00:00Hello and welcome to WhatCulture Wrestling, the solo Sunday news, myself Andrew Pallard.
00:04I hope you're well, I hope you're good, and I hope your weekend is going as well as it possibly
00:08can.
00:08Now, right, let's get into it, and let's start, let's start with AAA, the big mask versus mask match,
00:14which took place at Noches De La Grande's last night, El Grande Americano versus El Grande Americano.
00:20And I said it last week, on last weekend's news video, to be precise, that the Americano stuff,
00:26it might well be my favourite thing in wrestling right now, when in AAA, just the intensity, the fire,
00:32how heated all of this has been, the physicality of it all, it's just been absolutely fantastic, man.
00:37Again, I feel like I keep banging on about it, but the brawl that the two Americanos had a few
00:41weeks ago,
00:41maybe a month or so ago, just brilliant. The best ringside brawl I've seen in years,
00:47I mean, those guys hate each other, or at least you believe they hate each other,
00:51which is, that's kind of, you know, part of the point. Just a great fight, not pretty, not finessed,
00:56just two men beating the absolute tart out of one another. And I ain't absolutely here for that.
01:02Anyways, the big mask versus mask match, that was last night, a 33-minute war. Plenty of shenanigans,
01:09should we say, El Grande Americano 2-1 after a running headbutt, meaning the original El Grande
01:14Americano was forced to unmask, revealing Repo Man. Yes, after all of that,
01:20it was Barry Darso under the mask, the former smash, the former crusher, cruiser,
01:24the blacktop bully, Mr. Hole-in-One. Nah, I joke, I joke. But while I'm at it,
01:29yeah, I'm not long finished reading Sickles, Studs, and Stolen Cars. Highly, highly recommended.
01:34Just a great, fun, breezy read, told in such an entertaining, engaging way.
01:38Shout out to Barry Darso, man. What a dude. But no, the original El Grande Americano unmask to reveal,
01:44dun dun dun dun. Yes, it was Chad Gable all along. Who the thunk it? Anyway,
01:50this was, again, just handled all just perfect. You watch this, and it's like, this is professional
01:56wrestling. I mean, before Gable enmasked, his family had come into the ring. He got a promo
02:01saying he put on the mask to learn about Lucha Libre so that he could beat luchadors. And then
02:06he praised the Mexican spirit, saying he'll always be the original El Grande Americano. But that El
02:12Grande 2 was now the only El Grande Americano. Gable enmasked, he went to speak. He was bloody under the
02:20mask on his chest. The crowd had this massive Gable chant. And Chad kind of like, he takes
02:25a minute. He has a little walk around the back of the ring where you can see he's kind
02:28of like just trying to compose himself a little bit. That he said he was Chad Gable. He said
02:32where he's from, when he was born, and that he doesn't know when or how, but he will be
02:36back in AAA one day. And this was, yeah, this guy was over like Rover, from totally detested
02:44heel before the match, throughout the match, booed out of the building. And by the time
02:48all of a sudden done, just a massive baby face, handing over his mask to El Grande Americano
02:532, or I guess we just call him El Grande Americano now, who ended the night lifted in the air,
02:58the big hero standing tall. It was just, just perfect. Just a great, great match. Again,
03:03two fantastic workers. So, you know, you give them some time and they're going to do something
03:07great, especially when the story's been built so well. And now we've got this, this perfect
03:11outcome. You've got El Grande Americano, the only El Grande Americano, as the outright top
03:16baby face in AAA, perfectly positioned to challenge Dominic Mysterio for the Mega Championship later
03:21this summer. And we've now got, you know, Chad Gable back, ready to crack skulls on Monday
03:26nights as, um, as, well, Chad Gable, one of the best in-ring workers on the planet when given
03:32the opportunity. Um, and that reminds me, El Grande Americano came up in a little interview
03:38we've got dropping later today, where I was lucky enough to grab some time to chat to Fabian
03:42Eichner, the former Giovanni Vinci, uh, TNA's latest signee. Uh, just a really, really nice
03:48chat, man. Uh, about 25 minutes with Fabian, a man who may or may not have some history with
03:53the only El Grande Americano, of course, but that will be, uh, that'll be dropping here on
03:56the channel a little later today. And you know what you should not be dropping? Well,
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04:24all you have to do is scan the QR code on the screen or check out the details in the
04:28description below this video. And while WWE fans should expect to see the return of Chad
04:32Gable on WWE programming at some point soon, fingers crossed, another person who could be
04:38returning imminently is Drew McIntyre. Yes, this comes from PWInsider, who reported that
04:44Drew has finished his work on Chad Stahelski's Highlander movie, the Highlander reboot. McIntyre
04:48has rapped on that movie, meaning realistically, I mean, Big Drew, he could appear back on WWE
04:53reprogramming whenever, like literally today if plans call through it. Now, the last time
04:57we saw Drew in action, of course, that was a loss to Jacob Fartu at WrestleMania 42. Since
05:02then, Big Drew has been filming scenes for Highlander, which is set to release next year. I mean,
05:06it's a big old production, it's a $100 million budget. Chad Stahelski, the director of the John
05:13Wick movies, you've got Henry Cavill as the lead, you've got Karen Gillan, Russell Crowe,
05:17Jimon Hooson, Jeremy Irons, and of course, a certain animal, Dave Bautista as the Kurgan,
05:22which should be a lot of fun. So yeah, pretty stark cast. Drew is playing Angus McLeod, the brother of
05:27Cavill's Connor McLeod. And that movie, well, it's been filmed in Scotland, which is not a million miles
05:33away from Italy. So, who knows, maybe Drew appears at Clash in Italy tonight and costs Jacob Fartu
05:37picking things up from WrestleMania. Although, yeah, for me, I kind of, I'd prefer that one just
05:42to be like, you know, yeah, we're done with that. We're done. That's just that, if you're asking me.
05:45Though, I mean, that would be one way for Fartu to lose a second time to Roman Reigns, though. So,
05:50who knows? Either way, I'd say expect Drew McIntyre back sooner rather than later.
05:56Now, changing gears from WWE to AEW, as my voice again begins to tap out on me,
06:01apologies for the raspy little chatter today, but more specifically with AEW to the merger
06:06between Warner Brothers Discovery and Paramount Skydance. Now, of course, WBD is the home of AEW,
06:12and that merger has some fans questioning what the future looks like for AEW as and when that merger
06:18goes through. Basically, with Paramount, you know, the company that airs UFC,
06:24UFC being the sister company of WWE these days under TKO, what will Paramount do with AEW?
06:29AEW, of course, currently in the middle of a deal with WBD. Now, this comes per Fightful Select
06:34that says the feeling within AEW is a positive one about this merger, with Tony Khan said to be
06:39excited about AEW continuing their relationship with WBD under Paramount. In fact, this report
06:45notes that this is Tony's favourable option for AEW, and yeah, Fightful points out that Paramount
06:50has previously worked with WWE, ECW, and TNA. So yeah, it's not, it's not like it's been adverse to
06:57professional wrestling. Also, there is no exclusivity that would stop Paramount from airing AEW,
07:02and as a Paramount source pointed out to Fightful, UFC, yeah, UFC works with Paramount,
07:07not the other way around. So it's not like, you know, it's not like UFC or TKO could call the
07:12shots
07:12on this one. Now, sticking with AEW for our final story of the day, and that story revolves around
07:17the TBS Championship, a championship that Paul Willow Nightingale was unfortunately forced to
07:22vacate a couple of weeks ago due to injury. Willow also pulled from the Owen Hart Cup tournament,
07:26where she was due to, yeah, due to face Alex Windsor, wasn't it? And now we've got like a
07:31mystery opponent for Alex, which I think that match is happening on this week's Dynamite. I could be
07:35wrong though, so. The new TBS Champion will be crowned in a Survival of the Fittest match. Now,
07:42that will be the first time this match has happened in AEW, a match concept that's been taken from Ring
07:47of Honor. In fact, Athena successfully defended her, the Forever Champion, that defended her RH
07:53Women's title in the Survival of the Fittest match at Supercard of Honor earlier this month. What,
07:57two weeks ago was that? Basically, you have a bunch of qualifying matches, and then the winners of
08:03those matches earned themselves a spot in a big multi-person elimination match. And yeah, that is
08:08how we will crown the next TBS Champion. And yeah, I'm here for that, man. I'm a big fan of
08:13those,
08:13the big elimination style matches over the years, whether that's Survival of the Fittest or just
08:17general elimination matches. Because you have, with elimination matches, you have so much potential
08:22to tell some great stories, if all done correctly, of course. Now, with Ring of Honor, the first Survival
08:27of the Fittest match, that was won by Brian Danielson back in, what was it, 2004?
08:322004, I think that was. And then it became an annual thing, Roddy Strong won one, Delirious,
08:37Chris Hero, Adam Cole, baby, Jay Lethal, I believe, Eddie Edwards, Tyler Black, as in Seth Rollins,
08:44Punishment Martinez, as in Damian Priest. So yes, this is the match that goes, well, yeah, 2004. So,
08:5022 years of history with this match, and now it is going to be popping up in AEW for the
08:53first time
08:54ever. That was announced on Collision last night, where my dad, Tony Schiavone, yes, revealed that news,
08:59that this next Live of the Fittest match will take place on the 1st of July edition of Dynamite,
09:04meaning we will see a bunch of qualifying matches over the next month or so. So there we are,
09:08that's something to look forward to. And with that, this has been World Culture Wrestling,
09:11the solo Sunday news, the very raspy, my voice is about to tap out Andrew Pellard. Hopefully that
09:16doesn't sound too awful today. But again, keep your eyes peeled for an interview with Fabian
09:19Eichler later today, the former Giovanni Vinci. Just a really good dude, a really fun chat,
09:24an incredibly talented wrestler. And yes, the WCW nerd in me could not ask Fabian
09:29about being trained by Das Von der Kidd, Alex Wright. Absolutely, man. So yes, be well,
09:34stay safe, and I will catch you next weekend or later today. Check out the interview. Either way,
09:38have a great rest of your Sunday.
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