00:00Were some of the WWE draft plans changed?
00:03Some actual good news for AEW's TV rights negotiations, possibly?
00:08And my review of Monday Night Raw.
00:10I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:19I think it's fair to say that fans felt a little bit… underwhelmed by the first night
00:25of the 2024 draft.
00:26It also led to the lowest Smackdown viewership of the year, not helped by competing against
00:30the actual NFL draft.
00:32So it left fans wondering if WWE would do a WrestleMania 40 and have Night 2 eclipse Night
00:391.
00:40And, well, they did that in terms of changes.
00:42More than double of the wrestlers changed brands as compared to Friday, albeit with an extra
00:48round of drafting.
00:49Amongst those changes last night were some exciting NXT call-ups as Blair Davenport got picked
00:53for Smackdown, Ilya Dragunov and Lyra Valkyria were drafted to Raw, along with Mr Ratio himself,
00:59Dijak, who was announced for the red brand after the show went off the air.
01:02They joined Carmelo Hayes, Baron Corbin and Kiana James, who were plucked from NXT on Friday.
01:07Interestingly, it had been reported that Dijak's contract was coming up soon, and it was reported
01:12that if he re-signed with the company, he would likely remain in NXT.
01:16Perhaps more importantly though, Fight4Select reports Dijak ate a lot of Taco Bell before
01:20having to sit for over three hours straight at the WWE Performance Center.
01:24Keep your eye on WrestleTalk.com for the latest breaking news as that story moves.
01:28It was reported throughout the week by Sean Ross Sapp that talents were not being informed
01:32of potential call-ups ahead of time, which made for some lovely, genuine emotional reactions.
01:37It had been reported by Fight4Select's Corey Brennan a couple of weeks ago that NXT stars
01:42were asking about draft plans, and head booker Shawn Michaels could only reply with a shrug,
01:47as no concrete plans had been made.
01:50Which might be why there were some names being floated around as potential call-ups that did
01:54not happen.
01:55Brennan had reported ahead of Raw that many at the PC are expecting Gallus to be drafted,
02:00presumably because they were instrumental in helping The Rock get back into ring shape ahead
02:05of his WrestleMania 40 match, which for my money still features the best sell of the year.
02:12Another name being tossed around as a potential call-up was Fallon Henley, and Brennan had
02:15previously reported that Tony, D'Angelo and Stax were names being talked about getting
02:19called up.
02:20Another interesting one is The Final Testament, who had been rumoured to be heading to NXT
02:26as part of the 2024 draft, but instead were drafted to Raw in the final round.
02:30Natalya, who was also rumoured to be headed towards NXT according to Corey Brennan, was
02:34also drafted to Raw after Raw went off the air.
02:37Lastly, while Dijak was headed for a Bowel Breaker, Bron Breaker was drafted to Raw and
02:42his Wolf Dogs partner Baron Corbin was moved to SmackDown, despite reports there had been
02:46several pictures made to keep them as a team on the main roster.
02:50Sean Ross Sapp has now revealed the real reason the team was broken up, reporting that WWE
02:54sees a major single star in Breaker, and that Corbin is likely to get a renewed look
02:59on SmackDown after not being pushed on the main roster since 2022.
03:03To round out the draft news, Giovanni Vinci, Tegan Nox and Apollo Crews were drafted to SmackDown,
03:07while Raw drafted New Catch Republic and kept hold of the Party Girls, The Creed and Ivy
03:11Nile.
03:12And this is the one I know you've all been waiting for, this is the one you've been on
03:16tenterhooks for, Raw somehow managed to keep hold of Odyssey Jones after drafting him last
03:22year.
03:23Anyway, I bet you that was some tense negotiating periods between the brands.
03:26Moving over to AEW now, and unlike WWE who have had all of their TV deals locked in, Tony
03:32Khan still has it all to do.
03:35While outwardly confident regarding AEW's future with Warner Bros. Discovery, things have
03:40been quite up in the air for a bit due to one big factor, the presence of the NBA on TNT.
03:46And according to The Athletic, Amazon have reached a massive agreement regarding the broadcasting
03:51rights for the NBA beginning with the 2025-2026 season.
03:56To quote top tier WrestleTalk fan Dan, NBA is a big one.
04:01So this is obviously a major blow to Warner, but it could prove to be a big positive for
04:06AEW's chances of remaining on the network, as detailed by Dave Meltzer on Twitter, who
04:11noted that TNT's revenue will likely decline significantly, making the retention of AEW more
04:17valuable to them.
04:18Meltzer also alluded to the possibility of Warner moving AEW's A-show Dynamite from
04:23TBS to TNT in NBA's absence.
04:27By all accounts, the Warner and AEW relationship is as good as ever.
04:31Warner is reportedly really happy with AEW Dynamite's low numbers last week and its position
04:36of 6th overall in the cable charts according to PWInsider.
04:39While the numbers were low, it faced stiff sports competition, with many of the shows that had
04:44better numbers than Dynamite being within the same family, aka NBA games on TNT.
04:49The latest episode of the Monday Night War went live yesterday with injuries ruining my
04:53plans.
04:54And if you don't know what I'm talking about, here's what you need to know.
04:58The Monday Night War.
04:59Oh, I'm over budget.
05:00I'm proposing a trade with Raw.
05:01Oh!
05:02He's done it!
05:03He's done it!
05:04He's done it!
05:05I've gone over time!
05:06F*** it!
05:07Andrew Dawkins' contract is up at the end of the week.
05:09I'm not going to renew the contract.
05:10Let's hope he doesn't become champion.
05:11Please be champ!
05:12Please be champ!
05:13Please be champ!
05:14Yes!
05:15He finally pulled it out!
05:18He pulled out the big one!
05:19I then had an email from Shinsuke Nakamura that said, I've got travel issues.
05:23So I fired him.
05:24Oh my god!
05:25A brand new record!
05:27Luke, I had the exact same thing with Nikki Cross, right?
05:30You have no champion!
05:31Just being bail.
05:32It's normal.
05:33Now it's going to be...
05:34Braun.
05:35Why are you guys talking?!
05:36I might have released Bayley!
05:38Dude, isn't Bayley your champion?
05:40Yeah.
05:45We've linked to a whole playlist of Monday Night War Season 4 in the video description,
05:50so set time aside and start your Monday Night War Watch Along today.
05:54And now it's time for my review of Monday Night Raw aka Better Than Night 1 edition of
05:59Monday Night Raw in about 5 minutes.
06:01The show opened with Logan Paul arriving at the arena drinking his terrible drink like
06:05the big heel that he is, making friends with the Judgement Day which will pay off later
06:08in the show.
06:09Becky Lynch opened the show proper to put over how she is the new Women's World Champion
06:14and wanted to find her new number one contender.
06:16This brought out Liv Morgan, who said that Becky was only champion because she did what
06:20Becky could not do.
06:22She took out Rhea Ripley.
06:24Smackdown draftee Nia Jax came out and said that Becky only won because she and Liv double
06:28teamed her, and this set up a match between Liv and Nia for later in the night.
06:33Morgan was full on babyface here, as it looks like they're doing a bit of a slow burn on
06:37that heel turn.
06:38It would have been nice to see a new face in this division though, considering the draft is
06:41supposed to be a signal for new directions for brands.
06:44Stephanie McMahon came out to announce the first round draft for the episode, as Raw picked
06:49up Imperium and Damage Control, while Smackdown kept hold of Jade Cargill and Kevin Owens.
06:53Pat McAfee said that Nick Aldis is an idiot, because Adam Pearce drafted 6 people, while Smackdown
06:58only got 2.
06:59You know, he has a point.
07:00Gunther then beat Xavier Woods in a great showcase that showed off his dominance.
07:04He worked over Woods' knee, which prompted a drama-filled half-crab.
07:08Shoutout to Michael Oku, good luck in your riot cabaret title defence against Mark Andrews
07:12tonight, and Kofi Kingston Tease throwing in the towel.
07:15Woods begged for Kofi to let him continue and got to the ropes, but Gunther dragged him
07:19back to the centre of the ring and tapped him out Zack Sabre Jr style.
07:22A great showing for Gunther this was.
07:25Logan Paul and some YouTube geek came out for the next draft picks.
07:29You know, you could have at least picked someone half-famous in the world of wrestling YouTube.
07:34Keep it on theme.
07:35Oh I don't know, maybe someone who's bald and who has a beard, looks good in a suit.
07:42Someone who is known for their excellent, insightful wrestling opinions.
07:47You know, Simon Miller.
07:48Raw kept hold of CM Punk and got a returning Braun Strowman, while Smackdown kept hold of
07:52The Pride and Tiffany Stratton.
07:54Paul kept the talking going for a very wacky segment where he cut a promo on Jey Uso, because
07:59that's how you promote the brand split and the draft, the number one draft pick for
08:03Raw, teasing a match with a Smackdown champion who cannot be drafted.
08:07This brought out Jey Uso, which then brought out Finn Balor and JD McDonough who beat Jey
08:11up.
08:12Paul then went out of the ring and got Super Bowl rings from a hometown player who got big
08:17cheers for helping the heels beat up the top babyface on Raw.
08:21Braun Strowman made his return to even the odds, and then T's getting into a fight with
08:25that local town sports hero until Jey Uso pulled him away.
08:29What an odd segment.
08:30Cathy interviewed Booker T about the draft picks and he put over Raw drafting Damian Priest,
08:34who wasn't eligible to be drafted, and Drew McIntyre walked up annoyed that CM Punk was
08:39drafted before him.
08:40Sami Zayn and Bronson Reed were having a decent match for the Intercontinental Championship until
08:44Jad Cable caused a DQ.
08:46He was then attacked by Bronson Reed to set up a fun three-way feud, which I am all for,
08:50but it's basically the same thing we're doing on Smackdown in the women's title scene.
08:54The APA then came out to announce that Raw had picked up the LWO and kept Drew McIntyre,
09:08while Smackdown kept Legada Del Phantasma and drafted Shinsuke Nakamura.
09:12This brought out McIntyre who was annoyed that it took Raw so long to draft him, great point,
09:16well made, and said CM Punk was not there.
09:19But CM Punk was there, hiding in a luxury suite.
09:23Drew went to find him, and Ron Simmons said damn.
09:26Cathy interviewed Braun Breaker backstage, but more importantly, Dom got caught in 4K sneaking
09:30out of a room with Liv Morgan.
09:32And then Candice LeRae beat Maxine Dupree in less than two minutes to mercifully end this
09:36feud.
09:37The LWO had conflicted feelings about being drafted with Carlito after it was revealed
09:51that he was the one who attacked fellow faction member Dragon Lee, and Rey continued his forever
09:55feud with Dominic Mysterio by calling him Dirty Sanchez.
09:58And for the rest of you, have this instead.
10:26Drew only found a signed picture of CM Punk in his viewing box, and Punk came out for
10:35a promo on Drew and turned his back, and I sure hope that his apology will be as loud
10:39as that level of disrespect.
10:41Teddy Long and Medusa announced that Raw had kept hold of Judgement Day, and drafted
10:44Ilya Dragunov from NXT, and Smackdown kept Naomi, and drafted Chelsea Green and Piper Niven.
10:50While I'm very happy about Dragunov, that has been a long time coming in my books, I am devastated
10:56that I have lost Piper Niven and Chelsea Green to Smackdown.
11:00Liv Morgan beat Nia Jax when Jax got distracted by Naomi and Tiffany Stratton brawling around
11:04ringside, and the Dudley boys did all three of their catchphrases before announcing that
11:07Raw retained New Day and drafted Lyra Valkyria from NXT, while Smackdown kept Pretty Deadly
11:12and drafted The Way from Raw.
11:14Awesome Truth took on Alpha Academy for the tag titles, which had been set up earlier in
11:17the night by Chad Gable, making a deal with Truth, and berated Otis and Tozawa to win
11:22those titles tonight.
11:23They did not, as Awesome Truth hit their tag finish for the win.
11:26The final round of drafting saw Raw pick up Final Testament and Keith Bronson Reed, while
11:30Smackdown drafted DIY from Raw and Belair Davenport, while Smackdown drafted DIY from Raw and
11:40Blair Davenport from NXT, nearly said it again.
11:42It was quite wholesome how much this meant to Davenport, it also means with both of them
11:46being on the same brand, we can have a real-life version of TIFFDAV!
11:53And the main event saw Jey Uso team with Ricochet and Andrade to beat Judgment Day when JD McDonough,
11:58complete with Perlarious makeup to show off his Super Bowl bruises, tried to help Damien
12:02Priest when he didn't need it.
12:03It backfired, Jey Uso pinned Balor with the Spear and the Splash.
12:07A fun match with a fun finish, but his feud still is very mid-card, and it capped off another
12:11fine edition of WWE Raw, which I'm scoring 3 out of 5.
12:15Now go and check out the first episode of Monday Night War over on Parts of Unknown,
12:18and catch up with the whole season using the link in the video description down below.
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