- 7 months ago
On today's afternews!
00:00 - Rundown
00:30 - WWE Booking Plans For Legend
05:04 - WWE DOESN’T CARE About This Title
11:35 - Ridge Holland GoFundMe Controversy
16:31 - Update On Injured WWE Star
00:00 - Rundown
00:30 - WWE Booking Plans For Legend
05:04 - WWE DOESN’T CARE About This Title
11:35 - Ridge Holland GoFundMe Controversy
16:31 - Update On Injured WWE Star
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Hello there, my very good friends. On this wrestling news video, WWE's booking plans for Legend.
00:05I'll tell you what's going on with the women's US title in WWE.
00:09Ridge Holland has issued a statement on the GoFundMe controversy.
00:13And what's this? Some actually good news?
00:15Hey!
00:16I'm Adam Will Vaughn.
00:17Andy H. Murray, the H stands for Higgs boson.
00:20Is that like a telescope or something?
00:22Sounds right, yeah, yeah.
00:23Yeah, a flying scope.
00:25This is the AFTA news.
00:27I've no idea what it is. It could be something terrible.
00:29Yeah, sorry if it is.
00:30Yeah.
00:30All right, let's talk about WWE's booking of Legend.
00:34Go on.
00:34Lash Legend.
00:35Oh!
00:36That is.
00:36Hey!
00:38She's going to be a fixture going forward.
00:41So she, this is a WrestleVotes report.
00:44She's on the main roster now, full time as of Friday.
00:47That wasn't just a one-off thing or anything like that.
00:50She's there.
00:51She's been called up.
00:52She is SmackDown now.
00:54Or, I mean, really any brand, because the split is, you know.
00:57The split is more of an elastic band these days.
01:00It goes all over the place.
01:01Everything's a super show.
01:02Who cares?
01:02Yeah, but she has effectively been called up.
01:04And apparently she's going to be a fixture.
01:07They're going to pair her with Nia Jax going for the foreseeable future, which they've already
01:12done on screen.
01:13But apparently there is a level of optimism about her within creative, which is good.
01:19Yeah, I mean, you don't really call someone up and go, ah, I'm not really enthusiastic
01:24about this.
01:24It's happened in the past.
01:26Yeah, well, yeah.
01:26What the hell are you doing to it?
01:27True.
01:28Yeah.
01:28Or when there was a disconnect between Vince and Triple H, you'll be like, Paul, why have
01:33you given me this 5'7 person?
01:35Or whatever.
01:37Now it's a bit more open.
01:38It's a bit better.
01:40So, yeah.
01:40Bright spot on what I thought was a dog-ass episode of SmackDown this week.
01:46Because I think Lash Legend is great.
01:48I think that from her first appearance to where she is today, she's one of the most improved
01:54wrestlers of the decade, maybe.
01:57Yeah, maybe.
01:57Because remember, though, was it Electra Lopez, the first match she had?
02:01Probably, that sounds about right.
02:02Ages and ages ago.
02:03And it was like, you two are not ready for TV.
02:06She was also a chat show host on NXT.
02:08She was.
02:08A chat show that had one question and then ended.
02:11Yeah.
02:12It wasn't great.
02:12It wasn't a great start to life.
02:14Well, the chat show was great, but let's not.
02:16But it's not her fault, right?
02:18Because they put her on TV way too early.
02:19Yes.
02:20But now she rocks.
02:21She's awesome.
02:23Yeah.
02:24I think she's one of the most promising wrestlers in the entire company.
02:27I thought she looked really good.
02:29Like, totally at home in the Rumble this year.
02:31Yeah.
02:31I think that the match with Nia Jax on TV the other month, what a triumph.
02:37Even Sidgwick liked it.
02:39Which bodes well, right, for when they eventually split up and feud.
02:44Yes.
02:44Because that's how it works.
02:46We all know how it works.
02:48Also, Nia Jax with someone who's just been called up is a proven formula, as we've seen
02:52with Tiffany Stratton.
02:53Good point, yeah.
02:54So it's all good.
02:55It's all positive and good.
02:58I like Lash.
02:59Legend.
02:59Yeah.
02:59She snatched up Alexa Bliss on SmackDown, if you didn't see this, to help Nia Jax distract
03:03Charlotte and win that single match.
03:05Just yoink.
03:05I mean, if they can retain the tag titles tonight, of course, they're defending against
03:09the Geeky Warriors on Raw, but another potential feud for them.
03:12Yeah, look, who could have possibly called this and seen this coming?
03:14Oh, that's right, the OTJ.
03:16I've been saying it for weeks on NXT after Lash lost.
03:19What a brave prediction.
03:21Lash Legend should be called on.
03:23Well, no, she just had a title match against Kendall Gray for the Evolve Championship.
03:28It was a bit like, well, what are we doing with her now on NXT?
03:31She's kind of done everything.
03:32I was like, time for the main roster.
03:33And there she is.
03:34But yeah, absolutely, I completely agree with you.
03:36Pairing her with Nia Jax is the right thing to do.
03:38And putting her in a tag team, because as great as I think she is, and as amazing as
03:42it doesn't match with Nia Jax is, it's still a step up the main roster.
03:45So to be able to ease yourself in, in tag team action, I think works really well as well.
03:51But like you say, it's not like she hasn't been tested already on the main roster.
03:54Her and Jakara Jackson, of course, a while back fought for the tag titles.
03:57Yeah.
03:57Her appearance in the Royal Rumble.
03:58She is amazing.
04:00She is a freak.
04:01She is a freak in a line of freaks that they're going to have of like ridiculous, like her
04:04and Bianca Belair is a tasty match now, like a power match.
04:07You've got obviously Jordan Grace waiting around in NXT to come up to the main roster.
04:10I think she's going to be absolutely sensational.
04:13And as we said, if you haven't seen that match with Nia on NXT, I know it's NXT, but trust
04:18me, it's well worth it.
04:18It's good.
04:19It is.
04:19It's good.
04:19It's a knockdown battle.
04:21Yeah.
04:21And I think her future is really bright.
04:24As long as the creative is good, she's going to fly.
04:27Yeah.
04:27She's going to absolutely fly.
04:28She's tremendous.
04:29You sense, and this isn't any sort of a smirching of Nia Jax, but you sense that you're guaranteed
04:34to get a good booking if you're aligned with someone like her.
04:36She's, Nia Jax has tenured.
04:38She's been in the company for years.
04:40She is herself very much improved from her early days.
04:43I agree.
04:44She's a credit to the show now.
04:46And she's the perfect like upper mid card gatekeeper.
04:49Absolutely.
04:49You beat Nia Jax, she's the monster of the division.
04:51You beat her, you're getting a title run probably.
04:54So yeah, it's a great spot for her to be.
04:55I think this is wholly positive.
04:57I see no negatives from this whatsoever.
05:00Best look to it.
05:00That's me.
05:01I always see a negative, brother.
05:03But this, tremendous.
05:04Well, speaking of title runs, maybe she could have a shot at the US title.
05:08What on earth is going on with that?
05:09A match that went, if you're lucky, 100 seconds on SmackDown in the weekend.
05:16With Chelsea Green winning back the US title from Julia.
05:19Who's, through no fault of her own in my opinion, done absolutely nothing with it.
05:23Wasn't it from Zelina had two defences?
05:25Two defences in like 120 days.
05:29Great booking.
05:30Yeah.
05:31Great.
05:31And obviously people are like, what is going on with the US title?
05:35What is going on with Julia?
05:36They ask the person that always has the answers to these sort of things.
05:39Sean Ross Sapp, obviously.
05:40Oh, yeah.
05:41Another fight for Q&A.
05:42And Sean replied, the reality is that WWE never had a plan nor really cared about the United States title.
05:47It was a hastily made decision after Chelsea Green and Meechian had a banger feud without a title.
05:51Fair enough.
05:52That kind of justified it.
05:53The bid.
05:54Respect the bid.
05:55Yes, and there was no world title plans for either woman.
05:58That's a shame.
05:58In addition to adding an IC title that Becky Lynch willed into relevance, they added the US title with no significant creative plans or real time that they planned on giving it.
06:08Bodyslam.net as well, by the way, claimed that there were plans for Julia to enter the main event picture in the women's division, which could be why she lost that US title to Chelsea Green.
06:16Yeah, just a word on both of these, Andy.
06:19I really like Chelsea Green with the US championship.
06:21And then they took it off her and gave it to Zelina Verga.
06:24And I was like, okay, Chelsea Green could go somewhere and do, you know, could, I think, personally, 2026 is the year she elevates herself into the world title picture, but that's just me.
06:32Yeah.
06:33And I thought, okay, Lenny Mean, what are you going to do with this?
06:37Nothing.
06:37Okay, you put it on Julia.
06:39Julia's great.
06:39Obviously, big fan, Fairfair, when she arrived in NXT.
06:42She sort of appeared on the main roster with Roxanne Perez, of course, after WrestleMania.
06:49And you sort of, fans understandably, went, okay, her and Stephanie Baquer.
06:52Yeah, one of those things is not the same.
06:55Yes, yes, yes.
06:56She's a Vicarious World Champion right now.
06:57And yes, Julia's had a US title reign, but it will be forgotten by the time January rolls around at the absolute latest.
07:04It's a real shame.
07:05Pairing up with Keanu James, I thought initially was a good idea because it's like, okay, you've got a bit of a mouthpiece in Keanu James and she can, if you can have her be heel, do some shenanigans.
07:13And then again, they did nothing with it.
07:15And Keanu James arguably wrestled more than Julia did at certain points.
07:19Weird, but hopefully if this is just like a, you know what, that didn't work, the US title, forget about all that.
07:25Let's put it in the world title picture.
07:26Good, because she's really good in the ring.
07:29You just don't get to see it or they put her out there and no one cares because they've not been given a reason to care.
07:32They've not put any effort into Bollinger's character and everything else.
07:35I'm yawning at this.
07:36I don't know why.
07:37Boring booking.
07:38I'm really sorry, Triple H.
07:39I'm not sorry because the booking of the, I mean, the booking of the US title has been dog ass, right?
07:46This thing about them not caring about it.
07:48I'm not surprised at all, right?
07:50The move to put it back on Chelsea Green strikes me as well.
07:53We might as well put it on the person who is going to try hard so that we don't have to.
07:56The only person who's made any good out of all this.
07:58Nothing against Selena and Julia.
08:00It's down to booking.
08:00But like you say, yeah, go back to what worked.
08:03And Chelsea Green is the US champion.
08:05Did work.
08:05Fans enjoyed it.
08:07Chelsea is going to do the heavy lifting that the booking will not.
08:10Absolutely.
08:11Is the conclusion here.
08:13Because she's the most televisual person in the entire company.
08:17She gobbles up every single second of screen time because she's great.
08:21And she adapts and she does everything.
08:23She does so much with so little sometimes.
08:25And that's why she is going to be a world champion one day.
08:27Was there a bit of tease with her and Jade on Smackdown?
08:30A little look.
08:31And I went.
08:32Here we go.
08:33It was epic bacon.
08:34It was.
08:35As they say in the business.
08:36I had bacon sandwich on Saturday morning when I watched Smackdown.
08:38Actually, funny.
08:39Was it epic?
08:39My wife made it, so I'll have to say yes.
08:42Let epic bacon.
08:43Let epic bacon.
08:44It was French.
08:45Put a bit of French mustard on there.
08:48Yeah.
08:49I mean, look.
08:50It's the least important title on the main roster.
08:53But Chelsea Green will elevate it because she's Chelsea Flippin' Green, baby.
08:57It is weird like how, it's a bit like how there's an argument to be made by some fans
09:03that you can't have two good wrestling, there are only two wrestling companies, of course,
09:06to be re-NAW.
09:07Yeah, that's right.
09:08But they can't both be good at the same time.
09:10It feels like that's the same with the women's US and IC title.
09:13Like the US started in a better position, in my opinion, than the IC title.
09:16Yeah, I agree.
09:17Like I love Lyra of Valkyria and the tournament for her winning it was fun.
09:20But then it was just like, who cares?
09:22Now, Becky Lynch has made it feel like, effectively, a world title to her that she wants to defend.
09:28And they've got an amazing feud out of, no offence to her, but Maxine Dupree challenging
09:34for this down the road.
09:36And then they sort of did Chelsea Green and then they just went, oh, that's done.
09:39And then they forgot about it, basically.
09:42Absolutely put it back on champ champ, I should say.
09:45Chelsea Green, of course, doing some great stuff with Ethan Page.
09:48They're the AAA mixed tag team champions.
09:50They're in a load of fun with that on NXT.
09:53Hopefully, that will lead to some people from NXT maybe even challenging on the main roster.
09:57You could have some fun with, like the fact that one of the few shining lights on tonight
10:00now, the US Open challenge with Ilya Dragunov and previously Sami Zayn, is the one certified
10:04banger on the show.
10:06Do a weird version of that with Chelsea Green, but make her be Chelsea Green doing a US challenge.
10:11The certified sh**ter.
10:12Where it's like, Chelsea ruins all the matches.
10:16Yeah, but not saying she'll be bad.
10:17Yeah, she deliberately finds a way to get out of it.
10:20Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:21She like ruins every match by taking the DQ or whatever, I'm in it in.
10:24So you have the banger in.
10:27I'm sorry, just because you know how they like get everything sponsored.
10:30You know, it's like, oh, Maybelline on NXT or whatever.
10:33No, brought to you by Arby's.
10:36It's time for the certified sh**ter.
10:40Sorry, who's editing this?
10:42Ryan.
10:43Sorry, Ryan.
10:43Sorry, Ryan.
10:44Fair enough.
10:44Yeah, yeah.
10:45I thought that'd be a nice contrast.
10:47Because like, you can have a really, really stiff, hard-working Ilya Dragunov match and then
10:52Chelsea Green does a roll-up.
10:53It's just absolutely smashing it in the ratings.
10:57Oh, time for it.
10:57Oh, the sh**ter has done it again, lads.
11:01Listen, listen.
11:03Main event sh**ter.
11:04This is a compliment.
11:05This is a compliment, by the way.
11:07Chelsea Green should have crap matches by design.
11:09Because she's a heel.
11:11She, you know.
11:11That's the way she won the title back.
11:13Yeah, exactly.
11:14She should roll people up and grab tight and take shortcuts as the character.
11:18But yeah.
11:19Do you reckon that'll be the thing that saves SmackDown?
11:22I don't know.
11:22I felt like people kind of overreacted at the weekend, but anyway.
11:27Yeah, I mean.
11:28Me and Avalon are going to talk about it on SmackDown, so join us for that.
11:31He'll probably be out by now, actually.
11:33Good luck.
11:34Right.
11:36Ridge Holland.
11:37Sorry, I shouldn't laugh as we're going to this story.
11:39Let's talk about Ridge Holland.
11:40Yeah.
11:41Ridge Holland had.
11:42So, man, this situation is.
11:46There's something new every day, it seems.
11:47Yeah.
11:47As we know, he's gone from WWE, there's lots of cruel circumstances.
11:53I think it was a pretty evil, callous move by the company to let him go while he was injured
11:57and then just cancel what was remaining of his contract because he spoke about not being
12:02able to pay his mortgage online.
12:03Yeah.
12:05He has since addressed all of this.
12:07He's uploaded a video, but he's also tweeted something that caused a lot of conversation,
12:13shall we say, was a GoFundMe that was opened to benefit Ridge, or Luke Menzies, sorry.
12:19Yes.
12:20And his family wasn't opened by Ridge himself.
12:24It was opened by a family member.
12:26A lot of people criticized it, came out and said, why haven't you saved money from your
12:30career and all of this stuff?
12:32Like a lot.
12:33The dumbest thing I ever saw was people going, hey, Grok, how much is Ridge worth?
12:37And it was like, you have $12 million, mate, according to the robot.
12:42So Miller's got, I think I Googled this before, and I think it was some of my website, like
12:46Celebrity Birthdays told me, Simon Miller's worth $5 million.
12:49So when we went to America, I was like, guess you're picking this one up.
12:52Yeah, yeah.
12:52Get on the roulette table, Daddy, let's go.
12:55So yeah.
12:56Ever-reliable Grok.
12:58Yeah.
12:58Imagine relying on Grok.
13:01Jesus.
13:01He's like Ultron, sifted through his finances.
13:05$5 million, probably.
13:06Yeah.
13:07Idiot.
13:08Oh, Grok.
13:09Ask Grok, where is New Zealand?
13:11And they'll tell you it's halfway between Liechtenstein and Ethiopia.
13:15Like, you know, it's a piece of crap.
13:18But when I Google something now and it's like, here's your answer.
13:20And I was like, well, that's not the answer.
13:21Yeah, the little preview.
13:22It's always wrong.
13:23Yeah.
13:23Like, there's always something.
13:25It's just like, no, just give me a search result.
13:27I don't need this wrong robot.
13:29Sorry, who is the current WWE world champion?
13:32Oh, cool.
13:32Bruno Sammartino it is.
13:33Yeah.
13:34What?
13:35He's been reigning for 52 years.
13:37The original tribal chief.
13:41He was in a row.
13:42He's been A1.
13:43I hate AI so much.
13:44He's been A1 since day one.
13:47But Rich Holland, Luke Menzies, has put a statement out of the GoFundMe.
13:53I'm just going to read you what he said.
13:55Thank you all for the incredible support shown through the GoFundMe campaign.
13:58However, I want to clarify that I was not aware of the page going live and had no prior
14:03discussion with the family member who created it.
14:05I've since requested that no further donations be accepted and this change should take effect
14:09within 24 hours.
14:10Once we figure out how to move forward and I recoup the amount donated, I will be donating
14:15said amount to charity.
14:17I sincerely apologise if the page cost any upset or offence.
14:22That was never the intention.
14:23Thank you for understanding and kindness.
14:26So, yeah, there you go.
14:28I think that people have just been unnecessary, cruel to this man throughout the entire situation
14:33and, look, if this is something that was putting heat on him, I totally understand and
14:39I, yeah, I get it.
14:43I'm with him in this.
14:44Look, I've said this multiple times with this story report.
14:48Just because you don't like a wrestler doesn't mean they should suffer through something like
14:52this.
14:53Or because they dare besmirch the wrestling promotion that your personality is built around.
14:58It was just, it was like, it didn't affect me.
15:00I don't care about people donating to him and him getting this money to try and support
15:04through this very tough time, obviously.
15:06Yes, they're paying for his surgeries, but that means you're the day-to-day stuff, you
15:09know, you need to live.
15:10He's not got any money coming in for, and you can all sit there and say, oh, well, why
15:15don't you save your money?
15:15Oh, well.
15:16Oh, but you've got yourself an iPhone now, haven't you?
15:18Which is a topic that I hate just because when people talk about, like, poor people.
15:22Yeah, that's insane.
15:22Oh, got yourself an iPhone, have you?
15:25Anyway.
15:26You can buy a flipping second-hand iPhone at CEX.
15:30It was just a bit of a nice moment.
15:32I saw, we were just talking before we started recording, people like Kyle Fletcher donated
15:35money.
15:35You said Chelsea Green donated money.
15:37That was just a nice, I said this at the time.
15:39Like, it's nice that the wrestling community rallies around each other sometimes.
15:43I agree.
15:43But yeah.
15:45Look, whatever.
15:46Yeah.
15:46It's good that charity's going to get some money out of this.
15:48Yeah, a lot of nastiness.
15:50And ultimately, I think it's a really ugly, horrible situation.
15:55Like, Jinder Mahal had a really good breakdown of the, you know, the point that, oh, he should
15:59have saved his money.
16:00Oh, he was earning this, blah, blah, blah.
16:01Jinder had a really good tweet where he was talking about, like, getting gear made, paying
16:07for your meals, your travel, all of this stuff.
16:09Taxation, obviously.
16:12Training fees from, you know, to keep yourself in great shape when you're on the road and
16:16all of this stuff.
16:17And then you have to supply, you have to pay your mortgage, you have to pay for your free
16:21kids, you have to pay for your family and supply your family with a quality of life.
16:24Yeah, money goes away quickly.
16:25I think people see the number of, like, here's what you get paid on the main roster and just
16:28think, cool, everyone's balling.
16:30Yeah, exactly.
16:31Not working on work like that.
16:32Exactly.
16:33Were you still on this news, Andy, do, and, and finally, as a little bit of a fun concluding
16:38piece, and I'm generally considering bringing it back as a matter of depressing stories we
16:42have to talk about.
16:42But our final story today is some actual good news, so thank you for sticking around for
16:46it, about Zoe Stark.
16:47Obviously, horrible, horrible injury she suffered back in May.
16:51She landed awkwardly off the top rope.
16:54People were very concerned with a knee injury, and yet it was awful.
16:57She had to undergo surgery for her ACL, MCL, and meniscus.
17:01The big three, basically.
17:03And back in August, you may remember, she was sharing her frustrations with how the recovery
17:08process was going.
17:09It was always going to be a long-term thing, which means it's a physical, you know, toil
17:13on her, but also an emotional thing.
17:15And she was on the up and oppies without question in WWE when this injury happened to her.
17:20But Body Slam now reporting that Zoe Stark is aiming for a mid-2026 return to WWE.
17:25WWE as well.
17:26Still high on her, very high on her.
17:28Talking about bringing her back as a babyface, which makes all the sense in the world.
17:32Just nice to hear that her recovery's going well.
17:34She's got a date to target.
17:37Look, these sort of things, I've never been through it, obviously, but you always hear
17:41about how athletes across all sports have real ups and downs in these time periods.
17:46And I think it's often reflected when you hear talk by, like, always, obviously, Britt
17:49Baker and Adam Cole sticks in my mind of them talking about what they had to go through.
17:53You never know what these people are going through behind closed doors.
17:55It's not just a case of, well, I hope this, you know, when you cut your hand, well, I
17:59hope this gets better.
18:01A little bit more complicated than that.
18:02A bunch of boo-boos.
18:03Yeah.
18:03Ilya Dragunov, you sense the emotion in him talking about the dark places he went to whilst
18:07he was coming back from a year-long injury.
18:09But yeah, Zoe has a target to return to, and it's nice to hear that the company is still
18:13behind her.
18:14Yeah, absolutely, because, you know, it was one of those injuries where it was so visually
18:20grisly because we saw it on TV and the way her leg moved and all that stuff.
18:25It's one of those ones that you immediately look at and you go, oh, that is a horrific
18:29injury.
18:30Sometimes those aren't always the ones that keep people out for years.
18:34Sometimes it's the invisible things like the concussions and stuff.
18:37No, in this case, it was, she just destroyed her knee on that landing that just did not
18:44go well.
18:45So, yeah, I don't know how you can't feel sympathetic for her.
18:48It's a brutal situation.
18:49And glad to have a bit of daylight as to when she might be back.
18:55She's obviously still going to be out for a long, long time.
18:59It's risky knee injury stuff.
19:01Yeah.
19:01We're just watching a thing about Dominic Cruz over the weekend.
19:05The problem with knee injuries is when you've got such a horrific injury with, I'm not a
19:09doctor, but ACL, MCL and meniscus all destroyed.
19:12Then all the weight goes on your other knee and then that weakens as well.
19:15So, it's a really risky thing.
19:16So, I hope she gets better at her recovery ASAP.
19:18And we've seen, like, Nixon Newell, who we spoke about earlier, is a good example.
19:23She's had knee troubles in the past and you obviously hope, like, in some ways the extended
19:27return window is kind of good because at least that shows they're giving a long time for
19:32this to heal, right?
19:33Yeah, yeah, exactly.
19:34But look, I'm sure they're following all the medical advice and all that stuff from the
19:38experts, who they should listen to, not us.
19:40And I'm glad that she has a target and a recovery window.
19:45Finally, some good news to report.
19:47Yeah.
19:47Well, we're going to talk about tomorrow.
19:49I don't know.
19:49I'm trying to think.
19:50Beloved dog accidentally eats.
19:54Belt.
19:55Belt.
19:55Belt.
19:56Yeah, there you go.
19:57There you go.
19:58Cody fed his dog to.
20:00Wait a minute.
20:01Cody fed his belt to Pharaoh.
20:03Almost had fed his dog to Pharaoh.
20:06Pharaoh is the dog.
20:07What are we doing?
20:08Congratulations.
20:09You ate yourself.
20:09What are we doing?
20:12Anyway, let us know your thoughts on that.
20:13Getting out of here.
20:14That's what we're doing.
20:15Gee, we're speaking of Knicks and yours.
20:17We want this morning's news video all about that whole situation with AW over the weekend.
20:20It's available right here.
20:22Bye.
20:22Bye.
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