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00:00On today's Solo Sunday News, Samoa Joe is your new AEW World Champion, Swerve Strickland
00:07returns at AEW Full Gear, multiple other titles change hands at Full Gear, and a WWE Superstar
00:14returns from injury for the first time since January.
00:17Hello and welcome to Water Culture Wrestling, the Solo Sunday News, myself, Andrew Pollard.
00:22I hope you're good, I hope you're well, I hope your week is going as well as possible.
00:25Your weekend in particular, a cheeky point away at heavy hitting Ipswich, the Carlos
00:30Edwards Derby, I will absolutely take all of that.
00:32Right, let's start things off today with the AEW World Title, and Samoa Joe is your new
00:38AEW World Champion, defeating Hangman Adam Page last night in a steel cage match.
00:44As for the match itself, I mean, when has a steel cage ever stopped interference?
00:49I mean, it's not like the point of a cage is to stop people getting out and stop people
00:52getting in right, the whole point used to be that, you know, two competitors were stuck
00:56in there together, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, but nah, of course, we got interference
01:00here.
01:01Now, firstly, it was Kachiora Shibata attempting to interfere, only to be stopped by Eddie Kingston.
01:06Then it was P-P-P-P-Powerhouse Hobbs pulling the door's chain lock off with his bare hands.
01:13Then it was the turn of Huck to get involved.
01:16Now, this is where it got a bit interesting, because Huck came in, tried to wake up referee
01:20Paul Turner after Page had the visual pin on Samoa Joe.
01:24But then, well, Huck hit Hangman Adam Page with the title belt.
01:28Yes, unzipped his jacket to reveal an Ops t-shirt.
01:31I mean, Excalibur had a, I don't know, man, I don't think it'd be too harsh, but it was
01:35kind of lame, forced, you son of a bitch lying at this.
01:38It just came off a little, I don't know, maybe I'm being a bit too harsh.
01:41The job of a commentator is, you know, obviously to make a moment sound big, to deliver a sound
01:45bite, but it was just, I don't know, sounding a little bit too try-hardy, like doing his
01:49best Jim Ross impression, and nobody's Jim Ross.
01:51Anyway, Huck revealed that he was part of the Ops.
01:54Samoa Joe then hit the muscle buster on Page, on the title, no less, for the 1-2-3.
01:59Samoa Joe is a two-time AEW World Champion, bringing Page's reign to an end at, I believe
02:06it was 133 days was the number I saw earlier.
02:09Of course, Page beat Moxley at all in Texas this summer, back in July.
02:13Now, I mean, I wasn't so much surprised with this one, I mean, I was a little bit surprised
02:18that they pulled the trigger on a Samoa Joe win, but I've been kind of saying in the build
02:222-4 gear that it kind of felt like they were planning to put the title on Samoa Joe, the
02:26way the match was built, the way the odds were stacked against him with the steel cage match
02:29stip, I don't know, booking-wise, it felt geared up for a title change, but I just didn't
02:34think they'd actually do it.
02:35But they did, they actually did, they took the belt off Hangman Page so soon as well, especially
02:40without MJF getting involved, that just kind of seems to be dangling around there.
02:45But hey, Samoa Joe, as a World Champion again, I am always, always here for that.
02:49Still here in 2025, he's one of the best wrestlers on the planet, one of the most believable wrestlers
02:53on the planet, be that as a babyface or a heel, he's one of those wrestlers as well, Samoa Joe.
02:59One of the things I love about him the most is that he doesn't need to raise his voice
03:01to let you know that, hmm, yeah, it's on.
03:03But then when he does raise his voice, it's on even more.
03:06But Samoa Joe winning the AW World title, that is only half the story here, as is the
03:10hook heel turn as well, is only half the story.
03:12For a while, many fans were expecting the return of MJF at full gear, the return that
03:16we got was actually Swerve Strickland, which I did not see coming.
03:20Now, you had the ops, a very bloody Samoa Joe, I should say, celebrating around the fallen
03:25Hangman Adam Page.
03:26The arena lights went out because, of course, they did, every few weeks they did.
03:30But the lights went out, a video started playing of a burning building, a building house, well,
03:35a particular burning house, and then you could kind of see somebody in the entranceway, which
03:39would be Prince Nana.
03:41And then Swerve Strickland made his way out, having been out with, I believe it was a meniscus
03:45injury, and some new music as well, if that is to be his theme going forward.
03:50Swerve, I mean, he just looked absolutely great, slowly made his way to the ring, was greeted
03:54by the ops, who just kind of offered up Hangman Page on the plate.
03:58And obviously, Swerve and Hangman are long-time rivals, done some horrible stuff to each other
04:03over the years, I mean, the house I was just talking about.
04:05And still, even now, that needle spot, man.
04:09One of the most stupid things I've seen in modern mainstream professional wrestling,
04:13just not for me, idiotic.
04:14Anyway, the point being, these two have quite their history, and so Samoa Joe just kind
04:17of lets Swerve pick the bones of the carcass of Hangman Adam Page.
04:22Only Swerve instead attacks the ops trainees, as in Joe had been accompanied by trainees of
04:27the ops dojo, and Swerve starts attacking these, which leads to the actual ops to just
04:31like, yeah, we're going to bail, we're going to get out of the ring, I mean, get out of
04:34the cage.
04:35And so, Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland stand side by side in the ring to close out
04:40full gear.
04:41Now, at a time when AEW has had several big names out injured, it's a massive, massive
04:45bonus to have Swerve Strickland back in action.
04:48Again, someone else who's just one of the best wrestlers on the planet, who's had a fantastic
04:51few years, who's just got such a presence, such charisma, I guess the magical it factor
04:57that we always talk about, Swerve has that in bucket loads, man.
05:00I mean, you've got Will Ospreay is out, Jay White is still out, Kota Ibushi, Wardlow,
05:05Nick Wayne, Hologram, Buddy Matthews, I love me some Buddy Matthews, but the point being,
05:10AEW is missing some pretty heavy hitters.
05:12And so it's just great to have Swerve back in the mix.
05:14Not just that, but he's immediately back in the main event mix, immediately back in
05:19the world title picture by all accounts.
05:22And speaking of titles, the AEW world title isn't the only piece of gold that changed
05:26hands at full gear last night.
05:28No, the first title change of the night, that was FTR becoming three-time AEW tag team champions.
05:35Yes, defeating Brodido after hitting a spike power driver on Brody King on the ring apron,
05:40then hitting another power driver on Bandido in the ring, only for Bandido to kick out of
05:44that, then be put away with the Shatter Machine, which for me, that nicely sets up the return
05:48of Christian Cage and Adam Copeland's challenge for those titles at some point down the line.
05:52Maybe at World's End, who knows?
05:53I guess it depends on Adam Copeland's schedule.
05:56I mean, he was recently in London filming The Beatkeeper 2 with Jason Statham.
06:00That was on the back filming for Percy Jackson as well.
06:03But if Cope is ready, I can see them going with that match at World's End.
06:06And again, I'm here for that.
06:08Hopefully Brodido remains a thing.
06:10Those guys are just a lot of fun together.
06:12They're so much fun together.
06:14I mean, saying that though, there is an argument that you could and probably should by this
06:17point make of, you know, maybe you start pushing Brody King into the AEW world title
06:21scene.
06:22Not right away, but to me, that's someone who can be a big-time singles player.
06:26And so maybe you start to slowly build him to that.
06:28And for FTR, I mean, some of the booking has been a little bit questionable.
06:33Some of the segments have been, I don't know.
06:35I don't know what it is.
06:36It's just been a little bit off in recent months.
06:38But for me, still, FTR, the best tag team on the planet.
06:41Though I am a sucker for those Fraxion boys, even if their music is absolutely horrendous
06:46these days.
06:46But yes, FTR, three times AEW tag team champions.
06:51Next up in terms of title changes, I guess not so much a title change per se, but the
06:55crowning of the inaugural AEW national champion.
06:59And I'm happy to see it was the man that I predicted, Ricochet.
07:01Yes, pinning Kevin Knight in a really, really nice little sequence.
07:04You had a knight hitting the UFO splash on Wheeler Yuta.
07:07Then as he kind of recovers from the impact of that, just kind of raises his head up,
07:12just gets hit straight away with a spirit gun from Ricochet for the win.
07:15And Ricochet is a smart choice for the national title.
07:17I mean, he's a featured player on TV, someone who isn't in the world title picture, nor the
07:21TNT title picture, or I guess the unified title picture.
07:24But he's also someone that feels like he should be in the mix of some sort of gold.
07:28I'd rather this than trios titles because the trios titles are just, I don't get what
07:34the point of those trios belts is.
07:35It's just kind of ruined your type division.
07:36But anyway, in the next title change of the night, Mark Briscoe defeated Kyle Fletcher
07:41for the TNT title in a, no, this was, I nearly got confused that this was the no DQ match,
07:48which came directly after the no holds barred match, which was Kyle O'Reilly tapping out
07:51John Moxie, I should add in that one.
07:53No holds barred, followed by a no DQ in an event headlined by a cage match, had a card
07:58featuring a bunch of multiple person matches where there's no DQ.
08:00Anyways, this one was no DQ officially.
08:07Yes, Mark Briscoe got the win with a top rope razor's edge through a table wrapped in barbed
08:12wire, then hit the J driller to seal the deal.
08:15Yeah, that was, again, I'm always here for some Mark Briscoe, man.
08:19Great to see him just doing so well here.
08:21In fact, the only title on the line not to change hands, at least on the main card, because
08:25it was the CMLL trios titles on the pre-show that didn't change hands.
08:28But the only title that didn't change hands on the main card that was on the line was
08:31Chris Statlander retaining the AEW women's title against Mercedes Monet, getting the win with
08:36his Saturday Night Fever, which was absolutely the right call.
08:40I mean, for all the belts she's winning, I guess, 14 championships in her possession these
08:43days.
08:44I know Adam Wilborn had a very impassioned rant about this in the week of 14 belts Monet.
08:50But for all those belts that are in her possession, I like the idea that the AEW women's title
08:55is that one that Mercedes just can't win.
08:57It's like that white whale, that one that you just, it's forever out of reach, that
09:01forbidden fruit.
09:02You go for it and you just can't get there.
09:04And I mean, this marks a second singles loss in AEW for the CEO.
09:08And the other one of those was against Toni Storm, which was the last time that Mercedes
09:11challenged for the women's title.
09:12So yeah, I like that element of this story that she's winning all these belts everywhere.
09:17But the one that she really, really wants, that's the one that she can't get.
09:20She just can't seem to win the big one.
09:22But yes, one final story as well, switching over to WWE for this one.
09:26And it's a bit of an injury update, I guess you could call it, for Apollo Crews.
09:29Apollo quietly returned to the ring last night for AAA.
09:34Now, Crews have been out of action since January with a torn pec.
09:38I want to say he suffered that in a match against Johnny Gargano on SmackDown, I think it was.
09:42But Apollo answers an open challenge from Lince Dorado at Saturday's AAA tapings.
09:48Although I believe the match itself wasn't actually part of the tapings as such.
09:51I mean, it was more just a dark match not intended to air on TV, I think.
09:54That was the reports for this.
09:56But Apollo got the win here.
09:57And it now just remains to be seen, you know, when he will resurface in WWE.
10:00Whether that's back on SmackDown, whether it's on Raw.
10:02I mean, maybe a couple of months back in NXT.
10:04Or maybe this is a case of him having a run with AAA first.
10:08But anyway, it's just great to see Apollo Crews back from injury.
10:11That's torn pecs, man.
10:13Not a lot of fun.
10:14And seeing back from injury, the first time wrestling since January.
10:17Yeah, you'd love to see it.
10:19Speaking of which as well, a quick side note as well.
10:21To say that Zoe Stark has posted to social media.
10:23Saying that she's now able to fully run and pivot pain-free for the first time in six months.
10:28So that's also great news there.
10:30I mean, Zoe had torn her MCL, ACL and meniscus back in May.
10:33There was that missile dropkick against Carrie Sane.
10:36Which just, oh my god, man.
10:37The landing on that just looked absolutely horrendous.
10:40So yeah, that's a positive step there for Zoe.
10:42And again, best wishes to Zoe Stark on her continued road to recovery.
10:46And with that, be sure to check out the other excellent video that's floating around here.
10:49This has been World Culture Wrestling, the Solo Sunday News.
10:52Myself, Andrew Pollard.
10:53Be well, stay safe.
10:55And I will catch you next weekend.
10:57Up the Reds.
10:57Bye-bye.
10:58Bye-bye.
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