00:00CM Punk return confirmed, a WWE legend shoot on WWE firings, a major AEW creative overhaul
00:08and more.
00:09I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:19Before we get into the main news, I just wanted to give this little PSA.
00:22No, not that I'm now on Blue Sky, go follow me over there at ThisIsLukeOwen, but this
00:27little fact that this Reddit user has pointed out.
00:30R-Truth, seen in this photo here, is 52.
00:33Sure, we all know that right, but let's compare that to this photo of Hacksaw Jim
00:38Duggan who returned to WWE in 2005 to team with Eugene when he was 51.
00:44What is your secret, Truth?
00:45And because Truth hasn't aged a day since he debuted for WWE in 2000, and he'll outlive
00:50all of us, that means he'll probably be around for the next return of CM Punk.
00:55CM Punk made his first return to WWE nearly one year ago at last year's Survivor Series.
01:04And while he has missed a portion of that year's return due to an injury he suffered
01:08at the Royal Rumble, he has had one of WWE's best and hottest feuds of the year against
01:13Drew McIntyre, which culminated at Bad Blood in October.
01:17Following that match, Punk announced that Hell in a Cell had a lasting effect on him
01:20and he'll be taking some time away.
01:22AKA, I don't really want to work the Saudi shows, so I'm going home for a bit.
01:27It had been previously reported that Punk's next match would be facing Gunther for the
01:31World Heavyweight Championship at this year's Survivor Series, but those plans were either
01:35changed or were never going to happen, as this week's Raw confirmed that Gunther's
01:40World Championship match at Survivor Series would be against former champion Damian Priest.
01:45In Fightful Select reports, CM Punk was not at Raw this week, and we've not heard about
01:50a return date for him as of yet.
01:52But sometimes in this crazy world of wrestling we don't need journalists to leak return
01:56dates when the venues they're booked for can do it for them.
02:00Madison Square Garden have revealed that CM Punk will be part of WWE's Holiday Tour,
02:05wrestling at the venue on December 26th.
02:07This is not a confirmation of his return to television, or of course whether he'll be
02:11factored into creative plans for Saturday Night's main event or the debut of Netflix,
02:15but one would presume he will be featured on the latter.
02:19What would you like to see Punk do when he comes back?
02:22And on the first episode of Raw on Netflix, it is Gunther defending the World Heavyweight
02:30Championship against CM Punk.
02:34Punk wins the world title on the first episode of Raw on Netflix, and your WrestleMania main
02:40event is CM Punk vs Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship, the match they wanted
02:47to do at this year's Mania but couldn't due to injury.
02:50Meanwhile, Gunther has his match with Ludwig Kaiser.
02:54And that's sort of the blow up and the end of Imperium as a whole.
02:58I gave my pitch on yesterday's WrestleTalk Podcast review of Raw that Punk faced Gunther
03:03for the world title on the Netflix debut and win the championship leading to the WrestleMania
03:08main event we didn't get this year of Punk vs Seth Rollins.
03:12Go check out yesterday's WrestleTalk Podcast in full to hear our in-depth discussions and
03:17thoughts on this week's episode of Raw.
03:19Speaking of creative directions, shortly before AEW's WrestleDream, it was reported that
03:23Jimmy Jacobs would be stepping away from the company.
03:26Jacobs had been credited as a writer for All Elite Wrestling, working closely with Chris
03:30Jericho on his Learning Tree stable and being Tony Khan's right hand man.
03:35It was reported that, outside of Tony Khan, Jacobs was at more AEW shows than anyone else
03:41in the company.
03:42Following his departure, Fightful noted that AEW saw WrestleDream as somewhat of a creative
03:47reset.
03:48Perhaps it's no coincidence that this show also saw the culmination of the teases and
03:53build of Jon Moxley's newly revamped Blackpool Combat Club, his winning the AEW World Championship
03:59from Bryan Danielson and putting an end to the full-time career of the American Dragon.
04:04The group has since been rechristened the Death Riders, and Moxley did an interview
04:08over the weekend, which was covered here on yesterday's WrestleTalk News, that the faction
04:12was forcing a hard reset of AEW.
04:15So that's just a kayfabe in-character interview, right?
04:19Well, maybe not.
04:20But before that, here's a word from today's sponsor.
04:26Another email sent.
04:28Time for a break.
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05:37Don't be a little baby loser boy like Luke.
05:39Ow.
05:47Speaking about the new direction of the company on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said
05:51of Jon Moxley, he's getting a chance.
05:54Tony is letting him do what he wants.
05:56Dave goes on to reiterate that Tony Khan is still the lead booker of all elite wrestling.
06:01Whenever a wrestler does something on TV or PPV, that was a Tony Khan decision.
06:05Wrestlers can make suggestions, and they do, but ultimately it's TK who makes the
06:10final call.
06:11However, he goes on to say that this Death Rider storyline is all Jon Moxley, effectively
06:16saying Moxley has creative control.
06:19Tony has to approve everything, but Moxley is pretty much in charge of turning this place
06:24around with this gimmick.
06:26That idea of turning things around comes in a few areas.
06:29The idea that their ratings aren't at the levels they once were, and their live attendance
06:33figures are down.
06:34One of AEW's strongest areas is their PPV buy rates, which still remain strong.
06:39Wrestle Dream, for example, reportedly got around 100,000 PPV buys.
06:43Comparatively, TNA's Bound For Glory got around 5,000.
06:46Meltzer suggests that this would be because AEW is still strong in the male over 34 demographic,
06:53i.e. due to my age, but they've fallen in the 18-34 demographic which usually affects
06:59live attendance.
07:00WWE, by comparison, have soared in this demographic, which dramatically turned around their business
07:06in 2023 and 2024.
07:08And just to make some people feel they might want to turn to dust, there are some 18-year-olds
07:13out there who were born after Jim Duggan made his 2005 return to WWE to team with Eugene.
07:18Speaking of those ratings, and they sent shockwaves across social media when the results of the
07:23Wednesday Night War from last week came in.
07:25It had been reported that The CW expected that episode of NXT to be the highest rated
07:30show they've ever done, but I speculated on this show that I wouldn't be so sure
07:35of that.
07:36It's on a different night, it didn't have big main roster styles like the first two
07:39episodes did, and it was going head-to-head with AEW Dynamite and presidential election
07:44coverage.
07:45And while AEW was the lowest factor on that list, it would likely still be a factor.
07:50And in the end, it wasn't much of a factor.
07:53As I expected, it was not NXT's highest rated show ever, but it did beat AEW in the
07:58ratings.
07:59A truer sign, if any, that WWE is currently hot and AEW is not.
08:05But while it sent shockwaves across social media, it might not have done in All Elite
08:09Wrestling.
08:10In a Q&A post when asked if there was any reaction within AEW to losing the ratings
08:14war on home night turf, Sean Ross Sapp replied that there wasn't much of a reaction at
08:19all.
08:20Fans are far more worried about that kind of thing in 2024 than I think companies are.
08:25SRS adds that Warner Bros. Discovery are less concerned about the overall rating number
08:30and more where they rank in the most watched shows on cable.
08:34And that episode ranked 6th for primetime shows on cable, which is the usual good performance
08:38for AEW Dynamite.
08:40And it may not just be AEW that is over the ratings discourse.
08:44As SRS adds, WWE typically tout those numbers internally and to some media members, but
08:50I didn't hear of anything last week.
08:52With both shows heading to streaming platforms next year, Raw on Netflix and AEW on Max,
08:57we are truly seeing the end times for the ratings discussion here on the WrestleTalk
09:01News.
09:02I'm going to miss you, DemoCharts.
09:05And speaking of missing things, it's been two weeks since the news broke that WWE had
09:10released Tegan Nox, Indi Hartwell and Baron Corbin, and two weeks since my mustache debut
09:15was spoiled.
09:16It's been reported that Corbin's contract was coming to an end and WWE decided not to
09:20re-sign him.
09:21There was some speculation that the same thing was the case for Nox and Hartwell, but nothing
09:25has been confirmed.
09:27Corbin himself replied to a comment on Instagram saying that WWE fumbled his push, agreeing
09:32with the statement.
09:33And it's not just that fan, as Kurt Angle has taken his shot against Baron Corbin not
09:37being re-signed by WWE.
09:40Speaking with WrestleZone, Angle said that he was, "...disappointed in WWE's follow-up
09:44to Baron Corbin beating him at WrestleMania 35, Angle's last match."
09:49He said, "...it's a little disappointing to know that he beat a legend at WrestleMania,
09:52the legend's last match, and they didn't really do much with him after that.
09:56For me, it makes me feel like I did that for nothing."
10:00Angle says he had no issues losing to Corbin, but did so because he thought WWE might have
10:07some plans to push Corbin as a top guy after the win.
10:11He added, "...so I was a little disappointed that they didn't do much with him and then
10:15they let him go."
10:16Corbin himself retweeted Fightful's aggregation of the Angle quote with, "...to be fair,
10:21that's one of the reasons I wish I'd become world champion.
10:24It would have paid honor to what Kurt did for me.
10:27I will forever appreciate it and wish I could have done more to make it worth it for him."
10:32Nox and Hartwell won't be around for the chance to become the inaugural WWE Women's
10:36United States Champion, which was announced on last Friday's Smackdown.
10:40The idea of a mid-card title for the women's division has long been rumoured, especially
10:44after NXT debuted the Women's North American Championship, with the idea that Smackdown
10:48would have a Women's United States title and Raw would have a Women's Intercontinental
10:53Championship.
10:54But on this week's Raw, there was no announcement of a title made.
10:58And now Fightful Select our reporting talent we spoke to said, there was no discussion
11:03of a Women's Intercontinental title backstage at WWE Raw.
11:07And lastly for today, there was some online speculation that Speedball Mike Bayley could
11:11be on his way to All Elite Wrestling, but Fightful Select reported that Bayley is still
11:16under contract with TNA.
11:18He adds, I don't believe they've had any conversations as his deal extends through
11:22the end of the year.
11:24Similarly, it would appear that the early speculation that British wrestling sensation
11:27Michael Oku could be AEW bound was misplaced.
11:31Oku, accompanied by Amira, picked up a win on a dark match prior to the Dynamite taping
11:35in Wales ahead of All In, and over All In weekend, dropped his Riott Cabaret World Championship
11:41to Mark Andrews and the British Heavyweight Championship to Luke Jacobs.
11:45Many, myself included, thought he'd be in the Casino Battle Royal, but he wasn't.
11:50Hilariously, he told me ahead of time he wouldn't be in the match, and I just didn't believe
11:54him.
11:55In an update, Fightful Select write that AEW still have eyes on him and Tony Khan likes
11:59him, but he's not signed and we haven't heard he's going to be imminently.
12:03I've used words on this show like kayfabe and shoot, but what exactly do those words
12:08mean?
12:09Here's Oli Davis to explain.
12:10Do you ever get confused when people use pro wrestling language like kayfabe and heat?
12:17Are you concerned you might be a queen or a strawb?
12:22Does this Hulk Hogan tweet melt your brain?
12:25Goodnight Hulkamaniacs and Jabroni Marks without a life that don't know where to work when
12:29you work a work and work yourself into a shoot marks.
12:33Then you need to learn how to speak wrestling with me, Oli Davis.
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