00:00Multiple WWE names heading to AEW, Smackdown frustrations with Fox, my review of Monday
00:07Night Raw, and more. I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:17Say it with me now, 2024 is the year of contracts. It was revealed last month that Ricochet would
00:22be leaving WWE once his contract was up, and he was written off Raw in an angle with Bron
00:27Breaker. There was talk that Ricochet could come back for one more angle, but that now
00:31seems off the cards, as he was moved to WWE's alumni section ahead of his contract expiring.
00:37The timing of this had many fans holding their breath for a shock-forbidden door debut, however
00:41Fightful Select have reported this wouldn't have been possible, as Flippy Trev's WWE deal
00:46actually expired yesterday on July 1st. Despite this, Fightful Select reports those from both
00:50WWE and AEW expect Ricochet to join Tony Khan's company. But don't expect an all-in match with
00:56Will Ospreay. If he does, that reportedly is not the current plan.
01:01Despite Ricochet exiting WWE, Fightful Select did confirm that Samantha Irvin will continue
01:05with the company. Unlike Ricochet, Natalya is still with WWE, with her deal long reported
01:10to be up this summer, potentially the end of July.
01:14And in a development that is sure to get the rumour mill turning, Fightful Select revealed
01:18that Natalya was not backstage at last night's Raw. According to their report, WWE have been
01:23very quiet internally regarding Natalya's contract status, however the two sides have
01:28been in talks regarding a new deal. As of yet, there is no word on how those talks are going,
01:32with it only have been said that WWE are hopeful to keep the veteran. SRS noted on his Raw review
01:38podcast that he does expect Natalya to re-sign. However, numerous talent and staff in AEW reportedly
01:44want to see the company sign Natalya, with Mercedes-Monnaie even alluding to her wanting a certain
01:49girl and her husband to move to AEW in a recent interview, referring to Natalya and TJ Wilson.
01:56Dijak, like Ricochet, is now officially a free agent following his WWE contract expiration on
02:01June 29th. While Ricochet's AEW debut at Forbidden Door was a pipe dream, some didn't expect to see
02:07Dijak show up. After all, the former T-Bar showed up at a Blitzkrieg Pro event on the day his deal
02:12expired. While he didn't show up at Forbidden Door, it has now been reported by PWInsider that Dijak
02:18was backstage for the show. Something confirmed by the man himself on Twitter,
02:21replying to a Tony Khan tweet by thanking the AEW president for having him there.
02:26There's one more name who could be linked to AEW, the unlikeliest of all, Shane McMahon.
02:31Jim Ross said on his podcast recently that he'd spoken with Shane O'Mac about coming into AEW,
02:36but Tony Khan downplayed the rumours saying he's not spoken to the man. And now, according to PWInsider,
02:42Shane was seen speaking with TBS champion Mercedes Monet at an airport in Queens, New York. While
02:48there was no confirmation as to what was being discussed, PWInsider are saying that it was AEW
02:54related. Who would you like to see show up in AEW the most? Let me know in the comments below.
02:58While the June 28th edition of Smackdown was, yet again, another great show,
03:02it was plagued by some annoying censorship issues, with the expletive crowd chant being
03:07muted and the screen cutting to black when a child flipped off Nia Jax. Now that's heat, brother.
03:12SRS on Fightful's Backstage Report podcast noted there was frustration among talent due to the
03:18censorship, with the feeling that they cannot wait for the show to begin life on the USA Network
03:22later this year, where they hope this will be a less frequent occurrence. Before we jump into the
03:27Monday Night Raw review, here's a clip from yesterday's Monday Night War where...
03:31Well, this happens.
03:34S*** and f***!
03:40I have noise cancelling headphones on. That's how loud this breakdown is.
03:45Actual s*** and actual f***!
03:48F***!
03:52Actual s***!
03:54F***!
03:56F***!
03:56F***!
03:56F***!
03:57F***!
03:57F***!
03:57F***!
03:58F***!
03:59F***!
04:00F***!
04:01F***!
04:02F***!
04:03F***!
04:04F***!
04:04F***!
04:05F***!
04:05F***!
04:06F***!
04:06F***!
04:07F***!
04:08F***!
04:09F***!
04:10F***!
04:11F***!
04:12F***!
04:13And hey, if you like video game related things, why not subscribe to Control Freaks?
04:16Get the little card up there, it'll take you right to it!
04:18Now it's time for my review of Monday Night Raw, aka, I guess the go-home edition for Money
04:22in the Bank edition of Monday Night Raw, in about five minutes.
04:26The show opened with Jey Uso coming out to say he'll be Mun Yeet in the Bank this weekend.
04:31Yes, Money in the Bank is this weekend, I can't quite believe it myself.
04:34And Chad Gable came out to tell Jey that Yeet isn't a word.
04:37Now, I hate to be a contrarian here, Mr Gable, but I've checked dictionary.com and it appears
04:42that Yeet is a real word. It reads an exclamation of enthusiasm, approval, triumph,
04:47pleasure, joy, etc. No wonder your academy fell apart.
04:50However, miracle is a word I didn't need to look up, and Gable said it's a miracle that
04:54he's alive and well. He said that the Wyatts will be coming after Jey next because he also
04:59abandoned his family and they had a brief brawl. Chad however found that he was surrounded by the
05:03Wyatts before he left through the crowd, and Abby gave a new VHS tape to Michael Cole.
05:07Disappointed it wasn't a mini-disc as Oli Davis predicted, but still cool nonetheless.
05:11Xavier Woods beat Karrion Kross in a short match, and Final Testament laid out both guys afterwards,
05:15with Kross seemingly breaking Kobe's arm. Dominic Mysterio got caught in a lie when
05:19he told Damien Priest that Rhea Ripley was all cool about what was going on,
05:23because Priest revealed he's actually spoken to Rhea and she's pissed about what's going on.
05:27Uh oh. They went into the judgement den to find Liv hanging out with the rest of the crew,
05:31and excused herself. Finn suggested to Priest that she join the group,
05:34then got into an argument about Damien's comments from last week's Raw about him not
05:38needing judgement day. Finn told him that since he's won that world title, you've changed man.
05:42After a wonderful tribute video to Seeker, we got Zelina Vega vs Liv Morgan for the Women's World
05:46Championship, which got pretty good by the end, and the crowd got super into the closing few minutes,
05:50especially with all the sports entertainment nonsense of Dom and Rey Mysterio coming down
05:53to the ring and getting involved for the finish. They did such a good job of this that it did look
05:57like Vega might win the title at one point, but Liv used an accidental Dom distraction to hit
06:02Oblivion for the win. Better than expected, but that does not excuse WWE's lack of build for
06:06challenges in their women's division. After that two minute preview for the WrestleMania 40 documentary
06:11that airs tomorrow, Seth Rollins came out for a promo where he said he needed to win that title back.
06:15Priest didn't come out, and instead Balor came out to attack Seth. However, Priest did come out
06:19and said that wasn't their plan. After some brief miscommunication, Priest laid out Seth with the
06:23South of Heaven and helped Balor to the back. He later told him to not get involved in his match
06:27this weekend. Ludwig Kaiser cut a promo revealing that he's broken his ribs but will be back soon,
06:32and Zoe Stark beat Ivy Nile and Dakota Kai in a triple threat to qualify for Money in the Bank.
06:36Now, I would imagine that the internet was a little bit upset about this, especially after Kai had that
06:41emotional plea on Twitch to just be given a chance. But I think that this does work for the breakdown
06:47of Damage Control's storyline that they've been playing up for the last few weeks. Granted,
06:51I don't think that Zoe Stark is an inspired choice for the ladder match, but that's more on WWE's lack
06:56of building for credible world champion contenders than the talent themselves. Now look, I also tried to
07:01find a way to crowbar in a Limp Bizkit lyric when talking about Damage Control, but I just could not
07:05do it this week. I'd have had to re-arrange the order of the words. So there's Wyatt's, huh?
07:14We got the second Wyatt's VHS, which was a lot like the one from last week, and saw Bo said that
07:18this is a real family and the reason they've targeted Chad is because he's abandoned his.
07:22After some fun camera trickery, Bo fully became Uncle Howdy once again, the voice and embodiment
07:27of The Reckoning. This again was really really cool, and I want to put over the editing in particular,
07:32because it's spectacular. Chad approached Otis in the enjoys nice catering section,
07:35and said that the Wyatt's would come after him next, and if they do,
07:39he will have their backs, because Otis is his number one. Gah!
07:43I thought this was a great wrinkle to the story and the characters of the Academy.
07:46Rey beat Dom after the inverse of the world title match, as it was Liv and Vega that came down for
07:50the distractions and interference. Liv saved Dom from the 619, but Rey dropkicked his son to land on
07:55top of Liv in the missionary position and she wouldn't let him off. Dom eventually got crotched on the top rope,
07:59and Rey hit an innovative 619 and dropped the dime for the win. Good stuff. I was sports entertained.
08:04Sami Zaynk had a promo on Bron Breaker, and Bryn Bruckle said that while everyone else is scared of
08:08him, Sami actually had the guts to challenge him to a fight. Sami said that many have tried to break him,
08:13but he always gets back up, and maybe Bron isn't as good as he thought. Bron went to leave,
08:17but quickly turned into a spear. And in what was the best thing on Raw in probably a decade,
08:22he then ran around the ring for another one, but Sami leapfrogged over him, and they continued to brawl.
08:27It was awesome. He then tried to throw a halluva kick, but Breaker speared him once again and held
08:31the title above his head. Of all the segments on Raw, this was the best build for the PPV this weekend.
08:37Damage Control got into a brawl with Lara Valkyria and the Party Girls,
08:40they'll have a match next week, and the main event saw Drew McIntyre qualify for Money in the Bank by
08:44beating Ilya Dragunov and Sheamus in a great match. Much like My Sex Life, the action was hard,
08:48fast, physical and did not disappoint. Drew hit the Claymore for the win, and cut a promo saying
08:52that he would leave Money in the Bank as world champion. Last week I suggested that maybe Punk
08:56could screw Drew in the ladder match, but I really liked an ultra chat we got on the Rust Talk podcast
09:01that said it would be better if Drew won and Punk screwed the cash in, because then it would be
09:07the third world title that he screwed him out of. And I like that so much more. Plus, of all the guys in
09:14the match, Drew feels like the only one who could actually feel like a credible world title challenger
09:18right now. It capped off a fine edition of Monday Night Raw, which is your usual Triple H
09:22uninspired go home show, which means it'll be a banger of a PPV this Saturday. I'm not usually one
09:28for clock watching, but around 50 minutes of wrestling just isn't enough for me. Under an hour
09:33of graps on a three hour show is not the one, this week's Raw is 3 out of 5. Now click the link on
09:38screen to watch this season of Monday Night War from the very start.
09:42Welcome to the Monday Night War.
09:44Charlotte Flair calling out. F**k me running.
09:47Call out promo for you didn't work.
09:48Nope.
09:48Two call outs for you didn't work.
09:49Yeah.
09:50And both of mine did.
09:51Uh, come on, come on, come on.
09:54I want a giant man.
09:58Don't we all?
10:00100k bonus. Nope.
10:05No!
10:05No!
10:06Then she went, all right, bye then.
10:09She just walked out!
10:11What are you, everyone f**king?
10:12What are you talking about with your engines?
10:13You're not seeing everybody else that's not on the show!
10:16I scrambled to make that show because I didn't have enough people.
10:18Are you f**king high?
10:19She's 90 popularity!
10:21I'm talking about she's stamina!
Comments