Sean Waltman On His Issues With WWE’s Handling of Bianca Belair’s SummerSlam Match

Sean Waltman was among those who didn’t love how WWE handling pulling Sasha Banks from SummerSlam and bringing in Becky Lynch in her place. As you no doubt know, WWE pulled Banks from the match but didn’t announce it until after Belair’s entrance, then brought out Lynch who beat Belair in less than a minute.

The reaction online has been quite polarizing, and Waltman discussed the matter on his Pro Wrestling 4 Life podcast. You can see highlights below, per Wrestling Inc:

On how WWE handled pulling Sasha Banks: “I understand the predicament. There’s just an old way of thinking that took over here, and I understand that, but it was the wrong thing to do. There’s an old saying, ‘If you’re going to have a replacement, the replacement needs to be of equal or greater value.’ For instance, I was in a really top match on all the house shows vs. Razor after I turned heel, but then they said Scott failed a drug test that was six months old, and all of a sudden, Scott’s suspended. They didn’t announce that Scott wasn’t going to be at the shows, which is kind of like this situation.

“When they announced that he wasn’t going to be there, the people booed because they wanted to see him, but then the bagpipes played, and out comes Roddy [Piper], and the place went nuts. And we beat the sh*t out of each other. Anyway, we had great matches. The people were happy, and here’s the key part, though, we had a great match. You can’t do that… they did it, obviously. But I just don’t think they realize how bad it was. I know there’s probably no great choice, but that’s not the one to make.”

On Becky Lynch defeating Bianca Belair so quickly: “Bianca is on her way to being a MEGA star, and a lot of people are really emotionally invested in her. You can’t do that to people in this day and age. You used to be able to do it. That’s why I was saying that was the old mentality, but everyone knows what’s going on. The fan base is incredibly educated, and WWE, I’ve heard them compare themselves to Marvel. Marvel, when it comes to fan service, they’re amazing. This ain’t it.

“You can’t sh*t on a huge portion of your fan base like that. I’m a huge Becky Lynch fan, really big. I was so happy with her run and when she got the bloody nose, cut the promo and all that sh*t, and I’m still a big fan. This did her no favors. It was just unbelievable. Bianca, she’s a thoroughbred. It’s just totally unbelievable that she would get beat that quick by anybody in that f*cking roster. MAYBE.”

On reports that Lynch will be a heel on SMackdown: “I guess we’ll see what they do with what they got to work with now. I hate to say it because I’m a WWE person. I’m on a Legends deal with them still. The last thing I want to do is come on here and say anything negative.”