Latest / Solomonster Sounds Off / Sound Off 965 - Curtis Axel ARRESTED, Clash In Italy PREDICTIONS And Concern For Jim Ross

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Sound Off 965 - Curtis Axel ARRESTED, Clash In Italy PREDICTIONS And Concern For Jim Ross · Solomonster Sounds Off

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: It's business time, baby. You are listening to solo Monster
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Sounds Off. I love you so, mama monster dude, I
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: want your soul. Mind a woman.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: You got grown ass wrestlers in the back going on Twitter.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Come over here, hearty. Is that Pet Patterson? You have legs?
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: The weekend I was ninety nine percent positive it was
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: just chessed up. Now I have been begging him for
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: a job on every every platform I can, and I
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: want to know the reason why you won't park. What
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: was up? Guys? This is episode nine to sixty five
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: of The Solemn Monster Sounds Up for Saturday, May thirtieth,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. I am the Solemn Monster a day early,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: but not a dollar short. See. I had to go
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: early this weekend because tomorrow WWE decided to do a
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: pl right smack dab in the middle of my Sunday,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: So you're getting an early sound off here this weekend.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: I also apologize if I sound a little bit different.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I am under the weather. I thought I was kicking
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: this thing yesterday and then I woke up this morning.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I somehow feel worse. So it shouldn't impact anything. But
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: if you notice anything, that would probably be the reason
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: why we're going to talk about Clash in Italy. We
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: actually got a whole bunch of news and notes, but
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: we will go through the Clash in Italy card with
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: some predictions. There are also some injuries that could potentially
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: affect the card tomorrow, so we'll talk about that and
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: a whole lot more. Got a bunch of mailbag questions
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: and I'll save it for the end. I have some
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: non spoiler thoughts for you on the back Rooms movie,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: which I did see this week, so we'll get into
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: all that. If you would like to support the podcast,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: you may do so by dropping a PayPal donation. If
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: you would like to on theslo monster dot com. The
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: PayPal link is at the top of the page. Ten
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  Speaker 1: dollars or more, we'll get you a nickname and a
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: shout out like these fine folks, the Portland Pop Star
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: being one of them, Paul Hamilton, Big b Bryant, Bessera,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the Diamond, Dallas a Dance Machine, Harrison's Soep, Still Dancing Away,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Velvet Revolver, Robert Murray, the Chicago Slayer, Willie Aichord, Pandaman,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Paul Savage and Q the Destroyer and any donos that
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: come in after this drops. I'm sure there'll be some
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: since the show ended up going up a day early.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I got you on the next episode, so you don't
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: have to worry about that. I do have to mention
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: this though. We made a big announcement this week with
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: House of Glory for the first time ever, Boom boom.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Ricky Sosa coming to Hog to take on the Amazing
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Red and that will be at our Inferno event Friday night,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: June nineteenth at Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago. We also
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: have Shatzi putting her Hog Women's championship on the line
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: on that show against Steph Delander. It's been a lot
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: of bad blood there between those two over the last
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: month or so. Rich Swan will be in action. Mustafa
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Ali makes his return. He will be in action. He's
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: a Chicago native. Limited tickets are left at Hog Wrestling
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: dot Net and JD and I will be in Chicago
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: to call the action live on Triiller TV Plus, so
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: hopefully you guys will join us, if not in person,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: hopefully on Triller. It's gonna be a hell of a show.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Now as I am recording this tonight, there is a
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: big event down in Mexico. It is Mask versus Mask
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: on the Triple A Notche de Loos Grandees event, and
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: this is the big match between Elgrande Americano Kaiser. There's
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: like a national hero down there and El Grande Americano Gable.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: And I think I said this last week. Anything other
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: than a Kaiser win tonight, would I would be stunned,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: so I would the Undertaker. The Undertaker would have to
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: submit himself for a psych evaluation if this went any
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: other way, Like if I'm Ludwig Kaiser, I'm wearing that
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: mask for the rest of my career, as long as
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I can maintain the popularity that I have right now.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, they were throwing parades for this guy this week,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: and he's out. He was out there making out with
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: his girlfriend and everyone's going nuts. They're throwing shoes at
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Chad Gable. They hate this guy so much. I mean,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: if if you're Kaiser, this is it right here. You know,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: why would you want to do anything else for the
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: rest of your career. This should be a Kaiser win.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Gable gets unmasked and Kaiser goes on to win the
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Triple A Mega title from Dirty Dom at Triple Mania
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: in September. It's just what makes the most sense now.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Also on the card tonight, Ray Phoenix, remember him. He
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: challenges Laredo Kid for the Triple A Cruiserweight Championship. I'm
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: going Ray Phoenix in that one. I think he's going
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to pick up that title. The war Raiders, I was
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: wondering where they've been. They're going to be challenging Pagano
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: and Psycho Clown for the Triple A tag team titles.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I think that'll be a retention for Pegano and Psycho
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Clown and Elijdel Vikingo challenges El eh De Doctor Wagner
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Junior for Wagner's Triple A Latin American Championship. I think
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: we get a title change there over to Vikingo. They're
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: also taping for next week. It's gonna be Bailey, Lolavice
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: and La Catalina taking on Lady Flammer, Maravilla and Lahiedra
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: and that'll be airing, I guess, on the Triple A
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Show next weekend. I also have a legal update on
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: El Grande Americano Kaiser after his arrest on a misdemeanor
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: battery charge in Florida. Turns out the men listed in
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: court documents as the one who paid the bond to
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: secure his release from jail was Gunther. See now that's
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: a rider die right there when you paid, When you
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: pay to bail your buddy out from behind bars, that's
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: a real one. A pre trial conference has been scheduled
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: for July sixteenth. I believe he'll need to appear in
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: person for that, and at that point, you know, it'll
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: either be determined whether this goes to trial or some
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: sort of plea agreement is reached. Would be my guests
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: is that this gets pled out. Fight Ful Select had
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: a report now this week saying that sources within WWE
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: say that Kaiser has no heat over the arrest and
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: sources within the company believed that this all will end
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: up being dismissed based on the information that they have received. Also,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the recent story about Kaiser defending himself and his girlfriend
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: from ice, comments that were allegedly made by the neighbor
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: were planted within WWE after the Ice story became public,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: and unfamiliar Number reached out to several members of the
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: wrestling media with the story as opposed to Kaiser doing
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: it himself or his girlfriend or a member of WWE's
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: team and regarding the talents response. Some found the defense
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: narrative surrounding the incident unbelievable and felt that Kaiser should
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: have simply removed himself from the situation. And this is
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: why I didn't run with that, you know, Raj Geary
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: story last week that he post because it sounded to
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: me like something that someone may have made up as
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: a defense for Kaiser, you know, it was something that
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: was planted to try to make the other guy look
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: bad and kind of justify what Kaiser did. I don't
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: think it's based on any credible information, you know. And
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying Raj pulled that out of his ass.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: I'm saying whoever gave it to him, I don't buy it,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: you know, in the absence of anything to back it up,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: I just don't buy it. You know that the man
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: the neighbor allegedly threatened to call ice on Kaiser's girlfriend.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: You know, he should not have put his hands on
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: the guy to begin with, even if he was being
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: a dick. And I don't necessarily believe that the guy
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: was like, please mind your manners, But you know, did
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: he say what people are alleging that he said probably not,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: but even if he was being a dick, you know,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: you don't put your hands on the guy. And he's
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: lucky that this will all likely go away very soon.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: But you can't be putting your hands on people, let
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: alone with cameras around that probably don't have any audio,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: just video, so I doubt they could even hear what
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: was being said. All the cop sees Kaiser hunching and
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: shoving the guy, you know, and if it was anyone
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: else not getting the kind of push that he is
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: getting right now, I don't know that the company would
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: be as forgiving. And then you're potentially out of a
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: job or a push, right You got to be smarter
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: about these things. We have more legal news, this time
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: concerning a former WWE Intercontinental Champion arrested for DWI in
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: a McDonald's drive through incident, where the first the McDonald's
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: incident since Ken Petera in the eighties. Joe Hennig, the
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: former Curtis Axel, son of the late WWE Hall of
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Famer Mister Perfect Kurt Hennig, is facing multiple charges related
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: to an incident at a McDonald's drive thru in Minnesota.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Records show that Hennig was arrested in Anoka County on
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: May seventeenth on charges of DWI, refusing to submit to
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: chemical tests, and failing to stop for an accident. The
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Watch Minnesota. I guess that's out of says a newspaper
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: or a web site, But the Watch MN reports that
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: charges also include obstructing the legal process, having an open
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: bottle of alcohol in his car, and disorderly conduct. And
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: he spent two days behind bars before he was released
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: on May nineteen, So it wasn't like he was placed
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: behind bars and then a few hours later he got
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: bailed out. He was basically locked up for a good
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: forty eight hours, according to an arrest report obtained by
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: the Watch MN. Police were dispatched to a McDonald's in
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Saint Francis shortly before nine pm due to a property
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: damage crash where a vehicle backed into another. In the
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: drive through, police found Hennig slowly navigating the parking lot
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: and claimed that he reeked of alcohol, had bloodshot and
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: watery eyes, so do I today, and was slurring his speech.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: An open bottle of vodka was found in the vehicle.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Police say the forty six year old had to be
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: physically removed from his vehicle, was swearing at them, and
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: uttered a slur. When instructed to step out of the vehicle,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Hennie reportedly refused. Officers subsequently opened the door, reached inside
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: to turn off the engine, and placed the keys on
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: the passenger seat. After continued defiance, officers physically removed Hennig
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: from the truck, escorted him to the ground and handcuffed him,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: and while seated in the squad car, and officer read
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: him the Minnesota breath test advisory. Hennig allegedly refused chemical
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: testing and responded with profanities including I don't give a
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: shit and fuck you, u F and then I don't
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: know what this word is and I'm not going to
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: say it. He's also said to have sworn at the
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: McDonald's staff and the female driver that he backed into.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: During the investigation, a McDonald's employee reported that Hennig had
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: been mumbling in the drive through before pulling forward, swearing
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: its staff, and backing into another vehicle. He then allegedly
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: opened his door and yelled at the female driver, calling
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: her a bitch and a I guess that's pussy. An
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: inventory search of his vehicle prior to towing yielded a
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: seven hundred and fifty milli liter open bottle of Phillips
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: vodka on the front passenger side floorboard. The most serious
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: of the charges Hennig is facing. The two related to
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: DWI slash DUI, are classified as gross misdemeanors, which are
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: serious misdemeanors that do not rise to the level of
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: a felony. Hennig is a former Intercontinental champion and tag
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: team champion. He was released by WWE in twenty twenty
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: as part of the pandemic related cuts that they made.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: He did come back two years later, though he had
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: a brief stint as a part time producer which only
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: lasted three months. Now, he has claimed in other interviews
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: that it was a part time gig and it ended
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: when Vince McMahon and Johnny Ace got wrapped up in
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: the hush money scandal. I don't know why that would
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: impact him, but he claims that's why he was let go.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: They told him they couldn't afford to have him around,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: just hang back, and then they never called him back,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: which sounds kind of sus to me, but it sounds
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: to be like they just, you know, didn't want him
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: for the job anymore. But they paired him up. You know,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: when you think about the push that he got, and god,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: this is going back probably twenty thirteen. They paired him
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: up with Paul Hayman Once upon a time, right, that's
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: when he won the intercontinental title that his father once held.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: But his father's shadow had just loomed very large, and
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: he never retained the level of success that they had
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: hope that he would. You know, he's one of the failures,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: as Paul Hayman guys go. And then later they had
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: him doing comedy work as part of the B Team faction.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I mean first it was the Mistourage and then it
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: was the B Team, and then he was unemployed. And
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: in the last six years he's only worked one match
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: on an independent show. Last year in Minnesota, he was
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: tagging with Von Wagner. I was wondering whatever happened to
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Von Wagner, remember him the son of a Bow of
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: the Beverly Brothers. And that's the only match he's had
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: in the last six years since WWE let him go.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know what he's been doing with his time
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: since then. It's just very sad. It's sad to see
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: him like this. You look at the mugshot, he doesn't
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: look well, just drunk off his ass, cussing people out.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I do feel bad for him, but I feel worse
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: for the people he put in harm's way by getting
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: behind the wheel intoxicated. Thankfully nobody was heard. I've covered
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: a lot of these stories, I feel like, on the
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: sound off over the years, over these many many years,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: and it always pisses me off. Right, It's just a
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: very selfish thing to do, and I think the laws
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: are way too lax when it comes to driving under
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: the influence. Right, It's one thing if it's a first defense,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: which it may be for him. I don't know if
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: he's gotten into trouble for this before, but we have
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: seen far too many stories of wrestlers getting popped for
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: this sort of thing multiple times, three, four or five,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: six times and being allowed back behind the wheel without
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: any sort of ignition interlock device, or without getting their
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: license revoked at least for a period of time. Right,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Or you have people whose license gets suspend that and
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: then they fucking drive anyway. It's it's infuriating and even
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: worse when you hear about these these like non wrestling
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: stories of drunk drivers who get behind the wheel and
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: get in an accident and then innocent people die but
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: the driver survives. Like how many times have we heard that?
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, look at the Tammy Sitch case. She actually
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: killed somebody, and it's just infuriating. And hopefully he doesn't
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: become one of those people where we read about him
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: getting arrested three or four times and you know, putting
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: other people's lives in danger. Hopefully he can get the
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: help he needs. So that's something like this doesn't happen again.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: And I see some people on social media cracking jokes
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: about this online. Oh he's still in the Royal rumble though,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: like that sort of thing. I don't find any of
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: this to be funny. WWE is holding its Clash in
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Italy event tomorrow in Turin with a two pm Eastern
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: start time, which is why you're listening to the sound
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: off now and you're not listening to it on Sunday,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: or maybe you are listening to it on Sunday, but
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: I'm recording this on Saturday because this event is in
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: the middle of the day tomorrow and the first hour
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: is airing on ESPN, And so you look at the
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: card and it's not a huge card. It is a
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: stronger card than Backlash was. I can't say that now
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: that we're here looking at what they did on the
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: go home shows this week, especially SmackDown last night, like
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: just mostly a nothing show. We did get a couple
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: of good wrestling matches, at least none of which, by
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: the way, tied into anything going on on the Clash
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: in Italy card. Carmelo Hayesen Ricky Saints, they had a
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: good match, Sammy's Ana Mac card Dona they had a
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: solid match, and none of these people are even on
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: the card tomorrow. So it's like, okay, as far as
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: go home shows go Cody and Gunther they had a
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: pretty good closing segment last night. But I can't say
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: any of the television this week got me any more
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: excited for this event. But we know that opening the
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: show at the top of the hour on ESPN will
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: be Cody Rhodes defending the WWE Championship against Gunther, and
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: I said they had pretty good back and forth on
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: the mic yesterday. They were talking about, you know, Gunther
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: says all these things that you do, you know you
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: do it because you're you're a mark for yourself, and
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: you love the attention, and you love doing all of
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: these things. And Cody threw it back at him and said, oh, well,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: you know, is that such a bad thing. You mean
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: to tell me that you don't care about doing all
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: of the publicity and you don't care about all the
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: attention that comes with being the champion, all the responsibilities.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Of course, you're a liar if you say that none
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: of that matters to you. And Gunther's point was, what
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: matters to me is the wrestling. What matters to me
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: is what happens on the mat here in this ring.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: I am the best wrestler in the world, and to you,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: it's about all this other stuff. And that was kind
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: of the gist of it, basically, And so here we are.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Gunther has been undefeated since losing the World Heavyweight Championship
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: at Summer Slim last year to see mpunk. We know
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: what he did with Goldberg last summer on Saturday Nights
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Made Event. We know what he did with John Cena
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: on Saturday Night's Made Event. We know what he did
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: with aj Styles at the Royal Rumble, And ever since
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: then he hasn't really done a whole hell of a lot.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: In fact, he disappeared there for about a month, and
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: so now he's heading into this show. They've just moved
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: him over to SmackDown. This is his first big match
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: as a member of the SmackDown roster. He's in the
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: well the SmackDown main event anyway, challenging for the top
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: championship on the brand, and I just think it's insane
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: to send him in there and take a loss. Now,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: you could do the finish in a way where nobody
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: wins and you get to run it back again, which
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: I think would be pretty fucking lame. I mentioned this
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: on the SmackDown review last night. Could there be some
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: sort of interference from a Sammy's ain or a Drew
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: McIntyre who comes back since he just finished wrapping up
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: filming for the Highlander movie, Randy Orton, where the hell
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: has he been? Maybe Randy Orton shows up and doles
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: out a couple of rkos. It's certainly possible, and then Cody.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: By the way, you know, if Cody does lose the
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: championship here, he's got a side quest with Sammy Zay
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: if that's the direction they want to go in, or
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Randy if he comes back It's not like he doesn't
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: have people to work with until he chases for the
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: title again. I think they're gonna give ESPN their first
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: WWE title change. I think Gunther goes over. I think
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Gunther should go over. I think he's going to be
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: the new WWE champion, and I think he needs to
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: win this more than Cody does. He's brand new to SmackDown.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: SmackDown needs that big top heel. He can be that guy.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: He can fill that void. And also the one match
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: these two have had previous link. Granted it was a
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: couple of years ago, but Cody beat him. Cody already
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: has a win over this guy. I just don't see
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the point in moving Gunther over to SmackDown immediately vaulting
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: him into a championship match like this, only for him
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: to lose, because where do you go from there? All
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: the work, by the way, all the work that they've
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: done to build up gun there, and then he takes
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: a loss to fucking Cody Rhodes. I wouldn't be doing that.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: I think Gunph's gonna win this. We have Ria Ripley
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: the WWE Women's Championship against Jade Cargill. This is a
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: rematch from WrestleMania. They've done everything right in terms of
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: like Saturday Night's main event, for example, Jade's team wins,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Jade gets the win over Ria Ripley. Jade got to
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: win over Alexa Bliss on SmackDown last night. They're trying to,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: you know, feed her some wins because she's gonna lose.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: She's not winning the championship back. Ria Ripley is gonna
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: go over here. And the only question is do we
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: then advance to Ria and Charlotte for SummerSlam? Is the
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: big Summer Slam match on the SmackDown side or are
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: we looking at Jade and Charlotte as a Summer Slam
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: match Now, they could do it before SummerSlam. Doesn't mean
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: they have to do it on that show. It would
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: be a big enough match. They could do that on
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the undercard. Doesn't have to be for the title. That's
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: the only thing. I'm not sure. I kind of feel like,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I feel like Ria and Charlotte is
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: probably the direction for SummerSlam, but you know, it may
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: also depend on who wins Queen of the Ring. You know.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: J C. Jane on SmackDown last night said that she
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: was throwing her name in the hat to be in
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: the Queen of the Ring tournament. I kind of tossed
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: her name out there a week ago. Maybe it was
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: on TNT as a potential Queen of the Ring winner.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: I could see that, you know, I could see that.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: But then again, it may also be a raw star
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: who wins Queen of the Ring and they can set
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: up the championship match for Summer Slams some other way.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: Either way, in any event, Rhea Ripley's going to go
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: over here. Now we have Brocklesner and we have Oba Femi.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: We saw brock Lesner come back a couple of weeks ago,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: shock the world by coming back when he did. I
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: don't even know that brock coming back was necessarily a
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: shocker to a lot of people, so much as him
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: coming back as quickly as he did. That was probably
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the most shocking part about it. And so already we're
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: a month We're a month removed from WrestleMania and the
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: supposed retirement to brock Lesner. He's already back. Now you
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: look at this and go, okay, I could see where
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: this is going. They're going to get a trilogy out
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: of it. So of course broadcasts, and then the rubber
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: match can be in Minnesota at SummerSlam. Bullshit, Brock does
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: not need to win. I think this is a tired narrative.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: It's the typical WWE formula that you would expect. It's
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: time to break the formula. I think beating Oba Femi,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: it's like, oh, well, it has to happen to get
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: to a third match. No it doesn't. It really doesn't.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: And I talked about this on the un Crime Wrestling
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Show on Tuesday. The story actually is quite simple. Brock
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Lesner and his pre tape promo on Monday night because
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: he wasn't there in person, but he said that he
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: thought he was done after he lost to obat WrestleMania,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: when he took his gloves off and he took his
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: boots off in the middle of the ring, and his
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: mind he was finished. But then he realized I can't
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: go out like that. I can't. So he's back for revenge.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: He's back to show Oba Femi that when you mess
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: with the Beast, there are consequences for that. And then
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Oba confronted Paul Hayman on Monday and basically said when
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: he wrestled Brock Lesner at WRESTLEMANI he was wrestling to
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: beat him, but now he's wrestling to kill him, which
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: was a cold line that was the big money line
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: of the promo. Well, now he needs to go in
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: there and back it up. Now, what this match should
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: be is more competitive and a little bit longer than
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: the WrestleMania match was maybe even twice as long. Right,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: the WrestleMania match was what four minutes? So let this
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: go eight minutes, get some near falls out of it.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: It's more competitive. But in the end brock Lesner falls
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: again to Oba Femi because Oba does not have to lose.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: This narrative that he has to lose is bullshit. It's
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: a flawed narrative. He doesn't have to lose, and the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: story then becomes brock Lesner cannot figure this guy out.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: And I, by the way, when I mentioned this, I
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: had some people go, well, yeah, brock can't figure him out,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: but I guess Ricky Saints can in NXT. What happened
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: in NXT doesn't matter here. I don't know why people
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: don't realize this. This is how WWE treats it. What happens
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: in NXT. He doesn't mean dog shit. When it comes
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: to stuff like this on the main rock, it may
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: as well have just been a fucking dream. They could
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: have had Obafemi lose to fucking Andre Chase. It wouldn't matter.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: So I don't want to hear the NXT bullshit because
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: what happens in NXT clearly doesn't matter when it comes
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: to the main roster. Fact is brock Lesner can't figure
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: this guy out. You know, whatever it is, you always
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: have that one guy. He's like, you're kryptonite, and that's
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: what Obafemi is to brock Lesner. He cannot figure this
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: guy out, and the same logic applies where he cannot
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: allow himself to go out this way. So the logical
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: progression of this is that we do end up getting
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: a third match, but this time brock Lesner puts his
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: career on the line for real. Right. He never articulated
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: that coming out of WrestleMania, leaving the boots in the
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: ring was kind of a telltale sign, like, okay, the
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: implication here is that he's retiring. And then on television
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: we even had Adam Pierce talking to Paul Hayman, like,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: what what's going on here? I filed retirement paperwork for Brock. Right,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: so it's a little hollow because he retired, but then
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: he came back, So why should we believe it it's
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: all bullshit. Well, he would have to put it in writing.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: We'd have to make it official this time, like this
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: is for real. If I can't beat you, then I
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: shouldn't be doing this anymore. And Brock gets that sendoff
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: if in fact that is the plan. He gets that
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: sendoff in Minneapolis and Oba beats him again for a
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: third time. You want to get this guy over and
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: show that this guy is the next big thing, and
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: this guy is a beast, right the way that Brock
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: was always a beast. He shouldn't be fucking losing. So
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: I would say the ultimate way for Brock to put
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: this guy over is to never beat him. And if
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: you're gonna do three matches, he goes, oh for three.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: That's how you really cement Obafemi as the real fucking deal.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: This wasn't a fluke. Like the only guy in history
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: to hand brocklesnar three straight losses. That's how this should
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: play out. Oba Femi wins at clash in Italy. We
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: got Becky Lynch defending the Women's Intercontinental Championship against Soul Ruka.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Now we're getting into the final two matches here on
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: this card, and this is where things are the lifty
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: now when it comes to these matches, because sol Ruka
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: may be injured. Now, sol Ruka is either in Italy
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: or she's en route to Italy, she'll be there. Supposedly
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: there was talk of a leg injury on that botched
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: finish to their match at Saturday Night's main event, where
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: she was going for the Soul Snatcher and Becky pulled
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: the referee in the way, and supposedly there was a
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: legitimate injury. Becky's been tweeting up a storm about how
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Soul's not medically cleared, so they may be turning it
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: into a storyline now, but there could be a legitimate injury.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: So I don't know if that may affect things. If
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: they're gonna wrestle, but it's going to be a short match,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: if the match is gonna have to change, we don't know.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Far as we know. The match is still on now.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: I think it's too soon to put the title on
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: sol Ruka. There's no reason to rush it onto her.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: But Soul Ruka is coming into this she has yet
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: to pick up a pinfall win since coming to the
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: main roster. Becky Lynch has not been shy about bringing
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: that fact up on TV, calling her a loser you
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: can't hack it. The only win she has so far
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: is by disqualification in that bullshit match on Saturday Nights
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Made Event. I'm not even counting that honestly. She kind
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: of has to win the title now, because what a
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: fucking loser she's gonna look like if they go in there.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: After everything Becky has been taunting her with and saying,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: and then she loses again, They've put themselves in a
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: position now where she almost has to win. So I'm
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: gonna say Soul Ruca wins. I'm gonna say she wins
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: the Intercontinental title, and they'll continue to feud. I mean,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: I could see them bringing this all the way to
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Summer Slam, but instead of doing the big payoff at SummerSlam,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: they just keep going with it. You know, Becky tries
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: to get the belt back, she fails. I guess that's
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: the road maybe that they're gonna take. But I just
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: kind of feel everything they've done up until this point,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Soul she needs this win badly. And then we have
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: the main event for the World Heavyweight Championship, Roman reigns
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: against Jacob Fatu. They have their second contract signing this month,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: this past Monday, this time for Tribal Combat, with a
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: new stipulation added where if Roman wins, fa Tou has
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: to serve him. Serve him what. I don't know. If
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: it was Vince McMahon, I would say a subpoena. Fatu
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: agreed to this, but he said when I win, Roman
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: will have to acknowledge me. Fatu is coming into this
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: match with an injury though, and this is the wild
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: card here. He was spotted limping after his street fight
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: with Solo Socoa in Liverpool because they're on their European tour.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: They had a match on Thursday night. He got hurt
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: and the hope was that he was just selling. Since then,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Mike Johnson, a PW insider, chimed in to confirm that
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: there was an injury. Corey Hayes, who is with False
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Finish now used to be with Bodyslam dot Net. He
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: says that it is believed to be a back injury
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: of some kind and the on WWE's end is that
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: he'll be good to go come tomorrow, but they are
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: at least planning for potential pivots if he is unable
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: to get cleared now Jacob FA too, it's going to
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: take a hell of an injury, I think to keep
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: him out of this match, like debilitating where he can't
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: even walk. I cannot imagine that Jacob FA two is
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: not going to walk into this match. If it's like
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: a mild kind of back injury or something, he'll be there.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: I think he'll be there, and I think the match
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: will happen, But there's at least the possibility that plans
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: may have to change, and that sucks, and I hope
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: that doesn't happen either way. I don't think that Jacob
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: is walking out with the World Heavyweight Championship because I
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: don't see them changing both belts on this show. I
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: think if one belt is changing, it's going to be
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Cody's belt. I don't think they want to take that
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: title of Roman, not until SummerSlam. Roman's their guy. Roman
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: is their top champion right now, even more so than
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: Cody Roads. Roman is that guy. He's had the belt
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: for a month. I just cannot see them taking that
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: championship off of him right now, now, I really don't
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: want to see fat two drop two in a row
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: to Roman, because then what he has to serve Roman. Oh,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: that that sounds really exciting. So I think him losing
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: to Roman, it'll hurt him. It'll sting him a little bit.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: It's not a killer, but it's not an ideal situation,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: given that he already lost the backlash right he got
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: pinned in the middle of the ring. And I also
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: think that if you really want to freshen things up
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: a little bit, you want to shake things up a
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: little bit, but keep the bloodline stuff going, which they
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: clearly want to do because it's their bread and butter. Here.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Things are going to be a lot fresher if you
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: have Jacob Fatu in the driver's seat, and if you
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: force Roman reigns, even if just for a few months,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: to be second fiddle. It's not a position that we're
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: used to seeing him in. It would be kind of
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: unique if Jacob Fatu is the one walking around as
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: the tribal chief calling the shots and Roman is just,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of carrying out the plays just like
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Jimmy and Jay do. At least, then it would add
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: a like a different dimension to the bloodl stuff. So
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: I would like to see FONT two leave with the championship.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: But again, these are predictions and not hopes, and I
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: am predicting a Roman Reigns win. If the match even happens,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: I think it will. Again. I think it would take
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: a really horrible injury to keep Jacob out of what
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: is going to be the biggest match of his entire life.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: You're gonna have to kill this man, I think to
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: keep him out of this match. Either that or WWE
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: medical will I guess, But that's the cards for Clash
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: in Italy. I will be live tomorrow night, not immediately
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: after the show. It's gonna go from two what two
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: to five five point thirty Eastern. I'll be live around
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: eight eight pm, pretty much the time I went live
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: for SmackDown last night and the time I'll be going
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: live for Raw because Raw airs at two pm Eastern
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: on Netflix this Monday, So eight o'clock Eastern on YouTube.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Set your notification bells if need be. I got you
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: covered with the full Clash in Italy recap. One person
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: who will not be at Clash in Italy will be
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: Logan Paul, who tore his triceps in his Saturday Nights
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: main event match. It was him and Austin Theory against
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: the Street Profits last weekend, and it was on a
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: dive near the very end of the match when Dawkins
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: did a flip dive out onto Logan was out too
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: far obviously tried to catch him, and just the way
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: that he went down and his arm hit the floor,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: he tore his tricep and so he's already had surgery
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: and bron Breaker is now going to assume his spot
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: is one half of the World Tag Team Champions with
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: Austin Theory. They're employing the freebird rule for the vision
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: and the doctors have given Logan a six month recovery window.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: He is hoping to make it back a hell of
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: a lot sooner than that. This is what he posted
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: on ig the other day. Tore my tricep, got surgery
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: while wide awake, told the doc I want to feel
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: at all still the Tag Team Champ Just FYII. They're
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: telling me six month recovery, but I don't believe them.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: I'll be back in a couple of weeks with some
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: at Drink Prime Shake good news. I can still rip
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: packs because at Rip it about to launch. Keep that
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: title warm for me theory. Then he goes he tagged
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Bronson read and goes let's hang out. Telling the doctor
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: that you want to be wide awake when they cut
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: your arm open is just fucking diabolical. That is, if
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: he is telling the truth, he will not be back
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: in two weeks. It's nice to have goals. At least
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: he got to plug all of his shit in his
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: message the idea. Look, I floated an idea on t
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: T the other day. Grayson Waller has disappeared from television
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: because the New Day left and now he's got nothing right.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: He used to be partners with Austin Theory. Austin Theory
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: got split away from him. Now he's with the Vision.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: So they put him with a New Day and now
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: the New Day is gone and Grayson Waller is going
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: to be next on that cut list unless they come
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: up with something for him to do. Now is part
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: of the Vision, and there's a history there with him
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: and Waller. Waller's a talented guy. I'm just saying, if
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: you are looking to add somebody new to the Vision,
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: you could do a hell of a lot. Worse, there
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: could be an opportunity there to do something with Grace
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: and Waller and try to resuscitate this guy's career. Honestly,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Ethan Page would be a great fit for the Vision,
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: but he's doing well on his own right now. I
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: don't think he needs it. But if we were like
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: making a list of people who would fit perfectly into
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: the Vision right now, and with Paul Hayman and all
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: these guys, Ethan Page would be at the top of
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: my list. I just don't think he needs it now.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Pert Post Wrestling, there was another big story this week.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: Vince McMahon and Nick Cohn have been sanctioned in the
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: ongoing WWE shareholder lawsuits. Again this is from Post Wrestling.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Vince McMahon and his fellow defendants have been dealt a
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: blow and the ongoing shareholder lawsuit related to Endeavor's acquisition
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: of WWE. A group of shareholders is suing mcmah and
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: then WWE board members Nick con Paul Aveck, Michelle Wilson,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: and George Barrios, alleging that McMahon steered the company's twenty
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: twenty three sales slash merger process to Endeavor so that
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: he would end up in a favorable position under the
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: new regime. The claim is that McMahon, with promises from
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Endeavor CEO Aria Manuel, was influenced to go in this
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: direction instead of considering other bids that would have been
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: more financially beneficial to the company and its shareholders. The
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: trial is scheduled to begin on June eighth, which is
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: coming up pretty quick. Ahead of that, the judge has
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: ruled that McMahon and Cohn acted recklessly by using the
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: messaging apps signal and changing their settings so that messages
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: would automatically delete after a short period of time, so
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: basically they destroyed evidence. As a result of that, the
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: court will treat five damaging facts as presumptively true when
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: the case goes to trial next month, meaning the burden
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: of proof has now shifted and the defense will be
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: tasked which showing the following is not true. Number one,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: a manual's promise to provide Vince with a continued role
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: at any post merger company after a transaction influenced Vince's
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: decision making with respect to the merger. Number two a
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: manual's offer of indemnification and other legal support related to
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: pending federal investigations of Vince's alleged misconduct influenced Vince's decision
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: making with respect to the merger. Number three, Vince decided
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: to pursue a transaction with Endeavor in twenty twenty two,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: before the company initiated the strategic review process. Number four
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: con communicated with a manual between August and December of
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two to facilitate a transaction between WWE and Endeavor.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: And Number five, Vince and Kahn worked with Rain, a
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: banking firm to steer the process toward a deal with
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: Endeavor and away from other potential bidders. So now the burden,
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: where as the burden of proof normally would be on
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: the plaintiffs, now it's on the defendants. Bloomberg also reported
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: on this. I'll read from their article here McMahon. WWE's
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: leaders were instructed twice by their own assistant general counsel
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: to preserve all documents and electronically stored information, including texts
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: and other instant messages, in June of twenty twenty two,
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: after the misconduct allegations became public, and in January of
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, after the WWE began contacting potential bidders.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Such holds are routine and WWE's leadership had a duty
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: to preserve evidence related to Vince's return and at potential
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: sale because they could reasonably have expected litigation to be filed.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: This is what the judge said, but the wrestling promoter,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: Kahn and others disregarded those instructions amid sale discussions. Con
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: messaged McMahon Langis. McMahon responded, what in the blue hell
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: is Langis? Loll Con replied, read it backwards. The record
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: reveals extensive back channeling. According to the judge, in most
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: civil lawsuits, the party making the accusations has to prove
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: its claims. The burden is now on the defendants to
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: disprove these five facts. And again, those are the facts
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: that I just read to you, But it says the
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: defendants now must disprove these claims by clear and convincing evidence,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: a higher standard than by a preponderance of the evidence.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Had Laster the judge not ordered these sanctions. The ruling
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: does not determine whether McMahon, con or the other defendants
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: will be found liable. Laster will ultimately make that decision
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: at some point after the trial scheduled to take place
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: from June eighth to June twelfth, and this shareholder's suit
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: will include testimony from McMahon, con Levec a Manuel, TKO's
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: Mark Shapiro, and others. Per Brandon Thurston of Post Wrestling.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: If the plaintiffs prevail at trial or win a settlement,
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: I expect an indication of it in TKO's public financial report,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: especially if it's a big payout, which I can't see
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: the plaintive settling for less, given the legal fees that
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: have been sunk into this, I think there's an unlikely
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: chance that insurance doesn't cover Nick Cohn because of the sanction.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: Vince's most uncertain because he was the controlling shareholder allegedly
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: extracting benefits for himself. The other shareholders could not benefit
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: from that, being his personal survival in WWE. And speaking
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: of Brandon Thurston, you want to see what real journalism
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: looks like. Thurston is that guy. He has challenged in
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: the past to unseal confidential information in this lawsuit and
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: won those challenges in court, thousands of pages unsealed, and
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: then recently WWE asked to withhold some material, including a
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: voicemail sent to Vince McMahon by Ari Emmanuel Thurston opposed
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: that request, and the judge in the case just sided
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: with him and denied WWE's motion to redact or withhold
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: those materials and says. Regarding the audio file, the defendant
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: stated that releasing a manual's audio message was unnecessary because
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: the substantive content of the voice notes is already on
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: the record, as the text of the voicemail has been disclosed. Now,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: if you don't remember, I know I've mentioned this before,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: but in the voicemail our Emmanuel sent to Vince mcmahony said,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: I spoke to my lawyer from Latham. Just fyi. Everybody
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: at the DOJ is former Latham lawyers, so on that
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: side will be helpful. SEC of course is SEC, but
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: that's just the penalty as it relates to everything else. Yes,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: we can indemnify you, and we will if it's a criminal.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: If it's criminal, of course you can't stop criminal. But
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: this is not criminal. Call me when you get a chance.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: So the judge struck this down as insufficient to maintain confidentiality.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: WWE also argued that the file sharing service didn't support
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: audio files, and while the judge acknowledged that as fact,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: he said that it wasn't an impediment to sharing the file,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: which can be submitted in electronic form. See this is
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: what a journalist does. Nobody else in the wrestling space
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: is doing what Branded is doing right now, and I
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: hope he keeps at it. As for the trial, I
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: don't know. Look, I don't know if it matters that
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: the WWE stock has gone up exponentially since the sale
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: to Endeavor because the shareholders are asking for damages here.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: If the stock has gone way up and the shareholders
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: have made money and they're benefiting from it, how can
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: they argue that they've suffered damages? Right? That may not
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: matter so much as the sale process was rigged from
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: the word go. So who's to say what the stock
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: price would be right now? Right if it was a
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: more open and fair process. That's really the argument here.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: Does it come down to that or does the judge
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: because I don't believe this is a jury trial. It's
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: the presiding judge who will hear all of the arguments
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: and then render a verdict. Here, I believe that's how
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: this is going to work. Does he just look at
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: the process by which they came to be acquired or
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: the outcome of that sale and say you weren't really
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: damaged in the end, so therefore you have no case.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: Because it sure looks like they have a case here,
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: and a lot of these decisions are not going WWE's
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: way in Vince mcman's way. Now, should the judge side
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: with the shareholders. It doesn't mean the sale is voided.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: It's not going to be reverse. TKO is still going
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: to own WWE regardless of what happens here, and no
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: one is going to jail. This is not a criminal case,
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: but they could be on the hook for many millions
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: of dollars in damages, most or all of which would
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: likely be covered by insurance. But that may not be
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: the case with Vince himself. But he's got plenty of money.
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: I think he'll be okay. We had this story this
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: week from Front Office Sports, where the head of WWE's
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: digital department said it shocks him every week how well
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: the Vault channel does. WWE is very happy with the
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: success of its Vault channel on YouTube. The Vault has
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: become a big hit, with hardcore fans uploading rare and
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: sometimes never before seen footage from the company's video library.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: The channel launched in twenty twenty four and now has
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: over four million subscribers. Front Office Sports published a story
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: on Friday looking at WWE's YouTube strategy and in the article,
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: they're ahead of digital media. Steve Brayband said it shocks
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: him every week how well some content on the Vault performs.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: The success of that came with no new resources needed,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: said Brayband. We tapped into a few people that were
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: passionate about our archive, saw the engagement on our main channel,
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: and just moved our whole vault to this page. We're
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: about to hit the four million sub mark, and it
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: shocks me every week how some content does and per
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: Front Office Sports, as of mid May, the Vault page
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: had over one hundred thirty three million hours viewed over
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: the previous year, representing a one hundred thirty one percent
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: year over year growth. That's a lot of growth, That's
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: what she said. Look, I missed the WWE network every day.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: I missed that fucking network. We didn't know how good
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: we had it at the time. Yeah, everybody would make
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: fun of the nine ninety nine. Boy, they went hard
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: into that nine ninety nine campaign, But think about it,
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: For nine dollars and ninety nine cents a month, we
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: had access to WrestleMania and all of the live pay
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: per views and the archives which were incomplete, but they
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: were yeah, they were being updated at least, but we
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: had the old stuff. They had original programming, the Edging
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: Christians Show that totally reeks of awesomeness, and they had
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: Camp WWE and they had story Time, which was my favorite.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: So we had original content on there as well, Table
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: for three, you know that kind of stuff. It was
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: just this, this whole like schmorgasbord of content at a
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: reasonable price, all in one place. And that's the key.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: It was all centralized in one place. You didn't have
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: to go to Peacock and then to Hulu and then
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: to Netflix and then here and then there. It was
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: all in one place. And we're never going to have
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: it that good again. And even the vault on YouTube
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: cannot replicate the organization of the network. So if you
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: want to go watch episodes of Raw or SmackDown or
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: WCW Saturday Night, you would go and they were all
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: or mostly archived there. Right, That's the thing that YouTube
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: and the way they're doing it now cannot replicate. So
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: this is not better than what the network was, but
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: I love the Vault channel on YouTube because it's the
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: closest thing that we're going to get and it's free now.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: One day they may turn it into a membership or
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: a subscription model, and I'll pay for it because I
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: watch it every single day. I check out the new
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: videos that they post. I have my own playlist that
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: I've created. I'm still going through all the videos that
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: I've kind of tabbed as a favorite. Full shows, rare
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: matches that I haven't seen before, compilations. They do a
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: lot of compilations. They have these marathons every week or
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: a watch party. It's a different subject matter. Right now
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: it's like all eighties. Next week it might be the
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: Attitude era. Then it might be something comp letely different.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: I love the Vault. I love it, and I frequent it,
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: you know, every single day. And the key to the
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: Vault and this is this is where like their YouTube strategy,
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: I could see why they're sort of leaning so heavily
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: into it. When they had the WWE network, they never
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: bothered to advertise or market the network itself outside of
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: the pay per views and maybe some of the original
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: content that they created. So for all of the classic
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: stuff and all of the stuff the libraries that they
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: would purchase mid South and this and that. They never
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: said a fucking word about it. And I can never
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: understand why was it really going to eat into your
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: weekly shows that much coming out of a commercial break,
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: to take thirty seconds or sixty seconds coming out of
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: a break to show, you know, highlight a particular match,
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: or you know, throw up some footage from like a
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: big show that happened on this week or on this
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: day thirty years ago, just a little piece of it
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: and then put a plug forward at the end. If
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: you want to see the full thing, you could jump
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: on the WWE network. It's just nine to ninety nine.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: They weren't even doing that. They just threw stuff up there,
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: and they knew the hardcores who wanted to chase it
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: down would nowhere to get it. And then of course
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: it wasn't getting good viewership. Clearly it wasn't getting good viewership.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: But one of the reasons why is because they never
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: bothered to mention what was even there. Right, it was
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: never going to get the kind of views that like
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: the current stuff would get, but they never bothered to
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: promote it. And that was one of the things whereas
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: now they could take a match, and they do this
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: quite often. They could take a match and you don't
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: even have to go back thirty or forty years. You
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: could take a fucking Roman Reins match from twenty fifteen, okay,
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: when he was still the big dog, just a random match,
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: and you could put that up on the vault, and
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: because Roman's face is on the thumbnail, or Roman Reigns
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: is in the title of the video, it'll probably rack
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: up fucking half a million views, maybe a million, and
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: every single time somebody clicks on that video, they're making money.
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: They're making ad money. All this money, they're probably making
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: an ad revenue from the constant views, right, tens of thousands,
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands, if not millions of views on some
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: of these videos. You couldn't do that shit with the network.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: The network you uploaded it. It was there and that's it.
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: People are already paying one subscription fee. You're getting your
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: guaranteed money from these people, and that's it. You don't
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: make anything else on it. So that's why they love
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: They got to be loving this YouTube strategy because they
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: could just make money on individual segments and matches constantly,
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: every single day, they're making ad dollars from this from
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: Google ad Sense. But it's not shocking to me that
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: the Vault channel is doing so well because the current
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: product sucks, so of course people are going to be
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: seeking out the old content. The old shit is light
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: years better than the new shit, so that doesn't surprise me.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: It's the first thing that people do when they get
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: disenfranchised with the product, or they think the current product
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: is boring, right, but they're still a wrestling fan. What
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: do they do? They go watch the old stuff when
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: it used to be good. This shouldn't shock anybody. Do
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: you see some of these fucking television shows now? Do
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: you watch SmackDown every single week? You know how many
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: people would have far more joy spending two or three
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: hours of their Friday night going back and watching a
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: fucking pay per view from twenty years ago. That's the
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: beauty of the Vault again. I like the marathons and
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: the watch parties they do. I like the weekly Sunday
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: Morning Coliseum video drop. We need more full episodes of
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: TV shows, though. The odd Superstars episode from nineteen ninety three,
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's nice and all, but there's no consistency
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: to it. We need those old Challenge episodes, those old
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: Superstars episodes, even with the blurred out logo. Because they
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: refuse to pay Albert Patterson, who owns the trademark to
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: Superstars of Wrestling, they could still post the episodes like
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: the Raw Vault on Netflix is garbage, Okay garbage. It
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: is so incomplete. I don't even know why they bother
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: and I wish they could just start posting those on
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: the vault. I assume they can't because they have the
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: deal with Netflix, but I wish they would. It'd be
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: a lot better on there. But those are the big
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: things that are missing right now. This week's episode is
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: sponsored by wis. If you own your own business, big
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  Speaker 1: com slash harmony. The Toronto Sun announced on Tuesday that
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: AW is set to debut a new pay per view
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: in Montreal this July, and the Montreal event marks the
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: first ever Redemption pay per view and the second AW
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: pay per view to take place in Canada this year,
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: following Vancouver's Dynasty event. Awill debut a new pay per
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: view called Redemption on Sunday, July twenty six at the
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: Bell Center in Montreal, and Tony Kahn said Montreal is
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: one of the greatest wrestling cities in the world, said,
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: there's such a rich history of professional wrestling. This will
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: be a special event. It is the first ever AW
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: redemption and it's also the first ever AW pay per
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: view in Montreal. And according to Kahn, Canadian fans may
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: also be treated to an appearance by aw's most recent signing,
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: the legendary Mick Foley, fully made his AW debut as
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: a co host with Toronto's Renee Piquette during the Double
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: or Nothing Buy In. Tony said that there's a good
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: chance Mick could come. He's doing a lot of the
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: AW events and I'm sure he's going to want to
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: be there. I can't say one hundred percent for certain,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: but I think there's a high likelihood that Mick will
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: be attending and hosting the event in Montreal. And on
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: that note, now, this is not necessarily a shock because
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: we've heard murmurs of there being a July pay per view. Added,
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: they had taken out a trademark or file the trademark
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: application for that redemption name. So the fact that they're
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: doing another pay per view, which I want to say
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: now makes ten out of the twelve month or maybe
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: ten events, ten pay per views. I don't know if
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: it's ten months out of the year, but they're increasing
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: their pay per view schedule. That's not a shock. However,
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: if you watch that Dynamite show on Wednesday night and
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: the opening segment they took us backstage at double or Nothing,
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: there was a meeting in the trainer's room. This was
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: the second time now we've had a segment like this
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: air on Dynamite where Kenny Omega and Will Osprey were
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: in the trainer's room, I think, sitting next to each other.
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: They were licking their wounds after their respective matches, and
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: they're having this conversation and you cannot come away from
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: that segment thinking anything other than they are building to
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: Kenny Omega against Will Osprey at Wembley Stadium in August.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: I mean they're talking about, you know, Osprey's talking about
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: being in the Owen and going after the championship, and
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: Kenny is questioning why you would go with the death Riders,
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: you know, can you trust them? You should have come
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: to me, And Osprey's talking about, well, you're not here,
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: why aren't you here? You talk about how you're feeling
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: the best you've felt in years, and Kenny's trying to
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: explain to him that, you know, the body doesn't recover
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: as quickly and I'm not exactly the same guy I
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: used to be. Neither or you just you know, just
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: keep your eyes, you know, peel for these death riders.
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: Basically he doesn't trust them. And then they end the segment.
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: You know, Osprey's encouraging him, don't forget about going after
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: that world title. You shall still should go after that
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: world title. You can't watch that segment and think anything
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: other than oh shit, they're doing Omega Ospray in London,
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: and now we find out about this pay per view
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: in Montreal, which happens to be called Redemption G. I
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: wonder what main event they're building too on that show.
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: It certainly seems prime for a rematch between MJF and
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: Kenny Omega. Kenny lost to him a Dynasty in Vancouver.
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: If they have Kenny in the main event on another
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: Canadian pay per view this year, he ain't losing. He's
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: not losing. If they do that match, we will have
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: a new aw world champion, I do believe, and then
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: we will get Kenny Omega defending against Will Osprey in August.
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure that's the right move to use Omega
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: as a transitional champion for one month just to get
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: the belt onto Osprey when you have MJF who's the
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: biggest heel in the company. But I can understand Tony wanting,
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: you know, being infatuated with the idea of doing Omega
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: Osprey because that's still a mega match to do in
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: the main event. I get that, but you would effectively
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: be using Kenny as a transitional champion for four weeks
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: or even worse. You do the match at Wembley and
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: you have Osprey fail to win the championship, and given
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: the way that they've been building him up for this
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: moment and this whole death Rider's story, boy, that would suck.
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: If after all of this, Adie wins the O and
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: he goes in there and fucking loses, you know, in
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: his home country, that would be terrible. But I just
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: feel like, if that is the plan here, if they're
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: gonna go with Omega and Osprey, they should have just
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: had Omega win the belt at Dynasty and give him
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: a few months with it at least as champion before
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: dropping it in Wembley, Right, But then it begs the
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: question of what do you do with MJF at Wembley
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: if he does drop the belt the month before Darby Allen,
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: he's got a match waiting with Kevin Knight. That seems
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: pretty clear whenever Darby comes back. I suppose they could
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: have Hangman Adam Page return at Redemption, maybe factor into
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: the finish. Then this is assuming they do Omega and MJF.
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: You could have the return of the Hangman on that
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: show and he ends up costing MJF in some way,
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: and then they could run back, you know, Hangman and
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: MJF at all in without any championship at stake. I
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: don't know if that's something people would want to see again,
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: but you could always do that. But that seems to
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: me now like this is the direction we're leaning in
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: when it comes to that Wembley Stadium show. Also on
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: Dynamite on Wednesday, MJF got himself a pair of new challengers,
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: as did Cope and Christian, who are the new tag
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: team champions. They did an angle with the dogs. David
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: Finley and Clark Connors attack them. They seem to write
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: Christian off television. They just want the fucking belts and
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: it looks like Christian's now gonna be off TV for
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: a while. They didn't injury angle with him. I can't
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: really say that does a whole lot for me, given
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: the way the dogs have been booked so far with MJF.
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: We had Mark Briscoe come out. Now, Mark brisco does
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: have a pay per view win over MJF last year
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: at All Out. I believe they had their tables and
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: tax match, so I kind of understand them wanting to
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: circle back to that is maybe a television title match
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: at some point whatever, I mean, that's fine. They also
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: set up Rushe, though, who's going to be challenging MJF
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: on Dynamite this coming Wednesday for the AW World Championship. Rush,
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: I guess has racked up some wins on TV, including
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: in a four way random four way match, a superstation
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: four way match that they had on Dynamite this week.
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: And again, like, I like Ruche and Rushe as a
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: hell of a wrestler and all that, but you know, again,
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: these aren't necessarily title defenses that excite me terribly. The
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: idea of MJF defending the belt on television, it doesn't
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: bother me. He's not going to be doing it literally
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: every single week until he loses it the way Darby
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: Allen did, and it makes the shows a little more
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: exciting when you know that you've got MJF on there,
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: first of all, wrestling number one and number two defending
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: the world championship. But the key is to just find
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: credible challengers and hopefully they can do that more than
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: they did with Darby. But I also look back at
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: the run that Darby had and yeah, I mean you
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: could say, like a Sammy Gavarro, what the fuck is
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: he doing in there wrestling for the world title. But
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: every single match that Darby had in that run was
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: a hell of a match. He ended up having what
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: was pretty entertaining title run for what it was supposed
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: to be. I think the key with MJF is just
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: finding credible challengers that they can build up, you know,
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: instead of just doing it every week. Androti is another one,
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: by the way, and I keep harping on that. I've
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: been harping on this for six months now or almost
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: six months. Where if they were to go back to
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: Arena Mexico for Grand Slam, you do a match there
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: between MJF and Androte for the championship. Now. I believe
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: the Spanish language commentators on Dynamite may have indicated or
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: let the cat out of the bag on Wednesday that
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: they are doing another Grand Slam Mexico, which I presume
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: would be from Arina, Mexico, and I think they said
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: it was in August. So if MJF is going to
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: drop the belt, let's say, in July to Kenny Omega,
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: then we end up not getting MJF and Androtte. I
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: still feel like that's the place though, for Androtti to
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: get that eventual world title match. He's talking about it
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: almost every week, so you know he's going to be
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: challenging for it soon enough. I don't know if it'll
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: be August, but so yeah, I mean again, MJF defending
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: the title. I'm okay with it. Some people aren't, but look,
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: it makes the shows at least a little more exciting.
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: If he wasn't defending the championship, then they'd be bitching about, hey,
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: how come we can't have exciting matches on the show.
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's like you can't win sometimes. Kevin Knight
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: had a promo at the beginning of Dynamite, wasn't anything
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: blow away I thought it was fine as kind of
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: his first official heel promo. I think it's something he's
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: going to grow into. Like you could see, he's a
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: better promo is a heel than he is as a babyface.
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: We did get an explanation as to why he did
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: what he did to Darby Allen a double or nothing.
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: It's because he told him don't let the jet down.
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: I love he talks about himself and the third person,
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: like he's the rock, don't let the jet down. And
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: what did you do? You let the jet down, You
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: let all these fans down, You let the jet down,
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: and you lost the belt to MJF. And then Speedball
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: comes out. Obviously he's very unhappy with what Kevin Knight did.
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: Knight ends up laying him out. They're going to be
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: wrestling very soon, which was the obvious direction. Let him
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: work with Speedball. Once all of this is done, Darby
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: will come back and then you can do the Darby
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: Kevin Knight match and that could be redemption. Maybe it's
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: not Wembley, maybe that's the redemption match. But in the
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: owen Hart tournaments, we had Mark Davis getting a win
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: over Jack Perry and Brody King getting a win over
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: Claudio Castignolie. We did not have any women's matches, although
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: this Wednesday, Alex Windsor is wrestling the wild card since
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: Willow Nightingale is out, we'll find out who the wildcard
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: entry is on Dynamite. Kyle Fletcher made his big return
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: to Double or Nothing, and as it turns out, he
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: did not require surgery for his injury. He was wrestling
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: on Collision on the March twenty eighth episode of Collision.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: He tore his meniscus and I believe he suffered a
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: fracture in his ankle and the top of his tibia.
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: And usually with the fractures, I guess they sort of
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: let them heal on their own. But doctors said there
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: was like a ninety percent chance he was going to
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: need surgery for that meniscus tear. As it turned out,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: he fell into that ten percent that didn't and they said,
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: guess what, you don't need surgery. This is what Fletcher
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: announced in his new vlaw. He posed like a forty
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: minute vlog to his YouTube channel, and so he was
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: very excited now obviously that he didn't need surgery and
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: he was just going to be able to kind of
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: rest and recuperate on his own, and so that's why
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: he was able to show up a Double or Nothing
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: a hell of a lot sooner than I and a
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: lot of other people expected. May fifteenth was the day
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: that he was officially cleared to start working out in
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: the ring again, and shortly thereafter his physical therapist cleared
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: him to wrestle and so on Collision, which aired immediately
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: after Dynamite this week. In that third hour, he called
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: out Takashta. Takashta came out, said he wants Fletcher, so
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: we're gonna be getting that match very soon for the
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: International Championship. Now. Last week I gave a health update
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: on good old Jr. Jim Ross, who is being tested
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: for possible Alzheimer's disease or dementia, but aw brought him
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: to New York for Double or Nothing. He only called
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: one match, which was the Continental title match between John
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: Moxley and Kyle O'Reilly, where he referred to O'Reilly as
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: kid several times and seemed to forget his name, and
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: also declared that we had a new champion at the
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: end of the match, even though we did not in
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: fact have a new champion. Moxley retained ex caliber. I
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: thought did a good job of covering for him on that.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: Not the best night for Jim Ross and apparently not
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: a great weekend for him either, based on what he
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: told Conrad on his Grilling Jr. Podcast. Turns out he
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: fell again. You've heard me talk about this before. Jim
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: Ross has fallen a bunch of times, especially at home
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: with nobody around and he lays there for hours. He's
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: fallen a lot, like five or six times that we
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: know of in the last few years, and this time
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: it forced him to miss his flight before he ended
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: up getting rebooked. This is what he said. It was
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: not a good travel weekend for me. I was supposed
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: to be picked up Saturday morning at like six o'clock.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: I'll have a chat with my travel guy regarding that matter.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: Why would you fly me out at six in the
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: morning for a Sunday night show. It makes no sense.
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm not seventeen anymore. So anyway, we had
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: the alarm set, my driver was going to pick me up,
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: and all of a sudden I fell. I hadn't had
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: a fall in weeks, so I fell. I'm sorry, like
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: I just as I'm reading this, I have Darby Allen's
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: theme song playing in my head, he says. So I
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: fell and busted my ass away from my phone. I
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: don't know how how you do it. There's got to
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: be a way too, I guess just put it in
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: my pocket. Hell, I don't know. If I had my
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: phone with me, I could have gotten a little bit
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: of help. As a result of that, I missed my flight,
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: and he admitted that air travel for him right now
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: is the worst that it's been in all the years
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: that he's been flying. But he got into New York
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: City on Friday, he had a beer with ex Caliber,
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: and when he got back to his hotel room, he
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: had a problem with his back. He said, I got
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: into my room on Saturday night. I think it was
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: I laid on the bed, put my ass on the
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: edge of the bed and just relaxed. Well, little did
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: I know my back was going to go out on me.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: So now I'm in the hotel with my backout and
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: I can't function. So it was just a horrible experience. Now,
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: he said, he wishes he got to call more than
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: just the one match. Had he known beforehand that he
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: was only going to be doing the one match. He
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: would have talked to Tony Kahn about it again, when
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: you're out there calling O'Reilly kid. At thirty nine years
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: with twenty plus years in the business, one match was
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: probably enough. And he also said he needs to find
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: a doctor to help with the weakness that he experienced
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: in his legs. When asked how he's feeling now, he said, sore.
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: It's like taking a big hit in the football game.
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: I'm just sore as hell. But you know, I asked
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: to go back to work. I can't blame anybody but myself.
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: I've got to find a doctor. I got a neurologist
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: now he's talking to me about risk areas for dementia
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: and all that bullshit. I have the worst luck sometimes, golly,
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: but just real sore. I got to find the right
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: doctor that can get me back rolling because my legs
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: are really weak. And on Saturday morning, one of my
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: legs just went out from under me. It went like
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: a piece of spaghetti. So anyhow, flying back. I could
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: have stayed home. Maybe I should have, but I like
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: working and I love pro wrestling. And he also noted
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: that he doesn't have much time left on his aw
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: contract he had signed a one year extension. Last August,
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: he said, I don't have a lot more time left
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: on my contract. I talked to Barry Bloom, my agent.
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: He was in New York and we chatted about my status.
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to let it play out. If Tony
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: Kahn wants to keep me, he will. If he doesn't,
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: then he won't. Jr. Is the greatest to ever do it,
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: and I like the idea of bringing him in for
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: a big match here and there. You know, he has
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: his good days, he has his bad days. Sunday was
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: not his best day. The issue to me isn't so
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: much can he still call a wrestling match. He can,
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: But if he's having all of these issues traveling and
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: it's kicking his ass the way that it is and
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: he's constantly falling, he really should not be traveling anymore. Now.
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: I understand he wants to work. He probably doesn't have to,
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: you know, if he saved his money, but it probably
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: makes him feel alive. You know, when he gets him
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: out of the house, he doesn't have his wife anymore.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if he's lonely and bored and
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: he wants to get out like he said he still
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: loves pro wrestling. I understand all of that, but traveling
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: is a young man's game, and when you're having all
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: of these health issues, it doesn't you know, it doesn't
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: seem like the best idea for him to be making
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: these trips, not by himself anyway, even at home. It
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: sounds like he needs a home aid. I don't know
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: if that's something that he's considered and he's resistant to it,
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: like there's no shame in it. But this is not
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: the first time that he's fallen and didn't have his
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: phone and he just laid there for hours. That's what
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: did Scott Holland. He fell at home and was apparently
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: laying there for days, unable to get to a phone
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: before DDP finally found them because his friends were concerned.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: They told DDP, you go over and check on him,
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: and they found him on the fucking floor. You know, Jr.
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: Is seventy four years old and may possibly have dementia.
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: You know, God forbid. He probably needs someone who can
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: be there to help look after him. You know, you
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: get married and you want to grow old together, right
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: in sickness and in health, and the man lost his wife.
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: Anytime you lose your significant other, especially if you're someone
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: who is very dependent on them or reliant on them.
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: That's a tough thing to go through, especially the older
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: you get. I just don't want to log on one
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: day and read the Jar fell again and hit his
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: head and was laying there for days before someone found him.
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: I'm sure Tony Khan is going to renew him again
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: for another year. I'd be stunned if he doesn't. I mean,
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: he keeps re signing Jake Roberts and he does nothing
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: with him. There's no reason to believe, for all the
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: respect that Tony has for this man, that he would
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: not offer Jar another contract and would probably be happy
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: to just pay him to stay home. But if Jr.
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: Wants to work and he wants to get out, then
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: the man's going to do what the man's going to do.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: I just, you know, based on everything he himself is saying,
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: I don't think that's a great idea. Some other news
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: and notes, there were actually two massive stories this week
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: with respect to the ownership of pro wrestling companies, and
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: we'll start with New Japan because New Japan for Wrestling
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: announced on Wednesday our largest shareholder, Bushy Road, has concluded
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: a share transfer agreement with TV Asahi and cyber Agent
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: regarding Bushy Road shares in our company. As TV Asahi
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: is already a shareholder of our company, this share transfer
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: constitutes an additional acquisitionive shares for them. Our company will
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: become a consolidated subsidiary of TV Asahi once the necessary
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: procedures have been completed. Currently, we have no plans to
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: make any changes to our various business operations, including the
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: events that we organize, as a result of this share transfer.
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: We would like to express our gratitude to Bushy Road,
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: which has supported our business for many years as our
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: largest shareholder, and we look forward to working together with
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: TV Asahi and cyber Agent to further expand our business.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: TV Asahi is the reason that you don't see any
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: new japan clips on social media anymore. There used to
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: be gifts and little clips. I mean, they are lentless
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: when it comes to copyright enforcement and striking YouTube channels
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: to the point where it scares people off from even
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: covering their content. It's one of the reasons I honestly
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: don't cover it much at all anymore, you know, But
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: for any big stories or big shows like Wressell Kingdom
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: because it's just not worth it, and either they don't
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: realize how many people that they have turned off to
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: their product because of it, or they don't care. Now,
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: I think it's more of a cultural thing in Japan
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: where they don't really believe in the idea of fair
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: use the way we do here in the US. And
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: to be fair, I don't think it's only TV Asahi
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: that does this, but all it's done is help kill
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: a ton of exposure for their product where hardly anyone
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: seems to be talking about it anymore. And now TV
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: Asahi doesn't just own a small piece of the company,
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: they own nearly half the damn thing, forty six point
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: three percent each between TV Asahi and cyber Agent, which
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: is the parent company of the Abema streaming service which
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: streams WWE content in Japan, although that content is moving
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: to Netflix later this year. Cyber Agent also happens to
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: own pro Wrestling Noah, DDT Pro and Tokyo Joshi Pro.
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: See that's what you call a monopoly on Japanese wrestling.
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: That's not good. That is not a good thing. By
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: the way, can we talk about how nefarious that name
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: sounds cyber agent. It's like something out of a fucking anime.
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: Bushy Road did not own one hundred percent of the stock.
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: They owned seventy percent, but they still only netted what
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: would be the equivalent of thirty two million dollars in
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: the sale, which is super low considering the company was
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: evaluated six years ago as being worth somewhere in the
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: range of one hundred and twenty to one hundred and
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: sixty million dollars, although that was pre COVID, when their
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: business was a lot stronger than it is today. They
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: never really fully recovered from the pandemic. Twenty nineteen was
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: the year they sold out Madison Square Garden with a
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: ring of honor. I mean that we're talking like the
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: peak of New Japan, and there are still people who
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: don't think a first time ever aw show at Madison
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: Square Garden would sell out. Those people are out of
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: their fucking minds. New Japan says this will be a
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: good move for them given tv ASA He's strong broadcasting
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: and video based and cyber agents excellent digital media operations.
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: Tv ASA he is a part owner in New Japan
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: World and controls New Japan's video library. Nothing has been
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: said yet about how this may or may not impact
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: the future of NJPW World. Will it continue to exist independently.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: Do they migrate all of their content over to the
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: Avemma service. We don't know. Bushy Road does still own Stardom,
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: So New Japan and Stardom were under the same umbrella
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: and they work together. Now they are no longer under
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: the same corporate umbrella, although the president of Stardom tweeted
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: that the two promotions will continue to work together. New
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: Japan did grow a lot under she Roads ownership, I
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: mean it goes back to twenty twelve, but the company
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: has really stagnated in recent years with the losses of
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: so many big names, either because they felt they can
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: make more money overseas by going to WWE or AW
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: or because some of them have just retired, as Hiroshi
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: Tanahashi did this year, and that was a big blow.
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: Tanahashi being out of the ring was not a death blow,
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: but it was a major blow to them earlier this year.
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: Even though his retirement did big business a change in ownership,
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: it may not inherently be a bad thing, but I
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: think whenever you have one company, as is the case
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: with this cyber agent owning or having large ownership stakes,
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: because I'm not sure if they own like all those
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: promotions I just mentioned, I don't know offhand if they
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: own one hundred percent of them, or if that they
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: just have controlling stakes in them when you own them,
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: or you have these large ownership stakes in so many
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: different companies. That's a dangerous place to be. Now. One
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: positive mean greater collaboration between all of the different companies
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: like New Japan and Pro Wrestling, Noah and DDT, like
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: one promotion sending talents to the others on excursion, like yeah,
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: things of that nature. But the bad to me outweighs
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: the good in a situation like that. That's just how
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: I see it. Consolidating so much power in one industry,
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: so much power and influence under one roof, is never
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: a good thing. All the talk about cyber agent that
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: I see online having a working relationship with WWEE and
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: how is this going to affect New Japan's partnership with AEW,
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: I don't see that being much of an issue. Again,
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: WWE content is shifting away from a BEMA. They're going
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: to Netflix later this year. At that point, I don't
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: think that there's any relationship between Cyber Agent and WWE,
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: it probably goes away at that point. And also, you
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: know whatever working relationship WWE has with Pro Wrestling Noah,
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: which is owned by Cyber Agent, Like, they've allowed Shinsky
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: Nakamora to work matches in Noah, They've had talents go
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: back and forth on Excursion, They've sent NXT guys over there,
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: They've had Noah talents come work in NXT, right, Josh Briggs,
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: So we've seen this already. Meanwhile, New Japan in Pro
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: Wrestling Noah have maintained a working relationship throughout all of this,
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: and the fact that New Japan works with AAW has
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: never been an issue, So I doubt anything changes with
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: regard to AAW and New Japan working together. Plus we
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: have Forbidden Door coming up next month. They did announce
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: this week that AW content is leaving New Japan World
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: at the end of its current contract on August thirty first.
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: A lot of people have read into that or are
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: going to read into that it has something to do
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: with the sale. I think the timing of this announcement
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: is just a coincidence that content is shifting over to
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: the new MYAW service that they just launched a couple
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: of months ago, which I'm sure was going to happen anyway.
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: It's the closest thing to their version of the WWE Network,
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: so of course they're going to one their content exclusive
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: to their service. It just so happened that the contract
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: for it ends in August, so of course they're not
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: going to renew. You don't need to read anything more
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: into it than that. But that wasn't the only surprise.
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: Two ex WWE stars are the new owners of the
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: biggest independent promotion in the UK. This comes per The
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: Daily Star. Former WWE stars Big Damo. Actually he wasn't
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: Big Demo there, he was Killian Dane and Nicky Cross
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: have bought Progress Wrestling. Damo, who wrestled under the ring
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: name Killian Dane, made his Progress debut in twenty fifteen
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: and was their first ever triple Crown champion, having won
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: the Tag Team, Atlas and World titles. Meanwhile, Nicky is
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: a former Raw Women's Champion after beating Charlotte Flair for
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: the title. She was also a two time tag team
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: champion and eleven time twenty four to seven champion. They
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: take over from co owners Lee mccatteer and Martin Best. Martin,
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: who took over in twenty twenty two and will help
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: out with the short transition period, said, I'm personally very
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: excited and look forward to seeing Damo and Nikki take
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: Progress to even greater heights. The future of Progress looks
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: the brightest that it has ever been. When I became
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: involved in early twenty twenty two, this was very much
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: a recovery mission. The business had not delivered any shows
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: for nearly two years due to the pandemic, and morale
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: was very low throughout the business and the wrestling world generally.
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: Seventy shows later, a good number across the globe, including
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: the world's first ever Women's World Championship match in Dubai,
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: and an invigorating roster including an A List Hollywood Star
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: is one of our champions. Oh boy, I would say
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: Progress is fully restored as the number one independent wrestling
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: promotion in the UK. You know what, as I read
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: that quote, the fact that he's even cha championing that
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: as like a big deal. Well, we have an A
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: List Hollywood Star is one of our champions. Maybe it's
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: for the best that they sold to somebody else said,
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: This opportunity was one that we couldn't turn down. Progress
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: is one of the biggest independent wrestling companies on Earth,
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: with a rich history and phenomenal fans. We both started
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: in the UK and Ireland and fully believed this is
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: the host of the greatest talent pool on Earth and
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: Progress is well positioned to showcase this generation and the
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: next generation. We are also very excited to be the
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: new co owners of DeFi Wrestling, home to the most
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: feverish fan base in the Pacific Northwest. NICKI and I
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: have an affinity with Seattle and I always had an
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: incredible experience wrestling on the DeFi shows in front of
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: the defiantce Is that what they call their audience, the Defiance. Yes.
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: As part of this transaction, they now have an ownership
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: stake in DeFi. They do not own the entire promotion,
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: they're part owners now. It's been a tough go of
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: it on the UK indie scene, coming out of the
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: pandemic and the speaking out stuff and WWE rating so
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: much talent. I'm not privy to how the scene is
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: over there now. I think it's better than it was.
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it's fully back to the way
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: it used to be and I don't think progress has
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: been the powerhouse that it used to be. Maybe these
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: two can help restore that feeling, you know, as wrestlers themselves,
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: they're obviously very familiar with the scene, They're very well respected,
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: so I wish them all the success in the world.
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: I hope they knock it out of the park. All Right,
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: we got a bunch of mail bed questions, so let's
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: dive into it. If you would like to drop a
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: question or a comment, you could email me the Solemn
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: Answer at gmail dot com. Please include your name of
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: where you are from when you write in. Joseph from
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: Lynn Brook, New York. I watched a Wrestling with Regret
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: video in which one of the topics was WWE's struggle
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: to get Roman Reigns to replace John Cena as the
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: company's top babyface throughout the twenty tens. It got me
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: thinking about the break that Roman took from late March
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: of twenty twenty to SummerSlam of twenty twenty. That break
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: gave WWE the opportunity to reset his character and begin
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: the tribal and bloodline stories once he returned. What do
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: you think would have happened if Roman Reigns did go
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: through with his match against Goldberg at WrestleMania at thirty
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: six and won the Universal Championship. Do you think his
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: transformation into the tribal chief still would have happened? And
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: do you think WWE would have been able to successfully
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: turn crowd reactions towards Rains around. Obviously, it's one of
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: those what if questions. I can't tell you with one
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: hundred percent certainty because nobody knows what I think. One
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: of the biggest issues was Vince McMahon's reluctance to turn
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: Roman reigns heel, and clearly he wanted to go Heal,
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: and as I recall, I think Roman even he may
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: have talked about this at one point, but he was
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: ready to walk away if they weren't going to let
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: him come back and do what he wanted to do
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: and go Heal and align with Hayman and everything. The
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: way it went down, he was going to retire. He
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: was going to walk away, So who knows for how
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: long he had this idea in his head, and maybe
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: Vince was resistant to it. I think had they turned
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: to Heal a little bit earlier, it would have worked
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: out a hell of a lot better for him. And
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: I think he would have. Whether it was the tribal
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: chief character or not, I don't know, but I think
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: that would have He would have been fine, And I
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: think it would have you know, they would have embraced
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: the reactions in more of a constructive way where it
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: just stop fighting against the tide. These people want to
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: boo this man, this is your fault. You pushed him
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: too hard, too fast. Now you have him in a
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: role he's miscast as this babyface. Just embrace the hate,
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: lean into it, and I think it would have worked
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: out okay for him in the end. So I think
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: him being a babyface for so long when people were
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: resistant to him being a baby face, had a lot
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: to do with it. The tribal chief character. Would we
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: have the tribal chief character if he had gone heel
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: a little bit earlier, That's the question. Depends how early
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: you would have turned him heel, And like I don't know,
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: twenty sixteen or twenty seventeen, then probably not. And where
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: we are today is the bloodline of thing? Who the
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: fuck knows. I floated a bloodline idea back in two
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: thousand and I think it was twenty fifteen. It's funny
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: not every year, but sometimes I'm fit. You have Facebook,
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you'll log in and it'll tell you, like, ten
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: years ago, on this day, you posted this, and it
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: comes up sometime. I posted a photo on my Facebook page,
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: but I know I talked about it on the SOUNDO off.
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: Where got it? Maybe it was coming out of WrestleMania
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: thirty two, I don't remember, but it was this image
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: of Roman backstage with the USOS, and I'm like, I
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: don't know if I called it the bloodline, but like
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: the idea for what the bloodline would become. Dude, I
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: was pitching that shit years before they did it, So
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: if they would have done it back then, I don't
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: know if it would have achieved the same level of
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: success that it did doing it when they did in
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty. I still think it could have worked. I
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: just I can't sit here and tell you that it
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: would have been as successful. I think everything worked out
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: the way it was supposed to. But the idea of
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: doing like a family bloodline type faction with Roman and
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: the Ussos and then maybe finding somebody else to throw
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: in there absolutely could have worked. But only his heels.
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 1: They would have had to have been heels Christian from
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: Fort Worth, Texas. I recall you saying on multiple occasions
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: that Eosky and Gunther were the top two wrestlers in
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: WWE in twenty twenty five, and honestly, I fully agree,
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: But now in twenty twenty six, I think Penta may
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: have overtaken both of them. That guy has had kick
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: ass TV matches this year with Javon Evans and Dragon Lee,
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: and then you add in the WrestleMania A ladder match.
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: It feels like every time Penta wrestles, he brings a
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: different energy and pace than almost anyone else in the company.
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: Right now, who do you think is the current inn
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: ring king and Queen of WWE. You're not wrong. You're
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: not wrong about Penta. The only other one I would
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: consider on the WWE side right now is Cmpunk, And
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: I never thought I would be sitting here saying that,
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: But for CM Punk, you know, he's had a bunch
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: of really good matches, and he had some title defenses
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: on TV that were very good, And so for me,
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: so far, it's Punk or Penta, I think on the
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: men's side. On the women's side in WWE, you know,
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: no one has really stood out to me. This year,
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: but it would probably still be EO. She's had some
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: really good ones this year with Oscar and soul Ruka,
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: so I would probably just revert back to her, just
• 1:23:25
  Speaker 1: because nobody else has really broken out and stood out
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: to me so far. Doug from Santa Barbara, California, longtime listener.
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: I couldn't tell you for how long. I just celebrated
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: a ten year wedding anniversary, and I know I've been
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: listening since before then. I love it. Happy anniversary, by
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: the way, My question is in regards to the XWF,
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: can you give a brief overview of what this was.
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: I came across some clips and had never heard about
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: this promotion. From my understanding, this is after WCW folded
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: and there was an attempt to create a new promotion.
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: The YouTube clip show top guys like Hogan and Piper
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: to unknowns like a young aj Styles. It also appears
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: these tapings were held at Universal where TNA would later
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: be taped. Any correlation there so the XWF was born
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: out of the idea that Hulk Hogan would be involved
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: and it would basically be built around him and they
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: would tape at Universal Studios, but they struggled to get
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: a TV deal and that ultimately is what killed him.
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: I think Kevin Harrington was involved, you know, he was.
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: He's like one of the CEO entrepreneur types. He was
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: pumping money into it. He's been a guest shark at
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: times on Shark Tank if that name sounds familiar. They
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: did get some big names. They had Hogan obviously, although
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: he was never actually signed, but they had Hogan because
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: like Brian Knobs and Jimmy Hart were involved in this.
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: Of course, you know Hogan's friends with them, Roddy Piper,
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: Kurt Hennig, the Road Warriors, Sable mean Jean Jerry Lawler.
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: This was right before WWE brought him back, and I
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: mean right before, like a few days later. I think
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: they called him and they brought him back, but they
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: made Piper the commissioner. I think Sable was like the
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: CEO or something. Hogan worked a match against Hennig at
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: one of the tapings and Hennig was gone. Not long
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: after that, when WWE brought him back for the Royal
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: rumbland O two, Hennig was going to be one of
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: their featured guys, so that was a blow. They tried
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: a house show tour. It did not do well. They
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: just couldn't get a TV deal, like nobody was interested,
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: so they just it just sort of petered out, not
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: until after all of the investors, of course, lost a
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: bunch of money trying to launch this thing, right with
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: Hogan thinking Hogan would be the lead attraction, and maybe
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: with Hogan as the lead attraction, it would have had
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: a shot. I think it would have had a shot.
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: But he wasn't committed to it. He never signed an
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: actual contract with them, so it was never gonna work.
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: It was just a money pit. Yeah, and I mentioned
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: Hennig ended up going back to WWE in January of too.
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: Hogan went back like two months later. He was not
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: even two months. A month later he was back in
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: WWE also, But yeah, it was a money pit. TNA
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: starting up around the same time, had nothing to do
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: with anything, right, same with Ring of Honor, which also
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: started around that time, so there is no correlation there.
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: TNA didn't even start taping a universal until like two
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: thousand and four, so there's no connection between the two.
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: Adrian from Melbourne, Australia a few weeks ago on TNT
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: somebody asked the question of what makes a great promo,
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: and you replied with saying authenticity. Given that Oba Femei's
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: Nigerian accent is not his actual accent, do you think
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: that that will hinder his ability to stay a main
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: event act for years to come, at least in the
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: sense of selling a match with his mouth. Also, on
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: the sound off last week, you mentioned being a big
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: star in the wrestling industry does not necessarily need to
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: be validated by having ever worked for WWE. Can you
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: give a few of your biggest examples of this. Who
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: are your top three wrestling stars that did not make
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: their name in WWE. Well, first of all, on Oba
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 1: Oba does have a Nigerian accent. He lived there until
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: he was nineteen. He just exaggerates it for TV, so
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 1: it's not like he isn't authentically Nigerian. Does he speak
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 1: that way when he's having like a conversation behind the
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 1: scenes with somebody not exactly Again, he kind of amps
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: it up and embellishes it a little bit, but he
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: is Nigerian, and I honestly I wouldn't be shocked if
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: he tones it down a little bit as time goes on.
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: But no, I don't see it negatively affecting him or
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: people looking at him as not being authentic or main
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: event worthy or anything like that. So No, to answer
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: your question, no, he's gonna be fine. On your second question.
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: As far as becoming big stars outside of WWE, Sting
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: is still the big one. I mean, he did eventually
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: go there, but he was already a made man by
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: that point. If you want me to give you a
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: top three, I mean, look, of course I can go
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: into big names out of Japan and big names out
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: of Mexico and you know Santo, and I mean we
• 1:28:04
  Speaker 1: can ricky dozen without going into those names. If I
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: had a top three in no particular order, Sting would
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: be on there obviously. Kenny Omega, kazuchko O, Kada Omega
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: and Okada are the two that are still active as
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 1: we speak that. Like, come on, dude, Like, how do
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: you not think of those guys? You could throw Muda
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: in there, throw the Great Muda in there too, right,
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: there's lots of them. Alfonso from the Philippines. Would Batista,
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: Randy Orton, and John Cena be top guys that brock
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: Lesner stayed in two thousand and four and never left.
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: What would all of their roles be from four to
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: the present day, and would Eddie Guerrero become WWE champion,
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: would the JBL gimmick be launched. Well, it's a lot
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: of what ifs Alfonso let me step in my time
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: machine and find out their paths would have been a
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: little bit different. But yeah, I think every single one
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 1: of them would have still gone on to become big
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 1: stars and world champions. I don't really think it changes that.
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: I do think like Sina, for example, he would not
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: have gotten the big push when he did. I think
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: it would have been delayed. But with the roster split,
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 1: you would have had Brock on one side and you
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: would have had somebody on the other side. It was
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: either Sena or Battista, So I think in the end,
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: and Orton, of course, I mean Orton was the chosen
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: one from day one. Give me a break. It's like
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: the rock, you know, when Patterson kind of I think
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: Patterson was the one who recruited him or Jim Ross
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: brought him in, I think, but they were all very like.
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: I think it was Patterson who made the comment evince
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 1: like this this is gonna be the guy, this is
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: gonna be your world champion. This is gonna be your
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: top star. And this is when he was Rocky my
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: Via in ninety six. So he was tabbed from day one,
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: just like Orton was tabbed from day one because of
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: his pedigree, because of the way he looked the pretty boy.
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: So yeah, they were all gonna end up being big stars.
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: Would Eddie become WWE champion if Brock wasn't leaving? So
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: that's an interesting one because I don't know when Brock
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: informed them that he was gonna be leaving. I don't
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: know how far in advance of WrestleMania he's like, like
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: when he lost the belt to Eddie. I I'm pretty
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: sure they already knew he was leaving, but I don't know.
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: I don't know exactly when he informed them that he
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: was that he was going to be leaving. If that
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: directly led to Eddie beating him for the belt, it
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: probably did. So if that doesn't happen, in no way
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: out does Eddie Guerrero have become champion? I say yes,
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: I think at some point he would have had the chance,
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: especially when you had two world titles. I'm pretty sure
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: Eddie would have gotten the chance at some point. I mean,
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: unless they you know, maybe him dying the following year
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: would have That's the only thing I mean maybe, Uh
• 1:30:50
  Speaker 1: so hard to say. It's so hard to say. I
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: think he would have. I'm gonna say yes. Now, would
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: the JBL gimmick have been launched. That's also an interesting one.
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: That was so so sudden. There was no real build
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: to it. There was no tease of anything. He just
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 1: showed up one week with this completely different gimmick. He
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 1: was in a fucking suit. He was like somebody off
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: Wall Street. And before this he was the brawling Texan,
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: you know, he was like the big the big Joq
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 1: who went around just beating people up. And then it
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 1: was like a one to eighty. He showed up on television,
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: he had his book, his best selling book, and the
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: cowboy hat, and it was like, what the fuck is this?
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: Because they needed heels. They were desperate for heels, so
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: brock leaving was one of the reasons, maybe the biggest
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: reason why we ended up with JBL. Would we have
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: gotten JBL anyway, I'm gonna say yes, I think we
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: would have. I think they would have wanted to push
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: him as a singles heel on that show, and I
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: think they would have leaned into, you know, because he
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 1: did do a book, and I think they would have
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: leaned into that and would have given him a makeover regardless.
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: But would it have happened when it did? Know? And
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: I would think that maybe they would have done a
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: better job of building up to it if they didn't
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: feel so desperate, like shit, we need to do something now.
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: Richie from Long Island, New York. I was rewatching your
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: top nine WWE promo videos that you did back in
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: January of twenty nineteen. Since then, would there be any
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: WWE promos that you would add to the list that
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: happened from twenty nineteen to the present day? Just one,
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: I think, just one, the cmpunk one that he did
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: this year heading into WrestleMania where he just torched everybody.
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: Roman Reigns and Pat McAfee and the Rock and ari
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: Emanuel that promo because I said, I thought it was
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: more of a pipe bomb than the og pipe bomb was,
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: even though that one has a lot obviously, that one's
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: a lot more impactful and more memorable. The only other
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: one that I might throw in there, and it's tough
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: because it's a three way promo as opposed to just
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: one guy going out there and going off, which is
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: what my list was all about. But if there was one,
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: maybe the one with Punk and Rollins and Drew McIntyre
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: two years ago heading into WrestleMania forty, because that was great.
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: But I don't know that I would count that one,
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: you know, any more than I would the best of
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: the Sammy's Ain Bloodline segments. I don't really see those
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: as just straight promos. But if you want to check
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: out my original list, I've got all the segments pulled
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 1: from the sound off in a playlist on the YouTube channel.
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 1: Just go under the playlist tab and look for top
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: nine WWE promos and you can go through all of
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 1: them there. Jacob from McAllen, Texas. One question that comes
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: up while rewatching WWE in two thousand and two is
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: one Hogan regained the belt and WWE were basically playing
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: the classics, so for example, Flair versus Hogan on Raw.
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: My question is that since early two thousand and two
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: the Big Boss Man was brought back, why wasn't he
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: put into a program with Hogan since both of them
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 1: had chemistry since the late eighties. Do you think this
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: was a missed opportunity. No, because dude, it was two
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: thousand and two. Like you're talking about a feud from
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine. You know that was also Fat boss Man.
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: Fat boss men and skinny boss Men are two very different,
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 1: two very different people. It's like fat Gunther and current
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: Gunther that sort of thing. But now, I mean, dude,
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: like in O two, if you were going to use
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: the old guys like this, use the old guys with
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: some of your newer guys. And I know they weren't
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: like you said they had Hogan versus Flair. We had
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: Hogan versus Undertaker, so they weren't exclusively using Hogan to
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: get over the new guys. Although he did tap out
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: to Kurt Angle and then he lost to Brockleisner. That's
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: how Hogan should have been used, honestly, Like, let him
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: work with some of the bigger stars that are on
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: the ascent in the company. What's by doing Hogan against
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: boss Man other than to pop the old fans. I
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 1: mean you could have done it, I guess as a
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: raw match, But is that really going to appeal to
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: anybody in two thousand and two? I don't think so.
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: Archie from Sydney Big fan of your work. I listened
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: to every show you put out, probably for the last
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: thirteen years. Wow. Thank you. I finally listened to the
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: entire Death of WCW book on Audible. Have you listened
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: to it or read it? Any thoughts on it? I
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: found it quite insightful, especially when everything started going downhill
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: in ninety eight. What would be your recommendation for a
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: great wrestling book to read? I did read it. I
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: bought the book itself many years ago. I read it.
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: I loved it. It's informative, but it's also funny. Sometimes sad,
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: but still funny, and also frustrating because you just sort
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: of read all of these dumbshit decisions that were made
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: and you're like, man, this company did not need to die.
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: It did not need to die when it did. As
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: far as other wrestling books, look, it's a chance for
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: me to give a good plug too. Audible dot com
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: slash Solo Monster. You can actually get it for free.
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: There's tons of great wrestling books on there, and if
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 1: you want to download one of them for free, just
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: use my link if you if you haven't already, I
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: don't think you can use it more than once. But dude,
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: there's a ton of great wrestling books on there. You know,
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: Daniel Bryan's book from many years ago, Brett Hart's entire book,
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: which I think he narrates at things like an encyclopedia,
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 1: probably still the best wrestling book that's up there. You
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: mentioned the Death of WCW. They if you want the
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: definitive like nitro book, Guy Evans is the author. If
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: you just type in Nitro, his book is on there,
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: it will come up. Definitely download that, like if if
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 1: you want to get into the minutia of w CW
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: business and then what led to the downfall, you know,
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: from the night so basically the rise and fall of
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 1: the Nitro. He talks to a lot of the people
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: that were that were there on the front lines and
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: not just Bischoff, like people at Turner, and there's there's receipts,
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: and there's dollar amounts, and there's memos like it's very
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: very detailed and very very informative. So again it's called Nitro.
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: That would be my recommendation. So good stuff. Keep emailing
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 1: me the Solo Monster at gmail dot com. I mentioned
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 1: the back rooms earlier, So I went to the movies
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: this week because I was I was actually feeling a
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: little bit better on Thursday, and now I feel like
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: I've I've taken like five steps back today. But I
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 1: went to the movies on Thursday to see it. It
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: was like a Thursday four o'clock showing and the theater
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: was packed. And it's awesome to see the success that
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: Obsession and the back Rooms are having this month. Like
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: Obsession just passed one hundred million dollars at the box
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: office on a budget of seven hundred and fifty thousand,
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: And like, you don't watch the movie thinking, oh, yeah,
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 1: this movie looks like it was a on a sub
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 1: million dollar budget. It doesn't. It looks like I mean,
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: it looks like any other movie. But they managed to
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: make it for under a million dollars and now it's
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 1: already made over one hundred million. I mean, that's just insane.
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: Back Rooms was made on a ten million dollar budget
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 1: and just did thirty eight million dollars on its opening
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: night alone. We'll see what it does at the end
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 1: of this weekend. There's talk that maybe it could do
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: like eighty million or something. But it was the fourth
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 1: biggest opening day all time for a horror movie.
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 2: And these are movies made by YouTubers they cut their
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 2: teeth on YouTube, Curry Barker, Caine Parsons like it's unbelievable,
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 2: And look at the numbers they're putting up against Hollywood
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 2: big budget films, Like, you know, these executives are looking
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 2: at the money that they're spending.
• 1:38:50
  Speaker 1: On some of these, like a list Hollywood films that
• 1:38:54
  Speaker 1: they spend literally like one hundred and fifty million dollar
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: budget and a fucking green screen, and they're looking at
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 1: how much money these are generating, and they're asking themselves
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 1: like what the fuck are we doing wrong? It just
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: feels like there's this new movement now that's taking hold,
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 1: and now you have proof of concept where these movies
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: are actually making money and make in turning a profit.
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: I was a fan of the Cane Pixels that Caane
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: Parsons on YouTube. Hiss channel is Cane Pixels. I was
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: a fan of the Cane Pixels backroom series on YouTube.
• 1:39:25
  Speaker 1: As far as I'm concerned, that is the back rooms.
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 1: I know other people have their own videos and their
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: own version of what the back rooms is. His are
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: the best, though, And he's a young guy. He's twenty
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 1: years old and a twenty four basically said, here you go,
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: here's ten million dollars bring it to the big screen,
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: and he did a good job. It's not as good
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: as Obsession. Obsession is a better movie. I feel like
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 1: Obsession has ruined all movies for me this year, basically
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: horror movies at least, I don't know. We still have
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: Resident Evil later this year in Clayface. We'll see how
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: those turn out. But the visuals in this movie are tremendous.
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: If you find liminal spaces scary, then you'll find it scary.
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: I didn't find it as scary as it is unsettling,
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: and there were a couple of things I wasn't a
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 1: fan of. I don't want to give away any spoilers though,
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: so I won't get into it. But the tone, the tone,
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: to me, it reminded me a lot of Channel Zero.
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: Channel Zero was a really good horror anthology series that
• 1:40:26
  Speaker 1: aired on the Sci Fi network I don't know, maybe
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: a decade ago, where each season had its own story
• 1:40:34
  Speaker 1: and each season had its own set of characters. So
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: it wasn't an anthology series like Black Mirror, like where
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: every episode is independent of each other. Here, each season
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: was independent of each other, and I was pissed when
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: it got canceled, but they got four seasons out of it.
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: This gave me Channel zero vibes, which is a good thing.
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: So if you like the back rooms, you'll enjoy this.
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 1: If you have no idea what the back rooms are,
• 1:40:59
  Speaker 1: but you like horror, I still think you'll enjoy it.
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: It's not heavy on the gore or anything, but it
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 1: doesn't have to be because it fox with your head.
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 1: But also don't forget. Like I'm on letterbox now, every
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: time I see a new movie, I make sure I
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 1: mark it down. I put a little review in there.
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: The solo Monster. That's my handle on there on letterbox.
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: But anyway, thank you guys for indulging me here for
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: these ninety minutes or how how long have I gone here?
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: How long have I gone here? Oh? Now we' forty
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: Not bad, not bad for a guy whose head feels
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: like it's about to explode. I will be back with
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 1: you tomorrow, though I will be doing a live review
• 1:41:37
  Speaker 1: probably eight pm Eastern for Clash in Italy, which airs
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 1: at two pm. And then on Monday we'll be back
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: with the Raw Post Show. In a brand new episode
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: of The Uncrowned Wrestling Show, on Tuesday Tuesday Night Titans.
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 1: We should be doing all of our usual streams and
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 1: shows this upcoming week right into next weekend, which will
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 1: be episode nine to sixty six of the Solo Monsters
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: Sounds Off. I appreciate all the support this week, both
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: on PayPal and YouTube. Keep it coming, be well, stay safe,
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: have yourself. Is a great rest of your weekend. If
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: you are watching the Triple A show tonight, Mask Versus Mask,
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: I'll be tuned in, enjoy it, and I'll see you
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 1: back here for Clash in Italy, and then next Sunday,
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 1: back in our normal time slot for episode nine sixty
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: six of the Sound Off. Until then, take care, guys.
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 1: The solemn Monster Sounds Off. Dog shit. That is what
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 1: SmackDown has become. This is a horrendous television show. I
• 1:42:34
  Speaker 1: know they have the Real Housewives of Orange County and
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: the Real Housewives of Trenton, New Jersey, the Real Housewives
• 1:42:41
  Speaker 1: of Osh Bagosh Wisconsin, or whatever the fuck. I'm sure
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: every single one of those shows are light years ahead
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 1: of Friday Night's SmackDown. This is the worst show on television.
• 1:42:51
  Speaker 1: You can gotta stick dynamite in this show, and I
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 1: don't mean aw dynamite actual dynamites and blow the whole
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: fucking thing up and start all over again. This shows sucks.
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: The Solo Monster sounds off bringing you the good, the bad,
• 1:43:05
  Speaker 1: and the ugly. Check out the weekly live streams bonus
• 1:43:08
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  Speaker 1: and x The Solo Monster Dom shit