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Welcome to today's edition of the WWE Rumor Roundup where we try and cover all the top stories related to the company. The big news today is about the possibility of a current champion getting a new gimmick while WWE Chairman Vince McMahon reportedly cut a major segment from Extreme Rules.
Without further ado, here are the top stories of the day:
Current Champion to get new gimmick?
With Braun Strowman 'drowning' at the end of WWE Extreme Rules, the rumors have begun about him getting a new gimmick. Reports suggest that he could come back 'evolved' and would be seen in a new character when he is back on TV.
Former WWE referee, Jimmy Korderas spoke to WrestlingInc about the swamp match and said:
Trending
"I enjoyed parts of it. It's just…where do you go from here? That's the thing and I get it as now we have to wait until either an announcement on WWE.com or until Friday's SmackDown to find out he didn't actually drown,"
"With all due respect to Braun, him heavy breathing for five minutes while he's tied to a chair… Friday night's SmackDown – and I'm backtracking a little bit – when he cut that promo, it just seemed like a lot of, 'Ahhh' and there wasn't pacing. There's something missing from me with Braun. He's big and imposing but there's something that needs to connect the dots with him for me that's not there."
Talking about the possibility of Braun Strowman coming back 'evolved', he said:
"All I can say is I hope you're correct my friend. That's all I can say because right now something is missing. That's the whole thing – you want to be able to connect and invest in these characters. Because of that something lacking in Braun, I am not connecting."
Vince McMahon cuts big segment from Extreme Rules
Without a doubt, Rey Mysterio vs Seth Rollins at Extreme Rules was one of the most gruesome matches we have seen in WWE. It was an uncomfortable watch and thanks to Vince McMahon, it did not get worse.
Reports suggest that there was a segment at the end of the match where the camera focused on the prosthetic makeup to make it look like Rey Mysterio's eye popped out. However, the WWE Chairman did not like it and took it out of the final product.
Talking about the future of Rey Mysterio in WWE, Dave Meltzer said:
Rey Mysterio, which is the other question everyone has, he has not signed. My gut is still, as it's been all along that he will, but it has not happened yet. So, that finish was because he had not signed. As I mentioned like if he doesn't sign, the obvious finish is that he has to lose, and if he does sign, the obvious finish is that he has to win. But the reason that they gave that open-ended thing that we may save his eye is in case he does sign. That's their out.
Plans to get The Nation of Domination back nixed?
The nation of Domination is easily one of the first factions that come to mind for any WWE fan. Dave Meltzer reports that WWE have a plan to re-establish the same now with Ron Simmons leading the charge.
However, that was supposed to happen on Monday Night RAW but the plan was surprisingly nixed. He said:
"There was an idea, I don't know if it was dropped. Originally, it was going to be on the show for a revamping of The Nation Of Domination and Ron Simmons was going to be a part of that angle, but they dropped that angle for this show. They may be building to it later, they may have dropped it completely, but they had brought him in for that angle. So, therefore, that is why he was on television."
It is not clear if WWE have completely nixed the plans or if they have just postponed the same for an episode in the future. Ron Simmons did make an appearance on this week's show and that could be the start storyline.
Naomi not happy with Booker T shooting on #NaomiDeservesBetter movement
#NaomiDeservesBetter has been a trending topic among the WWE fans lately but former WWE Superstar Booker T was not a fan of it. He shot on it during his Hall Of Fame podcast and said:
"I don’t think that serves her any purpose. People advocating for her in that way, the way that needs to be put out there from an advocating perspective is her advocating for herself when she goes out to the ring and performs at a high level and the world sees it. When you do that Naomi, you can’t be denied. No one will ever say someone gave you anything. If it happens right now, tomorrow, someone bless Naomi with the world championship, trust me, would not feel like she did it on her own. It would have to be a movement for something like that to happen. I never would want the world title if it was given to me that way. Naomi, I’ve said it a thousand times, is probably more athletic than any female in that locker room and 99% of the females in this business. But, psychology and working are two different things. I hope and I wish that I had my hands on her for one month. Naomi would look at this business in a totally different way." (h/t wrestlingnews)
Naomi was clearly not happy with the words of the WWE Hall of Famer and responded with a cheeky tweet. She was joined by Sasha Banks who voiced her support for the former WWE SmackDown Champion and said: “Don't feed into useless opinions, no matter who they come from. Keep glowing and shining like you always do. You aint got nothing to prove to anyone”
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon 'not sweating' about viewership numbers
WWE RAW and WWE SmackDown viewership numbers have not been great lately but Vince McMahon is reportedly not sweating on the numbers. As per WrestlingNews.co, the WWE Chairman feels that the numbers will jump back over 2 million soon and should be back to normal by SummerSlam. Their report read:
“Vince is doing what he can by putting on PPV matches on Raw and SmackDown but USA and Fox are happy and everyone knows things will get better when we can get some people back at arenas. This is what he thinks right now and he’s not sweating these numbers.”
Dave Meltzer of WON also commented on the drop in ratings and mentioned that Big Show vs Randy Orton was switched to WWE RAW to try and boost the ratings. It was reportedly planned for SummerSlam but the change was made to improve the ratings. He said:
''With RAW ratings declining so significantly, the Big Show vs. Randy Orton match will air on the 7/20 Raw show in an unsanctioned match. That does make sense because that match isn’t going to add any network buyers, which is how you make money today off a PPV, but after this past week’s record low, Show vs. Orton should avert coming even close to another record low next week. At least they’d better hope for that, because it will be scary if they put that match on television and don’t get a significant improvement.''
