00:00Huge CM Punk WWE News, another WWE star removed from the roster, my review of AEW Blood and
00:07Guts, and more.
00:09I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:21Video games, they're great, aren't they?
00:22That's why we launched our video game Let's Play channel Control Freaks.
00:26Cough go subscribe there, cough.
00:28And you know who else likes video games?
00:30Former NWA World Tag Team Champion Arn Anderson.
00:34Following Call of Duty releasing the Cody Rhodes operator skin for their Modern Warfare
00:383 and Warzone games, Cody's former AEW manager Arn has posted a photo of Rhodes with a gun
00:44and…
00:45I guess Cody finally took my advice.
00:47This is in reference to Arn's famous AEW promo, where he said he would shoot a man
00:51in the face with a Glock if they tried to steal his car.
00:55Wrestling.
00:56Arn's AEW contract expired at the end of May.
00:59But perhaps they could be bringing in a different WWE Hall of Famer.
01:04Following reports that Bobby Lashley, MVP and Tamina have been removed from WWE's
01:08internal roster ahead of them leaving the company soon, WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix
01:13has been removed from the public roster.
01:17Despite not competing in a match since early 2023, Phoenix has remained a member of the
01:22WWE's active roster page, but she's now only listed in the Hall of Fame section of
01:26the site.
01:27Phoenix's husband Edge is currently with AEW, and she recorded the You Think You Know
01:32Me line to start his entrance music.
01:34Too many Edge and Beth intergender tag feuds confirmed.
01:37But Phoenix might not be the only WWE star leaving.
01:40Pat McAfee has announced on his show that he will be officially returning to college
01:44game day from August 24th.
01:47When this happened before in September 2022, McAfee stepped away from his SmackDown announcing
01:52duties as he was unable to juggle both roles at the same time.
01:56There's no word yet on how it will affect his WWE position.
01:59CM Punk, meanwhile, is supposedly set to stay with WWE forever.
02:10According to a boo of WrestlePurists, Punk is working on restructuring his WWE deal from
02:14a money-in-years standpoint, with Punk reportedly telling people he plans to be with WWE forever.
02:21A boo noted that Punk essentially wants to get paid, and when it's time to slow down,
02:26to slow it down and just run NXT.
02:29Wrestling Observer Radio have added this is Punk and WWE working on their next deal, as
02:33his initial contract that started last November was a relatively short-term one.
02:38CM Punk AEW return confirmed.
02:40But seriously?
02:42Speaking to the Rich Eisen Show, AEW President Tony Khan was asked about a WWE crossover
02:47super show.
02:48Despite calling the company the Harvey Weinstein of pro wrestling just months ago, TK said
02:52it would be wonderful, but admitted it may not ever be possible, citing challenging business
02:58things as a potential barrier to a working relationship between the two.
03:02Before I review AEW Dynamite though, here's a very special message from Turbo Jake…
03:33And, you can get shoutouts on this very show, so thank you to…
03:59I hope I said that right, but I probably didn't.
04:01Thanks for all the shoutouts today by visiting us at Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk.
04:05Go right now, link in the description, go, because Turbo Jack is going to be back real
04:09soon and he's going to be mad if you haven't visited that link.
04:12He'll be real mad.
04:13Don't make him mad.
04:15Now it's time for my review of AEW Dynamite Blood and Guts in about 5 minutes.
04:20Last week's episode saw Will Ospreay lose his international title in the last desperate
04:24moments of an hour-long match with MJF.
04:27AEW followed that up by having him cold open this show as Wacky Will.
04:32I'm being glib.
04:33In someone else's hands, this might've been hokey.
04:35But Will is so sincere, he made this quite a bit of fun.
04:38MJF had stabbed his car's wheel with a knife, so he had to hop in Alex Marvez's car to
04:42drive to the arena.
04:44Marvez realised Will had never driven in America before, and goes ARGH as they drove off.
04:50I don't know how Will was getting to arenas beforehand.
04:53What was he going to do with the car that had the wheels stabbed?
04:58It went into more camp fun with MJF staging a title celebration in the ring, which is
05:02actually no longer for the international title.
05:05The international title is in the bin.
05:07MJF rechristened it the American Championship, unveiling a new red, white and blue design.
05:12Cody Rhodes' AEW return confirmed.
05:14Bang, bang, bang.
05:16This marks the belt's third new name in just over two years, as it actually started
05:19as the All Atlantic Championship.
05:21Even though MJF was a mega heel here, the crowd still chanted USA.
05:25Perhaps Ospreay will rename it the United Kingdom belt if he wins it at All In, just
05:29like he did for the IWGP US title.
05:32Because Ospreay revealed, after making it to the arena and chasing MJF off, that Tony
05:36Khan has booked his rematch for Wembley.
05:38Onoro Suzuki took on Chris Jericho next, where he had heard about the new Learning Tree gimmick,
05:42and took it literally, trying to chop Jericho down with his hand.
05:46This was an almost entirely chop-based match, serving up medium rare chest ham.
05:52Suzuki's chops were so stiff, it started to make Jericho's chest look like Dustin
05:55Rhodes' head when he blades.
05:57Suzuki awesomely kicked out at one off a codebreaker, but Jericho hit a legal low blow and Judas
06:02Effect to retain the FTW title in a really fun match.
06:06Brian Keith and Big Bill beat up Suzuki afterwards, but Shibata made the save.
06:10We've got another belt now appearing on AEW TV.
06:13The new CMLL Women's World Champion Willow Nightingale, I wonder, whatever happened to
06:18the last champion, was jumped by Chris Statlander backstage, where Stokely set up a title eliminator
06:23match next week.
06:24Why not just make it a match for the title?
06:26Bryan Danielson got a pep talk from everyone's new favourite babyface Jeff Jarrett, saying
06:30he doesn't just have to physically heal, he needs to mentally heal too.
06:34Danielson heel turn confirmed.
06:36Britt Baker looked really good in her first match since September against Shida, making
06:39her tap in the lockjaw to win.
06:41Mercedes Monet came out afterwards to decline the Baker match for All In, when the former
06:45NWA Women's Champion Camille made her long-reported debut.
06:50Looks like she'll be Monet's hired muscle.
06:52Nick Wayne told Kip Sabian nobody cares about his dead dad.
06:55There is so much family bereavement in this show.
06:57Pac squashed Boulder, implying AEW are still building him for the international, I mean
07:01American title match that he won.
07:03Perhaps that will take place at All Out.
07:06And The Glamour Mariah May squashed local enhancement talent Ketlin Alexis with Toni
07:09Storm's moves.
07:11Toni then jumped May from under a disguise afterwards for a pull-apart brawl.
07:14This feud is at its best when Toni is in the segments.
07:17And then it was time for our main event…
07:21The Elite vs Team AEW in Blood and Guts.
07:25The Elite had already won the man advantage with a gimmicked coin backstage, where they
07:29were also implied to have beaten up not Adam Pearce, Christopher Daniels.
07:33Shouldn't that be a bigger deal?
07:35And Team AEW fell out in their pre-match promo, as they were all fighting The Elite for different
07:39reasons.
07:40Swerve's number one status, revenge, a tag title shot, or Mark Briscoe.
07:45He's just happy to be there.
07:47Slightly deflating finish aside, I'd say this was one of the best Blood and Guts matches
07:51AEW have ever done.
07:53The issues weren't in-ring, it was in the month build to it, with no real stakes, and
07:57a hodgepodge Team AEW.
07:59Thankfully though, they did have one of my favourite rivalries of recent times as the
08:03overarching story.
08:04Hangman Page vs Swerve Strickland.
08:08The Elite were concerned that Hangman hadn't arrived in the building yet.
08:11Page was only in this for more selfish reasons.
08:15Darby Allin and Jack Perry started things off with Nick Jackson, Mark Briscoe and Anthony
08:19Bowens out next, and weirdly, it was Bowens who took the violence up a notch.
08:24After a great sequence of Mark catching Nick's Meltzer Driver into a cutter and Darby hitting
08:28a Scorpion Death Drop, Darby skateboarded onto Matt's back with thumbtacks embedded
08:33in it.
08:34And Bowens got out a goddamn pair of scissors, and started stabbing Perry in the head with
08:39it and spreading his mouth with the blades.
08:41I've never seen that side of Bowens before, I'm both scared and excited.
08:45Okada was next in to take that right down.
08:48The most violent thing he did was get stapled on his finger.
08:51He's not hardcore, he's not hardcore.
08:54Max Caster was in next, what I thought missed a trick by not wrapping acapella in the cage
08:58in between knocking people out with his mic, but the Elite superkicked his mouth while
09:02it was full of thumbtacks.
09:03The action was so much fun, so AEW then swerved the direction into serious blood feud territory.
09:10Hangman didn't come out for his spot.
09:12That's hugely damaging for his Elite team, their man advantage was nullified.
09:16He instead jumped Swerve Strickland during his entrance, handcuffing Swerve to the outside
09:21cage wall.
09:22But Matt screamed at Hangman to get in the ring, or else he's fired.
09:25In one of the stranger visuals of the year, best babyface of 2024 Jeff Jarrett, Daddy
09:30A$$ and Prince Nana then helped free Swerve and cut open a portion of the cell wall.
09:35Letting Strickland awesomely run wild, clearing house until it's just him in one ring and
09:40Hangman on the other, for a defining rivalry image.
09:44The Elite then all got staple guns and unloaded on Swerve, but it only made that sicko stronger.
09:49He took them all out with his own staple gun.
09:52Hangman hit a buckshot lariat on Okada by accident, I think they're building a feud
09:56there, that might be their Wembley match.
09:58But unfortunately two of the biggest spots took place in the picture-in-picture ad break,
10:02with Swerve and Hangman brawling up the ramp and crashing through a table off the stage,
10:06and Bowens falling off the side of the cage through four tables outside.
10:11Darby Monkey barred his way across the cage ceiling to hit a coffin drop on Perry, and
10:15then handcuffed the scapegoat to the inside wall Raven style.
10:19Calm down, Luke.
10:20Kendo stick shots didn't make Perry quit.
10:22An absolutely sick unprotected chair shot to the head from Mark Briscoe didn't make
10:27him quit.
10:28I'm assuming it was gimmicked, but it was still the most shocking moment of the match
10:30for me.
10:31At least it's not real glass.
10:32And he didn't even quit when Darby eventually doused him in gasoline, took him ages to find
10:37the can under the ring, and threatened to set him on fire again.
10:40Matt Jackson gave Darby a TNT title match and quit to save his buddy.
10:44The heel showing heart and some timing issues meant the ending fell a bit flat.
10:48I also have no earthly idea where Okada went after people started going through tables.
10:52AEW blood and guts is 90%.
10:55A brand new episode of our video game playthrough channel Control Freaks is available to watch
10:59right now.
11:00It's got Luke playing Resident Evil.
11:02Here's a clip.
11:03Welcome to Control Freaks, where all your brains are belonged to us.
11:14And today, we're going to be playing Resident Evil 7.
11:19Oh god.
11:21Which I've just found out is not the game that I thought it was.
11:23I thought we were playing the remake of Resident Evil 2.
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