Significant WWE Departure, Amazing WWE Raw, Major WWE Plans Change | WrestleTalk - video Dailymotion

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What did you think of Raw? Let us know in the comments! Monday Night War Playlist  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLvCO_flsEnJSLgMcY4YD8ALhTh1CY4fv More wrestling news on https://wrestletalk.com/ Unlock the secrets to working in professional wrestling, sign up to https://www.wrestlingmasterclass.com/ 0:00 - Intro 0:06 - Significant WWE Talent Departure, AEW Interested? 2:08 - King & Queen of the Ring Plans Change 4:46 - WWE RAW Review Significant WWE Departure, Amazing WWE Raw, Major WWE Plans Change | WrestleTalk #WWE #Raw #WrestleTalk  Subscribe to WrestleTalk Podcasts   https://bit.ly/3pEAEIu Subscribe to partsFUNknown for lists, fantasy booking & more  https://bit.ly/32JJsCv Subscribe to NoRollsBarred  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5UQPZe-8v4_UP1uxi4Mv6A Subscribe to WrestleTalk  https://bit.ly/3gKdNK3 SUBSCRIBE TO THEM ALL! Make sure to enable ALL push notifications!  Watch the latest wrestling news: https://shorturl.at/pAIV3 Buy WrestleTalk Merch here! https://wrestleshop.com/   Follow WrestleTalk: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_WrestleTalk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WrestleTalk.Official Patreon: https://goo.gl/2yuJpo WrestleTalk Podcast on iTunes: https://goo.gl/7advjX WrestleTalk Podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3uKx6HD  About WrestleTalk: Welcome to the official WrestleTalk YouTube channel! WrestleTalk covers the sport of professional wrestling - including WWE TV shows (both WWE Raw & WWE SmackDown LIVE), PPVs (such as Royal Rumble, WrestleMania & SummerSlam), AEW All Elite Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, ROH, New Japan, and more. Subscribe and enable ALL notifications for the latest wrestling WWE reviews and wrestling news.  Sources used for research: https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1576929/backstage-details-jerry-lawler-wwe-departure-chances-joining-jr-jim-ross-aew/  https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1576865/drew-mcintyre-pulled-king-of-the-ring-spoiler-report-reveals-replacement/  https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1576915/two-tournament-matches-pulled-wwe-raw-card-will-take-place-weekend-live-event/ https://wrestletalk.com/news/wwe-star-pulled-queen-ring-tournament-asuka https://www.cagesideseats.com/2024/5/7/24150347/rumor-roundup-may-7-2024-jerry-lawler-wwe-changes-vince-tko-wrestlemania-locations-aew-injuries  Youtube Channel Comments Policy We appreciate the comments and opinions our viewers provide. Do note that all comments are subject to YouTube auto-moderation and manual moderation review. We encourage opinions and discussion, but harassment, hate speech, bullying and other abusive posts will not be tolerated. Decisions on comment removal are made by the Community Manager. Please email us at support@wrestletalk.com with any questions or concerns.

Transcript

00:00 It's safe to say that May has already brought a fair amount of change in WWE.

00:10 Firstly, WWE COO Brad Bloom resigned from his post then over Backlash Weekend, we saw

00:16 12 talent released from their contracts.

00:19 With a list including Olympic gold medalist and much hyped prospect Gable Steveson (remember

00:24 when he was drafted to Raw for no reason?) and Drew Gulak, who had recently been under

00:28 the spotlight following allegations from Ronda Rousey.

00:31 Which brings us on to now, and the shock exit of 30+ year WWE veteran Jerry "The King"

00:36 Lawler, first reported by PW Insider.

00:39 WWE reportedly opted to quietly not renew Lawler's contract as a WWE announcer, a

00:44 role that he has not fulfilled in a number of years.

00:47 Lawler's departure as an active commentator foremost won't be a surprise, given The

00:51 King's recent health complications, suffering a stroke back in February 2023 that has kept

00:56 him away from TV entirely save for an off-screen appearance in Memphis on Raw last August.

01:01 So why is this departure significant then?

01:04 Well, according to a WWE source that spoke with PW Insider, Lawler's exit is in fact

01:09 proof that the "old company" is dead.

01:12 They noted that in Vince McMahon's WWE, certain people, such as Lawler, would have

01:16 been "taken care of."

01:18 But now in the same week that one of the last remaining Vince McMahon guys, Brad Bloom,

01:22 resigned from his post, we get yet another big signifier of change in WWE.

01:27 It was then confirmed shortly after the initial report that Lawler was being moved to a Legends

01:31 deal with WWE, which could theoretically open him up for outside WWE endeavors.

01:36 So is there a chance that The King could reunite with his former long-time commentary partner

01:41 Jim Ross at the AEW commentary table?

01:44 Well, as you can probably suspect, probably not.

01:47 According to Fightful Select, Lawler to AEW is highly unlikely, with sources close to

01:51 Lawler telling Fightful that he doesn't follow AEW or any wrestling whatsoever since

01:56 suffering from his stroke.

01:58 If you'd seen any of his WWE commentary over the last decade, you'd likely think

02:01 that applied to the Fed as well, so save for big special occasions, Lawler's full-time

02:06 announcing duties are more than likely behind him.

02:08 Moving on now, last night's WWE Raw saw the much-anticipated beginnings of the King

02:13 and Queen of the Ring tournaments, and the long-awaited Gunther vs. Sheamus rematch.

02:18 While that match was enough to get excited about, and we'll get to that, there were

02:21 a number of disappointments, namely some significant changes to the originally advertised plans

02:26 for the show.

02:27 First, it was unfortunately announced that Drew McIntyre's elbow injury would see him

02:30 not be cleared to compete in his advertised match with Finn Balor, being replaced by Jey

02:35 Uso.

02:36 Yeet.

02:37 Then on the women's side, Asuka was also pulled from her advertised match with Lyra

02:40 Valkyria, being replaced by fellow damaged CTRLER Dakota Kai.

02:46 While Asuka's exact injury has not yet been reported, herself and Drew add to the already

02:51 long list of WWE injury woes, which includes, but is not limited to, Seth Rollins, Rhea

02:56 Ripley, Dominik Mysterio, CM Punk, Charlotte Flair, Jimmy Uso, the list goes on and on

03:01 and on.

03:02 As well as the injury-related changes, there were also some head-scratches on Raw, with

03:06 Kofi Kingston vs. Rey Mysterio and Shayna Baszler vs. Zelina Vega both moved from Raw

03:11 to this weekend's un-televised live events for some reason.

03:14 A change that frustratingly denied last night's Raw the fun trivia fact of being the largest

03:19 advertised match card in Raw's 31-year history with 8 total matches.

03:24 And you know me, I love some facts.

03:27 Regardless, I suppose that fact is still true, even if those advertised bouts didn't all

03:31 go ahead.

03:32 I mean, like, when has WWE ever advertised something that didn't take place?

03:36 No, no, no, no, no.

03:38 No.

03:39 That is the old WWE.

03:40 This is the new era where false advertising is a thing of the past.

03:45 I hope.

03:46 And as always, WrestleTalk would like to extend our well wishes to Drew and Asuka in

03:49 their respective recoveries.

03:51 Now, hot tag to me for Raw.

03:55 I miss Sat.

03:57 Welcome to the Monday Night War.

03:59 I could f*** Dan over.

04:01 Go f*** yourself.

04:02 What did I do?

04:04 If it wasn't you, it was you.

04:05 That's exactly what I wanted.

04:06 You didn't want to do anything to him.

04:07 Well, I didn't want to injure him.

04:08 He's watching everything.

04:09 Babyface vs. Babyface.

04:10 Oh, piss.

04:11 It's a marathon, not a sprint.

04:12 You've at least got to start running in a marathon, otherwise you're never going to

04:18 finish it.

04:19 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

04:20 There you go.

04:21 I'm going to play the one minute power card on you, mate, so you've got six minutes to

04:25 book your show.

04:26 Your roster's hurting, mate.

04:27 Well, I know, P, that's why my last two shows have sucked, because, like, everyone hurts.

04:31 Cindy Fluff.

04:32 Cindy Fluff.

04:33 I'm telling you the tricks again, bitch.

04:35 She actually is your MVP.

04:36 Yeah, you just have to know what you're doing.

04:37 Where's Bayley again?

04:38 I'm still not feeling great about this show, but I'm feeling okay in life.

04:42 This episode of Raw opens with the Judgment Day, or should I say Linkin Park, because

04:50 Damian Priest said, "The crowd loves Jey Uso, but in the end, it doesn't even matter."

04:55 The Judgment Day all apologize to one another and hug it out, and turn their attention to

04:59 the King of the Ring tournament, and Drew McIntyre being out of said tournament.

05:03 Boo.

05:04 Balor says he gets a bye, and Pearce brings out the replacement for our first match, Jey

05:08 Uso.

05:09 And if you know me, I love three things, sports teams that lose in the first round, Scott

05:13 Pilgrim, and qualifying matches.

05:16 Jey eats his way to an early advantage, but Balor cut him off with a punch to the gut

05:20 before dumping him over the announce table, which keeps them from ever saying "a mouth

05:25 full of yeet" ever again.

05:27 They battle back and forth until Drew McIntyre came through the crowd, distracting both men

05:31 but allowing Jey to hit a second ugly spear for the win.

05:35 So I guess in the end, it did matter.

05:37 I can't believe Linkin Park would lie to me.

05:41 Drew is pissed at Pearce and gets walked to his very impressive looking car, and he drives

05:45 away as the latest QR code flashed up on the screen, only for CM Punk to pull in behind

05:50 him in what appeared to be an old Firebird, telling Pearce to hit his music as he walked

05:54 to the ring, making a quip about...

05:57 Maple Leafs.

05:58 Jackie Redman offscreen.

06:01 Also this whole segment was one take, and your weekly reminder that Kevin Dunn should've

06:05 been flipping burgers for the last 40 years.

06:08 Punk calls Drew a coward, antagonizing him, trying to get Drew to turn around in Hartford

06:12 traffic and come back to catch a beating on the ice that Gordie Howe skated on for the

06:17 Wailers.

06:18 Right guy on the desk today to understand that reference.

06:20 Y'all ever heard the Wailers song?

06:22 It's a banger.

06:23 Anyway, Punk says he'll stay in the ring until Drew gets there, and proceeds to cut

06:34 a meandering promo recapping his and Drew's 2024.

06:38 He says Drew is a choke artist, and not like how he's a choke artist, and I think Pat

06:43 McAfee was the only one in the room who knew Punk was talking about AEW.

06:47 Honestly, I thought he was talking about getting choked out in UFC.

06:51 He kept going, and Drew never came out.

06:53 There was never any resolution to this, either.

06:56 Punk called Drew out, told him to come back to the building, and then he just never did,

07:00 and we never saw anything from Drew or Punk again for the rest of the show.

07:04 It just felt like it was building to something, but then just ended.

07:07 I don't know.

07:08 Not a fan.

07:09 Ricochet is asked about facing Ilja Dragunov, and gets interrupted by Braun Strowman, who

07:13 says he hates bullies, and therefore the Judgment Day, and tells Ricochet to "Go get 'em,

07:18 kiddo."

07:19 Ricochet is a 35-year-old man.

07:21 Why are you sunning him?

07:22 Natalya and Io Sky were up next, and this match kinda went hard.

07:26 Nattie hit a mean powerbomb for a nearfall, but Io reversed a sharpshooter, sending Nattie

07:30 into the buckles, and followed up with her running knees, and a perfect moonsault for

07:34 the win.

07:35 Really good match, and afterwards Dakota Kai said she'd replaced Asuka in the tournament,

07:39 and when they're done winning Queen of the Ring, they're coming for Becky.

07:42 They aired a fantastic video package for Ilja Dragunov that led right into his match with

07:46 Ricochet.

07:48 This match was a f***ing banger.

07:51 Straight out of an NXT takeover, Ricochet got suplexed on the floor, and that man bounced.

07:56 He recovered to hit a hurricane run off the top rope, and then three more dives, and by

08:00 that point they had the crowd going wild.

08:03 And it got better!

08:04 The final stretch of this match, with Ilja hitting the H-bombs and Ricochet countering

08:09 everything until Ilja backfisted him mid moonsault a la Adam Cole at Brooklyn 4, was like the

08:14 best stretch of Raw wrestling I've seen in a minute.

08:18 Ilja got the win, and the show of respect afterward.

08:21 Raw is looking real strong coming out of this draft.

08:24 Hoopers up and down the roster, and Dragunov is the one.

08:28 Sheamus says he'll beat Gunther, and then Ivy Nile took on Zoe Stark.

08:32 I didn't envy these women having to follow that awesome match, but I guess something

08:36 had to.

08:37 Not a lot of heat for this, but Nile hit a nice top rope bulldog, and Zoe won with the

08:41 Zed 360.

08:42 R-Truth thinks the NCAA is a wrestling promotion, and he wants to face the Yukon Huskies.

08:47 Comedy.

08:48 Braun Breaker enters and is very upset about not being in the King of the Ring, which I

08:52 mean yeah fair.

08:53 Judgment Day are upset about losing to Jey Uso, and Dom walks in with Carlito.

08:58 Priest pulls receipts from Backlash last year, and Carlito asks them to both do a favor for

09:02 each other.

09:03 I like that WWE is a place where history isn't ignored anymore.

09:07 Chad Gable faced Bronson Reed in a non-tournament match, and after a bunch of chops and a Death

09:11 Valley Driver, Sami Zayn hit the ring for the DQ.

09:14 Gable and Zayn exchanged moves until Reed left both of them laying.

09:17 This was short, kinda lame.

09:19 Not much changed from last week, except that Pearce is upset in Guerrilla, and Reed tells

09:24 him if he wants order to give him an IC title shot.

09:27 They recapped Lyra Valkyria getting drafted to Raw, Gunther said he doesn't care about

09:32 bangers, he will just win the King of the Ring, and then Becky Lynch came out for an

09:36 in-ring sit-down interview with Michael Cole.

09:38 Cole asks Becky about her fit from the Kentucky Derby.

09:42 I'm here to tell you right now, we don't care.

09:47 They talk about all the changes to the Raw roster, but Becky omits Liv Morgan, who interrupts

09:52 her upset that she still isn't being respected.

09:54 Damage Control interrupts her interruption, saying they'll show everyone they run Raw.

09:59 Morgan bails, Lynch catches a beatdown, Valkyria makes the save.

10:03 This segment got where it needed to, but you could have just cut the entire Michael Cole

10:07 part of this and saved us their fashion chats.

10:10 She's not Malibu Stacy, I don't care if she has a new hat.

10:14 Sami Zayn says he's battling a personal issue with Chad Gable and a professional issue with

10:18 Bronson Reed at the same time, and will work it out in a triple threat match at King and

10:22 Queen of the Ring.

10:23 Lyra Valkyria then beat Dakota Kai in another first round match.

10:26 They didn't have the crowd for this outside of some scattered chants for Lyra.

10:30 They weren't particularly smooth together in the ring either, with Lyra's finish,

10:34 the Nightwing, looking real soft and it pains me to say anything negative about my favorite

10:39 superhero.

10:40 And yeah, Lyra won.

10:41 Kofi Kingston cut a fantastic promo in the locker room about how he has to win the King

10:46 of the Ring for Xavier Woods because that would mean he gets to face Gunther, but to

10:50 do that he has to put down Rey Mysterio like he's Kendrick or Drake.

10:54 Listen, man, Toronto has suffered enough on this show, you ain't gotta bring that up.

10:59 But man, I'd love to see that match.

11:01 Really wish it didn't get cut for this show for the sake of pointless talking segments.

11:05 But then it was main event time.

11:07 Big fight field time.

11:09 Big meaty men slapping meat time.

11:11 Gunther was getting backdrop on the apron like two minutes in and my shirt was off and

11:15 I was sweating.

11:16 They were leaving handprints and welts on each other while Kaiser got himself kicked

11:19 out for drop kicking Sheamus' knee.

11:21 The knee gave him problems, but they traded power bombs with Sheamus' being of the high

11:25 cross variety, one of the most protected moves in WWE history, but both kicked out.

11:30 Sheamus hit a brogue kick, but Gunther kicked out.

11:33 Finally, Gunther locked in a half crab and Sheamus tapped out.

11:37 And within 40 seconds, they were off the air.

11:40 Gotta use every second of TV time, I guess.

11:42 What a match, what a fight, what a main event.

11:45 I will never, ever, ever get tired of seeing these two wrestle one another.

11:49 Overall, this show will be remembered for its highlights rather than its more boring

11:52 bits.

11:53 It's a three hour show, but I cannot in good conscience give a TV wrestling show with

11:58 two matches the caliber of Ricochet vs Dragunov and Sheamus vs Gunther anything less than

12:03 a 5 out of 5.

12:05 That was Raw and Wrestling.

12:08 the comments.

Significant WWE Departure, Amazing WWE Raw, Major WWE Plans Change | WrestleTalk

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