00:00 I'm Oli Davis, this is the WrestleTalk News - where we'd like to congratulate WWE and
00:11 Triple H on...money.
00:13 Saturday's SummerFest event has been revealed as not just the highest grossing SummerSlam
00:19 in company history, but actually their highest grossing 'premium live' event outside
00:25 of WrestleMania.
00:26 That means, revenue-wise, SummerSlam pulled in over $8.1 million, making it WWE's 10th
00:33 best money-making show of all time.
00:36 Which as a publicly traded corporation, will definitely take their word for.
00:40 WWE would never treat numbers like they were wrestlers' heights, inflating, I don't
00:45 know, say 51,477 tickets sold to officially announce 59,194…
00:51 51,477.
00:52 8.1 million, these are all impressive numbers.
00:58 But there's another figure I'm interested in today.
01:01 1752, aka the amount of time between the first match graphic for SummerSlam's Roman Reigns
01:07 vs Jey Uso main event, and the bell actually ringing.
01:13 That took 17 minutes, 52 seconds.
01:16 If that duration was a match, it'd be the fourth longest on the show.
01:20 In fact, the whole main event presentation, from first graphic to closing final shot on
01:25 a once again victorious Roman, is 57 minutes, 43 seconds.
01:30 Or 22% of the entire show.
01:34 This isn't a one's off.
01:36 Last year's worth of premium live events and episodes of SmackDown have been heavily
01:40 dominated by the Bloodline saga.
01:42 And while it's working, as those segments and matches frequently pull in the most views
01:46 and have been responsible for increasing business across the board for WWE, it does inevitably
01:51 come at the expense of everyone else on the roster.
01:54 In an interview with the Mail Online, Sheamus - who is on the same SmackDown show as the
01:59 Bloodline saga - has expressed frustration over Reigns getting such a high share of TV
02:04 time.
02:05 "Obviously there's the luxury of getting all the storyline time and everything.
02:09 I feel like Roman's made the most of the opportunities he's had.
02:12 But I feel like there's guys on the roster begging for that amount of time to tell their
02:16 own stories, and that's one of the only things that's going.
02:19 The rest of the roster needs story time too.
02:22 It's story time with Sheamus, baby."
02:26 Sheamus specifically brought up the Madison Square Garden episode of SmackDown from the
02:30 7th July.
02:31 That hosted the big Tribal Court segment, where Roman pretended he was going to hand
02:35 over the role of Tribal Chief to Jey before Swerve totally punched him in the dick.
02:41 At the time, reports had that segment allocated for 20 minutes to open the episode.
02:46 It overran by double the scheduled in time, running at 40 minutes total.
02:50 This led to a lot of other stars having their matches or segments cut short, like Karrion
02:54 Kross vs AJ Styles, which had been built up for a few weeks.
02:58 The Bloodline still had another 10 minutes to close that episode, meaning they practically
03:01 took up half the show.
03:03 Sheamus confirms in his interview that he had his match affected then too.
03:07 He reveals that he originally had two segments planned with Austin Theory, but that turned
03:11 into three small segs on the floor, so that's tough as well to go out and do that.
03:16 Sheamus makes sure to say he's not taking anything away from the Bloodline All Reigns.
03:21 He acknowledges it's the biggest thing in the company right now, and it's a complex,
03:25 multi-layered story that takes time to tell.
03:28 But it does come at the expense of the rest of the roster.
03:30 Do you think the Bloodline saga has taken up too much TV time?
03:34 It's kind of classic WWE.
03:35 Here's a hot thing.
03:37 So let's focus on that at the expense of not building anything to take its place when
03:41 it's over.
03:42 John Cena cough John Cena.
03:44 Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below.
03:46 Not that it really bothers Reigns, he's issued his first ex-ex-ex, that's what we're
03:54 saying now since retaining at Summerslam, ex-ex-exing, a picture of his view from the
04:01 beach with the caption 'Umbrella Service and still the only Tribal Chief'.
04:08 It's good to have an umbrella of course.
04:09 In case it Roman Reigns.
04:33 the only backstage issue at Summerslam.
04:53 Segway Slam.
04:55 There was also whatever the f*** that MMA match was.
05:00 The decade plus spanning feud of Ronda Rousey vs Shayna Baszler somehow came together in
05:05 a five minute video package on the other week's episode of Raw, with Baszler delivering such
05:09 an emotional performance, her sudden turn on Ronda at Money in the Bank felt retroactively
05:14 foreshadowed.
05:15 While fitting with their shared MMA past, the actual Summerslam match was unfortunately
05:18 made awkward by the new 'MMA Rules' stipulation.
05:22 The idea was this was going to look and feel like an MMA fight.
05:25 But sports entertainment rules like 10 counts and not adhering to the ref's stoppage
05:29 decision undermined that credibility.
05:31 WWE tried to book a match that would cater to both wrestling and MMA fans, and ended
05:36 up serving neither.
05:37 Apparently this tension ran through the entire creative process, as Dave Meltzer has revealed
05:42 on Wrestling Observer Radio.
05:43 "There were issues between WWE creative and them as far as how it was going to go.
05:47 And you don't have knockdowns in an MMA fight and do 10 counts or whatever, but it's
05:52 like you have some people stuck in one mentality of combat and others in another and it kind
05:57 of, I think that it kind of hurt that."
05:59 Meltzer has followed up on F4WOnline that the match was Rousey's WWE farewell, at
06:04 least for now, and that she's not expected back at any specific date.
06:08 This is why she took her first ever submission loss in WWE to put over her real-life friend
06:13 Shayna on the way out.
06:14 But it wasn't just Ronda on her way out, as fan footage of the crowd at Summerslam
06:19 has shown large streams of people using the MMA match as a bathroom break.
06:24 Elsewhere on Summerslam, Triple H's comments about Brock Lesnar going off script and embracing
06:28 Cody Rhodes in an unplanned spot following their match isn't just a working McWorkface.
06:34 As PWInsider have corroborated, that was actually a surprise addition from Lesnar, which is
06:38 another example of Brock's remarkable creative instincts.
06:42 As for me, that took what was match of the night to the definitive moment of the show.
06:46 Fightful Select is reporting the Slim Jim Battle Royal sponsorship spot was huge in
06:51 terms of MONEY, and the Cylindrical Meatstick brand were ecstatic to have LA Knight win
06:56 it.
06:57 Knight's come a long way since mounting due matches by doing… other sponsored matches.
07:03 Fightful also write that Io Sky's Money in the Bank cash-in was not a last minute
07:07 decision.
07:08 Perhaps this is why the SmackDown Women's Championship three-way was one of the four
07:11 potential women's matches that made it onto the Summerslam card.
07:14 And PWInsider have revealed the real reason Michael Cole is going to be commentating on
07:19 both Raw and SmackDown from this week.
07:22 It was a request from WWE's parent company Endeavor, and WWE's broadcast partners,
07:27 so the USA Network and Fox, who want to make Michael Cole the face of the product going
07:32 forward.
07:33 This is more interesting than it sounds, as to my knowledge, this is the first onscreen
07:37 decision we've heard about coming from WWE's new corporate overlords.
07:41 We'll have to see if this is just a one-off, because new TV deal negotiations are currently
07:46 underway, or if it's the sign of things to come.
07:49 While the merger dust is settling.
07:51 Over in AEW, several top stars have come out to publicly defend accusations of a toxic
07:55 backstage environment.
07:57 The allegations come from veteran women's wrestler Lu Fisto, who spoke of conflicting
08:01 instructions behind the scenes and gleeks of wrestlers trying to undermine each other.
08:05 Lu Fisto was never signed by the promotion, but did appear on an episode of Dark Elevation
08:10 last April.
08:11 AEW World Champion MJF has shot back at her comments in a lengthy ex-put-I can't get
08:16 used to saying ex.
08:18 In reality, the only reason you're spewing bulls*** is because you're aware deep down
08:22 you aren't going to make it, so what's the harm in spewing reckless lies and trying
08:26 to hurt hardworking, talented people on your way down to obscurity?
08:30 We have an amazing women's locker room.
08:32 Sarraya also said this is one of the best locker rooms I've been in.
08:35 Lu Fisto has since deleted her ex account and has pulled out of her next independent
08:39 booking.
08:40 It was also AEW Collision on Saturday, Saturday.
08:44 Ben Layton and I will be reviewing the episode in full on the WrestleTalk Podcast channel
08:48 later today, but for now, here's a one minute, one take.
08:52 Let's absolutely boss it.
08:55 Timer, one minute.
08:57 FTR beat Big Bill and Brian Cage in a really good match.
09:00 FTR called out The Young Bucks for All In After to decide the best team in history.
09:04 CM Punk vs Kenny Omega confirmed.
09:07 Chris Statlander got beaten up by Mercedes Martinez for the whole match, then just eked
09:10 out a win at the end.
09:12 Ciamonte turned on Chris after for Willow to make the save.
09:15 Samoa Joe squashed Ser Penteco in the quickest collision match ever, then called out CM Punk
09:20 for All In.
09:21 The acclaimed Say Daddy Ass really has retired.
09:24 House of Black beat Action Andrade, Darius Martin and Lee Johnson.
09:26 A random graphic then just announced House of Black vs CMFTR for the trios titles next
09:32 week.
09:33 What?
09:34 Christian turned heel on his own daughter, the Bang Bang Gang and my favourite faction
09:38 right now.
09:39 CM White beat Metalik, and CM Punk beat Ricky Starks in a solid main event with guest enforcer
09:44 Ricky Steamboat counting the final pin.
09:46 Starks attacked Steamboat afterwards because that's the only way they could get South
09:50 Carolina to cheer for Punk.
09:52 Yes.
09:53 5 seconds remaining.
09:54 That's pretty damn good.
09:55 I'll see you all on the WrestleTalk Podcast channel shortly.
09:58 Now go watch Pete's review of SummerSlam 2023.
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