Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialYour Thoughts on Vince McMahon Retiring & More? (Monday Morning Q&A)

Your Thoughts on Vince McMahon Retiring & More? (Monday Morning Q&A)

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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) The biggest news of the week is undoubtedly Vince McMahon’s retirement. With him gone, are you feeling more hopeful that things will get better with WWE, or more doubt and anxiety that it will actually get worse?

Hands down, my favorite material WWE was putting out for the past decade was the Black and Gold Era of NXT. That was with Triple H at the helm. While I still don’t know what Nick Khan is bringing to the table other than some ideas I mostly dislike (the budget cuts seem to be one of his directives, Day 1 is worthless, if he’s in charge of the NIL program, that’s been an absolute bust, etc), his whole co-CEO thing is what makes me nervous. But with Stephanie McMahon in that other position of power and Triple H being EVP of Talent Relations, I’m more optimistic.

I’m assuming for the next few months, we’re going to see some small changes, but nothing will REALLY change until after WrestleMania. Over the course of the next few months, I’m mostly going to be looking out for adjustments like Kevin Dunn being booted out and replaced with Michael Cole. Those will be game changers. Creative, I think, will take some time to sort out, but if we get less rematches and the talent pool can be more of the style we saw in NXT, possibly a return of Johnny Gargano and so on, this could be what saves WWE.

Or, all parties are just planning on selling to Comcast and this is just a stall we’ll look back on as being pretty worthless.

2) Following Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor event, some title changes, Prince Nana acquiring Tully Blanchard Enterprises and Jonathan Gresham’s release, what are your big takeaways on ROH and its future?

I was thoroughly underwhelmed with that event. If that’s the type of show that we’ll get going forward, it will be one of those programs where I skip a good portion of it and just check more for the results than anything else. That was a disappointment, as I was hoping to be enthused.

The Gresham thing is interesting. I can imagine going into this with the title and feeling like you’re not having any discussions, so you’re annoyed, but you also have to remember that you’re basically an actor doing a job. You aren’t actually the world champion. Someone just decided that you should carry that belt. Now, the new boss is deciding to go in another direction. Until more information comes out, I’m feeling a little more as though Gresham overreacted and now, I don’t know where he’ll be going, as WWE isn’t likely to pick him up. I guess Impact is his intended goal to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond and join the roster his wife is in. Maybe he wants to be in NWA. But he’s effectively written off WWE, AEW and ROH, which isn’t particularly smart.

I’m curious about the Prince Nana thing. Did Tony Khan just realize Tully Blanchard doesn’t make a lot of sense as that group’s leader and pivot, or is there anything else there?

I still think Serena Deeb would have been a better choice for the women’s champion and that I’d have likely given the TV title to Jay Lethal, but to each their own.

3) What matches, if any, do you think will be added to the SummerSlam card?

With 8 matches currently on the lineup, I’m not expecting much else to be added. WWE has stopped putting matches on the kickoff, for instance, so that removes one or two options from the table.

History has shown no Intercontinental Championship match will happen, since they do not like having that belt on pay-per-views, for some reason. Baffling.

Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre would have made sense. They’re doing that on SmackDown, instead. Further proof that WWE’s philosophy these days is “if it is a match with any value and involves the SmackDown brand, you’re going to see it on Fox, not on Peacock, unless it is a stadium show” with The Usos being the only exception.

If anything else is added to the card, I’m looking on the Raw side. Edge and Rey Mysterio against Damian Priest and Finn Balor is the one match I can see them adding in. That is, unless they don’t just make this even lamer and have it as Judgment Day against The Mysterios with the idea being that Edge returns at the event, instead.

4) Max Dupri is out. Maxxine Dupri (formerly Sofia Cromwell) is in. Your thoughts?

Sofia Cromwell pops up in NXT and mostly just points for a few weeks. She’s barely said much of anything and had almost no presence other than “the hot chick standing next to Von Wagner and Mr. Stone” Then, out of nowhere, she’s replacing Max Dupri. Okay.

She’s attractive and cut a better promo than I had anticipated, based on what little she did in NXT. I’m fine with it. It isn’t as though taking her out of the Stone/Wagner thing ruins that angle or her momentum. I still think this gimmick likely won’t work out in the long run, but I’m interested to see what its potential is.

I had thought Jinny would be in this role. I’m fine with being wrong about that. When Carmella was doing her face mask gimmick, I kept saying Jinny would have made sense as her tag team partner and the fashionista who created it. That’s long gone, so now I’m curious what else they’ll do, but I anticipate we’ll see her pop up on SmackDown with a new name (cause Jinny is her real name and they don’t like that anymore) in the coming months. Maybe Royal Rumble?

My bigger question is what LA Knight did to get taken out of this and whether or not he’s going to be released. Things aren’t looking good for him. WWE could use a good talker who looks like a star, so I hope they’re just changing things and will allow him to be himself on t he main roster, rather than firing him.

5) What are your predictions for AEW Fight for the Fallen?

  • Thunder Rosa beats Miyu Yamashita
  • Ricky Starks beats Danhausen, unless the plan is to go with a surprise win for shock value comedy pops and then Danhausen will drop it to Hook down the line.
  • Jon Moxley will obviously retain over Rush
  • Swerve Strickland beating Tony Nese and Mark Sterling doesn’t sound like a stretch to me. Nese should go to Ring of Honor, too, by the way.
  • Bryan Danielson will beat Daniel Garcia
  • Lee Moriarty will beat Matt Sydal
  • Ethan Page beats Leon Ruffin

Let us know your thoughts about these questions by answering them in the comments!