- 2 hours ago
In this episode, we discuss Tony Khan's reaction to speaking with Skydance Officials, WWE is pushing forward with Crown Jewel, and what is the latest on Buddy Matthews?
All of this and the rest of the day’s news and rumors are covered in this episode of the Fro Wrestling Podcast!
Find us on all social media, including:
Spotify: Fro Wrestling Podcast
Pandora: Fro Wrestling Podcast
Facebook - Fro Wrestling Podcast
Reddit: u/frowrestling
On X - @frowrestling
Instagram - @frowrestlingpodcast
Discord - Fro Wrestling Podcast
Flipboard: Fro Wrestling Podcast
Bit Chute: FroWrestling
Pinterest: Fro Wrestling Podcast
As well as these and many other platforms:
Daily Motion, Rumble, Podomatic, Odysee, Bluesky, and many more!
Please support our sponsors:
3WA Wrestling
www.worldwidewrestlingalliance...
Beezle Games - Sketchy People
Doodle Games - Banani Market
Foo Games - Legendary Elements
ALL AVAILABLE AT
www.thegamecrafter.com
Fro Life Educational Planning
www.frolifeplanning.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fro-wrestling-podcast--2103073/support.
All of this and the rest of the day’s news and rumors are covered in this episode of the Fro Wrestling Podcast!
Find us on all social media, including:
Spotify: Fro Wrestling Podcast
Pandora: Fro Wrestling Podcast
Facebook - Fro Wrestling Podcast
Reddit: u/frowrestling
On X - @frowrestling
Instagram - @frowrestlingpodcast
Discord - Fro Wrestling Podcast
Flipboard: Fro Wrestling Podcast
Bit Chute: FroWrestling
Pinterest: Fro Wrestling Podcast
As well as these and many other platforms:
Daily Motion, Rumble, Podomatic, Odysee, Bluesky, and many more!
Please support our sponsors:
3WA Wrestling
www.worldwidewrestlingalliance...
Beezle Games - Sketchy People
Doodle Games - Banani Market
Foo Games - Legendary Elements
ALL AVAILABLE AT
www.thegamecrafter.com
Fro Life Educational Planning
www.frolifeplanning.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fro-wrestling-podcast--2103073/support.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hey yo, Fro Wrestling Podcast listeners, welcome to the show where we don't sing it, we bring
00:04it.
00:05Help us out and click subscribe to show your support.
00:08This episode we are talking Ring of Honor, Jonathan Gresham, what is the relationship,
00:14is there a chance for a reunion, we've got a Buddy Matthews update, and what happened
00:20after Friday's meeting between Tony Khan and Skydance, some things to update you on, but
00:26before we get to that, listen to some tunes, I'll be right back.
00:57Fro Wrestling Podcast, just when they think they got the answers, I take the question.
01:05Breath through breath.
01:07Yeah!
01:09Woo!
01:10UDNA!
01:13UDNA!
01:15Who are you to doubt L-Fan?
01:17Because this guy's a serious professional.
01:19Can he do it?
01:20Oh!
01:22Oh, and kick out!
01:24Unbelievable!
01:24Don't put my tail into cold arms, and I am a macho-pangu savage.
01:40Such a match of thong-wearing fatty.
01:44I said WWE stands for...
01:48War of Man United!
01:50It's me, Austin.
01:53I will never retire!
01:56War of Man!
01:58War of Man!
02:00Promotional consideration, paid for by the following.
02:07Welcome back to the show.
02:09I am Dr. Fro.
02:10I want to thank you for being a part of this episode.
02:13Thank you to all the listeners who have brought us the most watched episodes and the most watched traffic in
02:20the history of the show in September and October.
02:23You guys are amazing.
02:24Before we get into this news of the day, let's hit up the legal stuff that I gotta do, and
02:29that starts with our sponsor.
02:30If you are sick and tired of dropping a hundred bucks after all the player packs and add-ons and
02:36all that kind of stuff, for the latest and greatest wrestling video games, stop.
02:40Put that cash back in your pocket.
02:41Head over to Wrestler Unstoppable.
02:43Available totally free.
02:45Create a wrestler.
02:46Sign contracts.
02:47Get into storylines.
02:48Headline PLEs.
02:49Even build your own corporation from the ground up.
02:51All included in Wrestler Unstoppable.
02:53Like I said, all you gotta do is go to their website, app.wrestlerunstoppable.com.
02:56Sign up now and it's totally free.
02:58While you're in the game, look up Odin Maximus.
03:00That is my avatar.
03:01If you find me there, send me a message through the game and let me know you're a podcast listener.
03:06I will shoot you a contract offer to join my company, Universal Wrestling Evolution, and get you started in the
03:11game.
03:12If you want to become a member of the Fro Wrestling Podcast family, you want your name in the shoutouts
03:15like John in Texas and Sarah,
03:17the best way to do that is to go to our Patreon page at patreon.com slash frowrestlingpodcast and sign
03:23up today.
03:23There is a loyalty rewards program.
03:25First off, if you want to sign up at the free no cost, no obligation tier, it'll notify you every
03:31time we have new content go live.
03:33If you want to sign up at any of the monetary tiers from $1 all the way on up, we
03:38will put you into the shoutouts.
03:40And if you want more than that, you want to be a part of the show with me co-hosting,
03:44then at the $15 a month tier, you're guaranteed an opportunity to co-host an episode.
03:48At $7.50 a month, I draw one of those members every month to be able to co-host a
03:52show with me as well.
03:53Thank you so much again for joining us this episode.
03:56We are going to jump into some AEW conversation.
03:59Before we do that, if you've got questions, concerns, something you want me to touch on in a future episode,
04:05give me a shout at the Fro Wrestling Sound Offline, 267-642-1160,
04:09or the best way, through whatever streaming service you're getting our show.
04:14Like, share, subscribe, and most important, for what we're talking about, comment.
04:19Every comment comes directly to me, and I can respond to those in much quicker fashion
04:23and get back to you about whatever it is that you're interested in.
04:26I thank you for those people who've been putting in a lot more comments lately.
04:29I love being able to engage with the audience.
04:31You guys are amazing.
04:32Thank you, thank you, thank you for that.
04:34You really do make doing this show feel like something I can be super passionate about
04:38and just enjoy spending time with you guys.
04:41Let's get into the news, starting with Jonathan Gresham, former Ring of Honor world champion,
04:46and he had a conversation about whether or not he would return to the promotion under Tony Khan's leadership.
04:52If you don't remember, Tony Khan, when he purchased Ring of Honor,
04:55had Jonathan Gresham come in and have a match with Claudio Castagnoli.
05:00And in that match, he was told shortly before going out to the match that he was going to be
05:04putting Castagnoli over
05:06and transitioning the Ring of Honor championship to Claudio.
05:09He had a problem with that.
05:11Apparently, backstage, he went somewhat nuclear on Tony Khan.
05:15Very frustrated.
05:16Now, he did go out and do business.
05:18He did put the championship on Claudio.
05:20But it sounds like those bridges were burnt pretty harsh.
05:23Now, he is not closing the door and being able to go back there,
05:26but he did mention that many times he's reached out to apologize to Tony Khan over the years,
05:31and he has been met with no response or basically it's not going to happen kind of responses.
05:36If you don't know a lot about Jonathan Gresham, this is Jordan Grace's husband.
05:40I've always wondered why he hasn't made more overtures towards going to NXT.
05:44He'd be somebody, if you don't know much about his work, he is a wonderful ring technician,
05:49super skilled wrestler, and somebody who could really add some value to NXT.
05:53I don't foresee him ever making it on the main roster in WWE,
05:56but I certainly think he could contribute in a meaningful way in NXT,
06:00and that has not happened despite the fact that Jordan Grace is in the company.
06:04Tony Khan is really the biggest other game in town,
06:07and it doesn't sound like that's going to happen either.
06:09Now, even though he's not saying never, it sounds like Tony Khan's not interested,
06:13and I don't know if that's because Tony Khan is that offended that somebody spoke up to him
06:16and disagreed with his booking or what it is,
06:19but at this point, that bridge may be permanently torched.
06:22Now, what do you do next?
06:22Do you look at TNA?
06:23Do you look at New Japan?
06:24Do you look at GCW, places like that?
06:26I don't know.
06:27I know he's staying active on the indie scene.
06:29He does compete at the very high level for some of the smaller promotions,
06:33but I do hope he gets an opportunity to be in front of a televised national distributed company
06:37at some point, because in the meantime, you're missing out on some great wrestling action.
06:41And let's be honest, that's exactly why we tune into what we tune into,
06:44is to see that great wrestling action.
06:46From there, an update on Buddy Matthews, AEW superstar.
06:49He's been out since February of 2025, severe ankle injury.
06:53Now, he did get cleared to return in August, and we have not seen him come back to AEW yet.
06:59He's made some appearances for some of the Australian promotions,
07:03and now he was announced for the World Series Wrestling, WSW's Mega Mania Tour,
07:09where they were hitting five cities from October 29th to November 2nd in Australia and New Zealand.
07:14And unfortunately, for one reason or another, he has been pulled from the entire tour.
07:20The only sensibilities that we got about why he'd be pulled had to do with scheduling conflicts,
07:25which begs the question, how could he have a scheduling conflict when he's pretty much done
07:29all the wrestling in that area, and does this mean that he's coming back to AEW television?
07:35He's been off for a very long time.
07:37This would be a great time for him to come back.
07:38I can be perfectly honest with you, I would love to see Hangman Adam Page break away from Brodito
07:45and have Buddy Matthews come in and take his spot there.
07:48I think it fits him much better.
07:50Don't get me wrong, I think Buddy Matthews is a main event level player.
07:53He did so well when he was in WWE with Seth Rollins when he was with his faction.
07:57I think it would make a lot of sense, but I don't know that Tony Khan sees him that way.
08:02And even if he did, the top of the card is so stacked right now.
08:04You've got wrestlers not even appearing on shows like MJF, and they're still stacked at the top of the card.
08:10So I don't see a main event push coming anytime soon for Buddy Matthews,
08:16but it will be exciting for him whenever he does finally make his return to an AEW ring.
08:22Speaking of the AEW ring, Tony Khan on Friday had a conversation with Skydance,
08:27the group that is the pairing of the Warner Brothers Discovery with Paramount and all that.
08:32And he was said to have come out of that meeting, according to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer,
08:38extremely happy with the meeting.
08:39Now, we don't know what that means, but it sounds like, you know,
08:42if you look at the whole scope of what's been going on since the merger was announced,
08:47originally Meltzer reported that women of wrestling had been canceled.
08:49It turns out he's clarified that and said that there's going to be one more season,
08:53but it's not going to be syndicated.
08:55NWA 24-7, which airs on a Roku channel, is going to be canceled because of the merger.
09:00So there's been some negatives in terms of wrestling and things coming off the menu.
09:06And we also know that there was the deal with WWE that was put together for their Bleacher Report coverage,
09:13which is also a subsidiary there of the same parent company.
09:16So it was looking like there could have been a lot of, you know,
09:19different angles and ways that this could go down for AEW that might not have been in their favor,
09:24but it sounds like that is not the case.
09:26Because Tony Khan sounds like he's very, very happy, and maybe this means a renewal.
09:30I did see Wrestling Observer was debating whether Tony Khan belongs in the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame.
09:36And I think Dave Meltzer was the one who said, you know,
09:38if he gets another deal with WBD or Skydance once this merger is over,
09:43that that would be enough to kind of put him in there as a no-brainer.
09:46I don't know how I feel about that.
09:49And then one last thing, New York Times report that the United States Intelligence Memo
09:54from the Director of National Intelligence Job, Jay Clayton,
09:58said that they were all United States State Department employees were in danger,
10:04and they were all to leave the country.
10:06They've also said that all non-essential personnel should leave the country.
10:09And that being said, you would think WWE would be rethinking things,
10:14and instead, Riyadh Season Stadium is being constructed right now,
10:19and this sounds like they are going to move on forward with Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia,
10:23regardless of the insane dangers it brings to their talent.
10:27And you're talking about putting tens of thousands of people
10:30in a makeshift outdoor stadium that you're putting together right now
10:33in what is obviously going to be the bullseye location for your enemies,
10:37with the Houthis and the Iranians ramping up their attacks, missile attacks, drone attacks.
10:42This is a bad idea.
10:44And as a wrestling fan, I'm going to be honest with you,
10:47when we had to report on the sad, tragic passing of PAC and things like that,
10:52you know, the loss of anybody in the wrestling business really hits hard.
10:55It really hits hard, especially if you're a diehard fan,
10:58like if you're listening to this show, you must be, and people like myself.
11:01The last thing I would want to have to report on is some kind of horrible missile strike
11:05where fans or talent or anybody was affected,
11:08and I cannot believe that no matter what the amount of money is,
11:12WWE was making, was almost printing money before the Saudi Arabian deal.
11:16This is just icing on the cake.
11:18The corporate greed for TKO is disgusting at this point.
11:21I love WWE's product.
11:23I hate their corporate greed.
11:25It is absolutely insane to me.
11:27It has made WWE a company that I have such an aversion to
11:30in terms of trying to support their product monetarily.
11:33I will seek out their programming in whatever free way I can.
11:37I will not pay for their programming anymore.
11:39They get enough money from enough sources.
11:41They don't need my pennies.
11:43And something like this is just abhorrent.
11:45It really is.
11:46I will not be watching Crown Jewel on the ESPN app
11:50because I don't want them to get the view.
11:51I'll watch highlights off somebody else's app
11:54or some fan photos before I'll watch their stuff
11:57because I'm not going to support the machine
11:59that doesn't take into account the safety and respect
12:03of their employees and their talent.
12:04And that's where I'm at with this.
12:06This really bothers me.
12:07I'm almost on a CM Punk first time
12:10they went to Saudi Arabia level for disgust with this.
12:12It is absolutely wrong.
12:14Should not be happening.
12:15And WWE should be ashamed of themselves
12:17for the corporate greed that is driving this.
12:19And it's not just this show
12:20where they'll make 70 to 90 million dollars.
12:22It's also WrestleMania next year
12:23which I'm sure is going to generate
12:25between 150 and 300 million
12:27depending on what happens with merchandise
12:28and everything else.
12:29It's just not good.
12:31It is all about the money,
12:32the dollars and the cents
12:33and it's not about safety.
12:34And that's disgusting to me.
12:35For now though,
12:36that's all the time we have for this episode.
12:38If you have a comment, question, anything
12:40you want to put it in,
12:41please do send those through.
12:42I'd love to hear from you
12:43and respond as quickly as I can.
12:46But for now,
12:48special thanks as always
12:49to Suno for creating the music
12:50and sound effects I use in my show.
12:51If you want to bring a new friend
12:52to family game night,
12:53it's easy.
12:53I got three options for you.
12:55Sketchy People by Beezle Games,
12:56Banani Market by Doodle Games,
12:58or Legendary Elements by Freddy Food Creations,
13:00all available at thegamecrafter.com.
13:03Let's be honest,
13:04you've been playing the same board games
13:06your whole life,
13:06Monopoly, Parcheesi,
13:08Chess, Checkers,
13:09Yahtzee, Clue,
13:10Life, you name it,
13:11you've been playing it,
13:12arguing over the rules of Uno.
13:13Grab something new
13:14from thegamecrafter.com,
13:16these three,
13:16or hundreds of other titles.
13:18I just happen to own
13:19all three of these.
13:20I think they're awesome.
13:21Sketchy People,
13:22Banani Market,
13:23Legendary Elements.
13:24If you're looking
13:24for your next career decision,
13:26you're considering college
13:26or university life,
13:27maybe you just need
13:28some formal training
13:29for your next opportunity.
13:30Go to my website
13:31at frolifeplanning.com
13:32for all your higher education needs
13:34as FroLife Educational Planning
13:35is for today,
13:36for tomorrow,
13:37and for life with FroLife.
13:39I'm Fred Froelich,
13:40better known as Dr. Fro.
13:41I want to thank you
13:41for taking the time with us today.
13:44Until next time,
13:44take care, everybody.
13:45Have a great night.