I’m Laurie Blake, welcome to the WrestleTalk News, on Fridays we wear pink.
It’s open season on wrestling free agents right now, with reports that WWE will be making
big plays for AEW talent once their contracts come up, AEW snagging WWE lifers like Edge
Adam Copeland, and the rumor mill spinning up about those whose time at the likes of
Impact and NJPW is coming due.
Which means we get lots of teases from various stars in various companies about which of
their former colleagues they’d like to see join a specific roster's ranks.
One that’s just dropped is Karrion Kross who posted a picture of himself with the Revolver
Championship and name dropped his old buddy Sami Callihan suggesting he might be working
to bring Sami into the WWE.
He said: “I held this title proudly Sami.
You always brought out the most vicious side of me- which always took me to my next level.
I heard you’re a free agent now.
Let me return the favor and open a door for you that you once opened for me.”
Sami of course has already been through that door once, having a stint in NXT as Solomon
Crowe before leaving to have great success in companies like Impact, Lucha Underground
and the independent circuit.
And he’s not the only one who may be eying the revolving door to WWE’s locker room,
there is someone else who has taken a few spins recently: Eric Young.
Young was brought back to WWE in 2022 by Triple H after Vince’s initial retirement, but
requested his release when the Endeavor deal was announced, citing the fact that he didn’t
want to work with Vince McMahon on creative as a reason.
However, as we found out earlier this week, the Endeavor deal has actually limited Vince’s
creative responsibilities in the company thanks to Ari Emanuel.
Which could open the door for Young to make a return, which could also be possible because
according to a podcast with him on Haus of Wrestling he is still talks with Triple H:
“I still have a very good relationship with Hunter; I was just talking to him a couple
of days ago.
I loved it.
The truth is, I never wanted to leave NXT.
I knew that the main roster was the destination, and that’s where you made money, and that
was kind of the end goal for most people.
But the truth was deep in my heart I never wanted to leave in the first place.
So yeah, I absolutely loved NXT.
The main roster was not the same experience.
It was a very poor experience, probably my least favorite out of my 30-plus years in
wrestling.”
When asked specifically whether he would consider a return to WWE he said “never say never”.
In the land grab for loose talent between companies, there is one name that would both
be a huge get and potential albatross for any company that dared to sign him: CM Punk.
Punk’s next move after having his AEW contract terminated with cause has been much talked
about with speculation that WWE would maybe be welcoming back the voice of the voiceless
at some point in the near future.
But also tossing their hat in the ring according to WrestlePurists was Impact, who “reached
out” to CM Punk and “threw the offer out there.”
But as you would imagine most of the focus right now is on whether Punk would return
to WWE, and recently fans have begun to notice a number of teases on TV that go beyond Survivor
Series emanating from Chicago.
Like Shinsuke Nakamura suddenly adding the Go To Sleep to his arsenal for his match against
Ricochet and like USA Network deciding to draw attention to that specific move by posting
it to Instagram with the caption: “Best In The World”
WWE have noted that any perceived references to Punk are merely coincidence.
Any similarity to people living or dead to us is entirely coincidental.
We’re back at the Long Arm Pub & Brewery in Shoreditch for our WWE Crown Jewel Watch
Party!
Watch Crown Jewel alongside Luke Owen, Oli Davis, Tempest, Dan Layton and over 100 other
wrestling fans; along with a live version of our partsFUNknown board game series No
Holds Board before the show starts!
We’ll also be raising money for charity, and doing our live reactions to Crown Jewel
live from the venue - which means you’ll have the chance to be on camera and be part
of the WrestleTalk Live experience!
This is the best way to watch wrestling PPVs, and tickets are available now through the
link in the video description.
Get your tickets today, and we’ll see you there!
Moving away from the immediate topic of signings and returns to some news that may affect the
long-term future of both WWE and potentially more so AEW.
As you may know its media rights negotiations season for WWE, with SmackDown penning a brand
spanking deal with CNBC’s USA Network beginning in October 2024 with Raw and NXT also on the
market.
Not only that but AEW of also recently earned themselves a juicy ‘cash infusion’ from
Warner Bros Discovery with the launch of AEW Collision.
So, what’s the problem?
Well, as noted by Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, one major player in the sports
broadcasting world, Showtime has announced they are dropping MMA, boxing and all other
sports.
While this may not seem to matter much right now for either company, the absence of Showtime
of course means one less major option for either company going forward.
Which as Meltzer explains, could spell danger particularly for AEW if anything were to happen
between themselves and WBD in the future.
“The big picture story is huge, because what’s happening and is going to happen
is… there’s only a finite number of stations that carry sports.
“And if something was to happen with WBD, in theory, they (Showtime) probably could
have been a place to go.
But they’re not gonna be because Showtime’s out of the sports business.”
Meltzer revealed that when AEW first started, Showtime was in fact the other major player
at the table with interest in broadcasting the company’s product along with TNT, who
they eventually went with.
So, now that they’re gonna be out the game, it does potentially cause a few squeaky bums
come AEW’s own rights negotiations.
But hey, that’s a future Tony Khan problem, present day TK has much more immediate issues
like maybe some counseling for social media addiction maybe?
Yes, we are now well over a week removed from Khan’s tirade on X, warring with WWE fans,
real, bots or otherwise following AEW’s loss to NXT in the one-week only ‘Tuesday
Night War’ on October 10.
While TK has been criticized for his reaction to the defeat in both viewership and key demo
defeat, one of is most loyal AEW lieutenants Chris Jericho has now jumped to the company’s
defense.
Speaking with The Messenger, firstly Y2J defended Khan’s social media activity:
“At this point, you can't control Tony Khan.
He's going to do what he wants to do and God bless him.
He created this company.
He runs this company.
He also grew up in the social media era."
Jericho then turned towards what sent Khan over the edge in the first place, that being
NXT and its star-studded line-up of Cody Rhodes, John Cena and The Undertaker among others.
Jericho compared WWE’s tactics to a “video game” in order to secure the W over Dynamite.
“It was just an opportunity to stick it to us with stunt casting...you can only bring
in Cena and Undertaker and Cody and everybody else so much, because nobody wants to work
on their secondary show all the time.
And it was a fun little, ‘Hey, F-you AEW.’
I didn’t even really worry about it.”
The self-proclaimed Demo-God also pointed out that WWE’s win in that key 18-49 demo
was indeed rather slim and it didn’t matter anyway as according to Jericho Dynamite was
better anyway.
“OK, you guys won, but you only won 30-26...so, don’t get too far up your own ass because
you didn’t do that good of a job as far as crushing us.”
For what it's worth AEW did return to winning ways over NXT for this week’s regular Wednesday
edition of Dynamite, scoring an average of 901,000 viewers and a 0.31 in 18-49.
While the Cody, Taker and Cena-less NXT on the other hand drew 798,000 and a 0.23 in
the key demo.
Despite WWE pulling their big guns out for NXT, Jericho and TK should at least be thankful
that they didn’t go as far as to invite the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns to the party.
Now, even though Roman hasn’t been gone from WWE TV overly long, a lot has seemingly
changed within WWE’s creative hierarchy in that time.
Most notably, Vince McMahon who was previously reported to still be the grand overseer of
Triple H’s plans, yet now seemingly has been ousted by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel to
allow Trips total creative power.
But how does that affect Vince's long-term golden-boy Roman Reigns?
Well, according to Fightful Select, not at all.
In a new report Fightful notes that Reigns’ creative is still predominantly handled by
the Chief himself and his wise man Paul Heyman.
In fact, Reigns and Heyman have always contributed “heavily” to their own plans regardless
whether it was Trips or Vince in charge.
Looking past that, Michael Hayes is reportedly the man tasked with the production of any
Bloodline related angles and segments, Fightful notes if “Reigns is in it, most definitely
Hayes is producing it.”
Interestingly this even goes beyond just Reigns, and includes anything that's remotely Bloodline
adjacent, with Sami Zayn’s promo and the main event Undisputed Tag Title match from
Raw also produced by Hayes.
Somebody get the man an honorary Uce shirt already.
As for Reigns’ blossoming feud with LA Knight, this also is not something that has come about
due to Vince’s removal from creative, as reportedly this was always WWE’s plan beforehand
anyway.
While not made official just yet, that match is of course anticipated to be taking place
in two weeks time at Crown Jewel 2023 on November 4.
While other big matches such as Drew McIntyre vs Seth Rollins, that massive Women’s World
Championship five-way and likely Logan Paul vs Rey Mysterio look set for Riyadh, it seems
that we can also definitively say who won’t be making the trip to the Middle East.
That’s because WWE is only set to hold a live event in Rochester, New York on the very
same day as Crown Jewel, with several big names listed for that event.
These include Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER who defends his title against Shinsuke Nakamura
and Ricochet.
NXT Women’s Champion Becky Lynch who faces former champion Tiffany Stratton.
WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY and her advertised opponent Charlotte Flair and many others including:
Carlito, Grayson Waller, Kofi Kingston, The Street Profits, The Brawling Brutes and Omos.
So, yeah unless WWE have some very, very fast travel arrangements for this lot, expect them
all to be absent from the PLE.
And sticking with the topic of PLE’s, WWE’s next show following Crown Jewel will of course
be the final of the 2023’s ‘big four’ Survivor Series from Chicago, Illinois.
While the show may or may not hinge on at least one major surprise return from the likes
of Randy Orton or dare I say it CM Punk, it does at least seem that WWE are planning a
BIG change for the show.
According to a new report from Haus of Wrestling, WWE sources have revealed that Survivor Series
is set for a drastic shift from the big titantrons/ and/or long entrance ramps of typical WWE
events.
Instead they’re looking to adopt what is described as a “very old school MSG style”
with a small ramp and a small tron just above the ramp if any at all.
While its nice WWE are striking those nostalgia chords, this change is reportedly due to WWE
just being so darn successful.
WWE’s complete sellout of all tickets available for Survivor Series led to the change of set
up for the AllState Arena, with 2,784 extra seats now available for a total of 15,342
for the event as a whole according to WrestleTix.
The set up for Survivor Series also looks set to be applied to the night prior’s SmackDown
as the same new seating is available for that show too according to Ticketmaster.
Demand for tickets is said to be so high that WWE are also not offering comps to talent
or staff who are working the event.
So..
I guess CM Punk is definitively a draw after all I guess.