00:00 "The WrestleMania 40 card is now in chaos. Raw had great ratings, but AEW did not. A
00:07 card at a WWE confirmed, or maybe not confirmed. I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk
00:12 News."
00:13 For the last few months, and certainly a few hours after the Royal Rumble, the card for
00:23 WrestleMania seemed to be pretty much locked in place. This is because, unlike previous
00:28 regimes in WWE, Triple H had a plan for his WrestleMania, stuck with that plan, and is
00:34 now going to see that plan come to life. He's tripeto dancing with his come to life, Plan
00:39 Okio. Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship and CM Punk vs. Seth
00:44 Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship were set to headline the two nights of Mania,
00:48 while Becky Lynch would face Rhea Ripley for the Raw Women's Championship and Royal Rumble
00:52 winner Bayley would face Io Sky. Even the rest of their champions like Gunther had their
00:58 matches reportedly set.
01:00 But there are some things Triple H couldn't plan for, especially when they happen in a
01:04 great week for WWE. It started last Thursday when a lawsuit by former WWE employee Janelle
01:10 Grant was filed against Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis and WWE. We've talked in depth
01:15 about the lawsuit and the Wall Street Journal reporting of it in a video which can be found
01:19 in the video description. It was a lawsuit that prompted the resignation of Vince McMahon,
01:24 but there was another name also implicated in the lawsuit.
01:27 An unnamed WWE star who was also a former UFC Heavyweight Champion was looking to re-sign
01:32 with the company in the summer of 2021, and has had several accusations against them including
01:37 - but not limited to - being offered grant for sexual favours in return for signing a
01:42 new contract. The Wall Street Journal said that those close to the situation think that
01:46 the unnamed star was Brock Lesnar. The Wrestling Observer, PWInsider and Fightful all reported
01:51 that Brock's planned Royal Rumble return was shelved. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling
01:55 Observer reported that all of Brock's spots in the Rumble - which had been finalised on
01:59 Friday - were given to NXT call-up Bron Breakker, which included his entry, his eliminations
02:05 and his own elimination at the hands of Dominik Mysterio. This report was backed up by Post
02:09 Wrestling who said that Brock vs. Dominik was a planned match for Elimination Chamber
02:14 - a report that has been corroborated by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select.
02:18 Fightful also had that Brock's WrestleMania plans were being changed. SRS writes, "Lesnar
02:22 was discussed as a potential opponent for Gunther at WrestleMania, which had not been
02:27 discussed throughout the weekend nearly as much." Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer
02:31 Radio noted that Lesnar is likely done with WWE for good - though you can never say never
02:38 in the world of professional wrestling. Bret, Warrior and Punk for example. And Fightful
02:42 write, "One WWE source said that it could be 'a long time' before we see Lesnar
02:47 again unless something drastic changes."
02:50 And it's not just the Brock news that has changed plans. WrestleVotes report via Twitter
02:55 that between the unfortunate injury to CM Punk, the questionable status of Seth Rollins
02:59 and the pulling of Brock Lesnar, the WrestleMania card has taken a sharp turn. Source said,
03:05 "There are a number of brand new card variations on the table, including some superstars who
03:10 were not pegged towards the top just days ago. I'm being told they will take their
03:15 time to figure things out and consider just about everything."
03:19 Card variation sounds like the sort of thing that Laurie Blake says to me when he's explaining
03:23 a new deck builder that he's recently gotten into. So we already know about Brock and we
03:27 sort of already knew about Rollins, so what about Punk?
03:30 "CM Punk announced on Monday's Raw that he tore his tricep during the Royal Rumble,
03:34 which will require surgery. This means that he's going to miss Elimination Chamber and
03:40 this year's WrestleMania." Fightful Select report that Punk waved off help from The Doctor
03:45 at ringside as he wanted to finish the match. And it's horribly poetic that his first
03:49 match in WWE was the same match he had in his last match in WWE, the Royal Rumble. And
03:54 that 2014 Rumble saw Punk get a concussion early on in the match and he told a referee
03:59 at ringside that he didn't want a doctor as he was going to finish the match.
04:03 I bring up the Rumble 2014 as Oli Davis and myself just did a near 4 hour deep dive review
04:08 of the show which is now available on our Patreon page. We break down the show as well
04:13 as all the news surrounding it and Punk walking out on WWE and we also chart the first chapter
04:19 on the break up of The Shield. Here's a clip.
04:21 "This is where the quote comes in and I'll apologize if you don't like the F word. I
04:26 do not love this anymore. I do not love this anymore. I'm bearing sick, I'm bearing hurt,
04:34 I'm bearing confused. I don't know as a business what we're doing anymore. Every day you tell
04:38 me this is a team effort but every day it's a bearing individual effort by me to find
04:42 out what's necessary to even bearing come here. It's not fun. I have zero bearing passion
04:47 for this. I'm bearing concussed, I'm bearing hurt and all you care about is what segment
04:52 I'm in and how soon I can bearing get my gear on and how I can pee in this bearing cup and
04:58 I don't want to do it anymore."
05:00 Triple H then told him, "Well Batista took the same piss test." Punk according to him
05:04 looked him in the eye and said, "Did you?" And got no response.
05:12 Punk was set to face Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania,
05:17 but that is now off the card. The likely replacement for him would be Drew McIntyre which was set
05:22 up on Raw, but there could be another option. Seth Rollins cut an impassioned promo to Cody
05:26 Rhodes on Raw this week, asking him to use his Royal Rumble victory to choose him rather
05:31 than Roman Reigns. This is because, Seth argues, Roman's belt is the Hulk Hogan title that
05:37 wrestlers politic backstage to get, while Seth's belt is for actual wrestlers - essentially
05:42 calling it the NWA World Championship by saying it was Dusty's belt. It was such a good promo
05:49 that the live crowd - who originally chanted "no, no, no" when Seth said Cody should
05:54 choose him - bought into Seth's pitch, as did Cody who said he would think about it.
05:59 I gave my thoughts on this in yesterday's Raw review, feeling it was a promo with no
06:03 good outcomes. Cody's choice will bury one of the titles. He either sticks with Roman
06:08 and makes Seth's belt feel even more secondary than it currently does, or he picks Seth and
06:13 confirms his views that Roman's belt is worthless tat. I've since softened on that following
06:19 yesterday's WrestleTalk Podcast. A few pointed out - correctly so - that it could just take
06:24 one promo from Cody to make all of it make sense and elevate both titles. Cody has been
06:29 announced to be on Smackdown this week, but if Dave Meltzer is to be believed, he won't
06:34 be giving his answer then either. Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio, "The idea
06:39 behind the Raw promo is they can build up for a week or two and pop a big rating for
06:45 Cody's decision." And there is a chance that Cody could pick Seth, as this year's
06:51 WrestleMania also has a rock-shaped cloud hanging over it asking if it can smell what
06:55 is cooking. The Rock returned to WWE on Day 1 to brag about America, bury Jinder Mahal
07:01 and tease a match with Roman Reigns - a match that WWE have wanted to do for a number of
07:05 years. Dave Meltzer has reported that match likely won't happen at this year's WrestleMania,
07:10 but it will happen at some point in 2024 - hinting that it could be done in Saudi Arabia. But
07:17 The Rock himself told Fox News on the subject of Rock vs. Roman at WrestleMania, "We're
07:23 talking about that right now. If we were to do something like that, we could possibly
07:28 put on the biggest WrestleMania of all time. So short answer and long answer is, we're
07:34 figuring it out." But even with all of that turmoil in the news for WWE, this past Monday's
07:39 Raw saw a monster rating for the show - pulling in 1.91 million viewers, the largest audience
07:45 for the show since June, and the best overall rating since the post-Survivor Series episode
07:50 with the return of CM Punk. Impressively looking at WrestleNomics' breakdown of the quarter
07:55 hours, Punk opening the show actually grew the audience - starting at 2.01 million viewers
08:00 and growing to 2.17 million by the time the segment ended. While the high points of Raw's
08:05 audience came from the Cody and Seth promo, which brought in a whopping 2.20 million viewers.
08:11 I know a lot of you aren't, but I'm really going to miss this Raw ratings chat when the
08:14 show moves to Netflix. I like talking about ratings.
08:17 On Monday's episode of the WrestleTalk News, Oli Davis talked about the impressive viewership
08:21 for the Royal Rumble - with internal reports saying it was the most watched Rumble event
08:25 in history. And that might explain why AEW Collision drew a dismal 300,000 viewers - the
08:31 second lowest rating the show has ever gotten. And the only reason it's the second lowest
08:38 is because the actual lowest was when the show was moved to Friday nights ahead of Full
08:42 Gear in November. This week's episode also drew less viewers than this week's episode
08:48 of AEW Rampage - which is historically AEW's lowest rated show as it's on that death slot
08:55 of Friday nights.
08:56 So do you know what AEW need? They need another major signing, a big announcement from Tony
09:03 Khan - which could be the signing of Kazuchika Okada. But not if WWE get there first.
09:08 Today, January 31st, marks the final day of Okada's time in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
09:15 One of the company's biggest stars, arguably the greatest professional wrestler of this
09:20 generation - a star so bright that New Japan put in a new president just to try and keep
09:28 him. And he's going to be a free agent.
09:31 Since the news came out that Okada was leaving New Japan, WWE and AEW became the predictable
09:36 frontrunners to sign him. It was reported that Okada's appearance on AEW Dynamite last
09:40 year was a test run for him to see what working with the company on a weekly basis would look
09:45 like. Meanwhile Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that WWE pushing Shinsuke
09:50 Nakamura - a close friend of Okada - into big programs with Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes
09:55 was being done to "entice Okada over" by showing him what he could be getting if he
10:00 signs with WWE.
10:02 Programs where he loses and slips down the card doesn't seem like a great deal, I'll
10:06 be honest. AEW's Tony Khan has been promising big things for All Elite Wrestling in 2024,
10:11 and it's believed that the signing of Okada and Mercedes Monet - the former Sasha Banks
10:15 - is the reason behind his promise. That was until Pro Wrestling Tees announced that they
10:21 have been asked to remove all of Okada's merchandise from their online store - a sign
10:27 that he was, in fact, going to sign with WWE instead. After all, Seth needs a new challenger
10:34 for his world title, so why not put Okada in there?
10:37 But before we all cock our fists and say, "Okada to WWE confirmed", Dave Meltzer
10:42 is here to piss on our chips, posting on Twitter the Pro Wrestling Tees thing regards no longer
10:48 being able to sell New Japan merchandise of his. It's not a sign he's going to WWE,
10:54 it's not a sign of going to AEW either. Case in point, Jey White's New Japan merchandise
10:59 was pulled from Pro Wrestling Tees before he left for AEW, and Okada signing with WWE
11:05 wouldn't automatically pull him from the site either. For example, CM Punk still has
11:10 his Pro Wrestling Tees page. Plus, you never know, he could sign with TNA and surprise
11:15 you all. And if he does, he might still find a way to work with WWE.
11:19 The Royal Rumble had its fair share of surprises - the returns of Naomi and Andrade and the
11:24 debut of Jade Cargill - but perhaps none more surprising was TNA Knockout Champion Jordan
11:30 Grace being the number 5 entrant. How surprising was it? Well, here's how I reacted.
11:37 [COMMENTATORS COUNTING DOWN]
12:07 Jordan Grace spoke with Fightful about her Rumble appearance and how it all came together,
12:22 confirming several reports that the other entrants in the match didn't know she was
12:26 in the Rumble until the Thursday before the show as they rehearsed the timings. She even
12:31 jokes that several people thought she'd signed with WWE before she explained, "No,
12:35 I'm still with TNA." Hilariously, even Naomi, who had her final match in TNA against
12:41 Grace, did not know that Grace was going to be in the match.
12:46 Following her appearance in the Royal Rumble, Bryan Alvarez on the Bryan and Vinny show
12:49 noted that WWE and TNA now have a working relationship.
12:54 Sean Ross Sapp alluded to one as well on his post-show, and asked Grace if that was the
12:58 case. Fightful write that she had not heard any more about the partnership, and Grace
13:03 herself added, "I have a really good gut feeling. I feel like it's a win-win for
13:07 everyone. Nothing bad could come from a relationship between TNA and WWE."
13:13 Before you make that claim I'd probably ask Progress and WXW their thoughts on that.
13:17 But this weekend will be a double dose of TLC, looking at the best and worst Royal Rumble
13:21 matches, so why not catch up on the format as we count down the 10 worst wrestling entrance
13:26 themes.
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