00:00Vince McMahon slams his own Netflix documentary, WWE copyright strike AEW, my review of Monday
00:07Night Raw and more.
00:11I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:21In 2020, Netflix and WWE announced they'd be making a prestige docu-series, the most
00:26expensive ever commissioned by the platform of Vince McMahon.
00:30Vince reportedly told the producers at the time he wanted it to be a warts and all portrayal
00:35of him.
00:36But now, four years, a retirement, a return, a federal investigation, a lawsuit and a resignation
00:40later, with the docu-series set to premiere tomorrow, he's decided, actually maybe not
00:45so many warts, issuing this statement on X.
00:48I don't regret participating in this Netflix documentary.
00:51The producers had the opportunity to tell an objective story about my life and the incredible
00:55business I built, which were equally filled with excitement, drama, fun and a fair amount
01:01of controversy and life lessons.
01:03Unfortunately, based on an early partial cut I've seen, this doc falls short and takes
01:07the predictable path of conflating the Mr McMahon character with my true self, Vince.
01:13The title and promos alone make that evident.
01:15A lot has been misrepresented or left out entirely in an effort to leave viewers intentionally
01:21confused.
01:22The producers use typical editing tricks with out of context footage and dated sound
01:26bytes etc to distort the viewer's perception and support a deceptive narrative.
01:31Yes, this is a definition of irony.
01:33In an attempt to further their misleading account, the producers use a lawsuit based
01:37on an affair I ended as evidence that I am, in fact, Mr McMahon.
01:42I hope the viewer will keep an open mind and remember that there are two sides to every
01:48story.
01:49So let's hear from that other side, Janelle Grant and her attorney Anne Callis.
01:53Vince McMahon physically and emotionally abused, sexually assaulted and human trafficked Janelle
01:57Grant for more than two years.
01:59Calling his horrific and criminal behaviour an affair is delusional and nothing more than
02:04a sad attempt to save his shredded reputation.
02:07Although Miss Grant has not seen the Mr McMahon docuseries, we hope it shines a bright light
02:11on his abhorrent and criminal actions by accurately portraying the realities of his abusive and
02:17exploitative behaviour.
02:19Miss Grant will no longer be silenced by McMahon.
02:21Her story, though deeply troubling and exceptionally painful, is one that can help other abuse
02:26survivors find their voices.
02:28We seek to hold McMahon, John Laurinaitis and WWE accountable and to give Miss Grant
02:34her day in court.
02:35On the opposite end of the legal spectrum, WWE have hit AEW with a copyright strike on
02:40YouTube.
02:41Yes, this is also a definition of irony.
02:44On AEW's 11 hour Best of Nigel McGuinness from Ring of Honor video, ahead of Nigel's
02:49singles return against that coward Bryan Danielson on Grand Slam tomorrow, WWE flagged
02:54the video for copyright infringement, potentially for using some footage from McGuinness'
02:58WWE Produced 2019 documentary.
03:01The video has since been reuploaded and remains live, so either the issue was resolved behind
03:06the scenes, or this was an automatic incorrect claim from WWE that they ended up pulling.
03:11Ric Flair has announced on Instagram he is getting divorced from his wife Wendy Barlow
03:15after 8 years of marriage and 13 as a couple.
03:18He explained the split is mutual and respectful, and happened because of differences in their
03:22respective schedules and commitments.
03:25Before I get into my Raw review, the brand new episode of Monday Night War is up exclusively
03:29on our Patreon right now!
03:31Please go to Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk to support us making all of our content and
03:36to watch the whole series.
04:06Now it's time for my review of Monday Night
04:34Raw… in about 5 minutes.
04:36The show began as it meant to go on, with Braun Strowman and Bronson Reed waging some
04:40kind of eternal kaiju war.
04:42During the opening shot of Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio arriving via the Lucha Lowrider
04:47– which you can buy a toy version of right now – Strowman and Reed crashed across the
04:52shot and through a merch stand.
04:53It's spots like this that make Lavex WWE feel like a real living universe.
04:58Morgan and Mysterio came down to cut an in-ring promo where Liv made an even bigger heel move
05:03than pairing with Dom.
05:05She introduced her own video package.
05:07With Damien Priest taken out last week, Rhea Ripley came down twinless.
05:11Liv claimed Ripley won't be able to compete at Bad Blood because of her bashed in knee
05:14that she wasn't really selling at all.
05:16So it was a bit lacklustre when Ripley revealed, in fact, she is cleared for the PLE.
05:21Maybe it's because she had a much bigger reveal.
05:24The new stipulation for her title match against Morgan will now have Dom behind bars like
05:29he deserves, hanging above the ring in a shark cage.
05:33I approve of this stipulation, and the predictable Dom accidentally dropping a weapon to the
05:38wrong person's spot.
05:39Canadians love other people from Canada.
05:43So Sami Zayn was super over against Luke Vick Kaiser next.
05:46They wrestled a really decent back and forth match that both elevated Kaiser, with his
05:50cheating cost in him rather than his ability, and built Sami for his world title match against
05:55Gunther.
05:56Which, Gunther, is actually dressed for right now, to give these people in Ontario, Canada
06:05a world title match tonight… not.
06:12Classic Gunther.
06:13Judgment Day were moaning about the shark cage stipulation backstage, and JD McDonough
06:17had words with Ilia Dragunov like it's Progress 2018, but the most interesting detail was
06:22a Lily doll resting on the production crates behind Liv Morgan.
06:26Later on, we got a new Wyatt Six video package, which had the usual cryptic phrases over grainy
06:30footage with a QR code that leads to a website, that leads to a video, that leads to a Microsoft
06:34Paint file, that if you type the word blue into a text box and turn the colour of the
06:38letters blue, leads to a hidden flight simulator minigame.
06:41Along that easter egg trail, there was a face that looks like Alexa Bliss' logo.
06:45Combined with the Lily doll behind Liv earlier, perhaps Alexa could be leading the Wyatt Six
06:49against Morgan's Judgment Day for them turning on their family of Rhea and Priest.
06:57Or it's a New Day feud.
06:58I don't know.
06:59Dragon Lee beat Carlito super easily, barely an inconvenience, when Rey Mysterio took out
07:02the Judgment Day on the outside.
07:04PWInsider have reported Netflix executives were visiting backstage at this episode, and
07:08the broadcast even showed a bunch of them in the front row.
07:11Yet nobody mentioned the McMahon documentary.
07:13What a wasted promotional opportunity.
07:15Sheamus said he wants to make this an English vs Irish thing with Pete Dunne, so Pete sneak
07:20attacked him backstage later.
07:22That's how us English do it.
07:23Now impose a monarchy on him.
07:25Karrion Kross continued to be the Devil on Miz's shoulder, saying monsters come in
07:28different shapes and sizes ahead of his Bronson Reed match.
07:32But guys, he's also talking about himself.
07:35Miz's match never happened, though, because of awesomeness.
07:39Strowman, who is no small man, somehow appeared from out of nowhere in Reed's entrance to
07:44have a proper Kaiju battle war, with scores of security guys running in, but getting Tsunami'd
07:50and chokeslammed for the two monsters to go right back at it.
07:54Wade had a great line here about how the only thing that can stop either of them is each
07:58other.
07:59Reed backed off when Strowman teased going for a top rope crossbody outside, and Braun
08:03brilliantly thumped his chest like King Kong.
08:06WWE lent into that imagery further later on when they ran a Godzilla-style promo video
08:11for Braun vs Braun next week.
08:13With Reed wading through the sea and Strowman pushing over city blocks, this is perfection.
08:18Drew McIntyre kept his CM Punk feud bubbling with a short in-ring promo, saying how their
08:23families don't want them to have a Hell in a Cell match, but it's going to happen
08:26and he's going to break him.
08:27There was a graphic with the Viking Raiders' voices over the top, teasing their return
08:31and, hopefully, them going back to their War Raiders name.
08:34Damage Control beat Unholy Union super easily, barely an inconvenience with a great Io Sky
08:39hot tag, building them up for the women's tag title shots, but not an actual story.
08:43But the end of New Day's storyline smartly continued, with Kofi Kingston planning their
08:4710 year anniversary celebrations, bringing in a box of bootios and a new Francesca trombone.
08:52But while Kofi is happy being nostalgic, Woods is restless and wants more.
08:58So when American Maid called them has-beens, it set up New Day vs the Creed's.
09:02Woods' frustration got the better of him again, though.
09:05Chad Gable frequently interfered, so Xavier snapped and threw him into the ring.
09:09That was enough of a distraction for the Creed's to hit their finisher on him and win.
09:13LWO approached New Day backstage afterwards to apologise for costing them their match
09:17last week, but Woods bitterly snapped at Rey Mysterio, setting up a match between them
09:22next week.
09:23What's so good about all of this is how you can empathise with all sides.
09:27Kofi is trying to innocently celebrate New Day's legacy, while Xavier keeps getting
09:31screwed over for things that aren't his fault.
09:34Damian Priest said he's his brother's keeper, but Finn is no longer his brother.
09:38Pure Fusion Collective found the only thing worse than their name.
09:44This graphic at the end of their video promo.
09:46I can cut out images on Photoshop better than that.
09:49And then it was time for our main event, where Jey Uso, after over a year of being called
09:55it, finally fulfilled his main event name.
09:59The show did an excellent job hyping Brom vs Jey for the Intercontinental Championship,
10:03not just throughout this episode, but over the last month period.
10:07This and Reed vs Strowman next week are giving each show its own steadily built unmissable
10:12main event, rather than just a tag match being made in the opening segment.
10:15It's a really rewarding way to structure week-to-week television, making them feel
10:20like PLE matches.
10:21The story was youth vs experience.
10:25Brom lost his first IC title match to Sami Zayn because of arrogance, then he won it
10:29and successfully defended.
10:31It's like he has to face someone first to learn how to not get too cocky, a mark of
10:35inexperience.
10:36This was Brom's second ever title defence, way too soon to take the belt off him.
10:40But he was going up against Jey Uso, a man who hadn't won a singles championship in
10:45his entire 14 years in WWE.
10:48And over a year after his Summerslam match against Roman Reigns, he needed an actual
10:52credible victory.
10:54Youth vs experience.
10:56Even so, I in no way thought Jey was winning here.
10:59At best, it'd be a set-up match for a PLE title defence.
11:02But the more this match went on, with Brom cockily doing his uncle's push-ups mid-match,
11:07posing rather than focusing, a title change became believable.
11:11So when Jey countered Brom's spear in the ring with one of his own, and hit an Uso Splash
11:16in the excellent final third, I bought that near fall.
11:19But breaker kicked out, I guess Brom is retaining.
11:21But then Jey also countered an outside spear into a superkick, speared Brom through the
11:27him in the ring for a third spear and a splash to win the Intercontinental Championship.
11:34Jey celebrated in the crowd with Pyro, and there wasn't a cynical fan in the house
11:37going well I think it's too early to take the title off of Brom.
11:41Breaker can win it back later, or move up the card.
11:43He's young, he'll be fine.
11:45Jey needed this win far more, and it gives WWE a much needed sense of unpredictability
11:50with most title changes being saved for Mania or Summerslam these days.
11:55This week's Raw is 88%.
11:57Go over to Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk to support us and watch the exclusive Monday
12:02Night War series over there.
12:03And a longtime wrestler is reportedly done with WWE.
12:08Find out who by clicking the video on the left.
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