In this WrestleTalk News, Cody Rhodes WWE return update, Omega addresses the after All
Out Brawl Out Fall Out and Oli is going to be here reviewing AEW Dynamite.
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The last we saw of Cody Rhodes he was sporting quite a nasty bruise, a real purple nurple,
following a torn pectoral injury sustained prior to his match at Hell in a Cell in June.
While the injury was estimated to see Cody miss around nine months of action, fans have
long speculated and hoped that Cody could heal in time for January 28th’s Royal Rumble.
While this is not much more than hope and expectation on fans’ part, according to
a recent interview from Cody’s wife Brandi, perhaps there is reason to be hopeful.
Speaking with Steve Fall’s Ten Count Brandi gave an insight into Cody’s rehab and current
health.
“All of the work that he's been doing to get back has been really good.
He doesn't look like anything happened which is crazy because he had major surgery.
So he looks like the same Cody to me.
The muscle mass is all there, you know, he looks ready to me, but I'm not a doctor."
That all sounds very promising indeed.
We at Wrestletalk would like to continue to wish Cody a speedy recovery and hopefully
we see him back in the fold in the new year.
Last night’s episode of Dynamite emanated from the always raucous Wintrust Arena in
Chicago, unsurprisingly saw The Elite get a very frosty reception from all the CM Punk
loyalists in attendance.
In contrast to to Full Gear, Chants of ‘f*** the Elite’ rang out, which Omega and The
Bucks ate up.
Omega also ate up Pac’s arm during the match, an extremely unsubtle nod to Punk’s Brawl
Out tag-partner Ace Steel and his bite to Omega during the backstage brawl.
Other acts of trolling such as Matt Jackson pretending to botch a Buckshot Lariat as well
as Omega hitting PAC with a GTS, served to keep the incident fresh in the memory.
However, despite the nods to the incident, Omega’s ultimate wish is that fans begin
to move on from the whole thing.
Speaking with Sports Illustrated in an interview on Wednesday, Omega addressed the rumble.
"There are things no one can talk about, so I'd encourage people to let it go," Omega.
"It doesn't change that we want a team effort in AEW.
I don't even mean implicitly myself and my opponent.
It also means the referee, the fans, the people who set up the ring, everyone.”
“So I encourage people to move away from it because there is no information to be released.
Though I cannot talk about it, I do want the fans to know I still want the best for pro
wrestling."
Maybe Kenny’s right.
Maybe we should just move on…
Nah c’mon Kenny who are you kidding?
This is CM Punk we’re talking about, fans will never stop chanting his name.
Just watch any WWE show in Chicago between 2014 and 2021.
While MJF was sadly absent from the first Dynamite of his title reign last night, he’s
kept himself busy by way of Twitter beefing with some of UFC’s biggest stars.
Max has spent much of the past few days exchanging barbs with 3-0 Lightweight Paddy Bimblett,
following Bimblett taking issue with an Instagram video in which MJF stated pro-wrestling was
more dangerous than MMA.
The back and forth saw Bimblett challenge MJF to a fight at the upcoming AEW London
show in 2023 while MJF responded calling Bimblett a “dollar store Conor McGregor '' and threatened
to show up at ringside at Bimblett’s next fight on December 11th.
The whole thing has garnered quite a bit of mainstream attention from outlets such as
ESPN and TMZ which has led to the real Conor McGregor chiming in on his own Twitter to
take Bimblett’s side, calling MJF a “clown” while questioning who the AEW World Champion
is.
Max responded by calling McGregor a “roided up leprechaun” and threatened to beat them
both up.
All entertaining stuff and maybe one that could equal a lot of mainstream crossover
success for AEW.
Just imagine the promo battles between MJF and McGregor, I for one would pay to see that.
It’s Thursday, you know what that means!
MJF is a heel champion.
The Elite are back.
The slate is wiped clean.
Get ready for me to reaffirm what you already believe, because the AEW-loving Oli Davis
is back, in my review of last night’s Dynamite… in about 5 minutes.
William Regal opened the show to announce that MJF isn’t here tonight, he’s shooting
a movie.
Their union will be explained next Wednesday, including Regal mentioning a secret email
he sent to Max only few weeks ago, implying their heel plot was a relatively recent idea
in kayfabe.
It’s a risky stalling tactic.
The audience requires either Max to appear, or for new information to be revealed to keep
the storyline momentum.
Instead, AEW did what they used to do.
Give us something even better that we didn’t even know we wanted.
Moxley made his entrance (this poor guy is never getting a holiday) and is about to just
beat Regal up.
Bryan Danielson sprinted down to stop him - not just as a wonderful character beat,
with Danielson excellently defending Regal, using his own father’s, Regal’s and Mox’s
battles with addiction as motivation, but also as a necessary safety device, because
if Mox was so much to poke Regal, he would’ve self-combusted.
Instead, Mox swallowed that anger, proved to himself he was the better man, and told
Regal to run and never come back.
This was such a different kind of approach to a pro wrestling heel turn, really exploring
the psychological ramifications, as opposed to kick kick punch punch.
It was so good, it didn’t make me feel shortchanged that MJF wasn’t there.
And it brilliantly teases his appearance for next week, with the cliffhanger question:
will Regal ever return?
Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland decided to ‘talk’ backstage, whereupon Swerve put
his hand up to the camera to hide what they were discussing.
We’ve actually got exclusive footage of what happened after that.
Orange Cassidy retained his All-Atlantic title over Jake Hager, in a perfectly done TV comedy
match, where Hager’s purple hat was actually more important than the championship belt.
I groaned when the Nightmare Factory came out afterwards to continue their Best Friends
feud, but it was the best kind of misdirect, because then The House of Black made their
return and beat the s*** out of everybody.
Ethan Page’s rise has been booked quite terribly through the World Title Eliminator
Tournament, but thankfully the focus here was on Ricky Starks winning in a great underdog
babyface story.
He’ll now face MJF at Winter Is Coming, in a real 100% organic, free-range, grass-fed
homegrown AEW match.
Jade Cargill’s next TBS title storyline is… a feud with Lil Bow Wow.
She said ‘no comment’ on that, and then fired Keira Hogan from the Baddies.
And then came the second trios championship best of seven series match, with The Elite
in hostile territory.
As Laurie’s already said, the Chicago crowd definitely booed The Elite, and The Elite
definitely played up to it, with the aforementioned biting of the arm spot, the botched Buckshot
Lariat and Omega hitting the GTS.
I cannot wait for this Omega vs Kenta match they’re building!
Yes, the Chicago crowd were chanting for CM Punk and booing the Elite, but it never felt
like it had any real anger behind it.
I’ve seen real anger with CM Punk chants.
Go back and watch Punk vs John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011.
The crowd are chanting his name with the same cadence of F*** Your Mum.
The Chicago crowd’s treatment of the Elite felt a lot more pantomimey than that, like
how Long Island cheers MJF like the world’s most heroic blue eyed babyface.
They’re doing it to have fun, to ironically troll the promotion, in an almost affectionate
way.
This was not AEW’s Chicago fanbase saying, en masse, F AEW.
And even if there were a few who were genuinely upset, this match would win them over instantly.
From the athletic moves, the fun trolling in reply from The Elite, and, at the end of
the day, a great story.
Both teams are the heels, kind of, but he who cheats last cheats best, with Penta hitting
the hammer for PAC to get the win.
Death Triangle go 2-0 up, saving the Elite’s first win for a more receptive venue.
In another welcome bit of housekeeping, Renee Paquette then announced that Thunder Rosa
would be fully relinquishing her Women’s championship - not just meaning Jamie Hayter
doesn’t have to call herself interim anymore, it also means one fewer belt in AEW.
Come on.
At this rate we’ll be down to just 19 by Christmas!
Jamie and Britt Baker reignited the slow burn jealousy, as Britt disrespected the champion
by cutting a promo for her.
They worked together fine in the following three way tag though, where they beat Tay
Melo and Anna J.A.S. and Sky Blue and Willow Nightingale.
The Acclaimed revealed they’re at full strength again, with Daddy Ass getting his scissoring
hands back, but they were interrupted by 2009 TNA.
It looks like we’re getting a Jarrett and Lethal interlude for the tag titles.
And the main event saw the debut of Dana White’s new combat sports promotion, which is called
Slapsies.
This is one of the best years of Chris Jericho’s career.
He’s had match of the night practically every Dynamite since late August.
And he did it here again with a terrific, hard hitting, mostly strike based fight with
the most underrated wrestler ever Tomohiro Ishii.
They had a quarter of a century of context behind them, first meeting in Japan 25 years
ago.
Consequently, they had a lot of each other’s moves scouted, so they just resorted to slapping
and chopping each other for 70% of the match.
So many chops, in face, Jericho either bladed or popped a blood capsule on his chest so
it began to ooze blood in a really violent visual.
As usual in Ishii matches, the main story was him accumulating damage, and then kicking
out at one.
Him failing to stand up after a German Suplex, but then kicking out at 1 off the Lionsault
right after, is pacing proof of why he is one of the best wrestlers working today.
Ultimately, he got caught in the Walls, and then the Liontamer, for just too long, awesomely
giving Jericho the middle finger before tapping out.
Not to be outslapped, Claudio then slapped the crap out of Jericho in the post-match
- as they’ll likely be the Final Battle main event.
What did you think of Dynamite?
Let me know in the comments.
This felt like a genuine reset show.
The House of Black returned, Regal and MJF are heels, The Elite are back.
Jamie Hayter is champ.
All with some great storyline direction, and a banger of a main event.
I feel like I can see a horizon again, which naturally adds a forward momentum.
For me, this is the best episode since July.
This week’s Dynamite is 80%.
Now watch me and Pete laugh at what might be the worst wrestling debut of
the year…