Latest / Real. Guy. Pods. / WWE reverses course on Roman vs. Cody | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #731 – 2/15/24

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WWE reverses course on Roman vs. Cody | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #731 – 2/15/24 · Real. Guy. Pods.

0:00
It's still welcome, everybody. Welcome to this week's edit in a Sin A
0:20
Real Show, episode number seven or thirty one for February fifteenth, twenty twenty
0:25
four. Welcome to this week's edition of ass R Team You. I am
0:31
one after the show, I am Jeff textor joined every single week from my
0:35
car, so one only, Doctor Tray Franklin, Doctor Trey, are you
0:38
a Cody's crib where? Friend? I don't think I've been. I don't
0:43
think I've ever called somebody a cry baby since sometime in the eighties. Okay,
0:48
fair, not even your son, not even young Sammy Franklin like,
0:51
don't be cry baby. No, we don't tell him crime baby. But
0:54
I mean maybe if you're referencing the when the Sweet Life of Zach and Cody
0:58
got canceled, been a cry baby? Then fair, fair, very fair.
1:03
You and I were talking a little bit about it before the podcast,
1:07
But I know our listeners are are worried about you, Doctor Trey. Feelings
1:11
thoughts four days after the Super Bowl loss. Uh, I'm coping better than
1:18
I thought I would. Uh did you break a television? So? By
1:22
way, so you know, you and I discussed the entire season that like,
1:26
if if the Niners are on TV, I typically don't watch the game
1:30
because at like the Lions game, every time I watched the game, the
1:33
lines were scoring touchdowns. When I watched the Packer game, every time watched
1:36
the Packer game, the Packers were scoring. I actually watched the entire game,
1:41
so I sat through. I broke my superstition. But no, no,
1:46
you know, there was a little bit, a couple of moments of
1:48
anger and frustration, but I survived and I play. It's kind of like,
1:53
uh, I guess this is the feeling when teams played Joe Montana in
1:57
the eighties or Troyman in the nineties, or Tom Brady, where you just
2:00
go, pretty sure he's gonna come back and beat us, pretty sure it's
2:05
gonna happen. And sure enough, when the extra point got blocked, I'm
2:07
like, and that's where we lose the game, because I knew they tied
2:12
and I knew the overtime would happen. So but I'm okay, like I
2:15
told you off air as we record the show, the Niners fired the defensive
2:17
coordinator today, So that made me happy because the guy was not a good
2:22
fit. So and our quarterback looks like he could be on the Sweet Life
2:27
of Zack and Cody and fit in with that cast because he looks like he's
2:30
thirteen but a solid quarterback. See. I was wondering why the Niners lost.
2:36
I thought it may have been that third down stop by like Chris Jones
2:38
breaking up the play there that led to the field goal in overtime. But
2:43
knowing that you watched the game now tells me that's why the Niners lost exactly.
2:49
So your superstition fucked it up for everybody. Now. By the way,
2:52
my wife thought it was her because I think I told you the story,
2:54
like the when the Cubs won the World Series. I was in a
2:58
hotel in Atlanta and she called me during Game seven. The Cubs are winning
3:01
and I literally told her, I said, if they start losing, I
3:05
have bang up on you. And it was maybe ten minutes later the Indians
3:09
hit that home run to take the lead, and I hung up on them.
3:13
So every time I've watched when the Niners lost the Chief four years ago,
3:17
the Knighters were winning, she came in the house, sat down on
3:21
the bed next to me. She scored twenty one straight. And then this
3:24
year Nighters are winning she gets home from work that time's a game. Happy
3:30
Valentine's Day, honey. Yeah, so I was like, well, I
3:32
mean, at least like so for Valentine's Day, I don't know what you
3:35
got your wife, but I bought my wife some chocolates. I bought her
3:38
a stuffed animal, a pretty little mushroom decorated planting vase in a vacuum.
3:44
Because nothing says Valentine's Day married life like buying your wife a vacuum. Yeah.
3:49
Absolutely, that really gives you Browning points. So happy post Valentine's Day
3:53
at all? Who celebrated doctor Trey. We're thinking about you when it comes
3:59
off the Super Bowl loss. But I think it's easy to do. The
4:00
podcast a couple of days later still stings. But that is the life of
4:04
a sports fan. Like I tell everybody, like I'm my one of my
4:09
favorite things I enjoy in life is I watched something that like probably only maybe
4:18
four or five times in my life. I'm gonna be happy by the end
4:21
of it. Like imagine that. Like when you say that out loud,
4:24
it's like stupidity that we enjoy sports that much. Yeah, I mean as
4:30
a Cubs fan, I mean one World Series in one hundred and seven years.
4:38
I got spoiled by the Niners because growing up in the eighties they got
4:41
they got five yeah, between eighty one and ninety five, so we had
4:45
five and fourteen years. So I got spoiled there. But now we've lost
4:49
three in a row. That kind of sucks. But you know, and
4:53
then like I'm a little bit a Laker fan. Grew up Magic Johnson,
4:57
so you got that. I get that. So the Lakers are like for
5:00
me, like kind of what you are with the Yankees? I yep,
5:04
Yankee? Well Yankees are I do. I'm from New York, so,
5:10
uh doctor Trey not from Sunny La. But back then, like you didn't
5:14
have many teams. You didn't have a team that you grew up with,
5:15
right, No, like in Oklahoma, Like I was born Oklahoma, so
5:19
I was a kid when you right, you just waited for the thunder to
5:23
come. Yeah, which, ironically enough, I always had a weird thing
5:26
for the Sonics to Hey, I love Seattle super Sonics and they are featured
5:30
slightly in the movie Fletch. And there's another one too. I can't remember
5:34
which one it was, but uh no, But like I just kind of
5:38
bonded with whatever I saw on TV, which was I saw the Cubs on
5:41
WGN. Uh. It was always Lakers and Celtics and Magic Johnson was a
5:46
cooler name than Larry Bird, so bonded with the Lakers. And then Dad
5:49
grew up in Rino, which is the you know, basically the Bay Area's
5:54
step brother. So he was an Irish fan, so I became an Irish
5:56
fan. So that's just kind of And I was oddly enough Wayne Gretzky,
6:00
so my allegiance and hockey bound from the Oilers to the Kings to the Saint
6:03
Bluis Blues and the Rangers and the same Less Blues for like one season,
6:08
so yeah, that was like half a season he was there. Yeah,
6:11
so my hockey fano was all over the place. But my time in North
6:15
Carolina and the linkage to Connecticut is I'm a fan of the Carolina Hurricanes,
6:20
the former Hartford Whalers. Yeah that is true. And what about Duke Blue
6:24
Devils is that you two? No, So when it comes to Carolina,
6:29
like I'm a Carrol, I'm a UNC fan. I tried, Oh that's
6:31
right, and I did, but end up going to Carolina. Although I
6:35
was at the people I stayed with my freshman year high school were big Duke
6:41
Blue Devil fans, So when they won the national championship year that year that
6:44
was the Christian Lagner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill team. I actually got
6:48
to go to the welcome home reception for the Blue Devils and got to meet
6:53
Grant Hill when I was like, I think I was like thirteen, fourteen
6:56
years old, got to meet Grant Hill. Doctor Try also had a flat
6:58
top like Grant Hill at that time. Yeah, it was badass. So
7:01
a little bit of pulse checked thereon our one and only Doctor Trey, who
7:04
I was feeling for on Sunday, waited like a couple of days to actually
7:09
be like, hey, when do you want to record the podcast this week?
7:11
Because I know what that's like, like losing a major game and it
7:14
just absolutely sucks, and usually I'm probably pissed off for about twenty four to
7:18
forty eight hours afterwards. But Dutch Tray, we feel for you. And
7:24
I don't think that there's anything else I could say because it's like, oh,
7:26
well you get them next year like that. It's a bullshit phrase.
7:30
Let's be frank, like you never know like if your teams are gonna be
7:32
back there again. Yeah, And I did kind of the same thing I've
7:35
done with everything, Like I just kind of stayed away from like social media
7:40
and ESPN and all that stuff for like three days, Like today was really
7:45
outside of posting a picture showing the weight loss that I've undergone over the last
7:49
few years, but like just stayed away from all night like anything football sports
7:57
related for like three days to let all the pundits tell everybody how horrible the
8:01
Nighters played and what a horrible team they were, Like, let Auso die
8:05
down and pitchers and catchers reported to spring training today. So boom turns around.
8:11
Baseball is up and going. I'm back to be happy again. Yeah.
8:16
So, yep, it is baseball season. It's wrestle Mania season.
8:20
NFL season. We hardly knew thee we will miss. You can't wait for
8:24
September again. The longest offseason of all the sports absolutely sucks, but it
8:31
always always goes back around pretty quick. So there you go. Another NFL
8:35
season the books and we steam forward here to WrestleMania season. Doctor Trey,
8:41
we talked about on last week's show, what is WWW going to do at
8:46
that point in time, we felt like The Rock had taken over the spot
8:50
of Cody Rhodes in the WRESTLEMANI forty main event for the undisputed w Universal Championship.
8:56
They held the kickoff event the same night, the night of the podcast
9:00
dropping, we were figuring that there may be some changes for the resumating card,
9:05
and there is. There are some massive changes as Roman Reigns versus Cody
9:09
Roads is back on for resuming forty. But the biggest shock, one of
9:13
the things that we really didn't talk about is a scenario here the Rock is
9:18
a heel now Doctor Trey. So what did you think of everything that played
9:22
out that got us from what we thought was Cody Rhoads versus Roman two,
9:26
then to Roman versus Rock one, to we Want Cody to Cody versus Roman
9:31
two back on, and The Rock slapping Cody in the face in a very
9:35
entertaining one hour special on Peacock this past week. Yeah, I mean it
9:41
was an entertaining special. One of the things we talked about last week was
9:45
how do you fix it? And I said, somehow you have to make
9:48
this whole scenario feel personal to get people to care and really buy into it,
9:52
and they at least did that, They at least made it feel personally.
9:58
They brought the families up and then like when you saw the Rock in
10:01
Roman, like do the uh, the over the top double hands, you
10:07
have the handshake pose where you're both flexing and you shake the Rocky Apollo handshake.
10:13
I was like, well, this is weird because there's no animosity,
10:16
Like how do you build an angle out of this? And they did a
10:18
good job. They had Cody come out of the whole nine yards. It
10:22
made sense on that level. I still don't think they've really answered what the
10:26
hell Cody was doing in the ring a couple weeks ago when he brought the
10:30
Rock out like that still hasn't been clarified really to me at this point.
10:35
But I think the Rock doing the the Cody Krai baby thing is helping him
10:39
get over as a heel because he's basically pissing off those the quote unquote diehard
10:45
Mark fans or whatever you want to call him. So I think they've done
10:48
a decent job in this so far, and it'll be interesting how they build
10:52
this out, you know, going into Wrestling Mania season, because what do
10:58
you do with the Rock, right now if you have them kind of on
11:00
board for WrestleMania. Right now, the Rock is a heel. We quickly
11:03
forget how damn good he is when he gets on that mic working as a
11:07
heel. To me, Doctor Trey, I think the scenario that is playing
11:13
out in front of us is that this heel turn is going to be very
11:16
short lived. I just have this feeling that Rock prevents the bloodline getting involved
11:24
somehow at Wrestling Forty turns on Roman leads to a Cody title change, and
11:30
that's the first step of taking everything away from Roman reigns, which makes sense
11:33
from storyline standpoint. Cody takes the title and then that leads us to Roman
11:37
versus Rock, something that people at that point will probably want to see for
11:41
the Battle of the Head of the Table. That's my vibe right now.
11:45
That's the pivot I think WW is ultimately making here with this current storyline,
11:50
is that the end goal is still to get to Roman versus Rock at some
11:54
point. Yeah, but when like so my question to you then, like,
11:58
I mean, I think that scenario it'll play out. I just don't
12:01
know if it's a short term or a long term thing, because I can
12:05
see them doing Rock and Roman, you know, because you saw it a
12:09
little bit during that promo, like Rock kind of took over the stage from
12:13
Roman, and I can see that, you know, eventually being a clash
12:18
of egos there as well. But like, do you do that at Summer
12:22
Slam, because you're gonna do it on one of the two bigger events.
12:26
You're either gonna do it a Summer Slam or you can do at WrestleMania forty
12:28
one, Like when do you pull the trigger? And have they announced for
12:31
forty one that yet? Is it Minneapolis? They have not yet. They
12:33
have not announced where Summer Slam's at yet either. It's a really interesting question
12:39
and I think it all comes down to, obviously the Rock schedule. Yeah,
12:43
Rock is definitely wrestling in Philadelphia. I have some ideas about that.
12:48
We'll go through our wrestlmingting a forty card round up here later on the podcast,
12:52
but I think it's short term. It could happen by SummerSlam a Rock
13:00
Roman match, should there be some sort of turn that takes place, that's
13:03
the setup. It could be as far out as wrestling he forty one.
13:07
That is the Rock's goal for coming back, and I know we were talking
13:11
last week that he gets like a thirty million dollars payout or something like that,
13:16
which is definitely motivating by far motivating, But I think what really brought
13:20
him back to the table outside of joining the Board of Directors, was to
13:26
eventually get to this match. I mean, that is the match that we've
13:28
been talking about since Roman turned heel in August twenty twenty. It made a
13:31
lot of sense the minute that they started talking about head of the table,
13:35
tribal chief, head of the family. I put food on the plates of
13:39
my family members, I represent the Annawani family like that. Everything was pointing
13:43
to an eventual showdown to Roman versus the Rock. So if we never get
13:48
that, that'll be one of the most tragic matches that never took place in
13:54
wrestling history. So it ultimately gets there. But wwe the Rock, Roman,
14:00
Cody, whoever creative TKO They read the room and realize the fans don't
14:05
want to see this right now. The fans want to see Cody versus Roman.
14:09
Two, how do we pivot away from this? I hear you doctor
14:11
Trey about the Friday Night SmackDown segment where you know Cody bowed out and let
14:18
the Rock come back and acting as a baby phase and then less than a
14:22
week later he's acting as a full blown heel. It doesn't really make sense
14:26
if you truly look at Rock from day one, Raw Rock, when he
14:31
took over Cody Spot, at that SmackDown to Rock at the kickoff especial that
14:35
they did last Thursday. None of it drives together. None of it makes
14:39
sense. And the only thing that makes sense is that WWE did the right
14:43
thing by pivoting creatively and realize well, we can't go this direction. We
14:46
have to go this direction now. And that's the thing. I think those
14:50
two segments, Unfortunately, Doctor Trey, the day one and that SmackDown where
14:54
he took Cody Spot is going to be forgotten about ultimately in this story,
15:01
and the true storyline started at the kickoff event, which you know, Wwey's
15:07
put themselves in a very weird spot. This all could have been saved had
15:11
the Rock perform at the Rumble and won that match, but he didn't Cody
15:13
did. I mean, maybe this was the long term plan ultimately for a
15:18
revolt that they predicted and have this play out like it has. I just
15:24
get the vibe that that isn't the case based on the two previous times Rock
15:26
appeared on WE Television twenty twenty four versus the one time he appeared at the
15:31
kickoff special and what we expect will take place tomorrow night on SmackDown. Yeah,
15:35
you know, because you saw the Rock on Pat mcafe's show, and
15:39
one of the things he had said on there was like, you know,
15:41
let me the story builder, the long term builder, like take you all
15:46
on a trip, and so I could see them. This could kind of
15:48
reinvigorate the bloodline storyline in a sense where you know, Rock, you know,
15:54
Cody beats Roman, Rock, you know, is there to kind of
16:00
pump Roman back up to regain the title, but the entire time like Roman's
16:04
blaming Rock for his loss, and then that eventually leads to Roman solo and
16:11
Jimmy turning on the Rock and then the Rocks now at baby Face heading into
16:15
the Summer Slam Horror WrestleMania, and it played out. My only concerns about
16:19
this would be, then does that storyline then overshadow Cody winning the title,
16:26
because Cody winning the title should make him the top draw. But then if
16:30
you have that storyline playing out in the background, he's gonna be kind of
16:33
overshadowed during his initial you know, title run. So but it also reinvigorates
16:40
one of the storylines that you said that you and I said last week had
16:42
kind of fallen flat over the past year or past at least the past six
16:45
months, which is the stuff with the bloodline. If you can play this
16:49
out well enough, I mean, heck, that's what I say, Like,
16:52
we could really get you know, Roman and Solo against Sena and Rock
16:56
at some point that would be musty team because we had Solo did you destroy
17:02
excuse me, destroyed John Seena just a couple months ago, where we thought
17:04
seen it might be retired. But I mean that's a money match to draw
17:08
off of and then you know, play that all at to WrestleMania. So
17:11
there are ways to play with this, but you know, until we get
17:15
some more depth to the storyline, like right now, it just it's interesting,
17:19
but it's still like the wonkiness of how we got from day one to
17:25
hear is still fresh in our minds and we're just like, wait, so
17:30
we're mad that Cody's upset that you know, Roman made fun of his dad.
17:34
So Cody comes after your grandpa, but now the Rocks matic Cody for
17:37
says about the grandpa like it's like, but you know, you guys did
17:41
it for It's just a little bit like, you know, tedious to get
17:44
to where we want to get to right now. So to the point that
17:47
you said there about like taking away Cody's moment, I totally agree with you,
17:51
and I thought this one out. And the point I was trying to
17:53
make earlier is say you've got Rocks solo, We got Rock on the sidelines,
18:00
got Solo out there. Hayman obviously Roman versus Cody. Maybe Seth is
18:03
out there as well. I think the point where a referee goes down and
18:10
solosukoas tries to interfere, the Rock stops him. Rock doesn't have to hit
18:15
Roman with a rock bottom people's elbow, what have you. He takes out
18:18
Solo and prevents it and kind of does that thing of like all right,
18:21
go finish your story to Cody Rhodes and then allows Cody to hit you know,
18:26
a couple crossroads, three of them, you know, a little hat
18:29
tip to resume a thirty nine, and that's the one, two three,
18:32
and Rock bows out to let Cody have that moment. That's how I see
18:34
that play out. If they did something where like Roman hits excuse me,
18:38
Rock hits Roman with a rock bottom of People's elbow, then Cody covers him,
18:42
or Cody hits him with a crossroads. They don't want two to three
18:45
after the rock bottom of People's elbow, then yeah, that's going to be
18:48
a really shitty finish and should not be the way that takes place. I
18:52
would hope that if they are making a title change a resume any forty,
18:56
they go the direction of Rock preventing Solo from interfering while not interfering per se
19:02
in the actual match. No, and that I agree with. I mean,
19:06
but like my thing was, if this if something because for what I
19:11
Ozzie, don't think the Rocks can hear from your Cone's behalf at wresselm age
19:14
is because Rod just slap Cody's Unless they make peace between now and then,
19:18
it's gonna be kind of weird for Rock to now all of a sudden,
19:22
you go, Okay, I second thought, I'm not mad at you about
19:23
what you said about my grandpa, so I'm gonna help you. I can
19:26
see them doing it. I mean, he didn't say so to that point,
19:30
right, like everybody's pointing, so I don't interrupt you. So everybody's
19:33
pointing that point where they talk about Roman's grandfather and Rock's grandfather. If you
19:38
go back to that clip, Cody doesn't say that Roman and Rock he would
19:44
be they would be ashamed of them. He only says that to Roman Reigns.
19:47
He does not say that to the Rock at all. But the Rocks
19:49
the one who stepped up to defend Roman in that instance where like, if
19:53
you're talking about his grandfather, you're talking about my grandfather as well. So
19:57
that's where I would think storyline stamp and that's where Rock flipped, right.
20:02
So the things I didn't that I think when it comes to this storyline,
20:07
so that we have to like delete that Friday Night SmackDown appearance in Birmingham,
20:12
Alabama where he took over Cody Spot. I really think that that is like
20:19
the thing that all of us wrestling fans have to unfortunately delete because it's like,
20:23
Okay, this is where shit went wrong in the storyline, and you
20:26
got to look at everything forward because at that point there was nothing as the
20:30
way that the kickoff build up and he's going on and talking about their bloodline
20:37
and their family tree and that this is going to be the biggest WrestleMania match
20:41
of all time and maybe this is elaborated more on Friday SmackDown. So I
20:44
should, I guess, be cautiously optimistic on the direction. It's because I
20:48
think you bring up a good point, Doctor Trey, that that Friday and
20:49
even the day one, it's like none of it really makes sense at this
20:52
point. But maybe if they come out from a storyline standpoint and Rock says
20:56
that, like he tried to convince Cody to give him this match with Roman
21:02
to you know, celebrate their family and have a tribal chief battle head of
21:07
the table and showcase their blood as the Royal family and professional wrestlinge It's something
21:14
they've always wanted, Like they could totally do that with that direction. But
21:17
that is definitely the gap rate now in this storyline as to why Rock was
21:25
aiming for Roman, and then when he's on the stage with Roman, he's
21:29
kissing Roman's ass because the other thing to this too is Roman is being chased
21:33
down by Rock all in the month of January, you know, does the
21:37
crying emoji face and ignores the discussion of the Rock when it's brought up to
21:41
him shortly after day one. Why the hell would Roman pick Rock as his
21:47
opponent. Wouldn't he be dodging both of them, like he's a heel?
21:51
Like why are you picking it? So that is a major gap in the
21:53
story, Doctor Trey, that I hope, and I'm hopeful that the way
21:59
the creative been that they will address this. But I'm hopeful that they do
22:03
address this, at least the earliest being this Friday SmackDown, being that Roman
22:06
and Rock will both be there. Yeah, But what I meant by overshadowing
22:10
is, let's say Cody wins and it's a somewhat clean victory. Cody's now
22:15
you've even a world champion, But at some point you're still gonna want Roman
22:18
and Rock to come to blows. And to me, that's going to be
22:22
a bigger story than Cody defending against Carry and Cross, you know, or
22:29
Bobby Lashley or somebody else like it. Like that storyline of Roman and Rock
22:33
is going to overshadow the title run that Cody has, you know, coming
22:40
out of WrestleMania. So that's you think, So I think they can do
22:42
I think they could do it. Properly, I truly do. I just
22:47
wonder. I mean, if they're both kind of part time, which I
22:48
kind of expect Rock and Roman to still kind of have the same kind of
22:52
schedule Romans had, like they can. I'm hoping they can pull it off,
22:56
but I still think that Bloodlines will still be the focal point of s
23:00
backdown, especially if you're gonna have Roman and Rock, you know, leading
23:04
to an eventual match. It should be it. Really, I know people
23:08
don't want to hear that. Listen, like you can give Cody the flowers.
23:12
There's two major blockbuster things that could come out of this. Cody went
23:15
in the title, finishing the story, starting that run as maybe the next
23:18
iteration of John c in a Roman reigns Cody Rhodes as the face of w
23:22
WE. Then the second one is Rock versus Roman, because that is,
23:27
whether fans like to admit it or not, that is a blockbuster. I
23:30
mean, Rock transcends pop culture. Everybody knows who Dwayne the Rock Johnson is.
23:37
Literally everybody. This is a guy whose name is on the lips of
23:40
people in twenty twenty four to run for freaking president of the United States,
23:42
and it isn't like a joke. It's legitimate. I mean, he is
23:47
a pop culture icon. It was. It was a focal point of the
23:49
show, Young Rock, Yes, what's him running for president? For Grind
23:52
Out Loud, which also gave us the hints to this match. So the
23:56
other thing I was, what you know, Like I said, you could
24:00
do like at some point, you can do Roman and Solo against Scena and
24:03
in Rock, but hell, what if you know Roman? You know,
24:04
Roman's about reagae or coding, gets hit the crossroads, Rock jumps up on
24:10
the apron and ear fear and Sina pulls Rock off the apron. We're bringing
24:14
scene into this now. I'm saying, like you could make a lot of
24:17
stuff out of this. I would remove the Scena factor out of this because
24:21
I don't think he's I don't think he's going to be around. Yeah,
24:25
I mean, well, I mean if it's a one off type match type
24:27
situation, but I would take that. So to your point right about like
24:32
focusing on part timers, I would do Rock and Cody as a tag team
24:37
versus Roman and Solo. And maybe that's something they do with Saudi Arabia following
24:42
WrestleMania or where are they going backlash in France, I think is the one
24:47
right after that. So I think you do that there as well. I
24:49
think I think you do Roman, Roman and Rock against Seth and Cody at
24:53
that point. Well, I think there's a little bit well that that's we'll
24:59
get a wrestlem in forty car round up here in a little bit, uh,
25:03
doctor try Ultimately, did who we make the right decision with what we
25:07
saw took place about a week ago? I mean for the fans, yes,
25:10
For business, I'd say probably not, because, like like you just
25:14
said, and something I said earlier as well, Rock and Roman is still
25:17
the bigger money match than Rock and Cody because, like you said, everybody
25:22
knows who the Rock is, not everybody knows who Cody Rose is yet.
25:26
So do you think the majority of the fans didn't want to see Rock and
25:29
Roman or was that like a silent majority that was making I think the majority
25:33
of the diehard, like the everyday fan, the people who watch ros SmackDown
25:40
and every pl on Peacock they have, I think they wanted Rock in Cody
25:45
obviously be a Roman and Cody. But if you're trying to draw back in
25:48
some of those fans from I would say the attitude Air or anybody who's a
25:52
fan of the rock Rock and Roman is going to draw more of those people
25:57
in than Cody and Roman. I agree with you. I agree because the
26:02
Diamard fans are gonna watch WrestleMania, where whether it's Roman and Rock or Cody
26:04
in Roman, it doesn't matter. I think we were entering a very dangerous
26:10
zone if they did not do Cody versus Roman, Doctor Trey, I think
26:12
it would it would be very hard to turn that crowd back over because I
26:15
didn't want to see Cody versus Seth with all due respect, no, I
26:18
mean we've seen it three times in the last year and a half, two
26:21
years. Yeah, I didn't want to see that again. No, And
26:26
honestly, like, I think this is the right move for the long term
26:30
success of WWE. But if you're saying, like, what would draw more
26:33
people to Peacock, it would still be Rock and Roman. I think we
26:37
ultimately get there. There's a little bit more potential storyline behind this rather than
26:41
like, you know, we're cousins, tribal chief, head of the table
26:45
type stuff. So interesting times. I'm excited to see where things go on
26:48
Friday Smackden, you're gonna say something, Doctor Troy, I just remind me
26:52
the song of their Cousins, their identical cousins. I don't know, so
26:56
sorry, it just had flashback moments. That's that old TV show. I
27:00
remember the song. I don't even know what you're talking about. I gotta
27:03
be honest. I have to see where that is later on. Uh switching
27:07
gears to AW. We'll get back to w towards the end of the show.
27:10
Major update on Kozitska Okada's future. According to Fight Full select H,
27:15
Kazitska Okada is headed toward to AEW. He will be joining the AW roster
27:22
and has made his decision. Doctor Trey, I gotta be honest, I'm
27:26
not shocked nor surprised by this, but I am disappointed because this we've seen
27:33
Okada in AAW. The expectation is Okada would go to AAW. I wanted
27:37
to see something different, and I wanted to see Okada in WWE and wanted
27:41
to see how WWI adapted to Okada on their roster. And Uh, I
27:48
feel like this is I don't know, a decision, to be honest with
27:52
you, Yeah, I think it's the safe decision. For Ocada, like
27:56
he knows the environment, he knows the people who are there. I know
28:00
they get you know, I saw people saying, well, aw' is better
28:03
for you know, the New Japan wrestlers than WW is. Look how bad
28:08
they booked w's book people in the past, And I'm like, some O
28:12
there days, like when was the last time a guy on New Japan actually
28:15
want to match? Like you know, Suzuki Ishi, you know, anybody
28:21
else's come in the times they've had Tanahashi come in, Like nobody really from
28:26
New Japan has really won a match. So is it really a better place
28:30
for New Japan wrestlers to go. I know they like the style, they
28:34
like the environment, they like the people they work with, but is it
28:37
really any better for the success of your career working at AW than say,
28:41
at w W and taking a chance on that level? So I think the
28:45
Okata character would have actually done really well in WW. But I just think
28:52
that, you know, for financial reo for the he's gonna get paid well
28:59
either way he goes. AW shows are a little bit easier on wrestlers.
29:03
They don't have the house show loop and all those are things that WWE runs
29:07
as intensely as w E runs. So I think it's probably better Mane for
29:11
the long term career of Okada to go AW, but I think for character
29:17
and just brand awareness, WW would have been a better choice. I disagree
29:21
a little bit, but I don't know what you're coming from. In regards
29:22
to the Japanese wrestler, I would say, I know the triple h umbrella
29:26
right now, shitz ky Nakamura, Eo, sky Osca. I think it's
29:30
Kyrie saying blossomed right now in their creative direction. I agree. I'm just
29:34
saying, like the perception of what WS that has done up until recently,
29:40
but the perception of years past, like how bad you know Kenta or even
29:42
you know, people complain about Shin's case booking for a number of years,
29:45
anything under the Vince Rahim you know, was always labeled as bad for Japanese
29:51
wrestler. Triple Ah. He's done a much better job of elevating those those
29:55
stars than Vince ever did. Absolutely totally agree with that. It's I feel
30:03
like AW is like new Japan Pro Wrestling US, almost like it's New Japan
30:07
strong without being New Japan strong. It was a very safe bet for Okada
30:11
He's reportedly going to be making more money working less dates, which is obviously
30:15
appealing, not gonna be doing the house short tours, the major loops that
30:18
WWE does more wear and tear in your body. WWE was banking on him
30:23
wanting a WrestleMania moment, which Okada reportedly wants to have at some point in
30:27
his career. I don't necessarily know if that will ever happen now, because
30:30
it's still his prime and that window closes pretty sometimes pretty rapidly in professional wrestling.
30:37
It was a safe bet. We've seed Ocada performing in aw Ocada is
30:41
performing with guys that he tore up New Japan with from twenty sixteen to twenty
30:47
eighteen, and Omega the Bucks, Jay White, what have you so's.
30:52
It's becoming more and more New Japan pro wrestling in the United States, which
30:56
is exciting exciting for the die hard wrestling fans. I don't know how that
31:00
really transcends for wrestling fans who don't follow New Japan or may not know who
31:07
Kazitsko Kada is outside of maybe a couple clips that they see on YouTube or
31:11
on X what have you. But safe bet not shocked, not surprised expected
31:17
this to happen, but kind of disappointed, to be honest, because we've
31:22
seen a lot of new signings for AAW not really blossom and take off as
31:27
much as we'd like to think about Adam Copeland coming to AW, and I'm
31:33
a huge Adam Copeland fan and sometimes maybe even pretty recently, he's gotten lost
31:38
in the shuffle in AAW and it's been kind of a mediocre debut for him
31:45
in AW, which is kind of surprising in all honesty. So Ocott has
31:48
made a decision he is All Elite or we expect him to be All lead.
31:52
The company's not come out and said that in and confirm the reports,
31:56
but that appears to be the direction that he is going. We'll be signing
32:00
with All Elite Wrestling. So with that said, Doctor Trey. Can these
32:04
most recent major signings that are coming to All Elite Wrestling will Osprey reportedly,
32:10
Mercedes Monet, reportedly, Kazisko Kata. Can they help aw's momentum turnaround?
32:20
There has been a slow build of momentum in twenty twenty four for All Elite
32:24
Wrestling. Lately, Dynamite Collision have been solid shows, more solid shows as
32:30
of late. Overall, I still feel like AW is a couple steps behind
32:36
WWE. I don't think it's anywhere near the AAW run that they had from
32:39
twenty nineteen when they debuted twenty twenty one. I've talked about on the show
32:45
that there are times I feel like AW can almost be unwatchable and you can
32:49
just get caught up by following them on YouTube or on Twitter or read the
32:52
results. But can these upcoming signings You got to figure in this window,
32:59
It's very well possible. We're recording this Wednesday night that Ospray has debuted finally
33:04
in AW. Now that is new Japan Pro Wrestling commitments are wrapping up.
33:07
We expect from Mercedes Mona to debut a month from now. At the AW
33:09
big business have to figure Okada is on his way at some point as well,
33:14
So in the next four to six weeks Ospray Okada money could be major
33:19
signings added to the AW roster. Can they turn their company's momentum around.
33:23
I mean, I think they can help steer it in the right direction,
33:28
But once again, I don't know if Ospray and Okada moved the needle for
33:37
the casual average fans like India, because like the fans that don't follow New
33:40
Japan, that don't really know who those guys are. I don't know if
33:45
those two signings move the needle as much on the AW side as they would
33:50
maybe if they had gone to and I don't even know if they would move
33:52
the needle right away in WWE, but it would just be a better platform.
33:55
I think the biggest issue that AW has is that sometimes I feel like
34:00
the show is rudderless, Like I don't really know if they know which direction
34:05
they're going. I think the Mercedes Monet signing will help because she's probably a
34:08
little bit better known in the US than the other two. But once again,
34:14
they're going to have to re establish that brand of Mercedes mode to an
34:19
American audience who may not know who she is. They may hear to name
34:22
Mercedes Monami, like I got to google who that is and then find out
34:24
that it was the wrestler formally known as Sasha Banks. To really also increase
34:30
the viewership, because as much as we love AW and the signings they've done
34:35
and the people they brought in, the ratings really haven't moved all that much
34:38
over the last year, and one of the things in business is if you
34:43
don't grow, you die. So their roster's growing, but I don't know
34:49
really if anybody they've brought in recently has helped actually move the needle and attract
34:52
more viewership to their programs. Well, the ratings are down, attendance is
34:57
down. I think even after the it's been a Mercedes Bonet or the Big
35:01
Business Show in Boston. I think Meltzer reported that only five thousand tickets have
35:05
been sold for TD Garden, and that's an arena that holds like sixteen seventeen
35:08
thousand. I would assume I don't have the actual numbers in front of me,
35:12
but the attendance wills are very visible on television. You see the photos
35:15
on Twitter or x what have you like. We all talk about how red
35:21
hot professional wrestling is and I totally get it, but the ratings, viewership
35:24
and attends for all EIT wrestling is not correlating to it. I mean,
35:28
it's extremely noticeable, Doctor Trey, I don't know what it is like.
35:30
Twenty twenty three was an OK year for AW, but I don't know if
35:37
they've lost the goodwill that they once had. I don't know if Tony Kahn
35:39
has upsetted people. The direction of creative upseted people. I don't know,
35:44
see him punk the way he was fired upsetted people. It's noticeable. And
35:51
like I said, as a wrestling fan, I've noticed in the last since
35:54
the start of the year that AW has definitely been better. But you go
35:59
back to that show World's End, that was not a great pay per view
36:01
event that they aired. Dynamite and Collision have been nice. I saw someone
36:07
tweet out like Collision is like a nice warm jacket that you put on after
36:13
all the craziness in the world. And that's that's true, But it's nothing
36:15
where I sit there and I get really excited about like I used to with
36:19
Dynamite in the past. I don't know. I just feel like there is
36:24
no momentum for AW right now, and the momentum solely sits with the diehards
36:29
like you and I. How do you feel about AW programming lately? I
36:35
think for me, like so one of the things I used to always love
36:37
about WWE or and I'm just gonna and I'm relating this television in general,
36:44
like you, we saw the show I grew up watching Days of my lines.
36:45
I grew up watching soap operas with my grandma. I could miss a
36:52
month of programming, two months of programming, jump back in, and the
36:57
characters are still the same, kind of feels the same, like the rivalries
37:01
of change, but you kind of know who everybody is. I don't know
37:05
about you both aw like you know and now all of a sudden, Swerve
37:07
was about the hottest heel in the company, and now all of a sudden,
37:10
he's kind of going babyface, and now hey man, Page is going
37:14
heal and the bucks are kind of like it just feels like everybody kind of
37:19
wants to walk the middle line and there's no defined roles. There's also no
37:22
defined pecking order to AW. It kind of feels like everything's just kind of
37:28
jumbled and just it's just it feels very very random at times, like it's
37:34
if you miss a month, you're like, damn, wait, I thought
37:37
he was a bad guy. I thought he was a good guy. Wait
37:38
I thought these guys hated each other. Now the acclaimed in Bullet Club Gold
37:43
or Besties, all of a sudden, like it's just kind of all over
37:45
the place and very knee jerkish at times, which you need consistency in your
37:52
programming, and I just don't feel like they're very consistent. We don't there's
37:55
not well established roles. There's not well established like you know, you know,
38:00
if Randy Yorton's wrestling, he's going to be in the top of the
38:04
card somewhere. He's not wrestling, you know, the brand new guy they
38:07
just hired in that nobody knows the name of the guy. They typically don't
38:10
do that, like there's an established system in place here. I just think
38:15
with AW they try to do a lot of different things at once instead of
38:21
just going, hey, let's do this format and then adjust accordingly based on
38:25
the responses of the fans. I just think they're very knee jerks at times.
38:30
Yeah, they're creative, is not great overall, a lot of weird
38:34
stop start pushes. Momentum for certain wrestlers all of a sudden derails and then
38:37
you don't see them on television for a while. It's it's all very strange
38:42
or storylines. You don't really care about directions that move around. It's it's
38:47
unfortunate in all honesty, and it's been a very much of a roller coaster
38:52
ride following AW Creative since like late twenty twenty two to now, and it's
38:58
noticeable, and I think it's hurt them in a long right. I get
39:00
and probably people aren't gonna like this, but I just get TNA vibes,
39:06
Doctor Tryer. I truly do like the way that their creative direction has gone,
39:08
like twenty ten, DNA, this is the vibes that I get.
39:13
Yeah, like I said it, it just feels like like they're trying.
39:17
It's like when you're a boss and you try to be nice to everybody,
39:22
even though even if people are taking advantage of me, you just go,
39:23
oh, okay, well I'll let that slide. I'll let that slide.
39:27
It just it doesn't feel like they have a defined direction. And I don't
39:32
know if you're going to bring up on the show today, but I just
39:34
read article day where they just rehired QT Marshall back into a vice president role.
39:37
A guy who quit the company because he said he didn't like the direction.
39:42
They just hired him back. And I'm like, well, do we
39:45
have a direction? Do we know? That's why I said like it's a
39:47
rudderless ship. It just kind of feels like it just goes with the currents
39:52
and instead of going, no, this is what we're doing, this is
39:53
where we're going, this is how we get there. They don't have a
39:57
process in place like WWE does, which I think is what makes their creative
40:01
suffer because it just feels like there's too many cooks trying to mix the ingredients
40:07
and the dish comes out all like I don't really want to have a semin
40:12
role on top of a hamburger, and sometimes that's what it feels like they're
40:15
doing. To be fair to AAW, I will also say that the injuries
40:19
that they've had during major storylines has not been something that's been good for them.
40:22
Whether it be Kenny Omegan ganting tapeticulitis or Adam Cole and MJF both getting
40:28
hurt during their major storylines, they always seem to get hit with the injury
40:31
bug, which completely do rails any creative momentum, which is something that they
40:36
have obviously suffered with as well. So Osprey Ocatta Monet could be all in
40:42
AW by April first, will it help turn the momentum around for the company.
40:45
We shall see switching gears back to We Doctor Trey to wrap up this
40:52
week's edition in the podcast, are Weekly segment here when necessary. The resum
40:57
forty card roundup last week said confirm was EO Sky versus Bailey for the W
41:01
Women's Championship. Confirm now Roman Reigns defending the end speed a W Universal Championship
41:07
for Cody against Cody Rhodes, which we talked about at nauseum in the beginning
41:10
of the podcast. This week, some rumored expected matches, and I'll go
41:15
through this and then you just tell me, doctor Trey if you see it
41:17
happening or not. This is how I think the direction is going right now.
41:22
L A. Knight versus AJ Styles. Yeah, I think that's where
41:25
they're headed as well. Damien Priest and Finn Valor versus The Miss and Our
41:30
Truth I hope. So, I think that'd be really fun. I still
41:37
I don't know they're going to do a straight up one on one tag team
41:38
match, but if if the caveat is Damien Cash is in that night,
41:45
like because I can see them. I can see them putting the tag belts
41:47
on Miss and Truth and then letting Damien Cash in his briefcase that night.
41:52
Yeah, I could see that as well. We talked about this as well
41:55
on last week's podcast. Gunther and Brown breaker ice title. M Yeah,
42:01
I think that makes the most sense to me, especially if the idea is
42:06
Brawn's basically taking the Brock Wesner stuff, then it makes a ton of sense.
42:12
There's no reason really to like sit here and say whether or not these
42:15
matches are gonna happen, because they are. Ree Ripley will take on the
42:17
elimination Chamber winner in Perth Australia, Seth Freaking Ronins will take on the elimination
42:22
Chamber winner from Perth Australia as well, and then finally Doctor Trey. We
42:27
talked about this a little bit. Roman reigns in the Rock versus Cody Rhodes
42:30
and Seth Freaking Rollins. I could see it happening Night one, Night two
42:35
could be Roman versus Cody. Yeah, what if Roman somehow jumps in the
42:39
elimination or be Rock jumps in the elimination chamber match somehow. That'd be pretty
42:45
cool. And then you get Rock and you get Rock and Seth at WrestleMania
42:47
a Roman and Cody both on Night one, and then Night two or Night
42:52
one you get the tag match of Rock and Roman versus Seth and Cody the
42:54
night two, you get the singles matches. I think they're definitely doing something
42:58
based off of what we saw for the from the Kickoff Special and then when
43:00
you saw the trailer for WRESTLEMANI forty, I mean you got Cody and Seth
43:05
face to face with Rock and Roman. They got to be doing something with
43:07
those four guys. Yeah, And if you're not gonna do it in Australia,
43:10
where else are you gonna do it? Between now? In WrestleMania.
43:13
True? Well, I could see it at WrestleMania. Yeah, that's what
43:16
I'm saying, Like, you don't if you don't put those four guys in
43:20
the ring together at one time, unless you do it at WrestleMania, you're
43:23
not going you can't do Yeah. I mean they just announced I don't know
43:27
if you saw it or not, but Grayson Waller he'll be doing the Grayson
43:30
Waller Effect segment with Seth and Cody during Elimination Chamber on in Perth, Australia,
43:36
So that'll be taking place as well. I do think that will also
43:39
end up tring into a tag match of Cody and Seth versus Austin Theory and
43:44
Waller in Australia interesting. Interesting, Well, you think they have Seth Wressell.
43:50
I mean, if Cody does most of the work, I mean Seth
43:52
can still kind of move, But I mean, are they end up just
43:55
doing Cody and Waller in at the Liberty Chamber and Perth possibly? Possibly.
44:00
We will re predicting Elimination Chamber pl E on next week's stch To the podcast,
44:05
which will also be celebrating the fourteenth anniversary of the Still Rialto show.
44:09
So we're almost almost there to get our driver's license, So stay tuned,
44:15
Doctor Trey. Those are my rumor and expected matches. Anything that you're seeing
44:19
on we television right now play out that you could see taking place at WrestleMania.
44:22
I still think we're gonna get some kind of six man tag match with
44:27
the Final Testament. I guess that's their name, The Final Testament against.
44:31
I think they're gonna be called the Pride at one point, Bobby Lashley's three
44:35
Profits and then Da Da Da. There's one other one. I still don't
44:42
know what they're gonna do with Bianca and Jade. I'm torn on that one.
44:45
If they go head to head or if they somehow put them in a
44:47
tag madge against Oscar and Kyrie. I think you gotta go ahead to head.
44:53
I do, well, we're supposed to find out because Jade's rumored to
44:57
be part of Limission Chambers, so we got to are getting some character development
45:00
between now and WrestleMania if you want to be part of the show. Yeah,
45:05
no, totally agree. So there's been rumors that she would win the
45:08
Last Chance Battle Royal for the elimination Chamber match. She's not being advertised for
45:13
that match right now, but we shall see. I believe they are taping
45:16
two weeks of SmackDown this upcoming Friday, so we should have a better idea
45:21
as they head to Australia obviously next week. By the way, have they
45:23
said if Shati's injury is serious or not? Because she's supposed to be in
45:27
the qualifying match. Yeah, what did she take it on Tiffany Stratton?
45:31
I think yeah, and that might be like and I fully expected Stratton to
45:36
get into chamber, but it's like, oh, well, could you pull
45:37
Shatzi out, put Jaden Shazi spot Let j be Tiffany than Tiffany win the
45:43
Last Chance be pretty cool? That would be pretty cool. No, we
45:45
don't have any update there they're saying it's a serious knee injury, and you
45:49
just kind of fear for the worst there, whether it be acl Meniscus.
45:52
Got to figure that they're going to be running some sort of angle with Shatzi
45:54
on Friday SmackDown, because I mean, what do you the taping how that
46:00
all works out with everything from Friday SmackDown to write her off of TV,
46:05
which you gotta figure or maybe they have her wrestle and just like get beat
46:09
up behind the scenes and she, you know, says I'm gonna go out
46:13
there and wrestle, and then just takes one best or prettiest moon solid ever
46:19
and that's at one, two three, just to do it. Because then
46:21
you got to go carry over to Tuesdays an XT which was taped and I
46:25
guess go from there. So interesting stuff there. And in regards to the
46:29
Shatzi way, they're going to be handling this booking. But at least they
46:31
have a couple of days to figure that out. Doctor Try that's true.
46:35
And the bad thing is, I don't think she's really in a rival with
46:37
anybody on SmackDown anymore, because I know she was with Bail a little bit
46:42
with damage control and the Bailey things kind of sidetracked that. So maybe you
46:46
have EO takeout Shatzi, you know, backstage to prevent her from me in
46:52
that match, and then it still carries over to NXT. That way,
46:54
It's gonna be really interesting to see how they do. Like when you tape
46:59
stuff, but then you still have a life show in the middle and something
47:00
like this happens. I mean, it's very rare that it happens, but
47:04
these are things you run into when you start crossing people over from show to
47:07
show. These things can flare up. They certainly can. They certainly can.
47:10
So there you go. There's the Wrestle Many forty card roundup for this
47:14
week's edition of srt You. With that said, let's close up shop on
47:17
this week's edition of the podcast. We'll get a couple of plugs and sponsored
47:21
out of the way. You can down the show every Thursday or Friday at
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Real Guy Radio dot com, Wrestle Chattnet on x and this still wrote this
47:27
show iTunes feed, don't forget to rate, review and subscribe, tell us
47:30
call the charts on iTunes. You can follow us individually on x for myself
47:32
at SRTU Jeff or for Doctor Trey Franklin, d Doctor Trey and of course
47:37
stuff we get to follow show on x at SRTU podcast. With that being
47:40
said, what's going on the one for World of Doctor Trey Franklin this week?
47:45
Well, like Jeff said, you can follow me on the X Twitter
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Set Championship Wrestling and Spartan Championship Wrestling, the two shows I work closely with
47:59
here in Alabama of Rockess, He's got a big show coming up on the
48:01
seventeenth, and then I'll actually be debuting for a new show at Alabama believe
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called CCW Continental Classic Wrestling in the Birmingham area. So it's the first major
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show that's really run out of Birmingham area in quite a long time. So
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I'll be debuting for that show on the twenty fourth of February as well.
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So be sure to check out all those ones on Facebook. But more importantly,
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just go check out your local independent wrestling shows so you too can go
48:27
see what a run of a ship looks like sometimes flowing in the night but
48:30
you can find your often theories, You're Grayson Waller's your mjfs at those local
48:34
independent shows, because that's where these guys all come from, folks. That's
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the secret. So do you go support all the great things that support SRTU,
48:42
and thank you again for making us part of your week. Thank you
48:45
for downloading. We will be back next week Wrestling forty card updates, we'll
48:50
take a look at w Elimination Chamber preview predictions, we'll discuss and of course
48:54
celebrate fourteen years of the starrilta show. That'll be seven hundred and thirty two
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straight episodes of the Star Roller Show. Never missed a show in fourteen years,
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and we'd celebrate that all on next week's edition of SRTU. So until
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next week, thank you for downloading. For doctor Trey Franklin, I'm Jeff
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Pack. This is the Still Roath Show.