In this WrestleTalk News, AEW find themselves in more Twitter controversy, just how long
will Roman Reigns hold both world titles in WWE, Jon Moxley’s AEW future and more.
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…So I take one week off and we’re letting Andy do the news now?
In an effort to boost some of the more flagging ratings for AEW Rampage, Tony Khan loaded
last Friday’s show with a trios match featuring Blackpool Combat Club - a proven ratings draw
- and the AEW World Championship Texas Death Match between “Hangman” Adam Page and
Adam Cole Bay Bay.
The match was really great, but featured a finish that some folks took issue with.
Page wrapped barbed wire around the head of Cole before giving him a Deadeye through a
table on the floor.
The issue is that this was seemingly a crown of thorns - which AEW’s on Twitter account
also called it - and they did this on Good Friday; a Christian religious holiday to mark
the day Jesus was crucified while wearing a crown of thorns.
I don’t think they put him through a table as well, but it’s been a while since I read
the bible.
The finish divided opinions, with some wrestling fans pointing out that this industry has been
filled with uses of religious iconography, Vince McMahon once promoting a match between
himself and God, and the one of the best selling t-shirts of all-time is a bible verse parody.
However there are those who were also offended by it.
One fan tweeted: “That’s where I draw the line.
I’ve been supporting AEW up until this point.
No one cares about my opinion and that’s fine.
I’m just saying it was totally unnecessary unacceptable and I’ll no longer be watching.”
Another said: “Doing this on Good Friday is a reason why most look down on wrestling
in the mainstream.”
And it’s not just fans.
Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp tweeted: “lmaoooo Hangman Page put a crown of barbed wire on
Adam Cole’s Head on Good Friday”, and in the replies to this was former WWE star
Road Dogg who said: “would it be okay if they mocked any other religion?”
Vince Russo - the man who once scripted Steve Austin to be crucified on Monday Night Raw
- did a podcast where he dived into Tony Khan’s “religious beliefs and why the crucifixion
angle could be perceived as mockery last night on Dynamite.”
I’m pretty sure he means Rampage and I’m also pretty sure he didn’t watch the show.
And also offended by it was Eric Bischoff who quote tweeted SRS adding: “You find
this funny?”
Yes, the man whose whole gimmick is controversy creates cash… is offended by something controversial.
But really, at the end of the day, it’s not about whether us fans and our hard-earned
money were offended by the spot - everyone is entitled to their opinions and what offends
them personally - it’s whether or not it offended the most important people in the
wrestling landscape: TV Networks and their advertisers.
Last year AEW found themselves in hot water when Nick Gage used a pizza cutter on Chris
Jericho during their match on Dynamite - when it was still on TNT - which was during the
picture in picture ad break that just so happened to be at the same time a commercial for Dominos
Pizza aired.
While many fans found humour in the timing of this, Dominos did not.
And when they found out about the spot and their commercial placing, they discussed the
possibility of removing their advertisements from the show.
There’s also lots of speculation and rumours about who told Dominos about the spot, but
we won’t go into those here.
Remember, they’re not competition.
Variety reported at the time that WarnerMedia - the parent company of TNT - reached out
to Dominos personally to discuss the placement of the ad.
While it did eventually blow over, this was a big deal: a wrestling spot nearly cost a
network an advertiser which is where they make their money.
And with the big WarnerMedia/Discovery merger going on right now, AEW do not want to be
upsetting any apple carts.
And one Conversitive writer appears to be taking a similar tactic to the Dominos coverage
over the spot on Rampage in the world title match.
Carmine Sabia tweeted to Warner Media over the weekend: “many Christians are wondering
your thoughts are at the fact that one of your shows, @AEW on TNT, and its owner @TonyKhan
mocked the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus with a "crown of barbed wire" on Good
Friday.
Is this what your brand and sponsors stand for?”
He then followed this up with: “As a journalist, trust that I will be placing a call to every
sponsor to find what they think of it and what @TBSNetwork and @TNTPR think of it.
Expect my calls this week.”
No one from AEW has made a statement on the matter, so nothing may come of this - nothing
has been reported by a reputable source either.
But it may be something that comes back up in the following weeks if it gathers steam.
What do you make of the story?
Let me know in the comments down below.
Speaking of Twitter and there has been a lot of chatter online about the future of Jon
Moxley in All Elite Wrestling - especially following Cody Rhodes’ jumping ship back
to WWE.
AEW commentator Jim Ross mentioned on his Grilling JR podcast that he believes more
AEW stars will head over to WWE, “if cash and creativity are in place better in one
company than they are in the other.”
There are lots of WWE fans who do believe that - when his contract comes up - Moxley
will head back to WWE.
However, according to Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer message boards - yes, people
still do use forums in 2022 - that Moxley, “told me last week he was super happy”
in AEW.
Moxley signed with All Elite Wrestling back in 2019, but there are no reports anywhere
of how long that contract was for or when it is set to expire.
Most AEW contracts have been for 3 years, with one year extensions.
If that is the case for Mox, his deal would be coming up soon.
And while there are no concrete reports of what Moxley’s future in All Elite Wrestling
is, there are seemingly no concrete reports on what’s next for Roman Reigns.
There have been conflicting reports around the future of Roman Reigns as both the WWE
and Universal Champions.
Reigns unified the titles in the main event of WrestleMania 38, and currently has no match
announced for WrestleMania Backlash.
He did shoot an angle with Shinsuke Nakamura on the SmackDown after Mania, but there was
no follow up to that on this week’s show, instead focusing on The Usos looking to unify
the tag belts from RKBro.
There had been speculation that Reigns was legitimately injured in the Mania main event,
but this was shot down by Sean Ross Sapp - which was seemingly correct as Reigns has wrestled
two matches since WrestleMania.
Reigns is set to pass 600-days as champion, and a report last week from WrestlingNews.co
is that there are some people within WWE who believe “he will hold the title through
next year’s WrestleMania” with the hope they can finally do Reigns vs. The Rock - which
was even teased on a recent episode of Young Rock.
They add that, “by that point, the company would start pushing Reigns as the greatest
of all-time.”
Ringside News have now chimed in with what their sources have told them - which is…
sort of the same thing?
Okay, so WrestlingNews.co’s report was that, “as of today, there are still no plans for
him to lose the title anytime soon”.
What Ringside News were told was that, “reports of ‘Roman will be champion for long term’
is typical internet click bait.”
They say: “Unless Roman has something in writing guaranteeing he’ll be champion for
a length of time, there are no guarantees.”
Their overall point is that - currently there are no plans for Roman to drop the belts - but
there are also no plans for him to keep the belts either.
With Vince McMahon changing his mind on episodes of Raw and SmackDown and results of PPVs on
a dime, there is no definitive direction for where Roman will go as both champions.
One of the biggest bits of fan speculation is that Cody Rhodes might be the man to dethrone
Roman Reigns before he gets to Mania next year, with The American Nightmare making it
very clear in his promo on the Raw After Mania that his goal in WWE is to win the top title.
There was a report from PWInsider last week that might have put a stop to that speculation,
though, as Cody was slotted as the number two babyface on Raw behind Bobby Lashley.
However a new commercial for WWE aired last night during the USFL broadcast, which seemingly
puts Cody Rhodes as the biggest star on the Raw while Roman is the top star on SmackDown
- something Cody himself retweeted.
Or maybe the person to dethrone Roman will in fact be the newest member of the newest
faction in WWE: Knight Model Management.
Now you may be asking: who?
It was revealed last Friday that LA Knight got his main roster call-up from NXT during
the dark segment of SmackDown, where he unveiled his new gimmick as a manager - which had been
reported as the plan for him by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter a few
weeks ago.
His first client for this group is former Retribution member Mace, who has ditched all
of his Retribution garb to a more stylish presentation.
But that isn’t all he’s seemingly ditched, as a video of the debut has now been released
online where Knight announces Mace under a new name: Face.
Like… the guy from The A-Team?
That show hasn’t been on TV since 1987, so I’m all about those timely references.
For what it’s worth, Mace is still listed as Mace on WWE.com - but then again they don’t
have a picture of Dana Brooke posing with the 24/7 title, which she first won back in
November.