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Fall of the McMahons https://youtu.be/K-bCFZ4jxAs
Sent To Prison For A Wrestling Move https://youtu.be/yfNc_7YWMcQ
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...
00:24 - Vince McMahon Lies Called Out
05:11 - WWE Shoot On Fox
07:55 - Big Changes To NXT
09:30 - WWE Show Canceled Forever
Fall of the McMahons https://youtu.be/K-bCFZ4jxAs
Sent To Prison For A Wrestling Move https://youtu.be/yfNc_7YWMcQ
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...
00:24 - Vince McMahon Lies Called Out
05:11 - WWE Shoot On Fox
07:55 - Big Changes To NXT
09:30 - WWE Show Canceled Forever
Category
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NewsTranscript
00:00Vince McMahon lies called out, WWE shoot on Fox, a WWE show cancelled FOREVER, FOREVER.
00:13And more.
00:15I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:21Get exclusive videos over on our Patreon.
00:24I begin this episode with one of those rare headlines that, for anyone who's watched
00:28WWE over the last decade, makes perfect sense despite how ridiculous it reads.
00:33Mr McMahon docuseries interviews unable to be used because Vince sounds too much like
00:38a frog.
00:39This is apparently a shoot, and not a rib-it.
00:41Vince's appearances over the last ten years have become more and more indecipherable, presumably
00:52from shredding his vocal cords with the character's gravelly voice in the Attitude Era.
00:57As a result, he is often difficult to understand in the Netflix show.
01:00And it turns out that was the clearest of the audio, according to the behind the scenes
01:05team David Shoemaker and Bill Simmons.
01:08We had four hours of Vince's interview on the cutting room floor because he sounded
01:12like a frog one day.
01:13Apparently the best thing that ended up on the cutting room floor was Vince recalling
01:17him promoting Evil Knievel's failed Snake River Canyon jump in the 70s, which Vince
01:22promoted.
01:23You can hear the full version of what happened by watching our Fall of the McMahons video
01:26In an interview with Kevin Ione, another one of the series' producers Matt Maxson has
01:32discussed Vince's, let's say, liberal approach to the truth.
01:36There's a moment in the series that I don't think anybody else has caught on to as much.
01:40There's a moment where Vince says, you know, there are times where I, you know, what I
01:45say isn't necessarily what I mean.
01:48That was just such a fulfilling thing.
01:50He's like, I'm the chairman of the board, I'm not going to tell you the truth.
01:55He even set that up at the very beginning.
01:57He's not a reliable narrator.
02:00That moment, for me, is the most important part in the whole six hours.
02:04It's when Vince is defending him criticising Ted Turner for taking all of his top stars
02:09in the 90s, when Vince had done just that same thing to the territories in the 80s.
02:15The director Chris Smith asks if that's hypocritical, and Vince eventually explains
02:19What I say a lot of the time is totally different to what I think.
02:23And the public doesn't understand that sometimes.
02:27As a businessman, you have to throw things out there that's not really the way you
02:31feel.
02:32But it controls thought process by doing that.
02:35Maxson explains that Chris Smith peppers the series with spots, doubting Vince's version
02:39of events.
02:40Like Vince himself saying he won't tell us the real stories right in his very first
02:46interview.
02:47Vince, of course, disagrees with this.
02:49Or at least he says he does in order to control the public's thought process, and released
02:53a statement just before the show came out saying it takes soundbites out of context
02:57and uses editing tricks to incorrectly confuse the boundaries between the character of Mr.
03:03McMahon and Vince himself.
03:05The best way to correct that?
03:07Make your own documentary.
03:09Apparently there was a rumour that former WWE Head of Production and pioneer of the
03:12Crash Zoom Kevin Dunn was producing a show for Vince that would act as a response to
03:17the Netflix documentary.
03:18PWInsider have set the record straight after speaking to sources close to Dunn.
03:22They were told, he is not working on any McMahon-centric projects at all currently.
03:27But Janelle Grant, the woman who filed the sexual assault and trafficking lawsuit that
03:31led to Vince's resignation back in January, sure is.
03:34Grant's action against Vince is currently on legal pause while the US Department of
03:38Justice conducts their own investigation into McMahon.
03:41But the PR war continues, and following Netflix's docuseries going live, Grant's team have
03:47released their own statement claiming the show has only scratched the surface of McMahon's
03:52criminal and horrific behaviour, and doesn't tell the full story of his abuse, sexual assault
03:58and human trafficking of Janelle Grant.
04:01Including a list of stories from former WWE employees, pro wrestlers and reporters about
04:06McMahon and WWE's toxic culture throughout the years.
04:10Like joking about sexually trafficking his own daughter Stephanie on TV.
04:14Former WWE wrestler Sable telling Jay Leno in 1999 that WWE made her do things she didn't
04:20want to do.
04:21Rita Chatterton's allegation against McMahon of rape, which has since been settled.
04:25Current AEW wrestler Mercedes Monet saying she left WWE because she didn't like the
04:29way McMahon talked down to her.
04:31USA Today covering Vince wanting to do a storyline where he impregnated his own daughter.
04:36Bret Hart saying he thinks you'll find this kind of predatory behaviour everywhere in
04:40WWE.
04:41Kevin Owens describing the allegations against Vince as shameful.
04:45Ronda Rousey saying a male wrestler grabbed the drawstring of her pants.
04:49Ashley Massaro alleging WWE told her not to talk about being sexually assaulted during
04:53a show for the troops.
04:55Former wrestler Francine saying she was told to get Vince's attention by rubbing oil
04:59all over her boobs.
05:01Gail Kim recalling racism and microaggressions when working at WWE.
05:05And Nikki Bella saying Vince yelled at her and her sister Brie for winning the fan vote
05:10for Diva of the Year.
05:11On the 6th September, after five years and $1 billion, WWE's incredibly lucrative TV
05:17rights deal with Fox came to an end.
05:20Like many other TV partners of WWE in the past, Fox reportedly felt shortchanged by
05:25what they had seemingly been promised heading in.
05:27The original conversations reportedly had the show using megastars like Ronda Rousey
05:32and Brock Lesnar, but when SmackDown started on Fox, they would barely feature.
05:37Fox also found themselves in the awkward position of having SmackDown on their station promoting
05:42WWE Premium Live events on the Peacock platform, one of their competitors.
05:47So WWE moved SmackDown to the USA Network on the 13th September.
05:51Fox issued a press release that the Wrestling Observer describes as subtly knocking WWE
05:57out by pointing out the football game that replaced SmackDown's usual slot on Friday
06:0120th did 81% better than the previous programming they had there last year.
06:09But WWE are beyond petty shots like that these days.
06:11Vince McMahon is gone.
06:12It's owned by TKO.
06:14They are a proper company now that doesn't need to get wrapped up in all the little details
06:19and arguments and pesky things.
06:21Oh yeah, but one more thing.
06:22The next week, the Wrestling Observer is reporting the usual source, the one that suspiciously
06:27very pro-WWE, has been reporting the 27th episode of SmackDown actually beating Fox's
06:33football head-to-head, even though SmackDown is no longer on Network.
06:38Slam.
06:39Take that, Fox, you losers.
06:41WWE are much better than-oh yeah, just one more thing.
06:44The actual ratings don't come out until Monday or Tuesday, so these figures must be
06:47based on the Fast Nationals, which are super early estimate viewing figures that can be
06:53wildly off, especially for live sports, which often don't include the end of the game
06:57or West Coast viewership.
06:59It's speculated WWE use these more favourable, but probably not correct figures to boost
07:04their profile against Fox.
07:06In the end, Fox's deal with WWE turned out to be a money loser for them.
07:10While the ratings were strong, and they had no trouble selling commercials in the time
07:14slots, they were paying so much to WWE, they reportedly struggled to break even on the
07:19deal.
07:20So this show could definitely work on Fox, just not for WWE's inflated price tag.
07:27Tony Khan has just entered the chat.
07:28There's been reports that AEW are in talks with Fox to put a new show there, which is
07:33speculated to be called Shockwave, as AEW recently filed to trademark that name.
07:38And now former AEW Champion Swerve Strickland has dropped this bombshell in an interview
07:43with Queen's Flip.
07:44We're about to move, we're about to get on Fox, SmackDown is leaving Fox, and then
07:49we're taking Fox.
07:51TNT, TBS and Fox, we got all three of them things.
07:56These several months are kind of WWE's own superstar shake-up with their own flagship
08:00shows.
08:01SmackDown has moved from Fox to USA, Raw will move to Netflix in January, and on Tuesday
08:061st October, NXT will seemingly become NXT 3.0 when it premieres on the CW Network.
08:13WrestleVotes has reported that NXT is set to get a significant overhaul in presentation,
08:18potentially even including a new colour scheme and logo.
08:21Corey Brennan of Fightful adds that after last Tuesday's episode, the final one on
08:25the USA Network, the set was taken down, suggesting a new one will be debuted tomorrow.
08:31NXT head chef Shawn Michaels has teased that and more, first saying the presentation of
08:36the show will feature some cool bells and whistles, and when talking to Sports Illustrated,
08:40he teased new wrestlers could be getting added to the roster.
08:43And there are other big, big surprises coming down the pike.
08:46If you thought we were stacked before, you haven't seen anything yet.
08:50And that goes on both sides of the roster.
08:53Stephanie Vecchior debuted in the final segment of the last USA episode.
08:57And the Motor City Machine Guns and former New Japan star Hikaleo, the real-life brother
09:00of Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa, are reportedly signed with WWE, and are expected to feature
09:06on NXT.
09:07And they'll hopefully also be able to say naughty words.
09:10Because the other major change is that NXT is expected to take on a TV4 team rating.
09:15Because that's what it's being listed as on the CW's schedule.
09:18All WWE programming has been TVPG since July 22nd, 2008.
09:25This might pave the way for Raw also becoming a more adult product when it moves to Netflix
09:29in 2025.
09:30But it's fairer thought for one WWE show that didn't make the cut in all this overhauling,
09:35as PWInsider is 99.9% sure that The Bump is gone forever.
09:42Launching at the same time SmackDown premiered on Fox, The Bump has been running since October
09:462019 as a weekly, hour-long talk show, which is streamed on the WWE Network and across
09:52WWE's YouTube channel and social media.
09:54It was mostly hosted by Kayla Braxton and Matt Camp, where they'd interview special
09:58guests in the studio or remotely.
10:00But in February, Camp was released.
10:03The Bump was supposed to go on a hiatus, but it hasn't come back, and its social media
10:07channels have gone dark.
10:09A brand new WrestleTalk Original went live yesterday about the incredibly interesting
10:13case of the first time ever a wrestler was sent to prison for a wrestling move, and the
10:18ramifications that could have for the entire industry.
10:22Here's a clip.
10:24What happens when a professional wrestling match breaks down into a real act of violence?
10:30When a wrestler, in the heat of the moment or as a planned act of revenge, gives their
10:34opponent one of the industry's oldest, darkest secrets, known as the receipt?
10:41The unfortunate truth is nothing.
10:44It's an established practice in the industry.
10:46That is, until a landmark case in 2021 that changed British law, and potentially the future
10:53of wrestling around the world.
10:56I'm Oli Davis, and this is the story of when a wrestler was sent to prison for a wrestling