In this WrestleTalk News, AEW takes a shot at Cody Rhodes, everything changing over at
ROH, Veer speaks and more…
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the Undertaker is going to think you’re soft.
Ain’t that right, Taker?
Let’s get some open blades in this locker room!
On his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast last year, The Undertaker lamented
the current generation of professional wrestlers, calling WWE “a little soft” and getting
nostalgic for the time when he came up in the business:
“Half of ‘em had guns and knives in their bags.
s*** got handled back then, you know?
Now you walk in, there’s guys playing video games and f****** making sure they look pretty.”
Arn Anderson still has a gun.
Now in an interview with Joe Rogan’s British doppelganger the True Geordie, the Deadman
kind of clarified those comments, saying he doesn’t think either culture is better or
worse, just that they were different.
I think I’d kinda prefer the working environment without guns and knives.
And if things got heated…
“If there was a disagreement, they go in the shower and that’s where everything got
handled.”
…they had sex?
The Deadman did greatly praise WWE’s focus on health, with doctors and trainers traveling
with the promotion, calling it “one of the greatest evolutions in our business” that
you don’t have to keep working hurt out of fear of losing your spot.
But he did point out that, naturally, that has a trade off, that people aren’t as desperately
hungry to succeed, saying “a level of grit is missing from today’s product”.
Remember, it’s not mutually exclusive to have enormous respect for the Undertaker,
and also mindful of the fact he came up in a very - using his words - different time.
It’s unfair to wholly judge periods of the past on the morals of the present.
Not that Joey Janela cares, tweeting: “I 100% agree Mark!
Lots of lame marvel geek talk in these locker rooms!
If I ever open up a wrestling school before you have your first match you’re gonna have
to get in at least 2 bar fights with PROOF!
By the way the avengers movies suck” Janela has revealed he will not be renewing
his AEW contract when it expires in May, yet the latest name this year to choose the indies
or WWE over Tony Khan’s once big happy family.
And now we’ve had the most obvious shot yet from AEW’s executive team against the
biggest defection…
With the Wrestling Observer, Fightful and now PWInsider over the weekend all reporting
that Cody Rhodes has indeed signed with WWE, where he’ll likely be making his return
against Seth Rollins at WrestleMania, a few fans have trawled through old Cody interviews
to look for clues.
And the DailyAccolade have posted a Cody quote that got a direct reaction from Kenny Omega
and Cody Rhodes.
During his appearance on the AEW Unrestricted podcast back in 2020, Cody said:
“I wanna stay an Executive Vice President of All Elite Wrestling, and I’ve told Tony
this, until I die.
This is the end of my road.
I can’t necessarily go back, the others can change [their minds].
I really can’t.”
By ‘the others’, you’d presume he’s referring to his then fellow AEW executive
vice presidents, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks - who all helped Tony Khan found the
promotion in early 2019.
And two of those - Kenny and Matt Jackson - have hearted liked this Instagram posts
with their official accounts.
Card subject to change, brother.
It does make you question even more, though, what did change in the last year and a half
for Cody to go from I am with AEW until I die, to leaving for the promotion he thought
he could never return to?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments down below.
Luckily for Tony Khan, he’s got a one in, one out approach to talent.
Cody leaves, so he buys a whole god damned promotion.
You’re meant to be focusing your attention, Tony, focusing it.
After announcing he bought a new toy, the 20 year old wrestling promotion Ring of Honor,
on the Revolution go-home episode of Dynamite, Khan has now started building anticipation
for the company’s return from hiatus with their Supercard of Honor show on WrestleMania
weekend…
“I promise to work hard to make ROH Supercard a great ppv + a show to carry on the incredible
20 year legacy of @ringofhonor.
I’ll continue to make announcements on the card; I might even have a trick up my sleeve
(which I wouldn’t announce).”
The trick, considering Tony’s recent track record, could be absolutely anything from
a minor streaming deal for ROH, to Triple H showing up and winning the belts off Jonathan
Gresham and RUSH.
As for the card so far, in addition to Gresham vs Bandido to create an undisputed ROH World
title, and appearances from Ninja Mack and Joe Hendry, it’s been announced Lee Moriarty
will wrestle Jay Lethal, Alex Zayne will wrestle Swerve Strickland and in the long-awaited
tag title match - The Briscoes vs FTR.
With the amount of AEW contracted talent now on the card, it implies a lot of former Ring
of Honor talent will not be used going forward - an impression Fightful has confirmed, writing:
“There are numerous former ROH names who were hopeful that they'd be brought back for
the ROH reboot.
However, many have since had no contact with new ROH management.
Those that we've spoken to should be operating on the assumption that they won't be brought
in to the new company if they don't currently have a deal, but that could change.”
Going back to FTR vs the Briscoes, this was a match first set up back in December at ROH’s
last pay-per-view Final Battle - months before Khan had actually bought the promotion.
It’s a long running dream match that both teams have actively been building on social
media, and it was always a hoped for plan from ROH’s long term booker Delirious.
But the Briscoes come with a fair bit of baggage, with Jay Briscoe tweeting back in 2013 he’ll
“f****** shoot you” if schools try to teach his kids about same sex couples getting
married.
Jay has apologized for those posts, but the history seems to have created “a lot of
ups and downs” - Simon Miller to AEW confirmed - with TNT’s parent company Warner Media
reportedly making “it clear that they didn’t want the Briscoes in AEW at the time”.
At one point it looked like the match wouldn’t happen at all.
The Supercard pay-per-view could be Khan’s way of tying up ROH’s loose ends from its
hiatus, while also getting the championship belts on his guys - like FTR winning the tag
belts to get rid of the Briscoes.
It also seemingly means the end of ROH’s long term creative run under Delirious, who
has been the promotion’s head booker since 2010.
Fightful writes he’s contracted through Supercard of Honor, but then “he'll no longer
be committed to the company.”
Which is presumably why some of ROH’s pre-Khan plans for the show are in jeopardy, as Fightful
is also reporting Killer Kross and Scarlett Bordeaux were set for the Supercard show and
had talks with Delirious about the appearance, “but when the regime changed they'd not
heard back.”
It’s going to be a hell of a wrestling weekend, with Supercard of Honor and the WWE Hall of
Fame on the Friday, NXT Takeover and WrestleMania Night 1 on the Saturday, WrestleMania Night
2 on the Sunday, and, apparently, the return of actually good Raw after Manias on the Monday!
There’s talk that this year’s Raw after Mania will be booked like it has done in the
annual show’s heyday, with big surprises and returns on the show.
We can already speculate at Cody Rhodes, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Gable Stevenson, as
well as any number of NXT call-ups, like hot young prospect Dolph Ziggler, but they all
fall in the path of one man’s coming: Veer!
After officially announcing his main roster re-debut, following almost six months of hype,
Veer himself has posted: “Dedicated to the optimistic and positive
of my fans that kept their fists raised high in support.
I heard you.
Yeah, the man is coming.
He always was.
I'm clearing that path ahead.
Don't stand in the way.
Better yet....please try!”
Just try and stand in the way of this man coming.
He’s been building it up so long, he’s clearing a path.
Veer as Cody’s first proper WWE feud confirmed.
Now relive Scott Hall’s 10 best Razor Ramon moments and matches…