In this WrestleTalk News, Chris Jericho teases a return to WWE, Vince McMahon thinks everything
is fine, nixed Kurt Angle WWE return plans revealed and more.
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Because WWE played a stupendous commercial during the Superb Owl last night and I think
it might bring in some new casual fans.
Hello new casual fans.
Don’t look at wrestling Twitter.
Tis a dark place.
When AEW first announced its arrival back in 2019, Chris Jericho was one of their biggest
signings.
Jericho was the first guy to break down the walls of the Forbidden Door, before the Forbidden
Door was even a thing, when he worked New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 in a match against
Kenny Omega, which has been credited as one of the most important wrestling matches of
all time.
Without that match, there might not have been an AEW.
Although he was a free agent at the time, he was still working with WWE, and even asked
Vince McMahon if he was okay with him working a show for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
He even did interviews where he said because of his relationship with Vince and WWE, he
wouldn’t wrestle in North America for another promotion, only doing dates around the world.
And then he signed for All Elite Wrestling and has wrestled loads in North America.
He beat Omega in the main event of AEW’s first big PPV, Double or Nothing, and then
defeated Hangman Adam Page in the main event of All Out to become the inaugural AEW World
Heavyweight Champion.
It was thought to be a smart move on AEW’s part; using a face that lapsed fans would
recognise to possibly bring them back into wrestling.
He lost that title in February 2020, but has remained a constant presence on AEW Dynamite
since with his Inner Circle faction.
Many figured that - like Christian Cage recently revealed he would be doing - Jericho would
finish up his in-ring career in All Elite Wrestling and maybe even transition to a commentary
role; which he did during the pandemic era of AEW, and has been doing regularly on Rampage.
But a recent tweet might suggest otherwise.
Yesterday marked five years - so it’s the fourth anniversary, not the fifth for those
pedantic enough to care *cough* Adam Blampied *cough* - since the Festival of Friendship
angle on Monday Night Raw, where Kevin Owens split up his team with Jericho in one of the
best segments on WWE TV in years.
The plan was for this to lead to a WrestleMania main event program over the Universal Championship,
but WWE decided to put the belt on Goldberg instead and the two wrestled second on the
card for the US title.
Jericho has since said that this decision was one of the reasons he decided to leave
WWE.
To mark the five year occasion, Kevin Owens changed his profile picture on Twitter to
a screenshot of the event, to which Jericho responded: “I haven’t forgotten Owens….you
never know when you’ll see me again.”
Now, likely this is just Jericho and Owens doing stuff on Twitter to work the marks.
Like me.
But there could be more to it.
Jericho signed a 3-year deal with AEW in 2019, which would have expired last month.
Dave Meltzer reported back in August last year that Jericho had a one-year option on
his deal which would see him in the company for the rest of 2022, which one would presume
is the case given he was on Dynamite last week as has a match this week.
However, we’ve seen recently that Cody Rhodes has been working for AEW without a contract
as a free agent - and even won a title - so there’s no guarantee that Jericho is sticking
around.
It’s currently unknown whether or not Chris Jericho is signed with AEW.
What would you like to see Jericho do next?
Stay with AEW, or go back to WWE?
Let me know in the comments down below.
Either way, Vince McMahon thinks everything is fine.
There was a report a few weeks back from Fightful Select that said morale amongst talent in
WWE was at an all time low, with one going on record to say that outside 4 wrestlers,
“nothing matters” on WWE TV.
They noted that when fans have criticized the product in good faith - especially with
regards to a lack of consistent storytelling and things often not making sense - the wrestlers
themselves have made the same criticisms backstage.
But according to Vince McMahon, everything is fine.
Because they just made a record breaking billion dollars in revenue.
Responding to a disgruntled fan’s question during a PWInsider Q&A show, Mike Johnson
mentioned that Vince McMahon shrugs off all criticisms towards his show, because he likes
it.
Johnson said: “In his mind, he doesn’t think anything is wrong.
The company made a billion dollars last year, so there’s a billion reasons for him to
shrug off any criticisms.
We are told he pushes and presents what he likes and wants and nothing else makes a dent
in that vision.
That’s why the shows are presented the way they are and that’s why nothing is going
to change anytime soon, if ever.”
WWE TV ratings are down year-on-year, and while USA Network is also down across the
board, Fox is up 10%.
But WWE are clearly looking to turn that around for 2022 - airing a commercial for their WrestleMania
season during last night’s Super Bowl.
This is the first time WWE has run commercials during the Super Bowl since 1999.
This is likely because WWE has two major matches announced for Mania that would appeal to casual
fans: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship, and Charlotte Flair
vs. Ronda Rousey for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Dave Meltzer has also reported that the appeal to casual fans could continue, as Sami Zayn
could take on Johnny Knoxville from Jackass in a match at WrestleMania.
Meltzer also noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that these are really Peacock commercials,
which means they weren’t paid for by WWE.
He speculates that Peacock could be in line to score second day rights to Raw and NXT
- and possibly even SmackDown - which means they will be on the WWE Network 24 hours after
their airings on USA and Fox.
Do you think the Super Bowl commercial will lead to more people watching Raw and SmackDown?
Or even just signing up for Peacock to watch the PPVs?
Let me know in the comments down below.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for WWE during the Super Bowl, however, as during the halftime
show where Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J Blige, 50 Cent and Kendrick Lamar that made
a lot of people in their mid-30s lose their minds - hello, I’m one of them - WWE tweeted:
“Super Bowl Halftime show us feeling like…” with a picture of John Cena during his Doctor
of Thuganomics gimmick.
The tweet caught backlash from fans, and was quickly deleted.
Speaking of things being cancelled.
It was reported a few weeks ago that Kurt Angle was heading back to WWE for a short-term
storyline that would lead to a WrestleMania match.
This was then confirmed by Angle himself on his podcast, but said WWE cancelled the plans
at the last minute.
Ringside News then later reported that Angle wasn’t scheduled for a Mania match, and
the storyline was just a pitch that hadn’t been signed off by Vince McMahon.
Sean Ross Sapp over on Fightful Select now has more details on what the plans for Angle
were.
According to SRS, Angle was lined up to be part of the Academic Challenge series between
RKBro and Alpha Academy, with the three contests based around Angle’s three Is: Intensity,
Integrity, and intelligence.
Not only that, but Sean Ross Sapp adds that there was a pitch to have him be a special
guest referee for a match in Saudi Arabia at Elimination Chamber, “but that did not
end up happening.”
Angle has also revealed that he had been offered multiple deals by AEW to join their ranks
but he turned them down.
And it looks like AEW aren’t done with signing talent just yet.
The former Isiah “Swerve” Scott - now going by Serve The Realist or just Swerve
Scott - was released by WWE last November, which means he is now a free agent and can
work wherever he pleases.
Over the weekend, he appeared in DEFY - shortly after Darby Allin offered Nick Wayne his All
Elite Wrestling contract - and teased future matches between the two.
According to Sean Ross Sapp on Fightful Select, “plans are in order from at least one major
company to work with him in some capacity.”
Swerve The Realist to AEW confirmed.
Before we jump onto that bandwagon, however, AEW might not be the company that Sapp is
referring to.
He does add that AEW, “asked about Swerve's status extremely early in his free agency
to gauge when he'd be available”, but also noted that New Japan USA have made a firm
offer, and many expect MLW to “make an effort” to sign him “if they haven't already”.
SRS noted on the Backstage Report podcast that he cannot confirm if MLW have made an
offer.
Suffice to say, Swerve won’t have any problems making money outside of WWE.