00:00WWE changing direction for CM Punk WWE title set to change brands
00:06A rare Brock Lesnar spotted in the wild And more!
00:10I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:16Get exclusive bonus videos over at Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk.
00:21This video's top story is brought to you by the Wrestling Masterclass.
00:24Learn how to get your dream job in the wrestling industry by signing up for a free webinar
00:28at WrestlingMasterclass.com today.
00:31Despite technically feuding with Seth Rollins since November 2023, CM Punk only properly
00:37started a TV rivalry with him on the post-Survivor Series episode of Raw two weeks ago.
00:42Seth was angry with Punk for teaming with Rollins' arch-nemesis Roman Reigns, and
00:46Punk… well, Punk doesn't actually care about Seth.
00:51Punk's actually confused why Seth doesn't like him.
00:54That's actually the feud.
00:55And it's working.
00:56But in a shocking new wrestling booking innovation, Paul Levesque is reportedly trying something
01:01new.
01:02He's going to have a singles match between them within a month, rather than waiting half
01:06a year for WrestleMania.
01:07Chris Featherstone of Sportskeeda has reported on X, Seth Rollins vs CM Punk is currently
01:12slated to occur on the debut episode of WWE Raw on Netflix, I have been informed.
01:18Featherstone recently reported on how WWE weren't factoring The Rock into their WrestleMania
01:22plans, which was corroborated by Fightful, so do take several less grains of salt when
01:27digesting this news.
01:28Seth vs Punk was supposed to happen at WrestleMania 40 for the World Heavyweight Championship.
01:34But Punk got injured at the end of the Men's Royal Rumble match, and his feud with Drew
01:37McIntyre took off and lasted through until October.
01:40But now Punk is free to feud with Seth, it has again become the bridesmaid story.
01:45As Punk's interactions and favour storyline with Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman has given
01:50WWE record social media interactions for 2024.
01:54Of course, there is a very real possibility that Punk vs Seth will just be the first in
01:59WWE's standard three match feud, with the rubber blowoff match complete with hellacious
02:03stipulation planned for WrestleMania.
02:05But given the huge interest in Punk vs Roman, WWE might actually be moving the Punk vs Seth
02:11feud forward so we can get to Punk vs Reigns for WrestleMania.
02:16Roman Reigns' main eventing at WrestleMania has been an explicit character motivation
02:20on TV for CM Punk over the last two weeks, which was reportedly one of the reasons he
02:24returned to WWE in the first place.
02:27In the meantime, though, it's Punk vs Seth, where Rollins claimed on this week's Raw
02:32that they used to be close friends, but Punk ghosted him when he left WWE in 2014.
02:38Corey Graves was another close friend of Punk's from that time, and several tweets he made
02:42in 2018 back up that Seth's promo was mixing in elements of their real-life heat.
02:47Following Punk's second UFC fight, where he lost to Michael Jackson, Graves posted
02:52this.
02:53Maybe abandoning everybody who stood by your side, even when we weren't supposed to,
02:57only to have you turn your back on us wasn't the right move after all.
03:00No anger, only sadness.
03:03Ah, seems the fans are disappointed.
03:06Maybe you guys should know that that dude held my first son before I did because I was
03:10on tour and I trusted him.
03:12I had dinner with him the week after he quit.
03:15And then, in a since-deleted post, the first rule of Punk Rock is loyalty, and this guy
03:20betrayed it all.
03:22I still love you, friend, and I'm sorry you got lost.
03:25And then it kind of went into that awkward put down the phone Corey phase.
03:29Hey CM Punk, call me tomorrow, I still love you.
03:32And in a deleted reply to someone who advised patching this up in private, dude, I've
03:36texted him no less than a dozen times.
03:38If you avoid truth long enough, you can write your one narrative, I guess.
03:42Graves later explained his posts to Fightful.
03:45It kind of shocked me when I texted him about grabbing dinner because we were in Chicago
03:49and he told me he no longer had any interest in being friends with me or anybody related
03:55to WWE.
03:57What really set me off was this week when he essentially disowned the business that
04:00made him.
04:01My only issue with him was that he turned off people that actually loved and supported
04:06Beyond the business, and he never wanted anything to do with us, yet continued to present himself
04:11as this Punk hero.
04:13So Punk and Seth's feud is technically a worked shoot.
04:17But Rollins and Graves should really have heat with him for exposing the goddamn business,
04:21Phil.
04:22Ahead of Monday's Raw, Punk posted a short video on his Instagram stories showing him
04:25signing autographs backstage with a TV monitor in the background that showed The Wyatt Six
04:31and the Final Testament rehearsing the finish of their match for later that night, where
04:36Miz breaks up Uncle Howdy's sister Abigail.
04:39But maybe we will have to wait until after WrestleMania to get Punk vs Roman.
04:42They're not on the same brands.
04:44The thing about Punk vs Seth is that they're both on Raw, which probably means they'll
04:48be the Mania feud… it's just one more thing time.
04:56WWE have announced that Raw, SmackDown and NXT will have a transfer window in the run-up
05:01to Raw's Netflix debut on the 6th January.
05:03It's essentially a Superstar Shake-Up.
05:08And PWNexus is reporting that the OG Bloodline, so Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman and Jimmy Uso
05:13are all set to move to Raw, where they'll join Jey Uso and Sami Zayn.
05:17Apparently all wrestlers will be eligible for moves, and the expectation is that a title
05:22or two will be swapping brands.
05:24And one of those titles might be the WWE Championship, as Cody Rhodes was featured backstage on Monday's
05:29episode walking out of Raw General Manager Adam Pearce's office, hinting that he could
05:34also jump to Netflix.
05:36Rhodes appeared in the dark segment once Raw had gone off air, and later posted FIRE EMOJI.
05:41Incredible crowd.
05:42Thank you Adam Pearce for having me.
05:44To which Pearce replied, appreciate your time, Cody Rhodes.
05:48New prediction.
05:49Everyone's going to Raw, even-OH NO!
05:57With Brock Lesnar still on the WWE roster page, he is also technically eligible for
06:02the transfer window.
06:03He has been referenced by name on WWE TV over the last month, which is a big step for a
06:07company that erased him from the opening video package back in February.
06:11And there are increasing sightings of Brock Lesnar in the wild, mostly at country music
06:16gigs.
06:17After being spotted backstage in a photo with country singer Ward Davis, an incredibly rare
06:21sighting of Brock and his wife, the Attitude Era star Sable, has now appeared on other
06:26country singer James McCoy's Instagram with the caption, Amazing night in Regina,
06:31hanging with Brock Lesnar and his beautiful wife, Reena.
06:34Amazing people.
06:35Hashtag Brock Lesnar.
06:36Lesnar was pulled from WWE's plans back in January after he was reportedly referenced
06:41in the sexual abuse lawsuit against Vince McMahon.
06:43Triple H has said that Brock isn't gone from WWE, and the Wrestling Observer has speculated
06:48that the promotion is waiting on their lawyers to give the OK to bring Lesnar back.
06:53Further in AEW, the company hasn't had the best end of the year.
06:56In just the last week, it's come out that former talent Ryan Nemeth filed a complaint
07:00against them alleging harassment, Rey Fenix has accused them of inhumane treatment, and
07:05the promotion's working relationship with GCW has become increasingly frayed.
07:10And an underlying cause to all this appears to be… communication.
07:14For instance, the GCW story is highly confusing.
07:19Last month, GCW wrestler Effie had a podcast rant criticising AEW for running the Hammerstein
07:24Ballroom so close to GCW running shows there, and said that Tony Khan's dad pays Tony
07:30to stay away from him.
07:32AEW star Ricky Starks was consequently pulled from his already advertised GCW appearances.
07:37But then Fightful Select reported AEW talent Willie Mack had also been pulled from his
07:42GCW dates this coming weekend.
07:45Which was a surprise, as nobody knew Willie Mack was even signed with AEW.
07:49But then Fightful deleted that report, citing confusion on both sides.
07:54Now the Wrestling Observer claims this is how it went down.
07:57Mack told GCW that AEW was pulling him from the show.
08:01This prompted GCW Booker Brett Lauderdale to contact AEW's Sanjay Dutt, who denied
08:06AEW had pulled Mack.
08:08Lauderdale then went back to Mack, who said he wasn't explicitly told he shouldn't
08:12work for GCW's show, but AEW's Christopher Daniels, who is their head of talent relations,
08:17made it clear that Mack shouldn't go.
08:21Willie Mack hasn't been seen on AEW TV since October, where he lost to Commander on Ring
08:26of Honor.
08:27Which I would say means this wasn't a battle worth picking for anyone involved, and it's
08:31now made a proverbial mountain out of the molehill.
08:34In some slightly better numbers based news, though, AEW's collision rating was up from
08:38the last week's, but was still the lowest rating it's done in the usual time slot
08:42for the last two months.
08:43Which might be down to it going head to head with NXT deadline on the same night.
08:47And their All In Texas show has already surpassed $1.25 million in ticket sales, making it the
08:53company's third highest gate ever after the other two All In shows in London.
08:58That means it's their highest ever gate in North America.
09:01This is likely down to the very high price of the VIP packages selling first, rather
09:05than a high number of tickets getting sold.
09:07The show will take place on the 12th July, and is AEW's first ever stadium show in
09:12North America.
09:13Wait, what's that?
09:14What's that music?
09:15What do you mean we didn't thank all the people who donated to our November page last
09:20month?
09:21There's another moustache break!
09:45Thank you so much to Charles, Rob, Jacob and Matt there, and to everyone who helped
09:52us raise money last month.
09:54Now go watch Luke and I react to all our WWE predictions we made this time last year.
09:58I can't believe Cody actually finished his story, and I actually predicted that he wouldn't.
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