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13 - A Return To Our Usual Programming With A Post WrestleMania Side Of Tomahawk Steak · Singlets & Suplexes: A Pro Wrestling Podcast

• 0:02
  Hello, welcome to Singlets and Suplexes, a pro wrestling
• 0:07
  podcast. I'm your host, Pete.
• 0:09
  Evening. I'm Luke.
• 0:12
  Luke everybody to talk some wrestling.
• 0:14
  I am, yeah. I mean, I'm only recorded the
• 0:16
  WrestleMania bonus show a couple of days ago, so two shows in one
• 0:19
  week. It's a first for us, but I'm as
• 0:21
  ready as ever. There's been a lot happened in
• 0:23
  those two days since we last spoke.
• 0:25
  It has indeed, and it was almost as if we knew that was going to
• 0:28
  be the case, and that's why we decided to do the bonus episode.
• 0:31
  Now we're on the ball. To what Luke's talking about, we
• 0:34
  did record a WrestleMania special bonus episode where we
• 0:38
  just deep dived to fit with you itself.
• 0:39
  With the been two nights of awesome action, we didn't want
• 0:43
  that clogging up too much of this episode here.
• 0:45
  So we are back to our standard programming this week with all
• 0:50
  of our usual segments including week in review.
• 0:52
  The moment in time. Did they really say that Cursed
• 0:54
  by the Wrestling Gods and of course Pro Wrestling Feel Good
• 0:56
  fact of the week, they are all back.
• 0:58
  Obviously in week in review we probably will mention some
• 1:00
  things from Mania, but we won't have to deep dive it too much
• 1:03
  because like I said, on Monday, we did release our special
• 1:06
  episode where we did deep dive WrestleMania 42.
• 1:11
  But I think Luke, obviously we're going to be talking about
• 1:13
  the past week in professional wrestling and we're also going
• 1:15
  to be diving into some sports entertainment nostalgia.
• 1:17
  But first up, should we get some housekeeping going?
• 1:21
  Always. It's a routine, isn't it?
• 1:23
  I'm a very routine man. So I like to hear from the
• 1:26
  people that take time out of their week to listen to us and
• 1:28
  see what they have to say. So yeah, I mean, only been a
• 1:30
  couple of days if they listen to the Monday show bonus.
• 1:33
  But yeah, what we've got, what's what's, what's the word on the
• 1:36
  street from the listeners? So again, housekeeping, we
• 1:39
  usually deal with thoughts and questions through our social
• 1:42
  media channel. So we only have one social media
• 1:44
  that is on Instagram and it is at SAS Wrestling pod.
• 1:48
  So check this out on there. You can interact with us there
• 1:51
  and get your thoughts and questions in on there.
• 1:52
  And then, of course, if you're listening on Spotify, you can
• 1:56
  leave comments on the episode. So essentially this episode
• 1:58
  you're listening to right now, if you leave a comment or a
• 2:00
  question on it. And if you answer, take part in
• 2:03
  our poll that is also on the episode on Spotify, we talk
• 2:06
  about those on the following episode.
• 2:07
  So that's how you can get your voices and questions and
• 2:10
  thoughts heard. We're going to dive into Spotify
• 2:12
  first. So Lou has left us a nice
• 2:15
  comment and some questions on Spotify.
• 2:18
  Do you feel with less ads and more emphasis on wrestling that
• 2:23
  Mania could go back to being one night?
• 2:25
  Does having two nights allow for one of the nights to be deemed
• 2:29
  lesser quality than the other? So I think it's a really good
• 2:33
  question. It's something that I've thought
• 2:34
  about this week actually, and it kind of goes into a kind of a
• 2:38
  moment in time because it's from WrestleMania 22, which was only
• 2:41
  one night and it was stacked and it was great.
• 2:44
  I do think that I prefer it is one night kind of, again, we've
• 2:48
  talked about this. Maybe that's that old school
• 2:50
  mentality I've got because that's what I had growing up,
• 2:52
  the nostalgia that will love. But I think it's a bit the
• 2:56
  genies out the bottle now, isn't it?
• 2:58
  They know that can make the money.
• 2:59
  They know people are going to buy the two tickets.
• 3:01
  So I can't see it going back to one night unless the industry
• 3:05
  took like a massive nose dive, which I know there's been a
• 3:08
  kickback from ticket prices and things like that.
• 3:11
  But I can't see you taking that much of A nosedive where it just
• 3:14
  won't still be financially positive for them to run 2
• 3:18
  nights because it's, I mean, it's such a success that you've
• 3:20
  got so much slam running two nights now as well.
• 3:23
  So I can't see it ever going back to one night.
• 3:27
  But I do think having two nights, you do get a lot more
• 3:30
  filler. And as we saw and one of the big
• 3:32
  criticisms online was just how much adverts you had.
• 3:35
  It kind of timed against the length of matches.
• 3:37
  But yeah, I think it's become too far now for that whoever go
• 3:40
  back. Yeah, I think what Lou's saying
• 3:42
  is obviously if we were to reduce the amount of
• 3:44
  advertising, you probably could have fitted all of the wrestling
• 3:47
  action on one card for WrestleMania 42, obviously.
• 3:52
  But it is about those ad spaces. And the more ad spaces, the more
• 3:55
  money they can generate. And having two nights means that
• 3:58
  you're getting 2 sets of pay-per-view fees, you're
• 4:01
  getting 2 sets of ticket attendance, you're getting 2
• 4:04
  sets of merch sales. So it almost having two nights
• 4:07
  double S your revenue basically straight away, right?
• 4:09
  So yes, I think the cat is out of the bargain.
• 4:11
  I think, you know, unless the business has a downturn, you're
• 4:14
  very right Luke. I think, you know, it's not
• 4:15
  going to go back to one night. But I think if it did go back to
• 4:18
  one night, it would mean that, you know, one night wouldn't be
• 4:23
  deemed the lesser night and one night wouldn't be the main event
• 4:27
  night. Yeah, that was a really, really
• 4:29
  good question. Now.
• 4:30
  Well. Just to kind of expand on it
• 4:31
  further as well as I feel I always kind of bring up the fact
• 4:33
  that being a WrestleMania, it's almost like my one time a band
• 4:36
  camp. But obviously the Orlando
• 4:38
  WrestleMania and the New Orleans WrestleMania that obviously that
• 4:41
  I went to they were one night and it's a long time to be kind
• 4:45
  of in that in that crowd for so kind of a two reasons, like
• 4:48
  different ones, both of them. So Orlando, you in the sun and I
• 4:51
  think because it was me first wrestle Mania, I went in for the
• 4:54
  gates opening stupidly and don't advise that.
• 4:56
  So I think I ended up sitting out in the Orlando sun for
• 5:00
  nearly nine hours for that one. And then obviously I kind of
• 5:03
  learned my lesson with New Orleans, but I was drinking a
• 5:05
  lot more because it was New Orleans.
• 5:07
  And I think that show with the pre show run nearly seven hours
• 5:11
  and like you kind of come down from your beer buzz by then and
• 5:14
  by the main event that was on it was about half 11 at night and
• 5:17
  like I think that kind of saps away from the crowd.
• 5:19
  So I think, yeah, either if you go about a one night, you have
• 5:23
  to still keep the condensed where it's not running for 8
• 5:26
  hours or it stays the two nights, which is what it's going
• 5:28
  to stay up. Because I think that was
• 5:29
  becoming the problem before they'd had them two night shows
• 5:33
  that the card was so like the rosters were so stacked, the
• 5:36
  interest was so kind of high that the kind of has split over
• 5:40
  2 nights because like the last couple before the double, as
• 5:43
  they say, I think they were running really, really late.
• 5:47
  Yeah, I think you're right there.
• 5:48
  I remember WrestleMania, the one where AJ Styles fought near
• 5:51
  Shinsuke Nakamura. And I remember by the time he
• 5:53
  got to that match, which was like one of the main events, I I
• 5:57
  was tired of watching wrestling and this was watching it at
• 5:59
  home. So.
• 6:00
  And I think this year's WrestleMania 42, I thought both
• 6:04
  nights didn't seem too long, like the floor nicely.
• 6:07
  I thought in terms of timing, Speaking of Instagram, Spotify,
• 6:13
  sorry, we didn't do a poll on there.
• 6:14
  So the poll was, did you enjoy WrestleMania 42?
• 6:17
  We had four options. Yes.
• 6:18
  No, only night one and only night 2.
• 6:21
  So it was split 5050. So 50% of the vote said yes,
• 6:26
  they enjoyed WrestleMania 42 and it's entirely and 50% said only
• 6:31
  night 2. Does that sort of ring true with
• 6:34
  what you've been hearing on social media, Luke?
• 6:35
  Yeah, definitely. I saw a couple of people
• 6:37
  talking, which I found quite interesting if true, that there
• 6:40
  was a feeling that WrestleMania night one was booked by TKO,
• 6:44
  WrestleMania night 2 was booked by kind of Triple H and that
• 6:47
  kind of, you know, his his crew of people.
• 6:50
  And it's interesting where people say that because again,
• 6:52
  it's like, you know, who's got that information.
• 6:53
  But like, I kind of get that because obviously WrestleMania
• 6:56
  night 1, you had your kind of all your celebrities involved,
• 6:59
  you know, you buy show speeds, your Jelly rolls, your Pat
• 7:02
  Mcafee's. Whereas night 2 you had a lot
• 7:04
  more kind of just, you know, a ladder match and obviously Punk
• 7:09
  Reigns headline, which was just pure storytelling, no
• 7:11
  involvement at all. So yeah, I think the general
• 7:13
  consensus is night 2 is definitely the better night.
• 7:16
  But would it is it is interesting.
• 7:18
  I think that if that was true, that if that is true, that you
• 7:21
  kind of had essentially two different people, like sets of
• 7:23
  groups book in each night. Yeah, I mean, for me, I enjoyed
• 7:29
  WrestleMania as a whole by 92 was bad.
• 7:32
  I think I've seen TKO come out on 6.
• 7:34
  They'll ask the question about like who's in charge of like the
• 7:37
  company and obviously TKO up. And I think people have run with
• 7:41
  that a bit saying, oh, it means true H isn't in charge.
• 7:43
  I was like, well, no, but Triple H works for TKO.
• 7:45
  So like if Triple H gets taught to do something, he does it
• 7:47
  right. So I think there's a bit of some
• 7:50
  marks online being a bit like really what it means TKO over
• 7:53
  over or Gordon are not listening to Triple H and going over his
• 7:57
  head and are going around and I will know like take you go
• 8:00
  through Triple H because Triple H is their employee, no. 100%
• 8:04
  and like anything that runs two nights for that length of time,
• 8:07
  it's I think it's nine times out of 10 always going to be a mixed
• 8:11
  bag because there's just so much content to fill.
• 8:14
  But I mean you can have one pay-per-view that's a mixed bag.
• 8:16
  So, yeah, I think to kind of not be happy that every match of
• 8:21
  cross two nights of a two different wrestling fear views
• 8:24
  wasn't your kind of expectation. It's unrealistic.
• 8:27
  There's always going to be things that are better than the
• 8:30
  others, which is kind of what we've always said isn't there
• 8:32
  with wrestling. Can you?
• 8:32
  You need that mix of things in there, no?
• 8:35
  There is indeed moving on to Instagram.
• 8:38
  We've had a couple of questions on Instagram again at SES
• 8:40
  Wrestling Pod. Follow us on there.
• 8:43
  So Geordie says, is 140 bucks on a tomahawk steak stadium food?
• 8:50
  Is that what's wrong with the world?
• 8:51
  So honestly, you've seen this Snoop board at the stadium where
• 8:54
  WrestleMania 42 was in Vegas. You, which I think is Allegiance
• 8:57
  Stadium, you could pay over 140 bucks for a tomahawk steak
• 9:02
  sliced up with chips in a chimichurri.
• 9:04
  And I had a bone. I had a WrestleMania sign sort
• 9:07
  of inked on the bone. And I just think the world has
• 9:11
  got nuts. Like for me, if you're in a
• 9:12
  stadium watching any sporting event, you want a hot dog or you
• 9:16
  want a pie. If you're typically British, but
• 9:18
  you want a pie, you want a hot dog, maybe a burger, like maybe
• 9:23
  a pack of Harry boars. I didn't want a Tomahawks.
• 9:25
  I like Tomahawks day something wrong, but I don't want it when
• 9:27
  I'm watching a sporting event. Like I think it like sporting
• 9:31
  events are working class or they meant to be now when all the
• 9:32
  ticket prices are mental. But like how?
• 9:35
  Like that is wild. You know, I think 140 bucks for
• 9:38
  stadium food that comes in a little cardboard.
• 9:41
  Like see what naturals come in the cinema, right?
• 9:43
  140 bucks on a tomahawk steak in a stadium.
• 9:46
  Or am I just being silly? Luke, you tell me.
• 9:48
  Well, I think the world has gone mental and that's just, you
• 9:51
  know, he's the icing on the cake.
• 9:52
  But there's a couple of things for me to fully understand this.
• 9:54
  So I'm not a steak guy. So how much would the tomahawk
• 9:56
  steak cost you normally do, You know, Because I feel that sounds
• 9:59
  expensive anyways. Yeah, it's a giant sort for me
• 10:04
  if you're. In the Miller and Carter, for
• 10:05
  example, I know it's not you're a stadium we not Miller and
• 10:07
  Carter. But if you're in a Miller and
• 10:09
  Carter steak restaurant, how much would a tomahawk set your
• 10:11
  back roughly? Yeah, so I'm going to get that.
• 10:14
  What I'm saying is that like it shouldn't be available at a
• 10:16
  stadium. It should be if there's a posh
• 10:19
  restaurant in the stadium for like the expensive seats, like
• 10:22
  maybe like if you're in Club Wembley or something, yes, but
• 10:25
  like this was available at the concession stand.
• 10:28
  But like the Tomahawk Steak's expensive.
• 10:29
  Yeah. You're looking at like depending
• 10:31
  on what type of steak restaurant you have, but like in the UK
• 10:34
  probably like north of £80. Well, I mean, I don't hate that
• 10:40
  it's for sale because there's a part of is that thinks it's
• 10:42
  quite Fred Flintstone and kind of, you know, chewing on a
• 10:45
  massive tomahawk at wrestling event kind of works for me.
• 10:49
  But yeah, it's in, it's in. It's interesting choice.
• 10:51
  I mean, it's not something I would have.
• 10:52
  I mean, as someone used to be like a massive drinker, eating
• 10:55
  was always cheating at wrestling events because I'd rather have a
• 10:57
  2 pointer than some food. But I did see Robbie Williams at
• 11:00
  the Emirates in the summer Arsenal Stadium and it was
• 11:03
  nearly 30 lbs for a burger and chips.
• 11:07
  Yeah, it's just, it's just wild. And I think, let's see, you took
• 11:10
  your kids and they want the tomahawk steak.
• 11:13
  Like it's just how are you meant to afford it?
• 11:16
  I don't know who affords these things or less.
• 11:18
  They're just putting on credit cards.
• 11:20
  Well, I think unfortunately, I think a lot of people putting on
• 11:22
  credit cards. But then I think you're also
• 11:24
  kind of banking on the fact that WrestleMania is some people's
• 11:27
  holiday, isn't it? And when you're on holiday,
• 11:29
  you've got a bit more of a forget attitude.
• 11:31
  So it's like, yeah, forget, let's get the tomahawk steak.
• 11:33
  But yeah, I mean, my, if my one child that I've got wanted a
• 11:37
  Tomahawk's day, I'd be telling her that it was sold out when I
• 11:40
  got the counter if it was a price.
• 11:42
  Yeah, I would see. How's your hurry balls?
• 11:43
  Get the hurry balls in here. He has your corn dog, he has
• 11:46
  your $10 corn dog, even $20 corn dog.
• 11:48
  Fine, But there was Tomahawk Steaks who gone.
• 11:50
  No, none left. Like the tomahawk steak, you
• 11:53
  take you, you take somebody for Valentine's Day for tomahawk
• 11:56
  steak. Like this time anniversary meal
• 11:59
  when someone's been promoted at work like that, you know, I
• 12:01
  mean, when you're celebrating something, but when you're in a
• 12:03
  stadium, you just want a hot dog, a corn dog, a pie, a pack
• 12:06
  of Harry bows, you want a bov roll or an ice pint, something
• 12:10
  like that, a Coca-Cola, but not 140 bucks on a tomahawk steak.
• 12:14
  I just, it's just wild, absolutely wild.
• 12:16
  You're going to move on before this becomes a Tomahawk Steak
• 12:19
  podcast. Well, I've got one more tomahawk
• 12:21
  steak story, actually, because I've only ever had one in my
• 12:24
  life. So I feel like we're bringing
• 12:26
  this up quite a lot. But it was when I was in there,
• 12:28
  the process of getting divorced, I lived at my dad's house for a
• 12:31
  couple of weeks and he was away on holiday.
• 12:33
  And he said just use whatever you want in the freezer.
• 12:36
  And I was really hungover and skint on one Monday morning.
• 12:40
  So I needed something for work. And I was up early and there was
• 12:42
  a massive tomahawk steak in his freezer.
• 12:44
  So I was just like, and I'm not a steak guy.
• 12:46
  So I just fried it and took it to work with us and had it.
• 12:50
  And he was not happy when he got back because he didn't specify
• 12:53
  that the tomahawk steak was not included.
• 12:55
  And help yourself to the freezer.
• 12:57
  So I wasted tomahawk steak and it hungover cold at me desk at
• 13:01
  BT on a Monday morning once. So that's my experience and I
• 13:05
  paid nothing for that. He should have put something in
• 13:08
  the small Princinny saying do not touch the tomahawk steak.
• 13:11
  Exactly. Yes, that's my only experience
• 13:13
  with the tomahawk, and apparently I was very, very
• 13:15
  wasteful of a tomahawk steak. I bet he had good plans for
• 13:19
  that. And then you've just ruined his.
• 13:20
  You ruined his evening. Exactly, I come back from
• 13:23
  holiday be thinking about that Tomahawk state on holiday.
• 13:25
  Hadn't he not? I had it cold.
• 13:28
  Yeah, like the tomahawk steak is a treat, right?
• 13:30
  It is a treat or certainly force work class people to treat.
• 13:33
  So but for me WrestleMania is also treat.
• 13:35
  So WrestleMania is the treat. Like the Tomahawk state will be
• 13:39
  a separate treat another time. Yeah, I think it's all just gone
• 13:42
  a bit wanky though, wasn't it? I think you kind of know the
• 13:43
  tomahawk, but we're all going massively off topic here, but I
• 13:46
  think it falls in the brighter that like street foods gone too
• 13:48
  far now, wasn't it? Everything street food.
• 13:50
  I feel like back when I first started you get really good
• 13:53
  stuff, but now you just get anything that street food £30.
• 13:57
  I wouldn't mind if at the same it was like, oh, like steak
• 14:00
  strip, like beef strips and chips with a big gravy on for
• 14:04
  like let's just say it's 15 to £20 like fine.
• 14:07
  But like this, it's just mentalist.
• 14:08
  But I think I'm going to move on because we are going to for or
• 14:11
  not. Also on Instagram, Rob C says,
• 14:16
  what are your thoughts on fans or wrestling wrestlers at hotels
• 14:19
  and airports, IE don't have you seen the CM Punk story that's
• 14:23
  going everywhere viral this week, Luke?
• 14:25
  So I mean, for me, if he's talking about Instant, I think
• 14:30
  he's talking about so some fucking wanky fan is very
• 14:32
  entitled. He's filming AJ Lee and Bailey.
• 14:37
  They've expressed to him not the door to be filmed.
• 14:39
  He's still doing it. Punk comes up and whacks the
• 14:41
  phone out of his hand and tells him to fuck off.
• 14:42
  Basically that fan's now sitting said he wants an apology from
• 14:46
  Punk. And I think that fan is an
• 14:48
  entitled prick. And if you're hearing this fan,
• 14:51
  then go fuck yourself is what I'm going to say.
• 14:53
  Because, you know, fair enough. You're trying to get a pitch
• 14:57
  over. Wrestlers like great.
• 14:58
  But like, once they've expressed that they don't want to be
• 15:00
  filmed, you need to pack it in, especially when it's late at
• 15:03
  night. And I think they'll give all
• 15:06
  fans bar names where like they're going to be.
• 15:09
  Some wrestlers might be looking to talk to fans now because of
• 15:12
  what's happened. But talk us through your
• 15:15
  thoughts. No, I agree with everything that
• 15:17
  you've said. It was actually one of my, you
• 15:19
  know, we can review it was one of my negatives because
• 15:21
  obviously the kind of punk Bailey kind of AJ situation was
• 15:25
  kind of the tip of the iceberg on it.
• 15:27
  But yeah, I just think it's fucking absolutely bang out of
• 15:29
  order. So kind of reading around it as
• 15:31
  well, Like I think that had problems getting mobbed at the
• 15:34
  hotel from day one that we're getting there.
• 15:36
  So the hotel didn't have that extra security on.
• 15:39
  Like there's just fans constantly in the lobby.
• 15:42
  Hotel were doing nothing about it.
• 15:43
  I've read that some of the wrestlers actually booked
• 15:46
  themselves out, but their own money.
• 15:48
  I know they make a lot of money, but they've booked themselves at
• 15:50
  different hotels just to get away from it.
• 15:53
  And I've seen footage of Randy coming back from the gym just
• 15:56
  getting absolutely mobbed. I've seen Drew McIntyre, who?
• 15:58
  Fucking fair play to him was standing there taking pictures
• 16:02
  but it was apparently it was like 2:00 in the morning and
• 16:04
  Drew's come out and kind of said like, you know, every fan that
• 16:07
  kind of stood in line paid and spoke to us and saw as a kind of
• 16:11
  WE world. Thank you Those that come to the
• 16:12
  hotel kind of specifying especially the parents that were
• 16:15
  pushing your kids in front of us at 2:00 in the morning when they
• 16:17
  should be in bed like you can gank fuck off essentially as
• 16:21
  well. So yeah, I just think it is,
• 16:23
  it's completely out of order and it kind of, you know, I'm, I'm
• 16:28
  36, you're 36. 37 now. 37 do you know what I mean?
• 16:33
  You know, we're coming close to middle age really, if we're
• 16:35
  lucky with our lifestyles that we've lead and like it.
• 16:39
  It can be hard just to find being a wrestling fan sometimes.
• 16:42
  And I kind of, you know, I've got buying to collect my Pokémon
• 16:44
  cards as well. And you can kind of hard just to
• 16:46
  find that as someone who's 36. But then yeah, then you have
• 16:49
  fans like this. Then you have fans who are
• 16:51
  fucking smashing sports directors down to get Pokémon
• 16:53
  cards. And it's like, yeah, I'm a fan,
• 16:55
  but I'm not that. So then you have to kind of do
• 16:57
  you find yourself to justify yourself?
• 16:59
  Like yeah, yeah, I do love this, but like, I'm not those fucking
• 17:01
  weirdos. So yeah, I think it's horrible,
• 17:04
  but it's absolutely horrendous because yeah, like I say,
• 17:06
  they're there for probably a week.
• 17:08
  So, you know, you found out day one where they are and you're
• 17:10
  getting mobbed for a week straight where kind of your
• 17:12
  schedules are already horrendous.
• 17:14
  Like, I just think I and that fine, I like you said, fucking
• 17:17
  entitled little prick saying that he wants an apology.
• 17:19
  Like yeah, good luck with that. Yeah, and it's a bit like you
• 17:23
  should know, but like you were filming them during a private
• 17:25
  moment. And then once you've been told
• 17:27
  stop, just stop. Then at that point, OK, like
• 17:29
  stop. And then everything's all right.
• 17:30
  But he chooses not to. And it's not after Punk's main
• 17:34
  event. It's early in the morning.
• 17:35
  He's probably not. And he's just thought, you know,
• 17:36
  it's fuck you. And like, I absolutely support
• 17:38
  Sam Punkin in his Actions 100. Percent.
• 17:40
  Apparently Damien Priest had already had a word with this guy
• 17:43
  as well, like before the incident.
• 17:45
  So like he'd already been told, like, you need to fuck off.
• 17:50
  Yeah. So yeah, I say it's just not
• 17:52
  nice. Like I say it was 1 I had it
• 17:54
  down as on me negative. So we can review because, yeah,
• 17:56
  he kind of you have to as from a fan's point of view as well, you
• 17:59
  have to kind of say. And then you had people arguing
• 18:01
  online going like, well, yeah, because apparently it was $900
• 18:04
  to meet Roman Reigns at WWE World.
• 18:06
  And it's like, well, yeah, that's the kind of conversation
• 18:09
  for something else. But like, just because it's $900
• 18:12
  to meet Roman Reigns at WWE World doesn't mean you can go
• 18:15
  fucking put your arm around AG Lee from behind and fucking mobs
• 18:20
  and 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, does it?
• 18:21
  That's like going like, well, why have you sold that PS4?
• 18:23
  What is $400.00? I shouldn't have to pay that.
• 18:25
  It's like, yeah, you've got maybe he's 5% of a point, but
• 18:28
  you're still in the wrong. You're fucking lunatic.
• 18:32
  Yeah, if you if you're meeting whoever it is a celebrity like
• 18:35
  in the wild where it's not a meet and greet or it's not a
• 18:38
  pain thing. I think ask them politely, like
• 18:41
  have a comp, try and have a conversation and ask them if you
• 18:43
  can and they will tell you where you can or you can't like one
• 18:48
  bit or the other. Do you know what I mean?
• 18:49
  So I think that's how that needs to go.
• 18:52
  Like if I bought in the Roman Reigns and I've seen him and I
• 18:54
  said hello and ask them a question.
• 18:57
  Like you could answer that question and say, yes, you can't
• 18:59
  have a picture. I know you can't.
• 19:00
  Now I'll have to then like acknowledge that upon the pun.
• 19:05
  But yes, you have to be like, all right, Roman said no, he
• 19:07
  doesn't want a picture. Like I'll have to respect that
• 19:09
  because he said he doesn't want to top my right to have one
• 19:11
  either. But do you know what I mean?
• 19:12
  Well, I think like again, I think there's different things
• 19:15
  where like I've seen Punk lately where you know, if he bumps into
• 19:21
  all the wrestlers have to bump into and you have a conversation
• 19:22
  with them, express your love of wrestling.
• 19:24
  If you plate to them and then you ask them for that, if they
• 19:28
  can, they'll give you it. Do you know what I mean?
• 19:30
  But if you if you're harassing them here in hotel lobby late at
• 19:33
  night when you've been that's not a film.
• 19:35
  Or if you're waiting for a wrestler to come out of the
• 19:37
  urinal or waiting for a wrestler to finish eating his burger,
• 19:41
  then like absolutely they're going to say no.
• 19:44
  They shouldn't say no. No, definitely like when we like
• 19:47
  when we you're probably going back like 10 years something
• 19:49
  now. But we when the do we come to
• 19:51
  Newcastle? Like we used to kind of drink
• 19:53
  and eat in a bar that was attached to a hotel that they
• 19:56
  stayed at a lot of the time. And we would sometimes kind of
• 19:58
  get a meet them and we would kind of purposely make a point
• 20:01
  to go in there. But like I wouldn't even do that
• 20:03
  now because again, it's like I'm 36 like again, bump into the
• 20:07
  wild and now. But shouldn't you come up?
• 20:09
  Definitely I would. But like, yeah, even the thought
• 20:11
  of like. Eating in a restaurant and
• 20:14
  drinking there, knowing that there might be there makes us
• 20:16
  feel a bit kind of like a creep now because I say I'm 36.
• 20:20
  Sorry, basically that's like more like 1520 years ago.
• 20:23
  Lucas Ali. Played but yeah, exactly
• 20:25
  blasphemy point we. Used to.
• 20:27
  We used to. We used to.
• 20:30
  Even though we were very polite and we got lots of pictures and
• 20:33
  we had lots of good conversations with wrestlers,
• 20:34
  remember, Yeah. Yeah, we were hanging.
• 20:35
  Yeah, we were still for. Us because we were polite,
• 20:38
  approached them at like nice times and you know you can read
• 20:41
  the vibe and if they were cool then you you would approach them
• 20:44
  and told them they look like maybe the you know they didn't
• 20:46
  really bother you didn't bother them and you know you'd never
• 20:49
  overstep the mark and you always ask permission 1st and then.
• 20:52
  Well, perfect. Had a good experience, you know
• 20:53
  what I mean? Perfect example of that.
• 20:55
  We got into this bar restaurant once, but the only people in
• 20:58
  there there was somebody was one of the person on the table
• 21:01
  behind us. And it was John Cena, wasn't it?
• 21:03
  But he kind of looked at us. He had wrestling T-shirts on.
• 21:06
  He looked a bit like, here we go.
• 21:08
  He had a massive ice pack on his back.
• 21:09
  And we just didn't even speak to him.
• 21:11
  Did work because we could see like now it's not the time he's
• 21:14
  eaten. He looks fucked.
• 21:16
  And he looked a bit disappointed that he's seen us.
• 21:18
  And I don't mind that because like I say, he's probably just
• 21:20
  thinking like, this is probably the one time I'm going to sit
• 21:22
  down. I'll put a meal the day.
• 21:23
  And I say he had a fucking ice pack on his back at like 12:00
• 21:25
  in the afternoon. So we're like just completely
• 21:28
  ignored him. Didn't like we didn't didn't ask
• 21:29
  him for a photo, just let him crack on.
• 21:32
  I remember I gave him a nod and then we like moved outside the
• 21:34
  bar all the way. And I think he's sort of look,
• 21:36
  this is to say like, thank you, like, you know what I mean?
• 21:39
  Oh, definitely. But yes, I think that is all
• 21:44
  done with housekeeping and we can move into week, week in
• 21:47
  review, Luke, if that's OK. Definitely.
• 21:50
  Take us through your positives of the week.
• 21:52
  So my positives is kind of a step by step walkthrough because
• 21:55
  they kind of bleed into one. So kind of one of my positives
• 21:57
  is they've released a new Shawn Michaels documentary over
• 22:00
  WrestleMania week and I watched that, really enjoyed it.
• 22:04
  So kind of the overview of it is that you kind of get about an
• 22:07
  hour and a half. It was you maybe get 30-40
• 22:09
  minutes on his career. It's a bit of a whistle stop to
• 22:12
  her because I feel like a lot of people already know about it.
• 22:15
  So obviously you get the highs, you get the lows.
• 22:17
  I do feel like the laws were balanced because you had Brett
• 22:20
  Hart kind of given his honest opinions on Sean and the only
• 22:24
  way that Brett can. You had Undertaker saying that
• 22:27
  you know all Shawn Michaels. I wouldn't have pissed on him if
• 22:29
  he was on fire. So I feel like you definitely
• 22:31
  got kind of, it wasn't fully sugar coated for something
• 22:34
  produced by WWE, but then a large part of it and especially
• 22:38
  the end of it was kind of focused and on how Shawn took
• 22:42
  over NXT. And I just thought it was a
• 22:44
  really, really cool footage. So you got to see him when he
• 22:47
  first come in. It was quite interesting because
• 22:49
  Triple H kind of you said, I felt a bit bad, but I'd kind of
• 22:53
  appealed to the addict in him where I thought, I want him to
• 22:55
  do this. He's saying no, but if I got him
• 22:57
  to come in for an hour and then you'll probably say, can I come
• 23:00
  back? And that's what he did.
• 23:01
  And then after a couple of crimes coming back, he was like,
• 23:03
  can I take a class? And then I let him take a class.
• 23:06
  And then it was like, I've got him now.
• 23:07
  And then obviously what led to Sean taking over fully was
• 23:10
  Triple H had that obviously issues with his heart.
• 23:12
  So he stepped in there and he's never kind of stepped down and
• 23:15
  he's running the full show now. And if anyone's not seen this
• 23:18
  documentary, obviously massively recommend it.
• 23:21
  And it why I kind of let into my positives was just kind of one
• 23:24
  of the things I really enjoyed this week was the kind of
• 23:27
  classic Raw after Mania debuts of NXT talent.
• 23:31
  So on Raw, we had Ethan Page who beat Javon Evans, also kind of
• 23:35
  NXT Shawn alumni and he had Saul Ruka kind of lose to Liv Morgan,
• 23:40
  but she lost in a way where progressed her NXT storyline
• 23:43
  with Zaria. So I just thought, yeah, it's
• 23:45
  really cool because I know like, and I'm going to ask you this
• 23:48
  that a lot of people have their opinions on Shawn Michaels.
• 23:51
  And I know this was a WWE produced documentary, so it was
• 23:54
  never going to kind of fully pay it like an awful light.
• 23:57
  But I just think it's cool to see where he come from because
• 24:00
  he kind of said himself in it that like when he was in his 30s
• 24:04
  and he was in his really bad period, he never kind of
• 24:07
  expected to see 45 and he didn't seem not bothered by it.
• 24:10
  But now see him kind of working in his producer always he's got
• 24:13
  his son and his daughter working there as well, kind of behind
• 24:16
  the scenes and kind of the admiration and kind of almost
• 24:20
  like in all of them still some of the younger talent are.
• 24:22
  I just thought it was a really cool, well put together
• 24:25
  documentary and always find that kind of NXT stuff interesting.
• 24:29
  And then like I say, you then had that backed up with the
• 24:31
  debuts of Ethan Page and so Ruger.
• 24:34
  And then obviously Joe Henry's coming up next week as well.
• 24:37
  He's doing a concert that was advertised, but we'll talk about
• 24:40
  Ethan Page and so Ruger as well. But kind of you're someone
• 24:43
  obviously massive Breath fan, kind of there's almost, I think
• 24:46
  a character version of Pete has opinions on Shawn Michaels.
• 24:49
  But at this moment in time, this exact time, what is your opinion
• 24:53
  of sure Michaels, your honest opinion?
• 24:55
  Now that dust is settled and things have been said, what was
• 24:58
  your opinions on them? Well, I haven't seen the
• 25:00
  documentary, so I cannot comment on the documentary.
• 25:04
  Yeah, like, he was a great wrestler who's now running the
• 25:07
  next team, But other than that, I don't really know too much
• 25:09
  about what he's doing. You know, I don't really watch.
• 25:12
  I watch the next team when I can.
• 25:13
  I don't watch it religiously every week.
• 25:16
  I think obviously if you think about Triple H used to run NXT
• 25:18
  and made it awesome and it's like original era when it first
• 25:21
  got big. I suppose obviously Triple H is
• 25:24
  now, you know, chief creator for the main roster.
• 25:27
  I suppose if Triple H isn't producing it, who do you want
• 25:30
  producing it? Probably Shawn Michaels, right,
• 25:31
  because he's from a similar mindset.
• 25:33
  The very close also very different though.
• 25:36
  So you can you can give different aspects I suppose.
• 25:38
  So I think you would want somebody with a create like
• 25:40
  Shawn Michaels to be down there in that territory, teaching the
• 25:44
  young pupil and producing it. So I think that's an Aubrey that
• 25:47
  makes really good sense to have to have somebody that call about
• 25:50
  doing that. No, definitely.
• 25:53
  And I say that kind of comes across and I mean, if you look
• 25:55
  at WrestleMania just gone and over the bonus episode on it,
• 25:58
  but like kind of Sean's NXT fingerprints were all over it
• 26:01
  really. If you look at kind of XP, you
• 26:03
  know, Trick Williams being a massive 1.
• 26:05
  So it was kind of a, they have a story where the what to call
• 26:07
  Trick up. Maybe he's 8-9 months ago.
• 26:09
  But Shawn Michael said, no, I think you should stay down here
• 26:11
  and work on his heel persona more.
• 26:13
  And like Trick Williams apparently spoke about that this
• 26:15
  weekend, saying like that was absolutely the right thing to
• 26:18
  do. And then I say, you've got more
• 26:19
  kind of Shawn NXT graduates this week on Raw.
• 26:23
  So did you enjoy Ethan Page and sold Ruger's debuts on Raw?
• 26:26
  So I did so two things. I did enjoy them, but also an
• 26:30
  all positive is that I'm glad I didn't jump back it with too
• 26:32
  many. So I'm glad we got anything and
• 26:34
  I got we got. So Ruger, I'm glad we're getting
• 26:36
  Joe Hendry next week. So it wasn't all jammed in one
• 26:41
  to spread it out. And like I said, Ethan Pages
• 26:44
  made sense and then Saul Rooka made sense.
• 26:45
  And then the way they made the Saul Rooka one actually tie into
• 26:49
  what happened in the next day. Just gone was a chef's kiss from
• 26:54
  me. Really, really enjoyed all of
• 26:55
  that. Yeah, because it is obviously
• 26:57
  because when XR was a little bit behind on Raw and I just saw
• 27:00
  that Liv Morgan would be Soul Ruger.
• 27:01
  So I was a bit like, all right, that that seems weird for a
• 27:04
  debut. But then when I actually watched
• 27:05
  it and obviously advanced the Zoria, sorry, I thought that's
• 27:08
  that's a really good way of doing it.
• 27:09
  And I've just today watched the Zoria Soul Ruger Last Woman
• 27:15
  Standing match. And that was one of my positives
• 27:16
  of the week as well, because it was absolutely brutal match.
• 27:18
  I kind of went back and like looked at the timing of it.
• 27:21
  They got 22 minutes main event and again, that kind of carries
• 27:24
  back into a kind of why I really enjoy watching NXT every week.
• 27:28
  Like the women's division is like, I think obviously it's
• 27:31
  going to be picked apart a bit now for call UPS, but I think
• 27:34
  the NXT women's division out of kind of TNAEW and WE is probably
• 27:39
  the the best women's division at the moment.
• 27:41
  And like, not only do you get them 22 minutes last women's
• 27:44
  standard main event, you also had a Tatum and Blake Monroe and
• 27:47
  Coffin match as well. So, yeah.
• 27:50
  And all the massive positive. And it was nice the way they've
• 27:52
  tied that in. And by the looks of it, I think
• 27:54
  that was Sword Ruka's last match.
• 27:55
  And she'll be up there on roll all the time now.
• 27:57
  And I think she's kind of main event waiting to happen for the
• 28:02
  women's scene, but kind of talk about that quite a bit when she
• 28:04
  had a spot in the Rumble. But yeah, so I thought it was
• 28:07
  two really positives and I've not really thought about until
• 28:10
  you said it, But yeah, not over stacking.
• 28:11
  It was definitely the right thing to do.
• 28:13
  And I think Ethan Page has got a bit of a kind of unlimited
• 28:17
  potential if he's used right, but I could definitely see him
• 28:19
  winning the IC title in the next 6 months.
• 28:22
  Yeah, Ethan Pages, someone I've watched a lot of for his indie
• 28:25
  run, his TNA run and his AW run and his NXT run.
• 28:29
  He can be very serious. He can also do a comedy twang do
• 28:34
  it that that that works in a really cool way.
• 28:38
  Is is like his facials and the way he acts as like second and
• 28:42
  none. And yeah, great to see him
• 28:43
  there. I think Sol Ruger, a debut, was
• 28:47
  great, but I think what happened on XT was one of my big
• 28:50
  positives of the week. I thought the finish, the hug,
• 28:53
  pushing her off, obviously vicious spotting.
• 28:56
  One thing I would say is that if you're going to push someone
• 28:57
  through 2, if you line up two tables, they need to make sure
• 28:59
  they crash through both of them. Yeah, that was not.
• 29:01
  Across your quarter head, yeah, it was, it was nearly a
• 29:04
  disaster. But yeah.
• 29:06
  And I think obviously that's now probably Soluca finishing XT,
• 29:10
  which is perfect. She's already now in the main
• 29:12
  rost on Raw. She's had a title match, but
• 29:14
  what got screwed out of it? And yet see what happens next.
• 29:17
  And I think, do you think Zaria will move to Smackdown?
• 29:20
  No, I, I could see her taking the women's title of Lola Vice.
• 29:24
  I think she'll be down in NXT cooking for a little bit longer,
• 29:27
  but I think because she'll look so different and she's at
• 29:29
  Powerhouse, I think once she gets there, I think it'll be
• 29:32
  good stuff for her. But no, I think I can see her
• 29:34
  staying down for a bit longer. That's why she got the win.
• 29:36
  I can see Blake Monroe popping up on Smackdown this week
• 29:39
  though. She lost the Coffin Match and I
• 29:41
  just feel that like it was only ever a short stay there for her.
• 29:45
  So if you've not put the title back on her, I can't see her
• 29:48
  going into an XT women's feud after that.
• 29:50
  So that's my little prediction for Smackdown this week.
• 29:53
  I think we might get Blake Monroe on there.
• 29:56
  Yeah, I think she probably, she's probably television ready
• 29:57
  and I think wasn't the reason why Tatum Paxley had the belt
• 30:02
  was because of a miscount by the ref or something like that?
• 30:05
  No, that was when, oh, I forgot her name, the one who was in
• 30:09
  Chase University. That was a miscount.
• 30:12
  But then they've never put it back on her.
• 30:14
  So I think it's kind of she's had a little feud with Tatum,
• 30:16
  who I think is really good as well, and I think that's her
• 30:18
  done. But did we?
• 30:19
  You were you at the E double pay view when she faced Tony Storm?
• 30:23
  Yes, was it? I think that's one of the best
• 30:25
  matches in AW history. So like, yeah, just to kind of
• 30:29
  back the point that I think she was always kind of only going to
• 30:32
  be in an XTA little while. So I think yeah, if she's not on
• 30:35
  Smackdown this week, I think it's common because I think
• 30:36
  that's her getting put in the caskets.
• 30:38
  That's her NXT send off as well. Yeah, I think if she hadn't, if
• 30:42
  that missed come hadn't happened, I think she would have
• 30:43
  still had the belt and probably dropped it here then come to me
• 30:46
  and roster was the original 1. Obviously that thing happened,
• 30:49
  sort of kept her there for the same hour time and obviously
• 30:52
  just feel to win the belt now and then that's I mean what's
• 30:54
  already she probably need to go next to learn the camera angles
• 30:57
  and the WBA filming things in time and then right back off the
• 31:01
  races because you know what you're doing.
• 31:02
  Yeah, it was Thea Hale. That's who got the fast count
• 31:04
  and got the belt. That was a Thea Hale.
• 31:06
  Yeah. But what do you think just
• 31:10
  quickly kind of tying up the debuts, what do you think kind
• 31:12
  of chances of kind of a big success?
• 31:15
  Joe Henry has obviously it looks like the debut in them with the
• 31:18
  full gimmick next week doing a concert.
• 31:20
  Like do you think it's comedy spots or do you think there's
• 31:23
  potent? Do you think Joe Henry can go
• 31:24
  further than that on the main roster?
• 31:27
  So I want to. I'm glad it wasn't this week
• 31:30
  because I didn't want him to be sandwiched in.
• 31:33
  My worry is that I don't know if he's ready.
• 31:34
  I don't know if the main roster has space for him yet.
• 31:36
  Yeah. And I think next week could be
• 31:39
  too. I don't know till we see it.
• 31:40
  So I don't want to, I don't want to Jingx it, but I think my
• 31:43
  concerns is that I think he should see the NXT a little bit
• 31:45
  longer because I don't think there's room for him on the main
• 31:47
  roster. But I could be wrong.
• 31:49
  And until we see what he does in the presentation, you know, I
• 31:51
  could be loving it. But I think like he has huge
• 31:54
  potential on the main roster, but the need to get his timing
• 31:56
  right because I think he's going to get lost in the pack maybe.
• 31:59
  Yeah, that's my initial thought about Book 1 moment.
• 32:01
  I feel like he could end up getting lost, but we will see.
• 32:04
  We will see. What were the other positives?
• 32:09
  So I said my positives was like I said, sold Ruga's debut, but
• 32:12
  also the NXT last women standard match and Ethan Paige's debuts
• 32:16
  had not been too stacked. They were all positives.
• 32:18
  I loved the Punk Cody interaction.
• 32:20
  I thought it sold Cody's injuries.
• 32:23
  It sold Cody's being the champ. It sold Punk as being defeated
• 32:28
  but still hungry and hint in that, you know, he's waiting in
• 32:32
  front of that title opportunity and Cody sort of saying well,
• 32:34
  saying when it sort of means that you haven't happened right
• 32:37
  now, but like, but we'll get that this year and that's
• 32:39
  exciting. And I think if Mania was sort of
• 32:42
  the ending of a book, the starter shows the teaser trade
• 32:45
  off what could happen later on in the year.
• 32:48
  Yeah. So it was a light positive for
• 32:50
  me because I think they pulled about massively from what I
• 32:52
  thought was a negative, because I thought their interaction on
• 32:55
  Smackdown leading into Mania was just weird, where they were just
• 32:59
  kind of both bigging each other up.
• 33:01
  And Cody got emotional about how proud his dad would be of Punk.
• 33:04
  So I thought this pulled it back a bit where it made it feel more
• 33:06
  like future storytelling. So yeah, it was it was
• 33:09
  interesting. You know, I like the idea that,
• 33:10
  you know, he's just waiting for a title shot to drop out with
• 33:12
  this guy. I quite liked the wording of
• 33:15
  that. And yeah, I think I think it's a
• 33:17
  big six months for Cody Rhodes as to kind of what they do next
• 33:20
  with them. It is indeed, and I think a
• 33:24
  Codian Punk match would be great.
• 33:26
  I think if they had more than a match and it was a program, I
• 33:28
  think that could be great as well.
• 33:30
  Obviously technically two baby faces right now, but just just
• 33:32
  one work heal. I don't know, but I think with
• 33:34
  them both working, babyface versus babyface could work as
• 33:36
  well. But yeah, I like that.
• 33:39
  And I like how Pumpkin Rains have got a bit of breathing
• 33:42
  space now. I think that makes sense because
• 33:44
  I think they had a great storyline from January to now.
• 33:48
  It was great storytelling. The match was fantastic and like
• 33:52
  yeah, that's put a pin in that because it's it's finished for
• 33:54
  now. Yeah, which was one of my
• 33:56
  positives as well. Like I would never have
• 33:58
  predicted that. It looks like it's going to be
• 34:00
  Jacob is Roy Rains his first challenger.
• 34:03
  So that was one of my positives. I thought that was a cool little
• 34:05
  kind of way to end the show and set up looking potentially
• 34:10
  Roman's first challenge. I thought kind of Jacob coming
• 34:12
  out and kind of just saying that, you know, he wants the
• 34:15
  title because he wants The Jets, he wants the money, he wants the
• 34:17
  money. He puts kids in bad schools.
• 34:19
  You know, it's reliable to all of us.
• 34:20
  That isn't it. But then Roman did his classic
• 34:23
  kind of, you know, almost gaslighting, didn't he, where
• 34:25
  he's like, I'm not going to say yes, I'm not going to say no,
• 34:28
  but if you lose, can you handle that?
• 34:30
  If you win, can you handle that? Do you know, do you know what I
• 34:33
  mean? Like being the champion, that's
• 34:35
  kind of the the big thing. So I thought it was really good
• 34:37
  because like I say, I thought it kind of come out of nowhere.
• 34:39
  And I think it's that type of match where if it does that
• 34:42
  much, I think looking like it will.
• 34:44
  I don't think there's any chance Jacob wins.
• 34:46
  But what kind of talked about it is the kind of, I think it was
• 34:50
  last week, wasn't it? When we're talking about kind of
• 34:51
  Jacob as a redemption storyline, you can maybe have him lose this
• 34:55
  match of Backlash and then he's got a year to get his head
• 34:58
  right, where next time he has that title match, it's coming
• 35:00
  home with him. Yeah.
• 35:03
  And I think I write itself and that's perfect.
• 35:04
  Like synergy and I think. Yeah.
• 35:07
  And I thought the fact that Usos came out with Roman as well
• 35:11
  added to this. So obviously you've got like the
• 35:13
  bloodline almost back together that Usos come up with Roman to
• 35:17
  celebrate and then like, Jacob comes out and say, oh, is he had
• 35:20
  to acknowledge him? No, he's not.
• 35:21
  He's had to challenge him. And yeah, like, I think it's
• 35:25
  just perfect synergy, perfect storytelling.
• 35:27
  And let's see where it goes. And again, I think you're
• 35:29
  absolutely right. It has legs to be, you know,
• 35:31
  Jacob might lose the first one, but then in a year's time, he
• 35:35
  wins the big one. It's redemption.
• 35:36
  He wins the title. And then it's Jacob ready to
• 35:39
  sort of take the next step. Yeah, definitely, which I think
• 35:42
  he is more or less there to do. So, yeah, I just think it'll be
• 35:45
  a good match, like I really do. So I hope that that is what you
• 35:47
  get, a backlash Roman versus Jacob, which will be weird if
• 35:50
  you don't now, but we'll see. Yep, and it's my other positive.
• 35:54
  That was one of my positives and for everything I've just said,
• 35:56
  but also because we're not getting a WrestleMania rematch
• 36:00
  for that in them. I don't mind some WrestleMania
• 36:02
  rematches but I don't want a full card backlash. 3 matches so
• 36:05
  I'm guard up. This No Main event title match
• 36:07
  will be a new one. Yeah, definitely.
• 36:10
  And then kind of another positive for me was 3 profits
• 36:13
  coming back. Obviously, we mentioned on
• 36:16
  Mondays Born and Show that obviously why wasn't Montez out
• 36:18
  with Bianca to announce the pregnancy.
• 36:20
  And I said maybe you'll pop up this week because they're ready
• 36:22
  to go and it was good to see them.
• 36:24
  I think it adds to the kind of Seth thing because then it means
• 36:27
  obviously you can have the Street Profits and Seth versus
• 36:29
  kind of Brombriga and Logan Paul and Austin Theory.
• 36:33
  And lastly, I'm a big fan of them.
• 36:34
  Like I think they're really good.
• 36:35
  I mean, they've been there a long time now and I know for a
• 36:38
  lot there was a long period of time where people thought, you
• 36:40
  know, Montez would be the breakout and that would have
• 36:42
  happened by now. But I wouldn't mind them seeing
• 36:44
  kind of one last run as A tag team and I think they would kind
• 36:47
  of be the perfect two to take it off the vision.
• 36:52
  Yeah, definitely. And if you give those guys the
• 36:54
  belts on sort of in their return in months, hopefully it allows
• 36:57
  them to become a big part of the show and they've got a lot of
• 36:59
  potential, those guys. Definitely, definitely, but then
• 37:03
  that kind of believes in one of my other negatives of the week
• 37:06
  where I like Logan Paul and Austin theory with Brom breaker,
• 37:09
  but I just don't think it needs Paul him and anymore, does it?
• 37:11
  And we've kind of said this a bit, but break I can talk like
• 37:16
  is break at the fine of finished polished article yet?
• 37:19
  No, but he's good on the mic and so is Logan Paul.
• 37:22
  So like I just don't think it needs him and in that group
• 37:25
  anymore because I quite like them three together, but him and
• 37:28
  just kind of sticks out a bit with them.
• 37:29
  What's your kind of thoughts on that?
• 37:31
  Because it looks like obviously, while the Seth feud continues,
• 37:34
  you're definitely getting the vision still.
• 37:38
  Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think the vision from its
• 37:42
  original incarnation does need a die.
• 37:44
  So that means you take Paul Heyman away and when Bronson
• 37:47
  comes back, he behaves even up with them.
• 37:48
  But as a three that work great. But but they don't need Paul
• 37:51
  Heyman. Like I said, they can talk once
• 37:53
  the Seth storyline's finished. Obviously Heyman's the Seth's
• 37:56
  angry Paul Heyman more than the Vision, I think, although he is
• 37:59
  slang the vision. So I think the need to wrap that
• 38:02
  up and tightly as the company, it's a bit messy though.
• 38:05
  And then, like I said, get human away from them.
• 38:10
  Definitely. And then like my only neck or
• 38:11
  the negative from RAW was it looks like the continuing Bala
• 38:16
  and Dom, which because you've already had Demon Bala doesn't
• 38:19
  really make sense to us. And I don't know how much either
• 38:22
  of them get out with this from continuing it.
• 38:24
  Do you think that looks like it's going to get another match
• 38:26
  out of them? I think it could.
• 38:28
  I'm on the fence. So I was, when I saw that it was
• 38:32
  announced that was Finn versus JD McDonough, I was sort of
• 38:36
  happy because I thought he's beat Dom, he beats JD McDonough.
• 38:39
  That's some done with the judgement day.
• 38:41
  Hopefully he moves on to next. And does he get a more title
• 38:43
  shot down the line? Maybe.
• 38:44
  I would have to see Finn Balor versus Cody for the belt.
• 38:46
  I would have to see Finn Balor versus Reigns for the belt.
• 38:49
  Hopefully we see those matches this year.
• 38:52
  But I think he's beat JD McDonough.
• 38:55
  That's good. But yeah, is is there another
• 38:59
  match with him in Dom? Maybe.
• 39:01
  If there is, I hope we do it soon and get it over and done
• 39:03
  with. I hope Finn comes out on top and
• 39:04
  then Finn moves on. Like I said, to have those world
• 39:07
  title programs with, with Cody Rhodes and with Roman Reigns
• 39:10
  because I think Finn's in great shape.
• 39:14
  I think, you know, he was robbed of his last World title win,
• 39:16
  obviously because of injury. I'm not saying he needs to win
• 39:19
  the title, but you know, Finn's not getting any younger and
• 39:21
  while he's in great shape and hasn't had an injury for a
• 39:23
  while, I think we need to give him these matches.
• 39:26
  So he wins or he loses. I don't care.
• 39:28
  But I want to see him work Cody Rhodes in a programme.
• 39:30
  I want to see him work on my reigns, work these champions,
• 39:33
  and to do that we get him away from the Judgment Day.
• 39:35
  Absolutely right. Randy Orton actually did an
• 39:37
  interview about WrestleMania weekend where he got asked
• 39:40
  people who he still wants to work and he said, like Bala, he
• 39:43
  said that he's never had a one-on-one match with him.
• 39:45
  And he went, I don't even just want to work a match with him,
• 39:47
  like I'd really like to work a program with him.
• 39:48
  So yeah, there's still kind of plenty of big names out there
• 39:51
  that Bala can kind of get in there.
• 39:53
  The mix with. The only way I think this would
• 39:54
  keep me interested would be if it leads to Dom putting the AAA
• 39:59
  title on the line. Yep.
• 40:02
  And I think that should have happened.
• 40:04
  Well, I can see why it wasn't a man yet because obviously Finn's
• 40:07
  going over and you don't want to take this out of dorm yet.
• 40:09
  But I think, yeah, at some point if you want the trip again over
• 40:12
  with the audience and he needs to defend the belt on WWE
• 40:15
  television, I think. No, definitely, yeah.
• 40:17
  So do you have any more positives than negatives?
• 40:22
  So it's not really positive or negative, but say I'm not too
• 40:27
  sure. I'm obviously just before
• 40:29
  WrestleMania. Obviously we had the AW world
• 40:32
  title change in 2 minutes. This is what Arsenal had left.
• 40:35
  Brilliant. Yep.
• 40:36
  And so I just, I don't know how I feel about it.
• 40:38
  Part of it is like it's fun and exciting and do it on television
• 40:42
  is like cool. But then also like, does it,
• 40:46
  what damage does it do to your former champion and does it
• 40:49
  damage your title? I don't know.
• 40:52
  So yeah, so with AW, because of when we record the show
• 40:55
  Wednesday night, we're always kind of always going to be a
• 40:57
  little bit behind the curve unless it's been a pay review.
• 40:59
  So we've had more or less a full week to kind of ruminate on
• 41:02
  this. And I kind of went back to it a
• 41:03
  day because I knew we're recording.
• 41:05
  And yeah, it falls into a negative for me because at the
• 41:08
  start of the show you had Dobby nearly crying just saying like,
• 41:12
  oh, well, if I don't, man, I'm not good enough.
• 41:13
  And this is all I wanted to do. And it like it seemed a bit
• 41:17
  forced. And then the match itself, like
• 41:19
  obviously a quick one, Yeah, coming out of nowhere.
• 41:22
  I think AW do this a lot where it's shockbooking, isn't it?
• 41:26
  Where it's like it's done to get the headlines.
• 41:27
  But it's like Dobby Allen, like we funnily enough, we've been
• 41:30
  talking about it for weeks. Hadn't with where like, should
• 41:32
  he be champion? Shouldn't he?
• 41:33
  Should he have been it by now? And I'd kind of went from he
• 41:36
  should have been champion by now to like he should be kind of
• 41:39
  someone who kind of always just loses the big one.
• 41:41
  So for him to finally win the title unannounced, essentially
• 41:46
  give a couple of days, like, yeah, it's a weird, it's weird.
• 41:49
  Boogan and you know, MGF, the shitbag cowardly heal.
• 41:52
  Does it affect him too much? Not if you book him strong when
• 41:55
  he comes back. And obviously, you know, we're
• 41:57
  only a week into this, so who knows what will happen.
• 41:59
  But yeah, I just think it's a negative because of how strange
• 42:01
  it was. It just it came out of nowhere.
• 42:04
  Like it had the thing as if like no one people used to fail drug
• 42:06
  tests and the drop titles, they had that about it, which
• 42:08
  obviously isn't the case. But yeah, it just seems like
• 42:11
  there's something that we don't quite know as to why it
• 42:12
  happened, happened and if you had to get the belt off MGFI,
• 42:16
  don't think Derby Allen was the right person for like a shock
• 42:18
  win. Yes.
• 42:21
  And so obviously we're obviously dynamics tonight, so we don't
• 42:24
  what's going to happen. But I've heard that straight
• 42:27
  away Derby Allen's defending the belt against.
• 42:29
  Chamber. Yeah, to muscle chamber and like
• 42:32
  what's your thoughts on that? Well, yeah, so on that AW show
• 42:35
  before the Derby wins the belt, Chamber had a match against I
• 42:39
  forget his name and AW, but he's Wesley and NXT and AFRI beat
• 42:42
  him. He he got on the mic and went
• 42:44
  like, I'm here to win all the gold.
• 42:46
  So Derby, Allen Maxwell, J Freeman, whoever wins, I've got
• 42:49
  next. So that the did, to be fair,
• 42:51
  kind of set that up last week. But again, why is he getting a
• 42:54
  title shock? Because he said he wants 1.
• 42:57
  Yes, and he won the TNT title, then lost it straight away.
• 43:00
  So his track record is not good, right?
• 43:02
  Well, it is hit and miss you. I mean, the the the he's been
• 43:04
  positioned quite a lot on TV since he debuted, to be fair,
• 43:07
  which is something AW sometimes drop off with.
• 43:10
  But yeah, again, it's another weird one.
• 43:11
  I mean, I think it'll be a strong win.
• 43:13
  Like I think it'll you'll probably get a 20 minute match.
• 43:15
  It'll be a good match and Derby will win.
• 43:17
  But yeah, it's it. I don't really know where the
• 43:20
  goal with it. And obviously you can say that's
• 43:22
  a good thing in wrestling, but with this I don't.
• 43:24
  I think there's just either something that we don't know
• 43:26
  about or they've just wanted to try and do something massive in
• 43:29
  the lead up to WrestleMania to try and kind of grab some
• 43:32
  headlines. And what are things happening
• 43:35
  with MGF? Do it all because if you know,
• 43:38
  first you had them saying it but you dropped because he was going
• 43:40
  to do some films, then you had people say no, he's definitely
• 43:43
  not. He's going to be on telly every
• 43:44
  week. So again, we'll see.
• 43:45
  Obviously we've got to let these cookers will say we've got to
• 43:47
  let things play out. But initially, especially
• 43:49
  because we've had a week to think on it, it's a negative for
• 43:51
  me. Yeah, one thing I did like was
• 43:54
  the fact that Sting was there and came out to celebrate, which
• 43:57
  I think was a nice thing to do, a nice touch for Derby.
• 44:00
  Yeah, I like that. Like if you want to do KFABE and
• 44:03
  obviously, you know, everything's real.
• 44:05
  Sting was either goes there every week or it's just really
• 44:09
  good luck that his son won the title that night.
• 44:12
  Yes, indeed. We had that, he was there wasn't
• 44:15
  it? Good luck for him to randomly
• 44:18
  beat an AW Dynamite for unannounced title match where
• 44:22
  his boy wins the belt. It's as if as if these things
• 44:25
  are pre planned. Well, indeed, indeed, I think
• 44:30
  that's something I want to talk about.
• 44:31
  We can review, obviously. No, like I say, for obviously
• 44:34
  having WrestleMania, there's a lot of other stuff to talk
• 44:36
  about. So yeah, glad we did the bonus
• 44:37
  show and yes, I think it's been a strong couple of days with
• 44:40
  Rowan NXT and obviously last week's EW different new.
• 44:44
  Yes. And if listeners, if you enjoyed
• 44:46
  the bonus show and then having us do, we can review where we
• 44:49
  focus a little bit of Mania, but too much because we don't have
• 44:52
  full Swan Mania. Let us know because we'll
• 44:54
  probably do the same for Summer Slam.
• 44:55
  That is 2 nights as well. Well, it'll be a lot of
• 44:57
  wrestling talk about in one episode.
• 44:59
  So it might make sense for us to to segregate them again into a
• 45:01
  bonus episode again. Yeah, and who knows, we might do
• 45:05
  a summer slam watch along. That is something we've talked
• 45:07
  about. It certainly is, but I think
• 45:11
  without a moment's adieu, Luke, it's time for a moment in time,
• 45:14
  which is of course where we got a wrestling match, a moment in
• 45:17
  event that we think is great or we think that has, you know,
• 45:22
  cultural importance. Something doesn't get talked
• 45:23
  about much though, in the world and we want to talk about and
• 45:25
  shed light on it. It's a match again today and I
• 45:27
  don't if you want to talk us through today's moment in time.
• 45:30
  Yeah, so it's from WrestleMania 23, which was on April 1st,
• 45:34
  2007, held in Detroit, one of the big cities.
• 45:38
  So the match we've picked is a daft little throwaway tag match
• 45:42
  really. But it was the ECW Originals,
• 45:44
  which consisted of Sandman, RVD, Tommy Dream and Subbu against
• 45:49
  the ECW New Breed who were the alpha male Marcus Corvon, Elijah
• 45:53
  Burke, Matt Striker and the vampire Kevin Thorne.
• 45:57
  So yeah, kind of, I thought this was a good one to pick as a
• 45:59
  moment in time because we'll we'll go into the match.
• 46:02
  It's a short match, but that kind of serves as purpose.
• 46:04
  But it was more just to kind of get a talking about, you know,
• 46:07
  the EC www.e experiment in general.
• 46:10
  So kind of before we dive into that, we'll do the card because
• 46:13
  I think this, you know, one of the questions we got asked
• 46:16
  fairly recently was kind of favorite wrestle Manias and that
• 46:19
  when I've gone back and we watched this, I think this is a
• 46:21
  bit of a sleeper for kind of one of the better ones.
• 46:24
  What what was your memories of WrestleMania 23 when we kind of
• 46:26
  chose this match? So Russell Mania 23 stacked and
• 46:30
  like we'll talk about, we talk about the match, but see the
• 46:32
  match we're going to talk about. It's only 7 minutes long and it
• 46:35
  was actually they got time cut very last minute and the match
• 46:38
  almost didn't didn't happen. And I think the ECW originals
• 46:41
  felt a bit wrong done by Vince, that man who didn't really care
• 46:44
  about them. But obviously at the time Vince
• 46:46
  is about to become the ECW champion in the following
• 46:48
  months. So that's its own thing that's
• 46:49
  going on. But because this card is so
• 46:51
  stacked like this is one of the matches that gets almost cut and
• 46:55
  gets its time greatly reduced because of all the other awesome
• 46:58
  things that are going on. Yeah, so we'll quickly run
• 47:00
  through the cards. So the dark match, which sounds
• 47:03
  like a fever dream when you read it out, was Ric Flair and
• 47:05
  Carlito beat Hurricane Helms, as in Shane Helms and Chavo
• 47:10
  Guerrero. So that's that's an interesting
• 47:11
  dark match. Did you Speaking of Ric Flairs
• 47:15
  at WrestleMania, do you see you said today that he was banned
• 47:17
  from this year's WrestleMania? I have read that this morning.
• 47:20
  I don't know how much I believe him.
• 47:22
  Yeah, it was all over the place, to be fair.
• 47:23
  So yeah, I don't believe in my Yeah, that was your dark match
• 47:25
  flaying. Carlito beat Helms and Chavo
• 47:27
  Guerrero. So the main show you had Money
• 47:29
  in the Bank, which we've talked about in detail because Mr.
• 47:31
  Kennedy wins that and it was a star-studded Money in the Bank.
• 47:34
  You had Orton, you had Edge, you had both Hardys, you had Finley,
• 47:36
  you had Booker T. So a massive money in the bank
• 47:39
  as far as kind of people involved, Great Collie B Kane,
• 47:43
  Chris Benoit, B MVP in the US title match, Undertaker B
• 47:47
  Batista for the world title. You had the infamous Battle of
• 47:50
  the Billionaires with Donald Trump, had Bobby Lashley, Vince
• 47:53
  McMahon had Umaga, and the loser had the head shaved, which was
• 47:57
  Vince. And then you had Molina beat
• 47:59
  Ashley. And then you had your main
• 48:00
  event, which was John Cena, who beat Shawn Michaels for the WE
• 48:04
  title. So again, like you said,
• 48:06
  absolutely stacked card. Like the Shawn Cena match and
• 48:10
  the Take a Batista match are kind of two unbelievable matches
• 48:13
  themselves. I forgot that they were both on
• 48:15
  this card. So that I say I'd recommend
• 48:18
  anyone kind of checking out the full show.
• 48:20
  But it kind of it's the battle of the billionaires that kind of
• 48:23
  is interesting. I think for kind of the match
• 48:25
  we're going to discuss because going in that match, Bobby
• 48:27
  Lashley was the ACW champion. So you've got the ACW
• 48:32
  championship not getting defended on the show, but it's
• 48:34
  still getting showcased in one of the kind of marquee matches,
• 48:38
  kind of the whole WWE ECW experiment.
• 48:41
  So it started debuted on June 13th, 2006, so kind of nearly a
• 48:46
  year before this year's WrestleMania.
• 48:48
  The experiment ends on the 15th, 15th February 2010.
• 48:53
  They kind of launched this third product, this third brand off
• 48:56
  the back of the success of One Night Stand.
• 48:58
  So obviously it's kind of hit and miss when it starts.
• 49:00
  Van Damme wins the world title, which kind of everybody wanted
• 49:04
  to see, but there was kind of rails come off the track there
• 49:06
  because he's pulled over with Cebu and there's drugs in the
• 49:09
  car. So he gets suspended, drops the
• 49:11
  belt at the big show. December of that year before
• 49:13
  this WrestleMania, Haman leaves because he's not happy with how
• 49:16
  it's going off the back of a horrendous pay-per-view December
• 49:19
  this member. And then that's where you're
• 49:21
  kind of at leading into this year's WrestleMania.
• 49:23
  So less than a year into this ECW experiment, you've got
• 49:27
  Bobby, last year's the champion, not defending it on the show.
• 49:29
  And then the owner of the representation is this tag
• 49:32
  match. So what do you think of the
• 49:34
  match itself? So I remember like sort of the
• 49:40
  listen to like the interviews the guys have done since then
• 49:42
  about how the time was cut short and that they felt hard done by.
• 49:46
  They also have another eight man tag, I believe on ECW straight
• 49:49
  after this mania where it's meant to be better.
• 49:51
  Obviously I did not really watch that because ECW is not
• 49:54
  available on Netflix on the network is now shut down.
• 49:58
  But yeah, I think it's, I think Bobby Lashley's obviously the
• 50:00
  champion and I think after Trump wins the battle of the and Vince
• 50:03
  gets his head shaved, Vince blames the ACW and he blames
• 50:06
  Bobby Lashley. So he goes on a vendetta to take
• 50:09
  the ACW title off Bobby and then to kill the company.
• 50:12
  That makes sense. That's what happens in that
• 50:14
  storyline. So this is obviously running
• 50:16
  alongside what's happening here. So I think at first you think
• 50:19
  all the ECW originals, so only Rob Van Damme out of these
• 50:22
  originals is actually wrestle or WrestleMania before before this
• 50:25
  match. So obviously Dreamers, Sabu and
• 50:27
  Sambar and wrestle WrestleMania, this is their first time.
• 50:29
  So I think it on in terms it's like it could be given these
• 50:32
  guys the flowers, which would be really cool.
• 50:35
  And then we also got to showcase this new talent as well, which
• 50:37
  is the new breed. So like, on paper, it should be
• 50:40
  great for the veterans and it should be great for the new
• 50:42
  talent as well. But because it gets cut short
• 50:44
  and it's only 7 minutes long, I think the sort of scramble to
• 50:48
  get everything in there. And I think I don't know if
• 50:49
  you'll run for the match or not, but you know, I think Tommy
• 50:52
  Dreamers in there the most. I think if you had to time it
• 50:54
  like working most of the match, Rob Van Damme gets the win with
• 50:57
  the Frog Splash. Saboo is able to interrupt a
• 51:00
  couple of times and he does a cup that dies out of the ring,
• 51:02
  which is cool. Salman, you don't really see him
• 51:04
  popping his entrance. You don't really see him doing
• 51:07
  too much. And yeah, I think I think it's
• 51:10
  like a wasted opportunity to really give these easy to the
• 51:12
  originals A WrestleMania moment. See, I've got the complete
• 51:17
  opposite opinion on it, you know, because they obviously
• 51:19
  it's a shame that it got cut short, but I think it gives them
• 51:22
  the moment in the sun. Like Joey Styles at the very
• 51:24
  start as the match is start and he kind of says that, you know,
• 51:27
  these cult I they've gone from cult icons are being showcased
• 51:29
  at WrestleMania. Yeah, it's only 7 minutes, but
• 51:32
  kind of all of them get a little bit in on the match.
• 51:34
  They kind of build it where RVD gets the hot tag for the win.
• 51:37
  I think Matt Striker does a fucking fantastic job of selling
• 51:40
  for all of them so that they have that moment and then they
• 51:42
  get the win and then they all get to stand there in the middle
• 51:45
  of the ring. I think it's probably kind of
• 51:47
  one of the high points of that kind of the ECW originals in the
• 51:52
  ECW because I think Styles says it right.
• 51:54
  You know, like these guys were wrestling in the kind of, you
• 51:56
  know, the, the bingo halls and they've managed to get that
• 51:59
  WrestleMania moment. I think that's really cool.
• 52:03
  So they do get a WrestleMania moment.
• 52:04
  I agree with you there. But I think when you look at
• 52:07
  what Sabu can do, he does not showcase much of all the awesome
• 52:11
  things he can do. Showcases a little bit of it.
• 52:13
  But I think I would like to see this match have been 15 minutes.
• 52:16
  Somebody who could have really done some really like death
• 52:18
  defying dives, like do you know what I mean?
• 52:19
  Like the suicidal maniacs Abu, I think Dream hour, you see him
• 52:23
  work the match sort of the one being worked on by by the new
• 52:28
  breed, you know, doing a good job there.
• 52:29
  But again, I think when you look at Tommy Dream as some of his
• 52:32
  storytelling from ECW originally, we don't get to see
• 52:35
  too much of that on shore. So they all get the moment.
• 52:38
  I get that. But I think we don't see them in
• 52:42
  their sort of doing their prime stuff.
• 52:43
  And I think at their age that they're in this ring, they do
• 52:46
  look in good shape. So they could have delivered
• 52:48
  that. I think you're absolutely right.
• 52:49
  I think the new breed match striker sells a lot for them and
• 52:53
  the new breed, you know, do what they can with this 7 minutes to
• 52:56
  try and make them look good. I agree with that, I think, but
• 53:00
  I think yeah, I think because it's been cut short, it's almost
• 53:04
  like a watered down ECW original.
• 53:06
  I think their their entrance is fantastic.
• 53:08
  I know what that down. So the ECW originals are
• 53:10
  entrance coming through the crowd all together is like a
• 53:14
  people movement and it's great. Joey Styles and Tassel and
• 53:17
  Connery is great. You know, the new breed come out
• 53:22
  in their their great heels. You know where you want a chair
• 53:25
  that you should be. Originals, the ECB originals
• 53:27
  win. Rob Van Damme gets the gets the
• 53:29
  win, which is great for them. But yeah, I said, I think, I
• 53:31
  think we could have, with a bit more time, we could have seen
• 53:34
  them showcase the things that make them so special a little
• 53:37
  bit more. And that's what I would have
• 53:38
  wondered. Yeah, obviously fair.
• 53:45
  When I when I was making notes, it was like I didn't really get
• 53:49
  anything down for Sam on Apopomy's entrance.
• 53:51
  But I mean he's well known for his admin.
• 53:52
  So you know, for Tommy Dreamard, he he did the DDT neck breakout
• 53:57
  combination. Sabu, you know, he did a little
• 54:03
  bit, but I don't really write too much standing for him.
• 54:06
  Like I said, these guys are capable of amazing things and
• 54:10
  they really could have shown that ECW side of it.
• 54:12
  Like in this match. One thing I did write down was
• 54:15
  again meant to be the ECWS originals like moment.
• 54:19
  The biggest note I made was I didn't really.
• 54:21
  I forgot how actual buff Kevin Thorne is.
• 54:24
  Kevin Thorne's a jacked beast in this match.
• 54:27
  And the alpha male, Monty Brown as well, I was had high hopes
• 54:29
  for him because that of that watched quite a bit of his TNA
• 54:32
  stuff. So the the again pick this match
• 54:35
  for a moment in time. Clay.
• 54:36
  It's quite interesting to talk about the new breed as well.
• 54:37
  So kind of if you look at all four of them, none of them have
• 54:41
  really gone on to like huge things.
• 54:42
  Obviously Matt Striker did do commentary, still commentates
• 54:45
  for the companies and he's got his place kind of in wrestling
• 54:48
  histories off the back of that. But then obviously, you know,
• 54:50
  Kevin Thorne never really does much again.
• 54:53
  Elijah Burke has a little bit of a run, doesn't he, as the Pope
• 54:56
  in TNA, where I think he does have some success.
• 54:58
  And Marcus Cole Von never wrestles again once he gets
• 55:02
  released from a C www.e. So yeah, so it's kind of trying
• 55:06
  to showcase this new talent. But on this this time around,
• 55:09
  none of them really go on to bigger things, do they?
• 55:13
  Correct. Yeah, And even Ariel, who is
• 55:15
  obviously Kevin Thorne's manager, I don't even think she
• 55:17
  goes on to anything, does she? No, I could.
• 55:19
  I couldn't even tell you what you're I say.
• 55:21
  I know they were all had little pushes in that ACW, but I don't
• 55:25
  think any of them other than match strike, I make it to the
• 55:28
  main roster kind like like from ACW.
• 55:31
  But yeah, I'm sorry, what you're going to say?
• 55:36
  I did read interesting comments so I don't know how true it is,
• 55:38
  but apparently in the aftermath of all this Saboos quoted as
• 55:42
  saying but it was meant to be the main event but then they got
• 55:45
  caught. Caught short because of some
• 55:46
  bullshit. I was like, not when it's John
• 55:49
  Cena and Shawn Michaels for a title, not when it's going to
• 55:51
  take a visit Batista for a title.
• 55:52
  There's no way this was the main event.
• 55:54
  Yes, it might have got its time cut short, but you're being a
• 55:57
  bit silly to be when you're saying that.
• 55:59
  That's just fucking mental, isn't it?
• 56:00
  You could even argue and you've got fucking Battle of the
• 56:02
  billionaires going on that like that was that was never, ever,
• 56:05
  ever going to be the main event. But you know, it was one of
• 56:07
  those matches where for some reason that always remember it.
• 56:09
  And when I went back and we watched, I enjoyed it because it
• 56:11
  kind of goes by that thing where you need that buffer sometimes.
• 56:14
  And it came after the Undertaker Batista match.
• 56:17
  So I thought it was just that kind of fun thing where, yeah,
• 56:19
  kind of, you know, expert, you know, obviously had the success
• 56:22
  for Sabu Samman Dream. I never did have the huge
• 56:25
  success in WE. So like, I can get why they
• 56:27
  might be a bit of grieved that was cut short and thought they
• 56:29
  could have got more out of it. But they still got that moment.
• 56:32
  And there's a lot of people who have never got a WrestleMania
• 56:35
  moment. And I think, you know, is it as
• 56:37
  big of a WrestleMania as, you know, Eddie and Ben were holding
• 56:39
  up the titles? No, but you know, all four of
• 56:42
  them from the bingo halls. So they've been showcased at
• 56:44
  WrestleMania. That's a cool little thing to
• 56:46
  have been able to have done and you are right about Sabu because
• 56:49
  again, this could be a mash up we'll look at.
• 56:51
  But he he did get that chance to shine right there with a match
• 56:53
  against Cena. Remember that was kind of came
• 56:56
  out of Norway and was absolutely brilliant.
• 56:59
  Yep, definitely. I think just one last thing,
• 57:01
  obviously with the Bobby Lashley storyline, you know Vince is
• 57:04
  about assault to kill this ECW brand, certainly of its original
• 57:09
  members anyway. Obviously he does want to become
• 57:11
  do Rag Vince when he wins the belt and then keeps that for a
• 57:15
  number of months before Bobby Lashley finally gets it back,
• 57:18
  but. What what what was your memories
• 57:20
  of the whole WWE ECW because I say what it ran from kind of
• 57:24
  2000 and six 2010. So you kind of it was about 3
• 57:28
  1/2 year run. What's your kind of memories and
• 57:30
  opinions on it do? We have many, I don't really
• 57:34
  have many opinions on it, modest memory.
• 57:36
  So I remember Sandman attacking the zombie on the debut.
• 57:41
  Yeah, that was because it was on sci-fi, wasn't it?
• 57:45
  That's why that have a zombie. Yeah, I remember.
• 57:48
  So I remember that. I remember Zach Ryder with his
• 57:52
  one legged tights debut in. Yep.
• 57:55
  I remember same pump getting some good rope here as well.
• 58:01
  I also remember Christian how an ECW title run.
• 58:07
  Yep. And obviously I remember Do Rag
• 58:10
  Vince taking the belt from Bobby Lashley and sort of just
• 58:15
  literally being an absolute like bastard on screen about ECW and
• 58:19
  everything ways. He's essentially trying to push
• 58:22
  it on the toilet, I think, with the content that he's producing.
• 58:24
  Yeah, I think you were done from the start by calling it ECW
• 58:29
  because it was never going to live up to that kind of hardcore
• 58:32
  fun base expectation. But I remember, I probably watch
• 58:35
  it every week to be fair, because they, you know, I always
• 58:38
  did that and like I always really enjoyed it.
• 58:40
  So obviously I remember at the start, like when RVD has to drop
• 58:43
  the title, he drops a big show and then big show has these kind
• 58:46
  of this like 2 month runway more or less defends it every week
• 58:49
  like, but he defends it against like Batista, Ric Flair, people
• 58:53
  like that. And it's like that isn't what
• 58:55
  ECW is, but like that's still a cool match.
• 58:58
  Like I thought like if you if you hadn't called this ACW, this
• 59:02
  would be like a really cool alternative product, which you
• 59:04
  know what ECW was, but if you had just gone something
• 59:06
  different and then you've hit the nail on the head.
• 59:08
  They're kind of like after this when it kind of I guess the
• 59:11
  start like not give it much attention at all.
• 59:14
  It kind of becomes this kind of like development experiment
• 59:17
  hybrid brand where like you've said, you had that right.
• 59:20
  I kind of have his first singles run on there.
• 59:22
  You had Sheamus debut there, yet Kofi Kingston and Mrs. Morrison
• 59:26
  as A tag team kind of got their kind of stick running in ACW.
• 59:29
  And then the experiment side is that you say the bro Christian
• 59:32
  back made him champion. They give my Hardy his first
• 59:34
  world title in ACW. And you have Mark Henry in there
• 59:37
  as well before he comes back to Smack Down and has the whole of
• 59:40
  Pain run. So I thought it was like it
• 59:42
  almost become a development brand.
• 59:44
  But what follows it is NXT on the on that network slot.
• 59:47
  So yeah, I've got quite fond memories of this because like, I
• 59:50
  don't, I think what it suffers from is the fact that it was
• 59:52
  called ACW. Yeah, absolutely.
• 59:55
  Because easier you have such a like, it's such a authentic
• 1:00:00
  product that ECW fans know. And as soon as you put something
• 1:00:04
  in from that's not ECW like they know it's not.
• 1:00:08
  Yeah. So the diehards are going to
• 1:00:09
  tune out, so you're going to hope that the mainstream are
• 1:00:12
  going to TuneIn. No, definitely Jack Swagger.
• 1:00:16
  He started there. Now he's slapping people.
• 1:00:18
  Did you see that at WrestleMania weekend?
• 1:00:20
  Jack Swagger's. It was powerful.
• 1:00:23
  Yeah, it was. It's an interesting career.
• 1:00:25
  So he's an interesting guy. He could be a good yeah, cursed
• 1:00:27
  by the wrestling gods, to be honest.
• 1:00:28
  But yeah, I say there was a lot of people come through that ECW.
• 1:00:31
  Obviously, shame has been a huge one.
• 1:00:35
  No, it's certainly, certainly was.
• 1:00:38
  So yeah, that kind of conducts this week's moment in time.
• 1:00:40
  I just thought it'd be cool to get a Mania match in there, and
• 1:00:43
  I thought it'd be cool to kind of have a little discussion that
• 1:00:45
  we've had about the WBCW because like I say, I kind of watched it
• 1:00:48
  every week for some reason, and I've got like really like strong
• 1:00:52
  memories of certain stuff from it.
• 1:00:54
  Yeah, and it was a 4-7 minutes and it's summer geometry and I
• 1:00:57
  take a Batista and the Battle of the Billionaires.
• 1:00:59
  So, you know, it's it's there to fulfill its purpose, I suppose.
• 1:01:04
  And I would love to watch it side by side with the one on ECW
• 1:01:06
  the following week just to see how different it was.
• 1:01:09
  I think that could be a cool piece.
• 1:01:11
  But obviously you don't have access to that ECW episode
• 1:01:14
  because it's not on Netflix and the network is shut down.
• 1:01:17
  Do you know why that ACW thing worked for me as well?
• 1:01:20
  I think I might be wrong but I fear it was only an hour as
• 1:01:22
  well. So like watching like that one
• 1:01:25
  hour show every week, it was like it was quick, it was done.
• 1:01:27
  I enjoyed it. So I enjoyed it as an
• 1:01:30
  experiment. I remember being shorter and
• 1:01:35
  being easier to digest and I remember like enjoying that
• 1:01:37
  definitely. No, as I say, there is, there is
• 1:01:40
  stuff in there if you if you look hard enough.
• 1:01:44
  Should we want to? Did they really say that?
• 1:01:47
  Yes, let's. So did they really say that is
• 1:01:50
  where we look back at a quote from somebody in the wrestling
• 1:01:54
  business? It could be from an all
• 1:01:55
  biography, it could be from an interview, it could be from live
• 1:01:58
  on television. It could be in a pay-per-view.
• 1:02:00
  Just something that it varies between just something
• 1:02:03
  interesting that we want to digest or could be something
• 1:02:05
  shocking or something that hasn't aged well or something
• 1:02:07
  that's completely incorrect, whatever it is.
• 1:02:09
  But Luke, you've got this week. Did they really say that?
• 1:02:12
  Yeah. So it's from TK OS very own Mr.
• 1:02:14
  Nick Khan. So what he's kind of said it's
• 1:02:17
  kind of two separate quotes, but it says the same thing.
• 1:02:20
  So I'll go through both of them. So this is Nick Khan.
• 1:02:22
  He says that with regards to kind of fans opinions online,
• 1:02:25
  this is what he has to say on it.
• 1:02:27
  He says, I've never read X or Twitter as it relates to our
• 1:02:30
  business and I've certainly never read it regarding me
• 1:02:34
  online is just a vocal minority. And comments, he said in the
• 1:02:38
  past is as much as we listen to our audience, we won't listen to
• 1:02:41
  social media and respond. We think it's a small percentage
• 1:02:45
  of voices who have a big microphone or megaphone in front
• 1:02:48
  of them. It's a it's a mistake to respond
• 1:02:50
  to your business based off of that.
• 1:02:52
  You've got to base it off your gut and results.
• 1:02:56
  So thoughts on that first of all, particularly with kind of
• 1:02:59
  the Pat McAfee backlash? So I'm going to look at January
• 1:03:05
  1st. I think I saw he was on social
• 1:03:09
  media. I didn't really see like a wild
• 1:03:12
  backlash for Pat McAfee. I saw a little bit here and
• 1:03:15
  there. I didn't say it wasn't like it
• 1:03:16
  wasn't crazy, if you know that, if that makes sense.
• 1:03:19
  I think it was more like journalists and like podcasters
• 1:03:22
  and Youtubers talking about on their shows as being negative,
• 1:03:26
  not, not, not people just voicing off on social media, if
• 1:03:28
  that makes sense. I think that's two different
• 1:03:29
  things. I think, yeah, you can't just,
• 1:03:32
  you can't just use social media as the voice because it's only a
• 1:03:37
  certain type of demographic on there and you've got lots of
• 1:03:40
  other people who consume your product who don't use it.
• 1:03:44
  So for me, you would need to try and get a broader range of like
• 1:03:47
  views, if that makes sense. Like yes, like what I'd say is
• 1:03:52
  like it's not relevant on its own, but it's relevant when you
• 1:03:56
  compare with everything else as well is my opinion.
• 1:04:00
  I think if you just use that only as your measuring stick,
• 1:04:03
  like you're going to make mistakes.
• 1:04:05
  I think, you know, talking about he's good.
• 1:04:08
  You know, he's obviously in the position he's in for a reason.
• 1:04:10
  You know, he's a successful business leader.
• 1:04:13
  That's why he's there. And the WE is in a very
• 1:04:17
  successful run at the minute in terms of revenue and has been
• 1:04:20
  for and above years since he's been there.
• 1:04:23
  And I think so you trust that you trust your strategy.
• 1:04:25
  And obviously they can see the numbers of things like behind
• 1:04:28
  the scenes, they can see the ratings, they can see the merch
• 1:04:30
  numbers, they can see the ad revenue, they can see how many
• 1:04:33
  people are searching for the company, all that type of stuff
• 1:04:36
  they can see. And so they know if that's going
• 1:04:37
  in One Direction or the other. So I do agree with them.
• 1:04:41
  I think it's been a bit blunt about it on some points, but I
• 1:04:43
  do, I do agree with them that yeah, you can't just use Twitter
• 1:04:48
  to like gauge what's happening because Twitter's typically only
• 1:04:53
  one type of view usually is the loudest.
• 1:04:56
  Like there's different views on there.
• 1:04:57
  But once once it gets gone like it's it's usually all one sided
• 1:05:00
  if I make sense. No, definitely.
• 1:05:04
  I think I agree with them as well.
• 1:05:05
  And I think you've kind of hit the nail on the head by saying
• 1:05:08
  that like, you know, the part Mafi thing was more other people
• 1:05:10
  talking about it. I think we live in a world now
• 1:05:13
  where it's hard not to be online all the time, but often kind of
• 1:05:16
  these people shouting the loudest with the megaphones, as
• 1:05:18
  Nick Khan says, kind of is the case that it's just a very small
• 1:05:23
  minority. And like an example I use of
• 1:05:25
  that and I think I've swore about this before, but like
• 1:05:27
  Geoso. So if you just go off kind of,
• 1:05:30
  you know, Twitter comments, Internet wrestling community,
• 1:05:33
  like Geoso is like the worst thing that's ever happened to
• 1:05:35
  the wrestling business. Like you can't wrestle.
• 1:05:37
  You should never be in world champion.
• 1:05:39
  It was a failed experiment. But then me and you went at that
• 1:05:41
  house show two more two years ago and like the house, your
• 1:05:46
  crowd went fucking ballistic and was into every fucking thing
• 1:05:50
  Geoso did. So it is it's just a small
• 1:05:52
  minority isn't it? Like, you know, 10,000 people
• 1:05:56
  saying something online isn't the same as like an arena, a
• 1:05:59
  stadium full of people. So yeah, I think for anyone who
• 1:06:03
  thinks that the purely going to listen to social media, I think
• 1:06:05
  is is wrong. I mean, it does look like kind
• 1:06:09
  of why I thought was interesting because of the whole part
• 1:06:11
  matter. If you think it does look like
• 1:06:12
  that has now ended the part of the experiment, what's your
• 1:06:16
  thoughts on that ending? Do you think that's kind of a
• 1:06:19
  gut reaction or do you think that has listened as feedback in
• 1:06:22
  some way? I don't know.
• 1:06:25
  I think until we hear the story or we won't know.
• 1:06:28
  Maybe we'll find out what unreal in like the future seasons of Do
• 1:06:32
  We Unreal on Netflix, We might find out what I think.
• 1:06:37
  Yeah, it it. I think with the path marketing
• 1:06:40
  thing, it didn't make sense or confuse people.
• 1:06:41
  I think that confusion was visible like online with
• 1:06:46
  wrestling journalists talking about it, you know, both on the
• 1:06:49
  radio, both on YouTube, on TVI think it was, it was confusing.
• 1:06:53
  So I think because it was confusing, I think it's why
• 1:06:55
  they've done it necessarily because people were like
• 1:06:57
  shitting on it. I think it was general confusion
• 1:06:59
  as well. So yeah, I think again, I think
• 1:07:07
  they wouldn't just measure what people are saying online.
• 1:07:09
  They would measure like everything like like yeah or
• 1:07:13
  people confused or our sponsors confused or the other brands
• 1:07:16
  when we're confused about what's going on was is ESPN confused?
• 1:07:19
  Like, yeah. Yeah, because I mean, obviously
• 1:07:23
  you know, as as I try and control the time for, you know,
• 1:07:25
  you're a huge Star Wars fan, you've got your Star Wars
• 1:07:27
  podcast like and subscribe, listen to that if you haven't
• 1:07:30
  already. But that's that can have quite a
• 1:07:32
  vocal online community as well. Did did you feel like kind of
• 1:07:36
  things that get said on Twitter, social media about Star Wars?
• 1:07:38
  Do you think that kind of then has an impact on kind of the
• 1:07:41
  direction they take that franchise or do you again just
• 1:07:43
  think it's someone with a megaphone and it's not the
• 1:07:46
  reality of kind of the decisions that are getting made I.
• 1:07:49
  Think with Star Wars they have in the past and they shouldn't
• 1:07:51
  have regretted it. And I think from the Star Wars
• 1:07:54
  point of view as well, social media has easily manipulated.
• 1:07:57
  So if you take when the Last Jedi came out, it was obviously
• 1:07:59
  quite divisive and like that's fine or can be divisive.
• 1:08:02
  But the since looked back and like a lot of the devices that
• 1:08:06
  drummed up all the loud noises about the negativity for The
• 1:08:08
  Last Jedi was like bot accounts. So somebody who's trying to
• 1:08:12
  drive up negative narrative and use technology and money to
• 1:08:16
  create a false narrative or or to be an out of falsely bigger
• 1:08:20
  is what I should say, which then led to like other decisions
• 1:08:25
  being made, if that makes sense. So I think yeah, yeah.
• 1:08:31
  And I think what I would say is that you need to trust your
• 1:08:32
  vision. So So what I would say is that
• 1:08:35
  like, did I like Pat McAfee being inserted into the
• 1:08:38
  storyline? No, I didn't was a confused
• 1:08:41
  bite. Yes, I was.
• 1:08:42
  But if they've decided to do that, then take me on that ride,
• 1:08:45
  then show me where it ends. So I hope they haven't got it
• 1:08:48
  short just because of that, because like if you've made that
• 1:08:50
  decision, then you made it. I'm not on board right now, but
• 1:08:54
  like I trust you to get us there.
• 1:08:56
  Like if you have a vision for it, like take us on the journey,
• 1:08:59
  tell us the story. But then if, but then if you
• 1:09:04
  change again, then like you're just going to lose everybody,
• 1:09:07
  right? No, definitely, and I think it
• 1:09:09
  is I think it is always just going to be that.
• 1:09:11
  I mean, the best example of it is I think we'll reference it on
• 1:09:14
  the show. But one of the kind of online
• 1:09:15
  comments that I saw on social media went down house and
• 1:09:18
  debuted was that it was so bad. The only chance he's got any way
• 1:09:22
  of survive pulling back the weekly and I was we send an XT
• 1:09:25
  immediately and what was he doing this Sunday?
• 1:09:27
  Sharing the ring with John Cena. So, you know, maybe he's at the
• 1:09:31
  online community, don't have all the answers.
• 1:09:34
  And I think another great point. So social media pretty much in
• 1:09:37
  the moment, right? So it's like I've just seen
• 1:09:39
  something and I'm going to comment on it right now.
• 1:09:41
  So you haven't had time to digest it.
• 1:09:43
  Think about it in a wider context.
• 1:09:45
  You haven't thought about it and what happens next.
• 1:09:47
  So like something happens on Raw, might have something that
• 1:09:49
  plays off on Smackdown or the following Raw or the
• 1:09:52
  pay-per-view. So like, you know, like we get a
• 1:09:54
  lot of wrestling sort of comment on something so negatively and
• 1:09:59
  it's like inception, like you've got to give things room to
• 1:10:02
  breathe. Do you know what I mean?
• 1:10:03
  Like if you're cooking a steak, you don't just put it in and
• 1:10:06
  take it out once. You know, if you like, if you're
• 1:10:08
  making a cake, you've got to give it time to cook, right?
• 1:10:10
  So I think social media is like, if you just look at it as like,
• 1:10:16
  oh, everybody's saying this is awful.
• 1:10:19
  It's like they're saying this is awful right now.
• 1:10:21
  But like, what are they saying in like a day's time, in three
• 1:10:23
  days time? What they're saying next week
• 1:10:24
  about it. But so don't react to everything
• 1:10:27
  in the moment, because in the past we didn't have it to do
• 1:10:30
  that with and we got by pretty well.
• 1:10:33
  And it's algorithms as well, isn't it?
• 1:10:35
  So if you kind of spend a bit of time on something that's
• 1:10:37
  criticizing Pat McAfee, Scroll down for for Reels on Instagram.
• 1:10:42
  So that's the only one I use. There'll be another interview
• 1:10:44
  with someone else slagging off Pat McAfee as well.
• 1:10:46
  So it's kind of you get quite a tunneled vision once you've kind
• 1:10:49
  of put your attention in one, one camp.
• 1:10:52
  You do need nothing. Something I've learned from both
• 1:10:54
  the Star Wars Phantom and Wrestling Phantom is that people
• 1:10:56
  come with it obviously like this.
• 1:10:57
  Now, they haven't actually, like, I haven't seen that
• 1:10:59
  negativity. I've heard about the negativity,
• 1:11:02
  but I haven't seen it. I haven't actually seen it.
• 1:11:03
  I've seen people talking about that negativity, but I'm not
• 1:11:06
  actually seeing the negativity because my algorithms just tend
• 1:11:09
  to show me stuff that's like either neutral or positive, I
• 1:11:12
  think just because of what I talk about and what I follow.
• 1:11:14
  I think so. You know, if you're being heard
• 1:11:18
  about things and it will give you more loudness, it amplifies
• 1:11:22
  it. Which is, you know, that's the
• 1:11:24
  social problem that we've got going on, not just within
• 1:11:26
  wrestling, but yeah, a day I thought was interesting because
• 1:11:29
  of things that have happened and kind of, you know, that whole
• 1:11:30
  opinion. And that's why we.
• 1:11:31
  Look, that's one of the things we meet.
• 1:11:33
  You know, it might be kind of seen as kind of torn deaf or
• 1:11:37
  kind of criticizing people having kind of negative online
• 1:11:39
  opinions when we've got a wrestling podcast where we'll
• 1:11:42
  have a positive and negative every week.
• 1:11:43
  But one of the things we kind of talked about when we started
• 1:11:46
  this podcast was kind of wanted to be as positive as possible
• 1:11:49
  because would like we've talked about this with WrestleMania,
• 1:11:53
  kind of wrestling is always going to be a mixed bag.
• 1:11:55
  But overall it's fun. So just like you said, go along
• 1:11:59
  for the ride. And if you hate it that much,
• 1:12:01
  just stop watching. It's that simple, isn't it?
• 1:12:03
  That you No one's forced me to watch it.
• 1:12:05
  That's what I think always kind of makes us laugh or something
• 1:12:08
  like that. Like because they, you know,
• 1:12:09
  there's a lot of tribalism. AW and there's a lot of people
• 1:12:11
  out there who hate AW, like just hate it.
• 1:12:15
  But it's like, yeah, but the things you see and it seems that
• 1:12:17
  you still watch it every week. So why are you doing that?
• 1:12:20
  That doesn't seem healthy. You go outside, tell someone you
• 1:12:24
  love them. No, definitely.
• 1:12:26
  I think it comes out like as well.
• 1:12:27
  So like not a talk like Star Wars too much.
• 1:12:30
  But obviously when The Rise of Skywalk came out, obviously I
• 1:12:32
  watched the movie, I didn't really enjoy The Rise of
• 1:12:35
  Skywalker. So obviously we reviewed The
• 1:12:39
  Rise of Skywalker for an episode of Star Wars.
• 1:12:40
  So obviously my review of Skywalker is not very positive
• 1:12:43
  because I talked about the things I did, I tried all the
• 1:12:45
  things I did like in it as well, but the overall experience
• 1:12:48
  watching it, like it wasn't great.
• 1:12:49
  But you know, that's in that episode.
• 1:12:52
  We then the next week we turn on something different.
• 1:12:54
  So, you know, we don't hop on about it and keep tweeting the
• 1:12:57
  same message. I'm saying the same thing every
• 1:12:59
  week. It's like, yeah, if you go back,
• 1:13:00
  listen to my review. Otherwise, Scout, you'll get my
• 1:13:02
  opinion on it. But I don't keep hammering that
• 1:13:05
  opinion every week. That does that make sense?
• 1:13:07
  Yeah, yeah, I see It is fine. And not like something, but I
• 1:13:10
  think it's, you know, it's how you then kind of put that out in
• 1:13:13
  the world and then you just move on from it.
• 1:13:14
  Don't you? Like, yeah.
• 1:13:16
  Yeah, it certainly is. But yeah, so that was there.
• 1:13:20
  That was. Did he really say that for this
• 1:13:21
  week? It was indeed.
• 1:13:24
  And now we're going to move on to Cursed by the Wrestling Gods
• 1:13:27
  and I have picked this week's Cursed by the Wrestling Gods
• 1:13:29
  this way. We look at a gimmick, a person
• 1:13:31
  of Korea. It could be a match type
• 1:13:33
  swimming in the wrestling business that came to a halt,
• 1:13:35
  didn't work out due to unforeseen circumstances or just
• 1:13:40
  generally something that maybe they didn't see the full
• 1:13:41
  potential that could have done. And this week's a bit of a it's
• 1:13:46
  a bit of a out there one. So I don't know if you're
• 1:13:48
  familiar with Alexander Wright or Alex Wright, Luke.
• 1:13:53
  Do we see W Cruiser with? Indeed, yes you are.
• 1:13:58
  That that's about it. That's about me knowledge.
• 1:14:00
  So I'm looking forward to this and I like to be educated.
• 1:14:03
  So just a just a fun context. We so our first became aware of
• 1:14:06
  Alex Wright. Reason why I became so
• 1:14:09
  interesting to me is that if you actually watch the Louis through
• 1:14:15
  wild weekends episode about wrestling, he gets full access
• 1:14:20
  to WCW. And Alex Wright's like part of
• 1:14:22
  that, that show where he's like, he's very excited because he's
• 1:14:25
  going to Dave you a new gimmick and he's quite naive and like
• 1:14:27
  talks to Lewis about a lot of stuff.
• 1:14:29
  I know exactly who you mean now. Yeah, I do remember that.
• 1:14:31
  Is it a German gimmick? Is he or is he?
• 1:14:34
  Face a German. Yeah, that.
• 1:14:35
  Yeah, I do. I know exactly who you mean now.
• 1:14:37
  Yeah. Yeah, But he he has sort of a
• 1:14:41
  WCW runway like he's repackaged a few times that you'll get a
• 1:14:44
  new when he gets a couple of title runs and he's in there
• 1:14:47
  with like big names, but then like it goes nowhere once WCW
• 1:14:51
  closes. So Are you ready to go through
• 1:14:54
  it? I am, yeah.
• 1:14:56
  I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, I know.
• 1:14:57
  Especially now that you've mentioned the Louis through
• 1:14:59
  thing. Yeah, I can picture him now.
• 1:15:02
  Awesome. So obviously Alexander, right?
• 1:15:04
  He is a German former professional wrestler, so he's
• 1:15:07
  only career. He's trained by his father Steve
• 1:15:09
  Wright, who was British and he wrestled his first match in 1991
• 1:15:13
  in Germany when he was 16. And he goes into wrestle sort of
• 1:15:19
  in Germany and he works a little bit in Japan, but then he comes
• 1:15:22
  to WCW in 1994. So I'm going to talk you through
• 1:15:26
  his career. So he comes into WCW in 1994 and
• 1:15:30
  for two years he's known as Daz Wunderkid.
• 1:15:33
  So yes, Wright was discovered by WCW in mid 1994 when WCW toured
• 1:15:38
  through Germany. He signed a contract with Time
• 1:15:40
  Warner, the parent company of WCW.
• 1:15:42
  That's very interesting, which we'll get into later.
• 1:15:44
  And he went through more trading, of course, at the WCW
• 1:15:47
  power plant, world famous for creating Goldberg, of course.
• 1:15:51
  And yes, Wright made his WCW debut defeating Brady Boone on
• 1:15:55
  the September 3rd edition of Saturday Night.
• 1:15:58
  He originally wrestled as a BB face and was known as, as I've
• 1:16:01
  already said, Das under kid Alex White.
• 1:16:03
  His entrance music was Warped Mine by Dominic Glyn.
• 1:16:07
  It was like techno music and he sort of had a techno gimmick,
• 1:16:10
  which was sort of fun for the times.
• 1:16:12
  This also comes across in the Louis 3 documentary, which is
• 1:16:15
  how I remember him. But yeah, it was popular some
• 1:16:18
  American and German dance clubs at the time.
• 1:16:20
  His song was which is again. So he's he's breaking down
• 1:16:23
  barriers, we could say. And he often danced as he walked
• 1:16:26
  to the ring or once he got in the ring.
• 1:16:29
  His first feud was with Are you ready for this Jean Paul
• 1:16:33
  Levesque, Mr. Triple H, Yes. Thank you.
• 1:16:37
  Welcome back. There was he terror, John Paul
• 1:16:39
  Levesque not terrorizing. Yes, this is John Paul Levesque
• 1:16:42
  and he defeats John Paul Levesque in Stockade in December
• 1:16:46
  and it's both men's peer review debut.
• 1:16:49
  So he's working with Triple H, the future head of the business,
• 1:16:53
  and yeah, and he's early career, right, went undefeated in
• 1:16:55
  matches against several WCW superstars, including Bobby
• 1:16:58
  Eaton. That was in January of 1995, a
• 1:17:02
  clash at the Champions and also Paul Romer at Super Brawl 5 in
• 1:17:06
  February 95, obviously. Big names.
• 1:17:09
  No, they are. Yeah, they absolutely are.
• 1:17:16
  He does have a little bit of he causes a problem for Paul Romer.
• 1:17:19
  So it's believed that because of how stiff Paul Romer was with
• 1:17:22
  him in this match that it leads to Paul Romer being terminated
• 1:17:26
  by WCW because he's been a bit stiff with him and he was
• 1:17:31
  reluctant to put him over. And then after that, WCW had
• 1:17:34
  right feud on and off with Disco Inferno.
• 1:17:37
  Another wrestler who danced in on his way at the ring obviously
• 1:17:39
  would have a dance off contest there.
• 1:17:43
  Obviously Wright representing modern dancing and music, Disco
• 1:17:45
  representing all that Styles and Wright would win all of the
• 1:17:49
  matches in the feud. Wright also wrestled on Anderson
• 1:17:53
  for the WCW World Television Championship on the episode of
• 1:17:56
  Saturday night and he beat Anderson by DQA.
• 1:17:59
  Rematch was scheduled the next day for the slamboree where
• 1:18:02
  Wright suffered his first loss. So he doesn't beat on Anderson
• 1:18:06
  for the television title, but again, he's working on Anderson
• 1:18:08
  here as well. So he's worked with Triple H,
• 1:18:09
  he's worked with Paul Romer, Disco Inferno, he's working with
• 1:18:12
  on Anderson, you know, he's working with a lot of people
• 1:18:14
  here and he's getting, he's getting television time and he's
• 1:18:16
  got a gimmick that they're pushing.
• 1:18:18
  Obviously due to WCB's partnership with New Japan Pro
• 1:18:20
  Wrestling, Wright did participate in New Japan Pro
• 1:18:23
  Wrestling's Best of the Super Juniors and he finished third in
• 1:18:25
  the tournament. So again, you know, that's a
• 1:18:26
  pretty, in terms of pro wrestling, it's a it's a big
• 1:18:29
  deal to go to New Japan and be in that tournament.
• 1:18:31
  We've talked about Finnbarrand, people like that, you know,
• 1:18:32
  they've all been in that tournament before.
• 1:18:35
  And yes, he started wrestling against fellow cruiserweight and
• 1:18:37
  babyface Brian Pilman who he defeated in the opening match of
• 1:18:40
  the Great American Bash. He also teamed with Marcus
• 1:18:45
  Bagwell in this time period. And he had encounters with other
• 1:18:52
  up and coming WC superstars such as Diamond, Daz, Paige.
• 1:18:55
  Also in August at Clash of the Champions.
• 1:18:58
  And he wrestles Sabu as well. And he has several matches
• 1:19:03
  against Eddie Guerrero and he also wrestles Dean Malenko.
• 1:19:11
  So he's having a pretty big run, you know, until from his debut
• 1:19:14
  94 all the way to 996, everything I said that happens
• 1:19:16
  in those in those years. No, every, like all those names
• 1:19:19
  are kind of the names you associate with WCW on.
• 1:19:22
  You're like, yeah, Eddie's your DVP's, your DML and goes like,
• 1:19:26
  yeah, you've right in the mix with all the kind of names that
• 1:19:28
  you associate with WCW. He's Robin Schwartz, all them.
• 1:19:31
  He's getting some wins. He's now getting some losses,
• 1:19:33
  don't get us wrong, but he's working with like top if you
• 1:19:36
  lose Daddy Guerrero, like, you know, that's not a bad thing.
• 1:19:40
  Do you know what I mean? I think at World War 3, Wright
• 1:19:44
  took part in his first ever 3 ring, 60 man battle royal.
• 1:19:48
  Ever heard of anything? So WCW in your life?
• 1:19:50
  That's that's that for the vacant World Heavyweight
• 1:19:53
  Championship, which is obviously won by Randy Savage.
• 1:19:56
  But he's in there. I mean, it's a 60 man battle
• 1:19:58
  royal. So to get in there is probably
• 1:19:59
  easy. But he is in there with 60 other
• 1:20:02
  or 59 other men. Randy Savage wins the belt.
• 1:20:06
  And yes, at Stockade that year, WCW wrestlers faced New Japan
• 1:20:10
  Pro wrestlers in a World Cup of Wrestling, right?
• 1:20:12
  Represented WCW against New Japan's Koji Konimoto.
• 1:20:19
  So again, he's working. He's been trusted to work with
• 1:20:20
  other promotions and wrestlers of other nations, which is
• 1:20:22
  pretty cool. He goes on to wrestle Antonio
• 1:20:28
  and Nogi and he also wrestles and loses to Chris Benoit as
• 1:20:33
  well, which is pretty wild. And he also, he defeats Bobby.
• 1:20:38
  Sorry, he's defeated by Bobby Eaton as well at Hog Wild.
• 1:20:43
  And yeah, it's just it's just all a bit craziness.
• 1:20:45
  There's another battle royal. It's won by the giants.
• 1:20:48
  He's working with the shore and yeah, it's pretty crazy.
• 1:20:54
  No title reigns at any of that time though.
• 1:20:56
  But in 1997 he starts to win some titles.
• 1:20:58
  So 1997 WCW. Hard to write or wrestle in
• 1:21:01
  several tight team matches with fellow mid quarters, most on the
• 1:21:04
  losing side. In 1987 in May on Knight Row he
• 1:21:08
  partners with Ice Train against Cornyn and Hugh Morris the
• 1:21:12
  Dungeon of Doom which is pretty cool.
• 1:21:17
  And then also on Knight Row he defeated Chris Jericho to win
• 1:21:22
  the Cruiserweight Championship, so you know he's beating the
• 1:21:25
  GOAT for the Cruiserweight Title.
• 1:21:27
  Wright goes on a few to Jericho there after including successful
• 1:21:30
  title defence against Jericho at Rd.
• 1:21:32
  Wild before dropping his title back to Jericho the following
• 1:21:35
  month. He also gets a work called Timo
• 1:21:39
  Dragon in this time period and he does win the World Television
• 1:21:42
  Championship and he does successfully defend that title
• 1:21:46
  on TV against Lord Stephen Regal on Night Row.
• 1:21:52
  So you know. Although I thought if I ever met
• 1:21:54
  this guy, I'd be very excited, interested to hear about all of
• 1:21:57
  his kind of Rd. stories with these guys that I said Jericho,
• 1:21:59
  Regal have said them all. As in that for someone who kind
• 1:22:02
  of had a very vague memory of like, I'm quite surprised by how
• 1:22:05
  many kind of the big names he's been in there with.
• 1:22:09
  No, it certainly is. It's huge.
• 1:22:11
  So I think at 4 brawl he has a successful title defense against
• 1:22:16
  team or Dragon, then drops the title to drive or discord
• 1:22:19
  Inferno. White then feuds with Steve
• 1:22:21
  McMichael after Mike Michaels valet Deborah left him to become
• 1:22:24
  Wrights valet. So he's working with Deborah
• 1:22:27
  here and Wright defeats that Michael Halloween havoc with
• 1:22:34
  help from Goldberg, who then also promptly attacked right
• 1:22:38
  post match. So he's working with Goldberg as
• 1:22:40
  well a little bit, which is pretty crazy.
• 1:22:45
  And like, yeah, in 1998 he's part of the Dancing Fools.
• 1:22:49
  So he patches things up with Disco Inferno and they become
• 1:22:51
  the Dancing Fools in 1998, which is pretty, pretty cool.
• 1:22:58
  Well, yeah, I mean, essentially, yeah.
• 1:22:59
  You've had like a four year run of being on Tele consistently,
• 1:23:02
  give or take, which during that period WCW is quite an
• 1:23:05
  accomplishment really. It is indeed.
• 1:23:07
  So the feud with the public, which is called Johnny Gunge and
• 1:23:09
  Rock O Rock. And then the also goes into an
• 1:23:16
  angle. He begins an angle where he
• 1:23:18
  claims he's the best WC wrestler to come out of Europe.
• 1:23:21
  British blood log however, disrupted him and there's a
• 1:23:25
  little feud between writing Inferno against the Bulldog and
• 1:23:29
  Jim Neidhart. So he's working the half
• 1:23:31
  foundation now, who've obviously jumped ship after the Montreal
• 1:23:34
  screw job here for a little while obviously.
• 1:23:37
  But the feud culminates of Fall Brawl, where the Dancing Fools
• 1:23:40
  lost the Bulldog and Neidhart after suffering losses right in
• 1:23:42
  Infernal Split and they begin their singles careers again.
• 1:23:46
  Wright then goes on a feud with fellow European wrestler Fit
• 1:23:48
  Finley. So yeah.
• 1:23:50
  And he blames Fit Finley for ending his father's career.
• 1:23:53
  That's a pretty cool storyline. And Wright took his father's
• 1:23:56
  revenge from Finley by beating him in Halloween Havoc.
• 1:23:58
  So he beats Fit Finley Halloween Havoc, and then he competes
• 1:24:02
  again in the 60 man battle royal of World War 3.
• 1:24:06
  Kevin Nash wins that one. So he's been in threes, but I
• 1:24:09
  was like the first one Macho Man wins, he's in another one.
• 1:24:11
  A big show wins and in this one Kevin Nash wins.
• 1:24:13
  So he's working with all the top guys in in WCW.
• 1:24:17
  Then at the beginning of 1999, he was kept off WCW television
• 1:24:21
  for an extended length of time until May.
• 1:24:22
  This is what's covered in the Louis Through documentary.
• 1:24:26
  When Wright came up with his own idea for a gimmick, promotional
• 1:24:28
  spots began appearing on WCW television, featuring Wright as
• 1:24:31
  a surprising new sort of Rivethead style carrot guy named
• 1:24:36
  Berlin International Mespelling of the city Berlin, obviously
• 1:24:41
  the capital of his homeland. The black Mohawk and gaudy
• 1:24:43
  replacing his blonde hair. He was cut entirely in black
• 1:24:46
  with a long trench coat and arrogantly refused to speak
• 1:24:50
  English. So yeah, he spoke through an
• 1:24:53
  interpreter and his promos, believe it or not.
• 1:24:55
  And he was accompanied to the ring by the wall.
• 1:24:58
  You remember the wall he worked with Sid Vicious a bit in?
• 1:25:00
  I do. Remember the wall?
• 1:25:01
  Yeah. Yes, he's working with the wall
• 1:25:03
  as he's as he's heater. Promos coincide with the
• 1:25:08
  aftermath of the Columbine school massacre, which threw a
• 1:25:11
  hitching to his plans, sensing the unintentional scenarios in
• 1:25:15
  dress between Berlin and the teenage killers.
• 1:25:17
  Obviously he was dressed in like, you know, the trench
• 1:25:19
  courts, the black Gordie, the black Mohawk.
• 1:25:22
  It's like that punk blackness of like the vampire characters of
• 1:25:26
  the era. You know blades about will come
• 1:25:27
  out or play. Probably matrix.
• 1:25:29
  Probably the matrix as well. Matrix as well.
• 1:25:31
  So obviously that horrible Columbine school massacre, so
• 1:25:36
  bad timing on this one. So this is definitely a curse
• 1:25:39
  here. So the delayed the debut of
• 1:25:41
  Berlin for several months. He does officially debut and
• 1:25:45
  he's quickly insulting the Americans and he's a heel.
• 1:25:49
  He's booked to Facebook. Bagwell at 4 brawl shortly after
• 1:25:52
  his debut after the match will not take place.
• 1:25:54
  Well, do we still claim that Bagwell hadn't missed his fight?
• 1:25:56
  Bagwell was in the arena but did not want to lose.
• 1:25:59
  So problem of God here is that there's too much creative
• 1:26:01
  control going on. So again, we know, we've thought
• 1:26:04
  about Buff, right? We know how Buff Buff is.
• 1:26:06
  He's, you know, he's Jack. He looks great.
• 1:26:09
  If he wants to wrestle Buffy and beat him, then it's going to
• 1:26:11
  make him not good. But Buff won't do that.
• 1:26:14
  So Bagwell's replaced with Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Wright's
• 1:26:18
  problems continue as Duggan no sword or of Wright's offense and
• 1:26:22
  did not cooperate in the ring. But then he said.
• 1:26:25
  That doesn't. It seems weird because it's not
• 1:26:27
  like he's some rookie like you mean he's got a kind of a
• 1:26:30
  pedigree already of working top guys.
• 1:26:32
  So it does seem a bit stays a bit bit misfire.
• 1:26:35
  Unfortunate and bit of a shame that you had two guys like that
• 1:26:37
  not wanting to kind of do the job.
• 1:26:40
  Absolutely, that's the time in WCB is about to die soon.
• 1:26:42
  So maybe if these people actually doing the jobs
• 1:26:44
  properly, then on X right might have had more of a value and
• 1:26:47
  then maybe the company doesn't go not just on him, but
• 1:26:51
  generally everybody acted in a good way, Maybe it wouldn't have
• 1:26:54
  died as fast, if that makes sense.
• 1:26:55
  Yeah, no, no, definitely like putting them new faces on the TV
• 1:26:58
  and kind of giving them legitimacy 100%.
• 1:27:01
  Indeed, so Burning said wrestle and defeated Bagwell on the
• 1:27:04
  nights next night's night row. Afterwards, Berlin attacks Scott
• 1:27:08
  Armstrong and began a feud with Blood Armstrong.
• 1:27:12
  They have a much of Halloween Havoc which he loses after the
• 1:27:15
  match. Berlin in the wall attack
• 1:27:17
  Armstrong, although Berlin had been given a push after the
• 1:27:19
  fiasco was Duggan and Bagwell. His gimmick was unpopular.
• 1:27:23
  WCW furthered the damage by giving the wall a singles push,
• 1:27:26
  leading right to sort of flounder on the mid card.
• 1:27:32
  What we do see is he sort of he wrestles with Vampiro.
• 1:27:35
  He loses that. Vampiro beats him in a dog
• 1:27:41
  collar match after the Wall turns on Berlin, and then Berlin
• 1:27:45
  then feuds with the Wall before disappearing from WCW television
• 1:27:49
  again. And then in two thousand 2001,
• 1:27:51
  which is obviously the last years of WCW Boogie Knights
• 1:27:54
  comes after several months off from wrestling, Wright returned
• 1:27:58
  under his real name, so he's not been any much back with Alex
• 1:28:00
  Wright on September of 2000 and he's on Thunder during the match
• 1:28:07
  between a former party, Disco Inferno and Conan.
• 1:28:13
  Obviously Wright helps disco in getting the victory and the
• 1:28:15
  jewel reunite is the Boogie Knights right now has completely
• 1:28:19
  bald but hard return to his previous dancing mannerisms.
• 1:28:23
  The Boogie Knights begin a feud with the filthy animals while
• 1:28:26
  they're also feuded with two members of the natural born
• 1:28:28
  thrillers, Sean O'Hare and Mark Jindrak, who were the world
• 1:28:32
  talking champions at the time Halloween Havoc.
• 1:28:33
  The three teams participate in a triangle match, but O'Hare and
• 1:28:36
  Jindrak win the match. Disco and Wright would go on to
• 1:28:39
  win the World Targeting Championships from O'hengendrack
• 1:28:41
  at Millennium Germany on November 16th.
• 1:28:44
  However, four days there are Night Rd. due to Disco being out
• 1:28:47
  with an injury. Right and substitute Elix
• 1:28:49
  Skipper lost the titles to Chuck Plumbo and Sean Stasiak, two
• 1:28:53
  other members of The Natural War on Thrillers.
• 1:28:56
  Right then started an angle where he kept Chronic, which is
• 1:28:59
  called Bryan Adams and Brian Clark as his bodyguards to
• 1:29:02
  squash other cruiserweights at Mayhem.
• 1:29:04
  Right and Chronic faced Billy Kinman and Rey Mysterio in a
• 1:29:08
  three on two handicap match. Chronic abandoned right after 15
• 1:29:11
  minutes they were paid for expired, leading to him being
• 1:29:15
  pinned. Disco eventually returned from
• 1:29:17
  his injury in the Boogie Nights gimmick.
• 1:29:18
  Lasted until WWE was purchased by World Wrestling Federation in
• 1:29:22
  March 2001, right renamed under contract with AOL Time Warner as
• 1:29:27
  his contract was not bought out by WF.
• 1:29:29
  So if you remember those in the Time Warner contracts Salem and
• 1:29:33
  got paid until they expired. It's why Hogan, it's why Nash,
• 1:29:36
  it's why Scott Horse, why Sting didn't come over on the Invasion
• 1:29:39
  and the. Invasion failed them.
• 1:29:42
  Alex was on one of these contracts like those guys.
• 1:29:44
  Not the same money, but the same protections, which is wild.
• 1:29:47
  But yes, in his retirement. So Wright fell out of the
• 1:29:49
  spotlight after the folding of WCW and has not appeared on
• 1:29:52
  American television since then. He stated in the interview that
• 1:29:55
  we could not sign him as he was one of the few who was under
• 1:29:57
  contract with AW Time Warner. He also said that he took a
• 1:30:00
  break on wrestling and was not happy with the politics
• 1:30:03
  backstage in WCW that was happening at the time.
• 1:30:05
  In the years following, he sort of stayed away from regular
• 1:30:08
  active competition. He's wrestled on a few rare
• 1:30:10
  occasions in Germany for a couple of promotions.
• 1:30:13
  His last match was on May 31st in 2003 for a German promotion
• 1:30:18
  and he has possibly started his own school called The Right
• 1:30:22
  Stuff in Germany and he also has a promotion in Germany now as
• 1:30:26
  well. And yes, he's a punishable for
• 1:30:29
  us in the street. He's rookie of the year for Pro
• 1:30:30
  US in the street 1995. He's ranked number 54 out of the
• 1:30:34
  500 best singles wrestlers for 1995 as well, and he was ranked
• 1:30:37
  408 in the top singles wrestlers of 2003.
• 1:30:42
  So he's still in the 100 in his retirement.
• 1:30:43
  Yeah, obviously one time cruiserweight champion in WCWA,
• 1:30:47
  one time world television champion.
• 1:30:49
  He was a one time world tag team champion and he did win the
• 1:30:51
  World Cup of Wrestling alongside Sting, Runny Savage.
• 1:30:54
  Actually we got Johnny B Bard, Eddie Guerrero and Christopher
• 1:30:57
  Moore. So yeah, I think a guy who in
• 1:31:01
  WCW worked everybody, he had a couple of different gimmicks and
• 1:31:04
  he got a lot of screen time. Some people worked against them
• 1:31:08
  and obviously in the end, that AOL Time Warner contract.
• 1:31:12
  How do you be on a WCW contract? What do you have debuted in the
• 1:31:15
  Invasion angle and what do you maybe still being around today?
• 1:31:18
  But yeah, talk us through your thoughts, Luke.
• 1:31:20
  Is he cursed by gods? I think, I think it's definitely
• 1:31:24
  a bit of unluckiness kind of just being in that WCW type
• 1:31:27
  period where kind of, you know, there was too much creative
• 1:31:29
  control with some people. I mean, he's still got a fair
• 1:31:31
  bit of TV time out of it. The kind Warner contracts,
• 1:31:35
  though, couldn't he have? And I mean, he sounds like he
• 1:31:38
  says he couldn't. Couldn't you kind of essentially
• 1:31:40
  choose to tear that contract up? I mean, why would you feel
• 1:31:43
  unguaranteed money? But didn't Boogerty get rid of
• 1:31:47
  his contract so he could sign with WE for less money?
• 1:31:50
  I don't think he doing that. What I do know is that when
• 1:31:53
  Vince asked Nash about his contract, Nash said if you match
• 1:31:57
  it, I'll come. But Vince wouldn't match it.
• 1:32:01
  And that's why the likes of Hall and Nash and Sting and Hogan
• 1:32:05
  like just stayed getting paid from Time Warner because it was
• 1:32:09
  big money that those guys were anyway.
• 1:32:11
  And you got paid to stay at home.
• 1:32:12
  You couldn't wrestle another promotion, but you got paid to
• 1:32:14
  stay at home. And I said when Nash was, Nash
• 1:32:16
  told Vince, if your peers the same, I'll come.
• 1:32:18
  But Nash wouldn't do it. Vince wouldn't do it.
• 1:32:21
  He tried to pay him in like merchandise rights and said he
• 1:32:23
  doesn't know. Like I've told you, just match
• 1:32:26
  it like money for money and I'll come, but he wouldn't do it.
• 1:32:29
  So Alex White probably not on the same money as them, But I
• 1:32:32
  mean, no one with no idea when business out of business, right,
• 1:32:34
  because they were silly with money.
• 1:32:35
  So he's probably on decent money.
• 1:32:37
  And again, if I doubt the WF would pay him the same money
• 1:32:41
  that you are Time Warner were. So it makes sense to sort of
• 1:32:45
  especially if he's had a bad time.
• 1:32:46
  He doesn't want to go to WF and then have more politics.
• 1:32:48
  He's probably said, let's take a few years out.
• 1:32:50
  I'm getting paid. And then what's happened is that
• 1:32:53
  he's never actually ended up coming back.
• 1:32:55
  No, definitely independent on what that contract was.
• 1:32:58
  He probably made the right choice really because like you
• 1:33:00
  say, someone like him probably had absolutely no security from
• 1:33:03
  WA if he did take a lesser contract.
• 1:33:05
  So no, I do get waiting that out.
• 1:33:06
  It's just a shame. That's kind of that's where the
• 1:33:09
  industry was that because of what WCW did with the contracts
• 1:33:11
  and then Power WA maybe rightfully weren't put it on are
• 1:33:15
  those contracts because they had no obligation to do so.
• 1:33:17
  I think he's someone who you've said from what you've got, the
• 1:33:20
  way you kind of described his career that would maybe fare
• 1:33:22
  better now who if he had gone through like a good development
• 1:33:26
  system like NXT or just generally being able to
• 1:33:29
  wrestling promotions that have more kind of online eyes on
• 1:33:32
  them. So I think he's kind of a victim
• 1:33:34
  of the time really where he was kind of this smaller guy kind of
• 1:33:38
  getting passed around gimmicks in a company that was just nuts.
• 1:33:41
  So, yeah, I think he definitely falls under that curse by the
• 1:33:43
  wrestling gods. And, you know, you've done a
• 1:33:45
  good job of maintenance. Want to kind of go back and see
• 1:33:47
  some of his stuff because, like I say, it was just a vague
• 1:33:49
  memory ahead of him, but just some of the names he said he
• 1:33:52
  worked with. I'm kind of definitely going to
• 1:33:54
  go and give some of his older stuff a rewatch and I hope he is
• 1:33:57
  still running a wrestling school.
• 1:33:58
  It's nice when people give back. And who knows, he might be able
• 1:34:00
  to start that up with the money he had from his Time Warner
• 1:34:03
  contract. You might, indeed.
• 1:34:05
  One of his students is, of course, former WWE wrestler
• 1:34:08
  Giovanni Vinci, if you know who that is.
• 1:34:10
  Luke. I do, yeah.
• 1:34:11
  He's been, he's took a little break as well.
• 1:34:13
  He's been doing interviews this weekend, though.
• 1:34:14
  He's looking to take Boogans again.
• 1:34:16
  He was good because he had the debut of the Cruiserweight
• 1:34:19
  Classic and then obviously he was in Imperium, wasn't he?
• 1:34:21
  So yeah, that's if he's got people who've graduated, then
• 1:34:25
  they go, there's a successful wrestling school made it all the
• 1:34:28
  way the WWE. He did indeed.
• 1:34:30
  And I think if you look at that gimmick that we're talking about
• 1:34:33
  around the Columbine shooting, you know, that type of gimmick
• 1:34:37
  at the time, you know, it's very brood like matrix like blade
• 1:34:40
  like probably could have been big.
• 1:34:42
  But then again, that disaster has happened in the product.
• 1:34:45
  Take him off television and repackage him.
• 1:34:48
  Yeah, I think as well. I don't know how much legs I
• 1:34:50
  had, did you know, but the fact that I put the world but they're
• 1:34:53
  the wall with them is very on the nose.
• 1:34:54
  Wasn't a Berlin Wall, but you know, stranger things have
• 1:34:57
  gotten over. But yeah, it's properly kind of
• 1:35:00
  attitude. You're a kind of gimmick that
• 1:35:02
  isn't it for the Berlin Wall. It is indeed, it is indeed, but
• 1:35:08
  I think that brings an end to Curse by Wrestling Gods.
• 1:35:09
  Any other questions about him? No, like I said, it's really
• 1:35:12
  good, but I haven't got questions.
• 1:35:14
  I just want to go about and watch some of the stuff that
• 1:35:15
  you've kind of highlighted there because like it's great crazy.
• 1:35:19
  And I think it's an interesting. What makes us think of actually
• 1:35:21
  it was going by that Triple H Cody Rose podcast, a Toy Story,
• 1:35:25
  where I think it was on Anderson where Cody was saying that like
• 1:35:28
  there was a lot of guys kind of bitching backstage really about
• 1:35:32
  the position in the card. And they on Anderson kind of
• 1:35:34
  went over to them. And since she kind of said like,
• 1:35:37
  look, do do you think, do you think I'm a big deal?
• 1:35:39
  And they're like, well, yeah, you're fucking on Anderson.
• 1:35:41
  And he was like, never held the world title once one of your
• 1:35:44
  time I was ever on main events as if I was with Ric Flair.
• 1:35:47
  Like, do you think my career means nothing?
• 1:35:48
  And they were like, no, it's not.
• 1:35:50
  And I think that's kind of one of the things we've looked at
• 1:35:52
  with this kind of curse by the wrestling guards where you have
• 1:35:55
  these guys who've definitely had a bit of one bit of unluckiness,
• 1:35:58
  injury, personal problems. But like, yeah, I just reeled
• 1:36:01
  off the names. He's wrestled.
• 1:36:02
  Man, that's fucking amazing. You know, I'd, I'd love to have
• 1:36:07
  been a wrestler and I think I'd be more than happy if I had that
• 1:36:09
  kind of body of work to look back on.
• 1:36:11
  So yeah, I mean, there's there always the what if question, but
• 1:36:14
  yeah, that's a fucking solid run.
• 1:36:16
  This is a very solid run. I think.
• 1:36:19
  Like imagine if he wrote a book, but like all these stories.
• 1:36:21
  That would be absolutely fantastic.
• 1:36:22
  And then one thing, if you do watch the Louis 3 documentary,
• 1:36:26
  he comes across as like he's, he's happy to talk with Louis.
• 1:36:28
  He shares what's going on. He's very open if I, if I'm not
• 1:36:31
  correctly, and he comes across as like him as a person, he
• 1:36:35
  comes across as quite like a, you know, he's not, he's not
• 1:36:38
  arrogant. He's, he shares the deals with
• 1:36:40
  Louis, if that makes sense. He's quite open with Louis.
• 1:36:43
  No, no, I remember that like a six.
• 1:36:45
  I've we watched that quite recently.
• 1:36:47
  So no, I know exactly kind of what you say in any years, and
• 1:36:49
  it's one of those ones. We're kind of if almost like
• 1:36:51
  because of, you know, how many wrestlers there are in history
• 1:36:54
  kind of thing. You'll get people who fall
• 1:36:55
  through the cracks. We're kind of, you know, if he
• 1:36:58
  went and did AQ and A, it might not sell that well, but I bet
• 1:37:00
  he's got some fun, brilliant stories which, you know, I would
• 1:37:03
  definitely want to go and listen to now after kind of your little
• 1:37:05
  rundown of his career. No indeed, I think it takes us
• 1:37:10
  up to the pro wrestling feel good factor the week Luke.
• 1:37:13
  Yeah, we're coming into the end and yeah, what is I think you
• 1:37:16
  you've gone for this one this week as well.
• 1:37:18
  So hit is with it so. It's not so much a fact, but
• 1:37:20
  it's it's what is factor is happening.
• 1:37:22
  So I've come across something called the National Wrestling
• 1:37:25
  League. It's sort of just popped up over
• 1:37:27
  the past week or so. So it looks like it's a
• 1:37:29
  wrestling promotion, but what they're saying is that it's
• 1:37:31
  where football and wrestling collide.
• 1:37:33
  Wrestling. And yeah, so it looks like it's
• 1:37:37
  going to be teams of wrestling. So it's going to be.
• 1:37:43
  They've got three dates, August for new in Newcastle, September
• 1:37:47
  and Manchester, and October in Glasgow.
• 1:37:49
  So far. Tickets are from 5 LB, it says.
• 1:37:53
  And they've created like a really cool little video.
• 1:37:55
  So production seems pretty cool. It's a mix of like wrestling and
• 1:37:58
  it's saying like built on rivalry, driven by passion,
• 1:38:05
  forged in spectacle. Now Worlds collide.
• 1:38:11
  London Executioners, Manchester Monix, Glasgow Hitman, Midland
• 1:38:14
  Destroyers, NE Outlaws, Yorkshire Titans, Wrestling
• 1:38:17
  Reimagines. I think these are these are
• 1:38:19
  teams that are going to be, I don't know how many wrestlers
• 1:38:21
  are on the teams, but basically I imagine different wrestlers
• 1:38:26
  from these teams will wrestle each other and score points in a
• 1:38:28
  league system. And there might be tag teams as
• 1:38:31
  well. I don't know.
• 1:38:31
  But it just seems really. Fun.
• 1:38:35
  Fun, indifferent. Yeah.
• 1:38:36
  And like a 5 LB a ticket, that's how much it is.
• 1:38:39
  I mean I'm sure there's more expensive ones but like 5 LB
• 1:38:42
  tickets worth of pop isn't it? No, it is.
• 1:38:44
  I haven't. I know exactly what you're
• 1:38:46
  talking about because I've had a little, a little bit of a deep
• 1:38:48
  dive on myself and yes, £5 a ticket, but I think front rows
• 1:38:52
  only £25 and they're sure they're doing in Newcastle.
• 1:38:55
  It's where the Newcastle Eagles play, which is a great little
• 1:38:57
  venue. So yeah, I think I'm, I'm very
• 1:38:59
  interested in it. I think like what kind of said,
• 1:39:01
  you know, wrestling's a mixed bag is a variety show, so
• 1:39:04
  whenever someone's trying to make different, it's piqued me
• 1:39:07
  attention. And I think I've seen Deal Brown
• 1:39:10
  and Grado attached to the project, so, you know, you've
• 1:39:12
  got your two names there. So yeah, I mean, I'm up for
• 1:39:15
  going. Are you?
• 1:39:16
  I certainly am so awful into that and get some tickets.
• 1:39:18
  So it's August 9th in Newcastle, September 27th in Manchester, in
• 1:39:22
  October 10th in Glasgow. To be fair, see if that was, see
• 1:39:25
  if that was fantastic in Newcastle, Manchester and
• 1:39:28
  Glasgow on 2 for travel for us I suppose.
• 1:39:31
  Well, yeah, with it being because it was about a month
• 1:39:33
  apart, them those shows are those.
• 1:39:34
  I hadn't realized that. So yeah, maybe it is going to
• 1:39:36
  obviously have like a league table system and stuff.
• 1:39:39
  And I'm a sucker for a league table.
• 1:39:40
  And you know what we got up here?
• 1:39:42
  We the Northeast Outlaws. Yeah.
• 1:39:44
  Northeast Outlaws, brother. I'm a sucker for merchandise as
• 1:39:46
  well, so if they're selling NE Outlaw wrestling football
• 1:39:49
  shirts, like they've got my fucking money straight away.
• 1:39:51
  So 5 LB and 50 LB for this shirt they've got us.
• 1:39:55
  No, indeed. So I think definitely check it
• 1:39:58
  out. So it's the National Wrestling
• 1:39:59
  League. They're on Instagram, that's for
• 1:40:01
  sure. It's just popped up there.
• 1:40:03
  But if you want information about that, it's it's there.
• 1:40:06
  And I think something new, something different.
• 1:40:08
  I haven't really heard of that type of thing before.
• 1:40:10
  I think football fans obviously, I mean, you look obviously both
• 1:40:14
  Newcastle United fans, you know, they were very were very loyal.
• 1:40:17
  It's very emotional. You go through it all the same
• 1:40:20
  as we're wrestling fans will do the same with the wrestling.
• 1:40:21
  So I think if they get it right it can work and be be brilliant
• 1:40:25
  I think. Yeah, definitely.
• 1:40:27
  And you always try something once.
• 1:40:28
  Like I said, it's different. It's brilliant price and it's on
• 1:40:32
  the doorstep more or less. So let's say unless it's
• 1:40:34
  classroom or something, I'll 100% be there.
• 1:40:38
  Indeed not brings an end to this week's episode.
• 1:40:40
  Luke, any last messages for the people?
• 1:40:43
  Kind of what I always say, but like, just people get in touch,
• 1:40:45
  you know? I want people's opinions on
• 1:40:46
  things kind of, you know, what you like about the show, the
• 1:40:48
  segments. Have you got any ideas for
• 1:40:50
  things you'd like us to talk about?
• 1:40:51
  Whether that's cursed by the wrestling gods, whether that's
• 1:40:53
  moment in time, just, you know, the more you interact, the more
• 1:40:56
  we can get out of it with selves and kind of get the word out
• 1:40:58
  there so more people listen to it.
• 1:41:00
  Yeah. So literally, get in touch about
• 1:41:02
  anything you want to get in touch about.
• 1:41:04
  Indeed, and you can do that again on our social media.
• 1:41:06
  We have an Instagram. It is at SES Wrestling pod it is
• 1:41:10
  not. She ran certain it does stand
• 1:41:12
  for singlets and suplexes. SAS wrestling pod reveal on
• 1:41:16
  Spotify. If you're listening on Spotify,
• 1:41:18
  please follow us on Spotify. Please leave us a five star
• 1:41:21
  review and again take part in our polls and leave comments on
• 1:41:24
  our episodes and you'll be part of the housekeeping segment.
• 1:41:27
  If you're listening on our podcasts again leave us a five
• 1:41:29
  star review. Leave us a lovely little
• 1:41:31
  sentence description in there helps you'll find the show and
• 1:41:34
  it keeps me and Luke smiling all week.
• 1:41:36
  We're also available on Amazon Music.
• 1:41:39
  Don't think you can review on there, but if you're enjoying
• 1:41:41
  Amazon, fantastic. And if you are enjoying us,
• 1:41:45
  share us with your wrestling friends.
• 1:41:47
  That's how we're going to grow. We've had some steady growth
• 1:41:49
  since we started this podcast at Wyrumble Time.
• 1:41:51
  We've just got past WrestleMania, which is great,
• 1:41:54
  and we're ready for what the rest of the year is going to
• 1:41:56
  bring. But thank you very much for
• 1:41:57
  listening, and always remember it's still real to us, damn it.
• 1:42:02
  Damn it.