00:00Wrestlers are refusing to work together, a long-running faction breaking up, a wrestling
00:05pyro near-miss over the weekend, and more.
00:08I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:15It's been a pretty good start to 2025 for wrestling so far.
00:18Kenny Omega is back in the ring and immediately putting on the best match of the year.
00:22WWE Raw has moved to Netflix, bringing in a whole new mainstream audience.
00:27And finally, Liv Morgan is no longer the Women's Champion.
00:31But the most exciting tease for something happening this year leaked over the weekend.
00:36Eddie Kingston's beard.
00:37I don't know whether he's a Zen master or he's about to set someone on fire.
00:41Kingston fractured his tibia and tore the ACL and meniscus in his right knee last May
00:46in a New Japan Strong match against Gabe Kidd.
00:48These new pictures have been shared by the former AEW and NXT wrestler Cesar Bononi,
00:52who's helping train Kingston for his return, which will likely be sometime in June.
00:57Which only gives more time for the beard to grow stronger.
01:00It's lucky, in a way, that Kingston wasn't able to wrestle over the weekend.
01:04Because that fearsome beard could've been singed right off.
01:07On Saturday 11th January, Major League Wrestling's Kings of Coliseum show was main evented by
01:12the former WWE star Matt Riddle challenging Japanese wrestling legend Satoshi Kojima for
01:18the promotion's World Heavyweight Championship.
01:21With Kojima being champion since last February, Riddle won to become the new top champion,
01:26kicking off what they're calling the Bro Era in MLW.
01:29Because thank you, Taylor Swift, now everything is an era.
01:33But during Riddle's post-match celebration, F4WOnline is reporting Pyro shot right into
01:38Kojima's face.
01:40He was in a lot of pain and everyone freaked out, but he was ok.
01:43You can't see the exact moment on the show feed, which is available to watch for free
01:48on MLW's YouTube channel, but you can see Kojima on the canvas holding his head seconds
01:52after Riddle's Pyro goes off, with a referee checking on him at ringside.
01:57Because Kojima is freaking tough, though, he still got to his feet to hug Riddle.
02:01Over in WWE, the promotion still seems unsure over what their main events are for their
02:06biggest show of the year WrestleMania in just over three months' time.
02:10A lot of this is down to Rock the Dwayne Johnson, and how he feels at any particular moment.
02:15For instance, after being his uber heel final boss character throughout the majority of
02:202024, where he was explicitly building a match against WWE Champion Cody Rhodes.
02:25From pinning him in the Mania 40 tag match, giving him the secret object on the post-Mania
02:29Raw and doing a throat slit gesture at him at October's Bad Blood, The Rock decided
02:33to drop all that on Raw's Netflix debut, and joke with Cody about how he was going
02:37to shag his mum.
02:39Thanks Rock, I love you too, I'm dying inside.
02:43The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has reported that the planned Rock vs. Cody match for WrestleMania
02:48is, indeed, dead, and now Fightful Select might've revealed how long WWE have known
02:55that that wasn't their direction anymore.
02:58Apparently Rock and Cody filmed an angle of the Moana 2 premiere that served to squash
03:03their beef that may never see the light of day.
03:06We're told after Raw on Netflix, it served basically the same purpose.
03:10The Moana 2 premiere took place on the 22nd November, the week before Survivor Series
03:16WarGames, which Cody attended sharing photos from the event in Hawaii with his wife Brandi
03:21and their daughter.
03:22So that means WWE have known for at least six weeks that The Rock was planning on not
03:27facing Cody at Mania 41, before they shot the weird and abrupt make-up promo on the
03:32Netflix Raw.
03:33Fightful confirmed that Rhodes vs. The Rock is no longer on the Mania card, which is the
03:38reason backstage plans have shifted to Rhodes facing John Cena.
03:42Apparently WWE creative are under the impression that The Rock won't wrestle at all at WrestleMania
03:4741.
03:48But that could always change, as he might decide to face Roman Reigns.
03:52Which all makes a John Cena Royal Rumble win quite a bit more likely.
03:56While I personally wouldn't have Cena win the Rumble, I think the better story is to
04:00have him keep just losing his big opportunities throughout the year, making him increasingly
04:04more desperate to win the 17th World Title.
04:06The current odds have John as the favourite to win.
04:10And just going by cold, hard business metrics, that might be the right decision, as WrestleTix
04:15has posted that 3,112 tickets have been sold in the seven days since Cena announced he'll
04:21be entering the Rumble, pushing the 56,000 capacity stadium event to a near sellout.
04:26And that…
04:27John Cena is once again proving why he's the top draw in the business at the box office.
04:32Since I began tracking major wrestling shows in 2021, his return for the Summer of Cena
04:37added 2-3,000 tickets at minimum to every show he appeared on.
04:42Very few can replicate that today.
04:44The Rock comes close when he's around.
04:46CM Punk moves the needles in key markets like his hometown Los Angeles and New York.
04:50Roman Reigns has become a legitimate draw almost everywhere, though not quite at Cena's
04:55level.
04:56And Cody Rhodes has made a noticeable impact, particularly on domestic house shows when
04:59they were running.
05:00Cena is likely to continue delivering at a very high level in 2025 for his Farewell Tour,
05:05even with ticket prices at an all-time high.
05:08Which is a testament to Cena's appeal, which might drive families, who buy more tickets
05:13as a group, to come see him.
05:15The sad tragedy is, ultimately, when they get there, they can't see him.
05:19I don't know if it's fair to attribute those 2-3,000 tickets in the last seven days
05:23to just Cena, though.
05:24Both Punk and Roman Reigns also declared themselves for the Royal Rumble, and this was Raw's
05:29last week on Netflix, which might've hit a whole load of new ticket-buying fans.
05:33Whatever it is, it's pretty exciting.
05:36Cena winning the Rumble and going against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania for the WWE Championship
05:41to break the all-time World Title record.
05:44Wow.
05:45With that sort of creativity, I wonder what WWE have planned for the World Heavyweight
05:509!
06:10According to PWInsider Elite, there have been creative pitches for Logan Paul to face
06:15Gunther at WrestleMania 41.
06:18Now, before we spiral into that darkest timeline, let's try Huffocopium.
06:22As PWInsider themselves note of their own report, these are just pitches, and not the
06:27actual plans.
06:28There's plenty of time for that match to change.
06:31In fact, just last week, Logan Paul was reportedly facing Cena before Cena got moved to Cody.
06:36And this is me reminding everyone here, along the road to WrestleMania are strewn many shiny
06:41and distracting objects.
06:44And when you veer off to check them out, you realise you've been tricked by disinformation-a-mania.
06:49This time of the year usually has WWE leak out multiple fake plans to throw dirt sheet
06:55reporters off the scent, and to protect their surprises.
06:59Last year, for instance, Sports Illustrated reported that Gunther was going to squash
07:02Seth Rollins and win his World Heavyweight title at Mania 40.
07:05That didn't happen, and was likely never anything more than an idea thrown around in
07:10the writing room.
07:11While WWE is on the road to WrestleMania, though, they could be swinging by AEW to pick
07:16up a returning passenger.
07:18Will Ospreay had a fantastic match against Buddy Matthews on last Wednesday's AEW Dynamite.
07:23No surprise there.
07:25What was intriguing, however, was Ospreay's post-match speech.
07:28He told Matthews that neither him or Brodie King needed to follow a leader.
07:33This was a reference to their House of Black boss Malakai Black.
07:37After that segment, Fightful reported that Black is expected to be leaving AEW, with
07:41him set to become a free agent in either February or March.
07:46Then, on Saturday's collision, Cope Adam Cope Copeland told Brodie King and Julia Hart
07:51backstage that he respects both of them, and it's time for them to take the reins of
07:55the House of Black faction and run it.
07:58Hart has now told Denise Salcedo about Malakai's potential departure, where she replied,
08:02I think we'll be okay, and whatever he decides to do with his career is his business,
08:07and I wish him all the best no matter what.
08:10But also, the rumours aren't confirmed or anything, so I don't know what exactly is
08:13going on.
08:15Anything could be happening.
08:16We don't know.
08:17So it's just a matter of fact whatever happens, happens, and I'm happy for him no matter
08:21what happens, and I think House of Black will be okay no matter what happens."
08:28But Malakai isn't the only name AEW will be missing, as Fightful is reporting Darby
08:33Allen has been off the road as of late because he's started training for his Mount Everest
08:37climb and isn't expected back for months.
08:40He was supposed to take time off to climb Mount Everest last year, but an injury meant
08:44he had to push it back a year.
08:45Some have speculated that Darby could be the one who eventually beats Jon Moxley for the
08:50AEW World Championship, but with Allen not being around until the Spring, perhaps AEW
08:55have other plans.
08:56A much more problematic wrestler is Tessa Blanchard, who recently returned to TNA after
09:01she was accused of bullying behaviour behind the scenes back in 2020, accusations which
09:06Tessa denies.
09:07She's currently in a rivalry with Jordan Grace, who reportedly pushed back on the idea
09:11of working with Blanchard.
09:12And now a fan has suggested Tessa work with former TNA Knockouts Champion and current
09:16AEW wrestler Deonna Purrazzo, to which Purrazzo simply replied with… nah.
09:23And when Deonna's very good friend and current Women's United States Champion in WWE Chelsea
09:28Green posted about how positive the women's locker room is right now, someone responded
09:32talking about Tessa, to which Green replied in a since-deleted post, this is giving me
09:37the ick.
09:38You thinking defending a racist bully is cool?
09:41Someone tell them, lol.
09:42The Wrestling Observer had previously reported that some women in WWE do want to work with
09:46Blanchard, and her TNA run could be a test to see if she could be brought back.
09:50But given Chelsea's seemingly still strong feelings, that might be a difficult task.
09:55Do you like defusing bombs?
09:57Do you like electric shocks?
09:59Do you like Sullivan and Don not being very good at VR?
10:03Then go over to our video game channel Control Freaks right now and watch them play Keep
10:07Talking and Nobody Explodes.
10:10But with electric shocks, here's a clip.
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