00:00A WWE star quietly leaves, AJ Styles looking to leave too, Phenomalala, and my review of
00:07Monday Netflix Raw.
00:09I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:16After over a decade away from the company, AJ Lee made her WWE return on last Friday's
00:21episode of SmackDown, reuniting with her real-life husband CM Punk, which you can see in this
00:27photo of Punk with AJ Lee.
00:32Get it?
00:36That image was, of course, a joke.
00:39But it reveals a more serious reality behind the scenes in WWE, and that the toxic legacy
00:44of Vince McMahon still lingers.
00:46You can't have too many people with the same name at the same time.
00:50Because as soon as AJ Lee returns to the company, AJ Styles is reportedly looking for work elsewhere.
00:57Coincidence?
00:58Probably yes.
01:00Styles has frequently said in interviews that he wants to be done with in-ring wrestling
01:04by the time he turns 50.
01:06He's currently 48.
01:08His WWE contract was originally supposed to expire earlier this year, but because of time
01:13missed due to a foot injury, Fightful Select has now reported his deal will be up around
01:18February 2026, making him available for the Royal Rumble, but not for WrestleMania season.
01:24According to the report, WWE would like to keep him for longer.
01:28Leaning into this report about his contract time running out, Styles posted an image of
01:33a phenomenal hourglass on his Instagram with the caption, Time is not up yet.
01:39To which former WWE star Karrion Kross replied,
01:41Uncle Alan, I will turn that hourglass upside down, don't you dare leave us!
01:46It was all a word for Karrion Kross to come back with the KILLER COMMUNITY to feud with
01:50AJ Styles confirmed.
01:51But it was another comment on that post that got everyone talking.
01:55It was from AJ's own son, confusingly called AJ as one word, not letters, who replied to
02:00a comment saying they felt that Triple H was disrespecting Styles with his booking, saying,
02:06You ain't the only one, man.
02:08The comment has since been deleted.
02:10Aside from saying Becky Lynch is the greatest to ever do it, Sports Illustrated have also
02:14reported that before re-signing with WWE on his most recent extension, the one that takes
02:19him to February next year, AJ was putting out feelers for a career outside of WWE.
02:27Specifically, it was noted he was generating major interest on the convention circuit from
02:32promoters, and it was mentioned that the interest was mutual and at least exploratory.
02:38The article doesn't know whether this included wrestling for any promotions outside the WWE
02:43umbrella, as TNA doesn't count.
02:45In 2019, Styles was originally planned for the debut episode of AEW Dynamite with the
02:50Good Brothers, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, but they all chose to stay with WWE, and we
02:55got Jake Hager instead.
02:57A fair exchange!
02:59So in true WWE in 2025 fashion, it looks like they're turning this into a work shoot!
03:05On last night's episode of Raw, AJ cut a promo during the commercial break before his match
03:09against El Grande Americano.
03:12For the first time in my career, I've got no one watching my back.
03:15Gallows, Anderson, they're not here.
03:17Meechan, she's on SmackDown.
03:20It's like someone orchestrated a way for me not to win anymore.
03:24Not to have help.
03:25I'll let you make your own conclusions.
03:27By the way, we are here right now and all over the world, but everybody is in a commercial
03:31break.
03:32I'm telling you something that you're probably not supposed to hear.
03:36But somebody doesn't want me here.
03:39So what we're going to do is we're going to beat the piss out of Grande Americano tonight
03:43so that the person that doesn't want me here anymore can feel a little bit of his
03:47pain and mine also.
03:49Before you get too excited, this is most definitely WWE scripting a work shoot promo to lean into
03:56the reports over AJ's future.
03:57They even uploaded the whole promo to their YouTube channel as a standalone video entitled
04:02AJ Styles GOES OFF ON MONDAY NIGHT RAW OFFICIALS.
04:08Do you think we'll see AJ Styles in AEW by next March, or will he see out his career
04:13in WWE?
04:16But from the gay community to the gay meat, Sarah Logan is ready to join AEW right now!
04:24Back in June, when it came out that WWE wasn't renewing R-Truth and Carlito's contracts,
04:28there was another name that came out that was leaving the company.
04:31Valhalla, aka Sarah Logan.
04:35She announced the news herself at the time.
04:37It was the end of her second run with WWE, where her real-life husband, Eric of the War
04:42Raiders, still works.
04:44But despite that news breaking in June, it is only now she's officially left the company,
04:49with her profile being removed from the current roster page and placed in the alumni section.
04:54Before I get into my Raw review, order my book!
04:57This is my debut fiction novel, which you can order by clicking the link in the video description
05:01below.
05:02It's about a Manosphere podcaster who becomes way too popular and threatens to destroy the
05:07very social fabric of the world.
05:09But don't just take my word for it, take some of the reviewers, because people who
05:13have no idea who I am are now reading this book because they're buying it on Amazon,
05:17and they're leaving reviews.
05:19Like this one that says, it's sort of like listening to someone high on weed having a
05:24scientific conversation with someone tripping on LSD.
05:28Now it's time for my review of Monday Netflix Raw… in about 5 minutes.
05:37Everything is totally fine on WWE commentary.
05:39No one is angry at Wade Barrett, we promise.
05:42He's just taking some time off.
05:44Joe Tessitore and Corey Graves will be the announcing line-up for the short term, which
05:47hopefully means Wade will replace Corey when he's back from his planned time off, slash
05:51vicious blood feud with the Bellas.
05:54After their reunion at the end of last week's show, Jimmy and Jey Uso opened this episode
05:58together, meaning Jey got to share the eating load and didn't get as tired as usual.
06:02It does seem Jimmy has officially moved from SmackDown to Raw, along with LA Knight and
06:07AJ Lee, while SmackDown has got Sami Zayn and Brock Lesnar.
06:10The Superstar Shake-Up lives!
06:12What are the rules, what are the rules, what are the rules?
06:19They were interrupted by The Bronze, and they all set up a tag match for Wrestle Palooza.
06:23LA Knight then ran down to attack Reed and Breaker, setting up a match between him and Bronson
06:27for the main event.
06:28Because he cut a promo about wanting to fight a Bron.
06:31Any Bron.
06:32It could be Charles Bronson.
06:34Anyone with Bron in their name.
06:36But surely not Bron from the Land Before Time.
06:39But best of all, he kept his tension with Jey's simmering.
06:42Jey thought night was the cause of him getting laid out in the opening segment, which would
06:46pay off in the most interesting Bloodline development in ages.
06:50AJ Styles cut that work shoot promo in the ad break, and then overcame El Medio Americano interference
06:55to beat El Grande Americano.
06:57I really loved the Grande Americano gimmick when it first started, but it's frustrating
07:01how directionless it's become.
07:03It might be a record, everybody.
07:05We were 45 minutes into an episode of Raw before we got a judgement day segment.
07:10It was Raquel Rodriguez beating Lyra Valkyria clean in a very decent match after they clashed
07:14backstage last week.
07:16Despite being on the main roster since 2022, Rodriguez has really settled into her giant classification
07:22over the last several months, and Lyra worked the match perfectly to accentuate it, needing
07:26multiple attempts to hit moves.
07:29Lyra will face Roxanne Perez next week, which I guess is a reward for losing.
07:34The most anticipated segment on the show didn't disappoint, as AJ Lee skipped down to the ring
07:39with Becky Lynch's Intercontinental title still round her waist, where she cut her first
07:44promo since her return, introducing us to those who weren't here ten years ago.
07:49She's your favourite wrestler's favourite wrestler, but she retired a decade back because
07:53she'd accomplished everything she'd wanted to.
07:56And also because she was stuck in an increasingly hostile feud between her employer WWE and her
08:00husband CM Punk, but don't mention any of that!
08:03Instead, oddly similar to Punk's AEW debut promo, AJ spoke about how she left to get herself
08:09mentally healthy.
08:10Getting pops for the word therapy in mental health awareness chants not seen in a wrestling
08:14crowd since MJF got ADD over.
08:17Becky interrupted, screaming for her title back, telling a guy in the front row to shut
08:21up and revealing a black eye behind her sunglasses.
08:24For me, Becky has been by far the best thing in this entire storyline so far.
08:30Her heel character is the best in the company right now.
08:33She accused Punk of hiding behind his wife and then brilliantly, hypocritically brought
08:38out her husband Seth, who played it more straight with Becky being so over the top.
08:42It was much funnier that way, as he tried to calmly ask, seeming like a bloke stuck in a
08:47really difficult situation for his wife's championship belt back.
08:51AJ said only if they all have an intergender tag at Wrestlepalooza.
08:54Punk appeared to try to GTS Seth, so Rollins screamed that they accept.
08:58This is by far the best built match on the PLE so far.
09:02Bayley got another promo with the two voices arguing in her head.
09:05She wants to make it right for Lyra.
09:07Penta and Rusev both wanted shots at the Intercontinental title, so Piers booked a match here, players.
09:12The New Day distracting Penta let Rusev get the win.
09:14Rusev is still struggling to get over with the week to week audiences, and Penta takes
09:18another loss.
09:19This is a real waste of them both, considering the anticipation for them at the start of the
09:24year.
09:25Almost as if Wade's criticism of whether Diva's era Nikki Bella could hang with the current
09:29day women's division took physical form, Asuka then kept kicking her in the head.
09:33This match was made after Asuka jealously stopped Nikki from talking to Io, and she tapped her
09:37out.
09:38Asuka would later square up to Rhea Ripley backstage again.
09:41The Io Sky-Stephanie the Kerr contract signing segment was weirdly postponed, with Piers vaguely
09:45saying Stephanie wasn't available, but should be there for Wrestlepalooza.
09:50And Dominik stormed off from the judgement day after Finn Balor criticised him relying on
09:53El Grande Americano again.
09:55But the best thing on the whole show for me was the Usos' narrative weaving throughout
09:59the night.
10:00Firstly, Jimmy wanted Jay to help Knight in the main event, but Jay said he's not going
10:04to back LA up because he's not his problem.
10:07To which Jimmy replied with the excellent line, you don't sound like yourself, you're
10:12starting to sound like Roman.
10:14Jay then stormed off.
10:16This character shift can be traced back to Roman's advice to Jay before Clash in Paris,
10:20where he told him to stop being so selfless all the time.
10:23And in more long-term character-motivated storytelling, Knight told Jimmy he doesn't want his help
10:28because Jimmy cost him winning the title from Roman back at Crown Jewel 2023.
10:33Knight wrestled Reid in the main event, but really, he was taking on two men, with his
10:37eye constantly flicking towards Bron Breaker on the outside, letting everyone, even back
10:41in row Z, know that Knight is outnumbered here.
10:44And after a decent match, Breaker's distraction let Reid hit a Death Valley driver to win.
10:49And then came the post-match angle.
10:51Jimmy ran down for the save first, but Breaker speared him.
10:54So Jay, even though he'd said he'd left the building, ran down too, but Breaker speared
10:59him as well.
11:00The heels were setting the Usos up for a double Tsunami, which is the equivalent of 48 Tornado
11:04DDTs if you're keeping track at home on the Tsunami equivalency scale, but LA Knight made
11:09the badass save with a steel chair.
11:11So far, so pretty fun.
11:13And a pretty standard finale for an episode of Raw.
11:15It's roughly the same ending of Raw we've had for about three months.
11:19But then Jay speared Knight.
11:22Even though Knight saved both Usos, and even checked on Jay to make sure they were cool,
11:27Jay still laid him out, and Jimmy asked him what the hell he was doing.
11:30It's the bad Roman on his shoulder that's sending him down an increasingly heelish path.
11:34And it's the most interesting Jay has been since he left the bloodline.
11:38This week's Raw is 77%.
11:41But what went wrong with Matt Riddle?
11:44After no showing an independent wrestling event, he released the scathing statement online.
11:47It's the latest incident in a controversial behind the scenes career.
11:50Click the video on screen now to watch me and Luke dive into the whole story.
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