AEW Star Rejects WWE, Vince McMahon Called Out For ‘Super Racist Ignorance’, Hit Row Plans – News Bulletin – August 16, 2022

WWE

An AEW star has declared that he isn’t interested in joining WWE, Vince McMahon has been called out for “super racist” “cultural ignorace”, plans for Hit Row have been revealed, and more.

It’s Tuesday morning and what better way to start the day than getting caught up on all the latest wrestling news – I’m Liam Winnard for WrestleTalk.com, and this is our news bulletin for August 16, 2022.

Konosuke Takeshita Rejects WWE

You may remember a few days ago we briefly mentioned the specualtion about WWE potentially being interested in signing AEW standout Konosuke Takeshita.

This speculation started when Dave Meltzer reported that WWE was on the lookout for a big Japanese star to sign, and Takeshita was “exactly” what they were looking for. It’s important to point out that Meltzer never actually said WWE was interested in Takeshita specifically – he was just used as an example of what they’re looking for in the sense he’s a young, big, talented Japanese star.

Speaking with Cultaholic, Takeshita did respond to the idea of WWE potentially wanting to sign him, saying: “To be honest, now I’m not interested in WWE”, and his goal is to wrestle more in AEW when he returns to the US.

Takeshita recently announced his return to Japan after a four-month excursion to America, but he said he hopes to be back around October time.

Vince McMahon ‘Super Racist Cultural Ignorance’

With Vince McMahon being gone from WWE, we’re seeing more details are coming out about what he was actually like to work with backstage – and many of them aren’t positive.

For example, Fightful Select’s report from a few days ago that McMahon would “shout derogatory things” at Bray Wyatt about his physique, and also the latest comment from former WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr.

Discussing the reason why foreign talents such as Japanese stars Asuka and Shinsuke Nakamura were way more over in NXT than they were on the main roster, Prinze said on his latest podcast:

“I have an honest answer, but I feel like when dirt sheets pull it from our podcast, it’s gonna come off like brutal and rough.

“The funny answer is… Oh well, it’s just super racist.

“It’s just a cultural ignorance, Vince always felt … if English isn’t their first language, the American fan is always going to look at them as a heel, and if they are a babyface, (McMahon) wanted them to be funny and goofy. I think that’s why there was a lot of goofy Mr Moto BS when it came to Japanese wrestlers over here.”

Of course, with Triple H now at the helm(sley), we’re likely to see a big change when it comes to the ‘stereotypical’ ways foreign talent acts on WWE TV.

Triple H Plans For Hit Row

After they made their WWE return on the latest episode of SmackDown, a little more light has been shed on plans for the Hit Row trio of B-Fab, Ashante ‘Thee’ Adonis, and Top Dolla.

They returned with Adonis and Dolla beating two local talents in a tag match, and then reintroducing themselves as the “OG three” (alluding to the fact they’re without Swerve), but there wasn’t really anything else revealed about their future direction.

Well in an update on that, PWInsider provided some news on WWE’s internal roster listing, noting that Hit Row are listed on the babyface side of the roster.

They were always going to get a big pop for returning, but that clarifies the plan, at least for now, is for them to be babyfaces, which is probably a good thing because the SmackDown tag division is light on challengers for the Usos as heel champions.

Top Dolla also took to Twitter to state that they’re not “taking applications” for any new members.

Other Stuff

In other little bits of news…

The same PWInsider report mentioned that Dexter Lumis had not been assigned a spot on either the Raw or SmackDown roster, despite appearing on TV in the crowd and being restrained by security on the August 8 Raw. However, this was of course before Lumis appeared on last night’s Raw and jumped the barricade before again being taken out by security.

Elsewhere on Raw, Alexa Bliss & Asuka beat Nikki ASH & Doudrop in the Women’s Tag Title tournament, so Bliss and Asuka will face Dakota Kai & IYO SKY in the Raw semi-final; Theory returned to TV after two weeks away and actually beat Dolph Ziggler in the main event of the show; Mustafa Ali and Cedric Alexander, who have been teaming up on Main Event for a couple of weeks, debuted as a team on Raw but lost to Ciampa and The Miz; Drew McIntyre and Kevin Owens made headlines by declaring they are “wrestlers in a wrestling ring” before having a great match; and Riddle returned and said he’s medically cleared, calling out Seth Rollins for Clash at the Castle.

Sasha Banks and Naomi attended the She-Hulk premiere together amidst all the reports that their WWE returns are imminent.

It’s been all but confirmed by AEW and the Young Bucks that Kenny Omega will indeed be returning as their partner on this week’s Dynamite, and that was the big tease at the end of this week’s Being The Elite.

Shotzi posted a picture of the tank she used to ride for her entrance, hinting that it could be making a comeback, and similarly, Butch (Pete Dunne) posted a picture of him in NXT before he was repackaged as Butch on the main roster, teasing he could be going back to his roots as well.

WWE issued an SEC filing ahead of today’s earnings call, which featured the interesting line: “The resignation of Vincent K. McMahon could adversely affect our ability to create popular characters and creative storylines or could otherwise adversely affect our operating results”.

Cody Rhodes quote tweeted some promotion for Clash at the Castle with the classic ‘eyes’ emoji, which people took as a tease he could return… but he later deleted the tweet, so he probably realized how people were reaction and that isn’t actually what he meant – he was just trying to help promote it.

After he appeared at Emergence this past weekend, PWInsider confirmed that former WWE official Scott Armstrong is now officially working for IMPACT as both a referee and a producer.

Lio Rush tweeted a highlight video and an image of himself and Bobby Lashley from when they were an act in WWE a couple of years ago, which again people took as a tease that he might be the next released star to return, but obviously nothing came of that last night.

Trish Stratus has announced she’ll be appearing at the August 20 and 21 WWE house shows in Kingston and London, Ontario.

NJPW announced its return to the UK on October 1 and 2 at the Crystal Palace Indoor Arena in London for Royal Quest II.

The tickets distributed for WrestleMania 39 as of 7:50pm ET on August 15 were 48,782 for night one, and 49,443 for night to, according to WrestleTix.

As well as Santos Escobar, it seems like Roderick Strong may also be on the list of upcoming NXT call-ups, as Julius Creed is expected to call him out on Heatwave tonight, with the speculation being that Strong will be kicked out of Diamond Mine and that’s how he’ll be written out of NXT for his call-up.

And elsewhere on NXT Heatwave: The aforementioned potential last match on the brand for Santos Escobar as he faces Tony D’Angelo; Cora Jade vs Roxanne Perez; Carmelo Hayes defending the NXT North American Championship against Giovanni Vinci; Mandy Rose defending the NXT Women’s Championship against Zoey Stark; and Bron Breakker defending the NXT Championship against JD McDonagh.

Be sure to stay tuned to WrestleTalk.com throughout the day to keep up with all the news from the world of pro-wrestling, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning for another round-up.

If you’re in the UK but didn’t manage to get tickets to Clash at the Castle on September 3, WrestleTalk is hosting a watch party at The Joiner on Worship in Shoreditch, London, and we’d love for you to join us! Click here for more details.

• Konosuke Takeshita
• Hit Row
• audio news bulletin
• Vince McMahon

Share this article with friends