00:00WWE changed the name of the NXT and TNA show, claims that WWE demanded someone from ESPN
00:08be fired, my review of NXT and more.
00:11I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:17There's been a lot of changes in WWE in 2025, some of which have not been met with
00:22the best of receptions from fans, and now even some of their own talent are kicking
00:28off at changes.
00:29Now, I don't want to frighten you all too much here on a Wednesday, so this is a fair
00:34warning of what I'm about to put on screen.
00:37Who TF is this?
00:39The new render of Bayley used to hype her match with Raquel Rodriguez was quickly mocked on
00:44Twitter because it's horrible looking, prompting Bayley herself to post that it makes her look
00:48like her Aunt Joan.
00:49When more people reposted the image Bayley tweeted, and whose ass ass ass am I whooping for putting
00:55this up?
00:56Come on, I got friends watching me on Netflix, even posting images she'd been sent of
01:01said friends watching on Netflix making fun of the picture.
01:04Now you listen here WWE, in this house we respect Bayley, and I think you should do the same.
01:11I sure hope that someone got fired for that blunder.
01:14Speaking of people demanding other people to lose their jobs, and a mad rumour spread online
01:19yesterday that WWE were so upset at ESPN's Andreas Hale C-grade review of Wrestlepalooza,
01:27that they asked for him to be fired.
01:29Now this all stems from Hale himself talking about the review he gave while speaking on
01:34Off The Ropes, where he said a lot of people were shocked that ESPN would grade a show on
01:39their own network as average, bad.
01:43Some even called for my job.
01:45Others said I was tweeting about AEW earlier in the day and called me a shill.
01:49The bigger issue is that if we can't be honest about how a show really is, then my
01:54journalistic credibility is at risk.
01:56My grades mean something.
01:58I also grade UFC and boxing.
02:00If I gave everything an A, what would it mean?
02:03People have to stop thinking a C is horrible.
02:06It's not.
02:07I'll never watch Wrestlepalooza again.
02:08I don't care to.
02:09But it wasn't the worst thing ever.
02:11For something that promised epic moments, it just fell short.
02:14The key part of that quote is when he said, some even called for my job.
02:19Some websites aggregated this to mean that fans wanted him to be fired.
02:22Frankly, a mad thing to do.
02:24Please do something more constructive with your time.
02:26While others aggregated that it was WWE themselves that wanted him fired.
02:32Which, according to Sean Ross Sapp, is not true at all.
02:35In the Fightful Q&A, someone asked if the rumors that WWE asked for Hale to be fired were true,
02:40and SRS replied, I asked Andreas Hale directly,
02:43and he said it wasn't true.
02:45I asked higher ups in WWE, they said it wasn't true.
02:48He adds there are plenty of things WWE hasn't liked that myself or other people have reported
02:53or said, but to their credit, I've never heard them complain about a fair review dating back
02:58the 10 years I've been reviewing shows.
03:00He also points out that WWE would get sued if they got him fired over a bad review.
03:05And with regards to the shows getting good, bad or indifferent reviews, SRS writes,
03:09WWE do not care that much.
03:12The latest season of the Monday Night War rolls on over at Patreon.com forward slash
03:15WrestleTalk where I'm taking on Oli Davis and Dan Layton in three-way 2000 action.
03:20And part of the gimmick is we're only allowed to listen to music that was released
03:24between the years of 1997 and 2001, which has led to moments like this.
03:29Right, seven minutes on the clock, they haven't played a power card yet, they don't even remember
03:33it's there because they're too old.
03:34Go, okay.
03:36I get knocked down, but I get up again.
03:38I get up again, I get up again, I get up again, I get up again, I get up again, I get up again, I get up again, I get up again.
03:45It's not the singing, it's the fact that one of them is like 0.3 of a second ahead.
03:48You've got an issue with timings haven't you?
03:50Speaking of 2001, and at no mercy Ava announced that next week's episode of NXT would be a special
04:12NXT vs. tier name themed episode called Invasion, the name of the 2001 pay-per-view that saw WWF take on
04:19The Alliance of WCW and ECW. It's among WWE's most successful non-Wrestlemania shows of all time.
04:26However, if you watched last night's NXT, you'll have noticed that the Invasion name has been changed
04:31to Showdown, whilst retaining the font and red letter gimmick of the Invasion branding.
04:36WrestleVotes had tweeted ahead of NXT that the name was going to change and didn't provide a reason,
04:41and now it may be clear why. On Monday Sky News Arabia posted a video on Twitter reporting that
04:47WWE had angered Israeli fans by using the name Invasion, as the show would take place on October
04:547th, the second anniversary of Hamas's attack that killed over a thousand people.
04:58An article in Israel Heymon wrote that the name is viewed as extreme insensitivity, adding it raises
05:04questions about who in the organisation is responsible for this preposterous decision. Someone posted to
05:10Twitter that the red V on the Invasion logo is similar to the upside down red triangle that Hamas
05:16uses their symbol. The user then noted that they looked into it and realised it was just an old
05:20logo from 2001 and that it was just an unfortunate coincidence. Another poster on Twitter, however,
05:26called the name Tone Deaf. Whether this is the real reason for the change or not, WWE and TNA
05:32deleted all mentions of the show being called Invasion from their websites and social media shortly
05:38after these reports. And TNA's Santino Marella said during the opening segment of this week's NXT
05:43that this isn't an invasion because the two sides have been working together for years,
05:48this is simply a showdown. One would imagine the next week's NXT will see a boost in the ratings due
05:53to the nature of the show, but the same cannot be said for Raw following Wrestlepalooza. Usually,
05:59WWE would see a bump in viewership following a PLE, particularly one as hyped as Wrestlepalooza. However,
06:06this is football season and it's having its usual effects on Monday Night Raw,
06:11as Netflix's Ta-Dum report claims that the September 22nd show got 2.3 million global views
06:18and 4.5 million global hours. That is a record low for global viewers,
06:23being the previous low set by the September 1st episode, and a record low for global hours watched,
06:29previously held by the June 30th episode. WWE and Netflix have been trying various start times with
06:34Raw to battle against football season, which appeared to work for the first week, but hit
06:39them on this week's episode, built around the showdown between Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes,
06:43as well as Asuka vs Rhea Ripley. The Detroit Lions vs. Baltimore Ravens game that Raw went
06:48head to head with did 22.9 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. The Wrestling Observer reports
06:55that this new low for Raw is about 28% down from what the show was doing on USA Network this time last year.
07:03But it's Wednesday, you know what that means. It's time for my review of NXT.
07:07New NXT Champion Ricky Sainz opened the show to put over his title win at No Mercy,
07:11but was interrupted by JC Jane, who said they've got bigger fish to fry in the form of TNA not
07:16doing an invasion angle on their show. Ava came out to make them the team captors of their respective
07:21Survivor Series elimination matches, and said the main event of this week's show would be them
07:25revealing the lineups for Team TNA and Team NXT for both the men and the women. Santino Marella came out to
07:31announce that he can't trust TNA Champion Trick Williams to be his captain, so he's picked Mike Santana.
07:35However, he can trust newly crowned TNA Knockouts Champion Kalani Jordan, despite being an NXT star,
07:41and made her his team captain. This is where Marella announced that this wasn't an invasion,
07:46and instead it's a showdown. But never mind that spit, Leon Slater was on NXT this week,
07:51and to show that this really isn't an invasion, they've been working together fine all this time,
07:56a match was made against The Culling, where TNA Slater would team with NXT's Siobhan Evans.
08:01Once again not realising the homecoming episode was weeks ago now, Lyra Valkyria was on NXT again
08:05this week to give Tatum Paxley a doll. Jada Parker beat Lash Legend in a decent match,
08:10and the men's locker room argued about who should be on the team after Trick Williams
08:13made himself the co-captain of Team NXT. He suggested to Saint that they should do Miles
08:18Bourne vs Josh Briggs for a spot on the team. Over in the women's locker room,
08:22Jane set up Fallon Henley vs Lola Vice for a spot on her team. Ethan Page came out to cut a promo
08:26on Dr. Wagner Jr, but instead got TNA's Mustafa Ali, who noted that he was supposed to get a shot
08:33at the North American Championship before he was released by the company. So he's politicked his
08:39way into a title shot for Showdown next week, they had a brawl, and Ali stood tall. Miles Bourne beat
08:44Josh Briggs to earn his spot on Team NXT when Matt Cardona stopped Briggs from using a chain to cheat,
08:49and Kaladi Jordan spoke to Jordan Grace about being the new Knockouts Champion. They did some
08:53comedy with Joe Hendry, or Joe Henry as Jordan Grace called him, and Santana said he couldn't
08:58trust Joe or Grace as they can't seem to decide if they're loyal to NXT or TNA. Lola Vice beat
09:04Fallon Henley to get a spot on the team, and Laney Reid revealed what WWE.com had already spoiled,
09:09that she helped Jane win at No Mercy, and that she took out Jasmine Nix on last week's show.
09:13Siobhan Evans and Leon Slater beat the Culling in a very fun match that I kind of wish had given
09:18more shine to Leon Slater, but he did pick up the win with the Swanton 450. The main event of the
09:23show was Ricky Saint naming his team as himself Trick Williams, Miles Bourne and Siobhan Evans,
09:28and Santana named his team as himself Frankie Kazarian, Moose and Leon Slater.
09:32Jane named her team as herself Sol Rooker, Lola Vice and Jada Parker, and Kalani named herself
09:37the Inspiration, and Mara Sade, the former Jakara Jackson, and NXT as Team TNA. Yep,
09:44Team TNA is being represented by a current NXT star, two former WWE names, and someone who was on the
09:50WWE roster just a few months ago. Really is a fitting tribute to the Alliance team during the
09:55Invasion. There was a big brawl, and Vic Joseph then asked Booker T, who was WCW Champion during
10:00the Invasion PPV in 2001, if he's ever been a part of anything like this before. Yeah he was,
10:06at Invasion, when he was WCW Champion. The women's side of Team TNA aside, this was
10:11a fun setup for next week, and I'm stoked for the episode. It's going to be so much fun,
10:16and this whole episode being built around picking the teams was really very enjoyable. It was
10:22greater than last week's episode. Now head on over to Patreon.com forward slash
10:26WrestleTalk Your Crazy Kids to check out the latest episode of the Monday Night War, and watch the Draft
10:30Day episode which is on screen right now. If you haven't already, click on it right now,
10:34get started! Join us on Patreon!
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