00:00CM Punk shoots on Hulk Hogan, a top TNA star being planned for the Royal Rumble, my review
00:06of Monday Night Raw and more.
00:09I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:20WWE's Royal Rumble is under two weeks away, and the men's match is set to be one of
00:24the most top guy loaded ones ever.
00:27So far announced are John Cena, CM Punk, Jey Uso, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre,
00:35Rey Mysterio, Sami Zayn and LA Knight.
00:40And not content with top guys from their own promotion, WWE is looking to bring in a top
00:44guy from another company.
00:47PWInsider is reporting that, behind the scenes, WWE Creative is pitching for at least one
00:53top TNA star to be an entrant in the men's Royal Rumble match.
00:58PWInsider doesn't give the exact name, but I believe it's Joe Hendry.
01:18This would be part of the recently officially announced WWE and TNA working relationship,
01:22which specifically mentions using TNA talent on select WWE Premium Live events.
01:28And Hendry, who just won the TNA World Championship, has also called out John Cena in an appearance
01:34on Busted Open Radio, which could set up a spot between them in the Rumble.
01:38But why bother with wrestling partnerships when you can just sign their talent anyway?
01:43Jordan Grace-OH MY GOD HE'S APPEARED.
01:45Jordan Grace reportedly finished with TNA at Sunday's Genesis show, seemingly backed
01:49up by making farewell posts on her social media.
01:52PWInsider is now reporting she is expected to report to WWE's Performance Center this
01:57week, where she could end up being a surprise entrant again in the women's Rumble match.
02:02But despite all that good news and progress, TNA, oh it's gonna TNA.
02:08Because at the same time as their Genesis show on Sunday, TNA's Digital Champion PCO,
02:13who was out of contract, decided to smash up his title belt on a GCW event.
02:19PCO has now posted on Twitter implying he did what he did because he doesn't like
02:23the new TNA management that replaced Scott D'Amour.
02:27Eventually you will understand I am a fan of the Hardys, and that roster is so awesome.
02:32The production team and creative team in TNA, just so good.
02:36The new management…
02:40Scott D'Amour was the architect.
02:42You need to get your evidence before judging.
02:44The new management haven't any experience in the wrestling business.
02:48Time will tell the full story, and it won't be pretty.
02:52And that he was asked to take a 70% pay cut, which he claims is why Rhyno left late last
02:57year.
02:58He also posted our video on it yesterday.
03:00Hi PCO!
03:01Never to be outdone in backstage drama though, a new report has come out about AEW, and how
03:06they currently see Britt Baker.
03:08PWTorch claims that Baker is wildly unpopular in the women's locker room.
03:13One person said no one ever wants to see her come back.
03:16Wade Keller claims it's a case of many different smaller incidents piling up, like her reportedly
03:21burying Ospreay and MJF for getting so much TV time last Summer.
03:25But also that the company has built other female stars, like Mercedes Monet and Mariah
03:29May, where they don't have to be so reliant on Britt.
03:33And as a result, the belief is Tony Khan is fed up enough that he's just going to
03:38focus his TV time on others.
03:41For what it's worth, Bryan Alvarez has pushed back on this, claiming the Baker stories are
03:44blown way out of proportion.
03:46Yes, she's not currently being used, or is factored into any immediate plans, but
03:50she's not leaving the company.
03:52Her contract runs on for many more years.
03:54Now here's a message from this video's sponsor.
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04:46Wow, that's great, Tempest.
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04:53It's CM Punk did nothing wrong 69 420.
04:55No spaces.
04:56Yeah.
04:57Oli did make this, didn't he?
04:59What gives you that impression?
05:00Now it's time for my review of Monday Night Raw… in about 5 minutes.
05:06I'm sure you've all had a similar experience to this.
05:09In the last few weeks with WWE moving to Netflix, I've had loads of friends, because I've
05:13got loads of friends, who have never shown an interest in wrestling texting me about
05:17wrestling.
05:18My favourite recent one being.
05:20A lot of WWE is people just walking into venues.
05:22Where's the lie?
05:24Rhea Ripley was shown walking into the venue at the start of this episode, but she was
05:27attacked by Nia Jax.
05:29Setting up an angle later on.
05:31Saturday night's main event Jey Uso opened the proper show, coming out for an in-ring
05:34promo.
05:35I'd actually forgotten he was the No. 1 contender for the World Heavyweight title
05:38until he started talking.
05:40Gunther interrupted.
05:41Neither man covered new ground in their feud, and Jey stood tall in the brawl.
05:45How come all of Gunther's feuds since winning the World Championship have felt like filler
05:49stories to get to an actual substantial one?
05:51It's been six months!
05:53Speaking of taking way too long to do a proper follow up on something, the New Day got their
05:57first TV match since turning heel… seven weeks ago.
06:01Kofi Kingston dropped his colourful attire and New Day entrance for his match against
06:05Rey Mysterio.
06:06They had a decent match, which had Xavier Woods getting sent to the back for interference.
06:09But I thought the whole point of the New Day story was that they kept losing when they
06:14weren't on the same page.
06:16So when Kofi and Woods are now both aligned as heels, they should start winning matches
06:21with their cheating ways.
06:22Nope.
06:23Rey Mysterio won with a surprise roll-up.
06:25The New Day kind of stood tall over the LWO afterwards, but this is very lacklustre considering
06:30that amazing heel turn angle last month.
06:33This was also the segment that had the JBL cameo on commentary.
06:36Fresh off the back of helping Joe Hendry win the TNA World Championship the previous night,
06:41I think he was mostly here because he wears a cowboy hat, and TKO wanted to promote their
06:45professional bull riders business.
06:48Sami Zayn declared himself for the Rumble because he's still never held a World Championship.
06:52He said he doesn't need it, but he wants it.
06:56Which contrasts him quite nicely to his best friend who obsessively needs it.
07:02Because it finally happened.
07:04Kevin Owens walked out to be in the same ring for the first time since Sami teamed back
07:09up with Roman.
07:10But rather than be angry, he was willing to overlook that.
07:13Just like how Sami had overlooked all the terrible things KO had done to him.
07:18He framed it around that's how strong their friendship is, but really it was for KO's
07:23own selfish plot.
07:24He said KO could help Sami win the Rumble to fight for that World title at Mania against
07:28him if Sami helps KO beat Cody Rhodes.
07:33While this wasn't the flashiest, most dramatic segment, it established a lot of subtext to
07:38pay off down the line.
07:39Bayley is officially drafted to Raw now, so she took on SmackDown's Nia Jax next.
07:44Bayley was initially more preoccupied with Roxanne Perez, who was sitting at ringside.
07:48Even punching her at one point, implying Perez will be called up to Raw for them both to
07:52feud.
07:53Which is a perfect first programme for her.
07:56Nia and Bayley had a pretty decent match, which Nia ultimately won clean, as she's
08:00being built for a Saturday night's main event title match against Rhea Ripley, which
08:03Ripley announced in their post-match brawl.
08:05Dominik Mysterio gave Chad Gable a secret contact to help him learn the secrets of lucha.
08:11There is a lot of comedic potential here.
08:12Penta then had his second match, this time against Pete Dunne.
08:15It was pretty good going 10 minutes, but in an alternative reality, this is a dream match.
08:21This could've been on the first All In card.
08:23This could've been an NXT Black and Golden era TakeOver main event.
08:27But we are where we are, and Pete Dunne is still mostly getting heat for being called
08:31Butch.
08:32Penta hit an arm break, and a Penta driver to win.
08:34Logan Paul's Raw debut was announced for the 27th January, about three years after
08:40his actual Raw debut when he was announced as the Miz's tag team partner for WrestleMania
08:4438.
08:45And then came CM Punk's promo.
08:48This wasn't a pipe bomb shoot, nor was it the menacing kayfabe speech he's so good
08:52at.
08:53It was more of a classic pro wrestling promo.
08:55A wrestling event, the Royal Rumble, is on the 1st February.
08:59I'm going to beat all the guys there, specifically running down Cena, Roman and Drew, and I'm
09:04going to win the match, again, at the Royal Rumble on the 1st February.
09:08Where it got more fun, however, was when Punk called out a guy who's not even in the match,
09:13but is most definitely attached to one of WWE's main corporate sponsors.
09:16You put Hulk Hogan in the Royal Rumble, I'll throw his dusty ass over the top rope and
09:21I'll kill Hulkamania once and for all.
09:24Which the live captions on Netflix apparently interpreted as.
09:27And I'll kill Hulk of India once and for all on February 1st.
09:32Surprise Great Khali, Royal Rumble entrant confirmed.
09:34This felt like Punk just having fun.
09:36We'll have to see how that line went down behind the scenes in WWE, as officials were
09:40reportedly not happy that Hulk's appearance on the Netflix debut Raw was such a mainstream
09:45talking point.
09:46Damage Control, Zio Sky and Dakota Kai beat Pure Fusion Collective, Shayna Baszler and
09:50Zoey Stark.
09:51And then the main event, with a lovely full half hour left, saw the WrestleMania rematch
09:56of Seth Rollins taking on Drew McIntyre.
09:59I really enjoyed this match, not just because of the main event big match style, but also
10:04because both guys really felt like they needed to win, made the outcome unpredictable in
10:08the best kind of way.
10:09And neither man is exactly in control of their emotions right now.
10:13So Seth started screaming at Drew, which let Drew get on top, but then Drew let his anger
10:18get the better of him, and Rollins rolled him up to win.
10:22Sami saved Rollins from a Claymore attack into the ring post afterwards, but accidentally
10:26hit him with a Huluva Kick in the corner, building on their backstage moment earlier
10:30in the episode where they respectfully agreed they might have to eliminate each other in
10:35the Rumble.
10:36But now, with the friendly fire boot to the face, that relationship might not be so strong
10:41going in.
10:42WWE really perfected the two and a half hour flow this week.
10:45This episode is 80%.
10:48Now click the video onscreen now, brother, to go watch Luke and I try to predict every
10:52main roster member's Royal Rumble in three words or less-slash-fewer.
10:55It's the Three Count.
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