00:00WWE salty over AEW getting Will Ospreay Brock Lesnar's WWE return denied
00:06My review of AEW Dynamite and more.
00:09I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:18Late last year, AEW announced they had signed Will Ospreay, thought to be the best wrestler
00:23on this very planet.
00:24He's a former two-time winner of WrestleTalk's Wrestler of the Year, and he's also won
00:29awards that matter from people who know more than we do.
00:32And he's proved himself again this year by having more match of the year candidates
00:36than you've had hot dinners.
00:38You know, if you like watching Cirque du Soleil.
00:40But it wasn't just All Elite Wrestling that had interest in bringing in Will Ospreay.
00:44In arguably their hottest periods since the Attitude Era, Triple H reportedly wanted to
00:48sign a lot of big names once his hiring freeze had been lifted.
00:52This included the likes of Mercedes Monet and Kazuchika Okada who both signed with AEW,
00:57but he did land Julia Delta and Stephanie Vakar.
01:00And Will Ospreay was one of the names he reportedly really wanted.
01:05So much so that when Will signed with AEW, Triple H did an interview ahead of WrestleMania
01:0940 where he alluded to Ospreay picking the competition, saying that some wrestlers were
01:14afraid of the WWE grind.
01:16Will shot back at this on an episode of Dynamite.
01:19And according to Eboo of WrestlePurist, Triple H was really gutted about not getting Will
01:24Ospreay to sign with WWE.
01:26He said he thinks Will Ospreay is a tremendous wrestler and he's salty that he didn't
01:32get him.
01:33The grind comments was just him venting.
01:35He wanted Will, he knows how great Will is and he didn't get him and he is really upset
01:42about it.
01:43In the end, it was reported that Will just got a better offer from AEW, more money for
01:47less date.
01:48Eboo added, I spoke to someone in WWE at the time and was like, well then why didn't
01:53they pay him more?
01:54Then I was told, it wasn't Hunter's call how much money he was going to be offered
01:59and his hands were tied in that way.
02:01Maybe he could just bring back Brock Lesnar, I'm sure there's no moral questions about
02:06that.
02:07There had been rumours and reports that WWE would consider bringing Brock Lesnar back
02:10to WWE despite being tied to the Janelle Grant lawsuit against Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis
02:16and WWE which accuses McMahon of sexual assault and sex trafficking.
02:20This became a big talking point following this week's Monday Night Raw, where both
02:24Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes made references to Beasts, Cody's being a direct reference
02:30to Brock Lesnar.
02:31WrestleVotes noted on their backstage pass, I'll give you a short answer, yes, when
02:35asked if WWE were planning on bringing Brock back.
02:39But Fightful Select are saying the complete opposite.
02:41Sean Ross Sapp writes, that was denied within the company on a high level, with one source
02:46saying, there are no creative plans in place for Lesnar and if conversations have occurred
02:52we've not been briefed on that.
02:54SRS adds that WWE spent a lot of money to get Lesnar removed as a playable character
02:59in WWE 2K24 and that Lesnar is among a couple of other names that were not to be mentioned
03:05on WWE over the last number of months.
03:08He adds, one source in creative told us that they haven't heard any updates regarding
03:12Lesnar in months, with another saying they'd be surprised if Lesnar was brought back in
03:17the middle of a federal investigation.
03:19Someone who is in creative plans, however, is CM Punk, who announced following Bad Blood
03:23that he'll be taking some time off to sell the devastation of Hell in a Cell, which is
03:28wrestling speak for, I don't really want to work the Saudi show.
03:31He won't be gone for long though, as Ebook WrestlePurists noted that Punk vs. Gunther
03:35for the World Heavyweight Championship is a planned Survivor Series match.
03:39Before we get into the AEW Dynamite review, here's a word from this episode's sponsor.
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05:00We have a problem.
05:07But it's Thursday so you know what that means, it's time for my review of AEW Dynamite
05:11– aka the saddest timeline for AEW Dynamite – in about 5 minutes.
05:16The show opened in spectacular fashion as Jon Moxley cut a promo about winning the AEW
05:22World Championship and his plans for All Elite Wrestling.
05:25He brilliantly mixed shoot and work, saying that AEW has a huge roster of people collecting
05:31big paychecks but are just holding on to their junk.
05:34He said, I hate what AEW has become, egos out of control, celebrating when there's
05:39no need to celebrate, dancing and partying when there's no need for dancing and partying,
05:45I cannot stand it anymore.
05:48He said that he was going to burn this forest down and plant a new one because he's not
05:52sentimental for the old one and he will do what needs to be done.
05:57If you want to come with us, you can, it's very simple, you work for me now.
06:02This wasn't just a super promo by Mox, but it was cut together beautifully with the
06:07sadness of the closing angle from WrestleDream.
06:10As Mox is tearing this company verbally, it's intercut with shots of the AEW roster looking
06:15dejected, lost and beaten.
06:18This was so cool and created a good through line for the rest of the episode.
06:23Excalibur even welcomed us to a new era of AEW.
06:27Which then opened with a long in-ring promo.
06:29Adam Cole, baby, came out to try and, as neatly as possible, tie up the loose ends of this
06:35story that was really hurt by injuries and t-shirt sales being too good which meant the
06:39babyface run had to be longer than originally planned.
06:41He said he needed to do this without Roddy and the Kingdom, effectively killing Undisputed
06:46Kingdom as a group with him as the leader, and boil this down to its most basic form
06:51– I hate Max and Max hates me.
06:53This feels like the promo they would have done if the original split of the team happened
06:57last summer before All In.
06:59Max's music hit but he just appeared on the screen and said that Cole will never get
07:03his match.
07:04Cole told him that he can run but he cannot hide.
07:06I said on the WrestleDream review that just dropping a lot of the more messier bits of
07:10this story might be for the best, and while this feud will never feel as hot as it could
07:15have done, this was still a very good promo.
07:17Speaking of speaking, Chris Jericho cut a promo looking for a rematch against Mark Briscoe
07:21and Mark Briscoe did more talking saying that he accepts.
07:24It will be Ladder War next week.
07:27Announcing a match a week ahead of time?
07:29Pfft.
07:30Whatever next.
07:31Announcing a match two weeks ahead of time?
07:33I can't see that happening in this new AEW.
07:36We did get some wrestling as FTR beat Big Bill and Brian Keith in a fun little tag match.
07:41I particularly enjoyed Big Bill punching his way out of the Shadow Machine as a reversal.
07:45Dax and Cash hit the Shadow Machine on Keith for the win as LFI watched from backstage
07:49and the Outrunners came out to celebrate with FTR in what felt like a collision angle done
07:53on Dynamite.
07:54Mercedes Monáe interviewed the acclaimed backstage who got given cards by MVP to talk
07:58about...business.
07:59Today, you become a man of...business.
08:03I'm looking forward to it, Headmaster.
08:06You will love...business.
08:08Mercedes Monáe retained her TBS Championship against Queen Arminada in a good match that
08:12really put Arminada in defeat, which is the second match I've been able to say that
08:16about in the last month or so.
08:18This was the only women's match on Dynamite, please do better.
08:21Private Party wanted a rematch against The Bucks, but The Bucks told them that that doesn't
08:25work for them, brother.
08:26Lol.
08:27I see what you did there.
08:28And The Elite cut a promo on Kenny Omega, giving him a birthday cake which then had
08:32entrails poured all over it.
08:34I don't think he'll want that anymore.
08:36But right, so Kenny is for sure coming back soon, right?
08:40They then took on Orange Cassidy, Kyle O'Reilly and Rocky Romero in your weekly fun trios
08:44match on Dynamite, but this one had bigger story implications as the commentary desk
08:48wondered out loud if Orange Cassidy, a day one dude in AEW, can be the guy to step up
08:55to Jon Moxley.
08:57They were having a great match, which ended when the BCC ran in for the DQ.
09:02Now this would normally get me all hot and bothered, all mad and all that, but this is
09:07one of those DQs where it works for the story.
09:11This did not feel like a we don't want to be either team finish, this was a finish that
09:15was specifically designed for the post-match, which saw the BCC beat up The Conglomeration
09:20as well as Top Flight who ran down for the save, and The Dark Order who literally shouted
09:24at The Elite on the ramp, who were not getting involved, why aren't you getting involved?
09:30Jack Perry came out and convinced The Bucks and Okada to come backstage with him and not
09:34get into the melee as BCC kicked the living spit out of the good guys.
09:39Mox cut another great promo saying that this was just the cost of business.
09:43Daniel Garcia and Private Party eventually ran them off and had a go at The Elite backstage
09:48about being the people who started this company and they're doing nothing about the BCC.
09:54Perry then got into Garcia's face and a trios match was announced for next week.
09:58This was all, all awesome.
10:01BCC continued to beat up The Dark Order and Top Flight backstage, and the fired up babyfaces
10:06cut fantastic promos, Evil Uno in particular.
10:10That was also awesome with Shelton Benjamin beating Lio Rush in a superb match.
10:15And while all the chatter will be, quite rightly so, just how great Shelton Benjamin was in
10:19the final stretch of this match, and hot damn he was so good in the final stretch of this
10:24match, I really want to give Lio Rush his flowers because he was also great here.
10:30MVP laid out a challenge for Swerve Strickland who accepted it in a backstage interview,
10:34and that match will take place… in two weeks time!
10:39WHAT EVEN IS THIS COMPANY ANYMORE, IS THIS 2019?!
10:43Don Callis had a very fun press conference designed to bury the media that was at the
10:47WrestleDream press conference and forgot to ask questions, where he announced that Brian
10:50Cage and Lance Archer will be his new tag team, Kanesuke Takeshita will defend the International
10:54Championship around the world, and Carl Fletcher wouldn't give an answer as to why he attacked
10:59Will Ospreay.
11:00This was very fun.
11:02And the burying of the press conference continued as Mariah May took a shot at them backstage
11:06and begged someone to step up for her title.
11:08Anna Jay accepted this challenge and it will take place at Battle of the Belts.
11:12Ricochet also laid out an open challenge for Collision.
11:14And the main event saw Christian Cage beat Jey White in an… okay match that had a finish
11:19that felt like it was mistimed?
11:22It felt like Kip Sabian and Hangman Page came down too early and got shown on screen and
11:26then didn't get involved so the match just ran another few minutes and then they did
11:31the distraction and interference spot, Page hit the buckshot and Cage picked up the win.
11:35It was a bit of a downer ending to what was otherwise a tremendous episode of AEW Dynamite,
11:41but what demands is Saudi Arabia making for WWE now?
11:44Check out Oli Davis' WrestleTalk News from yesterday.
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