In this WrestleTalk News, CM Punk calls out the cowards and bootlickers in WWE, RIddle
injury is a work, WWE under yet another investigation and Oli will be here reviewing AEW Dynamite.
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Busy couple of weeks in the old wrestling biz huh, great time to have been away Faki.
If you have been living under a Dwayne Johnson it’s all changed over at the top of WWE,
after Vince McMahon said he would temporarily stepping down from CEO duties and then just
announced his full-fledged retirement from the company in a tweet on Friday.
With Vince gone the co-CEO mantle falls to daughter Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan,
while creative control has landed in the hands of the Cerebral Assassin who is killing me
with how slow things are changing in Raw, Triple H.
Part of the reason for that though might be explained by CM Punk, who took a big ol’
swing at the company while speaking at San Diego Comic Con saying “You think because
he tweeted that ‘I’m retired’ that he’s not going to be hands-on?”
He said that even though Vince is gone that he doesn’t “think the culture there changes
at all.
It is what it is.”
To explain he cited a recent example - the walkout of Sasha Banks and Naomi, firstly
noting that “They have bigger balls than everybody there” because they’d had enough
and actually walked.
The two women were called out on commentary by Michael Cole for having let the WWE Universe
down, though speculation pointed to a similar thing happening with Brock Lesnar at last
week’s Smackdown, notably after Vince retired, but there was not one mention of it by commentary
before Lesnar showed up in the main event.
Calling out Sasha and Naomi was rumored to be something Vince demanded, and Punk took
shots at everyone who took part in the weird chastisement: “There’s people that talk
about it and people who do it.
The people who lick the boots and have the audacity to say that about those two women.
F**king cowards and bootlickers.
This sh*t is ridiculous.
Why didn’t they do it to Brock?”
I mean, would you want to get caught saying shiz about Brock?
In other news, with Trips in charge the creative ship has begun to slowly turn in WWE, sloooowwwllyyy.
The first major move seems to have been to remove Seth Rollins vs Riddle from the SummerSlam
card.
It was announced by WWE that Riddle had injured his brachial plexus and could no longer compete,
but Fightful Select have reportedly confirmed that the injury is just an angle.
This leaves Rollins in the lurch though with no one to compete against at this year’s
event, leaving Mr Freakin’ to tweet: “For anyone who purchased a ticket to #SummerSlam
hoping to see me in action, I apologize.
I did everything I could over the last 6 months to earn my spot on this show, but some things
are out of my control.
Thank you for always singing my song.
They’ll hear ya someday.”
Which is a pretty babyface thing to say and also prompted Trips to respond with “I hear
you!”
seemingly teasing a last minute replacement for Riddle.
Who do you think Triple H is going to pit against Seth at SummerSlam, let me know in
the comments.
WWE is currently dealing with more investigations than a season of CSI, and most of it stems
from their Papa O’Reilly Vince McMahon’s allegations of sexual misconduct and alleged
payments to cover said conduct up.
But that’s not all as “BusinessWire” reported earlier this week that national shareholders
law firm, Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP, is investigating the WWE on behalf of their shareholders,
concerning WWE’s possible violations of the federal securities laws.
When Wall Street Journal published their report into Vince’s alleged activities WWE’s
share prices drastic went down, like 3.4%, then when they followed up saying he had paid
close to $12 million in hush money rather than the $3 million initially reported it
fell again by another 2%.
The 5% drop in stock prices
is
what
has prompted the investigation.
Hot tag to Oli.
Now it’s Thursday - you know what that means.
Time for my review of AEW Dynamite Fight for the Fallen… in about 5 minutes.
JR was on commentary for the full two hours this week, which I’m actually thankful for
because if he’s watching wrestling, that means he’s not being thirsty for Natalya’s
sister on Twitter.
Take a cold shower, Jim.
He promised this night was going to be one of the biggest in AEW’s history.
I thought that was a bit of a bold claim, because AEW has had quite a few biggest nights
in their history, and I couldn’t see how this rather standard card would live up to
them.
But by the end of the night, I think there’s certainly an argument.
We might look back on this show as the rise of the AEW originals.
The episode kicked off in a big way with Jon Moxley defending his interim AEW title against
Rush.
I thought these two had fantastic back and forth chemistry.
Andrade was chased off by the Lucha Bros, and Moxley beat RUSH with a Paradigm Shift
and Bulldog Choke.
Another really good title defence against a lower midcarder, I guess - when are we going
to get an actual storyline for Mox-You are cold like December snow.
Which, as we all know, is the coldest of the snows.
The JAS interrupted Mox’s celebration for Jericho to demand his rematch after two and
a half years - to become the first ever two time world champion.
Moxley pointed out, actually, he’s the first ever two time champion - adding some much
needed credibility to the interim belt.
I wish they did that from the start, but better late than never.
And wisely getting round just repeating their Revolution 2020 feud, Mox said when they fight
in two weeks’ time, he doesn’t want the King of Trademarks.
He wants the last survivor of the Hart Dungeon, the Lionheart Chris Jericho.
This was a great opening to the show, it finally gave Moxley a storyline, all while weaving
it into the larger JAS vs Blackpool Combat Club arc.
AEW announced Trios titles were coming soon like it’s a match on Rampage.
Because that’s what this company needs.
Three more belts.
They’re likely being fudged in because the EVPs want to do their story now.
The Bucks later bumped into Hangman Page backstage, likely foreshadowing a team up.
Which is going to be mad awkward when Kenny gets back.
In my favourite part of the whole show, we then got a run of matches and angles so epic
it felt like Team Taz: The Movie.
Ricky Starks got an awesome hype package before his FTW title defence against Danhausen, which
was essentially a fun comedy squash match.
Ricky called out another challenger afterwards, and it was his Team Taz buddy Hook!
They went a few minutes, and Hook countered the RoShambo into a Redrum, where Ricky tapped
- providing a wonderful moment of Taz getting to call his son winning his belt.
The crowd popped huge.
Then, after the break, Ricky cut an excellent babyface promo in the ring, saying how his
time is now.
When Powerhouse Hobbs shockingly clotheslined him mid-sentence!
Nobody saw this coming, even Taz.
Although Taz has pretended he wasn’t pulling the strings before.
I’m really excited to see where this goes, as after a year stuck on the Rampage treadmill,
it finally feels like Taz’s protegees are about to level up.
Sammy Guevarra then took on Dante Martin in a match that defied so much gravity, people
forgot how Sammy actually has go-away heat and started cheering.
Dante’s facials and selling have greatly improved, making me genuinely concerned for
his bad ankle he kept landing on.
Sammy won with a GTH, then Anna Jay and Tay Conti beat up Dante’s second Sky Blue afterwards
- to be chased off by Ruby Soho, Ortiz and Eddie Kingston.
A really great match, but a very poor follow up to Eddie’s push, him just playing second
fiddle to a Ruby vs Tay Conti feud.
Continuing the new people push, it was time for:
Jungle Boy’s inappropriate line of the week!
JB finally got to answer the month of Christian making fun of his dead dad and saying he was
going to bone his mum by saying the reason Christian is so concerned about money is because
his wife divorced him because he has a small penis!
JB then made the ‘call me’ gesture to Christian’s ex-wife.
Christian then interrupted backstage, where he said he’s going to bury JB alongside
his dead dad.
God dammit, Christian, you say such hurtful things.
The bar isn’t that high, but this was one of the best promos Jungle Boy has ever delivered.
Although I’d watch out for that Luchasaurus guy.
He’s still wearing his evil gear, is that not concerning to you JB?
Swerve in our Glory continued the momentum of their AEW tag title victory with Strickland
beating both Tony Nese and Mark Sterling in a handicap match - which is seemingly meant
to make us excited for Nese and a debuting Josh Woods (who attacked Keith Lee backstage)
being their first proper feud.
This is not what I would’ve done.
AEW has quite a few amazing underused tag teams that would’ve been infinitely better
placed for all involved.
Some combination of the Blackpool Combat Club, the Lucha Bros, what about those FTR guys?
Hell, 2point0 would be a great filler feud.
Miyu Yamashita pinned Thunder Rosa in Japan to set up this title match.
The second half ended up being very decent, but I don’t think anyone ever believed in
the outcome.
Rosa retained.
And the main event saw DanielBowl.
The battle of the Daniels: Bryan Danielson vs Daniel Garcia.
And combining the trends of surprises and pushing AEW originals, Garcia shockingly got
the win.
Danielson was hugely protected throughout - selling that he’s not 100% following his
suspected concussion, passing out rather than tapping in the submission, and Jake Hager
grabbing Bryan’s leg from under the ring in the final moments, a terribly fitting sports
entertainment spot from the JAS - but him losing is still a monumental decision.
I totally get why they played into the concussion, and I agree that’s a fantastic story beat
to work around.
But for me, it made me too worried.
It took me out of the match.
What did you think of AEW Dynamite?
Let me know in the comments.
Team Taz: The Movie, Jungle Boy’s promo, Dante vs Sammy, and Garcia beating Bryan Danielson
- the overwhelming focus on AEW originals almost felt like an answer to the criticism
that AEW has focused on everyone else’s wrestlers over the last few months.
Be it New Japan, ROH or ex-WWE guys.
And while I don’t think it was the biggest night in AEW history, it was tremendously
rewarding to get back to what’s been missing recently: elevating homegrown talent.
This week’s Dynamite is 85%.
Next up is SummerSlam - and apparently Triple H has big plans for it.
Watch on to find out more…