Latest / Real. Guy. Pods. / The CM Punk Rollercoaster and 2023 WWE Draft Preview | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #689 – 4/27/23

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The CM Punk Rollercoaster and 2023 WWE Draft Preview | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #689 – 4/27/23 · Real. Guy. Pods.

0:00
It's stupid up. Well, welcome everybody. Welcome to this week's edition.
0:19
It's the Real Flow Show. Episode numbers six hundred eighty nine for Hope point
0:24
shout two thousand point three. Welcome to his Steek's edition of half a year.
0:31
I am one after show. I am Jeff Peck joined it every single
0:35
week in my coach one only doctor Trey Franklin and doctor Trey. What is
0:39
up, my friend? All right? Just my road Warrior week. I
0:44
just got I was in Charlotte for a couple of days, got home last
0:48
night. Now I'm setting up for a Honda Indie Grand Prix raise, and
0:53
I got another like three fifteen hour days in the row. I feel like
0:58
it's WrestleMania week, but in the real world, like I just have life
1:00
happening a lot for the next few days. Do you know what day of
1:03
the week it is? I mean, I guess you should, right because
1:04
it's sr to you. But did you know actually what day of the week
1:07
it was? Today? Yeah? I did, because I was literally in
1:10
Charlotte. I was counting down the days to get home. Fair. I
1:15
was like, I'm gonna get home late Wednesday night, and then Thursday,
1:18
I have this and Friday I have this, so I'm aware of it that
1:21
I literally when you texted me, I was like, oh crap, I
1:23
forgot. We weren't on vacation any mode. I gotta get back into recording
1:26
the show mode. So what are your thoughts? Where do you stand on
1:30
Charlotte as a city. Um, it's not bad. I mean, for
1:37
it's it's a weird city in the sense of, you know, it had
1:41
its boom in the nineties, went through a little bit of money trouble early
1:46
two thousands. The part I was in downtown Charlotte was really nice. Um,
1:52
it's not a bad city. And then there's a lot of stuff to
1:55
do. Actually, there's amusement parks and all the little fun our Hall of
2:00
Fame. Yeah, so's it's a pretty good city for entertainment and things to
2:07
do. Maybe not the best bar scene or things like that, but like
2:13
if you're a family person, there's a bunch of stuff for families to get
2:15
into down there, So it says it's a really good family town. Yeah.
2:17
I actually really enjoy Charlotte is a city. I used to travel back
2:23
and forth there maybe like five six, seven years ago now and always enjoyed
2:27
the food, a lot of decent nightlife going on down there. Very not
2:32
hustle and bustle like what we typically see from a New York city. It
2:39
was it was my kind of my kind of city. I enjoyed it.
2:44
I enjoyed going to going to Charlotte and visiting it. And then I always
2:49
remember, like there's just like two streets that basically run through it all the
2:52
time. Was it Tyron? Tyron and Sardists, I think are the two
2:57
main ones. Like I lose right because I haven't. I hadn't been there,
3:00
like you know, all the use I spend North Caroline, I hadn't
3:02
been there in like five or six years. So I was like, oh,
3:06
yeah, there's Tyron, there's Sardness is another one. But they put
3:09
a toll road out on eighty five. Now that threw me off. So
3:13
I'll be getting tolls in the mail that I have to pay here at some
3:17
point in the next few months. The reason about Charlotte is really Charlotte and
3:21
Nashville you'd be kind of boomed at the same time, and they're about the
3:27
same size, but they're completely kind of opposite cities, Like like Nashville's known
3:32
now for its music scene. It's far life, it's nightlife, but when
3:37
you take the kids up there, there's not a whole lot really to do
3:39
for a family, Whereas Charlotte may not have the music scene, but it
3:44
does have the family friendly stuff to keep your kids or tape. But Nashville
3:49
is known as more of a destination vacation town than Charlotte is. Yeah,
3:53
it's it's nice. It's a nice city. And that is your Travel Report
3:59
with Doctor Trey Franklin and Jeff Peck on this week's edition of SRTU, which
4:02
we did not do back in the days when I was actually traveling. No,
4:04
No, it's crazy, well because rarely did you go to a city
4:10
like I'm not as much of a worldly traveler as you are, Like you
4:13
went to a city Charlotte that which has a lot of wrestling history. To
4:18
tie it all back to the reason for this podcast. You would be everywhere
4:23
around the world, and there were very few times that you and I could
4:27
like relate unless you like visited in the Northeast, where I've stamped my traveling
4:34
the most would be in the northeast of the United States. So this is
4:38
rare. Yeah, now I will say in Charlotte, I met the guys
4:41
who run the Northeastern part of my company up there, so it was kind
4:46
of nice as they thought of guys from like the New England area, the
4:49
Jersey guys, the Philly guys, and I'm like, yeah, it's been
4:53
a long time since I've been to the Northeast. But there was this old
4:56
joke of my company that they booked me anywhere between Baltimore in Boston. I
5:00
was gonna be pissed, Like I don't like that ninety five corridor up there.
5:04
I'm like, north side of Boston going up the Main fantastic, like
5:09
you know, DC back down to Florida. I'm good there, but that
5:14
Philly, Jersey, New York, Connecticut part of ninety five, I just
5:18
the traffic was atrocious. So that's I was like, I just tried to
5:21
avoid it. Those guys are like, yeah, we do too, so
5:25
yeah, yeah, Charlotte. That is that more in Doctor Trey's travel block
5:30
as well, Traveling with Doctor Trey dot WordPress dot com. There you go,
5:36
Doctor Trey. Let's get into the world the professional wrestling. Obviously,
5:41
Charlotte is such a big town for professional wrestling, but there is a lot
5:46
going on since since we last talked. We've been having a different type of
5:51
shows these last several weeks, coming out of WrestleMania Weekend, everything that went
5:56
on there, and since then, Doctor Trey, there is a huge amount
6:02
of new swirling around in regards to one c M Punk. Let's start with
6:11
the awnd of things. So, Cmpunk reportedly is returning to Alili Wrestling on
6:15
the debut episode of aw's new Saturday show on June the seventeenth at the United
6:20
Center in Chicago. It's believed the new show show will be called AW Collision.
6:27
Warner Brothers Discovery was reportedly told that Punk was returning as well, and
6:30
a potential roster split may happen between the Saturday show and Dynamite. Lots to
6:38
unpacked here first, Doctor Trey, Let's start with the CM punk stuff.
6:43
It looks like he's on his way back to Alili Wrestling. I don't know
6:48
if I'm totally surprised about that. I think we talked about this, you
6:53
know, back when we had the brawl, and my thing was always kind
6:58
of like, if there's a way for guys to make money off something like
7:02
this, the smart guys will try to figure out a way to make money.
7:05
And Punk is definitely one of the smarter guys when it comes to doing
7:10
business the old wrestling's term, you know, and even you know Tony Kahn,
7:15
for as much crap as we give him at times, you know,
7:18
he's also a businessman at heart. And the fact that they can look at
7:23
something like this and go, hey, we could split the roster, which
7:26
makes a ton of sense and have one show dedicated to Dynamite, one for
7:31
Collision, and then RAMPAHB like the middle show, like a combined show or
7:38
something. If that's the route they take, it makes a ton of sense.
7:42
And they can do that. Guys get more TV time, guys get
7:45
a chance to actually get their characters out there. It makes sense. So
7:47
I'm not and you need to have an anchor and have a draw, and
7:53
Punk is that polarizing draw kind of guy. So people who hate him are
7:58
going to watch that show, and the folks who still love them are going
8:01
to watch that show. So I expect it to be a pretty successful launch
8:05
if that is indeed the route they end up taking. So Doctor Trey,
8:09
let's we'll start with the cmpunk end of things. Yes, not surprised that
8:13
he's returning to all ELI wrestling. Will unpack that a little bit more as
8:16
the conversation goes on, but being that, we won't discuss this spot in
8:22
the story again in regards to unpacking everything with cmpunk. So the Saturday show
8:28
now, so now you're gonna have a two hour show on Saturday. Reportedly
8:31
there will be a two hour show on Wednesdays a one hour show on Friday,
8:35
so five hours a week of ALI wrestling on Warner Brothers Discovery Television.
8:41
I believe Dark Elevation is winding down, and I think Dark and the Roh
8:46
stuff will continue before some of the Dynamites. I think Roh is doing another
8:52
taping down in Universal soon as well. But I like this is it's kind
9:00
of scary to me because as a wrestling fan who watches everything WWE and everything
9:05
I'll Eat wrestling, I know that there's we hate to talk about tribalism in
9:11
professional wrestling, but I feel like with some of the moves that AW is
9:16
doing now like you're kind of testing the waters to see can we keep this
9:24
fan base that watches both shows going. Because Monday Raw, Tuesday, NXT
9:30
Wednesday, Dynamite Thursday. Nothing unless you're a fan of Impact Wrestling in New
9:33
Japan, Friday SmackDown and Rampage Saturday, Collision Sunday nothing. I mean,
9:41
that's that's a lot of wrestling, and you and I are diehard wrestling fans.
9:46
I'm a little bit scared about this because it could be too much and
9:52
too much over satirization. And I know that there's issues with the roster that
9:56
will address you a little bit as well with this potential ter split, But
10:01
I don't know if I totally am down with this move, because it's like,
10:05
why are we adding another aw show when you actually have a second brand.
10:09
If you are doing a roster split with Ring of Honor Wrestling, no
10:16
that I agree with, Like you bought the library now, it could be
10:20
a situation. It's confusing to me because you're still celebrating the Ring of Honor,
10:28
because you still have a Ring of Honor World Champion, you still have
10:31
Ring of Honor Television Champion, Women's Champion, tag team Champions, six man
10:35
Tag Champions, but yet this new show is not the Ring of Honor show.
10:41
In my head, I was trying to figure out if they were trying
10:43
to do something similar to like what ws WE did when they bought out WCW,
10:46
which is test the waters to see if it's a brand worth trying to
10:52
save or just incorporate the talent in it. It is a little confusing for
10:58
me on how they want to do this. I think the biggest thing for
11:03
me as I think they looked at their rosters say look we got you know,
11:07
actually probably more people on our roster than WWE, and they have five
11:11
hours of prime time television. We only have three. They have two hours
11:16
of developmental TV, and we have the YouTube shows. I think for them
11:20
it was kind of like, hey, if we can get money and make
11:22
money from Turner to put up another show and get more of our guys on
11:28
TV, increases their value as well. I just I honestly like since they
11:33
bought a Ring of Honor, have not figured out what they're doing for You
11:35
of Honter. I don't know if anybody actually like, we're running pay per
11:39
views off a YouTube brand is what it we're basically doing right now? Well
11:43
in a paid service, yeah, you know. It's like, I mean,
11:48
they're following the MLW plan for a Ring of Honor. I don't really
11:52
know what they're trying to accomplish with Ring of Honor. I think that's for
11:56
those guys like us who have been fans for years, Like it's like,
12:00
no, it's it's a it's a good, solid brand. You could run
12:01
with this because it was never oversaturated, like you know, it's always kind
12:07
of like the Underground Underground Show. So you could do something with this and
12:11
brand the Saturday show as aw Ring of Honor and have a Ring of Honor
12:16
brand and then still have you know, dynamite and then rampage B like the
12:22
Filler brand. I mean, you could have done it that way. But
12:24
one thing, I'm not a billionaire, I guess, and I don't get
12:26
to make those decisions. So the roster split. The roster split portion of
12:31
this story is because some parts of the locker room don't get along with the
12:35
other parts of the locker room. Let's just say the cmpunk FTR side and
12:39
the Elite and Chris Jericho side are are probably the two separate factions of of
12:45
what we're seeing, and for what it's worth, we obviously are not there
12:50
and from everything that we're reading. And there's another addition to this, another
12:54
chapter to this story that well we'll talk about here as well. It seems
12:58
like most of these parties are trying to work towards the betterment of the promotion
13:03
first and foremost. So with that said, I feel like that the way
13:09
that they currently utilize the roster is not great. Like there are folks that
13:16
are favorites of Tony Khan, Like I love the Orange Cassidy title defenses,
13:22
but I also watched Dynamite and I love Orange Cassidy matches. But I'm wondering
13:28
where the hell hero is. I'm wondering why more wrestlers are not getting TV
13:33
time, Why did it take this long for Bandino to come on AW television?
13:39
Where is Ruche? And I know that ROH is featuring a lot of
13:43
these folks, but I don't watch ROH. I'm not going to pay nine
13:48
ninety nine a month to watch four episodes of Roah television plus all the old
13:56
you know shows that they used to do, Like that's just not I don't
13:58
have the time for that. So I am skeptical about this roster split time
14:03
to Trey. I don't think that they're utilizing the roster all that well presently,
14:09
and I'm concerned because I know that you need to take people off television
14:13
from time to time to refresh them. But I feel like what goes on
14:16
in AW is the wrong type of refresh quite honestly. Yeah. And then
14:22
if you're if you're doing two separate brands, what then are you going to
14:28
do with the Ring of Honor titles? Like are you going to make actually
14:33
make a third brand out of it? And that's filler somewhere else. I
14:37
mean, if you have a Dynamite brand and you have a Collision brand,
14:41
and oh dear god, Jeff, what if they do multiple like they add
14:46
even more titles? Um, that would My brain just exploded on that thought,
14:52
Like if we have a Dynamite champion and a Collision champion. See,
14:56
I don't think it. I don't think it reaches that level. I don't
14:58
think they're going to do rons back down stuff. I think that this is
15:01
still a e W. But it's like, okay, but if there's gonna
15:05
be this weird soft roster split, why not just make AW Dynamite and ROH
15:11
Collision on Saturday and two separate brands, or at least ends up calling a
15:15
collision, just call it AW Ring of Honor. Yeah whatever, Yeah,
15:18
you know this because for me is this. I look at it and like,
15:22
if you're going to do a brand, if you're going to do a
15:24
soft brand split, are you going to have your champions travel back and forth
15:28
or you have dedicated titles? Now, you could do a TNT title on
15:33
one show obviously, and then the I'm sorry, what are they what?
15:37
They rebrand the mid and Lander the International champions could so you could do the
15:41
International on one show, the t and T on one show. You could
15:46
do stuff like that and then have a champion that travels back and forth between
15:50
the two shows. But once again, it just feels like they're over complicating
15:56
what should be a simple solution. Obviously, if you did a Ring of
16:02
Honor style show, you could put a punk on Ring of Honor, he's
16:04
got history. You could put FTR because of who they are and how they
16:08
compete on that show. It would make a ton of sense. You could
16:11
split the roster that way, it would it would make a lot of sense
16:15
for folks. But I just to me, I once again, I feel
16:19
like they're trying. They're not They think they have a simple answer because but
16:25
in reality there it's way too complicated for the casual person to even makes sense
16:30
of it at times. All right, So the next chapter here CM,
16:33
Punk and Chris Jericho supposedly have met with Tony Con and FTR, who were
16:36
also in attendance. Meeting was reported to be quote unremarkable and quote having gone
16:41
well, Punk and Jericho maybe open or working with one another one's Punk returns.
16:45
There was a ton of heat between the two since brawl Out twenty twenty
16:48
two, and Punk refern of Jericho is a stooge. In a now deleted
16:52
Instagram post, reportedly Chris Jericho shortly after the brawl Out two thousand what to
16:59
do like pops his head into punks locker room. Were confronted, punkin said
17:04
that he was a I believe it cancer to the locker room. So a
17:07
ton of heat there. Jericho is someone that does not mince words. You
17:11
have a ton of respect for that. It's also unknown if a similar meeting
17:15
between Punk and the Elite have taken place, but Punk was reportedly told not
17:19
to reach out to them in the past, so some bridges are being rebuilt.
17:26
It seems to be positive, Doctor Trey, It's I don't know,
17:30
it's the right thing to do for the brand. Ultimately right and in reality,
17:36
if they could ever get passes, it's the right thing for the pocket
17:37
books, you know, for the sake of the brand. Yes, the
17:41
absolute thing. Because the brawl divided this roster even more and it created fissures
17:49
not just in between the punk side and the elite side, but then we
17:55
started hearing about the young guys versus the old guys. They kind of frack
18:00
or the entire roster. So if they can start mending this back together,
18:04
you know, it'll never be a one hundred percent. There's gonna be scars.
18:07
And you know, if if you ever had a scar, they're pretty
18:11
easy to open back up. You know, they have to hit just the
18:14
right spot. But you know, you mentioned in Chris Jericho we talk about
18:18
cmpunks. What do we know about these guys? They do business. They
18:22
understand that, like sometimes you make hate somebody, but it's still good box
18:26
office and good business to work together. I mean, like we talked about
18:30
like Seth Rollins and UH and Locan Paul, there's a little bit of legitimate
18:36
beef. Seth Rollins and Cody Rose a little bit of legitimate beef. Guess
18:38
what those matches were fantastic and people are talking about them. So it is
18:42
a way to create interest because that real life blending into the wrestling life creates
18:51
intrigue among fans, and people are don't talk about it. And you know,
18:55
if when Collision finally gets announced and it's gonna be in Chicago, guess
18:59
what's gonna happen. People are going to it in because if Punk's on TV,
19:02
there's going to be a portion that thinks the elite's gonna show up,
19:07
whether it's true or not, just to confront of him and where are we
19:10
dialed in? Because the one thing aw has more than anybody else is legitimate,
19:15
like non scripting of promos, and that's kind of where some of this
19:19
stuff came from. So it's going to be really interesting to see what happens
19:23
when that show finally is announced and finally debuts. So the last couple of
19:27
chapters here of this story are not shocking, pretty much expected, but this
19:33
part is something that is completely unexpected because the report that came out Monday night
19:40
reportedly saving that Sampunk reportedly visited this past Mondays of Raw in Chicago, where
19:45
he was in the Common area for about twenty minutes. Reportedly, Punk had
19:49
had conversations with Triple H and the Miss. The convo with the Miss was
19:53
supposedly them clear in the air after having heat with one another. The overall
19:57
impression was that people we're happy to see Punk, and many greeted him positively.
20:03
The reports that are kind of conflicting here that w security did ask Punk
20:07
to leave, which he did respectfully, and it's believed that this came from
20:11
Vince mcmahn. PW Inside reported that this visit was to clear the air with
20:15
people in Dave Melton reported that the folks in aw feel Punk could be angling
20:18
for a WWE return. This is the bizarre angle, Doctor Trey, Because
20:26
I don't know what this is about. I guess Sampunk was on a flight
20:32
back to Chicago with a bunch of WWE stars. Let's presumably assume that this
20:37
is the from Tampa, Florida, where he was in to talk to Chris
20:42
Jericho along with reportedly FTR and Tony Kahan to smooth things over. He's on
20:47
a flight to Chicago with a lot of WWE talents. What happens on this
20:52
flight, or what happens in Sampunk's mind that thinks that visiting ww ron Chicago
21:00
and that nobody will know about it, and he's just gonna go and men
21:04
some fences and clear the air is like beyond me. He has every right
21:10
to be there. And I know that Bully Ray and Mark Henry on their
21:14
Bustet Open show on Serious like, Sam, We're not trying to make a
21:17
big deal about it. Mark Henry said that when w was in Texas,
21:21
and I love this story that I guess Vince called Mark Henry to come to
21:26
the arena just so he could give him a hug. Which you know,
21:30
that's what normal men do, right, we all just call each other up,
21:33
be like hey, are you in town? Yeah? Can you swing
21:34
by and hug me? And we're all, yeah, absolutely, dude,
21:38
long time no see. But this is the part that is strange. It's
21:41
like he has so much of these presumed drama going on right now and he
21:51
decides to add another layer of drama to it and go to the show and
21:56
say hi to everybody. Well, he did not leave UI ceremoniously. He
22:02
did not go to court with WWE or WWS doctors because they just wanted to
22:10
give each other money and feel better about their relationship and make their friendship stronger.
22:15
He did not say terrible things in interviews and podcasts and promos about his
22:25
former employer because he loves them. This is the weird part, Doctor Trey.
22:30
I can't make sense of this. I guess as a guessing person here,
22:36
I would assume that, yeah, he's potentially angling for a return.
22:41
I don't think he went there to clear the air. They could do that
22:44
privately. He could call up Triple H. He could go to a mediary,
22:48
Like what the fuck is he doing? You guys forget that sometimes you
22:55
forget that this guy is like, you know, we've been CM punk fans,
23:00
but Punk is one of the best workers slash politicians. Like he's like
23:10
people don't put him in the jericho class, but he's up there, like
23:14
he knows how to play the system and play these games. And whether it's
23:18
you know, leaving WWE, going to do the UFC stuff, he was
23:23
staying in the limelight and you know, just like the Goldbergs are like bash
23:27
wrestling but still love wrestling, and you know it's he understands leveraging. It
23:33
is like, look, they're they're talking about bringing me back in, but
23:36
if Craft goes sideways, what's my backup plan? Would there be interest in
23:41
me jumping to our company. And if AW knows that WW might have interest
23:47
with me, and I'm clearing the air with the people I had the most
23:48
heat with, would it make sense for right? Do you say, hey,
23:52
we'd rather have him here than WW using him in a Wrestling Mania spot.
24:00
Like he understands the maneuverings maybe better than just about anybody else when it
24:06
comes to wrestling and how to play both sides and hate one side when you
24:11
know you're good here, but then when the other side's like, oh,
24:14
maybe not so good, let me back penal play the other way. I
24:18
mean Jericho has done it too. I mean Jericho is the one who would
24:19
say w And he kept tellingbout how much of Vince gave him the blessing to
24:23
go do the new Japan stuff, and when he cited his contrary to aw
24:27
Oh, Vince called me to try to see if if I get back out
24:30
of the deal. Like these guys are carnival workers, like they're barkers.
24:36
I mean, this is what they do is know how to put stuff out
24:38
there. I mean the elite do it. All these guys do it,
24:41
and it just kind of depends on who we feel it's in the right who
24:47
we feel into the wrong way. It comes to that stuff, But that's
24:49
what it is. It's all movements, and it's playing chess and moving the
24:53
board around to where you make sure you're the most envial position when it's time
24:59
to play your surry. And I think that's what Punk was doing this,
25:02
you know, past weekend, more than anything else was I'm gonna deal with
25:04
AW, I'll talk to WWE, and we'll just kind of go from there
25:07
and see who actually really wants me and wants you back. And that I
25:11
think he did a great job of it. Yeah, it makes you wonder
25:15
if maybe on his end of everything right now is not smooth with AW,
25:19
and maybe he is potentially on his way out of all ELI wrestling. Maybe
25:22
there's a layer to this story that we don't know about where it just seems
25:27
like the working relationship is not going to be beneficial to all parties and he
25:33
needs to go elsewhere, you know, pure speculation on our part. I
25:37
just thought for him to be out in the open in at w E raw
25:41
visiting was a shock. I mean, there's that video of him talking to
25:45
men to Snooka in the parking lot and fancy or yelling for him like he
25:49
did not hide. And this is a guy who's been had a very checker
25:53
in controversial pass with we. It's been a very rocky relationship between both.
26:00
So with all that said, doctor Try, I simply ask you this question,
26:04
does a EW need CM Punk? Um M, I'll say I'll lean
26:17
yes because I still don't feel like they have the star power to draw.
26:26
I mean, even though it's a it's a three year old company, they
26:27
are still wrestling fans who maybe haven't watched it yet, haven't really got invested
26:34
in yet. And you gotta say when when Punk's there, it feels like
26:37
the rings are up, the pay per view buys are up. People do
26:41
seem to be the casual he will seem to be more interested in it,
26:45
and they just don't have that guy that transcends wrestling over into and not in
26:52
this a pop culture but more like the from the diehards to the casuals.
26:56
They don't have that guy. I mean air Coo to a degree, but
27:02
I mean Punk's fan base is so rabid they will follow him anywhere, and
27:07
you need that guy that fans are like, yeah, I don't care where
27:11
he goes, I don't have loyalty the brand. I have loyalty to this
27:12
guy, and they just don't have that guy on their roster right now.
27:18
I believe AW does need Sampunk. There are tons of talented wrestlers male and
27:25
female, great acts, highly entertaining stuff that I enjoy on a week,
27:29
week to week basis, but they are missing that, you know, guy
27:33
that's recognized as a recognizable name that is part controversial, part relatable, part
27:45
legendary performer like Sampunk. I mean, he is someone in the last decade
27:52
that people have been clamoring for the return. And I think more importantly with
27:56
them doing all In and Wembley Stadium and whether they fill it up to forty
28:00
fifty thousand and sixty thousand and seventy thousand, eighty thousand or full capacity in
28:06
ninety thousand, they need Sampunk on that marquee, and they need Sampunk versus
28:11
the elite on that marquee, or they need Sampunk versus Chris Jericho. Drama
28:18
sells, controversy creates cash and this is a big controversial topic, a very
28:25
controversial person, and they need him back in AW. But does cmpunk need
28:30
AW? Doctor Trey does he need AW to continue his wrestling career, because
28:36
from all that we're hearing is he wants to return and wrestling, but does
28:40
he need to do it in AW? I think that's what he was trying
28:45
to figure out. Yeah, I'm going to say right now yes, because
28:51
I mean, if the Curious asking you to leave the building because Vince said
28:55
told him to do it in order you to pay to A, yeah,
28:57
you probably need AW right now. So yeah, I think right now you
29:03
do. But just like we've see in WW in years past, whether it's
29:07
Brett Hart, Ultimate Warrior, Bruno, they can get past some stuff if
29:11
the money's right and they can capitalize on it. So yeah, right now,
29:15
Punk needs AW. But nine months a year from now, well nine
29:21
months heading into WrestleMania season, that might change. So then the last question,
29:29
do we want see him Punk back in AW? Yes? Because we
29:36
love the drama. I know we talk about like seriously, guys like telling
29:40
the drama down, but oh my gosh, Jeff, like if he comes
29:42
back and like, oh you know what we might get. We might get
29:45
punk Obega, we might get Punking Jericho, we might get punking FDR against
29:48
the elites. I'm gonna watch that. I'm gonna see if somebody decides,
29:55
yeah, screw this works stuff, I'm going I'm going to shoot style in
29:57
this match. There's part of me that wants although I know it won't happen
30:03
because these guys at the end of the day are professionals and they would ruin
30:04
their reputation if they went into business for themselves. There's that part of me
30:08
that's like once in rest of these there's part of me the ones that Jerry
30:14
Springer aspect to AW because it's gonna you know, tingle, tingle, the
30:18
fancies events, and I gotta see what happened. Yeah, I want to
30:23
see c him punk back in AW because I want to see a feud between
30:27
seampunk Chris Jericho and see him punk in the elite. There's a lot of
30:30
money there, there's a lot of intrigue, there's real heat, there's real
30:33
drama, and this brawl Out twenty twenty two still is this legendary folklore tale.
30:42
We know something happened, but we don't necessarily know what, and maybe
30:48
AW has been playing this from a creative standpoint that since our time. I
30:52
tend to think this is a little bit more legal standpoy and I think it's
30:56
time. I think it's time we see cm Punk back in AW you and
31:00
I'm excited for it. I think the brand needs him. I think c
31:03
Himpunk needs AW and I want to see him back in AW. So it's
31:07
been a wild ride, Doctor Trey recapping everything that's happening here over the last
31:11
couple of weeks with cmpunk, It's it's insane. I mean, the w
31:15
layer to this entire thing is just like what, like, dude, what
31:18
are you doing? Because you know that did not make people happy in AW,
31:22
Like, what what are you trying to If you're trying to get back
31:25
in the good races of all lead wrestling, then why are you trying to
31:29
get back in the good graces of Tide? Did like something happened? Did
31:33
a switch happen? We had like this coming of Jesus conversation with himself and
31:38
maybe he has maybe he's realizing, like it's not worth it to have all
31:42
these issues between certain individuals. I mean that could be. We've all experienced
31:47
that in our lives where it's like, man, this that bullshit is just
31:51
not worth it. Maybe that's it. I don't know, but just a
31:53
Wild Wild couple of weeks here for one cmpunk, which you know it's not
32:00
over yet, Dutch rights. It's April twenty seventh. We have a lot
32:02
of time before June seventeenth, that first Saturday show reportedly, so there's plenty
32:09
of time, plenty of time here for things to either firm up or go
32:15
haywire. So we don't really know what Aw's reaction is. Fully Tim going
32:20
to Tirah to say hi and bury the hatchet with people, So who knows?
32:24
Who knows right now? Because this is insane. It really is insane.
32:30
It's the most insane thing that we've experienced since Montreal Right Survivor Series ninety
32:35
seven. Yeah, Plane Run, That's why I was just from Hell.
32:39
Yeah, because in my head, I'm like, you know, plane right
32:42
from Hell. We had a dark side of the ring about it, but
32:44
then still like there's still like, yeah, that wasn't the entire truth and
32:47
there's still you know, there's elements in there whatever. I kind of feel
32:52
like brawl like the brawl out thing is this generation's Plane right from Hell,
32:58
and the whole thing with punk in AW and WW kind of feels like the
33:02
woman who left her husband but then she's like, maybe we should get back
33:06
together. But on the other side, there's this other guy that I used
33:08
to date before you, and that's like my high school crush, and I
33:12
kind of want to work things out. It's just so weird, like this
33:16
whole like dance and maybe at the other day punk Punk just wants to feel
33:21
wanted by somebody, and he's like the dog that couslely bites you. But
33:25
then we'll like be really sweet and like rub you himself against your leg to
33:30
remind you how cute he can be at times as well. You gotta love
33:34
the analogy there, and with that, that's how we'll close this out with
33:37
Sampunk. Let's switch gears to w W E. The same night that Sampunk
33:40
visited w RAW in Chicago, Triple Hed did not announce the return of Sampunk.
33:45
However, he did announce the return of the w W World Everyweight Championship.
33:50
A new champion will be crowned at Night of champions in Saudi Arabia.
33:53
King and Queen of the Rings is on hold for now. I was very
33:59
excited to see a pay review focusing on the King and Queen of the Ring
34:04
when this got changed the night of champions. The report was it'll make sense
34:07
soon, so you'll you'll understand, and this is why it's happening, doctor
34:10
Trey, as we will have a new world away champion. Maybe it's a
34:15
one night tournament, maybe it's just a match, but I don't know.
34:21
I know people are talking online saying that this feels like the consolidation prize for
34:24
the undisputed w Universal Championship that is being owned by Roman Reigns right now.
34:30
It does not look like he will be giving that up anytime soon. What
34:35
do you think, Doctor Trey? The WORLDWAD Championship is back. Is this
34:38
the right move to have two world champions on the raw and then on the
34:43
SmackDown brand? Yeah? I mean, if you're going back to absolute brand
34:46
split, is the right thing to do? You know, For the better
34:50
part of the last six months, it's kind of been as soft brand split
34:52
with guys kind of floating back and forth. And we saw them try to
34:58
elevate the U S and IC titles into filling that void for missing a world
35:04
championship, and yeah, I think they did a decent job of elevating those
35:08
belts, but I just don't think it like, you know, those US
35:12
title matches were never really main event matches. Icy Tom matches, for as
35:15
great as they were with Gunther, weren't made event matches because Roman reins casts
35:19
a large shadow over both brands, and until you can start to elevate somebody
35:24
up to that level, He's going to be that shadow that kind of you
35:30
know, causes the flowers not to bloom because right now nobody viewsed that anybody
35:34
on his level. So maybe if I bringing that title back and making it
35:38
look different than the one that Roman's been carrying, it's kind of a you
35:44
know, rebirth for you know whatever brand romans not on to start to elevate
35:50
somebody else because here and I've been talking about the better part of a year,
35:53
Roman's not going to be around forever. You've got to start getting ready
35:58
for the next guy, and getting into their world title gives you that opportunity.
36:04
I liked the move. I think it's the right move for W I
36:06
did not like when they merged both championships. However, Doctor Trey, the
36:10
old school fan in me, is sad that we're not seeing the WWWE championship
36:16
return. So I'm assuming that eventually the undisputed title will be merged off of
36:22
the Universal Championship, so we'll have the w Universal Champion, which is a
36:28
terrible name for world title um and the w W World Wweight Championship. So
36:32
the old school fan and he's like, oh man, but we're not gonna
36:35
have the w E Champion anymore, Like what the frig are we doing?
36:38
UM? I love the design of the belt, it's it's obviously an o
36:43
to the big gold belt that was in w W and NWA for a long
36:46
time, to which Triple H also held when it was on the on the
36:51
w E brand as the World waweight Championship UM following the retirement of the w
36:55
c W Championship UM. When it comes to who I think should be the
37:01
first champion, A lot of people are pointing towards Cody Rhodes, but I
37:07
kind of disagree with that, Doctor Trey. I think it's like a three
37:10
headed race. I think it's Cody. I think it's Seth. I think
37:15
it's Bobby. I hope that Brock Lessner does not fall into this as well.
37:20
But being that they're in Saudi Arabia, you've got to figure that Brock
37:22
is gonna have a match on the card and God, I hope he doesn't
37:25
walk out with the World aweight championship because then people are really going to lose
37:29
their mind and think that Vince's back. But I would almost pick I think
37:34
i'd picked Bobby Lastly to be the first champion Doctor Trey, Yeah, I
37:38
agree with that if Bobby's a heel, if Bobby's still in baby face,
37:43
but like the Almighty, when he was a heel of MVP was fantastic,
37:46
one of the better runs we've had in a while for a world heavyweight champion,
37:51
especially in WWE. Bobby is a baby face, it is not bad,
37:55
but the mystique when he was a heel was just so much better.
38:00
UM. I would go with Bobby as well, because as physically imposing as
38:04
he is, one of the things we talked about with Cody was Cody needs
38:07
obstacles to overcome, and there are not very many obstacles bigger than Roman Rains,
38:13
Brock Lesser and then Bobby Lastly for a baby face to overcome. So
38:17
I think that would be good positioning if you're building Cody to be that next
38:22
guy. UM. By the way, do we still will put the word
38:25
heavyweight in for a world champion because we've had several champions who have been basically
38:31
cruiserweight level in weight. Um, So I really don't like just call the
38:36
w W world champion. I mean, you're seeing that ran out in aw
38:38
right, Like, I'm pretty sure I weigh more than at least three out
38:42
of the four guys potentially in that double or nothing match. I think Jade
38:47
has you beat though, Jade Cargill, Yeah, oh yeah, but absolutely
38:52
because it's just muscle. Um, I mean I would, Yeah, we're
38:55
gonna go down a rabbit hole there, um. And nonetheless, World Championship
39:01
is back. I like the move, I like the design. The eventual
39:06
first champion is going to be very interesting on the direction of where they go
39:10
and where they go from here. It's the right call with the w brands
39:15
because just Roman as the undisputed universal champion, it just it was not It
39:21
wasn't working like they shouldn't have done in the first place. I get why
39:23
they did it to add more intrigue to that match, but at some point
39:27
they should have figured out a way to split this back up, and I
39:30
guess this is the right way to do it. I think creatively, you're
39:32
kind of like what do you do, Like, hey, Roman, you're
39:36
going to keep the universal title, give me that one back the championship,
39:39
and we're going to crown a new champion. I guess you could have done
39:43
that, But the w W World aweight Championship is back and we'll have a
39:47
new champion by the end of next month with the new world title real quick.
39:52
Ironically enough, the last time I believe this happened, it actually did
39:54
involve you ple age with Brock being the undisputed champion and then trip or Bischoff
40:02
recreating a belt he just gave it to him. Yeah, it was the
40:06
worst thing possible. Well, why don't just come out and just hand the
40:09
belt to somebody and then we just go full circle. So the storyline on
40:13
that was a triple h won some sort of match to become the new number
40:15
one contender to Brock's undisputed championship. And then at that same episode, I
40:21
believe Brock went to a lima with Stephanie and Stephanie, who was feuding with
40:27
Eric Bischoff because they were both the general manager. Stephanie SmackDown Eric Bischoff with
40:30
raw was like, we have now signed m Brock lesser exclusively to our brand,
40:36
so you are without a world champion. And then like the next week
40:38
on Raw, Eric Bischof just opened up either a briefcase, a Deuffel bag,
40:44
whatever and handed Triple H to the Big Gold Belt, which I thought
40:47
was the lamest way possible to do it. I think Vince comes out and
40:52
just hands the belt to Austin Theory. Hey, we know he's been doing
40:55
some rewrites, so it's always possible. Actually, he just does some sort
41:00
of like AI generation and the United States Championship becomes the w Whorleyweight Championship.
41:07
We come to find out that his match with Sina at Rustamenty thirty nine was
41:10
actually for that title, and nobody knew it, not even the competitors.
41:14
So congratulations Austin Theory. And then finally Doctor Trey. The big news here
41:20
started on Friday night on SmackDown. Monday on Raw is the twenty twenty three
41:23
W draft. Who should be moved, which tag teams need to be split
41:27
up, Which NX call ups could we expect? It's all things that we're
41:30
thinking about going into Friday and Monday. Some moves that I'm thinking about here,
41:36
Doctor Trey has moved gun through an Imperium to Raw, move Austin Theory
41:39
to SmackDown, have rear Ripley and Bianca bel Air switch brands. I don't
41:44
know if you need to do that lame title switch again. I would keep
41:46
Judgment Day in LWO on Raw or move LWO to Raw, just so that
41:52
they get some more time. I would split up the Street Profits amlicably so
41:55
that there's not some weird little tension and split up Chad Gable the smack Down
42:00
otis to Raw. Start pushing Chad Gable and montes Ford now on SmackDown's mid
42:04
card Guys Vine for the US title and then for NXC. I would call
42:07
it pretty deadly to Raw, which they were written off of NXC this past
42:12
Tuesday, so it seems like a foregn conclusion. Finally make Cameron Guyme Grimes
42:16
appear on television for the first time in months. I would move Zoe Start
42:21
to Raw, and I would move Grayson Waller to Raw from NXT. There's
42:25
reports out there that Broun Breaker and core Jade are going to be backstage on
42:30
SmackDown on Friday. Not known if that will be for main event tapings or
42:36
if they're going to be drafted who core Jade's name has been reportedly been thrown
42:39
around as a potential call up from NXT doctor. I'm excited for the draft
42:45
on Friday and Monday. Those are some things that I'm thinking about. What
42:49
are you thinking about heading into Raw and Smackdowns versions of the draft? I
42:52
really like there are some things I want to see, but like in reality,
42:57
I don't expect all those things that happen. I just want to see
43:01
some switching up of things. I want to see some freshness to it.
43:05
You know, you mentioned Braun and Cora. They're actually dating in real life,
43:08
so the fact that you know, maybe they get paired up, maybe
43:12
they hit him in the same brand. You know, they like to keep
43:15
them married couples together. So wherever Becky goes, Seth goes, wherever Montes
43:19
goes, Bianca goes. I think you do have to do if they switch
43:22
brands, that they do have to do the town switch because you can't have
43:25
Ria on Raw as a SmackDown Women's champion and Bianca on SmackDown as the Raw
43:30
Women's champion. That's just weird. So like, I think they do have
43:34
to do the awkward title exchange type thing. Like we all know Montes need
43:42
to be a breakout single star. But you know, I just don't want
43:45
Dawkins to be tuckered, if that makes sense. Like I mean, Ohis
43:49
and Tucker broke up and then Tucker turned heel for like what like a month
43:52
and was gone. Yeah, j I think Dawkins is very very talented,
43:57
by the way, Yeah, but I also thought Tucker was pretty good.
44:00
He was very talented as well, good talker. Yeah, and it was
44:02
kind of weird that it was just Okay, we like Otis and Tucker's gone.
44:07
So I just don't want Dakas to get tuckered or janettied because I do
44:10
think Dawkins is a fantastic talent and can talk and can wrestle. He's kind
44:16
of like, to me, he's like a bigger de lo If, Like
44:19
I don't know if that's a good comparison not, but he's agile, big,
44:22
strong and can talk and is Um, I just don't I think he's
44:25
the kind of guy that you don't want to make him a heal, but
44:29
he could be a good mid level baby face. Um. I do I
44:35
really want to see Otis with maximum mail bottles and yeah, that means you
44:37
man to move Chad away. But Chad's a fantastic wrestler and you can put
44:42
him in anything and he's gonna be good. Um. So I'm just really
44:45
looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. Like I don't know if
44:49
I'm a fan of the LWO being baby faces, but I think flipping Judgment
44:55
Day and Imperium makes sense. So that way the LW can fee with Imperium
45:00
and Judgment Day. Can you know, battle Bloodline or somebody else on SmackDown
45:05
and move stuff around. So those those makes some sense to me. But
45:08
I'm just excited seas and freshness and changes. I'm really looking forward to seeing
45:12
pretty Deadly on either Raw or SmackDown because we've talked about the lots of it.
45:16
They're they're They're arguably my favorite act in WWS not named Kevin owns the
45:21
Samy's name, so whatever they do, I'm always intrigued by. So looking
45:24
forward to seeing them on the main roster. So what I've come to learn
45:29
is that I think SmackDown as a two hour show should be utilized as a
45:32
show where there's folks that are established wrestlers, um, while Raw has established
45:39
wrestlers on their brand. Um. I also like when people are able to
45:46
develop their character a little bit more on Raw than they would be on SmackDown,
45:51
like when when we when we saw them not being written out by Vince
45:57
Damage Controls of the World, Candice La Rays meech in like those the female
46:02
stars are getting a little bit more time than they would on a RAW.
46:07
I think talents that could use a little bit more shine, like gun Throne
46:10
Imperium could be great on Raw. Lwo on Raw. I think the Judgment
46:15
Day has very much benefited from elevating their game over the last year by being
46:22
on Raw and having a little bit more time than if they were on SmackDown.
46:27
Like you see folks that go to SmackDown, they kind of get lost
46:30
in the shuffle and aren't utilized as much. So that's how I think about
46:36
things. It's like, Okay, Raw is a brand that has established stars,
46:38
but also stars that are you know, getting a little bit more time.
46:44
SmackDown is the established stars. So maybe Austin theory to SmackDown works,
46:49
Maybe Cody to SmackDown works. It's going to be interesting how these two rosters
46:54
look in a week's time. Doctor Trey and I'm excited for it. I
46:58
think this is really cool and fun time time because things that you don't expect
47:01
typically happened during the draft, So I'm excited to see where things shake up
47:07
on Friday SmackDown and then Monday's Raw. No. Absolutely, I mean like
47:12
we talked about, like I've been literally here watching the NFL Draft talking about
47:15
the w w E Draft, and I'm like, yeah, like I've been
47:19
playing Madden the last two months just because of NFL drafting, and I've been
47:24
playing SmackDown or I've been playing two K twenty three for WB because of the
47:30
GM mode and the drafting and things like that and trying different things out.
47:34
And so it's always that that element of the unknown and a little bit of
47:39
like we used to do with your kids, of dream matchups, weird tag
47:44
teams that you could put together out of nowhere. And the draft in ww
47:49
has always been kind of fun. I mean the original draft back in the
47:52
day with like Vince and Flair and all those stuff, those were really fun.
47:55
The last few years has kind of been like, yeah, these guys
47:59
are gonna well, we kind of knew what was going to happen, but
48:01
since we haven't had it done in eighteen months, almost two years. It
48:07
kind of feels fresh and different. It's like it's a good way to kind
48:09
of once again use raw and build the new stars because you can flash out
48:14
the characters, like Jeff was talking about, you SmackDown to build you know,
48:16
main event, top level money drawing guys. Because they're on Fox.
48:21
There's supposing more people. If you go into the draft with that mindset,
48:25
you might come out thinking that, hey, Raw got the worse of the
48:28
deal, but nine months from now, because you've been able to flesh out
48:30
characters, that Raw roster gets really fun, really quick. And we saw
48:35
that with you know, Kevin and Sammy and everybody in you know, Judgment
48:39
Day and Dominic and everybody else because they had more time to present themselves on
48:45
Raw than they typically do on SmackDown. So there go Draft Preview. Will
48:50
recap and review it on next week's edition. The podcast had into the lovely,
48:53
lovely month of May. Doctor Trey, it's been fun recapping CM Punk
49:00
the World hay Way Championship in Draft on this week edition of the pod.
49:02
Before we close up shop, let's get a couple of plugs and sponsors out
49:06
of the Way Down the show every Thursday at Real Guy Radio dot com,
49:08
Russell chatting at on Twitter, and the So Realtive Show iTunes feed. Don't
49:12
forget to rate, review and subscribe to help Colum charts on iTunes because fill
49:15
us individual on Twitter for myself at SRTU Jeff and for doctor Trey Franklin at
49:20
The Doctor Trey. And of course don't forget to follow show on Twitter at
49:22
SRTU podcast. With that being said, what's going on in the wonderful world
49:25
of Ductor Trey Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you can
49:29
follow me on Twitter at the Doctor Trey, find me on Instagram, Facebook,
49:32
Doctor Trey Franklin when you're on Facebook, the Church. I got Rocket
49:36
City Championship Wrestling and we are just two shows from wrestling con May twentieth from
49:43
Beautiful Hazel Green, Alabama, headline by Dalton Castle and the Boys being in
49:46
the building. We've had some matchups announced in Body Taken on Verry coll Off
49:51
of the rocket City TV Championship, Travis Locke against Chase Owens. I'm not
49:58
sure who Dalton Castle's performing against, but looking forward to that one as well.
50:02
Uh. And then I have a football question, in a football wrestling
50:06
question to Jeff Back. Okay, uh Luke van Metz any relation to Hot
50:10
Mess Laurel van Ness No, I don't believe so, but I will have
50:14
to check that out on wikip all right. I just I didn't know if
50:16
like we're gonna see Luke Luke, the Lucas Vondez and like hanging out with
50:20
Matt cardonus nowhere. Hey, you never know, maybe GCW, maybe Disney.
50:24
He's a he's a handsome man. Jeff, You've got a very good
50:28
looking defensive and I will say that dude's got a great haircut and like he
50:31
he looks like one of those next in line prospects we see popping up down
50:36
the PC. Hey, that's the criteria. If if you look like you're
50:39
handsome and could potentially be a w W star, that's what we want you
50:42
in Green Bay. So um, lots of good stuff going on the world
50:45
profession around saying month of May is gonna be very very busy with double or
50:49
nothing, um backlash, which will recap we'll previ and predict on next week's
50:53
addition to the podcast, along with the Draft, UM the Night of Champions
51:00
NXT Battleground. Lots of things changing here in the world of professional wrestling that
51:04
will basically shape and mold everything that goes on the next eight weeks will shape
51:07
and mold the rest of professional wrestling, in my opinion, for the next
51:12
year, and we'll have it all here for you each and every week on
51:15
the Still Real Though Show. So until next week, thank you for downloading.
51:19
For Dr Franklin, I'm Jeff Pack. This is the show. It
52:12
didn't better, didn't didn't