00:00WWE steal an AEW deal. No plans for AJ Styles. My review of Monday Night Raw and more. I'm
00:08Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:15We kick off today's WrestleTalk News with Logan Paul and his ongoing feud with Kevin
00:19Nash. While the two have had their online back and forths, it's now time for the real
00:23people with real thoughts to get involved. Former wrestling stars who now have podcasts.
00:29Eric Bischoff has waded into the discussion, and former WWE Bump host Matt Camp has now
00:33given his thoughts on the matter. Revealing that maybe Logan has some kind of reputation.
00:38I've heard good, I've heard bad. I heard from a long time veteran who couldn't stand
00:44working with Logan Paul. Didn't like how he treated people. Camp adds that he himself
00:49never saw this when he dealt with Logan Paul, but feels that some wrestlers are happy to
00:53work with Paul as it puts a spotlight on them they wouldn't have without him, while others
00:57feel they have to carry Logan Paul to good matches. But even on that, Matt Camp believes
01:02that WWE have asked Logan Paul to not do more in the ring than he currently does.
01:07As for other backstage heat in WWE like the various lawsuits Logan Paul is involved in,
01:12Sean Ross Sapp on Fightful Select noted, "...we've not been given any comment any time we've
01:16ever asked about this. They don't comment on lawsuits they're involved in, so it's
01:20not a surprise to see them pass on this as well."
01:22Speaking of Fightful Select, an SRS was also asked by a Patreon backer why AJ Styles hasn't
01:27been featured prominently on TV since his loss to Cody Rhodes at Clash of the Castle
01:31back in June, as some were speculating that maybe he's injured. Ross Sapp has revealed
01:36however that AJ Styles is fit and healthy, he just isn't being used on WWE TV. SRS
01:43notes that Styles worked the European tour in matches against Rhodes and also did some
01:47dates in Japan. I actually made a joke in yesterday's WrestleTalk News about the fan
01:51reaction to Megan Thee Stallion's theme being used for Smackdown now that it's moved
01:54back to USA Network, as there was some fan backlash online for WWE using a hip-hop song
02:00for a wrestling theme. Come on now, have we all forgotten the greatness that is WWF aggression?
02:06Well it turns out, this song might only be being used because AEW were planning on working
02:13with Megan Thee Stallion. According to PWInsider, Megan and AEW's Mercedes Monet met back
02:18in February at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards and began conversations about working together.
02:24Monet talked about this publicly while promoting All In, and even hinted that one of the plans
02:28was Megan Thee Stallion getting in an AEW ring for a match, and it was only after Monet
02:33went public and the two agreed to do something together that WWE made a deal with the artist
02:40about using her song Never Play for Smackdown. PWInsider write this caught the Monet circle
02:45by surprise. They add whether this means the end of any potential Monet-Stallion alliance
02:50remains to be seen, but obviously the WWE deal didn't help.
02:55Now Pete Quinnell may have set sail from these fair WrestleTalk shores, but he's still
02:59a part of the Monday Night War which is airing exclusively over on Patreon. The next episode
03:04is now live at Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk and you can watch a clip of it
03:08right now.
03:30And now it's time for my review of Monday Night Raw, aka the, you can't keep me away
03:34from this show for too long, JK I'm only doing this because Oli's on holiday edition
03:37of Monday Night Raw, in about 5 minutes.
03:40The show opened with CM Punk coming up for a promo to put over his Hell in a Cell match
03:44against Drew McIntyre. He said he's got more matches in him than you'd think, and
03:47while he didn't come back to WWE to make friends, he did not expect to make a mortal
03:52enemy. This was never going to be over when he just touched some corners, but it also
03:56wasn't over when Drew put him in a hospital. But while he has more matches in him, he doesn't
04:02have a Hell in a Cell match in him. His sister asked him not to do this, his wife has asked
04:08him not to do this, she doesn't watch The Product Punk, we all know that. Even his dog
04:12has asked him not to do this. That last one was a joke because he said the angel inside
04:16him asked him not to do this. But the devil inside, the monster inside, he wants Punk
04:22to do this. Punk cannot promise that he will kill Drew, but he can promise that he will
04:26make him bleed. He is prepared for the end of CM Punk. Is Drew prepared for the end of
04:32Drew McIntyre?
04:33Right, so this was awesome for a number of reasons. Number one, Punk's promo was so
04:37good and delivered so well, and that ties into reason number B, it did something that
04:41hasn't been done for almost 20 years. It got over the danger of the Hell in a Cell
04:46gimmick. For so long, Hell in a Cell has just been a stipulation a PPV was named after.
04:52It doesn't really mean anything, but this promo made Hell in a Cell feel like something.
04:59Something important, something dangerous, something that WWE only bring out when the
05:03occasion calls for it. A last resort. This was so damn good. Sheamus and Pete Dunne had
05:10a very good match, which Pete Dunne won after the referee and Sheamus got distracted by
05:13the Shillelagh, and Dunne hit Sheamus with a cricket bat. We got the first of many backstage
05:26segments involving the Terror Twins, Jey Uso and members of the Judgment Day, but there
05:30was no Judgment Day in this first one, but there was some New Day, as Xavier Woods asked
05:35Damien Priest, Jey and Rhea to not get involved in his tag title match. More on that in a
05:39bit. Miz chatted with Braun Strowman, who said to beat a monster you need a monster,
05:42and Miz is no monster, and Nattie Stratus beat Zoey Stark in a decent little match.
05:47They played off the finish of last week's match, and Nattie scored a roll-up win. Pure
05:50Fusion Collective, more like Can't Win Collective, am I right? Nailed it. No, but really they
05:55never win. Finn Balor approached Rhea Ripley backstage and told her that Rhea split up
05:59this family because she didn't care about this family, but then he get up get up dropped
06:04the bombshell when Dom was torn between Liv and Rhea, it was Balor who told Dom to choose
06:11Without him in his ear, perhaps Dom might have stuck around with Rhea Ripley. It was
06:16a big reveal and well placed in this promo, and could signal a potential that Dom and
06:21Rhea could reunite down the line. Jey Uso walked up to see if Rhea was okay like Kevin
06:25Owens did in that one video, and Balor said that Jey was out of Rhea's league. I mean,
06:30in all fairness we all are. He also said that Jey should perhaps focus on his pursuit of
06:34the Intercontinental Championship, which Rhea Ripley agreed with. So Jey came out for a
06:38promo with Braun Breaker, and Braun pointed out that Jey has been in WWE for 14 years
06:42and has never won a singles title, while Braun has been there for 6 months and is already
06:47the IC champ. Not only that, but he did it without his father and uncle, and Jey has
06:51only won titles because of his family. Jey got in a dig about Braun's NFL career. Football?
06:57Nobody understands football. You've got to know what a meatloaf is to understand football.
07:02And Jey speared Braun out of his boots to stand tall. In a battle of days, it was judgement
07:06taking on New for the tag titles which, because of the ad breaks, felt like Judgement Day
07:10got in zero offence as all of their heat came during the commercial break. It had a great
07:14finish though, where the LWO cut off the rest of Judgement Day interfering and Kofi took
07:18them all out with a dive, which distracted the referee, who then missed Xavier Woods
07:22getting the visual pin. By the time the referee sorted himself out, Balor hit the coup de
07:26grâce for the win. Woods was very upset with Kofi after the match, and shouted at him backstage
07:32because Kofi made a plan with the LWO to run off interference, but did not tell Woods
07:38again. Woods said that they never needed help before, and Kofi replied, well, we had E back
07:44then, now it's just us. And Woods focused on the just us bit of that, furthering his
07:50frustrations with his tag partner. I loved all of this. But not as much as I love Braun
07:55Strowman vs. Bronson Reed. Right, okay, so in order, they broke the top rope, Reed threw
08:00a fan at Braun, Braun cross-bodied Reed through the barricade and bodychecked him over some
08:03crates, Reed did a standing tsunami through a table backstage, and both men fell through
08:07a wall. This was awesome, 5 stars, 10 out of 10, no notes, I hope they never stop brawling.
08:13Sami came out for a promo to drive a wedge between Ludwig Kaiser and Gunther, stopped
08:16from a break up Imperium, but Kaiser laid Sami out to set up a match for next week,
08:20and Gunther denied Sami's shot at the title again. Sami laid out Kaiser with a Helluva
08:23Kick to set up that match for next week. Bianca Belair and Io Sky subbing in for Kairi Sane
08:27had a great match that made me say out loud, why isn't this the world title picture?
08:31Belair reversed the Moonsault into a KOD, but Sky reversed that into a small package
08:35for the win. A great match this was. Liv called Damian Priest a loser before his match with
08:40Dominik Mysterio, and the rest of Judgment Day threatened Ilja Dragunov backstage. There
08:44was also a video promo for American Made, who are hard to take seriously when they've
08:47never won anything. Apart from that one match of course, don't correct me in the comments.
08:50And the main event saw Damian Priest dominate Dominik Mysterio and overcome interference
08:54from the rest of Judgment Day for a very easy win. Rhea also brawled with Liv, but
08:58the numbers game did eventually get on top of Priest after the match and Bront Breaker
09:02stopped Jey Uso's help. Judgment Day stood tall to round off the show, which was a great
09:06episode of Monday Night Raw. Good wrestling, good angles, great promos, and good build
09:10for the PPV. Huge, huge thumbs up. Head on over to Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk
09:16to watch the latest episode of Monday Night Raw, The Last Chance, and if you haven't
09:20already, you can see the Draft Day episode for free on YouTube right now.
Comments