News From Cook’s Corner 3.22.21: Three Way?

Hi, hello & welcome to News From Cook’s Corner! I’m Steve Cook, and if you blinked you missed something going on in the world of wrestling. In fact, just as I was putting some of the finishing touches on this article, we found out that Andrade had been wished well in his future endeavors. He could wait some time to go somewhere else here in the States, or he could wrestle in Arena Mexico later this week. Time will tell.

Let’s get this shindig started!

We In The FastLane

A couple of big time wrestling shows went down on Sunday! Since WWE is the recognized leader in sports entertainment, we start by covering some of the major happenings.

-Will Daniel Bryan pull a 2014?

It certainly seemed like the closing moments of FastLane were setting up a scenario similar to one we remember well. Roman Reigns defeated Daniel Bryan, as expected, but the ending went a little differently than we supposed it would. Well, at least me, anyway. I figured there was a good chance that Edge would end up costing Bryan the match, but it would be more accidental than anything else. Nah, Edge just blasted the man with a chair as often as it took to get Reigns the victory.

To be fair, Bryan did hit Edge with the chair first. That was actually an accident, but Edge might not have thought so. I can’t think of a wrestler ever hit with a chair that automatically understood it was an accident. Even when a wife accidentally hits a husband with a chair, the husband is all like “WTF?”. It’s the damnedest thing.

We remember 2014, where Bryan was inserted into what was expected to be a Randy Orton vs. Batista main event at the behest of the Yes Movement for one of the best stories of modern times. I’m not sure if people are as outraged at the idea of a Edge vs. Roman Reigns match as they were at the idea of Randy Orton vs. Batista, but there are enough similarities there to make it compelling. There’s a different kind of urgency for Bryan this time…back in 2014, he was trying to prove that he could make it to the top of the business. In 2021, Bryan is apparently nearing the end of his full time career and is looking for one last special moment on top. This might be his last chance to have it.

Of course, Edge has a similar thing going on, and it’s not like Roman’s looking to pass the torch to anybody. This should all be very interesting heading into WrestleMania.

Apparently there was some other stuff too. Another really good Drew/Sheamus match. The Fiend returned. We on that road to WrestleMania.

Want WrestleMania Tickets?

If you want to go down to Tampa and take in the event that is WrestleMania, you should probably get your tickets pretty quickly. Websites are reporting that the event is almost sold out at 25,000 seats for each night of sports entertainment grandeur. This includes social distancing, pods & all the guidelines being followed.

Some seem surprised that the event didn’t sell out in a minute like WrestleManias in the past have, but the fact is that a lot of people are going to be reticent to travel to WrestleMania, and plenty are going to avoid being in big crowds, at least for the time being. It’s not going to be as easy to sell tickets to these sporting/entertainment events as many think it will be.

Let Me Host Something Brother

Obviously WrestleMania needs two hosts, and WWE is going back to the well & bringing back two from the past. You probably remember Titus O’Neil’s hosting from last year. I’m trying to remember if he’s done anything since last year’s WrestleMania. Didn’t he get beat up by the Hurt Business? We’ll say he did.

The other host you might remember from WrestleMania XXX, and maybe a few before it, good ol’ Hulk Hogan. As you’d expect, people aren’t thrilled with the development. As you’d also expect, WWE doesn’t care.

Here’s the deal with the Hulkster: He’s been playing the waiting game. His apologized for getting caught, not for what actually offended people. In lieu of seeking forgiveness for being a racist, he’s waiting for enough people to be horrible so he doesn’t look as bad by comparison. We’ve had a lot of terrible people outed over the past year, so he’s probably getting close.

To be honest, it’s not like WWE can really punish people for being racist anyway. It’d be like me making fun of a wrestler for being fat. I’d have to look in the mirror, and Lord knows I avoid that at all costs.

I was never a big Hulk fan anyway, so this whole thing doesn’t affect me emotionally like it does a lot of people. Like I’ve said before, it’s not my place to tell the folks Hogan insulted what they think about the Hulkster & what he’s said and done. I report, you decide.

Charlotte Flair News!

We certainly want to present all news featuring Charlotte Flair, as it’s what the people want!

Charlotte will be playing the main character in the latest remake of Walking Tall, which will be airing on USA at some point in the future. Dave Meltzer reported that the idea is to make it a TV series with this being a pilot. I must say that Charlotte has done a better job of playing a heel than a babyface in the past, but maybe it’ll work better for her in a non-wrestling setting.

Charlotte might be featured in an upcoming movie, but will she be featured at WrestleMania! People noticed that her image was removed from WrestleMania advertising over the week, and its pretty easy to jump to conclusions over something like that. Especially since she didn’t appear on last week’s Raw, and there’s the Andrade release & the movie and just all sorts of things going on.

I would still expect Charlotte to be involved in WrestleMania, and I’m not convinced that being on an event poster matters all that much in 2021. Probably nice for the men & women to hang on the wall, and I’m sure for people like Bianca Belair & Bad Bunny that haven’t been on these things before, it’s a big deal. Charlotte? She’s main evented the dang thing. Maybe there is something to this, but a WrestleMania without Charlotte would be strange, to say the least.

We here at the Corner will continue to bring you more Charlotte Flair news than you can shake a stick at, as it’s what the people want.

WWE Says “Good Luck” To Chuck?

You probably noticed a severe lack of Charly Caruso on recent episodes of Raw & Raw Talk. As it turns out, that severe lack of Charly Caruso will be a permanent thing. PWInsider has been told that Charly’s contract will not be renewed & she is not currently expected to make any more appearances with WWE. Her spot on Raw Talk was filled recently by newbie Kevin Patrick, who I’m pretty sure is Dan Patrick’s son. You know how those second generation broadcasters get all the good jobs.

There had recently been speculation on why Charly wasn’t on television. Apparently, she had gotten heat with folks like Randy Orton & Sheamus because she was late for interviews. I can speak from experience that people unhappy with their work situation are likely to show up late often pretty often. I can also speak from experience that people working multiple jobs are likely to show up late pretty often. Charly qualifies under the latter category for sure. I can’t speak on whether or not she was happy working for WWE.

Charly also works for ESPN, doing a podcast and fill-in work from time to time, so she’s got plenty to fall back on. I thought she did a good job in her role, but I must admit to a certain bias. You know who I really feel bad for here? Angel Garza! Lost his former tag team partner and his former backstage pal within days of each other.

Batista out of WWE Hall of Fame?

Can’t say I expected much Hall of Fame drama last week. Eric Bischoff getting in is a fine choice, whether you’re talking about his accomplishments with WCW or his tenure with WWE as the Raw General Manager. Didn’t expect anybody being taken out of the 2020-21 class, but that’s exactly what happened to Batista. Ringside News got the scoop on that one, and our friends at Fightful Select are saying that Big Dave will be inducted when they can have fans there.

He also may or may not be shooting a movie. Hard to tell, Dave’s Twitter feed these days doesn’t exactly keep us up to date with his schedule. Not that I’m complaining, except when I have to speculate on things.

NXT Covid Outbreak Part 56

To be fair, I’ve lost track of how many there have been, so “56” probably isn’t the right number. But our favorite Performance Center brand of entertainment once again had a bunch of people sidelined last week due to covid & tracing and things of that nature. The card for last week’s show saw mass changes and a number of people were conspicuous by their absence.

At this point, I’m more surprised if there isn’t somebody that consistently trains/works at the PC with the rona. Some of the proud folks there have shown that they aren’t going to abide by protocols, and WWE is doing very little to curttail the trend. Other than keeping people they actually care about away from the facility.

Heck, one wonders if the vaccine becoming more readily available will do anything about the issue. I’d be shocked if some of the folks there weren’t anti-vaxxers too. Probably think they’ll get injected with something that makes them abduct children and take them to a pizza place or something. Wild stuff.

Before NXT connoisseurs get mad at me and ask me why I’m not talking about “Jerichovid” and whatever their beef is with AEW this week…rest assured that if Dr. Britt Baker & Thunder Rosa’s blood bath results in anything dire, we will cover that too. Freaking awesome match, don’t get me wrong. I’m just hoping for AEW’s sake that their sponsors share the wrestling fan’s bloodlust.

NWA Is Back For The Attack

The NWA is officially back, holding a PPV on Sunday afternoon. So what’s changed? Not too much on the title front. Nick Aldis retained his title against Aron Stevens. Trevor Murdoch retained his title against Chris Adonis. The Pope retained his title in a draw.

Thunder Rosa came up short in her match with Kamille, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise since Kamille is the one they’re pushing that hasn’t appeared with AEW regularly. One has to assume that Rosa has a bright future with that company, certainly after last Wednesday’s match.

As for the NWA’s future, more will be known after their tapings this week. It’ll be interesting to see how they do on Fite.

In Japan…

New Japan wrapped up their New Japan Cup competition over the weekend, with two major results. One was Will Ospreay winning the Cup over Shingo Takagi, which gets him a shot at Kota Ibushi on April 4. He also took out Bea Preistley with the Oscutter, because apparently Gedo watched the episode of Raw where Stacy Keibler took an RKO during the WrestleMania 21 build.

There’s a lot going on, isn’t there? Join me next time, until then, keep your stick on the ice.