00:00Some big WrestleMania 41 plans have been announced, Aleister Black's WWE return leaked, Breaking
00:06News grass actually not greener, Andrade seemingly frustrated with Triple H's booking and more.
00:13I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:19Following his Dave Meltzer 5 star approved unsanctioned match at Elimination Chamber,
00:24WWE announced that Sami Zayn would be out of action indefinitely.
00:28He was already kayfabe, suffering from a neck injury from Kevin Owens' package piledriver
00:33earlier that month.
00:34And then he was further killed by two pop-up powerbombs on the ring apron.
00:38His kayfabe condition is so severe, there's a very real possibility that Sami Zayn, someone
00:44who main evented night one of WrestleMania 39, and who ended Gunther's undefeated streak
00:49for the Intercontinental title at WrestleMania 40, could miss the biggest show of the year
00:56next month.
00:57So maybe don't share how nice a time you're having with your celebrity friends on Twitter,
01:02Sami!
01:03Zayn has posted a gallery of images captioned Fine Company, Fine Food, with photos of him
01:09and his wife double dating with Oscar winning actor Kieran Culkin.
01:13You're exposing the business, Elgin- I mean Sami Zayn!
01:17Kieran and his brother Macaulay Culkin are lifelong wrestling fans.
01:20In fact, in one moment during A Real Pain, the movie Kieran won his best supporting Oscar
01:26he starts doing the Bushwhackers walk.
01:28Macaulay has been shown in the audience of Raw twice this year already.
01:31Maybe they'll want to do a Culkin boys trip to this year's Sam, the SmackDown after
01:35WrestleMania because, apparently, WWE are planning a big return.
01:54Aleister Black WWE return confirmed!
01:57Black's five year run in WWE came to an end in 2021, where he was released just weeks
02:02into his new Dark Father character, and a feud with Big E. But because someone in WWE
02:07reportedly never updated the non-compete clause in Black's contract to a main roster one,
02:12he was able to shockingly show up in AEW just a month later, rather than the standard 90
02:18days.
02:19He went straight into a feud with Cody Rhodes, beating him twice, in the crazy rise of AEW
02:24when CM Punk, Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole joined soon after.
02:28It seemed as though this guy we all loved in NXT, but who was never booked right on
02:33the main roster, could finally be about to break through as a proper top main eventer.
02:39Then he hardly did anything for the next few years.
02:42Rather than be booked as the singles competitor I think most of us wanted him to be, Malakai
02:46mostly featured in trios matches with his House of Black faction.
02:50He admitted to asking for his release from AEW in August 2022, the same month as the
02:55backstage brawl out with CM Punk, and shortly after Triple H, who had booked him very well
03:00in NXT, got control of the WWE main roster.
03:04There were also reports that Malakai would turn down creative if AEW had booked him to
03:09lose.
03:10His contract finally expired last month, making him a free agent.
03:14Then, on Friday's episode of SmackDown, a new vignette played of Smoke on a black
03:18background, with the number 4 appearing on the screen.
03:22According to PWNexus, this is directly teasing Black's WWE return, which is expected to
03:28happen on the SmackDown following WrestleMania on the 25th April.
03:33Interestingly, on the 27th January, Black's real-life wife Selina Vega was weirdly removed
03:38from her LWO faction on Raw and moved to SmackDown.
03:42Just under two weeks later was when Black became a free agent.
03:45Perhaps WWE were already working towards Black's return in January by drafting Vega to the
03:50same brand that he'd be on.
03:52How do you think the number 4 ties into Aleister Black's WWE return?
03:56Let me know in the comments down below.
03:58Mysterious.
03:59Maybe the 4 stands for Forgotten, as that seems to be how Andrade's feeling right
04:04now.
04:05Stop me if you've heard this one before.
04:07Andrade's six year run in WWE came to an end in 2021, where he was granted his release
04:12on the 21st March.
04:13He debuted in AEW three months later in June, where his first feud of note was against Cody
04:18Rhodes later that year.
04:20But this time he had three separate managers, Jose the Assistant, Vickie Guerrero, and,
04:25very briefly, Chavo Guerrero.
04:27Then he hardly did anything for the next few years.
04:30Andrade flipped between being a face and a heel.
04:33He was weirdly managed by CJ Perry, the former Lana and a feud against Miro for a few months.
04:38He reunited, and then quietly left the faction igno-blahblahblah.
04:42Around the same time Malakai was requesting his release from AEW in 2022, Andrade, who
04:48also might've wanted to go back to WWE too with Triple H now in charge, reportedly
04:53went up to Sammy Guevara backstage and got in a fight.
04:56Andrade was suspended, and didn't appear on TV again until June the next year on the
05:01debut episode of Collision, which is where, at the time, Tony Khan put all his difficult
05:05toys.
05:06Andrade's AEW contract expired at the end of 2023, and he made his return to WWE in
05:12the following month's Royal Rumble.
05:14Andrade had what he'd seemingly wanted for the last year and a half.
05:17He was in WWE again, where his then-wife Charlotte Flair also worked, with Triple H
05:22booking him on SmackDown.
05:25By June, he was wrestling on WWE Speed.
05:27Outside of a fun series of matches with Carmelo Hayes on SmackDown, Andrade hasn't done
05:33anything of note since his WWE return.
05:35And this might be making him annoyed.
05:38As just like his semi-frustrated tweets back in AEW, he's now posted, WAITING, THREE
05:44EXCLAMATION MARKS, with a black and white poster of him sitting on some steps.
05:48The replies were either fans asking Triple H to book him more on TV, or for him to return
05:53to go back to AEW.
05:54That's Twitter for you.
05:56Not including the Royal Rumble match, Andrade has only been booked three times this year,
06:02beating The Miz once, but losing to Jacob Fatu and Shinsuke Nakamura as well.
06:06Speaking of Nakamura…
06:08Following his shock US title loss on the 15th March episode of SmackDown, because every
06:13TV episode now has a title change on, a rumour started to spread online that Nakamura was
06:19leaving WWE.
06:20Came out this was falsely attributed to a report from PWTorch, who never said anything
06:25about Nakamura leaving the company.
06:27WWE themselves then confirmed to the Wrestling Observer that story wasn't true.
06:32But they didn't answer whether Nakamura had had his last match in the company.
06:37Turns out they didn't have to clarify that last point, as Nakamura wrestled on last Friday's
06:41SmackDown, losing to Damian Priest.
06:43And he then went on to lose to LA Knight on both of WWE's live tour dates in Germany
06:48over the weekend.
06:49Before I get into the rest of the news, our brand new video game series Dom & Sully Play
06:54is now live!
06:55Here's a clip of them trying to beat Split Fiction.
07:24Watch that immediately after this news by clicking the video in the description below.
07:35While Nakamura apparently isn't leaving WWE, Lillian Garcia is leaving SmackDown,
07:41as she shared on Instagram.
07:43Just finished announcing SmackDown in Barcelona, Spain, and it was absolutely incredible.
07:51It's Spanish for heart.
07:54And now I have some news that this will be my last show as the full-time SmackDown announcer.
07:58A new era is upon us, but I will still be with the company, as I will be announcing
08:03for all WWE Saturday night's main event shows on NBC and Peacock, singing at certain
08:08special events, and currently working on other show ideas with WWE.
08:14Winky face emoji.
08:15WWE is my home, so stay tuned as a new chapter begins.
08:19I invite all of you to continue this journey with me as we share it together.
08:24Bottom line, thank you and I love you dearly.
08:27Lillian took over following Samantha Irvine leaving WWE last October.
08:31Garcia was always likely a temporary replacement.
08:34WWE's main ring announcers are currently Alicia Taylor on Raw and Mike Rome on NXT.
08:40Even though we kinda just had a roster refresh with the Netflix move in January and the ensuing
08:44transfer portal, PWInsider is reporting a full draft following WrestleMania 41, along
08:50with Aleister Black's WWE return reportedly happening on the SmackDown aftermania, and
08:55Rey Fenix potentially debuting to form the Lucha Bros on Raw with Penta before them.
09:00There is also heavy speculation on New Japan wrestler Jeff Cobb.
09:04Fightful reported that WWE had interest in Cobb, who is currently a free agent, late
09:08last week.
09:09It was then said that Cobb has even been listed on WWE's internal roster, but Fightful
09:15couldn't confirm that.
09:16On the day those reports came out, Cobb was set to face Naito in the New Japan Cup.
09:21So when Cobb beat Naito, a former heavyweight champion, a bit of doubt was cast on those
09:27WWE debut reports.
09:29The following night, though, Cobb lost a show to Umino.
09:32In his post-match interview, he interestingly made a reference to WWE's Roman Reigns.
09:37I'm going to be a good boy and finish this tournament tour, and whoever walks out the
09:41New Japan Cup champion, I will come knock, knock, knocking.
09:45And whoever it is I have to fight, you will acknowledge me.
09:49But the biggest appearance he could've had in all of wrestling over the last year was
09:54Stone Cold Steve Austin instead of The Undertaker in the WrestleMania 40 main event.
09:59Better late than never, I guess.
10:00Because Stone Cold has been confirmed for an appearance at the WrestleMania 41 weekend,
10:05where he's set to appear at WWE World in Las Vegas.
10:08The announcement was fittingly made yesterday, the 16th March, aka Stone Cold Day 316.
10:14Austin didn't get to have one last stare down with The Rock last year.
10:18Perhaps he saw how much fun it all was, and is going to get in on the action this time
10:22round.
10:23Click the video onscreen now to go watch Dom and Sullivan play Split Fiction.
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