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#WWE #AEW #JacobFatu What do you want to see at WrestleMania? Let us know in the comments! WrestleTalk Patreon 👉   / wrestletalk   WrestleMania 27 Review! 👉    • WWE WrestleMania 27 Review | The Rock...   More wrestling news on https://wrestletalk.com/ Unlock the secrets to working in professional wrestling, sign up to https://www.wrestlingmasterclass.com/ 00:00 - Coming up... 00:20 - Rhea Ripley Wants In The Men’s Rumble 01:39 - Jacob Fatu Push Incoming? 03:03 - Rock vs. Cena 04:15 - Worries Over Saturday Night’s Main Event? 05:14 - WrestleMania Title Matches? 07:27 - AEW On WBD Success 08:09 - AEW On Amazon? 08:47 - Real Reason For AEW Changes WWE Backstage CONCERN! MAJOR AEW Change?! Jacob Fatu Vs Braun Strowman Reaction! | WrestleTalk #WWE #AEW #JacobFatu  Buy WrestleTalk Merch here! https://wrestleshop.com/   Sources used for research: 00:20 - Rhea Ripley Wants In The Men’s Rumble 01:39 - Jacob Fatu Push Incoming? 03:03 - Rock vs. Cena 04:15 - Worries Over Saturday Night’s Main Event? 05:14 - WrestleMania Title Matches? 07:27 - AEW On WBD Success 08:09 - AEW On Amazon? 08:47 - Real Reason For AEW Changes  DailyMotion Channel Comments Policy We appreciate the comments and opinions our viewers provide. Do note that all comments are subject to DailyMotion 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

00:00Calls for a big push for Jacob Fatu, Saturday Night's main event nearly ran long, the

00:05status of Tony Khan's AEW creative position, and more.

00:09I'm Luke Owen, Happy Monday, and this is the WrestleTalk News.

00:20Despite January being nearly over already, what even is time anymore, we've still not

00:25had a Royal Rumble.

00:27And that's because we're in the Upside Down now and this year's Royal Rumble is

00:31in February.

00:32Which, for those of you who do not have access to a calendar, is this weekend.

00:37And we'll be doing live reactions to this year's Royal Rumble so make sure you subscribe

00:41to know when we go live.

00:43The Rumble match is often a place used for debuts, return or surprise entrants.

00:47Rumours of Malakai Black, who finished up with AEW two weeks ago, being in this year's

00:51match have been squashed by PWInsider, and it's unlikely that we'll see Rikki Starks

00:56in there either.

00:58But what about the ladyfolk?

01:00And I'm not talking about this year's Women's Royal Rumble.

01:04In the past we've seen Chyna, Karma, Beth Phoenix and Nia Jax enter themselves into

01:08the Men's Royal Rumble, and now the Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley looks to join that

01:14class.

01:15In the post-show for Saturday Night's main event, Ripley was asked if she would enter

01:18the Rumble to win a shot at the WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton, and she replied,

01:23"...I think that would be a bad decision.

01:25Maybe I'll be in the men's one."

01:27Which adds up because frankly it feels like very few women on the WWE roster actually

01:31care about this year's Royal Rumble.

01:32I mean until Smackdown only two of them had declared themselves for it, and then like

01:36buses four of them announced themselves for the match this past Friday.

01:40Last week WrestleVotes reported that Solo Sokoa was the topic of a hot debate in the

01:45room as to his appearance on the January 17th Smackdown, where he was reportedly set to

01:51open the show to address his loss to Roman Reigns, but instead appeared about 45 minutes

01:56into the show in a segment that ended seven minutes later.

01:59It had been previously reported by WrestlePurist that Triple H wasn't that keen on pushing

02:04Solo Sokoa, and in fact it was Roman Reigns that was getting him the push.

02:09WrestleVotes tweeted ahead of WWE signing Jacob Fatu that some trepidation remained

02:13within creative over fear that Fatu's presence could outshine Solo at this stage.

02:18And I think it's fair to say that has come to pass.

02:22Especially as on this past Saturday night's main event, Fatu went to a DQ with Braun Strowman

02:27and then laid him out in brutal fashion, complete with blood.

02:31It was an awesome beatdown and made Fatu look incredible, and a far more credible threat

02:37than Solo Sokoa.

02:38And when it came to that post-match angle, Fightful Select are reporting that there were

02:42calls for more moonsault from Jacob Fatu during his beatdown segment with Braun Strowman.

02:48I'd heard personally that Roman Reigns was a big fan of Jacob Fatu and wanted to make

02:51him look like a star when he came back following his Mania break last year and even pitched

02:56a WrestleMania 41 match with him.

02:58Though it now looks like Roman Reigns is heading in a different Mania direction, but more on

03:02that in a bit.

03:03Because before that, here is a clip from our recent upload of a four and a half hour review

03:09of WWE WrestleMania 27, which is the first in a series where Oli and I look at The Rock's

03:39You can watch that video right now, no joke, it's four and a half hours long.

03:59And if you sign up to Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk, the next episode where

04:02we review Survivor Series 2011 for about four hours is also live right now.

04:07So that's eight and a half hours of Oli and I chatting about 2011 WWE.

04:13Has Christmas come early or something?

04:16Back to Saturday Night's main event for a moment and Fightful Select also report that

04:19the show was initially looking like it would be going over time.

04:22Fightful don't have any details on what might have gone long or if anything had to

04:26be cut short, but note that it finished right at the top of the hour.

04:30The show closed with Gunther retaining the World Heavyweight Championship over Jey Uso,

04:34which some fans derided online when Jey hit a pretty naff looking spear before his big

04:39nearfall.

04:40Former AEW star Fuego Del Sol has since called this out on Twitter, writing,

04:43Imagine having the most over catchphrase in wrestling right now and selling t-shirts faster

04:49than ever, having great matches for over a decade, having an arena go crazy for you,

04:54almost winning a world title, and the internet clipping a spear to make it seem like you

04:58are bad.

04:59In fairness Fuego, it was a pretty naff looking spear.

05:01Fightful Select also report that Rhea Ripley had the wind knocked out of her during her

05:05World Championship defence against Nia Jax, but was okay backstage.

05:09While not connected, Fightful add in their note that rehearsals for Saturday Night's

05:13main event were limited.

05:14With the second Saturday Night's main event now out of the way and the Royal Rumble this

05:18coming Saturday, it feels like we're finally going to be fully on the road to WrestleMania.

05:24Triple H has said the plans for this year's Mania were in flux last year, and reports

05:28suggest that there are currently two plans in place.

05:31One with The Rock and one without, and the one without The Rock is looking more and more

05:36likely.

05:37Or it could just be that things are still in flux.

05:40Fightful Select write that as of November, the main event directions for both nights

05:45were John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship and Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk.

05:51That was in November, but nothing has been confirmed since.

05:54There are still apparently question marks over the likes of Drew McIntyre, Jey Uso and

05:58Seth Rollins, though Fightful add with regards to Rollins that his Mania opponents won't

06:03be World Heavyweight Champion Gunther or CM Punk.

06:06Two weeks ago it was reported by WrestleVote on their backstage Q&A podcast that there

06:10were creative rumblings that Tiffany Stratton's Mania direction would be against a returning

06:16Charlotte Flair.

06:17Vignettes for Flair have been running for a few weeks on Smackdown, and she has now

06:20declared herself for this year's Royal Rumble.

06:23And Fightful Select have confirmed WrestleVote's report, writing Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte

06:27Flair has been discussed for WWE WrestleMania 41.

06:31Because of course it's Charlotte Flair.

06:33Fightful write that the two have been compared a lot over the years because they're both

06:37blonde I guess, and Stratton has cited Flair as her inspiration for getting into wrestling

06:41and has spoken publicly about her desires to have a match with her.

06:45So then looking at our top champions, we have Cody vs. Cena and Stratton vs. Flair, but

06:49nothing for Gunther or Rhea, but maybe there is something in line for one of them.

06:55Spoilers, it's not Gunther.

06:56Fightful Select also report that Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair has been discussed for this

07:01year's WrestleMania, as both have expressed an interest in having a match together.

07:07Before you get too excited though, Fightful add, to reiterate, these are based on discussions

07:11and tentative plans and can, and often, do change.

07:16In fairness, Belair seems like an odd choice given that she seems to be more involved in

07:20an angle to lead to a match with either Jade Cargill or Naomi.

07:23So what would you like to see happen at this year's WrestleMania?

07:26Let me know in the comments down below.

07:27Over to All Elite Wrestling now, and Fightful Select also report that the relationship between

07:31AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery grows even closer and even stronger.

07:36Unlike Netflix, WBD's max streaming service doesn't release its viewing figures and

07:40keeps them very close to their chest.

07:42However Sean Ross Sapp writes, sources within WBD did confirm that since debuting, AEW has

07:48ranked among the top live sports events on max.

07:52If true, this is a big win for AEW, as their viewership numbers on TBS and TNT since the

07:57simulcast have remained about the same as they were before the move.

08:01So logic dictates AEW are getting more viewers in 2025 than they were in 2024, though that

08:07is only a guess.

08:09When there could be even more eyeballs available for All Elite Wrestling soon, as WrestleNomics

08:13are reporting via their Patreon page, Amazon Prime Video will likely be added to the list

08:18of digital pay-per-view carriers for AEW this year.

08:22What that means, in broad strokes, is upcoming AEW pay-per-views will be available to buy

08:27via Amazon Prime.

08:28And you won't need to be an Amazon Prime subscriber, in the same way that you can rent

08:32movies and TV shows without subscribing to the streaming service.

08:35Critics say it's unclear if this will be ready in time for AEW Revolution in March,

08:40but write, when it goes into effect, users are expected to be able to purchase the pay-per-view

08:45in the US, Canada and UK.

08:47And it's also good news on screen, as reports suggest that the backstage vibe in AEW is

08:52a positive one right now after a string of good episodes of Dynamite and Collision.

08:57This past Saturday night's Collision saw the big angle of Toni Storm revealing that

09:01she was timeless all along and was simply giving the performance of a lifetime promising

09:06to rip off Mariah May's tits.

09:08It was a great segment and got a lot of praise online, and Sean Ross Sapp writes for Fightful

09:13Select, those in AEW were understandably pumped for Collision, which they feel did really

09:18well.

09:19Online critics have noted that Collision doesn't feel as important as Dynamite, and questioned

09:23why this big Toni Storm angle happened on the Saturday B-Show rather than the Wednesday

09:28A-Show.

09:29According to Ross Sapp, that's because in the deal between AEW and WBD, there is no

09:34A or B show, writing on Twitter, the deal was for the two shows collectively as opposed

09:40to a disproportionate amount for one.

09:42In an interesting addition to his Fightful Select report, however, is this little nugget.

09:47Toni Khan has been said to have been more in the weeds creatively of late.

09:52A lot of online criticism against AEW is, correctly, pointed at the head booker of the

09:57company.

09:58In this case it's Toni Khan.

09:59However this line suggests that Khan has been handing off some creative responsibility to

10:04other people and is only now getting more involved, or he's been taking on too many

10:08ideas from other people.

10:10This actually happened in the early days of AEW, which changed following the final live

10:14episode of 2019 where The Dark Order laid out The Elite, and Toni Khan took creative

10:18control in 2020 which led to an amazing run of form.

10:22It was reported that Khan had originally planned for The Outrunners to beat The Young Bucks

10:26for the AEW Tag Team Championships, but was talked into giving Private Party a run with

10:31the belt instead.

10:32It was clear from watching the show that the company didn't have full faith in Private

10:36Party as they were rarely featured on TV or PPV and weren't presented as a credible

10:40team.

10:41They have since dropped the belt to The Hurt Syndicate.

10:43This line from Fightful suggests that Khan will be going with his ideas more than take

10:47them on from other people.

10:49Now go and watch that 4 and a half hour review of WWE WrestleMania 27 with myself and Oli

10:54Davis.

10:55It's a bad show.

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