رونوشت 🔗
WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.540 --> 00:00:03.020
You hear us talk about ways to unlock VIP membership
2
00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:05.360
through your Apple account and the Apple Podcast app and
3
00:00:05.379 --> 00:00:08.880
also through Patreon or Spotify. To unlock a full VIP
4
00:00:08.919 --> 00:00:12.619
membership with full access to archives, an ad-free website, and
5
00:00:12.699 --> 00:00:16.589
customizable podcast feeds that are compatible with the Apple Podcast
6
00:00:16.769 --> 00:00:20.190
app and many iOS and Android apps, along with streaming
7
00:00:20.230 --> 00:00:25.010
ability right from our ad-free mobile site, go to pwtorch.com
8
00:00:25.429 --> 00:00:30.539
slash govip. That's PWTorch.com slash GoVIP. That'll give you all
9
00:00:30.550 --> 00:00:33.060
the details on everything you're missing out on by not
10
00:00:33.179 --> 00:00:36.659
being a VIP member. The whole array of VIP exclusive
11
00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:41.200
podcasts like the Wade Keller News Bulletins, our post pay-per-view roundtables,
12
00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:43.829
the fix that I host with Todd Martin, everything with
13
00:00:43.890 --> 00:00:46.070
Rich and Wade, and an array of other shows with
14
00:00:46.090 --> 00:00:49.429
different hosts and different themes, along with unlocking our archives
15
00:00:49.469 --> 00:00:53.409
dating back nearly four decades. Nearly 2,000 Pro Wrestling Torch
16
00:00:53.450 --> 00:00:56.929
weekly newsletters. Over two decades of podcasts on demand dating
17
00:00:56.969 --> 00:01:00.310
back to the mid-2000s, starting with pay-per-view roundtables, hundreds of
18
00:01:00.450 --> 00:01:03.829
fascinating retro radio shows, including many that I hosted in
19
00:01:03.850 --> 00:01:07.780
the 1990s, and an ad-free website, exclusive content on that
20
00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:12.439
website only for VIP members, written and audio, and a lightning-fast, smooth,
21
00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:15.980
ad-free VIP mobile site for all of our content. Don't
22
00:01:16.019 --> 00:01:18.519
miss out on all the benefits. Treat yourself to a
23
00:01:18.540 --> 00:01:22.569
VIP membership. pwtorch.com slash govip.
24
00:01:22.890 --> 00:01:23.430
Go all the way.
25
00:01:23.670 --> 00:01:24.150
Go VIP.
26
00:01:24.609 --> 00:01:26.870
Pwtorch.com slash govip.
27
00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:39.980
Now, PW Torch brings you the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling
28
00:01:40.060 --> 00:01:40.760
Post Show.
29
00:01:44.540 --> 00:01:46.859
Today's Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post Show. It's our five
30
00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:51.519
years ago raw flashback going back to the November 1st,
31
00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:54.420
2021 post show. Zach Adorn guest hosted for me. So
32
00:01:54.459 --> 00:01:56.299
it's a doubleheader, Zach Adorn today, because he was my
33
00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:59.939
guest co-host on today's Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast flagship,
34
00:01:59.959 --> 00:02:02.540
an all-new episode that we recorded earlier today on our
35
00:02:02.560
Load full transcript
--> 00:02:05.489
Blue Logo Show. And Zach was joined by Nate Lindberg
36
00:02:05.530 --> 00:02:09.509
from PWT Talks NXT. They discussed with live callers and
37
00:02:09.550 --> 00:02:12.990
an on-site correspondent and reacted to emails the future of
38
00:02:13.009 --> 00:02:15.270
Becky Lynch as a heel. After a positive crowd reaction
39
00:02:15.289 --> 00:02:18.069
during her title defense, Becky leading into crowd results, where
40
00:02:18.090 --> 00:02:22.030
Bianca Belair goes moving forward, Seth Rollins' first night as
41
00:02:22.069 --> 00:02:24.199
number one contender, the pros and cons of Big E
42
00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:27.759
attacking Kevin Owens, the potential elevation of Damian Priest and
43
00:02:27.819 --> 00:02:31.599
Austin Theory, T-Bar's strong match, remember him, and more. So
44
00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:33.699
let's get to it. Again, this originally live streamed on
45
00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:37.710
November 1st, 2021. It's today's Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post Show.
46
00:02:38.030 --> 00:02:41.909
Five years ago, raw flashback for Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026.
47
00:02:43.449 --> 00:02:48.689
So, Nate, the WWE Championship picture is coming into focus,
48
00:02:48.870 --> 00:02:51.979
I'd say, with the new Raw roster. We've got Big E.
49
00:02:52.349 --> 00:02:55.509
He's firmly and definitively at the top of the show
50
00:02:55.650 --> 00:02:58.439
and at the top of the men's division as WWE.
51
00:02:58.770 --> 00:03:02.129
wwe champion we know seth rollins is going to challenge
52
00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:06.159
him for the wwe championship soon enough after winning uh
53
00:03:06.180 --> 00:03:09.139
the ladder match last week but he tried to to
54
00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:11.120
get a match out of him tonight but rollins said
55
00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:13.719
he wasn't fit to wrestle and then and then we
56
00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:17.090
have you know kevin owens who's been hovering around uh
57
00:03:17.099 --> 00:03:23.310
you know the the the picture, if you will. Tonight,
58
00:03:23.409 --> 00:03:26.310
he wrestled Big E in kind of a very baby-faced way.
59
00:03:26.590 --> 00:03:30.250
The match came together with Kevin Owens basically walking out
60
00:03:30.310 --> 00:03:32.449
during the Big E and Seth promo and saying, hey,
61
00:03:32.750 --> 00:03:35.229
if you two aren't going to fight Big E, I'll
62
00:03:35.270 --> 00:03:39.169
take a chance. But then with the show and how
63
00:03:39.189 --> 00:03:42.110
everything went down, you kind of had Kevin Owens go
64
00:03:42.150 --> 00:03:44.330
back on his word a little bit, although he said
65
00:03:44.370 --> 00:03:46.740
that he'd Didn't do it on purpose, kind of took
66
00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:49.560
Seth's help. Seth gets involved in the match, kind of
67
00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:52.219
punches Big E in the face, and Kevin Owens kind
68
00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:54.400
of uses that to try to get a win. He
69
00:03:54.439 --> 00:03:59.319
doesn't get it, but
kind of shades of a potential,
70
00:03:59.340 --> 00:04:03.949
you know, whose side is Kevin Owens really on story tonight, Nate?
71
00:04:04.610 --> 00:04:06.389
we'll talk about Biggie and Seth in a minute here,
72
00:04:06.449 --> 00:04:08.699
but just, I wanted to get your thoughts on Kevin
73
00:04:08.740 --> 00:04:10.939
Owens in particular. I mean, you're, what'd you think of
74
00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.590
his presentation tonight? What did you think of the willy
75
00:04:13.629 --> 00:04:14.909
or won't he with, with Seth?
76
00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:20.110
All right, so with all of that said, as I
77
00:04:20.170 --> 00:04:21.730
said to you right before we went on the air,
78
00:04:21.829 --> 00:04:23.750
I did miss the last two minutes of the show.
79
00:04:23.810 --> 00:04:27.990
I switched to Sling TV this week, and I cut
80
00:04:28.069 --> 00:04:32.649
off right before Kevin Owens started talking. So I don't
81
00:04:32.709 --> 00:04:37.139
exactly know his body language and stuff during that. However,
82
00:04:37.160 --> 00:04:41.720
throughout the rest of it, there were little hints to
83
00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:46.389
me that there might be– Maybe like a Kevin Owens
84
00:04:46.410 --> 00:04:50.529
heel turn or something where he might not necessarily be
85
00:04:50.750 --> 00:04:53.939
in Big E's corner. One of the things that really
86
00:04:53.980 --> 00:04:58.439
stood out to me tonight was during that initial promo
87
00:04:58.660 --> 00:05:02.209
with Kevin Owens and Kevin Owens, Big E and Seth Rollins.
88
00:05:03.139 --> 00:05:05.459
kevin owens said something along the lines of he was
89
00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:09.439
a man of integrity right and i'm like really integrity
90
00:05:09.899 --> 00:05:13.199
integrity you okay and all i could think of was
91
00:05:13.220 --> 00:05:16.170
you know the sammy zane's turn the the festival of
92
00:05:16.209 --> 00:05:19.310
friendship and you know all of that stuff and i'm
93
00:05:19.350 --> 00:05:21.449
like yeah man of integrity and there were just kind
94
00:05:21.490 --> 00:05:23.649
of little things like that uh that was the biggest
95
00:05:23.750 --> 00:05:25.449
one but there were just little things like that kind
96
00:05:25.470 --> 00:05:30.279
of sprinkled like through that story um so i i
97
00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:33.129
don't know maybe that's kind of like what i'm thinking
98
00:05:33.170 --> 00:05:36.160
and kevin owens he's been he's been kind of leaning
99
00:05:36.220 --> 00:05:40.759
babyface lately and kind of I want to say a
100
00:05:40.899 --> 00:05:43.699
realist type of a gimmick where he's kind of coming out,
101
00:05:43.819 --> 00:05:46.220
like just spewing facts and stuff and, and kind of
102
00:05:46.259 --> 00:05:49.250
letting the people naturally get behind him. And I kind
103
00:05:49.290 --> 00:05:51.850
of think that maybe potentially with some of those breadcrumbs
104
00:05:51.889 --> 00:05:53.769
that they're throwing in tonight, we might
see a little
105
00:05:53.790 --> 00:05:56.269
bit of a turn for him or, or a full
106
00:05:56.310 --> 00:05:59.379
blown turn for him throughout the course of this feud.
107
00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:01.579
But that, that's just my first impression anyway. Yeah.
108
00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:02.139
Yeah.
109
00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:05.879
I'm really curious to get, you know, obviously, you know,
110
00:06:06.379 --> 00:06:08.100
the caller's taste on this too, because I think you
111
00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:09.970
could have taken it both ways. Like at the, at
112
00:06:10.009 --> 00:06:12.769
the end of the, the, the show, cause, cause you
113
00:06:12.790 --> 00:06:14.490
kind of, like you said, you, you miss part of it. Well,
114
00:06:15.029 --> 00:06:17.189
Kevin Owens is kind of pleading his case to Biggie
115
00:06:17.209 --> 00:06:19.449
that he didn't, he didn't do it on purpose. He got,
116
00:06:19.569 --> 00:06:21.319
you know, they bumped heads and they were kind of
117
00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:24.569
knocked out. Like he was just feeling fuzzy. And I,
118
00:06:25.980 --> 00:06:28.959
you know, There is some sympathy in that if you
119
00:06:29.300 --> 00:06:32.379
are on Kevin Owens' side and you're kind of taking
120
00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:35.750
him at face value because Big E does drop him
121
00:06:35.819 --> 00:06:38.050
with the big ending as the show went off the air.
122
00:06:38.129 --> 00:06:40.790
And so I'm curious as to what the overall take
123
00:06:40.910 --> 00:06:42.910
is as far as the callers go in terms of
124
00:06:43.170 --> 00:06:44.750
how they viewed that because I think you can look
125
00:06:44.769 --> 00:06:47.970
at that and go, wow. All right. Biggie serious to
126
00:06:48.009 --> 00:06:51.000
the point. Biggie, he knows that he's being a smart
127
00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:51.500
baby face.
128
00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:51.720
Right.
129
00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:53.980
He knows the history of Kevin Owens. He knows not
130
00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.259
to not to trust what he what Kevin Owens says.
131
00:06:57.279 --> 00:07:00.000
All right. I'm going to drop him before before he
132
00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:02.889
drops me. On the other hand, you know. you know,
133
00:07:02.910 --> 00:07:05.050
there was a part of that. I think you could
134
00:07:05.129 --> 00:07:07.870
analyze as like, wow, Biggie, that's, that was kind of mean.
135
00:07:07.910 --> 00:07:10.110
He was kind of apologizing to you and, and, and,
136
00:07:10.209 --> 00:07:12.149
and openly, you know, saying he was sorry. And so
137
00:07:12.550 --> 00:07:14.629
I'm with you, Nate. I think that there is some,
138
00:07:15.029 --> 00:07:19.290
some baggage there. And, you know, usually Vince McMahon and
139
00:07:19.629 --> 00:07:24.370
WWE booking don't do something just to do it. There's typically,
140
00:07:24.490 --> 00:07:26.509
you know, a reason for it. And then they beat
141
00:07:26.529 --> 00:07:29.750
you over the head with that reason after week after week. So, um,
142
00:07:30.649 --> 00:07:33.560
I think there's something more to this and we'll have
143
00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:35.579
to see. But I don't but I don't hate it, though, Nate.
144
00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:38.819
I don't hate, you know, presenting Kevin Owens as a
145
00:07:38.860 --> 00:07:43.019
potential up and coming challenger. Biggie needs strong heel opponents
146
00:07:43.100 --> 00:07:46.589
to face like he needs, you know, guys to defend
147
00:07:46.629 --> 00:07:49.069
his championship against. I think Seth Rollins is a good
148
00:07:49.370 --> 00:07:51.430
first opponent right out of the gate. But then you
149
00:07:51.449 --> 00:07:53.709
got to pivot somewhere. And so setting the table like
150
00:07:53.750 --> 00:07:57.149
this with Owens, whether he's with Seth or not, Owens
151
00:07:57.209 --> 00:07:58.740
is a heel, I think makes sense long term.
152
00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:04.300
Absolutely. Owens is an amazing heel. Everything he's done as
153
00:08:04.339 --> 00:08:07.000
a heel, I think, has stuck, at least in my mind,
154
00:08:07.319 --> 00:08:15.790
much more so than things he's done. you know, uh, actually,
155
00:08:15.810 --> 00:08:17.189
I guess one of the big, one of the coolest
156
00:08:17.230 --> 00:08:18.850
things he's ever done as a face was show up
157
00:08:18.889 --> 00:08:22.060
at war games. That was really cool. But, um, you know,
158
00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:25.800
but that aside, um, you know, he, he, in my opinion,
159
00:08:25.860 --> 00:08:29.160
he plays the best, he is the best character of
160
00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:32.259
himself when he is heel. Um, and I think he
161
00:08:32.279 --> 00:08:36.019
would be a fantastic foil for, uh, for biggie. Um,
162
00:08:37.389 --> 00:08:41.610
uh kevin he obviously he's former universal champion i think
163
00:08:41.649 --> 00:08:44.509
he probably could have another you know universal or wwe
164
00:08:44.549 --> 00:08:46.590
title run in him uh at least i hope he
165
00:08:46.610 --> 00:08:49.220
does before he his time with the company is over
166
00:08:49.269 --> 00:08:51.820
whenever that will be um but i i do i
167
00:08:51.820 --> 00:08:53.620
i agree with you i think this is uh this
168
00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:56.320
is a great first couple feuds for biggie with this
169
00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:58.960
new raw roster uh and kind of the whole new
170
00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:04.169
uh just kind of So I like it.
171
00:09:04.850 --> 00:09:06.929
What did you make of the promo segment with, with
172
00:09:06.970 --> 00:09:09.629
Biggie and Seth Rollins? This is the first time, you know,
173
00:09:09.649 --> 00:09:12.399
they're kind of in the ring together. Obviously they're building
174
00:09:12.440 --> 00:09:14.980
towards a match. We don't know when it's, when it's
175
00:09:15.019 --> 00:09:17.700
coming because they've got, they've got survivor series on the horizon.
176
00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:20.059
So I don't, depending on
what the format is for
177
00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:24.330
that show, who knows if they'll be wrestling each other. But,
178
00:09:24.769 --> 00:09:27.490
you know, I thought it was a good like first interaction.
179
00:09:27.549 --> 00:09:31.629
I thought Big E really he's, he's really finding that
180
00:09:31.710 --> 00:09:36.950
balance of being himself and showcasing his personality, but showcasing
181
00:09:36.990 --> 00:09:39.799
it in a way that's serious. And that shows that
182
00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:42.679
he wants to win matches and, and stay the champion.
183
00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:47.480
And I thought that just, kind of contrasted seth well
184
00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:50.620
and sets obnoxious over the top you know the laugh
185
00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:53.480
i i i thought that they the two of them
186
00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:55.330
had some chemistry there and i think obviously they can
187
00:09:55.350 --> 00:09:57.309
have a good match together but the question for me
188
00:09:57.350 --> 00:09:59.830
was can they can they hype this thing up can
189
00:09:59.870 --> 00:10:03.379
they can they, can they talk? And you know, I
190
00:10:03.419 --> 00:10:06.419
thought they, they succeeded in that, in that tonight.
191
00:10:06.440 --> 00:10:06.799
What'd you think?
192
00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:11.590
I would certainly agree with you. I like the chemistry
193
00:10:11.610 --> 00:10:15.429
the two of them had together. Big E is– and
194
00:10:15.470 --> 00:10:18.389
this is something we were talking about back when he
195
00:10:18.429 --> 00:10:20.750
was the Intercontinental Champion, what, like a year ago or
196
00:10:20.830 --> 00:10:23.909
however long ago that was, when they were first starting
197
00:10:23.929 --> 00:10:27.250
to push him as a singles competitor. And he just–
198
00:10:27.269 --> 00:10:30.460
he kind of– it just felt like something was missing.
199
00:10:30.500 --> 00:10:33.669
He felt like he couldn't quite– Um, hold his own
200
00:10:33.710 --> 00:10:35.710
as a singles competitor, at least in my mind. Um,
201
00:10:35.970 --> 00:10:40.429
he eventually did obviously, and he came to, but at first, anyway, he, he,
202
00:10:41.389 --> 00:10:43.149
he was kind of just lacking a little something. I
203
00:10:43.190 --> 00:10:44.809
think a lot of that was in his promo skills
204
00:10:44.830 --> 00:10:46.669
and he was just trying to find his way as
205
00:10:46.700 --> 00:10:49.220
a singles competitor and not a member of that wacky
206
00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:53.360
zany new day stable. Um, which I did. I don't
207
00:10:53.419 --> 00:10:55.269
say that in a bad way. I love the new day.
208
00:10:55.769 --> 00:10:58.029
I say that with all the respect in the world. Um,
209
00:10:58.570 --> 00:10:59.950
but I think he was trying to find his own.
210
00:10:59.990 --> 00:11:02.750
And tonight I, I got that. I feel like he
211
00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:06.080
has come into his own. He's, he's certainly presenting himself
212
00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:09.059
as a serious champion, but certainly still has those shades
213
00:11:09.100 --> 00:11:13.960
of comedy and a new day in him. Um, I
214
00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:16.460
like that. I like the fact that he stood up
215
00:11:16.820 --> 00:11:21.070
for both Kofi and Woods when Seth Rollins kind of
216
00:11:21.529 --> 00:11:24.690
started to– he called Kofi Manny a joke and he
217
00:11:24.950 --> 00:11:28.330
called King Woods a joke. I forget exactly what he
218
00:11:28.370 --> 00:11:31.690
called them, but he essentially insulted both of them. And
219
00:11:31.950 --> 00:11:35.850
Big E would not allow his friends to be bad-mouthed.
220
00:11:35.889 --> 00:11:39.009
I thought that was great. That is a man of
221
00:11:39.049 --> 00:11:43.009
integrity right there, my friends. um so yeah i'm all
222
00:11:43.029 --> 00:11:46.309
for that seth rollins uh yeah seth rollins he's from
223
00:11:46.490 --> 00:11:50.230
the obnoxious suits every week which i absolutely adore i
224
00:11:50.250 --> 00:11:52.350
thought they were stupid at first but man every week
225
00:11:52.389 --> 00:11:55.929
they like they're fantastic they just get zanier and weirder
226
00:11:55.970 --> 00:11:58.269
i love them um but he's playing he is he's
227
00:11:58.289 --> 00:12:03.129
playing an absolutely fantastic obnoxious heel the laugh um everything
228
00:12:03.220 --> 00:12:06.179
is is is great so i think Just a simple
229
00:12:06.220 --> 00:12:09.259
fact that these two haven't really ever had any sort
230
00:12:09.299 --> 00:12:12.919
of singles interaction before. That certainly adds some intrigue to
231
00:12:12.940 --> 00:12:15.659
the match for me as well. And I am I'm
232
00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:17.519
looking forward to seeing where this where this kind of
233
00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:20.480
plays out and see how how Big E can overcome
234
00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:23.080
Seth Rollins. I don't think I don't think Big E
235
00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:24.799
is going to lose a belt this early in his run.
236
00:12:25.710 --> 00:12:27.789
So it'd be cool to see how how he overcomes
237
00:12:28.009 --> 00:12:30.769
Seth Rollins and where this feud actually goes.
238
00:12:31.750 --> 00:12:34.470
Yeah, absolutely. Well said. All right, let's pause there for
239
00:12:34.490 --> 00:12:36.669
a quick second and set the table for the show,
240
00:12:36.710 --> 00:12:39.450
and then we'll start taking calls here, open up the
241
00:12:39.490 --> 00:12:42.929
phone lines. This is the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post
242
00:12:42.950 --> 00:12:47.610
Show covering the November 1st, 2021 edition of Monday Night Raw. Yes, folks,
243
00:12:47.830 --> 00:12:51.769
it's already November. Crazy to say. I'm PW Torts Assistant
244
00:12:51.830 --> 00:12:56.620
Editor Zach Haydorn filling in for Wade. side of things
245
00:12:56.700 --> 00:12:59.059
a little bit later on tonight running down the show
246
00:12:59.240 --> 00:13:02.470
on the Wade Keller hotline it's for VIP members every
247
00:13:02.509 --> 00:13:06.309
single day and you can go VIP by heading to pwtorch.com
248
00:13:06.450 --> 00:13:11.620
slash go VIP that's pwtorch.com slash go VIP and check
249
00:13:11.659 --> 00:13:15.059
out the Wade Keller hotline and a multitude of other
250
00:13:15.500 --> 00:13:19.889
really really great podcasts from Very, very talented host. It's
251
00:13:20.009 --> 00:13:24.080
all there for you at PWTorch.com slash GoVIP. The other
252
00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:27.519
voice you hear with me tonight is that of Nate
253
00:13:27.580 --> 00:13:32.129
Lindberg from the PWTorch Daily Cast PWT Talks NXT show. Nate,
254
00:13:32.610 --> 00:13:35.309
great to have you back, man. Always fun to talk
255
00:13:35.330 --> 00:13:36.169
a little wrestling with you.
256
00:13:37.299 --> 00:13:40.590
Absolutely. Good to be here. Glad to be talking something
257
00:13:40.620 --> 00:13:44.970
a little bit different than NXT 2.0 because I haven't
258
00:13:44.990 --> 00:13:47.330
been super high on it as of 2.0. So it's
259
00:13:47.350 --> 00:13:48.850
kind of nice to get out of that. And I
260
00:13:48.929 --> 00:13:51.580
actually really enjoyed the show tonight, which is something I
261
00:13:51.620 --> 00:13:53.860
haven't been able to say about Raw recently either. So
262
00:13:54.259 --> 00:13:56.360
glad to be here and glad to be talking about it.
263
00:13:56.899 --> 00:13:59.200
Yeah, fantastic. And maybe a little bit later we can
264
00:13:59.240 --> 00:14:04.370
get a little teaser analysis of NXT 2.0 coming out
265
00:14:04.419 --> 00:14:08.830
of Halloween Havoc just to get you out in the
266
00:14:08.909 --> 00:14:13.330
open and running on what you do best. A challenging show,
267
00:14:13.370 --> 00:14:15.649
I would imagine, to analyze these days. I think it's
268
00:14:15.909 --> 00:14:19.230
just hard to look at that, knowing what they're putting
269
00:14:19.289 --> 00:14:23.549
out there. You can't really look at it the same
270
00:14:23.620 --> 00:14:25.759
way that you've been watching NXT for so long.
271
00:14:26.590 --> 00:14:28.990
You absolutely can't. And it's like every week we're sitting
272
00:14:29.009 --> 00:14:31.549
there going, okay, you know, this could happen, but well,
273
00:14:31.570 --> 00:14:33.950
maybe not because we don't really know where they're going
274
00:14:34.009 --> 00:14:36.190
and they're kind of going a new direction. And, and
275
00:14:36.210 --> 00:14:38.549
it more often than not, it seems like the more
276
00:14:38.620 --> 00:14:41.679
predictable outcome is the way they go. But, but still,
277
00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:43.700
you know, they've kind of thrown us some curve balls.
278
00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:47.899
So I'm, I'm, I'm not going to throw it away yet. I'm, I'm,
279
00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:51.360
I'm still into NXT 2.0. And I'm just kind of
280
00:14:51.379 --> 00:14:53.019
hoping they can, they can suck me in a little
281
00:14:53.059 -->
00:14:53.919
bit more down the line.
282
00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:56.750
Yeah, very good. Well, maybe we can do it a
283
00:14:56.759 --> 00:15:02.789
little bit later, but the phone lines are open. 347-215-8558.
284
00:15:02.809 --> 00:15:06.409
That's 347-215-8558. Press one. If you're in the caller queue
285
00:15:06.470 --> 00:15:08.009
and you want to get on the air, just press
286
00:15:08.129 --> 00:15:10.929
one flags you on the switchboard and lets me know
287
00:15:11.409 --> 00:15:14.600
that you want to talk. The email bag is open
288
00:15:14.629 --> 00:15:16.279
as well. You can send us an email. Wade Keller
289
00:15:16.299 --> 00:15:21.059
podcast at gmail.com. That's Wade Keller podcast at gmail.com. We'll
290
00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:23.600
get to that a little bit later. Um, we're going
291
00:15:23.620 --> 00:15:25.820
to get to our first call here, Nate, but, but
292
00:15:25.899 --> 00:15:27.159
you've been to some of that. I wanted to kind
293
00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:29.570
of get your high level thoughts on it and just said, Hey,
294
00:15:29.990 --> 00:15:32.250
this was, this was a good show tonight. And I
295
00:15:32.309 --> 00:15:35.169
thought so too. I thought it top to bottom. I
296
00:15:35.210 --> 00:15:37.389
thought it flowed well. I thought there was some good wrestling.
297
00:15:37.429 --> 00:15:41.049
I thought that there. with some characters that got some
298
00:15:41.149 --> 00:15:46.049
clear elevation within some matches, Damien Priest, T-Bar in particular,
299
00:15:46.070 --> 00:15:48.929
never thought I'd say the, the, under the phrase, Hey,
300
00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:51.129
T-Bar had a good match tonight, but man, he, he
301
00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:54.779
really did. And Priest too. So I, I also really
302
00:15:54.840 --> 00:15:59.340
liked the formatting of how they got into Bianca Belair
303
00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:01.539
versus Becky Lynch. I mean, that was the opening match
304
00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:04.279
seems like an eternity ago, but they, they both had
305
00:16:04.340 --> 00:16:06.840
promo time right before to kind of like frame up
306
00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:09.440
the match and, and, why it's important to them and
307
00:16:09.539 --> 00:16:12.179
why they wanted to win. I thought that was really
308
00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:14.610
smart to kind of hook viewers right out of the gate.
309
00:16:14.710 --> 00:16:16.809
It made it seem like it was a really big match,
310
00:16:16.870 --> 00:16:19.289
which it is on paper, but a lot of times
311
00:16:19.669 --> 00:16:22.110
WWE will trot those matches out and not give them
312
00:16:22.470 --> 00:16:25.129
proper context in the show to tell everybody that, hey,
313
00:16:25.190 --> 00:16:28.100
this is really important. I thought they did that here.
314
00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:30.519
And same thing with Kevin Owens and Big E a
315
00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:34.039
little bit later. You had segments backstage throughout the show
316
00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:36.580
that built up to that main event so i i
317
00:16:36.620 --> 00:16:40.259
thought raw was more than serviceable tonight and and well
318
00:16:40.279 --> 00:16:43.340
put together and feature some really good stuff um throughout
319
00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.559
the three hours but but just your take on it
320
00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:48.289
on the overall holistic show Sure.
321
00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:50.360
So one of the things that you just said was
322
00:16:50.419 --> 00:16:52.320
there were quite a few segments of the course of
323
00:16:52.340 --> 00:16:54.840
the show that kind of led up to Big E
324
00:16:54.919 --> 00:16:58.820
and Kevin Owens and just multiple stories throughout the show.
325
00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:02.750
And one thing that I absolutely love in a wrestling
326
00:17:02.789 --> 00:17:06.589
show is one story, one or two stories that kind
327
00:17:06.630 --> 00:17:09.269
of weave themselves in throughout the course of the entire show.
328
00:17:09.869 --> 00:17:11.559
um you know something that might happen at the beginning
329
00:17:11.619 --> 00:17:13.960
and you know and you kind of get some some
330
00:17:13.980 --> 00:17:16.539
of those bullet points and those plot points and they
331
00:17:16.579 --> 00:17:19.099
finally culminate at the end of the show uh that's
332
00:17:19.160 --> 00:17:21.720
like my kind of personal favorite thing to happen and
333
00:17:22.019 --> 00:17:24.809
you're absolutely right that's what happened here tonight uh with
334
00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:26.410
with Big E and Kevin Owens so I thought that
335
00:17:26.430 --> 00:17:28.890
was a great way to present that um right off
336
00:17:28.910 --> 00:17:31.250
the gate with that match with Becky and Bianca I
337
00:17:31.289 --> 00:17:33.269
don't remember I don't have I don't have a report
338
00:17:33.309 --> 00:17:34.970
up right now to get the exact match time but
339
00:17:35.490 --> 00:17:37.470
um I mean that was at least like 25 minutes
340
00:17:37.529 --> 00:17:40.630
or so how often do we start a raw just
341
00:17:40.809 --> 00:17:42.829
right with action like that right off the bat now
342
00:17:42.849 --> 00:17:44.910
great together with some promos and stuff with them to
343
00:17:45.079 --> 00:17:47.759
kind of hype that up before we got into the
344
00:17:47.859 --> 00:17:51.339
action but still um we don't often just jump into
345
00:17:51.380 --> 00:17:54.559
a major match like that um just to kick off
346
00:17:54.619 --> 00:17:56.559
raw i mean how many times we had you know
347
00:17:56.700 --> 00:17:59.559
stuck through a 15 minute well i was a triple
348
00:17:59.700 --> 00:18:01.200
h promo that was a long time ago but you
349
00:18:01.220 --> 00:18:02.920
know what i you know what i mean right yeah
350
00:18:03.339 --> 00:18:05.519
um And so I thought that was a great way
351
00:18:05.539 --> 00:18:08.640
to start the show. Um, and I definitely, you, you,
352
00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:10.759
you called it
out and I definitely wanted to call
353
00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:13.269
out the match between Damien Priest and T-Bar as well.
354
00:18:13.309 --> 00:18:16.349
And I'm going to say Dominic Dijakovic. I can't say T-Bar, man.
355
00:18:16.390 --> 00:18:19.630
I can't, I can't do it. Uh, but I thought
356
00:18:19.789 --> 00:18:22.069
like that was actually one of my more favorite matches
357
00:18:22.089 --> 00:18:24.910
of the night. Um, and I was, uh, uh, in
358
00:18:24.930 --> 00:18:27.440
a way surprised just because of the way they especially
359
00:18:27.480 --> 00:18:31.119
presenting t-bar but and i'm also not surprised because die
360
00:18:31.140 --> 00:18:34.160
jack is an amazing amazing talent as is damian priest
361
00:18:34.539 --> 00:18:36.279
um but i'm just glad they got the time in
362
00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:38.680
there tonight to pull off uh pull off what they
363
00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:40.160
did like i said overall i thought it was a
364
00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:43.500
great show um and it did not actually feel like
365
00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:46.759
a three-hour slug to me tonight which uh doesn't typically
366
00:18:46.819 --> 00:18:49.180
happen when i'm watching a monday night raw yeah.
367
00:18:50.460 --> 00:18:53.619
Your time is valuable. Go VIP and listen to our
368
00:18:53.660 --> 00:18:58.920
shows commercial free. A nice streamlined listening experience. pwtorch.com slash
369
00:18:58.980 --> 00:19:02.319
go VIP for full details on a commercial free listening experience.
370
00:19:02.680 --> 00:19:05.220
And with a full VIP membership, you can create custom
371
00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:08.099
feeds for individual shows or groups of shows by theme
372
00:19:08.420 --> 00:19:11.599
and also unlock nearly four decades of archives and access
373
00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:17.089
our ad free website with VIP exclusive content. pwtorch.com slash govip.
374
00:19:17.349 --> 00:19:18.970
Your time is valuable, and that's one of the reasons
375
00:19:19.019 --> 00:19:22.660
we offer VIP membership, pwtorch.com slash govip.
376
00:19:26.940 --> 00:19:29.819
Oh, absolutely. I definitely agree. And yeah, it'll be interesting
377
00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:31.849
to see what the... I'm sure we'll talk about it
378
00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:35.500
a little bit later with callers too, but what... If anything,
379
00:19:35.559 --> 00:19:39.529
the match does for T-Bar. I think I think his
380
00:19:40.289 --> 00:19:44.549
the name, the look, just everything about the character and
381
00:19:44.589 --> 00:19:48.650
gimmick itself really is low card at best. But man,
382
00:19:48.970 --> 00:19:51.539
you watch him in there. to have a match. I mean,
383
00:19:51.579 --> 00:19:54.660
he still is a big guy. He still fits, you know,
384
00:19:54.700 --> 00:19:57.119
the mold of what Vince McMahon is looking for in
385
00:19:57.140 --> 00:19:59.539
terms of, in terms of that. And so you never
386
00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:01.779
know what kind of a hard
hitting mass like this can,
387
00:20:01.880 --> 00:20:05.240
can do for somebody and priests, um, you know, again,
388
00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:09.490
I'm sure we'll get in to go along with this new,
389
00:20:09.990 --> 00:20:12.539
the new personality. And I thought, uh, both those guys
390
00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:16.319
delivered and gave priest the performance that he needed to
391
00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:20.019
kind of anchor the new, uh, the new gimmick. So more,
392
00:20:20.039 --> 00:20:22.509
more on that later, Nate, but let's, um, let's, let's
393
00:20:22.569 --> 00:20:24.309
roll in with our, with our first call here.
394
00:20:24.410 --> 00:20:24.670
All right.
395
00:20:24.910 --> 00:20:27.910
Um, four, four, three, we, we will, uh, we'll start
396
00:20:27.930 --> 00:20:30.349
with you four, four, three, go ahead and state your
397
00:20:30.369 --> 00:20:32.079
name and where you're calling us from tonight.
398
00:20:34.420 --> 00:20:35.309
Hey, it's Kyle from Baltimore.
399
00:20:35.329 --> 00:20:35.769
How are you doing?
400
00:20:36.230 --> 00:20:36.890
Hey, Kyle.
401
00:20:36.930 --> 00:20:39.970
Doing good. Thanks for calling. Always a pleasure to talk
402
00:20:39.990 --> 00:20:41.910
to you after these shows, man. What did you think
403
00:20:41.950 --> 00:20:42.450
of Raw tonight?
404
00:20:43.509 --> 00:20:45.109
Yeah.
405
00:20:45.230 --> 00:20:47.930
Yeah, again, it was a really good show. The three
406
00:20:47.950 --> 00:20:50.910
hours kind of flew by, which rarely happens for me
407
00:20:50.930 --> 00:20:54.160
where I felt like it was really a good episode
408
00:20:54.180 --> 00:20:56.299
and really a good roster. You know, as I said,
409
00:20:56.680 --> 00:20:59.640
Raw has a lot of great people on this show
410
00:20:59.660 --> 00:21:02.200
that they drafted, so that's why I expected to have
411
00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:05.640
some issues, I feel like, but whatever. I always get
412
00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:07.960
to the beginning of a year right from before it
413
00:21:07.980 --> 00:21:10.740
already started off, really how Becky and Bianca was like, okay,
414
00:21:10.779 --> 00:21:12.839
here we go. We're going off already. And I kind
415
00:21:12.900 --> 00:21:14.660
of like it when it starts with a match and
416
00:21:14.680 --> 00:21:19.539
I'm talking because I hate them talking. Because I get it,
417
00:21:19.589 --> 00:21:22.650
but it's repetitive. So just get to the rest of it.
418
00:21:22.730 --> 00:21:26.589
So glad I did that. The match was great. It was,
419
00:21:26.650 --> 00:21:30.210
you know, a great match. And throughout the, I think
420
00:21:30.269 --> 00:21:32.970
it's Becky's phone backstage saying that the fans were booing her.
421
00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:37.019
To know, she still gets cheered. So where is the status?
422
00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:38.579
She gets booed.
423
00:21:38.619 --> 00:21:40.940
I mean, maybe a little bit, but she mainly gets cheered.
424
00:21:40.980 --> 00:21:43.730
So that part I'll get, but the entire match is great.
425
00:21:44.009 --> 00:21:45.730
I don't know where Bianca goes from here at this point.
426
00:21:45.789 --> 00:21:47.450
At this point, I think Bianca needs.
427
00:21:47.349 --> 00:21:48.009
To move on.
428
00:21:48.730 --> 00:21:52.430
Clearly what they saw today with Liv Morgan, it was like, yes,
429
00:21:52.569 --> 00:21:54.960
thank you. Liv and Becky, they kind of are kind
430
00:21:55.019 --> 00:22:00.130
of I remember before Liz said before about an interview
431
00:22:00.150 --> 00:22:04.579
she said that she had with Becky when she hugged
432
00:22:04.619 --> 00:22:08.160
her to congratulate her on being pregnant, said that she's
433
00:22:08.180 --> 00:22:09.720
going to be a champion one day, and she never did.
434
00:22:09.799 --> 00:22:12.140
And so that's kind of something they can go off of,
435
00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:12.720
something like that.
436
00:22:12.740 --> 00:22:13.400
I know people.
437
00:22:13.180 --> 00:22:15.980
Probably know that part, but that's what I want to
438
00:22:16.009 --> 00:22:18.049
get behind. And where Bianca goes from here, I don't know.
439
00:22:18.109 --> 00:22:19.190
But we can think about all that.
440
00:22:20.089 --> 00:22:25.230
Yeah, great topics. Nate, so... A couple things. Let's first
441
00:22:25.250 --> 00:22:29.430
talk about Becky Lynch in particular because tonight, you know,
442
00:22:29.470 --> 00:22:32.180
she gets the win. I was glad that they didn't
443
00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:34.220
do kind of like a– I mean, yes, they did
444
00:22:34.299 --> 00:22:36.039
a bit of a shenanigan finish, but at least it
445
00:22:36.099 --> 00:22:38.980
was a finish, you know, for better or worse. I
446
00:22:39.019 --> 00:22:42.869
think– I don't think, you know, Bianca loses– that much
447
00:22:44.470 --> 00:22:46.640
losing this match, losing to Becky Lynch. I think that the,
448
00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:49.619
I think the journey now is back to the top.
449
00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:52.289
And when she gets that win, if presented the right way,
450
00:22:52.589 --> 00:22:54.109
it's going to be, it's going to be a really
451
00:22:54.130 --> 00:22:58.829
big deal, but it begs the question, you know, Obviously,
452
00:22:58.849 --> 00:23:01.069
they're going to pivot in the short term to something
453
00:23:01.089 --> 00:23:03.529
with Liv Morgan. I think you look at Survivor Series,
454
00:23:03.609 --> 00:23:05.950
depending on the format of that show, like I said,
455
00:23:05.970 --> 00:23:09.150
you're looking at a potential Becky versus Charlotte match, which
456
00:23:09.170 --> 00:23:14.140
I think has added intrigue because of the backstage happenings
457
00:23:14.220 --> 00:23:18.920
from a couple weeks ago. But she's in this position
458
00:23:19.019 --> 00:23:23.410
where she is getting cheered. I think clearly tonight, maybe
459
00:23:23.869 --> 00:23:25.650
for the first time ever, and correct me if I'm
460
00:23:25.690 --> 00:23:31.900
wrong on for sure he'll come out because it wasn't
461
00:23:31.940 --> 00:23:35.180
her just healing on her opponent she was talking about
462
00:23:35.259 --> 00:23:38.000
the fans you know that they they were with her
463
00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:40.339
for her rise and then they abandoned her right like
464
00:23:40.380 --> 00:23:44.170
so she's now that's like classic WWE heel you know
465
00:23:44.369 --> 00:23:47.269
bells and whistles alarms going off hey she's definitely a
466
00:23:47.289 --> 00:23:50.029
heel now she's insulting the audience I think that's the
467
00:23:50.049 --> 00:23:53.009
first time she did that so she's firmly planted in
468
00:23:53.049 --> 00:23:54.950
that space and now is going to pivot to Liv
469
00:23:54.990 --> 00:23:59.039
Morgan I mean I It's going to come down to Nate.
470
00:23:59.099 --> 00:24:05.529
I think how just. these these cheers into into booze
471
00:24:05.569 --> 00:24:08.329
like how how talented can Becky Lynch be we know
472
00:24:08.609 --> 00:24:11.730
that she's super talented but sometimes you know it's it's
473
00:24:11.950 --> 00:24:15.490
you can't overcome that that tidal wave and WWE had
474
00:24:15.529 --> 00:24:17.509
to know this was coming with people wanting to cheer
475
00:24:17.529 --> 00:24:19.509
her after her being away for over a year so
476
00:24:20.029 --> 00:24:22.950
I throw to you Nate your thoughts on Becky can
477
00:24:22.990 --> 00:24:26.950
this heel turn thing actually work is Liv Morgan sympathetic
478
00:24:27.009 --> 00:24:28.960
enough to help bring it out of her.
479
00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:33.309
So I think it certainly can work, but I think
480
00:24:33.349 --> 00:24:36.400
it's going to be an uphill battle. Um, yeah, like
481
00:24:36.420 --> 00:24:39.369
I know everything that Becky's doing right now. I mean, I'm,
482
00:24:39.650 --> 00:24:42.289
I'm cheering her. I think she's doing a fantastic job.
483
00:24:42.309 --> 00:24:44.990
And that's part of the problem too, is like, if
484
00:24:45.029 --> 00:24:47.750
a heel does a really good job being a heel,
485
00:24:47.890 --> 00:24:50.109
like sometimes you just want to cheer them cause they're
486
00:24:50.130 --> 00:24:53.470
doing such a great job. Um, you know, and obviously
487
00:24:53.549 --> 00:24:55.990
if they're really doing their job, you know, you obviously
488
00:24:56.029 --> 00:24:59.890
want to boo them. But, um, I, uh, I think
489
00:24:59.950 --> 00:25:02.450
it can, it can work, but she's really going to
490
00:25:02.490 --> 00:25:05.289
have to put in some, some effort to get the
491
00:25:05.329 --> 00:25:09.069
crowd against her. You know, where she mentioned tonight, you know,
492
00:25:09.109 --> 00:25:10.970
half the crowd is booing. It was certainly was not
493
00:25:11.029 --> 00:25:12.490
half the crowd. It was a heck of a lot
494
00:25:12.529 --> 00:25:16.400
less than that. But I mean, that was, it was certainly,
495
00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:18.579
if not
the first, one of the first times that
496
00:25:18.619 --> 00:25:21.380
she's kind of started to turn against the crowd. I
497
00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:25.380
want to say she did it on SmackDown like before
498
00:25:25.420 --> 00:25:28.099
the brand split, but don't quote me on that. Yeah.
499
00:25:28.740 --> 00:25:30.759
But so it's certainly one of the first times that
500
00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:32.720
she's she's kind of gone up against the crowd here.
501
00:25:32.769 --> 00:25:36.390
But I think it certainly can work. A heel Becky
502
00:25:36.430 --> 00:25:39.910
Lynch's is I mean, obviously, it's kind of what started
503
00:25:39.950 --> 00:25:42.309
to rocket her into the man character. And so we
504
00:25:42.329 --> 00:25:43.819
know she can do it. We know she can do
505
00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:46.869
it well. I just don't know if the fan base
506
00:25:46.920 --> 00:25:49.670
is going to want to see that, you know, and,
507
00:25:49.809 --> 00:25:53.289
and like you said, that title wave comes and WWE,
508
00:25:53.470 --> 00:25:55.990
they can present something as much as they want, but
509
00:25:56.009 --> 00:25:58.029
if the fans want to cheer for these people, they,
510
00:25:58.170 --> 00:26:01.990
they want to cheer for Becky, you know, that they
511
00:26:02.049 --> 00:26:03.170
may end up having to pivot.
512
00:26:03.190 --> 00:26:03.990
Yeah.
513
00:26:04.569 --> 00:26:07.269
And, but we'll, we'll obviously we'll see live Morgan, I
514
00:26:07.990 --> 00:26:11.619
think is going to be a good challenger for Becky. I'm,
515
00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:14.599
I don't know if, If she's going to be sympathetic
516
00:26:14.660 --> 00:26:18.640
enough to get people to turn on Becky either, though,
517
00:26:19.220 --> 00:26:21.920
you live live to me. She's I think she's a
518
00:26:21.960 --> 00:26:24.819
great talent, but she doesn't seem main event level for me.
519
00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:25.380
And.
520
00:26:27.109 --> 00:26:31.230
She just get me probably upper mid card. You could
521
00:26:31.250 --> 00:26:34.299
probably obviously dance with the main main event scene, as
522
00:26:34.539 --> 00:26:38.400
we're seeing here. But I don't see her as a credible,
523
00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:44.279
credible threat. So unless something happens like really something happens
524
00:26:44.299 --> 00:26:47.309
in the next week or two that that really pivots
525
00:26:47.349 --> 00:26:51.319
Liv Morgan into being a credible threat for her. who's
526
00:26:51.460 --> 00:26:53.859
arguably one of the most popular people in the company
527
00:26:53.900 --> 00:26:57.839
at Becky Lynch. Um, I don't know if she's going
528
00:26:57.859 --> 00:27:01.660
to be able to be that person to make Becky
529
00:27:01.720 --> 00:27:04.279
that much of a hated heel to get people to
530
00:27:04.440 --> 00:27:06.460
boo her and get people kind of on the side
531
00:27:06.519 --> 00:27:10.440
that WB wants them on. Um, so, but with all
532
00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:12.759
of that said, I, I get to admit, I, I'm
533
00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:16.359
loving everything she's doing. I think she's doing a great job. Um,
534
00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:19.089
but unfortunately it's just not getting the reaction that WB wants.
535
00:27:19.109 --> 00:27:24.279
Um, Honestly, I think Liv Morgan is going to have
536
00:27:24.299 --> 00:27:29.609
some issues here. I like the idea to feature somebody
537
00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:33.329
fresh in the title picture, I guess. There's nothing wrong
538
00:27:33.349 --> 00:27:36.450
with that. They're kind of trying it on SmackDown with
539
00:27:36.730 --> 00:27:41.690
Shotzi and her heel turn going up against Sasha. I
540
00:27:41.690 --> 00:27:44.529
have no problem with the attempt, but you know, Becky
541
00:27:45.029 --> 00:27:48.089
not being, I don't want to say she's not over
542
00:27:48.109 --> 00:27:53.119
because obviously she's over, but people aren't buying her, but
543
00:27:53.460 --> 00:27:56.359
universally buying the heel turn right now. And so you're
544
00:27:56.380 --> 00:27:59.220
going to have Liv Morgan, this baby face character who's
545
00:27:59.380 --> 00:28:02.960
fresh in that, on that level of the card going
546
00:28:03.019 --> 00:28:06.529
up against Becky Lynch, who's just not firmly planted as
547
00:28:06.569 --> 00:28:10.410
a heel yet. And I think that's going to hurt Liv. Now,
548
00:28:11.029 --> 00:28:13.789
maybe Becky can bring the best out of her. Maybe not,
549
00:28:13.849 --> 00:28:15.170
but I think it's going to be hard for Liv
550
00:28:15.190 --> 00:28:17.430
Morgan as a fresh face at the top of the
551
00:28:17.470 --> 00:28:20.049
women's division, at least for a little while here to,
552
00:28:20.250 --> 00:28:23.369
if Bianca Belair couldn't do it right. Like I think
553
00:28:24.109 --> 00:28:28.589
Liv Morgan, the expectations have to be lower, lower for her.
554
00:28:28.690 --> 00:28:32.849
So we'll see. But yeah, it kind of an interesting,
555
00:28:33.150 --> 00:28:35.490
an interesting thing to watch here and to back to
556
00:28:35.509 --> 00:28:38.519
your comment, Nate, about the gimmick, the man gimmick. It's like,
557
00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:42.849
I almost feel like if Becky– because people like that
558
00:28:43.230 --> 00:28:46.849
stick so much. They like the bombasticity of her character.
559
00:28:46.890 --> 00:28:51.369
They like the confidence that borderlines almost arrogance. I mean
560
00:28:51.410 --> 00:28:54.799
that was rooted in her rise to the top, and
561
00:28:54.819 --> 00:28:58.440
I think that's synonymous with that time with the audience.
562
00:28:58.579 --> 00:29:01.559
It's almost like– if she really wants to be a heel,
563
00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:05.220
she kind of has to stop it with, with that,
564
00:29:05.480 --> 00:29:07.900
even though that's kind of like the tried and true
565
00:29:08.420 --> 00:29:12.410
heel characteristics and heel mannerisms within that act. I think
566
00:29:12.450 --> 00:29:16.130
people enjoy seeing her do it so, so much, especially
567
00:29:16.390 --> 00:29:18.430
because they haven't seen it in so long that it
568
00:29:18.490 --> 00:29:20.390
pops the audience. And I think if you shut that
569
00:29:20.430 --> 00:29:23.210
all down and just went a different direction with the
570
00:29:23.250 --> 00:29:27.170
character or like just a different tweak on the man act, um,
571
00:29:27.569 --> 00:29:30.880
That maybe that would hook more people into to actually
572
00:29:30.940 --> 00:29:32.799
boo her, because right now I just think she's she
573
00:29:32.920 --> 00:29:36.250
is enjoyable. And the man thing, while there's pieces of
574
00:29:36.309 --> 00:29:38.609
it that are heel in nature, she's always pulled it
575
00:29:38.750 --> 00:29:40.980
off in a baby face way. that people like to see.
576
00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:42.819
So she could be, she could be in for a
577
00:29:42.859 --> 00:29:45.140
bit of a gimmick tweak too. If she really wants
578
00:29:45.180 --> 00:29:46.720
to put all her eggs in the heel basket.
579
00:29:49.390 --> 00:29:50.049
Hey everyone.
580
00:29:50.390 --> 00:29:53.289
Long time PW torch communist, Sean Radican here to let
581
00:29:53.309 --> 00:29:56.930
you know, I've revamped and renewed the Radican worldwide podcast
582
00:29:56.950 --> 00:30:01.599
for 2026. a weekly VIP exclusive. Every week, I break
583
00:30:01.640 --> 00:30:04.319
down four or five of the biggest trending topics in
584
00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:08.220
pro wrestling. I also present my analysis, providing insight that
585
00:30:08.259 --> 00:30:10.869
helps you understand the story better or see it another
586
00:30:10.900 --> 00:30:14.049
way than maybe is the controversial take out there. Then
587
00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:16.130
I bring on a special guest for the second half
588
00:30:16.150 --> 00:30:19.230
of the podcast. Sometimes it's a wrestler or someone else
589
00:30:19.250 --> 00:30:21.569
who works in the business. Other times it's a guest
590
00:30:21.710 --> 00:30:24.509
analyst who brings their specialized point of view on a
591
00:30:24.549 --> 00:30:27.940
particular key topic in the news. Recent guests have included
592
00:30:27.980 --> 00:30:31.119
Bronson Reed from WWE and PCO. One of my areas
593
00:30:31.180 --> 00:30:33.890
of specialty is the Japan wrestling scene, so I often
594
00:30:33.930 --> 00:30:36.950
cover a big topic from Japan with PW Torch's own
595
00:30:37.089 --> 00:30:40.710
Alan Farrell, Kelly Wells, and Chris Lansdell. I don't just
596
00:30:40.789 --> 00:30:43.029
cover the news. I don't just riff on the news
597
00:30:43.130 --> 00:30:45.559
or give a standard hot take. I'll bring my decades
598
00:30:45.619 --> 00:30:49.200
of studying this industry and talking one-on-one with dozens of
599
00:30:49.259 --> 00:30:52.619
wrestling promoters to each week's show so you understand not
600
00:30:52.660 --> 00:30:55.720
just what's happening, but the
context of why. Get ahead
601
00:30:55.740 --> 00:30:58.230
of the news. Get ahead of the pack with Ratican
602
00:30:58.250 --> 00:31:01.720
Worldwide only at PWTorch VIP.
603
00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:08.579
Absolutely. And, you know, one of the one of the
604
00:31:08.599 --> 00:31:11.859
things that's come to mind and in just what you
605
00:31:11.900 --> 00:31:13.819
were saying, but it's also come it came to mind
606
00:31:13.880 --> 00:31:18.940
even tonight watching, watching that second promo that she had backstage.
607
00:31:19.160 --> 00:31:22.009
She put on the glasses and that really cool shirt
608
00:31:22.069 --> 00:31:24.529
with the shoulder pads or whatever she was wearing. I
609
00:31:24.569 --> 00:31:26.829
thought that was pretty sweet. She must be shopping at
610
00:31:26.849 --> 00:31:31.059
the same place Seth's shopping at. But what really came
611
00:31:31.099 --> 00:31:33.220
to mind was Stone Cold when they tried to turn
612
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:36.289
him heel doing the two-man power trip with Triple H.
613
00:31:36.809 --> 00:31:41.710
And the defining moment there is he's a heel. He's
614
00:31:41.730 --> 00:31:45.339
got him and Triple H and Lita in the ring,
615
00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:47.079
and they start beating Lita with the chair, and the
616
00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:50.519
crowd starts cheering because Stone Cold is– you know, stone
617
00:31:50.539 --> 00:31:53.619
cold and he's doing heel things and he's always done
618
00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:57.559
heel things. And he became, you know, an anti-hero essentially.
619
00:31:57.640 --> 00:31:59.259
And I feel like that was kind of the same
620
00:31:59.299 --> 00:32:02.000
way in a, in a, a little bit of a
621
00:32:02.049 --> 00:32:05.410
different way, but it with the man character it was
622
00:32:05.450 --> 00:32:08.859
a bit of an anti-hero character um you know and
623
00:32:09.619 --> 00:32:13.079
so she could play that arrogant um and and kind
624
00:32:13.140 --> 00:32:15.980
of heelish character but in a in a baby face
625
00:32:16.019 --> 00:32:18.420
way now you're trying to pivot it in a heel
626
00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:21.039
a heel way this kind of unconventional character in a
627
00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:23.779
heel way and people just want to continue to cheer
628
00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:26.720
it because it's very similar to what they had Or
629
00:32:26.740 --> 00:32:29.619
what she was doing as a babyface. So, yeah, I
630
00:32:29.660 --> 00:32:32.109
definitely I definitely agree with you there. If she wants
631
00:32:32.140 --> 00:32:36.529
to really you get the people against her, it's got
632
00:32:36.549 --> 00:32:39.910
to be a real big pivot. And by doing that
633
00:32:39.970 --> 00:32:42.750
big pivot, you've run that risk of like, you know,
634
00:32:43.130 --> 00:32:45.730
losing losing people behind you, losing the fans behind you
635
00:32:45.750 --> 00:32:48.730
because they want to see. what they want to see,
636
00:32:48.809 --> 00:32:52.069
you know, if WWE, hopefully WWE would let her go
637
00:32:52.109 --> 00:32:55.079
back to doing that eventually. But, uh, but yeah, I
638
00:32:55.240 --> 00:32:57.500
don't know. We'll see obviously where that goes, but, um,
639
00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:00.180
you know, I would worry about it if they did
640
00:33:00.220 --> 00:33:02.700
do a huge pivot like that, if fans would start
641
00:33:02.740 --> 00:33:05.869
to maybe kind of, uh, care less about her.
642
00:33:06.660 --> 00:33:08.910
Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, it's a risk for sure.
643
00:33:08.930 --> 00:33:10.750
You know, they know the man thing works. And so,
644
00:33:11.309 --> 00:33:14.170
you know, it's, uh, it's, it's, yeah, it's almost like
645
00:33:14.190 --> 00:33:18.890
kind of like, Becky's a good enough performer, like you said,
646
00:33:18.930 --> 00:33:20.509
to pull this off. I mean, I don't think there's
647
00:33:20.549 --> 00:33:24.089
any doubt about her abilities to do that. It's just
648
00:33:24.109 --> 00:33:26.130
that is she going to be able to bring the
649
00:33:26.259 --> 00:33:29.480
audience with them? And that's why I think it was
650
00:33:29.519 --> 00:33:32.220
kind of– I still go back to that SummerSlam turn
651
00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:35.920
where it's like, man, you have to– Give the fans
652
00:33:35.960 --> 00:33:37.740
at least a little bit of time to live with
653
00:33:37.769 --> 00:33:40.549
the returning Becky Lynch character as a babyface, just so
654
00:33:40.569 --> 00:33:43.009
they can, at the very least, even if turning her heels,
655
00:33:43.069 --> 00:33:47.210
the ultimate plan, let them get this kind of cheering
656
00:33:47.269 --> 00:33:49.210
for her out of their system a bit, you know,
657
00:33:49.279 --> 00:33:51.400
and then and then. do the pivot but to have
658
00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:53.339
it all come at once you know obviously I think
659
00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:55.980
they they rushed it maybe some circumstances changed that but
660
00:33:56.019 --> 00:33:58.319
now now they have to live they have to live
661
00:33:58.339 --> 00:34:02.000
in the world they created so um so we're stuck
662
00:34:02.019 --> 00:34:04.200
with with with what we have here and it's on
663
00:34:04.319 --> 00:34:06.680
it's on Becky really to to try and pull off
664
00:34:06.779 --> 00:34:08.619
and live too to try to you know pull that
665
00:34:08.659 --> 00:34:12.429
heel that heel persona out of her um Bianca Belair
666
00:34:12.530 --> 00:34:13.690
and then we'll get back to Kyle here in a
667
00:34:13.710 --> 00:34:18.510
second so Belair Moves over to Raw. She kind of
668
00:34:18.769 --> 00:34:23.090
loses this opportunity. Obviously, it wasn't it was not clean
669
00:34:23.130 --> 00:34:28.210
because she ran to the the uncovered ring post and
670
00:34:28.230 --> 00:34:33.059
gets rolled up. So Nate, where does Bianca go from here?
671
00:34:33.500 --> 00:34:36.000
I'm kind of with Kyle on this on the surface that, hey,
672
00:34:36.099 --> 00:34:38.900
I think it's time for her to... You can't keep
673
00:34:38.940 --> 00:34:41.409
going back to Bianca versus Becky over and over and
674
00:34:41.449 --> 00:34:44.130
over again. I think now is a good time to
675
00:34:44.150 --> 00:34:48.130
pivot her away from that with Survivor Series coming into focus.
676
00:34:48.190 --> 00:34:52.340
Maybe she... you know, leads team raw or something into,
677
00:34:52.659 --> 00:34:55.420
into survivor series as the captain for the women's team
678
00:34:55.500 --> 00:34:59.139
on raw, it gives her a prominent, prominent positioning. She's
679
00:34:59.179 --> 00:35:02.119
still featured as a face of the brand, but not
680
00:35:02.300 --> 00:35:04.679
in the title picture. And then, you know, come Royal
681
00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:07.260
rumble time, you can kind of get her back there.
682
00:35:07.320 --> 00:35:10.019
But I think it was a good showing for her
683
00:35:10.059 --> 00:35:12.760
in the ring. She certainly still is somebody that's going
684
00:35:12.780 --> 00:35:16.030
to be is featured. I mean, that match was, Like, yes,
685
00:35:16.090 --> 00:35:18.090
Becky won it. But man, a lot of it was
686
00:35:18.269 --> 00:35:21.070
for Bianca Belair. She had her moments and her time
687
00:35:21.110 --> 00:35:24.230
to show off her athleticism and all the lifts that
688
00:35:24.269 --> 00:35:28.469
she did. And like just just, you know, the way
689
00:35:28.489 --> 00:35:31.030
that Becky sold for her and bump for her. Like
690
00:35:31.929 --> 00:35:34.650
it's still, I think, very much about Bianca Belair, at
691
00:35:34.690 --> 00:35:38.489
least at this point. But a rest from the title picture,
692
00:35:38.570 --> 00:35:41.489
especially after losing it, I think is not not the
693
00:35:41.530 --> 00:35:43.690
worst thing in the world. But where does Bianca go, Nate?
694
00:35:44.980 --> 00:35:48.500
So that's a good question I've actually got the list
695
00:35:48.599 --> 00:35:52.070
of the female roster for Raw up on my screen
696
00:35:52.110 --> 00:35:54.670
right now and I'm going up and down this very
697
00:35:55.090 --> 00:35:59.210
small list of female wrestlers and I'm kind of thinking
698
00:35:59.230 --> 00:36:02.849
to myself like I don't know you know so Asuka
699
00:36:02.869 --> 00:36:04.250
was one of the first people that came to mind
700
00:36:04.269 --> 00:36:06.460
and I know she's out right now with an injury
701
00:36:07.579 --> 00:36:10.059
the other person that came to mind she's been kind
702
00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:12.320
of absent for a while but she was drafted to
703
00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:15.130
Raw and I don't think we've seen her on raw.
704
00:36:15.230 --> 00:36:18.199
I could be wrong. Cause I haven't watched every single
705
00:36:18.260 --> 00:36:22.559
episode of Ross since the draft, but I around um
706
00:36:22.780 --> 00:36:25.239
and i would i would love to see mia yim
707
00:36:25.820 --> 00:36:29.000
debut on the main roster as mia yim not reckoning
708
00:36:29.139 --> 00:36:32.239
but as mia yim um and i think that could
709
00:36:32.280 --> 00:36:35.260
be that could be a great uh opponent for bianca
710
00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:38.300
belair in kind of like a rebuilding story if you
711
00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:41.590
will like um because like i don't necessarily think bianca
712
00:36:41.610 --> 00:36:43.130
belair is going to come out and be like you
713
00:36:43.150 --> 00:36:45.969
know what i i I lost and kind of be
714
00:36:46.030 --> 00:36:47.789
dejected and everything. I think she's going to try and
715
00:36:47.909 --> 00:36:51.329
spin it as a positive that– because that's just the
716
00:36:51.349 --> 00:36:55.110
nature of her character. She's a fighter, right? So she
717
00:36:55.130 --> 00:36:57.610
always fights from underneath and tries to do her best
718
00:36:57.679 --> 00:37:00.280
and come out victorious, and I feel like she's probably
719
00:37:00.300 --> 00:37:03.019
going to try and– she's probably going to spin– these
720
00:37:03.119 --> 00:37:06.889
losses into a positive and try to build herself back up, um,
721
00:37:06.900 --> 00:37:09.539
you know, to get back into the title picture down
722
00:37:09.579 --> 00:37:11.920
the road. Um, but she's going to need some competitors
723
00:37:11.960 --> 00:37:14.099
to do that. Like I said, Mia Yim sounds, uh,
724
00:37:14.179 --> 00:37:17.639
sounds good to me. Um, cause like everybody else that's
725
00:37:17.699 --> 00:37:20.420
on the roster here, they were all involved in other
726
00:37:20.460 --> 00:37:22.300
things throughout the course of the night with the exception
727
00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:24.500
of Alexa bliss. So it was, is not on, uh,
728
00:37:24.639 --> 00:37:27.409
not on the show. Um, but on the Raw women's roster.
729
00:37:28.329 --> 00:37:33.679
But everybody else, Zelina Vega, Carmella, Doudrop, Dana Brooke, Liv Morgan,
730
00:37:34.559 --> 00:37:39.079
Nikki Ash, Tamina, they were all all involved in other
731
00:37:39.179 --> 00:37:41.780
things throughout the course of the show so that's a
732
00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:45.309
good question where does Bianca Belair go from here um
733
00:37:45.869 --> 00:37:49.170
and to be honest with you I don't uh I
734
00:37:49.369 --> 00:37:52.230
don't know exactly who her next opponent would be um
735
00:37:52.389 --> 00:37:54.849
but I I would like to see her kind of
736
00:37:54.929 --> 00:37:59.389
go into a um uh like a I keep, I
737
00:37:59.409 --> 00:38:01.349
keep calling it a rebuilding phase and it's not really
738
00:38:01.369 --> 00:38:04.110
what I mean, but, um, you know, kind of recognize
739
00:38:04.130 --> 00:38:06.570
the fact that she lost these, these high profile matches.
740
00:38:06.610 --> 00:38:09.039
She lost her belt. Even if this was a little
741
00:38:09.079 --> 00:38:11.239
bit of a small schmoz finish here where she got
742
00:38:11.659 --> 00:38:15.320
her face, you know, uh, right
into the, uh, exposed turnbuckle,
743
00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:18.360
which by the way, why isn't that a DQ? That's,
744
00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:20.800
I feel like that should be a DQ, but it,
745
00:38:21.510 --> 00:38:23.469
it is what it is. And, uh, well, I'll get
746
00:38:23.510 --> 00:38:28.309
into that when we get into Austin theory versus Ray. Um, but, uh, um,
747
00:38:29.280 --> 00:38:32.219
But yeah, you know, so where she did lose in
748
00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:33.920
a bit of a schmoz, like she can still kind
749
00:38:33.940 --> 00:38:34.820
of hold her head up high.
750
00:38:34.909 --> 00:38:35.070
No.
751
00:38:35.110 --> 00:38:40.369
And hey, you know, I didn't lose clean. But but yeah,
752
00:38:40.389 --> 00:38:42.210
I'm not 100 percent sure where she's going to go
753
00:38:42.269 --> 00:38:44.500
from here. Just looking up and down the roster as
754
00:38:44.519 --> 00:38:45.880
it is, as it stands right now.
755
00:38:47.300 --> 00:38:49.500
It's next-level coverage that you come to expect from the
756
00:38:49.539 --> 00:38:54.719
PW Torch brand. No AI, no rookie perspectives, no unfounded rumors,
757
00:38:55.110 --> 00:38:59.429
no clickbait, no deceptive headlines, just high-quality writing, breaking news,
758
00:38:59.630 --> 00:39:03.869
and fascinating flashbacks every day at pwtorch.com. Pull yourself away
759
00:39:03.969 --> 00:39:06.190
from the vacuous social media experience that I know many
760
00:39:06.210 --> 00:39:09.110
of you regret once you get lost in it for minutes,
761
00:39:09.179 --> 00:39:11.460
if not hours at a time, and settle in for
762
00:39:11.659 --> 00:39:13.739
high-quality PW Torch-branded wrestling coverage.
763
00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:22.079
Yeah, I think it is tough to see that. I mean,
764
00:39:23.050 --> 00:39:26.329
there's some options out there. I mean, Asuka and Bianca Belair,
765
00:39:27.170 --> 00:39:31.039
that would certainly be interesting as a holdover future. I think, obviously,
766
00:39:31.440 --> 00:39:34.380
Survivor Series, you know, you kind of have a one-month buffer, right?
767
00:39:34.400 --> 00:39:36.559
Because if you're going to do some kind of elimination match,
768
00:39:36.659 --> 00:39:39.059
you know, you can keep her in that. And I
769
00:39:39.099 --> 00:39:42.730
think that works, like I mentioned. Alexa Bliss is an
770
00:39:42.789 --> 00:39:46.489
interesting choice, regardless of how she comes back, whether it's
771
00:39:46.530 --> 00:39:49.489
with this, you know, kind of fiend-esque gimmick or not.
772
00:39:49.909 --> 00:39:53.150
I think that she's got... Equity as a as a
773
00:39:53.219 --> 00:39:56.000
star and it could be a good kind of second
774
00:39:56.500 --> 00:39:59.219
top program with the women's division on Raw. But ultimately,
775
00:39:59.239 --> 00:40:03.480
I think you want to build to Becky versus Bianca
776
00:40:03.559 --> 00:40:06.090
again down the road. I mean, I think that's that's
777
00:40:06.150 --> 00:40:08.210
the
match. I think when you look at the roster
778
00:40:08.250 --> 00:40:11.969
and go, OK, like that's. Who's on the journey towards
779
00:40:11.989 --> 00:40:17.199
the championship? Well, that's Bianca Belair. I think you can
780
00:40:17.739 --> 00:40:21.039
ride that all the way until WrestleMania next year and
781
00:40:21.079 --> 00:40:25.710
do Bianca versus Becky on a really big stage and
782
00:40:25.750 --> 00:40:29.190
get Bianca that signature win over Becky, the one that
783
00:40:29.210 --> 00:40:32.150
she's been... been, been looking for, for, for a handful
784
00:40:32.170 --> 00:40:34.340
of months. And that's a, that's a decent long-term story
785
00:40:34.389 --> 00:40:36.539
if they, if they, if they tell it the right way.
786
00:40:36.679 --> 00:40:39.019
So I think that's on the, on the horizon is
787
00:40:39.079 --> 00:40:41.460
that's my guess along the way who she wrestles. Like
788
00:40:41.480 --> 00:40:43.500
you said, it's nobody's guess, but I think you threw
789
00:40:43.539 --> 00:40:47.059
out some, some good names. Nate, let's get to our,
790
00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:49.860
what I think is who I think, not what, who
791
00:40:49.909 --> 00:40:55.480
I think is our, our onsite correspondent. Paul, let's go
792
00:40:55.519 --> 00:40:57.480
to Paul right now and check in with him on
793
00:40:57.539 --> 00:41:00.679
how things were in the building tonight. Paul, is this you, 860?
794
00:41:00.659 --> 00:41:04.260
That's correct. Yeah.
795
00:41:04.280 --> 00:41:05.659
How are you doing, Zach?
796
00:41:06.179 --> 00:41:09.809
Doing good, Paul. Thanks so much for joining us tonight
797
00:41:09.889 --> 00:41:14.099
and giving us the in-perspective. or your perspective on what
798
00:41:14.139 --> 00:41:17.239
happened in the building. We all thought we already kind
799
00:41:17.300 --> 00:41:22.269
of tackled our thoughts holistically and overall and said, you know,
800
00:41:22.329 --> 00:41:25.389
thumbs up on the show tonight. Was that, what was
801
00:41:25.409 --> 00:41:28.550
the vibe in the building in regards to everybody walking out?
802
00:41:28.570 --> 00:41:30.230
Did it seem like everybody had a good time and
803
00:41:30.750 --> 00:41:31.570
got their money's worth?
804
00:41:34.769 --> 00:41:36.739
Yeah, I think so. You know, people were excited to
805
00:41:36.760 --> 00:41:38.639
have been there. It's been a long time since people
806
00:41:38.659 --> 00:41:43.590
have seen wrestling. The place was packed. And people were enthusiastic.
807
00:41:43.690 --> 00:41:46.829
So a long show, you know, but I think everyone
808
00:41:46.849 --> 00:41:47.429
had a good time.
809
00:41:47.449 --> 00:41:49.949
Yeah, yeah. So was it sold out?
810
00:41:53.989 --> 00:41:56.110
It was as close to sold out as a building
811
00:41:56.139 --> 00:41:59.480
I've ever been in. Even the hard cam side, there
812
00:41:59.500 --> 00:42:03.900
was very, very few open seats. So, yeah, the place
813
00:42:03.960 --> 00:42:07.239
holds 12,000, so not a huge arena, but it was
814
00:42:07.320 --> 00:42:08.079
close to jammed.
815
00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:15.239
Wow, that's great. What was the audience like? Was it family-oriented?
816
00:42:15.300 --> 00:42:18.760
Were there strong male-female one way or the other? Just
817
00:42:18.780 --> 00:42:22.889
give a sense of who was in the crowd watching
818
00:42:22.909 --> 00:42:23.239
this one.
819
00:42:25.590 --> 00:42:27.409
Yeah, I guess it was a mix. There was a
820
00:42:27.449 --> 00:42:30.909
lot of families and a lot of men in their
821
00:42:30.929 --> 00:42:35.730
20s to 40s, some with wives and girlfriends, I think.
822
00:42:36.130 --> 00:42:38.730
But yeah, a lot of families.
823
00:42:39.519 --> 00:42:42.460
Okay, and did you get the sense that the audience
824
00:42:42.539 --> 00:42:46.380
was kind of up on the product and kind of
825
00:42:46.440 --> 00:42:50.059
going with the flow of who WWE wanted them to
826
00:42:50.099 --> 00:42:53.050
be cheering? We'll get into specific reactions and stuff to
827
00:42:53.070 --> 00:42:55.070
the stars and angles here in a minute, but were
828
00:42:55.090 --> 00:42:58.150
they a WWE-friendly crowd in terms of going with the
829
00:42:58.230 --> 00:43:03.070
flow or pushing back on what WWE was trying to do?
830
00:43:05.570 --> 00:43:07.250
No, I think for the most part they were lapping
831
00:43:07.329 --> 00:43:11.230
it up. They were a very appreciative group. And the
832
00:43:11.269 --> 00:43:13.650
only thing was I felt like that they refused to
833
00:43:13.690 --> 00:43:16.849
boo Becky, where I feel like some other crowd has
834
00:43:16.869 --> 00:43:20.449
done that unless WWE has been piping in noise. They
835
00:43:20.489 --> 00:43:26.280
certainly didn't boo Bianca, but they did boo Becky. And
836
00:43:26.320 --> 00:43:31.400
they also booed Jackson Ryker. They were not having him.
837
00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:36.000
They cheered for the Hurt Business over him in one
838
00:43:36.019 --> 00:43:37.699
of the opening bouts. I suppose that was a main
839
00:43:37.739 --> 00:43:38.219
event match.
840
00:43:39.260 --> 00:43:42.829
I'll tell you, Paul, I'm truly shocked to my core
841
00:43:42.869 --> 00:43:47.010
that a baby-faced Jackson Ryker is not over with the audience.
842
00:43:47.119 --> 00:43:47.260
Exactly.
843
00:43:48.909 --> 00:43:49.789
Shocked. Shocked.
844
00:43:49.829 --> 00:43:50.469
Go figure.
845
00:43:50.650 --> 00:43:56.809
You're right. Go figure. Interesting. Very interesting. So let's start there.
846
00:43:56.909 --> 00:43:59.250
You talked about Becky Lynch a little bit. I mean,
847
00:43:59.349 --> 00:44:02.650
I think on the show, you know, from an interview
848
00:44:02.710 --> 00:44:06.139
perspective and how she won the match against Bianca Belair,
849
00:44:06.179 --> 00:44:09.780
I mean, WWE is clearly going for her as a heel.
850
00:44:10.760 --> 00:44:12.639
You said that they didn't want to boo her. Was
851
00:44:12.920 --> 00:44:14.940
there any portion of the audience that was giving her
852
00:44:14.960 --> 00:44:19.059
a negative reaction? Or was it, you know, split babyface
853
00:44:19.099 --> 00:44:20.559
pops for her and Bianca?
854
00:44:23.000 --> 00:44:25.679
Yeah, it was split babyface pops. I really tried to
855
00:44:25.719 --> 00:44:27.780
get a boo going, but there was, you know, out
856
00:44:27.820 --> 00:44:28.360
of respect.
857
00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:29.949
But there was nothing.
858
00:44:30.050 --> 00:44:32.809
There was nothing there. I think if the match went on,
859
00:44:32.829 --> 00:44:36.710
she got a much bigger, I think, star reaction than Bianca.
860
00:44:36.730 --> 00:44:38.489
But if the match went on, I think as many
861
00:44:38.530 --> 00:44:40.429
people were cheering for Bianca. I don't know if that
862
00:44:40.469 --> 00:44:41.409
came off on TV.
863
00:44:42.389 --> 00:44:45.960
So Bianca still got a strong reaction opposite her?
864
00:44:48.940 --> 00:44:52.199
Yeah, I thought so, especially as the match wore on.
865
00:44:52.880 --> 00:44:56.900
I think people were more vocal and cheering for Bianca.
866
00:44:57.420 --> 00:45:00.019
It is hard to hate Becky. Even as a heel,
867
00:45:00.059 --> 00:45:06.750
she's such a giving heel. I think about Charlotte in
868
00:45:06.809 --> 00:45:11.429
contrast to when she was feuding with Alexa, really kind
869
00:45:11.469 --> 00:45:15.260
of ripped her gimmick to shreds. as opposed to Becky
870
00:45:15.280 --> 00:45:19.360
who seems to sell so well for her face.
871
00:45:20.039 --> 00:45:22.889
Yeah, she really did help. I mean, obviously Bianca does
872
00:45:22.929 --> 00:45:26.130
her part with the athleticism, and it seemed like the
873
00:45:26.190 --> 00:45:28.909
audience really reacted to some of those power moves that
874
00:45:29.190 --> 00:45:32.610
Belair did, but Becky just bumps so well for her
875
00:45:32.710 --> 00:45:35.909
and sells so well for her, really emphasizes those moves.
876
00:45:35.949 --> 00:45:38.650
Was that the most over part of Bianca's act tonight,
877
00:45:38.690 --> 00:45:40.610
those big power moves in the ring during the matchup?
878
00:45:43.030 --> 00:45:48.480
Yeah, yeah. I mean, she really is so impressive. And
879
00:45:48.539 --> 00:45:51.239
clearly some of the audience that was not really prepared
880
00:45:51.320 --> 00:45:53.099
wasn't that up on the product. They had seen all
881
00:45:53.139 --> 00:45:57.190
her moves. So there was definitely a few gasps with
882
00:45:57.210 --> 00:45:59.010
some of her feats.
883
00:45:59.409 --> 00:46:03.889
Yeah, great. Interesting. Nate, over to you for some questions
884
00:46:03.969 --> 00:46:05.670
for Paul here. Sure, sure.
885
00:46:05.710 --> 00:46:10.170
So let's actually pivot over to Big E versus Seth Rollins,
886
00:46:10.210 --> 00:46:12.760
or the Big E and Seth Rollins in-ring interaction there.
887
00:46:13.260 --> 00:46:16.820
What was the crowd interaction like in person? It seemed like,
888
00:46:17.159 --> 00:46:18.889
at least on TV, it seemed like the crowd was
889
00:46:19.010 --> 00:46:21.829
into it, but there were few times where I think
890
00:46:21.849 --> 00:46:24.269
like Big E was, uh, he mentioned something like, uh,
891
00:46:24.309 --> 00:46:26.309
you know, for example, when he said, he said, don't
892
00:46:26.369 --> 00:46:30.159
disrespect Kofi mania, don't disrespect, uh, woods, uh, you know,
893
00:46:30.199 --> 00:46:32.900
King woods. I think he was expecting a bit more
894
00:46:32.920 --> 00:46:34.460
of a pop than what came through on TV. So
895
00:46:34.579 --> 00:46:36.760
I'm just kind of curious how that, how that segment
896
00:46:36.780 --> 00:46:39.639
came across on TV. And if, if everybody seems to
897
00:46:39.679 --> 00:46:43.190
be behind Big E as a WWE champion, um, as,
898
00:46:43.409 --> 00:46:44.869
as it stood in Providence tonight.
899
00:46:46.989 --> 00:46:49.070
Yeah, so, I mean, I have to say, I was
900
00:46:49.190 --> 00:46:51.449
a little disappointed. Everyone likes Big E. I don't think
901
00:46:51.510 --> 00:46:53.449
anyone was unhappy to see him or unhappy to see
902
00:46:53.469 --> 00:46:56.260
him as champ. But there wasn't, he didn't quite get
903
00:46:56.300 --> 00:46:59.559
that star pop. And to be honest, I think that
904
00:46:59.800 --> 00:47:02.679
Seth got a bigger sort of star pop than Big
905
00:47:02.800 --> 00:47:06.420
E did, which surprised me. You know, I think kind
906
00:47:06.460 --> 00:47:10.159
of like Becky, that people, even though, you know, he
907
00:47:10.199 --> 00:47:13.440
was certainly doing his best, Um, you know, people really
908
00:47:13.460 --> 00:47:15.800
want to like Seth. The only time that he really,
909
00:47:16.159 --> 00:47:18.780
he really got a negative reaction, uh, in the building
910
00:47:18.820 --> 00:47:21.510
that I recall is when he, uh, he pooh-poohed the
911
00:47:21.570 --> 00:47:25.130
idea of having, uh, having a biggie Seth match, uh,
912
00:47:25.170 --> 00:47:26.989
you know, in the building. That, that certainly worked.
913
00:47:29.269 --> 00:47:32.590
Yeah, for sure. For sure. Um, and then what about, um, uh,
914
00:47:33.409 --> 00:47:37.389
what was I going to say? The, um, Oh, there
915
00:47:37.429 --> 00:47:39.300
was one other match I wanted to talk about, and
916
00:47:39.760 --> 00:47:42.500
it escaped me as we were... Zach, I'll throw it
917
00:47:42.519 --> 00:47:44.099
back to you for a minute, and I'll think about that.
918
00:47:44.119 --> 00:47:47.739
I have a couple more in regards to the Big E, Seth,
919
00:47:47.840 --> 00:47:50.579
Kevin Owens stuff. So at the end of the show.
920
00:47:51.760 --> 00:47:52.480
Mike, if you don't.
921
00:47:52.389 --> 00:47:54.610
Mind, I just wanted to interject. I wonder if you're
922
00:47:54.650 --> 00:47:57.909
wondering about what I'm wondering about is the match with
923
00:47:57.929 --> 00:48:00.670
the
Street Profits and the Dirty Dogs, where the crowd
924
00:48:00.690 --> 00:48:03.730
kind of rebelled on that one. Okay. And they chanted
925
00:48:03.789 --> 00:48:08.260
for Randy and for... I don't know if that came
926
00:48:08.340 --> 00:48:11.389
off on TV, but it seemed in the building the
927
00:48:11.409 --> 00:48:13.789
crowd was being a little bit disrespectful.
928
00:48:13.309 --> 00:48:16.389
To the match. So that's interesting. Yeah, talk a little
929
00:48:16.409 --> 00:48:18.389
bit more about that, because I did have this in
930
00:48:18.429 --> 00:48:20.989
my notes, but it's not the exact topic that you're
931
00:48:21.030 --> 00:48:25.429
talking about. So did the crowd openly rebel loudly? I
932
00:48:25.690 --> 00:48:27.150
didn't catch that, Nate.
933
00:48:27.170 --> 00:48:27.469
Did you?
934
00:48:28.329 --> 00:48:29.570
No, I didn't necessarily either.
935
00:48:29.590 --> 00:48:31.530
Yeah, so tell us more about that, Paul.
936
00:48:31.590 --> 00:48:32.699
Huh, that's interesting.
937
00:48:32.880 --> 00:48:33.170
Yeah, so.
938
00:48:33.769 --> 00:48:37.150
It was kind of deafening. I'm really surprised. So, you know,
939
00:48:37.170 --> 00:48:39.329
the match starts, and just as the match starts, the
940
00:48:39.369 --> 00:48:42.250
crowd is chanting for Randy Orton. You know, he's a
941
00:48:42.250 --> 00:48:46.630
big star or whatever. And Riddle kind of, like, reacted.
942
00:48:46.670 --> 00:48:48.730
I guess he was in character or whatever, but he
943
00:48:48.769 --> 00:48:53.070
was kind of, like, stoking the crowd on. And it
944
00:48:53.199 --> 00:48:54.940
really kind of drowned out everything that was going on
945
00:48:54.960 --> 00:48:57.500
in the ring. So that dies out. Then the crowd
946
00:48:57.579 --> 00:49:03.170
starts chanting. There was actually, we want Randy. And then
947
00:49:03.210 --> 00:49:06.199
later on, it was RKO, and later on, it was
948
00:49:06.219 --> 00:49:11.199
We Want Riddle, and really, it seemed like, I think
949
00:49:11.219 --> 00:49:12.360
it was a little late in the show, and the
950
00:49:12.400 --> 00:49:15.050
crowd was fatigued, but there was a great match going on,
951
00:49:15.090 --> 00:49:17.750
I thought. I thought Montez Ford was on fire, and
952
00:49:17.809 --> 00:49:21.489
Dolph looked great, and the the crowd was not paying
953
00:49:21.570 --> 00:49:22.960
any mind Yeah.
954
00:49:23.099 --> 00:49:25.489
So, okay, so we did get, so they did react
955
00:49:25.530 --> 00:49:29.650
to the Randy chants a little bit. I think on commentary,
956
00:49:29.710 --> 00:49:31.369
Riddle kind of addressed it and said something to the
957
00:49:31.389 --> 00:49:35.130
effect of like, man, Randy, these fans really, really love you,
958
00:49:35.190 --> 00:49:40.150
or bro, or something in a classic Riddle tone. But
959
00:49:40.210 --> 00:49:42.440
so they did address it a little bit, but like
960
00:49:42.460 --> 00:49:43.840
you said, it would have been hard not to if
961
00:49:43.900 --> 00:49:47.320
the audience was that, was kind of taking over that much.
962
00:49:50.360 --> 00:49:53.360
Searching for more great pro wrestling talk? Then join me,
963
00:49:53.420 --> 00:49:56.980
Jason Powell, host of the free weekly Pro Wrestling Boom podcast.
964
00:49:57.460 --> 00:49:59.670
Each week, you'll hear the latest news and analysis from
965
00:49:59.710 --> 00:50:02.389
me and my team at ProWrestling.net, along with other Pro
966
00:50:02.409 --> 00:50:05.849
Wrestling Media members. Plus, the Pro Wrestling Boom podcast features
967
00:50:05.909 --> 00:50:09.269
long-form interviews with notable names in the pro wrestling industry.
968
00:50:09.550 --> 00:50:13.369
Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Downcast, and all your favorite secondary apps,
969
00:50:13.869 --> 00:50:19.400
or visit us directly at PWBoom.com. Once again, that's PWBoom.com.
970
00:50:24.260 --> 00:50:26.869
The question I had about that segment, though, Paul, was so.
971
00:50:28.219 --> 00:50:31.559
When Omos comes out and they do the little angle,
972
00:50:31.820 --> 00:50:35.000
Riddle runs over and he kind of attacks Omos. And
973
00:50:35.019 --> 00:50:39.460
then the audience really wants Randy Orton to go after Omos.
974
00:50:39.500 --> 00:50:42.050
They're chanting for him. He like rips off his shirt
975
00:50:42.329 --> 00:50:47.030
and they show him like start moving towards Omos if
976
00:50:47.070 --> 00:50:49.289
he's going to fight with him. And then they cut
977
00:50:49.349 --> 00:50:52.099
to a video package right in the middle of it.
978
00:50:52.130 --> 00:50:54.289
Did anything happen there in front of the live crowd
979
00:50:54.329 --> 00:50:54.610
or no?
980
00:50:54.679 --> 00:50:54.800
No.
981
00:50:56.980 --> 00:50:59.639
Yeah, it was like the air being let out of
982
00:50:59.699 --> 00:51:02.360
a balloon, all the excitement of a crowd draining because
983
00:51:02.420 --> 00:51:07.019
it just goes to black and Randy sort of, you know,
984
00:51:07.599 --> 00:51:11.019
everyone just sort of slinks off. And I think he
985
00:51:11.059 --> 00:51:14.510
was responding, you know, somewhat to the energy in the room.
986
00:51:14.750 --> 00:51:16.170
I think the crowd was just, they were trying to
987
00:51:16.230 --> 00:51:20.989
entertain themselves a little bit, you know, with the Randy stuff.
988
00:51:21.570 --> 00:51:23.929
But I do want to say that Riddle does take
989
00:51:23.969 --> 00:51:26.869
some responsibility. Maybe it didn't come off on TV. But
990
00:51:26.909 --> 00:51:29.309
he several times got up out of his seat and
991
00:51:29.329 --> 00:51:32.139
stoked the flames for people to chant for Randy, which
992
00:51:32.360 --> 00:51:35.360
certainly was in character, but didn't do the Street Profits
993
00:51:35.420 --> 00:51:35.760
any favors.
994
00:51:36.460 --> 00:51:37.460
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
995
00:51:37.539 --> 00:51:39.860
So I just want to confirm, though. So there was
996
00:51:39.920
--> 00:51:44.269
no kind of showdown between Omos and Orton off TV.
997
00:51:45.590 --> 00:51:47.369
nope okay okay now.
998
00:51:47.360 --> 00:51:50.699
Um fade to black and everybody uh everybody in the shower.
999
00:51:50.699 --> 00:51:53.679
That's so bizarre that was such a weird transition it
1000
00:51:53.719 --> 00:51:54.579
really was it.
1001
00:51:54.559 --> 00:51:57.059
Was yeah it was super i thought like at first
1002
00:51:57.079 --> 00:51:59.550
like it was something wrong with like my feed or
1003
00:51:59.619 --> 00:52:01.809
like my uh you know youtube tv or something like
1004
00:52:01.849 --> 00:52:03.789
that because it just kind of cut and i was
1005
00:52:03.809 --> 00:52:05.789
like that's weird why would they build that up and
1006
00:52:05.829 --> 00:52:09.329
then not not go with it but that's uh that's
1007
00:52:09.349 --> 00:52:13.059
bizarre um another question for you here pivoting back to.
1008
00:52:13.000 --> 00:52:15.219
I really think that randy was reacting to the the
1009
00:52:15.239 --> 00:52:17.760
feeling in the room you know the the crowd was
1010
00:52:17.820 --> 00:52:20.789
just just egging him on and he felt like he
1011
00:52:20.829 --> 00:52:22.969
had something uh that maybe wasn't in.
1012
00:52:22.929 --> 00:52:28.070
The script yeah it makes sense yeah Interesting. What did
1013
00:52:28.090 --> 00:52:31.380
the audience make of the angle at the end with
1014
00:52:31.420 --> 00:52:35.039
Kevin Owens kind of apologizing to Big E and then
1015
00:52:35.079 --> 00:52:38.920
Big E just dropping him with the big ending instead
1016
00:52:38.960 --> 00:52:41.260
of kind of accepting his apology? Nate and I were
1017
00:52:41.300 --> 00:52:43.519
talking at the beginning of the show that you could
1018
00:52:43.539 --> 00:52:45.099
take that one of two ways. You could take that
1019
00:52:45.159 --> 00:52:48.690
as Big E being a smart baby face and not
1020
00:52:48.730 --> 00:52:51.650
buying Kevin Owens because of his history. Or you could
1021
00:52:51.670 --> 00:52:53.469
look at that and go, man, Big E's being kind
1022
00:52:53.489 --> 00:52:56.360
of mean. Kevin Owens, I think he meant that apology,
1023
00:52:56.389 --> 00:52:58.900
and that was mean to treat him that way. What
1024
00:52:58.940 --> 00:53:02.260
was the sense in the building? Is it pro-Big E
1025
00:53:02.360 --> 00:53:04.340
or Big E? Wow, come on, man. He was trying
1026
00:53:04.360 --> 00:53:05.710
to apologize to you there.
1027
00:53:05.869 --> 00:53:06.090
Yeah.
1028
00:53:08.570 --> 00:53:12.079
Yeah, it was kind of split. You know, I feel
1029
00:53:12.119 --> 00:53:15.239
like if you've watched wrestling enough, you know that no
1030
00:53:15.280 --> 00:53:20.139
wrestler ever accepts an apology from another wrestler without hitting
1031
00:53:20.219 --> 00:53:23.739
a finisher. But there was a lot of people that
1032
00:53:23.780 --> 00:53:26.599
kind of reacted negatively, but I think most people just
1033
00:53:26.679 --> 00:53:30.000
went with it. I really, I do have to say
1034
00:53:30.059 --> 00:53:33.639
that I think Kevin Owens is just so pitch perfect
1035
00:53:34.179 --> 00:53:38.019
on the mic. I mean, he He just– he really–
1036
00:53:38.170 --> 00:53:41.929
for a guy with no momentum, he really got the
1037
00:53:41.949 --> 00:53:42.780
crowd invested.
1038
00:53:44.019 --> 00:53:44.400
Interesting.
1039
00:53:45.519 --> 00:53:47.420
The last thing, and Nate, maybe you're– or not the
1040
00:53:47.440 --> 00:53:49.039
last thing. I have a couple more questions. But the
1041
00:53:49.079 --> 00:53:51.840
match you're thinking of maybe, Nate, is the T-Bar versus
1042
00:53:51.880 --> 00:53:57.110
Damian Priest match. That was a– really strong match on TV.
1043
00:53:57.239 --> 00:54:02.230
What was the in-person experience like watching Priest and T-Bar
1044
00:54:02.250 --> 00:54:04.130
go at it? I mean, it was pretty hard hitting.
1045
00:54:04.429 --> 00:54:06.230
It seemed like you guys were into it and loud,
1046
00:54:06.809 --> 00:54:08.239
but talk to us a little bit about that match.
1047
00:54:10.619 --> 00:54:13.659
Yeah, so I think it's great that it came off
1048
00:54:14.019 --> 00:54:16.659
as well as it did on TV. To be honest,
1049
00:54:16.820 --> 00:54:19.610
in the building, it felt like the crowd was a
1050
00:54:19.639 --> 00:54:22.869
little bit, they were a little bit a little bit bored.
1051
00:54:22.889 --> 00:54:26.110
It was late in the show, and I didn't get
1052
00:54:26.150 --> 00:54:28.210
the sense of that much excitement. However, I got to
1053
00:54:28.250 --> 00:54:33.219
say that when the crowd predictably started chanting for tables,
1054
00:54:33.300 --> 00:54:37.019
Damian Priest was ready. He went right for that table,
1055
00:54:37.559 --> 00:54:42.219
and that really did prop up interest in the match.
1056
00:54:42.300 --> 00:54:45.059
I think people were almost more interested in the table
1057
00:54:45.099 --> 00:54:45.900
than they were the match.
1058
00:54:46.949 --> 00:54:50.389
Interesting. And so did Damien Priest get a kind of
1059
00:54:50.429 --> 00:54:53.909
a big star pop? Or how did he compare to
1060
00:54:53.949 --> 00:54:55.929
like the other top babyfaces on the show?
1061
00:54:58.010 --> 00:55:03.630
Yeah, not so much. Not so much. I would say
1062
00:55:03.710 --> 00:55:07.210
one of the least, and people like him, nobody booed him.
1063
00:55:07.809 --> 00:55:10.650
But yeah, not as much as excitement. Like compared to
1064
00:55:10.670 --> 00:55:13.750
Finn Balor, like a fraction.
1065
00:55:14.929 --> 00:55:16.820
That was actually the match I was going to ask about.
1066
00:55:16.840 --> 00:55:17.860
There you go.
1067
00:55:17.880 --> 00:55:23.449
Go ahead. Was Finn Balor versus Chad Gable. Now, on paper,
1068
00:55:23.690 --> 00:55:27.780
it doesn't necessarily scream like this. I know on paper
1069
00:55:27.800 --> 00:55:28.739
you're thinking, okay, this is going to
be.
1070
00:55:33.750 --> 00:55:35.610
Here, you know, Finn Balor just a couple of weeks
1071
00:55:35.650 --> 00:55:38.469
ago was challenging for the universal title. And Chad Gable,
1072
00:55:38.550 --> 00:55:41.090
as much I love him as Chad Gable. How did
1073
00:55:41.610 --> 00:55:44.210
how did the crowd come across with this match? And
1074
00:55:44.269 --> 00:55:46.550
did they get into it? Personally, I loved it. I
1075
00:55:46.570 --> 00:55:47.570
thought this was a great match.
1076
00:55:49.849 --> 00:55:53.969
Yeah, I agree with you. I really loved it. I
1077
00:55:54.030 --> 00:55:57.590
think the crowd was confused as to why Finn Balor
1078
00:55:57.630 --> 00:56:02.230
wasn't squatting this annoying bug in the ring with him. Yeah.
1079
00:56:02.369 --> 00:56:06.389
And we're sort of going toe for toe with a
1080
00:56:06.409 --> 00:56:12.070
guy who has not won a singles match in years. So, yeah,
1081
00:56:12.230 --> 00:56:14.130
I didn't get the sense they were that into it.
1082
00:56:14.309 --> 00:56:16.889
They really did get a– they enjoyed kind of cheering
1083
00:56:16.929 --> 00:56:22.619
for Finn and booing– Gable and his sidekick, but they
1084
00:56:22.659 --> 00:56:27.050
didn't seem to appreciate what we were seeing in the ring,
1085
00:56:27.070 --> 00:56:28.550
which I agree with you. I thought it was excellent.
1086
00:56:29.130 --> 00:56:31.590
Sure. And that's kind of what I was wondering, because
1087
00:56:33.269 --> 00:56:36.030
I wrote this down in my notes, not anything up
1088
00:56:36.090 --> 00:56:37.929
on the torch, just my notes for the show here tonight.
1089
00:56:38.670 --> 00:56:40.429
But I wrote down in the notes that it just
1090
00:56:40.489 --> 00:56:46.380
seemed like If you think about it in terms of kayfabe, because, again,
1091
00:56:46.400 --> 00:56:48.260
like I said, he was just up against Roman Reigns
1092
00:56:48.320 --> 00:56:50.820
fighting for the universal title. And like and then like
1093
00:56:50.840 --> 00:56:52.679
you said, here he is up against Chad Gable, who
1094
00:56:52.760 --> 00:56:55.199
hasn't had a singles win in God knows how long.
1095
00:56:56.340 --> 00:56:58.489
So I was wondering if it kind of came across
1096
00:56:58.510 --> 00:57:05.070
that way, especially where it it. Um, Finn, Finn lost with, um, uh,
1097
00:57:05.130 --> 00:57:08.219
you know, just kind of coming across sympathetic with the
1098
00:57:08.360 --> 00:57:11.000
one leg injury, um, and having to finish the match
1099
00:57:11.039 --> 00:57:12.860
on one leg, there was something in the commentary really
1100
00:57:12.920 --> 00:57:15.300
put over. That was what I was kind of thinking
1101
00:57:15.360 --> 00:57:17.699
as well as like, why is he having so much
1102
00:57:17.739 --> 00:57:21.829
trouble putting away Chad Gable? Even though I'm in a bubble,
1103
00:57:21.869 --> 00:57:25.630
I'm watching this match going, Oh God, The technical wrestling
1104
00:57:25.789 --> 00:57:28.420
lover in me is eating this up. But in terms
1105
00:57:28.440 --> 00:57:30.320
of the story, yeah, I was kind of right there
1106
00:57:30.360 --> 00:57:31.659
with the rest of the audience.
1107
00:57:32.380 --> 00:57:34.090
Yeah, I thought the same thing too. I was like,
1108
00:57:34.110 --> 00:57:36.289
this is a good match, but I don't know whether
1109
00:57:36.309 --> 00:57:38.849
it's– that's a good thing. You know what I mean?
1110
00:57:38.869 --> 00:57:41.679
Like it's entertaining to watch, but it's like what does–
1111
00:57:42.090 --> 00:57:45.969
What does this mean for Finn Balor? Is that how
1112
00:57:46.010 --> 00:57:49.670
they see him on Gable's level? Nothing against Gable, but
1113
00:57:50.030 --> 00:57:53.119
he's at a certain level. And I think Balor is
1114
00:57:53.179 --> 00:57:57.019
certainly not there. So good match, no doubt. But it's like...
1115
00:57:57.480 --> 00:58:00.519
is that telling of a, of a bigger story for him?
1116
00:58:00.739 --> 00:58:02.320
I don't think it is. I think it's one of
1117
00:58:02.360 --> 00:58:03.940
those things where it's like, Hey, we got to fill
1118
00:58:03.960 --> 00:58:06.260
three hours of TV time. These guys can have a
1119
00:58:06.280 --> 00:58:08.320
heck of a match, go out there and do it.
1120
00:58:08.679 --> 00:58:11.969
But there is the residual effect of that, of, you know,
1121
00:58:11.989 --> 00:58:14.670
the perception that, wow, Finn Balor just, he can't handle
1122
00:58:14.710 --> 00:58:17.329
business against Chad Gable. You know, this is a, this
1123
00:58:17.349 --> 00:58:21.369
is a problem. Um, uh, Paul, so who, who had
1124
00:58:21.409 --> 00:58:24.070
the biggest baby face reaction of the night? Was it
1125
00:58:24.110 --> 00:58:24.909
Becky or somebody else?
1126
00:58:28.440 --> 00:58:31.389
Oh, yeah, I guess it just had to be Becky,
1127
00:58:31.409 --> 00:58:34.630
didn't it? Yeah, I mean, I guess I would call
1128
00:58:34.650 --> 00:58:38.530
it a star reaction, but yeah, she was head and shoulders.
1129
00:58:39.550 --> 00:58:40.389
And what about.
1130
00:58:40.409 --> 00:58:42.750
Oh, I gotta say, Ray got an amazing pop.
1131
00:58:43.090 --> 00:58:45.989
Yeah, sorry. No, no, no, go ahead. Go talk about Ray.
1132
00:58:46.039 --> 00:58:46.820
That's interesting.
1133
00:58:48.000 --> 00:58:48.159
Yeah.
1134
00:58:49.500 --> 00:58:51.170
And I just got to say while we're on it,
1135
00:58:51.440 --> 00:58:57.610
biggest heel heat was definitely Austin Perry, which was amazing
1136
00:58:57.670 --> 00:58:59.670
to me. But I don't know if it's just the
1137
00:58:59.750 --> 00:59:04.590
crowd loves Ray so much and didn't, you know. But, yeah,
1138
00:59:05.210 --> 00:59:07.630
he was really– he got a ton of heat. I
1139
00:59:07.630 --> 00:59:09.909
don't know if that came off on TV, but it worked.
1140
00:59:09.920 --> 00:59:11.960
It did. It definitely came across.
1141
00:59:12.920 --> 00:59:17.239
Yeah, it definitely did. Interesting.
So I don't know if
1142
00:59:17.260 --> 00:59:19.420
you can dig into that a little bit. I'm just curious. Like,
1143
00:59:20.719 --> 00:59:24.340
Could you sense in there that, hey, it's like anybody
1144
00:59:24.440 --> 00:59:27.050
opposite Ray would have gotten that kind of heat? Or
1145
00:59:27.090 --> 00:59:30.889
was there something about his performance specifically that was able
1146
00:59:30.909 --> 00:59:33.190
to kind of drum up more than usual? Were you
1147
00:59:33.230 --> 00:59:34.530
able to gauge that at all?
1148
00:59:37.159 --> 00:59:39.219
Yeah, I mean, I guess it's kind of a mix.
1149
00:59:39.380 --> 00:59:41.840
I mean, people were super excited to see Ray. He's
1150
00:59:41.860 --> 00:59:45.070
a big star. And a lot of people did not know,
1151
00:59:45.090 --> 00:59:47.510
you know, who Austin was. You know, I, I gotta
1152
00:59:47.550 --> 00:59:50.570
say just real quick, I loved him in the way
1153
00:59:50.670 --> 00:59:53.309
and the whole family dynamic stuff was just, I thought
1154
00:59:53.329 --> 00:59:56.469
was amazing. Um, but it wasn't like he was putting
1155
00:59:56.570 --> 01:00:00.760
on this great, like Sammy Zane type heat generating. It
1156
01:00:00.800 --> 01:00:03.639
was just the fact that he, you know, he, he
1157
01:00:03.699 --> 01:00:05.820
kind of, kind of seemed like he, he thought he
1158
01:00:05.860 --> 01:00:08.599
belonged in the ring with great Mysterio and, and, uh,
1159
01:00:09.829 --> 01:00:13.130
And people were kind of, you know, people were kind
1160
01:00:13.309 --> 01:00:15.690
of reacting to that. Plus the guy looks like some
1161
01:00:15.730 --> 01:00:20.820
like beast up NSYNC member, you know. So he has
1162
01:00:20.880 --> 01:00:23.500
that against him, you know, easy face to hate.
1163
01:00:24.739 --> 01:00:26.900
Wow. I love it. I love it. I'm going to
1164
01:00:26.920 --> 01:00:27.239
use that.
1165
01:00:27.260 --> 01:00:27.719
So do I.
1166
01:00:27.760 --> 01:00:29.280
That's good. That's good.
1167
01:00:30.539 --> 01:00:33.570
Did you know that you can enjoy commercial free versions
1168
01:00:33.769 --> 01:00:36.050
of all of your favorite Wade Keller podcasts and PW
1169
01:00:36.070 --> 01:00:41.440
Torch Daily Casts? Just go to patreon.com, search PWTorch, and
1170
01:00:41.480 --> 01:00:44.530
subscribe to a VIP membership tier. You get a seven-day
1171
01:00:44.570 --> 01:00:46.530
free trial, by the way, to kick the tires a
1172
01:00:46.550 --> 01:00:48.789
bit and see if you like the service. And then
1173
01:00:48.889 --> 01:00:51.130
sync it with Spotify, and you can listen to commercial-free
1174
01:00:51.170 --> 01:00:53.789
versions of our free shows, like the Wade Keller Post Shows,
1175
01:00:53.829 --> 01:00:56.679
the Wade Keller Podcast Flagship, our flashbacks, and also the
1176
01:00:56.699 --> 01:01:00.360
PWTorch DataCast lineup online. Again, all commercial-free, a nice streamlined
1177
01:01:00.380 --> 01:01:03.539
listening experience. But with third-tier membership, you can also unlock
1178
01:01:03.739 --> 01:01:06.599
all the VIP podcasts, including Everything with Rich and Wade,
1179
01:01:06.639 --> 01:01:08.219
The Fix with Todd Martin that I host with Todd
1180
01:01:08.260 --> 01:01:12.650
every week, the Wade Keller News Bulletin's post-pay-per-view roundtables, and
1181
01:01:12.670 --> 01:01:16.230
an array of other VIP-exclusive podcasts with different hosts and
1182
01:01:16.289 --> 01:01:20.230
different themes. Check out the lineup. Go to Patreon and
1183
01:01:20.309 --> 01:01:23.849
search PWTorch and subscribe and sync it up with Spotify
1184
01:01:23.989 --> 01:01:27.269
or stay within the Patreon ecosystem. Either way works, go
1185
01:01:27.309 --> 01:01:30.250
to Patreon and start your seven-day free trial.
1186
01:01:35.860 --> 01:01:40.219
So, and then last thing on my end, what was
1187
01:01:41.119 --> 01:01:46.260
the reaction to the Dominic-Ray Mysterio kind of interaction? I mean, did...
1188
01:01:47.199 --> 01:01:48.860
Was there any kind of reaction to that in the
1189
01:01:48.960 --> 01:01:51.380
audience where you're like, OK, we think we're thinking there's
1190
01:01:51.400 --> 01:01:54.239
something here with Dominic. Maybe he's going to turn. Was
1191
01:01:54.280 --> 01:01:56.260
there any drama there in the audience because of the
1192
01:01:56.300 --> 01:01:58.389
way that finish went down or did it kind of
1193
01:01:58.449 --> 01:02:00.769
fly under the radar? Because they didn't linger too much
1194
01:02:00.849 --> 01:02:01.610
on it on TV.
1195
01:02:04.429 --> 01:02:08.170
No, I think that that kind of subtlety was lost
1196
01:02:08.190 --> 01:02:11.070
in this crowd. We were having a big debate on
1197
01:02:11.099 --> 01:02:14.400
whether Dominic was a punk or not. You know, half
1198
01:02:14.440 --> 01:02:17.500
the crowd was really down on Dominic, and some of
1199
01:02:17.559 --> 01:02:19.340
us were trying to defend him.
1200
01:02:20.800 --> 01:02:21.400
Got it, got it.
1201
01:02:21.420 --> 01:02:23.840
But, yeah, no, that kind of subtlety, like the whole
1202
01:02:23.980 --> 01:02:28.099
Kevin Owens going for the pin, like I thought that
1203
01:02:28.139 --> 01:02:31.090
was a great moment, like, Like, did he see, you know,
1204
01:02:31.130 --> 01:02:33.619
did he, is he taking advantage or did he not notice?
1205
01:02:33.960 --> 01:02:35.679
But I think the crowd is just sort of, I
1206
01:02:35.739 --> 01:02:37.559
didn't get the sense that the crowd had any of
1207
01:02:37.579 --> 01:02:40.820
that mixed feeling. They were just excited, you know, excited
1208
01:02:40.860 --> 01:02:42.780
to see something that looked like a finish.
1209
01:02:43.360 --> 01:02:43.619
Yeah.
1210
01:02:43.739 --> 01:02:49.260
Yeah. Nate, back over to you for any other finishing questions. Sure.
1211
01:02:49.539 --> 01:02:52.900
This is a question that I'm sure probably nobody else
1212
01:02:52.940 --> 01:02:55.710
but me actually even cares about, but I'm actually just
1213
01:02:55.750 --> 01:02:59.829
kind of curious. So I'm not that far from Providence myself, right?
1214
01:02:59.849 --> 01:03:02.090
I've made it down to Providence for a couple shows
1215
01:03:02.730 --> 01:03:05.590
here and there over the years. And every time I
1216
01:03:05.639 --> 01:03:09.559
make it down there, it almost seems like it's half
1217
01:03:09.599 --> 01:03:12.159
of a Boston crowd and half of a family crowd.
1218
01:03:12.739 --> 01:03:14.099
And I know we talked a little bit about the
1219
01:03:14.139 --> 01:03:16.500
crowd earlier tonight, but I'm just kind of curious if
1220
01:03:16.780 --> 01:03:20.420
you've ever made it to Boston for a show and
1221
01:03:21.119 --> 01:03:25.739
what– like your experience between the two, between the two
1222
01:03:25.760 --> 01:03:27.489
different venues and the two different types of crowds. I
1223
01:03:27.510 --> 01:03:31.469
know– Boston is at least every time I've gone has
1224
01:03:31.510 --> 01:03:33.630
been like a little bit more hardcore a little more
1225
01:03:33.690 --> 01:03:36.309
ravenous of a fan base whereas Providence kind of seems
1226
01:03:36.329 --> 01:03:38.170
to be a little bit more family oriented but then
1227
01:03:38.190 --> 01:03:40.070
you still get those people like me that come down
1228
01:03:40.110 --> 01:03:43.260
from mass that kind of infiltrate the show so just
1229
01:03:43.300 --> 01:03:45.420
kind of curious if that was kind of it or
1230
01:03:45.920 --> 01:03:47.599
you know and if you just could speak on that
1231
01:03:47.639 --> 01:03:49.639
for a minute like I said nobody else probably cares
1232
01:03:49.800 --> 01:03:50.880
I'm just curious.
1233
01:03:52.739 --> 01:03:54.539
Yeah Nate you might be onto something because the one
1234
01:03:54.559 --> 01:03:57.409
time I was up in Boston I saw um Money
1235
01:03:57.449 --> 01:03:59.480
in the Bank, the last Money in the Bank they had,
1236
01:03:59.599 --> 01:04:06.260
you know, in front of a crowd. And the people there,
1237
01:04:06.739 --> 01:04:10.289
by hardcore, what struck me is the fact that they
1238
01:04:10.329 --> 01:04:14.750
were wearing, like, stuff. Like, the way they were dressed
1239
01:04:14.869 --> 01:04:20.000
was like some, like, vintage NWO Macho Man leather jacket and, like,
1240
01:04:20.360 --> 01:04:23.739
you know, just, like, not just your regular T-shirt-wearing crowd.
1241
01:04:24.280 --> 01:04:27.920
And I do think tonight did seem like a mix.
1242
01:04:27.940 --> 01:04:30.940
The guy in front of me had the vintage Bret
1243
01:04:30.980 --> 01:04:35.139
Hart sunglasses, a Bret Hart leather jacket, and somehow he
1244
01:04:35.179 --> 01:04:40.130
had what looked like Bret Hart's tights on. So there
1245
01:04:40.170 --> 01:04:44.349
was some people who did seem really hardcore like the
1246
01:04:44.389 --> 01:04:46.690
Boston crowd, but a lot of families as well. So
1247
01:04:46.710 --> 01:04:47.670
you may be on to something.
1248
01:04:48.349 --> 01:04:49.159
Cool. Cool.
1249
01:04:49.179 --> 01:04:51.920
Yeah. Thank you for that. Like I said, just completely curious.
1250
01:04:52.019 --> 01:04:55.159
But it came to my mind a little bit halfway
1251
01:04:55.199 --> 01:04:57.070
through the shows. I figured I figured I'd ask if
1252
01:04:57.090 --> 01:04:57.670
I got the chance.
1253
01:04:59.590 --> 01:05:02.780
Good stuff. Good stuff. Paul, where did you where were
1254
01:05:02.820 --> 01:05:03.559
your seats at tonight?
1255
01:05:06.510 --> 01:05:10.670
Um, so I was, um, uh, really nice, you know,
1256
01:05:10.710 --> 01:05:13.190
nice seats, nowhere, nowhere near the, uh, the ring, but
1257
01:05:13.250 --> 01:05:15.429
kind of like, I guess, halfway up on the, uh,
1258
01:05:15.809 --> 01:05:18.289
the hard, the hard, not the hard camera side, but
1259
01:05:18.739 --> 01:05:21.860
the side you're looking at there. Um, so nice seats.
1260
01:05:22.989 --> 01:05:23.849
Okay, interesting.
1261
01:05:25.070 --> 01:05:27.769
I've learned that I really want to avoid being on
1262
01:05:27.789 --> 01:05:30.690
the floor. You know, I might get behind somebody tall,
1263
01:05:30.710 --> 01:05:32.889
but when you're on that nice rise, you know, and
1264
01:05:32.909 --> 01:05:35.460
you're not too far from the ring, it's great, and
1265
01:05:35.500 --> 01:05:36.679
the seats aren't too expensive.
1266
01:05:37.539 --> 01:05:42.179
No, absolutely. Good strategy. Good strategy, man. Well, glad you
1267
01:05:42.199 --> 01:05:45.260
had a good time. Anything else in your notes or
1268
01:05:45.599 --> 01:05:47.980
in your memory that we should know about as far
1269
01:05:48.019 --> 01:05:51.840
as the in-person experience went tonight? A good show, top
1270
01:05:51.860 --> 01:05:52.400
to bottom, I think.
1271
01:05:54.210 --> 01:05:59.550
Yeah, Montez Ford was just so full of charisma, and
1272
01:05:59.869 --> 01:06:03.670
his feats were just, I mean, even dwarfed his wife's, really.
1273
01:06:03.710 --> 01:06:07.380
I mean, that leap over the ring post was just astounding.
1274
01:06:07.429 --> 01:06:10.699
So I just sense so much star potential in him
1275
01:06:10.760 --> 01:06:12.519
that I've never noticed on television.
1276
01:06:13.500 --> 01:06:16.820
Yeah, no, that came through on TV, too, I think, Nate.
1277
01:06:17.079 --> 01:06:17.480
What do you think?
1278
01:06:18.590 --> 01:06:22.329
Absolutely, absolutely. And it's funny because when I first started
1279
01:06:22.369 --> 01:06:26.150
covering NXT, Street Profits are down in NXT, and I
1280
01:06:26.309 --> 01:06:28.869
always thought of Dawkins as the one that stood out
1281
01:06:28.889 --> 01:06:32.630
to me more. And one day, both Tom Stoup and
1282
01:06:32.650 --> 01:06:35.230
Kelly Wells, they happened to say on the show that
1283
01:06:35.769 --> 01:06:37.690
Montez Ford was the one that stood out more to them.
1284
01:06:37.730 -->
01:06:39.909
And I was like, huh, really? And I started watching
1285
01:06:39.929 --> 01:06:44.199
him more, and I agree. I think he– he has
1286
01:06:44.480 --> 01:06:48.079
such star potential in him. Um, and I can't like,
1287
01:06:48.400 --> 01:06:49.980
not that I, I want to see him go away
1288
01:06:50.019 --> 01:06:53.219
from Angelo Dawkins whatsoever. Cause I, I really enjoy what
1289
01:06:53.260 --> 01:06:56.420
they do, but obviously, you know, most teams end up
1290
01:06:56.460 --> 01:06:59.280
breaking up at some point. So eventually I'm hoping they,
1291
01:06:59.400 --> 01:07:01.940
they do give him a singles runs. I'd love to
1292
01:07:02.000 --> 01:07:03.659
see what he's able to do on his own. Um,
1293
01:07:04.079 --> 01:07:05.519
and I'd love to actually see what he could do
1294
01:07:05.559 --> 01:07:07.679
from a heel perspective too. Cause he has so much
1295
01:07:07.679 --> 01:07:10.269
much charisma i want to see if he's able to
1296
01:07:10.309 --> 01:07:13.590
channel that into you know pretty decent dastardly heel but
1297
01:07:13.789 --> 01:07:15.510
i i've got i've got high uh high hopes for
1298
01:07:15.530 --> 01:07:16.090
him big.
1299
01:07:15.989 --> 01:07:19.130
Time yeah yeah same same but be interesting to watch
1300
01:07:19.170 --> 01:07:22.170
him watch him go uh all right paul thank you
1301
01:07:22.449 --> 01:07:25.150
so much great uh just great stuff talked about i
1302
01:07:25.170 --> 01:07:28.010
really appreciate that really appreciate the call and and uh
1303
01:07:28.070 --> 01:07:30.219
glad to hear you had a you had a fun time.
1304
01:07:32.739 --> 01:07:34.780
All right my pleasure is that zach nate great talking
1305
01:07:34.820 --> 01:07:36.920
to you guys yeah you thanks paul thanks very much
1306
01:07:36.940 --> 01:07:37.280
take care.
1307
01:07:39.130 --> 01:07:41.570
All right. Well, we're going to go ahead here, Nate,
1308
01:07:41.610 --> 01:07:46.820
and pivot into the mailbag. I'm having some switchboard issues.
1309
01:07:46.900 --> 01:07:50.059
Glad we were able to squeak Paul in. But we
1310
01:07:50.079 --> 01:07:51.940
do have some emails to carry us the rest of
1311
01:07:51.980 --> 01:07:55.530
the show. Kyle– it looks like Kyle dropped– on accident.
1312
01:07:55.550 --> 01:07:58.130
I don't know if that's a tech issue or not,
1313
01:07:58.230 --> 01:08:00.650
but with that said, we've got a handful of emails
1314
01:08:00.710 --> 01:08:02.449
and some other topics I want to get to, and
1315
01:08:02.570 --> 01:08:05.630
we'll pivot to those right now. All right, Nate, let's
1316
01:08:05.670 --> 01:08:09.170
hit a couple other topics and let's also hit the
1317
01:08:09.230 --> 01:08:11.409
email bag here. We got some good emails and some
1318
01:08:11.449 --> 01:08:13.849
stuff that we weren't able to get to as far
1319
01:08:14.030 --> 01:08:16.449
as the color portion of the show went to, some
1320
01:08:16.489 --> 01:08:19.310
important topics that I want to discuss. But before we do,
1321
01:08:20.029 --> 01:08:23.470
tell everybody about how they can follow you at The
1322
01:08:23.510 --> 01:08:25.609
Torch and how they can hear more of you at
1323
01:08:25.640 --> 01:08:29.699
the torch and also you've got a really unique non-wrestling
1324
01:08:29.739 --> 01:08:32.409
related piece of content coming out in the form of
1325
01:08:32.430 --> 01:08:34.770
a podcast talk about that too because it sounds sounds
1326
01:08:34.810 --> 01:08:37.149
pretty darn interesting Yeah, sure.
1327
01:08:37.189 --> 01:08:39.760
So with you over here at the PW Torch, I
1328
01:08:39.810 --> 01:08:42.880
do the hits and misses for NXT. So I usually
1329
01:08:42.920 --> 01:08:46.060
try to have that up either right after the show.
1330
01:08:46.100 --> 01:08:48.239
Sometimes I get it up like within minutes of the
1331
01:08:48.279 --> 01:08:51.729
show ending, if not the next morning. But I also
1332
01:08:51.859 --> 01:08:54.609
am one of the co-hosts for PWT Talks NXT on
1333
01:08:54.630 --> 01:08:57.949
the PW Torch Daily Cast lineup. Very similar to the
1334
01:08:57.989 --> 01:08:50.149
format of this show. You guys can call in. We'll
1335
01:08:50.210 --> 01:09:10.390
be right back. And the live or sorry, the recording
1336
01:09:10.569 --> 01:09:13.710
drops on Wednesday. And then I also do have another
1337
01:09:13.770 --> 01:09:16.130
project that I have talked a little bit about on
1338
01:09:16.470 --> 01:09:19.810
PWT Talks NXT before. And it's actually something Zach's been
1339
01:09:19.829 --> 01:09:22.270
a part of at one point as well. But I
1340
01:09:22.329 --> 01:09:25.899
do have a project called DJs and Dragons DJs standing
1341
01:09:25.939 --> 01:09:29.600
for degenerates. where my friends and I take a therapeutic
1342
01:09:29.640 --> 01:09:32.760
look at tabletop role-playing games and how they can be
1343
01:09:33.159 --> 01:09:37.010
put used in a therapeutic setting. And one of the
1344
01:09:37.029 --> 01:09:40.130
games that we're playing right now is a game called Mashed. Now,
1345
01:09:40.149 --> 01:09:43.060
if you guys remember the TV show Mashed, mash that
1346
01:09:43.079 --> 01:09:46.119
took place in the korean war um this this is
1347
01:09:46.180 --> 01:09:49.659
a game that's that's very uh very uh uh or
1348
01:09:49.680 --> 01:09:52.239
sorry it's based on the show it's not a an
1349
01:09:52.319 --> 01:09:54.800
actual game uh from the show it is based on
1350
01:09:54.819 --> 01:09:57.180
the show um it takes place in the korean war
1351
01:09:57.739 --> 01:09:59.880
and what we usually like to do on the show
1352
01:09:59.939 --> 01:10:01.800
is is get people on that kind of can can
1353
01:10:01.960 --> 01:10:03.840
a little bit uh elaborate a little bit on the
1354
01:10:03.880 --> 01:10:06.779
show and maybe um um we're eventually going to be
1355
01:10:06.810 --> 01:10:08.810
talking with somebody that you know uh can use us
1356
01:10:08.869 -->
01:10:11.729
with with veterans and things like that um therapeutically um
1357
01:10:12.149 --> 01:10:14.210
But we also wanted to talk with somebody that was
1358
01:10:14.449 --> 01:10:18.100
on the front lines of– well, we'd like to have
1359
01:10:18.109 --> 01:10:19.260
talked to somebody who was on the front lines of
1360
01:10:19.300 --> 01:10:20.859
the Korean War. But you know what? That might be
1361
01:10:20.880 --> 01:10:22.680
a little bit harder to do at this point. But
1362
01:10:22.880 --> 01:10:25.020
we realized we're in the middle of a pandemic right now,
1363
01:10:25.239 --> 01:10:26.970
and we wanted to talk with somebody that was on
1364
01:10:26.989 --> 01:10:31.069
the front lines of COVID. You know, this whole COVID
1365
01:10:31.090 --> 01:10:34.729
pandemic and she we wound up talking with a nurse.
1366
01:10:34.750 --> 01:10:39.289
Her name's Jen. She's a good friend of my co-host
1367
01:10:39.350 --> 01:10:41.789
on that show, Conrad. And we were able to sit
1368
01:10:41.829 --> 01:10:44.710
down and kind of get her perspective on what happened
1369
01:10:44.770 --> 01:10:49.609
throughout COVID starting in March 2020 with just all this
1370
01:10:49.710 --> 01:10:54.149
different barrage of information and non-information that they were getting
1371
01:10:54.189 --> 01:10:57.069
from the government and other sources. And, you know, how
1372
01:10:57.109 --> 01:10:59.720
to try and treat the patients differently. When you don't
1373
01:10:59.760 --> 01:11:01.840
know how to treat the patients, it was a really
1374
01:11:01.920 --> 01:11:06.699
interesting conversation. And that'll be coming out this Saturday on YouTube,
1375
01:11:06.779 --> 01:11:09.600
on my YouTube channel. That's D E G E T
1376
01:11:09.680 --> 01:11:11.590
I M E. So if you want to check that out,
1377
01:11:11.619 --> 01:11:14.449
please do. There's a really cool conversation. And I think
1378
01:11:14.470 --> 01:11:18.489
you guys definitely, definitely enjoy it. Very, it was interesting.
1379
01:11:18.529 --> 01:11:19.189
Certainly interesting.
1380
01:11:20.850 --> 01:11:22.869
Hey, Steph, do you ever watch WWE and think it
1381
01:11:23.010 --> 01:11:23.609
used to be better?
1382
01:11:23.909 --> 01:11:24.569
I don't know, Josh.
1383
01:11:24.680 --> 01:11:26.640
Sometimes I think it used to be a whole lot worse.
1384
01:11:27.020 --> 01:11:30.100
I mean, whether it's WrestleMania main events, old dudes at
1385
01:11:30.119 --> 01:11:34.020
the top, too many titles, or women's wrestling, we're here
1386
01:11:34.060 --> 01:11:34.720
to answer.
1387
01:11:34.520 --> 01:11:38.449
The big question, is it worse or better now? Join me,
1388
01:11:38.689 --> 01:11:39.350
Joshua White.
1389
01:11:39.670 --> 01:11:42.109
And me, Stephanie Chase, for Worse.
1390
01:11:41.970 --> 01:11:45.130
Or Better, part of the PWTorch Daily Cast lineup dropping
1391
01:11:45.229 --> 01:11:46.069
on Monday nights.
1392
01:11:46.430 --> 01:11:49.939
Search PWTorch in your podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts
1393
01:11:49.989 --> 01:11:53.680
or Spotify, to subscribe for free or get a commercial-free
1394
01:11:53.699 --> 01:11:58.840
version with the PWTorch VIP membership. Check out pwtorch.com slash
1395
01:11:58.899 --> 01:12:01.329
govip for details on going VIP.
1396
01:12:01.609 --> 01:12:04.829
Worse or better, finally, something for wrestling fans to do
1397
01:12:04.890 --> 01:12:05.680
on Monday nights.
1398
01:12:10.439 --> 01:12:11.000
That's great, man.
1399
01:12:11.020 --> 01:12:11.199
Yeah.
1400
01:12:11.220 --> 01:12:13.819
Looking forward to checking that out for sure. And had
1401
01:12:13.840 --> 01:12:16.800
a blast joining you guys when I was on that show.
1402
01:12:16.920 --> 01:12:20.420
So it was fun. So make sure everybody check that out.
1403
01:12:20.460 --> 01:12:26.270
And also PWT Talks NXT. Lots of happenings in NXT, Nate,
1404
01:12:26.310 --> 01:12:29.890
for better or worse. Give the audience a little taste of,
1405
01:12:30.130 --> 01:12:33.529
you know, your thoughts on NXT 2.0.
1406
01:12:33.529 --> 01:12:38.489
So, okay, here's the I like the fact that they're
1407
01:12:38.510 --> 01:12:41.850
getting back to their developmental roots. We've seen a whole
1408
01:12:41.909 --> 01:12:45.100
new swath of talent come through since they've moved over
1409
01:12:45.119 --> 01:12:49.079
to NXT 2.0. Talents such as Braun Breaker, who is
1410
01:12:49.119 --> 01:12:55.130
Rick Steiner's child. child, kid. Wow, that was weird. I
1411
01:12:55.130 --> 01:12:59.229
don't know why I said that. Rick Steiner's kid, who's
1412
01:13:00.109 --> 01:13:02.829
honestly kind of blown me away. I hate his name.
1413
01:13:02.850 --> 01:13:04.930
I hate the name Braun Breaker. He's blown me away.
1414
01:13:05.569 --> 01:13:07.369
But I like the fact that we've seen this whole
1415
01:13:07.390 --> 01:13:10.630
new swath of talent because NXT for so long, they
1416
01:13:10.670 --> 01:13:13.409
were being built as a third brand, and we were
1417
01:13:13.439 --> 01:13:15.720
seeing a lot of guys and girls from the indies
1418
01:13:15.779 --> 01:13:16.220
coming in.
1419
01:13:17.380 --> 01:13:17.800
And it was.
1420
01:13:19.279 --> 01:13:21.399
And this was the show that I really liked. It
1421
01:13:21.520 --> 01:13:25.460
was a wrestling-focused show. A little bit towards the end
1422
01:13:25.479 --> 01:13:28.819
of NXT 1.0, it was more story than wrestling and
1423
01:13:28.840 --> 01:13:32.729
a little more main roster-y than we liked on the show,
1424
01:13:33.390 --> 01:13:39.130
on PWT's NXT. But it was still... nxt that black
1425
01:13:39.170 --> 01:13:43.310
and gold brand um and this new pivot to back
1426
01:13:43.329 --> 01:13:46.750
to kind of nxt's roots the developmental roots is nice
1427
01:13:46.810 --> 01:13:52.369
it's good and where where nxt i guess is considered
1428
01:13:52.390 --> 01:13:55.060
or was considered quote a failure in the eyes of
1429
01:13:55.069 --> 01:13:57.960
the company because they weren't developing stars for the main
1430
01:13:58.000 --> 01:14:01.000
roster um in in the eyes of vince rickman um
1431
01:14:02.489 --> 01:14:05.729
It's good in that direction because it's a show that's
1432
01:14:05.750 --> 01:14:09.569
getting the talent ready for the main roster, for the
1433
01:14:09.640 --> 01:14:12.760
audience of one, if you will. So I think those
1434
01:14:12.819 --> 01:14:17.140
are all some of the good things about NXT. The cons,
1435
01:14:17.640 --> 01:14:21.199
to me, are where NXT was getting built as a
1436
01:14:21.220 --> 01:14:24.920
third brand, and you had all of these established stars
1437
01:14:24.960 --> 01:14:28.430
and established stories, and it was known for that wrestling
1438
01:14:28.729 --> 01:14:33.529
and being the WWE's underground wrestling show, especially for a
1439
01:14:33.550 --> 01:14:36.050
while there. It was kind of the show to watch,
1440
01:14:36.090 --> 01:14:42.130
especially before AEW. Now you've got a pivot where we're getting,
1441
01:14:42.310 --> 01:14:45.220
instead of like, you know, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12
1442
01:14:45.220 --> 01:14:47.970
minute matches, we're getting like a lot of two minute matches,
1443
01:14:48.029 --> 01:14:51.340
three minute matches. And they're not. all that great because
1444
01:14:51.380 --> 01:14:54.699
they're going back to developmental. Um, so it's, it's, it's
1445
01:14:54.739 --> 01:14:57.710
a different type of a show and it's, it's honestly
1446
01:14:57.729 --> 01:14:59.470
a little tough for me to adjust right now because
1447
01:14:59.510 --> 01:15:01.970
I'm not enjoying it nearly as much as I was
1448
01:15:02.010 --> 01:15:05.210
enjoying my beloved black and gold brand. But, um, but
1449
01:15:05.250 --> 01:15:07.010
I still think there's a lot of character to it
1450
01:15:07.029 --> 01:15:09.420
and there's a lot of merit to it. And, uh,
1451
01:15:09.529 --> 01:15:11.409
I think give it, give it some time and allow
1452
01:15:11.439 --> 01:15:13.899
these new stories to develop. And, and I'm hoping to
1453
01:15:13.939 --> 01:15:17.479
see a cohesive product, uh, um, but are a much
1454
01:15:17.539 --> 01:15:21.220
more cohesive product than what we've got right now. Um, but, uh,
1455
01:15:21.279 --> 01:15:23.039
but yeah, I kind of think I rambled a little
1456
01:15:23.079 --> 01:15:24.840
bit more than I wanted to there, but I hope
1457
01:15:24.859 --> 01:15:26.460
that kind of paints a little bit of a picture
1458
01:15:26.500 --> 01:15:29.949
of what we've been talking about on PWT talks, NXT, and, uh,
1459
01:15:29.949 --> 01:15:32.970
you know, at least my thoughts of where we're at, uh,
1460
01:15:33.210 --> 01:15:34.590
with the new NXT 2.0. Yeah.
1461
01:15:35.489 --> 01:15:37.550
I'm in lockstep with you on a lot of that. Uh,
1462
01:15:37.649 --> 01:15:40.449
I really think it's, uh, you know, There's something to
1463
01:15:40.470 --> 01:15:43.279
be
said for Fresh, and I think one of my
1464
01:15:43.319 --> 01:15:47.960
critiques of NXT for the recent black and gold stuff
1465
01:15:48.000 --> 01:15:51.420
was that it just felt played out. How many times
1466
01:15:51.479 --> 01:15:54.670
can you go back to Gargano versus Cole or whatever
1467
01:15:54.710 --> 01:15:56.770
they did? It just felt like everybody there at the
1468
01:15:56.829 --> 01:15:59.489
top especially worked with each other. So it's like you've
1469
01:15:59.510 --> 01:16:01.949
got to have to– Part of the great part of
1470
01:16:02.050 --> 01:16:05.140
NXT was the talent leaving NXT and going up to
1471
01:16:05.149 --> 01:16:08.859
the main roster and being filled with other people. And
1472
01:16:09.039 --> 01:16:12.659
that just wasn't happening. They kind of got a little stagnant.
1473
01:16:12.699 --> 01:16:15.119
So I like the fresh take. I'm with you on
1474
01:16:15.159 --> 01:16:19.189
Braun Breaker. Name just got awful. But that guy, he's
1475
01:16:19.199 --> 01:16:23.649
got some personality. He's got a little attitude. He's got
1476
01:16:23.670 --> 01:16:28.170
this kind of confident charisma where it's like he's there
1477
01:16:28.250 --> 01:16:30.890
for him. He wants wants to be a big star.
1478
01:16:30.909 --> 01:16:32.210
And I think you see that in a lot of
1479
01:16:32.229 --> 01:16:35.850
the guys right now that they're really, you know, showcasing like, Hey,
1480
01:16:35.930 --> 01:16:38.029
I want to, I want to be the guy I'm
1481
01:16:38.069 --> 01:16:40.979
here to take this and take my spot. And I
1482
01:16:41.020 --> 01:16:44.979
think that's, I think that's important, but the residual like effect,
1483
01:16:45.079 --> 01:16:47.979
you know, cause and effect is that you have people
1484
01:16:48.119 --> 01:16:50.399
in matches that maybe they're not, they're quite not ready for.
1485
01:16:50.500 --> 01:16:52.029
So you have to deal with that too. So it's a,
1486
01:16:52.399 --> 01:16:56.039
it's an interesting time. And I, I think we have
1487
01:16:56.060 --> 01:17:01.689
to look at a month from now, Right now, they're
1488
01:17:01.710 --> 01:17:04.710
just kind of characters being introduced. And I think you
1489
01:17:04.729 --> 01:17:06.329
have to let it breathe a little bit before you
1490
01:17:06.369 --> 01:17:11.529
really judge the 2.0 good or bad. But that's what
1491
01:17:11.569 --> 01:17:15.449
you guys are for. PWT talks NXT right after right
1492
01:17:15.489 --> 01:17:19.680
after NXT on Tuesday nights, call and show. And they
1493
01:17:19.720 --> 01:17:22.479
those guys do a great job and have for a long,
1494
01:17:22.520 --> 01:17:26.000
long time and breaking all things down. NXT down and
1495
01:17:26.039 --> 01:17:29.039
have been there from the very beginning Nate and so
1496
01:17:29.180 --> 01:17:31.939
you know are close to and you guys have the
1497
01:17:32.359 --> 01:17:37.529
best perspective on these changes because of that alright social
1498
01:17:37.569 --> 01:17:38.430
media really quick.
1499
01:17:38.289 --> 01:17:43.430
Nate yeah and it's very difficult it's at Nate Lindberg
1500
01:17:43.590 --> 01:17:48.600
at N-A-T-E-L-I-N-D-B-E-R-G and again for my other show it's at
1501
01:17:48.699 --> 01:17:51.539
D-E-G-E-T-A-M-E very.
1502
01:17:51.399 --> 01:17:54.310
Good All right, let's hop into the mailbag here. We'll
1503
01:17:54.329 --> 01:17:57.550
start with Zach in Texas. He goes, hello, gentlemen. Wade,
1504
01:17:58.329 --> 01:18:01.409
he's thinking Wade's hosting the show tonight, so he's going
1505
01:18:01.430 --> 01:18:04.489
to talk a little NFL trash here. I love it, Zach. Wade,
1506
01:18:04.529 --> 01:18:06.720
I'm still giddy over the fact that my Cowboys beat
1507
01:18:06.739 --> 01:18:10.220
your Vikings with our backup quarterback last night. Kirk Cousins
1508
01:18:10.539 --> 01:18:15.100
ain't the guy. To quote Minneapolis' favorite song, this is
1509
01:18:15.140 --> 01:18:16.659
what it sounds like when doves cry.
1510
01:18:17.449 --> 01:18:17.729
Ouch.
1511
01:18:18.149 --> 01:18:21.989
Gosh, Zach, that's some cold stuff. Some cold stuff. He goes,
1512
01:18:22.050 --> 01:18:24.069
now on to Raw. Becky Lynch and Bianca put on
1513
01:18:24.109 --> 01:18:26.579
a show in that ring. The GOAT did GOAT things,
1514
01:18:27.000 --> 01:18:30.659
and Bianca showed off her freakish strength. The things she
1515
01:18:30.680 --> 01:18:33.279
can do are so impressive. That said, Becky is still
1516
01:18:33.520 --> 01:18:37.050
unwaveringly beloved. She was getting sheared like crazy throughout the match.
1517
01:18:37.109 --> 01:18:39.409
Even after she won with an exposed turnbuckle and a
1518
01:18:39.430 --> 01:18:41.909
handful of tights, the crowd lost their minds. Maybe that
1519
01:18:41.949 --> 01:18:45.029
reaction will make Vince and Bruce realize they're fighting the
1520
01:18:45.069 --> 01:18:47.279
tide on this one and make her the baby face
1521
01:18:47.319 --> 01:18:50.680
because anyone other than Bianca would struggle to get cheered
1522
01:18:50.800 --> 01:18:54.520
against her. Kind of something we've already tapped into a
1523
01:18:54.560 --> 01:18:57.300
little bit. I think for the reason that Zach points
1524
01:18:57.380 --> 01:19:00.220
out here is why Liv Morgan is going to have
1525
01:19:00.260 --> 01:19:04.350
a problem. But she's been getting some of these cheers
1526
01:19:04.399 --> 01:19:07.649
for a while, Nate, and they've kind of stayed the course.
1527
01:19:07.689 --> 01:19:10.390
And I think they've, tonight in particular, with the way
1528
01:19:10.729 --> 01:19:14.630
she talked about the fans, I think they're more all
1529
01:19:14.689 --> 01:19:16.750
in on this heel thing than ever. I don't know
1530
01:19:16.810 --> 01:19:20.289
that this reaction is going to make them change their
1531
01:19:20.310 --> 01:19:20.890
mind on this thing.
1532
01:19:22.029 --> 01:19:25.970
Yeah, I don't think so. So, you know, I guilty
pleasure.
1533
01:19:26.069 --> 01:19:30.189
I love listening to something to wrestle with, with Bruce Pritchard. I, I, I,
1534
01:19:30.649 --> 01:19:33.170
I don't necessarily like, he's not one of my favorite
1535
01:19:33.189 --> 01:19:35.399
people in the world, but I like getting his perspective
1536
01:19:35.460 --> 01:19:37.479
on things and kind of getting the stories of, of,
1537
01:19:37.520 --> 01:19:39.560
you know, just things that have kind of happened over
1538
01:19:39.619 --> 01:19:43.119
the years and, and, and whatnot. And one of the
1539
01:19:43.140 --> 01:19:46.100
things that he always talks about is if you start something,
1540
01:19:46.140 --> 01:19:50.270
you're going to finish it. And, and, Especially with him
1541
01:19:50.289 --> 01:19:53.920
in the position that he's in now and him knowing
1542
01:19:53.960 --> 01:19:56.270
Vince the way he knows Vince. I can't see them...
1543
01:19:57.180 --> 01:19:59.279
I can't see them backpedaling on this for that reason
1544
01:19:59.380 --> 01:20:02.159
and the reasons that you brought up, Zach. I don't
1545
01:20:02.180 --> 01:20:04.270
really see them backpedaling on this. I think they're going
1546
01:20:04.310 --> 01:20:08.369
to probably go in on this full force, maybe not
1547
01:20:08.529 --> 01:20:10.670
harder than they were planning on, just as hard as
1548
01:20:10.689 --> 01:20:12.909
they were planning on on it, maybe a little bit
1549
01:20:12.949 --> 01:20:16.420
harder if they feel like they need to. But it
1550
01:20:16.500 --> 01:20:18.699
is going to be an uphill battle. It's certainly going
1551
01:20:18.720 --> 01:20:19.439
to be an uphill battle.
1552
01:20:19.479 --> 01:20:19.800
She's going.
1553
01:20:26.649 --> 01:20:28.810
Against her. And I don't know, I don't know what
1554
01:20:28.850 --> 01:20:31.880
that is. I have no idea what that is because
1555
01:20:32.140 --> 01:20:35.180
I feel like just so everything she does, people are
1556
01:20:35.199 --> 01:20:37.560
going to love it. It's like, like I was talking
1557
01:20:37.579 --> 01:20:39.680
about with Stone Cold earlier in the night, you know,
1558
01:20:39.699 --> 01:20:42.439
they tried to turn him heel quite a few times
1559
01:20:42.659 --> 01:20:45.600
after his, you know, his meteoric rise and it just
1560
01:20:45.619 --> 01:20:48.130
never really worked. And I feel like she's kind of
1561
01:20:48.229 --> 01:20:51.829
in that same category. I'm not, I don't necessarily want
1562
01:20:51.850 --> 01:20:54.489
to say Becky Lynch is Stone Cold Steve Austin, but like,
1563
01:20:55.560 --> 01:20:58.800
I feel like everybody latched onto the man and that
1564
01:20:58.859 --> 01:21:03.369
character so much. And then just Rebecca Quinn as a person, um,
1565
01:21:03.569 --> 01:21:06.270
especially through her social media, through everything, you know, about
1566
01:21:06.729 --> 01:21:09.829
her baby, you're kind of an, uh, a side note.
1567
01:21:09.869 --> 01:21:12.220
There was actually a post I saw on, uh, on
1568
01:21:12.300 --> 01:21:15.600
twitter uh somebody posted it it was just right after
1569
01:21:15.619 --> 01:21:19.039
the match tonight um she was kind of kind of
1570
01:21:19.100 --> 01:21:21.300
crawling up the ramp after the match and she's got
1571
01:21:21.319 --> 01:21:23.520
the belt slung over her shoulders get on on her
1572
01:21:23.560 --> 01:21:27.119
knees and somebody just shouts at her your baby's cute
1573
01:21:27.300 --> 01:21:29.239
and she looks at she looks at him she's like
1574
01:21:29.520 --> 01:21:32.710
i know she came from me you know and which
1575
01:21:32.750 --> 01:21:40.720
i thought was great um her for a lot of
1576
01:21:40.779 --> 01:21:44.920
different reasons and i don't think i don't think they're
1577
01:21:44.939 --> 01:21:49.210
gonna get her to have that massive like they're if
1578
01:21:49.229 --> 01:21:50.930
they're gonna if they're trying to make her the female
1579
01:21:50.970 --> 01:21:53.890
roman reigns right now it's not gonna happen like they're
1580
01:21:53.930 --> 01:21:57.250
not gonna get that crowd reaction um for her especially
1581
01:21:58.310 --> 01:22:01.729
especially against somebody like Liv Morgan. Nothing against Liv Morgan,
1582
01:22:01.770 --> 01:22:04.470
no offense to Liv Morgan, but I don't think she's
1583
01:22:04.510 --> 01:22:08.489
the person that's going to be able to be that
1584
01:22:08.529 --> 01:22:13.920
sympathetic face and get the crowd against Becky.
1585
01:22:15.579 --> 01:22:17.439
iPhone users, if you're listening to us on the Native
1586
01:22:17.460 --> 01:22:21.479
Podcast app on your iPhone, You can unlock our commercial-free
1587
01:22:21.520 --> 01:22:26.460
versions of our free shows by searching PWTorch in Apple Podcasts.
1588
01:22:26.479 --> 01:22:29.039
You'll see a charcoal gray logo that says PWTorch VIP
1589
01:22:29.100 --> 01:22:31.100
on it. Click on that. There's some free samples of
1590
01:22:31.140 --> 01:22:34.729
VIP shows, and you can unlock the entire VIP lineup,
1591
01:22:34.750 --> 01:22:37.970
which includes VIP exclusives plus commercial-free versions of the free
1592
01:22:38.010 --> 01:22:41.670
shows by searching PWTorch in Apple Podcasts and clicking on
1593
01:22:41.689 --> 01:22:44.989
the PWTorch VIP logo. and then activate your three-day free trial.
1594
01:22:45.029 --> 01:22:47.489
And after that, you can become a VIP member using
1595
01:22:47.529 --> 01:22:50.720
your Apple account. It's that easy. Enjoy a streamlined listening
1596
01:22:50.779 --> 01:22:54.399
experience to our free shows and unlock all the VIP exclusives,
1597
01:22:54.439 --> 01:22:58.119
including our post-pay-per-view roundtables, the Wade Keller news bulletins, everything
1598
01:22:58.140 --> 01:23:00.300
with Rich and Wade, the fix that I host with
1599
01:23:00.319 --> 01:23:03.760
Todd Martin, and a variety of other VIP exclusives. Just
1600
01:23:03.779 --> 01:23:05.979
search PWTorch in your
Apple Podcast app.
1601
01:23:09.739 --> 01:23:09.939
Yeah.
1602
01:23:10.399 --> 01:23:12.579
Yeah. I think, I don't know. I think obviously there
1603
01:23:12.600 --> 01:23:15.180
are different kinds of stars for sure, but I think
1604
01:23:15.220 --> 01:23:18.090
the Austin comparison, as far as the heel turn goes,
1605
01:23:18.609 --> 01:23:21.869
is it is sound. I mean, and not just because,
1606
01:23:21.890 --> 01:23:24.890
and not just because everybody loved Steve Austin, even if
1607
01:23:24.930 --> 01:23:28.699
you take that part out, you know, Steve Austin as
1608
01:23:28.739 --> 01:23:31.779
a character, what he did and kind of what got
1609
01:23:31.800 --> 01:23:33.720
him over as a baby face, a lot of it
1610
01:23:33.800 --> 01:23:37.039
was heel in nature, right? You know, the aggressiveness, the,
1611
01:23:37.140 --> 01:23:40.520
you know, beating people up, like not, not trusting anybody.
1612
01:23:40.920 --> 01:23:43.239
Don't care about this person. Like, you know, like there
1613
01:23:43.260 --> 01:23:46.319
was a viciousness to that baby face character that worked for,
1614
01:23:46.659 --> 01:23:50.569
for that character. But when you turn heel, like, And
1615
01:23:51.010 --> 01:23:53.829
that's what heels normally lean into to turn heel. And
1616
01:23:54.050 --> 01:23:58.020
he didn't have that. His natural babyface act that people
1617
01:23:58.069 --> 01:24:02.130
wanted him to see. Wanted to see him beat people up,
1618
01:24:02.170 --> 01:24:04.649
you know, because that's Steve Austin. So he wasn't able
1619
01:24:04.689 --> 01:24:07.960
to generate, like, good heat that way because he had
1620
01:24:08.000 --> 01:24:11.060
to lean into something he already did as a babyface
1621
01:24:11.640 --> 01:24:13.760
to get that heel heat, and it didn't work. And
1622
01:24:13.800 --> 01:24:16.060
same thing with Becky Lynch. It's like she's got this
1623
01:24:16.180 --> 01:24:20.920
man character, the man, and a lot of it is arrogant.
1624
01:24:20.939 --> 01:24:24.319
A lot of it is overconfidence, loud mouth, like– And
1625
01:24:24.340 --> 01:24:28.250
so all heelish things, but because it's Becky doing it,
1626
01:24:28.409 --> 01:24:30.409
like she can't lean into that to get that heat.
1627
01:24:30.529 --> 01:24:32.050
I think she has to go a different direction. I
1628
01:24:32.090 --> 01:24:35.130
think she's got to pivot. And I don't, I don't
1629
01:24:35.210 --> 01:24:37.880
see her doing that just because it's WWE and she's,
1630
01:24:38.180 --> 01:24:40.859
you know, she's part of that, that business right now,
1631
01:24:40.939 --> 01:24:44.100
but yeah, To truly go heel, I think she has
1632
01:24:44.119 --> 01:24:47.680
to take away something from that audience that they like
1633
01:24:47.720 --> 01:24:51.500
to see. And, you know, it's like Jericho turning heel.
1634
01:24:51.619 --> 01:24:53.850
I was just going to say that. I was just
1635
01:24:53.859 --> 01:24:54.439
going to say that.
1636
01:24:54.479 --> 01:24:55.229
Yep.
1637
01:24:55.289 --> 01:24:57.409
You know, you have to like, okay, you're going to
1638
01:24:57.430 --> 01:24:59.489
just pivot. You're not going to be that same Jericho.
1639
01:24:59.510 --> 01:25:02.050
You're going to take away things that the fans enjoyed
1640
01:25:02.489 --> 01:25:06.210
seeing and doing and engaging with. And until she does
1641
01:25:06.250 --> 01:25:07.930
that fully, I think she's going to have a hard time, Nate.
1642
01:25:08.689 --> 01:25:09.750
Oh, 100%. 100%. Couldn't agree with you more.
1643
01:25:11.720 --> 01:25:17.039
Um, okay. We'll go to Dave from Massachusetts. Uh, I
1644
01:25:17.079 --> 01:25:18.859
was hoping to call in tonight, but it was a
1645
01:25:18.899 --> 01:25:20.560
bit too tired. I just had to pop in and
1646
01:25:20.590 --> 01:25:22.949
say how much I enjoyed the show tonight. I usually
1647
01:25:22.989 --> 01:25:26.130
spend raw grading papers and using his background noise, starting
1648
01:25:26.149 --> 01:25:27.909
with the Becky and Bianca match. I found it hard
1649
01:25:27.930 --> 01:25:29.909
to look away and focus on my work. Even the
1650
01:25:29.970 --> 01:25:32.850
priest versus T-bar match was compelling. Go figure what happens
1651
01:25:32.869 --> 01:25:35.109
when you give matches time to develop. I really enjoyed
1652
01:25:35.130 --> 01:25:37.779
the expression on priest's face to just add a little
1653
01:25:37.819 --> 01:25:40.439
new twist to him. The main event was a solid
1654
01:25:40.560 --> 01:25:42.479
end to the show and, Super hard hitting, and I
1655
01:25:42.560 --> 01:25:45.420
love the aggressive nature of Big E in the post-match attack.
1656
01:25:46.279 --> 01:25:48.420
Good night of Raw that kept me awake as opposed
1657
01:25:48.460 --> 01:25:51.199
to hitting the bed at 10 o'clock. That's a win
1658
01:25:51.319 --> 01:25:54.399
in my books. Have a great night. Thanks very much, Dave.
1659
01:25:54.420 --> 01:26:00.289
Appreciate it. So I agree with that email. So comment
1660
01:26:00.350 --> 01:26:04.760
on that, Nate. But also, you saw– Damien Priest from
1661
01:26:04.779 --> 01:26:08.199
the very beginning in NXT, and we're close to his work,
1662
01:26:08.439 --> 01:26:11.779
grading it on a week-to-week basis on PWT Talks NXT.
1663
01:26:12.659 --> 01:26:16.649
They've changed his gimmick now. I'm a fan of it.
1664
01:26:16.850 --> 01:26:23.159
I think there's a generic element to it that– blends
1665
01:26:23.260 --> 01:26:25.989
in with a lot of other, you know, gimmicks. I don't,
1666
01:26:26.010 --> 01:26:29.189
I think there's, it's running very parallel to Finn Balor's
1667
01:26:29.449 --> 01:26:32.130
kind of right now. The music's a little generic, but
1668
01:26:32.880 --> 01:26:36.420
I think it allows, it kind of raises his ceiling though,
1669
01:26:36.479 --> 01:26:38.340
in terms of what he can do. can be like
1670
01:26:38.420 --> 01:26:41.800
the arrow thing was kind of there and the
archer
1671
01:26:41.819 --> 01:26:43.699
of infamy and doing the pose like that was all
1672
01:26:43.739 --> 01:26:45.890
there but it didn't really it didn't really mean anything
1673
01:26:45.970 --> 01:26:48.329
and i thought today yes he kind of had the
1674
01:26:48.369 --> 01:26:51.189
generic music and yes he's kind of has the generic
1675
01:26:51.229 --> 01:26:54.310
presentation but he was given time backstage to like talk
1676
01:26:54.369 --> 01:26:58.109
about the newfound attitude right the newfound aggression like hey
1677
01:26:58.149 --> 01:27:00.569
if you disrespect me i'm going to this place i'm
1678
01:27:00.609 --> 01:27:02.340
going to this dark place and i'm taking you there
1679
01:27:02.380 --> 01:27:04.720
with me and then he showed that in the ring
1680
01:27:04.800 --> 01:27:06.439
with uh with the match that he had so i
1681
01:27:07.020 --> 01:27:09.739
I like what they're doing here. Generic, yes. But I
1682
01:27:09.779 --> 01:27:12.180
think if you're looking at Damian Priest as a guy
1683
01:27:12.220 --> 01:27:14.779
who can be a main eventer, either on the heel
1684
01:27:14.840 --> 01:27:17.779
or babyface side, I think it's this presentation that's going
1685
01:27:17.800 --> 01:27:19.359
to stick. I think you needed to get a little
1686
01:27:19.470 --> 01:27:21.670
edge to him. I thought the match tonight helped him
1687
01:27:21.750 --> 01:27:25.189
show that. So I give it a plus. But what
1688
01:27:25.210 --> 01:27:27.430
say you, someone who's seen Damian Priest from the very beginning?
1689
01:27:28.340 --> 01:27:31.579
So first off, I, again, can't agree with what you
1690
01:27:31.619 --> 01:27:34.680
said more, um, for, for everything with, with Damien Priest
1691
01:27:34.699 --> 01:27:39.470
right there. He, so I agree, generic presentation, the music's
1692
01:27:39.859 --> 01:27:42.510
very generic. And I, and side note, I feel like
1693
01:27:42.850 --> 01:27:45.829
most of the new music, uh, especially since CFO has
1694
01:27:45.970 --> 01:27:50.770
left is extremely generic recently. Um, but, um, but yeah,
1695
01:27:50.800 --> 01:27:54.560
very generic, uh, something that actually occurred to me tonight
1696
01:27:54.680 --> 01:27:58.579
and i can't believe after following damien priest for as
1697
01:27:58.659 --> 01:28:01.460
long as i've been following him uh as you know
1698
01:28:01.600 --> 01:28:04.779
since he's basically came in as after being punished martinez
1699
01:28:05.609 --> 01:28:07.729
i can't believe i just put two and two together
1700
01:28:07.770 --> 01:28:12.130
tonight the damien devil priest pre you know yin yang
1701
01:28:12.329 --> 01:28:16.050
i can't believe i put that together tonight um for
1702
01:28:16.069 --> 01:28:18.750
the first time uh which is kind of sad but
1703
01:28:19.439 --> 01:28:23.329
um I mean I've talked about this before on– I
1704
01:28:23.350 --> 01:28:26.350
think this show, on Wrestling Night America, on my show.
1705
01:28:26.829 --> 01:28:32.170
Damian Priest, he has been incredibly protected all through NXT
1706
01:28:32.430 --> 01:28:38.149
and through his WWE run so far. They really see
1707
01:28:38.189 --> 01:28:40.960
something in him. I know they love him back. Um,
1708
01:28:41.159 --> 01:28:43.319
you know, any, anytime, uh, Kelly was on any of
1709
01:28:43.340 --> 01:28:46.920
the triple H, uh, post takeover, pre takeover media calls,
1710
01:28:46.979 --> 01:28:49.659
depending on when they did them sometimes do them before,
1711
01:28:49.819 --> 01:28:53.989
after sometimes both, um, But when Damian Priest would come up,
1712
01:28:54.590 --> 01:28:59.829
he would be raved about in his backstage performance and
1713
01:28:59.890 --> 01:29:05.130
just kind of backstage presentation rather. So I know that
1714
01:29:05.170 --> 01:29:08.689
they really like him and they want to kind of
1715
01:29:08.930 --> 01:29:13.430
roll with him. So they have really protected him for
1716
01:29:13.970 --> 01:29:18.630
quite some time. I feel like his– this current incarnation
1717
01:29:18.670 --> 01:29:21.829
of Damian Priest is the one that probably is going
1718
01:29:21.869 --> 01:29:24.550
to stick the art the archer of infamy stuff like
1719
01:29:24.569 --> 01:29:27.460
when he first started debuting it and started you know
1720
01:29:27.739 --> 01:29:29.399
when he first debuted he was doing it i guess
1721
01:29:29.859 --> 01:29:31.340
um when he first started doing it was it was
1722
01:29:31.439 --> 01:29:34.399
weird i couldn't quite understand what what the gimmick was
1723
01:29:34.420 --> 01:29:36.380
it's like all right archer of infamy you come out
1724
01:29:36.439 --> 01:29:39.520
you you do a fake bow and arrow hand gesture
1725
01:29:39.560 --> 01:29:42.779
thing and you know that's cool but but what is
1726
01:29:42.850 --> 01:29:45.010
this right and And then he kind of started getting
1727
01:29:45.050 --> 01:29:48.310
into this party boy gimmick where he was partying all
1728
01:29:48.329 --> 01:29:50.109
the time. He always had ladies around him, but he
1729
01:29:50.130 --> 01:29:52.670
was still doing the Archer of Infamy gimmick in his entrance.
1730
01:29:52.729 --> 01:29:56.000
And and I kept talking about, like, who is Damian Priest? Like,
1731
01:29:56.119 --> 01:29:57.659
you're kind of going back to that. Who is Seth
1732
01:29:57.699 --> 01:30:00.100
Rollins stuff that Wade was talking about years ago? And
1733
01:30:00.899 --> 01:30:02.500
I was like, who is Damian Priest? And we don't
1734
01:30:02.539 --> 01:30:07.529
really know what his gimmick is right now. And. And
1735
01:30:07.550 --> 01:30:09.069
I feel like where they've kind of stripped a lot
1736
01:30:09.090 --> 01:30:10.750
of that back and they have made him a little
1737
01:30:10.810 --> 01:30:14.970
more generic, but they've focused his character a little bit more.
1738
01:30:14.989 --> 01:30:17.300
So I think it's going to give him some time
1739
01:30:17.340 -->
01:30:20.199
to grow this character a little bit more and give
1740
01:30:20.260 --> 01:30:23.239
us some time to understand who this is. new version
1741
01:30:23.260 --> 01:30:27.109
of Damian Priest is. But in the ring, he's fantastic.
1742
01:30:27.170 --> 01:30:29.949
He's got amazing charisma on the mic. I mean, he's,
1743
01:30:30.229 --> 01:30:32.029
he's one of the better talkers. I don't think he's
1744
01:30:32.069 --> 01:30:34.229
the greatest talker, but he's one of the better talkers.
1745
01:30:35.340 --> 01:30:39.699
So he's certainly the whole package. I personally view him
1746
01:30:39.720 --> 01:30:43.060
as like, is, is a cane, like a gate, kind
1747
01:30:43.079 --> 01:30:45.659
of a gatekeeper type of a role. Somebody that'll flirt
1748
01:30:45.699 --> 01:30:48.060
with the mid car, flirt with the main event scene.
1749
01:30:48.930 --> 01:30:51.430
But probably might, you know, he might get a token
1750
01:30:51.449 --> 01:30:54.350
championship run here and there. You're kind of similar to
1751
01:30:54.390 --> 01:30:57.090
cane or big show or something like that. But I
1752
01:30:57.130 --> 01:30:58.670
think he's going to be kind of a big man
1753
01:30:58.710 --> 01:31:02.380
gatekeeper role. Somebody that I thought Braun Strowman was going
1754
01:31:02.409 --> 01:31:06.100
to be for, for like a decade or so. I
1755
01:31:06.119 --> 01:31:07.720
don't know if that's the role they're necessarily going to
1756
01:31:07.739 --> 01:31:10.239
look for him in, but yeah, But but that was
1757
01:31:10.279 --> 01:31:12.060
kind of what I was thinking they'd be doing with Stroman.
1758
01:31:12.149 --> 01:31:14.949
And that's kind of where I'm thinking that Priest is
1759
01:31:14.970 --> 01:31:17.130
going to line up. And I think that's a perfect
1760
01:31:17.170 --> 01:31:19.340
place to be because you'll be in the ring with
1761
01:31:19.439 --> 01:31:22.420
just about every major star that comes through the main
1762
01:31:22.439 --> 01:31:23.829
event scene. Yeah.
1763
01:31:24.109 --> 01:31:26.489
Yeah. I mean, yeah, certainly gosh, nothing to sneeze at that,
1764
01:31:26.590 --> 01:31:30.010
that spot on the card. I mean, you know, like
1765
01:31:30.029 --> 01:31:32.140
you said, Kane held that down for a long time
1766
01:31:32.220 --> 01:31:35.380
and you know, you can, you can have a heck
1767
01:31:35.420 --> 01:31:38.560
of a career career there. And I mean, and you
1768
01:31:38.600 --> 01:31:40.539
never know though, either, like you never know what's going
1769
01:31:40.560 --> 01:31:42.979
to take off. And I think like, you got to
1770
01:31:43.039 --> 01:31:45.930
read the whole situation and gosh, I mean, I'm trying
1771
01:31:45.949 --> 01:31:50.029
to think here, but yeah, Has anybody pinned Damian Priest
1772
01:31:50.069 --> 01:31:54.000
clean on the main roster? Like, I'm totally asking that
1773
01:31:54.039 --> 01:31:56.020
off the cuff, I know. But I can't think of,
1774
01:31:56.500 --> 01:32:00.300
you know, certainly nothing definitive. I mean, he's been very
1775
01:32:00.359 --> 01:32:03.840
protected since the debut and got a high-profile spot at
1776
01:32:03.859 --> 01:32:07.060
WrestleMania next to Bad Bunny. Like, he's clearly a guy
1777
01:32:07.079 --> 01:32:11.100
that they want to see succeed. But, Nate, I can't.
1778
01:32:11.140 --> 01:32:11.460
I can't.
1779
01:32:12.119 --> 01:32:14.659
I can't. I can't think of anything.
1780
01:32:15.010 --> 01:32:15.250
Yeah.
1781
01:32:15.729 --> 01:32:18.670
I honestly can't. I, I, I, I'm very hard pressed
1782
01:32:18.710 --> 01:32:21.369
to think. I mean, there, there might be, but, um,
1783
01:32:21.909 --> 01:32:25.550
the only, the only like tainted memory that I have
1784
01:32:25.609 --> 01:32:29.350
of Damien priest career is that, um, that, that haunted
1785
01:32:29.390 --> 01:32:31.770
house zombie match he had with Ms. That I try
1786
01:32:31.810 --> 01:32:32.210
to forget.
1787
01:32:32.829 --> 01:32:34.270
Oh gosh. Yes. Yes.
1788
01:32:34.310 --> 01:32:34.590
Yeah.
1789
01:32:35.770 --> 01:32:38.590
But other, other than that, uh, no, I, I don't remember. Um,
1790
01:32:38.869 --> 01:32:41.770
I don't remember like him actually doing a job for anybody.
1791
01:32:44.840 --> 01:32:46.560
He lost to Kieran Cross, right?
1792
01:32:47.460 --> 01:32:52.239
Yeah, he did. On his way out in NXT, he
1793
01:32:52.279 --> 01:32:55.869
did a couple jobs. I forget who, but I remember
1794
01:32:55.909 --> 01:32:59.029
him losing a couple of times towards the end of
1795
01:32:59.050 --> 01:33:02.649
his run there. But on the main roster, yeah, I
1796
01:33:03.029 --> 01:33:04.710
can't think of one. Can't think of one.
1797
01:33:06.199 --> 01:33:08.300
Admit it, you love Nick Barbatti when he co-hosts with
1798
01:33:08.340 --> 01:33:10.079
me on the Wade Keller Post Shows. Well, now you
1799
01:33:10.119 --> 01:33:12.380
can listen to him every week on the Nicky's Club,
1800
01:33:12.439 --> 01:33:15.489
a VIP exclusive podcast. Here's Nick to tell you more.
1801
01:33:15.609 --> 01:33:18.050
Hey, wrestling fans. It's Nick Barbatti, and I'm back with
1802
01:33:18.069 --> 01:33:20.149
the Nicky's Club, the place where the family of Nicky's
1803
01:33:20.210 --> 01:33:23.109
comes together for big laughs and sharp takes on WWE.
1804
01:33:23.210 --> 01:33:26.109
From WrestleMania rumors to surprise returns, I got you covered.
1805
01:33:26.270 --> 01:33:28.470
The Nicky's Club, where the wrestling feels like the coolest
1806
01:33:28.489 --> 01:33:29.010
club in town.
1807
01:33:29.270 --> 01:33:31.069
Nick Barbatti wants to be part of your pro wrestling
1808
01:33:31.109 --> 01:33:35.439
life every week, so why not let him? GoVIP. PWTorch.com
1809
01:33:35.739 --> 01:33:38.659
slash GoVIP for full details on signing up. We're compatible
1810
01:33:38.680 --> 01:33:41.979
with Patreon, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and just about any other
1811
01:33:42.119 -->
01:33:44.119
iOS or Android app out there. You can also stream
1812
01:33:44.140 --> 01:33:47.140
directly from our ad-free VIP website. The Nicky's Club, waiting
1813
01:33:47.180 --> 01:33:49.560
for you every week at PWTorch VIP.
1814
01:33:53.899 --> 01:33:55.399
Yeah, I think he's going to get a shot. And
1815
01:33:55.430 --> 01:33:58.109
I think the Archer infamy thing, you know, I always said,
1816
01:33:58.170 --> 01:34:01.510
if you read, you know, my columns and whatnot on PWTorch.com,
1817
01:34:01.869 --> 01:34:06.649
it's like, is it a cool looking entrance? Sure. But
1818
01:34:06.750 --> 01:34:09.210
it just, it just didn't mean anything. Like it meant,
1819
01:34:09.729 --> 01:34:11.989
it just was like, we're going to do this just
1820
01:34:12.010 --> 01:34:14.010
to do it, you know? And then, and the minute
1821
01:34:14.029 --> 01:34:16.250
he like shot the arrow and it like showed the
1822
01:34:16.270 --> 01:34:19.310
name of that movie from on during that match that,
1823
01:34:19.449 --> 01:34:21.869
that shall not be talked about. Like that was kind
1824
01:34:21.890 --> 01:34:23.710
of the end of it for me. Like, it's like, okay,
1825
01:34:23.949 --> 01:34:26.930
Now it's totally a put on. I think your entrances
1826
01:34:27.439 --> 01:34:31.340
artistically should jive with what you're presenting in the ring.
1827
01:34:31.460 --> 01:34:33.899
And it never really did. It was kind of like, okay,
1828
01:34:34.100 --> 01:34:35.539
we're just going to do it so you have a
1829
01:34:35.579 --> 01:34:39.829
cool entrance, not because the entrance means anything. I would
1830
01:34:39.890 --> 01:34:43.819
trade that for a more generic presentation if it's more–
1831
01:34:43.970 --> 01:34:47.189
if it's just a little more authentic and a little
1832
01:34:47.210 --> 01:34:51.689
more real. And it's his responsibility to deliver from the
1833
01:34:51.729 --> 01:34:55.189
in-ring perspective and deliver on the microphone to change that
1834
01:34:56.029 --> 01:34:59.289
generic whatever, music or whatever, and make it something bigger.
1835
01:34:59.409 --> 01:35:00.939
Like that's on him now.
1836
01:35:01.560 --> 01:35:04.340
You know, one thing I just thought of and where
1837
01:35:04.359 --> 01:35:06.180
I was talking about, we were kind of both talking
1838
01:35:06.199 --> 01:35:08.439
about his character being a little bit generic right now.
1839
01:35:08.520 --> 01:35:10.420
And then I kind of said, you know, this will
1840
01:35:10.439 --> 01:35:13.439
give him some time to to kind of develop his
1841
01:35:13.479 --> 01:35:16.319
character kind of from a clean slate. One of the
1842
01:35:16.340 --> 01:35:20.520
things during his entrance was and actually even before his entrance,
1843
01:35:20.560 --> 01:35:22.350
he was backstage. He said he's going to show the
1844
01:35:22.590 --> 01:35:23.529
Damien side of him.
1845
01:35:23.569 --> 01:35:23.770
Right.
1846
01:35:24.670 --> 01:35:28.510
Then during his entrance. the the graphics were completely split
1847
01:35:28.569 --> 01:35:31.300
and you had damien was you know very dark and
1848
01:35:31.350 --> 01:35:34.300
kind of you know um um you know bloody looking
1849
01:35:34.319 --> 01:35:37.140
and priest was very you know heavenly looking and and
1850
01:35:37.640 --> 01:35:40.199
the graphic was split right down the middle i'm wondering
1851
01:35:40.239 --> 01:35:42.300
if we're going to see more of that like you
1852
01:35:42.319 --> 01:35:44.869
know dr jackal mr hyde type of a thing um
1853
01:35:45.050 --> 01:35:47.210
where we kind of see more you know kind of
1854
01:35:47.510 --> 01:35:50.170
a monster come out there so that's something that just
1855
01:35:50.210 --> 01:35:52.390
popped into my head but i wanted to throw it.
1856
01:35:52.409 --> 01:35:55.909
Out yeah no nope yep smart yep that was definitely
1857
01:35:55.930 --> 01:35:58.569
there um yeah so we'll see but i i like
1858
01:35:58.609 --> 01:36:02.600
it i again i think if nothing else this gives
1859
01:36:02.619 --> 01:36:05.279
them the opportunity to to do more than i think
1860
01:36:05.319 --> 01:36:07.539
that other gimmick would have but time will tell by
1861
01:36:07.859 --> 01:36:12.159
far yeah we'll go to dom from cleveland next you
1862
01:36:12.180 --> 01:36:14.140
can say guys i've noticed a few times now that
1863
01:36:14.199 --> 01:36:19.340
that's Kevin Patrick sort of squats while conducting backstage interviews.
1864
01:36:20.000 --> 01:36:21.119
Did you see that?
1865
01:36:21.510 --> 01:36:24.569
Yes. It was blatantly obvious during the interview of Austin
1866
01:36:24.590 --> 01:36:27.770
Theory in the Mysterio. I get that Vince wants the
1867
01:36:27.789 --> 01:36:30.489
wrestlers to come across taller, but can't they at least
1868
01:36:30.590 --> 01:36:33.430
tighten up the camera work so it doesn't look weird?
1869
01:36:33.869 --> 01:36:39.819
Thanks very much and go VIP. PWTorch.com slash go VIP. So, Nate,
1870
01:36:39.939 --> 01:36:42.500
you clearly saw this. I saw it too bizarre.
1871
01:36:43.619 --> 01:36:46.100
Oh, my God. That popped on TV, and it was
1872
01:36:46.140 --> 01:36:49.069
the first thing I saw. I don't know how it
1873
01:36:50.630 --> 01:36:52.569
popped out to anybody else, but, man, it was the
1874
01:36:52.609 --> 01:36:57.029
first thing I saw. I cracked up. I understand you
1875
01:36:57.069 --> 01:37:00.800
don't want your announcers to be taller than your talent.
1876
01:37:00.859 --> 01:37:04.579
I get it. But, yeah, tighten up the camera work because, man,
1877
01:37:04.619 --> 01:37:05.380
that was amateur hour.
1878
01:37:05.399 --> 01:37:05.470
Yes.
1879
01:37:07.569 --> 01:37:09.970
The you know, and I know that there was or
1880
01:37:09.989 --> 01:37:11.810
at least I read that, you know, there was rumored
1881
01:37:11.850 --> 01:37:15.220
that was like a mandate to like hire shorter referees
1882
01:37:15.260 --> 01:37:21.489
and things like that
and backstage talent. But but yeah, like. uh, maybe,
1883
01:37:21.590 --> 01:37:23.970
maybe make the talent stand on a box or something
1884
01:37:24.010 --> 01:37:28.760
rather than awkward, making your, your, uh, commentary or your, uh,
1885
01:37:28.800 --> 01:37:30.199
announcers awkwardly squat.
1886
01:37:30.279 --> 01:37:32.199
But yeah, there has to be a way to frame
1887
01:37:32.220 --> 01:37:34.800
that out of the shot. I'm convinced somebody's getting yelled
1888
01:37:34.840 --> 01:37:38.279
at right now backstage as we speak, someone's getting reamed
1889
01:37:38.960 --> 01:37:40.760
for that, for that mistake.
1890
01:37:41.399 --> 01:37:42.020
I hope so.
1891
01:37:42.359 --> 01:37:44.109
But yeah, I mean, like, look, I get it. And
1892
01:37:44.149 --> 01:37:47.180
if you're going to do it, Fine. Do it. But
1893
01:37:47.619 --> 01:37:49.119
then you actually have to do it. You can't have
1894
01:37:49.140 --> 01:37:50.720
that in the shot. Like you said, it's minor league.
1895
01:37:51.079 --> 01:37:55.050
And yeah, I'm with I'm with you and I'm I'm
1896
01:37:55.090 --> 01:37:59.409
with I'm with Dom. OK, we'll go to see here.
1897
01:38:00.689 --> 01:38:04.210
detroit says i think we're getting subtle hints that becky
1898
01:38:04.550 --> 01:38:08.689
is really strong behind a live push she's mentioned her
1899
01:38:08.729 --> 01:38:11.319
in promos before and tonight live gets a rub by
1900
01:38:11.359 --> 01:38:14.140
being in the background of a becky backstage promo with
1901
01:38:14.159 --> 01:38:17.460
the blessing of becky i believe we're finally well i
1902
01:38:17.500 --> 01:38:20.779
believe we'll finally get a live babyface push without any
1903
01:38:21.119 --> 01:38:24.369
starts and stops any more starts and stops also i
1904
01:38:24.409 --> 01:38:26.989
really don't think biggie giving ko the beginning after ko's
1905
01:38:27.029 --> 01:38:29.949
apology tonight really helps his face title run it didn't
1906
01:38:30.260 --> 01:38:32.500
really seem to get a face pop either i didn't
1907
01:38:32.539 --> 01:38:34.520
hear many cheers or boos from the crowd as they
1908
01:38:34.560 --> 01:38:37.079
seemed conflicted not the biggest deal in the world but
1909
01:38:37.119 --> 01:38:39.699
also probably not the best idea love the show and
1910
01:38:39.760 --> 01:38:45.350
go vip pwtorch.com slash go vip thank you jb um
1911
01:38:45.550 --> 01:38:49.300
yeah let's start with the the live thing um Starts
1912
01:38:49.340 --> 01:38:52.470
and stops, I think that's synonymous with her all the
1913
01:38:52.510 --> 01:38:57.329
way back to her NXT days. She kind of was around,
1914
01:38:57.369 --> 01:38:59.229
and then they'd go with her for a while. Not
1915
01:38:59.270 --> 01:39:01.750
all the way, and not at the top of the card,
1916
01:39:02.529 --> 01:39:04.130
and then they would cool off. And then the same
1917
01:39:04.170 --> 01:39:06.680
thing kind of happened on the main roster, especially recently.
1918
01:39:06.689 --> 01:39:11.680
It does seem that Becky is behind, or at least
1919
01:39:12.659 --> 01:39:15.579
supportive of working with her and trying to elevate her.
1920
01:39:16.000 --> 01:39:19.810
If you believe... a handful of news outlets and we
1921
01:39:19.850 --> 01:39:23.189
reported it on pwtours.com too, or ran, you know, ran
1922
01:39:23.229 --> 01:39:28.310
with that story that she's behind a live push. But like,
1923
01:39:28.890 --> 01:39:30.529
you got to go with it. Like, I think the
1924
01:39:30.569 --> 01:39:33.789
problem with her is like, nobody can really tell how
1925
01:39:33.810 --> 01:39:36.090
they're supposed to feel because they get behind her and
1926
01:39:36.109 --> 01:39:37.590
then the rug gets pulled out and then they get
1927
01:39:37.609 --> 01:39:39.489
behind her again and the rug gets pulled out. And
1928
01:39:39.529 --> 01:39:43.289
then there's history. She's involved with the weird Lana Lashley
1929
01:39:43.350 --> 01:39:45.899
stuff with Rusev. Like she's just had, she's been in
1930
01:39:45.909 --> 01:39:48.979
the riot squad, which, was in the midst of different
1931
01:39:49.159 --> 01:39:51.859
kind of elevations and start and stops in their own right.
1932
01:39:52.180 --> 01:39:54.319
So she's just kind of lived in this hot and
1933
01:39:54.399 --> 01:39:57.640
cold world. And so I just don't think she has
1934
01:39:57.699 --> 01:40:01.479
enough equity built up. This can certainly maybe finally get
1935
01:40:01.520 --> 01:40:03.970
her some. I don't think she has a high, super
1936
01:40:03.989 --> 01:40:05.529
high ceiling anyway. I don't think she's going to be
1937
01:40:05.590 --> 01:40:09.350
somebody that WWE builds the women's division around. But, you know,
1938
01:40:09.569 --> 01:40:11.170
she's in there with the best of the best with Becky.
1939
01:40:11.229 --> 01:40:12.689
So if she's going to succeed, now is going to
1940
01:40:12.710 --> 01:40:13.090
be the time.
1941
01:40:14.189 --> 01:40:16.960
Yeah, absolutely. If she's going to succeed, it's going to
1942
01:40:16.979 --> 01:40:22.880
be with somebody opposite her like Becky Lynch. I remember
1943
01:40:22.920 --> 01:40:26.479
when she first debuted in NXT. This was well before
1944
01:40:26.600 --> 01:40:28.729
I was doing anything with the torch. I'm the new
1945
01:40:28.770 --> 01:40:32.470
guy with PWT Talks NXT, but I've been just a
1946
01:40:32.489 --> 01:40:36.029
little over two years now. But I was still watching
1947
01:40:36.050 --> 01:40:40.350
the product at the time, and she– She came across
1948
01:40:40.399 --> 01:40:46.199
to me as a very, very green talent and just
1949
01:40:46.239 --> 01:40:49.579
kind of somebody that was like undercard. And I've never–
1950
01:40:50.239 --> 01:40:53.039
she's grown on me, and I certainly like Liv Morgan.
1951
01:40:53.079 --> 01:40:55.460
Don't get me wrong. But again, yeah, like you said,
1952
01:40:55.500 --> 01:40:57.800
I don't feel like
she has a high ceiling. I
1953
01:40:57.840 --> 01:41:01.039
don't feel like she's– you know, I can't see the
1954
01:41:01.079 --> 01:41:04.170
belt around her waist. Let's put it that way. You know,
1955
01:41:04.189 --> 01:41:06.949
and if, if, if it was, it would probably, I
1956
01:41:06.970 --> 01:41:09.390
feel like it would either need to be, they need
1957
01:41:09.430 --> 01:41:11.609
to really build some equity up in her, like you said, or,
1958
01:41:11.909 --> 01:41:14.359
you know, it would be some sort of a token
1959
01:41:14.420 --> 01:41:17.180
run or they'd need to do something almost like they
1960
01:41:17.220 --> 01:41:20.739
do doing with Mandy Rose on an NXT, you know,
1961
01:41:20.760 --> 01:41:23.119
and maybe like, put her back down in NXT to
1962
01:41:23.159 --> 01:41:26.109
build her back up, something like that. I just kind
1963
01:41:26.149 --> 01:41:28.890
of spewing things off the top of my head. Um,
1964
01:41:29.329 --> 01:41:31.270
but you know, like you said, I, I don't think
1965
01:41:31.409 --> 01:41:36.439
she has, um, I don't think she's, she's the right
1966
01:41:36.500 --> 01:41:41.199
opponent to completely get Becky completely get the, uh, the,
1967
01:41:41.220 --> 01:41:46.020
the audience against Becky. Um, you know, she'll, uh, She'll
1968
01:41:46.079 --> 01:41:49.680
definitely be a, a good opponent for her. And, um,
1969
01:41:49.689 --> 01:41:52.850
you know, like I've read, you certainly read what you guys,
1970
01:41:53.170 --> 01:41:55.229
what you're talking about too, you know, Becky, um, being
1971
01:41:55.270 --> 01:41:57.819
behind live, which certainly makes sense. So I'm sure they,
1972
01:41:57.880 --> 01:42:01.000
you know, I know they spent some time together in NXT. Um,
1973
01:42:01.399 --> 01:42:02.880
I don't think it was much. I think Becky came
1974
01:42:02.960 --> 01:42:07.449
up shortly after she debuted, but, um, but still, um, Um,
1975
01:42:07.670 --> 01:42:09.810
you know, the, I'm sure she's, you know, obviously, uh,
1976
01:42:09.810 --> 01:42:11.430
you know, wants to work with her and wants to
1977
01:42:11.449 --> 01:42:14.350
push her. And we know Becky's certainly a giving talent
1978
01:42:14.409 --> 01:42:17.859
as well. Um, but, uh, but yeah, yeah, I just
1979
01:42:17.880 --> 01:42:20.739
don't think she's going to be the right, the right
1980
01:42:20.840 --> 01:42:26.029
person to get Becky, uh, To be that full-blown heel anyway.
1981
01:42:26.420 --> 01:42:30.359
Yeah, yeah. And then– so we've had two emailers talk
1982
01:42:30.380 --> 01:42:34.960
about this. One, hey, I liked the big ending to KO. One,
1983
01:42:35.220 --> 01:42:38.699
not so much. It's not good for his babyface title run.
1984
01:42:38.770 --> 01:42:41.050
Where are you on that? Like is this a good
1985
01:42:41.090 --> 01:42:42.529
thing for Big E to be doing or is it
1986
01:42:42.569 --> 01:42:47.109
just kind of muddy– the waters of people who like
1987
01:42:47.149 --> 01:42:49.390
Kevin Owens a lot because he's still a babyface as
1988
01:42:49.409 --> 01:42:52.010
of this minute and obviously getting a strong reaction. And
1989
01:42:52.050 --> 01:42:55.470
now you have your babyface champion kind of take him out.
1990
01:42:55.489 --> 01:43:00.100
I mean, conventional booking and wisdom would say, hey, don't
1991
01:43:00.149 --> 01:43:03.439
do that. But maybe it's good for Big E to
1992
01:43:03.500 --> 01:43:05.979
show a little edge or to just show that he's
1993
01:43:06.039 --> 01:43:08.800
not going to get, you know, played by Kevin Owens
1994
01:43:08.939 --> 01:43:10.979
like he and many others have in the past.
1995
01:43:12.090 --> 01:43:14.949
So here's here's where I'm at on it. Like I know,
1996
01:43:14.970 --> 01:43:18.760
you know, obviously, like you said, this isn't necessarily conventional
1997
01:43:18.800 --> 01:43:22.239
booking for for this particular scenario.
1998
01:43:22.279 --> 01:43:22.460
Right.
1999
01:43:22.960 --> 01:43:25.880
But one of the things that I talked with Wade
2000
01:43:25.920 --> 01:43:28.279
about the last time I was on the show for
2001
01:43:28.300 --> 01:43:32.609
Smackdown a few weeks ago is just stupid baby faces.
2002
01:43:32.670 --> 01:43:32.890
Right.
2003
01:43:33.010 --> 01:43:35.189
How many times have we seen a baby face just
2004
01:43:35.270 --> 01:43:40.949
do something wrong? Really just stupid. So they ignore something
2005
01:43:40.989 --> 01:43:45.090
completely glaringly obvious or they can't figure something out. Who
2006
01:43:45.109 --> 01:43:46.270
done it? Something like that.
2007
01:43:46.329 --> 01:43:46.529
Right.
2008
01:43:47.229 --> 01:43:49.729
I personally really like this because it kind of like,
2009
01:43:50.289 --> 01:43:52.829
you know, like I said earlier in the show, Kevin Owens,
2010
01:43:52.989 --> 01:43:55.109
a man of integrity. Like how many times has he
2011
01:43:55.170 --> 01:43:58.939
turned on somebody that he's been friendly with or a
2012
01:43:58.979 --> 01:44:05.010
partner partnered with? So. From that perspective, right at the
2013
01:44:05.029 --> 01:44:07.529
end of the show, Big E, he's kind of like, OK,
2014
01:44:07.729 --> 01:44:10.090
was that an accident? Wasn't that an accident? You know what?
2015
01:44:10.229 --> 01:44:12.229
I'm just not going to take any chances. Here we go.
2016
01:44:12.250 --> 01:44:15.409
Big ending. We're done. So from that perspective, I really
2017
01:44:15.449 --> 01:44:17.770
like it because it I don't I don't want to
2018
01:44:17.810 --> 01:44:19.489
see a dumb baby face. And I feel like that
2019
01:44:19.529 --> 01:44:25.159
was a very smart move from the champ. However. Being
2020
01:44:25.199 --> 01:44:29.670
wrestling fans conditioned to traditional wrestling booking, like I can
2021
01:44:29.710 --> 01:44:32.210
also see the other side of the coin as well,
2022
01:44:32.310 --> 01:44:35.550
where it's like, oh, well, wait a minute. Kevin Owens
2023
01:44:35.609 --> 01:44:38.189
is trying it coming across a little sympathetic. And now
2024
01:44:38.750 --> 01:44:40.869
the baby face champion is going to just, you know.
2025
01:44:41.819 --> 01:44:44.420
hit him with this finisher. Like, so I certainly see
2026
01:44:44.460 --> 01:44:47.350
both sides of the coin there. Um, but I'm, I'm
2027
01:44:47.409 --> 01:44:49.909
kind of more on, on what I was talking about before.
2028
01:44:50.229 --> 01:44:52.949
I really like the decision to do that. Granted, like
2029
01:44:52.989 --> 01:44:55.350
I said, I didn't see it cause my, my feet
2030
01:44:55.409 --> 01:44:57.109
cut out. So I do want to go back and
2031
01:44:57.229 --> 01:44:59.520
watch it and kind of see the, the body language
2032
01:44:59.560 --> 01:45:03.079
and stuff too. Um, but just kind of from understanding
2033
01:45:03.140 --> 01:45:05.539
from what, what I've, uh, from what I've been told
2034
01:45:05.600 --> 01:45:08.760
so far, what happened and everything, um, you know, that's
2035
01:45:09.140 --> 01:45:11.079
at least that's where I, where I'm standing on it.
2036
01:45:12.609 --> 01:45:14.550
You know that last segment you're just listening to and
2037
01:45:14.590 --> 01:45:16.609
the next one that you're waiting to listen to? Those
2038
01:45:16.670 --> 01:45:19.149
can be one second apart with a VIP membership. You
2039
01:45:19.170 --> 01:45:23.340
can unlock our commercial-free versions of our shows. PWTorch.com slash
2040
01:45:23.380 --> 01:45:28.100
GoVIP tells you how to do it. That's PWTorch.com slash GoVIP.
2041
01:45:28.439 --> 01:45:32.170
Options exist within the Apple Podcast app using your Apple account,
2042
01:45:32.310 --> 01:45:34.229
through Patreon, which, by the way, you can sync up
2043
01:45:34.270 --> 01:45:37.430
with Spotify, or just about any iOS or Android app
2044
01:45:37.590 --> 01:45:40.420
with a full VIP membership. You can customize the feed
2045
01:45:40.460 --> 01:45:43.779
for individual shows and clusters of shows and themes. Go
2046
01:45:43.819 --> 01:45:47.390
to pwtorch.com slash go VIP for full details on all
2047
01:45:47.430 --> 01:45:51.069
the options to listen commercial free and with upper tier options,
2048
01:45:51.409 --> 01:45:54.510
unlock our VIP exclusive podcasts that run throughout the week
2049
01:45:54.550 --> 01:45:54.909
every week.
2050
01:45:59.109 --> 01:46:01.470
Cool. Cool. Very good. All right. A couple of rapid
2051
01:46:01.489 --> 01:46:03.689
fire topics here and then we will, uh, we'll wrap
2052
01:46:03.750 --> 01:46:08.890
it up. Um, number one, it, it, What's with Selena Vegas,
2053
01:46:09.010 --> 01:46:11.689
British accent? Like, is it just, you know, you become
2054
01:46:12.090 --> 01:46:14.210
King and you have to have a British accent. Nate
2055
01:46:14.329 --> 01:46:18.229
is driving me up the wall. Crazy. Your thoughts.
2056
01:46:18.350 --> 01:46:22.270
Yeah, I don't. So it's a terrible accent. I kind of,
2057
01:46:22.430 --> 01:46:24.449
I like it cause I think it's getting her heat.
2058
01:46:25.289 --> 01:46:27.029
I think she's kind of up just playing up the
2059
01:46:27.069 --> 01:46:30.609
fact that you're a queen, you know, British accent type
2060
01:46:30.670 --> 01:46:34.489
of a deal. But I, I, Yes, it's grating and
2061
01:46:34.720 --> 01:46:36.340
I'm not like– I don't think I could listen to
2062
01:46:36.399 --> 01:46:38.479
it all day, every day. But I think for the
2063
01:46:38.520 --> 01:46:42.170
character and what she's going for, I do like it.
2064
01:46:43.659 --> 01:46:45.220
It's– but yeah.
2065
01:46:45.600 --> 01:46:47.800
She's got to be more consistent with it though. Either
2066
01:46:47.859 --> 01:46:50.300
do it or don't. I feel like it's like in
2067
01:46:50.340 --> 01:46:53.479
and out for promos and segments.
2068
01:46:54.720 --> 01:46:57.199
I'm kind of– the way that I take it is
2069
01:46:57.260 --> 01:47:00.479
like she does it like– she does it to be condescending.
2070
01:47:01.130 --> 01:47:02.010
OK. OK.
2071
01:47:02.090 --> 01:47:03.670
It's the way I kind of take it anyway.
2072
01:47:04.960 --> 01:47:07.760
All right, Nate. You know, you're you're you got me
2073
01:47:07.779 --> 01:47:09.399
at least thinking. I don't know that I'm there yet
2074
01:47:09.439 --> 01:47:11.310
to say, hey, this is this is a plus. But,
2075
01:47:11.470 --> 01:47:15.109
you know, something to something to watch out for. All right.
2076
01:47:15.130 --> 01:47:17.869
And then last thing. I thought Austin Theory had a
2077
01:47:17.909 --> 01:47:23.500
good night tonight. I think he clearly has things on–
2078
01:47:23.550 --> 01:47:25.689
if Vince McMahon is holding a checklist of things that
2079
01:47:25.710 --> 01:47:29.810
he wants his top stars to have, Austin Theory has
2080
01:47:29.829 --> 01:47:32.810
a lot of it. He's got a good look. He
2081
01:47:32.829 --> 01:47:36.829
can talk. He's got a personality. He can– fill time
2082
01:47:36.909 --> 01:47:39.699
and do whatever comedy and some serious stuff. He can
2083
01:47:39.739 --> 01:47:41.479
get some heat. So I think he's like a jack
2084
01:47:41.500 --> 01:47:43.630
of all trades as far as that goes. Like, uh,
2085
01:47:43.920 --> 01:47:46.119
you know, I guess a good comparison at this point
2086
01:47:46.539 --> 01:47:49.310
is like Baron Corbin ask, not necessarily somebody that's going
2087
01:47:49.329 --> 01:47:52.069
to be made of any WrestleMania, but somebody that's valuable
2088
01:47:52.109 --> 01:47:53.850
to your show. Cause you can drop them into a
2089
01:47:53.869 --> 01:47:58.789
lot of different spots and, and he works. Um, Is
2090
01:47:58.829 --> 01:48:00.829
that his ceiling? Well, first of all, do you agree
2091
01:48:00.930 --> 01:48:04.010
with the premise of that? And also, is his ceiling
2092
01:48:04.069 --> 01:48:06.859
that or do you look at him as somebody that
2093
01:48:06.899 --> 01:48:11.399
can be WWE champion someday? Where's the
range on that
2094
01:48:11.479 --> 01:48:12.659
for you and Austin Theory?
2095
01:48:14.100 --> 01:48:21.720
So that's– I could– some point not necessarily right now
2096
01:48:22.039 --> 01:48:24.689
um in this particular iteration of the character and just
2097
01:48:24.710 --> 01:48:26.989
kind of where he is in his overall career but
2098
01:48:27.010 --> 01:48:29.609
i could certainly see that given his trajectory and things
2099
01:48:29.770 --> 01:48:35.460
uh things like that i I could be wrong now
2100
01:48:35.479 --> 01:48:40.789
that I've said it, but throughout NXT, he showed such
2101
01:48:41.029 --> 01:48:46.420
a variety of character type. This this current iteration of
2102
01:48:46.579 --> 01:48:48.680
Austin Theory, he kind of sort of played a little
2103
01:48:48.699 --> 01:48:51.460
bit before joining up with the way to to a
2104
01:48:51.479 --> 01:48:54.260
little bit of a lesser degree. It's kind of more
2105
01:48:54.279 --> 01:48:57.479
of a serious type of a character. But then he
2106
01:48:58.159 --> 01:49:02.199
went into a over the top comedic role. And I
2107
01:49:02.239 --> 01:49:06.550
think he really excelled at it with the way. And,
2108
01:49:06.659 --> 01:49:08.590
you know, now he's kind of back to a more
2109
01:49:08.649 --> 01:49:13.390
serious character and not not quite serious, super serious. But
2110
01:49:13.449 --> 01:49:15.590
you know what I mean? Um, and I think he's
2111
01:49:15.630 --> 01:49:18.470
playing that really well. Not only that in the ring, he's,
2112
01:49:18.630 --> 01:49:20.970
he's awesome. He's fantastic in the ring. Great.
2113
01:49:21.590 --> 01:49:21.829
Great.
2114
01:49:21.869 --> 01:49:27.489
Technically. Um, you know, and I've incredibly smooth, um, anybody
2115
01:49:27.550 --> 01:49:29.369
he's in the ring with he's he's gonna have a
2116
01:49:29.390 --> 01:49:33.319
good match with i i can't ever remember watching austin
2117
01:49:33.340 --> 01:49:36.479
theory and imagining going wow that match sucked um so
2118
01:49:36.500 --> 01:49:38.960
i i really do i feel like he is he's
2119
01:49:39.039 --> 01:49:42.659
exactly the type of mold that vince is looking for
2120
01:49:42.680 --> 01:49:45.659
uh not to mention he's still really young i don't
2121
01:49:45.689 --> 01:49:47.189
remember exactly how old he is but i want to
2122
01:49:47.229 --> 01:49:51.699
say he's under 25 if not 25 um And so,
2123
01:49:51.779 --> 01:49:54.220
I mean, he's certainly somebody that the company can can
2124
01:49:54.260 --> 01:49:57.359
build up to be a star, you know, somebody that
2125
01:49:57.380 --> 01:49:58.920
kind of comes to mind to be like the Miz,
2126
01:49:59.000 --> 01:50:03.369
maybe not, you know, always, always WWE champion. But but
2127
01:50:03.430 --> 01:50:06.729
just kind of that that company, man. But that's kind
2128
01:50:06.750 --> 01:50:08.470
of the vibe I get from from where he is
2129
01:50:08.510 --> 01:50:08.829
right now.
2130
01:50:09.510 -->
01:50:13.630
Yeah, that's probably a better comparison than than my Corbin one.
2131
01:50:13.670 --> 01:50:14.149
Yeah. Yeah.
2132
01:50:14.180 --> 01:50:16.640
Miz. I mean, and look, if you're if you're Austin Theory,
2133
01:50:17.119 --> 01:50:19.699
you know, and someone says, hey, you know, you can
2134
01:50:19.720 --> 01:50:22.689
have a career like the Miz. I don't think you're
2135
01:50:22.710 --> 01:50:23.430
saying no.
2136
01:50:23.510 --> 01:50:24.789
Oh, absolutely not.
2137
01:50:25.010 --> 01:50:27.409
I don't think you're saying no to that. Not because
2138
01:50:27.430 --> 01:50:29.710
Miz is like the greatest worker in the world, but
2139
01:50:29.789 --> 01:50:33.109
he's had big moments and made a lot of money
2140
01:50:33.569 --> 01:50:38.260
and has held titles. So he's a valuable piece in
2141
01:50:38.319 --> 01:50:41.220
the– you know, for WWE, you know, he wouldn't be
2142
01:50:41.279 --> 01:50:44.939
as valuable in another company, but in WWE that that's,
2143
01:50:45.380 --> 01:50:48.340
that's there. And I, yeah, I think that's a good, uh, uh,
2144
01:50:48.359 --> 01:50:52.369
really well said in regards to, to theory. All right, Nate, let's, uh,
2145
01:50:52.649 --> 01:50:54.050
as I always say, let's wrap up and we'll put
2146
01:50:54.090 --> 01:50:56.430
a bow on it right there. Thank you to the callers.
2147
01:50:56.470 --> 01:50:58.750
Thank you to our, emailers thank you to paul our
2148
01:50:58.810 --> 01:51:01.840
on-site correspondent again uh wade is going to be on
2149
01:51:01.880 --> 01:51:04.479
the vip side of things tonight's rundown the show on
2150
01:51:04.500 --> 01:51:08.100
the way color hotline pwtorch.com slash go vip gets you
2151
01:51:08.140 --> 01:51:12.100
the rundown of all that comes along with vip membership
2152
01:51:12.159 --> 01:51:17.079
including just a host of other vip podcasts all at
2153
01:51:17.079 --> 01:51:20.189
30 plus years of archives um with the pw torch
2154
01:51:20.250 --> 01:51:24.689
newsletter that's just a treasure trove of fun information to
2155
01:51:24.850 --> 01:51:26.930
to dig through um it's All there for you as
2156
01:51:26.970 --> 01:51:31.640
a VIP member. So go VIP, pwtorch.com slash go VIP.
2157
01:51:32.000 --> 01:51:34.739
I'm PW Torch Assistant Editor Zach Haydorn. You can go
2158
01:51:34.760 --> 01:51:37.619
VIP and check out my weekly audio show for VIP
2159
01:51:37.659 --> 01:51:40.890
members called On the Canvas. It's a show that looks
2160
01:51:40.930 --> 01:51:43.689
at the art of wrestling, just the art of the business.
2161
01:51:43.729 --> 01:51:47.069
So we're not really talking wrestling. In the same context,
2162
01:51:47.210 --> 01:51:50.020
like we were tonight, like, you know, grading angles and
2163
01:51:50.310 --> 01:51:53.039
who's over, who's not, who's getting the push, who isn't
2164
01:51:53.079 --> 01:51:55.380
and who should. We're just kind of taking a weekly
2165
01:51:55.420 --> 01:51:58.899
current event from the world of wrestling and breaking that down.
2166
01:51:58.920 --> 01:52:01.720
This past week, we did a show where we did
2167
01:52:01.739 --> 01:52:06.560
a frame by frame artistic analysis of Shida versus Bermuda.
2168
01:52:07.640 --> 01:52:10.869
Serena deep from AEW dynamite this past week. So that
2169
01:52:10.909 --> 01:52:13.470
was a fun, you know, 45 minutes of just going
2170
01:52:13.489 --> 01:52:15.649
through that match top to bottom, you know, kind of
2171
01:52:15.670 --> 01:52:17.890
just not, not grading it, but just breaking it down.
2172
01:52:18.109 --> 01:52:20.350
What story were they trying to tell? And so on
2173
01:52:20.369 --> 01:52:22.590
and so forth. So you can go VIP and check
2174
01:52:22.630 --> 01:52:24.739
that show out. It's called on the canvas and it
2175
01:52:24.800 --> 01:52:30.199
drops usually on Friday, Friday evenings for VIP members. Also,
2176
01:52:30.239 --> 01:52:33.100
make sure you head into PWTorch.com. We've got it updated
2177
01:52:33.279 --> 01:52:37.460
regularly with news and columns and show reports for all
2178
01:52:37.800 --> 01:52:41.279
the weekly wrestling shows that happen. Nate's Hits and Misses
2179
01:52:41.319 --> 01:52:44.000
columns are there every week, along with Hits and Misses
2180
01:52:44.039 --> 01:52:48.159
columns for every other major show throughout the week. Both
2181
01:52:48.239 --> 01:52:52.420
AEW shows, NXT, Raw, SmackDown, etc. It's all there for
2182
01:52:52.460 --> 01:52:56.949
you at PWTorch.com. Uh, you can follow me on Twitter
2183
01:52:57.369 --> 01:53:00.770
at Z Hadorn torch. That's at Z H E Y
2184
01:53:01.130 --> 01:53:03.170
D O R N torch. And you can follow the
2185
01:53:03.210 --> 01:53:09.420
torch brand on Twitter at P W torch. Nate's absolute blast, man.
2186
01:53:09.479 --> 01:53:11.939
Thank you so much for joining me. It's been fun. Um,
2187
01:53:12.039 --> 01:53:14.479
as always, hopefully we can do it again soon, but, uh,
2188
01:53:14.550 --> 01:53:17.369
before we go, Yeah, I really appreciate it, man. Great,
2189
01:53:17.550 --> 01:53:19.989
great stuff. Fun show. But one more time with your
2190
01:53:20.010 --> 01:53:22.810
social media so people can can check you out there and,
2191
01:53:23.229 --> 01:53:24.840
you know, see all the other stuff that you're working
2192
01:53:24.899 --> 01:53:27.510
on on a week to week basis. Sure.
2193
01:53:27.550 --> 01:53:30.699
So at Nate Lindbergh on Twitter, where you can find me,
2194
01:53:30.760 --> 01:53:33.260
where all of my all the stuff I do for
2195
01:53:33.279 --> 01:53:36.119
the torch, as well as everything I do with my
2196
01:53:36.180 --> 01:53:41.010
group of degenerates, which you can also check out at D-E-G-E-T-A-M-E.
2197
01:53:41.609 --> 01:53:43.770
You can also just go to Nate Lindbergh dot com
2198
01:53:43.789 --> 01:53:45.949
where I've got links to my show, links to that show,
2199
01:53:46.550 --> 01:53:48.369
links to a couple other
things that I do as
2200
01:53:48.390 --> 01:53:51.020
well that I haven't talked about. But that's where that's
2201
01:53:51.039 --> 01:53:51.640
where you can find me.
2202
01:53:52.789 --> 01:53:53.550
Fantastic.
2203
01:53:54.140 --> 01:53:54.579
All right, everybody.
2204
01:53:54.600 --> 01:53:56.960
Thanks for listening for Nate. I'm Zach and we'll catch
2205
01:53:56.979 --> 01:53:57.720
you next time.
2206
01:54:30.470 --> 01:54:33.630
Your time is valuable. Go VIP and listen to our
2207
01:54:33.670 --> 01:54:39.569
shows commercial-free. A nice streamlined listening experience. pwtorch.com slash govip
2208
01:54:39.869 --> 01:54:42.890
for full details on a commercial-free listening experience. And with
2209
01:54:42.909 --> 01:54:45.670
a full VIP membership, you can create custom feeds for
2210
01:54:45.770 --> 01:54:48.770
individual shows or groups of shows by theme and also
2211
01:54:48.890 --> 01:54:52.609
unlock nearly four decades of archives and access our ad-free
2212
01:54:52.649 --> 01:54:57.649
website with VIP exclusive content. pwtorch.com slash govip. Your time
2213
01:54:57.689 --> 01:54:59.449
is valuable, and that's one of the reasons we offer
2214
01:54:59.550 --> 01:55:04.930
VIP membership, pwtorch.com slash govip. You can participate in the
2215
01:55:04.949 --> 01:55:08.399
Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast by emailing your question or
2216
01:55:08.439 --> 01:55:13.220
topic to wadekellerpodcast at gmail.com. You can also participate in
2217
01:55:13.239 --> 01:55:17.500
the Wade Keller Post Shows by emailing wadekellerpostshow at gmail.com
2218
01:55:17.720 --> 01:55:21.439
during or right after Raw, Dynamite, or SmackDown. Let your voice,
2219
01:55:21.479 --> 01:55:24.079
let your opinions be heard on our shows via email,
2220
01:55:24.239 --> 01:55:29.149
wadekellerpodcast at gmail.com for the flagship and wadekellerpostshow at gmail.com
2221
01:55:29.329 --> 01:55:32.939
for our post shows. It's next-level coverage that you come
2222
01:55:32.960 --> 01:55:36.340
to expect from the PW Torch brand. No AI, no
2223
01:55:36.439 --> 01:55:41.060
rookie perspectives, no unfounded rumors, no clickbait, no deceptive headlines,
2224
01:55:41.840 --> 01:55:45.699
just high-quality writing, breaking news, and fascinating flashbacks every day
2225
01:55:45.840 --> 01:55:49.479
at pwtorch.com. Pull yourself away from the vacuous social media
2226
01:55:49.520 --> 01:55:51.609
experience that I know many of you regret once you
2227
01:55:51.770 --> 01:55:54.090
get lost in it for minutes, if not hours at
2228
01:55:54.130 --> 01:55:58.029
a time, and settle in for high-quality PW Torch-branded wrestling coverage.
2229
01:55:59.689 --> 01:56:01.789
Admit it, you love Nick Barbatti when he co-hosts with
2230
01:56:01.829 --> 01:56:03.590
me on the Wade Keller Post Shows. Well, now you
2231
01:56:03.609 --> 01:56:05.869
can listen to him every week on the Nicky's Club,
2232
01:56:05.930 --> 01:56:08.970
a VIP exclusive
podcast. Here's Nick to tell you more.
2233
01:56:09.109 --> 01:56:11.529
Hey, wrestling fans. It's Nick Barbatti, and I'm back with
2234
01:56:11.560 --> 01:56:13.640
the Nicky's Club, the place where the family of Nicky's
2235
01:56:13.699 --> 01:56:16.619
comes together for big laughs and sharp takes on WWE.
2236
01:56:16.699 --> 01:56:19.600
From WrestleMania rumors to surprise returns, I got you covered.
2237
01:56:19.760 --> 01:56:21.960
The Nicky's Club, where the wrestling feels like the coolest
2238
01:56:21.979 --> 01:56:22.560
club in town.
2239
01:56:22.779 --> 01:56:24.579
Nick Barbatti wants to be part of your pro wrestling
2240
01:56:24.619 --> 01:56:28.949
life every week, so... Why not let him? GoVIP. PWTorch.com
2241
01:56:29.229 --> 01:56:32.149
slash GoVIP for full details on signing up. We're compatible
2242
01:56:32.170 --> 01:56:35.470
with Patreon, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and just about any other
2243
01:56:35.609 --> 01:56:37.609
iOS or Android app out there. You can also stream
2244
01:56:37.630 --> 01:56:40.630
directly from our ad-free VIP website. The Nicky's Club, waiting
2245
01:56:40.670 --> 01:56:45.350
for you every week at PWTorch VIP. Did you know
2246
01:56:45.399 --> 01:56:48.760
that you can enjoy commercial-free versions of all of your
2247
01:56:48.800 --> 01:56:52.789
favorite Wade Keller podcasts and PWTorch Daily Casts? Just go
2248
01:56:52.850 --> 01:56:58.260
to patreon.com, search PWTorch, and subscribe to a VIP membership tier.
2249
01:56:58.270 --> 01:57:00.279
You get a seven-day free trial, by the way, to
2250
01:57:00.300 --> 01:57:01.739
kick the tires a bit and see if you like
2251
01:57:01.760 --> 01:57:04.359
the service. And then sync it with Spotify, and you
2252
01:57:04.399 --> 01:57:07.180
can listen to commercial-free versions of our free shows like
2253
01:57:07.199 --> 01:57:09.529
the Wade Keller Post Shows, the Wade Keller Podcast Flagship,
2254
01:57:09.890 --> 01:57:12.909
our flashbacks, and also the PWTorch Daily Cast lineup. Again,
2255
01:57:13.149 --> 01:57:16.899
all commercial-free, a nice streamlined listening experience. But with third-tier membership,
2256
01:57:16.939 --> 01:57:20.319
you can also unlock all the VIP podcasts, including Everything
2257
01:57:20.359 --> 01:57:22.060
with Rich and Wade, The Fix with Todd Martin that
2258
01:57:22.079 --> 01:57:24.359
I host with Todd every week, the Wade Keller News
2259
01:57:24.399 --> 01:57:29.619
Bulletin's post-pay-per-view roundtables, and an array of other VIP-exclusive podcasts
2260
01:57:29.640 --> 01:57:32.659
with different hosts and different themes. Check out the lineup.
2261
01:57:33.039 --> 01:57:37.479
Go to Patreon and search PWTorch and subscribe and sync
2262
01:57:37.500 --> 01:57:40.239
it up with Spotify or stay within the Patreon ecosystem.
2263
01:57:40.720 --> 01:57:44.020
Either way works, go to Patreon and start your seven-day
2264
01:57:44.100 --> 01:57:47.359
free trial. If you're listening to us on the Apple
2265
01:57:47.380 --> 01:57:49.920
Podcast app, on Spotify, or any other app that allows
2266
01:57:49.960 --> 01:57:51.800
you to rate our podcast, please take a moment to
2267
01:57:51.819 --> 01:57:54.159
give us a five-star rating. It really helps us in
2268
01:57:54.199 --> 01:57:57.310
the algorithm and helps them know that you recommend us
2269
01:57:57.449 --> 01:57:59.310
to others. Just look for a place to rate the
2270
01:57:59.350 --> 01:58:01.829
show on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening
2271
01:58:01.850 --> 01:58:04.270
to our shows, and please click that five-star rating. And
2272
01:58:04.289 --> 01:58:08.250
of course, thank you so much for listening. A PWTorch
2273
01:58:08.270 --> 01:58:10.569
VIP membership doesn't just give you ad-free access. to these
2274
01:58:10.609 --> 01:58:13.520
shows and a ton of other VIP-exclusive podcasts throughout the week,
2275
01:58:13.689 --> 01:58:16.699
but you also gain access to our unmatched, vast library
2276
01:58:16.720 --> 01:58:20.359
of wrestling history, our contemporaneous week-to-week coverage through our progressing
2277
01:58:20.399 --> 01:58:23.619
Torch Weekly newsletters dating back to the late 1980s, along
2278
01:58:23.640 --> 01:58:26.960
with streaming and download access to hundreds of retro radio
2279
01:58:26.979 --> 01:58:30.060
shows from the 1990s, including some of my interviews with
2280
01:58:30.100 --> 01:58:33.899
wrestling's top newsmakers in the 90s, and also our podcast
2281
01:58:33.960 --> 01:58:37.039
library dating back to the year 2003. There's no larger,
2282
01:58:37.479 --> 01:58:41.460
longer-spanning pro wrestling podcast library than that that comes with
2283
01:58:41.520 --> 01:58:45.579
a PWTorch VIP membership now approaching 20 years of podcasting.
2284
01:58:45.779 --> 01:58:49.399
Go VIP and dive into our post-pay-per-view roundtables, our coverage
2285
01:58:49.439 --> 01:58:53.369
of some of your favorite eras of wrestling, top-name long-form interviews,
2286
01:58:53.810 --> 01:58:58.529
and special format podcasts that we've done throughout the years. pwtorch.com
2287
01:58:58.609 --> 01:59:02.050
slash govip. We have a streamlined sign-up form, and you
2288
01:59:02.090 --> 01:59:04.380
can pay with PayPal or directly with your credit card
2289
01:59:04.489 --> 01:59:07.119
or debit card in one or two minutes. From right now,
2290
01:59:07.180 --> 01:59:10.800
you can be a VIP member and diving into our library, pwtorch.com
2291
01:59:10.859 --> 01:59:11.880
slash govip.