Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk MECHA NEWS, I am Luke Owen.
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WWE unify the Raw and Smackdown Women’s Championships at WrestleMania?
We’ve got a packed show of news for you today, with another WWE star reportedly leaving
the company, possible visa issues for PAC and All Elite Wrestling, and what was Asuka
supposed to do at WrestleMania until Charlotte Flair won her Women’s Championship.
But first.
CONGRATULATIONS BRAY WYATT AND JOJO!
We’d like to give our congratulations to Joseanne Offerman and Windham Rotunda, better
known to WWE fans as ring announcer Jojo and The Eater of Worlds Bray Wyatt, who announced
that they are expecting their first child in June.
Jojo posted this rather charming picture of her on a beach complete with baby bump, revealing
the child will be called Knash [9].
K’Nash?
Kay-Nash?
Let’s go with Knash.
Maybe they’re big fans of Big Sexy.
WWE posted on Twitter their congratulations to the couple, and it’s been revealed that
this is the reason Jojo hasn’t been on Raw for a while now.
WORLDS COLLIDE AGAIN
Over Royal Rumble weekend earlier this year, WWE held the World’s Collide tournament
which pitted stars from NXT, NXT UK and 205 Live with the winner getting a title shot
of their choice - which ended up seeing Velveteen Dream capture the North American Championship
from Johnny Gargano.
And Triple H announced on Twitter yesterday that WrestleMania weekend will see the return
of World’s Collide - only this time wrestlers from Raw and Smackdown and ladyfolk wrestlers
will also be competing.
The press release reveals that on Thursday the 4th of April, it will be the past of NXT
vs. the present, with matches such as Roderick Strong vs. Tyler Breeze, Dominik Dijkovic
taking on Harper, and a battle of factions as Sanity take on Undisputed Era.
The following day will see the Cruiserweights from all five brands clash, and the Saturday
will be a special set of NXT UK TV tapings.
On WrestleMania Sunday, there will be two 20-wrestler battle royales, one for the men
and one for the women of all brands - and the Monday after Mania will see women take
centre stage with a line-up of awesome sounding matches including Io Shirai vs. Sonya Deville,
Toni Storm vs. Nikki Cross vs. Bianca Beliar, Piper Niven vs. Zelina Vega, Candice LaRea
vs. Kay Lee Ray, and more.
PIPER NIVEN FIGHTS ONLINE FAT SHAMERS
And this past Wednesday night saw the NXT UK TV debut of Piper Niven - who started a
feud with former NXT UK Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley over who the most dominant woman
on the brand really is.
But this of course is the Internet in 2019 and we can’t have nice things, and so the
NXT UK Twitter post about the former Viper debuting for the brand caused an unfair amount
of fat shaming replies.
Well, being the total badass that Viper is, she posted this image on Twitter mocking the
negative comments she received adding: “I don’t give a damn about my fat reputation.”
Viper rules.
GOLDUST RELEASED BY WWE?
And while Viper is a new signing for WWE, Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting
that long-time employee and former Intercontinental Champion Goldust has left the company.
Satin reports that multiple sources have told him that Goldust’s WWE contract has come
to an end, and he is currently waiting out his 90-day non-compete clause - making him
a free agent by May and leading many fans to speculate about a possible appearance at
All Elite Wrestling’s Double or Nothing.
Interestingly we actually had an email on the WrestleRamble Podcast earlier this week
from listener and Pledge Hammer Austin Tussey, who met The Gold One at his home town comic
convention recently.
In the email Tussey said, “We talked for a while about AEW, [and] he was saying he’s
getting older and still has 2 years with WWE left, but who knows after that.”
And Goldust himself took to Twitter to corroborate with Austin Tussey and refute Ryan Satin’s
claims posting: “I am still under contract with the WWE, and everything that is being
said online is just talk, and complete BS.”
However the news of Goldust being released by WWE comes after some very interesting teases
from All Elite Wrestling.
--AD BREAK--
AEW TEASING GOLDUST FOR DOUBLE OR NOTHING?
On the latest episode of All Elite Wrestling’s YouTube series Road to Double or Nothing - which
was built around promoting the Starrcast II event at Caesars Palace - Cody noted at the
top of the show that he didn’t want to talk about his opponent for AEW’s first official
show in May.
However by the end of the episode when going over his outfit for Double or Nothing with
his seamstress, there is a possible tease of who his opponent might be: “No, I think
we’re on the right path.”
Cody has also said in previous episodes of Road to Double or Nothing that his match will
be very “personal”, further adding speculation that it could be Cody vs. his real life brother
Goldust at the show.
And if Ryan Satin’s report is correct - though apparently it isn’t - Goldust would be a
free agent just in time for Double or Nothing.
Over the years there have been a lot of reports that both Cody and Goldust wanted to do a
brother vs. brother match at WrestleMania - which was teased and set-up by WWE on several
occasions but never paid off.
The closest the two ever got to the match was at Fastlane 2015, with Goldust winning
with a quick roll-up and the feud was effectively dropped.
Cody told Wrestling with Wregret in 2016 that a bigger match between the two is something
Goldust is very, very keen on.
But while Cody’s match is yet to be announced, one of the other matches for the show could
be in doubt.
VISA ISSUES FOR PAC AND ALL ELITE WRESTLING?
Following on from their awesome five-star match at Revolution Pro Wrestling’s High
Stakes in February, it was announced that Will Ospreay and PAC would team together to
take on the CCK team of Chris Brookes and Jonathan Gresham at Rev Pro’s Live In NY
show over Mania weekend - looking to get retribution for CCK attacking them both after their match
at High Stakes.
However Rev Pro sadly announced earlier this week that PAC would no longer be appearing
on the New York show, and that the match would need to change - with the promotion quickly
announcing that Ospreay would instead team with former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi
Tanahashi to take on British Tag Team Champions Suzuki-Gun of Minoru Suzuki and British Heavyweight
Champion Zack Sabre Jr in a non-title match.
This will happen one day before Sabre Jr defends his British Heavyweight Championship against
Tanahashi at the New Japan/Ring of Honor G1 Supercard show at Madison Square Garden.
It’s since been reported by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that
the reason PAC has been pulled from Live In NY was because High Spots couldn’t get a
Visa for him in time for the event.
What’s interesting is that Meltzer also thinks this could affect PAC’s relationship
with All Elite Wrestling - who he will be wrestling for at Double or Nothing against
Hangman Page.
Meltzer writes.
“From what we’ve been told, it’s become very difficult as far as cutting through the
paperwork to get working visas for wrestlers because the government wants proof that the
people being brought in are exceptional in talent and not taking a job away from an American.”
However he adds he’s been told by people within AEW that if wrestlers are established
stars like PAC is, they don’t anticipate any issues.
Which will be handy for when All In 2 rolls around.
ALL IN 2 DETAILS
Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks were at a Chicago comic convention last weekend, where
they accidentally-on-purpose announced they were heading back to The Windy City for All
In 2 - the follow up to the ground-breaking show that put All Elite Wrestling into motion.
It had been reported by us here at WrestleTalk back in February that our sources told us
the show would take place around September in Chi-town, and it’s now being reported
by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the show will once again be
in the Sears Centre on August 31st.
Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks teased at the Chicago comic con that they would be heading
back to the Sears Centre - particularly because their faces are now on the building - but
no official announcement has been made yet.
And speaking of things being official, Asuka was officially removed from anything meaningful
at WrestleMania a few days ago.
--AD BREAK--
ASUKA WRESTLEMANIA 35 PLANS REVEALED?
Last week it was revealed by WWE that there would be a fatal four-way on this past Tuesday’s
Smackdown Live between Naomi, Carmella, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, with the winner going
on to face Asuka at WrestleMania for the Smackdown Women’s Championship.
I actually joked this time last week that with Smackdown’s track record as of late
the match would be CARD SUBJECT TO CHANGE and not take place, and that ended up being
the case - instead seeing Asuka defend and lose her Smackdown Women’s Championship
to Charlotte Flair.
It’s since been reported that on the day of Smackdown Live, Vince McMahon made the
call to put the Smackdown Women’s Championship on Flair, meaning that the main event of WrestleMania
now has two championships in it.
And it’s being reported by Dave Meltzer that a few people have told him that there
will be a “Winner Takes All” tagline for the match, which will be finalised by the
time Raw goes on air next Monday.
But even with that tagline Meltzer writes, “The plan is not to unify or merge the championships.”.
Adding, “It is always possible that could change by Monday, but we’re told that is
very unlikely as they do want each brand to have a separate champion.”
The new rules of the match are still unclear, but it’s being speculated by those inside
the company that it could be that whoever gets pinned out of Flair and Rousey loses
their respective titles, meaning Becky Lynch could win either the Raw or Smackdown Championships.
So if Becky pins Ronda she’ll be Raw Women’s Champion, and if she pins Flair she’ll be
Smackdown Women’s Champion.
But if Ronda pins Becky she’ll keep her Raw Women’s Championship, but if she pins
Charlotte she won’t become the Smackdown Women’s Champion.
The same goes for Flair.
If she pins Becky she’ll keep her Smackdown Women’s Championship but if she pins Ronda
she won’t become Raw Women’s Champion and oh no I’ve gone cross eyed.
According to the Wrestling Observer, the finish of the match will all depend on if Ronda Rousey
decides to stick around after WrestleMania, or leave for a while to start a family with
her husband Travis Browne - with Meltzer comparing it to the Brock Lesnar situation from last
year - where the plan was for Roman Reigns to win the Universal Championship until Lesnar
signed a new contract extension and the finish was changed in order to shock the audience.
Meltzer also notes that if Vince thinks the social media heat Charlotte Flair has received
from winning the Smackdown Women’s Championship is real heat, she could also walk out of Mania
the victor.
But to put your mind at ease, Meltzer concludes, “Lynch has to be the favorite to win.”
Which brings us to the former Women’s Champion Asuka and what her WrestleMania plans were
until Tuesday afternoon.
Meltzer has reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the original plan for Tuesday’s
Smackdown was to have the fatal four way to crown a new number one contender, which would
have been won by Mandy Rose to set up a Fastlane rematch against Asuka for the Smackdown Women’s
Championship.
This was reportedly changed however because Vince decided there were already too many
matches on his 17-match WrestleMania card, and the Smackdown Women’s Championship had
such little interest that it was easier to remove that match, and put the title on Charlotte
Flair to boost the triple threat main event.
One of the other reported reasons that the Smackdown Women’s Championship was put on
Flair for the triple threat is that the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal is lacking bodies - with
Bayley, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax, Tamina, Natalya, Beth Phoenix and The IIconics all involved
in the four corners match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships.
With this change, Asuka and Rose can now be in the Battle Royal.
Interestingly that match is still yet to be announced but is still scheduled to happen,
with some speculating that because the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal could be on
the main card this year due to Braun Strowman’s feud with SNL’s Colin Jost and Michael Che,
and the company doesn’t want to be accused of being sexist by putting the Women’s Battle
Royal on the pre-show.
By not announcing it ahead of time, they can avoid that heat.
However we do want to add that is speculation, and not an official report.
WRESTLERAMBLE BIRTHDAY
But before we get out of here, we wanted to thank each and every one of you for your support
over the last couple of years - as we just had the second anniversary of the WrestleRamble
show!
The first episode - then called The WrestleTalk Show - aired on March 27th, 2017 with myself
and Oli Davis giving our predictions and thoughts on the card for WrestleMania 33.
We’ve done an awful lot since then, with myself and Laurie Blake coming in full-time
on the channel [46], doing a live show with Cultaholic at Wrestling Media Con, moving
to a new studio, going live three days a week, and doing a live podcast at the Prince Charles
Cinema in London’s Leicester Square.
WRESTLERAMBLE LIVE
And we’ll be heading back to the Prince Charles Cinema on May 7th 2019, for a special
screening of the classic WCW movie Ready 2 Rumble starring David Arquette.
Oli, Laurie and the WrestleTalk crew will be in attendance for the screening, and we’ll
be doing a live podcast record following the movie.
Tickets are available now through the link in the video description below!
Thank you for watching and thank you to our awesome Pledge Hammers scrolling into my stomach.
Oh, they are a lovely lot.
Click the video over there to watch myself, Laurie Blake and Chopper Pete play Devil May
Cry 5 for ScreenStalker, and give them a subscribe as well to support the WrestleTalk YouTube
family.
I’ve been Luke Owen, and that was wrestling.