- 6 weeks ago
In this episode, we discuss WWE Counterprogramming AEW with John Cena, Injury and Contract Updates for several talents, and we discuss TNA and AEW News and Rumors!
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SportsTranscript
00:00What?
00:19What?
00:20What?
00:21What?
00:22What?
00:23Bang!
00:31Just when they think they got the answers, I change the question.
00:36Breath.
00:37Breath.
00:38Breath.
00:39Yeah!
00:40Woo!
00:41You need that!
00:44You need that!
00:46Who are you to doubt Elton?
00:48Because this guy's a serious professional.
00:50Can he do it?
00:52Oh!
00:53Oh, and kick out!
00:55Unbelievable!
00:56Turned too hard to handle.
00:59And too cold though.
01:01And I am...
01:03My trick in the savage.
01:05Stay on!
01:07Stay on!
01:10Woo!
01:11Austin Podcast!
01:13Such a match-a-thon wearing fatty!
01:16I said WWE stands for...
01:19Austin!
01:22It's me, Austin!
01:24I will never retire!
01:27What?
01:28What?
01:29What?
01:30What?
01:31Promotional consideration paid for by the following.
01:43Hey, yo, Fro Wrestling Podcast listeners.
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02:36Hello everybody.
02:37Welcome to this show.
02:38Welcome to this episode.
02:39I should say of the Fro Wrestling Podcast.
02:41If you've got questions, comments, something you want us to touch on in the future episode.
02:45Give us a call.
02:46Drop us a line.
02:47Fro Wrestling Sound offline.
02:48267-642-1160.
02:50And we will get to those questions, comments, and anything you want us to talk about in a future episode.
02:55Kicking off tonight.
02:56We're going to get some updates on some injuries.
02:58Some contract status.
02:59Get into some of the news and rumors for the week.
03:01And we will go from there.
03:02We're going to start with Liv Morgan.
03:03One of the big names that everybody is anticipating coming back.
03:07A lot of conjecture about what her role will be when she comes back.
03:10Will she be faced?
03:11Will she be healed?
03:12Will she rejoin Judgment Day?
03:15Break away from Judgment Day?
03:16Where will she fall when the chips are down and she comes back healthy?
03:20And it sounds like with the latest update on her health, she did sustain a separated shoulder.
03:26That's what led to Roxanne Perez popping in and taking her place.
03:30And according to PWI Elite, WWE officials are hoping that she will be able to return at the start of 2026.
03:37Assuming everything else stays on schedule, no setbacks, nothing major, there's a good chance that she would be available for the Royal Rumble.
03:46That would be the perfect place to bring her back.
03:49I know we had her enter at number 30 a couple years back.
03:52I don't know that I'd do 30.
03:53Maybe she's the Iron Woman this year.
03:55Put her in early and let her go over an hour.
03:58Maybe even with Roxanne Perez being the woman who currently holds the record for the ladies in the Rumble.
04:03Maybe have the two of them be the Iron Women and spend a whole lot of time in the ring together.
04:08Other updates, there apparently, when we talk about injuries, can't miss the situation with Naomi going on.
04:15Still no word on what the exact issue is.
04:17Her being pulled from championship defenses on Raw, potentially in France.
04:22But what we do know is, whatever it is, as a matter of fact, Natty was on Busted Open Radio talking about how she thinks this must be very serious.
04:29For her to be gone, to miss those bookings and whatnot, it's got to be a big deal.
04:33And apparently, that situation has expedited some plans that they had long-term for Asuka.
04:40Asuka was supposed to have a slow burn heel turn and become a heel going against Io Sky.
04:47With the injury to one of their top performers, they had to expedite those plans.
04:53They needed another major heel on the roster.
04:56And that looks like now it's going to end up being Asuka.
04:59If you were watching Raw, you saw the whole push and shove thing after the Kabuki Warriors cost Io her match against Roxanne Perez, according to PWI Insider.
05:10Elite, again, they believe that the plan for Asuka to turn heel was in the works for quite some time.
05:17It was supposed to take much longer.
05:18And apparently, now, they are speeding up that process, which is another indicator that this injury to Naomi may be a little bit longer term than we really thought it would be.
05:26Let's talk some contracts.
05:29Kota Ibushi came to AEW two years ago.
05:31Majority of his career in Japan, mostly New Japan Pro Wrestling, some NOAA stuff, some other companies, DDT Pro and things of that nature.
05:38But came to AEW two years ago, has been used very sporadically.
05:42The guy has had a lot of issues with injuries and setbacks and whatnot.
05:46And at this point is really starting to come back and get to his footing again.
05:50And it has been announced that he did sign a two year extension with AEW.
05:56So at this point, he is going to be wrestling at least two more years with AEW.
06:01He has a quote here.
06:03He says, I signed a two year reassignment.
06:05I still want to live, but I want to live.
06:08I can't imagine being in pro wrestling until I'm 45.
06:10What more do you want?
06:11I don't know.
06:12I have a dream to live and live this kind of pro wrestling.
06:14Back in the day when I was little, just not just good 99% hell.
06:20You don't want to get there.
06:21How tough at 99% hell is far way above the imagination from training and daily living.
06:26Just don't look down up to the top.
06:29Still not enough.
06:30Like this from now on.
06:31So, and keeping in mind that the translation, cause he does have a little bit of difficulty
06:36with his English.
06:37It's real clear.
06:38Ibushi has a lot left in the business that he wants to accomplish.
06:41Former IWGP world heavyweight champion has been used almost in a comedic role since coming
06:46to AEW, but it sounds like he wants to get a lot more serious.
06:49He's recently reunited with Kenny Omega, and I'm hoping that he stays healthy and is able
06:54to contribute at a high level.
06:55Now on the same vine, AEW contract status of hook has been the topic of conversation.
06:59He has been injured for quite some time now.
07:02And it sounds as though hook has signed a long term contract multi-year deal, uh, sometime
07:08in 2024 through his agent, Barry Bloom.
07:11And apparently we don't know the contract length, the terms or anything like that, but
07:15we know that he is signed for the foreseeable future.
07:18Despite the fact that the last time we saw him compete in an actual match was April 9th
07:23on an edition of dynamite.
07:24Um, we know there was some issues, potentially concussion came back shortly.
07:28Um, earlier in the year, but now we, it sounds as though he's getting very close to a full
07:33time return, which is going to be wonderful.
07:35Now on the topic of contracts, not necessarily already signed, but new signees.
07:40If you're paying attention to AEW collision this week, you'll notice a new faces in AEW,
07:44but it's an old face.
07:45If you're a diehard wrestling fan, former TNA world tag team champion, Ace Austin is now
07:51elite.
07:52He had a match against Ricochet at the end of the match.
07:55Tony Khan is going to come out and ask him if he wants to be all elite and he's going
08:00to accept.
08:01And now Ace Austin is the newest member of the AEW roster.
08:04So let's get to some of the bigger stuff of the week.
08:07A lot of conversations going on about AEW and WWE and how things are going to play out in
08:11the next several months regarding programming, counter programming, what's going to be done,
08:16who's going to be used.
08:17Um, we have heard, uh, that there is a phantom pay-per-view or a phantom PLE that is coming
08:24on September 20th, purposely designed to go head to head with all out.
08:29So, um, when they bring up all out overseas, going back to England and you see WWE planning
08:36to put a show out there, the rumor is, is the AEW is planning to potentially move the start
08:42time of their show.
08:43Now, look, I get it.
08:44You don't want to go head to head with WWE because they're the biggest dog on the planet
08:48right now.
08:49But at some point you can't keep moving your shows because of WWE trying to counter program
08:54you or you look second rate.
08:56And here's the, it goes beyond just the counter programming thing.
09:00First off, we know that all out next month is going to be head, head to head with what
09:05is sounding like a John Cena versus Brock Lesnar match.
09:09Rumor has it, it might be bad blood.
09:11They may be bringing that back that concept.
09:13This is not the first time we've seen CNN Brock.
09:15Maybe not many people who tune in, but if 20,000, it was an estimate.
09:19If 20,000 buys shift over to WWE's product, it's about $600,000 in lost revenue to AEW.
09:26Now Dave Meltzer on a wrestling observer.
09:29He was talking about how that's not such a big deal.
09:31They have 180 million a year contract in the media rights deal.
09:34I get it, but no company wants to drop $600,000 from one of their biggest shows of the year.
09:40And this is deliberate.
09:41This is on purpose.
09:42This is meant to hurt their negotiation rights in the future.
09:46WWE is not going anywhere.
09:48TKO is not going anywhere.
09:50So if they continue to counter program AEW sponsors and advertisers and most importantly networks
09:56are going to look at this situation and be very concerned about what they're going up against.
10:01Is this company going to continue to do what they have to do to slowly but surely take away
10:06their audience offering more attractive options elsewhere?
10:09The other conversation is that WWE is talking about moving Saturday night's main event from December 13th to December 27th.
10:16Now the relevance of that and one of the headlines on the slug for this episode,
10:21the plan for that Saturday night's main event is to be John Cena's last match.
10:27So if they are moving the show to December 27th, it would go head to head again with another AEW pay-per-view world's end.
10:36And that would be purposeful because who is not going to tune in for John Cena's final appearance?
10:41You know, if they don't move Saturday night's main event because there is a football game on Peacock that night,
10:46it is a possibility that WWE offers a PLE as John Cena's final appearance.
10:51And there's been talk about a PLE titled Ruthless Aggression.
10:55Maybe that would be his last appearance.
10:57But it's very interesting to see how this is playing out.
11:01I mean, there was a comment from Dave Meltzer saying one thing this shows for whatever reason is that Nick Khan and Paul Levesque power duo care a lot more about AEW than Vince McMahon did.
11:11And Vince wanted the thing out of business pretty badly from the start.
11:14So if Vince McMahon wanted them out and he wasn't counter-programming, think how much these guys are trying their best to put them out of business.
11:23And then you have to ask yourself why that would be the case. Competition is good.
11:27The other report from Dave Meltzer claims that WWE, because TNA is currently looking for a new deal, a distribution deal with a network,
11:36and conversations have been had that it could be a move to CW.
11:42It could be a move to A&E.
11:44It could be a couple different options.
11:46But one of the biggest hints that we're getting is that they're talking about moving them head-to-head on Wednesday nights.
11:52According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, that was the conversation is going head-to-head, TNA versus AEW,
11:59and WWE having a vested interest in TNA becoming the number two promotion in the world.
12:05Now, if you think about it, that would be a situation where WWE, even though they would be the number two company,
12:11WWE still has a lot of say, a lot of control over what they do because of that working relationship that they have.
12:17The media rights deal that TNA is trying to work on could be huge.
12:22And if it is, you have to know that whoever buys into that, whether it's a CW, whether it's another network,
12:31they're going to invest heavily into the product.
12:35WWE, because of their working relationship, is also going to invest heavily into that product.
12:39So, when you look at it, and one of the conversations that Dave Meltzer had was,
12:43when you look at the deal with TNA, it's very similar to what WWE had offered the European promotions when they were starting WWE NXT UK,
12:51like WXW, OTT, RevPro, Progress.
12:54Years ago, they offered to allow European talent on the shows.
12:59The deal, basically, what it was is that every company at that time, except for RevPro,
13:04made a deal that they would supply tapes of their shows for the WWE Network.
13:09And there was a timeframe where WWE had the option to purchase their promotion.
13:14This is where Evolve ended up getting swallowed up and whatnot.
13:18And if this is similar, it would imply, and this is what Meltzer is implying,
13:22that WWE may even have a financial reason for this because they could acquire TNA.
13:27And if TNA becomes the number two brand, they acquire TNA.
13:30WWE could put all their resources behind TNA's product to help further put AEW down the line.
13:36The other conversation this week is about former UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta.
13:41He is possibly looking at purchasing TNA.
13:44There was a conversation that that is something he's interested in.
13:48Talk about a successful guy.
13:50I mean, when you look at UFC, it doesn't get much bigger than that.
13:52But also, there's clearly a working relationship, UFC, and with him.
13:58And if this happens, again, it really allows WWE to have an avenue to really be influential
14:07because there would be a great working relationship there if that were to come to fruition.
14:11Meltzer himself does not expect that WWE are going to acquire TNA.
14:16He doesn't think it's going to make business sense, but I feel very differently about that.
14:23The estimated value of TNA right now is $8 to $10 million based on the report that I saw.
14:29If that's accurate, just video and DVD release sales or whatever you want to call it these days,
14:35PLEs or streaming rights or all that, their video library is worth probably $8 to $10 million.
14:41The majority of their value is in the library.
14:44Think about who all the superstars are who've gone through TNA.
14:47It would be very easy to do an AJ Styles retrospective and various other people, LA Knight and whatnot.
14:54So, Drew McIntyre, it's like a who's who of people who are either in WWE or have been recently.
15:01So, definitely not something I would turn the page on, something we're going to have to monitor, keep our eyes on.
15:07But, very, very interesting stuff.
15:09Now, back to AEW, Forbidden Door right around the corner, and we've got some really cool things.
15:14Look, I'm just going to go over the things that I'm really into.
15:16First off, I'm loving that Cope and Christian are reuniting to take on FTR.
15:21I think that's a fantastic angle, so long as it's legit.
15:26I don't want to see one of these things where Christian turns and ends up taking out Cope again and it leads to some other bunch of nonsense.
15:33But, and I apologize, they're going to pair up and they're going to take on Nick Wayne and, gosh, I'm forgetting it, Kip Sabian.
15:43That's going to be their first opportunity.
15:46Obviously, there's a plan that they will eventually go on to face FTR, and I would imagine there's actually a good possibility they go on to face the Hurt Syndicate.
15:55What an amazing story that would be for them to come back and win tag team gold together one more time.
16:01I think that would be wonderful.
16:02If you're watching Dynamite this week, Christian Cage saved Cope when he was being attacked by FTR and Stokely Hathaway.
16:09When FTR attacked Cope, it invalidated their restraining order, which was a ridiculous storyline to begin with.
16:17So now it's all good to go.
16:19Christian actually presented Spike to Cope and turned his back on it, and Cope ended up giving him a hug.
16:24I thought it was interesting.
16:25I was going to bust an open radio and they were acting like there wasn't a very big pop for that.
16:28But when you watch that back on YouTube, there's a heck of a pop for the reunion of Cope and Christian.
16:34So keeping our eyes on that, I think that's going to be fantastic.
16:37One of the matches I'm really, really looking forward to, though, the return of Will Ospreay.
16:42And it's been made official before the end of the show.
16:44It's confirmed that Will Ospreay, Darby Allin, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and the soon retiring Hiroshi Tanahashi from New Japan Pro Wrestling are going to be facing the Death Riders.
16:57Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Gabe Cibb, and the Young Bucks.
17:02It's going to be an incredible 10-man tag team cage match.
17:06It should be just that match by itself.
17:09Just when you look at the talent involved, that could be one of the best matches on the entire card.
17:16So I'm looking forward to seeing that.
17:18I apologize.
17:19They haven't announced that it's a cage match yet.
17:21It's not a conventional one.
17:23It's a lights out steel cage.
17:25What the heck does that even mean?
17:27It drives me crazy.
17:28Why they got to put new lines and new tag lines on everything, I just don't know.
17:32The other match I'm keeping my eye on, MJF being goaded into cashing in his casino gauntlet win for the World Championship,
17:39much like Athena is cashing hers in to FaceTime with Toni Storm.
17:43Now MJF got goaded by Adam Page into cashing his in, so that match is official.
17:48Both of those matches are going to be money.
17:50It makes it so the London O2 Arena show is going to be off the chain stack.
17:55It should be a phenomenal show.
17:57And that's without the fact we've got another major match on the card.
17:59Swerve Strickland taking a shot at Kazucha Okada's AW Unified Championship.
18:04And there's many more that I'm sure will be added between now and then.
18:07What an awesome pay-per-view it's shaping up to be.
18:10I'm looking forward to it significantly.
18:13And I think, like always, let's be honest, their company is really good at putting on some of these phenomenal shows.
18:19It's the storylines they're not always great at.
18:21So we'll have to wait and see how the show shakes out.
18:22But right now it looks amazing on paper.
18:24And the last thing I want to get to tonight, AW's Jeff Jarrett discussing his mixed emotions appearing at Hulk Hogan's funeral.
18:30I know we've had a lot of Hulk Hogan conversation over the last several weeks since his passing.
18:34This actually hit me a little bit.
18:36I'll read the quote because it was on his My World podcast.
18:39He said, I just have mixed emotions because it was very private gathering and everything that went with it.
18:44He says, it's a public knowledge that Vince spoke and Triple H spoke.
18:48When the pastor got up at the end and he, in a way, gave his message, that I guess you could say would be a typical of a funeral.
18:55But his ability to weave in and out of it Hulk's testimony over the last two or three years, to hear him articulate specifically Hulk's last two years and his testimony and how Hulk was viewing the world and what he was doing and all that.
19:08That is something I wish the whole world could have heard because it's not coming from a wrestling announcer or a podcast or an interviewer promoting an event.
19:17His speech was obviously in private, invitation only.
19:20It was not done for clicks.
19:22He was pouring his heart out for the man he knew and that was very, very special.
19:26The sermon touched Jeff Jarrett.
19:28He said he leaned over to Karen, his wife, Karen Jarrett.
19:31And I said, my God, I'm so glad I'm here to hear that.
19:34And he just wishes the world could have heard that.
19:37And it makes you wonder, like, obviously, I don't know what was said, but it sounds like it was very powerful, whatever it was.
19:43And if that's the case, and if there's some indication that Hulk Hogan was finding a way to be a better version of himself in his last several years, that's wonderful.
19:51That's wonderful.
19:52I think that's what a lot of people would have wanted to hear from the beginning.
19:54It sounds like genuine remorse.
19:56I hope that's what it was.
19:57I wasn't there.
19:58I can't comment.
19:59I would love for more talent who were at the funeral to speak about that.
20:02I know Kevin Nash was talking about how it wasn't real to him until he got there and got the card with Hogan's face on it and it really hit him.
20:08So this is an interesting comment from Jeff Jarrett, one that I think is welcome and really shed some light on who Hulk Hogan really was in the latter stages of his life.
20:20That's all the time we have for this episode.
20:22Check back with us next episode where we run down the latest wrestling news and rumors.
20:25Special thanks as always go out to Suno AI for generating the music and sound effects I use in the show.
20:29Today's podcast sponsored in part by Beezle Games.
20:32Bring a new friend to family game night.
20:33It's easy with sketchy people.
20:35Showcase your artistic side in this game from Beezle Games by going to TheGameCrafter.com and picking up your copy today.
20:41If you're looking for your next career move, you're considering college or university life, or maybe you just need some formal training for your next career decision,
20:47go to our website at FroLifePlanning.com for all your higher education needs as FroLife Educational Planning is for today, for tomorrow, and for life with FroLife.
20:56I'm Fred Froelich, better known as Dr. Fro.
20:58I want to thank you for taking some time with us tonight.
21:00Until next episode, take care everybody.
21:02Have a great night.
21:05We'll see you next time.
21:35We'll see you next time.
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