Speaker 1: It's business time, baby. You are listening to Solo Monsters
Speaker 1: Sounds Off. I love you so, mama, monster dude, I
Speaker 1: want your soul mind on a woman.
Speaker 2: You got grown ass wrestlers in the back going on Twitter.
Speaker 1: Come over here, heart, is that pet patison you have legs?
Speaker 2: The weekend I was ninety nine percent positive it was
Speaker 2: just chessed up.
Speaker 1: Now I want out of my contract if I don't
Speaker 1: care what I want. Welcome to episode nine to nineteen
Speaker 1: of the solom Monster Sounds Off here for Sunday, July sixth,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. I am the Solemn Monster. I hope
Speaker 1: you guys had a very good, very happy Fourth of
Speaker 1: July weekend. Still have all ten fingers on each of
Speaker 1: your hands. We are heading into what is going to
Speaker 1: be one of the busiest weekends next weekend of the
Speaker 1: entire year, and not a ton of news to get into,
Speaker 1: but we are going to get into preview and predictions
Speaker 1: for most of the big shows coming up next weekend.
Speaker 1: I've got a ton of questions from you guys in
Speaker 1: the mail bag a little bit later on. I want
Speaker 1: to thank you for all of your support throughout the
Speaker 1: month of June and hopefully at July things will pick up.
Speaker 1: Gets a little slow here the beginning of July here
Speaker 1: in the summer, but next weekend it is looking like
Speaker 1: the weekend from hell. So we are going to get
Speaker 1: into all that. But first I want to say thank
Speaker 1: you to some of our supporters here this week. If
Speaker 1: you would like to support via PayPal, you know the drill,
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Speaker 1: We'll get you a nickname in a shout out like
Speaker 1: these fine folks. The Portland pop Star Paul Hamilton, hope
Speaker 1: you had a happy fourth. If you didn't, let me
Speaker 1: know who I have to go beat up. Shout out
Speaker 1: to PB thank you very much. I hope you had
Speaker 1: a very happy the fourth of July weekend. Your support
Speaker 1: is always very much appreciated. Pedro, thank you. I will
Speaker 1: drop you an email. Big B Bryant Bessera, The Diamond,
Speaker 1: Dallas Dance Machine, Harrison's so At Velvet Revolver, Robert Murray,
Speaker 1: the Chicago Slayer, Willie Eickert, night Stalker, n f Alsafar
Speaker 1: Kilshot Keith Hart, who has his ticket to House of
Speaker 1: Glory in Philadelphia coming up in September. I will see
Speaker 1: you there, brother, big Homie Jonathan Burton, Happy fourth to
Speaker 1: you as well. I hope it was a good one.
Speaker 1: Rebel j Leonard, thank you, my friend. I'm only in
Speaker 1: town for the night, but hopefully I will get to
Speaker 1: see you on Friday. We've got Raj must see Makwana
Speaker 1: who is in the UK and does not get to
Speaker 1: take part in the weekly streams. So here is his
Speaker 1: terrible joke contribution. Oh boy, if Miles Bourne had a
Speaker 1: match in a ring surrounded by barbed wire, would that
Speaker 1: make it a barbed wire deathmatch? You know, I usually
Speaker 1: I usually don't use that. Here are the actual podcast
Speaker 1: I usually save that one for the for the live streams. Raj,
Speaker 1: I'm glad you're able to contribute, but leave it to
Speaker 1: the pros. My friend, show your role. Chris lu Deck,
Speaker 1: I want to give him a shout out and his
Speaker 1: What could have Happened in Wrestling series on YouTube. It's
Speaker 1: now up to episode thirty five on What Could Have
Speaker 1: been in Wrestling if Stone Cold Steve Austin did not
Speaker 1: need to leave to have next surgery in nineteen ninety nine, well,
Speaker 1: I mean he would have ended up with a few
Speaker 1: more championships, is what would have happened. And they might
Speaker 1: have tried that heel turned a little bit earlier than
Speaker 1: they did if Austin felt like he was getting stale.
Speaker 1: But give that a watch and all of the other
Speaker 1: content on his channel, and be sure to subscribe. Just
Speaker 1: search for it. Chris lu Deck by name on U
Speaker 1: YouTube that's lud e c k E. Chris Ludek. House
Speaker 1: of Glory is making its Texas debut this Friday, and
Speaker 1: I will be there. It's going to be a fun show.
Speaker 1: Charles Mason ZILLAFA two Champion against Champion title for title.
Speaker 1: We've got Indy Hartwell's first defense of her HOG Women's
Speaker 1: Championship against Hi On the Queen of the Indies making
Speaker 1: her debut for Hog. Amazing Red will be an action.
Speaker 1: Laredo Kid will be in action as well, coming off
Speaker 1: that great four way match that he was a part
Speaker 1: of at World's Collide last month for the NXT North
Speaker 1: American Championship. Should be a great show at the Haltem
Speaker 1: Theater in Haltam City, Texas, just a twenty minute drive
Speaker 1: from Globe Life Field where All In is taking place
Speaker 1: the next day. Tickets are still available, but they are
Speaker 1: going fast. Front row is sold out, I know third
Speaker 1: row is sold out. Go to hog Wrestling dot Net.
Speaker 1: Can also stream the event live on Triller TV Plus.
Speaker 1: And because I will be in Texas, just be aware
Speaker 1: there will be no SmackDown review this Friday because I
Speaker 1: will be down South, so hopefully I'll get to see
Speaker 1: some of you there coming out of Night of Champions.
Speaker 1: This might be the most bored that I have been
Speaker 1: with WWE television, and we are a month out from SummerSlam.
Speaker 1: We are definitely not on the highway to hell like
Speaker 1: we were in ninety eight. I can tell you that.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the two women's titles on Raw. We
Speaker 1: had Eosky coming out on TV to give Rio Ripley
Speaker 1: a championship match at Evolution next Sunday. Adam Pierce gave
Speaker 1: her the power to choose her opponent. EO said that
Speaker 1: she wanted the best. The best, of course would be
Speaker 1: EO because she is the champion, but I guess she
Speaker 1: wanted the best competition, So she chose Rheo Ripley, and
Speaker 1: that is the biggest match they could do on Raw
Speaker 1: Right now, I expect that to close the show at Evolution.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna run through that card in a little bit.
Speaker 1: Eo Sky has had a horrendous run as the Women's
Speaker 1: Champion since WrestleMania. She has barely even been on the show.
Speaker 1: Just as bad as the run that Mariah May had
Speaker 1: as the aw Women's Champion, but Mariah's was better because
Speaker 1: at least she actually defended her title against different people
Speaker 1: Nyla Rose, Willow Nightingale and a J. Eo hasn't even
Speaker 1: been a factor on these shows. When we get her,
Speaker 1: we get her in little bits in the back. Other
Speaker 1: than WrestleMania, you would have to go all the way
Speaker 1: back to Bad Blood in October to find a women's
Speaker 1: world title defense on a pl e. Now, we're not
Speaker 1: talking about the women's Intercontinental title. We're not talking about
Speaker 1: the women's United States Championship. We're talking about the world title.
Speaker 1: Triple H has done a very poor job. Then on SmackDown,
Speaker 1: we had Tiffany Stratton come out to name her opponent
Speaker 1: for Evolution, which we Trish Stratus, so we got the
Speaker 1: same angle on both shows, with the champions handpicking their opponent.
Speaker 1: At least on Raw, Rhea made the most sense. Trish,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, came out of left field because
Speaker 1: they wanted to have a legend on the show. And
Speaker 1: Trish made sense because it's the twenty five year anniversary
Speaker 1: and she already tagged with Tiffany an elimination Chamber earlier
Speaker 1: this year. And yet it still feels completely random like that.
Speaker 1: This is how we got to this point. I can't
Speaker 1: sit here and criticize Bill Goldberg getting a title shot
Speaker 1: on Saturday the way that he did and not call
Speaker 1: out Trish Stratus getting one on Sunday and basically the
Speaker 1: same way, like the way they announced Goldberg and Gunther
Speaker 1: as a title match, very lazy. I mean, there was
Speaker 1: a way to do it that would have been better,
Speaker 1: but they took the easy way out. Very lazy, very
Speaker 1: low effort booking. And that's exactly what this is. They
Speaker 1: just show up and boom title match, and they announced
Speaker 1: this nine days before the show. Has there been another
Speaker 1: pl in recent memory with as little effort put into
Speaker 1: it as that Evolution show next Sunday? I mean seriously,
Speaker 1: they have been rushing to put a card together like
Speaker 1: it's an afterthought, and they have a bunch of matches.
Speaker 1: They have half a dozen matches, so it's a full card,
Speaker 1: and yet it just feels so rushed and slapped together
Speaker 1: because it is. That's exactly what that show is. And
Speaker 1: the only reason we're even getting another Evolution in the
Speaker 1: first place after seven years is because aw is running
Speaker 1: its biggest show of the year next weekend. That is
Speaker 1: the only reason we are getting this show. So what
Speaker 1: they have done is they have flooded the zone with
Speaker 1: content Saturday and Sunday, Great American Bash, Saturday Night's main event, Evolution,
Speaker 1: and it shows in the ticket sales for the show.
Speaker 1: Saturday Night's main event and Evolution are both being held
Speaker 1: at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, same building. Great
Speaker 1: American Bash is at center stage, so they're gonna have
Speaker 1: like seven hundred people there and it's still not sold out,
Speaker 1: by the way, but it'll be full one way or
Speaker 1: the other. Come next weekend, it'll be full. Saturday Night's
Speaker 1: main event has almost eleven thousand tickets out. Evolution, the
Speaker 1: next night, in the same building, doesn't even have five
Speaker 1: thousand Russell Ticks says it's very likely people in the
Speaker 1: upper bowl will end up being moved down to the
Speaker 1: lower bowl to make it look more full. That first
Speaker 1: Evolution show they ever did at the Nassau Coliseum, they
Speaker 1: had around eleven thousand people. Now, it also had Ronda
Speaker 1: Rousey in the main event, which was the entire reason
Speaker 1: they even did that show. But they also had a
Speaker 1: hot feud with Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch that was
Speaker 1: going on at the time. I mean, this is when
Speaker 1: Becky was really taking off and was super popular. This
Speaker 1: show has none of that, Like, what's the real hook
Speaker 1: for this show? But the fact that it's being slapped
Speaker 1: together in the way that it is with no real
Speaker 1: sense of importance that has a lot to do with it.
Speaker 1: Saturday Night's main event. I mean, they have the hook
Speaker 1: of Goldberg's final match, you know, whatever that's worth at
Speaker 1: this point. But this is what happens when you put
Speaker 1: in the bare minimum effort, and I guarantee you if
Speaker 1: and when the event flops, the women will get the
Speaker 1: blame for it. They can't draw, That's why they can't
Speaker 1: have their own ple, So it's not even worth it
Speaker 1: to book another one of these, it'll be another seven
Speaker 1: years before you see an Evolution show. But let's go
Speaker 1: in order with the two shows. Well, talk about Saturday
Speaker 1: Night's Main Event first. I will be reviewing the show
Speaker 1: on the SoundOff next Sunday because I am not watching
Speaker 1: this live. I will be on YouTube at the time
Speaker 1: talking about all in Texas. It is the fortieth installment
Speaker 1: of Saturday Night's Main Event, forty also being the age
Speaker 1: that Bill Goldberg was in two thousand and six. We
Speaker 1: should get at least one more match announced tomorrow. Every
Speaker 1: one of these shows that they've done so far has
Speaker 1: had no less than four matches. Some of them have
Speaker 1: had five. Right now we have three. So it could
Speaker 1: be an Intercontinental title match between aj Styles and Dominique
Speaker 1: Mysterio because that match was bumped from the night of
Speaker 1: champions Card, so we still have to get that one.
Speaker 1: If it happens, I'm picking dom to retain. But there's
Speaker 1: also the women's Intercontinental title after Bailey and Lyra Valkyria
Speaker 1: went to a draw on Monday to decide a number
Speaker 1: one contender, So it looks like we're getting a triple
Speaker 1: threat match very soon with all three women. I was
Speaker 1: thinking at evolution, but it could happen here because right
Speaker 1: now we have no women's matches on the Saturday show.
Speaker 1: I figured they're all saving them for Sunday, but if
Speaker 1: they wanted to have one, that would be the one.
Speaker 1: And if the match does happen, Becky retains. Drew McIntyre
Speaker 1: returned on SmackDown Friday night, which is back to two hours.
Speaker 1: By the way, can I get a hallelujah? We've got
Speaker 1: two hour Smackdowns back. I thought SmackDown was a fucking
Speaker 1: bore on Friday, but think of how much worse it
Speaker 1: would have been at three hours instead of two. McIntyre
Speaker 1: showing up, though, was one of the few highlights of
Speaker 1: that show. He interrupted a Cody Rhodes Randy Orton segment
Speaker 1: where Orton acknowledged that he hesitated in their match at
Speaker 1: Night of Champions and the King of the Ring Final.
Speaker 1: He's gonna go deliver the punt kick, and he had
Speaker 1: a moment where he just couldn't bring himself to do it.
Speaker 1: He hesitated. Cody took advantage, so now he wants Cody
Speaker 1: to make sure he goes to SummerSlam and he kicks
Speaker 1: John Cena his ass and maybe if Cody fails to do,
Speaker 1: so that could be the catalyst for Randy to drop
Speaker 1: him with an RKO. Right, you beat me just to
Speaker 1: go to SummerSlam and lose, you wasted it. He's like
Speaker 1: Abby in the Last of Us, I let you live
Speaker 1: and you wasted it. That could be Randy Orton, but
Speaker 1: McIntyre mocked Orton for basically going soft, said the legend
Speaker 1: Killer is dead, and then he ate an RKA for
Speaker 1: his troubles and he got nick. All this McIntyre did
Speaker 1: to make the match for Saturday night's main event. It'll
Speaker 1: be McIntyre against Randy Orton. Not really a match that
Speaker 1: either man can afford to lose, but it's Drew McIntyre
Speaker 1: and Randy Orton, so I mean they're pretty much bulletproof,
Speaker 1: especially Orton. But I think it works better if McIntyre wins.
Speaker 1: He just came back. It works better if he wins anyway,
Speaker 1: because it only drives Orton that much closer to the
Speaker 1: edge of the cliff. So Drew McIntyre is my pick
Speaker 1: to win. Speaking of returns, we had one on Raw
Speaker 1: Monday night, La night he returned. He brawled with Seth
Speaker 1: Rollins up on the concourse even threw popcorn on him.
Speaker 1: Rolin threw a drink at night and then made his escape.
Speaker 1: So now La Knight will wrestle Seth Rawlins and La
Speaker 1: Knight will lose. Because I cannot see Seth Rollins losing
Speaker 1: this match. I think Rollins may be the one to
Speaker 1: break the money in the bank curse. How many money
Speaker 1: in the bank winners traditionally have won the briefcase only
Speaker 1: to go on to be booked into oblivion and lose
Speaker 1: every match. Ah, well, it's fine, they have the briefcase
Speaker 1: and we could just beat him. I don't think that's
Speaker 1: gonna happen with Seth, not when he's leading the new
Speaker 1: top heel faction in the company. I don't know what
Speaker 1: that means for the future of La Knight, who should
Speaker 1: be moved over to Raw permanently. But Bronson Reid and
Speaker 1: bron Breaker will get involved. Knight will eat a stomp
Speaker 1: at the end of this Seth Rollins is the predicted
Speaker 1: winner here. Will it be this match? Will this match
Speaker 1: be the match that jesse vent Ra does commentary for?
Speaker 1: Is this the match where jesse vent Or will get
Speaker 1: upset with the referees and competence that seems to be
Speaker 1: a running theme here on these Saturday Night's main event shows.
Speaker 1: Which match will they have him doing commentary for? Maybe
Speaker 1: the main event? The main event will be the shortest
Speaker 1: of all the matches, so maybe they'll save Jesse for
Speaker 1: that one. But in that main event, we have Gunther
Speaker 1: defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Goldberg in what will
Speaker 1: be Goldberg's retirement match. He has said that his son Gauge,
Speaker 1: will walk him to the ring here in his adopted
Speaker 1: hometown of Atlanta. He should get a mostly positive reaction.
Speaker 1: You can't rule out the possibility of some boo birds
Speaker 1: or cheers for Gunther, but I do think that he'll
Speaker 1: get a good reaction here in Atlanta. What we will
Speaker 1: get out of him in the ring, that is the question.
Speaker 1: He is fifty eight years old. He is in much
Speaker 1: better shape than probably most fifty eight year olds. Still
Speaker 1: keeps himself in good shape. But being in good shape
Speaker 1: and being in ring shape, especially at that age, are
Speaker 1: two different things. And he has been very open on
Speaker 1: his podcast about the number of injuries and setbacks that
Speaker 1: he has suffered during training for this one match. Hasn't
Speaker 1: had a match in three years, you know, the older
Speaker 1: you get, the more time you go without being in
Speaker 1: the ring and taking bumps, that's not a good thing,
Speaker 1: you know. Kurt Angle talked about that. It's one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why. And Kurt Angle wasn't quite as old
Speaker 1: as Goldberg was when he came back to WWE, but
Speaker 1: it's why he went to Vince and said, look, I
Speaker 1: want to wrestle, and Vince was like, no, I want
Speaker 1: you to be the general manager and do that for
Speaker 1: a year and then we could talk about you getting
Speaker 1: back in the ring. Because Kurt knew like, if I'm
Speaker 1: not in the ring and I'm not active on a
Speaker 1: regular basis, you know, my body is just going to
Speaker 1: stiffen up. And that's exactly what happened. He said, when
Speaker 1: I finally came back to the ring and Vince had
Speaker 1: me doing stuff in the ring, sometimes it looked like
Speaker 1: he could barely move, because that's what happens when you're
Speaker 1: just not active in that way. Goldberg is somebody who
Speaker 1: obviously trains very hard and probably is harder on himself
Speaker 1: than he needs to be, and so on his body physically,
Speaker 1: that's not necessarily a good thing. So I think that
Speaker 1: there's a reason to be concerned when he goes on
Speaker 1: these different shows and says, yeah, you know, I have
Speaker 1: a knee that I can't even run on because I'm
Speaker 1: in pain and I hurt this and I did that
Speaker 1: in training. I went overboard on this. I don't know
Speaker 1: what we're gonna get here in this match. This does
Speaker 1: not need to go longer than five minutes at the most,
Speaker 1: and it may not even last that long. There doesn't
Speaker 1: need to be a single commercial break during this match.
Speaker 1: They should be able to fit the entire thing into
Speaker 1: one segment. After the entrances are done, all Goldberg has
Speaker 1: to do is a few quick power moves, sell for
Speaker 1: a little bit. I know that's not his forte, but
Speaker 1: sell for a little bit and hit a spear. That's it.
Speaker 1: Maybe try for a jackhammer gun through those slips behind
Speaker 1: him into the choke and you go to the finish
Speaker 1: from there. I don't know if they're gonna have Goldberg
Speaker 1: lose his retirement match in a sleeper hole, because that's
Speaker 1: too close to how he lost to Roman Reigns in
Speaker 1: his last match in the guillotine when Roman put him out.
Speaker 1: But that is all this match needs to be. Bill
Speaker 1: Goldberg should not under any circumstances, beat Gunther. Bill Golden
Speaker 1: should not, under any circumstances hold a World championship ever. Again,
Speaker 1: that ship has sailed. It should have been over after
Speaker 1: that last match with brock Lesner. That would have been
Speaker 1: the perfect match for him to go out on defending
Speaker 1: the title at WrestleMania. They had a six minute sprint
Speaker 1: with each other. It was great. They avenged their horrible
Speaker 1: WrestleMania twenty match. What a way to go out. But
Speaker 1: here we are, and so we have to just get
Speaker 1: past this to get to Summer Slim. They did a
Speaker 1: segment on Raw Monday Night where Seth Rollins came out
Speaker 1: to confront Gunther and then see M Punk came out
Speaker 1: and he fought with Rollins, who bailed into the crowd,
Speaker 1: and when Punk went to go leave, Gunther grabbed him
Speaker 1: by the arm and Punk shoved him down on his
Speaker 1: ass and he warned him stay out of my business.
Speaker 1: Felt to me like the perfect setup to a triple
Speaker 1: threat match at SummerSlam. You know, if Rollins loses, he
Speaker 1: still has the briefcase that he can cash in Gunther
Speaker 1: against Punk or Gunther against Punk against Rolins. That should
Speaker 1: be the night one main event for SummerSlam. I don't
Speaker 1: want to see Goldberg win the title here just to
Speaker 1: drop the belt to Seth Rollins immediately after on the
Speaker 1: cash in. Goldberg should not be Gunther. That's it, and
Speaker 1: I say that he won't. I don't believe he will.
Speaker 1: Gunther will retain the championship and Goldberg will have a
Speaker 1: nice send off at the very end, and his son
Speaker 1: could come into the ring to celebrate with him. He
Speaker 1: could wave goodbye to all the fans and he rides
Speaker 1: off into the sunset. Now, I will say this, if
Speaker 1: Seth Rollins loses to La Knight on this show, then
Speaker 1: I think for sure he's cashing it at the end
Speaker 1: of this match, whether Goldberg wins first or he turns
Speaker 1: it into a triple threat like WrestleMania at thirty one.
Speaker 1: If Rollins loses to La Night, He's totally cashing in
Speaker 1: at the end of the show. And if Rollins loses tonight,
Speaker 1: Knight would have to get the title match at Summerslim
Speaker 1: because he would have a win over Seth Rollins. I
Speaker 1: just don't see that happening though. No Cody Roads on
Speaker 1: the show, but he was in the news this week.
Speaker 1: There was a Deadline Dot report confirming his role in
Speaker 1: the upcoming Street Fighter movie. He's going to be playing Gile.
Speaker 1: Gile is an Air Force pilot, hence the sonic boom.
Speaker 1: That's where that comes from. The cast for this movie
Speaker 1: is just it's something else. I mean, I already went
Speaker 1: through some of the names. It was the last week
Speaker 1: of the week before when I mentioned Roman. Fifty cent
Speaker 1: is in this thing, and so as Roman reigns, he
Speaker 1: has already been cast as a Kuma. This is not
Speaker 1: the place I was expecting to get Cody Roman Part three,
Speaker 1: but here we are. Cody is expected to take some
Speaker 1: time off after SummerSlam to film production begins next month
Speaker 1: in Australia. What does that mean for his chances of
Speaker 1: beating John Cena at SummerSlam or beating him and then
Speaker 1: maybe getting cashed in on I don't know. I don't
Speaker 1: think that this for sure means he's not winning the title.
Speaker 1: Maybe they'll only need him for a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Like liv Morgan with that Bad Lieutenant movie she filmed,
Speaker 1: she was gone for a few weeks. She wasn't gone
Speaker 1: for very long. But I have no opinion one way
Speaker 1: or the other on Cody being cast because I've never
Speaker 1: seen him act before in a movie. I think he's
Speaker 1: done some TV work on that Stephen Emmel Show, but
Speaker 1: i've never seen him in a movie. I know he's
Speaker 1: got a cameo in the new Naked Gun movie that's
Speaker 1: coming out with Liam Neeson, which I don't think is
Speaker 1: out yet. I haven't seen it, but I have no
Speaker 1: opinion one way or the other or how much dialogue
Speaker 1: Guile might have in the movie. But that's what he'll
Speaker 1: be doing now. Speaking of Saturday Nights main event, John
Speaker 1: Cena this week confirmed that his retirement match will take
Speaker 1: place sometime in mid December, but he claims that they're
Speaker 1: still trying to find a place for it. About a
Speaker 1: month ago, there was a TV station in Boston that
Speaker 1: did a story unseen his retirement. I think they even
Speaker 1: interviewed his father for it, and at the very end
Speaker 1: of the segment when they came back to the anchor
Speaker 1: in studio, they just kind of casually mentioned that the
Speaker 1: match would happen in December at the TD Garden Arena
Speaker 1: in Boston. Mid day December is when they did Saturday
Speaker 1: Night's main event last year, so it looks like a
Speaker 1: mid December retirement match in Boston, very likely on Saturday
Speaker 1: Night's main event, which would be very disappointing because that
Speaker 1: just means his final match is going to be littered
Speaker 1: with commercials and that just feels wrong. See Goldberg is
Speaker 1: having his retirement match on Saturday Nights main event. But
Speaker 1: like I said, Goldberg's matches are three minutes long, so
Speaker 1: you could fit the entire thing into one segment. This
Speaker 1: is different, but it's looking like that's probably what it's
Speaker 1: gonna end up being. Now. Evolution two is next Sunday.
Speaker 1: Big gap between Evolution one and Evolution two about seven years,
Speaker 1: but it is next Sunday with a seven o'clock Eastern
Speaker 1: start time. We've got six matches announced, including a Battle
Speaker 1: Royal with the winner receiving a championship match at Clash
Speaker 1: in Paris, which is coming up at the end of August.
Speaker 1: This is how they get some more legends in there.
Speaker 1: Nicky Bella will probably be in there. She was going
Speaker 1: to do something with Live Morgan. Live Morgan got hurt,
Speaker 1: and again I want to mention that real quick because
Speaker 1: Live Morgan supposedly was factored into this show in a
Speaker 1: major way. So whatever she was going to do with
Speaker 1: Nicky Bello, whether it was going to be one on
Speaker 1: one or if they were going to do a tag
Speaker 1: team title match with both Bella's challenging Live and Raquel.
Speaker 1: Liv was going to have a role on this show
Speaker 1: that does not have anything to do I have. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to give WWE a pass if they had
Speaker 1: plans for the show that had to slightly be adjusted
Speaker 1: because one person got hurt. So I don't want to
Speaker 1: hear people using that as an excuse. If it's like, well,
Speaker 1: you know the show kind of feels slapped together at
Speaker 1: the last minute, it's because Live Morgan got hurt. No,
Speaker 1: it slapped together at the last minute without a whole
Speaker 1: lot of thought being put into it, because that's the
Speaker 1: way it was conceived. Has nothing to do with Live
Speaker 1: Morgan getting hurt, although it did force some plans for
Speaker 1: the show to be changed. So we don't know what
Speaker 1: Nicky Bella is going to be doing. This would be
Speaker 1: the most likely scenario, just having her at least her,
Speaker 1: if not her sister in this Battle Royal. Sure, she's
Speaker 1: going to be on the show. Still, Stephanie Viquier is
Speaker 1: in there. I know that, and without knowing who the
Speaker 1: other names are going to be. Stephanie is my pick
Speaker 1: to win this. At least there's something of importance at stake.
Speaker 1: It's not just the Battle Royal for the sake of
Speaker 1: having a Battle Royal and getting as many people on
Speaker 1: the show as possible. There is something of value that
Speaker 1: is on the line here, so these women should be
Speaker 1: fighting for it like it's the most important thing in
Speaker 1: the world. I think Stephanie takes it. Jade Cargill gets
Speaker 1: Naomi in a no holds barred match. This is a
Speaker 1: rematch from WrestleMania, which Jade won. Naomi has the money
Speaker 1: in the bank briefcase, which in their eyes means that
Speaker 1: she can lose. Jade just one queen of the Ring.
Speaker 1: She's the one challenging for the women's title at SummerSlam.
Speaker 1: I can't see her losing here, especially because I think
Speaker 1: when Naomi does cash in, it's gonna end up screwing
Speaker 1: Jade over in some way anyway. So I'm picking Jade
Speaker 1: to win. Question is do we see Bianca bel Air
Speaker 1: getting involved here in some way? She may not be
Speaker 1: physically cleared to wrestle yet, but is she going to
Speaker 1: be there and is she going to factor into this
Speaker 1: match in some form or fashion. Roxanne Perez is officially
Speaker 1: one half of the Women's Tag Team Champions after Finn
Speaker 1: Balor lobbied for her to replace liv Morgan, which Adam
Speaker 1: Pierce and Nick Aldis agree to, but they also said
Speaker 1: that they would have to defend those titles in a
Speaker 1: fatal four way match against one team from Raw, one
Speaker 1: team from SmackDown, and one team from NXT. As I
Speaker 1: am recording this, we only know of Charlotte Flair and
Speaker 1: Alexa Bliss. They will be repping SmackDown on the Raw
Speaker 1: side of things. I'm thinking it'll end up being Oscar
Speaker 1: and Kyrie Sane most likely, and from NXT we're looking
Speaker 1: at either Soul, Ruka and Zaria or the other two
Speaker 1: members of Fatal Influence. Either way, I think the Judgment
Speaker 1: day retains save the Charlotte and Alexa win for another day,
Speaker 1: maybe Summer Slim, because I do see them winning the
Speaker 1: women's tag team titles, just not on this show. J C.
Speaker 1: Jane is the other member of Fatal Influence. She is
Speaker 1: the NXT Women's Champion. She will be defending that title
Speaker 1: against the winner of the Evolution Eliminator tournament. Jordan Grace.
Speaker 1: I love how Sean Michaels sets up this entire tournament
Speaker 1: to crown a number one contender while on the main roster,
Speaker 1: the GMS are just letting the champions come out the
Speaker 1: week before and just pick the person they want to
Speaker 1: defend the title against. Yeah, they said I could pick
Speaker 1: my opponent. I choose, Like they're fucking pokemonors, so I
Speaker 1: choose you. Grace is teaming with Blake Monroe the night
Speaker 1: before at the Great American Bash to take on Fatal Influence.
Speaker 1: Here's my prediction. I think the baby Faces are going
Speaker 1: to win on Saturday, and because of that, Ja C.
Speaker 1: Jane is going to retain her title on Sunday. I
Speaker 1: don't think they're gonna put the championship on Jordan Grace.
Speaker 1: I just feel like she's she's probably main roster bound
Speaker 1: sooner rather than later. And I also feel like when
Speaker 1: Blake Monroe wins the championship, it's going to be off
Speaker 1: of j C. Jane, It's not going to be off
Speaker 1: of Jordan Grace. So I'm actually gonna go with jac
Speaker 1: which is I would imagine that's probably not the popular opinion,
Speaker 1: but I think she's going to find a way to
Speaker 1: retain that title. On Sunday, Tiffany Stratton defends the WWE
Speaker 1: Women's Championship against the Hall of Famer Trish Stratus. It's
Speaker 1: a way to get Trisha on the show in a
Speaker 1: marquee match. It will be her first singles match since
Speaker 1: Payback in twenty twenty three inside of Steel Cage against
Speaker 1: Becky Lynch, which, by the way, was the best match
Speaker 1: of her career if you take off the rose colored
Speaker 1: glasses for Days gone by, Trish has never had a
Speaker 1: better match than the match she had at Payback against
Speaker 1: Becky Lynch. But she was in there with Ben and
Speaker 1: that was paying off a month's long feud between the
Speaker 1: two of them. This is being thrown together a week
Speaker 1: before the show with no real story to speak of,
Speaker 1: and Tiffany Stratton is not Becky Lynch, so it's a
Speaker 1: crap shoot here as far as match quality. But Tris's
Speaker 1: showed that she still got it in her to have
Speaker 1: a great one, and I hope they go out there
Speaker 1: and do. She has absolutely no chance of winning the title,
Speaker 1: so Tiffany is retaining and in what should be the
Speaker 1: main event, Eo Sky defends her Women's World Championship against
Speaker 1: Rhea Ripley. We are not getting a title change on
Speaker 1: the SmackDown side, but I think we get one on
Speaker 1: the raw side. EO already holds two wins over Ria
Speaker 1: this year, the match on Raw where she won the title,
Speaker 1: and again in the triple Threat match at WrestleMania. Ria
Speaker 1: has been out of the title picture ever since. She's
Speaker 1: one of the biggest stars in the entire company, and
Speaker 1: we are heading into their second biggest show of the year.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna want that title back around her waist.
Speaker 1: I would like for EO to get some more time
Speaker 1: with it, but I think her time is up. And
Speaker 1: the only real question I have is do they want
Speaker 1: Ria Ripley to go into Perth as the champion or
Speaker 1: do they want her to go in as the challenger
Speaker 1: to win the title there because Crown Jewel is coming
Speaker 1: to Perth, Australia in October. Now. The last time they
Speaker 1: brought a PLA to Perth it was Elimination Chamber last
Speaker 1: year and Rha main evented the show as the defending
Speaker 1: champion against Naya Jacks. It's hard for me to imagine
Speaker 1: her losing here and then losing again at SummerSlam just
Speaker 1: to get us to October so they could do a
Speaker 1: title change on that show. I think there's a better
Speaker 1: chance she goes into that show as the champion, but
Speaker 1: that's the only thing I'm unsure of is just the
Speaker 1: timing of it. Maybe they want her big crowning moment
Speaker 1: to be there, but I just am trying to see
Speaker 1: the vision of how we hold off and get there
Speaker 1: and then what she in the meantime. So I I'm
Speaker 1: predicting a rear Ripley title win here in the main
Speaker 1: event of this show. And again, it looks like we're
Speaker 1: gonna get a triple threat match very soon with Becky
Speaker 1: Lynch defending her Intercontinental title against Bailey and Lyra Valkyria.
Speaker 1: Whether it happens on Saturday Night's main event or it
Speaker 1: happens on the Evolution card. Either way, I think we
Speaker 1: do get it next weekend, and if we do, I've
Speaker 1: got Becky Lynch retaining, so if anything changes with the card,
Speaker 1: I will run through it all over again next week,
Speaker 1: because we do have one more sound off before the show,
Speaker 1: and then I will be live on YouTube for the
Speaker 1: post show next Sunday. You get a daytime podcast and
Speaker 1: a Nightcap Lucky You. This week's episode is sponsored by
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Speaker 1: Solo Monster. There was a report this week regarding former
Speaker 1: AW Women's World Champion Britt Baker, who has not been
Speaker 1: seen on AW television since her win over Penelope Ford
Speaker 1: on Dynamite. That was in November. That was the match
Speaker 1: where when it was over, Serena Deeb walked out on
Speaker 1: stage while Britt stood in the ring saying nobody cares
Speaker 1: about Deeb over and over again. Way to bury your
Speaker 1: opponent or would be opponent, because we never got a
Speaker 1: match between those two. Britt just disappeared. She only worked
Speaker 1: a total of five matches all of last year, including
Speaker 1: that terrible match with Mercedes at All in the one
Speaker 1: Black Mark on Mercedes Run so Far in the ring,
Speaker 1: and that's after she was suspended the month before and
Speaker 1: taking off TV for a week or two for the
Speaker 1: backstage incident with MJF. Controversy always seems to follow this
Speaker 1: woman around. This week was no different. She shared a
Speaker 1: quote on her Instagram from Kobe Simmons. Kobe Simmons is
Speaker 1: a basketball player. It said, a bottle of water can
Speaker 1: be one dollar at a supermarket. You know what supermarket
Speaker 1: are you shopping at? One dollar at a supermarket, three
Speaker 1: dollars at the gym, five dollars at the movies, six
Speaker 1: dollars on a plane. Same water. The only thing that
Speaker 1: changed its value was the place. So next time you
Speaker 1: feel your worth is nothing, maybe you're at the wrong place.
Speaker 1: So naturally, this got a lot of people talking and
Speaker 1: making assumptions that she was referring to being unhappy with
Speaker 1: her position in aw and teasing that maybe she needs
Speaker 1: to go somewhere else that would appreciate the value that
Speaker 1: she brings, which, you know, give the fact that she's
Speaker 1: been off television and hasn't even been mentioned for eight months,
Speaker 1: I think is a fair assumption to make. When you
Speaker 1: assume things, you know many times you can be wrong.
Speaker 1: We all do it. But this is one of those
Speaker 1: cases where you have a wrestler posting something that they
Speaker 1: know they know is going to come off as cryptic,
Speaker 1: and they know it's going to get people talking naturally,
Speaker 1: because no one's been talking about them, so this will
Speaker 1: get people talking about them. They're doing it on purpose,
Speaker 1: they know what they're doing. But then sometimes they'll also
Speaker 1: call the fans out for making assumptions and being wrong
Speaker 1: that Britt hasn't said anything. She hasn't commented on anything
Speaker 1: that was reported about her this week, but it's a
Speaker 1: story that I have seen play out multiple times over
Speaker 1: the years and it just drives me nuts. So I
Speaker 1: certainly hope that she doesn't pull something like that where
Speaker 1: she'll start lashing out at people for making assumptions. But
Speaker 1: on the heels of that, there was a report from
Speaker 1: bodyslam dot net that reads as follows, Britt Baker is
Speaker 1: actively seeking to part ways with AW. This would align
Speaker 1: with what fans have speculated based on her recent social
Speaker 1: media activity. As things currently stand, AW isn't looking to
Speaker 1: release Baker from her contract. The internal belief is that
Speaker 1: they don't want any upcoming WWE Pittsburgh shows to be announced,
Speaker 1: as well as Evolution to pass before letting anything move forward.
Speaker 1: We're told that Britt Fields there's nothing left keeping her
Speaker 1: in AAW, pointing to burn Bridges in a sense that
Speaker 1: the environment has changed around her. Whether this ends with
Speaker 1: a quiet release or something louder, the door appears closer
Speaker 1: to shut than ever before. But wait, here comes Mike
Speaker 1: Johnson of PW Insider with the following, somehow Baker sharing
Speaker 1: an Internet meme has spark speculation and reports that she
Speaker 1: is looking to leave the company. We are told by
Speaker 1: multiple sources that that is incorrect. While there is currently
Speaker 1: no word on when Baker will return to AW programming,
Speaker 1: Pwncie can confirm that there have been no discussions about
Speaker 1: Baker exiting the company, asking for a release, or even
Speaker 1: being close to contractually free. There is nothing to see here.
Speaker 1: Brian Alvarez also noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that from
Speaker 1: what he has heard, there has been absolutely no change
Speaker 1: in anything. He said. I heard, she's still got time
Speaker 1: left on her deal, and there's been nothing new in
Speaker 1: terms of coming back, nothing new in terms of imminently leaving,
Speaker 1: so it appears nothing is going on right now. Dave
Speaker 1: Meltzer added that when he asked, no one has confirmed
Speaker 1: or denied her wanting to go to WWE, but those
Speaker 1: in aw don't think that there is anything to it.
Speaker 1: I don't know why Britt Baker was taken off TV
Speaker 1: in November. They were clearly building to a match between
Speaker 1: her and Serena deeb. Was it a case of again
Speaker 1: her mouthing the comments that she did on camera and
Speaker 1: it just soured Tony Kahan on doing anything with her.
Speaker 1: I don't know, all I have on my own two
Speaker 1: eyes and ears, and her saying no one cares came
Speaker 1: off as really disrespectful and not very helpful if you're
Speaker 1: trying to build a feud between two people. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying it was going to light the world on fire,
Speaker 1: and it certainly wasn't for the Women's Championship or anything.
Speaker 1: It wasn't going to be a main event program, but
Speaker 1: it was. It was something for her to do. It
Speaker 1: was a veteran talent for her to work with, and
Speaker 1: it didn't seem like she was terribly interested in doing so.
Speaker 1: Is that why she was taken off TV? I don't know,
Speaker 1: but it's as good of an explanation as I can
Speaker 1: come up with. Brit was out for a very long
Speaker 1: time with a bad back, but there was no indication
Speaker 1: at the time that she was hurt again and needed
Speaker 1: time off or any kind of injury. But there have
Speaker 1: been issues with her in the past that have caused
Speaker 1: some drama, and it's drama that AW does not need.
Speaker 1: It is drama that WWE does not need either. And
Speaker 1: as far as the idea of Britt Baker going to WWE,
Speaker 1: WWE does not need Britt Baker. Brit Baker might want
Speaker 1: to go there, you know, she may need them more
Speaker 1: than they need her. I'm sure they would. Look. I'm
Speaker 1: sure WWE would be more than happy to take her
Speaker 1: if she became available, because she's a former AEW Women's
Speaker 1: World Champion. Any chance that they can stick it to AW,
Speaker 1: they will take it so that fifty people in the
Speaker 1: performance center can chant Tony Fumbold, So I don't doubt
Speaker 1: that they would have interest in signing her. You know,
Speaker 1: Britt would be the third former world champion from AAW
Speaker 1: that they would sign, after Cody Rhodes and Mariah May.
Speaker 1: But when you see how stacked they are in that
Speaker 1: women's division, not only on Ron's SmackDown, but with NXT
Speaker 1: and LFG and Evolve, they do not need Britt Baker.
Speaker 1: Brit Baker is not going to be a difference maker
Speaker 1: for them, and even in aw you know, what essentially
Speaker 1: happened is that the women's division moved beyond Britain Baker.
Speaker 1: You know, their division looked very different now than it
Speaker 1: did when Britt Baker was the queen bee there. It's
Speaker 1: much it's a much stronger division now than it was then.
Speaker 1: In ring, she's very hit or miss. I've seen her
Speaker 1: have some really good matches and I've seen her have
Speaker 1: her share of not so good matches. She can talk,
Speaker 1: she's got charisma, she's got a name, and I think
Speaker 1: there's definitely value in that, but not so much so
Speaker 1: that I think if she were to become available wwe
Speaker 1: should be rolling out the red carpet to sign her.
Speaker 1: So we don't know how Britt really feels outside of
Speaker 1: a cryptic meme that she posted, but one can safely
Speaker 1: assume that sitting at home for eight months with no
Speaker 1: one talking about her, that's not the way that she
Speaker 1: envisioned her career path going when she came back off
Speaker 1: the injured list, because again, she missed a long time
Speaker 1: with an injury, so you would think that she would
Speaker 1: be just chopping at the bit to get back into
Speaker 1: the mix, and that just didn't happen, and now here
Speaker 1: we are eight months later of nothing again. She would
Speaker 1: like to be back in the mix, absolutely, she would
Speaker 1: like to be back on television. She would like to
Speaker 1: be part of their big stadium show in Texas next weekend.
Speaker 1: And you know what, maybe she will be. They've got
Speaker 1: that Casino Gauntlet match. Maybe she returns in the Gauntlet
Speaker 1: as a surprise entrant. But this is potentially a Ricky
Speaker 1: Stark situation all over again, or Ray Phoenix or any
Speaker 1: number of people that have been unhappy and have wanted
Speaker 1: out again, if this report is to be believed that
Speaker 1: had been unhappy and wanted out of aw before because
Speaker 1: they weren't being used. If this woman does want out,
Speaker 1: and I know what p W Insider said, and Alvarez says,
Speaker 1: has been no change in this and that the fact
Speaker 1: that she may have a ton of time left under
Speaker 1: contract and Tony Khan may not be willing to let
Speaker 1: go of her doesn't necessarily mean that she isn't unhappy.
Speaker 1: If this woman wants out, and if Tony Khan has
Speaker 1: no plans to use her, then they should work out
Speaker 1: some sort of really that is fair to both sides.
Speaker 1: I have been consistent on this. If the promoter has
Speaker 1: no plans to use the talent contract or not, the
Speaker 1: talent should not be forced to sit home twiddling their
Speaker 1: thumbs getting paid to do nothing. Now, I would imagine
Speaker 1: that if Britt wanted to work indie shows, she would
Speaker 1: have the ability to do so, as most AW talents do.
Speaker 1: She would just have to clear it with talent relations
Speaker 1: and with their legal team first. Britt has not worked
Speaker 1: any indie shows in the last eight months. She hasn't
Speaker 1: worked an independence show in three years. If she wants
Speaker 1: to work, she can work. If she just wanted to wrestle,
Speaker 1: I don't see any reason that she wouldn't be able
Speaker 1: to do so, since it clearly would not conflict with
Speaker 1: her AAW schedule. Let me check my little black book
Speaker 1: here and see if Tony's got me booked. No, she's
Speaker 1: got a wide open schedule. But I'll never understand, you know,
Speaker 1: paying someone that much money, because I'm sure she's making
Speaker 1: good money. I'll just never understand paying somebody that much
Speaker 1: money just to bench them and not get a return
Speaker 1: on your investment. What is Tony Khan getting out of
Speaker 1: her at this point. If he's not using her, if
Speaker 1: she really wants out, I think that she should sit
Speaker 1: down with Tony and try to work something out on
Speaker 1: that front. And if she doesn't want out, then this
Speaker 1: is all much ado about nothing and she can continue
Speaker 1: to sit home and rob Tony Khan blind. He seems
Speaker 1: to be okay with it, so I mean, what the hell.
Speaker 1: But that's the update on Britt Baker. She's not leaving
Speaker 1: AW anytime soon. Dynamite celebrated three hundred episodes on Wednesday
Speaker 1: night and had a really strong show, definitely better than
Speaker 1: that borfest on Friday night, carried primarily by the matches,
Speaker 1: including an excellent main event between Kazushka Okata and Koda Ibushi,
Speaker 1: their first match in nearly four years. A return to
Speaker 1: form for Abushie is what it was, and we had
Speaker 1: the return of Kenny Omega when it was over coming
Speaker 1: out with a chair to make the save for his
Speaker 1: old partner. I saw where Konan on his podcast criticized
Speaker 1: AW for not bringing Ibushie back last week to save
Speaker 1: Kenny Omega, that he should have been brought back directly
Speaker 1: in something with Omega and they should have done a
Speaker 1: Golden Lovers reunion. You know, for someone with as much
Speaker 1: experience in creative in a creative role as this guy
Speaker 1: has had, you would think he would be smarter than that.
Speaker 1: How did he not see where they were going with this?
Speaker 1: If you would have just waited one week, like, it
Speaker 1: was pretty clear to me what they were doing when
Speaker 1: they brought Ibushi back. Look, they brought Abushie back on Collision.
Speaker 1: It was out of nowhere, It was completely out of
Speaker 1: left field, but it was pretty apparent what we were
Speaker 1: going to be getting on this three hundred episode. Bringing
Speaker 1: Abushie back for Omega to make the save. Omega making
Speaker 1: the save is what made the most sense because Omega
Speaker 1: is the one that needs to be strong going into
Speaker 1: All In because it's Kenny Omega's match at All In,
Speaker 1: It's not Abushie's match, so having Gabushi come to make
Speaker 1: the safe for Omega doesn't really make any sense. You
Speaker 1: wanted Kenny Omega to come back because he's been off
Speaker 1: TV for a few weeks to make the safe for Abushi,
Speaker 1: which is exactly what they did, and that's what they
Speaker 1: should have done, despite whatever Konan may have to say
Speaker 1: about it. But let's do a preview for the All
Speaker 1: In Texas card next weekend, and I will incorporate some
Speaker 1: of the key things that happened on Dynamite this week
Speaker 1: as we go along here. All In Texas takes place
Speaker 1: this Saturday, July twelfth, from Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Speaker 1: A very hot and humid Arlington, Texas. Ninety three degrees
Speaker 1: is projected to be the high temperature on Saturday. I
Speaker 1: cannot imagine they open the roof for this show with
Speaker 1: weather like that. Globe Life has a retractable roof. It
Speaker 1: should be closed unless you want to be bunched up
Speaker 1: with twenty thousand sweaty wrestling fans, which sounds like an
Speaker 1: absolute nightmare. It will be their biggest North American show
Speaker 1: to date. Tony Kahn told TMZ Sports that they have
Speaker 1: sold over two point five million dollars worth of tickets
Speaker 1: and the gate will likely end up being over three
Speaker 1: million dollars when all is said and done. They've never
Speaker 1: even done two million before in the US, let alone three,
Speaker 1: so it's already a big success for them, even though
Speaker 1: it will by no means be full. They will have
Speaker 1: well north of twenty thousand fans in attendance. It starts
Speaker 1: at three pm Eastern Time, at the same time that
Speaker 1: NXT is running The Great American Bash. I've looked at
Speaker 1: that card for the Great American Bash. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: That card looks like ass. I mean, they're not even trying,
Speaker 1: literally just doing the show as a fuck you to
Speaker 1: aw and putting in the bare minimum effort. I will
Speaker 1: be on my way home from the House of Glory
Speaker 1: show in Texas that morning, so I should be home
Speaker 1: before the pay per view starts, and we'll be live
Speaker 1: on YouTube for the full review when it's over. More
Speaker 1: matches may be added this week, so this may not
Speaker 1: be the complete card, but the key matches are all
Speaker 1: accounted for, and Jim Ross is hoping to be on
Speaker 1: the call for at least a couple of matches on
Speaker 1: the show. He is cancer free now and was very
Speaker 1: much hoping to be there, so it'll be nice to
Speaker 1: hear his voice again for a match or two. On
Speaker 1: Collision last night, Claudio Castignoli issued a challenge to the
Speaker 1: ops to try to get back their trios titles at
Speaker 1: all in and it has not yet been made official,
Speaker 1: nor did he say who he and Wheeler Yuda would
Speaker 1: be tagging with because Pack has been out heard. I
Speaker 1: don't know if he's healed up or not. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's a pretty gnarly ankle injury and that only was
Speaker 1: a few months ago, so I'm not sure if he's
Speaker 1: cleared to come back yet or not. It could just
Speaker 1: be Pack returns. They could always trot out Gabe Kid
Speaker 1: from New Japan as their partner because he kind of
Speaker 1: had an alliance going there with John Moxley and the
Speaker 1: Death Riders for a bit. But they're going to be
Speaker 1: takes he On Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Katsiori Shibata.
Speaker 1: The match is obviously going to happen, even though it's
Speaker 1: not official yet, and when it does, I do believe
Speaker 1: that Hook will cost the Ops those trios titles. I
Speaker 1: was wondering if Hook may end up being the surprise
Speaker 1: partner for Claudio and Yuda. I don't really think that
Speaker 1: makes sense because if he's their partner and they win
Speaker 1: the time, I mean, I don't think Hook is joining
Speaker 1: the Death Riders, so I don't think he'll be the
Speaker 1: mystery partner. But I do think that he is going
Speaker 1: to cost them those titles. I think we're gonna have
Speaker 1: new champions We have men's and women's Casino Gonlin matches,
Speaker 1: with the winners earning a future world championship match. That's
Speaker 1: how they have phrased it. But last year you were
Speaker 1: able to cash in at any time, and I am
Speaker 1: so sick to death of the cash in anytime. Shit.
Speaker 1: I just wish we could toss it into a volcano
Speaker 1: for a year and just take a breather from it
Speaker 1: for a little bit. But it is what it is.
Speaker 1: I assume the rules will be the same this year.
Speaker 1: This is the first time they're doing a women's one
Speaker 1: on this show, and only the second one ever for
Speaker 1: the ladies. Typically there's up to twenty one participants, but
Speaker 1: the match can end at any time, so first pinfaller
Speaker 1: submission wins the match. We're not getting twenty one people
Speaker 1: out there for these. On the men's side, we know
Speaker 1: Mark Briscoe will enter at number one, and MJF with
Speaker 1: his win on Wednesday over Brody King, Anthony Bowens and
Speaker 1: ar Fox will enter at number two. We also know
Speaker 1: now that Mystico is in, and I think that Mystico
Speaker 1: is going to play a role in making sure MJF
Speaker 1: does not win the Casino Gauntlet, especially after the angle
Speaker 1: they shot at MLW a couple weeks ago where MJF
Speaker 1: came out and attacked Mystico again. That's the second time
Speaker 1: after he stole his mask at Grand Slam Mexico a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago. So I think Mystica will get a
Speaker 1: measure of revenge on him here that will prevent him
Speaker 1: from winning the Gauntlet. There's also usually a few surprises
Speaker 1: in there. I could see Switchblade Jay White being one
Speaker 1: of them. I would love to see an Eddie Kingston
Speaker 1: return here. I've been watching his training videos on cesar
Speaker 1: Bonani's YouTube channel. He's been helping him with his training
Speaker 1: in rehab, and he looks like he can be back
Speaker 1: at any time. He was out. God, the injury happened
Speaker 1: in April I think of last year, and it was
Speaker 1: multiple surgeries because it was his ACL and he broke it.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was a horrendous injury when he got hurt,
Speaker 1: but he was expected to be out for a year
Speaker 1: and now it's been over a year, so I feel
Speaker 1: like he could be back at any time, and I
Speaker 1: think it's going to happen here. That's who I'm going
Speaker 1: with to win the contract. I'm making a bold prediction here.
Speaker 1: He hasn't even been announced for the match, but Eddie
Speaker 1: Kingston returns and he wins the men's casino Gauntlet. Now
Speaker 1: on the women's side, we have Chris Statlander entering at
Speaker 1: number one and on Dynamite. This Wednesday, there will be
Speaker 1: a four to decide who enters at number two between
Speaker 1: Tecla ty Mellow, Queen am Nada, and Megan Bain. Tecla
Speaker 1: and Bain have been on the same team twice now.
Speaker 1: They've run these All Star Women's eight person tag team
Speaker 1: matches so lazy. They ran the same match on Collision
Speaker 1: twice in the last two weeks. Only they replaced Penelope
Speaker 1: Ford with Julia Hart in the one that aired last night. Here,
Speaker 1: Tecla and Bain, they will be adversaries. I think Tekla
Speaker 1: wins this she enters at number two. There are a
Speaker 1: few ex WWE names recently released. I don't know that
Speaker 1: their ninety days would allow them to appear here. I
Speaker 1: just I don't know the timeline here on like a
Speaker 1: Shana Basler or Dakota Kai. Offhand, I don't remember how
Speaker 1: long ago they were released. If their ninety days are
Speaker 1: up yet or not. It's possible their ninety days are
Speaker 1: not up. If they are, then I would expect to
Speaker 1: see probably one of them pop up here. I know
Speaker 1: there's been reports that A has an interest in Isla Dawn.
Speaker 1: Isla Down could be in there because she was released
Speaker 1: a lot earlier than that. I think she may have
Speaker 1: been released late last year, so I could see, you know,
Speaker 1: at least one of those names popping up in here.
Speaker 1: I hope Athena gets into this because it may be
Speaker 1: her only chance of getting on the card. I'm going
Speaker 1: with Meghan Bain to win the Gauntlet. I would say
Speaker 1: that if Tony Storm retains her title, Meghan Bain wins.
Speaker 1: If Mercedes wins the title, I would pick Willow Nightingale
Speaker 1: to win. But I'm gonna go with Meghan Bain as
Speaker 1: the winner of the women's Gauntlet. We have Adam Cole,
Speaker 1: the Collision Kid. He'll be defending his TNT championship against
Speaker 1: Kyle Fletcher, who beat danil Garcia last night on Collision
Speaker 1: to earn the shot. This is a rematch from the
Speaker 1: Dynamite after Double or Nothing, which is the match where
Speaker 1: Fletcher gave Cole that sickening power bomb on the Apron
Speaker 1: which supposedly got him heat backstage with some people. It
Speaker 1: was very, very stupid, but this should be time. Kyle
Speaker 1: Fletcher will leave Texas as the new TNT Champion. The
Speaker 1: title has never felt less important than it does right now,
Speaker 1: and it's been I don't want to just lay that
Speaker 1: all on, you know, Adam Cole or any one person.
Speaker 1: It's been that way for a while. Honestly. It goes
Speaker 1: back to when Jack Perry had the belt, and it
Speaker 1: got worse when Daniel Garcia won it, and it has
Speaker 1: not gotten much better with Adam Cole. They have done
Speaker 1: a good job of making something out of Kyle Fletcher.
Speaker 1: I think it is time to bring the gold home
Speaker 1: to the Kallus family and just try to restore that
Speaker 1: TNT title to some semblance of what it was before.
Speaker 1: It just does not feel as important as it used to.
Speaker 1: The Hurt Syndicate Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin. They will
Speaker 1: defend the aw Tag team titles against Speedball, Mike Bailey
Speaker 1: and Kevin Knight. The team of Jet Speed, as well
Speaker 1: as the Patriarchy Christian Cage and Nick Wayne have been
Speaker 1: added to this match. It's been a very odd build
Speaker 1: to this match. The challengers in the form of Jet Speed,
Speaker 1: have been destroyed by the Hurt Syndicate at every turn,
Speaker 1: at least on Collision. Last night, in that triple threat match,
Speaker 1: it was Shelton, Benjamin, Kevin Knight, and Nick Wayne. They
Speaker 1: actually gave the win to Kevin Knight and he pinned
Speaker 1: Shelton to do it. But it's almost like too little,
Speaker 1: too late. I mean, they have just been destroyed at
Speaker 1: every turn. The story is that they're scrappy. They're the
Speaker 1: scrappy underdogs that just will never die. They don't know
Speaker 1: how to say I quit. They keep coming back. Thank you, sir,
Speaker 1: May I have another? But it has done very little
Speaker 1: to make me see them as credible challengers for the titles.
Speaker 1: Every week it seems like MVP is on the microphone begging,
Speaker 1: literally begging other teams to step up, come out challenge us,
Speaker 1: and outside of these two guys, nobody ever does.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 1: There was talk of adding Christian and Nick Wayne to
Speaker 1: the match, and now they have done so. Now they've
Speaker 1: made it official. Christian and MVP, I know they had
Speaker 1: an interaction on Collision recently, an MVP warned Christian that
Speaker 1: they wouldn't be losing their titles to the patriarchy. You know,
Speaker 1: FTR beat the Outrunners on Collision last night. They have
Speaker 1: no match for Saturday, so I thought, if anything, if
Speaker 1: you're going to add more teams to this, you make
Speaker 1: it a four way and you add FTR because there's
Speaker 1: a story that you could work into this if you
Speaker 1: would have added FTR to the match. Now, I'm still
Speaker 1: picking Lashly and Benjamin to retain no matter what. I
Speaker 1: think that the Hurt Syndicate will walk out with those
Speaker 1: tag team titles. But you know, you have one team
Speaker 1: that causes the other to lose. We could have gotten
Speaker 1: an FTR beat down on Christian and Nick Wayne after
Speaker 1: the match, and that could be where you have the
Speaker 1: return of Adam Copeland, you know, and he comes out
Speaker 1: more so to go after FTR for injuring him than
Speaker 1: to make the save for Christian. But we get that
Speaker 1: moment between Cope and Christian where they exchange looks, and
Speaker 1: you now have two months to tell that story of
Speaker 1: them reuniting and agreeing to work together to wrestle FTR
Speaker 1: in Toronto. It all out. That's how you could have
Speaker 1: started to connect those dots. So look, it's always possible
Speaker 1: they could throw FTR in there. This week. We have
Speaker 1: another week of television left and FTR, like I said,
Speaker 1: they have no match, even though they got to win
Speaker 1: on collision last night. But that's how I would do it.
Speaker 1: You already added one more team, what the fuck add
Speaker 1: one more and then you could start to connect the
Speaker 1: dots for that story down the road. But I'm going
Speaker 1: with the Hurt Syndicate to retain their titles. I just don't.
Speaker 1: I just don't see Christian and Nick Wayne, you know,
Speaker 1: being together long enough where that would even make sense
Speaker 1: Jet Speed they could put the titles on them in
Speaker 1: a triple threat here without having Benjamin and Lashly lose.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's why they're adding Christian Nick Wayne. You know,
Speaker 1: maybe Nick Wayne is in there to take the fucking
Speaker 1: loss so that the Hurt Syndicate doesn't have to eat
Speaker 1: the pin and you could get the titles off of them.
Speaker 1: That's the thing about doing a multi team match, because
Speaker 1: I just don't see anybody really being credible in this situation,
Speaker 1: credible enough to beat the Hurt Syndicate. But that's how
Speaker 1: you could do it. It's kind of a cheap way out
Speaker 1: of it. But you put them in a multiperson match
Speaker 1: and they can lose without losing, right, I just don't
Speaker 1: see them losing. I just don't Swerve Strickland and will
Speaker 1: Osprey against the Young Bucks. If the Bucks lose, they
Speaker 1: are stripped of their EVP titles. But if they win,
Speaker 1: Swerve nor Ospray can challenge for the aw World Championship
Speaker 1: for an entire year. I'm glad they added that last
Speaker 1: bit on Wednesday, because the Bucks had no reason otherwise
Speaker 1: to put their EVP powers on the line unless they
Speaker 1: were getting something in return, And if you think about it,
Speaker 1: they're not even really getting anything in return. But I
Speaker 1: guess to them it's worth it just to fuck with
Speaker 1: the other two that they won't be able to challenge
Speaker 1: for the world title. I don't know why they would
Speaker 1: even care. I thought the play here was going to
Speaker 1: be Swerve and Hangman. I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: thought that. You know, in the weeks leading up to
Speaker 1: where we are now, Swerve and Hangman. Osprey wins the Owen,
Speaker 1: He's the one that tries to beat John Moxlay to
Speaker 1: win the world title. But you have the story of
Speaker 1: Swerve and Hangman here for the sake of the company,
Speaker 1: forced to put their differences aside and come together to
Speaker 1: face a common enemy, and really playing up the drama
Speaker 1: as well with Hangman and the elite. Whose side is
Speaker 1: he going to be on? Right? Going into all in
Speaker 1: the story was there if they wanted to tell it,
Speaker 1: And maybe it was, and Tony decided very late on
Speaker 1: who he wanted to win the owen. We heard that
Speaker 1: story going around about Osprey. It might have been a
Speaker 1: fightful report about Osprey and Hangman. They were both lobbying
Speaker 1: for the other to win. It sounded like it might
Speaker 1: not have been decided upon as late as the weekend
Speaker 1: of the show who was going to go over in
Speaker 1: that tournament. But whatever the case, I actually think the
Speaker 1: Bucks are winning here, especially if Hangman is winning the title.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to be all good news
Speaker 1: for the babyfaces on this show. I wish it wasn't so.
Speaker 1: I think the EVP stuff is way overdone in everything
Speaker 1: the Bucks do on TV, and it's a risk to
Speaker 1: keep two of your top babyfaces out of the world
Speaker 1: title picture for a year, but it can be done
Speaker 1: with the right story. I don't think adding that stipulation
Speaker 1: makes the outcome as predictable as some people may think
Speaker 1: it is. It's not like they're putting their careers on
Speaker 1: the line or something dumb like that. If the Babyfaces
Speaker 1: lose here, will Osprey cannot challenge for the title for
Speaker 1: an entire year. If we assume that they are going
Speaker 1: to bring all In. Tony Kanna said they're going back
Speaker 1: to Wembley next year. But if we assume that all
Speaker 1: In is going back to Wembley in August of next year,
Speaker 1: not July, and frankly, even if it was July, right,
Speaker 1: that would be a year he could still be in
Speaker 1: the owen Hart Tournament and win, because if he wins,
Speaker 1: the actual tie would not take place until after the
Speaker 1: one year is up. So the story there is will
Speaker 1: Osprey finally gets the chance after a year of having
Speaker 1: to wait to challenge for the championship and win the
Speaker 1: championship in his home country of England. Right, that would
Speaker 1: be the story there, But then we have an entire
Speaker 1: year of Osbury doing what exactly right, That's my concern.
Speaker 1: It's even worse for Swerve, who as a babyface, if
Speaker 1: he isn't fighting for the world title of if he
Speaker 1: doesn't have that singular goal in mind. I don't know
Speaker 1: what he's fighting for. It was Osprey who suggested the stipulation.
Speaker 1: Swerve clearly was not happy about this, but he reluctantly agreed.
Speaker 1: I think Osprey is losing this match for his team,
Speaker 1: and that's the catalyst for a Swerve heel turn. Swerve
Speaker 1: needs that edgeback, especially if they're losing this match and
Speaker 1: he can't fight for the top title. He'll blame Osprey
Speaker 1: for the loss and make him pay, and then we
Speaker 1: we get a third match between them, and maybe even
Speaker 1: a fourth. You can milk a feud between them for
Speaker 1: a few months. I doubt that Hangman, if he wins
Speaker 1: the title, even holds it for a year. But if
Speaker 1: he does, there's always the inevitable Hangman Swerve title match
Speaker 1: that they could do. But again, that would be much
Speaker 1: later on. So it's a risk. It's a risk taking
Speaker 1: your two or I should say two of your top
Speaker 1: babyfaces because Hangman's right there with them. It's a risk
Speaker 1: taking two of your top baby faces and kind of
Speaker 1: boxing yourself in in this way. But I think that's
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen. I got the young Bucks winning this
Speaker 1: timeless Tony Storm defends the AW Women's World Championship against
Speaker 1: the undefeated CEO, the TBS champion, Mercedes Monette. They had
Speaker 1: a chance to take the TBS title off of Mercedes
Speaker 1: on Dynamite this week against Mina Shirikawa, they didn't take it.
Speaker 1: Now she rolls into this paper as TBS champion, and
Speaker 1: if she wins the world title, then what does she
Speaker 1: defend both titles? Does she suffer her first loss defending
Speaker 1: the TBS title. That wouldn't make much sense, neither would
Speaker 1: her vacating the TVs title. She's made it this far.
Speaker 1: They probably want her to set the record as the
Speaker 1: longest reigning TBS champion of all time and erase Jade
Speaker 1: Cargill's name from that spot. The way things have played
Speaker 1: out on TV, Mercedes has gotten one over on Tony
Speaker 1: a few times now. They're gonna have a face to face,
Speaker 1: one final face to face on Dynamite this week, and
Speaker 1: so maybe Tony will stand tall there. But Mercedes has
Speaker 1: gotten one over on her a couple of times, left
Speaker 1: her laying again on Wednesday. Another Mercedes win here may
Speaker 1: be good for the Mercedes brand. What it wouldn't be
Speaker 1: so good for is the AW Women's division. I picked
Speaker 1: Megan Being to win the Gauntlet because I think Tony
Speaker 1: Storm is retaining the title. I think she hands Mercedes
Speaker 1: her first taste of defeat, and before she ever lays
Speaker 1: a hand on that world title, she needs to first
Speaker 1: drop that TBS title. If she wins the world title
Speaker 1: and lets the other one go, she's not losing for
Speaker 1: a long time yet. So what is accomplished by keeping
Speaker 1: this woman undefeated for two years? You know, she's been
Speaker 1: plowing through everybody. You really think if she wins the
Speaker 1: world title next weekend that she's going to turn around
Speaker 1: and lose it in two months. It's like we're resetting
Speaker 1: the clock all over again. Mercedes has had a great
Speaker 1: run in terms of the actual matches that she's had.
Speaker 1: She rarely misses. Tony Storm has been consistently one of
Speaker 1: the best performers in the entire business. Her commitment to
Speaker 1: that character and the work that she has done has
Speaker 1: been fantastic. These two are going to have an all
Speaker 1: timer on Saturday. It could be the greatest women's match
Speaker 1: this company has ever seen, And when it is over,
Speaker 1: I predict that Tony Storm will still be theaw Women's
Speaker 1: World champ. Kenny Omega. He returned on Dynamite to rescue
Speaker 1: Coda Ibushi from a beatdown at the hands and feet
Speaker 1: of the Don Kallis family. On Saturday, Omega defends his
Speaker 1: aw International title against the Continental champion, Kazuchka Okada. Winner
Speaker 1: take all. No more International title, no more Continental title,
Speaker 1: just one unified champion. People make the Rick Flair Ricky
Speaker 1: Steamboat comparison for a reason with these two, because you
Speaker 1: will not find a better series of matches between two
Speaker 1: people of this quality, of this caliber, in this generation.
Speaker 1: Their Wrestle Kingdom eleven match was an absolute classic. Their
Speaker 1: sixty minute Broadway at Dominion a few months later absolute classic.
Speaker 1: Their G One match two months after that, another classic,
Speaker 1: and they did it in half the time. And then
Speaker 1: Dominion in twenty eighteen, best two out of three falls.
Speaker 1: Maybe the greatest match that I've ever seen, sixty five
Speaker 1: minutes long and I was never bored. That's a high
Speaker 1: bar to set. How do you top that? How do
Speaker 1: you top that series of matches? I don't think you
Speaker 1: go into this with that mentality, especially if you're Kenny
Speaker 1: and you just had a near death experience with diperticulitis.
Speaker 1: He just sounds grateful for every day that he can
Speaker 1: wake up and just wrestle, because he thought he might
Speaker 1: never have that chance again. And after more than a
Speaker 1: year off, he came back and had the match that
Speaker 1: he had with Gabe Kid at the Tokyo Dome, his
Speaker 1: first match back, and it was like he never left.
Speaker 1: Now he finally gets the big match with Okada on
Speaker 1: American soil, on one of the biggest aw shows of
Speaker 1: all time. You don't think these two aren't going to
Speaker 1: go out there and tear down the house. You don't
Speaker 1: think that we're gonna see new Japan Okada out there.
Speaker 1: In most of his matches, it looks like he's coasting
Speaker 1: because he doesn't have to put his body through the
Speaker 1: kind of abuse that he used to Right, not when
Speaker 1: he got not when he has eleven minutes on TV
Speaker 1: with commercials. Right, it's different now, it's a different style,
Speaker 1: it's a different company, it's a little bit older. He
Speaker 1: made his money, but here he's on pay per view
Speaker 1: no less than thirty minutes. I'm sure probably much more.
Speaker 1: To have a classic Okada match, they usually start very
Speaker 1: slow and then they build, they tell a story, and
Speaker 1: by the end of it, especially that closing sequence. They've
Speaker 1: got that crowd in the palm of their hand. You're
Speaker 1: gonna get the holy shit chance before they even touch,
Speaker 1: before the bell even rings. It's like when Okada and
Speaker 1: Brian Danielson finally wrestled, right, this is gonna be special.
Speaker 1: You know that going in. This is the match that
Speaker 1: Tony Kahan had in mind the minute he signed Okada
Speaker 1: to a contract. He couldn't do the match sooner because
Speaker 1: Kenny was hurt. But now we get to see it,
Speaker 1: possibly for the last time, you never know, And it's
Speaker 1: the match that I am most looking forward to on
Speaker 1: this show, a main event on any show. The only
Speaker 1: reason it doesn't get the closing spot on this show
Speaker 1: is if Hangman Page is winning the world title. But
Speaker 1: it is a main event anywhere in the world, and
Speaker 1: I predict that Kenny Omega will walk out the new
Speaker 1: AW unified champion. Now, Okana is not undefeated in AW.
Speaker 1: He lost once to Brian Danielson. He lost to Kyle
Speaker 1: Fletcher in a Continental Classic match. I think those are
Speaker 1: his only two singles losses. On the whole, he has
Speaker 1: been very well protected and he has won most of
Speaker 1: his matches, and he's had that Continental title now for
Speaker 1: a long time. This is where it all comes to
Speaker 1: an end, though, And speaking of coming to an end,
Speaker 1: we can all hope clasp your hands together, everybody, because
Speaker 1: it's finally here, the main event. John Moxley, after nine
Speaker 1: painful months, not even childbirth is as painful as this
Speaker 1: death Rider's stuff has been. But here we are, at last,
Speaker 1: in Texas. He defends the AW World Championship against the
Speaker 1: winner of the Owen Heart Tournament, the former AW World Champion,
Speaker 1: the man that we are accounting on to be the savior,
Speaker 1: Hangman Adam Page. And it will be a Texas Death Match.
Speaker 1: This will not be their first match together. It will
Speaker 1: not even be their first Texas Death match together Hangman
Speaker 1: won their first one at Revolution in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: Hangman all but said on Wednesday he knows the death
Speaker 1: Riders are going to get involved. He knows the young
Speaker 1: Bucks will be sneaking around, so let's just make it
Speaker 1: Texas Death I like that they're openly acknowledging what we
Speaker 1: already know. There's going to be a metric fuck ton
Speaker 1: of interference in this match. It will be overbooked to
Speaker 1: all hell, and that could be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: If we get the right out come, this will be
Speaker 1: their Avengers endgame. The Death Riders have screwed over so
Speaker 1: many people. They have injured so many people, going all
Speaker 1: the way back to Brian Danielson when Moxley won the
Speaker 1: world title. Brian Danielson took a bump a few weeks
Speaker 1: ago at Arena Mexico when he delivered a busaku knee
Speaker 1: at the Ring of Honor taping that was after the show.
Speaker 1: I fully expect to see him here, if only for
Speaker 1: one quick cameo to wipe out Wheeler Da. That little
Speaker 1: shit with the same knee that you'da has been using
Speaker 1: ever since Moxley beat Orange Cassidy at full gear. He
Speaker 1: beat Hangman and two other men in a four way
Speaker 1: a World's End, Adam Copeland, Swab Stricklands, Samoa Joe, and
Speaker 1: don't forget throwing Darby Allen down a flight of stairs.
Speaker 1: He hasn't been seen since he actually made it to
Speaker 1: the summit of Mount Everest. He flew the flag literally
Speaker 1: of aw on top of the mountain, something they never
Speaker 1: even acknowledged on television. Why because they wanted to keep
Speaker 1: him out of sight, out of mind for this moment.
Speaker 1: When Darby returns to help put the nail in the
Speaker 1: coffin of John Moxley's reign, is world champion and we
Speaker 1: might even get a sting cameo too. I'm sure he'll
Speaker 1: be there. He lives in Texas. I don't know why
Speaker 1: he wouldn't draw By. There's been a lot of talk
Speaker 1: about Tony Kahan maybe wanting to wait to put the
Speaker 1: title on Darby. Maybe Moxley even wins this match to
Speaker 1: save the title. Win for Darby in Toronto at All
Speaker 1: Out or Wrestle Dream in October. If they go back
Speaker 1: to Seattle, another three or four months of this death
Speaker 1: rider's shit is unacceptable. If Tony Khan wanted Darby to
Speaker 1: be the one to dethrone John Moxley, you don't push
Speaker 1: those plans back just because Darby wanted to go play mountaineer.
Speaker 1: He probably would have been champion by now had he
Speaker 1: not left. That was his choice. If that's what he
Speaker 1: wants to do, go ahead. Life goes on, though, stories
Speaker 1: they go on, aw goes on. You don't put shit
Speaker 1: on hold to wait for Darby to come back from
Speaker 1: his expedition. This stage right here is set for a
Speaker 1: grand finale. Here and now in Texas. Tony Khan has
Speaker 1: given us a lot of grown endings to these pay
Speaker 1: per views, these usually great pay per views, otherwise multiple
Speaker 1: times now, I would hope to build to the happy
Speaker 1: ending here on this show. I don't think he wants
Speaker 1: to send people home disappointed this time from his big
Speaker 1: stadium show. I really don't. You're going to see Darby,
Speaker 1: You're probably gonna see Danielson, the Death Riders, the Bucks,
Speaker 1: the Ops, maybe swerve an Osprey. It's going to be
Speaker 1: overbooked chaos, and I love it so long as we
Speaker 1: get Hangman Adam Page at the end of all of
Speaker 1: it as the new aw world champion. I am predicting
Speaker 1: a win for the Cowboy in Texas. This is Hangman's
Speaker 1: redemption arc, after all the twists and turns with his
Speaker 1: character from babyface to psychotic heel and back to whatever
Speaker 1: he's supposed to be. Now the feud would swerve. It
Speaker 1: had to happen to lead to this moment. Anything else
Speaker 1: would be an epic failure. So we got Hangman's big moment.
Speaker 1: Hopefully we got Omega versus Okada or Bill Goldberg fighting
Speaker 1: for the world title. I know what I'll be doing
Speaker 1: on Saturday night. That's watching this one and going live
Speaker 1: immediately after Saturday night's main event. We'll have to wait
Speaker 1: for the sound off next Sunday, so join me on
Speaker 1: YouTube after the pay per view for the full review.
Speaker 1: It should be a great show. Now I told you
Speaker 1: we had a monster mailbag, I'm gonna turn it over
Speaker 1: to you guys because we have a ton of questions
Speaker 1: here to go through. I wish we had more news,
Speaker 1: but as crazy as next weekend is going to be,
Speaker 1: it's actually been kind of dead. So I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to the news cycle picking up. But let's turn it
Speaker 1: over to you guys. If you have questions for me
Speaker 1: the Sola Monster at gmail dot com. That is the
Speaker 1: place to send your correspondence. Please include your name and
Speaker 1: where you are from when you write in. Let us
Speaker 1: begin with Jim from Pennsylvania with the announcement of Survivor
Speaker 1: series at Petco Park. I am sick and tired of
Speaker 1: the annual Wargames match. I've never been a fan of
Speaker 1: the matches use in WWE in general. The lack of
Speaker 1: blood and open cage for high spot purposes has turned
Speaker 1: a match that used to be one of the most
Speaker 1: intense in all of wrestling into yet another safe and
Speaker 1: predictable match that is more focused on creating highlights and
Speaker 1: hype moments. The number of injuries that we have seen
Speaker 1: in the big match in the last few years is
Speaker 1: also not ideal. I believe Wargames is dangerously approaching hell
Speaker 1: and a cell pay per view territory where the company
Speaker 1: is forced booking the match instead of saving it for
Speaker 1: a storyline that truly deserves it. I believe that WWE
Speaker 1: should be at the very least bringing back some traditional
Speaker 1: Survivor Series tag matches and potentially give Wargames a one
Speaker 1: or two year break to make it feel more special
Speaker 1: in the future. What say you, I think you said
Speaker 1: that perfectly. Yeah. I was very happy when they brought
Speaker 1: war Games to the main roster and at Survivor Series
Speaker 1: because that, I mean literally, that was something I was
Speaker 1: arguing for as far back as twenty ten on this show.
Speaker 1: So when they did it, I was very happy. You know,
Speaker 1: Triple H obviously brought it back an NXT he always
Speaker 1: wanted to do it. Vince wanted nothing to do with it,
Speaker 1: but just the idea that you got these two rings
Speaker 1: set up side by side, you got these ten men
Speaker 1: or women. Now they do the women's ones and they're
Speaker 1: just you know, beating the hell out of each other
Speaker 1: and it's mass chaos. It's it's a fun match, But
Speaker 1: I agree with you in that it should only be
Speaker 1: saved for when you really have a feud worthy of
Speaker 1: a Wargames match, and I think that maintaining even just
Speaker 1: once a year it's Survivor Series, a traditional four on
Speaker 1: four or five on five elimination match is something that
Speaker 1: they should be doing. Even on a card with Wargames,
Speaker 1: you could still have one traditional Survivor Series match. I
Speaker 1: don't know why they just completely junked the entire format.
Speaker 1: So I'm with you. If there is a story to
Speaker 1: support a war Games match, then by all means do Wargames.
Speaker 1: I think part of the problem is that they put
Speaker 1: the promotional materials out so far in advance, and they
Speaker 1: don't always have their plans creatively booked out that far
Speaker 1: in advance. So they already have advertisements out for the
Speaker 1: show promoting Wargames because they think, you know, the idea
Speaker 1: of Wargames is in and of itself a draw, and
Speaker 1: I think that's part of the problem. They want to
Speaker 1: settle on a theme for the show months and months
Speaker 1: in advance, when they may not have their creative plans
Speaker 1: fully fleshed out for the show. But I do think
Speaker 1: giving it a break every now and then is a
Speaker 1: good thing. I'm not saying revert back to the Survivor
Speaker 1: Series format where it's just nothing but elimination matches, but
Speaker 1: even on these shows with wargames, I would like to
Speaker 1: see them at least keep one traditional Survivor series match.
Speaker 1: Lamb from Brooklyn, You've helped me through many times of stress, angst,
Speaker 1: and depression with your hard work. Thank you, lam I
Speaker 1: hope this is not one of those periods. How would
Speaker 1: you feel about John Cena turning baby face at SummerSlam
Speaker 1: with Cody turning heel leading to a CM Punk WrestleMania
Speaker 1: match for the title as a result of Punk winning
Speaker 1: the Royal Rumble. After seeing his loss, he goes on
Speaker 1: a brief period of exile as his dates are limited,
Speaker 1: seeing his last match at Saturday Night's main event ends
Speaker 1: up being Gunther, so he has claims to retiring both
Speaker 1: Goldberg and Sina. I don't have anything against a Sena
Speaker 1: Gunther match. I don't know that he's going to be
Speaker 1: seen his final opponent, CM Punk winning the Royal Rumble.
Speaker 1: I think there's a better chance of Sammy Zain winning
Speaker 1: the Rumble in Saudi next year and getting that shot
Speaker 1: at the World Heavyweight Championship. I just don't see it.
Speaker 1: The idea of Asena and Cody double turn at Summer
Speaker 1: Slim is something I addressed on the show last week.
Speaker 1: I talked about an idea that was floated. I thought
Speaker 1: the way it was laid out was very well done.
Speaker 1: I myself am not sold on turning Cody heel, but
Speaker 1: if you were going to do it, I think the
Speaker 1: way I talked about it last week is the way
Speaker 1: to do it. This I'm not completely on board with
Speaker 1: this idea. Jack from San Diego, I don't really like
Speaker 1: talking about wrestling ratings or any kind of business metrics
Speaker 1: when it comes to things I enjoy. As far as
Speaker 1: I'm concerned, the only viewer that matters is me. That said,
Speaker 1: since there's been talk about aw ratings in twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: I was wondering if you had seen Tony Kahn's tweet
Speaker 1: posting evidence of their growth this year. Does this tweet
Speaker 1: make you rethink your own stance? On the ratings, I
Speaker 1: for one, am happy to hear the show is doing
Speaker 1: so well because it benefits everyone for any wrestling company
Speaker 1: to do well. Hey, I'm always happy to hear about
Speaker 1: a show doing well. The shows do well, I do well.
Speaker 1: Everybody wins. The shows do badly, or the show's go
Speaker 1: belly up. I have one less show to review, which
Speaker 1: is bad for business, So I'm with you on that.
Speaker 1: That being said, the I did see the graphic. The
Speaker 1: collision numbers that he posted in the graphic that I
Speaker 1: saw are a bit misleading since that would include, however,
Speaker 1: many NBA games that served as a lead in to
Speaker 1: the because the show has been bounced around the lot
Speaker 1: this year, and several times they have used like an
Speaker 1: NBA game or some kind of event like that as
Speaker 1: a big lead in to the show to get a
Speaker 1: lot of eyeballs on that first quarter, and it gives
Speaker 1: them a huge first quarter, but you know, then usually
Speaker 1: there's a big drop off immediately after that. But fair
Speaker 1: play to him because he is technically correct, so he
Speaker 1: can be happy about that. The dynamite stuff is funny
Speaker 1: to me because we're always told how important the eighteen
Speaker 1: to forty nine demo number is when it comes to
Speaker 1: these shows. But in the graphic they cited twenty five
Speaker 1: to fifty four. That was the demo they listed, so
Speaker 1: we seem to have moved down from eighteen to forty nine,
Speaker 1: even though that's still the key demo for advertisers. But
Speaker 1: if they've seen growth in twenty five to fifty four, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, growth is growth, so that's good to see.
Speaker 1: And we still don't know how many more people are
Speaker 1: watching on Max because they don't share those numbers. But
Speaker 1: those numbers don't include Max just for the record, the
Speaker 1: numbers that he posted, so whatever those numbers are, they
Speaker 1: are higher. We just don't know how much higher they are.
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's a shit show in the comments underneath
Speaker 1: what he posted, so I didn't even bother looking. The
Speaker 1: viewership is still down though, from what they were doing
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, and I don't think that
Speaker 1: point should be lost. Absolutely. If there's growth, then trumpet
Speaker 1: that growth. But the viewership is still down from what
Speaker 1: they had been doing previously. And there is also a
Speaker 1: reason that they are running much smaller buildings for weekly television.
Speaker 1: They may still be running big buildings for pay per views,
Speaker 1: but they're not doing that week to week like they
Speaker 1: used to. If they can build on this growth, maybe
Speaker 1: one day they can get back to the place that
Speaker 1: they were in before. They're not running smaller venues because
Speaker 1: Tony Kahn loves running smaller venues. They're running smaller venues
Speaker 1: because they weren't able to fill the bigger venues and
Speaker 1: they really had no choice. It's much better running the
Speaker 1: smaller venues in this case because that way you don't
Speaker 1: have a half empty building. And plus the acoustics are
Speaker 1: so much better if you have a lively crowd. I
Speaker 1: love some of these venues that they've run. That music
Speaker 1: Hall was in in Boston, I think it was some
Speaker 1: of these smaller venues, and I think there was one
Speaker 1: maybe in Ohio where the crowd is really hot. And
Speaker 1: so even though it's a smaller building, it just aesthetically
Speaker 1: it looks kind of cool and it sounds great on TV.
Speaker 1: That's all well and good, but don't ever lose sight
Speaker 1: of the fact that the only reason they are running
Speaker 1: these buildings in the first place is because they could
Speaker 1: not sell enough tickets in the NBA buildings that they
Speaker 1: were running. So again, if there is growth to be
Speaker 1: seen in this demo or that demo or on Max
Speaker 1: or whatever, then that needs to be built on. Now.
Speaker 1: You can talk about the quality of the shows, and
Speaker 1: there are some people who think the shows right now
Speaker 1: are better than they have ever been. But if that's
Speaker 1: the case, then it would be reflected in attendance, and
Speaker 1: that's not happened yet. So if you think that AW
Speaker 1: Dynamite is better than ever, then that should be reflected
Speaker 1: very soon in the attendance numbers for these shows, especially
Speaker 1: at a time when you would have to sell your
Speaker 1: own kidney to buy tickets to a WWE show. WWE
Speaker 1: is pricing people out of going to shows. AW has
Speaker 1: an advantage over WWE, and that their shows are priced
Speaker 1: more affordably. That's something I would lean into more. But
Speaker 1: if the shows are more affordable and the shows are
Speaker 1: so great, then you would think six months from now
Speaker 1: they would be running bigger buildings. Again. I don't know
Speaker 1: that I see that happening, but if all of that's true,
Speaker 1: then it should. It's just something to watch for in
Speaker 1: the second half of twenty twenty five. Ryan from Hollywood,
Speaker 1: California been listening since twenty seventeen. I've been listening to
Speaker 1: seth Rollins a lot, and this oh my condolences and
Speaker 1: his whole thing is not ever allowing CM Punk to
Speaker 1: win a championship. I predict Punk either eliminates Sammy at
Speaker 1: the Royal Rumble or eliminates bron Breaker in the elimination
Speaker 1: Chamber to go on to beat Rollins in the Night
Speaker 1: one main event of WrestleMania. This has to end with
Speaker 1: Punk overthrowing Rollins. What do you think, Well, you know,
Speaker 1: if Sammy's ain wins the Royal Rumble, and he would again,
Speaker 1: we don't know. It's still very far off. But between
Speaker 1: the location of the show and them repeatedly on television
Speaker 1: pointing out the fact that Sammy has never won a
Speaker 1: world title and Sammy saying I know I can do it,
Speaker 1: but I know I could do it right now, they're
Speaker 1: both on Monday Night Raw. If Punk wins the Rumble,
Speaker 1: then Sammy's not going to be in the elimination chamber.
Speaker 1: If Sammy wins the Rumble, Punk is not going to
Speaker 1: be in the elimination chamber because the chamber would be
Speaker 1: to decide on who challenges for the other title, unless
Speaker 1: Sammy chooses to go after the WWE championship, which I
Speaker 1: you know, I don't see that, but the rumble winner
Speaker 1: does have the right to choose the champion they want
Speaker 1: to go after, So I mean, it's impossible to know
Speaker 1: this early where we're going to be come January or
Speaker 1: February of next year. Does Punk have to be the
Speaker 1: one to overthrow Rollins? It doesn't have to be, but
Speaker 1: it would make a lot of sense if CM Punk
Speaker 1: is eventually going to win the world title, that it
Speaker 1: should be from Seth Rollins. If Seth Rollins is going
Speaker 1: around saying I've made it my mission to make sure
Speaker 1: that you are never a world champion, then for him
Speaker 1: to be the one that Punk has to be to
Speaker 1: win the title actually does make a lot of sense.
Speaker 1: So it doesn't have to be Punk. If they want
Speaker 1: somebody else to be champion, then it could be somebody else.
Speaker 1: But for Punk's story, yes, it would make sense if
Speaker 1: he was the person to overthrow Seth Rollins. Daniel from Ohio,
Speaker 1: fan of the podcast for over twelve years. As much
Speaker 1: as I know you don't like Goldberg beating Gunther, part
Speaker 1: of me believes there is a good chance that Seth
Speaker 1: cashes in and wins the title. I feel like another
Speaker 1: punkin Seth match really could use the title as they
Speaker 1: have had other matches, and I don't see a clear
Speaker 1: match for Gunther defending its SummerSlam. This leads me to
Speaker 1: a scenario that I think would be very cool and
Speaker 1: wanted your opinion. Goldberg beats Gunther. Well, you've already lost me, Daniel,
Speaker 1: You've already lost me. Goldberg beats Gunther, and while celebrating
Speaker 1: Seth's music hits. Seth walks down slowly with Hayman and
Speaker 1: a referee while Goldberg stares them down. Right before Seth
Speaker 1: hands the briefcase to bron Breaker comes out of nowhere
Speaker 1: and spears Goldberg. Seth then hands the briefcase to the
Speaker 1: ref and covers Goldberg. This accomplishes two things. It gets
Speaker 1: Seth the belt and allows the very last move Goldberg
Speaker 1: ever takes in wrestling to be a spear and can
Speaker 1: also be treated as a past the torch moment to
Speaker 1: bron Breaker again. I am also not a huge fan
Speaker 1: of Goldberg winning the title, but if they are going
Speaker 1: to have Seth kash In, I really like this scenario.
Speaker 1: How about you? As I said, you lost me at
Speaker 1: Goldberg beating gun There I just cannot get behind that.
Speaker 1: I just can't. If they are going to do the
Speaker 1: cash in, it has to happen while the match is
Speaker 1: still in progress to at least spare Gunther from taking
Speaker 1: a loss to this man. And then I'm fine with
Speaker 1: bron Breaker being the one to put Goldberg down with
Speaker 1: a spear. But I would not, under any circumstance, approve
Speaker 1: of a scenario that involves Goldberg first beating Gunther and
Speaker 1: then moving on to a cash in and treating Gunther
Speaker 1: like he's just another guy. He already lost to the
Speaker 1: yeat Man this year. To lose to Goldberg at this
Speaker 1: point would just be horrible. Sean from Byron Illinois. Buyers
Speaker 1: sell on the Better Feud with Seth Rollins, where shockingly
Speaker 1: he has never or yet to have a proper one
Speaker 1: on one pl E match or at the very least
Speaker 1: a PL match to end the feud Roman Reigns or cmpunk.
Speaker 1: So what is he what is he asking here? Buyers
Speaker 1: sell on the Better Feud with Rollins where they have
Speaker 1: never had a proper, okay, proper one on one PL match.
Speaker 1: I mean it would have to be Roman Reigns. I
Speaker 1: mean that there's just so much more history between the
Speaker 1: two of them. It is kind of shocking. Wait a minute,
Speaker 1: that there's no way they never had a pl E match.
Speaker 1: They did have a pl match though, all right, didn't
Speaker 1: they have a pl E. Wasn't it Rollins against Rains
Speaker 1: at Money in the Bank that year when Rollins came
Speaker 1: back and he beat Roman. That was before Roman got
Speaker 1: suspended tested positive for something. You got suspended for one actually,
Speaker 1: and maybe he didn't test positive. Maybe he God, what
Speaker 1: was the story with Roman's test failure? He failed to
Speaker 1: report something. I don't remember what it was. So, unless
Speaker 1: I'm understanding your question incorrectly, I know Rollins and Rains
Speaker 1: they've definitely had some singles matches on PL's before they
Speaker 1: wrestled at the Royal Rumble one year. But as far
Speaker 1: as ending their feud, I mean again, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I guess I'm just confused by the question. I guess
Speaker 1: Rollins and Rains is still unresolved. I suppose even though Seth,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of beat him at WrestleMania. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'll still go with Rollins and Rains. I'm
Speaker 1: just a little confused here. Rollins in Punk will have
Speaker 1: a definitive ending at some point. It hasn't happened yet,
Speaker 1: but I still have to go at Rollins and Rains.
Speaker 1: There's just so much more history there between them. Ed
Speaker 1: from Mombasa coast of Kenya. Who do you think are
Speaker 1: the best bell to bell performers in WWE? For me,
Speaker 1: it's probably Eosky and maybe Axiom or someone hidden away
Speaker 1: in the mid card as a close second. Eosky is
Speaker 1: for sure one of them, Gunther is another. Those are
Speaker 1: the top two, and I would throw Chad Gable in
Speaker 1: there as well. Bell to bell, those are your three best.
Speaker 1: John from Baltimore. I've been watching old footage from the
Speaker 1: early nineties WWF and it looked like Bulldog was going
Speaker 1: to be a contender for the WWE title in the future.
Speaker 1: I don't think Vince ever really had Breton mind until
Speaker 1: he had nowhere else to turn to. He was never
Speaker 1: being groomed. It looks like Vince had plans for Bulldog
Speaker 1: as early as nineteen ninety one before he snatched up
Speaker 1: sid and Flair. Later that year, Bulldog was one of
Speaker 1: the final four in the ninety one Royal Rumble. He
Speaker 1: also won another Battle Royal a year later. I know
Speaker 1: he had substance abuse problems, and maybe Vince realized Brett
Speaker 1: was more reliable. I just can't help but think Vince
Speaker 1: had Bulldog in mind way before Brett as a future
Speaker 1: world title holder. I still think Vince had plans for
Speaker 1: Sid and Flair, but Flair proved to be difficult to
Speaker 1: work with later on, and so was Sid. What are
Speaker 1: your thoughts, No, I don't have the impression that Vince
Speaker 1: ever looked at Bulldog and was grooming him for anything.
Speaker 1: I mean, could Bulldog without the issues that he had
Speaker 1: that got him fired ultimately, could the Bulldog eventually have
Speaker 1: become a world champion. It's possible, But I don't think
Speaker 1: Vince looked at Bulldog and said, Okay, this guy's gonna
Speaker 1: be my world champion. I never heard about that, and
Speaker 1: I never got that vibe. As far as Sid, you know, Sid,
Speaker 1: had he stuck around in ninety two, I think it's
Speaker 1: very likely Sid eventually would have won the world title
Speaker 1: during that first run. You know, obviously he won it
Speaker 1: when he came back. It was technically his third run.
Speaker 1: But yeah, Sid, I mean, said Jess, I said it
Speaker 1: when he passed away, and I did the whole retrospective
Speaker 1: on him, Sid was just that he was the guy
Speaker 1: that you would create in a lab if you were
Speaker 1: looking to create a pro wrestler. Was psycho Sid like.
Speaker 1: He was that guy and he had the charisma. He
Speaker 1: may not have been the most technically sound, but you know,
Speaker 1: people shit on him and shit on his matches. Oh,
Speaker 1: he always had terrible match He did not always have
Speaker 1: terrible matches. He had a lot of terrible matches. But
Speaker 1: the guy could work, and he had charisma, he had size,
Speaker 1: he had the look. He was that guy. He would
Speaker 1: have done very well had he stuck around that first
Speaker 1: time Flair, you have Vince having problems with proving difficult
Speaker 1: to work with. I don't. I don't know where you
Speaker 1: heard that. I don't. I've never heard of Flair being
Speaker 1: difficult to work with in WWE during that first run
Speaker 1: or any run really. Jonathan from Chicago, Illinois. I was
Speaker 1: looking at the lineage for some WWE titles on Wikipedia
Speaker 1: and came across something interesting. The current WWE World Tag
Speaker 1: Team Championships lineage only dates back to two thousand and two,
Speaker 1: when the second set of tag team titles were created
Speaker 1: for SmackDown. When the first brand split went into effect.
Speaker 1: The other titles tag titles currently on SmackDown's lineage only
Speaker 1: date back to twenty sixteen, when the second brand split happened,
Speaker 1: And this confused me because I was certain twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: because I was certain, sorry, because I was certain there
Speaker 1: were other tag title reigns that pre dated two thousand
Speaker 1: and two. I found out that in two thousand and nine,
Speaker 1: when both sets of tag team titles were unified, WWE
Speaker 1: decided to keep both championships independently active until the original
Speaker 1: World Tag Team Championship was decommissioned in twenty ten, in
Speaker 1: favor of continuing the lineage of the WWE Tag Team
Speaker 1: Championships that were created in two thousand and two. Why
Speaker 1: did WWE? I am so confused right now. Why did
Speaker 1: WWE decide to discard an almost forty year lineage in
Speaker 1: favor of keeping one with almost no history? Did Vince
Speaker 1: just not care about old titles? It seems like an
Speaker 1: odd decision to me. Well, he's a very odd man,
Speaker 1: so that tracks I was confused just reading your email.
Speaker 1: I don't know what lineage they're using for any of
Speaker 1: these tag titles anymore. Vince did not give a shit
Speaker 1: about that kind of stuff, So I'm not surprised that
Speaker 1: it is as convoluted as it is. To me, the
Speaker 1: lineage of those old tag belts with the old design
Speaker 1: that the Heart Foundation and Demolition and Edge and Christian
Speaker 1: and the Dudley Boys held that ended when they created
Speaker 1: two new sets of titles, one for Raw and one
Speaker 1: for SmackDown. To me, that is where that lineage died.
Speaker 1: From that point on. We had a raw title lineage
Speaker 1: and we had a SmackDown title lineage, and through whatever
Speaker 1: unifications there may have been over the years, now we
Speaker 1: have two sets of tag titles. As far as I'm concerned,
Speaker 1: that is continuing the lineage of those first split titles
Speaker 1: that they created in two thousand and two. That to
Speaker 1: me makes it a lot easier to understand. Now, maybe
Speaker 1: that's not the way WWE is acknowledging it, but I
Speaker 1: don't give a shit. As far as I'm concerned, that
Speaker 1: is how I am tracking the lineage of these titles.
Speaker 1: Isaac from Branford, Ontario. Since we are just coming off
Speaker 1: of John sena versus CM punkin Knight of Champions and
Speaker 1: with July marking fourteen years since their Money in the
Speaker 1: Bank match, I was wondering if cmpunk chose to leave
Speaker 1: WWE in twenty eleven rather than re sign, how different
Speaker 1: do you think his legacy would be today? If he
Speaker 1: did not have his world title run of four hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty four days, his legacy would be different, for sure.
Speaker 1: I don't think that he would have been as big
Speaker 1: of a star as he ended up becoming. You know,
Speaker 1: he would be a star, and I think a lot
Speaker 1: of the stuff he did on the independent scene and
Speaker 1: a ring of honor that really would have been kind
Speaker 1: of the major part of his legacy. And if he
Speaker 1: was just sort of floating around the indies or if
Speaker 1: he'd gone to work for TNA when AW started in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, I think he would have been near the
Speaker 1: top on Tony Kahn's wish list and he would have
Speaker 1: ended up in AW a lot sooner than he did,
Speaker 1: and very likely things would have maybe ended up a
Speaker 1: little bit differently there for him than they did. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it would have affected his legacy as a
Speaker 1: top performer in the way that people see him now
Speaker 1: as like a top guy. He would not have attained
Speaker 1: that status if he didn't have that run. And it's
Speaker 1: not even just the four hundred and thirty four day
Speaker 1: title run. Just everything he did in the years that followed,
Speaker 1: those two or three years that followed before he left,
Speaker 1: was so instrumental in elevating him to main event status
Speaker 1: in that company and elevating his value then when he
Speaker 1: went to AW eventually, So it was very important for
Speaker 1: him to resign. Tall from Israel. Where does the Mouth
Speaker 1: of the South Jimmy Hart belong on the list of
Speaker 1: who's who of wrestling managers? Good question, he ran, He's
Speaker 1: pretty damn high on that list. Jimmy is one of
Speaker 1: the ghats of wrestling managers, going back to his Memphis
Speaker 1: days and the stuff that he did with Jerry Lawler.
Speaker 1: He even got to work a program with Andy Kaufman
Speaker 1: like Lawler did. He had his greatest success in WWE,
Speaker 1: managed a ton of big names, but he also worked
Speaker 1: for WCW for many years, and you know what, beyond
Speaker 1: his on camera stuff, he was a very important figure
Speaker 1: when it came to entrance music in both companies because
Speaker 1: of his background as a musician. He was part of
Speaker 1: a band called the Gentries, you know, back in the
Speaker 1: sixties and they were very successful. So he's had a
Speaker 1: musical background going back to his younger days, and we
Speaker 1: talk a lot about the importance of entrance music, especially
Speaker 1: at a time now when entrance music, at least in
Speaker 1: WWE is pretty fucking bad. It just goes to illustrate
Speaker 1: how important it is when you listen back to, you know,
Speaker 1: days gone by in these different promotions, and how catchy
Speaker 1: you know a lot of the entrance themes and how
Speaker 1: identifiable many of the entrance themes were. Jimmy had a
Speaker 1: lot to do with that. So for all the great
Speaker 1: songs jim Johnston is credited for, Jimmy probably doesn't get
Speaker 1: enough credit. Jimmy was responsible for Sean Michael's entrance music,
Speaker 1: both the version that had Sherry singing and then the
Speaker 1: version that had Sean himself singing. He was responsible for
Speaker 1: Demolition's theme, the Honky Tonk Man, the Million Dollar Man,
Speaker 1: the Fabulous Rougeau's. You know some of those early instrumental
Speaker 1: themes for Wrestlemanian SummerSlam, that was Jimmy Hart. So was
Speaker 1: the nWo Wolfpack theme. He wrote that one too, or
Speaker 1: he co wrote it at least, and they got c
Speaker 1: Murder to record it. So he's every bit as influential,
Speaker 1: you know, in that way as he was as a manager.
Speaker 1: I ranked Jimmy very high. He's not top three for me.
Speaker 1: That would be Heen and Hayman and Cornett. They have
Speaker 1: those spots locked up. But he's definitely in my top five.
Speaker 1: Those last two spots are between him and sensational Sherry.
Speaker 1: I have Paul behar Is like right below that. So
Speaker 1: put him at number four, put him at number five.
Speaker 1: Either way, he's top five in my book. Mister Rodd
Speaker 1: from Alexander City, Alabama. I was talking to a friend
Speaker 1: concerning Swerve, Strickland and Hangman page for example. I remember
Speaker 1: Meltzer once saying how Okata and Omega were the Rick
Speaker 1: Flair and Ricky Steamboat of this generation. My question to
Speaker 1: you is, can you see Hangman and Swerve being the
Speaker 1: Rock and Austin of this generation? Okay, so there is
Speaker 1: no Rock in Austin of this generation. It's unfair to
Speaker 1: even make that comparison. There is nothing comparable in any
Speaker 1: promotion today to what we got with Rock and Austin.
Speaker 1: It was a moment in time. It was a fleeting
Speaker 1: moment in time. But I am grateful to have been
Speaker 1: a fan during that period. Swerve and Hangman are two
Speaker 1: guys that bring the best and the worst out of
Speaker 1: each other. Because some of the stuff they've done in
Speaker 1: their matches was completely unnecessary and sick and just felt
Speaker 1: like they were especially Swerve was just engaging in some
Speaker 1: sort of weird fetish. But they didn't have to do it.
Speaker 1: They can have great matches without that stuff. They're two
Speaker 1: of the biggest stars in wrestling today, but I don't
Speaker 1: think people are going to look at them as the
Speaker 1: two names most associated with this era of wrestling or
Speaker 1: anything like that, or maybe one of them but not
Speaker 1: the other. I just don't see it as the same
Speaker 1: thing as Rock and Austin. I'm sorry, Christian in York, Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: I just saw a match that I never knew existed,
Speaker 1: Brent and Owen Hart against the Steiner brothers. It was
Speaker 1: an amazing match. Any reason why this wasn't continued or
Speaker 1: a feud made out of this? I also wanted to
Speaker 1: let you know that you had a celebrity in my
Speaker 1: country of the Dominican Republic that sent a question to
Speaker 1: you a few weeks ago, Ariel Santana. I was shocked
Speaker 1: to hear that he listens to the Sola Monster as well.
Speaker 1: Are you sure about that? I definitely read an email
Speaker 1: from Ariel in Santo Domingo a few weeks ago, but
Speaker 1: I don't know that it was Ariel Santana. If it was, though,
Speaker 1: that's very cool. I just I can't remember. And yes,
Speaker 1: it was a great match. I was so happy to
Speaker 1: see them post that to the Vault channel. Now they
Speaker 1: just need to post the rest of that Colisem video
Speaker 1: that they took it from Wreussell Fest ninety four. It
Speaker 1: had to be taped sometime between Survivor Series ninety three
Speaker 1: and Royal Rumble ninety four because bretton Owen they were
Speaker 1: a tag team for a very short period of time
Speaker 1: before Owen turned on Brett. That would have been a
Speaker 1: great match to do at the Royal Rumble instead of
Speaker 1: bretton Owen against the Quebecers, and they could have had
Speaker 1: the Steiners win and and they could have had Owen
Speaker 1: kick Brett's leg out of his leg after just like
Speaker 1: they did. I wish they would have done that, but
Speaker 1: they really relegated the Steiners to the back burner around
Speaker 1: that time for whatever reason, and they were gone from
Speaker 1: the company after that. I want to say it was
Speaker 1: sometime in May. It was somewhat into nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 1: They didn't leave right away. It was probably sometime in
Speaker 1: like mid to late spring when they finally left, but
Speaker 1: they weren't even factored into the WrestleMania card that year.
Speaker 1: Men on a Mission got a tag team title match,
Speaker 1: but the Steiners were left off the card. Christian is
Speaker 1: not the only one in York Pennsylvania, by the way,
Speaker 1: who listens to this show we got. Nathan sent this in.
Speaker 1: I've been watching wrestling since two thousand and three. I
Speaker 1: got to attend unforgiven that year when it was in Hershey.
Speaker 1: I've also watched TNA in its earlier days, but lost
Speaker 1: interest when Hogan got involved. Unfortunately, I felt indifferent about
Speaker 1: the WWE product over time. Your podcast has been a
Speaker 1: blessing because it helped me still keep up with what's
Speaker 1: going on with the product. I haven't had a chance
Speaker 1: to really watch AW though I wanted to, and then
Speaker 1: the cmpunk drama kind of turned me off. But now
Speaker 1: I want to give AW a fair chance and see
Speaker 1: what I've been missing out on. So my question to
Speaker 1: you is, what are five matches and two pay per
Speaker 1: views that I should go out of my way to
Speaker 1: watch from AW. All right, so grab a pen. Here's
Speaker 1: your homework assignment. Here some of the best matches in
Speaker 1: AW history. You've got to check out the Kenny Omega
Speaker 1: Brian Danielson match from the first Grand Slam show they
Speaker 1: did at Arthur ash Stadium. They went to a thirty
Speaker 1: minute draw. Spoiler sorry, but definitely check that match out.
Speaker 1: There were a couple of matches actually that Hangman Page
Speaker 1: and Brian Danielson had, I think all of them were
Speaker 1: on TV, but there was like a one hour match.
Speaker 1: It might have been their Winter Is Coming from a
Speaker 1: few years ago, I want to say, maybe twenty twenty one. Possibly,
Speaker 1: definitely check that one out. The Luca Brothers against the
Speaker 1: Young Bucks all out twenty twenty one for the tag
Speaker 1: team title Steel Cage match is one of the best,
Speaker 1: not just tag team matches, but matches period and company history,
Speaker 1: as is Kenny Omega and Hangman Page against the Young
Speaker 1: Bucks from Revolution in twenty twenty. You've got to check
Speaker 1: out Cody Roads and Dustin Rhodes from their first ever
Speaker 1: pay per view, which was Double or Nothing in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: So that is one to I think that might be five, right,
Speaker 1: four or five. That'll that'll keep you tied over for
Speaker 1: a while. I'll throw one more at you. MJF and
Speaker 1: Brian Danielson. They had what is the greatest Iron Men
Speaker 1: match that I have ever seen a few years ago.
Speaker 1: I don't remember offhand which show it was. It might
Speaker 1: have been Revolution, I don't remember, but that's another one
Speaker 1: to check out. As far as the best pay per
Speaker 1: views to watch, I don't know if they're all up
Speaker 1: yet on Max, but most or all of them are
Speaker 1: probably now up in their library on Max. You could
Speaker 1: stream them from there. All Out twenty twenty one is
Speaker 1: probably still I mean, that's like top of the list
Speaker 1: right there. All Out twenty twenty one is something you
Speaker 1: should definitely check out. And then even last year Revolution,
Speaker 1: which was Sting's retirement match. That was a great show,
Speaker 1: Revolution twenty twenty four and All in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: You go check out those matches and those shows, and
Speaker 1: that will give you a very good flavor for what
Speaker 1: AAW has done before. Jack from London, what is the
Speaker 1: worst world title win with a great rain and vice versa?
Speaker 1: For me, the best win worst rain was Kurt Angle
Speaker 1: beating Austin in his hometown at Unforgiven two thousand and one,
Speaker 1: and the worst win best rain was Kenny Omega's aw
Speaker 1: title win over John Moxley at Winter Is Coming twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: What are yours? It's interesting question. There are a few
Speaker 1: that come to mind, you know what. Macho Man winning
Speaker 1: the WWF title from Rick flairt WrestleMania was a great win,
Speaker 1: followed by a rain that, if we're being honest, was
Speaker 1: not very memorable at all. One match with The Warrior
Speaker 1: at Wembley that summer, That's about it. Another one is
Speaker 1: Kevin Owens winning the Universal title on Ron twenty sixteen
Speaker 1: and that great four way match followed by a terrible
Speaker 1: title run ended by Bill Goldberg, by the way in
Speaker 1: twenty seconds. Best title wins, worst rains. CM Punk had
Speaker 1: a couple of those in aw Brian Dangelson had one
Speaker 1: in WWE when he won the title of WrestleMania thirty.
Speaker 1: What a great win that was, and then he had
Speaker 1: a very forgettable run before he got hurt. Worst wins'
Speaker 1: best reigns. I think Roman Reigns is probably one of
Speaker 1: the best examples of that, when he won the title
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty in the Thunderdome and the way he
Speaker 1: won it. I mean, that shit sucked. I'm sorry but
Speaker 1: it did. But then look at what came of that
Speaker 1: title win. Look at the run that he went on
Speaker 1: to have. Now, did it go on for too long? Probably,
Speaker 1: but he had a ton of great matches during that run.
Speaker 1: And that run and the Bloodline story is what helped
Speaker 1: lead the way for WWE to do the best business
Speaker 1: that the company has ever done before. Ronnie from Belgium,
Speaker 1: what were your thoughts on WrestleMania in nineteen In two
Speaker 1: thousand and three, it was a success in the ring
Speaker 1: and box office, but it flopped on pay per view? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean that would be box office. You can't say
Speaker 1: that it was a rousing success in box office. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know they had fifty four thousand people there, But
Speaker 1: did it flopped it? Did it flopped on pay per view?
Speaker 1: He says. I blame it on WWE giving away Angle
Speaker 1: Lesnar in a roadway match and Austin Rock three. I
Speaker 1: didn't feel a demand for another Austin versus Rock match.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know how far in advance Austin
Speaker 1: knew that this was going to be his final match.
Speaker 1: Obviously they knew coming into it that it was going
Speaker 1: to be and it was held very very close to
Speaker 1: the vest. Only a handful of people even knew. I'm
Speaker 1: not even sure if Earl Hepner knew, you know, the
Speaker 1: referee in the ring. I'm not sure. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: how many people knew going in, but if they mentioned that,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's hindsight. You know, this is not how
Speaker 1: Austin wanted to handle it. Have people known going in
Speaker 1: that this was going to be Austin's last match? I
Speaker 1: think box office wise, pay per view wise, that show
Speaker 1: would have done a lot better than it did. But
Speaker 1: you had a lot of big matches on that show.
Speaker 1: You had Angle and Lesner for the first time, well
Speaker 1: I guess not the first time, but for the first
Speaker 1: time on a pay per view yet angle and Lesner.
Speaker 1: You had, you know, Hogan and Vince. You had Jericho
Speaker 1: and Shawn Michaels and Shawn's first WrestleMania back after years away.
Speaker 1: And then Rock and Austin and yes it was the
Speaker 1: third one at this point, but it's still Rock and Austin.
Speaker 1: So you look at that, you go, man, this is
Speaker 1: a top tier show here, right and we got a
Speaker 1: lot of great matches on that show. But I go
Speaker 1: back to Hogan and Vince. You can't forget Hulk Hogan
Speaker 1: against Vince McMahon was booked as the real main event
Speaker 1: of this show. The way they promoted it, the way
Speaker 1: they advertised it, you would think that this was the
Speaker 1: main event of that show. So maybe people just didn't
Speaker 1: care for WrestleMania built around one old past his prime
Speaker 1: guy and one non wrestler. I think that had a
Speaker 1: lot to do with it. I can't lay it all
Speaker 1: at their feet, but I definitely think promoting it in
Speaker 1: the way that they did, very heavily centered around that match,
Speaker 1: did not help because people just weren't interested. They just
Speaker 1: were not interested in that. But it's very strange if
Speaker 1: you look at a chart. I've seen these charts and
Speaker 1: these graphs before, where you see WrestleMania eighteen, WrestleMania seventeen,
Speaker 1: WrestleMania eighteen, WrestleMania twenty, and then nineteen is in the
Speaker 1: middle there, and you see how far down it is,
Speaker 1: you know, compared to those other shows. It's like wow,
Speaker 1: It's like you can't ignore it. It's just so startling
Speaker 1: to see. But it all comes down to promotion. How
Speaker 1: you promote the show, what you promote, what you really
Speaker 1: focus all of your efforts on. And I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: I remember I lived through it. A lot of it
Speaker 1: was around Hogan and Vince. Can't build an entire WrestleMania
Speaker 1: primarily around Hulk Hogan against Vince McMahon. Jose from New
Speaker 1: York City rank these last four Summer Slam main events.
Speaker 1: Roman Reigns against brock Lesner, Roman Reigns against John Cena,
Speaker 1: Roman Reigns against Jay Usso, Cody Roads Agains Solo Soco. Okay,
Speaker 1: so we're looking at the Summer Slim main events from
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one to twenty twenty four. Basically, Roman Reigns
Speaker 1: against brock Lesnar in twenty twenty two, that was the best.
Speaker 1: Their best matches were actually their first and last ones.
Speaker 1: How about that? Because I assume we have seen the
Speaker 1: final Roman Reigns brock Lesner match. I don't think we're
Speaker 1: ever getting that again. So their first match and their
Speaker 1: last match were actually their best matches. So I put
Speaker 1: that at the top. Number two. I will put Roman
Speaker 1: Reigns against John Cena in twenty twenty one, which I
Speaker 1: honestly didn't even think was that great. Number three I
Speaker 1: would put Cody Rhoads against Solo Socoa, which I hated.
Speaker 1: That was last year. And if I hated that, then
Speaker 1: I must really have not liked Number four, which was
Speaker 1: the worst of the bunch, which was Roman Reigns and
Speaker 1: jay Uso twenty twenty three in that tribal combat I
Speaker 1: think was tribal combat. Yeah, we've had some really bad
Speaker 1: summer slim made events, haven't we in the last several years.
Speaker 1: Roman and Brock though man that last Man's Standing match.
Speaker 1: I gotta give it to him. They saved the best
Speaker 1: for last. David from Chicago. I was listening to Jim
Speaker 1: Cornett's podcast and a question was asked about Paul Haman
Speaker 1: getting the book once Eric Bischoff was sent home from WCW.
Speaker 1: Do you think Hayman would have made a better impact
Speaker 1: on WCW creative or would things have ended the same way?
Speaker 1: You know, it's actually I feel like it's two completely
Speaker 1: different questions here, because would he have had a better
Speaker 1: impact on WCW creative? Absolutely? Did you watch WCW in
Speaker 1: the dying days? I think, honestly, I mean I saw
Speaker 1: possum in the street a few weeks ago here in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: Yes we have Brooklyn possums. And I think the possum
Speaker 1: would have done a better job than whoever the hell
Speaker 1: was doing. I mean, the creative was handled by so
Speaker 1: many different people at that point. I can't even just
Speaker 1: say it was Russo russou Bishaw, who the hell knows.
Speaker 1: The possum would have done a better job. So would
Speaker 1: Paul Haman have done a better job creatively? That was
Speaker 1: his strong suit. Creatively was his strong suit. The business
Speaker 1: end of things not so much. But you're talking about
Speaker 1: two different things. So creative would have improved under Hayman.
Speaker 1: Would things have ended pretty much the same way for WCW.
Speaker 1: I think they would have, because I think they were
Speaker 1: just so far gone. They were too far gone at
Speaker 1: that point. They were too far gone. And also Turner
Speaker 1: was looking to just unload and just be done with it.
Speaker 1: At that point, the glory days were over. They weren't
Speaker 1: getting them back. WWF was so much stronger than they
Speaker 1: were when WCW was kicking their ass. There were just
Speaker 1: too many things working against them. So I think creatively
Speaker 1: the actual television product might have improved, But I don't
Speaker 1: think it would have really changed the outcome. I think
Speaker 1: we would have ended up in the same place now.
Speaker 1: He also has a completely unrelay to buy or sell
Speaker 1: on movies. Which decade had the better movies, nineteen eighties
Speaker 1: or nineteen nineties. I mean, it's so subjective. I love
Speaker 1: eighties and nineties movies. I just think they're the best.
Speaker 1: The eighties gave us so many things. The eighties gave
Speaker 1: us back to the future, Ghostbusters, die Hard, RoboCop, Terminator,
Speaker 1: top Gun, Lethal Weapon, et Beetlejuice, Batman, Scarface, Beverly Hills Cop,
Speaker 1: just a shit ton of John Candy movies. I miss
Speaker 1: that guy. Oh God, there's so many I'm missing. And
Speaker 1: that's to say nothing of all the horror franchises that
Speaker 1: started in the eighties Right Friday the Thirteenth, which I
Speaker 1: have a question on that actually coming up here in
Speaker 1: a second Nightmare on Elm Street, The Thing, Creep Show,
Speaker 1: Child's Play, The Fly Fright, Night They Live. It was
Speaker 1: the era of practical effects. Rob Botten is still the
Speaker 1: best when it comes to that stuff. The eighties were great.
Speaker 1: Eighties wrestling was the best too. The hair maybe not
Speaker 1: so much, But then you look at the movies we
Speaker 1: got in the nineties, and I mean it's not like
Speaker 1: there isn't a lot of great stuff there. I mean
Speaker 1: you got Terminator two, one of the all time great sequels. Right.
Speaker 1: People talk about Godfather too, but you can't leave Terminator
Speaker 1: too out of that conversation either, Goodfellas, Casino Heat, The
Speaker 1: Shawshank Redemption, which is one of the greatest movies ever made,
Speaker 1: Saving Private Ryan Toy Story, Jurassic Park, the Original, not
Speaker 1: all of the inferior sequels that we've gotten, Shindler's List
Speaker 1: Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Silence of the Lambs, Scream. I mean,
Speaker 1: the eighties was definitely the better horror decade. I give
Speaker 1: it the edge on movies overall. But it's all a
Speaker 1: matter of your personal taste and what you look for
Speaker 1: in your movies. I mean, some people love horror, some
Speaker 1: people like action, some don't. Some like more artsy films
Speaker 1: and less big budget blockbusters, which we got a lot
Speaker 1: of in the eighties. I think you'll find what you
Speaker 1: like in either one. But to me, the eighties is
Speaker 1: still tops. But you know, then you have people that
Speaker 1: are a little bit older who would probably swear by
Speaker 1: the seventies. Look at what we got in the seventies.
Speaker 1: You got The Godfather, The Godfather Part two, Jaws, which
Speaker 1: just celebrated fifty years, The Alien, Rocky, the Exorcist, Taxi Driver,
Speaker 1: Star Wars. If that's your thing, all goes back to
Speaker 1: the seventies, William from New Jersey. I recall that you're
Speaker 1: a big horror movie fan. I am too. I remember
Speaker 1: you did your top five favorite horror films for Episode
Speaker 1: six sixty six, and you the Halloween movies, including your
Speaker 1: reviews on the three latest ones. I remember you bringing
Speaker 1: up Jason Vorhees a few times and think that it
Speaker 1: would be fun to see you rank the twelve movies
Speaker 1: from best to worst, which includes Freddy Versus Jason. Jason
Speaker 1: is my personal favorite slasher killer. Even my wife, who
Speaker 1: wasn't a horror fan before, has now become obsessed with
Speaker 1: it and these movies are to thank for it. We're
Speaker 1: actually going to Camp No b Bosco nob Bosco Wow
Speaker 1: Camp Nobi Bosco's tour later this October with our one
Speaker 1: year old the location where the original Friday the Thirteenth
Speaker 1: was filmed. That's very cool. I forgot they filmed that
Speaker 1: first movie in New Jersey. Ranking all twelve is tough
Speaker 1: because it's been many years since I've seen these movies,
Speaker 1: but I will give it my best shot. I will
Speaker 1: tell you right now. So I did put some thought
Speaker 1: into this and I was able to rank them, but
Speaker 1: I will tell you right now, Part three is my favorite.
Speaker 1: You can tell it was shot in three D because
Speaker 1: some of the weird camera shots, Like if you watch
Speaker 1: the movie now, especially not with like three D glasses,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be some scenes that just look fucking weird
Speaker 1: because they sold this movie when it came out as
Speaker 1: Jason in three D. But I love it. It's the
Speaker 1: one where he actually gets the hockey mask for the
Speaker 1: first time. So Part three is my number one, then
Speaker 1: Part six, then Part four, then Part two. Part four
Speaker 1: was the one with Corey Feldman, then Part two, and
Speaker 1: rounding out my top five, I've got Freddy Versus Jason,
Speaker 1: even though it was probably more of a nightmare movie
Speaker 1: Nightmare on Elm Street than a Friday the Thirteenth film,
Speaker 1: And I really was never a big Freddy guy, but
Speaker 1: I just I just had so much fun watching that,
Speaker 1: like in a theater packed with people when it first
Speaker 1: came out. They actually gave the closing shot of the
Speaker 1: movie a standing ovation. That might have been the first
Speaker 1: time I ever went to a movie they got a
Speaker 1: standing ovation. So that's my top five. Number six is
Speaker 1: the original movie from nineteen eighty. You know, it's not
Speaker 1: too often when you have a franchise like this that
Speaker 1: spawns so many sequels that you rank the original this low.
Speaker 1: But I have to. I just I don't like it
Speaker 1: as much as the movies with Jason as the actual killer.
Speaker 1: The ending freaked me the fuck out though when I
Speaker 1: saw it for the first time. Number seven I have
Speaker 1: the two thousand and nine reboot of the original, the
Speaker 1: Platinum Dunes version, which really wasn't bad. It's not as
Speaker 1: good as Halloween twenty eighteen in terms of like reboots,
Speaker 1: but it was fine. Actually, Halloween twenty eighteen wasn't really
Speaker 1: a reboot, but it's not as good as that one.
Speaker 1: It was fine. Hard to believe that that was the
Speaker 1: last movie they did, since this one made something like
Speaker 1: ninety million dollars on a twenty million dollar budget. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you ask yourself, how come they didn't make more after that? Well,
Speaker 1: got tied up in legal hell and the rights to
Speaker 1: the IP got passed around a few times. I honestly
Speaker 1: have no idea what the hold up is now. I
Speaker 1: don't even know who owns it. I don't know who
Speaker 1: owns the IP. I don't know what the hold up
Speaker 1: is now. I don't know if it has anything to
Speaker 1: do anymore with legal issues. I thought maybe those got
Speaker 1: worked out. But sixteen years without another movie is just insane.
Speaker 1: When they keep crapping out these Halloween movies and these
Speaker 1: alien movies like they're nobody's business. We can't get another
Speaker 1: Friday the Thirteenth movie, It's just crazy to me. I've
Speaker 1: got Part seven at number eight. I've gotten now. This
Speaker 1: one might be a little controversial. I've got Jason X
Speaker 1: at number nine. Don't laugh. Jason goes to Space. As
Speaker 1: silly and as stupid as it was. That movie is
Speaker 1: a guilty pleasure of mine and funny enough. Even though
Speaker 1: it might be one of the worst movies in the
Speaker 1: entire franchise, it has the best kill in the entire series,
Speaker 1: the liquid nitrogen kill, so like if you know, you Know,
Speaker 1: And also in that movie they pay homage to the
Speaker 1: sleeping bag kill from Part seven, which is the second
Speaker 1: best kill of the entire series. One thing about Jason
Speaker 1: Vorhees is he makes it very clear he is no
Speaker 1: fan of teenagers having pre marital sex. If you are
Speaker 1: a teen to having pre marital sex and Jason is nearby,
Speaker 1: you are definitely going to die. Now for number ten,
Speaker 1: I am gonna go with Part eight, which is Jason
Speaker 1: Takes Manhattan, which is as stupid as it sounds. Number
Speaker 1: eleven is Part five, which I fucking hate. Jason isn't
Speaker 1: even in the damn movie. I mean, look Michael. To
Speaker 1: be fair, Michael is not in Halloween Part three either,
Speaker 1: and I always put that movie over. I love it.
Speaker 1: It's become one of my all time favorite movies. I've
Speaker 1: just I've never liked Friday the Thirteenth Part five, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: and I like Part nine even less Jason Goes to Hell,
Speaker 1: which is why I have it ranked dead last on
Speaker 1: my list. God, I fucking hate that movie. Fucking hate
Speaker 1: that movie. So there you go, all of them ranked.
Speaker 1: It'd be nice to get a new Friday movie. At
Speaker 1: some point. I know they started filming they're doing a
Speaker 1: TV series, and I know they started filming on a
Speaker 1: prequel series that's gonna air on Peacock called Crystal Lake,
Speaker 1: and they just started filming two weeks ago under a
Speaker 1: fake title called Mama's Boy, which just kind of funny.
Speaker 1: But it's gonna be called Crystal Lake. If they just started,
Speaker 1: it's probably not dropping until next year, would be my guest,
Speaker 1: but I know it's supposed to be about eight episodes.
Speaker 1: I would like another movie, though. How would you guys
Speaker 1: feel about I had this idea and it may never happen,
Speaker 1: but how would you guys feel about a found footage
Speaker 1: version of Friday the Thirteenth. I feel like the found
Speaker 1: footage craze is pretty much over this point, but I
Speaker 1: always felt like that could be an interesting take on
Speaker 1: adjacent movie. I think it could work. I will say
Speaker 1: there have been some really good fan made films over
Speaker 1: the years. You can find them on YouTube. There was
Speaker 1: one that I saw a few years ago. I think
Speaker 1: it was I think it was called Never Never Hike Alone.
Speaker 1: I think I think Never Hike Alone, I think was
Speaker 1: the name of it. It's like a full length Friday
Speaker 1: the Thirteenth fan made film. It might be like an
Speaker 1: hour long, really really well done. So there have been
Speaker 1: like Friday the Thirteenth movies of sorts that have come
Speaker 1: out since that two thousand and nine movie. Just nothing official,
Speaker 1: nothing from like a movie studio or like a you know,
Speaker 1: ninety minute two hour length type of movie. But never
Speaker 1: hike alone if you've never heard of it. I only
Speaker 1: saw it once, but I thought it was really well done,
Speaker 1: so that's something. Maybe if you've never seen it, you
Speaker 1: can go check that out on YouTube. But good stuff here.
Speaker 1: You guys are awesome, especially when there's a quiet week.
Speaker 1: Guys come through with the questions. Keep emailing me the
Speaker 1: Solemn Monster at gmail dot com. So here's the schedule
Speaker 1: of events for this week coming up, because we are
Speaker 1: heading into a very busy weekend. I will be live
Speaker 1: on YouTube with the Raw Post Show on Monday night,
Speaker 1: same with Dynamite on Wednesday. In between there, I will
Speaker 1: be live on JD's channel for Tuesday Night Titans. That
Speaker 1: will be episode one oh two, so we get to
Speaker 1: the end of the week. Friday, there will be no
Speaker 1: SmackDown review because I will be in Texas doing commentary
Speaker 1: for House of Glory. I fly back early on Saturday morning.
Speaker 1: I will be watching All in Texas on Saturday and
Speaker 1: then going live on YouTube when that show is over.
Speaker 1: I will watch Saturday Night's main event at some point
Speaker 1: before the podcast next Sunday, so I can review it
Speaker 1: on episode nine to twenty. So there will be a
Speaker 1: podcast next Sunday, and then Sunday Night will be Evolution,
Speaker 1: and I will be live on YouTube for the Evolution
Speaker 1: post show next Sunday. So I guess I'm doing show
Speaker 1: if you count the Hog Show on Friday, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be doing shows on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, another TNT
Speaker 1: next Tuesday, Dynamite that Wednesday, and then my day of rest.
Speaker 1: So that is the plan, and then we have a
Speaker 1: two night Summer Slam coming. That first weekend in August
Speaker 1: is going to be a killer too. I got a
Speaker 1: Hog Show that Friday and then a two night Summer
Speaker 1: Slam on August second and third, so things are definitely
Speaker 1: going to pick up. As a good old JR Would say,
Speaker 1: business is about to pick up. I will see you
Speaker 1: next Sunday for episode nine to twenty. Until then, be well,
Speaker 1: stay safe, have yourselves a great week, and I hope
Speaker 1: to see you for all of the shows and all
Speaker 1: the content that's coming up, because there's a lot of it.
Speaker 1: Until then, take care, guys.
Speaker 2: The Solemn Monster soundbarb begins.
Speaker 1: To walk down the hallway and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: who bursts through the doors. Off in the background, Hangmed
Speaker 1: him paid comes charging in. He says Swerve is wasting
Speaker 1: his time because he made a promise a long time
Speaker 1: ago that Swerve Strickland would never hold the aw World
Speaker 1: Championship ever again. It's not gonna let this go. This
Speaker 1: man is still obsessed. Hangman screams that you broke into
Speaker 1: my house. Swerve screams back at him, you burned my
Speaker 1: house down. So Hangman screamed, you deserved it, and then Swerve,
Speaker 1: You're right, I deserved it. God, I fucking love pro wrestling,
Speaker 1: Like it's just so fucking absurd, but I love it.
Speaker 1: How can you not love this shit?
Speaker 2: The Solo Monster sounds off, bringing you the good, the bad,
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