00:00Clarification on a WWE rule change, a huge rejected AEW pitch, my review of Raw and more.
00:06I'm Pete Quinnell and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:12The Paul Levesque era of WWE has certainly brought about a huge amount of change to the
00:17once stubborn company.
00:18Big crossovers with the likes of TNA, NOAH, GCW and more.
00:22Wrestling is a word again in the WWE vocab, no more wasted gimmick PLEs, we could go on
00:27and on.
00:28While crossovers are big changes, a report from Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live
00:31yesterday was one that really had people talking.
00:34That being that WWE were now allowing stars to use their WWE ring names after leaving
00:38the company, something certainly not allowed in the previous regime, Cody Rhodes having
00:42to be called just Cody being a notable example, as WWE owned the rights to Rhodes.
00:48Alvarez used Ethan Page and Stephanie Vaquer as examples, noting how WWE will trademark
00:52their names while contracted to the company, but then, if they should leave, will then
00:56give those rights back.
00:57Following Alvarez's comments, Fightful Select would provide some clarification on the matter
01:01because the conversations surrounding this seemed to be misinformed.
01:05Their report made it clear that WWE in most cases does not have the ability to prevent
01:09a talent using a name they used before signing with WWE, once they then leave the company.
01:14Examples such as Samoa Joe, Adam Cole and Tony Storm were cited.
01:18WWE also does not have the power to control someone's real name, hence why people like
01:22Ultimate Warrior Ryback and Tess changed their legal names so WWE couldn't own it.
01:27As mentioned with the Cody situation when he left WWE, partial names can continue to
01:32be used if a talent leaves WWE, if they use that part of the name outside the company
01:37already, as seen with Christian using Christian Cage, and Gran Metalik using Metalik.
01:42So in the case of Ethan Page and Stephanie Vaquer, as they used their names before WWE,
01:46they will most likely still be free to use them if they left, despite WWE trademarking
01:50them.
01:51Someone else who kept his name when he went to AEW was Ric Flair, who arrived in the company
01:55at the sprightly age of 74, seemingly for two reasons.
01:58Number one, stand in Sting's corner in the lead up to his retirement at Revolution 2024,
02:02and number two, that big woo energy sponsorship deal.
02:06What he absolutely wasn't there for was to wrestle, or get physical in any form, despite
02:10his many teasers that he was going to do so.
02:12Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Flair revealed a creative pitch that he'd made for Sting's
02:16final match at Revolution, one that would have seen him turn heel on his old rival at
02:20the end of the match.
02:21At the end, as Sting is standing there and those guys are gone, I jump on Sting, boom
02:25boom boom, he does one big move to me, puts a scorpion deathlock on me, and we go out
02:29the way we started 31 years ago.
02:31Despite AEW seemingly telling Flair this was a great idea, those who watched Revolution
02:36will know that didn't happen, and that conversation was the last Flair heard from the company.
02:41This comes off the back of Flair's reported departure from AEW in the last week.
02:45Speaking of AEW, we are just over a month away from the company's second annual trip
02:48to Wembley Stadium for All In, but that might not be the only stadium show AEW are eyeing
02:54up, because according to Fightful Select, there could be a major stadium event planned
02:57for 2025 in the Dallas slash Arlington area.
03:01Many sources they spoke to seem to hint towards that being a reality, though more details
03:05are as of yet unclear.
03:07Now this past weekend we uploaded our video of the 10 worst Money in the Bank cash-ins
03:11of all time in our most recent episode of TLC, which was recorded before the PLE this
03:15year, so no Drew McIntyre on any of our lists.
03:18He wouldn't have been on mine anyway though, I thought it was fine.
03:20Anyway, here's a clip.
03:48And now it's time for my review of Monday Night Raw, aka the Luke Isn't Here So I'm
03:55Filling In episode of Monday Night Raw, in about 5 minutes.
03:58This show began how last week's Raw ended, with Rhea Ripley.
04:01She came out to the ring and says she'll handle Dom Dom later, but right now she wants
04:05Liv Morgan in the ring.
04:06Instead, Dom Dom answers the call, sheepishly coming out to the ring holding a rose for
04:10her, saying he can explain everything that happened while she was gone, but that's
04:13when Liv appears on the screen, and after some taunting, Rhea challenges her at SummerSlam
04:17for the world title, which Liv accepts, saying that she's not the same Liv anymore.
04:22Rhea looks down-lens and says she's going to end Liv Morgan's career.
04:25As they're walking away, Dom tries to give Rhea the flower, and she throws it away.
04:29A very effective opening segment setting up a match we all knew was coming, and one I'm
04:32very much looking forward to.
04:33Now I'll go over all of the Judgment Day backstage segments later on, because boy howdy
04:38there are a lot of them on this show.
04:39Sheamus faced Bronson Reed next, and after a fun, meaty match, Bronson Reed missed a
04:43big moonsault, allowing Sheamus to win with a knee.
04:45Pete Dunne came out after the match, saving Sheamus, but then also turned on Sheamus,
04:49leaving him laying for Reed to hit a Tsunami on him.
04:52Not the most effective heel turn I've ever seen, but hey, it's something for Pete Dunne
04:55to do, so that's a plus for me.
04:57Sami Zayn backstages with Ilja Dragunov, who will be challenging for the Intercontinental
05:01Championship later, and Ilja thanks him for the opportunity and clarifies that he didn't
05:04save Sami just so he could get a title shot.
05:06Sami hypes him up, calling him a special talent and that he better bring his absolute best,
05:11with Ilja echoing that Sami should do the same.
05:13Oh man, I sure hope that match doesn't get ruined by anything later.
05:16Gunther got a video package next, and it was great, putting over his NXT UK title reign
05:21how he brought prestige to that belt, and then came to the main roster and sought to
05:25do the same thing with the Intercontinental title, which he did.
05:28And now he has his eyes on the World Heavyweight Championship, and will bring prestige to that
05:32belt too.
05:33I believe him.
05:35Zelina Vega has a backstage interview which was interrupted by Sonya Deville, Shayna Baszler
05:38and Zoey Stark, setting up a match between Zelina and Sonya, which lasted all of about
05:4230 seconds, with Shayna stomping on Zelina's arm on the apron, allowing Sonya to win.
05:46This was fine, but really could have done with a bit more time.
05:49Zelina was saved from a post-match beatdown by Chance Carter and Lyra Valkyria.
05:52Chad Gable backstage wants to know the disciplinary action that will be taken against Bo Dallas,
05:56who he has ingeniously figured out is the person behind Uncle Howdy.
06:00Pearce says that Bo Dallas is here tonight, so if you want to talk to him, you can.
06:04Damian Priest calls out Gunther ahead of their SummerSlam match, where Gunther runs down
06:07Priest saying that he brings no prestige to the world title.
06:10We're not cut from the same cloth.
06:12Priest puts over his struggles to get here, how he was fighting on the streets while Gunther
06:16was being handed everything.
06:18Gunther replies that Priest will always be street trash, and Priest fires back that after
06:22SummerSlam, Gunther will have to fight back from the bottom for the first time in his
06:25life because he's going to have nothing left.
06:28I liked this promo back and forth, I think it could have maybe been done so it wasn't
06:31quite so on the nose about classist differences, with Gunther saying that being on the streets
06:35is a choice.
06:37But aside from that line, I think this really worked.
06:39Let's face Braun Strowman next, which is a great choice of opponents, show how Priest
06:42deals with bigger opponents, and the answer is knees.
06:46He targeted Strowman's knee after he injured it with a failed charge into the barricade,
06:49and won with a South of Heaven.
06:51Gunther came out after the match and delivered some chops to Priest, but Priest actually
06:54stood tall, taking Gunther by surprise.
06:56I like this as a narrative structure, with Gunther underestimating Priest right now,
07:00but learning he's not as much of a pushover as he thought.
07:03Alpha Academy are backstage, minus Chad who was saying, you know, I really think we should
07:07help him, like he's our friend.
07:09And that's when Chad appears and says, that's great, you've come around, you'll back
07:12me up when I call out Bo Dallas later.
07:14But they say, ooh, actually, we weren't talking about you, we were talking about Woods,
07:18they're gonna back him up while Kofi's out against the Final Testament.
07:21Caden Carter and Katana Chance face trainer Baszler and Zoey Stark next, which was a neat
07:25little match where the party girls got some really fun offense in before Baszler and Stark
07:28picked up the win with their powerbomb into knee combo.
07:31Adam Pearce brought out Drew McIntyre after that to potentially call off Drew's suspension.
07:35He wants to see CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre.
07:38Drew says that the only voice that matters is the WWE Universe, brownnosing the audience
07:42and Pearce to try and get this match.
07:44Pearce can make that match official right now, and all Drew needs to do is apologise
07:49to the referees he attacked.
07:51And Drew can't do it.
07:53He says the referees have been screwing him over all year, he won't apologise, and he
07:57goes off on one, screaming at Pearce, he's pissed off with the refs, he's pissed off
08:01with Pearce, he's pissed off with Seth Rollins thinking he can skip the cue to Punk, and
08:04Pearce says fine, in that case, you're still suspended.
08:08And Drew pushes over the referees again, looking like he's going to attack Pearce before
08:12he's saved by Rollins.
08:14Drew storms away, and once again I really liked all of this, the dynamics are great
08:17between everyone and it was just a fun segment.
08:20It was then time for the latest Wyatt Six VHS tape, and this one featured Erick Rowan
08:24and it was fantastic.
08:26He spoke candidly about the last few years, saying he once had a family, they were unstoppable,
08:30inseparable, they always had each other's backs.
08:33And then one day, the whole world changed, he lost a brother.
08:36It knocked him on his ass, but he got back up and brushed the dust off him because that's
08:39what you do.
08:40But then just when he thought he had everything together, he lost his other brother.
08:44Now he had no more family.
08:45He holds the sheet mask from the Wyatt Family Days and the voice says, how does that make
08:49you feel?
08:50It gives him hope.
08:51When he was at his lowest, he reached out and he pulled me out.
08:53We're going to take our broken hearts and make some beautiful art.
08:57I thought this was awesome, homerun segment, no notes.
09:00Now next was Dominik Mysterio vs. Jey Uso, so we should talk about how we got here.
09:05So after the opening segment, Dom Dom tried to make it up to Rhea, leaving flowers in
09:08the locker room, but she slammed the door in his face.
09:11Later on, Priest and Ripley are hanging out, having a good time, and once again Dom tries
09:14to make amends, saying that he was trying to reach her all week.
09:17Rhea says, what about all the time I was out, or were you too busy with your little girlfriend?
09:21Jey Uso later said, does this mean mommy's single?
09:24Tell her I said hi.
09:26Priest says to Dom, you can't let people talk to you like that, you need to let them
09:29know who mommy belongs to.
09:30Dom later tells Rhea he's got a match with Jey Uso, and Rhea says, what are you stupid,
09:34why are you picking a fight with him?
09:36Dom says, oh, okay, I can cancel the match, and Rhea says, what are you a coward now?
09:41Dom doesn't know what to do and just says, look, I just want the world to know that you're
09:45my mommy, that you still belong to me.
09:47Rhea recoils and simply says, excuse me?
09:49Before leaving, and Carlito capped off the segment saying, not cool.
09:53This was great, I love how Dom is floundering the whole time not knowing how to make it
09:57up to Rhea.
09:58We get to the Dominik Mysterio vs. Jey Uso match, and of course there was Liv Morgan
10:02interference where she pulled Dom out of the ring, Jey dropkicked him and Dom fell on Liv
10:06before Rhea came out and Liv ran away.
10:09Dom got back in the ring and Jey immediately won before signalling to Rhea to call him.
10:14She smiles at him before walking away.
10:16But one last Judgment Day backstage segment, Rhea approaches Dom and says, let's get
10:20one thing straight, I don't belong to anyone, I'm not yours, you're mine, and hands
10:25him a rose.
10:27Does Rhea actually want him back?
10:29Or is she trying to manipulate him too?
10:30Does she have plans with Jey Uso?
10:32Is she trying to get back at Liv, trying to prove that her tactics aren't working?
10:35It's really interesting, I'm into all of this.
10:38Chad Gable in the ring revealed to the world that Uncle Howdy is actually…
10:42Bo Dallas, he's very smart.
10:44And he called out Bo to the ring, which he did, Bo receiving a big pop from the crowd
10:48as he came out as just Bo.
10:50But before he can even make it to the ring, he's ambushed by the Creed Brothers, who
10:54stand aligned with Chad and beat down Bo.
10:57But Bo laughs, unaffected when the lights cut out and the Wyatt Six make their incredible
11:01entrance to the ring.
11:02The Creed's and Chad run away, and the Wyatt Six are still awesome, I love it.
11:07And the main event was Sami Zayn vs. Ilja Dragunov for the Intercontinental title.
11:10Earlier in the night Braun Breaker was annoyed Dragunov was getting a shot at the title,
11:14so Pearce had security escort him out of the building.
11:17Yeah, very convincing.
11:19Breaker caused a DQ because of course he did, and that's how Raw ended, which was lame.
11:23In spite of the bad finish, I enjoyed this episode of Raw a lot.
11:26It could have done with a bit more wrestling in the ring, but the stories all worked for
11:29me and were furthered for Summerslam, which is a big thumbs up from me.
11:32This week's Raw is 4 out of 5.
11:34Now check out our TLC episode where we rank the 10 worst Money in the Bank cash-ins of
11:38all time.
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