00:00WWE moved to ESPN early with WrestlePalooza, and named some WWE higher-up as HATE. ESPN
00:07removed their AEW coverage, my review of AEW Dynamite and more. I'm Luke Owen and this
00:12is the WrestleTalk News.
00:16After weeks of reports, rumours and innuendo, WWE officially announced yesterday that their
00:22WrestlePalooza show will air on September 20th on the new ESPN streaming service and
00:28will feature John Cena vs Brock Lesnar, Lesnar's first match since SummerSlam 2023. It will
00:33also run directly head-to-head with AEW's All Out, making it the first main roster WWE
00:39PLE to counter-program an AEW pay-per-view. But you know, they're not competition, etc.
00:46The ESPN news came out a couple of weeks ago, but it was reported to start with WrestleMania
00:5042 next year, because WWE still had a deal with Peacock to air their PLEs until then.
00:55So how did they get out of this deal seven months early? They just put on more shows!
01:00The Hollywood Reporter reports that Peacock had to give the okay for this to happen as
01:04Disney reportedly did not buy out the remainder of the Peacock contract. They write, instead,
01:10the arrangement for WWE's PLEs to exit Peacock was brokered between WWE and Peacock and then
01:16brought to ESPN owned by Disney. They add that because WWE have been doing two-night WrestleManias
01:22and two-night SummerSlam, as well as additional shows like Evolution, WWE had actually fulfilled
01:28the amount of shows they promised Peacock when they initially put pen to paper.
01:33One higher up told the Wrestling Observer,
01:34that's the reason we did so many PLEs this year. And it's not just part of the AEW and
01:40WWE wrestling war, as another reason to expedite this process is that ESPN reportedly wanted
01:46WWE to be part of their streaming service at launch to effectively combat against Fox,
01:51who are also launching a streaming platform on the same date.
01:54It's interesting to note that the press release for Wrestlepalooza doesn't mention Brock Lesnar
01:58by name, which to me says that WWE are aware of the PR optics of having Lesnar on the show
02:04when he's named in the Janelle Grant lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE.
02:08And it's also interesting to see that WWE are using the name Wrestlepalooza, which is
02:13of course a parody of Lollapalooza, but was also in the name of several ECW shows between
02:181995 and 2000. Now, it's not out of pocket for Triple H to have WWE shows named after 90s
02:24wrestling shows. He brought back Halloween Havoc and In Your House, for example. But according
02:28to WrestleVotes, the name had some negative pushback from higher ups at Raw on Monday.
02:34And part of that pushback might not just be the name itself, but because WWE currently do
02:40not own the trademark for it. Since around 2016 it's been owned by First Wrestling. Getting
02:46Over Wrestling podcast claimed on Twitter that WWE filed for the trademark on August 20th,
02:51the same day the press release came out, and both Fightful Select and Bodyslam are reporting
02:55there was a memo sent by First Wrestling on August 11th that said all First Wrestling talent
03:00and staff were to no longer mention or make reference to Wrestlepalooza. Fightful ad a
03:06memo was sent out last week saying, as of Monday we are full stop on all things Wrestlepalooza,
03:12indicating that there was some movement there. But before you think about cancelling your
03:17Peacock subscription, there may still be a need to keep hold of it.
03:21With Peacock losing WWE PLEs for the rest of the year, they need something to replace
03:26it, which appears to be moving Saturday Night's main event to Peacock.
03:31The show, which had been airing on NBC since its return last December, will now air on Peacock
03:35until October 2029. Not only that, but all NXT PLEs will remain on Peacock until March next
03:41year, and the WWE archive will be there until the end of this year. It had been reported
03:47that that archive could fully move to YouTube as part of WWE's Vaults channel, but Jimmy
03:52Trainier of Sports Illustrated is reporting that it could move to the ESPN streaming platform.
03:57Fightful ad in a separate report, those that we spoke to in WWE say that this is a part
04:01of WWE's approach to have content on as many platforms as possible to grab fans on each
04:07of those platforms. As it stands, there is no home for NXT PLEs come next March.
04:13The return of Saturday Night's main event to NBC was thought to be a big boon for WWE
04:17in terms of exposure, but the ratings for the show have apparently been lower than expected.
04:23Though still good compared to anything else on Saturday nights that isn't sports related,
04:28it was not good enough for NBC to keep hold of it on TV. Dave Meltzer writes it's a huge
04:33drop in WWE's exposure for the shows, but from a WWE standpoint, clearly being part
04:38of the ESPN family would make up for that. He adds, the fact that NBCU would make the
04:43decision to not put Saturday Night's main event on TV says that either they were disappointed
04:48in the show's numbers and wanted out of the television portion, or that they felt they
04:52needed exclusivity of the show to keep Peacock subscribers and are willing to sacrifice
04:57the ratings that show brings in on NBC in the process. This will include the next two Saturday
05:03Night's main events on the 1st of November and the 13th of December, one day before my
05:07birthday for looking to buy gifts, the latter of which is now confirmed to be the final match
05:12of John Cena. It had been reported that this date could move to December 27th to run head
05:17to head with AEW's World's End, but the Wrestling Observer writes this shows that WWE were unable
05:22to get NBC and Peacock to agree to a date change. Being part of the ESPN family is obviously
05:28a huge deal for WWE, but as I noted on the WrestleTalk podcast a couple of weeks ago, there
05:34is a much bigger win to be had here. ESPN's coverage.
05:39By being in the ESPN family, WWE can now have incredible, exclusive coverage from one of
05:45the leading sports websites in the world. Not only that, it can control that coverage.
05:51We're already seeing the first steps of that, as ESPN have removed all of their AEW coverage
05:57from their website, and any attempts to go to direct links will be met with an error page.
06:02So the question now becomes, how will AEW respond to Wrestle Palooza going head to head with
06:07All Out? When WWE announced that they would air Saturday night's main event against All
06:11In Texas, AEW moved the show to the afternoon, only for WWE to announce an NXT PLE to run in
06:18the afternoon against it. From all reports, this actually only hurt NXT.
06:23Moving All In to the afternoon clearly didn't affect its PPV buy rate, as it's reportedly
06:27AEW's third biggest PPV success of all time, even with the competition. But Wrestle Palooza
06:34is a different beast, no pun intended. All In was AEW's biggest show of the year, and
06:39All Out likely won't have anything near the dramatic inclusion of Hangman Page vs Jon Moxley. Additionally,
06:45Brock Lesnar's first match back in two years and against John Cena is massive competition
06:52no matter what AEW announced for the card. And there's also a cost thing.
06:57While WWE fans have voiced their displeasure about ESPN's platform costing $30 a month,
07:02it is still cheaper than a one-time purchase of $50 for an AEW PPV. The new platform is also
07:08free to about half of ESPN's current subscriber base. But the truth of the matter is, most wrestling
07:13fans will have likely made up their mind on what show they will be watching. I would imagine
07:17many of you watching this video have already decided which one you're going to purchase.
07:21But if you were in Tony Khan's shoes, what would you do to combat against Wrestle Palooza?
07:27Let me know in the comments down below.
07:29And speaking of your comments, you can come say them to our faces at the O2 this Sunday.
07:34Holly and I will be outside the venue at about 3pm-ish where you can come and say hello and
07:37have a chat with us. Keep an eye on WrestleTalk's social and my Instagram to see exactly where
07:42we'll be. I'll also be at Riot Cabaret on the Friday, fingers crossed, and the Rev Pro
07:46Show on the Saturday, and the Sweet Chin Disco afterparty at the Indigo in the O2 following
07:51Forbidden Door. So if you see me at any of those shows, come and say hello.
07:55And speaking of the O2, there's the small matter of Forbidden Door this weekend, and
07:59it's Thursday, you know what that means. It's time for my review of AEW Dynamite, aka
08:04The Go Home Show for Forbidden Door. With Taz taking some time off and Nigel McGuinness
08:08getting ready to face Zack Sabre Jr for the IWGP Championship this Sunday, I can't believe
08:12I'm getting to see that live in 2025, we needed a third voice behind the commentary
08:17desk and we got that in the form of Blue Panther, I mean Bryan Danielson.
08:21And let me give a quick shout out to this amazing Glasgow crowd. Scotland is already one of the
08:25finest countries in the entire world with some amazing wrestling fans, but you guys really
08:31showed out for this Dynamite, and from what I've heard, Ring of Honor and Collision as
08:34well, which featured Grado coming out to Like A Prayer and the AEW debut of former WWE star
08:40Isla Dawn. That's two lovely treats for Rap Florence. Will Ospreay opened the show to put
08:45over Greg's sausage rolls, give the vegan one a chance Will, they're dead nice, but
08:48he also added some major storyline dips for the cage match this weekend. Just a few weeks
08:53ago Will announced he was unable to compete because of his bad neck, and he said that he still
08:59cannot get medically cleared by AEW's medical team. And that is why it's a lights out cage
09:05match. It's not sanctioned by AEW.
09:08Now this is obviously all kayfabe, but it adds a real level of drama to the match. Boxer
09:12Marina walked down to the ring, but Jet Speed ran down for a brawl with the rest of the Death
09:16Riders, which brought out Hiroshi Tanahashi for a six-man tag that the good guys won.
09:20Right, let's see if I can get through all of this madness in one take.
09:25Ospreay came out to distract at the end by making the Death Riders think that Marina Shafir
09:28was in a body bag, but he was attacked by the Young Bucks who were then attacked by
09:31Paragon. Then it was revealed it actually wasn't Marina Shafir, it was Darby Allin in the body
09:35bag, and then the war dogs of Gabe Kidd, Clark Connors, Driller Maloney and Robbie X came
09:39out for a brawl with the good guys, then the Ops ran down and brawled with them, and Darby
09:42Allin did a cough and drop onto everyone from the mezzanine.
09:46This was of course all madness and dead good, but above all let me just say, Robbie X was on
09:51AEW Dynamite. Cope and Christian cut a promo in the ring revealing they're not actually
09:55on the same page and Cage is still an arsehole, but he has a patriarchy problem and Cope has
10:00an FTR problem so they can work together here. Nick Wayne announced that he's broken his
10:05ankle, but found a replacement in the returning Luchasaurus who chokeslammed Cope and Christian.
10:09FTR and Brodido went to a fantastic time limit draw in the finals of the tag team tournament,
10:14so both teams will now face the Hurt Syndicate for the titles at Forbidden Door, which screams
10:18to me that this is a way to get the belts off of Lashley and Shelton without pinning them.
10:23The match was excellent though, and Brodie King in particular was a standout.
10:28Earlier in the show, Mark Briscoe said he was looking for MJF, and Max then made an alliance
10:31with Ricochet and the Gates of Agony to go find him. Hangman Page came out for a promo
10:35saying that he wasn't going to call out MJF because he knows that he's a gutless coward
10:40who won't come out, but Max appeared on the screen with a tied up Mark Briscoe who he threatened
10:45to set on fire unless Hangman Page agreed to his terms. Number 1. He can win the title via
10:52DQ. Number 2. He can win the title via countout. Number 3. He does not have to use his casino
10:59gauntlet contract. Page reluctantly agreed because he doesn't want his friend getting
11:02set on fire, then chased after them. Now this was a little goofy, but I loved how it tied
11:07into the story, the characters and their motivations.
11:09In the main event saw Mercedes Monet and Athena beat Alex Windsor and Toni Storm in a really
11:14good match. Windsor tapped out Monet, but she was not the legal woman, and Athena hit the
11:18O-face to get the win out of nowhere. And yes, I got the names in the right order this
11:22week. Thank you for all your snarky comments last week.
11:25As an advert for both women's matches at Forbidden Door this weekend, this sold me a ticket as
11:28the chemistry was awesome. This was a very effective go-home dynamite, which built matches
11:33and zipped for Forbidden Door and had some great wrestling to boot. But speaking of not
11:39good wrestling, Oli and I recently watched a bunch of shows from WWE in 2010 as part of
11:44our series charting the rise and fall of the Nexus. The first episode is on screen right
11:49now, which contains one of my favourite Bret Hart moments of all time.
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