In this WrestleTalk News - CM Punk teases Daniel Bryan’s AEW debut, Bray Wyatt to
IMPACT, my review of Dynamite, and more.
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Arbitrary milestones make me happy.
With CM Punk debuting on Rampage, Brock Lesnar and Becky Lynch returning at SummerSlam, and
Kevin Kelly being the second most booked shoot video messager on Pro Wrestling Tees - I agree,
he should be number 1 - you might’ve forgotten that Daniel Bryan is meant to be going to
AEW too.
He will reportedly be debuting at the special Grand Slam Dynamite show at Arthur Ashe Stadium
on the 22nd September, and now we’ve had our first on-air tease for Bryan Daneilson
to AEW confirmed.
During CM Punk’s promo on last night’s Dynamite, the crowd started to chant that
yes, he can still wrestle, and yes, he can still be the best in the world, yes, yes,
yes.
To which Punk replied: “that’s somebody else’s shtick.
You might just need to be a little bit more patient.”
How many fs does CM Punk gives?
And not only that.
Punk also teased Danielson’s debut by posting a zoomed in picture of them both shaking hands
from their ROH days, which we expertly exposed by doing the opposite to Blade Runner.
De-enhance.
There it is.
Who do you think Danielson should feud in AEW?
Let me know in the comments because I’ll be replying to people for the first thirty
minutes after this video goes live FROM OUTTA NOWHERE.
One of the other biggest free agents in wrestling right now is Bray Wyatt, following his shock
release from WWE just under a month ago.
Dave Meltzer reported on Sunday that he’s pretty much a lock to go to AEW, although
Bryan Alvarez somewhat refuted this, saying his contacts in the company said that’s
not the case.
Now Meltzer has also told the Sunday Night’s Main Event podcast, IMPACT Wrestling are “really
after” Wyatt as well, though it’s unclear whether the interest goes both ways.
Wyatt can’t legally begin contract negotiations with a new promotion until his 90-day non-compete
clause is up on October 29th.
Which just so happens to be the Halloween edition of Rampage.
Pat McAfee has revealed on social media that he has tested positive for Covid-19, despite
being fully vaccinated.
In his post, he mentioned that he’s “thankful that my wife and the boys at the office all
took tests and they are all negative”.
McAfee was part of the SummerSlam commentary team, an event that was attended by over 51,000
people, according to WWE.
Make sure to head over to wrestletalk.com for even more wrestling news, such as Adam
Cole having another WWE appearance before his contract expires, Pete Dunne being offered
a contract extension and more.
Before we get on with the rest of the episode, I’d just like to say a huge thank you to
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Now it’s Thursday, you know what that means: my review of last night’s AEW Dynamite…
in about 5 minutes.
After recapping CM Punk’s debut on Rampage - he’s in the show’s opening credits now,
CM Punk to AEW still confirmed - this episode began on a comedy match between Matt Hardy
and Orange Cassidy - seemingly acting as the blow off to the Hardy Family Office vs Best
Friends feud.
Complete with a fun exchange of low effort kick and delete chants, and spots where Cassidy
hit a Swanton Bomb with his hands in his pockets.
Cassidy won in about 10 minutes.
It was enjoyable, and Hardy is a recognisable name, but I’m not sure I would’ve greeted
all the new viewers of Dynamite brought in by Punk’s debut on Friday with this match.
Chris Jericho then came down to talk about how everyone’s celebrating wrestling this
week… apart from him, because he lost for a third time to MJF, and this time by tapping
out.
So he’s got a proposal to make.
Him vs MJF one more time, where if he doesn’t win, he’ll retire to the commentary desk
and never wrestle in AEW again.
AEW have done such a good job sticking to their stipulations, like Cody still not having
fought for the World title, the stakes feel more substantial.
And with continued teases of Jericho retiring this year, losing all his matches so far,
and just releasing a book celebrating his career, there’s enough there to make me
buy the threat.
MJF accepted for All Out.
The Varsity Blondes have such a fun presentation of their gimmick, cutting a backstage promo
before their match from what looked like their school gym lockers.
It’s like they exist in a high school movie pocket dimension.
They lost to the Lucha Bros next, though - because it should always be Pentagon, especially when
it’s the Pentagon Joker variant - in a fast paced flip fest, where the winner would go
onto fight Jurassic Express on Friday’s Rampage.
And whoever wins that will face the Young Bucks at All Out for the tag titles in a steel
cage.
The Lucha Bros and Jurassic Express had a staredown after the match, and then teamed
up to take out the Young Bucks.
The newly debuted Jamie Hayter took on Red Velvet next, where the finish came off weird,
with Velvet missing a standing moonsault which looked more like a botch, and then Hayter
winning with a stiff clothesline.
The heels then beat down Velvet, and Statlander made the save.
It’s been clear for weeks though that the crowd’s hearts are not into booing Baker.
So go with that and make her a badass tweener rather than forcing her into a heel role.
There’s still in-fighting in the Dark Order, where Alex Reynolds and Evil Uno clashed backstage.
Bray Wyatt as new Dark Order leader confirmed.
And then came the thing I woke up even earlier than usual to watch this for: CM Punk doing
an entrance and a promo thing, which AEW boosted his music for a lot more this time, which
was my only complaint about the Rampage debut.
Tony Schiavone interviewed Punk in the ring - I’m going to mark out every time Punk
is standing next to an AEW star he hasn’t stood next to yet, by the way - but Punk couldn’t
hear the question because the CM Punk chants were so loud.
Those chants are so moving, not just because it’s for a man many of us consider a personal
hero that we’ve missed for so long, but because it’s a cathartic release after years
and years of dissatisfaction with other forms of wrestling.
Chanting CM Punk isn’t just for the man CM Punk.
It’s for a whole ideology, a way of thinking about wrestling, a hope, that the art form
we all love can be treated with the respect it deserves.
And like Punk was reading my mind when I was writing that, he then said it’s time to
retire his Voice of the Voiceless nickname.
Because we don’t need that anymore.
This place has a voice, and people backstage listen.
Hi Tony, how you doing?
Oops, I’m breaking the fourth wall.
Punk eventually answered Schiavone, saying the reason he came back was Penta.
It should always be Penta.
Fenix.
Brian Pillman Jr. Jungle Boy.
But before those young names, it’s Darby Allin.
Punk’s love of elevating new talent is nothing new.
His shout out to Colt Cabana in the pipebomb promo.
Him going down to NXT on his off days when he was with WWE.
Shouting out Britt Baker in his first promo back.
And that player/coach ethos aligns perfectly with AEW.
He put over Darby huge, saying if he was 15 years old, Allin would be his favourite.
And he needs to prove to himself he’s the best in the world still by beating him.
Super happy babyface Punk is awesome.
I can’t wait until he turns heel!
And, as I’ve already said, it’s also about those scores to settle in the back, where
he teased Daniel Bryan debuting soon when the crowd broke into yes chants.
Rusev cut a promo on Eddie Kingston before we got the ultimate house show pleasing act:
Kingston teaming with Allin and Jon Moxley, and a Sting at ringside, in a trios match
against the Wingmen.
This was a smart way to keep getting over Allin to new viewers, winning with the Coffin
Drop.
Although who let JD Drake out there dressed as Baron Corbin circa 2019?
You’re better than that, JD.
Daniel Garcia jumped Allin afterwards, keeping their feud spinning.
Christian then interrupted a Super Elite promo, feuding more with Don Callis than Kenny Omega
right now.
Kaz made the save when the Elite beat him up.
The Gunn Club beat the Nightmare Factory when QT Marshall got distracted by Paul Wight for
being on commentary.
Even when he’s sitting down, he’s just so tall.
This is a pretty lacklustre way to build their All Out match.
Dan Lambert revealed he is now managing Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page because of their MMA backgrounds,
which should be amazing.
And the main event saw Malakai Black murder Brock Anderson as expected.
But unfortunately it ended up falling rather flat.
The match itself was really well booked, with Malakai more focused on psyching out Arn outside
than the inexperienced rookie Brock - letting Ander-son get in a bit of credible offence.
Black then murdered Brock with a Black Mass, and hit one on Arn afterwards for good measure.
And that’s where the episode should’ve ended.
But weirdly, some music hit and Lee Johnson ran down to the ring, and Black skulked away.
The timing felt off, the crowd had peaked about a minute before, and Black should’ve
just Black Massed Johnson too.
What did you think of this week’s Dynamite?
Let me know in the comments.
74% of you have gone for CM PUNK IS STILL THERE in our poll on a pole match on the community
tab.
And I’m there with you.
He is still there, and it’s amazing.
His promo and Bryan tease were by far the best thing on this episode.
But the rest of the show was rather average by AEW standards, with a flat finish.
It’s almost like they should’ve had last Wednesday’s card here to capitalise on all
the new viewers Punk likely brought in.
Punk’s promo elevates an middle of the Rhodes show to a low 4 out of 5.
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