Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk News, I am Luke Owen.
And a big thank you to Rocky Romero for that awesome intro to our news episode. With any
luck, that will put the Rappingi 3K music stuck in your head for the rest of the day
now.
Dave Bautista has become one of the few wrestlers who has successfully traded their in-ring
career for one in Hollywood. Not only has he starred in several decent straight-to-DVD
action flicks, he’s also been a big part of the multi-billion dollar Marvel Cinematic
Universe as Drax The Destroyer and even in James Bond film Spectre. But is there any
rivalry between himself and his fellow wrestler-turned-actors John Cena and Rock “The Dwayne” Johnson?
Oh come on now Dave, that seems a bit unfair about Rock not taking on diverse roles. He
did once play a tooth fairy. You can check out the rest of that interview via the link
in the video description below where he even talks about being turned down twice for Star
Wars films.
But if Batista did want to return to the world of pro wrestling in any capacity, there won’t
be a commentary position available for him on Monday Night Raw - as Renee Young has become
the first full-time female member of the Raw commentary team alongside Michael Cole and
Corey Graves. Young made her Raw commentary debut a few weeks ago replacing Jonathan Coachman,
and did the same last week while Coach was off filming for the Golf Channel. And it was
announced yesterday that she did such a good job - or you could read it as Coach did such
a bad job - that Renee’s voice will now be on Raw each and every week. But who will
say all the silly things for Oli and I to make fun of? That burden rests squarely on
your shoulders now, Cole. Good luck sir. Coach will instead replace Renee Young on the kick
off panels for WWE’s PPVs.
Renee tweeted of the news, “I am so so so insanely excited about this! To be the first
woman to take over that chair that so many amazingly talented voices
(and Jonathan Coachman)
and personalities have sat in before me!” Coachman tweeted, “A sincere congratulations
to @ReneeYoungWWE for a much deserved move to the table on Raw.” Michael Cole added,
“Work hard and you will be rewarded. Simple but true. Tonight will be a top 5 highlight
in my 22 year career.” while Samoa Joe tweeted, “I would like to think I had a hand in pushing
this talented individual to lock down a more stable income for her household, but this
isn’t about me. Congrats Renee.”
With Renee Young now a permanent member of the Raw commentary team, clearly Vince McMahon
was happy with the work she did. And Renee isn’t the only one.
Segue
It was a shaky start for Andrade “Cien” Almas on the main roster of WWE - although
the same could be said for Sanity and IIconics… and Ember Moon… and Authors of Pain… and
that’s only the recent call-ups. He went from being the NXT Champion having one of
the best matches of the year against Johnny Gargano to either kick off show feuds with
Sin Cara or not being on TV at all. However in more recent weeks he’s had competitive
outings with the likes of AJ Styles, Rusev and Daniel Bryan. And according to Fightful’s
sources, Vince McMahon is currently “very impressed” with Almas backstage. Whether
this means a push for Almas is coming down the line remains to be seen of course. But
maybe he can get a big role on Smackdown 1000?
The 1000th episode of Smackdown will air from Washington DC next month on October 23rd.
Already announced for the show is the return of The Undertaker, along with a Summerslam
and Supershow Down rematch between Daniel Bryan and The Miz, a Hell in a Cell rematch
between Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy, and a Summerslam, Hell in a Cell and Supershow Down
rematch between AJ Styles and Samoa Joe for the WWE Championship. And people say WWE is
stale and repetitive.
And according to PWInsider, former World Heavyweight Champion and The Rated-R Superstar, Edge is
also making his Smackdown return for the show. There’s no word on whether or not he would
be joined by his tag team partner and former brother Christian, but The Edge & Christian
Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness returns to the WWE Network later this year so one
would assume the company would want to push that on this day.
However before you all get too excited about Edge’s return, when a fan tweeted about
PWInsider’s report he replied, “Huh, news to me.” So take this one with a pinch of
salt for the time being.
Why was Lana so upset about her gear in WWE2K19? Find out by clicking the video on screen right
now. I’ve been Luke Owen, and that was wrestling.