Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] The Rocking Review Podcast hosted by J Rock Rude.
[00:00:29] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another edition of the Rockin Review Podcast. I'm your host, J. Rock Crude. And we are back, episode 19 of the Rock and Review Podcast. And it has been a crazy week full of headlines in the pro wrestling news and today we're gonna get straight into it. But first, if you haven't already, please follow the podcast page whether you're on Spotify or Apple podcast and please make sure to always leave on those notifications so that way when a brand new episode pops up, you guys are the first to know about it whenever it is released. We're going to go into a lot of different things here. We're going to be talking about the Matt Riddle debacle that happened over the weekend, over last week, I should say, about him missing a charity event and basically him blaming everybody else but himself.
[00:01:34] We are also going to talk, of course about Smackdown in Chicago, Illinois at the All State Arena. This was the last appearance on Smackdown in the John Cena Retirement tour.
[00:01:52] It was a very eventful smackdown, especially because of the ending of the show, which of course everybody already knows saw the return of AJ Lee in a WWE ring for the first time in 10 years.
[00:02:12] For those who don't remember, she retired due to some career ending injuries that she suffered back in 2015.
[00:02:22] She has not wrestled since then, but she has returned. She signed full contract.
[00:02:30] We'll go into that when we talk about smackdown.
[00:02:33] We also speaking of AEW because, well, we'll get into an AEW rant along the way.
[00:02:41] Speaking of aew, we have a injury of a superstar who just came back from dealing with an injury that left him out of action for almost a year and a half.
[00:02:53] Of course we're talking about the Mad Dog, the War Horse, Wardlow.
[00:03:02] I don't know what other nicknames he has. I forgot already. But apparently he is injured himself again. And then we'll finally talk about Monday Night Raw that happened this past Monday. I wasn't planning on doing Monday Night Raw, but you know, seeing as how a lot of the Wrestle Palooza matches got announced on this particular show, I wanted to make sure I covered it. But first up, let's just get right into it and talk about the Matt Riddle situation. So for those who do not know Matt Riddle, who was fired a little bit over two years ago, September of 2023, they wrote him off during the one of the, the big heights of the, the bloodline storyline. They wrote him off TV and he was then released. Uh, he had been dealing with controversy over substance use and as far as I know refused to go to any sort of rehab.
[00:04:12] So he got fired from WWE and he got released. And then since then his biggest achievement is he was the new Japan. No, sorry, the new Japan Global TV title champion. I believe, I think he beat, if I'm not, uh, correct. I believe if I'm correct, he beat Zack Sabre Jr. I believe it was for the TV title and then I think he lost it to Tanahashi if I remember correctly.
[00:04:45] But the report states former W E star Matt Riddle is once again in the spotlight for controversy, this time due to remarks made on TMZ's Inside the Ring podcast where he launched into a verbal attack on CM Punk and brought Punk's wife AJ Lee into the discussion.
[00:05:07] So this was a little bit after the charity show stuff happened, so he kind of added fuel to the fire.
[00:05:18] Riddle bluntly called Punk a B, claimed Punk could not beat him in a real fight, and openly challenged him to compete either in bare knuckle boxing or mma.
[00:05:34] I still don't understand why after years after when Dana White basically said that he took marijuana so he doesn't beat his wife and kids, how he still thinks he can be able to to be in an mma.
[00:05:48] The situation escalated further when Riddle proved pivoted to AJ Lee making insinuations about her personal life before half heartedly walking it back with the phrase no disrespect. If that's the worst thing you did, whatever, I've done it too.
[00:06:08] Riddle continued his tirade against Punk, labeling him as fake and a creep, while also accusing him of spending too much time lingering around the NXT locker room during his WWE tenure.
[00:06:22] This was yet another moment where Riddle's words fueled his reputation for stirring controversy and creating rifts with the wrestling community.
[00:06:32] The comment sparked backlash almost immediately with Cheap Heat podcast host Peter Rosenberg publicly slamming Riddle for his behavior. Rosenberg, who had previously spoken positively of Riddle in past interviews, described him as another MMA guy who got immense opportunity and acted like a jackass, adding that his current comments only reinforce that negative image. Rosenberg argued that Riddle has a long standing pattern of burning bridges both inside and outside WWE while also downplaying Riddle's in ring contributions, stating his work did very little for me. He dismissed comprehensions sorry comparisons to Rob Vanam saying people tried to give him the Rob Van Dam treatment. He wasn't rvd.
[00:07:28] Riddle's turbulent post WWE career, marked more by controversy than success was only amplified by these remarks, further cementing his image as as One of wrestling's most pulverizing figures. Since his release in September of 2023, which came after failed wellness test and multiple rehab stints, Riddle has repeatedly found himself in the middle of headline grabbing disputes rather than professional triumphs.
[00:07:59] So to add some clarification, what he said about Punk and what he said about A.J. lee basically accused A.J. lee of sleeping around the locker room.
[00:08:08] And then as far as the Punk stuff, he basically called Punk a creep because he was hanging around the younger talent for nxt. I want to get something right off the bat. Punk is not a creep. And the fact is is that this is exactly kind of what he wanted to do in AEW when he wanted to build up young stars like Ricky Starks, now Ricky Saints.
[00:08:33] He wanted to build him up because he was a young star.
[00:08:36] That's why he gave him the option. That's why he gave the option to Darby Allin. That's why that was his first return match was against Darby because he believed in the younger talent.
[00:08:47] I'm sorry that you hate that the younger talent are more professional and a lot better in the ring than you were because you were on Indies for multiple years. WWE brought you in, they gave you the top dog treatment, but then when they realized that you were a screw up, they can only put you in tag matches because as hyped as you were, you could not carry all of that work by yourself.
[00:09:20] So you screwed yourself.
[00:09:24] But of course that wasn't it because as it continues, the controversy with Punk wasn't the only situation making headlines as reports emerged from cultaholic about Riddle no showing Global Kingdom Wrestling, a new Kingdom Rises event in Barnsley, England. According to gwk, Riddle expressed frustration with his travel and hotel accommodations, ultimately deciding not to appear despite being booked. The promotion further claimed that Riddle failed to to return the deposit that they had paid him and noted that the additional seminars planned around his appearance never materialized.
[00:10:07] So by the way, this was a charity show and basically they wanted him to be there, but he was scheduled beforehand and decided to take that booking instead of this one.
[00:10:31] Riddle admitted to pulling out of the event, but placed the blame squarely on gwk, alleging poor handling of his booking. He argued that the promotion booked him to fly into England on a Thursday for a show scheduled on Sunday, leaving him stuck in a hotel for two days with no scheduled meet and greets, matches or appearances.
[00:10:56] Riddle stated that he had repeatedly told GWK he wouldn't agree to such arrangements and even offered to fly in on Saturday night with the cost of the ticket deducted. From his pay, but claimed that the promotion refused.
[00:11:12] He further blasted the travel accommodations as, quote, the worst flight in history, bro, Middle seat, no meal, no check bag.
[00:11:22] Things escalated further when GWK canceled Riddle's next schedule appearance, citing both the no show incident and his increasingly inflammatory public comments publicly, those referencing sensitive issues like sexual assaults and domestic violence.
[00:11:42] In response, Riddle lashed out on X, calling his critics dumb effing C and comparing the backlash to people believing that that me too BS and other effing garbage.
[00:11:58] Riddle's comments once again reserve his past allegations from 2020, when independent wrestler Samantha Tavell, aka Candy Cartwright, accused him of sexual assault. Riddle has long denied the allegations, maintaining that their relationship was consensual.
[00:12:17] While Tavel eventually dropped her lawsuit, the accusations have continued to shadow his career and worsen public perception of him.
[00:12:28] So Riddle got upset.
[00:12:32] He got upset that basically they called him out on no showing an event because he decided not to go because it was a poor planned event, not to mention a charity event, and for the fact that Riddle got paid before he even went out there, and then he didn't return the payment when he no showed. So he hit and ran with his money, and I believe he ended up wrestling a show pretty much that exact same weekend.
[00:13:09] So, funny enough, his last schedule appearance, or at least what they have him as is, he was in Boca Raton, Florida for a BRCW tag title slash CCW tag title match where he tagged with a guy named Stallion Rogers.
[00:13:38] So that was August 31st.
[00:13:46] So he's been with MLW. He currently reigns as the MLW World Heavyweight Champion.
[00:13:59] Which, by the way, that should just show you where his career even is, because, like, Matt Riddle was, like I said, a. A very great character in theory when they signed him to a contract back in 2018 and they were like, okay, this guy, he's got an MMA background. He's been with pro wrestling for the last couple of years, but he has controversy. But he stayed out of the blue for a long while, so we'll sign him. And they signed him over.
[00:14:34] He was horrible on promos.
[00:14:38] And his highest anticipated feud came from Seth Rollins, which that just shows you how. How much pull Seth Rollins has, despite what everybody said, where he has no pop and no, you know, whatever in the company.
[00:14:52] So, like, him saying all these things and basically saying, like, any of his critics are dumb people and they're idiots and they're morons.
[00:15:00] No, it's simply him. He's losing his mind because now people are going back on allegations that was made back in 2020 that WWE can kept him clear of and he wasn't fired until three years after.
[00:15:16] So like I don't know what his deal is, but he's had his controversy before split up, he's with a new person, he's doing a bunch of other side quests and whatnot. So be very interesting to hear what happens with him.
[00:15:39] We then are shifting to smackdown in Chicago and mostly the show was built around two things.
[00:15:53] It was John Cena and it was CM Punk saying he was going to be in Chicago the Monday before.
[00:16:01] Last week we talked about it.
[00:16:05] I did not know whether or not they were real on saying that AJ Lee was going to come back.
[00:16:18] I, I personally had my grievances on it, but man, when she stepped out there, I'll just say it before we even go ahead and talk about it.
[00:16:26] When she stepped out there, man, it reminded me what it was. And I said on my my socials that AJ Lee was the sole premise and the sole purpose of why women's wrestling got the upgrade that it was at that time. Because as soon as AJ Lee said something, that's when NXT started getting better with their women's division. That's when their women's division ended up getting to the main roster and starting the women's revolution and then so on and so on, leading all the way up to that historic. Although it was a very underwhelming Main event at WrestleMania 35 with Ronda, Charlotte and Becky, we started the night out with John Cena. He opened up smackdown with a thunderous ovation with the Chicago crowd chanting thank you Cena.
[00:17:27] He admitted that it had meant a lot since in this city the usual reaction over the years had been less kind.
[00:17:35] Cena reflected on starting his farewell tour after some tough years, saying that he worked hard to get his mojo back and tonight he wanted nothing more than to have fun.
[00:17:46] He reminded fans that this was his final appearance in both Chicago and on smackdown.
[00:17:52] And he treated it as a full circle moment since he debuted 23 years ago in Chicago by slapping Kurt Angle.
[00:18:03] He recalls highlights from the very arena of All State arena, formerly the Rosemont Coliseum, with matches against Triple H, to his US Open Challenge run, and then of course his fight with CM Punk, who walked out with the WWE Championship.
[00:18:25] He finished by declaring that Chicago was the best WWE crowd before appearing to leave only to be interrupted by the brand new United States Champion, Sami Zayn.
[00:18:38] Sammy came out and it was funny because the crowd booed him and this just shows you kind of like a new Jersey crowd, a New York crowd, how many times, they are not going to be evenly distributed based off of who is a baby face and who's a heel.
[00:18:59] So they'll go on whatever type of a route that they want to.
[00:19:05] But Zayn, he came out and he thanked Cena on behalf of the entire locker room for everything he had done. He reminded fans that his first main roster match was in fact a US Open Challenge against Cena. And now he stood across from Cena with that very same championship.
[00:19:32] Zayn then announced his plans to revive the US Open Challenge in Census Cena's tradition, with Cena giving his blessing. But before Cena went to leave, Zayn stopped him and said it would be his honor to give Cena the first shot.
[00:19:47] To a massive ovation. Cena declared that the first Sami Zayn U. S Open challenge would begin right here, right now in Chicago with John as his opponent. Cena, smiling, accepted.
[00:20:02] So we got into a commercial and then the bell rang.
[00:20:07] The two exchanged arm drags before it. Sami Zayn landed a clothesline and superplex, though Cena quickly answered with one of his own, a hard Irish whip into the corner and Cena gained momentum until a commercial break called to the action. Back from break, Cena hoisted Zayn for an attitude adjustment, but Zayn escaped. Encountered with his own offense, Cena then countered A and connected with an AA but Zayn kicked out.
[00:20:34] Cena then paid tribute to Kevin Owens with a pop up powerbomb and then later to Kurt Angle with an Olympic slam and a ankle lock.
[00:20:47] So a lot of this match was really basic tributes for John Cena because he had talked about after his match with Clash in Paris that because he doesn't have that many dates left, he can't fight everybody that he wants to.
[00:21:05] So instead he's going to pay tribute to them in the ring, which I thought is a nice gesture.
[00:21:12] Zayn rally with a blue Thunderbomb and even hit Cena with his own AI his own AA for a near fall before connecting with helluva kick for another two count.
[00:21:22] A lot of near falls in this match, I will say.
[00:21:25] As the match wore on, Cena continued honoring past rivals, even hitting a spear in tribute to Edge. He teased an RKO for Randy Orton, but Zayn scouted it, countering it before Cena leveled him with an avalanche AA that launched Zayn across the ring.
[00:21:43] Both men were down and out and before anything could happen, Brock Lesnar's music hits.
[00:21:51] Lesnar storms to the ring.
[00:21:54] He's got the cowboy hat, he's looking like a Viking.
[00:21:58] He yanked the referee out of the ring and then went into the ring, drilled zane with an F5 and then got Cena up on an F5 for not one but two and then picked up his hat, walked back to Gorilla and said, cena, I'll see you at Resapalooza.
[00:22:24] So that's where we got the announcement that for the next ple appearance of Jonathan Cena, it will be John Cena versus Brock Lesnar for the first time in again ten years.
[00:22:45] Their last matchup or yeah, their last matchup was of course that iconic triple threat match that happened at Royal Rumble that included Seth Rollins that year.
[00:23:03] So very interesting to see where they go with Brock being back, this being his first match in a little over two years, but it'll be exciting to see where it goes.
[00:23:23] Hey everyone, did you know that the Rocking Review podcast is on both X and Instagram?
[00:23:30] That's right. For every single episode we end up doing a prelude to that episode on our socials. We are on Twitter nxkingreview. That's R A W K Review.
[00:23:45] 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.
[00:24:05] We then had one of the featured matches for that night, Alistair Black versus Damien Priest.
[00:24:15] The match got off to a chaotic start before the bell, with Black ambushing Priest during his entrance and throwing him into the barricade coming out of the first commercial break. Both men finally got into the ring where the match began.
[00:24:29] Priest, of course, was favoring the injury, so feeding into Black's attack before the bell.
[00:24:38] Black opened strong with some stiff kicks, but Priest fought back with a sudden headbutt that left Black dazed. Black regained control with a top rope Meteora for a two count.
[00:24:49] After the break. The two traded offense on the top rope until Priest tried for a razor's edge.
[00:24:56] Black slipped free and rocked him with a spinning Black elbow and a running knee for a near fall.
[00:25:04] Priest responded with elbows of his own and a big clothesline. Priest then planted Black with a flatliner on the apron and attempted to finish in with the Razor's Edge through the announce table.
[00:25:17] Priest then rolled Alistair Black back into the ring and set up for south of Heaven, but Black created the distraction by grabbing the reft as Priest pulled him up. Taking advantage of the confusion, Black blasted Priest with a sudden Black Mass and scored the pin.
[00:25:36] So Alistair Black gets a dominating win over Damien Priest.
[00:25:45] Honestly, I'm glad that they put this match here and did not put it on pay per view, but hopefully at some point we get Alistair Black on a ple sometime soon. But overall very good for Black to get the pin. And I don't know where Priest goes from here. Priest is, you know, he, he has fallen like a lot and it's incredible because like you look at his wins this year against guys like Drew McIntyre, he was in the elimination chamber and like, you know, he stayed afloat. I, I will say, and I, and I can't remember right now, I don't think he was in the Money in the bank match but, but good for good for Alistair Black.
[00:26:36] There was a, a match here. I won't talk about it much. It was the WWE Women's US Championship match.
[00:26:43] Julia with Kiana James beat Meechan 7:36 seconds again very mid the the women's division on on smackdown is absolutely putrid.
[00:26:58] I mean like they have no stars whatsoever. The other two top stars, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair are holding the tag titles and they're feuding with Chelsea Green, Piper Niven and Alba Fire the Hearse the her Service.
[00:27:15] So for next week though, they definitely are packing on smackdown because they want to keep the ratings on.
[00:27:25] Next week we got Tiffany Stratton, I should say this week we got Tiffany Stratton taking on Jade Cargill and she will be defending her Women's championship. We'll talk a little bit about Tiffany Stratton after this review. On Smackdown.
[00:27:44] Drew McIntyre. Randy Orton in a pre tape traded some verbal shots with McIntyre saying that Orton was bitter, he never had the nerve to pull, pull the trigger. While Orton warned McIntyre that he has no idea what's coming. So instead of having it at the pay per view, they'll have McIntyre and Randy Orton next week. I will mention Triple H was on the Pat McAfee show earlier this week and he basically spoiled it and he said that Cody Rhodes will in fact be in Indianapolis for Russell Palooza.
[00:28:25] So what the rumored route is is that this coming Friday, a week before the go home to smackdown, that they are going to make it official that at Russell Palooza in a triple threat it will be Cody versus Drew McIntyre versus Randy Orton for the Undisputed or the WWE Championship.
[00:28:52] And honestly, even though Cody has been gone filming Street Fighter, I think that that is going to be a banger of a match.
[00:29:01] I think that they did very well with the fact that Cody has not been seen since the Montreal smackdown after SummerSlam.
[00:29:17] So it's good that you know they're gonna continue with the storyline of Trying to get revenge on Drew, and then Drew dragging Randy. And now this is where we step up to is Randy gonna go hit heel and he's gonna turn on Cody?
[00:29:35] I think that's the main thing. And we're finally gonna. And even crazier, he just got written off. They might write him off again because Randy could deliver the punt kick and write him off for another week. And then he have Rainey come out doing cryptic promos saying that don't forget who got you to the dance, Cody. It was me. I brought you in the Legacy along with Ted DiBiase and Rhodes. Legacy. You guys were tag champions, but who was the leader?
[00:30:10] That was me.
[00:30:13] And now it's time for you to finally pay your dues and give me back what's mine. And that is the WWE Championship. That's exactly what I do.
[00:30:23] But we'll see from that. And also Brock Lesnar will be there because Cena is only going to be on Raw for the rest of the year. That means that Brock is legit going to come out and do a promo, which I wonder how that's gonna feel. Over with the crowd.
[00:30:42] But let's get into the long awaited segment, the main event segment.
[00:30:47] Yes, believe it or not, the main event match was Julia and Meechen.
[00:30:52] Nothing else after that.
[00:30:55] So CM Punk made his entrance while holding the world championship in the crowd, declaring that Chicago, the legend of CM Punk, would die.
[00:31:06] He then introduced his wife, Becky Lynch Hypinger, as the greatest female wrestler ever.
[00:31:12] Lynch then came to the ring and was met with loud AJ Lee chants, which visibly frustrated her.
[00:31:20] She then ranted about the crowd disrespecting her career in favor of Punk and now in front of her husband, while also insulting Chicago sports teams and even Punk himself.
[00:31:32] That brought CM Punk out to a thunderous ovation. Fresh from throwing the first pitch at the Cubs game that day, Rollins stayed in the crowd laughing while Punk confronted Becky face to face.
[00:31:45] Punk accused Rollins of hiding behind his wife, and lynch mocked Punk's injuries and pride.
[00:31:53] They kept chanting for AJ Lee, which Becky tried to shut down, but Punk embraced and said, you will let them chant the name for AJ Lee.
[00:32:01] He continued to call Rollins a coward, and then he teased that his sister, even Bailey or Rhea Ripley, could put Becky in her place.
[00:32:10] And then, of course, just like on Raw, lynch slapped him again and again and again and he walked off calmly.
[00:32:18] And then he stood outside of the ring and he said, you know that I would never hit a woman, but I know somebody who will. And then light it up hits and AJ Lee comes out. And my goodness, bro, this has got to be. Even though she hasn't been away from the ring and she's only 38, this is basically like the equivalent of like or a truth. The girl has not lost her step and definitely not a pippin her step because she was skipping down to the ring. Well, Punk just stood there, arms folded in approval because now this is the first time. And remember, when Punk got his release, it was on their wedding day.
[00:33:10] So this is the first time ever for Punk and for AJ to work together in a. In. I was gonna say aew. We'll get to that in a moment. In wwe as a married couple, they had done stuff beforehand, but of course they were talking at that time. And then now they are fully married.
[00:33:34] They have a beautiful child who's very, very furry. His name is Larry.
[00:33:39] And you can tell that this means a lot for.
[00:33:46] For the first time in 10 years, AJ skipped to the ring, smiling at Punk before locking eyes with Lynch.
[00:33:53] She entered the ring and Becky charged first, but AJ speared her and unleashed a flurry of punches.
[00:34:01] She dragged lynch back into the ring, hit the Luthes press and smacked her across the face before Becky stumbled to the floor in retreat.
[00:34:11] Rollins stayed back ringside, refusing to help his wife inside the ring. Punk embraced AJ as they closed the show. And Becky actually left her Intercontinental championship in the ring.
[00:34:29] And AJ Lee put it on and posed with it.
[00:34:33] And that is how the show ended for Smackdown.
[00:34:40] So AJ Lee coming back after 10 years, everybody was super hyped. I will just say this right now. I was not a person who was on the ride of the A.J. lee hype train. I don't know why I was gone from basically wrestling for the longest time.
[00:35:07] And it just happened where, you know, I wasn't caring about wasn't. I wasn't caring about it. It was. I. I didn't watch it. You know, I was a young kid. So basically from 2010, 2014, I totally missed out on that entire era.
[00:35:25] So, like, I totally missed out on the Summer of Punk. I totally missed out on AJ Lee. I. I missed out on a bunch of stuff. And it sucks because they were very entertaining at that time, but I wasn't watching wrestling at that time. I got back into wrestling when I was about, like, 11, 12 years old.
[00:35:43] So the fact of everybody embracing AJ Lee and. And being hyped about her return, you know, I didn't quite get it at first, but now that I do, it's great. It's great that she's back and it's crazy because it's a full time contract, which means that she basically could be in the same position that Nikki Bell is in right now. Hopefully not taking as much pins, but still great that AJ Lee is finally back.
[00:36:15] But before we get into that, NXT next week we'll be having a homecoming show and they will be at Full Sail University.
[00:36:33] This is the first time that WWE has done a full sale show in a very long time.
[00:36:50] So just so you know, they were using that kind of as their CWC before they got to use the Performance center and got to use that new arena.
[00:37:09] The last time that NXT was in for sale, this was the last show.
[00:37:17] It was September 23, 2020.
[00:37:22] The commentary was buff. That was Beth Phoenix and Tom Phillips, now known of course as Tom Hand Fan.
[00:37:33] And this was the card. The main event was Candice Lerae and Johnny Gargano versus Damien Priest and EO Sky.
[00:37:43] At that point it was IO Shirai.
[00:37:46] Then there was also Adam Cole versus Austin Theory. There was Kushida versus Tony. Nice. Remember Kushida?
[00:37:54] Cameron Grimes versus Ridge Holland. And he also faced a guy named Joey Pistachio.
[00:38:01] And the opening match, which was the longest match on the entire show was Shotzi. Blackheart beats Dakota Kai in 13 minutes.
[00:38:14] There's nothing on this. The cage match rating was a 6.35.
[00:38:22] So very interesting. The champions at this time, I'd love to look at this.
[00:38:29] The champions at this time for NXT was Finn Balor. This was his second lane brizango.IO Shirai is the women's and then Damian Priest was the North American champion. The United Kingdom champion was Walter, not Gunther.
[00:38:52] NXT Women's UK Kaylee Ray, also known as Alba Fire. And the tag team was Gallas, Mark Coffee and Wolfgang.
[00:39:04] That's also not to mention who was the main roster we champion. Drew McIntyre in his first reign. Jeff Hardy in his fifth reign as the IC champion.
[00:39:16] The street profits. The Raw Tag Team champion, the US Champion, Bobby Lashley.
[00:39:22] Oscar as the Raw Women's champion. Roman Reigns as the Universal Champion and Bailey as the smackdown Women's champion. And then of course this was still with the 247 title.
[00:39:37] And that was R Truth in his 29th reign or his 39th reign. Excuse me.
[00:39:44] So that was the last time they were ever at full sail.
[00:39:51] So in honor of that for their homecoming show, the match card is Carmelo Hayes and trick Williams vs DIY Ethan Page vs Tyler Breeze for the NXT North American Champion.
[00:40:14] This is new. I did not see this Last night Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair versus the culling of Izzy Dame and Tatum Paxley and then there is going to be a segment of the Grayson Waller Effect with Obafemi and Ricky Saints and then the main event.
[00:40:38] Listen to this.
[00:40:40] If this is not a super.
[00:40:43] If this happened in War Games and there were like four other people, this match would slap Fatal influence. Fallon Henley, J.C. jane and Jasmine Nicks will take on Tiffany Stratton, Stephanie Vicure and Ria Bloody Ripley in a six women sack. Bro, like I'm telling you, even though this is a homecoming, they cannot say that this is a full homecoming because every great person who worked for NXT who helped nxt, like an Adam Cole, like a Swerve Strickland, well, not really Swerve Strickland, maybe like a Keith Lee, you know, guys like Samoa Joe, all those people who were big in nxt.
[00:41:55] Finn Balor. How is Finn Balor not on this show?
[00:41:58] You're telling me Finn Balor is not going to be on the show and he's not in a match.
[00:42:04] Quite honestly, I would have him challenge for the North American championship other than Tyler Breeze, but overall this is going to be a very, very, very good show.
[00:42:20] I am very much looking forward to it.
[00:42:23] NXT has become very mind numbing in the case. I don't know what it is. I don't like how NXT has been ran as just this separate company of TNA and not, not to mention like JC Jane, for those who have forgotten is the NXT women's champion.
[00:42:45] And the last time Stephanie Vacuur was in nxt, JC Jane beat her because they needed to bring Stephanie to the main roster that quickly.
[00:42:58] So they gave it to J.C. jane and then since then she won the knockouts title, held it for a month, then lost it to Dana Brook or Ash by Ellians and then now is going to be part of this six women tag and then eventually maybe at Halloween Havoc in October, she's going to lose the title probably to either Blake Monroe or Jordan Grace or they might pull the trigger and give it to Jada Parker because I believe that is the next person who, who I believe will would be up.
[00:43:30] So be very interesting to see how next week's NXT goes from full sail.
[00:43:36] But moving on from what was the former competition, NXT to now just a show that airs on Wednesdays and Saturdays or in whatever days that they want to air. Collision.
[00:43:48] Some unfortunate news surrounding Wardlow.
[00:43:55] After a long absence, Wardlow made his much anticipated return at the recent Forbidden Door pay per view, but his comeback appears to been cut short.
[00:44:07] He was noticeably absent from this past week's September 3rd edition of Dynamite alongside the Don Tal's family, and reports quickly surfaced that he may have suffered yet another setback.
[00:44:21] According to Fightful select, the fear within AEW is that Wardlow tore his pectoral muscle during his return angle, an injury that could sideline him for several months.
[00:44:33] While not officially confirmed, the news has reportedly left AEW talent disappointed, especially given how long Wardlow waited in return after battling previous injuries before resurfacing this summer.
[00:44:46] Wardlow had not wrestled since the March 13, 2024 Big Business episode of Dynamite in Boston. Man, do you remember that show? That was the show where everything took off and then immediately went down because that was when Mercedes came and that was his last big match. And if you don't remember, he wrestled Samoa Joe for the World Championship and that was his last match.
[00:45:14] At the time, teammate Mike or Matt Taven or Taven revealed on Stick to Wrestling podcast that Wardlow had been recovering from a knee injury. Man, former teammate Matt Taven, do you remember when they were the Undisputed Kingdom?
[00:45:38] Remember that?
[00:45:39] Or that short lived program where because of a injury they had to basically sideline and that entire storyline went nowhere.
[00:45:53] They screwed up so bad on that one storyline that it left everybody out of the mix.
[00:46:02] Taven, I believe even Kanellis was in that group.
[00:46:06] Wardlow, Roddy, even Cole, who couldn't even wrestle at that point, had to wait so many months to finally wrestle mjf. For what?
[00:46:18] Only for MJF to go back to a heel.
[00:46:23] Absolute waste of time. That Undisputed Kingdom stuff was when once cleared, Wardlow even ventured outside of wrestling, competing in the latest season of American Gladiators. They revived that series.
[00:46:39] Now his AW future once again hangs in the balance as the company awaits clarity on his latest injury.
[00:46:49] This is kind of a close second of my opinion on how bad things have gotten with aew, because if people think I'm trying to crap on aew, you have to look at it by the books. AEW was once a very strong second promotion, definitely had better superstars and better creative than the main one.
[00:47:22] But since like 2023 I feel like AEW and especially Tony Khan got too big for their britches and they thought that they could go off and they could do like all these things. Look at 2025 alone and look at how many setbacks that they've had to do. They had a pay per view that they were going to have in Australia, but Due to poor ticket sales, they, they moved it as a taped dynamite show.
[00:47:54] That also was very underproduced.
[00:48:01] They did not do anything. And on top of that, they injured Buddy Murphy.
[00:48:08] Like, they absolutely made that ring as small as possible. They made the way to get to the ring as difficult as possible.
[00:48:19] And they screwed everything over with the finishes. And their strongest matches, of course, is with the two guys that, that's another part they injured legit. There is no, like pre production, there's no production staff meetings. There is nothing going on before these events take place. They just go out and say, okay, do whatever you want. And these guys are legit killing themselves because you, they're not having a structured match in a structured breakdown of what everything is going to be before they even start rolling cameras.
[00:48:57] I was planning on doing an episode though, two weeks ago when Jake Hager went on Chris Van Fleet's podcast and he talked about how Tony couldn't, you know, work his way out of a sandwich and he couldn't produce anything and he legit was just super lazy and he couldn't do anything. Like, like there was a reason why there is so much dysfunction in AEW and why they had to stop making appearances every single week at a brand new arena. Because look at their ticket sales. Look at how many people are attending the shows.
[00:49:34] And this has been always like, talked about. Like, look at the, look at the ratings, look at the audience members. They're, they're averaging under 300,000 a episode. And you want me to be invested into your, your pay per view saying that that's where the best wrestle they have legit spent the last four tapings in Philadelphia at the old ECW Arena.
[00:50:00] Like, and then before then they did four tapings at a residency in Chicago.
[00:50:08] They're doing stuff that Ring of Honor would do with like the Hammerstein Ballroom and make house shows there. Like, I, I don't understand why people don't understand how bad AEW has it right now. Sure, they're entertaining, but have you noticed how their three main stars all went away due to injury, all because they took too much risk that Tony Khan didn't oversee and say, well, I think that's a little bit too much.
[00:50:48] Omega Swerve and Osprey all completely out, can't work 100%.
[00:50:56] And meanwhile you're pushing guys like Jon Moxley and the Young Bucks and you're pushing all of your ex elite or ex WWE stars and meanwhile you're signing younger talent, bringing them to ROH and then not giving them any TV time. And if they are giving TV time, they're getting squashed on TV while on a Internet stream they can go out and have a 13 minute match and nobody would see it because nobody knows what's going on because nobody's signing up for it.
[00:51:34] Like make it make sense, man.
[00:51:37] That's not to say I'm not going to watch the ples, but their strongest match that they have right now, schedules for all out in Toronto, is a return match that should have happened there instead of at Forbidden Door and it is Edge and Christian, Adam Copeland and Christian Cage against ftr.
[00:52:02] And it was a match that should have either been maybe even for the title or should have been the very first match of their reuniting.
[00:52:13] Like dude, it does not help that you want to make headlines and you want to stick it to wrestling critics, but make it make sense.
[00:52:26] There is no thoughtful storytelling in anything that they do.
[00:52:33] One or two and then that's it.
[00:52:36] Everything else is thrown together on spot. That's it.
[00:52:42] All right. Sorry about my rant. Let's finally go into Monday Night Raw that happened this past week in Milwaukee. To end it, Jay USO made his entrance through the crowd, but this time he was then joined by Brother Jimmy, officially reuniting the USO's on RAW. The brothers reminded everyone that they have always got each other's back and a video replay showed last week in Paris of Jimmy helping Jay. Last week, when Breaker and Reed tried to attack in the ring, Usos declared that they were the best tag team in the game and mocked the Vision before being interrupted by the brown Bronze.
[00:53:17] They came out to confront them, with Breaker mocking Jimmy for showing up on Raw and proclaiming that the Vision runs Monday Night Raw. Reed followed it up, demanding that the USO's acknowledge the tribal thief and claiming that Roman Reigns wasn't coming back anytime soon.
[00:53:35] The crowd responded with Roman chants, but Reed brushed them off and said that Roman's return wouldn't happen until after his movie commitments.
[00:53:44] Which quite honestly, I'll be fully honest, I. I just went through notes but.
[00:53:50] But yeah, man, he's gone Hollywood, man. He has gone Hollywood.
[00:53:56] Jimmy fired back. And by the way, let me get this point out of the way. Jimmy USO gonna be Papa Jim.
[00:54:06] They're gonna start using that. Just so you know, I'm telling you that ahead of time. If you're listening to this, they're gonna call him Papa Jim. That's gonna be funny.
[00:54:14] But Jimmy USO is so much better on the mic and it's not even close to what Jey USO does.
[00:54:24] Jey USO is not good on the mic.
[00:54:29] Let us be honest with that. He's not good on the mic, but neither USO's are better in the ring from each other. We saw how that happened with WrestleMania couple years ago.
[00:54:41] But Jimmy is so fresh on the mic and he goes with the flow and he can just go with anything that's given to him. And of course like the ad Libs between the USO's, that's always entertaining.
[00:54:56] Jimmy fired back saying it was annoying that they even shared the same last name and ripped into them taking orders from Paul Heyman. He called them J and J and it's PB and J and J Security, I'm guessing because Bronson Reed's big.
[00:55:20] It was a funny little ad lib segments where they basically had different names for Paul Heyman.
[00:55:27] And Jimmy said the orca and then Jay said he built like one and completely broke Jimmy.
[00:55:36] And then they finished off. In the words of the tribal chief, dumbass.
[00:55:43] The Usos then challenge breaker and Reed. But the heels stalled saying the Milwaukee won't get that match tonight. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Louisiana. Knight hit the ring and blindsided Breaker and Reed only to get overwhelmed by the two on one assault that brought the USO's back into the fight, diving over the ropes and leveling the vision inside the ring. The brawl continued. Miscommunication struck when Bronson Reed crushed Jay USO with a massive splash into the corner after LA Knight had moved out of the way.
[00:56:19] This had left a lingering tension between J and La Knight as the heels were grouped outside while the Usos were left frustrated in the ring.
[00:56:28] So then that set up LA Knight vs Bronson Reed for the main event.
[00:56:35] This was a very good segment.
[00:56:37] I did like it. Again, the fact that the USO's are back and the fact that they will be wrestling at Russell Palooza, I'm very hyped for. I think that the USO's work a lot better together than they do singles run. But like I said, if Jimmy could be a bigger star, he would and he definitely would get that number one spot when it comes to the mic.
[00:57:11] We then shifted to a match between El Grande Americano and AJ Styles. Now the main talk point and one of the main reasons why I want to cover this raw was because during the commercial break, not in the U. S but the foreign side of Netflix, AJ Styles cut a promo and he basically told fans that somebody doesn't want me here.
[00:57:39] And he admitted that for the first time in his career, he had been completely isolated on the roster with nobody to help him fight his battles.
[00:57:48] He mentioned Gallows and Anderson being gone and nobody watching his back. Styles then hinted that it felt orchestrated to keep him from winning or succeeding. He acknowledged that he was speaking more freely than usual since it was during a commercial, and made it clear that nothing in WWE is truly off air with cameras everywhere. And he closed by saying that his match with El Grande Americano was personal and he wanted whoever was holding him down to feel some of his pain.
[00:58:21] Now, of course, this is after reports had surfaced about his WWE contract and according to Sports Illustrated, Styles current deal runs through February 2026 after he signed a one year extension following his foot injury.
[00:58:44] While he isn't expected to leave WWE anytime soon, it was noted that he previously tested the waters outside the company, drawing interest from the indie circuit and other promotions. Despite speculation, most believe AJ Styles will finish his career in WWE with Triple H unlikely to let him walk away If AJ Styles finishes in wwe, I don't mind it.
[00:59:16] I personally believe he still has a chance to have one final match in tna.
[00:59:23] But of course, like a lot of the AEW fan people out there, the same way that they hate the fact that AJ Lee is on WWE television and not on AEW television, sparking their ratings and their viewers, they say the same for AJ because they're looking at AJ and how he's being booked into these ridiculous storylines. He's being left off of pay per views and they like oh come to AEW man. You can wrestle Hangman Adam Page. You can wrestle Will Ospreay. We want to see Styles versus Ospreay. We want to see Styles versus Omega. And it's like no you don't, no you don't. The dude is in his 40s.
[01:00:07] The dude is still looking great. Now last year when he returned he looked frickin jacked and he had that amazing series of matches with Cody to prove that he should belong on there. But since then, not so much.
[01:00:24] I don't know what else that AJ Styles could do at this point.
[01:00:30] Going into break, El Grande Americano had the upper hand on aj, wearing him down with a steady offense.
[01:00:36] Once the action resumed, Styles fired back with a comeback, hitting his signature rack bomb and covering for a close two count.
[01:00:44] Grande or Americano pleaded for a break, backing into the corner, but when Styles moved in, he tricked him and countered by dropping him throat first on the top turnbuckle.
[01:00:59] He then followed up with a sharp blockbuster For a near fall, Styles rallied to finish things with Styles Clash, but he paused mid step when another masked Americano suddenly jumped onto the apron, creating a distraction.
[01:01:16] At this point the confusion grew as it was unclear how many different Americanos there actually were.
[01:01:23] I feel like there has been three I believe, including the Grande Americana, which by the way we know is Libby Kaiser. So people have rumored that this is Tyler Bate or Pete Dunn, which would definitely make sense.
[01:01:40] Grande Americano then try to take advantage. But before things could unravel, Dragon Lee ran down yanking the other Americano off the apron. And then there was a roll up exchange before Styles basically back rolled El Grande into a Styles clash for the 1, 2, 3 victory.
[01:02:06] So I don't know where they go from Styles. I think the the biggest storyline is who are the other Grande Americanos.
[01:02:16] The commentary team joked that there was tall Grande and Venti.
[01:02:21] If you don't know, it's because Americano is a coffee. If you don't know, there was another match in between this and the segment I'm going to talk about here.
[01:02:31] Raquel Rodriguez beats lyra Valkyria clean 12 minutes 42 seconds. I am liking how, how well Raquel Rodriguez is in the ring now. And it's crazy because she's been a part of WWE for well over half of a decade. But I'm very glad that Raquel is, you know, getting the TV time and she's getting the matches that she deserves because I actually believe that she is an amazing talent, you know, very much, you know, very impressed with how well that she's done.
[01:03:05] We then went backstage.
[01:03:07] Adam Pierce informed EOS guy that the scheduled contract signing had to be canceled since Stephanie Vicaire wasn't able to make it to raw.
[01:03:18] I want to stop right there real quick. She wasn't able to make it to RAW in Milwaukee, but yet the next night in Florida she was able to make that taping and able to make the live thing of nxt.
[01:03:34] So I wonder what's what happened?
[01:03:38] Was it just that they couldn't get her in time to go from Monday night RAW to Florida to get in time for the NXT show because Rhea Ripley was on Raw and she showed up to the NXT show the next night. So I'm wondering what happened. I think that they, I think that they were just trying to keep under wraps of people wondering, well, where is Stephanie Vikir? And then basically making it a surprise that she came to NXT the next night.
[01:04:12] But I don't know.
[01:04:15] Pierce reassured EO that the title Match is still on for Russell Palooza, expecting that Stephanie to be there despite her recent absence from tv. I believe she hasn't been seen on TV since July.
[01:04:31] But also a firm reminder that the championship picture is still on track.
[01:04:36] As Pierce wrapped up, Nikki Bella stepped in and asked for an update on Vikira's condition.
[01:04:43] The sudden interest from Nikki felt unusual, raising suspicion that maybe she had something to do with it.
[01:04:51] I don't know how Iyo and Nikki exchange words, but before anything could happen, Asuka and Kyrie sane, the Kabuki warriors show up.
[01:05:04] Asuka confronting Nikki directly, telling her not to talk to IO. Nikki then fired back, saying that Oscar didn't need to like her, but she would respect her. Oscar left off the remark and warned that she might beat the respect out of Nikki. Instead, Nikki stood her ground accepting the challenge, which set stage for a match later that night. As Oscar walked away, Kyrie tried speaking with IO. But the tensions clearly was left Simon simmering.
[01:05:36] So yeah, they had a. They had a match. It was actually good.
[01:05:41] Oscar tapped out Nikki in 10 minutes and 29 seconds.
[01:05:47] Now, after that hit the top of the hour and we got AJ Lee in her first promo segment.
[01:05:58] Awesome, man. She came out and the crowd was especially, especially happy to see her.
[01:06:11] She was wearing Becky's IC title around her waist and immediately took the moment to thank the fans, reintroducing herself to those unfamiliar by calling herself your favorite wrestler's favorite wrestler.
[01:06:26] AJ Lee reflected on her retirement 10 years ago, expanding how she stepped away to focus on her mental health, therapy and personal growth. She told the fans that every day is still a fight, but the fight was worth it.
[01:06:40] The heartfelt moment quickly turned when she admitted that watching Raw again, especially seeing Becky lynch in the ring with her husband CM Punk, pulled her way back into the spotlight.
[01:06:55] AJ acknowledged she once again thought she and Becky could have been friends. But after Becky motorboated Punk, the respect was gone.
[01:07:07] There's a nice little thing in here I really liked where it was.
[01:07:14] She talks about going to therapy and there's was a cheer and basically she leaned into that. She's like, cheer for therapy. And there was a therapy chant.
[01:07:27] God, her on promos is quite interesting. I don't know if I ever heard anybody do promos like she does.
[01:07:36] This eventually brought Becky Lynched out, who was very hesitant but stormed down the ramp and claiming the issue had nothing to do with Punk.
[01:07:49] She reminded the crowd that AJ was wearing her championship, which she had elevated into the most important title into the division.
[01:07:59] Lynch declared Herself the best wrestler in the world, female wrestler that is citing Sports Illustrated in local papers. Back her up. So she's constantly being like, actually this person has said this about me.
[01:08:13] The insult flew both ways, with AJ mocking Becky's black eye that she had had and offering her therapy while Becky called AJ a New Jersey trash bag weirdo and insulted Punk for hiding behind his wife. Funny enough, it's exactly what Rollins has been doing behind Becky.
[01:08:34] Rollins then joined his wife on stage, demand that AJ hand back the title and and calling himself the world champion who runs the show. AJ sarcastically thanked him for mansplaining and refused, instead challenging Becky to agree to a tag match at Wrestle Palooza in exchange for the belts. Standoff escalated until CM Punk arrived, sliding into the ring to go after Rollins nearly hitting a GTS before Seth managed to escape from the ioa. Rollins accepted the Russell Palooza challenge on their behalf, promising that he and Becky would end AJ and Punk once and for all on September 20th.
[01:09:15] So mixed tag match very good.
[01:09:20] So we got that match, we got Brock and Cena, we got Stephanie and IO and now we have Liam Punk against Rollins and Becky.
[01:09:34] So very much looking forward to that.
[01:09:37] In between that match there was some promo segments and a match between Rusev and Penta where surprisingly Rusev beat Penta after interference with the New Day and Grayson Waller.
[01:09:50] Then there was the Oscar match, but now let's get into the main event.
[01:09:55] The match picked up when when La Knight avoided a charged at ringside sending Bronson Reed crashing into the timekeepers area.
[01:10:04] Back inside, Reed blocked a neck Breaker but Knight dodged a senton, connected with his diving elbow drop for a near fall.
[01:10:12] Knight then tried for the BFT but Reef but Reed shoved him away leading to some chaos with Braun Breaker on the outside and others getting involved at ringside in confusion, Knight accidentally collided with Breaker on the apron, stumbled back and was caught by Reed who hit the Death Valley driver for the surprising pinfall win.
[01:10:33] After the bell, Breaker and Reed looked to continue the beatdown on night, but Jimmy USO ran down to make the safe Braun Breaker immediately smeared him and Reed landed a big senton and just when it looked bad for Jimmy, Brother J sprinted down the ramp and earlier in the night he said that he was leaving because he didn't want to be involved with La Knight and Jimmy had said he had been sounding like Roman, which was quite interesting.
[01:11:06] You know. Jay unleashed some super kicks and punches that took both down Breaker and Reed before spearing Read.
[01:11:17] The heels set up for Reed's Tsunami But LA Knight emerged with a steel chair, clearing out the ring. In the aftermath, Knight helped Jimmy back to his feet and reassured him that we're good now, leading to a handshake. But before the celebration could continue, Jay suddenly spears Knight and standing overnight, he looked over his brother, repeating we're good now, before ending the night with a defiant yeet as the show went off the air and surprising booze went down.
[01:11:56] So the main storyline now is that Jey USO is starting to get a little bit frustrated at his situation because he's been close to the World Championship and he's got all these people who are basically in the way of him getting to it, such as CM Punk, such as LA Knight, and. And basically he wants it all to go away.
[01:12:21] So what he is going to end up doing is probably the rules are going to be reversed and he might even turn on Jimmy, which I don't know why, because he's a natural baby face. The heat stuff has gotten over, but what changes are made once he goes into a heal mode, he can't stop the yeet. Chance people are going to make that into what chance? All right. They're going to be done all the time.
[01:12:52] The yeets, the ones, the. Yeah, it. It's all like, pretty, like it's just a thing that everybody says.
[01:13:02] It's not a force of habit.
[01:13:04] So I don't believe that, you know, it would go anywhere if Jay ended up turning heel. But that was it for the Raw review and that is it for today's show. I want to thank you guys for tuning in and listening in. We will be back again next week.
[01:13:23] So as always, it's Bell or a WK, because we talk about the W's in pro wrestling. Thank you, guys.
