Debunkathon and News Update: CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, WWE ID, MLW, Producers/Writers (Patreon)

WELCOME to The Fightful Debunkathon and news update! We have some of the following

Cody Rhodes note

TNA note

Nikki Cross

MLW NYC news

Details on WWE ID talent being pulled from shows.

WWE Raw and Smackdown producers and writers

DEBUNKATHON

CM PUNK

It has been repeatedly reiterated to us this week that CM Punk is planned for a WWE return. Wrestling Observer reported he's planned for the Smackdown brand. A number of wrestlers and staff reached out to claim they had also not heard anything to the rumors of issues regarding he and WWE. We will keep an ear out.

TNA is set to reveal some updated contract news and signings over the next few weeks, a source in the company claimed.

It was stated to Fightful that Aaron Rourke not doing Limitless has nothing to do with MyAEW, and the same with Starboy and all the women "pulled" from Dreamwave - instead, it's speculated that June 20 is an Evolve taping. Promoters were told from AEW there are no restrictions as to putting contracted talent from other promotions on their service. It was stated by one promoter to us that WWE ID seems to have the least number of restrictions of any contracted type of talent.

Cody Rhodes was touting that his next podcast was going to be newsworthy or particularly interesting. We have no context regarding what that really means.

Nikki Cross/Storm was backstage at MLW NYC as Big Damo was working the show.

Sumie Sakai was also at the MLW NYC show.

Andrew Everett was doing some producing at MLW NYC. Ricardo Rodriguez was also at the show helping.

After the MLW NYC show, MLW had a bus that took talent from New York to Philadelphia to help them rest up for the next two days of tapings.

There were no injuries to report after the MLW NYC show, and the company claims morale is high and they were very happy with the crowd. The show did all-time merch records for an MLW live event, we're told.

Many people asked us why Jonathan Gresham did a death match last week. He told us during our interview he was looking to do a lot of things he'd never done before.

The MJF injury occurred when Rush landed on MJF's knee during their match on Dynamite, which hyperextended it. As we noted before, there's no heat on Rush for this and it was seen as a freak accident.

The Andrade Girl on last week's episode of AEW Dynamite was Emily Jaye, who has done AEW & WWE extra work about a half dozen times in the last few months. The clip ended up doing over 5 million views across platforms.

Fightful will have turnbuckle sponsorships for upcoming Wrestling Revolver and GirlFight shows. We are not looking to sponsor additional shows at this time.

Fightful will be attending this weekend's MLW tapings in Philadelphia.

WWE RAW June 8th Writers and Producers

Writers:

- Seth Rollins backstage interview: Michael Kirshenbaum

- Penta/Chad Gable backstage segment: James Curtin

- Seth Rollins, Montez Ford, The Usos and Jacob Fatu backstage segment: Michael Kirshenbaum

- Lyra Valkyria/Bayley backstage segment: John Trowbridge

- The Usos and Jacob Fatu backstage segment: Michael Kirshenbaum

- LA Knight/Jey Uso in ring segment: Mike Mirabile

- Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee and Chad Gable backstage segment: James Curtin

- Raquel Rodriguez backstage promo: Brian Parise

- Judgment Day clubhouse segment: Brian Parise and Ben Saccoccio

Producers:

- Oba Femi, Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh segment: Michael Hayes and Bobby Roode

- Queen Of The Ring Fatal Four Way: Jason Jordan and Shawn Daivari 

- Sol Ruca vs Lyra Valkyria: Kenny Dykstra 

- Penta vs Rey Mysterio: Michael Hayes and Bobby Roode

- King Of The Ring Fatal Four Way: Abyss and Jamie Noble

Other Notes:

- The show was internally titled “Penta vs Rey.”

WWE SmackDown June 5th Writers And Producers

Writers:

- The Miz and Danhausen backstage segment: Sondra Lacey

- Gunther and Nick Aldis backstage: Chad Barbash

- Sami Zayn, Johnny Gargano, Nick Aldis and Chad Gable backstage segment: Cristian Scovell

- The Judgment Day backstage segment: Devyn Prieto

- Damian Priest, R-Truth and War Raiders backstage segment: Eric Watts

- Fatal Influence, Paige and Brie Bella backstage segment: Ioannis Filippides

- Royce Keys and R-Truth backstage segment: Eric Watts

- Trick Williams and Bron Breakker backstage segment: Pat Lavin

- Chelsea Green and Tiffany Stratton backstage segment: Devyn Prieto

- Royce Keys and Solo Sikoa backstage segment: Ioannis Filippides

- Chad Gable and Rey Fenix backstage interview: Cristian Scovell

- Cody Rhodes and Nick Aldis backstage segment: Chad Barbash

Producers:

- Queen Of The Ring Fatal Four Way: Petey Wiliams and  Kenny Dykstra

- Royce Keys vs Talla Tonga: Jamie Noble

- Rhea Ripley, Jade Cargill, Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Stratton in ring segment: Jason Jordan

- Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Stratton vs Michin and Jade Cargill: Jason Jordan

- Carmelo Hayes vs Ricky Saints: Abyss

- Chelsea Green vs Lash Legend: Shawn Daivari 

- King Of The Ring Fatal Four Way: Michael Hayes and Bobby Roode

Other Notes:

- The show was internally titled ‘A Bunch Of Bologna.’

WWE RAW June 1st Writers and Producers

Writers:

- Roman Reigns Acknowledgement Ceremony: Michael Kirshenbaum & Mike Mirabile

- Sol Ruca promo: Ben Saccoccio

- Roman Reigns and The Usos backstage segment: Michael Kirshenbaum & Mike Mirabile

- Adam Pearce and Penta backstage segment: James Curtin

- Maxxine Dupri and Adam Pearce backstage segment: Ben Saccoccio

- Bayley, Lyra Valkyria and Sol Ruca backstage segment: Ben Saccoccio

- Judgment Day backstage segment: John Trowbridge

Producers:

- King Of The Ring Match: Abyss and Shane Helms

- Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee vs Ethan Page and Rusev: Petey Williams

- Queen Of The Ring Match: TJ Wilson and Molly Holly

- Seth Rollins vs Bron Breakker: Michael Hayes and Bobby Roode

Other Notes: 

- The show was internally titled ‘Family Business.’

DEBUNKATHON

I don't know what on earth LV is, but it isn't an actual source. Rikishi is not planned for WWE stories at this moment.

Wrestle Everest is a Sportskeeda slop page. Randy Orton isn't retiring and has a lengthy contract.

Batista is in fact not 66, and his birthday is in January.

For some reason, there were people in our chat claiming that we said Seth Rollins was winning King of the Ring. Wrestlevotes reported that a winner was not set as of the bracket reveal. Fightful reported that Je'Von Evans would be winning his first round match on Monday. Media literacy is important.

Jon Moxley is staying in AEW. This is a common Facebook clickbait attempt.