Could AEW Face Legal Backlash After Airing CM Punk Fight Footage; April 12th Wrestling News Round-Up (2024)

Dave Meltzer’s star ratings for WrestleMania Night 2 have been revealed in this morning’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

• Drew McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins to become the new World Heavyweight Champion – ***1/2
• Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits defeated Karrion Kross and AOP in a Philadelphia Street Fight – *3/4
• LA Knight defeated AJ Styles – ***1/2
• Logan Paul defeated Kevin Owens and Randy Orton to retain the United States Championship – ****1/4
• Bayley defeated Iyo Sky to become the new WWE Women’s Champion – ****1/2
• Cody Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match to become the new Undisputed Champion – ****3/4

Do you agree with Dave Meltzer’s ratings? Let us know using the thumbs below!

Dave Meltzer’s star ratings for WrestleMania Night 1 have been revealed in this morning’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

• Rhea Ripley defeated Becky Lynch to retain the Women’s World Championship – ****1/4
• The Awesome Truth [Raw] and A-Town Down Under [SmackDown] defeated Finn Balor and Damian Priest, DIY, The New Day and New Catch Republic in a ladder match to become the new Tag Team Champions – ****1/4
• Rey Mysterio and Andrade defeated Dominik Mysterio and Santos Escobar – ***3/4
• Jey Uso defeated Jimmy Uso – 3/4*
• Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair and Naomi defeated Asuka, Kairi Sane and Dakota Kai – **
• Sami Zayn defeated Gunther to become the new Intercontinental Champion – ****1/2
• The Rock and Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins – ****

Do you agree with Dave Meltzer’s ratings? Let us know using the thumbs below!

Dave Meltzer’s star ratings for NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver have been revealed in this morning’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Pre-Show:

• Joe Gacy defeated Shawn Spears – **1/2

Main card:

• Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker defeated Axiom and Nathan Frazer to retain the Tag Team Championships – ****1/4
• Oba Femi defeated Dijak and Josh Briggs to retain the North American Championship – ****1/2
• Kelani Jordan, Fallon Henley and Thea Hail defeated Jacy Jayne, Kiana James and Izzi Dame – ***
• Roxanne Perez defeated Lyra Valkyria to become the new NXT Women’s Champion – ***3/4
• Ilja Dragunov defeated Tony D’Angelo to retain the NXT Championship – ****1/4
• Trick Williams defeated Carmelo Hayes – ***1/2

Do you agree with Dave Meltzer’s ratings? Let us know using the thumbs below!

Look back at the rivalry between John Cena and the entire Bloodline, from surprising Roman Reigns in 2021 to his WrestleMania XL showdown with The Rock.

Check it out below!

WWE’s roster is arguably more stacked than ever with a high volume of top stars knocking on the door of greatness across Raw, SmackDown and NXT.

But, according to a new report, WWE have eyes on a current champion over in All Elite Wrestling.

As reported bySEScoops, FTW ChampionHookis interested in free agency options once his current deal with AEW expires.

When SEScoops spoke to a source within WWE about the rising star, the response from someone familair with the recruitment process was “I can see WWE clearly being interested in him.”

An exact date for HOOK’s contract expiry is unknown but it has been reported that the deal expires later this year in 2024.

Hook would be the latest name to leave AEW for WWE following the likes of Cody Rhodes, Jade Cargill and most recently Shawn Spears.

Do you want to see Hook in WWE? Let us know using the thumbs below!

GCW Star Faye Jackson, also known as Big Booty Trudy, took to WrestleCon to ask stars of the future and the past the most important question…do they eat booty.

When AJ Francis, FKA Top Dolla, was asked this vital question he answered in only a manner he can.

I…I don’t know what to say about this one…so just, check it out below!

Asking your favs the question you wanna know at Wrestlecon

Next up: @AJFrancis410 (OH BOY 🙈) pic.twitter.com/FhrCMyA9lu

— Faye Jackson (@fayejackson419) April 11, 2024

Experience Paul Heyman’s WWE Hall of Fame induction like never before with this amazing behind-the-scenes vlog.

Check it out!

Mandy Rose has reached new heights of success since being released by the WWE in thanks to her exclusive content empire.

Rose, who was released by the WWE after posting full nudity on her adult content platforms whilst NXT Women’s Champion, is now racking well over six figures after launching her own exclusive content platform and going full time content creation and investment.

However, Rose was back in the wrestling sphere over WrestleMania weekend appearing at a series of conventions and signings, leading to an encounter the former WWE star will never forget.

Speaking on herPower Alphaspodcast, Rose stated that one fan brought a zucchini with them and stated that they brought it in case there was a situation where it was required:

“My fans are so amazing and I’ve gotten really amazing gifts in the past.

There were a few different ones. One being fresh mozzarell [Mozzarella], which is very interesting. Not as good as my dad’s mozzarell.

The other two were really interesting. A pecan pie.

This last one was, oh my gosh, I’m so grateful for this fan. How do I top this? How does a fan top this?

A zucchini. Do you want to know what he said? It’s not gross. He said, ‘Here is fresh zucchini in case of an emergency.’

I don’t know if there’s some weird thing behind that.

I was like, ‘Okay, thanks I’m going to go stick this up my ass.’” [h/t Fightful]

Why…just, why.

Zelina Vega was recent accused of “severely underpaying” and mistreating a freelance designer who made her WrestleMania gear.

Mecha Musume, who created the Mecha inspired WrestleMania gear, took to Instagram to accuse the WWE star of malpractice.

The designer claimed:

“WWE Wrestler Zelina Vega with the custom Mecha Chancla we designed, printed and hand stoned one by one that she practically got for free and severely under paid me for.

Also wasted my time on a pair of cuffs, Mech wings and headset, all hand stoned.

She gave me the wrong address which resulted in my wings getting cooked in the hot 100 degree florida sun, melting it essentially, having to reship it, and then finding out the time specified was too late, then having a piece detach due to melted pieces from again…it getting damaged from being delivered to her old address that she THOUGHT she could pick it up from.

It was literally something so fixable and yet she said it was my fault and a skill issue as well as her “assistant” saying I’m unprofessional for even saying it’s anything but my work and my skills suck.

She got all that (commission valued at $2.5k) for $900 with a promise of exposure and I had to refund multiple customers and reject new orders to get this done, hours upon hours of 3d designing everything, bedazzling everything one by one, custom painting everything, attaching LEDs, crystalizzing the transparent parts of the wings, etc.

A labor that should have taken months, I did in 2 and a half to 3 weeks non stop breaks and no sleep. And guess what? Only for her to return everything, dispute the total amount without deducting what she kept via paypal and keeping the chancla and headset for practically change.

All of that…for nothing and to have expensive stuff for Temu price. As a Puerto Rican, you are literally a disgrace and 100% not for your people, let alone small businesses.

Safe to say I will never work with a celebrity that tries to scam me for cheap services and practically free items again and I will never bedazzle either, but still pretty cool to witness my piece on TV and the world seeing it. Of course there’s no tag, but that’s nothing new guys.

I definitely don’t want to work with celebrities or influencers anymore, they always expect super cheap or free stuff and excessive labor just because it’s them.

I AM HUMAN TOO, I HAVE BILLS TO PAY, I NEED TO EAT. THIS IS NOT A CHINESE SWEATSHOP OR MAJOR CORP, ITS A ONE WOMAN ARMY.”

This led to another artist, Natty Hoffman, making a similar accusation.

“She’s ordered from me too, then destroyed the product from misuse and asked for a replacement in a NEW color

I did it bc I thought it would be good exposure but I never got a tag or nothing.”

Now, less than a day later, the LWO star has taken to social media to rebut the claims and provide evidence to the contrary.

Firstly, Vega would take to Twitter to flag the claims as false and inform social media that receipts where coming.

“Welp, had to reactivate Twitter just to correct people.

Screenshots, photos & videos to come. Last thing my husband and I are, are scammers, so! Time to make things clear. Alllll of it.

And for the people who want to threaten, lie and create fake “new scam scenarios” to jump on the hate train because they think it’s fun and cool for social media, do better.. bcz you’re about to be proven very wrong.”

Vega would start by addressing some of the supplementary allegations by other creators who came forward following to viral post.

“**I do not want any hate sent to ANY of the people (including Mecha) or situations that I’m about to clear up** if you’re a fan of mine, please don’t.

This isn’t meant to be “twitter fun” but I do have the right to defend myself.

Excuse the slow responses as it is a travel day. None of my other gear makers have ever had an issue with me and if they did, we handled it in person.

My intent, despite being highly upset at what trolls blew this up to be, is to get to a place where everyone feels ok about things as I thought that is where my team and her got to.

Once it left my hands (I was moving, working and dealing with a sick family member) I left it in their hands and it seemed to be settled.

Starting with @sangrebomb because Mecha is a lot more involved and I’m going to be recording a video, not that you can tag a person that blocked you on IG anyway:

I asked “would you be interested, do you want compensation, they said no. I still offered everything else and even surprised them by getting them tix and brought them backstage to say thank you personally.

They went back on the original agreement and wasn’t clear about what they now wanted and I stopped using their image on the controllers and respectfully cut ties.

How am I the bad guy here?”

Vega would then post several videos rebutting the initial claim, which you can check out below!

Beautiful smart woman

— temppeck (@temppeck1) April 12, 2024

Do you think Zelina Vega is in the wrong here? Let us know using the thumbs below!

On this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, .

The footage showed what many fans believed to have happened with CM Punk being the aggressor and shoving Perry to the floor after a verbal confrontation before attempting to punch him and possibly choke him.

However, so fans found the footage to be underwhelming compared to how it had previously been reported.

The segment helped AEW see a small rise in viewership and in the key demographic but many, including Dave Meltzer, believe this was the wrong thing to do.

And it now looks like there may even be potential legal issues of the segment.

Following AEW Dynamite many fans noticed that AEW began claiming/removing clips of the CCTV footage from social media, something the company does not often do.

UK Wrestling podcast ‘The Gorilla Position’ even claimed they had been emailed requesting the footage be removed from their Twitter feed.

“LOL. Just had an email stating AEW has requested the CM Punk CCTV footage must be removed from our X feed.

Why would Tony Khan air this on TV if he didn’t want it shared around?!

Another very bad look. AEW are walking on broken glass with this one… how very, very ironic.”

Many fans have begun speculating that AEW is concerned as in the United Kingdom, where All In was held and the CCTV footage originates, CCTV footage is considered personal data under GDPR legislation.

GDPR legislation in the UK states that personal information should only be accessible to those who need to for their job, therefore by airing the CCTV footage and making it accessible to the general public this could be interpreted as a breach of UK law.

Additionally, it is stated that:

“It is forbidden for CCTV operators to share footage of identifiable people with the media or on the internet for entertainment purposes.

The only footage that is allowed to be released is if it’s to identify someone for purposes requested by the police.”

It appears that CM Punk’s legal team are aware of potential issues with the AEW Dynamite footage as lawyer Steve New, who represented CM Punk and Ace Steel in the aftermath of the 2022 AEW Brawl, took to social media.

Responding to a fan who was concerned by AEW’s use of CCTV and the UK GDPR violations it may have invoked, New stated:

“I tried to warn them yesterday afternoon”

Nothing is known for certain at this time, over the past two decades CCTV footage has been utilised in entertainment mediums including various TV Shows such as Cops, Police Camera Action, Traffic Cops and more.

All of which utilised CCTV for entertainment purposes and aired live in the UK, so only time will tell if AEW is in the clear or if more trouble may be coming their way.

Do you think AEW made the right move airing the CCTV footage? Let us know using the thumbs below!

Good Afternoon!

I hope everyone is doing well and is recovered after a blockbuster WrestleMania weekend!

I will be with you from 2pm to 6pm BST (10am – 1pm ET) covering all the biggest stories from WWE, AEW, NJPW, TNA and more.

We will be kicking things off today with the biggest stories from the last 24 hours including:

• The latest on potential legal backlash following AEW’s decision to air footage of CM Punk and Jack Perry‘s fight at All In.
• Zelina Vega hits back at recent allegations.
• Mandy Rose reveals insane gift she was given by a fan over WrestleMania weekend.
• The latest update on Drew Gulak’s WWE future after sexual misconduct allegations.