Viewpoint On Wrestling Update: Darren Young and Summer Rae also released

Whilst I'm in the midst of writing my last post because it was a big surprise, two more names got released by WWE.

BREAKING NEWS: WWE has come to terms on the releases of WWE Superstars Darren Young and Summer Rae. https://t.co/CU8R144QG2

— WWE (@WWE) October 29, 2017

These are far less of a surprise.  Summer Rae had been drafted to RAW but had not appeared.  In fact, best that I can tell, Summer Rae hasn't appeared on screen since Wrestlemania 32.  Rae was another one who was with FCW in 2011, and became FCW General Manager in March 2012.  When FCW became NXT, she became a ring announcer for NXT, before transitioning to actual wrestling in 2013.  She became Fandango's dance partner and valet in April 2013, and she would stay in the main roster for the rest of her career.  She never won a single title during her time in WWE.

Darren Young on the other hand first appeared in a WWE ring back in 2005, usually as a jobber on episodes of WWE Heat and WWE Velocity, when they were B-shows to RAW and SmackDown respectively.  Darren would also join FCW, though that was in 2009, and would be in a tag team with Percy Watson, called The South Beach Party Boys.

He was one of the rookies in the first season of the NXT game show/reality show.  He later became part of the infmaous Nexus group and angle.  He would return for Season 5 of NXT, and would have a rivalry with Titus O'Neil.  In 2012 Young and O'Neill became The Prime Time Players and were signed to Smackdown.  The Prime Time Players would be split up in 2014 but came back together in 2015 when they would go on to win the WWE Tag Team Championship from the New Day.

Darren Young hasn't been on TV since injuring his arm in January 2017. 

I'm hoping there are no more releases to come today, I'm not sure I can keep up.

Viewpoint On Wrestling: Emma Released

Man, this one has caught me by surprise.  Just seen a post on Facebook, from WWE's official Facebook, that Emma has been released.

Emma, real name Tenille Dashwood, has been with WWE since 2011, when she was in their Florida Championship Wrestling developmental territory.  FCW became NXT in 2012, and competed several times for the NXT Women's Championship, but never won it.  She was called up to the main roster in 2014 and stayed there for about a year before returning to NXT.  She was once again called up to the main roster in March 2016.  And in all that time, she never won a single title.  In fact, she was barely midcard in the WWE women's roster, sometimes little more than a jobber.

I was expecting her to be part of the upcoming Survivor Series 5 on 5 match between RAW and SmackDown's women's divisions.  Obviously that is not going to be the case.

WWE released their fairly standard statement on the release on WWE.com.  It read...

"WWE has come to terms on the release of WWE Superstar Emma. 
WWE wishes Emma the best in all of her future endeavors."

But what are her future endeavours?  She hasn't posted on Twitter since Friday, and her last post was kinda cryptic...

Walking into the weekend like...

Photo: @HarryLHGFX
HMUA: @stellakae pic.twitter.com/OxkJJe5dYf

— EMMA (@EmmaWWE) October 27, 2017

Obviously, we won't be seeing her in a WWE ring anytime soon, but she could make an appearance on Impact Wrestling or Ring Of Honor, as they continue to slowly establish their Women Of Honor division, or she could appear in a Women's only promotion, such as Shimmer or Shine.

Whatever happens, I wish Tenille all the very best in whatever she does.

Viewpoint: The WhatCulture Exodus: What Just Happened?

WhatCulture announces staff departures. pic.twitter.com/FRMauHon7t

— WhatCulture (@whatculture) September 19, 2017

When I woke up this morning, I wasn't expecting this to happen.

This is a surprise in the world of new media.  WhatCulture may have originally been a film blog in 2006 called Obsessed With Film, but in recent times, it has become far more than that.  With sections covering Wrestling, Film, TV, Gaming, Comics, Sports and Offbeat stories amongst other things, WhatCulture has become one of the biggest sites on the net, with articles and lists every day.

And then there was the YouTube channels.  They started about three years ago, and the first voice and face that became a character, and more than just a narrator, was Adam Blampied.  His first video was on the WhatCulture Wrestling channel and it was this little masterpiece.




From there, Adam Blampied became a big part of the WhatCulture brand.  His face and voice became synonymous with WhatCulture Wrestling mainly, but WhatCulture in general as well.  He created the "How WWE Should Have Booked" series of videos, and the "What Just Happened" series, as well as others.

From there we got Adam vs Adam, as Adam Pacitti joined the fray.  From there would be born a rivalry that powered WhatCulture into the internet stratosphere.  Adam Blampied would also team up with Brian Zane from Wrestling With Wregret to do videos, including How WWE Should Have Booked The Invasion, and Heroes Of Wrestling.

Then Jack King aka Jack The Jobber arrived and joined the fun and games but he seemed to be a bit of a third wheel, and to be fair, he was definitely outclassed in the wit department by the two Adams, but he had his own style which made him stand out, in both a good and bad way, but mostly good.

Then Ross Tweddell arrived and became King Ross, and he became a larger than life character in general.  These four people, along with unseen editor Sam Driver, who Adam Blampied would often reference in his videos, have been the core of the explosion in WhatCulture content on YouTube.

But now, these 5 people have left WhatCulture, and also left WCPW, the wrestling promotion that they created just over a year ago, and Adam Blampied was the General Manager for, before today.

So what does this mean?  Well it means that WhatCulture and WCPW will be much the poorer.  Although most of these people didn't write the stuff they were saying, they gave it life in their own unique way, by adding in their own personality and character, and most of the rest of WhatCulture's hosts just don't have the same levels of engagement with the readers and viewers, or the same levels of personality.

It's a real loss to WhatCulture, but what about the internet?

Well, Adam Blampied's twitter account has given us a teasing clue about what happens next...

Join us. pic.twitter.com/m00QLBHssm

— Adam Blampied (@AdamTheBlampied) September 19, 2017

I guess we will be finding out soon enough, but in the meantime...

...I'm Ian Beaumont and that's What Just Happened.

Viewpoint: Can We End This Nightmare Now, Please?

So let me get this straight. Donald Trump posted footage from WWE, from Wrestlemania 23 to be precise, phtoshopped to replace Vince McMahon's head with a CNN logo, footage that showed him beating up on "CNN".

That's low. That's dispicable. That's sad. Using one fake thing, professional wrestling, to accuse CNN of being fake, and showing how he wants to beat up on them. Sadly, his fans just eat it up.

The rest of us know that he has sadly demonstrated that he does not respect the media, which we already knew, but that he also does not respect the office of President. 

This is not reality TV, this is not a ratings war. He is supposed to be the President of the USA. Instead, he is nothing more than a cult leader, destroying the United States, under the Cult Of Trumpistan. 

He's too stupid to resign, and his cabinet is too in his thrall to dump him. Somebody needs to do something to end this travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham of a presidency. 

Somebody in the Congress needs to do something, soon, whilst there is still something of the United States left to salvage.

Roger Moore: 1927-2017

With the heaviest of hearts, we must share the awful news that our father, Sir Roger Moore, passed away today. We are all devastated. pic.twitter.com/6dhiA6dnVg

— Sir Roger Moore (@sirrogermoore) May 23, 2017

Goodbye, Mr Bond.

Viewpoint: Manchester Concert Explosion.

My first thoughts in this situation, are the same this time as they always are, they are with the families and friends of the victims. There are no words right now, that will soothe their pain, or ease them through what will be one of the hardest, toughest times they will ever go through.

My second thought is the same one I have every time somebody uses one of the T words in this kind of situation.  The T words being terror, terrorist and terrorism.  Whether the crime fits the definition of terrorism or not, I will not used the T words to describe it.  This was a crime, an act of premeditated murder.  Even describing it that way is emotive enough.  The fact that the perpetrator committed suicide in the act, just means that it saves the expense of a trial and the ongoing cost of keeping him in prison.  Rather than face human justice, the perpetrator convicted himself in the highest court of all, and all he did in the process was to allow the gods and goddesses to send him into his eternal damnation much sooner than originally planned.

My last thought here is simply this.  Carry on as normal today.  Don't let this or any other criminal act of this magnitude change who you are or what you do.

Viewpoint: The clock is ticking on Donald Trump.

We are getting ever closer, inch by inch, foot by foot, yard by yard, to a moment like this one...

...and believe me, there will be whooping and hollering around the world when he does go down.

The announcement that a special counsel has been appointed to investigate the reported meddling in the US Presidential Election by Russia and whether Trump campaign associates or the campaign itself, collaborated with the meddling, has invariably thrown a spanner into the barely functional works of this White House.

We've heard a report that apparently Donald Trump went into his White House accomodations earlier on today, and apart from food and drink requests has not emerged since.  If he has any sense at all, which is unlikely, he'd head for Moscow on the first flight he could charter, and leave everybody else behind and go into hiding.  Unfortunately, he's too much of an egomaniac and spotlight hog to want to go into hiding for very long. 

The strangeness here, is although in the history of the USA, there have 15 people impeached at the federal level, the two presidents impeached, were both acquitted in the Senate, and both were Democrats.  Andrew Johnson in 1868, and Bill Clinton in 1999.  Richard Nixon was never actually impeached.  Articles of impeachment had been agreed by the House Judiciary Committee, but Nixon resigned before he could be impeached.

Whatever happens now, we are in territory that is reminiscent of Watergate, but also way greater than a bungled break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic Party.  The words "high treason" are being used in intelligence circles right now, and those words are not used lightly, or even at all.  But they are being used now.  This is a situation that may have to call for a completely new response, including possibly an election re-run, or a brand new election.  Nothing at this stage should be ruled out or in,  Everything is still on the table.

The only real question remaining is whether Trump's self-preservation instincts will overtake his grossly inflated ego, and make him head for the hills.  I'm not sure his ego will allow him to see how deep the quicksand is, or even that he is sinking in it.  And if that is the case, his whole administration might just go down with him.