Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk News. I am Luke Owen and this is Wrestling News.
As some of you may know have noticed, this is my third WrestleTalk News in as many days,
and as such I wanted to open with a story that is fun to me and about 5
other people. Because while we may have had a Team Canada - one of TNA’s greatest
factions - reunion at Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary a couple of months ago when
Eric Young returned to the company to team with Scott D’Amore, we’ve
got a Team Canada reunion in WWE as well. It was reported that Bobby Roode was likely
stepping away from the ring full time, and would instead become a backstage producer for WWE. He
started this over Summerslam, and Fightful Select have reported that he’s been working
on the Raw shows as well - and this week he shadow produced the Alpha Academy and Imperium matches,
which he did alongside his former Team Canada teammate Petey Williams! He also produced the
Ricochet vs. Tomasso Ciampa match that was tapped for Main Event. So, yeah! As I say this isn’t news
to anyone other than me and a handful of other people. But this is what happens when I do three
WrestleTalk News episodes in as many days. Anyway, on to actual news and we’ve got an
update from yesterday’s WrestleTalk News which ‘clickbaited the hell’ out of you all by talking
about Lacey Evans’ teases that she was leaving WWE. Well, jokes on you, as it looks like she
has now officially left the company. Evans last night posted to Instagram:
“When the clock strikes 12, you will address me as Macey Estrella from here on out…….oh, and this
jacket is up for grabs. Be on the lookout.” She’s a poet and she didn't even know I was
rhyming those words. But it happened. The jacket, for those who are just
listening to me rather than watching, has her WWE name of Lacey Evans on it.
Also I know you’re all expecting me to plug that I’m on Instagram now and you should
all follow me, but I would never be that cheap. And then as if to firmly confirm her departure,
she changed her Instagram profile to include: “FKA WWE Superstar Lacey Evans.”
It has been protocol over the last couple of years for WWE to not make big announcements when someone
is leaving the company - instead feeding that information to media outlets so they can report
it instead. However, Fightful Select note: “WWE have not confirmed her release to us…. There
haven't been any internal notifications about it, and she hasn't been involved in recent creative.”
While also not an official confirmation that she is gone, Evans - or Estrella,
now I guess - liked a tweet from a fan who said that WWE didn’t deserve her anyway.
Back to that ‘official confirmation’ part of this, and it ties into the reports that Ronda Rousey has
also left WWE for the second time, but there has not been an official announcement of that either.
Instead it’s just been reported that her rushed feud with Shayna Baszler to lead to the Summerslam
MMA Rules match was because she had told WWE that Summerslam would be her last date with the company
as she wants to have another child. Which brings us to Gable Steveson.
On last night’s NXT, Baron Corbin cut a promo saying that he, “took an Olympic Gold Medalist
and ran him out the building” in reference to his feud with the Olympian Steveson.
That is, as eagled-eared watchers will note, more or less the same verbiage that Baszler used to
tell the audience that Rousey was also gone. It ties into a report from Dave Meltzer’s
Wrestling Observer Newsletter which claimed, “All is quiet when it comes to Gable Steveson”
and that it was curious there was no follow-up to the Corbin match even though it ended in a
double countout. He added, “When asking around about him after his debut match
didn’t go well as far as fan reaction, we were just told that nobody is talking about him.”
On Endeavour’s earnings call last week - who will be merging with WWE in the
second half of September to form the new company TKO - CEO Ari Emanuel stated that
“plans are underway to make cost savings and synergies happen immediately upon closing”.
This has sparked some speculation that Rousey, Evans and Steveson’s deals either not being
renewed or cut are part of these merger cost saving measures. Rousey and Steveson,
due to their name value, likely would have some high ticket prices on them.
Steveson came in with a lot of hype behind him, even being drafted to Monday Night Raw
without having a single match. He never made it to TV, however, with reports stating that
he wasn’t improving in-ring at the rate WWE had expected, and he was moved to NXT where he had his
one and only match with Baron Corbin at the Great American Bash, which was heavily derided by fans.
But we have to come back to that lack of confirmation. Meltzer does add in the Wrestling
Observer Newsletter that Steveson is listed on the USA World Championship Team for wrestling,
and is scheduled for competition in mid-September. So perhaps this isn’t Steveson’s departure from
WWE like Rousey and Evans, but more he’s taking some time off to go and do the other
thing he does and will be back in October. What do you think? Let me know in the
comments down below. So yeah, let’s dive
into all the latest CM Punk drama. Now if you’ve been under a rock these
past few days, here are some bullet point bits and bobs to get you as much up to speed as possible.
After this past Saturday’s Collision, CM Punk cut a promo that indicated Hangman Page was not a
draw and his merchandise didn’t sell. It was later reported that this was supposed to be a joke, but
didn’t land as one and Punk felt bad about how it came out. It was also reported that at that same
show, Hangman Page was banned from coming into the building to film a pre-tape, which brought
more stories of other wrestlers being booked for Collision and then told they couldn’t come in the
building including Ryan Nemeth, Matt Hardy and Head of Talent Relations Christopher Daniels.
There were also reports that Nemeth and Punk had either a civil or heated conversation - depending
on which reports you put stock into - about Nemeth’s Twitter comments alluding to that Punk
was the “softest man alive” which was a response to Punk calling ‘your favourite wrestlers’ soft
in both an ESPN interview and on television. And while there is no confirmation that it was
Punk that blocked Matt Hardy from coming to Collision, it has more or less been confirmed
that he did block Christopher Daniels - believing that because Ace Steel, who was also involved in
the Brawl Out fight last year, also isn’t allowed to come to Collision that it was only fair that
Daniels shouldn’t be allowed either as he broke up the fight and was part of the investigation.
Despite reports that The Elite have no interest in working with Punk, it was reported that his promo
after Collision was his way of trying to start a program with the group, but - according to Dave
Meltzer - these sorts of promos make the idea of peace between them seem further and further
away. And before you write your ‘Dave hates Punk and loves The Elite’ comments, Sean Ross Sapp
of Fightful Select added: “Those close with the Elite say that these situations make them want to
distance themselves more.” Meltzer has added that this situation is a “ticking time bomb” in AEW.
Punk has reportedly apologized to Hangman Page via text message for everything that happened
last year, including one would presume, going off script and calling him out on a TV show
he wasn’t booked for in an effort to make him look bad. It’s also been reported that Page’s
pre-tape was never planned to be filmed at the same building Collision was in, and that Punk
was not even aware he was in town. And if he was aware, he would have brought him into the
building to again try and smooth things over. When the Battleground Podcast asked Tony Khan
about all of this drama, he dodged the question saying: “I thought it was a
great show on Saturday night. I don’t have any further comment to that, but I’m glad people
are still very interested in our wrestlers and what’s happening after the wrestling shows.”
More excellent managing of this issue, there, Tony.
Right, is that everything? Probably not. But there’s now more.
Because Fightful Select are reporting that Punk also had a confrontation with Jungle
Boy Jack Perry about a backstage segment he wanted to do that involved real glass.
According to those close to Punk, he felt that Perry wanted to film a segment that
would write him off TV because he didn’t want to come into work the following week, which he
perceives to be “a big problem in the company”. Those sources add that Perry had been advised
not to film the spot by doctors, production and Tony Schivone - who would have been around for
Goldberg breaking his hand and requiring surgery in WCW when he punched a car window - and Punk
stepped in to say this was a safety hazard. He then told Perry - according to Fightful
Select - “they don’t do that on Saturdays and if he doesn’t like it, he could stay on Wednesdays.”
This discussion obviously became part of the locker room talk, and sources told Fightful that
Punk felt Perry was having a “temper tantrum” over not being able to do whatever he wants.
As with everything in this Punk debacle this week, there have been two sides to the story. And Brayn
Alvarez wrote on the Figure Four message board, “Jungle Boy had a vacation planned. He wanted to
do a pre-taped angle with a car to write him off TV for that week. Punk told him no. He felt it
was too dangerous to do a broken glass spot and said they cared about safety. Jungle was upset
about that. That is very different from the story that Jack wanted to do a dangerous spot as a way
to avoid having to go to work.” To get the final word on this,
we should check in with our own Heat Magnet, Helen Temperature, to check
just how much heat Punk currently has in AEW. There’s not many things hotter - that’s a nine!
We’ve gone long again today so there’s no time for the NXT 1 Minute 1 Take, but it’s nice to see that
Mustafa Ali got to finally do that gimmick that was scrapped before he asked for his release. Now,
I’m going to read The Last Ronin like a cool kid. Check out yesterday’s news.