In this WrestleTalk News, the latest on a WWE sale, including warning signs that
Vince may be growing in influence backstage, Jon Moxley ‘furious’ with an AEW decision and more.
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Since Vince McMahon came back to WWE in January this year to facilitate the sale of the company,
things have been relatively quiet on that front, aside from one Saudi Arabia scare.
We haven’t heard all that much about the sales process since then, aside from occasional reports
of a company’s rumoured interest in buying, but we have some more on it now, as well as Vince’s
seemingly growing power over creative backstage. Talks of the sale picked up once again after David
Faber spoke on what he’d heard about the situation on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street,
describing the sale as “pretty hot and heavy” with interest from multiple parties. He also
claimed that the sale is “expected to conclude in the not too distant future”, however one of
the sticking points of the sale continues to be “McMahon's real willingness to sell”.
Fightful Select has a comprehensive report about several details on this sales process,
where their WWE sources reportedly told them that they expect “business
to pick up” in April with regard to the sale, specifically after WrestleMania.
David Faber mentioned on Squawk on the Street that Comcast were out of a potential deal,
and Fightful Select elaborated, with reported sources from Comcast mentioning that even they
had a long-standing and established relationship with Vince McMahon, there was “no desire” on
their end to keep Vince in the company. On that note, there were reportedly sources
from other companies who had expressed interest in Stephanie McMahon returning to WWE. A reported
source at Disney said that the interested parties were “doing their due diligence”,
following news cycles, and were aware of the things that would make audiences and staff happy.
As Nick Khan had mentioned in February, Fightful Select also corroborated that Vince McMahon has
reportedly expressed to higher ups in WWE and those close to him personally that he would be
interested in a WWE sale deal that does not see him stay in the company. Which is good for WWE,
as Fightful Select also reports that “virtually every source connected with a company” that was
even rumoured to be interested in a sale agreed that if Vince himself was to remain in the company
after the sale, it would negatively impact the sale price, leverage and value of the brand
going forward. Which I think maybe should be a bit of a hint, Vince. No one wants you anymore.
And on that note, there’s reportedly been some “red flags” and “more concern” among
talent that Vince may be expanding his influence over the shows, despite WWE
reps and Vince himself denying these rumours. Aside from the Omos vs Brock Lesnar sized hint
that Vince might have a bit more pull than we first thought, Fightful Select is reporting
that WWE talent have noted that there are more rewrites the day of the show than usual recently,
which in fairness could just be because it’s WrestleMania season, but it’s worth noting.
There’s also reportedly been some “strong indicators” of characters and gimmicks being
adjusted to the way Vince McMahon had previously liked them that were relaxed or changed when
Triple H took over, which reportedly have actually had an effect on morale backstage too.
There has also reportedly been extensive creative laid out that was changed at the last minute,
which sounds very Vince-like doesn’t it. Fightful Select also notes that WWE and
Vince himself are reportedly aware of the blow to morale it would be if Vince were to
be publicly involved in creative, WHICH MIGHT BE A HINT VINCE. NO ONE WANTS YOU ANYMORE.
But there’s one more big clue that Vince might be back: a yellow highlighter.
On The List Goes On, a Fightful Select exclusive show, Sean Ross Sapp expanded
on some of these points regarding Vince, and noted that one of the bigger clues that Vince
may have influence backstage was the return of the yellow highlighter on scripts. Something
highlighted in yellow means it has to be read verbatim, and was something talent reportedly
didn’t see a lot of in the Triple H era. On top of this, WWE hasn’t made any public
signings since Vince forced his way back to the company. Chelsea Green doesn’t count for
this as she had reportedly signed with WWE back in October, but didn’t return until the Royal Rumble.
SRS also corroborated a recent Dave Meltzer report that there was a segment that had
to be re-taped for an episode of Raw because someone said the word ‘wrestler’ in it. Gross,
wrestlers? In a wrestling company? Jimmy Van, SRS’s co-host on the show,
also noted that WWE talent have seemingly reverted to typical WWEisms lately, such as ‘WWE Universe’,
like in Austin Theory’s latest promo on Raw which mentioned WWE Universe a lot.
While none of this is conclusive proof at all, they’re all warning signs and indications that
things may be changing backstage. But it is worth noting that there are several signs
that Vince may not have that level of influence as well, such as a lack of constant rematches,
and talent that he doesn’t like being used. So what do you think? Is Vince gaining power
or are we all just paranoid? Let us know in the comments!
On yesterday’s news, Oli covered Jon Moxley’s outburst on The Sessions podcast over CM Punk
and AEW, but there was actually more covered on the show than just CM Punk and backstage heat.
AEW recently held their first house show called House Rules. We’ll be
expecting our cheque in the post, TK. Jon Moxley competed at the show,
but doing so meant he was pulled from a previous booking he was confirmed to be at for
OTT for ScrapperMania 7. Moxley was due to be replaced at the event by Eddie Kingston
and PAC instead, but unfortunately Kingston then tested positive for Covid-19 after travelling to
Ireland so wasn’t able to perform at the show either. Moxley’s appearance at ScrapperMania
was an overdue one from 2020 as the pandemic stopped Mox from travelling back then too.
And he spoke about this decision to pull him from his booking on The Sessions,
and it seems he wasn’t too pleased: “The thing with OTT the other week,
I was f*****g furious about. Totally happy to do the house show…But I was already booked on
that day. It’s just this weight – the dates I missed when I was in rehab. I missed a DEFY show,
and whatever else, a bunch of AEW shows and a pay-per-view. Having that weight on my back of
a date I feel like I’ve gotta make up, I feel so bad about it. I hate having that
weight. So now I still have to go to OTT.” In a more positive and fun story from that
podcast, Moxley revealed how the Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing 2022 came about,
and it was essentially with him saying ‘that don’t work for me, brother’ to another match:
“They wanted do a Stadium Stampede again and I was like, ‘I ain’t doing that.’ That’s how the
conversation started anyway…‘Okay, if I was gonna do it, I would do it once in one take,
live in front of the whole crowd’ and that was Anarchy in the Arena.”
Which I think was probably a good decision because Anarchy in the Arena was very fun.
The match did lead to a couple of injuries though, and unfortunately,
there’s another pretty big one in AEW right now. Just as the feud between Blackpool Combat Club
and The Elite may be picking up, The Elite may be one person down as Matt Jackson is
reportedly suffering from a torn bicep according to Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio. The
injury reportedly occurred early on in the Trios Trios match between House of Black,
Jericho Appreciation Society and Elite on Dynamite which Matt worked through for that match.
According to Dave Meltzer on the same show, Matt has reportedly declined surgery and is
hoping to recover more quickly, as surgery would mean a guaranteed few months out of action. The
angle on Dynamite with The Young Bucks being attacked at the start of the show and being
taken to a hospital in an ambulance is reportedly a cover angle to explain Matt’s time off healing.
We at WrestleTalk would of course like to wish Matt Jackson well in his recovery.
Meanwhile in WWE, it’s WrestleMania in 3 days. Time sure does move fast doesn’t it. And at
the show it’s going to be Omos vs Brock Lesnar, in a match that nobody believed was real until
they made it official. But this reportedly came about due to Brock Lesnar refusing to
do a match with Bray Wyatt, and then someone, not naming names or implying anyone had any
influence over this decision whatsoever, but someone, Vince, made Brock the offer
of a match against Omos which he accepted. There were rumours circulating that Triple
H may have heat with Brock Lesnar for rejecting the initially proposed idea of Lesnar vs Wyatt,
however according to WrestleVotes via GiveMeSport, there is “no heat” between the two. They also
noted that Lesnar didn’t turn the match down due to any sort of “personal issue”,
and that as of the SmackDown before Elimination Chamber it was still the plan, but Lesnar then
said he didn’t want to do it anymore, and he’s allowed to do that, though the reason
why he didn’t want to do it is still unclear. Could be something to do with the glow paint or
the Mountain Dew or the Uncle Howdy. Who can say. And speaking of that Omos vs Lesnar Mania match,
on Raw the pair had a Weigh-In segment which wasn’t much of a weigh-in as they just ended
up brawling instead. According to Fightful Select, this wasn’t always the plan though,
as there were pitches to have the weigh-in be treated like a UFC weigh-in, complete with towels,
a WrestleMania podium and a red carpet. That obviously didn’t happen though.
Maybe that was one of those last-minute re-writes I mentioned earlier? Maybe not.
Elsewhere at WrestleMania, it’s going to be Seth Rollins vs Logan Paul in what will probably one of
the best matches of the weekend because of course it is. Previous reports had indicated that Logan
was on a multi-year deal with WWE, however on an episode of his Impaulsive podcast, Logan claimed
that his contract actually expires at WrestleMania 39 this weekend, which marks off one hell of a
rookie year for Paul with his debut match coming at last year’s WrestleMania teaming with The Miz,
then facing The Miz at SummerSlam, before going on to fight Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel, competing in
the Royal Rumble and now facing Rollins. That’s a pretty good track record, so we’ll have to see if
WWE draws up a new contract for him post-Mania. It’s also possible that his contract doesn’t
expire at Mania at all, because it’s also the same podcast where Lele Pons claimed
she was offered $20 million by WWE, which has been vehemently denied by WWE. Classic.
It’s QuizzleMania later today live at 4pm UK time, but for now check out our list
of 10 WWE Stars Who Should Have Main Evented WrestleMania over on partsFUNknown. Here’s a clip.