Following news that WWE have just trademarked the catchphrase ‘Show Up and Win’ - presumably
the Payback update to Roman Reigns’ Wreck Everyone and Leave shirt - it’s no surprise
that the other heel they book that way is likely staying with the company.
Because just ‘showing up and winning’ occasionally was Brock Lesnar’s thing way
before it was Roman’s - infamously winning a Money in the Bank match he wasn’t even
in - but it came out this week that the whole ‘showing up’ part is legally tricky.
Brock’s WWE contract actually expired back in April, meaning he is currently a free agent.
What’s Bork Lazer doing in the IMPACT zone confirmed.
Both the very reliable Wrestling Observer and WrestleVotes have reported, though, that
this is perfectly normal for Brock, who frequently lets his WWE contracts expire as a negotiating
ploy to get other companies interested in him, to leverage more money from Vince McMahon.
And, because Lesnar might actually be one of the smartest people in the wrestling business,
that’s exactly what happened.
While wrestling promotions like AEW have stayed quiet, the MMA world has fawned over possible
Lesnar match-ups.
Bellator president Scott Coker said he wants to book Brock vs Fedor.
Jon Jones has called out Lesnar, saying he’ll move up a weight class to fight him.
And UFC President Dana White teased he would welcome back Brock with open arms if he wants
one more match in the octagon.
Wrestling Observer Radio is reporting, however, that Brock hasn’t undergone any of the steps
required to be able to fight in the UFC - like joining their USADA drug testing system, which
fighters need to be registered with for months before they’re allowed to compete.
If Brock has been a free agent since April, him not re-entering the testing pool suggests
it’s highly unlikely he’ll make an MMA return.
On top of this, the Observer also claims Lesnar hasn’t made any direct contact with Dana
White, although that could just be them keeping their meetings top secret, and that Brock’s
wife Sable doesn’t like him competing in shoot fights.
And, ultimately, Lesnar would cost anyone other than Vince too much money, as AEW’s
Chris Jericho pointed out: “The amount of money it would take him to tear him away from
from the world of WWE would, A, be astronomical, B, Vince will never allow it to happen and,
C, I don’t know if you could make that investment back, or if it would even be worth it for
AEW at this point in time or UFC, or any company other than WWE.”
Before we get on with the rest of the episode, I’d just like to say a huge thank you to
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Raid is all about faction warfare.
And there’s none more fierce in wrestling right now, than NXT vs AEW.
Because of both TNT and the USA Network prioritising other, less pre-determined sports over the
last few weeks, both AEW Dynamite and NXT have found themselves moved to different nights.
For a brief period, the Wednesday Night Wars have seen a ceasefire.
And, unsurprisingly, it’s resulted in more viewers for each programme when not going
head-to-head.
Following NXT’s ratings success running unopposed against AEW, the USA Network have
reportedly had conversations about moving the brand to Tuesday nights permanently [WRESTLEVOTES
TWEET] - which Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp has since corroborated tweeting: “USA has
floated the idea.
WWE have been receptive” Dave Meltzer expanded on the backstage situation,
saying that WWE and the USA Network have been consistently frustrated by AEW mostly beating
NXT in the ratings this year, as “Neither side wants another wrestling company to be
doing well.”
The two shows have been programmed against each other since the 2nd October last year
- which Meltzer reiterates wasn’t to build NXT, like WWE keep saying, but Vince and USA’s
way of trying “to make sure AEW went out of business.”
He notes this all changed in January, though.
At the start of this year, TNT extended their TV deal with AEW for three more years, which
is reportedly when USA and WWE realised their plan to stop them had failed.
USA want to be known as the #1 network for wrestling, which could be chipped away at
over time with TNT attracting a younger audience.
Despite “From day one, every single person knew that if they put NXT on television on
Thursday or Tuesday it would draw significantly more than it would draw on Wednesday,” it
is only now they’re revisiting that idea.
And the numbers make a lot of sense.
This week’s Super Tuesday episode of NXT was watched by 1.03 million people when you
add in Wednesday night’s replay on SyFy.
Wednesday’s Dynamite, in contrast, drew a massive 928,000 viewers for the All Out
go-home show - up 115,000 from last Thursday’s episode.
As Bryan Alvarez tweeted: “It’s abundantly clear that for the good of the wrestling business
NXT and AEW should air on different days.”
Chris Jericho told Busted Open Radio that the war is over, and AEW have won:
"This is a war that was thrust upon us by a company that is very petty and very spiteful
and we know the reason why NXT was moved to Wednesday nights.
To mess with us.
We get it…
They should retreat.
They should move to any other night.
Get away from us!
...We'll continue to beat you.
It is a retreat, but it's also the right move from a business standpoint.
Get your head out of your rear end and just worry about your product the same way we worry
about ours…
They lost!
There's nothing wrong with conceding defeat, moving to a different night, and worrying
about your show and not worrying about going head to head with AEW because you can't stop
us."
While AEW President Tony Khan has also taken a rare public shot at WWE, saying in yesterday’s
All Out media call: “This might be the pull-out quote of the
press conference, but I’m gonna say it.
I thought Double or Nothing kicked the crap out of WrestleMania.”
If NXT does make the move to Tuesday nights, it’ll create a different, far more one-sided
war, though.
This week’s show went head-to-head against IMPACT Wrestling, which saw one of its lowest
ratings in months, barely getting over 100,000 viewers.
On May 22, AJ Styles was traded to SmackDown as part of the Intercontinental Championship
Tournament not the wild card or cross-brand invitational, what are the rules, whackbat,
draft.
AJ later confirmed this was because he wanted to socially distance from then-Raw Executive
Director Paul Heyman.
Like, so ‘socially distance’ he wanted to be nowhere near him.
Style admitted he blamed Heyman for WWE releasing his OC buddies Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.
Heyman was removed as Raw’s executive director soon after, and wasn’t heard from for months…
until he returned as Roman Reigns’ advocate on last Friday’s SmackDown, which is where
AJ had gone to escape him.
Styles has shot about them being on the same brand again on a recent Twitch stream, saying:
“It is what it is.
I could care less.
It's water under the bridge.
Listen, I'm not saying I forgot what he's done, but I'm not going to be the guy that
holds a grudge...Just because I don't trust him doesn't mean that I can't get along with
him professionally.
I'm not going to do or say anything mean to him.
It's over.
My buddies are doing fine.
I was concerned about them when this whole thing went down, but they are doing great.”
After BT Sport teased their new studio set up for NXT UK’s return - which is legitimately
a 5 minute walk from our office! - media were allowed to attend the subsequent tapings - where
multiple reporters confirmed that former NXT announcer Nigel McGuinness, who was furloughed
back in April, will be commentating on the UK brand.
Dave Meltzer mentioned on the Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE are considering “cutting
way back” on live shows after they begin a touring schedule once pandemic lockdown
measures have eased.
Tony Khan revealed on the All Out media call yesterday that he has big plans for Brian
Cage’s FTW title, that we may see as soon as the post-All Out episode of Dynamite.
“I’m working on a pilot and it’s a different kind of a project than the way you see in
wrestling titles defended traditionally.
It’s very different from, obviously, how we used the World Heavyweight title and the
TNT title.”
AEW star Matt Cardona, the former Zack Ryder in WWE, revealed in an interview with Fightful
that he “didn’t re-sign the contract [WWE] offered to me the year prior.
We were in negotiations for a whole year.
My deal would have been up this August”.
Speaking of deals being up - Luke Warm Luke Owen’s WrestleTalk job is on the line at
mine and his All Out 2 live reactions tomorrow!
If he loses to me, he’s gone ha ha ha!
But them’s ain’t the only stakes.
Because the winner will be crowned the first ever WrestleTalk Jam that Jampion!
I can finally properly win something all by myself, and the OliThority will rule wrestling
YouTube supreme.
Watch our go-home segment where Louis Dangoor interviews both me and Luke Warm by clicking
the video on the right!
And find out who we’ve both picked by watching our All Out predictions beneath that.
Subscribe and enable notifications so you can watch our All Out live reactions.
I’ve been Mr Davis, your future Jam that Jampion.
Jam that jam.