Welcome to the WrestleTalk News, I’m Pete Quinnell.
On Fridays we wear pink.
You can’t see it, but I am wearing pink.
You’re just going to have to take my word for it.
It’s AEW inaugural WrestleDream event this Sunday, and it’s looking like a pretty stacked
old card.
In yesterday’s WrestleTalk News episode, I spoke about how it was reported that original
plans called for a big non-AEW wrestler to challenge Jon Moxley after his match with
Rey Fenix, which got shelved after Mox’s injury.
And with Zack Sabre Jr. and Will Ospreay on this card, it is looking once again, stacked.
Big plans abound for WrestleDream it seems, and that could be set to continue.
While we may not have gotten the big plan for Moxley, there could be another surprise
lined up for the show.
According to PWInsider, Edge has now been taken off the miscellaneous part of WWE’s
internal roster list, with the belief being that his contract officially expires tomorrow,
September 30th, which just so happens to be one day before AEW’s WrestleDream on Sunday.
Which means Edge is completely available to appear at the show, if he were going to.
While of course there hasn’t been any hints directly of Edge appearing in AEW, it’s
certainly been high in fan speculation, and it would no doubt be a highly regarded move
for fans if it were to happen.
One match that’s had to be altered for WrestleDream is The Righteous taking on Better Than You
Bay Bay for the Ring of Honor Tag belts, because the Bay Bay part of that tag team isn’t
cleared to wrestle.
It was announced on Dynamite that Adam Cole broke his ankle in three places and needs
surgery.
MJF will still be defending the belts by himself though, because he’s a mad lad.
This announcement, combined with the final segment of Dynamite involving a masked attacker
using MJF’s devil mask to attack Jay White, has led to many people questioning whether
Cole’s injury is legitimate or a work.
Fightful Select has more details on it, as they’re reporting that yes, Cole is legitimately
scheduled for surgery and is expected to be out for some time.
When he was seen backstage, his leg was wrapped, was using crutches, and needed assistance
traveling, so if for whatever reason he’s not actually hurt and it’s all a work, nobody
else is in on it.
Which means it’s not a work, gang.
So let’s stop speculating about it.
Unless it is?
No, no, it’s not a work.
Not everything is a work.
Best wishes to Adam Cole, hope you get better soon than you bay bay.
In other news, Matt Riddle, after being released from WWE one week ago has now teased his next
move on social media.
Posting to X, Riddle posted what looks like a new logo of some sort, though of course
there’s no hint on what the next project actually is yet.
Riddle’s release from WWE last week came after a fresh batch of other WWE releases,
with reports noting that Riddle has burned through too many chances in the company.
Booker T has now spoken on Riddle’s release too, saying that:
“You can get away with that kind of stuff only for so long.
It catches up with you because then you become a liability…you don’t want people in the
news for negative reasons.”
While Riddle’s WWE release perhaps wasn’t too much of a shocker within the company based
on Booker’s comments, the same could not be said for one Mustafa Ali.
With the exception of Riddle, Ali has been the most visible released star in recent months,
being a featured part of the NXT brand since June.
What made this even more of a surprise was the fact Ali was also just over a week away
from a marquee North American Title shot against Dominik Mysterio at the No Mercy PLE this
Saturday.
I mean why would those in NXT go to those lengths to build up someone who was on WWE’s
chopping block?
Surely these things would be communicated ahead of time right?
Of course not.
According to Fightful Select, as of Tuesday 19 September there was no indication of Ali
being released or cuts to NXT talent with main roster deals for that matter.
This obviously made “several people unhappy” with Ali’s release, particularly with the
“lack of communication” between those making the decisions in WWE and those in NXT.
This frustration was said to be due to WWE’s recent pivot to include main roster names
such as Ali and Dana Brooke on NXT, only for them to be cut without warning.
At the No Mercy media call yesterday, Shawn Michaels was quizzed on the releases, noting
his surprise at the releases of Ali and Brooke.
Saying that he found out about Ali’s release “right before he did.”
Michaels continued to say: “I’d be lying to you if I said it didn’t
take us by surprise.
That’s one thing I’m learning here is that main roster and NXT are totally separate
rosters.
“I think the world of Mustafa, had a great working relationship with him in the time
that he was here, I will miss him.”
Fightful Select learned that HBK had creative plans for Ali factored until March 2024, with
the Chicago native set to be on Tuesday night’s long-term.
Speaking of Chicago, Ali was not the only free agent to be brought up at the media call.
And yes, ring the alarm…
it's clobbering time baby.
While little is still known regarding the specifics of Punk’s AEW termination and
what he can and cannot do at present, many, perhaps tentatively believe that he could
wind up back in WWE.
Just got to get around that whole Punk hating Triple H, Triple H hating Punk thing.
Right?
Well, despite Trips and Punk’s history together, what does The Game’s DX brochacho for life
think of Phil and the potential of him returning to the company?
Asked whether he would welcome Punk to NXT if given the chance, Michaels replied:
“Of course, we’d welcome him here in NXT.
My guess is, he would probably want to go to the main roster.
I always enjoyed working with Phil.”
Michaels recalled that Punk had even showed him a signed autograph from the Showstopper
that he kept in his wallet, suggesting that Punk also held the hall of famer in high regard.
HBK continued to say that the similarities between himself and Punk probably aid his
positive opinion of him.
Believing that he would also do numbers and make money for WWE if he did return.
However, he would admit that the decision to bring the cult of controversy back obviously
lies way above him.
“Obviously, that’s for people to decide higher up on the food chain than I am.
“That would be a risk-reward ratio that from a company standpoint, they’d have to
consider.
When it comes to, ‘would we take him in NXT and have him on our television?’
Are you kidding me?
“Who wouldn’t take that kind of star power?
I don’t know.
If I get in trouble for that, I’ll let you know.”
While Punk to WWE confirmed may be just a pipe dream at this point, one AEW crossover
that is now in the books is of course Jade Cargill, who was announced as an official
WWE superstar on Tuesday.
Despite us and many other fantasy booking Cargill’s WWE debut on TV, her actual debut
on WWE’s channels came strictly through the company’s social media channels with
images of her first day at the WWE PC gaining massive attention.
So much so that WWE’s post announcing Cargill’s signing became the company’s second most
viewed of the entire year at 14 million views.
This sits behind only Jimmy Uso turning on Jey at SummerSlam, which had a staggering
29.9m, but impressively beat out moments such as Carlito’s Backlash return and even The
Rock’s recent shock appearance on SmackDown.
While Cargill’s undoubtedly already been given the star treatment by the company, the
question still remains whether she will be treated as such on WWE TV.
Will she immediately be thrusted into the world title picture on Raw or SmackDown?
Or instead made to start off on Tuesday nights in NXT?
At the No Mercy media call Shawn Michaels weighed in, heaping praise on Cargill calling
the former TBS Champion an “awesome specimen” with “an incredibly bright future”
On the potential of her joining up with him in NXT Michaels said:
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I wouldn’t love to have her here in NXT, but
wherever she ends up, I have no doubt that she’s going to have great success.
“If she’s here with us, it’s going to be like it always is, we’re going to utilize
her to the best of our ability, try to make it an enjoyable experience for her.”
Moving on to some former NXT talent now and an update on the Mega Star LA Knight, who’s
recent mega push hit a slight snag on last week’s September 22 SmackDown.
While reported by Fightful Select to feature in the main event segment involving John Cena
and the Bloodline, this never materialized with it later being revealed that Knight tested
positive for COVID-19 and was forced to leave the arena early.
This led the seemingly planned tag team match at Fastlane of Cena and Knight against Solo
Sikoa and Jimbo Uso to be announced as a handicap match.
Despite this Cena did recently hint at still finding help for his big PLE return match,
responding to a fan dressed up as him on X saying:
I DO need a tag team partner for #WWEFastlane…
And Cena’s prayers may be answered as according to PWInsider, WWE sources have confirmed that
LA Knight is in fact set to return to tonight’s SmackDown in Sacramento, CA.
Meaning in all likelihood Knight may be added to the Cena/Bloodline equation as soon as
tonight.
While WWE were forced into some changed plans on last week’s SmackDown, how about on the
AEW side, as it’s been reported that the company’s Grand Slam injury crisis played
a role in some late changes on this week’s Dynamite too.
Now it’s been well documented that Jon Moxley’s International Title defense against Rey Fenix
did not go to plan, with Mox legitimately concussed early on, leading to an unplanned
finish that saw Fenix capture the title.
What was less reported on however, was that Fenix was also hurt in the exact same dive
spot that concussed Mox according to PWTorch.
This led to uncertainty regarding Fenix being cleared to compete at Dynamite, which he of
course did, defending his title against Jeff Jarrett.
However, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, this didn’t come till late
in the afternoon on Wednesday.
Meltzer revealed: “Fenix was not cleared, or I should say,
it was up in the air if he would be cleared.
He had not been cleared.
“So they had apparently put together a show without him, and then they had to change it
to put the match with Jarrett on, which was basically a late addition to the show.”
It was also revealed on WOR that Nick Jackson, who later won a number one contender three-way
for the International Championship was also seemingly affected by this.
Jackson reportedly turned up to Dynamite with no gear because he didn’t know he was gonna
wrestle.
With an outfit having to be pieced together on the night.
So that’s it for today’s news, while you’re here, check out this video of me giving some
fantasy booking ideas for Jade Cargill’s debut in WWE.
Be good to each other.