WWE Ban, Wrestling Career Over? AEW Real Owner Revealed

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00:00 - Coming up...
00:16 - WWE Fan Ejected
01:26 - The Rock WrestleMania 41 Plans
03:35 - AEW Owner Revealed
05:56 - Luchasaurus Update, Career Over?
07:07 - AEW Plans Drastically Change
08:10 - WWE and AEW Ratings
09:09 - Randy Orton Botch Explained
WWE Ban, Wrestling Career Over? AEW Real Owner Revealed | WrestleTalk
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Sources used for research:
https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/202...
https://wrestletalk.com/news/the-rock...
https://www.cagesideseats.com/aew/202...
https://wrestlenomics.com/articles/20...
https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/lu...
https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/ae...
https://www.f4wonline.com/news/nxt/ww...
/ aew-changes-nxt-113650612

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Transcript

00:00WWE banner fan, The Rock's WrestleMania plans revealed, just who owns AEW and more?

00:07I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.

00:17Wrestling fans are curious creatures, viciously loyal, difficultly tribalistic and, going

00:23by Twitter in the last year, super horny.

00:26But some of the worst ones have problems with respecting space.

00:31We've seen wrestlers recently call out fans for harassing them at airports for signatures

00:35and selfies, but I think this is a new one.

00:39PWInsider are reporting, following Tuesday night's NXT, we are told that a male fan

00:43was allegedly caught trying to take photos of the feet of female talent as they made

00:48their way through the hotel and was ejected not once, but twice from the location.

00:54I'm not here to kinkshame, whatever floats your boat as long as you're not sinking

00:58anyone else's ship, but it's always the feet guys, right?

01:02It's the twice bit that gets me.

01:04I know I got kicked out for taking photos of people's feet without their consent,

01:08but gosh darn I'm so super horny I'd better get back in there and give it another try.

01:13Boy, I hope that doesn't get clipped out of context.

01:16I'd better move on to super serious actual wrestling news.

01:25The Rock made his return to WWE back in January of 2024 doing, hands up who remembers this,

01:32an in-ring segment with Jinder Mahal about how much he loves America.

01:37Ripple Effect stuff, but that segment led to Jinder Mahal getting a world title match

01:40which Seth Rollins got injured in and nearly ruined all WrestleMania plans which were already

01:45in flux because The Rock had come back.

01:47And also, Tony Khan got really upset about it on Twitter.

01:50His bigger impact, The Rock that is, was in the lead-up to WrestleMania.

01:54When he became part of the TKO board of directors, he wanted to insert himself into the WrestleMania

01:58main event against Roman Reigns for the WWE Championship where, reports said at the time,

02:03Rock was pushing to win the title.

02:06He had Cody step aside for him on an episode of Smackdown which prompted the now fabled

02:10We Want Cody movement and that got him back his WrestleMania main event and crucially

02:15turned The Rock heel and into the excellent final boss character.

02:19Rock left WWE following WrestleMania but reports said he would be back in the latter

02:24part of the year in the lead-up to Survivor Series and, true enough, The Rock made his

02:29return at Bad Blood to stare down Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns.

02:33Reports say that the WrestleMania 41 main event isn't set in stone yet with some saying

02:37that it could be Cody vs. Roman in a rematch for the WWE Championship, their third Mania

02:42main event in as many years, or a Cody vs. Rock match for both Cody's WWE title and

02:48The Rock's People's Championship.

02:50Or have both.

02:52At the end of Bad Blood, The Rock held up three fingers before doing the throat slit

02:56taunt from a WWE video game and our own Oli Davis, who also called The Rock's return

03:00at Bad Blood before reports of it happening surfaced, has only gone and done it again

03:05by predicting that this could have meant a triple threat at WrestleMania.

03:09And according to WrestleVotes, that could be the plan.

03:12They said on their Backstage Pass Q&A show, Rock vs. Roman vs. Cody at WrestleMania 41

03:18is on the table, it's just not the head of it yet.

03:21They add, I doubt it's been finalised but the idea has been floated and I think it makes

03:26the most sense for the company to get those three guys in the ring.

03:31What would you like to see as the main event of WrestleMania 41?

03:33Let me know in the comments below.

03:35We are one week removed from the massive news that AEW secured a huge TV deal from Warner

03:42Brothers Discovery, which means the company will be with us for the next few years at

03:45the very least and has become the second most profitable wrestling company in history.

03:52An incredible feat for a company that is only five years old.

03:56That deal, which is now more or less confirmed as $185 million per year, Variety updated

04:01their article to back that up and AEW's Chris Jericho used that number on Busted Open Radio,

04:06did potentially come with a caveat.

04:08In their report of the news, Sports Business Journal wrote, WBD also keeps its equity stake

04:14in AEW but the size of it was not disclosed, i.e. WBD own a portion of AEW.

04:21This has been a longstanding rumour that when AEW signed a deal with Warner back in 2019,

04:26they also got a stake in the company but nothing has ever been confirmed.

04:30The topic of who really owns AEW has been a big one amongst the company's bigger detractors.

04:35Eric Bischoff recently got fooled by a fake report claiming to be from WrestleNomics that

04:40the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer owned a portion of the company.

04:44For what it's worth, Fightful Select reported in response to Sports Business Journal's

04:47claim, neither AEW nor WBD have confirmed this.

04:51Beyond that, PR contacts at both companies even noted, they've never heard of that

04:56aspect of WBD having equity in AEW, and Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp followed up on this during

05:02the WrestleDream media call with Tony Khan.

05:05Khan replied, I will not get into our ownership structure beyond saying, I have 100% of the

05:11voting stock in this company and have, since the beginning and hold, the vast majority

05:17of shares.

05:18He added, I am the controlling owner with 100% voting control of the business.

05:23Interestingly, this topic was brought to light in the lawsuit filed by Kevin Kelly, Brandon

05:28and Brendan Tate a few months ago.

05:29In AEW's disclosure filing, it noted that, no publicly held corporation owns 10% or

05:35more of its stock.

05:36WBD are a publicly traded company, and Brandon Thurston of WrestleNomics, usually the smartest

05:41man in any room he walks into, said speaking on the subject, whatever minority stake WBD

05:47owns, if they do, would be less than 10%.

05:51He did add, it makes sense for WBD to have a stake in the business so interests are aligned.

05:56In sadder news for All Elite Wrestling, there has been an update on Luchasaurus following

06:00the news late last month that he had been admitted to hospital when his fiancé found

06:04him collapsed at home.

06:05It was reported that his oxygen levels were below 80% and that he'd contracted pneumonia.

06:10The bright news was that he should be back training within a month, but according to

06:14Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live, there have been some setbacks.

06:18Alvarez said he is not back in the gym and will not be back in the gym for a while, and

06:23he's not going to be back wrestling, probably, for a while.

06:27Alvarez added, however, that there was hope that he would be able to train again at some

06:30point.

06:31Alvarez noted that there were some complications and Luchasaurus might have had a compromised

06:35immune system.

06:36He said, apparently, he's at high risk for relapse is what I was told.

06:40The big concern is that after all of this, they've been running test after test and

06:44apparently there may be permanent damage.

06:47Alvarez noted that while Luchasaurus is at home, he still has to use an oxygen tank after

06:51normal daily routines which leave him out of breath.

06:53Alvarez added, I don't want to say it's a career-ending issue, but it could be a career-ending

07:00issue.

07:01If your best wishes go out to Luchasaurus and his loved ones at this time, please send

07:04your well wishes in the comments and directly to him on social media.

07:08But hang on, it's a Thursday episode of the WrestleTalk News and I'm not reviewing

07:11Dynamite.

07:12Well, that's because this week's show was pre-empted by Sportsballs on TBS.

07:16It meant that AEW Dynamite was not on its usual day, and was in a slightly different

07:21time slot.

07:22The show was also hit by the news that Britt Baker, who was scheduled to face Willow Nightingale

07:25in a number one contenders match for WrestleDream, fell ill and couldn't make the show.

07:30Willow Nightingale instead faced Saraya, Nyla Rose and Jamie Hayter in a four-way, which

07:34she won.

07:35And Fightful Select are reporting it wasn't just the illness that affected the show's

07:38plans.

07:39They report, We're told AEW and Tony Khan had been working around the clock for the

07:43last couple of weeks across various shows due to the implications and travel changes

07:48from the hurricanes that drastically affected their plans.

07:52They add, We're told there were many talent missing shows and last minute changes that

07:56the company needed to work around over the last two weeks.

07:59And that might explain why I thought the show was just broadly fine this week, although

08:02Fightful Select reported that AEW were very happy with this week's episode.

08:07I can't imagine they were happy with the rating, however.

08:10Going up against Big Sports and a stacked NXT with main roster stars, title changes

08:15and debuts, AEW drew its lowest viewership in history with just 329,000 viewers.

08:23It also had its lowest 18-49 demo number with just a .10.

08:28While it could be argued it was on a different night and in a one hour different time slot,

08:32last year's title Tuesday edition of Dynamite, which also went up against a stacked NXT with

08:36main roster stars, did 609,000 viewers with a .26.

08:41In writing about the figures on Twitter, Dave Meltzer noted, It's very clear at this point

08:45AEW's audience, unlike two years ago, is choosing WWE and they have less of an exclusive

08:52audience than before.

08:53NXT held steady on their new home of The CW, the show which featured Randy Orton, Bianca

08:57Belair, Jade Cargill, Jey Uso, Grayson Waller and Austin Theory, as well as title changes

09:02and the debut of Stephanie Baccour, drew 874,000 viewers, only 2.4% down from their debut episode.

09:10Orton wrestled in the main event of the show, which featured an unfortunate mistiming of

09:14an RKO reversal, which was supposed to see Randy catch Javon Evans corkscrew out of nowhere.

09:19Both men just sort of fell down, and the closing of the show saw Randy Orton pick Evans back

09:24up and say, it's alright because you could see that Evans was apologising for the spot.

09:28It was a very different Autumn to the Stupid Stupid Stupid Era.

09:31Fightful Select report Javon Evans and Randy Orton rehearsed their spot extensively prior

09:36to the show, and add, there is no heat on Evans for mistiming the spot.

09:41You can check out my reviews of both NXT and AEW Dynamite on yesterday's WrestleTalk

09:45News, they both went down very well in the comments, with a report that there's also

09:48some frustrations over the booking of women on Monday Night Raw.

WWE Ban, Wrestling Career Over? AEW Real Owner Revealed | WrestleTalk

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