Speaker 1: Well, the Saturday Night main event comes to us tomorrow
Speaker 1: night from Madison Square Garden, but not before SmackDown Tonight one.
Speaker 1: That does seem to be shaping up to be relatively big.
Speaker 1: They've got Cody Rhodes, Gunther and see them Punk scheduled
Speaker 1: to appear as well as I think Adam Pearris is
Speaker 1: going to be filling in again for Nick Aldis, who
Speaker 1: after his attack last week from Gunther, is not going
Speaker 1: to be there apparently, but we will see. If they're
Speaker 1: going to do a Summer Slam match, then they probably
Speaker 1: will have something from all this, a message from a
Speaker 1: hospital bed or from something. I mean, if they're going
Speaker 1: Nick Alldos and gun there, which it seems like they're
Speaker 1: going to do, then you'd imagine Nick Alldos will be
Speaker 1: there in some form or fashion. So big night I
Speaker 1: think tonight for SmackDown, big star power, and WWE certainly
Speaker 1: needs it. As Summer Slam has not sold out as
Speaker 1: of this recording, they are fifty five hundred tickets short.
Speaker 1: They've sold about twenty five thousand tickets for Night one,
Speaker 1: and they can have a capacity of about three or
Speaker 1: thirty thousand seats, so they're trying and the announcement of
Speaker 1: cm Punk and Cody Rhoads for the disputed Championship did
Speaker 1: not really move ticket sales. They went up about six
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty that's essentially nothing. They went up a
Speaker 1: minuscule amount after the announcement of Cmpunk and Cody rhads
Speaker 1: that many people believe would be a WrestleMania main event.
Speaker 1: They even set as much on television. But it tells
Speaker 1: you that the product is just not generally as hot
Speaker 1: as they'd like it to be. And they don't have
Speaker 1: stars that are white hot. They don't have that those
Speaker 1: one or two big, big, big stars that are just
Speaker 1: needle movers, they don't. I mean, yes, Cmpunk's a big name,
Speaker 1: Cody Roads is a big name, brock Leser huge name.
Speaker 1: Those are the guys that helped move the needle. But
Speaker 1: they were expected to be there. And with the general
Speaker 1: consensus from fans that TKO is gouging them every chance
Speaker 1: that they can because they are unashamed to be the
Speaker 1: most money hungry company outwardly that I've ever seen, then
Speaker 1: they're facing the backlash. Now TKO is reaping what they've sown.
Speaker 1: TKO is getting what they deserve. They're seeing the results
Speaker 1: of their labor. They are now understanding that it's not
Speaker 1: just the ticket prices that are i think hurting the sales,
Speaker 1: but also the product. If you just improved the product,
Speaker 1: you could try to justify the prices you're charging. And
Speaker 1: they're not doing that, or they haven't based on the metrics,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure they would use ticket sales as a
Speaker 1: metric of success. They're all about not paying attention to
Speaker 1: the social media negativity, which is of course nonsense, but
Speaker 1: they certainly use ticket sales as a metric of success.
Speaker 1: And right now Summer Slam ticket sales are not good.
Speaker 1: They're not horrible, but they would love to be able
Speaker 1: to say Summer Slam sold out. They're trying to get
Speaker 1: Summer Slim to sell out. It won't. They may have
Speaker 1: some walk up, some late minute decisions, but it's a
Speaker 1: two day commitment for most people three if you're going
Speaker 1: to go all all both nights and travel and everything
Speaker 1: else that comes with it from Minneapolis, which is also
Speaker 1: not the best destination to go to right now if
Speaker 1: you're paying attention to the news, especially earlier this year,
Speaker 1: things haven't really gotten better. So it's not exactly a
Speaker 1: tourist destination. It's not a place that people would go
Speaker 1: to to really do anything other than maybe visit people
Speaker 1: they know that are there. They don't go there for vacations.
Speaker 1: Not the best venue, Also bad timing from a lot
Speaker 1: of other worldly perspectives. So you compile all that on
Speaker 1: top of a product that is just not as hot
Speaker 1: as they would like it to be and increase ticket
Speaker 1: prices and you have the end result of not a
Speaker 1: sellout and underperform arming in sales overall year over year.
Speaker 1: That's the consequence of their decisions and of their creative
Speaker 1: that they've put forth over the last several months to
Speaker 1: couple years. Now that's what they get. And again, if
Speaker 1: they improve the overall product, they would be able to
Speaker 1: justify their prices as well, and you'd see more people.
Speaker 1: It all comes down to the quality of the product.
Speaker 1: That's really what it is. We've seen that people will
Speaker 1: be willing to spend whatever they want because of just
Speaker 1: the idea of credit cards and you can use lines
Speaker 1: of credit like affirm to spend whatever you want, and
Speaker 1: then well it's just an extra fifty sixty, seventy, one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty whatever a month. I can afford that,
Speaker 1: and people will take on debt. They will if they
Speaker 1: believe that what they're going to receive in return exceeds
Speaker 1: what they're paying. And right now people aren't feeling that
Speaker 1: way about WWE. They aren't, So we'll see. We'll see
Speaker 1: on oh end. WrestleMania I think hurts as well because
Speaker 1: the general feeling online and I don't want to hear
Speaker 1: that negativity. It doesn't matter online. It does because these
Speaker 1: are the people who are going to be purchasing tickets
Speaker 1: or not purchasing tickets to your events. The feeling coming
Speaker 1: out of WrestleMania this year, with the overwhelming complaints of
Speaker 1: people online saying that the ticket prices are ridiculous for
Speaker 1: WrestleMania Vegas did not sell well, then you're gonna have backlash.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have a lingering effect from your biggest e
Speaker 1: end of the year to your second biggest ev end
Speaker 1: of the year, your only other two night event that
Speaker 1: they're trying to make WrestleMania of the summer be and
Speaker 1: you're gonna have backlash and you're seeing it. So I mean,
Speaker 1: I cry zero tiers for TKO none, So just the
Speaker 1: way it is again, it's a lot of little factors,
Speaker 1: but the overwhelming one is just make a better product,
Speaker 1: give us better stories, bigger stars. Easier said than done.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying this is easily done. I'm telling you
Speaker 1: what the solution is. It's really that simple. Okay. So
Speaker 1: we're going to get into the Saturday Night main event
Speaker 1: preview and prediction that's going to be coming to you
Speaker 1: in a few minutes. But first I want to welcome
Speaker 1: you and encourage you to go ad free at patreon
Speaker 1: dot com slash WWE podcast for all of your ad
Speaker 1: free needs. All right, let's go to a couple of
Speaker 1: emails first before we dive into the actual preview predictions.
Speaker 1: This is from Joey. Joey says here with another Michael
Speaker 1: Cole email. That's right, Joelia, Yes, I enjoy this. Okay,
Speaker 1: here's a fun scenario. You and Michael Cole took a
Speaker 1: ski trip for the weekend. You both get some hot
Speaker 1: coco and cheap coffee because Michael Cole loves cheap coffee.
Speaker 1: You're in a cabin Michael Cole bought years ago from
Speaker 1: his WWE paychecks. All of a sudden, you both get
Speaker 1: snowed in from an avalanche. You and Michael Cole are
Speaker 1: calling for help with a walkie talkie and Michael Cole
Speaker 1: is screaming into it, help help anyone. Me and my
Speaker 1: voice Twitter are stuck here in a cabin on the
Speaker 1: mountain I bought from my WWE paychecks I have to
Speaker 1: be at RAW and my friend Matt has a WWE podcast,
Speaker 1: Only to find out you both are stuck in their
Speaker 1: cabin for a full week until help can arrive. What
Speaker 1: do you do? How do you pass time? The only
Speaker 1: things you can eat in there are Michael Cole's canned
Speaker 1: food he bought from publics in two thousand and eight
Speaker 1: and some salty chips. Your only source of heat is
Speaker 1: a big, itchy blanket Michael Cole's mom made from his
Speaker 1: small little stove. I'd love to hear how you would survive,
Speaker 1: my God, and the AI picture you created is creepy
Speaker 1: but hilarious. The effort you're putting into this, Joe, is
Speaker 1: commendable but disturbing. I would so in this very likely,
Speaker 1: almost certain scenario that I'll find myself in with Michael Cole,
Speaker 1: where we are stuck in a cabin because of an
Speaker 1: avalanche that has snow pouring in the windows. And what
Speaker 1: would I do, Well, I would probably you know what here,
Speaker 1: here's how it passed the time. If we're stuck in there,
Speaker 1: say for a week, a full week, okay, I'd have
Speaker 1: a lot of conversations with the guy. I mean, I
Speaker 1: really would pick his brain. He's a wealth of knowledge.
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear the stories behind the scenes, if
Speaker 1: he was able to go unfiltered. I'd love to know
Speaker 1: some funny shit that's happened to him some yes, some
Speaker 1: dirts and things that maybe he isn't able to share. Otherwise,
Speaker 1: if I'm a trusted source and I'm a lock box
Speaker 1: where I wouldn't tell anybody else, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: the stuff that no one knows. But I would love
Speaker 1: to just pick his brain for a while. And yes,
Speaker 1: that would get old after a while, and I'd be saying, hey, pal,
Speaker 1: I really would want to get the hell out of here.
Speaker 1: I'm hungry. What would I do? How would I pass
Speaker 1: the time? Well, again, if I don't have any electronic
Speaker 1: devices and all we have is a walkie talkie radio,
Speaker 1: I would be probably on the radio seeing if someone
Speaker 1: can get to us sooner, because being stuck in the
Speaker 1: cabin with anybody for a week snowed in, I'd get
Speaker 1: I mean, I would get claustrophobic because if I know
Speaker 1: I'm being if there's a thousand pounds per square inch
Speaker 1: of snow around the cabin, thinking that I could die
Speaker 1: in any moment if the cabin collapses would be on
Speaker 1: my mind. I might even consider trying to dig myself out.
Speaker 1: I would just kind of like slowly do it in
Speaker 1: through the window that I see you've created here through AI.
Speaker 1: I would kind of try to slowly dig myself out
Speaker 1: with Michael Cole and see how that works out. Maybe
Speaker 1: I can find my way to the surface. That's what
Speaker 1: i'd probably do after a few days. If I knew I
Speaker 1: was only going to be in there for a week,
Speaker 1: maybe I wouldn't risk my life doing that. I may
Speaker 1: even have a counter what I would probably do without
Speaker 1: him knowing. I'd keep a tally of how many times
Speaker 1: he says wwe, and I'd give like an over under
Speaker 1: on it ahead of time, like, oh, does he say
Speaker 1: it forty fifty times while we're there? And I'd also
Speaker 1: challenge him to say wwe. I'm going to see if
Speaker 1: he's even capable of it. Is he does he have
Speaker 1: the ability. Is his brain wired in a way as
Speaker 1: such that he could actually change the way he says
Speaker 1: it to the way that ninety nine percent of the
Speaker 1: population says it. I really don't know anyone else that
Speaker 1: says it this way. It's very it's too much work.
Speaker 1: Just do it yourself. Anybody can do it. It's not
Speaker 1: an accent. You're just over pronouncing the W. Nobody else
Speaker 1: says it's the way he does. He's doing He's just
Speaker 1: exerting more energy than he needs to say w seeal quick.
Speaker 2: That was.
Speaker 1: Even You know what Kurt Angle might be his antithesis.
Speaker 1: Kurt Angle says it totally the opposite in under a second.
Speaker 1: So Michael Cole says, WWE. Right, we all know that
Speaker 1: Kurt Angle. You ever listen to him say wwe? He
Speaker 1: says it almost sped up. You have to slow him down.
Speaker 1: He he'll say it somewhat like this. W He'll say,
Speaker 1: it's so quick he almost doesn't pronounce the letters. So
Speaker 1: Kurt Angle is his antithesis. So all right, this is
Speaker 1: getting crazy. That's your answer, Joey, all right. Going on
Speaker 1: to Dylan, he says, for the love of God, can
Speaker 1: we please see you do the obastrut. Guys, you want
Speaker 1: me to do a lot of stuff. I don't know
Speaker 1: what it is. I mean, I figure it to be
Speaker 1: a lot of product questions and Saturday Night main event
Speaker 1: and Summer Slam issues. But you want to see me
Speaker 1: do the obastrut. My best friend does it all the
Speaker 1: time and he's like thirty. It's addictive. If you can't
Speaker 1: do the obastrut, can you impersonate Roman Reigns and do
Speaker 1: a promo? I know you said before you can't do impressions,
Speaker 1: but man, it's wrestling and it's all worth a shot.
Speaker 1: Love the pod and the reviews. By the way, the
Speaker 1: only wrestler I've ever met in is named Kazarni. In
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, I thought it was or I
Speaker 1: was around ten years old. He was at a store
Speaker 1: called Giant Tiger. Dylan, Bill Dillon. Hope you're doing well.
Speaker 1: I don't know who Kazarni is. I'd have to google it,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's not a common occurrence. Running into wrestlers
Speaker 1: is not something you anticipate to do, unless you're going
Speaker 1: to a show or you try to find the gym
Speaker 1: they'll be at before they go to the event, which
Speaker 1: is also difficult because there's so many gyms around in
Speaker 1: different franchise gyms and things like that. But outside of that,
Speaker 1: you don't really anticipate it. So it's always special when
Speaker 1: you run into a wrestler. Now, I mean, I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna I can't cut a promo and you
Speaker 1: say you can't do it. It's wrestling, But I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not apt to do that. I don't have the
Speaker 1: skill set for it. I also don't have the context
Speaker 1: of what promo i'd be cutting, or for who, or
Speaker 1: for why or for what. You know. I actually don't
Speaker 1: even know if I've ever cut No, I have. I
Speaker 1: have cut a promo before, a real one at a
Speaker 1: wrestling school in Massachusetts. It was called It's Chaotic Wrestling.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they're still there. They're just outside
Speaker 1: of Boston. And back in twenty ten, I attended a
Speaker 1: wrestling camp that you might have paid like one hundred
Speaker 1: bucks or whatever to attend. It was a few hours.
Speaker 1: They went over some of the in ring items, talked
Speaker 1: about the history of the actual wrestling camp or the center,
Speaker 1: who they've trained, the wrestlers that have come out of it.
Speaker 1: Killer Kowalski actually came out of it. Those of you
Speaker 1: that are old enough to remember who that is or anything,
Speaker 1: probably not, but they've had some pretty big wrestlers go
Speaker 1: through there. I don't know if the Katok Wrestling Center
Speaker 1: or training center. I think it's CTC if I'm not wrong,
Speaker 1: But anyway, attended back in twenty ten, I remember hitting
Speaker 1: the ropes, taking a bump. It's brutal. Those of you
Speaker 1: that think that it's a fun little bouncy house, it's not.
Speaker 1: It's essentially like landing on a piece of plywood. It
Speaker 1: is horrible. People don't respect and understand how hard it
Speaker 1: is to take a bump, because you see it one
Speaker 1: hundred times, hundreds of times on any given wrestling show.
Speaker 1: You take it for granted. You're just you know, you're
Speaker 1: sitting there. Yeah, you're eating, you're sometimes falling asleep. But
Speaker 1: if you understand what it means to take a bump, anybody,
Speaker 1: go take a bump in a wrestling ring. I encourage
Speaker 1: you to because it'll give you a new respect for
Speaker 1: what the wrestlers go through, taking a single bump and
Speaker 1: then also hitting the ropes. Just hitting the ropes. People
Speaker 1: think that that is also super fun, bouncy, no problem. No,
Speaker 1: the ropes actually will you, sometimes worse than the mad
Speaker 1: because the ropes are made out of steel wrapped in
Speaker 1: like a little some thin material. The ropes are super tough.
Speaker 1: They're not bouncy. They're meant to be. It's part of
Speaker 1: the structure of the ring. So the ropes actually will
Speaker 1: bruise you. And the bumps are just brutal and guys.
Speaker 1: So if anybody gets an opportunity to I would encourage
Speaker 1: you to back to my story. So they cut promos.
Speaker 1: Everybody was told to cut a promo as well in
Speaker 1: front of the class quote unquote, and I got up
Speaker 1: there and cut a promo. It was not good. At
Speaker 1: the time, I was trying to essentially be a stone
Speaker 1: cold adjacent it was. It was horrible. Somebody does have
Speaker 1: it recorded somewhere. It is embarrassing. So that is my
Speaker 1: only true promo experience. And I'm not gonna reiterate that
Speaker 1: or duplicate that here. I just I can't. But the obastrite. No,
Speaker 1: here's the thing with the Obustride. Actually I understand it,
Speaker 1: but I haven't bought into it yet, probably because of
Speaker 1: the way and that Obis has used it thus far.
Speaker 1: He comes out and does it as his entrance, But
Speaker 1: I don't like when he does it if somebody's already
Speaker 1: out there and they've cut a promo on him. It
Speaker 1: comes away across two phony too forced. If someone just
Speaker 1: cut a promo on you, are you gonna seriously walk
Speaker 1: down to the ring with a straight face doing your strut?
Speaker 1: It's too performative, So you gotta pick and choose when
Speaker 1: he does it. If no one's in the ring, I
Speaker 1: have no problem with it. It's just part of his entrance.
Speaker 1: Otherwise it looks goofy. He comes out and how do
Speaker 1: you keep a straight face? Look? What are you doing? Dude?
Speaker 1: Does anybody feel that way too? Am I overthinking this? Probably?
Speaker 1: But I understand OBUs strut. I get it. It goes
Speaker 1: nice with the music. He's the ruler, got it. But
Speaker 1: if someone's in the ring and they're challenging him to
Speaker 1: come out to a fight, or they just run them
Speaker 1: down in a promo and then OBA interrupts, is the
Speaker 1: strut supposed to be intimidating to the person standing in
Speaker 1: the ring? What's the purpose of doing it if someone's
Speaker 1: in the ring other than just this is my entrance.
Speaker 1: You gotta cut that shit out. Depending on the context
Speaker 1: of what's going on, it looks goofy if someone's already
Speaker 1: in the ring. That's how I feel about it. Okay,
Speaker 1: but he's not gonna stop doing it. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: part of his gimmick. But I don't think anybody's thinking
Speaker 1: that way until maybe I've brought it to your attention
Speaker 1: and you think, yeah, that actually doesn't make a lot
Speaker 1: of sense. Sorry, let's go on, all right, a couple more.
Speaker 1: This is a Wes and he says it's been about
Speaker 1: a month or so since my last email was Saturday
Speaker 1: Night made Event this weekend. I wanted to send my
Speaker 1: predictions as well as some thoughts from the past week.
Speaker 1: I have higher hopes for this event with it being
Speaker 1: in the Garden and topping off Fanatics Fest. It seems
Speaker 1: like they should be pulling out all the stops to
Speaker 1: give this weekend a ple e feel, although the card
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to have that feel. But again, don't forget
Speaker 1: it's Saturday Night main event. It's not supposed to be
Speaker 1: a real ple e. I don't know how you would
Speaker 1: categorize this. It's not to me a true ple e's
Speaker 1: it's just not but there. I don't know they're trying
Speaker 1: to make this a thing. I actually don't like it
Speaker 1: being a part of the schedule here because you have
Speaker 1: to almost ignore it until it's on top of you,
Speaker 1: because there are always bigger pls after it. In other words,
Speaker 1: right after they ended the last ple right what Night
Speaker 1: of Champions in Saudi, they didn't even talk about Saturday
Speaker 1: night main event and they just went right to SummerSlam.
Speaker 1: And now I know Summer Slim is infinitely bigger, and
Speaker 1: they're trying to sell tickets, and they've had a lot
Speaker 1: of problem selling tickets. But my point is that they've
Speaker 1: just skip over Saturday night main event and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden they a week or two out there. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll challenge you at Saturday Night's main event. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: so number one Bailey and Lyra. You're looking forward to
Speaker 1: this as both a fan of Bailey and really enjoying
Speaker 1: the new Lyra character after floundering around on the tag division.
Speaker 1: Here is to hoping we finally get a payoff with
Speaker 1: this new dark edgy descent into complete madness. I have
Speaker 1: Lyra completely losing it in this fight and Bailey getting
Speaker 1: the win by DQ, probably setting up a future street fight.
Speaker 1: I guess Lyra could beat Bailey to a bloody pulp
Speaker 1: and take her out of action for a significant portion
Speaker 1: of time, But if booking history is any indication, we're
Speaker 1: probably gonna see the former setting up continuing into SummerSlam
Speaker 1: for the Women's Tag Team Championship of Brie and Page
Speaker 1: versus Fatal Influence. There's only one way I see this going,
Speaker 1: and that is with Fatal Influence getting the win, probably
Speaker 1: with some interference, as it seems we can never have
Speaker 1: a heel team win cleanly in WWE. Is far time
Speaker 1: for Page and Breed to go their separate ways. Will
Speaker 1: we see a Nikky return, perhaps Cost being the determining
Speaker 1: factory in the match. Personally, I hope not, as I
Speaker 1: could go the rest of my life without Nicki Bella
Speaker 1: setting footback in the ring. But I know I have
Speaker 1: heard rumors of this direction, which isn't bad, but honestly
Speaker 1: not interested in feuding. I'm not interested in the feud.
Speaker 1: There are so many more things to do with Paige.
Speaker 1: I think this direction would be a complete waste. Notice
Speaker 1: I'm not responding to this because I'm going to give
Speaker 1: my previewing predictions in a moment so hak tight the
Speaker 1: Nody Q match Dan Housen and j D McDonough. I
Speaker 1: expect Shenanigan's galore, every member of Judgment Day will be
Speaker 1: out there. I hope to see some comedic interactions with
Speaker 1: Dom and Zombie Miz and Kit. Matt Cardona will hit
Speaker 1: JD with a rough rider, and possibly some celebrity involvement
Speaker 1: with some knicked players. No chance Dan Housen loses the
Speaker 1: tag team match of CM, Punk and Cody taking on
Speaker 1: Gunther and Sammy's ain. This match, I can see going
Speaker 1: a lot of different ways, from a free for all
Speaker 1: brawl in which we get no winner as Temple's tempers
Speaker 1: boil over, a straight clean win by the Babyfaces, a
Speaker 1: cheap win by Sammy, or a submission by Gunther for
Speaker 1: one of them to make a claim why they should
Speaker 1: be a part of the title match at SummerSlam. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: I think we have Cody and Punk constantly tried to
Speaker 1: out do each other and show the other one up,
Speaker 1: closing out simultaneous crossroads in GTS for the win. I've
Speaker 1: also had a few thoughts on SmackDown and Raw first
Speaker 1: being that I am glad to see Roxanne getting some
Speaker 1: great in ring time with the best pound for pound
Speaker 1: wrestler in the division. This Batista like role of going
Speaker 1: in and softening up opponents for live prior to their
Speaker 1: upcoming matches has been interesting. I think everyone is honestly
Speaker 1: just waiting for Roxanne to betray live move away from
Speaker 1: the judgment day. It seems a travesty that of all
Speaker 1: the classes of NXT call ups, she's the only one
Speaker 1: without a singles title, Julia with the US title and
Speaker 1: Stephanie Vicaer with the World title. My opinion, she certainly
Speaker 1: seems to be the better wrestler and certainly is better
Speaker 1: on the mic, so I can respond to this yes,
Speaker 1: and I would also expect Stephanie vic Kaer to be
Speaker 1: returning very soon, if not at SummerSlam. She's been off
Speaker 1: TV for a couple months now and from what I understand,
Speaker 1: she's close to returning. I wouldn't be surprised if she
Speaker 1: returns at Summer Slam or even at Saturday Nights made
Speaker 1: event as possible, but I think that Summer Slam would
Speaker 1: be a more appropriate return for her, or just before
Speaker 1: just after. So but Roxanne. Yeah, but we're all waiting
Speaker 1: for that. I think that she is going to betray
Speaker 1: Live in that very near future and go off on
Speaker 1: her own. She should. Live has also been kind of
Speaker 1: cold lately. Live has cooled off. They haven't given her
Speaker 1: the mic as often as they should. That's where she
Speaker 1: really starts to shine. Her promost style and cadence and
Speaker 1: authenticity is where she really makes her money, so to speak.
Speaker 1: The Dom and Live story is also kind of run
Speaker 1: its course. No one's really talking about Dom and Live.
Speaker 1: That's not really interesting as much anymore. It's kind of
Speaker 1: time for them to do something, either split or reinvigorate
Speaker 1: the story. So all right. Secondly, I'm ready to see
Speaker 1: Gable get in the Icy title and glad his momentum
Speaker 1: is picking back up as they spent too much time
Speaker 1: on his apology tour. I get with Penta to build
Speaker 1: a story for the match, and with Ray not just
Speaker 1: because he's the face of Lucca Libra, but because of
Speaker 1: what he had to say in their interaction where he
Speaker 1: told Chad that he helped elevate Lucha Libra and because
Speaker 1: he was used to set up his interactions with Alpha
Speaker 1: Academy that helped propel Maxine and redefine both her character
Speaker 1: and his finally my SmackDown rant. Once again, I am
Speaker 1: frustrated with them continuing to leave Alexibliss as the fall
Speaker 1: girl to push Charlotte. Ever since Alexa returned to the Rumble.
Speaker 1: At the Rumble, she has gotten some of the best
Speaker 1: pops from the crowd, but WWE continues to see how
Speaker 1: quick I did that? I kurt angled that ww they
Speaker 1: continue to use her like an athlete past her prime
Speaker 1: to put everyone else over. Even though no one compares
Speaker 1: to her on the mic and she can go toe
Speaker 1: to toe with anyone in the division, she is way
Speaker 1: overdue for a title run, let alone an actual shot.
Speaker 1: I know there was a leaked original SummerSlam list that
Speaker 1: had her in the three way title match with Rhea
Speaker 1: and JC Jane, but the way the booking has gone,
Speaker 1: it seems like she was there again to be the
Speaker 1: fall to protect Rhea and transition the title to jac
Speaker 1: who is a fantastic heel, but not sure she would
Speaker 1: be ready to carry the division. Also, what are the
Speaker 1: planning What are they planning to do with the women's
Speaker 1: title since we haven't seen Rhea in how long due
Speaker 1: to an injury. Thanks for all your work, So Wes
Speaker 1: last question, first, what are they doing with Rio? Well,
Speaker 1: she's injured, as we know, but they're just holding it
Speaker 1: kind of steady for her to return if the if
Speaker 1: the injury was something more long term, she would have
Speaker 1: already dropped the title to or she relinquished it. I
Speaker 1: should say she would have already relinquished it. If they
Speaker 1: felt that this injury was going to be something longer
Speaker 1: term three four, five, six months, they would have had
Speaker 1: to have taken the belt off of her. But they
Speaker 1: probably said, well, she's just within her Well, I think
Speaker 1: her recovery would have been just within a timeframe that
Speaker 1: they could explain why she's not here or it wouldn't
Speaker 1: be a huge problem if she's not here. So I
Speaker 1: think Riha' is really close because why would you hold
Speaker 1: the title hostage for somebody that's going to be out
Speaker 1: for a long period of time. Makes no sense. It's
Speaker 1: just disrespectful to the championship, her storylines and on and on.
Speaker 1: So that's my ideal. And as far as Alexa Bliss,
Speaker 1: she's yes, has been sorely underutilized, and it's not just
Speaker 1: this year, it's been for many years, many years, all
Speaker 1: the way back to bray Wyatt when she was his
Speaker 1: mouthpiece and his I don't know, student or whatever his
Speaker 1: I don't know whatever you would label her as at
Speaker 1: the time, and she was creepy and cool. The doll
Speaker 1: was stupid. We know that the doll was ridiculous. I
Speaker 1: never liked the doll. But even back then, she wasn't wrestling.
Speaker 1: She was somewhat regularly on TV, but she'd almost never wrestle.
Speaker 1: And then it capped off in wrestling. What the hell
Speaker 1: was it WrestleMania thirty What do I say? Thirty seven?
Speaker 1: Was it WrestleMania thirty seven? When she came out and
Speaker 1: she had this black liquid all over her and some
Speaker 1: kind of horror movie inspired look, and it was just made.
Speaker 1: It made no sense. And by the way, it was
Speaker 1: never explained at all, So much of it was never explained.
Speaker 1: And then she never wrestled. She gets injured, she has
Speaker 1: a baby, comes back, huge pop at the rumble, and yeah,
Speaker 1: what have they done? They've put her on TV. Not
Speaker 1: everybody can be at the top. I get that, but
Speaker 1: at least also give her the mic. You know what,
Speaker 1: I'd like to see a team of just because I
Speaker 1: see a lot of similarities live in Alexa Bliss. They're
Speaker 1: both Yes, they both look the same. They're both shorter,
Speaker 1: blonde women, so the look is kind of cool if
Speaker 1: you're trying to form them as a team. I think
Speaker 1: the look already speaks for itself. They look like a
Speaker 1: team just in my mind. But their mic skills are very,
Speaker 1: very similar in terms of ability. I love both Live
Speaker 1: and Alexa on the mic. They make me feel the
Speaker 1: same way about their promos. So that's a team I
Speaker 1: would love if they're gonna have teams. But Alexa Bliss
Speaker 1: as a single star, she needs to get away from Charlotte.
Speaker 1: She needs to stop being the fall person. I agree,
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean more more can you say about Alexa?
Speaker 1: She probably isn't going to be the focal point of
Speaker 1: the division anytime soon. She is a big name in
Speaker 1: a division that has stars they are now trying to establish.
Speaker 1: Look at the new women here with JC Jane and
Speaker 1: her group Lyra, Valkyria, Soul Ruka, Go Down the Line, Live,
Speaker 1: Live not Live. But Alexa I think is viewed as
Speaker 1: kind of the old guard, not that she doesn't have ability,
Speaker 1: or that she has a few more years or more
Speaker 1: left in her to have good matches and good programs.
Speaker 1: But if the focus is on youth in building new stars,
Speaker 1: then you would think that having Alexa Bliss at the
Speaker 1: top of the division right now is not in the
Speaker 1: books as they try to propel the newer talent. It's
Speaker 1: a it's a difficult balance. Not saying I have all
Speaker 1: the answers, but just as a general statement, I would
Speaker 1: say Alexa Bliss has been underutilized for years. Now, okay,
Speaker 1: one more then we'll get to my predictions. This is
Speaker 1: Matt and Emma in the Sheffield UK all right across
Speaker 1: the pond. It says, Hi, Matt really enjoying the show.
Speaker 1: Liked your take on Sammy and Punk. It was validating
Speaker 1: to hear. I would have loved to have seen what
Speaker 1: Sammy could do as champion. I wanted to see him
Speaker 1: to send further down that heel road, all while telling
Speaker 1: us he's the quote last real good guy. Two questions,
Speaker 1: which mid Carter would you like to see pushed to
Speaker 1: the main event? And now that we have Roman and
Speaker 1: Seth and Punk and Cody, who's going heel? Someone has
Speaker 1: to well. I will save that for potentially my preview
Speaker 1: because I kind of that moves into my previeum predictions,
Speaker 1: but it also it's really about SummerSlam as well. All right, well,
Speaker 1: I'll talk about it because it's not truly I think
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen at Saturday Night's main event. Who goes
Speaker 1: hel m If I'm gonna say someone has to in
Speaker 1: both matches, which I don't think what happened in both cases,
Speaker 1: because you'd want the focus to just be one person.
Speaker 1: So I'll give you two. But then i'll give you
Speaker 1: out of the two, which is most likely to occur. Okay,
Speaker 1: if I'm going to choose someone going heel on Roman
Speaker 1: versus Seth, which one goes heal Seth? Again, the reason
Speaker 1: is if you listen to the crowd when these two
Speaker 1: are battling on the mike, and they've had some really
Speaker 1: fun interactions on the mike. Some of Roman's best work
Speaker 1: has been the last couple of weeks, particularly this past week,
Speaker 1: I would say Seth is and the reason is you
Speaker 1: listen to the crowd and the crowd when these two
Speaker 1: are battling seemingly side more with Roman. And that's not
Speaker 1: just been last week, that's been over the last several weeks.
Speaker 1: Roman is a bigger star. He's more of the face
Speaker 1: of the company than Seth is. Roman is more accomplished.
Speaker 1: If you talk about WrestleMania main events being how you
Speaker 1: judge a success, he is just a bigger household name
Speaker 1: than Seth Rollins is. Roman Reigns has achieved borderline legendary status.
Speaker 1: He is getting very close to being considered a legend
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer. That happened like ten years ago, but legend.
Speaker 1: Would you say Seth Rawlins is a legend? No, I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I think legend is thrown around too haphazardly today, and
Speaker 1: I think Roman Reigns is much more of a legend
Speaker 1: closer to than Seth Rollins is. Not to take anything
Speaker 1: away from Seth, it's just the way things have lined up.
Speaker 1: On top of the injury problems that Seth has continued
Speaker 1: to have, they time out terribly for him. Seemingly happens
Speaker 1: at WrestleMania every single year. Well not every year, but
Speaker 1: there have been occasions over the years where it has
Speaker 1: really been badly timed, so that I think has hurt
Speaker 1: him a little bit. But I would say Seth turns
Speaker 1: heel out of that. If I'm saying Punk and Cody
Speaker 1: who turns heel? Someone has to gotta be Cody, right,
Speaker 1: It's gotta be Punk has not been a heel since
Speaker 1: he returned to WWE at Survivor Series. Was it twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four, I feel or twenty three? Shit? I never
Speaker 1: remember whatever it was a few years ago. He has
Speaker 1: not been heel since. Punk. I don't think is nearly
Speaker 1: out of gas from his for his babyface run as
Speaker 1: Cody is. Maybe I put that really poorly. My words
Speaker 1: aren't wording today. Cody's Babyface run has I think just
Speaker 1: about petered out. There have been many instances, I think,
Speaker 1: where you could have turned Cody heel and they didn't
Speaker 1: do it. Against John Cenah WrestleMania againsts there have been
Speaker 1: instances where you could have turned punk. But again, Cody
Speaker 1: has received some negativity over the last several years too,
Speaker 1: because his title runs have been very, very, very boring.
Speaker 1: Some of that is on Cody, most of it's on
Speaker 1: creative that had essentially no big follow up to keep
Speaker 1: the momentum going with him as champion, and his runs
Speaker 1: have been exceedingly boring. After he finished his story at
Speaker 1: WrestleMania forty, the follow up was terrible, not terrible, subpar.
Speaker 1: That won't go as far as to be dramatic and
Speaker 1: say it was horrible. It was underwhelming. Him as champion
Speaker 1: was not exciting, and Cody Roads, I don't think has
Speaker 1: been nearly as successful in the run as champion as
Speaker 1: is the journey to become champion. But all of that
Speaker 1: to say, circling back, Cody has been a babyface longer
Speaker 1: than Punk has. Cody returned at WrestleMania thirty eight, that
Speaker 1: was four years ago, now, four plus years ago now,
Speaker 1: has been a babyface ever since. We've seen the same
Speaker 1: character for four years now, and it's I think time
Speaker 1: for a change. Punk, on the other hand, he hasn't
Speaker 1: been around as much, but there's more to squeeze out
Speaker 1: of this babyface run before they decide to turn him.
Speaker 1: There's more of an interest, I think in seeing Cody
Speaker 1: as heel as well. We've seen heel Punk, if you
Speaker 1: remember the Summer of Punk. He turned heel later on
Speaker 1: against the Rock begrudgingly, but he did, and we know
Speaker 1: what that looks like. Cody as a heel, as presently
Speaker 1: constituted from this particular version of him. We've seen Cody
Speaker 1: as a heel, but way way way back when he
Speaker 1: wore the face mask and he was dashing Cody and
Speaker 1: starred all that, Like, yeah, okay, fine, But talking about
Speaker 1: this version of Cody Rhodes, the bleach blonde suit wearing
Speaker 1: politician looking manicured Cody Rhoads, that version of him we
Speaker 1: have not seen as a heel. There is much more
Speaker 1: interest in that. Cody is more than skilled enough to
Speaker 1: be a heel on the microphone. He already is essentially
Speaker 1: a heel. The way that he acts looks what's really
Speaker 1: I think holding him back is number one. He's very
Speaker 1: skilled on the microphone. But I think also a big
Speaker 1: contributing factor is his music. His music has and was
Speaker 1: a big reason why people love seeing him is a
Speaker 1: very participatory entrance. People love that song. It's skyrocketed in
Speaker 1: the charts when he even originally came back, and the
Speaker 1: Whoa and the fire. It's a great babyface entrance. But
Speaker 1: it's kind of on its course, and even Cody has said, hey,
Speaker 1: when I turn heel, when or if that happens, I'm
Speaker 1: getting rid of that music absolutely. You know why. Number one,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't really work with his heel character, whatever that is.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't work. And secondly, it would also really signify
Speaker 1: that they're digging into a totally different character. They're not
Speaker 1: going to try to sell you on the same guy
Speaker 1: that's just a little bit different. They're gonna go in
Speaker 1: full turn here, full page turn. Maybe he dyes his
Speaker 1: hair black. We've heard that before. I'd love to see that.
Speaker 1: The bleach Blonde two thousand and one, in saying justin
Speaker 1: Timberlake look is more than outdated. He's probably the only
Speaker 1: person that is keeping the industry of hair dyeing your
Speaker 1: hair for men alive. I can't think of another guy
Speaker 1: public figure that is dyeing his hair as much as
Speaker 1: Cody Rhodes to a dramatic degree. I'm not saying going
Speaker 1: from gray if you want to keep your natural color.
Speaker 1: I'm saying bleach blonde. Who is any who? There's probably
Speaker 1: only like one or two two providers in the country
Speaker 1: that do this for men. I'm being very facetious and sarcastic,
Speaker 1: but you get my point. So he will have to
Speaker 1: change his music, and he said he will if that happens,
Speaker 1: but he's already a heel. He's there. He just has
Speaker 1: to flip the switch. It's tailor made. The interest would
Speaker 1: be huge. It would reinvigorate his character that has been
Speaker 1: feeling flat now for quite a while. It's not that
Speaker 1: he's a ratings you know, it has negative impact on
Speaker 1: the ratings, but he's not a draw as much as
Speaker 1: he used to be. Because we've been there, done that,
Speaker 1: it's time to adapt or triple ah. You ready for this? Ready,
Speaker 1: I'm going to use it. Sit down. You probably get
Speaker 1: a little bit of an arousal from this. Cody needs
Speaker 1: to pivot. Who you want me to say that again? Trips?
Speaker 1: He needs to pivot. All right, I won't tease you anymore.
Speaker 1: I won't say anymore. Two times is enough? Where the
Speaker 1: hell am I going with this? Cody needs to turn.
Speaker 1: I have been saying that for now a couple of years,
Speaker 1: and he's capable of it. It'll be fun. It would
Speaker 1: create a huge buzz on social media. And you know what,
Speaker 1: when Cody goes back to being a babyface, which would happen,
Speaker 1: you know, he'll come back a year, two years whatever
Speaker 1: it is bringing back that music, people would go crazy
Speaker 1: because it had been a few years since you've heard
Speaker 1: that music again, So flipping him back would be even bigger.
Speaker 1: It's just time we're at that crossroads pun intended for Cody.
Speaker 1: It's time. I could go on and on and on
Speaker 1: about it. And the thing is, I've hammered his character
Speaker 1: over the last four years for being just so obnoxiously
Speaker 1: soft and pandering and so precise and too clean cut,
Speaker 1: and everything about his character from a baby face perspective
Speaker 1: is it's not everything. A lot of it I don't like.
Speaker 1: Can't deny his success. What the hell doesn't matter. What
Speaker 1: I think doesn't matter. But it's also because I know
Speaker 1: how god dang good he could be as a heel.
Speaker 1: Even the Undertaker has said that, and his words carry
Speaker 1: infinitely more weight than I'm mind. Oh certainly. Oh boy,
Speaker 1: maybe I'll make a video about this. You know what,
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, Matt and Emma from Sheffield, UK. I'm
Speaker 1: going to make a video very quick. When I do videos,
Speaker 1: it's usually five minutes or less, just for the sake
Speaker 1: of no one has attention anymore. But I'm going to
Speaker 1: post that on my social media's and maybe on my
Speaker 1: Patreon as well, regarding who tuns heel first, Cody or
Speaker 1: Punk or something like that. I like this, Thank you
Speaker 1: so much. Okay, my preview and predictions. God dang, let's
Speaker 1: get to it all right, So let's talk first about
Speaker 1: the Jalen brunts and stuff before we get to the
Speaker 1: actual matches and my thoughts on the matches. Here's how
Speaker 1: we have Jalen Brunson being advertised for MSG. So this
Speaker 1: is directly from WWE's website. So it says that this
Speaker 1: Saturday at Madison Square Garden, Roman Reigns and the King
Speaker 1: of New York Jalen Brunson will join up for an
Speaker 1: acknowledgment fit for the world's most famous arena. Rains extended
Speaker 1: the invitation invite on social media and Brunson accepted. Now
Speaker 1: that World Heavyweight Champion, the World Heavyweight Champion will have
Speaker 1: the leader of the NBA Champion New York Knicks by
Speaker 1: his side at the Mecca, what will Brunson have in
Speaker 1: store when he rolls into Madison Square Garden with the
Speaker 1: tribal chief Don't miss Saturday night's main event eight pm Eastern. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson first of all, is not going to get
Speaker 1: physically involved, I hope, but the reason is he recently
Speaker 1: had surgery. He's also already preparing for next year's season.
Speaker 1: He recently had surgery. I think I hat his wrist,
Speaker 1: his arm, something like that. He's not going to be
Speaker 1: getting an all physically, at least I hope not. It's
Speaker 1: also very fitting that WWE continues tikos just wonderful growth
Speaker 1: strategy of bringing in celebrities. This one makes a little
Speaker 1: more sense given that the Knicks won the NBA Championship
Speaker 1: for the first time since nineteen seventy three. It's a
Speaker 1: huge deal, and it really is. Whether or not you're
Speaker 1: a Knicks fan, you can't deny that they're a massive
Speaker 1: market team that has been started with a championship. New
Speaker 1: York itself has not had a championship since twenty twelve,
Speaker 1: when the New York Giants won the Super Bowl. The
Speaker 1: Yankees haven't won a world championship since two thousand and nine,
Speaker 1: which is an eternity. The Mets haven't won a championship
Speaker 1: since what nineteen eighty five? Was it? Maybe more? Actually
Speaker 1: I'm at Google that I apologize for my stops here
Speaker 1: New York Mets World Series wins those of you, I
Speaker 1: know there are some of you out there. Sorry. The
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six against the Boston red Sie. They won
Speaker 1: four to three, so went to Game seven anyway, so
Speaker 1: I was close. My point is, it's been a long
Speaker 1: dang time. So having Jalen Brunson, who was the overwhelming
Speaker 1: star of the group the team to join Roman Reigns
Speaker 1: is a big deal. It might bring some eyeballs to
Speaker 1: the product, it won't probably have staying power. I don't
Speaker 1: think anybody in the world is going, oh my god, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: bit I hate pro wrestling, But what's Jalen Brunson doing. Well, God, dang,
Speaker 1: let me he's gonna be with Roman Rains. I'm now
Speaker 1: a fan. Let me tune in every week. No one's
Speaker 1: doing that. No one's doing that. And if that was
Speaker 1: the case, while Wooden bringing in Jelly Roll and the
Speaker 1: massive obviously Logan Paul being a huge success on social
Speaker 1: media and bringing his fan base over, at least that
Speaker 1: was the hope of transitioning some of his audience into
Speaker 1: wrestling fans, and now Jalen Brunson and bringing in, of
Speaker 1: course the beloved beloved Travis Scott and WrestleMania forty one
Speaker 1: and Pat McAfee, Steven and Malac. While I was twenty
Speaker 1: fifteen bad Bunny for a couple of years. All of those,
Speaker 1: do you think they really had a lasting impact on
Speaker 1: creating an audience that was a sustained viewer or were
Speaker 1: they all hot shots? Wwe can't be looking at anytime
Speaker 1: they bring a celebrity in thinking that this is going
Speaker 1: to somehow over the next months and years bring in
Speaker 1: an audience that's even measurable. It may pop a quick
Speaker 1: rating higher than usual because of this, the celebrity involvement,
Speaker 1: and maybe that's all they give a shit about. I
Speaker 1: don't know, However, this will be interesting to see what
Speaker 1: they do. Fine. Jalen Brunson should have a hell of
Speaker 1: a homecoming response. I am very curious. He may outdo
Speaker 1: Roman's response. That's actually the most interesting part of this. Yes,
Speaker 1: someone will interfere Romani Spear whoever, maybe the latest Bloodline
Speaker 1: member who gives a shit. I'm more interested to hear
Speaker 1: the response for Jalen Brunson for the first time in
Speaker 1: Madison Square Garden publicly, I believe, since they won the
Speaker 1: championship a month or so ago. I'm very curious because
Speaker 1: they did. They did not win the championship in Madison
Speaker 1: Square Garden, so they haven't really had a chance to
Speaker 1: shower any of the Knicks with love. Yeah, they had
Speaker 1: a parade, that's not the same. I think that's the
Speaker 1: first public appearance on a mass scale for Jalen Brunson
Speaker 1: back in Madison Square Garden. So that's gonna be really
Speaker 1: interesting to hear the reaction. It's gonna be deafening so cool.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a fine segment. I'm not against it. It
Speaker 1: just this celebrity involvement obsession is just I'm done with it.
Speaker 1: It'll continue to happen, so WWE. I'm sure is very
Speaker 1: concerned about my criticism of it. I'm sure they'll just
Speaker 1: stop it cold because I have issues with it, so
Speaker 1: as they should. Okay, beyond that segment that it's going
Speaker 1: to result in somebody getting their ass kicked by Roman
Speaker 1: Reigns Bailey and Lyra Valkyria. I really think this is
Speaker 1: going to be much like we had from our mail bag.
Speaker 1: It's probably going to end in a DQ or Lyra winning.
Speaker 1: Lyra should win. Why shouldn't she? She's got a very
Speaker 1: interesting turn. She is a bit of a nicky Cross knockoff.
Speaker 1: Who cares it's interesting? She's executing it well, infinitely more
Speaker 1: interesting than her pandering, subservient, really immature character that she
Speaker 1: played with Bailey. This is a darker, deeper, more chaotic
Speaker 1: version of Lyra. Again, there's just no reason to have
Speaker 1: Bailey win this. And maybe it's due to ref stoppage.
Speaker 1: Maybe it is Lyra just beating her senseless where the
Speaker 1: referee after the five count she has her in the corner,
Speaker 1: just constantly beats her down. After the matches over, Lyra
Speaker 1: takes a chair, tries to break her arm. Lyra should
Speaker 1: nap here, Bailey should not win. I don't even want
Speaker 1: to see Bailey win. And then Lyra get her heat
Speaker 1: back and beat Bailey down after that, ma no no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no no. I like Bailey. She's also kind of
Speaker 1: on the same wavelength to some degree as Alexa Bliss
Speaker 1: in being underutilized and really forgotten since SummerSlam of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three. Was it when Bailey brought in damage control?
Speaker 1: Ever since that moment, Bailey has been cursed, but Bailey
Speaker 1: sorely underutilized. That said, she is not ever going to
Speaker 1: be the focus of the division ever again. I don't
Speaker 1: think now she'll get work in. She's a name, a
Speaker 1: big name, and maybe she does things that nobody is
Speaker 1: expecting in terms of wins a championship. Again, she might,
Speaker 1: but Lyra is the star here right now. She's the
Speaker 1: one you're trying to elevate, and you can't have her
Speaker 1: get elevated if Bailey just goes over on her and
Speaker 1: that's it. And I don't want to hear now. Wins
Speaker 1: are losses don't mean anything. You shouldn't put any stock. No, No,
Speaker 1: that's not true. If that was not true, then you
Speaker 1: wouldn't have matches to determine who wins and loses the match.
Speaker 1: You got to have somebody win and lose. Yes, how
Speaker 1: they win or lose matters, And that's really the biggest point.
Speaker 1: How does Lyra win? Well, if you want to say
Speaker 1: face for Bailey and you want to push this to
Speaker 1: Summer Slam, and I do think it will likely get
Speaker 1: pushed there. You just like the previous email said, you
Speaker 1: want to have Lyra maybe get a DQ some kind
Speaker 1: of non finish, a ref stoppage where Lyra loses, but
Speaker 1: she didn't really lose because she beat the holy hell
Speaker 1: out of Bailey. I'm looking forward to it because this
Speaker 1: is a new character with a old established guard of
Speaker 1: Bailey and I say old and air quotes. Obviously he's
Speaker 1: not age old, but from just a perspective of women's
Speaker 1: division and evolution and when it started, she's older. Okay.
Speaker 1: Dan Housen and j D mcdonna no DQ. Yes, this
Speaker 1: is a silly get me up match. The crowd will
Speaker 1: probably pop pretty good for Dan Housen, as they should.
Speaker 1: JD McDonough should not be overlooked beyond the hocus pocus
Speaker 1: stuff that's gonna happen. That's silly, and fireworks going off
Speaker 1: and you are cursed and all the magic tricks that
Speaker 1: are gonna probably happen in this matchup. We know we're
Speaker 1: not supposed to take this seriously. JD's more than capable
Speaker 1: of having a serious match, but he's going to be
Speaker 1: used as a pond to push Dan Housen further, no
Speaker 1: doubt about it. And that's fine. If we understand what
Speaker 1: this match is supposed to be, I can accept it.
Speaker 1: And we know it's a silly, essentially exhibition no consequence
Speaker 1: type of match that's supposed to be entertaining in the
Speaker 1: sense of not really about the wrestling, and that's fine.
Speaker 1: Dan Housen has gotten over like Gangbusters with essentially not
Speaker 1: even worrying about the inn ring stuff. He may be
Speaker 1: the first wrestler I've ever seen that doesn't actually have
Speaker 1: to wrestle to get over. It's incredible. So think about
Speaker 1: where Dan Housen was, Guys, just what six months ago
Speaker 1: at Survivor Series when he debuted to the disaster that
Speaker 1: it was, I mean horrific and I ripped it to
Speaker 1: shreds and I stand by it. It was horrible with
Speaker 1: that mystery box, just a disastrous entrance. But ever since that,
Speaker 1: the next Monday Night on Wrong when he went to
Speaker 1: Adam Pierce with his demand Housens, which is still a
Speaker 1: great segment. Ever since that moment, flip the switch, Bam
Speaker 1: a merchandise machine and good for him. He has been
Speaker 1: gotten o. He hasn't really done any anything, and it's
Speaker 1: amazing he hasn't really gotten over because of anything in ring.
Speaker 1: He could be backstage the rest of his career, not
Speaker 1: take a single bump and still make a shitload of
Speaker 1: money with royalty checks. It's incredible. Good for him, all right,
Speaker 1: Tag Team Champions Page in Bribella. Take on Laney Read
Speaker 1: and fallon Henley. This is a slam dunk. Please be
Speaker 1: a slam dunk. Oh, by the way, I didn't, I
Speaker 1: didn't provide. Let me give you the dang prediction here.
Speaker 1: So Lyra beats Bailey, and I say beats Bailey again
Speaker 1: in the context of maybe just flat out beats Bailey.
Speaker 1: You can have heels cleanly win. It is a thing
Speaker 1: that's possible, even though WW doesn't do it. Dan Housen
Speaker 1: beats JD and in this case Laaney read in fallon Henley,
Speaker 1: I think win the Women's Tag Team Championships because Page
Speaker 1: and Bribella are just so boring. Bribella, as I said,
Speaker 1: I mean, we all know that Nicky was always better
Speaker 1: in the ring. And that's not me being complimentary to Nicki.
Speaker 1: It's just when you have a bar that low who's better.
Speaker 1: Nicki was better. Page has been stuck sadly in this
Speaker 1: purgatory of the Women's Tag team Division. It's improved a lot,
Speaker 1: but Page doesn't belong here. Page belongs in the women's
Speaker 1: division as a single star. She has been after the
Speaker 1: rumble has been buried in just kind of hidden in
Speaker 1: the Women's Tag Team Division, almost no promo time, little
Speaker 1: to no reaction from the crowd, it's been a waste
Speaker 1: of talent in star power from my perspective, for page
Speaker 1: they drop the belts here. If Nicki comes back, maybe
Speaker 1: she'll I don't know, slip on a banana peel and
Speaker 1: tear her hamstring. That way she calls it a career.
Speaker 1: I'm not wishing for her to get hurt, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: not wishing for any harm to happen to her. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying if that were to happen by chance, it
Speaker 1: wouldn't be the worst thing for humanity to endure. But
Speaker 1: sure Nicki Bella if she wants to come back here
Speaker 1: and to absolutely no pop, which would be even more
Speaker 1: fun I think than seeing her slip on a banana
Speaker 1: peal to a career ending injury. I would like to
Speaker 1: see Nicki Bella come out and there's this big moment,
Speaker 1: maybe Lany Reid fallon Henley and her group are doing
Speaker 1: things to cheat and they're about to win the Tag
Speaker 1: team Championships and out comes the hero Nicki Bella to
Speaker 1: save the day and there's no reaction I'm talking and nothing.
Speaker 1: I would actually take that over the career ending injury
Speaker 1: because that's a shot to the to the ego and
Speaker 1: that's what I think. Nicki Bella needs more than a
Speaker 1: physical issue. So if you can tell it, I don't
Speaker 1: really Nicki Bella is not my favorite wrestler, all right,
Speaker 1: I bet you didn't pick that up. I have to
Speaker 1: be a little more clear, Okay. So at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, I think they do drop the belts.
Speaker 1: They just should. Okay, see them Punk and Cody Rhods
Speaker 1: taking on Gunther and Sammy's ain fun main event. This
Speaker 1: is a big main event. This is worthy. I think
Speaker 1: of Madison Square Gardens Saturday Night main event level. It is.
Speaker 1: It's great, Matt, This should go twenty five minutes and
Speaker 1: be awesome. There's gonna be tension with Cody Rhoads and Cempunk.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a way to get Gunther and
Speaker 1: Sammy into the title match. I know that was discussed
Speaker 1: at one point even in WWE internally here on the show,
Speaker 1: other shows, it was discussed that these four could be
Speaker 1: involved in a fatal four way for the undisputed championship
Speaker 1: at SummerSlam. I don't think that that's the case, but
Speaker 1: that does lead me to believe beyond Gunther probably facing
Speaker 1: nick aldis what the hell is Sammy z Ain gonna
Speaker 1: do at SummerSlam? What's his role if he's not going
Speaker 1: to be in the match as a triple threat, which
Speaker 1: I would have no problem with. But if he's not,
Speaker 1: where do they put Sammy's Ain after just being champion
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago? Did they keep him off the show?
Speaker 1: Do they make him special referee? What do they do?
Speaker 1: The interesting is hell, Sammy's Ain is in no man's
Speaker 1: land right now for the biggest show, second biggest show
Speaker 1: of the year, after just being world champion a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago. So Sammy's Ain to me is the
Speaker 1: most interesting by far character in this match. I love Gunther,
Speaker 1: him and Nick Alldas find all this coming out for
Speaker 1: the first time as wrestling wrestling on WTV, fine, fun whatever,
Speaker 1: Even though Gunther has been totally mismanaged after the retirement
Speaker 1: matches of aj Styles and Goldberg and John Cena, he
Speaker 1: gets to face Nick All this again, no disrespect to Nick,
Speaker 1: but Jesus Christ, I mean, you're gonna put Gunther in
Speaker 1: a match with the SmackDown GM. That's your big plan,
Speaker 1: that's your big payoff for your biggest heal on the
Speaker 1: roster at SummerSlam anyway, this match should be a blest
Speaker 1: these four men. I couldn't think of four guys better
Speaker 1: suited to face one another to have a great match
Speaker 1: than these four. It's a tag team match, yes, it's
Speaker 1: not a fatal four way, but the chemistry between all
Speaker 1: four it's unparalleled. We know what they all can do,
Speaker 1: and the tension between Cody and Punk is going to
Speaker 1: reach a boiling point. You know, there might be some
Speaker 1: kind of stiff tag ins or miscalculations or oh did
Speaker 1: he mean to do that or did you do it
Speaker 1: on purpose? There's gonna be a lot of that. Gun
Speaker 1: Thro and Sammy's Ain. No one really cares about their chemistry.
Speaker 1: They're just they're two heels right now that just have
Speaker 1: common enemies. There's no real concern about it. Oh, is Sammy
Speaker 1: gonna turn on gun Thro? Is gun through? Nobody cares
Speaker 1: about that. That's not the story. It's Cody obviously in Punk,
Speaker 1: who are scheduled to face each other one on one.
Speaker 1: How can they overcome? Ultimately? I think they probably will
Speaker 1: overcome because they're the main event of SummerSlam. I still
Speaker 1: think it'll be one on one. Despite the fact that
Speaker 1: Sammy's Ain doesn't have really anywhere to go for SummerSlam,
Speaker 1: so I think punkin Roads will end up winning tension.
Speaker 1: I don't want this to break down. I really don't.
Speaker 1: I don't want punkin Roads to to disintegrate and have
Speaker 1: them face one another at the end of the match,
Speaker 1: face off, and then it's a big brawl. I don't
Speaker 1: need that. I really I don't. If you're gonna maximize
Speaker 1: the liquidity that this match has, you don't give any
Speaker 1: of this away until SummerSlam. Nobody lays a finger on
Speaker 1: one another. You build it through promos and video packages.
Speaker 1: That's how you build this thing right now. That's where
Speaker 1: the money lands is in their promos, because both can
Speaker 1: cut great promos. So I don't want to see this breakdown. Yes,
Speaker 1: there'll be some tense moments. Somebody might hit somebody by accident,
Speaker 1: push the other one in front of the opponent. Look fine, Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be tense moments, and that that's there has
Speaker 1: to be that to make the story make sense here
Speaker 1: that they're tag team partners and now they're going to
Speaker 1: be opponents at the next ple But I don't want
Speaker 1: to break down. I don't need these two at the
Speaker 1: end of the match disintegrating, and then they lose and
Speaker 1: then they brawl. That would be the worst possible outcome
Speaker 1: is that they lose the match because they're quarreling with
Speaker 1: each other and then they just have a pull apart brawl. No, please,
Speaker 1: I don't need that. So Cody and Punk win. And
Speaker 1: the more interesting piece to me, beyond the tension of
Speaker 1: Cody and Punk that's fine, is Sammy's Ain. What does
Speaker 1: his character do? Where does he go? What's his role
Speaker 1: at SummerSlam after losing the championship and going into a
Speaker 1: deep dark depression. Because we know Gunther's path, we know Punkin,
Speaker 1: Cody's path, I'm sorry, Punkin Rhads his path. We know
Speaker 1: that Sammy's Ain's the odd man out. Where does he go?
Speaker 1: So let me know, guys, if you want to get
Speaker 1: your predictions in, you still can. There's still time. There's
Speaker 1: still time, and I can still read them on the
Speaker 1: review show for Saturday night's main events, even though it'll
Speaker 1: be after the fact. You could also just give me
Speaker 1: your reactions to the show. Doesn't have to be preview
Speaker 1: if you want to give me your reactions to said
Speaker 1: event coming up tomorrow night at Madison Square garden. You
Speaker 1: can do that. We'll also be having Amanda's SmackDown review
Speaker 1: coming to you tomorrow. She's closing in on one hundred
Speaker 1: shows already for this podcast, crazy right. Shout out to
Speaker 1: Amanda just does great work every week over there across
Speaker 1: the Pond in the UK. So she's closing in on
Speaker 1: just a lot of time and effort a couple of
Speaker 1: years now almost on the show, and I'm happy to
Speaker 1: have her as part of the team. Also, that reminds me.
Speaker 1: If anybody wants to fill the NXT review spot, please
Speaker 1: do sending your sample audio to mail bag at WWE
Speaker 1: podcast dot com or mail bag at WWE podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: If Michael Cole is gonna be sending it in, I
Speaker 1: want to speak your language. Make sure you understand what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So Michael Cole, you send it, you have
Speaker 1: a special box. It goes to mailbag at WWE podcast
Speaker 1: dot com. Everybody else goes to mailbag at ww podcast
Speaker 1: dot com. It can just be five minutes, does not
Speaker 1: have to be anything long, and give me a sample
Speaker 1: audio and maybe we can talk about filling that role.
Speaker 1: It would just be once a week really as soon
Speaker 1: as possible. Wednesday at the latest Wednesday morning. I want
Speaker 1: to get it up as quick as possible. Time is
Speaker 1: of the essence with reviews for wrestling, so that'll do
Speaker 1: it for me, closing in on an hour for the show,
Speaker 1: so I'll be back with your review show Saturday night
Speaker 1: or Sunday for us. The Saturday main event videos are
Speaker 1: going to be coming as well throughout the next couple
Speaker 1: of days, so follow me on x at Wrestling Underscore
Speaker 1: Audio and consider joining us on Patreon at Patreon dot
Speaker 1: com slash WWE podcast. Thanks everybody, we'll talk soon.
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