00:00For real reason, Andrade was fired by WWE, wrestlers have heat with top WWE management,
00:07Brock Lesnar tears a hole in his bum and more.
00:10I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:16In March 2021, Andrade requested his own release from WWE, after being unhappy with creative.
00:23At the end of 2023, Andrade didn't re-sign an extension with AEW amidst long-running
00:29reports of him being unhappy backstage.
00:31He would make his shock return to WWE in the following month's Royal Rumble match, where
00:36Luke and I both said, at the time, let's see how long it takes for Andrade to get just
00:40as unhappy with his booking and leave WWE.
00:43It was cynical.
00:44It was mean.
00:45And it was also about 18 months.
00:47Because on the 13th of September, Fightful Select broke that Andrade had left WWE.
00:53Andrade's last appearance was in the Too Many Men, Too Many Men, TLC Smackdown tag title
00:57match back on the 3rd of August SummerSlam.
00:59He wasn't on the internal injury list, despite not wrestling for the next six weeks, and hadn't
01:04even been backstage at Smackdown as of late.
01:07Something first seemed to be up when WrestleMobs on Twitter noticed that Andrade had been moved
01:11to the alumni section of WWE's roster page.
01:14Fightful sources then told them this was not part of a batch of WWE cuts, and that Andrade's
01:20departure had been in the works for at least a week.
01:24Andrade also affected immediate creative plans, which had Andrade and his tag partner Ray
01:28Phoenix booked to challenge the Wyatt Six for the tag titles at Clash in Paris in a spot
01:33that ended up going to the Street Profits.
01:36Which implies Andrade's release had been caused by something behind the scenes, and
01:40relatively recently.
01:42A number of talent in both WWE and AEW had no idea that Andrade had left, or was even leaving
01:49the company.
01:50So what happened?
01:51Bryan Alba was the first to shed some more light on the situation, writing in Sports Illustrated
01:55that Andrade hadn't been at TV tapings for nearly a month, and that he was effectively
02:00released by the company, and that the departure was not a mutual decision, i.e. he was fired
02:07by WWE.
02:08BW Insider quickly corroborated that, writing that Andrade's exit was the company's
02:13call, and that some had heard rumours as far back as SummerSlam that he wouldn't
02:16be with WWE much longer.
02:19Wrestling Observer Radio then revealed the real reason Andrade was given a Spanish archer,
02:24which is to say, the elbow.
02:26He was not fired until today, but a couple of weeks ago there was a disciplinary thing,
02:31and all I know is, it was at a TV shoot and he was told to go home, and he's not been
02:35used since.
02:36Dave Meltzer explained it wasn't drug, alcohol or marriage related, perhaps a reference
02:41to his divorce from fellow SmackDown star Charlotte Flair, which had been finalised last October,
02:46but that whatever it was, it was enough for WWE to take the serious step of sending him
02:50home.
02:51Does not happen often these days.
02:53Apparently the people who knew the reason expected him to not be brought back.
02:58Like a quickly unravelling mystery, this brought another report from John Alba.
03:02Alba revealed that Andrade had at least one wellness policy violation since he returned to
03:07WWE in January 2024, which means he either tested positive for a substance banned by WWE, or he
03:14failed to produce a test sample.
03:16This led to him being suspended without pay, which is usually 60 days for a second fail.
03:21This was actually Andrade's second wellness policy violation overall, as in his previous
03:26run with the company, he was suspended for 30 days in January 2020.
03:30WWE has stopped publishing wellness policy violations since they merged with TKO in September
03:352023, which is why Andrade's second instance wasn't public knowledge until now.
03:41Alba corroborated the incident that got him sent home in mid-August.
03:44Andrade was told to leave a taping last month, and was escorted out of the building.
03:49A high level source asserted this dismissal from the building was in relation to his most
03:54recent suspension, and that it affected major creative plans for his tag team with Rey
03:59Phoenix.
04:00Perhaps the situation could have still been resolved, but Andrade was too busy being Tranquillo,
04:06as according to Corey Hayes of Bodyslam.net, WWE had tried to get in touch with him for
04:11several weeks, but he was unreachable.
04:13That means in just over five years, Andrade has violated WWE's wellness policy in 2020,
04:19requested and been granted his release from WWE and joined AEW in 2021, got in a backstage
04:26fight in AEW apparently in an attempt to get fired from AEW in 2022, didn't sign a contract
04:33extension at the last minute so left AEW at the end of 2023, rejoined WWE in 2024, got
04:40a second wellness policy violation and suspension for 60 days, created some form of backstage
04:45incident that was serious enough to get sent home for, and then fired by WWE in 2025.
04:52With a run of attitude issues like that, he'll find it very difficult to get work in a major
04:56wrestling promotion again.
04:57Psych, it'll be super easy, barely an inconvenience.
05:01Meltzer noted in his report that one of WWE's plans for Andrade was to use him as a star in
05:06AAA.
05:07PWInsider, however, claimed this was never pitched in WWE.
05:10If it was, though, perhaps it could all still weirdly work, as he could be rehired under a different
05:15contract for that purpose.
05:17Especially because if the WWE acquired AAA don't, the other Mexican promotion, which
05:22is AEW affiliated, likely definitely will.
05:26One of the biggest wrestling success stories of this year is CMLL, who has run packed out
05:30Arena Mexico shows every Friday night in 2025.
05:34And having an innate sense of both controversy and business, MJF, who has been feuding with
05:39Mystico in the promotion over the summer, has publicly called Andrade out.
05:43Hey yo Andrade, I'mma be in Mexico beating the ever-loving shit out of Mystico in front
05:49of all your broke-ass countrymen.
05:50Let me know if you want to grab a margarita before I hop on my jet to Toronto to whoop Mark
05:55Briscoe's hillbilly ass.
05:57Despite Andrade leaving AEW under bad circumstances, Tony Khan has made sure to talk positively about
06:03him in interviews since.
06:04Fightful claims that, despite his behind the scenes behaviour, AEW wanted to retain Andrade going
06:10into 2024, but it was him who left.
06:13However, apparently, no bridge is truly burned in AEW.
06:18So he could still make a return there, giving Bea Priestley a run for who's jumped between
06:21companies the most.
06:22Before I get into the rest of the news, here's a very special message from Turbo Jack, who's
06:28looking very muscly I must say, like the guy's been working out.
06:32Good work, Turbo Jack.
06:34I made his wrestler Turbo Jack, and you can't spell Wrestle Palooza without Turbo Jack.
06:42Turbo Jack's waiting on that call, Trips.
06:44Got the boots laced up, the spandex on, the cocaine snorted.
06:49Turbo Jack's ready.
06:51I can't spell.
06:52That WWE vs AEW ain't the only war in wrestling.
06:56Right now, over on Parts For Known, the new series of Monday Night War.
07:01With Luke vs. Oli vs. Dan, the truth laden has just begun.
07:07And you can watch the weekly TV episodes on Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk.
07:12That's Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk.
07:15Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk.
07:19And if you pledge at the $60 tier, you get a shout out from Turbo Jack.
07:23Right here on the WrestleTalk News, like Big Jiggy Josh Martin, born to do it, Evan Shibley,
07:30John's better brief for your brother, James Morrison, the abominable Michael Abbott, the
07:34ring rust warrior Rustich, the machine gun Alex Anderson, he's a sexy man.
07:40I'll land you gross man.
07:44Meanwhile, elsewhere in Mexico, Mr Iguana had a match.
07:57It's Mr Iguana!
07:58He's got an Iguana!
08:00Yes, Dominic Mysterio beat the Kingo to become the AAA Mega Champion at Friday's Worlds
08:04Collide Show, making him a double champion along with his Intercontinental title belt.
08:08But the true main event was between The Judgment Day's Finn Balor and Roxanne Perez against
08:14Lola Weiss and Mr Iguana.
08:17Which turned into a six person slash puppet match when Mr Iguana's Lajeska had a crazy
08:22suicide dive on Balor's Demon Ito.
08:24Balor has now updated us on Demon Ito's condition, poor Ito is banged up and bruised
08:29and on the way home for some much needed rest and recovery.
08:32Which reminds me, WWE released Mr Iguana puppets last week.
08:36Now, I couldn't order one from the US site, annoyingly, so I had to order one from a European
08:40based place called DefinitelyRealWweMerch.net.
08:47I can't wait!
08:48I love officially licensed products and how closely they match the real thing.
08:51I love it!
08:52I'm Mr Iguana!
08:53I've got an Iguana!
08:55And here's what Andrade could have won news.
08:57Rey Fenix got a star making singles performance against Sami Zayn on Smackdown on Friday in the
09:02second US title open challenge.
09:04And it turns out, this Rey Fenix is pretty excellent.
09:08Oh wait, sorry, I've got a phone call.
09:11Looks like it's me from 2020.
09:13Yep, hi there, me from 2020.
09:15Yep.
09:16Yep.
09:17Mm-hmm.
09:18Oh yeah, I've known that for five years!
09:20If Sami keeps this up and isn't just filling time until the Solo Sokoa rematch, this open
09:24challenge could be one of the best things on WWE TV.
09:27The show opened, however, with Brock Lesnar being interrupted by the serious mean wrong killings.
09:32Oh no, sorry, I actually mean total comedy character R-Truth Ron Cena.
09:37So that whole release thing was worth it.
09:39The best part was Brock ripping his jeans in the ass when he hit an F5, which wouldn't
09:43be the last ass-based wrestling of the night.
09:46Jay Cargill and Tiffany Stratton had a much better match than their Summerslam one, but
09:49WWE didn't want to beat either woman, so he got a double count out draw and then an
09:53Ion Jax beat down, and Drew McIntyre beat Randy Orton in the main event, which led Cody
09:57Rhodes to make the save and challenge Drew for a match at Wrestle Palooza.
10:04Which Drew replied to on Twitter, The Rock wants Cody's soul, I want his ass.
10:10The ass, Bill.
10:12The ass.
10:13In more WWE bridge burning news, MVP has appeared on the Chris Van Vliet show to explain why
10:18he left WWE.
10:19Initially, he spoke about how much he disagreed with Vince McMahon shutting down the Hurt business,
10:24even though MVP and Bobby Lashley begged him to keep it going.
10:27But even though Vince was gone by the time MVP's contract came up for renewal last year, he
10:32knew he wouldn't agree with the new people in charge either.
10:35I made it very clear that I don't want to be there anymore.
10:38There are people there in management that I dislike immensely.
10:42A person.
10:43And I wouldn't even bother to get into that.
10:45It's people Mike Bailey.
10:46But I just knew that with certain people in charge, and that's how the wrestling
10:49game is, that's how life is, I don't care where you work, when management changes,
10:54some people are out, other people are in.
10:56And I knew it was time to go.
10:58I wasn't going to re-sign.
10:59I was in Bobby's ear constantly like, don't re-sign, Sheldon got released, don't re-sign,
11:05let's you, me and Shelton get back together, let's go to AEW.
11:09Oddly, Jake Hager, the former Jack Swagger in WWE, has also revealed he has heat with top
11:15WWE management.
11:16When he was asked about returning for a Royal Rumble cameo on Sportskeeda's WrestleBinge,
11:21he answered, I sincerely doubt it, I don't think they like me very much.
11:25When he was asked more specifically who he meant by, they, Hager answered, whoever books
11:29the Royal Rumble, I think we all know who MVP and Jake Hager are talking about.
11:35That politicking son of a bitch Chris Parks, god damn he seems like such a horrible person
11:40behind the scenes.
11:41Exciting news, the brand new season of Monday Night War begins today.
11:46And this time it's not just Oli vs Luke, it's Oli vs Luke vs the returning Dan Layden.
11:52Yeah!
11:53And they all got a bit too silly and came up with a ridiculous theme for the series.
11:58You can watch the draft day episode by clicking the video on screen now, yay!
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