00:00WWE stars unhappy over Seth Rollins' work, how bad is Naomi's injury, my review of NXT,
00:07and more.
00:08I'm Luke Owen and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:12It's little more than a coincidence that Hulk Hogan passed away shortly after the anniversary
00:17of Bash at the Beach 2000, one of the biggest creative blunders of WCW's rich history
00:22of creative blunders.
00:23It's also a coincidence that anniversary coincided with WWE attempting something similar
00:29with Seth Rollins at Saturday night's main event, where he did an injury angle designed
00:33to work everyone, including talent, so that he could cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase
00:37at Summerslam and win the World Heavyweight Championship from CM Punk in the Ruse of the Century.
00:43Oli and I did a big podcast covering the Bash at the Beach incident, but in short, Vince
00:47Russo, Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan hatched a plan to work everyone into thinking Hogan
00:52was leaving the company, because Hogan refused to lose to Jeff Jarrett in a title match and
00:57exercised his contractual creative control, where it would look to everyone that Russo
01:01had double-crossed Hogan and asked Jarrett to lay down for him in the title match.
01:05Hogan would win the title, then storm out of the building and tell everyone he was done
01:09with WCW, willing to come back a few months later and face off against the man they'd
01:13crowned as a new champion in his absence for a champion vs champion match.
01:17And when I mean they worked everyone, I mean everyone, including talent working at WCW.
01:23And this wasn't the first time those in creative power had worked the boys and all it did was
01:27bred mistrust between talent and those at the top.
01:30It's a fascinating piece of wrestling history and it's only one half of the story, as Hogan
01:35legitimately did leave to WCW because the work became a shoot when Vince Russo cut a promo
01:40on him where he called him bald.
01:42WWE's version is less insidious.
01:45They didn't do the Seth Rollins injury angle to work everyone into thinking Seth was
01:49leaving because people didn't like him, they did it because they didn't want the
01:53Summerslam plans getting told to the dirt sheet who would then report it.
01:57It's sort of similar to the John Cena heel turn, where only a handful of people knew
02:01the actual truth of what was going on.
02:03The difference between the Rollins and Cena situations though is that WWE top brass didn't
02:08outright lie to anyone.
02:10They did with Rollins, as talent were told the injury was legit and Rollins would be out
02:15until next year.
02:16The longer the ruse went on, the more talent caught on.
02:19I noted in a previous WrestleTalk News video that even without John Pollock and Dave Meltzer
02:23being told it was a work, it probably would have eventually come out because talent themselves
02:27started to believe it was a work.
02:30When rumblings began that this Rollins things might be a big old Worky McWorkface it was
02:34reported that talent would be upset about being lied to because they all believed it was genuine
02:39following Saturday night's main event.
02:41Now I personally didn't think talent would be that upset because surely they'd see the
02:46bigger picture as to why WWE kept it a secret in this new era of kayfabe.
02:51But it would appear that I was off the mark, and talent are not happy about being worked,
02:57as Mike Johnson is reporting via PWInsider that the Rollins injury has left a very unhealthy
03:02flavour in the mouths of a lot of people who work behind the scenes for the company, as well
03:07as talent who are in-ring performers.
03:09This comes off the back of Karrion Kross and Scarlett's contracts coming to an end this
03:13past weekend, where talent aren't actually entirely convinced it's real.
03:18Even some promoters aren't entertaining the idea of reaching out to Kross and Scarlett
03:21because there is every chance his release is a work and they'd be waiting their time
03:26booking him for shows.
03:28Fightful Select wrote, there's always the possibility that Kross and Scarlett's situation
03:31is a work, and we've long said that it wouldn't benefit them to tell people that they've
03:35signed.
03:36As a result, many of the promoters we've spoken to aren't sure if they should be reaching
03:41out to Kross and Scarlett.
03:42If it is a work, Scarlett, Kross, WWE higher ups are in on it together, and creative and
03:47talent are being worked.
03:49So what do you make of all of this?
03:50Do you think the talent should be upset that they're being worked?
03:54Let me know in the comments down below.
03:56Speaking of injuries, it was announced on this week's Raw that Naomi couldn't be medically
03:59cleared for her World Championship match with Io Sky on the show.
04:03Sky instead faced Roxanne Perez in a losing effort.
04:05After in the show, Stephanie Vaquer walked up to Sky and told her that she'd also been
04:09promised a title shot after winning the Battle Royale at Evolution, suggesting that her Clash
04:13in Paris Championship match is no longer taking place.
04:17WWE.com's Clash in Paris show page doesn't have a preview of that match, instead just listing
04:21John Cena vs Logan Paul and the 4-way between Rollins, Punk, Jey Uso and LA Knight that was
04:27announced on Raw.
04:28On his post-Raw review podcast on Fightful, Sean Ross Sapp didn't have an update on Naomi
04:32outside of it's legit, unless of course this one is also a work.
04:36And on Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez also didn't have an update but said there
04:40is a rumour going around the locker room of what the injury might be.
04:45He didn't say what the details of the rumour were, but said if it's true, Naomi could
04:50be out for a long time.
04:52As it currently stands, Naomi has not been stripped of the Women's World Championship.
04:57Speaking of the passing of Hulk Hogan, TMZ did an interview with Vince McMahon, which
05:01aired on Fox yesterday.
05:02His first television interview and appearance since stepping down from TKO following the
05:07Janelle Grant lawsuit that accused him of sexual assault and trafficking.
05:11In the interview, McMahon talked about his feelings on Hogan's passing.
05:14He claims that Hogan might have said racist things in the leaked sex tape, but wasn't
05:18a racist.
05:20He said it was unforgivable and I was like aghast.
05:23What happened?
05:24And when those things occurred, that's not like him.
05:27What in God's name is going on?
05:28As soon as it happened, obviously the company didn't have anything to do with him anymore.
05:32We took him out of the Hall of Fame.
05:34You just don't do those things.
05:35I knew he wasn't a racist.
05:37I've been with him for so many years.
05:39He wasn't a racist.
05:40He said some racist things and he should pay for that, and he did.
05:44In the end, I think everyone saw the real Hulk Hogan, Terry Belaya, and they felt, well,
05:49wait a minute.
05:50This guy, he doesn't act like a racist, he's not a racist.
05:54We all make mistakes, that was a big one, but he wasn't a racist.
05:57He also said that he was unhappy with how WWE treated him in his final appearance, where
06:02he was booed by the California crowd during the Netflix debut on Raw.
06:06He said, I was angry because we've known each other for a lifetime, professionally and
06:10personally.
06:11And setting up, so to speak, this larger than life superhero, you just don't let him walk
06:16out there.
06:17He deserved something very, very special, more than anyone they owe him.
06:21It's just like, okay, here comes Hulk Hogan.
06:24I got angry because that's not the way I would have done it, and he deserved much more.
06:29Many have claimed Hogan was booed because of his association with Donald Trump, which
06:32I personally think plays some part in it.
06:34But it is also worth remembering he was also booed at WrestleMania 37 when he came out dressed
06:39as a pirate with Titus O'Neil.
06:41Hogan did an interview shortly after the appearance saying that he was expecting to get booed at Raw,
06:45but Jimmy Harter said following Hogan's passing that he was devastated by the reaction.
06:50But enough of that news lark, it's time for my review of last night's NXT, in about
06:55five minutes.
06:56The show opened with Hank and Tank being told by Ava that they shouldn't interfere in
06:59the main event, and credit to them, they didn't.
07:03And the opening match saw Nia Jax beat Lash Legend in a fun match that was really designed
07:07to put over the power of Lash Legend.
07:09She had several big power spots with Nia, but in the end just wasn't powerful enough.
07:13She tried to slam her through the announcer's table, but Nia reversed it and crashed through
07:17her and through the table instead.
07:19Legend was back up and attempted a powerbomb out of the corner, but like Lyra Valkyria before
07:24her, Jax reversed and hit the Annihilator for the win.
07:27A very fun way to kick off this show.
07:29Joe Hendry rather easily beat Charlie Dempsey, and Josh Briggs came out for a promo to run down
07:33Inamura ahead of their match next week, where Briggs challenged him to a Philly street fight.
07:38Inamura came out to call Briggs a jackass, and they got into a brawl where Inamura chopped
07:42Briggs off the middle rope to the security on the floor, then did his big launch onto
07:45all of them.
07:46A really good go home angle to build their match.
07:49Jordan Grace had a sit down interview about her body and self-worth issues ahead of her
07:52heatwave match with Blake Monroe.
07:54She said that she let her guard down with Monroe because she felt like an outsider, and while
07:59this was good, I wish we'd got more of Blake and Grace's relationship on screen
08:03before the turn, because they had like, what, two backstage skits on the same show?
08:07JC Jane and Fallon Henley teamed to take on Lola Weiss and Kalani Jordan in another really
08:11good match.
08:12Weiss in particular looked superb, and Jordan hit the one-of-a-kind split-legged moonsault
08:15to pin the champion.
08:16Jane really does have everyone coming for her, as it was announced that she'll be defending
08:20her TNA Knockouts Championship against Masha Slamovich and Ash by Elegance, who were both
08:24seen in the crowd.
08:26Jasper Troi cut a good video promo on Ricky Starks ahead of their match next week, and Alba
08:29Fire beat Kendall Gray in a decent match designed to put over the Olympic
08:33stylings of Gray.
08:34Fire did a really good job of putting her over in defeat, and Ethan Page came down to
08:37ringside to cheer the Hervis on.
08:39Tavion Heights came out afterwards to say that Gray wasn't his actual pick, and instead
08:42revealed it was LFG Season 1 winner Tyra Maysteel who gave everyone German suplexes, then chanted
08:48for America.
08:49Chelsea Green suggested to Page backstage that they should set up a peace treaty between
08:52Canada and America, and I really enjoyed Page's first promo in this new Canada gimmick,
08:57but man, the association with Chelsea Green has leveled this up massively.
09:02And the main event was a wild 8-man tag, as Javon Evans teamed with Trick Williams, Moose
09:07and Obafemi to take on Darkstate.
09:09This was all action all the time, and Evans and Moose's hot tags were fabulous.
09:13It told a great story in Williams not really wanting to team with the rest of the good
09:18guys.
09:19Which led to the finish, where the good guys all had miscommunication spots and took
09:22each other out, and Williams decided not to help Evans as he was getting the double powerbomb
09:26by Darkstate for the win, when he could have quite easily stopped them.
09:30Tank and Tank then brawled with Darkstate as the show went off the air, and it wasn't
09:33the most newsworthy episode of all time, but man I had so much fun with this week's
09:37NXT.
09:38It hyped up next week's show and Heatwave, and we got some great wrestling on top of
09:41all of that.
09:42So did you enjoy Laurie's return to wrestling content on TLC?
09:45Well here he is playing video games.
09:48A game where women are horses no less.
09:49I'm sure it's someone's kink.
09:51Click the video on screen right now to find out.
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