00:00I'm afraid. I really do believe this. Punk's gonna win. Punk's gonna go into a feud with
00:05Roman Reigns. They're teamed together at War Games, and that's the matchup mania.
00:10Punk versus Roman. They just switched Seth and Punk out.
00:14Should we lay it down now then? So if we're gonna say, should the Saturday Night's main
00:19event match be Bronn versus Punk for the vacant World Championship, I'll put a tenner on now,
00:24Bronn wins.
00:25I want Bronn to win.
00:27Yeah, I know you do.
00:28But put it there, the tenner is back on.
00:33So Luke owes me £10. I'm Oli Davis and this is the WrestleTalk News. Although it's not like a
00:39normal WrestleTalk News episode, this is more of a WrestleTalk shoot. Because while everyone else
00:45seemed to really enjoy the 20th October episode of Raw with its four championship matches, its tag
00:50title change, its battle royale main event, I have a serious problem with WWE. And it's not that
00:58ticket prices, the Saudi Arabian business relationship or Brock Lesnar coming back, although those all
01:02are valid things to be annoyed about. It's just that they've all been going on for quite a while
01:06now, and it's exhausting to feel the same level of outrage months or even years into something.
01:10Sportswashing, it's sports effective. But while my problem is a new one, it's also
01:16literally an old one. Because WWE don't appear to be making Bronn Breaker the World Heavyweight
01:23Champion anytime soon. Yes, I know, this sounds really entitled. Oh, WWE aren't making my
01:30favourite new wrestler the World Heavyweight Champion. Hear me out.
01:33The 13th October episode of Raw ended with Breaker shockingly turning on Seth Rollins, effectively
01:38replacing the established leader of the Vision faction. This was because Rollins had actually
01:44picked up a serious shoulder injury in his crown duel match against Cody Rhodes two days
01:48beforehand. He could reportedly be out of action for at least six months, so WWE announced on
01:54the 20th Raw they were stripping him of his World Heavyweight title. A World Heavyweight title
02:00that was now on Breaker's shoulder, after he stole it following the betrayal angle.
02:06Seth's injury was catastrophic to WWE's long term plans. He was likely going to beat CM Punk
02:13at the next big show Saturday night's main event. He was going to captain a Vision team
02:17against the Bloodline at Survivor Series wargames. The pencilled-in match for WrestleMania 42 was
02:23him vs Roman Reigns, a singles match three years in the making. Nay, 12 years in the making.
02:31It was speculated that a year after the Vision faction first formed, Breaker was reportedly
02:37going to betray Rollins then. The rest of 2026 would be the continued rise of Breaker,
02:42going into a reported feud with Brock Lesnar. The rest of the Observer said WWE planned
02:47to have Braun as one of their top stars by 2027, but that is a year and a half away.
02:54When Breaker, who will turn 28 this month, will be entering his 30s. Hold onto your calculators,
03:02nerds, because now we're going to talk numbers. And that numbers don't lie. There's a statistic
03:09that no Men's World Champion in WWE has been born post-1990. Of the eight World Heavyweight
03:15Champions since it was introduced in May 2023, taking the age the wrestler was when they won
03:21it, Seth 36, Drew 38, Damian Priest 41, Gunther 36, Jey Uso 39, CM Punk 46, the average champion
03:33is 40 years old. The WWE Championship this decade has been similar at 41 years old.
03:40Compare this to the Attitude Era, which is historically seen as a period when WWE was pushing younger
03:46talent. Some of this was out of necessity, because all the older talent like Hulk Hogan
03:50and Randy Savage had signed big money contracts with WCW. But it was also arguably WWE's greatest
03:57advantage at the time. They had to push new, fresh wrestlers. Wrestlers who could push sports
04:03entertainment forward with a new style and tone. From 97 to 01, the oldest champion on
04:09winning it, not including Vince McMahon, was Bret Hart at 40. The average champion age now
04:16is the oldest champion in the whole of the Attitude Era. Stone Cold was 33, Kane was 31, Triple
04:23H was 30, Mankind was 33, The Rock was 26, The Undertaker was 34. I didn't even know The
04:32Undertaker was ever 34. The average age of a top champion in WWE in the Attitude Era was
04:3932 and three quarters, over seven years younger than the average age today.
04:44And if you remove the Vince part of the 2020s from the WWE Championship, so only taking the
04:49time Triple H was in charge of booking, that belt's average age increases to 42. The rough
04:56average age of a WWE World Champion from 97 to 2022, which is Vince's reign, was 34 years
05:03old. Triple H's since he took over in 2022 is 41. A full seven years older. Compare this
05:12to the women's division right now, which skews significantly younger at 33 and a half years.
05:17A division that feels really fresh. Triple H could have taken a bold creative risk. There's
05:23a theory that the best time to push new stars is when you're in a boom period, giving the
05:28younger talent the rub from the established veterans. Triple H has arguably done that, building
05:34stars like Jey Uso Gunther and Damian Priest, but they were all still in their late 30s, early
05:3940s. Meaning they won't have the two decades left in their prime like someone in their 20s.
05:45Fate had almost forced Levesque into that position, rushing ahead the Breaker betrayal angle because
05:50of Seth's injury, and laying out a clear creative path before them.
05:54Brom wins the vacant title by beating CM Punk, he takes Seth's place and captains a team
05:59at Survivor Series Wargames, hell, have him retire John Cena, and then beat Roman Reigns
06:04and Brock Lesnar in 2026, then going into a feud with a returning from injury Rollins.
06:10For a moment, on Monday Night Raw, it felt like that could happen. The show opened with
06:14Breaker interrupting Adam Pearce's announcement that Seth was being stripped of the title.
06:19Brom still had the World Heavyweight belt over his shoulder, bullying Pearce before he
06:23handed it over. The only reason he did give it back, of course, was because he knows it's
06:28returning to him very soon. As him and his insurance policy, Bronson Reed were announced
06:34for the Battle Royal Main Event, where the winner would face CM Punk for the vacant title at
06:39Saturday Night's Main Event. But then, creatively and explicably, Piers later pulled both of
06:45them from the match. And when Heyman broke the news, albeit with a pep talk, Bronson just
06:51nodded, smiling, saying, I guess we've got a lot to learn. Which is Triple H essentially
06:57saying the quiet part out loud. He doesn't think Bronson is ready to be a top champion
07:02in WWE. He's still got a lot to learn. Keep paying your dues, kid. Bide your time.
07:09This is the follow up to the shocking Breaker Betrayal angle. Not cementing a new top star
07:14in Bronson, but back to the upper midcard for you and you be thankful about it. Because
07:18that actual Saturday Night's Main Event direction is 46 year old CM Punk vs 40 year old Jey Uso.
07:26My opening bet with Luke was that Breaker would take on Punk for the vacant belt. He had to,
07:31right? That's what the angle was setting up. But I cynically said Triple H wouldn't
07:35take the risk on moving his plans forward, and Punk would win that belt. He would then
07:40go into a Mania program against Reigns. A much safer, already established mainstream appealing
07:46match. I didn't think Breaker would never actually make it to Saturday Night's Main Event.
07:51I'm not saying this creative isn't good. WWE have been building a subtly tense Bloodline
07:56story for months, with Jey becoming more and more like the bad side of Roman Reigns and
08:00less like his own twin brother Jimmy. And having Jey eliminate Jimmy in the closing moments of
08:05the battle royal to win the number one contender's spot is a great next chapter. But I am saying,
08:11this creative is safe. Conservative. Unchallenging. Which has been the main criticism leveled at
08:17WWE TV since WrestleMania this year. WWE chose not to take a risk, and I think in the long
08:25term they're going to regret it. What do you think about the follow up booking
08:28for Breaker? Let me know in the comments down below. It's especially bad because the other
08:32top star WWE are investing time in will be missing the next few months.
08:37Jacob Fatu, 33 years old, was written off TV on Friday's SmackDown, where he was taken
08:42out backstage with some work teeth on the floor. His scheduled opponent Drew McIntyre denied
08:46any involvement, setting up a fun whodunit angle that will pay off sometime in 2029.
08:51And PWInsider is reporting that a dental procedure could put Fatu out of action for the next few
08:57months. This is particularly bad for November 30th's seemingly cursed War Games match,
09:02where Fatu was booked to team with his Bloodline brothers of Jey and Roman, although Bryan Alvarez
09:07is reporting Fatu might be able to make it back in time for that. This is the second potential
09:12huge change for that match, as Seth, the Vision's originally planned leader, is of course out
09:17for an estimated six months. Before I get into my Raw review,
09:20here's a very special message from Rob Van Dam.
09:25Dude, it's your favorite wrestler's favorite wrestler, Rob Van Dam. Here to say,
09:32Dude, check out the Sabu documentary. It's available now at patreon.com slash WrestleTalk. While you're
09:42there checking it out, go ahead and sign up for some special features, such as the director's commentary
09:50track with Joe Clark and me, RVD. Also check out the shoot interview with Ali and Luke at
09:59patreon.com slash WrestleTalk. The rest of Raw, outside the breaker follow-up,
10:04was actually really good. In just their second title defense in 111 days, The Judgment Day lost
10:10their titles to AJ Styles and Dragon Lee in a fantastic last few minutes, with JD breaking up an awesome
10:16phenomenal forearm near-fall, and then Dragon Lee breaking up an even better coup de grace one.
10:21AJ got the winning pin on Balor with the Styles Clash. It was so good, it almost made me forget
10:25that they were setting up a totally different workshoot storyline about management having issues
10:30with AJ just several weeks ago. Almost. Dominic Mysterio had another fun IC title defense,
10:36being a great underdog babyface to Rusev's brutish strength. He used his wiles to win again,
10:42this time using the hammer as a ref distraction to kick Rusev in the nuts.
10:45It was smart booking to have Maxine Dupree get her women's IC title shot in her hometown of Sacramento.
10:51The crowd was super hot for her from the start, and she wrestled really well again,
10:55particularly with an impressive neck bridge out of an armbar. Becky's frustrations boiled over,
10:59though, and she got herself DQ'd using the belt, meaning we'll have another rematch.
11:04Asuka and Kairi Sane took credit for breaking Rhea Ripley's nose in Japan,
11:07and then said they're coming for the women's tag belts. Lynch then confronted Heyman backstage,
11:12calling him a penguin-faced prick, and vowed that Seth will have his revenge.
11:17I'm really glad they tied up that loose end and Becky played her part perfectly.
11:21Stephanie Vaquer overcame Raquel Rodriguez's interference to beat Roxanne Perez in a decent
11:25match. Nikki Bella made the babyface save in the post-match beatdown because they're best
11:29friends, you know. Remember? Just a few months ago, when Nikki couldn't even pronounce Vaquer's name
11:35correctly. This all looks like it's building to a predictable Nikki heel turn, a match with Vaquer.
11:40This week's Raw was very good, but I'm so disappointed in the Breaker Betrayal follow-up.
11:45It's a 67%. Now click the video onscreen now to watch our review of AEW WrestleDream. Did Jon
11:51Moxley vs Darby Allin go too far? Or not far enough?
11:56We're very good, guys.
12:05Be excited.
12:07We might be revered from the company behind the with signal side.
12:15V admit.
