In this WrestleTalk News, Johnny Gargano & Kyle O’Reilly say goodbye to WWE, Top Dolla never
welcome in AEW, our review of last night’s NXT and more.
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Last night, NXT became a lot less black and gold, as the episode seemingly wrote two of
its most enduring stars out of the promotion. Following both Johnny Gargano and Kyle O’Reilly
losing their matches at Sunday’s WarGames pay-per-view, O’Reilly lost another match
on last night’s show, with Von Wagner defeating him in a steel cage. Kyle’s NXT contract
has reportedly now expired, and as of late last week, had not signed a new deal.
Gargano’s contract had actually already run out last week, but he signed a short term
extension to take him through Sunday and last night’s shows. He had been advertised as
the show’s main event segment, though, where he’d make a big announcement. As WWE don’t
usually let departing wrestlers have this kind of spotlight, it was assumed Johnny would
announce he’s staying with NXT in a coach-like role, or maybe even a call-up to the main
roster. Instead, it was all for the heat. Gargano
talked about change, his baby boy set to debut in February, and thanked everyone at NXT.
He was then attacked by Grayson Waller and powerbombed through the announce table.
But this could be Johnny taking some time off while his wife is in the last months of
her pregnancy? Johnny Gargano back to NXT confirmed!
Maybe not, going by what happened when the show went off air.
After the beatdown angle, O’Reilly and Gargano’s best frenemy ever Tommaso Ciampa came to the
ring to send him off. Kyle was said to shake hands with fans, signing items, and then kissed
the ring mat - presumably as both a farewell to the promotion and any covid precautions
then in place. Don’t mind me, ongoing pandemic, I’m just
going to lick a wrestling ring. Gargano, meanwhile, has been photographed
crying throughout, and he recreated his and Ciampa’s famous Cruiserweight Classic angle
from 2016, sitting in the ring together, while Ciampa raised Johnny’s hand.
Shawn Michaels also came out and embraced both Kyle and Johnny.
I clicked on the NXT roster page after writing this bit to kind of see who’s left, and
scrolling through the wrestlers, it felt like going back to where I grew up after living
somewhere else for a few years. Sure, I saw Ciampa and Pete Dunne and Roddy Strong, but
other than that, I didn’t recognise many faces from the old days. Those memories that
I held so dearly, of Gargano vs Ciampa’s TakeOver series, of Aleister Black vs Velveteen
Dream, of Undisputed Era debuting, are just that now, memories of a time now passed.
Hardly a hot take, I know. NXT sure has changed. But sometimes, while you intellectually understand
it, it takes a while for you to emotionally realize when something is gone. And that’s
what I had today. Maybe it’s because Johnny really was it’s heart. Thank you Gargano
and O’Reilly, and everyone else who made black and gold so special.
What do you think will happen to Gargano and O’Reilly next? And tell me your favourite
NXT memories in the comments down below. Because I’ll be replying to people for the first
30 minutes after this video goes live from outta nowhere.
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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WrestleTalk, and Raid that Raid. The times they aren’t just a-changing for
NXT. They’ve changed. And the main reason for this is Vince McMahon taking away the
brand’s creative direction from Triple H - which Shawn Michaels has confirmed in an
interview with TVInsider, explaining “Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard… are the ones
who gave us the direction of what it is they wanted from NXT going into the future.”
Usually, it would be him and Triple H turning Vince and Bruce’s plans into reality, but
Hunter’s health issues have taken him out of action since September - meaning Michaels
has gone from “two hours a day, three days a week” to “about 23 hours a day, seven
days a week.” Which is likely a slight exaggeration, but still undoubtedly a load of work.
Triple H thankfully had Michaels to fill in for him while he’s recovering, but what
would happen to Vince McMahon if he fell ill, or worse? When asked on a recent Wrestling
Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that decision would come down to WWE’s board of directors,
but it would “probably” go to the company’s President and COO Nick Khan, who’s only
been in the job since last August. This marks a departure from WWE being a family-run business,
with Triple H, Shane or Stephanie McMahon always speculated as its heirs. In some ways,
WWE is a better show than Succession. But back to Gargano and O’Reilly, NXT 1.0
to AEW confirmed? Speaking on Rasslin with Brandon F. Walker,
AEW President Tony Khan has teased: “We have some good stuff coming. We have
some good plans for the future, good surprises, and great moments, and most importantly, great
wrestling matches.” With their Winter is Coming special next Wednesday
- which last year saw Kenny Omega win the AEW Championship and the debut of Sting - perhaps
we’ll see one of the many WWE released free-agents debut, which currently include Gargano, O’Reilly,
Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Bronson Reed, Breezango, Killian Dain and Mercedez Martinez.
The good money is on O’Reilly having an Undisputed Era reunion next week, which is
a shame, as there’s a perfectly good Jaxson Ryker sitting right there!.
People like Keith Lee and Karrion Kross are still under the 90 day non-compete clauses.
But try telling that to Isiah ‘Swerve’ Scott, formerly of Hit Row, who’s just started
hanging around with AEW stars. Before signing with WWE, Isaiah hosted the
Swerve City Podcast, which actually joined the WWE Network for a while. Now no longer
with the company, he’s restarting the show and has already announced former NXT star
Taya Valkryie and AEW’s Eddie Kingston as guests, while also posting photos of him with
Malakai Black and his long time friend Sammy Guevara.
One person who isn’t welcome in AEW, though, is Scott’s former Hit Row buddy Top Dolla.
Over the last few months, Mr Dolla decided to call out various AEW stars, like insinuating
the Young Bucks don’t actually collect sneakers, they just do it to be cool, unlike him, who’s
really cool and collects them. This prompted insults from both sides, and
Top Dolla even releasing a diss track. Besides, he’s a former NFL football player. He was
in one of the hottest acts in WWE. Vince McMahon had big plans for him, and he was seen as
the star of Hit Row. Those no way he’s going anywhere. Please, have another glass of the
Kool-Aid. He was released several weeks after his call
up, seemingly for caring too much. And now two AEW stars have said Dolla has burnt his
bridge to them… In a Vlog Crew stream with Alan Angels, current
TNT Champion Sammy Guevara said Top Dolla is “never” coming to AEW, and then they
both laughed. Nia Jax, meanwhile, has said it’s very unlikely
she’ll return to WWE, replying to a fan on Twitter who wanted her to join Roman Reigns’
Bloodline faction with a “hard f***** no.” Lana has previously revealed that Jax clashed
with her real life cousin Roman at last year’s Survivor Series pay-per-view, because Reigns
nixed Nia’s table spot with her - which was kind of their whole storyline - because
he wanted to do a table spot with Drew McIntyre in his main event. He is the Head of All Tables,
after all. Perhaps this has caused lingering heat between the two, or she just doesn’t
want to ever come back to WWE, previously implying she’s done with wrestling.
Kevin Owens’ WWE contract expires at the end of January, and he’s made several references
about joining his former Mount Rushmore faction of the Young Bucks and Adam Cole in AEW on
Raw. Some have taken his current main event program with Big E and Seth Rollins over the
WWE title as a sign he might be re-signing, but Dave Meltzer has revealed it’s still
expected backstage that KO is leaving at the end of January, and him being in the Day 1
match is just for him to take the pin and keep everyone else strong - effectively putting
someone over on his way out, just like Bryan Danielson did earlier this year for Reigns.
But the beauty of intellectual property is that even when WWE fire you, they can still
release merchandise based on your creations! WWE Shop has just brought out a new Holiday
POP! Vinyl figure for the Fiend - complete with cute Santa hat and glow in the dark functionality.
Wyatt now goes by Windham Rotunda and is a free-agent having been released on the 31st
July. AEW is apparently interested, but he’s currently shooting a horror movie. He’s
only announced wrestling appearance is as a guest for WrestleCon in April.
On Saturday, PWInsider reported WWE sent Jeff Hardy home after he had a ‘rough night’
at a house show. He was described as sluggish in his match, and then bizarrely tried to
leave through the crowd before being escorted out by security.
In an update to Jeff Hardy’s condition, his brother Matt has said on Twitch that he’s
spoken to him and “he’s ok, he’s good… He is at home and he’s okay.” He didn’t
expand any more on the details, saying it’s not his place.
And in another update, WWE might have agreed a new deal with Xavier Woods over the UpUpDownDown
channel. Fightful shockingly revealed last month that
WWE actually owns UpUpDownDown and Woods hardly receives any money for having built it up
and continuing to make videos. Out of solidarity, the channel’s creators effectively went
on strike, not posting any content for a month. But now UpUpDownDown have announced Woods
will be hosting a livestream from G4’s studios today. While this could be a promising sign
for the channel, it could just be a G4 related deal, and Woods’ talks might be ongoing.
Now it’s time for Tempest’s review of
last night’s NXT in about 5 minutes. I’m not crying you’re crying.