Latest / Real. Guy. Pods. / Is Sami Zayn turning heel? + NXT Halloween Havoc preview | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #872 – 10/29/26

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Is Sami Zayn turning heel? + NXT Halloween Havoc preview | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #872 – 10/29/26 · Real. Guy. Pods.

• 1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,600 It's still really a big hit! 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:12,800 What now? 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:17,100 Welcome everybody! 4 00:00:17,100 --> 00:00:20,100 Welcome to this week's This and This Still Road at Show. 5 00:00:20,100 --> 00:00:24,100 It was over 872 for October 29th, 2026. 6 00:00:24,100 --> 00:00:28,000 Welcome to this week's edition of AskRoutine. 7 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:29,000 You. 8 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,000 I am one half of the show. 9 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:37,000 I am Jeff Fett, joined every single week in my close to one of the Dr. Fred Franklin, Dr. Trey. 10 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:41,000 What are you going to be for Halloween this year, my friend? 11 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,000 Working! 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:49,000 I'll be at work all day, so I don't really have any plans for dressing up, 13 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,000 which is weird because usually that Halloween is my favorite holiday. 14 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,000 We've covered that many, many times on this show. 15 00:00:55,000 --> 00:01:00,000 I do have a Jason Voorhees mask. 16 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,000 It's just a cheap hockey mask. 17 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:07,000 I might throw that one on, but Jeff, you would have been so proud yesterday. 18 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:08,000 Why? 19 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,000 Why would you do? 20 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:16,000 So yesterday, young Sammy Franklin, they had a local hero day at school. 21 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,000 So you had to dress up as your favorite local hero. 22 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,000 And Sammy was like, "I want to be a fireman." 23 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:24,000 Wow. 24 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:30,000 So we went on Amazon, disandsearching, found a really, really cute fireman outfit. 25 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,000 He wore that all day at school. 26 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:38,000 And then while he was at school, I found out that they were having a big, trunk-or-treat type event 27 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,000 at one of the towns nearby. 28 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:44,000 So when he got out of school, I'm like, "Hey, you already have a costume on. 29 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,000 Do you want to go to this?" 30 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:47,000 He's like, "Yeah." 31 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,000 So he goes out there and there's all these kids running around, spider-man and Hulk, 32 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,000 and you know, Paw Patrol and everything else. 33 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,000 And Sammy's there rocking his fireman outfit. 34 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:03,000 And one of the little boys that's about his age dressed up as spider-man looked at him and goes, 35 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,000 "Hey, I love your costume. 36 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Your fireman costume looks amazing." 37 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,000 And you saw like the little beam of pride come across Sammy's face. 38 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:16,000 And I was like, "You know, I know a real fireman." 39 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,000 I said, "Remember when I do my wrestling show?" 40 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,000 And he's like, "Yeah, I'm like Jeff's a real fireman." 41 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,000 And he's like, "That's what I want to be when I grow up as a fireman." 42 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:26,000 Wow. 43 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,000 Let's see. It's like every little kid's job. 44 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,000 They want to do it. 45 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,000 But yeah, I get to still do it. 46 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:33,000 Yeah. 47 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,000 We never grow up. You got to tell him. 48 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,000 He told me, "So he has a career plan." 49 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,000 So here's my seven-year-old ghost. 50 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,000 You're seven-year-old as a career plan. He has a vanilla folder. 51 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,000 He takes it out, shows you PowerPoint. 52 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,000 Not quite that much, but yeah, he goes. 53 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:52,000 Because so every Tuesday is pizza day. 54 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Because mom's got to work open to close. 55 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,000 So we go down to our dominoes. 56 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,000 And dominoes has that thing where you can, like for little kids, 57 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:03,000 they can stand on some steps and see the guys making pizzas. 58 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:08,000 And he's like, "All right, dad, first, I want to work at dominoes. 59 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,000 Then I want to be a fireman. 60 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,000 And then I want to be in a restaurant. 61 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,000 And I was like, "That's actually pretty smart because, you know, 62 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,000 first high school job, dominoes, get out of high school, 63 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,000 go be a volunteer fireman. 64 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,000 And then while you're getting your degree, hey, 65 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,000 then you can start transitioning over into workings 66 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:29,000 where it's being in astronauts. 67 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,000 So I'm like, at least he's got a little bit of a logical career path. 68 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,000 I was very, very proud of my son. 69 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,000 Hey, you know what? You got to start somewhere. 70 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,000 He's like, "You know, I got to start working at a young age, 71 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,000 make that money so I could try to buy a house." 72 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,000 Yeah. Because it's probably got to be astronomically expensive 73 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,000 by the time I turn 20. 74 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,000 Yeah, no, I'm proud of him. 75 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,000 That's amazing that he's got this career path already in his mind. 76 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,000 And of course, you know, they're moving the headquarters 77 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,000 of Space Force to Alabama. 78 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:57,000 So. 79 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:58,000 This is all lining up. 80 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,000 This is all lining up for you on San Luis Franklin. 81 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:02,000 I am very, very proud of him. 82 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:06,000 So, given my best and, yeah, we'll have to talk fire fighting 83 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,000 sometime him and I may, we'll do a podcast. 84 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,000 Sammy Franklin, I'm talking fire fighting. 85 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Dr. Trey, speaking of Sammy's, let's talk about the WWE 86 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,000 Undisputed Champion, Sammy Zane, as he is starting to sound like the villain. 87 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:25,000 And is he the champion that's been turning heel this entire time? 88 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,000 Is he that heel while he thinks he's the bad guy? 89 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,000 The last good guy in WWE. 90 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,000 So, Sammy's championship brain is becoming less about finally reaching the top 91 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,000 and more about how he is handling being there. 92 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,000 On SmackDown, he denied Trick Williams a title opportunity and then caught him 93 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:43,000 with a cheap shot. 94 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:49,000 On Raw, Sammy lash out at the WWE Universe because he feels the fans still do not respect him as Undisputed WWE Champion. 95 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:55,000 Javan Evans challenged him on the spot in Sammy escape with the title after Braun Breaker stopped Pente's attempted money to been cashed 96 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,000 and created the distraction that led to a Huluva kick. 97 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,000 WWE is no longer presenting Sammy as this purely sympathetic underdog champion now. 98 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:07,000 He is defensive, increasingly arrogant and convinced the audience does not appreciate what he has accomplished. 99 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:13,000 This is fast and in contrast with Roman Reigns heading into their champion versus champion match at Crown Jewel. 100 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:19,000 Because Roman has spent his title right and trying to prove he can win without the bloodline while Sammy is starting to use questionable tactics 101 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:21,000 and blame everyone around him. 102 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:26,000 The more Sammy changes, the less Crown Jewel feels like another chapter of their old bloodline story. 103 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,000 So bottom line in this entire thing, Dr. Trey, Sammy Zane finally became the champion he spent years chasing 104 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:36,000 and WWE may be showing us what happens when finally getting everything he wanted changes you. 105 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:45,000 So I often wonder, especially nowadays, we've talked about the Roman Reigns booking over the last three to four months as he a heal as he a good guy. 106 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:56,000 So now I ask you this, is WWE actually turning Sammy Zane heal or are they just giving him an edge that his championship reign needed? 107 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:01,000 See, I think the Sammy Healturn came like months ago. 108 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:15,000 Like the Sammy enriched me like when he turned on Cody, that was the original Healturn and then the way he angled it, I thought was brilliant in the sense of he was making people feel, you know, sympathetic torches quest. 109 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:21,000 Like there's for every great heal, there's an element of truth in their delusion. 110 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:27,000 And that was Sammy's delusion, that he was actually the good guy in this story. 111 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:37,000 And even now the way he's being presented, even though he's leaning more and more into the heal character in his promos, there's always those nuggets of truth in there. 112 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:42,000 It's very much like what Jericho did back in the late 90s, early 2000s. 113 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:49,000 You know, you have to believe the lie, you're telling people to get other people to buy the lie as well. 114 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,000 And I think they've done a fantastic job of it. 115 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:58,000 It's a little bit more of a fluid state because you and I talked about the show months ago where like, 116 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,000 Romans acting like a heal, but everybody's cheering him. 117 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,000 And Sammy was acting like a baby face and people were booing him. 118 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:12,000 I think both sides of that coin have kind of gone back to their base where Romans got, you know, a little bit more baby faces. 119 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:18,000 And Sammy's gotten a little more healish and they're kind of leaning into those qualities as they head into crown jewel. 120 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:28,000 So would be Dean Roman Reigns validate Sammy or would it make this version of him even worse from an audience damn point? 121 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:32,000 Okay, from an audience, okay, I was trying to make this worse. 122 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:36,000 If you beat Roman Reigns, that's kind of a feather in everybody's cat in your chest. 123 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,000 Get that. 124 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:46,000 Yeah, I mean, to me, beating Roman at crown jewel legitimizes Sammy as a top guy. 125 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:53,000 I think there's still, when you see Sammy Zane holding the title and we've seen the promos where like, 126 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:59,000 look, you might not even make it to crown jewel to championship. Like nobody believes this is a long term run for Sammy. 127 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:06,000 So beating Roman gives him an extra layer of credibility as no, this is a main event guy. 128 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:10,000 This is no longer an upper upper mid card lower main event guy. 129 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,000 Like this is a main event got. 130 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:18,000 And and that's where I think if he beat her, I don't know if the crowd would look at it. 131 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:25,000 Like it makes it worse. I mean, he might cheat to win, but from a character and long term booking standpoint, 132 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:30,000 this makes Sammy a main event guy if he were to get the win over Roman at crown jewel. 133 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:35,000 Yeah, I'm really dig in the Sammy Zane character, Dr. Try. 134 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:40,000 I think he may be my favorite character. I don't know if it's like him or so from a WWE standpoint. 135 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:46,000 Then I've really enjoyed from a character creation depth at different layers this year in 2026. 136 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,000 Like I feel like it's down the Sammy and and Solo for me. 137 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:56,000 No, Lo is, I don't know the, Sammy's, or Solo's more fun to watch. Solo's like the wild car. 138 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:01,000 Like you don't know what he's going to say. You don't know how he's in the act. He's always, he's in a lot of, 139 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:09,000 and I think if you go back to that promo with him and the bloodline where he's, where the three members of the bloodline are standing back listening to Solo talk, 140 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:16,000 Solo's got a little bit of rocket, right? Like he's, he's getting, he's pretty charismatic and you don't know what he's going to say. 141 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,000 You don't know how it's going to flow, but it's always entertaining. 142 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:28,000 Sammy's just like in that Jericho heel prime world where you're just like, man, like everything he says, 143 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:32,000 you're like, I don't like how he's saying it, but he's not wrong. 144 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:38,000 You know, and that makes it so entertaining. It's like watching, you know, your favorite Marvel villain, whether they're doing it solo, 145 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:45,000 literally, and you're just like, damn, like I get, like I get why Thanos wants to take out half with the multi-verse. 146 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:52,000 I get why, you know, Darth Vader joined the dark side, like I get what? I don't like it, but I understand it. 147 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,000 And that's where Sammy's living right now. 148 00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:01,000 Yeah, no, I totally agree. It's, it's definitely his prime right now. I think that was the best way to put it is, like Sammy's definitely in his prime. 149 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:07,000 Moving on here, keeping it from like the wrong Smackdown blend to what took place on Smackdown this week. 150 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,000 We've got CM Punk versus Kevin Owens. It finally has a date. 151 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:14,000 And now how far should WWE end up leaning into their real life history? 152 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:19,000 So Punk and Owens sat down together on Smackdown barely made it to the conversation without exploding. 153 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:23,000 All this made Punk versus Owens official for the November 6th Smackdown from Brooklyn. 154 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:28,000 Both Mike continued blaming the other for why Sammy Zane is holding on to speed away WWE Championship. 155 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:34,000 And WWE is also leaning to the genuine, genuine issues and history between Punk and Owens dating back to their independent days. 156 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:42,000 The strongest part of this rivalry is that the hostility feels believable without WWE having to manufacture much, which is no surprise with guys like Punk and Owens in this. 157 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:48,000 Punk and Owens are both elite talkers who can make personal history feel uncomfortable without completely losing the wrestling story. 158 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:53,000 Their first match in August had the WWE Championship attached to it. This time the grudge itself is just enough. 159 00:10:53,000 --> 00:11:00,000 The danger is going too far into insider history, then only longtime fans could understand. That is a danger in this entire thing. 160 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:05,000 So bottom line, Punk versus Owens works because fans believe they genuinely do not like each other. 161 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,000 WWE just has to know where reality should stop and the wrestling stories should begin. 162 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:14,000 So Dr. Trey, ask you this, is Punk versus Owens better now that there is no championship involved? 163 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:29,000 Yeah, in a way. I'll say, I mean, anybody listening to this show for 827 episodes knows your and my love for Kevin Owens is Sammy Zane. 164 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:36,000 Both of us really want to see KO get a title, especially coming back from that career threatening neck injury. 165 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:49,000 But the fact that this rivalry is stretching out, you get more layers in the story. So the story is better. I got honestly like, yeah, what I love to see KO get another World Tata run absolutely. 166 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:54,000 But the fact that you're leaning into this, there's real life tension. 167 00:11:54,000 --> 00:12:05,000 And I don't know if there's anybody in the business who is better or we've that we've ever seen better than CM Punk at getting into these storylines where you're like, damn, is this real? 168 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:15,000 Like, is this going to devolve into a shoot fight at some point? Like, it blurs that line. And Punk may be the best ever at doing this. 169 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:20,000 So we saw it with Drew McIntyre a couple of years ago. We're seeing it now with Kevin Owens. 170 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:26,000 We've seen it during his time in AEW, even in his first run in WWE, he would blur those lines sometimes. 171 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:35,000 So, yeah, I think it's better because we get more of the story getting fleshed out. We feel it's uncomfortable at times. 172 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:48,000 And as a viewer watching pro wrestling, when you're watching something going on TV and you get that level of uncomfortableness, you're like, it makes you want to keep watching more. 173 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:52,000 So I do think it's actually a little bit better now without the title on the line. 174 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:57,000 Yeah, I agree with you. I like that there's no title and it's just the famous few of like, they don't need one. 175 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:06,000 They don't need a championship to make me feel interested in this. How much of the real life history should WWE use before this story starts feeling too inside base, Bolly? 176 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:19,000 I think they're about the line right now. I don't want to go much past this because I mean, especially if you like, you don't have really any of the footage you can lean into because, you know, ring of honor stuff's owned by AEW. 177 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:31,000 So you can't, if you had footage from those indie days that you could parse in to kind of give a little more backstory to newer fans or younger fans, great. 178 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:42,000 But without that, you can't keep telling these stories about a locker room in Paduca, Kentucky in 2002 without fans going, what are they talking about? 179 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:57,000 You're at that line right now. So this is about where I cut it. I mean, it's crazy that we have two of these feuds going on between Randy and Cody and KO and Sammy where we're like, there's no title in line and it's all just personal history. 180 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:04,000 And one does feel slightly fresher than the other, but the other one's been going on for nine months. That's probably why. 181 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:10,000 Yeah, no, it totally great. So yeah, I mean, the inside baseball stuff sometimes it goes over to fans heads that aren't. 182 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:21,000 As in tuned with the program that led to this, then others are and sometimes I do think that that does take away where people just like, okay, wait, I really have to watch this very vigorously. 183 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:27,000 It's like, um, it's like how I feel watching Star Wars stuff or Harry Potter stuff. 184 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:33,000 Like I'm like, I have to know these little little little intricacies of what goes on or the Marvel stuff. 185 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:41,000 And sometimes that does lose fans and the impact fans may have towards a feud and a story such as this. 186 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:52,000 I'm switching over to a W Dr. Trey. We've got blood and guts. It is official and to do a W finally build a war big enough for a cage like blood and guts because we've got the Don Calis family. 187 00:14:52,000 --> 00:15:01,000 They dominated the wrestling dream, followed up a sort of Don and Mike Mark Davis and Jack Doyle demolished AW Roltec team champions, the young bucks in under three minutes and earned a future title shot. 188 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:16,000 Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Ite and defeated AW World Champion Will Ospreay and Adam Copeland with Fletcher pinning Copeland after the callus, Calis family overwhelmed Ospreay and Copeland Darby on return with Steven Borden who issued the blood and guts challenge Don, Don Calis accepted. 189 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:26,000 And now on November 4th, we've got Will Ospreay, Adam Copeland, Steven Borden, the young bucks in Darby on versus Kisicco, Kata, Kyle Fletcher, Wardle, Kevin Knight, Mark Davis and Jack Doyle. 190 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:37,000 Blood and guts works best when the match feels like the unavoidable endpoint of an actual war. The Calis family now has direct issues with Ospreay, Copeland Darby and the bucks rather than feeling like six wrestlers assemble just to fill the cage. 191 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:44,000 Copeland entering one of AW's most violent matches during the final stretch of his career gives the match extra weight. 192 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:51,000 The result can also establish whether the Calis family is genuinely AW's dominant faction or simply another obstacle for baby faces. 193 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:59,000 So what else matters in this entire thing? You've got Iliad Dragon off defeating Speedball Mike Bailey in his first AW match and immediately looked like he belonged to the Mate of Antico system. 194 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:05,000 Dragon off does not need a long introduction period. AW has enough elite opponents to start giving him major matches immediately. 195 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:16,000 So we're talking about two different things here because bottom line in this entire thing for the first time in a while, AW has a blood and guts match where the violence feels like the natural destination rather than the gimmick creating the rivalry. 196 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:26,000 So Dr. Trey, do you feel like this is one of the strongest blood and guts lineups AW has put together in years based on the star potential or the star power of it I should say? 197 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:34,000 I mean, yeah, and then plus you look at like the baby face team, you have the veteran and cop. 198 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:41,000 You have the face of the franchise in Ospreay. You have the bucks who are veterans. 199 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:47,000 And then you have Darby who you know, do something crazy and then you have young Steve Borden jumping into the mix as well. 200 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:53,000 It's like, wow, that's a really quite quite a contrast in career lineage for this team. 201 00:16:53,000 --> 00:17:01,000 And then you have the cows family who is is reviled in a lot of ways, but I think it's more the hatred of Donk House. 202 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:10,000 It's kind of also a little bit like back in the day when the old survivors are supposed to be like the baby face team against the Hening family. 203 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:16,000 And it wasn't like any member of the Hening family was more hated than anybody else other than Bobby Hening. 204 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:28,000 And that's kind of where we're at with this where like I don't know anybody who just hates Kyle Fletcher or Kevin Knight or you know Jack Doyle or Mark Davis or O'Cotta, but everybody hates Donk House. 205 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:34,000 And it's kind of a weird way of doing this very old school and how they put this together. 206 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:40,000 You know, the crazy thing is right now you have this rivalry going on and then bubbling under the surface. 207 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:47,000 You have the death rider, you know, conglomeration, the cut, I believe they're going by now. 208 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:52,000 Like that could be a blood and guts match if they went that way, but this that's just too new for it. 209 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,000 So this one here like I'm excited for it. 210 00:17:55,000 --> 00:18:01,000 Like seeing Cope in this match knowing his history and like Helena cell is really, really cool to me. 211 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:05,000 So it's going to be an interesting, interesting matchup is going to be playing this out. 212 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:10,000 So like I'm pretty stoked for it because you know everybody wants to get Donk House in the cage. 213 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:15,000 And I think that's at one point we're going to get C Donk House get pulled into the cage and blood and guts. 214 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,000 And I think that'll make the fans happy. 215 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:26,000 Dr. Tray, when we look at a card like this and you compare it to the stuff with the blood line and 946 and we expect this to be going to war games at the end of next month. 216 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:34,000 Does that dampen anything with your feelings towards blood and guts when WWE is running a very similar storyline right now where it ends in a cage? 217 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:40,000 No, because I think in reality like that's kind of where we're headed with wrestling. 218 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,000 I mean we've talked about with AEW for five or six years. 219 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:45,000 This is the sheer volume of staples and groups they've had. 220 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:54,000 They almost do almost it's almost like gang warfare in AEW a lot of times where WWE has started and stopped. 221 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:59,000 These group rivalries and you and I have talked about like we love groups like we love staples. 222 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,000 We love good guy staples. We love bad guy staples. 223 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,000 So I don't think it dampens in anything. 224 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:11,000 I think one feels more a bunch of good guys hate this one heel manager and he's got a stable. 225 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,000 So that's how it ends up that way. 226 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:22,000 Whereas in WWE it still feels I don't know if it feels it feels personal in the attacks like the other one feels more like gang attacks. 227 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:29,000 In WWE there may be AEW but you give me staples and stuff like that and it's have a cage that just feels fun to me. 228 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:38,000 Yeah no I'm excited for both these matches and blood and guts is going to be exciting next week when that airs on Dynamite. 229 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,000 Going to the Ely Dragon off stuff. 230 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:50,000 So how quickly do you think WWE or AEW excuse me should push Ely Dragon off towards an Osprey or Kata or another top level program based off of what you see? 231 00:19:50,000 --> 00:20:01,000 I mean well we're one match into his run in AEW. I mean it's good but you know I don't know if he's ready to challenge O'Kata because you know it's one thing we talk about. 232 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:09,000 If I'm putting somebody in that main event picture it's either A) to see if they can handle the pressure A'la, Kenny Omega and Kevin Knight. 233 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:16,000 A'la was Kyle Fletcher and was the hangman they put him in there with when hangman was on top? 234 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:24,000 Yes. Like you want to see if that young guy can hold his own on like a B+ pay per view before you put him into that mix. 235 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:35,000 And as much as we all love Ely's in ring stuff I got to see if they can handle a promo. I got to see if they can be the face of the franchise. 236 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:46,000 You know if I'm putting him in there in a world title match I would have him go for O'Kata that makes sense to me. You know because it's kind of like the B or it's the A-title. 237 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:51,000 So you can put him in that in a rivalry with O'Kata I think everybody would jump all over that. 238 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:56,000 If that is if Ely is a baby face because his first match is against another baby face. 239 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,000 So I don't even know what Ely's character is yet. 240 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:05,000 So I think you need to flesh that out a little bit before you put him into a program. 241 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:15,000 I mean typically we see these guys go for the TNT title in this setup but O'Kata is not kind of feuding with somebody right now but after blood and guts. 242 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:19,000 He's going to need somebody to challenge in who better than Ilya. 243 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:24,000 I'd love to see Ely get the ball. I think that was a very big missed opportunity by WWE. 244 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:32,000 I don't know if he would have been World Champion material this young in his career but I looked at him as somebody that was like a top level character. 245 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:38,000 I know we're not that far away from looking back at our predictions from earlier this year the first show of the year. 246 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:43,000 And there's going to be predictions for me about Ely Dragon off that we're going to like cringe about because here he is in a different company. 247 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:50,000 And if you ask me back in November and December of last year when he was I think it was like right around this time like he wins the United States Championship. 248 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:55,000 And he's he's ascending really well and having some really strong matches on SmackDown that are highly entertaining. 249 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,000 I would have guessed it like this is a guy that could be going after the Monday the Bank briefcase. 250 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:07,000 Instead he got like shelled before WrestleMania and then just sat on the sidelines waiting for his contract to run out so that he pops up in any WWE. 251 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:12,000 I mean to me just a totally missed opportunity. I put him in that same realm as Gunther. 252 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:21,000 I think he's obviously much younger and farther down the ladder version of where Gunther is right now but he has that type of potential. 253 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:32,000 So I was disappointed to see WWE let him walk but WWE's loss is certainly AW's gain where he's a guy that can barely really be featured prominently in all the wrestling moving forward. 254 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:40,000 Let's talk about NXT Halloween Havoc. It comes to us this Saturday from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. 255 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:50,000 It'll be airing at 7 p.m. Eastern 4 p.m. Pacific over on the CW. Dan Housen will host the show six matches are now officially announced after Tuesday nights go home edition of NXT. 256 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:57,000 Tavy on Heights vs. Miles Bourne, Miles Bourne was added as a weapons wild match after Dan Housen ordered the Halloween Havoc wheel to be spun. 257 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:05,000 The main event story also got its final escalation when Grayson Waller showed up at Tony D'Angelo's home and the two brawl before Saturday's NXT Championship match. 258 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,000 So here's the full announced card following Tuesday nights NXT. 259 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:18,000 N'Rockoo vs. Shiloh Hill, Zarya vs. Izzy Damon, an on title match, Tavy on Heights vs. Miles Bourne and a weapons wild match. Zillif A2 vs. Charlie Dempsey and a spin the wheel make the deal match. 260 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:25,000 Kalani Jordan, Defancy NXT Women's Championship against Rentson Claire, and Grayson Waller, Defancy NXT Championship against Tony D'Angelo. 261 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:30,000 So what am I watching for? We've got Tavy on Heights vs. Miles Bourne now as the clear stipulation on the card. 262 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:39,000 Their former friendship has already turned violent and weapons wild gives NXT permission to feel like an actual grudge match rather than another singles match. 263 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:45,000 Zillif A2 vs. Charlie Dempsey still has the most unpredictability because spin the wheel make the deal can completely change the kind of match they have on Saturday. 264 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:49,000 And Rentson Claire earned her title shot by disguising herself as A.W. 265 00:23:49,000 --> 00:24:00,000 Excuse me, A Triple A's Lady Shawnee and Winnie the number one contender's battle royale while suspended one of the strangest roads to a ton of match NXT has ever produced. 266 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:05,000 Izzy Damon specifically rejected a championship opportunity from Zarya which is why their match remains non-title. 267 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:10,000 Grayson Waller showing up at Tony D'Angelo's home giving the NXT Championship few the personal go-home angle it needed. 268 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:17,000 And the main event question remains whether NXT gives Tony D the championship back or commits to Waller as the centerpiece of the brand. 269 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:28,000 So bottom line here, Halloween Havoc now has more of the chaos than the promises, weapons wild spin the wheel and a genuinely, genuinely personal Waller Tony D feud give the six match card a much stronger identity. 270 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:38,000 So some big questions that I have for you Dr. Trey, does Grayson Waller need to retain to establish to this NXT Championship reign or is T.N. Tony D'Angelo the better centerpiece? 271 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:48,000 Man, that's a great question because I have been, I watched the closing same event, I'm like I don't know if I've ever seen two guys fighting in the back of a pickup truck. 272 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:53,000 Like maybe since like, not like the 80s, like the black top bowling and dust in the roads. 273 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:57,000 I mean, that's about as far back as I can remember on that. 274 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:07,000 It's a question for me because I mean, to me, I can watch Grayson Waller and listen to him talk all day long and to me, he's a guy that should be on your main roster somewhere. 275 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:12,000 I mean, he could be smackdowns Ethan Page at the very least. 276 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:21,000 And then, but then Tony D, I'm like, do you believe Tony D, I mean, I believe Tony D could be on the main roster, but could he be a star on the main roster in that? 277 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,000 I don't know. 278 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:36,000 I'm going to go to Grayson Waller leaning towards him, retaining the title just because like I think if you're trying to rebuild his credibility, he needs that title longer and it just kind of depends on how the company views Tony D's leading. 279 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:45,000 He views Tony D's long term prospects like I don't know if I guess I don't know Tony D's a main event main roster guy yet. 280 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,000 You know, he used to be that blue collar tough guy. 281 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:52,000 He could be the Italian hacksaw Jim Duggan in a way on the main roster. 282 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:58,000 And I think that would be an okay thing, but I just don't know if I see long term potential in Tony D. 283 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,000 Yeah, it's interesting what happens with his career, right? 284 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:09,000 I've always been wondering what's next for Tony D'Angelo, like I just don't, like I look at him as a guy that would fit in the vision. 285 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:15,000 Like I look at this card, I think Kalani and Tony D, this could be the RNXT swan song and say goodbye. 286 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:24,000 But I don't know, like Kalani has a pretty decent path to the main roster because I think she'll be very, very successful. 287 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:33,000 I don't know, like this character that he's gotten now is just kind of a little bland compared to his previous character. 288 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,000 I mean, this character is basically when Triple H came back from his quad injury. 289 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:45,000 You know, it's like, all right, just good guy, babyface, that weird leather jacket sleeve, but denim jacket. 290 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:51,000 I mean, it's like there's nothing about it other than just trying to be portrayed as a badass. 291 00:26:51,000 --> 00:27:01,000 You know, just a tough, badass babyface guy. Like I don't know, like I think the dawn character was more entertaining than this one, but this one seems tougher. 292 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:07,000 So I don't know, but I don't know what other layers you can add onto this to make it more compelling. 293 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:15,000 Like he's not a bad, he's like a, like he is the epitome of when Stephanie used to call people B+ players. He's a B+ guy. 294 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:19,000 But in this world, we live in now, what do you do with a B+ guy? 295 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:26,000 Exactly. It's so, I mean, difficult to be successful now in professional wrestling. I mean, look again, we just talked about Ealy Dragon off, who I think is an extremely successful wrestler. 296 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:36,000 He was barely utilized in WWE for the most part of 2026 contract expires ends up in A&W and he could be like a world beater in A&W now. 297 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:40,000 Is Tony D-Ashes O'No? 298 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,000 Could be. I mean, he's one of the longest 10-year NXT wrestlers of all time, right? 299 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:49,000 I mean, he's been there since the 2.0 days and that was what, 2021? That's five years. 300 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:57,000 I mean, now, champ was last, you know, his champ was last match before he went to the main roster. I mean, that's how long ago it was, but you know, he's one of those guy like Cashes on it. 301 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:06,000 Like the WWE team just never thought of him as a main roster, main event guy, but he was great in NXT and I think that's kind of where they have with Tony D right now. 302 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:13,000 Yeah, it's very, very interesting, like his career path and what happens to him this Saturday and then what happens to him after this, as well. 303 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:19,000 It's amazing if he's NXT Champion, very clear if he's not like, okay, what do we do with Tony D next? 304 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:23,000 Dr. Trey, last question here, which stipulation match has the better chance to steal the show? 305 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:27,000 Weapons Wild or Zilla Fatus? Spend the Wheel match. 306 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:33,000 Man, that's a good one. Because I don't know, is the Weapons Wild just means any Weapons legal? Is that where we're going? 307 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,000 Yeah, idea of that. 308 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:50,000 Okay, I'm going to lean into the Zilla, Charlie Dempsey one, because any stipulation, Zilla is so over the top and so entertaining in the, by contrast, Charlie Dempsey is the exact opposite. 309 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:57,000 So getting some kind of stipulation involved there, I'm going to lean on that one just because the unknown factor. 310 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:12,000 Like I expect born in heights to be hard hitting and crazy because weapons are everywhere. I'm just going to be interested in this, right now I'm just more curious about what stipulation you could put on that Fatus Dempsey match where both guys can shine. 311 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:20,000 So I'm going to lean on that one because I think those two are the better professional wrestlers where born in heights are the better in ring technicians. 312 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:25,000 I think Zilla in Dempsey are the better overall performers in wrestling. 313 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:36,000 Yeah, I think that's going to be a fun one. I love the Charlie Dempsey's getting this opportunity. I've enjoyed his works since I've seen him back in the NXT UK day. So I'm happy for him to get a shot here with Zilla Fattone. 314 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:45,000 I've enjoyed the way that the birthright group has been booked as of late. It's nice to see them not as like this joke and more of a stable that can really kind of hold their own in NXT. 315 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:55,000 All right, Dr. Trey, would that be in said let's close up shop on this week's edition of SRT and get some plugs and sponsors. Either way you can download show at patreon.com/srtupodcast 316 00:29:55,000 --> 00:30:01,000 and this to roll those show feed on apples Spotify wherever you download this podcast don't forget to rate review and subscribe. 317 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:10,000 You can follow us individually on X for myself at SRT you Jeff and for Dr. Trey Franklin at the Dr. Trey and of course don't forget to follow show on X at SRT podcast. 318 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:18,000 Would that be in said what is going on in the wonderful world of Dr. Trey Franklin this week? Well like Jeff said you can follow me on X at the Dr. Trey. 319 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:25,000 You can find me on Instagram and Facebook Dr. Trey Franklin. When you're on Facebook be sure to go check out Rock and C Championship Wrestling. 320 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:35,000 The show returns November 4th with our next with our survivor card five on five captains against captains all that fun stuff. 321 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:45,000 Also I believe we're going to be out at Spartan Championship Wrestling November 28th as well for their Warriors Chamber card. 322 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:55,000 And then also get out there, support your local independent wrestling. Don't forget all your dads out there Saturday is your time to shine because the dad tax is in full effect. 323 00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:08,000 So for every couple pieces of candy that your kid gets you get to pick out one for yourself. So or you can use the dad testing method which is oh no I got to test this candy to make sure it's not lace with LSD or something. 324 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:19,000 Back in the day when a former friend of ours Mike Bauer when I used to do the show radio show in Hartford, Connecticut and did a podcast with him for a long time. 325 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:32,000 He used to give me all of his kids candy because the ones that they didn't want their kid to have it would go to the great pumpkin well the great pumpkin was yours truly so which I made out great on all the candy which is always a good thing. 326 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:41,000 So enjoy Halloween if you have young ones use this opportunity to enjoy their time your time with them and just kind of soak it all in because it's going to be a lot of fun. 327 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:51,000 Until next week for Dr. Trifranclin I'm Jeff Pack thank you for making this part of your week this has been the stirrola show.