RAW Welcomes Us to the TKO Era...and FastLane...

 How’s It Going, Enthusiasts?

Hanging in there? Seems like you ought to. The future is looking bright in the Wrestling World. There are a few things we can chat about so let’s get right to it, shall we?

Well, it’s looking like the Jade Cargill rumors have some weight. Word is that her contract has expired with AEW and was not renewed. Reports are that she has been removed from their active roster and that she has reported to the WWE Performance Center. Go fig. I suppose we’ll see what they do with her. 

It’s interesting that this happens upon news that Bianca Belair has scheduled a hiatus. She has some peripheral projects that she wants to devote some time to and given the nature of the WWE schedule, I can see why she would like to take some time to focus.  Commenters suggest that this may be a time she starts to plan for the future family-wise as well. One of her projects just so happens to be a children’s book. The clock is ticking, I suppose. Let’s hope she makes the most of the break.

This next one is for those who have access to the premium network Showtime. I am a big fan of the show Billions so imagine my surprise to see a guest appearance from Triple H on the latest episode. 

I didn’t know quite how to take it at first since the show is a bit intellectual. The use of the pro-wrestling savvy suited the episode’s plot but I can see how it could be viewed as ridiculous by a haughtier crowd. I hope it was generally well-received. H is the “Cerebral Assassin” after all. 

I could see seeking his expertise in certain circumstances. Like as a consultant for a movie on the subject or something. Not sure what they did is remotely realistic but at the same time, not entirely too far of a stretch given what can pass in this world. Give it a look if you can. It helps to know what’s going on but it’s not necessary. Billions tends to be a be very tight show, so episodes can stand alone. It’s one of the reasons I got pulled into it. 

In any case, that more or less brings us to tonight’s RAW. We all know that The Rock surprised us last week at SmackDown. Will RAW similarly surprise given it’s the inaugural week under the new TKO conglomerate? It’s hard to say with what’s advertised. We can anticipate Shinsuke Nakamura changing focus to Ricochet. Drew McIntyre will start to lose his patience with the emancipated Jey Uso and we can expect Dominik Mysterio to face Cody Rhodes in a “Battle of the Little Brothers” match. Doubt it’ll match the “Battle of the Bastards” of Game of Thrones fame but I expect Rhodes to roll some old memories down the proverbial hill. Dom deserves it 😉

And so, if you’re like me and can’t watch the live feed, feel free to stop by the unofficial West Coast watch party. We can’t help being 3 hours behind. I’m still at work generally at 5pm anyway. I’ll be doing what I do during the 8 o’clock hour Pacific time on the Twitters. I don’t think I’ll ever call it “X”. It’s too vague and generally leads to cheeky thoughts without proper context. “Tweet”, says it all. 

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)