00:00 A recently departed AEW star in the Royal Rumble, a WWE wrestler failing, and some good
00:06 old fashioned bad Vince McMahon booking.
00:09 I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:19 Before I get into the top stories, happy belated birthday wishes to a man who's experiencing
00:24 a WWE renaissance right now - R-Truth.
00:28 Truth suffered a routine quad tear in November 2022, but his recovery post-surgery became
00:33 anything but.
00:34 Talking on the Cheap Heat podcast, Truth has revealed he got MRSA, staff and their cousins
00:40 and kinfolks all at the same time, forming some kind of 'infection superfaction'.
00:46 It caused a hole in his knee, and at one point, the option of amputation was considered.
00:52 Thankfully he made a full recovery, and has surprisingly become one of the more featured
00:56 acts on WWE Raw, helping counterfeit Judgment Day t-shirt sales soar.
01:00 And he's tweeted that for his birthday, his JD best buddies sent him a lovely card.
01:05 Signed, of course, by all of them, Tom and Nick Mysterio included.
01:09 As far as what age R-Truth celebrated turning, he's 28.
01:13 He's eternally 28 years old.
01:15 Like he's been every year for the last quarter of a century.
01:19 Seriously, the guy doesn't age.
01:21 I think he's a time traveller.
01:23 I think the story of him having surgery is actually a ruse.
01:26 He was going back in time to enter the 2001 Royal Rumble match.
01:30 Yeah, I watched it over the weekend.
01:33 And there he is, looking exactly the same as he does now.
01:37 Despite never establishing himself on the main WWE roster, Ty Dillinger's No. 10 entry
01:43 spot in the 2017 Royal Rumble match is one of the loudest pops in the show's history.
01:49 At the time, NXT was the best North American wrestling promotion out there, where Ty's
01:53 Perfect 10 gimmick was super over.
01:56 And maybe we'll see it again this weekend.
01:59 Dillinger, who has been wrestling under his real name Sean Spears in AEW for the past
02:04 five years, has replied to a tweet about the Royal Rumble now getting its own emoji - a
02:09 red counter from 10, timer - with the EYES EMOJI and his own number 10.
02:15 Spears debuted for AEW at the promotion's first pay-per-view, Double or Nothing, in
02:19 2019, where he would go onto a controversial feud with Cody Rhodes - he accidentally busted
02:24 Cody's head open with a chair - and then took on Tully Blanchard as his manager and
02:28 became a member of MJF's Pinnacle Faction.
02:31 That began to dissolve in early 2022, and he mostly disappeared from 'main roster'
02:36 AEW programming.
02:37 He only wrestled eight times for AEW last year, mostly on live shows, pre-shows or,
02:43 even worse, Rampage.
02:45 I agree, Tony Khan, Cage Match is a useful resource.
02:49 Perhaps motivated by his onscreen decline, Spears announced on the 28th December he would
02:54 be leaving AEW, and that "this is a personal choice and one that is best for me and my
03:00 family at this time."
03:02 Fightful Select had already reported Spears would be leaving AEW when his contract expired
03:07 on 1st January 2024.
03:10 Spears has been very good friends with WWE's Cody Rhodes since they first met in OVW - that's
03:15 partly why he got the AEW job - and was a valuable member of Triple H's original Black
03:19 and Gold NXT run.
03:21 With both of those guys now effectively running WWE, surely they'll have Ty Dillinger make
03:26 a No. 10 cameo return for the Rumble.
03:28 Then just like Carlito and Rey Mysterio before him, they can judge whether there's enough
03:33 fan interest to bring him back for something more substantial on TV.
03:37 And the No. 10 entrant is only one of 60 spots to fill for this Saturday's Premium Live
03:42 event.
03:43 Subscribe to WrestleTalk and enable notifications because we'll be streaming the whole thing
03:46 live from our Watch Party.
03:48 So who's going to be in the other… spots?
03:53 Usually Michelle McCool.
03:54 How many surprise returns can you have before it's no longer a surprise?
03:57 I'll tell you more right after this short clip from the brand new episode of Three Count
04:01 of Luke and I reviewing every Royal Rumble ever in three words or less/fewer.
04:06 Cena comes back.
04:07 Everyone's like "OH MY GOD CENA CAME BACK?
04:09 HOW?
04:10 4 MONTHS OUT FROM A TORN PEC?
04:12 THAT'S A YEAR RECOVERY TIME!"
04:14 And then it takes about a minute for everyone to go "wait a second, we don't like this
04:19 guy, hate Super Cena, BUUUUUH"
04:22 That is what this show's about.
04:24 It's that Cena return pop.
04:25 And he's standing there with his hands and he goes "he looks so insufferably smug"
04:30 "oh yeah, it's a punchable face" "I've recovered really well"
04:34 "and I'm going to win lol"
04:37 After mostly retiring in 2011, McCool has featured in the 2018, 2022 and 2023 Women's
04:44 Rumble matches.
04:45 No slacker, she actually set the inaugural Rumble's elimination record.
04:48 PWInsider is reporting she is expected to be in town for the show along with her real-life
04:53 shoot husband The Undertaker, who'll be performing his One Dead Man show the day after.
04:59 The other WWE legend expected to be in town is Rey Mysterio, who was written off TV in
05:04 November by an attack from Santos Escobar to cover for his real-life knee surgery.
05:08 There's a possibility he could be cleared in time for a Rumble return.
05:12 Trinity Fatu, the former Naomi in WWE, also just got one step closer to a Royal Rumble
05:18 return.
05:19 After losing her Knockouts Championship to Jordan Grace at TNA's Hard to Kill Premium
05:23 Live event - not a pay-per-view - she wrestled her final match at the following TV taping,
05:28 set to air on January 25th, just two days before the Rumble.
05:32 After that match, Trinity cut a seeming farewell promo to the live crowd.
05:36 "Coming to TNA has been life-changing for me both inside and outside the ring.
05:41 I feel honored to work with such a strong division and incredible group of women.
05:46 Whenever y'all think of TNA, I want y'all to think of me, Trinity and…
05:52 Trinitinae.
05:53 Trinitinae?
05:54 Trinitinae.
05:55 Trinitina.
05:56 Bleh."
05:57 Thank you for coming out, we love you.
06:02 And then there's also Kazuchika Okada, who shockingly announced he'll be leaving his
06:07 long-time promotion of New Japan, marking the first time in history the top star in
06:12 Japan has left for a North American company.
06:15 According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, "I know people in AEW who think they've
06:20 got him.
06:21 I know people in AEW who hope they've got him but don't think they've got him.
06:25 I know people in WWE who hope they're gonna get him and who believe that."
06:30 Kazuchika Okada to Somewhere Confirmed.
06:33 Okada has spoken to Tokyo Sports about him leaving New Japan, a choice he reveals he
06:38 only made recently, explaining the main reason is that he didn't want to become complacent.
06:43 He's wrestled in New Japan as the Rainmaker for 12 years, and has accomplished everything
06:49 there is to do there.
06:50 "Maybe if I stay here, I can wrestle without any inconvenience.
06:54 But I don't want to become the same Kazuchika Okada without such hunger.
06:58 I don't want to be in a situation where I have to rest on my laurels."
07:02 As for the promotion he's leaving behind, Okada delivered a line stiffer than an Ishii
07:07 headbutt.
07:08 "I can tell you one thing about the future of New Japan.
07:10 It's not a chance, it's a crisis.
07:13 The next generation can't just think, 'Oh, this is our chance.'
07:16 They have to step up and save the company."
07:20 Okada reportedly still hasn't decided where he will go.
07:23 On the AEW side, he has about two years of great matches lined up for him.
07:27 On the WWE side, there is the greater chance of a historic legacy and getting to wrestle
07:32 at WrestleMania.
07:34 And most importantly, there isn't a crazy old man who'll make him dress up as a ninja
07:37 anymore.
07:38 Okada not to WWE confirmed.
07:40 The January 19th episode of SmackDown saw Butch finally drop his ridiculous name, getting
07:46 re-repackaged as Pete Dumb, and reforming British Strong Style with Tyler Bate.
07:51 Butch was a piece of legacy crap booking, inherited by Triple H from Vince McMahon's
07:56 decades in charge.
07:57 Also see Piper Niven do drop.
07:59 But according to the brilliant Mansoorah Mace in an interview with Muscleman Malcolm, it
08:03 could've been even worse.
08:05 Dude, Vince McMahon wanted Butch to be a guy that never wrestles.
08:09 Vince wanted Butch, Pete Dunne, to be a scrappy little guy who just attacks people, but he
08:14 never wanted Butch to actually wrestle a match.
08:18 We can definitely see that in how the brawling brutes of him, Sheamus and Ridge Holland would
08:21 present themselves, and commentary frequently describing Dunne as a 'scrappy-doo' style
08:27 character.
08:28 You know, Scrappy Doo from Scooby Doo.
08:31 The dog that was one of the most hated cartoon characters ever.
08:35 Great inspiration.
08:36 With so much fantastic wrestling talent out there, you have to be extraordinary to keep
08:41 up.
08:42 Sometimes, even being one of the best amateur wrestlers of your generation isn't enough.
08:47 The Olympic gold medal winning wrestler Gable Steveson was signed by WWE in September 2021.
08:52 The only other gold medal winner WWE had ever signed was Kurt Angle, so the bar was pretty
09:01 high up there.
09:02 There were reports he'd be a regular on Raw soon.
09:05 He was even included in the WWE Draft.
09:07 But two years later, he's gone down to NXT, and he's still there.
09:13 His first onscreen match being one of the worst of the year, against Baron Corbin at
09:17 the Great American Bash.
09:18 He has started to wrestle live event matches in 2024 against the likes of Cedric Alexander
09:23 and Cameron Grimes, but Dave Meltzer has been surprised at his lack of development.
09:28 PWInsider has now added that there are no plans to feature him in the Men's Rumble
09:33 match.
09:34 Unfortunately, Steveson's focus on pro wrestling has come at the expense of something he could
09:38 genuinely excel at - a return to amateur wrestling, with Sports Illustrated reporting he won't
09:43 be involved this season, and coach Brandon Eggem revealing WWE want Steveson to instead
09:48 solely concentrate on improving at professional wrestling.
09:52 Now go watch Luke and I review every Royal Rumble ever in three words or less.
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