Possible Opponent for John Cena at SummerSlam

With John Cena set to make his return from hiatus on the July 4th episode of SmackDown, there is speculation that he may work a program with Jinder Mahal at this year’s SummerSlam event once his feud with Randy Orton concludes.

We previously reported via Wrestling Observer that the company has long-term plans for Jinder to hold on to the championship, possibly into next year. If WWE does decide to have Mahal face Cena, there is a good chance that Mahal could go over in the match. The belief is that a win over Cena could really solidify Mahal as a top superstar in the company.

X-Pac 1, 2, 360 Recap w/ Road Dogg – Writing for Smackdown Live, Women’s MITB Details, Picking on The Rock, More!

X-Pac opens today’s show congratulating Samoa Joe on his big win at last Sunday’s Extreme Rules PPV. He says that he’s known Joe for a while, and he knew it was only a matter of time before Joe made his way to WWE. Even when Joe was doubting his own ability to get there, X-Pac knew his talent and abilities would eventually land him in WWE.

He thought it was strange that WWE implemented a submission stipulation in the cruiserweight match between Austin Aries and Neville. He says that submission matches often limit the talents’ ability to provide exciting false finishes and in the case of the cruiserweights, it hindered some of the high flying abilities of those two men. Nonetheless, he thought Aries and Neville pulled it off and had a good match.

X-Pac comments on WWE’s recent signing of Thea Trinidad. Trinidad recently played the role of A.J. Lee in the upcoming Paige biopic, and X-Pac thought she was marvellous in that role. He says he wasn’t surprised by this signing at all, and he thinks she’ll start in NXT before making her jump to the main roster.

Top ROH Name Not Heading to WWE

PWInsider reports that Dalton Castle agreed to a new deal to stay with Ring of Honor and will not be heading to WWE. Castle’s previous deal was set to expire this month and they had not yet come to a new deal until the last few days.

It should be noted that he only “agreed” and has not officially signed anything. Some websites have got those two terms confused.

Another Name Done with Impact Wrestling

Jessie Godderz is no longer working for Impact Wrestling and his profile has been removed from the roster page on the company’s website. Godderz worked for the promotion dating back to 2011.

While speaking to Scott Fishman of TV Insider last month, Godderz was asked about why he hasn’t been appearing on television for Impact and he confirmed that he was still under contract with the company.

“I just had a handful of other projects that took precedent. They were understanding with it. I’m still under contract right now. Other than Sonia and my CBS family at Big Brother, obviously I owe the world to Impact Wrestling for giving wrestlers chances to branch out. Everything is as planned and on schedule as of right now.”

It is very possible that he contract could have ran out over the past couple of weeks. We will keep you updated if we receive more information.

Marty Scurll Wants Match Against Former WWE Superstar CM Punk

Marty Scurll appeared on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast for a new interview. Here are some highlights:

Switching from his Party Marty to Villain gimmick: “What I’d like to suggest now is my previous character, a fun-loving, good guy, ‘Party’ Marty, was actually the whole plan all along because all good villains start off as a nice person, something happens, and they turn into that evil villain, so I’m actually a genius. My character is like a long thing, like 12 years. I tried to be a good guy. I tried to be the one everyone loved. They turned their backs on me. Society turned on me. And then, I turned out to be an absolute asshole. Are you surprised? These people made this happen.”

When he thought about changing his look: “There was a very famous quote, well, I’m not sure how famous it is, but a quote either way from Matt Groening who wrote The Simpsons. And he said that all great characters can be recognized from their silhouette. And I thought, ‘Well, that’s an interesting point.’ And I thought, ‘Well, okay, I need to get something to mix this up.’ So yeah, it was a gradual thing. It wasn’t like, ‘This is my character!’ It’s an evolving thing. It still is, even to this day.”

The importance of having a developed character: “I think originally I just assumed I’d be a really good wrestler and then someone would give me a character and I’d be good enough to play it off. Right, right, they’d be like, ‘You’re going to be Mantaur 2,’ and I’m like, ‘Yes, I love it!’ I could do that. No. But I think you quickly realize to get by and be successful in wrestling purely based on your in-ring ability is…you have to be really remarkable. Guys like ‘Dynamite Kid’ could do it, but I feel like to be a main event player and a character some people can get invested in, that’s the most thing, I think.”

Guys who are great in-ring talents needing good characters: “If you look at the guys who have broke out from Europe, you have Zack [Sabre, Jr.] and you have [Will] Ospreay, who are really, really exceptional in their fields. Zack is the best technical wrestler and Ospreay is the best high flyer, so they don’t have to rely as much on characters, but they will because they are the best in their field, but there will come a point when they’ll have to excel in that character. Wrestling on TV and wrestling on the indies are two different things, so they’ll have to.”

Heel/babyface dynamics: “What the hell is a heel? Who said I was a heel? I’m ‘The Villain’, I didn’t say I was [a heel]. I don’t play by these pro wrestling rules of faces and heels. I just don’t. I don’t care about that. You can live by those wrestling rules. I think outside the box. I’m a villain. I’m an antagonist. I do nasty things. If the people want to cheer or boo it, that’s down to them. It’s says more about them than it does about me.”

Wanting to face CM Punk: “CM Punk, I’d like to bring CM Punk out of retirement and wrestle him for sure. I don’t know if CM Punk listens to this show, but if he [does]…” Scurll added, “but CM Punk, if you’re watching, come out of retirement. We can cause quite a bother of a wrestling match. What do you say? And that’d be fun, right? Yeah, that’s one for the headlines!”

Mark Andrews’ CT Scan Results Revealed

As previously noted, UK Superstar Mark Andrews was hauled away in an ambulance after suffering an injury in the main event at today’s Download Festival event. WWE provided the following update on his condition:

Mark Andrews suffered a neck injury on Sunday during WWE NXT’s time at Download Festival 2017 in Donington Park in Derby, England.

Andrews was quickly evaluated by WWE medical personnel. A statement passed along to WWE.com read, “A CT scan of Andrews came back negative, with just bruising evident. Mark would like to thank all his fans for their concern.””

The Taz Show Recap – Calling Live Matches Vs. Taped, Asuka Needs A Challenge, Does Lana Deserve A Title Shot? More!

Blocks 1 & 2:

A listener calls into the show and presents an idea he has for the Mae Young Classic. He says that Asuka has been complaining about a lack of competition in NXT as of late, so perhaps she should be entered into the upcoming women’s tournament where she’d have to defend her NXT Women’s Title in every match.

Taz says thats a cool, unique idea, but WWE wouldn’t really be able to explain giving out multiple Title opportunities to women who didn’t earn it. Taz admits that WWE just did this by giving Lana a Title opportunity against Naomi at Money in the Bank, so perhaps they don’t worry about those types of details as much as we’d think.

Another listener calls into the show and asks Taz what your main goal should be as a colour commentator for a wrestling company. Taz says that first and foremost, you should never worry about getting yourself over. Your talking points should always focus on the story that the talents are telling in the ring, and your goal is to do everything you can to get those talents over with the audience.

Taz points out that a lot of commentators seem interested in getting themselves over more than the talents in the ring, and that should never be the case. He adds that colour commentators such as JBL or Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler can get away with that to a degree because they both had lengthy, successful in-ring careers before transitioning to the announce booth.

Kevin Owens Reveals Who He’d Like to Face at WrestleMania

While speaking to NOLA.com, Kevin Owens was asked about his dream opponent for WrestleMania. Owens revealed that if it was a superstar from the past, he would pick Shawn Michaels. If he had to pick someone from today, he would pick Sami Zayn.

“If you say past, it’s Shawn Michaels hands down. If you say present, Sami Zayn and I have had such a rich history, I feel like a one-on-one match at WrestleMania would be so perfect. But there’s also Finn Balor. He’s my best friend. He’s probably the one guy if I could sit across from in the ring at WrestleMania, that would make my career. Finn and I got to WWE at the same time, and we dived into an unknown territory. We gravitated toward each other very quickly. He’s like a brother to me now.”

You can check out the full video here.

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Mahal’s Inability to Have 5-Star Matches, Dreaming of Wrestlers, Lucha Underground Talents Want Out? More!

A listener sends in a clip of Dave Meltzer, where Meltzer criticized The Drifter’s segment at Extreme Rules. Meltzer said that this was clearly just thrown into the show to kill time, and he wanted Samson off his television. Russo says that this proves that Meltzer has no experience in the wrestling business, because The Drifter’s presentation is a prime example of character development. WWE is being consistent with him and they have to be because he has a good look and they have a chance to do something cool with him.

Bryan Alvarez said this week that RAW has a great main event scene, where all five guys from the Fatal 5-way can be considered a legitimate threat to Brock Lesnar. Russo says he hates to break it to Alvarez, but wrestling is a work. In a real life environment, Russo thinks that Roman Reigns is the only guy in that group who could give Lesnar a run for his money, and he’d still get beat up.

Mike Johnson sent out a tweet this past week which you can read above. Russo says that this has to be the best line he has ever heard. He says that Johnson and these other ‘journalists’ are the biggest marks he has ever seen and comments like this just prove it. If you’re a grown man who’s dreaming about fake fights, you’re definitely a mark.