Opinion
Cook: Should Excalibur Be Cancelled?
Excalibur was missing from AEW Dynamite this week–should AEW be done with their masked commentator?
Excalibur was missing from AEW Dynamite this week–should AEW be done with their masked commentator?
Something felt a bit off with this week’s AEW Dynamite. No disrespect to the wrestlers involved, or the matches & skits produced. Most of the show was perfectly fine in my book. However, there was one ingredient missing, one that’s been a big part of most AEW television presentations since its debut.
Where the heck was Excalibur?
Our favorite masked commentator was conspicuous by his absence Wednesday night, replaced at the announce table by Taz. Taz is a fine analyst, but this led to Jim Ross doing more of the play by play than he has been doing since Dynamite began, and more JR old man rants. Excalibur is usually tasked with keeping JR on topic, I figure that’s because Tony Schiavone finds JR’s ranting & raving amusing.
Excalibur’s absence wasn’t mentioned on the show, and I wasn’t aware of why he would be absent. If it was a coronavirus-related issue it would have been mentioned. So what was the deal?
Silly me, I didn’t check Wrestling Twitter. Had I done so, I would have known that the controversy of the day involved Excalibur using racial slurs on a PWG show in 2003. Kevin Owens was involved as well, but his role wasn’t exactly played up by the people reporting on Excalibur. The video is easy enough to find on Twitter that I won’t link it here.
The gist of the situation is this: Excalibur & Steen were in the entrance way addressing Human Tornado & El Generico, who I believe were known as “2 Skinny Black Guys” at the time. Excalibur referred to Tornado with the N-word, and Generico with a word starting with B sometimes used to describe Mexicans. Steen yells out the N-word as well before the video cuts off.
It’s a pretty bad look, no doubt. Steen & Excalibur have both discussed it in the past & regret their involvement in it. As it turns out, the usage of the N-word was the idea of Human Tornado. He thought it would get the feud more heat, which it did, but obviously there were undesirable side effects. Like having to explain it to your employer seventeen years later. Tornado has been very pro-Excalibur on Twitter & doesn’t think he should be punished.
AEW is in a little bit of a pickle here.
A lot of it is their doing, unfortunately. When you try to set standards for morality, people are going to look for the first time you don’t live up to them. A sizable number of wrestling fans are calling for Excalibur’s head for various reasons. I’m sure some of them are legitimate, but many of them fall into one of the below categories:
-WWE fans that aren’t happy with AEW trying to be better citizens than WWE, which admittedly shouldn’t be too difficult.
-Hulk Hogan fans still mad that the Hulkster has been banned from AEW by Tony Khan for using the N-word on a sex tape.
To be fair, Khan kind of made his own bed on that one. As silly as I find Hogan fans that still whine about that whole situation and defend the old coot because they liked him 40 years ago, there was no reason for Khan to say anything about Hulk Hogan in a public forum. Except to dunk on his ex-wife saying racist stuff on Twitter, which is kinda iffy reasoning. Was anybody ever expecting Hulk Hogan to play any type of a role in AEW? He’s a 66 year old man that can’t wrestle anymore, and he’s lost most of the name value he once had thanks to said sex tape & other misadventures over the years. Maybe this movie coming out about him increases his viability, and there’s a certain audience that was never offended by anything Hogan did, but I just don’t see the value there.
There never has been a legitimate reason to think AEW would be interested in bringing Hogan in, and other than a paycheck there’s no reason to think Hogan would be interested in going to AEW. His legacy’s tied up in WWE, and I think his time with TNA took care of any need he felt to shape the next generation of wrestling.
So, while Hulk Hogan fans getting all mad over his banishment from AEW is needless nonsense, Tony Khan still enabled it. You don’t have to have an opinion on everything, unless your job is to have an opinion on everything. When you start floating your non-ancillary opinions out there, people are going to look at you closely.
You’ve now joined your husband in being banned from all AEW shows. Congratulations.
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) June 2, 2020
People have noticed the lack of comment from AEW regarding Excalibur’s status. My bet was that something would come out on Friday as a classic news dump. That didn’t happen, though some scuttlebutt was reported that Excalibur took himself off the show as to not be a distraction. I would guess a suspension and that Excalibur will be back sometime around All Out in September, if not the taping before. I could be completely wrong, that’s happened once or twice in the past.
I keep coming back to the idea that it happened seventeen years ago and it’s been apologized for before. Maybe I’m a big softie, but that’s good enough for me. I don’t need any heads on platters. Unless we find out Excalibur is spending his time off from AEW at Klan meetings, I think a brief suspension is fine.
Until then, let’s just hope JR’s old man rants becoming more & more unhinged without somebody keeping him in check works with the 50+ demographic.
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Opinion
Chris King: The Wyatt Sicks’ Wasted Potential By WWE
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
It’s that time of the year again, folks; it’s unfortunate and downright awful that so many WWE superstars got released today. I’m not going to list all of them, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite factions,
The Wyatt Sicks. Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Erik Rowan, and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) were something special. After Bo’s brother Bray Wyatt’s tragic passing, WWE felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. Wyatt was one of the most creative and brilliant characters, and Bo would be taking over his brother’s concept and bringing it to life. In 2024, at the end of an incredible documentary highlighting Wyatt’s career and struggles, Bo appeared on the screen portrayed as Uncle Howdy. The last time Uncle Howdy was seen on-screen was at the 2023 Royal Rumble, where Wyatt defeated LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match. Howdy jumped off a structure onto Knight.
This post-credit scene sparked so much speculation and excitement that Wyatt’s brother would carry on his legacy and possibly debut the faction that was Wyatt’s concept. On the June 17th episode of Monday Night Raw, The Wyatt Sicks made their dramatic debut ,destroying the backstage area as well as “murdering” Chad Gable. It was such an iconic arrival for Howdy as he made his menacing walk from the back into the audience who were chanting “Holy Shit.” The Sicks and American Made (Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers) battled for months, with The Sicks being victorious. On the September 9th episode of Raw, The Sicks defeated them, with Howdy getting the win with Sister Abigail.
The following year, The Sicks would move over to Friday Night SmackDown, and it seemed like WWE had a plan in place. They would win the tag team championships from The Street Profits and start to look dominant. Now, what should have happened next is Howdy should have won the United States title. The Sicks could have held all the gold over on the blue brand, but it never happened. The Sicks entered into a never-ending feud with The MFT’s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and Talla Tonga.) It started off exciting, and the WWE Universe was red-hot for their interactions.
After months of repetitive matches and The MFT’s stealing their lantern, the feud grew tiresome and boring. Even Tama asked Solo why they are still holding onto the lantern, as it was destroying them as a whole. Finally on the SmackDown before Mania, Tama
gave the lantern back to Howdy against Solo’s wishes. Please explain to me why both factions fought almost every single week instead of just having one final blowoff match at WrestleMania.
It should have been either a massive street fight or a falls count anywhere match on the grandest stage of them all. Instead, it turned into a meaningless week-after-week extravaganza that benefited no one. The MFTs won the rivalry, and The Sicks don’t even work for WWE anymore. This was the same criminalized creative process that Wyatt dealt with during his first run in the company.
We’ll never know how much of a dangerous force The Wyatt Sicks could have been in the WWE. For all their careers’ sake, I hope they stay far away from the company for as long as possible. Every superstar that was cut deserves better!
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Opinion
Chris King: Bloodline Saga: Is This the Right Call For WWE?
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion after his dominant win over CM Punk at WrestleMania 42. On the following night on Monday Night Raw, The OG Bloodline came back together as a well-oiled machine as The Usos stood side by side with Roman. With the WWE Universe asking who would be the first to challenge “The Tribal Chief,” Jacob Fatu shocked the world by answering the call.
Fatu is running hot after his impressive win over Drew McIntyre and feels like he is ready to become the new world champion. This bloodline segment ended Raw, and it picked right back up on SmackDown with even Solo Sikoa and the MFTs involved. This is now two shows that have been centered around The Bloodline saga, and it’s made me question whether or not WWE should be retelling this story.
The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa) ran WWE for over four years as Reigns’ henchmen, doing his dirty work to retain his title. Even though Roman has declared he doesn’t want Jey and Jimmy to serve him, it sure seems like WWE are spinning their wheels. Fatu could add a whole new chapter into the story, even if he’s not able to beat Roman at Backlash. “The Samoan Werewolf” could be forced to do the same thing as Jey did all those years ago and fall in line.
In my opinion, I feel like Fatu should be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship because that’s a title I feel like he should win. I understand standing up to your blood and trying to prove you’re the best, but I don’t think this is the right move. It feels like 2022 all over again, as The Bloodline is the central focus on both shows. If Fatu doesn’t win, what happens to all his momentum he’s been building over the last two years?
Why did WWE make this the best choice for storyline purposes? Why couldn’t creative have come up with a different challenger for Roman? There are so many other superstars that could challenge The Tribal Chief, such as Rusev, Bron Breakker, Gunther, or even a returning Sheamus.
I just can’t help but question WWE’s logic here, and it kind of reminds me of all the times The Shield reunited. Could WWE be pushing the same storyline too many times here? Could the WWE Universe get tired of this rinse and repeat cycle of The Bloodline Saga?
Are we about to see all the weekly episodes solely focused on The Bloodline again? Will it be cinema… Yes. Is there still money in The Bloodline… Yes. Was it the right call? That’s to be determined!
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