00:00AEW challenging WWE on Fox, The Rock slams WrestleMania rumours, the backstage changes
00:07in AEW and more.
00:08I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:18There was a lot to talk about coming out of AEW WrestleDream, so much so that Sat and
00:22I did a near two hour podcast talking about the show.
00:27But perhaps the most surprising thing was that the controversial finish was less Jon
00:30Moxley beating Bryan Danielson to win the AEW World Championship and end his full-time
00:35career, but more the Young Bucks beating Private Party to retain the AEW Tag Team Championships.
00:42Despite a hype video featuring The Amazing Red and The Bucks literally calling Private
00:47Party a mid-card act that weren't on their level, Private Party did not secure the win
00:51and in fact proved them right.
00:53As Fightful Select reported of the match, there were definitely some people in the company
00:57that pushed for Private Party to win this week.
01:00It led to some fans taking to Twitter to complain about the Young Bucks being EVPs and using
01:05their EVP status to retain their titles, creative control and all that.
01:10And playing into this online bile, the Young Bucks reposted an aggregation of Fightful's
01:14report with,
01:15That doesn't work for us, brother.
01:16Well played, Bucks.
01:18On that same note, there were some that theorised that Britt Baker faked her illness to get
01:22out of losing to Willow Nightingale at last week's Dynamite, and Fightful Select reported
01:25that this was not a, that doesn't work for me, sister moment, and AEW has been very strict
01:30about talent not wrestling with fevers, much less strep throats.
01:34This also comes off the back of the news that broke over the weekend that AEW writer Jimmy
01:38Jacobs was resigning from his role in the company, with Fightful Select reporting that
01:43Jacobs cited burnout for his reason for leaving.
01:46Jacobs was, reportedly, the guy that was at the most AEW shows outside of Tony Khan, with
01:51some even saying that he was seen as the number two guy to Khan.
01:55Eboo of WrestlePurist did a Twitter space to talk about this news and give his take
01:59on the situation based on what he's been told by his sources within AEW.
02:04Sadly for Eboo, that Twitter space got badly aggregated and some of his points were misquoted
02:08or taken out of context, leaving some many wrestling fans scapegoating Jacobs as the
02:13reason AEW hasn't had the best creative in 2023 and 2024.
02:17For example, Fightful Select added in their update that Jacobs did, in fact, know who
02:22Kazuchika Okada was.
02:24Eboo did another Twitter space to clear up some of his points, like how Jacobs wasn't
02:28a fan of Daniel Garcia who re-signed with AEW last week.
02:32Eboo noted that Jacobs didn't dislike Garcia, he just didn't see him at that level, saying
02:38it was talent like Will Ospreay and MJF that were pushing to work with Garcia rather than
02:42the creative teams making their pitches.
02:45AEW would then oblige the pitches from talent and put Garcia in those positions.
02:49On the claims of Chris Jericho's Learning Tree Group and Jacobs being the mastermind
02:53behind the group and their angles on TV, Fightful Select report, we're told that the original
02:58execution was not Jacobs' idea.
03:01Eboo clarified this point in his Twitter space update, saying, Jericho pitches his creative,
03:06Jimmy Jacobs produces Jericho's segments, Jericho has stuff he wants to do, and he trusts
03:11Jimmy and leans on Jimmy.
03:13This goes back to their time in WWE, as Jacobs was the producer for angles like the Festival
03:18of Friendship.
03:19Eboo added that talent having a chosen producer is not all that uncommon.
03:23But with Jacobs gone, is this the end of the Learning Tree in AEW?
03:28Eboo said, I don't know if Learning Tree will cease to exist now, I really don't
03:32know.
03:33There's a decent chance Jericho just continues it with a different producer.
03:36Fightful added in their report, AEW has been aware they've needed to make creative adjustments
03:41and are at least planning that internally.
03:43And that WrestleDream was a pivot point creatively.
03:46Conversely, Dave Meltzer has noted, it's nothing big or anything, but he did make it
03:50clear that he did not do nearly as much writing of the shows as people think he did.
03:56He worked very closely with Tony as far as taking notes, and he would suggest ideas,
04:00but he was not as much laying out creative things as other people there.
04:04We'll have more AEW WrestleDream backstage news and news on The Rock's role at WrestleMania
04:0841 after this word from No Rolls Barred, who are currently on tour.
04:13The first show in Manchester was awesome, and here's where you can see them the rest
04:49of the show.
05:03I really am sorry for that Mancunian accent.
05:05By the way, if you are coming to that Wednesday 16th stage, you'll likely bump into me at
05:08the merch stand.
05:09I'll see you there.
05:10Speaking of seeing people, and many wrestling fans were expecting to see Bobby Lashley
05:14at WrestleDream following reports that he was set to debut at AEW at that show during
05:19the Swerve Strickland segment.
05:20Eboo of WrestlePurist noted on Twitter following the show that AEW decided to pull back on
05:25Lashley's debut at the show in fear that it would get lost in the shuffle on a newsworthy
05:30show that saw the returns of MJF and Adam Cole as well as the heel turn for Wheelie
05:35Uta and that Bryan Danielson angle.
05:37Sean Ross Sapp does confirm though, Lashley has already signed on the dotted line and
05:41is All Elite Wrestling bound.
05:44SRS adds that the pitched idea was for Lashley to debut at WrestleDream and lay out Swerve
05:49Strickland, but seeing as the closing angle of the show was another Washington Boy being
05:53laid out, they didn't want two home state heroes being taken out on the same show.
05:58SRS adds that Lashley has not been backstage at an AEW show yet, and he's expected to
06:03appear in the coming weeks.
06:05Lastly on the WrestleDream fallout, and we now have a reason as to why Hologram vs. Beast
06:09Mortis in a two out of three falls match took place on the show, which was already
06:14quite a stacked card.
06:15The match got announced following Dynamite where Beast Mortis and the rest of LFI attacked
06:19Hologram aligning themselves with Jake Roberts.
06:22And according to Dave Meltzer, the match was done because of AEW signing a deal last week
06:27with Fox Sports Mexico to air their programming, which included this year's WrestleDream.
06:32He also added that this was a big part of a global expansion that Khan has planned for
06:372025.
06:39He said that is the 2025 goal, to grow internationally, get TV deals in more international places.
06:46The Fox Sports Mexico deal is an example of the battle plan.
06:50This is a station that WWE is on, and WWE are not on there for much longer, as their
06:56Netflix deal means Raw, Smackdown and NXT will be moving to that streaming service as
07:01it is elsewhere in the world like here in the UK.
07:03In the US, only Raw is moving to Netflix, as Smackdown stays on USA and NXT airs on
07:08the CW.
07:09When those deals are done, Smackdown and NXT will also move to Netflix.
07:14This means there's a lot of TV stations around the world looking for wrestling content,
07:19and AEW are reportedly looking to fill that gap.
07:22Meltzer adds that the Hologram-Mortis match is just the start, as they want to produce
07:26matches like this on a regular basis because of the Fox Sports Mexico audience.
07:32But Uncle Dave is not everyone's favourite guy right now, especially after being called
07:36out by The Rock.
07:38In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer wrote,
07:41As of right now, Dwayne Johnson is not scheduled for WrestleMania 41.
07:46Obviously, that could change, and he's going to do what he wants.
07:50His sources quoted as saying he's not going to be able to do Mania.
07:54He already gave word that he wouldn't be able to do that match.
07:57The story is simply, his schedule got too heavy, he couldn't commit to doing it right.
08:02This was, well, quite surprising, given that The Rock just returned at Bad Blood and WrestleVotes
08:07reported that while the match has not been finalised yet, one of the matches on the table
08:12was Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns vs. The Rock for the WWE Championship.
08:17Other reported pitches for WrestleMania 41 have included Cody vs. The Rock for both the
08:21WWE Championship and The Rock's People's Championship.
08:25Well The Rock has now addressed these rumours.
08:27In response to a fan on Instagram asking if he really was missing Mania 41, The Rock replied,
08:33Don't believe any of that bulls***.
08:35And now replying to the reply, Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio said,
08:49What also caught the eyes of fans when it comes to The Rock and Instagram is a different
08:53post about his Bad Blood return and the reaction he got.
08:56More crucially, he signed off that post as,
09:04And given that he wasn't really talked about on Smackdown, it has led to some speculation
09:08that Rocky won't be on WWE TV until the New Year, despite some reports saying he was
09:14going to work this year's Survivor Series.
09:17Lastly for today's episode of the WrestleTalk News and WWE continue their trend of subverting
09:21heel turns and coverage of said turns.
09:24Following Bad Blood, fan footage of a beatdown by Kevin Owens to Cody Rhodes started to appear
09:29online as Owens attacked him by production trucks.
09:32This was reportedly done because most heel turns in wrestling nowadays are met with cheers
09:36from the crowd who know they've just seen a big moment, so this was done to further
09:40the storyline in a new and unique way without confusing crowd reactions.
09:45On Smackdown, Owens attacked Randy Orton but it was not shown on screen.
09:48Instead, we just saw the aftermath.
09:51And in another and unique way of moving storylines forward, Sports Illustrated are now reporting
09:57they obtained the security cam footage from the building to show the attack in full, which
10:02they then posted to their social media channels and their website.
10:06What do you make of this new way of doing things?
10:08Let me know in the comments down below.
10:10And while you're in the process of clicking things, why not check out my review of AEW
10:14WrestleDream 2024, including full thoughts on Private Party not winning the tag team
10:19gold, Bryan Danielson losing the World Championship and his retirement full time, and the return
10:25and babyface turn of Adam Cole.
10:27Click the video on screen right now to check it out.
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