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In this episode, we discuss the 2025 AEW Continental Classic thus far, get an update on Seth Rollins and Andrade, why did WWE purchase AAA?, and AEW signs a former WWE Tag Team Champion!
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00:00What?
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02:57Tonight lots of things to cover.
02:59It's been a hot minute.
03:00It's a crazy month of November.
03:01And we're going to kick things off with a little bit of an update.
03:04AEW has started the Continental Classic.
03:06It is already off to some, in my opinion, somewhat shocking results and some very expected results.
03:12Let's go down through the list.
03:14First off, Kyle Fletcher defeating Kazuchika Okada by pinfall in the opening match on Thanksgiving Eve's Dynamite.
03:21Did not expect that.
03:23Really didn't.
03:24I really thought they would protect Okada as the defending Continental Classic winner.
03:27But apparently they want to get that loss for him out of the way early and help build Kyle Fletcher.
03:31Who I think will be the front runner to challenge Okada for the point total in that gold league.
03:36Now, the other match in the gold league that night.
03:39Kevin Knight defeating Darby Allin by pinfall.
03:42And that also a complete shock to me.
03:44And look, don't get me wrong.
03:45I'm not disrespecting Kevin Knight in any way, shape, or form.
03:48Fantastic wrestler.
03:49Bright future ahead of him.
03:50But Darby Allin.
03:52Wow.
03:53Like only six months ago we were talking about how he really should have been the guy to take the AEW World Championship from Jon Moxley.
04:00And then six months later, we're looking at him lose a match on television via pinfall to Kevin Knight.
04:06I don't care about anything else.
04:07Just the fact that that's the end result.
04:09And we have our first two matches in the Classic going that way.
04:12In the blue league, Jon Moxley defeating Masqueria Dorada.
04:16I think that was kind of a preordained thing was going to happen.
04:20Moxley is going to be booked strong.
04:22He's going to be one of the top point getters in the blue league.
04:25And in the other match, Claudio Castagnoli defeated Orange Cassidy.
04:30That one also somewhat surprising.
04:32So when you think about this, Kyle Fletcher, Kevin Knight, Jon Moxley, and Claudio all picking up three points on the opening night of the tournament.
04:40Now, heading into collision, PAC defeats speedball Mike Bailey by technical submission.
04:46He gets his first three points.
04:48So if you look at the Deathriders going three for three in the opening matches, all scoring three points.
04:54Blue league match, Kanosuke Takeshka defeated Roderick Strong via pinfall.
04:59He picks up three points for the Don Callis family.
05:01There's a lot going on there.
05:03Now, what I really am excited about is this coming week's Dynamite where we're going to see Castagnoli and Moxley are going to face off one on one.
05:10Both members of the Deathriders and Okada versus PAC, which I don't know that I've ever seen that before.
05:17But that holds some serious promise for just stealing any show.
05:22Kyle Fletcher versus Kevin Knight, the way they booked Kevin Knight in his opening match could be very exciting.
05:27And then we'll see where the tournament goes from there.
05:29But as of right now, very interesting tournament so far.
05:32Lots of surprises.
05:33I don't think anybody expected Kevin Knight to be, you know, getting his three points in his opening match of the gold league.
05:40I think the rest of them, Kyle Fletcher, PAC, Castagnoli, Moxley, Takeshka, none of those surprised me to get points.
05:47I'm a little surprised to see Okada not pick up a win on his opening match.
05:51That being said, Tony Khan, who knows what he's got up his sleeve.
05:54Hopefully this tournament is going to be as amazing as the last two have been and I expect nothing less.
05:59Speaking of Tony Khan recently signing Lacey Lane, who was known as Caden Carter in WWE.
06:04She had an appearance on AEW's television program and Fightful Select reported that she has signed a full-time contract with AEW after her match with Mercedes Monet on Title Tuesday.
06:16The match saw her lose to Monet, but she gave a really solid performance after a seven-year run with WWE.
06:23And now that she's been released, looking for work is no more as she is now going to be in both AEW and Ring of Honor.
06:31And it should be very exciting to see what she can bring.
06:34And I believe Tony Khan really finds a way to maximize his talent and get the most out of them.
06:39That should be exciting for her and hopefully she will be able to get into, you know, maybe that TBS championship picture again sometime.
06:45Maybe get a rematch with Monet at some point in the future.
06:48Got to give an update on Andrade.
06:50He doesn't do a lot of talking media appearances, but on TV, Azteca Deportes, he was having an interview speaking about a couple of very poignant issues.
07:00One being the release from WWE was for using medicine and supplements that are banned under WWE's wellness policy.
07:09But his argument was that those certain medicines that are allowed in Mexico, which aren't in WWE, not necessarily being performance enhancing, but certainly that they're available in Mexico and not WWE does make you wonder what exactly he was on.
07:20He didn't give any clarification of what they were.
07:22I think that might have been helpful.
07:24You know, there's some people, you know, standard over-the-counter medications can sometimes come up as a flag.
07:29I think it really depends what it was.
07:31The other conversational piece was about WWE's 12-month no-compete clause that was in his contract.
07:37He did verify that it is a 12-month non-compete clause.
07:41It's enforceable worldwide.
07:43He said he didn't know that it existed when he signed the deal with WWE, but his representatives and WWE are negotiating and closing in on an agreement which would allow him to get back in the ring.
07:54He did state that his lawyers are negotiating with WWE.
07:57He's optimistic they can find a resolution.
07:59He doesn't want to serve out the full gear.
08:01And if you look at the comments made by people like Eric Bischoff, David Otunga, and several others, you know, really thinking about whether or not if this went to court, whether WWE could enforce a non-compete like this.
08:14Most people think no, but in this case, what I find very interesting is one of the comments he makes early in the report is about the fact that despite having his contract terminated by WWE, he said that it was an amicable split.
08:28It wasn't, um, there was no ill will, no bad feelings or things of that nature, which I can't believe I'm going to say this leaves the door open in my opinion to a return at some point to WWE, which at the time of the break of the news story that he was gone, I didn't think was even possible with the way he's speaking here.
08:45Maybe he's speaking here. Maybe it is. Maybe the door is not as slammed shut as we thought it was.
08:49However, um, the more poignant part is he is not willing to pursue legal action against WWE, according to Dave Meltzer, which could be him tipping his hat that he may actually have some aspirations to go back there sometime in the future.
09:02We'll have to wait and see somebody who's not returned to WWE anytime soon is Seth Rollins.
09:07He did offer an update on his current condition, uh, medical situation.
09:12He was on a something's burning at a talk show and speaking about his in-ring return.
09:17He said, once he gets this thing off, there's a quote from him worth referencing the sling on his arm.
09:21He said, which is in like another month.
09:24Then it might be like full vacation mode for a little while before I lock in and start training to get ready for a comeback.
09:29The former world heavyweight champion, uh, talked about his recovery.
09:32Um, he said, it's going to be a gradual recovery.
09:34He doesn't even really know.
09:36Um, he had a quote here says, my guess is about eight to 12 weeks.
09:39Plus we'll be moving right into WrestleMania season.
09:41I'm hoping for like around February.
09:43After all the holidays, the holiday stuff, I can start to be like, okay, lock in no more BS.
09:48Um, this would be in my opinion, based on things he's done in the past.
09:53I think he is underselling how long or overselling how long it's going to be.
09:56I think he's going to be ready before 12 weeks.
09:58I think he may be a Royal Rumble returnee.
10:01Um, if not, I don't think it's going to take all the way to WrestleMania for him to get back.
10:05I just don't.
10:06And there's always a way to insert him into something.
10:08If you think about it, they didn't build anything with Cody Rhodes.
10:10When Cody returned to the company, went against Seth Rollins at WrestleMania and it was just fine.
10:13So I would not be surprised if he is still able to be a part of WrestleMania.
10:17Absolutely not in the way they originally wanted him to be, which the word reports out there were that it was going to be he and Roman for the world heavyweight championship.
10:26That obviously is off the table.
10:27Now, at least in the short term, I guess, maybe progress on his injury would determine if that comes back on the board.
10:33But I highly doubt it at this point.
10:35I think we're moving much closer towards CM Punk versus Roman Reigns instead.
10:40Dave Meltzer in the news talking about WWE and their motivation for acquiring AAA.
10:45And basically, his his take on it is not necessarily for the Mexican market, but to get AAA television in the United States market where he claims is where you can make money.
10:58He says, quote, hopefully both make money and be on a platform that people actually watch right now.
11:04It's on YouTube, which is a platform people watch, but it's not really a big money making platform.
11:07So that would obviously be a major goal for AAA is to get it on US television or a major streaming service like Peacock or something.
11:13That's a quote from Dave Meltzer.
11:15I think it makes a lot of sense, especially when they had that previous relationship with Peacock.
11:18And now they're going to be moving, you know, pretty much essentially everything to different other platforms with the exception of Saturday night's main event and NXT PLEs.
11:26I think it would be a great avenue to put AAA on Peacock if they are able to cultivate that brand and make it even bigger.
11:32And hopefully we'll be able to see the AAA exposure and the AAA brand get a lot more attention and really pick up on the momentum that was started way back in the day when AAA came out as a rival promotion to CMLL.
11:47They've done a lot of really cool things.
11:49I think it's also an opportunity for WWE to test out some of their talents that currently are not featured on the main roster.
11:57Perhaps they're in NXT. Maybe they're people in developmental evolve or something like that where they can go to Mexico, get some more experience firsthand with that audience.
12:06Because let's be honest, the audience down there can be very, very hostile.
12:12So should we say at times and it'll be very interesting to see sometimes how those different talents who've never had that exposure react to those types of fan base.
12:23And if they handle it well, that, well, maybe that opens up the door for them to come to the main roster sometime, maybe sooner than later.
12:29Love what they did with Omos.
12:31I think there's certain people in that company that don't get as much love as they probably should.
12:35And some that probably should have had a WWE opportunity sooner than now.
12:38El Macias being one of them that I'm very much in favor of.
12:41Dr. Wagner Jr., people like that.
12:43It'll be great to see them.
12:44I'm a huge fan of Psycho Clown.
12:46So there's some of those AAA people I would love to see featured more regularly on WWE TV.
12:51And WWE can obviously use that as another developmental method for their upcoming stars.
12:57While we're recording this, SmackDown is going on.
13:00It is wrapping up momentarily.
13:02Tonight was an interesting night.
13:03We saw Jey Uso versus Rusev.
13:05Quarterfinal match for the last time is now tournament.
13:07Good match. Solid match.
13:09Not a five star match by any stretch, but I'll take it.
13:14You get to see Jey Uso pick up the win, which I think everybody expected.
13:18But it would have been okay if it went the other way.
13:20It really would have.
13:21I think they haven't done justice to Rusev to begin with.
13:24Not a fan at all of how they handled the vacancy in the tournament for Sheamus, who was apparently injured.
13:31They replace him with The Miz, who's complaining about how he needs to be put back in the tournament.
13:37They draw the ball and here he gets his name pulled again.
13:39How would he get his name drawn again if it was already pulled previously?
13:43It should have been somebody else.
13:45That, I think, was a missed opportunity.
13:47Even if it was a one-off, you brought somebody in very interesting from TNA, from AAA, something like that.
13:53It would have been very, very cool to see that.
13:55Instead, we ended up with The Miz having his name drawn and we're going to get that match later in the show.
14:01One of the pieces that really confused me tonight, Chelsea Green comes out.
14:05Women's United States Championship celebration while she's out at the ring.
14:09She's in the middle of her ceremony and Jade Cargill's music hit.
14:13She just came right to the ring.
14:15They threw Alba Fire and then took out Chelsea Green.
14:19I'm not sure where they're going with that.
14:21Are they setting up a feud between the two of them?
14:23Are they going to unify those belts?
14:24I would hope not.
14:25I certainly don't think they will.
14:27I just don't understand why Jade Cargill felt the need to go out and just totally obliterate the second-tier champion.
14:33I think that was, you know, in a way it makes that champion look very weak in comparison to the world champion.
14:39And that champion really should be a stepping stone to the world championship.
14:43So I was not a fan of this angle unless, and this is going to sound crazy,
14:47unless you're going to find a way to put Chelsea Green in position to win the women's world championship,
14:51which I would absolutely love.
14:53I think she deserves it for everything she does.
14:55Not likely.
14:56Let's be honest.
14:57I think we're moving towards Jade Cargill versus a returning Bianca Belair after the Royal Rumble at WrestleMania.
15:02Something they wanted to do in the past and couldn't.
15:05I think that's where we're headed in the near future.
15:07We then get the LA Knight versus Miz match.
15:10Not a fan of the pairing, the way they put it together, but the match itself wasn't terrible at all.
15:16LA Knight picking up the win after a BFT.
15:18I think that, you know, no matter who they would have put in this situation,
15:22based on the booking that they did in the other, like, surprise reveal opponent matches,
15:28I think whoever the surprise reveals were never going to have a chance to actually win anything.
15:33They were there more for the, you know, the short pop, the cheap heat or whatever.
15:37I love the Nick Nemeth one.
15:39I love the Broski coming out and seeing Zack Ryder as Zack Ryder, not as Matt Cardona.
15:44If they're going to, you know, bring Ryder back, I would much rather he was Matt Cardona.
15:48I think it's a much more serious, more layered character, but whatever.
15:52After that, we got what I think is almost disrespectful, a Charlotte Flair versus Asuka match for the advantage in the women's war games.
15:59Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly fine with the pairing.
16:01But what time they were given and the amount of effort that went into this match seemed lackluster compared to the stuff they've done in the past.
16:09I felt like this match could have been so much better.
16:11Instead, relatively quick match.
16:13Flair picking up the win at the end with a natural selection.
16:17Not even, no figure eight to be found.
16:19A little shocking to me.
16:21And a clean win over Asuka, one of the premier stars in the women's division.
16:25This should have had some kind of schmaz ending, just my opinion.
16:28But unfortunately, that was not going to be the case.
16:31They gave the win to Charlotte Flair.
16:34Now their team will have the advantage.
16:36And, you know, it is what it is.
16:39You know, it's, I just think, I never liked the good girls or good guy teams winning the advantage.
16:46I didn't like that same thing at blood and guts.
16:48I hate that when the baby faces get the advantage.
16:51Now I understand AEW covered it up very well with the injury angle to Mark Briscoe, which was really strange anyways.
16:57Just giving the advantage to begin with.
16:58But whatever, it is what it is.
16:59This I was not a fan of.
17:00I'm not sure how they're going to play this off.
17:02We'll have to wait and see.
17:04Did love that at the end of the match, Charlotte Flair is throwing up hearts to everybody else in the crowd and all that.
17:08I've loved that the people are behind Charlotte Flair now.
17:10That's something I think is long overdue.
17:12Congrats to her on really breaking through with the fans.
17:15And then the final match of the night, the MFTs versus like that international coalition, I think Sami Zayn called them.
17:21First eliminated was JC Mateo and didn't expect that.
17:24I actually thought the MFTs might run the table and have nobody eliminated.
17:28After him, Shinsuke Nakamura, then Tonga Loa, then the Motor City Machine Guns, which I think is absolutely ridiculous.
17:34Eliminating two people, but whatever.
17:37Ray Phoenix was next, followed by Tama Tonga, Tala Tonga, which I didn't expect to get beat at all.
17:44But it's a count out.
17:45I will take it.
17:46But then, of course, Solo Sokoa getting in the ring and Solo Sokoa actually caught in Sami Zayn with a Simone spike and picks up the win for his team.
17:54The MFTs win.
17:55When then all of a sudden the lights go out when they come back on Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Eric Rowan and Dexter Looms are standing behind Sokoa on the ring apron.
18:04Uncle Howdy snuck up on Sokoa and surprised him with his sister Abigail.
18:08And I think that is a fantastic way to end the show.
18:12I was not a huge fan of a lot of other things that happened on the show, but I think that in particular was a great way to finish the show because it really gave you some excitement and things to build on for the future.
18:22We've been building this feud for a long, long time.
18:24Now it's time to make it happen.
18:26To be honest with you, I would put that sucker on Saturday night's main event for John Cena's final appearance.
18:30I'd put it on tomorrow night, but whatever they do with it, this is going to be a very cool blood feud.
18:35It should have been another war games match.
18:36That's just my opinion.
18:37That's all the time we have for this episode.
18:39Check back with us next.
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