WWE: Storyline Suspension for Grayson Waller, Carmelo Hayes on Best 2-out-of-3 Match Issues, More News

Feb 7, 2023

WWE Announces Storyline Suspension for NXT’s Grayson Waller

This past Saturday’s NXT Vengeance Day 2023 post-show media scrum featured a storyline confrontation incident between Shawn Michaels and NXT talent Grayson Waller. This confrontation involved Waller interrupting Michaels’ post-show media call and being upset at Michaels over his claims that Michaels did not view him as being “his guy.” Michaels revealed that this issue between the two had taken place backstage following Waller’s match for the NXT Championship at the event.

WWE recently announced a storyline suspension for Waller for his actions towards Michaels at this past Saturday’s post-show media scrum. It was announced that this suspension will be one week in length.

BREAKING: Due to his actions during the Vengeance Day Media Call, @GraysonWWE has been suspended for one week. pic.twitter.com/mPeG9Mz41q
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 7, 2023

Following the announcement, Waller responded in a mocking tone on Twitter stating that he was sorry for his actions. In a follow-up tweet, Waller stated that he was still upset over Michaels’ decision to not allow escape by cage as an option for his cage match against Bron Breakker at the event.

I’m really sorry Shawn! Let me back! I promise I’ll take a nice photo with you like the other fans in the locker room #WWENXT #ImSorry pic.twitter.com/NQ6eCblIMv
— Grayson Waller (@GraysonWWE) February 7, 2023

Anyone else find it interesting that @ShawnMichaels introduced a stipulation, mere hours before the match, that gave Bron a massive advantage on Saturday?
Guess it pays to be mates with HBK 🤭#WWENXT
— Grayson Waller (@GraysonWWE) February 6, 2023

Carmelo Hayes Comments on Issues with Best 2-Out-of-3 Falls Match with Apollo Crews

This past Saturday’s NXT Vengeance Day 2023 event in Charlotte, North Carolina featured a Best 2-out-of-3 Falls match between Carmelo Hayes and Apollo Crews, which was won by Hayes.

A recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast featured Hayes as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Hayes’ thoughts on his match against Crews at the event.

“The experience was great. Maybe I’m a perfectionist in my work, but I feel like there were things I could’ve done better. Just the connection I felt with the crowd, there were certain things I could have done different or I could have done better. That was my takeaway, but I’m glad it was received well. There was a lot of pressure going into it because Shawn (Michaels) had said, ‘you’re gonna steal the show.’ The expectations were already high and I’m glad we met his expectations.”

Hayes also gave his thoughts about the online criticisms over the booking of the match and what he would have changed to make the match better in the end.

“I feel we could have put the stipulation of the match over better. An issue, in my mind, is that a lot of people are so programmed to see one fall, one fall, and then go to a third. I don’t think people were expecting I was going to to get the two falls. As I’m listening to the crowd, I’m thinking, ‘they’re about ready for an Apollo fall at this point.’ I felt like there were those down moments where they weren’t coming because they were like, ‘when is Apollo going to get his falls so we can really get cooking here.’ That’s just from a professional standpoint as far as being in there and being involved. I was happy with it. Apollo and I worked hard, we definitely worked hard. I thought all of our stuff was good, but I’m ready to get back out, do it again, and go up that.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

WWE News & Notes

As noted before, Matt Riddle has been out of action for WWE since this past December due to him failing a second drug test and being sent to rehab. Riddle recently praised his girlfriend on Twitter for all the support she has provided him during his rehab and recovery.

As noted before, WWE originally planned to hold a Bloodline Acknowledgement ceremony at this past January’s RAW 30th anniversary show featuring members of the famous Anoa’i and Fatu wrestling families. This segment was eventually changed to a Trial of Sami Zayn segment due to travel and illness related issues involving Afa, Sika, and Rikishi. In a recent interview with the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, former wrestler Samu confirmed that the segment was dropped due to Afa and Sika being unable to travel to the show and Rikishi being ill with pneumonia at the time.

Monday’s WWE RAW show in Orlando, Florida featured a backstage segment involving Adam Pearce signing the Maximum Male Models and Maxxine Dupri to official contracts with the RAW brand. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that the reason for the Maximum Male Models appearing on RAW was due to WWE officials recently had made some talents swap changes to their RAW and SmackDown rosters. Johnson reported that the Maximum Male Models, Dupri, and Los Lotharios were recently moved over to the RAW brand.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that a lot of NXT talent were seen in attendance backstage during Monday’s RAW show in Orlando. Johnson reported that the reason for the larger than usual amount of NXT talent for this week’s show was due to the show took place in close proximity to WWE’s Performance Center, which made it very easy on WWE’s end to bring in NXT talent that night.

Sonya Deville recently revealed on Instagram that she suffered a cut above her eye that required several stitches at a WWE house show event this past Sunday in Pensacola, Florida. Deville suffered the injury during her Triple Threat match against Liv Morgan and Charlotte Flair at the event.

In a recent interview with Pro Wrestling Illustrated, Seth Rollins stated that he is currently not interested in being involved in a potential reality show based on his relationship with Becky Lynch. Rollins stated “No man, that’s not for me. That’s not for me. I like to do the scripted stuff or the improvisational stuff. I don’t know about the reality, I feel like having a camera follow me around all the time would just drive me insane. I couldn’t handle it.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)