Big E鈥檚 big chance?
Sometimes, an injury or bad luck to one wrestler leads to an opportunity for another.
Currently, Big E is the lone healthy member of The New Day, one of most successful factions in WWE history.
Xavier Woods tore his Achilles tendon on a WWE tour in Australia in October and is still recovering from surgery.
After Big E and Kofi Kingston lost the Smackdown tag titles two weeks ago to Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro at Extreme Rules, Kingston announced on Smackdown that Friday that he would be out for six weeks with a back injury.
During a promo on the show, Kingston told Big E to do his thing, and the time is right for E to become a singles star.
For years, many have felt that E was simply an opportunity away from becoming a big singles star, and now is the time.
It has taken Kingston鈥檚 injury to push E out in the direction of stardom, and ironically, Kingston鈥檚 WWE championship win over Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35 last year also happened because of an injury.
WWE was about to move Mustafa Ali into a singles push that would have led him to a feud with Bryan.
Ali was to win the Elimination Chamber match to determine Bryan鈥檚 challenger at Mania, but Ali was injured prior to the event and missed several months of time.
Kingston was chosen to replace Ali and Kingston鈥檚 inclusion in the Mania match, and subsequent title win was organic and a feel-good moment that will be remembered for a long time.
Now, Kingston鈥檚 injury is leading the way for E.
WWE needs fresh new stars and while E has been under WWE contract since 2009, he has never had the chance to showcase himself individually.
Yes, E is a former Intercontinental champion, but his 167-day reign predated The New Day faction, so most fans do not remember it.
Hopefully WWE (note: Vince McMahon) realizes what he has in E, and the hunch here is that fans will remember E鈥檚 next title win much more than his initial singles reign on the main roster.
Kingston signs with AEW
In a move I expected and that was announced Friday, Eddie Kingston has signed with All Elite Wrestling.
After his incredible match with Cody on the July 22 edition of Dynamite, the only surprise here was that it took 10 days to get a deal done.
Sane鈥檚 farewell causes stir
Kairi Sane made her last WWE appearance on Raw Monday as she was jumped backstage by Bayley.
This led to Asuka, who was facing Sasha Banks in a Raw title match where the finish could be decided by countout or DQ, to get counted out trying to help Sane.
When Asuka saw on the video screen that Bayley attacked Sane, she ran in back to save her friend, thus giving Banks the title.
A short time later, it showed Asuka walking out of the trainer鈥檚 room where Sane was being worked on after being 鈥渋njured.鈥�
Asuka played it up well as she had tears in her eyes.
The storyline and the segment grabbed at fans despite the show being pretaped.
However, three minutes after it was announced that Sane was being worked on, she tweeted out a thank you to fans for making her time in WWE so special.
Instead of waiting a few hours, or a day, she tweeted as she was 鈥渂eing worked on.鈥�
Several pro wrestling journalists shared their feelings on it, and Bully Ray (formerly known as Bubba Ray Dudley) made a great point on Busted Open, the daily pro wrestling show on SiriusXM that he cohosts.
He said the tweet 鈥渢ook fans out of the moment.鈥�
Yes, the secret about the legitimacy of pro wrestling was let out of the bag a long time ago, and there are only a handful of moments each year between all of the shows on TV where fans get caught up in something, forgetting that it is entertainment.
For those who instantly saw Sane鈥檚 tweet were robbed of their sense of belief, even if for only a few moments.
WWE announces 2nd Q numbers
Thursday afternoon, WWE announced its second quarter numbers and while revenues were down to COVID-19, it showed a huge increase in operating income.
This was partly because of the huge TV deals and the money saved on the released talents in April.
One thing that caught my attention was when McMahon was asked about the dwindling ratings.
He blamed it on the Coronavirus and said he believes the creative end of the product is fine while blaming slipping ratings on not being able to have fans in attendance.
That was interesting considering Variety posted a scathing piece Wednesday about the numbers for Raw and Smackdown.
The article, which can be found at https://variety.com/vip/amidst-wwe-ratings-tumble-mcmahon-must-stop-blaming-storylines-1234712446/, put the blame on McMahon even though he continues to deflect responsibility.
Variety wasn鈥檛 the only outlet to question WWE this week as a piece at https://lightshedtmt.com/ said that if WWE doesn鈥檛 turn around its ratings, its media rights will drop.
Recently released EC3 appeared on Busted Open earlier this week and he did not hesitate to put the blame on Vince.
In fact, it seems everyone sees this except for McMahon himself.
When he bought the company from his dad in 1982, he had a vision for the company as his father was out of touch with the business.
Could it be, 38 years later, that it is Vince who is out of touch?
WWE Network tiers paused
It seems that WWE may have already scrapped the multi-tier idea for its Network.
The word is that WWE will still look to add some of the top indy promotions.
On This Day鈥�
In 1992, Ron Simmons defeated WCW heavyweight champion Big Van Vader to become the first-ever African American pro wrestling heavyweight champion.
The match was monumental on so many levels, and if you watch the finish of the match, listen to Jim Ross鈥� call and to the reaction of the crowd.
It was a special moment and long overdue on so many levels.
This week鈥檚 question:
Will SummerSlam be a two-day PPV? Craig, Elizabeth.
While SummerSlam will only take place on August 23, WWE has penciled in another PPV, Payback, for one week later.
WWE is trying to get SummerSlam out of the Performance Center (PC) and onto a beach, but nothing has been confirmed.
Payback with be at the PC.
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