August 15, 2025 • 22 mins
In this episode, we discuss WWE Counterprogramming AEW with John Cena, Injury and Contract Updates for several talents, and we discuss TNA and AEW News and Rumors!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
What what, What's anything?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
They got the answers.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I changed the question.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Who who am you to to to Dolly ol Dan
because this guy is a serious profession savage.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
That's the Mackatong, Wear it, Buddy, w W.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Sand fort.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Tix me up.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I will never retire. Promotional consideration paidful by the following.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Hey, Yo, for 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 while you're
at it. If you are sick and tired of drop
in sixty to one hundred dollars for the latest and
greatest wrestling video game, stop immediately go to Wrestler Unstoppable,
available exclusively through Facebook. Create a wrestler on contracts, get
into storylines, headline pals, even build your own corporation from
(02:04):
the ground up. All included in Wrestler Unstoppable, available now
to all Facebook users, totally free. If you want to
become a member of the for Wrestling Podcast family, want
your name in the shout out I'm a good buddy
John down in Texas, then check out our Patreon page
at patreon dot com. Slash for Wrestling Podcast sign up today,
there is some Patreon member exclusive content coming from John
and myself. We're putting that together shortly. But don't forget
(02:26):
we have loyalty rewards. If you were a fifteen dollars
a month contributor, you get to co host a show
with myself seven fifty a month, we will put you
into a drawing to also co host a show with me. Hello, everybody,
welcome to this show. Welcome to this episode, I should
say of the for Wrestling podcast. If you've got questions, comments,
something you want us to touch on in the future episode,
give us a call, Give drop us a line for
(02:47):
Wrestling sound offline two six seven six four two eleven sixty,
and we will get to those questions, comments, and anything
you wants to talk about in a future episode. Kicking
off tonight, we're going to get to some updates on
some injuries, some contract status, get into some of the
new rumors for the week, and we will go from there.
We're going to start with liv Morgan, one of the
big names that everybody is anticipating coming back. A lot
(03:07):
of conjecture about what her role will be when she
comes back. Will she be faced, will she be here,
will she rejoin Judgment Date, break away from Judgment Day.
Where will she fall when the chips are down and
she comes back healthy? And it sounds like with the
latest update on her health, she did sustain a separated shoulder.
That's what led to Roxane Perez popping in and taking
(03:29):
her place, And according to PWI Elite WW officials are
hoping that she will be able to return at the
start of twenty twenty six, assuming everything else stays on schedule,
no setbacks, nothing major. There's a good chance that she
would be available for the Royal Rumble. That would be
the perfect place to bring her back. I know we
had her and her at number thirty a couple years back.
(03:52):
I don't know that I do thirty. Maybe she's the
Iron Woman this year. Put her in early and let
her go over an hour. Maybe even with rox Sane
Perez being the woman who currently holds the record for
the ladies in the Rumble, Maybe have the two of
them being the Iron Women and spend a whole lot
of time in the ring together. Other updates there apparently,
when we talk about injuries, can't miss the situation with
(04:13):
Naomi going on. Still no word on what the exact
issue is her being pulled up from championship defenses on Raw,
potentially in France. But what we do know is whatever
it is. As a matter of fact, Natty was on
Busted Open Radio talking about how she thinks this must
be very serious for her to be gone, to miss
those bookings and whatnot. It's got to be a big deal.
And apparently that situation has expedited some plans that they
(04:37):
had long term for Oscar. Oscar was supposed to have
a slow burn heel turn and become a heel going
against EO Sky. With the injury to one of their
top performers, they had to expedite those plans. They needed
another major heel on the roster, and that looks like
now it's going to end up being Oscar. If you
(04:58):
were watching Raw, you saw the whole push and shove
thing after the Kabuki Warriors cost Eo her match against
roxanm Perez. According PWI Insider Elite again, they believe that
the plan for Oscar to turn heel was in the
works for quite some time. It was supposed to take
much longer, and apparently now they are speeding up that process,
(05:20):
which is another indicator that this injury to nail me
maybe a little bit longer term than we really thought
it would be. Let's talk some contracts. Coda Ibushi came
to AW two years ago. Majority of his career in
Japan mostly New Japan Pro Wrestling, some Noah stuff, some
other company, DDT Pro and things of that nature, but
came to AW two years ago. Has been used very sporadically.
(05:42):
The guy has had a lot of issues with injuries
and setbacks and whatnot, and at this point is really
starting to come back and get this footing again. And
it has been announced that he did sign a two
year extension with AW, so at this point he is
going to be wrestling at least two more years with AW.
(06:02):
He has a quote here he says, I signed a
two year reassignment. I still want to live, but I
want to live. I can't imagine being in pro wrestling
until him forty five. What more do you want? I
don't know. I have a dream to live and live
this kind of pro wrestling back in the day when
I was little, just not just not just good. Ninety
nine percent hell, you don't want to get there? How tough?
At ninety nine percent, Hell is far away above the
(06:24):
imagination from training and daily living. Just don't look down
up to the top. Still not enough, not like this
from now on. So and keeping in mind that the
translation because he does have a little bit of difficulty
with his English, It's real clear Abushi has a lot
left in the business that he wants to accomplish. Former
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion has been used almost in a
(06:44):
comedic role since coming to AW, but it sounds like
he wants to get a lot more serious. He's recently
reunited with Kenny Omega, and I'm hoping that he stays
healthy and is able to contribute a high level now.
On the same vine, AW contract status of Hook has
been a topic of conversation. He has been injured for
quite some time now, and it sounds as though Hook
has signed a long term contract multi year deal sometime
(07:08):
in twenty twenty four through his agent, Barry Bloom. And
apparently we don't know the contract length, the terms, or
anything like that, but we know that he is signed
for the foreseeable future. Despite the fact that the last
time we saw him compete in an actual match was
April ninth on an edition of Dynamite. We know there
was some issues potentially concussion. Came back shortly earlier in
(07:29):
the year, but now it sounds as though he's getting
very close to a full time return, which is going
to be wonderful. Now, on the topic of contracts, not
necessarily already signed, but new signees, if you're paying attention
to AAW collision this week, you'll notice a new face
is in AEW, but it's an old face if you're
a diehard wrestling fan. Former TNA World Tag Team Champion
(07:49):
Ace Austin is now elite. He had a match against Ricochet.
At the end of the match, Tony Kahan is going
to come out and ask him if he wants to
be all Elite and he's going to accept. And now
Ace Austin is the newest member of the AW roster.
So let's get to some of the bigger stuff of
the week. A lot of conversations going on about AW
and WWE and how things are going to play out
(08:11):
in the next several months, regarding programming, counterprogramming, what's going
to be done, who's going to be used. We have
heard that there is a phantom pay per viewr Phantom
pl that is coming on September twentieth, purposely designed to
go head to head with All Out. So when they
bring up All Out overseas going back to England and
(08:34):
you see WWE planning to put a show out there,
the rumor is is the AW is planning to potentially
move the start time of their show. Now, look, I
get it, you don't want to go head to head
with w because they're the biggest dog on the planet
right now. But at some point you can't keep moving
your shows because of wbe trying to counterprogram you or
you look second rate. And here's the it goes beyond
(08:58):
just the counter programming. First off, we know that All
Out next month is going to be head to head
with what is sounding like a John scenea versus Brock
lesnar match. Rumor has it it might be bad Blood.
They may be bringing that back, that concept. This is
not the first time we've seen CNN Brock. Maybe not
many people who tune in, But if twenty thousand, it
was an estimate, If twenty thousand buys shift over to
(09:22):
WWE's product, that's about six hundred thousand dollars in lost
revenue to AW. Now, Dave Meltzer on a Wrestling Observer,
he was talking about how that's not such a big deal.
They have one hundred and eighty million a year contract
in the media rights deal. I get it, but no
company wants to drop six hundred thousand dollars from one
of their biggest shows of the year. And this is deliberate,
This is on purpose, This is meant to hurt their
(09:44):
negotiation rights in the future. WWE is not going anywhere.
TKO is not going anywhere. So if they continue to
counter program aew, sponsors and advertisers and the most importantly
networks are gonna look at this situation to be very
concerned about what they're going up against. Is this company
going to continue to do what they have to do
(10:04):
to slowly but surely take away their audience, offering more
attractive options elsewhere. The other conversation is that WWE is
talking about moving Saturday Night's main event from December thirteenth
to December twenty seventh. Now, the relevance of that and
one of the headlines on the slug for this episode,
the plan for that Saturday Night's main event is to
be John Cena's last match, So if they are moving
(10:29):
the show to December twenty seventh, it would go head
to head again with another aw pay review World's End,
and that would be purposeful because who is not going
to tune in for John Cena's final appearance? You know,
if they don't move Saturday's main event because there is
a football game on Peacock that night, it is a
possibility the WE offers a pl as John Cena's final appearance,
(10:51):
and there's been talk about a plee titled Ruthless Aggression.
Maybe that would be his last appearance. But it's very
interesting thing to see how this is playing now. I mean,
there was a comment from Dave Meltzer saying one thing
this shows, for whatever reason, is that Nick con and
Paul Avec Power duo care a lot more about ADW
than Vince McMahon did. And Vince wanted the thing out
(11:12):
of business pretty badly from the start. So if Vince
McMahon wanted them out and he wasn't counterprogramming thinking, think
how much these guys are trying their best to put
them out of business, and then you have to ask
yourself why that would be the case. Competition is good.
The other report from Dave Meltzer claims that WWE because
TNA is currently looking for a new deal, a distribution
(11:34):
deal with a network, and conversations have been had that
it could be a move to CW, it could be
a move to A and E, It could be a
couple of different options. But one of the biggest hints
that we're getting is that they're talking about moving them
head to head on Wednesday nights. According to the Wrestling
Deserver newsletter, that was the conversation is going head to
(11:55):
head TNA versus AW and WWE having a vested interest
in TNA becoming the number two promotion in the world. Now,
if you think about it, that would be a situation
with WWE. Even though they would be the number two company,
WWE still has a lot of say a lot of
control over what they do because of that working relationship
(12:16):
that they have. The media rights deal the TNA is
trying to work on could be huge, and if it is,
you have to know that whoever buys into that, whether
it's a CW, whether it's another network, they're going to
invest heavily into the product. WWE, because of their working relationship,
(12:36):
is also going to invest heavily into that product. So
when you look at it, and one of the conversations
that Dave Meltzer had was when you look at the
deal with TNA, it's very similar with WWE had offered
the European promotions when they were starting WWE NXTUK, like WXWATT,
rev Pro Progress years ago, they offered to allow European
(12:57):
talent on the shows they did the deal. Basically, what
it was is that every company at that time except
for RevPro, made a deal that they would supply tapes
of their shows for the WW network, and there was
a timeframe where WWE had the option to purchase their promotion.
This is where Evolve ended up getting swallowed up and whatnot.
(13:17):
And if this is similar, it would imply and this
what Melter is implying that WB may even have a
financial reason for this because they could acquire TNA, and
if TNA becomes the number two brand they acquire TNA,
w could put all their resources behind TNA's product to
help further put AW down the line. The other conversation
(13:38):
this week is about the former UFC owner Lorenzo Fortida.
He is possibly looking at purchasing TNA. There was a
conversation that that is something he's interested in. Talk about
a successful guy, I mean, when you look at UFC
doesn't get much bigger than that. But also there is
clearly a working relationship UFC and with him, and if
(13:58):
this happens again, it really allows w BEE to have
an avenue to really be influential because there would be
a great working relationship there if that were to come
to fruition. Meltzer himself does not expect it WWE are
going to acquire TNA. He doesn't think it's going to
make business sense. But I very differently. I feel very
(14:21):
differently about that. The estimated value of TNA right now
is eight to ten million dollars based on the report
that I saw, If that's accurate, just video and DVD
release sales or whatever you want to call it these day,
pls or streaming rights or all that their video library
is worth probably eight to ten million dollars. The majority
(14:42):
of their value is in the library. Think about who
all the superstars are who've gone through TNA. It would
be very easy to do an AJ Styles retrospective and
various other people La Knight and whatnot. So I Drew
McIntyre and it's like a who's who of people who
are either in WWE or I have been recently, so
(15:02):
definitely not something I would turn the page on something I don't.
We're gonna have to monitor, keep our eyes on, but
very very interesting stuff. Now back to aew forbidden door
right around the corner, and we've got some really cool things. Look,
I'm just gonna go over to things that I'm really into.
First off, I'm loving that Cope and Christian are reuniting
to take on FTR. I think that's a fantastic angle
(15:23):
so long as it's legit. I don't want to see
one of these things where Christian turns and ends up
taking out Cope again and it leads to some other
bunch of nonsense. But and I apologize, they're going to
they're gonna pair up and they're gonna take on Nick
Wayne and gosh, I'm forgetting it, Kip Sabian. That's gonna
(15:44):
be their first opportunity. Obviously, there's a plan that they
will eventually go on to face FTR, and I would
imagine there's actually a good possibility they go on to
face the Hurt Syndicate. What an amazing story that would
be for them to come back and win Tag Team
Gold together one more time. I think that would be wonderful.
If you're watching Dynamite this week, Christian Cage saved Cope
(16:06):
when he was being attacked by FTR and Stokely Hathaway.
When FTR attacked Cope invalidated their restraining order, which was
a ridiculous storyline to begin with, so now it's all
good to go. Christian actually presented Spike to Cope and
turned his back on it, and Cope ended up giving
him a hug. I thought it was interesting. I was
on a bust in Open radio and they were acting
(16:27):
like there wasn't a very big pop for that, But
when you watch that back on YouTube, there's a heck
of a pop for the reunion of Cope and Christian,
So keeping our eyes on that, I think that's gonna
be fantastic. One of the matches I'm really really looking
forward to, though, the return of will Osprey, and it's
been made official before the end of the show. It's
confirmed that will Osprey, Darby Allen, Kenny Omega, Coda Ibushi,
(16:50):
and the soon retiring Hiroshi tana Hashi from New Japan
Pro Wrestling are going to be facing the Death Rids,
John Moxley, Claudia Casiannoli, Gabe KiB and the Young Bucks.
It's going to be an incredible ten man tag team
cage match. It should be just that match by itself,
just when you look at the talent involved, that could
(17:11):
be one of the best matches on the entire card.
So I'm looking forward to seeing that. I apologize they
haven't announced that it's a cage match yet. It's not
a conventional one. It's a lights out steel cage, which,
what the heck does that even mean? Drives me crazy?
You know why they got to put new lines and
new taglines on everything. I just don't know the other match.
(17:32):
I'm keeping my eye on MJF being goaded into cashing
in his Casino Gauntlet win for the World Championship, much
like Athena is cashing hers in to FaceTime with Tony Storm.
Now MJF got goaded by Adam Page into cashing his in,
so that match is official. Both of those matches are
going to be money. It makes it so the London
O two Arena show is going to be off the
(17:53):
chain stack. It should be a phenomenal show. And that's
without the fact we've got another major match on a
card score of strict and taking a shot at Kazucha
Okada's aw unified Championship, and there's many more that I'm
sure it'll be added between now and then. What an
awesome pay per view its shade is shaping up to be.
I'm looking forward to it significantly, and I think they
are like always, let's be honest, their company is really
(18:16):
good at putting on some of these phenomenal shows. It's
the storylines they're not always great at. So I'll have
to wait and see how the show shakes up. But
right now it looks amazing on paper. And the last
thing I want to get to tonight, aw's Jeff Jarrett
discussing his mixed emotions appearing at Hulk Hogan's funeral. I
know we've had a lot of hul cogin conversation over
the last several weeks since his passing. This actually hit
me a little bit, he said. He I'll read the
(18:37):
quote because it was on his My World podcast. He said,
I just have mixed emotions because it was very a
private gathering and everything that went with it. He says,
it's a public knowledge that Vince spoke and Triple H
spoke when the pastor got up at the end, and
he in a way gave his message that I guess
you could say would be a typical of a funeral,
but his ability to weave in and out of it
(18:57):
Hulk's testimony over the last two or three years, to
hear him articulate, specifically Hulk's last two years and his
testimony and how Hulk was viewing the world and what
he was doing and all that, that is something I
wish the whole world could have heard, because it's not
coming from a wrestling announcer or a podcast or an
interviewer promo or promoting an event. His speech was obviously
(19:18):
in private invitation only. It was not done for clicks.
He was pouring his heart out for the man he knew,
and that was very very special. The sermon touched Jeff Jarrett.
He said he leaned over to Karen, his wife, Karen Jarrett,
and I said, my god, I'm so glad I'm here
to hear that. And he just wishes the world could
have heard that. And it makes you wonder, like, obviously
(19:39):
I don't know what was said, but it sounds like
it was very powerful whatever it was. And if that's
the case, and if there's some indication to Hulk Cogan
was finding a way to be a better version of
himself in his last several years. That's wonderful. I think
that's what a lot of people wanted to hear from
the beginning. Sounds like genuine remorse. I hope that's what
it was. I wasn't there. I can't comment. I would
love for more talent and who were at the funeral
(20:01):
to speak about that. I know Kevin Nash was talking
about how it wasn't real to him until he got
there and got the card with Hogan's face on it,
and it really hit him. So this is an interesting
comment from Jeff Jarrett, one that I think is welcome
and really shed some light on who Hul Cogan really
was in the latter stages of his life. That's all
the time we have for this episode. Check back with
(20:22):
us next episode, where we run down the latest wrestling
news and rumors. Special thanks to always go out to
suno Ai for generating the music and sound effects I
use in the show. Today's podcast spartsan in part by
Beesel Games. Bring a new friend to family game Night.
It's easy with sketchy people. Showcase your artistic side in
this game from Diesel 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, your
(20:44):
university life, or maybe it just needs some formal training
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As FRO Life, Educational planning is for today, for tomorrow,
and for life with FRO Life. I'm Fred Frolick, better
known as Doctor Froh. Want to thank you for taking
some time with us tonight. Until next episode, take care
of body, have a great night.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I SA
What what, What's anything?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
They got the answers.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I changed the question.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Who who am you to to to Dolly ol Dan
because this guy is a serious profession savage.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
That's the Mackatong, Wear it, Buddy, w W.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Sand fort.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Tix me up.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I will never retire. Promotional consideration paidful by the following.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Hey, Yo, for 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 while you're
at it. If you are sick and tired of drop
in sixty to one hundred dollars for the latest and
greatest wrestling video game, stop immediately go to Wrestler Unstoppable,
available exclusively through Facebook. Create a wrestler on contracts, get
into storylines, headline pals, even build your own corporation from
(02:04):
the ground up. All included in Wrestler Unstoppable, available now
to all Facebook users, totally free. If you want to
become a member of the for Wrestling Podcast family, want
your name in the shout out I'm a good buddy
John down in Texas, then check out our Patreon page
at patreon dot com. Slash for Wrestling Podcast sign up today,
there is some Patreon member exclusive content coming from John
and myself. We're putting that together shortly. But don't forget
(02:26):
we have loyalty rewards. If you were a fifteen dollars
a month contributor, you get to co host a show
with myself seven fifty a month, we will put you
into a drawing to also co host a show with me. Hello, everybody,
welcome to this show. Welcome to this episode, I should
say of the for Wrestling podcast. If you've got questions, comments,
something you want us to touch on in the future episode,
give us a call, Give drop us a line for
(02:47):
Wrestling sound offline two six seven six four two eleven sixty,
and we will get to those questions, comments, and anything
you wants to talk about in a future episode. Kicking
off tonight, we're going to get to some updates on
some injuries, some contract status, get into some of the
new rumors for the week, and we will go from there.
We're going to start with liv Morgan, one of the
big names that everybody is anticipating coming back. A lot
(03:07):
of conjecture about what her role will be when she
comes back. Will she be faced, will she be here,
will she rejoin Judgment Date, break away from Judgment Day.
Where will she fall when the chips are down and
she comes back healthy? And it sounds like with the
latest update on her health, she did sustain a separated shoulder.
That's what led to Roxane Perez popping in and taking
(03:29):
her place, And according to PWI Elite WW officials are
hoping that she will be able to return at the
start of twenty twenty six, assuming everything else stays on schedule,
no setbacks, nothing major. There's a good chance that she
would be available for the Royal Rumble. That would be
the perfect place to bring her back. I know we
had her and her at number thirty a couple years back.
(03:52):
I don't know that I do thirty. Maybe she's the
Iron Woman this year. Put her in early and let
her go over an hour. Maybe even with rox Sane
Perez being the woman who currently holds the record for
the ladies in the Rumble, Maybe have the two of
them being the Iron Women and spend a whole lot
of time in the ring together. Other updates there apparently,
when we talk about injuries, can't miss the situation with
(04:13):
Naomi going on. Still no word on what the exact
issue is her being pulled up from championship defenses on Raw,
potentially in France. But what we do know is whatever
it is. As a matter of fact, Natty was on
Busted Open Radio talking about how she thinks this must
be very serious for her to be gone, to miss
those bookings and whatnot. It's got to be a big deal.
And apparently that situation has expedited some plans that they
(04:37):
had long term for Oscar. Oscar was supposed to have
a slow burn heel turn and become a heel going
against EO Sky. With the injury to one of their
top performers, they had to expedite those plans. They needed
another major heel on the roster, and that looks like
now it's going to end up being Oscar. If you
(04:58):
were watching Raw, you saw the whole push and shove
thing after the Kabuki Warriors cost Eo her match against
roxanm Perez. According PWI Insider Elite again, they believe that
the plan for Oscar to turn heel was in the
works for quite some time. It was supposed to take
much longer, and apparently now they are speeding up that process,
(05:20):
which is another indicator that this injury to nail me
maybe a little bit longer term than we really thought
it would be. Let's talk some contracts. Coda Ibushi came
to AW two years ago. Majority of his career in
Japan mostly New Japan Pro Wrestling, some Noah stuff, some
other company, DDT Pro and things of that nature, but
came to AW two years ago. Has been used very sporadically.
(05:42):
The guy has had a lot of issues with injuries
and setbacks and whatnot, and at this point is really
starting to come back and get this footing again. And
it has been announced that he did sign a two
year extension with AW, so at this point he is
going to be wrestling at least two more years with AW.
(06:02):
He has a quote here he says, I signed a
two year reassignment. I still want to live, but I
want to live. I can't imagine being in pro wrestling
until him forty five. What more do you want? I
don't know. I have a dream to live and live
this kind of pro wrestling back in the day when
I was little, just not just not just good. Ninety
nine percent hell, you don't want to get there? How tough?
At ninety nine percent, Hell is far away above the
(06:24):
imagination from training and daily living. Just don't look down
up to the top. Still not enough, not like this
from now on. So and keeping in mind that the
translation because he does have a little bit of difficulty
with his English, It's real clear Abushi has a lot
left in the business that he wants to accomplish. Former
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion has been used almost in a
(06:44):
comedic role since coming to AW, but it sounds like
he wants to get a lot more serious. He's recently
reunited with Kenny Omega, and I'm hoping that he stays
healthy and is able to contribute a high level now.
On the same vine, AW contract status of Hook has
been a topic of conversation. He has been injured for
quite some time now, and it sounds as though Hook
has signed a long term contract multi year deal sometime
(07:08):
in twenty twenty four through his agent, Barry Bloom. And
apparently we don't know the contract length, the terms, or
anything like that, but we know that he is signed
for the foreseeable future. Despite the fact that the last
time we saw him compete in an actual match was
April ninth on an edition of Dynamite. We know there
was some issues potentially concussion. Came back shortly earlier in
(07:29):
the year, but now it sounds as though he's getting
very close to a full time return, which is going
to be wonderful. Now, on the topic of contracts, not
necessarily already signed, but new signees, if you're paying attention
to AAW collision this week, you'll notice a new face
is in AEW, but it's an old face if you're
a diehard wrestling fan. Former TNA World Tag Team Champion
(07:49):
Ace Austin is now elite. He had a match against Ricochet.
At the end of the match, Tony Kahan is going
to come out and ask him if he wants to
be all Elite and he's going to accept. And now
Ace Austin is the newest member of the AW roster.
So let's get to some of the bigger stuff of
the week. A lot of conversations going on about AW
and WWE and how things are going to play out
(08:11):
in the next several months, regarding programming, counterprogramming, what's going
to be done, who's going to be used. We have
heard that there is a phantom pay per viewr Phantom
pl that is coming on September twentieth, purposely designed to
go head to head with All Out. So when they
bring up All Out overseas going back to England and
(08:34):
you see WWE planning to put a show out there,
the rumor is is the AW is planning to potentially
move the start time of their show. Now, look, I
get it, you don't want to go head to head
with w because they're the biggest dog on the planet
right now. But at some point you can't keep moving
your shows because of wbe trying to counterprogram you or
you look second rate. And here's the it goes beyond
(08:58):
just the counter programming. First off, we know that All
Out next month is going to be head to head
with what is sounding like a John scenea versus Brock
lesnar match. Rumor has it it might be bad Blood.
They may be bringing that back, that concept. This is
not the first time we've seen CNN Brock. Maybe not
many people who tune in, But if twenty thousand, it
was an estimate, If twenty thousand buys shift over to
(09:22):
WWE's product, that's about six hundred thousand dollars in lost
revenue to AW. Now, Dave Meltzer on a Wrestling Observer,
he was talking about how that's not such a big deal.
They have one hundred and eighty million a year contract
in the media rights deal. I get it, but no
company wants to drop six hundred thousand dollars from one
of their biggest shows of the year. And this is deliberate,
This is on purpose, This is meant to hurt their
(09:44):
negotiation rights in the future. WWE is not going anywhere.
TKO is not going anywhere. So if they continue to
counter program aew, sponsors and advertisers and the most importantly
networks are gonna look at this situation to be very
concerned about what they're going up against. Is this company
going to continue to do what they have to do
(10:04):
to slowly but surely take away their audience, offering more
attractive options elsewhere. The other conversation is that WWE is
talking about moving Saturday Night's main event from December thirteenth
to December twenty seventh. Now, the relevance of that and
one of the headlines on the slug for this episode,
the plan for that Saturday Night's main event is to
be John Cena's last match, So if they are moving
(10:29):
the show to December twenty seventh, it would go head
to head again with another aw pay review World's End,
and that would be purposeful because who is not going
to tune in for John Cena's final appearance? You know,
if they don't move Saturday's main event because there is
a football game on Peacock that night, it is a
possibility the WE offers a pl as John Cena's final appearance,
(10:51):
and there's been talk about a plee titled Ruthless Aggression.
Maybe that would be his last appearance. But it's very
interesting thing to see how this is playing now. I mean,
there was a comment from Dave Meltzer saying one thing
this shows, for whatever reason, is that Nick con and
Paul Avec Power duo care a lot more about ADW
than Vince McMahon did. And Vince wanted the thing out
(11:12):
of business pretty badly from the start. So if Vince
McMahon wanted them out and he wasn't counterprogramming thinking, think
how much these guys are trying their best to put
them out of business, and then you have to ask
yourself why that would be the case. Competition is good.
The other report from Dave Meltzer claims that WWE because
TNA is currently looking for a new deal, a distribution
(11:34):
deal with a network, and conversations have been had that
it could be a move to CW, it could be
a move to A and E, It could be a
couple of different options. But one of the biggest hints
that we're getting is that they're talking about moving them
head to head on Wednesday nights. According to the Wrestling
Deserver newsletter, that was the conversation is going head to
(11:55):
head TNA versus AW and WWE having a vested interest
in TNA becoming the number two promotion in the world. Now,
if you think about it, that would be a situation
with WWE. Even though they would be the number two company,
WWE still has a lot of say a lot of
control over what they do because of that working relationship
(12:16):
that they have. The media rights deal the TNA is
trying to work on could be huge, and if it is,
you have to know that whoever buys into that, whether
it's a CW, whether it's another network, they're going to
invest heavily into the product. WWE, because of their working relationship,
(12:36):
is also going to invest heavily into that product. So
when you look at it, and one of the conversations
that Dave Meltzer had was when you look at the
deal with TNA, it's very similar with WWE had offered
the European promotions when they were starting WWE NXTUK, like WXWATT,
rev Pro Progress years ago, they offered to allow European
(12:57):
talent on the shows they did the deal. Basically, what
it was is that every company at that time except
for RevPro, made a deal that they would supply tapes
of their shows for the WW network, and there was
a timeframe where WWE had the option to purchase their promotion.
This is where Evolve ended up getting swallowed up and whatnot.
(13:17):
And if this is similar, it would imply and this
what Melter is implying that WB may even have a
financial reason for this because they could acquire TNA, and
if TNA becomes the number two brand they acquire TNA,
w could put all their resources behind TNA's product to
help further put AW down the line. The other conversation
(13:38):
this week is about the former UFC owner Lorenzo Fortida.
He is possibly looking at purchasing TNA. There was a
conversation that that is something he's interested in. Talk about
a successful guy, I mean, when you look at UFC
doesn't get much bigger than that. But also there is
clearly a working relationship UFC and with him, and if
(13:58):
this happens again, it really allows w BEE to have
an avenue to really be influential because there would be
a great working relationship there if that were to come
to fruition. Meltzer himself does not expect it WWE are
going to acquire TNA. He doesn't think it's going to
make business sense. But I very differently. I feel very
(14:21):
differently about that. The estimated value of TNA right now
is eight to ten million dollars based on the report
that I saw, If that's accurate, just video and DVD
release sales or whatever you want to call it these day,
pls or streaming rights or all that their video library
is worth probably eight to ten million dollars. The majority
(14:42):
of their value is in the library. Think about who
all the superstars are who've gone through TNA. It would
be very easy to do an AJ Styles retrospective and
various other people La Knight and whatnot. So I Drew
McIntyre and it's like a who's who of people who
are either in WWE or I have been recently, so
(15:02):
definitely not something I would turn the page on something I don't.
We're gonna have to monitor, keep our eyes on, but
very very interesting stuff. Now back to aew forbidden door
right around the corner, and we've got some really cool things. Look,
I'm just gonna go over to things that I'm really into.
First off, I'm loving that Cope and Christian are reuniting
to take on FTR. I think that's a fantastic angle
(15:23):
so long as it's legit. I don't want to see
one of these things where Christian turns and ends up
taking out Cope again and it leads to some other
bunch of nonsense. But and I apologize, they're going to
they're gonna pair up and they're gonna take on Nick
Wayne and gosh, I'm forgetting it, Kip Sabian. That's gonna
(15:44):
be their first opportunity. Obviously, there's a plan that they
will eventually go on to face FTR, and I would
imagine there's actually a good possibility they go on to
face the Hurt Syndicate. What an amazing story that would
be for them to come back and win Tag Team
Gold together one more time. I think that would be wonderful.
If you're watching Dynamite this week, Christian Cage saved Cope
(16:06):
when he was being attacked by FTR and Stokely Hathaway.
When FTR attacked Cope invalidated their restraining order, which was
a ridiculous storyline to begin with, so now it's all
good to go. Christian actually presented Spike to Cope and
turned his back on it, and Cope ended up giving
him a hug. I thought it was interesting. I was
on a bust in Open radio and they were acting
(16:27):
like there wasn't a very big pop for that, But
when you watch that back on YouTube, there's a heck
of a pop for the reunion of Cope and Christian,
So keeping our eyes on that, I think that's gonna
be fantastic. One of the matches I'm really really looking
forward to, though, the return of will Osprey, and it's
been made official before the end of the show. It's
confirmed that will Osprey, Darby Allen, Kenny Omega, Coda Ibushi,
(16:50):
and the soon retiring Hiroshi tana Hashi from New Japan
Pro Wrestling are going to be facing the Death Rids,
John Moxley, Claudia Casiannoli, Gabe KiB and the Young Bucks.
It's going to be an incredible ten man tag team
cage match. It should be just that match by itself,
just when you look at the talent involved, that could
(17:11):
be one of the best matches on the entire card.
So I'm looking forward to seeing that. I apologize they
haven't announced that it's a cage match yet. It's not
a conventional one. It's a lights out steel cage, which,
what the heck does that even mean? Drives me crazy?
You know why they got to put new lines and
new taglines on everything. I just don't know the other match.
(17:32):
I'm keeping my eye on MJF being goaded into cashing
in his Casino Gauntlet win for the World Championship, much
like Athena is cashing hers in to FaceTime with Tony Storm.
Now MJF got goaded by Adam Page into cashing his in,
so that match is official. Both of those matches are
going to be money. It makes it so the London
O two Arena show is going to be off the
(17:53):
chain stack. It should be a phenomenal show. And that's
without the fact we've got another major match on a
card score of strict and taking a shot at Kazucha
Okada's aw unified Championship, and there's many more that I'm
sure it'll be added between now and then. What an
awesome pay per view its shade is shaping up to be.
I'm looking forward to it significantly, and I think they
are like always, let's be honest, their company is really
(18:16):
good at putting on some of these phenomenal shows. It's
the storylines they're not always great at. So I'll have
to wait and see how the show shakes up. But
right now it looks amazing on paper. And the last
thing I want to get to tonight, aw's Jeff Jarrett
discussing his mixed emotions appearing at Hulk Hogan's funeral. I
know we've had a lot of hul cogin conversation over
the last several weeks since his passing. This actually hit
me a little bit, he said. He I'll read the
(18:37):
quote because it was on his My World podcast. He said,
I just have mixed emotions because it was very a
private gathering and everything that went with it. He says,
it's a public knowledge that Vince spoke and Triple H
spoke when the pastor got up at the end, and
he in a way gave his message that I guess
you could say would be a typical of a funeral,
but his ability to weave in and out of it
(18:57):
Hulk's testimony over the last two or three years, to
hear him articulate, specifically Hulk's last two years and his
testimony and how Hulk was viewing the world and what
he was doing and all that, that is something I
wish the whole world could have heard, because it's not
coming from a wrestling announcer or a podcast or an
interviewer promo or promoting an event. His speech was obviously
(19:18):
in private invitation only. It was not done for clicks.
He was pouring his heart out for the man he knew,
and that was very very special. The sermon touched Jeff Jarrett.
He said he leaned over to Karen, his wife, Karen Jarrett,
and I said, my god, I'm so glad I'm here
to hear that. And he just wishes the world could
have heard that. And it makes you wonder, like, obviously
(19:39):
I don't know what was said, but it sounds like
it was very powerful whatever it was. And if that's
the case, and if there's some indication to Hulk Cogan
was finding a way to be a better version of
himself in his last several years. That's wonderful. I think
that's what a lot of people wanted to hear from
the beginning. Sounds like genuine remorse. I hope that's what
it was. I wasn't there. I can't comment. I would
love for more talent and who were at the funeral
(20:01):
to speak about that. I know Kevin Nash was talking
about how it wasn't real to him until he got
there and got the card with Hogan's face on it,
and it really hit him. So this is an interesting
comment from Jeff Jarrett, one that I think is welcome
and really shed some light on who Hul Cogan really
was in the latter stages of his life. That's all
the time we have for this episode. Check back with
(20:22):
us next episode, where we run down the latest wrestling
news and rumors. Special thanks to always go out to
suno Ai for generating the music and sound effects I
use in the show. Today's podcast spartsan in part by
Beesel Games. Bring a new friend to family game Night.
It's easy with sketchy people. Showcase your artistic side in
this game from Diesel 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, your
(20:44):
university life, or maybe it just needs some formal training
for your next crew decision, go to our website at
frolife Planning dot com for all your higher education needs.
As FRO Life, Educational planning is for today, for tomorrow,
and for life with FRO Life. I'm Fred Frolick, better
known as Doctor Froh. Want to thank you for taking
some time with us tonight. Until next episode, take care
of body, have a great night.
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