Speaker 1: The views expressed in the following program are those of
Speaker 1: the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of
Speaker 1: Saga nine sixty am or its management.
Speaker 2: It's twenty twenty six, and you know what that means.
Speaker 2: Ring side he is on the air new stock Saga
Speaker 2: nine sixty am, your favorite podcascher and YouTube. When I
Speaker 2: get to it, Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Lex Tan, host,
Speaker 2: the producer of the show, and here back again for
Speaker 2: more wrestling talk radio. And you'll be actually kind of
Speaker 2: interested to know that we have some new airtimes that
Speaker 2: we want to tell you about here on Saga nine
Speaker 2: sixty AM. We'll still drop the podcast at three pm
Speaker 2: as well as ad on YouTube as when I get
Speaker 2: to it, but our airtimes four Ringside Heat on Saga
Speaker 2: nine sixty AM are now twelve pm. That means we're
Speaker 2: noon programming for your Wednesdays, five pm for your drive home,
Speaker 2: as well as nine pm Easter all on the Wednesdays.
Speaker 2: So you get us for lunch, yeah, get us for
Speaker 2: your drive home, and you get us for some late
Speaker 2: night well I guess late night. I guess that calls it. It
Speaker 2: qualifies as such late night wrestling programming if you're not
Speaker 2: gonna be watching AW or something like that because we're
Speaker 2: on during a AW unfortunately. But hey, you know what, whatever
Speaker 2: works here, whatever is going to be on for the
Speaker 2: station and whenever you want to tune in on a
Speaker 2: Wednesday twelve o'clock PM, five o'clock PM, nine o'clock PM Eastern.
Speaker 2: Moving forward here in twenty twenty six, and remember we
Speaker 2: are from the heart of Saga to the soul of
Speaker 2: the Squared Circle, Ringside Heat on the air, lext hand
Speaker 2: and a solo show here for me today, here, today, tonight,
Speaker 2: we're gonna start off or this afternoon tonight or whatever
Speaker 2: you want to listen to this, We're gonna start where
Speaker 2: an Era ended. Our last episode was back on the
Speaker 2: live stream on December the tenth, I believe it was.
Speaker 2: Let me just get that date over here for you.
Speaker 2: It was the Saturday Night's Mad Event on So I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: December thirteenth, on John Cena's final match as a wrestler
Speaker 2: for the WWE. Of course, he's still gonna be going
Speaker 2: on being the ambassador that he always has been and
Speaker 2: done well since two thousand and two when he made
Speaker 2: it up to the main roster and started getting big
Speaker 2: from there. However, he's no longer a wrestler. He was
Speaker 2: defeated by Gunter, and he had a smile onness face
Speaker 2: as he tapped out to Gunther in the submission hold
Speaker 2: and very very Obi wan Kenobi versus Darth Vader and everything,
Speaker 2: and passed it on to the next generation. And so
Speaker 2: we're gonna start off from there. At Saturday nights Man event,
Speaker 2: the final bell rang on the career of John's and
Speaker 2: standing across him, not as a footnote, not as a
Speaker 2: nostalgia actor, not as a mercy kill, but was judgment itself. Gunter,
Speaker 2: going through defeated John Cena, clean shortcuts, none interference, none,
Speaker 2: no thank you, roll up, no protective curtain call, just
Speaker 2: a smile on his face as he tapped out. Some
Speaker 2: people were shocked, some people were angry. Some people will
Speaker 2: say that's not how you send John Cena out respectfully though,
Speaker 2: that is exactly how you send John Cena out. So
Speaker 2: let me say this plainly. If Cina had won, Gunter
Speaker 2: would have just stayed another dominant champion. He would have
Speaker 2: lost nothing. He would have gained quite a bit, because
Speaker 2: you know, he was Johnsona's last match. If the match
Speaker 2: editing chaos, the moment would have gotten deluded. If nostalgia
Speaker 2: takes over and you have Johnsena win the match, the
Speaker 2: future gets robbed. But John Cena, because he lost, he
Speaker 2: stood there, absorbed the punishment, smile on his face as
Speaker 2: he tapped out, fought until his body said no, and
Speaker 2: he stayed down. Gunta didn't just win a match. He
Speaker 2: inherited that damn mountain. This wasn't a burial, This was
Speaker 2: a succession. John Sena didn't need protection. His legacy untouchable.
Speaker 2: Probably a greater legacy than the Rock, a greater legacy
Speaker 2: than Stone called Steve Austin, possibly a greater and I
Speaker 2: will dare to say this, I will dare to say this.
Speaker 2: He may have had a bigger impact on culture on
Speaker 2: the whole, on WWE on the whole, than Haul Cogan
Speaker 2: may have had. Now, don't get me wrong, Haul Cogan
Speaker 2: probably had the single most influential career in all the
Speaker 2: profess wrestling. And he took professional wrestling from I guess
Speaker 2: from from from from the small time to pop culture,
Speaker 2: mainstream culture to the big time where wrestling never thought
Speaker 2: it could be until Vince McMahon and Hulk Cogan saw
Speaker 2: money in each other, and I guess that's what Vince
Speaker 2: McMahon saw in John Cena. Well, at least well Stephanie
Speaker 2: McMahon saw it when when she, you know, told him
Speaker 2: to go and do the whole Vanilla Ice rap gimmick.
Speaker 2: But still, the amount of dedication that Sina had to
Speaker 2: the WWE, even when he moved on from WWE full
Speaker 2: time into his movie career, the loyalty that he had
Speaker 2: surpasses for sure anything that Hult Cogan did. And I
Speaker 2: guess it's also what an emulation of what Stone called
Speaker 2: Steve Austin and The Rock did because neither of them,
Speaker 2: neither of them appeared for ww or appeared outside of
Speaker 2: WWE save four. I believe it was The Rock inducting
Speaker 2: Ken Shamrock into the CNA Wrestling Hall of Fame or
Speaker 2: Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame as it was called then.
Speaker 2: But no John Cena, I would say, he's still I
Speaker 2: would say, the most impactful professional wrestler with the WWE
Speaker 2: has ever produced, and the biggest star I guess, other
Speaker 2: than The Rock, that WWE has ever produced. So what
Speaker 2: does this all mean? First of all, let's go and
Speaker 2: talk about who is still wrestling, And who's still in
Speaker 2: the company right now it's Kunter. He is now the
Speaker 2: heel of the company. He's getting booed out of buildings
Speaker 2: like Dominic Mysterio was when he turned on his father
Speaker 2: or his adoptive father, raymus Stadio. And here's the thing
Speaker 2: that people are underestimating. The finish didn't just elevate Gunter,
Speaker 2: it redefined him. He's not respected, he's not cool, he's
Speaker 2: not quietly dominant. He is hated viscerally organically, and he's
Speaker 2: got nuclear heat the same, very same, oh, it's very
Speaker 2: very same, very similar heat to you the way Dominic
Speaker 2: Mysterio got it. And now that he has, you know,
Speaker 2: people started to like, you know, like you know, they've
Speaker 2: been loving to hate him, and now they're starting to
Speaker 2: love him. And now they're actually letting him speak and
Speaker 2: letting him do things. And he's no longer getting booed
Speaker 2: viscerally to the point where he won't be able to talk.
Speaker 2: That now belongs to Gunther. This is the kind of
Speaker 2: heat that you cannot fake. This is the kind of
Speaker 2: heat that you cannot book into existence. And that's the thing.
Speaker 2: And as a thing, even with Dominic mysterio. You could
Speaker 2: not have predicted how how heavy, at how hot the
Speaker 2: crowds were going to be against him when he turned
Speaker 2: against his father. And that's what we have here with Gunther.
Speaker 2: This is what a true heel looks like in this
Speaker 2: day and age. In January twenty twenty six, Gunter has
Speaker 2: no catchphrase except for the fact that he calls himself
Speaker 2: that ineral. No wink to the crowd at all. He's
Speaker 2: not cosplaying. It's just him a big old trench coat
Speaker 2: and trunks going into the ring. Nothing like that. Well boots, yeah, sure,
Speaker 2: but nothing more than that. It's all all it is
Speaker 2: is consequences for you once you step in a ring
Speaker 2: with them. And that's something that we will actually be
Speaker 2: seeing possibly next week in Germany on Monday Night Raw,
Speaker 2: which we'll you know, we'll get to actually next week,
Speaker 2: Chico will be back and hopefully we'll have another another
Speaker 2: Front of the show join us as well. But the
Speaker 2: run times of wrestling shows these days is something that
Speaker 2: I'd like to get into one of these days, but
Speaker 2: I want to get into with other people around the show.
Speaker 2: So that's coming up. Hopefully we'll have that come up
Speaker 2: for next week. But Sina's final gift. This isn't about losing.
Speaker 2: This wasn't about him losing. This was obedient to the future.
Speaker 2: John Cena didn't ask for the spotlight. He worked his
Speaker 2: ass off for that spotlight from day one in this company,
Speaker 2: all the way back in o in OVW. He worked
Speaker 2: his ass off for the spotlight he deserved last month
Speaker 2: at Saturn Night's main event. But he didn't ask for it.
Speaker 2: He didn't ask for the feel good ending. He didn't
Speaker 2: ask the business to bend around him. He did what
Speaker 2: he has always done. At his best, he has been
Speaker 2: able to make somebody else, and he made Gunther that night.
Speaker 2: John Cena, all through his career, always been saying people
Speaker 2: have been chanting you can't wrestle. People boot him out
Speaker 2: of buildings, people cheered for it was loud. I've We've
Speaker 2: been talking about this so many times over the years,
Speaker 2: but he made wrestlers. If you were going up against
Speaker 2: John Cena, you knew you were getting a hot crowd,
Speaker 2: If you were going up against John Cena, you knew
Speaker 2: that you would be safe. If you were going up
Speaker 2: against John Cena, you knew that people would notice when
Speaker 2: you were wrestling, whether you won or lost against John Cena.
Speaker 2: You knew you were being watched by the millions and millions.
Speaker 2: That is what he did for Gunther. He left his
Speaker 2: legacy in the hands of the next generation represented by
Speaker 2: Gunther that night. That's legacy, that's stewardship. Sina didn't walk
Speaker 2: out on his back. He walked out completed the job
Speaker 2: that he did. Remember back in twenty seventeen when the
Speaker 2: reason when he when he went up to Roman Reigns
Speaker 2: and Roman Rains screwed up his promo and John Cena
Speaker 2: called him out on it, and John Cena said, all improv,
Speaker 2: I'm still here because you can't do your job. Gunther
Speaker 2: did his job. The youth Roman Reigns found a way
Speaker 2: to do his job. And that's why John Cena felt
Speaker 2: this is the right time to finally say give a
Speaker 2: proper goodbye to the wrestling career that he had and
Speaker 2: the fans who cheered him throughout his wrestling career. And
Speaker 2: here is why the finish did that match with Gunther
Speaker 2: will age beautifully. Five years from now, when Gunther is
Speaker 2: still the most feared man in the company, people will
Speaker 2: point back and say that night he beat John Cena.
Speaker 2: That night Johnsena tapped out with a smile on his face.
Speaker 2: That's when he that's when this became real. Not because
Speaker 2: Sena lost, not because Gunter was any better than anybody
Speaker 2: else in the company, but it's because the business, the
Speaker 2: business of professional wrestling in the WWE, led creatively by
Speaker 2: Triple H Paulaveck, the business shows gravity over its comfort.
Speaker 2: The Gunther era didn't begin with a title win. It
Speaker 2: began with a decision. And that's the legacy that we
Speaker 2: are going to see five years down the line when
Speaker 2: we come back, we're going to talk about WWE's most
Speaker 2: our next challenge. Rather when everything is special, nothing is special.
Speaker 2: This is Ringside Heat and we'll be back after these
Speaker 2: promotional considerations. Wait, this is the Little and you're listening
Speaker 2: to Springside.
Speaker 1: Pastream us Live at Saga nine sixty am.
Speaker 2: Dot ca.
Speaker 3: Yo, bro It is Vince Russo Man and you are
Speaker 3: listening to Ringside Heat bro a News Talk Saga nine
Speaker 3: sixty am.
Speaker 2: And welcome back to Ringside Heat and you suck Saga
Speaker 2: nine sixty am. Your favorite podcascher or on YouTube. Ladies
Speaker 2: and Gentleman, my name is lextand follow me at lextand Media.
Speaker 2: Follow the show at Ringside, Underscore, Heat on YouTube, on Instagram,
Speaker 2: on x on Facebook, on TikTok, on threads, as well
Speaker 2: as on Patreon. Welcome back. If segment one was about gravity,
Speaker 2: segment two is gonna be about velocity because we're talking
Speaker 2: about one full year of Monday Night Raw on Netflix.
Speaker 2: Let me start it off by saying, no crisis, no,
Speaker 2: not no crisis at all. WWE is not in trouble,
Speaker 2: is not going anywhere. Raw NXT SmackDown on Netflix has
Speaker 2: been a success. Yes, we're gonna complain about the run
Speaker 2: times three hours of WW SmackDown on a Friday night
Speaker 2: that night it's it's nice. Here's the thing in hindsight,
Speaker 2: to me and to many others, it was a nice,
Speaker 2: little novelty thing when the show is only two hours
Speaker 2: long and it's like, oh, I get another half and
Speaker 2: I'll get another hour of wrestling. Cool, Okay, let me
Speaker 2: curl up here on on my couch and watch some
Speaker 2: wrestling on TV for three when I don't have any
Speaker 2: plans on a Friday night. Great, but now it's consistently
Speaker 2: three hours on a Friday night, and that is all.
Speaker 2: And to add to that, yes, I know that there
Speaker 2: have been raws, especially last Monday Night where or not
Speaker 2: there are two Monday Nights ago rather where RAW was
Speaker 2: clocked in at an hour and forty minutes like that,
Speaker 2: like a two hour RAW, and was actually a well paced,
Speaker 2: a very very well paced show. And not to say
Speaker 2: that this past Monday Night Raw on January on January
Speaker 2: the fifth, was a bad show. It was actually a
Speaker 2: pretty good show, even though the Karun Twins said it
Speaker 2: was the worst show of the year. It was the
Speaker 2: worst RAW of the year. But then again, only one
Speaker 2: RAW so far this year, so could be the best,
Speaker 2: could be the worst. Who knows, We don't know. We
Speaker 2: still got fifty two more ras to go or fifty
Speaker 2: one rather anyway, we'll talk about run times next week
Speaker 2: with Chico because he has a lot to say about that.
Speaker 2: So let me get back to it. Raw on Netflix,
Speaker 2: SmackDown on Netflix, NXT on Netflix pay per Views Sorry,
Speaker 2: p l E's Premium Live events on Netflix. A bit
Speaker 2: of success, but success is now bringing a new challenge.
Speaker 2: When everything looks big and everything sounds big, how do
Speaker 2: you make anything feel big? Here's one way to do it.
Speaker 2: The main event of Monday Night Raw, Your New World
Speaker 2: heavyweight champion c M. Punk putting up the world heavyweight
Speaker 2: championship on the line versus bron Breaker, And for some
Speaker 2: people it did look like that bron Breaker could have
Speaker 2: been crown champion that night last Monday against them Punk,
Speaker 2: and maybe it was the right and maybe it could
Speaker 2: have been from some people's point of view, that actually
Speaker 2: might have been the right thing to do. See him Punk,
Speaker 2: he's not exactly a spring chicken. He still got it.
Speaker 2: He's still got it, but he's also no pushing fifty.
Speaker 2: He might I think he's already fifty. I don't know,
Speaker 2: but but hey, I mean, like you know, he's still
Speaker 2: But that's the thing with wrestlers these days. They the nutrition,
Speaker 2: the fitness, everything about wrestlers these days, and athletes on
Speaker 2: the whole, professional athletes on the whole. There's a lot
Speaker 2: more good clean health with them. And of course would
Speaker 2: see him Punk being straight edge, never did drugs, never
Speaker 2: did any alcohol. He's very very clean. His body is
Speaker 2: very very clean in that sort of sense. But you know,
Speaker 2: people thought that it would have been see him Punk
Speaker 2: dropping the title to bron Breaker the Young Buck that night,
Speaker 2: just in the same way a month ago that John
Speaker 2: Cena Ceampunk contemporary would have, you know, passed the baton
Speaker 2: over to the new generation with Goodther winning that match,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't meant to be. And that's where I was,
Speaker 2: That's where I was thinking. I was thinking that if
Speaker 2: there was anything that was going to happen, if Cmpunk
Speaker 2: was going to lose the title, it would have been
Speaker 2: at the Royal Rumble over in Saudi Arabia, and that
Speaker 2: would have been a very poignant place or a very
Speaker 2: I guess connected pay per view or PLA because that's
Speaker 2: when back in twenty thirteen or something, I believe, I
Speaker 2: can't remember which year it is. It was before Wrestling
Speaker 2: Year twenty eight when the Rock defeated Cmpunk at the
Speaker 2: Royal Rumble to win the WWE Championship. He held the
Speaker 2: Spinner Belt for like a day or something like that,
Speaker 2: and then he debuted on his next appearance on Raw
Speaker 2: with the WWE Scratch Big Scratch Logo Championship, which eventually
Speaker 2: turned into the WWE Big Scratch Logo or a Big
Speaker 2: Network Logo Championship, the one that Roman Reigns had held
Speaker 2: throughout his entirety of his his World Heavyweight Championship undisputed
Speaker 2: World Heavyweight Championship Brain during those four years of the
Speaker 2: bloodline story. But let's talk but let's go back. Let's
Speaker 2: go back to Monday Night and talk about the match.
Speaker 2: This was wrestling done right, no smoke, no overproduction, just collision. Yes,
Speaker 2: there were shenanigans, but bron Breaker didn't blink, see him.
Speaker 2: Punk didn't blink. He didn't phone it in either, And
Speaker 2: that's the key. It was just a great little match,
Speaker 2: a great match for the title autumn Monday Night raw
Speaker 2: between the new generation and the old generation, and it was,
Speaker 2: and it was. It was a very very good match
Speaker 2: from both of those guys over there. The match does
Speaker 2: tell us something important though. Punk is testing the future,
Speaker 2: not coasting into it. And bron Breaker he didn't just
Speaker 2: hang with cmpunk. He belonged with the main event with cmpunk.
Speaker 2: But let's talk about the elephant in the upside down.
Speaker 2: The Stranger Things theme integration well produced, very very well
Speaker 2: produced on brand for Netflix. Oh of course it was
Speaker 2: emotionally confusing. Also, yes, it felt like the algorithms online
Speaker 2: booked the entire show. And that is the danger when
Speaker 2: pop culture tie in start dictating the tone instead of
Speaker 2: enhancing it, the show loses its internal logic because wrestling
Speaker 2: works best when it is in its own little universe
Speaker 2: and not when it borrows from someone else's. And that's
Speaker 2: the reason why a lot of people got real tired
Speaker 2: of the guest hosts of Monday Night Raw with Vince
Speaker 2: McMann and also Vince Command of the Million Dollar Giveaway
Speaker 2: or something like that, because it just started making the
Speaker 2: shows lose its eternal logic. Now, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 2: those guest host ras had some pretty entertaining ones with
Speaker 2: Bob Barker and Chris Jericho with the Muppets that those
Speaker 2: were always fun. But it did you know, it didn't.
Speaker 2: I don't know how much it added to the shows,
Speaker 2: I think, but Bob Barker, Bob Barker, you could do
Speaker 2: anything with Bob Barker is awesome, was awesome, and besides,
Speaker 2: he lived as close to one hundred maybe without going over.
Speaker 2: And I know that showcus like three years old now,
Speaker 2: but still, but the stranger things thing could have I
Speaker 2: could have done without it, honestly, on a night on
Speaker 2: the one year anniversary of a Night Raw, because that's
Speaker 2: the thing, it's one year of Netflix on Monday Night
Speaker 2: Raw and if you want to go and advertise Stranger Things,
Speaker 2: if you want to go and advertise Netflix House in
Speaker 2: between segments. Great. Don't get me wrong, the set design
Speaker 2: and the trons looked absolutely fantastic and a little uh
Speaker 2: and the little bumpers, the visual bumpers on the TV
Speaker 2: where it's like, uh, where it's just like you know,
Speaker 2: before the bron Breaker cmpunk uh pro Match, they had
Speaker 2: like this little visual bumper where it said, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: w W Raw, Netflix, Stranger Things, Uh, chapter six the
Speaker 2: Best versus the Badass and uh. And that was actually
Speaker 2: pretty cool. I like that that was that those things
Speaker 2: actually made sense, and I think in that way it
Speaker 2: enhanced it, but maybe it could have done without it.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying. Next one thing, I'm very very happy
Speaker 2: about the new Raw theme by eminem that that works
Speaker 2: so much better than Travis Scott. Thank God, thank god
Speaker 2: that Traffick Scott will not be on ww ON on
Speaker 2: w W e ra's programming. It was already his. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm sorry for those of you who are fans of
Speaker 2: Travis Scott. Go ahead, everything, go ahead, love what you
Speaker 2: love and everything. I love hip hop myself. I love
Speaker 2: all different genres of music, just not what Travis Scott offered.
Speaker 2: And at the same time, the time that I get
Speaker 2: introduced to Travis Scott is when he's getting is when
Speaker 2: he is getting his you know, getting his debut with
Speaker 2: the Rock against Cody Rhodes at Elimination Chamber and he
Speaker 2: busts open or he busts up Cody Rhoads ear drum
Speaker 2: because he potatoed him. He hasn't been on ww programming
Speaker 2: since because he knows that cmpunk is sorry, Cody Rhodes
Speaker 2: is going to you know, it would probably potato him
Speaker 2: as a receipt and good on the rock, Cut on
Speaker 2: the rock for trying something new, got on the rock
Speaker 2: for trying to promote the guy. But rock, come on,
Speaker 2: some things should just be left in its own universe.
Speaker 2: Thank god. Though even though it's even though it's not rock,
Speaker 2: it's eminem and eminem is just as much rock as
Speaker 2: he is hip hop because it's eminem. Come on, This
Speaker 2: wasn't WWE chasing youth culture. This is ww owning its
Speaker 2: place in it. And there's a big difference between synergy
Speaker 2: and surrender. And there's a synergy that WWE does have,
Speaker 2: and you know what it is and you know what,
Speaker 2: and that may complicate things when it comes to the
Speaker 2: whole you know idea of WWE being family programming, and
Speaker 2: it still is though It's is family programming, and I
Speaker 2: think that's what and that's what we're gonna get into
Speaker 2: in the next segment of Ringside Heat. But we're gonna
Speaker 2: stick with Raw for now. The women's division Clarity returning,
Speaker 2: so we're gonna talk about the results. A strong knight
Speaker 2: for the women, Rhea Ripley and Eo Sky defeating the
Speaker 2: Kabuki Rowyers to become the women's tag team champions. Don't
Speaker 2: get me wrong, I love all four of these women,
Speaker 2: Ria Ripley and Neo Sky phenomenal wrestlers, phenomenal town, phenomenal personalities,
Speaker 2: the Kabuki Warriors phenomenal wrestlers, phenomenal heels as well, and
Speaker 2: just and you know, I'm it always makes me happy
Speaker 2: to see the Kabuki Warriors on my screen. But it
Speaker 2: makes total sense for Ria Ripley and Eo Sky to
Speaker 2: take the women's championships from the Kabooki Warriors, and on
Speaker 2: the one year anniversary of Modern Night Raw on Netflix,
Speaker 2: it makes so much sense. Lots of star power, lots
Speaker 2: of credibility, lots of good moments, and no confusion at all.
Speaker 2: And here's the thing. These skew Ria, Ripley Eosky, the
Speaker 2: Kabuki Warris and all of the women in the tag
Speaker 2: team division they are this year looks to be a
Speaker 2: very very promising year for the women's tag division and
Speaker 2: for the women's division on the whole, because look at
Speaker 2: Maxine Duprix, Maxine dupre and Becky Lynch. Maxine was able
Speaker 2: to take the championship for a couple of weeks against
Speaker 2: Becky and surprised Becky as well. That put her up
Speaker 2: and everything. She's not the greatest of the wrestlers on
Speaker 2: the women's division at the moment, but you can actually
Speaker 2: see in the same way that liv Morgan was able
Speaker 2: to improve herself and not just a character, but also
Speaker 2: in her in ring talent and her in ring work
Speaker 2: been that's the same trajectory that we're seeing when Maxine
Speaker 2: Dupre right now and Becky Lynch is probably one of
Speaker 2: the safest wrestlers to work with on the big stage.
Speaker 2: When you have some buddy who just got her green
Speaker 2: light not too recently and in the WWE system, Will
Speaker 2: has the green light to go, but not but it's
Speaker 2: still not up the snuff with some of the other wrestlers.
Speaker 2: So Becky was able to work with that and put
Speaker 2: Maxine over a couple of weeks ago. But now, because
Speaker 2: Maxine's got to go for her honeymoon, Becky taking over
Speaker 2: and she's the women's champion again, and that Becky holding
Speaker 2: a belt. In fact, Becky holding both belts has always
Speaker 2: been good. So Maxine Duprie, though, got to give her props,
Speaker 2: got to give her her due. She's improved, visible growth,
Speaker 2: and the crowd definitely wants her to succeed. But Becky
Speaker 2: Lynch taking the tunnle back was not a demotion for
Speaker 2: Maxine Duprie. It was logistics. Well, congrats, So let me
Speaker 2: take the time this right now to head into a
Speaker 2: congratulatory tone for Maxine Duprie heading into her honeymoon. Congratulations
Speaker 2: to her and her husband and w W did the
Speaker 2: responsible thing. They gave her the championship as cut I guessing.
Speaker 2: I'm guessing that this is the championship was a little
Speaker 2: bit of a wedding present and also a little bit
Speaker 2: of a reward for her improvement in the ring and
Speaker 2: the way that she's been able to grow as as
Speaker 2: a wrestler and as a personality slowly from from when
Speaker 2: we first encountered her as Maxine Dupree, the sister of
Speaker 2: Max Dupree, Yeah and the U and the leader of
Speaker 2: the stable Maximum Male Models, and eventually became part of
Speaker 2: the Alpha Academy and got into that and got the
Speaker 2: storyline with UH with with Chad Gable and UH with
Speaker 2: Otis and just did some really good work from there
Speaker 2: and behind the scenes just being able to build a
Speaker 2: wrestling skills to the point where she can actually hang
Speaker 2: with Becky Lynch on a main event on a main
Speaker 2: event on Raw, which was great, which is great, And
Speaker 2: so kudos to Maxine Dupris and congratulations on her wedding
Speaker 2: and and well wishes for her married life and also
Speaker 2: have fun of that honeymoon lady. So the bigger issue
Speaker 2: right now about this, about everything, This is where we
Speaker 2: zoom out now from the logistics and the results and stuff.
Speaker 4: Like that.
Speaker 2: Raw SmackDown NXT on Netflix. That's money, production, cross promotion,
Speaker 2: star power, you name it, worldwide audience all at the
Speaker 2: same time whenever, and and you don't have to wake
Speaker 2: up if you're in England and Raw is on in
Speaker 2: the United States on Eastern time eight o'clock Eastern time.
Speaker 2: You don't have to wake up for or I don't know,
Speaker 2: what's six o'clock in the six o'clock. You don't have
Speaker 2: to wake up in the wee hours in the morning
Speaker 2: to watch RAW live or even a pl live if
Speaker 2: you if you don't want to, you can just go
Speaker 2: on Netflix whenever the heck you want and just turn
Speaker 2: it on and it's gonna be a good show. You
Speaker 2: know you're gonna get a good show every time you
Speaker 2: turn on your WWE programming on Netflix. The challenge now
Speaker 2: for WWE, though, is when episode what's every episode feels
Speaker 2: like a season finale or a season premiere for that matter,
Speaker 2: whenevery Raw, SmackDown NXT feels like a go home show,
Speaker 2: a fallout show. How do you teach the audience to
Speaker 2: wait when everything is special, nothing is special? And that's
Speaker 2: the challenge for WWE moving forward in twenty twenty six,
Speaker 2: when we come back, we're talking about the one thing
Speaker 2: that WWE can't out rhythm its way out of access
Speaker 2: ticket prices, families, and why independent wrestling might be the
Speaker 2: sole level answer to this question. This is Ringside Heat.
Speaker 2: We'll be back after these promotional considerations.
Speaker 4: Hello everyone, this is former pro wrestling Slash Sports entertainment
Speaker 4: referee Jimmy Corderos, and you're listening to the new voice
Speaker 4: of pro wrestling slash Sports Entertainment in the GTA, Ringside
Speaker 4: Heat right here on News Talk SAGA ninety sixty Am,
Speaker 4: No Radio.
Speaker 1: No Problem. Stream is live on SAGA nine sixty am.
Speaker 2: Dot CAA Hey guys, I'm Shan Spears, and you're listening
Speaker 2: to Ringside Heat.
Speaker 5: And welcome back to Ringside Heat on new STOCKSAGA and
Speaker 5: I sixty your favorite podcastcher as well as on YouTube
Speaker 5: lex Tan at Lextan Media. Ringside Heat at Ringside Underscore
Speaker 5: Heat Episode two four entitled I've been subscribing to Netflix
Speaker 5: for a year, yep, I sure have.
Speaker 2: Yep to get my WWE fixed. I can't get it
Speaker 2: on Sportsnet anymore. I can't get it on you know,
Speaker 2: I can't. It's been years since TSN. I don't have
Speaker 2: access to USA network. I don't even subscribe to any cable.
Speaker 2: What I do have as a Netflix account and an
Speaker 2: Amazon Prime account. So if I wanted to watch an
Speaker 2: AEW pay per view, I can buy it if I
Speaker 2: wanted to watch ww programming easy. I'm paying for it already.
Speaker 2: So in the beginning of the show, we talked about
Speaker 2: truth with Gunther and the right and the fact that
Speaker 2: he got the win in the way that he did.
Speaker 2: We talked about the spectacle and how in everything is special,
Speaker 2: nothing is special. But we're gonna talk about the part
Speaker 2: of the wrestling industry that doesn't necessarily trend, but determines
Speaker 2: whether the industry actually survives as something human. We're going
Speaker 2: to talk about Access, not WWE Access, because that was
Speaker 2: a show from back of the day that's copyrighted. But
Speaker 2: first let's establish something clearly so nobody misunderstands what I'm
Speaker 2: about to say. WWE, I said this earlier in the
Speaker 2: second segment, is not in danger. They are not going
Speaker 2: to lose their spot as the top of the wrestling industry.
Speaker 2: They're not going to lose it to AW They're not
Speaker 2: going to lose it to Anthem Entertainment and TNA Wrestling.
Speaker 2: They're not going to lose it to an upstart promotion.
Speaker 2: They will sell out arenas no matter where they go,
Speaker 2: and they're selling out arenas all around the world, and
Speaker 2: they're selling out arenas in Europe with the hottest crowds
Speaker 2: that you could ever imagine. Liver remre phenomenal. We'll see
Speaker 2: how phenomenal Aj Styles is in Germany when they when
Speaker 2: he wrestles Gunther. But he is phenomenal. Let's just put that.
Speaker 2: Let's I digress, but let's just remember that Aj Styles
Speaker 2: ilereno ireremoremo phenomena. The content itself is accessible, instantly, globally distributed,
Speaker 2: endlessly rewatchable, and anyone with a phone in their hands
Speaker 2: can review it, clip it, critique it, or crown themselves
Speaker 2: an expert. Hey what do you think I'm doing here
Speaker 2: on the air? But this what we're seeing today. Love
Speaker 2: him or hate him, This was the vision that Vince
Speaker 2: McMahon had when he launched twenty four to seven, when
Speaker 2: he launched WW twenty four to seven on premium television cable,
Speaker 2: and then when they folded twenty four to seven the
Speaker 2: original WWE network was stablished, and that this is exactly
Speaker 2: what he wanted. This was the vision all along from McMahon.
Speaker 2: And again, love him or hate him, whatever his shenanigans
Speaker 2: were or may not have been, I'm sure he had
Speaker 2: his shenanigans. Oh sure. But the one thing that you
Speaker 2: can't deny is his vision for the wrestling industry. He
Speaker 2: went from the territorial industry. His dad hated the fact
Speaker 2: that he wanted that Vince wanted to take it national
Speaker 2: and fold all the independence into one federation. Look what
Speaker 2: it did for wrestling. Look what he did with WrestleMania.
Speaker 2: He was able to survive the Monday Night War, he
Speaker 2: was able to survive TNA trying to be trying to
Speaker 2: take away eyes from his product. He was able to
Speaker 2: survive a whole bunch of different challenges that the wrestling
Speaker 2: industry has. And we see the fruition of his vision
Speaker 2: back in the two thousands when the twenty four to
Speaker 2: seven pay per view pay TV channel launched into what
Speaker 2: we know today as the WW Network on Netflix, or
Speaker 2: at least WW programming on Netflix. So in that sense,
Speaker 2: the vision did work. Nowadays, since Vincickmann stepped the way
Speaker 2: because of his shenanigans and the accusations of his shenanigans.
Speaker 2: Under Triple H, WWE has drawn a clear boundary for
Speaker 2: one thing. Political content will not be part of WW programming.
Speaker 2: So you won't see you won't see Barack Obama impersonators.
Speaker 2: Gonna see Hillary Clinton impersonators. You're not gonna see Donald
Speaker 2: Trump impersonators. There's not gonna No one's gonna appear in
Speaker 2: the show like that, not thoughing Vin sick Man did
Speaker 2: it back in the day. Of course, Donald Trump wasn't
Speaker 2: put wasn't a politician when he appeared to WrestleMania and
Speaker 2: when he let vincick Man hold WrestleMania four and five
Speaker 2: in the in in in the Trump properties. So you're
Speaker 2: not gonna see him around anymore, at least not in
Speaker 2: the WWE. Because WWE has positioned itself as a shared
Speaker 2: cultural space, a place where families, generations, and backgrounds can
Speaker 2: sit in the same building and cheer for the same moments,
Speaker 2: which is the reason why even so, even though people
Speaker 2: do have complicated feelings about holding WWE shows in Saudi Arabia,
Speaker 2: at least, the fact is with the Saudi fans, they're
Speaker 2: still chanting, they're still cheering for the same things that
Speaker 2: we're cheering for, because it's just wrestling. It's wrestling. Wrestling
Speaker 2: is the way that the ww does. It transcends those boundaries,
Speaker 2: and for the most part, content is still family friendly
Speaker 2: But here's the problem. The problem isn't the product on
Speaker 2: the screen, it's the cost of being in the building.
Speaker 2: So Chico and I are going to go to the
Speaker 2: Go Home Monday Night rob before the Royal Rumble later
Speaker 2: this month. I will be on January the twenty sixth.
Speaker 2: We actually have the upper level seats, the upper bowl
Speaker 2: seats to that show. And you know it's gonna be
Speaker 2: a fun show. Don't get me wrong. It's gonna be
Speaker 2: a lot of fun to be at that show, because
Speaker 2: WWE great fun. Ww wrestling is just great fun anyway,
Speaker 2: no matter what, no matter who you're watching, no matter what,
Speaker 2: which billionaire is promoting it or billionaire company. But here's
Speaker 2: the thing. Upper bowl seats after taxes and fees, one
Speaker 2: hundred and sixty dollars in the upper bowl of the
Speaker 2: Scotia Bank Arena. Back in March last year's Elimination Chamber
Speaker 2: at Rogers Center, upper level five hundred level seats two
Speaker 2: hundred and sixty dollars. Now, compare that in March two
Speaker 2: thy and twenty three Edges twenty fifth anniversary, I bought
Speaker 2: an upper bowl ticket at Scotia Bank Arena for sixty
Speaker 2: dollars thirty days before the Endeavor merger was finalized. Now
Speaker 2: I was sitting on the floor eleven rows away from
Speaker 2: the Copeland family because I was able to get a
Speaker 2: media pass and take some pictures. Beautiful, great, but just
Speaker 2: in case, I still wanted to be there for Edges
Speaker 2: twenty fifth anniversary, and that was a sixty dollars ticket.
Speaker 2: Compare that to back in two thousand and three, the
Speaker 2: fallout of on the WWE Raw Fallout show after WWE
Speaker 2: No Way Out, where The Rock defeated Hulk Hogan out
Speaker 2: of pay per view for the second time in a row,
Speaker 2: this time in Montreal. Back in two thousand and three,
Speaker 2: the upper Bowl ticket was twenty dollars. Twenty freaking dollars.
Speaker 2: If you adjust that for inflation to twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: that's fifty four dollars today or back in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: Rather when Edges twenty fifth anniversary, so fifty four dollars
Speaker 2: to sixty dollars. There were not much, not much in
Speaker 2: terms of, like you know, when you factor inflation, the
Speaker 2: buying power of the ticket was still relatively stable, relatively stable.
Speaker 2: Here's the part that doesn't show up in press releases
Speaker 2: from the WWEE. Yes, the profits are off the roof, Yes,
Speaker 2: the gate, the draws, the the amount of money they're
Speaker 2: taking in from live performances, from live shows, even without
Speaker 2: house shows anymore, they're phenomenal numbers. Okay, but the question
Speaker 2: is though, the problem the question answer, but the quest.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, let me say that again. The problem is
Speaker 2: that most family incomes didn't triple. The cost of living exploded,
Speaker 2: not just from Canada but in the United States. Wages, however,
Speaker 2: didn't follow the explosion of the cost of living. I
Speaker 2: was talking with John Dawson the other day, miss him
Speaker 2: on the show. He's a big fan, working dad, working guy,
Speaker 2: two young sons who love wrestling, a wife who grew
Speaker 2: into a love for wrestling. And the reason why he
Speaker 2: can't take his family the live shows anymore isn't lack
Speaker 2: of interest. It's cost and that's also costing him his
Speaker 2: wrestling fandom. Sentiment of that is spreading out throughout North America,
Speaker 2: even in household where both parents are working. WWE has
Speaker 2: always branded itself as a family show that identity matters
Speaker 2: and will always matter, because when families are priced out
Speaker 2: of the building in the under three years, something and
Speaker 2: I mean something I can't tell you what it is
Speaker 2: right now is out of alignment. I wish I could
Speaker 2: tell you what's out of alignment, but I can't. But
Speaker 2: here is where I just don't critique what's happening, offer hope,
Speaker 2: a hope that creates opportunity, not for resentment but for
Speaker 2: independent wrestling. And yes, I've been away from independent wrestling
Speaker 2: for a while. Last show I was at before this
Speaker 2: one before December to twenty eighth, at Great Canadian Wrestlings
Speaker 2: Seasons Beatings, I was there. The last show I went
Speaker 2: to with Great Canadian Wrestling was January fourth last year,
Speaker 2: as well as I did an independent show with Oshawa
Speaker 2: Wrestling in June and ran sound for that. So unfortunately
Speaker 2: I haven't been to a lot lately. However, gonna get
Speaker 2: back into it because on December to twenty eighth, going
Speaker 2: to Season's Beatings with GCW, nice venue, good seats, clear
Speaker 2: sight lines, real interaction between the fans and the wrestlers,
Speaker 2: not just when they were in the ring, but when
Speaker 2: they're at the merch tables selling their own merch. You
Speaker 2: get to meet the wrestlers, shake their hands, You can
Speaker 2: cut promos against them and they'll play along. You got
Speaker 2: little ten year old kids going up to these wrestlers
Speaker 2: who are twice their size and twice their age, three
Speaker 2: times their age sometimes and they're just ragging on them.
Speaker 2: So much fun. It's so much for the kids to
Speaker 2: have that outlet there, and it's fun to see all
Speaker 2: that happening. It's not just the kids, but their families,
Speaker 2: their parents, their grandparents, all them together. The wrestling itself
Speaker 2: in the ring, top notch, Daniel Dirt, Frankie Falbo, to
Speaker 2: my good friends in the industry. They had a two
Speaker 2: camera production going live to tape TV quality. I was
Speaker 2: even able to do some videos switching to help out,
Speaker 2: to help out with the show, and I'm realizing something
Speaker 2: that night. Personally, for myself, my home just isn't in
Speaker 2: the crowd anymore. It's calling the matches, producing the shows,
Speaker 2: helping tell the stories, and that is okay. I don't
Speaker 2: know if I'll be able to get to WWE. I
Speaker 2: would that's the dream come true, to take Michael cole'spot,
Speaker 2: But you know, maybe independent wrestling is worred. It is
Speaker 2: for me personally in terms of in terms of working
Speaker 2: in the industry. But you get everybody together, your family's
Speaker 2: can afford a good night of wrestling for I would
Speaker 2: and food. Wrestling and food and you know drinks if
Speaker 2: you want to all for under a family four, A
Speaker 2: family four can do that for less than one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty dollars. You want to spend a little bit
Speaker 2: morn Yeah, less than two hundred. It's a two hundred.
Speaker 2: You're spending just two hundred dollars for a family outing
Speaker 2: and for a family of four, like John's loves wrestling.
Speaker 2: Great way to keep the wrestling fandom going. And that's
Speaker 2: where it is for independent wrestling. That's where that's where
Speaker 2: you have hope in the industry because WWE will always
Speaker 2: be spectacle, the Globe brand, the Mountain Top. Independent wrestling, though,
Speaker 2: is the heartbeat. If the heartbeat stops, the body will
Speaker 2: not survive. So what am I saying through all this?
Speaker 2: Support independent wrestling, Support your local promotions, support the people
Speaker 2: building something real at a price that families can afford.
Speaker 2: That's it for this week on Ringside Heat. If you
Speaker 2: want to follow me, you can follow me at lex
Speaker 2: Tan Media. You can follow the show at Ringside Heat.
Speaker 2: We're on YouTube, We're on Instagram, x Facebook, TikTok, Patreon
Speaker 2: and Threads. We're on Saga I sixty Am Wednesday's twelve noon,
Speaker 2: five pm nine pm Eastern all nude times for us
Speaker 2: on the radio on AM Radio, so tune in anytime
Speaker 2: you want as well. We'll be on Spotify sometime soon.
Speaker 2: This has been ringside heat, where the lights are brightest.
Speaker 2: Remember that the roots go deepest, and we do remember
Speaker 2: things that you probably forgot. Take care top to you
Speaker 2: next week