00:00WWE wants Sting to return for the Hall of Fame, the former Alberto Del Rio suspended
00:06for attacking a fan, and we're lucky we even got an AEW Dynamite as the weather caused
00:11major travel issues. I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:18By now most of you will have seen the video of Rhea Ripley chopping Buddy Matthews at
00:22their home so hard that it caused Buddy to sound even more Australian than I've ever
00:27heard him before. You've probably also seen the very fun video posted by new WWE signee
00:32Jordan Grace where the stars of NXT do some wacky poses and dances. And now Grace has
00:37shared a behind-the-scenes look at the making of that video, revealing just how hard Julia
00:42headbutted her phone to do the transition.
00:46Buddy hell, be careful Julia! You're already injured, don't make it worse!
00:57Sticking with WWE, it was revealed last week that Lex Luger would be heading into the WWE
01:02Hall of Fame as part of the 2025 class. So the question now is, who inducts him? And
01:08the obvious answer would be Sting. Problem there is that Sting is contracted to an AEW
01:13Legends deal, and Fightful Select are reporting that Luger has informed WWE that Sting is
01:18his preferred choice to induct him, and that WWE was planning to make overtures if they
01:24hadn't already about making that happen. They also add it's worth noting Sting had
01:28told people he probably wouldn't be able to do it because of his AEW deal. When Sting
01:33had his retirement match at last year's Revolution, several wrestlers under WWE Legends
01:38deal were able to attend, with the caveat that they don't appear on screen. So fingers
01:43crossed something can be worked out.
01:46The Hall of Fame is pretty famous for wrestlers going over time in their speeches, and speaking
01:50of fine speeches, how's this for a segway? John Cena's promo from Raw reportedly went
01:55over time. Boom. John Cena cut his first promo since turning heel in front of the Brussels
02:01crowd on this week's episode of Raw, with the segment, including the return promo from
02:05Cody Rhodes, going over 30 minutes. According to WrestleVotes on their Q&A Backstage Pass
02:10podcast, this went longer than planned and several things had to be trimmed to ensure
02:15the show still ran to two and a half hours. While they couldn't say for certain, they
02:19think that the Jey Uso and Austin Theory match was part of the cutting treatment, as it was
02:24originally listed on production documents as going 11 minutes rather than the 60 second
02:30squash match.
02:31We've got more wrestling news coming up in a moment, and my review of AEW Dynamite
02:35featuring Jon Moxley literally getting stabbed in the back, but first here's a word from
02:39today's video's sponsor, Magic Spoon.
02:57Ha ha ha, exactly. Now you must try my plain bread sandwich with an extra filling of bread.
03:05Mmm, boring.
03:09Ah, hey guys. Oh, Tempest. There you are, I've been looking for you.
03:13Out with you, Luke. He's mine now. He only wants boring food.
03:16But what about the Magic Spoon?
03:18Don't say it, Luke. Don't say the words.
03:20Hold on. Pete, have you ever tried Magic Spoon before?
03:24Well, no. I grew up in a boring town, on a boring street, in a boring house, with boring parents.
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04:04No, but this is my whole identity. I've been defined by my boringness.
04:08Here comes the aeroplane.
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04:27You see, Pete, you don't have to be boring.
04:31But what about Tempest? I've psychologically altered him now. What do we do?
04:35I love Lance Storm promos.
04:38Oh, quick, eat this.
04:40Oh, say, gentlemen, what a belly thing it is to be boring.
04:45And like all non-boring people, he now speaks like an aristocrat from the 1920s. Hooray!
04:51Magic Spoon will not make you speak like an aristocrat from the 1920s. It's very delicious,
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05:00good.
05:01Right, shall we go then?
05:02Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, good idea.
05:05I'm going this way.
05:11It's a bulldozer.
05:15Before we get into the AEW Dynamite review, there was an incident last Friday at a AAA
05:20show in Tijuana where it is believed that some fans started throwing coins at Alberto
05:25El Patron, the former Alberto Del Rio, after his match. Patron went into the crowd but
05:30couldn't reach the fans, instead throwing a chair in their direction before getting
05:33hit by a chair himself. Rob Viper posted on Twitter, another fan seeing this then throws
05:38a chair hitting Alberto in the head which starts a slight melee with people throwing
05:42things. One story going around is an old lady got hit by a flying chair at some point and
05:47ended up in hospital.
05:49And now the commission that oversees wrestling in Tijuana has announced that Patron has been
05:53suspended from wrestling in the city for 180 days. Patron is the current AAA Mega Champion
06:00but this ban should not affect their creative plans. Rob Viper explains on Twitter that
06:05while AAA's affiliate partners run shows in the city once a month, AAA are not running
06:10TripleMania Tijuana this year.
06:12Speaking of chaos and last night's AEW Dynamite was affected by the severe weather conditions
06:17in Omaha which saw massive amounts of snow. Dave Meltzer reported via Twitter that several
06:22flights for wrestlers had been cancelled, noting that some of them were flying into
06:26Kansas or Des Moines and then driving over to get to the show on time. This meant that
06:31there was some worry of the card needing to change, and putting on the show together will
06:36be chaotic. Brian Alvarez noted on Wrestling Observer Live that Jon Moxley drove 11 hours
06:42to make the show. Sure hope it was worth it bud.
06:45So let's get into it because it's Thursday and you know what that means, it's time
06:49for my review of AEW Dynamite, aka, this is even more painful than it looks edition of
06:55AEW Dynamite. Despite the travel issues, this felt like a massive edition of Dynamite
07:00given there were two title matches and a four way between Orange Castley, Mark Davis, Speedball
07:04Mike Bailey and Ricochet to crown the new number one contender to Kenny Omega's International
07:09Championship, which kicked off the episode. Now I mean this in the best possible way,
07:14but I got real flashbacks to the 2017 indie era of wrestling, as Orange Castley did a
07:19simple roll in the ring and the crowd, having as much fun as the wrestlers, chatted holy
07:23ass at him. It also took me back because it was delightful seeing Mark Davis wrestle
07:28outside of the tag scene because it reminded me how much I used to love Dunkzilla. And
07:33he was in beast mode in this match against the three other speedy dudes, constantly overpowering
07:39them meaning they had to work together to take him down. Problem there was that Ricochet
07:43was either getting thrown out of the match or running away from the action, at one point
07:47even joining the commentary desk to avoid Davis. This was tremendous action and so much
07:53fun but featured a wacky finish, where Speedball got a backslide on Davis and Ricochet leaped
07:58over to join the pin, meaning both men were announced as the winner and the Dynasty match
08:02would be a three way. While this was a great match, this was a fairly clunky way of getting
08:07there. The Hurt Syndicate cut a video promo and Billy
08:09Starks took on Mercedes Mone for the TBS Championship. Fun fact, Billy Starks is just 20 years old.
08:16When she was born, John Cena had started his second reign as the United States Champion
08:20having beaten Booker T at No Mercy and beat Jesus at Armageddon after he accused him of
08:25stabbing him in a nightclub. To give it some AEW perspective, Cope had just turned heel
08:30on Chris Benoit after they lost the tag titles and Shelton Benjamin had just won his first
08:34IC title from Chris Jericho. Point is, that doesn't feel very long ago and I'm basically
08:40dust at this point. Anywho, this was a very good match and featured
08:43a very scary bump when Starks flipped over Mone for a driver of sorts into a pinfall
08:48but Mone's foot was stuck all the way in the ropes. Starks then missed a senton and
08:52landed on the apron, meaning Mone was able to lock in the Statement Maker for the tapout
08:56win. Mone later cut a promo saying that whoever trained Starks or mentored her had failed.
09:01Which means my hopes that Starks was the Silver Surfer warning of the incoming Galactus could
09:06be coming to fruition. MJF cut a promo saying he would give his
09:09answer to the Hurt Syndicate next week, and Cope took on Jon Moxley for the AEW World
09:14Championship in the match that they probably should have had at AEW Revolution. But I get
09:18why their Revolution match was not a street fight. You had the Hollywood ending and the
09:22Cage match on the same show. Doing this would have felt like overkill. And speaking of overkill,
09:28this match will be remembered for the spot where Cope suplexed Jon Moxley onto the board
09:33with nails, literally stabbing him in the back. Watching Wheelie Uta try to remove it
09:38tearing Jon Moxley's flesh was the definition of For The Sickos, and I loved it.
09:45This is Jon Moxley right here. This is CTW on national television and streaming on Max.
09:50But it's also a Death Riders match, so here come the run-ins.
09:54Wheelie Uta ran in and Cope powerbombed him through a table. Claudio and Pac returned
09:57and brawled with Cope. FTR ran down and took them out, which led to Cope hitting Mox with
10:01a spear through a table, but Marina Shafir ran down to break up that pin, and Willow
10:05Nightingale ran down to take her out, then Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian of the Patriarchy
10:08ran down to beat up Cope, leading to Mox locking in the Bulldog Choke for the retention.
10:12Got that all in one take.
10:14Interestingly, after the match, as FTR were helping Cope up, Dax Harwood walked away from
10:19them, clearly frustrated that Cope could not get the job done. He even pushed Cash Wheeler
10:24away. It was a hell of a match, and an intriguing post-match angle, and a cracking way to end
10:28off this week's Dynamite.
10:30What do you mean there's 30 minutes left?
10:33Yeah, unlike Revolution, where Cope and Moxley's stinker of a match was a limp way to end the
10:38show, this brutal brawl meant the following matches felt like filler. Bandido set up a
10:42collision match with Johnny TV, and Will Ospreay beat AR Fox in a fun match. Hangman Page declared
10:47himself for the Owen, we got a video promo for Julia Hart vs. Queen Armanada, and the
10:51main event was Megan Bayne vs. Chris Statlander in a pseudo number one contenders match for
10:56the timeless Tony Storm title reign.
10:58They had a decent main event that wasn't heated early, but the crowd got into it during
11:01the final third when the power and strength of both Megan and Stat was on show. Bayne
11:05threw Statlander into Tony on commentary, and hit the F5 on the floor. She hit another
11:10one in the ring for the win, then had a brawl with Storm, and saw the Timeless One stand
11:14tall. She then cut a promo challenging her to Dynasty, noting that the bigger they are,
11:19the harder they come, and ended with the line, and I quote, I will make your thighs shake
11:25and your body quake, and I will leave with this strap on, for I am Timeless Tony Storm,
11:30and I'm going to rip your tits off. Poetry.
11:33It was a good closing angle, but nothing topped what Copp and Mox did in their match because
11:38of, you know, all the mad violence. But this was a very good edition of AEW Dynamite regardless.
11:44Myself and Oli Davis recorded a four hour podcast the other day talking about the 2003
11:49Daredevil movie, which came out before Billy Starks was born, and that'll be out next
11:53week. So in the meantime, why not check out this preview of our deep dive review of last
11:58year's pretty terrible Craving the Hunter.
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