Speaker 1: Welcome to the WWE podcast for this WrestleMania Backlash preview show.
Speaker 1: And it feels good again. Why because We've got Ashley
Speaker 1: Mann back to talk about WrestleMania Backlash, give her thoughts,
Speaker 1: how she's doing, discuss her own podcast that I'd encourage
Speaker 1: you guys to go listen to, and so much more. So,
Speaker 1: let's not delay. We've got Ashley back on the show.
Speaker 1: Let's get into it right after this. So, in today's
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Speaker 2: This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to
Speaker 2: the WWE podcast.
Speaker 1: The show the one that everybody wants me.
Speaker 3: God sixteen, So I just rust your ass is.
Speaker 1: My eyn you're gonna acknowledge me. Welcome to the WWE
Speaker 1: podcast and this is your Backlash preview and prediction show.
Speaker 1: As I said at the top, Ashley Man is back.
Speaker 1: It just does not feel like a preview show without her,
Speaker 1: and you guys are going to enjoy a conversation. She
Speaker 1: has been with this show for I don't know how
Speaker 1: many years now, like four years since its inception essentially,
Speaker 1: and I really appreciate her coming on here. And she's
Speaker 1: doing well with her own podcast that again I encourage
Speaker 1: you guys to go listen to is called kick Ash,
Speaker 1: the Kickash Podcast, and she'll tell you all about that
Speaker 1: in our conversation. But again, if you are just joining
Speaker 1: us for the first time, thank you and thank you
Speaker 1: for choosing us. I think you'll enjoy us. I think
Speaker 1: we're a breath of fresh air compared to a lot
Speaker 1: of other podcasts, and I guess you're the judge of that,
Speaker 1: but we will see, and we're here to talk about Backlash.
Speaker 1: I'd invite you sint Ito'say Premium Live event Week formerly
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Speaker 1: So that's it for the plugs guys. Let's just jump
Speaker 1: into it. I hope to hear from you all during
Speaker 1: the live event to tomorrow night Sunday night. I'm used
Speaker 1: to Saturdays for some reason, Sunday night for the WrestleMania
Speaker 1: Backlash show that I think is going to be a
Speaker 1: good show I have. I have solid, solid hopes for
Speaker 1: the show. So all right, everybody, thanks so much for
Speaker 1: joining us. You can follow us really anywhere on Twitter,
Speaker 1: at Wrestling Underscore Audio, you can follow us on TikTok,
Speaker 1: at the WWE podcast, and really everywhere. Podcasts are available,
Speaker 1: So all right, everybody, thanks so much for joining me.
Speaker 4: Here.
Speaker 1: I'm going to sign off and toss it to myself
Speaker 1: and Ashley Mann right now. All right, body, welcome to
Speaker 1: the Wrestlmania Backlash Preview and Prediction Show. It feels like
Speaker 1: old times here right now. It feels like I'm back
Speaker 1: in yesteryear. But it just feels right that Ashley Man
Speaker 1: joins me for a preview and prediction show. Ashley, I
Speaker 1: know that listeners have been really waiting to hear from you,
Speaker 1: and it's been too long since we've done a show.
Speaker 1: I mean, you and I have you know, we obviously
Speaker 1: talked when we met up with down in Florida, but
Speaker 1: it's great to have you back on the show.
Speaker 5: How you doing It does feel like old times when
Speaker 5: you were saying that, I was like, yes, that is
Speaker 5: so perfect.
Speaker 4: So it feels great to be back. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5: And yeah, and it's proper that we're doing a preview
Speaker 5: show as well. So everything's just great in the wrestling
Speaker 5: world world, you know, released in our little wrestling world.
Speaker 5: But thank you so much for having me back.
Speaker 1: No, definitely, And before we get going, everybody, if you
Speaker 1: didn't know, Ashley has her own podcast and it's the
Speaker 1: kick Ash Podcast. So Ashley, give you a second if
Speaker 1: you want to, you know, go ahead and talk about
Speaker 1: that where they can find it and anything else.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's amazing, Thank you guys. I do so.
Speaker 5: We are about six months into it now, which is
Speaker 5: kind of crazy to think about it.
Speaker 4: But yes, it is called the kick Ash Podcast.
Speaker 5: It is obviously focusing on wrestling. I do rant and
Speaker 5: ramble about side things from here on from you know,
Speaker 5: time to time, but I try to narrow down and
Speaker 5: keep it to wrestling.
Speaker 4: And what's current on the topic. But it's just I
Speaker 4: right now.
Speaker 5: I look to do like a weekly review show, but
Speaker 5: looking to kind of grow and then maybe, of course,
Speaker 5: if I can snag mad at one point, I'd love
Speaker 5: to get him on the pod as well, but.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely feel free to check it out.
Speaker 5: It's again the kick Ash podcast, and I'd love any
Speaker 5: and all feedback. Any any feedback is good feedback to me,
Speaker 5: so I appreciate.
Speaker 1: It definitely, And anytime you want me on there, I'd
Speaker 1: be glad to come on. And guys, go subscribe. You're
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts right, so kick out the podcast and
Speaker 1: I know I know Spotify too. I've seen you on Spotify.
Speaker 4: Spotify, yes, speaker pretty much anywhere? Are Heart Radio now
Speaker 4: so stuff? Yeah?
Speaker 1: No, great, so almost everywhere. I mean like, guys, if
Speaker 1: you have a podcast app right now, go subscribe, do
Speaker 1: yourself a favor. Uh and uh, I think you'd appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I'd appreciate it, and uh, you'll enjoy it. So let's
Speaker 1: let's get into backlash, or as it's now known since
Speaker 1: last year, WrestleMania backlash because they're squeezing every bit of
Speaker 1: branding that they can out of the WrestleMania name and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, overall before we get into the card. I
Speaker 1: always ask this because I think it may capture some
Speaker 1: things that may not get discussed during the matches as
Speaker 1: we go through them. How do you feel overall about
Speaker 1: the WWE product are you are you feeling post WrestleMania, like, okay,
Speaker 1: this is worthy of post WrestleMania. I know we usually
Speaker 1: go into a dip after WrestleMania. It's kind of WrestleMania hangover.
Speaker 1: You know, you don't usually have very high expectations. But
Speaker 1: as you look at this card, Cody and Edge and
Speaker 1: Happy Corbette, you know, how do you feel as a
Speaker 1: whole about the product and where they're at.
Speaker 5: I think as a whole I would probably gray them
Speaker 5: as like a C plus. And it's weird because certain
Speaker 5: things I enjoy, like, for instance, like the Codie Roads thing,
Speaker 5: I think they're doing very well with his presentation and
Speaker 5: pretty much just taking the Cody Roads from AEW and
Speaker 5: the Cody Roads that he envisioned himself as and just
Speaker 5: plopping him into their world and just letting him pretty
Speaker 5: much do it almost exactly what he did in AEW.
Speaker 4: So things like that I'm really enjoying.
Speaker 5: I mean, could it be better, yeah, But for the
Speaker 5: WWE landscape and what we normally know them as, I
Speaker 5: think for that in particular, they're doing pretty well on.
Speaker 5: But then things on SmackDown it's kind of blacking as well.
Speaker 5: It's a situation where literally, like if you don't have
Speaker 5: Vermitt Rains on the show where the usos or anything
Speaker 5: in that realm, it is kind of lacking and it's
Speaker 5: a big absence.
Speaker 4: So I don't know, and not to get into.
Speaker 5: Detail here, but because we'll obviously get into when we
Speaker 5: talk later on the match itself, but with Roman Reigns
Speaker 5: having both titles.
Speaker 4: Now, it just it really like I was willing.
Speaker 5: To kind of wait and let it play out and
Speaker 5: see how it goes, but I'm just it's it's really
Speaker 5: causing an absence and when he's not on the show
Speaker 5: that the championship is missing obviously, and you really feel it,
Speaker 5: you know, especially with we're all.
Speaker 4: Being three hours. You know, a lot of factors play
Speaker 4: into it.
Speaker 5: So as a whole, it's not the worst, but there's
Speaker 5: when it sucks. It sucks, you know what I mean,
Speaker 5: You really feel it, but it could be worse. So
Speaker 5: I'm trying to I'm trying to continue to give them
Speaker 5: benefit of the doubt.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm probably around there. Yeah, I'm around there. I'd
Speaker 1: give it a half a grade higher, I'd say B minus.
Speaker 4: Uh, Yeah, I was I was covering.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm a tick above where you're at. It's
Speaker 1: when you look at the card and you look compare
Speaker 1: it to WrestleMania, it's a bit stark in contrast. Or actually,
Speaker 1: I should say it's a bit it's a bit interesting
Speaker 1: because a lot of programs started at WrestleMania instead of
Speaker 1: ending at WrestleMania. Like Bobby and Omas was their very
Speaker 1: first match, Edge and aj Styles their very first match,
Speaker 1: Cody and Seth Rollins their very first match. Like, when
Speaker 1: you look at that, it's like, wow, that that almost
Speaker 1: never happens where the first match is at Mania. Not
Speaker 1: a complaint, it's just a different dynamic this year. Uh.
Speaker 1: And it's also amazing that one of the main events
Speaker 1: of WrestleMania for Night one, Kevin Owens, one half of
Speaker 1: that main event, isn't even on the card, Like I mean,
Speaker 1: it just shows you that for some people, they have
Speaker 1: no follow up at all. I mean, so, are you
Speaker 1: surprised that Kevin Owens isn't involved in on the show
Speaker 1: at all? I know, he's kind of involved in it.
Speaker 1: In an Ezekiel storyline, He's obsessed with proving that Ezekiel
Speaker 1: is actually Elias but are you surprised about Kevin Owens
Speaker 1: not even being on the card after main eventing WrestleMania
Speaker 1: bringing Stone Gull Cyvasa out of retirement.
Speaker 5: I hate to say it, but no, I'm not surprised.
Speaker 5: Would I'm not surprised just because if that was kind
Speaker 5: of my hesitation going into it, of course it was.
Speaker 5: It turned out to be a wonderful night. I'm so
Speaker 5: happy for that Kevin. No one's got that moment. It
Speaker 5: was a stone Cold a fantastic It was such a
Speaker 5: cool moment, right and in a lot of ways, Stone
Speaker 5: Cold like himself, proved me wrong and I had to
Speaker 5: eat some of my words, you know what I mean,
Speaker 5: just seeing what he was able to do at there.
Speaker 5: So it was definitely a cool moment, and looking back
Speaker 5: on it, I wouldn't change how it played out for Kevin,
Speaker 5: but it's it's more on w tow just not really
Speaker 5: having a direction for him, and I think, like I
Speaker 5: was mentioning earlier, it kind of falls back onto the
Speaker 5: fact that there's really no focus especially on Raw with
Speaker 5: out there being a championship. I mean, granted, the championship
Speaker 5: itself is normally kind of in its own realm, but
Speaker 5: at least there's a main objective on the show, right,
Speaker 5: and that kind of eats up some of the time.
Speaker 4: And the focus. But and it kind of also plays
Speaker 4: into the fact that.
Speaker 5: They don't really take their secondary championships that seriously as well.
Speaker 5: So there's again, like I said, like a lot of factors.
Speaker 5: But for Kevin, that's I think he's one of those guys,
Speaker 5: or one of those characters for for that matter, that
Speaker 5: kind of suffers with out any direction. Granted, he's if
Speaker 5: anyone can get away with doing this crazy bit with
Speaker 5: Elias and Ezekiel, Kevin Owens is perfect for it, but
Speaker 5: it just sucks for him because you know, you want
Speaker 5: to see him do more and you want to see
Speaker 5: him in a more serious role. But I'm not really
Speaker 5: surprised And for that token too before I tossed it
Speaker 5: by to you, it's it's kind of like a shout
Speaker 5: out to him as well, that he can literally go
Speaker 5: from like main inventing WrestleMania on one of the Knights
Speaker 5: to just kind of doing this weird stuff and like
Speaker 5: you said, being obsessed with Ezekiel slash Elias, and I
Speaker 5: don't know, do you view him differently yourself? Like, do
Speaker 5: you view him in a different light?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 1: I think that this was I mean, it was a
Speaker 1: career defining moment. I don't, honestly don't believe that Kevin
Speaker 1: Owens will have a bigger WrestleMania moment. I think, out
Speaker 1: of his entire career and he's still got a lot
Speaker 1: of days ahead of him, I still think that this
Speaker 1: will be it. I mean, how can you top bringing
Speaker 1: one of the biggest names of all time back main
Speaker 1: event in WrestleMania with him? I mean that that's it.
Speaker 1: He knows that was the top of the mountain. Even
Speaker 1: if he wins the w WE Championship of WrestleMania, even
Speaker 1: if he was the one to beat Roman Streak, you
Speaker 1: could argue that's not bigger than taking out or trying
Speaker 1: to take out Stone Cold Steve Boston in the main
Speaker 1: event of WrestleMania. So that that was it for him.
Speaker 1: But do I view him differently, Yes, but in a
Speaker 1: good way? Like it to me, it's you look at
Speaker 1: him and you're like, all right, like he's doing something
Speaker 1: kind of insanely irrelevant right now. I mean, you talk
Speaker 1: about a fall off a cliff from Stone Cold see
Speaker 1: Boston to Ezekiel. I mean, it's it's really it's it's sad.
Speaker 1: But also I applaud Kevin for going all in on
Speaker 1: this and actually making it somewhat hilarious, making him take
Speaker 1: a lie to textas ESTs and everything and going all
Speaker 1: in on it. Just obsessed every time Elias is out
Speaker 1: there or Ezekiel, he's screaming, you're you know you're a liar.
Speaker 1: Yet he is consistently proven he's a liar and a character.
Speaker 1: So I think that right now, yes, I view him differently,
Speaker 1: but in a bigger light, Like I know that this
Speaker 1: is a holding pattern for him and they could shoot
Speaker 1: him to the main event at any time, So yeah,
Speaker 1: I do view him differently, But overall, I mean, look
Speaker 1: like they very rarely have follow up programs after WrestleMania
Speaker 1: that are solid that they can fall on, Like look
Speaker 1: what they did. They didn't have anything for Roman reigns.
Speaker 1: I mean Roman rains went with Shinsky Na Kamara and
Speaker 1: we're all supposed to forget that he attacked Shinsk and
Speaker 1: it just never happened. I mean, just flashes like Men
Speaker 1: in Black just use the memory eraser. I mean that's
Speaker 1: essentially Yeah, it's just bizarre. And so it just proves
Speaker 1: a time and again they got to WrestleMania this year,
Speaker 1: and more than any year that I can remember in history.
Speaker 1: It was not only an underwhelming Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania.
Speaker 1: SmackDown was a little bit better, but it felt subpar
Speaker 1: for just a normal raw, much less a Raw after Mania,
Speaker 1: and it showed they had nothing at all planned for
Speaker 1: that show, with Roman Reigns coming out at the end
Speaker 1: of that show and just cutting a promo like, hey, uh,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what my next step is on Friday. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just yeah, see it Friday. That's it. Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1: And now I mean, he's on Raw, but he's not
Speaker 1: doing much. I don't know how they're gonna work with
Speaker 1: these championships. It's unified, but are they gonna defend it separately?
Speaker 1: Like I don't think they know. And it just it's
Speaker 1: like they got to WrestleMania. I said this on my
Speaker 1: review last night. I said, it's like they got to
Speaker 1: WrestleMania and they just everyone in creative just sat back
Speaker 1: and were like, whow all right, well that's done. And
Speaker 1: then somebody twenty minutes later says, so, well, what are
Speaker 1: we doing next. It's it's just they just kind of
Speaker 1: look around like and that's how it.
Speaker 4: Was just a shame, Yeah, just a shame.
Speaker 5: You know that they should be able to take a break,
Speaker 5: you know, especially for something in that caliber, because if
Speaker 5: you are comparing it to like the super Bowl of
Speaker 5: this industry, then you know you should be able to
Speaker 5: take a break. So I mean, and that, of course
Speaker 5: there's a whole other topic in and of itself, but yeah,
Speaker 5: it's sad because, like you said, like in the raw,
Speaker 5: and it was very jarring the raw after WrestleMania with
Speaker 5: it turning out to be what was I mean, I think, gosh,
Speaker 5: I don't even know how many weeks ago it was.
Speaker 5: Now the week where Oscar came back and Mustafa Ali
Speaker 5: like that felt like a bigger deal than the initial
Speaker 5: raw after Mania, and that's just kind of crazy to me. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 5: it really was. It was a really good show. So yeah,
Speaker 5: it's just it's and that's what I said earlier. It's
Speaker 5: just kind of weird, like certain things are they're hitting on,
Speaker 5: and it's it makes you enjoy the show, and it
Speaker 5: doesn't seem like a chore to watch it, you know
Speaker 5: what I mean.
Speaker 4: But other things.
Speaker 5: It just really makes you wonder, like why am I
Speaker 5: investing my time? So it's it's just kind of a cluster.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it is. It is right now. But let's
Speaker 1: jump into the card. I'm gonna start with Cody and
Speaker 1: Seth and I'm gonna toss it to you first. What
Speaker 1: do you think who wins and why?
Speaker 5: Okay, so with this one, I will I'm just gonna
Speaker 5: be honest, I'm really gonna be upset if if Cody
Speaker 5: loses here, and I'm kind of scared that he's going
Speaker 5: to with WWE like I I don't and again, like
Speaker 5: like I was saying earlier, I do try to give
Speaker 5: them and I'm trying to give them the benefit of
Speaker 5: the doubt and a lot of things.
Speaker 4: So this one is going to be one of them.
Speaker 5: My official pick is going to be Cody, but a
Speaker 5: part of me like, I'm not gonna be surprised if
Speaker 5: they give Seth the win and try to continue this
Speaker 5: going forward. But because of course, if in my opinion,
Speaker 5: if Seth loses, it's going to be really hard to continue.
Speaker 4: Seth is, I guess one.
Speaker 5: Of those characters kind of like a Kevin Owens where
Speaker 5: he can talk his way into anything, so maybe he
Speaker 5: doesn't necessarily need the win to continue this.
Speaker 4: But my official pick is Cody.
Speaker 5: Like I said, he I think needs the win more
Speaker 5: than Seth right now, especially with him just being here.
Speaker 5: And it would be a little over a month or
Speaker 5: a month at this point, maybe some months in the day.
Speaker 5: I have to check the dates, but I don't know.
Speaker 5: I feel like it would be a big mistake if
Speaker 5: they pull the trigger on his first loss happening, regardless
Speaker 5: of if Seth cheated to win or outside in appearance
Speaker 5: or anything like that. I just my opinion, I think
Speaker 5: would do more harm than good on Cody for that matter.
Speaker 5: So I'm sticking with Cody, and I just like I
Speaker 5: said earlier, I do have to give them credit for
Speaker 5: the presentation of Cody and what they've invested in him,
Speaker 5: and I think it is whether it's a sign that
Speaker 5: they are more open to change now and more open
Speaker 5: to listening and just letting others be themselves, or maybe
Speaker 5: this is like a crack in the foundation of that
Speaker 5: or in that wall, that that barrier.
Speaker 4: But I don't know.
Speaker 5: I again, I'm giving them hope in that regard. So yeah,
Speaker 5: I just I feel like with all the negativity. I
Speaker 5: sometimes though I have to, I have to give them
Speaker 5: credit when it's due.
Speaker 1: Yep. No, I think they've done a very nice job
Speaker 1: of this program, a very nice introduction to Cody. He
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like he's been wweis. He feels much like
Speaker 1: he did in AEW and I think that's what he
Speaker 1: wanted to bring over. I think it's been successful. As
Speaker 1: far as the quality of the match here, I think
Speaker 1: it's going to be very good. I don't think it'll
Speaker 1: be as good as the WrestleMania matchup, only because it's
Speaker 1: really hard to do implicate and performance like that. I
Speaker 1: think they did very good at Wrestlemanti. I mean their
Speaker 1: match was. I mean he had some boxes, but it was.
Speaker 1: I think it was really really well done, and I
Speaker 1: don't think they'll be able to duplicate that. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna hold their the bar that high. I do think
Speaker 1: they'll have a probably a B plus match, still very good,
Speaker 1: but I'm not gonna hold him to that same standard.
Speaker 1: That said. I'm gonna go, and I'm gonna preface this
Speaker 1: by saying, don't change your pick every time I bring
Speaker 1: somebody on here, and I know it to market people
Speaker 1: over the don't change. I don't care what kind of
Speaker 1: case I make. Right now, you're sticking with Cody Rhodes.
Speaker 1: I mean it's I'm gonna go with Seth Rows. Yes,
Speaker 1: no good. I'm gonna go with Seth not just to
Speaker 1: be combative, but because I think he will win this. Because,
Speaker 1: like you said, I think there will be a third
Speaker 1: match to this at Helen a Cell in a month.
Speaker 1: I think this will be a three match program ultimately
Speaker 1: with Seth Rollins losing, of course, because that's what his
Speaker 1: character does best, which I think is damaging to his character.
Speaker 1: I know that he can talk himself into a match,
Speaker 1: and he's a great He's a really good talker. He
Speaker 1: knows his identity. He's found himself, he's found his character,
Speaker 1: he's found his music, he's got it all working. But
Speaker 1: Creative has shown time and again that he loses the
Speaker 1: big one. He'll lose the big one. He'll lose the
Speaker 1: big one. He may get those those wins that are
Speaker 1: in between to just get you to the next step.
Speaker 1: To make sense, there's another match, but he very rarely
Speaker 1: over the last few years, has won the big one.
Speaker 1: And it to me, I think this is gonna be
Speaker 1: another uh, another sacrifice of Seth rollins taking or winning
Speaker 1: here ultimately to just lose the program to Cody and
Speaker 1: maybe inside to sell or just at the pay per
Speaker 1: view or at the premium live event next month. So
Speaker 1: I think Seth actually needs to win more than Cody
Speaker 1: because Seth right now is he's on a losing streak
Speaker 1: and he needs to He needs to actually show a
Speaker 1: little bit of credibility. He needs to have something that
Speaker 1: the fans, if there that believe he's a credible heel
Speaker 1: to sink their teeth into because he talks you into
Speaker 1: that match, but you know, you lad your head. Well,
Speaker 1: he hasn't really shown that he can win the big match,
Speaker 1: so I have no real faith that he can, and
Speaker 1: they very rarely have shown that. So that's why I
Speaker 1: think Seth wins to just get you to that next
Speaker 1: match that ultimately Cody Rhoades takes the victory for and
Speaker 1: then moves on. No.
Speaker 4: I get it, I get it, I get it.
Speaker 5: You made total sense and in fair game, like I
Speaker 5: I am a Seth rons fan as well, so I
Speaker 5: wouldn't be terribly mad just because I, like I said,
Speaker 5: I'm a big Seth rons fan as well.
Speaker 4: But I still have to sit with with Cody, Like
Speaker 4: I just I my opinion. I feel like he needs
Speaker 4: a morcus. So let's say, how do you think Seth
Speaker 4: would win?
Speaker 5: And so if you're picking Seth, do you think he's
Speaker 5: just gonna win clean? Do you think it's he's gonna
Speaker 5: do something that cheat to win. Someone's gonna interfere, Like,
Speaker 5: do you think it's just gonna be a clean loss?
Speaker 4: No is out for revenge?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's a dirty victory in some form
Speaker 1: fashion or just lady luck. Something ends up, you know,
Speaker 1: a rope break or yeah, likely something it falls in
Speaker 1: his favor, or it's you know, a thumb to the
Speaker 1: eye or some kind of foreign object or you know,
Speaker 1: a low blow behind the reps back, something along those
Speaker 1: lines to anger Seth or to anger Cody that would
Speaker 1: perpetuate a third match maybe inside the cell we'll see.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's also the out for Cody is Okay,
Speaker 1: he has a loss on his record, but it's a
Speaker 1: tainted loss.
Speaker 5: Yeah, No, I totally again, like I get it, but
Speaker 5: like I feel like I feel like with Cody it's
Speaker 5: more emotional, right, So I just feel like Cody's going
Speaker 5: to get the w here and I for whatever reason,
Speaker 5: and it's probably because I'm stubborn, and I'll admit that,
Speaker 5: but I just feel like, for whatever reason, Cody as
Speaker 5: a character and with it still being so fresh, he
Speaker 5: needs the w here. And I feel like for someone
Speaker 5: especially like Seth's character, with seeing what he's gone in,
Speaker 5: like the different levels he's gone to in the past,
Speaker 5: like showing up at Edge's house and stuff like that.
Speaker 5: Like I feel like in order to evoke Helen a
Speaker 5: cell match out of Cody, all Seth needs to do
Speaker 5: is just like tug on the heartstrings, right like, go
Speaker 5: after Dusty. Maybe attack the statue that they created of
Speaker 5: Dusty that Cody, Like do you always see that picture
Speaker 5: of when they unve able to put uh the uh
Speaker 5: the statue of Dusty back in n exceed the picture of.
Speaker 4: Cody, like just kind of leaning on it, you know.
Speaker 5: And we obviously all know how emotional Cody gets regardless
Speaker 5: when anyone's talking about him, which you know is understandable.
Speaker 5: So to me, I feel like, if you want to
Speaker 5: go Helen a cell which is obvious, and I'm totally
Speaker 5: down with that, and and side not can you even
Speaker 5: imagine seeing Cody in a cell match with no blood,
Speaker 5: Like that's just gonna be a sight to see.
Speaker 4: Like, I can't even imagine that I would just to
Speaker 4: see that.
Speaker 1: Nope, I would if I had the If I had
Speaker 1: the money, I would wire it to Cody just to
Speaker 1: pay the fine he would have to pay events that
Speaker 1: he purposely blated him.
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, for sure, I.
Speaker 1: Would go storry set up a GoFundMe for to let
Speaker 1: Cody blade.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yes, yes, but yeah, so I'm gonna wrape ups.
Speaker 4: You can carry on here, but yeah, yeah, so because
Speaker 4: you and I can go back and forth, but on
Speaker 4: a yeah.
Speaker 5: But yeah, dude, I totally get what you're saying on
Speaker 5: an interview because I as being a fan of Seth,
Speaker 5: Like I would be okay with seeing him win, but
Speaker 5: at the same time I.
Speaker 4: Would be mad to see Cody lose, you know.
Speaker 1: But then there's three losses in a row for Seth.
Speaker 4: I mean, he doesn't get any I get it, fine point.
Speaker 1: They have, I don't know. I mean Seth is that
Speaker 1: good that he can bounce, But the problem I don't know.
Speaker 1: Like you said, we could keep going here, but I
Speaker 1: just think that Seth rollins. He needs something, even if
Speaker 1: it's this victory that is just the stepping stone. I
Speaker 1: think that's more important than this intermittent loss for Cody
Speaker 1: that's going to be tainted, that people know he's not
Speaker 1: a new talent that needs to go on this winning streak.
Speaker 1: That that's the formula that happens every time they introduce
Speaker 1: a new talent like Verver Mahan like or whoever bron Stral,
Speaker 1: they always go on these just tears where no one
Speaker 1: can beat them, and they finally run into a roadblock.
Speaker 1: They all know who Cody is and when he's capable
Speaker 1: of it's not like he can can't take a loss,
Speaker 1: especially if it's somebody the caliber of Seth in a
Speaker 1: tainted victory just to get you to that final hell
Speaker 1: in the cell. I don't know. So yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I think we both make cases here. Let's move on
Speaker 1: here to the next match. This one is a little
Speaker 1: bit more difficult. I think it probably as difficult Edge
Speaker 1: and AJ styles and Edge and AJ styles. Damien Priese's
Speaker 1: banned from ringside. I'm gonna take this one first because
Speaker 1: I want to steal the thunder, because I'm selfish. I
Speaker 1: want to take it, and the reason is because we okay,
Speaker 1: Damien Priese's banned. I think he'll remain band it rings
Speaker 1: he won't. He won't show up, maybe till the match
Speaker 1: is over to ultimately beat down AJ or whatever. I
Speaker 1: think the purpose of this is to introduce a new
Speaker 1: member to Edge's group, because only Damian Priest is banned,
Speaker 1: not anyone who is in favor of Ors tries to
Speaker 1: assist Edge. It's very clear it's only Damien. Fine, Damien's out, Well,
Speaker 1: then who is going to help Edge here? I think
Speaker 1: it's probably Tamaso or excuse me, Champa, because nobody has
Speaker 1: a first name any more. Champa ends up Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean the list goes on and on. I mean,
Speaker 1: what about Antoniosa's Arrow or Androdi cian Almas, I mean,
Speaker 1: like he's yeah, yeah, I mean, it's just it's insane.
Speaker 1: But I think it's going to be Champa who ends
Speaker 1: up costing AJ styles the match. I think AJ actually
Speaker 1: loses again. I think this is kind of in the
Speaker 1: same breath as Cody and Seith. Do they take two
Speaker 1: losses in a row, like you know? And so my
Speaker 1: guess is AJ loses here to Edge. I think edges
Speaker 1: on a hot streak with this group. I love this group.
Speaker 1: I love everything about it. I love how Edges addressing
Speaker 1: the criticism about using the undertaker lighting and how different
Speaker 1: his character is, and but it making the reasoning that
Speaker 1: these seeds were planted back when he was in the
Speaker 1: Brood and the Ministry of Darkness. That's totally plausible for
Speaker 1: his character. He's a master on the mic. I'm loving
Speaker 1: the chair he has to sit in as it's it's
Speaker 1: very symbolic of sitting atop a mountain. Is he a
Speaker 1: mountain of omnipotence and just judging people? It's brilliant. So
Speaker 1: I think ultimately the purpose of this is to have Tomaso,
Speaker 1: excuse me, Champa come in, cost Aj Damian Priest maybe
Speaker 1: comes out at the end, and Edge gets the victory.
Speaker 5: In your thoughts and this is this is interesting because
Speaker 5: I'm gonna use your your logic for the Cody and
Speaker 5: Seth match and kind of steal it and apply it
Speaker 5: to this one because I kind of feel the same
Speaker 5: way you feel about Seth with code wor AJ, rather
Speaker 5: like I feel AJ is going to get the win here.
Speaker 5: So officially AJ is my pick for kind of this
Speaker 5: a similar reason because of the continuation with especially with
Speaker 5: it being Helena Cel. Like Helena Cel is just a
Speaker 5: perfect finale for which is ironic as well. It'd be
Speaker 5: kind of being the third match for a few or
Speaker 5: the third series, you know match and a few of
Speaker 5: these lineups here. But I just feel like I feel
Speaker 5: like a j It's funny because I as I'm about
Speaker 5: to say this, I'm thinking of what you were just saying,
Speaker 5: like AJ needs this win here.
Speaker 4: I feel like AJ.
Speaker 5: Has kind of lost or maybe he hasn't lost anything
Speaker 5: quite yet, but he's on the verge of it, and
Speaker 5: I think Edge is strong enough to take a loss here.
Speaker 5: But I don't know, Like, I feel like it's something's
Speaker 5: gonna happen and it's not gonna be just a straight
Speaker 5: clean victory for AJ. I'm not gonna say Age is
Speaker 5: gonna cheat, but to be honest, I'm not even quite
Speaker 5: sure what's gonna happen.
Speaker 4: I think something's probably gonna backfire on Edge.
Speaker 5: And I can even see someone trying to debut like
Speaker 5: you're saying, like a chop will come out into backfiring
Speaker 5: on Edge and that kind of infuriating Edge to lead them.
Speaker 5: Maybe no pun intended to Helena Cell, So I kind
Speaker 5: of see it going that way in my opinion or just.
Speaker 4: That's how I would maybe do it.
Speaker 5: But again, it just depends on if they which they'd
Speaker 5: be kind of crazy not to at this point, if
Speaker 5: they are taking this to hell in a cell, and
Speaker 5: who they really want to kind of go over at
Speaker 5: the of.
Speaker 4: This little mini series here.
Speaker 5: You know, if the goal here is to make Edge
Speaker 5: strong and his faction strong going forward and not put
Speaker 5: the focus on styles, then you know they need to
Speaker 5: continue to build Edge, and that would make more sense
Speaker 5: when you look back on it. But I just feel
Speaker 5: like AJ needs something, you know, AJ needs something, especially
Speaker 5: being by himself, he.
Speaker 4: Does no title.
Speaker 5: And then I'm sorry, not kind of cut you off,
Speaker 5: but it kind of plays into what I was saying earlier,
Speaker 5: like I feel like AJ needs at least a strong
Speaker 5: win because there's no other title or no other focus
Speaker 5: really for.
Speaker 4: Him on RAW, you know what I mean. So it's
Speaker 4: just it's kind of a weird situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, so first of all, I mean, you
Speaker 1: almost convinced me, and then I'm sticking to my guns.
Speaker 1: That was close. That was close, but I'm sticking to
Speaker 1: my own rules. And so okay, we're on opposite sides
Speaker 1: on both these matches. That's good. But I think that
Speaker 1: the thing with AJ styles is that he he's going
Speaker 1: up against a group that is just beginning and needs
Speaker 1: to get victory after victory to obtain heat. So that
Speaker 1: this faction, and the whole point of this faction, as
Speaker 1: all factions are directed at, is to create new stars
Speaker 1: or help build existing stars to that next level. And
Speaker 1: Chomp is a perfect candidate. Finn Balor I actually tossed
Speaker 1: back and forth, and his name's been tossed back and
Speaker 1: forth of joining the group. Yes, I don't think he'll
Speaker 1: be the one. I actually think he'll maybe even the
Speaker 1: odds with AJ and come to his aid as he
Speaker 1: did on Raw. And I think with Finn Balor for
Speaker 1: the reasons him not joining the group, he still could.
Speaker 1: But I would advise against it because right now, Finn Balor,
Speaker 1: he's in a weird spot. He's been irrelevant for a
Speaker 1: few months. So that's the case for it. The case
Speaker 1: against it is Finn Balor is already a made man.
Speaker 1: He doesn't He's already a superstar. He's already made it
Speaker 1: to a very high level. To me, going into Edges
Speaker 1: group would almost almost be its emotion of saying Edge
Speaker 1: is now mentoring Finn Balor. Finn Baler is a guy
Speaker 1: that's been on the scene for quite some time. He
Speaker 1: knows who and what he is. He's got a very
Speaker 1: successful in ring in ring persona. He knows who and
Speaker 1: what he is. His music's, i mean, one of the
Speaker 1: best entrant musics of all time in wrestling. So I
Speaker 1: don't think it would help Finn Balor to be in
Speaker 1: this group Finn Balley. If the purpose of the groups
Speaker 1: to help elevate existing or stars that are kind of floundering,
Speaker 1: I don't think that fits the bill with Finn. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's impossible, but I think right now AJ
Speaker 1: needs somebody on his side. If Champa's gonna be with
Speaker 1: Edge and Damian Priest is going to be with Edge,
Speaker 1: and I've heard Rie Ripley, We've all heard Rie Ripley.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know about Rhea, but to me,
Speaker 1: I think right now, the growing and the heat needed
Speaker 1: for this group to grow is superseding what AJ styles
Speaker 1: needs in his victory.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 1: I know Aj, like you said, he's been kind of
Speaker 1: irrelevant in some respects too, being relegated to a tag
Speaker 1: team with Omas that we all were like, get out,
Speaker 1: get out, get out, gets out and AJ even Edge
Speaker 1: smartly said, I don't want that person who was in
Speaker 1: the tag team. I want the pit bull AJ styles,
Speaker 1: and so I think AJ he could win this, and
Speaker 1: then Champa comes out to beat him down and just
Speaker 1: completely destroy him. So he gets the victory. But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, that group still gets the heat.
Speaker 1: So maybe you can shoot two birds with one stone here,
Speaker 1: But I do think that AJ loses because of Tomaso
Speaker 1: Champa Champa, So I don't know. I think we both
Speaker 1: again make good cases. And this guys, as I say,
Speaker 1: with certain matches on every card, don't put any money
Speaker 1: on these two. These are very difficult matches. Stay away
Speaker 1: from them, I think, before I move on. Did you
Speaker 1: have any anything else to say about AJ and Edge?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 1: No, Okay, Happy Corbin and Mad Cat Moss Ashley go ahead.
Speaker 5: Gosh, I you know, And I don't even know how
Speaker 5: I feel about myself for saying this, but I'm kind
Speaker 5: of like warming up to Mad Cat Moss, and I
Speaker 5: just I don't know how to feel about it. Like
Speaker 5: I first, he obviously needs to lose the suspenders, like
Speaker 5: he just needs, you know, like that's just the whole
Speaker 5: thing is just that should have been like that next
Speaker 5: week after him and Corborn like officially broke up or
Speaker 5: they realized they weren't laughing at.
Speaker 4: Each other's jokes anymore.
Speaker 5: And I will say it just to kind of catch up,
Speaker 5: you know, since the last time United took or have spoken.
Speaker 5: But when he did, when they did first start brawling
Speaker 5: that night, that reaction he got on SmackDown, I was
Speaker 5: shocked by, Like I did not expect people to erupt
Speaker 5: for him like they did and just kind of carrying
Speaker 5: on for them. Like He's kind of really impressed me.
Speaker 5: Not that I didn't really think he wouldn't on the
Speaker 5: main master, but with how the would be changes things
Speaker 5: of course, going from rittig Moss to to this version
Speaker 5: of mad Cat.
Speaker 4: Moss now they I don't know.
Speaker 5: He obviously could have gone a completely different and more resirection,
Speaker 5: but it's strange this has probably been the best route
Speaker 5: for him, and this is probably like the best thing
Speaker 5: that could have happened to him, going this kind of
Speaker 5: goofy and just non serious character route and then leading
Speaker 5: to Corbyn because a lot of people hate on Corbyn,
Speaker 5: but like you and I have spoken about in the past,
Speaker 5: like I'm I'm not his number one fan, but I
Speaker 5: think Corbyn is very solid, you know, like he's good
Speaker 5: in the ring, he's a good character, He's exactly what
Speaker 5: the WDB needs.
Speaker 4: He's at the perfect level.
Speaker 5: So and he's just kind of one of those guys
Speaker 5: that you can almost throw into any situation and it
Speaker 5: may take a week or two if you're talking like
Speaker 5: a main event level, but he can almost slide in anywhere.
Speaker 4: So I think it's very valuable.
Speaker 5: But long, long story short, I'm actually going and after
Speaker 5: I give all that praise to Moss, I'm actually going
Speaker 5: with Corbyn here. Kind of like what I was saying earlier,
Speaker 5: I would be stoked if mad Cat Moss won because
Speaker 5: for all the reasons I just said. But I think
Speaker 5: Corbyn's gonna get this the win here to kind of
Speaker 5: I feel like a burg and record but kind of
Speaker 5: carry this on too.
Speaker 4: And I don't know what that says about w I
Speaker 4: don't know if that's a good thing or a.
Speaker 5: Bad thing, but yeah, you know, I just I think
Speaker 5: there's a lot more to pull out of this, whether
Speaker 5: it's necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. But yeah,
Speaker 5: I'm officially going Corbin and then once they meet later on,
Speaker 5: I'll probably go Moss.
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Speaker 3: Welcome back to the WWE podcast. Let's get back to
Speaker 3: more great wrestling audio.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, I would actually this is our first match.
Speaker 1: I would agree with the outcome. I think that Corbin
Speaker 1: probably does get the victory, although you could make a
Speaker 1: case like mad Cat Moss, who's on the rise, needs
Speaker 1: the victory. I think that giving him a little more
Speaker 1: sympathy and trying to get behind him of like, oh man,
Speaker 1: I want to see you beat Corbyn and that's the payoff.
Speaker 1: It's just psychology. Want to one and I think that
Speaker 1: you're right to me Corbin gets the first victory, and
Speaker 1: then maybe the second and third one are Moss, who finally,
Speaker 1: you know, gets those victories and closes out the program.
Speaker 1: But you're right, the Mad Cat Moss transition has been
Speaker 1: I think successful. Hasn't been wildly successful, but I think
Speaker 1: it's been as good as it could have. You could
Speaker 1: have expected it to be. The suspenders, I'm to me,
Speaker 1: the jury is still out on that. I'm like, there's
Speaker 1: some weeks I'm like it's obnoxious. Other weeks I'm like,
Speaker 1: that's kind of an endearing, ridiculous look. I'm split. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure on that yet. But his jokes, I think
Speaker 1: there's something there that you could work with where he
Speaker 1: insults his opponent in hilarious actually a way that makes
Speaker 1: the crowd laugh, like he did when he insulted Corbin.
Speaker 1: That's the transition from these just stupid eye rolling jokes
Speaker 1: that they were intended to be, to actually making fun
Speaker 1: of his heel opponents, which is what's going to endear
Speaker 1: him to the crowd. His energy, his inring ability. I mean,
Speaker 1: didn't he he got dumped on his head a few
Speaker 1: weeks or a month ago, whatever, I mean, yeah, and
Speaker 1: we're like oh my god, is he? Is he dead?
Speaker 1: And you know he he came unscathed away from that,
Speaker 1: thank God. So I think that on top of the
Speaker 1: fact that he can go in the ring and he's
Speaker 1: proven it, he's not just this bodybuilder. Look, he can
Speaker 1: actually work really well. Fans recognize and appreciate that, and
Speaker 1: he's got a gimmick that is slowly starting to I think,
Speaker 1: gathers some steam with the crowds. So I think it's
Speaker 1: this nice slow build for Moss. But I also think
Speaker 1: that getting a taking this loss here is going to
Speaker 1: help him long term because the crowd's gonna want to
Speaker 1: see him get that victory over Corbin and get revenge
Speaker 1: on Corbin. So Corbyn's gonna cheat to win. I think,
Speaker 1: I mean that that's ultimately what's gonna be the case.
Speaker 1: I don't know how, but it does end up being
Speaker 1: a heel victory here. So right now, so I'm looking
Speaker 1: down here, I actually have every heel so far winning
Speaker 1: on the pay per view, so it's given me a
Speaker 1: lot of if things go the way I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna go. The pay per views right now very heel heavy.
Speaker 1: But what are your thoughts on any final thoughts? On
Speaker 1: Corbyn Moss.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and just just to wrap it up on them,
Speaker 5: I think, like you were saying about the fans and
Speaker 5: jokes and everything in the transitioning, I.
Speaker 4: Think the fans, as much as this may shock WD,
Speaker 4: they're not dumb.
Speaker 5: Like the fans can see and appreciate what he's doing now,
Speaker 5: especially now that he's not being like a dumb character
Speaker 5: and not being blinded by Corbyn's influence or anything like
Speaker 5: that as a character of course, and seeing Corbyn for
Speaker 5: what he is.
Speaker 4: And still it's kind.
Speaker 5: Of like a twofold thing, right, like fans understand like
Speaker 5: this is what he is supposed to be doing, but
Speaker 5: he's doing well at it, you know, and he's really
Speaker 5: embracing this singles role. So I think it's like an
Speaker 5: appreciation thing too, And I think fans and maybe just
Speaker 5: I'll just maybe speak for myself, like it's cool to
Speaker 5: kind of start this whole journey with him because I
Speaker 5: feel like he could be something. I'm not saying he's
Speaker 5: gonna be the next breakout start, but I think he
Speaker 5: could be something solid from them going forward after this.
Speaker 5: So that was just, you know, I kind of let
Speaker 5: my final thoughts on Matt cam Moss and Corbyn.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and I think the match is gonna be fine.
Speaker 1: I know the match quality, it'll be just fine. I mean,
Speaker 1: I knowncerns about how good it's going to be. It'll
Speaker 1: be It'll be something that is respectable and good. It
Speaker 1: has the chance to be very good if given enough time,
Speaker 1: you know, But I'm not gonna hold it to that standard.
Speaker 1: I think it'll be just fine. And Corby gets the victory,
Speaker 1: so I think we're on the same page there. But
Speaker 1: let's move to Lashly versus Omas and hmm, Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna toss this one to you again because I I'm
Speaker 1: split on this too. This this has so far been
Speaker 1: a little difficult. But Ashley, what are your thoughts on
Speaker 1: lastly at Omas?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: And this is one of those that again pains me
Speaker 5: to even bring myself to say this.
Speaker 4: But.
Speaker 5: Because I'm sure you know that this by this point
Speaker 5: my feelings on Omas, but I just again I don't
Speaker 5: want to say it, but I feel like Omas is
Speaker 5: going to get the victory here, and I think it's
Speaker 5: going to be all thanks to MVP. I feel like
Speaker 5: maybe maybe I'm taking what is in my opinion very
Speaker 5: obvious and holding too much light to it. But I
Speaker 5: think this whole thing is set up for MVP to
Speaker 5: interfere to get Omas his first really big victory, you know, essentially,
Speaker 5: because he was just having squash matches before.
Speaker 4: But I just I'm not a fan of Omas and
Speaker 4: it still irritates me. And I don't really know why.
Speaker 5: Like he's not horrible, like he's We've obviously seen much worse,
Speaker 5: and I just don't know.
Speaker 4: I think it's the fact, well I do know one
Speaker 4: thing that irritates.
Speaker 5: Me, So I'll just I'll close it this and then
Speaker 5: I'll toss it to you because I could rant about
Speaker 5: it forever for whatever reason. But it's his when he
Speaker 5: comes out, he just whether he of course was when
Speaker 5: he was with AJ if they were trying to be
Speaker 5: good guys or whatever, or obviously the majority of the
Speaker 5: time being a heel, I just don't take him seriously.
Speaker 5: I just feel like he's holding back a laugh, like
Speaker 5: he's just out there, like I feel like he would
Speaker 5: be one of those like, uh it was it Roquel
Speaker 5: Rodriguez her a new name now, like just smiling NonStop,
Speaker 5: and it's like just and I feel like he's just
Speaker 5: obviously trying to hold it back.
Speaker 4: Because he's not supposed to be smiling.
Speaker 5: So for whatever reason, it's just one of those things
Speaker 5: that irks me, and you know, probably too much and
Speaker 5: unnecessarily so, but yeah, dude, I just I can't take
Speaker 5: him seriously.
Speaker 4: I just I'm just not about it.
Speaker 5: And adding on to that, I guess I do know
Speaker 5: why I'm using this as a little therapy session.
Speaker 4: Thanks Matt for Omas.
Speaker 5: I think the fact too that they broke up Bobby
Speaker 5: Lashley and MVP was just I and again I understand it,
Speaker 5: and I'm not even gonna say it's wrong. I just
Speaker 5: me personally my personal feelings. I just love the duo
Speaker 5: of MVP and Bobby Lashley together. I just just love
Speaker 5: everything about it. So I in of course, comparing the two,
Speaker 5: who probably needs MVP more Omas if you really want
Speaker 5: to take him seriously.
Speaker 4: But again, it's one of those.
Speaker 5: Two like, I don't think they're really going to take
Speaker 5: him that seriously. I feel like they would have done
Speaker 5: so already if they were going to.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I don't know. I just feel like this
Speaker 4: is a waste.
Speaker 5: So and I feel like I don't know I was
Speaker 5: gonna take the loss here, and I'm very upset but
Speaker 5: all right.
Speaker 1: Well we are we are now two and two. I'm
Speaker 1: with you on this one as well. I think that
Speaker 1: Omas boy. And again, guys, I'm now four for four
Speaker 1: on heel victories. Huge.
Speaker 4: Is this gonna be an evil.
Speaker 1: People are gonna be pissed. I mean, there's gonna be riots,
Speaker 1: so I mean, but that's that. So I'm with you
Speaker 1: about o maas taking the victory? Now am I uh
Speaker 1: as annoyed by Omas? I wasn't until you started telling
Speaker 1: me why, And now I can't unthink it. So now
Speaker 1: I'm looking at him and I'm like, do I want
Speaker 1: to say? He's kind of a big goofball, like, but
Speaker 1: he's trying to hide it.
Speaker 5: Maybe it's fine if yeah, you know, cool dude, like
Speaker 5: embrace it like and I'm sure he probably wants to
Speaker 5: and he probably can't, but like it's just I don't know,
Speaker 5: it doesn't fit.
Speaker 1: So you feel like he's not he's hiding himself what
Speaker 1: he should be, right, okay, God, And I don't.
Speaker 4: Even I don't even know what that would even look like.
Speaker 5: And I'm not saying like I want him to go
Speaker 5: out there and be like a mad or exactly about
Speaker 5: they're dancing or anything crazy, but just I don't know,
Speaker 5: just like just whoever he is, just like let him
Speaker 5: be him.
Speaker 4: I feel like he's probably one.
Speaker 5: Of those dudes in the back who like gets along
Speaker 5: with everyone. He's probably like, you know, like a good time.
Speaker 4: But we would never know because we don't. We don't
Speaker 4: see it.
Speaker 5: So I just feel like maybe and maybe I'm giving
Speaker 5: him too much hardship or whatever, but it's I just
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't know, Matt, So I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Just to know I now again, now you're turning me
Speaker 1: against Omas, and I was, I was, I was a
Speaker 1: solid fan. I was like, Okay, I'm on board for this.
Speaker 1: But his range of emotion is very limited. I mean,
Speaker 1: he almost has as limited of range as round A
Speaker 1: Rousey does. We'll get to her match next, and so
Speaker 1: I think that Omas. As far as the match quality,
Speaker 1: we haven't even talked about the match quality. I think
Speaker 1: it's going to be okay. I think it's going to
Speaker 1: be exactly what you'd expect with Omas's limits considering his size,
Speaker 1: but Bobby Lashley doing the majority of the bumping as
Speaker 1: she should given the size difference. But I think you're right,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a loss because directly because of maybe
Speaker 1: a quick distraction from MVP, and they're using MVP clearly
Speaker 1: to try to help build a moas like he reinvigorated Bobby,
Speaker 1: and I get that. I understand that MVP has truly
Speaker 1: been the MVP and he's lived up to his name
Speaker 1: and in him helping Amas. No problem there, and the
Speaker 1: payoff here is clearly going to be wanting to see
Speaker 1: Lashly get his hands at MVP. I well, we're not
Speaker 1: gonna see it here. We may see a tease of it,
Speaker 1: a quick appetizer, but I think the ultimate payoff of
Speaker 1: seeing Lashly get his hands at MVP is probably gonna
Speaker 1: happen at hell and to Sell, and maybe that's where
Speaker 1: he'll finally be able to trap MVP inside the Sell
Speaker 1: or something during the match with AMAS if I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm getting ahead of myself, but that's the payoff that
Speaker 1: I think people want to see is not necessarily Lashly
Speaker 1: of versus a maas. They want to see Lashly versus
Speaker 1: the guy that turned on him, you know, MVP, and
Speaker 1: see him beat the holy hell out of him. So
Speaker 1: I think that this match is going to be okay
Speaker 1: quality wise, You what I want to see is if
Speaker 1: Lashley can like power slam Omas. I mean, I want
Speaker 1: to see that running power slam. If he could do
Speaker 1: that on Omas, some kind of maneuver that Lashley could
Speaker 1: pick him up and show his insane strength, That to
Speaker 1: me is the kind of thing I want to see.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a slower pace match, which is good
Speaker 1: because a lot of these matches are gonna be fast paced,
Speaker 1: in your face, like flip flop fly, all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. So this is gonna be a nice palette
Speaker 1: cleanser to just kind of slow things down, and I'm
Speaker 1: totally fine with that. Every match doesn't need to look
Speaker 1: and feel the same. So yeah, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day long story short Omas gets the victory because
Speaker 1: of MVP, and we continue to build that need to
Speaker 1: see Bobby destroy MVP. So all right, let's move on here.
Speaker 1: Two more matches and the only female match on the card.
Speaker 1: So that that's really just amazing to me. I feel
Speaker 1: like we're missing something that there's no raw women's championship.
Speaker 1: I mean none of that. There's there's all women's grudge match.
Speaker 1: Because they can ever have a women's match without a
Speaker 1: championship involved. That's in a whole other thing. But Charlotte
Speaker 1: Flair versus Ronda Rowsey, if in SmackDown Women's Championship or
Speaker 1: according to Ronda Rowsey, just the SmackDown Championship because she
Speaker 1: doesn't say I want to say Women's again, another whole
Speaker 1: thing I could go on, but it's an equip match,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I was gonna take it, but actually, I'll
Speaker 1: let you take this one. This one seems to lean
Speaker 1: definitely one way, but let's see if you choose that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I have a funny feeling this may be another
Speaker 5: one that we agree on.
Speaker 4: So we're i think leveling out here a bit.
Speaker 5: But I'm gonna say, again to kind of kind of
Speaker 5: bury the lead here, I'm gonna go with Ronda Rousey
Speaker 5: getting the victory here. I was one of those who
Speaker 5: was pretty shocked that she I'm not gonna say shock shock,
Speaker 5: but I was surprised rather that she didn't get the
Speaker 5: win at WrestleMania proper.
Speaker 4: So I think, especially with it being an e quit.
Speaker 6: Match, I I don't see them having Ronda Rowsey lose
Speaker 6: an eye quit match, even though it's it's obviously you know,
Speaker 6: it's it's wrestling.
Speaker 4: I just regardless if.
Speaker 5: They were going to try to do a callback to
Speaker 5: the you know, the E quit match with the Rocky
Speaker 5: Man kind of have the piped in I quit or
Speaker 5: anything like that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like even if I just don't see them doing
Speaker 4: that here.
Speaker 5: And it's crazy as it is to think about even
Speaker 5: Charlotte saying I quit. It's just I think it's it's
Speaker 5: more believable or I would be more open to seeing
Speaker 5: Flair saying it than Ronda Rowsey.
Speaker 4: And and I say, I kind of say that to
Speaker 4: get this out of the way. But I'm so ready
Speaker 4: for this few to be over with. I'm I'm ready
Speaker 4: for Ronda just to win the title.
Speaker 5: She it's and it sucks like I'm trying to not
Speaker 5: go off in another tangent here but and to keep it,
Speaker 5: you know, clean, But it's.
Speaker 4: She just she looks like she doesn't want to be here.
Speaker 4: I mean, she's.
Speaker 5: Definitely improved since her her initial return. I mean, she
Speaker 5: just looked like the most miserable person in the world.
Speaker 5: And hey, whether she whether it just hit her, like
Speaker 5: and she didn't realize how much she wasn't gonna like
Speaker 5: being on the road when she came back, I don't
Speaker 5: know what it was and cool like if if you
Speaker 5: if you're not happy, you have a right to.
Speaker 4: Not be happy, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: But at the same token, you're getting paid a lot
Speaker 5: of myself a lot of money.
Speaker 1: You're saving me a lot of time on the editor.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, I almost looked up. I almost slipped up
Speaker 4: a lot of money to perform. And you're Nda Rowsey like,
Speaker 4: you have to live up to it.
Speaker 5: If now's nott a good time, then do what you
Speaker 5: need to do and don't be on TV.
Speaker 4: But don't come half.
Speaker 5: Way with it either, And I say that and again,
Speaker 5: like like I said, she has definitely improved, But those
Speaker 5: weeks just really stood out to me, and it just
Speaker 5: kind of really put a stinch on this whole feud
Speaker 5: for for me personally, if.
Speaker 4: That's not obvious. And I just don't think they mesh.
Speaker 5: I wasn't a fan of them going into a singles
Speaker 5: match to at WrestleMania to begin with. Like to me,
Speaker 5: it didn't make any sense that Ronda chose Charlotte, so
Speaker 5: and I guess kind of looking at the whole thing
Speaker 5: in a nutshell, I'm kind of and maybe.
Speaker 4: I'm biased, So please correct me once I throw it
Speaker 4: to you. Or feel free to cut you off.
Speaker 5: I feel like maybe I was just sour on it
Speaker 5: from the beginning because for me, like I was saying,
Speaker 5: it didn't make sense that Ronda Rowsey makes this triumphant
Speaker 5: return at the Royal Rumble, wins the Rumble, and then
Speaker 5: doesn't challenge Becky Lynch like.
Speaker 4: And I say that kind of speaking halfway.
Speaker 5: Like, I say that because I'm I appreciate what they
Speaker 5: did with Bianca Blair and that was obviously a fantastic match,
Speaker 5: and I like the way that they played off how
Speaker 5: they started that whole mess at Summer Slam.
Speaker 4: But again, it didn't make sense to me.
Speaker 5: I know they're probably gonna go for that match Rowsey
Speaker 5: and Becky Lynch next year a WrestleMania, and that's fine
Speaker 5: and dandy, but to me, it just.
Speaker 4: Didn't make sense to him in the beginning.
Speaker 5: And like I said, I may just be kind of
Speaker 5: blinded or biased going into this whole thing, but I'm
Speaker 5: ready for it to be done.
Speaker 4: I'm over Flair. I don't even really know what she's
Speaker 4: gonna do after this.
Speaker 5: Point, but I would love to see Ronda win so
Speaker 5: we can be done with that and then have Bailey
Speaker 5: return because I just truly miss Bailey at this point.
Speaker 4: I feel like SmackDown is truly truly missing her. So
Speaker 4: I don't know if she's ready to come back.
Speaker 5: I'm sure she is at this point, but yeah, I'm
Speaker 5: just I'm ready for this to be over with.
Speaker 4: Again, that's not obvious.
Speaker 1: It's so weird to say that because of the names
Speaker 1: that I'm looking at.
Speaker 5: And I love Ronda Rowsey. Yeah, like I was a
Speaker 5: huge round a Rowsey fan. I think her first one
Speaker 5: was great. Like I'm not hating on her, and I
Speaker 5: think she picked up the sport well like I think
Speaker 5: she has. She's done her you know, due diligence and
Speaker 5: you know, like I don't, don't get me wrong, just
Speaker 5: to you know, give her her her prop's words due.
Speaker 4: It's just something's not clicking with this and it's just weird.
Speaker 1: It feels forced when it shouldn't feel forced. And it's
Speaker 1: just one of those things. Even though there is a
Speaker 1: history with these two, you're looking at it going, why
Speaker 1: isn't this gelling? And again I'm not a big Ronda
Speaker 1: Rousey fan. I actually don't enjoy most of what she does.
Speaker 1: Now again, I respect what she's able to do in
Speaker 1: the ring. I respect what she's done in the MMA world.
Speaker 1: I don't like her demeanor and a lot of things,
Speaker 1: but that's me and and you know that it is
Speaker 1: what it is. And I think that in sometimes and
Speaker 1: a lot of times, she's actually disrespected the business, even
Speaker 1: if it's trying to get quote unquote heat. There's been anywhere.
Speaker 4: Yes, no, yeah, and yes, yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so and I think she's got, you know, the
Speaker 1: the emotional range of you know, my two year old.
Speaker 1: It's not it's either super happy or super angry, and
Speaker 1: there's no in between. There's this it's either she comes
Speaker 1: out smiling or she comes out with the angry face,
Speaker 1: and it's just like, can you give me something besides
Speaker 1: two extremes? Like I don't know that's been a thing
Speaker 1: with me for Ronda, I mean her entire time, and
Speaker 1: her promos haven't been I mean, promos are hard to me.
Speaker 1: I think promo's in a lot of respect her harder
Speaker 1: than in the end ring. So I'm not, you know,
Speaker 1: saying that it's easy to do, but I don't know.
Speaker 1: There's been times where she's like whispering on the mic.
Speaker 1: I'm like, speak with some confidence, like just just speak
Speaker 1: like you, this is something that when you say it,
Speaker 1: everyone's gonna believe it, like and a lot of times
Speaker 1: she's like whispering on the mic, like I don't know anyway.
Speaker 1: So I think with this matchup, the quality I think
Speaker 1: is gonna surprise a lot of people. I was pleasantly
Speaker 1: surprised with the quality of the match of WrestleMania. I
Speaker 1: think this one's gonna be just as good, if not better,
Speaker 1: because Ronda is an ultimate athlete all that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: I mean, still calling her the baddest woman on the planet, though,
Speaker 1: is she still really after how many years away from MMA?
Speaker 1: Like what exact credentials does she have now to claim that? Whatever?
Speaker 1: So Rona Rousey at this point is you know, it's
Speaker 1: hilarious that she's in an I quit match, given that
Speaker 1: when you look at her history of losing, that's exactly
Speaker 1: what she does when she loses, is leaves. I mean,
Speaker 1: so like you look at Holly Holm when she's beating
Speaker 1: m she gets she gets beat and loses and quits.
Speaker 1: When she's at WrestleMania thirty five, she loses and she quits.
Speaker 1: I mean, so it's just it's hilarious that she's in
Speaker 1: this match. Do I think she's going to win it? Yes,
Speaker 1: I do. I sadly think she's gonna win this. You know.
Speaker 1: I think Charlotte at the same time needs a reset.
Speaker 1: So if she's gonna be going away for a while,
Speaker 1: I think that's gonna help her character. I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna help SmackDown feel a little more fresh in the
Speaker 1: women's division. With Okay, Ronda's champion, that's fine, you know.
Speaker 1: And like you said, I think Bailey is gonna be
Speaker 1: that next opponent for Ron. I think you're exactly right,
Speaker 1: and I think Bailey is gonna get It's gonna be
Speaker 1: interesting because if if that's the case and Bailey's the
Speaker 1: next opponent, Charlotte goes on vacation with her you know,
Speaker 1: her fiance for you know, however long, I think that
Speaker 1: what's gonna be difficult to navigate is the reception that
Speaker 1: Bailey's gonna get off the bat. Like anytime, even if
Speaker 1: they're a heel, they leave and come back, they immediately
Speaker 1: are welcome with open arms. And so to navigate Ronda
Speaker 1: still maintaining the babyface character against a heel Bailey is
Speaker 1: going to be difficult, or returning Bailey is going to
Speaker 1: be difficult because I think Rohnda, they're really going to
Speaker 1: miss the vote if they never turn her heel. I
Speaker 1: think she would be a fantastic heel and I hope
Speaker 1: they explore that before she calls it completely quits in
Speaker 1: w WE. But that's going to be interesting to see
Speaker 1: how they navigate that if they do that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and final, just to be here, like, just to
Speaker 5: piggyback of what you're saying, I think it's that you're
Speaker 5: going to run into that issue regardless of where you
Speaker 5: return Bailey too, regardless of the show, you know what
Speaker 5: I mean, Like, it's either you have her return against
Speaker 5: Bay or against Bianca Blair and get like a huge
Speaker 5: response and have Bianca battle that, and who's stronger at
Speaker 5: that point too, You'll be looking at who who can
Speaker 5: really combat that, And it's going to be another thing
Speaker 5: where they're going to force.
Speaker 4: And this isn't obviously a Bailey topic, but if they're
Speaker 4: going to.
Speaker 5: Force Bailey into the heel role like they did with
Speaker 5: Becky upon immediately returning, you know, or if they're going
Speaker 5: to let her embrace it. But like you were saying,
Speaker 5: I think that they would be so foolish to not
Speaker 5: let Rondo just truly embrace her heel.
Speaker 4: Side and just let her run. You know, I'm not
Speaker 4: even advocating necessarily.
Speaker 5: You know, it's way too early at this point for
Speaker 5: Bailly to come back and of course be Ronda or
Speaker 5: anything like that.
Speaker 4: But I think you could get a nice little.
Speaker 5: Feud out of it, you know what I mean, and
Speaker 5: let Bailey enjoy, and rightfully so, because if you think
Speaker 5: about and again not gonna go off here, but Bailey
Speaker 5: was doing phenomenal work and she was one of the
Speaker 5: MVPs in my opinion, of like the Thunderdome era and
Speaker 5: during the pandemic and everything, and she still hasn't been
Speaker 5: back in front of a live crowd since everything happened.
Speaker 4: So I think it's only right to kind of let
Speaker 4: her embrace that.
Speaker 5: And enjoy it, just at least for a little bit,
Speaker 5: you know, and just then if you need to turn
Speaker 5: her later, then have it. But I don't know, I
Speaker 5: just feel like it would be kind of wrong not
Speaker 5: to for both women, not to let Ronda be who
Speaker 5: she is and let her be a dominant heel champion
Speaker 5: and let Bailey be her current her old version not
Speaker 5: goodback to of course, like the hugging Bailey, but it'd
Speaker 5: be cool to see what that new Bailey would look like.
Speaker 4: So I think they could really get a lot out
Speaker 4: of it.
Speaker 5: And like you said, let Flair go off and take
Speaker 5: some time off because she deserves it too. You know,
Speaker 5: she's been carrying the division for quite some time, so
Speaker 5: she deserves it.
Speaker 4: I'm not even hating. I'm not hating on any of them.
Speaker 4: You know, it's just what they've been dope, but it's
Speaker 4: just time to move on.
Speaker 1: And not only does Charlotte deserve it, she needs it.
Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, she just feels like she's a bit disengaged.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've noticed, it just feels like Charlotte.
Speaker 1: I know the character is supposed to be healish and
Speaker 1: kind of disingenuous all that, but even I don't know
Speaker 1: you've been I have been watching wrestling for so long
Speaker 1: that you can almost sense when they're not fully in
Speaker 1: the character, and it feels like Charlotte just wants to
Speaker 1: get away, Like its just it feels like she wants
Speaker 1: out right now. I don't know why I feel that way,
Speaker 1: and I'm not talking about her character, I'm talking about
Speaker 1: the person behind it. I don't. Just for some reason,
Speaker 1: I get that feeling. I could be completely wrong, but
Speaker 1: I'm just getting that sense of just total disengagement from
Speaker 1: what she's doing right now. I don't know why I
Speaker 1: feel that way, but anyway, so yeah, I mean that's
Speaker 1: gonna be interest saying if they try to bring Bailey
Speaker 1: back as a babyface, but not the you know, the
Speaker 1: the wacky, waving inflatable tube men Bailey, but just who
Speaker 1: she is now, but just not you know, not not
Speaker 1: the evil Bailey, just the one that is I'm returning,
Speaker 1: love me and we will. And I think they could
Speaker 1: easily do that. Ronda, it's sitting right there, and I
Speaker 1: think she'd be much more comfortable as a heel. She
Speaker 1: has it built in, like I I came here because
Speaker 1: this company needed me. What you know, screw all of
Speaker 1: you for not supporting me. You know, like there's there's
Speaker 1: a hundred ways you could go. And Ronda just being
Speaker 1: people were already starting to turn on her. I mean
Speaker 1: like towards the end of that run. I think in
Speaker 1: her first run, people were ready to to say, you know,
Speaker 1: screw you. I mean, she there's a lot of promos
Speaker 1: that were not good and even now there are promos
Speaker 1: that you're like, you know, she's insulting the crowd, like,
Speaker 1: I don't know. So I think that right now Ronda
Speaker 1: should be a heel. There's so much there you could
Speaker 1: get months and months out of it, I think, and
Speaker 1: it would embrace it because she could just tell the
Speaker 1: fans everything that she's been feeling without consequence and be
Speaker 1: genuine about it, which would I think also help her character.
Speaker 1: A lot of it feels a little bit disingenuous. So anyway, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a Ronda Rousey victory. Charlotte goes away,
Speaker 1: Bailey returns on SmackDown, and we're off to the races
Speaker 1: of Ronda and Bailey. That's probably where they're going. So
Speaker 1: all right, main event time, Roman reigns and the USSOS
Speaker 1: versus Randy Orton, Riddle and Drew McIntyre. Now, as of
Speaker 1: this moment, guys, we have not seen SmackDown at all,
Speaker 1: So if anything comes up on SmackDown, it's obviously not
Speaker 1: included here because we don't have a crystal ball. So
Speaker 1: just a little bit of a disclaimer there. So as
Speaker 1: of right now, there's nothing on the line other than
Speaker 1: pride and star power. That's it. There's no titles on
Speaker 1: the line right now. It's as of right now, it's
Speaker 1: not being built as a unification match. It's just wwe
Speaker 1: looking at this going. We'll put the unification match aside
Speaker 1: that we've been talking about for a month and a half,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna make it even bigger by having Drew
Speaker 1: and Roman for the first time in a while on
Speaker 1: opposing sides, even if it's in a six man tag.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna again toss it to you Ashley for
Speaker 1: your thoughts and predictions.
Speaker 4: Yeah, dude, it makes no sense. It makes no sense.
Speaker 5: Like you were saying that you dedicate all this time
Speaker 5: and hype behind it, and I was really looking forward
Speaker 5: to the time Town unification match, not just because I
Speaker 5: want the division itself to be you know, unified or
Speaker 5: whatever and it would just make more sense.
Speaker 4: But they were really doing a good job and.
Speaker 5: They were really selling me on the story, even though
Speaker 5: it kind of came out of nowhere with Roman. Just
Speaker 5: I guess since he I think he says since he
Speaker 5: essentially had two titles, he wanted his cousins to have
Speaker 5: two titles, if I'm not mistaken, which okay, you know
Speaker 5: makes sense, and they again were building to that and
Speaker 5: I was digging it, and again it's one of those
Speaker 5: things that I was saying earlier on that you for
Speaker 5: me personally, you kind of feel foolish for getting invested
Speaker 5: in because I was looking forward to that unification mansie.
Speaker 5: And then now they changed it to a six man match,
Speaker 5: which okay, cool, but you change it from titles being
Speaker 5: on the line and having these huge stakes and maybe
Speaker 5: the possibility of WD actually made emitting with the Attack
Speaker 5: Team Championship match on a premium live event now.
Speaker 4: So and of course the match itself would have been phenomenal.
Speaker 4: So it was just a lot of things.
Speaker 5: Building up to that match and for them to just
Speaker 5: abruptly change it, and like you said, we don't know
Speaker 5: if they've added a stipulation or anything at this point,
Speaker 5: but going into it as of right now, if they're
Speaker 5: like literally nothing being on the line besides, like you said,
Speaker 5: bragging points or bragging rights, like, it's just kind of
Speaker 5: like it just kind of like deflates the room, right
Speaker 5: like it's it's I just there's no reasoning for it either,
Speaker 5: And that's what's kind of frustrating as well. Like I
Speaker 5: guess it can make sense why Roman and Drew wants
Speaker 5: to get involved, which is fine, and I'm not even
Speaker 5: hated on the concept of the match, It's just that
Speaker 5: why would all of a sudden, Management and Adam Pierce
Speaker 5: be okay with literally stripping a big main event title
Speaker 5: match and then replacing it with the match that has.
Speaker 4: Essentially no stakes, you know.
Speaker 5: And I think this could very easily be fixed with
Speaker 5: having it just a winner take off. And again, not
Speaker 5: even advocating that Roman obviously loses the title, especially in
Speaker 5: this way, like that would be absurd, But I think
Speaker 5: it's kind of a slap in the face if you
Speaker 5: don't put anything on the line at this point.
Speaker 4: And I think the.
Speaker 5: Stipulation too, should be that if Drew's team loses, that
Speaker 5: he no longer can bring the sword out to the
Speaker 5: ring and he has to be finished completely with the sword.
Speaker 4: And I'm just so over the sword, like it just
Speaker 4: kills me. So yeah, my official pick, I guess let's
Speaker 4: you say it's kind of a toss up.
Speaker 5: But I don't see Rains taking a loss here soon,
Speaker 5: especially for something like this, So I'm going with I
Speaker 5: guess the Bloodline officially this is their name, but thusism Roman.
Speaker 5: But yeah, I feel like they could be getting so
Speaker 5: much more.
Speaker 4: Out of this match.
Speaker 1: This is so many elements here. Number one the sword. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's slowly grown on me, but I'm still not a
Speaker 1: fan of it. That doesn't mean I still want it.
Speaker 1: I actually would advocate against it. Why it's the one
Speaker 1: weapon you bring to the ring that you know you're
Speaker 1: never going to be able to actually.
Speaker 4: Use exactly exactly even.
Speaker 1: A sledgehammer was able to be used because there's a
Speaker 1: creative way to do it that you're not going to
Speaker 1: kill somebody. In this case, you have exactly a zero
Speaker 1: percent chance of ever actually using it on your opponent.
Speaker 1: You can swing all you want and threaten to swing
Speaker 1: a lot. It's never ever, ever, ever ever going to
Speaker 1: be used, nor should it. It's just I understand that
Speaker 1: it's unique. No one really has ever done the sword thing.
Speaker 1: So I get that, I get the visual, I get
Speaker 1: the symbolism, I get the meaning behind the sword with
Speaker 1: his mother, and that's all wonderful. But the end of
Speaker 1: the day, we know as fans it's a prop and
Speaker 1: it will only ever be used as a prop ever,
Speaker 1: one hundred percent chance of that, So that's I agree.
Speaker 1: With that. Now, as far as this match goes and
Speaker 1: why they changed it, it's very rare. I got to say,
Speaker 1: because WWE does, I think, have respect for the goodwill
Speaker 1: of fans and they try not to undermine it. And
Speaker 1: Vince has been on record many times in the past
Speaker 1: by saying, I you know, we don't like to advertise
Speaker 1: things we can't deliver on, and if we don't ever
Speaker 1: deliver on that, we'll try to either make good on
Speaker 1: it or prevent or present something bigger or better. And
Speaker 1: they have, well, at least in their minds. In their minds,
Speaker 1: it's okay because adding Drew and Roman to the match
Speaker 1: makes it a quote bigger match, but you're still not
Speaker 1: giving us the titles that we were promised for six
Speaker 1: weeks about talking about this, and so I think that
Speaker 1: again they could still add the titles. Maybe they do
Speaker 1: that Unsmackdown and the winner of either of either team
Speaker 1: the ussols would would remain champion, or I'm sorry, the
Speaker 1: USOS would become unified champion, or you'd have RK Bro
Speaker 1: become unified champion even if Roman or Drew get the pinfall,
Speaker 1: So you could do it that way, they'd be essentially
Speaker 1: fighting on behalf of the team that they're on, so
Speaker 1: they could still add it. I would say they should
Speaker 1: to add to the magnitude of this match. You're still
Speaker 1: delivering on the match, you said, but also adding Roman
Speaker 1: and Drew. I don't think they'll do that. I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a straight up this is all about
Speaker 1: getting Roman and Drew in the ring for the first
Speaker 1: time for a program that's probably gonna go through SummerSlam
Speaker 1: or beyond. This is gonna be a long standing program, guys,
Speaker 1: so buckle up and so I think that they'll probably
Speaker 1: deliver on the unification match at Helena Cell. I would
Speaker 1: actually like to see the usosin RK bro inside a cell.
Speaker 1: Imagine what those four mela can do inside helen Is Cell.
Speaker 1: So I think if they're going to deliver on it
Speaker 1: and make good on it, not only do we get
Speaker 1: that match at the next line of event Premium Live event,
Speaker 1: but we also get it inside a cell. If they
Speaker 1: do that, I'd be like, Okay, I don't like it.
Speaker 1: You lied to us for six weeks and try to
Speaker 1: deliver something bigger, which I don't think it really is,
Speaker 1: and you're but you're also going to up the ante
Speaker 1: for the next time that we actually see it, when
Speaker 1: we actually see the match we were promised, so I
Speaker 1: would accept that. But long story short, who I think
Speaker 1: is going to get the victory on this if? If
Speaker 1: nothing is on the line, it's just pride? Yeah, probably
Speaker 1: probably Roman Reigns in the USOS only because Roman Reigns
Speaker 1: is on that team and they don't want to put
Speaker 1: an L next to his name. That's the only reason.
Speaker 1: Otherwise I'd say absolutely Dreun and Riddle and Orton would
Speaker 1: win because Vince likes to send the crown home happy
Speaker 1: more often than not. So, wow, did I just pick
Speaker 1: every single heel to win this? Think you do? Every
Speaker 1: single heel wins, which I don't think is gonna I'm
Speaker 1: definitely wrong that that at least probably two of the matches.
Speaker 1: That tells me. But yeah, so Roman and USOS.
Speaker 5: Now really quick, who do you think is the main event?
Speaker 5: Do you think that that's the main event? Because there
Speaker 5: was talk of like maybe doing Rhonda and Charlotte as
Speaker 5: the main event, But do you think it's still the
Speaker 5: six Man?
Speaker 1: I actually you know the if they're gonna send Actually no,
Speaker 1: I didn't pick every heel because Ronda I'm sorry, Ronda Rowsey,
Speaker 1: I did pick to win. I just yours a heel
Speaker 1: in my head. So I think what will happen is
Speaker 1: now that if the if the Usos and Rains are
Speaker 1: gonna win, I could you could make a case that
Speaker 1: if Vince wants to send the crowd home happy, that
Speaker 1: they put Rond Rowsey Charlotte on last number one. It's
Speaker 1: a championship match number two of these are two big names,
Speaker 1: and if you're gonna have the baby face win, it's
Speaker 1: a great way to send the crowd home happy. And
Speaker 1: having Charlotte say I quit, would you know, make a
Speaker 1: lot of fans happy. I think so. I think there's
Speaker 1: a good, really good case to be made for this.
Speaker 1: And you look at the fact that they didn't have
Speaker 1: any women's main events for WrestleMania. This could be a
Speaker 1: bit of a throw you a bone type of situation. Well,
Speaker 1: oh well, they weren't the you know, made event of WrestleMania,
Speaker 1: but Backlash we're gonna make then, yeah, exactly, So see
Speaker 1: they were, they were a WrestleMania main event. But there's
Speaker 1: a good case to be made for that, very good case.
Speaker 1: I mean, Roman Reigns doesn't have to main event everything,
Speaker 1: especially if there's no titles on the line. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, Yeah, I think I personally think that I'm
Speaker 5: going to be shocked either way. But I'm kind of
Speaker 5: leaning more towards like we were saying the equip match
Speaker 5: being the main event, and I could even see Roman
Speaker 5: that the six man tag opening the show.
Speaker 4: You know, I just kind of throw I mean, why not.
Speaker 5: You know, it's Trestlemania backlash, keep things fresh, start the
Speaker 5: show off high romans obviously, you know, big stars start
Speaker 5: to show off hot and get it going.
Speaker 1: No, I like, yeah, no, no, I'm not against that,
Speaker 1: not at all. I just the only reason I'd say
Speaker 1: no to that is because this is a very top
Speaker 1: heavy card. I mean, and there's very very few matches.
Speaker 1: I mean there's uh what six matches my counting six matches,
Speaker 1: which is not a lot. I mean, you look at WrestleMania,
Speaker 1: there's like six hundred. So when I look at this,
Speaker 1: you know, so, no, I have nothing against that. I mean,
Speaker 1: Roman coming out to open the show, I think he
Speaker 1: would actually get a baby face pop. But if you've noticed,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you have hear Romans reactions have been much
Speaker 1: more positively, people channing Rome and Rome like people are
Speaker 1: starting to turn on the Roman range camp and yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's a trend that will continue,
Speaker 1: but you know that music is It's now iconic. His
Speaker 1: entrance is twenty minutes long. You know, he'll never be
Speaker 1: able to do a run in successfully because it would
Speaker 1: be the most like unsurprising run in of all time
Speaker 1: because it would take him twenty minutes to get to
Speaker 1: the ring. But I think that, yeah, I mean, it
Speaker 1: could open the show. It could yeah, I mean, and
Speaker 1: then you've made event with Ronda and Charlotte. But cool.
Speaker 1: So one last question. Do you think the brand split's dead?
Speaker 1: Given all these unifications and people coming over with no explanations,
Speaker 1: Like the announcers don't even care anymore. No, no one's
Speaker 1: even making excuses. They're just they're just here from another brand.
Speaker 1: You just accept it. Do you think it's quietly dead?
Speaker 4: I don't think it's.
Speaker 5: Yes, and no, I don't think like I think if
Speaker 5: you were to ask them, they would be like, no,
Speaker 5: of course, it's still alive. But I think that they're
Speaker 5: just done making excuses or trying to find reasons that
Speaker 5: to justify why someone is showing up on a different
Speaker 5: show animily. So I think no, just because they still
Speaker 5: want to be able to do like a draft or
Speaker 5: they're you know, their their whatever specials they do and
Speaker 5: what October time.
Speaker 4: Frame in the year.
Speaker 5: So no, because they still want to get every little
Speaker 5: bit that they can.
Speaker 4: Out of it. And you know, I've I.
Speaker 5: Have mixed feelings on the idea of a brand split itself.
Speaker 5: I think it could have been and it has all
Speaker 5: the potential to be really beneficial, but it's it's all
Speaker 5: about what you put into it, and obviously that's a
Speaker 5: whole other topic. But yeah, no, I don't think it's
Speaker 5: I think in a lot of ways it's obviously dead.
Speaker 4: But if you were to ask them, no, it's it's
Speaker 4: not dead. So they can always have that as a crutch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they want their cake and eat it too.
Speaker 4: I mean.
Speaker 1: I counted it was like one week they were able
Speaker 1: to this this year stay actually true to the rules
Speaker 1: off nobody comes over. They didn't even have a wild card,
Speaker 1: they didn't have a quarter of the invitational. I think
Speaker 1: they just did away with it because they knew that
Speaker 1: if they did that, they booked themselves into a corner.
Speaker 1: When they just want to be able to violent they
Speaker 1: want to say they have a brand split, but also
Speaker 1: not have a brand split exactly. It's just it's the
Speaker 1: most ridiculous, Like I can't stand that. Like to me,
Speaker 1: brand split, if you do it right, is an exceptional
Speaker 1: way to build new stars. You have twice the real estate,
Speaker 1: you don't have to have the same storylines running through,
Speaker 1: which gives more opportunity for younger stars and all. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's so many good things that come out of it.
Speaker 1: But you also have more championships, which dilutes the value
Speaker 1: of the championships because there's more. But I mean, anyway, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's definitely a longer conversation. But anyway, Ashley, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for coming on. It feels like a true
Speaker 1: pre I want to just say pay per view because
Speaker 1: it's just so much better a true pre pay per
Speaker 1: view a show. And I'm glad you're able to come on.
Speaker 1: But before we go, of course, let everyone know not
Speaker 1: just about your social media but your podcast that we
Speaker 1: can go and follow.
Speaker 4: Yes, again, it was a blast.
Speaker 5: Thank you again for having me, Matt, But feel free
Speaker 5: to continue to listen to me on the kick ash podcast.
Speaker 5: You can find it pretty much Anywhere's Apple, Spotify, all
Speaker 5: that good stuff and follow me on Twitter at as
Speaker 5: h M A N N S.
Speaker 4: But I'm in one last question for you, un spilled one.
Speaker 4: How how much are you looking forward to the pay
Speaker 4: per view or premium.
Speaker 1: Pay per views? It's a safe space here we say
Speaker 1: paper views. I so how much I'm looking forward to
Speaker 1: it now? And now we've actually previewed it pretty thoroughly,
Speaker 1: I would say out of ten, given it that it's
Speaker 1: a B pay per view, I'd say like a seven
Speaker 1: out of ten, Like I'm like, yeah, a seven. I
Speaker 1: mean because aj Styles and Edge really excites me, and
Speaker 1: Cody Roads and Seth really excite me. I mean, those
Speaker 1: two are really the ones that I'm looking forward to
Speaker 1: from like a wrestling quality and like who that who
Speaker 1: could win? There's cases to be made for both. Those
Speaker 1: are the two. What about you?
Speaker 5: I'm just gonna say six and a half but probably
Speaker 5: a strong seven, so right there with you?
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, awesome, Well we'll have to see what happens.
Speaker 1: And you know, hey, the the helling U self pay
Speaker 1: per views in a month, so I'll be definitely hitting
Speaker 1: you up and you know during that time frame, and
Speaker 1: I have to have you back on.
Speaker 4: Definitely sounds great.
Speaker 1: All right, have a good night, Thanks you too. So
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Speaker 3: next time.