In this WrestleTalk News, Kenny Omega shoots on Will Ospreay, more AEW injuries force more
changes to Forbidden Door, Triple H is back at WWE with MORE POWER.
We all like to celebrate our birthdays in different ways, some like an absolute rager,
some like a quiet drink with a few close mates, some people cry at their party because they
want to, and others well… you know… do something special, but I’m not sure this
is the butt stuff they had in mind.
Because a rogue billboard in Troy, Alabama has been erected by some Digestive Health
Specialists to celebrate WWE star AJ Styles turning 45 by proclaiming “time for his
colonoscopy”.
Not sure he wanted that announced to the world.
Ut always good to keep on top of your health.
Kenny Omega Shoots on Will Ospreay!
Speaking of Forbidden Doors, AEW is gearing up for their collaborative pay-per-view with
NJPW this weekend and one notable name who was big in Japan will unfortunately be absent
due to injury, Kenny Omega.
Omega did take time before the event to speak to Fightful though and some interesting things
to say about two of NJPW’s current top talents, Jay White and Will Ospreay.
He said that White became their “box office superstar”, the guy you “could base a
pay-per-view off”.
Meanwhile he said that Will Ospreay despite being able to “do anything” in the ring
and called him “a guy who is great at moves and has a list of 20 very forgettable five-star
matches”.
OUCH!
Omega did pull himself up though before he got too carried away saying that he was going
a “little too hard on Will.
Will is great”.
Then he barrelled on damning Will with faint praise: “Do I think that if you go back
into the works of some of the legends, I'm even going to throw my name in the hat, even
if you go back to when I was having five-star matches and I was that sort of guy, I just
think that the matches from back then were more memorable and as hard as Will is working,
he just isn't quite...Will is there...I'm digging myself into a hole here, Will is there
and Will is great.”
He then called Jay White “the star of the two” - Kenny man come on.
Kenny then moved on discussing his own slew of injuries saying he could pinpoint the exact
moment he developed the vertigo he has been battling in recent years to a G1 Semifinals
match against Okada where Kazuchika hit a dropkick, flipped and landed knee first on
Omega’s head.
He also said that he knew to take time off when making a video with a chiropractor and
listing his injuries and having to say which he thought would heal on their own - when
the list of ailments that wouldn’t heal became insurmountable the decision was made
to take time off.
And no Kenny Omega interview would be complete without talking video games in some capacity.
Kenny talked up the upcoming AEW Fight Forever game saying the creative aspect of the game
is almost complete and Yukes has kicked production into another level, and though there was a
point where he thought that game wouldn’t come out at all, they’re still targeting
a release this year.
While the Forbidden Door has swung open, allowing talent to walk through for dream match-apalooza,
unfortunately it seems the door also hit plenty of people in the ass on the way in and now
they’re injured.
Card subject to change is the word of the day here as even more names have been pulled
from the show due to injury - this time one of the contenders for the match to crown the
inaugural All-Atlantic Champion.
Four men qualified the for the bout: Malakai Black, PAC, Miro and Tomohiro Ishii, but AEW
were forced to announce last night that Ishii has not been medically cleared to participate
so will be replaced by the person he beat in order to qualify NJPW’s Clark Connors.
Will a single match on the card go ahead as advertised.
Only time will tell.
AEW must have smashed some serious mirrors recently as they are dealing with an absolute
slew of injuries, like Kenny Omega, Darius Martin, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Red Velvet,
The Bunny, Anthony Bowens and Buddy Matthews.
Joining that motley crew is Kyle O’Reilly who Tony Khan announced was injured on the
AEW Unrestricted podcast: “That’s a real life legitimate injury, and Kyle O’Reilly
is out.
Not sure how long, but it’s a big loss, and we were not expecting that.
He had just been on fire for the company lately, so it’s a big deal to lose Kyle O’Reilly.”
Kyle took a baseball bat to the nutsack, so this could all be kayfabe, or a way to write
him off for a little while.
Though Darby Allin has already teased that he doubts Kyle’s claim that he’s not medically
cleared for Forbidden Door.
Meanwhile, it’s not only injury getting in the way of people appearing on Forbidden
Door, but other doors, like the one between CMLL and NJPW.
Dave Meltzer noted that Andrade and Rey Fenix aren’t allowed to wrestle at Forbidden Door
because “CMLL is the exclusive provider of Mexican wrestlers to New Japan Pro Wrestling”
That’s why they will be having their match on this week’s Rampage instead, as they
can’t compete on the PPV.
Someone who is competing on the ppv but not necessarily in the match you would have imagined
is Hangman Adam Page.
Page is taking on Jay White, Kazuchika Okada and Adam Cole for the IWGP Heavyweight Title,
and not in the tournament to crown the Interim AEW World Champion, despite having been the
last person to hold the belt before CM Punk.
Page told Wrestling Inc that he’s totally cool with that decision though: “I had a
match announced for that ‘Dynamite’ and then later I think, they announced the Battle
Royal.
So, I couldn’t get my way into this Battle Royal, try as I might, I think it’s typically
been the story in AEW.
I had my championship match.
I had it the previous Sunday and I lost.
So I’m out of contention for a bit.
That’s fine.”
“I’ll do what it takes to get back there.
If it wasn’t for the next week, that’s fine.
It took me three years to get there.
I’m not going to be put off too much waiting an extra month or two if it takes it to work
my way back to that chance.”
Let’s pop on over to WWE now where reportedly Triple H mysteriously announced that “I’m
back” to the Performance Center crew this week, seemingly signaling a return to his
position at NXT.
Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer followed up by indicating that Triple H “is back
with more power” in WWE.
This comes at a time when Vince McMahon and John Laurinatis are both under investigation
and have stepped away from their corporate roles, fresh off her own ‘step-away’ Stephanie
McMahon has stepped back into the role of acting CEO and now Triple H has returned to
full duties with more power.
What impact this has on the televised product remains to be seen as thus far Vince is still
retaining control of the creative and showing up on the episodes of Raw and Smackdown as
some sort of act of defiance.
WWE sadly can’t escape the injury vortex either though as they’ve had a number of
names having to take time off recently, and some who have been out for a good long while
like Bayley who tore her ACL during training.
Bayley has been teasing a return on her social media of late and has long passed suspected
the return time-frame, but while celebrating her birthday yesterday she suggested she is
still dealing with her injury.
NXT star Cora Jade tweeted “Dingdong Happy birthday Bayley.
Fight me when you’re healed” To which Bayley responded: “Thanks, suga
mama.
PS – Please respect me, I am injured with a B.A.K.”
Rhea Ripley Has ‘Brain Injury’ (DEFINITELY NOT A CONCUSSION), Will Be Back Soon
Also on the injured list is Rhea Ripley who yesterday we told you has said she injured
her brain/teeth recently and is taking time out as a precaution.
Brain injury sounds a lot like a concussion, but obviously that’s a dirty word around
WWE’s parts.
Dave Meltzer said that Ripley is expected to return “fairly soon” and pointed out
that WWE tells talent not to talk about concussions or COVID, so brain injury could be a clever
code Rhea is using to signal that she’s concussed.
Ric Flair’s Last Match Adds Big Matches & NJPW Talent
Finally let’s talk about Ric Flair’s Last Match, the upcoming Jim Crockett promotions
show which has moved to a bigger venue due to demand and is booking some interesting
matches around the Nature Boy versus a currently unnamed opponent.
Conrad Thompson announced via Twitter an interpromotional match as Impact World Champion John Alexander
is set to take on MLW’s Jacob Fatu with the title on the line.
Also booked is the Motor City Machine Guns versus the team of Eddie Edwards and Davey
Richards.
Backstage News On Flair’s Last Match Show
But as I said earlier the main match, Flair’s last one is still up in the air.
Originally it was reported that Flair would be teaming with FTR against the Rock ‘N’
Roll Express and another partner, speculated to be Ricky Steamboat.
It;’s now being reported though that Steamboat has decided not to take part in the match,
apparently his price was “extremely high” and the two sides couldn’t agree to terms
and now FTR’s involvement could be at risk too.
A report from Fightful Select said that AEW CEO Tony Khan has yet to give clearance for
Cash and Dax to wrestle Flair’s last match which is literally 7 days away at this point.
Previously though it has been suggested by Ric’s former podcast co-host Mark Madden
that Flair and Tony Khan had a falling out after the plane Ride From Hell episode of
Dark Side of the Ring aired and Flair’s controversial conduct on the flight was back
in the headlines.
Flair is also said to have ‘friction’ with AEW star Jay Lethal who was initially
training Ric for an in-ring return, though Flair said tension arose between the two when
Lethal found out he was not booked to participate on the show.
WOOOOOOO-boy what
a mess.