Latest / THE STILL REAL TO US SHOW – Real Guy Radio / Who Should Be Sting's Last Opponent? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #715 – 10/26/23
Transcript
- 0:00It's still welcome. Everybody welcome. So this week's edition is no Real,
- 0:20no Show. Epis number seven hundred and fifteen for October twenty six, twenty
- 0:25twenty three. Welcomes. In this week's edition of s R, she you,
- 0:32I am one after the show, I am Jeff pack joined every single
- 0:36week, likes one one doctor Trey Franklin, Doctor Trey. If you were
- 0:40retiring, who would be your last opponent? My friend? Ooh, who
- 0:46would have my last opponent be? Woopy Goldberg? I thought you were gonna
- 0:53go with Tom Arnold. No, I always liked Tom Arnold, but Whoopy's
- 0:57up there? I mean, I like, I like her, but then
- 0:59I could say, hey I beat Goldberg. Hmmm, streak ended. Yeah.
- 1:03So I don't do you have any people, like, any celebrities that
- 1:08you just absolutely dislike. That's a tough one, Jackson Mahomes that you use
- 1:19in terms celebrity very very loosely, dude. Anybody with like a phone and
- 1:25a YouTube channel nowadays is being considered celebrities like I don't even know who half
- 1:29of these these people are. So funny, funny side story, So I
- 1:34uh with with my job. I've been constantly hiring people and doing interviews and
- 1:38things like that. And I'm actually having an interview tomorrow with a guy for
- 1:42a part time job with this, and I asked him, Hey, so,
- 1:46uh, you know, are you currently working anywhere? What's your availability?
- 1:49Like He's like, oh, no, I'm pretty wide open. I
- 1:52do TikTok. I did not know that was actually I mean, I get
- 1:56that some people make money off of it, but I did not know that
- 1:59you guys, you put that on your resume to impress an employer. Yeah.
- 2:04I guess if the employer was that like YouTube or X or Facebook,
- 2:07maybe they would be impressed. I don't know if content creator for your line
- 2:13of work would be something I'd be like, damn, you are highly qualified,
- 2:16my friend. I mean, I don't even put this on my resume.
- 2:20We've been doing this for you know, twelve years. Yeah. Oh,
- 2:23by the way, I would say, if I'm going off really high
- 2:27end celebrities, I would say probably maybe it's weird. I used to love
- 2:30Jimmy Kimmel and now I can't stand him, So kim would be on my
- 2:34list. See that's surprising because I think Jimmy Kimmel's a very likable guy.
- 2:38He's a very likable guy. But I think it's because every time I watch
- 2:40him, like the jokes are always political, and I'm like, all right,
- 2:45can we joke about anybody else, like I don't know or anything else
- 2:49to anything else. So but outside of that, I don't really know.
- 2:54There's anybody else that I just really can't stand. So yeah, I mean
- 3:01any Yeah, but you're rather anybody in the YouTube TikTok twitch where like that's
- 3:07their main source of income. Four years ago, logan Paul would be towards
- 3:12the top of my list, and now not so much. He does other
- 3:15stuff and he takes risks about getting punched in the face repeatedly, so I
- 3:19gotta give him credit for that. Yeah, total hat tip, Tam.
- 3:21I mean, he's a freak athlete. I think he is certainly one over
- 3:25wrestling fans based on his performance and care of being a in rank performer in
- 3:30Worldwisy Entertainment as we've seen as of late. We'll be getting ready for him
- 3:36and his next match as we will preview and predict w Crown Jewel on next
- 3:39week's edition of SRTU kicked off the show asking who would be Doctor Trey's last
- 3:46opponent if he were to be retiring. It was announced on last week's AW
- 3:51Dynamite that Sting will be retiring at AW Revolution twenty twenty four. It'll be
- 3:58three years since his initial debut for All Lee Wrestling. He debuted in twenty
- 4:02twenty December twenty twenty at Winters Coming, then had his first entering match at
- 4:06AW Revolution in twenty twenty four, actually be in twenty twenty one, so
- 4:13he's retiring three years later. The run in AW has been really good,
- 4:18a good way to end his career in my opinion, coming off of the
- 4:25initial retirement from his twenty fifteen WWE Hall of Fame speech or twenty sixteen,
- 4:30but it was big news. We are recording this during AW Dynamite from last
- 4:34night, depending on when you're listening to this, if you're listening to it
- 4:36on Thursday. So we have no idea what the gift that Tony Kahan has.
- 4:42First thing is, if I had a guess, it's it's a huge
- 4:45plush toy of a penguin, because Sting loves penguins. But you know,
- 4:50obviously the big discussion now Doctor Trey and AW has about four months to really
- 4:57think about this three and a half four months. Who should be Sting's last
- 5:00opponent as we approach AW Revolution February twenty twenty four. Who gets the nod
- 5:05to help end the career of the man called Sting. By the way,
- 5:10does Tony Kahn have a life size Sting slam like slam Buddy or whatever they're
- 5:15called. I would assume so, Yeah, Okay, I mean I just
- 5:17saw them on clearance their day at Walmart. I almost bought Samy Franklin one.
- 5:21But for me, I mean you've got to look on like, hey,
- 5:26can we build on the Sting legacy? Can we help somebody get over
- 5:30even more? And right now I go at Darby. I mean it's the
- 5:35mentor mentee, teachers student type story. AW doesn't always do the traditional bad
- 5:45guy good guy storylines. I just don't really know if there's anybody else in
- 5:50the company that could really benefit from beating Sting in his farewell match. Do
- 5:57they have to beat Sting? No? But I think if getting that NOD
- 6:03in that match could be just as equal to getting the win. Yeah.
- 6:08But if I'm not mistaken, I think Sting's undefeated since he came to AW.
- 6:13I don't think they've lost any of these tag matches. So I mean,
- 6:17if you're gonna I would say, if you're going to give the nod
- 6:20to somebody, I would give it to Derby. But once again, Darby
- 6:24was also seeing Punk's first opponent in aw if I'm not mistaken, So I
- 6:30mean, it is a little bit of a nod. But do you do
- 6:32an MJF. Do you give you know, you give Stick a chance to
- 6:35win a championship in his last match before he goes off into the sunset.
- 6:40You know, me personally, I would just do Derby just because the fact
- 6:45that Darby's gonna be kind of continuing the Sting legacy and it's, you know,
- 6:50kind of a passing of the torch, if you will. As Sting
- 6:55rides off into the sunset at age sixty five, holy cow, he looks
- 6:59great. He looks right for his age. Darby Allen is obviously the odds
- 7:02on favorite right now. To receive that nod, it would almost be criminal
- 7:05at this point unless they do the match in the next three and a half
- 7:09four months that after all this time of pairing Darby instinct together that he does
- 7:14not get that nod for the torch passing moment. Of taking Nonstin in his
- 7:17final match. I know some other names that are being thrown out there.
- 7:20I saw someone trying to make a case for Rick Flair Lord love him,
- 7:24but Nope, don't want to see that. I love you and h but
- 7:28don't want to see that again. I think from a dream standpoint, Adam
- 7:32Copeland Edge would be pretty cool. I can't really think of many more.
- 7:40Omega, maybe Jericho. I can't. It's a very small list. To
- 7:46me. It's like Darby Allen, then underneath Darby Allen is the one that
- 7:49makes sense. It's like top of the list and then everything else underneath.
- 7:53It would be like the dream match of Adam Copeland, Kenny Omega, what
- 7:59have you to be like taking on Sting in that final match? Stan Jericho
- 8:03cross paths once so far at a wan A tag match, right or he
- 8:07did? Yeah? Yeah, So I mean that's up there. I mean
- 8:11just because yeah, I just don't know if like you also got ever like
- 8:16some of these guys, you also have to kind of go, hey,
- 8:18who can work a match to still help Sting look good? I mean they've
- 8:22been very careful about who they've had Sting in the ring with, you know,
- 8:28and the and the guys that weren't great workers. They did kind of
- 8:31like the cinematic matches to kind of edit a little bit. So my only
- 8:35word about Darby's Darby goes so fast in the ring, like will that make
- 8:41a deep because he wants stings match to be good, a good quality match
- 8:46you don't want to be you know, you don't look and go God that
- 8:48that last match the sting was horrible. But I mean he's got, you
- 8:52know, forty year career, but to your god, the last matches back.
- 8:54So he wanted to be somebody that's a good worker, can change the
- 9:00I mean, Orge Cassie would be good just because we've seen him work so
- 9:03many different guys in different styles, and he can change his style to fit
- 9:07his opponent as well. You know, we've seen Orge Cassy have good matches
- 9:11with the younger guys, the older guys ever, you know, I mean
- 9:16he's wrestled with everybody from Jericho at Moxley all the way down to like the
- 9:18govar Is and the Garcias. So you want somebody that can kind of cross
- 9:24those lines. I mean, Edge an sting would be a great Sorry,
- 9:28Adam Copeland, a sting would be a great sendoff match, but it doesn't.
- 9:35It does more for a younger guy's career than it does for somebody like
- 9:39Adam Copeland. M. Yeah, now I'm with you. To me,
- 9:41I think it's like a ninety percent chance right now that it's Darby. I
- 9:46mean, I just can't see it being anybody else. It would it makes
- 9:50so much sense, it makes too much sense that if AW didn't do it,
- 9:56I think it would be criminal. Again, like the only way they
- 9:58get away with is if they've run some sort of angle that Darby says,
- 10:03you know, before you retire, I want to face shoot one on one,
- 10:05like I need to know if I can go toe to toe with Sting
- 10:07rather than being the final match, it would be like can I, you
- 10:13know, hang with you in the ring one on one. So it's I
- 10:18don't know, it's a bit sad, but it's also something that you expect.
- 10:22You expect that the clock was winding down on Sting at any point during
- 10:24his run in AW, and it's it's been a very I mean, it's
- 10:30not his run in Impact Wrestling TNA towards the end. The run in w
- 10:35WI obviously did not get enough ground. He only had what two three matches
- 10:41in w W you for getting hurt and having to retire. This has been
- 10:45protected by tag team matches, and it seems like they always have to do
- 10:48one major spot where he's jumping off of something very high up in the air.
- 10:54But overall, as a character, the way he's been used, the
- 10:56way he has been lies on the mic in segments and storylines in matches has
- 11:05been pretty perfect. And it's very easy to uh to bust the chops of
- 11:09aw creative, especially as of late, but I think they've done a really
- 11:13good job of protecting his character and ending it the right way. So I'm
- 11:16happy from going out on his terms the way that it should have been six
- 11:20seven years ago with w WIE and unfortunately did not work out. And again
- 11:26it just seems like it's a slam dunk that's gonna be Darby Allen Doctor Trey.
- 11:30Yeah. I mean, I'm still trying to think of alterna. I
- 11:31mean there's nobody he has, you know, I mean Jeff Jarrett he has
- 11:37history with from TNA and WCW. But I mean could Jarrett be the Stings
- 11:43last match and Rick Flair's last match, I mean, that's that'd be pretty
- 11:46awesome, Mike. I was thinking about this as you were talking, though,
- 11:52is like, with Sting retiring, does he stay a Philly with AW
- 11:56or does he go, Hey, you know that Legends deal that those guys
- 12:00have other pretty sweet as well. I can still makes some money going for
- 12:03I just don't think Stings they, you know, make some more money kind
- 12:07of guy. No, I don't think he is either, And I think
- 12:11that run in w WE kind of was a little bit of a bitter taste
- 12:13in his mouth. Yeah. My understanding is that he did have a good
- 12:18relationship with them still they he did let his Legends contract run out, and
- 12:22that's why he was going back to AW. I think he's going to be
- 12:26loyal AW ultimately, though, Doctor Truck. I mean, he doesn't owe
- 12:30w wee anything and he doesn't owe the fans anything because he did he did
- 12:33the w W thing for a very very short period of time. He had
- 12:37a match at WRESTLEMANI which we were all dying to see. He got rightfully
- 12:41placed in the Hall of Fame and then got hurt, unfortunately, and they
- 12:46didn't really do much with him after that, and he was still quasi under
- 12:50contract. He was just doing stuff for like network specials or documentaries, which
- 12:54is kind of lame when you have freaking Sting available at your fings as AW
- 13:01really really utilize extremely well. So I think he'll remain loyal to AW,
- 13:05and I think ultimately we just need to obviously take these next couple of months
- 13:09and appreciate everything that's going on with Sting. If you weren't appreciating this run
- 13:13all writing AW, shame on you. And now these next couple months totally
- 13:18open arms. Be appreciative of what's going on. And if you have the
- 13:22opportunity to go see Sting live one last time, whether it be Dynamite Collision
- 13:26tapings, live events, or if he is wrestling somehow over the next four
- 13:31months prior to AW Revolution, I think that's something that most fans, if
- 13:35they have the opportunity to go see, should go out there and absolutely do
- 13:39it. So Sting wrapping up his career as announced this last Wednesday night at
- 13:43AW Revolution in February March time, so someone we'll keep an eye on who
- 13:48will be that last opponent for Sting. Speaking of appreciation, Doctor Trey,
- 13:54I was watching SmackDown this past week. John Seen is in the ring and
- 13:56I just thought to myself, man, we have got to be appreciating this
- 14:01time. Like Sena has been on WE television for probably maybe a month longer
- 14:07than I expected. When he initially returned, I thought that the strike was
- 14:11going to end and then he would be back doing the Hollywood thing and we
- 14:16would see him come and go maybe around wrestlming in a summer stam season again
- 14:20or here and there, keep a streak alive of having a match every year
- 14:22in WE. And I mean, he's been working as a regular performer lately
- 14:28and it's been fun to see. It's there's been times where he's been a
- 14:31little bit too cartoony. But I just thought to myself this past Friday,
- 14:35as I was watching this back down, I'm like, man, we really
- 14:37need to appreciate what the hell's going on with John Cena right now. So,
- 14:41I mean, I simply ask you, doctor Dray, how much do
- 14:45you appreciate this time of John Cena being back? And how much should wrestling
- 14:48fans be appreciating this time of John Cena being back? You know, the
- 14:52funny thing to me is when you look over all the legends that we've had
- 14:58come through w over the years, and think about when their careers are winding
- 15:03down, where they really helping get the next wave of guys over. And
- 15:07you can look at Scene seem's been good doing this going back to when he
- 15:09had the US title of the US Open US Open Challenge that he understands the
- 15:16business. He understands that it's always a continuance. There is no you know,
- 15:22there's no re you know, no rebuild, you know, like like
- 15:26you know, like your packers are going with with changing quarterbacks like that.
- 15:28It's kind of you know, it just continues on and you want to make
- 15:31sure the next guy is in place to take your spot. And that's the
- 15:35proper way to do it. And Scene is in a great job of that.
- 15:39We just saw it, you know, with him helping get l a
- 15:41Night Over even more. And now we're seeing him, you know, working
- 15:43with Solo Socoa. Like the fact that he's still able to go out there.
- 15:48We saw at Wrestle Media getting like letting Austin Theory beat him a Wrestle
- 15:50Media like you know, Santa has creative control. He could have at any
- 15:54point said no, no, no, I'm not letting get beat me and
- 15:56beat me pretty clean. He did it because of the right thing to do.
- 16:00So the guy's just a tremendous like he's a tremendous asset to the world
- 16:06of professional wrestling. By the way, for you and I longtime wrestling fans,
- 16:10how cool is it to see I don't if he's on Facebook, but
- 16:11the the uh Sena Umaga to Sina Solos to CoA stuff. No, it
- 16:18was, it was just kind of it was just somebody was like they did
- 16:22kind of a slow motion like fade in and fade out of Sina being face
- 16:26to face with Umaga. Then you see Omaga fade out and then Solo's face
- 16:30kind of fades into him like man like just you know, like Solo's character
- 16:36was based a lot on what Umaga does, Like that's what Triple Ah's idea
- 16:38for the Solo character was. And now you see a guy like John Cena,
- 16:42who had battles with Umaga, squaring off against you know, his nephew
- 16:48Solo, and it's it's just those comparisons are really really cool. So just
- 16:52the fact that he's out there working with everybody, trying to help the company
- 16:56as best as he can, still doing all the main wish stuff, you
- 17:00know, still you know popping up on movies that he did, like,
- 17:04you know, a year ago, Like there's a trailer for something I saw
- 17:07today he popped out, And I'm like, guys on the hardest workers in
- 17:11all of entertainment, and so you gotta give him a ton of credit,
- 17:14Like he could have just taken this time off and set at home and Scrooge
- 17:18McDuck didn't count his money, and no, he's like, I'm gonna go
- 17:22back to wrestling. It's my first love. I'm we go back and I'm
- 17:23gonna help some guys out and then when the actor strikes over, I'll get
- 17:26back to acting like the guy's just a hard worker and a credit to professional
- 17:30wrestling, whether you like the scene of character or not, Like he's just
- 17:36a good dude when it comes to the professional wrestling business. So he's been
- 17:38back for like eight weeks now, maybe at best six seven eight weeks,
- 17:44and I think he's helped push along La Night, Jimmy Usso and Solasakoa and
- 17:49maybe I'm missing anybody else here, but I feel like that has been his
- 17:55focus since returning, and you can tell that him just being involved with those
- 17:59guys has helped elevate the game. So it's really cool to see him giving
- 18:02back and helping elevate some of these stars that they are trying to break out
- 18:07and push up the main event ladder like he has because he does not need
- 18:12to do that. Let me, like we seen has made his money.
- 18:17He does not need to be back in professional wrestling right now. We've seen
- 18:21that with plenty of people that have gone to Hollywood, and you know,
- 18:23he's not as successful as maybe Dwayne Johnson right now, but he's been successful
- 18:29and he he doesn't need to come back. And if you look at the
- 18:33entire scope of the year, including Austin theory, same thing. He's really
- 18:37helping elevate people. And it's cool to see and I'm just appreciative it because
- 18:41I don't think we ever get this weekly, multiple months stretch of John Cena
- 18:49on WE Television ever again. Yeah, I mean, unless there's another Reard
- 18:53random strike. So Seena as a movie actor, would you say he's B
- 18:57list, Like, I don't mean I'm a but he's not an A list.
- 19:03He's not a IT B. Yeah, maybe I'm not a big movie
- 19:07guy. I know he was involved in the Barbie movie, which obviously was
- 19:10big over the summer. But I think that was at like a small role
- 19:15he actually asked to be in that supposedly. Yeah, I think there was
- 19:18like a weird thing like he just randomly was on set or so there's a
- 19:22weird story about that. I think you're right, But uh yeah, I
- 19:26guess B list. But his name is so recognizable. Like if I tell
- 19:30family members or friends of mine, like, name one professional wrestler from like
- 19:33the last twenty years, they may go Rock or stone Hold, but seen
- 19:37us on that list. If I tell anybody like do you know who Johnson
- 19:41is? They they immediately know. And that's like most Americans in this country.
- 19:45Yeah, I mean you think about like he's been the he's been the
- 19:48last two Fast in the Furious movies. He's in a Transformer movie. He's
- 19:52did that was it? Uh? Oh? Was it Friends Vacation or like
- 19:57like like super Core. But the Peacemakers Show is great. So but I
- 20:03I you know, he's not you know, getting twenty five million dollars a
- 20:07picture like The Rock or you know some of those A list guys. But
- 20:10yeah, I would definitely think he's probably like a B list actor. Like
- 20:12if we can't get The Rock, you called John Cena. What do you
- 20:15think of that statistic that they're obviously running with from SmackDown this past week that
- 20:19he has not won a singles match in five years? That's mind blowing,
- 20:23right, I yeah, because I did not realize that it had been that
- 20:27long. But how long was he? He had almost a year where he
- 20:32didn't compete? You lost that like you won that on or we lost it
- 20:36by like one day on your bold prediction one year, like he wrestled on
- 20:41New Year's Eve. I think it was that you said, He's yeah,
- 20:44yeah, yeah, yeah, that was uh, I think it was last
- 20:45year, didn't That was the tag match with Owens and him taking on?
- 20:49Was it Sammy and Roman? Yeah? Yeah, So yeah, that is
- 20:56crazy that he hasn't won a singles match in five years or so. Obviously,
- 21:00it's it's it's believable because he's been away for most of that time.
- 21:06But I mean, there was even that stat that we talked about during WrestleMania
- 21:08season that his match with Austin Theory was like his first real singles match in
- 21:15like seven or eight WrestleManias, because that match with Bray Wyatt was more of
- 21:19a cinematic match and then did the Undertake was the Undertaking? The Undertaker match
- 21:23was like unannounced because that's the one I was at. It was thirty four.
- 21:29Yeah, yeah, so that was right around the end of his last
- 21:33main singles run. So it is a crazy statistic, uh so, But
- 21:38I mean, hell, you gotta figure get one here. If he's gonna
- 21:41be around for I mean, the Writer's strike, we don't know as hand.
- 21:45He's got to get one. Well. I mean, that's the thing
- 21:47is, they're billing him as the greatest of all time right now, and
- 21:48I think in the history of this podcast, especially in the early you know,
- 21:52first half of SRTU, I mean we were still in John Cena being
- 21:56shoved down our throats in professional and the fact that he hasn't been involved in
- 22:03like a world title match in WrestleMania in a really long time. Christ I
- 22:07think that was twenty nine Wrestlemating twenty nine was like his last championship match at
- 22:14WrestleMania, which is mind blowing. And granted, yeah, we get it.
- 22:17He hasn't really been around all that much in the last five years,
- 22:19but his last singles win was in twenty eighteen. I mean, I don't
- 22:23think I would ever say those words when we first started doing this podcast many
- 22:27moons ago. Yeah, but you and I when we started this spot where
- 22:30when you and Eric and then me like started the podcast, we were also
- 22:34in like, I don't think we hate John Cena mode, but we were
- 22:38tired of John Cena. And then when he went away for a limit and
- 22:41came back and that US title run was actually kind of like got us back
- 22:47on the John Cena bandwagon. It was like an after wrestlming in thirty one
- 22:51when he started feuding with Russev. Yeah, run on SmackDown Live in twenty
- 22:56sixteen with A. J. Salles was really good. Yeah. I mean
- 23:00I still every down then say way, we're gonna do they meet up John
- 23:02Ceno. So I still use that line from you know, from Carl Anderston
- 23:06and Luke Gallows. Yeah. Like the last world title match I remember was
- 23:10what him and Roman at SummerSlam two years ago. Yeah, so that's probably
- 23:15the last. Well, No, he had world title matches against AJ and
- 23:18obviously had a run as a champion as well. Yeah. The WrestleMania stats
- 23:23like blows my mind because it was what was like a stretch of like nine
- 23:26out of nine WrestleManias he was involved in a world title match. I mean,
- 23:33robots streak is pretty close to that too, because I mean, really
- 23:37yeah, Roman's been the world topics for since thirty, since pretty much since
- 23:41thirty for the most part. Also the Undertaker match. Well they've learned a
- 23:44lot from from Sina though, because Roman is a heel now and obviously Roman
- 23:48is out of the championship for you know, over three plus years, and
- 23:52I mean this could be a topic for another day, but I'm not.
- 23:56I'm not tired of his title reign like I was turning John Cena title rain.
- 24:00Yeah, well it's the Superman versus the Joker type cinder, like,
- 24:03who do I do you like? You know, bad people that have redeeming
- 24:07qualities or good guys that don't show weakness. It's kind of hard, you
- 24:11know, or even Superman and Batman's to that degree. But you know,
- 24:15it goes back to one of the things that we are not allowed to talk
- 24:18about in this show, which was why didn't they turn John Cena hill at
- 24:22some point to extend his run like you've seen with Roman or even with Hogan
- 24:27days could have got a lot of mileage out of that too, so but
- 24:30yeah, it's just I mean I'm intrigued to see how how gracious he is
- 24:37through this and helping guys get over because once again, if you're the goat,
- 24:41you got to I mean we talked, We just talking about Sting.
- 24:42Sting hasn't lost in aw in three years, although you know limited run,
- 24:49John Cena really hasn't won a singles match in five years, so kind of
- 24:55got get a couple. You know, reminds me these younger kids that you
- 24:57know, scene it can still go and are you show if they have to?
- 25:00Yeah, yeah no, And it's crazy going back on seeing the hill
- 25:03turn stuff. I mean he confirmed that heading in WrestleMania twenty nine. They
- 25:07nearly executed that, Like a theme music was made and like merchandise was made
- 25:12to prepare a heel turn for John Cena and they never executed it. So
- 25:18I think ultimately we just appreciate what's going with John Cena and is if he's
- 25:22on SmackDown or Raw this week, you just appreciate if he's on Crown Jewel,
- 25:27Fast Laying Survivor series, what have you just NXT television, just appreciate
- 25:33what's going on because in a moment's notice scene. It could be gone again
- 25:37and be gone for a period of time where he just pops up heading into
- 25:40WrestleMania or Summer Slam season. So really cool to have John Cena back,
- 25:44and it's been it's been a lot of fun having him back on television regularly
- 25:48in world wrestling entertainment. One name that I did not think would ever end
- 25:52up one television that could end up being WWE bound in twenty twenty four is
- 26:00UK based wrestler Will Osprey. On the latest episode of The Rustling Observer Radio
- 26:06from Dave Meltzer, he spoke about the current IWGP United States Faway and Champions
- 26:11saying the following quote, I know some stuff. I mean, I know
- 26:14WWE's absolutely after him, and he's absolutely going to listen to WA I think
- 26:18at the end of the day, there's a lot of different things that could
- 26:21happen, but I think he's going now for the best offer possible. He's
- 26:25got a family, he wants his son to go to a good college.
- 26:26He wants to make money now, and not that he hasn't made money.
- 26:30He's made money with New Japan and on his indie shows, but obviously AWW
- 26:34are a step above money wise. Earlier this past month, Meltzer suggested that
- 26:38Ospbrey would not sign a full time deal with WE due to his reluctance to
- 26:41move away from the United Kingdom. However, it now appears that Osprey would
- 26:45be willing to discuss a possible permanent gig with the Stanford, Connecticut based promotion
- 26:51doctor Trey. Kind of surprising. Do you think Will Osprey could be w
- 26:55bound? Yeah? I really do. I mean, he's got his in
- 27:00the water with you know, a w He was just that balanced for glory,
- 27:04for impact, which I don't know if you saw that match with him
- 27:07and Mike Bailey, but that was a hell of a match. But I
- 27:11mean for a guy that was reluctant to leave the UK, all you gotta
- 27:15do is look over at Gunther and and see how well W's taking care of
- 27:18him. And that was a guy that did not want to leave the United
- 27:21Kingdom. He wants to it is in his area. And you know,
- 27:26hey, if we if we make you a great deal and we promote the
- 27:29hell you we feature on our shows, you can make a lot more money.
- 27:32And if I mean seriously, there's not a better place to work if
- 27:36you want to get a kid in college, than WWE because the places have
- 27:40a lot of connections. I mean, hell Seae mcmhon's sons on a football
- 27:42script called scholarship to Indiana University right now. I mean there's a lot of
- 27:48doors that can be opened by being affiliated with the McMahons in a lot of
- 27:52ways when it comes to that stuff. So I mean, I let your
- 27:55kids is a genius and wants to go to Oxford University. I mean,
- 27:57there's no reason to stay in the UK if you come over here and make
- 28:00you know, generational money, and a talent like Will Osprey could make generational
- 28:06money in WWE because the guys, you know, we talked. I talked
- 28:10about this, I think about four or five years. A guy I say,
- 28:11if he had to like thirty pounds muscle, the guy'd be a main
- 28:12event star. And now you see where he's at now and you're like,
- 28:15yeah, this guy could be a main event guy. Great talker, great
- 28:18worker, has a good look, cauldn't do everything he wants he done in
- 28:22a ring. That's the kind of guys that maybe he wants to jump on
- 28:25and maximize the talent stuff. And I'm sure they'll make an offer that he's
- 28:29going to have a hard time saying notes it. So Osprey is contracted to
- 28:32New Japan par Wrestler portally until February twenty twenty four, and then he is
- 28:37the latest name that will add himself into a list of some powerful potential free
- 28:42agents for twenty twenty four. Rumored reported names are MJF, the current AW
- 28:48World champion, obviously, Will Osprey, Seamus Becky Lynch, Drew McIntyre to
- 28:56name a few, could all be coming up with their contracts all next year.
- 29:00I just named five names, Doctor Trey. If you are running arrest
- 29:06in promotion tomorrow and these names are presented to you as somebody that you could
- 29:10sign, is the first big name some of those free agents who would be
- 29:14number one on your list right now? MJF because still wow, he can
- 29:18talk people and at least the best talker of the group. And for as
- 29:22much as people hate the promos and they hate Gaga and they hate the bad
- 29:27hat Lady Gaga, well I mean sometimes, I mean she was a meat
- 29:32dress in your vegetarian you're gonna hate her so but you know, it comes
- 29:37down to it, like the best storyline we've seen the last three years of
- 29:41the Bloodline. A lot of that stuff was the story and the promos,
- 29:45you know. I mean some of the matches were great, but a lot
- 29:47of times I can't remember the matches. I just remember the story leading into
- 29:48it. So MJFF and we've seen you know, the guy can wrestle.
- 29:55So if you can talk and you can wrestle and put the call, you
- 29:56know, could put on some you know, get some butts in the seats,
- 30:00you know they're gonna sign you up. So and plus he's the youngest
- 30:04of the group, so I could have him for a lot longer in his
- 30:07prime than I could have Drew a Shamus of Becky or will Ospbury. Well,
- 30:11Osprey's like thirty four now thirty five, so he's not the youngest guy
- 30:18the group. Maybe Drew and Seamus are right around forty. And Becky's probably
- 30:22not gonna go anywhere because of you know, her relationship with her husband.
- 30:25So I'd still bank on MGF because that you know, when he comes up
- 30:27fhrazy, he's only gonna be like twenty five, twenty six years old.
- 30:30You could him for a decade and he's still being a sprime I'm a big
- 30:33Will Osprey fan. I think he may be the best in the world right
- 30:38now, and I thought that he was aw bound no matter what next year
- 30:44hearing, especially the reports earlier this month that Osprey did not want to go
- 30:48to w W full time. I love the comparison that you made there with
- 30:51gun through Doctor Tree, because that was the big rumor as well, that
- 30:53Gunthor did not want to go to w W WII because he did not want
- 30:56to leave Germany, he didn't want to leave Europe, was fine working in
- 31:00nxc UK and then look at his career. Now, maybe that's a blueprint
- 31:03for somebody like Will Osprey, but it's very intriguing that it seemed like again
- 31:08a four gun conclusion that Osprey would be aw bound one maybe Impact Wrestling too,
- 31:17and then a far stretch would be WA. I think it speaks volumes
- 31:21at how W is doing right now and their reach as of late creatively and
- 31:27with their events. They just announced earlier today Bash in Berlin for August of
- 31:32next year, premium live event in Germany. He's just gonna be a premium
- 31:37live event in France. It appears obviously that Osprey is entertaining WA and that
- 31:42is appealing to him, and I can't blame him, because again, the
- 31:47roller coaster ride of AW is in a unappealing level right now. As a
- 31:52wrestling fan, I still watch it. They still have their bright spots,
- 31:55but it just seems like it's in a lull while w is putting out really
- 32:00good programming each and every week. So should w WE get will Ospra,
- 32:04I mean that to me would be the biggest, shocking, surprising signing that
- 32:08they've had since AJ Styles signed in twenty sixteen. Yeah. Uh, And
- 32:15not to mention, don't forget there's still NXT Europe is still supposed to be
- 32:19either coming back at the end of twenty twenty four or early twenty twenty five.
- 32:22So if you could see the process and go, hey, we can
- 32:24build this whole thing around will Osprey so that way he doesn't have to leave
- 32:29Europe starting out until he gets used to us kind of like you mentioned,
- 32:31like they do with Gunther, Why wouldn't you take that risk as well?
- 32:37Like you have a bona fide international star you could build a company around,
- 32:43and you could do that as well. So there's that, you know,
- 32:45little apple seed as well. Speaking of Impact Wrestling, will Osper performed there
- 32:52this past weekend a Bound for Glory twenty twenty three taking on Speedball Mike Bailey.
- 32:57I have not seen the match back at all yet, is Doctor Trey
- 33:00pointing out? A lot of people are raving on it at the end of
- 33:02Bound for Glory, which, Doctor Trey, You're always that Impact wrestling guy.
- 33:07I mean Bound for Glory is like their Wrestlmania, right, Yeah,
- 33:12yeah, pretty much. So. It was announced at the end of the
- 33:14pay per view that starting on January thirteenth, twenty twenty four, would be
- 33:19Hard to Kill pay per view, Impact Wrestling will be going back to its
- 33:22original total NonStop action TNA name. I love this move, Doctor Trey,
- 33:29But what say you? You are a bigger TNA Impact Wrestling fan than I
- 33:34am. I've not watched them in the last two three years. I was
- 33:37big on them pre and then Enduring and a little bit post Pandemic, so
- 33:44like twenty nineteen through twenty twenty one, I was watching them pretty regularly and
- 33:46enjoyed their programming each and every week. But you've been a longstanding fan of
- 33:52that product. What are your thoughts here as Impact shifts back to be in
- 33:57TNA Oh, I think it's a great move. I never liked the name
- 34:01Impact Wrestling, Like if you go back to when we first got show,
- 34:05I used to poke fun at TNA for having all their pay per views named
- 34:07after Steven sigall movies Hard to Kill, mountfor Glory, Like they just all
- 34:12saided like bad action movies. And I even thought I thought Impact Wrestling just
- 34:16kind of sounded like a bad name for a show, like Weird Condition as
- 34:21wrestling fans to go with like three letter names for wrestling companies. Uh So
- 34:27when TNA changed the Impact, I'm like, that's gonna throw people off.
- 34:31Plus, at that point, you already kind of built a brand. You
- 34:35didn't have to rename the company. I mean, I mean, ww did
- 34:37it. They changed a letter and people lost their freaking minds for like two
- 34:42years over it. So this is a great move. It kind of harkens
- 34:45back to those those early years. You get a little bit of the warm
- 34:50fuzzies. Plus it's just a fun thing to say. I mean, I
- 34:52hear TNA, I think of Eric Bischoff in three minute Warnings. So but
- 34:58TNA is just a fun name, is so I applaud the move. It
- 35:01makes it easier for fans to recognize and you know, like it kind of
- 35:07brings the company back full circle and from an install just standpoint right, like
- 35:12people are down with that. Yeah, I want to, Like I said,
- 35:15like you think of all the great wrestling companies, like the Ring of
- 35:17Honor is probably the exception because most people don't call it ROH. They always
- 35:22kind of went with the Ring of Honor. But you got AWWWWCWECW, TNA,
- 35:27NWA. It's always been for the most part, the successful companies have
- 35:30always been three letter monikers. I mean they're really outside that. There's some
- 35:35great regional territories from the you know, was it a AWA, you know,
- 35:40but you know, the Mid South, the World Class Championship Wrestling,
- 35:44those ones that are kind of more regionalized. But the big ones we're just
- 35:46kind of I mean, even your independent shows, like you know, most
- 35:50of them are still using GCW, Like you know, CZW, they still
- 35:54use that three letter moniker because it's just recognizable the wrestling things. Do you
- 36:00think TNA could be and for a big twenty twenty four I mean you are
- 36:02you regularly watching their programming? Obviously you checked out the match between Osprey and
- 36:07Bailey. I mean, yeah, not regularly. I mean I still have
- 36:10you know, Trey Miguel Zach Wentzer friends of mine. I still check out
- 36:14their stuff, Chris Bay and uh uh Aast Austin, Like I know those
- 36:19guys, So I still check out their stuff. Everybody does. I'm a
- 36:22huge Josh Alexander fan as well, Like I still check out their stuff their
- 36:27Their biggest issue is something that we've been saying for a long time. They
- 36:30don't have that. They've never been able to manufacture that breakout star that people
- 36:36go, hey, man, do you check out what so and so is
- 36:37doing or what they're saying or how they're you know, they just have never
- 36:40had that guy to really make them stand out. I mean if it wasn't
- 36:45for the you know, for a guy like Hulk Cogan WWFFA would have never
- 36:49launched the you need that breakout guy, whether you know Hogan Flair, you
- 36:53know, even in aw A with Nick Backwinkles and verne Ganiaz and Kurt Hennings,
- 36:59like, you always had that guy that could break out and stand out
- 37:01in it from a crowd. Just they've never had that guy. And whenever
- 37:06that guy got close, somebody would steal him. I mean, you look
- 37:08at just even recently, the hottest guy in wrestling right now is La Night
- 37:13and he was a world champion in Impact Wrestling. Is he liked Drake?
- 37:17You look at your NWA champions EC three Impact guy like these are kind of
- 37:23people that you could have built the company around and got noticed, but because
- 37:29of lack of resources, they lose out to other companies. There's a lot
- 37:34of rumors right now that seempunk. I guess there's reports out there that he
- 37:37was backstage willing to talk to people about for LORI taping Weekend. A Steel
- 37:42is reportedly working as a producer. There now any smoke, any fire,
- 37:46any belief that Sampunk could end up in TNA and help them have a big
- 37:51year in twenty twenty four. Uh, I don't believe it. I think
- 37:59it's leveraging. Yeah, like, hey, you know, if you guys
- 38:00don't want me in WB, I can always go to Impact. And you
- 38:04know, all of a sudden m plus, there'd be a big finger to
- 38:06Tony Kahan because you remember, like how you know how much you and I
- 38:08love the aw invasion angle of TNA or Impact, So it could be a
- 38:15middle finger if you went that route. But you're like we're talking about Coco.
- 38:20I don't see why if you're a company, you don't just sign the
- 38:22guy to a one year contract and just put in a crapload of stipulations to
- 38:27you know, like you know, like like I have an in you know,
- 38:30football contracts like a code of conduct. If you break these rules,
- 38:32we can release you. There's no recourse to recoup your money. I don't
- 38:37why would you not take that risk if you feel like you have a good
- 38:38infrastructure. So I mean, if they don't want to sign him, then
- 38:44if I'm Impact, I make him like a bit, I make him a
- 38:45really good one year offer. I pull my resources and see if we can
- 38:47pull it off. I mean, the guy's a draw. I mean,
- 38:51hell, he's such a draw that aj Lee is helping women? Was it?
- 38:55The Women of Wrestling show draw better ratings than Impact? She was,
- 39:00she was helping them. She's no longer there, but you know she was
- 39:05a name. It is you know, by associate with the mpunk. I
- 39:07mean, I don't know if if you asked the average person on the street
- 39:10that, like, hey, do you know who A J Lee is?
- 39:12The age person gonna say no. But the other person might have heard of
- 39:14seem Punk and the Guy. The guy can still draw numbers, and we
- 39:17saw that in a the guy can draw numbers better than anybody else in wrestling
- 39:22that's not named Roman Reigns. You know, for the most part, I
- 39:25think I think those are the top two names that are active in pro wrestling
- 39:29among casual fans, at least. If somebody downloaded this podcast today and they
- 39:36had been in a coma for ten years and the last time they remember anything
- 39:40in wrestling was in twenty thirteen, and they were a regular listener of srt
- 39:45and they thankfully came out of that acoma and they downloaded this episode for the
- 39:50very first time they've listened to SRTU, and in ten years from being in
- 39:53a coma, they would think nothing had changed. As we opened up with
- 39:58Sting, talked about John c and wrapped up with TNA Wrestling, what's old
- 40:04is new, What's new is old. It's time is a flat circle,
- 40:08as they say, And here we are in twenty twenty three talking about Sting,
- 40:13John Cena, and TNA Wrestling as regular major news items in professional wrestling.
- 40:20So sr TU, you never change, You never change, srt You
- 40:25with that said, let's get a couple of plugs and sponsor out of the
- 40:29way. You can only show every Thursday or Friday at realguid Radio dot com,
- 40:32russ A chat net on X and the so Realta Show iTunes feed don't
- 40:36forget to rate, review and subscribe to help us common charts on iTunes.
- 40:38You can follow us individually on X for myself at SRTU Jeff and for Doctor
- 40:44Trey Franklin at The Doctor Trey and of course don't for the fallow show on
- 40:46X at SRTU podcast. With that being said, what is going on in
- 40:50the one for world of Doctor Trey Franklin this week? Well, you can
- 40:53follow me on the elon musk platform known as X fully known as Twitter at
- 40:58the Doctor Trey. You can find me on face Book and Instagram, which
- 41:00thankfully have not changed their names back or gone forward or anything else like that.
- 41:05You can find me on there doctutory Franklin. When you're on Facebook,
- 41:07checkout Rocket Sat Championship Wrestling and also spart In Championship Wrestling on there. Check
- 41:12out to the best local independing wrestling shows in Alabama. So those importantly go
- 41:16out and check out your local independent wrestling show, because in thirty years,
- 41:20there might be a guy who's been in ww for twenty years that we're still
- 41:23talking about all those years later. So but then again, I would be
- 41:27seventy five in doing this show. Yeah, seventy five years old doing the
- 41:31podcast with Jeff talking about Roman Rains and John Cena still wrestling probably or something
- 41:36like that. Yep. Yeah, time is nothing but a flat circle.
- 41:38So thank you for downloading this week's edition of SRTU. We will be back
- 41:44next week on Thursday, November two, Wow, November already, folks,
- 41:49and we will be preview and predicting we Crown Jewel as we are heading into
- 41:53another premium live event pay per view bus saw that will be going on here
- 41:59with Crown Jewel with full gear. And then before I note Survivor Series,
- 42:02and then before I note, we will be wrapping up the year, so
- 42:06we're just a couple of weeks away from our annual Thanksgiving show. Well,
- 42:08then we announced the holiday programming schedule, which is wild to say out loud
- 42:13for those that are celebrating Halloween, taking their young ones out there, enjoy
- 42:16the Halloween holiday, enjoy your weekend. Spread the word about SRTU and until
- 42:22next week for doc Tray Franklin. I'm Jeff Pack. This is the still
- 42:25WRO with a show