Hi, hello & welcome to News From Cook’s Corner! Folks, I’ve always been honest with you to a fault about the level of my work on a given week. This one…well, I might as well put a stamp on it because this sucker’s getting mailed in.

Hey, we’re up to thirty of these things since the re-boot, it’s about time there was a clunker like the good ol’ days! OK, there have probably been some clunkers here in 2020, but this is the first one I’m being honest about.

Zelina Vega = The First Domino

I told you this WWE third party stuff was going to lead to bad news. Not everybody in WWE was going to toe the line and go down without a fight. Once that happened, WWE was bound to play hardball with them. They (being WWE, pronouns pal) want their cut, and they want even more than that. We also know that once WWE makes a decision on something, they stick with it. Maybe some of the bigger stars can sway the office one way or another, but those younger folks don’t have much of a chance.

Zelina Vega didn’t have that stroke. But she looked at her bottom line, and realized that she was making more money off of third party sites than she was with WWE. Which sounds amazing to an outsider like me that thinks WWE must be paying all of these people incredible salaries. It might also speak to the type of fan following Zelina has.

There was a time not that long ago where it looked like Zelina Vega had a very bright future in WWE. She managed Andrade to the United States Championship near the end of 2019. Just after WrestleMania, she formed a faction featuring Andrade, Angel Garza & Austin Theory. The rumor was that Paul Heyman was very high on the grouping and had big plans for them. A feud with new WWE Champion Drew McIntyre had potential.

The group lasted a month and that feud with Drew was quite one-sided. Theory was kicked out of the group, tried to be a Seth Rollins disciple for a minute and got sent back to NXT after a couple months of inactivity. Andrade & Angel tried the tag team thing, but couldn’t get over the hump against the Street Profits. Zelina focused more on wrestling, but didn’t get much of a push either.

It happens a lot in wrestling. One day, you’re figured in for big plans. The next day, you’re not. It’s tough to say that Zelina would have been doing much of note in WWE in the months ahead. Recent television sure didn’t give any indication she would be. Vega didn’t have much to lose here. She’ll land on her feet with another fed, or she’ll keep doing her Twitch & Onlyfans. I’m not worried about her.

So where does all this leave Zelina’s husband?

As it turns out, Aleister Black has been having his own problems with WWE lately. Much like Zelina, he was somebody that Paul Heyman was high on and wanted to push. Other folks had different ideas. WrestleVotes reports that Black requested a move back to NXT, which makes sense because it was the last place he was used properly. That was denied.

I see no reason to expect WWE to do much with Aleister going forward. Maybe put him through some tables? That seems to be the thing to do these days.

Seth Rollins going away for a minute

We knew this was coming eventually. Seth Rollins will be taking time off sometime after Survivor Series to be with Becky Lynch while she gives birth to their first child. That’s why his feud with Rey Mysterio came to a conclusion on SmackDown, and why he & Murphy are having a no disqualification match on this week’s SmackDown that will likely settle their issue.

It’s obviously the right thing to do, and I think Seth taking some time away from the ring will only help his cause with WWE fans. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and Rollins has been a pretty consistent presence on WWE television since 2016. Being a father will give him a different perspective on things too, I hear that’s what it does to pretty much everybody.

Chelsea’s debut goes less than well

If it wasn’t for bad luck, Chelsea Green would have no luck at all. After waiting several months to make her main roster debut, Chelsea finally appeared in a fatal four-way match to determine a member of Team SmackDown at Survivor Series. I wasn’t expecting much from that particulat fatal four-way match, but I at least thought that Green would get a chance to shine. Her complete disappearance from the match was unexpected and seemed pretty counterproductive.

Until I read that she had broke her wrist in the match. That explained that. A shame, as she hadn’t wrestled since late May and was waiting for her moment. Finally gets it, then this happens. Hopefully her return will go smoother. It kind of has to, right?

OK, maybe not. We’re rooting for her though!

Rascalz headed to NXT?

Tuesday night’s Impact Wrestling episode revealed that the Rascalz are being evicted from their treehouse and leaving Impact. For those of you not keeping up with things going on in Impact Wrestling, I can tell you that the Rascalz are a trio consisting of Trey Miguel, Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz. From what I’ve seen, not really my cup of tea, but they’re very popular at their level and work a style that people these days love.

Word is that they’re heading to WWE developmental/NXT. They’ll fit in there. Do I see them doing anything on the main roster? Do I see anybody doing anything on the main roster? Not really. They’ll get paid though, so good for them. All about pepople getting paid.

As for Impact, they’ll move on. The Rascalz had been kind of put in that Lex Luger role of not winning the big one. They were never really pushed as a tippy-top act, and there was probably a reason for that. Letting these guys leave is fine. People will come along to fill those slots.

Thanks so much for reading! Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.