In this WrestleTalk News, Jon Moxley shoots HARD on AEW’s problems, WWE’s women’s
division frustrated with the booking, a new WWE world title - hopefully it spins! - and
Luke’s review of Raw.
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Over the last several weeks, it seemed CM Punk was angling for a return to AEW.
His Instagram showed him training again, he was listening to songs about forgiveness,
and Fightful reported there had been “productive progression” between Punk and AEW President
Tony Khan.
Everything was going to be All Elite again…
Just one more thing…
Dave Meltzer posted on the Wrestling Observer board that Punk had been difficult to work
with ahead of his return from injury match against Jon Moxley last Summer.
Which unleashed what meteorologists call an absolute storm of s***.
In a now deleted Instagram post, Punk argued he “wasn’t cleared to come back to wrestle
yet” and then called both Meltzer and Chris Jericho liars.
Fightful revealed there was also substantial heat between Punk and Jon Moxley.
And now Moxley himself, who characteristically stays out of drama like this, cutting a figure
of consistent and admirable stoicness in AEW for years, has made an explosive appearance
on the Sessions Podcast, hosted by his wife Renee Paquette.
On the Punk post, Mox said: “It’s f***ing annoying.
Just because somebody said some stupid s*** on social media, that’s not news.
But it is, and it ends up being a thing.
I don’t want to get dragged into this dumb s**.
I could f***ing unload on a lot of f***ing people right now.
And when I start getting dragged into this s*** it tempts me to do that but I’m not
going to f***ing sink to that level.”
He revealed that he wasn’t actually under AEW contract last Summer, and that he “could
have walked into Summerslam that night with the AEW f***ing belt, if had I been so inclined.”
Because he wasn’t actually under contract, he said he didn’t have to be so accommodating
to Punk on his return, but he ended up “bending over backwards for Tony and for this dude,
and for the company.”
Wrapping up, he had strong words against AEW: “I will say this, & I hate to say…
I don’t think I’ve ever said anything remotely negative about AEW, But I will say
this.
As an observer, it seems like I spent 8 years on the Indies, did a couple years in developmental,
did 8 years in WWE.
I have never seen so much bulls*** drama in one place in my entire f****** life.“
Jon has recently turned heel with the Blackpool Combat Club, though, so…
I’m sure this is just a work…
yeah, just, just all part of a storyline.
We are just a few days away from WrestleMania 39, the first WrestleMania with Triple H in
charge, which means chances are it’ll be a pretty great show.
One common criticism on the build to this WrestleMania though, is the booking of WWE’s
women’s division.
While Asuka vs Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley vs Charlotte Flair sound like great matches
on paper, and probably still will be great matches on the night, the build for both of
these feuds has been noticeably lacking when compared to other feuds on the show.
Add on top the rather mid build for Lynch & friends vs Damage CTRL, and a Fatal 4-Way
Women’s Tag Match featuring one actual tag team in it, the women’s presence on the
Mania card in the lead up to the show has been less than ideal.
Recently, criticism was levied against WWE from the always outspoken Ronda Rousey, who
pointed out some flaws with her feud with Liv Morgan in an Instagram post:
“Imagine what our @yaonlylivvonce feud could have been if we weren’t hamstrung by a bunch
of octogenarians who still think they know how to be hip while putting less than 5 minutes
of thought a week into each women’s storyline…”
For those of you that didn’t know, an Octogenarian is defined as a person who is between 80 to
89 years old.
I knew that, I didn’t need to look it up.
And it’s not just Rousey that reportedly thinks this, as according to WRKD Wrestling
on Twitter:
“Ronda Rousey is not alone in her feelings about the women’s division booking, as others
backstage feel the women have struggled to gain traction this #WrestleMania season compared
to the men due to their writing.”
What do you think?
Has Trips let the women’s division down thus far into his creative reign?
Let us know in the comments below.
New World Title Ready For After Mania?
While Triple H will have had his hands full lately, one thing he may have already planned
ahead for is the introduction of a brand new WWE title.
Following a report from Fight Fans last week which stated that Trips wasn’t too keen
on the Universal Title, Wrestlevotes via GiveMeSport is reporting that:
“There’s a new belt.
I don’t know for sure if it’s getting a new name.
I don’t know if one of the titles is going away, but there’s a new belt that WWE has
had made and the decision-makers have approved.
Like, if they wanted to introduce it on TV tomorrow, they could.
Those boxes are checked.”
With rumors abound of WWE potentially splitting up the undisputed titles in the near future,
perhaps this new belt could be in relation to that decision.
Can’t wait for the next big WWE logo colour palette swap belt.
And now over to Luke for Raw.
And now it’s time for my review of Monday Night Raw aka WRESTLEMANIA BACKLASH RAW BEFORE
WRESTLEMANIA Monday Night Raw… in about 5 minutes.
The show kicked off with MizTV hosting Becky Lynch, Trish Stratus and Lita to run down
their WrestleMania opponents.
I don’t know why Miz was here other than for Becky to try and bring back the Tiny Balls
gimmick from last year.
Are we sure Vince isn’t back?
Damage CTRL came out and Bayley ran down her WrestleMania opponents, before Becky ran down
her WrestleMania opponents some more to set up a match with one of her WrestleMania opponents
in Iyo Sky.
This was a very effective segment in building the Mania match, and Becky’s fired up promo
on Bayley holding back Dakota Kai and Sky was superb because… well, a lot of it is
true.
And then she had a banger of a match with Sky, which only further highlights just how
the women’s division has been a bit undercooked in the Triple H era.
We could be getting matches and feuds like this all the time, but we don’t.
But on the positive side of things, it’s a great time to be a wrestling fan, right?
We’re just able to have Becky Lynch and Iyo Sky have an awesome match.
On TV.
For FREE.
Amazing scenes.
Becky won with the Manhandle Slam.
I think Becky has won basically every match she’s had with Damage CTRL and I’m ready
for her to do anything else.
And speaking of the women’s division lacking direction, we didn't have a physical presence
on the show for Bianca Belair vs. Asuka, instead just a video package that told us Asuka is
great.
It was a typically brilliant WWE video - extenuating the positives and hiding all the terrible
booking along the way - but this feud needed something more.
Or maybe it doesn’t - because the match is going to rule this weekend regardless.
Seth Rollins stomped Mustafa Ali into the earth to win a short match, and he told the
WWE crowd that they were all going to sing a song for Logan Paul because it’s his birthday
this Saturday.
The song is Seth’s theme, if anyone wasn’t sure of what lyrics they need to learn.
Omos and Brock Lesnar didn’t so much have a weigh in and more of a light scuffle.
Brock attacked Omos before he was weighed but couldn’t knock him off his feet and,
once again, Omos stood tall.
So we found out how much Omos weighed, but how much does this guy weigh?
Austin Theory cut a promo in the Thunderdome - *shudder* - and Finn Balor cut a very silly
promo that felt so out of his Judgement Day character that said the Demon will be at Mania
this weekend.
The women’s build continued to underwhelm as Charlotte Flair got a video package ahead
of her match with Rhea Ripley, and Ripley cut a heavily scripted promo that did little
to hype their match this weekend.
But much like Belair and Asuka, this will be an excellent match and sometimes that’s
all that matters.
Which was certainly the case with our next match.
The tag team four way showcase match is an Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale with
just a different name.
They’ve rebadged it you fool.
It’s the equivalent of Oli and I saying “enjoys nice catering” on The 3-Count.
But, that doesn’t matter.
Because Street Profits teamed with Braun Strowman and Ricochet to take on Alpha Academy and
Viking Raiders and it was SO GREAT.
This was so, so much fun.
Chad Gable worked with Angelo Dawkins and it was awesome.
Chad Gable worked with Montez Ford and it was awesome.
Chad Gable worked with Ricochet and it was awesome.
I’m starting to think this Chad Gable lad might be a bit awesome.
Everyone got in to do big spots and hit big moves and the crowd lapped up everything.
The good guys got the win when Ford did a spinning Frog Splash over Braun’s head on
one of the Raiders.
Brilliant fun, and the four-way at Mania is going to slap.
The same cannot be said for the women’s showcase tag match.
Chelsea Green found a new tag partner this week in Sonya Deville because… well we don’t
know where Carmella is and there’s no battle royale for Sonya to be in.
They did a lazy story beat about Deville running Raw better than Adam Pearce, but it didn’t
make anyone care.
Because they beat Candice Larae and Mia Yim who all wrestled to abject silence.
The silence was deafening, and should be studied when talking about how lackluster the women’s
division has been under Trips.
But never mind that s**t, here comes Judgement Day.
Green and Deville didn’t even get a chance to celebrate as Damien Priest made his entrance
for a match with Rey Mysterio.
Dom cut a fantastic promo on his dad - saying that he’s such a lowlife father for hitting
his own son - and wished that Eddie was his real dad.
The match with Priest and Mysterio - Rey that is - was also great, and Dom ran in to cause
a DQ when his Dad was all set up to win.
Brilliant stuff all round, and the heat for Dom was insane.
Legado Del Fantasma ran down to make the save as Dom and Priest continued to beat up Rey.
Brand split lol.
There was some comedy backstage about the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale with
The Good Brothers actually making it on TV for a change, and it really does look like
we’re not getting Bobby vs. Bray anymore.
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn cut a promo on The Usos, and Gunther quickly beat Dolph Ziggler.
Just end the Brand Split because this is a way better use of Raw’s three hours.
And the main event saw Cody Rhodes pin the previously undefeated Solo Sikoa.
Now, here’s something I said on the Raw review over on WrestleTalk Podcast three weeks
ago: Now I’m not saying I’m some wrestling
nostradamus, I’m not even saying that I correctly predicted that because I’ve been
a wrestling fan for over 20 years and of course this was going to happen.
I predicted it because it was Cody Rhodes, and of course this was going to happen.
And it should have happened.
This is why you build and protect your top heel’s bodyguards - so it means so much
more when the top babyface beats them before getting to the top heel for the title.
It was a perfect use of Cody, it was a perfect use of Solo Sikoa, and it was the perfect
build for the Mania match.
Plus, it furthers the Solo character and his interactions with Roman.
Solo wasn’t ready.
Cody was right, and Roman held him back last week because he also knew he was right.
It was a superb final stop before their other final stop this Friday before WrestleMania,
and I loved it.
This was an excellent go-home show.
Pretty much every segment either built, furthered or - in the case of the women’s tag match
- added to a WrestleMania match.
It was a show where it was missing a lot of the big stars in high profile matches - there
was no Logan Paul, there was no John Cena, there was no Roman Reigns - there wasn’t
even an Asuka, Belair or Flair - but it still got me hyped for Mania.
And that
was its job.
This week’s episode is 4 out
of 5.