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WWE Rumors on Vince McMahon, NXT Call-Ups and Released WWE Stars Signing with ROH
July 12, 2021
Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from WWE and AEW.
WWE Superstars Unhappy With PC Workouts
WWE chairman Vince McMahon wants his wrestlers in top form as the company prepares to head back on the road, so he's had them do tune-ups at the Performance Center recently. Unfortunately, a tuneup cost the company Bayley for nine months due to an ACL tear and has apparently frustrated some of the talent.
“I know that there were people who were not too unhappy who live there to go in and many of them would have gone in [to the WWE Performance Center] on their own anyway, you know just for that, but there were also people who didn’t live there who were very unhappy about their days off, not getting paid extra, that they had to come to the Performance Center and do drills. In the case of Bayley, she tore her ACL," Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio.
This is a situation where it's 100 percent fair to see where McMahon is coming from. Talent went from performing on a near-nightly basis to only once or twice a week over the last 16 months. While the in-ring product hasn't suffered, the company has had only one event in front of fans during that time and it's difficult to say whether the adrenaline of fans could cause some regrettable mistakes.
McMahon is seemingly giving wrestlers a "training camp" type assignment, simply making sure they're ready for the daily bumps and at the top of their game come Friday. While it may be inconvenient for talent, this will probably help the in-ring product.
NXT Call-Ups Due to Ticket Sales
WWE ticket sales have largely been solid as the company returns to the road, though house shows are lagging well behind Raw and SmackDown. Meltzer speculated the lack of house show excitement could have led to NXT call-ups, as McMahon looks to reinvigorate the roster.
“You know when those first round of house show advances came out I know, I mean that’s the one thing with Vince is that he’s going to be pissed, and everyone is like, ‘oh the advances are so great, blah, blah, blah, blah,'" Meltzer said. "It’s like, I knew Vince was going to be pissed, and what does Vince do when he’s pissed? He wants to bring a whole bunch of people up, so you got Kross, Bronson Reed, Scarlett (maybe), now you’ve got these two [Shotzi & Nox].”
Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox made their debut as a tag team on last week's SmackDown, which also featured a teaser for Toni Storm's impending debut. NXT champions Karrion Kross and Bronson Reed recently wrestled matches for Main Event and were backstage at main roster tapings.
Reed already dropped the North American championship to Swerve Scott, all but confirming he's headed to Raw or SmackDown. Kross is set to defend the NXT title against Johnny Gargano on Tuesday, so it's possible we'll be looking at another change if he's set to be called up soon.
Kross has long been a character that appears best suited for taking his talents to the main roster and even mentioned the WWE championship last week in a promo.
Ring of Honor Adding Ex-WWE Wrestlers
Chelsea Green made her Ring of Honor debut Sunday at the Best in the World pay-per-view, and it appears she won't be the only former WWE star headed to ROH.
Fightful Select reported the company reached out to "several" people recently released by WWE. No names were mentioned, but Green showing up indicates ROH means business about revamping its women's division.
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