Latest / THE STILL REAL TO US SHOW – Real Guy Radio / Is Vince McMahon being squeezed out of WWE? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #714 – 10/19/23
Transcript
- 0:00It's still welcome everybody. Welcome to this week's edition is The Real Does Show
- 0:22Epsomber seven and fourteen for October nineteen, twenty twenty three. Welcome at this
- 0:28week's edition of SR to You. I am one after the show. I
- 0:34am jackon pect joints. Every single week my post Norman, doctor Gray,
- 0:37Franklin, doctor Tray had everything squeezed out of a company. My friend,
- 0:44let's see, squeezed out. I mean I worked for Blockbuster. Does that
- 0:50count? Like I was during SRT you days, right, yeah, like
- 0:54right when we first started. But yeah, like I mean, companies started
- 0:57closing up shops and they kind of kept bouncing me around to keep me around
- 1:00for a while. Then finally it was like, yeah, you got nowhere
- 1:03else to go, so uh squeezed out because of lack of money. But
- 1:07yes, that's probably about the closest I've come. And I tell you,
- 1:11Jeff, I miss Blockbuster. Do you miss like like working or going to
- 1:15a Blockbuster? Is it's both? I'm weird. I loved my time working
- 1:21at Blockbuster, Like I got a blast, like hanging out talking about movies,
- 1:23talking about video games, you know, up selling people. You had
- 1:26your regulars but then I also just miss on a Friday night as a kid
- 1:30going with my parents, walking around the store, trying to find something to
- 1:34watch, trying to find a game to play. It's a shame that,
- 1:38you know, Sammy will never get that. Like Carmen, my oldest,
- 1:41she got to hang out with me the store, so she'd go through the
- 1:42kids section pick up movies. You know, poor Sammy never see that.
- 1:47Sammy just has to like go off of peacock, which he loves to say.
- 1:49He loves to say pecock. Now, if I tell you be kind,
- 1:53do you know how to finish it? Rewind? Here's Rewind. I'm
- 1:57with you, and I know that's at the point of this week's the podcast
- 2:00to talk about video rental stores. But I remember as a kid Fridays,
- 2:05my parents would take me to the local video rental store. Wasn't a Blockbuster,
- 2:08though I did at a Blockbuster nearby, and I would go and pick
- 2:13out movies or video games, have them the entire weekend. The key was
- 2:16you would like rent them on either a Friday or Saturday. They were closed
- 2:22on a Sunday, so then you got an extra day with them, so
- 2:25it was like you were stealing a day by having the movie or the video
- 2:29game, and that was always really cool. And I remember one of the
- 2:31first things I ever rented as as a kid was the nineteen ninety one Royal
- 2:38Rumble pay per view. That was like one of the first ones I ever
- 2:44saw, and I remember that pretty vividly, and it was It's like one
- 2:49of those things that it was fun to do on a Friday or Saturday night
- 2:52was to go to the Hey, you want to go rent a movie,
- 2:53Let's go do that, and you had the membership and uh it was great.
- 2:59But that times have actually passed us on that one. Doctor Try.
- 3:04Yeah, I was wondering, like so like as a kid, like I
- 3:07remember going to like video stores like eight, nine, ten years old.
- 3:09And the first thing it is because wrestling never really had like when I first
- 3:14started going, wrestling didn't have its own section. It was lumped in with
- 3:17all of sports. Uh so I would immediately go right to that section and
- 3:23see what they had. And I remember the first thing I think I read
- 3:24it was the eighty seven Survivor series because I think, well it was a
- 3:30seven, No, it was eighty six Survivor series because at the time Circle
- 3:35K had a tie in where if you like bought a slushy, you got
- 3:38a trading card. So I got to match the cards up to watching the
- 3:43Survivor series. So, uh, that was pretty cool. And then my
- 3:46you know, my parents were always like, why are you guys, why
- 3:47are you guys over here hanging out? Look at sports. I'm like,
- 3:50no, no, no, it's all Titan Entertainment wrestling stuff I was buying.
- 3:53And then I think I got, uh eighty seven War Games was right
- 3:58after that was the one I got next out of that store. Yep,
- 4:01yep. Things that people most people have no idea what we're talking about now
- 4:04and makes us feel old. Video rental stores, Yes, you would actually
- 4:08have to go to a store, have a membership card and rent a movie
- 4:14or video game. Now you don't have to just like walk to your television
- 4:16and watch whatever the hell you want to watch, or go to your console
- 4:21and buy whatever you wanted to buy. So those were the days. That's
- 4:27another podcast that Doctor Trey and I do called those were the Days, and
- 4:30we just sit on a porch and we yell at clouds and remember the good
- 4:34old times when we were growing up as kids. So started off the show
- 4:40asking doctor Tray if he was squeezed out that led us down the video rental
- 4:44discussion that brought back a lot of nostalgia. However, there is someone that
- 4:47is feeling potentially squeezed out right now by the company that he helped blow up,
- 4:53and that is the one and only Vince mc mann. We talked about
- 4:57it on last week's show that Triple H reportedly was running ninety nine point nine
- 5:00percent of WWE Creative, and there was a ton of follow up reports this
- 5:08past week that told us how that happened. A report comes to us from
- 5:14Sports Illustrated via Wrestling Inc. That' set. According to the report, already
- 5:18Emmanual, the CEO of Endeavor TK Group Holdings, is behind the change of
- 5:23Triple H overseeing Creative as he believes that everyone in the company should focus on
- 5:27the jobs they've been assigned. McMahon is currently an executive chairman and his main
- 5:30focus for now is to oversee media rights and negotiations at We's Chief content offerer,
- 5:35howeverts the VEX role to spearhead the creative direction of WE Raw and We
- 5:42SmackDown. Interesting point there, Doctor Trey that the CEO of Endeavor is the
- 5:47one that is behind this reported change. What do we get him? Do
- 5:53we send him in an edible arrangement? Do we send him chocolates? Do
- 5:56we write him a card? Like? What do you think we should do
- 5:58here? Uh, Vince should be glad he's got a job like that's typically
- 6:03what happens in these kind of environmental things. I don't even know if I
- 6:10feel bad for him, because you know, he was I don't want to
- 6:13say he was squeezed out of WW to begin with, because he was kind
- 6:16of forced into retirement because of his actions, and he found a way back
- 6:21in to help facilitate this sale to where he can make a bunch of money
- 6:27off it and still have a role within the company. But you know,
- 6:31when you're being investigated for multiple charges of hush money basically alluding to sexual misconduct,
- 6:41it's a publicly traded company, like they don't really want that guy out
- 6:44in the forefront really making decisions. I'm not surprised by it. I just
- 6:49I'm kind of shocked it's kind of happened this quickly. I thought they would
- 6:54kind of milk the Vince mcman cow for a little bit longer. But you
- 6:59know, like I said, when you're a big giant conglomerate. You got
- 7:02to make sure that your public image is held to the highest regard. Otherwise
- 7:06you'll lose stockholders and shareholders and your shares, a plument and all that stuff.
- 7:12So does Vince eat fruits? I mean we could do. I mean
- 7:15we could come together. I mean, you're not that far away from Titan
- 7:17Towers. I mean we could. We could arrange something. Maybe maybe I
- 7:21don't know. I'm sure Ari Emmanuel has a desk there and I would love
- 7:27to. I don't know, said I'm a gift car to Chili's or something.
- 7:30Oh by the way, by the way, by the way, have
- 7:31you gone by to see the new statue. I have not gone by to
- 7:35see the new statue. I have actually been in that building before it was
- 7:42owned by W W W. And that is a massive building, like I
- 7:45clearly drive by it from time to time, and it's a massive building,
- 7:49and there's a bunch of W signs on top of it. I was always
- 7:54very nostalgic for the old building though, to be honest with you, I
- 7:57mean the story I always tell as I watched Sonia seventeen no excuse me,
- 8:01eighteen and nineteen from we headquarters because I had a friend of mine whose dad
- 8:05worked there. But yeah, I mean that was always That's like a big
- 8:11staple in Stanford, Connecticut. Is that building, Titan Towers. I think
- 8:16I told just a couple of years ago. But the last time I was
- 8:18up there, like I was always afraid to drive onto the property, like
- 8:22just show up, be like, hey, I like to get tour,
- 8:26Like I was always I was always worried about that. But there's a really
- 8:30crappy hotel right by the building, and so I would park at the hotel
- 8:35and then walk up to the fence line and then take my pictures of Titan
- 8:39Towers from the backside this like really shady looking motel, And that was as
- 8:45close as I would get. Use I just didn't do what the rules were.
- 8:48I didn't know if you could just show up and be like, hey
- 8:50can I get a tour? Is Shane around? I know he's not doing
- 8:52anything, you know. I just didn't know what the rules were, and
- 8:56I don't think anybody could go in there. But yeah, I know the
- 9:01big story was that people put flowers out there when they all thought Vince died
- 9:05back when the limit blow up blew up. But yeah, there is a
- 9:07very crappy hotel that's there, like a very CD hotel. It's pretty wild.
- 9:13And the WWE buildings are spread out everywhere in Stanford, Connecticut, So
- 9:18I think the whole purpose of this was to bring them closer together, Like
- 9:20there are buildings that are I think the employees have to take a bus to
- 9:26We're getting down a weird rabbit hole here on the headquarters. Nonetheless here keeping
- 9:31up with the story, it was reported this week by Dave Meltzer wrestling reporter
- 9:35Dave Meltzer from Wrestling Observer Radio that McMahon's power in ww is clearly marginalized.
- 9:41He said on the latest edition of Wresting Observer Radio via Wrestling Inc. That
- 9:46Dave Meltzer noted that it shows McMahon's power in ww's limited now that the company
- 9:50has merged with UFC to form TKO Group Holdings, Meltzer saying, quote,
- 9:54McMahon was the guy making all decisions and now Vince was in fact overruled.
- 9:58Even though when he merged the company was told would not happen, it did
- 10:01happen. It's a really interesting thing. In that statement, when Ari Emanuel
- 10:05was talking about the reasons the stock is down, and he mentioned Vince's name
- 10:09is very interesting. I think what is going to happen. But Vince's power
- 10:13is clearly marginalized. There's no way around that. So, as Melcher mentioned,
- 10:18TKO's stock value has dropped recently. McMahon may also be to blame for
- 10:22the decreasing value in the stock because he is being currently investigated by the federal
- 10:26government following is well documented hush money scandals. Additionally, WA's relationship with Saudi
- 10:31Arabia's Bleeddo contributed to the current situation, as has the company's inability to secure
- 10:35a media rites seal for raw and NXT with NBC Universal. So Vince is
- 10:43getting potentially blamed for a lot of things, and that could be why he's
- 10:46being squeezed out. There was a lot of interesting in reports a couple of
- 10:50weeks ago that Vince had filed with the sec the purpose of selling his stock
- 10:58in TKO Group holding all of it, and that typically means someone's cashing out,
- 11:05they're retiring, they're leaving. That was out there. It's starting to
- 11:09seem like that maybe Vince's play was to just sell the company, stick around
- 11:13for a little bit and then either retire or I guess I doubt he would
- 11:18be fired. It would be a retirement. I'm not giving even say that
- 11:20he would be fired by TK Group Holdings, but it certainly seems like that
- 11:26maybe Vince is on the way back out of being retired, whether it be
- 11:30forcibly or that was the plan all along, Doctor try Well, I mean
- 11:35those that was kind of the rumors we had heard when Vince had started to
- 11:37make his power play to come back into WWE. Was he wanted to sell
- 11:43the company. That was that was the whole thing. And even in his
- 11:46current role now, like his role is basically oversee meteorites and you know,
- 11:52and and basically things like that. So you know, to me, we've
- 11:58never I don't think we've ever seen time where the meteorites deal is taken this
- 12:01long, and maybe Vince is kind of just letting it linger for a little
- 12:05while so he can stick around for a bit, knowing that once this is
- 12:07done, there's really nothing for him to do for the next you know,
- 12:11three four years other than international deals and things like that, and most of
- 12:16those are kind of set in place. So it does kind of feel like
- 12:18he came back in to get his basically his version of a golden parachute,
- 12:22like get his payout from the sale of the company and then cash stocks out
- 12:28and then you know, it's almost like a big f you to the family
- 12:31because nobody in the family is getting the company. It's like nobody's mine.
- 12:35It reminds me of when he brought Hogan Hall of Nash in when he had
- 12:41the rivalry go with Flair about the company and he said, you know,
- 12:43if anybody's going to take down WW, I'll inject it with my own poison.
- 12:48It kind of reminds me of that, like, Okay, well,
- 12:50if I can't have it, nobody in the family can have it. I'll
- 12:54make my money and then I'll take my Gomez Adam's mustache and right off into
- 12:56the sunset. Man. That mustache sucks. Keeping up here with the full
- 13:03circle now back to we Creative. A new report from Fightful Select this awsuit
- 13:09also comes to a Sevia Wrestling, Inc. Has confirmed previous claims that Ari
- 13:13Emanuel's given control of w Creative entirely over to Paul Triple H Levek as a
- 13:16manual prefers both men, meaning Triple H and Vince focus on their assigned positions
- 13:22in the newly formed TKO Group holdings. According to Fightful, McMahon hadn't been
- 13:26overseeing Creative directly, but some felt the product was being geared toward for his
- 13:28vision and his preferences, Knowing that the entire process feels more relaxed without having
- 13:33to take McMahon's preferences into consideration, a change some see as having happened overnight.
- 13:39The last two to three episodes of w RA in particular, have seen
- 13:43several wrestlers returned to TV now that Creative is not afraid of any kind of
- 13:46backlash for booking or pushing superstars that weren't McMahon's favorites. One source told Fightful
- 13:52that rest has been able to focus on match quality with the recent changes,
- 13:56with some feel has helped rob become a much better product than the ring,
- 14:00citing Kobe Kingston's recent match with Ivar, which was an awesome match, and
- 14:03Monday's Intercontinental title match between Gunthor and Bronson Reid, another great match, as
- 14:09examples of the heightening quality of matches. It has been reported throughout the year
- 14:13that McMahon was changing ideas and scrapping storylines remotely having only been physically president for
- 14:18the creative process of the Raw after WrestleMania. One storyline McMahon reportedly scrapped was
- 14:22reunion of the popular attack team DIY to Muscle Champion Johnny Arcano, which has
- 14:26recently happened on WATV in McMahon's absence. Again, that comes to us from
- 14:31Frightful Select as well as Wrestling Inc. Douta Tray. I think this report
- 14:37is absolutely spot on if you have watched the last two to three episodes that
- 14:41they're pointing out here Monday Night Raw. There has been this different change on
- 14:46WWE programming lately that reminds me of a year ago when it was a very
- 14:52exciting time the way that creative was going for we. They have been very
- 14:54good episodes of Raw. Matches are getting two three segments. The matches from
- 15:01something that I expected and Conthor and Bronson Reid held up and was a great
- 15:05match. Something I did not see coming in KOFE Kingston and Ivar was a
- 15:09really great match. It's noticeable right now, and that's crazy. We talked
- 15:15about this a year ago. It's like it's noticeable that Vince is not in
- 15:18charge of creative again. It is noticeable, and now you're kind of seeing
- 15:20a full circle moment because it's been like, man, raw has been really
- 15:24good lately and I can't figure out why. Well it appears this is why
- 15:28Doctor Trey. Well, you know, how many years have people been saying
- 15:33Vince was out of touch with what the wrestling fans wanted And we've seen it
- 15:37over the last year where we had these ebbs and flows and you can kind
- 15:41of feel like direct pivots. It was always kind of like, well,
- 15:43that feels like a Vince move. Like you go back to you know,
- 15:46Omas and brock Lesner. You know, it's like that feels like a Vince
- 15:50match. I don't I couldn't see Triple H putting Omas in brock Lesner in
- 15:54the ring together, but you know, it is what it is, and
- 15:56you can kind of see it also with who being featured on TV, Like
- 16:02did you ever think in the like like in the last three years, is
- 16:04is your think Tigan Knox would get a featured spot on Monday Night Row.
- 16:10You know, it's like you can kind of see those people that Triple H
- 16:12is fond of getting, I mean, Bronson Reed getting a feature spot.
- 16:17D I y coming back together, you know, Kevin and Sammy being featured,
- 16:21Knackamora being feature, you know, Ballor being featured like. These are
- 16:25a lot of Triple H guys from the NXT days that you know, and
- 16:30a lot of these guys have been through hell back you look at like the
- 16:32Bronson Reids, the Carrying Crosses, you know, getting released, Tigan Knox,
- 16:36you know, like the thing Gosh you stuck around despite like gets released,
- 16:41comes back, you know, to go to Kai get a release and
- 16:44coming back like these are a lot of Triple H guys that you know,
- 16:48a year and a half ago or two years ago were gone from the company
- 16:51and we thought we'd never see him again. Yet they're back in prominent roles
- 16:55in this company because of the Triple H leadership, and the product is much
- 16:57better, and we're seeing diverse city in the programming. You're seeing you know,
- 17:02Indy Hartwell and everybody else, you know popping up on a raw and
- 17:04challenging Becky Lance. You got all this stuff going on with you know,
- 17:07Rhea Ripley now in a five way at crowd Jewel for the women's title,
- 17:12with half those women not really even being featured for a while under the Vincent's
- 17:18regime, so you just see the quality of the match work changing, you
- 17:22know, focus more on the wrestling as well. That we're always going to
- 17:26have the entertainment part of it, because that's what makes ww special. But
- 17:30to see how talented these people are, how they can put together really great
- 17:33matches in the ring. Along with Cohesion's storytelling, he just makes the show
- 17:37that much better. Yeah, I can't remember a time Doctor Trey that,
- 17:41like Raw, NXC and SmackDown, we're all firing very well on all cylinders.
- 17:45Like right now, it has felt like, at least in the short
- 17:48term, from the last month, every single WWE programming show has been really
- 17:53really good lately. Yeah, in the three hours of Raw, I have
- 17:56not heard you complain about how long Raw is in quite a while because you're
- 18:03engaged in the show the entire time, Like I'll watch it. I'm like,
- 18:06damn it, it's been three hours. Like there's still guys who aren't
- 18:08on the show that I'd like to see. So when they spin back the
- 18:12next week and you can actually space guys out a little bit, keep them
- 18:17fresh for the house shows. Your injuries are kind of down too. Under
- 18:21the Triple Ah regime as opposed to the Vince regime. So that's something else
- 18:23to keep in mind. It'll be interesting to see if this next story I'm
- 18:26gonna bring up here has anything to do with this creative change, because Sports
- 18:30Illustrated is reporting that there are currently no plans for Roman reigns versus the Rock
- 18:37to happen at wrestle A forty. According to multiple sources close to Wue,
- 18:41the decision about the WRESTLEMANI forty main event will not be the Rocks to make,
- 18:45nor is it the main event a topic even a topic of substance.
- 18:51Even if the match was offered, it would not be certainly that Rock would
- 18:53even accept Doctor Trey just tying things that we just discussed here for the first
- 19:00you know, seventeen twenty minutes of the show. Do you think that this
- 19:03story being published by Sports Illustrated or this note has anything to do with the
- 19:07creative change in w Willie right now to a degree. Look, if the
- 19:15Rock calls Triple Ah, and we know they have history, the Rock calls
- 19:17Triple A says, hey, WrestleMania, I'm in. We're getting the Rock
- 19:21in Roman rings because that's like a huge money making match. He thinks,
- 19:26well, you can't. I still think so because I mean, once again,
- 19:29for one, look, everybody, like if the Rock was running for
- 19:32president, the Rock would be leading in the polls. Like he's pretty much
- 19:37universally beloved by people across the board. So if that was the right,
- 19:41like and if they did the storyline it you and I talked about last year
- 19:45where like Rock's mom shows up and Realma gets in her face and talks about
- 19:48how he's the one carrying the family. Yeah, people would buy into that.
- 19:52So I mean, but you can't bank on it, because they've tried
- 19:55banking on it for two years now to get that match. So you have
- 20:00to have, you know, alternative plans in place until that phone call comes
- 20:04in. Uh. I mean, hell, the Rock you know, is
- 20:07in the middle of it of a merger with the XFL and uh the other
- 20:11one with the US was the USA, you know, you're right, yeah,
- 20:15USFL. Yeah, so there. I mean, he's got stuff going
- 20:18on his play, so you know in the and the writer strikes ending,
- 20:19but the actors strike is still going on that you know, you so eloquently
- 20:23eloquently reminded me of last week. So he ain't got nothing going on with
- 20:27football. If he gets that call, If if trimp Place gets that call
- 20:30and says, hey, me and Roman WrestleMania Philadelphia, I'm in Yeah.
- 20:36What who else on the roster do you put in the ring of the Roman
- 20:37that's going to get a better buy rate? Because at the end of the
- 20:40day, you're still trying to get subscribers to Peacock and you know who else
- 20:45is going to draw people to that more than Rock and Roman. So if
- 20:48the Rock versus Roman reigns is reportedly no longer happened in wrestlemin at forty,
- 20:52now, then what should do we do? You're thinking it's not going to
- 20:57happen? You think you're thinking that it if the Rock makes the call despite
- 21:02the report that they're gonna still go forward with that match, nonetheless, but
- 21:04let's just say Rock reigns at wrestleminting forty, whether Rock is good to go
- 21:10or not good to go doesn't happen, then what what should will we do?
- 21:17I mean, you got it's it comes down to La Knight and Cody
- 21:21like whoever they feel like has the hot hand heading into WrestleMania season, That's
- 21:25who I think they put there in the Ring of the Rock, because I
- 21:26don't know if there's anybody else on the roster that. I mean, you
- 21:30can't do Roman to Brock again, I mean Roman stone Cold. But then
- 21:36again I think there go there's not gonna be a title change on that one.
- 21:38You got to kind of look and go, Okay, is there somebody
- 21:41on this roster that we can put the red of the Roman that's hot,
- 21:45that is the hot hand, that if we make the title switch, or
- 21:48at least make it believable that the switch could happen, that people will buy
- 21:53in. I mean, I don't I mean, I don't think it's Sammy.
- 21:56I don't think it's Kevin. I don't think it's you know, I
- 22:00don't think it's any of those guys that we've seen floating around the top of
- 22:03the car. It's got to either be Cody or La nine. I just
- 22:04think it comes down to whoever the hot hand is heading into WrestleMania season.
- 22:08Once we get to you know, you know, rumble time, like what's
- 22:12probably end of December, will probably a better idea just kind of who the
- 22:17hot hand is. And right now it feels like La Knight crazy enough that
- 22:19sounds well, I think they're gonna do La Night versus Roman for a Crown
- 22:22Jewel, though yeah, I don't know. I think they're gonna blow that
- 22:27load like in a couple of weeks here. Then I think it goes back
- 22:32to Cody. So I think there were two very important segments this week.
- 22:37I actually think the road to WrestleMania, unknowingly to all of us, may
- 22:42have kicked off on Friday SmackDown and Monday's Raw. And I'll start with the
- 22:48Friday SmackDown. Roman Reigns returned season premiere of SmackDown, Cody and Jay Uso,
- 22:55the now former tag team champions, defended against a town under Austin Theory
- 23:00and Grayson Waller and leaving the ring, Roman Raiins' music plays and we have
- 23:07a face to face with he and Cody, like there is unfinished business.
- 23:11If we all remember the night after WrestleMania, Cody Rhodes was supposed to wrestle
- 23:17in a tag team match, Roman Reigns and Solosakoa tagging up with Brock Lesner,
- 23:23and that didn't happen because they started going down. Brock obviously turns,
- 23:27and then that leads to the Brock Cody feud for the last four months,
- 23:30which I thought was brilliant creative because one of the things that I often struggle
- 23:37with as a wrestling fan is when a contender, a baby face contender,
- 23:41has such a big match they lose. What happens with them after losing that
- 23:47title match that you sometimes expect that they're going to win, Like, what
- 23:49do you do with them? They flounder a little bit and they get hurt.
- 23:52They did a great job of protecting Cody all the while protecting the Cody
- 23:57Roman rematch than being like, I challenge you next month that whatever it was
- 24:02after that, hell in a sell what have you? WrestleMania Backlash? We
- 24:07saw that on Friday SmackDown Doctor Trey. Do you think that was the first
- 24:11tease as to what could be happening in six months time in Philadelphia and in
- 24:18the Universal title main event between Roman Reigns and potentially Cody Rhodes. Yeah,
- 24:25I mean, and that's what I'm saying. It's very, very possible and
- 24:29likely. But once again, what if Elie Knight comes out of Crown Jewel
- 24:33and he's even hotter than he was before? Do you not want to run
- 24:37with the guy that you know if he's selling more merch than anybody else on
- 24:41the roster, how do you not have him win the Rumble? In January
- 24:45he headlines WrestleMania. You know it at the end of the day. As
- 24:48much as we love, you know, the fandom part of it, everything
- 24:51else, it is a business. And to me, they're going to take
- 24:55the next you know, two months to kind of gauge who the hot hand
- 24:57is heading in to WrestleMania season. I mean, La Knight might go to
- 25:00Crown Jewel Face. Roman reigns lose because of Solo. He gets side tracking
- 25:06a few with Solo while they do something else with Roman. But you know,
- 25:08once again, they're gonna watch the merchant numbers, and to me,
- 25:11it is gonna We've seen it in the past, like whoever the hot hand
- 25:15is they kind of run with heading into WrestleMania season, whether it's Drew m
- 25:19double ed Sword here though, dotch Troy February of last year, who had
- 25:22the hot hand? I don't even remember February come on, man handing an
- 25:27elimination chamber posts Royal Rumble, Oh Sammy, yeah, yeah, I mean
- 25:33we were literally talking this podcast, like I think we could be run into
- 25:36a Daniel Bryant situation. Yeah, but then I also said the odds,
- 25:40I don't think they viewed Sammy as the main event guy, and I just
- 25:42don't think that, And I still think I think the whole storyline going on
- 25:45him and Drew now is kind of playing back a little bit to that where
- 25:51hey, he says he wants to be a world Chamming. Look, Sammy
- 25:52could get hot again. You know, Sammy used the Underground, and Sammy's
- 25:57kind of owed a rematch with Roman. He's got unfinished business with Roman as
- 26:00well. So uh, I mean, we could see Sammy pop back up
- 26:04and be the hot hand. To me the Cody thing, it was always
- 26:08gonna be Cody regardless of Sammy's rush, but since Cody got hurt and got
- 26:15sidelined, we didn't get that big, long build to it like we wanted.
- 26:18It was kind of, you know, shoved in there, and then
- 26:21they had to kind of counterbalance how hot Sammy was with what they wanted with
- 26:26Cody. And this might have been their plan for the last years, to
- 26:29get back to Russell Mania and have the rematch with Roman and Cody. But
- 26:33once again, like if La Knight's out selling everybody, like, and look,
- 26:37I'm not the biggest La Knight fan in the world, but if he's
- 26:40out selling everybody else and he's gonna draw more subscribers to Peacock than Cody,
- 26:45why wouldn't they take that chance. I think the likely scenarios right now for
- 26:51Russ May and forty Universal Championship is either Rain's Roads Too or Rains Rock.
- 26:57I don't think La Knight gets that spot right now. I don't think Drew
- 27:03gets that spot. I think it's Rains Roads or Rock Rains. I think
- 27:08that's the same. I think I think Rhodes Rains too. That's hard to
- 27:11say Roads Rain is the safe pick out of everything, you know, But
- 27:21once again, like I mean a year ago, we didn't think La and
- 27:25I would be a main event guy. He was still maxim male models.
- 27:29You know, it's it's crazy how fast he has as sended. The fact
- 27:33that he fieling up as the fastest rising star in WWE tells me they're also
- 27:38trying to see how far they can push this. So uh, and they
- 27:42may learn from the Daniel Bryan Sammy's Ay type stuff in the past where hey,
- 27:48somebody's gotten too hot. We either did or did not pull the trigger.
- 27:52Let's see how this plays out between now in Rumble, I give w
- 27:56W credit because I think in Vince's world they would do rains Rock if it
- 28:00was on the table, and forget Rain's Roads too. But Rain's Roads too
- 28:07at WrestleMania makes sense because that's the story. There was no rematch. It
- 28:12was that one match. He got screwed and he's been held out this entire
- 28:17time, and he has to finish his story and we can get into the
- 28:21interestacies of like, Okay, well what do you do when that match happens?
- 28:23Do you want to keep the rain going? Or does Cody finally win
- 28:27the big one a year later at another time. But it's very interesting because
- 28:33I thought, like the season premiere, which I think is typically late or
- 28:38earlier, I feel like that's a September thing for a lot of shows,
- 28:41and it was interesting they chose this week and they had one segment that I
- 28:45felt like was planting seats for Wressellmania on SmackDown. As I just mentioned.
- 28:48The other one Doctor Trey mentioned during his response about the entire thing, and
- 28:56that was Sammy Zain's opening segment on Raw talking about becoming a world Champion Doctor
- 29:02Trey. I feel like if we're gonna be talking about the Universal Championship match
- 29:07for wrestum at forty, well we might as well start thinking about the World
- 29:11Heavyweight Championship match at wrestlmating forty. After that interesting segment, could we be
- 29:15seen Rollins versus Zayne? Could it be Damian Priest versus Zayne? Could it
- 29:22be Rollins versus Gunther title for title? Could it be Rollins versus CM Punk
- 29:27methinks Sammy Zain is the one at WrestleMania forty right now that celebrates winning a
- 29:36world championship. And we go back to that segment from this past week's edition
- 29:40of Monday Night Raw. What are your thoughts here? Did we get some
- 29:44seeds planted in the brains of US wrestling fans this past Monday when it comes
- 29:48to Sammy Zain in the Worldweight Championship. I think he'll be in the picture.
- 29:56It's gonna be weird, like one of the things. And as I
- 29:57mentioned this, I don't know we got into it or not, but kind
- 30:00of the hot potatoing of some of the titles lately. But we're right now,
- 30:06we're in late October wrestle MANI is almost six months out, a little
- 30:11less than six months out. How would you do you like as much as
- 30:15we I'd love to see rawlins in Sami Zaying in a thirty minute match at
- 30:19WrestleMania. Babyface. Babyface at wrestle Maania doesn't really go very well usually,
- 30:26Uh, that means you have to get the belt off, seth on to
- 30:29somebody else and look, I like Damian Priest, but to me, Damian
- 30:32Price, Samy's ay and at WrestleMania doesn't have that kind of stroke to it
- 30:37doesn't have that main event feel to it. So do you have to move
- 30:41the title around a couple of times to get to it? Do you do
- 30:44Drew in Samy at WrestleMania? You know? And that way Drew kind of
- 30:47gets the WrestleMania moment he deserves from the pandemic era. So I think it's
- 30:52laying the groundwork. And one of the things that they've always did really well
- 30:56in an x t heater in the Black and Gold era was start building people
- 30:59up to main event slots a little bit early, so that way they had
- 31:03some depth in that division. So I think it's just a way of kind
- 31:07of elevating Sammy. Plus, here's the what do you do with Kevin Owens
- 31:11on Spackdown. We've already seen Kevin Roman reigns like you know three, like
- 31:15what four times? Five times during Roman's run. I mean, if you're
- 31:18going to elevate Sammy, you might want to be elevating Kevin as well.
- 31:22I'd love to see Sammy's saying Kevin Owens in a match at WrestleMania for one
- 31:26of the world titles. And maybe that's maybe Owens wins the Rumble and Sammy
- 31:30wins the world title and we get Owens zaying world title match. I'm with
- 31:33you. I think that would be great. Part of me. Thanks,
- 31:37And I can't believe I'm saying this, especially like two years ago. My
- 31:40mind would be blown when I said this. But the guys really are my
- 31:42respect. But I think there's something to Logan Paul challenging for the United States
- 31:47Championship, and he's taken a lot of l's lately. I wouldn't be surprised
- 31:52if he has that championship, goes into WrestleMania with that championship still and a
- 31:57guy like Kevin Owens would a perfect challenger for Logan Paul at the grandist age
- 32:05that is wrestlemaning. I mean, I was very much bummed that they broke
- 32:08up the Kevin Ohens Samy's Ain pairing the tag team, But after what I
- 32:12saw on Monday's raw, I was like, Okay, this is why they
- 32:15have big plans for Sammy's Ain, and we're starting to see this happen right
- 32:19now because he's saying he's never been a world champion. It's October, mid
- 32:23October, and we start seeing the gears start churning for WrestleMania. Like now,
- 32:30they start to slowly pick up, and with the each passing pay per
- 32:35view Crown Jewel Survivor series that takes us into Royal Rumble and then it's like
- 32:40full steam ahead. I would not be shocked if Sammy's Ain is the Royal
- 32:45Rumble winner this upcoming year. Next year, I think Rolins holds onto that
- 32:51championship for a while. It's a very interesting situation ahead here, Doctor Trey.
- 32:57But I think, to rapp everything that we've seen here in the last
- 33:01week, I felt like those segments on Friday and Monday were very poignant and
- 33:09purposeful. As for the long term creative of WWE heading into WrestleMania. Yeah,
- 33:17no, absolutely, and they and and one thing we've seen from Triple
- 33:21H creative over you know, NXT time and then up in the the last
- 33:24year and a half is they do love planting those seeds early and kind of
- 33:30letting it sprout out. And they are big on long term storytelling, so
- 33:36nothing is done on accidents on WW television with Triple AG and Charge. So
- 33:39they'll plant those seeds early, let it you know, slowly grow, and
- 33:44then when it comes time to to bear fruit, they're getting the juiciest ones
- 33:49of the bunch. Is it weird we're talking about WrestleMania booking right now,
- 33:52Doctor Trenia, It doesn't make sense. No, it makes sense because it
- 33:57was thirty nine degrees here today, so let's me get Yeah, it was
- 34:00it was cold this morning. So once we started getting cold at Alabama,
- 34:04I started thinking about WrestleMania. So yeah, I'm to me, it feels
- 34:07about right. I mean we're a month af from Survivor Series, and then
- 34:09once you get Survivor Series, it's wrestling, it's rumble, and then we're
- 34:14on the I mean it's not that far. I mean we're two and a
- 34:16half months after the word Rumble, so it's not that far out because that's
- 34:20the official kickoff. It just really feels like that w IS is faring on
- 34:24all cylinders. Again, there was there was a really long stretch there.
- 34:28Then there was a brief period of time that it was like hit or miss.
- 34:30But they just have been putting out solid programming after solid program and and
- 34:35aw has as well. I know this is going to be a very w
- 34:37centric episode of SRTU, but AW has as well. I think the big
- 34:43thing with them is some of their follow ups isn't the best or the follow
- 34:46throughs isn't the best. And I would say that Tony Kahan, like tweeting
- 34:52rampage is not something that I care for as a wrestling fan. Yeah.
- 34:58And then also I didn't know. I didn't know he starts with Vanilla.
- 35:00I just I didn't know that one. I learned that this week. Well
- 35:04are you talking about the Edge promo? Yeah? When I was called him
- 35:07the Vanilla Dwayne Johnson, I didn't know if he actually meant like color scheme
- 35:09or just bland. I think he means blanned. Oh okay, But like
- 35:14I love I love Adam Copeland giving clothing advice to somebody. When he looks
- 35:17like he just got out from under a bridge, It's like, dude,
- 35:22you dressed like a homeless guy. So I don't know if you should criticize
- 35:25somebody else's dress. Does it feel like that Adam Copeland run so far in
- 35:30AW is like it was very exciting and then kind of has fallen off a
- 35:35cliff a little bit, like it's worn out very quickly for some reason.
- 35:40What I think the issue I have with it is his promos have not been
- 35:45that great. Uh, and I think maybe he might be those guys that's
- 35:51better when he has a little bit of a guideline like that back and forth
- 35:54with him and Ricky Stars, to me just felt like really like indie.
- 35:59I mean, I've gotten those debates at an indie show, like you don't
- 36:00see that happen at a WWE show. So I thought it was pretty good.
- 36:04Actually yeah, but it's just you know, them taking shots at each
- 36:07other using you know, tongue in cheek stuff like, oh, I guess
- 36:10that comment is a little bit over the edge, you know, it's a
- 36:13little bit you know, like we criticize AW when they do stuff like when
- 36:16Tony KNDA stuff like that, or when somebody's taking shots at the other company.
- 36:21I just I felt, I don't know, it just feels like they're
- 36:23trying to shove him in everywhere at times, and it's like, yeah,
- 36:28it's it's like I'm waiting for Adam and or Adam and Christian to go off
- 36:32because Lord knows they just have great chemistry and and getting to that I get,
- 36:37but you know, now it's like, oh, let's put him in
- 36:39there with Brian Daniels or with Daniel Bryan or Brian asking me, you know,
- 36:44let's squeeze him in here, and squeeze him in here. Let's it's
- 36:45just like, all right, I get it. They're trying to maximize their
- 36:51edge in the their leverage, I guess, so to speak. But it
- 36:54does seem a little bit just just just all over the place, which the
- 37:01time is aw creative, really good injering stuff. Creative can be very scattered,
- 37:07and I think that's what we're we're seeing right now. With that said,
- 37:10that'll do it for this week's nition of the podcast. I was saying
- 37:14to the doctor off air, I was like, man, it's kind of
- 37:15refreshing that we're doing a show where there's no pl e or pay per view
- 37:20that we've got a preview and predictor or recap and review. That will soon
- 37:23change because Crown Jewel and Full Gear and Survivor series will be right around the
- 37:29corner, but at least for the time being, at least for this week's
- 37:31edition of the podcast and next week, we are just talking professional wrestling,
- 37:36things that we're seeing in the news, things that we're liking disliking, all
- 37:38here each and every week on SRTU. So with that said, let's get
- 37:43a couple plugs and sponsored out of the way. You can down only show
- 37:45every Thursday or Friday at Real Guy rated dot com, Rust of Chattnet on
- 37:49X and the Story Real of the Show iTunes feed, don't ficto rate,
- 37:51review and subscribe to help us climb the charts on iTunes. You can follows
- 37:53individually on X for myself at SRTU Jeff and for Doctor Franklin at The Doctor
- 37:59Trey and of course don't forget to follow the show on X at SRTU podcast.
- 38:04With that being said, what's going on the Oneful World of Doctor Trey
- 38:07Franklin this week? I do love that you have officially just gone to straight
- 38:10X. You're just dropped trying. You're just going with the Elon Musk train.
- 38:15I got you. It was like retraining myself when I called you Captain
- 38:20Obvious forever. Oh yeah, right when we did the big name change.
- 38:24Yeah, I remember those days. You can't do it again. You can't
- 38:27do it again on me. No no, I was like, I was
- 38:29like, Jeff, I'm actually in independent wrestling. Can we use my name
- 38:31please? We did no more, No More, Trey Captain Obvious Dent.
- 38:37Yeah, that's that's well, and then throwing Franklin in there. So yes,
- 38:39it's a whole thing. I feel like I'm like running from the government
- 38:43right now. But like Jeff said, you can follow me on ex Twitter
- 38:46at the Doctor Trey. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram Doctor Trey
- 38:51Franklin. Be sure to take out Rockety Championship Wrestling and Spartan Championship Wrestling on
- 38:55Facebook as well two shows in Alabama I'm affiliated with. Actually maybe back at
- 39:00ROCKETSTA this weekend. Not entirely sure. It's also the wife's birthday weekend,
- 39:04so happy birthday to her. But I'm pretty sure if I don't do some
- 39:07thing for her birthday and go to wrestling instead. I might get divorce,
- 39:09so keep that in mind. Jeff. This is marriage advice for you down
- 39:13the road. But hey, we just go on Facebook check out those shows.
- 39:15Also check out your locally in dependent wrestling shows. Independent wrestling is up
- 39:19and booming. I mean hell, Tyler Breese is popping up everywhere right now
- 39:23on the independent scenes. So go out there and see Dirty Dango and Tyler
- 39:28Brady's team up and be the Dirty Breeze as I think they'll be referred to
- 39:30you at the next year in Tennessee. I seek the mats, all right,
- 39:32very very cool. Support all the great things that support SRTU. Thank
- 39:37you for downloading our show this week. Spread the word. You got wrestling
- 39:39friends friends that are fans as well, tell them check out srt ME reach
- 39:45out every week. Feel free to chiming again at SRTO podcast on hex or
- 39:49Facebook dot com. Slash this to a Roalto show until next week. Thank
- 39:53you for downloading. For Doc Troy Franklin, I'm Jeff Pack. This is
- 39:58this to ROTO show. I supposed to have a few shrouds. Pulls him
- 40:07out where all her shoes, y'all beware, said y'all looking, then Lisa
- 40:15jump Welcome to the day. Mister Red fan out a lot on YouTube leading
- 40:22no fag red world where this always be flatten sham? Who's chacking? He
- 40:29even knows where the hippos knows that again the many woman in the world,
- 40:34he wants to. Who's sitting over there? Sports napping underwear? Oh?
- 40:46Sorry's bed in the head? All your pretenders? Where you're at anywhere?
- 40:54Jacka's name consprisedly had a snake all the are your head paint on his face?
- 41:02Has Tim Duggan had a two by four? Who with sty like this?
- 41:07Man, you don't need no more. Got a lot of friends.
- 41:14I've got a lot of poones be quing of the boos when I be bouncing
- 41:19off the boot, lots of people talking feel them. You gotta have to
- 41:24tell you you want me that? Whoa? Who's that sitting over there?
- 41:35Wow? Spooking nothing underwear? Who oh Cody is crackling? Head? Are
- 41:45you all for tis? Where are you? Gus? Beware? Should find
- 41:50the thing? Crash? Should I be shot by lighting them on the drive
- 41:53of the finers car it dies to find? And dynam trying to sit side
- 41:59don't matter. A witch country be emaginal mass success. But the length is
- 42:04the lea who let's wear it stylible, flegated, but it musbody that's listening
- 42:30on the first side. I'm not dancing, oh not not just dealer,
- 42:38such a medically only one. Who who said no day smoking that thing on
- 42:50the way. Well, oh, bis, run the pay while you us
- 42:58turn where you've got me? Whoa, whoa, whoa morsing a home now? Who