20th June 2022. Vince McMahon stepping down as CEO, Sasha Banks left and Why Brock vs Reigns again?

 20th June 2022

Vince McMahon

There was HUGE news that broke late last week with Vince McMahon being investigated by his own board for misconduct with a former employee and paying her off to keep quiet about it all. In a nutshell, an unnamed employee joined WWE as a paralegal in 2019, she then started a relationship with CEO Vince McMahon who also 'passed her around like a toy' with Head Of Talent Relations, John Laurinaitis. Everyone knows Vince has been married to Linda McMahon for a LONG time (since 1966 so 56 years!) so to a lot of people it was a surprise he would stray away from seemed a happy relationship, who knows what Linda makes of this or what this could cost Vince with her. Immediately people put two and two together assuming this is what Stephanie McMahon chose to step down from her role last month very abruptly for 'family reasons'. The WWE board are investigating independently the situation as the unnamed employee left  their role earlier this year with a $3m pay off ($1m up front with $2m over the next two years on the basis she keeps quiet about any matters at all. This means Vince has paid more for alleged sex with someone than he paid for WCW and it's entire back catalogue).

 This pay off was out of his own pocket so really what's the issue?, its personal but not professional? Well apparently Vince gave her a 100% pay rise after starting the relationship meaning WWE paid someone double their initial salary. All this apparently while they were cutting talent during the Coronavirus pandemic for 'budget reasons'. In good Vince fashion he managed to turn it into ratings with a promoted appearance advertised for SmackDown on 17th June and who knew what he would say? Well turns out it wasn't really much of anything other than a 'Welcome to SmackDown'.

All in all, Stephanie is interim CEO (and proud of that fact) and Vince is still in charge of creative so fans most likely notice any change over the coming weeks. Once the investigation is concluded, Vince will return as CEO and most would expect John Laurinaitis to fall on his sword and leave altogether as a scape goat (that will please Sasha Banks). Who knows where the dust will settle on all this over the coming weeks but it is a far more interesting storyline that anything they have presented in the ring for a good while now.

Sasha Banks

  It has now been almost a month since Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of a Raw taping over unhappy booking regards the WWE Women's Tag Titles and rumour's have been circulating she got her lawyers involved to get released but neither her nor WWE have confirmed anything (to be fair, Vince has had other things on his mind recently).

  WWE losing Sasha Banks is a huge thing as she is one of the crown jewels of their women's division. WWE like to book Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair as the main stars (Becky Lynch is fine but seems to be repetitive as a heel and Charlotte Flair will always be pushed in the main title picture due to her heritage (not too dissimilar to Roman Reigns really) but fans haven't ever really warmed to her) but Sasha Banks has always been at their level. She is like a Bret Hart in that she always has great matches with anyone but she never seemed to be pushed as an elite star on her own. 

While you can easily argue it's wrong to walk out on paying fans like they did, she clearly feels passionately about the women's division and while WWE did acknowledge at first the issue and promised the following week a tournament to crown new tag title winners, this was then quietly ignored because WWE couldn't factor in 4 teams to have a tournament. About 5 years ago, WWE had by far the greatest women's roster in the world, they currently most likely still do, however the 2022 women's Royal Rumble showed that strength in depth had gone, they had to get the champion from another company in Impact's Mickie James perform to help make up numbers and the 2023 women's Royal Rumble will be potentially worse with even less 'superstars' on hand to take part. WWE pushed Aaliyah earlier this year then quickly dropped her, Eva Marie came back with Doudrop last year, Eva Marie has since left and Doudrop is being wasted as a sidekick alongside forgotten about Nikki A.S.H. I enjoy the women's division as unlike the male's, they have been a highlight over the past 5 years with new, exciting and fresh match ups with them having their own PPV and headlining WrestleMania (and deservedly so). 

While WWE have been hesitant to really push Sasha Banks, she does have a loyal following of fans who will follow her elsewhere because they know performance wise she doesn't disappoint unlike others pushed ahead of her. You would expect her to end up in AEW which could give her more free time to pursue other ventures like Star Wars and other acting roles but matches with Britt Baker, Jade Cargill and Thunder Rosa as well as having a main and secondary women's title could help her to excel her legacy even further.

Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar....again?

Last week on SmackDown, after Roman Reigns beat an especially built up Riddle (after Reigns injured Riddle's fellow RK-Bro tag partner Randy Orton), Brock Lesnar once more challenged Reigns to a match. An easy Google search would tell just how many times these two have faced each other over the years on multiple continents (I am too scared of the answer to look myself) but as a fan, I have to ask why again?

Apparently WWE don't feel anyone else is at a level to challenge Roman Reigns at SummerSlam and they want a marque match. Having a look through the official WWE roster on their website (not sure how up to date it is as it features Triple H and Undertaker who have both retired publicly but also lists Elias but not Ezekial) and really who is there to face Reigns? WWE haven't pushed anyone to that level at all over the past few years and anyone that could has already faced him during this title run. Big E is out injured as is Randy Orton. Sami Zayn? Kevin Owens again? Edge again? It's no secret that Drew McIntyre is being saved for the Clash At The Castle PPV after SummerSlam so expect him to win Money In The Bank as part of that.

Where have future main eventers gone in WWE? Other than Cody Rhodes returning, no-one has come into the WWE and been pushed and this will have a long term effect. With AEW starting up in 2019, they had the pick of all talent from the independent scene and tied them into contract (WWE only got Cody Rhodes as he clearly intended to return after a few years). NXT has a few stars but in all honesty, other than Bron Breaker no-one looks like breaking out any time soon to the main roster (and why should they, look at Tomasso Ciampa who is being flattened every week until he is inevitably released. Other than the women's division, WWE has struggled to grow and develop male stars for quite some time, other than Austin Theory there isn't anyone and know Vince isn't as interested in him, his star is quickly fading. AEW have been on a signing frenzy, the impact of this on them is another story but the side effect is WWE have a stale roster. They have the potential to bring back Bray Wyatt (and they really should). As often as Reigns and Lesnar have fought, has any match been memorable or a must see?

Any questions or thoughts anyone would like to share? leave a comment and I'll try and get back to you. Also any ideas for topics for any future posts is always appreciated.