00:00Real reason a WWE star was buried on air, details on the new WWE Championship, Smackdown
00:07not going to three hours and more.
00:09I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:19While we can dance a happy dance that we're in a new era of WWE where the show is, you
00:24know, actually good, it's easy to forget that it was only a few years ago that it,
00:30well it wasn't.
00:312019 feels like a lifetime ago, but it was actually only five years ago.
00:35Netflix's Mr. McMahon documentary does a pretty good job of highlighting just how bad
00:39WWE was between 2002 and 2022, and some of the weirder things Vince did to talent he
00:45didn't like.
00:46Case in point, Christian Cage.
00:48The long running story is that Vince didn't get Christian, even at one point pitched a
00:52gimmick where he would have a blue dot over his face because he thought he was creepy
00:56looking.
00:57Christian would leave WWE in 2005 and joined TNA, where he got the main event run that
01:01many felt he should have got while working for Vince.
01:04He then went back to WWE in 2009, where he went to the ECW brand.
01:09And when he returned, he wasn't met with much fanfare.
01:12In fact, ECW's lead commentator Todd Grisham just says, as plainly as possible, it's
01:18Christian.
01:19Many people have made fun of Christian for this over the years, with many wondering why
01:22his return wasn't hyped by commentary at all.
01:25Some even theorised it was an outright burial of Christian because he left for TNA.
01:30And Todd Grisham has now revealed that it was done on purpose.
01:34He posted on Twitter, right before I walked out of gorilla position before the show, Vince
01:38McMahon called me over and said, when Christian walks out, don't get excited at all.
01:44Simply say, it's Christian and that's it.
01:48I wonder if this was a response to his original plans getting canned, because the reports
01:52at the time were that Christian was supposed to be revealed as the man who was attacking
01:56Jeff Hardy.
01:57But those plans got scrapped because it got reported in the Dirt Sheets, so WWE swerved
02:02and made it Matt Hardy instead, and Christian got shipped off to ECW.
02:06Seemingly replying to this story getting out, AEW's Tony Khan simply posted, Christian
02:11Cage is the man.
02:12Speaking of guys going from WWE in the mid-2000s to TNA, then going back to WWE only to be
02:17disrespected and Kurt Angle has opened up about his second run in WWE and his retirement
02:23match with Baron Corbin.
02:24He noted that while he loves Baron Corbin, he wasn't the most ideal final match, saying
02:29that he requested to Vince that he actually face John Cena at WrestleMania 35 instead.
02:34He told Not Sam, Vince said, you're going to have to wait until next year because you
02:37have a program with Baron Corbin.
02:39So I was like, okay, I don't think I can go another year, Vince.
02:43He said, well then, it is what it is.
02:46John Cena didn't have a match at WrestleMania 35 for the record.
02:49Angle feels that WWE didn't appreciate him in his second run.
02:52He added that when he left for TNA, the WWE viewpoint was, okay, well if he comes back,
02:57we're going to teach him a lesson.
02:59Oli Davis and I are currently covering this period of wrestling history over at Patreon.com
03:03forward slash WrestleTalk, the next episode of which sees us cover TNA Final Resolution
03:072007, featuring the third singles match between Angle and Samoa Joe in three months.
03:14And speaking of exclusive content over at Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk, there
03:17is a brand new exclusive episode of Survival Series where we have to name every Hell in
03:23a Cell participant.
03:25And there is also a brand new episode of Survival Series that you can all watch right now over
03:30at PartsFUNknown.
03:31And this one features none other than Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez.
03:37Dave, name me a WCW champion.
03:40Ric Flair.
03:41Ding.
03:42You can continue on at your own pace, however you'd like.
03:44Why would you say that?
03:45Why would you say that?
03:46Ric Flair, sting.
03:47Hulk Hogan.
03:48Ding.
03:49Ding.
03:50Randy Savage.
03:51Kevin Nash.
03:52Slow down, jerk!
03:53Let's get the important one out of the way.
03:54Jeff Jarrett.
03:55Jeff Jarrett.
03:56Jeff Jarrett.
03:57Jeff Jarrett.
03:58Do I do 2000 first and kind of get a lot of the wacky WC, the 2000 names out of the way?
04:03Or do I save some of those for when I'm struggling a little bit and go back to kind of the start?
04:07Let's do some of these 2000 names.
04:08I've done Jarrett, Benoit.
04:10Chris Benoit.
04:12Sid.
04:13Sid Vicious.
04:14Vince Russo.
04:15Vince Russo.
04:16Vince Russo.
04:17Vince Russo.
04:18Vince Russo, right?
04:19Ding.
04:20Sad ding.
04:21Yeah.
04:22One you'd like to forget.
04:23Yeah.
04:24That was the period I tried to forget.
04:25That was bad, bro.
04:26Bad.
04:27On to more current wrestling news, and last weekend's Bad Blood featured the latest
04:33groundbreaking announcement from Triple H, a new WWE Championship.
04:38The gimmick for Crown Jewel from Saudi Arabia is that the champions from both Raw and Smackdown
04:43will face each other, with the winners becoming the Champion of Champions.
04:48So in essence it's the old Survivor Series gimmick that no one liked, or bragging rights
04:53that no one cared about, or that one Cyber Sunday from 2006 that no one remembers.
04:57The real ones remember Smackdown vs. Raw 2010.
04:59The announcement was met with a bit of mockery online, mostly due to the stipulation, where
05:03that stipulation is taking place, and the fact the belt is really quite hideous.
05:07And many assumed this was just a Saudi Arabia sports washing thing, it's not actually
05:12a new title that will be defended, it's more like the green belt that Braun Strowman
05:16won at Greatest Royal Rumble, or the Two Way Cup, or my personal favourites, that time
05:21Shane McMahon was declared the best in the world.
05:23And it would appear that is the case.
05:26On the latest edition of WrestleVotes Radio, they report the belt will not feature on TV
05:30after Crown Jewel or defended throughout the year.
05:33They say that it will be like the King and Queen of the Ring tournament, something that
05:37happens in Saudi Arabia, and then they quote, move on.
05:41And things like this could happen more often for the Saudi Arabia shows, as WrestleVotes
05:45say they are going to have requests for WWE of things that they want to see happen.
05:50And this Crown Jewel Championship was something that came to them as an idea, and WWE did
05:55a great way of figuring out a way to make it work.
05:59Are you excited to see Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther to find out who really is the Champion of
06:04Champions, or are you excited to see Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther because that match sounds
06:08awesome?
06:09Let me know in the comments down below.
06:11Speaking of things that won't be around, it looks like we have now officially passed
06:15the days of three hour WWE shows.
06:19Raw has officially moved to two hours, NXT and Smackdown are remaining two hour shows
06:23on USA and The CW.
06:25However, there was a report recently that said USA Network wanted Smackdown to move
06:30to three hours once Raw goes to Netflix in 2025.
06:34But that doesn't appear to be the case.
06:36As Fightful Select report, I asked WWE about Smackdown's runtime when it was first rumoured
06:41that they were going to three hours, and they said Smackdown would remain a two hour show.
06:46However, before we all pull the party poppers and celebrate the death of three hour shows,
06:51there is still Netflix.
06:55Sean Ross Sapp added in his report when I asked if Raw would go back to three hours
06:59after Netflix picked them up, I wasn't given an answer in an official capacity.
07:04When I ask people in the company, I'm told that it will be determined.
07:07Would you like to see Raw or Smackdown run for three hours?
07:10Let me know in the comments down below.
07:12Someone who will be around to find out the answer is Rhea Ripley.
07:15It was reported last month that WWE were aggressively going after talent who have deals expiring
07:20in 2025, which included Nia Jax, Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley.
07:25PWInsider are reporting that Ripley and WWE have agreed to a new five year deal with a
07:31significant pay increase.
07:32They do note that this deal has been agreed to, but they have yet to put pen to paper
07:37and cross the Ts and dot the lowercase Js.
07:40Speaking of talent staying where they are, Daniel Garcia revealed on this week's episode
07:44of Dynamite that he is going to stay with AEW despite big interest from WWE.
07:50PWNexus posted on Twitter, we're hearing it was a three year deal with a hefty pay
07:55increase.
07:56There had been some question marks over Garcia's future in All Elite Wrestling, with some reports
08:00saying that the reason MJF beat him at All Out, even though Max was taking time off,
08:05was because they were unsure if Garcia would stay or go to WWE.
08:10And speaking of MJF and Fightful Select have an update on when we can expect an AEW return.
08:16MJF re-signed with AEW earlier this year and had a superb feud with Will Ospreay over
08:21the summer, and even became WrestleTalk's American Correspondent for a few weeks.
08:25He took time off after beating Garcia at All Out to film a role for the Adam Sandler movie
08:30Happy Gilmore 2, which Fightful Select note was a major one moving forward for his career.
08:35They also report that he's got a role in a new movie with Justin Long and Ron Perlman,
08:40though details for that one are, as Fightful Select put it, few and far between.
08:44Although MJF is doing a bit more filming for Happy Gilmore 2, Fightful Select report
08:48he's expected to be returning to AEW TV sooner than later.
08:53But that doesn't mean he'll be at this weekend's AEW WrestleDream.
08:56We'll have a full review of that show this coming Sunday, and a podcast review with myself
09:01and Sat Iniangi over on the WrestleTalk Podcast channel, and it could see the company's
09:05next big debut.
09:06MVP debuted for AEW at Grand Slam, and the following week brought with him Shelton Benjamin,
09:12and it was reported that this was the start of the Hurt Syndicate, a new faction based
09:16on the previous success of the Hurt Business in WWE.
09:19MVP was very vocal in Instagram comments that he wanted to reunite the group in WWE, but
09:25Triple H told him it wasn't going to happen.
09:28It has been reported that Bobby Lashley will be joining MVP and Benjamin in AEW, and deals
09:33for all three have been in place for a few weeks.
09:36An e-book of WrestlePuritans is indicating that Lashley will debut for AEW this Saturday
09:41at WrestleDream.
09:42It was even reported at one point that Lashley would even wrestle on the show.
09:46Swerve Strickland had been announced for a segment on WrestleDream, which is likely where
09:49the Lashley debut will happen.
09:51We did our full predictions for WrestleDream which you can go watch right now, and make
09:54sure you check out the latest edition of Survival Series featuring Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez
09:59where we have to name every WCW Champion.
Comments