Impact Knockouts World Champion Mickie James to compete in the 2022 women's Royal Rumble match

[GD]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Impact Knockouts World Champion <a href="https://twitter.com/MickieJames?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MickieJames</a> will be in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RoyalRumble?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RoyalRumble</a> Match! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SmackDown?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SmackDown</a> <a href="https://t.co/TXH0jm6QgE">pic.twitter.com/TXH0jm6QgE</a></p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1479630096495489026?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Forbidden Door swings both ways

[erickman]

i just saw her on power tonight wow what a forbidden door impact wrestling has.

[Lock Jaw]

Mickie unifying all the titles at Wrestlemania CONFIRMED

[ron the dial]

well it'll be enough to get me to tune in i suppose

[Bad News Gertner]

Money heals all apparently. I hope she gets her payroll in a garbage bag

[erickman]

Money heals all apparently. I hope she gets her payroll in a garbage bag

yeah wwe realized they fired to many women and needed someone, but nwa and impact would have to agree to it wonder what they got.

[Evil Vito]

I bet Charlotte catapults Mickie out within seconds

[GD]

I hope she pulls off a Gail Kim.

[Sting Fan]

Kinda feels weird this isn’t a topic of more discussion tbh. I have only seen the clip but I had a little giggle at her being noted as Impact champion yet a face in the crowd (with no title belt) on the match graphic.

Interested to see if this becomes a big deal or not.

I also struggle to see who on the means side could come across and be anything more than mid card level in WWE at best. Hard to think this will lead to much more in that way.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Kinda feels weird this isn’t a topic of more discussion tbh. I have only seen the clip but I had a little giggle at her being noted as Impact champion yet a face in the crowd (with no title belt) on the match graphic.

Interested to see if this becomes a big deal or not.

I also struggle to see who on the means side could come across and be anything more than mid card level in WWE at best. Hard to think this will lead to much more in that way.

It’s a bit stunning, tbh. WWE really doesn’t need to go this far for female talent. This is a deliberate and weird choice. I wonder what’s going on?

[Sting Fan]

My two thoughts were 1. WWE is buying them out, actually think you said it too Noid. Or 2. Impact has simply fallen off enough now with the rise of AEW that WWE see them more as a third fed they can deal with ala old school ECW.

[GD]

If I were to make a guess, this is Vince McMahon's attempt to make things right with Mickie James after the whole garbage bag debacle. If I'm not wrong, he did reach out to her in private.

[erickman]

Kinda feels weird this isn’t a topic of more discussion tbh. I have only seen the clip but I had a little giggle at her being noted as Impact champion yet a face in the crowd (with no title belt) on the match graphic.

Interested to see if this becomes a big deal or not.

I also struggle to see who on the means side could come across and be anything more than mid card level in WWE at best. Hard to think this will lead to much more in that way.

i see wwe letting becky going to impact doing 1 set of tapings heeling it up. i would have said flair but they don't trust her going somewhere else.

[erickman]

My two thoughts were 1. WWE is buying them out, actually think you said it too Noid. Or 2. Impact has simply fallen off enough now with the rise of AEW that WWE see them more as a third fed they can deal with ala old school ECW.

wwe is cutting and getting ready to be sold they don't want impact on there books.

[Mr. Nerfect]

My two thoughts were 1. WWE is buying them out, actually think you said it too Noid. Or 2. Impact has simply fallen off enough now with the rise of AEW that WWE see them more as a third fed they can deal with ala old school ECW.

I don’t think I said the first one, but the thought did cross my mind. I’m more in-line with the second one. As a third option, I wonder if this has been spurred on by Anthem to gain more attention for AXS. They just announced a new deal for New Japan, which gives Impact a lot of bargaining power when it comes to having first shots on that talent.

To think that Okada vs. Tanahashi may be more likely in Impact than AEW right now.

It will be interesting to see if they sign any of the recent WWE releases. Imagine if they signed Bray Wyatt, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe, William Regal, Braun Strowman, Hit Row, etc. They may be making a real play.

Yesterday I was thinking Jeff Jarrett might try and get all those peeps together to do something. But maybe Anthem beats him to the play?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Could just be that WWE said “Fuck it, let’s try something different. That’ll shut Macauley Culkin up.”

[Mr. Nerfect]

Interesting theory: Let’s say WWE extends an offer to work with AEW. Maybe they want to bring in…Christian. There’s stuff they can do with him and Edge. Let’s get him to work both places, and maybe Daniel Bryan as well.

What does that actually do to AEW? First reaction might be that it gives them exposure, why would WWE do this? But would it actually hurt AEW by killing off their “we’re not them” cred? Would there be a feeling of “selling out?” But could AEW say no to that sort of deal? Is the idea of getting some WWE guys into their stuff too enticing? Especially if the fans know the offer is there.

Alternatively, maybe a working relationship can actually help both companies? It’d certainly make each product more interesting.

[Sepholio]

My two thoughts were 1. WWE is buying them out, actually think you said it too Noid. Or 2. Impact has simply fallen off enough now with the rise of AEW that WWE see them more as a third fed they can deal with ala old school ECW.

I think you got Noid confused with me because I definitely suggested the possibility of WWE buying Impact out.

As for the people saying they think this is Vince trying to make things right with Mickie James....that's just laughable to me. Of all the people WWE has done dirty why in the hell would Mickie James be the one they try to make things right with? Let's be real....she's nobody. She's not important. She's not and never has been a draw. She is just a run of the mill wrestler. There is about a 0.0000000000001% chance that Vince decided to swing open the forbidden door because he feels bad about how Mickie got treated on the way out. I'm not even sure how bringing her back to job her out to their own people in the Rumble is supposed to be making things up to her.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think you got Noid confused with me because I definitely suggested the possibility of WWE buying Impact out.

As for the people saying they think this is Vince trying to make things right with Mickie James....that's just laughable to me. Of all the people WWE has done dirty why in the hell would Mickie James be the one they try to make things right with? Let's be real....she's nobody. She's not important. She's not and never has been a draw. She is just a run of the mill wrestler. There is about a 0.0000000000001% chance that Vince decided to swing open the forbidden door because he feels bad about how Mickie got treated on the way out. I'm not even sure how bringing her back to job her out to their own people in the Rumble is supposed to be making things up to her.

It probably does feel good for parties on both sides though. No one wants their company to be associated with that, even if it’s for shitty PR reasons, lol. But that shit can be settled with phone calls and over coffee. There’s another reason for this. Maybe it’s just WWE getting experimental?

Remember that time WWE wanted Ric Flair for a Hall of Fame thing, so WWE sent Christian over to Impact? I wonder if they get something in return this time?

[GD]

Christian made an appearance on Slammiversary...not Impact :roll:

[Mr. Nerfect]

It could be as simple as Mickie having that freedom with her lack of exclusivity and she reached out to them and they just admired her proactivity.

[Lock Jaw]

Honestly it probably all comes down to "oh poop it is women's rumble time, let's round up the usual 'legends'... you call Kelly Kelly, I'll call Mickie James"

[#1-norm-fan]

Will Welfare Queen be competing in this year’s Rumble?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Alright, I just gave this a proper think through:

I find it interesting this was announced the night before Impact had their PPV. It’s indirectly probably the biggest promotion they’ve gotten in a while. This is where Mickie James is going to have a Texas Deathmatch. WWE can’t (or won’t) promote that sort of thing. But Impact can, and they’ve got two workers in there that might be able to outshine the AEW girls who do that, where it is “special” (if that’s the sort of thing you’re into). And that’s going against the AEW TNT special.

AXS also has a new deal with New Japan. At least part of the reason New Japan left AXS was because Anthem bought AXS and wanted to really push that working agreement between New Japan and Impact. If that deal is back on, it’s quite likely that AXS’s agreement with New Japan is that they can only work with approved partners — which may exclude AEW, but include Impact Wrestling (obviously) and maybe WWE.

The freedom to work New Japan was almost definitely a factor in some guys signing with AEW in the first place. Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley come to mind. But we also know the freedom is there with Chris Jericho, Omega, The Bucks and I think even Cody Rhodes. Even though it was never a given New Japan would cave to AEW either, if that possibility has been completely removed — at least for as long as New Japan has their AXS deal — that takes away a lot of Tony Khan’s leverage in negotiations. He’s got money, but now he can’t promise the freedom and opportunities he once could.

The restructuring of NXT makes sense. It really does. But unless you are just looking at costs, it doesn’t really mean that WWE can’t still offer a product for the “hardcore fan” in addition to having a developmental show and their main roster rigmarole (which I do genuinely believe they think is superior). But it’s possible that a deal with Impact Wrestling is almost like having an outsourced version of that. Potentially. I haven’t really kept up with the tone of their product.

A lot of the recent WWE releases have great business minds and a lot of experience in a variety of backstage roles. They could be very valuable players in companies that acquire them. But it makes a little more sense to put some of them on the market if you know another company is going to make big plays. It wouldn’t surprise me if there is some “encouragement” for Anthem to pick up a lot of the people WWE has released, and by breaking the bank a bit, and by contrasting themselves to AEW’s bloat, also go after some of the big name free agents out there — Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe and the like. At some point it becomes cost prohibitive, but Anthem isn’t exactly going to go broke. Even if they run at a loss with Impact for a tiny bit, it might still be worth making big pitches to guys and girls, using money and the allure of working New Japan (and maybe even STARDOM, since they are both owned by Bushiroad), which further edges AEW out of talent.

A Toni Storm MAY choose AEW for the money, exposure or because she simply wants to work there. But she MAY choose an Impact Wrestling because she wants to work STARDOM and with her husband. Decisions, decisions.

It’s actually potentially quite a brilliant play. Help Impact out short-term, get them to lock down a New Japan deal, ice AEW out of certain talent relations, disperse the hardcore fan-base.

Imagine this hypothetical edition of Impact Wrestling:

* Your advertised main event is Roman Reigns & The Usos vs. Moose & The Good Brothers (surreal and unlikely, but whatever).

* Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi open the show. They go about 30 minutes, great match, watch New Japan on AXS.

* An X-Division match, maybe even an Ultimate X to crown a #1 Contender.

* Jeff Hardy is announced by Impact Commissioner, William Regal as their newest signing. He gladhands with the fans. Samoa Joe (at Regal’s side) grabs a mic and says he was against this. Jeff squanders opportunity after opportunity and a guy like Joe who has worked to be trusted enough to be put in this position has to watch someone soak up Impact’s resources when there are young talent who just killed themselves to earn a shot they wouldn’t piss away. Jeff says he’s had his demons but that’s the price to pay when you are wired like him. Joe deals with his burdens one way, Jeff another. Jeff challenges Joe and Joe tells him he doesn’t want to wait for Jeff to burn another bridge. They’re doing this next week to kick off Impact.

* A Women’s Title match between Mickie James and Deonna Purrazzo finally sees Deonna beat Mickie for the Women’s Title.

* A new Hit Row diss track drops. They’ve got a match next week.

* Something, something, something with your regular Impact guys. Maybe a squash match and some promos.

* The main event goes to a double disqualification when things get too loose and egos get out of control. The lights go out and The Wyatt Family — Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman and Erick Rowan — hit the ring and beat down EVERYONE. See you next week!

How epic would that be?

*

[slik]

Honestly it probably all comes down to "oh poop it is women's rumble time, let's round up the usual 'legends'... you call Kelly Kelly, I'll call Mickie James"

I think that + WWE doesn't have 30 active female wrestlers on the main roster.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Man, no further news on this story? WWE doesn’t even have to do anything more than what they’re doing with Mickie James, I bet. Didn’t cost them anything more than Mickie James’ appearance fee and now AEW has had their own “Forbidden Door” slammed in their face. Tony shouldn’t have made that whiny promo about Nick Khan. He seems like the sort of fucker who would get even.

[Bad News Gertner]

Kelly Kelly is still only 34. Crazy.

[XL]

Alright, I just gave this a proper think through:

I find it interesting this was announced the night before Impact had their PPV. It’s indirectly probably the biggest promotion they’ve gotten in a while. This is where Mickie James is going to have a Texas Deathmatch. WWE can’t (or won’t) promote that sort of thing. But Impact can, and they’ve got two workers in there that might be able to outshine the AEW girls who do that, where it is “special” (if that’s the sort of thing you’re into). And that’s going against the AEW TNT special.

AXS also has a new deal with New Japan. At least part of the reason New Japan left AXS was because Anthem bought AXS and wanted to really push that working agreement between New Japan and Impact. If that deal is back on, it’s quite likely that AXS’s agreement with New Japan is that they can only work with approved partners — which may exclude AEW, but include Impact Wrestling (obviously) and maybe WWE.

The freedom to work New Japan was almost definitely a factor in some guys signing with AEW in the first place. Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley come to mind. But we also know the freedom is there with Chris Jericho, Omega, The Bucks and I think even Cody Rhodes. Even though it was never a given New Japan would cave to AEW either, if that possibility has been completely removed — at least for as long as New Japan has their AXS deal — that takes away a lot of Tony Khan’s leverage in negotiations. He’s got money, but now he can’t promise the freedom and opportunities he once could.

The restructuring of NXT makes sense. It really does. But unless you are just looking at costs, it doesn’t really mean that WWE can’t still offer a product for the “hardcore fan” in addition to having a developmental show and their main roster rigmarole (which I do genuinely believe they think is superior). But it’s possible that a deal with Impact Wrestling is almost like having an outsourced version of that. Potentially. I haven’t really kept up with the tone of their product.

A lot of the recent WWE releases have great business minds and a lot of experience in a variety of backstage roles. They could be very valuable players in companies that acquire them. But it makes a little more sense to put some of them on the market if you know another company is going to make big plays. It wouldn’t surprise me if there is some “encouragement” for Anthem to pick up a lot of the people WWE has released, and by breaking the bank a bit, and by contrasting themselves to AEW’s bloat, also go after some of the big name free agents out there — Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe and the like. At some point it becomes cost prohibitive, but Anthem isn’t exactly going to go broke. Even if they run at a loss with Impact for a tiny bit, it might still be worth making big pitches to guys and girls, using money and the allure of working New Japan (and maybe even STARDOM, since they are both owned by Bushiroad), which further edges AEW out of talent.

A Toni Storm MAY choose AEW for the money, exposure or because she simply wants to work there. But she MAY choose an Impact Wrestling because she wants to work STARDOM and with her husband. Decisions, decisions.

It’s actually potentially quite a brilliant play. Help Impact out short-term, get them to lock down a New Japan deal, ice AEW out of certain talent relations, disperse the hardcore fan-base.

Imagine this hypothetical edition of Impact Wrestling:

* Your advertised main event is Roman Reigns & The Usos vs. Moose & The Good Brothers (surreal and unlikely, but whatever).

* Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi open the show. They go about 30 minutes, great match, watch New Japan on AXS.

* An X-Division match, maybe even an Ultimate X to crown a #1 Contender.

* Jeff Hardy is announced by Impact Commissioner, William Regal as their newest signing. He gladhands with the fans. Samoa Joe (at Regal’s side) grabs a mic and says he was against this. Jeff squanders opportunity after opportunity and a guy like Joe who has worked to be trusted enough to be put in this position has to watch someone soak up Impact’s resources when there are young talent who just killed themselves to earn a shot they wouldn’t piss away. Jeff says he’s had his demons but that’s the price to pay when you are wired like him. Joe deals with his burdens one way, Jeff another. Jeff challenges Joe and Joe tells him he doesn’t want to wait for Jeff to burn another bridge. They’re doing this next week to kick off Impact.

* A Women’s Title match between Mickie James and Deonna Purrazzo finally sees Deonna beat Mickie for the Women’s Title.

* A new Hit Row diss track drops. They’ve got a match next week.

* Something, something, something with your regular Impact guys. Maybe a squash match and some promos.

* The main event goes to a double disqualification when things get too loose and egos get out of control. The lights go out and The Wyatt Family — Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman and Erick Rowan — hit the ring and beat down EVERYONE. See you next week!

How epic would that be?

*

Dunno man, that’s a lot of Impact pushing some other company’s talent. Some people could criticise them for that…

[Mr. Nerfect]

Dunno man, that’s a lot of Impact pushing some other company’s talent. Some people could criticise them for that…

That wouldn’t be something Impact would do, right?

[drave]

Honestly it probably all comes down to "oh poop it is women's rumble time, let's round up the usual 'legends'... you call Kelly Kelly, I'll call Mickie James"

I think that + WWE doesn't have 30 active female wrestlers on the main roster.

Man, no further news on this story? WWE doesn’t even have to do anything more than what they’re doing with Mickie James, I bet.




Lock Jaw and Slik with the actual "story".

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lock Jaw and Slik with the actual "story".

?

They don’t need Mickie James to fill out a Rumble. They’ve already got 19 people announced, and that’s without Becky, Alexa, Liv, Naomi, Sonya, Beth, Maryse or anyone from the NXT side of things. Toxic Attraction, Cora Jade, Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez, Kay Lee Ray, Io Shirai and Zoey Starks are 9 people right there. Then you’ve got your Layla’s, Victoria’s, Torrie Wilson’s, etc. Molly Holly works for the company and will be there. What about actually including Sara Amato in the match one year as a nice little moment for her? That’s without the possibility of Asuka returning.

I just listed like 20 people, none of them any more outlandish than Mickie James from Impact Wrestling.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think Anthem have locked AEW out of New Japan. AXS housing New Japan probably means that they will be the preferred (maybe exclusive?) partners of New Japan in the US. The freedom to work NJPW was a big part of the leverage Tony Khan would use to sign people. Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson definitely on that list. But many more have the freedom written into their contract, which could be entirely null and void now.

A guy like Danielson now has to choose between working with AEW because he really wants to work specifically there, and working with someone else if he wants New Japan dates. I find it interesting this thing with Impact was announced the week that New Japan announced the AXS deal. That didn’t happen overnight, and who knows how long the WWE/Impact stuff was brewing for, and what was used as leverage with who?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Let’s say Bryan Danielson had a six-month reevaluation clause written into his contract, where if he feels like he isn’t get out of it what he wants, or even if AEW isn’t getting out of it what they want, either side can walk away, everyone still stays friends, no one is locked in, etc. We’ve heard Danielson talk about contracts and being able to cancel yours if your employer can, and I think we’ve had probation periods offered in some recent deals towards talent to try and get them to stay with WWE (FTR come to mind?). If, just for precautionary reasons, Danielson has a 6-month grace period where he doesn’t have to commit to anything he won’t feel shitty about walking on, then those 6 months are probably up around March.

PURELY SPECULATIVE. No shit. But is that insane? Especially if you are the sort of guy Danielson is (and his apparent lack of certainty about his ability to keep up in AEW and even just to walk away from WWE).

Now let’s say that Danielson also REALLY wants to work with New Japan. Big stretch, right? But if AXS has a 4-year deal with New Japan, Danielson might be 45 before he can ever wrestle for them if he stays with AEW. If he calls it after 2 years, or however long his deal might be, then that’s still a lot of time, bumps and changes between him now and then. But if he’s coming up to the end of a probationary period with AEW? He can walk away with whatever guilt he feels from that and end up a free agent by WrestleMania time.

JUST SPECULATION. I don’t want to get accused of making up a narrative or anything. But what about that is ridiculous? The part where Anthem wants the promotions it gives whatever exposure they’ve got to work with their approved properties or Danielson having some sort of fail-safe written into his contract?

[Mr. Nerfect]

More speculation: Let’s say the WWE wanted to release a bunch more talent, but there have been people they don’t want to cut because they just don’t want to see them end up in AEW. Not that it’s a major risk, but it’s just those annoying optics, and them being able to sign whoever WWE doesn’t want. Or does want sometimes, but doesn’t want to pay $850 a year to be a warm body.

In a situation where WWE and Impact work together, WWE can fire these guys, save several million, but the idea of working Impact becomes more appealing to the talent because they can work New Japan and ALSO have the potential to work with the WWE for certain shows, tours, etc.

Can you think of anyone in the WWE that might be making a fair bit of money for a mid-card role that WWE may want for European or Japanese tours but they don’t want to cut them just to see them working Danielson on TBS in front of 1 million people?

[Bad News Gertner]

Apparently there's talk of a male entrant from another company.

I 100% believe it's Moose

[Mr. Nerfect]

Apparently there's talk of a male entrant from another company.

I 100% believe it's Moose

You know a few people, lol. Have you heard something or are you just going on pure intuition there?

I thought there may be another outside surprise. Thought about Nick Aldis, but that’s just because he’s Mickie’s husband and will probably be there at the show, lol. After thinking about it for a bit, I thought there might be a New Japan guy in the Men’s Rumble, or a STARDOM wrestler in the women’s one. That sort of thing.

[Mr. Nerfect]

If you’re WWE and you want to do your best to disrupt this “wrestler’s market,” finding a way to ice the AEW/New Japan relationship is quite a brilliant but obvious way to do it. Put talent that want to work in the position where if they want to work New Japan, they’ve got to work with an Impact or even a revived ROH. If it gets them into bidding wars with AEW, so be it. But $400 for a WWE wrestler’s US work, plus whatever they make in Japan on top of that might be comparable to the deal offered by Tony Khan in the end.

If guys REALLY want to work New Japan, force them to work for companies for smaller salaries, but if the choice is between them and the WWE, that means WWE can come at them with $600 per year and have a good shot. TK can still pay WAY more than that, but without Japan he may not have the prestige to really have those deals taken seriously. At least not in every case.

[#1-norm-fan]

WWE is in the midst of finding their own athletes who don’t give a fuck about wrestling to mould into the stars of tomorrow. What do they care about the market for these indie wrestling NERDS?

[Bad News Gertner]

You know a few people, lol. Have you heard something or are you just going on pure intuition there?

I thought there may be another outside surprise. Thought about Nick Aldis, but that’s just because he’s Mickie’s husband and will probably be there at the show, lol. After thinking about it for a bit, I thought there might be a New Japan guy in the Men’s Rumble, or a STARDOM wrestler in the women’s one. That sort of thing.


Pure intuition. The same intuition that brought you "Damian Sandow will be the first to cash in his MITB and lose" as well as "Percy Watson will be the #2 wrestler in the company"

You win some, you lose some lol

[Mr. Nerfect]

Pure intuition. The same intuition that brought you "Damian Sandow will be the first to cash in his MITB and lose" as well as "Percy Watson will be the #2 wrestler in the company"

You win some, you lose some lol

Hahaha! We all loved Percy Watson in NXT Season 2.

[Evil Vito]

Moose would be an interesting call, debuting a worker who isn't signed to your promotion doesn't seem like something WWE would do but you never know.

My guess would be it's a former WWE talent currently with Impact. Give me Heath Slater!

[XL]

Yeah, I don’t imagine Moose getting much of a reaction.

[Lock Jaw]

Now if it was an actual Moose it would get a big reaction.

[erickman]

i think wwe fans watch more wrestling then you think.

[Bad News Gertner]

The only other person I thought of was Matt Cardona, but I'm going with Moose

[#1-norm-fan]

Now if it was an actual Moose it would get a big reaction.

You know what would get the BIGGEST reaction?

Moose... but he announces that the entire crowd gets free chocolate mousse ala Punk with the ice cream bars.

Book it.

[ron the dial]

The only other person I thought of was Matt Cardona, but I'm going with Moose
cardona would be great and work so well with what he's doing on the indies now

[Jordan]

WWE would be better off using promising NXT guys to fill voids. WWE clearly are in a rebuilding phase roster wise so just take the hit and use all young guys in the Rumble. Book the hell out of it to make it as exciting and memorable as possible and creat some new stories going forward.

WWE already has the big attraction with Brock and Bobby, the mixed tag and whatever Roman does. I think I will watch the Rumble this year, my annual give WWE chance go.

[Jordan]

Walter would be great for a big pop in the Rumble

[#1-norm-fan]

Since the winner of the Rumble doesn’t really mean shit anymore with the two world titles, now would be a good time to just let a newcomer from NXT win it in their “main roster” debut. Why not?

[Bad News Gertner]

I think they should bring back Moose Cholak

https://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/pictures/m/moosecholak/02.jpg

[weather vane]

Maybe Ciclope?

[Blonde Moment]

ADR

[Sepholio]

You know what. This unexpected forbidden door guy for the rumble that's rumored.....what if its moxley? Seth v Roman on the card, moxley shows up, interferes, enters rumble.

[Lock Jaw]

It's Sting

[XL]

i think wwe fans watch more wrestling then you think.

Impact gets like 400 viewers a week.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Impact gets like 400 viewers a week.

Way less than that right now. But if they become the primary broadcasting partners of New Japan in the US, and if they have some sort of working relationship with the WWE, it gives them a lot of leverage to sign guys that already have a lot of money, don’t care so much about exposure, or still want to be available to the WWE (or the WWE wants to be available to them).

Does a wrestler care if they’re getting $1 million per year from Tony Khan or $1 million a year from multiple promotions? It also means the WWE can fire a guy like…Finn Balor. What would he do? Get signed by AEW and work New Japan when he has a chance. Buuut, if AEW is locked out of New Japan, maybe he takes a deal with Impact Wrestling instead? He can work New Japan and even go with the WWE on tours to Europe or be called in for a SummerSlam match with AJ Styles when they’re feeling dry. He eats up way less on the WWE’s expenses, but maybe still even comes out ahead. All the while being a true independent contractor.

And if he ends up meaning something, there’s nothing stopping the WWE from signing him back on to a big deal and then either sourcing him out.

TK would only have money and his approved partners to work with. It makes things harder to finesse and possibly even causes some talent (relatively big stars for him too) to leave, and eventually some people in power somewhere might hope his dad gets annoyed because his son is paying $1 million for certain talent but their deals with other places are only for a couple of hundred thousand.

It doesn’t really make sense for the WWE NOT to work with smaller promotions, especially if they don’t want to hot-shot their own product to generate goodwill with the vocal online fan-base. The big factor would be what they can control creatively and how that potentially impacts them by association. But they don’t even need to technically be in bed with these people.

[Mr. Nerfect]

By the way, I don’t see Moose. I think his criminal history is the only reason he isn’t in WWE to begin with. I can see Heath Slater or someone from STARDOM.

[XL]

Way less than that right now. But if they become the primary broadcasting partners of New Japan in the US, and if they have some sort of working relationship with the WWE, it gives them a lot of leverage to sign guys that already have a lot of money, don’t care so much about exposure, or still want to be available to the WWE (or the WWE wants to be available to them).

Does a wrestler care if they’re getting $1 million per year from Tony Khan or $1 million a year from multiple promotions? It also means the WWE can fire a guy like…Finn Balor. What would he do? Get signed by AEW and work New Japan when he has a chance. Buuut, if AEW is locked out of New Japan, maybe he takes a deal with Impact Wrestling instead? He can work New Japan and even go with the WWE on tours to Europe or be called in for a SummerSlam match with AJ Styles when they’re feeling dry. He eats up way less on the WWE’s expenses, but maybe still even comes out ahead. All the while being a true independent contractor.

And if he ends up meaning something, there’s nothing stopping the WWE from signing him back on to a big deal and then either sourcing him out.

TK would only have money and his approved partners to work with. It makes things harder to finesse and possibly even causes some talent (relatively big stars for him too) to leave, and eventually some people in power somewhere might hope his dad gets annoyed because his son is paying $1 million for certain talent but their deals with other places are only for a couple of hundred thousand.

It doesn’t really make sense for the WWE NOT to work with smaller promotions, especially if they don’t want to hot-shot their own product to generate goodwill with the vocal online fan-base. The big factor would be what they can control creatively and how that potentially impacts them by association. But they don’t even need to technically be in bed with these people.

They’d have to get all that in place pretty quick to get Moose a decent reaction at the Rumble in 3 weeks time :lol:

[Fignuts]

Mickie in the rumble is kind of been there, done that. Would of been much more interesting if they got someone like Rosemary or Jordyn Grace.

[drave]

Indeed. They are putting her in for "name recognition" alone.

[weather vane]

Still cool if they mention Impact and she comes out with the title. Better than just WWE stuff. Few surprises would be nice, especially from other companies. I don’t watch the product but this has me SLIGHTLY interested. Nothing will probably happen though.

[Mr. Nerfect]

They’d have to get all that in place pretty quick to get Moose a decent reaction at the Rumble in 3 weeks time :lol:

Oh yeah, of course. But I think people do “know of” Moose, and live crowds pop because of that. It may not be AJ Styles 2016 good, but he wouldn’t get crickets.

[fundiddle]

Would of
oh, you poor dear

[Sepholio]

Mickie has announced she will be coming to the ring to her impact theme and will be wearing the impact womens title

[Mr. Nerfect]

Mickie has announced she will be coming to the ring to her impact theme and will be wearing the impact womens title

Doesn’t surprise me. There’s something larger at play here.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Hahaha! We all loved Percy Watson in NXT Season 2.

http://images.wikia.com/prowrestling/images/f/f1/Showtimewatson.jpg

OH YEAH!

[Evil Vito]

Impact women’s tag champs the Iinspiration (formally the Iiconics) said in an interview this weekend that WWE also contacted them to offer spots in the Rumble. Much like Mickie, they would’ve brought their titles with them. But they declined the offer.

Can’t say I blame them. At the time they were released, their visas were due to expire so it caused them a bit of a headache getting that sorted. I’m assuming there’s some unease with going back even for one night.

[XL]

There’s also the “optics”. Mickie will have her own reasons for taking the spot (money?) but it could be viewed in another way. Like, you don’t get to release me, then call me back for a one-shot deal when it suits you. Could be looked at as being a “mark for WWE” so I can see why they - or anyone else - would turn it down.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Having the Aussie girls would have been counterproductive. Maybe feelers would have been sent, but ultimately you just want that spotlight on Mickie.

[Lock Jaw]

Dunno how the IIconics have been treated in TNA, but it could also be the fact that they know if they went back it would probably be in some sort of comedy spot where they are eliminated fairly quick. So it could also be them not wanting to "lower themselves" to that again.

While Mickie James is probably going to get a more serious run in the Rumble... not win, of course, but probably a decent showing.

[Mr. Nerfect]

What if: Ronda Rousey wins the Royal Rumble and uses it to challenge Mickie James? Ronda’s loaned to Impact as a star to try and get them more attention so they can have more weight in negotiations with free agents to keep them from signing with AEW.

[drave]

She doesn't need it. She has quite the stream going right now with its own base.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Still like 8 or 9 spaces left that could literally be surprise/return/both entries in the women's RR. If she was able to, I wouldn't mind Bayley returning as a face.

[Sting Fan]

So there gonna do something with this in the Rumble right? Because they haven’t done a damn thing with it yet.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Still like 8 or 9 spaces left that could literally be surprise/return/both entries in the women's RR. If she was able to, I wouldn't mind Bayley returning as a face.

Bayley’s still a bit off, I think. They can fill it out with some NXT people.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Is Paige gonna return in the women’s rumble? I’d like to see her get a nice pop.

[drave]

she tweeted not long ago she was medically cleared, wouldn't be too much of a stretchausen

[Sting Fan]

So this kinda ended up as a big ol nothing.

[xrodmuc316]

So this kinda ended up as a big ol nothing.

Well, they can't get all the stars, gotta leave the Good Brothers in Impact and Omega in AEW.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Mickey got a really nice reaction and had a few moments. Good enough.

[Mr. Nerfect]

So this kinda ended up as a big ol nothing.

Lol, what? It’s just happened and neither company has even done a show yet.