00:00The first WWE stars heading to TNA potentially revealed TNA might not be in as much trouble
00:06as originally thought, WWE fix one of their botches and more.
00:11I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:17But first we must talk about Hater of the Year 2024 Drew McIntyre.
00:22Since his return to the company, CM Punk has been the target of Drew McIntyre on social
00:26media, as he's been posting videos of him listening to tracks like Cry Me A River, a
00:30reference to Jack Perry's insult at last year's All In, or just pointing out that Punk is injured
00:35and he is the one who injured him.
00:37And in his latest viral video, McIntyre has posted a parody of Punk being trapped in the
00:41WWE headquarters during the Backlash season.
00:44In the video McIntyre mocks Punk for trying to be down with the kids to stay relevant,
00:49and then just opens the easy to find exit door, which he is able to do because he has actual
00:55tricep strength.
00:57LOL.
00:58Never change Drew.
00:59Speaking of changes, smooth segue alert, and NXT has been on lockdown since last week when
01:04it comes to spoilers and leaks getting out.
01:07Fightful Select Corey Brennan reported last night's NXT had an increased focus on secrecy
01:11before tonight's show, with only incomplete rundowns being available, and that there was
01:16also more restrictions on the flow of information backstage.
01:19Brennan was even told that Shawn Michaels, head booker of NXT, stepped in for the rehearsals
01:24of one of the segments, which he only does when he's trying to keep something a surprise.
01:29Brennan added in his Fightful Select report that Shawn Michaels was said to be very secretive
01:33about tonight's show backstage, with one NXT source telling Brennan to expect a crazy show.
01:38Which makes last night's NXT typically good show being your standard typically good show
01:43all the more interesting.
01:44It comes off the back of last week, which not only saw former AEW star Ethan Page make his
01:49debut for WWE, but also the prohibitive portal being opened for TNA Knockouts Champion Jordan
01:55Grace to walk in and challenge NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez for her title.
02:00It has since been revealed that this is not a one-off, and that WWE and TNA are now in
02:05a working relationship, akin to AEW's relationships with New Japan and CMLL.
02:10But so far, the traffic of this relationship has only been one way.
02:15Grace made a surprise appearance at this year's Royal Rumble, quick reminder of how I reacted
02:19to that, and then made her NXT debut last week.
02:27But she is, so far, the only person who has done anything in this NXT-NA partnership.
02:34There was some fan speculation that, based off his recent chart success, Joe Hendry could
02:39do something with NXT, but Corey Brennan revealed that Grace was the only TNA name set for last
02:45night's NXT.
02:46There was some fan speculation that Hendry could appear at WWE's Clash at the Castle in his
02:51home country of Scotland, but he's been announced for TNA's Against All Odds, which takes place
02:55on the same weekend.
02:57Now I don't know how many of you drive cars, but traffic is supposed to go both ways, and
03:01the reports of this partnership say that NXT stars will go to TNA.
03:06And perhaps we now know the first names.
03:09But before that, here's a clip from our most recent parts-fun-known list, where Tempest
03:13counts down the best WWE pay-per-views from every year of the 2010s.
03:17It was mostly okay.
03:18The handicap WWE title match opener is a bit clunky, but well worked.
03:22The Monster vs. Beast vs. Demon triple threat is best remembered for Brock Lesnar battering
03:27Strowman in the side of the head for a shoot.
03:29And The Usos beating American Alpha 2.0, two straight falls in a best of three falls match,
03:34was certainly unexpected.
03:35But the first ever women's rumble feels appropriately important, even with a robotic Stephanie McMahon
03:41on commentary, which thankfully I didn't have to listen to live, score one for Tempest,
03:45and the men's rumble is just a work of art.
03:48On Monday's episode of the WrestleTalk News, Oli Davis covered the odd tale of Brooks Jensen,
03:52who recently posted on Twitter that he was no longer part of TNA and would be taking independent
03:57bookings.
03:58He has since had a spat of social media activity, where he's been posting pictures of himself
04:01drinking while watching NXT, and was ejected from an NXT house show recently after taking
04:06a sign claiming that Bret Hart would book NXT better.
04:09However, as revealed by Fightful Select, this is all just a work and part of a storyline,
04:14which kicked into a new gear last night when Jensen interrupted the NXT show during a commercial
04:20break, meaning that only those in the WWE Performance Center got to see this happen.
04:25In clips posted online, Jensen berates Vic Joseph and the commentary desk before being taken
04:30away by security.
04:32And when the show came back from the break, Booker T played it off like it was a real incident,
04:36hoping that that kid is okay.
04:38Jensen himself then posted a video online where he said,
04:41You know what the best thing about this is now?
04:46I can go anywhere I want.
04:49Who knows?
04:52Maybe I can make an impact.
04:55Impact of course is the name of TNA's weekly TV show, perhaps hinting that he will be the
05:01first of WWE's names to walk through the prohibitive portal.
05:06And he might not be the only one.
05:09During a backstage segment on last night's NXT, Jordan Grace interacted with several members
05:13of the NXT roster, including Sol Rooker and Ariana Grace, who revealed that they are in
05:18fact not related.
05:20It's no Sheamus and Beaker, but I popped.
05:22But perhaps more interestingly is Tatum Paxley, who snuck up behind Grace and then attempted
05:27to touch her TNA Knockouts Championship.
05:30Grace recently announced on Busted Open Radio an open challenge for her title at TNA's
05:35Against All Odds on June 14th.
05:37And this backstage segment might be an implication that NXT's Paxley will be the one to answer
05:43the call.
05:44What do you make of the NXT names heading across to TNA and who would you like to see
05:47from TNA make the jump over to NXT?
05:50Let me know in the comments down below.
05:51Also on Monday's WrestleTalk News, Oli Davis looked at TNA's parent company Anthem celebrating
05:56the success of this NXT-NA partnership by...firing people.
06:01Following the firing of Scott D'Amore earlier this year, it was revealed that Anthem also
06:05let go of creative director David Sahadi, D'Amore's head of creative replacement
06:09RD Evans and vice president of marketing Lou DiAngeli, the latter of which PWInsider reported
06:15was truly shocking.
06:16They added that there was a mixture of disbelief and sadness from those backstage at TNA over
06:21his release.
06:22It was pointed out that following the tapings on August 2nd and 3rd, TNA have nothing booked.
06:27They also now have no marketing or live events teams.
06:30F4W Online posted that while Anthem have been in cost-cutting mode since January, this is
06:36not just cutting to the bone, this is cutting the bone.
06:40Wrestling Observer Radio added, everyone is kind of waiting.
06:43They know something is up, but they don't know exactly what.
06:46There was some speculation that WWE might actually buy TNA, something that has been floated around
06:51for a long while because TNA's 20 year video library would be huge for them, but there
06:57might be a different reason.
06:59PWInsider have now reported, we have heard that TNA are trying to lock in a new permanent
07:04location where they could produce television, perhaps even live, weekly.
07:10If this is true, this would be a huge change for TNA, who haven't produced weekly live episodes
07:15of Impact in a long, long time, like more than a decade is it?
07:20It's also a bold move.
07:22As it currently stands, TNA's Impact ratings are hard to track because they don't rank
07:27in the top 150 shows on television.
07:30And their .01 rating in the 18-49 demographic translates to around 19,000 viewers a week
07:37across all of America.
07:39The idea, one would assume, is that doing the show live, coupled with the national exposure
07:44of NXT, would drive more viewers to TNA Impact.
07:48But doing live TV comes with its own perils, as WWE saw last week.
07:52Last week's Raw saw the salacious and scandalous ending, where Liv Morgan planted a big old
07:57smoochy kiss on Dominic Mysterio.
07:59At least that's what the international viewers saw.
08:02The USA Network broadcast of Raw ended before that moment took place, meaning a huge chunk
08:07of WWE's audience didn't see the kiss until it was posted online.
08:10It had since been revealed this was a botch.
08:13Sean Ross Sapp noted on Fightful that there was miscommunication between virtually everyone
08:18involved in the shot, from production to the wrestlers and their positioning, and the kiss
08:23was supposed to close the broadcast.
08:25But WWE are addressing this issue head on, much like they did with the botched pin that
08:29ended Gunther and Randy Orton's King of the Ring final.
08:32As Fightful Select report, we're told that some timing issues were tightened up this week
08:36after last week's mishap that ended the show.
08:39And speaking of timing, Tiffany Stratton has placed a timeline on when she would like to
08:43get into Hollywood.
08:45Segway.
08:47Stratton recently told the Battleground podcast that by the age of 30, I kind of want to be
08:51breaking into Hollywood.
08:52That gives Stratton five years to achieve her goal, but why wait those five years when you
08:57could just get started on that journey right now?
09:00And now it's been revealed by The Hollywood Reporter that Stratton has sided with Paradigm
09:04Talent Agency to represent her in all areas.
09:07The Hollywood Reporter writes, Paradigm is betting that her stock will only rise as wrestling
09:12is poised for greater exposure, thanks to the 5 billion 10 year deal with Netflix starting
09:17in January 2025.
09:19Paradigm hopes to model Stratton's career on trajectories flown by Dwayne Johnson, John
09:23Cena and Dave Bautista, all of whom originated on WWE and who became some of the most bankable
09:29names in Hollywood.
09:30I just hope Paradigm know that Stratton is part of the Smackdown brand and that Raw is the
09:34one that's going to Netflix.
09:35We take the brand split around these parts very seriously.
09:38Perhaps she could go to Raw and help out with their ratings, which were slightly down from
09:41last week, drawing a still impressive 1.67 million viewers, but it is their lowest viewership
09:47since the May 13th episode.
09:49The 18-49 demo was also down, which could be seen as a disappointing number considering
09:53that there was no major sports competition going against them.
09:56But it also wasn't great news for AEW's collision, which drew its lowest rating since it went head-to-head
10:01with the Royal Rumble, drawing just 378,000 viewers.
10:05It was, however, going against an NHL Eastern Conference Final game, which drew over 3 million
10:10viewers on ABC.
10:11Now go and watch Tempest List in full over on Parks Fun Known, where he goes over the best
10:16WWE pay-per-views of the 2010s.
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