Here’s what matters today in wrestling
Image Credit: WWE
The last time we met here, some of the WWE post-WrestleMania releases had been announced, but we had a feeling that the story wasn’t quite over. I don’t think too many people were expecting Xavier Woods or Kofi Kingston to make the list as well, but that’s what happened. Apparently WWE wanted to restructure Xavier & Kofi’s contracts, Xavier & Kofi weren’t interested in restructuring their contracts, and they decided to part ways with the company. It’s the end of an era, as The New Day was one of WWE’s most popular acts from 2014 to 2024. The list of accomplishments are a mile long. They held numerous Tag Team Championships alongside Big E. Kofi had a memorable run as WWE Champion. They were among the top merchandise sellers in the company for most of their time together. Fans loved them some New Day.
Unfortunately, things weren’t the same after Big E was forced to retire due to injury. Kofi & Xavier turned heel on Big E and got some good heat for a little while, but in the long run they didn’t do a whole heck of a lot and fans grew disinterested. Kofi & Xavier tried, but there didn’t seem to be much in the way of planning for the heel turn other than just doing the heel turn. Grayson Waller joined them for a little while, but he didn’t get much attention either. Eventually, somebody wondered why they were paying a ton of money to a couple of guys that weren’t doing a lot (Xavier was out with injury, but before that he wasn’t doing much of anything), and the conversation was had. We don’t know where Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston go from here, but they have plenty of options and plenty of fans that still want to see them doing their thing. It’ll be a new day…somewhere.
WRESTLING HEADLINES 👊🏽
•Details On Why Roman Reigns Was Initially Listed For WWE Raw Dates In June
Image Credit: WWE
Many are having fun with the fact that Roman said the part-time business was over and we would see his ass all summer, and now he’s not going to be on television during the month of June. I would suggest that most of June is part of Spring, and as someone that enjoys that season of the year I’m a bit tired of Winter & Summer weather taking up most of it. Reigns will apparently not be part of the Night of Champions event in Saudi Arabia, so it was decided that there was no reason to have him be on the Raw episodes building up to that show. If that’s true, then I have no problem with WWE not wanting to focus on him during that time, and I have even less of a problem with Roman if he doesn’t want to go to Saudi Arabia during this particular time period. You won’t catch me blaming any wrestlers for not wanting to go to Saudi Arabia, even though I’m sure the regular folks there are great.
Image Credit: WWE
It’s obviously a terrible look when WWE “Superstars” are asked to take pay cuts while profits have never been higher & TKO executives are raking in huge raises. It’s also obvious that TKO executives couldn’t give a rat’s ass about how all of it looks to us poors as long as they get their money. Most young wrestlers have spent a good chunk of their lives wanting to work for WWE, it’s been the top promotion for four decades and had a virtual monopoly for about half that time. Yes, a good number of the folks coming up now didn’t grow up as fans and don’t have the same attachment to the WWE brand, but a lot of people in that company did, and they will take less money in order to continue calling themselves a WWE Superstar. We might not think it’s particularly intelligent, but it’s their choice to make.
I also hate to point it out, but WWE doesn’t run nearly as many shows as they used to, so from the cold financial side of things you can see the bigwigs’ side of things…except for the part where they reward themselves with millions of dollars while not going through the punishment their employ-er, I mean independent contractors do. Gotta love late-stage capitalism.
MORE MUST-READ LINKS FROM 411MANIA 👇
→Hall's WWE Raw Review 5.4.26
→The Great Eight: The Top 8 TNA World Champions
I want to give a shout out to Tanea Brooks, also known as Rebel, also known by Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. as Reba during their entertaining run together. After going through various health issues over the last couple of years, last week Tanea was diagnosed with ALS. I’ve been a fan of Rebel’s going back to her days in TNA, and from what everybody says about her, she’s even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside. ALS is an insidious disease; I hate that anybody has to go through it and hope that one day a cure is found. Before entering pro wrestling at the suggestion of her friend Christy Hemme, Rebel was a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader and the lead actress in Trace Atkins’ “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” music video. Heard the song way too many times back in the day, but the video wasn’t bad. Rebel has lived quite the life, and our thoughts & prayers are with her going forward.
Thanks for reading,
– Steve Cook