DEBUNKATHON NEWS UPDATE! A loaded edition. Free preview inside

Welcome to the Fightful Friday DEBUNKATHON

In addition to the debunkathon we have a ton of news!

• Thea Hail vs. Blake Monroe

• MJF's Diddy promo

• Stranger Things

• Mustafa Ali

• Stephanie Vaquer

• WWE/Netflix

• Street Profits

• Chris Jericho

• Bullet Club

• Eddie Kingston and Airica Demia speak to Fightful.

• Mercedes Martinez

• Knockout Bros

• Drew Cody!

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• The decision to not have the Blake Monroe vs. Thea Hail match on NXT was not a last minute one, and had been in the works for a couple of weeks.

• Wrestling Observer Live reported recently that the "Diddy" promo from MJF wasn't known by other talent before it happened. We're told that's true, and there were a number of people not happy about it.

• There were efforts to get cast members of Stranger Things to attend WWE Raw, but it didn't end up happening.

• Mustafa Ali confirmed that he re-signed with TNA recently. There had been both long term and short-term negotiations.

• Adam Pearce's comment on his video promoting Raw had nothing to do with Stranger Things, and there isn't a reference there that would fit that.

• The WWE-Netflix deal for the WWE library is primarily archived PLE events. There are still plans to slowly roll out other content on Youtube.

• Stephanie Vaquer does have an injury. We're not sure how severe it is, but she's been cleared for contact. It was claimed to be an ankle sprain

• We've been asked about the Street Profits a lot of lately. They are not currently on WWE's European tour.

• There was push back from several members of Bullet Club who had not been kicked out of the group regarding the "death" of the group.

• As of Friday there was still no internal memo indicating Chris Jericho had left All Elite Wrestling.

• Mercedes Martinez had not been backstage at AEW/ROH in quite some time before her departure, we're told.

  As reported by Ibou of Self Made PW, the Knockout Bros did have interest from WWE. NJPW sources did not expect them to leave, even before they announced such. It was definitely a subject of conversation throughout the week leading up to NJPW Wrestle Kingdom among talent.

• Although there have been some names like Blake Monroe and Jacy Jayne discussed for call-ups, we aren't expecting those two imminently.

• Wrestling Observer reported that Tiffany Stratton has been off WWE TV with an injury. She last wrestled on November 1, dropping her title to Jade Cargill.

• Bodyslam has reported there is an internal push for Drew McIntyre to beat Cody Rhodes. We did hear about that push, and even rumors internally that talent were on board. However, we did not hear of a particular direction.

Airica Demia

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful spoke to Airica Demia at WrestleCade for a new interview.

Airica admitted that she wasn't ready for her NWA debut, but called it a great learning experience. She said that she's never felt better about anything she's done than where she is in her career.

She said that she let Wrestling Open know she'd be available to work a show that weekend, and Open messaged her back for confirmation she would be eligible for the WWE ID match. She says that she got really good feedback and reassuring moments, as well as things to work on.

She said she's learned a lot in the ring from Nixon Newell, Priscilla Kelly, Brittnie Brookes

You can see the full interview at this link.

Eddie Kingston

Eddie Kingston joins IN THE WEEDS!

• Opens by discussing the late Jaka and what he meant to his career and the independent scene. Says Jaka always kept things light and grounded.

• Says he didn’t pitch to team with Ortiz because they don’t listen to his pitches anway.

• Wants to punch Zack Sabre Jr in his face. Asked if there were talks of him ever working with Zack or Nick Aldis (the other two names he mentioned in the famous pre-AEW promo), says not that he knows of, but open to fighting ZSJ at Forbidden Door.

• Looks back on teaming with Sting and Jon Moxley, and how excited he was. “It’s Sting. It’s my childhood.”

• Asked about Bryan Danielson’s praise for him after the Samoa Joe match, says he told Danielson backstage, ’Why did you do that, dick?” Did admit that it does feel good to hear those things as an ego boost.

• Says it doesn’t feel like he goes to work unless he’s able to bust Tony Schiavone’s balls.

• Doesn’t take responsibility for running over a kid in TNA because the kid shouldn’t have been out so late. “Bad things happen after 11.”

• Opens up about his mental health and how he’s gotten help and has a strong support system around him. Explains what he does to take care of himself during tough moments.

• Is on the side that the New York Knicks should not have hung a banner for winning the NBA Cup. Discusses the kind of sports fan he is and how hard he takes losses.

• Reveals what he likes to watch when he’s not wrestling, which is a lot of YouTube videos and not wrestling (old AJPW excluded).

• Names some of his favorite South Park episodes.

• Admits he bought Madden this year after swearing it off, but gives a good reason as to why.

• Tries not to get in trouble at the end of the interview. Tune in to see if he did or not.

DEBUNKATHON

• John Cena absolutely never said this quote.

• Jake Paul is not being considered for The Vision.

• A number of women in wrestling are looking into taking action regarding pictures of them being sexualized by AI. WWE Alert is a page you all should be reporting for such.

• Sportskeeda, who let Vince Russo and all of their other original creators go months ago, is aggregating his clickbait claiming WWE is being sold. That isn't happening any time soon.

• Any list you see online of wrestlers net worths or salaries are likely incorrect. We have compiled a verified list in our resources section

• The fake MJF page that blocked Fightful for calling it out as fake has been removed from Facebook. To be clear, MJF has no public facebook, and asked the platform to remove it numerous times.

• There are a ton of bot pages running years old stories.

• Wrestling Observer did not report that LA Knight was going to be repackaged.

• No, Alberto Del Rio is not in talks to return to WWE. They're not bringing him back.

• Needless to say, there were not BIG PLANS for AJ Lee at Raw this week.

• It is embarrassing how many people like fake posts of Jon Moxley re-joining WWE, but here we are again. It isn't happening any time soon.