Latest / Real. Guy. Pods. / How is the "2nd coming" of CM Punk going so far? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #701 – 7/20/23

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How is the "2nd coming" of CM Punk going so far? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #701 – 7/20/23 · Real. Guy. Pods.

0:00
It's stupid up. Welcome everybody. Welcome to this week's edition This is No
0:20
Real DAW Show, Episode number seven hundred and one, July twenty, twenty
0:25
twenty three. Welcome to this week's edition of at d You. I am
0:33
one at the show. I am Jeff Jack going every single week to my
0:37
cost I want only doctor Trey Franklin, Doctor Trey. Are you a collider?
0:43
My friend? I don't even know what that is, like like the
0:48
the super collider they have in Denmark that I heard about Big Bang Theory where
0:52
they make Adam's explode? Like, what what is a collider? You didn't
0:56
hear cm punk refer to the fans of collision to be collider. Oh that
1:00
means I have to watch the show. Who It's on a Saturday, Jeff
1:07
may have kids. Is really hard to watch a wrestling show on a Saturday.
1:11
Whoa, whoa? Okay, we'll stay tuned here, folks, because
1:15
where about a month in on aw Collision And it's something I wanted to bring
1:21
up here on this week this show. Did not know that about doctor Trey.
1:25
We'll have to investigate that more here on this week's SRTU Doctor Trey.
1:30
First thing I want to talk about here is while we're also a month in
1:36
of AW Collision, we are also a month in of the second coming of
1:42
one C. M. Punk in All Elite Wrestling. Being that you I
1:49
guess aren't watching Collision, but I know you've tuned in a little bit to
1:53
Forbidden Door. I'm sure you're up to stuff on social media and the YouTube
2:00
out there in regards to Punk's current second coming here, what are your thoughts
2:04
so far if you have any in regards to see him Punk back in AW.
2:08
I mean it's it's anytime see him Punks in a wrestling ring and in
2:13
a wrestling business is good, Like he always is a magnet for publicity of
2:20
any kind. My only critique is, I mean, what has he done?
2:28
Like he's had some matches, he got screwed over by Ricky Starks,
2:31
but like outside of that, like we haven't had the we haven't had a
2:36
feud really kickoff. We really haven't seen him. You know, everybody's everybody
2:39
today is sitting here waiting for him to start something with the Elite and it's
2:43
not happening. And you know that they had the great six man tag with
2:46
Bullet Club Goal. But outside of that, not a lot going on wrestling
2:52
wise, and he's actually been kind of under the radars. He hasn't really
2:55
caused any waves. So maybe he's just being a modeling boy right now,
3:00
and I'm critiquing him for not being or for being a model employee instead of
3:04
being the jerk that we all know him love. So let's let's mark this
3:08
here, because very few occasions on SRTU do we disagree, and it could
3:14
just be the way that you're using the language here, So I'll have to
3:15
dig a deep into this, Doctor Trey. But I think from a wrestling
3:22
standpoint, Shimpunk has done a lot. I think he's had three He's had
3:25
four matches since he's been back, in AW six Man Tag on aw Collision,
3:35
the debut, the match with Kojima at Forbidden Door, the match with
3:40
Samoa Joe at Collision, and then the match with Ricky Starks on Collisions.
3:44
So from a wrestling standpoint, pure in ring wrestling standpoint, I think it's
3:50
been great to see C. Himpunk back. I think overall, he looks
3:53
rejuvenated, he looks refreshed, and this run of first couple of C.
3:59
Himpunk match matches in aw during the Second Coming are a lot better than the
4:03
first run of the first Dance in aw as he was really knocking off the
4:09
rush after seven eight years away from the company. I think maybe where we
4:14
will agree is the creative standpoint. There is really no true direction for Punk
4:21
right now, but we may be starting to come out of that cloud of
4:26
smoke because of what happened in the Owenhart Foundation tournament finals when Ricky Starks cheated
4:31
the babyface. Ricky Starks cheated to defeat Sampunk and win the tournament. So
4:36
I think we're a wrestling standpoint, I think we are seeing a whole lot
4:41
with Sampunk and again, I feel like he is rejuvenated. From the creative
4:46
standpoint, I'm with you, it's it's kind of been a slow burn as
4:48
to what direction we will see Sampunk goes. So I don't know if we're
4:53
in agreement on my interpretation of Punk Second Coming so far. Yeah, yeah,
4:58
because it's kind of my thing is like they're like, that's what I'm
5:00
saying, Like when when he's in wrestling, it's great, Like he's a
5:03
fantastic wrestler, and even those first few matches he had when he came back
5:09
up in seventy eight year hiatus. They weren't bad matches. They would maybe
5:13
have been bad by his standards that he set. But this this run that
5:16
he's on now, the match has been great. It's just like you know,
5:19
like you were saying, and maybe I poorly would, there's just no
5:23
creative direction right now. And we have you know, him coming back.
5:28
We were like, oh, they can do this, and they can do
5:29
this, and they can do this, and we're hitting Punk and Ricky starts.
5:33
Maybe like great for Ricky, but is that what's going to get people
5:40
to the TV, Like that's what that was, is that was gonna get
5:43
me to cancel my Saturday plans and sit down and watch Collision and be a
5:46
collider. Um, I don't know if that's the thing that moved the needle
5:50
for me, Like I'm kind of waiting for a bigger fish to fall into
5:55
see him punk Slap more so than just Ricky starts. So and that was
5:59
also my critique of the first run, like matches with Hobbs and things like
6:01
that, whereas like like you have a money making draw and we're putting them
6:05
in the ring with mid card guys at best you know, so it is
6:11
kind of a questionable creative choices they're making for CMPUNK right now. Well,
6:16
I mean it could be, right. The big thing here is, from
6:19
the behind the scene standpoint, we aren't having a lot of drama hitting the
6:24
dirt sheets right now, which is a good thing. That's what we want
6:27
to hear with AW. We don't want the drama, even though you give
6:30
us a lot more fodder to talk about here on SRTU. But that's when
6:32
we go from being SRTU to being like srt Unza, which we don't want
6:40
to be on a weekly basis. And I think from the wrestling standpoint,
6:45
right, I mean, and well, the creative stuff, excuse me,
6:47
is it's possible doctor Trey with this kind of weird roster splits of Dynamite and
6:54
collision, that there's some top names that don't want to work with him still.
7:00
And we are recording this before Blood and Guts on AW Dynamite this week,
7:03
so it's very well possible. Maybe something happens, so forgive us.
7:06
But if there isn't, we're to keep chugging along because I believe Sean rash
7:12
Sapp from Fightful had a report out there that Punk pitched himself as the fifth
7:15
man for the Blackpool Combat Club to take on the Golden Elite. So there
7:20
seems if that is to all be true, and Sean rash Sapp is a
7:25
phenomenal reporter, so I would believe it to be true. There's a lot
7:30
out there that makes me think that Punk is willing to make some money off
7:35
of this perceived feud between real life heat between he and the Elite, makes
7:41
some money while on the other side they are not interested in that, which
7:45
I think is bad business. So he may be limited right now creatively doctor
7:50
Trey and the people that want to work with him. And and I'm not
7:54
against somebody like Ricky Stark's getting that shine in that rub because it's only got
7:59
to elevate his game him when he's in the ring with a guy like Sampunk
8:03
Noll and that sense, That's what I was saying, Like, good for
8:05
Ricky Starks. But you know, when you have arguably one of the top
8:11
five I don't want to say pro wrestlers, but one of the top five
8:16
personalities in professional wrestling, you're just kind of limiting him a little bit,
8:22
like he should be the reason people are tuning in every single week to collision
8:26
because that's how you positioned it with this perceived roster split. And you know
8:33
it's maybe if they had just gone in with a straight few with him and
8:37
Jay White, I'd be more on board or somebody else like that, that
8:41
maybe he's a little higher on the food chain than Ricky Starks. But you
8:45
know, it's great for Ricky Starks, but you know, he just had
8:48
a few with Chris Jericho not too long ago, Like, do we really
8:50
need this? Does he really need another rub if he's not getting over by
8:56
getting these rubs me and I understand what you mean and that sense of does
9:01
he need that rub from CM punk to help out his career? I think
9:07
he does because I do feel like he fell off a little bit coming out
9:11
of that Jericho feud. That's one thing that I there's not many things that
9:16
you could critique Chris Jericho on and it isn't his fault necessarily, but like
9:22
when guys, these young guys are coming out of feuds with him, nothing
9:26
is really followed up on, which is going to be very ironic later on
9:31
the show, and we talk about aw creative because I have some positives to
9:33
talk about in regard to them, but you could say the same thing about
9:35
Eddie Kingston, Orange Cassidy and now Ricky Starks as well. Like, really,
9:41
the only guy that came out of that the feud with Jericho that was
9:46
a young guy that came out really well was like MJF. So I don't
9:50
know, I think that's more AW Creative's fault than anything. But there's a
9:54
lot of folks on that small collision roster right now that I think could really
9:58
benefit from feuding with Sampunk. I would have lost the bet that Ricky Starks
10:05
would be the first person to begin feuding with Sampunk potentially in AW. But
10:11
I'm here for it. I'm interested in seeing it. It's similar to when
10:15
he first returned to the company and he had that match at all out with
10:18
Darby Allen in twenty twenty one with his first match back. That's the guy
10:22
that they chose for that, and you know that worked out pretty decent and
10:28
Darby has always benefited from that early on in his AW career. So,
10:33
I mean, all in all, outside of everything that we're talking about here,
10:37
I just want to go back to the point that it does feel like
10:39
to me, Doctor Trey that Punk is happy to be back. He's happy
10:45
to be back in aw specifically, he's having fun and he just seems rejuvenated,
10:50
Like it's just it's coming off the screen that he is motivated and rejuvenated
10:54
to kind of prove everybody wrong in the narrative that was spun about him since
11:01
the brawl out of September twenty twenty two and I'm here for We've talked positively
11:07
about Sampunk plenty times on the show. We've talked negatively about Sampunk, especially
11:11
over the last couple of months, several times on this show. It's better
11:16
for professional wrestling fans when you're talking positively about Sampunk and when he's rejuvenated,
11:22
when he's motivated, we are the only ones that benefit from it. And
11:24
I think, to me, that's the biggest takeaway of this current second coming
11:28
of Sampunk right now, is that you could just tell on the screen he
11:31
wants to be there and he's having some fun, which is great for us.
11:35
I mean, do we think that him just being around the elite during
11:41
that first run made him so jaded by the end that he just because he
11:45
did look miserable towards the end of that first run, like, is it
11:48
all the faults of the elite or was it something else? Because right now,
11:52
you're right, he looks rejuvenate, he looks happy. He's with people
11:56
that he you know, trusts. You know, he's being the model employee
12:01
right now, Like see him. Punk might be aw employee of the month.
12:05
I mean, he might get he might get up from parking space next
12:07
to Tony Khn's car when he rolls into Jacksonville. But it was it just
12:11
being around Kenny and the bucks and Hangman Page that just kind of made him
12:16
that miserable towards the end or was there something else that we don't know about.
12:20
I think it has a lot to do with the drama behind the scenes.
12:24
I think in some of the stuff that you've read from Punk since he's
12:28
returned that it probably wasn't handled correctly behind the scenes like it should have been,
12:33
and that falls on Tony Kahn and upper management a W two not address
12:37
those situations. The Hangman Page promo leading into their match at Double or Nothing
12:43
that basically tongue and cheek talked about workers' rights and then the perceived a notion
12:48
that Punk had called Cabana demoted. You know, removed whatever, So it
12:56
just feels like that it probably probably wasn't handled in the separation between the two
13:03
groups, the two personalities wherever you sit when it comes to that is what's
13:07
best for there behind the scenes business, which doesn't correlate to what's best for
13:13
the onscreen business. Because if you did a punk elite feud coming out of
13:18
blood and Guts and head an into all in and all out, you're going
13:22
to have like ninety thousand people in Wembley Stadium and want to see that.
13:26
And I think they're up to over seventy seventy five thousand sold right now.
13:31
You could hit ninety if you're hitting that match, And maybe that's a plan
13:35
all along, But it just seems like overall this current punk run four weeks
13:39
in has been good, and I hope it says that way, and I
13:43
hope at some point we get the benefit of the feuds that we do want
13:48
to see between CM Punk and folks that belong under the banner of the elite.
13:54
Keeping with AW, this is gonna be pretty predominantly AW focus here on
13:58
this week condition of the pod, because we really haven't had a chance to
14:01
talk about them all that much. Lately. I wanted to ask on the
14:05
show, and you kind of tipped your your hand here, doctor Trey.
14:09
I wanted to ask, what did we think of aw E Collision so far?
14:11
Our listeners are asking us what we think so far? We're a month
14:15
in. I feel like four weeks in was going to be a good spot.
14:18
And we kick off this podcast and you're saying, you're not really watching
14:22
the show, So why is that? Have you tuned into parts of the
14:26
show. What have you seen in the show? Have you seen nothing at
14:30
all? Where are you standing on an aw Collision right now? So I
14:33
turned, I tuned into the first episode, watched part of the second one,
14:39
and that I've missed three and four and a lot of it was just
14:43
like the hype abo about punk being back. That was great, want to
14:46
see that. And then it just kind of, I don't want to say
14:50
it felt like a better rampage, but it just kind of it's it's a
14:56
good wrestling show. But I mean, once again, when you have a
15:01
wife and you have kids, like I love pro wresting, but I didn't
15:03
watch every single Saturday night six oh five on TBS when even when I was
15:07
grown up, because I had other stuff going on Saturdays. It's kind of
15:09
a bad time slot for the show. But you know, especially for folks
15:15
like me that you know, I'm I'm in the independent wrestling business. Guess
15:18
when shows are usually on Saturday. So it is kind of just a time
15:22
constraint thing for me. And then once I get past Saturday and into Sunday,
15:28
it's like, Okay, I can try and watch a Sunday or do
15:31
stuff with the family Monday, I got Raw, Tuesday, gut NXT Wednesday
15:35
up dynam Where do I squeeze this episode of Collision back into the mix.
15:39
So I'm just a little bit hamstrung for time right now to kind of fit
15:45
it back into my routine. You know, I totally get that, as
15:48
I said on the show, like it's something that we weren't looking forward to.
15:52
Two hours again another show on especially on a Saturday night. I am
15:56
catching probably the first hour while I'm watching the first hour on DBR by the
16:02
time I get home on a Saturday night, and then watching it throughout the
16:04
day on Sunday, typically Sunday evenings when there's really not a lot on.
16:08
And that's definitely going to change in the fall. Once there's football back.
16:14
But I will say what I have watched a couple of things that are standing
16:18
out to me is it's a different field than Dynamite, which is a good
16:22
thing. I think one of my biggest drawbacks on we between Rown SmackDown is
16:27
there's no real difference it feels like between the two other than the rosters.
16:33
It does feel like they've had set Roster Punk, FTR, Bult Club,
16:37
Gold, Ricky Stark's Powerhouse, Hobbs, Samoa, Joe Scorpio, sky Mero,
16:45
the House of Black. It seems like that there is a general focus
16:48
of stars that they are focusing on on Saturday night, and then outside of
16:55
that, the matches like this most recent edition of Collision was really really good.
17:00
The FTR, Bullet Club, Gold Stuff Doctor Try the two out of
17:03
three falls match, very very high pay per view quality. The match prior
17:08
to that, then eliminator match which which made them the first number one contenders
17:15
before that a week earlier was another very high quality pay per view match.
17:22
Like some of those matches that we've seen on Collision so far between FTR and
17:25
Bullet Club, Goal j White and Juice Robinson are matches that will be discussed
17:30
come the end of the year by a lot of wrestling fans as Match of
17:33
the Year candidates. I'm enjoying the show a lot. I gotta say a
17:38
month in, just a month in I'm enjoying Collision more than I am Dynamite
17:45
and really high props to AW four for making this show worthwhile to tune into,
17:52
whether it is live or for most of us probably DVR or on a
17:57
delay. I've been really enjoined aw colligion so far, so I would highly
18:02
recommend it, Doctor Trey when you can to DVR this show and check it
18:06
out because it's been phenomenal. So I amen, Look, you're the one
18:08
that got me into NXTUK, so I will take your word for it.
18:14
I will jump back into watching it. I know mister Liam Kelly reached out
18:18
to me about it and I didn't have a good answer for him. There's
18:22
my answer. I just haven't been watching enough. But I will squeeze it
18:26
back into my routine. I do have mondays where I'm off, so maybe
18:30
I just sit down with Sammy. Frankly, we watched some of the Collision.
18:33
We become colliders ourselves. Yeah, FTR Bull Club Gold stuff amazing like
18:37
I did not think J White Juice Robinson would be two guys I would typically
18:41
think of as as tag team stars. But it's like I like J White
18:45
obviously as a single star. I like Juice Robinson, but give me more
18:49
of those two guys wrestling as a tag team because it's been really, really
18:53
good. So highly recommend AW Collision and dare I said, if you had
18:57
to vote an AW show off the Island, I would obviously vote off Rampage,
19:03
which has improved, and then probably Dynamite, but I would put Collision
19:07
at least a month in. I would rank Collision one, Dynamite two,
19:11
Rampage three for AW related programming. So highly recommend again one of my biggest
19:17
takeaways different field than Dynamite, which which is a good thing. We don't
19:21
get that a lot in wrestling when when companies have two premier shows during the
19:26
week, as we see on WWE each and every week. And then lastly,
19:30
here while we discuss AW doctor Trey, I have a tip of the
19:33
cap. We are known to point out creative when it's really bad. We
19:41
are not praised when we Uh, Sirie wants to talk right now. I
19:45
guess Sirie thought I was talking to her. We are not praised when we
19:52
do acknowledge creative on social media. We are told that we are haters of
19:57
AW at times that we don't support the company. All this stuff. Well,
20:02
when it's bad, we pointed out, and when it's good, I'm
20:04
gonna point it out too, which I'm gonna point out here on this week's
20:08
This Show. I have felt like lately doctor Trey would love to know your
20:12
thoughts, but my tip of the cap here is to AW creative, because
20:17
I feel like it has been really really good lately. Yeah, I mean,
20:22
I can't knock him, by the way, anybody who calls us a
20:26
hater in twenty twenty three, I can't think their opinion seriously for using the
20:30
word hater still and not reputing Jamie Hayter. But like overall, like you
20:34
look to the stuff like the Jericho don Kalus stuff like that's been entered,
20:40
that's that's been good. The stuff with Hangman Page in the Dark Order in
20:42
the Bucks like that's been good. Um, you know, the stuff with
20:48
Callus and Obega has been good, like and then you over Collision FTR Bullet
20:52
Club Goal has been good. Like there's just there's a bunch of good stuff
20:56
going on. Some of the acclaimed in House of Blacks, you know,
20:59
been interesting, So Jungle Boy Turning Heel. You know. Like, the
21:03
creative has been pretty solid over the last you know, four to six weeks,
21:07
So I can't knock aw for anything other than not finding something for CM
21:11
punk. Tell the m J Adam colt has been really good well, you
21:15
know, but outside out funding for CM punk to do, it's been pretty
21:19
solid all across the board. Well, perfect segue here. So I have
21:22
a couple of things that I want to bring up that I feel like I've
21:26
been great for a w creative so far. Let's start with the one that
21:29
you just mentioned, mjf Adam Cole storyline. It started with them hating each
21:33
other, having that great match on Dynamite, they did the blind Eliminator tournament,
21:37
which I'll talk about here momentarily as well, and then they have this
21:41
budding friendship. One of the things it's it's like the easiest thing in the
21:45
world to at least do to me as a wrestling fan. I don't know
21:48
how you feel about this, Doctor Trey, but if if you want to
21:53
make me happy as a wrestling fan, you develop a stable. That's always
21:57
simple. And then the second one is you put two personalities together in a
22:02
tag team and it makes always phenomenal odd couple pairing entertainment. We've seen it
22:07
obviously with teamhell Now in the past, and we're kind of seeing it right
22:11
now. Not to the team Heell no level with MJFF and Adam Cole,
22:15
but this storyline has been very, very good with mj and Adam Cole.
22:19
I do have one drawback, but I just want to say on the onset
22:22
here very positively. The MJF Adam Cole storyline has been very entertaining and fun
22:27
to watch each week on aw Television. Yeah, and it's also allowed them
22:32
to kind of get Britt Baker away from Adam Cole, which was fine with
22:36
the Jericho stuff, but you know, let Britt be the focal point of
22:40
your wizard vision. So no, it's it's been very entertaining. And the
22:42
weird thing is to me is like it's not even really an odd pairing because
22:47
when they're heels, they're very similar, Like they're both cocky air and heels,
22:51
So it's just that one's a baby face that one's a heel, right
22:53
now, So it is kind of a weird pairing. And you know,
22:57
you know, outside of Adam called being a gamer, if you had said,
23:02
you know what, these two get along, I would think yeah,
23:04
because their personalities are actually pretty similar overall. So but it's been really really
23:11
fun and entertaining to watch. Like the the episode where m JF had was
23:15
playing video games like that, I was cracking up. So h yeah,
23:18
like you said, like, it's been really really good. So here's my
23:22
drawback. This is reminiscent of MJF about ten months ago when he returned at
23:30
all out from his you know, time away after double or Nothing, and
23:40
they started after the whole punk stuff, elite stuff happened, they had to
23:42
go in a different direction with the firm with m JF, and they started
23:47
teasing m JF the baby face and he was getting over. He was saying
23:52
devil worshipers, he's high five in the crowd, he's working the crowd.
23:56
He's being a goofy like corny baby face. And then they did the switch
24:00
where they kept him as a heel and the way back to that swarmy,
24:03
chicken shit heel that people fell in love with after he won the aw World
24:08
championship from John Moxley at full Gear last year. They're doing that again now
24:15
where he's like this corny, nerdy babyface and he wasn't. He's not that
24:22
like cool, cocky chicken shit heel that he typically plays, and we're going
24:27
down that path right now. And to me, despite everything that's going on
24:32
and how well things have been going, the vibe that I'm having is that
24:36
this still leads to MJF versus Adam Cole at all in or all out whenever
24:41
they decided to do it during that week with the two big shows going on,
24:45
and then MJF gets back to being that chicken shit heel, that would
24:49
be my drawback right now. I don't think the long term implications here are
24:53
that MJF and Adam Cole become best friends and they run together and they turn
24:59
MGF BA be facing. I could be completely wrong. I just feel like
25:02
that there's this very similar rinse wash repeat booking that they do with MJF that's
25:08
kind of making him stale, and that is one of my main concerns with
25:12
this current storyline right now. Yeah, and that's kind of the path I
25:18
saw them going down too, So it's like I'm kind of taking the MJF
25:22
Adam Cole stuff just kind of week to week and not worrying about the long
25:27
term right now and just kind of enjoying it for what it is, because,
25:30
yeah, if they go to the route that we all expect them too,
25:33
yeah, it's gonna be a little bit like like you said, the
25:34
wash Rinse repeat. The flip side is you could do a double turn and
25:41
make Cole the heel at MJF the baby face, and at least that would
25:45
get people like us like going, oh my god, they pulled this off,
25:47
because don't forget, he's got Roderick Strong and he's got Kyle O'Reilly as
25:51
well. You could turn them heel and then MJF goes baby face and then
25:56
you got a brand new top star baby face to sell merchandise and can get
26:00
people to follow. And that's what I want to see. I want to
26:03
see outside the box. I don't want to see the path that I think
26:06
is going to be happening. I want it to be unpredictable and not predictable.
26:10
And that's always been my biggest beef when it comes to creative in general.
26:14
Other great aw creative. Lately, the Jericho, Don Callis JS future
26:18
storyline has been a lot of fun. Jack Perry and Hook storyline has been
26:22
very good. Jungle Boy was getting very stale. He's been great as a
26:26
heel lately. I've really enjoyed the Blind Eliminator tournament because it's you know,
26:32
odd pairing's odd couples that are taken it on and it gives a showcase of
26:36
the tag team division. Both Owen Heart tournaments have been really great. Very
26:40
happy for Willow Nightingale, Very happy for Ricky Starks even though it looks like
26:45
it's going to be heel turn. That was really good. But then Darby
26:48
Allen Stort of Strickland Nick Wayne's storyline it appears to be going in a really
26:52
fun direction as well. So those are some things Doctor Trey in AW right
26:56
now. From a creative standpoint, I know I went through a big list.
27:00
I don't know if there's anything that you think it may be missing or
27:02
some things that you want to add to the list of creative that has been
27:06
that I just highlighted. But you know, we talked really bad about the
27:10
last twelve to eighteen months of AW creative after the creative was really good since
27:15
the debut until after All Out two twenty one. But right now, I
27:21
feel like the AW creative has been some of the best it's been in a
27:23
long time. And of those were some of the things that I wanted to
27:26
give a tip of the cap two here specifically when it comes to AW creative
27:30
lately. Yeah, and even Blackpool Combat and the Elite has been really good
27:34
at it. You know, you tie in the Dark Order stuff with that
27:37
and Page you know, the return of Poc, the return well the debut
27:41
of Coda Abushe. You know, we're recording this show, but you know,
27:47
before Blood and Guts, we don't even know how that play is out
27:48
yet. But you know, that's great. You know, like you mentioned
27:52
earlier, FTR Bullet Color Goal, like that's been really good. Orange Cassidys
27:56
run of Title Defenses have been really good, and so yeah, there's really
28:00
not a whole lot to knock on AW creative right now. So they've just
28:04
been doing a fantastic job. Yeah, Lucasaurus and Christian with the TNT Championship
28:10
has been really good. Um, the QTV, which, out of everything
28:14
they do creatively in AW, I find to be the most corny. But
28:17
there's stuff with um the acclaimed has been very fun. Um. I loved
28:23
the what is is it Hailey Quinn? I believe so yeah, I can't.
28:29
I know she dates Zion Quinn in real life. I don't know if
28:32
that's if that's so real, I forget now if that's the name. But
28:33
her stuff with Anthony Bowens, like that thing where it was like I know
28:38
you want me and will make a great couple and Anthony Bones being like,
28:42
um, I'm gay was a really really fun moment in Wrestlings and also very
28:49
historic by the way. Um, but there's it's tough to find anything really
28:56
bad with AW Creative right now, Doctor Trey. It's it's been, and
29:00
it's been great. We've heard a lot about the additions that they've made to
29:03
Creative, whether it be Brian Danielson, whether it be guys like I believe
29:07
Chris hero Is in the fold. We're hearing that seem Punk Decks, Hardwood
29:11
are helping out with Creative when it comes to collision, this could be the
29:18
renaissance that we've wanted to see from AW for some time, Doctor Trey.
29:22
With the way the creatives going presently funny, this was our hope all along
29:26
that with this much talent, I mean, you can do storylines across the
29:30
board and hook everybody because you know, some people are just diehard Darby Allen
29:36
fans, some people are Seeing Punk fans, some are Kenny Obga fans.
29:40
You know, some are Mirro fans. I mean, it's across the board,
29:42
like everybody's got their favorite. So if you can do you know,
29:47
actually we've a story. You can do it throughout the entire car where it's
29:51
the bottom of the car with you know, the you know, the QT
29:55
Marshals of the world, all the way up through the mid card into the
29:57
main event area. You know, like I said, my only knock was
30:02
the fact that, you know him, they didn't have a plan for what
30:03
to do with CM Punk other than help him get other people over by,
30:08
you know, doing the rubber or whatever. But outside of that, like
30:11
it just feels like everybody's involved in something right now, which is a really
30:15
good thing when your entire roster feels like they're invested in their in their programs.
30:19
So what's the one thing that's making you watch aw programming? What's the
30:23
one storyline, creative thing that you're watching that you enjoy each and every week
30:27
right now, they f JF Adam Cole stuff like they're they're just really really
30:33
entertaining personalities on top of being good wrestlers. So um, it's and really
30:37
it's it's just been it's been mostly Adam Cole since he came back, you
30:41
know, the stuff with Jericho. The stuff now with MJF just is fun
30:45
and refreshing. And you know, I forgot. I mean, Adam Cole
30:48
basically was a heel his entire running MXC. It's just okay, cool,
30:52
this is a little bit different side of Adam Cole that we haven't seen in
30:56
recent memory. Yeah, no, it's it's probably my favorite as well.
31:00
One of my favorite subtle moments still from this entire thing was when Tony Hivanni
31:04
announced that they were doing the Blind Liminator tournament and they were going to be
31:10
paired together, and MJF said, you want me to wrestle each week?
31:12
What are you kind of some sort of sick pervert? Very subtle. I
31:18
love that line and it was hilarious. But I agree with you. I
31:21
think the MJF Adam Cole stuff has been great. I've enjoyed Elite Blackpool Combat
31:26
Club and the Jericho Don Calli stuff has me really intrigued as well. So
31:30
everything's been great, it really has. So I hope this is the beginning,
31:33
Doctor Trey, and not something that a month from now we look back
31:37
and go, hey, remember when you and I sat down and talked about
31:38
how good a Tow Creative was, And now it's not that all just crashes
31:44
after all it and all out. That's that's the expectation. Yes, yeah,
31:48
I mean I guess if there's room for improvement. As always, it's
31:52
the women's division stuff. Yeah, I like the outcasts, but you know,
32:00
less we're going to see Willow start to get into that women's title picture.
32:04
I mean, what have they done with the TBS championship lately as well
32:07
with Christa Langler And then you also have Atheno with the Ring of Honor with
32:12
his championship, and it's like she's almost forgotten about in Ring of Honor.
32:16
You know, It's like and she was. I mean, she's brutal right
32:20
now, Like I want to see her more on AWTV than some of the
32:23
people they've been showcasing. But you know, beggars can't be choosers, and
32:27
they're trying to like Wind all this stuff up and then we're still waiting the
32:30
return of Jade Cargill here at some point as well and see what they do
32:32
with her. Yeah, there's been some reports either that she's not due back
32:36
in wrestling at all for some time and that maybe she's going after Hollywood,
32:40
but it could also be a swerve as well Doctor Trey as we know,
32:44
so maybe she's just taking some time off after her first real two year run
32:49
in professional wrestling. So a lot of great stuff with AW creative lately,
32:54
lots of positivity going around All EAT Wrestling right now as they head into the
32:58
biggest show they've ever done with ALL in Wembley Stadium in London. You know
33:02
that's about six weeks away. And when you have good creative right now heading
33:07
into the biggest show you've ever done, that's a good thing. So AW
33:13
has been a lot of fun to watch over the last month they've been.
33:16
It's been building in this direction in some time over the last couple months,
33:21
and I'm happy to see them turning it around and getting back to doing what
33:25
they do best, which is good creative, great in ring work, and
33:30
a lot of fun and entertainment on television. Each and every week. So
33:32
to everybody who thinks that we don't like aw listen back to the last thirty
33:37
three minutes of this show, and I don't know, go after yourself.
33:42
So that is the more you know here on this week's edition of SRTU.
33:47
Speaking of good creative as well, Doctor Trey, the bloodline storyline that's been
33:54
going on for the last three years have been some of the best professional wrestling
33:58
storylines creative that we've seen ever. On July seventh edition of SmackDown from Madison
34:04
Square Garden in New York City, the first thirty five minutes of the show
34:10
was about the tribal court that took place, and there was obviously some controversy
34:17
about that segment because it ran thirty five minutes for two hours show, which
34:22
then led to a lot of things being either cut or their segments being cut
34:28
down, and you could tell that vibe throughout the rest of the show for
34:31
the most part. But all in all, I don't know if you watched
34:37
the full segment, Doctor Trey. I did. I watched it live.
34:39
I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a great segment. It also
34:43
made a little bit of history, which we'll touch upon here in just a
34:45
second, but it is over ten to eleven, twelve days removed from taking
34:50
place. What was your thought on that tribal court segment that ran pretty long
34:53
on SmackDown back on seventh Yeah, I didn't even realize it ran that long.
34:58
That's because I was just I was just in tune with it, like
35:01
I was kind of I was watching with bated breadth, just wait to see
35:07
what was going to happen. So I thought it was a fantastic segment.
35:09
And then in retrospect I see how long it ran. I'm like, yeah,
35:14
they probably could have shaved a few minutes here and there. But when
35:16
something's good and your audience has invested, you just run with it. And
35:21
you know, of all the storylines that have come through ww RED in the
35:23
last few years, this has been the most enthralling storyline they've had. So,
35:28
you know, you don't just sacrifice something like that for the sake of
35:31
a women's match or you know, a mid card match. He's to go,
35:35
Okay, we just had to adjust in them fly here guys, because
35:37
the main event guys just showed why their main event guys. Yeah, yeah,
35:43
I mean it was a great segment. Historical segment, and according to
35:47
the Wrestling Observer newsletter, it appears that that segment and that edition of SmackDown,
35:53
it appears to be the first time a pro wrestling show has ever been
35:58
the top English language show of the week on all television. So Wrestling Observer
36:02
newsletter is reporting that in the key demo of adults age eighteen to forty nine,
36:07
SmackDown average a zero point six rating and nine hundred and eighty six thousand
36:12
viewers. Show peaked in the second quarter hour the back half of Tribal courts
36:16
by averaging three million, seventy thousand viewers overall and one million, two hundred
36:22
and twenty three thousand viewers in eighteen to forty nine for a zero point nine
36:27
for rating, described as the quote largest number for a SmackDown quarter in several
36:31
years. For the initiated, the ratings are there to be the metric by
36:37
which ad rates are set, so since younger viewers are believed to have more
36:39
buying power and less brand loyalty, the eighteen to forty nine demographic has become
36:44
the main one tracked by the TV industry. We've talked about that here many
36:46
times, especially with aw SO according to Wrestling Observer newsletters. As we're rating
36:52
from also wrestling in dot Com. The only other time a wrestling show could
36:58
have conceivably ranked across all television for a given week was during the initial pro
37:04
wrestling TV boom in the early nineteen fifties, where there was at least one
37:08
season where one of the network wrestling shows came in tenth place. Wrestling shows
37:14
have topped the cable ratings pretty much as long as the cable ratings have been
37:16
a thing, and regional wrestling shows have been the top show on their local
37:20
march markets, most Family in Memphis, Tennessee. But even the high water
37:25
marked for viewership of a wrestling show, the February nineteen eighty eight Main Event
37:30
special airing Primetime with a Hull, Cooke and versus Andre the Giant main Event,
37:34
averaging thirty three million viewers, place that week thirty second for the week
37:40
in television, So according to reports, this was the number one ranked thing
37:46
for English speaking television across all platforms. Doctor Trey the Tribal Court edition of
37:54
SmackDown on July seventh. That is some history, my friend. That is
38:00
that's insane, especially when you think, yeah, you mentioned the stuff with
38:02
Hogan and Andrea on Saturdaynight's main event. Also, like you know, the
38:07
nitro after Hogan was revealed as the third man. You know, it was
38:10
a huge was a huge ratings thing, the stuff, and then just all
38:15
that stuff during the Monday night Wars. I mean, those ratings numbers were
38:17
super high on both sides, and none of those shows, you know,
38:22
match even Tyson Austin didn't match this, So like that's that's pretty staggering.
38:29
But it also shows the change in how people view television nowadays as well,
38:32
that there is no real big networks that everybody have to watch like back in
38:37
the days of just NBCCBS, ABC and thoughts. That's not the way it
38:43
works now because hell, like I have Hulu Live and I very seldom watch
38:45
anything on Life TV. I'm usually streaming something from somewhere because there's nothing on
38:52
TV that really appeals to me right now. And when you go back to
38:55
that segment, Doctor Trey, We'll have to give it a little bit of
39:00
time. There's a lot of historical segments that have taken place on wrestling television.
39:06
Row SmackDown, A, w Impact, Wrestling, Superstars, w f
39:12
Mania, what have you over the years and some that stick out to me
39:16
as always, this is your life, Rock. But I mean, you
39:20
go back to that segment of the Tribal Court for the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns,
39:25
that had a lot of twist and turns, a lot of different elements,
39:30
and even though it ran thirty to thirty five minutes, like you said,
39:32
Doctor Trey, it did not disappoint at all. It was a phenomenal,
39:43
phenomenal segment. It was, it was great. I don't know if
39:47
we look back at it as the most historical or reminiscent segment of our times.
39:52
I think Steve Austin and Mike Tyson when Steve Auston interrupted Mike Tyson and
39:57
they pushed and had to be separated as a very um memorable segment. The
40:02
beer Truck is a memorable segment. I remember Steve Austin losing the Old Stone
40:07
cold and this is when they were fighting with them the Alliance heading into the
40:15
invasion pay per view, and he came back and stunned everybody. That was
40:17
a great segment to save WWF. But I mean, I don't know,
40:22
I don't know where there's ranks historically right now. I think it's still too
40:25
early to tell, but from some of the modern era stuff, this is
40:30
there's some of the best stuff we've seen on WE television. Yeah, no,
40:34
without a doubt. I mean, you have three years of story I
40:37
mean, this is reminiscent of whether you do with like The Horseman and Dusty
40:40
or The Horsemen and Sting, where it'd be you know, years of storytelling
40:45
and they move people in and out of it seamlessly and transition it. But
40:51
it was always basically the same kind of core. And this is where right
40:54
now with the Bloodline stuff, where yeah, you're able you're able to run
40:59
Samy's through their tie in, Kevin Owens, you know, bring Solo in,
41:02
you know, tie some other stuff. So it's just been seamless the
41:07
way they've been able to manage this over over the past three years. Yeah,
41:10
it's been phenomenal stuff. Some of the best creative and I think overall,
41:14
Doctor tre I mean, when we look back at everything going on,
41:17
whether it b W or AW, the fact that creative has been so good
41:22
for the two prominent organizations wrestling promotions in the United States is great. I
41:29
mean it's I don't know if they're saying there's a wrestling boom right now,
41:34
but it feels like as a long time wrestling fan, creatively this is this
41:37
has been a really fun time to watch as a wrestling fan. It's been
41:42
a very fun time to cover as a wrestling podcaster. Oh yeah, and
41:46
even even NXT with you know the guys coming in with Baron Corbyn showing up,
41:52
Dominic Mysterio is going to be on NXT Challenge for the North American Heavyweight
41:55
Championship. Seeing some of those guys show up and highlight those people there like
42:00
that. Creative been really good as well. Yeah, everything's been great,
42:04
It really has been, and it's it's very nitpicky right now when you go
42:07
when you say, well, you know, I don't know about this,
42:09
like with the MGF a Adam Cole storyline or what they're doing with CM punk
42:13
right now. It's kind of nitpicky because everything has been so good and we're
42:16
so used to it. But the way things are going right now, I
42:20
mean, it's just been been great. And when you look back at everything
42:22
that we've talked about here on the show, overall, creative is popping right
42:28
now and I hope it stays that way. We're heading in the SummerSlam head
42:30
and all in, head in and all out. We wanted to continue with
42:32
some of the biggest shows of the summer rate around the corner. So with
42:37
that set, let's get a couple of plugs and sponsors out of the way.
42:40
You could download show every Thursday or Friday at real Guy rated dot com,
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Russell Chattanett on Twitter and the Stowrealty Show iTunes feed to rate your view
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and subscribe to help us call the charts on iTunes. You can follow us
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individually on Twitter for myself at SRTU Jeff and for Doctor Trey Franklin at d
42:55
Doctor Trey. And of course don't you to follow show on Twitter at SRTU
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Podcasts. With that being said, what's going on in the wondful world of
43:01
Doctor tre Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you can follow
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and Spartan Pro on Facebook. So you go support all the support, support
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all the great things that support SRT you each and every week, and thank
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comes to podcasting each and every week. Two weeks from now, we'll be
43:44
getting you ready for SummerSlam, and then three weeks will be recap and reviewing
43:47
SummerSlam, and then we get ready for aw all in and all out towards
43:52
the end of August. It'll be here before you know it. The summer
43:54
months for professional wrestling is staying red hot. There is no downtime and professional
43:59
wrestling, and thank you for making us part of your wrestling coverage each and
44:02
every week. So until next week. For doctor Trey Franklin, I'm Jeff
44:07
Pack. Thank you for tuning in. This is the story shot better didn't didn't