00:00 WWE had a crisis with Raw this week, Triple H is making big changes backstage and the
00:06 real reason AEW have abandoned plans to sign a top 3 agent.
00:11 I'm Luke Owen and this is Wrestling News.
00:22 This week's Raw took place from Little Rock, Arkansas, which might have been hot in ring
00:28 but was very cold outside - with Raw opening with a shot of its latest signing, Snow.
00:41 Jackie Redman even noted during a backstage interview with Seth Rollins that she could
00:45 see his breath as he was speaking because it was so cold in Little Rock, Arkansas.
00:53 And it didn't go unnoticed by fans that the set looked different, with the show not
00:57 being as brightly lit as it normally is.
00:59 And no, it was not the return of that third hour Raw Dark or whatever it was that Mick
01:03 Foley promised that one time.
01:05 This comes off the back of reports of cost cutting within the company.
01:08 Since TKOCOO Mark Shapiro - that's fun to say - noted that WWE were scaling back on
01:14 house shows and added at a media conference, "We are going to scrutinize every dollar
01:19 on the production end of every single one of these events and every single one of these
01:24 telecasts and we're going to realize substantial savings."
01:28 This did lead some to wonder if this new scaled back set would become the norm for Raw and
01:33 Smackdown - but that would appear not to be the case.
01:37 Basically Snow is a pain in the arse.
01:40 But it wasn't just the weather that held the production of Raw back, as PWInsider report
01:44 that the Simmons Bank Arena was not structured in a way that could support the company's
01:49 current lighting rigs.
01:51 Apparently WWE usually hang their lighting from the ceiling, which was not possible,
01:56 and there was the added concern of snow on the roof - which meant that Raw just had to
02:00 be a bit darker this week.
02:02 Triple H posted his gratitude to the production staff via Twitter, highlighting that they
02:06 needed to redesign the set of Raw in less than 24 hours.
02:10 I actually mistook this week's stage as part of a new set design for the show, because
02:15 there have been reports that WWE shows will start to look different - what with Mark Shapiro's
02:20 comments and especially with the departure of Kevin Dunn.
02:25 When Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select asked if this new stage would become the norm for
02:28 WWE, he wasn't given a definitive answer.
02:32 However, a new set had been discussed recently.
02:36 The gnarly weather also affected travel for the show, with commentary noting that DIY
02:40 nearly didn't make it to Raw for their match with JD McDonough and Dominik Mysterio.
02:45 Johnny Gargano revealed that mad Twitter schedule via Twitter, highlighting their various cancelled
02:50 flights before they drove for five hours to get to Little Rock - arriving just a few hours
02:56 before their match.
02:57 But while the set for this week's Raw was weather affected, the backstage production
03:02 changes have little to do with outside temperatures - and all to do with Triple H's new crew.
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03:38 Kevin Dunn has had a stranglehold on WWE's production, having been with the company since
03:43 before the first WrestleMania.
03:45 Despite how virtually everyone complained about the way WWE was shot or staged, nothing
03:52 changed.
03:53 Crash zooms, constant camera movements, wrestlers watching TV's weird, they were always there
03:57 and were never going to go away.
03:59 But Kevin Dunn is now done, handing in his notice to WWE just prior to Christmas last
04:05 year after his relationship with the company was getting ugly and he felt disrespected
04:10 for being a Vince McMahon guy.
04:12 His absence was felt almost immediately, with the opening of the Day One edition of Raw
04:17 feeling different to previous shows.
04:20 But perhaps the biggest and most notable change has been in two backstage segments over the
04:24 last couple of weeks.
04:25 That Day One edition of Raw saw Chelsea Green and Piper Niven confront Katana Chance and
04:30 Kayden Carter in a nightclub, and Tyler Bate had a coffee date with Pete Dunn on this past
04:35 Friday Smackdown.
04:36 Those weren't shot like normal WWE backstage segments.
04:40 They were more edited, more directed, more… good?
04:45 Rather than feel like wrestling segments, they felt like they were from staged reality
04:49 TV shows like The Only Way is Essex or, for our American viewers, The Kardashians.
04:54 And those who have been keeping a close eye on WWE over the past few years will have noticed
04:59 that they felt a little bit NXT 2.0.
05:03 And that's not by accident.
05:04 Sean Ross Sapp over at Fightful Select report that these sorts of skits and sketches were
05:08 things that Kevin Dunn didn't previously want, and that Triple H has given former TNA
05:14 producer Jeremy Borash a lot of power to put together a team to film these segments over
05:19 the last couple of years.
05:22 Triple H and Borash worked together closely when Trips was running NXT Creative, and the
05:26 reports at the time said that he was grooming him to be his version of what Kevin Dunn was
05:31 for Vince McMahon.
05:32 Hilariously, SRS notes that this multi-year Borash plan was done "safely under Kevin
05:38 Dunn's radar", with one source noting that if Dunn had shot these, they would have
05:42 likely cut away to several different things.
05:45 But the internal feeling is that these more staged segments let the characters breathe.
05:50 SRS adds that with no Kevin Dunn, there is a door open to feature that style of promo
05:56 across all WWE shows.
05:59 Triple H is reportedly very happy with how the segments came out, and Fightful reports
06:03 that several people associated with helping put together the promos spoke highly of the
06:08 new process and the "freedom" to them.
06:10 But what do you think of them?
06:12 I like them, but I think they can be quite divisive.
06:15 So let me know what you make of this new design of backstage segments in the comments below.
06:20 And speaking of divisive, lastly from this past Monday's Raw if you missed it, Jinder
06:25 Mahal did, in fact, not win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship - as Seth Rollins
06:38 beat him to retain the title in about 13 minutes.
06:41 Look I don't think anyone had any real thought that Jinder Mahal might beat Rollins for the
06:46 title given that we're a few months out from WrestleMania and we're already building a
06:50 Rollins vs. Punk program for the title, and you know, Jinder Mahal hasn't won a match
06:56 in over a year.
06:57 But there was online chatter that WWE could pull the trigger on this quite silly idea.
07:04 And a lot of this stemmed from AEW's Tony Khan, who had a Twitter meltdown over the
07:08 idea of Mahal going for the title last week - even getting into arguments with Eric Bischoff
07:13 and Jonathan Coachman.
07:14 That is, grown men arguing on Twitter.
07:17 And perhaps five years ago, or seven years ago, WWE might have seen this online buzz
07:23 that Jinder was getting and thought, "let's put the title on that lad there".
07:27 But this isn't Vince McMahon's WWE anymore.
07:31 This is Papa H's WWE.
07:33 And Papa H has a plan, and in a shock wrestling twist, he's sticking to the plan - Fightful
07:39 Selector reporting that there was never consideration to have Jinder win the title.
07:44 Furthermore, despite teasing the idea that he might, there wasn't any discussion about
07:48 Damian Priest cashing in his Money in the Bank contract.
07:52 More likely, the Priest-bot was booked to build to the Drew McIntyre match for next
07:55 week and to give Indus Shirt a weapon to hit Seth with for that one great nearfall.
08:00 I am of course unsurprised about all of this.
08:03 I predicted this sort of meaningless mini-push for Mahal would happen every few months in
08:09 2024.
08:10 So, every three months, he will get a three week push.
08:26 Three week is not hyphenated.
08:28 Tri-monthly isn't a word.
08:31 Tri-monthly.
08:33 Three week.
08:34 Push.
08:35 Jinder's WWE contract is actually up in 2024, which is heating up to be the big year
08:56 of free agents.
08:57 Pete Quinnell did a whole video over the Christmas period of the upcoming free agents, but there
09:01 are some massive names on the list.
09:04 On the WWE side of things, you've got Alexa Bliss, Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins and Becky
09:09 Lynch all having their contracts expire this year.
09:12 While on the AEW side of things, you've got names like Dustin Rhodes and Bryan Danielson.
09:17 But one of the big names outside of North America is the current New Japan Strong Women's
09:23 Champion Julia.
09:24 It's been reported for some time that Julia will likely be heading to either WWE or AEW
09:30 as her contract with Bushi Road - the company that owns Stardom - was coming to an end in
09:34 March of this year.
09:36 Julia successfully defended her Strong Women's Championship over the weekend against Trish
09:40 Adora - a match that was originally supposed to be against Mercedes Monet - with Monet
09:44 planned to win the title that was designed for her in the first place.
09:48 But Dave Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Monet and New Japan could
09:52 not agree to more dates, and that plan was scrapped.
09:56 Meltzer also wrote in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Julia will spend a few months
10:00 after her contract expires in March studying English before signing with WWE - which will
10:06 reportedly happen later this year.
10:09 So what happened to AEW's interest in her?
10:11 Well Dave Meltzer reported late last year that AEW never made a serious play to sign
10:16 Julia and she'd had no serious conversations with them.
10:19 He wrote in December, "It's WWE or staying in Japan."
10:24 He added yesterday on Wrestling Observer Radio, "Julia never got an offer from AEW, at least
10:28 a couple of weeks ago, like two weeks ago.
10:31 For whatever reason, they didn't go after her.
10:34 I don't know why."
10:35 This sparked some backlash to Tony Khan and AEW online, as it feels like a missed opportunity
10:41 to not try and sign one of the hottest free agents in pro wrestling - particularly when
10:45 you've got fans asking for more women's wrestling on Dynamite and Collision.
10:49 There's even been reports that Khan could be rebuilding his women's division for 2024,
10:54 signing both Mariah May and Deanna Perazzo recently, as many expect Mercedes Monét
10:59 will sign with AEW soon.
11:01 So with all that in mind, why not go for Julia?
11:05 Well according to Ibu of WrestlePurist, the real reason AEW never made a play for Julia
11:10 was "they don't think she's particularly good".
11:13 But that's Julia, who got several near 5 star matches in 2023 and is considered to
11:19 be one of the best wrestlers in Japan and the whole world right now.
11:23 Yeah, just not particularly good.
11:27 You do you AEW, but hey if you were impressed with my Jinder Mahal prediction - and you
11:32 should be - we also did predictions for every WWE star's 2024 Royal Rumble in three words
11:38 or less/fewer.
11:39 (upbeat music)
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