00:00A major WWE return leaked, Vince McMahon positive on WWE, long-term plans for Cody Rhodes and
00:09more.
00:10I'm Oli Davis, and this is the Moustache Talk News.
00:39Just in case you didn't see Wednesday's episode of Dynamite, because, statistically,
00:43you didn't, you were watching NXT instead, Malakai Black appeared to do a Curtain Call-esque
00:48spot at the end of his match with Adam Cole, where they embraced in the ring and Cole put
00:53over Malakai on the mic.
00:54This started speculation that Malakai, who did admit to asking for his release back in
00:592022, was leaving AEW.
01:02And Fightful Select reported Black's contract could be expiring as early as the next couple
01:07of months.
01:08And now Malakai's House of Black faction mate Brodie King has revealed this on Twitter.
01:13I'm going to miss my brother Malakai.
01:15I heard after last night's match, Malakai Black is leaving wrestling forever and starting
01:21a travelling cat circus.
01:22I knew it was his true calling when he showed me a video of his cats re-enacting a move
01:26for move Ospreay vs Ricochet match.
01:29Goddamn spot cats.
01:30But Malakai himself wasn't feline so jokey, posting on his Instagram story that it's
01:35our fault for speculating he's retiring after he did a retirement-style spot.
02:12Speaking of people who aren't retiring, sorry Malakai for going from you into a Vince
02:27McMahon story segway.
02:30Vince McMahon has recently had a meal with one of the top executives in TKO.
02:35In an interview with CNBC, TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro mentioned that he met with
02:41Vince for breakfast a few weeks ago, to catch up after the release of the Mr McMahon docuseries
02:46on Netflix.
02:47Because that's what you want to do after watching McMahon lie, bully, allegedly sexually
02:51harass, screw people over and keep running a show when someone died for 6 hour long episodes.
02:56Have pancakes with the guy.
02:57I had breakfast with him a few weeks ago, just to check in.
03:01Been a long time.
03:02Haven't heard from him at all.
03:03Obviously the series on Netflix came out.
03:05I wanted to see kind of where he was.
03:08By the way, he couldn't have been more cooperative.
03:11He couldn't have been nicer.
03:12He was a total pro.
03:14At breakfast, if you will, it's a one-on-one get-together.
03:17And here was me thinking being a total pro at breakfast means you make your poached eggs
03:21the hard way, with vinegar and boiling water, not talking to the company that's more successful
03:26without you.
03:27Shapiro described Vince's relationship with TKO and WWE as being out of the business entirely.
03:34He doesn't make decisions.
03:35He's not on the board.
03:36He doesn't opine.
03:38But he did admit that McMahon still does hold shares in the company, albeit at a much reduced
03:43amount to what it once was.
03:45The interviewer asked Shapiro what Vince thought of the current direction of WWE, which under
03:50Nick Khan and Paul Levesque has grown to one of its biggest ever boom periods, both critically
03:54and commercially.
03:55Shapiro answered that Vince couldn't have been more positive, but I wasn't asking
04:00for his opinion.
04:01There may have been another reason that Shapiro and Vince met for breakfast.
04:05PWInsider has reported that McMahon is set to launch a new entertainment hub company
04:09that will focus on producing film and TV.
04:12He's apparently enlisted a bunch of Vince loyalists, like former WWE COO Brad Blum,
04:17who resigned from TKO when he was revealed to be Corporate Officer Number 2 in Janelle
04:21Grant's lawsuit, and Kristen Prouty, who was WWE's go-between with the entertainment
04:26world, being instrumental in getting Logan Paul to wrestle for them, and was laid off
04:29by WWE in May.
04:31Shapiro was just checking in that there were no breaches of whatever non-competes Vince
04:35has in his agreements with TKO.
04:38PWInsider has reported this new company won't focus on anything wrestling.
04:43As Shapiro said, Vince has got some litigation that he's working through, and frankly he
04:47wants the privacy and time to work through it.
04:50Got some litigation is a rather polite way of putting it, and it's expected he'll
04:54want to settle the Grant lawsuit before he moves forward with a new company.
04:57How much do you want to bet that Vince could one day return to WWE?
05:01It doesn't matter how much you want to bet, because you won't be allowed to place it.
05:04In one of those seemingly minor stories that is actually far more impactful than you think,
05:09Shapiro also spoke about WWE's plans to move in to legalised gambling.
05:14In March 2023, CNBC had reported WWE was in talks with state gambling regulators to legalise
05:21betting on wrestling matches, and had even registered with the Indiana Gaming Commission.
05:26One of the huge strategic potential upsides for the WWE-TKO-UFC merger could have been
05:31to capitalise on the quickly growing sports betting business in the United States.
05:36While WWE isn't for UFC's legitimate competition, you can still place bets on scripted television.
05:43Like who's going to die in Game of Thrones?
05:46Everyone.
05:47It was everyone.
05:48But Shapiro has now denied these plans, saying that they'll keep sports betting just in
05:52the UFC, as WWE is scripted.
05:55Look, years ago, I ran Dick Clark Productions.
06:01We had enough challenge keeping the American Music Awards and the Golden Globe winners
06:04under wraps.
06:05We're not going to be asking Triple H, Paul Levesque, who runs our creative, to keep his
06:09script so under wraps that we can start sports betting.
06:12It just doesn't jive.
06:14In other words, they couldn't get enough regulators to sign off on it, so they're
06:17quietly dropping it for now.
06:19Before I get into the rest of the news stories, here's a rundown of what we've got coming
06:22up this weekend on the WrestleTalk Channel.
06:24On Saturday, me, Sullivan and El Fakidor himself Laurie Blake will be counting down
06:29our 10 worst WWE World Champions of all time in a brand new Tables, Lists and Shares.
06:37And on Sunday, I've got a video essay diving into the roots of wrestling terms and phrases.
06:42From everything like where did the word kayfabe actually come from, was it named after a mute
06:47wrestler called Kayfabian?
06:49To really obscure wrestling slang like Red Reels and Strawbs, here's a clip.
06:56Do you ever get confused when people use pro wrestling language like kayfabe and heat?
07:03Are you concerned you might be a queen or a strawb?
07:07Does this Hulk Hogan tweet melt your brain?
07:10Goodnight Hulkamaniacs and Jabroni Marks without a life that don't know where to work when
07:15you work a work and work yourself into a shoot marks?
07:18Then you need to learn how to speak wrestling with me, Oli Davis.
07:27Because WWE seemingly wants WarGames 2025 to be a 12-person bloodline match, the company
07:32has reportedly signed yet another member of the Anoa'e family, Lance Anoa'e.
07:37Lance is the son of Samu, and grandson of Afa.
07:40I think that would make Roman Reigns his great uncle.
07:43But I have no idea what it makes the Fatu side of the family to him, so I'm just going
07:47to play it safe.
07:48They're cousins.
07:49Lance, who's 32 years old, has been wrestling since 2010 on the independent scene, and is
07:54a former MLW World Tag Team Champion.
07:56He was granted his release from MLW last year, and he was recently spotted in a photo wearing
08:01an NXT t-shirt alongside other Performance Center talent.
08:05Fightful Select then confirmed that Lance signed with WWE in the Summer, but is currently
08:09out with injury.
08:10Lance joins Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa's brother Hikaleo as a Bloodline Dynasty member currently
08:14signed with WWE, but who has not yet debuted in the ring.
08:18But Lance isn't the only recent WWE acquisition.
08:23Last week, WWE announced their new ID program, which stands for Independent Development,
08:28which will either support young talent both financially and with mentorship through the
08:32difficult journey of becoming a pro wrestler with the hope of one day becoming a WWE Superstar.
08:38Where it will destroy the entire wrestling community as you know it, suffocating US indie
08:41wrestling with WWE stopping anyone from being used, and NOTHING IN BETWEEN.
08:46Congratulations to the first intake of ID signees, CZW AmeriGold wrestler Zayda Steel,
08:52Wrestling Open's Bryce Donovan and This Is Wrestling's Cappuccino Jones.
08:57The official WWE ID Twitter account teased that 20 names have been signed in total, with
09:02the rest to be announced imminently.
09:04There's speculation that another obscure name has been in talks with the company.
09:08Becky Lynch.
09:09Becky's WWE contract reportedly expired back in June, potentially making her a free
09:14agent able to go anywhere right now.
09:17Jonathan Coachman recently claimed the two sides still haven't come to terms on a deal
09:21because Lynch asked for $2 million per year.
09:24Which Fightful said is nonsense, because Becky is expected to make way more than that, and
09:29WWE would jump at paying her just $2 million.
09:32But now, according to WrestleVotes Radio, during WWE's negotiations with major athletic
09:37apparel brands, they've been using Becky's name in the talks, alongside Steve Austin,
09:43Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns and Bianca Belair.
09:45Obviously Stone Cold isn't an active wrestler there, but the rest are, implying this is
09:50to capitalise on a Becky return rather than just her icon status.
09:55WrestleVotes have even speculated that Becky's name being included in this means she has
09:59already signed with WWE, and they expect her to be back in the ring sooner rather than
10:04later.
10:05If only the company had a massive streaming platform premiere coming up, or a PLE that's
10:11mostly designed around surprise returns.
10:14WrestleVotes is also reporting that WWE is extremely happy with Cody Rhodes as WWE Champion,
10:20and that he'll remain the top title holder for the foreseeable future, with the new regime
10:24of Leveque and Khan seeing him as their top John Cena-like babyface, as someone who is
10:29both family friendly and who represents the promotion very well.
10:32But how long is the foreseeable future?
10:36WrestleVotes continued that if the Rock vs Roman Reigns gets booked as a singles match
10:39for WrestleMania 41, that it would likely headline Night 2.
10:43In that case, Cody would main event Night 1.
10:47Possibly meaning, sorry CM Punk, that Dwayne will take a Mania main event spot from him
10:53again.
10:54CM Punk can take some joy in his new beloved NXT beating his old archenemy AEW in Wednesday's
10:59head-to-head.
11:00With the US election coverage on Tuesday night, NXT found itself bumped to the unfamiliar
11:05Wednesday night time slot against AEW Dynamite.
11:09Usually the show off its regular day significantly underperforms, like Dynamite getting its lowest
11:13rating ever when it went against NXT on a Tuesday on October 8th.
11:18But credit to NXT, they ingeniously loaded the show with ECW nostalgia and managed to
11:23pull in 619,000 viewers with a 0.17 in the 18-49 demographic, against AEW's 523,000
11:34viewers and a 0.16.
11:36A huge victory for NXT.
11:39But who will reign victorious in Fall Guys?
11:42Watch Laurie, Sullivan, Dom and Holly play in the brand new episode of Video Game Club,
11:47which you can watch right now.
11:48Here's a clip.
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