7/24 WWE TALKING SMACK REPORT: Toni Storm talks her roots, Baron Corbin describes his financial fall, more

WWE TALKING SMACK REPORT
JULY 24, 2021
REVIEW BY NICK MORGAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Hosts: Matt Camp and Peter Rosenberg with Kayla Braxton as the backstage interviewer

This week’s guests (more interviewees than guests): Big E, Baron Corbin, Toni Storm

– A quick note here about the new format of Talking Smack and a corresponding change in the format of these reports. If you are unaware, Talking Smack has gone from a show where wrestlers appear at a desk with the hosts, answer questions and interact with the hosts in a different way than one normally sees on WWE programming like Smackdown. Instead, the new format has two hosts standing up in a rather sterile studio talking about the show we presumably have just watched and the only interactions with the wrestlers are in the form of the standard heavily scripted WWE in backstage interviews with the WWE backstage “roving” reporter. Going forward, these reports will relay what the wrestler said, what it might possibly mean, and basically keep you up to date on the important stuff.

– This being said, the format of these reports will also change so that you can stay informed, but not have to read through a recap of the inane in studio conversation between the hosts which really (at least, so far) have not added anything and are basically a repeat of what the viewer has just seen the wrestler say. Please be aware that should the hosts say anything of interest, such as announcing a match or any major breaking news, it will be reported here, but otherwise the report on the in-studio portion will be short and sweet.

– So, onward we go with this week’s Talking Smack. For the first shock of the night, no more Kevin Patrick as one of the in-studio hosts, instead it is Matt Camp taking over as the lead along with Pater Rosenberg (he of kickoff shows fame). Edge was the first wrestler mentioned and then followed by Roman Reigns and John Cena. The two hosts yammered on for a while with Camp touting John Cena while Rosenberg was all in on the Head of the Table. They also got to the challenge of Finn Balor to Roman Reigns and Mr. Money in the Bank, Big E. I think if they were allowed to go on and on, they would mention every wrestler on the roster. But luckily, we get thrown to Kayla Braxton backstage with Big E.

– With a towel around his neck, like he just came from a workout, Kayla asked Big E what it felt like to be the MITB winner and Big E actually stayed pretty serious and just said that it was a great experience for him to win the briefcase and that it meant a great deal to him. Kayla went on to ask about the tweet showing Big E celebrating with the rest of New Day and Big E just said they were brothers, and it was great to be with them. When Kayla asked if Big E had his eye on any championship in his sights, Big E, of course, mentioned just about everyone basically saying, as Kayla underlined herself, everybody should watch out, cause Big E could go after any of them.

– Back to the studio where the “hosts” did their thing and restated everything Big E had just said before sending up off to break with a tease of Toni Storm and Baron Corbin coming up. During the break an add for the WWE Shop and the replica belts aired.

– Coming back, we get the video of the Seth Rollins – Edge confrontation from the show, before hitting the studio again where Camp and Rosenberg talked about the upcoming confrontation between Edge and Rollins, also taking the opportunity to mention the Drew McIntyre/Jinder Mahal feud. With all mock pity and phony seriousness, they recapped the Corbin angle before throwing to a backstage segment with Kayla and Corbin.

– Corbin continued to lean into his ultra-depressed attitude and Kayla asked him what happened. We finally got an explanation. As King Corbin he said he was getting $20,000 per week as King and he went on a spending spree buying expensive things on credit figuring he could make the payments and what was left over he invested badly in Bitcoin when it was really high, and it crashed. Now that he lost his crown, he is embarrassed to say what his paycheck is and he couldn’t make his payments. I will say that this edition of Corbin has some places it can go and Corbin is playing the depressed thing well, but watching a rather drawn-out interview where he is just so depressed and down, become difficult and boring to watch. They need to be careful here, enjoying the fall of a bully is only enjoyable for so long. They need to at least get the character fighting to survive and not just a depressed jerk.

– After taking veiled shots at Corbin, the studio bozos sent us to break for a Summer Slam promo.

– Coming out of break, they showed us video of the Bianca Belair and Carmella at the Miami music festival complete with the piped in crowd noise. Note to WWE, if you are going to pipe in crowd cheers do not show the crowd just standing there with no one cheering. Anyway, back in the studio, Camp tried to make the Rolling Loud matches as something really special which allowed Rosenberg to wax poetic about Bianca Belair, which led to bringing up Toni Storm and her premiere on this week’s show.

– As you can guess, we once again get thrown to Kayla in Cleveland for an interview with Toni Storm. After the initial banter, Kayla asked about Toni’s look and the fact that she is an 80’s throwback, which Toni basically blamed on her mother. Her mother who was a child of the 80’s and raised Toni to love the Glam error of the 80’s, so that is what she went with, even mentioning that she is flammable because of all the hairspray she used. Kayla asked what Toni’s goals are and predictably she said to be the Women’s Champion.

– Back in the Studio, Rosenberg continued to heavily sell, Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley and now Toni Storm, before Camp and Rosenberg addressed without addressing the main thing from Smackdown, which was who is Roman going to fight at Summerslam — John Cena or Finn Balor. No big announcement on Talking Smack this week, just a “have to tune into Smackdown, next week, to find out”.

FINAL THOUGHTS: From the opening comments off this report this week, I think you get the gist of my feelings and thoughts about this new format. As I watched this week, all I kept thinking was that basically if Vince was speaking to the television audience, this is exactly what and how he would say things. Whatever Talking Smack was before, it was not totally Vince (especially with Paul Heyman at the desk). Now, Talking Smack is like being inside Vince’s head (yup, a scary place) and for better or worse, these two shows (Talking Smack and Raw Talk) are blatant promos, which is fine, but come into them knowing what you are going to get. A quick note on the pairing of Mark Camp and Peter Rosenberg. Camp comes off completely scripted and seemingly told that if you speak quickly enough and loud enough you will come off well. Incorrect. As for Rosenberg, he is supposed to be the analyst adding levels to the ongoings, and he too talks way too fast and needs to tone down his “excitement” level. If they let Rosenberg do a bit more real analysis and real evaluation this might not be too bad. Right now, however, we are getting the kickoff show shill, Rosenberg, and not the podcaster Rosenberg.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S TALKING SMACK REPORT: 7/17 WWE TALKING SMACK REPORT: New format drastically changes flow of the show, Belair challenges Carmella, more