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On today’s wrestling news!
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00:00On today's Solo Sunday News, the real reason for CM Punk's WWE absence.
00:06There's a backstage update on All Ego Ethan Page, the new AAA General Manager is...
00:12And a long-absent AEW star is expected at double or nothing later today.
00:17Hello and welcome to World Culture Wrestling.
00:19The Solo Sunday News, myself Andrew Pallarty,
00:21Solo Sunday News that very much did not nearly get to you today,
00:24but I hope you are.
00:25I hope you're good and I hope your weekend is going as well as possible.
00:28And if you are here in the UK, I hope you're enjoying a nice, long, sunny bank holiday weekend.
00:33Especially if you work in IT.
00:35Fair play to Hull City though, before I go any further, congratulations to Hull.
00:38And for certain Middlesbrough fans, watch out for those tigers, innit?
00:41Right, starting things off today, and there's a bit of an update on what is going on with CM Punk.
00:47Now, CM Punk appeared on the Raw after WrestleMania 42.
00:51Of course, he was fresh off losing the World Heavyweight title to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.
00:56And Punk promised that he was not going anywhere.
00:58There was a tease of something with Cody Rhodes, be that in the near future or maybe something a little
01:03bit further down the line.
01:06But since then, CM Punk has not been seen.
01:09Actually, that's a lie.
01:10In fact, he was seen, but he was seen at the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano MMA fight for MVP
01:15last weekend.
01:17Now, of course, that has led to plenty of fan chatter and speculation as to what is going on with
01:21CM Punk.
01:21I mean, I've even seen some crazy theories out there from some people suggesting that he'd been suspended for that
01:28fan altercation during WrestleMania weekend.
01:30You know, when he knocked the phone out of someone's hand as they filmed AJ Lee and Bayley.
01:34Even though Bayley had told the dude, like, stop several times.
01:38Yeah, so some people are going to make up crazy stuff for that.
01:41And 2 and 2 equals 457.
01:43Or potato in some cases.
01:45Per Fightful Selecto, the reason for CM Punk's absence is what is described as a schedule change.
01:51Now, added to that, false finish has been told that Punk is a waiting creative for his return to TV.
01:56Basically, his schedule and creative plans were changed after WWE decided to move Gunther over to SmackDown.
02:00And that came after moving Jacob Fatou over to Raw to feud with Roman Reigns.
02:04So, it kind of left, I guess in some ways, kind of left CM Punk as a bit of an
02:09odd man out.
02:10I mean, this also, this is purely speculation for me, of course.
02:13But this also might be tied to those reports that Randy Orton is dealing with a bit of a back
02:17issue that caused certain creative changes.
02:19I mean, namely, meaning that the whole Cody and Orton program, that's been, as you say, put on hold for
02:24now.
02:24Which is the reason why Gunther's been moved over to SmackDown to feud with Cody.
02:29I mean, maybe we were meant to get some CM Punk and Gunther stuff after WrestleMania.
02:32I don't know.
02:32Although, to be fair, I mean, originally on that, that roar after WrestleMania,
02:36very much thought we were going in a LA Knight and Gunther direction following the, following Mania.
02:41But either way, CM Punk is on a bit of a break due to a schedule change.
02:45And to be fair, I mean, I said this ahead of time.
02:47I kind of expected Punk to naturally take a break after WrestleMania 42.
02:50A bit like my obligatory Brett mentioned, but a bit like Bret Hart after WrestleMania 12,
02:55where, you know, you go away for a few months.
02:56I know at that point there was some uncertainty over Brett's future.
03:00But they've just kind of go away for a few months, come back refreshed.
03:03The crowd's going to be a bit more refreshed way as well.
03:04And I thought maybe CM Punk might do something like that, where it's just like,
03:07go away for a couple of months, we'll bring you back and do something big with you.
03:10But then, well, then CM Punk cut that promo on Raw, where it's like, I'm going nowhere.
03:14I'm going nowhere.
03:15Yeah, I'm not flooding and leaving, I guess, essentially.
03:18And when you look at the, I mean, the wider WWE product right now, I mean,
03:22they could kind of do with CM Punk.
03:24I mean, any wrestling company could kind of do with CM Punk in their corner.
03:27But that's a whole conversation for a whole other day.
03:30Now, one person who has not been absent from WWE TV right now,
03:34in fact, they got themselves a very, very, very well-earned main roster call-up on the Raw after WrestleMania
03:4042.
03:41That is all-ego Ethan Page.
03:43And while he may have come up short on Saturday night's main event last night,
03:46which is where he took on Penta for the Intercontinental Championship,
03:48it sounds like all-ego is making quite the impression behind the scenes already.
03:53I mean, this comes from WrestleVotes here,
03:56where Page has been well-received in the company since he arrived in 2024,
04:00described as, and I've got a quote here,
04:03extremely respectful and detail-oriented,
04:06which is something that's been shown in his work across NXT,
04:09across AAA, where he's won half of the AAA mixed tag champs,
04:11and also now, of course, on the main roster.
04:15I mean, Ethan Page has been killing it, man.
04:17This also says here, this report from WrestleVotes,
04:19that he's positioned very well moving forward.
04:21And again, even more so considering how quickly he's been on the rise
04:24in a relatively short amount of time.
04:27I mean, this is somebody who won the NXT title of what?
04:31Two, three weeks after arriving?
04:32Maybe it was a month.
04:33I don't know, but it was very quickly after he landed in NXT.
04:35He was the NXT champ,
04:37and he's been the NXT North American champ since then as well.
04:40The greatest North American to ever live, of course,
04:41apart from Bret Hart, who's watching me from right over there.
04:44Hey, Hitman.
04:45Yeah, and now, of course, you look at it now,
04:47where Ethan Page has already immediately found himself
04:49in the Intercontinental title mix on Raw,
04:52and I think he's very much getting that belt before the summer is out.
04:55In fact, part of me did think he might get it last night,
04:58but yeah, Ethan Page, make no bones about it.
05:01He will be Intercontinental Champion by the time the summer is over,
05:03and the future is incredibly bright, man.
05:06This is, it's just also, like I said,
05:08it's just very well-deserved, very well-earned.
05:11This is just somebody, a dude who's busted his backside for years, man.
05:14I mean, I first saw him back to the Monster Mafia days,
05:17which would then go on to become the North.
05:19Just a constantly entertaining, charismatic star.
05:23I mean, Ethan Page may not have always been a star,
05:25but he's always felt like a star, always carried himself like one,
05:28and here he is getting a shot at the big time, the big opportunity,
05:30and he feels absolutely 100% ready to grab the opportunity with both hands,
05:34which I'm sure he will, and just, yeah, again,
05:36the future is incredibly bright for Ethan Page, if you ask me, man.
05:41You love to see good things happening to good people,
05:42and by all accounts, Ethan Page is a good, good dude.
05:45So, yeah, much luck to him there.
05:47Now, speaking of good dudes, which is quite the,
05:51that's quite the transition there,
05:52but from one good dude to another,
05:54and I'm going to go with the next general manager of AAA.
05:58Yes, that has been named now.
05:59I have to hype it up for weeks.
06:00It was all a case of who will be the new GM.
06:03Some people thought maybe JBL.
06:05Some people thought maybe Dorian Roldan as a possibility,
06:08but instead, as announced last night by AAA president Maricela Pena,
06:12it's WWE Hall of Famer, all-round legend, icon,
06:16one of the greatest to ever do it,
06:17one of the most revolutionary wrestlers in the history of the business.
06:20Yes, it is Rey Mysterio, who is the new AAA general manager,
06:24which obviously that went down very well with a certain AAA mega-campion,
06:28which would be Dominic Mysterio, as well as Dorian Roldan as well,
06:31was not exactly happy with this development.
06:35And also, as you say, away from that,
06:38last night's AAA show had yet more awesomeness between the Americanos too.
06:43Those men, El Grande Americano and El Grande Americano 2,
06:46just beating the shits at one another.
06:47Again, all ahead of their big mask versus mask match next weekend.
06:51I mean, if you ask me right now, genuinely,
06:54if you ask me what is my favourite thing in the wrestler business right now,
06:57I probably would say this Americanos feud when it's in AAA.
07:01I mean, when it's on WWE programming,
07:02it's a bit of a different beast.
07:04It doesn't hit the same.
07:05But yeah, but in Mexico, man,
07:06El Grande Americano 2 is over like Rover, brother.
07:10We're talking Royal Warrior Pops, that sort of thing.
07:12It's just, it's crazy the reaction this guy gets.
07:14And also, as well, the original El Grande Americano is just great at what he does.
07:19Completely detested a proper, proper scumbag.
07:22Now, switching gears a little bit for our final story of the day,
07:26and switching gears to AEW ahead of Double or Nothing later today.
07:30Now, this comes from Fightful Select,
07:32who report that a certain Mr. Mayhem is in town for today's pay-per-view.
07:37Yes, Wardlow is in New York, ahead of Double or Nothing,
07:40where he's expected to be at the event.
07:42Now, it is specified here that it's not known
07:44whether he'll be making an appearance on screen or not,
07:47but we at least know that the big fella will be at the event in some capacity.
07:50And for Wardlow, it's a little bit crazy to realise
07:53he's not actually wrestled for over two years by this point.
07:56Dating back, I looked into it before recording this video.
07:58And it's like you date back to March 2024,
08:01which is where he lost to then AEW World Champion Samoa Joe.
08:05So, now, of course, Wardlow did return at Forbidden Door last August,
08:09but that return, unfortunately, only lasted for a few weeks,
08:12and then he'd suffer a torn pec.
08:13I think it was his torn left pec,
08:15which would subsequently put him on the shelf.
08:17I mean, since then, though, of course,
08:18Wardlow has filmed the first season of the American Gladiators reboot,
08:22which is now premiered on Amazon Prime,
08:24and I do need to get round to watching that at some point.
08:27I love me a bit of Gladiators, man.
08:28The UK reboot that started a couple of years ago,
08:30oh, a lot of fun with that.
08:31So, yes, I will be watching the American Gladiators reboot as well.
08:34And also, there's a bunch of wrestlers in there, so great.
08:37Now, Fightful sources said that Wardlow has been at a number of AEW events lately
08:41with AEW Revolution.
08:42I think that was specifically mentioned as well.
08:44Basically, he's just been backstage at a few events.
08:46He gears up to return to the ring.
08:48Now, whether he appears at Double or Nothing tonight,
08:50again, that remains to be seen.
08:52But, yeah, the Wardlow has been missed, man.
08:55Now, not in terms of, like, star power necessarily,
08:57because at the moment, AEW have a bunch of top stars,
09:00whether that's in the men's division,
09:01whether that's in the women's division,
09:02whether it's the tag teams.
09:03I mean, you look at the tag team division,
09:05the men's tag team division,
09:06and you look at it now and you're thinking,
09:07hmm, the Motor City Machine Guns will be coming in here soon.
09:10And then also maybe the New Day.
09:12So, yeah, everywhere is stacked.
09:14So, Wardlow isn't necessarily missed in terms of that star power.
09:17But I'm just, like, I miss Wardlow,
09:19because I like to see big, meaty fellas
09:21just powerbombing fools and cracking skulls.
09:23Now, yes, there are certain other talents that do similar things.
09:26But, yeah, Wardlow's just got,
09:27there's some special out, Wardlow, man.
09:29He has been missed.
09:29So, hopefully he's back soon.
09:31But either way, he will be at Double or Nothing today.
09:33Just whether we see him on screen or not,
09:35that is the big question here.
09:37And with that, this has been What Culture Wrestling?
09:39The Solo Sunday News.
09:41With myself, Andrew Pollard.
09:42Oh, my word.
09:42It's been a long morning, guys.
09:44It's been a long morning.
09:44I'm very much off for some whiskey today.
09:46But, well, be well, stay safe,
09:48and I will catch you next weekend.
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