Latest / Solomonster Sounds Off / Sound Off 954 - Cody Rhodes REGAINS The WWE Title As Road Dogg's SHOCKING WWE Exit!

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Sound Off 954 - Cody Rhodes REGAINS The WWE Title As Road Dogg's SHOCKING WWE Exit! · Solomonster Sounds Off

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Goods. Business time, Baby, you are listening to Solo Monsters
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Sounds Off. I love your solo Mama monster, dude, I
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: want your soulier mind a woman. You got grown ass
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: wrestlers in the back going on Twitter. Come over here,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: hot May is that pet Patison you have legs? Weekend?
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: I was ninety nine percent positive it was just chessed up.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Now I have been begging him for a job on
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: every every platform I can, and I want another reason
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: why you won't Park Welcome to episode nine fifty four
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: of The Solemn Monster Sounds Off. In his Sunday March eighth,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, I am the solom Monster back from Chicago.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Always good to see some of you guys in Chicago
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: at the House of Glory show. We were sold out
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: at Logan Square Auditorium on Friday night for hour Turf
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Wars event. Hopefully you had a chance to watch on
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Triller TV or if you were there live even better
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: packed in their standing room only. With some great action
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: on the show, including a surprise appearance from the bounty
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Hunter Brian Keith, who was in the main event challenging
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Charles Mason for the hog World Championship. The slimy son
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: of a bitch that he is faking an injury, was
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: able to get himself out of that match. I will
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: say it was very clever. It was very clever. He
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: had me fooled. I bought into it. I feel like
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: an idiot, but they were having a really good match
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: up until that point. We had the debut of Bishop
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Dyer as well the former Baron Corbin taking on Zillafatu
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: for the Crown Jewel Championship, Killer Kelly and Shatzi for
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: the Women's title. We had private party on the show,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: just a really fun night of wrestling. Overall. We will
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: be back to Chicago in no time, I am sure,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: in the next few months to come. But before we
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: get there, we got Long Island coming up on Saturday night,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: March twenty first, as part of the Big Event Expo.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Just like we did back in November, We're coming back
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: for another super Clash. We've got some big matches announced
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: for that as well. We've got Amazing Red and Sammy
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Gavara for the first time ever on that show. Mina
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: is coming, Yes, Mina Shirakawa is coming to the show.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: But then we also have our big Culture Class show
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: that was announced for Las Vegas at the Pearl Theater
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: at the Palms Casino Resort. That's coming up on Thursday night,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: April sixteenth. We got the Hardys Hog Tag Team champions
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: are going to be back in action, and we just
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: made the announcement big bed brody King I said a
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: few months ago. I said, man, we got to give
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: brody King in and we were able to make it happen.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Brody King is going to be making an appearance against
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Zillafa Tu. Talking about meat madness, we got some of
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: it there and we locked in another big name too.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: I can't say who just yet, but trust me, we've
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: got some more announcements coming. So tickets are on sale
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: right now. You'll want to be a part of that.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: I will be there. I'm looking forward to seeing some
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: folks out out well. I haven't been out there in
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: a while. And we'll have more news on our next
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: LA show coming up soon as well. So thank you
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: all for the support there. Hopefully you enjoyed a JD
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: and I on commentary for the show on Friday night.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: You also have the SmackDown show from Friday night that
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: we have to get into because I wasn't here, So
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I didn't even get to watch smack that until last night,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: but boy, I got a lot of feedback about the
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: show from you guys. I knew what was already going
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: to happen, because it was already spoiled for me well
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: in advance. I knew that was going to be unavoidable.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: But man, there was a lot of feedback to that
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: main event and that SmackDown show from Friday night. So
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: we're going to talk about that, but that is the
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: least of what we are going to discuss because there
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: was a shit ton of things to get into. So
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: let me just say first thank you to everybody who
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: dropped a PayPal donation this week. We got a big
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: roll call here. You can always drop a dono if
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: you go to the solo monster dot com. The PayPal
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: link is conveniently there for you right at the top
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: of the page. Or you could probably just use the
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: the email address also the solom Monster at gmail dot com.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: But either way, ten dollars or more, we'll get you
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: a nickname. In a shout out, I want to say
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: thank you to first of all the Portland pop star
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Paul Hamilton, not only for his support this week, but
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Paul was representing the sound off front and center on
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: SmackDown Friday Night. He had the shirt on, he had
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: a sign. I mean he was dead center, front row
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: on hardcam all night. So Paul, thank you, Big b
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Bryant Bessera, The Diamond Dallas Dance Machine, Harrison so Up,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Velvet Revolver, Robert Murray, The Iowan Corn Farmer, Jesse Lamfear,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: The Georgia Knightmare, Timothy Tillis, Shooting Star, Cynthia Taylor, Big
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Time Boris Vainman, night Stalker, Ni f Alsafar, the Chicago Slayer,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Willie Iicherd. Great to see you guys. I saw Willy,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I saw Mama Iicred. They always come out to the
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Chicago shows, and when I see them, especially when I
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: see Mama Ikred, I get a smile on my face.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: And I always asked him did you have fun? And
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the answer is always yes, and I'm like, that's all
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: that matters. So those good seeing you guys. Kind of
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: a big deal. Corey Blake and Killshot Keith Hart. I
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: also want to give a shout out to show your
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: role Chris Ludek and tell you guys to check out
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: his what could have been in wrestling series on YouTube.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Some of his recent videos include what could have been
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: if Hulk Cogan had stayed in WWE after WrestleMania eight
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: or if cmpunk did not shatter his foot in aw
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two. Search for Chris Ludeck by name
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: on YouTube. That's lud e Cke on YouTube. Before I
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: even get into any of the actual news here, Front
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Office Sports broke the news on Wednesday that the Big
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Flag Football event planned by Tom Brady and Fanatics for
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia later this month is very likely moving to
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the United States given the dumb war that has broken
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: out in the region. This is according to sources familiar
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: with the situation. The Fanatics Flag Football Classic was scheduled
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: for Riodd on March twenty first, but it is trending
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: towards moving because of airstrikes and travel restrictions in the
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: region with everything that's been going on there. And then
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: late in the week, The New York Times reported that
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: the event will relocate to Los Angeles and it will
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: be held at BMO Stadium, the home of Major League
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Soccer's Los Angeles FC and the NWSL's Angel City FC,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: and the exact date, whether it's still the twenty first,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: so they move it. The exact date is still to
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: be determined, you know. I find it hilarious that the
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Saudi's paid all of that money, said to be in
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: the tens of millions of dollars to bring in Tom
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Brady and all of these other names, just for them
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: to move the event to the United States. I just
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I find that funny. Now, there was talk of WWE
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: potentially bringing Knight of Champions back to Saudi in June.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: That's where John Cena and cm punk had their last year.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: That's got to be in jeopardy now right, as are
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: any other Saudi shows, and I think they were planning
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: up to three of them this year. I don't know
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: if that counts to the Royal Rumble. Maybe. I think
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: counting the Royal Rumble it would have been three. But yeah,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: all that's in jeopardy now until things calm down in
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the region, and there's no sign of that happening anytime soon,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: and it is too early to say whether it's going
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: to have any effect on wrestle Mania next year. But
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: boy are they happy that they didn't book Saudi Mania
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: for twenty twenty six. They got to be dancing a
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: jig right now, like whoo, catastrophe avoided or maybe not again?
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Who the hell knows? Like where this is all going
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: to lead and how long this is going to drag on?
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: For it ain't ending anytime soon, so we'll have to
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: wait and see on that. But this comes. The reason
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: I bring all this up is not just the WWE
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: events and are they in jeopardy? But this comes in
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the same week from Wressell Votes Radio. The recent conflict
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: between Tom Brady and Paul and other WWE stars may
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: be part of something bigger between WWE and the greatest
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: football player of all time, which I know is going
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: to be a subjective thing. I mean, that's what they
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: said here. But greatest QB of all time, greatest football
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: player of all time. I don't necessarily disagree with that.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: All I know my brother would. I've had arguments with
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: him about this, he says, Lawrence Taylor, but teach there on.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Brady appeared on Paul's podcast to hype up a new
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Saudi Arabian back flag football league that they are both
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: involved in. During his appearance, he said that he loved
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: WWE and that it was cute, which got CM punk Live, Morgan,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Oba Feme and others to respond on social media to
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: defend WWE. On Thursday's wrestle Votes Radio, they reported that
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: logos specialty merchandise and branding using the terms T Bone
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: and the Untouchable Tom Brady have been worked on within
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: some WWE departments. They also reported that as recently as
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: last year, there were conversations between WWE and Brady's people
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: about him appearing at WrestleMania as it returns to Vegas
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: for a second straight year. Brady is a minority owner
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: in the Las Vegas Raiders, who play at Allegiant Stadium,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: which will host WrestleMania. He also has a merchandising deal
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: with Fanatics, who are also partners with WWE. Any WrestleMania
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: appearance does not appear to be in ring related, but
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: just of the personal appearance variety. Well, well, it looks
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: like this was all the work to lead to a
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Tom Brady appearance to WrestleMania. Years ago, it was Rob Gronkowski,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Now it's T Bone. I smell a Dan Housen comedy
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: segment incoming. Maybe he'll put a curse on Tom Brady.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Let's go back to Friday Night here, because on SmackDown
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: we got a rare WWE title change, even more rare
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: that we got two of them in the span of
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: two months. That is very unusual. That's like Attitude Era
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: unusual that that would happen. But first, we had a
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: major shakeup on the SmackDown writing team this week, per
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: pw Insider as well as bodyslam dot Net. On Thursday,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: WWE Hall of Famer road Dog Brian James left World
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Wrestling Entertainment. Today, Mike Johnson says, the word making the
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: rounds is that he made the decision himself to leave
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: his position on the company's creative team, where he had
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: been working on the SmackDown brand, and that is true.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: He had been working on the SmackDown brand as the
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: co lead writer of the show alongside John Swakata, so
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: he was not the lone lead writer, but he was
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: the co lead writer of Friday Night SmackDown. Corey Hayes
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: of bodyslam dot Net reports that Roaddog's exit may have
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: been connected to frustration which changes to his role within
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: WWE's creative structure. He said he's out. The word is
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: he didn't enjoy being moved out of his position. So,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: at least up until I think the beginning of the year,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: he was the co lead writer of SMA. If that
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: had changed in the last few months, I don't know
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: exactly what his title would have been. Maybe he was
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: still the co lead writer, but his influence had waned clearly.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: There were some changes that were made, but what they
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: officially would have been, I don't know. But Mike Johnson
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: chimed in later again in the same day on Thursday
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: to say this. He said, PW Insider has received emails
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: asking about a story being passed around that road Dog
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: exited the company as part of a quote creative readjustment.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: That is incorrect. James quit the company earlier today. We
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: are told he did so in person. WWE sources have
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: cited that James openly expressed his unhappiness and tendered his
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: resignation from the creative team. He was not let go
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: and nothing that happened today was as a result of
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: WWE removing him. In fact, it was the exact opposite
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: where he walked away from the job. And Dave Meltzer
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: and The Observer this week shined a little more light
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: on this and said James got his annual review. The
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: belief is that he wasn't with it and he left.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: He may say that he left over something else, and
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: only he would know exactly why he did so, But
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: it was his decision and it came after his annual review.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: One person close to the situation said that it had
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: been brewing. He was going to do a convention later
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: this month and it was approved, and then the approval
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: was rescinded and he had to cancel. But in pulling out,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: he pretty much said that it wouldn't be an issue
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: starting in a little while. So this is not the
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: first time that road Doug has been a part of
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: WWE creative or that he has worked behind the scenes.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: This was his, i believe, second stint on the creative team. Previously,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: he had been the head writer of SmackDown. This was
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: going back to god, what year was that, twenty seventeen,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: somewhere in that range. Aj Styles at one point he
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: defended road Dog Bice because he got a lot of
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: criticism and a lot of shit from fans over the
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: quality of the show when he was in charge of it,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: and AJ Styles once said that you know when Vince
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: McMahon was with the company, Like road Dog's ideas basically
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: were picked apart so much that they weren't even his
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: ideas anymore. So you got to cut the guy some slack.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: And obviously we were not in the room when this
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: would have been happening. We don't know what ideas were
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: road Dogs if they were neutered. If the dog got
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: neutered by Vince McMahon, maybe he had great ideas and
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: then Vince, you know, kind of put his stamp on it.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: I'm not so sure about that. But look, aj would
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: have been working with Rod Doug at the time, so
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: maybe he's got some stories that he hasn't told yet.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: He knows more about that than most. But what happened was,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: you know, when he was he left that role. I
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: believe that was his decision as well. But he left
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: that role I think in twenty nineteen, and he was
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: still working behind the scenes for the company until twenty
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: twenty two and he was released and then once Paul
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Leveck ascended to the throne, he got brought back. All
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: I'll say about your road Doug is this, if road
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Dog was the co lead writer of SmackDown, and clearly
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: had some creative influence on the show right to say
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: the least SmackDown has SmackDown can be very jeckyal and
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: hide where you'll get one really good episode, but for
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: the most part, the quality of SmackDown has been, if
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: I may say, dog shit for a while now, maddeningly so,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: because the talent is there right the key. When you're
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: in a position like that, it's like you're being handed
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: this plate, right, this platter with all the talent on it,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: and now you have to figure out where all the
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: pieces go. It's like a puzzle, and it's maddening to
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: see the talent there and either not being used or
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: being utilized in a way that you know as a
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: viewer and as a fan, you look at and it's
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: just frustrating, like, man, why aren't they doing more with
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: this person or they have them doing this, or they
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: have them in this role and they're so much better
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: than that, and it's not like men. The show is
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: firing on all cylinders and we only have so many spots,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: and so that person just has to wait for their opportunity.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: It's like, no, the show is fucking garbage on some
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: weeks and you see the these people that they're not
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: doing anything with, and it's like, it doesn't have to
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: be this way. But it all goes up to the
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: very top, right, It's all about the vision of the
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: guy in charge, who in this case, by the way,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: is not road Dog, It's Paulavc. He's the chief content officer.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Road Dog could be the lead writer, the co lead writer.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: He is writing the show. Ultimately, the show that we
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: see on television has to be approved by the lead voice,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: and the lead voice is Paulavec. So the buck will
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: always stop with him, just like the buck always stop
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: with Vince McMahon. Just because Triple H is in and
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Vince is out and people didn't like Vince, doesn't mean
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: that Triple H gets extra credit. It doesn't mean that
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: you grate on a curve. I'm sure people did at
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: the beginning because they were just happy to see a
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: new voice, a new face at the top of the
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: food chain. But it's been a few years now and
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: we could look at the SmackDown Women's division and the
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: lack of depth. We could look at the tag team division,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the nonexistent tag team division. If we're being honest on SmackDown,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: some of the same faces being used over and over
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: at the top of the card. Now they're starting to
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: finally work some new faces in there, whether it's Obafemi
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: or Jacob Fatu or Trick Williams. And it took him
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: long enough to do that. But again, I can't sit
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: here and defend the quality of SmackDown. SmackDown for the
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: most part, I think has been largely atrocious now for
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: a number of months. There are obviously people on the
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: show that are carrying the show. There are people on
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: the show that I really like and I enjoy watching,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: and the US title Open Challenge for a period of time.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: It feels like it's petering out now, But the Open
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Challenge for the longest time was really carrying this show.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: And I would have a couple of people go carrying
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: the show. You kind of comment is that to make?
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I want you to tell me, what do
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: you think is carrying smackd And you know they wouldn't
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: have a legitimately good answer for me. They couldn't tell
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: me Cody and Drew is Cody and Drew carrying smack Down.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what smack that is really missing, Someone
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: like Kevin Owens and I'll have an update on him
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: in a little bit. Hopefully we'll get him back eventually.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm not going to cry any tears for
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: road Doug no longer being in the position. You know,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: he didn't get fired, he chose to quit. Good. Let
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: him move on and do something else, and let's get
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: some new blood at the top there on SmackDown, some
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: new ideas, some new voices. The thing is like, road
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Dog stepping away is really not going to change much,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: I don't think, because if he was upset that his
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: position had been diminished, that means there's somebody else who
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: was working alongside him or maybe superseding him. I haven't
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: heard of any other changes being made to the SmackDown team.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: You think road Doug leaving is going to all of
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: a sudden lead to some sort of renaissance on SmackDown.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: I have my doubts. I have my doubts that him
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: leaving and him alone is going to change a whole
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: hell of a lot about this show. But you know what,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: if it does good good, any change will be welcome.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: And he didn't come off well, by the way on
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: that unreal show, And you never know what kind of
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: editing is being done. Michael Hayes has complained about the
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: way that you know, his interview was edited to make
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: them look bad after the Chelsea Green Stuff. Of course,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: you know, the only person who made Michael Hayes look
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: bad with the Chelsea Green Stuff was Michael Hayes. But
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: they've all complained about like the way they edit the
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: show to create you know, heat on certain people. And
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: who knows, maybe there were some trickery there with road Dog,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: but I know what I saw watching season two, and
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: there were a couple of instances where road Doug just
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: did not come off well. You know, he's very he
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: was very emotional and very reactionary and defensive in the
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: clips that we saw, and that wasn't edited. It wasn't
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Ai road Dog, right. I know what I saw on
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the show, and some of the stuff, frankly was embarrassing,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Like I'm watching this and I'm going, why are we
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: seeing this? Like putting cameras in the writer's room, like
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: this was the worst thing that they could have done.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: It does not make them look good, any of them,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: any of them, Road Dog, Bruce, any of them. Does
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: not make any of them look good at all. It's
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: something that frankly, we should not be seeing and I
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: don't know. I'm not going to say that's what did
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: him in, but it's kind of funny that, you know,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: he got a lot of criticism for some of the
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: things that he said on that show, and now Road
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Dog is out, you know, he is opted to take
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: his ball and go home, as it were. We also
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: learned this week, though, via her LinkedIn account, that WWE
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: senior writer and producer Alexandra Williams has been promoted to
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: vice president, a vice president role in the company and
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: lead writer of Monday Night Raw and she has been
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: with the company since October of twenty twenty. She started
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: as a writer and producer for RAW, and she got
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: a promotion to senior writer and producer in February of
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. This move is unrelated to the Road
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Dog stuff. It just happened to be reported this week.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: There was some word that maybe this was something that
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: happened as early as January, but she had just posted
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: something on x the other day about her promotion and
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: then on her LinkedIn, and then it caught fire and
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: it became news. But as far as the SmackDown situation goes,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: you know what, road Doug is out fine, whoever it is,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: whether the other writers now step up with more responsibility,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: or there's someone that we're not even thinking of who
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: would take that spot and be some sort of lead
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: voice on the show. The talent on that show deserves
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: better the viewers, We the fans, deserve better for giving
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: three hours of our time to that show every single week.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: And now, of course we're heading into WrestleMania season, where
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: you would expect things to peak. I don't care just
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: about WrestleMania season. I don't WWE television shouldn't just be
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: exciting from January until April. I'm worried about May and
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: June and September, October, Nove Like, I'm worried about the
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: entire calendar. What is SmackDown going to look like? Where
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: are the pieces going to go, What are the big
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: stories that they are going to focus on? Can we
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: get more women in the women's division. Can we get
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: the tag team division going in a way that it
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: was a year ago? Like, there's a lot of questions
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: that are still out there right now. Road Dog being gone, great,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: maybe we'll get somebody else in there, or maybe it'll
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: be the same old shit, right. We don't know what
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: we don't know, but any kind of change would be welcome.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: But SmackDown on Friday Night was in Portland, Oregon. Again
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: shout out to Paul Hamilton in the front row representing
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the sound off love seeing that this SmackDown show currently
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: stands at a two point one seven rating out of
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: ten on cagematch dot net. And I know it's cage match,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: but I just I saw someone post that online and
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: I just hadn't watched the show yet, and I just said, man,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: it wasn't really that bad because I only got back
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: from Chicago yesterday at like five o'clock. I again, I
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: hadn't watched it yet, but that score would make it
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: one of the lowest rated WWE shows of all time.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: And now having seen it, yes, the internet was being
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: a little over dramatic. I have seen far worse. I
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: have seen worse WWE shows in just the last couple
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: of months, let alone all time. So no, it was
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: not one of the worst of all time. But it
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: was by no means a great show. In case you
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: were wondering, Royce Keys is still working Dark Matches, which
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: he will be doing at least through WrestleMania. I'm sure
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: because it is very clear even though they put him
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: in the Royal Rumble, they don't have any actual plans
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: for him right now. And at this point you're building
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: for WrestleMania, you're building the card out, there's no need
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: to even have him on TV. But he beat Ray Phoenix,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: who was relegated to dark match job duty while his
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: brother celebrates his Intercontinental title win on Monday. Then Jordan Grace.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: She was injured during her match on the main event
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: taping with Alba fire As. She said, her ankle glitched out.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: You watch the clip that she posted on her social media.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: I mean that looked really bad. The match had to
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: be stopped. She was backstage in a walking boot. Chelsea
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Green was posing for photos with her like they were
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: ankle buddies. Hopefully her ankle is not broken the way
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: that Chelsea's is. But on SmackDown Itself, I'm just gonna
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: bounce around here to some of this stuff. Carmelo Hayes,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: he had another open challenge. Nick All This said he
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: had some great competition lined up for him, and he
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: was like, I don't want to know who it is.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: I'll find out when I go out there, and his
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: opponent turned out to be l e Hodel, Doctor Wagner Junior,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the Triple A Latin American champion, and where we were
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: getting a lot closer by the way to dynamite territory
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: here with all the belts from other companies popping up
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: on their shows. Look, it wasn't a terrible match. I
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: just didn't think it was all that great. I personally like,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: I don't watch Triple A week to week. Right, I've
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: seen a bunch of the Triple A shows. I know
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: who kind of the core players are. Some of them
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: impress me, some of them are fun. I don't really
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: get the appeal of Doctor Wagner Junior here. I don't
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: really I don't see it. I don't get it. These
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: two clearly had never worked together before. There were some
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: real rough moments here, especially early on in the match.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: They just were not on the same page. I just
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: you know, it was okay. I wasn't really impressed with this.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: We had Damian Priest and we had Bald Truth. Our
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Truth is now completely bald, that's his new look. And
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: they were put together, unbeknownst to Damian Priest, as a
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: tag team for a tag Team Turmoil match, which is
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: basically a gauntlet match. They called it tag team Turmoil.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: We had tag team Turmoil at SummerSlam back in nineteen
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: ninety nine, same thing. Forgot who won that one, though
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: I know Apa was in there. I just I don't
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: remember who won. But anyway, I would have rather have
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: gone back and watched that. But we had Priest in
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Truth and they got the win here in tag Team
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Turmoil over actual tag teams. They got the win over
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: the MotorCity Machine Guns, over Phraxium los Garza and the
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Wyatt Six, who were screwed out of a win by
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: the MFTs to dead silence in Portland. Because these fans
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: could not give any less of a shit about this
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: feud if they tried, I don't think it is humanly
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: physically possible to care any less about this than they
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: already do. So that means that Priest and Truth are
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: now in line for a shot at the WWE tag
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: team titles. These people are totally lost. They are totally
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: out to lunch on what to do with Damian Priest.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: His fall needs to be studied, it really does. But
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: more importantly, here is yet another example of actual full
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: time tag teams in the division, the ones they actually
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: have left being leapfrog by a makeshift team that they
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: have decided to slap together because we can't think of
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: anything better for these guys to be doing, so we'll
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: make them a tag team. We'll make them a comedy duo,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: and they'll leap frog all the actual tag teams in
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: the division. The tag team situation on both shows is
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: a complete embarrassment. It is a total epic failure. Three
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: hours of SmackDown instead of two has done nothing to
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: address this or try to correct this, And maybe it
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: could have right with more time to develop actual stories
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: between them, but they have not. You could expand the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: show to six hours and we would just end up
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: with the Mizz and Dan Housen as tag team champions,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: and as it is, we may yet get that because
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: we had an interaction between them later in the show.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: But outside of the WWE title change, the other big
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: thing I think people were waiting to see as far
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: as how this is going to play out was the
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: first real interaction, the first in ring interaction between Rhea
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Ripley and Jade Cargill, who are now on a collision
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: course for the WWE Women's Championship a wrestleman. But there
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: has been other drama controversy around these two on social
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: media that was going on all week, which is why
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: people were very curious to see how this segment was
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: going to turn out. So we take it back to
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Mike Johnson via pw Insider, and this was has since
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: been circulated in various other places, but this is what
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: he reported earlier in the week. Weird told the back
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: and forth between Jade Cargill and other WWE performers was
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: not something devised by WWE Creative, with a number of
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: sources placing the blame for the blow up on Cargill.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: Now let me stop there. You missed it. There was
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: a back in. I don't remember how it started. I
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: think it started with Rhea and Jade, and then other
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: people ended up jumping in, like Chelsea Green and Piper
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Niven kind of ganging up on Jade. It was just,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: you know, trash talking that was going back and forth,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: and it was very like some of the stuff was
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: very cringe, you know, especially when Jade I think, brought
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: up the creative team and Rea cozying up to the creator.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: It was like, what is you know, what I mean,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: But that's how it all started, and then it sort
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: of just spiraled out of control and people, oh, is
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: it a word because it a shoot, So that's what
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: he's referring to. One source noted that Cargill has been
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: criticized by a number of talents for how she rubs
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: others the wrong way, and that when the back and
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: forth with Rhea began, it wasn't hard for others to
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: want to jump in and voice their opinions. They cited
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: this wasn't the first time that Jade has upset others
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: with how she conducted herself, and intimated that when there
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: were erroneous reports about Jade being hurt last year, the
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: real reason she disappeared and spent time in the WWE
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Performance Center was to let personal issues going on at
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the time subside with the passing of time. So actually,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: what he's referring to is twenty twenty four, which is
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: when they shot that angle where Jade was found dead
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: on the car and we had the big mystery of
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: you know who done it with Jade Cargill, she went
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: away for a while. Another source in the company tried
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: to downplay the situation, but later on admitted that sooner
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: or later they expected management would have to step in
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: and speak to Cargill about her relationship with the locker room.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: The source noted that everyone in the locker room has
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: been happy to do whatever they need to do to
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: get Jade over, but that respect that they show her
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: does not feel requided. They described that as Cargill coming
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: off as insecure when she should not have any reason
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: to feel that way. One source close to Cargill blew
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: off the entire situation, citing that she is a type
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: A personality and that this is what happens when competitive
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: personalities are in the same space. One aspect of the
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: situation that multiple people we spoke to found troubling was
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: the idea that Rhea Ripley was presented by Jade on
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: Twitter is someone kissing up to or chasing wwe creative
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: to get attention, which we are told is not how
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Rhea conducts herself. One person described it as an upsetting
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: character assassination. The exchange over the weekend led to Ripley
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: posting on social media not having fun, not friends, learn
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: to work, and never lie to defame someone's real human
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: character by quote breaking the fourth wall, you know, whenever
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: I see stuff like this, to me, it's all just
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: silly nonsense. Like there's a way to leverage social media
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: in a situation like this, I think, to try to
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: get people excited or invested or believe that there's real
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: heat between two people. And then there's just times where
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: you're posting stuff that again, it's just very cringe, and
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: it's very when you break the fourth wall and you
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: start getting into some of the shit that they were
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: getting into here. It's just like, this doesn't do anything
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: to make me any more interested in seeing these two
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: get in the ring and wrestle. Right, maybe there's a
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: way to do that on social media. This ain't it.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: It's one of those situations that just everybody came off
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: looking bad, which led to the segment On Friday night,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: they had a face to face in the ring and
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Jade went first, and the first thing she did was
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: she put her hand out for a handshake, and Ria
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: reluctantly accepted, and Jade was giving her her flowers and said,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: I'm shaking your hand because I respect you, and she
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: went through all of Ria's accomplishments and how the fans
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: loved her. I respect you, but I'm not impressed. And
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: then she talked about her physique being better than Rhea's
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: and she said that she was going to beat the
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: hell out of Rihat WrestleMania and there's nothing you could
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: do about it because I'm that bitch. So then it
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: was Rhea's turn and she put a hand out. She said,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: I respect the honesty. She told Jade that she respected
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: her physically. Her arms may be bigger, her shoulders may
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: be bigger, her legs may be bigger. But she said
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: that even if Jade gave her her best shot, she
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: would not stay down. But if Ria delivered her best shot,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: ain't no way that Jade would get back up. And
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: she said that Jade's body was built for show. My
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: body is built for fighting. When that bell rings, you
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: can flex all you want to, but I'm gonna fight
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: and I'm gonna take that WWE Women's Championship away from you,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: and there's nothing you could do about it because I'm
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: that bitch. And she had her mic drop moment. Jaye
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: did the same thing where she dropped the mic. Boy,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: we have really taken the idea of the mic drop
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: moment and just completely bastardized it. Haven't we There were
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: no real mic drop moments here. That's number one. I
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: also didn't think the promo was as awful as I
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: heard some people like that, Oh my god, this is
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: like such a terrible promo. It wasn't great. I've seen worse.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Maybe the worst thing I could say about it is
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: that it really didn't do a whole hell of a
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: lot to get me excited for their match. Right, and
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: there's still six weeks left. They're gonna, believe me, they're
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: gonna have to come up with some ideas on what
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: to do with these two women in the next six weeks,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: so we'll see what they have up their sleeve. I'm
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: not terribly encouraged, but I said this last week. I
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: think I said this. You know, even coming into this,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Jade Cargill is not someone that you can rely on
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: to cut like a long promo. She has sound bites,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: She has sound bites, and then she has her closing line.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: I'm that bitch. A lot of her promos are literally
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: thirty seconds long. Like after she won the championship. I
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: want to say, the first time we saw her on
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: television in the ring, she got in the ring, she
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: said a few words. Twenty seconds later she was done.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: WWE treats her promos the way they treat her matches,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: where they want to hide her weaknesses. Her weakness is wrestling.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: She's not a great wrestler. She's capable. She can do
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: the things that she does well, but if you have
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: her in there for too long, or you have her
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: in there with the wrong person, she'll be exposed. And
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: it's the same thing on the microphone. She's not going
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: to go out there and give you a great five
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: minute promo. I mean, there are people on the roster
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: who can do a great ten or fifteen minute promo,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: but you're not gonna get a whole lot out of her.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: You have her go out there and you kind of
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: hit the greatest hits, You hit the closing line, and
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: you go home. But Ria Ripley in all the years
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: that she's been in w W, and I love Riha
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: and I think Riea's had some great matches. She's had
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: much better matches than Jade Cargill has had. She's a
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: better wrestler than Jade is. She's not a great promo either.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Where is this one Jade or Ria Ripley promo or two?
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Ria Ripley promos that you can point me to that
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: are sort of like on her mantle, is like her
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: greatest work. There really is not any one single promo
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: I could think of. Right, She's okay, but she's not great.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: And so you have two women here who have six
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: weeks left now to promote a WrestleMania match where promos
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: are not exactly their strong suit, and so I don't
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: know what they're going to do here, but I still
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: maintain this is as a match at WrestleMania, the best
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: match that they were left with. Once Bianca, you know
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: it was Claire Bianca was not going to be back,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: and once they decided to eliminate Charlotte from even being
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: in the elimination chamber and they went a different way,
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: the only other name that made sense was Rhea Ripley.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: It is still the biggest match at the moment that
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: they could do. Getting there, though was going to be rough.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: They didn't draw, by the way, on any of the
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: social media stuff in this promo, and I don't believe
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: for a second the social media stuff was all a shoot.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: It just so happens that these two were getting in
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: a social media tiff when they have a WrestleMania match
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: with no backstory to promote. You gotta be kidding me,
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: do I think that it draws on some very real
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: opinions about Jade. Sure, I'm sure they're working that into
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: their their their tweets and their comments, right, but they're
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: working it into a shoot. They're trying to get something
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: going here, which is why it was puzzling to me
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: that they didn't. They didn't draw from any of that
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: here in this segment. I don't think that means, oh well,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: that means it was a shoot. No, I don't believe
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: for a second the whole thing was a shoot. I
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: think they're trying to get something going for WrestleMania. Maybe
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: in the weeks to come they will draw on some
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: of the social media stuff, but they didn't draw on
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: any of it here, and the stuff that they did
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: do was very bare bones. So it's going to be
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: a struggle. This is the match they're left with. It's
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: the biggest match they could do, but it's going to
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: be a struggle. And honestly, I think if you had
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Charlotte Flair in this situation, I don't think the promos
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: would be that much better. I think you'd be in
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: the same exact position where it's going to be an
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: uphill climb for them to get to Wrestleman. Just to
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: get to that match and get it over with, it's
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: going to be an uphill climb. If I'm being totally honest,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: The most compelling stuff from SmackDown on Friday Night actually
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: involves the one person who just recently as far as
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: his own story, really it just hasn't really done much
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: for me. But they're really building some compelling television with
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: Sammy's ain and these backstage interactions with people like Cody Rhodes.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: He had another run in with Cody backstage on Friday
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: night and he said, look, I'm not trying to get
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: in your head before your big match, but it's kind
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: of crazy this match is even happening to begin with,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: and Cody took offense to this or what's so crazy
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: about it. Sammy said, look, look, when you beat me
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: to qualify for the elimination chamber, I let it go.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: But you went to the elimination chamber and you lost.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: It's like everything falls into your lab. You get a
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: second chance. You know who's not getting a second chance.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: Me and Cody just sounded off on this guy and
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: sounded like you were politicking for a title match even
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: though you haven't won the championship yourself yet. And that
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: upset Sammy and he asked Cody if you know he
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: thought that he was being self servying or trying to
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: snake his way into a title match, and Cody's like,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know. You tell me, and
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Sammy said, look, I don't know either. I came to
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: tell you good luck. I legitimately just wanted to come
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: wish you good luck in your match tonight, and then
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: look at what it's turned into. He said, you may
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: not believe it. I want what's best for you and
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: go out there and do what you do best and
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: you become WWE champion and Cody, you know, he walked
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: off it again. Sammy's, you know, throwing water bottles around
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: that he's all upset. Then there was a segment later
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: in the show where you know, Randy Orton was walking
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: and Sammy's aine walked up to him. He said, I'm
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: really happy for you, and you know, Cody qualified for
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: the elimination chamber when Drew McIntyre got involved and I
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: tried to do the right thing, but you like the
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: same thing happened to you during the elimination chamber match
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: and you had no hesitation in dropping Cody and winning
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: the match. And he asked Orton, I got to know, like,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: how do you do it? And you know, he questioned,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: how you know Orton could talk the way that he
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: talks about Cody and be such good friends with him,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: but then drop him the second that he turns his back,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: And Randy asked him, he goes, you want me to
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: be honest, sometimes you gotta be selfish. And Sammy asked
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: him if that makes him a bad person, and Orton said, look,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: I don't know about all that, but it did make
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: me a fourteen time world champion, and so Sammy wished
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: him luck and said I really hope you win number fifteen,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: and Orton grabbed him and said, look, I believe in you.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: You just need to believe in yourself. And Orton pointed
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: at his own head and he said, maybe try listening
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: to the voices. So off he went, and then Alistair
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: Black and Zelena were there and Black told Sammy, don't
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: worry about him, and Zelena said, yeah, he couldn't help himself.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: Black said, it's just the nature of the beast. That's
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: their stick. Now they just pop up in these random
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: situations backstage and they have a couple of words and
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: then they walk off. So again the Sammy's Ain stuff.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: What is it leading to? Is it leading to a
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: heel turn? It sure feels like it. I still would not.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: I'm hanging on to this. I am not letting go
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: of the possible that I thought maybe it would be
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: Randy Orton. It doesn't appear to be that way, but
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: maybe Sammy's Ain it comes out later on as the
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: one who actually attacked Jacob Fatu. I just I was
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: gonna say, I can't believe, but maybe I can believe,
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: given who we're dealing with here, that they would just
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: go with Drew. You know, the most basic answer, even
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: though Drew was, you know, denying it and denying it
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: up and down for months, that ultimately it's just, yeah,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Drew McIntyre's the one who kicked him in the mouth
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: and put him on the shelf. I don't know. Maybe
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: maybe it'll eventually come out that it was Sammy's Ain.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: In a moment of weakness and rage, he just lost it.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: He couldn't stand that, you know, Jacob is new to
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: the roster and he's getting opportunities that he deserves, and
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: he did it. And then eventually when they're ready to
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: pull the trigger on a heel turn, maybe that's when
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: we get the admission and maybe that's a feud coming
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: out of WrestleMania. Maybe maybe we get something with Jacob
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: Fatu and Sammy's ain out of it. I just I
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: still think it is at least a possibility. But then
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: we get to the main event. The show was really
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: built around Cody Roads and Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: As Sammy said, Cody lost in the Elimination Chamber, but
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: he got a title match because Drew got involved, which
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Drew has done time and time and time again, and
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: so he said, enough is enough. We're going to do
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: this match on SmackDown this week and you're gonna put
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: your championship on the line, And they had a Drew
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: McIntire Cody Rhads match, like it was a good match.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: If you've seen one Cody Roads Drew McIntire match, going
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: back to the matches they had last year, you've basically
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: seen them all, and we've seen a lot of them
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: going back to Wressell Palooza. But late in the match,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: Cody cleared off the announced desk. He was going to
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: try something on top of the desk. He took McIntyre
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: on top, about to hit Crossroads and Drew was able
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: to get out of it, and the table ended up
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: collapsing under their weight, which doesn't happen very often these
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: days the way they reinforced these tables. So to make
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: up for the blown spot, Cody went and he pulled
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: a table, a slim gym table out from under the ring,
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: and McIntyre ended up attacking him. He set the table
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: up and then he just put Cody through it with
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: a power bomb, so the fans were able to get
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: their table spot. So in the ring, and by the way,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: now that I think about it, this was not a
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: notice qualification match. I'm not sure why that wouldn't have
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: been a DQ. But in the ring, McIntyre put Roads
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: in position for a Crossroads. He was gonna give him
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: his own Crossroads and did, but it wasn't enough. He
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: set them up for a clay More that got blocked.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Cody decided to hit a clay More of his own,
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: not a very good one, but he had a clay
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: More for a nearfall. So there were two different situations
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: here where Charles Robinson was able to avoid the sure doom. Unfortunately,
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: the third time there was no avoiding it and McIntyre
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: pulled him in the way of a disaster kick and
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: down ghost charged l Robinson. He rolls out to the
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: floor and so of course it all leads to a
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: spot where he hits the Claymore kick on Cody. He
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: got a near fall out of it, but there was
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: a delay prior to that because it took time for
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: another referee to come out. So he throws Cody into
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: the post a couple of times, shoulder first. Then he
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: turns his attention to the new referee and he hits
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: him with a Glasgow kiss, just head butts him. Out
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: of frustration, he leaves the ring. He grabs a chair,
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: gets back in the ring and before he could use
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: the chair, Jacob Fought too magically appears. He grabs the
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: chair away from Drew and Cody rolled him up, only
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: got a near fall. McIntyre hit future shock and he
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: had Cody in position after this for a claymoar. Cody
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: moved out of the way and then he hit a
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: super Cody Cutter and then one Crossroads and that's all
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: she run. And I know people are going to look
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: at that and go, man, it makes Drew look so weak.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: It only took one Crossroads to beat him. Good. You
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: got to start somewhere. It's time that Cody actually used
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: his finish as a fucking finish. I can't hate on that,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: but that was it. Cody Rhodes got the pin, and
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: Cody Rhods is now a three time WWE champion. He
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: will defend the title against Randy Orton one on one.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: At least we presume one on one at WrestleMania. You know,
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: we can't discount the possibility that it still may not
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: end up being a multiman match, but as things stand,
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: it looks like a singles match now. Perbodyslam dot Net.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: Sources indicate that discussions began regarding Orton against Rhodes around
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: the beginning of February to shake things up for WrestleMania
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: season and give a payoff to the teases over the
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: last few years. Why don't you think about that years
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: years they've been teasing this. Rhodes and McIntyre did not
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: officially find out about the change until last week. McIntyre
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: is set to begin filming for the movie Highlander immediately
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: after WrestleManias. So regardless whether he went into WrestleMania as
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: the champion or not, it seemed pretty clear Drew McIntyre
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: was not leaving WrestleMania as the WWE champion. That was
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: just never going to happen. And fight full Select chimed
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: in and said, one of the reasons the WWE title
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: was taken off of Cody Rhoades in the first place
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: was that so he could be featured in the Royal
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: Rumble and the Elimination Chamber matches, adding to the draw
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: of those shows. And that's one of the keys here
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: is that, you know, you're looking ahead in TKO. They
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: have tickets to sell, they have shows that they have
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: to promote, and it was just more appealing to them
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: to be like, you know what, taking the belt off
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: of him for a little bit might not be such
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: a bad idea because then we have Cody in the
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: Rumble and maybe he three peats and then we can
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: have Cody in the Chamber. Right. Oh, it's his last
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: opportunity to go to WrestleMania, and then if he doesn't
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: win the chamber. Oh my god, that that house Cody
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: going to get in the title match. That's it, right,
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: So absolutely I can believe that that was part of
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: their calculus here as far as hey, you know what
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: might not be so bad idea to get the belt
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: off him for a while. And this title change here,
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: this is really where the low cage match score comes from.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: To say nothing of all the dislikes that one person
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: botted on the WWE YouTube video showing the title change.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: This guy posted a receipt online. I don't even think
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: his account is active anymore, but he posted a receipt
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: online showing it cost him two hundred and fifty bucks
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: to bot sixty five thousand dislikes on that video. He
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: bought sixty five thousand dislikes for two hundred and fifty dollars.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: Like if any of that is even true, Like how
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: much of a loser do you need to be to
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: do something like that? But that's where it all comes from.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: It comes from people being upset that they put the
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: belt back on Cody, and this is their way of
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: lashing out and review bombing and look sending a message
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: to WWE that they're not happy about it. As far
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: as putting the belt back on Cody, I'm fine with it.
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: I would have been fine with it if they would
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: have kept the belt on Drew going into Wrestlemandia. I'm
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: just I'm kind of indifferent to all of it. At
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: this point. Everything just seems so haphazardly planned out that
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: this is where we are right now. I would have
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: been fined with either scenario. But Cody winning the belt
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: back does not make me mad. It does not bother
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: me the way it seems to bother some other people.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: And this is what I think some fans have to
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: be reminded about, is that for months, many of us,
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: myself included, were harping on the booking of Drew McIntyre
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: in this feud with Cody Rhoads, and he just kept
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: losing right every opportunity he would lose. He talks a
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: big talk, but then he can't go in there and
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: win the big one. And when they announced that three
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: stages of Hell match for Germany at the beginning of January,
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: I said, it's do or die for Drew MacIntyre, like,
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: he has to win the belt here, even if he
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: gets a short run. And this is what I said,
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: and a lot of people said the same thing. Even
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: if it's a short run, how are you gonna beat
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: him again? Right? You got to at least put the
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: belt on him, shake things up a little bit on
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: the road to WrestleMania. What's the harm in doing that?
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: And that's what they did. They finally put the championship
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: on Drew MacIntyre And now here we are two months later,
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: and he lost the belt back to Cody, and a
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: lot of these people now, who I'm sure were probably
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: saying things very similar to that two months ago, are
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: now bitching and moaning about the fact that, oh my god,
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: I can't believe they took the belt off Drew and
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: they put it back on Cody when you knew that
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: if they put the belt on Drew it was only
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: going to be temporary. And there were a lot of
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: people who were okay with it then who probably suddenly
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: are not okay with it. And it's not like Drew
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: did anything in this run to really win you over.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: He defended the title one fucking time before losing it
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: to Cody on Friday. He had two total defenses. What
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: did you expect? Sure, maybe they could have allowed him
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: to go into WrestleMania as the champion. Okay, fine, but
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: you knew from the moment he won the belt it
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: was going to be temporary. You want to the belt
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: off of Cody. They took the belt off of Cody,
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: and now you're upset they put the belt back on him.
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: You mean to tell me you did not see this coming? Like,
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: if you are one of those people, you can't be
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: okay with putting the belt on Drew, even if it's
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: only for a couple of months, and then a couple
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: of months go by and he loses it and you're
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: all bent out of shape. It's totally fine if you're
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: sick and tired of seeing Cody Rhodes as the champion.
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: Where you don't want Cody to be in another wrestle
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: Many a main event, although he's got some catching up
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: to do if he wants to catch up to Roman.
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: But that's fine. I'm not saying that you should not
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: be upset or tired of seeing Cody in that spot.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: I feel it too. You know, there's there's definitely some
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: Cody fatigue there. But look, when he won that championship
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: on Friday, wasn't like he was booed out of the
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: building in Portland. Those fans cheered. I'm sure part of
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: it was they were just excited to see a world
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: title change. But it wasn't like they were booing Cody
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: out of the building and rejecting this win. You know,
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: they with them now? Are they going to be with
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: him in the feud? But Randy, that's a different story.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: I definitely think the reactions are going to be a
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: hell of a lot more mixed, and maybe maybe they'll
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: even lean more towards Randy. And that's fine. You got
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: two babyfaces. So what you're doing now is you're telling
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: the fans, like you pick and choose who you want.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: You got two baby faces here. It's probably one of
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: the reasons why they didn't want to do Babyface John
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: Cena against Babyface Cody Roads last year and split the crowd, right,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: and the don't want to split the baby That's what
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: they're gonna be doing here because if anybody is going heel,
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: and I don't know if they are, it's not happening
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: until WRESTLEMANI it shouldn't happen until WrestleMania. Whether it's Cody,
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's gonna be Cody. I think it's
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: a lot more likely to be Randy. But whoever it is,
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: if someone is going heel, you have it happen at WrestleMania,
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: either during the match or when the match is over.
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: So now we have babyface against a babyface, and the
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: fans are gonna have the ability to choose. But Cody
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: and Randy, there's a lot of history there. There is,
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: there is a story to be I can't sit here
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: and tell you that. There's some rich story now with
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: Cody and Randy. There's history between them. Whether or not
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: WWE decides to tell the right story is up in
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: the air. Just because two people have history together, that
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: in and of itself is not a story. You still
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: have to tell that story. You have to bring up
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: that when Cody came into the company, one of the
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: first people he wrestled with was Randy Orton and he
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: was on the same side. Randy took him under his
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: wing as part of legacy and then cast him away. Right,
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of history there. And then when he
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: came back to the company, Right, they've been like best
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: friends ever since. And he's not a stupid man. He's
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: seen Randy peeking over at the championship and you know,
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: spying on the title at various points like that. If
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: they tell the right story, it can be very compelling.
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: That's going to be up to you know, Levec and
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: the SmackDown team and whoever is leading that team. Now,
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: if they would have kept the belt on Drew, I
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: think that Fatal four away would have made all the
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: sense in the world this year, because one of the
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: more interesting things about SmackDown of late is the fact
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: that there have been these issues between all of these
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: people around the title. Drew hates Cody, Cody h Drew,
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: Drew h Jacob. Jacob hates Cody and Drew. Randy Orton
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: just wants to win the belt back. He doesn't like Drew,
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: he's friends with Cody, he's indifferent towards Jacob. And then
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: there's Sammy's ain who just is begging to win a
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: world championship but just hasn't been able to pull the trigger.
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: Where does he fit into all this? And it's like, Okay,
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: you've got all of these different personalities. Sammy would be
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: the odd man out of a fatal four way, but
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: you could do Cody and Drew and Jacob and Randy
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: all in the same match. They've made the decision that
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: we don't want to do that seemingly. Seemingly it's going
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: to be one on one, and I'm fine with that,
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: And that would make it very likely that Drew McIntyre
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: instead would wrestle Jacob Fatu at WrestleMania. Sammy's Ain again,
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: maybe Trick Williams. Otherwise, I'm not really sure where he
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: fits into the equation here. The one change I would
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: have made Drew McIntyre should have won the championship earlier
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: than he did. He should have won the title either
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: at Wressell Palooza to really make a statement on that
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: first ESPN show, or at Survivor Series instead of the
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: two of them just being thrown into the Wargames match,
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: which they really had nothing to do with anything as
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: far as what was going on there. Survivor Series might
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: have made more sense, just so you don't have Cody
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: win the belt back from Johnsen at Summerslim and then
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: just lose it again the very next month. So he
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: should have absolutely won the championship earlier than he did
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: in three Stages of Hell, that's the one change I
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: would have made. But as far as a WrestleMania main
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: event gos Cody Roads and Randy Orton. This is a
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: match that should have been done a long time ago.
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: This was not part of some grand plan where it's like, Okay,
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: we have this really you know, great idea where we're
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: going to hold off on the match for like two
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: fucking years and then at wrestle Mania forty we're gonna
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: come to Cody ret Like, no, no, it landed in
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: their lap and they made the decision that now is
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: the right time to do the match. And it's a
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: match I've been waiting for them to do. Is it
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: a Night one WrestleMania main event worthy match or Night too?
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: Is it a WrestleMania main event worthy match? Yes? And
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: the Fatal four way would have been also, and that
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: could have been fun. But I don't have an issue
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: with them doing Cody and Randy. It's a match I've
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: been waiting for them to do. I just I don't
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: understand why it took this long to get there, But
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: here we are now. The other WrestleMania main event we
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: know is CM Punk and Roman reigns for the World
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: Heavyweight Championship and with elimination Chamber out of the way.
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: Roman Rains was back on TV this week, so we
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: had another face to face between the two of them,
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: of which, among other highlights here, Roman mentioned that we
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: brought you back, Phil to entertain the thirty to forty
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: year old virgins who still live with their mo mom
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: and dad, and to sell a few T shirts and
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: maybe draw a house in Chicago, but not to be
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: the champion. Can't trust you. That's too much responsibility and
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: power for you. And you're a liar. You lie to
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: all these people. You have them believing that you're running
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: all these tours with a smile on your face. Meanwhile
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: you're bitching and moaning in the back. You're not CM Punk,
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: You're just a punk ass bitch. I'm noticing again the
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: trend to using that word, that be word a lot
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: in these promos, right Jade and Rhea, I'm that bitch.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: Roman to Punk, you're a punk ass bitch. He say
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: he's gonna put them on one of these John Cena
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: retirement tours, gonna make as much money off you as
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: we can. And then Punk came back and said, who's
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: this wi that you keep talking about? You got some
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: extra Samoan goblins in your pocket. That we can't see.
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: There is no wi. You're all alone. Your cousins aren't
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: with you anymore. You don't have the Shield with you anymore,
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: or you don't even have a wise man anymore thanks
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: to me, says you're going to retire me. Now I'm
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: going to bury you, and then you won't be alone anymore,
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: because I'm going to bury you next to your father,
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: your dead father. So now it's only a matter of
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: time before we hear about Punk's dead dog being brought
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: into the storyline here. And I said this on Monday
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: in the review, I said this, this was good. The
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: back and forth and the intensity from them was good.
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: This was not as good as their first exchange after
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: the Rumble. I'm actually hoping this would be a little
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: bit longer. But you know, as with Rhea and Jade
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: and all these other feuds, and you know, you got
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: another six weeks left to go until WrestleMania, you got
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: to save some of that. They got Roman. I think
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: what is it five four or five more times on
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: television between now and then, I think five, including a
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: stretch coming up here later in March where he's going
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: to be on the show for three weeks in a row,
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: and if we presume that Roman is not wrestling on
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: the show, I don't know what he is going to
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: be doing, But we'll see, We'll see what they come
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: up with. You got to save some of it for
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: those shows. The thing I like about it is that
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: you can buy into the fact that there is this real,
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: visceral hatred between these two men. It really does feel
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: like a grudge match between these two and if they
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: could find a way to manufacture that on television with
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: Rhea and Jade, that will also help that match a lot.
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: I don't know if they can get there. I don't
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: know if I don't know if if Jade is that
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: good of an actor to make that possible. But that's
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: the one thing about the Roman and Punk match that
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: I really enjoy more than any of the other matches
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: that we know of so far right, I can believe
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: that these two guys really do hate each other and
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: they're going to throw down here at any given moment.
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: I'm just you know, you're waiting for the pull apart
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: brawl one week between these two. Now. Roman is not
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: going to be on the show tomorrow night. He is
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: back in San Antonio on three sixteen, and then for
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: the next two weeks after that. I mentioned Dan Housen earlier.
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: He was backstage on Raw Monday Night and he put
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: a curse on Dominic Mysterio, who was very disrespectful to him,
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: and then dom went on to lose the Intercontinental Championship
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: to Penta. So that was kind of amusing. You kind
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: of knew at that point, like, uh oh, I think
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: we're getting a title change here on this show, which
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: we had to my god. I mean I talked about
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: Cody and Drew earlier and going into three stages of hell, God,
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: Drew's got to win this. He can't lose again. This
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: was like pentus seventh or eighth opportunity at the Intercontinental title.
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: He had to win that match on Monday Night. So
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: with a little help from Dan House and he was
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: able to do that, and they actually had as a
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: very good match, and it was a very cool moment.
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: You know, see Penta celebrating after and he was so
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: happy backstage to get his side plates. It's good. I'm
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: glad to see him get that championship. Now, we just
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: got to get him in an actual match at WrestleMania.
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: But then Dan Housen also showed up on SmackDown on
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: Friday Night and was introduced by Nick All, this to
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: the Mizz, who was not thrilled to see him, and
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: Dan Housen's merchandise reportedly has pleasantly surprised those in WWE
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: with how well the merch has been selling according to
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: the early numbers. I don't know why they should be
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: surprised at all. I mean Dan Housen to me, one
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: of the biggest reasons to bring him in is to
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: be able to market all kinds of kookie merchandise that
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: you can sell and make money off of. Like whatever
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: they're paying him, they can probably make that back just
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: in merch sales alone over this next year, and then
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: you can bounce him around from show to show, brand
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: to brand. He could do some comedy stuff, like I
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: find him entertaining and amusing, and I think, you know,
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: plugging him in there with the right people, you can
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: come up with some pretty fun television segments with him,
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: and then you get to throw some T shirts and
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: shit on WWE's shop and make money off him there.
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: You want to bounce him over to NXT use him
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: in NXT. You want to bounce him over to Triple A.
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: Use him in Triple A. I'm sure the Undertaker would
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: love to get his hands on Dan Housen, but I
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: made a suggestion on how you can actually work Dan
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: Housen into a pretty important angle on Monday Night. Ron
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: I mentioned this on TNT on Tuesday Night. You know,
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: we know that Brock Lesner has this open challenge for WrestleMania,
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: and you would hope that Oba Femi is going to
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: accept it because that's the match that so many people
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: want to see. They teased it at the Royal Rumble,
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: and hopefully it's not one of these, you know Paul
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: Levek teases where they've been teasing Cody and Randy for
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: three years and now we're finally actually four years and
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: now we're finally getting it. And so hopefully it won't
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: take two or three years to get Lesner and Femi
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: or Brock may well be done by that point, but
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: he has this open challenge. And Paul Haman got taken
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: out by Seth Rollins. He got stomped and bloodied up
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: on Monday night. I don't know if he's going to
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: be back on TV this week like nothing ever happened
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: or if that was their way of writing him off
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: television for a few weeks. We're not going to see
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: Brock back on TV until San Antonio on three sixteen.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: Is he going to be there alone? Is Hayman going
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: to be with him? I don't know. You would think
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: that he would have something to say to Seth Rollins
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: about Rollins beating up Hayman. Which is why I don't
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: think we can discount the possibility of Seth Rollin's wrestling
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: Brock Lesner at WrestleMania. I'm not saying that's the match
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: I think is going to happen, but I think if
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: they are not yet locked in on who it is
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: going to be, that Rollins has to be on the
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: shortlist because now there's a built in reason why Brock
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: would be upset with him. But where Denhausen comes into play,
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: and I don't know if they would do this in
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: San Antonio. You've got Madison Square Garden coming up later
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: in the month. I think Brock is supposed to be there.
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: Maybe they do it at the garden where Danhausen comes
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: out during one of these segments with Brock Lesner. The
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: last fucking person in the world that you would expect
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: to walk out during a Brock Lesner segment, and he
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: comes out to the ring and we get some Brockhausen humor,
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: only for him to put a curse on brock Lesner,
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: which Brock of course laughs off because the whole thing
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: is just so ridiculous. But it's him putting the curse
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: on Brock and him laughing it off, where the lights
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: go out and the music hits, and we get Oba
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: Feme to come out to accept the open challenge, and
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: we get the stare down between Brock and Oba, and again,
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: Brock can laugh it off all he wants. It's almost
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: like a nervous laughter, and he backs down, and there's
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: your match for WrestleMania. That is, assuming, of course, that
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: Oba Femi is going to be his opponent at WrestleMania.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: But I think that would be a great way to
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: go about doing it, because it's kind of silly that
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: even in that first week, but let's say he comes
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: back for a second week or a third week, and
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: you don't have anybody with any real credibility coming out
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: to confront him or accept the open challenge. I mean,
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: it sort of defies all logic. But the idea that
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: they would use this Danhausen curse as a way to
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: really illustrate like the curse means something. If he puts
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: a curse on somebody, something bad's about to happen to
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: that person. And Brock of course finds this all to
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: be just humorous and he's laughing it off, but then
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: the music hits right and out comes OBA. I think
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: that could work, I really do. I think that would
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: be a fun way to kind of get him out
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: there and set that match up for wrestle man. And then,
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: of course Dan Housen would have nothing to do with
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: any of this, because you got to at that point
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: you get him out of there as quickly as possible
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: because he should have nothing to do with a Brocklesner
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: Obafemi match beyond setting it up. But I think that'd
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: be a fun way to do it. Now. The other
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: thing about Raw Monday Night, the best part about Raw
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: Monday Night, quite frankly, was that banger of a match
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: that Gunther and Dragon Lee had, and it was Dragon
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: Lee's best match on the main roster easily. It was, not,
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: though without controversy. During the match, his mask ended up
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: being ripped off by Gunther and then guntherer put him
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: in a sleeper hole and Dragon Lee quickly tapped out
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: and then was hiding his face. He was burying his
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: face in the mat, but for a second there the
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: camera caught his full face. His full face was exposed
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: on television, and some fans were very upset over his
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: face being exposed, however brief it was, and responding to
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: one such fan on x Sean Ross Sap a Fight
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: Full revealed that it was a planned angle, that the
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: company actually pitched it to Dragon Lee, and he agreed.
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: He said they didn't actively shoot around it. They pitched it,
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: he agreed, They scripted it into a wrestling show, they
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: filmed it, they produced it. They showed his face while
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: he sold on top of a slim gym logo. Because
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: there was a lot of anger being directed towards Sean
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: because Sap had posted a photo after the match of
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: Dragon Lee's exposed face. He got a screenshot of that
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: exact moment and he posted it. He said, Dragonly's mask
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: has been ripped off, and there were a lot of
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: fans who complained about it on social media, and Sewan
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: doubled down and said, look, wwe aired his unmasking on Netflix.
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: They posted the video on their YouTube channel, they ran highlights,
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: they posted it to all of their socials unedited. It
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: was not an accident. Get over it, and John Albo
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: of Sports Illustrated said of WWE was concerned about Dragonly's
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: face being seen, then they either don't do the spot,
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: or they would shoot it in a way that there's
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: no chance that the viewers at home will see it.
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: Maybe the people on the front row would see it,
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: but the people at home wouldn't be able to see it.
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: It was pretty deliberately shot, he said, for the camera
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: to catch it. And that's really the key. Yeah, the
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: fact that it was not edited out of any of
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: their socials. This was very clearly something that they planned
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: and they wanted to put out there to probably cause
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: this very type of discourse where people would be talking
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: about it and sharing it on social media. But where
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: things got very heated was when Ernesto Ocampo, who was
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: a Mexican journalist, he was very upset about Sean posting
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: that photo. He's saying that it was a disrespectful gesture
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: towards Mexicans and Mexican culture. He said, WWE is not
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: to blame what happened to curs all the time. In Mexico.
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: It is very common for wrestlers to end up with
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: their faces exposed, and it is also common for photographers
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: to capture images of that exact moment. However, those photos
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: are not published. One example is this photo of Huvintune
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: Guerrera against Ray Mysterio, which remained archive That's super Lucas
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: and was not published until he lost the mask in
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: March of nineteen ninety nine, said you're absolutely right that
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: journalisms because they were going back and forth, and he said,
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: you're absolutely right that journalism school doesn't teach you to
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: protect k fabe's secrets. But that's not really the point here.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: The issue isn't whether you can report mass wrestler's identities.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: It's whether you should when covering a culture where that
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: act is considered disrespectful. Mexican wrestling operates on a specific
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: social contract with its audience. Journalism ethics are not just
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: about what your professors taught you. They're also about contextual
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: sensitivity to the communities that you cover. Mexican fans aren't
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: asking for special treatment, they're asking for the same respect
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: that you would give any cultural practice that you don't
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: personally share and Apollo Valdez, another Mexican journalist, chimed in
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: and said, any journalist who covers professional wrestling in Mexico
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: knows that they must not reveal the identity of mass wrestlers.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: Those who do are rejected by the profession itself, as
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: well as by fans and wrestlers. It is not a
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: written rule, but it is a rule of honor and respect.
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: Of course, what we are talking about here is not
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: wrestling in Mexico. This is wrestling in WWE. I just
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: have to point that out because I did see a
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: lot of comments about that this was not a match
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: that happened at Arena Mexico, Okay or Arena Coliseo. There's
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: a match that happened on Monday Night raws. It's a
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: little bit different here. But I will just say this,
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: just because you can doesn't mean you should. Right, you've
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: heard that expression before. I saw someone. I think it
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: might have been on Reddit. Use the analogy that you know,
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: if one of the women's breasts popped out of their
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: top and it got caught on TV for a split second, right,
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: you wouldn't screenshot it and post it online. I mean
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: I know some people would do that, but no one
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: with any sort of credibility would do that, right, Dave
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: Meltzer and Mike Johnson, Sean Ross, SAP, they're not going
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: to do that. They wouldn't even think about doing that.
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: And look, I get both arguments. I don't think Sean
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: was doing anything with any sort of ill intent, right,
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: he wasn't, That wasn't his purpose in doing so. And
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: the fact that this was still being debated and going
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: back and forth online with such feuror four days later,
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: five days later, I just think it is ridiculous. But
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: I can also understand Ocompo's point about how important that is,
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: you know, culturally in Mexico, and if he wants to
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: take it up with SAP, then that's his business, you know,
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: the way that you know, Sean responded, and I think
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: Sean somewhere in there posted an apology for the way
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: that he sort of responded to it. Again, there were
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: so many messages going back and forth. I'm sure I
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: missed dozens of them. I didn't see all of them.
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: But I think even he admits, oh, you know, maybe
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: he shouldn't have responded in a certain way that he
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: did to him or certain other people. But if he
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: wants to take it up with SAP, that's his business.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: To absolve WWE completely and say it has nothing to
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: do with WWE, which is what he led that statement
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 1: off with. That is just being silly, okay, especially if
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: this was a planned angle and they intended to do
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: what they did, then you have to also take WWE
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: to task for disrespecting Mexican culture if it bothers you
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: that much, take Dragon Lee to task. He's the one
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: who agreed to the angle. He could have said no,
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: he said okay, sure, yeah, we'll do that. But the
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: idea that well, it's not WWE's fault. You can't absolve
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: WWE or Dragon Lee of any responsibility in this and
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: just go after someone for posting a photo of it
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: on their fucking page. I mean, that's just stupid. Not
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: only did WWE come up with the angle and Dragon
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: Lee went along with it, they posted it on their
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: YouTube channel after and they never bothered to it out.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: It's still there. This is exactly what they wanted and
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: it's likely going to play into Raymisterio wrestling gun Through
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: at WrestleMania, if that is indeed the plan for disrespecting
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: Mexican culture, and it's going to probably lead to a match,
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: right that may be the match because I don't know
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: what else you do with gun thro at WrestleMania at
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: this point. Another failure of WWE creative not having a
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: clear laid out story for one of their biggest heels
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: heading into their biggest show of the year. Fail. Aj
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: Lee had a promo on Raw coming off her Intercontinental
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: Championship win recently over Becky Lynn. She talked about wanting
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: to get her hands on some of the women in
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: the locker room, as she said, come at me if
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: you think that you're championship material, if you want to
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: face your favorite wrestler's favorite wrestler, come and get it.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: And then later they announced the number one Contenders match
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: for tomorrow night on Raw, for a shot. They didn't
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: say it WrestleMania. They just said for a shot at
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: the Women's Intercontinental title. Eo Sky, Osca, Raquel Rodriguez, Bailey Lyra, Valkyria,
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: and Ivy Nile are all involved in this match. Now,
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: I did not realize this was advertised as a gauntlet
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: match when I said on my Raw review that I
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: thought Ivy Nile might win this match because I just
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: you look at the lineup of names and the one
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: that sticks out like a sore thumb is Ivy Nile.
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: Ivy Nile is the only one who is not pushed
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: out of all the other names in the match. So
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: of course you would look at that and go, well,
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: she's in there to take the pin. And I'm like, no, no,
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: AJ lisaid, the next time you see me in this ring,
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: I'll be defending my title, which means it's going to
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: be a raw match, And so they're going to go
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: with the shocking conclusion of Ivy Nile sneaking out a
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: win just to do AJ and Ivy so AJ can
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: get a win in a title match on raw. And
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: then I saw that, oh wait, it's a gauntlet match.
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: I said, well that changes everything. Ivy Nihilate win and
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: shit in a gauntlet match. So my mistake. Oscar or
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: Eo Sky, those are the only names that should win
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: this match. Osca or EO should win this and then
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: they do the match in San Antonio, I think the
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: following week, maybe on three sixteen. That's what I would do.
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: To me, It's got to be one or the other
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: you want if you want to heal. Then Oscar is
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: your choice here because I do think that ultimately this
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: is going to lead to something for Oscar at WrestleMania.
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: That's why I say Oscar, not Raquel, but Oscar EO
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: should win that match, and then we get aj defending
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: the title against one of them. But this leads nicely
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: into this other piece of news I wanted to mention here.
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: According to wressel Votes Radio on fight Ful, select discussions
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: within WWE Creative include the possibility of booking more women's
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: matches on the WrestleMania card than ever before. They said
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: there is currently an idea within WWE Creative that would
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: see up to six women's matches make the Restia card,
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: with five of those considered firm plans as we stand,
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: and they said that this would mark a new record
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: for a single WrestleMania, topping WrestleMania at thirty six, which
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: featured five women's matches if you include the live Morgan
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: versus Natalia kickoff match and tc from wrestle Votes said
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: they've added a lot of free agents, They've added women
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: to the roster. Tag teams have been emphasized as well,
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: so there's a lot more room now for women to
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: have a bigger platform in WWE. There's been a lot
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: of emphasis on the women's storylines and the programming. A
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: big portion of the weekly programming on Ron's SmackDown has
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: been women's matches. I've talked about the strength of the
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: women's division overall, women's division. The women's division on SmackDown
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: was just ravaged and they just were far too slow
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: and trying to build it back up. And they're still
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: trying to build it back up. But injuries, injuries especially,
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: I think, really played havoc with whatever their plans were
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: would have been for WrestleMania this year. But they have
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: a very strong pool of women's talent to draw from,
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: not just on Ron's SmackDown, but at the Performance Center
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: in NXT, and it has been strengthened a lot by
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: all of the female talent they have recruited over the
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: past several years that are down at the PC right,
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: it's like they've had them stockpile down there. Evolution last
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: year was one of the best shows all year. I
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: had it as the second best WWE show of the
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: year behind Elimination Chamber. As far as WrestleMania is concerned,
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: the women have stolen the show or have come pretty
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: damn close multiple times over the past few years. Last year,
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: my match of the Year was Ria Ripley versus Eo
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: Sky versus Bianca Bellair. You go back to WrestleMania at
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: thirty nine, Charlotte Flair and Ria Ripley had one of
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: the best matches all weekend. Same for Becky Lynch and
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: Bianca bell Air Wrestlemanni at thirty eight. Bianca and Sasha
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: they got the night one main event at Wrestlemanni at
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: thirty seven, and they had a great one too. Boy,
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: Bianca ties into a lot of these matches, doesn't she.
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: So I don't mind this. I don't mind this. I
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: think it would be well earned if it works out
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: this way, because in many ways they have been carrying
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: things for a while and if they're going to get
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: that many matches in the card, then it would be
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: well deserved. So what are we looking at? Well, we
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: know Riho Ripley is challenging Jade Cargill for the WWE
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: Women's Championship, and you know, eventually when we do get
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: Bianca bell Air back Bianca against Jade, that's not even
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: the match. I really want to see. It's real Ripley
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: against Bianca bell Air. That could be a big enough
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: match with the right story told to main event one
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: of the two Knights of WrestleMania easily easily. But we're
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: getting Rea against Jade. We're getting liv Morgan against Stephanie
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: Vakaer for the women's world title. So those two are guaranteed.
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: We already know those two are confirmed. Now we're probably
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: going to end up getting another aj Lee Becky Lynch
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: match for the Intercontinental title, even though I wouldn't mind
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: seeing them split off and do other things. It's probably
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: going to be the match that's three Nia Jackson Lash legend.
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: They're gonna be defending the women's tag team titles, I'm sure,
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: at least against the Bella Twins, who we have not seen,
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: by the way, in over a month since they proclaimed
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: that they were going after the women's tag team titles.
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: We have not seen them since. That does not mean
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: they will not be on the wrestle media card. I
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: am sure they will be fighting for those championships, and
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: it's looking like it's probably going to be a multi
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: team match. That's how you get Charlotte Flair and Alexa
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: Bliss in there because they've done nothing to suggest they're gonna,
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of fewed them against each other yet,
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: So Charlotte and Alexa are still going after the tag
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: team titles. They made that clear, I think on Friday,
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: Bailey and Lyra right, where the hell else do they
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: fit in if not in here? So we're probably looking
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: maybe at a maybe a four way Yeah, maybe a
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: four way women's tag team title match. What is that?
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: Is that? Four one two? Yeah? So that's probably what
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: we're looking at there, maybe even a ladder match. The
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: only title that would not be defended though, if all
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: of these championships I just mentioned are defended, that would
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: only leave the Women's United States Championship to not be
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: defended on this show, and it just seems, I don't know, implausible.
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: I guess it's really not implausible given these people, but
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: it seems very unfair if it ends up that every
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: other championship is defended but that one. What a slap
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: in the fucking face to Julia that would be. So
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: maybe we end up with Julia against EO Sky right,
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: although the way her promo, the way their promo went
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: on Monday, it was Ria Ripley saying goodbye to EO
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: for now because EO was staying on Raw readventures off
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: to SmackDown. So I'm not sure that EO is going
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: to venture over to SmackDown to join her and then
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: end up challenging Julia. I think what may be more
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: likely if LEO. Let's say EO wins that Gauntlet match
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: tomorrow night, and let's say that she gets a title
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: match with aj Lee on television, and then next couple
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: of weeks, Becky Lynch gets involved, or Oscar and Kyrie
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: get involved. Either way, right, either way they screw EO
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: out of a win. It would make more sense for
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: it to be OSCA though, if the plan was to
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: do EO against Osca at WrestleMania, which is a match
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: that I have been waiting to see and we still
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: haven't gotten it yet, EO against Oscar with Kyrie at ringside,
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: and this is where Kyrie's saying, you know, finally breaks
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: free of Oscar's spell and stands up for herself, Right,
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: that would be a good story to tell. Then they
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: could have Julia instead defend the US title against Tiffany Stratton,
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: because Tiffany is a pretty big name on that SmackDown
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: roster that has no obvious match or direction for WrestleMania,
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: and she was gone for a while and she came
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: back recently. It would defy all logic for her not
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: to have a match of WrestleMania when a year ago
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: on that show she was wrestling Charlotte Flair for the
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: Women's Championship. Now we've seen Tiffany beefing on TV recently
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: with Chelsea Green and Alba Fire. Chelsea has a legit
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: broken ankle. I don't know what her status for WrestleMania
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: is going to be. It's not a horrendous break, but
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: there is a break in her ankle. So Julia against
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: Tiffany may be the way to go, and that would
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: get us to six women's matches. And that's without even
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: accounting for Raquel Rodriguez Roxane Perez. But again, Bailey and Lyra,
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: Roxanne and Raquel, you could always have them involved in
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: that tag team championship match. Doesn't have to be four teams.
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: It could be five, it could be six. It almost
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: feels like it's gonna end up being a dumping ground
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: for all the women that don't have another match of WrestleMania.
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: Charlotte and Alexa again, then that's not going to be
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: a singles match. They're gonna be involved in whatever's going
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: on with the tag team titles. But what this also
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: means is that we could be looking at the largest
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: WrestleMania car top to bottom in the history of this company,
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: with as many as sixteen matches planned for restle this year,
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: which I believe would tie the record set by WrestleMania
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: four in nineteen eighty eight that had that one night
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: only tournament for the WWF title. That show also had
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: sixteen matches, sixteen mostly very short matches. At least here
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: it would be spread out over the course of two nights. Right,
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: you have eight matches on one night, eight matches on
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: the next night. I like that. I think that's a
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: good number. This comes from bodyslam dot Net. Sources indicate
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: the Body Slam the WrestleMania of forty two will feature
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: at least fourteen matches over the two nights. Another source
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: indicated that the card could have a solid sixteen matches
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: this year with the earlier start time that was announced recently.
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: That announced start time is six pm Eastern. Because remember
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: the first night of WrestleMania is going to be live
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: for the first hour on ESPN two, and then the
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: first hour of the second night of WrestleMania is going
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: to be live on ESPN, and then everybody will have
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: to switch over over to ESPN Unlimited if they're not
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: already watching it on there, it'll be simulcasting on there. So,
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, the way things have been trending with these
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: shorter pl e cards, I was worried it was going
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: to be less. Like if it ends up being sixteen
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: or fifteen or whatever, I'll be pleasantly surprised because I
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: really didn't think the way things have been trending that
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: we would even get that many matches. You know, getting
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: eight matches per night would be a good thing. I
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: think for a big show like this, just keep the
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: filler very minimal. Even if they do seven matches one
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: night and then eight matches on the other night, I
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: think that's fine. Because you got the Hall of Fame inductees,
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: they have to be introduced on one of those nights,
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: so one of those nights could be shorter by a
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: match to accommodate for the Hall of Fame stuff. And
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: speaking of the Hall of Fame, This has been my
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: favorite thing to talk about all week, and now I
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: get to talk about it here on the sounduff Oh
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: Happy Day. First of all, WWE announced on Monday that
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty six Hall of Fame Ceremony is going
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: to be held at Dolby Live at Park MGM in
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: Las Vegas on Friday night, April seventeenth, with a nine
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: pm local start time, so that's midnight Eastern, shortly after
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: SmackDown ends that night at the Team Mobile Arena and
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: broadcast details for the ceremony have not yet been revealed.
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: Dolby Live is listed as having a capacity of around
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: fifty two hundred seats. It is different from last year's venue.
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: Last year's ceremony was held at the Fontaine Blue Hotel.
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: Stephanie McMahon aj styles have already been announced, and the
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: announcement came on Monday from the Undertaker, who facetimed with
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: these two men to let them know that Acts and
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: Smash Demolition is finally, at long last, taking their rightful
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: place in the WWE Hall of Fame. This has been
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: a long time coming, to say the least. They were
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: my favorite tag team as a kid. I have been
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: lobbying for this. I mean, you listen to this sounduff
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: for any umber of years, any length of time, you
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: guys know what goes back at least fifteen years. I've
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: been talking about this on the podcast. They were my
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: favorite tag team as a kid. Just I loved everything
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: about them, the look, the music, the iconic Rick Darren
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: Drew music. I know, the knock on them was always
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: a bunch of Road Warrior ripoffs. Well, you know what,
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: I didn't have any concept to that when I was
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: first you know, watching them, and to me, they were
• 1:23:25
  Speaker 1: to me what the Road Warriors were. I'm sure to
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: a lot of other people who were watching them in
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: Jim Crockett promotions and wherever else that you know, they
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: were watching Hawk and Animal. For me, it was accent Smash,
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: although clearly you know, both teams drew influence from the
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: Mad Max movie, but Demolition was the shit to me.
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: And I had the chance to interview them or wrestle
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: Khan as part of Wrestlemanting a thirty three weekend in
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: Orlando number of years ago, god, probably eight years ago now,
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: and it was it was a thrill to be able
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: to chat with them, and of course I asked them
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: to same question I'm sure a lot of other people
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: have asked them over the years, which is, hey, when
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: are you going to go into the Hall of Fame.
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: I'm sure no one is happier to go into the
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: Hall of Fame than these two, not not even for
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: the honor of being able to, you know, get that
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: kind of news and to be able to, you know,
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: get their flowers, and that's all very cool, but they'll
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: be very happy to not have to answer any more
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: fucking questions about hey, when are you going into the
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: Hall of Fame? How come you're not in the Hall
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: of fame. I'm they're breathing a sigh of relief they
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: don't have to answer those questions anymore. But one of
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: the biggest reasons I'm very, very happy and excited to
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: see this is because so many other people who should
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: have had the opportunity to, you know, go and speak
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: to the fans and to their peers and to have
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: that speech never had the opportunity because Vince McMahon did
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: not want them in the Hall of Fame for one
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: reason or another, or he just and maybe it wasn't
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: even anything personal, but he just it was his decision
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: to make ultimately at the time, and he just decided
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: that this was not the year for this person to
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: go in or that person to go in, and then
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: they fucking died, And then they didn't have the chance
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: even when they were eventually inducted, to accept it and
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: to cut a speech and to speak and be alive,
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: to get their flowers one last time. And I'll never
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: forgive him for that. When it comes to Randy Savage,
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: you know the fact that the macho man went into
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame and he was already gone. His
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: brother had to accept on his behalf. What would a
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: macho man Hall of Fame speech have looked like? Like
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: we were deprived of ever knowing because of the bad
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 1: blood there. Then Evince had, you know, with him or
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: for him for so many years, and it was inevitable
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: that he was going to go into the fucking Hall
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: of Fame, but he waited too long. Vader is another one.
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: Vader literally knew that he was going to die, Like
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: his doctor told him, you were on borrowed time. You
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: have a bad heart. You have two years to live.
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: I remember when he tweeted that because he was active
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: on Twitter, I have two years to live, and in
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: those two years he was but you know, often he
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: would lobby and talk about how important it is for
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: him to be in the Hall of Fame. They had
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: him in to do the induction for stan Hansen, and
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 1: he was very entertaining. He was talking about the eyeball
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: story where they had that match in Japan where his
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: eye fucking popped out, and I think he had the
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: like the wacky glasses like. He was telling cracking jokes
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: and everything that I'm like, man like, I hope he
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: has the chance one day when he goes in to
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: be there for his own speech, and hopefully it's as
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: entertaining as the one he's giving for stan Hansen. But again,
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: he knew he was on borrow time and then he died.
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: They did not put him in the Hall of Fame
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: until after he was already gone, and that could have
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: very well happened with these two. So, if for no
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: other reason, I'm very happy that they are actually still
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: alive and breathing and above ground and that they will
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: be able to enjoy this. And they put out a
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: new episode of their demo pod. They have their own podcast,
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: by the way, and they thanked everybody who helped get
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: them into the Hall of Fame, and Barry Darco said this,
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: we really do have to say, Yeah, you brought up
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: Kevin Nash. He's a great guy and he's been pushing
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: for us to get into the Hall of Fame for years.
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: We have to thank him. Brett Hart. There's so many guys.
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: Rick Flair called me up last year and said, congratulations,
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: you're getting into the Hall of Fame. And I said, Rick, no,
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: not yet, we're not there. And Flair said, oh, I
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: thought you were going in. Yeah, Rick was. He had
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 1: already downed a few I guess by that point in
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: the morning when he made that phone call, so you
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 1: have to excuse him. But they said that the Hardy's
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: and the Dudley's aren't Anderson, Untully, Blanchard, the Warlord, the
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: Barbarian Typhoon, They're just some of the people that have
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: reached out to them since news of the induction broke.
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: Shout out by the way to Typhoon, Fred Otman. He
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: has been going through some rough health issues. Hopefully the
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: worst of that is behind him now. His gallbladder exploded
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: basically inside of his body and it caused all sorts
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: of complications. He was in the hospital for over thirty days.
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: I think he's on the men now, hopefully he's doing well.
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: Bill Eady said, it's nice to be back in the
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: frat house. We were in the fraternity for years, but
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: we weren't allowed in the frat house for some reason.
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: But now we're back in the house. And you know,
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: you look back at the career of these two guys,
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: and it was a lot more than just Demolition, but
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: Demolition as a tag team. Originally, Barry Darco was not
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 1: part of that tag team. It was Bill Edy and
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: Randy Cully in the role who played Moondog Rex from
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: the Moondog's Tag Team, and Darso, I mean he replaced
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: him very quick. I want to say. Cully portrayed Smash
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: for maybe three matches and then they made the switch
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: to Barry Darso. I guess because too many people recognized
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: that it was Moondog Rex. They said, Okay, we can't
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: have him in this spot, so they switched. But they
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 1: went on to hold the tag team titles three different
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: times in the late eighties and early nineties. Their first
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: run spanned four hundred and seventy eight days. That was
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 1: the longest for years and years and years, the longest
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: in WWE history until that record was broken by the
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: New Day in twenty sixteen, ten years ago at four
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: hundred and eighty three days, and then that record was
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: later broken by the Ussos at six hundred and twenty
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: two days when they dropped the belts to Kevin Owens
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: and Sammy's Ain in the Night one main event at
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: WrestleMania thirty nine. But you look at the tag teams
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: like a murderer's row of teams that these two guys
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: had to work with back then. I mean, this was
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: this was the pinnacle of tag team wrestling anyway back then.
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: But the Heart Foundation, the Legion of Doom, the Brainbusters,
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: the Rockers, Powers of Pain, Strike Force, the Bulldogs. You know,
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: Barry Darsa. I mentioned that these two guys are more
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: than just Demolition. I mean, Barry Darca. They may be
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: going in his demolition, but Darso he had a very
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: successful run in Jim Crockett Promotions as Krusher Khrushchev, you know,
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: and every other character he portrayed for the remainder of
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: his career was more just for comedy, and he was
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: Repoman I repel man will always be a guilty pleasure
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 1: of mine. I don't care what anybody says. The gimmick,
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: the entrance music, the corny promos, and the vignettes. If
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: you never saw the vignettes of him repossessing he repossessing
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: this kid's bike and someone's car out of their garage
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: late at night. It was on one of the Colisseum videos.
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: So yeah, Repo Man, Blacktop, Bully God who had the
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: hole in one dar Soo, the evil Golfer. Like, I mean,
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: you know, man's got to work, right. Money is money,
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: it's a payday. It's got a family to feed. But nothing,
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, you could say maybe Crush or Crusher, but
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: nothing really ever hit the peak that Demolition did. And
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: as far as Bill Edy goes, he was the mass
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: superstar for many years, and he worked with big names
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: when they were on top as the champion, like Bob
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: Backland and Hulk Hogan. And so what ended up happening was,
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: you know, later on in the nineties he sued them
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: over the rights to the Demolition name, and that was
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: a civil case that dragged out for many many years.
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: Ultimately I think he did win the rights. It took
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: a long time and a lot of bad blood, a
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: lot of money, and then he and Dars were later
• 1:31:06
  Speaker 1: part of that class action concussion lawsuit against WWE, and
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: that's likely what did them in for so long. But
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: last year they signed Legends contracts and they were personally
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: invited to attend the Hall of Fame ceremony last year
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: by Triple H. So at that point it seemed pretty
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: clear the ice had thawed between them, them and the
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: company and that Vince McMahon leaving had a lot to
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: do with that. And Vince McMahon is still in charge.
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: Demolition ain't going into the Hall of Fame. That's just
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: the fact. But I look back at Demolition. Do I
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: have favorite matches and moments? You bet your ass I do.
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: I mean the double turn at Survivor Series eighty eight,
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 1: It just it came out of nowhere, but it's still
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: a memorable moment, that big ass Survivor Series elimination match.
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: And in the middle of it, because Demolition were healed,
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: powers of pain came in his babyfaces right and mister
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: Fuji was managing Demolition, but they did a double and
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: that's probably the earliest memorable Demolition moment for me. The
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: second oldest most memorable Demolition moment for me was the
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine Royal Rumble, And so the Rumble, this
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: was only the second one they ever did as far
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 1: as like a big event and you have one member
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: of Demolition come out to open the match. I don't
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: remember who it was. Was it Ax who came out?
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: I think it was Axukin No, maybe it was Smash,
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: I don't remember now, but one of them came out
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: at number one and then they hit the Demolition music
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: again and the other one came out at number two
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: and it was like, holy shit, like this is fucking unbelievable.
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: So that was a memorable moment. They were part of
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: probably my favorite Survivor series team ever in eighty nine
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: with Hulk, Hogan and Jake the Snake Roberts. I mean,
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: like if you could sum up eighties WWE in one image, like,
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: there it is, right, you got Hogan, Jake the Snake,
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: Demolition all on the same team. I mean, there it is.
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: But they had some really good matches on Saturday Nights
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 1: made Event against the Rockers and the brain Busters. They
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: won the Tag team Championships back Probably the most memorable
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: Demolition moment. My favorite Demolition moment is WrestleMania six. Right.
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: I don't want to say that was a great match,
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: but they had a match with Andre, who was I mean,
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: Andre was basically at the bitter end of his in
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: ring career at that point. There wasn't much he could do.
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: But it was him and Haku. They were the Colossal Connection,
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: and so they had taken the titles off of them
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: and put them on the brain Busters. They left, I
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: want to say Tully failed a drug test. Whatever it was.
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: Aren't finished up. They weren't supposed to leave that soon,
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: but they ended up leaving. They had to get the
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 1: belts off of them, so the Belts went back to
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: Demolition just for them to lose them to the Colossal Connection. Right,
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 1: Since the brain Busters weren't around anymore, they went from
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: one Bobby Heenen team to another. It's like the fucking
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: Don Kallis family. There was no shortage of members back then.
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: But that moment where they won the belts back and
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 1: they three peeded it WrestleMania six, Like when they got
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: the three count and you just see sixty eight thousand
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 1: people at the SkyDome leaped to their feet. This just
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: great moment. And then after the match is when Bobby
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: Heenen was putting his finger in Andrea's face and he
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: smacked him paint brushed him right across the face, and
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: this was the Andre babyface turn. It's like, all right,
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: Andre physically is done, so this is going to be
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: his big heroic moment where we flip him back to babyface.
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 1: A very very memorable segment at that WrestleMania. But their
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: best match that I ever saw Demolition have was later
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: that year at Summer Slim in nineteen ninety they had
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: a best two out of three falls match with the
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 1: Heart Foundation where the Heart Foundation won the belts. Back
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 1: to me, that's the best Demolition match, and Crush was
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: in that match. So what had happened is that Ax
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: he was still there. They became a trio, and the
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: reason they added cross USh is because Axe had some
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: health issues. He had an allergy to shellfish. He had
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: an allergic reaction. He almost died. I think it had
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: an effect on his heart, and so they needed somebody
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 1: to step into his place until he was ready to
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: come back. So that's why Demolition became a trio and
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 1: they added Brian Adams that was the birth of Crush
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: with Demolition, and he is not listed as being a
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 1: part of this induction. Obviously he's dead, so he's not
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: actually physically around anymore. But there's no mention of Crush,
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 1: there's no mention of them going in as a trio.
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: I'm okay with it because, honestly like his run as
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: part of Demolition. While it is memorable and he did
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: get to stand in as one half of the tag
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: team champions, it was so short and to me it's
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: like an early chunk of his career when he was
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: very young, and he went on to have a singles
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: run and another tag team run is part of a
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 1: completely different team with Brian Adams, Brian Clark. Rather that,
• 1:36:02
  Speaker 1: I don't really see the need for Crush to be
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: a part of a Demolition induction. To me, I just
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: like when I think of Demolition, I don't think of
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: the trio in nineteen ninety. I think of Demolition as
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: a tag team. And if Crush is ever going to
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: go into the Hall of Fame, I think you could
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: put him into the Hall of Fame separately. One day,
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: he had a pretty good run for himself as a
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: singles in that company, both as a baby face and
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 1: a heel. He doesn't need to be part of the
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: induction here, although I would imagine they would probably shout
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 1: him out and mention him during their speech unless there
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: was bad blood there for some reason, I would imagine
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: they would probably shout him out. But the thing I
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: hate about what happened there at the end of their
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: run is just the way that they were discarded by
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: WWE once they got their hand. Once Vince got his
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: hands on the Road Warriors and he brought them in
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety, Demolition was like, Okay, we don't need
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: you anymore. And I know Ax was on his way
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: out anyway. It wasn't the original team anymore. But to
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: see how they were used at the end. We never
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: got a proper feud with Demolition and LD It was
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: so one sided. Whenever they did wrestle, it was just
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 1: Led would kick their asses and like their last wrestle
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: Mini Imagine ninety one, it was Smashing Crush against Tenru
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: and Katao from one of the Japanese promotions. I forgot
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: which one SWS Maybe I don't think it was all Japan,
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: but whoever they were affiliated with, they bring in these
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 1: these two wrestlers from Japan and Tendru was I mean,
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: he was obviously a big name, but like the fans
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: in WWI didn't know. They didn't know who these fucking
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: guys were. And they're in there against demolition and they're
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 1: doing and they're doing jobs, and I'm like, man, you
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: talk about cutting their nuts off on the way out.
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: It was it was sad, and they took their music
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 1: away from them. They were coming out of some generic music. Now.
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: It was awful. It was awful the way their run
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: ended in that company. But Barry Darso says they have
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: been in conversations with WWE over who will be inducting them,
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 1: And I know, from my point of view, I could
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: see WWE wanting a current team to induct them, maybe
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: one of the teams who surpassed their record, so either
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: the New Day or the Ussos. But you got Warlord
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 1: and Barbarian Men. They're still around, so are Arn Anderson
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: and Tully Blanchard, and they're not affiliated with AW anymore. Right,
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: the Brainbusters they're right there, they're right there. They had
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: some great battles with those two, and Darso, I know,
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 1: is very good friends with Arn he's been on Arn's
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: podcast before. I'm sure Arn Anderson would give one hell
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: of a speech. So if I had a vote, I
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: think the Brainbusters would be a fine choice. But those
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: conversations are ongoing. But very very happy that Demolition is
• 1:38:50
  Speaker 1: finally taking their spot in the Hall of Fame. And
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 1: now I guess we're gonna wait to see when Rick
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: Martel's gonna go in. He deserves to be in there,
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: without question. I think, look, Ken Shamrock is going to
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 1: be another name to keep an eye out for because
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: I think Shamrock finally signed a Legends deal or a
• 1:39:09
  Speaker 1: merchandising deal last year with them. That's what happened with Demolition,
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 1: and now they're going into the Hall of Fame. So
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: maybe Ken Shamrock gets added to the class this year.
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: But Wressel Votes Radio reports that the next edition of
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: Saturday Night's main event is currently slated for May twenty third,
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 1: and the location for the show is not yet confirmed,
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 1: but they note that Nashville is being considered. That's a
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: week before their clash in Italy, PL but also the
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: same weekend as aw Double or Nothing from New York City.
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: That show is on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend,
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 1: so there's no direct conflict between the two shows unless
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 1: Nashville is not the location and WWE decides to run
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: New York, which would be par for the course with
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: this company if that was to happen, and perbodyslam dot Net,
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 1: sources indicate that Kevin Owens is set to undergo reevaluation
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: this summer to see how things are coming along recovery
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: wise with his neck. Another source indicates that WWE is
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: hopeful that Owens will be able to return at some
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: point in twenty twenty six. That would be a welcome
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 1: addition to the roster. He is sorely missed on that
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: SmackDown brand, and he was also confirmed as one of
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: the new coaches along with Natty for WWELFG Season three,
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: which is premiering on April twenty sixth on the A
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: and E Network. They are replacing Undertaker and Michelle McCool
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: I guess they're very busy with their podcast obligations and
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: Undertaker has become He's l hefe now down in a
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: triple A. He's a little busy now for LFG. I
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 1: think Kevin Owens is a fine addition to that show.
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: This week's episode is sponsored by Wicks. We got to
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: talk about Wicks's new Harmony editor. This thing makes it
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: incredibly easy to create a website from scratch, right down
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: to the way that you always pictured it in your head.
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: It's insane. I only wish this existed years ago and
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 1: I created my first website. What have saved me a
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: lot of grief. It is the new way to create websites.
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 1: You just type in a prompt and you can get
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: yourself set up with a professional website in no time.
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: And my favorite part is the way that it allows
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 1: you to jump back and forth between AI and hands
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 1: on editing whenever you want, so you get the speed
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 1: and efficiency of AI and your own personal AI agent
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: named Aria, along with the precision of your own hands
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: so you stay in control of every little detail to
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: help you build your site and manage your business whatever
• 1:41:38
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• 1:41:41
  Speaker 1: this one that you're listening to right now, it could
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: be a product, a service, anything, literally anything. And enjoy
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: easy domain registration with web hosting included. It's the new
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: way to create websites. Trust Wix with yours and see
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 1: what they can do for you. Visit wis dot com
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: slash harm that's Wix dot com slash harmony. I've been
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: talking about this whole Warner Brothers Discovery sago with Paramount,
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: Skydance and Netflix. Paramount seemingly has won the bidding. Now
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: it just comes down to regulatory approval. What effect is
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 1: this going to have on AAW It was an interesting
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 1: update this week from Alex Sherman, who's a media and
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 1: sports reporter for CNBC. This was from his CNBC Sports
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 1: newsletter title, CBS may unwind at Turner Sports strategy and
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: I'll just read to you from some of this and
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: then we'll get into the potential effect on AW here.
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: But it says for employees, one of the frustrating ripple
• 1:42:41
  Speaker 1: effects of going through a merger is that corporate strategy
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: can shift on a dime. That's likely what's about to
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 1: happen to Turner Sports if Paramount's deal for Warner Brothers
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: Discovery is approved by shareholders and regulators. For nearly two years,
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: around the time it lost its NBA Live games, wbd's
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: Turner Sports has invested in a bunch of less expensive
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: sports rights to fill the gap. In twenty twenty four,
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: Turner cut a deal with ESPN to sub license early
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: round college football playoff games. Later that year, Turner scooped
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 1: up French open rights in a ten year agreement, and
• 1:43:13
  Speaker 1: they follow that with a multi year agreement for the
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 1: three on three women's basketball league Unrivaled. It also renewed
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 1: its deal with all Elite Wrestling that October. These smaller
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: sports deals buoyed Turner's existing portfolio of MLB, NHL, March Madness,
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: and Big East College basketball games. The point of these
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 1: deals was to support distribution for TNT in its sister networks,
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: including TBS. During carriage renewal negotiations with PayTV providers, WBD
• 1:43:44
  Speaker 1: CEO David Zaslov and the team at TNT Sports thought
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: that if TNT could pick up a bunch of smaller sports,
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: the combined effect could essentially equal the distribution power of
• 1:43:54
  Speaker 1: the NBA. The early results showed its strategy seemed to
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 1: be working. Comcast struck a deal with WBD in late
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, and TNT's carriage fees remain flat despite
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 1: the loss of the NBA. But while non NFL and
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: non NBA sports rights are important, if not essential, to
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 1: the survival of smaller modern media companies with cable exposure.
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 1: They're not nearly as important to companies that already spend
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 1: billions of dollars each year on marquee sports. Buying or
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 1: renewing Tier two or Tier three sports is probably not
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: the best use of capital for a company that's looking
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: for six billion dollars in synergies ie cuts and has
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: promised to make thirty theatrical films. The NFL will also
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: be looking for a lot more money from its media
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: partners when it begins renewal talks, likely later this year.
• 1:44:47
  Speaker 1: And by the way, when I say Tier two, i'm
• 1:44:50
  Speaker 1: including MLB and NHL at least MLB and NHL regular
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 1: season games. TNT's rights for both are up after the
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight season now is part of paramount. Those
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 1: rights are far less important. Maybe CBS Sports would renew them.
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 1: Maybe not chances our CBS would want playoff games, but
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: maybe quite willing to live without lower rated regular season packages.
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 1: This isn't to say that Turner will abandon sports. It
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: likely has covenance with PayTV providers that mandate a certain
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: amount of live sports, and some of its current deals
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 1: are long. It's like the agreement with the French open,
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: but still conversations with sports executives this week suggested it
• 1:45:30
  Speaker 1: might be wise for CBS to cut the amount of
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: sports on TNT to its bare minimum. The cable network
• 1:45:37
  Speaker 1: no longer needs to rely on Turner deals for carriage.
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 1: It now has the heft of the CBS portfolio already.
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 1: This week, Paramounts CEO David Ellison said Paramounts deal with
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: UFC gives the company the flexibility to air matches on
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 1: TNT air matches on TN air fights their fights on TNT.
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: So the long and short of this here is that
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: AW would have to be considered tier three. Probably it is.
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 1: It is a lower level. I struggle to even say
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: sport because supposedly it's not under the sports banner of
• 1:46:16
  Speaker 1: Warner Brothers Discovery. It's under the Entertainment division. But I'm
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 1: not even sure how true that is, because whenever I
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 1: watch Dynamite in the HBO Max app, it's under the
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: sports tab. So I don't know how the fuck they
• 1:46:26
  Speaker 1: classify AW. You would think it's classified under sport, and
• 1:46:30
  Speaker 1: if so, then that could potentially be a problem because
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 1: AW would not be a priority then for Paramount, if
• 1:46:37
  Speaker 1: they're looking again, that's the key here. They're looking to
• 1:46:39
  Speaker 1: make six billion dollars basically in cuts and there's going
• 1:46:42
  Speaker 1: to be mass layoffs. There's going to be a lot
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 1: of bloodshed here, and is aw going to be a priority.
• 1:46:50
  Speaker 1: Tony Khan evidently thinks this is great. There was an
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 1: item in The Observer this week. Those close to Tony
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 1: Khan say that he was thrilled when the news came
• 1:46:59
  Speaker 1: out about Paramount winning the bidding for WBD, feeling that
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: this was the best possible scenario for him. Others are
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: claiming that it's the death knell because Paramount either to
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 1: cut back on costs or due to pressure from TKO,
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: given how they have contracts with UFC and Zoofa Boxing
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: will get rid of TKO's only real significant wrestling competition.
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 1: Not much has happened past David Ellison saying that the
• 1:47:25
  Speaker 1: plan is to merge HBO Max and Paramount Plus into
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 1: a single service, which is what I talked about last week,
• 1:47:32
  Speaker 1: the combined But this little nugget right here, I didn't
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: know about this until I saw this in the Observer.
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 1: The combined new service, whatever its name would be, would
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: combine those two services along with Discovery Plus, b Et
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 1: Plus and Pluto TV. Now, wait just a minute. I
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 1: am a big Pluto TV fan. I love Pluto TV.
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: I love some of the twenty four hour channels on
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 1: Pluto TV. You realize they have a twenty four hour
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: a day Bob Barker Specific Prices right channel on Pluto TV.
• 1:48:08
  Speaker 1: That's how specific some of these channels are. They have
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 1: a Matlock channel they have They have all kinds of
• 1:48:14
  Speaker 1: channels on there, and I probably only I probably watched
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 1: the same like four over and over again. They have
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 1: a Bob Ross channel if you ever want to watch
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 1: The Joy of Painting. I love fucking Pluto even with
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: all the commercials. It's a free service, so you got
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 1: tons of commercials, but it's free and it's great. And
• 1:48:28
  Speaker 1: now the idea that this is gonna get sucked into
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 1: this Paramount plus bullshit gives me pause, Like what is
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: that gonna look like? Now? Is Pluto gonna go away?
• 1:48:37
  Speaker 1: Is it gonna end up being a tab under Paramount
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: Plus that you have to pay for? I don't know.
• 1:48:41
  Speaker 1: I'm sure they'll fuck it up somehow. We can't have
• 1:48:44
  Speaker 1: nice things like the WWE network. Right, we didn't know
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 1: what we had until it was gone. But when I
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: saw Pluto, I said, wait a minute, now, that's a
• 1:48:53
  Speaker 1: red line for me. You keep your fucking hands off
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 1: Pluto TV. Anyway, that's the update on that. Well, we'll
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: say Tony Kahn apparently seems to think that this is
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 1: gonna work out really well for him, But I truly
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: don't even think he knows. I think he's trying to
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 1: be optimistic. Yeah. Again, the idea that you know, are
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: they gonna get rid of AW and that's gonna be
• 1:49:14
  Speaker 1: the death Now, it's not the death. Now. If AW
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: has to go find television somewhere else, they will. You know,
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 1: the numbers they do are good enough that someone will
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 1: want to pick them up and do something with them.
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 1: The question is how much money are they going to get?
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 1: Because if they're getting five or six hundred million dollars
• 1:49:29
  Speaker 1: right now and their current deal from Warner Brothers Discovery,
• 1:49:32
  Speaker 1: can they find another cable network with a decent reach
• 1:49:35
  Speaker 1: that's going to pay them that or more. That's the question.
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: That's where it gets a little bit diceier, but dynamite.
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 1: This week, it was a good night, bad night scenario
• 1:49:46
  Speaker 1: for Kevin Knight, whose stock continues to rise despite the
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 1: people who thought, oh my god, he lost twice in
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 1: one night. They're burying the guy. What are they doing
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 1: to this guy? Of course, you're looking at it all wrong.
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 1: You know, he has been all over these shows. There's
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 1: a lot of people on that roster, bigger names than
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 1: Kevin Knight, by the way, who can't buy television time.
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 1: The kind of TV exposure he's been getting over the
• 1:50:10
  Speaker 1: last couple of months, He's going to be just fine.
• 1:50:13
  Speaker 1: He had a World Championship match with MJF and then
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 1: he ended up in an impromptu main event that was
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: made in the middle of the show, losing the trios
• 1:50:22
  Speaker 1: titles for his team to Okata, Kyle Fletcher, and Mark Davis.
• 1:50:26
  Speaker 1: They are the new Trios Champions, which I don't mind
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 1: because it gets the Trio's Belt off of Hangman. He
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: doesn't have to have the Trio's belt. He's wrestling MJF
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 1: at Revolution. The fuck does he need to be a
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: trios champion for He didn't need to be a trios
• 1:50:39
  Speaker 1: Champion any more than Samoa Joe did, so I don't
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 1: mind them doing the title change. But Fightful Select is
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 1: reporting that Kevin Knight recently re signed with AW He
• 1:50:48
  Speaker 1: had signed a one year deal at the beginning of
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: last year, but the new contract is said to be
• 1:50:52
  Speaker 1: for multiple years, which I mean, fucking no shit, it
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 1: should be. I mean, they've spent the last few months
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: of television telling us what a bright future he has
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 1: and how great he is. Re Signing him should have
• 1:51:04
  Speaker 1: been a no brainer. He is one of those young
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: guys on that roster that should end up being part
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 1: of their core group of guys for years to come.
• 1:51:13
  Speaker 1: Like the potential for that is there. Whether they see
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: that through time will tell, but he should be part
• 1:51:18
  Speaker 1: of that core group of talent that Tony can build around,
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: whether it's four or five six guys in the years
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 1: to come. One thing I will say, though, looking at
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 1: this match that they signed, and I'm gonna get to
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna run down the Revolution card in a little
• 1:51:32
  Speaker 1: bit and give my early predictions here because the pay
• 1:51:34
  Speaker 1: per view is a week away. It is next Sunday.
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 1: But they added a match totally random to the Revolution
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 1: card where Okada will not be defending his international title,
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: nor will Kyle Fletcher be defending his TNT championship. But Okada,
• 1:51:50
  Speaker 1: Fletcher and Davis are going to put their titles on
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 1: the line against Kevin Knight, Speedball, Mike Bailey and Mystic
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: Oh why it's Mystico trying to get some of that
• 1:52:02
  Speaker 1: Mystico rub I guess by having him on the show.
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 1: I don't fucking know. It's very sad to see what
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 1: has happened to the international title. I still maintain the
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 1: TNT Championship is the one that, really, when you consider
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 1: the value of these titles, has been greatly diminished as
• 1:52:17
  Speaker 1: compared to any of the other men's belts on the show.
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 1: By the addition of all of these belts, the TNT
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 1: title is the one that's really taken a hit the most.
• 1:52:25
  Speaker 1: But it's sad to see, you know, what's happened to
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 1: the international title. Okata has it and they don't have
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 1: him doing anything with it. You know, he's certainly not
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 1: out there defending it internationally the way that Ricochet is
• 1:52:37
  Speaker 1: defending it in outside promotions. You know, the national title.
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 1: It's just sad and now here he is in a
• 1:52:43
  Speaker 1: fucking trios match at one of their biggest shows of
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 1: the year, Like, what are we doing here? David Finley,
• 1:52:50
  Speaker 1: he debuted the answer to the question, where is David
• 1:52:53
  Speaker 1: Finley going to go? Well, we have our answer now.
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: He debuted on Dynamite and fight Full is reporting it
• 1:53:00
  Speaker 1: is a multi year deal that he signed with the company.
• 1:53:04
  Speaker 1: He has been reunited with his War Dogs teammates Gabe
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 1: Kid and Clark Conners. Corey Hayes of bodyslam dot Net
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 1: reported that Finley rejected what was said to be a
• 1:53:14
  Speaker 1: lower level contract offer to start with NXT from WWE,
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 1: and that led to him signing with aw this past week,
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 1: and it led to the announcement that all three men
• 1:53:24
  Speaker 1: are now Elite, including Gabe Kid and Clark Conners. Gabe Kid,
• 1:53:29
  Speaker 1: mister I love New Japan, I want to be here
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: for New Japan is now all Elite and Dave Meltzer
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 1: is reporting that his decision this being Findley now was
• 1:53:39
  Speaker 1: driven at least in part by the fact that he
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 1: recently had a child and he wanted to move away
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 1: from the rigorous international travel schedule with New Japan to
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 1: be home more often. Which makes sense, right, You mean
• 1:53:51
  Speaker 1: your family is growing, maybe you're home sick, you want
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 1: to come home write nothing wrong with that, he says.
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 1: The creative pitch from WWE was for him to headline
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 1: the NXT brand as the leader of a new second
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: generation stable called The Dogs, with names like Lexus King,
• 1:54:09
  Speaker 1: Stax Lorenzo, Arianna Grace, and Uriah Conners who's actually Finley's
• 1:54:15
  Speaker 1: younger brother Brogan. Yes, the Dogs, which is actually what
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 1: they are going by now in AAW NXT ae W.
• 1:54:25
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. It's a bad name either way. War
• 1:54:30
  Speaker 1: Dogs at least sounded cool. The Dogs, Yeah, I think
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 1: we could probably do a little bit better than that.
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 1: I think Finley is a good signing. He has really
• 1:54:39
  Speaker 1: grown over the last three or four years, you know,
• 1:54:41
  Speaker 1: working in New Japan, and he's really come into his
• 1:54:43
  Speaker 1: own and I think he would have been a great
• 1:54:45
  Speaker 1: pickup for either WWE or AW. The question is where
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 1: does he fit in better, And he probably fits him
• 1:54:52
  Speaker 1: better in AW right now. It just in terms of
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 1: I think what he brings to the table. The bigger
• 1:54:57
  Speaker 1: question though, is that roster is so fucking big, and
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 1: he's been signing Tony has so many people. Where is
• 1:55:04
  Speaker 1: he really going to end up being slotted? That's really
• 1:55:08
  Speaker 1: the question. If it comes down to you know, money
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 1: and being home, his schedule in AW is not going
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 1: to be what it would be in WWE. I don't
• 1:55:17
  Speaker 1: know about NXT, but if he was on the main
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 1: roster in WWE, he'd be traveling more. So, you know
• 1:55:23
  Speaker 1: what what it boils down to as far as like
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 1: what's most important to him, I'm sure he weighed all
• 1:55:28
  Speaker 1: of this, just as Josh Alexander and all these other
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: people that have signed recently, and they made the decision
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 1: to go with AW they had their reasons for doing so.
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 1: I just don't see him really breaking out as any
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 1: sort of, you know, major player at the top of
• 1:55:43
  Speaker 1: the card anytime soon, because it's just so full. And
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 1: maybe that's maybe that's fine. Maybe you know, him and
• 1:55:49
  Speaker 1: Gabe Kid and Clark Conners can just build themselves up
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the card and a year from
• 1:55:54
  Speaker 1: now or a year and a half from now, we're
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 1: looking at at Finley in a different position, you know,
• 1:55:59
  Speaker 1: we're looking at him in a higher spot up on
• 1:56:01
  Speaker 1: the card. But right now, you know, he'll probably just
• 1:56:05
  Speaker 1: be doing stuff with the dogs on Collision and the
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 1: occasional dynamite appearance, and you'll have this, You'll have people
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: bitching about, oh my god, I can't believe that, you know,
• 1:56:12
  Speaker 1: David Finley he's stuck in the middle of the card.
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 1: What is Tony Kahan doing. I'm sure David Finley wait
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 1: all of that before he made his decision. You know,
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 1: he's still a solid addition to that roster, but they
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 1: have a lot of people who are solid and more
• 1:56:29
  Speaker 1: than solid. Did they need him, No, they did not
• 1:56:31
  Speaker 1: need him. But he's still a fine addition to that roster.
• 1:56:36
  Speaker 1: Penelope Ford, unfortunately, the latest update on her is not
• 1:56:40
  Speaker 1: so positive. If you remember a couple of weeks ago
• 1:56:42
  Speaker 1: on Dynamite, there was a match for the women's tag
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 1: team titles. It was Megan Bain and Penelope Ford against
• 1:56:47
  Speaker 1: Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron. He was a rematch from
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 1: Grand Slam Australia and I thought, okay, well we're probably
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: going to get a title match or a title chant.
• 1:56:56
  Speaker 1: Well we are getting a title match, you fucking idiot,
• 1:56:58
  Speaker 1: We're going to get a title change. I talk to
• 1:57:00
  Speaker 1: myself sometimes when I make a mistake, I call myself
• 1:57:03
  Speaker 1: a fucking idiot. See that's accountability right there. I take
• 1:57:06
  Speaker 1: myself to task. But no, they had a title match
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 1: and I thought, well, we're gonna get a title change,
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 1: and we didn't because Penelope forward in doing a moon
• 1:57:17
  Speaker 1: salt off the top rope to the floor, landed on
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 1: her feet and she ended up hurting her ankle, and
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 1: it looked bad because she was on the ground and
• 1:57:26
  Speaker 1: she was crying like she knew something was wrong. And
• 1:57:29
  Speaker 1: then there was an update later on from Brian Alvarez
• 1:57:32
  Speaker 1: that said she only suffered an ankle's sprain and so
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 1: she shouldn't be out for too long. She'll be back soon.
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 1: I don't know if Alvarez just got bad information or
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 1: if things they thought it was looking good and upon
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 1: further investigation it turned out, well, it's not so good,
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 1: because Tony Kahn said it looks like, unfortunately, Penelope will
• 1:57:54
  Speaker 1: be out with an injury, maybe for weeks, but possibly
• 1:57:58
  Speaker 1: even up to months. This was in a pre show
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 1: stream on his x account before collision last night, so
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 1: this came right from the horse's mouth. This came right
• 1:58:09
  Speaker 1: from Tony himself. So anyway, best wishes to Penelope before.
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 1: She has just been completely snake bitten when it comes
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 1: to injuries, and hopefully it's not as serious as they
• 1:58:19
  Speaker 1: think it looks and she won't be out for months
• 1:58:21
  Speaker 1: and months. But in the meantime they basically slotted Lena
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 1: Cross in her spot with Megan Bain and a note
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 1: on a former TBS champion in Mercedes Monett, who is
• 1:58:33
  Speaker 1: now down to I believe seven active belts. Seven belts.
• 1:58:38
  Speaker 1: Monette the now former CMLL Women's champion and she lost
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 1: the title to Persephone in Arena Mexico on Friday night.
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 1: So the downfall continues and the match headline CMLL's all
• 1:58:52
  Speaker 1: Women's show La Notche de la Amazonas, and the locker
• 1:58:57
  Speaker 1: room emptied out to celebrate in the ring with Persephone
• 1:59:00
  Speaker 1: when the match was over. They really treated this like
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: a big deal. And Mercedes had won that championship at
• 1:59:06
  Speaker 1: Grand Slam Mexico in June of last year. Since then,
• 1:59:08
  Speaker 1: she defended the title three times and this was her
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 1: first match since losing the TBS title. The Willow Nightingale
• 1:59:15
  Speaker 1: on the New Year's Eve episode of Dynamite. That all
• 1:59:18
  Speaker 1: women's show on Friday night doubled the SmackDown show in attendance,
• 1:59:24
  Speaker 1: and that is without Mystico on the card. Unless he
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 1: was working under a wig. I don't believe he was
• 1:59:29
  Speaker 1: on that show. And yes I know it is not
• 1:59:31
  Speaker 1: apples to apples. I mean the cheapest ticket to the
• 1:59:34
  Speaker 1: CMLL show is probably about the same as what a
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 1: Burger Deluxe would cost it a diner here in New York.
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 1: Those SmackDown tickets were just a hell of a lot higher.
• 1:59:44
  Speaker 1: I'm sure still impressive though, sixteen thousand people in the
• 1:59:47
  Speaker 1: building to see Mercedes loser Championship. Let's talk about revolution.
• 1:59:51
  Speaker 1: Mercedes is not on this show, but we already have
• 1:59:54
  Speaker 1: a lot of matches that are official. I'm going to
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 1: run through the card here quickly and do some prediction,
• 2:00:00
  Speaker 1: and this will evolve over the week. Because this card
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: is clearly incomplete. We still have dynamite left to go.
• 2:00:06
  Speaker 1: On Wednesday, I'll actually start from the top this time.
• 2:00:09
  Speaker 1: I usually go from the bottom and work my way
• 2:00:11
  Speaker 1: up to the top. We'll start with the main event.
• 2:00:13
  Speaker 1: MJF is defending the AW World Championship against Hangman Adam
• 2:00:17
  Speaker 1: Page in a Texas death match, where if Hangman loses,
• 2:00:22
  Speaker 1: he can never again challenge for the AW World title.
• 2:00:26
  Speaker 1: I don't see Hangman never again challenging for the AW
• 2:00:29
  Speaker 1: World title, but I also don't see him winning the championship. Here.
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 1: They're gonna have to find a little wormhole to get
• 2:00:35
  Speaker 1: out of this at some point because I think MJF
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 1: is keeping his belt. I think he should keep his belt.
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 1: And I'm gonna say that Swerve Strickland is going to
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 1: play a role in MJF winning this match and Hangman losing.
• 2:00:47
  Speaker 1: How it all happens, at what moment it all goes down,
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 1: Does anybody else get involved? I don't know, but I
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 1: think Swerve is going to play a role in this.
• 2:00:56
  Speaker 1: I think he's trying to clear the deck as far
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: as all competition for that champion, and if he can
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 1: do something that would then cause Hangman to never again
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 1: be able to challenge for it, then that's what he'll do.
• 2:01:08
  Speaker 1: You know why, Because he's a heel And if you
• 2:01:12
  Speaker 1: don't think he's a heel yet, I think he'll solidify
• 2:01:14
  Speaker 1: that at Revolution. So I'm going with MJF. Now FTR
• 2:01:18
  Speaker 1: is going to put the aw Tag team titles on
• 2:01:19
  Speaker 1: the line against the Young Bucks. I know we're still
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 1: waiting to find out what's going on with Copeland and Christian,
• 2:01:26
  Speaker 1: and I got to be honest with you, at this point,
• 2:01:28
  Speaker 1: I don't care. I really I don't care. I've lost
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 1: all interest in this. They'll come back at some point,
• 2:01:34
  Speaker 1: they'll go after FTR at this point, I don't even
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 1: think it has to be for the titles. I think
• 2:01:39
  Speaker 1: we're getting the title change here, and I think the
• 2:01:42
  Speaker 1: Young Bucks are going to I don't even know how
• 2:01:44
  Speaker 1: many times they've been the champions. Is this going to
• 2:01:47
  Speaker 1: be reign number three, four, five, maybe four, I don't
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 1: even know. I'm not sure, but I think they're gonna
• 2:01:56
  Speaker 1: win those titles from FTR, and maybe it's with assist
• 2:02:00
  Speaker 1: from Coping Christian. Maybe they'll make a surprise return and
• 2:02:03
  Speaker 1: cost FTR the titles, and then when they go after
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 1: FTR doesn't have to be for the belts. If Tony
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 1: kan ever wants to put the belts on them, then
• 2:02:11
  Speaker 1: you could do the Young Bucks against Cop and Christian.
• 2:02:15
  Speaker 1: But I think we get a title change. John Moxley,
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 1: speaking of title changes, will put his Continental Championship on
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 1: the line against Kenoski Takeshta, no time limits this time.
• 2:02:24
  Speaker 1: I think Takeshta is going to win that title. I
• 2:02:26
  Speaker 1: think all roads lead to Champion against Champion title for
• 2:02:29
  Speaker 1: title unification between Takeshta and Okada, probably at all In
• 2:02:33
  Speaker 1: at Wembley Stadium in August. That's where I think this
• 2:02:36
  Speaker 1: is headed Andrede l Eedelo goes one on one with Bandido.
• 2:02:41
  Speaker 1: This is the match I'm looking forward to on this show.
• 2:02:43
  Speaker 1: That's going to be great, and Andrede is gonna win.
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 1: Swerve Strickland goes one on one with Brody King. That's
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 1: gonna be another great one. I'm going with Swerve. Doesn't
• 2:02:53
  Speaker 1: make any sense to beat Swerve right now. Tekla puts
• 2:02:56
  Speaker 1: her Women's World Championship on the line against the former
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 1: champion for stat Lander two out of three falls match.
• 2:03:03
  Speaker 1: Tecla just won the title. She seems to be doing
• 2:03:06
  Speaker 1: well with it so far, even though she's only had
• 2:03:07
  Speaker 1: that one defense against thunder Rosa. But I think it's
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 1: too soon. It's too soon to take the belt off
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 1: of her, so Tekla retains. We have Kazuchka Okata, Kyle Fletcher,
• 2:03:17
  Speaker 1: and Mark Davis, the new Trios Champions, putting their belts
• 2:03:19
  Speaker 1: on the line against Kevin Knight, Mike Bailey and Mystico
• 2:03:23
  Speaker 1: Why why not. Fletcher is going to be defending his
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 1: TNT title by the Way against Speedball on Dynamite this Wednesday,
• 2:03:32
  Speaker 1: and if it is anything like their first match and
• 2:03:34
  Speaker 1: the Continental Classic back in December, that's gonna be special.
• 2:03:38
  Speaker 1: I'm looking more forward to that than I am this match.
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 1: But I see the don Kallis family retaining as they
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 1: just won those titles. Timeless Tony Storm no titles on
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 1: the line here, but she goes one on one with
• 2:03:49
  Speaker 1: Marina Shaffir. Everyone is banned from ringside, the Conglomeration, the
• 2:03:53
  Speaker 1: Death Riders, they're all gone. It's just gonna be one
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 1: on one and it will be a win for Timeless
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: Tony Storm. Orange Cassidy had mentioned that him and Darby
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 1: were going to go after the Dogs. I guess they
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 1: are now in some former fashion on this show, but
• 2:04:09
  Speaker 1: then they went and announced that him and Darby are
• 2:04:11
  Speaker 1: going to be wrestling David Finley and gave Kid this Wednesday.
• 2:04:15
  Speaker 1: So I presume whatever the actual Revolution match is going
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 1: to be, we'll find out after that, so I can't
• 2:04:20
  Speaker 1: really comment on it beyond that, although if they do
• 2:04:22
  Speaker 1: a match, I would think the Dogs should get a
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 1: win given the David Finley just debuted for them. I
• 2:04:29
  Speaker 1: could see Willow Nightingale being added in a TBS title match,
• 2:04:32
  Speaker 1: maybe with Megan Bain. That's not official yet. Tamaso Champa
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 1: has said that he wants to get Sylvie back from
• 2:04:38
  Speaker 1: Kyle Fletcher, who turned the TNT title into pinky but
• 2:04:42
  Speaker 1: then on collision after a loss to Daniel Garcia, which
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 1: would be enough to send anyone off the deep end.
• 2:04:48
  Speaker 1: He turned heel on Mark Briscoe, who inadvertently provided a
• 2:04:51
  Speaker 1: distraction during the match. He turned heel on him the
• 2:04:54
  Speaker 1: same way he did to Johnny Gargano in NXT, by
• 2:04:57
  Speaker 1: sending him into the video wall. He was a poor
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 1: man's copy of a much better angle. But I am
• 2:05:03
  Speaker 1: happy to see Shampa embracing his dark side again. He
• 2:05:06
  Speaker 1: calls himself the psycho killer. Let's see it, Let's see it.
• 2:05:10
  Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what. If Champa's aw Run was
• 2:05:13
  Speaker 1: a person, it would be on speed. Okay, this man's
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 1: only been on TV for them for barely six weeks.
• 2:05:19
  Speaker 1: In those six weeks, he has already won the TNT Championship,
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 1: he lost the TNT Championship, and he now turned heel.
• 2:05:28
  Speaker 1: They are speed running through everything and I'm not sure why,
• 2:05:33
  Speaker 1: but Ricochet is gonna defend his national title. Not against
• 2:05:37
  Speaker 1: Jack Perry, at least not one on one, which is
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 1: what they've been setting up on TV now for weeks.
• 2:05:42
  Speaker 1: He's gonna defend his national title in a twenty one
• 2:05:45
  Speaker 1: man Blackjack Battle Royal that's gonna be on the zero
• 2:05:50
  Speaker 1: hour pre show. Now, the participants have not yet been announced,
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 1: so it's hard to make a prediction. Although I will
• 2:05:55
  Speaker 1: say that Ricochet sneaks out with the title. I don't
• 2:05:58
  Speaker 1: think he's gonna lose it. Now if that stipulation sounds
• 2:06:02
  Speaker 1: familiar at double or Nothing. In twenty twenty three, Orange
• 2:06:05
  Speaker 1: Cassidy defended his international title in one of these Blackjack
• 2:06:08
  Speaker 1: Battle Royals, which at least made sense because it was
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 1: double or nothing with the Vegas theme. I mean, what
• 2:06:13
  Speaker 1: the hell does Blackjack Battle Royal have to do with revolution? Nothing?
• 2:06:18
  Speaker 1: It has nothing to do with revolution. But that was
• 2:06:21
  Speaker 1: the last time they did one of these, and this
• 2:06:23
  Speaker 1: is during the period where Orange Cassidy was doing the
• 2:06:25
  Speaker 1: gimmick where his body was just beat to all hell
• 2:06:28
  Speaker 1: from all the title defenses, and he still won. He
• 2:06:32
  Speaker 1: outlasted twenty other men. The big difference is that was
• 2:06:36
  Speaker 1: on the main card. This is not even worthy of
• 2:06:39
  Speaker 1: the main card. Tony is relegating it to the pre show.
• 2:06:43
  Speaker 1: I wonder if that tarnishes Ricochet's legacy two, especially if
• 2:06:48
  Speaker 1: Big Boom Aj of the Costco Guys joins him, unsaid
• 2:06:51
  Speaker 1: pre show hell, Big Boom Aj may end up in
• 2:06:53
  Speaker 1: the Battle Royal competing for Ricochet's title. AJ posted a
• 2:06:57
  Speaker 1: video to his ig account last week answering a fan
• 2:07:00
  Speaker 1: question from X about Hey, why are we going to
• 2:07:02
  Speaker 1: see you back in the ring again? And Big Boom
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 1: Aj said that he would be in the ring at
• 2:07:06
  Speaker 1: Revolution next Sunday. He did not say what he would
• 2:07:10
  Speaker 1: be doing. He did not say if he would be wrestling,
• 2:07:14
  Speaker 1: although back in the ring I presume means he'll be wrestling,
• 2:07:17
  Speaker 1: but there's no mention of him or tease of anything
• 2:07:19
  Speaker 1: to my knowledge on AW television or Ring of Honor television.
• 2:07:23
  Speaker 1: He may well end up in that match. That's the
• 2:07:26
  Speaker 1: Revolution card as it stands. Again. I expect more to
• 2:07:29
  Speaker 1: be added this week, but they are at the Crypto
• 2:07:31
  Speaker 1: dot Com Arena in La next Sunday. Last I had
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 1: read they had about ten thousand tickets sold. AW traditionally
• 2:07:39
  Speaker 1: does very well when it comes to walk up, so
• 2:07:43
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I think eleven is likely. I wonder
• 2:07:48
  Speaker 1: if twelve is possible, but that's where I would expect
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 1: that attendance to probably land that somewhere in that eleven
• 2:07:53
  Speaker 1: to twelve thousand range. Let's get to your questions. If
• 2:07:56
  Speaker 1: you have questions for the mailbag, you can email me
• 2:07:59
  Speaker 1: the Solemn Monster at gmail dot com. Please include your
• 2:08:02
  Speaker 1: name of where you are from when you write in.
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 1: Luis from Garabo, Puerto Rico. He's been listening since twenty fourteen.
• 2:08:10
  Speaker 1: I heard your analysis last week about how the draft
• 2:08:13
  Speaker 1: is basically dead, and I agree with you. The way
• 2:08:16
  Speaker 1: WWE currently does it just feels like random talent shuffling
• 2:08:19
  Speaker 1: instead of something meaningful. But I had an idea that
• 2:08:22
  Speaker 1: might make it work again. What if the draft was
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 1: limited only to NXT talent. It could function more like
• 2:08:28
  Speaker 1: a real sports draft where the main roster brands are
• 2:08:31
  Speaker 1: drafting rookies quote unquote. You could do one round for
• 2:08:34
  Speaker 1: the men and one round for the women. This year
• 2:08:37
  Speaker 1: would have been the perfect example. The clear number one
• 2:08:40
  Speaker 1: overall pick would probably have been Obafemi. Instead of doing
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 1: a random lottery, you could determine draft order with matches, so,
• 2:08:47
  Speaker 1: for example, a match on TV to decide who gets
• 2:08:49
  Speaker 1: the first pick, or even better, do it on a
• 2:08:52
  Speaker 1: ple similar to Crown Jewel where champions face each other
• 2:08:56
  Speaker 1: for bragging rights, but instead the prize is draft positioning.
• 2:09:00
  Speaker 1: For example, world champion versus World Champion for the number
• 2:09:02
  Speaker 1: one pick, I see versus us for the number three pick.
• 2:09:08
  Speaker 1: He says during the draft program. You could even have
• 2:09:12
  Speaker 1: trade talks between brands. I think something like this would
• 2:09:15
  Speaker 1: make the draft feel more like a real one and
• 2:09:17
  Speaker 1: less like simply moving wrestlers around. It's not a bad idea.
• 2:09:22
  Speaker 1: I'm still not a fan of doing a draft show,
• 2:09:25
  Speaker 1: but as far as your idea, that would make a
• 2:09:27
  Speaker 1: lot more sense, as far as how NXT is integrated
• 2:09:30
  Speaker 1: into it. And again, you could always have trade talks
• 2:09:33
  Speaker 1: between the gms to move other people around on the
• 2:09:36
  Speaker 1: main roster if you want to move someone from Raw
• 2:09:38
  Speaker 1: to SmackDown or from SmackDown to Raw. So I like it.
• 2:09:42
  Speaker 1: I like it. I also feel like you've given this
• 2:09:44
  Speaker 1: far more thought than they ever have when it comes
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 1: to the draft. Jackson from Morton, Illinois. I was wondering
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 1: what your thoughts would be on Ilya Dragonov being the
• 2:09:54
  Speaker 1: one to answer brock Lesner's WrestleMania Open challenge. Well, I
• 2:09:58
  Speaker 1: would love for Oba to be the guy go in
• 2:10:00
  Speaker 1: and win. I have two reservations about that. One is
• 2:10:02
  Speaker 1: that I'm worried that Brock would not want to lose,
• 2:10:05
  Speaker 1: and two, I feel like Brock and the other big
• 2:10:08
  Speaker 1: guys don't live up to the hype. Meanwhile, I go
• 2:10:10
  Speaker 1: back to Brock against aj or Daniel Brian. Those were
• 2:10:14
  Speaker 1: very enjoyable matches. Ilia can make k fabe sense after
• 2:10:17
  Speaker 1: being eliminated in the Royal Rumble by Brock and wanting
• 2:10:21
  Speaker 1: revenge or to prove who he is. Going back to
• 2:10:24
  Speaker 1: the backstage interaction with Carmelo Hayes last week. It might
• 2:10:28
  Speaker 1: not be Gunther against Ilia empty arena good, but Ilia
• 2:10:31
  Speaker 1: can go out there and give us a good Brock
• 2:10:33
  Speaker 1: Lesnar match and can look better in defeat than Oba
• 2:10:35
  Speaker 1: or Royce Keys. I would love to see how Ilia
• 2:10:41
  Speaker 1: Dragonov would fare in an actual competitive match with brock Lesner.
• 2:10:45
  Speaker 1: I think that could be a lot of fun. You know,
• 2:10:48
  Speaker 1: is Brock going to absorb all of the chops and
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 1: all of the stiff offense that we usually see in
• 2:10:54
  Speaker 1: an Ilia Dragonov match? Probably not do. I think brock
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 1: Lesner is going to want to go in there, sit
• 2:11:00
  Speaker 1: up to a point where he's all bruised up and
• 2:11:02
  Speaker 1: black and blue. When he's done wrestling this guy. No,
• 2:11:05
  Speaker 1: I think he's going to want to go in there
• 2:11:06
  Speaker 1: and throw him around and Ilia Dragon of will take
• 2:11:09
  Speaker 1: some great sup plex bumps and he'll sell it like
• 2:11:12
  Speaker 1: he's you know, dying in there, and yeah, he'll do
• 2:11:15
  Speaker 1: what he does. I don't know that Brock is going
• 2:11:17
  Speaker 1: to give you the kind of Ilia dragonoff match that
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 1: you're expecting, but I think if he was, he was
• 2:11:24
  Speaker 1: willing to kind of, you know, play by his rules
• 2:11:27
  Speaker 1: and go in there and have the kind of match
• 2:11:28
  Speaker 1: that I think, you know, Ilia would probably be dying
• 2:11:30
  Speaker 1: to have with him. I think it would be a
• 2:11:33
  Speaker 1: lot of fun. I just don't know that Brock is
• 2:11:35
  Speaker 1: motivated to do that, and I fear that when it's over,
• 2:11:38
  Speaker 1: it's just going to do more harm than good for Ilia.
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 1: But if I knew the stars could align, that's one
• 2:11:42
  Speaker 1: of those matches I would love to see. There was
• 2:11:45
  Speaker 1: like a top five of who I would care to
• 2:11:48
  Speaker 1: see Brock Lesnar wrestling Illi would be one of those five.
• 2:11:53
  Speaker 1: But you know, I also think back to wrestle Mania
• 2:11:54
  Speaker 1: at thirty two, where you know, Dean Ambrose and he
• 2:11:57
  Speaker 1: had all these great ideas for what he wanted to
• 2:11:59
  Speaker 1: do in there with with Brock. Now, granted that was
• 2:12:01
  Speaker 1: involving weapons and all kinds of crazy shit. Didn't you
• 2:12:05
  Speaker 1: want to use a chainsaw or something? There's something ridiculous
• 2:12:08
  Speaker 1: like that. And I could understand Brock being like, yeah,
• 2:12:11
  Speaker 1: we're not doing that, but you know, he had all
• 2:12:12
  Speaker 1: these ideas for what that match was going to look like,
• 2:12:14
  Speaker 1: and when it came game day, it's like, yeah, no,
• 2:12:17
  Speaker 1: we're not doing that. We're going to do things my way. Yeah,
• 2:12:22
  Speaker 1: that's kind of what I fear what happened with Ilia
• 2:12:26
  Speaker 1: Christoph from Belgium. Through the years, I've always wondered why
• 2:12:30
  Speaker 1: Michael Hayes has been a key figure in WWE for
• 2:12:33
  Speaker 1: almost thirty years. Every time he's brought up by former talent,
• 2:12:37
  Speaker 1: it's mentioned that he was a short sighted, condescending individual
• 2:12:40
  Speaker 1: who never had any real ideas. This became more apparent
• 2:12:43
  Speaker 1: with his recent Chelsea Green comments. With Vince being big
• 2:12:46
  Speaker 1: on loyalty. You understood why he was there decades ago,
• 2:12:49
  Speaker 1: but why is this man in WWE creative in twenty
• 2:12:53
  Speaker 1: twenty six. Well, I don't know offhand who all of
• 2:12:57
  Speaker 1: these names are that you say have done interview. Who's
• 2:13:00
  Speaker 1: bashing him for being all of these things? In terms
• 2:13:04
  Speaker 1: of creative. He's supposedly a very good finish guy, and
• 2:13:08
  Speaker 1: he's very good at producing matches. I can't speak to
• 2:13:12
  Speaker 1: his creative brain, but I've seen wrestlers give him credit
• 2:13:16
  Speaker 1: for these things. I watched the interview by the way
• 2:13:18
  Speaker 1: that Undertaker did with him on his six Feet under podcast.
• 2:13:21
  Speaker 1: I needed something to watch on the flight to Chicago
• 2:13:24
  Speaker 1: the other day, so I loaded that up. I watched
• 2:13:26
  Speaker 1: the entire thing. By the way, it was just one
• 2:13:29
  Speaker 1: on one Undertaker of Michael Hayes. There was no co host.
• 2:13:33
  Speaker 1: For those of you who I know are adamantly against
• 2:13:36
  Speaker 1: the new format of the Undertaker's podcast. I don't know
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 1: if she was, if she had a prior engagement or
• 2:13:43
  Speaker 1: a doctor's appointment, or why she wasn't there. Michelle McColl
• 2:13:47
  Speaker 1: was not on that show, so if you care to
• 2:13:50
  Speaker 1: go check it out, it's Undertaker of Michael Hayes. But
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 1: I did watch it and he mentioned Hayes did that.
• 2:13:59
  Speaker 1: Triple H once told him then this would have been
• 2:14:01
  Speaker 1: in the last probably a couple of years. But he said,
• 2:14:04
  Speaker 1: Triple H told him, Vince had Pat Patterson. I want
• 2:14:08
  Speaker 1: you to be my Pat Patterson. You're my Pat Patterson.
• 2:14:12
  Speaker 1: That's how he sees Michael Hayes. So you're wondering why
• 2:14:15
  Speaker 1: is he still there? Why don't they get rid of him?
• 2:14:18
  Speaker 1: Because in Triple H's eyes, Michael Hayes is his pat patterson,
• 2:14:23
  Speaker 1: he's his right hand man, he's his sergeant at arms.
• 2:14:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know who Bruce would be to him if
• 2:14:30
  Speaker 1: Hayes is his pat patterson. But he told him, you're
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 1: my pat and I want you to make Bobby Rud
• 2:14:35
  Speaker 1: my Michael Hayes. So that's the spot that Hayes has
• 2:14:39
  Speaker 1: been grooming Bobby Rud for, just to show you how
• 2:14:41
  Speaker 1: well regarded Bobby Rud is behind the scenes. That's sort
• 2:14:45
  Speaker 1: of the pecking order when it comes to the hierarchy there.
• 2:14:49
  Speaker 1: But he's viewed more positively, I think by people than negatively.
• 2:14:54
  Speaker 1: And he's not going anywhere because Triple H relies on him. Now,
• 2:14:57
  Speaker 1: if Triple H ever goes, and I think Hayes goes
• 2:15:00
  Speaker 1: and Bruce goes, and you just clean house, and maybe
• 2:15:03
  Speaker 1: they should do that anyway, quite frankly, but as long
• 2:15:05
  Speaker 1: as Triple H is there, he's going to want certain
• 2:15:07
  Speaker 1: people around him that he's comfortable with. And these are
• 2:15:09
  Speaker 1: people that were around when he was a performer and
• 2:15:13
  Speaker 1: in the early days when he started sitting in on
• 2:15:15
  Speaker 1: like production meetings and creative meetings, like Bruce was there,
• 2:15:18
  Speaker 1: Michael Hayes was there. You know, it was like some
• 2:15:21
  Speaker 1: people have their comfort food. I think that's kind of
• 2:15:23
  Speaker 1: what it's like for Triple H. You know, he doesn't
• 2:15:25
  Speaker 1: just want to surround himself by all of these strange
• 2:15:28
  Speaker 1: people that he can't necessarily trust. I think there's a
• 2:15:31
  Speaker 1: trust factor there and that's important to him. And as
• 2:15:33
  Speaker 1: long as he's in the position that he's in, people
• 2:15:36
  Speaker 1: like Bruce and Michael Hayes, they're not going nowhere. Daniel
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 1: from Los Angeles thoughts on having Logan, Paul, and Austin
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 1: theory becoming tag team champions. They beat the USSOS on
• 2:15:47
  Speaker 1: Raw on the road to wrestle Mania, to then defend
• 2:15:49
  Speaker 1: them against the team of Seth Rollins and La Knight.
• 2:15:53
  Speaker 1: They could drag this out by having Knight reluctantly team
• 2:15:56
  Speaker 1: with Seth. They argue about their past matches, but eventually
• 2:15:59
  Speaker 1: agree to put an end to the Vision once and
• 2:16:03
  Speaker 1: for all. Yeah, I think based on what we saw
• 2:16:06
  Speaker 1: Monday night, I thought they were building to the USOS
• 2:16:09
  Speaker 1: defending against the Vision at WrestleMania and then they have
• 2:16:13
  Speaker 1: some separate plan for Seth rollins. But again, if they're
• 2:16:16
  Speaker 1: relying on bron Breaker to be back in time and
• 2:16:18
  Speaker 1: he's not, Seth is going to have to have a
• 2:16:20
  Speaker 1: match on that card. And if it's not Brock for
• 2:16:23
  Speaker 1: what Seth did to Paul Hayman, then, and I think
• 2:16:27
  Speaker 1: I said this a few weeks ago, you do a
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 1: tag match, right, and we're not talking Bad Bunny anymore
• 2:16:31
  Speaker 1: or anything like that, but you could do Seth and
• 2:16:33
  Speaker 1: La Knight because La Knight's another one who doesn't have
• 2:16:35
  Speaker 1: any sort of real apparent match at WrestleMania unless he
• 2:16:39
  Speaker 1: does end up facing Brock. He's sort of a man
• 2:16:42
  Speaker 1: without an island. And he god, what did he do?
• 2:16:45
  Speaker 1: He didn't interview this past week. I don't remember who
• 2:16:49
  Speaker 1: it was with. And he even admitted, he goes, you know,
• 2:16:52
  Speaker 1: we're on the road to WrestleMania. I don't even know
• 2:16:53
  Speaker 1: what I'm doing. He goes, you know, do I wish
• 2:16:56
  Speaker 1: that I had some sense of like where I was
• 2:16:59
  Speaker 1: going and stuff? Sure, but like you know, creative is
• 2:17:01
  Speaker 1: always changing, and I just sort of rolled with the punches.
• 2:17:04
  Speaker 1: But he has no fucking idea what he's doing. You
• 2:17:06
  Speaker 1: think La Knight knows what he's doing in WrestleMania. He's
• 2:17:09
  Speaker 1: just like everybody else. He has no fucking clue, So,
• 2:17:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, that wouldn't be a terrible idea, But then
• 2:17:14
  Speaker 1: what do you do with the USOS. They're not leaving
• 2:17:16
  Speaker 1: the Ussos off the WrestleMania card. I still think the
• 2:17:18
  Speaker 1: match is going to be the USSOS against Logan and
• 2:17:21
  Speaker 1: Austin theory in WrestleMania we got Jakwan from the Bronx.
• 2:17:28
  Speaker 1: I've recently been going back and watching episodes of ron
• 2:17:30
  Speaker 1: Nitro from around this time thirty years ago. And even
• 2:17:33
  Speaker 1: though there has been a ton of warranted criticism towards
• 2:17:35
  Speaker 1: the current product of WWE and AAW, looking at what
• 2:17:39
  Speaker 1: WWF and WCW were producing in February of nineteen ninety
• 2:17:43
  Speaker 1: six was far worse overall in my opinion, How do
• 2:17:46
  Speaker 1: you feel about the quality of the two major promotions
• 2:17:48
  Speaker 1: at that time comparing to now thirty years later? And
• 2:17:52
  Speaker 1: do you see AAW ANDWWE turning things around like WCW
• 2:17:56
  Speaker 1: did with the nWo and the WWF with the Attitude era.
• 2:18:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, the two situations are not even comparable, just
• 2:18:06
  Speaker 1: because these two companies right now are on rock solid
• 2:18:09
  Speaker 1: ground even with all the questions around aw's media rights future.
• 2:18:14
  Speaker 1: Like these companies are generating it from media rights alone,
• 2:18:19
  Speaker 1: so much money, so much more money than WWF and
• 2:18:22
  Speaker 1: WCW WAR back then. It's insane. So it really isn't
• 2:18:26
  Speaker 1: a good apples to apples comparison as far as the
• 2:18:29
  Speaker 1: quality of the product at the time compared to now.
• 2:18:32
  Speaker 1: I wasn't really paying too much attention in early ninety
• 2:18:35
  Speaker 1: six to WCW. They just weren't doing a whole lot
• 2:18:37
  Speaker 1: to you know, excite me enough to want to really
• 2:18:41
  Speaker 1: watch week to week what they were doing. I was
• 2:18:43
  Speaker 1: aware of what was going on. But the nWo stuff
• 2:18:46
  Speaker 1: came along at just the right time because there just
• 2:18:48
  Speaker 1: wasn't a whole lot going on in WWF. They were
• 2:18:51
  Speaker 1: building two Shawn Michaels as the guy, and they were
• 2:18:54
  Speaker 1: coming out of ninety five, which was, to say the least,
• 2:18:58
  Speaker 1: you know, not a great year for the company, you know,
• 2:19:01
  Speaker 1: certainly not business wise, but even creatively, right, we got
• 2:19:05
  Speaker 1: some gems in ninety five as far as like some
• 2:19:07
  Speaker 1: great matches out of that year, but gimmick, why story
• 2:19:11
  Speaker 1: wise It was pretty fucking bad in ninety five, and
• 2:19:15
  Speaker 1: that bled over into the beginning of ninety six. You know,
• 2:19:18
  Speaker 1: I was a big fan. Nonetheless, wasn't the most exciting
• 2:19:21
  Speaker 1: period of the company. No, it wasn't. But you know,
• 2:19:25
  Speaker 1: they were building the Shawn Michaels winning the championship. Gold
• 2:19:28
  Speaker 1: Dust had just debuted, and that was generating a lot
• 2:19:30
  Speaker 1: of uh, it was generating a lot, I want to
• 2:19:34
  Speaker 1: say interest, It was generating a lot of controversy. Let's
• 2:19:38
  Speaker 1: just say Vader had just come into WWF. I mean,
• 2:19:43
  Speaker 1: there were some things that I liked that was going on,
• 2:19:45
  Speaker 1: but yeah, it is not going to rank as one
• 2:19:47
  Speaker 1: of the best times in the history of that company
• 2:19:49
  Speaker 1: as compared to now. There's there's more to like now
• 2:19:55
  Speaker 1: than there was at the beginning of ninety six, if
• 2:19:59
  Speaker 1: I had to choose. We really were just on the
• 2:20:03
  Speaker 1: cusp of getting into the really good quality stuff later
• 2:20:05
  Speaker 1: that year from both companies. Julius from The Bronx many
• 2:20:11
  Speaker 1: years ago on the podcast around twenty seventeen, maybe someone
• 2:20:14
  Speaker 1: asked you who's better AJ Styles or Shawn Michaels, and
• 2:20:18
  Speaker 1: you said, we'd have to wait until AJ was done
• 2:20:21
  Speaker 1: to fully answer that. So now that he's done, who
• 2:20:25
  Speaker 1: do you think is better overall? AJ Styles or Shawn Michaels. Boy,
• 2:20:29
  Speaker 1: you had that one in your back pocket, didn't you.
• 2:20:33
  Speaker 1: You had that calendar reminder just waiting to pop off. Well,
• 2:20:38
  Speaker 1: I'm actually going to give you a pretty easy answer.
• 2:20:42
  Speaker 1: Shawn Michaels, especially pre back injury, Shawn Michaels. I still
• 2:20:47
  Speaker 1: give hbkd edge as great as AJ Styles was, and
• 2:20:51
  Speaker 1: he might have been doing more spectacular moves than Shawn
• 2:20:54
  Speaker 1: Michaels was doing. Like I never saw Sewan Michaels do
• 2:20:57
  Speaker 1: a fucking cork screw anything. You know, I never saw
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 1: Sean Michaels do a spiral tap. But it wasn't just
• 2:21:03
  Speaker 1: about that. It was just you you would I don't know,
• 2:21:06
  Speaker 1: maybe you just had to like live through that period
• 2:21:09
  Speaker 1: and be a fan at that time. But like that
• 2:21:11
  Speaker 1: version of Sean Michaels, whatever was going on behind the
• 2:21:14
  Speaker 1: scenes and whatever he was doing, man like, there was
• 2:21:18
  Speaker 1: just he was untouchable. He was untouchable, and the matches
• 2:21:22
  Speaker 1: he was having and just the ease with which he
• 2:21:26
  Speaker 1: would do the things that he did. And there's a
• 2:21:29
  Speaker 1: reason why, you know, some people look at him maybe
• 2:21:31
  Speaker 1: he is the greatest entering wrestler of all time. There
• 2:21:33
  Speaker 1: are some people who would say that. Some people might
• 2:21:35
  Speaker 1: say that about AJ, but I can't. I can't rank
• 2:21:39
  Speaker 1: AJ above Sean. For me, it's still Shawn number one
• 2:21:41
  Speaker 1: over AJ. Steve from Virginia. What is the best Saturday
• 2:21:45
  Speaker 1: Nights Made event for each decade that it has been airing.
• 2:21:50
  Speaker 1: It's an oddly specific question. Well, the current run of shows.
• 2:21:56
  Speaker 1: The most recent one I thought was the strongest one
• 2:21:58
  Speaker 1: since they rebooted the show, so that would be the
• 2:22:02
  Speaker 1: one for this decade. For the two thousands, I don't
• 2:22:06
  Speaker 1: have one. I was not a fan of that reboot.
• 2:22:09
  Speaker 1: I have no favorite from that run. I have barely
• 2:22:11
  Speaker 1: any memories from that run other than I know fucking
• 2:22:13
  Speaker 1: Collie was in a match on one of them. Yeah,
• 2:22:16
  Speaker 1: I hated that that ruh. I guess Sean Michaels and
• 2:22:19
  Speaker 1: Shane McMahon. I guess maybe on that first one they
• 2:22:21
  Speaker 1: did in two thousand and six, that match I think
• 2:22:24
  Speaker 1: was kind of good, But yeah, I fucking hated that run. Now,
• 2:22:29
  Speaker 1: from the nineties, it would either be the February ninety
• 2:22:32
  Speaker 1: two to one, which was the first one on Fox
• 2:22:36
  Speaker 1: where Sid bailed on Hogan during their tag match with
• 2:22:38
  Speaker 1: Rick Flair and the Undertaker, and then Macho Man b
• 2:22:41
  Speaker 1: Jake the Snake in the main event, and then Undertaker
• 2:22:43
  Speaker 1: turned Babyface backstage when he saved Elizabeth, So that technically
• 2:22:47
  Speaker 1: didn't happen on the show. I think they went off
• 2:22:49
  Speaker 1: the air that night and we didn't see that angle
• 2:22:51
  Speaker 1: until the syndicated shows. But I would go at that
• 2:22:54
  Speaker 1: one or the Wild Kingdom episode from July of nineteen ninety. Actually,
• 2:22:59
  Speaker 1: that one probably gets my vote. That one had an
• 2:23:03
  Speaker 1: excellent match between Mister Perfect and Tito Santana for the
• 2:23:06
  Speaker 1: Intercontinental title. It had an Ultimate Warrior Rick Rude WWF
• 2:23:11
  Speaker 1: title match which ended up leading into their cage match
• 2:23:15
  Speaker 1: at SummerSlam, and it had a demolition match with the Rockers.
• 2:23:19
  Speaker 1: Funny enough, after what I talked about earlier with their
• 2:23:22
  Speaker 1: Hall of Fame induction coming demolition and the Rockers on
• 2:23:25
  Speaker 1: that show. Now, if that's not vintage Saturday Night's main event,
• 2:23:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know what is. But the eighties, I mean,
• 2:23:33
  Speaker 1: the eighties had a bunch of good ones. I'll stay
• 2:23:35
  Speaker 1: away from the main event specials. Those aired on Friday nights.
• 2:23:40
  Speaker 1: Usually they technically don't count as Saturday Night's main event,
• 2:23:44
  Speaker 1: but I mean, if I could pick them, I would
• 2:23:47
  Speaker 1: do the main event special from eighty nine, you know,
• 2:23:49
  Speaker 1: where Hogan and Savage had their falling out the Megapowers explode.
• 2:23:53
  Speaker 1: That's one of my favorite WWE shows of all time.
• 2:23:56
  Speaker 1: Like that would absolutely be my number one if I
• 2:23:59
  Speaker 1: could pick that. But if not that one, I would
• 2:24:02
  Speaker 1: go with the nineteen eighty nine episode where Hulk Hogan
• 2:24:09
  Speaker 1: and the Big Boss Men had their steel cage match.
• 2:24:12
  Speaker 1: There was a good match on there. I watched that
• 2:24:13
  Speaker 1: not that long ago. I think on the Vault maybe
• 2:24:15
  Speaker 1: there was a good match on there too with Demolition
• 2:24:17
  Speaker 1: and the Brainbusters, So I'd go with that one. But
• 2:24:21
  Speaker 1: good shit, I'm gonna cut the mailbag off. There had
• 2:24:24
  Speaker 1: a bunch of other questions. I'm gonna save those. Can
• 2:24:28
  Speaker 1: give everything away in one week. We'll save those for
• 2:24:30
  Speaker 1: next week. But keep emailing me the Sola Master at
• 2:24:33
  Speaker 1: gmail dot com. You never know when your question may
• 2:24:35
  Speaker 1: be answered on here or on the Uncrowned Wrestling Show,
• 2:24:39
  Speaker 1: so I want to include your questions on that show
• 2:24:41
  Speaker 1: as well. Episode number five, I think we're up to
• 2:24:44
  Speaker 1: number five already, is coming up this Tuesday again. You
• 2:24:47
  Speaker 1: can find that show on the Aeriel hell Wani show
• 2:24:49
  Speaker 1: feed wherever you get your podcast from. We will be
• 2:24:52
  Speaker 1: talking a lot more on the Tuesday show about the
• 2:24:57
  Speaker 1: fallout from this Cody Rhoads title win. We'll see what
• 2:24:59
  Speaker 1: happen happens on Raw Monday Night. There's some other news
• 2:25:01
  Speaker 1: items I didn't get to here. We'll cover all that
• 2:25:04
  Speaker 1: on the Uncrowned Wrestling Show on Tuesday. It's gonna be
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 1: a busy week. I will be live after Raw Monday
• 2:25:09
  Speaker 1: night on YouTube for the Raw post show. Of course.
• 2:25:11
  Speaker 1: Tuesday night is Tuesday Night Titans with myself and JD.
• 2:25:14
  Speaker 1: Wednesday is the Dynamite Post Show, and I am back
• 2:25:17
  Speaker 1: for Friday this week on SmackDown for the SmackDown Review.
• 2:25:21
  Speaker 1: I'll be here, so you got a full week. Next
• 2:25:24
  Speaker 1: weekend is episode nine to fifty five of the SoundOff,
• 2:25:27
  Speaker 1: but it's also Revolution Weekend. AW has its Revolution pay
• 2:25:30
  Speaker 1: per view next Sunday. I will probably be going live
• 2:25:34
  Speaker 1: for that one. I don't always go live for the
• 2:25:36
  Speaker 1: AW shows anymore because they're just they end too fucking late,
• 2:25:41
  Speaker 1: and typically especially if they're on a Saturday, as sometimes
• 2:25:45
  Speaker 1: they are, it just bleeds over too late into me
• 2:25:48
  Speaker 1: having to do the podcast the next day, so it
• 2:25:50
  Speaker 1: just makes more sense for me to wait until the
• 2:25:52
  Speaker 1: sound off and review it on there. In this case,
• 2:25:54
  Speaker 1: it's a Sunday show, so I'm probably gonna be live.
• 2:25:57
  Speaker 1: I'll let you guys know. That'll be a guess bonus
• 2:26:00
  Speaker 1: podcast for you next weekend. We got a lot of
• 2:26:03
  Speaker 1: stuff coming up. I hope you will join me in
• 2:26:05
  Speaker 1: support for all of it. Without you, there is no
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 1: me without you, there is no sound off. I appreciate
• 2:26:11
  Speaker 1: all your support. Again, a great meeting some of you,
• 2:26:15
  Speaker 1: some of you for the first time at the House
• 2:26:18
  Speaker 1: of Glory show in Chicago. I'm really looking forward to
• 2:26:20
  Speaker 1: the Long Island show and then being in Las Vegas
• 2:26:24
  Speaker 1: for Culture Clash. We got some big announcements coming up
• 2:26:27
  Speaker 1: beyond Brody King against Zillafa two and anytime I can
• 2:26:31
  Speaker 1: venture out and get to meet some of you guys,
• 2:26:32
  Speaker 1: because it's just hard to, you know, get to these
• 2:26:35
  Speaker 1: bigger shows, you know, and I got to be back
• 2:26:37
  Speaker 1: here at home base to cover it, and I don't
• 2:26:39
  Speaker 1: get to go to those too much anymore. So this
• 2:26:43
  Speaker 1: sort of forces me. I'm not going to be out
• 2:26:45
  Speaker 1: there for wrestle Mania but I'll still be out there
• 2:26:47
  Speaker 1: and everyone's descending on Vegas, so it'll be nice to
• 2:26:51
  Speaker 1: get to see some of you out there. Be well,
• 2:26:54
  Speaker 1: stay safe. Be sure to check out all of the
• 2:26:57
  Speaker 1: sponsor links and the description of this week's episode. A
• 2:27:00
  Speaker 1: lot of offers for you, and every time you use
• 2:27:02
  Speaker 1: one of those links or codes, it really does help
• 2:27:04
  Speaker 1: out the podcast, and be sure to check those out.
• 2:27:06
  Speaker 1: I'll see you guys back here next week. Take care.
• 2:27:10
  Speaker 1: The solomn Monster sounds off people like wins and losses
• 2:27:13
  Speaker 1: don't matter anymore, and to that, I say, fuck off.
• 2:27:16
  Speaker 1: You don't know what you're talking about. To get people over,
• 2:27:19
  Speaker 1: they need to win matches. This goes to this argument,
• 2:27:22
  Speaker 1: and I will argue until I'm bluing the fucking face
• 2:27:25
  Speaker 1: with people. Wins and losses, I agree, are not the
• 2:27:27
  Speaker 1: end all be all. It's not the only thing. But
• 2:27:28
  Speaker 1: to suggest wins and losses don't matter means you don't
• 2:27:31
  Speaker 1: know anything about wrestling. And I was very happy, by
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 1: the way, when the Miz did that interview with Chris
• 2:27:35
  Speaker 1: van Vliet, I think it was he said the exact
• 2:27:38
  Speaker 1: same thing. I agree with the Miz. Okay, we're the
• 2:27:40
  Speaker 1: mis agrees with me however you want to look at it.
• 2:27:42
  Speaker 1: Wins and losses absolutely matter. The solom Monster sounds off
• 2:27:47
  Speaker 1: bringing you the good, the bad, and the ugly. Check
• 2:27:50
  Speaker 1: out the weekly live streams bonus content for subscribers, and
• 2:27:53
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• 2:27:57
  Speaker 1: solomn Monster I love you so yo