Unlike with most jobs, where you are employed
by a company, a WWE star is in fact what is
called an ‘independent contractor’, which
means that while you have signed a contract
with a company, you are not legally seen as
an employee, meaning you generally have a
bit more freedom in your role.
Generally.
Unless it’s WWE you’re contracted to.
Because the exception to this rule appears
to be being an independent contractor under
Vince McMahon, who has now decided that wrestlers
trying to make a bit of extra money on the
side is a terrible thing, and has now reportedly
banned it.
According to Raj Giri of Wrestling Inc.
Vince McMahon has threatened wrestlers using
platforms such as Twitch and Cameo, that they
could face being fired if they don’t delete
their accounts within 30 days.
Several WWE stars use both platforms to connect
with fans, something you’d have thought
WWE would want to happen.
According to Giri, Vince wrote a letter to
his wrestlers which read:
“Some of you are engaged with outside third
parties using your name and likeness in ways
that are detrimental to our company.
It is imperative that these activities be
terminated within the next 30 days (by Friday
October 2).
Continued violations will result in fines,
suspension, or termination at WWE’s discretion.”
Fightful Select has noted that while some
WWE stars aren’t bothered by the news, a
number of others are “livid” with Vince.
One of the reported reasons for the ban is
that WWE is upset with information leaking
during streams.
This has been seen recently with AJ Styles
confirming he tested positive for Covid-19
on his Twitch stream.
Unsurprisingly, a number of people are very
upset about this decision, especially considering
several people such as Xavier Woods have very
large audiences outside WWE with his UpUpDownDown
YouTube channel, Peyton Royce has just launched
her own YouTube channel, and AJ Styles, Zelina
Vega, Paige, Drake Maverick and many others
regularly stream on Twitch.
PWInsider is reporting that “there has been
a lot of talk among talents about pushing
back against WWE’s edict”, though there
is some confusion about what is and isn’t
allowed going forwards.
On his own Twitch stream, WWE announcer Mike
Rome said that a lot of WWE stars would be
“changing our Twitch usernames so it doesn't
mention WWE in the slightest, legally there
is nothing they could do in this case”.
Renee Young took to Twitter to mock the decision,
saying “Sooooooo guess now would be a good
time to launch my Twitch and Cameo??”
Seems like you got out at a good time Renee.
Shut down that cookbook of yours!
Shut it down!
The last time we saw Akam and Rezar of AOP
in WWE was the March 9 episode of Raw, when
they acted as Seth Rollins’ beefy enforcers.
It appears that this was the last time we’ll
ever see them in a WWE ring, as it was announced
last night that both have been released by
the company.
Despite winning the NXT and Raw tag championship,
their WWE run was plagued with injuries and
bad decisions, such as splitting them from
Paul Ellering upon their main roster debut.
The latest injury to occur was a bicep injury
to Rezar, and it seems this was the last straw
for Vince and co.
It’s a real shame as AOP could have had
a great career in WWE in another life, and
it’s sad to see their run end like this.
Rezar has history with MMA - so we could see
a return for him to cage fighting before long.
It’s been just two weeks since Roman returned
to attack The Fiend and Braun Strowman at
Summerslam, and just a week since he defeated
both men at Payback to win the Universal Championship,
aligning himself with Paul Heyman in the process.
While fans have been asking for Roman to turn
heel for what feels like years...oh that’s
because it’s been years, not even in lockdown
time, it appears the idea to have him turn
heel came from the Big Dog himself.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter,
it was in fact Roman who had the idea to return
as a heel following his hiatus, but it still
isn’t known who actually pulled the trigger
on the angle.
Who’s a good boy?
You’re a good boy, Roman.
You’re a good boy.
And now it’s time for a review of last night’s
episode of SmackDown - in about 5 minutes!
The 
show kicked off with Paul Heyman and new Universal
Champion Roman Reigns, the former of which
cut a scathing promo, which essentially boiled
down to a ‘you people’ promo, saying how
nobody showed Reigns respect - which is kinda
true.
Reigns himself then had a couple of lines
afterwards saying he all he has to do is Show
Up & Win.
BRANDING!
The first match of the night was Heavy Machinery
vs Miz & Morrison - which was certainly a
match.
It was naturally building to a Tucker hot
tag, but Otis just decided to win instead.
Morrison then stole Otis’ Money in the Bank
briefcase - oh yeah I forgot he had that - and
it was revealed later in the night that Otis
didn’t keep the contract in the briefcase,
he kept it in his lunchbox.
The briefcase was his actual lunchbox...Comedy.
It was announced before the show that the
number one contender to Reigns’ Universal
Championship would be decided in a Fatal 4-Way
between Sheamus, Big E, Matt Riddle and King
Corbin - 3 of which are exciting winners - but
continuing their feud, Sheamus assaulted Big
E backstage and hit a White Noise through
a car windshield, writing E out of the match
in an awesome looking spot.
I think this is smart for many reasons - not
only does it further the Sheamus and Big E
feud, and E is gonna be pissed when he comes
back, but it writes E out of a Universal Title
opportunity without him losing.
After this came a rematch from Payback - Shayna
Baszler and Nia Jax defending their new Women’s
Tag Team Championships against Bayley & Sasha
Banks.
This was a very fun match, possibly more so
than the bulk of the match at Payback, though
Payback did have the better finish with Baszler
being just the best.
Look at her go.
After Banks missed a Meteora and hit the ringpost,
Baszler honed in on her knees, and Jax looked
to take advantage with a top rope Samoan drop.
Bayley saved Banks from that predicament,
but then Jax crossbodied both Banks and Bayley
and pinned them both, which I’m less of
a fan of.
But really, this match was all to set up the
post-match angle.
After the least helpful EMT’s in the history
of wrestling left Sasha to her own devices,
Bayley was helping her out of the ring before
she FINALLY snapped, attacking Banks, destroying
her knee, and attempting to wrap a chair around
her knee before instead deciding to wrap it
around her neck and stomping on it from the
second rope.
Jesus.
This was a great turn from Bayley, and the
viciousness really played well from the long
story they’ve been telling.
The great thing about the ThunderDome is that
WWE are now finally pulling the trigger on
stories they’ve been spinning for ages,
and this definitely has been overdue.
This also completely flips the dynamic of
their classic NXT feud, which I’m all for
and prevents them treading old ground.
This time they’re forging a new path.
I loved this.
Aside from the goddamn sound design - someone
sort out some proper crowd reactions please!
Michael Cole updates us that Banks has been
taken to a local medical facility, but enough
of your serious voice Cole, it’s time for
Sami Zayn’s upbeat music - who hilariously
put over that he’s the Intercontinental
Champion, yelling at Greg Hamilton and to
the production truck.
This brought out Hardy and AJ Styles, and
the three of them brawled, with Sami coming
out on top and scrambling away with his title.
We then got a promo of someone in high heels
and a long robe walking towards the camera
- which might be a vignette for a returning
Eva Marie according to her Twitter.
Oh boy.
A very, very quick Firefly Funhouse promo
came next, where Bray Wyatt mentioned that
someone new is coming to the Funhouse, followed
by an Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross promo where
Ramblin’ Rabbit was seen in the background.
Subtle.
Alexa apologised for her actions last week
and gave Nikki a hug, saying she didn’t
know what came over her.
I’m sure that apology will last a long time.
I’m fully expecting Nikki Cross to show
up on the Funhouse next week.
Which wouldn’t make any sense, but why not,
right?
After Big E was written out earlier in the
night, Paul Heyman spoke to producer Adam
Pearce off screen, and it was announced that
Jey Uso would be inserted into the match instead.
Uso then spoke to Reigns backstage ahead of
the main event and Reigns told him that maybe
he could win one on his own this time.
I loved this decision, but I’ll get into
this more later.
This led into the main event Fatal 4-Way.
Now, the order I’ve just said everything
in makes sense right?
A seamless show from segment to segment.
Well that’s not the way WWE did it.
Because here’s how it actually went down:
Matt Riddle made his entrance for the main
event, then there was an ad break, then there
was the vignette with the high heels, then
Otis revealed his Money in the Bank switcheroo,
then John Morrison and Miz found that out
themselves, then Jey Uso and Roman Reigns
had their promo, then King Corbin made his
entrance, then the four people in the main
event brawled around the ring, then there
was another ad break, then there was the Firefly
Funhouse promo, then there was the promo with
Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss, then it cuts
back to the ring, where the four of them have
stopped brawling and are patiently waiting
in the four corners of the ring for the main
event to start.
Makes perfect sense.
The main event itself was pretty fun, with
some fun spots peppered throughout, including
Corbin throwing Jey Uso over the front row
of LED screens.
The finish was equally as fun, with Sheamus
Brogue Kicking Corbin, allowing Riddle to
hit a Bro to Sleep on Sheamus and a Floating
Bro on Corbin, but immediately after he was
hit with a Splash from Jey Uso who picked
up the win.
I didn’t think before today I’d be saying
that Jey Uso facing Roman Reigns for the Universal
Championship would be a good idea - but I
think it’s a great idea.
Of course heel Reigns would want to get his
family in the title picture.
Nepotism, right?
But not only that - how much of a heel is
Reigns going to be when he absolutely brutalizes
Jey in that match?
He either is going to absolutely squash him
in a matter of minutes, or he’s going to
slowly and purposefully dismantle him, and
either way, what a dick.
This is a perfect first feud for Reigns to
solidify his heel character, so then he can
go on to bigger feuds afterwards.
I love this decision!
Jey cut a very quick promo in the ring to
end the show saying he made the family proud.
I will be eternally grateful if Reigns absolutely
demolishes Jey at Clash of Champions, holds
up his lifeless head to the camera and says
down the lens “I made the family proud.”
Oh man.
I’m so, so into this heel Reigns character.
So that was SmackDown, let me know what you
thought of the show in the comments because
I’ll be replying to people FROM OUTTA OTIS’
LUNCHBOX.
Overall, I thought SmackDown was pretty great.
The only real sour point was the Heavy Machinery
and Miz & Morrison match and angle, which
didn’t really have a point, but everything
else was at least good if not great, and it’s
building to some really interesting feuds
going forwards.
This show gets a SmackTastic 4/5.
It’s All Out 2 tonight - so watch Mr. Davis
and Luke Warm Luke Owen battle it out in predictions
warfare for Luke’s job and to become the
inaugural Jam That Jampion!
Set your reminder for the livestream by clicking
the video to the right, and press the video
below that to find out more about WWE ‘admitting
defeat’ to AEW!
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I’ve been Chopper Pete Quinnell, Jam That
Jam.
