Wrestling Mayhem Show 1016: WWE x AAA & Punk vs Owens

Professional wrestling has rarely felt more interconnected.

On Wrestling Mayhem Show 1016, Sorg is joined by Mad Mike and TruePrinceofPro—T-Pop!—for a conversation that moves from WWE and AAA in Mexico to AEW and CMLL, Canadian wrestling television, Pittsburgh independent wrestling and a CM Punk/Kevin Owens rivalry that already has fans digging through decades of history.

One of the biggest developments is WWE’s increasingly visible relationship with AAA. A tournament spanning Raw, SmackDown and AAA talent will determine who gets Roman Reigns in Mexico City. Names including Penta, Laredo Kid, Psycho Clown, La Parka, Dragon Lee and Rey Fenix immediately make the concept intriguing.

But the crossover also brings questions.

If WWE wants AAA to feel important to its audience, how often can AAA wrestlers show up only to lose? Dominik Mysterio holding AAA’s top championship makes that question even more interesting. T-Pop points out that the wrestlers need moments that establish them as more than visiting attractions.

One person doing everything possible to help is Corey Graves. His commentary repeatedly gives viewers history and context for the AAA wrestlers. The group does, however, have some fun examining the unusual remote commentary chemistry involving Graves, JBL and Rey Mysterio.

Across the aisle, AEW continues building a very different relationship with Mexican wrestling through CMLL.

Grand Slam Mexico is praised for its atmosphere and for embracing the audience rather than simply transporting a normal American television show into another country. That conversation expands into CMLL’s enormous Grand Prix, which T-Pop explains as a rotating elimination battle where surviving teammates can eventually find themselves competing against each other.

That willingness to work between promotions becomes a larger theme of the episode. AEW, CMLL, Ring of Honor and Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling all have talent moving between their worlds.

The rise of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling is especially interesting. With WWE’s Canadian programming shifting heavily toward streaming, there may be an opportunity for a Canadian company to establish a more meaningful weekly television presence.

At the same time, the panel discusses one of the downsides of heavily taped wrestling. MLW and NWA can have months of matches waiting to air. Even if those matches are good, does knowing that the wrestling happened long ago make the show feel less important?

Then there’s Pittsburgh.

2PW Summer Showdown delivered several championship matches and one unexpected revelation: apparently a Lights Out match can mean a blindfold match. Some Guy Named John provided one of the evening’s lasting images by delivering a beautiful top-rope elbow drop to absolutely nobody.

The card also included Gianni Michael Emricko and Gorgeous Gregory challenging The Troublemakers for the NWA JCP Southeastern Tag Team Championship.

Over at 880 Wrestling, the Lethal Lottery is creating deliberately strange partnerships. T-Pop is particularly entertained by Dev Swayze and Tatiana, while Sammy Suntimer continues working much harder than Marco Narciso to make their partnership into an actual friendship.

And the next piece of Sorgstock is official.

On August 28, Mikey Montgomery will face Pittsburgh wrestling veteran Justin Idol in a Video Game Match.

What is a Video Game Match?

That explanation will apparently require attending Sorgstock.

The other major WWE topic involves two people who may be more dangerous with microphones than wrestling moves: CM Punk and Kevin Owens.

Their confrontation immediately had the panel asking WWE to resist the temptation to rush things. Let these two talk.

There is enough authentic history surrounding Punk and Owens that fans are already resurfacing stories from years ago. Whether every detail being shared online is completely accurate almost becomes secondary to the wrestling story. That hint of reality gives both men an enormous amount of material to work with.

By the time Kevin Owens inevitably reminds Punk who has—and hasn’t—had certain WrestleMania dream matches, Mad Mike will be ready.

The episode closes in traditional Mayhem fashion with “What We Learned,” producing discoveries involving a terrifying AAA debut, Big Man Tater, Tatum Paxley and Sorg finishing a book about Rowdy Roddy Piper.

The wrestling world may be getting harder to keep up with, but that may also be what makes this era so much fun.

Catch more at www.WrestlingMayhemShow.com.