00:00Odyssey Jones fired over allegations of domestic violence, WWE is still PG, another shock WWE
00:07departure and more. I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:15On Sunday it was spotted that Odyssey Jones' profile on WWE.com had been removed, and it
00:20led to a lot of questions and speculation. Jones had become somewhat of a meme amongst
00:25wrestling fans, having been drafted to the WWE main roster in 2023 but never used, only
00:31to be drafted again in 2024 and again not featured on TV.
00:35Then in August following Summerslam, Jones finally debuted on the main roster in a storyline
00:40with The New Day. Jones picked up a tag team win on Raw but was not featured in the following
00:44weeks. Fightful note that Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston referenced Jones in a backstage
00:48segment but never mentioned him by name. Fightful were informed on Sunday that Jones' status
00:53with WWE might have changed following his profile being removed from WWE.com. He was
00:59not at Raw this past Monday, and Fightful Select reported that Jones was not in immediate
01:04creative plans with no further context provided. His profile removal was not a glitch, and
01:09there were talent who were surprised he was taken off the website according to Sean Ross
01:13Sapp on Twitter. There had been reports that WWE were thrilled with Jones' social media
01:17numbers that he was pulling in following his main roster debut. As with anything, the internet
01:22began to pull the train into speculation station. However those clearly in the know noted that
01:26fans should wait until the full story has come out before they make jokes. Dave Meltzer
01:30noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that he was certain Jones was done with WWE, but there
01:35were still a lot of rumours around the why which would come out in due course.
01:39And now that story has come out, as it has been reported that Jones was removed from
01:43WWE TV due to allegations of domestic violence which had been brought to WWE's attention.
01:49In a Fightful ad, we've not heard of an arrest or charges being pressed in relation
01:52to the situation. We've reached out to WWE for comments, as well as clarification on
01:57his status. Talent had not been informed of the situation.
02:01Nothing official has been said by WWE as of yet. However, Bryan Alvarez said on Wrestling
02:05Observer Live that Jones has been fired by WWE. It is worth noting that Alvarez is the
02:11only person at the time of writing who was using the word fired.
02:15Ibu of WrestlePurist noted on Twitter that WWE apparently learned about this situation
02:20two weeks ago and began looking into it, which coincides with him not featuring on TV and
02:24Woodson Kingston not referring to him by name. If you have been affected by anything that
02:28we've discussed here on the WrestleTalk News today, please do visit our Support Each
02:31Other page which is linked to in the video description if you feel the need to reach
02:35out for help.
02:36Following yesterday's WrestleTalk News where Oli Davis talked about the departure of WWE's
02:40director of production travel Michelle Carlucci, PWInsider are now reporting that production
02:45designer Jason Robinson has also finished up with the company after 23 years following
02:50Bash in Berlin. Mike Johnson writes that Robinson had a hand in creating just about every modern
02:55major event and television set you could think of. This includes WrestleMania sets, Raw,
03:00Smackdown and even the Thunderdome. Johnson adds that there were a lot of people shocked
03:04that he was exiting, noting he was, "...as important as one could imagine when it came
03:09to designing the look and feel of WWE's broadcast product." There are those in WWE
03:14that say that Robinson was a Kevin Dunn guy.
03:17Last night's NXT saw the TV debut of Julia after her PPV debut on No Mercy on Sunday
03:22night. She had a face-off with NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez where she challenged
03:25her to a title match on NXT's debut on the CW on October 1st, which will also feature
03:30an appearance from CM Punk. Ethan Page will also defend his NXT Championship on that show.
03:35Corey Brennan of Fightful Select reports that Julia's debut was kept very secretive,
03:40with a producer and temp music being used as stand-ins during rehearsals. He writes
03:44there was a lot of secrecy regarding Julia's debut as one would expect, with sources in
03:49NXT not seeing her until moments before the finish of Roxanne Perez vs. Jada Parker. This
03:54might have included Perez herself, as Brennan was told by his sources that they wouldn't
03:58be surprised if Roxanne was kept out of the loop. He also notes that this debut slot was
04:03always scheduled for Julia and not the likes of Stephanie Baker or Delta.
04:07Plans for Julia's debut and title program with Roxanne Perez date back as far as NXT
04:12Stand and Deliver, where Julia was shown in the crowd. Debuting at No Mercy meant that
04:15Julia could finish up her date with Marigold, which she had extended. Reportedly this got
04:20her no heat from WWE, who expected it. Brennan adds it was known as a possibility even prior
04:26to her fractured wrist. Brennan also adds that his sources expect Julia will wrestle
04:30in NXT before the CW debut. Dave Meltzer had noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that
04:36Julia might have to tone down her strong style, but Brennan writes there is also little concern
04:42with Julia changing up her style now she's in NXT, with concerns of her being too stiff
04:47being waved off by several sources back when she signed in April. Brennan also reports
04:51that Julia will stay in NXT and is set to become one of the faces of the brand as they
04:56move to the CW, but tenure in the brand will be relative to how fast she takes to the American
05:01television style.
05:02Also on last night's NXT, it was revealed that Jordan Grace will return to defend her
05:07TNA Knockouts Championship in an open challenge next week. The show also saw a continuation
05:12of the NXTNA partnership as Rosemary lost to Tatum Paxley, but there is one TNA Knockout
05:17who will not be featuring on NXT as part of this partnership. As Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful
05:22Select is reporting that Giselle Shaw has been granted her release from TNA.
05:27SRS reports that Shaw recently requested her release from the company, which was granted
05:31under the proviso that she work the recent Louisville tapings and put someone over on
05:35her way out. Fightful report sources claim that TNA worked smoothly to grant the release
05:40and didn't put up a fight in keeping her around. Shaw made a return to RevPro over
05:44All In weekend, teaming with Team RevPro to take on the Cutthroat Collective in an awesome
05:49ten woman tag that you should go out of your way to watch. She's also been announced
05:53for former TNA booker Scott D'Amore's Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling, and Fightful were
05:57told by those in TNA that they expect Shaw to be a regular there.
06:01Speaking of being a regular, and Damian Priest could have been a regular in Marvel movies.
06:06How's that for a segue? Pretty good. The haters didn't think I could make that work,
06:11and they were correct. Great call from the haters.
06:14Anywho, Chris Van Vliet sat down with Damian Priest for an episode of Inside where Priest
06:17revealed, confirming an old Fightful report, that he was offered a role in Marvel's Black
06:22Panther Wakanda Forever. However, he was not able to take that role. He says in the interview
06:27that he was prevented from starring in the movie, and while he doesn't say who it was
06:31that took the role away from him, he notes that it wasn't Marvel. Gee, I wonder who
06:36it could have been then.
06:38CVV says that we can read between the lines when talking about how different the new regime
06:42is to the old one, to which Priest replies, exactly. He adds, look, come what may, I'm
06:47good with it. Maybe I do something like that, I go a different route, and I'm not sitting
06:51here with you being a world champion. Like I won a world championship at WrestleMania,
06:55I don't know if that happens.
06:57It's been noted by fans, and has been brought up in a lot of interviews, that the new regime
07:01of WWE does feel different to the old one. Not only is the TV and PPV output so much
07:06better than it was just a few years ago, but talent themselves feel like they have a bit
07:11more freedom. And one of those freedoms is using naughty words. The S-word in particular
07:16has been used more frequently on Raw and Smackdown in 2024, and it has felt that WWE
07:21was moving away from its PG output and back to TV-14. And this was expected to go even
07:27harder once WWE moves to Netflix in 2025.
07:30However, according to Fightful Select, WWE had a meeting with talent ahead of this week's
07:35Raw where they encourage talent to not curse as much on camera and be cognizant of when
07:40a camera is on them. Fightful add that while there will be less censorship on Netflix,
07:45it won't be a free-for-all. Better tell that to The Rock. PWInsider add in their report
07:50of the meeting that WWE wanted to remind talent that WWE is still a PG product. And this is
07:57not the first time this has come up in 2024, as a memo was distributed to talent earlier
08:01this year during the build to WrestleMania which told them not to curse on TV. According
08:06to Wrestling Observer, this led to some frustration within WWE as they were told The Rock, who
08:11was doing the majority of the cursing, could get away with it because he's The Rock and
08:15some talent felt that was a double standard. Triple H has said that cursing will not be
08:19an issue when Raw moves to Netflix, but that's more of a censorship of the crowd swearing
08:24during chants like holy s***, which have to be cut at the request of USA Network and Fox.
08:29And speaking of changes, eagle-eyed Twitter users spotted that AEW have made a major change
08:34to their roster page. They've removed the win-loss records. This has been a huge part
08:40of AEW's identity since they launched in 2019, noting that wins and losses matter in
08:45their storytelling. This has factored into stories less and less over the years. They
08:49even got rid of the rankings system for a bit and then brought it back and then seemingly
08:53got rid of it again. And the removal of the wins and losses entirely from the website
08:57shows a further step away from that being a focus. Case in point, Kyle Fletcher is challenging
09:02Kazuchika Okada for the Continental Championship on Dynamite this week, despite losing to Ricochet
09:06on Dynamite last week.
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