00:00A major swerve for the Men's War Games match, a backstage WWE shake-up, my review of last
00:06Monday Night's Raw… that's a joke because it was recorded last week.
00:10I'm actually going to be reviewing the episode that went live yesterday.
00:13And more!
00:14I'm Moustache Davis, and this is the WrestleStash News.
00:24Get exclusive bonus videos over at Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk.
00:28Now we've seen the episode of Raw that WWE taped last week, I think we all know who
00:33the fifth member of Team OG Bloodline will be.
00:36Bronson Reed has joined Solo Sakoa's New Blood faction, who helped him beat Seth Rollins
00:41on last night's episode.
00:42And even though Seth has turned down Sami, Jey and Jimmy twice, saying he'll never
00:48stand side by side with Roman Reigns, I've watched one or two wrestlings in my time, Seth
00:53will join them and his former Shield partner to get revenge on Reed.
01:00But just one more thing.
01:01Unless it's a huge misdirect, and we're not giving WWE's multi-layered slow burn
01:06approach to pre-existing inter-character tension credit.
01:09Unlike the Women's division, where characters are friends or enemies depending on what matches
01:13WWE needs to book next month, the male wrestlers are actually fleshed out, three dimensional
01:18personas with long memories.
01:20Seth suddenly teaming with Roman after all that's gone down between them could feel
01:24rushed, and would almost definitely give Kevin Owens an aneurysm.
01:27Which is why several wrestling reporters are speculating that Rollins is a red herring.
01:32And the real fifth member of the OG Bloodline is CM Punk.
01:38CM Punk to OG Bloodline confirmed.
01:40Both Fightful's Corey Brennan and PWInsider's Mike Johnson believe Punk will be the fifth
01:44member, and that Paul Heyman, who Roman couldn't reach because of his disconnected phone on
01:49Friday's episode of SmackDown, is the key.
01:52Johnson has fantasy books that Roman will ask for Heyman's wise man counsel for a
01:56fifth member.
01:58Which will lead to the return of the original Paul Heyman guy, Brock Lesnar, I mean CM Punk.
02:03This could also further the reportedly planned Rollins vs Punk feud, which was originally
02:08meant for WrestleMania 40 until both men got hurt, and Punk's rivalry with Drew McIntyre
02:13caught alight.
02:14When Punk first returned to WWE at last November's Survivor Series, it was Rollins he was supposed
02:19to feud with.
02:20They previously interacted with Seth being the special guest referee for his SummerSlam
02:24match against McIntyre.
02:25How would you book Punk joining the Bloodline?
02:28Let me know in the comments down below where I'll be replying to people FROM OUTTA NOWHERE
02:31SAYING WHATEVER IT IS JUST PLEASE DON'T GET INJURED AGAIN.
02:34The Bloodline segments were always produced by WWE's highest ranking backstage agent
02:39Michael P.S.
02:40Hayes, who was one of the creative minds behind all-time moments like the Trial of Sami Zayn.
02:45But with Hayes recently on leave for personal reasons, PWInsider is reporting Bobby Roode
02:50and Jamie Noble have been producing the Bloodline segments in his absence, and Roode in particular
02:56is receiving tons of praise for stepping up.
02:59Bobby hasn't wrestled since 2022 after undergoing neck fusion surgery, and appears to have fully
03:04transitioned to a backstage role.
03:06Which means he'll be one of the main producers in the latest chapter of WWE's new era as
03:11Monday Night Raw debuts on Netflix from January 6th.
03:15Which now has an actual page on the Netflix app, not just revealing the show's rating
03:19as TV-14, implying a return to more Attitude Era style language and storylines, but also
03:25the show's tone description as rousing.
03:42Speaking of rousing, the penultimate episode of Luke vs Pete The Last Chance has just gone
03:48live exclusively on Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk.
03:51Go to Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk right now to watch the whole MyGM series so
03:56far ahead of next Monday's finale.
04:42The show opened with Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez
04:53inviting Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton and Candice LeRae down to the ring.
04:57Yes, Liv and Nia were feuding for the Sportswashing Championship belt just two weeks ago, but
05:02WarGames is at the end of the month, so they have to be friends now.
05:04Nia told both Liv and Raquel that she doesn't like them.
05:07She doesn't dislike them.
05:09In fact, she doesn't think of them at all.
05:11Which is how I am with pineapples on pizza, I just don't care about that debate.
05:15But she can't stop thinking about Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair and Naomi.
05:19The Powerbuff Girls and Naomi interrupted to reveal they've got back up to Io Sky.
05:24Yes, Bianca and Jade were feuding with Io just last month, but WarGames is soon, so
05:28they've got to be friends now.
05:30But Liv pointed out it's still 4-on-5, teeing up an excellent surprise if we hadn't all
05:35ruined it for ourselves by reading last week's spoilers.
05:38Rhea Ripley awesomely marched down to the ring with an orbital bone-protecting face
05:42mask on and just screamed WARGAMES.
05:44That's quite a tonal difference from William Regal's WARGAMES announcements.
05:49This was the coolest Rhea had looked in months, and the faces stood tall.
05:53While this has nowhere near the level of character depth as the men's storyline, it was very
05:57well done.
05:58WARGAMES was made official for later in the show, and Bianca will face Nia in an advantage
06:03match on next week's Raw.
06:05Rey Mysterio and Zelina Vega then beat Chad Gable and Ivy Nile in an intergender tag,
06:09with Chad heelishly trying to hold back Vega.
06:12But she's a woman, and Vega getting revenge with a launch top rope hurricanrana.
06:16Chad's American Maid faction felt like one of the hottest in the company when they formed
06:20in the Summer, but he's lost two feuds in a row now against the Wyatt Sixx and then
06:25the LWO.
06:26Chad slapped Julius Creed afterwards, making me scared they were already breaking them
06:30up like every other team on the roster, but thankfully this just fired the Creeds up.
06:34Hopefully this is a sign that they'll actually start winning now, because they deserve so
06:38much more.
06:39Gunther told Ludwig Kaiser that he wants him to be his own man backstage, and then sought
06:43reassurance that he was still the Ring General.
06:46When Ludwig replied, of course you are, it made Gunther a bit too confident, as he went
06:51to attack Damian Priest, who, conveniently, was sat at a table like 10 feet away.
06:56Like he would've definitely heard all of this happening.
06:59He's world title opponent, having a conversation right there, and he just decided to, I dunno,
07:05he just arts and crafts with his back to them.
07:08At least put some headphones on the guy.
07:10Anyway, Gunther jumped Priest with a sleeper, and Damian fought him off super easily, barely
07:14an inconvenience, whacking him with a steel pipe.
07:17Priest finished with the admittedly very cool line, while Gunther might be the General of
07:21the Ring on the streets, he's King.
07:24This is building Priest very strongly, but it is at the expense of Gunther's dominating
07:28character, turning him into a champion racked with self-doubt.
07:31Which I'm not really into.
07:34There are three things that are certain in life.
07:36Death, taxes and Sheamus wanting the IC belt.
07:39Sheamus and Bron Breaker put on a terrific hoss fight, with a leaping clothesline through
07:43the table, some kind of blockbuster style move off the top rope to the outside which
07:47more looked like Bron trying to headbutt the centre of the Earth, and even a Breaker running
07:51Frankensteiner.
07:52After several near falls, the crowd broke into this is rousing chants.
07:56Everyone speared Sheamus, but Sheamus rolled out the ring, which is when Ludwig Kaiser
08:01tried to stand out on his own.
08:03He attacked both men, causing a DQ, but this was a good kind of DQ, furthering the feud
08:08between all three men.
08:09Dakota Kai got a pre-filmed vignette talking about how she's ready to show everyone why
08:13she's a champion.
08:14It felt like a separate presentation to Damage Control, and could imply that Raw is also
08:19getting a women's midcard belt soon.
08:21With Liv stressed out by Rhea's return, Finn Balor took charge of the Judgment Day,
08:24stepping up Dominik Mysterio and Carlito ahead of their tag match against the War Raiders.
08:29But it was really a way for Finn to undermine Dom, furthering their tension.
08:33Because if you're in a WWE team or faction right now, you will have tension.
08:37I don't know how Dom can be at heel with that moustache.
08:40Because this month is Movember!
08:42Please go support our Movember page, links in the video description below.
08:46Because if you send proof of your donation and a picture of your own moustache to support
08:50at WrestleTalk.com, you'll get your very own moustache break.
09:21Thank you so much to Dom, Daniel, Gilberto, Nick and Julian for donating there, and for
09:26joining the SWAFT Nation Movember moustache movement!
09:30Oh, that's what that is.
09:34What do you mean?
09:35Well, I didn't realise you have a moustache.
09:38Are you being serious?
09:41I've had this for like two weeks.
09:45Yeah, I just thought it was a Luke thing.
09:47I didn't really notice yours.
09:50The War Raiders beat Dom and Carlito pretty easily for Finn and JD to attack the number
09:54one contenders afterwards.
09:55Which is good, because I legitimately forgot Finn and JD are the tag champions again.
09:59My brain keeps thinking the Motor City Machine Guns are the only tag champs.
10:03The Wyatt Six Final Testament feud was furthered really well by two excellent pre-filmed promos.
10:08The first was of Miz and Karrion Kross.
10:10Kross accused the Wyatts of just using people to make themselves feel better.
10:15Pot Kettle Black Karrion Kross.
10:17While Miz was obsessed about his performance last week to trick the Wyatts into thinking
10:21he was remorseful.
10:22He thought that acting could be the jumpstart for the Marine Seven to be directed by Scorsese.
10:27Maybe it could even be Tarantino's final film.
10:30While that sounds like dumb comedy on paper in an otherwise serious programme, it actually
10:34shows how Karrion is controlling an increasingly deranged Miz.
10:38Bo Dallas' reply later in the show promised vengeance, with Bo really looking like Bray
10:42with his long hair and beard.
10:44Otis' manipulation was felt later on in the show too, making him feel like the Undercard's
10:48final boss.
10:49Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods had another argument, with Woods fixating on what Kross
10:53said all those months ago.
10:55The New Day is dead, and Woods and Kofi are the only ones that don't know it.
10:59This set up the New Day vs American Alpha, where Otis was only trying to help Woods for
11:04next week.
11:05Earlier on, Seth turned down Jey, Jimmy and Sami to join their WarGames team.
11:08I guess we're not going to hear anything about Jimmy approaching Brom Breaker last
11:12week.
11:13Nope, no follow up on that.
11:14I'll just pop Bloodline Bron next to my babyface Bron and goop the FeudBron storyline
11:18Brons that have been Broned.
11:20But Jey, Jimmy and Sami still fought off the new blood members at ringside at the start
11:24of the Seth vs Bronson Reed main event.
11:26They had a really decent match, built around Seth not being able to put Bronson down for
11:30the count of three, even though he's already put him down for the count of three at Crown
11:34Jewel two weeks ago.
11:35Reed would kick out at one, or stand up pretty quickly after a stomp for the finish.
11:39Seth was distracted by Solo Sakoa just doing this on the announcers table, letting Reed
11:49hit a single Tsunami to win.
11:51This week's Raw is 69%… nice.
11:54Remember a time when WWE was no good?
11:57The brand new episode of Worst Match Ever is live now, where Sullivan, Luke and Tempest
12:01watch John Cena's Worst Ever Match.
12:04Click the video onscreen now to watch them watch that.
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