6 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (July 21)
2. They're Just Trolling Now
WWE has cancelled the weekly edition of Talking Smack, beloved cult favourite post-show, because either A) Vince McMahon is a control freak and cannot stand watching his talent get over on their own terms, B) viewership was low or C) a combination of both.
Realistically, Talking Smack must have cost next to nothing to produce. Nobody who appeared on it was paid extra. WWE weren't beholden to pay out bonuses a la house shows. The talent enjoyed appearing on the show - The Miz was so grateful for its role in his career renaissance that he broke his heel character to praise Renee Young on Twitter. Daniel Bryan, meanwhile, learned of the show's cancellation on a second-hand basis. You can't expect consideration from a company who has literally removed the only platform available on which talent can appear as actual human beings not reading from scripts that wouldn't make a CBS sitcom pilot. This wasn't some big budget disaster, like Terra Nova. It was something, anything, for loyal fans to cling to that wasn't, to quote the great Jim Cornette, "slicker than c*m on a gold tooth". Great when he's not trivialising holocausts and such, that is. I still love you, Jim.
Renee Young will no longer get to present the show; Jerry Lawler will receive the privilege on the post-Battleground edition. Which means affable, organic conversation is to be replaced by tired jokes and a sterile atmosphere. Then, when nobody watches anymore, McMahon's fatalistic prophesy will be complete.
He's not daft, you know.