After their This Is The Longest Match at WrestleMania 36, Randy Orton beat Edge in a This Is Actually
A Really Good Match! at Backlash.
Orton has continued to be one of the most interesting and strongly booked heels in all
of wrestling, going on to punt both Edge and his not--so-brother Christian, and is set
to beat a literally big star, star of the Big Show Show, The Big Show.
In a WrestleTalk exclusive two weeks ago, though - we do exclusives now, don’t you
know - we revealed Orton had been pitching to face an NXT talent - with either Tommaso
Ciampa (who he’d already feuded with on Twitter) or Adam Cole Bay-Bay as the frontrunners.
But in an update to that report, it seems WWE have other plans for Orton FROM OUTTA…
well, quite clearly the main event scene.
WrestleTalk.com’s Louis Dangoor can exclusively reveal that after Randy found out his original
SummerSlam opponent Edge was out injured for the rest of the year with a torn triceps,
he pitched facing either Ciampa or Cole instead.
But now, due to Raw’s lack of top heels, the “almost certain” plan right now is
for Orton to face WWE Champion Drew McIntyre.
Which I guess spoils that Dolph Ziggler won’t be beating McIntyre at Extreme Rules!
Such a shocker.
But don’t worry, Orton vs Ciampa or Cole isn’t completely off the table, as this
still could fit in later in the year.
Survivor Series would be the best spot, which already has WWE vs NXT built into its gimmick.
TalkSport’s Alex McCarthy has since corroborated our report.
Who do you think WWE would book to win out of Orton vs McIntyre at SummerSlam?
Let me know in the comments because I’ll be replying to people FROM OUTTA NXT’S LEG
SLAPS #legslap.
As part of the #SpeakingOut movement, Matt Riddle was accused of sexual assault by indie
wrestler Candy Cartwright, as well as having an affair with her while he was married.010
After initially retweeting a statement from his attorney, Riddle has now responded to
the allegations in a video on Twitter.
“I have never in my entire life sexually assaulted a man, woman, or anybody...That
story about that van trip...it's a complete lie.”
“Yes, you're right - we had an affair...I never denied it, because it happened.
Do I want to talk about it, do I really want to share about it?
No, it's embarrassing, because I feel like a real piece of crap cheating on my wife.”
“At the end of the day, I'm not perfect.
We did have an affair, and I'm not happy about that, but I never sexually abused anybody.
I never sexually assaulted anybody, and when I wanted to get out of this relationship,
out of this situation, she said no and she kept pursuing me, and harassing me, and stalking
me.
And then, when she didn't get her way, she used the #SpeakingOut movement to try and
ruin my career.”
This is not the first time Candy Cartwright has accused Riddle of sexual assault, and
WWE reportedly knew about these accusations as far back as 2018.
While everyone will be eagerly awaiting the Wednesday Night War ratings that come out
today - and by ‘everyone’, I mean ‘me, Luke and Bryan Alvarez’, we have some pretty
disastrous WWE figures already from Monday.
After their own #ThreeWeekPush, the McMahon/Prichard era of Raw has come crashing down to reality
with this week’s episode drawing its second lowest number in history - with just 1.68
million viewers.
NXT and AEW’s combined viewership from last night could actually beat that figure, with
both brands putting on Night Two of their totally not counter-programmed TV Special
Events - The Great American Bash and Fyter Fest.
Speaking of the Great American Bash, if you don’t want to know the big result from the
show, and who has become NXT’s first dual champion, skip ahead using YouTube’s fancy
new chapter feature or by using the timestamps in the description, because we’re entering
the spoiler room brawl in 3, 2, It was CM Punk!
Just kidding...1…
As Saurav Gurjar’s Instagram post spoiled last week, Keith Lee just became the first
ever NXT dual champion, besting Adam Cole to become NXT and North American Champion.
Bask in his glory.
Laurie and Adam will have a full podcast episode later today reviewing the show, but since
I am only one man who can watch one show at one time, here’s a review of last night’s
episode of AEW Dynamite in about 5 minutes!
Night Two of Fyter Fest got underway immediately with a tag team championship match of Hangman
Page and Kenny Omega defending against Private Party, with the latest version of Matt Hardy
in their corner: Mentor Matt Hardy - yeeeaaas, trust in your ability.
This was an incredibly fun opener - with the match skipping all the first and second act
psychology stuff, and going straight to the last five minutes of the crazy action, but
staying there for 10.
Page powerbombed Kwen into the crowd - screw you, social distancing!
Kenny hit a double Spanish fly on both members of Private Party, which looked just as much
like Omega hitting the move on himself.
Kenny and Page retaining was predictable, but that didn’t make it any less fun.
The only issue I had with it is, yet again, the contrived and often redundant rankings
system.
Granting tag team title shots to Private Party here undermines the Best Friends match the
previous week, which had been built for months.
The Murderhawk Lance Archer murdering Joey Janela also managed that difficult feat of
being predictable, but somehow still really dramatic and fun.
Awesomely starting with Archer using Sonny Kiss’ unconscious body as a weapon, Janela
did fight back valiantly, with Kiss even getting a receipt, hitting a 450 behind the referee’s
back for a near fall.
But Lance rightfully won in the end with a Blackout.
But not any normal Blackout.
This is a Joey Janela match.
So it was a Blackout off the apron and through a table.
‘Hi I’m Darby Allin, and this is Jackass’ then challenged Brian Cage, before doing a
coffin drop off a massively high platform into a foam pit.
Tony Shiavone hosted Taz and Brian Cage for the pre-announced ‘major announcement’
that Tony Khan promised will send shockwaves through the wrestling industry…
Taz bringing back the FTW Championship - which he gave to Cage.
I can’t wait for WWE to steal this segment idea! ...oh wait
It’s always tough to deliver when a segment is promoted as so major - see, Bram signs
a new multi-year deal with TNA - but bringing back the FTW belt, no relation to FTR, is
actually one of the most effective uses of ECW nostalgia in recent times.
Granting Evil Uno’s wish, we got AEW Wacky Races next - with the Butcher, Blade and Lucha
Bros driving up for the 8-man tag like Wild Boys in Mad Max.
The Young Bucks and FTR looked lame in comparison, just walking out on their old fashioned legs.
Shocker: this match was incredible.
Not just because of the crazy athleticism, although there was loads of that.
Not just because it should’ve been and was Pentagon.
Not just because I figuratively pinched myself when I realised, holy crap, The Revival are
actually wrestling a match with the Lucha Bros.
Not just because Tully Blanchard and Shawn Spears were teasing a Four Horsemen faction
by watching from the stands!
But also because of the story and character work carried out in the action.
The Young Bucks and FTR actually started working together pretty well, with Matt Jackson even
having to do the spike piledriver with Dax when Cash was thrown out.
But an accidental superkick from Matt on Dax let the Lucha Bros pin Jackson for the win.
What I liked even more was how this didn’t result in a post-match implosion.
Instead, FTR and the Bucks shook hands.
They know it was a mistake.
But it’s also a seed that’s been planted for a much longer, significantly more complex
feud over time.
Big Swole was served on trying to enter the arena, but she did anyway, later throwing
the papers in Britt Baker’s face, who brilliantly sold it like it was green mist.
Nyla Rose destroyed both Kenzie Paige and Kilynn King in a handicap match, cutting a
promo afterwards pointing out that everyone with managers around here have championships
- isn’t that right Brian Cage, Cody Rhodes and Shawn Spea-oooh - so she’s going to
reveal her new manager soon.
The Dark Order look increasingly awesome as their numbers grow, with a just-about-cleared
for action Colt Cabana following a mysterious attack teaming with Mr Brodie Lee and Stu
Grayson to beat SCU.
And it was Lee who gifted Cabana the victory, which Colt looked deliriously happy about.
AEW is doing an excellent job of telling Colt Cabana’s declining character arc into Cult
Cabana.
That line works much better written down, because you can see how I’ve spelled ‘Colt’
and ‘Cult’ diff- And the main event saw Orange Cassidy vs Chris
Jericho in a really fun match that found an extra layer of drama in the final sequence.
The true genius of Cassidy’s character isn’t the low effort hands-in-pockets comedy.
It’s the rage and guts that’s boiling underneath.
Because I believe, in truth, Orange gives all the Fs really.
He’s a Han Solo antihero.
He doesn’t want to get involved in anything because of childhood trauma and abandonment
issues Megan why did you leave m- - but when he does, he’s heroic, never-give-up shines
through.
So when Jericho hit him with the bat behind the referee’s back, and he kicked out - that’s
proof Cassidy isn’t some one-dimensional comedy gimmick.
He’s an emotionally investing three-dimensional character.
But everyone falls to the Judas Elbow, and Jericho picked up the win.
That was Night Two of Fyter Fest!
Let me know what you thought in the comments down below.
I actually enjoyed this episode more than Night One.
The 8 man tag was incredible, Taz’s FTW belt was awesome, and the Cassidy Jericho
match over delivered.
This week’s Dynamite is 4 out of 5.
Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega have both shot on WWE!
Click the video on the right to find out what they said!
And should Heath Slater be WWE Champion?
Watch me and Luke argue that he should at least be rehired for a match against Drew
McIntyre by clicking the video below that.
I’ve been Oli Davis, and that was wrestling.