Latest / Real. Guy. Pods. / Sami Zayn wins WWE Title + Ilja Dragunov reportedly AEW-bound | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #866 – 9/17/26

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Sami Zayn wins WWE Title + Ilja Dragunov reportedly AEW-bound | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #866 – 9/17/26 · Real. Guy. Pods.

• 1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,720 It's still really a big damage to me! 2 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:11,720 [Music] 3 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:16,600 Welcome everybody! 4 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,040 Welcome to this week's Innocentist Go Rodo Show 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:24,200 episode of 866 for September 17th, 2046. 6 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:28,760 Welcome to this week's edition of S.R.T.U. 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,760 I am one half to show I am Jeff Pecky. 8 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:34,560 Join every single week for my car's Lord Only Dr. Treck. 9 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:42,360 Breaker, Dr. Tre, Sammy Zane is a two-time WWE Champion, my friend. 10 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:43,360 Crazy. 11 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,880 Like, you know, three years ago if you had said that, I would have been like, 12 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:47,880 "You're out of your mind. 13 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:49,200 They're never going to pull the trigger on it." 14 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:52,880 If he didn't, they didn't pull the trigger elimination chamber in Montreal 15 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,560 against Roman Reigns, they're never going to pull the trigger. 16 00:00:55,560 --> 00:01:02,280 And now he's a two-time WWE World Champion and a Grand Slam Champion at that. 17 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:09,280 And one of the only three that have multiple World title reigns in that Grand Slam run. 18 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,000 Dr. Treck, off topic, but kind of on topic here. 19 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,120 I'm just going to get right into it because it popped in my head. 20 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:21,440 How crazy is it the amount of title victories that have changed hands on television this year? 21 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,560 I think it's Drew and Cody, right? Drew defeated Cody. 22 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:27,560 Cody defeated Drew. 23 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:31,240 Punk defeated Zane. 24 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:34,080 Zane's defeated Punk. 25 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:35,800 All on TV in 2026. 26 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:41,680 Meanwhile, you're paying a bunch of money for Netflix, paying potentially a bunch of money 27 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:43,760 for ESPN on limited. 28 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:48,040 And those title changes aren't taking place most of the time, at least for the undisputed 29 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:52,360 WWE Championship on those paid subscription services right now. 30 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:54,120 Throwing a house show title change. 31 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:55,360 Well, yeah, of course. 32 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:57,040 That one too. 33 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:03,200 Throwing it is weird because for a while, Jeff, we weren't even getting World title match. 34 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:08,480 We weren't even in title matches on the UnRaw and SmackDown. 35 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:11,520 And now we're getting not only title matches, but title changes. 36 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:17,440 And it's a weird world now because back in the attitude era and the Nitro era, all 37 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:23,880 those times, we saw the World title on both shows, religiously defended multiple times a 38 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:24,880 year. 39 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:29,000 And then we went to that law where it was like nine years, eight years without a World title 40 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:30,000 match. 41 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,560 And then all of a sudden, not only were we getting those title matches, but were getting multiple 42 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:37,120 title changes, it does make stuff must see TV. 43 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:41,880 So that was always my thing was like, if I didn't have to worry about a historic thing happening 44 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:46,000 on SmackDown or Raw, I could afford to miss a show or two. 45 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,200 And now, multiple title changes like, damn, now I gotta actually make sure I watch every 46 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:51,840 single episode. 47 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:54,040 So let's get to the title change itself. 48 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:58,200 Last week we asked whether Sami Zayn should actually beat CM Punk for the WWE Championship 49 00:02:58,200 --> 00:02:59,840 in Mexico City. 50 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:00,840 He did. 51 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:02,600 Johnny Argado, Candace Lorregan involved. 52 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:06,360 Kevin Owens tried to stop Sami from using the title, accidentally hit Punk instead. 53 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:11,000 And Sami followed with a hulu of a kick to becoming a two time WWE Champion. 54 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:12,000 Why this matters? 55 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:16,620 Title change gets even more interesting because PWM's entire report to WWE is eyeing Sami Zayn 56 00:03:16,620 --> 00:03:21,600 versus Roman Reigns for Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia in early November. 57 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:24,560 The rest of them is ever also reported that someone in WWE disagreed with putting the 58 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,640 title on Sami, but were told the story will make sense when it plays out. 59 00:03:28,640 --> 00:03:34,160 So is this finally Sami's run as a true top guy or the bridge to WWE's next major Roman 60 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,080 Reigns story after he gets out of LA night? 61 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:41,840 Bottom line in this all Dr. Trey is Sami's win is huge, but the real story is whether WWE 62 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:45,160 is building his reign around Sami or around Roman. 63 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:51,280 My question for you, Dr. Trey, was taking the WWE Championship off of CM Punk right now the 64 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:52,280 right move? 65 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,720 >> Yeah, because we got survivors who are around the corner. 66 00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:01,040 And you and I had talked about this, who's in this match? 67 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:05,320 Who's going to be in war games? 68 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:09,560 And we're talking about like, we got the Usos, we got Roman, we got Jacob, we got 69 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:10,560 the guys. 70 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:17,720 And now, potentially could you get Sami and CM Punk tied up into this war games match by 71 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:21,240 involving them in this angle as well? 72 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:29,120 I don't expect Sami to have like a 662 day run, but hey, if he gets two or three months 73 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:33,800 out of it, anything longer than nine days, I think I'll be happy with. 74 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,120 >> So you were about to say something before I kept talking there. 75 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:38,760 What did you want to say in that moment? 76 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:39,760 I want to go back to that. 77 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:48,080 >> No, I think a lot of it is tying into what we're doing in a survivor series. 78 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,520 We talked about last week, all these different title contenders now. 79 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:54,680 I mean, you got Owens, you got Punk who's back in the title chase as they're chasing Sami. 80 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,800 You got Ball or Gunther, where does Johnny Gargano fit into this? 81 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,080 Sami's obvious connection to the OG bloodline. 82 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:06,320 Like, instead of trying to do three on three on three, do you start trying to mix and 83 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:12,360 mash and make it almost like an all-star war games and have the original bloodline along 84 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:19,040 with Jacob in there against 946 Kevin Owens and CM Punk. 85 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:23,200 There's ways of doing this throwing the LA night as well. 86 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:29,280 There's ways of combining these story lines up to get a really great war games match out 87 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:30,280 of it. 88 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:34,800 Or take a couple of odd pieces, mesh them all together, and you still get some title 89 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:35,800 matches. 90 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:41,520 I really like the chaos at the top of the card. 91 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:48,320 It is kind of attitude era when you have Mick Foley, Stone Cold, Rock, Triple H, Undertaker, 92 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:53,040 all kind of bouncing the title around the five of them. 93 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,200 It is the same situation on SmackDown now. 94 00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:00,200 >> So to me, I think the reason why it was so successful in the attitude era is that 95 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,920 you had so many talented wrestlers back then. 96 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:08,160 It's very comparable to now where there is a chance that somebody isn't going to be held 97 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:09,160 back. 98 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:14,120 You've got like this potentially a brand new SmackDown. 99 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:16,200 I'm trying to count out loud here if it's six. 100 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,280 I guess it's like five because you've got what? 101 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:22,360 Punk Owens, Zane, Gunther, Baller. 102 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:24,240 Am I missing someone? 103 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:26,640 >> If you throw Gargano in the mix, that gives you six. 104 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:27,640 >> Okay. 105 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:28,640 Gargano in there. 106 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:30,800 And then you've got Wharton and you've got Roads in there. 107 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:35,160 So you've got eight guys that could all be at least seven of the eight I would say could 108 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:36,800 be WWE Champion. 109 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:42,080 And I think Baller's if he, Gargano is probably in no right now, given how he's been built 110 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:43,080 up. 111 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:45,600 But nonetheless, you could throw him in there. 112 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:49,320 >> And you didn't even count a former WWE Champion who's on SmackDown and Damien Priest who 113 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:50,320 just did the Eel Turf. 114 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:51,320 >> True. 115 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:53,280 >> So you take Gargano out of the mix and throw Priest in there. 116 00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:54,280 >> True. 117 00:06:54,280 --> 00:06:55,280 >> You have a solid eight. 118 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:56,280 >> Well, nine, right? 119 00:06:56,280 --> 00:06:57,280 We had got it to nine. 120 00:06:57,280 --> 00:06:58,280 Yeah. 121 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:03,240 >> Yeah, no, there is some serious depth on the SmackDown brand and not a lot of titles. 122 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:09,880 So maybe WWE should purchase like MLW or something and do what AW does with ROH, but that's 123 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:11,640 another day for another story. 124 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:16,960 So is the hot potato with the WWE Championship a successful business model? 125 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:21,360 Because we used to be on the like on this show where we wanted to see long title reigns. 126 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:23,080 We glorified long title reigns. 127 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:25,480 And now we get long title reigns all the time. 128 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:30,320 And now here we are, the hypocrites or the fickle hypocrites that we are saying, or at least 129 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:35,760 I'm saying, is it possible we should play hot potato a little bit more with that championship? 130 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:40,320 >> I think when you're trying to establish guys as being viable top guys. 131 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:44,720 And I'm not discrediting any of those guys we mentioned earlier. 132 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:50,160 But, Sammy came up short how many times before getting the world title. 133 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:53,360 Kevin Owens, how many times did he lose the Roman reigns? 134 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:57,040 Baller hasn't had a world title reign in 10 years. 135 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:59,720 You had Gunther who tapped out to Jey Uzo wrestle me. 136 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:04,120 And so you have a lot of top guys who have flaws in their character. 137 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:14,280 So by hoppitating it around, you can kind of reestablish this like, I don't know if you want to say NFL model where there's parity among the top guys. 138 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:18,600 And on any given night one of the top guys can be one of the other top guys. 139 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:21,280 So it does kind of make it must see television. 140 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:27,600 And the fact that you have two titles, you have the world title and then you have the heavyweight title. 141 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:31,800 You can have a long title run with the one on raw and 142 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:38,920 hoppitating the one around on smack down a little bit and still get a good mix of both things that fans like us love. 143 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:43,280 >> So the interesting part about this right was the addition of Roman reigns. 144 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,840 Crown Jewel they're talking about Saudi Arabia as one of the driving forces. 145 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:50,120 Again, Sammy Zayn, championships are being driven around there. 146 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:53,120 He's like the new man's sword but he could actually wrestle. 147 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,360 And they're looking ahead here with Crown Jewel. 148 00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:03,080 So we're thinking we're going to get like a two month, three month potentially title reign at least with Sammy Zayn as WWE Champion. 149 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:07,680 So if Roman is next doctor trade does Sammy get a real championship run? 150 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:11,200 Or is he ultimately keeping the title warm for someone else? 151 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:21,480 I still think he's keeping the title warm for somebody else because if the message is we are going to move the title around a little bit. 152 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:28,440 I don't think anybody's going to have more than a 90 day run with it, maybe 120 between now and. 153 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:32,520 I mean, he'll wrestle Mania, you look at the card right now, wrestle mania is only six months out. 154 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:38,560 So if Sammy gets it for three months, you put somebody else on top for a little bit heading into wrestle mania season great. 155 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:42,320 And then coming out you can still kind of do that model where hey, 156 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,440 we're going to have four different heavyweight champions in a year. 157 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:48,040 That's our goal, maybe five. 158 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:52,440 Anything more than that, I think you start losing a little bit of value in it. 159 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:56,120 But I mean, it's also the same thing WCW did back in their run. 160 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:01,160 I mean, you'd have Goldberg get on top, you'd have Paige get on top, you'd have Sting be on top. 161 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:07,080 And then Hogan was the common denominator kind of between all those guys or Jeff Jarrett tells the end. 162 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:13,960 But you always had a heel in that mix to kind of be the bad guy to take the belt off the good guy, cycle up the next good guy. 163 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:20,120 So maybe Sammy can be that constant thorn in the side of all the baby faces. 164 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:25,800 And Sammy gets the belt and he's got Gargano as his sidekick back up to help him retain. 165 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:30,760 And then you know, you know, cycles out, Owen cycles out, baller cycles out. 166 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:35,120 And then you can kind of keep doing that until eventually you know they're going to come back to Cody at some point. 167 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:44,200 All right, Dr. Tray. So, so then when it comes to Sammy's vein, what to you, what time frame to you constitutes a successful title run? 168 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,200 Is it until Royal Rumble? Is it until elimination chambers? 169 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:52,920 It until WrestleMania? What's what will constitute a successful title run during the second reign of Sammy's vein? 170 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:59,120 I'm going to go elimination chambers. That's December, right? Or is that February? 171 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:00,600 February. 172 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:11,400 So, yeah, I don't know if he'll make it to February. I think if he gets past the Reviver series and I don't think we have a PLE in December, do we? 173 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:17,240 Not typically. I've got actually what they're doing. They're doing Rese Paloza in Perth, Australia this year. 174 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:31,880 Okay, so I don't see him dropping the belt in Perth. So yeah, if he makes it to Rumble, I guess I'll consider that successful because that would give him about a three and a half four month title 175 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:34,760 reign. And I think that's a good solid run. 176 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:47,480 Yeah, because Royal Rumble, we're going to start getting ready for the card for WrestleMania. I just don't see Sammy going into WrestleMania as the champion. 177 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:52,040 So I would say, yeah, if he can make it to Rumble, I think that'd be a solid run for him. 178 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:57,160 What do you think give me a percent chance that it gets to, let's say, WrestleMania? 179 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:14,360 Yeah, I just, I mean, 25% that he makes it 75% not, just because I mean, that's still three quarters now. To me, with this character of being the conspiracy theorist, the whole, everybody's against me. 180 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:21,000 I mean, that character only has so many, so many, so much legroom to run with. 181 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:31,400 If you're a conspiracy theorist by nature, somehow you either a get your conspiracy theory prove right, or you completely give up on it. 182 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:41,320 So it just kind of depends on where this character goes, because I think there's also this weird, like big support that Sammy can lean into. 183 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:48,520 If they go that direction, we saw what he won the title. The crowd was nuts. And when he lost the belt, the crowd was super pissed. 184 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:56,280 So I think there's a lot of love for Sammy out there. And if that, if that character eventually goes back to babyface, he can have a much longer run. 185 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:04,920 The only way he gets a long run out of this is if he actually develops a faction to put around him to kind of insulate him and protect him, you know, going forward. 186 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:11,960 All right, let's switch gears to the raw brand, red brand. You had Roman Reigns defeating Penta and the main event on raw in Mexico City. 187 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:23,240 Great main event, great crowd throughout the entire show. LA Night comes out after the show is off the air and makes a challenge for Roman Reigns. 188 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:26,440 So we have Roman Reigns retaining the World Heavyweight Championship against Penta. 189 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:33,480 But Penta looked like he belonged in the main event, which is good. He pushed Roman. He survived major offense. 190 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:41,880 And he came close before Roman finally finished him with the spirit to get the one, two, three. LA Night attacking Reigns after Raw goes off the air. 191 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:45,640 WWE officially announces night as Roman's money in the bank challenger. 192 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:51,640 This is exactly what Penta needed. He lost but came out feeling more important. He looks like he's a top star now. 193 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:55,160 This was like a good test for him and he I think he flew with flying colors. 194 00:13:55,160 --> 00:14:00,360 Now WWE moves directly to LA Night who already has years of history around Roman and the bloodline. 195 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:05,880 Penta was elevated into feet. Now the challenge is making LA Night feel like more than Roman's next stop. 196 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:11,640 So Dr. Shreya, I ask you this first. Did Penta leave Mexico City feeling like a legitimate main event player? 197 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:12,920 Despite losing? 198 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:19,000 Yeah, I mean Penta came out looking like a huge star. I mean big massive extravagant entrance, 199 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:28,280 crowd super hyper for him. Roman I felt like was kind of going through the motions and dominating early on in that match. 200 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:37,320 But then Penta got high, got the big comeback. Roman had a kick out of two Mexican destroyers to get the win. 201 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:48,520 So yeah, you made Penta look like a huge star. It was reminiscent of Rey Mysterio and his younger days in WWE when they would give him these high profile matches and 202 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:53,800 really try to make him look like a main event level talent. At least Penta has more size. 203 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:59,080 The big question is then what do you do with Penta after this? 204 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:05,240 You know, does he go back into the inner corner picture? Does he stay up around the main event picture? 205 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:14,600 Because the main event picture is kind of crowded with Oba and Braun and Seth and Roman and LA and Solo and Jacob. 206 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:25,400 Like that top of the car is kind of crowded. Where does Penta slot in there and can you make him keep or can you keep that momentum going for him coming out of this big match? 207 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:33,800 So what do you think? How would you predict this goes? I feel like this is the beginning of him being a main event player. 208 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:35,000 I feel like. 209 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:49,240 I'm going to lean that yeah, I think they need a guy of his family. I mean, going back to when Rey came into the company through Alberto Del Rio. 210 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:53,720 Like they've always had a Hispanic superstar towards the top of the card. 211 00:15:55,640 --> 00:16:08,280 They've been you know, we talked about they've been searching for that person for the last 10 years to replace Rey. I think they finally have that guy who can kind of take the mantle from Rey in Penta. 212 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:16,040 So I think you kind of have to put them at the top of the card and does that mean him getting involved in the stuff with Oba in the vision? 213 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:22,200 Because at some point Oba will need some help and maybe you know, Penta gets some Oba rub. 214 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:33,160 If that sounds really dirty, you never mind. But yeah, it's like Ben Gay and Oba Rub side by side in the in the pharmacy aisles. 215 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:41,480 But I'm an air tourist. I think they will because he is one of the better English speakers of the Hispanic guys on the on the roster. 216 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:50,440 Totally marketable has a catch phrase. Great entrance. The whole nine yards. He's got everything you really need to kind of elevate that. 217 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:56,600 You know, Mexican star to the top of the card. It's just a question of whether they're going to have the follow through to do it. 218 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:03,000 Let's look at this other side of it here. Someone in the same place almost as Penta right now, LA night. 219 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:10,040 Dr. Trayk, in WWE make LA night feel like a real threat to Roman or does he feel like the next stop before the bigger story comes next? 220 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:16,840 I mean, once it's kind of like what we talked about a little bit earlier with you know, how they had booked Sammy, K.O. 221 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:25,400 You know, Finn Balor like like this is not LA's nights first shot at the top of the card. He's he's been lingering for a while. 222 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:34,920 And every time we think he's getting that big breakthrough moment, they push him back down. So right now I feel like he's just a stop on the Roman roller coaster. 223 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:46,760 But it just kind of it's just there hasn't been enough credibility built up behind the booking of LA night over the last three years for me to really buy into him as a credible. 224 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:53,480 Correct. It's going to be interesting, Dr. Trayk. We've got money in the bank here coming up now LA night versus Roman Reigns. 225 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:59,880 We're coming off of Mexico City Penta versus Roman in about four to five weeks time middle of October. 226 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:09,320 You and I are sitting here where we cap in both of those matches. Do you think they're both on equal playing field where two of these guys Penta and LA night came out looking good and strong for the future? 227 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:14,600 Or did where do we look at and go LA night blew Penta out of the water Penta blew LA night out of the water? 228 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:19,320 Or do we go? Yeah, these guys are probably never going to be main event players in this current WWE format. 229 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:29,560 I'm going to lean towards and this has a lot to do with the crowd as well. I think Penta blows LA night out of the water in perception coming out of this. 230 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:37,160 I just don't trust WWE really elevating either of these guys into constant main event guys. 231 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:47,480 So I think on paper it looked like Penta was the big winner but six months from now I don't think either guy has a world title run under their belt at that point. 232 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:52,920 That's what I'm saying. I'm saying I think WWE should go buy another brand and just give push arts and titles. 233 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:55,480 They did. It's called triple. They did. It's called triple. 234 00:18:55,480 --> 00:19:02,760 You're right. Yeah, I could. Hey, we just had we have a guy who is a French. He is he's German. 235 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:16,200 Austria now, Austria, German impersonating a Hispanic character who is an American, the great American holding their top brass with a mega championship and is incredibly over. 236 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:22,920 You had a German guy impersonating an American who was impersonating a Hispanic. 237 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:29,960 So there's three levels to that. It was a guy impersonating guy. It was kind of like a Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder like. 238 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:37,560 Yeah, she's all right. Change the channel. Anyway, and then you got two brits that are alongside him going. 239 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:45,800 We are Hispanic characters as well. So yeah, there you go. Feel free to chime in patreon.com/srtupodcast. 240 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:50,440 Switching over to AEW. We have all out coming up here. Dr. Shrain finally has some heat. 241 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:57,320 But we've lost a major player along the way this week's. I finally gave Will Osprey versus John Moxley, the physical edge it needed. 242 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:07,880 Moxley beat Francesco Akira from New Japan, from United Empire. He kept attacking him after the bell and Osprey responded with hidden blades to stand tall heading towards all out. 243 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:16,360 Hangman Page and Brodito along with yeah, Hangman Page and Brodito earned a WWE World Trio's championship opportunity. 244 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:21,400 Demonstrate Champion made it clear he wants to go to Akata and the AEW International Championship. That is official. 245 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:28,520 But the biggest loss is Mercedes Monae who's not medically clear now for all out without broken nose. They said she'll be back for a wrestle dream in October. 246 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:32,760 Will Knight and Gail versus Teclo won't step determined who gets Mercedes at wrestle dream. 247 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:39,160 Osprey Moxley has the heat it needed but Mercedes apps and certainly takes star power off all out next weekend. 248 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,920 Dr. Trade did Dynamite finally make all out feel like a major show coming up. 249 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:57,240 It helped. To me this is kind of like backlash. Remember we had WrestleMania and then WrestleMania backlash. 250 00:20:57,240 --> 00:20:59,960 This to me feels like the backlash card. 251 00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:07,000 Explain to me also how a broken nose is worse than a broken hand. I haven't figured that one out yet. 252 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:16,840 You can be medically clear with a broken hand because you actually need to grab people in wrestling but a broken nose can't get medically clear for I guess because breathing is important I guess. 253 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:33,960 It feels like a strong card but like it's so clumbling all in was just a couple weeks ago. I feel like it's almost like I need time to breathe to really get into all out and it's right now. 254 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:39,640 At least they're giving it more space than they did two years ago because two years ago what was two weeks. 255 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:48,680 Yep. At least they're giving it like three and a half weeks or four weeks to get into it but maybe it's my fault Jeff maybe because I heaps 256 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:59,160 someone's praise on Mercedes Monet. That's why she's taking this show off. I don't know but like I'm excited for Moxley in Osprey because I believe that this is the beginning of the Osprey era. 257 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:14,280 I'm really excited for Champa and Okada. I'm interested to see how they do this whole thing with Swarve and the new level and Paige and Brodito and then don't forget Ricochet and his group, the demand. 258 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:20,360 Like I'm interested to see how that goes. The tag team title division looks interesting. I mean they got a lot of really good moving parts. 259 00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:25,960 I just wish that this show had a little bit more time to breathe coming on the heels of ballin. 260 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:30,840 When would be a good time for a do you think they should have skipped it and then do just go straight in a wrestle dream. 261 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:36,520 Yeah I mean do we really need all out. Well I mean it's like a ten pull for them right. 262 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:38,360 Yeah. That's where they come from. 263 00:22:38,360 --> 00:22:51,720 But wrestle dream was supposed to be like you know forbidden doorish and neither of those things are forbidden or dreamish so like maybe you just do away with the wrestle dream and put all out in October. 264 00:22:52,520 --> 00:23:03,480 Interesting yeah I mean because I think they're doing all out next weekend right and then I think wrestle dreams like October 7th which I think with my math would be like two weeks in between. 265 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,040 Which I never like that I think that's a waste. 266 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:16,680 Yes it's just two it's too fast it's just boom boom boom boom boom boom is like man like you're not the great thing about all is we had you know five six weeks to build up a lot of that show. 267 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:28,280 Even though they did kind of cram a lot into the last two weeks but to do to do it a paper plus you're you're kind of exhausting your audience because if I got dropped by just drop 60 bucks on all in. 268 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:33,720 To turn around drop another 60 bucks on all out and then two weeks later does 60 bucks on wrestle dream. 269 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:39,400 I mean that's a 180 bucks in about a seven week period that's a lot of money for your average consumer. 270 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:50,440 Doctor trade how much do you think losing Mercedes Monet hurts the card because this would have been probably her first eight women's world championship defense she's out now with an injury that happened at all in. 271 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:54,520 Is her not being there taking some steam out of the card. 272 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:56,760 Um. 273 00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:01,560 Yeah not really I mean a little bit because she is. 274 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:10,120 You know a big star but I mean to jump from if she it looked like they were jumping from you know into her in fecla. 275 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:20,440 And ignoring willow so at least they're actually having a little bit of of conclusion to get to fecla in Mercedes if that's the route they go. 276 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:32,040 So it hurts on star power but I mean fecla and willow can go and we talked about it can we go everybody loves willow so the fact that we're getting willow on the show I think is. 277 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,400 Doesn't quite make up for it but still it's a good look. 278 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:42,600 So there is some good news coming along the way for a w dr. Trey as a fight full sublect is reporting that the current plan. 279 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:49,400 Is for former WWE United States champion former NXT champion former NXT UK champion. 280 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:55,320 Ilya dragon off to join a w with final details on the contract still being worked out. 281 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:57,400 Nothing has been officially announced yet. 282 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:04,440 Dragon off immediately creates fresh matches will with willos bridge on marksly because it's got a conesca to cash us for strict lid hangman page. 283 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:08,680 Enter anybody that is a hard hitter in a w and this is a dream match. 284 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,880 A w already has one of the deepest rosters in wrestling. 285 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,680 The question isn't whether dragon off can have great matches there. 286 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:21,880 It's whether a w has enough television time and creative space to make Ilya feel special because I feel like he is a special wrestler in WWE. 287 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,680 Dragon off fits a w in the ring. 288 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,720 The bigger question is whether a w has room to make him matter again. 289 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:32,760 So I ask you this dr. Trey is a w the right landing spot for a w dragon off. 290 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:40,360 I mean if your options are TNA, AW or WWE and w w say hey we don't want to pay you that money then yeah. 291 00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:43,080 AW is the best landing spot for him. 292 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:45,480 He can have some great matches. 293 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:53,960 A lot of people that you just ran through of those fans has to matches and you know me I'm a big chump of fans on chump and dragon off would be great. 294 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,360 Like I'm all for all these matches. 295 00:25:56,360 --> 00:26:03,800 My question for dragon off is he just has to figure out how to connect with the average person who views a w. 296 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:07,400 I think your die hard you know wrestling pierce love Ilya. 297 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:12,440 I think the people that you know like promos and like talking and like things like that. 298 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:13,480 That's where he struggles. 299 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:19,240 I think that's why w he kind of didn't want to pay him the money because he had made that connection with it. 300 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,440 So AW is a great spot to land in. 301 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:33,080 Is this a question of can AW make him a bigger star like they did with swerve and not cast him to the side kind of like they did with you know some other w. 302 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:34,520 You guys who have came over. 303 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,000 All right Dr. Trey you're in the ear of Tony Khan. 304 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:44,040 You need to tell him the major feud the first major feud that Ilya dragon off needs in a w. 305 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:46,280 Who do you sign him up for against? 306 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:55,240 You know my if I'm trying to make him a star I go. 307 00:26:55,240 --> 00:27:05,000 Oh cotta probably if I'm trying to build a guy who's going to be a strong piece for the next five years I stick him in the Don Calis family and have him go after Darby. 308 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:05,480 Wow. 309 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:09,640 Because I that way that way Don Calis can be his mouthpiece. 310 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:14,760 He can do for Ilya what he's done for Kyle Fletcher way different to Keshda. 311 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:19,640 You know what he's done for Mark Davis like a lot of those guys that are in that group. 312 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:31,400 Hallis has made them feel like bigger pieces so that's my long term plan would be originally just stick him with Don Calis until he gets better with Calis turn him against Calis and then he's off to the races. 313 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:40,200 So my first major feud would be John Moxley I think that would be great I think it'd be fun I think it'd be hard hitting I think it's a dream match for their styles of wrestling. 314 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:46,680 But then the other part of me Dr. Trey is I think dragon off would be great for the death writers like that persona fits him. 315 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:56,680 But I can't see them introducing him as a death writer I think he gets the introduction that is very similar to this presentation from WWE in previous places he was at. 316 00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:09,240 Well you know Osprey did say he was building a new United Empire in AEW and Dragon off being you know from Russia having that kind of. 317 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:14,680 I don't want I try to think of a good comparison without saying United Nations from WWE. 318 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:31,000 But you know it's kind of a Nash it's an international group is what the United Empire always seems to be so if if Ilya comes to Osprey's defense against the death writers he gets the Osprey rub and immediately is upper upper mid card lower made event status. 319 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:32,440 Do you think you debuts it all out? 320 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:47,160 Like he could come to the aid of of will Osprey. Like post like post match if the death writers and the dogs are beating down Osprey then Ilya makes a save that make a lot of sense. 321 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:55,160 His presentation and the way they the United Empire in New Japan carry themselves would be very perfect for an AEW version of the United Empire with will Osprey. 322 00:28:55,160 --> 00:29:02,160 Yeah and I think and I think his style also crosses over with New Japan so getting in with AEW also opens up opportunities for him in New Japan as well. 323 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:14,160 Yeah I agree with you I agree with you so yeah that is I think that's a really really really big signing and I'm looking forward to seeing how Ilya Dragonov performs in all elite wrestling. 324 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:22,160 Dr. Trey with that said let's close up shop on this week's edition of SRT let's get a couple plugs and sponsors out of the way. 325 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:27,160 You can download the show at patreon.com/srtupodcast and this don't really show feed on Apple Spotify. 326 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:35,160 Or wherever you download this podcast don't forget to rate and review and subscribe. You can follow us individually on X for myself at SRT U. Jeff and for Dr. Trey Franklin at the Dr. Trey. 327 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:43,160 And of course don't forget to follow show on X at SRT U podcast with that being said what is going on in the wonderful world of Dr. Trey Franklin this week. 328 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:50,160 Well like Jeff said you can follow me on X at the Dr. Trey you can find me on Instagram and Facebook Dr. Trey Franklin. 329 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:58,160 When you're on Facebook be sure to go check out Rock City Championship Wrestling. We made a huge switch this couple weeks ago. 330 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:07,160 We're actually going to one show a month for the next couple months just to get through football season because we know Alabama fans don't like to make choices between wrestling and football. 331 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:16,160 So October 3rds our next show and then we're going to be co-sponsoring a couple shows out of the Rock City arena to help out local independent wrestling. 332 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:24,160 So get out there check out your own local independent wrestling and then also go check out YouTube dot com slash Rock City Championship Wrestling for all the old past episodes of Rock City. 333 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:38,160 So you can see some of your favorite stars in AEW and NXT that have come through the Rock City arena including Nathan Frazier Lexus King, Adam Priest those guys have all been Rock City Alums. 334 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:43,160 So be sure to check out the Rock City YouTube page for all the history of Rock City. 335 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:52,160 I got to admit once I heard you say that we're canceling it. We're doing one show a month for football season. I wanted to respond real tide for you right there. 336 00:30:52,160 --> 00:31:04,160 I mean people when you tell people that they're like real tide real tide. So no it's literally I literally retail stores and stuff like that right here literally changed their hours of operation around Alabama football games this day. 337 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:11,160 It's a religion there folks. It's a special place. It's a truly special place to live when it comes to college football. 338 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:26,160 All right so that'll do it for this week's edition of SRT you thank you for downloading the show thank you for supporting us spread the word about patreon.com/SRTU Podcasts and help us keep climbing the charts in the world of professional wrestling podcasts out there until next week for Dr. Tray Franklin. 339 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,160 I am Jeff Peck. This has been the Stoelor Show.