• Samoa Joe Vacated The NXT Title Due To COVID-19 & Vince McMahon’s New Idea
At NXT TakeOver 36, Samoa Joe defeated Karrion Kross to win the NXT Championship.
However, Joe soon relinquished the Title due to an “injury”.
During his appearance on Busted Open Radio, Joe revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 and during this time Vince McMahon came up with NXT 2.0.
Vince then made the decision to make Joe relinquish the Title, so a new champion could be crowned on the debut episode of NXT 2.0 – thus kicking things off in a big way.
Below is what Joe said:
“I popped for COVID. It was the weekend, my wife was making stew and I couldn’t smell it. She said, ‘Wow, doesn’t that smell great.’ I said, ‘No.’ I tested positive on Saturday.
By then, Vince wanted to go in a different direction with NXT and he wanted to have the new opening with NXT 2.0 be with a bang and I agreed with him.
I said, ‘If that’s the case, this is probably what’s best for what your vision is for this product.’
I went behind the scenes and started working with talent on a one to one basis, pulling guys individually in open gyms, working with them, and focusing on these new tremendous prospects that were brought in and people that were hungry to learn and excited about this newfound opportunity. It was invigorating for me.
When you’re working with younger talent that are hungry and want to succeed on a high level, it amps up your own spirit. I was delving into that heavily. Working with Matt Bloom on revising things, training techniques, and evaluating what we were doing already and seeing if we could do it better.
That was really the end of my tenure at WWE.”
Also Read: WWE’s Latest Strategy For NXT 2.0 To Continue
WATCH: Ollie Jayy Looking Super Hot On NXT 2.0:
• ON THIS DAY IN WCW HISTORY (March 1, 1999) – WCW MONDAY NITRO
On this day in 1999, Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling aired another LIVE episode of their weekly TV show ‘WCW MONDAY NITRO’.
It was broadcasted from the Dean Smith Centre in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and featured matches, interviews & storyline segments on the road to the ‘WCW Uncensored 1999’ PPV.
The match-card can be found here:
1. WCW Cruiserweight Title: Billy Kidman vs. Psychosis
2. Rey Misterio jr. vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
3. The Cat vs. Jerry Flynn
4. Hugh Morrus vs. Perry Saturn
5. Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart
6. Goldberg & Rick Steiner vs. Buff Bagwell & Scott Steiner
