00:00A major update on CM Punk including his, quote, BS merch, a TNA star slams AEW, a big title
00:08change on Dynamite, and more.
00:10I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:20You know when you're totally over that toxic relationship you had years ago?
00:24So much so that you don't even look at Megan's Creek 24 Facebook album she just put up?
00:28What do you mean she's got a kid now?
00:30It seems TNA have similarly moved on from the wrestling promotion they used to be in
00:34a relationship with… AEW.
00:36The AEW-TNA partnership in 2021 was short-lived, but came during a hot period for AEW.
00:43Kenny Omega was in belt collector mode, holding the Impact World title for 110 days before
00:49dropping it to Christian Cage on the first ever episode of AEW Rampage.
00:54Former TNA referee Brian Hebner has previously criticised the relationship as more being
00:58about putting AEW stars over than elevating TNA.
01:02And according to TNA's World Champion Moose, their new boyfriend treats them so much better.
01:08Just look at their car.
01:09In an interview with the Metro, Moose said, I think the partnership with WWE is the best
01:13relationship that TNA's ever had, way better than the one we had with AEW, better than
01:19what was done with AAA and any other company.
01:22I think this relationship with WWE, both companies respect each other and are doing great by
01:27each other.
01:28And there's no, there's not one company that is being selfish.
01:33Like how TNA Knockouts Champion Jordan Grace was beaten on the NXT PLE by champion Roxanne
01:37Perez to get her win back on a TNA show against Tatum Paxley.
01:44At least WWE won't be able to steal the partnership's breakout star Joe Hendry.
01:53For a while, as he said on the Talk is Jericho podcast, he has a while left on his TNA de-
01:58OH MY GOD SAY HIS NAME AND HE APPEARS.
02:01But TNA isn't the only surprising wrestling name frequently turning up in NXT.
02:06CM Punk mysteriously showed up there on Wednesday 17th July too.
02:10With Drew McIntyre's suspension not being rescinded on Monday's Raw, and Seth Rollins
02:14entering the feud's chat, it's being speculated that Punk won't be cleared in time for a
02:19him vs McIntyre singles match at SummerSlam.
02:22He's set to appear on next week's Raw, but in the meantime, he was spotted at the
02:26WWE Performance Center with his NXT children Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez, who, in a funny
02:32viral clip, asked him how the Great Depression was.
02:34A joke at how old they think Punk is, not asking him about his last year in AEW.
02:40But according to PWInsider, Punk wasn't just at the PC to appear in TikToks, he was
02:45in the ring working to get officially cleared by WWE Medical.
02:50That would mean, at least before the 17th July, Punk has still not been medically cleared.
02:56He tore his triceps in the Royal Rumble match back in January.
02:59He previously said at the Clash at the Castle media conference that he was hoping to be
03:03cleared on that week's SmackDown, but that was now almost a month ago.
03:06He'll have to get cleared in the next two and a bit weeks to make SummerSlam.
03:10Since Clash at the Castle, Punk has also kind of been feuding with McIntyre's UK mate
03:15WWE commentator Wade Barrett.
03:18It's actually an example of long-term booking that stretches back to January 3rd 2011, where
03:24Barrett lost a steel cage match, which would see him betrayed by Punk, who would then take
03:28control of Barrett's Nexus faction.
03:31Which is probably why Wade exploded on X when WWE announced that they were re-releasing
03:35a CM Punk Nexus shirt in 2024.
03:38A Nexus shirt?
03:40WTF is this BS?
03:42And who in the merch department is getting a slap this Friday?
03:45Carbon copy Drew McIntyre.
03:47The real biggest match of the Summer, though, is Dom vs Holly over on our brand new video
03:51game channel Control Freaks.
04:17Now it's time for my review of the 250th episode of AEW Dynamite… in about 5 minutes.
04:36I missed last week's episode because I was in sunny Portugal for a stag.
04:40I'm stagging you.
04:41I wonder how the MJF vs Will Ospreay feud for the international title for All In's
04:45coming along.
04:46I'll leave you alone for one week, KHAAAAAAN.
04:51Will Ospreay defending his international championship against MJF may be the biggest first time
04:57match this company could do opened this free episode of Dynamite TV.
05:03I'll get my one complaint out of the way early.
05:05I understand Tony's on-paper reasoning for wanting big matches to start shows to grab
05:10as many viewers as possible from the preceding Big Bang Theory, but in practice it creates
05:14a back-to-front viewing experience, giving the rest of the show an impossibly hard-to-follow
05:18standard and nullifying the prestige of the main event placement.
05:22But that aside, holy crap, this was one of the best matches in Dynamite history.
05:27MJF healed it up early with all his usual tricks, going into the crowd and ripping up
05:32signs, doing the Ric Flair strut.
05:34But Will gave as good as he got, doing a strut of his own and wiping out Max with a sent
05:38onto the outside.
05:39MJF then got the better of the next 20 minutes, i.e. a whole pay-per-view match length for
05:43The Immortals, coming off as incredibly smart and dangerous, expertly countering most of
05:48Will's big moves.
05:49It was all to build Ospreay's comeback, where he was actually the first to cheat.
05:54A lot of people are going to talk about Max using the diamond ring to win the match, but
05:57we should be looking at who fired the first illegal shots.
06:01Will using this foreign object, an actual human child, to hit Max in the chest.
06:07If that isn't a DQ price, I don't know what is.
06:10Then came the part of the 2K match when you tried to use all your favourite signature
06:13moves from other wrestlers.
06:14Ospreay hit two Styles clashes, one on the ring apron and one off the middle rope.
06:18MJF hit Adam Cole's Panama Sunrise.
06:21Both men attempted a crossroads.
06:23Will's arm by this point was dangling by a thread, so Doc Samson popped it back in
06:27place during the ad break.
06:29Another bit of outside help for the babyface.
06:32And we finally got the pay-off to the Chekhov's Table set up about 40 minutes earlier, with
06:36Max hitting a top rope elbow outside onto Will through it.
06:40Then, somehow, 55 minutes in, both men just started sprinting.
06:44There's an incredibly fast sequence of nearfalls.
06:47Both men do the flip out standing spot from the top rope hurricanranas.
06:51Will hits an Oscutter and hidden blade, but Max kicks out.
06:54Ospreay goes for a second hidden blade from behind, but Max collapses before he can hit
06:58it.
06:59And then came the Oreo on top of this delicious wrestling Oreo cheesecake.
07:03Justin Roberts suddenly made the one minute remaining time call.
07:06Ok, I've seen this movie before.
07:08I guess a time limit draw is the safe way to build an All In rematch.
07:12At least I got to see an all-time hour long match.
07:15Now desperate to win, Ospreay goes for the Tiger Driver he said he wouldn't hit again,
07:19but he second guessed himself.
07:20It was enough of a pause for Max to recover and push Will away, sending Ospreay crashing
07:25into the referee, and enough time for MJF to knock Will out with his diamond ring.
07:31Make the pin, and get the win with seconds to go left on the screen.
07:37MJF is your new international champion, and has cheated to win after an hour long match
07:44with Will Ospreay.
07:45It was a thrilling climax to a fantastic bout.
07:48The camera work didn't confirm the ring had been used until just after the win too,
07:53making the finish even more shocking.
07:55Medical personnel rushed in afterwards and hooked MJF up to an oxygen tank, where, between
08:00gasping huffs on the mask, he brilliantly wheezed to camera, easy dub.
08:05Like I said earlier, though, the problem with having the opening hour, one of the best
08:09matches of the year, kind of makes the rest of the show feel relatively subpar.
08:13We got a backstage segment of Swerve Strickland accepting the acclaimed for Blood and Guts
08:17Team A EW.
08:19More like Team B EW… am I right?
08:25Chris Jericho had an in-ring learning tree segment to set up an FTW title match against
08:29Minoru Suzuki next week.
08:31The Elite banned Britt Baker from ringside for Mercedes Monet's TBS title match against
08:35Nyla Rose.
08:36But jokes on them, because they didn't ban Britt Baker in a Sting mask from ringside.
08:40Baker had a pull apart brawl with Monet after she retained in a decent match against Rose.
08:44Mercedes is so, so, so much better as a heel.
08:47The only way to make her better is to have her enter an onscreen relationship with a
08:51carder who got all hot and flustered backstage when she did her dance.
09:00Jack Perry proved Darby Allin couldn't get to him by beating up Brandon Cutler.
09:03By beating up Brandon Cutler himself.
09:05It took me way longer than it should have to realise Toni Storm was actually Mariah
09:10May dressed as Toni Storm next.
09:12She came down to explain her brilliant heel turn at the close of last week's show.
09:16But even gouging Storm's face open with a high heel didn't warrant Toni Schiavone
09:19just saying on commentary, speak, bitch, at the start of this segment, prompting Taz and
09:24likely everyone at home to go, woah Schiavone, calm down buddy.
09:29May explained she'd been planning this all along.
09:31I didn't feel like this was the strongest promo performance as the crowd started to
09:35wat her.
09:36We got a recap of Collision and how the Bang Bang Gang are having to vacate their trios
09:39titles.
09:40Christopher Daniels, aka not Adam Pearce, told them he doesn't like this decision
09:44either, despite him being the one to say it, and it being from the direction of the babyface
09:48authority figure Tony Khan.
09:53I hate the general manager situation in AEW right now.
09:56And the main event was Kazuchika Okada vs Swerve Strickland in a champion vs champion
10:00non-title bout.
10:01They went about 10 minutes before the Bucks caused a rare DQ, as this was always more
10:05about having an angle to intensify next week's Blood & Guts match rather than putting on
10:10another in-ring classic.
10:12Team AEW came out too, Hangman and Swerve never got to be in the same ring together,
10:16and awesomely Darby Allin descended from the rafters Britt Baker style.
10:19One of the best hours in AEW TV history, followed by a normal episode.
10:24Means this week's Dynamite is 91%.
10:27Because the only thing that can top an hour of MJF vs Will Ospreay is an hour of Laurie,
10:31Dom, Sullivan and Holly losing their minds playing Overcooked 2.
10:36Go watch the latest episode of Video Game Club on Control Freaks now.
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