00:00WWE have a big decision, more TNA departures, my review of AEW Dynamite and more. I'm
00:07Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:16We're not just one week away from Christmas, we're just a few weeks away from the Christmas
00:21time for wrestling fans as we begin the road to WrestleMania. Not only that, but we're
00:26two weeks away from Raw debuting on Netflix, a show that WWE are looking to make as big
00:32as possible. Already announced is Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sokoa and Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk
00:37which is now confirmed to be the main event of the show by WWE themselves at yesterday's
00:43Netflix event. Also announced at that event, Logan Paul will be joining the Raw brand which
00:48makes sense given he has some form of mainstream appeal which is what Netflix are after. Also
00:52at that event, Kevin Owens took a perhaps nice, maybe not so nice light-hearted jab
00:57at CM Punk, saying that he has the best moveset. That word has surprisingly become quite a
01:05charged one as of late, and Owens has been very vocal in interviews about how he and
01:10Punk do not have a relationship or a friendship. He does, however, have a good relationship
01:15and friendship with the Young Bucks. And while WWE are stacking Raw on Netflix, they've
01:20also got the small matter of WrestleMania 41. And WrestleVotes noted on Twitter a few
01:25weeks ago that WWE are going to want to justify this being the most expensive WrestleMania
01:30to attend ever by quite some margin by putting on an all-timer show. Which is what brings
01:36them to their potential problem.
01:38You see, WWE are so hot right now, and one of the reasons they're so hot is they have
01:43a lot of top-name stars. And that presents the problem, who main events Night 1 and Night
01:492? WrestleVotes are reporting via their Backstage Pass Q&A show that they've heard almost
01:55all year that WWE want CM Punk in a main event world title match. However they add,
02:00I don't know how the puzzle pieces are going to fit, but they want him at the top.
02:05That does add up. After all, Punk himself has said that one of the reasons he came back
02:09to WWE was to main event WrestleMania, something he never got to do in his first run. It's
02:16current feud with Seth Rollins. He's also consistently one of WWE's top merch sellers.
02:21He probably should be the main event of WrestleMania. And from what I've been told, Punk really
02:25wants to do the Money Match with Roman Reigns at Mania, but Reigns could be earmarked for
02:29something else. And WrestleVotes are saying they don't think the world title match for
02:33Punk will be against Cody Rhodes. Rumours are the plan for Cody Rhodes is to face The
02:38Rock for the WWE Championship, but that all is dependent on whether or not The Rock actually
02:42wants to do WrestleMania. The Rock has also been reported as an option for Reigns, and
02:47if it's not Rocky, then Reigns could face Jacob Fatu.
02:50So that leaves us with the World Heavyweight Championship, however WrestleVotes add, I
02:55don't think it'll be Gunther. So it could be the case that Punk is in a WrestleMania
03:00main event for the World Heavyweight Championship, but it will not be against Gunther, meaning
03:04The Champ will have to drop the belt on the road to WrestleMania.
03:08Sean Ross Sapp speculated on Fightful that he thinks Gunther could face Goldberg at either
03:13Mania or one of the Saudi shows. But in all of this you also have the problem of giving
03:18your women's division some time to shine, which you probably should do given how over
03:22Rhea Ripley is. And you have the reported imminent returns of Charlotte Flair and Becky
03:28Lynch. So what would you do? What would you book for WrestleMania? Would you have Punk
03:33going for a world title? Would you have him going into the show as a champion? Let me
03:37down below.
03:38At least WWE have some names on their roster, which is more than you can say for TNA at
03:43the moment. In just this last week it's been reported that Speedball, Mike Bailey,
03:47Rhyno, Trent Seven, Kushida and AJ Francis of either left are all set to be leaving TNA
03:52as we approach 2025. And Fightful Select are now reporting that Steph Delanda is also set
03:58to leave TNA, however they add, we're told that there is some interest in TNA in bringing
04:04her back when she's returned from her injury. They also report that Aiden Prince is also
04:08finishing up with TNA but only as an in-ring performer as he'll stick around in a backstage
04:14role. A lot of this comes off the back of TNA doing the most TNA thing they could have
04:18possibly done in bringing back Tessa Blanchard, which Fightful Select say they've heard
04:22from those in WWE, AEW and TNA who were in disbelief that the company was moving in that
04:29direction.
04:30Josh Alexander is also rumoured to be leaving TNA in the new year as is Jordan Grace, and
04:35Fightful added, we're told that Jordan Grace had pushed back on working with Blanchard.
04:40Before we get into the AEW Dynamite review, here is a clip from the most recent episode
04:44of Cutscene where I took a look at the Lost Song from Muppet's Christmas Carol to get
04:49you all in the festive spirit. We've also just released a four hour video of myself
04:54and Oli Davis reviewing Madam Web over at Patreon.com. Here is that clip.
05:00During this time, Henson had begun to speak with Michael Eisner about selling the Jim
05:04Henson Company to Disney, as the pair had a relationship dating back to the late 1970s
05:10when Eisner gave The Muppet Show the green light at ABC. Eisner had joined Disney in
05:151984 with the idea that he, along with Frank Welds and Jeffrey Katzenberg, would fix the
05:20House of Mouse. Eisner was in the process of reigniting Walt Disney Animation when in
05:24the spring of 1989, Henson contacted him about selling his company.
05:29Henson's logic was that by selling his company, he could focus on creating and being an artist,
05:35and Disney would worry about the business side of things. The deal, reportedly worth
05:39$150 million, would see a 15-year exclusivity agreement where Henson would make movies,
05:46TV shows and theme park attractions for Disney, and would give Disney the rights to his creations
05:50like Fraggle Rock and The Muppets. While Henson began doing work for Disney, which included
05:55the TV special The Muppets at Disney World, as well as developing Muppet Vision 3D for
06:00MGM Studios, negotiations were not as easy as they'd initially anticipated. Essentially
06:05boiling down to Eisner wanting Sesame Street to be part of the overall Henson deal, which
06:11wasn't really possible.
06:12But it's Thursday, and you know what that means. Will Ospreay had another match of the
06:16year contender. The show opened with Jey White and Orange Casterly cutting a promo about
06:20their main event trios match against The D-Riders, and Hangman Page walked in and told both of
06:25them that he wants mocks so they'd better leave him for the hangar. The action kicked
06:29off with Mercedes Monet defending her TBS Championship against Anna Jay Hott of having
06:34one of the best matches of 2024 at New Japan over the weekend. And, Monet had her working
06:39boots on again here as she had a terrific match with Anna Jay which saw the young Anna
06:44have a great comeback and series of nearfalls. That transition from the Statement Maker into
06:48a pin was great, and Monet hit the Sunset Bomb into the corner and Meteora and Money
06:53Maker for the win. Chris Statlander watched on from backstage, and she saw a great match.
06:57Monet has been hit and miss in AEW since coming in earlier this year, but she is finishing
07:02off the year with some real bangers. FTR cut a promo from home saying that they could not
07:07be cleared to return to AEW until the New Year, but they will be back to get The D-Riders,
07:13and they will not be alone. My guess would be The Outrunners, which presents a very intriguing
07:18dynamic of The Outrunners vs. Jon Moxley. MJF cut a promo about opening up a charity
07:24to help small yellow bay-bays this holiday season, putting up a doctored photo of Adam
07:29Cole on the screen, yuck yuck lol etc. Cole cut a return promo saying that he has spoken
07:33with Tony Khan who has allowed the Kingdom to be at ringside, and he appeared in the
07:38ring, hit a superkick on MJF and Max Belled from being hit by the Canadian Destroyer.
07:43A basic segment, but rather befitting of this feud which has been rather flat since it started.
07:47We got a recap of Julia Hart's awesome return, and Jamie Hayter cut a promo on her to set
07:51up their match on January 1st, and we got a video promo about the return of Kenny Omega.
07:58Kenny, I know you're not watching this video, but if someone is watching this video
08:03who can pass on this message, I've missed you so much. Christian Cage and Nick Wayne
08:08beat Hook and Katsuri Shibata due to lots of interference and distractions by the rest
08:11of the patriarchy. Looks like they need some backup which could signal the return of Samoa
08:16Joe. Joe, I know you're not watching this video, but if someone is watching who can
08:21pass on this message, I've missed you so much. Sorry for banging the table. Chris Jericho
08:27got a video promo about New York, and Harley Cameron sang a song which genuinely made me
08:31want to buy AEW merch. Is there anything she can't do? Have you seen her do ventriloquism?
08:38Mariah May cut a promo on Thunder Rosa, and then we got more talking as Ricochet came
08:41out for a promo with Tony Schiavone but was quickly interrupted by the Hurt Syndicate.
08:45Ricochet, who's already sort of turned heel, then started to suck up to MVP and The Lads,
08:51but MVP does not like a kiss ass so they tore up the business card offer. I guess Ricochet
08:56will not love business.
08:59This is actually the most I've been into Ricochet since he came into AEW. I guess it's
09:03the laugh?
09:04It led into Shelton Benjamin being awesome with Beast Mortis, who is also awesome. Benjamin
09:09picked up another three points in the blue league, but the Hurt Syndicate attacked Mortis
09:13after the match, which let's be honest is not in the true spirit of the C2 tournament.
09:16Daniel Garcia came out and was backed by Mark Briscoe, but they were outnumbered and the
09:20Hurt Syndicate hurt them.
09:22Shelton Benjamin then posed with a TNT Championship, which feels like a Great World's End match
09:27for Garcia. Renee interviewed Ricochet backstage, who then had a back and forth with Swerve
09:30Strickland, and Toni Storm continued this brilliant character by doing an interview
09:34with RJCity where she does not remember any of her AEW run.
09:39But let's be honest, the thing that everyone will be talking about coming out of this episode
09:43of Dynamite is Will Ospreay taking on Darby Allin in Gold League action. Will has had
09:49an incredible 2024, our end of year awards start next week and spoilers, he features
09:53in them a lot. And he's not slowing down just because the year is coming to a close.
09:57This is a first time match between Darby and Will, so they went out there and did everything
10:02they could while leaving so much more for future matches.
10:06Allin is a mad lad, missing a Coffin Drop and hitting the ring apron as horribly as
10:11he possibly could. They then had an insane sequence of Will reversing the Code Red into
10:15a Hidden Blade, then Allin reversed the Stormbreaker into a Code Red for a Great Nearfall and Double
10:20Down. Will then hit a Flipping Styles Clash off the apron to the floor. Happy to take
10:28the count out win, but Darby got back in at 9, reversed the Stormbreaker into the Scorpion
10:32Death Drop and hit two Coffin Drops for the surprise 3 points. An incredible match, but
10:37one that also means there are four guys tied on 6 points in the Gold League and all four
10:42of them are facing each other this Saturday.
10:45It kind of meant that the main event was a little lacking, but Sony made up for it in
10:49star power as the D-Riders took on Jay White, Orange Cassidy and Hangman Page. It got really
10:53great in the final stretch as Hangman Page walked out on the match angry at White for
10:57stealing his chance to get his hands on Mox, but came back down when the chance presented
11:01itself once more. But that was stolen again by Orange Cassidy. It led to White and Mox
11:06getting into an argument which distracted everyone and allowed Mox to roll up Cassidy
11:10for the win. This is what Jon Moxley wanted. The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy.
11:17AEW Dynamite has been a broadly fine show for the majority of 2024, but this was easily
11:21one of its strongest episodes. Now please consider going to check out the latest episode
11:26of Cutscene where I look into The Lost Song from Muppet Christmas Carol. This is also
11:30my last WrestleTalk News video for 2024, so happy holidays everyone, thank you so much
11:34for watching, Jam That Jam, have a great time.
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