00:00A change to the Vince McMahon lawsuit, WWE fans change WWE plans, my review of AEW Dynamite
00:07Grand Slam and more. I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:16We are just over one week away from WWE's next PPV Bad Blood, which will see Triple
00:21H continue his tribute to 1997 by having a Hell in a Cell match at Bad Blood between
00:26CM Punk and Drew McIntyre. This had been the reported plan for some time, and the near
00:31year-long feud certainly felt like a Hell in a Cell match was the only way it could
00:35end. But speaking of endings, there has been some debate over what the ending of the PPV
00:40will be. Because Punk and McIntyre isn't the only big time match taking place at Bad
00:45Blood, as Roman Reigns is set to team with his WrestleMania main event dance partner Cody
00:49Rhodes to take on the bloodline of Solo Sakoa and Jacob Fatu. Fightful Select reported that
00:55as of the filming of the Rhodes and Reigns vignette that aired on Smackdown, that tag
00:59match was the planned main event of Bad Blood. Dave Meltzer added that while Punk and McIntyre
01:05was also at one point in discussion to be the main event as a tribute to 1997's Bad
01:09Blood and the first Hell in a Cell, which was officially declared the best Hell in a
01:13Cell match by last week's Gripe Bombs, there were those who felt that Roman and Cody teaming
01:17together for the first time and their connections to the Atlanta area means they should close
01:23the PPV. CM Punk having his PPV main event taken away by someone from the Anoa'e family?
01:29Some things never change. But change they might, as these reports caught the ire of
01:34fans who felt that Punk and Drew should be the main event of the show given how good
01:39the feud has been. PWInsider add in their report, the final decision has not been made
01:45on which match will close the show, and Fightful Select add, WWE has taken online reception
01:51into consideration on which match will take the top slot. This ties into a previous report
01:56that Triple H, who claims he is never online, monitors online conversation about WWE and
02:02his booking decisions and makes changes accordingly.
02:06Speaking of online reactions and opinions are flying on social media about Netflix's
02:10docuseries Mr. McMahon, which was once upon a time a joint venture between WWE and the
02:16streaming platform, but became something very different once sexual assault, sex trafficking
02:21and hush money allegations about Vince McMahon became public.
02:24Prior to the series being released, Vince McMahon did some rarely seen tweeting, denouncing
02:28the series for misrepresenting him. And that might have come from a new change in the story
02:33of the lawsuit filed against him, John Laurinaitis and WWE by Janelle Grant. The day after the
02:38tweet, Post Wrestling and WrestleNomics reported that Vince had parted ways with the PR firm
02:43that he'd hired following the lawsuit, and Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported
02:48that he replaced them with new representatives in Edendale Strategies, which has since been
02:52backed up by Post Wrestling and WrestleNomics.
02:55Edendale Strategies market themselves as communications, counsel and crisis management specialists
03:01with their goal being to, "...hone and convey their messaging effectively, especially in
03:06high stakes situations where there is little to no margin for error."
03:10According to their website, their clients include Fortune 100 companies, major civic
03:14institutions and prominent charities, as well as legendary sports franchises, high
03:18net worth individuals and some of the most famous actors, directors, writers and musicians.
03:25Dave Meltzer reports, sources close to the situation said McMahon made the switch because
03:29he believed the new company was more up to date with the modern media landscape, notably
03:34having a better understanding of the digital and online modern reporting landscape.
03:40And if you've now had the chance to catch up on the whole Mr. McMahon series on Netflix,
03:44Oli Davis has looked at the 10 most shocking revelations from the show.
03:48Here's a clip.
03:49The Mr. McMahon character.
03:51Vince revealed he based his Mr. McMahon persona on his favourite wrestler as a kid, Dr. Jerry
03:55Graham.
03:56Graham was a flamboyant big heel with bleach blonde hair.
03:59Teenage Vince dyed his hair to look like him, and even copied his strut.
04:03Graham took Vince under his wing, and one day took him for a joyride, speeding through
04:08red light to intersections.
04:10Vince reminisced, this is grand, man, I want to live my life like this, i.e. a life without
04:15traffic regulations.
04:17He took the walk and swagger from Dr. Graham, but the rest, he says, came from the rich
04:22people he hated when he was growing up dirt poor.
04:24He knew how to get into character because he knew all the things he disliked.
04:29But then he contradicts himself again, saying he was so good at a lot of the character traits,
04:33like cheating, not fighting fair, how to just be an arrogant person that throws his weight
04:38around and is a bully because those were his traits.
04:41And now it's time for my review of AEW Dynamite Grand Slam, aka the RIP FTW edition of AEW
04:47Dynamite Grand Slam, in about 5 minutes.
04:50The show opened with one of the most anticipated matches for those who love a certain era of
04:55Ring of Honor, Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness.
04:58Nigel's return to the ring at All In, for me, was an out-of-body experience.
05:03For the weeks leading up to the event, and all over All In weekend, we speculated on
05:07names that could be in the Casino Gauntlet.
05:09Bobby Lashley, Ricochet, Jay White, Adam Cole, Michael Oku, all of which seemed like they
05:14would be lovely surprises.
05:16But one that never crossed my mind was Nigel McGuinness.
05:19One of my all-time favourite guys, one of my all-time favourite characters, one of my
05:23all-time favourite wrestlers.
05:25I screamed so hard when he came out, I nearly threw up and I lost my voice for the next
05:29few matches.
05:30And there he was, in a wrestling ring in Wembley Stadium.
05:33And I thought that was it.
05:35A nice, fun cameo, never did I think that just three weeks later he'd be in the ring
05:39with Bryan Danielson having an awesome match.
05:42And despite not having a match for a decade plus, it didn't feel like Nigel had missed
05:46a step from being Nigel McGuinness.
05:48Or even Desmond Wolfe.
05:50The problem for me, and I think a few others, is that it was a bit clunky getting here.
05:54Bryan Danielson was supposed to face Darby Allin for the title on Grand Slam, but Darby
05:58put that title shot on the line against Jon Moxley at Grand Slam because it was unclear
06:02if Danielson would wrestle on Grand Slam.
06:04Then on the same episode of Dynamite, Nigel announced he would be facing Danielson at
06:08Grand Slam, and sure enough, here he is wrestling Bryan Danielson at Grand Slam.
06:12So while the final countdown reveal was cool, because it will always be cool, no one really
06:16believed that Danielson wasn't going to show up.
06:19And I think that hurt some of the crowd heat for the match, which never really kicked into
06:22the gear the match deserved.
06:24The two worked really well and told a great story, but the crowd gave a half-hearted this
06:29is awesome chance as they went to the finish.
06:31While the in-ring work certainly felt like they'd reached the climax of the match,
06:34this New York crowd had not.
06:36Bryan tapped out McGuiness with the LaBelle Lock.
06:38I hope this is not the end for McGuiness in the ring, but if it is, I'm glad he got
06:42to do it with Bryan Danielson.
06:43Let's just hope WWE don't copyright strike that one, eh?
06:46Christian Caged teased cashing in his casino gauntlet in the bank, but Kip Sabian stole
06:50his pen and then got scared by Pac and Claudio.
06:53This all would have worked better if Nigel had won the gauntlet.
06:56Hook beat Roderick Strong to retain the FTW Championship, had a show of respect following
07:00the bell and then announced he would be officially retiring the FTW Championship, just three
07:05miles from where the title was born back in 1998.
07:08He handed the belt to a teary Taz in what was, actually, a remarkably sweet moment.
07:14The Young Bucks retained their tag team championships against United Empire in a fantastic match
07:19that somehow blew away the expectations it had going in.
07:23Ospreay is just on another level from the rest of the AEW locker room, and he is raising
07:29the ships of Matt and Nick, but crucially Kyle Fletcher, who was quickly becoming one
07:34of AEW's fastest rising stars.
07:36Their comeback from the second heat spot was superb.
07:40Double Styles Clash for a nearfall, Hidden Blade and Stormbreaker for a nearfall, Turnbuckle
07:44Brainbuster for a nearfall, TK Driver and David Kureos for a nearfall.
07:49This was edge of your seat stuff, but it was Don Callis that was the team's undoing.
07:55Callis was great on commentary, not only putting over how good Fletcher is, but bragging
08:00about how he's brought Ospreay back into the faction, not knowing that this is spelling
08:04the end of Fletcher's time with him before they fully reunite United Empire.
08:09As his team were on top, but unable to put the Bucks away, he handed Fletcher the screwdriver,
08:14but Ospreay reasoned with his friend that this was not the way to do things, and it
08:18led to Ospreay and Fletcher getting clocked with the title belts for a nearfall and EVP
08:23trigger for the win.
08:24The camera then beautifully framed Kyle literally between Callis and Ospreay.
08:29This was just fantastic.
08:30The conglomeration welcomed Rocky Romero into their group ahead of their trios match with
08:34The Learning Tree on Collision, and Prince NaNa came out for a promo about how Swerve
08:38Strickland is doing.
08:39But despite his guy having a terrible, no good, very bad week where he lost the World
08:44Championship, his childhood home and got beat by Hangman Page in a cage match, boy that
08:48escalated quickly, NaNa was smiling and selling his coffee.
08:53And I thought that was odd.
08:55But I was getting worked, as MVP came out to put over Swerve's accomplishments and
09:00asked why his manager was acting like this.
09:02Perhaps Swerve's losses weren't because of Swerve, but because of his representation.
09:07So he asked NaNa to give Swerve his card, because when he's back, he wants to talk
09:12to him about business.
09:14You become a man of business.
09:17I'm looking forward to it, Headmaster.
09:20You will love business.
09:22This was a very cool debut for MVP, and it made Swerve feel like a massive deal.
09:28It also means that we now know not only Swerve's next feud, but Bobby Lashley's first feud
09:33if he does come into AEW.
09:35Because Swerve vs. Hurt Syndicate sounds pretty good to me.
09:38Mariah May beat Yuka Sakazaki in a fine little match with Little Heat, which is understandable
09:43as Yuka has not been built to feel like a credible challenger for May, and May won with
09:47a Storm Zero.
09:48This was your only women's match on the card, do better.
09:51May was about to attack Yuka after the match, but Willow Nightingale came down for the save.
09:55Alright, now I'm listening.
09:57Mina Shirakawa's music hit was Distracted Willow, allowing May to hit her and bail.
10:01May took this as a sign that Mina was on her side, but it didn't feel like that was her
10:06intentions.
10:07And while this was good, sadly it had TNA to the back vibes as we did not get enough
10:11time to process this as we had to cut to a commercial break.
10:14And the main event saw Jon Moxley beat Darby Allin to earn a title shot against Bryan Danielson
10:18for WrestleDream.
10:19The match was awesome and really worked to the strengths of both guys.
10:23Moxley felt dangerous, and Darby felt dangerous, but, you know, with his own body recklessness.
10:30The crowd even chanted at one point, you can't kill him!
10:34But kill him he did, as Mox reversed a superplex into an avalanche Death Rider for the win.
10:39Bryan Danielson ran in to try to choke out Moxley with a tie, I see what you did there,
10:44but the Blackpool Combat Club made the save.
10:45Private Party and Commando evened the odds, and BCC saved Mox from getting hit with a
10:49Bisaiko Knee.
10:50Commander Party will face BCC for the trio's titles on Collision.
10:54Didn't, um, didn't we break the hand of Isaiah Cassidy last week?
10:59Danielson declared a thumb war and said that he would kick Moxley's effing head in, delightful.
11:03It capped off a very good edition of Dynamite for in-ring work, which is what Grand Slams
11:07should feel like, and the cherry on top was MVP's teases.
11:10And it was worth your time to watch just for that Young Bucks tag match.
11:14Now go and watch Oli Davis count down the top 10 most shocking revelations from the
11:18Mr. McMahon Netflix show by clicking the video on screen now.
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