00:00 A WWE star was written off TV on NXT last night and might not be coming back.
00:05 The latest on Cody Rhodes' future as WWE Champion.
00:09 How long Rhea Ripley will be out and more.
00:12 I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:21 But first, some important breaking news.
00:23 Headline: Will Ospreay Signs With AEW
00:24 Will Ospreay has made quite a few waves since signing with AEW late last year and debuting
00:28 for the company as a full-time member of the roster at Revolution.
00:32 From incredible matches with Kanesuke Takeshi and Karl Fletcher, to his rather clear jab
00:37 at Triple H on last week's Dynamite - which itself was a response to Triple H taking his
00:41 own shot at Ospreay over WrestleMania weekend for being afraid of the WWE grind.
00:46 But he has now finally answered the question that has puzzled Americans all over… America…
00:53 Just what exactly is a Cheeky Nando's?
00:56 Ospreay explained on Hey EW that Cheeky Nando's is when you're feeling real hungry.
01:01 You're hungry for something but you don't want fast food because fast food ain't good
01:06 for you.
01:07 But you don't want to go fine dining, fine dining is too much.
01:11 Bam!
01:12 Cheeky Nando's comes in.
01:13 Well, I hope that's cleared up everything for you.
01:15 If you have any further questions, please let me know what they are in the comments
01:18 down below and I'll do my best to answer them.
01:20 Sadly we now have to move on to more serious matters.
01:24 Headline NXT saw a segment involving Tony D'Angelo's family and No Quarter Catch
01:28 Crew - only the latter team was missing a member in Drew Gulak.
01:32 During the promo it was revealed that No Quarter Catch Crew struck a deal with the family to
01:37 "take care of someone for them" and that it was done "for the good of the industry".
01:42 While his name was never mentioned, the implication is that Drew Gulak has been removed from the
01:47 faction and NXT entirely.
01:50 Corey Brennan of Fightful Select reported that there were "no names listed" for
01:54 the segment on the show's rundown, and that Gulak is "no longer listed internally"
01:58 as part of the No Quarter Catch Crew.
02:01 Brennan later added on Twitter the implication is it happened off screen, and they're not
02:05 directly referencing him as the directive has been to avoid mentioning his name in recent
02:10 weeks.
02:11 This all comes off the back of an interview that Ronda Rousey did with NewsNation, where
02:15 she accused Gulak of sexual misconduct, claiming, "I was standing there and this guy who I
02:19 was barely an acquaintance with grabs the string of my sweatpants as I'm walking by."
02:24 She later confirmed in the interview that she was talking about Drew Gulak.
02:28 Gulak responded to the comments on Twitter saying, "Backstage at a WWE event in 2022
02:33 I saw Ronda talking with a group in the hallway.
02:35 I stopped to say hi and shake all their hands and in an attempt to shake her hand I accidentally
02:40 touched her drawstring.
02:41 Complete accident and one that I had apologized to her for the mishap."
02:45 Following the news, Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio said that there were those
02:49 in WWE who expected Gulak to be gone from the company, but nothing official was announced.
02:55 Corey Brennan has now added via Twitter, "I have been told Drew Gulak won't be back for
02:59 a while if at all" and on Fightful's NXT review added that this was done so the group
03:05 can move past this with the idea they could potentially add a new member to replace Gulak.
03:10 If you have been affected by anything discussed today, please visit WrestleTalk's Support
03:14 Each Other page which is linked to in the video description down below.
03:17 And there are other changes afoot in NXT as it pertains to the WWE Draft.
03:23 This year's WWE Draft will take place on April 26th and 29th, and there is reportedly
03:28 going to be more crossover with NXT this year to firmly establish them as the third brand
03:33 ahead of their debut on the CW.
03:36 Last night on NXT, Carmelo Hayes lost again to Trick Williams, this time in a steel cage
03:40 match - which, let's be honest, was the second best steel cage match held on a Tuesday
03:44 night.
03:45 He was also the first to hustle his Adriano and Rocco cage match on last night's show.
03:48 And following his loss, Hayes was given the big NXT send off by the audience, only he
03:53 flipped them off.
03:54 What a heel.
03:55 Hayes has long been rumoured for a main roster call-up, even featuring on Smackdown late
03:59 last year prior to his heel turn.
04:01 And Corey Brennan of Fightful is reporting that Hayes is one of only two names that are
04:06 for sure getting called up in this year's draft, with the other being NXT Champion Ilya
04:11 Dragunov.
04:12 Brennan has added on Fightful's review of NXT that The Family are also potentially
04:16 getting called up in the draft, but if they do, it will only be Tony D'Angelo and Stax
04:21 going to the main roster.
04:23 Brennan also reports that Baron Corbin has long been considered for a main roster return,
04:27 and that he will likely join Smackdown as there have been lots of pitches for his team
04:31 with Bron Breaker to get a main roster run.
04:33 He also adds that both Triple H and Shawn Michaels are very high on Dijak, whose contract
04:38 is coming up soon, and there's a big push to re-sign him and if he does, he will likely
04:43 stay in NXT.
04:44 And finally though Roxanne Perez was featured on Raw last week and announced as eligible
04:49 for the draft, Brennan has not heard that she's getting called up.
04:53 But in order to make NXT feel like a legitimate third brand, there has to be people from Raw
04:57 and Smackdown going to NXT.
04:59 And Brennan reports that Ivar, Natalya and The Final Testament are potentials to get
05:04 drafted to NXT on a full-time basis.
05:07 However, none of this is confirmed or official.
05:10 Brennan has said that he's asked around about potential call-ups or call-downs, and
05:14 he's not the only one.
05:16 He says that talent have asked Shawn Michaels about the draft, and he can only respond with
05:21 a shrug and has told them that nothing has been finalised yet in terms of who is going
05:26 where.
05:27 One person who may have found their new home however is Cody Rhodes.
05:30 Cody cut a promo on this week's Raw where he addressed storylines involving The Rock
05:33 and Roman Reigns, but also thanked Seth Rollins before bringing out Jey Uso for his match
05:38 with Finn Balor.
05:39 In the promo, Cody said he was now technically a Smackdown guy, but that doesn't mean his
05:44 time with Raw is over.
05:46 However, Dave Meltzer has said that Cody's promo was designed to be a good buy of sorts
05:51 to the red brand as he goes to Smackdown full time, where he will start his first title
05:55 feud with either AJ Styles or LA Knight-Yair.
05:58 His endorsement of Jey Uso was reportedly done to establish him as the top babyface
06:03 of the brand, with CM Punk out injured, Seth Rollins taking time off and Cody heading to
06:08 Smackdown.
06:09 WWE.com have now also confirmed the decision, listing Rhodes on their website as a Smackdown
06:14 star - and that is not the only change.
06:17 Interestingly, WWE.com also confirms that Cody did indeed keep his promise heading into
06:22 WrestleMania that he will rename the Universal Championship as the website lists him as Undisputed
06:28 WWE Champion, dropping the Universal bit entirely.
06:33 Cody had said leading into WrestleMania that he wanted to rename the title back to simply
06:37 "The WWE Championship", the title his dad never held, and even said that he wanted
06:41 to bring back the old Winged Eagle design - which I think is a better design - similar
06:45 to how he brought back the White Strap Intercontinental Championship in the 2010s.
06:49 However, there's nothing being reported on that change ever being made.
06:54 WWE.com also has The Awesome Truth as the World Tag Team Champions, but still lists
06:58 A-Town Down Under as the Smackdown Tag Champions - though that will likely change this Friday
07:04 when presumably they'll also get new belt designs.
07:07 The other change made is that Vacant has claimed another title, following the sad news that
07:11 Rhea Ripley was injured during a segment on Raw last week with Liv Morgan and had to relinquish
07:16 her title on this week's show.
07:18 It's been reported that Ripley has hurt her AC joint and could be out of action for
07:23 upwards of three months according to Wrestling Observer Radio.
07:26 Fightful Select on the other hand writes that there is no firm timetable on Rhea Ripley's
07:30 return as of now.
07:32 Fightful Select also confirmed that the injury occurred when Ripley went into the wall during
07:36 last week's Raw, and has been described on Twitter by Sean Ross Sapp as a "freak
07:41 accident".
07:42 He also adds that there is no heat on Liv Morgan for the injury, and reported via Fightful
07:46 Select that Morgan was not blamed by Ripley or WWE.
07:51 SRS reports that internal discussions were had about the injury as far back as last Wednesday,
07:56 and that the company had decided by last week that the Women's World title would be vacated.
08:01 Speaking of injuries, and Sean Ross Sapp is also reporting via Twitter that several promoters
08:05 have noted that Matt Cardona has informed them he suffered a torn pec and will require
08:11 surgery.
08:12 We here at WrestleTalk wish both Cardona and Ripley a speedy recovery.
08:16 Lastly for today's show, and a top three agent tag team is now all but confirmed to
08:21 be heading to All Elite Wrestling.
08:23 After landing Adam Copeland, Mercedes Monet, Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay over the
08:27 last six months, it was reported last week that former TNA tag team X Division and World
08:32 Champions Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin - better known as the Motor City Machine Guns - will
08:36 likely be signing with AEW.
08:39 And now Bodyslam are reporting that the deal is basically done.
08:42 Shelley and Sabin finished up with TNA at the end of March, and Bodyslam report that
08:46 there were hopes within that company that they would re-sign.
08:49 However, the general belief was that they were headed to AEW.
08:54 Cassidy Haynes has now reported this is the case, and reports via Bodyslam that they are
08:58 working on finalising a deal, but added, "the deal is not going to be finalised for a bit".
09:04 He does add, however, "a deal will be worked out".
09:07 Hey look, I'm a former TNA Tag Team Champion, does that mean I get to sign with AEW as well?
09:13 Did you enjoy WrestleMania 40?
09:14 Well we tried to predict WrestleMania 41 way too far in advance.
09:18 out how I booked Simon Miller on the show by clicking the video on screen.
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