LUKE: What would you have done with Cody if you couldn’t have him face Reigns? Let us know in the comments! Worst Match Ever 👉 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bpqimqZpxtmWip8.html More wrestling news on wrestletalk.com/ Unlock the secrets to working in professional wrestling, sign up to www.wrestlingmasterclass.com/ 00:00 - Coming up... 00:16 - Hiromu Takahashi Has Nice Balls 01:39 - Insane Cody Rhodes Plans Revealed 04:13 - WORST MATCH EVER: Watch Now! 05:30 - Real Reason Dijak Left WWE 08:03 - AEW Star Returning Soon 09:07 - AEW Ratings Bounce Back... Sort Of

While Cody vs Roman may not have been the original direction I don’t believe WWE would leave there top babyface of the show completely

AEW ratings bounce back... thanks to The Big Bang Theory

If it has to be Rock v. Roman, Seth v. Punk, Drew v. Damian, then I would remove KO from the US title match and instead have him be so furious at Cody for giving up his shot that he wants to beat the hell out of him at Wrestlemania himself.

If original plans had gone through, WM40 would've easily been the absolute worst.

Wall to wall, “we want Cody,” chants, throughout WrestleMania is what would have happened if no Cody for ‘Mania. With booing the Rock and cheering Roman as the consolation prize. Woulda been nuts.

the nba draft was NOT a big deal this year. not much competition

I’m sorry, but there was no way on earth they was gonna leave the biggest babyface in the business off of WM40

Luke Owen Don’t Clickbait Cody Challenge: Impossible

Heroes of Wrestling makes Crown Jewel 2018 look like WrestleMania X-7

Sheldon is AEW biggest draw

literally no chance in hell Cody wasnt going to be on either night of Mania.

Wait... Winner of Royal Rumble was not planned for Wrestlemania? Tell me Vince was behind this without telling me Vince was behind this.

I still wanna know why WWE decided to release Dijak. Big fumble

Luke: We don’t do anything NXT or TNA related because it doesn’t do well for our numbers, and we don’t have time for it. Also Luke: Here’s a minute story about a NJPW wrestler’s testicles and a minute and a half ad for our other stuff

The Big Bang Theory reruns are Dynamite's biggest draw 🙃

It's not people sticking around after watching the big bang theory- it's people not changing the channel quick enough and artificially inflating the first quarter hour

Tanahashi needs to come out to AC/DC's 'big balls' song

Instead of Worst Match Ever can we bring back Wrestle talk on Sat E Day!!!

Absolutely refuse to believe that hundreds of thousands of people only watch AEW because the Big Bang Theory (A show that ended 5 years ago now) is playing re-runs on prior to the show. It’s not even like they had a bad lead in, they were showing Black Panther, a movie from Marvel’s heyday.

1:16 Literally did a spit take into a smokers laugh when luke was telling about takahashi nuts. That was not on my bingo card folks lol 😂

Bring back Smackdown reviews while you're at it

Hiromu talking about his ball Luke: Can I see them

This weeks dynamite was one of the worst wrestling tv shows I’ve ever seen

BBT lead in was 846k, and then it tanked 15 minutes later to 706k before dropping further to 613k towards the end of hour 1. Hour 2 increased again to 717k before dropping back to 615k towards the end

I don't like you saying the original plan wasn't cody v roman it clearly was, it wasn't the rocks original plan, clearly doesn't have the company's best interests in mind just his own personal glory in a predetermined sport, not surprising from guy with a no lose clause in movie contracts

cody not going to be on Mania is just pure BS. other than matches stated by luke it woulda have to be Logan/ Randy/ Gunther or a possible legend? any other ideas? always wondered this event tho they pivioted TG.

This time-line where Rock ends Romans legendary reign feels like it would've happened in the world where Vince was still in charge.

Here’s what I don’t get about ratings talk… It’s the summer. We go out and do things here in the US during the summer. Doesn’t matter what night. I bet next week’s AEW ratings will be horrible because it’s the night before the 4th and we’ll all be partying.

Good day to y'all in wrestletalk world

This is the most "for the sickos" card AEWs ever done 😂

Man, I miss Hayter so much

Letting Dijak go is insane. He had one of the best in-ring performances at Stand & Deliver, was regularly used on NXT and had a grass roots movement with the "Push Dijak" signs. Why call him up just to fire him?

I would align Brit and Jamie to have them both tearing through everyone when they return... gaining both women's titles.

Hearing about those wrestlemania 40 plans was interesting to say the least, I do wonder down the road if Cody would be able to have that storyline with The Rock knowing he does have that elbow injury! Wishing him the best with recovery.

The Dijak thing is incredibly odd.... its like somebody wanted to sprinkle a little bit of Vince behaviour in...

Damn, Hogan really did pass the torch to Rock at Wrestlemania X8, didn't he?

Please. The somebody told somebody thing and your going to run it as facts. Lost a lot of respect for this wrestletalk channel now

Dijak needs to go to NJPW. Why do you guys always need to say that these released talents need to go to AEW? AEW is so full that they will not be used just like in WWE.

If Cody wasn’t on the show just cancel mania at that point, crazy how we went from having potentially the worst main event of all time with one of the worst title wins ever and got the complete inverse of that, also releasing a top 10 wrestler on the mic in that ring even in commentary is just insane

That would have been one of the worst decisions in recent wrestling history. How could anyone think it was a good idea to leave Cody, one of the biggest draws in the company and the top babyface in 2023, off the card of the 40th anniversary of WrestleMania? I’m glad that timeline doesn’t exist, because boy would that have sucked.

Luke. you're killing it in life, the news and as a dad

since you brought back Worst Matches Ever, how about you bring back Smackdown Reviews?

If Cody wasn’t on the show, wwe would not be as hot as it is rn. Actually it would be very cold, and everyone would hate Triple H’s booking and some would probably want Vince to return. The path it took was a necessary one, and the fact that it wasn’t the first booking decision is insane to me!

I remember at some point you guys said the Friday Night Smackdown reviews are coming back. As hot as smackdown is getting hot again?

You forgor to mention that Mystico is the Original SIN CARA from WWE.

That tweet has a point. Dijak screams 2004 WHC, and feud with The Undertaker

What doesn’t make sense about the “original Cody ‘Mania booking” is he won the rumble. He’d absolutely be on the show. Did I misunderstand? If this is truly the case, yikes! That would have been a major ball drop.

Thank you for appearing on The Ethan Starre Show, Luke!

It doesn’t matter when but I want to see Roman vs the Rock that still hasn’t happened yet!!!!

Its like a broken record at this point, but Dijak would be a good piece for AEW. Need big guys to contrast the flippy jumpy guys

It’s a good opportunity for Dijak to get rid of bad gimmicks and finally get to wrestle hopefully Keith Lee again would be cool.

Ricochet should negotiate becoming the first NJPW black champion as well as dual NWA champion

The wild thing is the actual original plan was Cody vs Roman lol. Don't forget Rock was the one who nearly screwed things up!

I'd love to see another match between Dijak and Keith Lee

CM Punk was supposed to win the 2024 Royal Rumble and challenge Seth for the WHC at Mania, but got injured during the match and had to change plans at the last minute during the match and have Cody win it and set up Roman vs. Cody II at Mania instead.

Dijack to AEW and joining the Learning Tree. “Hi Guys!!!” 👋

Not booking the winner of the RR to be at WM would be up there with the STUPIDEST decisions in WWE history. There is a reason RR is so prestigious, and that is the winner is guaranteed a title shot at WM, and to yank Cody away from that opportunity will tarnish the prestige of the RR and would be meaningless to win if the authorities can just change it on a whim. If they wanted Rock Vs Reigns, never should have Cody win the Rumble, and that at least would make sense.

Damn it’s Luke, I don’t feel like hearing a bad limp bizcut bit so adios!

I hope Dijak goes to AEW and we can see the Lee vs Dijak

As a Kamen Rider fan it'll be fun to see Takahashi wrestle.

Always appreciate a partridge quote but that was just saaaaaaad

Prince Puma vs Will Ospreay at All in anyone?

Punk's unfortunate injury had unexpectedly saved Wrestlemania 40 from being a flop. My goodness😮. But I hope Punk gets his Wrestlemania moment at 41, he deserves one after unfortunately having to missed out on this year.

They never wanted to use dijak as a star tbh. He was too good at making people look really good and i think that hurt him.i don't even remember him being drafted to raw i thought he'd been in nxt the whole time. He'll probably be better utilized elsewhere tbh

I am by all means happy with how mania 40 went down. But if it didn’t and it was Roman vs Rock, and Punk vs Seth, I would’ve done a feud with Drew and Cody sharing their pasts of leaving wwe and coming back but Drew being still bitter about not winning with a crowd, and Cody being the face and still believing he will get to the mountain top and Drew should change his ways. Maybe in an I Quit Match or Dog Collar match to spice it up.

Worst match ever returning for another season is enough to turn this year around for it to be a good one

The only sports draft that will have any bearing on viewership is the first round of the NFL draft. It’s time to accept that this is around the number of people who are interested in Dynamite on a weekly basis.

"I won the royal rumble, so that means I've won a spot in the main event at wrestlemania.... as the special guest referee!"

Lmao that Hiromu Takahashi quote 😆 so i guess hes the Japanese spokesman for Manscaped?

I heard the plan on a podcast if it was rock vs Roman, punk vs Seth. Cody was penciled in to beat Gunther for the ic title. Then the plan was Cody vs Roman SummerSlam for the wwe title.

A friend of mine, who had not watched wrestling for a decade, watched WM 39 and immediately said with no prior knowledge "Cody is freaking awesome." Wrestlemania XL without Cody Rhodes would have been the biggest mistake that regime could ever make. Another note: Dijak is fantastic.

If uncle Vince was in charge we wouldn't see Cody vs Roman at mania..

So is Dijak OFFICIALLY free today or tomorrow? Either way, TNA is doing their lead up to TNA: Slammiversary tapings tonight & tomorrow night🤔

Don't you do smackdown reviews anymore?

If at anytime in wwe history the rumble winner didn't go to mania? That would have ended any interest in future rumble matches.

Takahashi wrestled with LIJ against United Empire on FD 2023’s zero hour

It’s crazy how Mania 40 is probably the best ever or at least the best of this generation, it truly is the show to sum up this wrestling era yet it almost didn’t happen, the butterfly effects for this show are insane.

I still believe Cody vs Roman was originally going to be for 40 but shifted to 39 when it fell out with Rock for 39. Vince came back though and wanted it pushed to 40, hence the Brock feud and the cody loss at 39. Brock even going offscript to endorse cody seemed like even he knew Cody got screwed. Then Rock came back via TKO and XFL relations and I think plans just got crossed along the way, yet their correction led to what we got which was for the best. Now, it's just to see what the Bloodline v Cody aftermath is going to turn out like once Roman comes back. There's so many options now

Imagine trying to invalidate the ROYAL RUMBLE AND WRESTLEMANIA all at once.

Bring back Saturday Smackdown reviews

Benoit and Eddie both winning the title was the best Wrestlemania ever!

Rock pitching for himself to beat Roman is Hogan WCW levels of ego tripping. He was not the guy to end that run of Roman's. And means Rock very much deserved the backlash he got.

Dark timeline we have missed

Cody Rhodes has no story and needs to give up the title

That's not a bounce back, it's proof that Big Bang Theory inflates the viewing figures. Sheldon Cooper is the biggest Draw for AEW

Wrestlemania 40 was absolutely because of Jack Perry, and also because of the crowd, but that’s not as important.

If he wasn’t supposed to be on the show, it proves they saw him as an afterthought…

i could see Vince doing that with Cody but Trips was in charge so like.........how could you be that clueless

Hey luke ,from one D.A.D to another banger job on the news and Worst Match Ever

The New Forbidden Door is Wrestletalk, Cultaholic, Whatculture, and Wrestlelamia doing some joint project.

I guess the show before mattering to ratings makes sense. I'll turn USA on at 7:45 if a not terrible show is on for it so I don't forget to turn on raw, but otherwise i frequently miss the start of the show and turn it on around 9

So Cody, the guy who WON THE ROYAL RUMBLE was slated to not be on the Wrestlemania card?!

Id have Jamie and Britt come back as babyfaces and put Britt in the tbs championship picture maybe attack mone and Hayter into the are women's world title picture when ever she's ready.

Hmmm Cody vs R-Truth IYKYK

While it may not make sense....I would have wanted a triple-threat match for the "Boss" title between Cody, AJ, and Finn. I would want no explanation given to the title, why its important, and no back story other than these guys know what it means. LOL It's my fantasy booking! It's real to me!

Honestly we all knew the ratings were going to rebound, however they weren’t what I was expecting. 680,000, that’s still low. Saying that they recovered from where they were prior the big drop still isn’t great because they were falling from 800,000 to mid to low 700,000

Dijak should go to aew and work his way into bcc. Since Brian is leaving. Dijak, dragonov, reagel's kid, dunne would all be better off in bcc than wwe

The headline is pointless mania already passed why would it matter now?

The Lucha Bros (a AAA tag team) teaming with Mistico (a CMLL lad) is bonkers to me; maybe Tony Khan is a good peace keeper after all