Body Slam Brigade # 66 – Just Fight

By Ryan Joy
Updated: August 13, 2021
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Body Slam Brigade # 66 – Just Fight

August 13, 2021

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Sometimes I turn on a wrestling show, and I get bored with all the talking segments.

I created a shirt this week that sums up how I feel, and it’s available to purchase here. The “Just F’N Fight” shirt is great for the next time you go to a live show!

On to this week’s stuff!

Hope you enjoy!

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1. CM Punk on August 20

AEW did not advertise CM Punk’s debut on their 8/20 Rampage show, but the company’s Rampage announcement was highly suggestive.

When tickets went on sale, Chicago’s United Center instantly sold out showing that fans got the message.

We do know that Punk has a role in the new Heels television series.

Fightful reported that cast and wrestlers working on the show remarked that Punk is “completely healthy” and very good in the ring. Apparently Punk is in ring shape and ready to go.

Some people think this all could be a huge swerve, and some hope that WWE swooped in at the last minute to offer Punk an enormous deal to appear at SummerSlam.

Any outcome like that would be an enormous blow to the wrestling industry, so let’s all hope for things to work out on 8/20.

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2. WWE Just Can’t Stop Releasing People

Things don’t look good if you’re an employee or talent at WWE. The largest wrestling company in the world has continued to seriously downsize their roster over the last four months. 57 talents have been let go this year with the last batch of 13 coming in on 8/6.

What’s significant about this round of cuts is the impact on the entirety of the NXT brand.

According to the Wrestling Observer, this round of cuts marks a strategic diversion in how WWE executes their NXT brand (my words not theirs).

Dave Meltzer reported that the cuts were not made by Triple H and Shawn Michales, but instead by Vince McMahon, Bruce Prichard, and John Laurinaitis.

Meltzer would continue to elaborate by saying that NXT would shift its mission to attracting younger and bigger talent that could someday main event WrestleMania.

Fightful added more color to the discussion by explaining that the departure of Canyon Cemen from the company’s talent relations department caused a lot of concern among talent about NXT’s direction as pertains to hiring.

In addition, Fightful reported that WWE recently passed on wrestlers in recent tryouts that people in NXT thought would be a slam dunk. Wheeler Yuta was later named as an example of a slam dunk candidate that WWE passed on.

My own enjoyment of the WWE product has gone down dramatically since some of this news broke last week. While it’s hyperbolic and I know it, I can’t help but consider every WWE match to be a “loser leaves town” match.

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3. SummerSlam – 20 Years Ago

It’s always fun to take a look back. In 2001, the wrestling industry went through some massive changes. WCW and ECW were both acquired by WWE, and WWE’s mega star The Rock ran off to film his first major movie The Scorpion King.

Those events set the stage for SummerSlam 2001 where the WCW World Championship was defended in the main event.

What a weird time. Here’s an article I wrote earlier this week reminiscing about the 2001 SummerSlam.

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4. Christian Cage – Everyone’s Number 1 Contender

Christian Cage is in line to get an Impact World Championship Match tonight against Kenny Omega, and he’s getting an AEW World Championship match at All Out on 9/5.

It’s hard to buy Christian as a main event opponent for Kenny Omega at All Out.

Perhaps AEW has a different match to main event the show or . . .

maybe they have an attraction that they believe will sell enough PPV’s where they don’t have to worry about a slightly downgraded title match or . . .

maybe AEW has a plan to quickly elevate Christian.

For More on This: Daily Wrestling News Show: Christian Cage: Everyones Number 1 Contender

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5. AAA TripleMania

AAA – one of the leading promotions from Mexico – holds TripleMania this Saturday at 9 PM Eastern. This event could be characterized as Mexico’s WrestleMania. The cast of characters involved this year include wrestlers from AEW (Kenny Omega, Andrade, Lucha Bros), Impact (Deonna Purrazzo, Taurus), and AAA regulars like Psycho Clown.

The main event is a Hair v. Mask match between Rey Escorpion and Psycho Clown, but that match follows Kenny Omega’s AAA Mega Championship defense against Andrade.

This should be great, but it’s difficult to watch in the United States. You will need to dig on the day of the show.

Alfonso Lopez from Last Word on Sports did a great job previewing the show.

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Well I didn’t have room in the normal issue space to say anything, but New Japan also has their Resurgence show this weekend. Should be a fun show, but I’m bitter that I have to pay extra for English Commentary.

Have A Great Weekend!

Ryan

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