Could Corey Graves Be Suspended? AEW Backstage “Weird”! AEW Dynamite Review!

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00:00 - Coming up...
00:19 - Corey Graves Trying To Get Fired?
02:50 - AEW “Weird” Backstage
03:42 - NXT Ratings Back To Normal
05:34 - AEW Dynamite Review
Could Corey Graves Be Suspended? AEW Backstage “Weird”! AEW Dynamite Review! | WrestleTalk
#CoreyGraves #AEW #Dynamite

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https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/ac...
https://www.f4wonline.com/news/nxt/ww...

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Transcript

00:00Corey Graves trying to get fired? AEW's backstage described as...weird? Tempest review

00:06of AEW Dynamite? And more. I'm Luke Owen, you're forever Jam That Champion, and this

00:11is the WrestleTalk News.

00:19It is now day 3 of the curious case of Corey Graves. Oli Davis covered in the first day

00:25that Graves had an outburst on Twitter, where he said that he was moved to NXT because he

00:30wasn't famous enough to call Raw on Netflix. A not-so-subtle jab at Pat McAfee who returned

00:36to Raw now that his college game day coverage has come to an end. Graves returned to NXT

00:41at New Year's Evil, where he joined the commentary team of Vic Joseph and Booker T,

00:45and fans noted that he looked visibly annoyed and grumpy throughout the broadcast.

00:50Which brings us to the second day, where the story seemingly jumped into work territory.

00:55Kevin Graves promoted this week's NXT, saying that he had a lot to say, and we should

01:00tune in to find out what he had to say. However, there was nothing to say, because Graves was

01:05not on the show. PWInsider reported instead that he was seen flying out of Orlando, which

01:11Fightful Select confirmed.

01:12When it came to the idea that Corey and WWE were building an angle for a match with Pat,

01:17Ibu of WrestlePurist said on Twitter, WWE is not building any kind of Graves-McAfee

01:22match. Fightful Select reported that people close to Graves were saying that this was

01:27a shoot, and he was legitimately frustrated with being moved to NXT. However, like everything

01:33with Corey Graves, sometimes it's best to take it with a grain of salt, as they added,

01:37to be clear, Fightful Select has not confirmed if this is a work or a shoot.

01:42Dave Meltzer took the same approach, replying to people on Twitter that this could all be

01:46a work. However, on Wrestling Observer Radio, he did have some new information on the situation.

01:51Meltzer claims that in September and October, the plan was for Graves to join Joe Tessitore

01:57on Smackdown when Cole and McAfee moved back to Raw. That then seemingly changed in late

02:02December or early January, as when asked if the Smackdown team would be Graves and Tessitore,

02:07he was told, to be determined, it's not determined.

02:10Fightful Select noted in their report that those in NXT were surprised to see Graves

02:14doing commentary for New Year's Evil, as they had not been told he was returning to

02:18the brand. Meltzer backs up the Fightful and PWInsider report that Graves was unhappy

02:23about the move back to NXT, and interestingly adds about the Twitter outburst, there's

02:28people who think that he was trying to get fired and that's why he did it.

02:32Meltzer doesn't think that will work though, because WWE might have a fear of him going

02:37to AEW if he did. He added, they could also suspend it, which maybe they've done for

02:42all we know. It doesn't have to be announced that they've suspended him. Or, it could

02:46all still be a work. Let's not forget the Booker T thing from a few years back.

02:50Over to AEW now in action, Bronson has spoken with Ariel Helwani about his time working

02:55with All Elite Wrestling, and given that it's an interview with Ariel Helwani, it predictably

02:59had some juicy gossip about the backstage feeling in AEW. Bronson worked a tag match

03:04with Hook against 2.0 on the Grand Slam edition of Rampage in 2022, and from there said that

03:10he was doing some training for any other potential date. However he adds, you know what they

03:14do? They don't call you back. I never got called back. He was asked if he enjoyed being

03:19backstage at AEW and said, I did. Actually, no. I enjoy the act. I don't like the, the

03:26backstage is weird over there. It's just weird. It was just like, everyone's clicky.

03:31Should be noted that Grand Slam 2022 was in the aftermath of Brawlout, which might explain

03:35the clicky nature. He added, despite the weird vibes, that it was a great time if I get a

03:40call and it's a big show, I'm coming.

03:43And just before we get into the AEW Dynamite review, with two less title matches and one

03:47less Rock, NXT returned to its usual rating numbers drawing 779,000 viewers. This was

03:52to be expected after last week's show, but it is still the fourth best number the show

03:56has drawn since its move to the CW. It's .17 in the 18-49 is also the second best number

04:02in that demo since the move.

04:04Now here's a video from today's sponsor Surfshark VPN and personal testimony from

04:08me, but Surfshark has been great as of late for me accessing the old WWE Network as it's

04:14still available in some territories, as well as getting the US version of Pluto TV which

04:19has an awesome Twilight Zone channel. Anyway, that's enough from me, here's the video

04:53Wow, that's great Tempest. Can you let me know the password to the backend?

05:19Oh yeah, of course, it's CM Punk did nothing wrong 69 420. No spaces.

05:23Yeah, Oli did make this, didn't he?

05:26What gives you that impression?

05:27Hello, I'm Tempest and this is my review of AEW Dynamite Marvel vs. Capcom Venom 3

05:32Maximum Carnage in about 5 minutes.

05:34So we kicked off this show with Kenny Omega's first AEW match in over a year as he took

05:39on Brian Cage. Kenny Omega wrestling on Dynamite. The world is healing. Give me that Vince Carter

05:46gif, you know the one. This man plays the role of man recovering from ring rust better

05:52than anyone I've ever seen. And if you think for one second any of that wasn't on purpose,

05:58then he got you. Kenny had to deal with Cage, Lance Archer and Don Callis in this match,

06:02but even a rusty rebuilt Kenny could do it, pinning Cage with the one winged angel to

06:07win the Battle of the Terminators. After the match, Will Ospreay once again made the save

06:12with no music, which is a nice touch for Kenny as the Don Callis family beat him down,

06:16but the numbers finally got the best of our dynamic duo as Konosuke Takeshita took out

06:21Kenny and Kyle Fletcher took out Will. Sign me up for every possible combination involving

06:26all of these guys. This return of Kenny Omega has been picture perfect thus far.

06:30After a Hurt Business vignette and a New York Minute from Chris Jericho where he said he

06:34guarantees he and Moxley will be on the same page on Collision, wink, Ricochet took to

06:40the ring to sulk while the people booed and chanted WHO'S HOUSE? I feel like I need

06:47sat here for these. It's not the same. It's not the same. Finally he started to speak

06:52but was cut off by Swerve's music only for Prince Nana to hit him from behind with a

06:57chair. I like that Swerve and Nana are not good people despite being babyfaces. It really

07:02fits their character, that we have come to love from breaking into people's homes and

07:07threatening babies and such. You don't just grow out of doing that.

07:11Swerve swung a chain and chased Ricochet out of the building. This Ricochet character is

07:15legitimately the most interested I've been in the lad as a character probably ever. Shouts

07:22out to him. Hope he keeps climbing.

07:23Mercedes Monet had a very cool vignette showing all the media she's been doing which made

07:27her look like an even bigger star and then we had the Hurt Syndicate taking on Mark Briscoe

07:33First of all, it is so nice getting to see MVP in a wrestling ring again. It really does

07:38piss me off that WWE fumbled MVP when he was in his prime so we're giving my man his flowers

07:44every time out. Ballin' indeed.

07:47Mark Briscoe and Private Party did manage to get their fair share of offense in with

07:50Mark hitting a nasty dive to the outside but ultimately Shelton Benjamin got the clean

07:54pin for his team capping off a dominant victory.

07:57I'm quite sad that Private Party couldn't have a better run but these belts need to

08:02go directly around the waist of Lashley and Benjamin Pronto. They're ten times cooler

08:07and ten times more interesting. Strap em up.

08:09But then we had the segment.

08:11Jeff Jarrett came out for a promo and was immediately interrupted by MJF. Now MJF did

08:16his usual MJF shtick. He said that Double J is wrestling's grim reaper and where he

08:20shows up a company dies. He said he would send Jeff back to rehab and then f*** Jeff's

08:24wife and send her home so Jeff knows what his and Kurt Angle's balls taste like. But

08:29then we had Jeff's rebuttal.

08:31See I'm not that bent out of shape about MJF saying those type of things. That is very

08:36much in line with his character. He's an incel. He's an edgelord. This is very much in line

08:41with what he would do.

08:44Jeff Jarrett though. Jeff Jarrett.

08:47Jeff said he was MJF before MJF and he did it better. He said MJF's mother was a call

08:53girl. And then said Alicia Atoot was also a call girl. He really made this his whole

08:57f***ing point. That these people are just prostitutes. Otherwise the promo was fine.

09:03But this middle section of our sympathetic babyface calling women call girls for zero

09:08reason would have been enough to get me to shut the show off.

09:11F***ing smarten up old man. Max said he needed the AEW World Championship again because all

09:17the people that put him on a pedestal ripped that pedestal out from under him and he needs

09:21the title to shove it down their throats. He invoked the name of Owen Hart and Jeff

09:25dropped him. I love MJF stating his motivation for wanting to be champion again but that

09:30was the only nugget I was able to pull from this promo. It was dreadful.

09:34Then Christian Cage finally took on Hook. Hook jumped Christian during his entrance

09:38and Christian tried to appeal to Hook's need for a father and gave him a hug. A hug

09:41that quickly became a belly to belly suplex. And Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian came to ringside

09:46to back Cage up before Shibata came to ringside to back Hook up. All the extras fought towards

09:50the end and then the patriarchy hit the ring for the DQ when Hook had Cage in the red

09:54rum. F***ing lame as all hell finish to end a match that can be categorized as having

10:00happened.

10:01However it did lead to the moment of the night thus far as Samoa Joe made his long awaited

10:05return to save Hook. Don't ask why Joe isn't looking for revenge on Chris Jericho. When

10:09a fortunate soul escapes the vortex we don't ask why we just say thank you.

10:14We had a vignette with most of the competitors from the casino gauntlet stating their desires.

10:18Jay White wants Wheeler Yuta. Kyle O'Reilly will probably face Daniel Garcia soon. The

10:23Undisputed Kingdom want gold. That's about it. None of that pops off the page but I'll

10:28be happy to see Kyle and Danny tear it up. Jeff Jericho got a big pep talk from Dustin

10:32Rhodes and then it was time for the Women's Casino Gauntlet match.

10:36Chris Statlander and Jamie Hayter started 1 and 2 and immediately the announcers pointed

10:40out that they weren't wrestling like they were trying to win the match in the first

10:43allotment of time so that was weird but if you ignore that the action was great.

10:47Featuring 3rd though was the re-debuting Megan Bane who had long been rumored to be

10:52joining AEW and who Mariah May, who was doing commentary, was not happy to see. She flew

10:57around the ring delivering big clotheslines and looking awesome. Just immediately you

11:01can tell that Bane has big TV presence.

11:04Julia Hart was out next and she beckoned to Jamie Hayter to come get some and truth be

11:08told she did. Jamie beat the shit out of Julia as they went to commercial and then Bane beat

11:13Julia up on the outside.

11:15Willow Nightingale was next coming out to a massive pop. She and Chris Statlander worked

11:19together to suplex Bane and then shared a little smile before they started trading chops.

11:24It was a sweet moment to see them happy together. I just wish the storyline since their match

11:29would have given this a bit more emotional weight.

11:31Then it was indeed Tony time as Toni Storm came out to the biggest pop yet and she once

11:36again ran wild with Snapmares and Training School Offense's Our Crowd chanted She's

11:41Our Rookie.

11:42Cameron was the last woman to enter the match and boy she's just a who didn't she.

11:45She ran wild until Julia Hart misted her in the eyes and Toni was able to roll up Julia

11:50for the win. It was a bit of a clunky finish but it got us to the destination we all expected.

11:55Toni vs. Mariah 2 at Aussie Grand Slam. We'll see if Toni can step up in the first title

12:00match of her career.

12:01Also shout out to Megan Bane, that's a big signing and one to watch.

12:04Then it was time for our main event as Jon Moxley retained the AEW World Championship

12:08against Powerhouse Hobbs. They made Hobbs look like as much of a monster in this match

12:13as possible. You could not have done more to protect him in defeat.

12:17After some crowd brawling, Hobbs decided to target Moxley's ear and bit it until Mox

12:22was pouring blood. Like it was a lot even by his soggy standards. Hobbs dominated this

12:28match all the way through but then Wheeler hit the Psycho Knee, Marina hit Hobbs with

12:32the Briefcase, Mox hit the Paradigm Shift and then finally choked Hobbs out with the

12:37Bulldog Choke.

12:38It was impossible to emerge from this thinking that anyone but Hobbs was the better man here

12:42and I guess that's the most you can ask for in a match that would have taken a massive

12:46shift in creative for Hobbs to win.

12:48The Death Riders crushed Hobbs knee in the chair as Rated FTR made the very late save.

12:52Might have been nice of them to ward off all the cheating that was going on but maybe they

12:57don't care that much.

12:58Overall, Maximum Carnage had some very high highs and some of the lowest lows I have seen

13:03from AEW in ages. That seems to be the Dynamite way these days, but thankfully when the highs

13:09are things like Kenny Omega returning to the ring, the return of Samoa Joe and another

13:13fun and fancy free casino gauntlet match, it can be easy to ignore the other stuff.

13:17But man, Jeff Jarrett made it hard this week. AEW Dynamite Maximum Carnage gets, it doesn't

13:23get a, 3 is too low. I hated the Jeff Jarrett thing too much for it to be a 4 so I'm splitting

13:29the difference. I'm giving it a 3.5 out of 5. If we don't do that, yes we do.

13:33But before I go, make sure you check out episode 2 of Video Game League over on Control Freaks

13:38as I prove how good I am at Mario Strikers Battle League Football. FOOTBALL!

Could Corey Graves Be Suspended? AEW Backstage “Weird”! AEW Dynamite Review! | WrestleTalk

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