– WWE Veteran Says Something Is Going On If Jinder Mahal Goes From WWE Champion To Zero
During a recent edition of “The Brand” podcast, former WWE writer Vince Russo, WWE Veteran Vito LoGrasso, OVW Veteran Kenny Bolin and co-host Jeff Lane talked about “The Modern Day Maharaja” Jinder Mahal losing the WWE Championship to “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles on last week’s episode of SmackDown Live. Below is their discussion:
Kenny: I did not see it coming. I didn’t think that he would be losing the title on SmackDown Live. I figured that would definitely be a pay-per-view thing unless they’re planning on him getting it back in a week or two. But I thought they would write this India thing as hard as they could with him as the champion and have it change hands at a pay-per-view.
Vito: Honestly, I think they did it for the star power AJ Styles against Brock Lesnar and there was time for a change. Even though a lot of people didn’t want to see Jinder lose the match, I think they specifically did this for Survivor Series. And you know, he had his run here. I’m not saying he won’t get it again, but I think that was strictly a Survivor Series booking.
Russo: I’m gonna give WWE the benefit of the doubt because I’m not gonna believe for a second they ran with this guy for a hundred and seventy days, they did not put him in a main event position even though he was the champion and he had the crown jewel, they did not write for him like he was the cornerstone of the show.
Whoever is the champion and whoever is in that spot everything should be a written around that guy and you put that guy in that spot knowing that you’re going to write the television that way. In a hundred and seventy days they did not get this guy over. He did not do anything special.
Vito, you talk a lot about transition champions. I get that. This was a hundred and seventy days. This was no transition. And here’s why I’m gonna give them a benefit of the doubt.
Because I cannot believe the writing and the booking and the management and the decisions are going to be so bad that after investing a hundred and seventy days with this guy as your champion, you’re just gonna let them fall into mid-card in the middle of the pack. I’m not going to accept that.
When somebody’s not over, I’ve been in the spot, you know immediately. It doesn’t take a hundred and seventy days to figure it out. They had this guy as champion for a hundred and seventy freaking days.
That is six months, the guy was champion. If this guy now just falls into mid-card, shame on them. Then they sit there and they can’t understand why we can’t get anybody over.
Kenny: But we do know it was done for one reason, that was for him to go to India, to be the champion when he got there. Now I don’t know if they’ve had the cards there or not, but I guess it served his purpose now.
I mean he was gonna be champion until they did that tour over in India and at least had him go over there, do some personal appearances and hopefully sell some merchandise. I think it was figured out that if they just sell three on the average to every person in India that they will sell more merchandise there than they do worldwide.
Vito: I think everybody’s overlooking one thing. Remember when Roman Reigns was champion and he was skyrocketing and all the sudden he dropped the title with no explanation? Anybody ever think that there might be a Wellness Policy violation and they had to get the title off him because he failed the drug tests?
It is a good look at backstage stuff and it could be what Vince said – you have it on for 170 days and all of a sudden out of the blue…you know…credibility giving a show, mano-a-mano Jinder Mahal is your man. AJ Styles is a great wrestler. I’m not saying he can’t hold his own.
But it could be a Wellness Policy violation, that’s why they yanked it right before the pay-per-view. And if he doesn’t have a spot on the Survivor Series team you know something is deeper than that. Because for him to go from champion to zero, there is really something behind it.
– Kurt Angle Comments On Eddie Guerrero’s Death Anniversary
Old School WWF Legend & WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle posted the following regarding Eddie Guerrero’s death anniversary on Instagram:
“12 years ago we lost the most entertaining athlete I’ve ever known. I had a Love/hate relationship with Eddie. One night, we were laughing and joking, and the next night, we were fist fighting. But that’s what brothers do. I miss you Eddie. You will live on forever. #itsdamntrue”
