00:00Protests outside of AEW's residency venue?
00:03Is WWE interested in a Vince McMahon return?
00:07My review of AEW Dynamite and more, I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:15Will Ospreay ended his triumphant return to UK wrestling by having his neck absolutely
00:19smashed in by the Death Riders in the closing moments of AEW's Forbidden Door this past
00:24Sunday.
00:25We'll have more on his injury and surgery in a moment, but he appears to still be the
00:28same old cheeky chappy Billy Goat that he always has been, despite the brutal attack,
00:33as his partner Alex Winter celebrated her weekend by posting a photo of herself from Forbidden
00:38Door with the caption, Forbidden Door.
00:41Only for Will to pop in and reply, I'll enter your Forbidden Door anytime.
00:45Sir, this is a Denny's.
00:47But actually I will make a quick note of that chat up line, I might try that one on the wife
00:51later.
00:52It was reported ahead of Forbidden Door that Will was dealing with serious neck issues
00:55and the Lights Out cage match would be his last match for a while.
01:00It was also reported that he'll likely need surgery, which likely means he won't be
01:04around for at least a year, maybe longer.
01:06In a new report however, Sean Ross Sapper of Fightful Select notes, while Ospreay has
01:10certainly indicated he needs surgery and talked about his surgeon and that he might need surgery,
01:17he has not outright stated that he's getting surgery.
01:20Even when talent and staff I've talked to have asked, I don't think he's outright said
01:25it.
01:26SRS adds that this doesn't mean Will isn't going to get surgery, but notes being clear
01:29to wrestle in that cage match isn't usually something that happens with that type of injury.
01:34Swerve Strickland also did an injury angle at Forbidden Door when he was taken out by
01:37Kazuchika Okada and a returning Wardlow.
01:39Swerve posted to social media yesterday that he has successfully undergone surgery to repair
01:43a torn meniscus, we wish him a speedy recovery.
01:46And Will isn't the only one dealing with neck issues, as it was revealed earlier this year
01:50that Kevin Owens needed to get neck surgery, which kept him off the WrestleMania 41 card.
01:55He has since been in attendance for the 2025 Coke Zero Sugar 400 NASCAR event, a name that
02:00rolls right off the tongue, where he said I needed neck fusion.
02:03It was very successful going into it because we weren't really sure how severe the fusion
02:07was going to be, how many levels, all this stuff.
02:10Thankfully, ended up only being one level, which is the best case scenario for something
02:15like this.
02:16He added that the next steps is now simply recovery, and to see if the surgery takes.
02:21When asked about returning to the ring, he said some guys had success, some guys didn't.
02:26Fingers crossed I can come back to wrestling in the next year.
02:28Really?
02:29Don't know though.
02:30But yeah, my goal is to come back, so hopefully that's what happens.
02:33Leave your comment down below wishing a speedy recovery to Kevin Owens.
02:37Oddly though, the bigger talking point out of the NASCAR appearance was less Kevin's
02:41comment, but his actual appearance, with many saying that he'd lost a lot of weight, or
02:46as this Reddit user said, he'd slimmed down a considerable amount.
02:50It was clearly enough for Owens himself to pop up on Twitter and let everyone know,
02:54Guys, stop panicking, I'm still fat, everyone needs to calm down.
02:58But while we're here talking about Will Ospreay, Kevin Owens and Swerve Strickland returns,
03:02there is another return on the lips of wrestling fans, Vince McMahon.
03:07Vince McMahon celebrated his 80th birthday recently, which was intended to be a private
03:13event.
03:14However, photos of the party got leaked online, which revealed several members of the current
03:17WWE roster and backstage staff were in attendance, including Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, The Miz,
03:23Maryse Undertaker and John Cena.
03:25Titus O'Neil was also there, as was Jerry Lawler.
03:28There were other WWE stars in attendance reportedly, but their names have not been made public.
03:33Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan were not at the party, according to Fightful Select,
03:37and there was no official WWE involvement.
03:40Bryan Danielson was also not in attendance.
03:43Fightful Select are also reporting that the party would not have been heard about had
03:47the photos not got leaked online because it was kept so private.
03:51In fact, they report that Jerry Lawler posted a photo of himself, Drew, Sheamus, Ms.
03:55Maryse and Titus and was asked to delete it from social media, which he did.
04:00One talent that Fightful spoke to said there was a moral conflict in going, but didn't
04:04elaborate on why they decided to attend.
04:06Fightful add WWE talents that we spoke to weren't surprised that there were so many
04:10present WWE talent here.
04:12One who spent a lot of time working with McMahon told Fightful a lot of people here still feel
04:17like they owe Vince something even though he made his money back on them tenfold.
04:21They also add that some talents who didn't go were waiting to see what happened with the
04:25Janelle Grant lawsuit before deciding whether they should sever ties with Vince.
04:29They add there were talents that asked if they could go or should attend and were told
04:33by a WWE higher up that that was their business.
04:36Fightful also writes, of those who didn't attend that we spoke to, the consensus was that
04:40if they were accused of doing the things McMahon was, he would have fired them and never
04:45spoken to them again.
04:47John Cena is perhaps the least surprising name on the list of guests, as he's been so vocal
04:51in his defense of Vince since the lawsuit and has even been spotted having dinner with him
04:55on several occasions.
04:56Fightful also report that JBL and Bruce Prichard have been in regular contact with Vince.
05:00One person told Fightful that Lawler is ride or die with Vince McMahon.
05:04However, for some of the guests who went, it's the first time they've seen him in person
05:09since the infamous Raw after Mania 39, where McMahon tore up the script shortly before
05:13the show went live.
05:15People also report that those who did attend felt that Vince McMahon very much looked like
05:19he was 80 years old.
05:20Fightful right McMahon seemed more frail, walked slower and looked his age in a manner that
05:24he hadn't in decades before leaving WWE.
05:28In the wake of Brock Lesnar returning at SummerSlam, there were discussions online about a potential
05:32Vince McMahon return.
05:33The difference between the two though is that Vince McMahon is the subject of the Janelle Grant
05:38lawsuit while Brock Lesnar is only named in the amended version of the lawsuit after being
05:42alluded to in the first version.
05:44However Fightful right, there has been no talk of Vince McMahon returning to WWE in any capacity
05:50at this point.
05:52One higher up told Fightful that there is no desire for Vince to come back, certainly not
05:56in a creative role.
05:57But it's Thursday, you know what that means, it's time for my review of AEW Dynamite which
06:01took place from the famous ECW Arena aka the 2300 Arena.
06:06But before the review though, there were reports before the show of protests by union workers
06:12who claim the 2300 Arena are failing to meet area standards by paying substandard wages and
06:17benefits.
06:18Noting in a longer Facebook post that the union's collective bargain rate is $54.40 an hour which
06:24they claim the 2300 Arena are not paying their stagehands.
06:28AEW told Post Wrestling that this is an issue between the venue and the union and nothing
06:33to do with them.
06:34While the 2300 Arena CEO emailed Post Wrestling to say, our workers are being paid the fair wage
06:40they claim is not being paid.
06:42Mike Johnson of PW Insider agrees that this isn't an issue between the union and AEW and reports
06:47the union are using all elite wrestling shows to apply pressure to the 2300 Arena.
06:52Of course, wrestling fans are being wrestling fans.
06:55WWE fans are blasting AEW fans for AEW using a building given their stance on workers rights,
07:01while AEW fans are blasting WWE fans because WWE ran the 2300 Arena last fall and they didn't
07:06seem to have an issue with it then.
07:08And collectively, no one sees the irony in that all the wrestlers on these shows are not
07:12part of a union and are all still considered independent contractors.
07:16Anyway, FTR opened the show to have a pop up Paul Turner for his bad officiating at Forbidden
07:19Door.
07:20Lads, if we're going to start having a go at all the bad refereeing on every AEW show,
07:23we're not going to get anything else done.
07:25But Paul Turner refused to overturn his decision.
07:27Adam Copeland came out to attack FTR, but he wasn't backed up by Christian despite looking
07:31over his shoulder looking for his tag partner.
07:34Turns out it was all a ruse, as Cage took out Stoke in the ring and C&C Music Factory brawled
07:37with FTR before challenging them to a match at All Out.
07:40Hilariously, Christian is keeping his dead dad gimmick, but it's now somehow turned into
07:45a babyface pop.
07:46Wrestling really is weird.
07:48Darby Allin made some art out of the blood from his ear when Mox stabbed him with some
07:51scissors, a hell of a sentence to write on paper and say out loud on a YouTube video.
07:56He challenged him to a match at All Out.
07:57Mox then had a fantastic match with Daniel Garcia, where Danny had some lovely tributes
08:01to Nigel McGuinness before he inevitably turns on him, and got some great near falls with a
08:05Dragon Tamer and a Piledriver.
08:06He survived a DDT on the steps and the count out spot, but Mox got a roll up win.
08:10An awesome match that did way more for Garcia than his entire TNT Championship run did, and
08:15it really felt like Mox was impressed to the idea of recruiting him into the group the way
08:19that the Black Ball Combat Club used to.
08:21Wheelie Uta didn't seem too much into that idea, of course, and he turned down Darby's
08:25All Out challenge on behalf of Mox.
08:27He was back out to the ring after the break to get some local heat before he was beaten down
08:30by a returning hook and his brand new music in the same building that made his dad famous.
08:35The TNT came out that after the show went off the air, AEW honoured Taz and will hang his
08:39name in the building for the rest of the residency.
08:41MJF cut a promo on Hangman Page saying that he will sign the contract eventually, only this
08:45time it won't just be for a match, but also for Hangman Soul.
08:50And Chris Stattland had teamed with Harley Cameron to beat Megan Bain and Penelope Ford.
08:53Statt and Bain brawled after the match and Willow Nuttigale ran out for a TNT save.
08:57Sadie's Monet cut a promo about looking to win a tenth title and beat Ultimo Dragon's
09:01record, what about Nina Samuel's record though?
09:03And Mark Briscoe revealed he's got a new baby and will be back next week to face Carl
09:06Fletcher for the TNT Championship.
09:08Your weekly party match saw JetSpeed teamed with Brodida to take on the Don Callis family
09:13of Hechicero, Josh Alexander, Kanasuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada.
09:16And blimey, that's a good lineup.
09:17This was built around the tensions between Okada and Takeshita, but Alexander got the win
09:20for his team.
09:21Likely because Hangman Page came out to cut a promo and Don Callis, himself no stranger
09:25to the ECW arena, said that a member of the family will be coming for his title next.
09:30Hangman was beaten down by Rocky Romero, Alexander, Lance Archer and Hechicero before JetSpeed
09:34ran in for the save and Kenny by God Omega ran in to even the odds.
09:39One of the best teams in AEW history then hit their Buckshot B-Trigger combo to take out
09:44Archer and Stantall.
09:45If I was a betting man, I'd say it would be Takeshita next for the title at All Out, which
09:49will then spin off into a Kestra and Okada over the Unified Championship and then Kenny
09:52can face Page at full gear.
09:55They later announced that Hangman and Omega will team up with JetSpeed to take on the
09:58Don Callis family and the Young Bucks.
10:00Yep, Hangman and Omega vs the Bucks next week.
10:05The Ops retain their trio's titles over Ricochet and the Gates of Agony via interference
10:08from MVP, the Hurt Syndicate brawled with them afterwards, and the main event saw Darby
10:11Allen beat Claudio Castagnoli in a brilliant Balls Count Anywhere match.
10:15This was wild.
10:17Darby was shopping carted like he was Bam Margera in 1999, he coffin dropped off a Pugs
10:22that was way high in the air, and Claudio tossed him like he was Spike Dudley from the
10:25ring into the commentary table.
10:27It was awesome.
10:28I Am The Table meant that Claudio had to hit Darby into one even harder the second time,
10:33but Darby hit a series of coffin drops for the win.
10:35The Deathriders beat him down afterwards, but Gabe Kidd failed, which means Darby Allen escaped.
10:39A really fun edition of AEW Dynamite with three superb matches and a great reunion of Paige
10:44and Omega.
10:45Now, so many complain to Oli at Forbidden Door that I don't do number ratings for reviews
10:49anymore because, honestly, I don't really believe in them and, even more honestly, people
10:54just complain whatever score I give.
10:56So, I'm going to introduce the greater slash lesser than system and tell you, just in
11:01my opinion, that this week's Dynamite was greater than last week's Dynamite.
11:05I don't know if I did that the right way around, actually.
11:07If you didn't go yesterday, go please check out our podcast review of the Snyder Cut of
11:10Justice League over on Cutscene, which Oli really, really liked.
11:14Back to the movie, not the review, although I think he liked the review as well.
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