Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, making her wait till the mic
Speaker 1: they started dimming the lights.
Speaker 2: You started feeling all right from Birmingham home with the
Speaker 2: teddy lungs and the room and studies more once you
Speaker 2: discovered Paul Rather the lovers, Whitney Houston and Roman Reigns,
Speaker 2: all of the lovers, Mickey James and Mark k all
Speaker 2: of the lovers A Sasha Banks, you're numb on a
Speaker 2: silk signing?
Speaker 1: Can page allow me to say? Look, I just trying
Speaker 1: to bless week escape every one of the buzz I
Speaker 1: was kind of laxed. I just made it up the
Speaker 1: troubled blood walking by the face because I know it's
Speaker 1: right in front of ud.
Speaker 2: I ain't with the hay.
Speaker 1: You gotta focus. Someone's grassed ladies and gentlemen and step
Speaker 1: Hardy's on the air. Had to drop a couple of
Speaker 1: bars just to make you all aware. So sit bad, relax,
Speaker 1: enjoy it show. You know, I go by Joe, What
Speaker 1: the wrestle?
Speaker 3: Hey, y'all, Welcome to the first HWP extra episode up
Speaker 3: the New Year.
Speaker 4: Happy new Year, y'all.
Speaker 3: It is twenty and twenty five.
Speaker 5: We've made it.
Speaker 3: And because we made it, that is half the battle
Speaker 3: now we just got to get through. So I am
Speaker 3: so happy to be before you guys on this Monday Night.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, Like this has just been a historic night,
Speaker 3: full of ups and downs in emotionally with wrestling, and
Speaker 3: just so many amazing things that have taken place, and
Speaker 3: we've watched Raw come into a new line of media, like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, we have literally gone from taping on
Speaker 3: videotapes to streaming when it comes to wrestling, and if
Speaker 3: you were born in the nineties, so I literally feel
Speaker 3: like I just sat and watched a full scale movie.
Speaker 3: This episode of Monday Night Raw was probably one of
Speaker 3: the best episodes I've ever seen in my whole life,
Speaker 3: and I'm just so happy to be before you guys
Speaker 3: to talk about it tonight. Of course, I'm your girl,
Speaker 3: Stephanie Hardy. Welcome to the Hardy Wrestling Podcast Extra, where
Speaker 3: I talk about specific episodes or specific moments in wrestling.
Speaker 3: So this is me talking about what we just witnessed
Speaker 3: together the Raw on Netflix premiere, and of course this
Speaker 3: is going to be out of order. And I also
Speaker 3: appreciate all of you guys for watching me on.
Speaker 4: Any live platform because you.
Speaker 3: Could be watching a certain post show that's taking place
Speaker 3: right now, that's talking about the exact same thing. You
Speaker 3: could be listening to somebody else, or you could be
Speaker 3: watching somebody else, but you are watching me, and for that,
Speaker 3: I am so, so so grateful.
Speaker 5: So yeah, Riz on Netflix, y'all.
Speaker 3: And when I say I was gagged from beginning to end,
Speaker 3: I was gagged from beginning to end. And of course,
Speaker 3: if you feel the same way I feel, and by
Speaker 3: moment by moment, as I'm discussing it throughout the show,
Speaker 3: chime in in the comments and you might wind up
Speaker 3: on the screen so you can talk about how you
Speaker 3: felt about this episode or if you're still processing or whatever.
Speaker 3: But all in all, I enjoyed myself. It was the
Speaker 3: perfect and somewhat imperfect celebration of the past and the
Speaker 3: president where we're set to go. It's like a stamp
Speaker 3: of where it is in terms of culture and pop culture.
Speaker 3: Like it is absolutely nuts. How this whole episode was
Speaker 3: just a perfect combination of just the past and the president.
Speaker 5: It was great.
Speaker 3: Racarciu's watching on YouTube. Hey girl, Happy New Year, Thank
Speaker 3: you for watching. So yeah, there is so much to
Speaker 3: get into, but of course, you know, since I'm me,
Speaker 3: I have to start by talking about the women, and
Speaker 3: there was only one women's match on the card, which
Speaker 3: ruffled a lot of people's feathers, you know, a lot
Speaker 3: of Women's Wrestlings fans, because they sort of felt like
Speaker 3: the Women's Intercontinental Title final could have been on this
Speaker 3: episode as well because of that large because of how
Speaker 3: large of a platform Raw being on Netflix was. But
Speaker 3: at the same time, when you really look at how
Speaker 3: big this show was and how all the moving parts
Speaker 3: of the show was, they probably felt like maybe they
Speaker 3: just didn't have a lot of.
Speaker 5: Time for it.
Speaker 3: But either way, there was one women's match on the
Speaker 3: card and it was for the Women's World Championship. Now,
Speaker 3: at one point it was announced as a last women's
Speaker 3: standing match, but I guess maybe they changed your mind
Speaker 3: or me. Maybe somebody made that up. I don't know,
Speaker 3: maybe I made it up.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: But Real Ripley, the Eradicator, Mommy and the Beat of
Speaker 3: all of Our Hearts went up against Live Morgan for
Speaker 3: the Women's World Championship and this match was a doozy.
Speaker 5: It was really good.
Speaker 3: There were shenanigans involved, but either way, both women definitely
Speaker 3: killed it. They stood like apart from each other, of course,
Speaker 3: staring at each other from afar as they just you know,
Speaker 3: tried to figure out like what was about to be.
Speaker 5: This match.
Speaker 3: And these women know each other so well because of course,
Speaker 3: at one point they were Tag Team champions together. I
Speaker 3: believe they were in at tag Team together and they
Speaker 3: were friends. But now, of course they're better rivals now.
Speaker 3: And the one thing that was that was that a
Speaker 3: lot of emphasis was being placed on in this rivalry
Speaker 3: is the fact that it has to end here. And
Speaker 3: I am really glad that at this point it does
Speaker 3: end here, because this rivalry has been very bitter from
Speaker 3: last August all the way up until now. And Ria
Speaker 3: has had to jump through so many hoops in order
Speaker 3: to even really get to live, Like there were times
Speaker 3: where she even fought lived and it still wasn't fair
Speaker 3: and square. And you could argue that even in this
Speaker 3: match it wasn't fair and square, but Ria actually fought
Speaker 3: through the BS, fought through Dominic and Raquel, utilizing chairs
Speaker 3: and titles and distracting the referee in order to try
Speaker 3: to get the upper hand on her, and she won
Speaker 3: her baby back.
Speaker 5: She got the.
Speaker 3: One thing she truly cares about, and that is the
Speaker 3: Women's World Championship that she never lost. Like, let's really
Speaker 3: think about that for a second. Ria Ripley never lost
Speaker 3: this championship. She was injured. She defended it in WrestleMania
Speaker 3: that she got injured by Live, who threw a chair
Speaker 3: at her, and she had to give the title up
Speaker 3: and then Live for all of that big talk she
Speaker 3: was doing was literally literally won that title be a
Speaker 3: cheating via Dominick off of Becky Lynch, and that is
Speaker 3: essentially what led to Becky Lynch sort of taking her
Speaker 3: hiatus after she lost against Live in a steel cage,
Speaker 3: and Rhea had to fight tooth and nail in order
Speaker 3: to get you know, her title back, fight through Dominick's shenanigans,
Speaker 3: the Judgment Day shenanigans, and all of the above in
Speaker 3: order to get to what she truly wanted. And I
Speaker 3: am so happy that the focus was mainly on each
Speaker 3: other and on the title in the match and not
Speaker 3: even you know, the whole boyfriend thing, Like it was
Speaker 3: very refreshing to see it in this way and to
Speaker 3: see Rhea actually be smart enough to just jump out
Speaker 3: of those calculations that Live always had going on because
Speaker 3: Live never could and I've said this multiple times on
Speaker 3: my show before Live never could beat just straight up,
Speaker 3: and this match basically told that story.
Speaker 5: And you know, I thought maybe we.
Speaker 3: Would see a little bit more of Live and her
Speaker 3: reaction to losing the title afterwards, but we didn't, and
Speaker 3: we saw more of Ria just reacting to having it
Speaker 3: still and having it back, and it was just really cool.
Speaker 3: And also for this to be the only women's match,
Speaker 3: I did enjoy the fact that Daphnie La Shawn aka
Speaker 3: Aja Smith was refereeing this match as the sole female
Speaker 3: referee on this show. It was really good to see her.
Speaker 3: It's always good to see her just from a representation
Speaker 3: standpoint as a black woman, it was always great to
Speaker 3: see that, and you know, just to see her ref
Speaker 3: this match, it was just really good. So big ups
Speaker 3: to all the women who participated in this, including Raquel.
Speaker 5: But Ria is our.
Speaker 3: New women's World Champion and I am so freaking happy.
Speaker 3: But the drama doesn't end there, because Dominic wanted to
Speaker 3: act like a where's my hug kind of guy and
Speaker 3: actually go in the ring, you know, during Rhea's moment
Speaker 3: and center himself, you know, like a man, and censer
Speaker 3: himself in her moment and try to ask for a
Speaker 3: hug from his eggs and I'm staying here like, oh,
Speaker 3: so now that she's the champion.
Speaker 4: Again, now you want to rub up on her again.
Speaker 3: But Ria wasn't having it, and she kicked him in
Speaker 3: his huhah, which I'm more than sure he didn't feel
Speaker 3: that much because it's probably not that much down there,
Speaker 3: but hey, either way, she kicked him down there and
Speaker 3: gave him what for and celebrated with her title.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 3: They did show I Believe online or yet another clip
Speaker 3: on social media of her having an interview with Jackie
Speaker 3: Redman along with Damian Priest, who was set to go
Speaker 3: up against Ben Bala in a street fight next week.
Speaker 3: But either way, it was just really good to see
Speaker 3: them get some come up and because at this point
Speaker 3: the judgment, they don't even have any titles anymore. Live
Speaker 3: was the only girl in the group who had a
Speaker 3: title after Finn and JD Losso's tag team title, so
Speaker 3: now they are goldless and they have to contend with
Speaker 3: that while also you know, deal with the fact that
Speaker 3: they've bother and beefing with each other. So it was
Speaker 3: really nuts and really just happy. It was a very
Speaker 3: happy moment for me to watch Ria just finally get
Speaker 3: her come up and get the title that she never lost.
Speaker 3: And for a minute I thought Becky Lynch was gonna
Speaker 3: pop up and.
Speaker 4: Be like, hey, I want to fight you.
Speaker 3: But as it turns out, Rina got surprised by a
Speaker 3: certain biker taker in the form of Undertaker on a
Speaker 3: motorcycle and they had a good little moment together and
Speaker 3: that was cute and everything, so big ups to her
Speaker 3: for having that moment. Afterward, even though the dong really
Speaker 3: caught everybody off guard and for a second I was like,
Speaker 3: hold on, is he about to attack Dominic? What's going on?
Speaker 3: But he came out there, rode his motorcycle just to
Speaker 3: get us a little bit of nostalgia and had his
Speaker 3: fist pump moment with Ria and.
Speaker 5: That was cool.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that was good. Ria's supremacy, Mommy's supremacy. Yes,
Speaker 3: our sweetheart, our big Gothic sweetheart is the CHAMPIONI guie.
Speaker 3: So that was the only female action that we got,
Speaker 3: but there was a lot of female representation in terms
Speaker 3: of the guests that showed up. Michelle McCool was in
Speaker 3: the audience as well as a number of of WW
Speaker 3: superstars like the women's tag team champions, Biancle bell Aira
Speaker 3: and Naomi, like Tiffany Stratton, the new ww Women's Champions,
Speaker 3: shout out to her for that, like Lyra Valkyria and
Speaker 3: Damage Control, like all the women were out there, you know,
Speaker 3: and even in the audience. And then you had another
Speaker 3: og that was very unexpected in the form of Nikki Bella.
Speaker 3: That was something I was not expecting at all, but
Speaker 3: the fact that she was there was just like, Wow,
Speaker 3: that's cool. And my boss lady named twin, Stephanie McMahon
Speaker 3: was there too, so it was a nice little, you know,
Speaker 3: back down memory lane type of thing, so it was cool.
Speaker 3: And also we saw Vanessa Hudgens from high school musical
Speaker 3: and other things there with her husband. We also saw
Speaker 3: Danielle Pinot. I feel like I'm pronouncing her last name wrong,
Speaker 3: but either way, she played Topanga in the iconic show
Speaker 3: Boy Meets World, and she was sitting right next to
Speaker 3: Will Fredell from Kim Possible and also Boy Meets World too,
Speaker 3: So it was just a lot of great representation in
Speaker 3: terms of celebrities, female celebrities, male celebrities. To everybody was there.
Speaker 3: It was a star studded affair. But moving more so
Speaker 3: back to the action in terms of WWE, we had
Speaker 3: John Cena come out and address the WWE universe. Of course,
Speaker 3: because since the new year has begun, we have to
Speaker 3: embrace the idea that this year is going to be
Speaker 3: his last active year in professional wrestling, because after this
Speaker 3: he is getting ready to retire. So he came out
Speaker 3: and talked about, you know what a lot of wrestling
Speaker 3: pundits and wrestling writers have been saying about who he
Speaker 3: should face during his farewell tour, like a cmpunk, like
Speaker 3: a Cody Rhodes, or in my case, like a Carmelo Hayes.
Speaker 3: But he did mention that he felt like maybe a
Speaker 3: seventeen time, like a seventeenth title reign, was out of
Speaker 3: the question for him, But as the fans booed that,
Speaker 3: he realized, well, maybe, you know, it would take a
Speaker 3: miracle for me to get a title opportunity like that.
Speaker 3: But considering he also just declared for the Royal Rumble
Speaker 3: and then we have Elimination Chamber on the horizon too,
Speaker 3: he has multiple opportunities to have a championship match at
Speaker 3: WrestleMania if he wants it, or if he wins either
Speaker 3: one of those things. So now that John Cena has
Speaker 3: officially declared for the Royal Rumble, I'm definitely here for
Speaker 3: watching him win and stuff, just so he can have
Speaker 3: that seventeen Tyraine and his last go round. I'm definitely
Speaker 3: here for it because I'm just here for all the
Speaker 3: nostalgia at this point, because John Cena is really like
Speaker 3: the superstar of generation. It's like I mentioned episodes before,
Speaker 3: like when he started his career, my sister was a
Speaker 3: baby and I was still and I was like seven
Speaker 3: to eight years old. So the idea of me now
Speaker 3: reaching me and my sister both now reaching adulthood and
Speaker 3: he's wrapping his career up, it's just really astounding, and
Speaker 3: it's heartbreaking from a selfish standpoint, but it makes sense
Speaker 3: because he's given so much of his career and so
Speaker 3: much of his life and body, you know, just to
Speaker 3: entertain us and to raise us, you know, so he deserves.
Speaker 4: This time that he's about to have.
Speaker 3: But in the midst of it all, I'm just really
Speaker 3: grateful that I get to experience this last time because
Speaker 3: sometimes there are there have been wrestlers in the past
Speaker 3: who have been retired due to injury and never really
Speaker 3: got to have like a last go round or god
Speaker 3: or in the worst possible way, like something tragic happens
Speaker 3: and you're not able to finish the way that they
Speaker 3: would have liked to due to outside forces outside of
Speaker 3: our control. But the fact that John Cena gets to
Speaker 3: wrap his career up the way that he wants to
Speaker 3: is an amazing thing. So the last time is now,
Speaker 3: but we get to basket and enjoy it from now
Speaker 3: until December of this year. And time can go by
Speaker 3: really fast when you're an adult. But at the same time,
Speaker 3: let's just bask in the moments that we do have it,
Speaker 3: because once it's gone, it's gone. It's like he said,
Speaker 3: up money in the bank. If you want some, hurry
Speaker 3: up and come get to them, because the last time
Speaker 3: is now. And let me just say him coming out
Speaker 3: and Dodger Blue was amazing.
Speaker 5: And if you get that reference, you get that reference.
Speaker 5: Shout out to Kenchrill Lamar.
Speaker 3: But I loved, you know, his outfit and the towel
Speaker 3: he had, and of course the title belt that he
Speaker 3: had that WW shop did have, but I think it's
Speaker 3: sold out now.
Speaker 5: So but either way, the merchant will be.
Speaker 3: Bought to commemorate this occasion, Malcolm in the comment saying
Speaker 3: John versus Cody for.
Speaker 4: The undisputed title at Manu.
Speaker 3: You know, I was thinking the same thing off of
Speaker 3: the basis of something else that happened tonight or something
Speaker 3: else that I thought was gonna happen, but we'll get
Speaker 3: to that later. So in the midst of it all,
Speaker 3: we had a one on one match between jay Usso
Speaker 3: and Drew McIntyre because Drew McIntyre is in his crash
Speaker 3: Out two point zero era.
Speaker 5: Y'all know.
Speaker 3: Last year he crashed out because of the whole Ceau
Speaker 3: Punk thing, but now he's crashing out on the bloodline
Speaker 3: again because he wants vengeance for how they ruined his
Speaker 3: title opportunity at Clashing the Castle in Wales, not in Scotland.
Speaker 3: And so in the midst of this he got to.
Speaker 4: Fighting with ja Usso, and jay Usso wanted to match
Speaker 4: with him, and Adam Pearce gave it.
Speaker 3: So this match was pretty good for the most part.
Speaker 3: I enjoyed what I did see from it because I
Speaker 3: was in the middle of other things while this match
Speaker 3: was on no shape. But there was a lot happening
Speaker 3: in my house but other than that, the action was
Speaker 3: pretty solid in this match.
Speaker 5: I loved it.
Speaker 3: But something that definitely caught me off guard was when
Speaker 3: Travis Scott came out and he made his entrance, and
Speaker 3: at first I thought it was reported online that maybe
Speaker 3: he was going to perform at the show, but as
Speaker 3: it turns out, he didn't perform. He really showed up
Speaker 3: with his hardcore title that was gifted to him by
Speaker 3: Triple H at a show, and he came out smoking
Speaker 3: some loud or smoking some weed depending on who you are,
Speaker 3: you know, partaking in the grass and the happy grass.
Speaker 3: And then after that point, you know, everybody was crunking
Speaker 3: and screaming and stuff. And then he's there because he
Speaker 3: did the new theme song for Raw that I'm pretty
Speaker 3: sure will here in the next couple of days. And
Speaker 3: he came out with j Uso and they were doing
Speaker 3: the Yeat dance and it just had the cool factor
Speaker 3: to it. But a lot of people online were definitely
Speaker 3: freaking out of the fact that yet that they really
Speaker 3: had a rapper on you smoking weed. I hope I
Speaker 3: don't get demonetized or whatever or blocked for that, but
Speaker 3: literally he was smoking weed, like everything was just chill,
Speaker 3: and then someone on Twitter actually posted a picture of
Speaker 3: him side by side with Dennis Robin in the nineties
Speaker 3: smoking a cigar with the nWo, and I was just like,
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ, we are in a different time. We are
Speaker 3: in such a different time, and I just I feel
Speaker 3: like I love it. I just really love it because
Speaker 3: this is Netflix now, Like it's just you know, there's
Speaker 3: a level of you know, there's a level of uncensorship
Speaker 3: that can happen now that they're streaming and not on
Speaker 3: network television where there are you know, numerous restrictions. Even
Speaker 3: my dad noticed that, you know, during the Tribal Combat match,
Speaker 3: the crowd was saying af you solo and they didn't
Speaker 3: even edit it out, and I was and he was
Speaker 3: just like, oh, yeah, they can't edit that out now.
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, oh, we are gonna hear
Speaker 3: some colorful things, y'all. And this is the start of
Speaker 3: it right here, Travis Scott smoking weed with a hardcore
Speaker 3: championship with next to jay Uso. Baby, you really can't
Speaker 3: make any of this stuff up. But either way, their
Speaker 3: match was incredible. One of the best parts of this
Speaker 3: match for me was just watching how ja Uso was
Speaker 3: getting beat up by Drew McIntyre, but then towards the
Speaker 3: end of the match, he was playing possum and acting
Speaker 3: like he was like super tired and everything. But then
Speaker 3: when Drew McIntyre thought he had he had him dead
Speaker 3: to rights, jay Usso pinned him like pin his shoulders.
Speaker 5: And then after that.
Speaker 3: He won, and I was like, oh, and I was
Speaker 3: so happy about that. I was like, yes, Jay you
Speaker 3: literally I was smart at Drew and Drew here again
Speaker 3: looked like he was reaching another.
Speaker 4: Level of crash out from him.
Speaker 3: So I love you. Feel like this definitely isn't gonna
Speaker 3: be the end of it, especially since Drew decided he
Speaker 3: was gonna pop up in the tribal combat match. But
Speaker 3: we're gonna get to that in a minute. But either way,
Speaker 3: I'm happy that Jay.
Speaker 4: Usso got this win on this big of a platform,
Speaker 4: like it's great.
Speaker 3: Make him champion this year please. So yeah, And then
Speaker 3: of course we get to this main event, this very heated,
Speaker 3: very angry main event between Seth Rollins and cmpunk. Now,
Speaker 3: if I'm going out of order, y'all, I'm sorry, But
Speaker 3: either way, this match was in the main event, and
Speaker 3: to watch Seth Rolins come out well in such an
Speaker 3: amazing outfit where he was just looking like a dragon,
Speaker 3: like a mad dragon.
Speaker 5: Was just kind of nuts.
Speaker 3: I was like, okay, sir, I see you're out here
Speaker 3: to prove a point, and I completely understand that. But
Speaker 3: then you also had CM Punk come out dressed up
Speaker 3: in his Ring of Honor outfit, which gives off the
Speaker 3: impression that this match is gonna be a little bit
Speaker 3: more grittier and that he's ready to fight. And then
Speaker 3: someone on social media also noticed if this was the
Speaker 3: outfit that he infamously wore at the aw All in
Speaker 3: pay per view, and he fought Samoa Joe for the
Speaker 3: final time and then got into that little scuffle that
Speaker 3: people tend to bring up a lot of the time
Speaker 3: when they want to just you know, talk about the
Speaker 3: craziness of life. But yeah, this match was absolutely insane.
Speaker 5: I enjoyed it very much.
Speaker 3: I feel like the part that I love the most
Speaker 3: about this match was the fact that they kept using
Speaker 3: each other's moves back and forth, and I was just like,
Speaker 3: holy cow, so y'all are really just being super petty,
Speaker 3: not only with the words y'all say, but also with
Speaker 3: the moves y'all use, it's just really crazy, how hated
Speaker 3: how much they really just hate each other, Like it's
Speaker 3: just really nuts. And I loved how on commentary, Oh,
Speaker 3: let me just say.
Speaker 4: Michael Cole and Pat McAfee were excellent.
Speaker 3: Michael Cole was talking about and told more detail as
Speaker 3: to how Seth Rawlins actually drove to CM Punk's like
Speaker 3: I guess seminar and tried to you know, get trading
Speaker 3: from him for free because he couldn't pay for it,
Speaker 3: and how he basically impressed Sampunk in the moment, but
Speaker 3: because he couldn't do it for free, he was just like, Okay,
Speaker 3: well I'm sorry. But in the midst of that, you know,
Speaker 3: their feud, they begin to respect each other. But of
Speaker 3: course when CM punk leaves, that causes a rift in
Speaker 3: their friendship, and Seth has feelings about it. And then
Speaker 3: he also has feelings about a lot of the things
Speaker 3: that Punk said after he left, you know, and all
Speaker 3: the above, and he proceeded in his mind to carry
Speaker 3: WW on his back while Seth while CM punk was
Speaker 3: just out doing whatever it is he wanted to do
Speaker 3: because he wanted to do it, but also because he
Speaker 3: wanted to get away from an unhealthy environment, and I
Speaker 3: feel like that's something that Seth isn't taking into a help,
Speaker 3: Like just because you decided to thrive in this environment
Speaker 3: and state and it does not mean that it was
Speaker 3: healthy for everybody else. And I feel like that's just
Speaker 3: something that he just keeps missing and not taking it
Speaker 3: into consideration.
Speaker 5: But of course none of that matters when.
Speaker 3: You're ready to beat somebody up, because it's like my
Speaker 3: boyfriend says, all is fair and.
Speaker 5: F that man.
Speaker 3: So yeah, this was very like you could feel the
Speaker 3: tension with a knife. You could definitely cut the tension
Speaker 3: with a knife with this match. And something that really
Speaker 3: got me together emotionally was just the idea that years
Speaker 3: ago I used to fantasy book this match in my
Speaker 3: head so many times, especially when Seth had that gimmick
Speaker 3: where he was a Monday Night Messiah, and in my brain,
Speaker 3: I always figured that the Monday Night Messiah versus the
Speaker 3: Second City Saint would just be a sick match. But
Speaker 3: I didn't I think, you know, I thought that it
Speaker 3: would never happen, simply because the fact that CM Punk
Speaker 3: said he would never return to WWE, and I had
Speaker 3: just you know, accepted that as the reality. But of
Speaker 3: course that's not the reality we live in now. So
Speaker 3: we got this match and it was nuts. These two,
Speaker 3: like I said earlier, destroyed each other, use each other's moves.
Speaker 3: We're talking all kinds of trash, beating each other's faces
Speaker 3: in you know, holding each other while beating each other's faces,
Speaker 3: in jumping onto each other on the turn, well not
Speaker 3: the turn, vocals on the barricade, and shocking new fans
Speaker 3: as you can see sitting up front, as well as
Speaker 3: fighting on the commentary desk, the brand new commentary desk
Speaker 3: and dead like that's cute, like leave it alone, but
Speaker 3: you know, this is wrestling. But either way, in the
Speaker 3: midst of all of this fighting, Sampunk came out on
Speaker 3: top after he fell on top of seth Rawland after
Speaker 3: hitting him with the GTS, and he won the match.
Speaker 3: And after the post show came on and Jackie Redman
Speaker 3: interviewed him as he was walking back to the ring,
Speaker 3: he said that this victory in this night, you know,
Speaker 3: was a really big moment for him, and he said
Speaker 3: that this was for a friend of his whose name
Speaker 3: I can't remember right now. But then he also said
Speaker 3: that his victory was for Chris Bay and for those
Speaker 3: who might not know who Chris Bay is. He was
Speaker 3: a wrestler in TNA who is very accomplished in other
Speaker 3: promotions as well, but he sustained a really bad injury
Speaker 3: and the wrestling community has rallied around him and raised
Speaker 3: money for him, you know, to just cover fees and
Speaker 3: to just you know, take care of his form of
Speaker 3: living while he's not able to wrestle and make money.
Speaker 3: So if you find that link somewhere to take care
Speaker 3: of Chris Bay, or google Chris c h R I
Speaker 3: s b e Y like Beyonce, except it's not pronounced
Speaker 3: that way, you can find that and donate to it
Speaker 3: or buy a t shirt that pays tribute to him
Speaker 3: in that way. So yeah, you could just help him
Speaker 3: out that way. But I thought it was a class
Speaker 3: act that Sam Punk would mention him.
Speaker 5: And then he.
Speaker 3: Also said to all of his haters who felt like, oh, well,
Speaker 3: y'all try to tell me I was an ish, look
Speaker 3: at me now, And I was just like yes. And
Speaker 3: then he also Loki preached another word when he said
Speaker 3: that forty two or forty six was just a number.
Speaker 3: And I thought that was really amazing because in life
Speaker 3: a lot of people feel like if they don't. And
Speaker 3: this is something I struggle with too. A lot of
Speaker 3: people feel like if you don't have a lot accomplished
Speaker 3: by the time you reach the age of thirty, then
Speaker 3: you feel like you failed. And something that I'm trying
Speaker 3: to internal lies and learn for myself is that that's not
Speaker 3: the case, and knowing that even as you're growing up,
Speaker 3: that you can still make great moments for yourself and
Speaker 3: still accomplish new things for yourself even though you are
Speaker 3: of a certain age, Like life doesn't just stop and
Speaker 3: you don't just become an old person when you're in
Speaker 3: your thirties or your forties or whatever. Age does not
Speaker 3: define the level of success that you reach, and to
Speaker 3: a degree that does apply to see him Punk right here,
Speaker 3: because literally there are people who started their careers like DDP.
Speaker 3: You know, he started his wrestling career relatively late in
Speaker 3: the game too, but he turned out to be a
Speaker 3: heavyweight champion. And to see a lot of these people
Speaker 3: still thriving and still being as healthy as can be
Speaker 3: in a new environment that allows for that well into
Speaker 3: their thirties, to even forties, and to some degree even fifties,
Speaker 3: it's just really amazing. So, yeah, don't let age define
Speaker 3: the level of success that you can have. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I think that was a really amazing lesson to learn
Speaker 3: from what seam Punk had to say. And as Seth
Speaker 3: was walking away, he looked like he was very space
Speaker 3: side or whatever, So I feel like maybe their feud
Speaker 3: might not be done. But either way, this was an
Speaker 3: amazing main event and if they do fight again, I'm
Speaker 3: definitely here for it because it was awesome. And oh,
Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure this baby loved event too, So.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: There's also, of course the notion of me talking about
Speaker 3: the tribal combat match, and like I said, these pictures
Speaker 3: are out of order. Some of these pictures are out
Speaker 3: of order because of just how much was going on
Speaker 3: and just me trying to just keep up with everything.
Speaker 3: But the match between Roman Rains and Solo Sica for
Speaker 3: the right to be the real original tribal chief was fire.
Speaker 3: That match was amazing. It was definitely giving bloodline rules
Speaker 3: to a certain degree. Of course, if you watch the
Speaker 3: match between Roman Rains and Cody Rhodes from last year's WrestleMania,
Speaker 3: that's kind of what this match was giving. Outside of
Speaker 3: you know, just the Avengers of wrestling coming to save Roman.
Speaker 3: That's kind of what this match was given, and I
Speaker 3: really enjoyed it. For the most part. I was getting
Speaker 3: irritated Solo's crash out cousins came out to help him.
Speaker 3: I was like, no, like I thought it was over with.
Speaker 3: After that point, I.
Speaker 5: Was like, no, please, Jesus no, But.
Speaker 3: Sammy USO in this case, and Jimmy came out to
Speaker 3: even the eye, and then that made me feel a
Speaker 3: little bit better. But then of course you have Kevin
Speaker 3: Owens coming to the thick of things, and I'm just like, dude,
Speaker 3: what why are you here? And then that's where I
Speaker 3: really thought the ish was gonna hit the fan. But
Speaker 3: of course Cody Rhoades comes out and he saves the day,
Speaker 3: and I was just like, yay. But the more Cody
Speaker 3: and Kevin beat each other up, the more I feel
Speaker 3: like they're not gonna make it to Indianapolis for their
Speaker 3: royal rumble manche Like, I just don't feel like they're
Speaker 3: gonna make it. Like they're just gonna keep fighting and
Speaker 3: keep beating each other to the point where they're not
Speaker 3: gonna have anything left to give us for this ladder marriage.
Speaker 3: But it was just nuts. And then the fact that
Speaker 3: Cody hit the Cody Cutter onto Kevin Owens in his
Speaker 3: dress shoes, wrap me up. I was like, excuse me,
Speaker 3: you're doing a Cody Cutter in yo church shoes. Stop,
Speaker 3: stop everything. Cody Rose is just not a normal human being.
Speaker 3: And I just I just I just can't get over it.
Speaker 5: I just can't.
Speaker 3: But either way, to see Roman, you know, finally get
Speaker 3: his ula follow back was just really amazing and I
Speaker 3: thought that maybe Paul was going to bestow it upon him, right,
Speaker 3: but no, as it turns out, his cousin, his movie
Speaker 3: Star Future WW Hall of Famer Final Boss cousin the
Speaker 3: Rock came out and bestowed it upon him. He came
Speaker 3: back out and just spoke and bestowed it upon him.
Speaker 3: Because the show started with the Rock coming out and
Speaker 3: addressing the people talking about how you know this episode
Speaker 3: was making history and how you know when he first
Speaker 3: started on Ron talking about his journey, and he even hit.
Speaker 4: The people's eyebrows, which was really cool.
Speaker 3: To see in terms of nostalgia purposes, Like when it happened,
Speaker 3: I was like, do it for the nineties A, do
Speaker 3: it for the nineties A. But either way, the Rock
Speaker 3: coming out was such an amazing moment, and he was
Speaker 3: able to share his title with his daughters, his little daughters,
Speaker 3: Tianna and Jasmine, and you know them seeing him in
Speaker 3: WWE element is just really cool. And then his mom
Speaker 3: was there, their grandma, and then his wife was there
Speaker 3: and it was really nice. So it was just a
Speaker 3: beautiful family affair. And then in Los Angeles there was
Speaker 3: a lot of Pacific Islander representation because when I tell you,
Speaker 3: there were a lot of chews in the audience. I
Speaker 3: was just like, y'all better come through, step through Pacific Islanders.
Speaker 3: I love y'all. So yeah, all of the Mana was
Speaker 3: in the moment, and the fact that that the Rock
Speaker 3: gave him the Ulafalla and put it on him and
Speaker 3: he felt like everything was right with the world was
Speaker 3: really beautiful. And it's definitely symbolic when you think about
Speaker 3: who gave him the Ulafalla in the first place, which
Speaker 3: were the wild Samoans, also known as Roman's Dad and
Speaker 3: Roman's uncle, And when you think about how in the
Speaker 3: past year both of them have passed on to a
Speaker 3: higher plane, it just makes it all the more deeper.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I'm glad that Roman has this ulafalla back.
Speaker 3: And I'm not gonna hold you for a second thing.
Speaker 3: I thought The Rock was gonna attack Roman and take
Speaker 3: the ulafalla off of him and be like, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm the real chief, because they kept talking about how
Speaker 3: the Rock has this high chief name and I don't
Speaker 3: want to mispronounce it, and I don't want to mispronounce
Speaker 3: it or Butcher in any way, shape or form. But
Speaker 3: he is a high chief of the island of Samoa.
Speaker 3: So they kept mentioning that on commentary. So I'm thinking, so,
Speaker 3: if y'all keep talking about this, this has to mean something, right,
Speaker 3: But I guess tonight they just let it go and
Speaker 3: charge it to the game and just relaxed so Roman
Speaker 3: could have his moment, and I'm glad he did. And
Speaker 3: then The Rock also got on Instagram and had a
Speaker 3: drink with Cody Rhodes and he hugged Cody Rhodes, and
Speaker 3: that was really interesting considering the whole half of last
Speaker 3: year he was beating the crap out of him with
Speaker 3: a belt and you know, talking all sorts of trash
Speaker 3: to his mom. So it's just really nuts how everything happened.
Speaker 3: It seems like this version of the Rock, I'm not
Speaker 3: sure if he's the final boss. I'm like, I'm not
Speaker 3: sure if.
Speaker 4: He feels like he's been humbled or what.
Speaker 3: But he was really chilled to in a way that
Speaker 3: I did not expect. So this show was very interesting.
Speaker 5: I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 3: I felt like I was watching a movie the entire time,
Speaker 3: Like when everything was done, I felt like I was
Speaker 3: watching a movie towards the end of it. But there
Speaker 3: is something that I do want to point out to
Speaker 3: end this show, and it's the fact.
Speaker 5: That Triple H did this intro.
Speaker 3: Now, of course, the intro to all the w W
Speaker 3: shows is still the same with all the constellations and
Speaker 3: the stars or whatever, which I love. But when this
Speaker 3: episode came on, the cold open started with with Triple
Speaker 3: H's voice talking about the history of wrestling as a whole,
Speaker 3: and it had clips older clips of people going to
Speaker 3: circuses and seeing you know, the carnies as they used
Speaker 3: to call them way back when, and going to see
Speaker 3: those like that, and then you know, going and then
Speaker 3: people watching it on old school television and stuff like that,
Speaker 3: and just moving into TV and what it once was,
Speaker 3: and now us moving into the streaming and just showing
Speaker 3: all of the truth of wrestling with its characters good
Speaker 3: and bad. And when I tell you that hit on
Speaker 3: an emotional level, it really hit because I've been watching
Speaker 3: this my entire life. And when I tell you, these
Speaker 3: stories carry the same way that a regular TV show
Speaker 3: or a soap opera would, they very much carry that
Speaker 3: same weight. Even though a lot of people might look
Speaker 3: down on it or whatever, it carries the exact same weight.
Speaker 5: And there's and in that.
Speaker 3: In that code open he was talking about, you know
Speaker 3: the truth of it, and there is the truth to
Speaker 3: it because you don't see like wrestling fans don't just
Speaker 3: gravitate to this stuff just because we love the athleticism
Speaker 3: of it. We gravitate towards it because there are stories
Speaker 3: within it that.
Speaker 5: We deeply relate to.
Speaker 3: Like when it comes to Cody Rhodes and how he
Speaker 3: wanted to make his father proud on a spiritual level
Speaker 3: and finish his story and win the title that his
Speaker 3: dad never won.
Speaker 5: That's real. Like when.
Speaker 3: Becky Lynch wanted to rise above and win all of
Speaker 3: the championships because she felt like she was one of
Speaker 3: the horsewomen. She was one of the horsewomen that didn't
Speaker 3: get her just doomed.
Speaker 5: That's real.
Speaker 3: Because how many times have many of us as human
Speaker 3: beings have tried to work hard for something only to
Speaker 3: be passed up for it for somebody who has favoritism,
Speaker 3: or for someone who comes from I'm a well to
Speaker 3: do family, or deals with nepotism in some way, Like,
Speaker 3: how many times have people had to deal with it
Speaker 3: even to a degree, even with Kofe many And I
Speaker 3: know we don't like him at this point right now,
Speaker 3: especially after what him and Xavier pulled, but years ago
Speaker 3: when Kofe was trying to fight for his opportunity at
Speaker 3: the WWE title but he was being put through ringer
Speaker 3: after ringer after ringer. That is the black experience to
Speaker 3: a tee, and that's real. So that entire monologue that
Speaker 3: Triple H performed, where we also saw all the photos
Speaker 3: like the art piece of all of the characters that
Speaker 3: have existed in all of wrestling over the years, all
Speaker 3: of that just felt very real and very heartwarming. And
Speaker 3: the thing that I love about Triple H as a
Speaker 3: leader is the fact that you could tell he loves
Speaker 3: wrestling the.
Speaker 4: Exact same way as we do.
Speaker 3: And it's beautiful. It's really beautiful, Like it's not just
Speaker 3: a money thing, like it's a true at the heart,
Speaker 3: in the deep depths of your soul type of thing.
Speaker 3: And aside from the booking, aside from all the other stuff,
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, what brings us all
Speaker 3: together is this crazy little world that we get to
Speaker 3: be a part of. And this night felt like a
Speaker 3: celebration of it all. Like you saw celebrities, you know,
Speaker 3: sitting with each other, you saw ordinary people sitting with
Speaker 3: each other, like all of it. Wrestling just brings us
Speaker 3: all together. And I think that was just the most
Speaker 3: amazing part of it. Now, there was a part that
Speaker 3: I'm going to be very truthful about that I did
Speaker 3: not like and that the people of Los Angeles also
Speaker 3: did not like either.
Speaker 5: And that was the part.
Speaker 3: Where a certain terry decided to show up and you know,
Speaker 3: give a little bit of a pep talk with an
Speaker 3: American flag and talk about his partnership with Real American
Speaker 3: Beer and all that. And of course today it was
Speaker 3: made public that WWE was doing a partnership with his beer,
Speaker 3: Real American Beer, and it was one of the sponsors.
Speaker 3: Because the logo was in the ring, along with the
Speaker 3: Netflix logo and the Prime logo and other logos too.
Speaker 3: And let me just say, I just don't feel like
Speaker 3: WW at this point doesn't necessarily need Hu Kogen anymore
Speaker 3: because and honestly, I as a wrestling fan and as
Speaker 3: a black female WRISKLM fan born in the South, I
Speaker 3: really feel like someone who has made it his business
Speaker 3: to talk all sorts of trash and say all kinds
Speaker 3: of negative things about black people should not be on
Speaker 3: a show that actively features pieces of black culture and
Speaker 3: black people as athletes.
Speaker 5: He shouldn't be there.
Speaker 3: He should not be there. Like if WW is reaching
Speaker 3: this point where you have two black women, three black
Speaker 3: women as the Big Three as a part of your
Speaker 3: beginning intro that you had with the Cold Open, you
Speaker 3: have people like Kofi and Xavier, you know, being prominent
Speaker 3: heels at this point. You have so many black people,
Speaker 3: you know, just filling out what WWE is at this point,
Speaker 3: and then you have superstars like Travis Scott and so
Speaker 3: many other black stars being a part of it.
Speaker 5: How is it that.
Speaker 3: In twenty twenty five you are still doing business and
Speaker 3: gallivantin with the known racist who also supports.
Speaker 5: A very.
Speaker 3: Horrible person. How are we still doing this? I feel
Speaker 3: like I just feel like a place that utilizes that
Speaker 3: has been doing a pretty okay job at incorporating current culture.
Speaker 3: Or people like Sexy Red and people like Travis Scott
Speaker 3: and so many other black people and black superstars in
Speaker 3: your things should not be doing business with the likes
Speaker 3: of somebody like him who is actively put himself on
Speaker 3: the same platforms as a known racist. Both of these
Speaker 3: men are racists, So why are we doing this now?
Speaker 3: Like it doesn't make any sense? And yes, you could
Speaker 3: say it's all business, but as a black man, it's
Speaker 3: just disheartening because I just feel like there is no
Speaker 3: level of nostalgia. There's no level of him revolutionizing wrestling
Speaker 3: in the eighties or everything else like that that's gonna
Speaker 3: take the sour taste of racism out of my mouth. Yes,
Speaker 3: he did have that iconic match with the Rock, Yes
Speaker 3: you did, you know, have one of the craziest hill
Speaker 3: turns of all time. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: you are still a person who was caught on tape
Speaker 3: saying the N word about black people who probably were
Speaker 3: fans of you for a long period of time. It's
Speaker 3: almost like he just forgot about all of that and
Speaker 3: just decided, oh well, I'm just gonna be big at
Speaker 3: it now because this is crossing my door now. It's terrible,
Speaker 3: and then you decide to double down on it for
Speaker 3: what And yes, I understand that he's gonna probably still
Speaker 3: have fans after this, But at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: I know I stand where I stand, and I just
Speaker 3: the fact that the people of la were booing him
Speaker 3: on this big of a show says a lot about
Speaker 3: how folks feel about him. And they can try to
Speaker 3: ignore it all they want to. I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I mean, they're gonna do what they're gonna do. Bat
Speaker 3: the end of the day, I'm just speaking out from
Speaker 3: how I feel. This man is not a nice person.
Speaker 3: He is not a nice person. If he met a
Speaker 3: black fan, he probably would just think twice about it
Speaker 3: and probably wipe.
Speaker 4: His hands with hand sanitizer or.
Speaker 3: Maybe even not even want to talk to them or
Speaker 3: talk to someone like me. And it's so heartbreaking, but
Speaker 3: that's just the truth of the matter. You've shown us
Speaker 3: who you are and we believe you. Now we don't
Speaker 3: want anything to do with you, like we have enough legends.
Speaker 3: We don't need you. And that's just how I feel
Speaker 3: about that. But other than that, the rest of the show.
Speaker 3: The episode was amazing. I definitely recommend you go back
Speaker 3: and watch it, and if you are of.
Speaker 4: A certain.
Speaker 3: Stance, you can fast forward through the whole Coking part
Speaker 3: but either way, or you can also fast forward through
Speaker 3: the Logan Paul part too, because yeah, but either way,
Speaker 3: it was still an amazing episode. So of course, you
Speaker 3: know Row's gonna be on Netflix, so just keep your
Speaker 3: apps shiny. And of course this has brought us to
Speaker 3: the end of this episode of HWP Extra. So thank
Speaker 3: you guys so much for watching. Even though I know
Speaker 3: there's other stuff going on, you chose to watch me
Speaker 3: talk about this amazing show. So thank you guys, so
Speaker 3: so much. Of course, I will be back tomorrow with
Speaker 3: Christy b from Those Wrestling Girls and vond from The
Speaker 3: Victorious Ones, as we discussed for the very first time
Speaker 3: a subject outside of wrestling. We're discussing the CNN documentary
Speaker 3: Luther Never Too Much, which is all about the life
Speaker 3: and legacy of the R and B King Luthor Vandras,
Speaker 3: So please check that out tomorrow. I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 3: And yeah, just continue to support the Hardy Wrestling Podcast.
Speaker 3: Follow Me your Girl, Stephanie Harty on Instagram and Twitter
Speaker 3: at Queen Steph Hardy. Follow the Hardy Wrestling Podcast on
Speaker 3: Instagram at Harty Wrestling Podcast and on Twitter at Hardy
Speaker 3: Wrussell Pod. Subscribe to the YouTube channel where you can
Speaker 3: be notified every time.
Speaker 5: We go live. Follow me on TikTok.
Speaker 3: At Stephanie Underscore Hardy, and you can follow me at
Speaker 3: Queen Steph Harty on Blue.
Speaker 4: Sky if you have that as well, and just continue.
Speaker 3: To support the vibe because we've got good stuff cooking
Speaker 3: up and coming on. And this week will be the
Speaker 3: return of stephan Kat Talk Wow for.
Speaker 4: The new year, because we got a lot to cover.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I hope you enjoyed this episode of HWP Extra,
Speaker 3: and I definitely hope you enjoyed this first episode of
Speaker 3: w W RAW on Netflix. And yeah, wrestling is amazing
Speaker 3: and wrestling is cool and it'll always be a safe
Speaker 3: place for those looking for it to be and for
Speaker 3: as long as we continue to fight for it to
Speaker 3: a safe place. So this has been the Hearty Wrestley
Speaker 3: Podcast Extra with your girl, Stephanie Hardy and until next time,
Speaker 3: Bye y'all, good night.