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00:00Hello there, my very good friends. On this wrestling news video, one of Vince McMahon's worst habits is back in
00:05WWE.
00:06WWE could be in big legal trouble.
00:09We'll talk about why WWE sent Finn Balor to SmackDown.
00:13WWE's new wrestling war involves AAA.
00:17I'm Andy H. Murray, the H stands for Hecking Chonk Doggos, I don't know.
00:23And this is the After News Evening News.
00:26I don't know where you live, man. It's whatever time of day it is.
00:29Anyway, we're going to kick this one off by talking a little bit about some recent WWE booking
00:35and some insight from Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio as to what the current thought process is
00:41when it comes to building new stars in this promotion.
00:45So this comes on the back of Obafemi losing to Brock Lesnar at Clash in Italy.
00:51Comes on the back of Seth Rollins defeating Braun Breaker on this week's episode of Raw.
00:58Things like Sol Ruka kind of losing her way into an Intercontinental title match.
01:03And various other bits and pieces.
01:05Jacob Fatu acknowledging the Tribal Chief on this week's episode of Raw as well.
01:09But Dave seemed to insinuate on Wrestling Observer Radio that now the idea is not that these young stars,
01:16the idea to making new stars is not that they beat the top stars,
01:20it's that they get the rub from top stars and go 50-50.
01:25So in some ways, 50-50 booking my friends, one of the things we all hated from the latter period
01:34of Vince McMahon's run as head of creative in particular,
01:37it's back, it's back with a vengeance.
01:39So the mentality is that these are the top guys and you're privileged to be in the same shot as
01:45them in a lot of ways.
01:46Now this came after a discussion of Braun Breaker vs Seth Rollins from Raw.
01:51Where Rollins won, they replicated the old Bret Hart, Goldberg finish when Bret had the steel plate.
01:56It was a title in this case.
01:58Breaker losing to Rollins.
02:00But they also used Sol Rucca as an example to where she obviously had that Intercontinental title shot at Clash
02:07in Italy, which she won.
02:08She's the Intercontinental Champion now.
02:10And she hadn't been booked to win a match up to that point.
02:14They noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the idea there was that Liv Morgan was going to go and work
02:21with Stephanie Verker at the time,
02:22but Stephanie's off TV at the moment.
02:24So if that was not the case, if they knew that at the time that Stephanie was not going to
02:29be available,
02:29then maybe it would have been more productive to have Sol go over Liv Morgan on her debut match, her
02:34first match, first big match on Raw.
02:37But yeah, look, I think that sometimes you have to book with a bit of balls, right?
02:43Sometimes, I would argue most times, you have to be decisive and you have to be clear that this person
02:49is a star
02:50and that they shouldn't be losing any occasion, right, at some point.
02:55Obafemi is the key example I'm talking about here and I'm going to sneeze in about two seconds.
03:00So there you go. I did warn you.
03:02But Obafemi, I think, is the best example here.
03:04You went to great lengths at WrestleMania, which I thought was a perfectly booked match,
03:09when Oba just shocked Brock in like under five minutes.
03:13You then get to clash in Italy after a four-week retirement for Lesnar.
03:19And yeah, it's seven F5s.
03:21Yeah, he'll win the rubber match.
03:22But I would argue you don't need a rubber match.
03:24I would argue that you should go 2-0.
03:27That's even more shocking than just the single victory.
03:30And actually, I think it does a lot more for Oba.
03:32I think we need to get away from this idea that in order to get over, you need to get
03:36under first.
03:36I think that we've just had so many examples of it.
03:40Over the years, like later, latter day Vince's creative was full of this stuff.
03:45As soon as anybody was catching fire, whether it was a Dean Ambrose or a Rusev Day or whatever, whatever.
03:51It seemed like they were immediately booked to go back under instead of riding the wave of popularity and going
03:56this.
03:56It's that old pay your dues mentality when in actuality, if someone's hot, you go with them, baby.
04:02You follow that through.
04:03And it seems like this Vince McMahon habit is really creeping into Triple H's booking at the moment.
04:07And if, as Dave reports, this is kind of the mentality that has crept in, I think something needs to
04:13change.
04:14Let's move on.
04:15Speak about some legal stuff that's going on in WWE now.
04:19Specifically, one of many lawsuits that's currently the Fed, WWE, is the subject of.
04:25This being the ESPN lawsuit.
04:27So the argument here is a class action lawsuit where a bunch of people are arguing that ESPN, at the
04:32time WWE moved its PLEs onto ESPN,
04:34the core argument is that they assumed that they would be getting these shows for free.
04:38When in actual fact, not every cable provider was giving these shows for free on ESPN Unlimited.
04:44So the core is that people want their money back.
04:47They're $30 or whatever they paid.
04:49Specifically for Wrestlepalooza and the pay-per-view after that, the PLE after that.
04:52Now, plaintiffs in that class action lawsuit are arguing that this whole thing, WWE cannot be trusted to preserve evidence.
05:01And this comes from a recent ruling in another trial that WWE has ongoing.
05:06So ESPN and BamTech both intervened in this.
05:09WWE is in the lawsuit, not ESPN.
05:13WWE has been asking the courts to put discovery on hold in this thing and compel arbitration.
05:19Discovery is the period in the lawsuit where all the evidence is turned over, all the documents and all that
05:23stuff.
05:23WWE is trying to push that back.
05:25They're trying to put that on hold.
05:26And they are citing an arbitration clause in ESPN's streaming user agreement.
05:32Now, the plaintiffs have quoted WWE attorneys who on the 21st of April at a hearing said,
05:38Your Honor, there's no reason to believe that any documents are going to be destroyed or anything like that.
05:43But just last week in another trial, which is about the merger of UFC and WWE and Endeavor and TKO
05:50and the takeover.
05:52There, Vince McMahon and Nick Kam were amongst those sanctioned for effectively destroying evidence.
05:58By allowing text messages on their platform to be deleted when they could have been used as evidence.
06:04And that led to a bunch of facts being, or a bunch of statements, a bunch of stances being considered
06:08facts in this.
06:10So that could have big consequences here at this stage.
06:13And look, this is not the biggest lawsuit that currently WWE is facing by far, obviously, this ESPN situation.
06:19But if it's going to bleed over from the previous one that, hey, you destroyed evidence over here.
06:23You can't be trusted with this evidence.
06:25It could have knock-on effects across the board.
06:28It's rare to see companies of this size wobble in situations like this.
06:32So it's a notable development and it's one we'll be keeping track of.
06:36Let's talk about Finn Balor now.
06:38It was announced on this week's episode of Raw that he's been moved from Raw to SmackDown.
06:42He's been drafted to SmackDown.
06:43You want to know why that is?
06:45It's basically so he doesn't bump into the Bloomin' Judgment Day in booking.
06:49This is again Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio saying that WWE want to keep Finn Balor away from Dominic
06:55Mysterio and JD McDonough now that that story is done.
06:59The split is done.
07:00Finn's wrestled JD.
07:02They've done the whole thing.
07:03The demon came out of WrestleMania.
07:05All of that stuff.
07:06Because the idea is that if he stays on Raw, he's inevitably going to have to work with those guys
07:11at some point.
07:12It's a two and a half hour, three hour show.
07:15You're going to bump into people.
07:16You're going to bump into people.
07:17And this is just like a clean break.
07:19A clean separation from that storyline.
07:21So they're done with it.
07:22They're done with that story now and they want to give the guy a fresh start.
07:25So I think this makes a lot of sense.
07:28If you want to just keep things separate.
07:31Keep them clean.
07:31Make sure you don't have to complicate that story by circling back to it inadvertently or whatever.
07:37Then this is an easy way to do it.
07:39You've got two shows.
07:40You've got two talent rosters.
07:42Yeah, they're not always the most separated and distinct things in the world.
07:46But in a situation like this where you just want to give Finn something to do that doesn't involve the
07:51rest of the Judgment Day, perfect.
07:53And it's also a lot easier to move Finn because if you move the Judgment Day, well, you're not only
07:59moving JD and Dom.
08:01You're moving Liv and Roxanne and Raquel as well.
08:04Liv's a women's champion.
08:05That would be far too complex.
08:06Although they did put her in King of the Rings.
08:07So maybe they don't care.
08:09I don't know.
08:10She's also not really doing anything on TV at the moment.
08:12It's kind of weird.
08:13Kind of weird.
08:14One of your top women stars just farting around on TV right now.
08:17But that's the reasoning.
08:19If you're wondering why they've sent Finn Balor to SmackDown, that show goes back to two hours at the end
08:24of this month.
08:25But there will be plenty for him to do over there with people he hasn't just viewed it with as
08:29well.
08:30Something fresh.
08:30Something different.
08:32Something to keep him rolling.
08:33Let's move on now to WWE's new wrestling war.
08:36And it involves AAA.
08:38So recently WWE announced a slew of shows in Mexico City.
08:42Kind of clashing or competing at least with CMLL's upcoming anniversary show there.
08:50And Mexico City is CMLL's base of operations.
08:54They have a major foothold in the city.
08:56This is all part of a kind of new wrestling war in Mexico.
09:02In the territory if you will.
09:04Dave reporting that there's a Triple Mania show happening in Las Vegas at the HyperX Arena.
09:09Coming right up.
09:10The business reason for that apparently is because potential sponsors.
09:15Potential suitors for a TV deal.
09:17They're likely to come to Vegas because it's not as far away.
09:19Stuff like that.
09:20They might be there already.
09:21Who knows.
09:21So they can show the TV suitors and the sponsors.
09:24Hey this is the product.
09:25You want to buy into it.
09:27Basically.
09:28But on top of all of this.
09:30The whole reason that WWE bought or TKO Endeavor bought AAA in the first place.
09:35Was to get TV rights and sponsorships for AAA.
09:39Right.
09:40And they.
09:40Because the core reason as always in wrestling.
09:44Is that somebody else.
09:45CMLL is doing well right now.
09:48So they're going to go head on.
09:49Which means it's going to be a very interesting few months.
09:52And maybe even years.
09:53And these are two promotions that historically hate each other.
09:56So it has a new dimension now that WWE is at the helm of AAA.
10:01It's basically in Dave's words.
10:03It will go on until one stomps the other out.
10:05But he reckons.
10:06And I agree with him that this will be WWE's toughest test in a while.
10:10Because CMLL they own their own buildings that they run.
10:14They are more culturally relevant as well.
10:18Than any other promotion that WWE has ever gone head to head with.
10:22Including WCW.
10:23And the nature of CMLL's business is that they don't take huge risks.
10:29It's a straight forward wrestling show in Arena Mexico every Friday.
10:32And elsewhere in the country on other days of the week.
10:36Right.
10:37So.
10:37They're not going to do anything stupid like WCW did in the 2000's.
10:41Is the core of this.
10:42They're just going to do their thing.
10:43And their thing is very successful.
10:45Because by the way CMLL's regular ass Friday show.
10:48Outdrew the Grande Americano match last week.
10:50So.
10:51You know.
10:52They've got the strong position in the market.
10:54They're not hurting right now.
10:56They could end up losing some talent of course to WWE and AAA.
10:59But aside from maybe like a mystical.
11:01Yeah.
11:01Situation won't be easy.
11:02But that's happened many many times in the past before.
11:05As I slipped my glasses on.
11:07To fully hammer home.
11:08How serious we are.
11:10About this situation.
11:11But yeah.
11:11It's going to be one to follow for sure.
11:13I think there is a renewed interest in AAA.
11:15As a result of this.
11:17WWE situation there.
11:18And look the Grande Americano match was tremendous.
11:21Everybody loved it.
11:21So.
11:22There's a lot going on there.
11:23A lot to follow.
11:24But I'm going to leave you today.
11:25And there will be more news tomorrow.
11:27Obviously.
11:27There's always news baby.
11:28See you later.
11:29Bye.
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