00:00WWE concern over the bloodline, WrestleMania moving to Saudi Arabia, and my review of AEW
00:07Dynamite.
00:08I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:18With Cody finishing his story, the Attitude Era vibes returning, and Michael Cole's
00:23cathartic commentary, WrestleMania 40 told us one thing.
00:28Paul Levesque's a great guy, and always has been.
00:32The Booker T racism storyline, being behind the Montreal Screwjob, burying a decade of
00:36young wrestlers and politicking backstage, that was all Triple H, totally different person.
00:42But sometimes a little bit of Hunter comes out in Levesque, like calling Fightful and PWInsider
00:47not credible sources when asked about Drew Gulak's release in the post-Backlash media conference.
00:52WWE apparently felt immediately bad, slash saw a strategic error and wanted to keep the
00:57main wrestling media outlet Sweet, and privately apologised to Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp.
01:02Sean said he wanted a public apology, accompanied by a selection of fine French cheeses.
01:09So WWE Fair Play did exactly that.
01:12With SRS posting a picture on X of a cheese board from Fairfield Greenwich Cheese Company,
01:18and a handwritten note signed by Triple H, Nick Khan and more, stating how much they appreciate
01:24his work.
01:25E-Damn!
01:26That was a close one.
01:27Always fetter to be safe than sorry, I guess.
01:30Ultimately though, well done WWE, that was a really mature move.
01:34Backlash didn't just have Levesque burying wrestling news sites, it also saw the WWE return of Kamacho,
01:50or Tangaloa to you New Japan hipsters.
01:52Him joining Solo Sokoa's new blood, Lime Faction, was a big surprise.
01:56Not just because everyone thought he was still in New Japan, but because another Anowai family
02:02member just recently signed with WWE, the former MLW World Champion, the Samoan Werewolf,
02:09Jacob Fatu.
02:11Despite joining WWE over a month ago, though, he hasn't yet been seen on TV.
02:16And according to WrestleVotes, it's because WWE is concerned about him outshining his real-life
02:23cousin Sokoa.
02:25Sources suggest that Solo Sokoa's recent aggressive streak is part of a strategy to
02:31establish him as THE main force within this new phase of the bloodline, ahead of Jacob
02:38Fatu's debut.
02:39However, some trepidation remains within creative over fear that Fatu's presence could outshine
02:46Solo at this stage.
02:48But I can't wait to see Solo and Jacob eventually clash in the main event of WrestleMania
02:5342 live from the beautiful, progressive city of Jeddah.
02:59Oh my god, it's so progressive!
03:02Or should I say, Cheddar?
03:05Turkey El-Sheik, the chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority, has announced
03:09an enhancement to the long-running WWE Saudi deal that would come later this month, and
03:15that he's hopeful it will involve a major premium live event like the Royal Rumble, or
03:21WrestleMania taking place in the Kingdom.
03:24The announcement might come during WWE's next show in the country, the King and Queen
03:28of the Ring event happening on the 25th of May.
03:31But now it's time for my review of AEW Dynamite in about 5 minutes.
03:35The show started with Edge in a cold open, setting up his Cope Open, announcing his TNT title match
03:42main event against Brodie King will be under no DQ rules, and the same Elite-focused opening
03:47credits as last week.
03:48But the biggest new addition to the start of the show was this woman's bosom, who flashed
03:53her bra in the opening few shots.
03:55Boobs!
03:56The Attitude Era really is back.
03:58The opening match saw the first in-ring fight of one of Dynamite's main mid-card feuds,
04:03Trent vs Orange Cassidy.
04:05They had a fun match, with brawling through the crowd and Don Callis adding an extra layer
04:09on commentary, stepping in for Taz.
04:11Trent seemingly had it won with two piledrivers and a running knee, but his need to cheat got
04:15the better of him.
04:16He was caught exposing the top turnbuckle, which let Cassidy expose his own turnbuckle
04:21to send Trent into it and win with a roll-up.
04:24But a roll-up isn't a definitive end to a blood feud, so Trent continued the beatdown with
04:29a piledriver on the steel steps, until Chris Statlander and Don broke up.
04:33Broke it up, with Callis walking Cassidy to the back.
04:36I'm really intrigued to see where this goes, as I just can't imagine Cassidy in the
04:40Callis family.
04:41The Elite were then shown arriving backstage, parking in Tony Khan's space, and we heard
04:46from Kenny Omega sitting in the ER room, where he announced at Double or Nothing, where AEW
04:51started, it'll be the Elite in an Anarchy in the Arena match against Team AEW of FTR and
04:58two mystery wrestlers.
05:01Serena Deeb then somehow cut a wooden promo about real emotion.
05:04She explained she'd been away from wrestling so much in the last year because of unexplained
05:08seizures.
05:09Tony Storm was the complete opposite presence, being great and goofy on the mic.
05:15Feels like they're telling totally different story styles.
05:17Deeb knocked Storm out, though, meaning Mariah May was all alone for her next match against
05:21Harley Cameron.
05:22Cameron looked pretty decent in her first AEW match for over a year, helped by the smoke and mirrors
05:27of Soraya's interference, and May wrestling really well.
05:30Mariah Won was beat down by the heels afterwards, Mina Shirakawa made the save, but they didn't
05:35kiss this time.
05:36They just drank champagne.
05:38I guess that means a tag team match is incoming.
05:41All this stuff isn't really connecting with me.
05:44After an over the top hype package for the Elite, produced by The Elite and obligatory local
05:49sports team Heat and Drake vs Kendrick Lamar references, Swerve Strickman went face to face
05:54with his world title challenger Christian, where Swerve's own faction turned on him.
05:59Christian Cage.
06:00Bryan Cage.
06:01It was right there in front of our eyes all along.
06:04Father and Son.
06:06Strickland had promised last week he wouldn't come alone next time he was confronting the
06:09patriarchy, and he'd brought out his own embassy faction.
06:13A faction who, depending on storyline requirements, do or don't accompany Swerve in his feuds.
06:18Back last week when Cage was definitely on the show, I saw him wrestle Claudio, but he
06:23didn't help Strickland when the patriarchy were tearing a braid off his head.
06:27At least the embassy turned somewhat explains away that kayfabe awkwardness.
06:31I hope this means we can now go back to what got Swerve over so much in the first place.
06:36Him being a badass sicko tweener, not an underdog odd stacked against him face.
06:41In the next two weeks of Double or Nothing build, I want him to horribly get revenge on
06:45everyone, which might eventually include the Elite, as Christian thanked them afterwards
06:49implying the embassy turn was their idea.
06:53It foreshadows a mouthwatering clash down the line where the Bucks are softening up Swerve
06:57for Hangman to return and beat him.
07:00Rocky Romero got a match against Jay White next, where if he won, Tony Khan told him he'd
07:04get a shot at the Bang Bang Gang's trio's titles.
07:07So on this show we've had Omega, the Bucks and Tony Khan all making matches.
07:13That's too many authority figures.
07:15Hopefully the main event angle will sort this out.
07:18Romero is so good he got the crowd into his nearfalls, but White beat him in the end.
07:22Pac made the save from a Bang Bang beatdown afterwards, implying Pac will find two random
07:26luchadors to join him in a trio's title feud.
07:29Just a quick side note here.
07:31Have you ever seen Pac this dry?
07:33It's weird.
07:35Chris Jericho and Big Bill beat local enhancement talent, where Bill did most of the work.
07:38I can't believe I'm going to say this, I'm actually enjoying Jericho's gimmick now.
07:43Oh no.
07:44Does that mean I too am getting sucked into the Jericho Midcard Vortex?
07:48He said the wrong city on purpose in his promo, and set up Hook's return for next week.
07:52We got a cool video package on Samoa Joe where he's even scary when he's training.
07:57Copeland and Brodie King had a terrific TNT title match, with King's face covered in
08:01blood off an Impaler DDT on a chair on the apron.
08:04So that's two weeks of making people bleed for Edge, if only he had a vampire gimmick
08:08to bring back.
08:09Copeland speared King off the apron through a table outside.
08:12He did the thing.
08:14Now do it again, but on fire.
08:17And won.
08:18But try telling that to Brodie, who just sat up afterwards and kept beating Copeland up.
08:22Kyle O'Reilly made the save, but it was just so he could get himself a TNT title match
08:26in his hometown on this Saturday's Collision.
08:28Malakai's pre-produced promo before this was the best kind of House of Black, putting over
08:33how he believes Copeland is inherently evil, but he covered it for a family life.
08:38He wants to nearly kill him to unleash his true self.
08:41Now, I thought that was the end of the episode.
08:44Main event match finishes.
08:45On the two hour mark, that's your dynamite.
08:47Instead, though, we got an eight minute overrun that felt like the last hour of Return of the
08:52King.
08:53I just thought every segment was going to be the last one, but it kept on going.
08:56There was that O'Reilly-Edge match set up backstage.
08:59Mercedes responded to Willow's promo from earlier, saying she is ready for a match.
09:03It's been two months since your debut, if you're not ready for now, when will you be?
09:06And then the Elite came out for a whole in-ring segment.
09:09Thankfully, just like the last two weeks of closing angles, it was awesome.
09:13Okada said get well soon to Kenny, and Matthew used CM Punk's line about Tony Khan
09:18being the best boss he ever had, despite having to beat him up.
09:21FTR interrupted to reveal who their two Anarchy in the Arena teammates were, kinda getting
09:26several weeks of storytelling crammed into one, unveiling Eddie Kingston and Bryan Danielson
09:33for a big pull apart brawl.
09:35Eddie was a welcome surprise.
09:36He's one of my favourite wrestlers, so I'm excited whenever he's on TV, let alone a main
09:40event storyline.
09:41And the reveal of Danielson was the best kind of shock, that levelled up the whole feud in
09:46a way you didn't even know you wanted.
09:49As I mentioned earlier, there are currently three sets of kayfabe authority figures booking
09:53AEW.
09:54The Bucks, Kenny and Tony Khan.
09:56This Anarchy in the Arena match should decide who gets overall control of AEW from Double
10:00or Nothing onwards.
10:02This week's Dynamite is 73%.
10:04Remember Cody Rhodes, though?
10:06He helped start AEW.
10:08Watch me tell his whole story in The Rise of Cody Rhodes by clicking the video on the left.
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