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AEW Hot Topics | Cultural Diversity in Wrestling . . . and more! · Ignition - an AEW Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's Tuesday. You know what that means. It's time for
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: agnition with the AEW Fanhope podcast team. We have a
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: lot to talk about tonight, so let's get started.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: This is Kelson, this is Alex. And there was a
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: new piece of news that came out in the last
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: few hours. I think it was Dave Meltzer is reporting
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: that Danny Garcia's contract is up with AW. So he
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: was reading recently had his neck broken k fabe on
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: TV by MJF and apparently that was a way to
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: write him off of AW television while these contract negotiations
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: are going on, and there's sounds like there's a non
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: zero chance that he would actually leave AW or is
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: at least considering it now. Whether that's just a negotiator
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: tactic or what. But I'd be very shocked to see
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Danny Garcia leave. I think he's done tremendously in AW.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: I think they've invested a lot in Danny Garcia. I
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: remember when he was on TV like every week for
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: some reason, with Matt Minard and Angelo Parker as two
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: point zero at either side of him. So he's been
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: around in AW for a long time. He's really a
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: guy that's done a lot. I think he's come a
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: long way and I would be really sad to see
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: him leave. And it's hard for me to imagine being
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: a littler guy him him going to WWE and really
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: fitting the mold of a WWE guy if that's the
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: way things went, and being successful there. Yeah, curious what
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: you guys think about the chances of Danny Garze leaving aw.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Well, Denny Garcia would be perfect for an XT. Let
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: me put that first and foremost. My biggest issue with
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Daniel Garcia is that he's been booked as part of
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: a faction or whatnot, and he really needs to be
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: on his zone to be able to shine. When you're
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: in a faction, you are only as good as the
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: people around you, and Garcia, to me, is better than
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: the people he was with as far as potential and
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: as far as wrestling talent goes, even maybe in some
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: cases on the mic and on promos. But he's got
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: that charisma. But when you put him in a spot
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: where he's in a faction, for example, let me put
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: it this way, if he does come come back, he
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: doesn't need to go to the learning tree. He doesn't
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: need to go to Dark Order or anything.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: He just he's beyond that.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: He needs to be Daniel freaking Garcia. That's it.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, But I mean, go ahead, Alex. Yeah, I was
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: just gonna say so. When they brought him into the faction,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: they brought him into the Jericho Appreciation Society, And I
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: know there was rumors of him going to BCC kind
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: of before that, and it sounds like they kind of
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: wanted him in there. But like when you look at
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Wheeler Yuda and him, I think he really benefited from
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: being with Jericho and it kind of gave him that
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: sports entertainer aspect to him that he really didn't have
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: before that. I agree he doesn't need to be in
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: a faction anymore, but I do think when you look
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: especially him, he's the guy that was in the Jericho
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: vortex and came out of it better than he was
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: going in in my opinion.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I kind of I kind of agree with that.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: But I like the fact that they did this this way.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: In case he leaves, They've given him a clear cut
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: left leave. I mean, he's not got a and if
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: he decides to stay, they've got a full proof written
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: storyline for him between him and MJF when he comes back.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: But I agree he's gotten to the point that he's
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: and they've been doing that with him recently. If you
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: watch everything he's done for the last ever since the
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: tournament at the beginning of the year or at the
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: end of last year, they've got him doing things on
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: his own. He's been tagging with people once in a while,
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: but most of the time he's been by himself, so
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: hopefully they'll continue that if he stays. I'm hoping he stays.
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: So I really like him with Daddy Magic and cool
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: Hand little, but I think as as far as it
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: needs to go, I think he needs a little bit
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: of someone to talk for him. But other than that,
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: I think he's golden way for him to come back,
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: and I do think he will come back to have
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: some with MJF after all in but he's super talented.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: The dancing thing I didn't think would get over as
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: well as it is, but hey, it's aw so you
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: never know what's going to get over. But he's genuinely
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: a rising star and I think Edge helped him a
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: little bit, so we'll see where he goes.
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: I agree I like him as a wrestler. I think
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: they booked this really well for him. I hope to
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: see him come back. I think he has a lot
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: of potential and it'd be good to see him come
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: back and stand out more on his own. So we'll see.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Rad. Do you have anything to say about Daniel Garcia?
• 5:56
  Speaker 6: I think I think the NHT Performance Center could do
• 6:01
  Speaker 6: some good work for him in terms of building out
• 6:04
  Speaker 6: his physical frame, maybe polishing up some of his skills
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: on the mic.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: But I would love to.
• 6:09
  Speaker 6: Say returning aw I think he's become sort of a
• 6:13
  Speaker 6: quasi pillar, and they've invested a lot in him, and
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: they have a lot of equity in him, and I
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: don't want to see that good waste.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel the same way. I mean, the Performance
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Center would do wonders for him. I personally think that
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Ring of Honor could do wonders for Daniel Garcia too.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: On a short stint, and speaking of Ring of Honor,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: we had Death Before Dishonor on Friday Night and really,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: honestly just a truly fantastic pay per view. I really
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: really did enjoy it, and it had had so much
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: going for it. You had Dustin Rhodes and the Von
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Erics winning the six man tag titles. That's important because
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: it was in Texas, Dustin and the von Ericks are
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: from Texas. We've seen reports that WWE and a W
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: are both going after to von Ericks. Well, guess what,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: the von Eerics have a belt in a wland now.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: So I think it's fair to say that maybe this
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: week we will see on one of the shows a
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: von Ericks are all elite sign Yeah. I mean this
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: show opened with Commander against Beast Mortos in what was
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: just a fantastic match. Then you had the three women matches,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: you had a Theena versus Queen Amanada, you had Billy
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Starks against Red Velvet, and then you had Diamante and
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Layla Hirsch and a Texas Death Match and they tore
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the house down. Now, I don't know if you guys
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: watched the Death before Disonder pay per view. If you haven't,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: go on on Her Club, join on Her Club if
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: you haven't already and watch this pay per view because
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: it just shows once again that Tony Kahn can put
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: on a hell of a show. If you're a wrestling fan,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: you already know that a w puts on great pay
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: per views. Ringa Honor does the same thing.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, it was an amazing show. That Layla Hirsh
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Diamonte match was insane and Layla Hirsh did a moonsaw
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: off the top of a ladder, like literally the top
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: of the ladder in the ring on the diamontte. I
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: think she broke her forearm because she came down. I mean,
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: when you're on the top of a ladder and you
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: moon salt off, the ladder is wider at the bottom
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: than at the top, so you're gonna hit it coming down,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: and she did like she kind of had to push
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: yourself off, and it looks like she definitely hurt her
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: arm pretty bad. But that was, you know, in a
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: week that we had Darby Allen in the Blood and
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: Guts match. That was the craziest bump by far of
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: the week, probably the craziest bump in a woman's match
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: that I've seen, maybe even in any match at least
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: for this year.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: I want to be interrupt you a little bit, Alex,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: because we did have ROH tapings after the pay per view,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: and part of the ROH taping spoiler alert here, so
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: skip forward twenty seconds if you don't want rig of
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: outer spoilers. Not much of a spoiler. But Top Flight
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: did perform m hmm on rh tapings with laylor Hurst.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, wow, well laylor Hurst.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: I don't think laylor Hurst did any bumping. She just
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: came out as dressed as a flight attended of all things,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: which is kind of funny. But if she was, you know,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: if she had to have surgery or on her arm
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: or whatnot, she probably wouldn't have come out. I wouldn't
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: think like the next I think they did this on Saturday.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: So yeah, you know, during during her before collision or
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: after collision, so you know, I just wanted to throw
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: that out there.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Okay, good, And you never know with wrestling, sometimes people
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: just know that they should sell something when it looks
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: like it hurt. And she was selling it looking like
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: it was like limp at her side for the end
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: of the match. But yeah, just a crazy, crazy Texas
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: death match.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Did you catch Diamante when she held up I think
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: she was holding up the bag of thumb tacks, because
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: they have two bags of thumbtacks, and I think after
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the first one came out, Diamante just stood and faced
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the crowd and they caught her on audio. She said,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: but wait, there's more.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was brilliant.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah. Diamonte looked amazing. This was just a great match,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: like this card on paper. When I saw it, I
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: was I was pretty underwhelmed. I was thinking about skipping it,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: but then I remembered that, like every Ring of Honor
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: pay per view since Tony Khan's taken over has been incredible. Really,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: it's always blown away my expectations, and this is no different.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: The only weak spot that I saw on the pay
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: per view was the sixth man Survival of the Fittest
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: because it was basically two people in the ring battling
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: while four people just stood around outside the ring the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: entire match. It made no sense whatsoever. But the thing
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: that I did like about it was that throughout the
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: evening we got some do champion champions crowned. You know, Oh,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: we had a van Erics, We had the van Erics
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: as the sixth man tag with Dustin Rhodes. We had
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Red Velvet beating Ricky Starks, and what was a terrific
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: match for the Ring of Hoter Women's TV Champion, wach Champion,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: and then you had oh who else was it?
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Wheeler lost his pure title the Lee Moriarty, and I
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: thought that was a great match too.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Lee Moriarty did fantastic the at the crowd there
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: was thirteen hundred. It was sold out. It was thirteen
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: hundred people there.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Really, Okay, it almost looks like less, but yeah.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: I think the exact number was thirteen thirty seven. And
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: that crowd was just chanting and making noise. It put
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: most crowds that I've seen that are thirty forty thousand
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: people to shame, you know, like those big stadium crowds.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: This was a great crowd, really.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: What and this was like an old school Ring of
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Honor arena, Like this arena they've been using for a collision.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: It's you know, there's no stands. It's not a sports
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: arena in the same way that like a basketball arena
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: or whatever. There it's just fans all all around the arena,
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: a thousand of them, and they were really into it.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: And they've been good for all these collisions that they've had,
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: and I guess we'll have up to all in. But yeah,
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: I'm really digging this.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Did anybody else watch the pay per view or see
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: highlights of it? At least.
• 14:07
  Speaker 7: I didn't.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think also to call it like more toast
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: that that match with him and Commander was incredible.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: I'll fired up right off the bat.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was so good like and he's such he's
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: the base. He's like gringo loco. They had for a
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Hologram last week on Collision. He can hold you up
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: while you do any crazy flips you need to on
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: on him and he was amazing, Like do.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: You have the MVP of that? I mean, seriously, look
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: at what this guy is doing.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: And then yeah, and then on Collision against Hologram.
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: Like.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: Hologram, it's such a stupid gimmick, right, but he's over
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: like they were so into it. I was so into it.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: He was amazing.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Did you see Tony Khan come out and hug Hologram
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: after the match on Collision.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: No, he came out on stage.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: He came up out onto the ramp and hugged him
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: and walked him back. This is Tony Khan's baby. I mean,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: this is been touted as Tony Khan's first you know,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: beginning to ed gimmick that he's created and he's got
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: to be thrilled and it's work. I was I was
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: thinking Glacier from WCW, you know, and now nothing against
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Glacier because he did good. I mean, he was a
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: but it was just not as good as it should
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: have been. But people, this is just the right time,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: in the right place for Hologram and now Hologram is
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: a star.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's just like Tony Khan could have done anything.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: He could have said. He's like Chicken Man and he
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: comes out in the Gobbled the Yucker costume and just
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: like what he can do in the ring would get
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: anything over. So I don't know if ton Tony Kan
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: could take too much credit, but yeah, he's he's incredible.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: He's it'll be interesting to see what he's like with
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: other wrestlers that aren't the beast Mortos and Gringo Loco
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: who aren't like luchador specialists.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I've seen Aramis, which is Hologram, have
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: a match against Ray Phoenix, which was tremendous. But he's
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: got to get the ring with somebody like Daniel Garcia
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: would be a good guy for him to get into
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: the rink with. Obviously somebody like Commander, you know, but
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: he's got to be in there with somebody athletic. He
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: would be he would be great in the rig with
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Kenny Omega. I would love to see that match.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and like I'm thinking guys like Czarro and
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: big guy like Brian Kate, the guys that can do everything.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: Sorry Claudio casting.
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: On, Yes, okay, I kind of want to see him
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: against Eric, though I know people don't like and the
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: and range. Eric was put on some pretty good match
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: people here, suy, so I I think he could do
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: with him.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Anybody else? Yeah, anybody else? Have anybody that they'd like
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: to see Hologram go against in a match?
• 17:30
  Speaker 7: Mm hmm.
• 17:33
  Speaker 6: I don't know if Keith Lee is wrestling for AW
• 17:36
  Speaker 6: anytime soon, but I'd love to see Keith Lee versus Hologram.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: Isn't he hurt or wasn't here?
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Keith Lee is hurt and it looks like he is
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: not going to be renewed. I don't think to Keith.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: What I understand what Keith Lee is that COVID really
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: affected him really bad, and I don't think he's ever
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I don't I personally, and I have not read this
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: other than the people say that COVID really got Keith
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Lee bad. I don't think he's fully recovered from.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: It he actually has a heart condition and or folks
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: like me that have heart conditions. If you got COVID,
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: it's a bad thing. It can it can really mess
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: you up. So that's I think is what the problem
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: is with the COVID and how it affected him.
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: That's too them.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: But I do think that Keith Lee and Hologram would
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: be a really decent match. And you know what else
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: happened on the Ring of Honor tapings, Alex Is we
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: had a return of an a w wrestler, but he
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: returned to Ring of Honor and again this is a spoiler,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: so mutus if you don't want to hear it. But
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: it's not really anything that happened in a match that
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: happened as a run in, But Alex who came back
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: at Ring of Honor.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Sammy Gavara, he is now I guess a roster
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: member of Ring of Honor. Uh, it's pretty interesting. I
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: like it. I'm not like a huge Sammy Guvara guy,
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: but at the same time, it feels like he could
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: really benefit Ring of Honor and put on like be
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: a marquee guy for that brand going forward and put
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: on some great matches with some other up and comers
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: like you know, like Shoddy Lee Johnson, Guys like that
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: that that could really benefit from just being in there
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: with Sammy or maybe getting a win at some point
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: on a big show against Sammy Guevara. Yeah, I really
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: like it.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Did you guys hear why Semi Gavara is in Ring
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: of Honor instead of AW?
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: No?
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: From what I understand, a W had some plans for
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Sami gavar Uh that he was going to be a heel,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: and Sammy Guevara did not want to be a heel,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: so they put him in Ring of Honor to build
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: him up as a babyface, which I think is a
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: good move. I really think that Sami gavar look, AW
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: has too many heels to begin with. There's too many
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: male heels, there's way too many female heels, So we
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: need to establish an AW babyface, especially one that's a
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: younger guy that can be a babyface consistently. I think
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: the fear was is that if he came back to AW,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: they would immediately put him with because Tony Kahn seems
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: to want to put Sammy Gavara with Chris Jericho at
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: every single opportunity, and I personally did not want to
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: ever see that again.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: I think that's one of Tony's which is surprising to
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: me that he's like that, but I think that's one
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: of his flaws. When it comes to R O H
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: and ae W. He is heal happy for whatever reason.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: They never if you if you are a champion, you're
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: a heel. Very rarely do they have champions for long
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: that are not heels, and that is something that is
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: kind of I think personally, is holding back a W
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: because you you've got to have the competition. If you
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: don't have the competition, what's the point.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: That's true.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm I love Samovar. I like his you know,
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: I think he really worked very well when he had
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: the TNT title as a baby base and that massive
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: Jared not Jericho sorry Etie Rhodes put him on the map.
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: I think a little bit him. I said this for
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: a long time. Uh I noticed that Fuego Del Soul
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: popped up. I'm a big head and I would love
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: to see the two tag team together and give Fuego
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: one more shot because he deserves it.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: But he can make an interesting tag team.
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he's from the Dallas area, so I don't see
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: him going back. I really wish they would, but yeah,
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: Sammy's definitely good and over there, he'd be a big
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: fish in a small pond, so he could really help out.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: The question is is now with Tay Mellow coming back,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: is Tae Goo to Ring of Honor as well, which
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: may be a good thing to have her go there
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: to get her you know, feet under her again.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: And with her partner. Anna Jay's going to start him.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Right, Yes, Santa Jay is going to start him.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: At least, yeah, and that would be a good place
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: for Tay to come back.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: Is that like a whole tournament, like a round robin
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: type thing.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Kind of is?
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: Uh?
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I don't really know much about the five Star to
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: be honest with you, but there's like four different teams
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: and they do some sort of elimination. I'm gonna have
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: to read up on it and we could discuss how
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Ana j does in the tournament once Santa Jay gets
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: there and starts doing it. Because I do think that
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: this is gonna be something ongoing with AW would stardom
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: because you know, as Tony Khan said like a month
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: or so ago, that there are women in AW that
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: are working under visa so that they can go over
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: to Japan and performance start them.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: We also have kenoskate Ta Keshta like actively in the
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: g One in New Japan right now, Yeah, yeah, just
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: tearing it up. I don't know if he's still undefeated
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: in it, and apparently all his matches have been just incredible.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: I've been busy and I'm not being able to keep
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: up with the g One. Does anybody else have anything
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: any idea of the g One or anything that we've
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: talked about, like the fittably at different topics that we've
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: talked about when Ringwana or the last in this segment.
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: I'm fairly sure. I just I can't think of against two,
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: but I'm going to cage match. The promos I've seen
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: of him in Japan speaking obviously Japanese have been fantastic.
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: I think this is revitalized some of his love for
• 24:32
  Speaker 6: pro wrestling, because it seems like he's lost a little
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: bit of it in the shuffle at a w Right.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, look, do you do you red? Do
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: you think that Takeshta is a big star or has
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: the potential to be a big star in AW I do?
• 24:51
  Speaker 6: I absolutely he is a potential to be a big
• 24:54
  Speaker 6: star anywhere in the world because he has to. Look,
• 24:56
  Speaker 6: he is the building in the ring, and he's serious
• 24:59
  Speaker 6: about what he does and how he acts and his
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: intentions when he does it, so absolutely I think, I mean, well,
• 25:05
  Speaker 6: I'm not gonna lie. I think he could have been
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: the biggest star in New Japan had he gone there
• 25:09
  Speaker 6: two years ago. And I don't know if he regrets
• 25:12
  Speaker 6: not doing.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: That, but.
• 25:15
  Speaker 6: There's certainly language barrier there, and I don't think don
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: Kallus has the focus or the attention needed to help
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: him progress because he's managing like what like five people
• 25:24
  Speaker 6: right now.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Well, Don Kallis was just signed as a quarterback for
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers. I don't think it's Kallas, but yeah,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: what do you get Takeshta, I mean that knows this.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: He's gorgeous.
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: He is gorgeous.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: It seems like maybe he's been a victim of Tony
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: Kahan not being able to pivot once Kenny Omega wasn't
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: able to to compete. There's probably more they planned on
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: doing with that, and Kesha has just been in a
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: holding past ever since then.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Not really you know that Tony ka does that. You
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: know he proved out with Chris stat Lander, with Jay Cargill.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: He will put somebody on hold for months and months
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: and months until they can do what I actually do.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: I think Takeshta is really in a bad spot that
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: he is teamed up with Callous, because you know, Keshta
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: needs to be like we were saying earlier about Danny Garcia,
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: Takesta needs to be on his own. He doesn't need
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: Don Callous, he doesn't need the Don Kallis family. He's
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: he's going to be a star for Oh how old
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: is he now? Like mid twenties.
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: I think he's twenty six.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: It's okay, so he's got twenty five years to become
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: a superstar. And I just I don't know. Don Callus
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: is a he does his job and he does what
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: he needs to do. But if it just seems like
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: with him being with these guys, they don't participate very often,
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: and when they do, it's usually in a match that
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: means nothing, and that's something he doesn't need.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Well, my thing with Takeshta is that when I look
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: at when I look at Takeshta, I see somebody with
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: the potential to be a massive babyface in AW with
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: and by the same token, somebody who has absolutely no
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: right and zero potential almost of being a convincing heel.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: I just don't buy Takeshta as a heel. Does anybody
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: else feel that way?
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: I agree he'd be a better baby face because he
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: was so much fun as a baby face when he
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: first started an AW Like, I'd buy him as a
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: heel just because he's so big and can hurt people effectively.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I think that he's a better baby face
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: for sure.
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: I think that when the Elite program is over, if
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: you put him together with the rain Maker, I think
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: those two would make a great tag team as faces,
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: because once they get back, they get this whole elite
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: program done. I think the rain Maker is going to
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: change and go back to being a face, and I
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: could just see those two as being like a huge,
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: huge pair as faces.
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I really do. But you know, we need aw
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: needs two there. The Japanese folks really aren't used as
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: well as they could be. Something we can talk about
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: a little later, but I just feel like we need
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: a big babyface from there, and it's something that needs
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: He's happened to get enough and talented, and I think
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: he's funny.
• 29:03
  Speaker 7: As well, just you know, like uh uhs that.
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: I really think him and o'coda could do very well
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: together one all up and down.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Does anybody else think that Paquashta would be good on
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: his own without a partner?
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: Don't get me wrong, you go ahead and simple.
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: Oh, I think so. I mean he's all around great wrestler,
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: so I can see him by himself. I don't think
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: he needs any help for sure. The only thing maybe
• 29:45
  Speaker 5: he needs is somebody to talk for him as his
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: And I'm not being weird here, as his English gets
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: a little bit better for English speaking audiences. But I
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: mean he's he's good anyway either way. He was really
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: good when he was a face. I mean it broke
• 30:04
  Speaker 5: my heart when he was banned from all Cinnabons for
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: being so very very bad. I hated to see the turn.
• 30:13
  Speaker 5: So I'd like to see him go back and be
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: nice and be on his own for a while and
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: have a good old time. I know I'm here for it.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: Red, what do you got for us?
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: I think there's the Shinsky Knackamore blueprint in the next
• 30:28
  Speaker 6: T where you get his DDT theme to the Cashes.
• 30:31
  Speaker 6: I mean and you just have him kind of this
• 30:32
  Speaker 6: bleeding cool guy comes out to a great rock song,
• 30:36
  Speaker 6: does good things, comes in and saves people fights Okada.
• 30:40
  Speaker 6: I think Okada can still be a great heel, and
• 30:44
  Speaker 6: I mean, I think there's a place for that. But
• 30:48
  Speaker 6: sometimes you don't need him to speak English. You just
• 30:50
  Speaker 6: have him do great good things, heroic things, because wrestling
• 30:55
  Speaker 6: the language and end of itself, right, yeah.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: True, true.
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: But I like to hear them talk sometimes, and that,
• 31:05
  Speaker 5: as I've said before, I like the storytelling, so I
• 31:10
  Speaker 5: like to hear what he has to say sometimes, his
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: reasons behind the things he does, or his thoughts on
• 31:18
  Speaker 5: certain people when they're when they're cutting promos, all that
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: kind of stuff. And I'm tired of hearing from Don
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: Kallus because he's so negative and you can hardly hear
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: him anyway because the crowds hate him. So it would
• 31:33
  Speaker 5: just be nice to hear more from Takeshta himself.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, I mean, you do have a couple of
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: women that have come over from Japan, Mina Shirakawa and
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: now Hakarashida that I've cut very capable English promos. So
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping we'll see somebody liked Takeasha Okata. You know,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: put that effort in which I'm sure they are already.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: I think that we'll see that. It'll just make their
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: characters so much more engaging to American audiences.
• 32:12
  Speaker 5: I agree with that. I agree.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think o'cott has been really good. He's kind
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: of impressed me by how clear he comes across.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: He annunciates bitch so well, yeah.
• 32:25
  Speaker 5: So very well, that's his best word.
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: I wonder if Omega can go both ways on the MIC,
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: he can use Japan to I wonder if he could
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: really help those struggling and teach them how to do
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: better on the MIC as as well. The key asset
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: to that, and I think he'd do good at it.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Sure, I don't know this for a fact, but with
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: all the time that many of the aw wrestlers have
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: spent in Japan, like the Young Bucks, I'm sure the
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Young Bucks are helping out Okada measurably.
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: Right, right, And it's not it's not necessarily Kenny Omega.
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: I think it's uh Koda Abushi who would be the
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: most help in that, so I know, but he he
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: speaks English and he helped Kenny Omega speak Japanese. So
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: I would think that he can turn it around the
• 33:38
  Speaker 5: other way and help them, as you know, as a
• 33:44
  Speaker 5: I think of it like I'm a native English speaker,
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: So when I speak to someone who isn't a native
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: English speaker, I try to teach them words the way
• 33:55
  Speaker 5: that I pronounce them and the way I understand them
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: as an English speaker. So I would think that someone
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: who was a native Japanese speaking person would be able
• 34:09
  Speaker 5: to tell them this is how these words are pronounced,
• 34:13
  Speaker 5: even though they may be pronounced differently to us, this
• 34:17
  Speaker 5: is how English speakers pronounce them. That's how it works
• 34:22
  Speaker 5: in my brain. I don't know, could just be me.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: Well, I want to move on now because we've had
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: a discussion just now about Japanese wrestlers. A few moments
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: ago we spoke about, you know, some of the Mexican wrestlers,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: and I this could be a little bit of a
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: controversial topic, but I want to talk about cultural diversity
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: in wrestling, not only in AAW, because I personally feel
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: like AW is doing a really good job with diversity.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: And well, look, let's look at it this way, and
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about the AW main roster. Here. We have
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: two champions that are black, and that's swear Strickland, who
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: made a big deal out of being the first black
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: AW World Champion. And we have Mercedes Monet. Now you
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: can also put Willow Nightingale in there as the CMLL champion,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: but you know that's she's not an age. She doesn't
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: have an AW built. But again, we do have a
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: couple of black champions. And the reason I bring this
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: up is because WWE currently has zero black champions on
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: their main roster. They do one NXT, there is a couple,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: but on the main roster there are no black champions.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: And I want to bring this even further into it
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: because I read something that I actually had the Gold
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: look up to confirm and I did confirm it. Let's
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: look at Forbidden Door, the last AW pay per view.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: There were nine black wrestlers who performed in matches at
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Forbidden Door. Okay, then you also had no Prince Nanna
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: On and Stokely Hathaway were also there, but they didn't
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: I didn't count them as part of the nine because
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: they were in menagerial roles. Wwee SummerSlam is coming up
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: on Saturday. There are no black wrestlers on the card,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: which means that after SummerSlam there will be no black
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: champions on the WWE main roster. This is a problem
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: for me. Now I'm white. I have no shame in
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: saying that. But my children are black, my grandchildren are black,
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: and actually they're black and Mexican, my grandchildren the majority
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: of them. So you know, this kind of means something
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: to me. That kind of it does. It means something
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: to me, and I wanted to hear your opinions. Is
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: cultural diversity it here's the thing. When you get the
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: cultural diversity in something like wrestling, I still want to
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: see the best wrestlers with the belts, the best athletes,
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: the best promos, the best characters. And I have no
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: problem with the aw black champions because swear Strickland is
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: a terrific athlete. It is a great character. He does
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: great promos. Mercedes Monett is a great champion, maybe not
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: the greatest promo unless you like the whole falling over
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: to tongue thing, but hey, she does that dance, so
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: there's points for that.
• 38:23
  Speaker 5: And Alkata loves her and.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: Olcada gets all hot under the collar over yes, as
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: does practice. I mean, did you see Brody King was
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: doing the Mercedes bond. What do you get Brodie Kig
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: to do the Mercedes Monet dance? That's that's just all
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: other level. Will Osprey's been doing it. I think Tony
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: Conne even gave it a shot once and I don't
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: even want to think about that. But anyway, what are
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: your thoughts on the cultural diversity? And we could talk
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: about WWE here, because frankly, I was shocked what I
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: saw somebody pros I can't remember where they posted it,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: but it was a friend of mine who posted it saying, hey,
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: there's no w W champions from the main roster, and
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: there's no black people on the hard for SummerSlam. An all,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: there's a whole crapload of Samoans, but no black people.
• 39:20
  Speaker 7: So I want to take that real quick, you know.
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: I want to take you back maybe four years ago
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: when when Tony Kahan had an incident with a wrestling
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: by the name of Big Swoll and she left. She
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: was told Tony Khan basically said you got fired because
• 39:38
  Speaker 4: you stopped, and well that was probably true, but her
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: her big ride at the time, which I totally didn't
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: agree with, was that they are they he she I
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: feel inadvertently called him a racist, which is weird because
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: he's a minority himself, and at the time, there was
• 39:57
  Speaker 4: lots of people who we're good there and she heard,
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: in my opinion, Jade Cargill when she won, because it
• 40:06
  Speaker 4: made everybody feel like that she got that because of
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: what swol said. But you know, I really enjoy a
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: w and their diversity is great. The one race I
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: will say that I'm disappointed in and that representation, and
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: not a lot of champions have been japan Japanese. There's
• 40:31
  Speaker 4: been a few, but there could be a lot more.
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: And that's my only problem with that. There's so many
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: talented people from Japan that are in the lower ranks
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: like Emmy Secira and some others that just really deserve
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: it that are not. But aw's a place to be
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: and they deserve what they get. But I'm tired of
• 40:51
  Speaker 4: people saying that the race is a big issue and
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: they want to be inclusive and they want to be
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: included and feel like they're part of it. And that
• 41:04
  Speaker 4: was part of what Big Swell was trying to get at,
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: but that did terribly.
• 41:09
  Speaker 7: So I'm interested with what you guys like about that.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: Anybody.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the Big Swool thing. That was interesting because now
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: they have Leo Rush back on TV the past few
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: weeks since Forbidden Door, and he kind of went on
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: record and basically said, you know, she he agreed with
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: Big Swoll and kind of said something bad about Tony Kahn.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: I don't remember exactly what it was. And then you
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: never saw Leo Rush again until you know, three or
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: four years later he's returned for Forbidden Door and now
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: he seems to be just a part of the AW
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: roster again. But yeah, it's it's obviously a tricky subject.
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: But like going back to w I remember it being
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: such a big deal in wrestling when like kofee Mania
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: and to me, like Kofi Kingston and his run to
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: the world title, because they really hadn't had other than
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: The Rock. I don't think that they had had a
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: single black wrestler that was their top champion. I know
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: they've had two champion titles and Booker t was champion,
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: but it was like to me, there was a separation.
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: There was like a glass ceiling where it was like,
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: you know, for whatever reason, there was no black wrestlers
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: that ever held that title other than The Rock.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: You could argue that WCW, Booker t WWE as well.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they made him like and then there was that,
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: you know, the controversy with what Triple H said in
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: their feud and racial connotations, and then Booker t losing
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: to Triple H at WrestleMania when Triple H was the
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: evil heel that said racist things towards him. So yeah,
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: I always felt like there was something in WWE that
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: was not right, and obviously that was Vince McMahon and
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: that's a long time ago. But that's why when Swerve said,
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: you know, I want to be the first black aw
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: champion and him actually winning it, it is important and
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: obviously Swerve deserves it. No one would argue that, but
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: it is nice that, you know, he wasn't he just
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: he achieved it. There was no issues there. You never
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: felt like they held him back in any way.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: You know, we were talking Alex about Hologram m HM
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: and you know, one of the things that I've heard
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: said about WWE as far as their Mexican wrestlers is
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: that they only fight against the Mexican wrestlers. They only
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: have matches against Mexican wrestlers. That's why I think it's
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: important for Hologram to fight against somebody like somebody said
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: Keith Lee, I said, Kenny Omega, you know down the line,
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: when Kenny Omega hopefully comes back healthy. Daniel Garcia as
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: I said, Also, I mean, we can't stew a horn,
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: a race, or a stereotype really into a corner, because
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: if somebody like Hologram is only fighting lucha's, where is
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: he going to go? You know, you know, I swear
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: strictly it only fought against other black wrestlers. Where could
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: that possibly go? This is why it's important to have
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: the diversity where everybody of not only you know, you
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: can even say this about cruiserweights and heavyweights. It's nice
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: seeing a cruiser weight to me by the heavyweight have
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: a match against a heavyweight because it's just proving just
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: how they can, how someone can adapt to a different
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: wrestling style and a different wrestling.
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: Size mm hmm. And to hop on that point, sorry,
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: I'll be quick. You know you have Mansur who's part
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: of the MXM. They just debuted at Ring of Honor
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: and they were on collision the Maximum Male Models from WWE.
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: But he was he's from Saudi Arabia and I was
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: looking at some of his WWE history, and he was
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: in a tag team at one point with Mustafa Alley
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: and it's like, oh, you just put these guys together
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: there because they're both Middle Eastern, you know, like that,
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: that's all it takes to make a tag team.
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: Sometimes always had the Russians, you know together the tag team,
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: you know, and you always had this, that and the
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: other a tag team. Let's face it. Back when I
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: was growing up, it didn't really matter what the race was,
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: but you had stereotypes in the camp built into the characters.
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: You had, like the Hockey TNK Man, the Big boss Man,
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: the Godfather. These were all stereotypes and they couldn't get
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: away from them.
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: Kamala, Okay, So on your point, Alex, the first black
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: champion in WWE with the w A Championship was Ron Simmons.
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: He won it before The Rock became The Rock.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: I thought.
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: He Rocket just joined the I can't remember the name
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: of the group now. It was Ron Simmons was was
• 47:01
  Speaker 3: the first champion. He won the champion that was in
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: w W No, no, no, that wasn't w W E.
• 47:10
  Speaker 3: He wanted us when when The Rock first joined he
• 47:14
  Speaker 3: became part of Ron Simmons. I can't remember the name
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: of the group Brain the nation, the Nation of Domination.
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: He won the title either right near the end of
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: the nation or right at the beginning, before the rock
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: was who the rock was. But here's the here's here's
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: the difference.
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: No, I think he wanted in in W in w
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: c W. He won it. He won the world w W.
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: But the title here, here's the thing. Here's the thing.
• 47:45
  Speaker 3: You have to look at you. Everybody's talking about the
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: diversity in the different places. You cannot look at w
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: W E. It's ever say there's ever going to be
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: diversity there because of the simple fact is I don't
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: care if he's gone or not. This McMahon didn't want
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: it that way. It was all on him. There was
• 48:02
  Speaker 3: nobody else involved in that. Vince McMahon made every decision
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: on everything from who wrestled who to who he hired
• 48:11
  Speaker 3: and what they did. He pretty much ruled that as
• 48:14
  Speaker 3: an iron fist, you didn't get to do and like
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: very few people like for example, the Undertaker, maybe Triple
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: H some of those guys actually had some creative influence,
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: but everything else was Vincent Kennedy McMahon period end of story.
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: A W doesn't have that issue because like MK, like
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: MK said, Tony Kahn is a minority, he's elevenies or
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: he's from half Pakistani half Pakistani, Okay, so he's from
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: the Middle East. You've had how many different champions that
• 48:46
  Speaker 3: have been and you have you have the the the
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: the thing that she tried to do when that was
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: because she was unhappy and she only got backed up
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: by one person and he won way for a long time.
• 49:09
  Speaker 3: And now he's back because they've healed whatever it is.
• 49:12
  Speaker 3: But there's never I don't know of anywhere else or
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: I've high seen anywhere that there's been a complaint about
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: that against Tony Kahn because if you look at their roster,
• 49:23
  Speaker 3: whether they've been a champion or not, AW has one
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: of the most diverse rosters I've ever seen. You've got Orientals,
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: you've got Japanese wrestlers, you've got Mexican wrestlers, you've got
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: white wrestlers, you've got Black wrestlers, You've got guys from
• 49:39
  Speaker 3: all over the place. And you were right, Kelse and
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: they did everything, especially back in the day when WW
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: was first coming around, where you had all the Russians
• 49:48
  Speaker 3: and the Bolsheviks and the great American people, this and that,
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: and it was all based on what was going on
• 49:53
  Speaker 3: at the times. Back then. It was the Cold War
• 49:56
  Speaker 3: that was the big deal. So he made people, you know,
• 50:00
  Speaker 3: you had you had the Russians, you had the Bolsheviks,
• 50:04
  Speaker 3: you had, Yeah, you had all those guys that he
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: brought in to go against too Hogan, his American hero.
• 50:14
  Speaker 3: But today, I don't think that there is there's still
• 50:19
  Speaker 3: that problem in WWE, because no matter how long it's
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: gonna be years before the influence of McMahon's completely taken
• 50:26
  Speaker 3: out of that place, it's gonna be that way forever
• 50:28
  Speaker 3: because they're fighting against the battle that was designed that way.
• 50:33
  Speaker 3: AW doesn't have that problem because a w has been
• 50:37
  Speaker 3: diverse from the beginning. I don't think there's ever been
• 50:39
  Speaker 3: a question, aside from the one when when she was fired,
• 50:43
  Speaker 3: that that they even actually have a problem, you know,
• 50:47
  Speaker 3: with people saying, well, Tony Kaanna is doing this or
• 50:50
  Speaker 3: doing that or doing the other. I just don't see
• 50:52
  Speaker 3: it happening.
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: And what has big Swall done since she left.
• 50:58
  Speaker 3: I don't think she wrestles anymore. To be honest with you,
• 51:00
  Speaker 3: I've never heard of her. I mean, seriously, she's she's
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: just gone because when she made those remarks, people disagreed
• 51:07
  Speaker 3: with their ninety nine percent of the people thought she
• 51:10
  Speaker 3: was crazy and she pretty much killed her career because
• 51:14
  Speaker 3: she was unhappy. She thought that she thought something was
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: done to her that wasn't and that's what happens. But honestly,
• 51:23
  Speaker 3: in ae W, I don't look at it as we
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: have a black champion, or we have a guy who
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: owns it from Pakistan it's part Pakistani. I look at
• 51:34
  Speaker 3: it as we have a badass wrestler that's a champion.
• 51:38
  Speaker 3: Tony Kahan is one of the greatest. He's gonna end
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: up being one of the greatest owners ever. And I
• 51:43
  Speaker 3: don't I don't like when people bring race into things
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: all the time because it's not a problem. So don't
• 51:49
  Speaker 3: make it, you know what I mean. Don't bring it
• 51:51
  Speaker 3: up and start saying, hey, well there's a problem.
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: I don't have to disagree with you, because it is
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: a problem. If it's all one race with all the
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: belts and it's noticeable, you don't notice it. If you know,
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: white people don't notice it because they're white. Black people
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: do notice it, you know. That's what I'm saying you
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: can't say that it isn't a problem. May not be
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: a problem to you, but it can be a problem
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: to others, and it is important.
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: M Yeah, I always think of like Hollywood. You know,
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: people always complain about them forcing diversity in the movies,
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: but you think about like twenty thirty years ago, when
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: they would have like black people in a movie. It
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: would be like as criminals in an action movie in
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: the Inner City or something, and that would be their
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: only role.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: And then Hollywood, don't forget they were the first person
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: to die in horror movies too.
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, of course. Yeah, And it's stuff like that,
• 52:55
  Speaker 2: and then that is America's contribution to other countries, and
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: they're putting that image out there and it's maybe it's
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: not intentional, but by not thinking before they cast these movies,
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: they're perpetrating these stereotypes. And yeah, and obviously it is
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: a lot better nowadays.
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: And.
• 53:20
  Speaker 2: WWE maybe needs to be more conscious of that because
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: you know, it's important to little like kids watching to
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: see good representations of themselves on television.
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: Exactly. Heroes come in all shapes, sizes, and colors.
• 53:38
  Speaker 4: That's the point that the white meat babyface Americana guy.
• 53:44
  Speaker 4: Gimmick has really kind of went away in a way.
• 53:47
  Speaker 4: I think Kurt Angle is really the last person, like
• 53:49
  Speaker 4: an pinpoint, it was an Americana guy. I think fans
• 53:54
  Speaker 4: are kind of getting tired of that notion that the
• 53:58
  Speaker 4: white guys saved You're Hulk Coganish person really has gone away.
• 54:05
  Speaker 8: Look at look at this, but look at all you
• 54:10
  Speaker 8: have Cody Rhodes, right, but then you also have it
• 54:14
  Speaker 8: m j F who's speaking a big deal with American
• 54:17
  Speaker 8: flags with.
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: His face coming down all over, talking about the good
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: old us A.
• 54:22
  Speaker 7: But he's heel.
• 54:26
  Speaker 3: I have the correctday. I was wrong, I was you
• 54:28
  Speaker 3: were right, it was w c W. One other thing,
• 54:31
  Speaker 3: there is a is Bailey wrestling this weekend. Yes, she's
• 54:38
  Speaker 3: my son. Informs me that she is partially black. She
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: is a part of African American, So I mean, but yeah,
• 54:48
  Speaker 3: but yeah, that's that's the thing.
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: I mean.
• 54:53
  Speaker 6: I mean, you could say Damion Priests Puerto Rican. I
• 54:56
  Speaker 6: don't think that changes the fact that what m v
• 54:58
  Speaker 6: P said you in his Twitter tie rate about the
• 55:01
  Speaker 6: Hurt business and how it wasn't valued properly in the
• 55:04
  Speaker 6: same light that the bloodline was doesn't mediate the fact
• 55:08
  Speaker 6: that obviously black wrestlers in WWE feel concerns about their
• 55:13
  Speaker 6: representation in the company, and those concerns are valid, and
• 55:17
  Speaker 6: I think that's evident, like Kelson said, by SummerSlam, there's
• 55:21
  Speaker 6: no I mean, you know, Bailey might be you know whatever,
• 55:24
  Speaker 6: but there aren't any black wrestlers on that show, and
• 55:28
  Speaker 6: that means, like Kelson said, no black champions will be
• 55:31
  Speaker 6: exiting SummerSlam. Triple H has had a history obviously, like
• 55:37
  Speaker 6: Alex mentioned, of at least portraying a racist on ww television.
• 55:44
  Speaker 6: The comments he made about Booker T weren't clauseted, they
• 55:48
  Speaker 6: weren't veiled by anything. They were pointedly racist, that black
• 55:53
  Speaker 6: people can't be champions in the WWE, and then they
• 55:55
  Speaker 6: reinforced it by not letting Booker T win it WrestleMania.
• 55:59
  Speaker 6: So and that guy's in charge of the company. Now,
• 56:04
  Speaker 6: it's not a good look and he's not I don't
• 56:06
  Speaker 6: mean to make light of the situation, but he's not
• 56:08
  Speaker 6: beating the allegations exactly, either by what MVP said about
• 56:12
  Speaker 6: how then the perk business was handled, or how Sutton
• 56:16
  Speaker 6: Benjamin's concerns were handled, or how Bobby Lash's concerns were handled.
• 56:21
  Speaker 6: It's not looking good, and you know, it's something he
• 56:26
  Speaker 6: needs to address, not cryptically, not through his actions, like publicly.
• 56:31
  Speaker 6: It's something that he should probably talk about it. This
• 56:34
  Speaker 6: media is from that they love doing now at the
• 56:36
  Speaker 6: end of these shows.
• 56:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but we all know he's not going to do it.
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: You know what. Thing that's really interesting to me is
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: look at the wrestlers that have been released from WWE
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: that a W fans are talking about. Just look at
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: the race of the wrestlers at aw fans talking about.
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: Most of those people that were released by aid by
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: w w E that have gotten the most play from
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: a w fans have been the black wrestlers me Sades Monet.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: People are talking about something. Benjamin h is Ricochet black.
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: I believe he is. I don't know, you know Chet
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: Uh just Bobby La, Bobby Lashley, the hurt all the
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: herb business, Uh yeah, you know so, And look what
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: happened to Centric Alexander. As soon as the herb business
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: went away, he's been relegated to dark matches.
• 57:42
  Speaker 4: Well look what word was before he left. He was
• 57:45
  Speaker 4: hit ro And that's kind of a stereotype, I believe,
• 57:49
  Speaker 4: And you know, he came he game to a w
• 57:53
  Speaker 4: did his thing, showed her what it was, and yes
• 57:55
  Speaker 4: his game gives a little bit that way, but he
• 57:57
  Speaker 4: he's more hip hop and he wanted it that way.
• 58:00
  Speaker 4: So I don't know how he felt truly about hit Row,
• 58:05
  Speaker 4: but I really feel like he's really blossom from what
• 58:08
  Speaker 4: he came in from the start.
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: The thing about AW when you compare it to ww
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: especially the WWE or WWF thatt a lot of us
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: grew up watching, is that WWF and WWE. The characters
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: were out there. Maybe not so much anymore, but back
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: in those days, every character, and it doesn't matter the
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: race of the character whatnot. They were all over the top.
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, PAULK. Cogan was over the top, Randy Savage
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: was over the top. Ultimate Warrior over the top. But
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: then you also add the Rock over the top. You know,
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: the Godfather was over the top. Everybody in WWE or
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: WWF at the time was over the top. A doesn't
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: really have characters that I mean, who are the most
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: over the top characters at w at AW right now? Fiteless,
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: Tony Storm, you know, maybe the House of Black.
• 59:15
  Speaker 7: I like the Outrunners right now, that's funny, but again.
• 59:20
  Speaker 3: It's a totally different time. Sure that anymore, you don't
• 59:24
  Speaker 3: do that in wrestling anymore. And like I said, like
• 59:26
  Speaker 3: I was saying, you know, that's what I'm saying when
• 59:28
  Speaker 3: I was saying earlier, it's all it was all on
• 59:31
  Speaker 3: Vince and how he ran thing. That's where the difference is.
• 59:34
  Speaker 3: And it's and and Triple H was trained by Vince,
• 59:36
  Speaker 3: brought up in Vince's family, So yeah, he's gonna be
• 59:39
  Speaker 3: that way. You don't have the same issue and you
• 59:42
  Speaker 3: don't have the same issue in W in ae W
• 59:44
  Speaker 3: because a W doesn't pigeonhole people like Swerve. They didn't
• 59:49
  Speaker 3: pigeonhole him in that and make him the rapper. He
• 59:53
  Speaker 3: did that on his own, and he didn't really go
• 59:55
  Speaker 3: very far with it. And you know, Mercedes Monette came
• 59:58
  Speaker 3: in and she immediately was was over, was put over,
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 3: And you just don't have the same It's the it's
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 3: like night and day. Honestly, it is like night and day.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 3: Because none of the folks that are getting the push
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 3: or the thing in ae W would get we're getting
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 3: or we'll get whatever, get the same in a W.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 3: In wwe just wouldn't happen.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 4: Right, Well, AW doesn't have have tag teams like Crime Time,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 4: which was just a bit more and a flap in
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 4: the face to the black community.
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: Well, we really haven't heard from NET or even read
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: too much on this, so I'd like to hear what
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: they have to say.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 5: Okay for me, I think that AW is a good
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 5: representation of everyone. We all have to remember that diversity
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 5: is not just black and white. Like someone mentioned, there's
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 5: a lot of Japanese wrestlers, a lot of Mexican wrestlers.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 5: Somebody mentioned Dusty Rhodes. His own son, Cody, happens to
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 5: be of I believe Hispanic origins. So there's also diversity
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 5: with women and with the with the gay community. There's
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 5: a lot of room for diversities. When I watch wrestling,
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 5: I like to see people that look like me, so
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 5: I like to see other women wrestling. I'm a black woman,
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 5: I have black children that are women, and I've brought
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 5: at least one of them into being a huge wrestling
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 5: fan with me. And she doesn't queer cheer any louder
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 5: than she does for the women wrestlers. I think representation matters.
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 5: I think AAW is so very diverse because it's run
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 5: by a brown person in Tony Kahan. I think that
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 5: he hires a lot of people that look like him,
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 5: and they talk to their friends who, you know, tell
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 5: them it's a great place to work. Everyone is accepted there,
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 5: it's a great It seems to be a great workplace.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 5: I mean, the people behind the scenes are all very different,
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 5: come from a lot of different places, and I think
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 5: we're kind of looking at things through an American lens.
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 5: We have to remember that there are also people that
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 5: work at AW that are from other countries, so and
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 5: not just Canada and not just Mexico and not just Japan.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 5: So that also speaks to the diversity of a company.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 5: I think that women in AW are looked upon much
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 5: better than they have been traditionally looked upon in WWE.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 5: That's one of the biggest things that made me honestly
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 5: turn away from WWE. I grew up watching that in
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 5: w CW and I mean I couldn't stand as I
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 5: as I began to become older, I didn't like the
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 5: way the women wrestlers were portrayed.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: Women objectification actually.
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 5: Mostly the objectification. And you know, women do wrestle and
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 5: and they hit hard, and so I just like seeing
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 5: people that look like me. I like seeing people from
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 5: all over the world learning more about other people. We
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 5: were just talking about Taqushta and his English. There's absolutely
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 5: nothing wrong with not being a native English speaker. It's
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 5: the fact that he can wrestle and right, that's that's all.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't argue that being an English being able to
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: speak English would further his career.
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 5: In a w Yes, I think it would, at least
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 5: for the Americas. For those of us that are not
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 5: multi lingual, I think it would because he would be
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 5: able to speak to a lot more of his fan base.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 5: And I don't know about others, but I love wrestlers
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 5: that interact with their fans, so that that plays a
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 5: big part into who they are and how far they
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 5: can go, you know. So I think AW is excellent
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 5: at diversity, and I think that they can only go far.
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 5: I mean, you know, you can't do too much because
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 5: there's a lot of different people in this world. So
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 5: it's good to see people on TV every week that
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 5: are different. So there's a lot of kids watching and
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 5: it's good for them to see people that don't all
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 5: look the same. So that's my take on it.
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: Amazing take thank you that, rud Did you have anything
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: to add bring us home.
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 4: On this.
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 6: I made my opinions on Triple H very clear, and
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 6: my thoughts on you know, their lack of black representation
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 6: on this show and some things that have been lobbed
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 6: against him in terms of how he works with black talent,
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 6: how he promotes them. I just generally speaking, I think
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 6: sports are the closest thing to a true meritocracy we
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 6: have in America. Wrestlings a little bit more subjective, but
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 6: at the end of the day, wrestling promoter knows if
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 6: someone's able to talk, if someone's able to wrestle, and
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 6: if someone looks professional, and I think Aw's done a
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 6: good job of and Tony Kahan more specifically, it's done
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 6: a great job of promoting people in a meritocratic way.
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 6: You can if you're entertaining, if you wrestle well, if
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 6: you wrestle safely, and if you act professionally, you're probably
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 6: going to do well in this company. And I think
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 6: across the board that's shown more often than not that
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 6: people who are the most over, but ones who win
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 6: the titles, the ones who carry the titles, and that's
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 6: regardless of race. Freed, religion, height, shape, weight, or gender,
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 6: and that's what we want wrestling. We want the best
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 6: to wrestle the best and to win the most. And
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 6: that's what's happened so far.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: Amazing talk, guys, and I really do appreciate your tad
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: did responses, and I think that this was one of
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: the most important segments we've ever done on Ignition, to
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: be honest with you. Look, diversity is a sign of
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: the times, and wrestling should be with the times, and
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: I think AW has done a really good job with that.
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: And with that, we're going to wrap this episode of
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: Ignition up because I don't think that we can do
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: any better than we just did. So forty aw AW
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: Fanhoub podcast team got tongue tied there. This is Kelson Alex.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: Good night, everybody,