Ow, that explosion really hurt.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to compete for the Jampionship at our Fastlane live reactions
this Sunday now.
I might have to put the most prestigious title in all of Jameterainment to one side right
now though while I find the coward who tried to blow me up.
CARUSO ALERT!
Over the last several weeks, you might’ve noticed that sound has been missing from my
Monday Night Raw reviews - because backstage interviewer No. 1 Mean Charly Caruso hasn’t
been seen on TV since declaring she loves DP on Raw Talk.
Which stands for Damien Priest.
Not anything else I can think of.
Where she’s been replaced by new interviewer Kevin Patrick.
While it’s not uncommon for talent to suddenly disappear from TV at the moment because of,
you know, reasons, her absence hasn’t really been that talked about.
After all, she is WWE’s most senior backstage correspondent.
But according to a new report from Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, there’s far more
to her not being around.
Apparently Caruso “gained heat backstage after consistently being late to conduct interviews
meant for Raw,” specifically “with Randy Orton and Sheamus that led to WWE taking her
off television for the time being after word got back to higher ups.”
The higher ups in question went as high as Vince McMahon himself, who, upon receiving
word of Caruso’s frequent lateness, “took exception to the situation”.
This could be spelling the end for Caruso in WWE, as “the belief among the talent
roster (though unconfirmed by Fightful) is that her WWE contract expires soon, but there's
no word on her future with the company.”
If she does leave, she’d follow in the footsteps of the previous senior backstage interviewers
Dasha Fuentes, who now works for AEW, and Renee Young.
One source within WWE pointed to the recent Kevin Patrick hiring and his position as Raw
Talk host “as a direct replacement to her”.
One of Caruso’s other main roles within WWE was hosting Kickoff panels before PPV
events, so we’ll have to see if she’s present during this Sunday’s Fastlane Kickoff,
or makes the trip to the Raymond James Stadium for WrestleMania.
What would you want to see Charly Caruso do next?
Let me know in the comments down below because I’ll be replying to people FROM OUTTA CARUSO
ALERT.
Speaking of things potentially pulled from Fastlane… please make this one be true segway…
Braun Strowman vs Shane McMahon, which was officially announced for this Sunday’s pay-per-view
on Monday’s go-home Raw, has been pulled from wwe.com.
There’s no word on whether the match will still go ahead, but the expectation is that
they’ll still fight at WrestleMania.
Likely with green slime in a Get Your Own Back match.
Which you can buy tickets for… eventually, I think.
Despite also announcing tickets would go on sale this week, with reported plans to host
45,000 people - making it the biggest attendended event since the pandemic began - the Tampa
Bay Times is now reporting this has been scaled back to 25,000, or around 36% of the Raymond
James stadium’s capacity - which Stephanie McMahon herself later confirmed on Sportico’s
“Return To The Stands”.
Last night’s episode of NXT was also hit by last minute changes because of the reported
Covid outbreak at the Performance Center.
They still managed to confirm Finn Balor will defend his NXT Title against Karrion Kross
at the two night Stand and Deliver, while Cruiserweight Champion Santos Escobar will
defend his title against Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin in a title unification match.
Elsewhere, NXT UK Champion WALTER made his return to NXT, destroying Tomasso Ciampa - hopefully
also setting up a TakeOver match.
But it is Thursday, you know what that means - my review of last night’s episode of AEW
Dynamite’s St Patrick’s Day Slam special in about 5 minutes!
Following neither guy winning the giant Face of the Revolution cheerio, Pentagon started
their match right away, doing a senton dive up the stage while Cody was making his entrance.
Dude, you can insult the man’s unborn daughter.
But not his entrance!
This was an excellent back and forth match based around Cody’s whitemeat babyface appeal
and, far more importantly, Penta debuting his St Patricks Day action figure variant.
Penta kicked out of big move after big move, and then did the arm break spot on Cody’s
injured shoulder.
That should’ve sealed his win for me, but instead Rhodes immediately rolled Penta up
to get the win when he probably should’ve taken the loss.
The arm injury was more than enough to protect him in defeat, and it really devalues the
arm break spo- Oh my God Penta’s got a different new hat.
What was I saying?
The Nightmare Family chased off Penta from his post-match beatdown, which QT Marshall
was really late for - neatly furthering his heel turn.
After looking really good in her debut match tagging with Shaq, Jade Cargill squashed Dani
Jordyn in barely a minute, then stared down Red Velvet at ringside.
Looking great all wearing suits, we then got MJF and Tully Blanchard cut a masterful explanation
promo of their evil, almost year long plan to not takeover the Inner Circle, but destroy
them while building a far stronger faction, which they’re now calling The Pinnacle.
MJF was incredible here, saying I guess I’m the Judas here, bodyshaming Jericho’s hairline
and separated pectorals, and putting over each one of the group.
Wardlow’s the best big guy in wrestling.
FTR are the only grand slam team in history.
Shawn Spears is a wrestler’s wrestler - he even made me care about Spears! - and MJF
is only 24.
Isn’t that incredible?
The guy is only 24, yet fully formed as one of the best talkers and characters in the
business.
Every shred of goofy, Dinner Debonaire comedy was gone here.
It was all a rouse, a trick, a joke to sucker you in.
This was utterly serious and, far more importantly with wrestling, credible.
They took over the Inner Circle’s locker room later on.
Hardy’s Heroes of him, Private Party and the Butcher and the Blade took on Bear Country
and Jurassic Express next in an all over the place ten man tag, but in a fun way.
The babyface factions started to infight, meaning Hardy could glory hog a win over Marko
Stunt, despite Private Party doing all the work.
A Hall of Fame worthy talent then actually got to cut a promo without being interrupted
for a change!
Christian told Dasha backstage why he’s in AEW.
It’s to cement his legacy, to prove that he’s not just a workhorse, he’s the workhorse.
So he’s going to prove himself all over again, get the wins, and, one day, go for
Kenny Omega’s AEW title.
It’s quite obvious AEW aren’t going to push Christian right to the top Goldberg style
as some feared, and I think this is a great use of him.
And we’ll have to see how he factors into the multi-layered storytelling tapestry that
is all things Super Elite…
After another great Moxley and Kingston promo where Jon was annoyed for wasting money on
TalkNShop-Amania, and debating whether it was legal to say Bullet Club, they both took
on the Good Brothers in a highly anticipated tag match.
Gallows and Anderson beat up Jon Moxley before the bell, wiping him out with a MagiKiller,
letting them work over Kingston for the majority.
But despite that, and Moxley being heavily taped up from the Deathmatch, he still eeked
out a win rolling up Karl Anderson.
I get you want to protect Moxley, but I think holding off on that victory revenge is more
important right now - and you could’ve built a lot more heat by restaining Jon while beating
up Kingston and eventually pinning him.
Oh but wait Penta’s got a hat on, ah, it’s all good.
Kenny Omega came down for a Super Elite beatdown where they pilmanised Eddie’s ankle and
where about to do the same to Mox, when the Young Bucks stopped them!
They refused to Too Sweet the boss, and walked off in the biggest Elite split so far.
Darby Allin and Sting did a promo where, of course, they were interrupted.
First by Lance Archer, who wants more time, then by Brian Cage, who defied Team Taz by
calling Sting an Icon.
Darby did get to neatly set up more TNT title defences, as he’s only done three since
winning it, and wants to start by paying tribute to the greatest TNT champ of all time… Brodie
Lee.
He’ll face John Silver next week.
Scorpio Sky is a heel now.
Fenix beat Angelico in a really cool clash of lucha libre styles,
Miro warned Kip Sabian never to have your wife at ringside, continuing their dissension
And the main event was one of the best matches in Dynamite history.
Which is great as it was historical significant too.
This was the first women’s TV main event in AEW.
It’s been a long time coming, but hopefully Thunder Rosa vs Britt Baker’s unsanctioned
match really does mark a watershed in this promotion’s booking of their women’s division.
It was levels of brutal you never see in North American women’s matches, with both Rosa
and Baker bleeding absolute gushers all over the canvas, and multiple insane spots like
a superplex onto a chair pile, a Death Valley Driver onto a ladder, a powerbomb onto thumbtacks
and a driver off the apron through a table to eventually win.
Take that all the dentists that yanked my teeth out as a 14 year old.
Sometimes you get out what you put into a match.
This really was equality, letting the women go out there and be just as violent and featured
as the men, all while fleshing out the rest of the division, showing Shida and Cargill
watching on.
What did you think of AEW Dynamite?
Let me know in the comments down below, and vote in our Poll on a Pole match on the community
tab, where 74% voted for Thank you Thunder Rosa for getting revenge for my teenage braces.
While that main event was five out of five, the rest of the show was rather average for
AEW, with the Cody and Moxley finishes being a rare slight misstep for the overall booking
- levelling out this week’s Dynamite to four out of five.
Subscribe to the WrestleTalk Podcast channel using the i above my head or link in the video
description below, because Luke and I will have our full AEW podcast review today…
where I’ll also ask him if it was him who blew me up!
Click the video on the right now to watch our AEW Podcast review!
And click the video below that to watch last night’s big QuizzleMania XXX show, with
Alex Queen of the Ring defending her crown.
I’ve been Mr Davis, Jam that Jam.