• 8 months ago
How would you book AJ's final match? Let us know in the comments!
Predicting WWE WrestleMania 41 Way Too Far In Advance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbC9GGy-RI8
More wrestling news on https://wrestletalk.com/
0:00 - Coming up...
0:18 - Bloodline: Civil War
3:46 - AJ Styles Leaving WWE
5:49 - Shocking WWE Releases
8:00 - WWE Draft Details
9:16 - Wyatt Family Returning?
AJ Styles Leaving WWE, Shocking WWE Release, Wyatt Family Return? | WrestleTalk
#AJStyles #WWE #WyattFamily

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Sources used for research:
https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/1464155-report-details-on-tama-tonga-joining-wwe-update-on-jacob-fatu-and-hikuleo
https://www.cagesideseats.com/2024/4/13/24129380/bloodline-drama-jey-uso-battles-solo-sikoa-smackdown
https://wrestletalk.com/news/tama-tonga-wwe-debut-backstage-reaction/
https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1561575/wwe-legend-rikishi-shares-odd-reaction-son-jimmy-uso-destroyed-smackdown/
https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2024/4/14/24130033/aj-styles-la-knight-cody-rhodes-backlash-retirement
https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/1464070-report-sue-aitchison-has-been-let-go-by-wwe
https://wrestletalk.com/news/former-wwe-star-appearance-cancelled-contract-erick-rowan/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1c4b2xx/pwinsider_update_on_erick_rowans_wwe_return/
​​https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/1464242-report-update-on-which-nxt-stars-could-be-part-of-2024-wwe-draft

Category

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Sports
Transcript
00:00 AJ Styles says he's set to leave WWE!
00:03 WWE release several more names!
00:06 The Wyatt Family returning!
00:07 And more.
00:08 I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:18 On Tuesday 9th April, just two days after the events of WrestleMania 40, Luke, Pete
00:23 and I recorded a video predicting the match cards of WrestleMania 41.
00:29 Over the event a year away, we listed such mouthwatering clashes as Jade Cargill vs Bianca
00:34 Belair, The Rock vs Roman Reigns, and Logan Paul and KSI vs LA Knight and Simon Miller
00:40 with special guest referee Mr Beast.
00:42 And this…
00:43 Well, it seemed like the Bloodline were missing from night one, didn't it?
00:48 Like any good faction, they've splintered.
00:51 And the opening match of night two, in a first Blood match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships,
01:00 is the Tag Team Champions of New Blood, Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga against the OG Bloodline,
01:09 Solo Sakura and Jimmy Uso.
01:16 But four days later on the Friday 12th episode of SmackDown, I kind of got Bloodline's
01:21 Civil War right, as Solo Sakura debuted Tama Tonga where they both kicked Jimmy Uso out
01:26 of the faction.
01:27 Where Aikishi, Jimmy's own father, reacted by tweeting "BELIEVE THAT!
01:32 BLOOD DROP EMOJI!
01:33 FINGER ACKNOWLEDGING EMOJI!
01:35 TONGA FLAG EMOJI!
01:36 SAMOAN FLAG EMOJI!"
01:38 Dude, he's like your son.
01:41 Tonga, a founding member of the Bullet Club faction, was first approached to join WWE
01:45 eight years ago in 2016.
01:47 At the same time, they signed AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura and the Good Brothers away from New
01:52 Japan.
01:53 Tonga chose to stay in Japan to work with his family, teaming with his brothers Tangeloa
01:58 and Hikaleo.
01:59 Apparently WWE tried to sign him and Hikaleo again in 2023, but that was stopped due to
02:04 the company's hiring freeze when it was merging with the UFC.
02:08 On the 4th January this year, just after winning the Never Openweight Championship at WrestleKingdom,
02:13 Tonga announced he would be leaving New Japan when his contract expired.
02:17 After 14 years with the promotion, he wrestled his final match for New Japan on February
02:22 24th.
02:23 But despite AEW signing all of New Japan's other main stars, Fightful reports they never
02:28 made a play for him because his WWE signing seemed like an inevitability.
02:34 As for Tonga's actual SmackDown debut, Fightful adds WWE were happy with the reaction he received
02:39 considering his lack of exposure in the United States.
02:43 Unlike other recent surprise debuts, Tonga wasn't hidden away backstage from other
02:47 talent - like when CM Punk's WWE return legit pissed off Drew McIntyre.
02:51 And he's not the only member of New Blood apparently coming on board.
02:56 The former MLW World Heavyweight Champion and legitimate cousin of The Usos, so an Usi
03:02 Us, Jacob Fatu, has recently signed with WWE.
03:07 An idea has been pitched for Fatu and Tonga to form a tag team within the Bloodline, just
03:11 like their real-life fathers Tama and Haku respectively had teamed together as the Islanders
03:16 back in the 1980s.
03:18 Initially Tonga will be paired with Sokoa to get him over to a new audience.
03:22 It feels like we're heading towards Bloodline Civil War, especially with what went down
03:27 after the SmackDown broadcast ended.
03:30 Following Solo kicking Jimmy out earlier in the night, the show's dark match main
03:34 event saucer Koa take on his older brother Jey Uso.
03:37 How would you book a Bloodline Civil War feud?
03:40 Let me know in the comments where I'll be replying to people FROM OUTTA SAY THE FIRST
03:43 BLOOD MATCH OF WRESTLEMANIA 41.
03:46 Also on the Friday 12th episode of SmackDown, AJ Styles beat Kevin Owens and Rey Mysterio
03:50 with an awesome Avalanche Styles clash on Rey onto Owens.
03:54 That means he'll face LA Knight on this coming Friday's show to determine the No.
03:58 1 contender for Cody Rhodes' undisputed WWE Championship at Backlash.
04:04 It's very likely AJ will get his win back overnight, to make a better heel Styles vs
04:09 babyface Cody dynamic for the PLE.
04:12 But with AJ getting a high profile main event spot, comments he made in a recent interview
04:16 have resurfaced, where he flat earth out said he don't want none.
04:21 More professional wrestling.
04:23 Speaking to the Ringer ahead of WrestleMania weekend, AJ said "I'm done.
04:27 I'm going to retire.
04:28 I'm getting to that point where I am worried about embarrassing myself.
04:32 My brain says we can do this.
04:33 My body is like, 'You're stupid.
04:35 We cannot do this.
04:36 We're hurting every day when we roll out of bed.'
04:39 At some point, this has to come to an end.
04:41 I'm getting close to the end.
04:43 I want to have that story and match to go with it before I leave WWE."
04:49 AJ made his pro wrestling debut in 1998, where he's wrestled for Ring of Honor, TNA, New
04:55 Japan, even WCW.
04:58 He signed with WWE in 2016 in that same New Japan call-up class they tried to get Tonga
05:03 in on too, where he would go on to get arguably the greatest Royal Rumble debut of all time
05:07 - even if the cameras missed it - gave John Cena one of the best matches of his career
05:11 the year after, and held the WWE title for over a year.
05:15 He was supposed to sign with AEW as the surprise debut for their first episode of Dynamite
05:20 in October 2019, but WWE reportedly offered him a lucrative $3 million a year sum.
05:27 He agreed a two year extension in 2022, which is thought to be up to this year, although
05:34 that could've been extended further because of time missed due to his ankle injury.
05:38 AJ has been speaking about retiring after his current contract expires because he wants
05:43 to spend more time with his family.
05:45 How would you book his final match?
05:47 Let me know in the comments.
05:49 Sadly, not everyone can decide when they're going to end their time at WWE.
05:54 Sometimes WWE decides it for you.
05:56 Following two corporate office releases last week - WWE's EVP of Talent Dan Ventrell
06:01 and Senior Vice President of Athlete ID and Development Trent Wilfinger - two more backstage
06:07 names have been let go.
06:09 PWInsider is reporting the 2019 Warrior Award recipient Sue Atchison was released from her
06:14 job last Friday.
06:16 While both Ventrell and Wilfinger had only been there for the past few years, Atchison
06:20 had been a WWE employee for over 38, first starting in 1986.
06:28 She is considered responsible for WWE's long-running relationship with the Make-A-Wish Foundation,
06:33 who honoured her twice in 2006 and 2016, and was heavily involved in the company's community
06:38 outreach programs.
06:40 PWInsider notes that while her responsibilities have been lessened as of late, she was considered
06:44 by many to be a WWE mainstay.
06:48 There was shock among longtime former employees, and was yet another sign of the end of the
06:53 old WWE era.
06:56 Because apparently we're in the Paul Levesque era now.
06:58 I don't know if they've told you that yet.
07:01 PWInsider also writes that former NXT UK wrestler and assistant general manager there Sid Scarla
07:06 is also gone from the company after six years.
07:09 They've been working as a producer and coach behind the scenes.
07:12 As for Ventrell, the talent relations name released last week, Fightful is reporting
07:17 a potential reason he was let go.
07:19 AJ isn't the only big WWE name with a contract expiring this year.
07:24 Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre and even the longest running female wrestler
07:30 WWE have Natalya have been constantly in the news because they have yet to re-sign too.
07:37 Apparently this isn't because TKO has a new way of doing contracts.
07:40 Fightful writes it's because talent didn't like Ventrell, the guy who's meant to be
07:44 doing them.
07:45 Fightful claims talent saw him as a big reason why so many contracts almost expired with
07:50 little to no communication about if or when a new deal would be offered to them.
07:56 It was agreed by many that he wasn't a good fit for the wrestling business.
08:01 All those expiring WWE contracts could make for a pretty exciting draft, though, with
08:05 AEW entering as a shoot fourth brand to sign talent.
08:08 The 2024 draft is set to start on the 26th April SmackDown and finish on the April 29th
08:14 Raw.
08:15 Fightful reports this is time to coincide with the NFL draft to capitalise on Draft
08:20 Fever.
08:21 Draft Fever, title of your next indie wrestling show.
08:23 One of the aims of this year's draft is to solidify NXT as a third brand, as opposed
08:28 to just developmental.
08:29 And it's reported main roster stars will be called down, or, I guess, across, to put
08:35 this in practice.
08:36 Ivar and the Final Testament's recent appearances on TV are meant to tease this idea.
08:42 As for NXT call-ups, or call-acrosses to the main/er, adjacent roster, Shawn Michaels has
08:49 told talent he doesn't know who that will be.
08:51 Although Carmelo Hayes and current NXT Champion Ilya Dragunov are said to be a lock for either
08:56 Raw or SmackDown.
08:57 Roxanne Perez's status, despite her showing up on RAM, aka Raw After Mania, is up in the
09:03 air.
09:04 Other names discussed for call-ups are Tony D'Angelo's family and Baron Corbin, who,
09:08 in the latter, would technically be a cool rebound.
09:11 But Tony D'Angelo might not have the only family in WWE soon.
09:16 Over the past week, WWE have been playing weird graphics on TV and cryptic music at
09:21 live events - just how they did ahead of Bray Wyatt's 2022 return with the White Rabbit
09:27 Viral Mystery.
09:28 This is thought to be for the WWE return of Bray's real-life brother Bo Dallas as the
09:33 Uncle Howdy character, which was teased at the end of Peacock's recent Bray Wyatt documentary.
09:38 The most recent TV tease came on Friday's SmackDown, where a graphic read 'You forgot
09:44 about us' - implying this is about more than just one person.
09:47 And going by Erick Rowan's Google Calendar, it might involve him.
09:52 East Coast Pro Wrestling have announced that Rowan, an original Wyatt Family member, has
09:56 had to cancel his appearance on the 20th April.
10:00 We have just received word this evening from Erick Rowan that, unfortunately, he will not
10:04 be able to make his scheduled appearance next week at Coal Town Carnage.
10:09 Erick stated that new contractual obligations are preventing him from making several dates,
10:14 including ours.
10:16 PWInsiderElite have since added Rowan was spotted recently in Pittsburgh, which is where
10:21 WWE wrestlers go to get medically cleared to perform.
10:25 Perhaps a new version of the Wyatt Family could debut as part of the draft.
10:30 Go watch the WrestleTalk Podcast channel for our review of everything that happened on
10:34 SmackDown and AEW Collision over the weekend.
10:37 In the meantime, here's a clip of us predicting WrestleMania 41… way too far in advance.
11:05 Here's what's next!
11:09 (laughing)

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