Tag: Randy Orton

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Where Does Rusev Go From Here?

For those of you who may not know, Rusev was set for a big match at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view. After being traded to Smackdown Live in the Superstar Shakeup, Rusev declined to show up on the brand unless he received a WWE Championship match. It looked like this was the direction WWE was going in. It would have been perfect too. Randy Orton vs. Rusev.

Orton could win in his hometown and Rusev becomes a member of Smackdown Live. However, plans changed and Jinder Mahal is the current WWE Champion. Orton gets his rematch for the belt at Money In The Bank, which leaves Rusev as the odd man out.

So where does he go from here?

There’s the obvious choice of coming out during the championship match and costing Orton the match. This would in turn set up a feud between Rusev and Orton. Rusev would look strong if he came out of this feud on top, but WWE would probably not have Orton lose two feuds in a row.

The next option would be interfering in the Money In The Bank ladder match, costing a superstar their chance at winning. It could work, but I have a better idea. Rusev should attack AJ Styles before the match, take his place in the ladder match, and capture the briefcase.

You may be questioning yourself, wondering how on earth is this a good idea? Well, let me explain. Styles is the one guy in this ladder match (besides Nakamura possibly) who really doesn’t need to be in this match. They can get a shot at the gold any day. They are both pretty expendable at this point. Styles will more than likely get a shot within the upcoming year, so having him miss out on this opportunity won’t hurt him.

If Smackdown Live wants to capitalize on the return of Rusev, then he needs to return in a big way. Keep him off of television until the night of Money in the Bank. Rusev shows up and destroys Styles, making him unable to compete in the ladder match. Shane McMahon declares Rusev as the replacement since he is the one that caused all this mess. Rusev goes on to shock the world and win the Money in the Bank contract. It’s an outcome few, if any, would expect to happen going into the event. Seeing as how Smackdown Live has been booking on the shock value as of late, this would be right up their alley.

Not only would we see Rusev return in grand force, but we would also see him thrown into a rivalry with the hottest guy in the WWE. It’s a win-win for Rusev, who hasn’t been utilized the way he should’ve been throughout his short career. Rusev has all the tools to be a mega heel, and him going against Styles would only add to it.

Featured Independent NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Indie Wrestlers Mock Randy Orton

Independent wrestlers Shane Strickland, Sammy Guevara, and Mr. 450 decided to do a spoof of Randy Orton at Saturday’s Wrestle Circus event. When they went to the top rope to do dives, they called it off. They then all proceeded to hit RKO’s simultaneously on their opponents followed by doing Orton’s signature pose.

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WWE Title Match & Participants Announced for Money in the Bank

Shane McMahon opened up tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live announcing that Randy Orton will get his rematch for the WWE Title against Jinder Mahal at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event.

Shane also announced AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Nakamura and Kevin OWens as participants for the Money in the Bank Ladder match.

Money in the Bank will take place on June 18, 2017 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. As always, we will be providing live play-by-play coverage of the event.

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Bischoff on Wrestling Recap – Orton’s Tweets, Wrestling’s Changing Landscape, Are There Too Many Titles in WWE? More!

Eric Bischoff is joined on today’s show by his co-host Nick Hausman.

Bischoff opens today’s show speaking about the tweets sent out by Rip Rogers and Randy Orton last weekend. He says that for the most part, he agrees with the points made by both men. He says that he has always liked Orton and he has a lot of respect for Orton personally and professionally.

On the other hand, for as long as Bischoff can remember, veteran performers have had an issue with the young wave of performers that were making their way into the business.

When he was working in WCW, veteran performers in their late 30s and 40s at that time were complaining about guys like Chirs Jericho and Rey Mysterio Jr., because those guys were bringing a new element to the wrestling business and it was different compared to what the veteran performers were accustomed to. Bischoff says that this cycle appears to repeat itself in 5-7 year cycles.

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Matt Hardy on Feud With Bray Wyatt — It Would Be Amazing!

The Hardy Boys spoke with Sport Bible for a new interview. Here are some highlights:

Matt on seeing Vince McMahon for the first time after returning: “It was cool, it was very quick – the first time we saw him [Vince] physically face-to-face was in ‘Gorilla Position’ right before we went out and it was ‘Hey, good to have you home, hug, hug’ and then it was out to the ring to go and partake in a ladder match.”

Their favorite TLC Match:

Jeff: “I would say the spear [from Edge], Wrestlemania 17 because I had always wanted to hang from those things that held those titles and we finally got to do it. Just to see that come from my mind to reality was breathtaking, and for it to be so good, it’s one of the biggest things that stands out to me – that spear. I would say [it is] one of my craziest stunts for sure because that was a pretty long fall, but then the Swanton I did on Randy Orton years ago back in about 08 or 09, it was like 32 or 33 feet – that was pretty massive so that’s up there with the swantons but all the TLC matches I hold dearly and always will.”

Matt: “I liked the first tag team ladder match we had, the first TLC match we had in theory was the triple threat ladder match at Wrestlemania in 2000 – it was a great match, it was a spectacle but looking back because I’m older, there’s a lot of things that bother me from a psychology standpoint but we were just three young teams, it was our first Wrestlemania and we went out there and they said ‘Don’t worry about time, timing’s not an issue, we know you guys are doing a ton of crazy things, don’t rush’. We were literally given a spot on Wrestlemania and told not to worry about time – that doesn’t happen, that’s not a real deal. That match was great, it was a spectacle and one of my favourites. Summerslam that year it got a little better, I thought it was strong from a storytelling and psychology standpoint, and then I thought Wrestlemania 17 was even better – I thought it continued to improve and evolve as we got better.”

Eventually working in singles competition:

Jeff: “I think the brotherly feuding might be over, I don’t think people really want to see us fight each other but when you think back to the beauty of the Final Deletion, if ever something like that comes into play again then that’s the only way I see us doing something like that but it’s inevitable that we’ll go do our solo things before we’re done but right now it’s all about the tag teams.”

Matt: “Speaking from my perspective, I think right now our goal, especially starting, coming back, being reintroduced to the WWE universe after being away for a substantial amount of time, really was to be a tag team – we became famous for being a tag team. I think down the road there will be a potential for both of us doing our own things; we’re both strong singles personalities in many ways, and I think as performers we’ve grown as we’ve got older; we’ve got smarter. Just for starters, if we get to where we need to be, I think ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy against Bray Wyatt would be an amazing deal, and you look at him [Jeff] – him vs Seth Rollins, him vs Finn Balor, either one of us vs Roman Reigns – there’s a lot of cool, interesting combinations of guys who became stars in the last five or six years that we’ve never worked against, it’s totally like a fresh slate. So there’s a lot of potential forces as singles competitors also.”

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The Taz Show Recap – Smackdown Analysis, Is Rusev Disgruntled? What Was the Best Part of Smackdown? More!

Block 1:

A listener calls in to open today’s show, saying he’s really looking forward to watching Backlash this weekend. The caller also hopes that the United States Title match between Kevin Owens and A.J. Styles main events the show. Taz says that he can understand that opinion, because those two guys can potentially steal the show, however he thinks Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal are going to have a great match as well.

Taz says that he didn’t like WWE’s utilization of Kevin Owens last night. He doesn’t believe that Owens should be stealing Chris Jericho’s gimmicks, and he thinks that Owens should be standing on his own because he’s better than this. Taz assumes that Jericho will be returning sooner than later and these two guys will revisit their feud, but Taz wonders how long WWE can drag out this program. It has already been ongoing for multiple months, and it doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon.

A listener calls into the show and says that reforming The Shield is the only way that Roman Reigns is going to get over as a babyface with the WWE Universe. Taz disagrees and says reforming The Shield right now would be admitting defeat and would be a step back for Reigns and the company as a whole. He believes that turning Reigns full heel for a year or more would eventually result in the audience getting on Reigns’ side, then the company can flip him back to babyface.

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Dinner with the King Recap – Thoughts on Rip Rogers/Randy Orton Tweets, Stiff Punches, Why Does Lawler Still Work the Indies? More!

Lawler opens today’s show speaking about this past weekend’s tweets from Rip Rogers and Randy Orton. First off, he says that he’s obviously a fan of Randy Orton and his work, and he’s been a fan of Rip Rogers for years. He thinks both of those men have a point in their concerns regarding the state of indie wrestling.

He believes that the issues lie in the fact that a lot of young indie performers are trying to get their foot in the door in the wrestling business. When they have an opportunity at an indie show, they try to do whatever they can to show the promoter that they’re worth hiring again for a future show.

Lawler agrees with Rogers in the sense that there’s no ‘kayfabe’ anymore. Performers work their match, shake each other’s hands and then go on social media and thank each other for the match. Lawler’s not sure that the performers are even to blame, because it’s the way the business has developed over the last number of years.

He also points out that competitors in all other sports often shake each other’s hand after their match or game, so perhaps it’s not the most ridiculous concept for wrestlers to congratulate each other and put each other over at the end of a match or a feud.

Featured NEWS ROH TNA WWE

Several Wrestlers React to Randy Orton’s Remarks About Indie Wrestling

Indie wrestler Ricochet issued the following remarks regarding Randy Orton’s recent comments about how indie wrestlers perform their matches:

“Guys, not everyone is going to like every style of wrestling. Same in any sport or music, movies & pretty much every form of entertainment. So just enjoy what you like! And I dunno about you all but I’ve always thought Randy was awesome! Still is! I just love wrestling, every type. Wish more people were this way. It’s an amazing art that I’ve been blessed to make a living from. I feel that us as wrestlers, expressing our style of wrestling is what makes it an art. Not someone else’s opinion of it.”

Goldust sent out the following tweet on the matter:

Former WWE Superstar Batista also had some words: