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00:00CM Punk calls out fans, aka stalkers, on release WWE stars' attitude issues behind
00:16the scenes, shucky ducky quack quack, and my review of yet another 3 hour long AEW Dynamite.
00:22I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:28WWE is currently on an international tour, doing a run of SmackDown, Crown Jewel and Raw
00:35in Australia over the weekend, and now two live events in Japan.
00:38This means lots of airplane travel and hotels, and members of the public can often figure
00:43out which airports and accommodation in which the roster are staying.
00:47This appears to have led to CM Punk posting on his Instagram stories.
00:51We unfortunately have to have this conversation again.
00:54Do not turn up at airports.
00:56Do not show up at hotels.
00:58I cannot believe I have to say this.
01:01Do not follow people.
01:03You've repeatedly been politely told no.
01:05Respect it.
01:06You are not a fan.
01:08You are a stalker, and will be treated as such.
01:11Respect the boundaries.
01:13Stop harassing people.
01:15Phil, I wouldn't call what I did harassment.
01:17I'd call it trying to make us best friends forever that I know we're destined to be.
01:21Please be my friend.
01:22This seems to be very different from the airport behaviour Punk called out in his 2011 pipebomb
01:26promo, where he called out grifters who, at 5 in the morning at the airport, you tried
01:31to shove collector's cups in my face so you can get an autograph and tried to sell it
01:35on eBay because you're too lazy to get a real job.
01:38Within the 14 years since, toxic parasocial behaviour has escalated significantly across
01:44all fandoms.
01:45In wrestling specifically, there's been plenty of recent high profile examples, including
01:49the attempted kidnapping of Sonya Deville in 2020.
01:52That same year, a stalker visited Soraya's home, the former Paige in WWE.
01:56In June this year, Liv Morgan's stalker was arrested by police.
02:00Roxanne Perez and Alexa Bliss have also been vocal about online harassment.
02:04While back in August, Rhea Ripley posted her own experience being mobbed by fans before
02:09Clash in Paris.
02:10Remember, we are people.
02:12Do not swarm me or anyone like a pack of rabid zombies.
02:15No one should ever be pushed up against an Uber driver's door and completely mobbed like
02:20I just experienced.
02:21Use common courtesy and humanity, no means no, WTF.
02:27Just before last Saturday's Crown Jewel show, it came out that 12 wrestlers had been released
02:31from their WWE contracts.
02:34While there were some recognisable names, like former NXT North American Champion Wesley
02:38and Bloodline Family member Lance Anawai, the majority were developmental talent who hadn't
02:43yet made it onto NXT.
02:45Fightful Select reported that many of these cuts were just the natural progression of cycling
02:50out developmental talent, i.e. not every college athlete or indie wrestler WWE sign is going
02:57to work out.
02:58One of these names was 26-year-old former amateur wrestler Brayden Jesse Ray, who got the WWE
03:04name BJ Giggity.
03:05He first joined WWE in May 2024, and has featured on both seasons of the LFG show.
03:11To put it kindly, he had a divisive personality, and he often clashed with his coach Bubba Ray
03:17now.
03:18Booker T, another coach on that show, has revealed more about BJ's attitudes behind the scenes.
03:22A guy like BJ Ray, he had the looks, he had the swag, the charisma, but everything else he
03:34definitely was lacking in.
03:35So there again, guys, your clock is ticking.
03:38Know how to figure it out.
03:40The same way BJ Ray was on television, he was that way off television.
03:44He can't be that way.
03:46For what it's worth, since his release, BJ has been tagging AEW CEO Tony Khan on Twitter,
03:52asking him to call him.
03:53Before I get into the AEW Dynamite review, we've got some exciting news.
03:58From tomorrow, the 17th of October, you will be able to watch the Sabu documentary on our
04:03Patreon at Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk.
04:07Earlier this year, the homicidal, suicidal, genocidal, death-defying maniac Sabu wrestled
04:12a retirement match against Joey Janela in GCW.
04:16Director Joe Clark started filming him a year beforehand in the build-up to capture what
04:20the man, or the myth, was really like.
04:24Tragically, shortly after his final match, Sabu passed away.
04:27We've been working with the director Joe Clark and producer Rob Van Dam over the last
04:32few months to screen the documentary for all of you, and you'll be able to watch it
04:35from tomorrow on the $6.50 tier on Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk, along with all the
04:41episodes of Monday Night War.
04:43And if you upgrade to the $11.50 tier, we've got an exclusive interview with me, Luke, Joe,
04:48and RVD, and an exclusive director's commentary on the movie too, where, I'm not kidding,
04:54we talk a lot about Sabu snorting a line of coffee granules.
04:57You'll also get all the other Patreon videos on that tier too, like exclusive tables, lists
05:02and shares, worst matches ever, special podcasts, and mine and Luke's current TNA deep dive series
05:08on aces and eights.
05:09Join us over at patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk to get all that this weekend.
05:13And now here's my review of AEW Dynamite in about 5 minutes.
05:18While I love AEW and its wrestling, I feel like Dynamite has gone three hours by stealth.
05:23The last month of special editions, 4-hour blocks and bumper, Collisomite episodes has
05:28sometimes made the pacing feel both rushed, because they're trying to fit a whole collisions
05:32worth of feuds on the same night, and the quality diluted, because the quantity has increased.
05:37Nowhere was that better seen than Excalibur running through about 100 matches at the start
05:42of this show.
05:43Hopefully post-wrestle dream, Wednesday nights can settle down again.
05:45The starting segment had a fun backstage interview with Toni Storm and Chris Statlander, and a Rene
05:50Paquette exasperated with them both being so over the top.
05:53Chris said she's still evolving into her final form, and Toni said on Saturday they'll
05:57find out.
05:58The truth.
06:00Which I thought for sure was going to set up an X-Files reference from Statlander.
06:03It didn't.
06:04They both then stormed down to the ring, and respectfully took turns hitting each other to build their
06:08match at WrestleDream.
06:10The Hurt Syndicate, for the first time in AEW, actually suffered a pinfall loss, as GOA finally
06:16beat Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin.
06:18The thing is, it didn't feel like anywhere near as big a deal as it should have done,
06:22mostly because it was Ricochet lamely cheating to give Bishop Khan the win, and this will
06:26likely all be forgotten about when the Syndicate win the Tornado trios match on Saturday, presumably
06:31ending this feud.
06:32The best thing on the show happened next, with the movie style vignette of Jon Moxley and
06:36Darby Allin having a promo segment… in a prison visitor booth.
06:42Moxley as usual just cut the greatest promo you've ever heard, talking about how neither will
06:46quit, that he's never lied to Darby, and that Allen's true enemy isn't him.
06:50It's all Darby's ghosts.
06:52And Darby promised to shove the AEW flag he flew on top of Everest down Moxley's throat.
06:57Alright, I get it.
06:58You climbed Everest.
06:59You think you're better than me?!
07:01Pac then jumped Darby from inside the room and bashed him bloody against the protective
07:05scream.
07:06It felt like a Batman and Joker slash Riddler interrogation scene, and for me, elevated
07:11their feud to WrestleDream's biggest match, but I would say that I'm a DC mark.
07:16Claudio Castagnoli then beat Roderick Strong with an uppercut from out of nowhere, crucially,
07:21without any Deathrider's help.
07:23Probably because Marina Shafir is married to the opponent.
07:25But later on, Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia needed Claudio and Marina's help to beat
07:29Karl O'Reilly and Orange Cassidy.
07:31There was another great visual angle in the postmatch, as a bloodied Darby kept crawling
07:35down the ramp.
07:37Despite Claudio's running uppercut, then Pac's running kick, then Garcia and Yuta double
07:41teaming him, then Marina's knee, getting over how he won't give up.
07:46Mox then gave Darby a Deathrider onto the AEW flag.
07:49Again, I get it.
07:50You climbed Everest.
07:51I could climb Everest if I wanted to, I just don't have the time!
07:55In an excellent comedy segment, the family shoot-celebrated Don Callis' birthday at
07:59a restaurant, where the big birthday present was a Takeshita video message talking about
08:04how he won the IWGP Heavyweight title on Sunday.
08:07But I coulda turned off the TV mid-message.
08:11With the perfect delivery and timing, I pressed the wrong button.
08:15I'm so sorry.
08:17How is one of the best in-ring wrestlers ever also one of the greatest deadpan comedy performers?
08:24Also, Donde Esther Andrade?
08:26As a quick recap, Andrade left WWE in 2021, joined AEW shortly after, left AEW in 2023,
08:33joined WWE in 2024, was fired by WWE in September 2025 reportedly for numerous WWE wellness violations,
08:40and two weeks ago made a shock appearance in AEW, attacking Kenny Omega and joining the
08:45Don Callis family like everybody else.
08:48On the independent scene, several days after his AEW return, he won the Crash Heavyweight
08:52title, but he's not been seen anywhere since, even being pulled from some independent
08:57shows, and not furthering his feud with Omega, where they were expected to have a match at
09:02this Saturday's WrestleDream pay-per-view.
09:05Initially, everyone close to the situation was keeping tight-lipped.
09:09Silencio.
09:10Fightful reported that Andrade has signed with AEW, but the reason for his absence wasn't
09:15either AEW or Andrade's fault.
09:19Now the Wrestling Observer claims the situation is to do with the non-compete of Andrade's
09:24WWE contract.
09:25Usually, if someone is fired, no non-compete period applies, and you can show up anywhere
09:29you want right away.
09:31This is different from if you are released, where a 90 day non-compete is typically in
09:35place.
09:36That's why Andrade was able to show up on AEW TV so quickly.
09:40But it seems that following Andrade's October 1st return, WWE has sent AEW a legal letter.
09:47Even though people The Observer have spoken to in both companies believed there was no
09:52non-compete in place.
09:54This could just be yet another example of WWE screwing with AEW and stalling the momentum
09:59of a returning star.
10:01The newest member of the Don Callis family, Mark Davis, now bringing the faction headcount
10:05to 93, then tagged with Josh, Alexander and Hetracero to take on Kenny Omega and Jurassic
10:10Express.
10:11It was also to do with whether Kenny could trust Jack Perry after what he did to him.
10:21They neatly built to Kenny's hot tag showing he could work with him, and Perry saving Omega
10:25at points.
10:26Perry pinned Hetracero for the win, and then the Bucks ran down for a post-match brawl
10:30with Jurassic Express to build their match at WrestleDream.
10:33Jamie Hayter won via decapitation, beating Sky Blue with her hater aide Lariat.
10:37Tekla then cut a decent promo on the Tron, promising chaos in their singles match on Saturday, but
10:42they're a new Japan faction.
10:44Ultimo Manet put over her record-breaking 10th championship belt, and how she's now the
10:48longest-running TBS champion of all time.
10:51The Ops retain their trio's titles against LFI in a fun match, where reportedly, Roosh
10:56dislocated his elbow, rolled outside, popped it back in, and continued the match.
11:02Roosh is a tough bastard, Hangman Page was on commentary, so he got involved in the post-match
11:07when Roosh spat at him.
11:08I love how Roosh thinks he's the main character no matter where he's booked.
11:11And Samoa Joe shoved Hangman's world title to him, mirroring the angle that started their
11:16feud.
11:17This wasn't the super-hot go-home segment the world title deserves.
11:21This felt more like week two of their build.
11:23Which I guess it kind of is, because they only set this up relatively late.
11:26Megan Bain, FTR and Stokely Hathaway cut a promo on Willow Nightingale and Jet Speed,
11:31so the babyfaces appeared for the brawl.
11:33This went into a spirited performance from Harley Cameron against Bain, where she got
11:36a few near falls and even kicked out of Megan's fate's descent.
11:40Bain hit a running powerbomb to put her away instead.
11:43The acclaimed bickered backstage saying they're never going to tag again, so expect them to
11:47tag again.
11:48And the main event saw Mark Briscoe and Brodido beat Carl Fletcher, Lance Archer and Rocky
11:53Romero.
11:54Building both Briscoe's TNT title match against Fletcher, and Okada taking out the tag champions
11:59in the post-match to tease him teaming with Takeshita against them on Saturday.
12:03This week's Dynamite was a standard 72%.
12:06Remember to join Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk to watch the Sabu documentary this
12:11weekend, and click the video on the screen now to find out about what WWE originally had
12:16planned for Brom Brager, and how Seth Rollins will likely have to vacate his World Heavyweight
12:21title.