Latest / Real. Guy. Pods. / Is Vince McMahon being squeezed out of WWE? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #714 – 10/19/23

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Is Vince McMahon being squeezed out of WWE? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #714 – 10/19/23 · Real. Guy. Pods.

0:00
It's still welcome everybody. Welcome to this week's edition is The Real Does Show
0:22
Epsomber seven and fourteen for October nineteen, twenty twenty three. Welcome at this
0:28
week's edition of SR to You. I am one after the show. I
0:34
am jackon pect joints. Every single week my post Norman, doctor Gray,
0:37
Franklin, doctor Tray had everything squeezed out of a company. My friend,
0:44
let's see, squeezed out. I mean I worked for Blockbuster. Does that
0:50
count? Like I was during SRT you days, right, yeah, like
0:54
right when we first started. But yeah, like I mean, companies started
0:57
closing up shops and they kind of kept bouncing me around to keep me around
1:00
for a while. Then finally it was like, yeah, you got nowhere
1:03
else to go, so uh squeezed out because of lack of money. But
1:07
yes, that's probably about the closest I've come. And I tell you,
1:11
Jeff, I miss Blockbuster. Do you miss like like working or going to
1:15
a Blockbuster? Is it's both? I'm weird. I loved my time working
1:21
at Blockbuster, Like I got a blast, like hanging out talking about movies,
1:23
talking about video games, you know, up selling people. You had
1:26
your regulars but then I also just miss on a Friday night as a kid
1:30
going with my parents, walking around the store, trying to find something to
1:34
watch, trying to find a game to play. It's a shame that,
1:38
you know, Sammy will never get that. Like Carmen, my oldest,
1:41
she got to hang out with me the store, so she'd go through the
1:42
kids section pick up movies. You know, poor Sammy never see that.
1:47
Sammy just has to like go off of peacock, which he loves to say.
1:49
He loves to say pecock. Now, if I tell you be kind,
1:53
do you know how to finish it? Rewind? Here's Rewind. I'm
1:57
with you, and I know that's at the point of this week's the podcast
2:00
to talk about video rental stores. But I remember as a kid Fridays,
2:05
my parents would take me to the local video rental store. Wasn't a Blockbuster,
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though I did at a Blockbuster nearby, and I would go and pick
2:13
out movies or video games, have them the entire weekend. The key was
2:16
you would like rent them on either a Friday or Saturday. They were closed
2:22
on a Sunday, so then you got an extra day with them, so
2:25
it was like you were stealing a day by having the movie or the video
2:29
game, and that was always really cool. And I remember one of the
2:31
first things I ever rented as as a kid was the nineteen ninety one Royal
2:38
Rumble pay per view. That was like one of the first ones I ever
2:44
saw, and I remember that pretty vividly, and it was It's like one
2:49
of those things that it was fun to do on a Friday or Saturday night
2:52
was to go to the Hey, you want to go rent a movie,
2:53
Let's go do that, and you had the membership and uh it was great.
2:59
But that times have actually passed us on that one. Doctor Try.
3:04
Yeah, I was wondering, like so like as a kid, like I
3:07
remember going to like video stores like eight, nine, ten years old.
3:09
And the first thing it is because wrestling never really had like when I first
3:14
started going, wrestling didn't have its own section. It was lumped in with
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all of sports. Uh so I would immediately go right to that section and
3:23
see what they had. And I remember the first thing I think I read
3:24
it was the eighty seven Survivor series because I think, well it was a
3:30
seven, No, it was eighty six Survivor series because at the time Circle
3:35
K had a tie in where if you like bought a slushy, you got
3:38
a trading card. So I got to match the cards up to watching the
3:43
Survivor series. So, uh, that was pretty cool. And then my
3:46
you know, my parents were always like, why are you guys, why
3:47
are you guys over here hanging out? Look at sports. I'm like,
3:50
no, no, no, it's all Titan Entertainment wrestling stuff I was buying.
3:53
And then I think I got, uh eighty seven War Games was right
3:58
after that was the one I got next out of that store. Yep,
4:01
yep. Things that people most people have no idea what we're talking about now
4:04
and makes us feel old. Video rental stores, Yes, you would actually
4:08
have to go to a store, have a membership card and rent a movie
4:14
or video game. Now you don't have to just like walk to your television
4:16
and watch whatever the hell you want to watch, or go to your console
4:21
and buy whatever you wanted to buy. So those were the days. That's
4:27
another podcast that Doctor Trey and I do called those were the Days, and
4:30
we just sit on a porch and we yell at clouds and remember the good
4:34
old times when we were growing up as kids. So started off the show
4:40
asking doctor Tray if he was squeezed out that led us down the video rental
4:44
discussion that brought back a lot of nostalgia. However, there is someone that
4:47
is feeling potentially squeezed out right now by the company that he helped blow up,
4:53
and that is the one and only Vince mc mann. We talked about
4:57
it on last week's show that Triple H reportedly was running ninety nine point nine
5:00
percent of WWE Creative, and there was a ton of follow up reports this
5:08
past week that told us how that happened. A report comes to us from
5:14
Sports Illustrated via Wrestling Inc. That' set. According to the report, already
5:18
Emmanual, the CEO of Endeavor TK Group Holdings, is behind the change of
5:23
Triple H overseeing Creative as he believes that everyone in the company should focus on
5:27
the jobs they've been assigned. McMahon is currently an executive chairman and his main
5:30
focus for now is to oversee media rights and negotiations at We's Chief content offerer,
5:35
howeverts the VEX role to spearhead the creative direction of WE Raw and We
5:42
SmackDown. Interesting point there, Doctor Trey that the CEO of Endeavor is the
5:47
one that is behind this reported change. What do we get him? Do
5:53
we send him in an edible arrangement? Do we send him chocolates? Do
5:56
we write him a card? Like? What do you think we should do
5:58
here? Uh, Vince should be glad he's got a job like that's typically
6:03
what happens in these kind of environmental things. I don't even know if I
6:10
feel bad for him, because you know, he was I don't want to
6:13
say he was squeezed out of WW to begin with, because he was kind
6:16
of forced into retirement because of his actions, and he found a way back
6:21
in to help facilitate this sale to where he can make a bunch of money
6:27
off it and still have a role within the company. But you know,
6:31
when you're being investigated for multiple charges of hush money basically alluding to sexual misconduct,
6:41
it's a publicly traded company, like they don't really want that guy out
6:44
in the forefront really making decisions. I'm not surprised by it. I just
6:49
I'm kind of shocked it's kind of happened this quickly. I thought they would
6:54
kind of milk the Vince mcman cow for a little bit longer. But you
6:59
know, like I said, when you're a big giant conglomerate. You got
7:02
to make sure that your public image is held to the highest regard. Otherwise
7:06
you'll lose stockholders and shareholders and your shares, a plument and all that stuff.
7:12
So does Vince eat fruits? I mean we could do. I mean
7:15
we could come together. I mean, you're not that far away from Titan
7:17
Towers. I mean we could. We could arrange something. Maybe maybe I
7:21
don't know. I'm sure Ari Emmanuel has a desk there and I would love
7:27
to. I don't know, said I'm a gift car to Chili's or something.
7:30
Oh by the way, by the way, by the way, have
7:31
you gone by to see the new statue. I have not gone by to
7:35
see the new statue. I have actually been in that building before it was
7:42
owned by W W W. And that is a massive building, like I
7:45
clearly drive by it from time to time, and it's a massive building,
7:49
and there's a bunch of W signs on top of it. I was always
7:54
very nostalgic for the old building though, to be honest with you, I
7:57
mean the story I always tell as I watched Sonia seventeen no excuse me,
8:01
eighteen and nineteen from we headquarters because I had a friend of mine whose dad
8:05
worked there. But yeah, I mean that was always That's like a big
8:11
staple in Stanford, Connecticut. Is that building, Titan Towers. I think
8:16
I told just a couple of years ago. But the last time I was
8:18
up there, like I was always afraid to drive onto the property, like
8:22
just show up, be like, hey, I like to get tour,
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Like I was always I was always worried about that. But there's a really
8:30
crappy hotel right by the building, and so I would park at the hotel
8:35
and then walk up to the fence line and then take my pictures of Titan
8:39
Towers from the backside this like really shady looking motel, And that was as
8:45
close as I would get. Use I just didn't do what the rules were.
8:48
I didn't know if you could just show up and be like, hey
8:50
can I get a tour? Is Shane around? I know he's not doing
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anything, you know. I just didn't know what the rules were, and
8:56
I don't think anybody could go in there. But yeah, I know the
9:01
big story was that people put flowers out there when they all thought Vince died
9:05
back when the limit blow up blew up. But yeah, there is a
9:07
very crappy hotel that's there, like a very CD hotel. It's pretty wild.
9:13
And the WWE buildings are spread out everywhere in Stanford, Connecticut, So
9:18
I think the whole purpose of this was to bring them closer together, Like
9:20
there are buildings that are I think the employees have to take a bus to
9:26
We're getting down a weird rabbit hole here on the headquarters. Nonetheless here keeping
9:31
up with the story, it was reported this week by Dave Meltzer wrestling reporter
9:35
Dave Meltzer from Wrestling Observer Radio that McMahon's power in ww is clearly marginalized.
9:41
He said on the latest edition of Wresting Observer Radio via Wrestling Inc. That
9:46
Dave Meltzer noted that it shows McMahon's power in ww's limited now that the company
9:50
has merged with UFC to form TKO Group Holdings, Meltzer saying, quote,
9:54
McMahon was the guy making all decisions and now Vince was in fact overruled.
9:58
Even though when he merged the company was told would not happen, it did
10:01
happen. It's a really interesting thing. In that statement, when Ari Emanuel
10:05
was talking about the reasons the stock is down, and he mentioned Vince's name
10:09
is very interesting. I think what is going to happen. But Vince's power
10:13
is clearly marginalized. There's no way around that. So, as Melcher mentioned,
10:18
TKO's stock value has dropped recently. McMahon may also be to blame for
10:22
the decreasing value in the stock because he is being currently investigated by the federal
10:26
government following is well documented hush money scandals. Additionally, WA's relationship with Saudi
10:31
Arabia's Bleeddo contributed to the current situation, as has the company's inability to secure
10:35
a media rites seal for raw and NXT with NBC Universal. So Vince is
10:43
getting potentially blamed for a lot of things, and that could be why he's
10:46
being squeezed out. There was a lot of interesting in reports a couple of
10:50
weeks ago that Vince had filed with the sec the purpose of selling his stock
10:58
in TKO Group holding all of it, and that typically means someone's cashing out,
11:05
they're retiring, they're leaving. That was out there. It's starting to
11:09
seem like that maybe Vince's play was to just sell the company, stick around
11:13
for a little bit and then either retire or I guess I doubt he would
11:18
be fired. It would be a retirement. I'm not giving even say that
11:20
he would be fired by TK Group Holdings, but it certainly seems like that
11:26
maybe Vince is on the way back out of being retired, whether it be
11:30
forcibly or that was the plan all along, Doctor try Well, I mean
11:35
those that was kind of the rumors we had heard when Vince had started to
11:37
make his power play to come back into WWE. Was he wanted to sell
11:43
the company. That was that was the whole thing. And even in his
11:46
current role now, like his role is basically oversee meteorites and you know,
11:52
and and basically things like that. So you know, to me, we've
11:58
never I don't think we've ever seen time where the meteorites deal is taken this
12:01
long, and maybe Vince is kind of just letting it linger for a little
12:05
while so he can stick around for a bit, knowing that once this is
12:07
done, there's really nothing for him to do for the next you know,
12:11
three four years other than international deals and things like that, and most of
12:16
those are kind of set in place. So it does kind of feel like
12:18
he came back in to get his basically his version of a golden parachute,
12:22
like get his payout from the sale of the company and then cash stocks out
12:28
and then you know, it's almost like a big f you to the family
12:31
because nobody in the family is getting the company. It's like nobody's mine.
12:35
It reminds me of when he brought Hogan Hall of Nash in when he had
12:41
the rivalry go with Flair about the company and he said, you know,
12:43
if anybody's going to take down WW, I'll inject it with my own poison.
12:48
It kind of reminds me of that, like, Okay, well,
12:50
if I can't have it, nobody in the family can have it. I'll
12:54
make my money and then I'll take my Gomez Adam's mustache and right off into
12:56
the sunset. Man. That mustache sucks. Keeping up here with the full
13:03
circle now back to we Creative. A new report from Fightful Select this awsuit
13:09
also comes to a Sevia Wrestling, Inc. Has confirmed previous claims that Ari
13:13
Emanuel's given control of w Creative entirely over to Paul Triple H Levek as a
13:16
manual prefers both men, meaning Triple H and Vince focus on their assigned positions
13:22
in the newly formed TKO Group holdings. According to Fightful, McMahon hadn't been
13:26
overseeing Creative directly, but some felt the product was being geared toward for his
13:28
vision and his preferences, Knowing that the entire process feels more relaxed without having
13:33
to take McMahon's preferences into consideration, a change some see as having happened overnight.
13:39
The last two to three episodes of w RA in particular, have seen
13:43
several wrestlers returned to TV now that Creative is not afraid of any kind of
13:46
backlash for booking or pushing superstars that weren't McMahon's favorites. One source told Fightful
13:52
that rest has been able to focus on match quality with the recent changes,
13:56
with some feel has helped rob become a much better product than the ring,
14:00
citing Kobe Kingston's recent match with Ivar, which was an awesome match, and
14:03
Monday's Intercontinental title match between Gunthor and Bronson Reid, another great match, as
14:09
examples of the heightening quality of matches. It has been reported throughout the year
14:13
that McMahon was changing ideas and scrapping storylines remotely having only been physically president for
14:18
the creative process of the Raw after WrestleMania. One storyline McMahon reportedly scrapped was
14:22
reunion of the popular attack team DIY to Muscle Champion Johnny Arcano, which has
14:26
recently happened on WATV in McMahon's absence. Again, that comes to us from
14:31
Frightful Select as well as Wrestling Inc. Douta Tray. I think this report
14:37
is absolutely spot on if you have watched the last two to three episodes that
14:41
they're pointing out here Monday Night Raw. There has been this different change on
14:46
WWE programming lately that reminds me of a year ago when it was a very
14:52
exciting time the way that creative was going for we. They have been very
14:54
good episodes of Raw. Matches are getting two three segments. The matches from
15:01
something that I expected and Conthor and Bronson Reid held up and was a great
15:05
match. Something I did not see coming in KOFE Kingston and Ivar was a
15:09
really great match. It's noticeable right now, and that's crazy. We talked
15:15
about this a year ago. It's like it's noticeable that Vince is not in
15:18
charge of creative again. It is noticeable, and now you're kind of seeing
15:20
a full circle moment because it's been like, man, raw has been really
15:24
good lately and I can't figure out why. Well it appears this is why
15:28
Doctor Trey. Well, you know, how many years have people been saying
15:33
Vince was out of touch with what the wrestling fans wanted And we've seen it
15:37
over the last year where we had these ebbs and flows and you can kind
15:41
of feel like direct pivots. It was always kind of like, well,
15:43
that feels like a Vince move. Like you go back to you know,
15:46
Omas and brock Lesner. You know, it's like that feels like a Vince
15:50
match. I don't I couldn't see Triple H putting Omas in brock Lesner in
15:54
the ring together, but you know, it is what it is, and
15:56
you can kind of see it also with who being featured on TV, Like
16:02
did you ever think in the like like in the last three years, is
16:04
is your think Tigan Knox would get a featured spot on Monday Night Row.
16:10
You know, it's like you can kind of see those people that Triple H
16:12
is fond of getting, I mean, Bronson Reed getting a feature spot.
16:17
D I y coming back together, you know, Kevin and Sammy being featured,
16:21
Knackamora being feature, you know, Ballor being featured like. These are
16:25
a lot of Triple H guys from the NXT days that you know, and
16:30
a lot of these guys have been through hell back you look at like the
16:32
Bronson Reids, the Carrying Crosses, you know, getting released, Tigan Knox,
16:36
you know, like the thing Gosh you stuck around despite like gets released,
16:41
comes back, you know, to go to Kai get a release and
16:44
coming back like these are a lot of Triple H guys that you know,
16:48
a year and a half ago or two years ago were gone from the company
16:51
and we thought we'd never see him again. Yet they're back in prominent roles
16:55
in this company because of the Triple H leadership, and the product is much
16:57
better, and we're seeing diverse city in the programming. You're seeing you know,
17:02
Indy Hartwell and everybody else, you know popping up on a raw and
17:04
challenging Becky Lance. You got all this stuff going on with you know,
17:07
Rhea Ripley now in a five way at crowd Jewel for the women's title,
17:12
with half those women not really even being featured for a while under the Vincent's
17:18
regime, so you just see the quality of the match work changing, you
17:22
know, focus more on the wrestling as well. That we're always going to
17:26
have the entertainment part of it, because that's what makes ww special. But
17:30
to see how talented these people are, how they can put together really great
17:33
matches in the ring. Along with Cohesion's storytelling, he just makes the show
17:37
that much better. Yeah, I can't remember a time Doctor Trey that,
17:41
like Raw, NXC and SmackDown, we're all firing very well on all cylinders.
17:45
Like right now, it has felt like, at least in the short
17:48
term, from the last month, every single WWE programming show has been really
17:53
really good lately. Yeah, in the three hours of Raw, I have
17:56
not heard you complain about how long Raw is in quite a while because you're
18:03
engaged in the show the entire time, Like I'll watch it. I'm like,
18:06
damn it, it's been three hours. Like there's still guys who aren't
18:08
on the show that I'd like to see. So when they spin back the
18:12
next week and you can actually space guys out a little bit, keep them
18:17
fresh for the house shows. Your injuries are kind of down too. Under
18:21
the Triple Ah regime as opposed to the Vince regime. So that's something else
18:23
to keep in mind. It'll be interesting to see if this next story I'm
18:26
gonna bring up here has anything to do with this creative change, because Sports
18:30
Illustrated is reporting that there are currently no plans for Roman reigns versus the Rock
18:37
to happen at wrestle A forty. According to multiple sources close to Wue,
18:41
the decision about the WRESTLEMANI forty main event will not be the Rocks to make,
18:45
nor is it the main event a topic even a topic of substance.
18:51
Even if the match was offered, it would not be certainly that Rock would
18:53
even accept Doctor Trey just tying things that we just discussed here for the first
19:00
you know, seventeen twenty minutes of the show. Do you think that this
19:03
story being published by Sports Illustrated or this note has anything to do with the
19:07
creative change in w Willie right now to a degree. Look, if the
19:15
Rock calls Triple Ah, and we know they have history, the Rock calls
19:17
Triple A says, hey, WrestleMania, I'm in. We're getting the Rock
19:21
in Roman rings because that's like a huge money making match. He thinks,
19:26
well, you can't. I still think so because I mean, once again,
19:29
for one, look, everybody, like if the Rock was running for
19:32
president, the Rock would be leading in the polls. Like he's pretty much
19:37
universally beloved by people across the board. So if that was the right,
19:41
like and if they did the storyline it you and I talked about last year
19:45
where like Rock's mom shows up and Realma gets in her face and talks about
19:48
how he's the one carrying the family. Yeah, people would buy into that.
19:52
So I mean, but you can't bank on it, because they've tried
19:55
banking on it for two years now to get that match. So you have
20:00
to have, you know, alternative plans in place until that phone call comes
20:04
in. Uh. I mean, hell, the Rock you know, is
20:07
in the middle of it of a merger with the XFL and uh the other
20:11
one with the US was the USA, you know, you're right, yeah,
20:15
USFL. Yeah, so there. I mean, he's got stuff going
20:18
on his play, so you know in the and the writer strikes ending,
20:19
but the actors strike is still going on that you know, you so eloquently
20:23
eloquently reminded me of last week. So he ain't got nothing going on with
20:27
football. If he gets that call, If if trimp Place gets that call
20:30
and says, hey, me and Roman WrestleMania Philadelphia, I'm in Yeah.
20:36
What who else on the roster do you put in the ring of the Roman
20:37
that's going to get a better buy rate? Because at the end of the
20:40
day, you're still trying to get subscribers to Peacock and you know who else
20:45
is going to draw people to that more than Rock and Roman. So if
20:48
the Rock versus Roman reigns is reportedly no longer happened in wrestlemin at forty,
20:52
now, then what should do we do? You're thinking it's not going to
20:57
happen? You think you're thinking that it if the Rock makes the call despite
21:02
the report that they're gonna still go forward with that match, nonetheless, but
21:04
let's just say Rock reigns at wrestleminting forty, whether Rock is good to go
21:10
or not good to go doesn't happen, then what what should will we do?
21:17
I mean, you got it's it comes down to La Knight and Cody
21:21
like whoever they feel like has the hot hand heading into WrestleMania season, That's
21:25
who I think they put there in the Ring of the Rock, because I
21:26
don't know if there's anybody else on the roster that. I mean, you
21:30
can't do Roman to Brock again, I mean Roman stone Cold. But then
21:36
again I think there go there's not gonna be a title change on that one.
21:38
You got to kind of look and go, Okay, is there somebody
21:41
on this roster that we can put the red of the Roman that's hot,
21:45
that is the hot hand, that if we make the title switch, or
21:48
at least make it believable that the switch could happen, that people will buy
21:53
in. I mean, I don't I mean, I don't think it's Sammy.
21:56
I don't think it's Kevin. I don't think it's you know, I
22:00
don't think it's any of those guys that we've seen floating around the top of
22:03
the car. It's got to either be Cody or La nine. I just
22:04
think it comes down to whoever the hot hand is heading into WrestleMania season.
22:08
Once we get to you know, you know, rumble time, like what's
22:12
probably end of December, will probably a better idea just kind of who the
22:17
hot hand is. And right now it feels like La Knight crazy enough that
22:19
sounds well, I think they're gonna do La Night versus Roman for a Crown
22:22
Jewel, though yeah, I don't know. I think they're gonna blow that
22:27
load like in a couple of weeks here. Then I think it goes back
22:32
to Cody. So I think there were two very important segments this week.
22:37
I actually think the road to WrestleMania, unknowingly to all of us, may
22:42
have kicked off on Friday SmackDown and Monday's Raw. And I'll start with the
22:48
Friday SmackDown. Roman Reigns returned season premiere of SmackDown, Cody and Jay Uso,
22:55
the now former tag team champions, defended against a town under Austin Theory
23:00
and Grayson Waller and leaving the ring, Roman Raiins' music plays and we have
23:07
a face to face with he and Cody, like there is unfinished business.
23:11
If we all remember the night after WrestleMania, Cody Rhodes was supposed to wrestle
23:17
in a tag team match, Roman Reigns and Solosakoa tagging up with Brock Lesner,
23:23
and that didn't happen because they started going down. Brock obviously turns,
23:27
and then that leads to the Brock Cody feud for the last four months,
23:30
which I thought was brilliant creative because one of the things that I often struggle
23:37
with as a wrestling fan is when a contender, a baby face contender,
23:41
has such a big match they lose. What happens with them after losing that
23:47
title match that you sometimes expect that they're going to win, Like, what
23:49
do you do with them? They flounder a little bit and they get hurt.
23:52
They did a great job of protecting Cody all the while protecting the Cody
23:57
Roman rematch than being like, I challenge you next month that whatever it was
24:02
after that, hell in a sell what have you? WrestleMania Backlash? We
24:07
saw that on Friday SmackDown Doctor Trey. Do you think that was the first
24:11
tease as to what could be happening in six months time in Philadelphia and in
24:18
the Universal title main event between Roman Reigns and potentially Cody Rhodes. Yeah,
24:25
I mean, and that's what I'm saying. It's very, very possible and
24:29
likely. But once again, what if Elie Knight comes out of Crown Jewel
24:33
and he's even hotter than he was before? Do you not want to run
24:37
with the guy that you know if he's selling more merch than anybody else on
24:41
the roster, how do you not have him win the Rumble? In January
24:45
he headlines WrestleMania. You know it at the end of the day. As
24:48
much as we love, you know, the fandom part of it, everything
24:51
else, it is a business. And to me, they're going to take
24:55
the next you know, two months to kind of gauge who the hot hand
24:57
is heading in to WrestleMania season. I mean, La Knight might go to
25:00
Crown Jewel Face. Roman reigns lose because of Solo. He gets side tracking
25:06
a few with Solo while they do something else with Roman. But you know,
25:08
once again, they're gonna watch the merchant numbers, and to me,
25:11
it is gonna We've seen it in the past, like whoever the hot hand
25:15
is they kind of run with heading into WrestleMania season, whether it's Drew m
25:19
double ed Sword here though, dotch Troy February of last year, who had
25:22
the hot hand? I don't even remember February come on, man handing an
25:27
elimination chamber posts Royal Rumble, Oh Sammy, yeah, yeah, I mean
25:33
we were literally talking this podcast, like I think we could be run into
25:36
a Daniel Bryant situation. Yeah, but then I also said the odds,
25:40
I don't think they viewed Sammy as the main event guy, and I just
25:42
don't think that, And I still think I think the whole storyline going on
25:45
him and Drew now is kind of playing back a little bit to that where
25:51
hey, he says he wants to be a world Chamming. Look, Sammy
25:52
could get hot again. You know, Sammy used the Underground, and Sammy's
25:57
kind of owed a rematch with Roman. He's got unfinished business with Roman as
26:00
well. So uh, I mean, we could see Sammy pop back up
26:04
and be the hot hand. To me the Cody thing, it was always
26:08
gonna be Cody regardless of Sammy's rush, but since Cody got hurt and got
26:15
sidelined, we didn't get that big, long build to it like we wanted.
26:18
It was kind of, you know, shoved in there, and then
26:21
they had to kind of counterbalance how hot Sammy was with what they wanted with
26:26
Cody. And this might have been their plan for the last years, to
26:29
get back to Russell Mania and have the rematch with Roman and Cody. But
26:33
once again, like if La Knight's out selling everybody, like, and look,
26:37
I'm not the biggest La Knight fan in the world, but if he's
26:40
out selling everybody else and he's gonna draw more subscribers to Peacock than Cody,
26:45
why wouldn't they take that chance. I think the likely scenarios right now for
26:51
Russ May and forty Universal Championship is either Rain's Roads Too or Rains Rock.
26:57
I don't think La Knight gets that spot right now. I don't think Drew
27:03
gets that spot. I think it's Rains Roads or Rock Rains. I think
27:08
that's the same. I think I think Rhodes Rains too. That's hard to
27:11
say Roads Rain is the safe pick out of everything, you know, But
27:21
once again, like I mean a year ago, we didn't think La and
27:25
I would be a main event guy. He was still maxim male models.
27:29
You know, it's it's crazy how fast he has as sended. The fact
27:33
that he fieling up as the fastest rising star in WWE tells me they're also
27:38
trying to see how far they can push this. So uh, and they
27:42
may learn from the Daniel Bryan Sammy's Ay type stuff in the past where hey,
27:48
somebody's gotten too hot. We either did or did not pull the trigger.
27:52
Let's see how this plays out between now in Rumble, I give w
27:56
W credit because I think in Vince's world they would do rains Rock if it
28:00
was on the table, and forget Rain's Roads too. But Rain's Roads too
28:07
at WrestleMania makes sense because that's the story. There was no rematch. It
28:12
was that one match. He got screwed and he's been held out this entire
28:17
time, and he has to finish his story and we can get into the
28:21
interestacies of like, Okay, well what do you do when that match happens?
28:23
Do you want to keep the rain going? Or does Cody finally win
28:27
the big one a year later at another time. But it's very interesting because
28:33
I thought, like the season premiere, which I think is typically late or
28:38
earlier, I feel like that's a September thing for a lot of shows,
28:41
and it was interesting they chose this week and they had one segment that I
28:45
felt like was planting seats for Wressellmania on SmackDown. As I just mentioned.
28:48
The other one Doctor Trey mentioned during his response about the entire thing, and
28:56
that was Sammy Zain's opening segment on Raw talking about becoming a world Champion Doctor
29:02
Trey. I feel like if we're gonna be talking about the Universal Championship match
29:07
for wrestum at forty, well we might as well start thinking about the World
29:11
Heavyweight Championship match at wrestlmating forty. After that interesting segment, could we be
29:15
seen Rollins versus Zayne? Could it be Damian Priest versus Zayne? Could it
29:22
be Rollins versus Gunther title for title? Could it be Rollins versus CM Punk
29:27
methinks Sammy Zain is the one at WrestleMania forty right now that celebrates winning a
29:36
world championship. And we go back to that segment from this past week's edition
29:40
of Monday Night Raw. What are your thoughts here? Did we get some
29:44
seeds planted in the brains of US wrestling fans this past Monday when it comes
29:48
to Sammy Zain in the Worldweight Championship. I think he'll be in the picture.
29:56
It's gonna be weird, like one of the things. And as I
29:57
mentioned this, I don't know we got into it or not, but kind
30:00
of the hot potatoing of some of the titles lately. But we're right now,
30:06
we're in late October wrestle MANI is almost six months out, a little
30:11
less than six months out. How would you do you like as much as
30:15
we I'd love to see rawlins in Sami Zaying in a thirty minute match at
30:19
WrestleMania. Babyface. Babyface at wrestle Maania doesn't really go very well usually,
30:26
Uh, that means you have to get the belt off, seth on to
30:29
somebody else and look, I like Damian Priest, but to me, Damian
30:32
Price, Samy's ay and at WrestleMania doesn't have that kind of stroke to it
30:37
doesn't have that main event feel to it. So do you have to move
30:41
the title around a couple of times to get to it? Do you do
30:44
Drew in Samy at WrestleMania? You know? And that way Drew kind of
30:47
gets the WrestleMania moment he deserves from the pandemic era. So I think it's
30:52
laying the groundwork. And one of the things that they've always did really well
30:56
in an x t heater in the Black and Gold era was start building people
30:59
up to main event slots a little bit early, so that way they had
31:03
some depth in that division. So I think it's just a way of kind
31:07
of elevating Sammy. Plus, here's the what do you do with Kevin Owens
31:11
on Spackdown. We've already seen Kevin Roman reigns like you know three, like
31:15
what four times? Five times during Roman's run. I mean, if you're
31:18
going to elevate Sammy, you might want to be elevating Kevin as well.
31:22
I'd love to see Sammy's saying Kevin Owens in a match at WrestleMania for one
31:26
of the world titles. And maybe that's maybe Owens wins the Rumble and Sammy
31:30
wins the world title and we get Owens zaying world title match. I'm with
31:33
you. I think that would be great. Part of me. Thanks,
31:37
And I can't believe I'm saying this, especially like two years ago. My
31:40
mind would be blown when I said this. But the guys really are my
31:42
respect. But I think there's something to Logan Paul challenging for the United States
31:47
Championship, and he's taken a lot of l's lately. I wouldn't be surprised
31:52
if he has that championship, goes into WrestleMania with that championship still and a
31:57
guy like Kevin Owens would a perfect challenger for Logan Paul at the grandist age
32:05
that is wrestlemaning. I mean, I was very much bummed that they broke
32:08
up the Kevin Ohens Samy's Ain pairing the tag team, But after what I
32:12
saw on Monday's raw, I was like, Okay, this is why they
32:15
have big plans for Sammy's Ain, and we're starting to see this happen right
32:19
now because he's saying he's never been a world champion. It's October, mid
32:23
October, and we start seeing the gears start churning for WrestleMania. Like now,
32:30
they start to slowly pick up, and with the each passing pay per
32:35
view Crown Jewel Survivor series that takes us into Royal Rumble and then it's like
32:40
full steam ahead. I would not be shocked if Sammy's Ain is the Royal
32:45
Rumble winner this upcoming year. Next year, I think Rolins holds onto that
32:51
championship for a while. It's a very interesting situation ahead here, Doctor Trey.
32:57
But I think, to rapp everything that we've seen here in the last
33:01
week, I felt like those segments on Friday and Monday were very poignant and
33:09
purposeful. As for the long term creative of WWE heading into WrestleMania. Yeah,
33:17
no, absolutely, and they and and one thing we've seen from Triple
33:21
H creative over you know, NXT time and then up in the the last
33:24
year and a half is they do love planting those seeds early and kind of
33:30
letting it sprout out. And they are big on long term storytelling, so
33:36
nothing is done on accidents on WW television with Triple AG and Charge. So
33:39
they'll plant those seeds early, let it you know, slowly grow, and
33:44
then when it comes time to to bear fruit, they're getting the juiciest ones
33:49
of the bunch. Is it weird we're talking about WrestleMania booking right now,
33:52
Doctor Trenia, It doesn't make sense. No, it makes sense because it
33:57
was thirty nine degrees here today, so let's me get Yeah, it was
34:00
it was cold this morning. So once we started getting cold at Alabama,
34:04
I started thinking about WrestleMania. So yeah, I'm to me, it feels
34:07
about right. I mean we're a month af from Survivor Series, and then
34:09
once you get Survivor Series, it's wrestling, it's rumble, and then we're
34:14
on the I mean it's not that far. I mean we're two and a
34:16
half months after the word Rumble, so it's not that far out because that's
34:20
the official kickoff. It just really feels like that w IS is faring on
34:24
all cylinders. Again, there was there was a really long stretch there.
34:28
Then there was a brief period of time that it was like hit or miss.
34:30
But they just have been putting out solid programming after solid program and and
34:35
aw has as well. I know this is going to be a very w
34:37
centric episode of SRTU, but AW has as well. I think the big
34:43
thing with them is some of their follow ups isn't the best or the follow
34:46
throughs isn't the best. And I would say that Tony Kahan, like tweeting
34:52
rampage is not something that I care for as a wrestling fan. Yeah.
34:58
And then also I didn't know. I didn't know he starts with Vanilla.
35:00
I just I didn't know that one. I learned that this week. Well
35:04
are you talking about the Edge promo? Yeah? When I was called him
35:07
the Vanilla Dwayne Johnson, I didn't know if he actually meant like color scheme
35:09
or just bland. I think he means blanned. Oh okay, But like
35:14
I love I love Adam Copeland giving clothing advice to somebody. When he looks
35:17
like he just got out from under a bridge, It's like, dude,
35:22
you dressed like a homeless guy. So I don't know if you should criticize
35:25
somebody else's dress. Does it feel like that Adam Copeland run so far in
35:30
AW is like it was very exciting and then kind of has fallen off a
35:35
cliff a little bit, like it's worn out very quickly for some reason.
35:40
What I think the issue I have with it is his promos have not been
35:45
that great. Uh, and I think maybe he might be those guys that's
35:51
better when he has a little bit of a guideline like that back and forth
35:54
with him and Ricky Stars, to me just felt like really like indie.
35:59
I mean, I've gotten those debates at an indie show, like you don't
36:00
see that happen at a WWE show. So I thought it was pretty good.
36:04
Actually yeah, but it's just you know, them taking shots at each
36:07
other using you know, tongue in cheek stuff like, oh, I guess
36:10
that comment is a little bit over the edge, you know, it's a
36:13
little bit you know, like we criticize AW when they do stuff like when
36:16
Tony KNDA stuff like that, or when somebody's taking shots at the other company.
36:21
I just I felt, I don't know, it just feels like they're
36:23
trying to shove him in everywhere at times, and it's like, yeah,
36:28
it's it's like I'm waiting for Adam and or Adam and Christian to go off
36:32
because Lord knows they just have great chemistry and and getting to that I get,
36:37
but you know, now it's like, oh, let's put him in
36:39
there with Brian Daniels or with Daniel Bryan or Brian asking me, you know,
36:44
let's squeeze him in here, and squeeze him in here. Let's it's
36:45
just like, all right, I get it. They're trying to maximize their
36:51
edge in the their leverage, I guess, so to speak. But it
36:54
does seem a little bit just just just all over the place, which the
37:01
time is aw creative, really good injering stuff. Creative can be very scattered,
37:07
and I think that's what we're we're seeing right now. With that said,
37:10
that'll do it for this week's nition of the podcast. I was saying
37:14
to the doctor off air, I was like, man, it's kind of
37:15
refreshing that we're doing a show where there's no pl e or pay per view
37:20
that we've got a preview and predictor or recap and review. That will soon
37:23
change because Crown Jewel and Full Gear and Survivor series will be right around the
37:29
corner, but at least for the time being, at least for this week's
37:31
edition of the podcast and next week, we are just talking professional wrestling,
37:36
things that we're seeing in the news, things that we're liking disliking, all
37:38
here each and every week on SRTU. So with that said, let's get
37:43
a couple plugs and sponsored out of the way. You can down only show
37:45
every Thursday or Friday at Real Guy rated dot com, Rust of Chattnet on
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X and the Story Real of the Show iTunes feed, don't ficto rate,
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review and subscribe to help us climb the charts on iTunes. You can follows
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individually on X for myself at SRTU Jeff and for Doctor Franklin at The Doctor
37:59
Trey and of course don't forget to follow the show on X at SRTU podcast.
38:04
With that being said, what's going on the Oneful World of Doctor Trey
38:07
Franklin this week? I do love that you have officially just gone to straight
38:10
X. You're just dropped trying. You're just going with the Elon Musk train.
38:15
I got you. It was like retraining myself when I called you Captain
38:20
Obvious forever. Oh yeah, right when we did the big name change.
38:24
Yeah, I remember those days. You can't do it again. You can't
38:27
do it again on me. No no, I was like, I was
38:29
like, Jeff, I'm actually in independent wrestling. Can we use my name
38:31
please? We did no more, No More, Trey Captain Obvious Dent.
38:37
Yeah, that's that's well, and then throwing Franklin in there. So yes,
38:39
it's a whole thing. I feel like I'm like running from the government
38:43
right now. But like Jeff said, you can follow me on ex Twitter
38:46
at the Doctor Trey. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram Doctor Trey
38:51
Franklin. Be sure to take out Rockety Championship Wrestling and Spartan Championship Wrestling on
38:55
Facebook as well two shows in Alabama I'm affiliated with. Actually maybe back at
39:00
ROCKETSTA this weekend. Not entirely sure. It's also the wife's birthday weekend,
39:04
so happy birthday to her. But I'm pretty sure if I don't do some
39:07
thing for her birthday and go to wrestling instead. I might get divorce,
39:09
so keep that in mind. Jeff. This is marriage advice for you down
39:13
the road. But hey, we just go on Facebook check out those shows.
39:15
Also check out your locally in dependent wrestling shows. Independent wrestling is up
39:19
and booming. I mean hell, Tyler Breese is popping up everywhere right now
39:23
on the independent scenes. So go out there and see Dirty Dango and Tyler
39:28
Brady's team up and be the Dirty Breeze as I think they'll be referred to
39:30
you at the next year in Tennessee. I seek the mats, all right,
39:32
very very cool. Support all the great things that support SRTU. Thank
39:37
you for downloading our show this week. Spread the word. You got wrestling
39:39
friends friends that are fans as well, tell them check out srt ME reach
39:45
out every week. Feel free to chiming again at SRTO podcast on hex or
39:49
Facebook dot com. Slash this to a Roalto show until next week. Thank
39:53
you for downloading. For Doc Troy Franklin, I'm Jeff Pack. This is
39:58
this to ROTO show. I supposed to have a few shrouds. Pulls him
40:07
out where all her shoes, y'all beware, said y'all looking, then Lisa
40:15
jump Welcome to the day. Mister Red fan out a lot on YouTube leading
40:22
no fag red world where this always be flatten sham? Who's chacking? He
40:29
even knows where the hippos knows that again the many woman in the world,
40:34
he wants to. Who's sitting over there? Sports napping underwear? Oh?
40:46
Sorry's bed in the head? All your pretenders? Where you're at anywhere?
40:54
Jacka's name consprisedly had a snake all the are your head paint on his face?
41:02
Has Tim Duggan had a two by four? Who with sty like this?
41:07
Man, you don't need no more. Got a lot of friends.
41:14
I've got a lot of poones be quing of the boos when I be bouncing
41:19
off the boot, lots of people talking feel them. You gotta have to
41:24
tell you you want me that? Whoa? Who's that sitting over there?
41:35
Wow? Spooking nothing underwear? Who oh Cody is crackling? Head? Are
41:45
you all for tis? Where are you? Gus? Beware? Should find
41:50
the thing? Crash? Should I be shot by lighting them on the drive
41:53
of the finers car it dies to find? And dynam trying to sit side
41:59
don't matter. A witch country be emaginal mass success. But the length is
42:04
the lea who let's wear it stylible, flegated, but it musbody that's listening
42:30
on the first side. I'm not dancing, oh not not just dealer,
42:38
such a medically only one. Who who said no day smoking that thing on
42:50
the way. Well, oh, bis, run the pay while you us
42:58
turn where you've got me? Whoa, whoa, whoa morsing a home now? Who