00:00 WWE seemingly confirm the Mania Night One main event! Kazuchika Okada chooses AEW over
00:08 WWE! Bruce Prichard weighs in on the Vince McMahon lawsuit. I'm Luke Owen and this
00:14 is the WrestleTalk News.
00:17 It's been three days since the WrestleMania 40 press conference where WWE executed a major
00:27 twist in the finish the story saga as Cody Rhodes announced - after saying he wouldn't
00:33 - that he will in fact face Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania
00:37 as The Rock turned heel and aligned himself with Reigns and the Bloodline. It was a major
00:43 success for WWE and one that was, by most accounts, a huge pivot from the original plan.
00:50 Map Men's Andrew Zarian was told by his WWE sources to "just let this play out".
00:55 There have been several conflicting reports on all of this. Dave Meltzer originally reported
01:00 that this was the plan all along, while Sean Ross Sapp over at Fightful Select noted that
01:05 if this was a work from the start, then the likes of Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Seth Rollins
01:10 producers and members of creative were not clued in. Meltzer has since written in the
01:14 Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the absolute truth is pretty much impossible to decipher,
01:20 noting that certain aspects of the story - both on and off screen - do not add up. Whatever
01:25 the truth of the matter, it's been a massive topic for wrestling fans. Our coverage of
01:29 it both here on the WrestleTalk News and the WrestleTalk Podcast have far outpaced other
01:34 topics in recent times. All of WWE's uploads of the press conference total to over 10 million
01:41 views.
01:42 But it wasn't just Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns that the press conference confirmed.
01:46 It also teased the idea of a tag match between Roman and The Rock against Cody and Seth Rollins,
01:52 who was also on the stage for the altercation. Meltzer reported that this match would not
01:57 happen at Elimination Chamber, as neither The Rock or Roman are booked for that show
02:01 and Seth Rollins is still injured, and it would appear that WWE themselves have confirmed
02:06 this.
02:07 The Superb Owl took place last night which saw the Kansas City Chiefs win the big game.
02:22 I think that's the team Taylor Swift plays for.
02:25 But one of the big aspects of the Superb Owl isn't just the touchdowns or the 3 point
02:30 dunkaroos or the half time singalongs. It's the commercials. Companies spend millions
02:36 of dollars not just making the commercials, but even more millions of dollars getting
02:40 them air during the game. We got movie trailers for the likes of Deadpool 3, Wicked and a
02:44 new Planet of the Apes movie, as well as products like Mountain Dew - which featured a cameo
02:48 from WWE's own Jade Cargill doing a move to my would-be wife Aubrey Plaza. But WWE
02:54 are clearly smarter than the average bear. Why spend all that money getting your own
02:59 commercial on during the game when you could just make a commercial and release it at the
03:03 same time as all the other commercials to make it feel like it is a Superbowl commercial?
03:08 And that WrestleMania 40 teaser commercial shows Roman and The Rock having a tense stare
03:13 down with Cody and Rollins - seemingly confirming that will be the main event of WrestleMania
03:19 Night One. Cody and Roman main eventing Night Two. Elsewhere on the show Rollins will defend
03:24 his World Heavyweight Championship - presumably also on Night Two - against the winner of
03:28 the Elimination Chamber.
03:29 The idea of a tag match was also teased by Triple H, who noted at the press conference
03:33 that the first main event of a WrestleMania was a tag match, and this show is a celebration
03:38 of the event's 40 year history.
03:40 It also ties into the news that when The Rock signed to be part of the TKO board, part of
03:44 the deal was to headline this year's WrestleMania Meltzer Rights. With Rhodes now facing Roman
03:50 on Night Two, this allows Rock to get his contractual main event.
03:54 Are you excited for a WrestleMania tag match with three of the four members pulling double
03:59 duty? Let me know in the comments down below.
04:01 And speaking of the Bloodline, we posted a deep dive video of the Samoan Wrestling Dynasty
04:06 which has some fascinating little tidbits like this part here, where Oli Davis talks
04:10 about The Rock's dad, Rocky Johnson, and the time he teamed with Tony Atlas to take
04:14 on the Wild Samoans.
04:16 Rocky went on to become one of the most important figures in wrestling history, having NWA feuds
04:22 in the 70s with the likes of Harley Race and Terry Funk, and teaming with Tony Atlas and
04:26 the WWF to become the promotion's first black tag team champions in 1983.
04:31 But who did they beat to win those titles? The High Chief Peter Maivia's real-life
04:40 adopted nephews Ather and Seeker Anoa'i, aka the Wild Samoans. This is the OG Bloodline
04:48 story.
04:49 Speaking of the Superbowl commercials, I casually mentioned that Jade Cargill featured in one
04:53 of them to promote Mountain Dew. Well, according to PWInsider, WWE were very impressed with
04:59 her work in it, and write that she's expected to be part of the Smackdown roster moving
05:04 forward.
05:05 But one man who won't be there to see any of this happen, however, is Kazuchika Okada,
05:09 who seemingly has made his choice on where he's going to now that he's leaving New
05:14 Japan.
05:15 It was news that surprised just about everyone when it came out. Okada, the biggest star
05:19 in New Japan Pro Wrestling and arguably the greatest wrestler of his generation, was going
05:24 to leave New Japan Pro Wrestling. It was a move that New Japan tried to fight so much,
05:29 they put in a new president, longtime friend and rival Hiroshi Tanahashi. Whenever we talked
05:35 about the idea of Okada leaving New Japan for either WWE or AEW, we would be inundated
05:41 with comments on WrestleTalk News videos and on our social media that Okada will never
05:46 leave, especially now that Tanahashi is president. But it is going to happen.
05:52 There have been lots of reports of where Okada will end up, with both AEW and WWE reportedly
05:58 showing interest in bringing him in. The Wrestling Observer reported that one of the reasons
06:01 Shinsuke Nakamura got a big push towards the end of last year was done to display to Okada
06:06 what he could expect if he signed with them. While Sean Rossette reported that Okada's
06:11 brief excursion and appearance on Dynamite last year was a testing of the water to see
06:15 what it would be like working with AEW on a week-to-week basis. It was felt that WWE
06:21 might have this signing in the bag, with one report even saying that Okada was going to
06:25 debut on NXT. But the pendulum swung back towards AEW, with some - myself included - wondering
06:32 if All Elite Wrestling's Big Business would see a double debut of both Mercedes Mane and
06:39 Okada. And now Fightful Select report that AEW are likely going to sign him.
06:44 SRS writes the deal was effectively agreed to in the last couple of weeks, and barring
06:49 unforeseen circumstances, Okada will put pen to paper soon and sign with All Elite Wrestling.
06:56 Fightful say there is no debut date planned, but their sources tell them that the first
06:59 half of March will be big for AEW - which is when Big Business is taking place. They
07:05 also write that creative has been planned for Okada's debut since January.
07:09 So what happened with WWE? Well, interestingly, Sean Ross Sapp reports that while their sources
07:15 within WWE tell them that discussions between Okada and WWE took place, WWE themselves are
07:22 denying it. However they also add that Okada himself was weighing the pros and cons of
07:26 heading to WWE compared to AEW - which would suggest that he did have some form of talks
07:32 with the promotion. Fightful also add that the reports of Okada going to NXT were false.
07:37 It's going to put some interesting questions around AEW's relationship with New Japan.
07:41 As Oli Davis has noted on this show for a while, over the last year or so, AEW have
07:46 signed Jey White and Will Ospreay, two of New Japan's biggest stars, and it's looking
07:50 like they've done the same with Mercedes Monét and Okada - two more huge stars from
07:55 the promotion. But it could be a simple two-way street. Fightful Select reported last week
08:00 that Monét's deal with AEW would allow her to still do dates and work with New Japan
08:05 Pro Wrestling, and Will Ospreay has said following his final match with the promotion at yesterday's
08:10 New Beginning in Osaka, "I signed my deal with AEW and I'm allowed to come back and
08:15 do New Japan matches." There is no word however on if the same can be said for Okada.
08:20 What's even more interesting in all of this is that while WWE is inarguably the hotter
08:25 wrestling promotion at the moment, they've gone 0-4 against AEW in signing top three
08:31 agents from New Japan Pro Wrestling. But that isn't entirely accurate. Ibu of WrestlePurist
08:37 - that is his full name - noted via Twitter that WWE had the inside track to sign Monét
08:42 back in December, but in the end decided against it, while Jey White was unable to sign with
08:47 WWE due to the hiring freeze around this time last year. He also notes that while Okada
08:52 and Ospreay did negotiate with WWE, they were always AEW bound and were just "playing
08:59 the game". We must now shift gears to talk about the
09:01 lawsuit against Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis and WWE. As always, this does come with a
09:06 trigger warning for sexual assault. Since the Janelle Grant lawsuit against McMahon,
09:11 Laurinaitis and WWE was released a couple of weeks ago, many were wondering how it would
09:15 be addressed on Bruce Prichard's podcast Something to Wrestle due to his close proximity
09:20 to McMahon over the last three decades. Former WWE star Ronda Rousey even noted on Twitter
09:26 that Vince cannot truly be gone from WWE while Prichard is still employed, as she saw Prichard
09:32 as his avatar. Grant's lawsuit raised a lot of questions
09:35 about who else is involved in the allegations against McMahon, Laurinaitis and WWE, as there
09:40 are several unnamed executives in the suit. Speaking on Something to Wrestle, Prichard
09:44 noted that this was a legal matter that he cannot fully speak on. However, he did say,
09:50 "I'm not involved, I'm not being sued, I'm not accused of anything." He added,
09:55 "Sometimes it's as simple as for those who believe, no explanation is needed, and
09:59 for those that don't, no explanation will do. That's kind of where we are, and we'll
10:04 let the rest of it sit in the hands of the fine legal system that we have here in the
10:08 United States of America." It comes one week after Laurinaitis' lawyer
10:12 released a statement defending his position, claiming he was also a victim of McMahon.
10:17 His lawyer also seemingly confirmed that WWE were aware of Ashley Mazzaro's claims of
10:22 sexual assault while on tour with Tribute to the Troops, despite the company previously
10:26 claiming that they didn't know. According to journalist BJ Bethel, the internal reaction
10:31 to Weiss' story about Laurinaitis and the Mazzaro claims was, "armageddon".
10:37 Lastly on the lawsuit, Dave Meltzer writes in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that
10:40 both Vince McMahon and Brock Lesnar - who is believed to be the former UFC Champion
10:44 that Grant accuses in the suit - will still be in WWE 2K24. He writes that the speculation
10:51 in the video game industry is that it was too late to remove them. Both have been removed
10:55 from the promotional material for the game, with Lesnar being replaced on the 40 Years
10:59 of Mania edition cover, and neither feature in the latest trailer.
11:03 It's awkward to gearshift back to the fun stuff, but if you do want some offbeat wrestling
11:07 shenanigans then check out the latest Three Counts where Oli and I try to predict what
11:11 will happen at Elimination Chamber in three words or less/fewer.
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