Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk News, I am Luke Owen and this is wrestling news.
And we kick things off today with a report from Fightful Select which…
reports… that former WWE wrestler EJ Nduka has signed with All Elite Wrestling, but not
only that - he’s been signed for a while.
Fightful report that Nduka has been signed with AEW since his debut in January.
However it wasn’t just AEW who had interest in signing with him, as companies in Mexico
and Japan had interest in bringing him in, and even WWE were reportedly looking to bring
him back after releasing him in 2021.
He has since wrestled with MLW before becoming a free agent earlier this year.
Fightful add that the firing of James Kimball - who was released from WWE over a HR violation
in February - meant that WWE’s pursuits to bring Nduka back weren’t followed up
on.
Perhaps he can make his second debut for the company on the first episode of Collision,
which debuts this Saturday.
I know, I keep forgetting that as well.
Over on the WrestleTalk Podcast channel, myself and Oli Davis will be doing live reactions
to the debut episode with a full podcast review of the show as soon as it’s finished.
So head over there and subscribe and enable notifications to know when we go live.
The show will have the AEW returns of Miro, Andrade El Idalo and CM Punk, who will team
with FTR to take on Samoa Joe and Bullet Club GOOOOOOOLD.
But it is a show that got off to a rocky start.
Despite being a big announcement for AEW at the WB Upfronts, there were supposed to be
more announcements about the return of Punk.
But there were reportedly more issues between Punk and AEW - specially over the re-hiring
of Ace Steel [woof] - and it meant that Tony Khan could not announce the return of one
of his biggest draws, or the location of the first episode, which has since been revealed
as the United Centre in Chicago.
These issues were resolved, the United Centre was announced, Punk was announced, and that
show is doing well with its ticket sales.
Which is more than can be said for some of the other Collision tapings.
Around 8,500 tickets have been sold for the Chicago episode of Collision, but Canada is
a different story.
Under 2,000 tickets have been distributed for the second episode in Toronto, while less
than 900 tickets have been distributed for the third episode in Hamilton.
One theory as to why those locations are struggling is that AEW are also running Dynamite, a Rampage
and Forbidden Door in effectively the same market.
Ticket sales in Alberta, New Jersey and the Carolinas are faring much better.
Another theory is that people do not know what they’re going to get with Collision.
And part of that problem is the persistent rumours and reports that AEW are either getting
a hard brand split, a soft brand split, or even a soft-boiled combination of the two.
And Tony Khan isn’t offering up any clear answers himself.
Being interviewed on Barstool Rasslin’ with Knock, Knock, Who’s There Brandon Walker,
Khan said of the roster split, “I am going to feature certain talent on certain shows,
but I haven't drawn any hard lines or locked us into any kind of a split of a roster."
He says this will let them showcase certain wrestlers and certain storylines, and will
even suggests that audiences will be left in suspense of which wrestlers and storylines
will be on the show they’ve bought tickets for.
Which, I think, he thinks is a good idea.
Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer noted that the roster split, “changes every day
and will continue to change until the show is on the air.”
He adds that the final decision will be made once it becomes apparent if Collision is a
success or is struggling.
And speaking of changes until the show is on the air, Fightful Select is also reporting
that the commentary team for the show has yet to be decided.
So, you’re telling me there’s a chance?
Are you excited for AEW Collision?
Sound off in the comments down below.
But if you think it’s just AEW that has some issues backstage, don’t worry, there’s
always WWE!
This week’s edition of Raw saw one of my favourite things take place in the Chad Gable
vs. Erik match where Maxxine - following her coach's advice - executed a perfect arm drag
on an attacking Valhalla.
It was awesome, hilarious, and the best thing in WWE.
Yeah, you heard that right, Roman!
But according to BWE, it was supposed to run longer.
The Twitter account claims that the match was cut short to allow for a backstage segment
between Finn Balor and JD McDonough to take place, which was there to sow more dissention
in Judgement Day and the growing rift between Balor and Damian Priest.
What’s perhaps more interesting, for wrestling news YouTube channels anyway, is that that
segment had been removed by Vince McMahon who was making changes to the show remotely,
then put back in by Triple H who was there in the building for the show.
While Vince was at Raw last week to make changes and was sitting in Gorilla Position, it was
only because the show was close to WWE HQ in Hartford.
With the show back on the road, Vince was just making his changes and suggestions remotely,
which Fightful Select report is something that talent much prefers than him being backstage.
Reportedly, most of his changes are just timing and match order ones, or what happens in the
aftermath of matches.
This is now the second story in as many days where Vince and Trips have gone in different
directions on things creatively.
It was reported via Fightful Select that Vince McMahon wanted to tone down the flamboyance
of Maximum Male Models, but Triple H encouraged them to be more flamboyant.
It should also be noted that it was only a few weeks ago that there were reports that
WWE were high on the duo of Mace and Mansoor, but their appearances have been greatly scaled
back.
Fightful Select reported yesterday that the duo may be repackaged completely.
On his backstage report podcast on Fightful Select, Sean Ross Sapp noted that he hasn’t
been posting the rundowns for Raw as of late as so many things have been changing at the
last minute, and even noted in a separate Patreon post that they’re not going to report
on ‘Vince made changes’ unless it’s something major, because it’s now “simply
the standard at this point”.
In a little bit of surprising news, PWInsider are reporting that Cathy Corino, aka Allison
Danger, was spotted backstage at the Performance Centre.
Now the reason this is a surprising news item is that Corino - who is the sister of fellow
WWE coach Steve Corino - was released by WWE on January 5th 2022, just three months after
signing with the company full time.
She told Renee Paquette on The Sessions that she uprooted her life from the Carolinas to
take the WWE gig, and the firing left her in financial ruin as she had to take on a
second property for the job.
It’s unknown at this point if Danger will be offered another full-time gig, as this
is reportedly just a guest coach spot.
Speaking of PWInsider and here’s a little gem for you.
The site speculates that WWE might be done with doing matches on the kick off show.
This is quite the speculation, as WWE have not done a match on the kick off show for…
checks notes…
pretty much a year now.
F***ing hell, lads, don’t use the Jump to Conclusions mat too much!
But maybe I’m being harsh… …as according to BWE, there are a few more
matches to be announced for Money in the Bank next month.
Currently we have the two ladder matches with Santos Escobar, LA Knight, Ricochet, Shinsuke
Nakamura, Butch and Damian Priest in the men’s match, and currently Iyo Sky, Zelina Vega,
Becky Lynch, Zoey Stark and Bayley in the women’s match.
There’s also two singles matches announced, with Cody Rhodes taking on Dominik Mysterio,
and Finn Balor challenging Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship.
At least, I think he challenged him, I couldn’t quite hear him over the crowd at Raw singing
Seth’s theme song.
According to BWE, there are 3 more matches to be announced, one of which is rumoured
to be a tag match of Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa vs. The Usos.
Matt Riddle vs. Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship has been teased on Raw, and there
is a 5-team gauntlet set for SmackDown this Friday to crown new number one contenders
for Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn’s tag titles - though it hasn’t been announced this will
happen at Money in the Bank.
As for the women’s titles, Asuka defends her Women’s Championship against Charlotte
Flair on the SmackDown the day before Money in the Bank, the women’s tag title unification
match takes place on June 23rd, and there hasn’t been any challengers set for Rhea
Ripley’s Women’s World Championship.
So, the Bloodline tag, the IC match and the tag titles might be the other 3 matches to
round out the card.
Quickly on Money in the Bank, and the current betting odds have LA Knight as the firm favourite
to win the Briefcase according to BetOnline.
Though Damian Priest is a current dark horse contender.
Which means it’s now time for my NXT 1 Minute 1 Take review of last night’s NXT.
And a lot happened, so let’s do this.
Wes Lee, Tyler Bate and Mustafa Ali beat Schism because Grizzled Young Vets cannot get released,
and Ali later made himself the special ref for Bate and Lee’s title match.
Seth Rollins didn’t actually make his way to the NXT Arena and instead accepted Bron
Breakker’s open challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship via video for next
week, one day after doing a different open challenge on Raw.
Bron better hope Rollins retains, I guess.
Ilja Draganov was also in this segment.
Despite being drafted to Raw, Dana Brooke said she can wrestle on any show why do I
even bother caring at this point and set up a feud with Cora Jade.
Thea Hail then beat Cora Jade after some Dana interference.
Shawn Michaels announced NXT Gold Rush, Nathan Frazier won the Heritage Cup 2-1, and Von
Wagner said he’s had a breakthrough on his therapy.
Axiom and Scrypts beat Yabba Dabba Kato, and were then attacked by Los Lotharios, and Stacks
did some Naked Gun style skits looking to find out who ratted on Tony D’Angelo.
Malik Blade beat Edris Enofe, and Blair Davenport explained why she attacked women.
Roxanne Perez beat Tatum Paxley and said she’s now hunting Davenport, and we got a vignette
for Lucien Price and Bronco Nima.
And the main event saw Baron Corbin beat Ilja Dragonov, which sounds like I’m making it
up but I’m not.
He’ll face Carmello Hayes for the NXT title at Gold Rush.