In this WrestleTalk News, all of the news you missed over WrestleMania weekend!
Cody on the ‘personal matter’ that caused him to leave AEW, his contract situation,
Ronda Rousey responds to her own WrestleMania drama, plus the real reason some matches were
moved, cut short and changed, plus all of the producers for the show revealed.
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[SUPPORT WRESTLETALK] Happy Veer-mas folks - the long walk to Raw
ends tonight!
I don’t know about you but WrestleMania weekend has left us here at WrestleTalk thoroughly
sports entertained.
And Veer finally showing up to Raw might be the icing on the cake.
The soft, gooey hilarious middle of said cake is obviously Vince McMahon taking that stunner
from last night’s show.
Ultimately Vince sold the absolute pants off the set-up kick to the gut and then collapsed
like gravity had just been switched up to 11 when Austin hit what would actually be
the finisher.
There’s been plenty of fun had with this online with Mick Foley specifically enjoying
the hell out of the spot, first of all asking if it’s the ‘worst stunner ever?’
on Twitter and then posting his reaction.
GENUINE TEARS.
TNF even Austin was caught laughing his ass off as he pulled McMahon up to hit the move
on the show!
In one of wrestling’s worst kept secrets, Cody Rhodes returned to WWE on Saturday night
to face and ultimately triumph over Seth Rollins in a crowd pleasing return.
Cody has been in and out of interviews since them talking about everything from his contract
status, his reunion with the wwe roster and the real reason he left AEW.
Speaking with Variety Cody said “it was just time” for him to get out of AEW and
he later told Ariel Helwani he “chose to remain silent about my departure from AEW
and I’m going to keep my word on that”.
He said: “there were things about money and creative control.
They were printed as fact and it's been a very difficult two months to see that.”
“It was a personal matter and we couldn't move past it.
I have nothing but respect for Matt , Nick and Kenny.
I'm rooting for Tony Khan.”
“I felt like we were drifting apart.”
“I can't comment on the personal nature, it was nothing nefarious or scandalous, just
we couldn't agree.
Nothing but respect for him, his family, and the infrastructure there.”
And ultimately people both sides of the divide, in AEW, WWE and elsewhere in the wrestling
universe have been pleased to see Cody perform at Mania with plenty of love pouring out on
Twitter.
Thought the Bucks did opt for a typically comedic response, updating their bio to say
‘WTF I thought we were doing All In 2”.
Cody also revealed some facts about his contract with WWE - first of all announcing that he
has signed a new multi-year deal with the E and that he will be executive producing
A&E’s “biography: WWE Legends” documentary about his father Dusty Rhodes.
In an interview with The Ringer, Rhodes said he was “All in’ with WWE and “it may
be the most complex document ever drawn out in the history of our game.
This is a full multi-year commitment, not a part-time deal.”
Adding “They bet on me, so I’m going to bet on WWE.
I’m really looking forward to it.”
Young Master Rhodes is the first major name to leave AEW and go to WWE, and as one of
the founders of AEW this is a landmark moment in wrestling really.
And while Cody and WWE seem to have reached a deal they are both happy with and are letting
bygones be bygones there must’ve been some awkward moments at the reunion - after all
Cody took his fair share of shots at the company when he left and founded AEW.
One person he really hammered home some points about was Triple H.
Cody told the media scrum yesterday that he did have a reunion with Trips on his bus while
waiting for his match on Saturday, saying; “Everybody had come on that bus to say hello,
talk a little bit about what may happen and the very last one was Triple H. My former
assistant from AEW came as a friend and he was on [the bus] and he knows the world’s
worst kept secret that Hunter is my favorite wrestler.”
“That was really touching and especially, you’ve got to put it in perspective, I talked
a lot of smack, I destroyed his throne, I was very loud.
Very intent on getting angry, I was just angry and that was just a moment of no anger.
Because why would I be angry?
You guys are paying me this absurd amount of money and I get to be me?
I get to be me and especially coming from where I had left here, there’s nothing to
be angry about.”
Obviously the wrestling rumor mill was in full force this weekend, especially with Cody
defecting from one brand to another, the reverse of the way everyone else is going too!!!
Trailblazer!!!
But one person found themselves the subject of some rumors that they wanted to dispute.
Ronda Rousey was said by many to be upset with the placement of her match on the WrestleMania
card Saturday night - she faced Charlotte Flair in the penultimate match on the show
before Stone Cold Steve Austin returned to wrestle Kevin Owens.
To be honest gang - nobody wants the job of following Austin.
But the reports said that Rousey was ‘furious’ at her placement on the card and had even
allegedly walked out ahead of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
Something Rousey tweeted to dispute on Sunday, putting the rumors to bed, saying: “I don’t
know where these ‘reports’ come from but it was an absolute honor to perform under
Steve Austin at Wrestlemania in Texas,” Rousey tweeted Sunday.
“I wasn’t at the WWE Hall of Fame because I have a six month old baby I had to put to
sleep early.
People are literally creating drama out of thin air.”
Putting the rumors to bed like her six month old baby.
Elsewhere on Saturday’s show Bianca Belair and Becky Lynch put on a brilliant match,
with the EST of WWE picking up the win to become the Raw Women’s Champion.
In a really cool little side note, it turns out that Belair’s gear for the match was
actually designed by a fan, as TBHKEYYY on Twitter said they had designed the gear back
in 2020.
You would lose your mind if that happened to you.
WrestleMania is a beast though, two nights, loads of video packages, huge entrances, an
ungodly number of video packages, matches, sports entertainment, MOAR VIDEO PACKAGES
Keeping things to time must be pretty touch - which is why WWE usually builds in ‘flex’
matches to allow for time to be cut or filled as necessary.
This is what happened to New Day vs Sheamus and Ridge Holland and why the match which
was billed as a tribute to Big E, went so short with New Day losing out to Whisky and
Crisps.
Fightful Select reported that the match was always planned to be the shortest on the show,
but had originally been viewed as a six-man tag until E’s injury.
They wrote: “This match was always expected to be the "flex" match, that could be moved
if time was short.
However, we're told that at least one person involved with the match appeared to be very
upset about it as they were only budgeted for ten minutes with entrances as is.”
There was also speculation about Drew McIntyre as reports stated that his planned entrance
on Saturday was canceled instead opting for only medium pomp and circumstance - I mean
he still has a sword and loads of flames!!!
According to Fightful Select McIntyre’s special entrance was originally to include
a group of men and women called the Kilted Warriors, but Drew made the call to nix them
from the show.
It was reported that McIntyre didn’t “feel like the additions enhanced the entrance”
and word is he wanted to connect to the crowd more than doing something much more over the
top.
So while New Day was pushed for time, McIntyre’s entrance wasn’t part of that - it was reported
that all performers brought in were still paid for their time and they got to use their
All Access passes at the stadium.
Finally the producers for the matches on what all in all was a really fun and I’ll say
it because I’m still not sure what it means stupendous show.
Across the weekend Chris Park produced Drew vs Corbin and the three way tag on Night 2,
Adam Pearce took charge of Lashley and Omos, and teamed with Shane Helms for The Miz and
Logan Paul vs the Mysterios Helms also teamed with Kenn Doane to produce
the Anything Goes match between Sami Zayn and Johnny Knoxville - The Hurricane in charge
of this is just a really nice idea.
Tyson Kidd, Shawn Daivari and Molly Holly produced the women’s tag title match, with
Kidd and Holly also producing Belair and Lynch - good on them.
Daivari took charge of Nakamura and Boogz vs the Usos.
Jamie Noble produced Cody and Seth as well as Pat McAfee and Austin Theory.
Current production golden boy Petey Williams worked with Kenn Doane on New Day vs Suspender
Defenders and Williams also worked on AJ vs Edge.
Pat Buck took on Chaz and Rousey and worked with Michael Hayes on Brock vs Roman, while
Hayes oversaw Austin’s return to the ring in the match with Kevin Owens.
Give these people their flowers.