00:00The drama over the size of an AEW ring, AJ Styles shoots on Vince McMahon, WWE stars
00:08pay revealed and more. I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:15It was a rather tumultuous journey for AEW Grand Slam. It was the company's first big
00:20show in Australia and originally booked for a stadium. However, reportedly due to poor
00:25ticket sales, the show was moved to the smaller Brisbane Entertainment Centre. There was also
00:31some uproar among some fans online who claimed they'd been misled on their tickets, thinking
00:36they were getting a pay-per-view and Grand Slam ended up being a TV special. For what
00:41it's worth, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reported that Grand Slam was never planned
00:45to be a pay-per-view. But with all that said, it ended up being a great show, headlined
00:50by a terrific tag match between Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay vs. Karl Fletcher and Kanushka
00:55Vitkeshta, with a superb atmosphere from the crowd which was said to be around 10,000
01:01in total. It had been reported, and Tony Khan had even claimed, that it was AEW's third
01:06biggest gate in company history behind the two Wembley shows, and Dave Meltzer has said
01:10that it will fall to fourth as the advance for All In in Texas is very strong and that
01:15will probably take third place. But tell all that to wrestling fans on Twitter. Because
01:20for whatever reason, the big talking point coming out of the show, at least according
01:24to Twitter, was the size of the ring. Title of your sex tape. There were even claims that
01:31AEW mismanaged the shipment of their ring to Australia and had to borrow one from a
01:36local indie promotion at the last minute. Like WWE, AEW uses a 20x20 ring, however the
01:43one used for Grand Slam was 18x18 rented from PWA. This was apparently not a mistake or
01:50a shipping error. Sean Ross Sapp writes for Fightful Select, AEW typically uses a 20x20
01:55ring in the United States and doesn't ship their rings overseas. There was no instance
02:00of forgetting the ring, not planning freight or anything like that. The plan was to always
02:06use an 18x18 ring. AEW's QT Marshall wrote on Twitter, the AEW ring is a design that
02:13only AEW has. It's very rare that an independent company or a major company has a 20 foot ring.
02:19This ring is an 18 foot ring, TNA's been using for years an older Ring of Honor as
02:23well. Why is this a talking point? He clarified in a reply that WWE also use 20x20 rings and
02:30he meant their unique design was specifically for their apron sizes. As to why this was
02:35a talking point, AEW's Ricochet argues, because people are sheep. Sean Ross Sapp adds
02:40that WWE store rings overseas for when they do their international shows. It's also
02:45been pointed out that an episode of Rampage used an 18x18 ring and no one noticed, and
02:50the episode of Dynamite with the cage match between Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker also
02:54had an 18x18 ring. When someone argued that a company the size of AEW shouldn't make
02:59miscalculations like this, Marshall replied, who said we miscalculated? Are you involved
03:04in our calls? Are you aware that we ordered 18 foot skirts and ring assets? We were told
03:09three months ago that it would be an 18 foot ring. Just like the Jericho Crews, relax.
03:15During the show it appeared that Buddy Matthews rolled his ankle during his entrance for his
03:19match against Kazuchika Okada and would later put up a post on Twitter blaming the small
03:24ring. The tweet has since been deleted, but also appears to be a kayfabe deal as he also
03:29claimed that Okada used the smaller ring to cheat his way to victory.
03:32Steph DeLanda joined the conversation adding, MF has been arguing about the ring AEW used
03:37Let me tell you, out of every single wrestling ring in Australia, I promise you they chose
03:42the best one by far. No other ring in the country I'd rather bump in lol.
03:47And being the cheeky little shappy that he is, Will Ospreay simply tweeted, I like the
03:51ring. Perhaps this is a good and gentle reminder that Twitter is not a real place and the wrestling
03:57world would be better off without it.
03:59We've got some more news coming up shortly, but before that, here is a clip from our most
04:03recent episode of Tables, Lists and Chairs where we looked at the 10 Worst Elimination
04:33And speaking of, Roman Reigns wins again A$AP.
04:45It was reported by PWInsider that Road Dogg Jesse James would be rejoining the Smackdown
05:13writing team, and will in fact be the show's co-lead writer alongside Joe Suakata. He's
05:19been a long time ally of Triple H, and the two have seemingly put behind all that Voodoo
05:23Kin Mafia stuff from TNA, but I'll never forget the Alamo.
05:27Road Dogg had been part of the Smackdown writing team back in 2016, which I hate to point out,
05:33was somehow 9 years ago. Which oddly means that Captain America Civil War is nearly a
05:3810 year old movie. How did that happen?
05:41Road Dogg left that writing position following WrestleMania 35 and moved to NXT to help run
05:45promo classes before being released in January 2022. He was later brought back that summer
05:51to replace Jeff Jarrett as Senior Vice President of Live Events.
05:55His return to the writing room caused some fans, unsurprisingly on Twitter, to bemoan
05:59the choice. However jumping to his defence was AJ Styles, who was a big part of the Smackdown
06:04brand when Road Dogg was the lead writer, which would include the rather disappointing
06:08WrestleMania run between Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura. Styles posted his defence of Road
06:13Dogg on Twitter, whilst also adding in a little dig at a certain someone. He posted, before
06:19judging this guy from his past performance as the head writer, just know that there was
06:23a man who picked it apart to the point it was no longer his idea anymore. Gee, I wonder
06:30who he could be talking about.
06:33So an unlikely return to the writing table for WWE, however, is Jib Cornette. Cornette
06:38has made a successful career for himself in the podcast realm and has been very critical
06:42of both major wrestling promotions in the past. However, this is a new era for WWE with
06:47new creative heads which prompted a Fightful Select user to ask Sean Ross Sapp if WWE would
06:53ever consider bringing Cornette back at any point. SRS replied, I've not heard him mentioned
06:59in those circles in recent years, not in a we aren't bringing him in way, instead noting
07:04that those in WWE recognise that Cornette is doing very well with his podcast and feel
07:08that he's content in that world. He adds he's not been brought up creatively.
07:13As we head up the road to WrestleMania, we often have to take a quick stop at the service
07:17station known as the Hall of Fame Speculation. It was revealed over the weekend that Michelle
07:22McCool will join Triple H in the 2025 Hall of Fame class, and PWInsider have now reported
07:27that Axe and Smash of Demolition have signed WWE Legends deals, ending the long-running
07:33war between the two groups.
07:35Demolition were a legendary WWE tag team, and at one point, the longest reigning tag
07:41team champions with over 470 days with the belts. In fact, their run with the tag belts
07:47is the third longest reign behind New Day in 2016 and The Usos in 2022, and it's been
07:54argued by Pedant that their run was with the Classic tag titles which have been defunct
07:59since about 2010, meaning they are technically the longest reigning champions of all time
08:05with those belts. Some other Pedants might also point out Gallus and NXT UK who held
08:09tag golf for nearly 500 days, but honestly, who remembers NXT UK?
08:14Demolition also have one of the raddest theme songs of all time, so add it to your Spotify
08:17playlist today and let me know in the comments how rad it is.
08:21Demolition did have their issues with WWE. They filed a lawsuit against them in the mid-1990s
08:26to get the rights to the Demolition name, and were part of a 2016 class action lawsuit
08:30against WWE for incurred traumatic brain injuries during their time with the company. They did
08:34appear in the WWE 12 video game and signed a deal with Jax to make action figures of
08:39them, and signing this legend's deal means that WWE will now be able to license Demolition
08:45merchandise. And it also means there is a chance for them to go into the WWE Hall of
08:50Fame. Sean Ross Sapp writes, Fightful Select has been told, under the current regime, Demolition
08:55have been brought up as potential inductees. We've not heard if it has been nailed down.
09:00Fightful Select add they're not sure if this will include Crush, who joined the group
09:04between 1990 and 1991. But who else would you like to see added to this year's Hall
09:09of Fame? Let me know in the comments below.
09:11Fightful Select also had an update on the current pay for WWE wrestlers. Triple H had
09:16previously noted that the minimum a WWE star would earn on the roster for Raw or Smackdown
09:21was around $250,000 a year. However, that has grown in the last couple of years, and
09:26several talent and talent agents reached out to Fightful Select to let them know that the
09:31minimum is now around $350,000 per year. What hasn't changed however, is that while airfare
09:38is covered for WWE main roster talent, hotels and rental cars are usually not. SRS adds
09:44that sometimes these things can be included, but it depends on what was negotiated when
09:48their deal was signed. It should also be noted that this is a minimum, and there are
09:53some talent that earn significantly more. The Good Brothers and FTR were reportedly
09:57offered upwards of $700,000 a year five years ago according to Fightful Select.
10:04And perhaps this is why WWE reportedly lost out on signing Josh Alexander, who recently
10:10finished up with TNA. His contract with TNA finished up on February 14th. Valentine's
10:15Day. Bummer. And on that same day it was reported that his agent Barry Bloom had secured
10:20him a landing spot, and it wasn't the one that people expected. Alexander was apparently
10:25quite high on WWE's list last year to sign when his TNA deal was done, similar to how
10:30they were keen on bringing in Jordan Grace. His former North tag partner Ethan Page is
10:35also in NXT. However according to Fightful Select, we've not learned if the deal is
10:39officially signed as of yet, but AEW is the expected landing point.
10:44Speaking about this on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that Alexander chose
10:49AEW over WWE because he wanted to secure a future for his family and sign the deal that
10:55offered him the most money.
10:57Speaking of money and WWE's Asuka has posted to her YouTube channel to announce that her
11:02Twitter account has been hacked, saying,
11:04If you see any posts from my account promoting products, services or sharing suspicious links,
11:09there is a high chance it's a scam.
11:12This comes one month after Asuka posted a series of tweets about unwanted romantic advances
11:17to the point that TKO had to step in and take action to protect her. Be smart about the
11:22links you click people. But do click the video that is on screen right now to watch the latest
11:26episode of Tables, Lists and Chairs, where myself, Sat, and wonderful Tempest look at
11:31the 10 worst Elimination Chambers of all time.
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