00:00Another WWE documentary in the works, details on AEW's huge TV deal, but some nasty injuries
00:07at the Dynamite tapings and more. I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:15We're just one week removed from Netflix releasing their long-awaited Vince McMahon
00:20documentary series, which detailed his rise through the wrestling ranks and his sharp
00:24downfall following allegations of sexual assault and sex trafficking. I've now caught up
00:28with the first five episodes, so here's my quick review. Yeah, it's alright. I like
00:33the archive footage. Someone who wasn't in the doc was Jonathan Coachman, and he revealed
00:37on his podcast that he was approached to be in it, but turned it down. However, he also
00:42revealed that another production company on a major network contacted him recently because
00:47they are also making a documentary about WWE. Speaking of old-time wrestling names with
00:54going to be quite a few licking their wounds today, as AEW and WBD officially proved them
01:00wrong when they announced their new TV deal.
01:04The deal was first confirmed by Variety, but contained a lot of information that had been
01:07previously reported by the likes of Andrew Zarian, Sean Ross Sapp, Dave Meltzer, WrestleNomics
01:12and WrestleVotes. Variety report that the deal, for three years with a fourth year option,
01:16is worth $150 million per year, but there will be other revenue opportunities, most
01:23notably pay-per-views. AEW pay-per-views will remain on all their current providers, but
01:28will also be available on WBD's streaming platform Maxx at a discounted price. Dave
01:33Meltzer writes most of the marketing of pay-per-views will be geared towards Maxx, and Maxx will
01:38be promoting the events. Speaking of Maxx, and starting in January 2025, Dynamite and
01:43Collision will air on TBS and TNT, and stream on Maxx at the same time. This means the West
01:49Coast feed will be at the same time as the East Coast feed on Maxx, but the timed versions
01:53will air in their usual slots. As had been previously reported, Rampage is not part of
01:58this deal. Sean Ross Sapp writes on Fightful Select, Rampage was a show that WBD had requested
02:03in 2021, but upon the new deal, both sides prioritised Dynamite and Collision. WBD had
02:08told SRS that AEW could take Rampage elsewhere if they wanted to. As it stands, Dynamite,
02:14Collision and Rampage libraries will be added to Maxx, but should AEW take Rampage to another
02:19network, then the library will be removed. Rampage could be the show AEW take to Foxx,
02:24which had also been rumoured to be a new show titled Shockwave. Swerve Strickland said recently
02:28that AEW was going to Foxx, and Sean Ross Sapp reported via Fightful Select, there was
02:33definitely people in AEW that wish that didn't get out. It turns out that Swerve didn't
02:37know he was being filmed at the time for a vlog. Dave Meltzer has said of the Foxx
02:41deal that AEW are looking to get a show on either Tuesday or Thursday so as to not go
02:45head-to-head with Raw or Smackdown. While Variety report the deal is worth $150 million
02:51per year, Sports Business Journal report it's actually $170 million a year. WrestleVotes
02:57reported via Twitter they've heard it's closer to $185 million, which Andrew Zaria
03:02notes is the figure he's also heard. Meltzer writes, the new deal will make the company
03:06very profitable going forward even if no deal is made for a third weekly show. Interestingly
03:12Sports Business Journal also note in their report that this new deal means that WBD have
03:17an equity stake in AEW, i.e. they now own a portion of the business. However according
03:23to Ross Sapp, nobody from either side in an official capacity had any idea where that
03:28came from, and claimed that they had never heard of that element of the deal. One final
03:32note is that WBD now doesn't have exclusivity over AEW programming, hence why they can shop
03:38a third show to Foxx. This means we could see a return of the YouTube show AEW Dark,
03:43with Ross Sapp noting on Twitter they've wanted to bring that back for a while. Myself
03:46and Oli Davis will break down all of this in a special episode of the WrestleTalk Podcast,
03:51as well as looking at AEW's TV ratings trend, which you can watch over at Patreon.com forward
03:56slash WrestleTalk.
03:57Quickly before the AEW Dynamite review and it's being reported by PWInsider that Sami
04:01Guevara was injured during the ROH tapings last night and had to be stretched from the
04:06ring. Dave Meltzer noted on Twitter that it's believed to be a concussion. PWInsider also
04:10report that local talent Kelly Madden was knocked unconscious during her Ring of Honor
04:15match with Lady Frost and she also had to be stretched out.
04:18But now it's time for my review of the fifth anniversary of AEW Dynamite, aka the
04:23I can't believe it's been five years either edition of AEW Dynamite, in about five minutes.
04:28The show opened with a very cool promo from the Blackpool Combat Club with Jon Moxley
04:31telling Bryan Danielson that he is going to bury him in his own backyard at WrestleDream
04:36and finally Daddy can be sent home for good. So are you burying him or giving him a lovely
04:40send off? Mixed messages there Jon.
04:42The action kicked off with the hotly anticipated rematch of Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet. This
04:46would be their ninth singles encounter, and currently Will is up 5-4. But crucially these
04:52are not the same men that went viral and angered Vader on Twitter eight years ago. Will is
04:57a very different wrestler and has adapted his style, while Ricochet is also a different
05:02wrestler but still believes he can be that high flyer he was all those years ago.
05:07It led to an interesting match dynamic. They did the homage to the superhero post-spot
05:11early, but the match became about how quickly Ricochet could counter Ospreay's moves like
05:15countering the Hidden Blade into a Backslide Bomb and Spinning Piledriver for a very cool
05:20nearfall. It meant that Ospreay had to try and speed himself up, and after several counters
05:24and reversals, Ospreay hit the Hidden Blade and collapsed into the pin. But both men's
05:29shoulders were down and the match was declared a draw. Boooooo.
05:36But don't worry everyone, babyface Tony Khan announced that the match will continue!
05:40Hooray! And it did! Until Konosuke Takeshira ran in for the DQ. Boooooo.
05:48So this isn't ideal. I get why they did it, and it did get the right kind of heat
05:53from this crowd, chanting A-Hole at Takeshira rather than booing the company for a lame
05:57finish. But it got the wrong kind of heat with me. You know me by now, I hate DQ finishes,
06:03and the reason I hate DQ finishes is how often they're used. When you use them a lot, they
06:09don't feel like a creative way to get to a three-way, which was announced for WrestleDream,
06:13it feels like a booking crutch to not be either guy. Comparing it to Raw, Seth Rollins'
06:19interference in Reed vs. Strowman would have been more impactful to me if every other match
06:23bar one on that show didn't also have distraction and interference. If this had only been AEW's
06:29second DQ of the year, this could and probably would have worked better. However, also like
06:34the finish to Strowman and Reed, I think this is just a me thing. That finish got over with
06:38that crowd, and this finish got over with this crowd. I just think this finish is a
06:42bit lame.
06:43Mercedes Monét cut a promo about being a big part of Dynamite, and was handed a business
06:47card by MVP. Chris Jericho came out for a promo to set up an ROH Championship match
06:52with Mark Briscoe. He said the Ocho was dead, and he'll now become the… nine in Spanish.
06:57I'm sorry I don't know, we didn't do Spanish at my school and I'm doing German
07:01on Duolingo. Mark came out to accept his challenge, and Jericho said he doesn't think Mark can
07:05beat him, but he thinks his brother Jey could have. Eh, I'm not a fan of this. If you're
07:11going to bring up Jey and use him for heat, I'd rather they do it in a bigger feud than
07:15this. I just don't feel like this feud has earned it.
07:18Darby cut a promo laying out an open challenge for WrestleDream, and Hangman Page killed
07:21the assboys before going to try and kill Juice Robinson. They had a great match which saw
07:25some good crowd brawling, and Juice throwing beer and popcorn that he took from fans. That
07:29probably cost upwards of $20 for a cost of living crisis man. And Page won when he low
07:34blowed Juice out of sight of Aubrey Edwards and hit the Buckshot. He tried to strangle
07:37Juice afterwards, but Jey White made his return and ran down for the save. A cool return
07:42and hopefully some good direction for Mr. Switchblade.
07:45Katsuyori Shibata and Jack Perry made a TNT title match for WrestleDream, and Britt Baker
07:49beat Serena Deeb in her hometown. It felt like the fact that Baker was from the town
07:53was more over than she was, but the match itself was very good. Baker won with the Lockjaw,
07:58Deeb attacked her after the match, but Queen Arminada made the save. Mariah May was watching
08:02from ringside setting up more title contenders for her championship, and scuffled with Willow
08:07Nightingale backstage. Yep, even on a two and a half hour broadcast. Only room for one
08:14women's match. Pitiful.
08:16It was announced earlier in the broadcast that Taz had taken a trip to NXT. That's
08:19the only reason I can find why he was attacked in a parking lot. Hook said he will find out
08:23who did it, and it could be Christian who said that soon he will have it all hook, line
08:28and sinker.
08:29Private Party quickly beat the Iron Savages and set themselves up as the next tag title
08:32contenders against The Young Bucks. A nice callback to the early days of Dynamite for
08:36sure, and a nice follow on from BCC reminding Private Party that they've done, well, nothing
08:41since beating The Young Bucks on the second episode of Dynamite, but I'm not sure the
08:45best way to build up a tag title contender is, checks note, having them get beaten up
08:50by a heel faction, and then losing to said heel faction. The Bucks came out to accept
08:55the tag title match for tonight, but then remembered they're on limited date and can't
09:00do it. Jack Perry attacked Private Party and Shibata ran down for the save, and Christopher
09:03Daniels announced there will be a trios match on Rampage.
09:06MVP was set to make a big announcement backstage, but was interrupted by Prince Nana who reminded
09:11MVP that he used to be a wrestler. MVP wasn't here to hear that, so take it up with his
09:17new complaints department, the debuting Shelton Benjamin. Fightful Select report that Benjamin's
09:22deal has been in place for a number of weeks now, as has the deal for Bobby Lashley. SRS
09:27Wright, his debut is imminent.
09:29In the main event with over 40 minutes of the show left was Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika
09:34Okada in a Bad Faith Takers on Twitter get engagement stipulation match. The gimmick
09:38was it was for both the AEW World Championship and the Continental Championship, but because
09:43of the C2 stips, the Continental Championship belt was only on the line for the first 20
09:48minutes. It's a clever 70s level old school technique of having both titles on the line
09:52but still having a finish when neither man loses the belt. But this is 2024, so it's
09:57easier just to pretend to be mad about it on Twitter and claim it's too complicated
10:00to understand.
10:01For me, it made a very fun story in the match, as the first 20 minutes wasn't Okada rushing
10:06to get a win. He didn't need to beat Danielson, Danielson had to beat him. Okada just had
10:12to run out the clock. It meant that Danielson had more urgency early doors and got frustrated
10:16as Okada would roll to the outside off his big spot. He had him in the label lock with
10:201 minute to go, but Okada got to the ropes and rolled to the outside once again as Danielson
10:25hit the Psycho Knee as the time limit expired. So now, Danielson had to win even more.
10:33The second half of the match was just as great as the first, and really kicked into another
10:36gear when Okada hit the Psycho Knee of his own and Danielson responded with his own Rainmaker.
10:42But as Okada was on top, Claudio Castignoli and PAC appeared at ringside, and taking his
10:46eye off the ball for just a moment cost him as Danielson got a backslide for the win.
10:51Okada annoyed at the BCC, furthering his feud with Claudio to a likely play into the C2
10:56left, and the heels held up Danielson for Mox to cut a promo on him, again alluding
11:00to someone else pulling the strings. Hmmm.
11:04Wheelie Yuta ran down for the save and teased hitting his own teammates with a hammer and
11:08challenged Claudio and PAC to a tag match on next week's Title Tuesday, which as far
11:12as I can tell, currently has zero title matches announced for it. It capped off a rather confusing
11:17episode of Dynamite that summed up their previous five years, flashes of brilliance in great
11:22wrestling overshadowed by confounding overbooking. Now go and watch our most recent episode of
11:27Worst Match Ever where Sullivan, Tempest and I watch arguably one of the best matches I've
11:31ever seen, The Invisible Man vs. Invisible Stan.
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