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Speaker 2: Good morning everyone. It's Friday, July twenty fourth, twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: I'm Joeldnell alongside my co host here, Greg Canner, and
Speaker 2: this is the All Elite Conversation Club podcast for pw
Speaker 2: torch dot com.
Speaker 3: We are back. I missed you. I missed you.
Speaker 2: I missed you too, Greg.
Speaker 3: As I was wading through the smoke of the fires
Speaker 3: to see you know, I couldn't even see fifty feet
Speaker 3: outside my door for a little bit, I thought of, Man,
Speaker 3: I wish I was just inside chatting with Joel about wrestling.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: We yeah, we all kind of suffered through the h
Speaker 2: being here in the Midwest, having that smoky hazy It's
Speaker 2: just kind of become like a routine thing every summer
Speaker 2: now that we get those Canadian wildfires that you know
Speaker 2: affects the boundary waters and you were you were up
Speaker 2: in northern Michigan too, so you got you felt a
Speaker 2: little bit more of that this past weekend.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, there's a lot of you know, blame Canada.
Speaker 3: I can't I can't do any more of that because
Speaker 3: we don't have the rights to it. But yeah, no,
Speaker 3: just kidding. We love Canada. It's not your fault.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of Canada, AW.
Speaker 3: Will be aay how about that segue?
Speaker 2: Yes, AEW will be in Canada this upcoming Sunday in
Speaker 2: Montreal at the Bell Center for AW Redemption. I just
Speaker 2: wanted to make a quick note Greg, so you mentioned
Speaker 2: that we're back this week. Last week I did a
Speaker 2: solo show, and you know, I just thought that was
Speaker 2: the worst show I have ever done, first of all,
Speaker 2: because it was solo without you Greg.
Speaker 5: Yes.
Speaker 2: Secondly, I had a another sinus infection, so I apologize,
Speaker 2: but thank you for listening to it. I had to
Speaker 2: like pause the show every like few minutes to just
Speaker 2: like clear up my sinuses of stuff. So you know,
Speaker 2: check check that out. Of just kind of my my
Speaker 2: overall review of Brawl in the Ballpark. I thought it
Speaker 2: was a fun show, just a just a house show
Speaker 2: of stuff, but everybody worked hard on it. It was
Speaker 2: a fun setup. I think AW will definitely do it
Speaker 2: again for another MLB team. Tony Kahn was there very enthusiastic,
Speaker 2: a lot of people stuck around for it. And then
Speaker 2: I had just a brutal travel too, because that show
Speaker 2: started late after the MLB game kind of went a
Speaker 2: little bit longer, where nowadays MLB goes faster because of
Speaker 2: the pitch clock, but this one dragged on for a
Speaker 2: little bit and anti climactic finish where Twins almost won
Speaker 2: lost to the Angels in the bottom of the ninth,
Speaker 2: but then then AW took a little bit to get going,
Speaker 2: so it was like after ten o'clock that they actually
Speaker 2: started the show, and that show didn't like end until
Speaker 2: close to midnight, I want to say, And so I
Speaker 2: kind of started to head out there because I needed
Speaker 2: to drive to Hoffmann Estates the next morning because I
Speaker 2: went to the New Japan G one Climax Night one,
Speaker 2: which was a very fun show. You know, New Japan
Speaker 2: is what it is these days, where it's not you know,
Speaker 2: banger after banger after banger, but there was there was
Speaker 2: some good highlights of stuff, especially Takeshida versus Yodasuji.
Speaker 3: All right, well, I'm glad that you were able to
Speaker 3: share it with us. I'm sure the show is not
Speaker 3: as bad as you think to all of the listeners,
Speaker 3: But thank you for taking a break between needing to
Speaker 3: clear your sinuses, because I don't think that is good podcasting.
Speaker 3: Uh is you know, to have sinus clearing noise constantly
Speaker 3: during you know, a podcast? Yeah, I'm just you know,
Speaker 3: I mean my extensive experience of doing podcasts would tell
Speaker 3: me that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, you're a professional, so I'll heed
Speaker 2: the advice professional. What well, Greg, you mentioned that you
Speaker 2: you were one of the people who listened to Tony
Speaker 2: Kahn's media interview, and you told you told me off
Speaker 2: the air that there was actually some news that came
Speaker 2: out of it.
Speaker 3: I can't this was this one had more actual news
Speaker 3: than anyone I can remember, and far less of the
Speaker 3: whether it's whether it's planned, uh like questions or whatever.
Speaker 3: It is the questions that annoy me the most, which
Speaker 3: would be you know, whatever random people call up to
Speaker 3: to kind of tee up Tony to talk about something,
Speaker 3: you know, like I, you know, like I want to
Speaker 3: talk about, you know, Willow Nightingale, and she's been this
Speaker 3: and she It's almost like it's like some canned question
Speaker 3: that someone that they sent them that says, hey, I
Speaker 3: want to listen, I want to talk about Willow, so
Speaker 3: ask me about that. Yeah, I hate those. But news wise,
Speaker 3: there was news. So all right, where should I start? Well,
Speaker 3: the first one of the first questions were the about
Speaker 3: the news of Anna J, ty Mello, Sammy Gavara, about
Speaker 3: you know, leaving, what their status is and all that.
Speaker 3: So Tony was pretty forthcoming, saying that Anna Jay was
Speaker 3: re signed recently but is currently injured and has to
Speaker 3: get an MRI on something, so I don't think we'll
Speaker 3: see her anytime soon. But but she is resigned with
Speaker 3: the company.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: Sammy Gavara status is unchanged despite him I believe taking
Speaker 3: AW off of one of his social media profiles or
Speaker 3: something like that. That he's Tony said, Guvar is still
Speaker 3: part of AW. He has gone you know and worked
Speaker 3: in other places r oh and and CMLL and that
Speaker 3: kind of thing, and said that yeah, he's still around.
Speaker 3: And then the most forthcoming was ty Mellow apparently asked
Speaker 3: for her release a few weeks ago. He was trying
Speaker 3: to explain that this was not something that was months
Speaker 3: and months ago, or he's not holding her hostage or
Speaker 3: anything like that, saying that she asked for her release
Speaker 3: a few weeks ago to step away from wrestling. That
Speaker 3: was his words, and he said he will grant that release.
Speaker 3: So that was his thing. Yeah. The one thing, you
Speaker 3: know that that's always a little again. You hear about
Speaker 3: it in sports and in ownership or coaches or some
Speaker 3: players where it's like they're they're mad that the media
Speaker 3: reports something because they didn't want it out there, or
Speaker 3: or media gets it a little bit wrong or whatever
Speaker 3: it is, and instead of just saying, here's what really
Speaker 3: happened or whatever, there's this kind of antagonistic approach of like,
Speaker 3: you know, you know, I'm not going to let you
Speaker 3: guys do this, or you guys spread this, or you know,
Speaker 3: you guys are wrong and it's wrong. Just clear it up, man,
Speaker 3: like that's all you know. And and for the most
Speaker 3: part here he did. But I just always find a
Speaker 3: little bit of that just frustrating against me, maybe as
Speaker 3: a you know, person in the media who you know
Speaker 3: is just taking something somebody said and saying okay, or report, Hey,
Speaker 3: you know, we asked a question. You can give your
Speaker 3: side or here's what you know. You say the deal is,
Speaker 3: and like, okay, cool, no problem, you know it's it's
Speaker 3: it seems very simple to me. But but Tony, to
Speaker 3: his credit, when I for years I've said, you know,
Speaker 3: he needs media training and all that, and while I
Speaker 3: still think there are aspects of the way he speaks
Speaker 3: to media that could be improved, I think there has
Speaker 3: been improvement from you know, years ago, but hopefully you know,
Speaker 3: there's a little bit more. But anyway, so we got that,
Speaker 3: then we have someone asked about Swerve Strickland and where
Speaker 3: he's been, and basically Tony giving away something, you know,
Speaker 3: if you read between the lines, basically saying, yep, Swerve.
Speaker 3: He was just with Swerve at a comic con and
Speaker 3: ask me again after redemption. So you know, hearing ask
Speaker 3: me again after redemption a couple of times, you kind
Speaker 3: of would think that there's maybe a high chance that
Speaker 3: Swerve does return. And he said, you know, you'll be
Speaker 3: seeing more from Hangman imminently. He did reiterate when Hangman
Speaker 3: was on Collision a few weeks ago and said that
Speaker 3: Hangman said that he will live up to his word
Speaker 3: not to challenge for the AW Championship again. So they're
Speaker 3: definitely hammering down on the fact that it is Hangman's
Speaker 3: word that is keeping the stipulation on and not necessarily
Speaker 3: some signed contract with the company. So it's giving that little,
Speaker 3: you know, loophole at some point in the future, which
Speaker 3: if they're going to use it, obviously we hope they
Speaker 3: use it, you know, I at least hope they use
Speaker 3: it years down the line and not something that they
Speaker 3: you know, do a few months from now that would
Speaker 3: be a bummer. And then the other thing would be
Speaker 3: he would not admit that he had to change the
Speaker 3: Redemption main event that has all been speculated. It was
Speaker 3: supposed to be the MJF Kenny match where Kenny won
Speaker 3: the title due to an MGF injury or something along
Speaker 3: those lines. He did say that MJF has been battling
Speaker 3: injuries recently, but would not admit, you know that the
Speaker 3: original plan was for MJF Kenny at this redemption. He
Speaker 3: just said, you know, we it was great for TV
Speaker 3: and they are looking forward to a great show, you know,
Speaker 3: this Sunday. So that was basically the gist of it,
Speaker 3: but you know it was Actually I'm glad I listened
Speaker 3: to it this time. It was chock full of stuff.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to it. Greg. Did he say
Speaker 2: anything about WWE's counterprogramming for All Out? So All Out's
Speaker 2: going to be at the Now Arena on August or
Speaker 2: September twenty sixth, and then shortly thereafter, WWE announced that
Speaker 2: they would be running a triple A World's Collide show
Speaker 2: at the All State Arena. So between those two arenas,
Speaker 2: I mean, it's probably like twenty thirty minutes away from
Speaker 2: one another. I don't know what times if they're going
Speaker 2: to be running at the same time with one another.
Speaker 2: You know, we've seen that Tony Ken move the show
Speaker 2: to be at a different time. But was there any
Speaker 2: sort of comment about that.
Speaker 3: I did not hear any comments during this call, but
Speaker 3: earlier in the week, I know he did address it somewhere.
Speaker 3: And I'm trying real quick to find the quotes. I
Speaker 3: don't want to misquote him, but the gist of it was.
Speaker 5: Let me see, here's.
Speaker 3: Oh the other thing real quick, I'll get back to
Speaker 3: your w W question. But he did say he wanted
Speaker 3: to experiment with an earlier pay per view start time.
Speaker 3: So that's why they're starting an hour earlier. You know,
Speaker 3: who knows. But it's better I think for especially Sunday
Speaker 3: nights obviously, for people who have to work early and
Speaker 3: the and the length of their shows. Yeah, okay, yeah,
Speaker 3: So it looks like it was the Battleground podcast where
Speaker 3: he quoted and here is the quote about head on shows. Uh,
Speaker 3: it's really it's the reality of current wrestling. It's the friendly,
Speaker 3: predatory nature of scheduling of events, but also the compliment
Speaker 3: that says that AW is doing very well. Chicago is
Speaker 3: a great city for wrestling. I'm very excited about AW
Speaker 3: all out and it's not something unexpected to have competition
Speaker 3: and I do welcome it. Okay, so and so and
Speaker 3: that was so that was earlier in the week. So
Speaker 3: I mean, I love that quote. I mean I give him,
Speaker 3: you know, credit. It's like, you're not gonna you know,
Speaker 3: I think I think, you know, twenty twenty one, Tony
Speaker 3: Kahn probably reacts differently, you know, or tries to do
Speaker 3: something on AW programming to like, you know, take a
Speaker 3: shot at WWE or something like that. I think, you know,
Speaker 3: to my delight, he has learned you know, to worry
Speaker 3: about AW and not worry about WWE. When he's asked,
Speaker 3: that's a great way to answer it and just say,
Speaker 3: you know, hey, they're gonna do what they're gonna do,
Speaker 3: and we have to put on good shows and we're
Speaker 3: happy with our shows, and you know, you know, bring
Speaker 3: on the competition. That's fine. I'm sure he's not happy,
Speaker 3: you know, behind the scenes, as anyone would you know,
Speaker 3: wouldn't be it just you know, it's like again why
Speaker 3: you know, it's just it's it's cheap and petty. I
Speaker 3: think for WW to try to you know, to have that,
Speaker 3: it's like, just let the two exist. WW is doing
Speaker 3: perfectly fine as far as you know, making money. You know,
Speaker 3: people who watch it regularly can you know, comment on
Speaker 3: whether their shows are good or you know whatever. But
Speaker 3: you know they're successful. There's no reason they I would
Speaker 3: think they would need to try to stamp out the
Speaker 3: competition and go back to what we had, you know, prior,
Speaker 3: where it was just them or nothing. That's you know,
Speaker 3: I don't think anyone wants that.
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Speaker 2: Well, I think this is the second time that they've
Speaker 2: had that they've had competition in the same market at
Speaker 2: the same time. But I want to say the first
Speaker 2: time was it might have been in Florida where maybe
Speaker 2: WWE is running a house show at the same time
Speaker 2: that aw was running maybe a pay per view. I
Speaker 2: want to say, maybe it was World's End or something
Speaker 2: like that, and then and then they WWE had a
Speaker 2: house show. So this is the first time that WWE's
Speaker 2: had like a major show going up against a pay
Speaker 2: per view. Now it's not one of WWE's like flagship
Speaker 2: pay per views. I mean, it's like one of their
Speaker 2: Space you know, it's Triple A, and so it's something unique.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm obviously this is going to be fascinating
Speaker 2: for us to follow. What does WW draw compared to
Speaker 2: AW because they've not put their tickets on sale yet,
Speaker 2: so AW already has the advantage of people committing and
Speaker 2: buying their tickets to that show versus a WWE, which
Speaker 2: is going to be something different. It's not going to
Speaker 2: be your traditional WW show.
Speaker 3: It's there forbidden door type of thing, right, is that
Speaker 3: what it is?
Speaker 2: Like? I guess so, yeah, because it's it's the World's
Speaker 2: Collide show, So they're going to have some WWE. They're
Speaker 2: going to have some Triple A on that show as well,
Speaker 2: and obviously the biggest card that WW can Paul is
Speaker 2: putting CM Punk on that show in Chicago, and so
Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean, that's going to be a
Speaker 2: really fascinating thing to follow to see. Do they run
Speaker 2: at the same time? What is the ticket sales for
Speaker 2: both shows comparatively forcing fans to choose which one they're
Speaker 2: going to go to. I mean, I think if you're
Speaker 2: an AW fan, the choice is obvious of which one
Speaker 2: you're going to go to. But I think if you're
Speaker 2: AW curious, you know, it might be a little bit
Speaker 2: more of a well, which one do I go to?
Speaker 2: Because again this is not a tradition WW show. This
Speaker 2: is something that's a little bit more different, like you said,
Speaker 2: closer to like a forbidden door, something that's more intrigue
Speaker 2: than you know, like a summer Slam or something like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt. I'm very curious as well. But to me,
Speaker 3: I'm looking at it as if you're WWE. Why if
Speaker 3: the one thing that AW consistently hits out of the
Speaker 3: park is their pay per views. I think that's I
Speaker 3: think it's not just Hey, you know, I'm a fan
Speaker 3: of AW and not WWE, So I'm gonna say that.
Speaker 3: I think it's well known around the business. What no
Speaker 3: matter what type of fan you are, that AW puts
Speaker 3: on exceptional pay per views, So that's they're going to
Speaker 3: attack that, it seems to me. In Chicago, which is
Speaker 3: a huge AW town as well, Yeah, if you put
Speaker 3: sampunk on a card, you're going to cut into a
Speaker 3: little bit of it. But I think for the most part,
Speaker 3: they're makes no sense for me. I think it hurt
Speaker 3: It might hurt WWE more two to go up to
Speaker 3: go up against a w on a pay per view
Speaker 3: night in Chicago. I mean, weren't they weren't WW just
Speaker 3: in Chicago and cmpunk won the title. How much better
Speaker 3: is it going to get for this for the CM
Speaker 3: punk heads there than what just happened there. So I
Speaker 3: don't know. I mean, you know, maybe i'm maybe I'm
Speaker 3: you know, my vision is clouded or whatever. I don't know,
Speaker 3: but it just seems to me that if I was
Speaker 3: WW and I wanted to, you know, mess with a W,
Speaker 3: I would pick something else, you know, or or you know,
Speaker 3: maybe this weekend, you know, this pay per view, which
Speaker 3: is you know, not the best you know, set up
Speaker 3: or or built up pay per view, you know, But
Speaker 3: I still think it's going to be an entertaining night
Speaker 3: on Sunday, you know, because I have no reason not
Speaker 3: to believe that this Sunday is going to be good.
Speaker 3: So I don't know, I will see, but it'd be
Speaker 3: a interesting to see how that goes and ticket sales
Speaker 3: and everything.
Speaker 2: Well, let's transition into talking about redemption. This Sunday in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Speaker 2: Wrestletics has the latest update here where they have six
Speaker 2: three hundred and fifty seven tickets have been distributed, which
Speaker 2: is up four hundred and fifty eight since the last
Speaker 2: two days. So it looks like the last time that
Speaker 2: they ran Let's see never Mind. So that's where they're
Speaker 2: at for right now, which I think is decent, but
Speaker 2: obviously nowhere close to some of their bigger shows that
Speaker 2: they've had this year of Double or Nothing, which was
Speaker 2: a huge, huge success for a show. But let's talk
Speaker 2: about the card for Redemption and the way that's been
Speaker 2: built up. You mentioned before that this was kind of
Speaker 2: a late ad pay per view. This is the first
Speaker 2: time that they're having a Redemption show, which there's been
Speaker 2: a lot of talk about the name and what does
Speaker 2: the name Redemption mean. Certainly it seems that the original
Speaker 2: plan was for Kenny Omega to win the aw World
Speaker 2: Championship against MJF on the show, which was obviously moved
Speaker 2: up to the beach break, so giving Kenny Omega some
Speaker 2: more time to have that championship and then build a
Speaker 2: little bit more with will Ospray, which is really what
Speaker 2: we've seen over these last few weeks and what we
Speaker 2: saw on Dynamite that there's far more of a focus
Speaker 2: of building their bigger show all in than there is
Speaker 2: for this Redemption show. So it feels a little bit
Speaker 2: like it's there's good stuff and it's going to be
Speaker 2: a very good pay per view in the ring, but
Speaker 2: it does not feel this is kind of the definition
Speaker 2: of an aew B show pay per view.
Speaker 3: Yeah, clearly, clearly, and you know, and it's not all
Speaker 3: their fault. I know they had their their plan. If
Speaker 3: you had told me it was going to be like
Speaker 3: a lot of the same type of matches, but MJF
Speaker 3: and Kenny Omega for the title, with the stipulations and everything,
Speaker 3: that would probably sell it, especially in Canada, you know,
Speaker 3: so I think you probably would have one to two
Speaker 3: thousand more people, you know, buying tickets and you'll have
Speaker 3: you know, this would be one where I would assume
Speaker 3: the buys are going to be on the lower side
Speaker 3: of what they normally do. But if you like aw
Speaker 3: and you know you're going to get an exciting, you
Speaker 3: know show, despite the fact that it's kind of been
Speaker 3: rushed and thrown together, then you're still going to buy it.
Speaker 3: You know, you're still going to get it. So it
Speaker 3: I'm torn between because you know, moving when I'm looking
Speaker 3: at this and I'm thinking, Okay, they did not need
Speaker 3: a pay per view here in this spot. They could
Speaker 3: have done just quality television and all that, but I
Speaker 3: understand there was this opportunity here and you just didn't
Speaker 3: get the match you wanted for whatever reason, the speculation
Speaker 3: being MJF, you know, having an injury and needing more
Speaker 3: time probably to either have some minor surgery done or
Speaker 3: some sort of rehab in order to be ready for
Speaker 3: all In, because that's most important to them, for MGF
Speaker 3: to have a role on All In. And that makes
Speaker 3: perfect sense to me. But the you know, in the
Speaker 3: meantime we get the show that, you know, we'll get
Speaker 3: some criticism on how it was built. But outside, I'm
Speaker 3: trying to put that aside, understanding that is what they
Speaker 3: had to do and try to look at it, you know,
Speaker 3: and say, okay, let's see what let's see what they
Speaker 3: hate big, let's see what they do for us on Sunday.
Speaker 3: And I'm you know, on paper, you look at the matches,
Speaker 3: they're good matches, they just haven't been kind of built
Speaker 3: up as enough. And I will a little teaser there
Speaker 3: are I believe two or three matches that I fear
Speaker 3: will go one way that will be very disappointing to me.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean very noticeably, Like just no, I'll look
Speaker 2: at the card there's no Taqushita, no MJF, no hang
Speaker 2: in Page, no swear strick Land. So there's some big
Speaker 2: names missing off of the show. And just as like
Speaker 2: an overview look at it is that there's a lot
Speaker 2: of matches on here that are going to be very
Speaker 2: good and a lot of things that could be a
Speaker 2: main event un Dynamite, but nothing on this show really
Speaker 2: stands out as wow, huge pay per view match, with
Speaker 2: the exception of the Young Bucks versus Moxley and Will Ospray,
Speaker 2: that's really the only match on here where I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's that's really pay per view worthy. Otherwise everything else
Speaker 2: is more kind of yeah, you could you could see
Speaker 2: it on Collision, you could probably see it on Dynamite,
Speaker 2: and it could be in the main event slot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that match that you brought up is like that,
Speaker 3: I think, because that's been a long term story that's
Speaker 3: been going on when you have Ospray and Moxley and
Speaker 3: then you have the you know, the Bucks kind of
Speaker 3: getting involved with their pal, you know, Kenny Omega being
Speaker 3: now involved in that storyline. But just lots and there's
Speaker 3: just lots and lots of subtle, long term storytelling with
Speaker 3: with that whole thing that makes it more compelling then
Speaker 3: throwing together you know, no offense to you know, the
Speaker 3: the Bang Bang Gang and the Dogs with a double
Speaker 3: chain match or something. You know, it's like, okay, you know,
Speaker 3: that's kind of that could certainly have been a collision
Speaker 3: main event or a Dynamite you know, second hour you know,
Speaker 3: like top of the second Hour type match if they
Speaker 3: build it, you know, correctly. So you're just gonna have
Speaker 3: to but to deal with that. But it's also I'll
Speaker 3: watch a double chain match, like you know, it's like
Speaker 3: I'm not It's not like, oh no, I don't want
Speaker 3: to watch it. It's just it's just, you know, worth
Speaker 3: the mercy of them having to go with probably Plan
Speaker 3: b's and Plan c's for this card.
Speaker 2: Well, let's let's start on that double chain match because
Speaker 2: that's actually the top of my list. So we'll go
Speaker 2: each match down here, and we'll start with the double
Speaker 2: chain tag match of Bang Bang Gang, J White and
Speaker 2: Juce Robinson versus the Dogs, Clark Connor and David Finley
Speaker 2: this past Wednesday, and Dynamite we saw Jay White versus
Speaker 2: Clark Connor's there we've had the return of Jay White
Speaker 2: we've you and I have been wanting him to see
Speaker 2: him back here and him then he's has slid right
Speaker 2: back into the role with the Bang Banggang. I think
Speaker 2: it's been okay. You know, I didn't expect them to
Speaker 2: put Jay White immediately into the main event scene, but
Speaker 2: I mean it's just kind of you know, it's it's
Speaker 2: all right what they've done. I mean, it's going off
Speaker 2: of a new Japan storyline, So you have to have
Speaker 2: some of that context of knowing how Jay White was
Speaker 2: kicked out of the Bullet Club and how those that
Speaker 2: kind of war dogs version of Bullet Club took over,
Speaker 2: which was Clark Connor's David Finley, also Gabe Kid being
Speaker 2: a part of that. So Double Chain gives it a
Speaker 2: little bit more of something in there. I mean I
Speaker 2: expect it to be be a good match.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, no doubt. And you know in this
Speaker 3: they are following the form with Jay White. I believe
Speaker 3: that they just always tend to do with wrestlers who
Speaker 3: come back from long term absences and long term injuries,
Speaker 3: is that they're not going to throw them right back
Speaker 3: in because if they get reinjured, you have to rewrite everything.
Speaker 3: You have to you know, uh, change the plans, and
Speaker 3: you kind of have to just I think test them
Speaker 3: in tag matches, in you know, infrequent matches right off
Speaker 3: the bat, in order to make sure they're good to go,
Speaker 3: they get back in ring shape, all that stuff. And
Speaker 3: so I would assume that this is just, hey, let's
Speaker 3: do this feud. Let's have a good blowoff with you know,
Speaker 3: some violence, and then you know, eventually, you know, later
Speaker 3: in the summer, fall or whatever, J White can maybe
Speaker 3: start to break away or do some more you know
Speaker 3: singles and get himself, you know, into something a little
Speaker 3: you know, worthy of his talent as far as you know,
Speaker 3: more higher up in the card. And so that's why
Speaker 3: I kind of see this one. But yeah, I assume
Speaker 3: the Bang Bang Gang will win this and we will
Speaker 3: move on from there.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't need to see J White like turn
Speaker 2: on the Bang Bang Gang or have them turn on him,
Speaker 2: but I want to see him become more of the alpha,
Speaker 2: and those guys are just more of the surrounding supporting
Speaker 2: pieces moving forward.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, I think that that's it's important for him
Speaker 3: to start to kind of separate himself and not just
Speaker 3: be you know, a leader of a faction. I mean again,
Speaker 3: this is you know, you look at AW now, this
Speaker 3: is what they They are a company with groups of groups,
Speaker 3: you know, factions. That's you know, that's that's what leads
Speaker 3: all this. And when you have a large roster, it
Speaker 3: allows you to you know, do a lot of these
Speaker 3: multi person matches and still tell you know, as the
Speaker 3: good stories. So yeah, but Jay Whites can separate himself
Speaker 3: for sure, So we'll see if they do that.
Speaker 2: Next up is the A e W International Title Number
Speaker 2: one Contendership six way ladder match. So you know this
Speaker 2: one's going to be crazy. We get returning Beast Mortos
Speaker 2: the returning Commander, so they have resolved their visa issues.
Speaker 2: Commander actually made his return at that brawl in the
Speaker 2: ballpark and you could tell he was so excited to
Speaker 2: be back in front of an A e W audience
Speaker 2: and just performing and just getting back to what he
Speaker 2: was doing. Also, l Clone is going to be in this,
Speaker 2: Mike Bailey, Jack Perry and Nick Wayne.
Speaker 3: Look at you spoiling the matches from collision man? Oh yeah,
Speaker 3: well did you two of those two of those entrants
Speaker 3: had to fight in uh?
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, when you look at who they wrestle.
Speaker 3: I think you I I think it was was clear
Speaker 3: you could have gone either way with with.
Speaker 2: Some ar Fox in this match.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah's right, A R. Fox is wonderful.
Speaker 5: Mate.
Speaker 3: What was who was the other one?
Speaker 5: Now?
Speaker 3: Leo's right, they like Leo Rush. He's certainly who could
Speaker 3: have beaten l Clone. You know, No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3: I'm just messing with you. Yeah, we we assume that
Speaker 3: would be the case. Yeah, this, you know, I like
Speaker 3: that they do this that It's like, okay, let's you
Speaker 3: know this, this card is what the card is. Let's
Speaker 3: put a ladder match in there. It'll be fun. We have,
Speaker 3: you know, great performers. They're gonna earn a shot at
Speaker 3: one of the gazillion titles. Okay, but it should be entertaining.
Speaker 3: And I think that's what they're trying to, you know,
Speaker 3: provide for us for this one. And you know, I'm
Speaker 3: down with it. It's it's that in the chain match
Speaker 3: seemed to be the violent ones, right mm hmm, and
Speaker 3: the and and the Jericho one, which is yeah, we'll
Speaker 3: get to that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean this should be fun. I could I
Speaker 2: could really see any of these competitors winning, like honestly, anyone.
Speaker 2: I could see them even just wanting to propel Nick Wayne,
Speaker 2: depending on what they do with Fletcher and Bondio, I mean,
Speaker 2: Jack Perry resigning, Mike Bailey. I mean, there's there's a
Speaker 2: lot of options there.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, poor Mike Bailey has taken a lot of losses.
Speaker 3: Maybe I'd like to see him, especially since you know
Speaker 3: what that actually makes sense because wait, it's for the
Speaker 3: international right, So that's Kyle Fletcher, so his hatred of
Speaker 3: the of the Callus family, that would make sense to
Speaker 3: give Speedball something. But we'll see.
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Speaker 2: A e w TBS title match. We have Haikarashida versus
Speaker 2: Maya World.
Speaker 3: Clearly too early to take the belt off Sheida. I
Speaker 3: believe I think, uh, you know, giving Maya World some
Speaker 3: big matches is smart. I think you know her uh
Speaker 3: you know, doing well in that in the O in
Speaker 3: and then kind of you know, getting out there more.
Speaker 3: There's still something you know that they need to do
Speaker 3: for her. Again, some of these some of these wrestlers
Speaker 3: that they're starting to give pushes to, I think could
Speaker 3: really use an interview SEC like a set interview, you know,
Speaker 3: pre taped with Renee or something like that to let
Speaker 3: you get to know these people. It's not like I
Speaker 3: want to have Maya World sit down and cry about
Speaker 3: you know, her her unfortunate, tragic, you know, family situation.
Speaker 3: But but it can be mentioned to use to have
Speaker 3: to get people to start to believe more with from her,
Speaker 3: to get behind her more and see more of her personality,
Speaker 3: you know, because I assume they still had her messing
Speaker 3: around with Athena. So I think they might have like
Speaker 3: the she might be the one to beat Athena for
Speaker 3: the ROH Women's title finally, and she can do some
Speaker 3: stuff there and continue to kind of build there. I
Speaker 3: think there's there's promise there with her. I just think
Speaker 3: they need to help her out a little bit more,
Speaker 3: to help her that the fans connect more with her.
Speaker 3: So I assume she is going to win this one,
Speaker 3: but Maya will put up a good fight.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: To your point, they're putting my world in this too.
Speaker 2: They need to build stars in their women's division. I
Speaker 2: mean that is you know, one of their biggest deficiencies
Speaker 2: is just not having stars there. I'll mention that there
Speaker 2: is speculation that that Bailey is not gonna resign with
Speaker 2: w w E and there has been conversations and uh
Speaker 2: a w is rumored to be very interested in Bailey
Speaker 2: if she is to become available.
Speaker 3: So as they should.
Speaker 2: Yeah, as as they should. And I you know, it's
Speaker 2: it is another w W person coming in. But I
Speaker 2: think given the situation, absolutely they could use Bailey as
Speaker 2: a as a big star to help elevate.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean it's not just as simple as you know,
Speaker 3: they shouldn't bring WW a former WWE people in. They
Speaker 3: they certainly should if it works for them. I wouldn't
Speaker 3: do it just to kind of we're gonna stick it
Speaker 3: to WWE or we're gonna, you know, the most it
Speaker 3: gets compared mostly to the old TNA you know way
Speaker 3: of that that that's what you know they did, and
Speaker 3: just have them come up and say, w W didn't
Speaker 3: give me a chance, but I'm gonna prove it here
Speaker 3: type of type of thing that I don't. I think
Speaker 3: you can pick and choose now, and you know, so
Speaker 3: I would. I would pick the New Day, I would
Speaker 3: pick Bailey, you know, I would look at some of
Speaker 3: the other women that ww has left. Go. I don't
Speaker 3: know about Seamus. I don't know. I'm torn because he
Speaker 3: he just he's such a long standing WWE like guy
Speaker 3: and he has that WW you know, look and the
Speaker 3: way he wrestles. I just don't I think it would
Speaker 3: be you know, it would be I don't know, I
Speaker 3: don't just don't think. I just I don't think it
Speaker 3: would work. Almost like the Hurt Syndicate, which is now
Speaker 3: who you know, who knows, what's what's the deal with them?
Speaker 3: It's almost like they came in, they did some interesting stuff,
Speaker 3: there were some possibilities. I don't know what really happened
Speaker 3: behind the scenes and why they kind of you know,
Speaker 3: the push kind of went away. But they seem to
Speaker 3: come in, you know, they wrestle a certain way they
Speaker 3: I don't know. It just reminds me too much of
Speaker 3: of of WW. I think Shamus would be like that.
Speaker 3: I would probably pass on Seamus if I was them.
Speaker 3: But but like you know, New Day has has has
Speaker 3: the personality, but they can do a lot of the
Speaker 3: aw style. You know, Bailey, anybody the women to help
Speaker 3: this women's division I think would be great because I
Speaker 3: just I still think the women's division is stuck and
Speaker 3: and you know the characters are and so if you
Speaker 3: can bring some fresh in there, I think that would
Speaker 3: be great. You know, you can set up these matches
Speaker 3: that you'd want to see. I want to see Bailey
Speaker 3: against Tony Storm now, like I want to see like
Speaker 3: if that comes in obviously the Mercedes connection will there'll
Speaker 3: be something there, you know, that kind of thing that
Speaker 3: would be fantastic, even like a was it Kyrie saying
Speaker 3: is is also available? I believe, like you know, I
Speaker 3: think she could add something just yeah, just it needs
Speaker 3: a little something unique, something like Tecla, even though I
Speaker 3: I have that's one of my fears that we might
Speaker 3: see the end of Tekla's right. Anyway, we'll get to that.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the tag team match between the Young
Speaker 2: Bucks uh and the Death Riders, John Moxley and Will Osprey.
Speaker 2: We saw a really kind of cool, unique, like all
Speaker 2: star like tag team in the main event here of Dynamite,
Speaker 2: where they had Kenny Omega, John Moxley, and Will Osprey
Speaker 2: tagging together, and then that kind of bled into this
Speaker 2: because of the alignment with the with Keny Omega and
Speaker 2: the Young Bucks and then the the Moxley and Osbury
Speaker 2: attacking them and then I just kind of led to
Speaker 2: a brawl. I mean, this is like the biggest unique
Speaker 2: match that I can see just running down this show.
Speaker 2: You know. I I I think that there's a chance
Speaker 2: that you just have the young Bucks win this one
Speaker 2: to try and give them some momentum here show show
Speaker 2: a little bit of you know, dissension between Moxley Osprey.
Speaker 2: But I think that there's a lot of different ways
Speaker 2: that you can go with booking this. I think either way,
Speaker 2: despite the finish of it, it's gonna be a lot
Speaker 2: of really great action. I can't see it any other way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think you're gonna have great action, but
Speaker 3: you're also gonna have the the dynamic between Ospray and
Speaker 3: Moxley that we've seen, which has been very very interesting.
Speaker 3: You know, a lot of things were pointed out on
Speaker 3: the post show Waite's post show from the other night
Speaker 3: of some subtle things they they mentioned, like Osprey opening
Speaker 3: the ropes for Moxley as they came into the ring,
Speaker 3: like little things that they're doing, Osprey getting that edge
Speaker 3: a little bit that's not necessarily healish, but just aggressive
Speaker 3: just in that in that way. And I really love
Speaker 3: what they're doing with this story there. It's it's really
Speaker 3: compelling to me. It's almost like you know, Osprey has
Speaker 3: it's not really you know, the devil on his shoulder
Speaker 3: with Moxley. But there's something there where Moxley's kind of
Speaker 3: you know, whispering, you know, the sweet nothings and and
Speaker 3: and it's and it's affecting, you know, the way that
Speaker 3: Osprey wrestles. He's and it's too to the better, you know,
Speaker 3: it's to the betterment of the way he wrestles. It's
Speaker 3: going to be what probably gives him the edge to
Speaker 3: beat Omegan become champion, and then we see what happens
Speaker 3: after that. You know, I don't know if it's going
Speaker 3: to be a someone turning on someone or someone just
Speaker 3: you know changing there there was discussion about uh Osprey
Speaker 3: turning heel after all in possibly and just kind of
Speaker 3: going that way, or or just getting more of that
Speaker 3: edge and and maybe becoming more and more you know, unlikable.
Speaker 3: I don't know it. But whatever it is, they've done
Speaker 3: such a good job over months to to do this,
Speaker 3: to set this up. Going all the way back to
Speaker 3: Omega sitting with Ospray after was it double or nothing
Speaker 3: whatever like that, the whether they were back in the
Speaker 3: back chatting, you know, before we even thought Omega was
Speaker 3: going to win the title. All of that stuff. It
Speaker 3: just it's been very good. So so, as I said
Speaker 3: earlier in the show, this is the one match that's
Speaker 3: had such a good build up, then I think it's
Speaker 3: gonna be a great match, very entertaining. I think that
Speaker 3: Ospray Moxley have to win this one to continue, because
Speaker 3: I don't think you're Hite quite ready for any sort
Speaker 3: of dissension between the two of them yet. I think
Speaker 3: that if that's gonna happen, it's gonna happen after all.
Speaker 2: In yeah, I mean you bring up the point so
Speaker 2: that this is not just a traditional Osprey baby face
Speaker 2: leading up to get his huge win at Wembley, that
Speaker 2: there's this dark side to him with the death Riders
Speaker 2: that he's you know, he's wearing darker colors. He's not
Speaker 2: as bright and vibrant as he once was. He just
Speaker 2: and especially with him adding some more tattoos and stuff,
Speaker 2: he just seems more of like a bad ass versus like,
Speaker 2: you know, the the babyface. I do a lot of
Speaker 2: athletics stuff and I kind of flip around. I have
Speaker 2: these amazing matches and stuff. That's not to say anything
Speaker 2: negative about Ospra. I mean, he's he's fantastic in all
Speaker 2: of the roles and performances that he's done. But there
Speaker 2: is definitely some more intrigue here than just a straight
Speaker 2: up match that there is a lot more storytelling that's
Speaker 2: going to have to lead into All In and what's
Speaker 2: gonna happen afterwards. So yeah, I think that that, you know,
Speaker 2: you want to keep Osprey looking strong and especially that
Speaker 2: relationship that he has with John Moxley, because I think
Speaker 2: that the young Bucks are going to quickly pivot into
Speaker 2: into something whatever is next for them, which if the
Speaker 2: New Day is available for that All in show, which
Speaker 2: I believe that they are, I mean that seems to
Speaker 2: be pretty logical to either have them facing them or
Speaker 2: doing something with with Cage and Copeland.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think I think that all of
Speaker 3: that stuff's on the table and that's going to be
Speaker 3: very exciting. Yeah, And the one thing I last thing
Speaker 3: I'll say about Osprey for now is that you know,
Speaker 3: if you're watching him, you know he now has like
Speaker 3: a hybrid style. You know, he's not doing as many
Speaker 3: you know, flippy type moves and spots that are that
Speaker 3: are wowing you. There's still a few, ever, when he wrestles,
Speaker 3: and I'm sure, if he's in a main event and
Speaker 3: it's a singles match, he'll pull out some more. But
Speaker 3: he's also got that physical you know style, which which
Speaker 3: is death rider style. He's winning differently and so I
Speaker 3: and it's also you know, doing a little less of
Speaker 3: the flippy you know. Chance taking is better on his body,
Speaker 3: you know as well, he is coming off of neck surgery.
Speaker 3: So I think that's a great way to protect him
Speaker 3: a little bit from himself, you know, by changing his
Speaker 3: character and not saying you don't have to, you know,
Speaker 3: go for that five star match every single time you're
Speaker 3: out there and take chance is you know, he apparently
Speaker 3: does not have the rubber body that Darby Allen has,
Speaker 3: who can just you know, go crazy every single time
Speaker 3: and somehow be okay, uh for the next week. But
Speaker 3: you know, and so I think it's all been well
Speaker 3: thought out. So I'm excited for for what's to come
Speaker 3: on that story and for the Bucks. Yeah, there's lots
Speaker 3: of options for the Bucks. And the Bucks you know,
Speaker 3: they can take losses, you know, and even if it's
Speaker 3: and if it's a little nefarious, if there's a little
Speaker 3: cheap shot of some sort of little death ridery you know, finished,
Speaker 3: you can protect the Bucks slightly as well, and and
Speaker 3: probably would anger Omega more and start more of a
Speaker 3: you know, more antagonistic uh, you know, build up to
Speaker 3: their match instead of kind of the more friendly that
Speaker 3: the last two weeks have been.
Speaker 2: So let's go into the aw World tag team match.
Speaker 2: We mentioned, Caje and Copeland are going to be facing
Speaker 2: the death Riders. Claudio and pc You know, I give
Speaker 2: no chance to the death Riders. This is just a
Speaker 2: way to continue on with Cage and Cope before they
Speaker 2: get to you know what seems like these other more
Speaker 2: dream match stuff because they did the stuff with the Wardogs,
Speaker 2: now they're doing this with the death Riders. Well, the
Speaker 2: matches everybody wants to see is against the Young Bucks
Speaker 2: or New Day or some other you know, more more
Speaker 2: intriguing matchups. So they're in Canada, so they will be
Speaker 2: big baby faces on the show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's as simple as what you said.
Speaker 3: They they want them on the show. They want them
Speaker 3: to defend the titles. They found a couple of guys
Speaker 3: that would give them a good match, and you know
Speaker 3: they'll they'll win in front of their home country and
Speaker 3: move on.
Speaker 5: Mhm.
Speaker 2: No, holds bar match Jericho versus Tomaso Champa. So is
Speaker 2: this the third match in the series.
Speaker 3: Now I've lost count. I don't know, man, I just
Speaker 3: this painmaker thing is just it's causing to me pain.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he's so he's bringing the New Japan gimmick
Speaker 2: of the painmaker. Has he done it in a W
Speaker 2: He probably has, right.
Speaker 3: I believe he did at one point earlier on. I believe, Okay,
Speaker 3: was it with MJF or something, or it might have
Speaker 3: been something because I.
Speaker 2: Know he was doing it in New Japan, and I
Speaker 2: can remember against like Tanahashi. I want to say, like Nito,
Speaker 2: he was doing as well.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 2: So he's so he it's it's something different where it's
Speaker 2: it's almost like Jericho's version of the demon, like Finn
Speaker 2: Balor's Demon, where it's like, all right, now it's game on.
Speaker 2: I'm putting the face paint on. You're not gonna like
Speaker 2: this side of me. You're not gonna like me when
Speaker 2: I'm angry, you know. So Tamasa Champa can also use
Speaker 2: the drill, right, no holds barred, So he drilled Jericho's head.
Speaker 3: I know this, Just I don't know, man, the I
Speaker 3: mean to me. The the shame is that I just
Speaker 3: see Jericho winning and I and it's just to the
Speaker 3: point Champa came in with such you know, a force
Speaker 3: and winning a title on his first match and seeming
Speaker 3: you know, and he has a good look, and he
Speaker 3: has a good ad and he speaks well, and it's
Speaker 3: and he's got a great entrance and a great song,
Speaker 3: and it's like and I just I don't like that
Speaker 3: he's now stuck doing these you know, these these programs
Speaker 3: and with Jericho again, Jericho is so kind of over
Speaker 3: the top Jeri koe, which has obviously worked wonderful for
Speaker 3: him for an entirely you know, huge and successful career,
Speaker 3: but it doesn't work for me to like turn switch
Speaker 3: now I'm a mean guy. It's almost like, no, you're
Speaker 3: just playing a part, You're just painting your face. I
Speaker 3: don't I can't buy into it. As all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: he's now going to be this you know, intense, you know,
Speaker 3: hardcore guy. So they'll beat the hell out of each other.
Speaker 3: I really hope there's going to be no weapon that
Speaker 3: could literally kill somebody, but they tend to do that
Speaker 3: too much. And and I'm gonna assume Jericho is gonna
Speaker 3: find a way to win, which is a bummer to me.
Speaker 3: I think Champas should win, and Champas should be the
Speaker 3: guy that kind of launches himself into more meaningful, you know,
Speaker 3: stories than this, but I obviously think that's not gonna happen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's more mileage to get out of to Maso
Speaker 2: Champa at this point than Jericho, but they're finding ways
Speaker 2: and opponents for him to go up against because he
Speaker 2: started with Ricochet and he's got Tomaso Champa. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I feel like there is gonna be a point here
Speaker 2: if we keep on this trajectory with Jericho, and like,
Speaker 2: if he wins this match, I think we could get
Speaker 2: to the point where people turn on Jericho again and
Speaker 2: you know, maybe maybe he turns heel or something like that.
Speaker 2: It just it feels like he did a good job
Speaker 2: with taking these losses and getting beat up to get
Speaker 2: to the point where he wanted to be more reintegrated
Speaker 2: with things. But I don't know if this path is sustainable.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree.
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Speaker 2: A w national title so if you if you forgot
Speaker 2: there is a national title and.
Speaker 3: That I forget.
Speaker 2: It's the belt. It was supposed to be defended in
Speaker 2: other in other other promotions, and I want to know
Speaker 2: it hasn't been hasn't been defended in other promotions than
Speaker 2: a W and I can at least see from Mark
Speaker 2: Davis's that no, I mean it's ring of honor okay there, Okay,
Speaker 2: there is some rev pro so it has been. It
Speaker 2: has been defended there and cmll so it was.
Speaker 3: It was look at you. You you owe Tony Connan
Speaker 3: apology for you assuming that he that he leftist okay,
Speaker 3: come back?
Speaker 2: So well, you know national title Mark Davis versus Andrade, Well,
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask about Andrade because you know, he
Speaker 2: came back, and it was kind of like, all right,
Speaker 2: here's a fresh start for Andrade. Guy's got charisma, he's
Speaker 2: a good wrestler, and I felt like he was getting
Speaker 2: a lot more momentum, but the storyline was he was
Speaker 2: constantly being sidelined by the Don Coals family, not getting
Speaker 2: his world title shot, and now it just feels like
Speaker 2: he's even further and further away from getting his world
Speaker 2: title shot unless they, you know, find some way to
Speaker 2: get him into that picture in a couple of weeks,
Speaker 2: I mean two weeks from now to be at Grand
Speaker 2: Slam Mexico. I mean, like, where are you at with him?
Speaker 2: Because I feel like they had something going and it's
Speaker 2: really slowed down being that he's in the national title picture.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: It's funny how that, like your thoughts of him can
Speaker 3: change in probably two weeks or so, because that's when
Speaker 3: this really happened. So like two weeks ago, I think
Speaker 3: he was still you know, he was still coming off
Speaker 3: of that. I'm done with the Don Collis family, you know,
Speaker 3: F Callous, F MJF shirt, all that stuff. People were
Speaker 3: behind him. My thought is they they needed They're not
Speaker 3: ready to put him in that spot right now, so
Speaker 3: they need to have him exact as revenge on the
Speaker 3: Callous family and take out a couple of their guys.
Speaker 3: I think there's a legitimately high chance he wins that
Speaker 3: and wins that national title. Yeah, and and and you know,
Speaker 3: starts whatever assent you know he's going to have. And
Speaker 3: I think there will be a title you know, match
Speaker 3: in his near future. But that, you know, when you
Speaker 3: bring up kind of losing a little momentum, that's kind
Speaker 3: of one of the major issues. That AW has because
Speaker 3: of the size of their roster, that you can't get
Speaker 3: to everybody every single week in meaningful segments. So there's
Speaker 3: a lot of times where you know you won't hear
Speaker 3: from someone for a week or so, you know, and
Speaker 3: the fact that I know he was close to home
Speaker 3: and I know we'll probably hear from him again soon.
Speaker 3: But Hangman comes back on a collision and then you
Speaker 3: didn't hear from him for two weeks, now, you know,
Speaker 3: and you're kind of like, what happened with Hangman? And
Speaker 3: you're getting that's why Tony Khin's getting that question during
Speaker 3: his call and everything like that. And I'm sure they
Speaker 3: have plans for him, but if you're trying to shoehorn
Speaker 3: him and Swerve and all these other people in every
Speaker 3: single week, you're not gonna have time for anything. You're
Speaker 3: certainly not gonna have time for your competitive ten minute
Speaker 3: matches that he likes to have, you know often, So
Speaker 3: you know, so you're you're at the mercy of that
Speaker 3: being an issue. And so I think that might of
Speaker 3: what might have been what happened with Andrade. But I
Speaker 3: think he's still popular enough where he beats Mark Davis,
Speaker 3: he wins this and then you know, he'll get a
Speaker 3: shot and the grant say in Mexico. I think it'll be,
Speaker 3: you know, a big night for him in some way
Speaker 3: because I think that you know, the crowds will be
Speaker 3: with him now and all that, so we'll see.
Speaker 2: So then moving on to the aw International title, we
Speaker 2: have Bondido taking on Kyle Fletcher to try and win
Speaker 2: that championship. I mean, Bondido we mentioned Grand Slam Mexico
Speaker 2: coming up factor in that he's probably going to be
Speaker 2: another big piece of that show. But I think that
Speaker 2: Fletcher versus Bondido just on paper here, with the athleticism
Speaker 2: that the both of these guys bring, this could be
Speaker 2: the match of the match of the show, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean the Young Bucks versus Death Briers definitely has
Speaker 2: a different element. There's a lot more of kind of
Speaker 2: that that story long term storyline stuff. But as far
Speaker 2: as just like in ring wrestling, Kyle Fletcher versus Bondido
Speaker 2: is just as good as anything else on this show.
Speaker 3: It is, but I wouldn't have gone there for this
Speaker 3: one personally, think I think on paper and the match
Speaker 3: itself is going to be fun to watch and in
Speaker 3: the end Bendido's gonna come up short again on a
Speaker 3: pay per view against the champion, as he done four
Speaker 3: or five other times in recent memory, and I think
Speaker 3: you're defining him down by doing that. I think you
Speaker 3: could have easily put Brody King in this spot and
Speaker 3: to have a good like hard hitting match with Fletcher
Speaker 3: and have Fletcher barely beat him and Brody could take
Speaker 3: one loss and saving Bendido a little bit from this
Speaker 3: repetitive I'm gonna put on a fantastic match and lose
Speaker 3: in a pay per view when it really matters. And
Speaker 3: so now he's the guy who does that, and he's
Speaker 3: not the guy you know, you can really get behind.
Speaker 3: And I think he's come such a long way. He
Speaker 3: has proven he has stayed healthy for over a year plus,
Speaker 3: which has been it was the knock in the early times,
Speaker 3: when he would come in, he'd come in, he'd get hurt.
Speaker 3: He come in, he get hurt. He's been healthy, he's
Speaker 3: been fantastic, and so I think he should be treated
Speaker 3: a little better than this unless there's gonna be some
Speaker 3: you know, amazing upset, you know victory, But I don't
Speaker 3: see that with Kyle Fletcher at this time. So I
Speaker 3: think you're just seeing that same formula, and I prefer,
Speaker 3: you know, it be someone other than Bendida who you know,
Speaker 3: because they got plenty of guys who can give a
Speaker 3: great match and lose.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean you mentioned the point that it could
Speaker 2: have been brody King, and on Dynamite they had Fletcher
Speaker 2: and Alkata versus Bondido and brody King. So it's I
Speaker 2: was mentioning like the lack of star power on the show,
Speaker 2: which is giving an opportunity to a lot of other
Speaker 2: wrestlers that don't typically have matches on pay per view.
Speaker 2: But again, I mean just a few more names in
Speaker 2: addition to what I said before. Is Darby Allen's not
Speaker 2: on this show, Kazucco Okada's not on the show, brody
Speaker 2: King's not on it, you know. So I mean, if
Speaker 2: you're looking for the biggest aw stars, I can't remember
Speaker 2: a pay per view that is lacking of that type
Speaker 2: of star power more than more than this one.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And and the fact that Bandido beat Kyle Fletcher twice
Speaker 3: technically on Dynamite because of the missed breakup pin that
Speaker 3: that was that was really you know, showing that he's
Speaker 3: I don't know, I don't know where you guys needed
Speaker 3: to bring up the mistake there, but yeah, I mean
Speaker 3: to your point, there's so many big names not on
Speaker 3: this pay per view, and I think that's because they
Speaker 3: had to rush it and they have these things in mind,
Speaker 3: and it's almost like it's not an afterthought of a
Speaker 3: pay per view. And like I said, I believe it's
Speaker 3: going to be an entertaining night of wrestling, but it's
Speaker 3: just it does not have that hook of oh my god.
Speaker 3: And I think they're saving all of their really really
Speaker 3: big matches for obviously the big show at Wembley.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so next one we have aw Women's World title,
Speaker 2: much Tech Love versus Willow Nightingale. So on Dynamite they
Speaker 2: had McK foley was the interviewer on that. So I
Speaker 2: guess there's a few pieces to kind of pick apart here,
Speaker 2: which is the promo back and forth, the utilization of
Speaker 2: mc foley, and just as a footnote that Tony Kin
Speaker 2: says we should expect to see more Mick on a
Speaker 2: regular basis. Yeah, this, well you start, you start, what'd
Speaker 2: you think of this.
Speaker 3: Good use of Mick? I think, you know, this is
Speaker 3: the kind of thing where he's not you know, dominating
Speaker 3: something or they're trying to put him into angles constantly.
Speaker 3: He can just be you know, this a respected you
Speaker 3: know legend that that can help put over you know,
Speaker 3: other wrestlers and they don't you know. And and even
Speaker 3: though he got uh, you know, Tekla insulted him slightly,
Speaker 3: it wasn't like I'm going to you know, I don't know,
Speaker 3: beat you down or whatever. Like it's not it's none
Speaker 3: of that kind of cliched stuff with the legends. It
Speaker 3: was just he did an interview. So I think use
Speaker 3: his use like that is fine. Throwing him on commentary
Speaker 3: once in a while is great. That kind of role,
Speaker 3: I think is is good for him. The segment was
Speaker 3: up and down, you know, the the just the Willow
Speaker 3: act is just it's just tiresome for me.
Speaker 4: It just it.
Speaker 3: It's I know what she's trying to do and what
Speaker 3: she's trying to go for, but I it comes across
Speaker 3: sometimes a little more condescending than it comes across as
Speaker 3: like you know, uh, I you know, smile anyway type
Speaker 3: of type of you know, babyface type stuff. So it
Speaker 3: just and I think I've seen enough of her in
Speaker 3: this role where you finally have found somebody in Tecla
Speaker 3: who's unique and is and is very good in the
Speaker 3: ring and still a work in progress on the mic.
Speaker 3: But considering, you know, like her cadence and everything else
Speaker 3: is sometimes a little off, but I think that allows
Speaker 3: her to stand out more. And I think you know,
Speaker 3: you get chuckles from time to time. I know you
Speaker 3: hated her on commentary a couple of weeks ago, but
Speaker 3: I I liked, you know, I liked her. I like
Speaker 3: her with the the dumb bitches you know line and
Speaker 3: things like that and her and I think she gets
Speaker 3: her points across for you know, being having the personality
Speaker 3: she has, so I would want to keep her in
Speaker 3: that role rather than have her lose this title, which
Speaker 3: I expect her to lose. I expect Willow to win
Speaker 3: and set up a Willow against Mercedes all in match,
Speaker 3: but I just I don't want that, you know, now,
Speaker 3: I understand I don't want to heal heal match it
Speaker 3: all in either, you know. But I think maybe at Wembley,
Speaker 3: Tecla gets you know, might get more crowd support than
Speaker 3: you would expect. Maybe not, I don't know, It depends
Speaker 3: on kind of how how their back and forth would be.
Speaker 3: I don't think we're gonna even get to that point
Speaker 3: because I think Willow's gonna win. But I just that's
Speaker 3: more intriguing to me. That's more I want to see Mercedes.
Speaker 3: I've seen Mercedes and Willow. It's fine. I don't think
Speaker 3: you're gonna get you know, you're still going to have
Speaker 3: a split crowd, I think with Mercedes and Willow in London.
Speaker 3: So I just I don't know. I'm expecting to be
Speaker 3: very disappointed if Techla's reign comes to it, And I
Speaker 3: would love it if Techlo wins somehow and sets up
Speaker 3: just a unique match it all in. That would that
Speaker 3: I would look forward to in ring and in the
Speaker 3: promos leading up to it.
Speaker 2: M hmm, yeah. I think that there's a possibility, you know,
Speaker 2: of them do of them doing a three way. I
Speaker 2: don't think that that's like always the way that they
Speaker 2: want to build up their biggest matches on the biggest shows.
Speaker 2: But I'd made the case on a previous show that's
Speaker 2: like Techlo has done a good job as champion, Awkward
Speaker 2: promos at times, but you know, good wrestler, you could
Speaker 2: do something a little bit more unique and different. But
Speaker 2: I think that the original plan was to do Willow
Speaker 2: and Mercedes before Willow got injured and couldn't be in
Speaker 2: the Owen Hart tournament.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: Also, notably, Mercedes isn't on this show, so you know,
Speaker 2: more lack of star power.
Speaker 3: But I agree with you.
Speaker 2: I think that Willow is likely to win this and
Speaker 2: then just move on to a match between her and
Speaker 2: Mercedes eighties. But that just kind of leaves where to
Speaker 2: where else does tackle fall, you know, onto this show,
Speaker 2: because I think as far as the women's stuff is
Speaker 2: kind of more or less set for what they want
Speaker 2: to do. For all, in with having Divine Dominion is
Speaker 2: probably going to face the brawling Birds. You know, I
Speaker 2: don't know if Julia Hart and Sky Blue are going
Speaker 2: to have anything. And you know, notably on the show
Speaker 2: that they won the Stardom Tag team title, so that
Speaker 2: was cool that they were holding onto those in those
Speaker 2: in that match. So yeah, I think we're on the
Speaker 2: same page here.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I actually I wanted to look up to make
Speaker 3: sure to see if there was any update on Julia
Speaker 3: Hart because if you notice, at the end of their
Speaker 3: match with Divine Dominion, Megan Bain threw the start of
Speaker 3: belt at Julia's and hit her right in the face
Speaker 3: with it, and she seemed to be legitimately hurt. If
Speaker 3: she wasn't, that's a great, great job selling, because I
Speaker 3: really it really seemed like it caught her somewhere, you know,
Speaker 3: I know, or something like that, because she would hit
Speaker 3: her hands over her face for a while. So I'm yeah,
Speaker 3: hopeful she's okay. Yeah, but yes, but looking ahead to
Speaker 3: your point, the winds matches seemed to be set up.
Speaker 3: I just I don't know, I don't. I don't know
Speaker 3: how much you're getting out of right now, Willow and
Speaker 3: Mercedes again, but what are you gonna do?
Speaker 4: Hey?
Speaker 7: Everyone, longtime PW torchcommist Sean radikin here to let you
Speaker 7: know I've rebamped and renewed the Raticant Worldwide podcast for
Speaker 7: twenty twenty six, a weekly VIP exclusive. Every week, I
Speaker 7: break down four or five of the biggest trending topics
Speaker 7: in pro wrestling. I also present my analysis, providing insight
Speaker 7: that helps you understand the story better or see it
Speaker 7: another way. Then maybe it is the controversial takeout there.
Speaker 7: Then I bring on a special guest for the second
Speaker 7: half of the podcast. Sometimes it's a wrestler or someone
Speaker 7: else who works in the business. Other times it's a
Speaker 7: guest analyst who brings their specialized point of view out
Speaker 7: of particular key topic in the news. Recent guests have
Speaker 7: included Bronson Reid from WWE and pc O. One of
Speaker 7: my areas of specialty is the Japan wrestling scene, so
Speaker 7: I have to cover a big topic from Japan with
Speaker 7: PW Torch, his own, Alan Farrell, Kelly Wells, and Chris Lansdell.
Speaker 7: I don't just cover the news. I don't just riff
Speaker 7: on the news or give a standard hot take. I'll
Speaker 7: bring my decades of studying this industry and talking one
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Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: That brings us to the main event match here, which
Speaker 2: is the AEW World title is on the line as
Speaker 2: Kenny Omega defends against Kevin Knight. You know Kevin Knight
Speaker 2: has uh you know, has I think he's had a
Speaker 2: decent heel run here is thus far, but He's a
Speaker 2: great entering wrestler, and this is certainly a propelling to
Speaker 2: a pay per view main event. I mean, this is
Speaker 2: a shooting him into that spot, and I like that
Speaker 2: aw is daring to do it. There was a point
Speaker 2: in time where they put Kyle Fletcher into a main
Speaker 2: event pay per view where it felt like maybe that
Speaker 2: was a little bit before he was ready for it,
Speaker 2: and they're kind of doing the same thing with Kevin
Speaker 2: Knight here that they don't have a ton of people
Speaker 2: who are ready for that spot. But I think what
Speaker 2: were guaranteed is that we're going to get a really
Speaker 2: good match between Omega and Kevin Knight. Obviously, Night, Kevin
Speaker 2: Knight is not going to win this match. There is
Speaker 2: absolutely zero chance. Do not put any money on that happening,
Speaker 2: but you can put money on the fact that it's
Speaker 2: going to be entertaining to get there.
Speaker 3: I agree, I agree, And you know, this is not
Speaker 3: something I think needs to be criticized or anything or
Speaker 3: Kevin Knight's not ready for the main event and all
Speaker 3: that stuff. Listen, he may not be. This wasn't the plan,
Speaker 3: you know, clearly, like you have to. So they they're
Speaker 3: thinking to themselves Okay, what big match can we do?
Speaker 3: What person can we put put in this match that
Speaker 3: you know we don't want to blow? Uh, you know,
Speaker 3: a future match with you know, but Kevin Knight is
Speaker 3: it's a it's a it's an audition almost. I would say,
Speaker 3: of okay, you're the main event. Now let's go and
Speaker 3: crush it. Let's see how you how you do? And
Speaker 3: he again a work in progress on the mic. You know,
Speaker 3: I think there there's something, you know, I like his
Speaker 3: facial expressions, you know, I like his kind of cocky
Speaker 3: attitude that he has. There's something there there. He can
Speaker 3: be a good heel as he continues to gain more
Speaker 3: and more experience. Again, this is a guy who has
Speaker 3: not been on you know, uh had to do something
Speaker 3: like this on weekly television week after week after week.
Speaker 3: It takes time and raps to to really, you know,
Speaker 3: learn how to do it. He you know, you're going
Speaker 3: to get amazing stuff in the ring and uh, you know,
Speaker 3: and as he was against Darby on Wednesday, fantastic opening match,
Speaker 3: you know, with some you know, amazing, amazing stuff. I
Speaker 3: think that the one thing I would say that that
Speaker 3: kind of bugged me. And it again it's a nitpick.
Speaker 3: So it's not like a huge, huge deal. But I
Speaker 3: don't want Kevin Knights saying winning the world title would
Speaker 3: make him Kevin two belts number one. That's an old
Speaker 3: you know bit, you know, to call him two belts
Speaker 3: or rebolts whatever. I just thought, that's old. Don't do.
Speaker 3: Don't use it anymore in my opinion. But the World
Speaker 3: Tighter is so much more prestigious than the TNT Championship.
Speaker 3: It should be on a different pedestal. If you're going
Speaker 3: to be the world champion, it shouldn't be two belts.
Speaker 3: It should be I'm the world champion, and I also
Speaker 3: am the TNT champion, Like it should you know, either
Speaker 3: you're putting them both and making them both sea the
Speaker 3: equal yeah or yeah and like or they're equal. Hey
Speaker 3: I got two of these things. It's like, now, if
Speaker 3: you're the world champion, you're the world champion. And they've
Speaker 3: just spent all of this calendar year making the biggest
Speaker 3: deal about the World Championship, which they should, and they've
Speaker 3: done a great job, you know, prioritizing it and making it.
Speaker 3: You know, people swarm it around and everyone wants it,
Speaker 3: so treat it like that and don't you know, word
Speaker 3: word it like it's an equal to the to the
Speaker 3: lesser belt, So just just throw something there.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, yeah, I don't disagree with that. I I mean,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be interesting to see how this whole show
Speaker 2: does on pay per view. I don't it's not gonna
Speaker 2: be a disaster, but it's not going to be, you know,
Speaker 2: one of their highest ones. I just think that, you know,
Speaker 2: you can put Keny Omega in a main event and
Speaker 2: to the aw audience, I think he's the biggest star
Speaker 2: that the promotion has. I think that just through his
Speaker 2: whole legacy and where he's at this point, that they
Speaker 2: have framed him as this legendary wrestler that I think
Speaker 2: that the audience just sees him that anytime you get
Speaker 2: a Kenny Omega singles match, it's a big deal, you know,
Speaker 2: despite who the opponent is or or how well that
Speaker 2: they built it. I think that when you put Kenny
Speaker 2: Omega in a pay per view main event, that they
Speaker 2: know that that that he takes it very seriously and
Speaker 2: he's going to give it everything that he has in there.
Speaker 2: So I want to see how that is as a draw,
Speaker 2: especially with him being in Canada. It's not it's not
Speaker 2: definitely not his hometown. Canada is a huge country. But
Speaker 2: still there's that there's that Canadian pride, uh that that's
Speaker 2: going to be on his side. So I think it's
Speaker 2: gonna be a very electric crowd that's going to be
Speaker 2: excited to see Kenny Omega. And like we said, overall,
Speaker 2: it's there's nothing that's the huge, huge draw for this show.
Speaker 2: But if nothing else, aw puts on fantastic pay per
Speaker 2: views in the ring. So I'm very much looking forward
Speaker 2: to how all this stuff plays out and leads into
Speaker 2: the other things that they have coming up here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think Tony Kahan, you know, has proven
Speaker 3: he's aware of the situation, he's aware of all the
Speaker 3: changes in what people might be thinking. But he also
Speaker 3: will always, you know, because he is a huge wrestling
Speaker 3: fan at heart. He would say, Okay, I'm gonna bring
Speaker 3: back Swerve, I'm gonna bring back hang Man. Mercedes will
Speaker 3: be there, you know, just like you were saying they're
Speaker 3: not on the car doesn't necessarily mean they won't be there.
Speaker 3: So there there might be surprise here and there. You know,
Speaker 3: there's going to be some some a handful probably I
Speaker 3: would think at least on this of surprises or and
Speaker 3: when I say surprise, it's not like oh my God,
Speaker 3: but just something extra that that are going to give
Speaker 3: you more of your money's worth for doing it, because
Speaker 3: he wants people who don't order it to say I
Speaker 3: wish I ordered it, and he's always done that, and
Speaker 3: so so I think that that I will it would
Speaker 3: expect it not just to be oh, here's a you know,
Speaker 3: a bunch of great matches, enjoy you know, thanks for
Speaker 3: your you know, forty bucks or fifty bucks or whatever.
Speaker 3: I think he's gonna do his best to give you
Speaker 3: your money's worth in some you know, in some way,
Speaker 3: with great matches plus a couple of little surprises.
Speaker 2: The fun thing, too, is that you are going to
Speaker 2: see the follow up to Redemption next week.
Speaker 3: I am I as I will be at the Masonic
Speaker 3: Temple in Detroit for Dynamite next week. I'm very excited
Speaker 3: for that. It's gonna be a long day. The Lions
Speaker 3: open training camp that morning, so I will be I
Speaker 3: will be covering that bright and early at at eight
Speaker 3: a m. That morning and working all day in order
Speaker 3: to get out in time to go see Dynamite. So
Speaker 3: I'm excited, but just like and I expected, you know,
Speaker 3: they don't really announce much for the Dynamites after pay
Speaker 3: per views because of the wrestlers going all out a
Speaker 3: lot of times, Tony has to kind of make sure
Speaker 3: no one's injured. You know, he probably has ideas of
Speaker 3: what he wants to do, but doesn't want to announce
Speaker 3: it yet. So I will, you know, assume it's going
Speaker 3: to be a solid show. I know he likes the
Speaker 3: Detroit market once and you know, the last last year,
Speaker 3: I know that was a good show, and so I
Speaker 3: think he's gonna give us something good and you know,
Speaker 3: and who knows, whatever happens at the show will get something.
Speaker 3: And it's just it's just annoying to me that like
Speaker 3: most of the time they do a Dynamite and Collision
Speaker 3: on the same show, and they're having people buy two
Speaker 3: separate tickets to go a second night for it, for
Speaker 3: oh for next week, yeah for yeah, well yeah, I
Speaker 3: mean I think in I think in markets that they
Speaker 3: that they know they can maybe get a couple of
Speaker 3: days and to give a little you know, extra, like
Speaker 3: they want collision not to just be thrown in at
Speaker 3: the end. I don't mind that, because they did in
Speaker 3: Boston a couple of weeks ago, you know, to give
Speaker 3: you a Wednesday and a Thursday taping. I last year
Speaker 3: I went to the Dynamite. I did not go to
Speaker 3: the Collision, but I heard but it was a good
Speaker 3: show from what I had heard. And I have to
Speaker 3: work this Thursday night, so I can't go to the
Speaker 3: Collision as well. But but yeah, but I can. I
Speaker 3: can certainly tell you from the you know, the group
Speaker 3: of people that I know, uh that you know, love
Speaker 3: AW are very about it coming back, you know, to
Speaker 3: Detroit because I think, you know, I'm assuming there's venue
Speaker 3: issues and stuff that have prevented it being a mainstay place,
Speaker 3: because I know that it's been very supportive of AW
Speaker 3: in the past. You know, the original Blood Guts, the
Speaker 3: the famous Moxley and Omega cage match when when Kallus
Speaker 3: turned on him. That was all in Detroit, So yeah,
Speaker 3: and got great crowds then, so.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then that will that Dynamite then leads to
Speaker 2: Grand Slam Mexico the following week there where they will
Speaker 2: be at Arena Mexico, and then just looking further down
Speaker 2: the calendar, we already mentioned all out that they actually
Speaker 2: did announce Full Gear. So Full Gear is going to
Speaker 2: be taking place on November fourteenth in Phoenix, Arizona at
Speaker 2: the Mortgage Matchup Center. And I think tickets, I think
Speaker 2: at least the pre sales are up now for that show.
Speaker 2: All right, all right, well, Greg, let's get to So
Speaker 2: Zach sent in this trivia last week and he just
Speaker 2: has some trivia stuff.
Speaker 5: So we will we'll go through that now.
Speaker 3: Okay, thanks, let's.
Speaker 2: Go, Zach. Barber says, Fellas, we're gonna dispense with any
Speaker 2: talk and go straight to the trivia this week. This week,
Speaker 2: we're going somewhere we haven't gone in a while. The
Speaker 2: old box of gimmicks.
Speaker 3: Okay, all right?
Speaker 2: Number one before his famous run with head Al snow
Speaker 2: wrestled in WWE under a mask as what gimmick? That
Speaker 2: sounds like it was inspired by a James Cameron movie. Mmm, well, James.
Speaker 3: Cameron Terminator, the Aliens Terminator.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Titanic Avatar.
Speaker 3: Oh that was pre Avatar?
Speaker 5: Oh yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah?
Speaker 2: What else did you see?
Speaker 3: I think that I assume it's going to be Is
Speaker 3: it a terminator? So he was under a mask?
Speaker 2: Sounds like it came I don't know, probably not aliens.
Speaker 2: There's probably another James. Is it cheating if I look
Speaker 2: up James Cameron.
Speaker 3: Movies, I don't think so, Okay, let's.
Speaker 2: Let's entertain this. Yeah, go through here, all right, So
Speaker 2: James Cameron movies. What am I missing? The abyss? Okay?
Speaker 2: So was he abyss before abyss?
Speaker 3: Hey?
Speaker 5: There you go?
Speaker 3: Maybe so this was this was before al Snow went
Speaker 3: to E. C. W as well? Right, so you're talking
Speaker 3: it was like mid mid nineties, yeah, right, in my
Speaker 3: dark period, which doesn't help. Hmm. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't know a mask, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Something something to do with abyss.
Speaker 3: We're gonna go, yeah, okay, sure, go for it.
Speaker 2: All right, we'll get we'll get like a quarter of
Speaker 2: credit if it's if it has to do with the abyss.
Speaker 5: Okay, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: Number one Avatar what yep? Under this gimmick, Snow would
Speaker 2: emerge from through the curtain with his face exposed and
Speaker 2: then put the mask on. Well, I said, it sounds
Speaker 2: like it's you know, it's.
Speaker 3: Not inspired, okay, because he said inspired. That's what see
Speaker 3: that throws you off. The word inspired means that Avatar
Speaker 3: inspired it therefore, okay, see partial blame for Zach on
Speaker 3: this one, because it can nothing can It can't inspire something.
Speaker 3: It didn't exist yet.
Speaker 2: So okay, So he's at this avatar gimming. I mean
Speaker 2: it's kind of like a like a ninja.
Speaker 5: Kind of type, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, okay, I gotcha, I got you. Yeah, I
Speaker 3: mean this was like, it.
Speaker 2: Kind of looks like great sask a little bit, you.
Speaker 3: Know, hold, let me look it up. Okay, okay, Oh
Speaker 3: so ninety ninety six, yeah, unfortunately that was my dark period. Sorry.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: and please click that five star rating, and of course,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 2: All right, Moving on number two. Uring his time in
Speaker 2: us w A The Future, Caine was given this garish
Speaker 2: holiday themed gimmick.
Speaker 3: I don't care, Isaac yankm Oh no, that's later.
Speaker 5: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even know where to start. I have no idea.
Speaker 2: I apologize, Zach, but I there's no there's nothing for
Speaker 2: me to to even start on. I would have no idea.
Speaker 5: Hmmm, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I'm I'm cheating and trying to get some uh some
Speaker 3: possibilities so I can guess correctly. So give me no
Speaker 3: no uh credit for this one. But I'm just curious.
Speaker 2: Uh wow, that's like old I'm just looking up Caine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have I have no yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So the answer is to number two.
Speaker 3: The Christmas Creature Christmas Creature.
Speaker 2: Glenn Jacob's Christmas Creature outfit featured candy cane sleeves, tinsel,
Speaker 2: and working lights. So Glenn Jacobs is mad about the
Speaker 2: Isaac yankam when people say that to him. Yeah, why
Speaker 2: does nobody bring up the Christmas creature?
Speaker 3: And apparently his costume was made by his mother. Oh
Speaker 3: that's what I'm seeing that.
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: So okay, oh us w a the Christmas creature? Who
Speaker 2: the hell came up with this?
Speaker 5: Wow? Well?
Speaker 3: Shockingly that he unsuccessfully challenged Jerry Lawler for the heavyweight championship.
Speaker 3: Oh well, you know, start somewhere right, Okay.
Speaker 2: Can all be the avatar?
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 2: Number three what tough as nails. WWE hall of Famer
Speaker 2: began her career as Miss Texas and ended it as
Speaker 2: Miss Tennessee.
Speaker 3: Like in like legitimately or the wrestling name was Miss
Speaker 3: Texas and Miss Tennessee.
Speaker 2: I think it's the thing, it's wrestling. I honestly I
Speaker 2: think this is Jacqueline.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what that makes? Out of sense?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 3: All right, let's roll number three.
Speaker 2: Scrolling down?
Speaker 3: Oh this is Jacqueline great, all right, good jack Chell.
Speaker 2: About the career, Jackie was known as Miss Texas and
Speaker 2: us w A us w A, showing up again during
Speaker 2: her first in TNA managing beer money, she was Miss
Speaker 2: Tennessee Jackie Moore. Yeah, it's kind of been her gimmick.
Speaker 3: Okay, well done.
Speaker 2: Number four, when he debuted in WWE, Tracy Smothers was
Speaker 2: given what gimmick name? That was a mashup of the
Speaker 2: shoot names of a Hall of Fame tag that had
Speaker 2: a member who was very close to Vince McMahon.
Speaker 5: I don't know, oh man, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean these are hard, man, these are hard.
Speaker 2: Number four is Freddy Joe Floyd. That is just you
Speaker 2: were never we were never going to get there.
Speaker 3: No idea, no idea, What era was this? Did this happen?
Speaker 2: He said? The name is a mashup of Jack and
Speaker 2: Jerry Briscoe's shoot names Frederick, Joseph and Floyd Gerald. Was
Speaker 2: created when Vince heard the brothers arguing with each other.
Speaker 3: I see, yeah, okay, so I guess that is that
Speaker 3: mid nineties again. He loves Zach, loves his mid nineties,
Speaker 3: loves him. Yeah, Tray just such no help.
Speaker 2: Definitely.
Speaker 3: The six Yeah, okay, yeah, all right.
Speaker 2: So number five is bodybuilder and indie wrestler Jeep Swenson
Speaker 2: was brought into w c W as part of the
Speaker 2: Dungeon of Doom under what controversial gimmick that had to
Speaker 2: be quickly adjusted? I wasn't Jeep Swenson. I think Wade
Speaker 2: like compared like Bronze Stroman or something to Jeep Swinson, right,
Speaker 2: and I am I on track with that obviously. I've
Speaker 2: never seen a Jeep Swinson match in my entire life.
Speaker 3: So so I don't know, I don't know, I don't know,
Speaker 3: I don't know. I gotta tell you, wait a minute,
Speaker 3: Wait a minute, Wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait
Speaker 3: a minute. I don't know if I know. I'm just
Speaker 3: trying to think if I can. I'm trying to think
Speaker 3: of the dungeon, the Doom, if I can remember any
Speaker 3: of the stuff they did. Yeah, no, I'm not blanking
Speaker 3: on it.
Speaker 5: All right.
Speaker 2: Number five is the Final Solution. The Final Solution was,
Speaker 2: of course, the name of Hitler's plan to murder the Jews,
Speaker 2: so Swempson, who was brought in for the infamous Tower
Speaker 2: of Doom steel Cage, was Click, was quickly renamed the
Speaker 2: Ultimate Solution. Wow, what a horrible idea.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, nice, nice going. So well, you know, you could,
Speaker 3: I guess back then you couldn't type in uh things
Speaker 3: into into a computer and have it spit out exactly
Speaker 3: you know what it is to double check.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean that's true, you know. I mean
Speaker 2: it's like, yeah, I'm quickly now going on too the
Speaker 2: Wikipedia page. But you're right, I mean, like, I don't,
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 3: Know, listen, as a Jewish person, I don't I don't
Speaker 3: think I would technically take a you know, offence to
Speaker 3: that unless the unless the person who made the decision
Speaker 3: was like a clear awful person and knew it. But
Speaker 3: that's one of those things that you know, I don't
Speaker 3: think I think ninety five set of people have no
Speaker 3: idea that that's what it was called. In fact, I
Speaker 3: didn't realize it and when you said it the first time,
Speaker 3: until you mentioned it and I'm like, oh, yeah, you know,
Speaker 3: so yeah so.
Speaker 2: Jeeves Winson also played Bain in Batman and Robin.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, all right, nice, Well thanks, okay, thank you, Zach. Sorry,
Speaker 3: we will try to do better next time.
Speaker 2: You can send us an email to all Elinked CC
Speaker 2: at gmail dot com with your questions comments trivia. All right,
Speaker 2: well Greg, next week is going to be another crazy
Speaker 2: week of wrestling. So you got you got Dynamite on
Speaker 2: Wednesday and then I have Okay, so Friday is going
Speaker 2: to be They're going to do that Friday Night nightro
Speaker 2: at Mall of America, so in the Rotundo where they
Speaker 2: had the first WCW. So the local indie is going
Speaker 2: to have their their show there. And then also they're
Speaker 2: gonna have a hardcore wrestling show at the at a
Speaker 2: VFW in Uptown here with I think various amounts of people.
Speaker 2: Then Saturday is going to start out with a GCW
Speaker 2: show making its debut in Minneapolis. They're gonna be at
Speaker 2: First Avenue with a couple of names you know, you know,
Speaker 2: Joey Janella is gonna be there, some other some other
Speaker 2: people affiliated with GCW, and then Summer Slam Night one
Speaker 2: will be at us Banks Stadium, and then after that
Speaker 2: they're gonna have a GCW versus First Wrestling at First Avenue,
Speaker 2: which is gonna start late, and then Sunday will have
Speaker 2: uh or no, they're gonna First Wrestling is just having
Speaker 2: a show on Saturday, and then on Sunday is GCW
Speaker 2: versus First Wrestling again at First Avenue, and then SummerSlam
Speaker 2: Night two, so big Summer Slam weekend WWE is going
Speaker 2: to be at the Convention Center here. They're also going
Speaker 2: to have Wrestle con The biggest name announced for it
Speaker 2: is Will Osprey will be in town signing autographs, taking
Speaker 2: pictures along with a lot of other WWE alum. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a big, big time of wrestling. I
Speaker 2: know you're not WWE fan, but there's gonna be a
Speaker 2: lot of indies and all that stuff happening around town.
Speaker 2: So I will be exhausted from watching wrestling. I'm not
Speaker 2: sure how much of all this stuff I've bought tickets
Speaker 2: for I'm actually going to be able to to be
Speaker 2: able to stick out. But yeah, it's going to be
Speaker 2: a fun weekend. First time of kind of these super
Speaker 2: weekends that they're having something here locally.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm very happy for you that you get something
Speaker 3: there locally. It should be a fun weekend for you
Speaker 3: with all of the action. I'm excited for Wednesday night
Speaker 3: as well. So yeah, we'll have we'll have plenty to
Speaker 3: talk about, that's for sure.
Speaker 5: Yep.
Speaker 2: All right man, Well let's let's wrap there. I thank
Speaker 2: to everybody for listening to our show here, and thank
Speaker 2: you Greg for your time.
Speaker 3: Thank you Joel for your time, and thank you to
Speaker 3: everyone listening. We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 1: Admit it, you love Nick Barbatty when he co hosts
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Speaker 8: Hey wrestling fans, It's Nick Barbatty and I'm back with
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Speaker 9: Hello everyone, and thanks for joining us today for an
Speaker 9: hour with Tony Kahn to discuss AW Redemption live this
Speaker 9: Sunday from Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, home of
Speaker 9: the Montreal Canadians. Just some quick housekeeping. In the interest
Speaker 9: of time and giving opportunities to opportunities to do as
Speaker 9: many of you as we can, please refrain from asking
Speaker 9: two party questions if possible, and let's try to keep
Speaker 9: your questions focused to this weekend and Redemption. So with that,
Speaker 9: I'm going to turn over to Tony conference opening thoughts,
Speaker 9: and we're going to open the lines for your questions. Tony,
Speaker 9: are you there?
Speaker 4: Hey, Thank you very much. Jim.
Speaker 10: I'm very excited about AEW redemption on pay per view
Speaker 10: this Sunday. I think it's going to be a great
Speaker 10: wrestling weekend and AW I believe it to having a
Speaker 10: tremendous year on pay per view and on TV in
Speaker 10: twenty twenty six. I'm excited to hear your questions and
Speaker 10: answer them and talk to you today and hopefully I'll
Speaker 10: get to answer all the questions today. But if there's
Speaker 10: anybody that does not get to answer a question or
Speaker 10: does not get their question answered today, I will be
Speaker 10: around after the AW redemption pay per view for the
Speaker 10: scrum and I'll stay as long as possible to answer
Speaker 10: every single question to make sure everybody who comes to
Speaker 10: the pay per view gets to ask a question. And
Speaker 10: now we can start with the answering. Now, Jim, if
Speaker 10: you're ready to start fielding the questions.
Speaker 3: Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 9: Okay, So we're going to start with Jason po from
Speaker 9: Pro Wrestling dot Net and then on deck would be
Speaker 9: Brian's Elm from PW Torch. So, Jason, if you're ready
Speaker 9: to go. We're ready for you.
Speaker 4: Let me know I am, can you hear me?
Speaker 9: We sure?
Speaker 11: An?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 12: Excellent? All right, Tony, Redemption is starting an hour earlier
Speaker 12: than your other pay per views. Are you planning to
Speaker 12: make this the new norm? Or is this maybe more
Speaker 12: about the public transportation shutdown time in Montreal. I'm just
Speaker 12: kind of curious where things are going.
Speaker 4: I wanted to try this. I thought it would be
Speaker 4: a good idea for the start.
Speaker 10: Time of this pay per view. For the next pay
Speaker 10: per view, the star time will be earlier because it'll
Speaker 10: be taking place.
Speaker 4: From the UK. Our next pay per view after Redemption
Speaker 4: at aw All in London.
Speaker 10: So trying some different things, and I thought it would
Speaker 10: be a very good thing to experiment with to try
Speaker 10: an earlier start time. And it's similar to the previous
Speaker 10: start time. It's an hour earlier, but still a night
Speaker 10: pay per view. And I think there's a lot of
Speaker 10: fans really excited about this event. I know I'm really
Speaker 10: excited about it.
Speaker 4: And should be a great pay per view. I wanted
Speaker 4: to started an hour earlier and be how that works.
Speaker 4: Thanks for asking.
Speaker 9: Thanks Jason Brian Zylem from PW Torches next. Brian will
Speaker 9: be followed by Dave Meltzer from Wrestling Observer.
Speaker 2: Brian Tony can you hear me?
Speaker 5: Okay?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Hi Brian, Hi Tony. Thanks for the time and Tony.
Speaker 13: Going into the Redemption pay perview of this Sunday, I
Speaker 13: couldn't notice, but one of the aw's biggest stars is
Speaker 13: currently not scheduled to compete on the show, and that's
Speaker 13: Swerve Strickland. Can you share any updates on his status
Speaker 13: and when fans can expect to see him back on
Speaker 13: AW programming.
Speaker 5: Thanks?
Speaker 10: Well, that's a great question. I'm going to be with
Speaker 10: Swerve at the Comic Con this weekend. I'm really looking
Speaker 10: forward to that. And Swerve has been out of action
Speaker 10: since his last match and has been working on some
Speaker 10: things outside of wrestling.
Speaker 4: He's been very good standing with AW and.
Speaker 10: I'd be happy to answer more about it after AW Redemption,
Speaker 10: but with set Swerve certainly as part of the San
Speaker 10: Diego Comic Con tomorrow and as far as when you'll
Speaker 10: see Swerve next on AWTV Day tuned and I like that.
Speaker 10: I'll be answering questions after the pay per view too,
Speaker 10: so I can follow up with you then.
Speaker 4: Thanks for asking.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Brian.
Speaker 9: Dave Meltzer from The Wrestling Observer is next, and Dave
Speaker 9: will be followed by Samantha Shipman from Power Bombshells. Yes,
Speaker 9: can you hear me? We can?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Hi? Okay, great? Hi.
Speaker 14: I have a question that I've seen a topic that's
Speaker 14: kind of come up a lot on social media, and
Speaker 14: then it was actually a situation that I came into
Speaker 14: contact with in a real life situation a couple of
Speaker 14: weeks ago when I attended the g One and that's
Speaker 14: actually about AW Hills. I noticed that there have been
Speaker 14: conversation about it being on hiatus, and I ran into
Speaker 14: someone who thought I was a Hills member and when
Speaker 14: she heard me, she ever heard me talking about taking photos,
Speaker 14: And so that's because that's the topic that's come up.
Speaker 14: Can you shed any light on when aw Hills may
Speaker 14: return or any type of information that you can provide
Speaker 14: for their subscribers.
Speaker 4: It's a good question.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 10: Aw Heal started years ago as a great project for
Speaker 10: the female wrestling fans. I have not been an active
Speaker 10: participant in heels, and I'm not sure it's a good question.
Speaker 4: I'll have to ask some people on the business side.
Speaker 10: There's so many things happening in ADW wrestling right now
Speaker 10: and in the world of professional wrestling, so I'm not sure.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't want to give you the wrong answer, so
Speaker 4: I'd have to check and get back to you. But
Speaker 4: maybe maybe i'd.
Speaker 10: Have more information after the pay per view. I just
Speaker 10: don't have it in front of me right now. Thanks
Speaker 10: for asking.
Speaker 9: Thanks Samantha. We're gonna try Dave Melcher again, and on
Speaker 9: the on deck circle will be Sean Radikin from PW
Speaker 9: Torch dot Com. Dave, We're gonna give you another tryer either.
Speaker 2: No, I think I think dave'savn't some Okay.
Speaker 9: Let's let's we'll keep We'll keep David the queue here,
Speaker 9: but how about Sean Radikin?
Speaker 4: Are you there?
Speaker 9: Sean?
Speaker 2: Hi?
Speaker 3: Can you hear me?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Here' you're great? Hi? Sean?
Speaker 11: Hey?
Speaker 4: How are you doing great? How are you man?
Speaker 7: I'm good.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 7: Redemption is coming before All In in London next month,
Speaker 7: which is a very big pay per view for you.
Speaker 7: You already have a big match promoted for a big
Speaker 7: main event. I want to ask you with Redemption kind
Speaker 7: of pop. I don't know how last minute it was
Speaker 7: for you, but but with Redemption popping up on the
Speaker 7: schedule just recently, and with all In around the corner,
Speaker 7: how how difficult has it for you to juggle promoting
Speaker 7: this redemption card and with all In right around the
Speaker 7: corner the UK next month.
Speaker 4: Well, I think it's been additive. Right now, we're in
Speaker 4: a very strong period.
Speaker 10: The AWTV viewership in recent weeks is the highest that
Speaker 10: it's been in years on TV. Yes, and when you
Speaker 10: add in that years ago we had no streaming viewers,
Speaker 10: we did not have the HBO Max agreement yet, and
Speaker 10: now we have those viewers in addition to our TVFTV viewers.
Speaker 10: So I believe this is the most fans watching AW
Speaker 10: in many many years and one of the greatest periods
Speaker 10: for AWTV viewership ever.
Speaker 4: And it feels like a very hot time.
Speaker 10: And I think it's been very additive to have the
Speaker 10: immediacy of important matches and rivalries going into AW redemption,
Speaker 10: and AAW.
Speaker 4: Redemption is going to be a very important show on
Speaker 4: the path to AW all in. And I think.
Speaker 10: When the facts come out after the pay per view,
Speaker 10: this is going to be a tremendous pay per view
Speaker 10: and a very important show to watch on the way
Speaker 10: to AW all in London, and I expect we'll continue
Speaker 10: the run of tremendous AW pay per views on our
Speaker 10: way to what will be one of our biggest ever
Speaker 10: all in London next month.
Speaker 4: Thanks for asking.
Speaker 9: Thanks Sean. We're gonna circle back with Dave Meltzer to
Speaker 9: see if Dave's there. In behind Dave will be Andrew
Speaker 9: Baidala from Final Bell Media. Dave, can you hear me?
Speaker 5: Yes? Yeah, I did?
Speaker 4: Oh, oh, great, great, Okay.
Speaker 15: I know that there seems to be a number of
Speaker 15: people who are suddenly free agents that are on the market,
Speaker 15: and I'm wondering if some of these names intrigue you
Speaker 15: or not. And but also just the update, if there's
Speaker 15: any update on the status of Sammy Gevara or Ana
Speaker 15: Jay and Timelo.
Speaker 10: Oh sure, well I'll do those in uh okay, maybe
Speaker 10: I'll start in reverse order.
Speaker 4: Sammy.
Speaker 10: I thought it was unusual that people said there was
Speaker 10: a change in Sammy's datus because nothing had changed. Sammy's
Speaker 10: done well, he's wrestling in Ring of Honor more often,
Speaker 10: He's done some good things in AW and as one
Speaker 10: half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions, had appeared
Speaker 10: in AW with LFI and it wasn't Sammy's fault.
Speaker 4: Beast Mortos's visa had been jammed.
Speaker 10: Up for a very long time, so because I really
Speaker 10: like Sammy and Beef Mortos, I had gone to CMLL instead.
Speaker 4: They're great champions and they've done very well for me.
Speaker 10: I think they'd be very good for CMLL, and they
Speaker 10: got booked in Arena Mexico defending the championships, made a
Speaker 10: few defenses, and then lost the championships to Mascriderta and Mexico.
Speaker 10: As I understand it, when Sammy changed his bio, I
Speaker 10: don't think Sammy ever had AW in the bio in
Speaker 10: the first place, so I don't think it was any
Speaker 10: negative change. And I got a nice message from Sammy
Speaker 10: thing he wasn't trying to do anything bad and he
Speaker 10: loves AW and I believe that. And Sammy has been
Speaker 10: a good wrestler for us in AW and roh. She's
Speaker 10: a great talent and a very good person. So I
Speaker 10: don't think he meant to do anything, And it seemed
Speaker 10: like people jumped on him for something he didn't even do,
Speaker 10: certainly just messing around with a Twitter bio. It's pretty
Speaker 10: amazing how people would jump to conclusions but also jump
Speaker 10: on him and in my opinion in.
Speaker 4: This case, probably unfairly. And that would bring me to
Speaker 4: some other things.
Speaker 10: Anna j and Ty as individual people and as a team,
Speaker 10: they've been great as a team and as individuals. They've
Speaker 10: both been here for many, many years, and the status
Speaker 10: I would say is very different on both. I saw
Speaker 10: a lot of things on both of them being reported
Speaker 10: that were very inaccurate.
Speaker 4: Anna is in very good standing with us. Anna is
Speaker 4: out injured right now.
Speaker 10: I had been hoping to book Anna in recent weeks
Speaker 10: on shows and she has an injury and last week
Speaker 10: she was going for an MRI. But Anna is somebody
Speaker 10: who also is in good standing with AW and also
Speaker 10: has a lot of time left and has extended their
Speaker 10: contract with AAW.
Speaker 4: So in her case also.
Speaker 10: It's somebody that I see a lot of reporting about
Speaker 10: that is inaccurate and rather than you know, I have
Speaker 10: a lot of work and I don't think that's a secret,
Speaker 10: and I am not spending all my time myth busting
Speaker 10: and a lot of times these myths get carried away.
Speaker 10: So Anna has actually extended and is going to be
Speaker 10: staying in AW, which is far to the contrary of
Speaker 10: what a lot of the wrestling media has reported, which
Speaker 10: probably speaks to the accuracy of a lot of these
Speaker 10: reports that you see in pro wrestling. And then with Tie,
Speaker 10: also a lot of inaccurate things I saw about Tie,
Speaker 10: And to be honest, there in this case, there was
Speaker 10: smoke to the fire, but the people were reporting the
Speaker 10: fire in the wrong place.
Speaker 4: So what did that really accomplish? And with Tie, Ty
Speaker 4: had said she.
Speaker 10: Wanted to step away from wrestling. She had said, I
Speaker 10: love AW and I love the people here, but I
Speaker 10: wanted to step away from AW and step away from wrestling.
Speaker 10: And that's what she told told me. That wasn't in
Speaker 10: twenty twenty five. That was weeks ago at Collision, after
Speaker 10: she wrestled against the Divine Dominion, and she came to
Speaker 10: me after the match and said I would like the
Speaker 10: relief and I was taken aback and we had a
Speaker 10: very nice talk. It's far to the contrary of what
Speaker 10: I've seen reported about this game last year, or that
Speaker 10: it's been an ongoing thing. And I heard from Tie
Speaker 10: this week and she said she's not putting those reports
Speaker 10: out and it really bothered her. And you know, we
Speaker 10: haven't had an unpleasant conversation ever I've always had a
Speaker 10: very good relationship with Tie, and.
Speaker 4: She had asked about stepping away recently. It hasn't been
Speaker 4: a long thing.
Speaker 10: And also I haven't kept her here since that talk.
Speaker 10: I haven't brought her back, booked her, and I am
Speaker 10: going to give Tie that release. I think it's amazing
Speaker 10: in all three of these cases, Dave, I've seen a
Speaker 10: lot of things that were in acturate, and all three
Speaker 10: of them are pretty different from each other.
Speaker 4: And here's the thing. AW is doing some of our
Speaker 4: best work right now.
Speaker 10: We're having our biggest viewership for our TV in years,
Speaker 10: and as the mainstream media and as major media conglomerations
Speaker 10: for taking notice of how strong aw's performance is, how
Speaker 10: good the viewership is, and how hot the company is,
Speaker 10: and the pay per views are doing so well and
Speaker 10: going to HBO Max, and the quality.
Speaker 4: Of the product is very high.
Speaker 10: Yet every time we get like we're in a very
Speaker 10: good position, it feels like people start talking about things,
Speaker 10: and a lot of times, not only do they bring
Speaker 10: up conversations completely beside the point of how well Aw's doing,
Speaker 10: which is fine because there's a lot.
Speaker 4: Of things to talk about, but it's amazing how often
Speaker 4: the things that are being.
Speaker 10: Reported are either exaggerated or completely inaccurate or made up,
Speaker 10: but that is the truth on all three of those.
Speaker 10: Then you ask me about the free agents. There are
Speaker 10: a lot of great free agents in wrestling, and particularly
Speaker 10: right now, there's a lot of people coming out of contract.
Speaker 10: It's no secret that a lot of very talented wrestlers
Speaker 10: were released recently from their contracts and it has put
Speaker 10: more people on the market, absolutely, and it's something that
Speaker 10: I am keeping an eye on because I'm very cognizant
Speaker 10: that there's a lot of really tallened people that just
Speaker 10: got fired or cut or released, and I am keeping
Speaker 10: an eye on that. So it's certainly a very interesting
Speaker 10: time in pro wrestling and an exciting time for AW again.
Speaker 10: I'm so thrilled about how strong the viewership has been
Speaker 10: and very very excited about AW Redemption and about the
Speaker 10: road to AW all In because I think that there's
Speaker 10: going to be an incredible event there and I think
Speaker 10: it'll be a massive success for AW.
Speaker 4: And I appreciate you asking.
Speaker 10: It's certainly a big summer for AW for wrestling, and
Speaker 10: right now it feels like the best period for AEW
Speaker 10: in many years.
Speaker 4: And I would say arguably the best period for AW.
Speaker 10: Ever, or one of the two best periods for aw ever,
Speaker 10: And certainly I would say this is the best in
Speaker 10: at least five years, if not ever, the aw's been doing.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thanks Deve.
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Speaker 9: Andrew Baidala from Final Bell Media is next to be
Speaker 9: followed by Aditya Rau from ITR wrestling.
Speaker 3: Tony, can you hear me? Yeah? Hi, I hope you
Speaker 3: are well.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 16: With aw Redemption being this Sunday, and with all the
Speaker 16: recent discussions circulating on TV and social media about Kenny Omega,
Speaker 16: your World champions in ring career potentially winding down, I'm
Speaker 16: curious about your thoughts. You and your team are very
Speaker 16: well known for being purposeful in your decisions, especially when
Speaker 16: your commentators say something on your television programmings. And considering
Speaker 16: Kenny's walking into Canada and Montreal as your world champion,
Speaker 16: and he also may be headlining Wimbley Stadium, can you
Speaker 16: shed some light on whether these significant events are part
Speaker 16: of checking boxes for a potential conclusion to Kenny's career?
Speaker 3: Can you can you?
Speaker 4: I'm sorry I might have misunderstood the question.
Speaker 10: Can you can you ask from the beginning that same
Speaker 10: question again just to make sure I understand it before
Speaker 10: I answer it?
Speaker 4: Sure? Thank you.
Speaker 16: Basically, with all the recent discussions circulating on TV and
Speaker 16: social media about Kenny Omega's in ring career potentially winding down,
Speaker 16: and I know your team and you are very purposeful
Speaker 16: in your decisions on what gets on television and what
Speaker 16: the announcers say, and Kenny's walking into Canada and Montreal
Speaker 16: is your world champion, and he also may be headlining
Speaker 16: Wimbley Stadium as the world champion. Can you shed some
Speaker 16: light on whether or not these significant events are part
Speaker 16: of some boxes that Kenny's checking for a potential conclusion
Speaker 16: to his career.
Speaker 4: I appreciate you asking that.
Speaker 10: I think that Kenny is in phenomenal condition, and Kenny's
Speaker 10: excellence and his endurance are a miracle because what he
Speaker 10: went through was a medical emergency and it's something that
Speaker 10: had the potential to end his career and potentially end
Speaker 10: his life. So for Kenny to be at the top
Speaker 10: of the profession, to be the greatest wrestler in the
Speaker 10: sport and still on top, it's very special.
Speaker 4: And I think all of us are very happy about it.
Speaker 10: But we're also celebrating Kenny being at the top and
Speaker 10: appreciating it, favoring it, because there was a time when
Speaker 10: we were concerned Kenny might not be able to get
Speaker 10: back in the ring, and honestly, we were much more
Speaker 10: worried about what was going to happen.
Speaker 4: So I think outside of the ring, there were.
Speaker 10: Outside of the ring, there were concerns about Kenny's well
Speaker 10: being that far outweighed.
Speaker 4: The sporting aspect of it. But it's so exciting that.
Speaker 10: He's survived and thrived and that he has made this
Speaker 10: incredible comeback.
Speaker 4: And in sports, we love comebacks, and in.
Speaker 10: Pro wrestling, it's so special when somebody can overcome significant
Speaker 10: adversity to rise back to the top of the sport,
Speaker 10: and in Kenny's case, he's, in my personal opinion, one
Speaker 10: of the greatest wrestlers of all time and somebody that
Speaker 10: I looked up to and admired long before I worked
Speaker 10: with him in AEW as one of the most important
Speaker 10: figures in this sport.
Speaker 4: And to have Kenny back on top of the AW.
Speaker 10: World champion now in twenty twenty six, it's so special
Speaker 10: for so many reasons, and I think all of us
Speaker 10: in AW were savoring it very much and looking forward
Speaker 10: to Kenny Omega defending the AW World Championship this Sunday
Speaker 10: in his home country at AW Redemption, which is something
Speaker 10: very special for all of us and it marks a
Speaker 10: big milestone.
Speaker 4: And the wrestler he's facing is somebody in a very
Speaker 4: different point in his career, a rising star.
Speaker 10: Who continues to develop up yet his potential is seemingly limitless,
Speaker 10: and the way he ended was certainly an incredible exclamation
Speaker 10: point on the go home dynamite before AW Redemption for
Speaker 10: Kevin Knight to fly in literally from off screen with
Speaker 10: one of the most athletic dives over the top rope
Speaker 10: and knock Kenny down and then hold up both the
Speaker 10: championship belt, the TNT title and Kenny Omega's AW World
Speaker 10: Championship Belt, symbolizing that Kevin Knight the Jet believes he
Speaker 10: can become the double champion and become the.
Speaker 4: AW World Champion at AW Redemption.
Speaker 10: It's a very exciting match for many reasons, and in
Speaker 10: the case of Kenny Omega, everything Kenny Omega does in
Speaker 10: wrestling is very special because we were all worried we
Speaker 10: might not see him back in wrestling, and frankly worried
Speaker 10: we would not see h at all. So I think
Speaker 10: it's a very happy occasion for us. Thank you for
Speaker 10: asking about it. Thank you.
Speaker 9: Andrew Aditya Raul from ITR Wrestling is next to be
Speaker 9: followed by Amy Nemadee from wrestle Joy.
Speaker 17: Hi, Tony can you hear me?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Hi? How are you great?
Speaker 3: How are you so?
Speaker 18: I was going to ask you about Kevin Knight and
Speaker 18: Kenny Omega, but instead I'm going to pivot to the
Speaker 18: AEW Women's World Championship with Tecla and Willow Nightingale. So
Speaker 18: Tecla has very quickly become one of the most dominant
Speaker 18: AW champions, not only feuding with the Women of AW
Speaker 18: but also taking on the entire Company of Stardom in Japan.
Speaker 18: She just returned this week holding new gold with a
Speaker 18: Triangle of Madness with the Artist of Stardom Championship.
Speaker 17: And Willow is one of the most beloved women in
Speaker 17: pro wrestling, having just returned from an injury immediately going
Speaker 17: on to win the Cause you know, Gauntlant now earning
Speaker 17: this title shot against Tecla at Redemption. Can you talk
Speaker 17: about the dynamics of both of these women, what they
Speaker 17: bring to the championship and your expectations heading into this match.
Speaker 4: Thank you well.
Speaker 10: They're both great champions, both have been great champions in
Speaker 10: AEW and around the world, both international stars, and in
Speaker 10: Tecla's case, she's coming to AW and risen to the.
Speaker 4: Top very quickly. Willow is somebody.
Speaker 10: That's been here for many, many years, working her way
Speaker 10: up and it has not been the rapid ascent of Tecla.
Speaker 10: Willo has continued to work her way up the card
Speaker 10: and become a great champion, and while Tackla has broken
Speaker 10: into AW and won the AW World Championship very quickly.
Speaker 4: All things considered, since she arrived in all.
Speaker 10: Of the wrestling, Willow has been with us since the
Speaker 10: pandemic Daily's Place era and works her way into prominent
Speaker 10: positions on the cards. She's become the TBS Champion and
Speaker 10: a World Tag Team Champion, but she's never been the
Speaker 10: World Champion of AW. And I do think that Willow
Speaker 10: is somebody who represents some of the very best of AW.
Speaker 10: And I do think that Tekla is somebody who also
Speaker 10: has come into AW and represents.
Speaker 4: How tremendous the growth and the building of.
Speaker 10: AEW has been throughout the past few years to get
Speaker 10: to the point we're at in the present day, where
Speaker 10: today aw's in the strongest position in many years, possibly
Speaker 10: our strongest position ever, with the brightest outlook for the
Speaker 10: future in AW seven year history, being right now and
Speaker 10: having great stars come in, and having the free agents
Speaker 10: in the world title picture and becoming champions free agents
Speaker 10: that have been here just since last year, like the
Speaker 10: TNT champion Kevin Knight wrestling for the world title, and
Speaker 10: like the Women's World Champion Tekla. That has been very
Speaker 10: important to AW and has helped keep strong because we
Speaker 10: have so many great wrestlers that have been here throughout
Speaker 10: the different times, people that have been here from the
Speaker 10: very beginning, from the very first show, Double or Nothing
Speaker 10: twenty nineteen, and people that arrived in that first year,
Speaker 10: people that came in through the pandemic era, and then
Speaker 10: throughout the years we've added more and more stars. And
Speaker 10: this crop that came in last year, they've done a
Speaker 10: fantastic job and when you watch AW Redemption, they're all
Speaker 10: over the card in important positions and mixing it up
Speaker 10: with great stars that have been in AW in many
Speaker 10: cases from the very beginning, some of the.
Speaker 4: Original top AW stars, and I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 10: And throughout the card, I think there's a lot of
Speaker 10: very exciting matchups and again I believe this will be
Speaker 10: a very important show as a pay per view to
Speaker 10: continue the run of excellent AW pay per view events,
Speaker 10: but also as an event leading into AW All in London,
Speaker 10: as the pay per view that precedes AW all in London.
Speaker 4: This is a very important show and I think it's
Speaker 4: going to be excellent.
Speaker 9: Thank you Amy. We're gonna try a d row again
Speaker 9: from it tr Wrestling, to be followed by Dominic D'Angelo
Speaker 9: from Studio one Sports dot Com. We're gonna try a
Speaker 9: d are you there?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Hi, hi, tot hey.
Speaker 19: I hope you're having a great day. Really looking forward
Speaker 19: to the show. Talking about the show, the EW Redemption
Speaker 19: card is having an MJF sized gap in the match card,
Speaker 19: So just want some clarity if this time off of
Speaker 19: his was planned, or you know, if you could just
Speaker 19: give us more clarity why he's not on the show.
Speaker 4: Thank you well, thank you.
Speaker 10: MJF was in a very hard hitting match with Kenny Omega.
Speaker 10: Is in some very hard hitting matches and has been
Speaker 10: an incredible fighting champion in twenty twenty six, doing something
Speaker 10: very different than in his previous time as the champion.
Speaker 10: Before twenty twenty six, mgf's been out on TV, on
Speaker 10: pay per view, even on house shows, fighting in big matches.
Speaker 4: And MJF is not a nice guy. He's not a nice.
Speaker 10: Person, but he's a great wrestler and we love having
Speaker 10: him as a part of AW when he's healthy and
Speaker 10: fit to compete.
Speaker 4: He's definitely been through a lot of big matches.
Speaker 10: That's what's tremendous about having such a strong roster of
Speaker 10: wrestlers being able to not have to pressure them because
Speaker 10: we want to extend these wrestlers careers. And in the
Speaker 10: case of an MJF, that's somebody that I hope is
Speaker 10: wrestling for decades and decades at a very top level.
Speaker 4: He's a very young man, and he's had some major
Speaker 4: injuries this year that he's.
Speaker 10: Been fighting through as a credit to him, and and
Speaker 10: you know, I think it speaks highly of MJF. And
Speaker 10: I would not be the person out here praising and
Speaker 10: saying all the nice stuff if it wasn't true.
Speaker 4: So in Mjf's k.
Speaker 10: I absolutely think he's been one of the great things
Speaker 10: about AW in twenty twenty six. And I'm looking forward
Speaker 10: to mjf's return to eight W when he's back, which
Speaker 10: he will be back very soon, I'm sure. And I'm
Speaker 10: grateful that the injuries he's sustained or nothing that would
Speaker 10: keep him out really really long term, because as you know,
Speaker 10: there are other times in the sport contrary to this
Speaker 10: where people have injuries and they.
Speaker 4: Can alter careers sometimes.
Speaker 10: So I'm glad he's going to be okay because he's
Speaker 10: a very important wrestler in AW MJF, whereas there we've
Speaker 10: had other great stars that have had injuries that have
Speaker 10: kept them out in some cases years or indefinitely. This
Speaker 10: is nothing that bad, and he was definitely banged up,
Speaker 10: and he had some very hard hitting matches. Of course,
Speaker 10: a classic championship match with Kenny Omega, with Kenny Omega
Speaker 10: winning the world title at AW Beach Break, one of
Speaker 10: the greatest episodes of AW Dynamite ever, and I think
Speaker 10: one of the greatest AW shows on TV or pay
Speaker 10: per view period was AW Beach Break and Kenny Omega
Speaker 10: VERSUSMJF was a very special match. But MJFS had a
Speaker 10: lot of hard hitting championship fights this year and when
Speaker 10: you look back, matches like the ones with Mark Brisco
Speaker 10: and Ruche and of course Darby Allen, these are very
Speaker 10: hard hitting fights. So with MJF, I look forward to
Speaker 10: his return. Thank you for asking.
Speaker 9: Thank you. Dominic D'Angelo from Studio one Sports dot Com
Speaker 9: is next to be foed by Vivik Sharma from Sports.
Speaker 9: Keeter Wrestling Dominic.
Speaker 4: Hey, Tony, can you hear me over? I heard great?
Speaker 20: Hey, rock on rock on cool Well, looking forward to
Speaker 20: Redemption this weekend.
Speaker 3: I kind of did want to follow up with Kevin Knight.
Speaker 20: I just you know, he's so new to the company,
Speaker 20: relatively new, and you know with the TNT title run, obviously,
Speaker 20: what gave you the confidence to kind of put him
Speaker 20: in this main event position so soon? I do see
Speaker 20: like from an entering town. Obviously it's amazing, but I
Speaker 20: do see him developing and growing as a promo as well.
Speaker 20: But how much confidence you have in and moving forward
Speaker 20: as one of the top stars for AW.
Speaker 10: I have a lot of confidence in Kevin Knight as
Speaker 10: one of the top stars going forward in AW. I
Speaker 10: really believe in the jet and I think he's a
Speaker 10: tremendous athlete, and he absolutely has had a very quick
Speaker 10: rise to become a multiple time World Trios Champion and
Speaker 10: now the TNT champion and potentially within days the AW
Speaker 10: World champion. It is a very quick rise, but again,
Speaker 10: it's not unprecedented to have somebody come in at the
Speaker 10: free agent and rise very quickly, as we've seen in
Speaker 10: the case of Tekla. Tekla and Kevin Knight very close
Speaker 10: to each other within I would think about a week
Speaker 10: of each other in fact. And to see Tekla's rise
Speaker 10: to prominence to be a world champion, and see Kevin
Speaker 10: Knight become a multiple time world Trio Champion, the T
Speaker 10: and T Champion, and now potentially the world champion himself
Speaker 10: at AW Redemption this Sunday. It shows that when we
Speaker 10: signed great free agents, they have the potential to come
Speaker 10: here to AW and ride to the very top of
Speaker 10: the card, to be in the main event matches.
Speaker 4: To fight for the world title, and possibly become the
Speaker 4: AW World champion.
Speaker 10: For all the great women and men free agents considering AW,
Speaker 10: I think these are great examples on AW Redemption, that
Speaker 10: there's a path to prominence here on the big pay
Speaker 10: per views and in top championship fights. If you come
Speaker 10: into AW, that there are great challengers and champions years
Speaker 10: that are willing to fight you, and if you work hard,
Speaker 10: you could work yourself into a very prominent position as
Speaker 10: a free agent, even within your second year. In the
Speaker 10: case of Kevin Knight and Tekla, both in these big
Speaker 10: world championship fights.
Speaker 4: Thank you, hey, stuff. Do you ever watch a WWE
Speaker 4: and think it used to be better.
Speaker 21: I don't know, josh Sometimes I think it used to
Speaker 21: be a whole lot worse.
Speaker 2: I mean, whether it's WrestleMania main events, old dudes at
Speaker 2: the top, too many titles.
Speaker 21: Or women's wrestling.
Speaker 4: We're here to answer the big question, is it worse
Speaker 4: or better?
Speaker 5: Now?
Speaker 21: Join me Joshua White and me Stephanie Cheese for Worse.
Speaker 2: Or Better part of the PW Torch Daily Catoline I'm
Speaker 2: dropping on Monday nights.
Speaker 21: Search PW Torch in your podcast apps such as Apple
Speaker 21: Podcasts or Spotify to subscribe for free or get a
Speaker 21: commercial free version with the PW Torch VIP membership. Check
Speaker 21: out pw torch dot com slash go vip for details
Speaker 21: of going vip Worse or Better.
Speaker 4: Finally, something for wrestling fans to do on Monday nights.
Speaker 9: Thank you very much. Dominic Vivik Sharma from Sports Key
Speaker 9: to Wrestling is next to be followed by Sulian Khan
Speaker 9: from Slam Wrestling.
Speaker 4: You're on, Hi, Tony, can you hear me? I hear
Speaker 4: you great.
Speaker 3: I hope you're doing well.
Speaker 11: I'm very excited to watch Redemption this weekend.
Speaker 5: Me too.
Speaker 4: I hope you're doing well. I really appreciate that. I
Speaker 4: feel the same way as you. I hope that you're
Speaker 4: doing well, and I'm also very excited to watch AW
Speaker 4: Redemption this weekend.
Speaker 11: So we're on the same page, Tony, I wanted to
Speaker 11: ask you about Hangman page. We have not seen Hangman
Speaker 11: since his sudden return on Collision with all In approaching,
Speaker 11: Can you tell us something about his status?
Speaker 10: Well, I think we'll see Hangman again very soon. You know,
Speaker 10: we saw Hangman two weeks ago on Collision. This past
Speaker 10: week on Collision, they referenced it during some of the
Speaker 10: championship fights and the big stakes on Collision. You know,
Speaker 10: we saw Hangman on the show last week. When's he
Speaker 10: going to be back? And I would expect him to
Speaker 10: be back soon. He had a great interview and really
Speaker 10: set the stakes for his return, which feels imminent to
Speaker 10: the ring that he's going to be chasing championships. He
Speaker 10: is going to be a man of his word that
Speaker 10: he said if he didn't regain the championship from MJF
Speaker 10: that Hangman would not challenge for that World championship again.
Speaker 10: And it seems that Hangman is absolutely going to live
Speaker 10: up to his word because he has told me and
Speaker 10: has also publicly told all of you he plans to
Speaker 10: come back to AW very soon and to be in
Speaker 10: line to challenge for the other championships. He's been a
Speaker 10: world champion, and in fact, Kenny Omega and Hangman Page
Speaker 10: are the only wrestlers in AW ever to.
Speaker 4: Hold the AW World Title, the AW.
Speaker 10: World Tag Team Championship, and the World Trios Championship. Fittingly,
Speaker 10: they actually held the World Tag Team Championship together famously.
Speaker 10: And Hangman has been a multiple time world champion. And
Speaker 10: I believe any title he sets his sights on, he
Speaker 10: has the ability and the talent and the mindset and
Speaker 10: strength mentally and physically to win. And he said that
Speaker 10: he's going to be targeting these championships. So we saw
Speaker 10: Hangman back a week ago on Collision, and then this
Speaker 10: past week we heard it referenced, and I would say
Speaker 10: we should be watching out. I would expect to see
Speaker 10: hang Man back very soon to get back in the
Speaker 10: ring and follow up on what he said, because he
Speaker 10: is a man of his word, and he said he's
Speaker 10: coming back soon to chase these championships.
Speaker 4: So I would say stay tuned. You know, it hasn't
Speaker 4: really been that long, has it, Thanks.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 4: Vic.
Speaker 9: Julian Khan from Slam Wrestling is next to be followed
Speaker 9: by Michael Morales Torres from Lucha Libre Online.
Speaker 22: Sulian, Yeah, sorry about that on my internet just popped
Speaker 22: up for a second there.
Speaker 3: That's okay.
Speaker 22: Uh So, I just wanted to ask about will Ospray
Speaker 22: and John Moxley and the tag team. Uh the match
Speaker 22: against the Young Bucks this Sunday. It's giving me vibes
Speaker 22: of last year when we saw Swerve and will Osprey's
Speaker 22: head against the Young Bucks. What sort of parallels do
Speaker 22: you see between the two situations right now from this
Speaker 22: time last year and this match on Sunday.
Speaker 4: Well, the Young Bucks are very different people than they
Speaker 4: were at that time.
Speaker 10: And I would know because I've been somebody that had
Speaker 10: been a victim of what the Umbucks had become a
Speaker 10: few years ago, and particularly last year was really the
Speaker 10: culmination of the abuse of the Yumbucks power, and that
Speaker 10: was the end of their run as the executive vice
Speaker 10: president of aw even though they are very important and
Speaker 10: they are still founding fathers of the company, and the
Speaker 10: truth is now more than ever they fit that vibe.
Speaker 10: I think the Young Bucks have really gone back to
Speaker 10: their roots. They're quite possibly.
Speaker 4: The greatest tag team I've ever seen.
Speaker 10: I think that they are two of the best people
Speaker 10: I've known, and that's what made it so hard to
Speaker 10: be attacked by Matt Nick and beat up by Matt
Speaker 10: and Nick. It's not something I ever would have expected.
Speaker 10: I never really would have thought met Nick were capable
Speaker 10: of heard of me. And now I really believe that
Speaker 10: they are back to They're back to being who they
Speaker 10: were at the very beginning of aw which is they're
Speaker 10: at their very best.
Speaker 4: They're wrestling so hard, they're fantastic people, and.
Speaker 10: They're focusing on the fans and the wrestling in the ring,
Speaker 10: and they're in a very different place than they were
Speaker 10: a year ago. And frankly so as well Offsprey, because
Speaker 10: he's found himself mixed up with the Death Writers. And
Speaker 10: we saw where the Death Writers were at aw All
Speaker 10: in Texas, and they've taken a very different trajectory.
Speaker 4: The Death Writers. It's a very interesting story to follow.
Speaker 4: It's very unique and there's nobody quite like the.
Speaker 10: Death Writers in the world of professional wrestling, and their leader,
Speaker 10: John Moxley is one of the most brutal people yet
Speaker 10: also in my own opinion, somebody that I think is
Speaker 10: incredibly prolific and highly intelligent and has a brilliant mind
Speaker 10: for strategizing professional wrestling and architected his own rise to
Speaker 10: the top numerous times. And he has so many talented
Speaker 10: people surrounding him as part of the Death Riders.
Speaker 4: And now he has acquired maybe.
Speaker 10: The greatest wrestling prospect, maybe the greatest wrestler to never
Speaker 10: be the world champion, Will Ospray, and he's acquired him
Speaker 10: for the Death Riders at a very interesting time because
Speaker 10: we're going into AW All in London.
Speaker 4: We know will Osprey is going to be challenging for the.
Speaker 10: World title, whether it's the Jack, Kevin Knight or Kenny
Speaker 10: Omega as it stands now, and of course there's a
Speaker 10: lot of history between John.
Speaker 4: Moxley and Kenny Omega.
Speaker 10: That's really one of the very first rivalries in aw
Speaker 10: dating back to the beginning of the company, the original
Speaker 10: Double or Nothing, that's how we ended and John Moxley
Speaker 10: standing on the poker chips at the end of the
Speaker 10: very first aw event with Kenny Omega down, leading to
Speaker 10: their lights out match the very first full year, and
Speaker 10: a rivalry that has continued and changed, and it did
Speaker 10: lead to the end of Kenny.
Speaker 4: Omega's When I talk about the Umbucks and how they've changed,
Speaker 4: Kenny went through some changes himself.
Speaker 10: And Kenny has really come back to being the kind
Speaker 10: of Kenny and the kind of person that I wanted
Speaker 10: in aw and a person I'm really proud to work with.
Speaker 10: And he's still an executive vice president backstage and a
Speaker 10: huge part of the company.
Speaker 4: And you know, it was the John Moxley.
Speaker 10: Kenny Omega rivalry that took the championship from John Moxley
Speaker 10: in his first reign, started Kenny's first reign, but also
Speaker 10: started Kenny down a very dark path with Don kallis
Speaker 10: a path that now Kenny sieves Kevin Knight taking and
Speaker 10: it's a path that led Kenny to success.
Speaker 4: But now to see Kenny be the world champion on
Speaker 4: his own, doing it on his own, of his own meriage,
Speaker 4: it's very special, and I know the young Bucks feel
Speaker 4: that way too.
Speaker 10: And there have been times even in the past few weeks,
Speaker 10: particularly in the past few weeks, where I know Matt
Speaker 10: and Nick are concerned about what's happening with Kenny Omega
Speaker 10: and will ospray, what is this going to lead to
Speaker 10: because nobody knows Kenny Omega better than Matt and Nick,
Speaker 10: and I think Matt and Knicks may still deep down
Speaker 10: hold some grudge against will Ospray for what happened last
Speaker 10: year at aw All in Texas, that incredible tag match
Speaker 10: that led to the end of the Young Buck tenure
Speaker 10: at the Executive Vice Presidents, but also led to their
Speaker 10: own road to redemption, And in some ways, I think
Speaker 10: Matt and Nick know that was the best thing that
Speaker 10: could have happened to them, but it led to a
Speaker 10: real struggle tough times. I know they were in a
Speaker 10: hard place for them and their family, trying to make
Speaker 10: ends meet, and I'm very glad everything's worked out.
Speaker 4: Matt and Nick and I are all three of.
Speaker 10: Us Christian people, and we all believe in forgiveness, and
Speaker 10: I'd like to think all have forgiven each other for
Speaker 10: everything that's gone on. But also I think with Matt
Speaker 10: and Nick, in some ways they probably know that what
Speaker 10: happened with will Ospray and swore of last year at
Speaker 10: aw All in Texas, them losing the EVP title in
Speaker 10: some ways was probably the best thing that could have
Speaker 10: happened to them, as wrestlers, and they've gotten back to
Speaker 10: doing what they do, which is some of the greatest
Speaker 10: tag team wrestling ever. And I'm very excited for this
Speaker 10: match because the Young Bucks have said they're focused on
Speaker 10: regaining the Tag Team Championship and going after whoever wins
Speaker 10: the match between Cope and Christian versus Pack and Claudio Castignoli,
Speaker 10: two of the very top wrestlers in AW, two men
Speaker 10: have been championed in AW multiple times.
Speaker 4: And two of the leaders of the Death Riders.
Speaker 10: And there are so many exciting, interesting things happening as
Speaker 10: we go into AW Redemption right now, and the Young
Speaker 10: Bucks do have their eyes on the Tag Team Championship,
Speaker 10: but they're also looking very closely at what's happening around
Speaker 10: Kenny Omega. He's going into this big match with Kevin Knight,
Speaker 10: but also if Kenny can survive the Jack Kevin Knight,
Speaker 10: if Kenny can retain the championship in his home country
Speaker 10: the Sunday at AW Redemption, I know that the Young
Speaker 10: Bucks see what could be out there potentially with the
Speaker 10: Death Riders. Of course, the Umbucks have a lot of
Speaker 10: history with John Moxley as well. It goes back many
Speaker 10: many years in AW and some great matches. You mentioned
Speaker 10: Young Bucks versus Well Osprey and Swerve, which was a
Speaker 10: fantastic match at AW All in Texas, And I also
Speaker 10: think that Young Bucks versus John Moxley and Nadie Kingston
Speaker 10: at AW Double or Nothing twenty twenty one was an
Speaker 10: incredible tag team match on another great wrestling show. So
Speaker 10: I'm really looking forward to the inaugural AW Redemption and
Speaker 10: one of the matches I'm really looking forward to in
Speaker 10: tag team team wrestling as the Young Bucks versus John
Speaker 10: Moxley and Will Osprey, who have formed a very interesting team.
Speaker 4: And while they have been teaming not nearly as long
Speaker 4: as Matt.
Speaker 10: Nick, to say the least, Will Osprey and John Moxley
Speaker 10: seem to be a very deadly tag team as the
Speaker 10: Death Rids, and I think this is going to be
Speaker 10: an incredible tag team match, and I'm very excited to
Speaker 10: see how this all develops because there's a lot of
Speaker 10: interesting rivalries, friendships, a lot of mistrust, and very interesting
Speaker 10: personalities and things happening in AW right now as we
Speaker 10: go into AW Redemption this Sunday.
Speaker 4: Thanks for asking, Thank you very much.
Speaker 9: We've got Michael Morales Torres from Lucha Libre Online is
Speaker 9: next to be followed by a writing question from Bill
Speaker 9: Bodkin at the Pop break.
Speaker 4: So, Michael, you're up, Yes, Tony, how are you doing today?
Speaker 4: I'm very well. How are you welcome man?
Speaker 23: Thank you very much for asking, sir uh So, your
Speaker 23: family has built a unique sports and entertainment portfolio with
Speaker 23: the Jacksonville Jaguars, Fulham and now aw uh The FIFA
Speaker 23: World Cup obviously had a massive impact in the US
Speaker 23: and its culture and elevated what the US calls soccer
Speaker 23: and its profile along the whole country. Full Of itself
Speaker 23: is in a great state as a club obviously, now
Speaker 23: Alabarbeloa joins the team. You guys had massive pieces like
Speaker 23: Kevin Oscar, Bob Josh King, Kenny Dette, among many many
Speaker 23: other outstanding players.
Speaker 5: I love this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and aw is as well looking.
Speaker 23: To expand its growth in different markets, and so with
Speaker 23: a w are we can we expect more collaboration between
Speaker 23: both brands, both clubs.
Speaker 4: I'm in Fulham and aw and as well.
Speaker 23: How key is AW two Fullham's growth in the US
Speaker 23: and vice versa? How key or important is Fulham's presence
Speaker 23: in the UK for aw's growth and thank.
Speaker 4: You for your time.
Speaker 12: Sir.
Speaker 10: What a fascinating question and you brought up things that
Speaker 10: in seven years of AW media, nobody's brought up, and
Speaker 10: I think that's just tremendous. So first of all, when
Speaker 10: you started listing some of the great Fulham players, you
Speaker 10: got me very excited because if football season is approaching,
Speaker 10: and I love talking about football, I love England and
Speaker 10: I have loved living in London and being a part
Speaker 10: of English football through the incredible full and Football Club,
Speaker 10: London's original club. And my father has built something around
Speaker 10: what is a historic legendary structure at historic legendary place,
Speaker 10: Craven Cottage in London.
Speaker 9: And.
Speaker 4: He has put Fulham Peer on the map. And this
Speaker 4: is a.
Speaker 10: Project my father has believed in for over a decade
Speaker 10: and worked on for many many years to get Fullham Peer,
Speaker 10: which is not just the matchdays, three hundred and sixty
Speaker 10: five days a year. The Peers open and it is
Speaker 10: right on the tyms and it is a really beautiful
Speaker 10: place and I think there are opportunities utilizing the real estate.
Speaker 10: There are so many AW fans throughout England. I think
Speaker 10: there are going to be opportunities for partnerships and activations. Already,
Speaker 10: AW is a sponsor of Fulham, supporting the football. I
Speaker 10: never want the wrestling to affect the football in any
Speaker 10: way because the tradition and the purity of the sport
Speaker 10: of English football throughout the country is so important.
Speaker 4: It's so strong.
Speaker 10: The bond the fans have with the sport is unlike
Speaker 10: anything I've seen anywhere, and to be a part of
Speaker 10: it and experience it, it's one of the great thrills
Speaker 10: of my life. And I do think outside the pitch,
Speaker 10: off the football matches and more looking at the full
Speaker 10: and peer side of it. I think there are opportunities
Speaker 10: for activations that would not affect the football on any way.
Speaker 10: To utilize full and peer, which again not on match days,
Speaker 10: is open year round, so the AW fans are always
Speaker 10: welcome there and we're looking to do more activations because
Speaker 10: this is a new development. There's nothing like it in
Speaker 10: London and it's something my dad is believed in to
Speaker 10: build something really special here, to build the best restaurants
Speaker 10: and the best pubs and put this great place for
Speaker 10: people to go. And of course it's at its most
Speaker 10: packed and vibrant on a match day. Yet there are
Speaker 10: many packed and vibrant days there year round.
Speaker 4: You know, we have events. People book it for weddings,
Speaker 4: holiday parties.
Speaker 10: And we have the Staft Christmas Party there, but people
Speaker 10: book it for outside events and I think AW could
Speaker 10: be involved with it. There are so many great wrestling
Speaker 10: fans in the UK and there's so many great football
Speaker 10: fans in the UK, and there is some crossover between
Speaker 10: the two, but it's also important to respect them and
Speaker 10: keep them separate from each other while still trying to
Speaker 10: leverage the opportunity. So that's part of AW becoming a sponsor.
Speaker 10: You see the AW logo in the corner at Fulham.
Speaker 4: Matches at craven Cottage year round.
Speaker 10: But also AW sponsors the Fulham women's team and you'll
Speaker 10: see AEW on the women's shirts for the Fulham women's team,
Speaker 10: which I think has been a great collaboration also and
Speaker 10: you can buy those shirts and that's kind of a
Speaker 10: neat partnership between Fulham and AW that I like.
Speaker 4: So there are a lot of opportunities for those things.
Speaker 10: But also I want Fulham to thrive as a football
Speaker 10: club and do well on the pitch, and you talked
Speaker 10: very eloquently about our new coach. I'm really thrilled about
Speaker 10: Olvarro being here, and I think we do have a
Speaker 10: great group of players and certainly will continue to add
Speaker 10: and develop and build.
Speaker 4: And it is a great opportunity for the.
Speaker 10: Club to collaborate with AW and for AW to collaborate
Speaker 10: with Fulham.
Speaker 4: Benefits both sides, and also for the fans of either
Speaker 4: of them.
Speaker 10: I want them to enjoy the experience and not have
Speaker 10: it interfere with that, but also for the fans of both,
Speaker 10: it's a unique thing to embrace and I appreciate you
Speaker 10: bringing it up. Certainly, it's the first time I think
Speaker 10: on this call that I've ever heard obviously Alvarro's name,
Speaker 10: but also Josh and Kenny, Oscar and Kevin and all
Speaker 10: the players you named, So thank you for that too.
Speaker 4: I think those guys are great.
Speaker 9: Thank you, Yes, thank you, Michael. That was wonderful.
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Speaker 9: I have a right in here, Tony. After the write in,
Speaker 9: we're going to go to John Alba from the Takedown
Speaker 9: on si UH. But first let's hear from Bill. Have
Speaker 9: you considered doing a Crockett Cup style tournament given the
Speaker 9: sheer amount of top level teams you have in a
Speaker 9: W plus Ring of Honor UH, C, M l L
Speaker 9: and J p W, what do you think.
Speaker 4: Tony Okay can you just so I understand. Can you
Speaker 4: read that one more time?
Speaker 10: I just want to make sure I get on sure
Speaker 10: you know different companies. I want to hear that one
Speaker 10: more time and make sure all the companies.
Speaker 9: He said, yeah, he's he's asking, uh, if you've considered
Speaker 9: doing a Crockett Cup style tournament given the sheer amount
Speaker 9: of top level teams that you have in a w
Speaker 9: and Ring of Honor, the ones and then uh, the
Speaker 9: ones you partner with when C.
Speaker 3: M, l L and n J p W.
Speaker 10: It's so cool that you asked that, because yes, I
Speaker 10: have been thinking a lot about having a big tag
Speaker 10: team tournament with teams throughout the world of wrestling. You
Speaker 10: mentioned we have a lot of great partner promotions with
Speaker 10: AW working with great companies like CML and New Japan
Speaker 10: Pro Wrestling that have great teams of their own. But
Speaker 10: also I think some of the best tag team wrestling
Speaker 10: right now is in Ring of Honor. And when you
Speaker 10: watch the Ring of Honor shows, I think that's something
Speaker 10: that really stands out.
Speaker 4: And people talk about identities.
Speaker 10: Well, I think there's a great identity and the Ring
Speaker 10: of Honor and three things that really stand out. You
Speaker 10: see a lot of that are featured very prominently, probably
Speaker 10: as prominently or more prominently than anywhere in the world
Speaker 10: of professional wrestling, are women's wrestling, pure wrestling, and tag
Speaker 10: team wrestling, and there's a lot of it, and a
Speaker 10: lot of great tag teams were building teams that are
Speaker 10: featured in AW, and some that were building up to
Speaker 10: be featured more in AW, or some that haven't come
Speaker 10: on to the show at all yet. But I think
Speaker 10: there's a lot of great tag teams, and certainly in
Speaker 10: AW we have so many of the greatest tag teams
Speaker 10: of all time right now. So with great teams in AW,
Speaker 10: including what we've got to look forward to this weekend
Speaker 10: with Coping Christian versus the Death Riders Claudio and Pack,
Speaker 10: and having the Death Riders of Mox and Osprey, who
Speaker 10: again I feel, have looked tremendous as a tag team
Speaker 10: in AW in recent weeks wrestling what might be the
Speaker 10: greatest team of all time, the Young Bucks, and knowing
Speaker 10: we have other great teams in AEW, including one of
Speaker 10: the greatest tag teams of all time like FTR, and
Speaker 10: so many great young and upcoming teams that you can
Speaker 10: see on Dynamite and Collision and in ROH plus through
Speaker 10: our partnerships in Mexico CMLL with New Japan Pro Wrestling
Speaker 10: and our other international partners. Yes, I think that's a
Speaker 10: great thought and that's something I have considered and also
Speaker 10: would like to do. Is we continue building up more
Speaker 10: women's tag teams and developing women's tag teams in AAW
Speaker 10: and ROH to try to get that same depth hopefully
Speaker 10: there too.
Speaker 4: And I really enjoyed the.
Speaker 10: Match with the Divine Dominion and the Sisters of Sin,
Speaker 10: and I thought that was a great hardcore flight on
Speaker 10: what was in my own personal opinion and excellent Wednesday
Speaker 10: night Dynamite Go Home show ahead of Redemption last night.
Speaker 10: And I think there are a lot of great tag
Speaker 10: teams women and men, and certainly with the Depths. Yes,
Speaker 10: I mean, we have argently dozens of very good men's
Speaker 10: tag teams right now throughout AW, ROH and our partnerships,
Speaker 10: and I also think there are a growing number of
Speaker 10: women's tag teams, and my goal is to keep building
Speaker 10: that up, and certainly ROH is where we have a
Speaker 10: lot of these tremendous tag teams building, including women and
Speaker 10: a lot of men, veteran tag teams and also young
Speaker 10: tag teams.
Speaker 4: Thanks for asking.
Speaker 9: Yeah, thank you very much, Bill, and I think we've
Speaker 9: got just time now for John Albat. We've had a
Speaker 9: great turnout today. Thank you everyone for joining from John
Speaker 9: Albert from the takedown of on SI is next and
Speaker 9: then we'll probably complete it after that. Tony, were they
Speaker 9: closing thoughts? John? Are you there?
Speaker 5: Yes?
Speaker 24: Thank you for agating my question and I appreciate you guys. Tony,
Speaker 24: great to chat as always. When I heard the Redemption
Speaker 24: name for the pay per view, I was thinking a
Speaker 24: lot about the promo between Kenny and Osprey, which I
Speaker 24: believe was after Dynasty, where they kind of put faith
Speaker 24: in one another, and I was saying to myself, well, man,
Speaker 24: this would make so much sense for a Kenny redemption
Speaker 24: story to go down at this pay per view in Canada.
Speaker 24: TSN published that promo that may have been filmed beforehand
Speaker 24: that mentioned that Kenny would be going for the title
Speaker 24: in Canada, but then, as we know, he'd win in
Speaker 24: a few weeks earlier. Was the original intention to run
Speaker 24: the match in Canada?
Speaker 10: And if so, what changed in that equation. Well, it's
Speaker 10: a very fair question you're asking. I do have to
Speaker 10: keep some slide of hand any things. I think we're
Speaker 10: on a really tremendous run, and it's a completely valid
Speaker 10: point you're making, and without directly saying what the order
Speaker 10: has always been or what the plans have been, I
Speaker 10: think that we've made the right moves, and certainly the
Speaker 10: company is in an incredibly strong position and at a
Speaker 10: really important time in the wrestling landscape. I've been very
Speaker 10: transparent that I'm very excited about the impending merger that
Speaker 10: I expect will happen with Warner Brothers and Paramount. I
Speaker 10: think this is going to be a tremendous thing to
Speaker 10: the people who work here overall, and I think it's
Speaker 10: going to create more opportunities for the combined company to
Speaker 10: compete in the streaming landscape. And it takes two tremendous studios,
Speaker 10: and they will continue to operate with the strength of.
Speaker 4: Two studios and have two challenger.
Speaker 10: Brands in streaming that will come together and form a
Speaker 10: top competitor, and that's the important thing. In no way
Speaker 10: we'll just resemble a monopoly, but it will be a
Speaker 10: truly competitive company that has a very good fighting chance.
Speaker 4: With the people under one roof working for David Ellison.
Speaker 10: In my opinion, and I'm excited to go be one
Speaker 10: of those people as I expect well when this thing
Speaker 10: goes through. And it's been a very exciting time for
Speaker 10: AW and to be able to go to our bosses
Speaker 10: at such a pivotal time in wrestling, with the AW
Speaker 10: viewership being the highest that's been in years over multiple weeks,
Speaker 10: and have these trends in the big data era. To
Speaker 10: be showing these kinds of numbers and to be such
Speaker 10: a strong competitor in the landscape of television professional wrestling
Speaker 10: is very very important.
Speaker 4: At the same time, the pay per views are a
Speaker 4: very important piece of this equation and we've done very
Speaker 4: very well.
Speaker 10: And since we started on pay per view last year,
Speaker 10: our biggest pay per view numbers had been the recent
Speaker 10: pay per views, with Double or Nothing a couple months
Speaker 10: ago was the biggest one we've had yet on a
Speaker 10: streak of our biggest pay per views, and Forbidden Doors
Speaker 10: significantly outperformed a lot of the events from last year,
Speaker 10: and I think relative to.
Speaker 4: Pass Forbidden Doors will be a very strong performer. And
Speaker 4: then when you.
Speaker 10: Look at having the best Double or Nothing in many
Speaker 10: ways ever and not only when I think was the
Speaker 10: best wrestling show in my own opinion, but also the.
Speaker 4: Highest live gate ever Braid of You for Double or Nothing, and.
Speaker 10: The incredible pay per view numbers are best numbers yet
Speaker 10: on HBO Max and some of our best pay per
Speaker 10: views ever, and all this is happening while we're driving
Speaker 10: our TV viewership, and I think it's been the right
Speaker 10: time to drive TV viewership. I was so proud that
Speaker 10: Each Break was the most watched AWTV show on TBS
Speaker 10: in two years, and two years ago we did not
Speaker 10: have this very important piece that we added last year
Speaker 10: in twenty twenty five with HBO Max and this streaming
Speaker 10: component that's so important for the future of aw while
Speaker 10: TBS and T and T continue to be a lifeblood
Speaker 10: for us, and places in TBS and TNT that have
Speaker 10: been great homes to professional wrestling for the better part
Speaker 10: of fifty years, and.
Speaker 4: I am very proud to continue to.
Speaker 10: Carry those traditions with Wednesdays on TBS and Saturdays on TNT.
Speaker 10: I think that that was incredible that Beach Break with
Speaker 10: Kenny Omega Versus MJF be the most watched AWTV show
Speaker 10: in years, and then to follow it up last week
Speaker 10: and have even higher viewership.
Speaker 4: It's very exciting, and I know that we're going to.
Speaker 10: Have a big summer with Redemption this Sunday and with
Speaker 10: aw all in London, and then to see the quality
Speaker 10: of the TV and the pay per views and know
Speaker 10: the pay per views have been performing really well and
Speaker 10: now the TV is the hottest that's been in years.
Speaker 4: I think that the moves we've made have been the
Speaker 4: right moves.
Speaker 10: So that's that's probably again going back to what I
Speaker 10: said at the beginning, that's a lot of information along
Speaker 10: the lines of what you were looking for, even if
Speaker 10: it's not the exact information you were looking for.
Speaker 9: Thank you, John, Thank you John Tony. We got an
Speaker 9: hour of your time.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 9: Any closing thoughts.
Speaker 4: Well, it was great.
Speaker 10: I appreciate you hosting it, Jim and Robin, and I
Speaker 10: really appreciate all of you who came out today to
Speaker 10: ask questions and be a part of this. Hopefully I
Speaker 10: got to answer all the questions. Are almost all the questions,
Speaker 10: and if there's anybody that was here that did not
Speaker 10: get to ask a question, I'll hopefully see you at
Speaker 10: Redemption or at one of the upcoming pay per views.
Speaker 10: I always do these media calls and try to answer
Speaker 10: everything we can in the hour. But also I don't
Speaker 10: really put a time limit on the post pay per
Speaker 10: view media scrums.
Speaker 4: If people come to the pay per view in person,
Speaker 4: I always want to make.
Speaker 10: Sure they get the value out of their trip and
Speaker 10: get to ask me some questions if they if they
Speaker 10: have anything they do want to ask about AW.
Speaker 4: I really appreciate you all.
Speaker 10: Being here, and I'm very much looking forward to AW
Speaker 10: Redemption this Sunday. It's the first ever AW redemption, but
Speaker 10: aw' has been around.
Speaker 4: For many years, and a lot of you on this
Speaker 4: call have been covering AAW.
Speaker 10: Since the very beginning now for over seven years, and
Speaker 10: I very much appreciate it, and hopefully see a lot
Speaker 10: of you at the show, and I hope that all
Speaker 10: of you enjoy the show and look forward to your coverage.
Speaker 4: I appreciate your fair coverage all.
Speaker 10: Of you, and thank you for coming to ask questions
Speaker 10: about the show today and talking about wrestling and continuing
Speaker 10: the conversations. And you know, it's very very important word
Speaker 10: work that you all do, and I appreciate you. Thank
Speaker 10: you for doing this today and.
Speaker 4: Jim, thanks for hosting a great of course.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'll tell you what to You may have quite
Speaker 9: a scrum on Sunday night because we had quite a
Speaker 9: line up here, great turnout for this press conference that
Speaker 9: you just conducted, and we were not able to get
Speaker 9: to everybody. So to everybody who joined us today, real
Speaker 9: profound thanks. We are now at the end of our time,
Speaker 9: but you know, per custom, we're going to be distributing
Speaker 9: an audio recording of this to all the attendees here
Speaker 9: shortly and also as you know we do. We want
Speaker 9: to give you the most our deepest appreciation and thanks
Speaker 9: for all you do for AW and professional wrestling. You're
Speaker 9: all part of the industry and we're very grateful and
Speaker 9: we look forward to seeing you in Montreal on Sunday night.
Speaker 9: Thank you very much.
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Speaker 1: exclusive podcasts throughout the week, but you also gain access
Speaker 1: to our unmatched vast library of wrestling history, our contemporaneous
Speaker 1: week to week coverage through our progressing Torch weekly newsletters
Speaker 1: dating back to the late nineteen eighties, along with streaming
Speaker 1: and download access to hundreds of retro radio shows from
Speaker 1: the nineteen nineties, including some of my interviews with wrestling's
Speaker 1: top newsmakers in the nineties, and also our podcast library
Speaker 1: dating back to year two thousand and three. There's no larger,
Speaker 1: longer spanning pro wrestling podcast library than that that comes
Speaker 1: with a PW Torch VIP membership. Now we're approaching twenty
Speaker 1: years of podcasting, Go VIP and dive into our post
Speaker 1: pay per view roundtables are covered with some of your
Speaker 1: favorite eras of wrestling, top name long form interviews, and
Speaker 1: special format podcasts that we've done throughout the years. Pw
Speaker 1: torch dot com slash go VIP. We have a streamline
Speaker 1: sign up for me and you can pay it with
Speaker 1: PayPal or directly with your credit card or debit card.
Speaker 1: In one or two minutes from right now, you can
Speaker 1: be a VIP member and diving into our library. PW
Speaker 1: torch dot com slash go vip