone Wolf” which is just absurd, unless they bring in someone else.
You’d have thought Jaxson Ryker would have been the one released as he’s the guy who got The Forgotten Sons out of the loop for a few months. But he’s tagging with Elias and featured every week on Monday Night Raw, so he’s doing better than Cutler and Blake.
Strange world. Isn’t it?
So what happens now with Corbin and Blake? Do they get a new partner? I’d like to see that happen, but after glancing at the roster, there isn’t a single person I can imagine in that role. Maybe Tucker Knight?
Blake can’t really work too well as the solo partner of Corbin, in my mind, so maybe he goes back down to NXT as just another guy there. But if that’s the case, you might as well release him, as he’s had years to go somewhere and just can’t make it. Sooner or later, you have to cut bait.
What are your takes on these topics? Keep the discussion going in the comments below!
