00:00Bullying accusations against WWE, an update on WWE cancelling major shows, my review of
00:06NXT and more. I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:13The first story we're going to cover today contains talk of self-harm and suicide, so
00:17trigger warning. If you want to skip that chat, please use the timestamp on screen.
00:22Priscilla Kelly, who wrestled for WWE as Gigi Dolan, was released from her contract in May
00:26of this year, despite having just started a group with Tatum Paxley and Shotzi, the latter
00:30of which also didn't have her contract renewed when it came up. She had been a featured character
00:34in NXT as part of Toxic Attraction with Mandy Rose and JC Jane, but the split of that group
00:39didn't give her a huge amount of direction. And in a new interview with the always excellent
00:44Denise Salcedo, Kelly has opened up about her struggles with her mental health while working
00:49for WWE and accuses them of bullying. She told Denise Salcedo,
00:53I went through a lot of stuff in WWE that kind of shot me into this horrible depression
00:58at the tail end of Toxic Attraction. I was severely depressed. She adds that she put on
01:03weight and stopped caring about her in-ring work, saying I was just so depressed because
01:07of things that were happening behind the scenes.
01:11She adds that while she was also dealing with a lot in her personal life, including her father
01:15being in prison, the pressure of WWE is a lot. She says, I don't want to bring it up
01:20because I know it'll blow up and then it'll become a whole thing, but let's just say,
01:24some people were very, very, very not nice to me, to the point that I was suicidal for
01:30a little bit because I was really going through it.
01:33She says that once she got out of NXT and started working for the main roster on Main Event,
01:37she started to feel more like herself.
01:39This is not the first time that a former NXT star has talked about the bullying culture behind
01:43the scenes. As Elena Black, the former Cora Jade, said in an interview with Ariel Helwani,
01:48I definitely think things could have went differently in WWE if it weren't for certain
01:53things like the body shaming thing.
01:55I came in at 19 years old. I was like 110 pounds. I was so small. It was just constant
02:01comments, whether it was from guys who think they're being funny or, I'm not going to
02:04name names again, but I remember specifically being told that I wasn't and wouldn't be
02:09champion in that company because I looked like I couldn't crack an egg. Multiple conversations
02:13about my body, which I don't think anyone, especially another man, should be saying that
02:18to a female. I was so young and it created a lot of issues for me body-wise.
02:23She was clear in the interview that the men she's referring to were not Shawn Michaels
02:26or Triple H. Black herself was accused of bullying in NXT by WWE trainee Alexis Letty, accusations
02:33which Black denies, posting on Twitter,
02:34there is absolutely no respect for wrestling with people like this and it's not my job
02:39to care about anymore. Which is exactly what is wrong with that entire place, that entire
02:44place being WWE, in general. I spoke to her maybe five times, if that. Blunt to a fault,
02:49yes, but bullying is crazy.
02:52Since leaving WWE, Priscilla Kelly has been a busy bee working around the indies, including
02:56places like Maple Leaf Pro, Juggalo Championship Wrestling, GCW, TJPW and more. And in that interview
03:01with Denise Alcedo, she talked about the amount wrestlers earn while working in WWE's developmental
03:07system, which has been a big talking point over the last week or so following the release
03:11of Ridge Holland. She said a lot of fans, for some reason, think that if you work in WWE
03:17and you're under the umbrella, you're a millionaire. That's not the case. In NXT,
03:21there's contracts as low as 30 grand a year, and they do not go as high as you think.
03:26She says that living in Florida, which you have to as part of the developmental process,
03:30is expensive, on top of things like having to buy your own gear. She adds that because
03:34you can't earn money outside of WWE, you actually don't earn a lot being part of WWE.
03:41She says, I arguably think I actually make more than I did in NXT now working the indies,
03:45which is wild for people to comprehend. This isn't the first time a wrestler has said
03:50this either. Even at the heights of NXT in its black and gold era, several indie names
03:54who were getting regular bookings turned down NXT contracts as they would make more money
03:59outside of WWE than within it. Jasmine Nix, who turned down a WWE contract renewal offer
04:04recently, said the reason she decided to leave was because she wasn't offered enough money
04:09to stay. It's a great interview by the always great Denise Salcedo, and you can watch the
04:13full thing by clicking the link in the video description down below.
04:16Speaking of money, TKO's Mark Shapiro did an interview recently where he said the company
04:21needs to move on from certain WWE PLEs that were created by Vince McMahon, specifically
04:26pointing to the financial success of Wrestle Palooza, which led to some fan speculation
04:34that WWE would drop shows like SummerSlam, Survivor Series or even WrestleMania.
04:39However, I felt that Shapiro wasn't really talking about those shows, i.e. the tentpole
04:44PPVs or The Big Five, and he was more talking about the B-level shows like Backlash, Fastlane,
04:50Bad Blood, that sort of thing. Rebranding some of those to new names, new IPs like they did
04:55with Wrestle Palooza, the idea being that one day they can be seen as big brand names like
05:00WrestleMania or Money in the Bank that cities will be willing to pay for. And that would
05:04appear to be the case, according to Fightful Select, who were told by a WWE higher up, Saudi
05:09Arabia isn't paying for Wrestle Palooza, they're paying for WrestleMania and the value
05:13of that name and brand is the reason for that. Fightful add in addition that same WWE higher
05:18up noted that Indianapolis and New Orleans had future events committed to them under the
05:23WrestleMania and SummerSlam banners beyond what is already announced.
05:27Speaking of big shows, next year's Wrestle Kingdom will see the retirement match of the
05:31legendary Hiroshi Tanahashi, where he will face his longtime rival AEW's Kazuchika Okada,
05:38which is down to the working partnership and relationship between New Japan and All Elite
05:42Wrestling.
05:43Now partnerships and working relationships seem like a good idea in theory. You can exchange
05:47talent, get your talent exposure in other regions and it can usually benefit both sides.
05:52While the actual record-breaking attendance for Bound for Glory has since been disputed,
05:56the name value of TNA is probably at its highest since before Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff destroyed
06:02it and a good part of that is because of their relationship with WWE. So in theory, partnerships
06:09are great. But in theory, communism works. In theory. Because partnerships can create roadblocks.
06:15AEW, for example, struggled with booking some of their own talent who had a history with
06:20AAA on the early Forbidden Door shows because New Japan have a working relationship with
06:25CMLL, who are rivaled to AAA. That of course has been sorted out because AEW are also working
06:30with CMLL and WWE have purchased AAA.
06:34And while Okada was always the obvious name for Tanahashi's final match, there were some
06:38reports that believed there was a chance it could be someone else, WWE's Shinsuke Nakamura.
06:45Dave Meltzer reported that discussions were taking place between New Japan and WWE to make
06:50this happen, but it would be very difficult politically given the relationship and partnership
06:55New Japan has with All Elite Wrestling.
06:58And now Tanahashi has confirmed this himself with an interview with NKH Radio, saying that
07:03he met with Nakamura ahead of one of WWE's shows in Japan, and while the pair did want
07:08to do the match, it was impossible due to AEW being a rival promotion to WWE.
07:16Kakatulog add in their report that they've heard there are delicate negotiations between
07:21New Japan and Noah to get a match between Tanahashi and Nakamura in January before Wrestle
07:26Kingdom as Noah is a partner promotion of WWE, which would allow that to happen.
07:31And it's Wednesday, you know what that means, it's time for my review of this week's
07:34NXT.
07:35The show opened with Tatum Paxley cutting a promo alongside The Culling, with Izzy Dame
07:39telling Paxley that she needs to stop handing out title shots because she might lose the
07:44title.
07:45Tatum agreed, but spinning that wheel is so much fun and she wants to provide the sort
07:48of opportunities she got that made her a champion.
07:52This brought out JC Jane who wanted a rematch for her title, Dame told Paxley, you've already
07:56beaten her, and Tatum agreed.
07:58She will be more selective on who she gives title shots to.
08:02After New York.
08:03Because she'll be defending the NXT Women's Championship against JC Jane at next week's
08:07Gold Rush.
08:08I'm really enjoying this Paxley run with the title, and the relationship with Izzy Dame
08:11is so much fun.
08:12Paxley had a conversation with Ricky Sainz later in the show who told her to be the champion
08:16she wants to be, rather than the one people are trying to make her be.
08:20Fantasy Project, Ethan Page and Chelsea Green met with Ava to talk about their title defenses
08:24at Gold Rush, and speaking of titles, Jasper Troy defeated El Grande Americano to win the
08:28vacant Speed Championship.
08:29Americano tried to use the medal plate, but Troy just grabbed him into a black hole slam
08:33and won.
08:34He got a fired up promo later in the show.
08:36Speaking of the Speed Championship, and it looks like WWE might have pulled the trigger
08:40on stripping Sol Rooker of both her North American Championship and Speed titles, as she's
08:44already been medically cleared and will face Blake Monroe for the North American Championship
08:48next week.
08:49While Fallon Henlund beat Skylar Ray in a Speed match for the vacant championship Sol Rooker
08:53just vacated.
08:54Thea Hale will be Albert Fire of the Secret Hervest to build the AAA Mixed Tag Team Championship
08:58match next week against Green and Paige, Joe Hendry's ringside, as he'll be tagging
09:01with Hale, and at this point he just feels like a WWE star rather than a TNA star appearing
09:07on a WWE show.
09:09This one isn't much of anything, but it made me laugh.
09:12We don't get the ad reads on our broadcast on Netflix, so when the commentators are talking
09:16about whatever sponsor it is for whatever segment it is, the feed for us just goes quiet and
09:21we get shots of the crowd.
09:22And on this week's NXT, we got 30 seconds of silence while the camera panned past a bunch
09:28of people looking at their phones and not looking enthused about a wrestling show.
09:33I don't know, maybe they were looking at the sponsor.
09:35Blake Monroe did an interview with herself, specifically the darker side of her personality.
09:41DarkBlake said that LightBlake had the title because of her and she will crack under
09:44the pressure of Sol Rooker if they don't work together.
09:47LightBlake agreed, saying that a spotlight needs darkness and they need each other.
09:52Yeah, I get it, it feels like Teemu, Toni Storm, but I actually quite liked it.
09:56Monroe's performance was very good, and while it has got big warrior in the mirror energy,
10:00this was on the right side of Goofy for me.
10:02Jordan Grace did an interview saying she'll win back the TNA Knockouts title, and Javon
10:06Evans announced that he and Neon Slater will be facing Darkstate for the tag titles next
10:09week, but sadly Slater couldn't be there.
10:12Darkstate came out, with this one guy being so bored of Darkstate he was literally looking
10:16at his phone while the Darkstate guy was stood next to him, and then they came down to the
10:20ring to beat a solo Evans, but it was all a ruse as Slater was there all along.
10:24They cleared house and stood tall.
10:26Leon Slater is so quite clearly WWE bound when his TNA deal is done.
10:31Tavon Heights beat Josh Briggs at a good hard hitting match, Laney Reid brawled with Kendall
10:34Grey backstage, and the main event saw Ricky Sainz retain his NXT Championship against Trick
10:38Williams in a really good last man standing match.
10:41They told a fun story of plunder and increasingly violent spots, and ended with a wild spear from
10:46the stand through the commentary desk.
10:47Obafemi then made his return to NXT, which might pour some water on Oli's fantasy booking
10:52fire of him winning the Cena tournament.
10:55This was another good edition of NXT, which continues to be WWE's best weekly show.
10:59But Raw was no slouch this week, with a superb edition of the show, including John Cena winning
11:05the IC title.
11:06Oli and I reviewed it in full over on the WrestleTalk podcast, which you can check out by clicking
11:10the video on screen.
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