00:00Cody Rhodes injured? WWE accused of clear mismanagement? CM Punk has backstage heat?
00:07With a word and more. I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk
00:13News. WWE Premium Live events no longer end when
00:23the main event is over, when the copyright corner logo has come and gone, not even when
00:28the actual broadcast feed has finished. Because just like after October's Bad Blood, where
00:33Kevin Owens attacked Cody Rhodes in the parking lot after the show had gone off air, the biggest
00:37wrestling angle of Saturday night's main event happened on Saturday night's dark
00:41segment to send the crowd home happy. In the Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens main event
00:46over the beautiful Winged Eagle version of the WWE Championship, Owens tried to use a
00:50chair behind the referee's back, but Cody countered, winning with a Crossroads onto
00:55that chair to retain his title, pushing the weapon out of the ring so the referee never
01:00saw it. It made for a justified cheating reasoning,
01:04with KO trying to use the chair himself. Cody hitting his move on it was a kind of karma,
01:08but also it lets Owens intensify his blood feud with Rhodes, because KO can look at this
01:13finish and say Cody knowingly cheated to beat him.
01:18And he chose to intensify right away. Cody started to cut a thank you promo to everyone
01:23for coming out to watch the show when Owens jumped him from behind and immediately hit
01:28a package Piledriver, which was his devastating finish manoeuvre before he went to WWE, back
01:35when he wrestled for Ring of Honor and the Indies. This is different to the standard
01:38Piledriver variant he hit Randy Orton with on the 9th November SmackDown, and it's
01:42the first time he's ever hit the move in WWE. And it wasn't even on TV!
01:48Orton hasn't been seen on WWE TV for over a month, selling the effects of the normal
01:52banned Piledriver. And with Cody being hit by the even more dangerous package variant,
01:57it seems he could be out for even longer, as WWE have posted a medical update on Rhodes'
02:04condition. Earlier today, it was confirmed that Cody
02:06Rhodes suffered cervical swelling and was kept overnight at a local hospital for observation.
02:12While X-rays were negative for a fracture, Rhodes has been officially diagnosed with
02:16axial compression of the cervical spine, as well as a cervical strain with spasm. This
02:21could be a way to write Cody off TV for the next three weeks, to give him a break over
02:25the Christmas period. Expect him to return on January 6th for Raw's debut on Netflix.
02:30Some have speculated that the angle was actually supposed to take place on the broadcast, and
02:35that timing issues meant it was accidentally done off-air. F4WOnline has confirmed that
02:40isn't the case, as the KO attacking Cody Angle was always meant to happen after the
02:45show had finished. But why? Obviously there's the work-shoot effect.
02:50By Owens doing his big Cody attacks off-air, it feels less like a standard pro wrestling
02:54angle, and therefore feels more real. It also fits with his anti-establishment character.
03:00But there is another reason. WWE is afraid of Cody getting booed. One of the most appealing
03:06parts of KO's heel character right now is… he's kinda right. He hates Cody for teaming
03:13with Roman Reigns, when Reigns had made Owens' life a living hell for years. And because
03:18of that, WWE is reportedly concerned that crowds will cheer Owens over Cody on TV.
03:24As cheering the fun heel against the blue eyed babyface is a thing us wrestling fans
03:29have been known to do once or twice. Using Cody's experience in AEW, where booing him
03:34became the fun thing to do, they understandably want to avoid accidentally making that happen.
03:39That's why so many of KO's angles or segments have either taken place not in front of a
03:44crowd or not on TV. Owens also had a physical altercation with
03:48Triple H, where Leveque shoved KO at the top of the ramp. Some have speculated this could
03:52be building a Triple H in-ring return, but Dr Chris Featherstone of Sportskeeda has reported
03:58I was informed that Triple H's physical involvement following Kevin Owens' post-match
04:02attack on Cody Rhodes at Saturday night's main event is only to elevate Owens as a heel.
04:07And the Cody-Owens feud is slated to continue. A Triple H in-ring return is not in the plans
04:13at this time. But Owens isn't the only person annoyed
04:17with Cody. On last week's episode of Raw, Rhodes bumped
04:20into the New Day backstage, where he said they should be ashamed of themselves for what
04:24they said to Big E. So both Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston have posted about KO's
04:30attack on Cody. Woods asked about Cody's injury. Damn, I
04:34wonder when he's coming back. A not-so-subtle jab at Big E, who's been out for over two
04:38years with his neck injury. And Kofi simply posted karma, with a clip of Cody telling
04:43him and Woods that they should be ashamed of themselves.
04:46But it's not just the WWE Champion the New Day are upset with. They're also disgruntled
04:50with Raw General Manager Adam Pearce and how he's booking the brand's tag team
04:54champions. Finn Balor and JD McDonough won the tag titles
04:58when they beat The Awesome Truth back in June, and during the five months since, they've
05:03only defended them twice. Once against the New Day on the 19th September Raw, and then
05:08against the War Raiders on the November 25th episode.
05:11Ahead of Saturday night's main event, and Balor's shot at Gunther's World Heavyweight
05:14title, Woods posted, hey Adam Pearce, if Finn wins the World Heavyweight title tonight,
05:19then is it going to be another 70 days before the world tag titles are defended again? To
05:24which Pearce pointed out, you lost your last tag match to Alpha Academy in like 30 seconds.
05:29Which set Woods off. I ask a legitimate question about your clear
05:33mismanagement of the tag division, and instead of answering, you respond like a troll. This
05:38was Judgment Day's first defence 70 days into their reign. But I guess you only want
05:43to rectify things when it suits you. Along with a clip of Woods getting a visible
05:47pin on JD back in September. And Pearce replied, you want to have a legitimate
05:52conversation? Knock on my office door in any arena on any Monday when we're in the same
05:57city instead of running your hornblower on Twitter like a mark.
06:00Thank you for your contributions to our television programs.
06:03Finn and JD will be defending their tag titles against the War Raiders again on tonight's
06:07episode of Raw, with the rest of Judgment Day banned from ringside. Either they'll
06:11drop their belt to the War Raiders, who could possibly be transitional champions, a face
06:16team for the New Day to feud with and win the belts from, or the Darkest Timeline, where
06:20the Judgment Day could retain again, and what's in Kingston's tension with Pearce motivates
06:25a New Day move to SmackDown in the Transfer Portal.
06:28Some believe that even if The Young Bucks didn't burst into CM Punk's locker room
06:32after All Out 2022, Punk still would've had a backstage altercation, because he can
06:37start a fight in an empty room. And now, in an interview done before Saturday night's
06:42we have a new name to add to his list of hated enemies. The word Moveset.
06:48When he wasn't interrupting everyone else, Peter Rosenberg said the word Moveset in the
06:53backstage clips, which prompted Punk to drop this pipe bomb.
06:57Don't say Moveset. That's garbage. It's garbage. If you say that, you're an idiot.
07:03Oh God. Especially if you're a wrestler and you say Moveset. That 100% tells me that
07:09you don't know what the hell you're doing.
07:11Punk's hate of the term Moveset in wrestling isn't anything new. Back in April 2021,
07:16before he even returned to wrestling with AEW, he replied to a fan asking which wrestler's
07:21Moveset he'd like to steal. Normalise getting rid of the term Moveset.
07:26But the week he said it this time, Moveset was a slightly more charged word.
07:31Following Logan Paul announcing his retirement from wrestling, Hangman Page joked on Blue
07:35Sky, I hope the next person they give half my Moveset to is at least kinda cool.
07:39Two days later, Punk brought up his Moveset hate again. Coincidence? Maybe. As for things
07:46Punk likes, last month Punk named Chad Gable, Bronson Reed, Ludwig Kaiser and Gunther as
07:51a list of wrestlers he'd love to work with on house shows, as he doesn't see them as
07:56money enough for him to wrestle on pay-per-view. Dr Chris Featherstone of Sportskeeda is now
08:01reporting Punk will get one of those as an early Christmas present, as he'll be facing
08:05Gunther in Chicago in a steel cage match as part of WWE's holiday tour over the next
08:11few weeks. WWE often runs matches on their live shows
08:14before they make it to TV, so it's speculated this could be foreshadowing a Punk vs Gunther
08:19programme over the World Heavyweight title early next year.
08:23Despite his perceived stiffness, Gunther could be a good person for the injury-prone Punk
08:27to wrestle, as Fightful is reporting he's receiving a lot of praise backstage for how
08:32he handled the powerbomb spot at Saturday night's main event.
08:35Damian Priest's foot hit the steel steps on the way up, which stopped the momentum,
08:39but Gunther was able to reset, lift Priest up and powerbomb him onto the steel steps
08:44while still making it as safe as possible. Punk vs Gunther for the World title in 2025?
08:49That sounds a lot like Luke's prediction. Watch mine and Luke's brand new episode
08:53of the Three Count right now, where we predict every WWE star's 2025 in three words or
08:58less slash fewer. Where I will convince you that solo Tokoa marrying Eva is an actually
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