Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] The Rocking Review Podcast Hosted by J. Rock Rude Foreign Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the long awaited return of the Rocking Review Podcast. I'm your host J. Rock Rude and It has been three total months since episode 17 dropped with my buddy who graduated last semester, Hamsa Sisi.
[00:00:55] And it was difficult. I hated that I couldn't be able to continue doing the podcast during the semester, but I did make it work and I did short little 10 minute excerpts on reviews that I had about different shows and pay per views and whatnot that were going on during the summer. And and I'll just say we had a very eventful summer. We had the return of Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam as well as Cody is now the new world champion, but also went on to film Street Fighter. So this ended up being like the first in a very long time that Cody wasn't a part of like, you know, you know, at least a build of a pay per view, especially when he was the champion.
[00:01:49] You know, that was one of the main things. But overall wrestling during the summer definitely has hit highs and lows. And probably its highest is of course the announcement that starting on September 20th in Indianapolis on the brand new ESPN app, WWE will be having its please streaming live on the app for ESPN for the for coming future, for the foreseeable future. And personally I had talked about it, this is now becoming a less consumer interest type sports entertainment company and they are going to choose their bags and their pockets and how to stuff them over what they have to put on to somebody that likes professional wrestling.
[00:02:57] So really this deal and the reason that they made it so quickly is for two reasons. One, it's going to give them more money because the die hards are going to go ahead and pay that extra $30 a month to to watch the pay per views. Plus the fact of they also got to pay the streaming to watch Netflix and then they got to get the cable to watch USA if they are in the US and then if they're outside of the US they do have Netflix which is you know, still okay because you can get, you know, Kill Two Birds One Stone. But still you have to pay for all of those services to watch your beloved pro wrestling. And then for when pay per views come along, you either have to order them on another streaming service such as prime or HBO Max, which AW announced today that they will be now starting the HBO Max AW pay per view deal with a 10% discount. And in fact with that September 20th, which will be Russell Palooza, the same day will be AEW's all out pay per view and that announced today will end up happening at 3pm Eastern time, which means that they are now no longer going to go against wwe. I feel that how that they have gone with this competition of AW and wwe, WWE has significantly won it.
[00:04:43] But on to the main parts of today's episode. We're gonna be going over Clash in Paris that just happened this last Sunday. It was a very not newsworthy pay per view, but it was the last pay per view on the Peacock streaming service rights deal that they had, they said, leading up to the announcement of Russell Palooza being on ESPN and them not waiting till the New Year.
[00:05:17] They said that because they did some other events on top of what was already contractually obliged from the streaming rights deal that they signed in early 2021 is that with the extra pay per views like Evolution and making SummerSlam two nights, they basically did all that they needed to do and they were safe to move away and go to ESPN and that's why they chose to make the move super quick. But Clash in Paris, it was a very nice pay per view indeed. A couple of interesting matches and the main event, some seeing Seth Rollins being in a fatal four way defending his World Heavyweight Championship against LA Knight, CM Punk and Jay uso.
[00:06:11] We also will be talking about an update on Psycho Stew for those who still are not in the know. Psycho Stu is independent wrestler that got punched unconscious by the son, the former combat fighter quitting Rampage Jackson. It was Raja Jackson and they were in a show in LA where basically Raja went into business for himself and started punching Stu and basically he was unconscious and flatlined for a little bit and now he has been released from the hospital and we go over his statements. We also will go over RAW in France and specifically the promo that will hint at a possible return that we haven't seen in over 10 years.
[00:07:07] This person has not been seen on TV for WWE or any major.
[00:07:13] And I say major because I believe that they were involved with WOW Wrestling, but they have not been to a major wrestling company on screen in over 10 years. We will go into that, but first we will go and discuss about Clash in Paris.
[00:07:36] Clash in Paris, it broke 30,000 at the Paris LA Defense arena, which is one of the largest arenas or indoor arenas in Europe and they basically broke the gate record that they had there.
[00:07:54] And you know, with these international shows and these international crowds, it just shows you how rare it is to get something like a WWE or even an AEW pay per view or a TV taping over in that area. So just expect that whenever that they are doing a special event, that crowd is going to be as loud as possible. And they were allowed for this first match. It was Roman Reigns versus Bronson Reed.
[00:08:28] This is what kicked off the show.
[00:08:31] I thought that the build up towards this, of course, Roman, he's been off and on. He has won only one ple match and he's only wrestled, I have to say, four times this entire year. He's only wrestled four times.
[00:08:52] It was the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and then this appearance.
[00:09:02] So they are clearly trying to salvage what they can of Roman Reigns and he basically has the John Cena contract right now where he only has to compete about six to seven times out of the entire year.
[00:09:17] So they don't need to worry about him going down with an injury. But the same cannot be said about the ending of this match. It opened up with Bronson Reed taking advantage of Roman Reigns.
[00:09:31] Reigns then landed in some early offense until Reed size turned the tide. Reed then punished Reigns with some strikes, headbutts and slams, even attempting to humiliate him by stealing his shoes. Once again, that was one of the strong things or that was one of the focal points of this entire matchup was that Bronson Reed is the tribal thief. He has the Shula fala because he's stolen Roman Reigns's Jordans twice and he basically just like has them over his neck, you know, basically intimidating Roman.
[00:10:08] Reigns then fought back with a drive by drop kick, some superman punches and a spear attempt. But Reed cut him off with a choke slam. Senton and a powerbomb near falls piled as Reed hit a Death Valley driver in a suicide dive and went for his tsunami. But rain survived.
[00:10:25] The finish happened when Reigns countered a second tsunami attempt but by hitting a top rope Superman punch. And then he followed it by having a massive avalanche Samoan drop having Reed on his shoulders. I don't know how the ring didn't buckle from that. Then he finally hit the spear after many attempts and got the 1, 2, 3.
[00:10:51] The real entertaining bits happened after the bell because Paul Heymon was in the ring and he was trying to talk to Bronson. Reed and Roman went from celebrating to the outside, went back inside, noticed Paul was there, noticed that nobody was by his side because Bron Breaker for now hadn't came down to the ring.
[00:11:15] And then Heyman tried to weasel out and Reigns told Heyman to give him his shoes and Reigns finally got the shoes and then basically gave Reigns the shoes and Reigns decided to put Heyman into a guillotine, and Heyman passed out. And then Reigns continued to celebrate to the outside. And then he went on the announce table, he undid the laces on the sneakers, and he started trying to sign him. Of course, Michael Cole's pen or whoever's pen he was using wasn't working, so they had to try it a couple times. But he throws one or two shoes, one or two Jordans, out into the crowd in Paris.
[00:12:06] And then all of a sudden, you see Bron Breaker on the other side, on the other announce table, climb the barricade, hop on top of the barricade, run across the tables, and then spear Roman Reigns through the announce table.
[00:12:23] And this entire sequence just shows you two things. Number one, Bron Breaker will forever be a badass.
[00:12:31] And the push for Bron Breaker, because he is in this group solely because they want him to be kind of like the next Batista.
[00:12:46] And Seth Rollins is very much like his mentor, Triple H, because he is the leader role. He has the championship. And Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed are the two lackeys.
[00:13:00] And Breakker is clearly the powerhouse.
[00:13:04] So after this, they dragged Reigns back into the ring, Breaker and Reed, and they delivered multiple spears to him, and then redelivered a thundering tsunami finally to Reigns.
[00:13:25] And then they started leaving the ring.
[00:13:29] And then Reed went back up to hit another tsunami.
[00:13:37] He connected with the second one.
[00:13:39] They start to get up the ramp, medics come along, they bring a backboard into the ring to strap Roman Reigns up. And as soon as he gets strapped up, not even on the stretcher, Reed comes back and so does Bronson. And Reed delivers two huge tsunamis while Roman Reigns is defenseless on the backboard.
[00:14:07] Finally, after an eternity, main event, Jey USO comes through the crowd. He rushes in, gets some super kicks.
[00:14:18] But before you know it, Bron Breaker hits him again with a spear.
[00:14:25] And then finally, securities officials and other people, they restore order, and Roman is stretchered out of the arena.
[00:14:37] And then backstage, we see that Adam Pearce ejects both Reed and Breaker from the arena.
[00:14:45] And that took up almost an hour of the show. So the first match took up almost the first hour of the entire ple.
[00:14:56] And the fact that they now write off Reigns for what seems like the fifth time this year.
[00:15:06] And this is solely for Roman to go and film his parts in the new Street Fighter movie alongside Cody. Cody decided to do it before their next pay per view, which will be Russell Palooza.
[00:15:21] And Cody's now doing his parts for the movie. Now Roman's gonna do his parts for the movie and this most likely will take him out all the way till Survivor Series in November in San Diego at Petco park.
[00:15:41] And he will most certainly be involved with the War Games with Seth Rollins vision and we'll talk a little bit about that when we get to the main event. But overall I thought that this match did very good and so did the post match because this built Braun as a bigger star because him and Bronson Reed both took out Roman Reigns in a way that we have not seen before. And this was after Reigns was hit with like four tsunamis like a few weeks beforehand.
[00:16:12] We then shifted gears to a late added matchup, The Street Profits versus the Wyatt Six for the WWE Tag Team Championships for SmackDown.
[00:16:23] And the Profits came out sponsored by Borderlands.
[00:16:28] I only know that the people that watched the Borderlands movie some time ago only wish that it was as cool as the game. I don't even know if the game is still cool now.
[00:16:40] But they came for an easy product placement. And then in one of the best moments out of the entire ple the entire weekend, the Wyatt Six came out. Rowan Gacy, Loomis, Howdy and Nikki Cross, they all come out and they start singing Shatter, which was Bray Wyatt's original theme song that he was going to use when he came back that big time during 2012 or 2022.
[00:17:19] And basically the entire crowd of 30 plus sang along with the song and it was the most mesmerizing moment of the entire show. They had all the Fireflies out as the entrance was happening. The Eiffel Tower on the stage that they had made basically started lighting up with the Fireflies. So I thought that was very, very good and very good detail to the entrance. But I mean overall this was a, this was a pretty standard smackdown match.
[00:17:54] Early attention appeared as Montes Ford and Angelo Dawkins. There was some a brief stare down and Dawkins basically told Ford that he was going to start the match.
[00:18:07] So now it is again creating the dissension of the Street Profits where when you look at it, there's only one guy who would be suitable for a great singles run and he has been due for a big singles run and that is Montez Ford. I I think that with the charisma that Montez can have on the mic and in the ring, I mean we've seen glimmers of him in singles competition. Most notably when he was in that US Title elimination chamber match a couple years ago, you know he was in that match.
[00:18:46] You know this is what happens when you take a tag team wrestler and you give him a platform and you let him shine in the ring and then if you can make him basically divide away from the guy who he's been tagging with for like the last seven years, then you really got a good shot at making a superstar out of Ford. But the champions isolated Ford after knocking him off the apron with Gacy and Loomis keeping him grounded while Uncle Howdy, Rowan and Nikki looked on ringside. Ford fought back with some strikes and a suplex on Gacy to the apron, finally reaching Dawkins for the hot tag. Dawkins exploded with offense, including a big somersault senton to the floor and a Swanton for a 2.
[00:19:34] The Wyatt's regained momentum with a back super flex neck breaker combo, but the profits answered with a back super flex blockbuster move for the near fall.
[00:19:46] Loomis saved the match and chaos broke loose as Ford missed a frog splash. He missed from the heavens and pin attempts were traded back and forth outside. Rowan's presence distracted Dawkins, allowing Loomis to knock him into the crowd. Ford responded with a massive dive over the corner to Rowan and Loomis, but Nikki reached from under the ring to grab his leg. That left Ford exposed from a Sister Abigail from Uncle Howdy, followed by the superplex powerbomb combo for the 1, 2, 3.
[00:20:28] So a pretty standard matchup between the 6 and the prophets. But the main story here going in was that the brotherhood that Bo Dallas, out of character of Uncle Howdy, was questioning about the street profit so that could come into play within next couple weeks.
[00:20:47] We then moved on to the women's Intercontinental title match between Becky lynch and Nikki Bella.
[00:20:57] This is the first title opportunity for Nikki Bella since returning again. She returned over the summer and she was a part of the massive battle royal that was won by Stephanie Vacuur at Evolution.
[00:21:15] So now they're trying to incorporate Nikki Bella back into the mix. I don't agree with it, but you know, if they could do it with Trish when they had her feuding with Becky, I don't see why not.
[00:21:28] Nikki opened aggressively, throwing strikes and knocking Becky to the floor multiple times, keeping her out of the ring until a missed baseball slide let Becky shift the momentum. Lynch then slammed Nikki into the barricade and connected with a leg drop. Off the ropes for a two.
[00:21:46] From there, Becky controlled the pace with strikes and a lariat, though Nikki fired back with some forearms and nearly turned things with a flurry of clotheslines, drop kicks and baseball slides.
[00:21:58] She then battered Becky around the announce tables until she missed a springboard kick that gave lynch the opening.
[00:22:05] The match grew into a heated back and forth with Nikki attempting the rack attack and Becky countering into a superplex following an arm bar.
[00:22:16] Nikki escaped into her own version of the STFU or the stf, the Fearless Lock. So she called it and that drew some booze.
[00:22:29] Nikki later countered a disarm her with an electric chair drop and went back to lock in the stf, which Becky then broke via the ropes, then spilled to the outside where Nikki countered a manhandle slam attempt on the steps with an X factor to Becky's head. Back inside, Nikki landed Becky's own manhandle slam for a almost near fall in the end. Becky then turned Nikki's aggression towards the end and blocked another disarmer attempt and she pushed Nikki into the ropes and snatched her on the rebound into a big backslide for the 1, 2, 3. So Becky escapes with the Women's Intercontinental Championship again, pretty mid match.
[00:23:22] This match was the match that a lot of people were really speculating on what that they were going to do when it came time to decide about the finish.
[00:23:36] It is Seamus versus Rusev in what was Rusev's first ple match coming back to WWE. And this was Sheamus's first PLE singles match since 2022.
[00:23:59] It had been three years since Seamus had been on a ple. And this was not in any ordinary match. This was in a good old fashioned donnybrook match.
[00:24:09] I feel like they put Sheamus in this almost once every couple of months, whether it's on TV or it's on a ple.
[00:24:19] I think that with the chemistry that Rusev and Sheamus have that they really made this work and the fact that this was the big ple match that they were hyping up to with the constant battles back and forth.
[00:24:37] I think that this match did really speak on how well, you know, each of them could be still, even at their age and in their experience and with the fact that it was just a all out brawl with a bunch of weapons, I think they did very, very well.
[00:24:56] They started brawling inside the ring and then it quickly spilled outside with each of them setting up tables for later.
[00:25:03] Rusev took early control with a kendo with some kendo stick shots and mocked Seamus's beats at the Boundarine. Seamus then answered with an Irish Curse, Brack Baker and some chair shots, but Rusev dropped him with a spinning heel kick and drove him into one of the wedge chairs. In the corners. The fight moved to the bar area of the ringside, where Sheamus dished out some beats of the bow drain, but Rusev retaliated by slamming him through the bar with a urinagi. So through the table.
[00:25:37] Back in the ring, Rusev locked in the accolade, which Seamus broke out of by powering up and slamming Rusev into some steel chairs.
[00:25:45] They then went back to the outside, and they've had this whiskey barrel structure that they usually have in one of the corners of the outside of the ringside. And they usually always have a spot on top, and most likely it will always be Seamus basically picking somebody up and delivering white noise through some tables.
[00:26:12] Very interestingly enough, they actually Rusev locked in an accolade on top of the whiskey barrels, which I thought that was a very cool visual. But of course, Sheamus broke out and delivered the white noise, basically from like, 10ft up.
[00:26:31] They both dragged themselves back into the ring, where Sheamus landed a bro kick for a near fall, but Rusev responded with the matchka kicks and a saleli shot before he used the broken piece of the shillelagh to lock in the accolade and basically leaned all the way back and wrenched on Sheamus's back to get Sheamus to tap out, which, from what I believe commentary said, is it was only the second time Sheamus has ever tapped out before. But they gave the W to Rusev. I thought that the match went pretty good. Again, crazy spots, especially for the Donnybrook match, but they really outdid themselves. And again, Sheamus proved once again why he is still a star, you know, even after all this time, you know, whenever that you have, whether it's a TV match, ple match that the Celtic warrior is always going to outdo himself. Then we got to what was clearly Match of the Night, and it was John Cena versus Logan Paul. Going up to this point, Cena and Paul had had multiple different promo segments the week before it was in Dublin, and Cena basically said that he was a leech and a parasite that was utilizing WWE to finance himself, because nowadays he's in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, and he's not really as influential as he was back in the day.
[00:28:15] So he escapes to pro wrestling to one, get the bag, and two, gain some partial influence because he's a YouTuber turned superstar, and the entire storyline is that people consider him an outsider. And this is also John Cena's first match and first storyline where he wasn't a heel beforehand. And after his baby face turn that he did on his way to SummerSlam and then his eventual loss to Cody. You know, it was very nice to see John Cena back in his element of teasing the bad guys around and basically cooking them on all the promo segments that they had.
[00:28:58] But then it does remind you that Cena does not have that many dates. He has nine dates left with meaning five ples.
[00:29:09] He is going to show up for Chicago where most likely I think that is where they're going to reintroduce Brock Lesnar.
[00:29:18] But this match was great.
[00:29:21] He came out and he had a thunderous ovation from the Paris crowd for his final appearance. They even had a banner that said thank you Cena.
[00:29:29] After the opening feeling out process, Logan gained control with some strikes and some stomps and a blockbuster to keep Cena grounded. But Cena rally on with some moves of doom in an AA attempt. But Logan countered with a buckshot lariat for two.
[00:29:44] From there the match became a wild exchange of different reversal than borrow finishers from everybody that they had faced before.
[00:29:52] Cena mentioned in his post match that because he knows that he's not going to get a chance to wrestle everybody that he wants to, that basically he will try and pay homage to them while he's in the ring.
[00:30:07] So in this match he landed a tornado DDT and Logan did an alley oop and a zigzag. And he also did some of Cena's own moves and tried to land a five knuckle shuffle, but in one counter Cena actually ended up using the end of days from his previous rival, Baron Corbin.
[00:30:34] And then if that was enough, he also did a Tiger driver. He did a Angel's wings from Christopher Daniels, which is incredible.
[00:30:44] And then he also even did a Styles clash which took a little bit for him to set up, but it was pretty good.
[00:30:50] But every single time Logan still kicked out pace quicken as Paul cracked Cena with his titanium right hand and landed multiple frog splashes but still could not keep Cena down.
[00:31:04] Cena fired back with a hurricane Rana and a code red and another aa, but Logan kicked out two.
[00:31:11] Finally, Logan leapt with a cross body only to be caught midair and planted with an attitude adjustment.
[00:31:20] And then in the back and forth, Cena was denied another attitude adjustment.
[00:31:27] He got hit with the titanium punch. Cena bounced off the ropes, got Paul into position for a second AA and 1, 2, 3, crawls over and he wins.
[00:31:42] So quite literally, John Cena pulling out his bag of moves and tricks and just ways that he can pay homage to the people that helped him along this 20 plus year career.
[00:31:59] And you know, to see Logan perform this way in front of John I think just shows you his versatility and just shows you how much faith that they have in Logan Paul.
[00:32:13] So I thought they did very well.
[00:32:17] And then we got to the fatal four way match.
[00:32:22] Seth Rollins, no backup of the Vision, facing CM Punk, LA Knight and Jey Uso.
[00:32:33] Jay came out first, did a massive yeet with the Paris crowd and thank goodness he was first because he could calm down through three different lengthy entrances.
[00:32:50] Punk struck first, landing a super kick that got USO out of the ring while Rollins tried to pick the pieces.
[00:32:59] Chaos quickly broke with all four brawling in and out of the ring including Punk diving off the barricade inside. Punk gained momentum until USO and Knight re entered doing a Tower of Doom spot. Rollins sip some big moves like a frog splash and a pedigree well. Knight dropped Punk with a power slam and nearly beat Rollins with a BFT before USO broke the pin up.
[00:33:24] Punk later was shoved through a table that was set up on the outside, giving Knight another opening, but Jay and Seth kept the match alive.
[00:33:33] And then the closing stretch, Jay hit a frog splash or he hit a splash on Rollins. Punk hit at GTS and then Rollin Stump stopped Punk for a two.
[00:33:45] After taking out Knight and USO on the floor, Rollin set up to finish Punk with a stomp onto the chair on the inside.
[00:33:54] Punk then countered with a GTS and Rollins bounced off the ropes and rebounded back onto Punk's shoulders.
[00:34:04] Punk lifted him back up thinking that it was over and then all of a sudden a hooded figure comes out from under the ring and low blows Punk and quickly it is revealed to be the wife of the leader of the Vision, Becky Lynch.
[00:34:25] The person who was successful in defending her championship helps her man defend his.
[00:34:33] Rollins finally delivered a stomp onto the chair and pinned Punk to win the match.
[00:34:40] The match ended and the show ended with Seth and Becky standing tall celebrating together.
[00:34:49] So before we get into the Raw segment, let's just talk about that rumor and we'll talk about it during the Raw segment of what Punk said. And Punk was asking where smackdown was going to be this week and it being in Chicago.
[00:35:16] So when this thing first happened, the main event and the fact that everybody instantly got on the train of oh well, AJ Lee's coming back, I personally did not believe it at first. I thought that they might have wanted to try something, but I wasn't sure exactly where they were going to go with it.
[00:35:41] I just personally thought that they'll just have somebody else on the roster. But as we'll get into it, it's very clear that the big focal point, aside from having Brock Lesnar's first WWE match in over a year and a half, Cena's match against Brock Cody's gonna be on the pay per view. And then now the potential that AJ Lee for the first time in 10 years is going to end up being in a match and it's going to be alongside her husband against the World Heavyweight Champion and her his wife. So I think that you know how that plays out. We'll have to see after the return this Friday, which we will cover next week.
[00:36:33] But the fact that AJ Lee is willingly deciding to show up and be a part of this angle, it just shows you how much of the storytelling that they have put in this year between Rollins and Punk that ultimately it will end up being Rollins finally being on the losing effort and Punk finally winning the championship back. When that happens, it could happen before Mania, but who knows.
[00:37:11] Hey everyone, did you know that the Rocking Review podcast is on both X and Instagram? That's right. For every single episode we end up doing a prelude to that episode on our socials. We are on Twitter nx@rockingreview. That's R A W K Review. And of course there you can be able to look at all of our previous posts and upcoming posts. Thank you very much. And now back to the episode Moving on in a buffer, we will talk about the incident that happened the week before this. And of course that was the incident that involved Raja Jackson and Stuart Smith, also known as Psycho Stew, at an independent show in California.
[00:38:23] Wrestler Psycho Stew details extensive list of injuries in first public comment since Raja Jackson attacked this is from Yahoo Sports Professional wrestler Stuart Smith ring named Psycho Stew has been released from the hospital one week after suffering an alleged brutal attack at the hands of Raja Jackson at an independent wrestling show in California.
[00:38:54] In his first public comment since the incident, Smith and his wife Khan Tessa Patterson stated that the wrestler is now home resting, but sustained a serious head injury and was unconscious upon arrival at the ER following the alleged assault, which was captured live on streaming platform Kick.
[00:39:22] Smith stated that his extensive list of injuries included trauma to both the upper and lower jaws, a laceration to his upper lip, a fracture to the maxilla bone, which unfortunately resulted in loss of several teeth.
[00:39:43] In the now viral video filmed two Saturdays ago, Jackson, the son of former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion quit in Rampage. Jackson can be seen entering the ring at a Knox Pro Wrestling event, hoisting Smith above his head, slamming him hard onto the mat, unloading 23 unanswered and unprotected punches to Smith's head before being forcibly ripped away by a swarm of other wrestlers.
[00:40:14] When this event happened, I absolutely hated the fact that this is how pro wrestling got into the news, especially on the same day that Forbidden Door was happening.
[00:40:31] Ultimately, I think that this sucked for a lot of people, especially the people in charge of Knox Pro Wrestling, which from what I have heard has been dropped of all partnership with WWE and wwid. And in fact actually it is Rikishi, Rikishi Fatu's base promotion out of Cali.
[00:40:55] So the fact that like this happened out of nowhere and this was all because the guy got baited thanks to a live stream to go in on an innocent man and what was to be a work happened to be a tremendous unfortunate turn of events when this young 20 year old kid walked in and completely assaulted an innocent man who was in the middle of a match. I. I am just.
[00:41:32] I'm very happy that at least he's been released and he's awake and he is back home safe.
[00:41:38] The incident appeared to stem from a pre show misunderstanding between Jackson and Smith. Also live stream on kick which Smith approached Jackson backstage and confronted him in character under the belief that Jackson was a part of the show and he was also a pro wrestler working on the Knox Pro Wrestling show after striking Jackson in the head with a beer can and Smith can be heard on camera asking whether or not Jackson is going to sell the move a wrestling term and for exaggerating the pain and exaggerating the damage of a strike that inflicts as part of the performance.
[00:42:15] After being informed that Jackson is not a professional wrestler, Smith can be seen on stream apologizing several times for the misunderstanding and the two seamlessly shaking hands multiple times to make up striking an agreement that Jackson will become a part of Smith's match later on in the night.
[00:42:32] Jackson then can be seen on stream being told by wrestler Andre Joel Hudson and he told Smith to give his receipt AKA a retaliatory shot in the match when Smith was being told that it was going to be a work and that Jackson was going to interfere with the match sequentially watching the show from the front row throughout the night, Jackson could be heard making repeated comments to his kick stream alluding to the violence he planned to inflict on Smith. Because he was talking, he was talking a bunch of stuff. He was Saying, like, I'm gonna beat his ass. He said, I'm gonna, you know, actually knock out a wrestler. He. He got baited by his audience watching the stream to go in and do something.
[00:43:33] Smith is a retired military veteran who joined Knox Pro Wrestling in 2009 after retiring from his service.
[00:43:43] In a prior promotional clip, he released that he also had been suffering from PTSD and began wrestling as a means to give something to focus on as he adjusted back into civilian life. The incident remains under investigation by Los Angeles Police as of this writing. And that was it.
[00:44:02] In my fully honest opinion.
[00:44:07] I really hope that Raja gets what's coming to him, because if he doesn't, then this is going to be a very mishandled situation.
[00:44:19] And this man did not mean, like, anything by it. And he apologized several times to Jackson because he thought that he was a pro wrestler. And again, it's a small little indie joint in California, so I understand why, you know, maybe Smith was not up to date on everything going on, but just the fact that, like, the young man got baited into going into the ring, slamming him onto the mat, and then delivering 23, almost two dozen unprotected punches to the head, and he basically knocked this guy out so mad that he almost flatlined, he was unconscious, and he couldn't get out of the ring on his own two feet.
[00:45:06] I believe that there will be developments within next few weeks on what the consequences will be. And even worse, his father, Quentin, hasn't even retaliated against it and he's trying. He's been trying to defend it and several other people have been trying to defend Raja. And I don't understand why the dude was there. He was brought there as a fan.
[00:45:33] He livestreamed it.
[00:45:35] He was accidentally struck with a beer can by a pro wrestler who thought it was in the act, found out it wasn't, apologized, then said, hey, if you want, because this is on streaming, we can get some views and you can be a part of the match. But clearly this guy did not know what it was.
[00:45:53] This guy has had a lot of mental health troubles and I stand for men's mental health because that kind of stuff needs to be taken seriously and needs to be handled with caution.
[00:46:05] So where this entire situation goes, I do not know, but sure that that will fully unfold within the next few weeks. And finally, we will talk about RAW in France.
[00:46:20] This also happened at the Paris Les Defense Arena.
[00:46:29] This is also where they announced that Netflix, starting in January of 2026, will be coming to France. So people will be able to watch Raw in France on Netflix.
[00:46:42] There were only a couple of matches and a couple of segments specifically in the last three of the night.
[00:46:49] One of the main stories of the show was that CM Punk was waiting at the main gate for Seth Rollins to show up.
[00:47:03] But some matches that did end up happening. The Kabuki warriors beat the Judgment Day, Finn Balor beat Dragon Lee and then PETA, and the War Raiders beat Grayson Waller and the New Day.
[00:47:17] One of the things that was made official that is technically the first official match for Russell Palooza on September 20, Indian in Indiana in Indianapolis. Oh boy.
[00:47:30] Was that because Naomi vacated the women's championship, that means that a new champion has to be crowned. And Stephanie Vacuure was supposed to be the person that challenged Naomi at Clash in Paris for the title, but because it was relinquish, it was relinquished.
[00:47:52] Now Vikira will face Iyo sky, the former women's champion, and they will fight at Wrestlepalooza for the vacant championship.
[00:48:09] Personally, I think that Vikir is a shoe in to win. It's gonna be very surprising that she's gonna win only three months after her main roster debut after being NXT Women's champion and then losing the title to J.C. jane.
[00:48:33] You know, it'll be surprising seeing Stephanie win that title in such a short span of time. I mean, like that's like Seamus level of a push right there, and where she can go from there with the championship on her shoulder is going to be pretty far.
[00:48:49] But one of the matches that was advertised for this show was Dominik Mysterio versus AJ Styles in a rematch from SummerSlam for the Intercontinental Championship.
[00:49:01] The match picked up after the break with Dominic in control, stopping AJ in the corner before hitting a springboard. Hurricane Rana Ayyjayy fired back with a sliding forearm and his signature Yugi Gurushi for a near fall.
[00:49:14] Styles looked for a Styles clash, but Dominick countered with a Hurricane Rana outside off the apron following a baseball slide. But when AJ caught Dominic in another Hurricane Rana spot, he powerbombed Dom onto the French announce table. Back inside, Stiles went for another Styles clash, but Dominic reversed it into a modified edge O Matic for two. Dominic then sent AJ shoulder first into the post and hit a Michinoku driver and then connected with the Three Amigos and a frog splash, but Styles kicked out.
[00:49:50] AJ came back with a Styles clash, yet Dominic saved himself by getting his foot on the ropes.
[00:49:56] Styles then went to finish the job for a phenomenal forearm, but all of a sudden El Grande Americano emerged from under the ring, tripping him. And then with his left loaded mask, hit a headbutt to AJ's chest, which allowed Ayyjayy to fall inside back in the ring, and Dominic to hit the frog splash for the 1, 2, 3. So he regains his Intercontinental Championship and now this allows him to go on and become two belts, Dom.
[00:50:32] And potentially, which I think he actually will this time at the next World's Collide event that will happen on the 12th in Las Vegas.
[00:50:48] Elio Delva Kingo vs. Dominic Mysterio for the Triple A Mega title. So the world title and Dominic most likely will become a double champ.
[00:51:02] And you know, this is great for Dominic.
[00:51:05] I personally believe he should have just happened to be. He should have won the title at Triplemania. But they thought that it would be best to give Vikingo the match. But clearly everybody booed. So particularly in that promotion, they are tired of seeing Vikingo, you know, have the title because he had had the title for so long before the acquiring of AAA from WWE that, you know, they wanted to see something new, they wanted to see something fresh. So that's why they did not want to see if I can go retain the title. But now that Juan Dominic has retained the Intercontinental Championship, which personally I think that that should be the last thing that Cena should do, make himself an official Grand Slam Champion. And there's a lot of rumors that he'll extend the tour, but I. I honestly think that once December hits, that will be his last match. So we then went to a CM Punk promo and this was the segment of the night. And this furthermore confirmed the rumors of the AJ Lee return that people were speculating after 24 hours.
[00:52:21] Clash in Paris.
[00:52:23] So after Punk had been sitting out in the lot all night, they found out that Rollins and Becky had made it to the arena and inside of the building.
[00:52:33] So Punk wasted no time and he stormed out to the ring and he said that he was hijacking Ron until Seth Rollins came out. But instead, Becky lynch walked out to Seth's music and mocked her husband's interest pose step for Stephen.
[00:52:49] Punk snapped and said, this has nothing to do with you unless you can call your husband and get him out here.
[00:52:54] Lynch fired back and said, it has everything to do with me. You insulted my family and Seth is the greatest man I've ever known.
[00:53:01] And Punk cut her off and said that your husband is a coward.
[00:53:06] Becky then reminded Punk that during her early career, fans disrespected her by chanting his name.
[00:53:14] And even tonight's chants of CM Punk and even AJ Lee broke out.
[00:53:19] Becky then shot back and said, classic. Always you chant for a dope that doesn't even work here anymore.
[00:53:27] She then called Punk a poster child for apathy and led the crowd into Rollins catchphrases.
[00:53:36] Punk then mocked her in return, said, you've got talent. You married a bum. Seth behind Seth hides behind his title, behind Heyman, Breaker and Reed and now behind you, he is simply a paper champion.
[00:53:52] Rollins that eventually appeared on stage with no music and letting the fans sing his theme.
[00:53:59] He taunted Punk who is trying to leave, but Becky blocked his path until Seth retreated backstage.
[00:54:08] Back in the ring, Becky slapped Punk repeatedly and some reason like drove her head into his chest and Punk did not budge.
[00:54:18] He finally restrained her and he restrained himself, but he warned that I'll make Seth regret cashing in on me and I'll make you regret ever putting your hands on me. And as Punk stormed off, Becky shouted after him, you'll never be champion. Keep walking and never come back.
[00:54:38] Later on after the segment, Pierce was trying to get a word with Punk and Punk asked where was Smackdown this week? And he said Chicago. Punk said, tremendous. And the play on words is of course for those who do not know AJ Lee's real name is AJ Mendez. So Tremendez basically was the play on words.
[00:55:15] And then in a report from Sports Illustrated it was announced that wweshop.com on x actually and it might have been AI I. I think it was AI or something happened but it was the verified account and basically it was a message from a fan Wrestle Days and they basically said that there was he was asking where the AJ Lee merch was and then WWE shop.com Twitter responded with hey there. Of course we wouldn't expect that with A.J. lee's return to the ring. We are looking to have some fire gear, hopefully in time for Russell Palooza. Be sure you signed up for emails and get the latest updates on new live inventory. Happy shopping.
[00:56:28] Now of course we don't really know what will end up happening. Maybe they don't do it in Chicago, maybe they do it at another show upcoming.
[00:56:42] But I feel that the only place that where they actually could end up having an AJ Lee return would be in Chicago in Punk's hometown.
[00:56:55] And then a real quick debriefing of the main event.
[00:56:59] It was LA Knight versus. It was LA Knight in Jay, USO versus Bronson Reed and Ron Raker all came back from break with Vision working over Jay's injured ribs. Knight made the hot tag and delivered multiple clotheslines to Read. Knight finally took Reed down with a neck. Breaker the Baby faces work together to take Reed down with a double clothesline to the outside.
[00:57:23] Jey USO piled on with multiple super kicks and Breaker came in flying with a spear to Jay's bad ribs for the win.
[00:57:33] After the match, the Vision laid out La Knight and Jay uso.
[00:57:37] Breaker then flattened Jay again with a spear which led to a tsunami.
[00:57:45] And then this brought on Jay's brother Jimmy to a huge pop with a steel chair as he ran off the Vision with USO De USO saying I can't do it no more us I can't do it no more. So the second match that could be made official upon from the already loaded ple is we could see the return of the Usos vs. Breaker and Reed in which I feel like Breaker and we Reid would end up winning that match anyways.
[00:58:17] But so far that is our look at wrestling news this week. I want to thank you guys so much for tuning in. The show definitely seemed different, especially because of the first show back.
[00:58:32] I'm lucky that we have the studio up running so that that way we can start doing this a lot earlier.
[00:58:41] We will continue on next week and we will find out the fallout of Smackdown in Chicago. And of course we will be talking about AEW Dynamite which has been happening recently at the 2300 arena aka the old ECW arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania will go over that. But until then thank you guys for listening. And as always it's belt R A W K because we talk about the W's in pro wrestling.
