October 2, 2025 • 21 mins
In this episode, we discuss Andrade's AEW Return, is TNA for Sale, CMLL and Tessa Blanchard news, and the rest of the day's rumors.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Podcast, What what? What podcasts?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Anything? There?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
You got the answers. I take the question.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Yeah, who immuta to double Dan because this guy is
a serious profession.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
And im how much savage send them out the thong
wearing buddy, I w W stand.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
For X me up.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Then I will never.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Require promotional consideration paidfall.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
By the following.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Hey, Yo, fro Wrestling podcast listeners, welcome to the show
where we don't sing it, we bring it. Help us
out and click subscribe to show your support. Are you
sick and tired of dropping sixty two one hundred dollars
for the latest and greatest wrestling game stop immediately go
to Wrestler Unstoppable, available exclusively through Facebook, create a wrestler,
sign contracts, get into storyline, headline pos even build your
own corporation from the ground up. All included, and Wrestler
(02:04):
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you want to become a member of the Foresting podcast family,
you want your name in the shoutouts like my good
buddy down there in Texas, John. Check out our Patreon
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up today.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Don't forget we have loyalty rewards.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Anybody who contributes fifteen dollars a month you get to
co host the show with me seven to fifteen month.
Enter into a drawing to do just the same, and
just like John and I working on some Patreon exclusive content,
you two could be a part of the show. Hello everybody,
Welcome to this episode of the for Wrestling Podcast. If
you've got questions, comments, something you want me to touch
on in the future episode, drop us a line, give
us a call forro Wrestling sound offline two six seven
(02:41):
six four to two eleven sixteen, and we will get
to those in a future episode.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
A lot to talk about tonight, Let's get started right away.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
The big conversation of the week so far has been
Andrede l Idiolo returning to aw on Dynamite, attacking Kenny
Omega and aligning himself with the don Kallis family. One
more out of the nine million people in the don
Kallis family. Now, first off, I don't have a problem
within being with the Don Callis family. I think the
bigger concern here was how so fast, so quick just
released by WWE. But what it boils down to is
(03:09):
he was such a concern apparently he failed another drug test, some.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Kind of controlled substance test.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Now we don't know if he actually failed a test
or failed to provide a sample for a test. Now
in distant years pass back, you know, things happened with
Randy Yorton, with Raymisterio, different talents when they would fail
a drug test for some reason, some performance enhancing drug.
Then there was always like a blurb put on WWE
dot com. He always found out about it. These days,
apparently that is not the case, and apparently this is
(03:37):
not the first time that Androde had been busted for
some kind of performance enhancing situation. This time there was
no playing around about it, whether it was a failed
test or a refusal to take a test or in
failure to provide the sample.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
For the test.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
He wasn't just let go of his contract. He was
fired immediately. No ninety day, no compete clause, just straight
up terminated. That's very different from what we've seen in
the past, where the future endevor you and you get
ninety days to sit at home collect the paycheck until
you can pursue your next option. This was done right away,
and apparently aw has been working on his return for
a couple of weeks now since his release from WWE,
(04:16):
and this apparently Tony Kahan and his perspective on Androida
has been very positive since he left the company. His
contract ran out with AW at World's Collide back in
twenty twenty three, went back to ww January twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
No bad Blood was able to return to the company
last night.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
And look, I understand putting him in a few with
Kenny Omega, but this is a few he can't possibly win.
Omega cannot keep taking losses when he's been bragging about
the fact that he doesn't have a ton of matches
left under his belt. So the reality is ANDROIDI coming
in an attack in Omega. In my opinion grade it
gets Androdi into almost a main event level status match,
But what does it do long term for ANDROIDI, Because
(04:54):
at the end of the day, he's going to have
to lose the feud to Kenny Omega, because I believe
all of us are expecting Omega and to face off
one more time, this time in the Continental Classic at
the end of the year, and this is a roadblock
to that. If you put Androtte over, I don't think
you can do that. And at this point, Let's be honest,
why would anybody look at Androtte as a main event
level talent to begin with? When you go to WWE
(05:15):
at first comes out of NXT. He was pushed really
strong in NXT by Triple H, got to the main
roster and just didn't go anywhere of substance.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
They release him.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
He goes to AW and again could not get over
to a level where he became a main eventor leaves.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Go back to WWE again stuck in the.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
Mid card, doing almost nothing, holding a speed Championship in
a makeshift tag team with Ray Phoenix, and then released.
Now back to AW and you're the first guy to
bounce back and forth this many times, and now you're
instantly in a program with Kenny Omega. I'm not loving
the booking because I don't see the long term fruit
of this labor.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
I just don't.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
I don't see this ever leading to Androtti being taken
seriously as a top flight contender or a top level draw.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
He does not drawing. In anybody's views, the issue is Andrade.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
In a lot of ways, it seems as though, and
again I'm not inside his head, and I've never had
a conversation with the guy, but it seems as though
he believes more in his talent, skills and what he
brings to the table than other people do.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I'm not dumping on that.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
Every wrestler probably feels that way. But the reality is
the ticket sales are We're going to determine who is
the top flight talent.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
And look look at aw right now, like you have
such a stacked amount of talent like you've got.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
I was listening to Jim Cornette the other day because
I try to listen to as many programs they can.
He was talking about people like Britt Baker and Chris
Jericho and Keith Lee and all these people who are
basically sitting on the bench at home collecting a huge,
massive paycheck from Tony Conin. Here's another guy coming into
the company, and that just muddies the water even more.
What is the payroll like for AEW with all the
(06:50):
guys who don't make it, the television people who you're
paying week after week after week, and then they don't
contribute anything or bring anything to the show. If you
can't use everybody, why would you pay those salaries just
to keep them from WWE? WWE doesn't have room for
them either, and obviously they didn't want to Andrad because
they just let him go. Maybe they felt like he
wasn't bringing enough to the table to counter his salary
(07:10):
combined with the drama of the performance enhancing violations. But
whatever it is, their wellness policy is what it is,
and that was what led to his release and now
his return to AW dynamight shocking. I guess it does
it wow the crowd and the suddenly buying into the
mystique of AW. I don't think it does anything to
move the needle for AW.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
The match might be fantastic Androni can go. He's a
phenomenal performer.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
He just he doesn't have the personality, doesn't have the
mic skills to put the whole package together. Now, maybe
Don Kallis can do the speaking part for him, but
at the end of the day, I just don't see
him on Kenny Omega's level, and don't I can't see
a spending It's almost like the John Cena retirement to
where I can't see a spending valuable time of Kenny
Omega's career working with a guy that has no chance
to win the feud.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And if he does.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
It's an insult really to pass booking. He should have
no business in there for this. So whatever it is,
what it is, I'm gonna have to keep a Ryan
and see how that plays out. Moving on to New
Japan Pro Wrestling. If anybody hasn't noticed in twenty twenty five,
New Japan Pro Wrestling in previous years had been making
a lot of excursions to the United States, really pushing
(08:15):
their New Japan Strong version of their brand, and in
twenty twenty five, it's been very very light. When COVID
nineteen pandemic hit back at twenty twenty, it made it
difficult for wrestlers to go country to country.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Some New Japan people moved to the the United States
to keep active. That's when they launched Strong.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
Strong had a good initial following, but now it's a
little different in New Japan, bringing the number of events
much much more condensed. They've only made three offerings in
the United States this year versus the six that they
had in twenty twenty four and eight in twenty twenty three,
and that's not counting you know, promotions that they are
(08:52):
events that they've co hosted with other people, but fightful,
select talks about two main issues being behind the slowdown
in the presentation of New Japan War Wrestling in the
United States. First being the fact that ticket sales in
America have been dropping, and the second being that some
New Japan par wrestling talent don't want to come to
the United States for events. When you think about it,
you know AEW essentially is an Americanized version of New
(09:15):
Japan par Wrestling. New Japan par Wrestling was making so
much strides. They were really pushing to be the number
two organization in the world. They were doing great stuff,
the Okata, Tanahashi, Shinsky, Nakamura, Evil Sonata, all these incredible
talents they had, but their product has dipped significantly in
the last five years. And now with AW coming out
for the last six years, AAW has cultivated such an
(09:36):
audience and the show's presentation and match style is so
similar there's no need to seek out New Japan Pro
Wrestling programming if you're an American audience member, and you know,
that's why they've kind of shifted their focus back to
Japan itself. In Japan, it's almost like they're going to
a renaissance of their brand because they've had a lot
of people leave the Nakamora is going to WWE.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
When you have people like.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
Kazushka Okada going to AEW, you have Tetsuya Naido leaving
the company and now he's doing his own thing. You
have a lot of those guys, and Tanahashi on his
retirement tour. All the guys who are the backbone of
your organization for the last fifteen years are either gone
or soon will be. And it's like, well, what's going
to be the new identa is the identity of New
Japan Wrestling is a show to Yumino, who's an incredible
(10:20):
talent but doesn't have that world known reputation for being
just a killer in the ring? Is it going to
be somebody like show and Yo and all these people?
Speaker 3 (10:29):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
You got to start culting you. Hiroki Goto is getting
up there in age Shingo Takagi.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Like, there's a lot of guys, but none of them
are on the level of a.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
Kazuchka Okada, a Tiroshi Tanahashi, a Shinsky nakamor like they
were in years past. So New Japan really needs to
do some soul searching. But in the meantime, their WW
They're wrestling product in the United States is going to
tank for a little while, and we're not going to
see anywhere near the amount of shows that we've seen
in previous years. Moving on to TAMA Wrestling, the president
(11:01):
of TNA Wrestling was doing a conversation recently where they
were talking about what the prospects of.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
The company going forward were.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Carlos Silva, the guy who runs TNA Wrestling for Anthem,
spoke about what is the plan for TNA, especially now
that they've got this partnership with WWA, and Silva is
very clear they want to continue to build up TNA,
eventually potentially leading to a sale. It would not surprise anybody,
I don't think to think that WB could be that
company that wants to move in and purchase TNA Wrestling.
(11:31):
I would not be surprised if that actually takes place
in the next twelve months. I think the big thing
is going to be can TNA Wrestling secure a media
rights deal that will secure some market that WWE's current
three major shows doesn't secure and push AW further down
to pecking order. Can they grow that brand and then
WB can move in and if for no other reason,
just the tape library alone has so much potential there
(11:54):
that the aw I apologize TNA hasn't capitalized on that.
WWE could absolutely market that, like you wouldn't believe there's
not as much you know, physical hard media anymore. Would
all be streaming type options, But that's one of the
few libraries they don't have access to. I'm actually surprised
when Ring of Honor was up for sale or it
(12:14):
was even close to being able to be sold that
WDVD and swoop in and snag that. With all the
talent that they have like the seth Rollins's and people
like that who were in the Ring of Honor at
one point, I would have thought they would have tried
to grab that they missed out on that TNA would
be a huge get for them, and it would leave
it so pretty much all of the wrestling from the
beginnings through now would reside within two major companies, AW
(12:35):
having the aw and Ring of Honor libraries and WB
having pretty much everything else. But in terms of this,
Anthem clearly has a potential sale in their mind for
the future, and that's something to monitor closely because we
have to wonder what is that going to mean for
w B What is that going to mean for brand
splits and cross promotioning and.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Things like that.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Is WBE still going to look at possibly doing something
more stuff with pro Wrestling Noah in Japan? All Japan
Pro Wrestling has had a pretty existing RELATIONSHIPACK in the nineties.
That's a conversation some people brought up about All Japan's business.
Could WWE swoop in there? Does New Japan start talking
to WWE if they can't rebound their business the way
they want to and if the deal with AW, which
so far all the partnerships with the AW seemed to
(13:14):
be very AEW leaning in terms of who gets pushed stronger.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Maybe they get tired of that move on.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
I don't know, We'll have to wait and see back
to AAW. Jack Perry recently returning reforming the Jurassic Express
with Lucasaurus. He was doing an interview having a conversation
about the appearance at All Out twenty twenty five and
bringing back the Jungle Boy persona after being the Scapegoat
(13:41):
now feuding with the Young Bucks, and it's interesting to
see how he feels after essentially being labeled such a
bad guy after the Scapegoat thing.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
He had his falling out with CM Punk.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
Some people sided with Punk, some people felt like Perry
was just an experienced, spoiled performer.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Whatever you can have, whatever you want.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
But like the whole crimea River thing, referencing the issue
with Punk at all in London twenty twenty three, there's
some people he felt like were really into him. Some
people he thought really rejected that, but a lot of
people were still cheering for him, singing, dancing and all that,
and it was obvious at some point they were gonna
have to take this route. They really weren't doing anything
with the kill Switch character. Moving him back to being
(14:21):
Luca Source and then feuding with the Bucks, I think
is a great idea, and it was a great way
to bring Perry back to the company. They don't need
him in the elite anymore. He needed to do something
with more substance when he came back.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
This is a great role. So it's interesting to see
how he feels about the Scapegoat run.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
How I don't think he feels like he was very
successful at all, and now coming back doing what he's
doing now, I think.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
It's going to lead to a much better situation for
him going forward.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
Jumping to CMLL big news this week the TNA superstar
Tessa Blanchard, former CMLL Women's Tag Team Champion, is returning
to CML at Arena Mexico.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
She's going to be going in.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
They're doing a CML Women's Grand Prix featuring talents from AW,
Stardom other international promotions.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
And what's interesting is is Tesla.
Speaker 5 (15:05):
Blancher being under contract to TNA, And make no mistake
about it, she is still under contract to TNA, who
is in a working relationship with WWE, working at a
CMLL show while WWE owns their rival Triple A, while
CML is working with AEW. You see how convoluted this gets.
And they're working with Stardom while WWE works with Marigold.
(15:25):
There's a lot going on here and it's and you know,
of course, that's aside from the fact that the reason
Tesla Blanter is so polarizing is because of her potentially
racist comments.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
And I wasn't there. I say potentially because I wasn't
in the room.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Their allegations that she made racist comments towards the wrestler
Rosa and Negra while she was in Japan years ago,
but since then she disappeared for a long, long long time,
going to CMLL on twenty twenty four, winning the Women's
Tight Team Championship. Once she signed with TNA, she vacated
those championships, and this will be she has been going
down there. She has her partner in life.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
I don't even know how to ask the guy's name,
ees Fi n geve is Finge, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
Is apparently her partner who's a CML luchador. So she
goes down to support her partner, but outside of that,
hasn't appeared as a wrestler.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
This will be the first time in quite a while.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
And with all that convoluted mess I just spit out
there about the different companies really interesting and they would
even pull this off. I don't know how they're making
that come together and how the two major companies feel
about that. Jumping to Dave Meltzer, because what is an
episode without making fun of Dave Meltzer. I love the
fact that so much of what he talks about is
just utter nonsense lately. But he was talking about AW
and Tony Kahn, his most ill spent money of his
(16:36):
entire time in AEW and he was referencing the money
he spent to sign Russev, making him Miro, making him
the redeemer character, Miro never wanting to job to certain people.
Now he speculates that he didn't want a job because
to anybody, because he wanted to raise his value to
go back to WWE, which is absolutely ludicrous if he
asked me because he wasn't signing like a one year
(16:57):
deal with AW and then going back to w and
anybody going into any professional wrestling company thinking they're never
going to lose in a four or five year contract
is insane. So I don't even think that's remotely accurate.
If it is, then he never should have been signed
in the first place. And maybe that's accurate to say
that Tony con waits his money. But if that's the case,
that just makes Tony con an insanely ridiculous financial planner
(17:18):
when it comes to his company making bad business decisions
when everything else AW has done.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
I don't buy that.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
I think there was a mutual agreement that certain things
are gonna happen, and as the show's unfolded, dictated and
panned out, for one reason or another, things didn't come together.
If you're Miro and you show up a in aew
and the first thing that had to be doing is
being a lackey for somebody's wedding. I'd be frustrated too.
He came in, he could have been a main event
or night one like Andrade O Ilioto Idiola will be,
and they didn't do that. Now, he did get runs
(17:45):
with TNT Championship, which is fine. He did a very
nice job with that, but that's really all he did
in aw.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Didn't really do anything of substance. It was a missed opportunity.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
So in that respect, maybe if some wasted money, but
at the end of the day, his redeemer character in
that TANT Championship run was fruitful.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I don't think it's a waste of money. It just
didn't pan out the way he wanted.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
Meltzer over emphasizing things sometimes absolutely drives me crazy because
this is the guy who's made his entire career off
doing the same thing I do.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I'm a fan, he's a fan.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
He has no more credentials to critique and talk about
professional wrestling than I do. The only difference between me
and him is he has connections within the business because
he's been doing it so long. He's met everybody and
anybody and everybody, and in the early part of his career,
who heck knows how he made those connections. It certain
wasn't because he was the most savvy news reporter in
the world. He got his way in there, made some
conversations with people and was able to get some inside scoops,
(18:33):
and that somehow gave him the cloud to start making
star ratings and weekly reports saying, look, more power to him.
I'm not crapping on him, That's what I do. I'm
just a fan, just like you guys are. But when
we start giving too much credence to what he says,
that's where it gets to go off the rails just
a little bit for me. Last thing is the night
bj Ray from LFGWWE seasons one season two announced that
he had surgery just recently to deal with his shoulder injuries.
(18:56):
Apparently he suffered at the beginning of and if you
watch the episodes it happened to beginning at LFG. This
guy gets on my last nerve. I don't even want
to see him anymore. LFG season one, he started he
was competing with a torn rotator cuff and a labrum.
It has never been fixed. Now he's finally getting it fixed.
He says he'll be back, and he's still claiming that
the ratings and everything are all about him.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
I know that's him just working a character.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
I hope the guy's not as arrogant a jerk in
real life as he seems to be everything I've seen.
If you haven't watched LFG, you're missing out. It's actually
a very good show. It is certainly not tough enough.
A lot of people thought it was just gonna be
tough enough.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
It's not.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
It's significantly better than that, but definitely could use some improvement.
If this is the guy you're leaning on, that's all
the time we.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Have for this episode.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Check back with this next episode run down the latest
wrestling news and rumors. Special thanks is always out the
SOSUNO for creating the music and sound effects on our show.
Today's show sponsored in part by Beesel Games. Bringing a
new friend. A family game night is easy with sketchy people.
Showcase your artistic side in this game from Beesel Games
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you're considering college or university life, or maybe it just
(19:56):
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Speaker 3 (20:06):
I'm Fred Frolick, better known.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
As Doctor FRO. Want to thank you for taking a
few moments with us today. Until next time, take care, everybody,
have a great night.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I say
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Da.
Podcast, What what? What podcasts?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Anything? There?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
You got the answers. I take the question.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Yeah, who immuta to double Dan because this guy is
a serious profession.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
And im how much savage send them out the thong
wearing buddy, I w W stand.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
For X me up.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Then I will never.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Require promotional consideration paidfall.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
By the following.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Hey, Yo, fro Wrestling podcast listeners, welcome to the show
where we don't sing it, we bring it. Help us
out and click subscribe to show your support. Are you
sick and tired of dropping sixty two one hundred dollars
for the latest and greatest wrestling game stop immediately go
to Wrestler Unstoppable, available exclusively through Facebook, create a wrestler,
sign contracts, get into storyline, headline pos even build your
own corporation from the ground up. All included, and Wrestler
(02:04):
Unstoppable available now to all Facebook users, totally free. If
you want to become a member of the Foresting podcast family,
you want your name in the shoutouts like my good
buddy down there in Texas, John. Check out our Patreon
page at patreon dot com slash for wrestling podcast Sign
up today.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Don't forget we have loyalty rewards.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Anybody who contributes fifteen dollars a month you get to
co host the show with me seven to fifteen month.
Enter into a drawing to do just the same, and
just like John and I working on some Patreon exclusive content,
you two could be a part of the show. Hello everybody,
Welcome to this episode of the for Wrestling Podcast. If
you've got questions, comments, something you want me to touch
on in the future episode, drop us a line, give
us a call forro Wrestling sound offline two six seven
(02:41):
six four to two eleven sixteen, and we will get
to those in a future episode.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
A lot to talk about tonight, Let's get started right away.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
The big conversation of the week so far has been
Andrede l Idiolo returning to aw on Dynamite, attacking Kenny
Omega and aligning himself with the don Kallis family. One
more out of the nine million people in the don
Kallis family. Now, first off, I don't have a problem
within being with the Don Callis family. I think the
bigger concern here was how so fast, so quick just
released by WWE. But what it boils down to is
(03:09):
he was such a concern apparently he failed another drug test, some.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Kind of controlled substance test.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Now we don't know if he actually failed a test
or failed to provide a sample for a test. Now
in distant years pass back, you know, things happened with
Randy Yorton, with Raymisterio, different talents when they would fail
a drug test for some reason, some performance enhancing drug.
Then there was always like a blurb put on WWE
dot com. He always found out about it. These days,
apparently that is not the case, and apparently this is
(03:37):
not the first time that Androde had been busted for
some kind of performance enhancing situation. This time there was
no playing around about it, whether it was a failed
test or a refusal to take a test or in
failure to provide the sample.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
For the test.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
He wasn't just let go of his contract. He was
fired immediately. No ninety day, no compete clause, just straight
up terminated. That's very different from what we've seen in
the past, where the future endevor you and you get
ninety days to sit at home collect the paycheck until
you can pursue your next option. This was done right away,
and apparently aw has been working on his return for
a couple of weeks now since his release from WWE,
(04:16):
and this apparently Tony Kahan and his perspective on Androida
has been very positive since he left the company. His
contract ran out with AW at World's Collide back in
twenty twenty three, went back to ww January twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
No bad Blood was able to return to the company
last night.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
And look, I understand putting him in a few with
Kenny Omega, but this is a few he can't possibly win.
Omega cannot keep taking losses when he's been bragging about
the fact that he doesn't have a ton of matches
left under his belt. So the reality is ANDROIDI coming
in an attack in Omega. In my opinion grade it
gets Androdi into almost a main event level status match,
But what does it do long term for ANDROIDI, Because
(04:54):
at the end of the day, he's going to have
to lose the feud to Kenny Omega, because I believe
all of us are expecting Omega and to face off
one more time, this time in the Continental Classic at
the end of the year, and this is a roadblock
to that. If you put Androtte over, I don't think
you can do that. And at this point, Let's be honest,
why would anybody look at Androtte as a main event
level talent to begin with? When you go to WWE
(05:15):
at first comes out of NXT. He was pushed really
strong in NXT by Triple H, got to the main
roster and just didn't go anywhere of substance.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
They release him.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
He goes to AW and again could not get over
to a level where he became a main eventor leaves.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Go back to WWE again stuck in the.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
Mid card, doing almost nothing, holding a speed Championship in
a makeshift tag team with Ray Phoenix, and then released.
Now back to AW and you're the first guy to
bounce back and forth this many times, and now you're
instantly in a program with Kenny Omega. I'm not loving
the booking because I don't see the long term fruit
of this labor.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
I just don't.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
I don't see this ever leading to Androtti being taken
seriously as a top flight contender or a top level draw.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
He does not drawing. In anybody's views, the issue is Andrade.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
In a lot of ways, it seems as though, and
again I'm not inside his head, and I've never had
a conversation with the guy, but it seems as though
he believes more in his talent, skills and what he
brings to the table than other people do.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I'm not dumping on that.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
Every wrestler probably feels that way. But the reality is
the ticket sales are We're going to determine who is
the top flight talent.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
And look look at aw right now, like you have
such a stacked amount of talent like you've got.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
I was listening to Jim Cornette the other day because
I try to listen to as many programs they can.
He was talking about people like Britt Baker and Chris
Jericho and Keith Lee and all these people who are
basically sitting on the bench at home collecting a huge,
massive paycheck from Tony Conin. Here's another guy coming into
the company, and that just muddies the water even more.
What is the payroll like for AEW with all the
(06:50):
guys who don't make it, the television people who you're
paying week after week after week, and then they don't
contribute anything or bring anything to the show. If you
can't use everybody, why would you pay those salaries just
to keep them from WWE? WWE doesn't have room for
them either, and obviously they didn't want to Andrad because
they just let him go. Maybe they felt like he
wasn't bringing enough to the table to counter his salary
(07:10):
combined with the drama of the performance enhancing violations. But
whatever it is, their wellness policy is what it is,
and that was what led to his release and now
his return to AW dynamight shocking. I guess it does
it wow the crowd and the suddenly buying into the
mystique of AW. I don't think it does anything to
move the needle for AW.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
The match might be fantastic Androni can go. He's a
phenomenal performer.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
He just he doesn't have the personality, doesn't have the
mic skills to put the whole package together. Now, maybe
Don Kallis can do the speaking part for him, but
at the end of the day, I just don't see
him on Kenny Omega's level, and don't I can't see
a spending It's almost like the John Cena retirement to
where I can't see a spending valuable time of Kenny
Omega's career working with a guy that has no chance
to win the feud.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And if he does.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
It's an insult really to pass booking. He should have
no business in there for this. So whatever it is,
what it is, I'm gonna have to keep a Ryan
and see how that plays out. Moving on to New
Japan Pro Wrestling. If anybody hasn't noticed in twenty twenty five,
New Japan Pro Wrestling in previous years had been making
a lot of excursions to the United States, really pushing
(08:15):
their New Japan Strong version of their brand, and in
twenty twenty five, it's been very very light. When COVID
nineteen pandemic hit back at twenty twenty, it made it
difficult for wrestlers to go country to country.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Some New Japan people moved to the the United States
to keep active. That's when they launched Strong.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
Strong had a good initial following, but now it's a
little different in New Japan, bringing the number of events
much much more condensed. They've only made three offerings in
the United States this year versus the six that they
had in twenty twenty four and eight in twenty twenty three,
and that's not counting you know, promotions that they are
(08:52):
events that they've co hosted with other people, but fightful,
select talks about two main issues being behind the slowdown
in the presentation of New Japan War Wrestling in the
United States. First being the fact that ticket sales in
America have been dropping, and the second being that some
New Japan par wrestling talent don't want to come to
the United States for events. When you think about it,
you know AEW essentially is an Americanized version of New
(09:15):
Japan par Wrestling. New Japan par Wrestling was making so
much strides. They were really pushing to be the number
two organization in the world. They were doing great stuff,
the Okata, Tanahashi, Shinsky, Nakamura, Evil Sonata, all these incredible
talents they had, but their product has dipped significantly in
the last five years. And now with AW coming out
for the last six years, AAW has cultivated such an
(09:36):
audience and the show's presentation and match style is so
similar there's no need to seek out New Japan Pro
Wrestling programming if you're an American audience member, and you know,
that's why they've kind of shifted their focus back to
Japan itself. In Japan, it's almost like they're going to
a renaissance of their brand because they've had a lot
of people leave the Nakamora is going to WWE.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
When you have people like.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
Kazushka Okada going to AEW, you have Tetsuya Naido leaving
the company and now he's doing his own thing. You
have a lot of those guys, and Tanahashi on his
retirement tour. All the guys who are the backbone of
your organization for the last fifteen years are either gone
or soon will be. And it's like, well, what's going
to be the new identa is the identity of New
Japan Wrestling is a show to Yumino, who's an incredible
(10:20):
talent but doesn't have that world known reputation for being
just a killer in the ring? Is it going to
be somebody like show and Yo and all these people?
Speaker 3 (10:29):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
You got to start culting you. Hiroki Goto is getting
up there in age Shingo Takagi.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Like, there's a lot of guys, but none of them
are on the level of a.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
Kazuchka Okada, a Tiroshi Tanahashi, a Shinsky nakamor like they
were in years past. So New Japan really needs to
do some soul searching. But in the meantime, their WW
They're wrestling product in the United States is going to
tank for a little while, and we're not going to
see anywhere near the amount of shows that we've seen
in previous years. Moving on to TAMA Wrestling, the president
(11:01):
of TNA Wrestling was doing a conversation recently where they
were talking about what the prospects of.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
The company going forward were.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Carlos Silva, the guy who runs TNA Wrestling for Anthem,
spoke about what is the plan for TNA, especially now
that they've got this partnership with WWA, and Silva is
very clear they want to continue to build up TNA,
eventually potentially leading to a sale. It would not surprise anybody,
I don't think to think that WB could be that
company that wants to move in and purchase TNA Wrestling.
(11:31):
I would not be surprised if that actually takes place
in the next twelve months. I think the big thing
is going to be can TNA Wrestling secure a media
rights deal that will secure some market that WWE's current
three major shows doesn't secure and push AW further down
to pecking order. Can they grow that brand and then
WB can move in and if for no other reason,
just the tape library alone has so much potential there
(11:54):
that the aw I apologize TNA hasn't capitalized on that.
WWE could absolutely market that, like you wouldn't believe there's
not as much you know, physical hard media anymore. Would
all be streaming type options, But that's one of the
few libraries they don't have access to. I'm actually surprised
when Ring of Honor was up for sale or it
(12:14):
was even close to being able to be sold that
WDVD and swoop in and snag that. With all the
talent that they have like the seth Rollins's and people
like that who were in the Ring of Honor at
one point, I would have thought they would have tried
to grab that they missed out on that TNA would
be a huge get for them, and it would leave
it so pretty much all of the wrestling from the
beginnings through now would reside within two major companies, AW
(12:35):
having the aw and Ring of Honor libraries and WB
having pretty much everything else. But in terms of this,
Anthem clearly has a potential sale in their mind for
the future, and that's something to monitor closely because we
have to wonder what is that going to mean for
w B What is that going to mean for brand
splits and cross promotioning and.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Things like that.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Is WBE still going to look at possibly doing something
more stuff with pro Wrestling Noah in Japan? All Japan
Pro Wrestling has had a pretty existing RELATIONSHIPACK in the nineties.
That's a conversation some people brought up about All Japan's business.
Could WWE swoop in there? Does New Japan start talking
to WWE if they can't rebound their business the way
they want to and if the deal with AW, which
so far all the partnerships with the AW seemed to
(13:14):
be very AEW leaning in terms of who gets pushed stronger.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Maybe they get tired of that move on.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
I don't know, We'll have to wait and see back
to AAW. Jack Perry recently returning reforming the Jurassic Express
with Lucasaurus. He was doing an interview having a conversation
about the appearance at All Out twenty twenty five and
bringing back the Jungle Boy persona after being the Scapegoat
(13:41):
now feuding with the Young Bucks, and it's interesting to
see how he feels after essentially being labeled such a
bad guy after the Scapegoat thing.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
He had his falling out with CM Punk.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
Some people sided with Punk, some people felt like Perry
was just an experienced, spoiled performer.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Whatever you can have, whatever you want.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
But like the whole crimea River thing, referencing the issue
with Punk at all in London twenty twenty three, there's
some people he felt like were really into him. Some
people he thought really rejected that, but a lot of
people were still cheering for him, singing, dancing and all that,
and it was obvious at some point they were gonna
have to take this route. They really weren't doing anything
with the kill Switch character. Moving him back to being
(14:21):
Luca Source and then feuding with the Bucks, I think
is a great idea, and it was a great way
to bring Perry back to the company. They don't need
him in the elite anymore. He needed to do something
with more substance when he came back.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
This is a great role. So it's interesting to see
how he feels about the Scapegoat run.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
How I don't think he feels like he was very
successful at all, and now coming back doing what he's
doing now, I think.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
It's going to lead to a much better situation for
him going forward.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
Jumping to CMLL big news this week the TNA superstar
Tessa Blanchard, former CMLL Women's Tag Team Champion, is returning
to CML at Arena Mexico.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
She's going to be going in.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
They're doing a CML Women's Grand Prix featuring talents from AW,
Stardom other international promotions.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
And what's interesting is is Tesla.
Speaker 5 (15:05):
Blancher being under contract to TNA, And make no mistake
about it, she is still under contract to TNA, who
is in a working relationship with WWE, working at a
CMLL show while WWE owns their rival Triple A, while
CML is working with AEW. You see how convoluted this gets.
And they're working with Stardom while WWE works with Marigold.
(15:25):
There's a lot going on here and it's and you know,
of course, that's aside from the fact that the reason
Tesla Blanter is so polarizing is because of her potentially
racist comments.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
And I wasn't there. I say potentially because I wasn't
in the room.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Their allegations that she made racist comments towards the wrestler
Rosa and Negra while she was in Japan years ago,
but since then she disappeared for a long, long long time,
going to CMLL on twenty twenty four, winning the Women's
Tight Team Championship. Once she signed with TNA, she vacated
those championships, and this will be she has been going
down there. She has her partner in life.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
I don't even know how to ask the guy's name,
ees Fi n geve is Finge, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
Is apparently her partner who's a CML luchador. So she
goes down to support her partner, but outside of that,
hasn't appeared as a wrestler.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
This will be the first time in quite a while.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
And with all that convoluted mess I just spit out
there about the different companies really interesting and they would
even pull this off. I don't know how they're making
that come together and how the two major companies feel
about that. Jumping to Dave Meltzer, because what is an
episode without making fun of Dave Meltzer. I love the
fact that so much of what he talks about is
just utter nonsense lately. But he was talking about AW
and Tony Kahn, his most ill spent money of his
(16:36):
entire time in AEW and he was referencing the money
he spent to sign Russev, making him Miro, making him
the redeemer character, Miro never wanting to job to certain people.
Now he speculates that he didn't want a job because
to anybody, because he wanted to raise his value to
go back to WWE, which is absolutely ludicrous if he
asked me because he wasn't signing like a one year
(16:57):
deal with AW and then going back to w and
anybody going into any professional wrestling company thinking they're never
going to lose in a four or five year contract
is insane. So I don't even think that's remotely accurate.
If it is, then he never should have been signed
in the first place. And maybe that's accurate to say
that Tony con waits his money. But if that's the case,
that just makes Tony con an insanely ridiculous financial planner
(17:18):
when it comes to his company making bad business decisions
when everything else AW has done.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
I don't buy that.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
I think there was a mutual agreement that certain things
are gonna happen, and as the show's unfolded, dictated and
panned out, for one reason or another, things didn't come together.
If you're Miro and you show up a in aew
and the first thing that had to be doing is
being a lackey for somebody's wedding. I'd be frustrated too.
He came in, he could have been a main event
or night one like Andrade O Ilioto Idiola will be,
and they didn't do that. Now, he did get runs
(17:45):
with TNT Championship, which is fine. He did a very
nice job with that, but that's really all he did
in aw.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Didn't really do anything of substance. It was a missed opportunity.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
So in that respect, maybe if some wasted money, but
at the end of the day, his redeemer character in
that TANT Championship run was fruitful.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I don't think it's a waste of money. It just
didn't pan out the way he wanted.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
Meltzer over emphasizing things sometimes absolutely drives me crazy because
this is the guy who's made his entire career off
doing the same thing I do.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I'm a fan, he's a fan.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
He has no more credentials to critique and talk about
professional wrestling than I do. The only difference between me
and him is he has connections within the business because
he's been doing it so long. He's met everybody and
anybody and everybody, and in the early part of his career,
who heck knows how he made those connections. It certain
wasn't because he was the most savvy news reporter in
the world. He got his way in there, made some
conversations with people and was able to get some inside scoops,
(18:33):
and that somehow gave him the cloud to start making
star ratings and weekly reports saying, look, more power to him.
I'm not crapping on him, That's what I do. I'm
just a fan, just like you guys are. But when
we start giving too much credence to what he says,
that's where it gets to go off the rails just
a little bit for me. Last thing is the night
bj Ray from LFGWWE seasons one season two announced that
he had surgery just recently to deal with his shoulder injuries.
(18:56):
Apparently he suffered at the beginning of and if you
watch the episodes it happened to beginning at LFG. This
guy gets on my last nerve. I don't even want
to see him anymore. LFG season one, he started he
was competing with a torn rotator cuff and a labrum.
It has never been fixed. Now he's finally getting it fixed.
He says he'll be back, and he's still claiming that
the ratings and everything are all about him.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
I know that's him just working a character.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
I hope the guy's not as arrogant a jerk in
real life as he seems to be everything I've seen.
If you haven't watched LFG, you're missing out. It's actually
a very good show. It is certainly not tough enough.
A lot of people thought it was just gonna be
tough enough.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
It's not.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
It's significantly better than that, but definitely could use some improvement.
If this is the guy you're leaning on, that's all
the time we.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Have for this episode.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Check back with this next episode run down the latest
wrestling news and rumors. Special thanks is always out the
SOSUNO for creating the music and sound effects on our show.
Today's show sponsored in part by Beesel Games. Bringing a
new friend. A family game night is easy with sketchy people.
Showcase your artistic side in this game from Beesel Games
by going to the gamecrafter dot com and picking up
your copy today. If you're looking for your next career move,
you're considering college or university life, or maybe it just
(19:56):
needs some formal training for your next crew decision. Go
to our website at FRO Life Planning dot com for
all your higher education needs as full life educational planning
is for today, for tomorrow, for life with FRO Life.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I'm Fred Frolick, better known.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
As Doctor FRO. Want to thank you for taking a
few moments with us today. Until next time, take care, everybody,
have a great night.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I say
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Da.
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