Latest / Singlets & Suplexes: A Pro Wrestling Podcast / 14 - That "DAMN!" Squared Circle Cola Warehouse Management Episode, BRO!

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14 - That "DAMN!" Squared Circle Cola Warehouse Management Episode, BRO! · Singlets & Suplexes: A Pro Wrestling Podcast

• 0:01
  Hello, welcome to Singlet and Suplexes, a pro wrestling
• 0:06
  podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Pete.
• 0:09
  Evening. I'm Luke.
• 0:12
  And we are here to talk about the past week in professional
• 0:14
  wrestling before diving into sports entertainment nostalgia.
• 0:18
  But before we dive into that, Luke, Are you ready to do some
• 0:21
  housekeeping? I am, yes.
• 0:23
  Yeah, I've got some for you. So you've got some for me.
• 0:25
  Let's get it done. Yes, we've got plenty of stuff
• 0:28
  we're going to, we're going to be cleaning lots today, lots of
• 0:30
  clean, keeping it clean, but we'll dive straight in.
• 0:33
  So the best way to get involved in housekeeping, which is our
• 0:37
  unofficial first segment of the podcast is to comment.
• 0:41
  If you listen on Spotify, you can comment on the episode.
• 0:44
  So if you comment on this episode, you'll comment a
• 0:46
  question that you leave we can talk about in next week's
• 0:49
  housekeeping. And we'll also do polls on there
• 0:51
  as well. And we have got a poll to talk
• 0:52
  about as well. So you can take part in the
• 0:54
  poll, you can leave a comment or a thought or a question.
• 0:57
  And the other way to take part is also through Instagram.
• 1:01
  You can follow us on Instagram at SAS Wrestling Pod and on
• 1:06
  there you can leave us comments. We also put a story up where you
• 1:10
  can leave your questions inside of there.
• 1:12
  We've got a few in there a day, but we're going to go straight
• 1:15
  into the Spotify side of things. And we did do a poll Rook on
• 1:19
  last week's episode, and it was do you want Cody versus Punk?
• 1:24
  And the options were yes, no, now and at next year's
• 1:28
  WrestleMania. So there's four choices.
• 1:30
  And the vote was split. So 50% of voters said yes, they
• 1:34
  just want Cody versus Punk. So that doesn't necessarily mean
• 1:38
  they want it now or they want it later.
• 1:39
  That just means they want it. And the other 50% of the vote
• 1:42
  want us to wait until next year's WrestleMania.
• 1:46
  What's your thoughts on those poor results, Luke?
• 1:48
  I agree with the people who say wait till next year's
• 1:51
  WrestleMania. I feel like when they both come
• 1:53
  out together on Raw last week, I felt a bit alike Rock Cena
• 1:58
  vibes. Although the Rock Cena vibe
• 1:59
  match was announced a year in advance.
• 2:01
  I feel that was kind of like a little bit of a nod, like it's
• 2:04
  coming, but it's a bit of a long way off yet.
• 2:06
  So yeah, I think I think it's definitely kind of for both of
• 2:09
  them really like if you look at who's around, like I think
• 2:13
  that's like one of the last big matches, like marquee matches
• 2:16
  those two have got against each other.
• 2:18
  I think anything else he's starting to look at kind of
• 2:20
  newer guys coming through. So like, you know, buffet me
• 2:22
  someone like that. So I think yeah, Punk Cody is
• 2:25
  one of those last kind of marquee matches of that current
• 2:28
  generation because Triple H even said that there didn't he quite
• 2:31
  over the rest of, you know, weekend that like you feel that
• 2:33
  they haven't got anyone to properly replace the likes of
• 2:35
  Cody, Randy Punk yet. So yeah, I think that's kind of
• 2:39
  a last, last ride for both of them.
• 2:42
  Maybe he's kind of in that huge main event picture at
• 2:45
  WrestleMania. It certainly is, and I like the
• 2:48
  way they did sort of the promo, both of them in the ring.
• 2:52
  You know, it was cheeky, it hinted at it, but it also wasn't
• 2:56
  like why we're going to like shoehorn it in.
• 2:58
  It will happen when it happens, but come along for the ride
• 3:01
  basically, which is what I enjoyed about it.
• 3:03
  And yes, I think it, I mean, I'll happily watch Kodi versus
• 3:05
  Punk any time, but I think to have it at WrestleMania next
• 3:08
  year does make that WrestleMania special, which is going to be
• 3:13
  fantastic. And I feel like they've never
• 3:15
  faced off, however, I mean, you probably can find something, but
• 3:18
  I feel like back when Cody was on his first to be rerun on
• 3:21
  Punk, I guess I feel like they never had a feud there.
• 3:24
  And I feel like they definitely didn't in AW.
• 3:27
  So I feel like it's, you know, it's something that's completely
• 3:29
  fresh as well. You have to have.
• 3:31
  Might be wrong, I might be wrong, they might have, but I
• 3:33
  can't think of any time where they've had a proper program.
• 3:36
  Yeah, they might have had some matches, but only they've had a
• 3:38
  proper like feature length program, like a proper feud and
• 3:42
  you know, the ball from the big time.
• 3:43
  Now, Cody's big pun's still huge, so let's do a program.
• 3:48
  That'd be wonderful. Yeah, definitely.
• 3:52
  We've also had a comment on last week's episode Lucy's with Pat
• 3:56
  and I'm assuming the, I mean Pat McAfee seemingly chickening out,
• 4:01
  unable to handle the heat and scare of Legacy and Travis Scott
• 4:05
  doing the same. Is this the warning WWE needs to
• 4:09
  stay away from flaky celebs? So I think it's obviously, I
• 4:12
  don't know if it's true or not, but it's come out.
• 4:14
  Apparently it was Pat McAfee who actually like stopped his what
• 4:18
  he was going to do at WrestleMania wasn't what was
• 4:19
  originally planned and he wanted out straight away.
• 4:21
  As soon as the as soon as he knew the wrestling crowd didn't
• 4:23
  want him, he wanted out is what people are seeing and people are
• 4:27
  reporting. I'm not saying that's true.
• 4:29
  And Lou's saying, you know, obviously Travis Scott, you
• 4:31
  know, he was involved in big moments and then he we never got
• 4:36
  the payoff right. Well, I think I suppose what
• 4:39
  what Lou's saying, I think nag sort of agrees that, you know,
• 4:41
  if if we're going to get something that we potentially
• 4:44
  don't like the taste of and something that we don't like
• 4:46
  watching, but if it pays off down the line, then it's it's
• 4:49
  worth going on the journey. But we've had these moments with
• 4:52
  Travis Scott where got involved at WrestleMania, was meant to be
• 4:58
  in A tag match and lead to other things, but then chickened out
• 5:00
  and didn't come and do it. McAfee again, put himself in a,
• 5:04
  you know, a 20 year storyline between Cody Woods and Randy
• 5:06
  Orton. And then, well, I wouldn't say
• 5:08
  he put himself there, but someone's put him there, right?
• 5:10
  And then he's got involved. He's sort of left a bad taste.
• 5:14
  And then we don't actually get to see the the the payout, the
• 5:18
  payoff. I don't have got any thoughts on
• 5:19
  that, Luke. No, I think, I think which with
• 5:22
  every celebrity you've touched on it quite a lot because of how
• 5:25
  the build to WrestleMania get, you're going to get a mixed bag.
• 5:28
  You're going to get someone who kind of throws themselves all
• 5:30
  into it like a Jelly roll, or you're going to get someone like
• 5:33
  Jeremy Piven turning up and saying so my fest.
• 5:36
  So I think it's always hit and miss with celebrities.
• 5:38
  And I think that Travis Scott, Pat McAfee thinks possibly an
• 5:41
  unfair comparison for Pat because he had Travis Scott
• 5:44
  brought in clearly looked like that was something that The Rock
• 5:46
  wanted. And then the fallout from that
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  that, you know, by all means, you don't know how true it is.
• 5:50
  But like Travis Scott was just a bit of a bell end, kind of had
• 5:53
  no interest in kind of throwing himself into it and took a
• 5:56
  couple of bumps and thought it wasn't for him and fucked off.
• 5:58
  Whereas Pat like he kind of joked about it like in his
• 6:02
  retirement speech, saying that, you know, he'd done the Indies,
• 6:04
  he went to NXT and then he come to the main roster.
• 6:07
  Pat has put the miles in. So I think Pat kind of, you
• 6:11
  know, chickening out, for lack of a better term.
• 6:13
  I feel like I almost respected because I think he is a
• 6:15
  wrestling fan and he's kind of looked at that and kind of
• 6:18
  thought, well, yeah, it's gone really negatively with the fans.
• 6:21
  I'm a fan myself. I have put the work in.
• 6:23
  Maybe it is best that we'll just cut this one short because I
• 6:26
  think Travis Scott, it was just a bit of a bad book and then he
• 6:28
  was a flaky celebrity. So I think any celebrity you've
• 6:32
  you've run in that risk factor. But to answer the question, will
• 6:36
  I put WA off? Absolutely not because anyone
• 6:38
  you can bring in that might get extra eyes on the product,
• 6:40
  you're going to run the risk to an ex an extent.
• 6:44
  Yeah, I agree with you last bit there.
• 6:45
  It's not going to put them off. What I would like to say is that
• 6:47
  when we're dealing with the big time ones like Travis who are
• 6:50
  saying they want to be involved and are saying they love it like
• 6:53
  part, I think it needs to be in the contract where they can't
• 6:56
  wriggle out of it. So it's like, yeah, like
• 6:59
  whatever, like like you're here and we're going to go through
• 7:02
  with the plan because at least then we get some pay off to
• 7:06
  rather just to like, or the moment they tried that, then
• 7:09
  they got rid of it a week later. It's almost like a force.
• 7:11
  Do you know what I mean? Yeah, but you don't know how
• 7:14
  much part. Like I don't feel like Pat went
• 7:16
  to them and asked to do this. Do you know what I mean?
• 7:19
  So. Yeah.
• 7:19
  So I'm not, I'm not sorry. So I think for whatever reason,
• 7:22
  the companies wants to put in that spot and then that
• 7:25
  storyline. So the companies created the
• 7:27
  storyline, the choice. Pat Pat's agreed he's been put
• 7:31
  in now. Then Pat has got cold feet
• 7:33
  because of the reaction. And then it's come out of it.
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  And then now the company's left with like, like we need to do
• 7:41
  with Page 1 rewrite, if that makes sense.
• 7:44
  Where you know, if you're in Hollywood and you haven't shot
• 7:46
  the movie yet, that's fine. But this is live entertainment,
• 7:49
  the greatest entertainment of all time.
• 7:51
  Where like the show's, the show's already on the road,
• 7:53
  brother. Like, you know, I mean, you've
• 7:54
  got to get on board. Yeah, and I think the injury of
• 7:57
  Cody, I know it's not going to keep him out long term, but it
• 8:00
  probably helped make that decision easier where it's like,
• 8:03
  yeah, well the rumour was it was going to be Jelly Roll and Cody
• 8:05
  versus Randy and part of Backlash, where with Cody, maybe
• 8:08
  he's not being cleared. It's an easier route as well,
• 8:11
  isn't it? So I think while you never want
• 8:13
  anyone to get injured, I think that injuries probably made it
• 8:16
  easier than maybe he's kind of restart whatever they're going
• 8:19
  to do next with Randy and Cody. Yeah, it's louder, like a pause
• 8:22
  for thought, hasn't it? Which is just what it needs
• 8:25
  because of the change and because of Pat dropping out.
• 8:27
  I think it needs a time to reset where obviously if the injury
• 8:31
  wasn't there, we wouldn't be getting the reset.
• 8:33
  So I think you are quite right. I think obviously, yes, we don't
• 8:35
  want anybody getting injured or hurt.
• 8:38
  But I think it's it's hopefully Cody can rest and come back
• 8:40
  better than ever. And like I said, allows them to
• 8:42
  sort of reset and hopefully move forward and do really awesome
• 8:45
  things with Randy and Cody. Definitely.
• 8:50
  So what I did notice on our episode 12, which was our
• 8:54
  WrestleMania 42 special bonus episode, we had some comments
• 8:59
  come through after we'd already recorded episode 13.
• 9:02
  So I'm just going to run for them now.
• 9:04
  So these wells hit us with like 3 sorry, 44 comments even I'm
• 9:09
  going to run through them all evening.
• 9:12
  I think maybe lift like went through some of them already,
• 9:14
  because obviously we've done an episode in between times as
• 9:16
  well. But but we do thank you all for
• 9:18
  putting them in. We do appreciate it, but great
• 9:20
  listening. Really enjoyed the bonus
• 9:21
  content. WrestleMania worthy of a stand
• 9:24
  alone review. So obviously enjoying the bonus
• 9:26
  content. Please continue all the high
• 9:28
  profile PL. ES, including the summer slam in
• 9:30
  the rumble. As we've said, we might do like
• 9:33
  the the two night ones, which at the minute is just summer slam
• 9:36
  and it is obviously WrestleMania to all just heavy on the
• 9:39
  advertising. I think that's what we were
• 9:42
  talking about at the time. Unfortunately, that's just the
• 9:43
  direction we're heading in. Everybody needs to be paid and
• 9:46
  you can't generate money on tickets and merchandise alone.
• 9:49
  That being said, he can't wait to get stuck into the Hulk Hogan
• 9:52
  real American documentary. So I imagine he has been
• 9:54
  enjoying that because it's been out for over a week now.
• 9:58
  He just poured big fan of the light entertainment segment
• 10:00
  through Dan Housen in the midgets.
• 10:02
  Silly and fun grind checked by famous Davis was not to like.
• 10:06
  What's not to like is what he said, he said on Raw punk kept
• 10:09
  referencing opportunities for income, the sky or we thinking
• 10:12
  this leads to a money in the bank briefcase type of situation
• 10:15
  or is it just him applying emphasis to him staying ready?
• 10:18
  I like that question and thought it's a bit like championship
• 10:22
  opportunity coming from the sky. Obviously the briefcase is in
• 10:24
  the sky. I have to go and get it.
• 10:26
  So you know. Yeah, and I think if Punk were
• 10:30
  to win Money in the Bank, he could finally do that thing
• 10:32
  which I was taught about where I want him to say, right, I'm 11
• 10:35
  Money in the Bank, I am 100% keeping this till next year's
• 10:37
  WrestleMania. Because although you don't win
• 10:40
  the Money in the Bank at Mania anymore, I still think that's
• 10:42
  like mental that no ones done it, Especially because you think
• 10:45
  how big and how important they talk about the main event at
• 10:47
  WrestleMania is. Like you've got that briefcase,
• 10:50
  just hold on to it. You're in next year's main
• 10:51
  event, you're done. Sorted.
• 10:54
  Yeah, and then I would love it because if you've got the
• 10:55
  briefcase and you're saying that and then who are wins or wins of
• 10:58
  iron ball, you can almost be like, obviously like the royal
• 11:01
  moment of swings the Dick around, right?
• 11:03
  Big Dick energy, like I'm, I'm going after the champ, but then
• 11:06
  the briefcase man can come in and be like, well, actually
• 11:08
  you're not the only big Dick in town.
• 11:10
  I'm here as well. No, exactly.
• 11:12
  There's there's miles to that can make I like it.
• 11:14
  I've I've wanted to do it for a long time.
• 11:17
  And one last thought in question from Wells on Game episode 2
• 11:22
  episodes ago. Do you think Brock throwing up
• 11:24
  the X was part of the plan? Or was it spontaneous retirement
• 11:27
  call? And did he tell Oba to bring it
• 11:28
  home early? Looked in great shape?
• 11:31
  Is it just too much for him now? Is it a younger man's game as it
• 11:34
  was when he first stole the show?
• 11:36
  Hopefully we get the true story on a future Unreal app.
• 11:39
  So obviously referring to Brock's possibly final match
• 11:44
  with Oba family at WrestleMania and Brock sort of given Paul him
• 11:47
  and the X sign and obviously leaving his gloves and boots in
• 11:50
  the ring and seemingly retiring. Yeah, so I kind of tried not to
• 11:55
  read much about it, kind of going off we've said where you
• 11:58
  have so much information given you don't know what I believe.
• 12:00
  So I quite like how it is all quite ambiguous still.
• 12:03
  So obviously, was the X real? Is he finally done?
• 12:06
  The fact that summer slams in Minnesota, people seem to think
• 12:08
  it's not. So, yeah, I think it looks real
• 12:11
  to me. But you know, that's that's
• 12:13
  that's the awe of a good storytelling in wrestling, isn't
• 12:16
  it, where you think, oh shit, this is actually happening, this
• 12:18
  is real. So, yeah, I mean, if I had to go
• 12:20
  one way or another, I think it's not done.
• 12:23
  I think you made the point that does Payman's favour a gun for
• 12:27
  me and that Gunther gets that much he's wanted for a long
• 12:29
  time. I do, now that I think about it.
• 12:31
  But there's a part of his that kind of if I had to go one
• 12:34
  decision, I'd kind of hope he was done because I think Brock
• 12:37
  said himself that, you know, I think he is finding it harder
• 12:41
  and harder to keep going. And, you know, you forget you
• 12:43
  have that life threatening like surgery, doesn't it?
• 12:46
  What was it? It was like gastro or something,
• 12:48
  wasn't it, where he had like half of his intestines removed
• 12:50
  and stuff like that. And that was like that was
• 12:52
  probably 15 years ago now. So, you know, everything takes
• 12:55
  its toll. So yeah, I kind of hope it is
• 12:57
  done me because it kind of might detract from over Fermi kind of
• 13:01
  getting that big win if someone else then gets back in there
• 13:03
  with him. Yes, So I think Brock looked
• 13:07
  great and he looked like intimidating.
• 13:10
  He looked jacked, he looked big, he looked fast still like Brock
• 13:13
  doesn't have all, but to maintain that like takes so much
• 13:16
  work and like you don't know how much pressure that's putting on
• 13:19
  himself. You mentioned Brock's healthy.
• 13:21
  I think it was is a diverticulitis he had, which was
• 13:24
  like huge stomach condition. He had his intestines.
• 13:26
  Exactly. Yeah, which most people would
• 13:28
  probably die from as well. It's like it was brought serious
• 13:30
  stuff. So, you know, Brock, he survived
• 13:33
  that and then B came back to be better than ever in the
• 13:36
  wrestling ring after that. But again, father time waits for
• 13:38
  Norman. And I think I think we spoke
• 13:40
  about on a podcast a few weeks ago where I said Wayne Gretzky,
• 13:44
  you know, the season he retired, he was still the highest scorer
• 13:47
  on that New York team, but he wasn't up to his own level and
• 13:52
  what he knew he could do. And he was God like when he was
• 13:56
  in his prime. So he retired, even though he
• 13:58
  was the best player on his team still maybe in the division.
• 14:00
  He he retired and you know, Brock might have done the same.
• 14:07
  I think the best thing on Brock is like, Brock doesn't buy into
• 14:09
  like Brock will just have seemingly retired.
• 14:14
  Happy to leave it for now. Doesn't need to give a
• 14:16
  statement, doesn't need to do an interview.
• 14:17
  He's not going to do a documentary And like whatever
• 14:20
  happens, happens and it'll be cool.
• 14:22
  And I think, I think if he does come out for one more match and
• 14:26
  it is against Gunther at Summer Slam in Minneapolis, I think
• 14:30
  Brock can win that. I think at some point Gunther
• 14:33
  has to stop making people retire, right?
• 14:34
  Because otherwise, like, where does it stop?
• 14:37
  And I think like, Brock can win and retire, if that makes sense.
• 14:41
  Yeah, definitely, because it all also then becomes diminishing
• 14:44
  returns, doesn't it? Where it's kind of like if you
• 14:45
  look at like, you know, Brock Piers, like I think it's
• 14:48
  probably only Randy left now. So anyone else really is going
• 14:51
  to go up against is someone who he is new.
• 14:55
  So you can only give someone the rope so many times we're beating
• 14:58
  Brock Lesnar doesn't mean anything anymore.
• 14:59
  So yeah, I think it definitely has to be.
• 15:01
  If there's any more matches left, it's one more and that's
• 15:04
  it. But I'd like it to be done just
• 15:05
  because of how much of A of a rope that gives over for me.
• 15:09
  Does indeed going over to Instagram now.
• 15:11
  So again, if you want to follow us on Instagram, it is at SAS
• 15:14
  wrestling pod. It's the only social media we
• 15:17
  have. Gaz has said big part of pump or
• 15:23
  Lesnar, heaviest bench press. So I think he's alluding to do
• 15:28
  we think that Scott Steiner big part of pump or Lesnar, who can
• 15:32
  lift the most on the bench press?
• 15:33
  Luke, do you, I suppose, do you know this information for a fact
• 15:36
  or is it just who you think? Is isn't Biggie got the best?
• 15:40
  Isn't Biggie the record holder seen as Jim?
• 15:42
  I know obviously that doesn't mean that Steiner and Brock
• 15:45
  can't have Mobile put another name in there.
• 15:47
  I think Biggie still holds the record seen as Jim for that.
• 15:50
  But if I had to just answer the question and say who had the
• 15:52
  better bench press, I think it'll probably Brock.
• 15:54
  You know, because I don't want to allude to how Steiner got in
• 15:57
  the shape that he's in. And you know, Brock went that
• 15:59
  way as well, if you believe those rumors also.
• 16:02
  But yeah, I think it's Brock. Brock's got more that raw farm
• 16:05
  boy power. I think I'd go Brock, what about
• 16:07
  you? Yeah, I mean, I think Biggie's a
• 16:10
  great child. Biggie, he's a one giant meet of
• 16:12
  a man. He's a big bulgy, like
• 16:15
  absolutely jacked beast, isn't he?
• 16:17
  Even now, as Biggie's retired, you see him in those suits when
• 16:20
  he's doing his interviews and he just looks like he's bursting at
• 16:23
  the seams and he still looks like maybe one day we get Biggie
• 16:26
  back. Maybe that, but maybe that's
• 16:27
  wishful thinking for me. But you know, he was such a big,
• 16:29
  powerful meet man. We would have a big bench press,
• 16:33
  I think. Big pot of pumps.
• 16:34
  Scott Steiner, obviously, you know, we he was very sculpted,
• 16:38
  if that makes sense in that where Brock was more just
• 16:43
  naturally huge and fast. So I think I think Brock would
• 16:47
  probably naturally be able to lift more just because he's more
• 16:51
  of a natural beast of a man where I think big pot upon Scott
• 16:54
  Steiner is absolutely jacked and is he's a freak as he says, but
• 17:00
  he's a lot more sculpted nuts. That's through his dream
• 17:03
  routine. It's through what he's put in
• 17:05
  his body and not all hard work, but I think I think Brock's
• 17:10
  naturally the stronger man. Definitely, that is what I will
• 17:14
  go with as well. Good question though.
• 17:17
  It is indeed. I think Gaz Gaz likes the big
• 17:19
  man. I think he loves the he loves
• 17:20
  the jacked, the jacked muckle warriors because he I'm sure
• 17:23
  that's the second question we've had from Gaz about that type of
• 17:25
  thing. It's what we kind of all grew up
• 17:29
  on, wasn't it? So I'm the same as well.
• 17:30
  You know, we've had questions, we've had we talk about did he
• 17:32
  say that with Greg the Hammer Valentine and talking about kind
• 17:35
  of physics and stuff? Yeah, no, it's it's a big part
• 17:37
  of what makes that industry so special.
• 17:39
  These kind of gigantic, kind of comic book hero looking guys,
• 17:43
  and Steiner and Brock are definitely two of those.
• 17:45
  You're indeed like there's jump off the page of a comic book.
• 17:48
  They're absolutely toyatic on this.
• 17:49
  Like it's. Yeah, if you saw them walking
• 17:51
  down the street, you'd be like, fucking hell, look at that.
• 17:54
  Yes, you would you if you like I don't know, see if you
• 17:57
  accidentally like threw an egg and then he hit Brock, surely
• 17:59
  turn around. I think you're just like, just
• 18:03
  fall on the floor when you'll be like, I'm going to die, I'm
• 18:05
  going to. Die now.
• 18:06
  Have you ever seen that local news footage where a diner gets
• 18:09
  robbed and Scott Steiner was nearby and he's just getting
• 18:11
  interviewed as like a concerned resident and the interviewer
• 18:14
  doesn't know that he's a wrestler?
• 18:15
  He's got his bum bag on and his sleeves cut off.
• 18:17
  That's quite funny. Get in.
• 18:19
  I love that that's proper wrestling for you.
• 18:21
  That yeah. The last question I thought
• 18:25
  we've had through Instagram from Geordie, how far would you go as
• 18:31
  to say WWE releases helps keep other promotions fresh?
• 18:38
  And I suppose I do want to talk about doing releases.
• 18:40
  So I was supposed we can do it now.
• 18:42
  But what's your thoughts on that thought, Lou?
• 18:45
  Yeah. So it is because obviously
• 18:46
  that's that's one of the big kind of reviews of the week
• 18:48
  really and it's kind of goes into a point I wanted to make
• 18:52
  anyways. So yeah, I think it's something
• 18:54
  that can definitely help other promotions, but also help the
• 18:58
  person themselves because like if you've been released, there's
• 19:01
  a good chance because you're not getting used.
• 19:03
  We'll go into it more in a little bit.
• 19:05
  So it gives you that chance for refresh.
• 19:07
  And yeah, absolutely. Like if you look at kind of TNA
• 19:10
  in AW and kind of the guys they've got on there right now,
• 19:13
  I mean this week alone kind of, you know, Tomaso Champ, I was in
• 19:16
  the main event on AW. You look at TNA, kind of some of
• 19:19
  the top guys in there right now. You like some Mustafa Ali's,
• 19:21
  your Eliases, your who else is that?
• 19:25
  There's someone, obviously you've got your hardies in
• 19:26
  there, but that's a bit more than normally.
• 19:28
  But no, I think it definitely benefits other companies as
• 19:30
  well. And I think it can be a huge
• 19:32
  positive for the person that's been released.
• 19:33
  Might not seem like it at the time, but no, it doesn't mean
• 19:36
  what? What do you think?
• 19:37
  That's the kind of general case that you know, WWE's loss is
• 19:40
  another company's gain overall. And I think it's more than that.
• 19:43
  So yes, but also do we do you release and talent allows them
• 19:48
  to debut new talent. So if you think about who's
• 19:49
  debuted recently, so we've had Ethan Page Wright debut, we've
• 19:55
  just had this week, we've had Joe Hendry debut, we've had new
• 19:58
  debuts in NXT this week. So I think sort of all these
• 20:04
  call UPS and new people coming to NXT is because people have
• 20:08
  left, the company allows you to do that.
• 20:10
  So obviously it's always sad when people lose, lose jobs.
• 20:12
  Don't get me wrong. I think what's good is that when
• 20:14
  people get released, something we either do get like 90 days
• 20:17
  salary paid, which is great. I think it's 30 days if you're
• 20:21
  on the next year also, but I think it's 90 days.
• 20:23
  If you are on the on the main roster.
• 20:25
  Do you think they should be given an option that will pay
• 20:28
  you for 90 days or if you want to go get another job like a
• 20:31
  manager on football like so if a manager gets sacked a lot of
• 20:34
  them also like get paid until they find another job.
• 20:37
  So do you think they should be given that option where if you
• 20:40
  want to go to TNA in two weeks, you fine, but we'll obviously
• 20:43
  that you'll get 2 weeks pay and then you'll go to TNA?
• 20:45
  It's sort of is an option. So so when Chelsea Green was
• 20:49
  released, there was a big show come up which was towards the
• 20:53
  end of the end of our severance deal, like towards the end of
• 20:57
  the 90 days. So she rang the company and said
• 20:59
  I really want to do it. And it was actually Johnny Ace
• 21:02
  who she rang. And then Johnny Ace was like
• 21:04
  right at the office. And then they sorted out where
• 21:06
  like she had to give them some money back as in so she wasn't
• 21:08
  paid for how long that period was that would have been paid
• 21:12
  for so she could go and do that date.
• 21:14
  So if you want to do that, you can connect the company.
• 21:16
  Now, if it was to go on AW week after you've been released, I
• 21:21
  imagine the company won't be as looking to do that as they are
• 21:24
  to sort of let you go do something towards the end of
• 21:28
  year severance period, if that makes sense.
• 21:30
  But I but I think if you contact the company to say, look like I
• 21:33
  want to be able to go and do this, please, like can we come
• 21:37
  to some sort of region where I give give up me money?
• 21:39
  I think, I think they're happy to do that.
• 21:40
  But the problem is, I think if you want to go to EW next week,
• 21:44
  I think that's when they go, well, no, you can't.
• 21:45
  We're not going to let you do that.
• 21:47
  Yeah, and look, I mean, if you look at the kind of the
• 21:49
  schedules that the WE guys have and you just coming off the
• 21:52
  battle of WrestleMania weekend, 90 days off, you know, where you
• 21:55
  can't compete might be a nice thing.
• 21:56
  Do you know what I mean? You can catch up on your sleep,
• 21:57
  get yourself nice and jacked again, and then you've got that
• 22:00
  headspace to get yourself right for wherever you turn up next.
• 22:03
  So yeah, I think people always like, well, again, that vocal
• 22:06
  minority online like the kind of really going on WE when the
• 22:08
  release guys. But yeah, you know, your your
• 22:12
  one of your all time favourites. Mike Cardona was best thing ever
• 22:14
  happened to him at the time. So it's not it's not always the
• 22:17
  end. It can just be the beginning
• 22:18
  that release. Indeed.
• 22:20
  And because there's so many places to work now, like
• 22:22
  wrestling is, you know, if you go back to like the early 2000s,
• 22:25
  then when you got released, it was probably like absolutely a
• 22:28
  holy fuck moment because like, what are you going to do?
• 22:31
  You're going to work bingo halls and do like shitty conventions
• 22:34
  where now it's like you can go to AW, you can go to TNA, you
• 22:37
  can go to GCW. The Indies are actually pretty
• 22:39
  jacked. The wrestling fan conventions
• 22:42
  are now bigger than ever. You can make good money on them,
• 22:45
  like the world your oyster now, I think, and you can get
• 22:47
  yourself out there. As long as you get yourself out
• 22:50
  there and do the work, then you'll then you'll be able to do
• 22:53
  that, if that makes sense. Not 100%.
• 22:55
  Yeah. Like I said, there's a lot of
• 22:56
  options out there now. And the fact that you mentioned
• 22:58
  fucking Jugular Championship Wrestling, that does seem to be
• 23:00
  getting a bit of buzz online. So yeah, there's absolutely all
• 23:03
  sorts you can do. Well, that absolutely is I think
• 23:06
  you know also like so will cruise like debut NXT this week.
• 23:12
  So I don't know if you know who that is, but I've watched him
• 23:14
  wrestle a few times for north wrestling here in in Newcastle
• 23:18
  and like around the northeast. So like game do we have released
• 23:22
  some big time. But then they bought in this
• 23:24
  like young young guy from Newcastle is now there.
• 23:27
  I don't know if he's actually from Newcastle, but I've seen
• 23:29
  wrestling, but this young guy from England, like it's now on
• 23:32
  an XT television, which is like. Which we'll talk about more as
• 23:36
  well because yeah, that was on my positives.
• 23:38
  The NXT debuts this week. But no, it is.
• 23:40
  It's a constant moving beast, isn't it?
• 23:41
  Like you say, this kind of, you know, WE alone, I've got 3-3
• 23:45
  live TV programs a week. AW, we've got 2.
• 23:47
  TNA has got 1. So yeah, there's constantly
• 23:49
  going to be changes. And like I say, changes because
• 23:51
  the rest sometimes. And unless something comes out,
• 23:54
  none of them seem to have been released under a black cloud.
• 23:57
  So, you know, WE never say never.
• 23:59
  You know, just because they're gone for now doesn't mean you
• 24:01
  can't come back. Indeed, like some of these
• 24:03
  names, I don't want to go for the names now.
• 24:05
  I'll do it later. Yeah, well, now we can do it now
• 24:07
  because I see it was on kind of one of the like my things we
• 24:10
  have. I was going to say, you know,
• 24:11
  initially a negative because obviously you don't want to lose
• 24:13
  your job, but yeah, great. Go through the names because
• 24:15
  I've got kind of the big ones in front of us.
• 24:16
  So yeah, go for it, yes. Obviously what Kyrie saying who
• 24:19
  obviously, you know, it seems like she was about being a big
• 24:21
  storyline with with Oscar, but they never really pulled the
• 24:24
  trigger. Maniac came and went and like,
• 24:27
  yeah, you know, if you're not going to be used much and you're
• 24:30
  going to put Oscar on and do you get released?
• 24:32
  I've also heard maybe she wanted to go back to Japan as well.
• 24:34
  So there's a few different bits in there.
• 24:36
  But like, she'll be fine, you know, she's a great wrestler.
• 24:39
  People know who she is. She's very tired.
• 24:41
  I imagine she'll get a job whether it's in Japan or in the
• 24:43
  US, no problem at all. No, definitely.
• 24:46
  You know, obviously, I think the kind of headline from it was
• 24:48
  Alistair Black and Selena Vega wasn't this.
• 24:50
  They were the kind of the I would say they were the headline
• 24:53
  of the story. Would you?
• 24:55
  Yes and I think you know they haven't really been used much on
• 24:58
  tablet. I mean whilst it's Alistair
• 25:00
  Black's last three matches, I think all wins against Randy
• 25:03
  Orton, Matt Cardona and I think Sami's in so some big wins
• 25:08
  there. But then also like hasn't done
• 25:09
  anything in the build up at the Mania.
• 25:10
  I was off the Mania card and I just think if they're not using
• 25:14
  you at WrestleMania, like I said, I think it should be in
• 25:15
  the other match. But for whatever reason he
• 25:18
  wasn't like if the company aren't going to use you, I feel
• 25:21
  like Alastanzelina could go to any company in the world and do
• 25:24
  great business. So hopefully they get the
• 25:26
  opportunity to do that rather than getting sat on the bench at
• 25:29
  WE because there's no room for them on the on the program.
• 25:33
  Yeah, definitely. And obviously why it's six big
• 25:36
  name kind of again, you know, the debut of this massive kind
• 25:39
  of, you know, where the murdered people backstage and it was a
• 25:41
  supernatural thing. And then after that they were
• 25:42
  just kind of left afloat, weren't the kind of tag team
• 25:45
  title run very long feud with the MFTS.
• 25:48
  And again, it's kind of if you're not putting all the
• 25:51
  effort into a big group like that, I think it's always going
• 25:54
  to flounder. And again, you've got like a lot
• 25:56
  of guys in there who are kind of very talented.
• 25:57
  I think Joe Gacy, someone who stands out for me, who I think
• 26:01
  would be my pick to kind of really go out there and do
• 26:04
  something, whether that's kind of on the Indies or in another
• 26:07
  company. But yeah, like I say, I mean
• 26:10
  they've not been, although they've been used on telly,
• 26:12
  they've not added anything to the program for me personally
• 26:15
  for a for a long while really, if not since the debut.
• 26:19
  Yeah, I think for me, I think obviously when they debuted, it
• 26:21
  was a big deal and it looked brilliant and it was great.
• 26:24
  But I feel like whether it happened quickly or it didn't, I
• 26:28
  think it happened quickly. But even if you think it didn't
• 26:30
  happen quickly, like a long time has passed now.
• 26:31
  And like, I feel like the gimmick didn't change with the
• 26:34
  times and I had to evolve a little bit and it never did.
• 26:38
  They were just doing the same thing over and over again.
• 26:40
  If you know, the same people over and over again.
• 26:42
  And like, yeah, a lot of great talent in there, don't get as
• 26:44
  wrong. I think Nikki Cross is
• 26:46
  absolutely one of the best women's wrestlers in the world,
• 26:48
  but maybe she gets to do that now.
• 26:50
  Now she's free of this. But yeah, obviously, I mean, you
• 26:54
  know, the wide 6, you know, that had that took on our heart
• 26:57
  because of brain. Obviously he's on time.
• 26:59
  You pass them. But you know, even that only
• 27:01
  gets your soul form once, you know, once once you've gone to
• 27:05
  that. Well, like this, this gimmick
• 27:07
  and story, I need to evolve naturally.
• 27:09
  And I think it didn't. And I think, yeah, the fuck the
• 27:11
  Guineas went on WrestleMania. They've been involved the past
• 27:15
  few months. I'm just feuding over or landing
• 27:18
  back and forth, you know, like, yeah, it's not cool anywhere.
• 27:20
  So again, if these guys think you'd be released, they need to
• 27:23
  be released. You know, hopefully they'll get
• 27:24
  paid. And like I said, I think or I
• 27:26
  think I think Ball's really talented, wasn't really in the
• 27:29
  business. He was talking about the
• 27:30
  business and then he came back for this because of his brother.
• 27:32
  So whether he stays in the business and does that somewhere
• 27:34
  else, who knows? Nikki Cross will be absolutely
• 27:36
  fine. I think Dexter Loomis and Joe
• 27:38
  Gearsey will be fine as well. You know, wherever they go, they
• 27:43
  can add real value and really get the teeth into into whatever
• 27:46
  it is creativity that they're doing.
• 27:48
  Yeah, I think one of one of the short ones for me and you know,
• 27:51
  we we used we used her story of our kind of positive end of the
• 27:54
  show when we bought Alba fire. I was quite surprised by that
• 27:57
  one. You know, big part of Chelsea
• 27:59
  Greens kind of gimmick and character.
• 28:00
  So that one took us by surprise. But again, she's another one who
• 28:03
  you're one of the reasons we talked about her as our kind of
• 28:06
  positive end of the show is just kind of how well travelled she
• 28:09
  is and like how hard she's grafted.
• 28:10
  So like, you know for a fact that, you know, she could come
• 28:13
  back and just fucking work the UK and should be kind of the
• 28:16
  biggest name on the UK seeing for the women's division.
• 28:19
  So yeah, I don't worry about our future.
• 28:20
  But yeah, that one was a shock to me.
• 28:22
  Alba Fire. Yeah, Alba Fire.
• 28:24
  I'll see Katie Ray. Imagine she'll be absolutely
• 28:26
  fine. You know, game one of the one of
• 28:28
  the best women's workers out there, I think should have
• 28:30
  picked up no problem at all. She might want to stay a free
• 28:32
  agent and just work wherever she wants to and make all the money,
• 28:35
  which I hope she does. I think that tells a lot about
• 28:38
  where they're going with Chelsea.
• 28:39
  The company obviously know where they're going with Chelsea, but
• 28:42
  doesn't involve the the Secret Service.
• 28:45
  Then then maybe the half thought, actually, yes, we need
• 28:48
  to release you. No, definitely.
• 28:51
  And then the only that kind of big name that I thought on that
• 28:53
  list was obviously more City Machine guns.
• 28:55
  But again, Legendary Tag team, they're going to be fine.
• 28:59
  So they'll be fine. I think they're still fantastic
• 29:01
  and they're still sort of in their priming, so they can still
• 29:03
  put on great wrestling matches and they can work again all over
• 29:05
  the indie circuit across the world, making lots of money.
• 29:07
  But they're going to also sign for TNA or I don't know if AW
• 29:10
  will look at them, but maybe they could certainly work there
• 29:12
  and all that. Yeah, I think AW is the search
• 29:15
  for me. I think with them.
• 29:16
  I think obviously bringing them in with the likes, FTR and the
• 29:19
  Young books and things like that, I think that's a really
• 29:21
  easy landing ground for them too.
• 29:23
  I do think that it says a lot about WWE thoughts on the tag
• 29:27
  team division because I think they're not really doing much
• 29:31
  with a proper tag teams at the minute, if that makes sense.
• 29:33
  So no. They're not.
• 29:34
  And I think, but I think that's a by choice.
• 29:36
  So I think if you don't need a proper tag team, then why pay a
• 29:40
  proper tag team I suppose. Yeah, and it's a shame because
• 29:42
  when tag team wrestling's done right, it's one of my kind of
• 29:45
  all time favorite things to watch.
• 29:46
  And champ are actually puts me on Instagram this week.
• 29:49
  That was he was he's in the main event.
• 29:51
  He was in the main event of last week's CW.
• 29:52
  And it was exactly a year to the day that they had that big
• 29:55
  ladder match for the tag titles with like Street Profits and
• 29:58
  like people like that involved. So interesting that you know
• 30:01
  what a difference a year makes that you've gone from this
• 30:03
  really hot tag team scene with kind of DIY Motor City Machine
• 30:06
  Gun St. Profits to now kind of most of
• 30:09
  them not being in the company anymore.
• 30:12
  It's it's certainly, certainly is.
• 30:14
  There's also a few other names like Zoe Stock for example, who
• 30:17
  I'm not seen on television for a long, long time.
• 30:18
  I think she's been hurt but obviously went from the heights
• 30:20
  of working with Trish Stratus to obviously now being released.
• 30:24
  Yeah, she was someone that just seemed like a really solid hand,
• 30:27
  and if the Hader got the gimmick right, she could have had a
• 30:30
  better run. But again, like, if you get
• 30:32
  entrusted to go in there with Trish Stratus and things like
• 30:34
  that, it shows kind of the faith I had on you.
• 30:36
  But again, I think that one's just a bit of unluckiness where
• 30:39
  I think she might be a bit older, which, you know, isn't a
• 30:42
  problem to me, but sometimes is when it comes to kind of how
• 30:45
  much you're going to get out of like a talent.
• 30:47
  And I think she's had two quite bad injuries as well.
• 30:50
  And I think it's just a stacked division.
• 30:51
  But again, she's someone who I think it'll be absolutely fine.
• 30:54
  I could even see ending up back at NXT as a trainer, like in
• 30:58
  that kind of role. Whenever I've seen her speaking
• 31:00
  interview, she has that about her.
• 31:02
  So see, she's someone who I could definitely see getting
• 31:05
  brought back like Shana Basler did.
• 31:07
  It's kind of an advisory role, if that's what you wanted to do.
• 31:10
  I mean, she can go out there and wrestle, but you know, that just
• 31:12
  seems to have that about her. Indeed, Santos Exabar, was he a
• 31:17
  shock one for you? No, it was a funny one because
• 31:20
  he kind of did get released, didn't there.
• 31:22
  And then apparently the resigned into a big money deal and then
• 31:25
  he was in the AAA world title picture the other month, but
• 31:29
  then he had quite a bad injury. So again, yeah, it's a bit of a
• 31:32
  funny one. But again, like, I think they've
• 31:35
  tried a few different things with them.
• 31:37
  He had a big run in NXT, but again, it just never really
• 31:40
  transitioned to the main roster. So I don't think it was that big
• 31:43
  of a shock to me because I'd give, I think a lot of people,
• 31:45
  if they hadn't followed AAA, would have thought he'd already
• 31:49
  been released to be honest. Yeah, what about the big man,
• 31:53
  Apollo Cruz? Again, he's someone who I think
• 31:56
  they have, they've given enough chances and he's one of those
• 31:59
  guys where I think he's a kind of victim at the time where like
• 32:02
  he's a really, really good wrestler.
• 32:04
  But like in 2026, there's loads of good wrestlers.
• 32:08
  You just need like a little bit more I think like, and I think
• 32:11
  he lacked in the overall kind of presentation and kind of
• 32:15
  delivery on the mic. So yeah, again, absolutely great
• 32:17
  wrestler and he's someone who, you know, he'll go and do really
• 32:20
  well on the Independence like you did beforehand.
• 32:22
  But he had a 10 year run in the WE, which like, I couldn't
• 32:25
  believe that sort of thing he put out as well.
• 32:26
  But he's been there 10 years. Yeah, he certainly lived a life
• 32:29
  and earn some money and then. Won the IC title like
• 32:32
  WrestleMania. Yeah, and like the, the, the
• 32:36
  indie market's hot right now, so I imagine he'll have no problem
• 32:38
  getting getting work. Does he go back to being, oh,
• 32:41
  our nation? Quite possibly.
• 32:42
  No, that was his name, wasn't it?
• 32:43
  Yeah, I saw, I saw him do that gimmick at ICW over here once,
• 32:48
  actually, Yeah. And then I'm sort of run for the
• 32:52
  other names. So we've got from my list
• 32:54
  anyway. We also have Andre Chase, Tyra
• 33:00
  May Steal, Serena Linden, Tyson Tyreke, Chris Ireland, Malik
• 33:05
  Blade, Trill London and Luga Crispino.
• 33:09
  I'm not going to joke some of them all to be fair.
• 33:11
  Luke, do you know who they are? Yeah, so one of them, two of
• 33:14
  them are like in an XT tag team. Christopher, you know, was part
• 33:17
  of Tony D'angelo's family for a bit.
• 33:20
  He was the mobster lawyer who could also wrestle, which is
• 33:22
  quite a 90s gimmick, isn't it, a wrestling lawyer?
• 33:26
  David Otunga did that as well for a bit, didn't he?
• 33:29
  So yeah, those names you mentioned that obviously Andre
• 33:31
  Chase, obviously Chase you was entertaining on NXT, but you
• 33:34
  kind of knew that that was never ever making its move from NXT to
• 33:39
  the main roster. That and never had of it would
• 33:41
  have died a very quick death, I think.
• 33:43
  But he was always really entertaining in that role.
• 33:45
  And like we've said many times, like my opinion is that, you
• 33:48
  know, wrestling's a variety showing.
• 33:49
  You need acts like that. But I think Chase, you'd kind of
• 33:53
  broken down three times and I think you want to like the third
• 33:55
  version of it. So yeah, it's not a huge
• 33:58
  surprise that he's gone because again, I think you might be a
• 34:00
  bit older than a lot of the other people in NXT.
• 34:02
  And if you've been in NXT for so long, as Booker T says you've
• 34:05
  not been called up, you've you can't be that surprised when
• 34:07
  they're the come calling. No, indeed.
• 34:13
  Have you got a some housekeeping?
• 34:15
  I think you said you did. You teased me saying you did
• 34:17
  have some. I did, yeah.
• 34:18
  So I had a question from my brother-in-law, you know, our
• 34:23
  friend as well, Dean. I did tell him to do it on the
• 34:24
  socials, but he WhatsApp, as I said, he took the back door.
• 34:27
  But yeah, it was a good question.
• 34:28
  So he's been watching and enjoying the whole Corgan
• 34:30
  documentary on Netflix. So this is the question to you.
• 34:33
  If a 2122 year old Terry Bowella rocked up on the wrestling scene
• 34:38
  today in 2026, do you think he would get over in the same way
• 34:43
  or at least be able to be a main event star?
• 34:45
  Or was he two of his time? I think that's a hard question
• 34:52
  to answer, I think. Really hard, yeah.
• 34:54
  I think it's good though. It makes the first part of the
• 34:56
  question again. So essentially, if Hogan turned
• 34:59
  up a day as a 21 year old in 2026, would he get over as a
• 35:02
  main eventer to shorten it down? I don't know because I don't
• 35:08
  finish that man's idea to help him.
• 35:10
  So you think Vince was like a huge contributing fact that
• 35:13
  towards that day, You don't think it was just kind of
• 35:16
  natural charisma? No, it was natural charisma, but
• 35:20
  it had to be channelled into Hull Corgan, the character,
• 35:24
  which I think we have to give. Let's just see if it's 5050
• 35:27
  credit, right? I mean, I don't know and I
• 35:29
  haven't watched the documentary either, but I think Vince was
• 35:35
  taking professional wrestling from being local to being
• 35:39
  worldwide. He was buying up the territories
• 35:42
  and creating World Wrestling Entertainment, right?
• 35:46
  World Wrestling Federation. He was making it worldwide.
• 35:49
  He needed a star that would look great all over the world.
• 35:53
  He saw Hulk or Terry and that's who he knew could be the guy.
• 35:59
  And then like the Strap the Rocker doing right and then
• 36:03
  obviously, yes, the US go by the changing here and there.
• 36:06
  But I think you've got I think the Super I saw didn't exist
• 36:12
  before Paul Corgan and people could pick that apart.
• 36:16
  What I mean is that like a global phenomenon wrestling star
• 36:18
  like called Corgan became wrestling right for like a long
• 36:21
  period of time. What do you?
• 36:21
  Say 100% yeah. So, so that's already been done
• 36:25
  now. So but he's he's the one who did
• 36:29
  it the first time. So if he came around now, do you
• 36:34
  know what I mean? I I don't know how that works
• 36:36
  without having the right creativeness.
• 36:38
  Yeah, I think there's, I think there's too many factors because
• 36:41
  like you say, he was kind of the first of his kind.
• 36:43
  You're absolutely right. I think that kind of sums it up
• 36:45
  nicely where he was this kind of global wrestling phenomenon.
• 36:48
  But I think if a hand say yes or no, I'd say yes purely because I
• 36:52
  think a lot of people will disagree with this.
• 36:54
  But he clearly had that mind for the business and he was wit.
• 36:57
  He was like kind of sharp and with it.
• 37:00
  So I think he would still get over.
• 37:01
  It wouldn't be Hogle Mania kind of because, you know, it's 2026
• 37:05
  and now more than ever, I think people wouldn't latch onto that
• 37:07
  worldwide, you know, this kind of big American hero.
• 37:10
  But I do think if you just look at kind of Terry Boella, the
• 37:13
  man, which, you know, he does like to do, he likes to
• 37:16
  differentiate between Hogan and Terry Boella.
• 37:18
  I think Terry Boella still gets over to a certain extent.
• 37:21
  It's just there's too many factors as to say why that would
• 37:24
  happen. But I think you would.
• 37:26
  Yeah, and I think, you know, he put the work in into the
• 37:30
  industry, you know, where that was.
• 37:31
  You know, I know he didn't have many moves and, and certainly
• 37:34
  debris. We didn't see him do too much.
• 37:36
  But you know, he knew. He knew what worked and he knew
• 37:38
  when to do it. He knew how to get a crowd hot.
• 37:40
  He knew when to point the finger.
• 37:41
  You knew when to drop my leg. You went to cup the ear.
• 37:44
  You would sign autographs forever for fans in the airport.
• 37:48
  You would see see there was a line of 56 children.
• 37:53
  You would spend time with all of them like before Make a Wish was
• 37:55
  even a thing. He was doing that.
• 37:57
  It's like all of that stuff. I helped build a connection with
• 37:59
  the world like Terry or Hulk did.
• 38:03
  So that work I think would be the same.
• 38:04
  So yes, I think you would absolutely get over idea.
• 38:07
  Yeah, definitely. So is that all the housekeeping
• 38:09
  that you've got for now? I believe so, yes.
• 38:12
  Perfect. Well, let's jump in to kind of
• 38:14
  our week in review then. So we've already touched on the
• 38:16
  releases, so that kind of takes that off, but let's go with you.
• 38:19
  We want to start with the positive from the last kind of
• 38:21
  week in pro wrestling. Yes.
• 38:24
  So this week in pro wrestling, the week in review, I just want
• 38:27
  to say that my first positive is this Jacob Roman program.
• 38:32
  I thought it's been fantastic since WrestleMania.
• 38:35
  I loved how Jacob came out and then Roman sort of teased him
• 38:38
  like, well, I'll speak to you next week and we'll see whether
• 38:40
  you're ready or not. And then Jacob's come out and
• 38:42
  then, you know, we've had like a vicious attack.
• 38:45
  You know, obviously Roman called him and netball baby, basically.
• 38:48
  And Jacob, like, was choking him out and giving him head butts at
• 38:51
  the same time. It was vicious.
• 38:52
  Like Jacob's saying, well, no, if you don't give us the
• 38:54
  opportunity, I'm going to take it.
• 38:56
  Like I'm here to take it. I'm not asking anymore.
• 38:59
  And I thought it was vicious. It was real how when Jacob left
• 39:04
  and he had like blood coming, he was out his mouth from doing the
• 39:07
  head butts and Roman was in the ring on the on the deck and he
• 39:10
  had the mic and he was like, you want you wanted a backlash.
• 39:13
  I'll see a backlash. It was vicious, real.
• 39:16
  It's family and like, I'm very excited to watch this match now,
• 39:19
  No. 100% like any kind of it's spanned over Smackdown and Raw
• 39:23
  really, because in on Smackdown and Roy, you've had Jacob come
• 39:27
  and look at how coming out of it looking more like a killer than
• 39:29
  he ever has. Because on Smackdown in the main
• 39:31
  event, you know, he more or less took out the whole MFTS on his
• 39:34
  own. Then he powers to roar and then
• 39:37
  there's there was a controlledness to what he did on
• 39:39
  Smackdown. But then when he gets face to
• 39:40
  face with Roman, he was unhinged.
• 39:42
  And yeah, like you say, it felt real.
• 39:43
  It was gritty. And I said last week, you know,
• 39:46
  I would never would have predicted that we were getting
• 39:47
  Roman Jacob a backlash. But now I'm super excited for
• 39:50
  it. And I think, yeah, I think it'll
• 39:53
  put Jacob on a really cool path because like I say, I don't
• 39:56
  think he's winning. But that's probably, I think, I
• 39:58
  don't think he is ready yet. I think we need that little bit
• 40:01
  more of a redemption where he nearly gets to the top.
• 40:02
  But this last week of smack down a row for Jacob, he just looks
• 40:06
  like this on unhinged, uncontrollable monster, which is
• 40:09
  what they've always kind of painted a mass, but even more
• 40:12
  so. Definitely.
• 40:14
  Now I love the end of it where Romans like I'll see you a
• 40:18
  backlash. And then Jacob was like, no, I'm
• 40:21
  not going to see it, but I want to see you.
• 40:22
  But I want to see you next week on Raw.
• 40:23
  I'm going to come see you on Monday and we'll come and get
• 40:26
  you again. Like it's wild, isn't?
• 40:28
  It's fantastic. Yeah, definitely.
• 40:30
  I think if it keeps going like this, we might get some kind of
• 40:33
  like what, because they have the like high Chief Simone matches,
• 40:36
  don't know that the tribal chief matches and stuff that might
• 40:38
  they might get some kind of street fight which between them
• 40:41
  two could be really interesting. Do you think it's kind of it's
• 40:45
  going to lead towards because obviously the Usos have
• 40:48
  realigned with them like 100% now.
• 40:50
  That was the beginning of Raw. Do you think you kind of have
• 40:52
  the Usos having to help Roman to win and you go back down a heel
• 40:56
  run with Roman, or do you think you just kind of keep him where
• 40:58
  he is, where he's kind of that that tweener at the minute?
• 41:02
  I think we'll keep him as a tweener even if the Usos get
• 41:04
  involved. I think it'll be too healish.
• 41:07
  I can see the program ending with like Jacob I got beat but
• 41:10
  would have took him to the limit and there'll be a respect there.
• 41:13
  And I can see Jacob being like in the shadows, but like when
• 41:17
  the family reading it, it'll turn up but then you'll vanish
• 41:20
  just as quick. Yeah, definitely.
• 41:23
  And it has been cool to see Roman kind of on row for two
• 41:25
  weeks in a row as well. That's quite good.
• 41:27
  So I'm glad that we're getting like a prior.
• 41:29
  I mean, it's only it's early days, but you did say after
• 41:31
  Mania that he's enough of the part time for now.
• 41:34
  So yeah, it's good to kind of see him getting involved in that
• 41:36
  title. Well it certainly is.
• 41:41
  My next positive was Bron Breaker.
• 41:45
  I just think since since Mania, I've enjoyed bronze promos.
• 41:49
  His energy, the way he moves, the way he talks.
• 41:53
  I think, I don't know what, I don't know why, but he just
• 41:55
  seems different now he's back from his injury.
• 41:57
  As if like he's not waiting anymore.
• 41:59
  Like he's here. He's here to do business.
• 42:02
  He's here to look good, sound good.
• 42:04
  He's here to be legit and he's here to be entertaining and
• 42:08
  like, I'm all for that. Now, on the other side of that,
• 42:10
  one of my items is the Seth promo.
• 42:12
  But I think all Braun I'm very happy with.
• 42:15
  Like I say, he seems to have a new energy about him since he
• 42:17
  came back. I don't know what your thoughts
• 42:18
  are, Luke. No, 100%.
• 42:19
  Like I think you'll have that kind of bit between his teeth.
• 42:21
  Won't he missed that opportunity have the match at Mania?
• 42:24
  So now we're getting a backlash. I agree with you that kind of
• 42:27
  Seth was the weaker part of it. And I think it's a bit of an
• 42:29
  interesting one because I'm looking forward to the match
• 42:31
  itself. Like for me, I think Bron has to
• 42:33
  win. So then it's kind of like it's
• 42:35
  interesting where that then leaves Seth Rollins really,
• 42:38
  because like I've kind of said before, more with someone who's
• 42:40
  kind of can take or leave Rollins as a character, like in
• 42:44
  the ring, you know, there's next to no one better than him.
• 42:46
  But it's the current I work. I've always struggled with him.
• 42:49
  So yeah, I think it's an interesting one to kind of see
• 42:51
  what happens once this one ends. But yeah, Bron Bron looks
• 42:53
  absolutely brilliant. And it just without repeating
• 42:56
  myself too much, I just he just doesn't need Paul him and does
• 42:58
  he? He's good on the mic and I think
• 42:59
  he's only going to get better. And this next year is massive
• 43:02
  for him. But if he doesn't win a title in
• 43:04
  the next year or at WrestleMania, like as in the
• 43:06
  world title, I'd be very, very surprised.
• 43:09
  Yeah, I think you're absolutely right there.
• 43:11
  I think for Seth promo, I thought it was a bit weak.
• 43:13
  I thought like call them baby Steiner and Steiner and
• 43:17
  referencing Steiner as if it was like like a dirty secret, as if
• 43:20
  we didn't know. But like we all know that.
• 43:22
  So I just thought it was like it was a cheap pop that wasn't even
• 43:25
  a pop. It was just like a bit
• 43:27
  nonsensical. Yeah, which again, is kind of
• 43:30
  why, like I think as a character, Seth Rollins is just
• 43:33
  hit and miss. Like obviously he was in The
• 43:35
  Vision and he now, like he's not.
• 43:36
  I know he's obviously been injured, but then it's I don't
• 43:38
  really know what this version of Seth Rollins is meant to be.
• 43:40
  Yes and yeah, that promo didn't really help add any extra kind
• 43:45
  of dimensions to what he's doing right now.
• 43:47
  But Brombray, I come out of it looking great as ever.
• 43:49
  Kind of onwards and upwards. And my last positive is I
• 43:55
  thought Jessie Jane and her faction debut in the like real
• 43:58
  heat, I thought that was just fantastic.
• 44:00
  And I think the the really, they came out and received the real
• 44:04
  heat and then they just seemed to really like just cooking it
• 44:08
  really well. I think I think they're going to
• 44:09
  be a great addition to the main roster.
• 44:11
  Yeah, that was one of my positives as well.
• 44:13
  I think I had a feeling that might bring all three of them
• 44:16
  up, but I wouldn't have been surprised if they didn't.
• 44:18
  But it's a group that's been doing great work for a long time
• 44:21
  in NXT, and I think it works nicely where you've got
• 44:24
  obviously JC as the leader and the other two that can kind of
• 44:26
  eat the pins. And I thought they just did a
• 44:28
  really, as far as like debuts for a faction goes, it's been
• 44:30
  one of the best ones for a while.
• 44:32
  Obviously the over 2 two or three segments on Smackdown, she
• 44:35
  got in there with the women's championship and they protected
• 44:37
  that way when it were non finished.
• 44:38
  So she hasn't like ate a pin on her first night because
• 44:41
  obviously if you look at Raw, yeah, there was reasons for it
• 44:44
  the week before, but soul Rook I lost to Liv Morgan, whereas JCJ
• 44:47
  and it went to a no contest. So it's kept them all looking
• 44:49
  really strong. And yeah, because that again,
• 44:52
  you read different things online.
• 44:53
  A lot of people right in the got that kind of heat because they
• 44:55
  were like the first new people to debut after everyone had
• 44:57
  found out about the releases. And that's why they got so much
• 45:00
  booze. Like because it was it was mad
• 45:02
  how much heat they got because yeah, there were heels in NXT.
• 45:05
  But yeah, it was interesting. I'd be interesting to see if
• 45:06
  that continues that. Why do you think they got such a
• 45:09
  strong response? It's a good thing, but why do
• 45:11
  you think that was? I'm just because like it was
• 45:14
  like rear. I think you've got these, you
• 45:18
  know, they're a heel faction, the cheat by the numbers,
• 45:21
  they're not fair. I think they look like they all
• 45:24
  look cameras don't get us wrong, but they've got that edge about
• 45:26
  them and like, yeah, I don't think journey people were like
• 45:32
  or are these going to come and like rule the rusty and sort of
• 45:35
  run run roughshod? You know, I think Jade had her
• 45:38
  little cronies, which I hired, but they weren't really our
• 45:41
  friends right in in B fab and what's our face?
• 45:45
  Yeah, yeah. So I think these are like a
• 45:47
  legit like threesome who are here to, like cause havoc.
• 45:51
  And I think people bought into that and bought into the sort of
• 45:54
  the shenanigans that they're going to cause reorably.
• 45:57
  Yeah, definitely. And I think because Paige, for
• 46:00
  me, there's more money in her as a solo act off the belt.
• 46:03
  I wouldn't be surprised if by backlash, their fatal influence
• 46:08
  have the women's tag titles as well, because that's a quick,
• 46:11
  quick one that I get them on that they they're legitimate tag
• 46:13
  team. You know, Brian, page on, get it
• 46:16
  done, move page on. Definitely.
• 46:20
  So is that kind of any more positives from you or is that
• 46:22
  kind of tick them boxes that what you've been enjoying this
• 46:24
  week? I kept the three the three the
• 46:27
  three things I really enjoyed. Obviously I've been living down
• 46:31
  housing, still doing everything that he's doing, been loving the
• 46:35
  skits at Mrs. House, loving what he's doing in the in coming out
• 46:38
  with the with the mobile. I love.
• 46:42
  So yeah, happy, happy, enjoying all of that.
• 46:44
  I don't know what you look if you've got any extra.
• 46:47
  Yeah, I've got some more positives that Dan, I was a mum
• 46:49
  was kind of on there as well. But again I know obviously you
• 46:51
  always bring them up but I think it makes a good point even
• 46:53
  though I completely disagree with them.
• 46:55
  So Melta this week has said that we are already over using Dan
• 46:58
  housing and it's a bit of A1 trick pony and people end up
• 47:01
  turning against them quickly if they don't kind of lay off how
• 47:04
  much they're using them. So I mean, what are your
• 47:07
  thoughts on that? Do you think they are using them
• 47:09
  too much? Do you think they're using them
• 47:10
  the right amount? You get about 3 minutes a week.
• 47:13
  How is that over using? Them exactly he's completely
• 47:16
  wrong like I do there's again with him there's kind of some
• 47:19
  kind of truth in what you say and we're like yeah if he was on
• 47:22
  every segment and every show then yeah there will be but he's
• 47:25
  not and it's a variety show and like act like the timeless Tony
• 47:31
  storm gimmick from time to time but that kind of gets rammed
• 47:35
  down your throat a bit and he thinks that's one of the
• 47:36
  greatest thing that's ever happened in wrestling so again
• 47:39
  there's lots of things he says that contradicts himself but no
• 47:41
  I thought it was great like you say this of his house was really
• 47:43
  funny and then again he's got he's got another win over them
• 47:46
  is now so it was a massive positive it was fun wasn't it
• 47:48
  and it. Was very fun.
• 47:49
  It was, it was fun. It was still new and fresh and
• 47:53
  yeah, he's, he's, he's still being an absolute menace to the
• 47:58
  WWE, isn't he? Yeah, and as well it's it's
• 48:01
  progressing it. He's in a feud with The Miz, do
• 48:03
  you know what I mean? So it's like, yeah, he's he's
• 48:05
  yeah. So he's like, it's not like he's
• 48:07
  just doing random. Like obviously there has been
• 48:09
  random interactions, but like generally like it's all been to
• 48:13
  do with him in The Miz, hasn't it?
• 48:14
  So it's it's something that it's a story that they're telling at
• 48:17
  the moment between two people. So it's not just random stuff
• 48:19
  that he's doing. Or Dean.
• 48:21
  It's going to build, right, because The Miz has a partner,
• 48:23
  right, in Kit Wilson. So at some point they're going
• 48:25
  to get the better room, I think. And that's when Donald is going
• 48:27
  to need a friend for A tag team match, right?
• 48:30
  Definitely, yeah. So, yeah.
• 48:31
  So I just thought like, because it was one of my positives.
• 48:33
  The week is just, again, I was finding interest in the stuff
• 48:35
  that he says because it's like there is a point to it, but you
• 48:38
  know, where close to be. I mean, did you see that
• 48:40
  Apparently, like he was the top seller at WrestleMania.
• 48:43
  It was Punk, Cody and Dan. I was in for merchandise.
• 48:46
  They were the three top sellers, but Russell.
• 48:49
  Yeah, so I mean, you know, people can get sick of things,
• 48:52
  but I don't think they're anywhere close to that yet.
• 48:53
  With Dan, I was and so yeah, again, and that's stupid point
• 48:55
  from him. But no, no, that positive for
• 48:58
  me, which kind of has a negative on the back of was the Derby
• 49:01
  Allen to MASO Chamber main event on AW.
• 49:04
  Did he catch that? I did not.
• 49:07
  So it was really good kind of dead.
• 49:09
  Derby's come out and said that kind of he's going to
• 49:10
  essentially defend every week till his body breaks down, which
• 49:13
  I don't know if I like for a world champion, like I think a
• 49:17
  mid card title getting defended every week.
• 49:19
  Fair enough. But if you're going to do that
• 49:21
  as a world champion, to me that says you're not holding it very
• 49:23
  long. So then it's kind of like why
• 49:26
  have you put it on you now? Because like we've kind of
• 49:29
  talked about a lot. I thought he was kind of the one
• 49:31
  where he should have been a much bigger deal and when he got it,
• 49:33
  you should probably have a long run and it means something.
• 49:35
  Whereas I get the feeling you're not going to get that with them.
• 49:38
  However, the main event between him and Shamma was fantastic.
• 49:41
  It was bloody. They took massive bumps that you
• 49:43
  would expect. It kind of went nearly 20
• 49:45
  minutes and it it was just like a great first outing for Derby
• 49:49
  Allen. And then the negative off the
• 49:51
  back of it is that he's facing Brody King next week.
• 49:54
  Fine again. Think that could be really
• 49:56
  interesting match, especially because of the kind of mismatch
• 49:58
  and size. But on the same show, Brody King
• 50:01
  had a match with Leo Rush. Are you familiar with Leo Rush,
• 50:05
  the new gimmick? Is he a demon?
• 50:08
  Was he a demon? Dog, he's like a demon dog
• 50:10
  golem, I think, which again, it's I'm quite interested by it.
• 50:15
  So it's not negative from me that from but that match with
• 50:18
  Brody King and Leo Rush went about 12 minutes, which I just
• 50:21
  thought like nobody really knows what this Leo Rush gimmick is
• 50:24
  yet. It's not like fucking main event
• 50:27
  stuff. So like, why is it taking Brody
• 50:28
  King so long to beat this golem character to then get a title
• 50:32
  match against Derby Allen? So I just thought the book and
• 50:34
  of that was weird, like really what he should have done,
• 50:37
  especially because it's a size difference.
• 50:38
  It's just squash them in like 3 or 4 minutes and then he's like,
• 50:41
  right, I'm on a Derby Allen. But instead you had this like,
• 50:43
  really drawn out, silly match really, and now he's the next
• 50:47
  challenger for the title. So again, I thought it was a bit
• 50:50
  of a backwards book and move. Also, do you think you want to
• 50:54
  whoever has step up with Derby needs to be going in the Derby
• 50:56
  like being the bee's knees, right?
• 50:59
  Yeah, I mean, obviously because of his size, he's always going
• 51:01
  to be that threat to him. But yeah, I'll be interested to
• 51:03
  see where they go with that. And then kind of the final
• 51:06
  negative I had, which is more of a kind of a self.
• 51:09
  It made me self reflect and question myself where have I
• 51:12
  have we been spoiled a bit and have I have I be like me
• 51:15
  personally? Have I been dumbed down by NXT?
• 51:18
  Now the reason I ask that is because I was I watch NXT all
• 51:21
  the time. So when these guys debut on the
• 51:23
  main roster, I've got like a full understanding of who their
• 51:25
  characters are. Whereas AW doesn't have an NXT.
• 51:29
  So you've got that, does it? What?
• 51:32
  See, I've got Kevin Knight is the TNT Champion at the moment,
• 51:36
  but because he seemed come from nowhere, I know he was Trio's
• 51:40
  champion, but even then I think he was still fairly new.
• 51:43
  I've kind of got this guy's the TNT Champion who's now meant to
• 51:47
  be a bit of a threat to MGF when he defends it next week.
• 51:50
  But I don't know anything about him.
• 51:52
  But that is obviously kind of how it used to be.
• 51:55
  But I think, do you know what I'm saying?
• 51:56
  Like, have I been dumbed down by NXT where if I don't have a full
• 51:59
  back story on someone straight away, I'm a bit like a struggle
• 52:02
  to kind of invest in you? I don't think so.
• 52:05
  I think because I don't know who he is.
• 52:07
  I don't know where he's worked before so.
• 52:09
  Nowhere really, because I did make a point to look in that
• 52:11
  because I thought people go, well, actually you'll find that
• 52:13
  he did this, this and this way. He hasn't really.
• 52:15
  He was on the Indies and he's young and then he's been signed.
• 52:19
  AW, so, yeah. So he hasn't done anything huge
• 52:23
  before, AW, but now he's kind of by injury really ended up TNT
• 52:27
  champion. But yeah, I just struggled the
• 52:29
  kind of care because I don't really know anything about him.
• 52:35
  Yeah, I don't know much about me.
• 52:37
  So you've got so much talent who could be TNT champion that you
• 52:40
  could have put that belt on anyone.
• 52:42
  I mean, maybe the building this night guy up and which was cool.
• 52:44
  If they do build him and this is the beginning of his build and
• 52:46
  he becomes like a great mid court and then maybe a world
• 52:48
  champion in the future, I think fantastic.
• 52:50
  But they've got so much talent there who maybe could have had
• 52:53
  that belt instead. No, 100%, like even his is is
• 52:59
  tag partner on the trio stuff, Speedball, Mike Bailey.
• 53:02
  I think it's great. But like again, he'd done stuff
• 53:04
  in like TNA and I knew a bit about him and they've pushed him
• 53:07
  a bit more on AW. So like if he had it becomes TNT
• 53:10
  champion, that would have made more sense and I would have had
• 53:12
  more investment in it. But yeah, it just seemed like a
• 53:14
  weird one. But then I was like, am I just
• 53:16
  being overly negative because I've been spoon fed character
• 53:19
  development by watching so much LXT?
• 53:22
  No, I don't think so. I think I think you're very
• 53:23
  valid. It's just think they've got
• 53:25
  people like Cesaro, right, Who they've got to a ring of on CMLL
• 53:29
  stuff where like he would be a great TNT Champion, right?
• 53:33
  He could have even just put the belt straight back on chamber
• 53:36
  like, because that's the I think champ was great.
• 53:37
  But yeah, I just thought it was a bit of a weird one that he's
• 53:39
  the champion and then that I meant to be like, I feel like
• 53:42
  MGF wins the tight tonight. That AW feel like MGF just takes
• 53:45
  the title off from the night and then it's like, well what was
• 53:47
  the point in that? Yeah.
• 53:49
  But we'll see. We will see.
• 53:51
  See what happens tonight on AW. So I've got two more negatives
• 53:55
  left. So one, it's not really a
• 53:57
  negative, but it is a bit. So the Oba Femi open challenge,
• 54:00
  I feel it could be cool and fun in a way where we see Oba Femi
• 54:04
  destroy people every week. That's fun, fantastic.
• 54:08
  But I do think it means that they are worried to pull the
• 54:11
  trigger and Oba Femi going into a main event feud or any type of
• 54:15
  main feud, like if he's just squashing people every week in
• 54:18
  an open challenge, we're not really seeing them like do any
• 54:22
  good story stuff. No, definitely.
• 54:25
  And like it doesn't work for me is like him being a face because
• 54:30
  what you like. So use an example of it.
• 54:31
  So Chris Masters had the Master lock challenge.
• 54:33
  I know we're going back, but Chris Masters was this kind of
• 54:36
  arrogant prick heal who you wanted someone to break the
• 54:39
  master lock for, whereas with over Femi, it's like you meant
• 54:43
  to be building them up. So like you don't really want to
• 54:45
  see them lose. So therefore what's the point?
• 54:48
  Like for me, I would have just used them sparingly and then
• 54:51
  have them win King of the ring. Like build them as an
• 54:54
  attraction. Like I don't feel like you
• 54:55
  needed to be like on every week. And like I say, the open
• 54:58
  challenge for me, I don't know where it leads to because the
• 55:01
  only thing something that can eventually lead to is him
• 55:03
  getting beat. So it's like he's only just kind
• 55:07
  of arrived as this dominant force.
• 55:08
  So yeah, it's a funny 1. So it's early days, so we'll see
• 55:12
  how it goes. But I definitely think, yeah, it
• 55:14
  would fall into the negative for me as well because it just
• 55:16
  doesn't really make any sense. Then my last negative of the
• 55:21
  week is Joe Hendry's debut on Raw.
• 55:27
  I like Joe Henry a lot and he's doing great work in NXTI feel
• 55:30
  that we should have waited to debut him a little bit longer.
• 55:33
  I feel he's come out, he's done a really cool song.
• 55:36
  Like his presentation was fine and you know, he did Joe Henry
• 55:39
  stuff, but I think he's involved in this vision mix up and I just
• 55:43
  think he's not really the spotlight.
• 55:46
  No, not at all. Did you?
• 55:48
  Do you think the song was a bit torn deaf as well?
• 55:50
  Singing a song about fire and Logan Paul when loads of people
• 55:52
  have been released that week? Or is that just thinking too
• 55:54
  much into it? I think that was like the point
• 55:58
  to get people like, oh, well, we could have fired Logan like the
• 56:01
  the mega marks would be like, Oh yeah, get rid of one YouTube and
• 56:05
  we'll keep like seven of our indie dolans.
• 56:07
  Joe Hendry's right. Like, I think, I think that's
• 56:09
  what was designed to do. Yeah.
• 56:11
  And I thought, Joe, what it was. I thought the way the vision
• 56:14
  came out in the way I love the way that Logan Paul's talking
• 56:18
  and working at the minute and he came out like, and I bought what
• 56:21
  he was, how his reaction, I bought a blind singer.
• 56:24
  Fantastic. But I think Joe Henry's debuted
• 56:27
  and he's got involved in this and he's essentially just a side
• 56:30
  piece to what's going on between the vision and the street
• 56:33
  prophets. Yeah, I love Logan Paul.
• 56:35
  Did you see him talking to Stephanie McMahon about how you
• 56:38
  beat the Elite 6 on Pokémon Red? No, I did not.
• 56:41
  That's all. It's class like she's not a fun
• 56:43
  clue what he's going on about. But she said that and she was
• 56:45
  like, she was good crack with it.
• 56:46
  But yeah, he went into like full detail of the best team you need
• 56:49
  to put together beat the Elite 6.
• 56:51
  And I like them at WrestleMania where there was the photo
• 56:54
  opportunities. But it was it was a meet, not a
• 56:57
  greet. So if anyone spoke to him, he
• 57:00
  said he would speak to them, but they should really need to pay a
• 57:02
  bit more money because it's not a meet and greet I thought was
• 57:04
  great work. No, it is fantastic.
• 57:06
  So, yeah, I'm I'm a big Logan Paul fan.
• 57:08
  I think he is good. And yeah, I think he's he's
• 57:10
  doing a lot of the heavy lifting in this vision tag team because
• 57:13
  Austin Theory, as much as I think there is something there,
• 57:15
  I don't think this is the thing that's unlocked it.
• 57:17
  And I think he might be running out of opportunities and he's
• 57:19
  kind of sticking out like a bit of a sore, sore thumb again,
• 57:22
  where he's kind of the other guy, the Morty Jannetti, if you
• 57:24
  will, to quote back your lunch from roll.
• 57:26
  Yeah. So I want to have Joe Henry,
• 57:27
  Dave, you later like at a point where he can be, he can be the
• 57:30
  main focus of what he's doing. No, definitely.
• 57:34
  Yeah. It's a bit of a bit of a funny
• 57:35
  1, isn't it? So I don't know if they're just
• 57:37
  hoping that he's another one where they can kind of get quick
• 57:40
  T-shirt sales off of because he has got that kind of strong
• 57:42
  online following. But yeah, we'll see.
• 57:43
  It's early days. But yeah, I think as we talked
• 57:46
  about last week when we knew he was coming this week, we'll feel
• 57:49
  that you might get lost on the shuffle.
• 57:50
  And I think if you go off week one, that's the way it's looking
• 57:53
  at the moment. But it's early days.
• 57:56
  It is indeed. And Joanne is great if anybody
• 57:57
  can make it work at him. So I have faith in that.
• 58:00
  But I'll just as we said the other week, I think there's a
• 58:03
  company like you don't need to put all the ingredients in the
• 58:05
  pan at the same time. So I think obviously they held
• 58:07
  them off one week from the original debuts, but I think you
• 58:10
  could have held off until after backlash, I think.
• 58:12
  Yeah, I think sometimes as well. He's just a bit like there was
• 58:15
  nothing really, I think nothing really else left from me doing
• 58:18
  NXT. So which isn't the best reason
• 58:21
  to get called up, but yeah, we'll see.
• 58:23
  Well, hopefully I see if anyone can make it work, it will be
• 58:25
  him. But yeah, it's not not the best
• 58:27
  start. It was a bit lukewarm.
• 58:32
  Certainly was. So that kind of conducts all we
• 58:35
  can review, doesn't it? Does indeed him.
• 58:37
  Our next segment is a moment in time.
• 58:39
  That's where we choose a wrestling match, a moment in
• 58:41
  event, something that we think is great and really interesting
• 58:45
  and something that we think maybe is worth looking back on
• 58:49
  and commenting on. Something that maybe doesn't get
• 58:50
  talked about as much as like the huge moments like Hogan slamming
• 58:54
  Andre or Rockin Austin or Rockin Hogan, Bretton Michaels, those
• 59:00
  type of things. And I've chosen this week's and
• 59:02
  it is from SummerSlam 2002 and it is Rey Mysterio versus Kurt
• 59:09
  Angle. Do What do you remember from
• 59:12
  this SummerSlam, Luke? So I remember it really well
• 59:14
  because it was one of the 1st pay per views I got on DVD and
• 59:19
  Rey Mysterio debuting was massive for me because like I
• 59:22
  was, you know, I would have been 12.
• 59:24
  So it was just at that age still where like this guy in a mask,
• 59:27
  you know, like a superhero was cool as fuck.
• 59:28
  Because all, all any old, any WCW stuff I'd really seen the
• 59:33
  kind of because of the times that we lived in, it was the
• 59:35
  back end. So Rey wasn't even wearing a
• 59:37
  mask. So this kind of, you know,
• 59:39
  almost it was like a repackaging for me.
• 59:41
  It got us really excited and this pay-per-view use one that I
• 59:44
  remember really well generally because of just how stacked the
• 59:46
  card is and it's not just kind of rear versus Kurtz.
• 59:50
  Kurtz first ever as occur, sorry, raise, first ever
• 59:53
  pay-per-view match, isn't it? And then what?
• 59:55
  We're now 2002. I start like 14 years ago and
• 59:58
  he's still going strong. It's just absolutely
• 1:00:00
  unbelievable. 24 years, man. 24 year of course if fucking is
• 1:00:04
  mental, especially when you think like his career is just
• 1:00:07
  mental because like I said, I know as a 12 year old I didn't
• 1:00:10
  really know any much about his WCW career, but like he had a
• 1:00:12
  full career in WCW before even go to WE And like here we are 24
• 1:00:17
  years later and he's still like fucking big part of WrestleMania
• 1:00:20
  Hall of Famer looking better than ever.
• 1:00:23
  No, definitely speaking Hall of Fame.
• 1:00:25
  Also this card, the whole card, I think, I think everybody on
• 1:00:28
  this card is probably either is a Hall of Fame or will be a Hall
• 1:00:32
  of Fame or or maybe 2. So the card, so Kurt Angle maybe
• 1:00:36
  see you open the card, believe it or not, obviously both Hall
• 1:00:38
  of Famers. The second match is Rick Flair
• 1:00:40
  versus Chris Jericho, both Hall of Famers.
• 1:00:43
  The next match is Edge and Eddie Guerrero, both Hall of Famers.
• 1:00:47
  The next one is the UN Americans, which is Christian
• 1:00:49
  and landstorm. I would say Christian is
• 1:00:50
  definitely a Hall of Famer. Landstorm question mark versus
• 1:00:53
  Bucatin Goldust. I'd say both Hall of Famers.
• 1:00:56
  Rob Van Damme and Chris Benoir, both Hall of Famers, Undertaker
• 1:00:59
  and Test. I'll put a question mark on Test
• 1:01:02
  maybe being a Hall of Famer. Shawn Michaels and Triple H in
• 1:01:04
  an unsanctioned match, a proper unsanctioned match, both Hall of
• 1:01:07
  Famers. And then Lesnar versus Rock in
• 1:01:11
  the main event, both Hall of Famers.
• 1:01:12
  So what an absolute stacked card this is.
• 1:01:15
  Yeah. And when kind of like doing a
• 1:01:17
  little bit of research on kind of this whole bit of you kind of
• 1:01:19
  a lot of people kind of you wrestling historians of this
• 1:01:22
  world, of this world kind of see this is like the first
• 1:01:24
  pay-per-view of the Ruthless Aggression era.
• 1:01:27
  So kind of looking at that card, would you say that's fair?
• 1:01:29
  I definitely would. Yeah, definitely.
• 1:01:32
  Obviously it's like Brock's first title match and obviously
• 1:01:34
  he beats The Rock for his first WWE title.
• 1:01:38
  I think Brock, you've got Rey Mysterio, Edge, Guerrero, I'd
• 1:01:43
  put in there and I would say definitely they were kind of big
• 1:01:45
  cornerstones and Benoir as well were kind of big cornerstones of
• 1:01:49
  that ruthless aggression here. I weren't there.
• 1:01:51
  Yeah, it's a Smackdown 6, isn't it?
• 1:01:52
  It's it's Paul Haven, Smackdown 6 wrestling.
• 1:01:56
  Then on the Raw side of it, you've got like Jared Gordon
• 1:01:58
  Flair, do you know what I mean? Like doing great stuff, Michaels
• 1:02:01
  and Triple H on the Raw side, so you got bona fide legends at the
• 1:02:06
  time on the Raw side, and then like the best workers who become
• 1:02:09
  Hall of Famers on the Smackdown side doing great.
• 1:02:11
  No, it's I'll rewatch this pay-per-view as well, kind of in
• 1:02:14
  the lead over this. And it's just that there's not a
• 1:02:16
  bad match on it. Like even Undertaker versus test
• 1:02:19
  because like you forget that ever even happened.
• 1:02:22
  Was that was kind of fun to watch as a spectacle to kind of
• 1:02:24
  see test in there with the Undertaker and especially
• 1:02:27
  because like going on from this, like take a goes on to face
• 1:02:31
  Brock for three months for the title.
• 1:02:32
  So you probably might not necessarily think that like when
• 1:02:35
  he's facing tests that summer slam.
• 1:02:38
  It's like, yeah, he's got his little cool off my Chazy while
• 1:02:40
  Lesnar's keeping up. And then it's like they're going
• 1:02:42
  to go into a program to go straight away.
• 1:02:47
  So just a bit. So this is at the Nassau
• 1:02:48
  Colosseum. So the storyline is as he said,
• 1:02:52
  Rey Monsieur had recently debuted.
• 1:02:54
  So on July 25th episode of Smackdown, Rey Mysterio debuted.
• 1:02:58
  He defeats Travel Guerrero on in August on Smackdown.
• 1:03:06
  No sorry sorry. He defeats Travel in July.
• 1:03:09
  In August on Smackdown he teams with Edge and John Cena and the
• 1:03:12
  defeat Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle.
• 1:03:14
  Mysterio pins Angle that match that leads to Angle in Sultan
• 1:03:20
  Mysterio. In a backstage interview,
• 1:03:21
  Mysterio confronts him and challenges him to a match at
• 1:03:24
  Summer Slam. Angle accepts the late of the
• 1:03:26
  night. Mysterio attacked Angle after
• 1:03:27
  his match against Mark Henry, delivers the sixth line to
• 1:03:29
  Angle, and then on Later on in August the 22nd on Smackdown,
• 1:03:34
  Mysterio cost Angle a match against Billy Kidman by her tack
• 1:03:36
  Angle. So Ray's almost working a bit
• 1:03:38
  like the heel here, but he's not being healed.
• 1:03:41
  He's almost like he's having to use his speed and he's having to
• 1:03:44
  like use his tricks against like the Olympic gold medalists, you
• 1:03:48
  know what I mean? No, definitely.
• 1:03:50
  And that's exactly what this kind of match is, isn't it?
• 1:03:52
  It's Kurt kind of being the well established kind of vet, hard
• 1:03:55
  hitting and re having to dig in every every trick he's got in
• 1:03:59
  his bag to try and kind of counteract this kind of rest
• 1:04:01
  this wrestling machine. Kurt Angle, because he's very
• 1:04:03
  much on that wrestling machine mode, isn't he at this point in
• 1:04:06
  his career, Kurt. Yeah, and that like Kurt looks
• 1:04:09
  absolutely jacked to the gills when he comes out.
• 1:04:10
  He is a wrestling machine. I think the very much Bill rears
• 1:04:13
  this cruiser beat from WCW. Who it's fantastic, you know,
• 1:04:17
  luchador, but like can he handle the heavy hit as is what the
• 1:04:20
  sort of questioning here? The match is 9 minutes and 19
• 1:04:24
  seconds and we get sort of everything in this.
• 1:04:27
  I think the reason why I picked this match, basically, I think
• 1:04:30
  it's a perfect clash of styles, the wrestling machine versus the
• 1:04:33
  quickness and aerial arsenal of Rey Mysterio.
• 1:04:36
  You know it. The matches have lent this, I
• 1:04:39
  think from opening belt to a finishing.
• 1:04:41
  It's never boring. Just as it's ought to slow down,
• 1:04:44
  it speeds back again, which is fantastic.
• 1:04:47
  It's got great story time for all of it, and the finishes
• 1:04:51
  pretty impressive. I think just the just the fact
• 1:04:56
  that you said, you know, it's 9 minutes, like I think that might
• 1:04:58
  be one of those matches where like you could show to anyone
• 1:05:02
  wanting to be a wrestler and say this is absolutely how you
• 1:05:04
  maximize kind of your minutes where like there's not a wasted
• 1:05:08
  moment in it. And like you say, it's literally
• 1:05:10
  from because obviously the match starts, doesn't it, with rare
• 1:05:11
  kind of coming up 1 angle from behind and then you just offer
• 1:05:14
  the races for like this rush rush, 9 minute hard hitting
• 1:05:18
  affair. But like as quick and as hard
• 1:05:20
  hitting it is, it never ever actually feels rushed, does it?
• 1:05:23
  No. Not at all.
• 1:05:25
  Just feels like you're on a roller coaster.
• 1:05:27
  Like just like. Wow, what have I just
• 1:05:29
  encountered? Yeah, which I think Michael Cole
• 1:05:32
  even refers to rears like a theme park ride at one point.
• 1:05:34
  So yeah, that's a very good analogy there.
• 1:05:37
  Isn't he? But yeah, I think the match
• 1:05:38
  demonstrates how 2 masters of different styles can put on a
• 1:05:41
  high stakes competitive contest without needing a long duration
• 1:05:44
  and without being the main event.
• 1:05:46
  And I think you've got a thing as well.
• 1:05:47
  It was probably like a huge moment for Ray because like, if
• 1:05:52
  he goes out there and it just doesn't work, do the company
• 1:05:54
  then think right shit with, you know, do they have as much faith
• 1:05:58
  in him as they do? Because like I say, if that if
• 1:05:59
  that first kind of match doesn't go as well as it does, you know
• 1:06:02
  who, you know, he might not end up going on have the career that
• 1:06:04
  he does. I mean, he's rim.
• 1:06:05
  It's serial, so he probably would have, but I bet there was
• 1:06:07
  a lot of pressure for that match to kind of be as good as it
• 1:06:10
  ended up being. No, Daphne, I think it's great
• 1:06:13
  for Kurt. Kurt gets to work with the great
• 1:06:14
  Luchidorn like works seamlessly with another style.
• 1:06:18
  He doesn't really use much wrestle much and do we read you
• 1:06:20
  what I mean? So I think for both of them,
• 1:06:21
  it's immense and has been like, yeah, like you can build the
• 1:06:24
  next 10 years around these two guys.
• 1:06:27
  Which they do. They do indeed.
• 1:06:30
  So yes, so I think you know, Angle comes out first.
• 1:06:33
  He's looking nice and jacked, raise music hits and he's
• 1:06:37
  doesn't come out and all of a sudden he appears from behind.
• 1:06:40
  It's again it's I wouldn't say it's healish, which cheeky.
• 1:06:43
  I refer to it as cheeky. Yeah, definitely.
• 1:06:47
  Yeah. He's the cheeky mask wear.
• 1:06:49
  Yeah. There's no maliciousness to it.
• 1:06:50
  He's just doing what he has to do.
• 1:06:51
  Yeah, and he sort of pops up from behind.
• 1:06:54
  He does a springboard into a hurricane start the match,
• 1:06:57
  catches an angle off guard, hits him another hurricane on us
• 1:07:00
  straight away, which is absolutely mental.
• 1:07:04
  And you know, he ends up in into, you know, all kinds of
• 1:07:08
  shenanigans. Anik Kurt.
• 1:07:11
  Then he called Kurt Anakin there, which is a mixing the
• 1:07:14
  podcasts. Different podcasts, that means.
• 1:07:16
  Different podcasts everyone, but yeah, I love it.
• 1:07:21
  Kurt ends up picking the picking the leg of Ray pretty early on,
• 1:07:26
  tries to get him the ankle lock, but Ray kicks him off into the
• 1:07:28
  ropes. He comes back and he's able to
• 1:07:31
  lock it in, but Ray gets to the ropes.
• 1:07:34
  So again, sort of the TS in that Ray is hitting him quite fast
• 1:07:36
  and hitting him and stuff, but when Angle can, he's going for
• 1:07:38
  the ankle and he is getting it, but then Ray is quickly getting
• 1:07:41
  off it as fast as he can. So the RTS in that Ray is
• 1:07:44
  concerned about this ankle lock and he knows he needs to stay
• 1:07:46
  away from it. We see a drop toe hold into
• 1:07:51
  nearly a 619, but Kurt's able to slide out and he pulls Ray
• 1:07:56
  outside of the ring pretty heavily by the leg.
• 1:07:58
  Again, Ray's bumping for fun here.
• 1:08:00
  I know angles are big in Jack. Like I said, Ray's flying around
• 1:08:03
  form and making everything look real as he can.
• 1:08:05
  And I think some of the moves that angle does too, Ray like do
• 1:08:09
  look really stiff. Again, just muscles have their
• 1:08:13
  cracked working. Yeah, angles working.
• 1:08:18
  Raised back with different kinds of kicks, then hits him with a
• 1:08:22
  suplex. Rear comes off the ropes, looks
• 1:08:29
  like he's going to go for a seated centre on but he ends up
• 1:08:33
  getting whipped in this like vicious German suplex.
• 1:08:35
  I don't know if you know what I'm talking about, Luke would.
• 1:08:36
  I do. It was one of my high.
• 1:08:37
  It was one of my highlights of the match.
• 1:08:39
  It just looked fucking nasty. It was excellent.
• 1:08:41
  Like just it was a type of thing where you wouldn't be surprised
• 1:08:44
  if I can really miss you had a whiplash from it.
• 1:08:45
  It was actually, it was one of my highlights of the match that
• 1:08:47
  if you had to pick one moment, it was like 4.
• 1:08:49
  Goodell. Yeah, it goes to the centenary
• 1:08:51
  almost like comes over the top of him.
• 1:08:52
  Then he, like I said, Kurt like throws him into this like German
• 1:08:55
  release suplex, what sort of research he holds on and he goes
• 1:08:59
  for another. Anybody goes for this or that
• 1:09:01
  German suplex. Ray is like hang out at the
• 1:09:03
  roofs for dear life, isn't he? He's really sad at the fact that
• 1:09:06
  Ray is petrified of the ankle lock and he's petrified of these
• 1:09:09
  suplexes, as do these homework and he knows what he needs to
• 1:09:12
  stay away from. And then there's a almost a part
• 1:09:15
  where like when Ray does get the counters in, Kurt looks like
• 1:09:17
  fucking furious with himself that he's let himself like allow
• 1:09:20
  that to happen, that there's nice little kind of bit of
• 1:09:22
  storytelling about that as well. Yeah, as bits when raised, but
• 1:09:25
  doing things where it comes out of the blue and you can see
• 1:09:28
  Angle being like I need to be careful here, I'm going to get
• 1:09:30
  rolled up and it's going to be over before I realise it.
• 1:09:34
  And then rear, rear does roll them up.
• 1:09:37
  Angle kicks out. He hits rear with sort of a
• 1:09:41
  pretty stiff looking claws line which is pretty cool.
• 1:09:44
  He hits rear with a back breaker and then he sort of puts him in
• 1:09:50
  this back submission where he's using the ropes of the raft
• 1:09:52
  counter like 5 and Kurt's breaking it up.
• 1:09:55
  The account of four, excuse me, but again, it just reassigned
• 1:09:59
  it. He's in the ropes.
• 1:10:01
  It looks like absolutely vicious and the crowd's hot, but it's
• 1:10:04
  the first match of the people view and the crowd out chatting
• 1:10:07
  angle sucks like they really are behind Rey Mysterio here.
• 1:10:10
  Yeah, hot New York crowd, isn't it?
• 1:10:12
  And that's that type of area, isn't it?
• 1:10:14
  It is indeed New Jersey. Every vessel right there in New
• 1:10:16
  York. And then rear's getting a pub in
• 1:10:19
  the corner. Reid ducks, he fights back, he
• 1:10:24
  ends up sort of trying to Irish with Kurt.
• 1:10:27
  Then Kurt reverses it but really comes back off the turnbuckle,
• 1:10:31
  but he gets caught by angle and gets another vicious
• 1:10:33
  Backbreaker. It's almost like there's like 5
• 1:10:36
  different phases that each move where at each point it looks
• 1:10:39
  like the other one's going to get the upper hand until like
• 1:10:41
  they sort of reverse it. It's just wonderful stuff.
• 1:10:45
  It's like rear using all these speed to try and reverse things
• 1:10:48
  and angle reversing it again using these technical attributes
• 1:10:51
  and it is like it's like 2 styles of meshing to make a
• 1:10:54
  beautiful recipe. We have the Backbreaker, we have
• 1:10:59
  the kick out. Angle then puts Ray in the half.
• 1:11:02
  Boston crab. He's working Ray's back, Ray
• 1:11:04
  selling it. Ray's able to escape into a roll
• 1:11:07
  up again. So it's like he doesn't just
• 1:11:08
  escape, but he rolls Kurt up. You know, Kurt kicks out.
• 1:11:11
  But again, Kurt knows that like this Ray, when I think I've got
• 1:11:14
  him, he ends up reversing it and like, I nearly get beat and
• 1:11:18
  it's, you know, he's so dangerous that way.
• 1:11:19
  And in his frustration, Ray takes another vicious clothes
• 1:11:23
  line from Angle. Again, the crowd's hot, hating
• 1:11:28
  on chanting for Ray very anti angle.
• 1:11:32
  Rear fights back. He hits angle with a jaw break
• 1:11:34
  out. He comes off the ropes and he
• 1:11:36
  gets hit with a belly to belly suplex by Kurt Angle.
• 1:11:39
  So again, just when rear gets the upper hand, he hits this
• 1:11:42
  angle hits him with a vicious belly, a belly.
• 1:11:45
  Angle then takes the straps down, which we know is sort of
• 1:11:47
  goal time for Kurt Angle. He goes to hit him in angle
• 1:11:51
  slam. But again, this match is full of
• 1:11:53
  them. Rear versus the angle slamming
• 1:11:55
  to an arm drag. Rear then pulls the rope down.
• 1:11:58
  Angle goes out to the outside. Rear then goes to sort of do a
• 1:12:02
  top rope move dive. The ref gets in the way and
• 1:12:05
  stops it. He's checking on angle.
• 1:12:06
  Rear then comes off the rope and dives over the ref, over the top
• 1:12:09
  rope into a sort of a seated centre type maneuver on the
• 1:12:11
  Kurt, which again is absolutely fantastic.
• 1:12:14
  The refs checking on angle rear come.
• 1:12:19
  Sorry, that's what I've just said.
• 1:12:20
  Yes, rear hits him rear, then Kirk goes back in the ring and
• 1:12:25
  rear hits him like a springboard leg drop on the back of Angles
• 1:12:27
  head which I thought was really cool.
• 1:12:29
  Angle kicks out with two. At this point I did notice or
• 1:12:32
  even though all this wrestling is fantastic, I did notice a
• 1:12:35
  sign the crowd saying a stiffy 316 which I really enjoyed.
• 1:12:39
  Yeah, you don't get many of them anymore, do you?
• 1:12:40
  I feel like the signs aren't as creative as they used to be.
• 1:12:43
  No, definitely not. That was partly accurate.
• 1:12:45
  They confiscate a lot of signs don't if you if you believe the
• 1:12:47
  Internet. So maybe that's why.
• 1:12:49
  Yeah, but not not then, though, not yet.
• 1:12:51
  But yes, quick, quick stiffy 316 break with the sign and it's
• 1:12:55
  again a fast back and forth. Ray comes off the turnbuckles,
• 1:13:01
  but he's slammed down the mark by angle and he he tries to get
• 1:13:04
  me ankle lock. Re escapes ankle lock by kicking
• 1:13:07
  out kicking a Curt into the ropes.
• 1:13:11
  Ray hits the 619 and then he hits the West Coast pop.
• 1:13:14
  So this is before Ray had the sprog splash.
• 1:13:17
  So Ray hits the 619 and he comes up to do sort of the the West
• 1:13:20
  Coast pop, which is like a hurricane on our slash pin.
• 1:13:23
  Kirk kicks out two. We get a sort of a heel kick
• 1:13:33
  leads to sort of a top rope where sort of Rays on the top.
• 1:13:37
  Springboard drop kick. Isn't it the angle when he's
• 1:13:39
  stuck on the top? Yeah, so, well, Kurt charges
• 1:13:42
  them first, then they end up swapping place again, like it's
• 1:13:44
  a back and forth of ultimate reversals.
• 1:13:46
  And then, yeah, it ends with like this springboard dropkick
• 1:13:50
  to Kurt on the on the in the ring.
• 1:13:52
  Rear goes to the top rope for a hurricorana.
• 1:13:56
  It's reverse into the ankle lock.
• 1:13:59
  Rear stretches for the ropes and then angle like drags right back
• 1:14:02
  in like the corner of the ring where like he's so far away from
• 1:14:05
  the other corner and really ends up tapping and sort of angle
• 1:14:08
  releases the whole pretty much straight away, which is good to
• 1:14:10
  see. And yeah, Ray is defeated, but
• 1:14:13
  it's absolutely fantastic match and like there's times here
• 1:14:16
  where Ray almost has angles number.
• 1:14:19
  Yeah, and I think it was the right call, wasn't it?
• 1:14:21
  Haven't Kurt go over because, yeah, you know, raise the big
• 1:14:23
  debut and star if you want to look at that way.
• 1:14:25
  But like, his old story still this day is, you know, he's like
• 1:14:28
  the old underdog, isn't he? So kind of real losing against
• 1:14:31
  kind of. Do we do we established top star
• 1:14:33
  Kurt Angle doesn't take away from anything at all.
• 1:14:36
  Where is going to go from this? Does it?
• 1:14:40
  Definitely not. Do you feel the only be in the
• 1:14:42
  ring 9 minutes right and like anybody else in the court has
• 1:14:46
  now got like a battle on the hands to try and compete with
• 1:14:49
  this. Oh, yeah.
• 1:14:50
  I think it's one of those ones where like, you know, I have to
• 1:14:53
  go away and do a bit more research, but you could, if you
• 1:14:56
  did a top ten of best opening matches of a paper, you ever bet
• 1:14:59
  that would be in the top 10. Yeah, I think so.
• 1:15:02
  For a lot of people, obviously it's an objective thing, making
• 1:15:04
  a list, but yeah, but for a lot of people that would that would
• 1:15:06
  definitely come in that top ten of opening matches for a paper
• 1:15:08
  view. No, it certainly would.
• 1:15:10
  Have you got any final thoughts on Ray versus Kurt?
• 1:15:13
  It's Summer Slam 2002. Just that like, yeah, like you
• 1:15:16
  kind of you forget how much of a big deal that did make of Ray
• 1:15:19
  from the start, which I think of that time in WA was probably
• 1:15:23
  quite unheard of really because of his size.
• 1:15:26
  And yeah, I see it was just a fantastic match.
• 1:15:28
  I think you've found it. They hit the nail on the head by
• 1:15:30
  saying it was all like on paper, it might have been a mismatch, a
• 1:15:34
  mixed mash of styles that wouldn't have worked.
• 1:15:36
  But obviously just trying to show us how, you know, when you
• 1:15:38
  put two of the greats in there, it doesn't matter what the
• 1:15:40
  styles are, they'll produce something like that.
• 1:15:42
  It was absolutely fantastic. And it kind of made us go back
• 1:15:45
  and just like kind of double check.
• 1:15:47
  I think I knew that the answer was as to why Ray didn't kind of
• 1:15:50
  jump ship straight away. So again, it was down to the
• 1:15:52
  fact that you had one of the Time Warner contracts and Ray's
• 1:15:55
  actually come out and said that WWE actually told him just to
• 1:15:58
  kind of wind the contract down. There's a job waiting here for
• 1:16:01
  you when you're done. And then I think he's like, you
• 1:16:04
  know, there's a lot of people that would have really made the
• 1:16:06
  invasion better. I don't think Ray would have
• 1:16:09
  been one of them. As I think if you, if you had,
• 1:16:11
  if you had have had all of your big names jump, I think Ray
• 1:16:14
  would have got lost in the pack where a little bit time away
• 1:16:17
  where like I say, you can essentially repackage him with
• 1:16:19
  his mask back on. Because that was apparently one
• 1:16:21
  of the things Ray was concerned about that because he'd be in
• 1:16:24
  wrestling without his mask at the back end of WCW.
• 1:16:26
  That's how WB would bring him in.
• 1:16:27
  So yeah, I think it was kind of the perfect amount of time away
• 1:16:31
  from the combat looking like a mega *.
• 1:16:34
  Yeah, I think it's two things. I think #1 when you look at the
• 1:16:37
  invasion angle of General, some stars weren't available.
• 1:16:41
  Even if they had been available. Like, I think Vince wanted to
• 1:16:44
  kill them, right? You wanted to defeat WCW and he
• 1:16:48
  wanted to defeat. He'd only done it in real life.
• 1:16:50
  He defeated WCW and ECW in real life.
• 1:16:52
  Then he wanted to defeat them again.
• 1:16:54
  Deneen storyline, which he does do, right.
• 1:16:56
  So I think if Ray had been in the invasion angle, yeah, he
• 1:17:00
  would have done some good stuff and it would have been a bit
• 1:17:01
  better. But like he still would have
• 1:17:04
  been defeated, right? And I also think Vince, credit
• 1:17:07
  to him, I think he could see. I think he understood Ray.
• 1:17:11
  You understood like the culture of Ray, not just with sort of
• 1:17:16
  Latin Americans, but also with the children, with the mask.
• 1:17:19
  I think you realize just how much of A cultural icon Ray
• 1:17:22
  could be for for a generation. So I think you wear it.
• 1:17:26
  He brought Ray in. Perfect time really, because I'd
• 1:17:30
  say you're just about to start your Smackdown 6, aren't you?
• 1:17:32
  So kind of even him being on that Smackdown, the guys he had
• 1:17:35
  to work with were the perfect kind of people that he could
• 1:17:38
  have been working with and that was kind of shown from his first
• 1:17:41
  pay-per-view against Kurt. Yeah, I mean, I think Vince
• 1:17:43
  understands the mask can be an identity if you use it right.
• 1:17:46
  So he brings away in with the mask.
• 1:17:47
  And again, it's enough times passed from WCW where people on
• 1:17:52
  oh, well, hang a sack. He he didn't have a mask like
• 1:17:55
  last year will not be more than that.
• 1:17:57
  So like actually people are more forgiven.
• 1:17:59
  And again, the mask becomes such a it's a huge merch driver for
• 1:18:02
  the company and for rare. But even now you see when he
• 1:18:05
  comes out the ring, he always like touches mask with the kids
• 1:18:08
  in the front row who have a mask on.
• 1:18:10
  You know, it's a cultural thing. I think Vince got that, and
• 1:18:12
  Vince, it would be huge. And then, as you said, you debut
• 1:18:16
  2002. Here we are 24 years later, and
• 1:18:18
  he's just as culturally relative as ever.
• 1:18:21
  Yeah, if you believe the dirt, she's apparently Smackdowns up
• 1:18:24
  for a bit of a reshuffle. And there's a lot of talk of
• 1:18:26
  having Ray Mysterio go at a Smackdown as one of the top
• 1:18:28
  stars in the main event scene. So, you know, he it would appear
• 1:18:32
  that there's no winding down from at the moment.
• 1:18:34
  And again, obviously just going back that kind of invasion
• 1:18:37
  angle. I think if you look, obviously,
• 1:18:38
  you know, like you say, Vince wanted to kill WC, www.cww guys
• 1:18:42
  were the bad guys. Where is raise this like kind of
• 1:18:45
  Uber baby face. So you wonder how that would
• 1:18:47
  have worked because you could maybe draw a comparison with how
• 1:18:50
  RVD got over despite him being on the bad guys team.
• 1:18:53
  But yeah, I just think it would have been a bad mix to have put
• 1:18:56
  Rey Mysterio into that invasion. So I'm glad to kind of give it
• 1:19:00
  that bit of time so he can kind of come in and get his own kind
• 1:19:03
  of robe, which he did. And he's never put the ball down
• 1:19:06
  since as he. He certainly has not.
• 1:19:08
  He's absolutely fantastic, underrated.
• 1:19:09
  I think he is one of the greatest of all time, Rey
• 1:19:11
  Mysterio. No, 100%.
• 1:19:14
  And I think he did have that period where he was injured a
• 1:19:16
  lot, but then he's been doing the stem cell injections and
• 1:19:19
  things like that, hasn't he? Which he swore by and like he
• 1:19:21
  does he he looks as great as ever.
• 1:19:22
  I was watching obviously raw this week.
• 1:19:24
  He was in there against Kaiser, wasn't he?
• 1:19:27
  The new grand day America. No, he just looks as good as
• 1:19:29
  ever. No, he certainly does.
• 1:19:31
  He certainly does. That brings an end to a moment
• 1:19:35
  in time and we are ready for Did they really say that?
• 1:19:39
  This is where we look back. It could be a quote from a book,
• 1:19:43
  from an interview, it could be from a television show,
• 1:19:47
  something that maybe hasn't aged well with time or could just be
• 1:19:49
  that interesting. I've chosen this week's and I
• 1:19:52
  have actually chose something that's quite new and relevant to
• 1:19:55
  today. Luke is somebody who you do like
• 1:19:59
  talking about. Could you have a guess?
• 1:20:02
  That's not ricochet is this? No, it's not ricochet, don't
• 1:20:05
  worry. Thank God, but I will quickly do
• 1:20:06
  that segment. Is Ricochet world champion yet?
• 1:20:09
  He's not, no. Excellent.
• 1:20:10
  Continue with the good segment. OK, back to the good segment,
• 1:20:13
  which is did they really say that?
• 1:20:14
  And it is, of course, Mr. Vince Russo.
• 1:20:18
  Oh, I do like Vince. I do like a good Vince Russo
• 1:20:21
  quote. I think I actually like him.
• 1:20:23
  You know, like not in a good way, but I like do you know, if
• 1:20:27
  he come and did AQ and a like, I would, I would do a meet and
• 1:20:30
  greet with him. Like I like him for all the
• 1:20:33
  reasons people probably hate him.
• 1:20:34
  But yeah. So hit us with a Vince quote.
• 1:20:35
  I'm excited. Just thought that's what I think
• 1:20:38
  when you see him talk, he does seem quite passionate about what
• 1:20:41
  he's talking about. So, you know, I think whether
• 1:20:45
  you agree with what you're doing, he's passionate what he's
• 1:20:46
  talking about and if you want listen to him, you can.
• 1:20:48
  And I think, you know, he's trying to talk about wrestling
• 1:20:52
  because he likes wrestling, right?
• 1:20:53
  So like, we're talking about wrestling now, do you know what
• 1:20:55
  I mean? So a team how often for that
• 1:20:57
  way? He's just, he's just talking
• 1:20:58
  about the things he knows, right?
• 1:20:59
  No, definitely. Yeah.
• 1:21:02
  With Vince before, you know, like history is written by the
• 1:21:05
  winners and I think he kind of falls on the loser side.
• 1:21:07
  So it's easier to make them out to be a joke figure.
• 1:21:09
  But yeah, that's a that's a more detailed conversation for
• 1:21:12
  another day. What's what's the quote?
• 1:21:14
  What's Vince been saying now? What's the modern modern day
• 1:21:16
  Vince Russo? So speaking on his podcast, he's
• 1:21:19
  argued that putting company leadership front and centre in
• 1:21:22
  promotions can create serious problems behind the scenes,
• 1:21:25
  especially with veteran talent watching closely.
• 1:21:28
  So he's talking about Triple H. So you put guys you have to
• 1:21:31
  understand in freaking wrestling, when you are in a
• 1:21:33
  power position or a position of management, you just don't put
• 1:21:38
  yourself in front of the boys, bro.
• 1:21:40
  That is being that is going to create huge, huge issues, man.
• 1:21:44
  You always put the boys first. The boys are the reason why
• 1:21:47
  you're making money. But for Triple H, you're putting
• 1:21:50
  yourself out there in front of everything, bro.
• 1:21:52
  To me, that was a mistake. When you're putting yourself on
• 1:21:56
  freaking billboards and video games and you're all over the
• 1:21:59
  WrestleMania ads. Think about that, bro.
• 1:22:01
  This guy was front and centre on the WrestleMania ads.
• 1:22:04
  Are you wrestling, bro? Are you in the main event?
• 1:22:06
  What man? You think people are buying
• 1:22:08
  tickets because you run this company.
• 1:22:11
  There's no business sense coming out of that.
• 1:22:13
  That is 1000% eagle, bro. That is getting yourself over.
• 1:22:18
  So what he's thought of saying is that is Triple H been
• 1:22:21
  involved in the WrestleMania market, in the video game
• 1:22:23
  marketing and having his name everywhere, Is that sort of
• 1:22:27
  taking the edge off some of the, you know, the actual talent?
• 1:22:30
  He was wrestling, I suppose. And I think the way he's going
• 1:22:34
  to bow it there is, you know, it's very loud and passionate.
• 1:22:38
  I think he does have a little bit of a point.
• 1:22:41
  No, I think it does as well like Triple H being a part of the
• 1:22:44
  product can add to it 100%. I think picking out the video
• 1:22:48
  games, a good one like in 2026, having Triple H is one of the
• 1:22:53
  cover stars is a weird one, especially because you could get
• 1:22:56
  a Triple H exclusive cover. Like how many extra units is
• 1:22:59
  that shifted in this day and age?
• 1:23:01
  So I think it's something that he needs to get better AT and I
• 1:23:05
  think it might have been something that he's listened to.
• 1:23:08
  I kind of because of the negative feedback over
• 1:23:10
  WrestleMania, because again, I might be wrong, but you know, I
• 1:23:13
  did watch both nights of WrestleMania and Triple H didn't
• 1:23:16
  come out at all, did he? This year?
• 1:23:18
  Because I forget the past couple of years, he's opened one of the
• 1:23:21
  like one of the nights, whereas I don't think that happened at
• 1:23:24
  all this year. Can you remember Triple H coming
• 1:23:26
  out at all during WrestleMania? No, obviously with John Cena
• 1:23:30
  being the horse. That was Cena, who opened both
• 1:23:32
  nights. Yeah, so I mean, I think it
• 1:23:34
  might be something because obviously, well, when they do
• 1:23:36
  the kind of daft press conferences after pay per views,
• 1:23:38
  he was getting booed quite a bit with people not happy with the
• 1:23:40
  Booggin. So maybe it is something that he
• 1:23:42
  is starting to listen to. But no, I think you're right.
• 1:23:45
  Like maybe he's been through so hasn't said it in the most
• 1:23:46
  eloquent way. But yeah, there is of course
• 1:23:49
  there's an ego there with them. There's always been an ego there
• 1:23:50
  with Triple H. It's one of the things that I
• 1:23:53
  like but then can also dislike about them.
• 1:23:56
  Yeah, for me, I think, you know, Triple H still has some how you
• 1:23:58
  can sell, you know, retro figures.
• 1:24:01
  You can sell DX video games, DX merch, like Triple H merch.
• 1:24:04
  You can still be a big mover in all that sense.
• 1:24:06
  But I think when you're putting on your television show when you
• 1:24:10
  could have used those minutes maybe to get somebody else a
• 1:24:14
  chance to get over, that's that's where I sort of agree
• 1:24:16
  with Vince Russo a little bit. Now 100%, but I mean like you
• 1:24:20
  say like Triple H, like still does move tickets like if you
• 1:24:23
  use right. I mean, I know you're going back
• 1:24:24
  a bit, and it was back when NXT was very much his behavior in
• 1:24:28
  one of the hottest products, but I was at Download when they used
• 1:24:31
  to have the NXT wrestling tent there.
• 1:24:33
  So obviously I went along and watched the NXT show and Triple
• 1:24:35
  H appeared and that wasn't announced.
• 1:24:37
  Nobody was expecting this. And like, you just had a tent of
• 1:24:40
  about 1500. People just lose their fucking
• 1:24:43
  minds that Triple H was in front of them.
• 1:24:45
  Like we're not worthy chance. All that kind of lame bullshit.
• 1:24:48
  But like, yeah, like Triple H is a huge star.
• 1:24:50
  So of course there's going to be a bit of an ego there.
• 1:24:52
  But I think it is something that you might be starting to kind of
• 1:24:55
  realize and you might see less of them.
• 1:24:58
  But yeah, I think being on the front cover of a game in 2026
• 1:25:01
  was a strange one. Yeah.
• 1:25:03
  And I think for me as well. So we need to remember that also
• 1:25:05
  Triple H is employed by take you to be the Chief create officer.
• 1:25:09
  Executives can change all the time.
• 1:25:11
  So like you don't want to put too much sort of time energy,
• 1:25:15
  which being part of sort of on screen marketing or storylines
• 1:25:20
  because should there be an executive change then you know,
• 1:25:23
  he might be out of a job. Yeah, and you can, you know,
• 1:25:26
  like I say, it's been an advert and stuff and you know, other
• 1:25:28
  than kind of being part of the people getting between Brock and
• 1:25:30
  Ober Fermi, like he wasn't didn't really have much else to
• 1:25:33
  do with kind of any of the WrestleMania bills, did he?
• 1:25:35
  So you know, you could argue his wife had more of an involvement
• 1:25:38
  biker when out then getting a bit of one-on-one time with Cody
• 1:25:40
  Rhodes, which as the time has passed led to nowhere did it
• 1:25:44
  really? So that was a random one that
• 1:25:45
  kind of led to nowhere. So yeah, I think it's something
• 1:25:47
  where if it's done right, Triple H shall has massive, massive
• 1:25:50
  value to the product. But yeah, there are times where
• 1:25:52
  it's a bit. Yeah, definitely you are driven
• 1:25:54
  100%. And what's your rating on how
• 1:25:58
  many Bros I got in that Vince Russo court?
• 1:26:01
  Freaking awesome bro. Just not enough Bros.
• 1:26:04
  Not enough Bros indeed. Do you think, do you think that
• 1:26:07
  is him? Because I think it's like, I
• 1:26:08
  don't think it's a car. Do you know what I mean?
• 1:26:11
  Like I don't think he's purposely same bro and freaking
• 1:26:14
  like because he knows that's his character.
• 1:26:15
  Like, I just generally think that is him, you know?
• 1:26:18
  No, yeah. Bro.
• 1:26:21
  I definitely think so. Yeah, definitely.
• 1:26:24
  So, yeah, like I said, I quite like Vince Russo, but no, again,
• 1:26:26
  he does. There is validity to what he
• 1:26:29
  said there 100%. There is indeed not as an end to
• 1:26:34
  did they really say that? And he did indeed bro.
• 1:26:37
  And we are Next up to Cursed by the Wrestling Gods, which is of
• 1:26:40
  course a gimmick, a person. It could be a career, an event,
• 1:26:44
  a match type, something that came to a halt or didn't work
• 1:26:48
  out or maybe didn't hit the heights it could have done due
• 1:26:52
  to sort of unforeseen circumstances and maybe bad
• 1:26:54
  luck. And you have chosen this week's
• 1:26:56
  Curse by the Wrestling gods, Luke.
• 1:26:58
  I haven't. I think this one kind of maybe
• 1:27:00
  falls into kind of not hitting the heights it potentially could
• 1:27:02
  have. So this week I have gone for Ron
• 1:27:06
  Simmons. What?
• 1:27:08
  Damn. Yeah, Dan, Ron Simmons or
• 1:27:10
  Farooq, as he's known to some other people, and we'll kind of
• 1:27:13
  touch on why that got taken away eventually, But yeah, so Ron
• 1:27:16
  Simmons, absolutely. Big Jack guy weighing in a 270
• 1:27:19
  lbs six foot 2 from Perry, GA, or the main streets, which we'll
• 1:27:24
  touch on more later, because at one point he was built from the
• 1:27:26
  main streets, which is problematic.
• 1:27:28
  But yeah, I mean, Ron's a really interesting guy.
• 1:27:29
  So obviously he had a football career before wrestling.
• 1:27:33
  He was drafted on the 1981 NFL Draft of the Cleveland Browns,
• 1:27:38
  kind of played a few games, didn't quite hit the height
• 1:27:40
  there. So that kind of didn't come as
• 1:27:42
  far as he wanted. But, you know, he had this
• 1:27:44
  pedigree as an NFL star. And obviously, you know, this
• 1:27:46
  was in the 80s. So when, you know, people kind
• 1:27:50
  of accused people of, you know, bringing in athletes to our
• 1:27:52
  wrestlers into the business, it's not a modern thing.
• 1:27:55
  It's been happening for a long time because Ron made that
• 1:27:57
  transition in 1986. So in 1986, he's trained by a
• 1:28:01
  kind of legend, legendary Japanese wrestler Hiro Masuda.
• 1:28:05
  He debuts in Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987, kind of a
• 1:28:09
  sporadic singles run, wrestling on another name of Ron Simmons,
• 1:28:13
  89 to 91 in Crockett. He starts teaming with both
• 1:28:16
  Butch Reed to form the tag team Doom, which I think it's a good
• 1:28:20
  name, isn't it? Doom, that's a really cool name
• 1:28:23
  and their first run as A tag team, though actually masked.
• 1:28:26
  So it was just known as Doom 1 and Doom 2 and they had Woman as
• 1:28:31
  their manager, which was Nancy Benoit.
• 1:28:33
  So a kind of bit of wrestling kind of history.
• 1:28:36
  They're having woman there again.
• 1:28:37
  It was pretty short lived when they had the masks.
• 1:28:39
  They were beat by the Steiners wear the most unmasked.
• 1:28:42
  So the unmasked, so now you've got them back is kind of who
• 1:28:44
  they are. They got Teddy Long as the
• 1:28:46
  manager player. They're then going to beat the
• 1:28:48
  Steiners for the N.W.A tag team title belt and hold them for
• 1:28:52
  nine months. So during that reign, the N.W.A
• 1:28:56
  tag belts become the WCW tag title belts.
• 1:28:58
  They drop them to the Free Birds.
• 1:29:00
  So again, kind of, you know, someone who's come in from the
• 1:29:03
  NFL, he's kind of hit the ground running, hasn't he?
• 1:29:06
  He's kind of been paired with someone.
• 1:29:07
  He's in there with legendary teams at the Steiners, drops the
• 1:29:10
  belts to the free birds kind of early on his career.
• 1:29:12
  He's picking up that momentum and that nine months that the
• 1:29:15
  hell the titles for is actually still to this day the longest
• 1:29:19
  reign in title history of that belt.
• 1:29:21
  So Doom had the longest run in the history of the WCW Tag Team
• 1:29:26
  titles. So as you know with most tag
• 1:29:29
  teams the break up feud with each other for a while.
• 1:29:32
  So January 92, he wins the WCW United States Tag Team
• 1:29:37
  Championships with Big Josh, who is also known as Matt Osborne,
• 1:29:41
  who is also Do you know who Matt Osborne is?
• 1:29:44
  Matt Osborne was that doing. The Clown.
• 1:29:49
  So yeah, so he wins some tag goals with Dunk the Clown before
• 1:29:52
  Matt goes the WWE become don't the clown.
• 1:29:55
  That tag team kind of fizzles out.
• 1:29:57
  He then starts feuding with Cactus Jack.
• 1:29:59
  So you know again, he's on his singles run now he's getting in
• 1:30:02
  there with the likes of Mick Foley.
• 1:30:03
  Fucking brilliant. So then this is where kind of
• 1:30:06
  the big moment then happens for Ron Simmons.
• 1:30:09
  So I'm going to tell you how he wins the title.
• 1:30:11
  OK, so this is quite a lot here, right?
• 1:30:13
  So on August the 2nd 1992, there's a scheduled title match
• 1:30:17
  for the WCW world title between Sting and Veda in K Fab Jake
• 1:30:22
  Roberts in just Sting. So Veda does not have a
• 1:30:24
  contender for the title. How if you had a title match
• 1:30:29
  that's been thrown into jeopardy because one of the people is
• 1:30:31
  injured, how would you find a replacement?
• 1:30:32
  What do you think will be the best way to do it?
• 1:30:34
  Let's. Have a tournament.
• 1:30:37
  Tournament, you know, see who's on a bit of a hot streak, you
• 1:30:40
  know, battle Royale, anything. No, no, no.
• 1:30:42
  Not in August 92. What do we see?
• 1:30:44
  W President Bill Watts then holds is a raffle to determine
• 1:30:48
  the number one contender. Yeah.
• 1:30:50
  So have a raffle, get the raffle balls out, and Ron Simmons wins
• 1:30:55
  the raffle. So you think, you know, someone
• 1:30:57
  who's won a raffle? Probably isn't going to win the
• 1:30:59
  world title off theater, but he does.
• 1:31:01
  So on August the 2nd 1992, Ron Simmons wins the raffle, then
• 1:31:06
  wins the world title. Is he?
• 1:31:08
  Is he the first African American to be world champion?
• 1:31:10
  So, yeah, this is an interesting one as well.
• 1:31:12
  So he's the first recognized African American WCW world
• 1:31:16
  champion. WWE recognizes him as kind of
• 1:31:19
  the first black African American champion.
• 1:31:22
  A lot of people kind of say that there's Miss Captain.
• 1:31:24
  So there was a wrestler who, again, this is just from dummy
• 1:31:27
  research I don't know a lot about, called Bay Cat, right,
• 1:31:30
  who a lot of people see as the first Blackwell champion.
• 1:31:33
  So he beat Freddie Blasey for the LAWWA World Heavyweight
• 1:31:37
  Championship. So if you're a true wrestling
• 1:31:39
  historian, Ron's the second. But by all accounts, as far as
• 1:31:43
  kind of WBA and mainstream wrestling goes, yeah, Ron
• 1:31:45
  Simmons is the first ever African American world champion.
• 1:31:49
  So, you know, that's massive. It comes from nowhere.
• 1:31:52
  He's won a raffle. He's world champion.
• 1:31:54
  Do you know how long the rain lasts?
• 1:31:57
  I don't want to say a month. Not five months.
• 1:32:01
  So the the kind of, again, I've tried to look into this as much
• 1:32:04
  as possible. Like why?
• 1:32:06
  Because I say obviously Sting wasn't actually injured.
• 1:32:08
  So why the kind of had this? Because he had been feuding with
• 1:32:11
  Cactus Jack, but he'd not not really shown any signs that he
• 1:32:14
  was going to have a 5 month title room.
• 1:32:16
  But yeah, he does in that feud. He kind of defends it mainly
• 1:32:19
  against Cactus Jack. And I've watched one of the
• 1:32:22
  matches and it's like, it's exactly what you would expect.
• 1:32:24
  Just really two big guys just fucking kicking the shit out of
• 1:32:27
  each other. Kind of, it's not pretty, but I
• 1:32:28
  enjoyed watching it. He then drops the title back to
• 1:32:31
  Veda. So after five months, drops the
• 1:32:33
  title back to Veda. But then this is where it kind
• 1:32:35
  of slides. So this is a guy who you've had,
• 1:32:37
  who you know, for many companies is recognized as the first
• 1:32:40
  African American world champion. You know, he's had a decent
• 1:32:42
  title reign. But after he drops that title,
• 1:32:45
  he just back down to the WCW mid card to the point where in
• 1:32:48
  September 94, he leaves WCW. So within two years of winning
• 1:32:54
  the World championship, he's now gone from WCW.
• 1:32:58
  He spends a year in ECW where he doesn't do a lot.
• 1:33:01
  He has a little bit of A tag team title room with two core
• 1:33:04
  Scorpio, but they never win the belts.
• 1:33:06
  N94 he challenges Shane Douglas for the ECW title, doesn't win
• 1:33:11
  that. While he's in ECW.
• 1:33:12
  He has a couple of two as a New Japan.
• 1:33:15
  May 95, he has his last ECW match.
• 1:33:19
  So then what would you think? You know, WCW world champion,
• 1:33:22
  ECW, he's in there with a world champion.
• 1:33:25
  He leaves ECW. What do you think his next
• 1:33:26
  career move is? He's come to New York, brother.
• 1:33:30
  He needs to come to New York, but before he signs with the
• 1:33:32
  WWE, he decides that he's retired and he begins working as
• 1:33:36
  a warehouse manager for a Coca-Cola factory.
• 1:33:38
  Fuck off. No, he doesn't.
• 1:33:40
  He does so like that's mental, isn't it?
• 1:33:44
  Like especially because like it's not just that he was a
• 1:33:47
  world champion. He was like, you know, by many
• 1:33:49
  people sound as the first African environment.
• 1:33:51
  I mean that's massive that that's like a kind of, you know,
• 1:33:52
  pop cultural historical milestone.
• 1:33:55
  So then within about 95 S within three years of them wouldn't
• 1:33:59
  like one of the biggest belts in wrestler history.
• 1:34:01
  He's fucking working as a warehouse by Jeff Coca-Cola.
• 1:34:05
  I like it because I think he's he was only working.
• 1:34:08
  He said he was semi retirement, so, you know, he's still got his
• 1:34:11
  eye on wrestling, but he's also thinking, you know, this isn't
• 1:34:14
  going to last forever. Do you think that was just
• 1:34:16
  because the money just wasn't as big then?
• 1:34:18
  So do you think, you know, you've been world champion?
• 1:34:20
  But when I say it was world champion in 92, like you just
• 1:34:23
  didn't have the money and he was.
• 1:34:25
  And he's a sensible man. Do you think that's why we're
• 1:34:26
  the Coca-Cola factory? I think he's sensor.
• 1:34:29
  He's also like he's sensor. He's also a hard worker.
• 1:34:31
  So I think he's obviously been in the NFL, but that didn't
• 1:34:33
  quite work out. He's now had a wrestling, which
• 1:34:35
  was great. Maybe that won't work out.
• 1:34:37
  I think Coca-Cola probably sees as a company who aren't going
• 1:34:41
  anywhere, which they're still here today, right?
• 1:34:43
  So. They are.
• 1:34:44
  Guaranteed job, right? Yeah, definitely.
• 1:34:46
  But I just think that's a that's a great bit of trivia that isn't
• 1:34:49
  it? So, yeah.
• 1:34:49
  So it was just semi retirement. And then in 96 he does sign with
• 1:34:52
  the WWE again. I wanted to know if he reached
• 1:34:56
  out to them. Did they get in touch with the
• 1:34:57
  Cola factory? But I couldn't find like how
• 1:35:00
  that transition from the Coca-Cola factory assignment WWE
• 1:35:03
  works. But he does.
• 1:35:04
  He signs in 1996. He delay delays debuts in July
• 1:35:08
  of 96 as Farooq Assad. It's a gladiator St. thug
• 1:35:12
  gimmick that's in Weird, isn't it?
• 1:35:16
  I remember this being awful. Yeah, he had the like deformed
• 1:35:19
  helmet, which was part of the gimmick, and he was managed by
• 1:35:22
  Sony very briefly. Sony pretty soon leaves him.
• 1:35:25
  He goes into a feud with Ahmed Johnson, who is the IC champion.
• 1:35:29
  Johnson gets injured for real during that, so they hold the
• 1:35:32
  tournament to crown a new IC champion.
• 1:35:34
  Farouq Assad gets to the final tournament, but he loses to Mark
• 1:35:38
  Miro, so again, nearly getting that ICW title at that point.
• 1:35:43
  He drops the Gladiator gimmick completely after the title loss
• 1:35:47
  forms the Nation of Domination, loosely based on the Nation
• 1:35:50
  Islam. Black Panther Party kind of
• 1:35:52
  continues that feud with Johnson, Kind of what's your
• 1:35:55
  memories of the nation kind of just as a whole, because it had
• 1:35:58
  many incarcerations, but kind of how do you think it holds up as
• 1:36:02
  history's moved on? I remember being like a big
• 1:36:05
  thing. I remember the nation, DX and
• 1:36:08
  the whole foundation being like 3 big factions war with each
• 1:36:12
  other at one point in my young life watching wrestling.
• 1:36:15
  I remember the nation being like heels because they were uncool,
• 1:36:19
  like to me as a young child anyway.
• 1:36:21
  But actually, was that not problematic of to be rebuking
• 1:36:24
  them as heels? Yeah, I think that like if you
• 1:36:28
  look back at it, because I've, I've watched quite a bit like of
• 1:36:30
  clips from it, that I think they did their jobs very well.
• 1:36:33
  And I think it's actually, it was a good gimmick which they
• 1:36:38
  played it well. But where it falls down it, you
• 1:36:41
  know, is where you have kind of Triple H and Road Dog and X Pack
• 1:36:44
  coming out in blackface. I think that was the problem.
• 1:36:47
  Like they were playing it very straight and very good, but
• 1:36:51
  often the opponents would go down the easy racial stereotype
• 1:36:54
  routes, which is just a fucking shame really.
• 1:36:57
  But yeah, I mean, you are right though.
• 1:36:59
  It was like it got a lot of TV time.
• 1:37:01
  To the point that after he kind of wraps up his feud with Ahmed
• 1:37:04
  Johnson, he gets AWB title match, a King of the Ring 97
• 1:37:07
  against the Undertaker. So farook main events.
• 1:37:10
  King of the Ring 97 against Tiger loses that match, which
• 1:37:14
  ends up being his last ever world title match.
• 1:37:16
  Crush and Vega leave this point and then the young Rocky
• 1:37:20
  Johnson, who drops his name to the Rock, is recruited in to the
• 1:37:23
  nation. There's another IC tournament
• 1:37:26
  final. Again, Farooq gets to the final
• 1:37:30
  of the tournament, but he loses this time to own.
• 1:37:33
  This is when you start getting The Rock kind of really shown
• 1:37:35
  his chops. He wants to be the leader.
• 1:37:38
  Obviously Farooq's the leader. Rumble 98.
• 1:37:40
  Farooq is in the final three with Austin and Rock, so again,
• 1:37:44
  kind of big bit of business there for him.
• 1:37:47
  At Mania when the Rocks facing Shamrock for the IC title,
• 1:37:50
  Farooq refuses to help the Rock cheat.
• 1:37:52
  So the next night on Row, Farooq is kicked out of the nation over
• 1:37:56
  the edge. He then faces the Rock for the
• 1:37:58
  IC title. Doesn't win again.
• 1:38:00
  So you know, lots of chance that the IC title never quite gets
• 1:38:03
  given that run. Title match against Take Out
• 1:38:05
  doesn't get that run. And then after that kind of
• 1:38:08
  national domination, feuding with the Rock sizzles out.
• 1:38:11
  And then it's November of 98 that year where he starts
• 1:38:14
  tagging with Bradshaw where they're the Acolytes and they
• 1:38:17
  had Don Kallis with them originally when he was Cyrus the
• 1:38:21
  Virus and the Jackal, that character.
• 1:38:24
  So again, Acolytes starts, Don Kallis leaves the WBA to become
• 1:38:29
  members of the Ministry of Darkness.
• 1:38:30
  So Undertaker's faction. Acolytes do get a couple of runs
• 1:38:33
  with the tag titles, so the Beat X Pack and Kane, they drop the
• 1:38:37
  belts to the Hardys, win them back off the Hardys, then drop
• 1:38:40
  them back to X Pat and K And so very short runs.
• 1:38:42
  But you know, they're getting in there.
• 1:38:43
  They're mixing it up with kind of some of the legendary tag
• 1:38:46
  teams of the day, which you know Bradshaw and Farooq go on to be
• 1:38:49
  as well. Legendary tag team take, I guess
• 1:38:51
  injured. The ministry is then disabled.
• 1:38:53
  That's when kind of the APA is born.
• 1:38:56
  So that's when, you know, you get the the hired for service,
• 1:38:59
  the acolyte protection agency, the smoke and the drink and the
• 1:39:01
  gambling. So they've kind of gone from
• 1:39:03
  these dark acolytes, the ministry to a more kind of fun
• 1:39:07
  kind of comedy gimmick. I think comedy gimmicks.
• 1:39:09
  Fair for the APA. Yeah, because they even had
• 1:39:12
  like, like the door was like a set of where that was obviously
• 1:39:15
  a door that had no walls. And then you'd have to knock on
• 1:39:18
  the door and come in to speak to them.
• 1:39:19
  I remember having the rock went around the door and they're like
• 1:39:23
  when you're not. So it was like, it was very much
• 1:39:25
  like, it was almost like stage like SNL comedy sketches.
• 1:39:29
  Yeah. And I think it would definitely
• 1:39:30
  cut. Yeah, that's a good thing.
• 1:39:33
  Yeah. No, it was massively like,
• 1:39:35
  because that was like kind of when I was really getting into
• 1:39:38
  like, wrestling that kind of act.
• 1:39:39
  And I used to love them. I thought they were hilarious.
• 1:39:41
  And they had the cool T-shirt that says always pounding us.
• 1:39:44
  Good T-shirt. Did.
• 1:39:46
  You that's up there with ones that you couldn't wear the air
• 1:39:50
  school pick up always pounding ass.
• 1:39:52
  But yeah, but again, but I think it's definitely kind of more of
• 1:39:54
  a comedy tag team then you know the seriousness that was the
• 1:39:58
  nation of domination. So as the APA the do win the
• 1:40:01
  tag. Well, so they beat the Dudleys
• 1:40:02
  for the titles during the invasion.
• 1:40:04
  So they then drop them to DDP and Canyon.
• 1:40:07
  But a kind of a. Can't remember them being WE tag
• 1:40:10
  team champions but the word DDP in Canyon kind of again don't
• 1:40:13
  really then do much as far as the invasion goes.
• 1:40:16
  After the invasion you get your first prop up brand split.
• 1:40:18
  He's drafted A smackdown where he starts using Ron Simmons
• 1:40:22
  again. Do you know why he started using
• 1:40:23
  Ron Simmons? I don't.
• 1:40:25
  Because Al Qaeda had a training camp called Al Farouq and it was
• 1:40:29
  very much that time in America where anything terrorist related
• 1:40:32
  was very much feared. So it probably was for the best.
• 1:40:35
  Again, doesn't really do much on Smackdown as a singles act.
• 1:40:38
  It when I was doing my research, it says he was with Reverend
• 1:40:41
  Yvon and Batista for a bit, but I've got absolutely no memory of
• 1:40:44
  that. But there you go.
• 1:40:46
  They do then reunite the APA finally for one last little run
• 1:40:50
  on Smackdown. And this is where they then have
• 1:40:52
  a match where one of them has to be fired, runs fired, and I'm
• 1:40:56
  going to get JBL being born. After this.
• 1:40:59
  You've got kind of sporadic appearances on the Indies kind
• 1:41:02
  of popping up in WWE. This is where kind of when you
• 1:41:05
  do see him, the dam gimmick kind of gets over.
• 1:41:07
  So, you know, you see him in backstage skits at WrestleMania,
• 1:41:10
  30th anniversaries of Raw, all that type of good stuff.
• 1:41:13
  And then in 2012, he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame.
• 1:41:17
  And that kind of gives you the full kind of whistle stop tour
• 1:41:20
  of Ron's career. So what's your thoughts on kind
• 1:41:23
  of diving in a bit deeper on one, what you're thinking about
• 1:41:25
  his overall career? It's pretty full on, isn't it?
• 1:41:31
  I think it's got so many highs. It's got quite a few lows,
• 1:41:36
  though. Got think he sort of he doesn't
• 1:41:41
  give birth to them, but he's a part of the birth of the rock
• 1:41:46
  because remember rock Rocky Maya via is hated by everybody.
• 1:41:49
  Remember die Rocky die. That's the chant, right?
• 1:41:51
  That's what leads the Rock joining the nation and becoming
• 1:41:53
  heel rock in We now have Rock the Megastore, right?
• 1:41:57
  Because of that, that doesn't happen.
• 1:41:59
  We don't get that, you know, Fast and Furious fans are afraid
• 1:42:02
  you're not going to get your best Fast and Furious movies if
• 1:42:04
  this, if Ron Simmons didn't join the gang, you know, I mean.
• 1:42:07
  No. And I think like The Rock has
• 1:42:10
  like a gang because I've kind of get as much on this as I can.
• 1:42:12
  The Rock always speaks massively highly of them and kind of says
• 1:42:15
  like how important he was to his career because like, you know,
• 1:42:18
  The Rock was what, like 2829? And you've got this kind of
• 1:42:22
  veteran really, you know, a former world champion, kind of
• 1:42:25
  like, you know, and he learned a lot from him.
• 1:42:28
  And obviously, you know, Bradshaw had his career as well.
• 1:42:31
  But like, you know, you also don't get the birth of JBL if
• 1:42:34
  Ron doesn't get fired KFA wise, you know what I mean?
• 1:42:36
  So no, it's it's yeah, definitely.
• 1:42:40
  Definitely. So I think he gives birth to,
• 1:42:43
  you know, Rock, not just a wrestler mega star, but a global
• 1:42:45
  mega star helps give birth to JBL, who's, you know, one of the
• 1:42:48
  biggest heels of a decade. And we've touched on that in
• 1:42:52
  quite a bit. Yeah, definitely.
• 1:42:54
  I think if you look, you know, he's the first African American
• 1:42:58
  world champion. Like that's that's huge, right?
• 1:43:01
  Absolutely huge. You know, if he doesn't do that,
• 1:43:04
  like, does he pave the way for the likes of Booker TI?
• 1:43:08
  Think definitely. And I think yeah, of course he
• 1:43:11
  does. Yeah.
• 1:43:11
  You know, I know obviously there's BearCat who I don't know
• 1:43:15
  enough about, but like, yeah, kind of if you want to put.
• 1:43:17
  He's definitely the first mainstream 100%.
• 1:43:20
  And like without that, you've always got to have the 1st.
• 1:43:22
  And he's a very important part. I mean, you just have to look
• 1:43:25
  kind of there hasn't been that many since either, which is a
• 1:43:28
  whole different topic. But yeah, 100% it's still
• 1:43:31
  something where you could see there is a lack of diversity in
• 1:43:34
  that world title scene. It looks like it's changing now.
• 1:43:37
  If you look at the product now, that's definitely a lot better
• 1:43:39
  than it probably ever has been, really.
• 1:43:41
  But yeah, I mean, you've got coffee as well, haven't you?
• 1:43:44
  You've got Booger, obviously. You've got the rock that you can
• 1:43:47
  put into that category. But yeah, I mean, I don't know
• 1:43:49
  if should be putting categories on, but you know what I mean?
• 1:43:50
  Yeah, he is. He's a he's a trailer.
• 1:43:51
  He's a trailer. And I'm looking now, obviously
• 1:43:54
  like some of the best characters.
• 1:43:55
  Obviously, you know, we've got over have me and we've got.
• 1:43:59
  Trick Williams, Javon Evans. Yeah.
• 1:44:04
  So, you know, I think you pioneer in that sense, you
• 1:44:07
  pioneer in a sense where you could see made it big in WCW.
• 1:44:13
  You then sort of he does all right in ECW, he comes to WE
• 1:44:17
  where he does quite well for himself.
• 1:44:18
  So I think he's travelled around and done well wherever he's been
• 1:44:20
  as well. So he's obviously a well liked
• 1:44:22
  and well trusted individual, right?
• 1:44:24
  Yeah, definitely. And I think that's why he kind
• 1:44:26
  of falls into that category for this segment of kind of, you
• 1:44:29
  know, just what if like, you know, what if he didn't get he
• 1:44:31
  did get the Icy title belt. Does that make a difference?
• 1:44:34
  You know, I don't think there was ever much transfer.
• 1:44:36
  What if, you know, WE also pull the trigger on him and he beats
• 1:44:39
  take off for the title. You know what if The Rock isn't
• 1:44:43
  the breakout star that he is, does the nation go longer with
• 1:44:45
  Farooq as the leader and can then get signed a singles title
• 1:44:48
  run? But yeah, overall it's an
• 1:44:50
  absolutely fantastic career. But it just there is just a
• 1:44:53
  definitely a little bit of question marks.
• 1:44:54
  There isn't the way. I think there's definitely times
• 1:44:56
  where it could have went bigger than it ended up going. 100%
• 1:45:01
  agrees. Yeah, I think that was a great,
• 1:45:02
  great one to pick because some of the things you were talking
• 1:45:05
  about, like I said, like I wonder what happened to
• 1:45:09
  Coca-Cola, that warehouse once he left.
• 1:45:12
  I bet they got a worse manager than Farooq.
• 1:45:14
  Yeah, I'd love to know somebody that worked with him at the time
• 1:45:16
  that but like there's loads of cool stories.
• 1:45:18
  Well, I think it's edging. Christian taught once where
• 1:45:20
  they're saying that like Ron would like turn up at the gym
• 1:45:22
  with like jeans on and do like 5 sets of something, just sit like
• 1:45:27
  while reading the paper and then just say that's me done for the
• 1:45:30
  day. Boise after.
• 1:45:31
  I think he's definitely someone who's like hugely, hugely
• 1:45:33
  respected, kind of like absolutely one of the boys.
• 1:45:37
  And yeah, like I say, it's a really interesting career where
• 1:45:39
  when you dig into like, obviously I knew he'd been WCW
• 1:45:42
  world champion, but I didn't know he got that opportunity
• 1:45:44
  because you won a fucking raffle.
• 1:45:46
  Yeah. So yeah, yeah, it is.
• 1:45:50
  It's it's it's interesting. There's a lot of kind of bits in
• 1:45:52
  there where say, fucking hell, didn't know that.
• 1:45:54
  But yeah, overall a fantastic career.
• 1:45:56
  But I definitely think, you know, despite him being a world
• 1:45:59
  champion, it definitely could have hit higher heights.
• 1:46:01
  There's definitely an alternative universe.
• 1:46:02
  I think the the WE run, maybe it's just because, you know,
• 1:46:06
  he's operating at a time where you've got some of the greatest
• 1:46:08
  of all time doing it. You know what I mean?
• 1:46:09
  Like The Rock, like the Undertaker, like Stone Cold,
• 1:46:12
  like Shawn Michaels, like Brett. So yeah, I mean, it was a
• 1:46:14
  stacked card and he still managed to get himself all over
• 1:46:17
  that product with the Nation, so it's definitely no mean feat.
• 1:46:21
  No, definitely. Certainly a big legacy in
• 1:46:24
  wrestling. Yeah, and anyone who hasn't seen
• 1:46:26
  them in the title, all the boys come out the back.
• 1:46:28
  It's a nice little moment to watch that.
• 1:46:29
  And so again, it's kind of like just two fucking big guys
• 1:46:32
  kicking the shit out of each other.
• 1:46:33
  Him and Vera. It's worth a watch, and it's on
• 1:46:34
  YouTube as well, so definitely check out runs.
• 1:46:37
  World title win. I will need to check that out.
• 1:46:41
  I think that takes us to our final segment, which is pro
• 1:46:44
  wrestling feel good fact of the week.
• 1:46:46
  And we've got a few different facts a week this week.
• 1:46:48
  So last week we obviously talked about National Wrestling League,
• 1:46:52
  which is sort of a new, a new wrestling promotion, a new
• 1:46:56
  wrestling idea sort of coming to the northeast of England it
• 1:46:59
  seems like in August. And they've released even more
• 1:47:02
  information over the past week. So I'm going to go over it, if
• 1:47:06
  that's OK, Luke. It is.
• 1:47:08
  I'm excited for it when you get tickets.
• 1:47:10
  So it actually. We do.
• 1:47:12
  So what is National Wrestling League?
• 1:47:14
  So it's six teams, one league. Six teams will represent regions
• 1:47:19
  across the UK, each with its own badge, colours and kit.
• 1:47:22
  So you are covered, Luke. You can buy some merchandise,
• 1:47:25
  You can buy a jersey. I know, and they've released the
• 1:47:27
  Yorkshire jersey, but not the Northeast one.
• 1:47:29
  Yeah, I need it now. I need, I need to know what I'm
• 1:47:31
  buying. I know my dad's from Yorkshire
• 1:47:33
  would. Fuck Yorkshire.
• 1:47:33
  We want Northeast baby. Now what are we, the hooligans?
• 1:47:37
  The way the outlaws. The Outlaws.
• 1:47:39
  That's it. I like the Outlaws.
• 1:47:40
  Yeah. Bikers.
• 1:47:41
  Cool. Yep.
• 1:47:43
  So wrestlers will enter the ring wearing their club shirt, but
• 1:47:46
  will not be required to wrestle in it.
• 1:47:48
  It's not an important fact, Luke.
• 1:47:49
  They will enter the ring with the shirt, but they do not need
• 1:47:52
  to wrestle in it. The gym, you've got to show that
• 1:47:56
  body off to what Kevin Nash would want.
• 1:47:58
  Is indeed what's important for you, Luke is.
• 1:48:00
  Replica shirts and official merchandise will be available at
• 1:48:03
  live events and online. Excellent.
• 1:48:06
  I hope I can get it in advance so I can turn up with me shirt,
• 1:48:08
  but we'll see. So as you said, it's six teams,
• 1:48:11
  so managers and squads. Each team has a manager who
• 1:48:14
  stays at ringside during matches, sat in their dugout or
• 1:48:17
  staying within their technical area.
• 1:48:20
  So that's important. Managers may be assisted by
• 1:48:23
  unlimited guest coaches throughout the season.
• 1:48:27
  And this talk that Kurt Angle could be a guest coach soon, I
• 1:48:29
  think. Yeah, and he's definitely doing
• 1:48:31
  a tour with inside the ropes, which I'd I'd be up for driving
• 1:48:34
  to and back like, oh. Well, if you want to do that,
• 1:48:36
  I'll supply the hot dogs. Yeah, we should definitely do it
• 1:48:38
  because like, it's not that we couldn't we couldn't take the
• 1:48:40
  afternoon off work and I was drive back the same night
• 1:48:42
  because like, yeah, I'd love to love to sit in here, Kurt Angle
• 1:48:45
  fucking chew the fat for a fucking couple of hours that.
• 1:48:47
  'D be great. If we can get a little beat and
• 1:48:49
  greet and sign of action figure it'd be great.
• 1:48:51
  Exactly. Even better.
• 1:48:52
  Yeah, I think that is an option. That is an option.
• 1:48:55
  Yes, managers will sign a minimum of two wrestlers before
• 1:48:58
  the start of the season. 1 signed wrestlers cannot switch
• 1:49:02
  teams. Monica.
• 1:49:06
  'S field window is short. Yeah, translator short.
• 1:49:08
  And no one can be a traitor by the sounds of it.
• 1:49:10
  Yeah, managers. Campbell's.
• 1:49:13
  Say it again. No Sol Campbell's.
• 1:49:15
  No Sol Campbell's no no Ratty's axe either.
• 1:49:18
  No more modern reference. Yeah, righty righty Isaac.
• 1:49:23
  Managers can sign new wrestlers throughout the season as long as
• 1:49:26
  they have not competed for another team.
• 1:49:31
  Makes sense? Match rules so Tony Connor
• 1:49:35
  practice each single so Turkey match is 15 minutes with 1/2
• 1:49:39
  time break. So at 7 1/2 minutes and I'm
• 1:49:43
  assuming. Yes, I wonder if the half time
• 1:49:45
  break, I bet that's enough time to get a pint or a hot dog.
• 1:49:48
  But you've got. That's like, not that long.
• 1:49:50
  Depend. Depends what the air quality of
• 1:49:52
  the ball is like. It can't be lacking at these
• 1:49:53
  events. Can indeed teams score falls via
• 1:49:57
  pinfall submission DQ on count out.
• 1:50:04
  The team with the most falls at full time is the winner, so you
• 1:50:10
  could win be winning like 3 nil and then looks like get
• 1:50:13
  disqualified twice using chairs and you'd still win.
• 1:50:15
  That'll be pretty cool, wouldn't it?
• 1:50:17
  Yeah, like I say, I think that they've put the rules together
• 1:50:19
  really well. Like it's general, like, I don't
• 1:50:21
  know, it's just because obviously we're football fans as
• 1:50:23
  well. But like, everything they've put
• 1:50:25
  out, like it looks brilliant and like, it takes a lot of boxes
• 1:50:28
  for me. Like it just seems like it's
• 1:50:29
  going to be a lot of fucking fun.
• 1:50:31
  Does indeed. So there's obviously discipline
• 1:50:33
  involved, so referees can issue yellow and red cards for
• 1:50:37
  unsporting behaviour. A yellow card is a warning, a
• 1:50:40
  second yellow card results in a red card.
• 1:50:42
  A red card is a disqualification in awards.
• 1:50:45
  The other team of fall red cards can be issued directly for
• 1:50:51
  serious offences. So actually, So what I just said
• 1:50:53
  there, so we'll see you with three nil up and you hit
• 1:50:56
  somebody with a chair, they would you'd lose a four for DQ,
• 1:51:03
  but then if you got a red card fat, they'd get another point.
• 1:51:05
  So that wouldn't actually be good.
• 1:51:07
  So yes, this is it's well thought out league rules.
• 1:51:14
  Every match week, teams face each other in two separate
• 1:51:17
  matches. Three points are gained for each
• 1:51:19
  match win. One point is awarded to each
• 1:51:22
  team for a draw. If teams are level on points,
• 1:51:25
  they are separated by 4 difference.
• 1:51:28
  So instead of goal difference, it's full difference.
• 1:51:29
  Look, I like that. The team at the top of the
• 1:51:31
  league after match Week 5 on the National Wrestling League
• 1:51:34
  champions, the team that are at the bottom of the league, is
• 1:51:38
  relegated and replaced with a new team next season.
• 1:51:43
  I like how they're already thinking of next season.
• 1:51:45
  No, like, I mean, this is the type of thing, if it works, you
• 1:51:48
  have you pick pick this up for television.
• 1:51:49
  It sounds like brilliant. Doesn't need them, so the
• 1:51:51
  schedule. Match week 1 is in Newcastle on
• 1:51:53
  August 9th at the Vertu Mortars Arena.
• 1:51:55
  That's one way hopefully going to get tickets for.
• 1:51:57
  Match Week 2 is in Manchester on September 27th at the BEG Arena.
• 1:52:02
  Match week 3 is in Glasgow October 10th at the Play Sport
• 1:52:05
  Arena. Match Week Fours in the Midlands
• 1:52:09
  that will take place in 2027 and doesn't have a venue yet.
• 1:52:12
  Match Week Fives in Yorkshire 2027 doesn't have a venue yet
• 1:52:15
  and there's a cup week, so we're going to get a cup, a cup run
• 1:52:18
  baby in London in 2027. But again a venue has yet to be
• 1:52:22
  announced. The cup.
• 1:52:23
  So the final live event of the season will feature A1 night.
• 1:52:26
  Tag team tournament The tournament will feature the six
• 1:52:29
  teams that competed in the league, plus the newly promoted
• 1:52:32
  team and an international guest team.
• 1:52:36
  Matches will follow the same rules as the league, but if the
• 1:52:39
  match ends in a draw or they're they're going to do a bloody
• 1:52:44
  grill a monsoon. It goes in a sudden death, extra
• 1:52:46
  time, bloody grill, a monsoon. Ruining it for Brettt.
• 1:52:52
  You bloody did cause Kick to be the to be the man, you got to
• 1:52:55
  beat the man and Sean did not beat the man.
• 1:52:57
  It was a draw. So therefore if he'd to draw,
• 1:53:00
  guess what? Champion retains correct?
• 1:53:02
  Yeah, I'd, I'd like to see Brett do the commentary for this.
• 1:53:05
  I think this would be right up Brett St.
• 1:53:07
  And if Brett wants a partner, I'll do it for him.
• 1:53:09
  I'll even buy him hot dogs all night.
• 1:53:11
  Yeah, he does. Like, he's got his own sports
• 1:53:13
  bars, doesn't he? So he probably does like a hot
• 1:53:14
  dog. The Hitman Hot Dog for the
• 1:53:16
  Hitman. Hot dog is it's, it's like it's,
• 1:53:19
  it's a man's comfort food for the working class.
• 1:53:21
  And I think Brett is those things.
• 1:53:22
  So I think me and Brett could enjoy lots of hot dogs together.
• 1:53:26
  Yeah, definitely. Definitely not each other's
• 1:53:31
  before anyone starts or buy the hot dogs and cook them and eat
• 1:53:35
  them. Won't be won't be doing anything
• 1:53:37
  with each other's hot dogs. But yeah, that's that's all the
• 1:53:40
  information I have on the National Wrestling League.
• 1:53:42
  Luke, are you still excited for it?
• 1:53:44
  Massively, let's say I think we'll get tickets sorted this
• 1:53:46
  week and I say we'll look at the logistics of getting down to the
• 1:53:49
  Kurt Angle Inside the Rope show as well.
• 1:53:51
  Yes, we will indeed. That brings an end to singles
• 1:53:55
  and suplexes. Luke.
• 1:53:56
  Anything else you want to talk about wrestling wise before you
• 1:53:58
  wrap it up? No, again, just everyone just
• 1:54:00
  keep getting in touch. Like I say, obviously
• 1:54:02
  housekeeping has become a big part.
• 1:54:03
  We're sure obviously we want to grow this, we want it to be as
• 1:54:06
  good as possible. And that doesn't really happen
• 1:54:08
  without people kind of interacting.
• 1:54:09
  And that's not just questions, feedback, you know, tell us if
• 1:54:12
  there's something you want us to kind of want us to talk about,
• 1:54:15
  you know, moment in time. We always pick that with cells.
• 1:54:17
  But if people want to throw in a suggestion for that, I'm more
• 1:54:19
  than happy to kind of do that. So yeah, just get in touch,
• 1:54:21
  speak to us, and we'll speak to you.
• 1:54:24
  Indeed. Remember, we are on Instagram at
• 1:54:26
  SES Wrestling pod. You can also leave comments on
• 1:54:29
  Spotify. If you're listening on Spotify,
• 1:54:31
  please give us a follow. Leave us a five star review.
• 1:54:34
  If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, leave us a five star
• 1:54:37
  review. You can also leave a comment on
• 1:54:39
  the review. So make it nice.
• 1:54:40
  Keep us smiling all day long. Thank you very much for
• 1:54:43
  listening, and remember guys, it's still real to us, damn it.
• 1:54:48
  Damn it.