Hi, hello & welcome to News From Cook’s Corner! It’s pretty amazing…I take a week off from this nonsense and everything just piles up! You got WWE releasing people, ROH releasing their entire roster, AEW folks taking time off…if this was the old days when sports printed transactions in their own section, you could have a whole page dedicated to wrestling transactions this week. Do sports pages still do that? I haven’t actually looked at one in years because I’m one of those dang millennials.

Since football didn’t happen over the weekend, we can skip right to the wrestling news & information you need to get through your day.

A Quarterly Tradition Unlike Any Other

Shayna Baszler injury angles for women are the equivalent to a Randy Orton insult for the men#wwereleases pic.twitter.com/3EaLLBYVOv

— 𝔾𝕒𝕣𝕪 ℍ  (@garyh3k) November 5, 2021

WWE released their quarterly financial report last week and had their conference call to talk about how great everything was going. Let there be no doubt that things are going great for WWE financially. We online experts tend to focus on the merit of the product that the company produces. What nobody can deny is the fact that WWE knows how to make money.

What also can’t be denied is a trend that’s developed recently. Here’s how it goes: WWE releases their financial report & has a conference call where they talk about how much money they’re making and all the fun projects they have planned going forward. Shortly after that, we find out who’s getting released from the talent roster. This time, eighteen names were released into the ether, many of who were featured in NXT over the past couple of years. John Laurinaitas informed the roster that these were “budget cuts”, while sources told the Kellers, Sapps & Satins of the world all of the bad things about the people that got released.

Keith Lee, for example, had “attitude issues”. You know, I can’t imagine why Keith Lee might not have been the happiest camper over the past year or so. Maybe having serious health problems, being told to change your wrestling style because it’s not what the boss wants, and constantly having your presentation changed from week to week weighs on a person? For what it’s worth, Lee was just out here a week or two kissing Vince McMahon’s backside & talking about how neat it was having Vince be so involved in developing the “Bearcat” persona. But yeah, “attitude issues”, sure, ok whatever. Reports magically came out about Karrion Kross’s “backstage heat” as well. How about that? Again, shocking to believe that somebody presented the way Kross was from the moment he made the move to Raw wouldn’t be all sunshine & butterflies. Mia Yim & Scarlett were both released as well, to make sure everybody in their households were on the same page.

Both Lee & Kross were the victim of a poor transition from NXT to Raw. We’ve seen the changes to NXT lately, and hopefully for the new talents being brought in, one of the changes that will become evident in the future is a smoother transition from NXT to the main roster. However, if the treatment of B-Fab is any indication, where she was called up to SmackDown with Hit Row, reportedly signed a new contract, and was released in near-record time, it might not be wise to expect such a thing.

Perhaps the most surprising of the releases was Nia Jax. We’ve written about many of the issues surrounding her over the years, but assumed she was untouchable due to her familial connection with The Rock & Roman Reigns. Nia had been on a leave of absence to take care of her mental health, and had requested to extend that leave prior to her release. Pretty harsh.

Other notable releases included Franky Monet, Ember Moon, Oney Lorcan, Gran Metallik, Lince Dorado, Harry Smith & Eva Marie. Eva had taken time off to do a movie, unfortunately her second run with WWE wasn’t nearly as fruitful as her first.

There had been a report that the releases had something to do with the vaccination status of the wrestlers. Some of the wrestlers involved have refuted this claim, and given that the company is still owned by the McMahon family, I tend to dismiss the idea without much thought.

This is going to be a pretty regular thing. Dave Meltzer reported that most of the new talent (minus the top prospects) will be signed to sixty-day trial contracts to see how things go. It’s a different approach from what WWE did for most of the last decade, holding on to talent as long as they possibly could. It’s an overall shift from experienced pro wrestlers to hopeful stars. We’ll have to wait & see how it goes. In the meantime, WWE’s just added to the glut on the pro wrestling free agent wire.

Ring of Hiatus

LETS TEAR THIS MOTHAFUCKA DOWN ONE MORE TIME!!!https://t.co/jwCBXxNfJv#FinalBattle pic.twitter.com/YoBFKkPYqu

— DEM BOYS (@jaybriscoe84) November 5, 2021

ROH’s Final Battle event will be the last the company undertakes, at least until April 2022. Talent is being relased from their contracts at the end of the year, and they can start working for other promotions before Final Battle. The idea is to make changes to the business operations, come up with a new mission, strategy & presentation, and bring ROH back with live events starting on WrestleMania weekend with freelance talent.

Given Sinclair Broadcast Group’s recent problems (a ransomware attack stealing data and causing disruption to many of their stations, regional sports networks not providing the revenue hoped for, millions of dollars of debt), it’s easy to understand why their professional wrestling operation is being put on the backburner. Sinclair did right by ROH employees throughout 2020-21, keeping them on the payroll through the heaviest part of the pandemic & running shows in the safest manner possible. Unfortunately, these things didn’t lead to revenue, or a considerable amount of interest from wrestling fans.

I’ve been reviewing ROH’s weekly broadcast for 411mania, and while I’ve enjoyed a lot of what I’ve seen, there is a certain lack of energy without a live audience of some sort. The wrestlers really try. It just isn’t the same, as was noted when WWE & Impact Wrestling did their shows with no audience. I’ve also noticed that the comment section isn’t quite as active as it is for most of the TV recaps, and that can’t just be because the 411mania readers hate me. Granted, that’s part of it, but it isn’t the whole story.

Joe Koff, COO of ROH, swears that the company will be back. He has to do that, and I’m sure he believes what he’s saying. I can’t help but be skeptical, considering Sinclair’s financial issues & the general landscape. Sinclair stations already made a deal with the Women of Wrestling re-launch, so it’d be real easy to stick those shows in the ROH timeslots. Hope I’m wrong, as I would prefer there to be as many viable wrestling companies as possible, and many of my best wrestling memories involve Ring of Honor. Even if Sinclair’s Ring of Honor is different than the ROH of the 2000s in many ways, it’s still three letters that I have something of a connection with.

What can I say? I’m a wrestling romantic.

As for the talent involved, all we can hope is that they find good working situations. WWE would be much more of an option if Paul Levesque was still running NXT. He had a thing for signing ROH kids. Since he isn’t signing people anymore, I don’t see most of these people landing there. AEW probably has their eyes on some folks, as does Impact Wrestling. (A pity Danhausen is on the injured list, as he’d fit Impact’s television show like a glove.) Game Changer Wrestling has already started using some of ROH’s top talent like the Briscoes & Jonathan Gresham. PWG has been using ROH wrestlers for its entire existence and I doubt that’ll change. Then there’s some guys with NJPW deals that will keep working those Strong shows.

As for the video library, there’s been varying reports on it, but it doesn’t appear to be for sale at this time. They’ll probably be using the heck out of it for at least the next few months.

Not the Jon Moxley news I expected to be touching on.

Jon Moxley had a pretty big week planned. His autobiography was released, he was starting the process of moving back home to Cincinnati, along with his usual AEW responsibilities. Instead, he entered an inpatient alcohol treatment program, and will be out of action until further notice. From a purely business perspective, this takes one of AEW’s top draws off of the roster at a time where people are already making note of television ratings & other metrics that may or may not be trending in AEW’s favor. One can wonder how the lack of Mox will affect things.

From a more human perspective, which I try to present here from time to time in spite of my inability to function as a normal human, one hopes that Moxley is able to defeat his demons & become the type of person he wants to be. That’s all one can hope for here, as a happy & healthy Jon Moxley is a great thing for professional wrestling. What Moxley is battling is certainly something I can relate to, and I wish him the best.

We Are Here For Trolls Getting Owned.

Mike Tyson had one of the most accurate quotes of recent memory when he stated the following: “Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it”. Can anybody argue against this? Shit-talking clowns have always been a part of life, one look at some of the letters Hank Aaron got while chasing Babe Ruth’s home run record will tell you that. Social media has given these people a wider platform to display their idiocy. It’s never been easier to put public figures on blast, and more & more of these delinquents seem to think that there shouldn’t be consequences for their actions.

It’s about time some of these people got what they had coming to them, am I right? Ulysses Diaz, bare knuckle boxer/MMA fighter/fiance of Dana Brooke, got arrested this week for something that I would claim is anything but a crime: showing up at an Internet troll’s house and punching him in the mouth. Dude went all Jay & Silent Bob on this fool.

Unfortunately we don’t have any details on what this troll said, whether he was going after Diaz himself or his fiance. I’ve seen some people write some vile things about Dana Brooke & her wrestling ability, and I wouldn’t blame Diaz for punching them in the face either. Fuck around & find out, as the kids say.

Then there’s Lince Dorado and one of the folks that regularly attend NXT shows. I’m sure most of you are familiar with Izzy, in fact, I’m sure most of you are more familiar with her than I am. She was a big fan of Bayley, dressing up like her at most NXT events during that time period. Turns out now she’s trying to get into the business, and her parents are very supportive of the endeavor. Some people are a bit weirded out by it, since America isn’t one of those places where pro wrestlers start at a very young age. You won’t see any Ice Ribbbon-type promotions featuring pre-teenage girls here. Different sensibilities for different cultures.

Izzy wanted to start young though, and her parents are all about it. She’s found people willing to work with her and has done some things for public consumption. A clip online of her taking a chokeslam a couple of years back when she wasn’t in high school yet drew a ton of online criticism from folks in the business. Her parents were very active online and had those rabbit ears where they heard everybody that had anything to say about what their daughter was up to. They’ve done what they can to get at those folks, including the good kids of MSK, who get booed at NXT shows by Izzy’s parents and their friends. Lince was another critic of Izzy’s, and her mom & dad took a particular delight in his being released on Friday.

Lince’s response was to invite Izzy’s dad to meet him in person to continue their discussion. This led to Izzy’s dad posting an apology, as even though he might be a jerkoff, he also knows that pretty much any wrestler with any kind of training could wipe the floor with him. As it turned out, Dorado had entered a Brazilian ju-jitsu tournament, which he won, and planned on dealing with Izzy’s dad afterwards.

It’s a shame Lince Dorado never got to do anything this interesting on television. I’m more invested in him now than I ever have been. As for Izzy’s dad, for the sake of his daughter’s future in the wrestling business I hope he stays far away from social media. He also might want to stay away from NXT shows, in case those MSK kids get any ideas from Lince Dorado or Ulysses Diaz. I don’t know if they’re as legitimate as those guys, but they could probably handle Izzy’s dad.

Angelo

Thanks and goodbye, Angie.#RememberingMosca pic.twitter.com/k2cOKaXlrq

— x – Hamilton Tiger-Cats (@Ticats) November 6, 2021

We close by noting the passing of Angelo Mosca at the age of 84. Mosca was one of many in his era that made the transition from football to wrestling. He was known as the meanest player in the Canadian Football League, spending most of his Hall of Fame career with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Eddie Quinn, promoter of the Montreal territory, brought him into wrestling during his football career, and he would wrestle during the off-season because people did that back then.

Mosca was typically a heel during his career, including during a stint with the WWF in the early 1980s where he would regularly challenge Bob Backlund for the WWF Championship or Pedro Morales for the Intercontinental Championship. He also feuded with Pat Patterson after Patterson insulted him while working as a commentator.

While Mosca didn’t win any gold in the WWF, he was a title holder pretty much everywhere else he went. Mosca held championships in the AWA, San Francisco, Florida, Georgia, Toronto, Mid-Atlantic, Stampede & Puerto Rico. As wrestlers & football players found out over the years, King Kong wasn’t one to be trifled with.

That’s all for now! Looks like we’ll have some AEW Full Gear Gambling Picks to make this week in addition to the usual NFL shenanigans. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.