Earlier this year, the wrestling world was rocked by the #SpeakingOut movement, where
fans and wrestlers alike came forward with their stories of sexual, mental and physical
abuse as part of the wrestling industry.
One of the accusations of sexual assault was against SmackDown star Matt Riddle, made by
indie wrestler Candi Cartwright.
Riddle denied the allegations in a video posted to Twitter, and then accused Cartwright herself
of ‘cyberstalking’ him, which led to Riddle filing a petition for a restraining order
against her.
In the original petition, Riddle also alleged that Cartwright “threatened harm” against
family members and those close to him, threatened to use weapons, and destroyed personal property.
Cartwright’s lawyer filed a dismissal and noted a number of issues with the petition,
including a lack of evidence.
However, according to a report from David Bixenspan, Riddle has now voluntarily withdrawn
the petition, just three days before the set court date.
More information surrounding the petition and its dismissal can be found on Bixenspan’s
Babyface vs Heel website.
Sticking with serious real-life wrestling news, the man arrested for breaking into Sonya
Deville’s home last month has pleaded not guilty.
Deville’s stalker had previously been denied bail of $2 million, and has now pleaded not
guilty to all charges, which include: armed burglary of a dwelling, which by itself is
punishable up to life in prison, attempted armed kidnapping, aggravated stalking with
a weapon, and criminal mischief, both of which carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The stalker will have a virtual deposition on October 12, and has a court date of November
12 set regarding a protection injunction filed by Deville.
The ongoing process is the reported reason why the Sonya vs Mandy Rose hair vs hair stipulation
at SummerSlam was dropped, and why Deville is currently taking a break from TV.
WWE have announced an NXT TakeOver is coming on October 4, one week after Clash of Champions.
The event hasn’t been named yet, but another TakeOver is scheduled for December 6, two
weeks after Survivor Series.
Which means that there might not be a War Games TakeOver this year.
Poor William Regal.
It’s the one time of the year he gets to shout “WAR GAMES” and feel all important.
But that’s not the only change to NXT going forwards, as it was announced yesterday Wade
Barrett has signed with WWE for full-time NXT commentary.
Speaking with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Barrett revealed his contract is for one year,
with an option to extend if it goes well, with Barrett saying he hopes “this lasts
for a long time”.
Meanwhile AEW also announced a new signing yesterday of the standout performer of the
Casino Battle Royal at All Out - Will Hobbs.
Not Luke Hobbs like I said on my very tired All Out review.
Because that’s The Rock’s character from Fast and Furious.
Now contractually tied to the company, Hobbs was pushed right into the main event scene
last night, being part of the six-man tag next week with Jon Moxley and Darby Allin
against Lance Archer, Brian Cage and Ricky Starks.
Dwayne Johnson to AEW confirmed.
And here’s a review of last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite in about 5 minutes.
The opening match was set to be Jurassic Express vs FTR, but the Young Bucks snuck in a quick
squash first against referee Mike Posey - superkicking him from outta longterm complex storytelling,
and then just walking off.
Their actions are really intriguing, but I think AEW is missing a trick by not making
a bigger deal of non-wrestling talent being attacked.
The actual opening match was a great clash of styles between the high flying Jungle Boy
getting mostly worked over by the ground and pound of FTR.
The final third was particularly exciting with a Luchasaurus hot tag and loads of Jungle
Boy near fall roll ups.
But when Luchasaurus decided to wipe out a portion of the crowd again, Jungle Boy found
himself isolated, and lost when FTR gripped each other’s hands for the cheating pinning
combination.
As his namebar now declares, Hangman Page is ‘No Longer In a Tag Team’ - so he got
a singles match against Kaz next.
It would’ve comfortably been match of the night usually, but this was an extraordinary
episode for in-ring wrestling.
It was the most emotional though with Page often looking over at Kenny Omega on commentary,
like he was your ex’s Facebook page.
Corfu looks really nice, Megan, but now you’re going to have to self-isolate for two weeks
extra with Tommy.
Speaking of excellent singles wrestlers who’ve been in tag teams recently, the match reminded
you just how fantastic Kaz is too.
But while Page won the match, he sure did feel like a loser.
Kenny left commentary without congratulating him, leaving Hangman all alone in the ring.
MJF viciously squashed Shawn Dean in seconds with the Salt of the Earth, so you better
believe we’re getting a promo!
He complained about Moxley cheating at All Out, so everyone now has to call him the undefeated,
undisputed, uncrowned champion of All Elite Wrestling.
And he’s realised to have success around here, you need to be part of a faction (tell
that to the Nightmare Family) - teasing he might be recruiting for his own stable soon.
Speaking of factions and complaining they never lost something, Eddie Kingston then
said Death Pentagon are a family, and he never got eliminated from the Casino Battle Royale.
They all beat up some random people in the crowd to blow off some steam… just like
normal families.
Interestingly, Eddie then told Blade to get his house in order - presumably in reference
to his wife the Bunny playing the Allie character with QT Marshall.
She could be a great addition to this faction.
Following their mentor Matt Hardy being mysteriously laid out backstage, Private Party then got
a match against the mid-life crisis dads Chris Jericho and Jake Hager.
Private Party got a really decent showing - hopefully telling the story of the Inner
Circle massively underestimating the tag division - but lost to Jericho’s Judas Effect (it’s
Judas Effective).
Mark Quen laid out Jericho afterwards, potentially setting up a singles match between them.
After a terrific showing at All Out, NWA Women’s champion Thunder Rosa was invited back to
put her title on the line against Ivelisse - all with AEW Women’s Champion Shida watching
on from ringside.
They had a really decent match, which Rosa won with a Tombstone Piledriver.
Shida saved Rosa from a Diamante beatdown afterwards, teasing a rematch between them
for the NWA title this time.
Miro got a skit of him doing very heavy bench presses.
LOOK AT THAT PUMP!
Taz just entered the chat.
Miro said he’s going to destroy everyone.
But first, he’s going to put on the best bachelor party ever for Kip Sabian.
In what wasn’t a good night for random wrestlers in the crowd, Lance Archer then destroyed
a masked dude, and then Jake Roberts and Taz negotiated a deal.
Brian Cage and Ricky Starks would team with Archer against Moxley’s six-man team, but
only if Cage gets the first AEW title shot once Lance has won it.
Despite feuding before All Out, heels are gonna heel when there’s titles on the line.
Cage and Starks jumped Mox before he could announce his partners for next week, so the
giant Will Hobbs made the save.
Moxley then screamed down the lens asking Darby Allin to join them, as it’ll be him
and Hobbs for the six man.
It’s a brilliant match-up, enhanced by so many different long term stories, and really
elevating Hobbs after his impressive All Out performance.
I can’t wait for him to turn up in a vest and baggy shorts.
And in a great show of faith for what is essentially a lower midcard feud, Best Friends vs Sananta
and Ortiz in a street fight got the main event spot.
And it was one of the better street fights of all time.
Surrounded in a ring of cars, they made it their mission to damage every single one from
the get-go - hitting swantons on cars, suplexes on cars, frog splashes on cars, powerbombs
on cars.
In the sickest bump of the night, Trent was double powerbombed through a windscreen, shredding
his back with shards of glass.
It was the perfect balance of hardcore fun without crossing a line that would upset mainstream
fans.
And in a match that was essentially just a sequence of spots, somehow none of it felt
contrived.
A wild Orange Cassidy appeared for the finish, stepping out a car boot to lay out Santana
with a chained fist.
It was probably the only down note of the match, which would’ve been better kept to
just the four men wrestling.
The Best Friends won soon after, restoring Sue’s honour, who turned up to give them
a lift home… or presumably to get Trent a blood transfusion.
But not before she flipped the bird!
That was this week’s AEW Dynamite in about 5 minutes.
Let me know what you thought of the show in the comments down below because I’ll be
replying FROM OUTTA GOING HOME WITH TRENT’S MUM… but seriously we should swing by the
hospital first.
This might’ve been one of the best top to bottom in-ring wrestling episodes of Dynamite
ever.
Page vs Kaz, Rosa vs Ivelisse, and the pay-per-view worthy Street Fight were brilliant fun, all
in different ways.
And the storyline progression with Hobbs, Omega and the Bucks was excellent too.
This week’s AEW is an incredibly high 4 out of 5.
If only there was an AEW board game I can play, because I love board games too.
Completely natural segway, nailed it.
We love playing board games here at WrestleTalk, and we want you to love board games too.
So we are launching Phenomena-Nerds very soon as a brand new channel, the brain child of
our resident board game guru, Adam Blampied.
Subscribe there now for when we launch in October with videos about board game classics
but also stuff for people who know nothing about games and want to get their collection
started.
Support WrestleTalk, and subscribe to Phenoma-Nerds by clicking the little PN icon onscreen now!
And are Aleister Black and Andrade’s pushes being dropped?
Click the video on the right to find out what’s happening on Raw!
And tune into our AEW review podcast later, where Chopper will be conducting a Luke-detector
test to find out Mr WrestleTalk’s real identity.
I’ve been Mr Davis, Jam that Jam.