I REALLY hope Bray is next, but I don’t see them kicking him. He’s more likely to make a splash somewhere being something different. I don’t see them releasing Jeff either, because The Hardys being together would improve Mid-Card Matt’s value, but they may just call the bluff there and let them do silly shit to bury themselves.

I see the big “shocker” being Keith Lee, if his medical shit has cleared up and they’re just not using him. He’s just a big fat guy with an overinflated sense of importance and a semi-racist gimmick (“I’m a SMART black man”). It just hasn’t worked and you can let someone else make a big deal out of him and look like fools.

As for where talent will go:

-CJ Perry will go to AEW.

-Matt Silva will end up in New Japan if he wants to go back to the WWE (word is that’s always been his end-goal). If he doesn’t and working in front of smaller audiences is fine, he’ll end up in AEW.

-Santana Garrett will have offers from AEW and MLW (MSL is a huge fan). She may be low-balled by AEW because egos may not like her look.

-Heidi Lovelace to...eh, who gives a fuck? NWA, MLW, TNA, AEW, it’ll all be the same. I can see AEW giving her a shot to do “hardcore” shit.

-Tommy End will get a big MLW offer if they can do it. Court Bauer has said he’s a guy that he would build around. That’s if the WWE run didn’t sour that for him. If he doesn’t go there, I do think he’ll end up in AEW, possibly with his wife.

Bix is spot on

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hypothetically, you recruit this giant powerlifter, and because he's big, you call him up to the main roster in spite of him being the worst wrestler under contract. Given the chance to sink or swim, he wins the damn race, gets good, gets over...and you're like &quot;eh...&quot;<br><br>REALLY?!?</p>&mdash; David Bixenspan (@davidbix) <a href="https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/1400200347973476353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

From what I've seen, Keith Lee's articulated vocabulary has always just been the way he talks. Did WWE make it about race at some point?

I hope they don't reunite the hardyz. Big money Matt is one of the few decent gimmicks in aew, and it's far more entertaining than hardyz Matt.

Bray would be interesting because then we'd see how much of his failed gimmicks was really WWE fucking things up, as there have been plenty of reports of him being upset with people fucking up his creative vision.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">rip <a href="https://t.co/ow8km27RwN">pic.twitter.com/ow8km27RwN</a></p>&mdash; Will Ospreay is the greatest wrestler of all time (@Switchbladeera_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Switchbladeera_/status/1400152350887661579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Braun fucking sucks. He almost killed himself in his last match. People are looking at the Ryback/Ahmed Johnson effect. When put into position, he couldn’t really do the job.

He will move into stunt work and try to play a big guy, possibly of the creepy/funny redneck variety, in the pictures. Occasionally he will make occasional appearances for the WWE again. Kind of like The Boogeyman, only maybe a little more serious/used for an actual angle or two.

Braun was on fire during his feud with Roman. That's just not true.

Yeah he was far and away the most over guy on the roster for months and months until they dropped the ball with him.

Do people not remember this Braun in 2017 and how fucking amazing he was



I'm probably Ryback's biggest supporter out there but he was nowhere NEAR as good in ring as Braun was.

The craziest thing about them releasing Braun is that he's the only true "hoss" on the roster. With the way Vince loves his big sweaty monsters it just baffles me that they release the only one they have right now. I mean you could argue Lashley/Drew/Roman are in that class of big guys but they are puny next to Braun. Just does not make any sense.

Fuck they are about to hotshot that little Brock Lesnar clone they've been fawning over lately aren't they?

Braun should have went over Roman right there. It would have solidified what they were building him to be and it would have given Roman someone to chase. It could have even led to fans getting on board with Roman a bit more, as I could see him turning it up a notch to combat this monster, and historically, the rare occasions where Roman won over everyone in the audience were the moments he went nuts and just kicked a bunch of people's asses. Which is what got him over in the shield in the first place.

Too late now though, as he's been start and stopped too many times for anyone to take him that seriously ever again. Reminds me of Big Show in that regard.

I dunno, I think they could have made it work with him again. The Shane feud was the perfect place to do it too, tbh. Should have had him just snap and lose control again and start breaking stuff on a weekly basis while Shane runs from him. Then have him just murder Shane at WM and boom, he's instantly mega over again.

I honestly think Braun will be back. Probably playing hard ball because he doesn't want to take a pay cut. And he shouldn't take it honestly. But eventually he will. Might be a year or two from now but he will be back.

I remember in 2017 coming across some wrestling fans at work and for a time the first thing they'd ask me on Tuesday was "did you see what Braun Strowman did last night"

Yeah I had friends who stopped watching any wrestling like 15 years ago start tuning in to just see what he would do the next week. They had something special going during that stretch. Clips of him destroying stuff were viral on social media. It was nuts.

Back when RAW25 happened everyone was talking about how great of an idea it would be to have Braun do something big on the show because of the lapsed fans that were tuning in who would see him and be like 'Woah, who is this'.

Braun was the hottest person in WWE at the time, guy was red hot. Instead, RAW25 was a mind-boggling trainwreck and Braun didn't wrestle on the show but briefly appeared in a brawl with Kane and Lesnar.

Honestly his whole run then felt like the closest thing we've had to an attitude era in yearsssss. That whole "what the hell are they gonna come up with next!?" feeling was there like it hadn't been for a long time.

They should totally rethink his firing, secretly bring him back under contract, and then in the build up to summer slam film an angle of him just walking into titan towers and running absolutely amok. Eventually he barges into Vinces office after having wrecked half the place and Vince tries to talk him down and Brauns just like STFU AND GET THESE HANDS and then power slams him through his desk.

ffs im really in disbelief that he is gone :/

And since his name was mentioned....if they let Bray go too that might just be enough for me to call it quits on WWE other than maybe the rumble and mania because they'll always have a special spot in my heart. But between Braun and Black (and potentially Bray) they are cutting some of the few guys I actually wanna watch. Bryan is gone too. Bo. A whole lot of guys with B names now that I think about it.

What does Vince have against the letter B?

Braun Stroman - Gone

Jinder Mahal - Still employed

Sounds like normal WWE to me

You have to have some serious power to be able to launch a chair like that perfectly without it it tilting from and destroying Romans face.

Keith Lee could be a star in any era with halfway decent booking. You’re really getting stuck in a mindset of letting WWE’s braindead booking dictate a guy’s worth. You should know better by now.

WHAT'S BRANK STRONGMAN DOING IN THE IMPACT ZONE?!?!

To piggyback on what others have said, Braun should have been a world champ like 2-3 times already. Summer of 2017 when he was trying to kill Roman Reigns and "I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!" was the battlecry of the fans was awesome. But, you know, Vince being Vince. Didn't want to capitalize on a good thing or jeopardize his darling Roman Reigns' status as "the guy".

That said, I do remember him sending out a tweet he had "5 million reasons why he's happy today" when he signed his new deal. I wonder how happy he is now. AEW seems obvious, but I ain't getting that vibe.

Aleister Black finally escaped. So does that mean Zelina's new deal is dead? Unless she hasn't signed yet. In that case, smart girl.

No surprise if Lana shows up at AEW. I would be surprised if she got out of the wrestling game altogether and finds a new career path.


Quite the interesting day.

Either Vince is truly gone, or there is some plan that involves sending AEW talent and either boost them or blatantly tank them so that Vince can come in a buy them. Maybe Vince thinks AEW will break the bank to sign all these guys and then go bankrupt and he can swoop in a buy them. Why wouldnt he think that btw? It happened with WCW.

Totally different.

<iframe width="1130" height="636" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fBwi0Qydal4" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It's not really that much different. Khan = Turner, a richer billionaire trying to compete with Vince. WCW tried to keep bringing in older ex WWE talent as a boost, same thing AEW is doing. WCW and AEW both seem to let certain groups of rasslers control the booking and book themselves to go over and be at the top of the card all the time. WCW was also petty af and took shots at WWE live on air pretty frequently, another staple of AEW. They are very, very similar promotions.

The only difference is that WCW managed to overcome WWE for awhile; don't see that happening with AEW. Wrestling in general will lose too much popularity before they ever have that chance.

I don't see WWE ever buying AEW though. Vince would be better served to just let them tank eventually and then pick up the pieces after the fact.

Per Aleister Black on twitch, Zeina Vega did not get rehired by WWE. She just did some undisclosed work at the PC, and the internet doing what it does, jumped to conclusions.

I blame Slik

AEW also has always tried to imply they are WCW reborn. They often say things like "this is the first time WE have been on TNT since 2001" and things of that nature.

AEW is very much like WCW, and they even put out that narrative.

I forgot about this ppv already but interesting point

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Braun Strowman was literally in a WWE Title match on a PPV TWO WEEKS AGO.</p>&mdash; Wrestle Features (@WrestleFeatures) <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestleFeatures/status/1400123451634028552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

eh...I'll avoid the comparison talk until the day they put the belt on Marco Stunt to promote a B level wrestling movie.

I mean Jungle Boy is the number one contender for the world title right now. We aren't far off from Marco Stunt.

Jungle Boy getting a world title shot before Luchasaurus is insane. Just wanted to put that out there.

It's not insane because Jungle Boy is a great worker and Luchasaurus is sloppy as fuck.

That said Jungle Boy could definitely stand to hit the gym and bulk up a bit. But he at least looks like an athlete, unlike Stunt.

Just because he has a title shot doesn't mean he has a chance.

He'd be a legit TNT Champ if and when Miro moves onto the world title scene.