00:00There's been an off-script shoot altercation in AEW, The Rock buys more of WWE, pretty
00:06much the whole WWE Raw Netflix debut episode just got leaked, and more.
00:11I'm Oli Davis, you're always defending Jam That Champion with his title on the line
00:16for tonight's Raw, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:27There are a few certainties in life, death, taxes, and Kenny Omega having the best match
00:36of the year immediately into it.
00:38Despite being put on the shelf with a life-threatening case of diverticulitis in December 2023, the
00:44bestest of best bout machines returned to the ring on Sunday 5th's WrestleDynasty
00:48show to face Gabe Kidd, where he had a match so brilliant and so bloody that it made Horseshoe
00:54Tanahashi cry at ringside.
00:56Quick, summon Bottley's tears, that's how he makes his hair so voluminous.
01:00Omega and Kidd went just over half an hour in their match, which was the longest match
01:04of the night.
01:05And as great as Omega was, Kidd was right there with him, putting in a Lion's Pride
01:09performance so fiery it might make him the babyface soul of New Japan in the future.
01:15Providing AEW or WWE don't sign him first like they do for everyone else who gets over
01:19in Japan.
01:20While WrestleDynasty had excellent in-ring wrestling, the weekend didn't have the magic
01:24of previous WrestleKingdom two-nighters.
01:26The January 4th show was main evented by Zack Sabre Jr and Shota Umino for the IWGP World
01:31Heavyweight title, but they lost the crowd at points in their 45 minute match.
01:35And Takakai Kidani, the CEO of New Japan's parent company Bushi Road, said of the following
01:40night's joint WrestleDynasty show with AEW, maybe it would've been better to do it at
01:44a distance on January 4th.
01:46As for things to reflect on this time, I think we weren't able to create the feel of a
01:50joint event nor of a rivalry, so it ended up being a bit half-hearted.
01:56WrestleDynasty was, in theory, a joint show between New Japan, AEW, CMLL, ROH and Stardom.
02:03But it was largely just AEW vs New Japan matches.
02:06At least we got Takeshita coming out of the weekend as a double champion, with him first
02:10beating Shingo Takagi to add the nether openweight belt to his AEW international title, and he
02:15then retained both in a classic against Tomohiro Ishii at WrestleDynasty.
02:20And with that win, Takeshita announced that he will be now representing three different
02:24promotions, his original DDT, AEW and now also New Japan.
02:29Kidani later revealed that Takeshita had signed a one-year deal with New Japan, which will
02:33allow him to wrestle across all three promotions.
02:36AEW's Young Bucks will also stick around in New Japan, as they won the IWGP Tag Team
02:41Championships at WrestleDynasty, and Mercedes Monet added another belt to her collection,
02:46creating Minasher Akawa for her Rev Pro British Women's Championship too.
02:50But they aren't the only wrestlers New Japan now has more regular access to.
02:55Because a former WWE star could be about to trump them all…
03:00Baron Corbin!
03:02Following his contract officially expiring at the end of 2024, Corbin, whose real name
03:06is Tom Pestock, is now free to go wherever he wants.
03:10It was reportedly backstage at AEW's World's End pay-per-view, and now Fightful claims
03:14that New Japan is interested in bringing him in too.
03:18But out of all their very, very large roster, it might be someone else AEW needs to send
03:24away to cool off.
03:25Roush is one of the most exciting wrestlers to watch today for me.
03:29Not because he does big flippity flips, not because he cuts great promos, it's because
03:33with Roush, he's so intense, it actually feels like he's beating people up.
03:38It's still real to him, damn it.
03:40But unfortunately, with that intensity, comes too much intensity.
03:46His AEW career has felt very start-stop since he signed over two years ago in 2022.
03:52First he paired with Andrade, forming their Los Ing-na-l-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r faction from
03:55CMLL.
03:56Then he re-signed in July 2023, but suffered a torn hamstring that put him out for four
04:01months.
04:02He had a brief filler feud with MJF in July, and then seemed to finally be getting an actual
04:06storyline, getting recruited by the Don Callis family.
04:09reform Los Ing-h-f-f-f-f-f-s again, this time with Jalistico and The Beast Rortos, as Jake
04:14Roberts acquired Roush in exchange for Don Callis getting Lance Archer.
04:18Oh no, I've gone cross-eyed.
04:19Anyway, it turns out that it's not just convoluted booking that's made Roush disappear
04:23from TV.
04:24In a match on the 13th November episode of Rampage, where Roush and Jalistico took on
04:28Richard Holiday and Alec Price in a squash match, Jalistico allegedly got physical with
04:33Holiday while he was being legitimately checked out by medics.
04:36an unaired moment.
04:37Drillistico kept stomping Holliday while he was on the ground, which made the AEW doctor
04:42angry.
04:43This caused a direct change in plans, as Roosh and Drillistico were planned to beat The Acclaimed
04:48on the following night's episode of Collision, which would've seen them qualify for the
04:52four-way tag title match at Full Gear.
04:54Instead, The Acclaimed were booked to beat Los Ingl-ugh.
04:58Roosh and Drillistico haven't been seen on AEW TV since.
05:01Meanwhile over in WWE, The Rock is taking that final boss title too, literally.
05:06A year ago, Rock the Dwayne Johnson was appointed as an official board member of TKO, which
05:11is the merge company of WWE and the UFC.
05:15Following his match at WrestleMania 40, he was given shares worth $9 million.
05:19In a new filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, it's now been revealed
05:24that Johnson has acquired 96,557 more shares, which, along with the increased valuation
05:30of TKO, means he currently owns just over $41 million of it.
05:36While that sounds like a lot, as TKO is worth an estimated $11.5 billion, his total overall
05:42share of the company is about a third of a percent.
05:46But that third of a percent, combined with his director position and star power, is enough
05:51to let him do whatever in the blue hell he wants.
05:53In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Triple H has said,
05:56The one thing about The Rock, you can call him the final boss.
05:59In a way, it's an accurate statement.
06:01He has earned the right and is in the position to do what he wants to do.
06:06He does what is right for WWE and the projects that he works on.
06:10He's earned the right to kind of come and go and do what he pleases and trust that he'll
06:14always do what is right for WWE in the end.
06:17He's super collaborative with me and super collaborative with Nick on what we want to
06:21do contrary to what a lot of people think.
06:23This corroborates what's being reported behind the scenes, with the latest Wrestling
06:27Observer Newsletter writing,
06:28There is a belief Rock is doing WrestleMania, although nobody knows what capacity, and as
06:33noted, Cena vs Rhodes is right now scheduled, meaning the original plans for Rhodes vs Rock
06:38are off.
06:39But whatever Rock wants to do will happen, and plans will change if he wants them to.
06:43Whatever Rock is going to do, if he'll have a prominent role, one would expect to be teased
06:48on the 6th January because with all the hype around that date, it's expected that will
06:53be the largest audience for an episode of Raw this year, and maybe for years to come.
06:58And setting up his Mania direction, just like he did on the first Raw of the year in 2024
07:03with his sitting at the head of the table line, seems even more likely as The Rock has
07:08since confirmed on his Instagram that he will be on the Netflix debut Raw.
07:13And according to Chris Featherstone, who has gotten several reports correct recently, we
07:16know what kind of segment The Rock will have, along with most of the rest of the episode's
07:21format sheet.
07:22The Rock's involvement on the show is that he will be cutting a promo.
07:25Hulk Hogan is scheduled to appear.
07:26He will be cutting a promo as well.
07:28John Cena will also be appearing and cutting a promo to hype his farewell tour.
07:33Steve Austin was originally discussed to appear, but that has been scrapped.
07:36WWE is really focused on making this a PLE-quality show to kick off the partnership.
07:43In addition to all that, Logan Paul has also been confirmed to appear at the show.
07:47Yay.
07:48Triple H has teased his wife Stephanie McMahon for making a cameo, and PWInsider is reporting
07:52that Shawn Michaels is set to feature too.
07:55But the biggest debut will surely have to be… all the sponsor logos on the mat.
08:02After Friday's SmackDown debuted a new blue ring mat, Fightful has reported that earlier
08:07in the day, WWE was experimenting with a different design that is expected to be the new canvas
08:13for Raw, which is black and features sponsorship logos everywhere for Netflix, Fortnite, Riyadh
08:19Season, Snickers, Cricket and Hulk Hogan's Real American Beer brand.
08:24There's also the WWE Transfer Portal set to take place, but PWInsider and a boo of
08:29WrestlePurists are reporting Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn will move from Raw to SmackDown,
08:34putting them on the same brand as Kevin Owens.
08:37But Fightful writes there will be a lot of crossover on both shows for a while.
08:41And there's also four whole matches announced, with Liv Morgan vs Rhea Ripley, Drew McIntyre
08:45vs Jey Uso, CM Punk vs Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns vs Solo Sakoa.
08:51To fiddle this in, Triple H has said Netflix is giving them a little bit more freedom in
08:55the format here, which means they can go to three hours or over if they feel they need
09:00it.
09:01But who will win all those huge matches?
09:03Click mine and Luke's predictions video in the link down below where I put the championship
09:08on the line.
09:09I love you Co-Op Margarita Stuffed Crust Pizza.
09:39for watching.
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