Official 2026 Elimination Chamber Reaction & Review

<v Speaker 1>The Elimination Chamber has now come and gone. There are
<v Speaker 1>no other stops on the road to wrestle Mania, which
<v Speaker 1>is now in about six weeks, and we have a
<v Speaker 1>lot to talk about from last night's event. I didn't
<v Speaker 1>watch it in real time if you followed me at
<v Speaker 1>x which, by the way, you can at Wrestling Underscore audio.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't provide really many thoughts until I had seen
<v Speaker 1>the event, which was earlier this morning, and I tried
<v Speaker 1>to stay away from spoilers and see what what the
<v Speaker 1>outcome was for myself. And I have to say I
<v Speaker 1>have a mixed reaction to this event, which I think
<v Speaker 1>most of us do with every event. You'll love some stuff,
<v Speaker 1>you hate some stuff, and generally I think the wrestling
<v Speaker 1>was good. I don't care about La Knight's botch. People
<v Speaker 1>are making a big deal about it.
<v Speaker 2>Who cares.
<v Speaker 1>It's actually understandable given the scenario he was in. There's
<v Speaker 1>a pod right behind him, so he didn't have the
<v Speaker 1>usual space he thought he did, and he slipped and
<v Speaker 1>he made the best of it. I really don't care
<v Speaker 1>about that. La Night has had botches in the past too,
<v Speaker 1>with the top rope. If you remember, he's done this
<v Speaker 1>before I might have been with Seamus or something. The
<v Speaker 1>match he had that top rope is his enemy. Right now,
<v Speaker 1>I would stay away from it, but I don't care
<v Speaker 1>about that. That doesn't mean anything to me. The botch
<v Speaker 1>is what it is. There were some other good stuff
<v Speaker 1>on the show too. I mean, you had, I think
<v Speaker 1>a really good Finn balorcam Punk match, physical, you had
<v Speaker 1>a better than expected aj Lee and Becky Lynch match,
<v Speaker 1>and the women's match. Look, you had the outcome you
<v Speaker 1>thought you would and it was the right outcome. You
<v Speaker 1>had a men's match that you knew was going to
<v Speaker 1>come down to either Cody or Randy, and we all
<v Speaker 1>know it ended up being Randy, which was I think
<v Speaker 1>a solid choice. Now it doesn't really matter I think
<v Speaker 1>who wins this because we have now a new championship
<v Speaker 1>match for Friday. It's going to be Cody Rhodes versus
<v Speaker 1>Drew McIntyre for the undisputed Championship. And whether it's Cody
<v Speaker 1>or Drew coming out of that, what did we all
<v Speaker 1>talk about weeks ago? It doesn't really matter who wins
<v Speaker 1>the chamber, if it's Cody or Randy, or even who
<v Speaker 1>wins this Friday, whether it's Cody, Cody or Drew, because
<v Speaker 1>I think that match is going to end in a disqualification,
<v Speaker 1>which is going to just lead to having all this
<v Speaker 1>lose his mind even further at Drew and putting him
<v Speaker 1>in a triple threat match which may lead to a
<v Speaker 1>fatal four way with Jacob Fattu. So no matter what
<v Speaker 1>detours they take on the road to WrestleMania here for
<v Speaker 1>the SmackDown side of things, anyway from the main event
<v Speaker 1>there doesn't really matter because you have the same players
<v Speaker 1>in the room at the end of the day. In
<v Speaker 1>that match, they're just putting the pieces together differently, but
<v Speaker 1>they know what the ultimate picture is going to be,
<v Speaker 1>and that's likely a multi man triple threat or fatal
<v Speaker 1>four way at WrestleMania. So don't be deterred if you
<v Speaker 1>still miss out you think you're missing out on Cody
<v Speaker 1>Rhoads in the main event of WrestleMania. He's gonna be there.
<v Speaker 1>It's going to be a triple threat. Don't worry. Even
<v Speaker 1>if he loses on Friday, and he probably will, or
<v Speaker 1>there'll be a disqualification intentionally and Drew part to keep
<v Speaker 1>the championship, and then that's when all this will come
<v Speaker 1>out and do what he does, and so that doesn't
<v Speaker 1>really matter. And Randy Orton will be there obviously because
<v Speaker 1>he won the elimination chamber, so Orton is guaranteed to
<v Speaker 1>be there, and it's gonna be Orton right now versus Drew.
<v Speaker 1>But of course you're gonna have Cody there because otherwise,
<v Speaker 1>what do you have Cody do?
<v Speaker 2>What else is.
<v Speaker 1>Cody Rhads going to do at WrestleMania. There's just not
<v Speaker 1>enough time. I don't think to build him anywhere, and
<v Speaker 1>it's not going to be against brock Lessner. We've been
<v Speaker 1>down that road. So overall, I thought that the matches
<v Speaker 1>I think were well laid out and the outcomes were safe.
<v Speaker 1>The outcome of Becky Lynch and aj Lee will get
<v Speaker 1>into it a little bit as I go through the
<v Speaker 1>details of the matches, But before we get to any
<v Speaker 1>of those matches, which again I thought well done, well executed,
<v Speaker 1>is the disaster dump fire of the box reveal. I
<v Speaker 1>don't want to hear from anybody that this is just
<v Speaker 1>his gimmick. It's supposed to be obnoxious or supposed to
<v Speaker 1>be over the top, it's supposed to be the.
<v Speaker 2>Way it is.
<v Speaker 1>I don't want to hear any of that. Number one,
<v Speaker 1>the way the box was revealed, one of the lights
<v Speaker 1>was out at the bottom, so that wasn't a good start.
<v Speaker 1>And then there was a coffin you know, some of
<v Speaker 1>us are thinking undertaker, you know. And then behind it
<v Speaker 1>clearly it was not an actual opening up a box
<v Speaker 1>because behind the box was the actual backstage area. So
<v Speaker 1>the box wasn't actually opened so much as was being
<v Speaker 1>used as like an entrance way for a bunch of
<v Speaker 1>people backstage. So that was I think that was horrible
<v Speaker 1>just in and of itself, even if it wasn't a
<v Speaker 1>bad reveal, if it was Chris Jericho somehow, but a
<v Speaker 1>bunch of people came out stupid. Also, it's not just
<v Speaker 1>one person. It was apparently a bunch of people in
<v Speaker 1>this box. Just ridiculous, And I know that. Well that's
<v Speaker 1>the point. Okay, Well, I don't know how to put this. Actually, no,
<v Speaker 1>I do know how to put this. This was an
<v Speaker 1>abomination of a reveal. Number One, you did it on
<v Speaker 1>a pl which amped up the expectations even higher. When
<v Speaker 1>you wrap up the expectations higher and you deliver this
<v Speaker 1>hot garbage, you should get boot out of the building.
<v Speaker 1>And that's exactly what happened to Dan Housen. Now do
<v Speaker 1>I feel bad for him? I mean not really. I
<v Speaker 1>know people are, so don't blame him. Well, I mean
<v Speaker 1>he agreed to this gimmick, he helped formulate it. It's horrible.
<v Speaker 1>I don't want to hear that it's supposed to be comical.
<v Speaker 1>Comedy doesn't belong in wrestling by design. If it happens organically,
<v Speaker 1>or it happens by accident, fine, But to purposefully put
<v Speaker 1>in organic or try to put in force comedy segments,
<v Speaker 1>it will not work. Nine times out of ten, and
<v Speaker 1>sometimes ten times out of ten. Comedy and wrestling don't
<v Speaker 1>belong unless it just happens by happenstance. But to make
<v Speaker 1>an actual, entire gimmick out of this, and I did
<v Speaker 1>not watch any of him. I know he was on
<v Speaker 1>the independent circuit, he was in aw for a few years.
<v Speaker 2>I don't care.
<v Speaker 1>I don't care. This gimmick doesn't It doesn't make it
<v Speaker 1>any better. This is a horrible gimmick. Now you're saying, well,
<v Speaker 1>give it a chance. I don't need to. I've seen
<v Speaker 1>everything I need to to make a judgment call on this,
<v Speaker 1>And this is an abomination of professional wrestling. This is
<v Speaker 1>even worse than Vince McMahon could ever concoct. And he
<v Speaker 1>keeps come up with some horrible stuff, as we all know,
<v Speaker 1>to try to make things funny, food fights, otis a
<v Speaker 1>lot of stuff that was just bad. But this is
<v Speaker 1>an entire gimmick where you have a bunch of people dancing.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, it felt like I was watching not even
<v Speaker 1>community theater. That may be giving it too much credit.
<v Speaker 1>It felt like I was watching an elementary school play.
<v Speaker 1>And I'm supposed to feel I'm supposed to feel humor
<v Speaker 1>from this. I'm supposed to be entertained. I don't even
<v Speaker 1>know what segment of the audience they were promoting this for.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know even young children would probably not know
<v Speaker 1>what to make of this. It was embarrassing, and I
<v Speaker 1>don't know how to process this beyond it was just horrible.
<v Speaker 1>I don't want to hear give it a chance. I
<v Speaker 1>don't want to hear any of that because you can't
<v Speaker 1>make this good. It may get a few laughs from
<v Speaker 1>a few people, and that's fine, but I think to
<v Speaker 1>the mass viewing audience, this is a mockery of professional wrestling.
<v Speaker 1>You have a guy come out in a cape and
<v Speaker 1>a vampire outfit with a bunch of supporting cast members
<v Speaker 1>that are dancing around music. I hope the crowd continues
<v Speaker 1>to shit.
<v Speaker 2>All over this. I hope they do.
<v Speaker 1>They deserve this, deserves to get shit on every time
<v Speaker 1>it's put out in front of an audience, especially the
<v Speaker 1>way again you put the expectations that it could be
<v Speaker 1>Chris Jericho or that it's something exciting, some big return,
<v Speaker 1>and it's Dan Housen. That ninety nine percent of the
<v Speaker 1>people in the audience, I shouldn't say ninety nine, probably
<v Speaker 1>eighty five percent of the people in the audience are going,
<v Speaker 1>who I'm sorry, who's this guy? And you are setting
<v Speaker 1>yourself up for a disastrous debut. And that's exactly what
<v Speaker 1>we got it. It's what it deserved. I feel no
<v Speaker 1>sympathy for anyone involved, including Dan Housen himself. Yeah, he's
<v Speaker 1>not responsible necessarily for the creative but he's complicit in
<v Speaker 1>the actual creation of this horrible character. I mean, I
<v Speaker 1>could not design something worse. It's the worst of all worlds.
<v Speaker 1>Bad music. It's trying to be funny when it's not,
<v Speaker 1>which is just a cardinal sin in wrestling, and it
<v Speaker 1>thinks it's funny, it thinks that it's placating to some
<v Speaker 1>sub segment of the audience when it's not. Tell me
<v Speaker 1>the demographic, Please describe in detail who this is for,
<v Speaker 1>and then make a case for that. I don't want
<v Speaker 1>to hear. Well, this shows for everybody. There's a little
<v Speaker 1>bit of something for everybody. This is for no one.
<v Speaker 1>This is for no one. So this segment was just
<v Speaker 1>god awful, and I wanted to say that up front
<v Speaker 1>because it deserves all the scorn and ridicule and humiliation
<v Speaker 1>that it deserves. You should be embarrassed watching. If you not,
<v Speaker 1>if you don't feel any embarrassment watching that segment, you're
<v Speaker 1>not a human being. You're some kind of alien creature.
<v Speaker 1>You cannot tell me to give it a chance to
<v Speaker 1>to uh to. Well, you haven't seen anything yet, right,
<v Speaker 1>You're you're you're you're prejudging. No, I'm judging. I'm judging it,
<v Speaker 1>and I've come to the very logical and definitive conclusion
<v Speaker 1>that this is a shit pile of a gimmick, and
<v Speaker 1>I hope it fails and fails horrifically bad. Now does
<v Speaker 1>that mean Dan Housen can't come up with some other
<v Speaker 1>gimmick or rebrand himself.
<v Speaker 2>No.
<v Speaker 1>No, in fact, I hope he does, but I don't
<v Speaker 1>think he is. And they're going to just move forward
<v Speaker 1>with this. But you have this build up for three
<v Speaker 1>weeks or so of this crate that people have speculations
<v Speaker 1>of and hopes of, and you know, just anticipation, and
<v Speaker 1>it was a good hook, and you then reveal it
<v Speaker 1>at a major pl e right before WrestleMania, and it's
<v Speaker 1>just a pile of dog shit and we're all supposed
<v Speaker 1>to not say anything. I'm sure Jacob Fatu is sitting
<v Speaker 1>there scorning the fans for us not liking this, because
<v Speaker 1>according to him, we're not allowed to say anything unless
<v Speaker 1>it's something nice, so he can fuck off. And I've
<v Speaker 1>kind of turned this, by the way, into a adult
<v Speaker 1>show because it deserves.
<v Speaker 2>This, all right.
<v Speaker 1>I'm kind of moving my show into a bit more
<v Speaker 1>of an adult content because I don't want to censor
<v Speaker 1>myself anymore. I think these words are strong enough that
<v Speaker 1>it needs to come out. That's how I feel. So anyway,
<v Speaker 1>I hope you have enjoyed the pl I definitely did
<v Speaker 1>for the most part up until that point of the
<v Speaker 1>horrible reveal. Yes, we saw Seth Rollins as well, which
<v Speaker 1>I actually we all knew that it was going to
<v Speaker 1>be Seth Rollins or it was a bust and the
<v Speaker 1>reveal of who it was on SmackDown it was horrible.
<v Speaker 1>I know I'm being very negative off the top here,
<v Speaker 1>but the reveal on SmackDown was just horrific as well.
<v Speaker 1>It was akin to Hornswoggle being revealed as the anonymous
<v Speaker 1>raw GM fifteen years ago.
<v Speaker 2>This was that bad.
<v Speaker 1>I don't even see the need now. I know they
<v Speaker 1>were doing it as Oh the guy's been revealed, but no,
<v Speaker 1>there's more than one. I don't need to see someone
<v Speaker 1>in a mask ever. Again, there was no need to
<v Speaker 1>have multiple people in masks doing this. There's no need
<v Speaker 1>for that. I don't quite understand why there was a
<v Speaker 1>need to have multiple people in masks ultimately to lead
<v Speaker 1>to Seth Rollins. Just we all know it's going to
<v Speaker 1>be Seth at the end of the day. Just why,
<v Speaker 1>I mean whatever. It was a disastrous review last week.
<v Speaker 1>But and now Seth is back, so we have one piece,
<v Speaker 1>a large piece of the puzzle back. We still have
<v Speaker 1>two major injuries and bron Breaker and Bronson Reid. The
<v Speaker 1>Bronze are still out and they'll be out.
<v Speaker 2>For the foreseeable future.
<v Speaker 1>But Seth is back and he attacks Logan Paul. Now,
<v Speaker 1>is Logan Paul gonna be going going on one with Seth?
<v Speaker 1>I guess maybe Seth keeps going, you know, put into
<v Speaker 1>the vision and looking at Okay, who's the next biggest
<v Speaker 1>star up? Who's the next big star up? And if
<v Speaker 1>Logan Paul gets injured, what is it going to be?
<v Speaker 2>Logan Paul? I'm sorry.
<v Speaker 1>Seth rollins versus Austin theory, and then if Austin theory
<v Speaker 1>goes down, is he gonna take on Paul Hayman?
<v Speaker 2>I mean Seth.
<v Speaker 1>Seth's match at WrestleMania is in a continuous decline for
<v Speaker 1>reasons outside of his control, because of the fact that
<v Speaker 1>injuries continue to happen. So Seth versus Logan Paul could
<v Speaker 1>absolutely be on the table. We'll see. But we've got
<v Speaker 1>some other stuff to go on and talk about here,
<v Speaker 1>some good stuff.
<v Speaker 2>All right.
<v Speaker 1>This is not just going to be a complete bitch
<v Speaker 1>fest for the entire show, and I don't want it
<v Speaker 1>to be. So let's go through the results here of
<v Speaker 1>the pl which, yeah, again I thought was good generally
<v Speaker 1>it was good, with kind of a mixed mixed bag
<v Speaker 1>towards the end, especially as we talked about with the reveal.
<v Speaker 1>All right, so let's go through the ple and we'll
<v Speaker 1>go through it step by step here and give you
<v Speaker 1>a little bit more of a introspective into what I
<v Speaker 1>thought about it. We or started the show with a
<v Speaker 1>Hannah Haven I don't know who that is, stood in
<v Speaker 1>the ring and performed the national anthem, and then Michael
<v Speaker 1>Cole opened the show while various shots of the city
<v Speaker 1>was shown and Cole said the United Center was hosting
<v Speaker 1>a WWE event for the first time in thirty two years. Cole,
<v Speaker 1>who was on commentary, then talked about a sellout almost
<v Speaker 1>twenty thousand people. And we then had Triviny Stratton versus
<v Speaker 1>Ree Ripley versus Alexa Bliss versus Aska versus Keana James
<v Speaker 1>versus Raquel Rodriguez for the women's match, which you all
<v Speaker 1>know anytimes as a men and women's equivalent match, the
<v Speaker 1>women are always going to go first, almost always. But
<v Speaker 1>the match I think was good. The first elimination here
<v Speaker 1>came with let's see here, Alexa Bliss eliminated by Keana James,
<v Speaker 1>in thirteen minutes, which was a bit of a surprise,
<v Speaker 1>but they want to give Kiana James a little bit
<v Speaker 1>of a moment here, and they did. Oscar and Kianna
<v Speaker 1>James were then eliminated by Raquel in sixteen minutes and
<v Speaker 1>fifteen seconds in a double elimination. A little bit of
<v Speaker 1>a tricky spot there, because both women's shoulders should be
<v Speaker 1>to the mat, not on each other, in order to
<v Speaker 1>consider it an elimination.
<v Speaker 2>Whatever.
<v Speaker 1>Both were eliminated by Raquel, who had a dominant performance,
<v Speaker 1>and then Stratton avoids it to hot a bomb and
<v Speaker 1>Rodriguez was ultimately eliminated by tippity Stratton at the twenty
<v Speaker 1>minute mark after Stratton hit Rodriguez with the prettiest moon salt,
<v Speaker 1>and then it came down to Ripley and Stratton, and
<v Speaker 1>the finish ends up seeing as we know Ria Ripley winning,
<v Speaker 1>but we had let's see Stratton, who at this point
<v Speaker 1>had a bloody nose, hit a swanton on Ripley. Stratton
<v Speaker 1>went for the her finish, the moon salt, and Ripley
<v Speaker 1>stood up and shoved Stratton into the side of the
<v Speaker 1>pod and then Ripley got Stratton back inside the ring,
<v Speaker 1>hit the riptide and got the victory and a good
<v Speaker 1>I thought it was a good match, just good.
<v Speaker 2>It wasn't great.
<v Speaker 1>It was as expected as advertised, not anything more, not
<v Speaker 1>anything less. It was exactly what I think what it
<v Speaker 1>should have been.
<v Speaker 2>Didn't over deliver.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think it under delivered either, and the right
<v Speaker 1>person one. We now have Rea Ripley taking on Jade
<v Speaker 1>Cargill and that's the right move.
<v Speaker 2>Again.
<v Speaker 1>Breakout performance a little bit from Keana James good. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>her biggest match easily to date in the company. Roy
<v Speaker 1>cal Rodriguez with the double elimination had her moment. Alexa Bliss, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>she was used a bit of as a pawn here.
<v Speaker 1>Won't hurt her, won't help her, just kind of keep
<v Speaker 1>her at the same level. I think with Alexibliss being
<v Speaker 1>eliminated at thirteen minutes by Keanu James. But nobody really
<v Speaker 1>was hurt by this, and I think it only helped.
<v Speaker 1>It only helped Kanta James, helped Raquel and helped obviously
<v Speaker 1>re Ripley move back into the main event scene. One
<v Speaker 1>thing about Tiffany is because I'm on a roll today
<v Speaker 1>with just hammering people who deserve it, and I do too. Sometimes.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not saying I'm immune, but since these people are
<v Speaker 1>in the public eye and put out public videos about
<v Speaker 1>things that I'm about to talk about, then you kind
<v Speaker 1>of deserve it. Tiffany Stratton, as we all know, is
<v Speaker 1>a raging narcissist, and I mean that in a not
<v Speaker 1>good way. I'm talking about like his actual person. She
<v Speaker 1>seems like a complete narcissist, which again, take that for
<v Speaker 1>what it's worth. That's my interpretation of the thing she
<v Speaker 1>puts on social media. Her boyfriend, as we all know,
<v Speaker 1>is no longer Kaiser Love when Kaiser they broke up
<v Speaker 1>a while ago. She now has a new boyfriend, another
<v Speaker 1>wrestler I forget his name, not important. He ends up
<v Speaker 1>getting her eyes Tiffany's eyes tattooed on his forearm, and
<v Speaker 1>when Aarna asked about that, she said it was kind
<v Speaker 1>of her idea because he loves tattoos, and you know,
<v Speaker 1>so he did it and she loves it. First of all,
<v Speaker 1>that dude's a moron. He's a moron. I mean, are
<v Speaker 1>we never going to learn to not tattoo another significant
<v Speaker 1>significant other initials or anything that reminds you of them?
<v Speaker 2>This is doomed to fail.
<v Speaker 1>But also the fact that it was Tiffany's idea is
<v Speaker 1>the pinnacle of narcissism. Why would you want your eyes
<v Speaker 1>transcribed permanently on someone else's body unless you are self obsessed.
<v Speaker 1>So it's just it's bad all around. She seems incredibly superficial,
<v Speaker 1>very much into who hurt she is and how she looks.
<v Speaker 1>And I don't even think honestly, the more I look
<v Speaker 1>at it, the less attractive she becomes. I mean, it
<v Speaker 1>looks like it looks like she's already had work done
<v Speaker 1>when she hasn't had work done. That's how much makeup
<v Speaker 1>she wears. It looks like her body's preparing for what
<v Speaker 1>it's going to look like after she has actual work done.
<v Speaker 1>Unless she's had actual work done, I'm not privy to that.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe she's gotten botox or whatever. I'm not sure, but
<v Speaker 1>since she put that out, I felt compelled to comment
<v Speaker 1>on it because I can so there. I am not
<v Speaker 1>even close to a Tiffany Stratton fan, and she has
<v Speaker 1>cooled off, not just obviously in a personal note, but
<v Speaker 1>also in a professional note as really cooled off from
<v Speaker 1>a fan support perspective, and she's admitted this too. I
<v Speaker 1>think in other interviews that she has felt stale, and
<v Speaker 1>she has over the last several months. She has kind
<v Speaker 1>of just been there. Ever since her match with Charlotte
<v Speaker 1>last year, was it. She's kind of been on the
<v Speaker 1>downslide and then plateaued. So look, could she re elevate
<v Speaker 1>herself and back into really a position that fans really
<v Speaker 1>want to support you in?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? You could.
<v Speaker 1>I think she's in a position more now to have
<v Speaker 1>fans start to turn on her. I think that's where
<v Speaker 1>she's at, and I hope they do. All right, that'll
<v Speaker 1>certainly get some of you comment Onning this show, we
<v Speaker 1>then have Becky Lynch an aj Lee for the Intercontinental Championship.
<v Speaker 1>This match went fifteen minutes and forty seconds, so a
<v Speaker 1>little bit longer, a few minutes longer than I expected.
<v Speaker 1>Aj Lee wins the Intercontinental Championship to most people surprised
<v Speaker 1>because they figured it was going to go to WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 2>I did too.
<v Speaker 1>I was duped and they certainly could have Becky Lynch.
<v Speaker 1>I think we had an emailer over the on the
<v Speaker 1>Mailbag show last week comment how AJ's gonna win and
<v Speaker 1>then Becky Lynch will win it back and then AJ
<v Speaker 1>will take it back to WrestleMania. I guess you could
<v Speaker 1>go that way, but I don't see the need for that.
<v Speaker 1>I think babyfaces in Chase Mo to WrestleMania are a
<v Speaker 1>tried and true formula. And here's what's also more concerning
<v Speaker 1>than even the AJ win, which I shouldn't even label
<v Speaker 1>it as concerning. I think surprising is a better way
<v Speaker 1>to label it is the reaction that AJ got in
<v Speaker 1>her entrance in Chicago. In Chicago was.
<v Speaker 2>Putrid.
<v Speaker 1>And I'm not even I'm not pushing this on AJ.
<v Speaker 1>I'm no aj Lee fan from a personal perspective either.
<v Speaker 1>And I'll get some comment get to some comments about
<v Speaker 1>what she said afterwards in the post show, which is
<v Speaker 1>again where Nick Alldos announced Cody Rhodes's championship match at
<v Speaker 1>on Friday. But in the post show, I want to
<v Speaker 1>talk about some things she said. But I don't even
<v Speaker 1>fault AJ for this. It was just a bit of prise.
<v Speaker 1>You're in Chicago and aj Lee gets a lukewarm reaction
<v Speaker 1>at best. I mean, they panned to the crowd as
<v Speaker 1>if they were going to stand up and explode for
<v Speaker 1>and it was embarrassed. They just didn't, which kind of
<v Speaker 1>surprised me because it's aj Lee in Chicago having a
<v Speaker 1>singles match for the first time in ten years, in
<v Speaker 1>a championship match, and you guys are just like, oh hey, hey,
<v Speaker 1>aj And I guess maybe those kinds of crowds are hard, right.
<v Speaker 2>That this is one of the.
<v Speaker 1>Large market crowds that are sometimes a little rough. But
<v Speaker 1>it was surprising to me when she won the belt.
<v Speaker 1>People were were happy and she didn't. She didn't get
<v Speaker 1>a negative reaction there, but it was it was a
<v Speaker 1>bit more subdued than you would have thought with aj Lee,
<v Speaker 1>and the match.
<v Speaker 2>Itself was good.
<v Speaker 1>I really you know what, I have to give aj
<v Speaker 1>her her flowers. Don't like her as for a lot
<v Speaker 1>of the things she says and does outside of wrestling,
<v Speaker 1>but I can acknowledge her her ability in the ring,
<v Speaker 1>which I think exceeded my expectations. The finish was nice
<v Speaker 1>with the uh you know, Becky Lynch tapping out and
<v Speaker 1>the referee was knocked down, which you're thinking, Okay, here
<v Speaker 1>we go, that's about to finish you expected, and then
<v Speaker 1>she reapplied the submission and ends up getting the victory
<v Speaker 1>with the Black Widow. So I liked it. Was the
<v Speaker 1>match smooth? Was it buttery smooth? And as if you
<v Speaker 1>know there was no ring russ? No it wasn't you know.
<v Speaker 1>There were some clunky things that happened in that match,
<v Speaker 1>but I generally, with what we had on the table,
<v Speaker 1>Becky Lynch and aj Lee certainly I think exceeded my
<v Speaker 1>expectations when it came to the match performance and credit
<v Speaker 1>to both women. I think they did a nice job
<v Speaker 1>despite some of the fumbles and bumbles which happens. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>look at the men's side with a La Knight, it
<v Speaker 1>happens the women more so than the men. Yes, it
<v Speaker 1>trends that way, but I got to acknowledge the fact
<v Speaker 1>that these two women did a nice job. And if
<v Speaker 1>you could forget all of the build to this match
<v Speaker 1>of how bad it was, I mean just record bad, horrible,
<v Speaker 1>with how embarrassing some of the segments were, the overacting
<v Speaker 1>and just fake. Yes I said fake, it just just
<v Speaker 1>completely manufact actured emotions that you could tell were nowhere
<v Speaker 1>near real. The match over delivered. So maybe the build
<v Speaker 1>not being great and the match being good is a
<v Speaker 1>better combination than the build being really good in the
<v Speaker 1>match being a stinker.
<v Speaker 2>So credit credit where it's due.
<v Speaker 1>And now aj is the Intercontinental Champion Womens and Interconninal champion,
<v Speaker 1>and I do wonder how they're going to move from here.
<v Speaker 1>Becky Lynch will clearly be on another kind of you know, uh,
<v Speaker 1>some kind of crusade to to get petitions and try
<v Speaker 1>to overturn the decision and all the rest of it.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, she may take that road again, but
<v Speaker 1>it's going to be Ajle versus Becky Lynch in some capacity,
<v Speaker 1>maybe a third party involved there at WrestleMania, which I
<v Speaker 1>will say, I don't think a j Le's going to
<v Speaker 1>hold onto that belt very long. So Becky Lynch could
<v Speaker 1>very well win it back at WrestleMania or a third
<v Speaker 1>party or fourth party. So we'll see how that all transpires.
<v Speaker 1>But it was surprising to see a j Lee win here.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not gonna lose my mind, but it was just surprising,
<v Speaker 1>all right, Finn Balor see I'm punk or I'm sorry
<v Speaker 1>before I forget, we did have a j Lee on
<v Speaker 1>the Post show. What did she say here? I gotta
<v Speaker 1>get the quote that what she said? Oh, she said
<v Speaker 1>that in relation to the fans who put up signs
<v Speaker 1>for Larry you know, the beloved saint Larry, the dog,
<v Speaker 1>the dog that they lost, which, again, if you have
<v Speaker 1>a family pet that you love, it is sad, I understand.
<v Speaker 1>But she said that Larry was quote the love of
<v Speaker 1>her life and that you know, she'll never love like
<v Speaker 1>that again. What But okay, now I know here he
<v Speaker 1>goes on the dog thing again. But let me just
<v Speaker 1>try to explain something here. I know many of you
<v Speaker 1>have family pets and you love them, and that's awesome.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not saying you shouldn't, not saying you should treat
<v Speaker 1>animals poorly at all, Absolutely not. But if you didn't
<v Speaker 1>know any better, you took this out of context and
<v Speaker 1>you didn't know who Larry was, you're thinking, oh my god,
<v Speaker 1>was that her brother, Is that her son? Is that
<v Speaker 1>her nephew, somebody she was really close with. Nope, it's
<v Speaker 1>just her dog. What her dog. She'll never love like
<v Speaker 1>that again. See, this is what happens when you try
<v Speaker 1>to supplant an animal with a human being. You pretend
<v Speaker 1>to understand what love is when you're applying it from
<v Speaker 1>a person to an animal, and when you're childless, you
<v Speaker 1>try to, I guess, convince yourself that that's what having
<v Speaker 1>a child is like and it's not all right. And
<v Speaker 1>now if if somebody's listening here and you don't have
<v Speaker 1>a kid and you don't want to have kids, cool,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not saying you should do what you want, but
<v Speaker 1>don't try to tell me if you're childless that it's
<v Speaker 1>the same love that you have for an animal, a
<v Speaker 1>feral animal that lives in your home, doesn't provide anything,
<v Speaker 1>doesn't contribute, can't talk to you, is the same in
<v Speaker 1>value and love as a human being. I don't want
<v Speaker 1>to hear it. It's not this is the this is
<v Speaker 1>what the childless movement in a nutshell is right. And
<v Speaker 1>I'll just leave it at that because I don't want
<v Speaker 1>to go beyond what she said.
<v Speaker 2>I could, but I.
<v Speaker 1>Won't for your own listening ears. But I just heard
<v Speaker 1>that I go of course, of course, I mean like
<v Speaker 1>everything that comes out of her mouth when it comes
<v Speaker 1>to just worldview, along with cmpunk talking about the US
<v Speaker 1>hockey team and saying, hell, no one wants to get
<v Speaker 1>political unless it has to do with your politics, and
<v Speaker 1>what they did was political coming out on the world stage.
<v Speaker 1>This as a cmpunk thing, not me going into politics.
<v Speaker 1>Cempunk said this and it's like, now, dude, like they're
<v Speaker 1>being acknowledged at the White House for winning a goddamn
<v Speaker 1>gold medal. That's what's happening. It's not political, Yes, a
<v Speaker 1>political figure. The President is a political figure, but he's
<v Speaker 1>the leader of the free world and the most important
<v Speaker 1>and prestigious house in the United States at the White House.
<v Speaker 1>Being acknowledged there is just it's it's a great thing
<v Speaker 1>for winning a gold medal for the United States of America.
<v Speaker 1>But again, when it comes to Phil Brooks and Aju,
<v Speaker 1>they their worldview is the like incredibly distorted. As good
<v Speaker 1>and intelligent and well spoken as he is on the microphone,
<v Speaker 1>he just he just melts and completely dissolves when it
<v Speaker 1>comes to and same with aj like common sense stuff
<v Speaker 1>about the real world, and they're totally bought in. Uh,
<v Speaker 1>you know, to the to the other side of the
<v Speaker 1>aisle here. But anyway, let's move on. We're going to
<v Speaker 1>get to some stuff here that is not about that.
<v Speaker 2>Uh.
<v Speaker 1>The Finn Balor and Cmpunk match, by the loved it.
<v Speaker 1>Twenty minutes and twenty five seconds and they had as
<v Speaker 1>good of a match as you could have expected. I
<v Speaker 1>really enjoyed this, you know, with the some of the
<v Speaker 1>false finishes, the chemistry that they had the other of
<v Speaker 1>this is awesome chance.
<v Speaker 2>Who cares?
<v Speaker 1>That's those this is awesome Chance started stop meeting anything
<v Speaker 1>a long time ago, but they were deserved here. We
<v Speaker 1>had some of the spots. So Baler went up to
<v Speaker 1>the top and hit the Kodi Gras covered Punk for
<v Speaker 1>a near fall. Balor then showed frustration, and Cole wondered
<v Speaker 1>if Balor was thinking twice about telling Dominic and JD
<v Speaker 1>that he wanted to go alone. And then Punk hit
<v Speaker 1>Balor with a GTS, but Balor tumbled to the ropes
<v Speaker 1>on the floor and h That's when we had Balor
<v Speaker 1>follow up with a shotgun, dropkick and a sling blade,
<v Speaker 1>and Punk rolled through the barricade into the timekeeper's area.
<v Speaker 1>Eventually we had Punk get put in a sharpshooter. I'm
<v Speaker 1>rather punk, but Balor in a sharpshooter and we had
<v Speaker 1>another GTS get the job done. Really nice here, just
<v Speaker 1>very good. Three and a half, three and three quarter
<v Speaker 1>stars out of five. Really just really nice match, and
<v Speaker 1>credit to both men again, despite the fact that I don't
<v Speaker 1>agree with either of their world views. I mean a
<v Speaker 1>lot of these these men, I mean outside of pro wrestling,
<v Speaker 1>in the ring and on the mic. I don't agree
<v Speaker 1>with anything, it doesn't matter. This was very good because
<v Speaker 1>I can commartmentalize here. I can I can be very objective,
<v Speaker 1>and I enjoyed this match very much. This really helped
<v Speaker 1>elevate the pl to a you know, the point where
<v Speaker 1>you're like, okay, even if the rest of the match
<v Speaker 1>is stink like, you can hang your hat on this
<v Speaker 1>as a bright spot. So the right person one the
<v Speaker 1>crowd was really into this. And a couple surprises here.
<v Speaker 1>Number one, there was no dominic to comb and screw
<v Speaker 1>Finn Balor, which I think surprise a lot of people
<v Speaker 1>because we're waiting for the Finn Balor a dominicant implosion.
<v Speaker 1>We've been waiting for it for actual years at this point.
<v Speaker 1>Didn't happen. But that's okay, we'll get we can get there.
<v Speaker 1>We can get there tomorrow night on RAW if we
<v Speaker 1>wanted to, and.
<v Speaker 2>I hope we do.
<v Speaker 1>That's a program, that's just it's just it's gotta be
<v Speaker 1>the pull. The trigger has to be pulled on that.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, just end of story. So Finn Balor again
<v Speaker 1>showed you why he can be a main eventor he
<v Speaker 1>is a main eventor anytime he wants to be. And
<v Speaker 1>it was just a nice performance from both men. So
<v Speaker 1>that was surprise number two. And this isn't so much
<v Speaker 1>of a surprise as it is well a surprise that
<v Speaker 1>it even entered my brain. Aj Lee comes out and
<v Speaker 1>she celebrated with her husband, very genuine, very heartfelt moment,
<v Speaker 1>and it was of not being facetious or being a jerk.
<v Speaker 1>They were very heartfelt and very happy for each other,
<v Speaker 1>both celebrating as champions. And it was great from a
<v Speaker 1>visual standpoint. The crowd loved it, you know, they got
<v Speaker 1>to celebrate in Chicago, her you know, as the newly
<v Speaker 1>crowned Intercontinental champion, he as the retainee of the World
<v Speaker 1>Heavyweight Championship. But there was a part of me that
<v Speaker 1>all of a sudden, I'm thinking to myself, and I
<v Speaker 1>had not thought of this before. I'm thinking to myself,
<v Speaker 1>what if aj just turns on Punk right here, kicks
<v Speaker 1>him right in the balls, and then her her face
<v Speaker 1>changes and then hits him in the head of the championship.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, now, what would be the reason for that?
<v Speaker 2>I don't know. I don't know. I haven't thought that through.
<v Speaker 1>I haven't thought about, Oh wow, you what would the implications,
<v Speaker 1>what's the the goal the end goal for that. I
<v Speaker 1>haven't thought that through. I was just thinking that as
<v Speaker 1>like a shocking moment of AJ turning on Punk, And
<v Speaker 1>as I'm thinking about it, maybe it was too really
<v Speaker 1>soften Punk up emotionally. He heads to WrestleMania, where Roman
<v Speaker 1>could take advantage of that, you know, see him Punk
<v Speaker 1>would be and it would kind of turn Roman heel
<v Speaker 1>in a little bit of a way because you'd feel
<v Speaker 1>sympathy for Punk where he's, you know, he just got
<v Speaker 1>dumped and humiliated and kicked in the nuts by his
<v Speaker 1>wife on national television. She turned on him, she's divorcing him, whatever,
<v Speaker 1>and now he has to deal with that emotional baggage
<v Speaker 1>and and struggle heading into WrestleMania, and you can see
<v Speaker 1>he's dejected and he doesn't you know, he doesn't know
<v Speaker 1>if he can make it, and you're trying to root
<v Speaker 1>for him, you know. So I don't know. I just
<v Speaker 1>thought about that as like a it would be something
<v Speaker 1>that if I were in a board meeting and somehow
<v Speaker 1>invited to be part of the creative team, which would
<v Speaker 1>never happen, but I would pitch this in one of
<v Speaker 1>the meetings, like, hey, guys, off the wall thought what
<v Speaker 1>about this?
<v Speaker 2>Just yeah, I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>It would have been shocking if that had happened, but
<v Speaker 1>didn't obviously, and I'm not expecting that it would have.
<v Speaker 1>So we then have Randy Orton, Knight, Cody Roads, Jovon Evans,
<v Speaker 1>Trick Williams, and Logan Paul in the elimination Chamber match
<v Speaker 1>the men's side of things. The winner gets a shot
<v Speaker 1>at the championship at WrestleMania forty two. The eliminations win
<v Speaker 1>as follows. John Evans was eliminated by Logan Paul at
<v Speaker 1>sixteen minutes after he hit the Paul Verizer. And by
<v Speaker 1>the way, I looked up why he's called the maverick?
<v Speaker 1>Why he calls himself the maverick? And apparently it's just
<v Speaker 1>a run on his pair, like he had a pet
<v Speaker 1>or did have a pet or whatever. I don't know
<v Speaker 1>if he's still live a parrot. Logan Paul owned a
<v Speaker 1>parrot that was named Maverick. It's like, okay, but why
<v Speaker 1>have we we just all accepted that he calls himself
<v Speaker 1>the Maverick?
<v Speaker 2>Well, what does that mean.
<v Speaker 1>Beyond you just adopted your own pets name, so your
<v Speaker 1>nicknames after a parrot. Why maybe somebody can explain this
<v Speaker 1>to me, and it was explained, or there's some cooler
<v Speaker 1>meaning or deeper meaning, or more masculine meaning behind it.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know, but I don't know why we're supposed
<v Speaker 1>to all just accept it. It's he just kind of
<v Speaker 1>came up with the name, but there's no depth behind
<v Speaker 1>it anyway. Logan Paul is incredibly talented, so there's that.
<v Speaker 1>But Javon Evans was eliminated by Logan Paul, as I said,
<v Speaker 1>at sixteen minutes, and I thought he would get a
<v Speaker 1>little bit longer in the match, but he didn't. It
<v Speaker 1>was about elevating Paul here because he's one of the
<v Speaker 1>two remaining members of the Vision, so he's next in
<v Speaker 1>line here. But Ella Knight was then eliminated by Logan
<v Speaker 1>Paul at eighteen and a half minutes, so that was
<v Speaker 1>a bit of a surprise. Ella Knight being eliminated that
<v Speaker 1>early on was surprising and just continues to hammer at
<v Speaker 1>the fans who think that La Knight's gonna have eventually
<v Speaker 1>main event Wrestle Maine. It just doesn't seem like it's
<v Speaker 1>ever gonna be in the cards for Night. That doesn't
<v Speaker 1>mean he can't win a top championship, but certainly not
<v Speaker 1>at WrestleMania, not this year. And yeah, so L and
<v Speaker 1>I being eliminated so quickly was surprising, but it tells
<v Speaker 1>you they have more of a plan for Paul than
<v Speaker 1>they do Night at WrestleMania. And then we had Trick
<v Speaker 1>Williams eliminated by again Logan Paul. So Logan Paul here
<v Speaker 1>three eliminations. Then Logan Paul was eliminated by Cody Rhodes
<v Speaker 1>at twenty three minutes after he was put down by
<v Speaker 1>a masked mystery man again after a stomp, and Logan
<v Speaker 1>Paul was eliminated as I said, which as I told
<v Speaker 1>talked about earlier in the show, was revealed to be
<v Speaker 1>Seth Rollins. After again it wasn't there another mystery man
<v Speaker 1>that came in during the matt just who cares? I
<v Speaker 1>don't need another mystery by WWE again because they have
<v Speaker 1>under delivered at almost every turn. So I don't need
<v Speaker 1>a box, I don't need mass man, I don't need
<v Speaker 1>a mystery attacker. Just just until you're ready to actually
<v Speaker 1>deliver in a big way on those promises stay away.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, we've had two storylines, separate storylines where they've
<v Speaker 1>really flopped them with the mass Man. One was Austin
<v Speaker 1>theory that was I mean, for all intents and purposes,
<v Speaker 1>it was a failure.
<v Speaker 2>And then we have a.
<v Speaker 1>Mass man that we all thought was Seth Rollins that
<v Speaker 1>was revealed to be not in some random dude that
<v Speaker 1>you know all, it was Seth Rollins's protege that he
<v Speaker 1>you know, he's working with, but nobody knows who he
<v Speaker 1>really is. Then there was another mass Man that was
<v Speaker 1>off the trail, and then eventually it was stop it.
<v Speaker 1>Then there was the disaster of as I talked about
<v Speaker 1>the reveal of the box that was delivered to be
<v Speaker 1>opened to twenty eight. So whatever they've they're really like
<v Speaker 1>zero for four on that. So we then have it
<v Speaker 1>come down to Orton and Rows, and after Orton hits
<v Speaker 1>Cody with the RKO one two three, Orton wins and
<v Speaker 1>you're thinking, Okay, maybe Randy's turning heel. Well he's not
<v Speaker 1>turning heel. Anybody that thinks Randy's turning heel right now, No,
<v Speaker 1>He's just he has to compete. You can't just what
<v Speaker 1>do you expect Randy to do? Shake his hand and
<v Speaker 1>have an arm wrestling contest to decide who's going to
<v Speaker 1>win the match? No, I mean, this wasn't Randy doing
<v Speaker 1>an aftermatch beating or kicking him in the nuts.
<v Speaker 2>It's just hitting.
<v Speaker 1>It was as clean of a and kind of a
<v Speaker 1>sportsmanlike finish you could have between the two without tipping
<v Speaker 1>your your scale into Wait, oh, is that a heel turn? No,
<v Speaker 1>he just hit one RKO and that was it. So
<v Speaker 1>Randy wins doesn't matter. As I said, Cody's going to
<v Speaker 1>be injected into it anyway.
<v Speaker 2>So that was it.
<v Speaker 1>And here's the analysis. By the way, if you want
<v Speaker 1>a credit where it's due to Pro Wrestling Net. They
<v Speaker 1>said about this match, Orton going over was a pleasant support.
<v Speaker 1>I would have been fine with Cody or Rhea winning,
<v Speaker 1>but having both of them go over, along with the
<v Speaker 1>expected Punk and AJ wins in Chicago, would have made
<v Speaker 1>this a highly predictable show. The postmatch angle and announcement
<v Speaker 1>gave Cody a path to WrestleMania. So will it be Cody?
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry, will it be McIntyre versus Orton? Cody versus
<v Speaker 1>Orton or a multi person match. We're still forty nine
<v Speaker 1>days away from WrestleMania weekend, so I like that there's
<v Speaker 1>still some mystery regarding the Championship match. Overall, this was
<v Speaker 1>a strong show. The closing moments and outcome of the
<v Speaker 1>Men's Chamber really put it over the top for me.
<v Speaker 1>I'll team up with Jake Barnett for okay, so yeah again,
<v Speaker 1>credit to them. They do a nice job here, and
<v Speaker 1>I piggyback off of their analysis or off their play
<v Speaker 1>by play to give you guys my review rather than
<v Speaker 1>having write it myself. That doesn't make sense.
<v Speaker 2>I have a.
<v Speaker 1>Site that does it for me and does it well,
<v Speaker 1>and I give them credit. So free advertising. I think
<v Speaker 1>it's a fair trade. And they don't even know I'm
<v Speaker 1>doing it. If they did, I don't think they'd have
<v Speaker 1>a problem with it, but it's there. Overall, I would
<v Speaker 1>concur I don't think it was a super strong show,
<v Speaker 1>but it was a good show. Some of the downsides
<v Speaker 1>were some boxes that happen. Some one of the worst
<v Speaker 1>reveals of all time, and Dan Housen one of the again,
<v Speaker 1>and it's not just a bad reveal, it's also just
<v Speaker 1>a horrible gimmick as I've gone over, but some very
<v Speaker 1>solid wrestling, some predictable but correct outcomes.
<v Speaker 2>No Chris Jericho.
<v Speaker 1>I think maybe we should just stop thinking about it
<v Speaker 1>until WrestleMania, at which point maybe things will be unlocked
<v Speaker 1>for Chris and he can return. No other big returns,
<v Speaker 1>No Rock, no Austin. Those may come along in the
<v Speaker 1>next forty nine days as well.
<v Speaker 2>No Brock Lesnar.
<v Speaker 1>Although we know brocks schedule now as we head into
<v Speaker 1>WrestleMania season, he'll be at Monday Nett raw as at
<v Speaker 1>starting not this Week's it next week? I think it's
<v Speaker 1>next week and then pretty much every Raw until WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 1>Brock will be there and they're running that open challenge,
<v Speaker 1>so they've got that to hang their hat on, and
<v Speaker 1>that's kind of it. I think as far as injury returns,
<v Speaker 1>we have now seth back and he could probably slide
<v Speaker 1>right in with Logan Paul. He can't, unfortunately, go against
<v Speaker 1>Breaker as we all know. But is it possible bron
<v Speaker 1>Breaker comes back?
<v Speaker 2>Man?
<v Speaker 1>I'd love to think so, but I'm going to count
<v Speaker 1>him out. I think until after WrestleMania. Bronson Reid obviously
<v Speaker 1>is out. He just got injured. He had a major
<v Speaker 1>surgery to repair his bicep. He is certainly not going
<v Speaker 1>to be at WrestleMania. That's a lock and throw away,
<v Speaker 1>the key type of decision. But is Bronson Reid. Is
<v Speaker 1>there even a hint that he could be there? I'm sorry,
<v Speaker 1>bron Breaker. Maybe I'm not a doctor. They know better
<v Speaker 1>than I do. Whether they could maybe even have him
<v Speaker 1>show up. I think it would be very advantageous to
<v Speaker 1>have him show up at WrestleMania. So can he heal
<v Speaker 1>himself in the next fifty days to at least make
<v Speaker 1>an appearance.
<v Speaker 2>I hope so.
<v Speaker 1>Because I'm very high on bron Breaker. Like many of us,
<v Speaker 1>I see a massive babyface in his future. He'll be
<v Speaker 1>a heel on the introim if once he battles with
<v Speaker 1>Seth upon his return. But bron Breaker, I think is
<v Speaker 1>set to be one of the biggest babyfaces the company
<v Speaker 1>has seen in years upon his return. Again, even though
<v Speaker 1>he'll get booed against Seth, it won't be long before
<v Speaker 1>the fans are like, look, this is our guy. You
<v Speaker 1>know we are going to get behind him. We are
<v Speaker 1>going to get behind him, and there's not really much
<v Speaker 1>you can do about it. So there you go. What
<v Speaker 1>would I give the show over all? When it comes
<v Speaker 1>to star rating out of five stars, five being WrestleMania seventeen,
<v Speaker 1>I would give it probably a three star. I'd say
<v Speaker 1>three good, not great, but above average, a good show,
<v Speaker 1>good in terms of wrestling content, good in terms of
<v Speaker 1>storyline progression, and yes, good in terms of predictability. I
<v Speaker 1>don't look at fordictability as inherently bad. Yes, it's fun
<v Speaker 1>when it's unpredictable and it's the right decision, but that's
<v Speaker 1>a hard combination to always have. You can't, so I
<v Speaker 1>think it was correct booking. A big letdown in the
<v Speaker 1>reveal of the box, embarrassing letdown, but some solid wrestling
<v Speaker 1>and good decision booking wise. But it does lend you
<v Speaker 1>also as a fan. And this is not just for WrestleMania,
<v Speaker 1>but as generally the quality of the product has decreased,
<v Speaker 1>and yet the prices to attend these lower quality events
<v Speaker 1>have increased. There has to be a breaking point. Again,
<v Speaker 1>not just for WrestleMania. WrestleMania is a extreme example because
<v Speaker 1>it's the biggest show of the year and they try
<v Speaker 1>to squeeze every dollar out of everybody's pockets. That they can,
<v Speaker 1>but I'm talking just a regular money at raw or
<v Speaker 1>know a ple that's not even a major pl e. Generally,
<v Speaker 1>the product quality has decreased, and yet it's never been
<v Speaker 1>more expensive. I think that's actually something that is just
<v Speaker 1>culture wide, country wide, a problem where things have never
<v Speaker 1>been more expensive, yet the quality of products and services
<v Speaker 1>have gone down. That inverse relationship is a problematic when
<v Speaker 1>it comes to companies trying to take advantage of maybe
<v Speaker 1>cheaper labor or just complacency, laziness, combination of things, and
<v Speaker 1>yet trying to charge more because eventually the consumer is
<v Speaker 1>going to fight back. Whether it's WWE or whether it's
<v Speaker 1>anything any industry, you're going to have the consumer eventually go,
<v Speaker 1>you know what, screw this. I'm not fighting back. You know,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not going to be tipping out of That's another
<v Speaker 1>issue I have is just the tipping culture we have today,
<v Speaker 1>the amount of tipping that it's expected or almost shame
<v Speaker 1>people into doing. I'm done with that. You go to Starbucks,
<v Speaker 1>you go through the drive through, and if especially you're
<v Speaker 1>using your debit card, whatever, they'll pull out the little
<v Speaker 1>the point of the point of sale, little card reader,
<v Speaker 1>right and you have to scan your card or whatever,
<v Speaker 1>and then they'll say, oh, it'll just just gonna ask
<v Speaker 1>you a question. And as they're staring at you, you
<v Speaker 1>have this option to tip them, and you're sitting there going,
<v Speaker 1>well if I don't, If I say no, they're going
<v Speaker 1>to know I didn't know, you know, so they look.
<v Speaker 2>What do you do?
<v Speaker 1>So you're almost guilted into tipping, which I have just
<v Speaker 1>actually said, like, screw you. I'm not like tipping should
<v Speaker 1>be something that for when you've done something above and beyond,
<v Speaker 1>or you have a you've done something very well. It
<v Speaker 1>should be something that not ahead of time you do. Now,
<v Speaker 1>tips are expected before the service is rendered. Tips are
<v Speaker 1>and more purposed for giving those who have done an
<v Speaker 1>exceptional job an extra kind of pat on the back.
<v Speaker 1>And now it's like that as if you don't do
<v Speaker 1>it just as a default, you know you're you are
<v Speaker 1>causing some kind of undo unfinancial burden on that particular person.
<v Speaker 1>That's not how tipping should work. Tipping is everywhere and
<v Speaker 1>it's out of control. Tipping should be for when you
<v Speaker 1>have received the service that is exceptional, not just default
<v Speaker 1>because the actual organization doesn't want to pay the employees
<v Speaker 1>what they want to be able to pay them, and
<v Speaker 1>now they're expecting the consumer to pick up the tab.
<v Speaker 1>It's not how this works. Tipping is everywhere and it's
<v Speaker 1>out of control. Anyway, I don't know how I got
<v Speaker 1>on that. I'll end it there, but thank you everybody.
<v Speaker 1>I know this is a bit of a bitch fest
<v Speaker 1>for certain things, but again I thought it was a
<v Speaker 1>very respectable and it was a good show. Now onto
<v Speaker 1>mind a net, Raw, don't forget this week is a
<v Speaker 1>bit of a weird one for me. I'll be going
<v Speaker 1>on a quick three day trip somewhere and I'll be
<v Speaker 1>going Thursday mornings, so that means Wednesday I might be
<v Speaker 1>able to pump out one retro show and then Friday
<v Speaker 1>is going to be weird, and into the weekend could
<v Speaker 1>be a little weird as well with the weekend review
<v Speaker 1>and the mail bag as well. So what I'm gonna
<v Speaker 1>do is on Tuesday, though, since it'll be my last
<v Speaker 1>quote live show for RAW, I will be reading any
<v Speaker 1>emails you guys have reacting to the elimination Chamber and
<v Speaker 1>or Monday Night Raw. So if you have those, I
<v Speaker 1>know it's a bit early, but send them to me
<v Speaker 1>before Tuesday night. And I'll be able to do a
<v Speaker 1>bit of a combination of raw review and respond to
<v Speaker 1>your thoughts and feedback about Chamber and or Monday Night Raw.
<v Speaker 1>Email me mail bag at WWE podcast dot com or
<v Speaker 1>send the message directly to me on Patreon. Either way
<v Speaker 1>is a good way to do it. And also speaking
<v Speaker 1>of that, if you want to go, add free Patreon
<v Speaker 1>dot com slash WWE Podcast. Thanks everybody, we'll talk soon.
<v Speaker 3>Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to
<v Speaker 3>subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss
<v Speaker 3>a show, or head to wwepodcast dot com. And for
<v Speaker 3>all of these shows ad free head over to Patreon
<v Speaker 3>dot com slash WWE podcast. Until then, we'll see you
<v Speaker 3>next time.