Hi, hello & welcome to News From Cook’s Corner! I’m very glad that I ripped off longtime Cincinnati Reds play by play announcer George Grande for my introduction to this and many other columns I’ve done over the years. I can’t speak on behalf of most of the Reds broadcast team, but I feel 100% confident in saying that George Grande has never uttered a slur directed towards anybody. I’ve never heard that man say a negative word about any human being. He talks to everybody and finds something good to say about them to everybody else. I wish I had that gift. Thom Brennaman apparently doesn’t, and now he only has a job eventually at some point because his father is a Cincinnati legend.

That’s the problem with giving sons of announcers announcing jobs. We got stuck with Joe Buck on every major sporting event thanks to Jack. Atlanta still has to deal with Chip Caray thanks to Skip & Harry, and Cincinnati is stuck with Thom even if he would have been properly cancelled everywhere else. It’s a tricky situation. Marty Brennaman was supposed to be inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame this year, but obviously that didn’t happen because 2020, and that’s been put off until 2021. Had things gone as scheduled and Marty had already been put over for his accomplishments, maybe the Reds could have got Thom out the front door. Since they didn’t, it’s fair to assume that Marty, even if he doesn’t agree with making slurs against homosexuals, wouldn’t be terribly happy to be inducted to a Hall of Fame of a team that fired his son.

Sure, in a perfect world, Marty would accept it. But we live in an imperfect world, and many fathers are tied to their sons for better or worse. What I’m saying is that Thom will probably be involved on the Reds announce team in a lesser role, probably in a part time play by play slot until enough time passes. I’m not saying I support it, I’m just saying that’s what’s most likely to happen.

The funny/sad thing? Thom’s popularity with the Reds fans that support him now was much lower before he decided to drop a slur on air. Once you do that, with a certain audience that supports disgusting people because they hate the same people they hate, you become relatable. It’s gross, but that’s 2020 for you.

A man of faith…my ass.

And now, some news for entertainment purposes!

BREAKING NEWS: THE BIG DOG IS BACK!

SummerSlam was telling us that we’d never see it coming. Most of us assumed that was a lazy RKO reference, but indeed, we did not see the return of The Big Dog Roman Reigns coming. He laid out both Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman, and in my mind became the biggest babyface in the company. Some are trying to tell me that makes him a heel, but they are mistaken. Roman Reigns can never be a heel, and beating up Bray & Braun can’t make anybody in the world a heel.

So here we are. The WWE has its top star back. Obviously the pandemic is over, since we were led to believe that Roman Reigns wouldn’t come back until it was over. If business doesn’t take off now, I don’t know when it will! Especially considering their new venue.

How was THUNDERDOME not copyrighted?

WWE ThunderDome made its debut on this past Friday’s SmackDown. To say it got mixed reviews would be a bit of an understatement, but WWE employees were excited to get into a new environment. It was obvious to outside observers that the Performance Center, while likely a fine place to train wrestlers, wasn’t an environment condusive to good television.

WWE will be running Orlando’s Amway Center (now known as WWE ThunderDome) for the next couple of months for Raws, SmackDowns & PPVs. NXT will be at their traditional venue of Full Sail University. One thing I think overlooked by most while discussing all of this: Amway Center is much larger than the PC or Full Sail. Sure, you’d like to have actual fans there, but now WWE has more room to work with. More backstage areas & places to film things.

It’s not going to fix all the problems, and that fan background needs some serious work. But it’s a step in the right direction.

NXT had a show too apparently

Karrion Kross suffered a separated shoulder during his NXT Championship victory over Keith Lee on Saturday’s TakeOver event. Reaction to Kross’s act has been mixed, but WWE is obviously behind him. As for Keith Lee, hopefully he’s moving on to Raw or SmackDown soon, as his time as double champion in NXT did absolutely nothing to boost his stock. For all the praise NXT gets, one thing you can’t say for them is that they know how to book successful babyface champions.

Pat McAfee impressed during his debut match on Saturday night. Now, people around here will want me to give 100% of the credit to Adam Cole, but I have to tip my hat to McAfee & his training. Honestly, had I known he had been training with the Hustler Rip Rodgers for quite some time, I’d have given him more of a chance in the beginning. Rip knows how to train people & is as wily as it gets. Tough not to learn from him.

Still did a silly dive though

And here I thought the guy was some silly dudebro that went to “school” at West Virginia! Credit to Pat or whoever was smart enough to send him the Hustler’s way. Dude has some atheletic ability too. I’m interested to see what his future holds, though his football announcing career might take priority over the pro wrestling. We’ll see. Dude worked a solid heel gimmick during the match, then did a backflip off the top and broad jumped back up there. Impressive. Adam Cole couldn’t have done that for him.

Triple H on Velveteen Dream: I KNOW NOTHING!

Triple H has been quite the chatty Cathy lately. Making all kinds of appearances to answer questions from his favorite media members. Nothing wrong with that. However, there’s one topic he doesn’t like talking about. He requests a change of topic every time he’s asked about it. You can tell it gets under his skin.

He doesn’t think that Velveteen Dream’s status as an active member of the NXT roster and a person featured in main events on television should be an issue. As far as he’s concerned, Dream’s allegations were looked into, and the result is one he finds favorable. There’s no need for people to keep bringing it up.

Except that there is.

Three of Dream’s accusers have come out saying that they weren’t contacted by WWE. They continue to present evidence that doesn’t make Dream look like a swell guy. WWE’s plan to ignore all of this and hope it goes away isn’t looking great at the moment.

Also not helping the matter: the folks backstage don’t like the guy either. Fightful reports that Dream has heat with the NXT locker room over the fact he has a longer leash with WWE than other people do. He’s done a number of things that other people would get fired for, yet still has the backing of management.

Sounds a little familiar, right? Young Randy Orton had a long leash with WWE management, getting away with a ton of things that most people wouldn’t have. They thought his potential was too high to give up on, so Orton has been on WWE’s main roster since 2002. Makes you wonder if we should expect to see Dream main eventing WrestleMania 50.

All of this leaves me with one question: why would Velveteen Dream be this untouchable? His early TakeOver matches got endless amounts of hype, but since NXT got on USA he’s been pretty average. Is it the charisma? Maybe Triple H looks into his eyes and gets a feeling?

Its tough to say, but hopefully some enterprising reporter can get to the bottom of it one of these days. I tried to get Jeremy Lambert to do it since he’s got those Fightful connections, but he just gave me the corporate answer that Triple H thinks he can draw big money. There’s got to be more to it than that. After all, it’s tough to draw money when most of your fanbase thinks the guy you’re pushing down their throats is into that Rob Feinstein stuff.

The Good Thing About Social Media

I want to close on a good note, so let’s talk about something we usually dump on here. I don’t think I’ve said many good things about social media in this column, or other columns that I do. It’s done a lot to help the business, but it’s done a lot to hurt it too. As an old school guy with some new school sensibilities, I can see how the things I’m about to highlight here would make folks like the Cowboy Bill Watts roll over in their graves. At the same time, they make me feel good about where we’re at here in 2020.

Ricky Starks is a young man that’s captured the attention from many wrestling fans via his work on NWA Powerrr and his recent signing by All Elite Wrestling. Little did we know that his biggest fan was on the WWE roster…

I’m your number 1 fan. You’re too handsome for hardcore!!!! I hope your back is better!!!!!!!!!!

— Bayley (@itsBayleyWWE) August 18, 2020

Of course, Ricky replied with proper love for Bayley, as he’s a true gentleman. This wouldn’t be the only WWE/AEW social interaction this week. Johnny Gargano debuted a new nickname for himself, “The Wednesday Knight”. He got props on Instagram from none other than Chris Jericho, who said he should have thought of it for himself. Gargano replied by saying he took it as a tremendous compliment from the best person at making nicknames for themselves. We all know Le Champion is a nickname god, so his getting beat to the punch is a feather in Mr. Gargano’s cap.

I don’t know about you, but I love seeing this mutual respect between WWE & AEW grapplers. You know all of these folks are keeping track of the scene and trying to pick things up to make themselves better. You also know that all of these folks would like to have multiple places to have employment if things go south where they are at the moment. There’s no reason for most WWE wrestlers to hate AEW, and there’s no reason for most AEW wrestlers to hate WWE. Especially the ones that haven’t been to the other company yet. The more viable places available to employ wrestlers is better for everybody involved.

I just wonder why the fans don’t understand this.

Why is there so much hatred between WWE & AEW fans? We all love the same thing. I see AEW fans hating on WWE, I see WWE fans hating on AEW, and I don’t get it. It’s different flavors. I’ve never seen ice cream fans get mad at each other because one ordered chocolate and the other ordered cookies & cream. Like, what are we doing here?

(Notice how I didn’t even make the flavors that different? Because they really aren’t.)

Why can’t y’all just like wrestling? Everybody gotta make it a brand thing when no brand ever gets everything right. There are always flaws. You gotta take the good with the bad. If the wrestlers themselves aren’t so concerned with the promotion wars, why are you?

Think about it. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.