00:00WWE remember they've got an all-women's premium live event they've got to put on?
00:04More on Rusev's behind the scenes behaviour in AEW, Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns in a movie
00:14and more.
00:15I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:20AEW's biggest show of the year, All In, is taking place next Saturday, 12 July, the
00:26day after Superman comes out.
00:33Sign up over on Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk, where Luke and I will be hosting live reactions
00:38for All In.
00:39In a coincidence that has absolutely nothing to do with counter-programming, WWE and its
00:44various partner promotions are running several events that same weekend, with NXT's Great
00:49American Bash, Goldberg's Saturday Night's main event retirement show, and the all-women
00:54PLE Evolution 2 on Sunday.
00:57But the biggest competition will come on Friday night, as at AAA's next big show, Verano
01:02De Escondalo, we're getting the dream match of TNA's Santino Marella vs. Mr Iguana.
01:11It's Mr Iguana!
01:13He's got an Iguana!
01:15This isn't a mixed tag match, with Iguana tagging with La Hydra and Santino with NXT's
01:20Out of Ice.
01:21But we will surely get a showdown of the sock puppets.
01:24Sockdown!
01:25With Iguana vs. Cobra.
01:28This is wrestling, clap clap clap clap clap clap.
01:31The day after will see NXT's Great American Bash run in the early afternoon, directly head
01:35to head with AEW All In.
01:37Again, what a coincidence.
01:39Three matches were added to the card on last night's episode of NXT.
01:43Izzy Dane pinned Soul Rooker in a tag match on the show to get a shot at her Women's
01:46Women's North American title, Yashiki Inomura became the number one contender after beating
01:50Jasper Troi, meaning he'll fight NXT Champion Oba Femi for the meat, and Jordan Grace will
01:57tag with Blake Monroe, the former Mariah May in AEW, to take on Fatal Influences Jacee Jane
02:03and Fallon Henley.
02:04Grace will fight for Jane's NXT Women's title the following night at Evolution 2, and not
02:12just me, as apparently WWE have made very late arrangements for the show.
02:17A sequel to WWE's all women's pay-per-view Evolution from 2018 had been reported on as
02:22far back as March.
02:24The originally reported date from Bodyslam.net was the 5th of July, but just last month PWInsider
02:29wrote WWE were now looking at holding the event the week later in Atlanta, Georgia.
02:34The same place and weekend as Saturday night's main event.
02:38And just a coincidence, the day after AEW All In.
02:41On the 24th of May, WWE officially announced Evolution 2 would take place seven weeks later,
02:48which is also reportedly the first talent had heard of a definitive date, with some wrestlers
02:53being annoyed that the show will go head to head with a Beyonce concert in the same town
02:58on the same night.
02:59This kicked off the most packed run of shows for WWE this decade, with Worlds Collide, Money
03:04in the Bank Night of Champions over the next four weeks, to then have three different shows
03:10to promote and build for the next weekend.
03:12This, plus Liv Morgan's unfortunate injury two weeks ago, appears to have left WWE in
03:17a chaotic place backstage planning the event.
03:21Fightful Select is reporting that Morgan getting injured, who was seemingly building a women's
03:25tag team title match against the returning Bella Twins, caused heavy shifts for creative.
03:31Nikki Bella had already made her return on the 9th June episode, where she was attacked
03:35by Morgan.
03:36Around that same time, TMZ Sports reported her sister Brie was in talks with WWE to return
03:41for an appearance at Evolution, which would be her first time back since the 2022 Women's
03:46Royal Rumble.
03:47But then Brie herself said in an interview,
03:50I would love to return, but I'm kind of waiting for that call still.
03:53Nikki got the call.
03:55Brie didn't.
03:56I didn't change my number, if you guys wanted to know.
03:59It's still good.
04:00I know, I know.
04:01Wrestler reported for surprise return claims they've never been contacted about surprise
04:06return.
04:07Take Brie's quote with a pinch of salt.
04:09Which you might want to also do for former WWE wrestler Paige, who was removed from AEW's
04:14roster on their website last month after her contract expired.
04:17I haven't had a conversation with them.
04:19I know, I always get tagged and everything.
04:21As soon as there's a mystery going around, they're like, hey, she's coming back,
04:26but no.
04:27I love the WWE, but no.
04:29But then Fightful Select's report suggests there might be something to this.
04:33There were a number of other legends that were contacted.
04:36Those we spoke to in WWE said that enquiries have been ongoing over the last several weeks
04:41as to who would appear on the show.
04:44And some of the creative and the negotiating came down to the wire.
04:48A lot of talent have reportedly also been kept in the dark about the women's tag title
04:52match, as they don't know who the team representing Raw in the four-way will be.
04:57The current card for the show is a battle royal for a Women's World Championship match
05:01at Clash in Paris, which was only announced on Monday.
05:04JC Jane defending her NXT Women's title against Jordan Grace.
05:07Mio Sky defending her Women's World title against Rhea Ripley, which was only announced
05:11on Monday.
05:12The Fatal 4-Way for the Women's Tag Team titles, which was only announced on Monday and
05:17was presumably previously Morgan and Raquel vs The Bellas before Liv's injury.
05:21And a spoiler match that gets set up on this Friday's SmackDown.
05:24So skip ahead 10 seconds if you don't want to hear that.
05:27Tiffany Stratton defending her WWE Women's title against a returning Trish Stratus.
05:31Or you could just have the poster spoil it for you.
05:34Triple H revealed the Evolution 2 poster, which includes Trish three days before her broadcast
05:40return.
05:41It's a play on the original Evolution 2018 poster, complete with two flying women by
05:45the title, but the benefit of WWE having a much deeper women's roster right now.
05:50Brie and Paige aren't included, as there'll likely be surprises if they do show up.
05:55And Nikki is still positioned centre stage despite not having a match.
05:58But weirdly, top female wrestlers Asuka, Stephanie Vaker or the Women's United States Champion
06:04Julia aren't featured at all.
06:06Chelsea Green, who is positioned right at the back row, took offence with a tweet,
06:10it's cute, but I should be front and centre truly!
06:13To which Bayley replied, I think my ass sitting on top of your head is just fine.
06:17The ass Chelsea, the ass.
06:20And soon there will likely be even more talent in the division.
06:24Fightful is reporting that AAA wrestler La Hydra, better known as Mr Iguana's tag team
06:28partner from earlier, they also hold the AAA mixed tag team titles together, has started
06:32telling promoters that she has to clear any independent dates with WWE.
06:38So the belief is that she's signed a TKO contract with WWE's acquisition of AAA.
06:43This might cause issues though, as WWE talent Stephanie Vaker previously had a restraining
06:49order against La Hydra.
06:50This is because the brother of La Hydra's partner, Quaterero, has been accused of domestic
06:55abuse by Vaker, which La Hydra had commentated on.
06:58La Hydra joins Mr Iguana, The Kingo, Psycho Clown and Octagon Jr. as AAA talent that are
07:04now reportedly under TKO WWE contracts.
07:07According to Bodyslam.net, WWE are also interested in some AEW talent, with them tracking both
07:13Private Party and Dan Halsam.
07:15Both acts have had their contracts expiring soon, and haven't been on TV for months,
07:20which has historically been a signifier that Tony Khan expects them to leave.
07:24If only that happened a lot sooner, with Rusev.
07:28Rusev returned to WWE on the Raw after Mania back in April after a near five year stint away.
07:33He had previously gone to AEW after being released from WWE at the start of the pandemic cuts.
07:39And after a weird gamer gimmick with Kip Sabian, he found success with his Redeemer character,
07:44where he won the TNT title.
07:46But a year after his debut, Rusev was taken out for six months with a hamstring injury.
07:50And on his return, he couldn't find a consistent place in the promotion.
07:54He had another extended period out from late 2022 to May 2023, and then another hiatus due
08:00to injury.
08:01In September 2024, he reportedly asked for his release.
08:06It was granted in February 2025.
08:08He had only wrestled 11 matches over the last three and a half years.
08:13The Wrestling Observer is now reporting those absences were because of creative differences
08:18Rusev had with AEW President Tony Khan.
08:23Once he got down and serious, he had really good matches and it was going well.
08:27And then he got hurt, and then he and Tony just couldn't agree on stuff and just didn't
08:32do anything.
08:33There really wasn't much to do with him, because there just wasn't.
08:36He didn't want to lose before going back to WWE.
08:40So there you go.
08:41Apparently, following their experience with stars like Rusev, Andrade and Aleister Black,
08:46AEW are trying to be far more selective about signing ex-WWE wrestlers, so they're just
08:51not seen as a stepping stone to eventually go back to New York.
08:55Which itself is a stepping stone to Hollywood.
08:58Last week, the Hollywood Reporter wrote that Roman Reigns had been cast to play Akuma in the
09:02upcoming live action Street Fighter movie.
09:05And for a plot that involved such a large roster of fighters, it was only a matter of time
09:10before another wrestler was cast to go against him.
09:13Nexus Point News is reporting that Cody Rhodes is currently in talks for him to play Guile in
09:19the movie, which can very neatly use Cody and Roman's wrestling rivalry in its marketing.
09:23This would be Cody's second role in a high profile movie, with him also starring in the
09:28upcoming Naked Gun reboot.
09:29But the biggest rivalry right now is Luke vs. Oli in Monday Night War.
09:34Watch the brand new episode of us competing in WWE 2K25's My GM Mode as we approach the
09:40end game of the road to WrestleMania.
09:44Click the video onscreen now.
