Welcome to the WrestleTalk News, I’m Pete Quinnell.
Brock Lesnar is set to take on Cody Rhodes at this year’s SummerSlam, currently promoted
as a singles match, though reports indicate it’ll most likely be a stipulation match
by the time the show rolls around. I’m still going to vote for a Dog Collar Match.
Lesnar’s been something of a Mr. SummerSlam over the years, main eventing a bunch of them
against people like Triple H, Undertaker, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, but
not CM Punk obviously, can’t have him in the main event. It all started though back
in 2002, when Brock won the WWE Championship from The Rock, just 126 days after debuting
in the company. But this apparently was not the original plan,
and instead that title win was originally going to be saved for the following year’s
WrestleMania. This comes from Paul Heyman, who was interviewed by Rick Rubin, where he
said: “...there was a question of do we debut
on Mania? And the decision was made no, start him the day after Mania. And let his first
Mania be in the main event a year later. And that was supposed to be for the title. But
we fast track that, we got the title on and by SummerSlam he was just, we were just moving
and Dwayne Johnson was going off to Hollywood. So just the timing was perfect for us. And
Steve Austin had left. So it was, Wow, we were going to anoint the next big thing.”
Though it wasn’t his first title win by that point, Lesnar would go on to beat Kurt
Angle for the belt at WrestleMania 19 anyway. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Over in AEW though, it was Blood & Guts last night, which Oli will have a review of here
shortly. Before last weekend’s episode of Collision though, there was reportedly a talent
meeting in AEW. This comes from Fightful Select, who also note that the meeting was led by
none other than Pepsi Phil himself, CM Punk. The meeting reportedly was just for talent
who regularly appear on Collision, and not those on Dynamite, furthering that soft brand
split in the company. The meeting was reportedly about how Collision had differentiated itself
from Dynamite, and what a good thing that was, and what they can do to help foster that
feeling, including things like match finishes, shenanigans, and the like.
There were also other subjects reportedly covered like the new safety guidelines from
the company, and working on promoting other AEW projects more, especially Fight Forever.
But something that doesn’t need promoting more from the looks of its success is NXT.
Featuring the still hilarious and still brilliant move of having Dominik Mysterio win the North
American Championship, this week’s NXT sure got people talking, and seems to have got
people watching too, as the show drew an average of 746,000 viewers, with the Dominik vs Lee
match specifically drawing well, averaging 844,000 viewers across its peak quarter-hour.
And for those wondering, Judgment Day is reportedly slated to keep appearing on NXT going forward,
Dom isn’t going to just hijack the title and take it to Raw. This is reported by PWInsider
Elite, who say that Judgment Day is expected to appear regularly on NXT for at least the
next month, past the Great American Bash show. Dom Dom is a draw draw.
PETE: And now a word from today’s sponsor- Oh, hi Oli.
OLI: The time has come. PETE: That sounds ominous. Time for what?
OLI: The company is being renamed. PETE: *sigh* This can’t be some convoluted
way to promote SurfShark, surely? OLI: Of course not - this is a serious business
decision I’m making. PETE: Okay, so what’s the company being
renamed to? OLI: Krahsfrus.
PETE: …what? OLI: Krahsfrus.
PETE: I thought you’d choose a three word name so we could shorten it to an initialism
to sound cool. OLI: Those days are behind me, now it’s
all about Krahsfrus. PETE: How is that even spelt?
OLI: K-R-A-H-S- PETE: There’s an H in there?
OLI: Of course. PETE: …wait. Does it spell SurfShark backwards?
OLI: SurfShark VPN is an online tool that keeps you safe wherever you browse by masking
your important information. Which means you can check sensitive stuff like your bank account,
even on public wi-fi. Surfshark keeps your location and download history private and
encrypted, meaning you can send or receive files securely too, like my ongoing spreadsheet
of 3-letter acronyms for the company. But on top of that, SurfShark also allows
you to access any of 3,200 servers in over 100 countries, allowing you to fool your phone,
laptop or tablet into thinking you’re in a different country, meaning you Americans
can still get the WWE Network! Thank you superior search function.
If you click the link in the description below or visit surfshark.deals/wrestletalk, you
can get 83% off plus 3 months for free when you use the code WRESTLETALK on checkout.
That’s surfshark.deals/wrestletalk and use promo code WRESTLETALK for 83% off and 3 months
for free. PETE: We’re not actually changing the company
name to Krahsfrus are we? OLI: No, I just needed more time to come up
with a better three word name. PETE: Of course you did.
I’ve got another three initials for you: A E W. Because here’s my review of Shark
Week presents Blood and Guts AEW Dynamite: Blood and Guts, presented by Shark Week…
in about 5 minutes. The show opened on Jungle Boy’s Tarzan Boy
entrance music playing for his FTW title match against Hook, when it suddenly all dropped
to black, cutting to a video of Jack Perry digging a grave in the desert. That’s, like,
the second time he’s had a grave digging vignette. He’s had more grave digging vignettes
than AEW’s resident goth Darby Allin! He was, of course, burying his old gimmick.
Luckily he didn’t need to dig much, as the MJF feud booking did most of the burying for
him. For him to then debut his new music - Beethoven’s chart topping classic Symphony No. 5. Try
singing along with lyric less concert music for a heel, you marks.
Ah yes, the marks already do that. I was very curious to see how Perry would
perform in the ring, as I don’t think he’s ever worked as a heel before. Thankfully he
did it really well, not just getting himself booed with multiple cheating spots, but getting
Hook cheered more with pacing and one awesome German suplex no-sell.
After a visual pin, though, Jungle Boy became the new FTW Champion, using the title belt
behind the referee’s back. It’s the right decision given his gimmick change, and perfect
for his long term character arc - after Christian and MJF telling him to cheat, he finally does,
and he wins his first singles belt. But it does come at the expense of Hook’s
years-long undefeated streak, which feels a bit lost in all this.
Britt Baker squashed Kayla Sparks, tapping her out in a Lockjaw. Squash matches are really
effective if there’s some momentum there, but this feels like filler for Baker, rather
than building her for something. She’s felt directionless for a while.
You want direction? Asks AEW. Well then here’s all the directions for about nine different
wrestlers, belts and storylines in one seamlessly integrated segment.
Firstly we had the latest brilliant installment in the Adam Cole and MJF’s bromance skits.
Cole wanted Max to face his ultimate fear - no, not poor people, like MJF said, but
eating spicy food. Cue some excellent comedic acting from both
men, particularly Cole getting more free from his straight man role, reacting to the spicy
food, then washing down the burn with what they thought was water, but was actually 100%
alcohol. Why was that even an option?! They drunkenly bonded more, and were shown
running towards a waiter with the double clothesline, but not shown actually hitting it, to end
the skit. This expertly built their tag team tournament
final against Daniel Garcia and Sammy Guevara, who had their own storyline spinning with
Chris Jericho joining commentary and the future of the JAS in doubt.
The crowd popped huge for MJF and Cole as babyfaces, particularly when they entered
in matching attire and, as a friendly surprise from Cole, mash-up entrance music. It’s
like the fans have always wanted to secretly cheer Max, maybe because he’s actually quite
a tragic character, and people have empathy for that, and him clicking with Cole has genuinely
made them the most over act in the company. That level of fan investment meant they could
push the boundaries of what they could get away with on an in-ring focused pro wrestling
show. They had a full on dance off. Max did the headbutt bump into Sammy’s dick. The
continued teasing of the double clothesline. It was the perfect balance of sports entertainment.
They’re tweeners, you could put them against anyone. Give me Cole and Max vs Team TNA!
MJF and Cole eventually won with the double clothesline, of course they did, and the crowd
exploded. So Jericho immediately tried to make it all about him.
I’m being glib, it was well done, multi-layered storytelling, as Garcia and Guevara walked
out past Jericho. But the stories aren’t done there. Cole
then picked up Max’s world title to hand it to him, but looked at it just a little
too long. Cole holding the belt to Max was what Hogan holding up Miss Elizabeth was to
Randy Savage - a deeply possessive man showing the first signs of self-destructive jealousy.
Max shoved him, but then they did hug it out in a great tease of things to come.
But before then, winning this match also gives Max and Cole shots at the AEW tag team titles.
FTR came out for a staredown… but this isn’t Collision… to end the segment.
An incredible amount was accomplished here. If pro wrestling is all about wanting you
to see a match, then this is textbook booking - as there’s now about 19 different matches
I can’t wait to see. That was all in the first hour, as the second
hour was entirely taken up by Blood and Guts presented by Shark Week! It had literal blood,
it had metaphorical guts… …but god dammit I did not see a single shark
in that cage. False advertising, Tony, false advertising.
The match was a magnificent spectacle of hardcore wrestling, that somehow also felt safer and
contained than previous years. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but a match with
a bed of nails - how does Mox smuggle that in? - and shards of glass kept me the right
amount of kayfabe invested. I could enjoy the violence without the spell being occasionally
broken by genuine concern for the wrestlers’ safety.
The amount of storyline context likely helped, with almost every combination of the Blackpool
Combat Club and Golden Elite teams having years of history. Hangman teaming with Omega,
PAC and Kenny, Mox and Hangman, Takeshita and Omega.
There were a few suboptimal points. I felt like the much hyped Ibushi debut got lost
in the shuffle. He didn’t do a great deal, and I found myself far more invested in the
AEW specific relationships like Omega and Hangman over his inclusion.
The set up for the finish of PAC walking out on the BCC after frequently clashing with
Claudio felt more angle driven than character based, them needing to book an ROH title challenger
for Friday. And while the actual finish had unexpected,
incredible heart - a handcuffed Mox throwing in the towel to save Wheeler Yuta being choked
to death, because he’s arguably toxically conditioned his protegee to never give up,
and Mox himself tapped to a Hangman chain choke - the cameras missed it, meaning we
only heard about it from commentary and the moment’s power was significantly lessened.
Still, the match was fantastic. I could just keep listing spots. PAC’s swinging stomp
off the cage ceiling through a table. Matt and Yuta on top of the cage. The five simultaneous
submissions. Callis calling Takeshita to leave because he saw their game was up. And it’s
a terrific end for what’s been a brilliant BCC vs Elite feud.
AEW Dynamite Blood and Guts presented by Shark Cage is amongst the best episodes they’ve
ever done at 95%.