00:00There's backstage disagreement over WWE's Brock Lesnar plans, heat behind the scenes
00:05in AEW, my review of Monday Netflix Raw, and Naomi in an announcement nobody's speculated
00:12on.
00:13It's pregnant.
00:14I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:19Two weeks ago, Bret Hart told a story about how WWE invited him down to SummerSlam so
00:24they could show him in the crowd, but when he got there, they told him they didn't
00:29have any seats.
00:30WWE told Hall of Famer Bret Hart they didn't have a seat for him on a two night, not sold
00:38out SummerSlam.
00:39And to make matters worse, I noticed Kevin Nash got a seat.
00:43Bret felt disrespected.
00:44We all felt disrespected that Bret felt disrespected.
00:48But now an interesting new development has come out.
00:51Kevin Nash wasn't there.
00:55The coolest wrestler to have ever lived, Kevin Nash, has now given his side of the story
00:59on his podcast.
01:00Well, number one, I didn't go to the show because I knew I didn't have a seat.
01:04It turns out Nash only attended SummerSlam to do a signing inside the arena, and then he
01:10left.
01:11Because…
01:12It's bad enough to f***ing have to watch f***ing wrestling without f***ing being able
01:16to f***ing fast forward through s***, let alone no f***ing announcing and volume.
01:20Thankfully Nash has called heart to explain this to him.
01:23But it kind of gets you doubting what might also be not true in professional wrestling,
01:27like WWE's TripleMania numbers.
01:30On last night's episode of Raw, WWE played a recap package from their newly acquired Mexican
01:35promotion Triple A, and their biggest show of the year, TripleMania.
01:40Which featured main roster talent like Finn Balor, Dominic Mysterio and, of course, Amos.
01:46Their press release boasted it was the most-viewed TripleMania in event history, with 4.3 million
01:52viewers in the first 24 hours on YouTube and a peak live concurrent audience of 614,000.
02:00What a brilliant success for the WWE and Triple A partnership.
02:03It just shows WWE knows better than regional promotions on how to do their regional wrestling.
02:10But yeah, just one more thing.
02:12Lucha Blog has pointed out TripleMania drew an average audience of 1.6 million when it
02:16aired on Azteca back in 2019, with 8.2 million total viewers.
02:20Or at least double what last Friday's event did.
02:23But you can't compare 2025 AAA to 2019 AAA Lucha Blog.
02:28I'm sure WWE's press release is just talking about the new era of the acquiring ownership.
02:34Yeah, just one more thing.
02:35Because by WWE's own numbers, their AAA World's Collide show back in June drew a peak of 764,000
02:43concurrent live viewers, meaning TripleMania's 614,000 is actually 20% lower show to show.
02:51And that's with the inflated attendance of Kevin Nash sitting in multiple seats.
02:55Now here's a message from this video's sponsor.
02:57Over to AEW now, and our own Sullivan Beau Brown will finally be taking on Colt Cabana
03:02at a Pizza Hut.
03:04Pizza Hut?
03:05Luke, Luke, I've figured it out.
03:06I've figured out all the cameras watching us.
03:08Yeah, I know.
03:09We went over this last month.
03:10We're in a studio.
03:11The studios have cameras.
03:12They film us.
03:13No, Luke.
03:14Bigger than that.
03:15They're all across London.
03:16Sorry, what?
03:17Look, I got on the train, and when I was on the train I saw a camera, then I got off the
03:23train, and I saw another camera as I got off the train, and then I looked across the platform
03:27and a guy was staring right back at me, and he had the face of a camera.
03:31Who was mad?
03:32A guy had the face of a camera?
03:34You sound mad!
03:35No I don't, but the whole world is watching us, Luke!
03:38The whole world!
03:39Oli, if this is just your commentary on the surveillance state of the modern Western world,
03:43can you at least talk about Surfshark while you do it?
03:46Surfshark?
03:47Yeah, Surfshark.
03:48You see, with Surfshark you can now protect yourself from cybercriminals, keep your IP address
03:52anonymous, and also be able to watch content from all over the world with Surfshark VPN.
03:56And you can get an extra 4 months free if you use the promo code WrestleTalk at Surfshark.com
04:02forward slash WrestleTalk.
04:04So secure your privacy now by clicking the link in the description.
04:16Brock Lesnar made his WWE return in the closing moments of SummerSlam after a two year hiatus
04:21from the company.
04:2218 of those months away were because he was referenced in the Janelle Grant lawsuit against
04:27Vince McMahon, and WWE's legal team wouldn't clear using him.
04:31Something obviously changed last month, where WWE got the sign off for Lesnar to return.
04:36And his first reported match will be against John Cena, who he attacked at the end of SummerSlam
04:41at a special, as yet unannounced WWE show on the 20th of September.
04:47Which just so happens to be the same day as AEW's All Out PPV, but they're not competition.
04:52There are a lot of questions around this new event.
04:56Will it be called Wrestlepalooza, like WrestleVotes claim?
04:59Will it go on ESPN as an early preview of WWE's new PLE deal, which is due to start in April
05:052026?
05:06Will it actually mark the start of the ESPN era?
05:09As Wrestling Observer Live have reported there's talk all WWE PLEs from this show onwards will
05:15move onto the platform.
05:17Will Bret Hart get a seat to watch it?
05:20But there's also the oldest wrestling question of them all.
05:22Who's going over?
05:24According to Bodyslam.net, many in WWE want Cena to win the match, as it's his retirement
05:29year.
05:30A few figures in the company believe Lesnar should win, as it's his first match back
05:35following two years out.
05:36Over in AEW there's a different kind of disagreement, a disagreement Housen.
05:40Dan Housen thinks he should be let go if AEW have nothing for him, whereas AEW feel his contract
05:46should be made even longer.
05:48Dan Housen signed with AEW back in 2022, but he was put out for an extended period of time
05:53when he tore his pectoral muscle.
05:55He made one appearance at last year's ROH final battle show, but hasn't been seen since.
06:00According to Fightful, Dan Housen's contract was due to expire on the 1st of July, but
06:05AEW added what seems to be a significant amount of time, maybe for time missed due to injury,
06:11maybe by picking up an option, which now takes his contract well into 2026.
06:17Despite Dan Housen requesting, he leave the company after barely being used the last couple
06:22of years.
06:23AEW initially launched under the guise of not behaving like WWE, who would frequently elongate
06:29talent contracts to stop them working elsewhere, despite not using them.
06:33But over the last year, with the likes of Ricky Starks, Penta and now Dan Housen, they've
06:38done just that.
06:39Now it's time for my review of Monday Night Raw… in about 5 minutes.
06:44I'm starting to feel like I'm being personally trolled.
06:47For the last several weeks, Luke and I have been saying on the podcast that Seth's Vision
06:50faction is feeling increasingly like the repetitive, suffocating reigns of Triple H's Evolution, or
06:57Seth's previous faction, the Authoriti.
07:00Raw episodes all start and end the same way.
07:0320 minute opening in-ring promo of the Vision introducing themselves and them really doing
07:07nothing of note, and closing with the Vision main event, mostly with them all standing tall.
07:13So of course this episode began with a 20 minute in-ring Vision promo.
07:17At least there were some different riffs on the usual I'm Paul, here's Bron, here's
07:21Bronson, here's Seth, as they were in Philadelphia, the birthplace of Heyman's ECW, which let
07:27him do a Buurns gag, saying the crowd were chanting for Paulie, not OTC, and brilliantly
07:33pointing out Tommy Dreamer is still alive.
07:36To which Breaker went, he's not dead!
07:38Breaker continues to be the best thing about the Vision, when Seth tried to rile him up by
07:41saying Jey Uso was calling his family fat asses.
07:44Asuka and Kairi Sane apologised to Io Sky after their falling out last week, and promised
07:52not to come out to help Sky against Raquel Rodriguez, even though Roxanne Perez is clearly
07:58going to interfere.
07:59Io beat Raquel, and it was Rhea Ripley who ran down for the save when Roxanne inevitably
08:03jumped her, causing Asuka and Io to fall out again backstage.
08:07I'm going to really enjoy the eventual Io and Rhea vs Kabuki Warriors tag feud, but the
08:12journey to get there feels quite clunky, as I don't get why Io doesn't want backup
08:17against the judgement day.
08:18At least with the men's main event scene, it makes perfect sense.
08:22CM Punk told LA Knight they should watch each other's backs, where Knight said, no, I don't
08:26trust you.
08:27And in an even better bit of reasoning, Jey turned down his help too, even though he was
08:32fighting Breaker in the main event.
08:34Because he doesn't want to owe anyone favours going into their Fatal 4-Way match in Paris,
08:39where it's every man for themselves, putting over how important winning that title is to
08:43him.
08:44PENTA IS CONTINUING TO TAKE THE WWE BY STORM?
08:47BY HAVING A MATCH OVER A HAT?
08:49Railed weren't really into him beating Xavier Woods, but WWE don't have any better ideas
08:53for these guys, so we're getting PENTA vs Kofi Kingston next week.
08:57Carrying on the fun of the most watched event of all time TripleMania, Finn Balor and JD
09:02McDonough took on Dragon Lee and Mr Iguana.
09:05Dom interfered, helping Balor get the win.
09:13The Kingo made the save in the post-match angle, but Dom took him out with the Mega Championship,
09:18effectively building their title match at Worlds Collide on the 12th.
09:21Dominik was later caught chatting to El Grande Americano Ludwig Kaiser variant backstage, which
09:25Balor looked concerned by.
09:28The first Bayley promo was an engagingly subtle reality blurring, unreal aesthetic borrowing
09:33masterclass.
09:34That lasted one week, as the second instalment here had her full on talking to an evil version
09:38of herself.
09:39I'm not as into this as I was the more realistic heel direction.
09:42But all will be forgiven if we get Joker Sting Bayley.
09:45Becky Lynch worked over Natalya's arm in a decent match, building to her tapping in
09:49the disarmer.
09:50Becky beat up Maxine Dupree afterwards for Nikki Bella to make the save.
09:53Adam Pearce booked Sheamus vs Rusev in a Donnybrook match at Clash in Paris.
09:57He needs a drink.
09:58May I recommend Adam Pearce?
10:00And then we got the best segment on the whole show, Naomi's update on the status of her
10:05Women's Championship, where she introduced her own clip from Stephanie McMahon's podcast
10:10of Jimmy Uso revealing they are, in fact, her with child.
10:15It was a wonderful moment where everyone was genuinely happy for her.
10:19As was I, but deep down, the cynical wrestling fan in me was like, we're just gonna stop
10:23the great heel character work because someone's pregnant?
10:26Do the mushy stuff on the podcast, honey!
10:29Leave it off the wrestling show!
10:31So I was overjoyed when Naomi did just that, saying she ain't vacating the S-word, threatening
10:37Pierce to get out of the ring, and then cutting a great in-character promo, still a heel, but
10:43one everyone was now cheering about how the women's locker room should thank Jimmy Uso,
10:47as her being pregnant means she won't be beating them up, that Jimmy likes to Netflix
10:51and chill, Kpop Demon Hunters fan confirmed, and that the bloodline will continue.
11:00So now we know the finish of Roman's matches next year.
11:02Little Jimmy in a hoodie pulls the referee out of the ring.
11:04She laid her title in the middle of the ring, and promised when she's back, she's coming
11:08for whoever is holding it.
11:10This was an excellent example of how you can have your wrestling cake, as in being a heel,
11:16and eat it, or you let everyone enjoy the genuine real life good news.
11:21And that's because Naomi has become such a good promo.
11:24She would later reveal on Stephanie's podcast that she's seven weeks along, meaning that
11:28she wrestled five matches, including the SummerSlam triple threat and the No Holds Barred
11:33match at Evolution, while pregnant.
11:36She of course didn't find that out until after those.
11:39And the main event saw Jey Uso doing a new Jack homage, taking on Bron Breaker in an Extreme
11:43Rules match.
11:44The plunder was fun, especially Bron's sick early bump into the shopping trolley over
11:48the top rope, and it helped differentiate the match from the increasingly repetitive
11:51Raw endings from the last several months.
11:54Because Triple H has heard you.
11:56There have been too many interference DQ finishes as of late, so he's just going to do loads
12:00of interference anyway, but there's no DQ.
12:03It's an Extreme Rules match.
12:05Jey had it won, but Bronson Reed pulled out the referee.
12:08LA Knight made the save, Seth attacked him.
12:11Punk made the save, but he accidentally knocked Knight through a table.
12:14It was down to Jey against Bron and Bronson, so Roman Reigns made his shock return.
12:20Not selling his ribs just two weeks out from the tsunami attack, where he helped Jey get
12:23the win.
12:24This was the same ending we've had most weeks, but the star powered chaos made it
12:29feel slightly fresh.
12:30Interestingly, Roman called to Bronson that he'll see him in Paris, potentially giving
12:35us our first Reigns singles match of 2025.
12:40That man wants his sneakers back.
12:41This week's Raw is 70%.
12:43But do you remember when Raw was bad?
12:46Like, terrible, but the absolute worst?
12:49Why not relive those times, as Luke and I have finally finished our 8 episode, 40 hour long,
12:57rise and fall of the Nexus series.
13:00Start the series with the Nexus debut episode by clicking the video onscreen now, and head
13:04over to Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk to binge watch the full thing.
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