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Go VIP. Welcome today's PW Torch Daily Cast. It's a
double hatter, so I'll introduce you to what we've got
for you. First of all, Joeldenelle is up from the
All Elite Conversation Club doing a solo update talking about
his experience at Target Field, where the Minnesota Twins professional
baseball team plays last Friday, where AEW held a wrestling
event after the baseball game, and then after that it
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rising stars and how he would handle their creative direction
to elevate each of them into true main event players,
which are one storyline away from breaking through and what
would it take to get them there. Plus, he examine
the conversations arounding SummerSlam saking ticket sales, He previews upcoming
Saturday It's main event, and then breaks down other headlines
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Speaker 2: First.
Speaker 1: Up is Joeldenell.
Speaker 2: What's up everybody? Joeldenell Here. It is Sunday, July twelfth,
twenty twenty six, and I have had wuite the weekend
here with seeing two wrestling shows in person that I
want to talk about with you guys today. I went
to Aw's Brawl in the Ballpark from Target Field in Minneapolis,
Minnesota on Friday night, and then I went to the
New Japan's g One Climax thirty six night one live
from the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. I thank
you guys for bearing with me as I fight through
a sinus infection and feeling just a little rundown from
staying at a whole baseball game and then stickering around
to almost midnight on Friday night, and then getting up
and driving five and a half hours to Illinois watching
Grant More wrestling, and then driving back today. So I
am definitely feeling the effects of wanting to see all
of that stuff this weekend. I had originally planned on
recording this last night, but I didn't have my official
road microphone with me and just did sound again coming.
Speaker 3: Through my AirPods.
Speaker 2: So I think I then I will start with just
going in order by talking about the AW brawl in
the ballpark, which Greg Canner and I on the Alli
League Conversation Club podcast. I'd given this more conversation than
I think anybody else had in the wrestling community, just
because I was going to attend this in person. Very
curious about what AW planned on doing in their collaboration
with MLB and the Minnesota Twins. They originally announced this
like a month or so ago, where they had Top
Flight where the local wrestlers doing an angle with Jeff
Jarrett and him saying so it's kind of seemed like
a foregone conclusion that they were going to have that
match on this card in some shape or form, but
instead Tony actually booked something that I think checks a
lot of the boxes of who was at this event,
which was a lot of the AW audience, people who
have bought tickets to see Dynamite in the Twin Cities
and the passed, as well as your general wrestling fans,
a lot of WWE fans shirts that type of stuff
at the event, as well as your casuals who just
stuck around to see what curiously this wrestling stuff was
going to be after the Twins game, so you got
a mix of all sorts of different stuff. They announced
a card on social media. I think it was the
same day that they announced it. There were some promo
videos with Anthony Bowen's. He has a history of playing baseball,
so he wanted to be a part of this event.
So at the actual Twins game, I don't know if
they had anybody who threw out the first pitch in
association with the with AW. I know that Anthony Bowens
did do it the day before, but I don't know
who they had on Friday night. I did get there
about thirty minutes early, and the game was pretty decently packed.
I mean, it's a Friday night game, and you know,
the Twins are kind of middle of the road team,
so they don't get a ton of audiences, not like
a Cubs game or Yankees game, where you can expect
every game to be pretty filled. But you know, you
get your pretty standard fair for Friday night. And and
then you know, the wrestling fans and some more curiosity
for this event. So they did have some beaming and stuff.
TC Bear the mascot was dressed up as a wrestler
where wore a mask mask and had like some boxing
trunks with him, and he did a couple of gimmicks
where he's beaten down, you know, like Ambozo the clown
type blow up thing. A couple of little segments on
the screens of like asking about who wrestler is born
in Minnesota, a couple of promos for aw to stick
around at the end of the show, but nothing like Huge.
They did have one segment I think it was after
the first inning where Wheeler Uda was beating down TC
Bear where he did. They were in the aw ring,
which I should mention was on like the plaza side,
so down the first baseline they have like this plaza
area of target field where you can is one of
the gates where you can walk in. I guess that
would be considered the main entrance, and so that's where
they set up the ring there, and then they had
a few rows around that ring and a barricade there.
So then people at the end of the show, some
people if you bought the VIP ticket, you could have
access to sit around the ring. Otherwise most people were
either sitting in the stands trying to get an overview,
or you could get down closer to the rig, which
was just general admission to get around there. But as
I mentioned, you know, not a ton of stuff during
the game other than just that promo with Wheeler Yuda
beating up TC Bear. I don't think TC Bear ever
got his come up bits later, but they did promote
that Wheeler would be in the match against Orange Cassidy
to kick off that show. So the Twins game did
run a little bit longer than expected. They said that
this was about was approximately going to start at nine
thirty and it definitely start after ten o'clock. People were
lining up and getting into into their spots there, I
mean pretty early on in the game where people are
trying to get as close as they could to the ring.
But then things really started to pick up I'd say
probably about the sixth seventh in Ay, where a lot
of people are leaving their seats they're trying to get
close to the ring. I was kind of walking around
that area just kind of see what it was all
looking like, and you know, beat them setting up, Just
kind of very curious about the whole setup of it,
where they did have like some staging area that's had
brawl in the ballpark. If you've seen any of the pictures,
it's like they had this stage of like two screens
that did look fairly professional, and then then they created
a barricade once they before they started the event for
kind of the walkout of the wrestlers, because they were
all kind of stationed in this first baseline area called
the Truly Odd Deck, which was a spot where that
you could buy some VIP tickets and it looked like
you could actually hang out with some of the aw wrestlers.
Speaker 3: So I did not do that event.
Speaker 2: At any rate, things were a little bit later to
get started there. As I mentioned, I think it was
after ten o'clock that they actually got set up for
the Earth started the event, which kicked off with having
Bobby Cruz they ring him honor announcer. They also had
Stephan Smith who refereed all of the matches, and then
you got the biggest surprise of the night with Tony
Kahan coming out there and basically saying the same stuff
that he typically says. You know, it's always feels like
a big deal when Tony comes out there and he
just kind of says the same stuff of being thankful
to be there, you know, history, connection to the place, area,
loves running it.
Speaker 3: And then he actually did.
Speaker 2: Come out a second time and he asked about, you know,
how many people have been to AW before, and you know,
those standard questions where he's trying to gauge to you know,
do his own polling and doing his own research of stuff.
I can't remember if there was anything else significant that
he mentioned other than you know, he I did mention
that this past Wednesday's dynamite was the highest watch dynamite in.
Speaker 3: The past two years.
Speaker 2: Otherwise, you know, just thanking people for the support and
you know, thankful that they can happen and all happen
because of you, etcetera, etcetera. So nothing huge, But what
was funny is that there were chants for Tony to
actually buy the Minnesota Twins franchise. They've been up for sale.
They took him off for sale because they couldn't find
any suitors. So that was quite amusing that the fans
want him to buy the team.
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Speaker 2: They kicked off the show with Orange Cassidy defeating Wheeler Yuda.
I mean with any of these matches, I mean they
were house show matches. You know, the fub really stick
out anything super spectacular. But one thing is for sure
is that for all of this stuff, like everybody had
their working shoes on and they were just doing the
best they could to go out there and make, you know,
make an impression on all the different fan types who
are out there to say that we are aew this
is what we do without it giving anything to major away.
So I thought everything was just set up as a
good matchup with Orange Cassidy. You know, he did all
of his spots with the hands in the pockets, you know,
he did some dives and some cool stuff there. Crowd
is clearly behind him. You know, this was the first
introduction for a lot of people who do not typically
watch wrestling, and I would say that they were confused
but amused where they I think Orange Cassidy was definitely
not what they had imagined when going to a post
wrestling event at the Twins game, So that's really all
there is to say on that one. But in the
next one, they was a six man tag. This is
where we did get to the top flight, and crowd
was clearly behind them as the local favorites here. And
then Comban Dare making his aw return after getting the
visa issues figured out. They went up against Action and
Dretti and the ops at the Bones at Hook Anthony
Bones did a lot of crowd work, you know, trying
to get cheered and saying to the crowd and I
can't understand why he's not getting cheered. Hook was just
doing some meat mugging to the crowd actly, and Dretti
kind of doing this thing as well. But Cobandair obviously
was the highlight here. I've heard that he's been doing
a lot of really great stuff in Mexico. Lately, So
it's gonna be good to have him back on AW television.
Speaker 3: Because it was hot outside.
Speaker 2: Uh, and there was a moment where I think it
was action and Dretty maybe slipped down the ropes when
he was trying to do a move and uh, you
can imagine from the humidity there. But Commander I was
a little concerned about him doing walking the ropes and
doing a flip off of there, and but he did
so and it looked great and that really popped the crowd. Uh,
so people really like this if I did mention Commander
in Top Flight defeated actually Andretti in the ops. So
this was probably the most exciting match that they had
on the show. But it was just a lot of
spots back and forth. Here. This was to kind of
show off. Here's the spots where the first one was
more of the character work and into the orange Cassidy.
See if that appeals to the casuals. This was more
of the action to show, hey, this is what we
do in the ring and this is what we're really
good at. Next one was Julia Hart versus Hyan. Julia
Hart wins this one. Julia is the heel in AW
but in Minneapolis. She is absolutely a babyface and the
crowd wanted to see her wins so badly where she
was actually dominating high end for most of this, So
poor Hyan being booked as the babyface here, but Julia
was just kind of beating on her. People were cheering
for it, and then any hope spot that Hi would
get the crowd with poo poo that. So Julia Hart
wins this one in the end. She did take a
nasty spot on the back of her head, but she
seemed to be okay and finished out everything just fine.
I think it was like a power bomb off the
top or something off the top rope. But yeah, this
was a crowd was very much behind Julie Hard I'd
say even more so in the top flight as far
as being a local favorite here that we also had
Brian Cage defeating Sirpentaco. This match is exactly what you
think it would be, Sir Pentago getting some hope spots,
a lot of comedy here with how ridiculously larger Brian
Cage is from Sir Pentaco. So this kind of gives
you that more of that what I think some of
these people would imagine as the wrestling show is seeing
the big muscled up guy going up against the small
guy in the mask and just throwing him around the
ring for a few minutes. So nothing huge there, but
also just good to see Brian Cage in general. Main
event was the Hertz and Kim Populashley and Shelton Benjamin
defeating the Shane Taylor promotions Lee Moriarty and Shane Taylor. Also,
they had Carly Bravo with them, Carly Bravo doing a
ton of crowd work on the ringside area, you know,
getting in the face of kids and yelling back and forth,
you know, telling people not to chant, that we hurt
people stuff. So a lot of fun stuff here. I
think definitely the crowd saw the Hurt Syndicate as the
biggest stars on this show, even more so than Orange Cassidy.
You know, I had said before about Tony Kin always
has a thing for shell Benjamin in Minnesota, but you know,
I think that this time Shelton did, you know, embrace that,
and the crowd definitely was given some good shout outs
to Shelton. I mean, like Minnesota people don't see Shelton
as like one of their own. I mean he is
like an adopted one. I mean similarly but different from
Brock Lester, where like Brock, you know, continue to live
on in Minnesota even after his his days as a
gold Gopher. When he was in the WWE, he was
actually living in Alexandria, Minnesota, so just further up north there,
so he feels more in Minnesota than than Shelt Benjamin does.
At anyway, the crowd was into it, and they had
a standard you know, hurt send to get match where
it's not it's more power moves, it's more kind of
chasing the opponents than it is you know, I flying
athletic action.
Speaker 3: So all in all good stuff.
Speaker 2: I was starting to head out before I saw heard
the rest of Sut Benjamin's promo that he did after
in the postmatch, I saw the Orage Cassidy also came out.
I was able to see this kind of on the
screens area, but I'm not sure what he said there.
I'm sure just a version of thanking the crowd for
coming out and supporting. This was absolutely a unique event
and venue for AW and I'm certain that they will
do it again for another team, probably not for the
Twins again, even though I think that they could still
draw a crowd for it. I would think that they'd
probably try and sell this concept to try and go
to some other stadiums and expand upon that.
Speaker 3: I mean I've mentioned too.
Speaker 2: I mean they did have some graphics I mean kind
of all over the stadium, you know, on the big
and on the faceas it rings areas with the AW
and the brawl the park ballpark logo. They were selling
merchandise there. I took some photos of that. They had
like a T shirt that you could buy. They also
had stickers, my nets, beer koozies, kind of like the
standard MLB stuff Like this didn't look like it was
AW manufactured. It looked like it was all the same
branding that like MLB uses. So I think this was
probably MLB merchandise with the AW logo on.
Speaker 3: Top of it.
Speaker 2: I didn't really see anybody buying any of that other
merch It's not like your typical AW pay per view
or even you know, TV show or there's huge lines
for merchandise. That did not seem to be the case
here at all. They did give away like a Lucha
mask hat, which is like a regular Twins hat, but
in the back it's got eight drapes over of a
mask and then they had the brawl the ballpark logo
that was stitched on to the side of it, so
again another thing that you had to buy, buy a
little bit more to get that. But otherwise, if you
had just had a ticket to the Twins game, you
could also stick around for Broadland the ballpark. So I
will transition over to the G one Climax thirty sixth
Night one. So this took place at the Now Arena,
which has become, like you know, one of aw's main
home bases. They've had somebody at the all out pay
per views there. They had the World's End pay per
view last there in December, so this is pretty standard
for AW. But this is the first time that New
Japan has actually run this building. So this is the
fourth time New Japan has run an event in the
Chicago area. First time they did so was in twenty
twenty two. I think it was called the Odium Expo Arena,
and I want to say that was like the last
event that they had there. So imagine like a field
house that you would typically see like GCW in That's
what New Japan started out in. Then they moved to
the wind Trust which is closer to the downtown area
or on the south side of things, which is like
a like G League NBA or no, it's not Gleakuba
that's what now Arita is. It's I want to say
WNBA is there. Also, it's like a college arena at
wind Trust at AW has brought their plenty. They've had
a Revolution of twenty twenty was it that build aa
that They've also had several Dynamites and other shows that they're.
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Speaker 2: Com and so New Japan ran that the first time
was for in twenty twenty four IWGP Heavyweight Championship between
John Boxley and Nito. That's where Moxley won the belt,
and then last year they ran the same billity again
with less attendance, and that was for ton of Hashi
versus Takeshita in tana Hashi's final match in the United States.
So now Rina is a little bit bigger. I think
New Japan was hoping to do better than what they
did for tana Hashi's last match, which is still a
hard sell given that tana Hashi is a is a
really big star in the United States. And then when
g One has come here this year, they just don't
have the same star power like they have in the
past years. The g One has not been the same
for the last few years, I'd say, but they are
now at a point where they are pivoting to focus
on a lot of these younger stars. I mean, it
took them long enough to fight get there, but here
we are now. But they don't have the same like Okada,
a ton of Hashi, Ibushi, Nito, Kenny, Omega, Ehi. They
don't have those same wrestlers in the g One, so
it doesn't have that same star power effect coming to
the United States where if it was back in that
era like they did when they ran Dallas. They did
pretty well there where at this time around I'm seeing
a number right now that says they were just over
four thousand. That arena was not half full, it was
there was a few sections that were like completely full
that looked like they were maybe trying to condense, even
though the camera was in the back pointed at the
stage area, so it didn't really even matter. But there
was nobody in the upper level areas. It was just
kind of the floor, and then the back of the
floor was pretty empty. But you know, all the first however,
many rows around the rig were totally full, and then
you know, all the good seats were pretty much taken
up there, so anything that would be considered a really
good or close seat was filled, but anything that was
in the upper level was open or stuff that was
far in the back area. But this is the out
of all those New Japan shows, you know, I've attended
all of them in the Chicago area, and this was
the first one that really felt like it was a
true New Japan presentation. All the other shows have had
that mix of the New Japan world stuff where it's
like the Americanized version of New Japan where you get
a lot of the wrestlers who mostly just wrestle the
United States here with a sprinkling of some of the
New japan guys and not all the biggest stars, but
you know, enough to draw in the United States or
who people are familiar with. So the show had a
lot of new names and people I don't specifically remember
seeing on past shows in the United States. You know,
Aaron Wolf is a rookie, so of course he would
be on any of the other shows. Jake Lee is
newer to New Japan. But you know Ice Callum Newman,
Well he's done some stuff with A and W. But
Rio Hey Oiwa yodas Suji. I mean yeah, I said,
you know Ice an Oscar. But yeah, some of those
names you don't have not seen typically on the United
States cards. I mean, some of them may be sprinkled
here there in the Battle of the Valley or some
of the other events that they've had, But as far
as for the Chicago market, you're getting newer people with
you know, the names that people know are Zach Saber
Junior Takeshna Hiroki Godo to a degree, but most people
are pretty new. So I was curious to see this
because you still in Chicago have a large New Japan
fan base. I think that New Japan has figured out that,
you know, they do have a fan base in the
United States. It's you know, it's it's wrestling fans all over.
But they've ran a lot of shows in California and
they've really established who that differentiated New Japan fan base
is in the Chicago market, where there is absolutely overlap
of people who go to AW and New Japan, but
there are certainly four events in here people who are
just New Japan fans who I don't think necessarily are
going to the AW shows. So they've really kind of
built up their own base here with people, and people
were very enthusiastic to see it in Japan, especially in
authentic presentation of the product and not an Americanized version
of it, where you saw a lot of the same
crew that they had in Japan that was not typical
for the other shows that they've had here. They had
the referees from Japan, a lot of the ringside officials,
they have the ring announcers from Japan, and they've always
had kind of a different presentation of it where this
just felt like this was something that was plucked right
out Japan, so I think people are very pleased about that.
What I will too is that people were thought it
was a big deal to come see The g One
despite the attendance not being you know, a sellout in
this arena. But I think there is an opportunity for
New Japan to build up some traction again. They need
to continue to build upon these younger stars that they have,
and I think that the show exemplified that they do
have a good cast of young people, but you know,
they need to tell stories with them, they need to
have excellent booking, and they need to have great matches
to get anywhere near to where they were at one
point in time with some of those stars. I mean,
that's that is a tall tall asque, especially money wise,
is that it's going to be really tough to compete
because when people get over that, you know there's AW
or even WWE who's right around the door to snatch
up those talents. But the new band product is unlike
anything else. It's very hard hitting the way they present it,
taking it seriously, but also it's a fun atmosphere that's
very different from the AEW and especially WWE. WWE is
nothing like it where you know, you can hear the
hard slaps here and you can see the sweat flying
off of people. It's it's just a whole different experience
see Get in person compared to any of those other shows.
So so I will go down the card here as
far as each of these matches. We had Aaron wolf
getting the first win in the B block over hanare Erin.
Wolfe debuted this year and he's been criticized quite a bit.
He's had a lot of matches with the House of Torture,
so we've not really been able to see what he's
able to do outside of that context, and I thought
that he did pretty good in this match. So it's
his first in the G one, He's gonna have a
lot of good opponents moving forward. Overall, I think that
every match that they had on this show was good,
and some of them were excellent, but the first four
here were We're just the good category where you know,
nothing ran on for too long, and they kept the
show moving at a good pace. So they did actually
start at seven o'clock and they ended at ten o'clock,
almost like right on the dots. So it is possible
without a lot of fluff in between to do the entrances,
get in nine matches and get out of there on
time in three hours. So this was a perfect example
of showing that it can be done while still giving
plenty of time to each of these matches, I mean,
really as much time as they deserved with nine minutes
going into the first match. I'll also mention that the
crowd was really into the idea of Aaron Wolfe where
he's never wrestled in the United States before, but you
can see that there is something there where he's obviously green,
He's got a long ways to go. I think definitely
if he worked on is his physique too, just to
look more legitimate. I mean, he does have kind of
that thicker, you know, tough guy build to him, but
with some more experience, I mean, I think there is
something more to Aaron wolf He's not somebody that I
would give up on, and the American audience I think
felt the same here seeing him in his debut. So
moving on to the next match, we had Jake Lee
defeating Shinko Takagi in the A block.
Speaker 3: Jake Lee is as.
Speaker 2: Advertised, he is not very good. He has a very
unique body type where he is kind of like more taller, leggy,
still muscular guy, but he plays this gimmick of kind
of like a petty wise clown. He does some of
the joker stuff, but he's more kind of a I
think they call it the silent gesture. So Shingo obviously
has done no favors here. I mean, this was, of
any of them, probably the worst match on the show.
I mean, that's that's tough to say when Chino Takagi
is involved. I mean, I think Chino did everything that
he could. But Jake Lee, I mean, just as far
as like his selling, his moves, it's just not that good.
I mean, it's just not on the level of some
of the other people who are on the roster, where
it just it really stands out that his skill is
not there. And then obviously the gimmick is very irritating,
very you know, that kind of influence of North American
WWE style into Japan is very much seen with Jake
Lee here. So the crowd was of course into Shino.
Good heat for Jake Lee. Jake Lee gets the upset
win where I think it was just like a boot
that he gave to Shino, So it was kind of
out of nowhere right around the ten minute mark. Very unexpected.
Not the dramatic stuff that you see, but there are
going to be upsets to this tournament.
Speaker 3: That's the way that's.
Speaker 2: Booked, and they wanted to do one pretty quickly here
into this tournament, So it was pretty shocking. It did
get like a strong reaction from the crowd, but in general,
the crowd was really into everything. I wouldn't make that
point a few times here of how they There was
not as many people there as there have been for
other shows, but ma were they enthusiastic and they really
want this product to succeed, and they want to see
New Japan come back and they want to see it grow.
That this crowd definitely would come and see.
Speaker 3: New Japan again.
Speaker 2: That this was not a like, ah man, this promotion
is not hot, We're not going to see this thing again,
or I could have spent my time doing something else
that they want to see these new wrestlers really get over.
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Speaker 2: And so I'm going to segue that into the B
block match with Oscar defeating Red Durta. So did they
have your typical house of torture stuff that you get
with Red Dorita, which was very nice to see, But
the crowd was super into Oscar, very much into his
gimmick of kind of that like almost like vampire horror
esque entrance that he has, kind of that nose Feratu
kind of feeling with it. Oscar also kind of a
unique body type, very tall guy. Just a lot of
good stuff with him. You know, again, not not a
tremendous match on the show. None of the first four
were blowaway but Oscar is a unique character and the
crowd wants to see him grow into something more with
this promotion, so this was a nice showing here for him.
Then the A bloc you have, you know, Ice defeating
the Great out Cod. You know, Ice has has gotten
a lot of recognition for his gimmick that he has.
The crowd was really into it. They seemed to be
very familiar with it, with the let's get hype and
and all of that stuff. So I was very impressed
with you know, Ice and the way that the crowd
was reacting to him. You know, just just some more
basic stuff here with Great Outcon. This wasn't set up
to be any phenomenal match, but you know, good goods
reactions throughout. Next one was where things started to really
kick into the next gear where the B block action
of Zach Saber Junior defeating showed up. So this was
a rematch from Russell Kingdom nineteen. I mean, just anything
with Zach is gonna be awesome, but he, you know,
he just doesn't He's not gotten over to the level
that New Japan is hoping for to the level I
think a lot of people would have thought because s
Ubuno is so good. He is such a really good wrestler.
I know he's had stinkers here and there, but he
oftentimes gets put into these bad spots to where he
is kind of in the middle of the card. Sometimes
they have tried to push him as a man inventor before,
but man, he can tell a good story and he
is a good babyface.
Speaker 3: I think one of the things that does.
Speaker 2: Hurt him is is being the son of Red Shoes,
and Red Shoes is such like I be loved person,
so you do have a little bit of that kind
of weird nepotism or a referee and his son is
on this card. I mean they love Red Shoes later
when they came out. So I'm just trying to understand
where things maybe have not gotten off to the right
start for showing Ubneh because he is such a skilled
guy and Zach Saber is just such a great opponent
for him, Zach Saber gets the win in this one.
I mean, this is where really it felt like here's
some big stars coming out, and the fans did react
in that way to all the submissions, all the different
stuff that they did.
Speaker 3: This match. This was really high level, your typical G
One stuff.
Speaker 2: I can't say the same for the next one, which
was a bloc action with Hiroki Godo defeating Sonata. The
reality is is that these guys haven't been into Japan
for a long time. Herokic Goto has actually won a
g One before, Sonata has been in the main events
holding the IWGP title, So you think that they'd be
super over but they just don't move the same way
that they used to. I mean, this type of style
will beat you up over time, and Sonata has gone
through a lot of injuries to where physically he looks
a lot different. His arms are really skinny, He's had
some neck issues and the issues doing those mood salts,
so you know, he's harder to watch. She's not as
smooth as some of the other guys, and unfortunately his
body has just you know, really taken a beating over time,
and same thing herroky Yodo. It's just really age is
a factor in this one. So not a great match
on this card, but I really wasn't expecting it to
be anything huge. Santa came out with wearing this like sombrero,
big hat and that was kind of like this gold reflecting,
so he got a big reaction for his entrance into this,
so that was a significant piece of it. And then
B block we had an excellent match here with Calum
Numan defeating Ubera, So we'll remember that newman. It was
kind of a mystery whether or not he would actually
be a part of this show because he had a
shoulder injury that was holding him out for a little
bit since Damidia that he suffered the match against Yodasuji,
so he did tough it out. That was a big
the story here, but has been getting a lot more
talk lately as he should that he is one of
the top babyfaces in the next coming years for Japan,
that he's been compared to people like Ricky Steamboat, and
I think that people are definitely recognizing that this guy
is going to be a super talent or or is
going to be further up the cards as a bigger
star for them because he is a super talent. So
this was a really good match on the show. This
is where the crowd really was getting into things. So
this was what you'd expect for a g one that
this felt like a big match between two of their
really young future stars, kalab Duben only twenty three. This
is the first time I saw him in person. I believe, man,
he is really he is really good. Here's there's some
things about it where he he sometimes with his look,
like maybe his look maybe he just because he's so young,
he can feel like he's a little green.
Speaker 3: But man, his intererig.
Speaker 2: Style is so good. I mean, I don't know how
many people at twenty three years old are as good
as Calum Numan is right now. And he's got charisma two.
I mean he is just these two guys Yuyah versus Calum,
I mean, two great opponents for each other. So there
was really good stuff back and forth between them. The
co made rio hey Wewa defeats only Bolton in the
A Bloc matchup. Ohiwa is the first time I've seen
him in person. I mean, just another example of that.
Dou Japan's got some young talent. They have some people
there and had the booking been in their favor in
previous years where Gato had you know, given them some
wins against some of the stars who have now since left,
I think it really would have done them some good
to start building them maybe a year or two ago,
maybe maybe even further back than that, because now they're
in the position where they have to go with them.
They have to put them in these positions to be
winning these matchups and take them seriously and be able
to draw money and fill up arenas.
Speaker 3: And oi Wa.
Speaker 2: Is definitely He's got his tag team with Zach Saber Junior,
and I mean those guys have been phenomenal in Japan
and now to see oi Wa here, I mean people
were chanting his last name. People were also into only
Bolton only also very good. But man Ohia is really
showing to be another big future star for Japan. The
main event a block was Yoda Suji, the iw GP
heavyweight champion, defeating Kenoski Da Keshaa. As you would imagine,
Takeshina was the biggest star on the show by far,
not even close, and the crowd really wanted to see
him win. They wanted to see him beat Yodasuji. And
I'll tell you that Yoda sug when he came out
did not get the reaction anywhere close to Takeshaa. Takesha
has got all that built up fanfare from b in
the United States especially in the Chicago market, and Yoda
Sunji hasn't done a ton of stuff in the US.
I mean he's done some stuff in the Battle of
the Valley, but except for maybe the first Windy City
Riot four years ago, Yoda Sunji hasn't been on any
of those shows, so they've not been able to really
establish that bond with him. So didn't give that reaction
coming out of the gate. But as the match started
and people were recognizing, man, we could get a really
awesome match here, because this is again a rematch from
Russell Kadum twenty with the exception of Tanahashi's retirement match
against Okada. I mean this was the main event of
that show. I mean they had an awesome, awesome match there,
so we knew that we were going to be in
for a treat. I mean the crowd was so loud,
they were engaged, they were into this, they were stopping
their feet, they were clapping. Also, shout out to Chris Charlton.
I mean Chris Charlton really did a good job of
There was times where he would stand up and look
at the crowd and really try and get them going
with clapping, really doing everything that he had it was.
It was cool to see Walker Stewart and Chris Charlton
there to be on the call because they've not always
been on the call for the for the US shows here,
so again more more legitimacy to this big and authentic
New Japan show. Some big spots of blue thunderbobs, but
Yotasuji hitting those three G blasts on Takeshaa, I mean,
very surprising. The crowd was very surprised that Yodasuji bw
though he's champion. You would have thought that in the
tournament here that you'd have Takeshaa getting the win, and
that's setting up a future title match between the two,
so you never know, maybe that could be that Takeshaah
later wins this tournament. But I would think that uh,
New Japan would be wise to go with somebody like
Yu you were up, would probably be number one. Also
Yo hey Oiwa probably number two for me, and then
elm Duman shoutout Ubuno, but he's been up at closer
at the top of the car. So really one of
those other three with Uimura, Ouwa, Calum Duban, I mean,
those are the types that I think really should shine
to this tournament, and they should make a point to
elevate them so that people can get used to seeing
them in the main events, so that they can continue
to draw within the United States and not rely upon
some of the other aw wrestlers who have been a
part of those shows. So after they're the really good
match between them. There was a post match promo from Yodasuji,
so Yosuji was able to do was able to say
some things in English. There really just thanking the crowd,
talking about how hot, how hot it is in Chicago
and how hot it is in in Japan. Uh and
you know, fighting through the tournament, so really turning himself
babyface for this crowd who was more skeptical of him
going into it and wanted to get behind Takeshita. Uh,
he really won them over by the end of it.
So crowd was surprised with the with the with the
Yodasugi way, but pretty quickly it was just, you know,
very satisfied with what they saw for the show.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: Again, it was even though it was all block matches,
which is not common for the g and climax.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: They we everybody was very satisfied overall with the show.
They were into everything. They had different chants throughout, I
mean at times just chanting for the g one just
in general. But what did they give a chance to
the younger people that they don't always see? This was
a smart audience that follows the new Japan product and
goes to their shows. Like I said, not necessarily just
the aw fans who who are confused by some of
the other wrestlers if they don't get a promo on
them or somebody talking about them in advance. I mean,
they knew who Oscar was, they knew who You de
Ice was, Rio, all of these guys, they knew who
they were and they wanted to see them succeed in
this environment.
Speaker 3: So all of that was a positive of.
Speaker 2: After the show, you know, Yoda Suji kind of did
his walk around the ringside area that got up posed
in front of the stage. People were getting photos and
stuff with with Walker Stewart, Chris Charlton, Rocky Romero was there.
I don't know if if Tanahashi was in the building
at all. He did not appear up here in front
of the crowd, nor did anybody expect him to. Pretty usual,
i'd say, for the for the merchandise line was quite long.
They only had one merch line. There was plenty of
people taking their videos just to show how long it was.
What I do know from people is that they did
sell out of things pretty quickly that they had, like
that towel that they that's typical for the New Japan
events that like sold out almost instantly. There were some
shirts and other merchandise, So it appears that they did
not bring enough to satisfy this New Japan audience. So
they should have consulted with a e W who in
Chicago always always always has the super long lines to
get those event specific items.
Speaker 3: For those types of things.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean, that's really all I have to
say on the event there is that it was a
very fun show overall, fun to see the g One climax.
But I think that this is the right formula for
New Japan to continue on rebuilding their brand and continuing
to stay relevant in the United States. Is you have
to bring events and build things that are authentic.
Speaker 3: To New Japan.
Speaker 2: That is what people have been calling for for a
long time. But the New Japan strong stuff, while it's fine,
people just want to see the stars that they see
in Japan. They just literally want you to take that
New Japan show from Japan and PLoP it into the
United States and really not change much of anything. And
that's what people will appreciate, and they will come to
one to see again. And uh, you know, pushing these
pushing these new stars and ensuring that they are set
up in ways that make them feel important telling stories.
And then also, of course what people have come to
expect from New Japan is they've got to have good matches.
You have to have good matches at AEW has raised
that bar so high, is that on every show you're
going to see, you know, the four star plus matches,
and New Japan has to be able to deliver that that.
I mean, they were, they were the ones in this
era of wrestling to to bring that to the forefront.
And somebody in them now are in aw and so
they need to continue to have that as one of
their colleague guards to stay relevant. So uh, that's all
I have on both of these shows. I mean, I
am exhausted. I appreciate you guys listening to this as
I am. As I mentioned before, I'm fighting through a
sinus infection, so it is very difficult to breathe at
this moment in time, So yeah, I look for to
talking with Greg. Not this week, but the following week.
We will have a preview show to AW Redemption. Only
update I know now is that I believe it's will
O versus Tekla is still the only thing announced for
that show. The only other thing they have is a
celebration for the RUG show is being in Montreal, but
at this point in time, they need to get a
card together and announce that very soon, so we will
preview that in a week's time. So until then, I'm
Joldanal and thank you all for listening.
Speaker 5: Longing for some nostalgia or maybe you want to learn
some wrestling history, don't miss the Nineties Past, cast every
Friday on the PW Towards Daily Cast Feed. Alex and
will transport you thirty years into the past by taking
you through the Torch issue from that very week. Follow
news from the WWF and WCW and all the happenings
from across the wrestling industry in real time as The
Torch reported it thirty years ago. That's the Nineties Pass
cast every Friday on the PW Torch Daily Cast Feed.
Speaker 6: Nicki's It's Nicki let me tell you, I'm coming to
your Thursday morning, six point fifty in the morning. Literally,
I woke up, I said, I gotta do Nicky's Club.
I gotta do Nikki's Club. And I've been putting it
off all week. Let me tell you why I've been.
Speaker 7: Putting it off all week. I had a great week
last week, and we Shawn on the show.
Speaker 6: Seemed to be that a lot of people were liking
some of the observations.
Speaker 7: That I made.
Speaker 6: And then you know, I settled in nestled in to
watch for ro all this week, and I didn't really
like it. I didn't really not a lot of it
wasn't doing a whole lot for me, and I just said,
I don't really feel like to talk about this this week,
and there's not a whole lot going on and SmackDown.
Speaker 7: I'm not a you know, a CM punk versus Cody
Rhodes lover.
Speaker 6: Although listen, when I watched that match at SummerSlam, I'm
gonna be excited for sure.
Speaker 7: I mean, it's not that I can't.
Speaker 6: Appreciate the gravity of it, but I just something and
I had a little conversation with myself. I said, what's
going on with you, and I realized I'm just not
a July wrestling baby.
Speaker 7: There's a whole lot of July every year that I
don't really fall in love with.
Speaker 6: So but as ironic, because as if longtime listeners know that,
for my very first podcast here on PW Torch, my
favorite wrestling show ever was in July.
Speaker 7: It was fully loaded two thousand. So, you know, I
just thought, you know, I think I'm I think.
Speaker 6: With the you know, bringing of SummerSlam back up to
the early August time period which it had been.
Speaker 7: You know, like I think of nineteen ninety seven when
it was in.
Speaker 6: New Jersey, it was very early in August, but then
they were moving it very late into August, almost bordering
on like, isn't this fallfest at this point?
Speaker 7: But you know, we are.
Speaker 6: We've changed it up a little, so the dynamics of
the summer have changed, and now we have King of
the Ring back, and you know, I just think where
we're at right now seems to be an odd holding pattern.
Speaker 7: But I thought this would be a.
Speaker 6: Good show to actually say, you know, Wade and some
others had really liked my comparison of Austin theory.
Speaker 7: Maxine de pre To Shane Douglas and Francine. So I said,
you know what, why don't I pick out.
Speaker 6: A handful of WWE up and comers and say, who
I think maybe from history they could be booked to,
if not copy, but emulate and be inspired by, and
where I would take them in the future. And I
also just want to look at something that's going on
right now, which is the really poor Summer's lamb sales
and what I think that means for the two night
shows and how they're booking things all together.
Speaker 7: So let me take a sip with you, all right,
we're all nestled. Then Nicky has his coffee. It's not
very good. I got the cheap coffee.
Speaker 6: The drop me off at a home goods and I'm
doing damage like it's never pleasant. I go there to
save money and I spend money. So I got this
terrible what is this thing? Krispy Kreme donut coffee? Oh
it's disgusting, but regardless, So summer slam sales way down,
like we're talking in the twenties, right, And here's what
I want to know, when are we going to go
back to arena shows? Like I understand the need for
two night shows. And I understand that there is an
obviously inferred major revenue in flux that comes in when
you do these stadium shows.
Speaker 7: But you know, if you had.
Speaker 6: Had booked let's say, even Madison Square Garden right for
two nights in a row and sold it out immediately,
that's a much bigger story than struggling to get over
the finish line with some of these stadiums. And listen,
I know we're talking about major differences in money, but
what about being the hot ticket in town? Like, I
don't think WWE is too far gone at this point
to be able to say we're gonna do some of
these shows at the largest named arenas in the country, right,
Like when did like doing the Boston Garden and Madison
Square Garden or the United Center for.
Speaker 7: A big show? Like when was that a problem?
Speaker 6: Why does everything have to be a stadium show? I
just don't understand it. I, first of all, am tired
of the visual. I don't think they look all that
special anymore. I liked when you would do it, even
like I even struggled with doing the once a year
at WrestleMania. I liked every few years when it felt like,
oh okay, we're headed to a major, major show. So
as much as it's about the two night thing, for me,
I'm okay, I'll take the tonight. I like a Saturday
wrestling show, and I still like a Sunday wrestling show
at times.
Speaker 7: My issue is we have to go through all of this.
Speaker 6: Now, this this this constant conversation each year of like,
what's going on with the tickets?
Speaker 7: What's going on with the tickets?
Speaker 6: As people are exhausted, Honey, they're exhausted, we're tired, and
we're broke.
Speaker 7: How about that?
Speaker 6: So, yeah, you're right, I'm not spending thousands of dollars
to go sit in the upper decks. Maybe I'm not
doing that, but maybe I am doing that to sit
in a bowl of an arena. Maybe maybe I'll do that.
That sounds reasonable, That sounds good for me. Like where
is that conversation.
Speaker 7: And is it? Is it? Because t KO is so
money cash dependent on these tickets. It's like that we've
sold everything.
Speaker 6: We've sold the ring, we've sold, the commercials, we've sold
basically we're getting it, but we've sold some attire, we've
we're doing everything, Like give me this back.
Speaker 1: Please before pushing play on the way Keller Pro Wrestling
post shows, check out pw torch dot com and our
TV review section and skim through a full rundown of
the TV show if you didn't see it. That's your
way to get an overview of what happened before you
dive into our in depth analysis of the key happenings
on the show. That's pw torch dot com. You're home
for live TV coverage every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with
my TV reports, and also check out our NXT and
Impact coverage on Tuesdays and Thursdays, our Collision reports on
Saturday nights, and of course our live pay per view
and POE coverage on weekends, all waiting for you at
pw torch dot com.
Speaker 7: So that's all.
Speaker 6: I think the card for Summer sam is looking really good,
probably better than this year's WrestleMania. For me, let me
just give you some quick hits on where I'm thinking
of some of these these matches are for summerset. I
I don't know what we're doing with this Hell in
a Cell with Brock and Ova, Like, I really don't know.
We can't be putting in all this effort of having
the cell erected and hung and brought down and all
this stuff for a five minute match, But anything more
than a ten minute match, it's almost it feels impossible,
impossible to imagine. And I don't know, there's just something
about the cell and even cages in the open stadium environment,
which I think takes away a lot of their majesty.
Like when I think of Hell and a Cell back
in nineteen ninety eight, remember the right after or was
it before, I guess it was before when they would
do before the Undertaker mankind match back in Cleveland, you know,
when they would bring that cage up and down during
raw as like a real.
Speaker 7: Threat to you know.
Speaker 6: Get I just thought that looked so ominous because it
felt so claustrophobic and intense and everything. When it looks
like it's in a when it's in a stadium, it
looks like a toy.
Speaker 7: I don't know.
Speaker 6: I don't like this, Like I'm this stadium thing. I'm
telling you guys, I'm struggling with I'm struggling with it.
Like I think back to Wrestlvatia twenty when they did
it at Madison Square Garden, like give me that, give
me that, Like I don't again. I am really really
not trying to go to a stadium ever again.
Speaker 7: Like I've told you all my stadium experiences, I hate it.
Speaker 6: But you know what, I had a good experience at
Royal Rumble two thousand and eight at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 7: Love that. I mean, as fans, don't you want to
super serve?
Speaker 6: And how many over the years, no matter what genre
of business you're in, you always hear about the studio
fifty four mentality of keeping people wanting to get the
hot ticket in town.
Speaker 7: So I think this is a real misopportunity.
Speaker 6: But WWE has almost created So here's what I'll say.
Speaker 7: They've created a situation.
Speaker 6: Where anytime they drop down from stadiums, the conversation is
gonna go, ah, they're a fail. You hear what they're
doing there. They've left the stands.
Speaker 7: They can't sell them out. Like why they went all
in on.
Speaker 6: This is really suspect because there's always going to be
a day when they're not gonna want to be in
a stadium, They're not going to be able to sell
tickets or not whatever the what is that was always
going to come.
Speaker 7: So why did we set ourselves up for that?
Speaker 6: Especially where if you are so dedicated, so so dedicated
to attracting the millionaires, attracting the people with tons of
disposable income that are willing to pay obscene dollars.
Speaker 7: To come see you, then then do that.
Speaker 6: Do it more in the arenas, do it more in
the Manhattan Center.
Speaker 7: Do it I.
Speaker 6: Really really think the W Towe if you're listening, mix
it up, mix up the mix up the format, mix
up the style.
Speaker 7: I think it'll help you.
Speaker 6: Help you in the long run, and I think it's
you're going to reach that day the time always comes.
What's that lyric from the news l Ees Girl? Everything
fades away? The stadium shows will indeed one day and
maybe one day soon fade away and go back.
Speaker 7: To an arena show and.
Speaker 6: Make it look great, bring us back some of the
more exciting sets, the mattic sets, like what are we
doing here?
Speaker 7: So anyway, so there's that seeking.
Speaker 6: Madison Square Garden. We had a Saturday It's main event
show coming up. Wow, Saturday Night's main event not been
like any You would think there was a time when
Saturday's main event would have been worth staying home and watching.
That's not happening anymore. You would think that a Madison
Square Garden show would be staying worth staying home and watching.
Speaker 7: That's not happening anymore.
Speaker 6: So it almost just feels like, ww we said, it's
a summer Saturday, what are we doing here? Nobody's gonna
watch this live, so move on. But you know, in
terms of I do like the old school tag team
match of you know, Cody Rhodes teaming with Sampunk versus
Gunther and Sammy seaning like I can kind of get
down with that being of a main event for the
feeder for Summer Slam in two.
Speaker 7: Weeks that that's fine with me. But it just feels
like overall, Saturday's.
Speaker 6: Main event has been fully abandoned as any priority of WWE.
Speaker 7: And I'm okay with that.
Speaker 6: But my question is, how many iterations of Saturday Night's
an event where this exact situation.
Speaker 7: Happens are we gonna? Are we gonna keep trying?
Speaker 6: Like I know there's a nostalgia with this show. Make
it a pay per view then, like make it or
a premium live event. Make it for one of these
random shows that we have. Make that the title of it.
If we're so in love with the title and the
font like why do we need to do this quarterly
special or however often we're having this if nothing really
good is gonna happen and it just becomes a booking
block for us.
Speaker 7: So this that do I think?
Speaker 6: You know, this feels in the spirit of the old
Saturday's main events from the eighties that would again set
up a major show coming up.
Speaker 7: So if a major happening, can you know take place there? Great.
Speaker 6: I think you're gonna see tension between Cody and Punk,
maybe a significant physical altercation, a pull apart, something like
that that will head us off to SummerSlam.
Speaker 7: That's whine. They've got a lot of ground to make up.
This is there is and this odd.
Speaker 6: Feeling that we are now rushing to this match as summerset,
which w TOW has done before. You know, they struggle
with striking the balance of some of these big time matches.
Speaker 7: You know, do you remember was it WrestleMania.
Speaker 6: I think it was twenty six, Yeah.
Speaker 7: Twenty six went out of nowhere.
Speaker 6: It felt like we were rushing the the Batista versus
Scena match when it was like, wait a minute, this,
why is this not the main event of a big
show like it always should have been like and now
it's just like a.
Speaker 7: Mid card thing.
Speaker 6: And another one I remember was it scenea versus Bobby Lashley.
Speaker 7: I forget which show. I want to say it was
an unforgiven show or one of those things.
Speaker 6: But out of nowhere, like boom, we're rushing that and
it's like, Okay, it feels big, this feels big.
Speaker 7: But there's something, there's like an ingredient missing.
Speaker 6: It's when like your mom makes your favorite dish and
you take a bite and you're like, Okay, I don't
know what's not in here, but someone's not in here,
and I feel traces of my favorite versions of this dish,
but this ain't favorite in So that's that's that's something.
Speaker 7: That's where we're at with it.
Speaker 6: But again, just not feeling this month at WWA personally.
Don't get all offended. Don't get offended. It's okay. So anyway,
so last week, as I said, I made this flippant
comparison when I was on with Sean Plicta about how
it was really really and I still remain very happy
for Austin theory in that the heel turn of Maxine
Dupres seemed to within seconds inspire a lot of energy
that you couldn't have waited any longer for him to capture.
I mean suddenly, as I like to say in real life,
and I'm going to bring it to the show, is
the lights were on. His eyes were bright. You could
see there's like an intensity and excitement and happiness behind them.
And I said, oh, it reminds me of Shane Douglas
and Francine And I still to this moment think that
that is an active, accurate comparison to make.
Speaker 7: And here's where I would take it. I want to
just be clear.
Speaker 6: WWE for a long time has needed to find the
balance of you know, acts all over, but in the
case of the women, find the balance of still having
individuals that could serve as wrestlers, but also then others
who were just put in.
Speaker 7: The lane of the valet just put in that vein.
They don't need that.
Speaker 6: It should be special and novel if those individuals get
in the ring. Think of back to the women of
the eighties and nineties like.
Speaker 7: That type, because there's just there's always.
Speaker 6: Been male wrestlers in this case who have benefited from
having a female valet who wasn't some physical threat who
wasn't going to be in there and challenging for a
women's title. And there's a reason why those wrestlers through
the eighties and nineties always did well.
Speaker 7: You think back, that's how.
Speaker 6: Sean Michaels really really got started on his solo run,
was having Sherry in his corner. And the fact that
we've moved away from that means an entire multiple generations
of wrestlers have missed out on the real possibility of
having that one missing ingredient of having a female counterpoint
to balance out their act from that could then get
them over a finish line of success.
Speaker 7: Well, sure enough, you put Austin.
Speaker 6: Theory with Maxine Dupree, and not only do they visually
look like Shane and Francine, you think back to where
Shane Douglass was at that point in his career. I mean,
he had been floundering through attempts to get into the
major organizations.
Speaker 7: Sure, he had had early run.
Speaker 6: In ECW where he was already the champion, he was married, married,
managed himself by Sherry for a time, but then there
was the failed WWF run as Dean Douglas and all this,
So this was hardly a megastar.
Speaker 7: This was still a man on the come up and
who really needed that extra edge to play off of.
Speaker 6: And in this case it came from having the hot
girl who could take bumps, who was snotty and arrogant
and looked like the girl you wouldn't want to mess
with at the beachcomb or in the Jersey shore. Like
that was Francine.
Speaker 7: I grew up.
Speaker 6: And maybe I've said this before, I knew Franccene. Not literally,
I don't know the actual individual Franccene, but I.
Speaker 7: Knew of her like every like she was every girl
in Jersey in the summer.
Speaker 6: And that's actually I mean that as a total compliment
to her. There are times when certainly these wrestlers, you're like,
you have captured the essence of this time. In this case,
we're talking about the nineties that MTV Spring Bay Break generation.
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Speaker 6: Well, I don't know that I'm gonna say for Austin
Theory and Maxine Dupre that they can do that. Like,
I don't know that pop culture and style and everything
on first of all matches what they're doing right now.
But what does match is the chemistry and the like
I said, that edge, that tension, the odd sexual tension
that they have now I think there was always like
an insinuation that Shane and fran Scene were together physically,
but I don't know that they that was relied on
too much. And I don't know that for fran Scene
in Austin in the to be like, sure they had
their kiss and there are a couple and whatnot. But
here's my advice and my desire, don't lean into the
couple stuff. I don't want to hear of the tension
between the couple. I don't want to hear too much
other than the passing references of like, okay, they're doing
you know, they're they're in the probos, like all right,
now we're gonna go do our thing, and we all
know what the thing means.
Speaker 7: I just think in general, then being.
Speaker 6: A tough duo act that is geared towards getting to
the top top of WWE, that's where the energy is.
That's where Austin theory should be, and I think that
will be an inspiring take. You know, I believe Austin
theory has a separate, very separate personal life with a
with another.
Speaker 7: Woman is as I've come to understand it.
Speaker 6: So I don't know that you want to create anything
that makes him uncomfortable on screen. And I think if
he does have a significant other outside wrestling, like I
don't know how he'd act and things are going well.
But again, him having a partner in there and someone
to bounce off of that seems to do well by him.
Speaker 7: But in this case the chains are off, Austin.
Speaker 6: Now is your time to get out there and really
really shine and you know, bring back a lot of
the arrogance and especially the confidence that was lost along
the way. But there needs to be I think an
investment in him having a signature finisher that feels in
the and god knows, I don't want another cutter move
out there, but in the vein of that something that
feels dangerous can come out of nowhere that after a
move by Maxine of her cheating then immediately can lead
into him snapping into his finisher.
Speaker 7: And I think this could take Austin all the way. Now,
what does all the way mean anymore?
Speaker 6: Well, I certainly don't see him interacting with Romarines, which
is the shame of having a character like Roman reigns
at the top when you have other heels you're trying
to develop and really fast tracked because there's so few.
Speaker 7: Worlds where a Roman reigns.
Speaker 6: Can operate with people that really don't fit exclusively into
that main event level.
Speaker 7: Maybe it is early elements. Maybe in the early months.
Speaker 6: Of the Tribal Chief you had some more flexibility there,
but by the end it was really settling into the
usual suspects.
Speaker 7: So there's not there but a.
Speaker 6: Very franchise esque Austin theory I think plays extremely well
with the Cody Rhodeses, extremely.
Speaker 7: Well with the CM punks. So maybe it is. Maybe
it is the time.
Speaker 6: I'm not saying push him immediately to the top of
the card, but.
Speaker 7: I think there's a path there.
Speaker 6: I genuinely, genuinely you do. Now what does that do
for the path of bron Breaker.
Speaker 7: Now, bron Breaker for.
Speaker 6: Me has gone in and out, in and out at
times of being the shore fire or not even necessarily.
But like if I was using my money, who would
who I would pet money on? And I think we've
suitably passed that time.
Speaker 7: I mean, it's.
Speaker 6: Pretty wild how much time has gone by. And as
I said, when you talk about lights on Frost and theory,
this these most recent two weeks, lights are dimming on
bron Breaker and you can feel it.
Speaker 7: I mean, we've all.
Speaker 6: Gone through life like this where when things when investment
in us suddenly seems to diminish, or if we're in
a work or friendship environment where we're not getting the
recognition or you know, acknowledgment that we.
Speaker 7: Thought we would or thought we should.
Speaker 6: Yeah, times change, and like your energy changes, and I
think that that's going on with bron Breaker. Here's what
I'm saying about bron Breaker right now, him looking like
he is.
Speaker 9: The least cool, the least investible, which I think at
times when he's even in there with Logan and Austin
at this point in the past two.
Speaker 7: Weeks, that even for a flirt is a moment too much.
Speaker 6: So something has got to change and has got to
change immediately, and I think he needs to be separated
out immediately from the vision. I really think one of
the long term damage points for bron Breaker was the
fact that he had Paul Hayman walk away from him,
Like Paul Hayman should.
Speaker 7: Have never walked away for bron Breaker.
Speaker 6: That is not inspiring that to me, like bron Breaker
should have never at any point if they want him
to be this next megastar, have lost a faith in anybody, anybody.
I mean, watching him and his rise on the main
roster has certainly not been as painful as watching Carmelo Hayes's,
but it's like, if the result was always the same,
who really is better off or worse.
Speaker 7: Off at this point?
Speaker 6: Because I leaves with Carmelo in a weird way, He's
so laying under the radar at this point that it's like, oh, shoot,
I forgot I'm even supposed to be thinking this guy
is nowhere near where he should be. But with bron Breaker,
it feels like the de elevation has just been significant.
Speaker 7: So what would I do with him?
Speaker 6: Well, I think at this point I would lose anything
that is reminiscent of the Steiners at this point, and
I know, just follow me here, follow me here. So,
first of all, any wrestler, for whatever reason, with the
Sirens since since Scott Steiner has been like it just
hasn't worked for I think they did it with Cizarro,
They've definitely they used it with Saturn at one point
and it's like, yes, it's an immediate eye catcher before.
Speaker 7: Whatever reason, it ain't it.
Speaker 6: And I think bron Breaker's theme song after the sirens
is a problem.
Speaker 7: Look at the theme song, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 6: Don't you don't have to necessarily get rid of the
siren bit itself, but they rely on that as the
the ind for the the entrance, and then from there
the entrance I think goes to hell.
Speaker 7: I always liked when he would when he.
Speaker 6: I guess as a result of his pairing of Paul Hayman,
had the e CW for this ECW show.
Speaker 7: Now think about it on the.
Speaker 6: ECW styling of his name and you know, the logo
and everything. But I would not be opposed to him
leaning in on that, but I kind of would lose
the singlet look it does.
Speaker 7: It calls to.
Speaker 6: Mind his father and his uncle in their in his
uncle's younger years, and I think, if you want him
to look big and you want him to be a start,
maybe put him in the same.
Speaker 7: Kind of trunks that that that Scott.
Speaker 6: Center had later in his career as a way of
emulating him, but just to change up the look, because
at this point the bron breaker look is is kind
of just tattooed in people's minds of Okay, this is
what he looks like. He's big, but it's kind of
limiting and actually showing off of his physique. Of course,
you keep the spear, but you gotta take the spear
away from everybody else, like Roman Reigns does not need
the spear anymore.
Speaker 7: Guys.
Speaker 6: I'm just telling you, if you want to make bron
Breaker a big, big star, take it that move away
from the others who just simply.
Speaker 7: Do not need it. I don't want to see Jay
Usso doing a spear. There's no they have.
Speaker 6: There's no benefit to them using that move at this
point when there's a clear benefit to having that moment
where bron Breaker runs the ropes, like, what are we
doing here? Where is the money going? The money needs
to be going on him in some capacity.
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Speaker 6: So we just had this long blood feud with seth Rolls.
Did do anything for either No?
Speaker 7: I think it.
Speaker 6: It normalized seth Rollins in a mid card level in
a way that was hardly inspiring to his character. And
it ultimately was a feud that bron Breaker lost. So
they need to identify someone that bron Breaker can feel
significant against and bap it out till the end where
bron Breaker in a let's say a two month feud
that is excellent from start to finish that bron Breaker wins.
Speaker 7: So who are some people that that could be. I
mean put him in with Finn Balor for all I care.
Speaker 6: I mean, it doesn't have to be someone like way
way up the card should be someone respected.
Speaker 7: And I'm using Finn dismissively. I want, I want to
say that.
Speaker 6: But you know, we're seeing how they can move folks
in and out of the car. Like I love what
they're doing with Gunther and Nick Alvis, Like that is
a plane.
Speaker 7: That is a player that you brought in that. Wow,
does that just work?
Speaker 6: And it had been made to work because of all
the years of nick outs not being physical. So we
need to find a comparable person for bron Breaker to
get in there and absolutely destroy.
Speaker 7: You know, they had that.
Speaker 6: With him and Adam Pierce, but they they like almost
like stepped away from it and then gave that storyline over.
But you know, there's no reason why bron Breaker isn't
the the real looming threat for Roman reigns or you know.
Speaker 7: They they pulled the trigger. It's a shame they.
Speaker 6: Pulled that trigger all the way for Siampunk. But I
if I were brom here's what I would do with
bron Breaker, And again think I'm crazy and whatnot. I
would have him set an early promo where he when
he with a little bit of a new look and
not trying to just do that high intensity promo at
all times, calls his shot you know, a long time
out and says, Okay, I left the that's behind me.
I am still the future, and I'm not gonna talk
about it. I'm gonna live it every single day. And
you know what, there's another person here who is living
my past but has the future that I want, and
that is you, Cody Rhodes. We've come from the same streets,
We've come from the same family lineage, we come from
the same trajectory. And you know what, I'm tired of
you being the quarterback because I am the quarterback. And
I might not have you right now, but one day
I am gonna this or a year from now a
WrestleMania or whatever I'm telling you right now, I'm gonna.
Speaker 7: Be so in your face and so the star. And
I don't mean like popular, you know what I mean.
I am gonna be so the man here that you
can't avoid me. Now check that and.
Speaker 6: Boom to me if he were to if if you
then were to establish of, okay, this is the guy
that the path that I'm gonna go one day, that's
the future that I want.
Speaker 7: Because otherwise it's just show.
Speaker 6: But what is the future when everyone says, oh, that
person's the future, that one's a future champion.
Speaker 7: But okay, that all works till it doesn't like it?
What is the what? Here?
Speaker 6: His?
Speaker 7: What is?
Speaker 6: He comes from the old school wrestling background, but he's this, this,
this real athlete who has wants to carry that lineage
into a path where he's.
Speaker 7: That dominant, dominant babyface or I guess even he know
in this case champion.
Speaker 6: So I want that for bron Breaker, and I want
them to literally sit down. I'm not gonna do this
right now, but sit down. I come up with this
list of how we get from bron Breaker versus Cody
versus I do believe is the match to get to.
And wouldn't it be great if bron Breaker was the
one calling Cody the phonio almost in that Bobby Heenan
type capacity like he used to do with hal Cogan
along and he's eventually a catalyst a year or whatever
from now for Cody ros darting Hill and saying, see,
I told you that that guy's a phony.
Speaker 7: But I'm telling you that to me, in my head
is the feud for bron Breaker to aspire to be in.
I don't see him.
Speaker 6: I don't get excited or feel naturally moved by the
possibility of bron Breaker versus Roman Rines, or a bron
Breaker of course versus Sampunk anymore. Like those days are
quite a bit behind me.
Speaker 7: A Breaker versus versus Cody Rhodes.
Speaker 6: That works for me again, I'm just giving you notes, guys,
I know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 7: Another one I want. We're still in the vision, guys.
Speaker 6: Logan Paul, Logan Paul, they have to make a decision with.
So there was a realigning of Logan Paul at some
point to make him more of a uh you know,
it's like, Okay, he's gonna be a little bit more
every day for us, So now we have to treat
him a little bit more every day.
Speaker 7: And he's still, in my mind a lot more special
than that. I don't know much.
Speaker 6: About Logan Poll's like talk show, his radio show or podcast,
whatever it is. I don't know much about his YouTube personality.
I know what I see on the screen, and what
I see on the screen is someone who still maintains
a magnetic personality and magnetic draw for me as a viewer,
and incredible athleticism, and there's a star quality.
Speaker 7: That is so obvious there. So here's what I would do.
Speaker 6: I would sit down and say, does this man? Is
this man a future world champion? Because if he is,
we're off path and this isn't gonna be the type
of person that we naturally may go through the ebbs
and flows every day of wrestling and someday eventually becomes
you know that will he ever be that champion or
not type guy? This is gonna be someone where if
you don't keep him engaged, he's I mean, for me,
he's gonna fly away. So I think he should be
when he comes back from this injury, held back and
then fast past through and what I mean hell back?
Speaker 7: Is that storyline? Do the storyline.
Speaker 6: I'm fine with it where everyone knows he's better, but
he's pretending that he's still injured.
Speaker 7: And but I would again maybe separate him out completely
from from the vision if I just do that, Just
do that. I kind of like.
Speaker 6: Him with with Austin and Maxine still looming in the back,
like that loose association as just you know, their friends
and they never had a falling out. But I don't
think you need to be like relying on that too much.
But so anyway, so he's in the back, and he's
constantly given promos about when I come back, when I
come back, But you know he's you can you know
he's better, and like even have like one of the
the the announcers saying, like, listen, this thing looks like
it's getting worse. What's going on over here? Don't you
worry about me? Don't you worry about me?
Speaker 7: Suddenly we've had a step back and he's got the
cast and.
Speaker 6: All that kind of stuff whatever whatever means, or the
heavy mechanical thing on the the the arm, the elbow,
and then I would have him return in a big
match in a big way, and I would have him
let's say, let's let me use if he's still a
babyface at this time. Let's say CM punk go right
for him interrupting a cmpunk match and hit him in
the head with the arm. The arm casing costs the
MP punk a significant match. I mean, think of it,
not necessarily right now, but if it was a match
like this head Night's main event tag match, So I'm
not saying he's costing him a title or something like that,
and then removing the arm and then waving it, waving
it in his head and I'm back, and it kind
of takes away all of the baggage of the okay,
just making I'm a standard tag team wrestler, because he's
not a standard tag team wrestler. He's the person who
has the intangible it that everybody says they want. Well,
he has it, but we're trying to humble him, and
I don't know that.
Speaker 7: This is a business built on humility. So that's what
I would do with Logan Paul. I think of the
three Vision guys, you know.
Speaker 6: I think it's a race to see who can get
that title first, and it should be you, should they.
Speaker 7: I would love for each WWE.
Speaker 6: Booker to take one on as their project as a
goal of which one can get there faster, and not
at the detriment of the others. Like I don't want
them to be sandbagging others, but I think there are
there is such potential in those three, in particular.
Speaker 7: Bronson Reid, I could take their leave. He's not He's
not someone that really does does a whole lot for me.
I think we're off on Trick Williams.
Speaker 6: By the way, I think that it's clear that we're
taking a step back a little from Trick. But here's
what I hate. I hate what they did with the bell.
I don't like fur in any capacity of my life,
and I definitely don't like it on a championship bell.
And I think the things that make Trick cool are
the things that could make him uncool very very fast.
Like we know the story about how he became so
reliant to the bookers, at least on the styling.
Speaker 7: Of that white jacket. I don't mind it.
Speaker 6: I think I think having a set look can only
benefit him with people recognizing who he is, selling merchandise, you.
Speaker 7: Know, all that that kind of stuff. But I would
also argue.
Speaker 6: Leaning too much into the cartoon can bring in cheesy
characteristics of somebody who was designed to be cool, and
it's not look a whole lot.
Speaker 7: Cool to me.
Speaker 6: So with Trick, it's time for him to get rid
of Little YACHTI there's no question about that. I don't
think I'm setting breaking any any real here, but I
don't I don't think it's such a bad thing that
he keeps that association with hip hop and with anybody
culture like, I wouldn't have a problem if every time
he made an entrance at a main show there was
a different celebrity that was escorting him down or even better,
introduced him. I don't need him to walk down with him.
Just introduced him at some kind.
Speaker 7: Would be very very That would be cool for me.
I mean, I'm not cool anymore I used to be.
Speaker 6: But if there was whoever the the the performer of
the moment is have them introduce him at WrestleMania, SummerSlam,
he maybe even Royal Rumble and.
Speaker 7: Then walk away from it and that that's all you need,
and that.
Speaker 6: Could be the stick of like, oh god, this is
the guy, like he really does have these connections or
they he there's these are real elevated moments.
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Speaker 6: But I think that that would work for him in general.
I mean, listen, we're still very very early in the run.
There's more working for him than answer.
Speaker 7: Here's the other thing. He needs a great match. I
really believe that.
Speaker 6: I know it's been said, but this most recent run
of Premium LIVEE event matches has not been strong for him,
and it doesn't when I see the matches now of
him coming up.
Speaker 7: No, I'm not getting excited.
Speaker 6: I'm really really not Carmelo Hayes. So I'm going to
go to bat for Carmelo Hayes one more time because
when I think of somebody who truly truly looks the
part and for me, wrestles the part and is the part,
and it's heartbreaking to watch, like we're there, we are
a thousand percent there with Carmelo Hayes, and this one
feels like quicksand it feels like a almost near impossibility
to get him where we want him to be. But
I'm not giving up hope. So there are limiting factors
for Krimlis. First of all, he wrestles in many ways
like a babyface. Yes, there's heel.
Speaker 7: Elements to him, but I think I think he's a heel.
I do, and I think he.
Speaker 6: Is someone that just needs a stable behind him and
he I think it always worked with him having Trick
behind him in NXT.
Speaker 7: But that's that storyline, not.
Speaker 6: Dissimilar to what they did with Gargano and Choppa. Of like,
it went so too far gone in NXT to then
bring it in any form back. People were developed way
too much in a way that then that you have them.
Speaker 7: Go back in time.
Speaker 6: But you know, there's there's no reason, specially with the
breakup of the Vision. I mean, what's the other one
Judgment Day barely even existing at this point for me,
definitely not in the men's division. Carmelo Hayes in a
capacity that is designed to elevate him, and I don't
want schlubs behind him, like I want.
Speaker 7: A good cast of characters. I'm gonna come back in.
Speaker 6: A week or so with with when I like, with
this intentional lens put behind him. But the man that
should be king is gonna need to bring his own
build his own kingdom, and I want them to, by
the way, lose any sense that he has been a
disappointment has been like, just write it off that he
didn't live up to first draft pick.
Speaker 7: And all all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 6: Get him to interact positively with the real stars.
Speaker 7: Now, you know, I keep dropping the same names here
but that's not who I'm talking about.
Speaker 6: Have him interacting with a guns, have him interrupting and interacting,
I say, interrupting, interacting with the Becky's and.
Speaker 7: The Charlottes and others like.
Speaker 6: Get him around other people that are well known, well established,
and feels like he's in a conversation. Then little by little,
build build, build build him, give him wins. Don't lose
any aspect of this man. Hasn't hasn't done what we
need him too. Heck, you can say he's a pass
United States Champion, but don't even revisit that run too much.
Time to go back to the elements of the dropping
of the jerseys and all.
Speaker 7: That kind of stuff.
Speaker 6: Give this man a good run more so than that,
give him somebody in the back who believes in him.
That is what's missing with this guy. You can see
the confidence just leaving every which way. So anyway, he's
one that I am.
Speaker 7: Personally, personally most polling for.
Speaker 6: And we're obviously focusing on the men's division today and
then the last time I'm gonna talk about I want
to talk about Penta and Dominic. So Penta obviously, with
Dominic there's the triple A and the components there. But
these are just by the way, I'm just focusing on
some of my favorites. I'll do more and that are
other of my favorites. But these are just the ones
that came to mind this morning that I was just
thinking about. Where again, someone else we're talking about being
normalized a bit too much and being stagnant is Dominic.
So what are what is left to do with Dominic?
Speaker 7: Well? I think a lot.
Speaker 6: You know what, You've been focusing a lot of Gino
Hernandez lately. I mean, boy, if there's not a day
when there is super super money in a head shaving
match with Dominic, I mean to me, that seems like
one that would be or even a mustache shaving. Oh
my god, oh my god, would that not be good
to then see that slappable face looking at you with
the mullet. Ah. Fantastic, fantastic. But Donald, they get too
much in the cartoon. It's time to shift gears with
Dominic and it's time for him to go from the
comedy younger guy. He's not a young kid anymore, guys.
He time has certainly passed us by. It is time
for him to be seen as more dangerous and you know,
other think about it, He's not someone who's terrible to
pair necessarily with a Carmelo Hayes.
Speaker 7: In terms of personalities. It's just friends again, Like this
is a quality that has been so lost in having people.
Speaker 6: That just interact and elevate each other without being so
explicitly storyline linked together.
Speaker 7: But with Dominic, do.
Speaker 6: That do the twist where he is, you know, a
bit more serious, a bit more dangerous, and give him
some legitimate wins.
Speaker 7: And I know he's still just always be Dominic.
Speaker 6: But guess what, Eddie was always still Eddie, even when
he was still he was winning world titles.
Speaker 7: There's there's pivots that certainly can can be taken there.
Speaker 6: And I actually think with Dominic it's the babyface n
that's going to get him eventually to the world title,
not dissimilar to Eddie Guerrero. And I think at some
point WW should map out within the year to try
that run. I don't think he's a permanent heel. I
think there is such an appreciation for his healed them
that when he turns babyface and makes that real, real
run for the championships, there's a lot there to work
with especially listen, if you have a heel seem punk
you it is going to be so difficult to find
babyfaces to go up against him that the fans I
think would be excited to see.
Speaker 7: I mean, in.
Speaker 6: Many ways, you must inherently expect them to cheer see
him punk.
Speaker 7: Even as a heel, because they're just they'll be.
Speaker 6: So happy that of who he is and that he's
in this character that people have been kind of dying
to see that I think a babyface dominic in there.
Speaker 7: Kind of an interesting contrast.
Speaker 6: Guys, don't think I'm crazy. I know it's early and
I didn't have enough coffee yet. And then Penta, so guy, Penta.
You know, it's funny when they announced Penta versus Chad
Gable versus Summer sentiment, that's so good. That's gonna be
such a good match. I'm glad they're glad that these
guys were getting that moment. And then I stopped and thought,
you know, but this is where we're just at with them,
like we need to at some point a decision needs
he made for Pensa to keep him out of just
being like so we've decided he's not the typical luchador.
So he's elevated beyond where we've seen so many come before.
But there's also this cap it feels like that now
we're at where it's like, does it really get any
higher than it is right now? And if we want
it to be higher, a legitimate storyline that doesn't just
involve does he get his master removed or not needs
to significantly come into play.
Speaker 7: And again, I so what.
Speaker 6: I want for Penta is just a storyline, just something
that isn't.
Speaker 7: Isn't hokey, that isn't soap opra.
Speaker 6: E, but a person that again, when I would, like
what I said with a bron breaker, someone that becomes
his long distance rival. And like, so when I think
of Penda, is it is it a future I can know?
Speaker 7: A future, real, real good run with Gunther?
Speaker 6: I mean that's to me like jumps off the pages,
like a match that that would be special for me.
Speaker 7: But heck again, Pensa versus versus Rhodes.
Speaker 6: At one point that really works for me, Penca versus again,
a babyface Penta versus A. He'll see him punk my God,
give it to me. But I would get him, get
him in there, get him in there, guys.
Speaker 7: So that's just what my thoughts.
Speaker 6: I think overall, what I'm really trying to say is
with these a lot of these young guys they say young,
maybe not age, young, inexperience and whatnot, there's a level
of protection and care that just needs to start being
Like I would hire somebody at this point or have
somebody whose designated role is once we get through the show,
how can we what extra steps can we you do?
But we've written the show, but before we put it
on a screen, what extra steps can we do to
protect this person and make sure it's getting to.
Speaker 7: Where we're going? Listen. I don't watch Unreal, but I
for sure do not believe that is actively happening. So listen.
I hope you enjoyed this. I kind of enjoyed this,
but I love you guys.
Speaker 6: Have a great week back next week so you get
closer and closer to the SummerSlam. Let's see how these
ticket sales and everything go. Is the enthusiasm for WWE
getting stronger? I don't think so. So let's see how
ww handles that. All Right, Nikki's take care of yourselves.
Speaker 7: And each other.
Speaker 6: La Coda and I are going to wake up get moving,
get to the gym, and get on with our lives.
Speaker 7: Talk too soon.
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