WrestleTalk’s Facts, Opinions, And Rumors: SummerSlam

Rumor:

Goldberg will wrestle Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam.

Fact:

Dolph Ziggler has slammed Goldberg’s wrestling ability in several of his latest promos.

Opinion:

For the love of all things wrestling, why is Goldberg wrestling Dolph Ziggler in 2019? Goldberg’s last match was pretty awful.  However, if you are Goldberg then you don’t want your last match to be a stinker.  So, putting him in there with Dolph Ziggler makes sense from a wrestling standpoint.  Chance are, he’s not going to have the same horrible outcome as he did with the Undertaker.

If you’re WWE, though, why would you do it?  Is Goldberg vs. Ziggler going to draw in enough viewers to make it worth it?  Probably not.  Granted the Raw Reunion bumped ratings, but this one-off match isn’t going to move the needle on network subscriptions.

Goldberg has to go over right?  It’s not like Ziggler going over is creating a fresh young star or he’s getting a rub just by being in the match.  This one is a bit puzzling.  Chances are it won’t be a horrible match.  However, it will likely be Spear, Jackhammer, and the pinfall.  If it’s any kind of a long match, then really, what’s the point?

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Rumor:

Tommaso Ciampa is returning in August. 

Fact:

NXT Takeover is August 10, 2019

Opinion: 

In my best old Daniel Bryan impersonation, Yes, Yes, Yes!  Fightful is reporting Ciampa has been listed on WWE’s injury list for as a mid-August return.  Is August 10 considered mid-August?  I’m not sure, but it may just be close enough for Ciampa to get involved in the 2 out of 3 falls match between Adam Cole, BAY-BAY and Johnny Gargano.

Everyone was so disappointed when Ciampa-Gargano saga wasn’t able to come full circle.  Reports were Ciampa may be out for a long time.  How great is it he may be back so soon.  It’s great for him to be healthy and it’s great for all the fans.

This has turned out to be really fortunate timing if he is close to returning.  NXT will have a lot of options.  Does Ciampa return and help Gargano retain?  Does he interfere and cost Gargano the title?  Will he return and attack Gargano after the match?  The option would be for him simply walk out and wave from the top of the ramp after the post show logo appears?  Whatever the case is, Gargano and Ciampa deserve the opportunity to finish the story being told.  This short amount of time he has been out has actually let the story breath a bit and added depth we wouldn’t have otherwise gotten.

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Rumors:

Daniel Bryan is the man behind the attacks on Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns will be facing Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam

Fact:

Neither man has yet to be announced in a match for SummerSlam.

Opinion:

The positive is WWE has potentially come up with something more creative than Samoa Joe vs. Reigns at SummerSlam.  Daniel Bryan versus Reigns is a fresher match-up.  Bryan has the ability to pull great matches out of just about anyone not named Big Cass.

The negative, however, is the fact there is not enough time to build mystery and intrigue around this story.  This week is the go home shows for SummerSlam.  A more effective way of doing this would have been to have drawn this out a bit.  Book Samoa Joe vs. Reigns at SummerSlam.  You could put on another angle this week and at SummerSlam to build this story up.  Instead, this is going to feel like a hot shot story.

The only real mystery left is how does this story tie into Daniel’s career altering announcement.  I guess he could announce he’s retiring to become a fork lift operator.  Unfortunately, his first attempt doesn’t show much promise for a long career.

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Rumor:

WWE will officially re-instate the brand split once Smackdown Live moves to Fox in October.

Fact:

WWE is phasing out the Wild Card Rule.

Opinion:

If WWE can behave itself and stick to its own rules, then this should be a good move.  However, that is a big if.  To quote Luke Owen: “It just makes sense.”  Why would to rival networks want to have their stars appearing on another network?  Again, though, WWE does not have a great track record of sticking to the plan. Nor, does WWE have a good track record of building multiple stars at once.

Vince McMahon has always been one to push one major star at a time with the exception of the attitude era.  Hulk Hogan, John Cena, and Roman Reigns are the guys who were WWE frontrunners.  Can Vince go back to doing something he doesn’t seem to be comfortable with and push multiple stars at the same time?  Competition made it a necessity during the attitude era.

Vince couldn’t afford for someone to change the channel over to WCW if Stone Cold wasn’t on at the moment.  Therefore, we got Rock, D-X, Taker, Mankind, etc.  All these guys were built up to be stars and involved in stories you didn’t want to miss.  Therefore, you couldn’t turn the channel.

Seems like since then, lot’s of people have been turning the channel.  Will the emergence of AEW be enough to force Vince’s hand?  Only time will tell, but a roster split is a great first step.

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Rumor:

Smackdown Live’s creative process is in chaos. 

Vince McMahon called for a rewrite of Smackdown forcing writers to adjust even in the second hour of the show.

Fact:

Smackdown Live saw a major viewership drop this week.

Opinion:

It doesn’t take an investigative genius to see Smackdown Live’s creative isn’t clicking on all cylinders at the moment.  We’ve seen lots of dropped storylines from one week to the next.  Matches have been announced to have never happened or get changed at the last moment.  Even the Roman Reigns “accident” and The Firefly Funhouse segments didn’t have the normal production value WWE normally produces.

A result of this is fans are not tuning in.  Strangely enough, the one consistent part of the show has been Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens.  If Vince McMahon is heavily involved, it’s not surprising The Omni-Shane is still going strong.  At least, he’s not on Raw, too.  I’m fairly certain as great as Owens is, the amount of Shane we’ve seen isn’t helping ratings.  Most anyone would recognize this, but who’s going to tell Vince?

Reports are Heyman heavily produced the Raw show on Monday and Bischoff isn’t there to be in creative.  It appears Smackdown Live has become the show Vince will screw up now instead of Monday Night Raw.  Hey, at least, this means Smackdown is going to be the A-show on Fox.

Vince needs to find someone who can run Smackdown and that he trusts to run the brand.  By all accounts, Fox wants a more sports like feel to the show.  If only there was someone who presented a show on the WWE network which was critically acclaimed for it’s in-ring action, wins and losses matter in gaining opportunities, and yet was still able to bring in the storyline component of sport-entertainment.  Maybe someone who was married to a family member.  If only…

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That’s it for this installment of Facts, Opinions, and Rumors.  If you have a juicy rumor or an opinion on any of these, be sure to tweet us about it @WrestleTalk_TV.  And, if you love wrestling facts, be sure to order the WrestleTalk Almanac Volume 2.

• RAW
• SmackDown Live
• Goldberg
• Roman Reigns
• Vince McMahon
• wwe

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