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Speaker 1: It's business time, baby. You are listening to Solo Monster.

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It sounds off. I love you so, mama monster, dude,

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I want your soul. Mind a woman.

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Speaker 2: You got grown ass wrestlers in the back going on Twitter.

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Speaker 1: Come over here, party? Is that Pet Patterson? You have legs?

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The week I was ninety nine percent positive. It was

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just chessed up.

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Speaker 2: Now I have been begging him for a job on

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every every platform I can, and I want.

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Speaker 1: To know the reason why you won't park. This is

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episode nine seventy one, The Solomn Monster Sounds Off number

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one in wrestling on Apple podcasts in all of the

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United States to kick off the week. Last week, it

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is Sunday, July twelve, twenty twenty six. I am the Solomonster.

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I finished the damn story and now we start a

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new one here this week. That was very cool to see.

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Thank you all for the support. This was a historic week,

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not only when I saw my name above cornets, but

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because this was the first time two major world titles

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have changed hands on TV in the same week since

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nineteen ninety nine. That was last century. That was the

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week that Mankind's WWF title went over the Rock aired

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on Raw and Kevin Nash dropped the WCW World title

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to Hollywood Hogan with the fingerpoke of doom on Nitro

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Cmpunk is the new WWE Champion and Kenny Omega is

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the new AW World Champion. And we got two great

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television main events to go along with those title changes,

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which is why I said when they were over, or

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I said it on Monday. Anyway, I can't hate on

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it because the matches we got this week were so good.

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I can critique it. I can express my reservations with

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certain things or the way that they were done, but

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I cannot hate on either of those matches. We got

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two of the best TV matches all year within forty

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eight hours of each other. And I've got a lot

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to say about that night's main event, predictions for the

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three matches that we know of so far for next

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weekend show, the return of a former AW World champion

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on Collision last night, and it is time once again.

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You have been waiting for it, you've been asking for it.

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A new season of Dark Side of the Ring is

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upon us, and they graced us with a double episode

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for the season premiere. I watched both episodes on Jeff

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Jarrett and the Battle for TNA, and I have much

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to say about it, So that's all coming up on

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today's show. By the way, this show already lasted longer

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than Connor McGregor did in his UFC return last night

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Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano. They only lasted seventeen seconds

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and was still more entertaining than whatever the hell that

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was last night. Dude has one win in five losses

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in the last nine years with a body made of

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paper mache. This guy is washed. I want to know

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more about this person who bet nine hundred thousand dollars

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on Holloway to win right before the fight started. What

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did that guy know? And did his name happen to

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be Gregory mcconnor. These are the questions that I have

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swirling in my mind. If you would like to support

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the podcast, you may do so on the Solemn Monster

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dot com. The PayPal link is at the top of

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the page. Can't miss it. Ten dollars or more, we'll

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get your nickname and a shout out. We had a

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big first week on YouTube for the month of July.

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All that momentum and support from week one carried on

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over into week two. You guys killed it. We had

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a bunch of three hour streams. Funny SmackDown goes to

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two hours and the Sound Off. The SoundOff streams on

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YouTube moved to three but we've been having a lot

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of fun on there. I might even bust out the

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phone calls as a bonus goal this week. We'll see

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maybe a't some point if you guys would like to

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see that. But I want to say thank you to

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Miss Madness Michelle Mills, always supporting the podcast, has always

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much appreciated. The Portland pop Star, Paul Hamilton, Big b Bryant, Bessera,

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The Diamond, Dallas Dance Machine, Harrison Soep, Velvet Revolver, Robert Murray,

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Big Time, Boris Weinman, the Chicago Slayer Willie Aicherd, speaking

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of Chicago, woke up to a flight cancelation this morning

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for one of my flights for the next Hog Show.

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They canceled by flight. They rescheduled me for five o'clock

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in the morning. Fuck off, So now I have to

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deal with this, But I will be in Chicago at

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the end of September for House of Glory. Q the Destroyer,

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Thank you brother, Best in the Game, Trey Porter, Night Stalker,

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Ni f Alsafar and Killshot Keith Hart. Now I mentioned

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House of Glory before we had a big announcement this week.

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We've been getting a lot of questions about where our

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next event is going to be streaming because Hog is

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no longer going to be streaming on Triller TV. We

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have big farewell to Triller and so people have been

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wondering where is Hog gonna land and at least for

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this next show. This isn't necessarily going to be for

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all future shows, although it might be, but that's that's

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being worked one as we speak before our next event,

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which is our biggest event of the summer, one of

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our biggest events all year, High Intensity, coming up on

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Friday Night, August seventh, back at the NYC Arena in Jamaica, Queens.

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High Intensity is going to have the Hardys defending their

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Hog Tag Team titles, the return of the Mad King

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Eddie Kingston, The Blackheart Leo Rush is back to challenge

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for the Cruiserweight Championship, Bang Bang, Ricky Sosa makes his

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NYC debut, The Queen of Spades Shane of Basler will

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be in action. Soon to be TNA Hall of Fame

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or Amazing Red it's a great mix of aw TNA

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Hog and other indie talents, all under one roof, all

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streaming live and free on u YouTube. You can watch

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the show for free live on the House of Glory

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YouTube channel. The handle for the official channel it's at

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HG Wrestling. I mean, you'll see it. It's got close

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to ninety thousand or so subscribers, a lot of great

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content up there, recent matches, historic matches from the promotion.

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But for the first time, and this is something that

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you know, I've been pushing pretty hard for. It's been

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in the works for a while and I think it's

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going to be great everybody. Hopefully we'll be able to

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congregate there in the live chat and watch along. And

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you got permission to ditch SmackDown, that's fine. That day

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is a Friday night, or you can go for the

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dual screen experience. Whatever floats your boat. But it's going

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to be a lot of fun. If you've never caught

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a House of Glory show before, there's never been a

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better chance than now to do so again. It's one

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of our biggest events of the year. Seven pm Eastern

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start time at least for this show, as far as

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future events, will keep you guys posted. One more Hog

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note that I wanted to mention, and it can concerns

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one of the ogs of House of Glory who called

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it a career this week after thirteen years. He's a

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former Crown Jewel Champion. He has wins over Zach Saber, Junior,

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Leo Rush, and Ray Phoenix, and even a young Maxwell

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Jacob Friedman. In his very first House of Glory match,

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this man was part of the first ever ladder match

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in HOG history, the first ever no ropes match in HOG,

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and the first match that I ever had the chance

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to be on commentary for. My very first night in

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House of Glory in twenty eighteen was an Impact Wrestling

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World Title Open Challenge that was being hosted by Austin

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Aires and he defended the belt against the mystery man,

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who turned out to be cash Flow Ken Broadway, and

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I just wanted to say that it has been my

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pleasure to be on the call for so many of

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his matches. Ken has always been nothing but kind to

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me in every one of our interactions. I wish him

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nothing but the best in whatever he pursues in the future,

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and hopefully this finds its way back to him. I

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just wanted to say thank you. I'll start with this

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because this news broke right after I dropped last week's podcast,

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because of course it did, literally got the podcast up

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and I started getting tweets from people, well, Solo Monster

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could work the shamous news into the SoundOff, and I'm like,

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you gotta be fucking kidding me. But yes, last Sunday

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it was fightful. Select first a report that Seamus had

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recently turned down a contract offer to remain with WWE,

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and that he would be leaving shortly. The report also

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noted that WWE had previously approached him about taking a

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restructured deal, not the first time we've heard about this,

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which he has said to have swiftly rejected. And if

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you check his social media accounts, he is now going

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by his real name on there, which is as fairoughly. Yes,

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I'm saying it correct now because I misspoke. When I

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talked about this on the Uncrowned Wrestling Show on Tuesday,

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I called him Farelli and so Q, all of the seamous,

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the Irish Italian memes and comments s Farrelly. My apologies

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to all of my Irish friends out there. You'll have

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to excuse me, but He's also been moved to the

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alumni section on WWE dot Com. On Friday, he tweeted

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banger after banger after banger after banger, followed by an

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Irish message that translated to goodbye my WWE friends, and

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it was quite the shock. I was not expecting to

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see Seamus on the outs with WWE after being there

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for nearly two full decades. He underwent shoulder surgery in December,

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a month after his last appearance in the ring, which

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was teaming with John Cena and raymus Stereo in a

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win over the Judgment Day on Raw at Madison Square Garden.

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That was John Cena's last ever Raw match, and as

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it turned out, little did we know or did he know,

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that it would be Seamus's last match, but that's what

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it turned out to be. Now. When the news initially broke,

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I was very confused because he himself had confirmed late

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twenty twenty four or ely twenty twenty five, he had

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sat down at some point in that time period with

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Chris van Vliet, who, by the way, Chris has been

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killing it lately with all these interviews that he's been doing.

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I saw he just drop one with of all people,

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the great colleague. This past week, he's getting these interviews

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left and right, So congrats to him on that he's

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killing it. But he had interviewed Seamus and he was

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asked about this because there were reports at that time,

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in the fall of twenty four that Seamus had just

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resigned a multi year deal with WWE, and he confirmed

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it from his own lips, and he said that he

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had just resigned not long before that for five years.

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Said he even joked with his wife like he'll be

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fifty two at the end of his deal or something

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like that. So I immediately thought of that, and I said, well,

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wait a minute, the math is not mathing here. If

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he signed a five year deal in twenty four, then

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how is it that you know, they're talking about this

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like his deal is coming up, not that he's been

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really least or he's requested his release or anything like that. So,

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you know, this doesn't make any sense to me. And

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what I have to assume, and I don't know the

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legalities of it, but what I assume is that they

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wanted him to take a pay cut that much. We

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know he said no, thank you, and they were not

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willing to pay him. I guess or continue paying him

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what he was being paid because they felt like he

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was not worth the money that they were investing in him,

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and so they came to an understanding or maybe in

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a situation like that, you have to allow the talent

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to walk, you know, because you have this agreement, you

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have this signed contract. If you don't want to pay

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him that amount of money anymore and you can't come

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to terms on this new deal, then I assume that's

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his that's his way out effectively, I guess, like an outclause.

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I mean, that's how I assume this is all working here.

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And we still don't know exactly when he'll officially be

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a free man. The fact that he's in the alumni

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section already and you see the changeover on his social

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media accounts. If he's not already free and clear, it

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sounds like you will be very soon. As far as

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him being asked to take a pay cut, Dave Melter

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talked about this on Wrestling Observer Radio this week. He said,

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the TKOH thing from talking to people there on him

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and other situations, is that they're very willing to pay

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really giant money to people who they perceive as the stars,

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like a sports team. But when it's older wrestlers who

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they perceive as being on their downside and have big contracts,

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they're very much like an NFL team that will go

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rather than pay a guy a giant salary who's on

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the downside, we would rather spend our resources on somebody

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younger who also we can pay less to. That's the

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TKO way, and it all comes down to knowing your value.

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This is what I talked about on Tuesday when I

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first talked about this, and I've talked about this before,

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or when we heard about this with the New Day

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and the New Day bounced, and that was a big

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shock too to a lot of people. Kofi Kingston Xavier

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Woods leaving wwee like it was unfathomable. You know, Kofe

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alone had been there for about twenty years, and you

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would figure that at this point, either he's going to

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just when he's good and ready, he'll just retire and

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that'll be the end of it, or he'll just be

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with WWE, you know, for the rest of his wrestling life.

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And that turned out not to be the case. And

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now we're just waiting to find out where they're going

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to land. I think we know where they're going to land,

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but they're going to be free agents in a matter

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of weeks, among others including the MotorCity machine Guns. It

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there's going to be a lot of moves made in

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these next several weeks. But it comes down to just

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knowing your worth. I can see it from both sides.

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This is not a black or white thing to me.

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Like I can see it from Shamus his perspective, I

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can see it from the talents perspective in this case,

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if they're not using him, I could see it from

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TKO's perspective. They're not wrestling people. They're business people who

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have this asset and they're looking to, you know, maximize

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shareholder value. And they're looking that's why you have high

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ticket prices. They're just looking to make as much money

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as they can while also cutting and saving as much

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money as they can. Don't forget all a debt that

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they also have. So I totally understand them looking at

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the books and saying, hey, wait a minute, we're paying

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this guy a million dollars. Let's just say right, because

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I'm sure he's he's got to be clear in seven figures, right,

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one million dollars one point two million dollars one point five.

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It's got to be somewhere in that range. He's been

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there for a long time, he's been a headline performer

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or former world champion, and yet we're not doing anything

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with him. And he's older, and he's been injured, and

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he hasn't even been on television at all in twenty

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twenty six so far. So what the hell are we

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paying him seven figures for? Right, Let's go to him

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and ask for half. Let's just say half that, right,

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Half of a million plus is still not a bad

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chunk of change. But if you're Shamus and this is

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what you sign for, and this is what you agree to,

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and this is what you feel like you're worth, You've

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you've given your body to this. Every single time Shamus

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goes out there, you can rely on him to go

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out there and have a killer match every single time.

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I can understand him looking at that and going I

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can't accept this. This is a slap in the face,

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just as a matter pride. Yes, it's still good money,

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but it's not the money that I agree to. It's

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not the money that maybe he feels he can make

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by going somewhere else. And so that was a breaking point,

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he said no, and this is where we are now.

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You know, he's been with the company for a long time.

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I mean he first signed with them. It was six seven,

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it was somewhere in that range. And in that time

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again three times WWE Champion beat John Cena for his

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very first title on pay per view, World Heavyweight Champion,

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United States Champion, Tag Team Champion, King of the Ring,

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Royal Rumble, money in the Bank, you name it. He

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did it all but one. I know there's been other

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titles introduced since them, but who cares about those? All

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but one? The Intercontinental Championship And how many times have

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I come on the podcast and fantasy book different scenarios

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where Man, you can get the IC title on Seamus

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And what a moment it's gonna be. You could tell

301
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that story. He's always been so vocal in interviews about

302
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what that title meant to him as a kid growing up.

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All of his favorites held it and it's the one

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championship that has eluded him that haunts him in his dreams.

305
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There's a story, and maybe the only one frankly left

306
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to tell with Seamus, But damn it, there's a story

307
00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:15,000
there to tell and they didn't do it, not that

308
00:16:15,039 --> 00:16:16,960
they didn't have plenty of chances to do so over

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00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,000
the years, but they didn't do it. And that sucks

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00:16:20,039 --> 00:16:23,360
that he's never going to hold that championship. But you

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00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:25,720
think back to the body of work this guy put together, Man,

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00:16:25,759 --> 00:16:27,799
all the great matches he's had over the years. I mean,

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he's never going to be that guy that you look

314
00:16:29,639 --> 00:16:31,840
back on and go, man, he was. He was a

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00:16:31,879 --> 00:16:35,360
difference maker. He was a big draw, He was a

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00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,080
main event talent that stayed in the main event universally,

317
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you know, throughout his entire run. That's not who he was.

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He was one of these people, very much like a

319
00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,320
Kevin Owens or a Sammy z Ain, who when you

320
00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:49,120
had a need, whether it was in a singles situation

321
00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,480
or a tag team situation, whether it was as a babyface,

322
00:16:52,559 --> 00:16:55,679
whether it was as a heel, you can reliably and

323
00:16:55,759 --> 00:16:59,240
safely lean on Shamus to go out there and deliver

324
00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:01,600
what you were looking for each and every single time.

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And even as he got older and even as the

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00:17:04,839 --> 00:17:07,519
injuries piled on, he still knew how to go out

327
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there and have again banger matches. It became a gimmick

328
00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:12,680
for him. But it's true the Clash at the Castle match.

329
00:17:12,759 --> 00:17:16,599
To me, in my opinion, that is his greatest match

330
00:17:16,599 --> 00:17:19,920
in WWE. The match with Gunther in twenty twenty two,

331
00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:22,400
Clash at the Castle. If you wanted to say the

332
00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:25,200
triple Threat at Wrestleminnie of thirty nine with McIntyre and

333
00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:27,720
Gunther and Seamus, I wouldn't argue with you. That was

334
00:17:27,759 --> 00:17:30,279
another great one. You can go down the list. He's

335
00:17:30,319 --> 00:17:32,000
had a lot of really great matches in his career.

336
00:17:32,279 --> 00:17:34,640
He's had a lot of injuries in his career. I've

337
00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:37,480
mentioned the spinal stenosis. That's not something that's going to

338
00:17:37,559 --> 00:17:40,279
get better, right. It gets progressively worse as time goes on.

339
00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:44,680
It shortens careers. Look at Steve Austin Copeland. I mean,

340
00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:47,400
he's getting to close out his career on his own

341
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:49,519
terms now in aaw but he missed nine years of

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00:17:49,559 --> 00:17:52,799
his career because of it. And that's not the only

343
00:17:52,839 --> 00:17:55,519
injuries had other neck issues. He's had shoulder issues. That's

344
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what's kept him out of action this year. He's beat up.

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He's forty eight years old and beat up up. There's

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probably a lot of people listening to this podcast right

347
00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:06,519
now who are relatively healthy forty eight year olds, But

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you're not wrestling the matches that Seamus has been wrestling

349
00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:11,960
over the last twenty years. He goes in there, he

350
00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:16,000
doesn't hold back. He goes in there. He's having these stiff,

351
00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:20,200
fucking battles with people and it's great, but it weighs

352
00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:22,119
on you, you know, and the wear and tear. It's

353
00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,160
very real. So he's not the same performer maybe that

354
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:26,960
he was five or ten years ago. But I think

355
00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,839
he still absolutely has a lot to offer. He clearly

356
00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,759
is not done with his career. We don't know exactly

357
00:18:32,759 --> 00:18:35,680
what the landing spot will be, right, we can speculate

358
00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:38,559
on that, but he's not done. And he told that

359
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,119
to Chris when he interviewed him. He said, I'm going

360
00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:43,680
to go into the wheels fall off. I'm going to

361
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go until life physically cannot do it anymore. Doesn't sound

362
00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:50,880
like a guy who's ready for retirement. I don't think

363
00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:52,759
this is the way he wants to go out either

364
00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:58,680
off an injury. So the question is where does he go. AW. Look,

365
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:01,759
there's a lot of xw WE guys that end up

366
00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,880
finding a home in AAW and I'm sure Tony Khan

367
00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:07,640
would love the idea of bringing Seamus into the company

368
00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:10,279
doesn't mean it's going to happen. Maybe they don't come

369
00:19:10,279 --> 00:19:13,559
to terms. But if Seamus wants to work there, he's

370
00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:15,599
going to work there, because Tony Khan ain't going to

371
00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:17,920
say no. And I guarantee you I don't need you

372
00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,200
know news reports online to tell me that this guy

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00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:24,039
has friends in that company who are going to go

374
00:19:24,079 --> 00:19:26,640
to bat for him and are going to vouch for

375
00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:29,079
him and want him to come in so they could

376
00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:32,640
work together, whether it's across the ring from each other

377
00:19:32,839 --> 00:19:35,480
or on the same side. I'm looking at you, Claudio.

378
00:19:36,279 --> 00:19:38,480
Those two have a lot of history together. I'm sure

379
00:19:38,519 --> 00:19:42,559
the two of them would love to work together again. Evidently,

380
00:19:42,599 --> 00:19:46,680
AW and sources and people within the company had no

381
00:19:46,759 --> 00:19:49,200
idea that Seamus would be leading the company. This is

382
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,039
not something that they had heard rumors about. This came

383
00:19:52,079 --> 00:19:53,480
out of the blue for them as much as it

384
00:19:53,559 --> 00:19:58,440
did for you and me and anybody else. But you know,

385
00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:01,119
as far as Seamus joining AW, Brian Alvarez was talking

386
00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:03,519
about this un Wrestling Observer Live this week and he said, look,

387
00:20:03,559 --> 00:20:05,880
there's a lot of people in AW who like Seamus.

388
00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:09,359
They have nothing against him. Personally. But they are looking

389
00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:11,440
at this and hearing these stories, and they're seeing all

390
00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:14,160
these talents leave and become available, and they're saying, man,

391
00:20:14,279 --> 00:20:19,039
like another one of these guys, you know, another you know,

392
00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:21,119
almost fifty year old, that we're going to bring in

393
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,200
and take spots away from people who already are struggling

394
00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:27,559
to find time on television. I get it, you know

395
00:20:27,599 --> 00:20:29,920
they're not wrong. Tony Khan has a lot of people

396
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:34,079
under contract and typically only has four hours in a

397
00:20:34,079 --> 00:20:37,359
given week of television to work with. There's only so

398
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,440
many spots to go around. You bring in somebody like Seamus,

399
00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:42,599
you better damn well use them for the money you're

400
00:20:42,599 --> 00:20:44,400
probably paying them. But if you're going to put him

401
00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:48,279
on TV, somebody is off TV. So who is that

402
00:20:48,319 --> 00:20:49,839
going to be? Is it going to be somebody low

403
00:20:49,839 --> 00:20:52,640
on the totem pole, like a Leo Rush or a

404
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:57,839
Mark Davis who have been getting more opportunities on TV.

405
00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:01,599
Are people like that going to fall off? Are they

406
00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,119
going to try to do a better job of rotating

407
00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:06,119
some of the other names in and out. I don't know.

408
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,160
It's a valid concern. I would say if there are

409
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,359
aw talents who feel that way, But at the same time,

410
00:21:12,519 --> 00:21:15,319
like I absolutely believe he would be an asset in

411
00:21:15,319 --> 00:21:17,920
that company. He's not going to move the needle. It's

412
00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,000
not going to be one of these like situations where

413
00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:23,119
he comes in and it has some massive effect like

414
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:25,720
when CM Punk you know, came into aw But he

415
00:21:25,799 --> 00:21:29,240
wasn't that guy in WWE. So I don't know why

416
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,319
anybody would have any expectations that it would lead to

417
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,160
something like that. You're going to bring him in and

418
00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:36,480
he's going to be able to go out there and

419
00:21:36,519 --> 00:21:38,559
give you the match out put that Tony Kahan loves,

420
00:21:38,559 --> 00:21:40,720
Tony kinn loves great wrestling matches. Well, guess what. This

421
00:21:40,759 --> 00:21:42,519
guy could come in and have great wrestling matches with

422
00:21:42,599 --> 00:21:45,559
every single person on that roster, young and old, old

423
00:21:45,599 --> 00:21:50,160
and new. That's where his value is. That and obviously

424
00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,359
he has a name from television that people will know.

425
00:21:53,519 --> 00:21:58,400
He brings a certain credibility to the products. This guy's

426
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:03,240
the real deal. To watch what he does now. One

427
00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:05,000
thing that could be an issue is the fact that

428
00:22:05,039 --> 00:22:07,200
to my knowledge, he is still represent that I believe

429
00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:10,720
by Nick Lapiccolo. He used to work for Paradigm and

430
00:22:10,759 --> 00:22:13,519
no longer does, and he certainly does not have any

431
00:22:13,599 --> 00:22:15,839
liking for Tony Kahan, nor does Tony Khan have a

432
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,920
liking for Nick Lapiccolo. But if he represents Seamus, then

433
00:22:20,319 --> 00:22:22,359
he's going to have to be part of any negotiations

434
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:25,240
that take place to get him into the company. Yeah.

435
00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:27,400
I said this the other day though, Like if you're

436
00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:30,119
an agent for somebody, if you represent somebody, you represent

437
00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:32,559
the client. If the client wants something, then it's on

438
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:34,519
you to go ahead and make that happen. So at

439
00:22:34,559 --> 00:22:36,440
the end of the day, if Seamus wants to work

440
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,279
for AAW he's going to work for AW And whoever

441
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:41,960
is going to have to do the negotiations is going

442
00:22:42,039 --> 00:22:45,359
to do their job. So it's a little weird. It

443
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:47,559
might be a little awkward if he's involved in all

444
00:22:47,599 --> 00:22:50,240
of this, But if Seamus wants to go, then I

445
00:22:50,559 --> 00:22:52,680
have no doubt in my mind that that's why he'll

446
00:22:52,759 --> 00:22:57,799
end up. But as far as his end in WWE, look,

447
00:22:57,839 --> 00:22:59,599
I mean, he had not been focused on for a

448
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,319
very long forget the injury. He had not been focused

449
00:23:02,319 --> 00:23:04,960
on for a very long time. It was not as

450
00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:08,039
if if Seamus came back to television all of a sudden,

451
00:23:08,079 --> 00:23:09,880
I expected that Triple H was going to have this

452
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:13,559
big renewed push in mind for him, right, that just

453
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,160
wasn't going to be the case. He would have been

454
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,000
on Raw. He would have been out there to go out,

455
00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:19,640
you know, been able to go out there rather and

456
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:22,039
have great matches with people who are on the upswing.

457
00:23:23,039 --> 00:23:24,880
Seamus at this point felt like he was going to

458
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:27,240
be at a certain level. Maybe they didn't have enough

459
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,119
faith in him to stay healthy, whatever it is, and

460
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,079
that's where he was going to be. It's still disappointing

461
00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:35,079
for his run to kind of end the way that

462
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:38,519
it did without any kind of fanfare or one last

463
00:23:38,559 --> 00:23:41,039
really great match. I do think it is kind of

464
00:23:41,039 --> 00:23:44,680
cool though that, you know, he did end up going

465
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,079
out as part of a kind of a special match.

466
00:23:47,279 --> 00:23:49,079
You know, John seen his last match, and if you

467
00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:52,160
remember the end of that match, I think Ray was

468
00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:54,839
it raymisteria, Like Seamus was like carrying him out on

469
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:57,640
his shoulders or something, or maybe Ray was unseen his back.

470
00:23:57,680 --> 00:23:59,799
I don't know. They were all like big smiles on

471
00:23:59,839 --> 00:24:02,000
their faces. They were all very happy and they were

472
00:24:02,039 --> 00:24:04,440
all celebrating together and that was kind of a nice moment.

473
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:07,079
But to go out with a whimper and not even

474
00:24:07,079 --> 00:24:10,440
a comment or a statement from WWE. No, you know,

475
00:24:10,839 --> 00:24:13,839
and that's fine. I mean in a way like obviously

476
00:24:13,839 --> 00:24:17,839
they're not under any obligation to say anything about this,

477
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:22,119
but it's just like, Okay, he's quietly gone after twenty

478
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,160
years you know, of working for the company, So that

479
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:26,880
that part of it kind of sucks for him to

480
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:30,480
go out with a whimper like that. But look, if

481
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:32,640
he lands in AW or if he goes to TNA,

482
00:24:32,759 --> 00:24:34,440
and I don't know if they could afford to pay him,

483
00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:36,359
it's not like he wouldn't have people to work with

484
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:40,359
in TNA either. Actually, in TNA, he would automatically be

485
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:45,079
one of their top guys from day one, automatically day one,

486
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:46,759
and he would have a lot of really great guys

487
00:24:46,759 --> 00:24:48,960
to work with there too. He'll have more to work

488
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:52,960
with though in AW and a greater visibility there. I'd

489
00:24:53,039 --> 00:24:54,920
like to see him end up there. But I totally

490
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,119
understand the people who were just sick of all the

491
00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:01,480
WWE cast offs and you know, older, older guys coming

492
00:25:01,519 --> 00:25:04,440
in now to take up spots. I get it, I

493
00:25:04,519 --> 00:25:07,200
get it, But just selfishly, as a fan of his,

494
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:08,920
I'd like to see him go in there. I'd like

495
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:11,000
to see him become a free agent early enough to

496
00:25:11,039 --> 00:25:13,160
where he can even pop up as a surprise maybe

497
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:16,759
in that casino Gauntlet match at Wembley. Right, doesn't have

498
00:25:16,799 --> 00:25:19,400
to win it, but imagine the reaction out there in

499
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:21,799
Wembley Stadium, and I don't know what music they would

500
00:25:21,839 --> 00:25:23,599
give him, but they hit the music and he comes

501
00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:26,079
out and men, what a moment that would be for

502
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:29,119
him And selfishly, I would love to see him be

503
00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:31,079
part of a C two as well. You know, the

504
00:25:31,079 --> 00:25:33,759
Continental Classic is coming up at the end of every year,

505
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,480
well around Robin Action going on. Imagine if Seamus was

506
00:25:37,519 --> 00:25:39,480
in this year's Seed too. You get Seamus in there

507
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:43,000
with Claudio and Brody King and Kevin Knight. I mean,

508
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:44,640
you can go down the list of all the talents

509
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,480
they have in that company, my god, and have him

510
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:51,079
in there as part of that. That would be special. Now,

511
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:54,519
on Monday Night, we got a bait and switch on

512
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,200
Monday Night Raw in the main event, which was supposed

513
00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:02,400
to be Cody Roades challenging Sammy for the WWE Championship.

514
00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,720
Sammy's ain only nine days into his title reign. We

515
00:26:06,759 --> 00:26:09,720
knew it wasn't gonna last long, but one would hope

516
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:11,319
that he would at least be able to get one

517
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:15,000
successful title defense under his belt before dropping that championship,

518
00:26:15,039 --> 00:26:18,119
but it was not to be, because instead we had

519
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:21,400
the return of CM Punk. I should think a lot

520
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:23,759
of us expected on that show. What we didn't expect

521
00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:26,000
was that he would be taking Cody's place in the

522
00:26:26,039 --> 00:26:29,039
main event that night and wrestling for the WWE Championship.

523
00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:31,680
But they were in Chicago, so of course the Chicago

524
00:26:31,759 --> 00:26:33,680
fans didn't seem to mind too much about the bait

525
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,880
and switch. Cody Rose was attacked, he was taken out

526
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:39,480
by Gunther at the beginning of the show. He was

527
00:26:39,519 --> 00:26:42,359
not medically cleared. They had a void to be filled

528
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,559
and Sammy's ain Honestly, you know what he was saying

529
00:26:45,599 --> 00:26:47,279
backstage made a lot of sense, where it's like, I

530
00:26:47,319 --> 00:26:49,559
don't even know I am defending my championship on Raw

531
00:26:49,559 --> 00:26:52,759
given that I'm the champion representing Smackdowns. So we'll wait

532
00:26:52,799 --> 00:26:54,839
and see where the chips fall on Friday, and we'll

533
00:26:54,839 --> 00:26:57,400
recalibrate and we'll say, and Adam Pearce is like, no,

534
00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,000
I don't think so we've promised the fans a championship

535
00:27:00,079 --> 00:27:03,759
match in Chicago and a championship matches what they shall have,

536
00:27:04,319 --> 00:27:05,960
and at that point you had to know what the

537
00:27:06,079 --> 00:27:08,319
end result of this was going to be. And sure enough,

538
00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:11,480
there he was outcome CM Punk, who only a few

539
00:27:11,519 --> 00:27:14,839
months ago told Cody Rhads you never know when a

540
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:18,960
championship opportunity might fall out of the sky. It wouldn't

541
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:22,440
you know. It fell right into his lap. And he's

542
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,400
in great shape. He's not out there looking like lou

543
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:29,200
Faarigno or anything like that, but he's clearly been working out,

544
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:31,920
you know, in a way that was very different from

545
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,720
the way he was working out before. So good for him.

546
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:36,839
He's had a couple of months off to recharge the

547
00:27:36,839 --> 00:27:39,920
batteries he went out there and the two of them.

548
00:27:40,319 --> 00:27:42,119
It's kind of funny when you think about it, because

549
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,000
going into the King of the Ring, if you remember,

550
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,400
one of my ideas was, man, you know, we gotta

551
00:27:48,519 --> 00:27:52,039
we can't just do Obafemi and jay Uso, or we

552
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:55,319
gotta shoot some kind of angle where Oba gets taken

553
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:57,799
out and then you can always have someone like CM

554
00:27:57,839 --> 00:28:01,119
Punk right take their place at the last second and

555
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:02,680
then go on to win King of the Ring and

556
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,000
then they have a championship opportunity at Summerslim, and they

557
00:28:06,039 --> 00:28:08,279
basically went with that idea. They just delayed it by

558
00:28:08,319 --> 00:28:11,519
a couple of weeks and instead of getting a championship

559
00:28:11,799 --> 00:28:14,680
opportunity at SummerSlam, Cmpunk just went and got the whole

560
00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:16,839
damn thing. And he's going to be walking into Summerslim

561
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:19,839
as the defending champion and he wins that title. On

562
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:24,319
Monday night, almost fifteen years to the day, almost that

563
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:29,920
he won his first WWE title in Chicago, Cmpunk once

564
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:32,960
again WWE champion and the two of them went out

565
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,480
there for twenty minutes and they had one of the

566
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,680
best raw television matches of the entire year. I love

567
00:28:38,759 --> 00:28:41,000
that main event on Monday Night. The atmosphere in the

568
00:28:41,039 --> 00:28:43,599
building just added so much to it because these people

569
00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:46,119
had been waiting for Punk, they were hoping for Punk.

570
00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:48,799
What they were not anticipating was Punk being in the

571
00:28:48,839 --> 00:28:51,799
main event. They were very excited and they were hanging

572
00:28:51,839 --> 00:28:54,039
on to every near fall. They were chanting his name.

573
00:28:54,119 --> 00:28:57,359
It was great. It was great. Just all this energy

574
00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:59,880
that you would expect from a big time main of

575
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:02,720
this could have been on a pl so. I was

576
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:04,160
a big fan of what they did in the main

577
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:06,640
event as far as the match itself is concerned, as

578
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:08,799
far as the outcome is concerned, I couldn't help but

579
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,920
feel torn when it was over. I felt bad that

580
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,200
Sammy's Ain in his first run, didn't even get one

581
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:17,960
successful title defense. I feel bad that his title run

582
00:29:18,119 --> 00:29:22,000
ended at nine days, didn't even get a full two

583
00:29:22,039 --> 00:29:23,920
weeks out of it. You had Saturday Night's main event

584
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:27,319
coming up, you had Summer Slim coming up, and they

585
00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:30,200
couldn't even get him there. Am I surprised by it?

586
00:29:30,279 --> 00:29:34,400
I'm not surprised. Surprised, I would say is not the

587
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:39,119
right word to use here. Disappointed, sure, but torn because

588
00:29:39,119 --> 00:29:43,319
now what this sets up is a major main event

589
00:29:43,359 --> 00:29:45,279
for Summer Slim this year, a match that I've been

590
00:29:45,319 --> 00:29:47,519
waiting a very long time to see, a match that

591
00:29:47,559 --> 00:29:50,920
I'm excited to see, maybe one of the few quite frankly,

592
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:52,759
that they could still do that would truly get me

593
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:57,200
excited at this point, and I'm looking forward to it.

594
00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,039
I just wish it didn't come at the expense of

595
00:29:59,039 --> 00:30:03,480
Sammy's Ain. He cut this unhinged promo backstage that they

596
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:06,680
put on their socials, and they showed it on SmackDown

597
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:09,359
on Friday nat they had a censor it because he

598
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:11,839
was going off on punk And how is it that

599
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:13,960
I could work for twenty four years and I can

600
00:30:14,079 --> 00:30:17,160
have this snatched away from me after just nine days.

601
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:19,359
This guy's gone for two months and he walks in

602
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:22,720
and he called him a motherfucker, and Sammy was just

603
00:30:22,799 --> 00:30:27,759
beside himself. Natty was on Busted Open Radio because she

604
00:30:27,799 --> 00:30:31,839
has a guest hosting gig on there, and she suggested

605
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,880
that Sammy's short lived run is Champion could very well

606
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,480
spark a new renaissance in his career. This is what

607
00:30:38,519 --> 00:30:41,799
she said. I actually think that Sammy is going to

608
00:30:41,839 --> 00:30:45,279
come out of this thing as a massive, massive babyface.

609
00:30:45,759 --> 00:30:47,799
Remember when the fans were booing him when he was

610
00:30:47,839 --> 00:30:51,079
getting ready to wrestle Trick Williams and everybody was kind

611
00:30:51,079 --> 00:30:53,440
of turning on him. Well, just as soon as our

612
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,359
fans can turn on someone, they could also get behind someone.

613
00:30:56,839 --> 00:30:59,799
People think that Sammy was screwed. You know that he

614
00:30:59,799 --> 00:31:01,799
did have the title for what how long did he

615
00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,079
have it for? Ten days? I don't know. It feels

616
00:31:04,119 --> 00:31:07,160
like it could spark something really really cool for Sammy.

617
00:31:08,559 --> 00:31:11,400
She's not wrong. I understand what she's saying. You never know.

618
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:14,559
You can't predict these things. You can't predict a Daniel

619
00:31:14,599 --> 00:31:17,599
Bryan type of situation, which I'm sure is what she

620
00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:19,599
had on her mind when she was talking about this,

621
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,200
because she was there right through the whole Daniel Brian

622
00:31:22,279 --> 00:31:25,720
thing or KOFE mania. You could find different examples of

623
00:31:25,759 --> 00:31:31,440
this organic fan support that either was not planned or

624
00:31:31,519 --> 00:31:34,799
certainly they had no expectations that it would kind of

625
00:31:34,799 --> 00:31:36,920
bubble up as much as it did. Could that happen

626
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,960
here with Sammy's Ain, Sure, that would be kind of cool.

627
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,599
Actually if it kind of disrupted things and they had

628
00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:46,839
no choice but to run with it. I don't see

629
00:31:46,839 --> 00:31:49,920
it happening here. I don't think Sammy's Ain is all

630
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:51,720
of a sudden going to get this ground swell of

631
00:31:51,759 --> 00:31:54,319
support the way that a Daniel Brian did. I think

632
00:31:54,319 --> 00:31:57,400
that people are gonna want to see Punk and Cody.

633
00:31:57,400 --> 00:31:59,519
I don't think they're going to hijack the match, for example,

634
00:31:59,519 --> 00:32:01,400
with Chance Sammy. I don't think we're going to see

635
00:32:01,599 --> 00:32:05,400
segments hijacked in the weeks to come. But there could

636
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:07,960
be more of a groundswell of support that pushes him

637
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:10,920
into babyfaced territory. That is certainly possible, and it could

638
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:13,559
end up being a positive for him in the end.

639
00:32:14,359 --> 00:32:17,720
I still am very, very skeptical about him getting that

640
00:32:17,799 --> 00:32:20,720
belt back at any point, certainly any point this year,

641
00:32:21,839 --> 00:32:24,440
maybe even next year. I think that that may have

642
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:26,640
been it for him, But that doesn't mean that the

643
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:28,519
fans can't get behind him and he can't get a

644
00:32:28,559 --> 00:32:32,440
big push and hopefully have something to show for it

645
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:36,160
coming out of this. But the reality is that WWE

646
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:39,000
wanted to do the biggest match possible at SUMMERSLIM and

647
00:32:39,079 --> 00:32:41,839
now they got it. Seampunk is now officially on the

648
00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:46,079
SmackDown brand. He showed up on Friday night and I

649
00:32:46,119 --> 00:32:49,559
think they were in Oklahoma City, and he was talking

650
00:32:49,599 --> 00:32:51,680
about all the different people who want to come for him.

651
00:32:52,039 --> 00:32:54,160
Sammy's ain like, I heard what you said about me

652
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:57,640
on social media, and I get it. I understand how

653
00:32:57,680 --> 00:32:59,559
you feel. You want a shot, you think you deserve

654
00:32:59,559 --> 00:33:02,759
a remat you do, I'll give you a shot. Who

655
00:33:02,799 --> 00:33:07,440
else gunther You and me, we're not strangers. We both

656
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:09,920
remember what happened the last time that we got together.

657
00:33:10,839 --> 00:33:12,920
You think you can beat me, come and try. I

658
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:16,920
know I can beat you. He mentioned Finn Balor. Right,

659
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:20,759
we've gone to War twice this year, anytime, any place,

660
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:23,960
if you think you got what it takes, step up

661
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,319
to the play. He mentioned Royce Keys, he mentioned Damian Priest,

662
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,359
he mentioned Trick Williams. It was notable who he was

663
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,400
not mentioning, which was the man who then came out

664
00:33:33,759 --> 00:33:37,039
Cody Rhodes. And Cody said, he remember Punk talking about

665
00:33:37,119 --> 00:33:40,799
championship opportunities falling out of the sky last time we

666
00:33:40,799 --> 00:33:42,559
were in the ring together. This is what you were

667
00:33:42,599 --> 00:33:46,480
talking about. There are those types of matches where opportunities

668
00:33:46,559 --> 00:33:49,359
just sort of pop out of thin air, and then

669
00:33:49,359 --> 00:33:52,880
there were championship opportunities that had been building for years.

670
00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:56,680
And Punk assumed he was talking about the two of

671
00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:59,160
them facing off, and he said, you know, maybe subconsciously

672
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:02,240
been avoiding this for a long time because the two

673
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:04,759
of us are friends, and I don't want to do

674
00:34:04,839 --> 00:34:08,800
anything to jeopardize that. But he always thought when this happened,

675
00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:10,679
it would be in the main event of WrestleMania. But

676
00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:13,000
he doesn't think the two of them can run from

677
00:34:13,039 --> 00:34:15,800
each other anymore, especially not now when they're on the

678
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:20,199
same brand. And so this all led to Cody Rhoads

679
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:24,920
saying SummerSlam. Punk got up in his face and said when,

680
00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:27,960
because that's what Cody said to him a few months

681
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,639
ago after WrestleMania when Cody was the champion. He said,

682
00:34:30,679 --> 00:34:34,039
you just say when, just say the word. So Punk

683
00:34:34,079 --> 00:34:37,480
said the word, and Cody said SummerSlam, and Nick All

684
00:34:37,519 --> 00:34:39,920
just made it official right there on the spot, Cody

685
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:42,519
Roads challenging CM Punk in the main event of SummerSlam

686
00:34:42,559 --> 00:34:48,480
for the WWE Championship. That is a huge match. Now

687
00:34:48,519 --> 00:34:52,960
they can have their obligatory can they coexist tag team match,

688
00:34:53,119 --> 00:34:55,840
because on Saturday Night's Made Event next weekend, it will

689
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,840
be Cody and Punk as tag team partners taking on

690
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:04,199
Gunther and Sammy's and as Saturday Nights Mad Event shows go.

691
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,920
That's fine. I know it's a trope at this point.

692
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:10,480
Can they coexist and all that, you know, sometimes I

693
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:12,760
feel like people forget that, Like even back in the day,

694
00:35:13,679 --> 00:35:16,599
Saturday Night's Main Event was really it was a show

695
00:35:16,599 --> 00:35:19,920
that existed to promote whatever the next big show was.

696
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:21,880
It was a show that existed to promote the next

697
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:23,760
big pay per view with the big title match coming

698
00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:26,480
up on the pay per view in and of itself,

699
00:35:26,559 --> 00:35:28,440
like there were a lot of angles that were shot

700
00:35:28,639 --> 00:35:31,039
on that show for the purposes of forwarding things along

701
00:35:31,079 --> 00:35:33,760
to whatever the big match was going to be. So

702
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:35,519
this is kind of in line, to be honest with you,

703
00:35:35,559 --> 00:35:38,199
with what Saturday Nights main event used to be for

704
00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:41,440
many years. And God, they get some star power on

705
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:45,159
this show because up until Friday, and frankly it hasn't

706
00:35:45,199 --> 00:35:47,880
been much better. I mean, we still need more matches added.

707
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:51,480
But up until Friday, what an absolute just dumpster fire

708
00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:54,079
of a card. You book a card like that for

709
00:35:54,199 --> 00:35:56,800
Madison Square Guard. You have two fucking matches on that show.

710
00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,360
You had Dan Housen and j D McDonough and you

711
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:04,239
had Age and Bribella against Fatal Influence, and you're less

712
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:06,719
than two weeks out from that show. This is before Friday,

713
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:08,440
and I'm looking at this and I'm going, this is

714
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:14,280
Madison Square Garden. This is pathetic. What is this card?

715
00:36:14,559 --> 00:36:16,639
And so at least now they have you know, Cody

716
00:36:16,679 --> 00:36:19,000
and Punk and they're gonna be teaming up and what's

717
00:36:19,079 --> 00:36:21,320
gonna happen? And right, you got Sammy and Gunther on

718
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:23,840
the other side, and you got some names on the show.

719
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:26,119
The show is still incomplete, but you got some names

720
00:36:26,119 --> 00:36:29,480
now on there. But this all feels, if it all

721
00:36:29,519 --> 00:36:32,239
feels to you as it does to me, very thin

722
00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:36,519
on story. It's because it is. But when you keep

723
00:36:36,519 --> 00:36:39,559
two people apart for so long and on separate brands,

724
00:36:39,599 --> 00:36:43,239
and they rarely interact, and all of a sudden you

725
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:46,360
pair them off like this, it's gonna feel that way.

726
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,480
It's gonna feel very thin on story because there isn't

727
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:51,360
a whole lot there to draw from. That's why these

728
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:55,079
next few weeks of promos are so important, and obviously

729
00:36:55,119 --> 00:36:58,480
the match coming up next weekend. The story, as Punk said,

730
00:36:58,599 --> 00:37:00,920
is that the two of them are fre and they

731
00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:02,719
get along great, and they have a lot of respect

732
00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:06,360
for each other. They've been avoiding each other this entire time,

733
00:37:07,679 --> 00:37:11,840
but with Cody being denied his rematch on Monday now

734
00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:15,519
it became inevitable. And this is only the first and

735
00:37:15,559 --> 00:37:18,039
what should end up being a series of matches between

736
00:37:18,079 --> 00:37:20,960
these two heading into WrestleMania next year. I'm not saying

737
00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:23,119
that they're going to wrestle two three months in a

738
00:37:23,159 --> 00:37:25,679
row on the next two or three pls. This is

739
00:37:25,679 --> 00:37:29,039
only match number one right now. If I had to

740
00:37:29,079 --> 00:37:31,239
put the betting odds on what the big main event's

741
00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:33,360
going to be for WrestleMania next year. Well there's two

742
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:36,679
of them, Roman and Oba, but Cody and Punk. I

743
00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:38,400
still think Cody and Punk has got to be the

744
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:42,239
favorite for the WWE Championship and that this is just

745
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:46,440
part one of what is going to be a longer story.

746
00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:49,239
But the real reason for them wanting to do this

747
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:52,719
match now is the fact that they've only sold give

748
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:56,159
or take about twenty five thousand tickets if that, to

749
00:37:56,199 --> 00:37:59,199
Summer Slim for either night so far. Remember it's two

750
00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:02,159
nights in a stadium that fits a hell of a

751
00:38:02,199 --> 00:38:04,760
lot more than that. And the one thing that Trump's

752
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:09,880
story in today's WWE is star power and celebrity, and

753
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:13,000
they know that just by announcing Cody Roads against CM Punk,

754
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:16,199
they're going to sell more tickets. Story or no story.

755
00:38:17,679 --> 00:38:20,159
There was a report on fight Full's Raw Post show

756
00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:25,599
that claimed this was the plan all throughout the I

757
00:38:25,599 --> 00:38:28,360
guess spring really they knew that they were heading into

758
00:38:28,599 --> 00:38:31,039
Cody Roads and CM Punk on this Summer Slam show,

759
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:33,119
and they always knew that Sammy's name was going to

760
00:38:33,159 --> 00:38:36,119
drop that belt to Punk because they've known when Punk

761
00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:38,719
was going to come back for quite some time. Chicago

762
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:43,519
always seemed the likeliest return date for him. False Finish

763
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,280
reported that Punk winning the undisputed WWE Championship and heading

764
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:50,119
into SummerSlam to defend it has been planned for well

765
00:38:50,119 --> 00:38:53,280
over a month. Punk was initially set to challenge Cody

766
00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:57,239
at Wrestlemany of forty three in RhoD But WWE is

767
00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,719
preparing for Summer Slim in Minneapolis to be better than

768
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:05,000
Wrestle Many of forty two. Well, that shouldn't be too difficult, now,

769
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:08,159
should it, Especially given how awful Night one was. I

770
00:39:08,199 --> 00:39:09,960
would find it hard to believe that this show could

771
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,760
be worse than that. But there's been a lot of

772
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:14,599
talk and a lot of speculation now that this match

773
00:39:14,679 --> 00:39:18,360
is official about a heel turn. Is somebody gonna go

774
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:20,559
heal in the build up to the match or you

775
00:39:20,559 --> 00:39:23,280
know at Summer Slim, and I will I will say this,

776
00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:25,000
if there was going to be a heel turn, you

777
00:39:25,039 --> 00:39:26,880
shoot that angle at Summer Slim. You don't do it

778
00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:29,199
on TV. You know you got three weeks to build

779
00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:31,599
up this match. You don't rush a heel turn on

780
00:39:31,679 --> 00:39:34,000
TV right now. If anything, you do it at Summer Slim.

781
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:38,039
If either man was to go heal anytime soon, Punk

782
00:39:38,159 --> 00:39:41,639
or Cody. I would want it to be Cody, but

783
00:39:41,679 --> 00:39:44,599
if Punk is supposedly getting a long rain, and honestly,

784
00:39:45,119 --> 00:39:46,960
they need to give it a rest for a while.

785
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:50,360
As far as changing that title, it feels like it's

786
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:53,840
more likely to be Punk than who would Turn than Cody.

787
00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:56,800
With Cody being the one to chase, you know, it

788
00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:58,920
always makes more sense for the baby face to be

789
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,519
chasing the heel in a situation like this, especially if

790
00:40:01,559 --> 00:40:04,679
you're heading into WrestleMania with a longer story. There's going

791
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:07,639
to be future matches or a big payoff at the

792
00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:10,440
end for it. Maybe they save it for Mania. Always

793
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:12,840
better for the babyface to be the one in chase mode.

794
00:40:13,519 --> 00:40:16,280
And if this idea that Punk is going to be

795
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:18,480
champion for a while, which is something else that was

796
00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:21,360
reported this week, He's gonna have a lengthy run as

797
00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:25,800
the champion supposedly. If that's the case, If that's true,

798
00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:27,840
and they're going to keep the Cody in Punk stuff going,

799
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:29,599
I just think it would make more sense for Punk

800
00:40:29,639 --> 00:40:31,360
than to be the heel, even though I would rather

801
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:35,000
it be Cody. That's if anybody was to go heal,

802
00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:36,760
because how many times are you going to do the

803
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:40,119
baby face against babyface thing. Right after a while, it

804
00:40:40,159 --> 00:40:43,039
ain't gonna work for the purposes of the story and

805
00:40:43,119 --> 00:40:45,599
keeping things fresh and interesting. Somebody is going to have

806
00:40:45,679 --> 00:40:49,639
to turn, and so we'll see if they actually have

807
00:40:49,679 --> 00:40:51,880
the guts to turn. Cody, That's what I would like

808
00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:54,639
to see. But I don't know. Man, If Punk is

809
00:40:54,639 --> 00:40:56,800
going to have that belt into next year, let's say,

810
00:40:57,760 --> 00:41:01,559
and somebody was going into bad guy mode, I just

811
00:41:01,599 --> 00:41:04,480
can't imagine that it would be Cody, you know, in

812
00:41:04,519 --> 00:41:07,039
that case, because then you have to what are you doing?

813
00:41:07,039 --> 00:41:09,360
Then you're holding off months and months to build to

814
00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:12,519
what to build to the heel winning the belt? That

815
00:41:12,559 --> 00:41:14,880
doesn't make any sense to me. If he was going

816
00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:16,519
to win it, he would do it at SummerSlam. But

817
00:41:16,519 --> 00:41:19,840
you're going to change the belt again at SummerSlam. You've

818
00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:21,760
already changed it a whole bunch of times. How many

819
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:25,360
times are you going to change this thing? By the way,

820
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:29,360
Cody tweeted yesterday, what's a good song for this moment?

821
00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:32,199
Took a lot to make it happen three weeks away,

822
00:41:32,239 --> 00:41:35,480
so he was asking for input about what song people

823
00:41:35,559 --> 00:41:37,639
think would be appropriate. I guess for like their video

824
00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:40,719
package and the build up to this match at SummerSlam,

825
00:41:41,039 --> 00:41:42,480
So chime in. I would love to know what you

826
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:46,320
guys think. I posted there's two songs in particular that

827
00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:48,199
I think I really like and I think would work

828
00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:53,039
to really kind of hype up the match. One of

829
00:41:53,079 --> 00:41:56,000
them is actually a poppy song. It's called The Cost

830
00:41:56,039 --> 00:41:58,400
of Giving Up. I think that would be a great choice.

831
00:41:59,039 --> 00:42:00,880
And there's a song from me years ago by this

832
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:05,440
guy Ryan Starr called this could be the Year, really

833
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:07,960
really good song. I'll throw one more in there. By

834
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:10,199
the way, there's a group called Dance with the Dead.

835
00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:13,360
They have a song called I Want Blood. Do you

836
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:14,840
want the thing that's a little more high? If you

837
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:16,679
want one that's a little more high energy, that's another

838
00:42:16,719 --> 00:42:18,920
good option. But I don't know, maybe you guys have

839
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:22,639
some other choices. Let me know what you think. I

840
00:42:22,679 --> 00:42:25,119
mentioned that tag team match that was added to Saturday

841
00:42:25,159 --> 00:42:30,000
night's main event. Gunther was in the closing segment on SmackDown,

842
00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:34,360
hoping and expecting that Nick Aldis, who is officially back.

843
00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:36,639
By the way, he's been reinstated as the general manager

844
00:42:36,679 --> 00:42:39,960
of SmackDown, so his administrative leave did not last very long.

845
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:42,280
But he had gone to him earlier in the show

846
00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:43,880
and said, you got to make this right. You gotta

847
00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:46,159
give me my championship match. You have until the end

848
00:42:46,159 --> 00:42:48,519
of the show to make up your mind. Gunther came out.

849
00:42:48,599 --> 00:42:50,519
Nick All, this came out. He was expecting him to

850
00:42:50,519 --> 00:42:52,519
get a title match, and then Gunther did not get

851
00:42:52,519 --> 00:42:54,679
his title match. He got a tag team match, which

852
00:42:54,719 --> 00:42:56,840
is very disappointing if you're Gunther. And he said enough

853
00:42:56,840 --> 00:42:58,960
of this shit, and he attacked nick All. This from

854
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:01,880
behind angle where he was beating him down. He put

855
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:03,559
him in a sleeper hole. They pulled him off, he

856
00:43:03,599 --> 00:43:05,760
put him back in the sleeper hole. Cody came out

857
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:07,679
to make the save, and before he even hit the ring,

858
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:10,559
the show cut off. They went off the air, and

859
00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:13,960
nothing of any great significance happened after that. They showed

860
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:18,400
it on social media after, but without actually announcing it.

861
00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:20,159
It's very clear that we are in fact heading to

862
00:43:20,199 --> 00:43:22,440
a singles match at SummerSlam. Nick All, this is going

863
00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:24,639
to wrestle, not a doubt in my mind. Now. This

864
00:43:24,719 --> 00:43:28,079
will be his first singles match in WWE, maybe his

865
00:43:28,159 --> 00:43:30,320
only one. Who knows, but he'll be wrestling gun Through

866
00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:33,440
at Summerslim. It is all but official at this point.

867
00:43:34,079 --> 00:43:36,480
The other thing that happened on SmackDown, the only other

868
00:43:36,519 --> 00:43:39,800
thing really worth mentioning, was the return of a former

869
00:43:40,119 --> 00:43:42,719
WWE name, one that many of us were expecting to

870
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:45,039
come back very soon, but not in this spot that

871
00:43:45,119 --> 00:43:48,960
he did, and that is Baron Corbin. Baron Corbin has

872
00:43:49,039 --> 00:43:53,679
been silent and off indis now for a while, speculation

873
00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:56,840
that he was on his way back to WWE. He

874
00:43:57,199 --> 00:44:00,599
was stripped recently, I believe, of his MLW Tag Team championship,

875
00:44:00,679 --> 00:44:02,400
so the writing was on the wall as far as

876
00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:06,119
where he was headed. But the belief, the assumption, based

877
00:44:06,159 --> 00:44:09,440
on some of these Dan Housen segments and this mysterious

878
00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:13,480
body or person or whatever it is under the white

879
00:44:13,519 --> 00:44:15,960
sheet and his laboratory, is that he was going to

880
00:44:16,079 --> 00:44:18,679
revive Baron Corbin, right, He's going to bring him back

881
00:44:18,679 --> 00:44:20,639
to life like he's been laying there the entire time

882
00:44:20,639 --> 00:44:24,280
that he's been gone from the company for years, and

883
00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:28,119
so On SmackDown, they had a non title match between

884
00:44:28,119 --> 00:44:31,480
Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes. In the middle of this match,

885
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:33,760
Carmelo Hayes is on the verge of victory. It's on

886
00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:35,239
the top rope and all of a sudden, there's a

887
00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:37,559
commotion and the camera pans over and who's standing on

888
00:44:37,559 --> 00:44:42,199
the apron but Barren fucking Corban. I'm like, what not

889
00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:44,920
the role I was expecting him to be in, but

890
00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:46,880
a much better role than him laying under the sheet

891
00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:50,079
in Dan Housen's laboratory. He laid out Carmelo Hayes with

892
00:44:50,119 --> 00:44:52,800
an end of days. He laid out Trick Williams with

893
00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:55,679
an end of days. He was not siding with one

894
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,880
or the other. He took him both out. He picked

895
00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:03,119
up Trick's new ugly the Furry United States Championship Legacy

896
00:45:03,199 --> 00:45:05,760
title that Lil YACHTI presented him with. This fucking thing

897
00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:08,039
is so ugly, Oh, Mike, I will say this, though

898
00:45:08,079 --> 00:45:10,039
they have I don't think this was the case before.

899
00:45:10,039 --> 00:45:13,639
I think they have blue now behind the stars on

900
00:45:13,679 --> 00:45:16,519
the belt. I don't know if it was blue before that.

901
00:45:16,679 --> 00:45:20,199
I like, the fur has to go. I mean again,

902
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:22,880
it looks like I mean, the belt looks like fucking

903
00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:25,559
I said, it looks like Gandolf with the white fur

904
00:45:25,679 --> 00:45:27,440
coming off the edges of it, and it's all like

905
00:45:27,519 --> 00:45:30,960
white fur backing. But it just looks it just looks disgusting,

906
00:45:31,039 --> 00:45:34,480
so he held the championship, but made it very clear that

907
00:45:34,559 --> 00:45:36,800
this is what he was after. And now we are

908
00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:39,000
left to wonder what does that mean for SummerSlam, where

909
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:41,599
it looked like we were headed towards a title match

910
00:45:41,679 --> 00:45:44,840
between Trick and Mellow. How do you not include Corbin

911
00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:47,480
in this if he's kind of staking his claim to

912
00:45:47,519 --> 00:45:50,880
the championship and he just embarrassed these two and attacked

913
00:45:50,920 --> 00:45:53,519
them and laid them out on TV. Meanwhile, they were

914
00:45:53,559 --> 00:45:56,159
showing Ricky Saints in the back watching the match during

915
00:45:56,199 --> 00:45:58,159
the match, So Ricky is not completely out of the

916
00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:01,199
US title scene either. Whatever they do, this is a

917
00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:04,400
much better spot for Baron Corbin to come back, in

918
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:07,079
a much more serious spot than the one many of

919
00:46:07,159 --> 00:46:10,760
us were envisioning for him. Ww He's already put out

920
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:14,239
a new merch for him with the Nomad name on

921
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:19,440
it that says Nomad under the main design. So, and

922
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:22,159
I think that's something that he started using when he

923
00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:26,079
left the company, because he's been gone since the end

924
00:46:26,119 --> 00:46:29,039
of twenty twenty four. Right, it was around November December

925
00:46:29,079 --> 00:46:31,239
of twenty twenty four. He was with the company for

926
00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:34,639
well over a decade, started working as Bishop Dyer on

927
00:46:34,679 --> 00:46:37,800
the independent scene, had a good run for himself in MLW,

928
00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:40,639
he had a little guest hosting Gig'm Busted Open Radio,

929
00:46:41,519 --> 00:46:44,280
He was working other indies and he was doing well

930
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:47,440
for himself. And so now they got him back, and

931
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:50,639
I guess the question is is he back in kind

932
00:46:50,679 --> 00:46:54,280
of a Matt Cardona role or do they actually intend

933
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:57,400
to do more with him this time, because the last

934
00:46:57,440 --> 00:46:59,679
we saw him, he had been called back up from

935
00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:02,639
NA after a pretty successful rundown there as part of

936
00:47:02,639 --> 00:47:06,320
that Wolfdogs team with bron Breaker. They tried to replicate

937
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:08,960
it on the main roster with Apollo Cruise that didn't work,

938
00:47:09,719 --> 00:47:11,679
and then they got rid of him at a time

939
00:47:11,719 --> 00:47:14,840
when it actually kind of felt like things are clicking

940
00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:16,760
for him and maybe he can get something going here

941
00:47:16,800 --> 00:47:18,679
and he can kind of wash away the stain and

942
00:47:18,719 --> 00:47:21,800
the stink of some of those awful gimmicks and characters

943
00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:25,280
that he was portraying previously, and then he was gone.

944
00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:28,000
So for his sake, I hope that they can do

945
00:47:28,039 --> 00:47:29,760
more with him this time. I think he could be

946
00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:33,039
a solid middle of the card, kind of a US

947
00:47:33,159 --> 00:47:38,239
title contender addition to the SmackDown roster. He's not going

948
00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:40,559
to be elevated into the main events scene or anything

949
00:47:40,599 --> 00:47:42,960
like that. But for his sake, I would hope it's

950
00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:45,159
in a role that's at least more fruitful than the

951
00:47:45,159 --> 00:47:48,199
one they have Matt Cardona in right now. The Cardona

952
00:47:48,239 --> 00:47:49,679
thing was not a surprise to me at all. I

953
00:47:49,760 --> 00:47:52,159
knew exactly what spot he was going to end up

954
00:47:52,159 --> 00:47:54,840
in as soon as they brought him back. Hopefully, for KORbin,

955
00:47:54,920 --> 00:47:57,000
he'll be able to do a little bit more than that.

956
00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:00,480
One person we did not see on Smack seeing her

957
00:48:00,519 --> 00:48:03,119
on Smack that in many, many weeks and we are

958
00:48:03,239 --> 00:48:07,880
getting very close to SummerSlam, is the WWE Women's Champion,

959
00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:13,400
Rhea Ripley. I cannot remember a period of time where

960
00:48:13,480 --> 00:48:18,480
the women's champion, the women's World Championship scene on both

961
00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:21,760
brands in this company was as dire as it has

962
00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:25,599
been over the last several weeks. Rhea Ripley got hurt

963
00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:28,599
in late May early June. It was when they were

964
00:48:28,599 --> 00:48:32,320
having their Italy shows. There was nothing that was said

965
00:48:32,639 --> 00:48:35,039
about the nature of the injury, how serious it was.

966
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:37,400
All we were told a few weeks ago. I think

967
00:48:37,440 --> 00:48:39,239
they may have mentioned the need, but all they said

968
00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:41,840
was that she was trying to rehabit and they would

969
00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:44,480
have more information for us, and then nothing has been said.

970
00:48:45,199 --> 00:48:47,480
As we have gotten closer and closer and closer to

971
00:48:47,559 --> 00:48:50,119
their second biggest show of the year, nothing's been mentioned

972
00:48:50,159 --> 00:48:54,039
about Rhea Ripley. So you've had the WWE Women's champion

973
00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:57,760
m i A not even on the shows. We haven't

974
00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:02,800
been told anything about Rhea Ripley, and she's the champion

975
00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:05,719
on Raw. You have Lived Morgan is the women's World champion.

976
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:08,960
And because Stephanie Vaquier has been gone and they were

977
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:11,119
clearly going to at least have one more match between

978
00:49:11,119 --> 00:49:14,480
the two of them, they got caught with their pants

979
00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:17,199
down not knowing what to do, so they just chose

980
00:49:17,239 --> 00:49:19,679
to not do anything with her Live. Morgan's been the

981
00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:23,000
champion since Wrestle Manias. She has not defended the title once.

982
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:26,320
Her first title defense will be at Summer Slim, so

983
00:49:26,360 --> 00:49:28,559
you're going from Mania a Summer Slim with that any

984
00:49:28,599 --> 00:49:31,360
title defense is on a ple or on TV or

985
00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:34,840
or anything. She hasn't really been even doing much on

986
00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:39,079
the show. That's your two women's world titles over the

987
00:49:39,159 --> 00:49:43,480
last month plus. It's pathetic, but now we have an answer,

988
00:49:43,519 --> 00:49:45,400
at least on what's been going on with Rhea Ripley.

989
00:49:45,599 --> 00:49:49,199
Rhea Ripley was a guest at the Power Slap event

990
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:52,840
the other night, Friday night, I believe, and it was

991
00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:55,440
during the broadcast she revealed that she is dealing with

992
00:49:55,519 --> 00:49:59,400
a slight tear in her meniscus. She said, yeah, I

993
00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:02,320
hurt my I got a slight tear in my miniscus.

994
00:50:02,360 --> 00:50:05,800
So it's healing, it's getting there, it's getting stronger. I

995
00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:08,480
just can't bend it very well. Kind of need to

996
00:50:08,519 --> 00:50:11,960
bend guys. And when she was asked about a potential

997
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:14,719
timeline for a return, she said, I don't know. I

998
00:50:14,800 --> 00:50:17,440
tore it in a really weird spot, so it's kind

999
00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:19,199
of a little bit up in the air with just

1000
00:50:19,239 --> 00:50:22,000
how fast my body recovers. But I've been out for

1001
00:50:22,039 --> 00:50:24,639
probably about a month now. I think it's been a month.

1002
00:50:24,639 --> 00:50:27,920
In one week, it feels better. It still starts to

1003
00:50:28,039 --> 00:50:31,840
hurt and throb. It gets tired. I can't get up

1004
00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:34,159
or bend down really or kind of move side to

1005
00:50:34,239 --> 00:50:38,079
side what While crouching, she said, all of that sounds awful.

1006
00:50:38,159 --> 00:50:40,360
I just take the fucking belt off of her. I mean, clearly,

1007
00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:43,000
she's not one hundred percent she's not going to be

1008
00:50:43,039 --> 00:50:45,039
one hundred percent for a little while longer, but it

1009
00:50:45,119 --> 00:50:47,840
sounds like more than a couple of week thing. So

1010
00:50:47,960 --> 00:50:49,519
I mean, at this point, you may as well just

1011
00:50:49,559 --> 00:50:51,360
take the belt off of her. I mean, how long

1012
00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:52,960
are you going to keep it on her and keep

1013
00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:56,920
this charade going? If that's the case, let her heal.

1014
00:50:57,519 --> 00:50:58,920
You know, you don't want to rush her back from

1015
00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:02,000
something like that. And in the meantime, again, we need

1016
00:51:02,039 --> 00:51:04,320
to get something going as far as that championship goes. Now,

1017
00:51:04,320 --> 00:51:06,400
they're going to have a match that they're gonna be signing.

1018
00:51:06,440 --> 00:51:08,239
It's not official yet, but clearly we're going to get

1019
00:51:08,320 --> 00:51:11,800
Charlotte Flair and Jade Cargill at Summer Slim. And some

1020
00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:13,920
people may not like this idea, but it would actually

1021
00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:16,079
kind of make sense if they wanted to just quickly

1022
00:51:16,079 --> 00:51:17,840
get the belt on somebody, because there's not a lot

1023
00:51:17,880 --> 00:51:21,719
of time left frankly between now and the pl There's

1024
00:51:21,719 --> 00:51:26,079
no time for another tournament or anything like that. You

1025
00:51:26,119 --> 00:51:28,320
could put the belt up in the match between Charlotte

1026
00:51:28,320 --> 00:51:30,599
and Jade, and you can crown a new champion at

1027
00:51:30,599 --> 00:51:32,639
Summerslim that way, and just say the winner of that

1028
00:51:32,679 --> 00:51:34,519
match becomes the new champion, you can put the belt

1029
00:51:34,559 --> 00:51:38,800
on Charlotte, and when Ria comes back, you've got a

1030
00:51:38,880 --> 00:51:41,880
ready made match waiting for you between Riha and Charlotte. Now,

1031
00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:43,639
maybe they don't want to go to Ria and Charlotte

1032
00:51:43,639 --> 00:51:46,880
again just yet, and maybe they want to save that

1033
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:50,280
for a bigger match down the road, but that would

1034
00:51:50,320 --> 00:51:52,400
be one way to at least get the belt on somebody,

1035
00:51:52,639 --> 00:51:56,360
get the belt on another name, and let Ria take

1036
00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:58,920
as much time as she needs to heal up so

1037
00:51:58,960 --> 00:52:01,000
that her knee is not hurting and her knee is

1038
00:52:01,039 --> 00:52:03,280
not throbbing, and she can bend and do all the

1039
00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:04,920
things that you have to do if you're going to

1040
00:52:04,920 --> 00:52:06,800
get in the ring and wrestle. At least now we

1041
00:52:06,880 --> 00:52:10,920
have some sense of what's been going on. I wanted

1042
00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:12,519
to mention this here. I didn't have another good place

1043
00:52:12,559 --> 00:52:16,679
to mention this. But Tiffany Stratton, the women's United States Champion.

1044
00:52:17,519 --> 00:52:19,159
I have no idea if she'll be on the Summer

1045
00:52:19,199 --> 00:52:22,360
Slam card either. I have to imagine they'll find a

1046
00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:25,079
place for her on the Summer Slang. She's from Minnesota.

1047
00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:28,599
She's from Minnesota. She has to be on that card.

1048
00:52:28,679 --> 00:52:32,920
Like Chad Gable is from Minneapolis, and if these people

1049
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:36,199
have any sense in their fucking brains, he's gonna win

1050
00:52:36,239 --> 00:52:38,480
this gauntlet match that they have on Raw tomorrow night

1051
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:41,760
for the right to challenge Penta for the Intercontinental Championship

1052
00:52:41,800 --> 00:52:45,360
at SummerSlam. But I'm pretty sure Tiffany is from Minnesota.

1053
00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:48,960
But she was talking to kay Fan in Minneapolis to

1054
00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:53,280
promote SummerSlam, and she was asked whether she prefers being

1055
00:52:53,400 --> 00:52:56,000
cheered as a baby face or does she prefer being

1056
00:52:56,039 --> 00:52:59,320
booed as a heel. She said, I think I like both.

1057
00:52:59,679 --> 00:53:01,960
I think it comes in waves where being the good

1058
00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:04,400
guy kind of gets a little stale. And I do

1059
00:53:04,440 --> 00:53:08,400
think naturally I am more of a heel, a natural heel.

1060
00:53:08,719 --> 00:53:11,880
That's how I learned wrestling. Fun fact, I learned wrestling

1061
00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:14,360
as a heel, so like, I just feel like that's

1062
00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:16,880
my roots. So maybe one day we'll go back to that.

1063
00:53:16,960 --> 00:53:19,599
You'll have to, you know, keep watching SmackDown to see.

1064
00:53:19,679 --> 00:53:21,880
I will say, I do like being heel a little

1065
00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:25,119
bit better. It's a lot less pressure and it's a

1066
00:53:25,119 --> 00:53:29,199
lot more fun. I've only been saying this for how

1067
00:53:29,239 --> 00:53:33,400
long now about this woman, she is completely miscast right now,

1068
00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:36,119
as a baby face, like they turned her baby face

1069
00:53:36,199 --> 00:53:38,360
because she had been a heel for a while. Fine,

1070
00:53:39,079 --> 00:53:41,840
but now it's been so long she's totally miscast in

1071
00:53:41,880 --> 00:53:43,880
this role. I'm not saying she's not popular. I'm just

1072
00:53:43,880 --> 00:53:46,880
saying I agree with her one hundred percent. I think

1073
00:53:46,920 --> 00:53:49,960
the time has come to flip her back to the

1074
00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:52,800
other mode, flipper back to being heel, because she just

1075
00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:54,880
works so much better as a heel on this show.

1076
00:53:54,920 --> 00:53:58,119
She wrestles like one, she clearly is more comfortable as one.

1077
00:53:59,239 --> 00:54:01,559
So yes, please please turn Tiffity Stratton heel if the

1078
00:54:01,559 --> 00:54:05,920
first opportunity you have Saturday night's main event before we

1079
00:54:05,920 --> 00:54:08,000
get to Summer Slam. We have this card next weekend,

1080
00:54:08,039 --> 00:54:10,599
which is very thin right now, and obviously they're going

1081
00:54:10,599 --> 00:54:12,840
to add at least one more match this week. Two

1082
00:54:12,920 --> 00:54:15,159
matches may be asking for too much, but at least

1083
00:54:15,159 --> 00:54:16,920
one more I'm sure is going to be tacked onto

1084
00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:21,760
this card at some point either tomorrow or Friday. Preferably

1085
00:54:21,800 --> 00:54:24,320
tomorrow and not waiting until twenty four hours before the

1086
00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:27,840
show would be nice. This is the card as it stands,

1087
00:54:27,880 --> 00:54:31,000
and again the card is from Madison Square Garden. This

1088
00:54:31,079 --> 00:54:33,280
is the Mecca. This is their home away from home.

1089
00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:35,559
This is the world's most famous arena. You put your

1090
00:54:35,559 --> 00:54:38,000
best foot forward at your New York crowd. We have

1091
00:54:38,920 --> 00:54:42,360
Dan Housen, who doesn't wrestle very often, let alone in

1092
00:54:42,360 --> 00:54:44,800
a singles match, but we know Dan Housen is going

1093
00:54:44,840 --> 00:54:47,920
to be super over in New York City for obvious reasons,

1094
00:54:47,920 --> 00:54:50,079
so of course you have to have him on the show.

1095
00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:53,960
He is going to be in action against j D

1096
00:54:54,159 --> 00:54:58,239
McDonough representing the judgment day now. According to Wrestle Votes

1097
00:54:58,320 --> 00:55:02,360
Radio on Fightful Select, WWE has invited several members of

1098
00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:07,199
the twenty twenty six NBA champion New York Knicks to

1099
00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:10,400
the show on Saturday. Multiple Knicks players are expected to

1100
00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:14,119
be there. Russell Votes noted that WWE had previously looked

1101
00:55:14,119 --> 00:55:16,800
into Jalen Brunson having a role on the show with

1102
00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:20,440
several creative pitches involving Dan Housen. But Brunton just underwent

1103
00:55:20,480 --> 00:55:23,960
surgery on his left wrist after playing through the playoffs

1104
00:55:23,960 --> 00:55:26,039
with the injury, and he is expected to be back

1105
00:55:26,079 --> 00:55:27,880
on the court later in the summer, so he's not

1106
00:55:27,920 --> 00:55:30,239
going to be out for too long, but for the

1107
00:55:30,280 --> 00:55:33,320
time being, that takes him out of doing anything physical,

1108
00:55:34,039 --> 00:55:36,880
and WWE is still said to be hopeful that Brunson

1109
00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:39,679
will at least attend the event and make an on

1110
00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:42,719
screen appearance. When they did that segment last week on

1111
00:55:42,760 --> 00:55:44,639
Smackdow where Dan Housen was in the back on the

1112
00:55:44,639 --> 00:55:48,960
phone with somebody the old candlestick phone from like nineteen thirty,

1113
00:55:49,599 --> 00:55:52,320
and Matt Cardona walked in and they were conversing, and

1114
00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:54,400
Dan Housen said, oh, you know, he was on the

1115
00:55:54,400 --> 00:55:56,880
phone with someone and he's real and he's going to

1116
00:55:56,920 --> 00:55:58,480
go meet with him. Basically, he's going to be his

1117
00:55:58,519 --> 00:56:02,239
backup at Saturday nights. My first thought was, Okay, it's

1118
00:56:02,239 --> 00:56:05,800
going to be Jalen Brunson in that spot. They had

1119
00:56:06,000 --> 00:56:09,800
Dominic Mysterios steal his, you know, steal Dan Housen's next

1120
00:56:09,880 --> 00:56:12,159
jersey that he was gifted by the team. Everything seemed

1121
00:56:12,159 --> 00:56:15,880
to be leading to that, and it still could. Right Obviously,

1122
00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:18,039
there's going to be some NIX people. I'm sure they're

1123
00:56:18,079 --> 00:56:22,000
going to be in the building, but maybe who he

1124
00:56:22,079 --> 00:56:25,400
was referring to is a wrestler and it's not a

1125
00:56:25,440 --> 00:56:28,960
celebrity or a Knicks player. And we talked about this

1126
00:56:29,079 --> 00:56:31,280
on I think on TNT on two day and JD

1127
00:56:31,440 --> 00:56:35,679
brought this up, which is that Cas and Enzo are

1128
00:56:35,679 --> 00:56:38,519
on their way back to the company very soon. We

1129
00:56:38,559 --> 00:56:41,559
don't know exactly when, but they are on their way back.

1130
00:56:42,559 --> 00:56:46,119
Could it be that Dan Housen is going to trot

1131
00:56:46,159 --> 00:56:49,079
out Enzo and Moore and Big Cast at Madison Square

1132
00:56:49,119 --> 00:56:50,880
Garden Because if you think about it, what a what

1133
00:56:50,960 --> 00:56:53,400
a great place for them to make their return and

1134
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:56,719
to get a big reaction, but at MSG. So that

1135
00:56:56,760 --> 00:56:59,599
would actually make a lot of sense if we're being honest. Now,

1136
00:56:59,679 --> 00:57:01,880
JD McDonough, who's he gonna have in his corner? He'll

1137
00:57:01,920 --> 00:57:04,320
have dom in his court. This is the thing with

1138
00:57:04,360 --> 00:57:07,639
the Judgment Day. They don't even have enough male members

1139
00:57:07,679 --> 00:57:10,639
to where JD McDonough could have like two people in

1140
00:57:10,719 --> 00:57:13,480
his corner to counteract let's say Cazenenzo if they were

1141
00:57:13,480 --> 00:57:15,840
gonna be in Dan Housen's quarter. They don't even have

1142
00:57:15,960 --> 00:57:18,280
enough members to make that happen. That whole fucking group

1143
00:57:18,360 --> 00:57:22,320
should just be blown up. But I actually think this

1144
00:57:22,360 --> 00:57:23,599
would be a great spot if you were going to

1145
00:57:23,639 --> 00:57:25,840
bring those two back to the main roster and not NXT.

1146
00:57:26,880 --> 00:57:29,119
You bring them back here. I think that makes a

1147
00:57:29,159 --> 00:57:31,159
lot of sense. Whether they show up or not, Dan

1148
00:57:31,199 --> 00:57:33,920
Housen is winning this match. There is no chance that

1149
00:57:34,000 --> 00:57:36,639
Dan Housen is losing this match. I think we can

1150
00:57:36,679 --> 00:57:39,519
all agree on that. But he's gonna be super over

1151
00:57:39,599 --> 00:57:43,400
in that building on Saturday. Fatal Influence, Lany Reid and

1152
00:57:43,480 --> 00:57:47,400
Fallon Henley are going to be challenging Page in Bribella

1153
00:57:47,519 --> 00:57:51,760
for the WWE Women's tag team titles. After previously losing

1154
00:57:52,199 --> 00:57:55,719
to the champions in a non title match, they are

1155
00:57:55,719 --> 00:57:59,079
getting a title match. Wouldn't make a whole lot of

1156
00:57:59,119 --> 00:58:01,760
sense for them to lose it again, now, would it.

1157
00:58:02,880 --> 00:58:05,119
This should be a title change, Fatal Influence gets the

1158
00:58:05,159 --> 00:58:08,719
belts and then in the main event. This is it.

1159
00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:11,800
This is all we have so far. Cody Rhodes and

1160
00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:14,880
the new WWE Champion, his Summer Slam opponent sy I'm

1161
00:58:14,920 --> 00:58:18,599
Punk are gonna be partners. They're gonna be buddies for

1162
00:58:18,719 --> 00:58:22,400
one night wrestling buddies. They're gonna be taking on Gunther

1163
00:58:23,079 --> 00:58:26,760
and Sammy's Ain. I'm going with Cody and Punk for

1164
00:58:26,800 --> 00:58:29,440
the wind. I just can't imagine either one of them,

1165
00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:32,760
frankly taking a loss here in this match. I'd love

1166
00:58:32,800 --> 00:58:35,239
to say that Sammy's ain is gonna get the big like,

1167
00:58:35,440 --> 00:58:37,599
even if it's a fucking roll up, He's gonna, you know,

1168
00:58:37,719 --> 00:58:40,199
roll up Cody Rhodes and get the Wind or something.

1169
00:58:40,280 --> 00:58:43,199
And I mean, look, you can't rule it out. I suppose,

1170
00:58:43,239 --> 00:58:46,440
but I don't see that happening. I don't see that

1171
00:58:46,519 --> 00:58:48,920
happening at all. I don't think they want to beat

1172
00:58:48,960 --> 00:58:51,679
either one of these two guys. So I'm going with

1173
00:58:51,719 --> 00:58:54,199
Punk and Cody for the Wind. But there's gonna definitely

1174
00:58:54,199 --> 00:58:56,599
be some animosity there. There's gonna be some sort of

1175
00:58:57,440 --> 00:59:00,440
miscommunication or something is gonna happen, and they're going to

1176
00:59:00,480 --> 00:59:02,079
be at each other's threat. We might even get a

1177
00:59:02,119 --> 00:59:05,079
pull apart brawl to close out the show on Saturday.

1178
00:59:05,440 --> 00:59:09,320
If they actually close with this match, something will happen.

1179
00:59:09,360 --> 00:59:11,519
It will not be Hunky Dorry the entire time. But

1180
00:59:11,599 --> 00:59:14,840
I just can't I can't vote against them. I can't

1181
00:59:14,880 --> 00:59:17,440
predict against them. I'm going with punkin Cody for the win.

1182
00:59:18,440 --> 00:59:20,119
As far as what else could be added to the show,

1183
00:59:20,159 --> 00:59:22,840
I mean, take your pick any number of stories that

1184
00:59:22,880 --> 00:59:26,159
are currently brewing on either side of the aisle. They

1185
00:59:26,159 --> 00:59:27,920
could kind of toss that match in there. I mean

1186
00:59:27,960 --> 00:59:32,400
I guess if you look at who we have, Dan

1187
00:59:32,440 --> 00:59:36,679
Housen kind of floats between the shows, doesn't he I

1188
00:59:36,719 --> 00:59:39,440
don't know that is Dan Housen attached to any one brand.

1189
00:59:40,000 --> 00:59:42,000
I don't think he is. And McDonough is a raw guy.

1190
00:59:42,039 --> 00:59:44,760
We'll call that a raw match, and then the two

1191
00:59:44,800 --> 00:59:47,199
tag matches are SmackDown matches, so it would make sense

1192
00:59:47,199 --> 00:59:48,679
if they were going to add one more for it

1193
00:59:48,679 --> 00:59:52,440
to be a raw match. They're doing a Gauntlet for

1194
00:59:52,519 --> 00:59:55,920
the Intercontinental title tomorrow, so it doesn't feel like Penta

1195
00:59:56,039 --> 01:00:00,039
is going to be defending his title on Saturday. What

1196
01:00:00,079 --> 01:00:01,840
else is going on on Raw right now? Where they

1197
01:00:01,880 --> 01:00:04,239
can put that, you know what? Would be nice? Maybe

1198
01:00:04,400 --> 01:00:07,360
liv Morgan could defend her championship on Saturday. Wouldn't that

1199
01:00:07,480 --> 01:00:10,920
be something I don't even know against who, It doesn't matter,

1200
01:00:10,960 --> 01:00:14,440
Just put her in there with anybody at this point. Anyway,

1201
01:00:14,440 --> 01:00:16,400
as the card gets updated, well I'm sure I'll talk

1202
01:00:16,440 --> 01:00:19,760
about it in the Raw post show and throughout the

1203
01:00:19,760 --> 01:00:23,320
week on the YouTube channel, So make sure you're following

1204
01:00:23,440 --> 01:00:26,480
over there because we had all the post shows and

1205
01:00:26,519 --> 01:00:28,840
all the clips and all the good shit going up

1206
01:00:28,880 --> 01:00:31,360
there during the week on YouTube. Any sort of breaking news.

1207
01:00:31,400 --> 01:00:34,800
That's where you can find it. Let me flip on

1208
01:00:34,840 --> 01:00:38,800
over to the aw side here and some concerning news

1209
01:00:39,679 --> 01:00:42,880
as far as Jim Ross goes now. Jim Ross, who

1210
01:00:42,920 --> 01:00:44,639
has had a hell of a year, not in a

1211
01:00:44,639 --> 01:00:47,079
good way. He's been dealing with a lot of health

1212
01:00:47,119 --> 01:00:50,519
issues that really for several years. But he revealed on

1213
01:00:50,599 --> 01:00:54,599
his Grilling Jr. Podcast that he is scheduled to undergo

1214
01:00:55,559 --> 01:00:59,559
brain surgery this week to address a condition that has

1215
01:00:59,559 --> 01:01:03,719
affected his memory. You know when I said last time

1216
01:01:03,719 --> 01:01:06,719
that this guy can't catch a break. Who knew that

1217
01:01:06,760 --> 01:01:11,039
I was actually under selling it? Lord, I mean, it's

1218
01:01:11,079 --> 01:01:14,519
just one thing after another with this guy. He told Conrad.

1219
01:01:14,599 --> 01:01:18,159
I feel pretty good. I think it's getting better every day,

1220
01:01:18,199 --> 01:01:21,119
but still got a ways to go. I can't drive yet,

1221
01:01:21,639 --> 01:01:24,119
all that stuff. I'm cutting back on my appearances. I

1222
01:01:24,159 --> 01:01:26,519
got one big one coming up in Minneapolis in a

1223
01:01:26,559 --> 01:01:29,800
few weeks. But I'm just battling. I'm getting ready to

1224
01:01:29,800 --> 01:01:33,079
have another surgery, brain surgery. This time. That's going to

1225
01:01:33,119 --> 01:01:35,320
be an adventure because I don't think they're going to

1226
01:01:35,320 --> 01:01:38,360
find much in my brain. I'll be in the hospital

1227
01:01:38,400 --> 01:01:41,480
for a few days. Hopefully nothing will go wrong. I've

1228
01:01:41,519 --> 01:01:43,719
got a great surgeon. I had to go to the

1229
01:01:43,760 --> 01:01:46,639
cardiologist today to talk to him about this upcoming procedure.

1230
01:01:46,679 --> 01:01:49,119
He had to approve it or they wouldn't do it.

1231
01:01:49,320 --> 01:01:51,480
So he did, and they're going to do it soon.

1232
01:01:51,519 --> 01:01:54,119
I don't have a confirmed date set, but I think

1233
01:01:54,119 --> 01:01:55,719
it's going to be in the next week or so.

1234
01:01:56,320 --> 01:01:58,599
That's what I'm pushing for. It's just an illness and

1235
01:01:58,639 --> 01:02:01,000
I've got to get it addressed. I couldn't live my

1236
01:02:01,079 --> 01:02:03,599
life the way it was, you know, I'd forget shit

1237
01:02:03,679 --> 01:02:06,079
and I just couldn't remember things. It was just horrible.

1238
01:02:06,280 --> 01:02:09,480
I felt horrible. But it all started with me passing

1239
01:02:09,559 --> 01:02:11,719
out of my house and being discovered there, which began

1240
01:02:11,800 --> 01:02:15,719
an almost forty day hospital stay. So now we know

1241
01:02:15,800 --> 01:02:18,039
what landed him in the hospital recently. All we knew

1242
01:02:18,039 --> 01:02:19,840
was that he was in the hospital for over a month.

1243
01:02:19,880 --> 01:02:23,360
We didn't know why. He says this procedure that I'm

1244
01:02:23,360 --> 01:02:25,719
getting ready to have done, I think it's called a shunt.

1245
01:02:26,239 --> 01:02:28,920
It'll go from my brain. I don't know where it's

1246
01:02:28,960 --> 01:02:31,599
all going to go, but it's going someplace to get

1247
01:02:31,599 --> 01:02:34,920
that fluid off my brain that's making me not remember stuff.

1248
01:02:35,280 --> 01:02:38,880
It's fairly serious. I always thought that anytime they open

1249
01:02:38,960 --> 01:02:41,239
your skull up it's a serious piece of business, and

1250
01:02:41,280 --> 01:02:44,280
this certainly feels that way. So I'll get it done,

1251
01:02:44,519 --> 01:02:49,840
a short hospital stay, and then back home to heal up. Yeah.

1252
01:02:49,840 --> 01:02:53,760
I had a friend years ago who had a shunt.

1253
01:02:54,119 --> 01:02:58,079
It's to drain excess fluid from the brain down into

1254
01:02:58,199 --> 01:03:01,039
another part of the body because there's just too much

1255
01:03:01,079 --> 01:03:04,599
pressure building up inside the skull, so they install a

1256
01:03:04,679 --> 01:03:10,119
tube that transfers the fluid elsewhere in the body. I

1257
01:03:10,239 --> 01:03:13,239
take this as great news that the doctors didn't find

1258
01:03:13,280 --> 01:03:17,400
any evidence of him having dementia or Alzheimer's, because remember

1259
01:03:17,440 --> 01:03:20,360
that was the report a few weeks ago from him

1260
01:03:20,679 --> 01:03:22,960
on his podcast. He mentioned that the doctors were testing

1261
01:03:23,039 --> 01:03:25,480
him because there was a fear that he might have

1262
01:03:25,719 --> 01:03:27,719
and Alzheimer's is a form of dementia, but that he

1263
01:03:27,800 --> 01:03:31,400
might have some form of dementia, possibly Alzheimer's, which would

1264
01:03:31,400 --> 01:03:35,440
explain why he's been very forgetful, and that would be awful.

1265
01:03:35,840 --> 01:03:40,199
Listening to him talk here, it sounds like that may

1266
01:03:40,199 --> 01:03:42,440
not be the case, and there may be another explanation

1267
01:03:42,559 --> 01:03:45,519
for it. And if that's the case, that would be

1268
01:03:45,519 --> 01:03:47,400
great news because a shunt is not going to do

1269
01:03:47,519 --> 01:03:51,000
much to help with that, but there is a condition

1270
01:03:51,039 --> 01:03:53,119
that affects the memory that if you have it, a

1271
01:03:53,199 --> 01:03:55,239
shunt could be used to help treat it. And so

1272
01:03:55,320 --> 01:03:57,119
I hope that this is a sign that that's what

1273
01:03:57,199 --> 01:04:00,320
he has, because that's a lot less scared than in

1274
01:04:00,400 --> 01:04:04,719
Alzheimer's diagnosis. Not that brain surgery isn't serious, but this

1275
01:04:04,760 --> 01:04:06,599
is a hell of a lot better than the alternative,

1276
01:04:06,599 --> 01:04:10,440
if that's all it is. Tony con this week announced

1277
01:04:10,480 --> 01:04:15,880
that AW All Out is returning to Hoffman Estate's Illinois,

1278
01:04:15,960 --> 01:04:19,239
which is just outside of Chicago, so they're all Out

1279
01:04:19,239 --> 01:04:23,079
pay per view just coming up on September twenty sixth.

1280
01:04:23,920 --> 01:04:26,639
It was really a tradition for many years in AW

1281
01:04:26,800 --> 01:04:28,840
or has been that they would have the All Out

1282
01:04:28,880 --> 01:04:32,920
Show at Hoffman Estates. Last year though the event took

1283
01:04:33,000 --> 01:04:36,920
place in Toronto, but outside of that, in the I

1284
01:04:36,920 --> 01:04:39,880
guess the twenty twenty show because of the pandemic show

1285
01:04:39,920 --> 01:04:42,679
would have been the Daily's place. Last year was the

1286
01:04:42,719 --> 01:04:45,719
only time outside the state of Illinois that All Out

1287
01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:51,119
was hosted somewhere else, So All Out, though not going

1288
01:04:51,159 --> 01:04:54,800
back to Labor Day weekend Traditionally that was where all

1289
01:04:54,840 --> 01:04:57,079
Out would take place. Tony Khan explained to Q one

1290
01:04:57,119 --> 01:04:59,159
oh one Radio. I want to make sure that the

1291
01:04:59,159 --> 01:05:02,519
fans get the best possible experience at all Out. That

1292
01:05:02,599 --> 01:05:05,440
means giving four weeks between these pay per views to

1293
01:05:05,519 --> 01:05:08,199
fully build up and have about a month between all

1294
01:05:08,239 --> 01:05:14,719
in and all Out. Good good, because for a while

1295
01:05:14,800 --> 01:05:17,079
there we were getting these two pay per views within

1296
01:05:17,440 --> 01:05:19,440
like a week or two of each other, and it

1297
01:05:19,519 --> 01:05:22,400
was ridiculous. So you want to have more time to

1298
01:05:22,440 --> 01:05:24,920
really build up these stories, build up these matches, whatever

1299
01:05:24,920 --> 01:05:28,559
it may be. And that makes total sense, That makes

1300
01:05:28,599 --> 01:05:30,599
absolute sense why you would delay the show until the

1301
01:05:30,679 --> 01:05:36,119
end of the month. Wressel Votes on Frightful Select reported

1302
01:05:36,159 --> 01:05:40,519
that WWE had little to no internal discussion regarding the

1303
01:05:40,519 --> 01:05:45,199
possibility of pursuing AW star Jack Perry in the case

1304
01:05:45,199 --> 01:05:48,800
that he entered free agency. The prevailing feeling was that

1305
01:05:48,840 --> 01:05:51,679
he did not fit in WWE's current landscape, and so

1306
01:05:51,800 --> 01:05:55,039
as such, we had Jack Perry re signing this week

1307
01:05:55,119 --> 01:05:58,119
with AW and they did something very unusual. They actually

1308
01:05:58,159 --> 01:06:00,559
addressed it on television and showed himself finding his new

1309
01:06:00,599 --> 01:06:03,639
contract and shaking hands with Tony Kahan. So we don't

1310
01:06:03,639 --> 01:06:05,199
know the length of the deal. I'm sure it was

1311
01:06:05,400 --> 01:06:09,280
multi year, but Jack Perry is not going anywhere, and honestly,

1312
01:06:09,320 --> 01:06:12,079
I didn't expect anything else. I didn't expect the WWE

1313
01:06:12,159 --> 01:06:13,920
was going to have a whole lot of interest in him.

1314
01:06:14,280 --> 01:06:16,599
Even if they brought him in, what were they realistically

1315
01:06:16,599 --> 01:06:18,239
going to do with him? They would have made him

1316
01:06:18,800 --> 01:06:20,719
a name on the NXT brand, right, they were not

1317
01:06:20,760 --> 01:06:22,159
going to bring him in and put him on the

1318
01:06:22,159 --> 01:06:24,599
main roster and give him any kind of serious push.

1319
01:06:24,840 --> 01:06:27,519
I mean, come on now, that just wasn't going to happen,

1320
01:06:27,960 --> 01:06:30,440
and so him staying with AW was always the likely

1321
01:06:30,920 --> 01:06:35,039
end results here, and that's the right, I think place

1322
01:06:35,119 --> 01:06:36,960
for him to be. Quite frankly, he talked in this

1323
01:06:37,000 --> 01:06:41,199
promo on Wednesday about how I have to fulfill my potential.

1324
01:06:41,519 --> 01:06:44,679
I have to be the AW World Champion, and again

1325
01:06:44,840 --> 01:06:47,920
I don't see that anytime soon either. But you know what,

1326
01:06:48,000 --> 01:06:49,800
he's got a hell of a lot better at chance

1327
01:06:49,800 --> 01:06:52,320
of winning the AW world title than he does winning

1328
01:06:52,320 --> 01:06:55,440
a world title in WWE. So we finally have the

1329
01:06:55,519 --> 01:06:58,559
Jack Perry saga come to an end this week and

1330
01:06:58,559 --> 01:07:02,000
he's staying right where he is. Dynamite on Wednesday was

1331
01:07:02,039 --> 01:07:04,199
their big Beach Break show, which did very well in

1332
01:07:04,239 --> 01:07:06,119
the ratings compared to how a lot of their recent

1333
01:07:06,159 --> 01:07:08,920
shows have done. They built it up as it was

1334
01:07:08,960 --> 01:07:12,000
almost like this mini pay per view that they had

1335
01:07:12,039 --> 01:07:15,360
on Wednesday, headlined by an AW World Championship match between

1336
01:07:15,440 --> 01:07:19,039
Kenny Omega and MJF, with the stipulation that if MJF

1337
01:07:19,079 --> 01:07:23,760
beat Kenny Omega and Omega lost, he could never again

1338
01:07:24,119 --> 01:07:27,440
challenge for the AW World title, just like his friend

1339
01:07:27,480 --> 01:07:32,480
Hangman Adam Page, just like the former EVP, former member

1340
01:07:32,519 --> 01:07:34,800
of the Elite Cody Rhoades very early on in his

1341
01:07:34,880 --> 01:07:37,920
run in AAW put that on the line in a match.

1342
01:07:38,159 --> 01:07:39,840
It must have been the matter of Jericho, I believe,

1343
01:07:40,599 --> 01:07:43,519
and could never again challenge for the AW World Championship.

1344
01:07:44,079 --> 01:07:46,920
That was the stipulation. I heard them put this match

1345
01:07:46,960 --> 01:07:50,880
together for Dynamite last week, and I'm like, Beach Break,

1346
01:07:52,000 --> 01:07:56,920
you've got Redemption coming up. What better place for redemption

1347
01:07:57,400 --> 01:08:00,119
for Kenny Omega than at a show called Redemption and

1348
01:08:00,320 --> 01:08:02,920
making people pay to see it, Because even though we

1349
01:08:02,960 --> 01:08:05,320
saw it earlier this year, that's still a big fucking match,

1350
01:08:05,400 --> 01:08:07,360
right That's a pay per view main event right there,

1351
01:08:07,440 --> 01:08:10,159
especially if he's gonna win the belt Kenny Omega against

1352
01:08:10,280 --> 01:08:13,199
MJF and they decided to do it on TV for

1353
01:08:13,559 --> 01:08:17,600
reasons that were confusing to me. Dave Meltzer this week

1354
01:08:17,680 --> 01:08:22,079
said the match and stipulation was the plan for the

1355
01:08:22,119 --> 01:08:25,720
Redemption pay per view on July twenty sixth in Montreal.

1356
01:08:26,239 --> 01:08:28,840
The idea was Canada and the name of the show

1357
01:08:28,920 --> 01:08:32,920
was Omega getting his last shot after two high profile losses.

1358
01:08:33,640 --> 01:08:38,560
It was pushed, believed to be by MJF to get

1359
01:08:38,560 --> 01:08:41,159
it moved to television, and he says he was not

1360
01:08:41,199 --> 01:08:43,600
given a reason why, but it doesn't matter where the

1361
01:08:43,640 --> 01:08:47,199
suggestion came from. That's a major change, and Tony Kahan

1362
01:08:47,920 --> 01:08:52,159
approved it, so it sounds like this may have been

1363
01:08:52,159 --> 01:08:55,560
an MJF idea. I can only hope that they have

1364
01:08:55,800 --> 01:08:58,680
something really good cooked up for Redemption then, because Redemption

1365
01:08:58,800 --> 01:09:02,560
is a brand new pay per view. Last check, how

1366
01:09:02,600 --> 01:09:05,479
many tickets did they move? Somewhere like five thousand maybe

1367
01:09:05,520 --> 01:09:08,720
so far for Redemption. I'm sure they'll be a lot

1368
01:09:08,760 --> 01:09:10,720
closer to ten by the time they get to the

1369
01:09:10,720 --> 01:09:13,319
pay per view in a few weeks. But it's their

1370
01:09:13,359 --> 01:09:17,000
first Redemption show. Usually they don't have a pay per

1371
01:09:17,079 --> 01:09:21,359
view between well, I guess Forbidden Door was a completely

1372
01:09:21,359 --> 01:09:24,800
different time last year, but in July traditionally in the

1373
01:09:24,880 --> 01:09:27,279
lead up to All In, unless it was All In

1374
01:09:27,279 --> 01:09:30,119
in Texas last year. They don't have a pay per view.

1375
01:09:30,159 --> 01:09:34,039
This is a whole new event they've created, and I

1376
01:09:34,039 --> 01:09:35,840
would think that ideally you want to have like a

1377
01:09:35,920 --> 01:09:40,439
major main event for that card. So now Kenny Omega

1378
01:09:40,520 --> 01:09:43,359
walks into Beach Break on Wednesday, they have this match,

1379
01:09:43,439 --> 01:09:46,159
which was again an excellent main event, much like the

1380
01:09:46,159 --> 01:09:48,239
one we saw in Raw Monday night. I sat back

1381
01:09:48,279 --> 01:09:50,800
to back forty eight hours of each other, these two

1382
01:09:50,800 --> 01:09:54,720
great television main events with two big title changes. Kenny

1383
01:09:54,760 --> 01:09:58,199
Omega beats MJF on Wednesday. He is for the second

1384
01:09:58,239 --> 01:10:00,640
time in his career, in the first time in five years,

1385
01:10:01,159 --> 01:10:04,199
a world champion in all elite wrestling, and it was

1386
01:10:04,239 --> 01:10:07,039
this great moment and again what a great match. And

1387
01:10:07,119 --> 01:10:09,479
so now here we are, Beach Break is over, the

1388
01:10:09,520 --> 01:10:12,560
title has once again changed hands. MJF is without the

1389
01:10:13,239 --> 01:10:15,159
Triple B and we are heading into this pay per

1390
01:10:15,239 --> 01:10:17,479
view and the question I have is what do you

1391
01:10:17,479 --> 01:10:21,079
do with MJF at Redemption? And I was thinking about this,

1392
01:10:21,279 --> 01:10:23,560
and you know who they could put him in the

1393
01:10:23,640 --> 01:10:26,359
ring with and you could do a rematch. You could

1394
01:10:26,399 --> 01:10:28,199
certainly do that, right. You could put him back in

1395
01:10:28,199 --> 01:10:31,720
there with Kenny Omega, MJF, he deserves his rematch, and

1396
01:10:31,800 --> 01:10:33,960
just run the match back again for the third time

1397
01:10:34,000 --> 01:10:38,840
this year. I think that MJF against Will Ospray should

1398
01:10:38,840 --> 01:10:41,760
be a real consideration for that pay per view, not

1399
01:10:41,880 --> 01:10:44,359
for the title shot at Wembley, because that would just

1400
01:10:44,359 --> 01:10:46,640
be fucking dumb for Will to put that up on

1401
01:10:46,720 --> 01:10:49,479
the line, but with the stipulation that if MJF wins,

1402
01:10:50,159 --> 01:10:52,760
he gets added to make it a three way, which

1403
01:10:52,800 --> 01:10:55,039
he won't be. But I think you tease it. You

1404
01:10:55,079 --> 01:10:57,039
tease that as a possibility because there's probably a lot

1405
01:10:57,079 --> 01:10:59,399
of people out there who think, well, that's exactly what's

1406
01:10:59,439 --> 01:11:02,000
gonna happen. He'll probably be worked into the Wembley main event.

1407
01:11:02,840 --> 01:11:04,600
I got news for you. I don't think he is.

1408
01:11:05,600 --> 01:11:07,960
I don't think that's happening. But I think that that

1409
01:11:08,079 --> 01:11:10,439
stipulation would make sense. Right. But then the thing is,

1410
01:11:10,479 --> 01:11:12,560
if you do that, if you do MJF and Osprey

1411
01:11:12,600 --> 01:11:15,680
at Redemption, you need someone for Kenny Omega on that

1412
01:11:15,720 --> 01:11:18,079
pay per view. Now, I floated a rematch the other night,

1413
01:11:19,000 --> 01:11:22,079
a rematch from all In last year where Okata beat

1414
01:11:22,159 --> 01:11:24,399
Kenny on that show. You could do one more Kenny

1415
01:11:24,439 --> 01:11:27,520
Omega Kazuchka Okata match and Kenny beats him this time

1416
01:11:28,520 --> 01:11:32,760
to keep the championship. So that's one possibility. Kenny defending

1417
01:11:32,800 --> 01:11:37,119
against John Moxley would be another possibility, right teasing that

1418
01:11:37,680 --> 01:11:40,800
maybe Moxley is gonna beat Kenny, and that means that

1419
01:11:41,079 --> 01:11:44,159
Will Osprey would need to beat John Moxley to win

1420
01:11:44,239 --> 01:11:46,840
the belt at all In, the man that he's been

1421
01:11:46,840 --> 01:11:48,960
aligned with now for months and months and the man

1422
01:11:49,000 --> 01:11:53,439
who last time they wrestled he lost to. But I

1423
01:11:53,439 --> 01:11:56,039
don't think Moxley should lose, first of all, I don't

1424
01:11:56,039 --> 01:11:59,119
think that's happening. But if you do Omega and Moxley,

1425
01:11:59,399 --> 01:12:01,880
Moxley's got to lose that. I don't think Moxley should

1426
01:12:01,920 --> 01:12:05,479
lose a match to anybody until he wrestles Ospray, then

1427
01:12:05,560 --> 01:12:07,800
he finally loses. I just don't see him being the

1428
01:12:07,840 --> 01:12:09,359
one to go in there in the main event at

1429
01:12:09,359 --> 01:12:11,960
all In. I think they're pretty well locked in now

1430
01:12:12,000 --> 01:12:13,479
as far as what that all In main event is

1431
01:12:13,520 --> 01:12:16,960
going to be, I don't think anything's changing that MJF

1432
01:12:17,000 --> 01:12:19,800
being added to make it a three way at this point. Look,

1433
01:12:20,000 --> 01:12:22,520
I'm disappointed that he is not going to be in

1434
01:12:22,560 --> 01:12:25,399
the main event because the output for him all year,

1435
01:12:25,479 --> 01:12:27,920
the work he's been putting in, the matches he's been having,

1436
01:12:27,960 --> 01:12:30,319
whether it is against Kenny or if it's against Darby,

1437
01:12:30,399 --> 01:12:32,399
or if it's against Hangman or whoever it may be,

1438
01:12:33,159 --> 01:12:36,600
has been fucking great. And so if anybody deserves to

1439
01:12:36,640 --> 01:12:40,079
be in the main attraction on their biggest show of

1440
01:12:40,079 --> 01:12:42,000
the year, you would think it would be MJF. The

1441
01:12:42,079 --> 01:12:44,239
idea of adding him to make it a three way

1442
01:12:44,279 --> 01:12:48,960
at this point, like, there's no point, there's no point

1443
01:12:48,960 --> 01:12:51,319
in even doing so. I'm not sure they would even

1444
01:12:51,399 --> 01:12:53,680
want to make any more changes to their main event

1445
01:12:53,680 --> 01:12:56,399
When it seems like they've got Omega against Osprey pretty

1446
01:12:56,399 --> 01:12:58,840
well locked in, they really need to start rolling out

1447
01:12:58,840 --> 01:13:02,760
the promotion for that match. If there was some other

1448
01:13:02,920 --> 01:13:05,800
strong babyface that people really wanted to see in the

1449
01:13:05,800 --> 01:13:08,439
main event at Wembley and they got added let's say

1450
01:13:08,439 --> 01:13:10,880
a few weeks before the show, like that would be

1451
01:13:10,920 --> 01:13:13,880
one thing. But to go through the trouble of adding

1452
01:13:13,920 --> 01:13:17,199
their top heel back into the mix, like, to me,

1453
01:13:17,319 --> 01:13:19,840
that ship has sailed with him dropping that belt the

1454
01:13:19,840 --> 01:13:22,359
way he did on Wednesday, that's it. You got to

1455
01:13:22,359 --> 01:13:24,479
come up with something else for him to do. And

1456
01:13:24,600 --> 01:13:26,920
whatever MJF is going to be doing on that show,

1457
01:13:27,319 --> 01:13:29,520
it will not involve the world title. Whether that means

1458
01:13:29,560 --> 01:13:32,600
a match with Hangman, I'll talk about him in a second,

1459
01:13:32,600 --> 01:13:35,920
because he just came back a match with Andrade, who

1460
01:13:35,920 --> 01:13:39,399
he's been beefing with for months, or social media is

1461
01:13:39,439 --> 01:13:41,640
to be believed. They've convinced themselves that it's going to

1462
01:13:41,680 --> 01:13:45,039
be a match against Mick Foley. But whatever it is,

1463
01:13:45,119 --> 01:13:48,079
it will not be wrestling for the aw World Championship.

1464
01:13:49,199 --> 01:13:52,439
Kyle Fletcher beat Ta Keshta Kenoski Takesha on Wednesday to

1465
01:13:52,479 --> 01:13:55,079
win the international title. Because Takesha is in the g

1466
01:13:55,159 --> 01:13:59,279
One Climax this year, which just actually commenced last night.

1467
01:14:00,119 --> 01:14:03,840
I think he lost to Yotasuji, I believe, but he's

1468
01:14:03,880 --> 01:14:05,479
going to be And the first show, by the way,

1469
01:14:05,600 --> 01:14:08,079
was actually at the Now Arena at Hoffman Estates, where

1470
01:14:08,119 --> 01:14:09,319
all At is going to be this year. It was

1471
01:14:09,359 --> 01:14:11,199
here in the States, but he's going to be going

1472
01:14:11,199 --> 01:14:12,680
to Japan. I don't think we're going to be seeing

1473
01:14:12,720 --> 01:14:15,960
Takeshta on AW television for the next month, so you

1474
01:14:16,079 --> 01:14:17,439
had to get the belt off of him when he

1475
01:14:17,479 --> 01:14:19,960
comes back. Assuming that he is back in time for London,

1476
01:14:20,239 --> 01:14:22,039
you could just run it back between these two and

1477
01:14:22,079 --> 01:14:24,239
maybe even Tosso caught it in there because he's been

1478
01:14:24,239 --> 01:14:26,520
in the mix. All three of these men, right, had

1479
01:14:26,520 --> 01:14:30,520
been interconnected. Now, that would seem to be the all

1480
01:14:30,560 --> 01:14:35,680
in match to me, but I mentioned Hangman. We had

1481
01:14:35,720 --> 01:14:39,680
the return of Hangman Adam Page on Collision for the

1482
01:14:39,720 --> 01:14:42,479
first time since losing to MJF in the Texas Death

1483
01:14:42,560 --> 01:14:45,840
Match back in March, where he can no longer ever

1484
01:14:45,920 --> 01:14:49,880
again challenge for the AW World title. The announcement of

1485
01:14:49,960 --> 01:14:52,000
him being on Collision, by the way, was not mentioned

1486
01:14:52,000 --> 01:14:54,560
on TV. This came out of nowhere from Tony Kahn

1487
01:14:54,600 --> 01:14:58,720
on social media two days before the show that Hangman

1488
01:14:58,800 --> 01:15:01,560
was going to be on Collision in his home state

1489
01:15:01,560 --> 01:15:05,359
of Virginia. He comes out last night. He's back to

1490
01:15:05,399 --> 01:15:07,279
the short haired look. By the way. We got short

1491
01:15:07,279 --> 01:15:13,880
haired Hangman and he talked about his gardening again. I

1492
01:15:13,880 --> 01:15:18,640
guess that makes him a domestic short hair I'm sorry,

1493
01:15:19,840 --> 01:15:21,960
but when he came out like on the lower third

1494
01:15:22,479 --> 01:15:28,600
under his name. It said, recently had a vasectomy man,

1495
01:15:30,039 --> 01:15:33,319
never again able to challenge for the world title and

1496
01:15:33,399 --> 01:15:37,039
never again able to have kids. You know, if he

1497
01:15:37,079 --> 01:15:40,000
was going to do that, MJF totally should have added

1498
01:15:40,039 --> 01:15:43,079
that stipulation to their Texas deathmatch. Would have made him

1499
01:15:43,079 --> 01:15:47,680
an even bigger asshole. The good news about both those things, though,

1500
01:15:47,720 --> 01:15:50,600
is that they can both be reversed. But he comes

1501
01:15:50,600 --> 01:15:53,199
out to the rank. He talks about his gardening, which

1502
01:15:53,479 --> 01:15:57,560
led to him talking about planting seeds, which he literally

1503
01:15:57,640 --> 01:16:00,720
can't do anymore because he got his tubes tied. But

1504
01:16:00,840 --> 01:16:05,039
he reiterated that by losing to MJF, he can never

1505
01:16:05,119 --> 01:16:09,239
again challenge for the aw World Championship ever again. And

1506
01:16:09,319 --> 01:16:11,920
even though that was never actually put down on paper,

1507
01:16:12,920 --> 01:16:15,479
he is a man of his word and he intends

1508
01:16:15,520 --> 01:16:19,399
to honor that word, that stipulation he will never again

1509
01:16:20,000 --> 01:16:22,840
challenge for the world title, which puts the bet any

1510
01:16:22,920 --> 01:16:25,239
chance of him getting around it by winning that Casino

1511
01:16:25,239 --> 01:16:29,520
Gauntlet match next month. I had mentioned that as soon

1512
01:16:29,560 --> 01:16:31,800
as he lost, actually probably even before that, and the

1513
01:16:31,880 --> 01:16:34,720
lead up to that match at Revolution, I guess it

1514
01:16:34,760 --> 01:16:37,000
was I said, you know, one way to get around

1515
01:16:37,079 --> 01:16:39,920
this is that he could pop up in the Casino Gauntlet,

1516
01:16:40,039 --> 01:16:43,479
and you know he wins a guaranteed world title shot,

1517
01:16:43,560 --> 01:16:46,119
but it looks like that's out the window. But what

1518
01:16:46,159 --> 01:16:48,760
he talked about here in this promo was there being

1519
01:16:48,880 --> 01:16:51,680
other titles to challenge for, and oh there are many.

1520
01:16:51,920 --> 01:16:55,680
There are many for him to challenge for. He named

1521
01:16:55,760 --> 01:16:59,600
the TNT title and Kevin Knight, someone he counted as

1522
01:16:59,640 --> 01:17:01,600
a trio I was partner of his at one time.

1523
01:17:02,600 --> 01:17:06,239
He mentioned Mark Davis as the national champion who had

1524
01:17:06,239 --> 01:17:08,600
a hell of a match last night with Speedball Mike Bailey.

1525
01:17:10,000 --> 01:17:13,439
Next up for Davis, by the way, is Andrede Alidelos,

1526
01:17:13,479 --> 01:17:15,920
so long as Andrede can get past Jake Doyle on

1527
01:17:16,000 --> 01:17:20,960
Dynamite this week. And Hangman also mentioned the continental champion,

1528
01:17:21,439 --> 01:17:24,720
John Moxley, the same John Moxley that he beat to

1529
01:17:24,800 --> 01:17:28,079
win the world title at all in last year. He said,

1530
01:17:28,079 --> 01:17:31,039
for seven years, I have defined myself by the one

1531
01:17:31,119 --> 01:17:34,479
goal that I held above all others, to chase, to win,

1532
01:17:34,720 --> 01:17:37,319
and to hold the world championship. But now I am

1533
01:17:37,359 --> 01:17:41,640
faced with the question, who is Hangman without the World Championship?

1534
01:17:42,000 --> 01:17:44,720
And the honest truth is, I don't know, but we're

1535
01:17:44,760 --> 01:17:47,119
damn sure going to find out. I'm going to have

1536
01:17:47,199 --> 01:17:49,920
to find something else to do, and you bet you're

1537
01:17:49,960 --> 01:17:52,399
asked that I will, and he thanked all the fans

1538
01:17:52,439 --> 01:17:55,840
the great little Babyface promo. Here, here's the thing about

1539
01:17:55,880 --> 01:17:58,119
Hangman in the World title Hangman. If we assume that

1540
01:17:58,159 --> 01:18:01,159
Hangman is going to be a you know, long term

1541
01:18:01,760 --> 01:18:05,159
member yet of this aw roster, he's going to stick

1542
01:18:05,159 --> 01:18:08,439
around for another three, four or five years, there is

1543
01:18:08,479 --> 01:18:10,680
going to come a time where he is going to

1544
01:18:10,800 --> 01:18:13,159
challenge for the World Championship again, whether it is as

1545
01:18:13,159 --> 01:18:15,640
a heel or whether it is as a babyface, and

1546
01:18:15,680 --> 01:18:19,760
he is he is coaxed out of the stipulation. There

1547
01:18:19,840 --> 01:18:23,039
is there is no chance unless Hangman is going to

1548
01:18:23,119 --> 01:18:25,279
leave this company, which would shock me honestly, if he

1549
01:18:25,319 --> 01:18:26,960
was going to leave this company in the next year

1550
01:18:27,079 --> 01:18:29,439
or two. If we assume that he is, I don't

1551
01:18:29,439 --> 01:18:31,319
want to say life right, hate throwing that word around,

1552
01:18:31,359 --> 01:18:35,800
because there's no such a thing in wrestling, But there's

1553
01:18:35,840 --> 01:18:38,600
no way that he doesn't challenge for that world title again.

1554
01:18:38,640 --> 01:18:42,359
At some point he has to. But in the meantime,

1555
01:18:42,439 --> 01:18:44,439
you know what, yes, you can have him challenge for

1556
01:18:44,479 --> 01:18:48,640
other championships. His story, his story arc. This entire time

1557
01:18:48,640 --> 01:18:50,479
that he has been part of this company has revolved

1558
01:18:50,520 --> 01:18:54,439
around that world title, and now this forces them, whether

1559
01:18:54,479 --> 01:18:55,960
you think it's a good thing or a bad thing,

1560
01:18:56,000 --> 01:18:58,359
what it does do is it forces them now to

1561
01:18:58,439 --> 01:19:00,479
pivot away from the world title and come up with

1562
01:19:00,520 --> 01:19:02,640
something else for this guy to do, something else that's

1563
01:19:02,680 --> 01:19:06,119
interesting that he can pursue that isn't just the world championship.

1564
01:19:06,640 --> 01:19:10,720
Because this evil, fucking bastard MJF, you know, was able

1565
01:19:10,720 --> 01:19:12,439
to go ahead and convince him that this is what

1566
01:19:12,520 --> 01:19:15,359
he had to do and he lost, and MJF can

1567
01:19:15,439 --> 01:19:17,479
laugh about it every single he can continue to bring

1568
01:19:17,520 --> 01:19:20,119
it up every single time, and it just makes MJF

1569
01:19:20,119 --> 01:19:23,239
into an even bigger dick. But you've got the national title,

1570
01:19:23,279 --> 01:19:25,960
you've got the International title, you've got the TNT title,

1571
01:19:25,960 --> 01:19:28,520
you've got the Continental title. I'm sure they'll add two

1572
01:19:28,560 --> 01:19:30,760
more championships in the next couple of years that he

1573
01:19:30,800 --> 01:19:33,079
can go after. He's already been a trios champion, a

1574
01:19:33,079 --> 01:19:36,079
tag team champion. It's not like there aren't other things

1575
01:19:36,119 --> 01:19:41,760
for him to compete for and to challenge for. The

1576
01:19:41,800 --> 01:19:44,880
onus is on Tony Kahan to come up with some

1577
01:19:45,000 --> 01:19:46,800
interesting things. You know for him to do, and the

1578
01:19:46,880 --> 01:19:50,000
Hangman is kind of the main character of AW. He's

1579
01:19:50,000 --> 01:19:52,680
a former two time world champion. He's a main event

1580
01:19:52,760 --> 01:19:56,880
level performer for them. Maybe he could help elevate some

1581
01:19:57,000 --> 01:19:59,439
of these other titles a little bit higher than they

1582
01:19:59,479 --> 01:20:03,359
are now because he brings some star power to it, right,

1583
01:20:03,399 --> 01:20:07,439
they could kind of parlay this into something positive. I'm

1584
01:20:07,439 --> 01:20:09,800
not against that idea. I mean, they don't have a choice. Obviously,

1585
01:20:09,920 --> 01:20:11,520
he's not going to challenge for the world title. What

1586
01:20:11,520 --> 01:20:13,640
else is he going to do. But the idea that

1587
01:20:13,680 --> 01:20:15,880
he'll never again challenge for the title I don't buy

1588
01:20:15,920 --> 01:20:19,560
for a second. He will absolutely at some point challenge

1589
01:20:19,560 --> 01:20:21,800
for the AW World Championship. It just won't be for

1590
01:20:21,840 --> 01:20:25,960
a very long time. Dark Side of the Ring kicked

1591
01:20:25,960 --> 01:20:28,640
off its seventh season with a two part episode on

1592
01:20:28,800 --> 01:20:32,920
Jeff Jarrett and the Battle for TNA, and there's another

1593
01:20:33,000 --> 01:20:37,199
one this week, Part three three episodes on Jeff Jarrett.

1594
01:20:38,159 --> 01:20:41,279
Evidently the producers wanted to do a whole season on TNA.

1595
01:20:41,520 --> 01:20:43,600
They were going to focus not just on the early

1596
01:20:43,680 --> 01:20:47,439
days and on Double J, but the Scott More years

1597
01:20:47,479 --> 01:20:50,760
and the Billy Corgan years. But they decided to make

1598
01:20:50,920 --> 01:20:53,039
Jarrett the focus of the story, and even then, I

1599
01:20:53,079 --> 01:20:55,439
mean they were shocked that they needed a third hour.

1600
01:20:55,880 --> 01:20:58,000
They had to beg and plead with Vice TV to

1601
01:20:58,079 --> 01:21:00,520
give them that third hour, or else there would have

1602
01:21:00,520 --> 01:21:02,119
been more stuff that they had to leave out than

1603
01:21:02,159 --> 01:21:05,039
they already did. So you realize very quickly watching this

1604
01:21:05,119 --> 01:21:07,880
that the focus here is less TNA than it is

1605
01:21:08,000 --> 01:21:10,720
on Jeff Jarrett, and I think you need to approach

1606
01:21:10,760 --> 01:21:13,880
them knowing that, or else you'll find yourself disappointed that

1607
01:21:13,880 --> 01:21:15,800
they don't get into the weeds a little bit more

1608
01:21:15,840 --> 01:21:19,319
on the history of TNA itself. Jarrett is the main

1609
01:21:19,359 --> 01:21:22,039
talking head here. They got him to sit down for this,

1610
01:21:22,159 --> 01:21:23,920
and it's good that they did, because they tried to

1611
01:21:23,920 --> 01:21:27,920
get Dixie Carter and Kurt Angle and they both declined

1612
01:21:27,920 --> 01:21:31,319
to take part. Actually, Dixie just never responded at all.

1613
01:21:32,159 --> 01:21:34,399
The way they bury her six feet under here, it's

1614
01:21:34,439 --> 01:21:37,000
not hard to see why. You know, Angle and Dixie

1615
01:21:37,039 --> 01:21:39,199
there are two pretty key figures in the history of

1616
01:21:39,239 --> 01:21:43,720
TNA and even in Jarrett's career, but there is none

1617
01:21:43,880 --> 01:21:46,600
bigger than Double J as far as TNA is concerned.

1618
01:21:46,640 --> 01:21:48,520
He was one of the founding fathers of the promotion

1619
01:21:49,239 --> 01:21:53,079
without Jeff Jarrett, there is no TNA, although one thing

1620
01:21:53,119 --> 01:21:55,560
they did not do, and I thought it was pretty

1621
01:21:55,560 --> 01:21:59,760
egregious not to mention this was credit Bob Ryder as

1622
01:21:59,800 --> 01:22:02,279
a co founder of TNA. Now. Bob Ryder worked for

1623
01:22:02,399 --> 01:22:05,800
WCW until the company went under. He also used to

1624
01:22:05,840 --> 01:22:09,399
run a little wrestling news website called one Wrestling dot Com,

1625
01:22:09,880 --> 01:22:13,079
which was my go to site for many years, although

1626
01:22:13,079 --> 01:22:15,840
that was mainly because Mike Johnson wrote for the site

1627
01:22:16,479 --> 01:22:19,399
and Johnson and Dave Scherer. They eventually quit One Wrestling

1628
01:22:19,399 --> 01:22:23,720
to start petew Insider, but they came from one Wrestling originally.

1629
01:22:24,279 --> 01:22:26,159
Bob is the one who came up with the idea

1630
01:22:26,199 --> 01:22:28,920
of doing a weekly pay per view show for nine

1631
01:22:28,960 --> 01:22:31,760
to ninety five. He was naive enough to believe that

1632
01:22:31,800 --> 01:22:34,720
it would do fifty thousand buys a week even without television,

1633
01:22:34,720 --> 01:22:38,520
which was ludicrous. It did half that, although they were

1634
01:22:38,600 --> 01:22:41,920
being told otherwise by someone whose name escapes me, who

1635
01:22:42,000 --> 01:22:44,439
was apparently forging the reports to show some of the

1636
01:22:44,439 --> 01:22:47,760
shows doing as many as eighty five thousand buys, which

1637
01:22:47,800 --> 01:22:50,880
was a lie. This is for a brand new company

1638
01:22:50,920 --> 01:22:53,640
with no TV, mind you, and they bought into it.

1639
01:22:53,960 --> 01:22:56,279
But as the story goes it was writer who pitched

1640
01:22:56,319 --> 01:22:59,960
the idea to Jeff. Jeff and Bob then invited Jeff

1641
01:23:00,159 --> 01:23:02,960
father for a fishing trip on Bob's boat, and that's

1642
01:23:03,000 --> 01:23:06,000
where they sold Jerry Jarrett on the idea of getting

1643
01:23:06,000 --> 01:23:09,479
involved against his better judgment, but it was his son,

1644
01:23:09,680 --> 01:23:12,760
so he went along with it. So while you can say,

1645
01:23:12,800 --> 01:23:15,199
you know, without Jeff there is no TNA, and that's true,

1646
01:23:15,560 --> 01:23:18,279
it's just as accurate to say that without Bob Ryder

1647
01:23:18,680 --> 01:23:21,680
there may very well have been no TNA, and he

1648
01:23:21,800 --> 01:23:24,880
wasn't even mentioned here. A Ryder worked for TNA for

1649
01:23:24,920 --> 01:23:27,199
the next eighteen years or so after that, all the

1650
01:23:27,199 --> 01:23:29,840
way through until he died five years ago from cancer.

1651
01:23:30,680 --> 01:23:32,680
Eric Young inducted him into their Hall of Fame a

1652
01:23:32,720 --> 01:23:35,760
couple of years ago. But in this first episode, because

1653
01:23:35,760 --> 01:23:38,000
again it was a two parter, and I'm not going

1654
01:23:38,079 --> 01:23:40,399
to go, i mean chapter and verse through everything here.

1655
01:23:40,439 --> 01:23:43,199
If you've listened to these reviews before him, I'm a

1656
01:23:43,199 --> 01:23:45,039
little all over the place here, and I like to

1657
01:23:45,119 --> 01:23:47,199
kind of pitch in with stuff that maybe wasn't covered

1658
01:23:47,239 --> 01:23:49,520
in the episode and just kind of focus on the

1659
01:23:49,600 --> 01:23:53,119
highlights of it. But in this first episode, Jarrett said

1660
01:23:53,159 --> 01:23:56,319
the story of TNA is the story of a thousand

1661
01:23:56,399 --> 01:24:00,359
what ips And he's not wrong. That was That's probably

1662
01:24:00,520 --> 01:24:02,840
one of the most honest things I heard anybody say

1663
01:24:02,840 --> 01:24:05,000
in this episode, because it's so true. It is the

1664
01:24:05,039 --> 01:24:09,520
story of a thousand what IFPs. What if Vince McMahon

1665
01:24:09,520 --> 01:24:13,520
did not buy WCW and immediately fire Jeff Jarrett on

1666
01:24:13,560 --> 01:24:16,920
live TV? And if there was no TNA, what a

1667
01:24:16,920 --> 01:24:19,920
promotion like Ring of Honor, which started up only a

1668
01:24:19,960 --> 01:24:23,159
couple of months before TNA did. Would roh have been

1669
01:24:23,319 --> 01:24:27,720
successful enough to secure television like TNA did, And if so,

1670
01:24:27,840 --> 01:24:30,520
what would that have looked like? You know, what if

1671
01:24:30,560 --> 01:24:32,920
Dixie Carter did not have a rich father who agreed

1672
01:24:32,960 --> 01:24:36,920
to bankroll the promotion and effectively save it. What if

1673
01:24:36,960 --> 01:24:40,279
Dixie Carter gave Paul Hayman what he wanted years later

1674
01:24:40,319 --> 01:24:42,079
to come in and run the company? Where would they

1675
01:24:42,079 --> 01:24:46,079
be today? When brock Lesner decides to come back to wrestling,

1676
01:24:46,760 --> 01:24:50,159
does he choose to go work for Paul Hayman in TNA?

1677
01:24:51,359 --> 01:24:54,640
Does Haman build TNA around brock Lesner and Kurt Angle

1678
01:24:54,680 --> 01:24:58,319
in twenty twelve? You know, is there an aw today?

1679
01:24:59,640 --> 01:25:02,039
It is very much the story of a thousand what ifs.

1680
01:25:02,359 --> 01:25:07,159
Jarrett comes off very humble here, very open about his faults.

1681
01:25:07,640 --> 01:25:09,680
But it's hard to watch this and not think that

1682
01:25:09,800 --> 01:25:12,920
maybe he comes off a little too well. Maybe that

1683
01:25:13,000 --> 01:25:15,199
has to do with him being willing to sit down

1684
01:25:15,239 --> 01:25:17,079
for this when others were not as willing. He can

1685
01:25:17,119 --> 01:25:20,399
speak his truth as he sees it, as can his

1686
01:25:20,439 --> 01:25:23,479
wife Karen, who's also interviewed for this, and for the

1687
01:25:23,600 --> 01:25:26,119
very first time, she sat down and spoke about the

1688
01:25:26,159 --> 01:25:28,399
real story behind what went down with her and Jeff

1689
01:25:28,439 --> 01:25:32,159
when they got together, them and Kurt Angle and Dixie

1690
01:25:32,159 --> 01:25:35,880
when things really blew up with that whole thing. Dixie

1691
01:25:35,960 --> 01:25:39,119
is the real loser here because through these first two

1692
01:25:39,159 --> 01:25:43,239
episodes she is painted as the clear villain of this story,

1693
01:25:43,920 --> 01:25:47,239
and she isn't there to defend herself. I don't doubt

1694
01:25:47,239 --> 01:25:49,000
that a lot of what's being said about her here

1695
01:25:49,079 --> 01:25:52,560
is true. She made a power play to get Jeff

1696
01:25:52,600 --> 01:25:54,399
out of the company, or at least get him off

1697
01:25:54,439 --> 01:25:57,199
to the side, and she took a liking to being

1698
01:25:57,239 --> 01:26:01,000
in the spotlight. I can remember years they're being talk

1699
01:26:01,079 --> 01:26:04,039
of them filming a pilot episode backstage at the Impact

1700
01:26:04,079 --> 01:26:08,439
tapings for some reality TV series based around Dixie's life

1701
01:26:09,079 --> 01:26:12,720
as a woman working in a male dominated industry like

1702
01:26:12,760 --> 01:26:16,359
this woman had stars in her eyes. It's too bad

1703
01:26:16,399 --> 01:26:18,640
that reality show never got picked up. That would have

1704
01:26:18,640 --> 01:26:23,039
given me endless material on the podcast. TNA became a

1705
01:26:23,119 --> 01:26:26,479
vanity project for Dixie Carter, but the reality is without

1706
01:26:26,479 --> 01:26:28,760
her family's money, TNA would have been dead a long

1707
01:26:28,800 --> 01:26:31,199
time ago, long before they ever got on Spike TV.

1708
01:26:31,840 --> 01:26:34,880
Getting on Spike TV in two thousand and five is

1709
01:26:34,920 --> 01:26:37,479
what took that company to that next level, and they

1710
01:26:37,479 --> 01:26:39,520
have never been able to get back to that level

1711
01:26:39,600 --> 01:26:44,600
since the story of TNA has been a frustrating one

1712
01:26:44,640 --> 01:26:47,399
for anyone who wanted to see another company succeed. Where

1713
01:26:47,479 --> 01:26:49,960
WWE may have been failing. TNA could have been a

1714
01:26:49,960 --> 01:26:53,720
true alternative, and they were in some cases they were

1715
01:26:53,760 --> 01:26:57,359
with the X division. They were with their emphasis on

1716
01:26:57,439 --> 01:27:00,840
the knockouts at a time when WWA was still living

1717
01:27:00,880 --> 01:27:04,600
in the Stone Age with their divas, TNA made national

1718
01:27:04,680 --> 01:27:07,359
names out of people like aj Styles and Samoa Joe.

1719
01:27:07,840 --> 01:27:11,720
I sometimes wonder you know where Elix Skipper would have

1720
01:27:11,880 --> 01:27:14,359
ended up had he stuck around the wrestling business. They

1721
01:27:14,359 --> 01:27:18,359
showed his famous cage walk spot at turning point which

1722
01:27:18,720 --> 01:27:21,760
still holds up to this day. Even today with all

1723
01:27:21,760 --> 01:27:25,199
the crazy shit that we see, especially in aaw the

1724
01:27:25,239 --> 01:27:28,159
cage walk spot is maybe the craziest thing that I've

1725
01:27:28,199 --> 01:27:30,359
ever seen in a wrestling match. When I think of

1726
01:27:30,399 --> 01:27:33,640
TNA to this day, if there is one moment above

1727
01:27:33,680 --> 01:27:36,800
all else that I think of, it is that spot

1728
01:27:36,840 --> 01:27:41,439
in two thousand and four. Fucking unbelievable. You know, his

1729
01:27:41,520 --> 01:27:43,640
son was shot and killed in two thousand and nine,

1730
01:27:43,800 --> 01:27:45,920
and he just didn't want to wrestle anymore. That's why

1731
01:27:45,960 --> 01:27:48,359
he kind of dropped off the face of the earth there.

1732
01:27:48,359 --> 01:27:51,439
But he's one of those whatever happened to so and

1733
01:27:51,479 --> 01:27:54,720
so like whenever I see that spot. But that's the

1734
01:27:54,760 --> 01:27:57,720
sort of exciting, crazy stuff that you could see in

1735
01:27:57,760 --> 01:28:00,840
TNA at that time that you could not see WWE,

1736
01:28:01,600 --> 01:28:04,159
and it was exciting and it was different. There was

1737
01:28:04,199 --> 01:28:06,039
a lot of good that came out of that company,

1738
01:28:06,079 --> 01:28:11,239
but also plenty of bad. Loltna is a real thing.

1739
01:28:11,319 --> 01:28:14,199
It lives on to this day through however, many owners

1740
01:28:14,239 --> 01:28:17,239
and bookers that have passed through that place, they will

1741
01:28:17,279 --> 01:28:21,359
never shed the stink of Loltna. It will follow them

1742
01:28:21,399 --> 01:28:23,760
to the grave, which is where a lot of people

1743
01:28:23,840 --> 01:28:25,600
figured they would be by now. But yet here we

1744
01:28:25,680 --> 01:28:28,880
are twenty four years later, and somehow TNA still lives on.

1745
01:28:30,399 --> 01:28:33,199
You know, it does feel more like WWE's little plaything

1746
01:28:33,279 --> 01:28:35,720
now that they can just kind of snatch up any

1747
01:28:35,720 --> 01:28:39,800
time they want. It's different now, you know, times have changed.

1748
01:28:39,840 --> 01:28:42,319
At one time you couldn't utter those initials on TV

1749
01:28:42,439 --> 01:28:45,479
without Vince McMahon pitching a fit. Right, That was a

1750
01:28:45,560 --> 01:28:49,960
no no. They were trying to be real competition to

1751
01:28:50,600 --> 01:28:54,279
Vince McMahon. Today they're not competition to WWE, right so

1752
01:28:54,399 --> 01:28:57,560
much as they are a developmental arm for them in

1753
01:28:57,600 --> 01:29:01,920
many ways, right, not only platforming new talents like Joe

1754
01:29:01,960 --> 01:29:05,199
Hendry and Leon Slater and Ricky Sosa, but giving new

1755
01:29:05,239 --> 01:29:09,600
life to names like Mike Santana and Mostafa Ali that

1756
01:29:09,640 --> 01:29:13,479
had been able to reinvent themselves and have the opportunity

1757
01:29:13,520 --> 01:29:17,199
now to be top players. Big fishes in a small pond.

1758
01:29:18,199 --> 01:29:21,800
But for how long it feels like whoever WWE wants,

1759
01:29:22,439 --> 01:29:25,399
they'll get, which makes it hard for TNA to really

1760
01:29:25,399 --> 01:29:27,680
build around the nucleus of young talent like they did

1761
01:29:27,720 --> 01:29:30,239
all those many years ago. It's hard to build around

1762
01:29:30,279 --> 01:29:32,840
people that you don't have locked into long term deals

1763
01:29:33,319 --> 01:29:36,399
or whose goal may be to up their value for

1764
01:29:36,439 --> 01:29:40,439
the eventual jump you know, you know where, such as

1765
01:29:40,479 --> 01:29:43,800
the state of TNA. Today, they finally have decent television

1766
01:29:43,800 --> 01:29:46,239
again on AMC, but they still can't seem to generate

1767
01:29:46,359 --> 01:29:48,800
enough interest to get back to those glory days on Spike.

1768
01:29:50,479 --> 01:29:54,439
Before all that, though, you had Jeff Jarrett. And that

1769
01:29:54,560 --> 01:29:57,199
is where the first episode begins. With Jeff's upbringing as

1770
01:29:57,239 --> 01:30:00,560
the son of a promoter. He wasn't even terrible close

1771
01:30:00,720 --> 01:30:03,000
with his father as a child. It kind of reminds

1772
01:30:03,039 --> 01:30:06,079
me of Vince McMahon and his father. They did get close,

1773
01:30:06,239 --> 01:30:09,560
you know. Later on, they glossed over his early in

1774
01:30:09,680 --> 01:30:12,359
ring career quickly to skip right to the night that

1775
01:30:12,399 --> 01:30:15,600
Owen Hart died. Jeff and Owen were tag team partners

1776
01:30:15,640 --> 01:30:19,119
around that time. They had gotten very close. Owen falls

1777
01:30:19,159 --> 01:30:22,399
to his death on pay per view and Jeff has

1778
01:30:22,439 --> 01:30:25,079
to go out there in the very next match because

1779
01:30:25,079 --> 01:30:27,560
they didn't have enough sense to stop the fucking show

1780
01:30:27,800 --> 01:30:30,119
after one of their people fell eighty feet to his

1781
01:30:30,239 --> 01:30:33,159
death in the ring. He didn't die on his way

1782
01:30:33,159 --> 01:30:34,640
to the hospital, by the way, he died in the

1783
01:30:34,680 --> 01:30:37,920
ring in front of thousands of people. And all of

1784
01:30:37,920 --> 01:30:40,399
his coworkers as they wheeled his body through the back,

1785
01:30:41,159 --> 01:30:42,840
and Jeff had to go out there and wrestle in

1786
01:30:42,880 --> 01:30:44,680
a ring that he admitted had a dent in it

1787
01:30:45,039 --> 01:30:48,760
from where his best friend landed. How he did that

1788
01:30:48,800 --> 01:30:52,680
without completely breaking down, I'll never know. I could barely

1789
01:30:52,760 --> 01:30:55,079
keep it together watching it live that night once I

1790
01:30:55,119 --> 01:30:58,239
realized what had happened, and then watching all the local

1791
01:30:58,279 --> 01:31:00,960
newscasts that night, it was the lead story like here,

1792
01:31:01,239 --> 01:31:04,039
I'll never forget it here in New York Channel four news,

1793
01:31:04,119 --> 01:31:08,800
NBC News eleven o'clock lead story. Pro wrestler Owen Hard dies,

1794
01:31:08,920 --> 01:31:11,399
you know, in Kansas City, and I'm just like, I'm

1795
01:31:11,479 --> 01:31:14,760
numb to it all. And I wasn't friends with him,

1796
01:31:15,039 --> 01:31:16,960
you know, I wasn't close with this person the way

1797
01:31:16,960 --> 01:31:20,640
that someone like Jarrett was. He said he never really

1798
01:31:20,720 --> 01:31:24,479
grieved Owen's death. It wasn't until many years later. I

1799
01:31:24,560 --> 01:31:27,600
want to say it was twenty seventeen that he finally

1800
01:31:27,640 --> 01:31:30,800
was able to do so. But after that, you know,

1801
01:31:30,840 --> 01:31:34,079
he grew frustrated with his role in WWE. He wanted

1802
01:31:34,119 --> 01:31:35,920
to be in main events and that just wasn't going

1803
01:31:36,000 --> 01:31:39,039
to happen. Steve Austin not wanting to work with him

1804
01:31:39,079 --> 01:31:43,600
didn't help matters. Austin never forgot that crack that Jarrett

1805
01:31:43,600 --> 01:31:46,880
made when Steve worked for Jeff's dad and he couldn't

1806
01:31:46,880 --> 01:31:49,239
believe how small his paycheck was. He's like a famous

1807
01:31:49,279 --> 01:31:53,359
story and here's his little punk son, and maybe he

1808
01:31:53,399 --> 01:31:56,000
was just cracking jokes whatever, but he walks up to

1809
01:31:56,039 --> 01:31:58,279
Austin backstage and he sees him staring at this thing,

1810
01:31:58,279 --> 01:32:00,000
and he just tells him, staring at it isn't gonna

1811
01:32:00,159 --> 01:32:03,560
making any bigger. I could see why Austin might carry

1812
01:32:03,560 --> 01:32:07,079
a grudge. But like even in ninety seven when Jeff

1813
01:32:07,119 --> 01:32:09,079
first came, well not first, but when he came back

1814
01:32:09,079 --> 01:32:11,000
to the company, he cuts this if you remember this

1815
01:32:11,119 --> 01:32:14,960
worked shoot promo on TV where he's going off on

1816
01:32:15,039 --> 01:32:19,039
different people, including Austin, and he's ragging on Austin in

1817
01:32:19,159 --> 01:32:22,279
that you know, the Austin three sixteen stuff and calls

1818
01:32:22,279 --> 01:32:26,079
it blasphemous and Austin had no idea that he was

1819
01:32:26,119 --> 01:32:28,479
going to be doing any of this. Confronted him as

1820
01:32:28,479 --> 01:32:30,239
soon as Jarreed got to the back, and he was

1821
01:32:30,279 --> 01:32:33,760
like cussing him out and really laying into him. And

1822
01:32:33,800 --> 01:32:35,600
so that may have had something to do with it too.

1823
01:32:35,640 --> 01:32:38,079
I just I don't think he was fond of Jeff

1824
01:32:38,119 --> 01:32:40,680
Jarrett for a lot of reasons, and he refused to

1825
01:32:40,720 --> 01:32:45,239
work with him. But here's the deal. Jeff Jarrett at

1826
01:32:45,239 --> 01:32:49,760
that time was not a main event caliber star in WWE.

1827
01:32:50,079 --> 01:32:53,479
He just wasn't. You had Steve Austin, you had the

1828
01:32:53,600 --> 01:32:56,399
Rock on the Rise at that time, you had the Undertaker,

1829
01:32:56,479 --> 01:32:59,560
you had Caine, you had Triple H on the rise.

1830
01:32:59,640 --> 01:33:04,000
Kurt was only a few months away from debuting. Where

1831
01:33:04,000 --> 01:33:08,000
would Jeff Jarrett fit into any of that. Jeff Jarrett

1832
01:33:08,000 --> 01:33:10,760
does not fit into that conversation of main event talents

1833
01:33:10,800 --> 01:33:13,039
at that time in WWE. It just doesn't happen. And

1834
01:33:13,119 --> 01:33:14,840
Vince McMahon was never going to push him as one

1835
01:33:14,880 --> 01:33:18,119
of his top guys. He was better off leaving because

1836
01:33:18,119 --> 01:33:20,319
it was the only chance he had of headlining anywhere.

1837
01:33:22,079 --> 01:33:25,600
So then they get into him holding Vince up for

1838
01:33:25,720 --> 01:33:28,279
the money that he felt he was owed the night

1839
01:33:28,319 --> 01:33:31,560
that he was scheduled to drop the Intercontinental title to China,

1840
01:33:31,600 --> 01:33:34,359
which he had no problem doing, but he wanted all

1841
01:33:34,399 --> 01:33:36,479
of the money that was owed to him up front

1842
01:33:37,199 --> 01:33:40,439
because he was leaving. They knew he was clearly out

1843
01:33:40,439 --> 01:33:43,479
the door. He was going to WCW, and he didn't

1844
01:33:43,520 --> 01:33:45,159
want to wait and run the risk of not getting

1845
01:33:45,199 --> 01:33:46,640
the money that was owed to him. He had all

1846
01:33:46,680 --> 01:33:49,479
the leverage that night. That one night was the only

1847
01:33:49,520 --> 01:33:51,640
time he was going to have any leverage over these people.

1848
01:33:52,520 --> 01:33:54,359
As soon as he did the job and walked out

1849
01:33:54,359 --> 01:33:57,800
the door, he had nothing, and wwe could you know,

1850
01:33:58,159 --> 01:34:00,439
hold things up in court and not pay you know,

1851
01:34:00,479 --> 01:34:02,880
whatever money he was owed for the pay per views,

1852
01:34:02,920 --> 01:34:05,279
and so it's like, this is my only shot. I

1853
01:34:05,279 --> 01:34:06,880
don't blame him for that at all. By the way,

1854
01:34:06,920 --> 01:34:09,439
if you're owed money, you hold their feet to the

1855
01:34:09,439 --> 01:34:12,079
flame and you get what's owed to you. It's not

1856
01:34:12,159 --> 01:34:14,680
his fault that Jim Ross dropped the ball on getting

1857
01:34:14,720 --> 01:34:18,520
his contract with you. That's on them. So he goes

1858
01:34:18,560 --> 01:34:22,439
to WCW. Vince Russo was there. Russo's a fan of Jeff's,

1859
01:34:22,960 --> 01:34:25,960
they've been friends for many years. So Jeff finally wins

1860
01:34:25,960 --> 01:34:28,119
a world title, he finally got a friendly face on

1861
01:34:28,159 --> 01:34:29,880
the booking team, and wouldn't you know, he wins the

1862
01:34:29,880 --> 01:34:33,039
world championship and less than a year later the company

1863
01:34:33,119 --> 01:34:36,319
is out of business. So there you go. See what

1864
01:34:36,399 --> 01:34:40,560
did I tell you. So then they get sold. WCW

1865
01:34:40,600 --> 01:34:43,199
does to Vince McMahon and they showed the part of

1866
01:34:43,239 --> 01:34:46,079
the raw Nitro simulcast where Vince is looking at Jarrett

1867
01:34:46,239 --> 01:34:48,399
footage because he wasn't there that night, but he was

1868
01:34:48,840 --> 01:34:51,399
looking at Jeff Jarrett highlights on a little TV screen

1869
01:34:51,439 --> 01:34:56,520
and he says double j is a gubo, double nuble

1870
01:34:57,039 --> 01:35:02,479
gone fired him right there on. Although Jarrett has said

1871
01:35:02,479 --> 01:35:04,279
that he was given a heads up in advance, I

1872
01:35:04,319 --> 01:35:08,760
think maybe Bruce Pritchard, so he wasn't completely blindsided by it.

1873
01:35:09,800 --> 01:35:11,800
But that was basically Vince's way of saying, you know,

1874
01:35:12,199 --> 01:35:14,239
fuck you for what you did on your last night here.

1875
01:35:14,760 --> 01:35:18,119
And with that, Jared had nowhere to work, so he

1876
01:35:18,239 --> 01:35:21,800
decided to start his own promotion. Again, no mention of

1877
01:35:21,840 --> 01:35:26,319
Bob Ryder. He did talk about this man, Richard Scrushy,

1878
01:35:26,880 --> 01:35:29,279
who is the CEO at the time of a company

1879
01:35:29,279 --> 01:35:33,319
called HealthSouth, who they brought in as an investor so

1880
01:35:33,359 --> 01:35:36,079
they had the capital they needed beyond what Jeff and

1881
01:35:36,119 --> 01:35:38,840
his father put into the company of their own money.

1882
01:35:39,000 --> 01:35:42,159
This turned out to be a disaster because Health South,

1883
01:35:42,199 --> 01:35:45,119
as it turned out, had been overstating its profits for

1884
01:35:45,199 --> 01:35:49,720
many years and committing fraud, so they eventually pulled their funding.

1885
01:35:49,760 --> 01:35:52,079
He got the call one day saying, Jeff, we got

1886
01:35:52,079 --> 01:35:55,720
some other Richard's got some bigger problems going on here,

1887
01:35:55,760 --> 01:35:58,159
so we're gonna have to pull that line of credit

1888
01:35:58,239 --> 01:36:01,720
and pull all of our funding and screwcy By the way,

1889
01:36:01,840 --> 01:36:04,640
was later acquitted on all charges, but then he got

1890
01:36:04,680 --> 01:36:07,439
hit with a whole slew of charges related to something

1891
01:36:07,439 --> 01:36:10,199
completely different, and he ended up going to prison for

1892
01:36:10,239 --> 01:36:14,640
six years. Vince Russo was interviewed for this, as was

1893
01:36:14,720 --> 01:36:17,479
Jim Cornett, so we get the usual back and forth

1894
01:36:17,520 --> 01:36:19,800
between the two of them that's become standard, It's become

1895
01:36:19,800 --> 01:36:22,159
tradition here on these Dark Side of the Ring episodes.

1896
01:36:22,720 --> 01:36:25,039
Russo took credit for coming up with the TNA name,

1897
01:36:25,720 --> 01:36:27,960
as he has for many years. I didn't need Russo

1898
01:36:28,039 --> 01:36:29,840
to tell me that he came up with the TNA name.

1899
01:36:29,880 --> 01:36:31,279
All you had to do was tell me that Vince

1900
01:36:31,359 --> 01:36:34,000
Russo was involved with the company, and I could have

1901
01:36:34,039 --> 01:36:36,399
guessed straight off that he came up with the TNA name,

1902
01:36:37,520 --> 01:36:39,600
because of course he did. So we had Tits and

1903
01:36:39,640 --> 01:36:43,359
Ass Wrestling. Then they showed highlights from their very first show,

1904
01:36:43,399 --> 01:36:46,520
their very first pay per view and what a show

1905
01:36:46,560 --> 01:36:50,000
it was. Now. They didn't talk about it here, but

1906
01:36:50,239 --> 01:36:55,399
it opened with Jarrett, Ken Shamrock, and Scott Hall all

1907
01:36:55,479 --> 01:36:58,520
agreeing that the Battle Royal that night to crown a

1908
01:36:58,600 --> 01:37:03,760
new champion was a stupid idea. To be more specific,

1909
01:37:04,000 --> 01:37:08,319
Ken Shamrock said, it sucks, which is the hell of

1910
01:37:08,359 --> 01:37:10,960
a way to get people excited for your main event

1911
01:37:11,000 --> 01:37:13,960
by talking about how stupid it is. What else did

1912
01:37:13,960 --> 01:37:15,359
we have? We had a tag team on the show

1913
01:37:15,399 --> 01:37:18,840
that night called the Johnsons who were dressed up like

1914
01:37:18,920 --> 01:37:24,199
Dix and I was so happy that they included footage

1915
01:37:24,239 --> 01:37:29,000
of Puppet the Psycho Dwarf. I don't think this aired

1916
01:37:29,039 --> 01:37:31,840
on the first episode, but it was definitely in those

1917
01:37:31,840 --> 01:37:36,000
early TNA shows where Puppet was being interviewed by their

1918
01:37:36,079 --> 01:37:41,600
blonde interviewer named Goldielocks, all while standing inside a trash

1919
01:37:41,680 --> 01:37:48,920
can masturbating, where he then offered Goldielocks some of his porridge.

1920
01:37:49,000 --> 01:37:51,720
He also pulled a gun on Jeff Jarrett, but Jeff

1921
01:37:51,720 --> 01:37:54,239
stopped him with a chair shot to the head and

1922
01:37:54,319 --> 01:37:57,000
he dropped the gun. You know, they're lucky that gun

1923
01:37:57,039 --> 01:37:59,399
didn't go off. Poor Grandma in the front row catching

1924
01:37:59,399 --> 01:38:00,880
a straight of the head would not have been good

1925
01:38:00,920 --> 01:38:06,279
for business. So after HealthSouth pulled its funding is where

1926
01:38:06,319 --> 01:38:08,800
Dixie Carter first pops up in this story, because she

1927
01:38:08,920 --> 01:38:11,239
was one of the contractors that Jeff had to reach

1928
01:38:11,279 --> 01:38:13,239
out to about their funding being pulled. He was going

1929
01:38:13,319 --> 01:38:14,920
to give all of them a chance to back out

1930
01:38:15,159 --> 01:38:17,800
if they wanted to. Look, our funding has been pulled,

1931
01:38:18,560 --> 01:38:20,079
and we just want to give you the chance that

1932
01:38:20,239 --> 01:38:23,199
we understand if you want to pull out, So if

1933
01:38:23,239 --> 01:38:26,600
you feel like you have to, then we understand. Dixie,

1934
01:38:26,640 --> 01:38:29,279
at the time, was president of a public relations agency

1935
01:38:29,279 --> 01:38:32,880
that was hired by TNA. Dixie said Jeff should speak

1936
01:38:32,920 --> 01:38:35,560
with her father, who, as it turned out, was this

1937
01:38:35,720 --> 01:38:39,520
multi millionaire energy executive who owned a company called Panda Energy,

1938
01:38:40,560 --> 01:38:43,000
and so Jeff and Dixie they fly to Dallas to

1939
01:38:43,000 --> 01:38:45,800
meet with him. He agreed to invest, and the rest

1940
01:38:45,880 --> 01:38:49,600
is history. Were it not for that lifeline offered to

1941
01:38:49,640 --> 01:38:52,800
them by Bob Carter, TNA would have been dead and

1942
01:38:53,039 --> 01:38:56,920
buried twenty years ago. This gave them a new lease

1943
01:38:56,960 --> 01:38:59,560
on life, and in two thousand and five, less than

1944
01:38:59,600 --> 01:39:02,880
a week after WWE left Spike TV to go back

1945
01:39:02,920 --> 01:39:07,119
to USA Network, TNA debuted on Spike, which gave them

1946
01:39:07,199 --> 01:39:10,479
national visibility on a major cable network that had just

1947
01:39:10,560 --> 01:39:13,439
hosted Monday Night Raw for the last five years. This

1948
01:39:13,600 --> 01:39:17,640
was a big fucking deal. And they talked about Jeff

1949
01:39:18,359 --> 01:39:21,399
dominating the main event scene in those early TNA years,

1950
01:39:22,199 --> 01:39:26,520
five or six times he held the World championship. That's

1951
01:39:26,560 --> 01:39:29,920
all it was, was Jarrett holding the belt and then

1952
01:39:30,000 --> 01:39:31,960
dropping it to a baby phase and then winning it

1953
01:39:32,000 --> 01:39:36,319
back and rinse, repeat. I think Monty Brown. Honestly, Monty

1954
01:39:36,359 --> 01:39:38,600
Brown never winning the title in two thousand and five

1955
01:39:38,960 --> 01:39:42,439
was one of their more egregious mistakes, and Jarrett actually

1956
01:39:42,479 --> 01:39:44,640
talked about this on his podcast a few years ago,

1957
01:39:44,680 --> 01:39:47,239
and his response to why he did not drop the

1958
01:39:47,279 --> 01:39:51,439
belt to Monty Brown was, well, who would he have

1959
01:39:51,439 --> 01:39:56,479
wrestled next? Okay, he wins? Now what we didn't have

1960
01:39:56,520 --> 01:40:00,399
anyone lined up for him to work with? Well, whose

1961
01:40:00,439 --> 01:40:05,960
fault is that? It's your company? I actually think Dusty

1962
01:40:06,039 --> 01:40:08,920
Rhodes was doing the booking at that time. But you're

1963
01:40:08,960 --> 01:40:12,640
the head guy there. It's on you and the creative

1964
01:40:12,640 --> 01:40:15,239
team to set guys up for him to work with

1965
01:40:15,319 --> 01:40:19,399
and plan that out. That would be like Triple H saying, oh,

1966
01:40:19,439 --> 01:40:21,840
I can't lose the belt to RVD in two thousand

1967
01:40:21,840 --> 01:40:24,600
and two, because who does he work with next? So

1968
01:40:24,600 --> 01:40:27,279
we should absolutely keep the belt on me, because if

1969
01:40:27,279 --> 01:40:29,840
we put it on him, well, then he doesn't have

1970
01:40:29,840 --> 01:40:33,359
anybody to work with. I wouldn't be the least bit

1971
01:40:33,399 --> 01:40:35,520
surprised by the way, if that's exactly the argument he

1972
01:40:35,560 --> 01:40:37,920
made in those creative meetings back in two thousand and two.

1973
01:40:39,359 --> 01:40:43,560
But Jarrett was basically the Triple H of TNA. Now,

1974
01:40:43,720 --> 01:40:45,880
they do make a point here in the episode that

1975
01:40:45,960 --> 01:40:48,880
at least has some validity to it, which is, and

1976
01:40:48,920 --> 01:40:50,760
this is probably what Jeff would argue, which is that

1977
01:40:50,960 --> 01:40:53,039
Jeff was the only guy on that roster at the

1978
01:40:53,079 --> 01:40:55,680
time that he could be sure was not going to

1979
01:40:55,800 --> 01:40:59,039
leave and go to WWE. So they may have been

1980
01:40:59,079 --> 01:41:01,079
hesitant to put the belt on anybody else for any

1981
01:41:01,159 --> 01:41:04,239
length of time out of fear that they may leave. Right,

1982
01:41:04,720 --> 01:41:08,079
That's what Cornett and Scott Demore were saying in the episode.

1983
01:41:08,159 --> 01:41:11,479
Jeff couldn't trust anybody but himself in that spot. And

1984
01:41:11,680 --> 01:41:14,520
I get the logic, but at some point you need

1985
01:41:14,560 --> 01:41:17,640
to have more faith in your guys. Some of those

1986
01:41:17,680 --> 01:41:20,920
early TNA main events, as overbooked as they were, or

1987
01:41:21,039 --> 01:41:24,640
just the drizzling shits. They really were, and it became

1988
01:41:24,680 --> 01:41:28,640
a punchline. Your typical overbook. Jeff Jarrett TNA main event

1989
01:41:28,720 --> 01:41:33,079
back then. Now. They also talked about the problems that

1990
01:41:33,159 --> 01:41:36,720
developed between Jeff and his father. Jerry was not happy

1991
01:41:36,760 --> 01:41:40,600
about working with the Carters and taking marching orders from them.

1992
01:41:41,000 --> 01:41:44,760
He was definitely not happy about Vince Russo's writing, and

1993
01:41:44,840 --> 01:41:47,479
he and Jeff ended up on the outs for many years.

1994
01:41:47,479 --> 01:41:50,920
When Jerry left TNA, they were not on speaking terms

1995
01:41:50,960 --> 01:41:54,319
for like a decade. I don't think they reconciled until

1996
01:41:54,319 --> 01:41:58,119
twenty fifteen, so at least in the later years of

1997
01:41:58,119 --> 01:42:00,359
his life, the two of them had mended fence before

1998
01:42:00,399 --> 01:42:03,800
he passed away, So now he's no longer speaking to

1999
01:42:03,880 --> 01:42:08,039
his father. Then Jeff's first wife, Jill, who was his

2000
01:42:08,079 --> 01:42:12,159
high school sweetheart and had previously battled breast cancer, her

2001
01:42:12,239 --> 01:42:16,479
cancer came back more aggressively this time, and they've got

2002
01:42:16,520 --> 01:42:19,079
three young daughters at home at the time. This was

2003
01:42:19,119 --> 01:42:21,600
the saddest part of either of these first two episodes.

2004
01:42:22,399 --> 01:42:25,880
They mentioned Taylor Swift being neighbors with the Jarrett's and

2005
01:42:25,920 --> 01:42:28,359
she would babysit sometimes for them. She would come over

2006
01:42:28,520 --> 01:42:30,840
to their house to play songs for their girls, you know,

2007
01:42:30,880 --> 01:42:35,000
while their mom was sick. Vince Russo could barely speak.

2008
01:42:35,039 --> 01:42:36,960
He was so broken up when he was talking about

2009
01:42:37,000 --> 01:42:40,119
Jill and how she used to be this vibrant, energetic,

2010
01:42:40,239 --> 01:42:43,640
you know, athletic, full of life and zest, and then

2011
01:42:43,680 --> 01:42:45,840
when he saw her when she was at her weakest

2012
01:42:45,840 --> 01:42:47,960
and sickest, and he was just again, he was a

2013
01:42:48,000 --> 01:42:50,239
basket case here because he was so broken up about it.

2014
01:42:50,279 --> 01:42:54,039
Scott Steiner was also interviewed for these episodes, and when

2015
01:42:54,319 --> 01:42:56,560
they were asking him about Jill, he had nice things

2016
01:42:56,600 --> 01:42:57,960
to say about her, but he had to get up

2017
01:42:57,960 --> 01:43:01,319
and walk away so that he wouldn't break down on camera.

2018
01:43:02,239 --> 01:43:07,199
Just really sad stuff, and how eerie that his wife

2019
01:43:07,239 --> 01:43:10,399
died on May twenty third, the same day that Owen

2020
01:43:10,439 --> 01:43:13,359
Hart died. Owen died in ninety nine. I believe his

2021
01:43:13,439 --> 01:43:15,279
wife died in two thousand and seven, but on the

2022
01:43:15,319 --> 01:43:19,439
same day, May twenty third, and neither of Jeff's parents

2023
01:43:19,520 --> 01:43:22,119
even came to the funeral, even though his father only

2024
01:43:22,159 --> 01:43:26,319
lived like five miles away. That's how bad that estrangement

2025
01:43:26,399 --> 01:43:28,800
must have been that they wouldn't even come to his

2026
01:43:29,199 --> 01:43:32,960
daughter in law's funeral. So that was the end of

2027
01:43:32,960 --> 01:43:36,600
the first episode. The second one is where they really

2028
01:43:36,720 --> 01:43:40,159
put the focus on Dixie Carter. They bury the shit

2029
01:43:40,239 --> 01:43:42,840
out of this woman, talking about what a money mark

2030
01:43:42,960 --> 01:43:44,760
she was and how she didn't know shit about the

2031
01:43:44,760 --> 01:43:48,600
wrestling business. All true, by the way, she did not

2032
01:43:48,640 --> 01:43:51,640
come from a wrestling background. It's not like she had

2033
01:43:51,680 --> 01:43:54,640
an aptitude for it either, But I can see why

2034
01:43:54,720 --> 01:43:56,520
she didn't want to return their phone calls to be

2035
01:43:56,560 --> 01:43:59,159
a part of these episodes. But then Kurt Angle is

2036
01:43:59,159 --> 01:44:03,640
suddenly available at this point in the story and as

2037
01:44:03,720 --> 01:44:06,960
the move despite TV was a game changer for TNA

2038
01:44:07,039 --> 01:44:09,600
and it took them to that next level, so too

2039
01:44:09,680 --> 01:44:12,479
did the signing of Kurt Angle. And I can understand

2040
01:44:12,520 --> 01:44:14,560
them wanting to swoop in and sign this man at

2041
01:44:14,560 --> 01:44:18,840
all costs. Right, multiple time WWE champion, wrestle many, a headliner,

2042
01:44:18,880 --> 01:44:22,439
Olympic gold medalist, one of the best in the world.

2043
01:44:23,199 --> 01:44:26,600
Why wouldn't you want Kurt Angle on your team? But

2044
01:44:26,720 --> 01:44:28,920
Kurt was a fucking mess at that time, which is

2045
01:44:28,960 --> 01:44:31,680
the entire reason that Vince McMahon gave this man an

2046
01:44:31,800 --> 01:44:36,079
unconditional release from his contract. Do you know how much

2047
01:44:36,079 --> 01:44:39,560
of a fucking liability or a time bomb waiting to explode.

2048
01:44:39,560 --> 01:44:42,680
You need to be for Vince McMahon, and you're a

2049
01:44:42,760 --> 01:44:46,239
main event caliber talent. You're not some schlob on the

2050
01:44:46,239 --> 01:44:50,119
bottom of the card to get Vince McMahon to give

2051
01:44:50,119 --> 01:44:54,520
you an unconditional release from your contract. They didn't want

2052
01:44:54,520 --> 01:44:58,439
an Olympic gold medalist dying on their watch, plain and simple,

2053
01:44:59,000 --> 01:45:02,840
so they let them go. TNA wasn't terribly concerned about

2054
01:45:02,840 --> 01:45:04,920
any of this. They just wanted Kurt Angle to wrestle

2055
01:45:04,960 --> 01:45:07,800
for them. Looking back at it, the Kurt Angle signing

2056
01:45:07,840 --> 01:45:09,760
was the most important in the history of that company.

2057
01:45:10,359 --> 01:45:13,560
It brought a legitimacy that they did not previously have.

2058
01:45:14,199 --> 01:45:16,279
It put new eyeballs on the product, and it gave

2059
01:45:16,319 --> 01:45:18,319
him a world class wrestler who can go out there

2060
01:45:18,439 --> 01:45:20,399
as fucked up as he may have been off camera

2061
01:45:21,239 --> 01:45:23,079
when the little red light went on. That man was

2062
01:45:23,119 --> 01:45:27,039
a machine. You would never know anything was wrong unless

2063
01:45:27,039 --> 01:45:28,800
you met him in person and you saw the glassy

2064
01:45:28,840 --> 01:45:31,760
eyed look on his face. This is as good a

2065
01:45:31,760 --> 01:45:34,439
place as any for me to retell my story, which

2066
01:45:34,479 --> 01:45:37,000
I've shared on the sound off periodically over the years.

2067
01:45:38,000 --> 01:45:41,039
It is February of two thousand and eight. I had

2068
01:45:41,039 --> 01:45:43,359
only been doing this podcast for a few months by

2069
01:45:43,359 --> 01:45:46,680
that point. TNA is coming to New York City for

2070
01:45:46,720 --> 01:45:48,800
the first time. They're doing a show at Webster Hall,

2071
01:45:49,119 --> 01:45:51,399
And for those who don't know, Webster Hall's at nightclub

2072
01:45:51,520 --> 01:45:55,239
slash concert venue in the East Village in Manhattan. When

2073
01:45:55,359 --> 01:45:59,079
WWE was first doing the old Shotguns Saturday night shows

2074
01:45:59,079 --> 01:46:01,600
and they were live, we're going to different nightclub venues

2075
01:46:01,600 --> 01:46:04,279
and these kind of intimate venues. Webster Hall was one

2076
01:46:04,319 --> 01:46:07,319
of the venues that they ran a show in and

2077
01:46:07,399 --> 01:46:09,960
I'm gonna try to remember to splice in photos from

2078
01:46:09,960 --> 01:46:12,600
that night when I put this up on YouTube. I'm

2079
01:46:12,640 --> 01:46:15,399
waiting in line outside. There's TNA at Webster Hall on

2080
01:46:15,479 --> 01:46:19,239
the on the marquee outside. I get inside and this

2081
01:46:19,319 --> 01:46:22,720
is the smallest ring that I have ever seen in

2082
01:46:22,720 --> 01:46:27,119
my entire life to this day, the smallest ring. And

2083
01:46:27,159 --> 01:46:30,439
I'm talking independent shows too. This is the smallest ring

2084
01:46:30,479 --> 01:46:34,119
I've ever seen, and it's the six sides, and these

2085
01:46:34,159 --> 01:46:36,479
guys can barely do anything in there. Like if Kurt

2086
01:46:36,520 --> 01:46:40,960
Angle gives Christian Cage a German Suplex because they wrestled

2087
01:46:41,000 --> 01:46:43,720
in the main event, Christian is probably smacking his head

2088
01:46:43,720 --> 01:46:45,680
on the fucking ropes, Like that's how little room they

2089
01:46:45,720 --> 01:46:49,000
had to work within that ring. Anyway, when I initially

2090
01:46:49,039 --> 01:46:50,640
walk in the building, I have no idea where my

2091
01:46:50,680 --> 01:46:53,880
seat is. There's this giant like pit area where most

2092
01:46:53,880 --> 01:46:56,760
people were standing all night, Like picture it if you

2093
01:46:56,760 --> 01:46:59,079
were there for a concert. Right looking up at the stage,

2094
01:46:59,479 --> 01:47:02,800
the ring is up on the stage, and on the

2095
01:47:02,840 --> 01:47:06,000
stage with the ring, they have five rows, five short

2096
01:47:06,079 --> 01:47:08,760
rows of seats, and I'm lucky enough to be in

2097
01:47:08,840 --> 01:47:11,119
row five, so at least I have a good view

2098
01:47:11,159 --> 01:47:13,920
of the ring. But I don't know this yet. So

2099
01:47:14,159 --> 01:47:17,720
I look over and I see this very pretty woman

2100
01:47:17,840 --> 01:47:20,920
standing there. She's got jeans on. I thought maybe she

2101
01:47:21,000 --> 01:47:23,760
was a fan, Like I don't know. I go up

2102
01:47:23,800 --> 01:47:26,039
to her and I asked her if she can help me,

2103
01:47:26,159 --> 01:47:29,079
like do you know where this seat is? And she's

2104
01:47:29,199 --> 01:47:31,640
very nice and she tells me where to go, really

2105
01:47:31,920 --> 01:47:35,239
sweet lady. Come to find out later that was Dixie Carter.

2106
01:47:36,039 --> 01:47:38,159
I had no idea she hadn't been on television yet.

2107
01:47:38,159 --> 01:47:41,159
She didn't debut on TV until the following year. I mean,

2108
01:47:41,159 --> 01:47:43,159
I had heard the name, like I knew of her,

2109
01:47:43,199 --> 01:47:45,079
but I didn't have a face to put with the name,

2110
01:47:46,039 --> 01:47:48,319
so she guides me to my seat. I thank her,

2111
01:47:48,359 --> 01:47:51,560
and that was my interaction with Dixie. Fast forward to

2112
01:47:51,640 --> 01:47:54,319
the end of the show, Kurt Angle beats Christian in

2113
01:47:54,359 --> 01:47:56,880
the main event. Now, back then, TNA did this gimmick

2114
01:47:56,920 --> 01:47:59,079
on all of their live events, and I'm almost positive

2115
01:47:59,079 --> 01:48:02,279
this was a Don West IDEA fucking love Don West.

2116
01:48:02,279 --> 01:48:05,720
It's terrible that he's no longer with us, and I

2117
01:48:05,760 --> 01:48:08,600
think he's somebody who, frankly, I and probably other people

2118
01:48:08,600 --> 01:48:11,319
didn't fully appreciate at that time because he also wasn't

2119
01:48:11,359 --> 01:48:13,560
a wrestling guy. You know. He was the guy on

2120
01:48:13,640 --> 01:48:16,840
like the Home Shopping Network who would be on hawk

2121
01:48:16,880 --> 01:48:19,680
and baseball cards and all kinds of like sports memorabilia.

2122
01:48:19,760 --> 01:48:21,640
But he was always it looked like he was hopped

2123
01:48:21,720 --> 01:48:24,359
up on fifteen cups of coffee. This guy was full

2124
01:48:24,399 --> 01:48:25,960
of energy. He was the kind of guy who could

2125
01:48:26,000 --> 01:48:29,279
sell ice to a fucking Eskimo. Okay, that's how good

2126
01:48:29,279 --> 01:48:32,119
he was at his job when they brought him into TNA.

2127
01:48:32,239 --> 01:48:34,479
You know, he would scream on commentary and lose his

2128
01:48:34,520 --> 01:48:36,960
mind and everything. But I think he must have been

2129
01:48:36,960 --> 01:48:39,640
in charge of their merch division for a while. Some

2130
01:48:39,680 --> 01:48:41,439
of the ideas that he came up with the brown

2131
01:48:41,479 --> 01:48:44,399
bag specials and all that stuff was fucking genius and

2132
01:48:44,439 --> 01:48:47,319
he probably made them a shit ton of money. This idea,

2133
01:48:47,359 --> 01:48:49,880
I'm almost sure was his idea. But what they would do,

2134
01:48:50,680 --> 01:48:52,800
you could come into the ring after the main event

2135
01:48:52,840 --> 01:48:56,000
and get a polaroid photo for twenty bucks with whoever

2136
01:48:56,079 --> 01:48:57,399
was in the main event on this night. It was

2137
01:48:57,439 --> 01:49:00,800
Kurt Angle. And I'm like, of course, I mean, it's

2138
01:49:00,880 --> 01:49:02,800
twenty bucks to get in the ring and take a

2139
01:49:02,800 --> 01:49:06,960
picture with the champion. Why not adjusted for TKO inflation today,

2140
01:49:06,960 --> 01:49:10,279
that photo would cost you five thousand dollars. So I

2141
01:49:10,279 --> 01:49:12,239
get in the ring and you know, I go in

2142
01:49:12,319 --> 01:49:14,039
for the handshake and everything, and I'm looking in this

2143
01:49:14,119 --> 01:49:17,279
man's eyes as he's looking at me, and I don't

2144
01:49:17,319 --> 01:49:21,479
know where Kurt Angle was. His body was present physically

2145
01:49:21,560 --> 01:49:24,640
in the ring, his physical vessel was there, the rest

2146
01:49:24,680 --> 01:49:27,520
of him was on another planet somewhere. He just had

2147
01:49:27,520 --> 01:49:29,680
this far away look in his eyes, like he just

2148
01:49:29,760 --> 01:49:32,600
wasn't all there. Like I know, we don't call him

2149
01:49:32,600 --> 01:49:35,239
perk Angle anymore because he doesn't like that, so we

2150
01:49:35,279 --> 01:49:39,199
call him Peak Angle. This was definitely Peak Angle on

2151
01:49:39,319 --> 01:49:42,520
this night. But I got my picture and I went

2152
01:49:42,560 --> 01:49:45,199
on my way. I don't know how he was able

2153
01:49:45,239 --> 01:49:47,840
to function in the ring at such a high level

2154
01:49:47,880 --> 01:49:51,359
back then, but he did it better than anyone, and

2155
01:49:51,520 --> 01:49:54,199
what he gave that company was more than any other

2156
01:49:54,479 --> 01:49:57,840
major star that they ever brought in, especially the ones

2157
01:49:57,840 --> 01:50:00,600
who only came in to collect an easy paycheck and

2158
01:50:00,680 --> 01:50:05,920
stroke their own egos and sucked that company dry. Kurt

2159
01:50:05,960 --> 01:50:09,159
beat the shit out of his body for TNA. Kurt

2160
01:50:09,159 --> 01:50:12,000
did things that he had no business doing, and he

2161
01:50:12,000 --> 01:50:14,880
helped get guys over as best he could. He spent

2162
01:50:15,039 --> 01:50:18,680
more time in TNA than he did wrestling for WWE.

2163
01:50:18,960 --> 01:50:22,520
His TNA career was longer than his WWE career, which

2164
01:50:22,560 --> 01:50:25,039
is just wild when I stop and think about that,

2165
01:50:26,000 --> 01:50:28,680
And if you ask Kurt, he ranks his TNA run

2166
01:50:28,720 --> 01:50:32,239
above his WWE run. That's how highly he felt about

2167
01:50:32,239 --> 01:50:36,199
that run that he had there. They touched on the

2168
01:50:36,239 --> 01:50:39,960
success of the Knockouts Division, which was one way they

2169
01:50:39,960 --> 01:50:43,920
could separate themselves from WWE at that time. Gail Kim,

2170
01:50:43,960 --> 01:50:46,760
who they never mentioned by name, although there were some

2171
01:50:46,760 --> 01:50:48,880
clips of her, but Gail Kim in Awesome Kong. They

2172
01:50:48,880 --> 01:50:52,239
had a great run together. They put that division on

2173
01:50:52,359 --> 01:50:55,039
the map. They even got Kong to be interviewed for this.

2174
01:50:55,520 --> 01:50:58,520
They talked about how the Knockouts segments would routinely be

2175
01:50:58,560 --> 01:51:02,319
the highest rated on the shows. And this is where

2176
01:51:02,359 --> 01:51:06,239
I really start to sour on Dixie and this whole

2177
01:51:06,319 --> 01:51:09,119
mother hen image that she had at that time, because

2178
01:51:09,159 --> 01:51:12,560
I can't think of the Knockouts and not think of

2179
01:51:12,760 --> 01:51:17,119
TNA paying Johnny fucking fair play from Survivor or whatever

2180
01:51:17,159 --> 01:51:20,439
the hell he was from three hundred thousand dollars for

2181
01:51:20,520 --> 01:51:24,840
however many appearances he made. Meanwhile, the Knockouts, who you

2182
01:51:24,960 --> 01:51:29,359
admit are some of your highest rated draws, are in

2183
01:51:29,399 --> 01:51:32,439
a lot of cases working multiple jobs just to make

2184
01:51:32,479 --> 01:51:36,640
a decent wage. They offered Gail Kim, a former Knockouts champion,

2185
01:51:36,720 --> 01:51:40,479
thirty five thousand dollars to sign a new deal. What

2186
01:51:40,520 --> 01:51:44,399
do you think she did? She fucking left. I've told

2187
01:51:44,399 --> 01:51:47,479
the story of Taylor Wilde, who was their champion at

2188
01:51:47,520 --> 01:51:50,479
the time, I believe, working at the mall at a

2189
01:51:50,520 --> 01:51:54,199
sunglass hut, making minimum wage to supplement her wrestling income.

2190
01:51:54,479 --> 01:51:56,760
A customer walks over one day and says, hey, aren't

2191
01:51:56,800 --> 01:52:00,279
you at the TNA champion. She was so embarrassed quit

2192
01:52:00,359 --> 01:52:04,840
that same day, Odb had a bartend on the side

2193
01:52:04,880 --> 01:52:06,760
while working for TNA, just to be able to pay

2194
01:52:06,760 --> 01:52:09,760
her bills. Kong talked about this in the episode, one

2195
01:52:09,760 --> 01:52:11,399
of the women working at a bar, but she didn't

2196
01:52:11,399 --> 01:52:15,119
say who it was. It was Odb. And there's no

2197
01:52:15,239 --> 01:52:17,479
shame really in any of that. I mean, you do

2198
01:52:17,520 --> 01:52:18,800
what you have to do to make a living and

2199
01:52:18,800 --> 01:52:22,840
pay the bills. But you've got a multi millionaire bankrolling

2200
01:52:22,880 --> 01:52:26,920
this operation, you've got national television, and you're spending all

2201
01:52:26,960 --> 01:52:29,840
of this money to bring in these big names. You

2202
01:52:29,880 --> 01:52:33,520
can afford to pay your people a living wage, especially

2203
01:52:33,560 --> 01:52:35,920
if you expect them to travel to work for your shows,

2204
01:52:35,960 --> 01:52:38,119
and those travel expenses come out of what little money

2205
01:52:38,119 --> 01:52:42,319
they're already making. Kong said, the kurd angle was making

2206
01:52:42,319 --> 01:52:45,520
over a million dollars a year, and he deserved every

2207
01:52:45,520 --> 01:52:48,079
penny of it. But then you can afford to pay

2208
01:52:48,079 --> 01:52:51,159
her one tenth of what he's making. That's what she

2209
01:52:51,199 --> 01:52:53,159
because she went to them one day asking for a raise,

2210
01:52:53,199 --> 01:52:55,439
and that's how she put it. You know, Kurt's making

2211
01:52:55,479 --> 01:52:58,199
a million. I think I'm deserving of at least one

2212
01:52:58,279 --> 01:53:01,479
tenth of what he's getting. And they turned her down.

2213
01:53:01,960 --> 01:53:05,039
They said no, no pay raise. She said, she was

2214
01:53:05,039 --> 01:53:08,920
making less than a manager at McDonald's. And don't even

2215
01:53:08,920 --> 01:53:10,880
get me started on the Daphne stuff and the way

2216
01:53:10,880 --> 01:53:13,279
they treated her. I've already covered that in a separate

2217
01:53:13,520 --> 01:53:18,840
dark Side review. But Dixie gained more influence and Jeff

2218
01:53:18,840 --> 01:53:20,840
could sense that she was trying to push him out

2219
01:53:21,239 --> 01:53:25,520
and consolidate power, and the Karen Angle stuff is what

2220
01:53:25,600 --> 01:53:28,079
gave her the opening that she was looking for. Basically,

2221
01:53:28,119 --> 01:53:30,680
the wrestlers believed that there was something going on there.

2222
01:53:30,960 --> 01:53:34,399
They would see Jeff and Karen hanging out together, and

2223
01:53:34,560 --> 01:53:36,359
as far as a lot of people knew, Karen was

2224
01:53:36,399 --> 01:53:39,359
still married to Kurt Angle and they believed that she

2225
01:53:39,439 --> 01:53:42,680
was having an affair. But there's no way that Russo

2226
01:53:42,800 --> 01:53:44,800
and some of these people didn't know the reality of

2227
01:53:44,840 --> 01:53:47,520
that marriage and what was going on. I'm not buying

2228
01:53:47,560 --> 01:53:49,560
any of that. But this became a big deal online

2229
01:53:49,560 --> 01:53:52,760
when it went public. I remember that it got very messy.

2230
01:53:53,319 --> 01:53:57,359
It became Karen Gate. Karen sat down for the first

2231
01:53:57,399 --> 01:53:59,359
time here to set the record straight on all of this.

2232
01:53:59,479 --> 01:54:02,039
She said and Kurt had been legally separated since two

2233
01:54:02,079 --> 01:54:05,000
thousand and six, which was the year that Kurt came

2234
01:54:05,039 --> 01:54:08,239
to TNA, she was pregnant, she was living in a

2235
01:54:08,279 --> 01:54:11,520
townhouse with their daughter. They were put together as an

2236
01:54:11,520 --> 01:54:13,560
on screen couple with the thought that, you know, she

2237
01:54:13,600 --> 01:54:15,680
could keep Kurt straight while he was on the road

2238
01:54:15,720 --> 01:54:17,800
because he was so fucked up from whatever he was

2239
01:54:17,840 --> 01:54:20,239
doing at the time, you know, to mask all the

2240
01:54:20,279 --> 01:54:23,439
pain that he was in. And let's not pretend that

2241
01:54:23,560 --> 01:54:25,479
Kurt was an angel here. I mean, he's admitted to

2242
01:54:25,560 --> 01:54:28,439
cheating on Karen while they were still married. I remember

2243
01:54:28,520 --> 01:54:31,439
there was some pilot for a reality show that was

2244
01:54:31,439 --> 01:54:34,199
filmed around Kurt and his family. I forgot the name

2245
01:54:34,239 --> 01:54:38,840
of it. God, what was it fucking called The Right

2246
01:54:38,880 --> 01:54:43,039
Angle maybe or I don't remember, but it leaked online.

2247
01:54:43,520 --> 01:54:45,319
It was cheesy as shit. It was I think of

2248
01:54:45,359 --> 01:54:47,399
Hogan knows best. It was kind of in that same vein,

2249
01:54:47,520 --> 01:54:50,279
clearly very scripted, and it never got picked up, but

2250
01:54:50,319 --> 01:54:52,319
I think the footage is still floating around out there

2251
01:54:52,319 --> 01:54:54,880
on YouTube. He admitted it on there, you know that

2252
01:54:54,960 --> 01:54:57,840
he cheated on her and all this other stuff. But

2253
01:54:57,880 --> 01:55:01,840
the one person who did not know about the newfound

2254
01:55:01,880 --> 01:55:06,720
relationship between Jeff and Karen was Dixie Carter, and when

2255
01:55:06,720 --> 01:55:10,880
she found out, she hit the roof, and they believe

2256
01:55:11,319 --> 01:55:15,479
Karen believes Jeff believes I think Russo said the same thing.

2257
01:55:15,520 --> 01:55:17,439
They believe that Dixie saw it as a way to

2258
01:55:17,520 --> 01:55:21,680
oust Jarrett from power. I remember the story at the

2259
01:55:21,760 --> 01:55:24,760
time was that Dixie had confronted Jeff about it. He

2260
01:55:24,960 --> 01:55:27,720
denied that there was anything going on between him and Karen.

2261
01:55:28,560 --> 01:55:33,119
We're just friends, you know, like single parents. But then

2262
01:55:33,159 --> 01:55:35,199
when she found out, and I think Russeo tells a

2263
01:55:35,199 --> 01:55:37,960
story here about there being like a Christmas party and

2264
01:55:38,039 --> 01:55:41,399
Dixie was invited, and when they opened the door, there's

2265
01:55:41,520 --> 01:55:45,239
Jeff and Karen, and this took Dixie by surprise, and

2266
01:55:45,279 --> 01:55:48,199
she was just, you know, furious about the whole thing.

2267
01:55:49,359 --> 01:55:52,319
And so when she found out the truth, she flipped out.

2268
01:55:52,560 --> 01:55:55,000
Russo says, she flipped out on him over the phone.

2269
01:55:55,319 --> 01:55:57,800
She felt embarrassed. How can you not tell me about this?

2270
01:55:57,920 --> 01:56:02,000
She felt betrayed. And long after Jarrett was removed is

2271
01:56:02,039 --> 01:56:03,800
the head of Creative and they sent him home with

2272
01:56:03,920 --> 01:56:07,920
pay Angle's contract, as I recall, was coming up around

2273
01:56:07,960 --> 01:56:12,560
that same time. And what I believe this all had

2274
01:56:12,800 --> 01:56:15,600
more to do with Dixie not wanting to lose Kurt Angle.

2275
01:56:16,600 --> 01:56:19,000
That's what I think this was at least partially about

2276
01:56:19,079 --> 01:56:22,520
him and wanting to appease her top star because Kurt

2277
01:56:22,600 --> 01:56:24,680
was pissed. You know, when he found out about Jeff

2278
01:56:24,720 --> 01:56:27,039
and Karen, he was not happy about that. Even though

2279
01:56:27,039 --> 01:56:29,359
they were legally separated for a long time and he

2280
01:56:29,439 --> 01:56:33,600
was probably doing his own carousing, they were still technically married,

2281
01:56:33,600 --> 01:56:36,760
their divorce was not finalized yet, and sleeping with the

2282
01:56:36,760 --> 01:56:39,880
top star's wife probably isn't going to go over too

2283
01:56:39,880 --> 01:56:42,840
well and it's going to make things very awkward at work.

2284
01:56:44,119 --> 01:56:46,079
None of this was addressed in the episode. As far

2285
01:56:46,119 --> 01:56:48,680
as Kurt being upset, I'm not saying Dixie didn't have

2286
01:56:48,720 --> 01:56:51,920
a political motive. I'm sure she did. She even cleaned

2287
01:56:51,920 --> 01:56:53,399
out a lot of the people who were loyal to

2288
01:56:53,479 --> 01:56:56,560
Jeff where he was friendly with Dutch Mantell, who was

2289
01:56:56,640 --> 01:56:58,880
kind of the wrestling brain on the creative team. After

2290
01:56:58,960 --> 01:57:02,319
Jeff got sent home, you know, Russo was the entertainment

2291
01:57:02,399 --> 01:57:05,800
guy and Dutch was the wrestling guy. Dixie got rid

2292
01:57:05,840 --> 01:57:09,479
of Dutch. She put Russo in charge of creative which

2293
01:57:10,079 --> 01:57:13,119
I mean, you know, Dilo Brown, who talked here, said

2294
01:57:13,159 --> 01:57:15,319
Russo would have five minutes of wrestling on a two

2295
01:57:15,319 --> 01:57:18,720
hour show and He's not exaggerating by much when he

2296
01:57:18,760 --> 01:57:22,359
says that. But I think all of this went beyond

2297
01:57:22,439 --> 01:57:24,319
just her looking to get Jeff out of power. There

2298
01:57:24,319 --> 01:57:27,079
were other considerations to be made if they did not

2299
01:57:27,159 --> 01:57:30,439
want to lose Kurt angle, and things did get smoothed

2300
01:57:30,439 --> 01:57:32,680
over enough that the two of them ended up wrestling

2301
01:57:32,720 --> 01:57:34,840
each other and working together later on. They actually had

2302
01:57:34,840 --> 01:57:38,520
a couple of really good matches together. They mentioned Dixie

2303
01:57:38,560 --> 01:57:42,439
calling Jeff not long after she sent him home for

2304
01:57:42,479 --> 01:57:44,880
the two of them to fly down to Tampa together

2305
01:57:45,239 --> 01:57:48,680
to meet with Hulk Hogan. That must have been one

2306
01:57:48,720 --> 01:57:52,319
hell of an awkward plane ride. Hogan did not come

2307
01:57:52,359 --> 01:57:54,520
alone though, to this meeting. Unbeknownst to them. They come

2308
01:57:54,560 --> 01:57:56,880
in the room and who's sitting there with Hogan. It's

2309
01:57:57,039 --> 01:58:01,840
Eric Bischoff, his shadow. And you know what comes next.

2310
01:58:02,159 --> 01:58:03,920
They're going to be getting into the Hogan and Bischoff

2311
01:58:03,920 --> 01:58:07,119
era of TNA in the third episode this week. But

2312
01:58:07,159 --> 01:58:09,399
it became very clear to Jeff in this meeting that

2313
01:58:09,600 --> 01:58:13,159
Hogan did not know a damn thing about TNA. But

2314
01:58:13,319 --> 01:58:16,840
he figured, you know, if Hogan, with his celebrity status

2315
01:58:16,840 --> 01:58:19,159
in wrestling, could be an ambassador of sorts for the

2316
01:58:19,199 --> 01:58:22,640
brand and like a spokesperson for them. What a great

2317
01:58:22,640 --> 01:58:26,359
way to get eyeballs on TNA, which sounds nice in theory,

2318
01:58:26,439 --> 01:58:30,000
but it's Hogan, so it's never that easy. Hogan's gonna

2319
01:58:30,000 --> 01:58:33,159
make it all about Hogan. Dixie didn't know that. She

2320
01:58:33,279 --> 01:58:36,600
just wanted Hulk Hogan attached to the TNA brand, and

2321
01:58:36,680 --> 01:58:39,199
Karen said that Jeff was used for that one meeting

2322
01:58:39,319 --> 01:58:41,159
and then he was sent right back home after that.

2323
01:58:41,199 --> 01:58:43,239
Dixie got what she wanted out of him being there.

2324
01:58:44,680 --> 01:58:47,960
James Mitchell is also interviewed for these episodes. He was

2325
01:58:48,000 --> 01:58:50,520
part of the early years of TNA. The Sinister Minister.

2326
01:58:51,199 --> 01:58:53,359
He said when he heard Hogan and Bischoff were coming

2327
01:58:53,359 --> 01:58:57,000
to TNA that Dixie was being manipulated, he said that

2328
01:58:57,000 --> 01:59:01,279
she was being manipulated by two master Carnies. That's exactly

2329
01:59:01,279 --> 01:59:04,880
what happened. She was starstruck by Hogan. She thought that

2330
01:59:04,960 --> 01:59:08,000
this is exactly what TNA needed to really be competitive

2331
01:59:08,039 --> 01:59:11,760
and really be taken seriously. They had her convinced that

2332
01:59:11,800 --> 01:59:13,880
TNA was going to end up being the number one

2333
01:59:13,960 --> 01:59:17,039
brand in pro wrestling, which was never going to happen.

2334
01:59:17,880 --> 01:59:21,399
And it's nice to say that, but she really believed it.

2335
01:59:21,479 --> 01:59:24,920
She bought into the hype. I remember the press conference

2336
01:59:24,960 --> 01:59:27,640
at Madison Square Garden to announce the Hogan signing and

2337
01:59:27,680 --> 01:59:31,399
Dixie talking about Hogan being that little bit of rocket

2338
01:59:31,399 --> 01:59:34,279
fuel that they needed. It's needed that little bit of

2339
01:59:34,359 --> 01:59:34,920
rocket fuel.

2340
01:59:34,960 --> 01:59:37,359
Speaker 2: As he said today, I'm here to tell you I

2341
01:59:37,359 --> 01:59:41,239
think Hulk Hogan has definitely been that rocket fuel that

2342
01:59:41,319 --> 01:59:42,119
TNA needed.

2343
01:59:42,319 --> 01:59:46,199
Speaker 1: Ah. Yes, the rocket fuel. They had plenty of fuel,

2344
01:59:46,760 --> 01:59:48,680
but that fuel doesn't do you much good when the

2345
01:59:48,760 --> 01:59:53,359
rocket spontaneously combusts into a fireball. Which is not to

2346
01:59:53,399 --> 01:59:55,000
say that it was all bad. I mean, there were

2347
01:59:55,039 --> 01:59:57,319
good things to come out of that Hogan and Bischoff era, right,

2348
01:59:57,319 --> 01:59:59,920
the Bully Ray push, say what you want to about.

2349
02:00:00,439 --> 02:00:02,520
I know he's not exactly well liked by everybody, but

2350
02:00:03,039 --> 02:00:04,800
when he was getting that push at that time as

2351
02:00:04,840 --> 02:00:08,159
a singles heel, there was some really good stuff. There

2352
02:00:08,199 --> 02:00:09,800
was some really good TV to come out of that.

2353
02:00:10,960 --> 02:00:14,000
The Bobby Rout heel turn was great. Remember that TNA

2354
02:00:14,119 --> 02:00:16,399
reaction show that would air after Impact. They did that

2355
02:00:16,439 --> 02:00:19,079
for a while, like one season or whatever. That was

2356
02:00:19,159 --> 02:00:22,119
unlike anything that WWE was doing, which is part of

2357
02:00:22,119 --> 02:00:25,640
what made it great, Right, was for that very reason,

2358
02:00:25,680 --> 02:00:29,239
no one else in wrestling was doing that gritty reality

2359
02:00:29,319 --> 02:00:33,399
style documentary style show. Right. It was like half an

2360
02:00:33,439 --> 02:00:35,560
hour I think after Impact would go off the air,

2361
02:00:36,199 --> 02:00:38,600
and it's too bad. Not enough people watched it for

2362
02:00:38,640 --> 02:00:40,359
it to be a success. I believe that was a

2363
02:00:40,399 --> 02:00:43,600
Bischoff idea. But for whatever good there was, it was

2364
02:00:43,640 --> 02:00:46,199
outweighed by all the bad and we all know how

2365
02:00:46,199 --> 02:00:48,319
that turned out. I'll talk more about that next week.

2366
02:00:49,239 --> 02:00:51,119
And those were the first two episodes. You know, these

2367
02:00:51,119 --> 02:00:54,760
episodes had some good insight into Jared's career, his personal life,

2368
02:00:55,199 --> 02:00:57,439
the death of his wife which was very heavy stuff,

2369
02:00:58,079 --> 02:01:01,199
and the early years of TNA, but paints an incomplete

2370
02:01:01,199 --> 02:01:05,279
picture without having Jerry Jarrett available for his insights. In

2371
02:01:05,359 --> 02:01:08,199
Dixie Carter, you know who wasn't there to defend herself,

2372
02:01:08,520 --> 02:01:11,119
maybe because she had no great defense for a lot

2373
02:01:11,119 --> 02:01:13,479
of the decisions that she made, or she was just

2374
02:01:13,520 --> 02:01:15,199
worried that this was going to be a pile on

2375
02:01:15,239 --> 02:01:18,520
Dixie project, which if you watch it, that's pretty much

2376
02:01:18,560 --> 02:01:21,159
what it turned out to be. Not a lot of

2377
02:01:21,239 --> 02:01:24,439
positive comments about Dixie Carter here on these first two episodes,

2378
02:01:24,479 --> 02:01:28,079
and maybe she deserved it, but you also can't ignore

2379
02:01:28,119 --> 02:01:31,680
the fact that without Dixie and her daddy's money, you

2380
02:01:31,800 --> 02:01:35,680
don't have enough material to even do three episodes on Jeff,

2381
02:01:35,760 --> 02:01:39,039
Jared and TNA. There is no TNA for all intents

2382
02:01:39,079 --> 02:01:42,359
and purposes. Without that investment from Bob Carter, TNA would

2383
02:01:42,399 --> 02:01:45,159
have been dead and buried a long time ago. This

2384
02:01:45,239 --> 02:01:48,920
gave them a lifeline. And just think of all the

2385
02:01:48,960 --> 02:01:52,439
great LOLTNA moments that we would have been deprived of,

2386
02:01:53,000 --> 02:01:55,359
all the material that it gave me for my shows

2387
02:01:55,399 --> 02:01:59,039
over the years. That shit is irreplaceable. Now, let's see

2388
02:01:59,039 --> 02:02:02,720
if we get any mention of Global Force Gold on

2389
02:02:02,800 --> 02:02:05,359
the show next week. You have my word. If they

2390
02:02:05,359 --> 02:02:10,079
don't talk about it, I will. The remaining Dark Side

2391
02:02:10,079 --> 02:02:13,720
schedule looks like this. Obviously, this week is part three

2392
02:02:14,319 --> 02:02:17,920
of the Jarrett and TNA stuff. Following that, every Tuesday

2393
02:02:17,960 --> 02:02:20,479
we got one episode per week. Starting on the twenty first,

2394
02:02:20,479 --> 02:02:23,479
it's going to be Samoa Joe against Necro Butcher. On

2395
02:02:23,640 --> 02:02:28,560
the twenty eighth, the Big boss Man episode August fourth, Renegade,

2396
02:02:28,960 --> 02:02:32,199
August eleventh is the Paul Orndorf episode. August eighteenth is

2397
02:02:32,239 --> 02:02:35,680
Missy Hyatt and closing out the season on August twenty

2398
02:02:35,720 --> 02:02:41,239
fifth is the episode on Zach Gowan. You can email

2399
02:02:41,319 --> 02:02:44,079
me the Solemn Monster at gmail dot com if you

2400
02:02:44,119 --> 02:02:46,479
have any comments or questions. We'll get back to your

2401
02:02:46,479 --> 02:02:50,600
mailbag questions next week and next Sunday, I'm going to

2402
02:02:50,680 --> 02:02:53,159
be back with you for brand new sound of that'll

2403
02:02:53,199 --> 02:02:55,680
be episode nine to seventy two. But as far as

2404
02:02:55,760 --> 02:02:58,920
this week goes, all the usual post shows are on tap.

2405
02:02:58,960 --> 02:03:01,640
We have the Rot post show on Monday nights, we

2406
02:03:01,680 --> 02:03:04,199
have the Dynamite post show all the fallout from Beach

2407
02:03:04,239 --> 02:03:07,520
Break coming up on Wednesday, and then twenty four hours

2408
02:03:07,520 --> 02:03:09,840
before Saturday Night's main event, we have the SmackDown post

2409
02:03:09,880 --> 02:03:12,600
show on Friday. I will be live on Saturday Night

2410
02:03:13,159 --> 02:03:15,920
after Saturday Night's main events. You'll get a bonus show

2411
02:03:15,920 --> 02:03:18,039
from me next weekend, and then of course the sound

2412
02:03:18,079 --> 02:03:21,479
off the next day. So that doesn't include Tuesday this

2413
02:03:21,560 --> 02:03:24,479
week a brand new Uncrowned Wrestling show, and then Tuesday

2414
02:03:24,560 --> 02:03:27,720
Night Live with jd Over on his channel for Tuesday

2415
02:03:27,800 --> 02:03:31,840
Night Titan. So you're gonna get Solo Monster Overload this week.

2416
02:03:31,880 --> 02:03:34,920
I said, overlord, I am your overlord. You're gonna get

2417
02:03:34,920 --> 02:03:37,399
Solo Monster Overload this week. Whether you like it or not.

2418
02:03:38,479 --> 02:03:40,439
It's like that kid who said the British Bulldog at

2419
02:03:40,439 --> 02:03:42,920
Wembley all those years ago. He's gonna win whether he

2420
02:03:43,000 --> 02:03:45,720
wants to or not. You don't have a choice in

2421
02:03:45,760 --> 02:03:49,640
the matter. So be well, stay safe, have yourselves a

2422
02:03:49,640 --> 02:03:51,359
great rest of your week. I'm actually going to see

2423
02:03:51,359 --> 02:03:53,960
The Odyssey this week, which feels like it's gonna be

2424
02:03:53,960 --> 02:03:56,840
an Odyssey because it's a very long movie. I'm gonna

2425
02:03:56,840 --> 02:03:58,920
see that later this week and then I'll report back

2426
02:03:59,079 --> 02:04:02,039
with my thoughts. I'll see you back here next Sunday.

2427
02:04:02,119 --> 02:04:07,399
Until then, take care, guys. The solom Monster sounds off backstage.

2428
02:04:07,439 --> 02:04:10,600
We had Fraxi him and the MotorCity machine guns. Holy shit,

2429
02:04:10,720 --> 02:04:13,560
they live. So they're walking along backstage and Candice Larra

2430
02:04:13,680 --> 02:04:15,880
approaches that. She said, look at what happened to Johnny,

2431
02:04:15,920 --> 02:04:18,920
and we see Johnny Gargano. He is lying face down

2432
02:04:19,039 --> 02:04:21,920
on top of a box that has marked NXT. I

2433
02:04:21,920 --> 02:04:24,560
want you to imagine flying all the way to work

2434
02:04:26,079 --> 02:04:28,399
and you get there and you find out, okay, boss,

2435
02:04:28,439 --> 02:04:31,159
what am I doing tonight? And your job, after flying

2436
02:04:31,199 --> 02:04:33,359
all the way in here is to lay face down

2437
02:04:33,399 --> 02:04:37,359
on top of a box for two minutes and say nothing.

2438
02:04:37,439 --> 02:04:40,880
I don't even think he'd blinked. He looked catatonic as

2439
02:04:40,920 --> 02:04:43,079
he was laying there. And that's it. That's all he

2440
02:04:43,159 --> 02:04:45,520
did on this show. That was his only task tonight,

2441
02:04:45,680 --> 02:04:47,680
fly into work and lay on top of a box.

2442
02:04:47,880 --> 02:04:49,680
I mean, look, I guess it's not bad work if

2443
02:04:49,680 --> 02:04:50,279
you can get it.

2444
02:04:50,560 --> 02:04:55,000
Speaker 2: The solom Monster sounds off, bringing you the good, the bad,

2445
02:04:55,079 --> 02:04:58,199
and the ugly. Check out the weekly live streams bonus

2446
02:04:58,199 --> 02:05:01,920
content for subscribers, and follow this monster on Facebook, Instagram,

2447
02:05:01,960 --> 02:05:04,359
and X The Sola Monster.

2448
02:05:05,039 --> 02:05:06,199
Speaker 1: I love you so long.