I’m Laurie Blake, this is the WrestleTalk News, on Fridays we wear pink.
Our top story involves a wrestler who likes to get high being brought low by the competition
between WWE and AEW.
With WrestleMania XL set to emanate from Philadelphia: the home of the Liberty Bell and unprotected
chair shots, many assumed that the alumni of Philly hardcore wrestling outfit ECW would
be getting some time to shine on this year’s show of shows.
But for one wrestler it seems like they may have been scrapped from the show and they
are not at liberty to fully disclose it because of bell ends.
So ECW mainstay Rob Van Dam was heavily rumored to be one of the performers WWE would tap
up for XL, but according to Robert Vanderpumprules Dammit to use his full name, his recent appearance
for AEW may have put a stop to that.
RVD recently took on Jack Perry for the FTW Championship on an episode of Dynamite, a
show he said he had WWE’s permission to appear on, but now, as revealed on his 1 of
a kind podcast, it seems the dub may have changed their mind.
Van Dam said:
“Maybe I’d show you if I was doing a WWE tour WrestleMania weekend, but I have good
reason to believe that might be cancelled because of a recent appearance I might have
done, with permission, for a different company.
Right now, I don’t feel like I can talk too much about that.”
Hopefully this is all just a lovers spliff and RVD and the E can get back on the same
page for Mania.
Over in the land of AEW things are TENSE.
After the absolutely gigantic All In show at Wembley the company is set to go All Out
this weekend with another bloomin’ PPV, one that is struggling under the weight of
another backstage bust up involving “step outside” CM Punk and new enemy “real glass”
Jack Perry.
No Collision for you Jungleboy.
This has left Tony Khan in the odd position of… not being universally adored by the
AEW faithful, as PW Torch noted that at Dynamite this week TK got a “mix of cheers and boos”
from the Chicago crowd while speculation suggested Punk would be cut from the All Out card due
to his suspension following the incident.
On the media call for the event Tony Khan said that he couldn’t comment on the situation
as an investigation is still ongoing and he is looking into a few things, including reported
video footage of the incident from Wembley’s security cameras.
He finished the call asking journalists and fans to “bear with us” and that he hoped
everyone would know Punk’s status for the show before Sunday.
So the options are Punk’s suspension ends before the event, they make an exemption for
this one show or he doesn’t appear.
According to Haus of Wrestling it seems like the proceedings are leaning towards the latter
as they said they had learned that Punk and Khan had not been in direct communication
since All In and that Punk appearing on All Out or Collision this weekend was very unlikely.
Now, whenever Friday comes around it's certainly a cause for celebration, not only do you get
to see me dressed to the nines in my finest pink attire but also we of course get Friday
Night SmackDown.
Y’know the one that isn’t three hours.
While that is usually enough, the next SEVEN weeks of the blue show will be graced by the
appearance of 16-time world champion John Cena.
Yes, while seven weeks of Cena would have previously been something I, like many, would
have groaned at once upon a time, now in 2023 it's actually rather nice and will definitely
add a lot to the show, especially with Roman Reigns on his annual leave apparently.
And one of the other shows that is looking to suffer from a lack of Roman or any Bloodline
presence for that matter is of course WWE Payback tomorrow night.
Yes there are things to look forward to… but there’s also a Grayson Waller Effect
segment.
At a PLE.
Yeah.
But alas, there may be some good news afoot as our boy big match John may be set to add
yet another appearance to his schedule and appear at the show in Pittsburgh.
This information comes from Wrestlevotes who tweeted that they had “heard rumblings”
that Cena was not only set to appear at Payback but also be the guest host of the entire show.
Now the role of guest host isn’t usually the most consequential in WWE-land but hey,
it’s a win for Payback nonetheless if this ends up being true.
Speaking of Payback, one of the matches of note on the show is Trish Stratus vs Becky
Lynch in a steel cage match.
Now, most would agree that while this feud has been pretty good for the most part, most
are ready for the women involved to move on to new things post September 2.
For Lynch this was obviously never really in doubt, as for Trish however, many perhaps
have assumed that the Hall of Famer may be set to resume her retirement.
But what if I told you that wasn’t actually the case…
What if instead Trish was sticking around in WWE and SHE would be the one to get the
next bite at Rhea Ripley?
Well, in a curious post from her Instagram story, Trish indicated that she was looking
beyond Lynch, posting an old image of herself and the Eradicator, along with a fan poll
asking if people would like to see ‘Mami vs Mother’ as Raw’s next major feud.
It’s worth noting that Trish could of course just be pulling the wool over our eyes and
she may in fact still depart following Payback, however, it seems more than likely that this
career renaissance may be continuing.
All I have to say is well…
Thank You Trish.
Now, yesterday’s top story pertained to a pair of secret WWE signings that may have
been made as far back as late 2022, that being Akam and Rezar known collectively as the Authors
of Pain.
Now 2023 has been notoriously scant on the recruitment front for the company due reportedly,
to the impending sale of the company to Endeavor.
But times could be a changing as following the news of AOP, as well as former AEW star
Brian Pillman Jr. there has potentially been yet another new face coming through the WWE
door.
However, unlike Pillman and AOP, fans would be forgiven for perhaps not knowing too much
about this next arrival, that is unless you were an avid watcher of the late NXT UK brand.
Yes, the man in question is one Turbo Josh Terry, who made a bunch of appearances on
NXT UK between 2018 and 2022.
However, like many others from the brand was not brought along to current NXT when the
UK brand closed.
That is until now… maybe.
While not official, Terry did make an appearance on NXT Level Up on August 29, under the new
name of Riley Osborne, picking up a debut win against Javier Bernal.
Now given the fact Terry was handed a win in his debut, has changed his Twitter handle
riley_osborne_wwe AND has added NXT to his bio suggests that he is set to stick around
in the company.
Ok, so now can we please figure out where Carlito is?
Hasn’t he been signed for months now?
When we saw Mercedes Mone tweet pictures of herself in jolly old London early on Sunday
morning, I think many of us expected an in-ring confrontation of whoever won the Women’s
Championship four-way at All In.
But instead we just got The Boss sitting aloft in the sky box watching the action unfold,
leaving much to our imagination as to what AEW does in fact have in store for the former
IWGP Women’s Champion.
Now, in the post All In presser Tony Khan made clear that Mone was not yet cleared to
compete, hence why she didn’t get directly involved in proceedings.
However, Tony did provide some further insight into Mone’s AEW future at the All Out media
scrum yesterday, painting a clearer picture as to when we could see the former Sasha Banks
in an AEW ring.
Answering specifically in relation to a potential Mone appearance at the upcoming Wrestledream
show on October 1, one that Khan revealed he hopes to feature NJPW and Bushiroad stars
on, he would reveal that he doesn’t expect Mone to be cleared in time to appear.
However, he did clearly convey a keenness for Mone to become All Elite in some capacity
once she is fit and healthy, saying that they have a “good relationship.”
While we likely won’t be seeing The Boss in Chicago for any of this weeks AEW festivities,
it doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t be a very different surprise appearance in
store for us, one that just so happens to also include a former NJPW talent.
2023 WWE Hall of Fame inductee The Great Muta posted a rather suggestive tweet in the early
hours this morning stating that he was “going to America for a while.”
The signage behind him however, would reveal that he wasn’t heading just anywhere in
the States but the home of both this Saturday’s Collision and Sunday’s All Out, Chi-town
Chicago, Illinois.
While this doesn’t guarantee an appearance of the Japanese Icon, it certainly seems likely,
heck he may even give Ricky Steamboat some back-up in his potential strap match with
Ricky Starks at All Out.
What would you like to see Muta do at All Out?
Let us know in the comments below.
Finishing up today we have a follow up on some AEW backstage heat that was reported
prior to last Sunday’s All In.
The subject of this ‘heat’ was the extremely short-lived Mogul Embassy member AR Fox, the
one who really needed to wash his vest.
Now, following his heel turn and affiliation with The Embassy, Fox was advertised for the
biggest match of his life at AEW All In as he and Swerve looked set to take on Sting
and Darby Allin in a coffin match.
However, in a questionable turn of events Fox was punted out of not only the match but
the Mogul embassy entirely as Christian Cage replaced him at Wembley.
Now, this change was said to be in relation to Fox being unable to travel overseas, something
that he did not make AEW aware of.
This reportedly left him with heat from some within the company due to the lack of communication.
Now, in a follow up report from Fightful Select, more details are now available regarding Fox’s
current standing in AEW.
While other All In absentee Rey Fenix was also pulled due to travel issues, AEW were
always aware of this ahead of time and never truly planned to feature him on the show.
Which is the opposite to Fox who was booked for Wembley.
Fightful confirmed that it was in fact Fox not being forthright with his travel restrictions
that caused issues behind the scenes.
Especially, as the report notes, given that Fox has actually been unable to travel overseas
since 2016, yet it's still unclear why Fox couldn’t travel exactly.
The report notes that while Fox is generally well-liked in the company there was heat on
him for his handling of the situation, with a decision being made to split him from the
Mogul Embassy.
This was something that some seemingly weren’t sure of doing, however they ultimately went
with it and it obviously facilitated Christian’s inclusion in the coffin match.