00:00Calls for a big push for Jacob Fatu, Saturday Night's main event nearly ran long, the
00:05status of Tony Khan's AEW creative position, and more.
00:09I'm Luke Owen, Happy Monday, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:20Despite January being nearly over already, what even is time anymore, we've still not
00:25had a Royal Rumble.
00:27And that's because we're in the Upside Down now and this year's Royal Rumble is
00:31in February.
00:32Which, for those of you who do not have access to a calendar, is this weekend.
00:37And we'll be doing live reactions to this year's Royal Rumble so make sure you subscribe
00:41to know when we go live.
00:43The Rumble match is often a place used for debuts, return or surprise entrants.
00:47Rumours of Malakai Black, who finished up with AEW two weeks ago, being in this year's
00:51match have been squashed by PWInsider, and it's unlikely that we'll see Rikki Starks
00:56in there either.
00:58But what about the ladyfolk?
01:00And I'm not talking about this year's Women's Royal Rumble.
01:04In the past we've seen Chyna, Karma, Beth Phoenix and Nia Jax enter themselves into
01:08the Men's Royal Rumble, and now the Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley looks to join that
01:14class.
01:15In the post-show for Saturday Night's main event, Ripley was asked if she would enter
01:18the Rumble to win a shot at the WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton, and she replied,
01:23"...I think that would be a bad decision.
01:25Maybe I'll be in the men's one."
01:27Which adds up because frankly it feels like very few women on the WWE roster actually
01:31care about this year's Royal Rumble.
01:32I mean until Smackdown only two of them had declared themselves for it, and then like
01:36buses four of them announced themselves for the match this past Friday.
01:40Last week WrestleVotes reported that Solo Sokoa was the topic of a hot debate in the
01:45room as to his appearance on the January 17th Smackdown, where he was reportedly set to
01:51open the show to address his loss to Roman Reigns, but instead appeared about 45 minutes
01:56into the show in a segment that ended seven minutes later.
01:59It had been previously reported by WrestlePurist that Triple H wasn't that keen on pushing
02:04Solo Sokoa, and in fact it was Roman Reigns that was getting him the push.
02:09WrestleVotes tweeted ahead of WWE signing Jacob Fatu that some trepidation remained
02:13within creative over fear that Fatu's presence could outshine Solo at this stage.
02:18And I think it's fair to say that has come to pass.
02:22Especially as on this past Saturday night's main event, Fatu went to a DQ with Braun Strowman
02:27and then laid him out in brutal fashion, complete with blood.
02:31It was an awesome beatdown and made Fatu look incredible, and a far more credible threat
02:37than Solo Sokoa.
02:38And when it came to that post-match angle, Fightful Select are reporting that there were
02:42calls for more moonsault from Jacob Fatu during his beatdown segment with Braun Strowman.
02:48I'd heard personally that Roman Reigns was a big fan of Jacob Fatu and wanted to make
02:51him look like a star when he came back following his Mania break last year and even pitched
02:56a WrestleMania 41 match with him.
02:58Though it now looks like Roman Reigns is heading in a different Mania direction, but more on
03:02that in a bit.
03:03Because before that, here is a clip from our recent upload of a four and a half hour review
03:09of WWE WrestleMania 27, which is the first in a series where Oli and I look at The Rock's
03:39You can watch that video right now, no joke, it's four and a half hours long.
03:59And if you sign up to Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk, the next episode where
04:02we review Survivor Series 2011 for about four hours is also live right now.
04:07So that's eight and a half hours of Oli and I chatting about 2011 WWE.
04:13Has Christmas come early or something?
04:16Back to Saturday Night's main event for a moment and Fightful Select also report that
04:19the show was initially looking like it would be going over time.
04:22Fightful don't have any details on what might have gone long or if anything had to
04:26be cut short, but note that it finished right at the top of the hour.
04:30The show closed with Gunther retaining the World Heavyweight Championship over Jey Uso,
04:34which some fans derided online when Jey hit a pretty naff looking spear before his big
04:39nearfall.
04:40Former AEW star Fuego Del Sol has since called this out on Twitter, writing,
04:43Imagine having the most over catchphrase in wrestling right now and selling t-shirts faster
04:49than ever, having great matches for over a decade, having an arena go crazy for you,
04:54almost winning a world title, and the internet clipping a spear to make it seem like you
04:58are bad.
04:59In fairness Fuego, it was a pretty naff looking spear.
05:01Fightful Select also report that Rhea Ripley had the wind knocked out of her during her
05:05World Championship defence against Nia Jax, but was okay backstage.
05:09While not connected, Fightful add in their note that rehearsals for Saturday Night's
05:13main event were limited.
05:14With the second Saturday Night's main event now out of the way and the Royal Rumble this
05:18coming Saturday, it feels like we're finally going to be fully on the road to WrestleMania.
05:24Triple H has said the plans for this year's Mania were in flux last year, and reports
05:28suggest that there are currently two plans in place.
05:31One with The Rock and one without, and the one without The Rock is looking more and more
05:36likely.
05:37Or it could just be that things are still in flux.
05:40Fightful Select write that as of November, the main event directions for both nights
05:45were John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship and Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk.
05:51That was in November, but nothing has been confirmed since.
05:54There are still apparently question marks over the likes of Drew McIntyre, Jey Uso and
05:58Seth Rollins, though Fightful add with regards to Rollins that his Mania opponents won't
06:03be World Heavyweight Champion Gunther or CM Punk.
06:06Two weeks ago it was reported by WrestleVote on their backstage Q&A podcast that there
06:10were creative rumblings that Tiffany Stratton's Mania direction would be against a returning
06:16Charlotte Flair.
06:17Vignettes for Flair have been running for a few weeks on Smackdown, and she has now
06:20declared herself for this year's Royal Rumble.
06:23And Fightful Select have confirmed WrestleVote's report, writing Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte
06:27Flair has been discussed for WWE WrestleMania 41.
06:31Because of course it's Charlotte Flair.
06:33Fightful write that the two have been compared a lot over the years because they're both
06:37blonde I guess, and Stratton has cited Flair as her inspiration for getting into wrestling
06:41and has spoken publicly about her desires to have a match with her.
06:45So then looking at our top champions, we have Cody vs. Cena and Stratton vs. Flair, but
06:49nothing for Gunther or Rhea, but maybe there is something in line for one of them.
06:55Spoilers, it's not Gunther.
06:56Fightful Select also report that Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair has been discussed for this
07:01year's WrestleMania, as both have expressed an interest in having a match together.
07:07Before you get too excited though, Fightful add, to reiterate, these are based on discussions
07:11and tentative plans and can, and often, do change.
07:16In fairness, Belair seems like an odd choice given that she seems to be more involved in
07:20an angle to lead to a match with either Jade Cargill or Naomi.
07:23So what would you like to see happen at this year's WrestleMania?
07:26Let me know in the comments down below.
07:27Over to All Elite Wrestling now, and Fightful Select also report that the relationship between
07:31AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery grows even closer and even stronger.
07:36Unlike Netflix, WBD's max streaming service doesn't release its viewing figures and
07:40keeps them very close to their chest.
07:42However Sean Ross Sapp writes, sources within WBD did confirm that since debuting, AEW has
07:48ranked among the top live sports events on max.
07:52If true, this is a big win for AEW, as their viewership numbers on TBS and TNT since the
07:57simulcast have remained about the same as they were before the move.
08:01So logic dictates AEW are getting more viewers in 2025 than they were in 2024, though that
08:07is only a guess.
08:09When there could be even more eyeballs available for All Elite Wrestling soon, as WrestleNomics
08:13are reporting via their Patreon page, Amazon Prime Video will likely be added to the list
08:18of digital pay-per-view carriers for AEW this year.
08:22What that means, in broad strokes, is upcoming AEW pay-per-views will be available to buy
08:27via Amazon Prime.
08:28And you won't need to be an Amazon Prime subscriber, in the same way that you can rent
08:32movies and TV shows without subscribing to the streaming service.
08:35Critics say it's unclear if this will be ready in time for AEW Revolution in March,
08:40but write, when it goes into effect, users are expected to be able to purchase the pay-per-view
08:45in the US, Canada and UK.
08:47And it's also good news on screen, as reports suggest that the backstage vibe in AEW is
08:52a positive one right now after a string of good episodes of Dynamite and Collision.
08:57This past Saturday night's Collision saw the big angle of Toni Storm revealing that
09:01she was timeless all along and was simply giving the performance of a lifetime promising
09:06to rip off Mariah May's tits.
09:08It was a great segment and got a lot of praise online, and Sean Ross Sapp writes for Fightful
09:13Select, those in AEW were understandably pumped for Collision, which they feel did really
09:18well.
09:19Online critics have noted that Collision doesn't feel as important as Dynamite, and questioned
09:23why this big Toni Storm angle happened on the Saturday B-Show rather than the Wednesday
09:28A-Show.
09:29According to Ross Sapp, that's because in the deal between AEW and WBD, there is no
09:34A or B show, writing on Twitter, the deal was for the two shows collectively as opposed
09:40to a disproportionate amount for one.
09:42In an interesting addition to his Fightful Select report, however, is this little nugget.
09:47Toni Khan has been said to have been more in the weeds creatively of late.
09:52A lot of online criticism against AEW is, correctly, pointed at the head booker of the
09:57company.
09:58In this case it's Toni Khan.
09:59However this line suggests that Khan has been handing off some creative responsibility to
10:04other people and is only now getting more involved, or he's been taking on too many
10:08ideas from other people.
10:10This actually happened in the early days of AEW, which changed following the final live
10:14episode of 2019 where The Dark Order laid out The Elite, and Toni Khan took creative
10:18control in 2020 which led to an amazing run of form.
10:22It was reported that Khan had originally planned for The Outrunners to beat The Young Bucks
10:26for the AEW Tag Team Championships, but was talked into giving Private Party a run with
10:31the belt instead.
10:32It was clear from watching the show that the company didn't have full faith in Private
10:36Party as they were rarely featured on TV or PPV and weren't presented as a credible
10:40team.
10:41They have since dropped the belt to The Hurt Syndicate.
10:43This line from Fightful suggests that Khan will be going with his ideas more than take
10:47them on from other people.
10:49Now go and watch that 4 and a half hour review of WWE WrestleMania 27 with myself and Oli
10:54Davis.
10:55It's a bad show.
Comments