No internet for 13 months. What did I miss?

[Johnny]

Last March, due to fan fatigue, I decided to take a break from reading about wrestling on the internet. Since then, I've watched ppvs, raw, smackdown and nxt, but have actively avoided any wrestling websites (though I did go looking for the 2018 mspaint thread, because I couldn't miss that). This was mainly to see how much more or less I would enjoy WWE without following the backstage gossip.

It's been fun and challenging, but now I'm ending the embargo and trying to catch up a bit. So I have a few questions:

1. Did I miss something that caused Becky's popularity to explode? Was it just the Nia thing? I heard a commentator mention her social media?

2. Where are Big Cass and Jason Jordan?

3. How much are the Saudi Arabians paying for those shows?!

4. Is nxt UK worth watching?

5. What is Rhonda's schedule? I assume she doesn't work house shows?

6. Who did EC3 piss off?

7. Anything else major/interesting happen that I would know nothing about?

[Pgarodactyl]

1. Did I miss something that caused Becky's popularity to explode? Was it just the Nia thing? I heard a commentator mention her social media?
- They tried turning her heel. The fans didn't allow it, and it turned her more towards an anti-hero role. Then the Nia punch happened, and it only helped.

2. Where are Big Cass and Jason Jordan?
- Big Cass was canned after beating up a little person too much. Jason Jordan is in a backstage role after suffering a neck injury that is potentially career-ending.

3. How much are the Saudi Arabians paying for those shows?!
- Allegedly, if memory serves correctly, $50,000,000 per show.

4. Is nxt UK worth watching?
- Yes

5. What is Rhonda's schedule? I assume she doesn't work house shows?
- She has worked house shows. She's worked more than Brock (not the best measure)

6. Who did EC3 piss off?
- Hal in catering.

7. Anything else major/interesting happen that I would know nothing about?
- Your avatar is also gone, as are a lot of people who have asked for releases since the announcement of AEW. AEW is a new wrestling company founded by Tony Khan and The Elite (Cody, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega)

[Deleted]

Kofi's rise to win the WWE Champion these past 2 months was amazing so if you wanna watch a quick program I'd say peep that one.

[Deleted]

1. She was on the rise as an underdog face for awhile, only for them to try to turn her heel on Charlotte. Fans began absolutely exploding for her and they embraced it.

2. Cass was fired for doing a beatdown on a little person against orders - seriously - along with generally being an asshole and is currently in Ring of Honor, Jordan never came back from his neck injury early last year and his career is most likely over. He's now a producer.

3. All of the money.

4. I wouldn't know.

5. She does here and there, she's actually been pretty active - not quite a full schedule but a pretty reasonably busy one, nowhere near the once-every-few-months thing Brock does. Though by all accounts she's gone for the foreseeable future.

6. Hard telling.

7. I dunno, I'll think on it and come back to this one.

[I'm Team Bayley and Indi]

this week In a nutshell...

[Johnny]

Apr 12, 2019 14:54:23 GMT -5 Pgarodactyl said:

Your avatar is also gone,

wait...what?! no!!!!!!!

Apr 12, 2019 14:54:23 GMT -5 Pgarodactyl said:

as are a lot of people who have asked for releases since the announcement of AEW

anyone notable? I was worried Sami had disappeared, until he showed up Monday

[Pgarodactyl]

Apr 12, 2019 14:57:57 GMT -5 Johnny said:

Apr 12, 2019 14:54:23 GMT -5 Pgarodactyl said:

Your avatar is also gone,

wait...what?! no!!!!!!!

Apr 12, 2019 14:54:23 GMT -5 Pgarodactyl said:

as are a lot of people who have asked for releases since the announcement of AEW

anyone notable? I was worried Sami had disappeared, until he showed up Monday

Dean Ambrose let his contract expire and is done now.
Hideo Itami asked for and was granted his release.
According to reports, The Revival and the Kanellises asked for their releases, but they weren't granted.

EDIT: I also missed TJP being released. But I pay so little attention I also missed TJP being employed beyond 2017.

[Johnny]

Apr 12, 2019 14:55:17 GMT -5 @kn said:

Kofi's rise to win the WWE Champion these past 2 months was amazing so if you wanna watch a quick program I'd say peep that one.

I've watched all of wwe's main programming, so I loved the Kofi stuff. After the Rumble, I predicted that they would put Bryan in a program with a perennial mid-carder at mania, though i thought it would be Jeff Hardy.

Bonus Question: Was the outcome of the Rumble obvious? I loved this year's Rumble as for once I had zero clue who was winning.

[Deleted]

Apr 12, 2019 15:01:37 GMT -5 Johnny said:

Apr 12, 2019 14:55:17 GMT -5 @kn said:

Kofi's rise to win the WWE Champion these past 2 months was amazing so if you wanna watch a quick program I'd say peep that one.

I've watched all of wwe's main programming, so I loved the Kofi stuff. After the Rumble, I predicted that they would put Bryan in a program with a perennial mid-carder at mania, though i thought it would be Jeff Hardy.

Bonus Question: Was the outcome of the Rumble obvious? I loved this year's Rumble as for once I had zero clue who was winning.

Most people I saw knew who was winning the Rumble or at least here. We weren't surprised.

[Deleted]

Apr 12, 2019 15:01:37 GMT -5 Johnny said:

Apr 12, 2019 14:55:17 GMT -5 @kn said:

Kofi's rise to win the WWE Champion these past 2 months was amazing so if you wanna watch a quick program I'd say peep that one.

I've watched all of wwe's main programming, so I loved the Kofi stuff. After the Rumble, I predicted that they would put Bryan in a program with a perennial mid-carder at mania, though i thought it would be Jeff Hardy.

Bonus Question: Was the outcome of the Rumble obvious? I loved this year's Rumble as for once I had zero clue who was winning.

Men's was basically 100% obvious months out, women's it was mostly a matter of, "Is it Charlotte or Becky winning and if so, does the loser get added later?"

[Johnny]

Apr 12, 2019 14:59:36 GMT -5 Pgarodactyl said:

EDIT: I also missed TJP being released. But I pay so little attention I also missed TJP being employed beyond 2017.

I read this as JTG, and wondered how he'd been flying under the radar for all of this time

[KofiMania]

Apr 12, 2019 15:03:46 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Apr 12, 2019 15:01:37 GMT -5 Johnny said:

I've watched all of wwe's main programming, so I loved the Kofi stuff. After the Rumble, I predicted that they would put Bryan in a program with a perennial mid-carder at mania, though i thought it would be Jeff Hardy.

Bonus Question: Was the outcome of the Rumble obvious? I loved this year's Rumble as for once I had zero clue who was winning.

Men's was basically 100% obvious months out, women's it was mostly a matter of, "Is it Charlotte or Becky winning and if so, does the loser get added later?"

Yeah, following rumors on the internet does ruin some things such as the Rumble. We heard about Brock-Rollins being the possible Mania match for a long time before the Rumble.

[northernmonkey]

We now all worship at the Altar of The Ascension. All Hail Konnor and Viktor

[Friday Night SmackOwn]

Apr 12, 2019 15:03:46 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Apr 12, 2019 15:01:37 GMT -5 Johnny said:

I've watched all of wwe's main programming, so I loved the Kofi stuff. After the Rumble, I predicted that they would put Bryan in a program with a perennial mid-carder at mania, though i thought it would be Jeff Hardy.

Bonus Question: Was the outcome of the Rumble obvious? I loved this year's Rumble as for once I had zero clue who was winning.

Men's was basically 100% obvious months out, women's it was mostly a matter of, "Is it Charlotte or Becky winning and if so, does the loser get added later?"

While we got a clear winner for the Women’s Rumble, the road to the Mania match was a bizarre mess of a journey.

[Bo Rida]

I'd forgot how annoying the pre-internet days were when wrestlers would just disappear with no explanation. Imagine if major characters just disappeared on other shows.

On the flip side returns were way better.

Ronda went mad on Twitter, if you like her don't look it up.

[Johnny]

Apr 12, 2019 16:59:05 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

I'd forgot how annoying the pre-internet days were when wrestlers would just disappear with no explanation. Imagine if major characters just disappeared on other shows.

On the flip side returns were way better.

Ronda went mad on Twitter, if you like her don't look it up.

i've just finished reading the whole "Becky killing people on social media" thread. some brutal stuff on there. I was completely unaware of all of this going on.

[Johnny]

Apr 12, 2019 16:02:49 GMT -5 KofiMania said:

We heard about Brock-Rollins being the possible Mania match for a long time before the Rumble.

Did Seth move up when Roman left, or was it the plan before then?

[Shark]

Apr 12, 2019 17:04:00 GMT -5 Johnny said:

Apr 12, 2019 16:02:49 GMT -5 KofiMania said:

We heard about Brock-Rollins being the possible Mania match for a long time before the Rumble.

Did Seth move up when Roman left, or was it the plan before then?

It wouldn't surprise me if that was the plan all along, but it could have actually been leading to Roman vs Seth for the title at Mania.

Also about Cass, supposedly, he had an altercation backstage with Carmella and he got aggressive and this led to the Usos and someone else stepping in to get Cass out of the situation. Also after he was released, he had a seizure at a indy show.

[KofiMania]

Apr 12, 2019 17:04:00 GMT -5 Johnny said:

Apr 12, 2019 16:02:49 GMT -5 KofiMania said:

We heard about Brock-Rollins being the possible Mania match for a long time before the Rumble.

Did Seth move up when Roman left, or was it the plan before then?

It was rumored before Roman left. Rumors were Dean turns on the Shield and faces Roman at Mania. Was also supposed to be Bryan vs. Owens at Mania but they switched that to Fastlane after Kofi got hot.

[Deleted]

After being inspired by Superstar Billy Graham, I've started running a counterfeit steroids ring out of my carhole.