Sound Off 987 - Creative SHAKEUP In WWE, Vince Russo News And TERRIBLE TAMMY Is Back!

WEBVTT
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It's business time, baby. You are listening to Solo Monster
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Sounds Off. I love you, Solo! Mama Monster! Concord! My home!
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I want your soul. You got grown-ass wrestlers in the
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back going on Twitter. You have legs. I was 99%
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positive it was just chest up. I have been begging
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him for a job on every platform I can, and
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I want to know the reason why he won't hire me.
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I hope everyone had a very happy Halloween. I'm happy
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because we gained an hour with Daylight Savings. Time is
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the one thing I never seem to have enough of,
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so to get more of it is much appreciated. This
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is episode 987 of the Solid Monster Sounds Off for Sunday,
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November 1st, 2026. A lot of news this week. We
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got news on a creative shakeup of sorts within WWE,
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and what could have been a creative shakeup within WWE
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but does not appear to be happening. We're going into
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a big week here where there's going to be some
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competition coming up this Wednesday between WWE and AEW, which
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has their Big Blood and Guts episode of Dynamite. We've
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got Crown Jewel news. Crown Jewel's still coming up from
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Riyadh next weekend. And I got some Tammy Sitch news
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to get into a little bit later on as well.
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There's a name I thought I wasn't going to have
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to talk about here anymore. So much for that. And
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then we'll get to your questions. So a lot to
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dive into. If you would like to make a PayPal donation,
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you may do so on thesolidmonster.com. You will see the
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link at the top of the page. $ 10 or more
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will get you a nickname and a shout out. I
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want to just first off let JDF, a shout out
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to JDF. You got to resend that PayPal, brother. You
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sent it to me as a request. So you got
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to fix that. But I want to say thank you
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to Rachel from the Badger State. Congrats on your Brewers
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winning the World Series. I thought of you when I
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heard they won. You and Bob Euchre. WWE Hall of
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Famer Bob Euchre. Mr. Baseball Bob Euchre. It sucks that
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he passed away two years ago. He didn't get to
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see them win a World Series. He worked as their
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play-by-play voice for 54 seasons. They never won a title, ever.
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And he died in 2024. In 2026, they finally win.
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But they could have gone back-to-back with the sweeps in
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the postseason, which would have been impressive. It's still impressive
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what they were able to achieve. I guess the lockout
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will be here soon, and we'll see how long that
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drags out for. See, there's too much money to be lost,
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I think, for it to go on for too long.
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But time will tell. The Portland pop star, Paul Hamilton,
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I hope you had a very happy Halloween. He always
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sends me the old silver shamrock. commercial every single year
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from halloween 3 i was watching part of halloween 3
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yesterday i kind of came into the middle of it
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amc has their fear fest marathon every october so on
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halloween day i'm sitting here i'm working on my notes
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i'm putting uh you know mailbag questions picking them out
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and everything putting everything together for today's show and i
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got amc in the background halloween halloween 2 halloween 5
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they're going back and forth ping-ponging it was a good
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day So anyway, Paul, I hope you had a good Halloween.
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Big B, Brian Becerra. The Diamond Dallas Dance Machine, Harrison Soap.
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Death Blow, David Floyd, who celebrated a birthday on October 27th.
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Happy birthday, David. Velvet Revolver, Robert Murray. Big Time, Boris Vainman.
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The Chicago Slayer, Willie Eichard. Road Warrior, Roderick Welch. Night Stalker,
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Nayef Alsafar. Still one of my favorite nicknames. Killshot Keith Hart.
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We have Q the Destroyer. And I hope you're healing
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up after that car accident. Day by day. Day by day.
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He says, Sammy Zane is the most interesting thing in
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WWE right now, and that makes me so happy as
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a fan of his over the last 10 years. He
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is one of the more intriguing characters on either Raw
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or SmackDown. Happy to see him having the success that
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he's having right now. Victory guaranteed. Vincent Cooper, you should know.
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He's a retired Air Force member who is running his
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own photography business called The Velvet Lens. So whatever your
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photo needs may be, whether it's portraits, products, or private events,
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feel free to reach out. You can visit TheVelvetLens.net. That's TheVelvetLens.net.
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Or find him on IG at The underscore Velvet Lens.
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And I also want to give a shout out to HR.
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His son Oscar turns 12 on November 5th, so happy
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birthday to Oscar. Oscar also had a question. He is
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an avid fan of Masked Kane. Wants to know what
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my favorite Kane moment is and his favorite or my
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favorite persona. Well, I mean, I'm a fan of Kane's
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original look when he first came in. Second greatest gimmick,
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by the way, ever created in WWE after The Undertaker
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is Kane. I go back and forth between OG Kane
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and the version of Kane who came back in 2000.
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As like the best version of Kane. Because he was
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such a badass when he made that babyface return. That's
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actually my favorite Kane moment. Was his return in February
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of 2000 on Raw. When he came back with Paul Bear.
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What a great moment that was. What a great reaction
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it got to. So thank you all. And a shout
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out to my YouTube family as well. Jason Tarr. Randy Bobandi,
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Venom Kitetsu, they were all dropping bombs the other night.
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And everybody else who hung out and supported, including the
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Halloween stream on Friday night, your support does not go unnoticed.
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So thank you. Not since Paul Levesque took over as
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Chief Content Officer after Vince McMahon's departure has there been
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a creative change like this in WWE behind the scenes.
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PW Insider had the exclusive on Tuesday. that Bruce Prichard,
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whose time with WWE dates back off and on, all
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the way back to 1987, is expected to retire from
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his position as executive director of creative writing and talent
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after WrestleMania season. And they are told that Prichard will
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remain connected to the company on a consulting basis, but
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would no longer live in Stanford or retain his current duties.
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One source pegged WrestleMania as the end of the run,
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but another cautioned that with pro wrestling being the way
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it is, there could always be a little leeway on
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the timeline. Pritchard was basically Vince McMahon's top lieutenant for many,
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many years outside of Pat Patterson. He was let go
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by Stephanie McMahon in 2008, the infamous gun story. I
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think they were just looking for a reason to get
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rid of him at that point. But he brought a
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gun to work one day. He got caught with it.
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And they kind of used that as a reason to
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axe him. He's talked about that on his podcast before.
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So that's the short version. But he ended up having
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a couple of different stints after that in TNA. And
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then briefly with MLW before ending up back in WWE
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in 2019 in a pretty key creative role. First for
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Vince McMahon and then for Triple H after Vince was gone.
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And the belief is All three writing teams for Raw, SmackDown,
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and NXT fall under his purview. So he's not the
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one sitting there at his desk writing up a storm.
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You know, he's not writing the shows per se, but
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he's sort of overseeing everything. He's contributing his own ideas.
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Per Fightful Select, sources familiar with the situation claimed that
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Bruce Prichard would remain with WWE after retiring from his position,
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but he would be working from home much more. Prichard
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needs a very serious surgery that would lead to him
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coming off the road. and likely working from home as
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he is already feeling rough physically. Conrad Thompson, who has
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been doing a podcast with Pritchard for years, although Bruce
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has basically abandoned it. I know JBL has been subbing
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for him for a while. I don't know if Bruce
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is officially 100% done with his podcast. It felt like
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he's been done with it for a while, though. But
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Conrad said a few weeks ago, that Bruce was set
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to undergo neck surgery soon, stemming from an injury that
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he suffered in 1991, but that he only recently discovered.
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He said, I don't know that Bruce has revealed it,
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but Bruce has been dealing with a neck injury. It
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turns out that Bruce is going to have to have
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some surgery, and he hadn't been having the best quality
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of life recently. He's on the mend, he's doing rehab
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and all that jazz, but he is hurting for certain.
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Do you remember way back when he was Brother Love,
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and the Ultimate Warrior beat him up? He broke his neck,
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and he just found out recently, all these years later. Now,
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what's funny about that is I remember that angle. That
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was how they wrote him off. It was the last
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installment of the Brother Love Show they did during that
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first run. The Warrior beat the absolute crap out of
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this guy. Go back and watch that segment and look
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at some of those clotheslines that he was hitting him with.
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And Pritchard is hardly the only person that the Warrior
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ever hurt in the ring. I mean, Bobby Heenan used
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to shit on the Warrior all the time for being
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reckless in the ring, because he had a lot of
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those weasel suit matches. He had to work against Warrior
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in the ring as a wrestler. And like he told
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him once, stay away from my neck, because, you know,
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Bobby had a bad neck. And Warrior hurt his neck anyway,
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because he didn't know what he was doing. You know,
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Ric Flair got dropped on his head working with the
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Warrior back in 92, and that's how he ended up
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with that inner ear problem that fucked up his equilibrium
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for years. I think he collapsed once at a thunder
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taping in WCW and had to undergo some sort of
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procedure to fix it. I mean, Warrior was a menace.
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But that's still pretty crazy. I mean, breaking your neck
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35 years ago and not even realizing it until now. Like, what?
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Regal had a similar thing happen to him where he
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broke his neck in a match in 1993 and he
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continued wrestling on it for years. Although he may have
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known that his neck was fucked, but he just kept
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wrestling anyway. He didn't have fusion surgery to repair it
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until maybe a decade ago. Remember that MRI photo he
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posted once at his social media? How fucked up his
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neck was? Imagine walking around like that and working and
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bumping on that for decades before you finally have it fixed.
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I actually thought Regal might make a good replacement for
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Pritchard since he's so close with Levesque. And Bobby Roode
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is already being groomed for the Michael Hay spot. But
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I don't know what Regal's level of interest would be
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when it comes to that type of position between the
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travel and the responsibilities. I thought of his role as
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more of a consigliere for Levesque and someone who helps
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scout talent. Like he's been to independent events to literally
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scout talent, you know, and kind of give feedback to
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the WWE brain trust about this person. You got to
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keep your eye on them or recruit them. So he
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does a lot of that. But in many ways, he
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is to Triple H what Pat Patterson was to Vince McMahon.
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But then on Thursday, we got hit with this news.
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Also from Mike Johnson of PW Insider. The WWE is
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planning to promote from within, and according to multiple sources,
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the plan is for the current head of NXT and
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Senior Vice President of Talent Development and Creative, Shawn Michaels,
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to essentially step into Bruce Prichard's role. Now, Michaels has
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been running things with NXT since Triple H had his
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cardiac issues. In 2021, he stepped in there on what
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I'm sure in his mind and the mind of many
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was only meant to be a temporary basis until Triple
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H was well enough to come back. It ended up
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being a more permanent change. But Mike Johnson says that
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he was told this succession plan had been in place
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for some time and that Michaels will begin to prepare
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for the Pritchard role in the months ahead. False Finish
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HQ is reporting that those within the Performance Center, because
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the logical next question is, well, if Shawn Michaels is
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going to graduate to the Bruce Pritchard role, he can't
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possibly juggle his current responsibilities and a role like that. Like,
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the NXT job is a full-time job. The Bruce Pritchard
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job is a full-time job. So if this is true,
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and this succession plan involves Shawn Michaels graduating to the
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main roster, then who takes his spot in NXT? Well,
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False Finish is saying that those within the PC expect
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AJ Styles to be more hands-on within NXT as a
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result of the Shawn Michaels promotion. On a potential NXT
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shakeout in 2027, Bryan Alvarez says... As of right now,
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it looks like Shawn Michaels replacing Bruce Prichard and AJ
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Styles getting his NXT role is the most likely scenario.
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It is believed there will be other NXT office changes
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in 2027 as well. Depending on what she wants to
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do with her career, Bayley could very well end up involved.
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CM Punk may also have more input. It is also
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believed the ID program will get a fresh coat of
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paint early next year as well. Yeah, the ID program
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has lost some good names this year. But the Vanity Project,
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and they're all over NXT, they came through that program too.
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And they're doing pretty well for themselves in NXT. So
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it's been very hit or miss, the ID stuff. And
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I've talked about the ID program before. But there's a
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lot to unpack here, right? There's a lot of names
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that just got spit out at us. From Pritchard to
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Michaels to AJ to Bayley to Punk. A lot to
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unpack here. Bruce Pritchard. is one of the last remnants
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of the Vince McMahon regime. Ronda Rousey once famously referred
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to him as Vince McMahon's avatar, and said that so
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long as Pritchard was there, Vince still has a voice
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in creative. Vince and Bruce are cut from the same cloth.
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And Bruce Pritchard, look, I'm sure he worked for him
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for so long, and when his wife was sick, Vince
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was very understanding. There's a loyalty there that will never
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be broken. From Bruce Prichard's perspective there. Bruce Prichard will
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defend that man until his dying breath. Even in that
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Netflix documentary on Vince. Like it was nauseating to watch.
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He said, oh, it was a gotcha piece. Because they
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had started interviewing him and other people for it in
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like 2021. And then towards the end of the documentary,
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Bruce sits down. Now it's like 2024. And as I recall,
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the producer or director, whoever it was, asks him, so
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have you seen any of the documentary yet? What do
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you think? And Bruce was like, I think it sucks.
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I think it's a gotcha piece on Vince. You're trying
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to make Vince look bad, right? Because in his mind,
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Netflix made Vince McMahon look bad, right? It's not Vince
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McMahon who makes Vince McMahon look bad. It's Netflix. It's
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everybody else who makes Vince McMahon look bad. The man
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is a sycophant. But as for ideas that he may
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bring to the table... I mean, we've seen some of
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that on WWE Unreal, and there's very little that's real
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about Unreal. They book heroes and villains on that show
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every bit as much as they do on Raw and SmackDown.
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I remember Prichard pitching the idea on there of Pat
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McAfee beating Gunther in their Backlash match. How much of
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that was for the cameras, who knows? I'm sure like anyone,
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he has his good ideas and he has his bad ideas.
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And I know he was very good with the pre-tapes
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and the vignettes and the backstage character development stuff that
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he would help produce back in the day. He's been
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around forever. Shawn Michaels has been around forever too. AJ
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Styles has been around for a while himself. But guys
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like that would offer a different perspective. And that's something
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that is sorely needed right now in WWE. And it's
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not as if Pritchard is divorcing himself completely from the company.
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I mean, by all accounts, he's just taking a scaled
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back role. He's going to be a consultant, which means
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he'll still have a voice in things. He's not just,
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you know, up and vanishing the way that Vince did.
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But he is part of this bygone era. He's part
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of this past regime. And I do think that in
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the current creative state that WWE finds itself in, any
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sort of major shakeup is a good thing. Do I
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see things radically changing? I don't. And I'm being very
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careful here not to sort of overplay this or oversell it. Oh,
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this is some sort of monstrous shakeup within WWE. It's
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really not. Like, until I see evidence of that, it's
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really not. Because at the end of the day, you
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still have, you know, Paul Levesque is leading the creative team.
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He's the chief content officer. And he's got all the
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usual faces and voices and Michael Hayes and everybody else
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sitting in the room with him. And there may be
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certain things that they can and can't do just based
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on the whims of TKO. None of that is changing.
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None of that is changing. So I don't suddenly expect
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there to be some sort of radical shift in the
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way that we watch Raw and SmackDown every week. But
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any sort of change is welcome. Any sort of change
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to me is a positive thing until it's not. Until
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I see evidence of the opposite. Any sort of change
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is a good thing until it's not. And I think
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that's a good mantra to live by here. Because one
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thing that, the word that really pops in my head
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when I watch WWE programming, and this is especially true
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of Friday nights, uninspired. The product is just uninspired right now.
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I mean, they're trying to get something going with the
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bloodline and the 9-4-6 stuff on Raw. And Raw is
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a much more digestible show, even though it's a little
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bit longer than SmackDown. You know, two and a half
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hours instead of two. It's a more easily digestible quality
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show on most weeks as opposed to SmackDown. But let's
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not also pretend that Raw is some great show on
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most weeks because it's not. SmackDown just happens to be
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that much worse. Any sort of shakeup creatively within WWE
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is welcome. Chris Van Vliet, he just dropped an interview
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with the NXT champion, Grayson Waller, where Waller talked about
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00:18:10.619 --> 00:18:14.730
CM Punk, AJ Styles, and Shawn Michaels all shaping the
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future of the industry. Talk about perfect timing. But this
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is one quote from Waller in that interview. He said,
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AJ is a big one, especially since he's been coming
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down to NXT recently and producing and working in the
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ring with guys. And he's really, really fun to work
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with because I'm an AJ Styles fan. But he lets
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you go and he lets you do things and just
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makes everything better. He doesn't force you to do things. Hey,
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what do you need to do this? He's just like, well,
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what do you want to do? All right, well, what
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if we do that? And you're like, oh, that's the
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best idea. So I wish I got to get in
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the ring more with him. I only got a few chances,
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but even him now coming down to NXT and helping out.
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When I finished the match with EK Prosper the other week,
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I came back through the curtain and And the three
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guys standing at the curtain were Shawn, AJ, and CM Punk.
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That's three generations of guys who know how much they
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care about the business and how much they want to
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give back. This is a young kid in EK Prosper who,
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just in 24 hours notice, got put in the biggest
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match of his life and he got beat. But seeing
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the look on their face when he came back through
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tells me everything I need to know about the future
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of the industry because those three guys are shaping it.
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00:19:22.980 --> 00:19:26.000
Now let's take these guys one by one. Shawn Michaels.
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WrestleVotes had a note this week, says Sean has built
349
00:19:29.740 --> 00:19:32.819
a lot of strong, honest relationships with the talent that
350
00:19:32.859 --> 00:19:35.180
he has coached in NXT over the last several years.
351
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His move to executive director taking over for Bruce Prichard
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will do wonders for some young careers. His influence will
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not go unnoticed. So you're going to hear a lot
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about creative and what new ideas may be brought to
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the table now with Bruce Prichard stepping out of this
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role and maybe Shawn Michaels is going to have more
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of a role or a voice. And we don't know that,
358
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but this right here may be the biggest influence that
359
00:20:00.059 --> 00:20:02.759
Shawn Michaels has in this new position, if in fact
360
00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:05.880
he ends up in this position, is that so many
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of the people right now that are on that roster
362
00:20:09.210 --> 00:20:12.029
So many of those men and women came through that
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NXT system under Shawn Michaels in the post-Black and Gold era.
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00:20:16.359 --> 00:20:18.720
He helped build them up. He knows their strengths. He
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00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:21.839
knows their weaknesses, if they have any. He's had working
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relationships with them. I mean, you look at the call-ups
367
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this year alone. I made a list of all the
368
00:20:27.849 --> 00:20:33.839
NXT call-ups in 2026 so far. Obafemi. Javon Evans, and
369
00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:37.000
Trick Williams. Those are the three big ones, right? We
370
00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:40.539
know where Obafemi is going, and Obafemi has been protected,
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00:20:40.619 --> 00:20:42.720
and he's going to be in the WrestleMania main event
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00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:45.079
next year. Okay, he's going to be the World Heavyweight Champion.
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Javon Evans has been booked pretty damn strong on Raw.
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I mean, they gave him that big spot in the
375
00:20:51.500 --> 00:20:53.700
Money in the Bank match, but even what they have
376
00:20:53.740 --> 00:20:56.220
him doing now, he just had a WWE Championship match
377
00:20:56.259 --> 00:20:59.200
last Monday with Sami Zayn, You could tell the effort
378
00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:01.980
that they are putting in, they see something in him,
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00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.509
young as he is, that they want to push him
380
00:21:05.589 --> 00:21:09.369
now to get him to that top level. Trick Williams.
381
00:21:10.109 --> 00:21:12.670
I mean, he's got a natural charisma about him that
382
00:21:12.690 --> 00:21:15.769
just screams superstar. He's only been on the main roster,
383
00:21:15.930 --> 00:21:19.609
you know, for less than a year. Two-time United States champion.
384
00:21:19.670 --> 00:21:23.420
He was wrestling the WWE champion on Friday night. Big
385
00:21:23.460 --> 00:21:26.109
things in his future, too. He's got superstar written all
386
00:21:26.180 --> 00:21:28.210
over him. So, so far, so good with those three.
387
00:21:28.670 --> 00:21:31.349
Then you look at the rest of the list. Ethan Page.
388
00:21:32.210 --> 00:21:37.289
Ricky Saints. Joe Hendry. Or Job Hendry, as most people
389
00:21:37.410 --> 00:21:41.309
are calling him now. Fucking 30 seconds, he got killed.
390
00:21:41.349 --> 00:21:44.079
He got slaughtered by Bronson Reed on Main Event this
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00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:46.900
past week, for those who watch Main Event. Sol Ruka.
392
00:21:47.660 --> 00:21:52.549
Blake Monroe. Fatal Influence, all three members, JC Jane, Laney Reed,
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00:21:52.609 --> 00:21:57.339
Fallon Henley, Tatum Paxley. And then you have Bronco Nima
394
00:21:57.400 --> 00:22:00.859
and Lucian Price, OTM, who are part of the 9-4-6.
395
00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:03.019
They're in a very cushy spot right now. We still
396
00:22:03.079 --> 00:22:06.019
haven't even seen them wrestle a tag team match. They've
397
00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:09.119
had one six-man tag team match. But we haven't really
398
00:22:09.220 --> 00:22:12.220
seen what they can do or what their long-term future
399
00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:13.680
on Raw is going to be. They're in a really
400
00:22:13.700 --> 00:22:16.480
good spot right now. The jury is out on them.
401
00:22:17.410 --> 00:22:18.950
But you look at all these other names that I
402
00:22:18.990 --> 00:22:21.349
just read out loud to you outside of Oba, Javon,
403
00:22:21.390 --> 00:22:24.150
and Trick, and it's very hit or miss. Ethan Page
404
00:22:24.210 --> 00:22:27.410
is actually getting an Intercontinental title match tomorrow night against
405
00:22:27.450 --> 00:22:30.869
Chad Gable. He may well win that championship from Chad Gable.
406
00:22:31.589 --> 00:22:33.910
But things kind of went silent there for many months,
407
00:22:33.970 --> 00:22:35.950
and Ethan Page hasn't really been doing a whole hell
408
00:22:35.990 --> 00:22:37.630
of a lot. So for me, it's been a very
409
00:22:37.769 --> 00:22:41.440
mixed bag for him this year. Ricky Saints. I just
410
00:22:41.500 --> 00:22:44.039
pointed this out in my SmackDown post show on Friday night.
411
00:22:44.099 --> 00:22:46.480
Ricky Sainz has had a bunch of matches with Rey
412
00:22:46.549 --> 00:22:49.930
Fenix for the AAA Cruiserweight title. And then there was
413
00:22:50.309 --> 00:22:52.250
a six-man tag team match a couple of weeks ago
414
00:22:52.289 --> 00:22:54.710
that both of them were a part of. It's not
415
00:22:54.769 --> 00:22:58.359
looking good for Ricky these last several weeks. He's now
416
00:22:58.410 --> 00:23:02.539
lost three straight to Rey Fenix in singles title matches.
417
00:23:02.819 --> 00:23:04.880
And he took the losing fall in that six-man tag
418
00:23:04.900 --> 00:23:07.900
team match. And prior to that, he's another one who
419
00:23:08.980 --> 00:23:11.140
Wasn't really doing a whole hell of a lot on SmackDown.
420
00:23:12.519 --> 00:23:14.799
What is Ricky Saints going to look like? What position,
421
00:23:14.819 --> 00:23:16.880
what spot is he going to be in six months
422
00:23:16.900 --> 00:23:22.250
from now, 12 months from now? Very uncertain. Joe Hendry,
423
00:23:23.049 --> 00:23:25.329
one of the hardest workers in the room, nice guy,
424
00:23:25.829 --> 00:23:29.430
got himself over organically in TNA, which is what got
425
00:23:29.450 --> 00:23:34.890
him a job in WWE. NXT champion. He has his fans.
426
00:23:34.910 --> 00:23:38.670
He's popular. But my God, look at the way that
427
00:23:38.710 --> 00:23:41.299
he has been booked on television this year, when he
428
00:23:41.380 --> 00:23:46.240
is actually able to get on television. Him and Jordan Grace,
429
00:23:46.500 --> 00:23:49.480
those are the two signings from TNA. They were taken
430
00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:53.500
from TNA, and WWE proceeded to do absolutely fuck all
431
00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:56.859
with them. Joe Hendry's stock has dropped faster than my
432
00:23:56.920 --> 00:23:59.240
stomach did when I saw that Nikki Bella was challenging
433
00:23:59.269 --> 00:24:04.009
for the Women's Championship the other night. He's cooked. Sol Ruka.
434
00:24:04.819 --> 00:24:07.579
Pushed her pretty hot when she first came up, and
435
00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:09.660
then they kind of pulled back on it. And now she's,
436
00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:11.619
I don't know, she's just kind of there. Again, the
437
00:24:11.660 --> 00:24:15.500
jury is out. Blake Monroe, Blake Monroe should absolutely be
438
00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:18.940
a Women's World Champion next year. It took months and
439
00:24:18.980 --> 00:24:20.680
months to even get to the point where she was
440
00:24:20.740 --> 00:24:24.849
even on television doing anything. I'm still very optimistic that
441
00:24:24.890 --> 00:24:26.829
she will end up being a big star in that division.
442
00:24:26.890 --> 00:24:30.849
But again, even Blake Monroe herself. It was on Busted
443
00:24:30.890 --> 00:24:33.150
Open Radio this week, and she admitted that she started
444
00:24:33.210 --> 00:24:36.869
having self-doubt this year based on the booking or the
445
00:24:36.930 --> 00:24:42.630
lack thereof. Even she was starting to doubt herself. Fatal Influence,
446
00:24:43.230 --> 00:24:46.190
they came out of the gate pretty strong. And now,
447
00:24:46.230 --> 00:24:48.589
I mean, not that they're in a bad position. They're
448
00:24:48.609 --> 00:24:53.130
doing okay for themselves. JC Jane, very good. I think
449
00:24:53.230 --> 00:24:55.369
Fallon Henley has a lot of singles potential as well.
450
00:24:56.089 --> 00:24:58.250
So we'll see where things go with the individual members
451
00:24:58.289 --> 00:25:02.089
in 2027. Tatum Paxley, she just got called up fairly recently.
452
00:25:02.730 --> 00:25:04.779
Put her in a position with Charlotte Flair and Alexa
453
00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:06.599
Bliss where they're trying to put some shine and some
454
00:25:06.660 --> 00:25:09.539
attention on her. But it's still too early to say.
455
00:25:11.059 --> 00:25:14.880
So it's a mixed bag overall. And not everybody is
456
00:25:14.940 --> 00:25:17.109
going to be or has to be a world champion.
457
00:25:17.150 --> 00:25:19.309
You don't just dictate success. Well, have they won a
458
00:25:19.329 --> 00:25:21.650
world title yet? No? Well, then they're buried. That's not
459
00:25:21.710 --> 00:25:24.630
how it works. But it's a very mixed thing, and
460
00:25:24.670 --> 00:25:27.990
having someone like Shawn Michaels, who is, you know, intimately aware,
461
00:25:28.069 --> 00:25:29.849
as I said, of the strengths and weaknesses and the
462
00:25:29.890 --> 00:25:32.369
ins and outs of these people, having him in the
463
00:25:32.390 --> 00:25:35.859
position that Bruce is in right now, and if he
464
00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:38.220
is going to have more of a say in what
465
00:25:38.299 --> 00:25:40.700
some of these people are doing, I think it's going
466
00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:43.859
to benefit them immensely. And he may be able to
467
00:25:43.900 --> 00:25:47.109
bring stuff out of them that, you know, Paul Levesque cannot,
468
00:25:47.369 --> 00:25:49.769
because Paul Levesque did not have a hand in their
469
00:25:49.789 --> 00:25:52.849
development in the way that Shawn Michaels did. So the
470
00:25:52.890 --> 00:25:55.220
benefits that he could potentially bring to the table here
471
00:25:55.259 --> 00:25:58.220
go far beyond any sort of creative idea or pitch
472
00:25:58.460 --> 00:26:02.539
he comes up with for someone. Then you have CM Punk.
473
00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.140
Saw his name mentioned. CM Punk has said before he
474
00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:08.119
wants to take over the entire thing. He would love
475
00:26:08.140 --> 00:26:10.440
to be the one running NXT when Shawn Michaels was
476
00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:13.950
kind of done with it and either promoted or retired
477
00:26:14.109 --> 00:26:16.009
or whatever. And here we are now in a situation
478
00:26:16.029 --> 00:26:18.789
where Shawn Michaels, it looks like, is being promoted. CM
479
00:26:18.829 --> 00:26:21.240
Punk's still very much full-time in the ring with WWE.
480
00:26:22.789 --> 00:26:24.130
You know, a couple of years ago, I don't remember
481
00:26:24.170 --> 00:26:25.769
what it was. It was either a signing or a
482
00:26:25.809 --> 00:26:29.630
panel or something. Big E, he joked that Punk was
483
00:26:29.650 --> 00:26:32.309
going to try to steal NXT away from Shawn Michaels.
484
00:26:33.269 --> 00:26:35.089
And Punk said, oh, he would love to work with
485
00:26:35.150 --> 00:26:38.009
Shawn and learn how he does things. But, you know,
486
00:26:38.049 --> 00:26:40.339
he would want to take baby steps. He would want
487
00:26:40.380 --> 00:26:44.099
to learn how to crawl basically before he walks or
488
00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:46.480
walk before he runs when it comes to that stuff.
489
00:26:47.539 --> 00:26:50.019
So he definitely has an interest in helping out down there.
490
00:26:50.059 --> 00:26:51.859
And I think he already does that to a degree.
491
00:26:52.509 --> 00:26:55.890
You heard from Grayson Waller. Maybe he could do more
492
00:26:55.910 --> 00:26:59.359
of that, but to be in the HBK spot, like
493
00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:02.980
that's a full-time job. You cannot be a main event
494
00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:06.839
talent on Raw and SmackDown and be running developmental at
495
00:27:06.859 --> 00:27:09.079
the same time, right? That is just not going to work.
496
00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:11.980
But I think CM Punk having more of a role
497
00:27:12.049 --> 00:27:14.390
in talent development, and he has said before where I
498
00:27:14.430 --> 00:27:17.569
want to help, you know, not train, but I want
499
00:27:17.589 --> 00:27:20.509
to help give back to the younger talent in a
500
00:27:20.549 --> 00:27:23.170
way that people did not do for me when I
501
00:27:23.210 --> 00:27:25.589
was coming up. And a lot of the people in
502
00:27:25.650 --> 00:27:29.029
NXT probably grew up fans of CM Punk. They probably
503
00:27:29.069 --> 00:27:31.470
are starstruck every time you come to the Performance Center.
504
00:27:32.269 --> 00:27:34.150
But having a veteran like him who's been doing this
505
00:27:34.190 --> 00:27:36.730
for a long time, has had a lot of life experiences, right,
506
00:27:36.829 --> 00:27:40.210
in and out of WWE, good and bad, he could be,
507
00:27:40.710 --> 00:27:45.500
you know, invaluable to NXT. AJ Styles is the name
508
00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:47.859
that's being floated around potentially as the person who could
509
00:27:47.900 --> 00:27:51.380
effectively take over the Shawn Michaels role. I'm still not
510
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:54.589
sure what his role exactly has been since his retirement.
511
00:27:54.630 --> 00:27:56.809
He was on his podcast, previously said that he and
512
00:27:56.990 --> 00:28:00.009
WWE were trying to figure that out. I don't even
513
00:28:00.049 --> 00:28:03.009
know if there's a title for his role. I think
514
00:28:03.049 --> 00:28:06.549
he talked about almost being like a counselor backstage for
515
00:28:06.569 --> 00:28:09.170
the talent. Like, are you doing okay? You know, what's
516
00:28:09.210 --> 00:28:11.279
going on? He was talking about doing that sort of thing.
517
00:28:11.299 --> 00:28:14.880
Are there any issues you want to talk through? But
518
00:28:14.910 --> 00:28:17.380
I know he's also hit up some independent shows. He's
519
00:28:17.420 --> 00:28:19.579
been scouting talent. Part of that may be that he's
520
00:28:19.640 --> 00:28:21.779
also been going to indie shows to kind of follow
521
00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:25.160
along in his son's career. But, you know, he has
522
00:28:25.180 --> 00:28:29.349
a lot of those responsibilities as well. He handpicked certain
523
00:28:29.390 --> 00:28:32.589
people for their SummerSlam tryouts a few months ago in Minneapolis.
524
00:28:32.630 --> 00:28:34.390
At the time on his podcast, he said, I know
525
00:28:34.410 --> 00:28:36.630
that I've brought in certain guys and girls who may
526
00:28:36.670 --> 00:28:39.289
not meet the standards of height and weight that they're
527
00:28:39.309 --> 00:28:41.619
looking for. But it's what I see that I think
528
00:28:41.670 --> 00:28:44.549
makes them special. And I think they deserve an opportunity
529
00:28:44.589 --> 00:28:47.710
to be looked at. And Brooke Havoc was one of
530
00:28:47.730 --> 00:28:50.150
the people that he scouted and recommended for a tryout.
531
00:28:50.190 --> 00:28:52.430
He said she looks so different than everything I've seen
532
00:28:52.490 --> 00:28:54.579
in wrestling right now because a lot of what I see,
533
00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:59.299
especially down at the PC, it's been blonde hair, blue
534
00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:01.900
eyed guys. And, you know, whereas she kind of has
535
00:29:01.940 --> 00:29:05.259
that emo look to her. She's dark haired and just different.
536
00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:07.980
I like that about her. She was actually the first
537
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:10.339
one I wanted to get on trial. She was my
538
00:29:10.420 --> 00:29:13.309
first pick. I was just on an indie show checking
539
00:29:13.369 --> 00:29:15.009
out other talent and she was on it and I
540
00:29:15.029 --> 00:29:20.329
was like, who is this? So I'm really excited. And that's, again,
541
00:29:20.349 --> 00:29:24.289
a valid perspective where you look at a lot of
542
00:29:24.309 --> 00:29:28.109
the people they may tend to recruit in developmental and
543
00:29:28.130 --> 00:29:30.369
many of them may look the same. They may all
544
00:29:30.430 --> 00:29:33.390
be a certain height. All the women, they may have,
545
00:29:33.950 --> 00:29:36.730
by and large, blonde hair and have the same sort
546
00:29:36.750 --> 00:29:40.079
of figure or physique. And it's good to kind of
547
00:29:40.119 --> 00:29:42.799
break away from that and not have everybody looking and
548
00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:46.059
feeling and sounding the same. I'm not saying that Shawn
549
00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:50.559
Michaels doesn't agree with that perspective, but clearly they were
550
00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:54.519
recruiting a certain type. And if someone like AJ Styles
551
00:29:54.579 --> 00:29:56.440
comes in and says, you know what, I think we
552
00:29:56.460 --> 00:29:59.089
need to get away from that. I like the fact
553
00:29:59.109 --> 00:30:01.089
that this guy and this girl, they look different. They
554
00:30:01.130 --> 00:30:04.170
sound different. They're not exactly the same. We need more variety.
555
00:30:04.230 --> 00:30:07.829
That's what wrestling needs. You need that variety. Not everybody
556
00:30:07.869 --> 00:30:11.269
can look the same. So that's a good thing. I
557
00:30:11.289 --> 00:30:13.589
think that's a good, that's a positive sign that that's
558
00:30:13.609 --> 00:30:15.730
the way that AJ's thinking. But AJ's been doing this.
559
00:30:15.750 --> 00:30:17.809
I mean, he's been around the business for what, 25
560
00:30:17.809 --> 00:30:21.660
years now, 30 years? So he brings a perspective to
561
00:30:21.720 --> 00:30:24.819
it that I think could also be invaluable. One thought
562
00:30:24.839 --> 00:30:27.519
that I did have, and before I even mention this, Bayley.
563
00:30:28.410 --> 00:30:33.279
Bayley has run her lodestone women's wrestling camps. I think
564
00:30:33.319 --> 00:30:36.339
she's done three of them so far that have been
565
00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:39.519
highly attended and highly praised. And I think Bayley is
566
00:30:39.539 --> 00:30:42.609
going to end up being somebody who absolutely is going
567
00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:46.490
to be a key figure in women's wrestling development. And
568
00:30:46.549 --> 00:30:50.329
Natty will as well. Natty has her dungeon camps that
569
00:30:50.390 --> 00:30:53.769
she does down in Florida. I think Bayley and Natty
570
00:30:53.809 --> 00:30:56.190
both are going to play a very, very crucial role,
571
00:30:56.230 --> 00:30:59.589
likely for WWE. at the PC when it comes to
572
00:31:00.069 --> 00:31:04.490
women's wrestling and women's recruitment and training going forward. You know,
573
00:31:04.529 --> 00:31:08.470
in the way that, like, Sarah Amato is or used
574
00:31:08.509 --> 00:31:10.039
to be praised for that sort of thing, that's going
575
00:31:10.059 --> 00:31:13.160
to be Bayley and Natty in the future. But as
576
00:31:13.180 --> 00:31:16.700
far as these key changes I just got done talking about,
577
00:31:16.740 --> 00:31:19.740
and Bruce, you know, stepping away, and then maybe, you know,
578
00:31:19.819 --> 00:31:21.680
Sean is going to take over the role, I did
579
00:31:21.700 --> 00:31:25.130
have a thought, though. Nobody has mentioned Mark Calloway. Nobody
580
00:31:25.150 --> 00:31:27.049
has mentioned The Undertaker in all of this. And I
581
00:31:27.089 --> 00:31:30.240
know everybody was, for most of the year, praising, oh
582
00:31:30.259 --> 00:31:33.259
my god, what Undertaker is doing in AAA. This is amazing.
583
00:31:33.299 --> 00:31:37.740
And really, it's Undertaker and Jeremy Borash. But I'm surprised
584
00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:41.920
that nobody has really brought up the idea that, would
585
00:31:41.940 --> 00:31:44.930
it not make more sense for Undertaker to sort of
586
00:31:44.950 --> 00:31:47.769
get a promotion out of this? Out of AAA and
587
00:31:47.809 --> 00:31:51.329
maybe him in that spot that Shawn had in NXT.
588
00:31:52.359 --> 00:31:55.289
And then maybe AJ Styles could take the role that
589
00:31:55.710 --> 00:31:59.369
Undertaker had with AAA. AAA sort of feels to me
590
00:31:59.410 --> 00:32:02.230
like I don't get to watch the weekly shows all
591
00:32:02.269 --> 00:32:04.490
the time, but I do try to follow what's going on,
592
00:32:04.670 --> 00:32:06.269
or I see clips if there's a match I want
593
00:32:06.289 --> 00:32:08.309
to see highlights of, or I just want to follow
594
00:32:08.329 --> 00:32:11.130
what's going on with El Grande Americano. And I saw
595
00:32:11.150 --> 00:32:14.819
he and Dom had another match recently where Rey Mysterio
596
00:32:14.890 --> 00:32:17.980
fucked over Dom. And it just feels like they may
597
00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:22.160
have plateaued. It doesn't feel like That excitement that was
598
00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:25.480
around the AAA product even a few months ago isn't
599
00:32:25.529 --> 00:32:28.289
there right now. So I do question as we head
600
00:32:28.329 --> 00:32:31.710
into this new year very soon, what does the immediate
601
00:32:31.789 --> 00:32:34.369
future look like for AAA? Who are they building up
602
00:32:35.089 --> 00:32:38.750
for El Grande Americano as the next big villain in AAA?
603
00:32:39.109 --> 00:32:42.210
And for how much longer is his popularity going to
604
00:32:42.269 --> 00:32:44.519
be at the level that it's currently at? Because you
605
00:32:44.539 --> 00:32:46.500
run the risk of him plateauing if he doesn't have
606
00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:50.670
good heels and good villains to work with. So I
607
00:32:50.710 --> 00:32:53.319
don't know what that's going to look like for AAA
608
00:32:53.339 --> 00:32:57.039
when we hit early 2027. But do you expect Undertaker
609
00:32:57.059 --> 00:32:59.440
to be down there for what, the next five years?
610
00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:01.940
You would expect that he would get a promotion at
611
00:33:01.980 --> 00:33:04.539
some point. He has shown that he has a certain
612
00:33:04.700 --> 00:33:07.539
aptitude for it. I'm sure at some point they will
613
00:33:07.960 --> 00:33:10.809
kind of level him up to a different position, working
614
00:33:10.869 --> 00:33:13.950
with one of their key brands. If Shawn is taking
615
00:33:13.990 --> 00:33:16.170
the Bruce spot on the main roster, you got DX
616
00:33:16.250 --> 00:33:19.250
running the show on the main roster, that really only
617
00:33:19.309 --> 00:33:22.579
leaves NXT. I'm kind of surprised that I haven't seen
618
00:33:22.619 --> 00:33:24.440
his name brought up, unless that's just something he's not
619
00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:27.920
interested in. But I know AJ Styles has been hanging
620
00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:30.519
around the PC for a while now, so maybe there's
621
00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:33.069
a familiarity there with him and they want to go
622
00:33:33.109 --> 00:33:35.529
with him in that spot. Politically, I think it'll be
623
00:33:35.569 --> 00:33:38.490
very interesting also to follow this. If there's any sort
624
00:33:38.529 --> 00:33:41.089
of political angling going on here, if there's like a
625
00:33:41.190 --> 00:33:45.049
power struggle, I do wonder if there is some of
626
00:33:45.099 --> 00:33:48.240
that that may be going on there. Because we've heard
627
00:33:48.299 --> 00:33:51.640
Cody Rhodes and CM Punk and even Seth Rollins openly
628
00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:55.140
talk in the past about when Triple H is no
629
00:33:55.180 --> 00:33:57.369
longer in the spot that he's in. I would love
630
00:33:57.410 --> 00:33:59.250
to have a chance to be in that spot. But
631
00:33:59.269 --> 00:34:01.950
these other guys are also interested. You don't think there
632
00:34:01.990 --> 00:34:04.589
isn't going to be some sort of political maneuvering going
633
00:34:04.670 --> 00:34:07.170
on when it comes to that? Come on now. They're
634
00:34:07.230 --> 00:34:09.639
all licking their chops just waiting for that chair to
635
00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:14.300
open up. But on the subject of WWE creative, one
636
00:34:14.360 --> 00:34:17.159
chair that will not be opening up is one for...
637
00:34:17.780 --> 00:34:24.239
Vince Russo, bro. Bro, I had a meeting with Nick Khan, bro.
638
00:34:24.500 --> 00:34:29.510
We had a conversation about wrestling, bro. I want to
639
00:34:29.570 --> 00:34:35.809
help book wrestling for the WWE, bro. Yes, on Tuesday,
640
00:34:35.909 --> 00:34:39.610
Conrad Thompson, who is now doing a weekly column for Uncrowned,
641
00:34:40.469 --> 00:34:44.599
wrote that Vince Russo held talks with WWE this summer.
642
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:51.679
about a shocking return to creative after 27 years. Fightful
643
00:34:51.719 --> 00:34:54.900
followed up and said, Conrad Thompson published an article that
644
00:34:54.940 --> 00:34:58.119
stated Vince Russo had talks with WWE this year. Sources
645
00:34:58.199 --> 00:35:02.010
at WWE headquarters told us that they heard Nick Khan
646
00:35:02.050 --> 00:35:05.510
had conversations with Russo but aren't sure how serious they were.
647
00:35:06.110 --> 00:35:09.010
Sources familiar with the situation said that Russo was either
648
00:35:09.690 --> 00:35:13.539
at WWE headquarters at one point or was under consideration
649
00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:16.280
for a visit there. However, the news didn't make it
650
00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:20.530
to the rest of the WWE staff. None of the agents, producers, writers,
651
00:35:20.610 --> 00:35:23.349
or staff that go on the road had heard about this,
652
00:35:23.909 --> 00:35:27.530
with some influential names laughing it off. Oh, I'll bet.
653
00:35:28.489 --> 00:35:31.130
Even those who worked closely with Nick Khan said that
654
00:35:31.250 --> 00:35:33.570
it had not been brought up to them at any point,
655
00:35:33.650 --> 00:35:37.039
and they first heard about it upon the Conrad Thompson article.
656
00:35:38.500 --> 00:35:41.579
And then Mike Johnson of PW Insider had some further
657
00:35:41.619 --> 00:35:44.429
words about this that said, even though Conrad himself poured
658
00:35:44.510 --> 00:35:47.150
water on the idea that Russo likely would not work
659
00:35:47.210 --> 00:35:51.190
in today's WWE creative machine headed by Paul Levesque, that
660
00:35:51.230 --> 00:35:54.309
hasn't stopped discussion of the situation. So what was the reality?
661
00:35:54.650 --> 00:35:57.360
PW Insider can confirm that the story making the rounds
662
00:35:57.389 --> 00:36:01.239
within WWE is that Russo initiated contact with Nick Khan,
663
00:36:01.500 --> 00:36:05.639
seeking a potential role, but nothing really came of the overture.
664
00:36:06.139 --> 00:36:09.550
WWE sources also confirmed that their was no movement toward
665
00:36:09.570 --> 00:36:14.360
officially hiring Russo at any point in 2026. Russo has
666
00:36:14.420 --> 00:36:19.139
not yet commented on any conversations with Nick Khan. And
667
00:36:19.159 --> 00:36:20.849
that's what I said the other day. I did a
668
00:36:20.949 --> 00:36:24.309
YouTube short. The day after this story broke and I
669
00:36:24.349 --> 00:36:27.010
had read about it, I had to say something about this.
670
00:36:27.809 --> 00:36:31.059
And I said, this was absolutely something that was initiated
671
00:36:31.099 --> 00:36:34.639
by Vince Russo. Because I cannot imagine that Nick Khan
672
00:36:34.659 --> 00:36:36.260
would be in a position to pick up the phone
673
00:36:36.280 --> 00:36:38.840
and call Vince Russo about anything other than to maybe
674
00:36:38.900 --> 00:36:42.400
bring him in for some sort of Legends-type deal. Not
675
00:36:42.440 --> 00:36:44.639
for a creative role. And imagine if he did, by
676
00:36:44.679 --> 00:36:47.469
the way. What would that say about his faith in
677
00:36:47.530 --> 00:36:51.349
Paul Levesque as the chief content officer and the head
678
00:36:51.369 --> 00:36:53.869
of creative for this company that Nick Khan, the president
679
00:36:53.889 --> 00:36:55.690
of the company, would go over his head to make
680
00:36:55.730 --> 00:36:58.510
an outreach and an overture to Vince Russo for a
681
00:36:58.590 --> 00:37:00.610
creative position in the company? That would be a whole
682
00:37:00.650 --> 00:37:04.500
controversy in and of itself. and an indictment on what
683
00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:06.510
they think about Triple H and the job he's doing.
684
00:37:07.769 --> 00:37:10.190
So this absolutely was something that Russo reached out for.
685
00:37:10.889 --> 00:37:13.630
And Russo, you know, he was with the Juggalos. He
686
00:37:13.849 --> 00:37:17.050
was writing the head booker for Juggalo Championship Wrestling for
687
00:37:17.090 --> 00:37:19.510
almost a year. And it was only in the last
688
00:37:19.550 --> 00:37:22.929
couple of months or so that he departed that promotion,
689
00:37:23.010 --> 00:37:26.400
supposedly on amicable terms, although he has since talked about
690
00:37:26.960 --> 00:37:29.780
all the reasons that he couldn't remain there and I
691
00:37:29.800 --> 00:37:32.579
think a lot of it boils down to Violent J,
692
00:37:32.639 --> 00:37:34.500
it's his baby, and he wants to book it the
693
00:37:34.539 --> 00:37:36.840
way that he wants to book it, and so Russo
694
00:37:37.260 --> 00:37:39.880
is like, you know what, peace out. You know, it's
695
00:37:39.920 --> 00:37:42.739
either my vision, you believe in my vision, or you
696
00:37:42.780 --> 00:37:44.159
can just take it back and do with it what
697
00:37:44.199 --> 00:37:46.719
you want, but I'm too old for this shit. That
698
00:37:46.739 --> 00:37:48.760
was basically the gist, I think, of what Russo said
699
00:37:48.800 --> 00:37:51.139
in his response to all of that and how that
700
00:37:51.179 --> 00:37:56.719
went down. As I said before, WWE creative needs a shakeup.
701
00:37:57.449 --> 00:38:00.250
The creative right now is not good. It is not
702
00:38:00.550 --> 00:38:03.769
the product. Some weeks it's almost unwatchable. Some of these
703
00:38:03.789 --> 00:38:07.090
television shows are so fucking dull and so fucking boring.
704
00:38:07.150 --> 00:38:08.869
And so I am not sitting here and telling you
705
00:38:08.909 --> 00:38:12.199
that everything is hunky dory and WWE doesn't need any
706
00:38:12.260 --> 00:38:15.860
help or they don't need any, you know, outside forces
707
00:38:15.920 --> 00:38:19.179
to help come in and offer a fresh perspective. Whoever
708
00:38:19.219 --> 00:38:21.969
that perspective comes from, I would certainly hope that they
709
00:38:22.010 --> 00:38:25.429
bring some fresh ideas and maybe unique ideas to the table.
710
00:38:26.610 --> 00:38:30.300
Vince Russo, the idea of Vince Russo, bro, coming back
711
00:38:30.340 --> 00:38:36.619
to WWE in any sort of creative capacity is laughable
712
00:38:36.920 --> 00:38:40.289
for so many different reasons. And I made these points
713
00:38:40.329 --> 00:38:41.849
the other day, and I think there were some people
714
00:38:41.889 --> 00:38:44.449
who might be Russo fans who sort of were missing
715
00:38:44.489 --> 00:38:48.489
the point of what I was saying here. Vince Russo
716
00:38:48.550 --> 00:38:53.340
coming into WWE as one voice of many In the room,
717
00:38:53.480 --> 00:38:56.039
when again, it's not really going to be his vision.
718
00:38:56.119 --> 00:38:58.079
I don't give a shit what they would say to him.
719
00:38:58.219 --> 00:39:01.000
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll bring you in and we'll
720
00:39:01.039 --> 00:39:03.079
allow you to go ahead and we'll give you X
721
00:39:03.119 --> 00:39:06.130
amount of months to go ahead and put your ideas
722
00:39:06.210 --> 00:39:10.090
forth and let them play. Bullshit. He would be coming
723
00:39:10.269 --> 00:39:15.170
in to a collaborative environment that he would not survive in.
724
00:39:16.460 --> 00:39:18.079
He would get sick of it. He would see the
725
00:39:18.139 --> 00:39:19.860
writing on the wall and be gone within a week.
726
00:39:19.880 --> 00:39:23.510
Do you remember when WWE almost brought him back in 2002?
727
00:39:23.510 --> 00:39:25.610
There was a period of time in the late spring,
728
00:39:25.670 --> 00:39:29.289
early summer, I think June maybe, of 2002, where Vince
729
00:39:29.309 --> 00:39:31.820
McMahon actually... was going to bring back Vince Russo and
730
00:39:31.880 --> 00:39:34.920
he did bring him in and Russo had a meeting
731
00:39:35.739 --> 00:39:37.539
with the creative team and he laid out all of
732
00:39:37.559 --> 00:39:39.179
his plans and I want to say that he was
733
00:39:39.199 --> 00:39:41.099
going to kind of push the reset button on things
734
00:39:41.239 --> 00:39:43.739
as far as who had belts and everything but he
735
00:39:43.800 --> 00:39:45.449
had all of these ideas for what he was going
736
00:39:45.489 --> 00:39:48.440
to do And then after he left and went home
737
00:39:48.500 --> 00:39:50.409
and Vince McMahon went back and checked in with all
738
00:39:50.449 --> 00:39:52.650
the people that met with Russo and got the feedback
739
00:39:52.690 --> 00:39:55.269
from the people who were in the room, it was
740
00:39:55.329 --> 00:39:59.510
very swift when he effectively pulled the offer and maybe
741
00:39:59.530 --> 00:40:02.030
he offered him some sort of consulting position. And Russo
742
00:40:02.050 --> 00:40:04.710
was like, fuck that, I'm not doing that. And he
743
00:40:04.769 --> 00:40:09.510
ended up in TNA. But again, it was like grand opening,
744
00:40:09.550 --> 00:40:12.239
grand closing. It was a big story at the time
745
00:40:12.300 --> 00:40:16.320
and it was quite comical how quickly that all went down.
746
00:40:17.250 --> 00:40:20.329
This would be very similar. And the thing is, that
747
00:40:20.389 --> 00:40:24.929
was 2002. We weren't that far removed from the era
748
00:40:25.070 --> 00:40:28.750
of Attitude and Crash TV and the Monday Night Wars.
749
00:40:29.650 --> 00:40:32.030
And so you could argue that Russo would have had
750
00:40:32.070 --> 00:40:34.550
more success for maybe a shorter period of time than
751
00:40:34.590 --> 00:40:37.949
he would ever have in a modern day version of WWE.
752
00:40:37.989 --> 00:40:41.380
Because WWE, the company that we see today, the company
753
00:40:41.429 --> 00:40:44.699
as it exists today, is not the same company that
754
00:40:44.719 --> 00:40:47.460
it was back in 2002, and it damn sure isn't
755
00:40:47.480 --> 00:40:49.719
the same company that it was when Russo was last
756
00:40:49.760 --> 00:40:55.340
there in 1999. This is a completely different entity. This
757
00:40:55.420 --> 00:40:59.340
is a corporate entity now in every sense of the word.
758
00:41:00.539 --> 00:41:04.059
This is TKO's WWE, and there ain't no way that
759
00:41:04.119 --> 00:41:08.389
Vince Russo, whether it's weeks or months, maybe days, would
760
00:41:08.409 --> 00:41:11.449
be able to coexist in that environment with Triple H
761
00:41:11.489 --> 00:41:14.070
and everybody else, and as soon as there's any pushback
762
00:41:14.110 --> 00:41:16.670
to his ideas or he pitches something, and then it
763
00:41:16.710 --> 00:41:19.849
gets changed or it gets rejected, he's not going to
764
00:41:19.909 --> 00:41:23.010
want his name attached to that. He talks about the
765
00:41:23.210 --> 00:41:25.750
WWE product on his end and his podcast like everybody
766
00:41:25.809 --> 00:41:27.510
else does, like I do, and like probably some of
767
00:41:27.550 --> 00:41:30.280
you do. He doesn't like it any more than anybody else.
768
00:41:30.320 --> 00:41:32.119
He thinks it's boring, he thinks it sucks, and he's
769
00:41:32.159 --> 00:41:33.699
got his reasons for that. And you know what? He's
770
00:41:33.739 --> 00:41:37.380
not completely wrong in everything that he's saying. I'm not
771
00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:41.469
even saying that he doesn't have some ideas. or some thoughts,
772
00:41:41.949 --> 00:41:46.239
critiques of the product that are invalid. There are a
773
00:41:46.260 --> 00:41:48.400
lot of points that he makes about the formatting of
774
00:41:48.440 --> 00:41:50.539
the show, and the placement of commercials, and the way
775
00:41:50.579 --> 00:41:53.079
that they do ins and outs of segments. Like, he
776
00:41:53.119 --> 00:41:56.420
does make a lot of sense. And the television was
777
00:41:56.480 --> 00:41:58.539
very different back then in the way it was formatted,
778
00:41:58.559 --> 00:41:59.900
and it was a lot better the way it was
779
00:41:59.940 --> 00:42:02.099
formatted back then. But they have their formula, and they
780
00:42:02.119 --> 00:42:03.780
have their way of doing things now, and they have
781
00:42:03.800 --> 00:42:05.989
a lot more in the way of commercials, and sponsors,
782
00:42:06.050 --> 00:42:09.119
and masters to serve. Again, it's a very different company
783
00:42:09.159 --> 00:42:12.659
than the one that he walked out of in 99.
784
00:42:12.659 --> 00:42:16.260
These are basic common sense things. So if Russo was
785
00:42:16.280 --> 00:42:19.619
going to have any sort of affiliation with WWE, what
786
00:42:19.659 --> 00:42:23.429
would really make sense would be a consulting role where
787
00:42:23.449 --> 00:42:25.550
he would watch the shows and he could offer some
788
00:42:25.590 --> 00:42:28.010
sort of written critique and send it into, whether it's
789
00:42:28.409 --> 00:42:30.869
Nick Khan directly or Triple H or whoever it were,
790
00:42:30.909 --> 00:42:33.530
I guess for the time being anyway, Pritchard, whoever it
791
00:42:33.570 --> 00:42:38.139
would be. That would, at least on some level, make sense.
792
00:42:39.139 --> 00:42:40.860
And who knows? Maybe that could have been an entry
793
00:42:40.900 --> 00:42:43.019
point for him. But it's also something that was offered
794
00:42:43.039 --> 00:42:46.460
to him by Vince McMahon about six or seven years ago.
795
00:42:46.960 --> 00:42:49.000
The last time that Russo and Vince had any sort
796
00:42:49.039 --> 00:42:51.820
of interaction. They were sending emails back and forth. Russo,
797
00:42:51.860 --> 00:42:53.360
of course, he reached out to him. He was looking
798
00:42:53.380 --> 00:42:55.699
for a job. Even though I think he claims, oh,
799
00:42:55.699 --> 00:42:57.570
I'm not looking for a job. But he was really
800
00:42:57.610 --> 00:43:00.969
looking for a job. And he was hoping that Vince
801
00:43:00.989 --> 00:43:03.570
McMahon would be receptive to maybe bringing him in or
802
00:43:03.630 --> 00:43:07.340
having a meeting or whatever. And I think, as I recall,
803
00:43:07.360 --> 00:43:09.550
I don't have all the details laid out in front
804
00:43:09.570 --> 00:43:11.909
of me, but as I recall, I think McMahon offered
805
00:43:12.010 --> 00:43:15.469
to give him the chance for maybe a few weeks
806
00:43:15.530 --> 00:43:19.179
on a trial basis to watch the television and then
807
00:43:19.260 --> 00:43:24.559
offer his feedback. And for free. He wasn't going to
808
00:43:24.619 --> 00:43:26.579
offer him any sort of paid position out of the
809
00:43:26.619 --> 00:43:29.000
gate or anything like that. If you want to offer
810
00:43:29.039 --> 00:43:33.139
some feedback and critiques on the shows. But he was
811
00:43:33.179 --> 00:43:35.380
looking for a fucking job. I don't care what he says.
812
00:43:35.639 --> 00:43:38.619
And I remember reading the emails that Russo posted. Because
813
00:43:38.639 --> 00:43:42.019
he posted these emails. And I remember reading the email
814
00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:46.239
response that he posted to Vince that basically soured McMahon
815
00:43:46.320 --> 00:43:50.170
on him forever. Even though they had a dialogue going on.
816
00:43:50.650 --> 00:43:53.150
And Russo responded in such a way that he basically
817
00:43:53.250 --> 00:43:55.510
torched any chance that there may have been of Vince
818
00:43:55.530 --> 00:43:58.909
McMahon actually bringing him back to the company. Because he
819
00:43:58.949 --> 00:44:02.239
was so pushy. in his response, and that was pretty
820
00:44:02.289 --> 00:44:04.329
much the end of it. And then Vince just went
821
00:44:04.409 --> 00:44:06.289
off on him, and McMahon did, and said, boy, you
822
00:44:06.329 --> 00:44:08.929
have an awfully high opinion of yourself, Vince. And he's like,
823
00:44:08.949 --> 00:44:11.269
you know, best to the family. And that was it.
824
00:44:11.289 --> 00:44:13.489
That was the last communication the two of them ever had.
825
00:44:13.800 --> 00:44:15.960
So I'm not even sure he would be interested in
826
00:44:16.019 --> 00:44:18.340
a consulting position. I guess it would depend on whether
827
00:44:18.360 --> 00:44:19.760
or not they would pay him and how much it
828
00:44:19.800 --> 00:44:22.400
would be. I'm just telling you, everything I'm just laying
829
00:44:22.480 --> 00:44:24.719
out for you here, all these past examples like this,
830
00:44:25.179 --> 00:44:29.130
if this went any further than a simple conversation, Between
831
00:44:29.210 --> 00:44:31.250
Russo and Nick Khan, this would have been, you know,
832
00:44:31.309 --> 00:44:33.449
as a content creator, this would have been glorious. I
833
00:44:33.510 --> 00:44:35.530
actually kind of regret that it didn't go further than
834
00:44:35.550 --> 00:44:37.639
that because it would have given me content for weeks
835
00:44:38.420 --> 00:44:41.019
here on the podcast. It would have been fantastic. Tens
836
00:44:41.059 --> 00:44:44.159
of thousands of views racked up. It would have been
837
00:44:44.179 --> 00:44:47.559
a content creator's dream. For WWE creative, though, it would
838
00:44:47.579 --> 00:44:49.940
have been a fucking disaster. For Russo, it would have
839
00:44:49.960 --> 00:44:52.349
been a disaster because it was just never going to work.
840
00:44:53.809 --> 00:44:55.190
And then also, if you just look at some of
841
00:44:55.230 --> 00:44:57.219
his other ideas, he is still stuck in the late 90s.
842
00:44:58.769 --> 00:45:02.650
There are certain elements to those television shows from that
843
00:45:02.710 --> 00:45:05.889
time period that I miss that I do think can
844
00:45:05.929 --> 00:45:10.110
be successfully applied to today's programming, even though it was
845
00:45:10.110 --> 00:45:13.289
30 years ago. Just because it's old, quote-unquote, doesn't mean
846
00:45:13.309 --> 00:45:15.170
it won't work today. But there are a lot of
847
00:45:15.230 --> 00:45:18.710
other ideas that Russo brings to the table that would
848
00:45:18.750 --> 00:45:25.349
not fly in 2027, almost. let alone in WWE. Like,
849
00:45:25.630 --> 00:45:28.110
this is what people don't understand. Even in JCW, it
850
00:45:28.130 --> 00:45:30.570
was an independent thing, and they do a lot of
851
00:45:30.639 --> 00:45:33.159
wild and wacky stuff there anyway. And one thing that
852
00:45:33.219 --> 00:45:36.139
Russo was always good at was trying to give everybody
853
00:45:36.239 --> 00:45:39.559
on the show some sort of character, some sort of role.
854
00:45:40.739 --> 00:45:43.320
The problem is many of those characters were not always
855
00:45:44.119 --> 00:45:46.469
such a good thing or good for the person who
856
00:45:46.510 --> 00:45:48.429
was playing it. Just because you give somebody something to
857
00:45:48.489 --> 00:45:51.289
do doesn't mean that it's going to be actually good
858
00:45:51.409 --> 00:45:54.519
or benefit them in the long run. But I always
859
00:45:54.559 --> 00:45:56.179
did like the idea that he tried to find a
860
00:45:56.219 --> 00:45:59.300
role for everybody. He tried to find something for everyone
861
00:45:59.340 --> 00:46:03.570
to do on the show. But the idea of him
862
00:46:03.619 --> 00:46:07.409
booking angles and storylines and characters and doing risque shit
863
00:46:08.329 --> 00:46:13.769
in this company, who they're so safe in everything that
864
00:46:13.789 --> 00:46:18.139
they do, it is comical to even think that he
865
00:46:18.179 --> 00:46:21.360
would believe that that would be good, that that would work.
866
00:46:22.619 --> 00:46:27.559
There's no way. There's just no way. I hope somebody
867
00:46:27.619 --> 00:46:30.480
can come along and give WWE creative the shot in
868
00:46:30.519 --> 00:46:32.599
the arm that it needs and can give them the
869
00:46:32.679 --> 00:46:35.960
boot in the ass that they need. Vince Russo is
870
00:46:36.019 --> 00:46:39.599
not that person. He's still hung up on casual viewers.
871
00:46:39.639 --> 00:46:41.579
You got to bring in the casuals, right? Because again,
872
00:46:41.599 --> 00:46:44.710
he's thinking of it in terms of like late 1990s.
873
00:46:44.739 --> 00:46:46.780
We got to just bring in everybody and we got
874
00:46:46.820 --> 00:46:48.900
to bring in people who want to see the cool characters.
875
00:46:48.940 --> 00:46:50.719
The problem is they have very few of those cool
876
00:46:50.760 --> 00:46:53.659
characters right now. There is no Stone Cold Steve Austin anymore.
877
00:46:54.170 --> 00:46:56.820
There is no rock. Now, I know he was one
878
00:46:56.840 --> 00:46:58.619
of the people involved in trying to kind of bring
879
00:46:58.639 --> 00:47:01.739
that out of them and helping create those stars. But
880
00:47:01.780 --> 00:47:04.619
the idea that Russo is going to come in and
881
00:47:04.820 --> 00:47:07.579
he is going to kind of deliver them to the
882
00:47:07.599 --> 00:47:10.079
promised land and all of a sudden they're going to
883
00:47:10.099 --> 00:47:13.699
just drop everything that they do and the way in
884
00:47:13.800 --> 00:47:16.480
which they book television to acquiesce to the way that
885
00:47:16.539 --> 00:47:19.780
Vince Russo thinks that television should be booked is never,
886
00:47:20.139 --> 00:47:25.579
ever going to happen. But this has... disaster written all
887
00:47:25.679 --> 00:47:27.820
over the idea that anybody would even think that this
888
00:47:27.900 --> 00:47:31.400
would be successful is fooling themselves i don't know if
889
00:47:31.440 --> 00:47:33.780
they're just stupid i don't know if they're delusional i
890
00:47:33.800 --> 00:47:35.469
don't know what it maybe it's a combination of both
891
00:47:36.309 --> 00:47:39.969
comical is another good word for it vince russo he
892
00:47:39.989 --> 00:47:42.510
doesn't even like wrestling he talks about it all the
893
00:47:42.550 --> 00:47:44.769
time he does the in-ring stuff right and you get
894
00:47:44.789 --> 00:47:47.409
that maybe more in aw like the in-ring bangers and
895
00:47:47.449 --> 00:47:50.340
all that But it's not like WWE doesn't do that, too,
896
00:47:50.400 --> 00:47:52.199
and you get a lot of really good in-ring matches
897
00:47:52.239 --> 00:47:55.179
and they have their focus on that. He doesn't give
898
00:47:55.219 --> 00:47:58.119
a shit about any of that. That's the polar opposite
899
00:47:58.159 --> 00:47:59.980
of the type of wrestling that he's looking to book.
900
00:48:01.070 --> 00:48:02.429
He wants to get away from that. He wants to
901
00:48:02.469 --> 00:48:05.070
get more back to the characters and the craziness and
902
00:48:05.090 --> 00:48:07.489
bringing in the casuals and like, you know, Joe Blow's
903
00:48:07.550 --> 00:48:09.570
flipping the channels at night, doesn't give a fuck about
904
00:48:09.630 --> 00:48:12.480
Chad Gable against Dragon Lee. He would be more in
905
00:48:12.539 --> 00:48:15.219
line with Chad Gable as the fucking illegitimate child of
906
00:48:15.260 --> 00:48:17.230
Kurt Angle. That's right up his alley. That's the sort
907
00:48:17.250 --> 00:48:19.909
of thing that you would be getting with him. He
908
00:48:19.929 --> 00:48:22.150
may have a good idea here and there for this
909
00:48:22.210 --> 00:48:26.210
person or that person, but everything that he represents, it
910
00:48:26.280 --> 00:48:28.260
flies in the face of the way the WWE does
911
00:48:28.300 --> 00:48:31.199
business right now. Oh my God, can you imagine like
912
00:48:31.599 --> 00:48:33.860
some of these nonsensical finishes that we get now, all
913
00:48:33.880 --> 00:48:37.519
the roll-ups and just all the terrible, terrible finishes in WWE.
914
00:48:37.539 --> 00:48:42.349
Can you imagine after a Modern day Russo regime in WWE,
915
00:48:43.090 --> 00:48:45.429
it'd be even worse. He doesn't give a shit about that.
916
00:48:45.449 --> 00:48:47.699
He doesn't care about the actual wrestling aspect of it.
917
00:48:48.570 --> 00:48:51.590
A disqualification here, a disqualification. They've got five of them
918
00:48:51.630 --> 00:48:53.289
on the same show. Who gives a shit, bro? It's
919
00:48:53.349 --> 00:48:57.630
just wrestling, bro. It would actually get worse, not better.
920
00:48:59.550 --> 00:49:01.170
We had a lot of women's matches on the show
921
00:49:01.230 --> 00:49:03.750
Monday night, and it was a good show on the whole,
922
00:49:03.849 --> 00:49:07.920
highlighted by a women's world championship match between Becky Lynch
923
00:49:07.980 --> 00:49:10.679
and Liv Morgan that was not even supposed to happen.
924
00:49:11.199 --> 00:49:13.420
It was supposed to be Becky against Stephanie Vicar, and
925
00:49:13.460 --> 00:49:16.119
a number one contender's match. Vicar, though, got pulled from
926
00:49:16.159 --> 00:49:20.940
the show, reportedly due to illness, not injury. and false
927
00:49:20.980 --> 00:49:24.599
finish says she is out indefinitely, which really just means
928
00:49:24.639 --> 00:49:27.710
they don't know. You know, once she's feeling better, whatever
929
00:49:27.750 --> 00:49:29.289
it is, she'll be back on TV. It could be
930
00:49:29.329 --> 00:49:31.369
a week, it could be three weeks, we don't know.
931
00:49:32.630 --> 00:49:35.429
And because Becky against Liv was not the original plan...
932
00:49:35.679 --> 00:49:39.530
We got a cheap disqualification finish with, what else, the
933
00:49:39.590 --> 00:49:43.110
Judgment Day running in. They still had a good match, though,
934
00:49:43.150 --> 00:49:44.809
up until that point. I thought it was the best
935
00:49:44.869 --> 00:49:48.090
match that Liv's had in a while. Chelsea Green came
936
00:49:48.190 --> 00:49:51.349
out after to make the save, and then EO Sky
937
00:49:51.469 --> 00:49:54.150
and then Tiffany Stratton for the second time in less
938
00:49:54.170 --> 00:49:56.690
than a week tried to cash in her Money in
939
00:49:56.710 --> 00:49:59.670
the Bank briefcase on Liv Morgan only for her attempt
940
00:49:59.809 --> 00:50:03.110
to be foiled. This is all a red herring to
941
00:50:03.150 --> 00:50:07.090
distract us from the coming cash-in on Chelsea Green. You're
942
00:50:07.130 --> 00:50:11.449
not fooling me. Bayley against Lyra Valkyria. They had a
943
00:50:11.489 --> 00:50:15.130
no disqualification match. I thought it was very good. They
944
00:50:15.250 --> 00:50:18.000
needed to end this strong because this feud has just
945
00:50:18.039 --> 00:50:21.179
sort of been limping along for a while now. And
946
00:50:21.199 --> 00:50:23.099
they did that. They had a very good match. Bayley
947
00:50:23.139 --> 00:50:24.980
went over. And I think it would make sense for
948
00:50:25.079 --> 00:50:27.480
one of them to make the move to SmackDown. In fact,
949
00:50:27.500 --> 00:50:29.699
I think Julia would benefit from a move to Raw.
950
00:50:30.329 --> 00:50:32.550
So maybe an even swap, right? I mean, if the
951
00:50:32.610 --> 00:50:35.409
GMs ever did trades, which they don't really do anymore,
952
00:50:36.170 --> 00:50:39.489
I would say Bailey for Julia or Lyra for Julia
953
00:50:39.530 --> 00:50:43.650
would be good for both sides. Royce Keyes against Solo
954
00:50:43.670 --> 00:50:47.170
Sakoa is on tap for tomorrow night in Brooklyn, as
955
00:50:47.210 --> 00:50:51.670
well as Chad Gable defending his Intercontinental title against Ethan Page.
956
00:50:52.630 --> 00:50:58.000
And tomorrow is also the return of John Cena. to
957
00:50:58.059 --> 00:51:02.820
announce new details about the John Cena classic. Finally, WrestleVotes
958
00:51:02.880 --> 00:51:05.800
Radio on Fightful Select had a report out on Thursday
959
00:51:06.619 --> 00:51:09.489
that there have been multiple meetings and creative discussions about
960
00:51:09.530 --> 00:51:12.570
the John Cena classic, with the company wanting to ensure
961
00:51:12.610 --> 00:51:16.130
it looks and feels fresh. We're told various individuals who
962
00:51:16.170 --> 00:51:19.710
don't typically weigh in on these types of projects were consulted,
963
00:51:20.309 --> 00:51:24.679
including Shawn Michaels and AJ Styles. While the initial idea
964
00:51:24.719 --> 00:51:27.340
was pitched as a showcase in a milestone program for
965
00:51:27.440 --> 00:51:31.480
Club WWE, a source indicated that the event will likely
966
00:51:31.519 --> 00:51:35.949
be streamed elsewhere. You can't make this event exclusive to
967
00:51:35.989 --> 00:51:39.489
Club WWE. I mean, that would just be ridiculous. But
968
00:51:39.510 --> 00:51:41.530
what I can see them doing is if I were them,
969
00:51:42.369 --> 00:51:46.639
I would probably be doing it where I'm making aspects
970
00:51:46.739 --> 00:51:50.579
of it exclusive to Club WWE members, namely the voting aspect.
971
00:51:51.139 --> 00:51:53.639
And they still have to explain exactly how, if at all,
972
00:51:54.199 --> 00:51:57.760
fan voting is supposed to factor into this. But make
973
00:51:57.800 --> 00:52:01.019
that a perk of being a member of Club WWE.
974
00:52:01.039 --> 00:52:04.519
That I can see. Where your voice matters a little
975
00:52:04.559 --> 00:52:07.760
bit more. But how voting would even work in this
976
00:52:07.800 --> 00:52:09.800
thing is something they have to first explain to us.
977
00:52:10.460 --> 00:52:12.179
But we should at least have a date and a
978
00:52:12.239 --> 00:52:16.190
location for this thing after tomorrow. They're also sending Cena
979
00:52:16.250 --> 00:52:19.960
to NXT this week because the word went out from above,
980
00:52:19.980 --> 00:52:24.320
from Nick Khan, for NXT to load up that show.
981
00:52:24.400 --> 00:52:27.719
NXT is airing on Wednesday this week. Head-to-head with AEW
982
00:52:27.760 --> 00:52:30.989
Dynamite because of midterm election coverage on a lot of
983
00:52:31.010 --> 00:52:34.949
the CW affiliates. So at least in some markets, NXT
984
00:52:34.969 --> 00:52:38.510
would have been preempted. So the Wednesday night skirmish is
985
00:52:38.570 --> 00:52:42.429
back for one week. You don't think the word didn't
986
00:52:42.469 --> 00:52:44.570
go out to load up this show? Not only are
987
00:52:44.590 --> 00:52:46.889
they sending John Cena to the show to make, I'm sure,
988
00:52:46.929 --> 00:52:50.019
what'll be a three-minute appearance. So not only is Cena
989
00:52:50.059 --> 00:52:52.159
going to be on the show, they just announced last night,
990
00:52:52.739 --> 00:52:56.639
during their Halloween Havoc show, that CM Punk, who sent
991
00:52:56.699 --> 00:53:00.579
in a video, CM Punk is going to be challenging
992
00:53:00.639 --> 00:53:07.460
Grayson Waller for the NXT Championship. These fucking people. They're
993
00:53:07.480 --> 00:53:10.750
sending Cody Rhodes... to present the winners of the Dusty
994
00:53:10.789 --> 00:53:14.349
Rhodes Tag Team Classic with the Dusty Cup. And they
995
00:53:14.389 --> 00:53:18.230
have booked the Vanity Project against Chad Gable, Ray Phoenix,
996
00:53:18.429 --> 00:53:21.460
and Dragon Lee. And then I think Kalani Jordan is
997
00:53:21.500 --> 00:53:26.219
also having an open challenge for her Women's Championship. I
998
00:53:26.260 --> 00:53:29.480
thought about the idea of them actually, potentially, putting the
999
00:53:29.619 --> 00:53:33.639
NXT title on Punk. It would certainly bring more eyeballs
1000
00:53:33.980 --> 00:53:37.489
to NXT on a short-term basis. But I feel like
1001
00:53:37.809 --> 00:53:41.130
it would just reinforce this idea that Grayson Waller wasn't
1002
00:53:41.190 --> 00:53:43.550
good enough to hang with the main roster stars, which
1003
00:53:43.610 --> 00:53:46.929
is why he was relegated back to NXT. And I
1004
00:53:46.969 --> 00:53:48.869
don't think that's something you want to be doing. It
1005
00:53:48.889 --> 00:53:51.750
would also be awkward if Punk were to win the NXT,
1006
00:53:51.809 --> 00:53:53.949
and I don't think he is, but if he were
1007
00:53:53.989 --> 00:53:56.739
to win the NXT title on a Wednesday and then
1008
00:53:56.800 --> 00:53:59.340
show up on Friday for a match with Kevin Owens
1009
00:53:59.400 --> 00:54:04.320
that's already been taped with no NXT championship visible, that
1010
00:54:04.360 --> 00:54:06.880
might be a little weird, but Yeah, I'm not expecting
1011
00:54:06.920 --> 00:54:08.969
a title change. I mean, they're just loading it up.
1012
00:54:09.099 --> 00:54:11.760
They want to get eyeballs on the show. I don't
1013
00:54:11.780 --> 00:54:14.360
think they're going to beat Dynamite because anytime, whether it's
1014
00:54:14.420 --> 00:54:19.039
AEW or WWE, and you're on a different night, it hurts.
1015
00:54:20.119 --> 00:54:22.360
I don't care who you are. When SmackDown used to
1016
00:54:22.380 --> 00:54:25.960
be moved from Fox to FS1, they would always take
1017
00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:28.179
a hit. I mean, it doesn't matter who you are.
1018
00:54:28.260 --> 00:54:31.119
Dynamite moves from a Wednesday to a Tuesday like they
1019
00:54:31.139 --> 00:54:33.420
did last month for that big Grand Slam France show.
1020
00:54:34.630 --> 00:54:37.610
You're in an unfamiliar spot. On the other side of
1021
00:54:37.630 --> 00:54:39.989
the dial, the other show, they have a built-in audience
1022
00:54:40.030 --> 00:54:43.309
that's used to their show airing in that time slot
1023
00:54:43.349 --> 00:54:46.230
on that particular night. But they're going to do what
1024
00:54:46.269 --> 00:54:50.030
they can to try to make a dent, and that's
1025
00:54:50.070 --> 00:54:52.260
what we get. We get a bunch of main roster
1026
00:54:52.280 --> 00:54:54.929
stars who pop up on NXT. At least it'll make
1027
00:54:54.949 --> 00:54:57.719
for an interesting night. I will say that. It will
1028
00:54:57.760 --> 00:55:02.099
certainly make for a more interesting night. Dan Housen. I
1029
00:55:02.099 --> 00:55:05.039
just want to mention this briefly. The Dan Housen Halloween
1030
00:55:05.079 --> 00:55:07.860
special is what they promoted for SmackDown on Friday. A
1031
00:55:07.900 --> 00:55:13.349
very nice, very evil Dan Housen Halloween. Gunther, though, had
1032
00:55:13.389 --> 00:55:16.929
been promising to ruin Halloween for this man. And he
1033
00:55:16.949 --> 00:55:18.730
tried to. He came out. He beat the crap out
1034
00:55:18.750 --> 00:55:22.010
of him. And then we had the lights go out.
1035
00:55:22.869 --> 00:55:25.699
And we had a bunch of mini Housens popped out
1036
00:55:25.719 --> 00:55:27.840
of a cloning machine. So we had Gunther who actually
1037
00:55:27.880 --> 00:55:32.190
had to sell for one of the mini Housens. And
1038
00:55:32.210 --> 00:55:34.329
then he started beating them up and chopping them and
1039
00:55:34.349 --> 00:55:36.969
throwing pumpkins at them. This is what they had Gunther
1040
00:55:36.989 --> 00:55:40.969
doing on Friday. He was throwing pumpkins at the Minihausens.
1041
00:55:42.699 --> 00:55:45.880
I'm sure Russo is probably just watching this thinking, man,
1042
00:55:45.900 --> 00:55:48.659
I wish I could have booked that. But no. So
1043
00:55:49.019 --> 00:55:51.960
after this, we had the lights go out and then
1044
00:55:52.500 --> 00:55:57.829
the demon returned. There was a body under a white sheet.
1045
00:55:59.389 --> 00:56:01.349
which actually, now that I say that in that way
1046
00:56:01.409 --> 00:56:04.510
out loud, that sounds terrible. The person was laying on
1047
00:56:04.550 --> 00:56:09.409
a stretcher under a white sheet is what I... That's terrible.
1048
00:56:09.659 --> 00:56:11.760
That also might be a Rousseau gimmick. So he's laying
1049
00:56:11.820 --> 00:56:15.019
on the stretcher, and the person sits up, and underneath
1050
00:56:15.079 --> 00:56:17.320
the white sheet, we see that it was the demon,
1051
00:56:18.139 --> 00:56:21.480
Finn Balor. And I thought everything up until that point,
1052
00:56:21.599 --> 00:56:24.829
just garbage. From that point on, though, the actual demon
1053
00:56:24.889 --> 00:56:27.190
reveal and then him beating up Gunther and coming off
1054
00:56:27.230 --> 00:56:29.530
the ladder ringside and hitting the coup de grace through
1055
00:56:29.550 --> 00:56:31.769
the table, like all that stuff was very well done.
1056
00:56:32.989 --> 00:56:35.860
And this clearly sets up a match now between the
1057
00:56:35.889 --> 00:56:38.519
two of them for possibly crown jewel, which I'm going
1058
00:56:38.539 --> 00:56:41.139
to mention here just in a moment. But we're going
1059
00:56:41.159 --> 00:56:44.000
to get the demon against the ring general. So that's
1060
00:56:44.019 --> 00:56:47.199
coming up very soon. We had Sami Zayn defending the
1061
00:56:47.619 --> 00:56:50.679
WWE Championship second time in less than a week. Monday,
1062
00:56:50.699 --> 00:56:53.519
it was against Javon Evans. Friday night it was against
1063
00:56:53.559 --> 00:56:58.550
Trick Williams. In a match that they had a disqualification ending.
1064
00:56:58.929 --> 00:57:03.670
Very lame disqualification ending when Charles Robinson got dragged out
1065
00:57:03.710 --> 00:57:06.510
of the ring before he could count three for Trick.
1066
00:57:06.869 --> 00:57:09.949
He got dragged out by Johnny Gargano. So he called
1067
00:57:09.969 --> 00:57:14.190
for the bell. And I'm like, there's no way. There's
1068
00:57:14.210 --> 00:57:16.429
no way they're ending this main event like this. So
1069
00:57:16.449 --> 00:57:19.880
then Nick Aldis comes out. He then bans Johnny Gargano,
1070
00:57:19.940 --> 00:57:22.840
Candice LeRae, and Lil Yachty, who was at ringside, although
1071
00:57:22.880 --> 00:57:27.340
he did nothing wrong. He bans them from ringside, but
1072
00:57:27.449 --> 00:57:33.849
then resumes the match under no disqualification rules, which technically
1073
00:57:33.889 --> 00:57:37.690
meant that anybody could interfere. So that was kind of weird.
1074
00:57:38.570 --> 00:57:41.230
And then Sami just, he beat him. I mean, based
1075
00:57:41.269 --> 00:57:43.280
on the rules of a no DQ match, I mean, yeah,
1076
00:57:43.320 --> 00:57:44.940
he hit him with a low blow and hit him
1077
00:57:44.960 --> 00:57:46.639
with a belt shot and all that stuff, but like,
1078
00:57:47.599 --> 00:57:49.840
I mean, that's all kind of part of the play.
1079
00:57:51.360 --> 00:57:54.460
He beat him clean, but not. And Sami Zayn is
1080
00:57:54.500 --> 00:57:59.340
still the WWE champion. We had a women's championship match
1081
00:58:00.099 --> 00:58:02.820
on the show on Friday between Chelsea Green and Nikki Bella.
1082
00:58:02.860 --> 00:58:06.079
This match was fucking horrendous. I thought this match was
1083
00:58:06.119 --> 00:58:09.170
just absolutely terrible. I don't know why we were even
1084
00:58:09.210 --> 00:58:11.130
getting this match in the first place when the last
1085
00:58:11.150 --> 00:58:13.670
time we saw Nikki Bella in the ring, she lost
1086
00:58:14.409 --> 00:58:18.389
to Paige. And then she's in there getting a women's
1087
00:58:18.429 --> 00:58:21.429
championship match. And Paige, meanwhile, is in the back chatting
1088
00:58:21.449 --> 00:58:25.260
it up with Blake Monroe. Make it make sense. Ray
1089
00:58:25.300 --> 00:58:27.260
Phoenix against Ricky Saints. They had a match for the
1090
00:58:27.360 --> 00:58:30.880
AAA Cruiserweight title where, again, Ricky lost again. But they
1091
00:58:30.920 --> 00:58:33.820
had a very good match. Actually, the best thing on
1092
00:58:33.840 --> 00:58:37.500
the entire show. CM Punk was not there. Kevin Owens
1093
00:58:37.539 --> 00:58:39.500
was not there. We did get a video package hyping
1094
00:58:39.519 --> 00:58:42.320
their No Holds Barred match. which is coming up on
1095
00:58:42.389 --> 00:58:45.570
SmackDown this week. It's being taped tomorrow in Brooklyn, but
1096
00:58:45.610 --> 00:58:48.150
that will be the big match coming up on Friday.
1097
00:58:49.369 --> 00:58:52.969
By the way, speaking of Punk, Chad Gable pinned CM
1098
00:58:53.010 --> 00:58:57.170
Punk on Thursday night at their live event in Youngstown, Ohio.
1099
00:58:57.230 --> 00:59:01.130
It was a non-title match, and he pinned him, and
1100
00:59:01.190 --> 00:59:03.170
Punk was shocked, and I think everybody in the building
1101
00:59:03.210 --> 00:59:07.110
was shocked based on the fan video. So maybe they'll
1102
00:59:07.170 --> 00:59:10.420
upload the full match to Club WWE live, they did
1103
00:59:10.440 --> 00:59:15.179
with the Stephanie Viqueur-Liv Morgan match from Santiago, Chile. That
1104
00:59:15.219 --> 00:59:17.400
match may well end up, if it's not already, it
1105
00:59:17.440 --> 00:59:20.300
may well end up on there. So just remember, though,
1106
00:59:20.400 --> 00:59:24.449
Raw tomorrow night, early start time, 6 p.m. Eastern, on Netflix,
1107
00:59:24.510 --> 00:59:28.590
because they're taping SmackDown immediately after which means I will
1108
00:59:28.610 --> 00:59:30.719
be live on YouTube a little bit earlier, a couple
1109
00:59:30.760 --> 00:59:33.619
of hours earlier, probably around 9 p.m. So I will
1110
00:59:33.639 --> 00:59:36.820
see you guys there. We got to talk about Crown Jewel.
1111
00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:42.739
WWE Crown Jewel is coming this Saturday, still in Riyadh,
1112
00:59:42.800 --> 00:59:46.159
Saudi Arabia, but the event has now been moved indoors
1113
00:59:46.260 --> 00:59:48.530
to the A & B Arena, which is where the
1114
00:59:48.570 --> 00:59:53.530
Canelo Alvarez fight took place last night without incident. On Halloween,
1115
00:59:53.550 --> 00:59:55.789
he had a boxing fight last night. I believe it's
1116
00:59:55.809 --> 01:00:00.349
in that same venue. It can fit between 6,000 and 8,000 fans,
1117
01:00:00.909 --> 01:00:04.909
depending on the stage and setup. They had started construction
1118
01:00:04.989 --> 01:00:08.289
on Riyadh Season Stadium outdoors, but they decided to move
1119
01:00:08.309 --> 01:00:11.309
it indoors, reportedly because they felt it would be safer.
1120
01:00:12.250 --> 01:00:15.030
As with an indoor arena, they can improve security and
1121
01:00:15.090 --> 01:00:17.530
have greater control on who and what gets... See, and
1122
01:00:17.570 --> 01:00:18.989
here I thought they were going to claim that there
1123
01:00:19.010 --> 01:00:21.949
was a bomb scare. And that's why they had to
1124
01:00:22.010 --> 01:00:26.289
move the event indoors. See, if you know, you know.
1125
01:00:27.050 --> 01:00:30.889
But this is after all of the very real missile
1126
01:00:30.949 --> 01:00:33.329
and drone strikes over the past month or so, especially
1127
01:00:33.389 --> 01:00:38.320
on the main airport in Riyadh. Mark Shapiro of TKO,
1128
01:00:38.360 --> 01:00:40.960
he spoke at a company-wide town hall meeting. He expressed
1129
01:00:41.019 --> 01:00:45.960
concern for TKO's financial performance should they have to pull
1130
01:00:46.039 --> 01:00:48.969
out of any of their Middle East shows. He said,
1131
01:00:49.190 --> 01:00:51.849
we of course stand with a lot of obstacles in
1132
01:00:51.929 --> 01:00:54.849
our way in these last two months with Iran and
1133
01:00:54.869 --> 01:00:57.539
the impact that that has on the entire Middle East.
1134
01:00:58.099 --> 01:01:00.219
And I'll remind you that we still have three events
1135
01:01:00.300 --> 01:01:02.760
left for the remainder of the year. So several goals
1136
01:01:02.800 --> 01:01:05.159
we still need to accomplish and events that we need
1137
01:01:05.179 --> 01:01:08.530
to be successful for us to close out 2026 in
1138
01:01:08.550 --> 01:01:11.130
the way that we hope it will close out. And
1139
01:01:11.190 --> 01:01:13.449
that all gets wiped away to a certain degree if
1140
01:01:13.489 --> 01:01:16.849
those events get canceled. We are a public company, of course.
1141
01:01:17.030 --> 01:01:19.170
We have a lot of investors and analysts out there
1142
01:01:19.210 --> 01:01:21.550
across the Wall Street community that are nervous that we'll
1143
01:01:21.570 --> 01:01:23.429
be able to pull off the year without any of
1144
01:01:23.489 --> 01:01:26.690
our events being canceled. So far, we've been lucky enough
1145
01:01:26.769 --> 01:01:30.409
not to have any interruption. Can't guarantee that. And again,
1146
01:01:30.469 --> 01:01:32.550
if that happens, it will certainly have an impact on
1147
01:01:32.610 --> 01:01:35.440
our year in a very negative way. But there's not
1148
01:01:35.500 --> 01:01:38.079
much that we can do about that. At the same time,
1149
01:01:38.119 --> 01:01:41.920
we have courageous employees, full-time and part-time, that are working
1150
01:01:41.980 --> 01:01:44.820
across our events going into these territories in the Middle East.
1151
01:01:45.449 --> 01:01:47.769
and standing behind our events so that we can stage
1152
01:01:47.849 --> 01:01:50.369
them properly at the high-quality level that we are all
1153
01:01:50.409 --> 01:01:53.670
accustomed to doing so in the face of potential danger
1154
01:01:54.159 --> 01:01:57.780
and or certainly anxiety and nervousness. So a big thank
1155
01:01:57.800 --> 01:01:59.760
you to all of you who are working across these
1156
01:01:59.800 --> 01:02:03.440
events and your being able to bring them in as planned.
1157
01:02:03.699 --> 01:02:07.130
It's really been nothing short of astonishing. It's really miraculous
1158
01:02:07.170 --> 01:02:10.860
and heroic what we've been able to do. I'm just
1159
01:02:10.900 --> 01:02:13.750
wondering how he manages to get his dick all the
1160
01:02:13.789 --> 01:02:16.690
way up to his mouth like that. That's very impressive.
1161
01:02:17.369 --> 01:02:19.929
So thank you for standing in there. Thank you for
1162
01:02:19.989 --> 01:02:22.929
making the commitments and delivering on the commitment as you
1163
01:02:22.969 --> 01:02:25.789
always have. And we're all hoping and praying that everything
1164
01:02:25.849 --> 01:02:30.719
goes off without a hitch. He continues. Of course, business
1165
01:02:30.760 --> 01:02:34.820
is important, but humanity is most important. This is more
1166
01:02:34.860 --> 01:02:38.599
about keeping people safe and comfortable. The business is secondary.
1167
01:02:39.079 --> 01:02:41.159
So I don't want to talk out of both sides
1168
01:02:41.199 --> 01:02:43.760
of my mouth here, which is exactly what he's doing.
1169
01:02:44.940 --> 01:02:46.860
We want to have the year that we all envisioned.
1170
01:02:47.199 --> 01:02:49.960
We all worked hard for that year. 2026 is shaping
1171
01:02:50.019 --> 01:02:52.280
up to be that year. But if there is danger
1172
01:02:52.619 --> 01:02:55.010
or further escalation of any of these conflicts that are
1173
01:02:55.050 --> 01:02:58.170
going on, we will not hesitate to cancel those events.
1174
01:02:58.809 --> 01:03:03.809
Damned be our budget because our people come first. You
1175
01:03:03.829 --> 01:03:06.489
have that commitment from us. At the same time, we
1176
01:03:06.530 --> 01:03:08.869
do know that everybody wants to be successful and keep
1177
01:03:08.929 --> 01:03:11.949
growing our sports, and we need to have events in
1178
01:03:12.070 --> 01:03:14.929
order to do it. So it is certainly a balancing act.
1179
01:03:15.389 --> 01:03:17.989
But the people part of it does come first in that.
1180
01:03:20.219 --> 01:03:23.139
That is a very long-winded way of saying we're going
1181
01:03:23.159 --> 01:03:26.000
to lose a shitload of money and our stock price
1182
01:03:26.059 --> 01:03:28.420
is going to tank if we don't go over there.
1183
01:03:28.500 --> 01:03:32.780
So suck it up and hope for the best. If
1184
01:03:32.820 --> 01:03:35.440
things get even worse, then we'll cancel the show. Right.
1185
01:03:35.719 --> 01:03:41.440
But it's already worse. People are dying. What is their
1186
01:03:41.559 --> 01:03:44.360
red line that has to be crossed in order for
1187
01:03:44.389 --> 01:03:47.369
them to make that decision? Does it have to be
1188
01:03:48.170 --> 01:03:52.210
an attack within five miles of the arena within 48
1189
01:03:52.210 --> 01:03:55.730
hours of the show? What is the criteria for which
1190
01:03:55.789 --> 01:03:58.289
they would even make that decision, is what I would
1191
01:03:58.329 --> 01:04:02.699
like to know. Sean Ross Sapp is reporting that Fightful
1192
01:04:02.739 --> 01:04:04.989
has spoken to a number of talents who say they
1193
01:04:05.070 --> 01:04:07.690
do not want to go to Crown Jewel next weekend.
1194
01:04:08.429 --> 01:04:12.110
And then later on came this. Multiple WWE stars, including
1195
01:04:12.150 --> 01:04:14.590
top talent, made it very clear to the company that
1196
01:04:14.610 --> 01:04:17.110
they did not want to be booked for Crown Jewel
1197
01:04:17.170 --> 01:04:20.840
because of safety concerns in Saudi Arabia. Some talent booked
1198
01:04:20.880 --> 01:04:24.260
for the event also expressed concerns, though WWE officials have
1199
01:04:24.280 --> 01:04:29.980
assured talents that safety precautions are a priority. Two names
1200
01:04:30.019 --> 01:04:33.000
that are very noticeably absent from this show, even though
1201
01:04:33.019 --> 01:04:35.619
they have a big match coming up this week on TV,
1202
01:04:36.219 --> 01:04:38.929
are CM Punk and Kevin Owens. They're going to have
1203
01:04:38.969 --> 01:04:41.969
a no-holds-barred match on SmackDown this week. They are not
1204
01:04:42.050 --> 01:04:45.469
traveling to Riyadh. And I absolutely believe that they are
1205
01:04:45.530 --> 01:04:47.369
two of the names who would have told this company,
1206
01:04:47.889 --> 01:04:51.710
I'm not going. And I think it is beyond ludicrous
1207
01:04:52.369 --> 01:04:54.510
that they have not moved the show somewhere else when
1208
01:04:54.530 --> 01:04:59.079
they are openly acknowledging by moving the show indoors... By
1209
01:04:59.099 --> 01:05:01.980
their actions, they are acknowledging that there is a threat
1210
01:05:02.000 --> 01:05:04.210
of danger involved in even being over there in the
1211
01:05:04.250 --> 01:05:06.570
first place. And it was serious enough that even though
1212
01:05:06.630 --> 01:05:09.050
construction began on this stadium, they decided to move the
1213
01:05:09.090 --> 01:05:11.869
show indoors. And I'm glad they did. But at the
1214
01:05:11.909 --> 01:05:13.750
end of the day, God forbid, if there was some
1215
01:05:13.789 --> 01:05:16.619
sort of attack, you know, at the end of the day,
1216
01:05:16.659 --> 01:05:18.039
that's not really going to do a whole hell of
1217
01:05:18.079 --> 01:05:21.099
a lot. And look, it is one thing to say
1218
01:05:21.619 --> 01:05:23.179
that you don't want to go. Like in terms of
1219
01:05:23.199 --> 01:05:27.110
the talent, right? We don't want to go. It's another
1220
01:05:27.150 --> 01:05:29.929
thing to actually do something about it and tell them,
1221
01:05:30.530 --> 01:05:32.889
we are not going. And as I've said from the
1222
01:05:32.929 --> 01:05:34.550
start of all of this, if enough of them feel
1223
01:05:34.590 --> 01:05:37.389
that way and they band it together, right, to take
1224
01:05:37.429 --> 01:05:40.260
a stand and say, look, we are not going, it
1225
01:05:40.280 --> 01:05:42.880
would have to include major names on the card. Then
1226
01:05:42.909 --> 01:05:45.500
there would be no show. And they would not be
1227
01:05:45.559 --> 01:05:47.820
able to go because with no talent, there is no show.
1228
01:05:47.860 --> 01:05:50.219
They're not going to replace them with NXT people, okay?
1229
01:05:50.239 --> 01:05:53.000
Turkey a la chic is not paying them $ 50 million
1230
01:05:53.559 --> 01:05:57.300
for a developmental show. But you would need strength in
1231
01:05:57.360 --> 01:06:00.039
numbers and they don't have it in them to do that.
1232
01:06:00.500 --> 01:06:03.199
And I understand the Talons who aren't major established names
1233
01:06:03.239 --> 01:06:05.860
being worried about sticking their neck out. But it's sad
1234
01:06:06.679 --> 01:06:09.449
that they're too scared to even say anything for fear
1235
01:06:09.489 --> 01:06:12.869
that there may only be so many of them willing
1236
01:06:12.909 --> 01:06:14.510
to stand up and do so. Or that they may
1237
01:06:14.530 --> 01:06:17.050
be the only one publicly to stand up and do so.
1238
01:06:17.090 --> 01:06:22.389
That's sad. You know, Mansoor, he spoke with F4W online.
1239
01:06:22.690 --> 01:06:25.800
He's with AEW now. But he was with WWE, their
1240
01:06:25.860 --> 01:06:29.039
first Saudi-born star. He was born in Riyadh. He moved
1241
01:06:29.059 --> 01:06:30.960
to the United States when he was 11 years old.
1242
01:06:31.920 --> 01:06:34.699
He was asked about all this. And he said, It's
1243
01:06:34.719 --> 01:06:37.360
a difficult and tragic situation. I've had to check on
1244
01:06:37.409 --> 01:06:40.070
my family pretty often as a result of the strikes
1245
01:06:40.150 --> 01:06:45.949
in Saudi. He said, And they have to make a
1246
01:06:45.989 --> 01:06:47.809
certain amount of money or people are going to lose
1247
01:06:47.849 --> 01:06:50.789
their jobs. And people lose their jobs anyway, even when
1248
01:06:50.809 --> 01:06:52.630
they make a lot of money. So imagine what would
1249
01:06:52.650 --> 01:06:54.769
happen if they didn't make that amount of money. I
1250
01:06:54.789 --> 01:06:56.909
just think that there's surely something that could be worked
1251
01:06:57.010 --> 01:06:59.090
out where maybe they do an extra show next year
1252
01:06:59.400 --> 01:07:02.579
or something like that when these things settle down. I
1253
01:07:02.619 --> 01:07:06.079
hope to God that they do settle down. Talent, wrestlers,
1254
01:07:06.079 --> 01:07:08.599
99% of the time we are going to be company
1255
01:07:08.639 --> 01:07:11.139
men and women because we love pro wrestling so much
1256
01:07:11.179 --> 01:07:13.380
that we don't want to ever lose this opportunity to
1257
01:07:13.420 --> 01:07:16.030
make a living for our families doing it. And our
1258
01:07:16.119 --> 01:07:19.150
fates are in our bosses' hands. No matter what company
1259
01:07:19.170 --> 01:07:22.429
you're in, we have very little leverage. So, you know,
1260
01:07:22.489 --> 01:07:24.650
saying no to something like that, it's not as easy
1261
01:07:24.670 --> 01:07:26.869
or as simple as some fans may think for the talent.
1262
01:07:27.190 --> 01:07:29.570
I think ultimately they're going to make whatever decision they
1263
01:07:29.590 --> 01:07:33.420
make regardless. I hope for no unfortunate incidents to happen
1264
01:07:33.480 --> 01:07:37.579
whether they go or they don't go. And we're all
1265
01:07:37.619 --> 01:07:40.059
hoping for that. You know, I don't want to see
1266
01:07:40.119 --> 01:07:43.039
anything bad happen just to justify my opinion that they
1267
01:07:43.079 --> 01:07:46.510
shouldn't be going. But whether or not something bad happens
1268
01:07:46.570 --> 01:07:49.929
is not even the point. That they would even put
1269
01:07:50.090 --> 01:07:55.340
their people in a situation like this is, in a word, deplorable.
1270
01:07:56.460 --> 01:07:59.139
And Mansoor may be right. If TKO cancels the show,
1271
01:07:59.179 --> 01:08:02.579
they take a huge financial hit. And that financial hit
1272
01:08:02.900 --> 01:08:04.480
is going to be felt by the Talons who are
1273
01:08:04.500 --> 01:08:06.619
going to lose their jobs or be asked to take
1274
01:08:06.659 --> 01:08:09.550
more pay cuts. But they cut people and they ask
1275
01:08:09.570 --> 01:08:12.510
them to take pay cuts even when they're making record profits.
1276
01:08:14.250 --> 01:08:15.909
At the end of the day, I'd rather lose my
1277
01:08:16.010 --> 01:08:20.250
job than lose my life. And that's what we're talking
1278
01:08:20.310 --> 01:08:24.039
about here, a potentially life-or-death situation. And at what point
1279
01:08:24.300 --> 01:08:26.359
is it just not worth taking that risk? This is
1280
01:08:26.399 --> 01:08:29.460
not a humanitarian mission where they're going for the greater good.
1281
01:08:30.460 --> 01:08:35.090
It is a wrestling show. It's entertainment. And no one
1282
01:08:35.100 --> 01:08:37.729
who entertains on that roster should be living in fear
1283
01:08:37.789 --> 01:08:39.970
and anxiety that they may not come back home to
1284
01:08:40.010 --> 01:08:44.590
their families in one piece. I hope the Saudi folks
1285
01:08:44.630 --> 01:08:46.710
who live there, the fans, you know, they all stay safe.
1286
01:08:47.609 --> 01:08:49.739
And I hope all the people traveling there stay safe.
1287
01:08:50.840 --> 01:08:53.640
But this is one of the most irresponsible things that
1288
01:08:53.680 --> 01:08:56.630
they have ever done. And it's more of a TKO call.
1289
01:08:56.649 --> 01:08:59.409
This is not a call being made by WWE directly.
1290
01:08:59.470 --> 01:09:01.899
I get that. So as the TKO era goes, it
1291
01:09:01.939 --> 01:09:05.729
is definitely the most irresponsible thing that this company has
1292
01:09:05.810 --> 01:09:10.050
ever done. But here's the card and my prediction for
1293
01:09:10.069 --> 01:09:14.270
the match order. Cody Rhodes takes on Randy Orton. In
1294
01:09:14.310 --> 01:09:16.819
a last man standing match. We didn't get much in
1295
01:09:16.859 --> 01:09:19.829
the way from Cody Rhodes on Friday. He came out,
1296
01:09:19.850 --> 01:09:22.770
cut a very quick promo, shortened to the point. No
1297
01:09:22.829 --> 01:09:24.710
Randy Orton on the show. We still have one more
1298
01:09:24.770 --> 01:09:27.170
SmackDown left, but I don't know that there's really much
1299
01:09:27.229 --> 01:09:29.149
left for these two to say to each other. I
1300
01:09:30.069 --> 01:09:32.850
do hope that this is the culmination of this program
1301
01:09:32.930 --> 01:09:35.050
once and for all. We can move beyond this. Orton
1302
01:09:35.069 --> 01:09:37.750
can move on. Cody can move on. I don't know
1303
01:09:37.789 --> 01:09:40.630
what would be next for Orton in the immediate future,
1304
01:09:40.670 --> 01:09:43.130
but it does feel to me like this is setting
1305
01:09:43.189 --> 01:09:45.409
up to be a win for Cody. You know, for
1306
01:09:45.470 --> 01:09:47.510
Cody to go in there and do what he has
1307
01:09:47.550 --> 01:09:49.289
not been able to do, which is put Randy Orton
1308
01:09:49.329 --> 01:09:51.750
down and do so with the punt kick. And then
1309
01:09:51.770 --> 01:09:53.829
maybe Orton takes another vacation and we don't see him
1310
01:09:53.869 --> 01:09:56.020
again until the Rumble. You know, he gets a lot
1311
01:09:56.060 --> 01:09:59.020
of time off. I'm going with Cody Rhodes for the
1312
01:09:59.060 --> 01:10:01.500
win here. No heel turn or anything like that, but
1313
01:10:01.520 --> 01:10:04.479
I think Cody's going to pick up the W. We
1314
01:10:04.500 --> 01:10:08.460
have Chelsea Green, the WWE Women's Champion, going one-on-one with
1315
01:10:08.500 --> 01:10:12.890
the Women's World Champion Liv Morgan. for the Crown Jewel Championship.
1316
01:10:13.289 --> 01:10:16.729
And we have been getting Tiffany Stratton cash-in teases now
1317
01:10:16.930 --> 01:10:19.350
ad nauseum. We had three of them in the span
1318
01:10:19.390 --> 01:10:22.399
of a week. The purpose of them, I would think,
1319
01:10:23.180 --> 01:10:25.020
is to try to throw people off the scent for
1320
01:10:25.060 --> 01:10:27.000
when she finally does cash in, but it's not on
1321
01:10:27.039 --> 01:10:29.199
Liv Morgan. All three attempts have been on Liv Morgan.
1322
01:10:29.960 --> 01:10:32.840
When she cashes in, and she will cash in successfully,
1323
01:10:33.920 --> 01:10:36.960
it will be on Chelsea Green. And I happen to
1324
01:10:37.000 --> 01:10:39.119
think it's going to be happening on this show because
1325
01:10:39.140 --> 01:10:41.329
Chelsea how many more fucking weeks are we going to
1326
01:10:41.350 --> 01:10:43.840
have these cash-in teases, right? It's not like we have
1327
01:10:43.850 --> 01:10:45.619
three of them in a week and then it's going
1328
01:10:45.640 --> 01:10:47.220
to get silent and we're not going to get any
1329
01:10:47.260 --> 01:10:49.479
of them for a month. Like, I don't see that happening.
1330
01:10:49.520 --> 01:10:51.479
I think it's all culminating in an angle here on
1331
01:10:51.500 --> 01:10:53.140
this show. I think Chelsea Green is going to win
1332
01:10:53.159 --> 01:10:54.840
this match. I think Chelsea Green is going to become
1333
01:10:54.880 --> 01:10:57.310
the crown jewel champion. I don't think Liv Morgan is
1334
01:10:57.319 --> 01:11:00.149
going to repeat. But I do think that when Tiffany
1335
01:11:00.170 --> 01:11:02.850
Stratton comes out, and I could envision a scenario here
1336
01:11:02.930 --> 01:11:05.750
where Liv Morgan attacks Chelsea after the match and here
1337
01:11:05.810 --> 01:11:08.350
comes Raquel and here comes Roxanne and they're beating her down.
1338
01:11:09.000 --> 01:11:12.659
And here we go again. And here comes Tiffany Stratton.
1339
01:11:13.300 --> 01:11:15.619
And they want you to think she's going to try
1340
01:11:15.659 --> 01:11:18.159
again to cash in on Liv Morgan. And maybe she
1341
01:11:18.199 --> 01:11:22.750
even fights off Raquel and Roxanne. And she's got Liv, right?
1342
01:11:22.770 --> 01:11:25.789
She's got Liv right there. But she ends up bashing
1343
01:11:25.850 --> 01:11:28.010
Chelsea in the head with the briefcase and cashing in
1344
01:11:28.090 --> 01:11:31.210
on her instead. And this time she is successful. And
1345
01:11:31.270 --> 01:11:35.449
she wins the Women's Championship, the WWE Women's title. Because
1346
01:11:35.470 --> 01:11:38.609
I was thinking of a scenario in which she were
1347
01:11:38.729 --> 01:11:42.109
to try to cash in during the match. Having the
1348
01:11:42.149 --> 01:11:44.710
crown jewel title on the line screws everything up, though.
1349
01:11:44.810 --> 01:11:48.100
Because how would that even work? She tried to cash
1350
01:11:48.140 --> 01:11:49.300
in her money in the bank in the middle of
1351
01:11:49.340 --> 01:11:52.060
a crown jewel title match, where neither of the other
1352
01:11:52.100 --> 01:11:53.579
belts are on the line, but all of a sudden
1353
01:11:53.640 --> 01:11:56.199
one of them is. Does she win the crown jewel belt, too?
1354
01:11:56.220 --> 01:11:58.380
I don't really see a good way out of that.
1355
01:11:58.439 --> 01:12:00.039
So if you're going to shoot an angle like this,
1356
01:12:00.850 --> 01:12:03.170
it almost has to be after the match. You can't
1357
01:12:03.189 --> 01:12:05.729
really do it during the match. So I think Chelsea
1358
01:12:05.750 --> 01:12:08.789
gets a win, which I kind of feel like if
1359
01:12:08.829 --> 01:12:13.430
she doesn't, I mean, man, you talk about just burying
1360
01:12:13.470 --> 01:12:16.909
this woman. Every week you got people coming out, Liv
1361
01:12:16.949 --> 01:12:19.750
Morgan coming out, calling her a fake champion. You're not
1362
01:12:19.770 --> 01:12:23.100
a real champion. I'm a real champion. You're a paper champion.
1363
01:12:23.109 --> 01:12:27.159
You're a fraud. You're this, you're that. All of these things,
1364
01:12:27.220 --> 01:12:30.050
and I mentioned this in my SmackDown review, where She
1365
01:12:30.090 --> 01:12:32.109
beat Nikki Bella on Friday, but she had to beat
1366
01:12:32.149 --> 01:12:34.529
Nikki Bella with a roll-up. It took a fucking roll-up!
1367
01:12:34.890 --> 01:12:36.369
And she had the shocked look on her face like
1368
01:12:36.390 --> 01:12:39.449
she couldn't believe that she won. At every turn, since
1369
01:12:39.489 --> 01:12:42.449
this woman won the championship, became the interim champion, and
1370
01:12:42.479 --> 01:12:46.720
then she became, I guess, the regular full-time champion. Because
1371
01:12:46.779 --> 01:12:48.840
they never planned on putting the belt on her in
1372
01:12:48.880 --> 01:12:52.159
the first place had Rhea not gotten hurt. They never
1373
01:12:52.220 --> 01:12:54.979
warmed up to the idea of Chelsea being the women's champion.
1374
01:12:55.020 --> 01:12:57.930
I'm happy that Chelsea had her moment, but this reign
1375
01:12:57.970 --> 01:13:00.439
has just been pitiful. And the booking has a lot
1376
01:13:00.460 --> 01:13:01.680
to do with it. Now, I will say that the
1377
01:13:01.720 --> 01:13:04.840
matches have not been great. They really have not. And
1378
01:13:04.880 --> 01:13:08.350
that match on Friday was fucking terrible. But the booking
1379
01:13:08.399 --> 01:13:13.109
has also been terrible. Like, they want you to know
1380
01:13:13.510 --> 01:13:17.029
that this woman really should not be a women's world champion.
1381
01:13:17.069 --> 01:13:19.050
They are doing everything in their power, even though they
1382
01:13:19.090 --> 01:13:21.229
put the belt on her, to tell you and to
1383
01:13:21.310 --> 01:13:23.590
convince you that she is only at a certain level.
1384
01:13:24.050 --> 01:13:28.220
And every win that she gets is shocking. Or it's
1385
01:13:28.279 --> 01:13:31.989
one of these, like, slip-on-a-banana-peel type finishes. When you do
1386
01:13:32.029 --> 01:13:34.630
something like that with Nikki Bella, where even that is
1387
01:13:34.689 --> 01:13:39.649
a shock, you've lost the plot. And so Chelsea, at
1388
01:13:39.689 --> 01:13:41.760
least here, if she gets a win, it's like, well,
1389
01:13:41.800 --> 01:13:44.960
you gotta give her something for crying out loud. Especially
1390
01:13:45.020 --> 01:13:46.939
if you're gonna have this woman turn on her, bash
1391
01:13:46.960 --> 01:13:48.619
her in the head, and take her belt away from her.
1392
01:13:48.659 --> 01:13:51.619
At least she'll get the crown jewel title. At least
1393
01:13:51.680 --> 01:13:54.989
it's something. Anyway, that's how I see it playing out.
1394
01:13:55.029 --> 01:13:57.670
Chelsea beats Liv. Tiffany comes out, cashes in on Chelsea.
1395
01:13:57.710 --> 01:13:59.729
We have a new champion. And then things are set
1396
01:13:59.770 --> 01:14:02.270
up perfectly for when Rhea Ripley comes back, whether it's
1397
01:14:02.310 --> 01:14:06.329
at Wrestlepalooza or the Royal Rumble. Whenever Rhea is able
1398
01:14:06.369 --> 01:14:09.899
to come back, you've got a ready-made match, a ready-made
1399
01:14:09.949 --> 01:14:12.920
feud set up, possibly for WrestleMania between Rhea Ripley and
1400
01:14:12.960 --> 01:14:15.079
Tiffany Stratton with Rhea trying to get her belt back.
1401
01:14:15.840 --> 01:14:17.960
And then my hope is that coming out of WrestleMania,
1402
01:14:18.000 --> 01:14:20.420
when we get to the spring and that part of
1403
01:14:20.439 --> 01:14:23.449
the year, We've got Blake Monroe already teed up for
1404
01:14:23.470 --> 01:14:25.710
a big feud with Rhea Ripley. I'm looking ahead here.
1405
01:14:25.770 --> 01:14:27.430
I want to see Rhea and I want to see
1406
01:14:27.489 --> 01:14:30.350
Blake for the championship. That's the big match I'd like
1407
01:14:30.399 --> 01:14:34.800
to see. Now Finn Balor and Gunther. I mentioned the
1408
01:14:34.880 --> 01:14:37.359
angle on SmackDown on Friday. They're obviously having a match.
1409
01:14:37.399 --> 01:14:38.939
They did not say it was going to be on
1410
01:14:38.979 --> 01:14:42.520
this show. But as they were constructing the outdoor stadium
1411
01:14:42.560 --> 01:14:45.960
before they made the switch indoors... There were banners and
1412
01:14:46.020 --> 01:14:48.659
posters up in Riyadh that were showing Finn Balor and
1413
01:14:48.699 --> 01:14:50.369
Gunther as if that was going to be a match
1414
01:14:50.430 --> 01:14:52.529
on the show. Let's assume that this match is going
1415
01:14:52.569 --> 01:14:55.989
to take place and be added to Crown Jewel. I
1416
01:14:56.050 --> 01:15:00.250
feel like neither man can really afford a loss right now.
1417
01:15:01.289 --> 01:15:05.420
Gunther has not won a match on TV since his
1418
01:15:05.500 --> 01:15:11.399
win over Matt Cardona in August. Finn Balor has not
1419
01:15:11.460 --> 01:15:15.449
won a match since July 31st. And for this, he's
1420
01:15:15.539 --> 01:15:19.020
bringing the demon paint back. So you would look at
1421
01:15:19.039 --> 01:15:23.420
this and go, man, Balor, he really should win this match, right?
1422
01:15:23.500 --> 01:15:26.800
But Gunther is going to win. Like they do the match.
1423
01:15:26.819 --> 01:15:29.699
I think Gunther picks up the win. Gunther is just
1424
01:15:29.739 --> 01:15:32.359
a more valuable asset right now. Just the way he's
1425
01:15:32.470 --> 01:15:35.010
largely been protected up until this point in his career,
1426
01:15:35.029 --> 01:15:37.770
really up until this year. I can't say he's been
1427
01:15:37.869 --> 01:15:40.750
too terribly protected this year, but he also hasn't done
1428
01:15:40.770 --> 01:15:43.590
a whole lot in the last six months. They literally
1429
01:15:43.609 --> 01:15:45.189
had no idea on what to do with this guy
1430
01:15:45.250 --> 01:15:47.350
after the John Cena and the AJ Styles stuff. They
1431
01:15:47.390 --> 01:15:49.689
had nothing. They had no idea. They had no plan
1432
01:15:49.729 --> 01:15:53.699
for him. They had nothing. Unless, maybe if Dragunov had re-signed,
1433
01:15:53.739 --> 01:15:55.659
we would be getting something with him and Gunther, but
1434
01:15:55.680 --> 01:15:58.960
that's one of those what-ifs. Yeah, what-if. Maybe if he
1435
01:15:59.000 --> 01:16:01.140
would have re-signed, they would have come up with the idea, well,
1436
01:16:01.180 --> 01:16:02.979
I guess we could put these two together. But, like,
1437
01:16:03.399 --> 01:16:05.270
they clearly had no plan on where to go and
1438
01:16:05.310 --> 01:16:07.630
what to do with this guy, which is terrible in
1439
01:16:07.670 --> 01:16:11.430
and of itself. But here we are. They do this match.
1440
01:16:11.449 --> 01:16:16.310
I think Gunther wins. The World Tag Team titles being defended,
1441
01:16:16.810 --> 01:16:18.710
which is a shock in and of itself. This is
1442
01:16:18.729 --> 01:16:22.970
our first World Tag Team title match on a PLE
1443
01:16:24.010 --> 01:16:29.560
since WrestleMania 41. That was last year's WrestleMania. And the
1444
01:16:29.739 --> 01:16:32.699
only reason we even got a World Tag Team title
1445
01:16:32.720 --> 01:16:35.399
match on that WrestleMania card in the first place was
1446
01:16:35.439 --> 01:16:39.880
because they had that Clash of Clans sponsorship tied into
1447
01:16:39.899 --> 01:16:42.380
the Viking Raiders and all that. So, All right, it's
1448
01:16:42.420 --> 01:16:44.560
our sponsorship match, so we have to have them out there.
1449
01:16:45.479 --> 01:16:47.520
Literally the only reason we got that match on the show.
1450
01:16:47.840 --> 01:16:50.199
Even the WWE tag team titles, I don't think have
1451
01:16:50.220 --> 01:16:54.800
been defended since maybe SummerSlam last year, something like that.
1452
01:16:54.859 --> 01:16:57.699
It's ridiculous that we're even getting a tag team title
1453
01:16:57.739 --> 01:16:59.460
match on this show. But the fact that we are,
1454
01:17:00.739 --> 01:17:02.579
to me, that alone tells you that there's a very
1455
01:17:02.619 --> 01:17:04.159
good chance we're going to get a title change here.
1456
01:17:04.199 --> 01:17:05.720
By the way, this is also the first time that
1457
01:17:05.739 --> 01:17:08.460
Braun Breaker and Austin Theory are defending their tag team
1458
01:17:08.479 --> 01:17:10.590
titles since they won them from the Street Profits on
1459
01:17:10.689 --> 01:17:15.579
July 6th. Forget PLE or non-PLE, this is the first
1460
01:17:15.619 --> 01:17:18.220
time they're even defending those titles. They're putting them on
1461
01:17:18.239 --> 01:17:21.779
the line against Penta, Mr. Money in the Bank, and
1462
01:17:21.819 --> 01:17:24.270
Javon Evans. This feels like a title change to me.
1463
01:17:24.529 --> 01:17:26.409
I think we're getting new tag team champions, and then
1464
01:17:26.689 --> 01:17:29.189
it's probably going to lead into a six-man tag, because
1465
01:17:29.869 --> 01:17:33.090
in this week's Observer, Meltzer said that the original plan
1466
01:17:33.130 --> 01:17:36.529
for this was to be a six-man tag with Penta, Evans,
1467
01:17:36.750 --> 01:17:39.859
and Obafemi, who has been missing from TV now for weeks,
1468
01:17:40.380 --> 01:17:43.619
taking on Braun Breaker, Austin Theory, and Bronson Reed. And
1469
01:17:43.659 --> 01:17:45.939
the reason the match was changed was the feeling that
1470
01:17:45.979 --> 01:17:47.939
it made no sense to do the six man without
1471
01:17:48.000 --> 01:17:51.579
first doing the tag team title match. So we're probably
1472
01:17:51.600 --> 01:17:54.899
going to get that six man at some point. Maybe
1473
01:17:54.939 --> 01:17:58.220
at Survivor Series. You know what? Even if it is
1474
01:17:58.260 --> 01:18:01.010
three on three, I would love it if they used
1475
01:18:01.489 --> 01:18:05.920
traditional Survivor Series elimination rules. And do that match on
1476
01:18:05.939 --> 01:18:09.020
that show. But then Obafemi has to win, right? Because
1477
01:18:09.300 --> 01:18:11.720
you start getting into eliminations. And, oh, we don't want
1478
01:18:11.739 --> 01:18:14.350
to beat this guy. We don't want to beat that guy.
1479
01:18:15.239 --> 01:18:16.520
But I would love to see that. I would love
1480
01:18:16.560 --> 01:18:19.119
to see a traditional Survivor Series style match. Even if
1481
01:18:19.180 --> 01:18:21.159
it is just three on three. Here, though, I think
1482
01:18:21.189 --> 01:18:22.689
we're going to get a tag team title change. I
1483
01:18:22.710 --> 01:18:24.869
think Penta and Javon win the belts. It gives Penta
1484
01:18:24.909 --> 01:18:26.890
something to do in the meantime. Even though there's not
1485
01:18:26.970 --> 01:18:28.909
really a tag team division for him to work against.
1486
01:18:28.989 --> 01:18:31.750
But it gives him something to do until they're ready
1487
01:18:31.789 --> 01:18:33.430
to have him cash in. Which I don't think is
1488
01:18:33.449 --> 01:18:37.329
happening until next year anyway. And then we have the
1489
01:18:37.529 --> 01:18:40.520
main event of the show. Champion against champion. The world
1490
01:18:40.539 --> 01:18:45.149
heavyweight champion Roman Reigns taking on the WWE champion Sami Zayn.
1491
01:18:46.729 --> 01:18:49.869
The only reason that I am even entertaining the idea
1492
01:18:50.779 --> 01:18:54.859
of a Roman Reigns loss here is with the 9-4-6
1493
01:18:54.960 --> 01:18:57.680
lurking around. Now, I don't even know if they're going
1494
01:18:57.699 --> 01:19:00.819
to fly those guys out to Saudi, but I'm going
1495
01:19:00.840 --> 01:19:03.850
to say that they do something here to cost Roman
1496
01:19:03.890 --> 01:19:07.750
Reigns the match, Sami Zayn, is going to be your
1497
01:19:07.829 --> 01:19:10.489
new crown jewel champion. He is going to finally get
1498
01:19:10.550 --> 01:19:13.289
that win that he couldn't get at an Elimination Chamber
1499
01:19:13.329 --> 01:19:15.109
three years ago, but he's going to get that win
1500
01:19:15.729 --> 01:19:20.289
over Roman Reigns. I will be irritated, though, if they
1501
01:19:20.329 --> 01:19:23.779
do beat Roman here. Like, it wasn't okay to give
1502
01:19:23.960 --> 01:19:26.140
LA Knight a win over him at Money in the Bank,
1503
01:19:26.199 --> 01:19:28.279
but it's okay to give him a, you know, give
1504
01:19:28.300 --> 01:19:30.310
Sami Zayn a win here. Like, come on now. But
1505
01:19:30.350 --> 01:19:32.960
the 9-4-6 stuff is the only reason I'm picking Sammy here.
1506
01:19:33.000 --> 01:19:35.060
Those guys have yet to really stick it to Roman.
1507
01:19:35.079 --> 01:19:38.079
They haven't really done anything to him directly. This would
1508
01:19:38.119 --> 01:19:41.279
be their warning shot, which would then lead directly into
1509
01:19:41.319 --> 01:19:45.050
war games. And that's the card. The show starts at
1510
01:19:45.149 --> 01:19:48.569
noon Eastern on Saturday. I'll be live on YouTube with
1511
01:19:48.590 --> 01:19:51.449
the full recap immediately after, so figure around 3.30 or so.
1512
01:19:53.869 --> 01:19:56.810
On the AEW side, they have Blood and Guts coming
1513
01:19:56.850 --> 01:19:59.689
up this Wednesday. On the women's side, it is Tekla,
1514
01:19:59.789 --> 01:20:03.750
Julia Hart, Sky Blue, Megan Bain, Lena Cross, and Persephone
1515
01:20:04.409 --> 01:20:08.529
taking on Willow Nightingale, Jamie Hayter, Alex Windsor, Chris Statlander,
1516
01:20:08.569 --> 01:20:14.659
Harley Cameron, and your new TBS champion, Queen Aminata, six
1517
01:20:14.760 --> 01:20:18.140
on six. Queen Aminata was supposed to be in Blood
1518
01:20:18.180 --> 01:20:19.960
and Guts last year, but she had that neck injury
1519
01:20:19.979 --> 01:20:22.229
and she had to be pulled. So she will make
1520
01:20:22.289 --> 01:20:24.470
it this year. It was looking five on five, but
1521
01:20:24.489 --> 01:20:28.310
then last night on Collision, they added Persephone and Aminata
1522
01:20:28.329 --> 01:20:30.289
to make it six on six. But if you look
1523
01:20:30.310 --> 01:20:33.470
at the makeup of this match, it's not identical, but
1524
01:20:33.510 --> 01:20:36.909
it looks very, very similar to last year's match, which
1525
01:20:36.970 --> 01:20:40.340
had all three members of the Triangle of Madness and
1526
01:20:40.380 --> 01:20:45.439
Megan Bain, plus Mercedes Monet and Marina Shafir, taking on
1527
01:20:45.539 --> 01:20:50.380
Willow Nightingale, Harley Cameron, and then Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa.
1528
01:20:51.090 --> 01:20:54.899
So it doesn't look radically different. Only now Marina is
1529
01:20:54.909 --> 01:20:57.460
going to be challenging Mercedes at full gear for the
1530
01:20:57.500 --> 01:21:01.000
Women's World title. I'm going with the heels in this one.
1531
01:21:01.020 --> 01:21:03.779
I'm going with Team Tecla for the win. It would
1532
01:21:03.800 --> 01:21:05.899
be nice to get Tecla back in the win column
1533
01:21:06.270 --> 01:21:10.430
after her loss to Mercedes. Plus the Brawling Birds and Wrathlander,
1534
01:21:11.210 --> 01:21:13.729
they're wrestling at full gear for the Women's Tag Team titles.
1535
01:21:13.789 --> 01:21:16.170
I can see something going down here where they end
1536
01:21:16.210 --> 01:21:18.829
up at odds with each other. And then that would
1537
01:21:18.869 --> 01:21:20.930
lead nicely into their full gear match. So I'm going
1538
01:21:20.949 --> 01:21:25.010
with the heels. On the men's side, it is Will Ospreay,
1539
01:21:25.210 --> 01:21:28.760
Adam Copeland, Darby Allin, Stephen Borden, and the Young Bucks
1540
01:21:28.939 --> 01:21:32.760
taking on Kazuchika Okada, Kyle Fletcher, Kevin Knight, Mark Davis,
1541
01:21:32.819 --> 01:21:38.539
Jake Doyle, and Wardlow. Also six on six. I'm going
1542
01:21:38.560 --> 01:21:42.380
with the baby faces in this one. Team Ospreay, who
1543
01:21:42.420 --> 01:21:45.520
wasn't even on the show this week. We do know
1544
01:21:45.560 --> 01:21:48.090
he will be defending the AW World title against Kyle
1545
01:21:48.149 --> 01:21:50.689
Fletcher at Full Gear. I think it is way too
1546
01:21:50.750 --> 01:21:52.670
early to be doing that match. I think that should
1547
01:21:52.689 --> 01:21:56.850
have been saved for Dynasty in Liverpool next year or Revolution.
1548
01:21:58.130 --> 01:22:00.600
Ospreay is going to have one hell of a travel week.
1549
01:22:00.720 --> 01:22:04.140
He's teaming with Callum Newman against the Knockout Brothers for
1550
01:22:04.159 --> 01:22:07.899
the IWGP Tag Team titles at the New Japan Power
1551
01:22:07.939 --> 01:22:12.399
Struggle Show on Tuesday. That's going to be in Hiroshima, Japan.
1552
01:22:13.050 --> 01:22:17.729
The next day is Blood and Guts in Jacksonville. So
1553
01:22:17.890 --> 01:22:20.069
he has to immediately board a flight back to the
1554
01:22:20.130 --> 01:22:22.010
States to make sure that he is back in time
1555
01:22:22.029 --> 01:22:25.409
for that show. Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley are also
1556
01:22:25.470 --> 01:22:28.810
wrestling on that show. Not against each other, but they're
1557
01:22:28.829 --> 01:22:33.310
not advertised for Dynamite this week. Only Ospreay is. Jon
1558
01:22:33.369 --> 01:22:36.489
Moxley is going to be leading the Death Riders into
1559
01:22:36.770 --> 01:22:39.659
Anarchy in the Arena at Full Gear against The Cut,
1560
01:22:40.439 --> 01:22:44.229
which is Jay White's team. It may be all seven
1561
01:22:44.270 --> 01:22:45.909
of them, or it may just be five of them.
1562
01:22:45.949 --> 01:22:49.260
The Death Riders only have five men to offer. But
1563
01:22:49.340 --> 01:22:52.619
will they be getting some help in the form of
1564
01:22:52.640 --> 01:22:55.579
a new member? They shot an angle on Wednesday where
1565
01:22:55.619 --> 01:22:59.979
the cut, after being single-handedly dominated by Claudio Castagnoli, they
1566
01:23:00.020 --> 01:23:03.060
finally put him down, Jay White did, with a blade
1567
01:23:03.119 --> 01:23:06.350
runner on the exposed concrete. Claudio then did a stretcher job.
1568
01:23:07.399 --> 01:23:10.369
This would be the perfect time to debut Sheamus in AEW.
1569
01:23:11.970 --> 01:23:14.630
We know Claudio wants him in. He and Adam Copeland
1570
01:23:14.689 --> 01:23:17.989
reportedly have gone to Tony Khan to lobby for him.
1571
01:23:18.869 --> 01:23:21.189
The last report said that they didn't see his signing
1572
01:23:21.260 --> 01:23:24.819
as anything urgent. And Seamus, he was interviewed. I don't
1573
01:23:24.840 --> 01:23:26.520
know where he was. He was at a bar. What else?
1574
01:23:26.560 --> 01:23:28.939
He was at a bar. They were watching some kind
1575
01:23:29.020 --> 01:23:33.760
of football game, maybe. But he was being interviewed and
1576
01:23:33.779 --> 01:23:37.310
he was asked about his status and It was almost
1577
01:23:37.350 --> 01:23:39.489
like a quick answer in passing, but he said he's
1578
01:23:39.550 --> 01:23:43.569
on vacation. I'm on a very long vacation. Some people
1579
01:23:43.609 --> 01:23:45.109
may take that to mean that we're not going to
1580
01:23:45.170 --> 01:23:47.890
see him anytime soon. I took that to mean he's
1581
01:23:47.930 --> 01:23:50.659
been on a long vacation. We haven't seen him in months.
1582
01:23:51.619 --> 01:23:54.159
Doesn't mean that he's going to continue to be on
1583
01:23:54.199 --> 01:23:56.260
a long vacation. He's been on one. When was the
1584
01:23:56.279 --> 01:23:58.039
last time we saw him in the ring? It's been months.
1585
01:23:58.399 --> 01:24:01.039
Has he wrestled at all this year? I actually don't
1586
01:24:01.079 --> 01:24:03.590
even think he's wrestled this year. Now that I think
1587
01:24:03.609 --> 01:24:06.970
about it, right? Because he had that shoulder injury. That's right.
1588
01:24:07.890 --> 01:24:10.189
That's right. The last match he probably would have been
1589
01:24:10.329 --> 01:24:15.189
in was that six-man tag on Raw at Madison Square
1590
01:24:15.250 --> 01:24:18.010
Garden last November, a year ago. It was him and
1591
01:24:18.069 --> 01:24:20.029
Cena and Rey Mysterio. I don't think he's wrestled at
1592
01:24:20.050 --> 01:24:23.710
all this year. So he's been on a long vacation.
1593
01:24:23.890 --> 01:24:26.979
I think that vacation is coming to an end very soon.
1594
01:24:28.189 --> 01:24:30.840
This whole thing about, well, you know, AEW doesn't see
1595
01:24:31.100 --> 01:24:35.380
his signing as being any sort of, urgent matter. I
1596
01:24:35.399 --> 01:24:37.439
think he's coming in as part of this angle is
1597
01:24:37.479 --> 01:24:39.819
what I think. Like when we see Claudio back, I
1598
01:24:39.840 --> 01:24:41.470
think he's going to be bringing some help with him.
1599
01:24:42.789 --> 01:24:45.329
Like that show on Wednesday did more to promote full
1600
01:24:45.369 --> 01:24:50.270
gear than it did blood and guts. Uh, but it's,
1601
01:24:50.510 --> 01:24:55.840
it's overkill to have four war games matches in the
1602
01:24:55.880 --> 01:24:58.840
same month. I wish AEW would move these to a
1603
01:24:58.880 --> 01:25:01.750
different time instead of doing them in November and They
1604
01:25:01.789 --> 01:25:04.310
didn't always do them in November. I guess now it's
1605
01:25:04.350 --> 01:25:08.430
become a November tradition the last few years. Just as
1606
01:25:08.489 --> 01:25:10.770
someone who watches both products, I wish that they would
1607
01:25:10.810 --> 01:25:12.630
move them and we didn't get four of these fucking
1608
01:25:12.649 --> 01:25:15.829
things in the same month. If you only watch AEW
1609
01:25:15.850 --> 01:25:17.529
when you're a sicko, then you don't give a shit.
1610
01:25:19.050 --> 01:25:21.810
But the full gear card, it's pretty much loaded up already.
1611
01:25:21.880 --> 01:25:23.909
Even with the matches that aren't official yet, you can
1612
01:25:23.939 --> 01:25:26.960
kind of see where it's going. Like I said, Ospreay
1613
01:25:26.979 --> 01:25:30.340
and Fletcher. for the world title. Mercedes against Marina Shafir
1614
01:25:30.380 --> 01:25:33.479
for the women's world title. The Young Bucks are going
1615
01:25:33.500 --> 01:25:36.000
to be defending the tag team titles against Davis and Doyle.
1616
01:25:37.039 --> 01:25:39.939
Very likely that we will get Adam Copeland against Kazuchika
1617
01:25:40.020 --> 01:25:43.699
Okada for the international title. We have Anarchy in the Arena.
1618
01:25:44.439 --> 01:25:47.479
We have a trios title rematch with Swerve Strickland and
1619
01:25:47.500 --> 01:25:50.670
The New Level against Hangman Adam Page, Brody King, and Bandito,
1620
01:25:50.750 --> 01:25:54.470
which will almost definitely end up being a Texas deathmatch.
1621
01:25:55.810 --> 01:25:59.729
Wrathlander challenging the Brawling Birds for the women's tag team belts.
1622
01:26:00.899 --> 01:26:03.579
We had Ilya Dragidov come out on Dynamite to confront
1623
01:26:03.619 --> 01:26:07.500
Tommaso Ciampa, so that's going to be happening soon, maybe
1624
01:26:07.680 --> 01:26:10.779
at full gear. They've already announced that Ciampa is getting
1625
01:26:10.819 --> 01:26:14.590
a rematch against Andrade for the national title on Collision
1626
01:26:14.649 --> 01:26:18.689
next weekend, which takes place on the Jericho cruise. Ciampa
1627
01:26:18.710 --> 01:26:21.550
lost the first one. I would hate to see him
1628
01:26:21.590 --> 01:26:24.979
drop two straight. it kind of feels like there's a
1629
01:26:25.020 --> 01:26:27.350
very good chance there may be a title change here,
1630
01:26:28.270 --> 01:26:32.590
which means the eventual match between Dragunov and Ciampa could
1631
01:26:32.609 --> 01:26:35.989
be a championship match. And, I mean, I suppose that
1632
01:26:36.029 --> 01:26:38.670
could be the direction for Dragunov if they want to
1633
01:26:38.710 --> 01:26:43.399
go with Jay White challenging Moxley or winning the continental
1634
01:26:43.439 --> 01:26:45.180
title in the C2 this year. I was kind of
1635
01:26:45.199 --> 01:26:49.079
hoping that would be reserved for Dragunov. But if they
1636
01:26:49.119 --> 01:26:52.350
want to go Moxley and Jay White, and put the
1637
01:26:52.399 --> 01:26:55.380
national title on Dragunov in the next couple of months.
1638
01:26:55.600 --> 01:26:58.920
I suppose you could do that. And with their win
1639
01:26:58.960 --> 01:27:01.779
over FTR on Wednesday, the Motor City Machine Guns, they
1640
01:27:01.819 --> 01:27:04.739
are now up two matches to one in their Best
1641
01:27:04.779 --> 01:27:08.260
of Five series. We saw FTR go after Alex Shelley's
1642
01:27:08.359 --> 01:27:11.319
knee after the match was over, so they are all
1643
01:27:11.359 --> 01:27:14.939
but guaranteed to win match number four, which would then
1644
01:27:15.000 --> 01:27:17.239
set up the fifth and final match in the series
1645
01:27:17.460 --> 01:27:20.619
for Full Gear. So that's probably where that's going to happen.
1646
01:27:20.979 --> 01:27:24.619
That's a full card. Now it's Tony Khan, so he'll
1647
01:27:24.640 --> 01:27:26.720
tack on two or three more just for the hell
1648
01:27:26.739 --> 01:27:29.340
of it. But with two weeks to go, the card
1649
01:27:29.380 --> 01:27:31.649
is already full, but that still leaves the national title,
1650
01:27:32.090 --> 01:27:36.670
the TNT title, and the TBS title all unaccounted for.
1651
01:27:37.210 --> 01:27:40.350
Persephone has said that she wants her belt back. So
1652
01:27:40.369 --> 01:27:42.609
the rematch with Aminata could happen there, even if it
1653
01:27:42.649 --> 01:27:45.029
ends up on the pre-show. I was very happy, by
1654
01:27:45.050 --> 01:27:47.569
the way, to see Aminata go over and win that championship.
1655
01:27:47.590 --> 01:27:50.409
I love Persephone, but Aminata, for her, this has been
1656
01:27:50.430 --> 01:27:53.029
a long time coming. And it was nice to see
1657
01:27:53.069 --> 01:27:55.659
her get that moment at the end of Dynamite this week.
1658
01:27:55.699 --> 01:27:59.640
So I did like that. You know, there was a
1659
01:27:59.699 --> 01:28:03.859
time here on the sound off where I thought I
1660
01:28:03.920 --> 01:28:08.329
was done talking about Tammy Sitch. But like any good
1661
01:28:08.390 --> 01:28:12.060
movie monster, you can't get rid of her. She's like
1662
01:28:12.079 --> 01:28:14.739
a rash that just keeps sprouting up when you least
1663
01:28:14.800 --> 01:28:18.840
expect it. She's like a sexually transmitted disease. It was
1664
01:28:18.859 --> 01:28:22.380
three years ago when she was sentenced on the DUI
1665
01:28:22.399 --> 01:28:26.239
and manslaughter charges against her in the death of Julian Lasseter,
1666
01:28:26.970 --> 01:28:30.289
the 75-year-old grandfather of three who was stopped at a
1667
01:28:30.329 --> 01:28:33.829
traffic light when terrible Tammy plowed into the back of
1668
01:28:33.869 --> 01:28:37.090
his car and killed him. Driving a car, mind you,
1669
01:28:37.130 --> 01:28:39.909
that she was not legally supposed to be driving, with
1670
01:28:40.079 --> 01:28:42.420
a blood alcohol level three and a half times the
1671
01:28:42.560 --> 01:28:46.060
legal limit. And she pled no contest as part of
1672
01:28:46.100 --> 01:28:49.479
a plea agreement with prosecutors and could have been sentenced
1673
01:28:49.510 --> 01:28:52.130
for up to 26 years behind bars, which is what
1674
01:28:52.149 --> 01:28:55.310
they were aiming for. And that's what the man's family
1675
01:28:55.449 --> 01:28:58.350
asked the court to give her. Tammy made a statement
1676
01:28:58.390 --> 01:29:02.850
at her sentencing... hearing through crocodile tears, and then she
1677
01:29:02.890 --> 01:29:06.350
was laughing with her lawyer about something five minutes later.
1678
01:29:06.399 --> 01:29:09.560
It was all just an acting job. And they tried
1679
01:29:09.579 --> 01:29:12.600
to offer all sorts of excuses for why she is
1680
01:29:12.680 --> 01:29:16.159
the way she is, including at one point having the
1681
01:29:16.239 --> 01:29:20.939
gall to, in so many words, blame Chris Candido for
1682
01:29:21.520 --> 01:29:24.180
in part for taking her down the road that she
1683
01:29:24.260 --> 01:29:27.100
went down and away from her hopes and dreams, which
1684
01:29:27.159 --> 01:29:31.079
included going to medical school and one day becoming a doctor.
1685
01:29:32.000 --> 01:29:35.439
Cause you see, it was Chris who wanted to be
1686
01:29:35.479 --> 01:29:39.340
a professional wrestler. And so she gave up her dreams
1687
01:29:39.399 --> 01:29:42.659
to support his. And I guess in some way we're
1688
01:29:42.699 --> 01:29:46.060
supposed to feel sorry for her. I, I don't know.
1689
01:29:46.119 --> 01:29:48.640
I'm getting angry just thinking about it all over again. Anyway,
1690
01:29:49.659 --> 01:29:53.159
She didn't get 26 years. She got 17 years behind bars,
1691
01:29:53.279 --> 01:29:57.140
plus another eight years of probation after that. Her driving
1692
01:29:57.199 --> 01:30:01.239
privileges were also revoked for life, but she wasn't supposed
1693
01:30:01.260 --> 01:30:03.439
to be behind the wheel in the first place here.
1694
01:30:03.619 --> 01:30:05.729
And that didn't stop her from getting, you know, in
1695
01:30:05.770 --> 01:30:07.729
the car and killing somebody, which is what people need
1696
01:30:07.770 --> 01:30:09.970
to understand here. We are not talking about someone who
1697
01:30:09.989 --> 01:30:13.170
got behind the wheel drunk once and made a mistake.
1698
01:30:14.050 --> 01:30:15.569
There are a lot of people out there. They'll have
1699
01:30:15.590 --> 01:30:17.350
a little too much to drink. They'll be coming home
1700
01:30:17.369 --> 01:30:21.420
from a party and, and Tragedy strikes. And it really
1701
01:30:21.479 --> 01:30:24.560
is just a terrible situation and it's just tragic all around.
1702
01:30:25.199 --> 01:30:27.619
And the person is genuinely remorseful and they have to
1703
01:30:27.659 --> 01:30:30.130
live with that for the rest of their life. We
1704
01:30:30.170 --> 01:30:33.250
all make mistakes and I might actually have sympathy for her.
1705
01:30:33.449 --> 01:30:36.930
She made a mistake and she showed real remorse for
1706
01:30:36.970 --> 01:30:39.130
what she did. But that's not what we're talking about here.
1707
01:30:40.010 --> 01:30:42.420
This is a woman who did this multiple times over.
1708
01:30:43.579 --> 01:30:47.100
Revoking her license was not enough. mandating that she have
1709
01:30:47.140 --> 01:30:49.800
an interlock device in her car on the steering wheel,
1710
01:30:50.479 --> 01:30:53.300
which was supposed to be the case with her. That
1711
01:30:53.319 --> 01:30:55.460
didn't stop her either. I don't even know that she
1712
01:30:55.500 --> 01:30:57.850
was driving her car. She may have been driving somebody
1713
01:30:57.890 --> 01:30:59.329
else's car, which is how she was able to get
1714
01:30:59.350 --> 01:31:03.270
around that. But that didn't stop her. It's just, it's
1715
01:31:03.369 --> 01:31:07.829
how predictable this all was. Every time I would talk
1716
01:31:07.869 --> 01:31:09.649
about Tammy Sitch is back in the news and she's
1717
01:31:09.689 --> 01:31:13.170
arrested again for this and that, another DUI, DWI, and...
1718
01:31:13.810 --> 01:31:15.149
I would talk about it and be like, man, what
1719
01:31:15.170 --> 01:31:16.850
is it going to take? One of these days, somebody's
1720
01:31:16.890 --> 01:31:20.130
going to get killed. And then guess what? Somebody did.
1721
01:31:21.909 --> 01:31:25.460
No matter what they tried, she didn't care. She did
1722
01:31:25.479 --> 01:31:30.000
it anyway. And then finally, tragedy struck. That is why
1723
01:31:30.039 --> 01:31:32.739
that woman needs to be locked away. Because she is
1724
01:31:32.800 --> 01:31:37.800
a menace to society. This was no accident. So why
1725
01:31:37.840 --> 01:31:39.470
is she back in the news? Why am I talking
1726
01:31:39.510 --> 01:31:42.130
about her again? PW Insider had the headline this week.
1727
01:31:43.270 --> 01:31:47.229
Tammy Sitch attempts to get out of prison. Like she
1728
01:31:47.270 --> 01:31:50.260
tried to scale the walls over all the barbed wire,
1729
01:31:50.340 --> 01:31:53.000
or she was burrowing through the wall of her cell
1730
01:31:53.039 --> 01:31:55.739
like in Shawshank, and she crawled through a river of
1731
01:31:55.819 --> 01:31:59.279
shit to try to escape. No, she's attempting to get
1732
01:31:59.319 --> 01:32:03.550
her conviction thrown out for DUI manslaughter and driving without
1733
01:32:03.560 --> 01:32:08.130
a license while causing injury or death. Mike Johnson reports
1734
01:32:08.670 --> 01:32:11.329
that Tammy filed a motion last month in an effort
1735
01:32:11.369 --> 01:32:15.819
to have her conviction vacated. In the motion, Sitch alleges
1736
01:32:15.890 --> 01:32:20.170
that she received ineffective counsel from her defense, claiming that
1737
01:32:20.210 --> 01:32:23.569
the defense did not properly investigate other factors that led
1738
01:32:23.609 --> 01:32:27.850
to Julian Lasseter's death, including Lasseter's medical history that the
1739
01:32:27.909 --> 01:32:33.279
motion says includes coronary artery disease, stenosis, and other serious
1740
01:32:33.340 --> 01:32:38.239
cardiovascular and medical conditions. The motion also says toxicology results
1741
01:32:38.279 --> 01:32:42.390
indicate that Lasseter had Adderall and Cialis in his system.
1742
01:32:43.069 --> 01:32:47.000
and that Lasseter suffered fractured ribs consistent with CPR having
1743
01:32:47.039 --> 01:32:50.979
been administered at the sea. Basically, arguing that she was
1744
01:32:51.060 --> 01:32:53.779
moving at a rate of speed, slow enough, that it
1745
01:32:53.840 --> 01:32:57.279
wouldn't adequately explain why the man died. And it may
1746
01:32:57.319 --> 01:33:00.189
have more to do with these pre-existing medical conditions of his,
1747
01:33:00.250 --> 01:33:03.689
and if she had a competent attorney defending her, then
1748
01:33:03.710 --> 01:33:06.170
they would have presented evidence of this and experts to
1749
01:33:06.229 --> 01:33:08.409
attest to this, and she would have been acquitted of
1750
01:33:08.430 --> 01:33:12.510
the homicide charge, or have a more favorable plea. That's
1751
01:33:12.529 --> 01:33:16.489
what she's arguing. In addition, Sitch says that her counsel
1752
01:33:16.529 --> 01:33:19.850
was ineffective because they did not investigate a conflict of
1753
01:33:19.949 --> 01:33:23.270
interest where an assistant state attorney who helped prosecute the
1754
01:33:23.310 --> 01:33:26.560
case was married to the physician who declared Lassiter's death.
1755
01:33:27.220 --> 01:33:31.100
She's claiming proper defense would have investigated that relationship whether
1756
01:33:31.140 --> 01:33:33.600
it should have been disclosed to the defense and the
1757
01:33:33.659 --> 01:33:37.460
court during her trial and whether the relationship created an
1758
01:33:37.619 --> 01:33:44.380
actual conflict, required disclosure, justified recusal, or required another appropriate safeguard.
1759
01:33:45.260 --> 01:33:48.760
In the motion, she argues the evidence concerning the decedent's
1760
01:33:48.880 --> 01:33:55.560
medical history, toxicology, CPR-related trauma, and the prosecutor's marital relationship
1761
01:33:55.600 --> 01:34:01.119
to the physician constitutes newly discovered evidence warranting post-conviction relief.
1762
01:34:02.260 --> 01:34:05.039
She also argued that due to lack of funds, she
1763
01:34:05.079 --> 01:34:07.300
was unable to have counsel who would have discovered all
1764
01:34:07.340 --> 01:34:10.430
of these facts that have now been unearthed. She asked
1765
01:34:10.449 --> 01:34:14.010
that the state of Florida respond, hold an evidentiary hearing,
1766
01:34:14.069 --> 01:34:17.050
appoint her new counsel if they find that hearing is necessary,
1767
01:34:18.010 --> 01:34:25.090
authorize appropriate discovery or compulsory process concerning relevant medical toxicology, EMS,
1768
01:34:25.130 --> 01:34:30.149
hospital pathology, medical examiner, law enforcement, and civil discovery records,
1769
01:34:31.060 --> 01:34:34.819
vacate her current judgment and sentence, grant her a trial,
1770
01:34:34.840 --> 01:34:39.079
and or alternatively grant such other post-conviction relief as the
1771
01:34:39.119 --> 01:34:42.899
court finds lawful, and grant all further relief necessary to
1772
01:34:42.979 --> 01:34:49.449
remedy the constitutional violations alleged. And then on October 21st,
1773
01:34:50.489 --> 01:34:55.829
Circuit Court Judge Christian Miller filed an interim order dismissing
1774
01:34:55.869 --> 01:34:59.949
the motion, citing it as facially insufficient, meaning that on
1775
01:34:59.989 --> 01:35:02.560
the surface it just fails on its face by not
1776
01:35:02.619 --> 01:35:05.619
including all of the required facts or elements needed to
1777
01:35:05.979 --> 01:35:09.619
support the claim. And the judge wrote specifically that Tammy
1778
01:35:09.659 --> 01:35:13.520
failed to comply with the requirements of Florida rule of
1779
01:35:13.699 --> 01:35:16.789
criminal procedure, which states the motion must be under oath,
1780
01:35:17.369 --> 01:35:19.869
stating that the defendant has read the motion or that
1781
01:35:19.890 --> 01:35:22.149
it has been read to him or her, that the
1782
01:35:22.189 --> 01:35:25.470
defendant understands its content, and that all of the facts
1783
01:35:25.529 --> 01:35:28.609
stated in it are true and correct. And that the
1784
01:35:28.649 --> 01:35:32.670
defendant shall either certify that the defendant can understand English
1785
01:35:33.270 --> 01:35:36.489
or if the defendant cannot understand English, that they had
1786
01:35:36.520 --> 01:35:39.880
the motion translated completely into a language that they do understand.
1787
01:35:39.939 --> 01:35:45.239
And since these parameters were not met, the court automatically
1788
01:35:45.300 --> 01:35:47.939
denied it. And so that's an important distinction here because,
1789
01:35:47.979 --> 01:35:50.960
you know, in some cases where this story popped up,
1790
01:35:51.039 --> 01:35:54.119
it just says, well, the judge already rejected it without
1791
01:35:54.159 --> 01:35:56.520
giving any sort of context as to why. It sounds
1792
01:35:56.600 --> 01:36:01.310
more like a technical issue than them outright dismissing it
1793
01:36:01.329 --> 01:36:05.770
just because they think it's just complete bullshit. But it
1794
01:36:05.810 --> 01:36:08.800
was dismissed for other reasons. But here's the thing, though.
1795
01:36:09.140 --> 01:36:12.579
Here's the key element to this. The judge issued a
1796
01:36:12.619 --> 01:36:16.500
warning to Sitch that if she was successful in having
1797
01:36:16.560 --> 01:36:21.220
her original negotiated plea deal cast aside, the state would
1798
01:36:21.260 --> 01:36:24.039
no longer be bound by it. And she could be
1799
01:36:24.100 --> 01:36:27.140
exposed to any legal sentence that could be imposed if
1800
01:36:27.199 --> 01:36:30.149
she's convicted of those charges. So this would be in
1801
01:36:30.229 --> 01:36:32.550
regard to some of the lesser charges that got dropped,
1802
01:36:33.369 --> 01:36:36.229
but could be brought back if she stands trial again.
1803
01:36:37.390 --> 01:36:39.750
And the court noted that with all the charges, she
1804
01:36:39.810 --> 01:36:43.159
could be facing up to 26 years of incarceration, which
1805
01:36:43.199 --> 01:36:46.159
would be longer than the initial 17 years and six
1806
01:36:46.220 --> 01:36:49.500
months that she was sentenced to. So you can proceed
1807
01:36:49.520 --> 01:36:53.640
with this if you want at your own risk. You
1808
01:36:53.659 --> 01:36:57.439
do so at your own peril. I would laugh my
1809
01:36:57.560 --> 01:36:59.779
ass off if she ends up with a longer sentence
1810
01:36:59.859 --> 01:37:03.039
out of this. How fucking funny would that be? It's
1811
01:37:03.060 --> 01:37:06.819
like a Law & Order episode. So Terrible Tammy has
1812
01:37:06.880 --> 01:37:10.250
two choices here. Door number one or door number two.
1813
01:37:11.109 --> 01:37:13.569
She could either file a motion to appeal the dismissal,
1814
01:37:14.130 --> 01:37:16.130
or she could file a motion to dismiss her own
1815
01:37:16.189 --> 01:37:19.050
claims and just serve out the remainder of her term.
1816
01:37:19.770 --> 01:37:22.779
which barring any sort of early release, which I believe
1817
01:37:22.819 --> 01:37:27.699
she is eligible for good behavior release after 14 years. Otherwise,
1818
01:37:27.739 --> 01:37:30.140
she could be due to be released. I think she
1819
01:37:30.159 --> 01:37:34.750
would be due, I think 2039 is when she's due
1820
01:37:34.789 --> 01:37:37.390
to get out. She would be 67 years old when
1821
01:37:37.430 --> 01:37:41.289
she gets out. I should point out that this is
1822
01:37:41.329 --> 01:37:43.789
not the first time that this woman has tried to
1823
01:37:43.829 --> 01:37:47.180
get out of prison early. In January of last year,
1824
01:37:47.989 --> 01:37:50.789
She sent a letter to the judge requesting that instead
1825
01:37:50.810 --> 01:37:54.300
of serving her sentence on each charge independently, she get
1826
01:37:54.340 --> 01:37:57.180
to serve them concurrently, which would allow her to get
1827
01:37:57.239 --> 01:38:00.560
out a lot sooner than 2039. The judge denied her
1828
01:38:00.619 --> 01:38:03.420
request then as well. And then a few months later,
1829
01:38:03.470 --> 01:38:06.510
she was ordered to pay $ 5 million to the victim's
1830
01:38:06.569 --> 01:38:09.350
estate after they had sued her. They only sued her for,
1831
01:38:09.369 --> 01:38:12.170
I think, $ 30, 000. So they ended up getting a hell
1832
01:38:12.210 --> 01:38:13.729
of a lot more than that, or at least that's
1833
01:38:13.770 --> 01:38:16.500
what she was ordered to pay. I mean, I doubt
1834
01:38:16.520 --> 01:38:18.479
the family is ever going to see a dime of
1835
01:38:18.520 --> 01:38:22.229
that money. I mean, this woman has no assets. She
1836
01:38:22.250 --> 01:38:24.409
couldn't buy a fucking candy bar if she wanted to.
1837
01:38:26.069 --> 01:38:28.850
In a best case scenario, she would get the help
1838
01:38:28.890 --> 01:38:31.939
she needs and she would change her ways in prison
1839
01:38:31.979 --> 01:38:34.399
and be a better person for it. But life is
1840
01:38:34.460 --> 01:38:37.319
not a best case scenario, right? You have to recognize
1841
01:38:37.340 --> 01:38:40.239
your issues and you have to have the desire to
1842
01:38:40.340 --> 01:38:42.890
want to change in order to do so. I just
1843
01:38:42.930 --> 01:38:46.329
think that she's a bad person. I think she's a monster.
1844
01:38:47.649 --> 01:38:50.359
who has no concern for others, no regard for others,
1845
01:38:50.920 --> 01:38:54.119
as demonstrated by her actions over the years. She'll say
1846
01:38:54.239 --> 01:38:58.020
one thing and do another. She's a selfish, narcissistic person
1847
01:38:58.880 --> 01:39:01.060
who puts her own wants and needs above all else.
1848
01:39:01.119 --> 01:39:05.140
And despite her breaking the law numerous times and numerous
1849
01:39:05.199 --> 01:39:11.439
wake-up calls across multiple states and jurisdictions, she has continued
1850
01:39:11.479 --> 01:39:13.619
to behave in a way that put not only herself
1851
01:39:13.720 --> 01:39:16.770
but other innocent people at risk. She's been arrested something
1852
01:39:16.789 --> 01:39:19.649
like a dozen different times. At one point, she was
1853
01:39:19.689 --> 01:39:23.039
arrested six times in the span of four weeks. And
1854
01:39:23.079 --> 01:39:24.760
I don't think a single one of those arrests even
1855
01:39:24.800 --> 01:39:28.119
had anything to do with her driving drunk. She is
1856
01:39:28.159 --> 01:39:31.310
a menace. She is a menace and a danger to
1857
01:39:31.430 --> 01:39:33.569
everybody around her. And so long as she is locked
1858
01:39:33.630 --> 01:39:36.909
up and not behind the wheel, the roads, dangerous as
1859
01:39:36.949 --> 01:39:39.829
they may be, are still safer for her not being
1860
01:39:39.930 --> 01:39:43.460
on them. But I saw that Tesla just unveiled its
1861
01:39:43.500 --> 01:39:47.350
first flying car model. If flying cars become a thing
1862
01:39:47.390 --> 01:39:49.229
in the next 20 years, she could be out in
1863
01:39:49.329 --> 01:39:54.989
less than that. Now that's a scary thought. Mailbag time.
1864
01:39:55.250 --> 01:39:58.680
You can email me, thesolidmonster, at gmail.com. If you've got
1865
01:39:58.720 --> 01:40:00.800
a question that you want to try to have answered
1866
01:40:00.840 --> 01:40:03.979
on the podcast, on Uncrowned on Tuesdays, send them on in.
1867
01:40:04.520 --> 01:40:09.550
Include your name and where you are from. Jerry from Glasgow, Scotland.
1868
01:40:10.470 --> 01:40:13.550
My girlfriend, Bonnie, can sometimes shake her head at how
1869
01:40:13.590 --> 01:40:16.170
much wrestling I'm into. I sometimes try to get her
1870
01:40:16.189 --> 01:40:18.189
to watch, but I don't want to force her to
1871
01:40:18.229 --> 01:40:20.189
if she doesn't want to. She does love Cody and
1872
01:40:20.210 --> 01:40:23.590
CM Punk. True story, the most animated I ever saw
1873
01:40:23.630 --> 01:40:25.750
her while watching a match was the Cody and Seth
1874
01:40:25.770 --> 01:40:28.229
Hell in a Cell match. Could you recommend a match
1875
01:40:28.310 --> 01:40:31.409
for the love of my life? By the power invested
1876
01:40:31.470 --> 01:40:35.409
in you, which match should she watch from start to finish? Well,
1877
01:40:35.470 --> 01:40:38.100
I'll give you three of them, and it really depends
1878
01:40:38.180 --> 01:40:40.670
on what you think she would be most interested in.
1879
01:40:40.689 --> 01:40:43.470
I mean, you know her better than I do. One
1880
01:40:43.489 --> 01:40:46.449
thing I would avoid though, anything longer than 20 minutes,
1881
01:40:47.210 --> 01:40:49.779
she'll lose interest. So don't go, there's like tons of
1882
01:40:49.859 --> 01:40:52.319
great long matches I could recommend, but I would not
1883
01:40:52.680 --> 01:40:55.840
go in that direction. Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar at
1884
01:40:55.880 --> 01:41:00.729
WrestleMania 33. That's a short, I think six minute smash
1885
01:41:00.779 --> 01:41:04.130
mouth match, all action. I think she might enjoy that.
1886
01:41:04.770 --> 01:41:09.210
Kurt Angle against Rey Mysterio from SummerSlam 2002. Very entertaining,
1887
01:41:09.289 --> 01:41:14.729
very fast-paced, under 10 minutes. And then something on the
1888
01:41:14.840 --> 01:41:18.699
longer side, but still under 20 minutes. Sasha Banks against
1889
01:41:18.739 --> 01:41:23.159
Bayley from NXT TakeOver Brooklyn in 2015. If she would
1890
01:41:23.199 --> 01:41:25.119
be into the women's matches, that's the one that I
1891
01:41:25.140 --> 01:41:29.470
would show her. David from Sacramento, California. I want your
1892
01:41:29.529 --> 01:41:32.920
take on this idea for a fifth member for 946.
1893
01:41:32.920 --> 01:41:35.720
I was at that horrible smackdown a few weeks ago
1894
01:41:35.779 --> 01:41:38.060
in Sacramento, and prior I would have just said it
1895
01:41:38.600 --> 01:41:40.979
should have been a beatdown by Damien Priest to write
1896
01:41:41.359 --> 01:41:45.079
R-Truth off. But what if this new unfortunate situation with
1897
01:41:45.100 --> 01:41:49.050
the dropkick killed off R-Truth and 946 instead gets Ron
1898
01:41:49.119 --> 01:41:52.729
Killings as the veteran of the group? If you saw
1899
01:41:52.750 --> 01:41:55.229
the TNA days of the early 2000s, then you know
1900
01:41:55.270 --> 01:41:57.859
he can pull off a bitter and angry character who
1901
01:41:57.880 --> 01:42:01.659
was overlooked. Hell, when he went heel in 2011, we
1902
01:42:01.699 --> 01:42:03.600
got a taste of it. But I just want your take.
1903
01:42:04.020 --> 01:42:07.039
Let Ron finish his career just being himself and no
1904
01:42:07.079 --> 01:42:10.960
more goofy BS. Well, goofy BS is why they brought
1905
01:42:11.000 --> 01:42:15.939
him back. They're not interested in Ron Killings. They re-signed R-Truth.
1906
01:42:17.439 --> 01:42:19.989
You can tell that by the fact how quickly they
1907
01:42:20.029 --> 01:42:23.239
cut off the Ron Killings storyline. So that's not what
1908
01:42:23.260 --> 01:42:25.859
they signed him for, dude. And frankly, and I agree
1909
01:42:25.899 --> 01:42:28.380
with you, it would be nice to see him playing
1910
01:42:28.420 --> 01:42:30.819
a character like that. I have no interest in seeing
1911
01:42:30.850 --> 01:42:33.529
him with the 946. He is not needed in the 946.
1912
01:42:33.529 --> 01:42:35.850
I think that would be a mistake. I'm not even
1913
01:42:35.890 --> 01:42:38.630
interested in adding any new full-time members right now. I
1914
01:42:38.670 --> 01:42:41.270
don't think you have to. But if you did, I
1915
01:42:41.689 --> 01:42:45.289
would not be adding Ron Kellings to that group. Stuart
1916
01:42:45.310 --> 01:42:50.079
from Paisley, Scotland has been listening since SoundOff 50-ish or so.
1917
01:42:50.100 --> 01:42:53.189
That's a long time. I have two pitches for Adam
1918
01:42:53.229 --> 01:42:57.149
Copeland's retirement and one of your thoughts. Pitch one. Copeland
1919
01:42:57.210 --> 01:43:00.869
is brutally attacked by a returning Christian in the new year.
1920
01:43:00.970 --> 01:43:05.189
Christian in storyline wants to rid him, wants to get
1921
01:43:05.270 --> 01:43:08.189
rid of him. Following the attack, Copeland decides he's going
1922
01:43:08.229 --> 01:43:10.569
to retire immediately rather than wait until the end of
1923
01:43:10.590 --> 01:43:14.020
the year. Whoever is the acting GM, I can't remember
1924
01:43:14.069 --> 01:43:18.479
if that's an established thing in AEW. Clearly not a sicko, Stewart.
1925
01:43:19.699 --> 01:43:22.300
Or Tony Khan spends the following weeks talking to him
1926
01:43:22.960 --> 01:43:25.199
and eventually offers him a contract that allows him to
1927
01:43:25.239 --> 01:43:30.079
have one match anytime, anywhere. Copeland gladly accepts, but rather
1928
01:43:30.100 --> 01:43:32.340
than using it for a match against Christian, he cashes
1929
01:43:32.420 --> 01:43:35.960
in on Will Ospreay one week and wins the AW
1930
01:43:35.979 --> 01:43:38.399
World Championship. It would be a clear callback to his
1931
01:43:38.460 --> 01:43:42.140
cash in in 2005. From there, you have a short
1932
01:43:42.199 --> 01:43:45.149
heel run for Copeland with Ospreay having to overcome him
1933
01:43:45.229 --> 01:43:47.939
to win back the belt. I know the Cena heel
1934
01:43:47.979 --> 01:43:50.180
turn has shown that these things don't always work, but
1935
01:43:50.199 --> 01:43:52.819
I think giving Copeland that short-lived edge could be fun
1936
01:43:52.920 --> 01:43:57.239
and elevate the feud. Yeah, I don't like that idea.
1937
01:43:57.800 --> 01:44:00.649
I'm just going to be honest with you. I would
1938
01:44:00.689 --> 01:44:04.130
not do that. I would not be going in that direction.
1939
01:44:04.189 --> 01:44:07.350
I don't like the way that that is laid out
1940
01:44:07.430 --> 01:44:11.310
for him. But we have pitch number two. This can
1941
01:44:11.329 --> 01:44:16.789
still be salvaged. A dedicated retirement pay-per-view. I'm not sure
1942
01:44:16.829 --> 01:44:19.609
about the legalities of this, but what if AEW created
1943
01:44:19.670 --> 01:44:21.310
a new pay-per-view at the end of the year called
1944
01:44:21.369 --> 01:44:25.649
something like Edge of the Line, specifically built around his retirement?
1945
01:44:26.130 --> 01:44:28.380
It would mean having Adam Copeland's face all over the
1946
01:44:28.409 --> 01:44:31.710
poster with his more famous name Edge plastered alongside of it.
1947
01:44:32.520 --> 01:44:35.079
That could potentially reach more casual fans who might be
1948
01:44:35.140 --> 01:44:38.739
interested in tuning in. I don't think it would make
1949
01:44:38.800 --> 01:44:43.180
a massive difference, but it could be a fun callback too. Yeah,
1950
01:44:43.239 --> 01:44:45.380
I mean, look, there are certain fun callbacks that are
1951
01:44:45.420 --> 01:44:48.100
fun for you and me, but like you said, legally
1952
01:44:48.220 --> 01:44:51.100
or realistically, it's just not doable. And I don't even
1953
01:44:51.119 --> 01:44:52.920
think you need to do that, dude. I think if
1954
01:44:53.479 --> 01:44:57.119
he has fans out there who are aware of the
1955
01:44:57.159 --> 01:45:00.189
fact that he, A, is still wrestling, and B, that
1956
01:45:00.229 --> 01:45:03.310
this is his last year, you can promote the fact
1957
01:45:03.329 --> 01:45:06.970
that Adam Copeland is wrestling his final match, you know,
1958
01:45:06.989 --> 01:45:09.939
whenever that may be. You could take out ads. You
1959
01:45:09.960 --> 01:45:12.539
could take out Facebook ads. You could take out fucking Billboard.
1960
01:45:12.560 --> 01:45:14.770
You could do whatever you want. And I think it
1961
01:45:14.779 --> 01:45:16.890
would do very well. I think you would be able
1962
01:45:16.930 --> 01:45:20.729
to bring in the casual fans or whatever that you
1963
01:45:20.789 --> 01:45:26.439
speak of. But having a dedicated pay-per-view for it, I
1964
01:45:26.479 --> 01:45:30.220
don't think that's necessary. I mean, it's the John Cena thing.
1965
01:45:30.500 --> 01:45:32.939
That's basically what that is. I mean, you're pitching a
1966
01:45:32.979 --> 01:45:35.060
version of what they did with Saturday Night's Main Event.
1967
01:45:36.000 --> 01:45:37.319
I don't think they need to do that for him.
1968
01:45:37.399 --> 01:45:39.850
I think you just need to... I don't know when
1969
01:45:39.890 --> 01:45:41.609
his last match is going to be. It could be
1970
01:45:42.109 --> 01:45:45.550
World's End in December. It could be All In. It
1971
01:45:45.590 --> 01:45:47.670
could be in the fall. It could be WrestleDream. We
1972
01:45:47.689 --> 01:45:51.210
don't know if he's going the entire year. They didn't
1973
01:45:51.250 --> 01:45:53.050
do it for Sting. I don't think they need to
1974
01:45:53.090 --> 01:45:55.670
do it for Copeland. As long as you come up
1975
01:45:55.729 --> 01:45:58.449
with a... And really, his last match is going to
1976
01:45:58.489 --> 01:46:00.279
be the draw regardless. But if you come up with
1977
01:46:00.319 --> 01:46:04.579
a big attraction, a big opponent or opponents for his
1978
01:46:04.640 --> 01:46:09.060
final match... and build up a pay-per-view main event around
1979
01:46:09.100 --> 01:46:12.359
that on one of your existing shows, I think that's
1980
01:46:12.399 --> 01:46:14.439
more than enough. I really don't think you need to
1981
01:46:14.500 --> 01:46:16.539
have a dedicated show for it. I don't think you
1982
01:46:16.579 --> 01:46:19.909
need to have some new contract he signs and he
1983
01:46:20.010 --> 01:46:25.310
cashes in. We don't need to overcomplicate this. I think
1984
01:46:25.329 --> 01:46:27.369
you keep it simple. I think there's certain people that
1985
01:46:27.489 --> 01:46:30.050
people want to see him work with or that he
1986
01:46:30.090 --> 01:46:33.270
would like to work with, and let him work with them.
1987
01:46:33.899 --> 01:46:35.640
In his final year, let's get a bunch of matches
1988
01:46:35.680 --> 01:46:38.399
that we haven't seen him do in AEW yet. Maybe
1989
01:46:38.470 --> 01:46:40.619
even a few faces that he has been in the
1990
01:46:40.659 --> 01:46:43.069
ring with, but it's been a while. And this is
1991
01:46:43.109 --> 01:46:44.789
the last chance to make it happen. That's why I
1992
01:46:44.829 --> 01:46:47.149
said if Sheamus comes into AEW, you could do Edge
1993
01:46:47.170 --> 01:46:49.350
and Sheamus again. The last time that we saw Copeland
1994
01:46:49.369 --> 01:46:51.390
in a WWE ring was against Sheamus. It would be
1995
01:46:51.430 --> 01:46:53.149
kind of fun to see them in an AEW ring.
1996
01:46:53.949 --> 01:46:55.729
But there's any number of matches that you can do
1997
01:46:55.789 --> 01:46:57.550
and just come up with what you want that story
1998
01:46:57.590 --> 01:46:59.510
to be. Is he going to win the world title?
1999
01:46:59.550 --> 01:47:01.029
Is he not going to win the world title? Is
2000
01:47:01.050 --> 01:47:03.520
he going to fall just short? I don't really... I
2001
01:47:03.529 --> 01:47:06.140
don't really need to see him, frankly, win the AEW
2002
01:47:06.180 --> 01:47:08.199
world title, but you could win me over. I mean,
2003
01:47:08.239 --> 01:47:10.920
you could come up with a compelling story where I'm like, oh, man,
2004
01:47:10.960 --> 01:47:13.239
that would be great. I would love to see that.
2005
01:47:14.079 --> 01:47:16.149
And just keep it simple. I really don't think that
2006
01:47:16.189 --> 01:47:20.329
we need to overthink this or overcomplicate it. But of
2007
01:47:20.350 --> 01:47:22.869
the two ideas, I actually would go with your second
2008
01:47:22.930 --> 01:47:26.800
idea more than the first one. David from County Cork
2009
01:47:27.020 --> 01:47:30.010
in Ireland. Been listening since 2020, and I want to
2010
01:47:30.050 --> 01:47:32.210
say thanks for all you do. I travel a lot
2011
01:47:32.250 --> 01:47:34.750
for work, especially on Mondays, and I always look forward
2012
01:47:34.770 --> 01:47:36.789
to the sound off for my trips on Monday morning.
2013
01:47:37.029 --> 01:47:40.119
My question is regarding Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar. What
2014
01:47:40.319 --> 01:47:43.119
really happened in their shoot wrestling match in the back?
2015
01:47:43.760 --> 01:47:46.539
where it is said that Kurt Angle destroyed Brock. I
2016
01:47:46.579 --> 01:47:49.699
could see Kurt beating Brock, but not destroying him. Also,
2017
01:47:49.760 --> 01:47:51.520
have you ever seen their New Japan match for the
2018
01:47:51.600 --> 01:47:55.369
IWGP title? And if so, would you recommend watching it
2019
01:47:55.470 --> 01:47:58.529
as I am a huge fan of both men? Well,
2020
01:47:58.550 --> 01:48:01.250
he didn't destroy Brock. I mean, destroy is not really
2021
01:48:01.289 --> 01:48:03.170
the right word for it. Kurt himself has said that
2022
01:48:03.210 --> 01:48:05.130
it was a close wrestling match. They went at it
2023
01:48:05.149 --> 01:48:08.239
for like 15 minutes, but Brock never came close to
2024
01:48:08.279 --> 01:48:11.289
taking him down. He took Brock down once, but otherwise
2025
01:48:11.289 --> 01:48:14.409
it was competitive. As Kurt said, as good of a
2026
01:48:14.409 --> 01:48:17.449
wrestler as Brock was, he wasn't as good of a
2027
01:48:17.449 --> 01:48:21.520
wrestler as Kurt. You know, Kurt was Olympic trained. Brock wasn't.
2028
01:48:22.699 --> 01:48:25.180
If Brock trained for the Olympics, even Kurt says, he
2029
01:48:25.199 --> 01:48:27.420
wouldn't have stood a chance against Brock. Brock would have
2030
01:48:27.439 --> 01:48:31.220
killed him. But as far as their IWGP title match,
2031
01:48:31.319 --> 01:48:34.560
that was not in New Japan. So what that was,
2032
01:48:35.109 --> 01:48:38.000
Brock Lesnar had won the belt in New Japan. There
2033
01:48:38.020 --> 01:48:42.029
was a dispute over pay that Lesnar felt he was owed.
2034
01:48:42.550 --> 01:48:45.850
I'm a little fuzzy on the exact details, but as
2035
01:48:46.470 --> 01:48:48.590
with Brock, it comes down to money, and if they
2036
01:48:48.649 --> 01:48:50.729
wanted to cut his pay, then he was within his
2037
01:48:50.789 --> 01:48:53.770
rights not to go back. But he never dropped the
2038
01:48:53.810 --> 01:48:57.149
belt or gave the belt back. And so meanwhile, Antonio
2039
01:48:57.229 --> 01:49:00.319
Inoki had sold his share in New Japan, the company
2040
01:49:00.359 --> 01:49:03.100
he founded, and he was getting ready to open a
2041
01:49:03.140 --> 01:49:07.920
new promotion called the Inoki Genome Federation. And he got
2042
01:49:07.960 --> 01:49:12.600
Brock to come in with the IWGP belt, recognizing him
2043
01:49:12.680 --> 01:49:16.090
as the champion, even if New Japan didn't. And Brock
2044
01:49:16.119 --> 01:49:18.729
agreed to drop the belt to Kurt Angle. So that's
2045
01:49:18.770 --> 01:49:22.170
how that match came about. Brock was actually supposed to
2046
01:49:22.189 --> 01:49:24.750
defend that title and probably lose it in New Japan
2047
01:49:24.789 --> 01:49:28.770
to Hiroshi Tanahashi before he bailed. But he dropped it
2048
01:49:28.789 --> 01:49:31.630
to Kurt instead. It's not one of their better matches,
2049
01:49:32.430 --> 01:49:35.210
but even a less than great Brock Lesnar-Kurt Angle match
2050
01:49:35.270 --> 01:49:37.979
is still very good. It's worth a watch if you've
2051
01:49:38.000 --> 01:49:39.939
never seen it before. There just isn't a real sense
2052
01:49:39.960 --> 01:49:42.880
of urgency or excitement to it. The excitement is seeing
2053
01:49:42.920 --> 01:49:46.869
Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle wrestling each other outside of WWE, right?
2054
01:49:46.949 --> 01:49:50.649
These two guys that headlined a WrestleMania together only three
2055
01:49:50.670 --> 01:49:54.689
or four years before this. So that's pretty unique. That
2056
01:49:54.720 --> 01:49:57.100
was Brock's last match until 2012 when he came back
2057
01:49:57.119 --> 01:50:02.189
to WWE. Daniel from New Orleans, appreciate the never-ending coverage
2058
01:50:02.229 --> 01:50:05.880
for 980-plus episodes. Hope you get a chance to bring
2059
01:50:05.909 --> 01:50:11.640
an HOG show down south soon. Well, stay tuned. If
2060
01:50:11.699 --> 01:50:13.979
no other questions pop up in the future, cheers to
2061
01:50:14.000 --> 01:50:16.899
the end of the year. Cannot wait for Sound of 1000.
2062
01:50:16.899 --> 01:50:20.010
Random question that popped up while doing my evening run.
2063
01:50:20.170 --> 01:50:23.189
We often talk about the greatest entrance themes for wrestlers,
2064
01:50:23.210 --> 01:50:25.029
but we never talk about the themes that should get
2065
01:50:25.050 --> 01:50:27.949
their flowers as well. I would like to ask you,
2066
01:50:28.270 --> 01:50:31.640
what are some entrance themes that are overlooked or underrated?
2067
01:50:31.720 --> 01:50:36.279
My personal list would include Rey Mysterio Jr. from his
2068
01:50:36.380 --> 01:50:42.640
early WCW run. Yeah, that song was great. Shinsuke Nakamura,
2069
01:50:42.819 --> 01:50:47.439
New Japan theme. Subconscious. Subconscious is a banger, man. That
2070
01:50:47.479 --> 01:50:49.729
was a great theme. Not that his theme when he
2071
01:50:49.770 --> 01:50:52.590
first came to NXT was bad. But there were a
2072
01:50:52.590 --> 01:50:54.329
lot of people hoping he would keep the music he
2073
01:50:54.369 --> 01:50:59.149
had in New Japan. Kenta Kobashi in All Japan, he says.
2074
01:50:59.180 --> 01:51:04.319
I'm not familiar with his music there. Prince Devitt and
2075
01:51:04.380 --> 01:51:11.189
Dean Malenko. See, with Dean Malenko, I always thought when
2076
01:51:11.199 --> 01:51:13.710
I would hear that music, for some reason, I would
2077
01:51:13.729 --> 01:51:16.710
think the Russians are coming. The Russians are coming. I
2078
01:51:16.750 --> 01:51:18.329
don't know why. Every time I heard that music, the
2079
01:51:18.369 --> 01:51:22.369
Russians are coming. It wasn't a bad one. It wasn't
2080
01:51:22.409 --> 01:51:25.180
a bad one. I'll throw a few more on. Ric
2081
01:51:25.220 --> 01:51:29.279
Flair's WWF theme when he first came in. I know
2082
01:51:29.319 --> 01:51:33.979
he's more closely associated with his other theme song, which
2083
01:51:34.020 --> 01:51:37.560
he used in his later run in WWE and in WCW.
2084
01:51:38.420 --> 01:51:41.119
But that music that he used when he first came
2085
01:51:41.189 --> 01:51:47.270
in in 91 was so good. That's an underrated Flair theme.
2086
01:51:48.590 --> 01:51:53.010
Evil Doink. He had a great underrated theme. Rick Rude's
2087
01:51:53.350 --> 01:51:56.449
WCW theme song. Definitely on that list. It's a really
2088
01:51:56.529 --> 01:51:59.840
great song that fit him perfectly. I love his WWF music.
2089
01:51:59.880 --> 01:52:02.140
It sucks every time I have to watch one of
2090
01:52:02.180 --> 01:52:04.460
his matches and it gets dubbed over. And here's the
2091
01:52:04.479 --> 01:52:07.840
thing I don't understand. When they put matches of his
2092
01:52:07.880 --> 01:52:12.020
on the vault, they play the WCW music. I believe
2093
01:52:12.050 --> 01:52:16.170
they play his WCW music. I don't understand why when
2094
01:52:16.210 --> 01:52:18.729
they have to dub over the WWF theme, they don't
2095
01:52:18.750 --> 01:52:22.369
just dub over it with the WCW theme. I would
2096
01:52:22.409 --> 01:52:23.930
love to know the reason why they don't just dub
2097
01:52:23.949 --> 01:52:26.369
it over with that one. The one they use for
2098
01:52:26.390 --> 01:52:32.039
it is fucking awful. It's horrendous. And I'll throw, well,
2099
01:52:32.060 --> 01:52:34.720
two more. I'll throw two more at you. This is
2100
01:52:34.739 --> 01:52:37.800
getting really in the weeds here. There was a song
2101
01:52:37.840 --> 01:52:41.680
that TJP, TJ Perkins, used in WWE when he was
2102
01:52:41.720 --> 01:52:46.510
doing the Cruiserweight Classic called Devastate. That's really good. You
2103
01:52:46.810 --> 01:52:49.510
can look that one up. And I'm going to give
2104
01:52:49.550 --> 01:52:53.560
him his flowers for his music. The No Way Jose theme.
2105
01:52:54.579 --> 01:52:57.880
That was a low-key banger. I don't care what anybody says.
2106
01:52:59.079 --> 01:53:04.520
There you go. Isaac from Brantford, Ontario. A couple of
2107
01:53:04.560 --> 01:53:07.010
months ago when Cody Rhodes said on his podcast that
2108
01:53:07.069 --> 01:53:11.289
his neck tattoo, the greatest regret of my life, it
2109
01:53:11.329 --> 01:53:13.670
got me thinking, in your opinion, which wrestlers had some
2110
01:53:13.689 --> 01:53:17.590
of the most memorable and questionable tattoos over the years?
2111
01:53:19.750 --> 01:53:23.800
I mean... You want to talk about regrettable. I would
2112
01:53:23.840 --> 01:53:28.300
say Undertaker getting his ex-wife's name tattooed across his Adam's
2113
01:53:28.420 --> 01:53:32.520
apple was pretty regrettable. That was a pretty regrettable choice,
2114
01:53:32.579 --> 01:53:34.039
I would say, especially when he had to have that
2115
01:53:34.079 --> 01:53:39.090
shit lasered off. Perry Saturn, he got a face tattoo,
2116
01:53:39.130 --> 01:53:44.390
kind of like Mike Tyson. That's pretty awful. The other
2117
01:53:44.449 --> 01:53:47.989
one I think of, honestly, are the Harris Twins. Ron
2118
01:53:48.029 --> 01:53:52.510
and Don Harris with their fucking SS lightning bolt Nazi tattoos.
2119
01:53:53.289 --> 01:53:55.819
That I think Paul Heyman made them cover up when
2120
01:53:55.859 --> 01:53:58.619
they worked in ECW. And I'm pretty sure they had
2121
01:53:58.640 --> 01:54:01.800
to cover them up in WWF too. So that would
2122
01:54:01.840 --> 01:54:07.289
be pretty high up on the list. Brent from Sydney, Australia,
2123
01:54:07.310 --> 01:54:11.829
who's been a listener since episode 306. This is his
2124
01:54:11.949 --> 01:54:15.239
first question in about 10 years. Yeah, I've gotten a
2125
01:54:15.279 --> 01:54:18.260
few emails like this recently from people. All you lurkers
2126
01:54:18.359 --> 01:54:22.600
out there, speak up. Let me hear you. Says my
2127
01:54:22.659 --> 01:54:26.689
question relates to SummerSlam 2005. This was a show I
2128
01:54:26.750 --> 01:54:29.890
recently rewatched. It was my first SummerSlam I remember watching.
2129
01:54:30.810 --> 01:54:33.789
Watching it over again made me realize how unbelievably weird
2130
01:54:34.649 --> 01:54:38.970
of a cross-section this show was in wrestling history. And
2131
01:54:39.010 --> 01:54:40.689
then he lists some of the key things that happened
2132
01:54:40.710 --> 01:54:42.630
on the show. First match in the Matt Hardy and
2133
01:54:42.789 --> 01:54:46.239
Edge feud over Lita. with all the real-life drama going on.
2134
01:54:46.520 --> 01:54:49.840
Eddie and Ray having their memorable custody of Dominic ladder match.
2135
01:54:51.420 --> 01:54:56.170
How could we forget? John Cena and Chris Jericho for
2136
01:54:56.210 --> 01:54:59.789
the title before Jericho's first departure and the first early
2137
01:54:59.850 --> 01:55:04.829
sign of fans booing Cena. And Hulk Hogan versus Shawn Michaels,
2138
01:55:04.869 --> 01:55:07.329
which is notable for Shawn selling and Hogan not wanting
2139
01:55:07.369 --> 01:55:10.729
to lose the rematch. Even a match that didn't happen
2140
01:55:10.789 --> 01:55:13.800
but was rumored for this show, Batista against Muhammad Hassan
2141
01:55:13.840 --> 01:55:16.119
for the World Heavyweight Championship is one that is talked
2142
01:55:16.159 --> 01:55:19.220
about due to the sudden stop of Hassan's push. Other
2143
01:55:19.260 --> 01:55:23.479
matches include Kurt Angle and Eugene for Kurt's Olympic gold medal,
2144
01:55:24.159 --> 01:55:27.789
which was in Eugene's possession. Chris Benoit winning the U.S.
2145
01:55:27.810 --> 01:55:31.869
title in 25 seconds because, sure, why not? As well
2146
01:55:31.909 --> 01:55:35.489
as the Randy Orton Undertaker rematch and Batista against JBL
2147
01:55:35.510 --> 01:55:37.020
for the world title. Do you have any thoughts on
2148
01:55:37.029 --> 01:55:40.310
this show? Yeah, I mean, it's not one of my
2149
01:55:41.449 --> 01:55:45.710
favorite Summer Slams from that decade. But there were, as
2150
01:55:45.729 --> 01:55:47.510
you listed here, I mean, there were a lot of
2151
01:55:47.550 --> 01:55:49.609
memorable things about it. I remember the Matt Hardy and
2152
01:55:49.649 --> 01:55:52.470
Edge stuff because I remember how fucking awful they made
2153
01:55:52.510 --> 01:55:55.270
Matt Hardy look on that show. Didn't he hit his
2154
01:55:55.310 --> 01:55:57.869
head on the top of the ring post? And that was...
2155
01:55:58.770 --> 01:56:00.869
I think they used that for the end of the match.
2156
01:56:00.890 --> 01:56:03.470
It was like, they made him look so weak and
2157
01:56:03.550 --> 01:56:07.609
so pathetic in that match. And then you had Eddie
2158
01:56:07.649 --> 01:56:11.609
and Rey... Again, not their best match, but it was
2159
01:56:11.649 --> 01:56:13.729
a fun match. It was a fun enough match. The
2160
01:56:13.770 --> 01:56:16.270
memorable part of that match was him yelling and screaming
2161
01:56:16.329 --> 01:56:18.329
for Vicky, who was supposed to be doing a run-in,
2162
01:56:18.369 --> 01:56:19.949
and I guess she didn't get down there fast enough.
2163
01:56:20.069 --> 01:56:24.350
Or maybe they gave her her cue late. And they've
2164
01:56:24.479 --> 01:56:29.880
edited it off the replay. But he was not happy.
2165
01:56:29.899 --> 01:56:33.800
He's like, where the fuck is Vicky? So I remember that.
2166
01:56:34.930 --> 01:56:39.529
Cena and Jericho, yes, that is the earliest example. That
2167
01:56:39.550 --> 01:56:43.449
is the first example I can remember of the fans
2168
01:56:43.750 --> 01:56:46.899
rebelling against John Cena. That's where the whole let's go Cena,
2169
01:56:46.939 --> 01:56:51.000
Cena sucks thing started. And then Hogan versus Shawn. I mean,
2170
01:56:51.039 --> 01:56:56.800
come on. Shawn Michaels with the comic book overselling. It
2171
01:56:56.859 --> 01:56:59.479
made it very entertaining to see him bouncing around like
2172
01:56:59.500 --> 01:57:03.960
a jelly bean out there, but I mean... you could
2173
01:57:04.020 --> 01:57:07.079
see where if you were like a Hogan fan or
2174
01:57:07.119 --> 01:57:09.939
maybe Hogan himself you know that you wouldn't have been
2175
01:57:09.970 --> 01:57:12.729
terribly thrilled about the way that Sean this was Sean
2176
01:57:12.770 --> 01:57:15.649
throwing a temper tantrum this was the old Sean Michaels
2177
01:57:16.250 --> 01:57:18.510
shining through in the way that he did against Vader
2178
01:57:18.829 --> 01:57:22.670
at SummerSlam in 96 but I can't say it wasn't
2179
01:57:22.710 --> 01:57:29.439
entertaining ridiculous as it was Jonathan from Erie, Pennsylvania I
2180
01:57:29.449 --> 01:57:32.960
was thinking about the pay-per-view I was most disappointed in
2181
01:57:33.770 --> 01:57:36.310
When watching as a fan, I immediately thought of Halloween
2182
01:57:36.350 --> 01:57:40.010
Havoc 98. So many matches on that card. Rick Steiner
2183
01:57:40.050 --> 01:57:43.869
against Scott Steiner. Bret Hart against Sting. Hall versus Nash.
2184
01:57:44.729 --> 01:57:48.399
Just did not deliver. Hogan versus Warrior was an all-time
2185
01:57:48.460 --> 01:57:51.600
train wreck. And as good as DDP and Goldberg was,
2186
01:57:51.680 --> 01:57:53.180
I was one of the many people who didn't get
2187
01:57:53.199 --> 01:57:56.279
to see it when the feed was cut. What do
2188
01:57:56.300 --> 01:58:01.710
you first think of as your most disappointing pay-per-view? Yeah,
2189
01:58:01.729 --> 01:58:04.920
that was a pretty bad one. But again, during that period,
2190
01:58:04.939 --> 01:58:07.859
I was more of a WWF guy than a WCW guy.
2191
01:58:09.350 --> 01:58:11.920
I guess. I don't know if there's a first one
2192
01:58:11.939 --> 01:58:14.819
I always think of. First one that came to mind
2193
01:58:14.850 --> 01:58:19.689
just now as I'm thinking about your question is Survivor
2194
01:58:19.710 --> 01:58:23.970
Series in 99. You know, and losing Austin, they had
2195
01:58:24.010 --> 01:58:27.350
promoted hard that triple threat. We never got that, by
2196
01:58:27.399 --> 01:58:30.569
the way. We never had a triple threat. with Austin
2197
01:58:30.609 --> 01:58:33.750
Rock and Triple H, who were really the three big,
2198
01:58:33.810 --> 01:58:36.649
or three of the biggest, faces of that Attitude Era.
2199
01:58:37.409 --> 01:58:38.750
And they were supposed to be in the main event
2200
01:58:38.770 --> 01:58:42.189
of that show, and they knew in advance, at least
2201
01:58:42.250 --> 01:58:44.609
a week, that Austin was not going to be able
2202
01:58:44.649 --> 01:58:48.270
to wrestle. But they had this angle they came up with,
2203
01:58:48.310 --> 01:58:49.949
where he's going to get run down by a car,
2204
01:58:50.010 --> 01:58:52.430
so we're just going to let people think that he's
2205
01:58:52.489 --> 01:58:54.229
wrestling on the show. And this was back in the
2206
01:58:54.270 --> 01:58:57.029
pay-per-view era, so you had to pay whatever, 40 bucks,
2207
01:58:57.029 --> 01:59:00.060
50 bucks for the pay-per-view. And they pulled a bait
2208
01:59:00.100 --> 01:59:02.750
and switch. And Austin got run down and they subbed
2209
01:59:02.789 --> 01:59:06.649
in Big Show, which was hugely disappointing because he had
2210
01:59:06.689 --> 01:59:09.689
already wrestled earlier in the show. So it wasn't even
2211
01:59:09.729 --> 01:59:12.590
like some big surprise that they came up with. It
2212
01:59:12.630 --> 01:59:14.529
was just, all right, we'll send Big Show back out there.
2213
01:59:15.439 --> 01:59:17.239
And the only reason they did the title change was
2214
01:59:17.260 --> 01:59:18.979
to try to make up for the fact that Austin
2215
01:59:19.000 --> 01:59:22.319
got pulled from the show. I remember being like, man,
2216
01:59:23.000 --> 01:59:27.409
that's fucking disappointing. So that would be one. And then, look,
2217
01:59:27.569 --> 01:59:30.350
I went to a bunch of WrestleManias that were very disappointing,
2218
01:59:30.369 --> 01:59:31.770
and I paid a lot of money to be there
2219
01:59:31.810 --> 01:59:35.250
for those shows. Maybe not TKO prices, but we all
2220
01:59:35.289 --> 01:59:36.689
paid a lot of money to go to those shows.
2221
01:59:36.729 --> 01:59:42.689
WrestleMania 32 in Dallas was very disappointing. I mean, Dallas
2222
01:59:42.729 --> 01:59:47.270
itself was awesome. Shout out to Dallas. But yeah, WrestleMania
2223
01:59:47.270 --> 01:59:52.260
32 sucked. WrestleMania 34. There were a lot of disappointing
2224
01:59:52.279 --> 01:59:54.180
matches on that show, too. None more so than that
2225
01:59:54.220 --> 01:59:59.750
main event. WrestleMania 35 for whatever good stuff there was,
2226
01:59:59.789 --> 02:00:04.069
the Kofi Mania stuff and whatever else. Randy Orton and
2227
02:00:04.109 --> 02:00:06.289
AJ Styles had a match that I couldn't even see
2228
02:00:06.369 --> 02:00:08.850
because I had a fucking spotlight in my face. So
2229
02:00:09.210 --> 02:00:12.989
I went walking around the concourse and they didn't even
2230
02:00:13.010 --> 02:00:16.029
have screens where I can go indoors and watch the
2231
02:00:16.050 --> 02:00:19.630
match from there. So I'm like, fuck this. So I
2232
02:00:19.670 --> 02:00:21.449
remember I was looking forward to that match and I
2233
02:00:21.569 --> 02:00:24.630
literally couldn't even see it. And there were other things
2234
02:00:24.689 --> 02:00:27.479
on that card, too, that were disappointing to me, including
2235
02:00:27.500 --> 02:00:32.760
that main event. LC from Rochester, New York. Thank you
2236
02:00:32.779 --> 02:00:35.380
for delivering great content that allows many of us to
2237
02:00:35.420 --> 02:00:39.520
escape at times. Even now, as I'm driving across states
2238
02:00:39.590 --> 02:00:42.670
to grieve the unexpected loss of a family member, the
2239
02:00:42.689 --> 02:00:46.130
podcast is helping me through it. Well, I'm very sorry
2240
02:00:46.170 --> 02:00:48.909
for your loss, brother. I'm glad the show can help
2241
02:00:48.949 --> 02:00:52.319
pass the time. How do you think The Rock... Leaving
2242
02:00:52.340 --> 02:00:54.960
the day after Steve Austin's heel turn impacted how we
2243
02:00:55.000 --> 02:00:58.279
view Austin's turn and subsequent run as a heel. Not
2244
02:00:58.319 --> 02:01:00.260
only did he leave the next day, he was gone
2245
02:01:00.319 --> 02:01:03.729
for four months, only returning shortly before SummerSlam. Had Rock
2246
02:01:03.850 --> 02:01:07.289
stayed to fill the top babyface role, do you think
2247
02:01:07.329 --> 02:01:10.270
we may have had a different appreciation for Austin's heel run?
2248
02:01:10.550 --> 02:01:12.750
I can imagine an Austin Rock program that saw the
2249
02:01:12.770 --> 02:01:15.630
two flip roles doing big business and being very entertaining.
2250
02:01:16.350 --> 02:01:19.670
I always felt like That fact is not considered enough
2251
02:01:19.729 --> 02:01:23.819
when people discuss why the heel turn didn't work. Well,
2252
02:01:23.880 --> 02:01:25.600
I mean, look, it certainly didn't help. Would it have
2253
02:01:25.659 --> 02:01:28.319
helped to have him around as the top babyface? Absolutely.
2254
02:01:29.020 --> 02:01:30.779
I can't tell you that the heel turn still would
2255
02:01:30.800 --> 02:01:33.380
have been looked at as a success, though. It had
2256
02:01:33.439 --> 02:01:34.979
more to do with the fact that people just did
2257
02:01:35.020 --> 02:01:38.090
not really want to boo Steve Austin. Whether or not
2258
02:01:38.149 --> 02:01:40.430
Rock stuck around, I don't know that it really would
2259
02:01:40.449 --> 02:01:43.310
have changed that for a lot of people. And that
2260
02:01:43.390 --> 02:01:46.409
business would not have started to decline the way it did.
2261
02:01:47.239 --> 02:01:49.670
But if you at least had that one strong baby
2262
02:01:49.729 --> 02:01:52.710
face to kind of fill the role, even if you
2263
02:01:52.750 --> 02:01:54.829
ended up turning Austin back by the end of the year,
2264
02:01:55.550 --> 02:01:57.869
it would have gone better than it did, absolutely. I mean,
2265
02:01:57.909 --> 02:02:02.729
you had your 1A and 1B right there. And Austin
2266
02:02:02.750 --> 02:02:05.890
and Rock, put them in whatever order you want. You
2267
02:02:05.909 --> 02:02:08.229
could afford to turn one heel. I just think at
2268
02:02:08.270 --> 02:02:10.939
that time, that's not something people wanted to see. But
2269
02:02:10.960 --> 02:02:13.880
the fact that you had Rock leave the next day,
2270
02:02:15.880 --> 02:02:19.979
It was unbelievable to me that they actually gave Austin
2271
02:02:20.020 --> 02:02:22.729
what he wanted because it was his idea and it
2272
02:02:22.739 --> 02:02:25.210
allowed him to turn heel knowing that they were losing Rock.
2273
02:02:26.409 --> 02:02:28.050
But I guess in their mind they felt like, well,
2274
02:02:28.069 --> 02:02:30.170
it's only for a few months and we've got Taker
2275
02:02:30.210 --> 02:02:34.409
and Kane and so we'll just go with that. But
2276
02:02:34.430 --> 02:02:37.300
that was a terrible decision. That was a fucking awful idea.
2277
02:02:37.399 --> 02:02:39.159
You know Rock is leaving and you're going to take
2278
02:02:39.180 --> 02:02:42.699
your top babyface and turn him heel. I don't know
2279
02:02:42.720 --> 02:02:48.310
what they were thinking. Molly from Toronto, who celebrated his
2280
02:02:48.430 --> 02:02:53.689
38th birthday on Halloween. So happy birthday, Molly. A Halloween
2281
02:02:53.729 --> 02:02:57.729
birthday is very cool. 38 years old. I don't care.
2282
02:02:57.770 --> 02:02:59.869
I'm going door to door trick or treating and telling
2283
02:02:59.909 --> 02:03:02.250
people it's my birthday and I can get all the candy.
2284
02:03:02.750 --> 02:03:04.989
But on your show this past Sunday, you mentioned how
2285
02:03:05.029 --> 02:03:08.090
Vince or Triple H have their plans and anything that
2286
02:03:08.170 --> 02:03:10.590
comes in the way of them they don't like. Especially
2287
02:03:10.630 --> 02:03:13.149
when you mentioned when someone gets themselves over when they
2288
02:03:13.189 --> 02:03:15.930
don't really have ideas for that person. What were some
2289
02:03:15.970 --> 02:03:19.350
plans that they had to pivot from for their first
2290
02:03:19.449 --> 02:03:23.029
idea because someone got over because of the fans or
2291
02:03:23.090 --> 02:03:25.689
because Vince or Triple H had to be dragged, kicking,
2292
02:03:25.829 --> 02:03:29.449
and screaming? Well, the big one would be the Yes
2293
02:03:29.510 --> 02:03:33.609
Movement with Daniel Bryan. Because even in his own book,
2294
02:03:34.479 --> 02:03:37.880
Bryan said the plan going into WrestleMania 30, originally he
2295
02:03:37.899 --> 02:03:39.920
was going to be fifth or sixth from the top
2296
02:03:39.979 --> 02:03:43.039
in a random, you know, no titles or anything, just
2297
02:03:43.079 --> 02:03:48.510
like a, a singles mid-card match against Sheamus. So it's
2298
02:03:48.569 --> 02:03:51.770
not as if when they did the angle they did
2299
02:03:51.810 --> 02:03:55.829
at SummerSlam, where Triple H turned on Bryan, Orton cashed
2300
02:03:55.869 --> 02:03:58.399
in his money in the bank, that there was an
2301
02:03:58.520 --> 02:04:02.840
idea or a concept, okay, this is the first step
2302
02:04:03.060 --> 02:04:05.199
in this bigger story that we're going to tell that
2303
02:04:05.239 --> 02:04:07.659
ultimately is going to culminate with Bryan getting his revenge
2304
02:04:07.680 --> 02:04:10.539
at WrestleMania. It wasn't. And they had to be dragged
2305
02:04:10.659 --> 02:04:13.319
kicking and screaming. You could absolutely credit the fans for
2306
02:04:14.350 --> 02:04:17.210
for shifting the focus, but you could also thank CM
2307
02:04:17.229 --> 02:04:20.300
Punk for that. Because if CM Punk did not walk
2308
02:04:20.479 --> 02:04:25.159
out after the Rumble in 2014, I don't know how
2309
02:04:25.239 --> 02:04:27.399
it impacts it, but it definitely has an impact on things.
2310
02:04:27.460 --> 02:04:30.149
Maybe Bryan doesn't end up getting the main event. We
2311
02:04:30.199 --> 02:04:33.689
know the plan was Triple H and Punk at WrestleMania 30,
2312
02:04:33.689 --> 02:04:36.630
and it was going to be very difficult to convince
2313
02:04:36.689 --> 02:04:40.609
Triple H to shift what his match was supposed to
2314
02:04:40.649 --> 02:04:43.840
be to accommodate something else. Which is probably why we
2315
02:04:43.880 --> 02:04:46.699
ended up getting Sting and Triple H at WrestleMania 31
2316
02:04:46.699 --> 02:04:49.399
when they could have pivoted and did Sting and The
2317
02:04:49.439 --> 02:04:51.539
Undertaker and they didn't because Triple H had to have
2318
02:04:51.579 --> 02:04:55.149
his match. So the Yes Movement stuff is a great
2319
02:04:55.189 --> 02:04:57.869
example of what can happen when the fans apply enough
2320
02:04:57.949 --> 02:05:01.489
pressure and they really do kind of unify together to
2321
02:05:01.550 --> 02:05:05.069
let the company know they rebel and they let the
2322
02:05:05.109 --> 02:05:07.800
company know we don't want this, we want this. But
2323
02:05:07.840 --> 02:05:11.079
it was also some other circumstances that had to happen.
2324
02:05:11.100 --> 02:05:13.420
It was like all the stars had to align, you know,
2325
02:05:13.439 --> 02:05:15.579
for things to end up the way they did. The
2326
02:05:15.619 --> 02:05:18.310
other big one would be Becky Lynch, right, who turned
2327
02:05:18.350 --> 02:05:21.770
heel on Charlotte Flair in 2018 and was not supposed
2328
02:05:21.819 --> 02:05:24.789
to be as over as she was for it. You
2329
02:05:24.810 --> 02:05:26.789
think they had that whole run as the man all
2330
02:05:26.850 --> 02:05:31.010
mapped out? Not a chance. They lucked into it. I
2331
02:05:31.050 --> 02:05:33.989
guarantee you their first women's WrestleMania main event was already
2332
02:05:34.250 --> 02:05:37.949
locked in to be Charlotte Flair against Ronda Rousey. The
2333
02:05:38.010 --> 02:05:42.399
fans helped put Becky there. Now Vince still wanted Charlotte
2334
02:05:42.420 --> 02:05:44.500
in the mix, so he shoehorned her into the match,
2335
02:05:44.560 --> 02:05:46.619
but the Becky stuff getting over the way it did
2336
02:05:46.800 --> 02:05:49.960
organically was great. It's an example of what wrestling should be.
2337
02:05:51.479 --> 02:05:53.939
And then the other example I would give would be
2338
02:05:53.979 --> 02:05:57.090
Bret Hart in 1994 when Vince McMahon decided to keep
2339
02:05:57.119 --> 02:06:01.630
the belt on Yokozuna at SummerSlam in 93. This was
2340
02:06:01.710 --> 02:06:04.789
after the whole Lex Express tour. It was supposedly because
2341
02:06:05.229 --> 02:06:07.649
he wanted a hold off on the Luger title win.
2342
02:06:08.189 --> 02:06:10.970
For WrestleMania. Not because he lost faith in him or
2343
02:06:11.010 --> 02:06:13.569
anything like that. And I get it. Like the Luger turn.
2344
02:06:13.600 --> 02:06:18.619
It happened so quickly. Like overnight. It was so dramatic.
2345
02:06:19.560 --> 02:06:21.720
He went from being the narcissist one day. To being
2346
02:06:21.739 --> 02:06:25.729
the American hero. Slamming Yokozuna on the Intrepid overnight. Then
2347
02:06:25.739 --> 02:06:28.729
they put him on a bus for six weeks. And
2348
02:06:28.810 --> 02:06:30.989
so do you just slap the belt on him right away?
2349
02:06:31.029 --> 02:06:33.170
Or do you take your time and kind of build
2350
02:06:33.210 --> 02:06:35.510
to it? So I kind of get that. But. Yes,
2351
02:06:35.770 --> 02:06:38.689
you do that bus tour for six weeks. Yeah, you
2352
02:06:38.710 --> 02:06:41.010
put that fucking belt on him. Because if you have
2353
02:06:41.050 --> 02:06:44.859
him come up short, it's a killer. Yeah, but he
2354
02:06:44.899 --> 02:06:47.300
wanted to wait for WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden. But
2355
02:06:47.359 --> 02:06:50.779
something happened. The fans supported Brent more than they did Lex,
2356
02:06:50.899 --> 02:06:52.760
which is why they did that Rumble finish the way
2357
02:06:52.800 --> 02:06:54.930
they did. They wanted to test the fan reaction, right?
2358
02:06:54.939 --> 02:06:57.069
They both go out at the same time. There's all
2359
02:06:57.109 --> 02:07:00.989
this controversy. What do we do? I remember young Solomonster
2360
02:07:01.029 --> 02:07:03.239
sitting in front of the television saying, just restart the
2361
02:07:03.340 --> 02:07:06.800
fucking match. Although not in those exact words, because my
2362
02:07:06.840 --> 02:07:08.859
mouth would have been washed out with soap. But I'm
2363
02:07:08.899 --> 02:07:12.319
watching this and I'm like, just restart the match. But no,
2364
02:07:12.359 --> 02:07:14.159
they did it this way because they wanted first to
2365
02:07:14.239 --> 02:07:16.649
raise Lex Luger's hand. Right. And he got some applause,
2366
02:07:16.670 --> 02:07:20.449
but he got some booze. And then another referee said, no, no, no, no, no.
2367
02:07:20.529 --> 02:07:23.920
Bret Hart wins. And then everybody went crazy. And that
2368
02:07:23.979 --> 02:07:25.920
told Vince everything he needed to know, even though that
2369
02:07:25.939 --> 02:07:28.130
was only one city. That was only one building in,
2370
02:07:28.260 --> 02:07:31.149
I think, Providence, Rhode Island. It told him everything that
2371
02:07:31.189 --> 02:07:34.970
he needed to know. Bret was very popular. I remember
2372
02:07:35.489 --> 02:07:37.869
reading he got a lot of fan mail at the headquarters.
2373
02:07:37.909 --> 02:07:41.350
He had a lot of international support in other countries.
2374
02:07:42.229 --> 02:07:45.899
He was always super popular. And so they pivoted and
2375
02:07:45.939 --> 02:07:47.939
they said, well, the face of the new generation is
2376
02:07:47.960 --> 02:07:50.220
going to be Bret Hart. It's not going to be
2377
02:07:50.260 --> 02:07:55.649
Lex Luger. And that was the right move. Sufi from Malaysia.
2378
02:07:56.460 --> 02:07:58.079
Wanted to know my thoughts on the direction of the
2379
02:07:58.119 --> 02:08:00.760
Halloween series from where it started. to where it ended
2380
02:08:00.819 --> 02:08:03.819
because it went in so many different directions and should
2381
02:08:03.840 --> 02:08:06.420
they have stuck with Michael Myers or gone the anthology
2382
02:08:06.500 --> 02:08:09.920
route I really wish looking back at it I think
2383
02:08:09.939 --> 02:08:12.810
they should have gone the anthology route at least for
2384
02:08:12.850 --> 02:08:14.789
a while you could always circle back around to the
2385
02:08:14.829 --> 02:08:19.010
Myers character but having gained an appreciation for that Halloween
2386
02:08:19.010 --> 02:08:23.789
3 movie That was their original idea, starting with Part 3.
2387
02:08:23.789 --> 02:08:25.510
They would come out with a new movie every year
2388
02:08:25.609 --> 02:08:28.130
on Halloween. And every year it would be a different
2389
02:08:28.170 --> 02:08:30.550
story that has nothing to do with the story that
2390
02:08:30.569 --> 02:08:35.289
came before it. And having seen Halloween 3 and really
2391
02:08:35.350 --> 02:08:38.210
liking it and appreciating it, it's too bad that we
2392
02:08:38.250 --> 02:08:42.090
didn't get more of those. Because how many great Halloween-related
2393
02:08:42.149 --> 02:08:44.909
stories could they have come up with, right? John Carpenter
2394
02:08:44.930 --> 02:08:47.060
and Debra Hill. I think they could have come up
2395
02:08:47.100 --> 02:08:49.939
with a lot of really cool stuff. Because people pitched
2396
02:08:49.979 --> 02:08:53.149
a fit, they wanted Michael Myers. He came back in
2397
02:08:53.189 --> 02:08:56.550
Part 4, and it's been Michael Myers ever since. I
2398
02:08:56.569 --> 02:08:58.630
think the Michael Myers story at this point has been
2399
02:08:58.670 --> 02:09:01.770
done to death. Not that if they didn't make another movie,
2400
02:09:01.810 --> 02:09:04.939
I wouldn't go see it. I would. But I would
2401
02:09:04.949 --> 02:09:06.680
have loved to have seen it, and maybe they still
2402
02:09:06.720 --> 02:09:11.680
can do an anthology or kind of go in that direction. See,
2403
02:09:11.720 --> 02:09:13.460
the problem is, though, you'll run into the same thing
2404
02:09:13.479 --> 02:09:16.970
they ran into in 82 when they did Part 3.
2405
02:09:16.970 --> 02:09:20.460
You can't call it Halloween. If you want to go
2406
02:09:20.500 --> 02:09:22.739
the anthology route, it just has to be a completely
2407
02:09:23.239 --> 02:09:25.800
different kind of independent thing. It has to be its
2408
02:09:25.859 --> 02:09:29.000
own thing. If you insist on calling it Halloween, then
2409
02:09:29.060 --> 02:09:31.300
people are going to expect that Michael Myers is going
2410
02:09:31.319 --> 02:09:33.880
to be a part of it. And that was their mistake.
2411
02:09:34.239 --> 02:09:39.829
Their mistake was calling it Halloween. Josh from Williamson, New York.
2412
02:09:39.869 --> 02:09:42.010
Fan of yours for a decade now. Your podcasts have
2413
02:09:42.050 --> 02:09:45.439
gotten me through some very tough times with the Pokemon
2414
02:09:45.489 --> 02:09:49.340
franchise celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. I wanted to
2415
02:09:49.380 --> 02:09:52.199
know if you personally were ever a fan of Pokemon
2416
02:09:52.319 --> 02:09:54.840
and if you have any memories of the franchise, especially
2417
02:09:54.899 --> 02:09:58.079
as someone who grew up during the Pokemon craze of
2418
02:09:58.119 --> 02:10:03.770
the late 90s. Well, I mean, I was alive during
2419
02:10:03.829 --> 02:10:09.710
the Pokemon craze. I wasn't really swept up in it. So, yes,
2420
02:10:09.810 --> 02:10:12.670
I lived through it, kind of, but no, I was
2421
02:10:12.729 --> 02:10:16.069
not a Pokemon guy. I've gotten most of my Pokemon
2422
02:10:16.090 --> 02:10:18.409
knowledge from you guys here and there, unlike the streams,
2423
02:10:18.470 --> 02:10:22.039
when it gets brought up. You know, the Pokeballs, and
2424
02:10:22.880 --> 02:10:26.920
I know Pikachu. I think Pikachu's the only Pokemon I know.
2425
02:10:27.359 --> 02:10:29.079
I know there are a lot of other ones. I
2426
02:10:29.119 --> 02:10:31.460
downloaded that game on my phone a few years ago
2427
02:10:31.520 --> 02:10:35.229
when everybody was playing Pokemon Go. You know, you have
2428
02:10:35.270 --> 02:10:37.729
to catch them all, and I'd put it on my phone,
2429
02:10:37.770 --> 02:10:40.069
and I'm like, this is the stupidest fucking thing I've
2430
02:10:40.109 --> 02:10:43.949
ever seen in my life, and I quickly uninstalled it. So, no,
2431
02:10:44.050 --> 02:10:46.310
I mean, it was never for me. You know, that
2432
02:10:46.350 --> 02:10:49.600
and the Power Rangers and all that, I just never
2433
02:10:49.659 --> 02:10:52.100
got into that stuff. The only Pokemon story I could share,
2434
02:10:52.140 --> 02:10:55.899
and I've talked about it before it's come up, you know,
2435
02:10:55.920 --> 02:10:58.399
when I was a camp counselor many years ago, it
2436
02:10:58.420 --> 02:11:03.770
was during that period, they didn't want the kids, all
2437
02:11:03.789 --> 02:11:07.279
the kids were bringing these Pokemon cards in. And instead
2438
02:11:07.300 --> 02:11:10.430
of doing the activities, they were playing with these cards,
2439
02:11:10.479 --> 02:11:12.770
and some of them were getting into fights and taking
2440
02:11:12.810 --> 02:11:15.270
the cards away from other kids. And so we were
2441
02:11:15.329 --> 02:11:19.689
told that the Pokemon cards were not allowed, at least
2442
02:11:19.710 --> 02:11:23.010
during certain periods of the day. They're not allowed. And
2443
02:11:23.069 --> 02:11:25.609
I took my job very seriously. And if I saw
2444
02:11:25.630 --> 02:11:27.670
them playing with these Pokemon cards, I told you I'm
2445
02:11:27.689 --> 02:11:30.380
going to take them away from you. And they didn't
2446
02:11:30.420 --> 02:11:32.479
believe me. And then I started confiscating them and I
2447
02:11:32.539 --> 02:11:34.279
took them away and they were not happy about that.
2448
02:11:34.300 --> 02:11:36.220
And I'm like, well, tough shit. I'm the counselor. I'm
2449
02:11:36.260 --> 02:11:38.180
the law and order here. And I told you that
2450
02:11:38.220 --> 02:11:39.880
you are not to play with these cards. And so
2451
02:11:39.899 --> 02:11:41.909
I'm going to take them away from you. And that's
2452
02:11:41.930 --> 02:11:44.689
what I did. So I had my own little Pokemon stash.
2453
02:11:44.710 --> 02:11:46.829
I don't remember what happened if I gave them back
2454
02:11:46.949 --> 02:11:51.250
or threw them away. I don't remember, but yeah, not
2455
02:11:51.270 --> 02:11:55.460
a great experience with the, with the Pokemon cards and
2456
02:11:55.500 --> 02:12:00.840
very angry parents, but look, Rules are rules, okay? Rules
2457
02:12:00.899 --> 02:12:04.079
are meant to be followed. And I'm certainly not going
2458
02:12:04.119 --> 02:12:06.840
to get in trouble and get a bad performance grade
2459
02:12:06.880 --> 02:12:10.260
for the summer if people are ignoring the rules and
2460
02:12:10.300 --> 02:12:11.939
doing things they're not supposed to be doing. You come
2461
02:12:11.960 --> 02:12:15.300
to camp to do camp shit. You don't come to
2462
02:12:15.319 --> 02:12:18.000
camp to play cards when you're supposed to be playing dodgeball,
2463
02:12:18.359 --> 02:12:20.819
where you're supposed to be in arts and crafts. You
2464
02:12:20.850 --> 02:12:23.409
got to respect the rules, otherwise the system falls apart.
2465
02:12:23.430 --> 02:12:26.590
I mean, first it's cards, then it's Texas Hold'em. I mean,
2466
02:12:26.890 --> 02:12:30.420
where does it end? Anyway, thank you for the questions.
2467
02:12:30.439 --> 02:12:33.359
I'm going to hold these remaining questions I had for
2468
02:12:33.420 --> 02:12:36.760
next week's mailbag, and hopefully you guys will send in
2469
02:12:36.779 --> 02:12:38.579
a bunch of new ones to me. And again, tune
2470
02:12:38.619 --> 02:12:41.479
into the Uncrowned Wrestling Show on Tuesday, because sometimes some
2471
02:12:41.500 --> 02:12:44.449
of these holdover questions, I will answer them there. Or
2472
02:12:44.489 --> 02:12:48.470
you can send questions specifically for Uncrowned. Just mention Uncrowned,
2473
02:12:48.489 --> 02:12:52.250
hashtag Uncrowned, somewhere in the tweet or the subject line.
2474
02:12:53.810 --> 02:12:57.220
I have started watching Crystal Lake. I know many of
2475
02:12:57.260 --> 02:12:59.819
you have asked me about this. I did start watching it.
2476
02:12:59.939 --> 02:13:03.170
I'm loving it so far. I'm five episodes deep. I've
2477
02:13:03.210 --> 02:13:07.529
got three left. Very much enjoying it. Linda, was it
2478
02:13:07.590 --> 02:13:11.329
Linda Cardellini? I think she's great. So once I'm done
2479
02:13:11.350 --> 02:13:13.590
with the entire thing, maybe I'll chime in with some thoughts.
2480
02:13:13.689 --> 02:13:17.109
But yes, I am finally watching it. So stop yelling
2481
02:13:17.170 --> 02:13:19.850
at me. I am going to be back with you
2482
02:13:19.890 --> 02:13:24.229
next Sunday for episode 988. That'd be solid monster sounds up.
2483
02:13:24.250 --> 02:13:26.390
But before then we have the raw post show on Monday.
2484
02:13:26.430 --> 02:13:29.609
Don't forget going live earlier, 9 PM Eastern on YouTube
2485
02:13:29.630 --> 02:13:32.409
tomorrow night, brand new on crown wrestling show coming up
2486
02:13:32.479 --> 02:13:36.319
on Tuesday, brand new Tuesday night Titans coming up TNT Tuesday. Uh,
2487
02:13:37.220 --> 02:13:40.479
the dynamite post show on Wednesday is blood and guts.
2488
02:13:41.300 --> 02:13:45.300
And then Friday CM punk against Kevin Owens. No holds
2489
02:13:45.359 --> 02:13:50.539
barred on SmackDown crown jewel next Saturday. And back with you,
2490
02:13:51.069 --> 02:13:52.909
for the sound off on Sunday. So that sounds like
2491
02:13:52.949 --> 02:13:54.989
a full week. And I hope you guys are still
2492
02:13:55.060 --> 02:13:57.380
enjoying all of the, uh, the YouTube shorts that are
2493
02:13:57.420 --> 02:14:00.680
going up. So definitely, uh, make sure you're subscribed on
2494
02:14:00.739 --> 02:14:03.600
YouTube and check all of those out and engage and
2495
02:14:03.640 --> 02:14:08.180
leave comments. I love it. Be well, stay safe, have
2496
02:14:08.199 --> 02:14:11.470
yourselves a great rest of your weekend and week. And
2497
02:14:11.510 --> 02:14:13.130
I will see you back here for more sound off.
2498
02:14:13.850 --> 02:14:17.569
No Pokemon, just pro wrestling next Sunday. Until then, take
2499
02:14:17.590 --> 02:14:21.909
care guys. The Sala Monster sounds off. I watched the
2500
02:14:22.010 --> 02:14:25.069
Raw after Money in the Bank. At least it ended well.
2501
02:14:25.090 --> 02:14:28.029
SmackDown didn't even have that. Terrible television show tonight. This
2502
02:14:28.109 --> 02:14:30.760
show tonight was just so boring. In the middle of
2503
02:14:30.819 --> 02:14:33.399
this show, there was a segment with Alexa Bliss and
2504
02:14:33.439 --> 02:14:35.359
Tatum Paxley. They were in the middle of the ring.
2505
02:14:35.380 --> 02:14:38.279
They were in a promo segment right before Fatal Influence
2506
02:14:38.319 --> 02:14:40.250
came out. And there was a fan in the front
2507
02:14:40.310 --> 02:14:42.569
row on the left side who was, I don't know
2508
02:14:42.590 --> 02:14:44.829
if he was falling asleep or he was already asleep. Ah.
2509
02:14:45.770 --> 02:14:48.010
But he was dozing off. And God knows what he
2510
02:14:48.050 --> 02:14:50.390
paid for that ticket, okay? You're in the front row.
2511
02:14:50.449 --> 02:14:52.949
This is not fucking Green Shirt Guy or the guy
2512
02:14:52.970 --> 02:14:54.869
with the long hair who's always sitting with his mom
2513
02:14:54.890 --> 02:14:57.270
or whatever. This guy paid whatever he paid for that
2514
02:14:57.350 --> 02:15:00.210
front row ticket to this show. And he was falling asleep.
2515
02:15:00.710 --> 02:15:03.390
It was only when Fatal Influence came out because they
2516
02:15:03.470 --> 02:15:07.350
blasted their music that this guy finally woke up. And
2517
02:15:07.399 --> 02:15:09.079
I knew at least he was conscious and he had
2518
02:15:09.100 --> 02:15:11.439
a pulse. But that really summed up this show tonight
2519
02:15:11.479 --> 02:15:13.500
in one image. I saw that. I said, this guy
2520
02:15:13.560 --> 02:15:16.239
is my spirit animal. That's who he is. The Sala
2521
02:15:16.260 --> 02:15:20.210
Monster sounds off. Since 2007. Bringing you the good, the bad,
2522
02:15:20.289 --> 02:15:23.270
and the ugly. Check out the weekly live streams, bonus
2523
02:15:23.310 --> 02:15:27.069
content for subscribers, and follow The Sala Monster on Facebook, Instagram,
2524
02:15:27.130 --> 02:15:31.300
and X. The Sala Monster. I love you so much.