I’m Laurie Blake, this is the Wrestletalk News. On Fridays we wear pink.
Happy International Women’s Day!!! You go girls… what it’s not… sorry I just assumed
their are like a couple of stories in the top bit of the news about women’s wrestling
so I just thought… oh it’s the opposite. Course it is.
Yes it’s a reportedly a sad time for Women’s Divisions on both sides of the wrestling aisle
with backstage unrest in both WWE and AEW.
We’ll start with the Fed as WRKD Wrestling on Twitter, I’m not calling it X, have claimed
that there are “growing frustrations backstage in WWE regarding the handling of the women’s
division”.
This comes amid fan outrage that Becky Lynch vs Trish Stratus was pulled from the SummerSlam
card despite both women being healthy and available for the match, and Women’s World
Champion Rhea Ripley not being booked for the show - so what? Now we don’t get to
see Mami on the weekends? What is this? My childhood?
Becky Lynch posted some images to her Instagram that she had taken as part of the press for
the show with the caption “This was the shoot I did for SummerSlam…”
DOT DOT DOT.
We all know you only use dot dot dot for a dramatic pause or to show that you think something
is a load of crap.
And before you get on my case that I only care about what The Man thinks in this situation
of Women’s Division turmoil, Rhea Ripley also posted a reply to WWE PRs Twitter post
about her ‘SummerSlam glam’ noting:
It should be “*SummerSlam media appearance look* for reasons we all know of”.
Those reasons reportedly being timing related according to Dave Meltzer who said that time
restraints are the major reason that matches are being pulled from the show.
Over the fence at AEW they have their own issues, firstly with signage making a prominent
appearance on Dynamite calling for the company to “book the women’s division better”.
Admittedly the Women’s Title match closed the 200th episode of Dynamite this week and
Hikaru Shida is the new champion.
But all is not as it would outwardly appear as the company has come under fire from independent
scene veteran LuFisto who worked with the company briefly and said that some women had
“too much power” backstage and “trash talked” newcomers in the locker room. Calling
the whole thing a “toxic environment”.
She also implied that someone had used their backstage influence to keep her out of AEW,
which many people speculated was Britt Baker as rumors pointed to a backstage rift between
the two.
Sources close to Wrestling Inc told them that Baker had no involvement with keeping LuFisto
out of AEW.
But Lu’s issues didn’t end there as she also detailed an awkward encounter with Ruby
Soho and Dustin Rhodes, where it was claimed that Dustin referred to French-Canadian people
as “a**holes” backstage and criticized her after her match for AEW saying she had
made the other girls look bad.
Rhodes responded to the comments on Twitter saying that “sometimes as a coach I have
to be very honest and won’t ever tell you a lie about how good or bad it was. Sometimes
hard love comes out and wouldn’t have it any other way”.
Hard love, title of your next AEW PPV. Rhodes also denied the French Canadian bit to a fan
saying he “didn’t say that”.
And here I was thinking Barbie had solved this sort of thing…
Before we crack on with the rest of the news, just going to hop in here and say that you
can head on over to PFK and watch the final of me, Luke and Pete playing AEW Fight Forever’s
Road to Elite mode right now!
We loved making this series, we’d love to make more like it with other wrestling games,
but can only really do that if enough people watch.
While we’re on the topic of Tony Khan’s women’s division, there is a rather large,
Jade Cargill shaped hole in AEW at present isn’t there?
Yes, despite many naturally expecting Cargill to continue all that 60-0 momentum into the
AEW Women’s World Title scene following her loss of the TBS Championship at Double
Or Nothing, Jade has instead vanished.
However, what at first seemed just like a bit of time off has now turned into serious
questions whether the 31-year-old will in fact return at all.
This has largely stemmed from Cargill’s extremely non-committal Tweets regarding an
AEW return and just pro wrestling in general. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer then
added to this by claiming that Cargill was not expected back in AEW anytime soon.
So, what’s the actual sitch?
Well, speaking to PWInsider’s Mike Johnson, AEW Pres Tony Khan said Jade is still with
the company, and has just been on “sabbatical” since losing her TBS Title.
Khan would then add that he couldn’t say “for certain what anybody’s going to do
in the future, but certainly we value Jade and everything she’s done here.”
For what its worth Cargill has continued to do a lot of retweeting of TK and AEW roster
tweets so it seems likely a return will in fact come at some point one would imagine.
Moving over to AEW’s newest arrival now and there have been some fresh details on
what we can expect for Mr Rob Van Dam, following his appearance on this week's Dynamite.
As we know RVD will step into the ring for an FTW Rules match on next Wednesday’s show
against Jack Perry. But now that Rob is Mr Wednesday Night, what more can we expect from
him going forward?
Nothing.
Yes, similarly to the fleeting appearance of Rob’s fellow ECW alumni Sabu, it looks
like the Whole F’N Show is looking set for a one and done with AEW. As PWInsider is reporting
that the hall of famer is only due for his one match with Perry and nothing else.
Despite the short-term plans, the appearance of RVD has reportedly been discussed for a
wee while according to Fightful Select. What was supposedly holding up the debut was the
clearing of the licenses to use ‘Walk’ by Pantera for RVD’s entrance music. You’ve
got to admire appreciation for nostalgic pro wrestling theme music… and his deep pockets.
Despite Rob showing up in AEW, PWInsider is interestingly reporting that he is also advertised
for WWE’s WrestleMania 40 weekend packages in Philadelphia, which is of course the home
of the E C dub.
While RVD may end up appearing in AEW and WWE in the next year, one act that will not
is of course The Elite, The The Elite.
Yes, with Nick & Matt Jackson, Kenny Omega and Hangman Adam Page all re-signing on the
dotted line with AEW, any and all WWE speculation has been deaded. But how close were the former
Bullet Club boys from crossing the battle lines after all?
Well, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the four men went “back
and forth” on the decision but one thing that was for certain is that they would all
be sticking together whether in AEW or WWE.
Meltzer continued to reveal that they actually conducted a “majority rules” pact on the
decision which clearly went the way of them landing on staying with AEW.
While WWE were reported to have interest in all members of The Elite, there was particular
interest in Stanford for Kenneth Omega. With Meltzer saying:
“WWE did have interest in all of them, especially Omega. They had great interest in Omega in
particular.”
As for the length of the deals, Meltzer was less sure, with the exact number of years
“supposed to be a secret”, however, Meltzer had heard that it could be four years.
Sounds like more than enough time to set up that CM Punk match eh?
While WWE will have to contend without The Elite on their books they do of course have
more than enough talent to play with don’t they? So much so that they can’t fit them
all in the second biggest show of the year.
While we’ve already discussed all the women that were cut from the SummerSlam card, there
is a member of the male roster that may be sneaking back into the fold on August 5.
The man in question is former NXT Champion Bobby Roode who has been out of action for
well over a year now, undergoing serious neck surgery in late 2022. While it had been previously
reported earlier this year that Roode joi was still expected to be out for quite some
time, perhaps that may no longer be the case.
PWInsider is reporting that Roode has been spotted in Detroit just days before the biggest
party of the Summer, so perhaps there could be a surprise on the cards. Whether this will
in fact come to fruition remains to be seen however, especially considering the severity
of Roode’s neck problems. However, if it did, there is perhaps a perfect opportunity
to re-introduce Roode courtesy of the SlimJim Battle Royal.
But hey, how would you book Roode’s return to WWE? Let us know in the comments below.
Speaking of SummerSlam the card for the show is now seemingly set in stone and its pretty
dang solid it must be said. Although that finalization comes with its own disappointments,
not only the lack of Rhea vs Rodriguez and Trish vs Becky but also the lack of stipulation
for Cody vs Brock III.
Yes, while there had been murmurs regarding WWE granting Cody the best early Christmas
gift ever in the form of a Dog Collar Match, that unsurprisingly didn’t happen. With
the match set to be the pairs third straight standard singles encounter.
But despite some form of stipulation being expected by fans, was it ever close to being
implemented by WWE?
Well, according to Fightful Select, despite the speculation, there was “never a stipulation
pitched or considered heavily” by WWE.
The Dog Collar Match in particular was reportedly never on the cards to happen according to
sources on both sides. Supposedly the limit of the whole stipulation idea was “does
this match need a stipulation?” And it was agreed that it doesn’t. Something I for
one disagree with.
So yeah, no dog collars, weapons or (sigh) bleeding abound for Cody and Brock. I genuinely
think they’d both be upset by that.
Speaking of upset, we’re going to tie today's news up in a little bow today as we once again
return to another disgruntled talent in the WWE locker room. This particular talent however,
has not been shy at all lately in venting his frustrations.
I am talking about Sheamus, who had plenty to say prior to Money in the Bank regarding
his lack of match on the card and now, ahead of SummerSlam he’s at it once again.
Despite actually having a match on August 5 with the aforementioned SlimJim Battle Royal,
Shame-o still carries a little bit of resentment regarding WWE’s booking of him ever since
his banger with Gunther at Clash at the Castle.
Speaking to the Daily Star, the Celtic Warrior revealed that he was “upset” regarding
WWE not capitalizing on the momentum he had following his war with the Ring General.
Sheamus said:
“I came out of that with so much organic momentum, and it was just wasted. It didn’t
go anywhere.
“It was a dead end, just like with WrestleMania. Drew went away because he was injured, but
I was ready to go and then just nothing.
“There were no avenues and nowhere to go and that’s frustrating.”
Sheamus even went on to call the War Games match at Survivor Series 2022 “sh*t”,
clearly feeling he could have been positioned for more. Just don’t let Vince hear that
or War Games will be truly dead forever.
We can definitely see Sheamus’ point, it really did feel like they were perhaps going
to potentially book him in a major Roman Reigns title angle post Clash, but it bizarrely never
happened.
Please WWE throw the man a bone and have him be the one to dethrone Gunther.