4 YEARS AGO: Official 2021 Royal Rumble Preview & Predictions

<v Speaker 1>Hey guys, welcome to the WWE Podcast. Thank you so
<v Speaker 1>much for joining me, and tonight a huge show to
<v Speaker 1>preview the Royal Rumble pay per view that takes place
<v Speaker 1>tomorrow night, and I do it with co host Michael Gross.
<v Speaker 1>We go in depth with every match and every possibility,
<v Speaker 1>covering the show from A to Z and Z to A.
<v Speaker 1>It is a great show. You guys are gonna love
<v Speaker 1>this one, especially if you love the longer podcast. This
<v Speaker 1>one's for you. So strap in and let's get everything
<v Speaker 1>going right after this.
<v Speaker 2>Welcome to the WWE Podcast, your number one source for
<v Speaker 2>the latest in WWEE news and straightforward analysis.
<v Speaker 1>How are you ready to get this thing going?
<v Speaker 2>Hell yeah, I said, hell yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Dun Let's get this show started right now. All right, everybody,
<v Speaker 1>welcome to the WWE Podcast. It is time to talk
<v Speaker 1>Royal Rumble. Tomorrow night, or as you're listening to this,
<v Speaker 1>probably tonight, the Royal Rumble will be in our laps
<v Speaker 1>and ready for WrestleMania season. As we get to inevitably
<v Speaker 1>watch the winners of the Royal Rumble point to the
<v Speaker 1>WrestleMania sign which we all can't wait for. As fireworks
<v Speaker 1>go off, so I know we're all eagerly anticipating that
<v Speaker 1>very corporately required gesture by the Royal Rumble winners. But
<v Speaker 1>Michael Gross and I just really dissect everything, almost to
<v Speaker 1>just grinding it down to a fine powder, as they say,
<v Speaker 1>as we completely dismantle the Royal Rumble and break down
<v Speaker 1>all the possibilities possible returns. Michael has a very extensive,
<v Speaker 1>exhaustive list in a good way of dark horses of
<v Speaker 1>WWE's possible picks of his top picks. I also give you,
<v Speaker 1>guys the Vegas odds of what Vegas is looking at
<v Speaker 1>for who could win the Royal Rumble, both on the
<v Speaker 1>men's and women's sides. So we really really just completely
<v Speaker 1>dissect this thing, and I'm sure there's angles we're missing,
<v Speaker 1>but we did the best that we possibly could to
<v Speaker 1>look at the Royal Rumble in a very objective way.
<v Speaker 1>So I hope that you guys take the time and
<v Speaker 1>listen to this podcast in its entirety as we I mean, again,
<v Speaker 1>I know it's long for audio, so maybe you can't
<v Speaker 1>listen to it in one shot, but hopefully you can.
<v Speaker 1>Before the Royal Rumble debuts and begins at seven pm
<v Speaker 1>Eastern Standard time, on Sunday night. So once again, guys,
<v Speaker 1>thank you for joining us. We have a full coverage
<v Speaker 1>for the Royal Rumble this weekend, of course, beginning with
<v Speaker 1>this podcast you're hearing right now, But I'll be tweeting
<v Speaker 1>throughout the show tomorrow night at Wrestling Underscore Audio or
<v Speaker 1>on you can check us on Instagram at wrestling our
<v Speaker 1>WWE Underscore podcast there and we'll be live tweeting. But
<v Speaker 1>tomorrow night, twenty four hours from now, I'll be recording
<v Speaker 1>a show with none other than YouTube's The Botch Guy
<v Speaker 1>as we cover the Royal Rumble in its entirety and
<v Speaker 1>go through all the good and the bad inevitably of
<v Speaker 1>the Royal Rumble events. So, by the way, if you
<v Speaker 1>haven't gone to The Batch Guy's YouTube channel and subscribed,
<v Speaker 1>you gotta do it right now. He has some great
<v Speaker 1>content on there. He just previewed the Royal Rumble with
<v Speaker 1>another co YouTuber, very successful one is that, So you know,
<v Speaker 1>I think they did a great job of breaking down
<v Speaker 1>their preview and predictions for the Royal Rumble. But he'll
<v Speaker 1>be on this show tomorrow evening or early early Monday morning,
<v Speaker 1>as you'll probably be able to listen to it to
<v Speaker 1>cover the Royal Rumble. So that's super exciting. Glad to
<v Speaker 1>have him back here on the ww podcast. So, by
<v Speaker 1>the way, guys, if you'd like to reach out to
<v Speaker 1>the show, give your predictions, your reactions to the Royal Rumble,
<v Speaker 1>then super easy to do that. You can email us
<v Speaker 1>at Real WWE podcast at gmail dot com, or you
<v Speaker 1>can call the show and leave us a voicemail and
<v Speaker 1>that number is five point eight nine to five two
<v Speaker 1>zero two four seven, and you we'll get you on
<v Speaker 1>the show for the mailbag portion that happens on Wednesday,
<v Speaker 1>So if you'd like to, we can certainly get you
<v Speaker 1>on the show on Wednesday with your thoughts and opinions.
<v Speaker 1>Try to keep it PG please, this is a PG show,
<v Speaker 1>so just keep that in mind. And you have three
<v Speaker 1>minutes and then the mailbox will just cut you off.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not sitting there listening to it and go, you know, moohaha,
<v Speaker 1>and hit the button. It does it automatically. So one
<v Speaker 1>last thing, if you guys like to support the show,
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<v Speaker 1>with all the chatter. We're going to take one last
<v Speaker 1>break to give some love to the sponsors of the show,
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<v Speaker 1>Michael Gross and myself for over two hours. So enjoy
<v Speaker 1>the show and I'll be talking to you guys tomorrow night.
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<v Speaker 1>gsanity dot com. All right, guys, welcome to the WWE podcast,
<v Speaker 1>and tonight it is a huge show because we are
<v Speaker 1>reviewing the very first pay per view that is on
<v Speaker 1>the road to WrestleMania. That is right. We are talking
<v Speaker 1>about the Royal Rumble. We're previewing that tonight with none
<v Speaker 1>other than the gardener, Michael Gross, who is back. You
<v Speaker 1>guys love him. We love him here at the WW podcast.
<v Speaker 1>We're here to talk the Royal Rumble and a ton
<v Speaker 1>of stuff to go over. Of course, difficult matchups, particularly
<v Speaker 1>in my estimation, just talking off air the Man's Royal Rumble.
<v Speaker 1>But Mike, well, how you doing man? Welcome back, It's
<v Speaker 1>great to have you here for the Royal Rumber preview
<v Speaker 1>and prediction show.
<v Speaker 2>Well, thank you very much. I want to say I'm
<v Speaker 2>doing fantastic. It sounds like you're doing pretty well, which
<v Speaker 2>that makes me happy to hear because I know you've
<v Speaker 2>got a little bit of the beautiful white snow up
<v Speaker 2>there and right now while I'm on work relocation in
<v Speaker 2>Memphis for a little bit. We were lucky enough to
<v Speaker 2>kind of miss that. But we went from sixty eight
<v Speaker 2>degrees down to about forty one in a day and
<v Speaker 2>we had some nice, I don't want to say tornatic weather,
<v Speaker 2>but very torrential rainstorm, so in a slippery slope. But
<v Speaker 2>I'm doing well, and as you were, saying at the
<v Speaker 2>very beginning that we're on the road to WrestleMania with
<v Speaker 2>the very first kickoff pay per view that sets the
<v Speaker 2>pace and controls at least one of the main events.
<v Speaker 2>I want to ask you a real quick question before
<v Speaker 2>I ask you my second question. The first question, obviously,
<v Speaker 2>is how are you doing? And the second question is
<v Speaker 2>what was the first Royal Rumble you ever saw? Oooh?
<v Speaker 1>Love it? Love it? Okay, Well, first of all, easy,
<v Speaker 1>easy answer. I'm doing good, and I know everyone just
<v Speaker 1>says that, but I really am busy just like you,
<v Speaker 1>and I am really really looking forward to getting out
<v Speaker 1>of January and February and March so that April can
<v Speaker 1>kind of bring some kind of forty to fifty degree weather,
<v Speaker 1>which is when it starts up here, and we're going
<v Speaker 1>to get another half foot of snow. I mean, it's
<v Speaker 1>just it's insane up here. I don't know why I
<v Speaker 1>live in New York, but I will say that the
<v Speaker 1>first Royal Rumble, my first memories of the Royal Rumble,
<v Speaker 1>the very first one I ever saw, and this kind
<v Speaker 1>of sets the bar a little too high, is the
<v Speaker 1>nineteen ninety seven Royal Rumble with Stone Cold being the
<v Speaker 1>number one target and he ends up obviously winning, or
<v Speaker 1>then that was that ninety eight, ninety seven, ninety eight
<v Speaker 1>was stone Cold. He was like the target where everyone
<v Speaker 1>was after him and he was the one striking first.
<v Speaker 1>I think that was ninety seven, but I could be wrong. No,
<v Speaker 1>ninety eight, ninety eight was that, because that led to
<v Speaker 1>the nineteen ninety eight win for Stone Cold at Boston's
<v Speaker 1>against Sean Michael. So what about you, I'm sure it's
<v Speaker 1>a little bit, a little bit earlier than that for you.
<v Speaker 2>The very first on the USA network. I watched it
<v Speaker 2>on a miniature little television. The screen couldn't have been
<v Speaker 2>more than about twelve inches. I think it was I
<v Speaker 2>want to say eighty eight, airy nine, whatever year was
<v Speaker 2>the first where you know, heck saw Jim Dugan one.
<v Speaker 2>Thank god they didn't do the WrestleMania stipulation back then,
<v Speaker 2>but I remember watching it was a special it was
<v Speaker 2>supposed to be, you know, the special event on TV.
<v Speaker 2>And oh did I mention that the television was also
<v Speaker 2>a black and white as you know, it was classy
<v Speaker 2>class here at different times back then, and it was
<v Speaker 2>just a little television from my bedroom, and I think
<v Speaker 2>I was about thirteen or fourteen, almost fourteen, something like that,
<v Speaker 2>and so you know, I turned it on and just
<v Speaker 2>lucky enough to get good reception on it, and I
<v Speaker 2>watched the whole thing, and I didn't know quite what
<v Speaker 2>to make of it, And back then it was just
<v Speaker 2>the pride of winning the Royal Rumble. I think that
<v Speaker 2>was initially the experiment that Pat Patterson had come up
<v Speaker 2>with because they wanted to somewhat spike the ratings with USA.
<v Speaker 2>I've heard different stories over the years that it was
<v Speaker 2>partly a ratings ploy, just so everybody would see this
<v Speaker 2>a magnificent match, because USA was about to renegotiate the
<v Speaker 2>contract with WWE back when it was known as Prime Time,
<v Speaker 2>and so they had the special on USA. So that
<v Speaker 2>I've heard that, I heard it was just the idea
<v Speaker 2>was further down the road, obviously to make it a
<v Speaker 2>pay per view. But even then, you know, the first couple,
<v Speaker 2>I mean, the second one, John stud one it they
<v Speaker 2>did not have that stipulation. I don't think it was
<v Speaker 2>still the because the third Rumble, I believe was was
<v Speaker 2>Rick Flair and it was for the championship. So I
<v Speaker 2>think the fifth might have been when they started the winner,
<v Speaker 2>and I think it was supposed to be a one
<v Speaker 2>time thing. You you could correct me on this because
<v Speaker 2>you would know a little bit better. But I think
<v Speaker 2>it was the fifth Royal Rumble, which was the first
<v Speaker 2>one that had the stipulation of going to WrestleMania, which
<v Speaker 2>I think it was a one time deal, and then
<v Speaker 2>it just kind of stuck after that, kind of like
<v Speaker 2>when it was either hardcore Crash Holly said they were
<v Speaker 2>going to defend the belt twenty four to seven, then
<v Speaker 2>everybody did it. You know, It's just one of those
<v Speaker 2>things like, well it worked once, we'll just you know,
<v Speaker 2>we don't have to write now. It kind of writes itself.
<v Speaker 2>So but yeah, that was my first rumble.
<v Speaker 1>Wow. Yeah, I mean, well, being exactly ten years younger
<v Speaker 1>than I or older than I am, that makes sense.
<v Speaker 1>And I started out at the same time you did
<v Speaker 1>in terms of how old we were when we were
<v Speaker 1>watching wrestling. And it's funny you mentioned the Rick Flair one. Well,
<v Speaker 1>I didn't actually watch it in when I first started watching. Obviously,
<v Speaker 1>since I have watched that one with Rick Flair that
<v Speaker 1>actually took place right here in Albandy in New York,
<v Speaker 1>right down you know, ten minutes from where I'm at.
<v Speaker 1>Uh so, yeah, I do. I remember watching it on
<v Speaker 1>the network a couple of years ago. But yeah, this
<v Speaker 1>is certainly one of the most exciting events. You'll hear
<v Speaker 1>a lot of people say this is their favorite evend
<v Speaker 1>of the year with good reason. This is the most
<v Speaker 1>exciting event, one of the most unpredictable matches, one that
<v Speaker 1>gets people talking. I think more than any and any
<v Speaker 1>match that WWE does in their entire pay per view
<v Speaker 1>schedule in the calendar year, is the Royal Rumble because
<v Speaker 1>of so much that could happen, so many Let's know
<v Speaker 1>who's number one, who's number two, who's number thirty, who's
<v Speaker 1>possibly going to come back, who could make a return?
<v Speaker 1>There are just just so much. This is you talk
<v Speaker 1>about genius matches. Yes, Pat Patterson will be known forever
<v Speaker 1>of the being the brain behind brains behind this operation,
<v Speaker 1>and it is one of the most exciting. You can't
<v Speaker 1>help but watch when that countdown starts of ten nine,
<v Speaker 1>you hear the crowd. Of course this year it'll be simulated,
<v Speaker 1>but I'm sure they'll be putting in crowd noise that
<v Speaker 1>would make sense. So I mean, I'm looking forward to
<v Speaker 1>this match. I am very, very I will say again,
<v Speaker 1>just frustrated with how I'm going to make my picks.
<v Speaker 1>I'm still up in the air up until like literally
<v Speaker 1>the eleventh hour here when we get to that part
<v Speaker 1>of our show. But let me ask you this though,
<v Speaker 1>before we get into the Rumble, I will I will
<v Speaker 1>ask you generally, how do you feel about the build
<v Speaker 1>to Rumble and really like SmackDown. This past week we
<v Speaker 1>saw braun Stroman return, we saw Bianca bell Air get
<v Speaker 1>a massive win, there's the Intercontinental title mess. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>there's a lot going on the Fiend and Orton. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not asking to go through everything, but how are
<v Speaker 1>you feeling generally about the product right now as we
<v Speaker 1>get to the World Rumble tomorrow night.
<v Speaker 2>I think there's it's been a very convoluted situation because
<v Speaker 2>I see and I'm sure you see it also, and
<v Speaker 2>many of our listeners do that they're forcing a lot
<v Speaker 2>of information on us. It's not, oh, we're gonna tease
<v Speaker 2>that the Fiend is coming back. It's like, let's talk
<v Speaker 2>about the Fiend every couple of minutes. Let's show Alexa
<v Speaker 2>Bliss over the top, Let's show Randy Orton with this
<v Speaker 2>goofy mask on and talk about him, talk about him.
<v Speaker 2>But yet nobody's really advertised for much. Hmm, wonder what's
<v Speaker 2>gonna happen. Bron Strumming comes back after we put together
<v Speaker 2>an impromptu ten man just god awful match that just
<v Speaker 2>did not need to happen. But that's neither here nor there.
<v Speaker 2>But the point is, like, let's show all these people.
<v Speaker 2>Let's not make them forget they are gonna be in
<v Speaker 2>the Royal Rumble. I feel like it's information overload, sensory
<v Speaker 2>overload that they're don't forget about this person, don't forget
<v Speaker 2>about that person. You know, last time we saw Randy Orton,
<v Speaker 2>you know, he was burned really badly by the Fiend.
<v Speaker 2>We wonder how he's doing wink wink. So I just
<v Speaker 2>feel like, even if we don't see these people, and
<v Speaker 2>especially when they're crossing over shows from RAWD of SmackDown, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>we get it. You're supposed you're supposed to be somebody
<v Speaker 2>that we really look forward, you know, or look for.
<v Speaker 2>In the Rumble, we get name dropping. We've got name
<v Speaker 2>dropping everywhere. And I noticed, you know, they're they're trying
<v Speaker 2>to show the strength of Shamus and talk about his
<v Speaker 2>past with with Drew McIntyre, so oh will it be shamous?
<v Speaker 2>But you know he can't get along with Keith Lee
<v Speaker 2>and got to talk about you know that thing they
<v Speaker 2>did off you know, you know that mysterious thing that
<v Speaker 2>they did off camera that you know causes them to
<v Speaker 2>have fights. So can't forget about Keith Lee. There's so
<v Speaker 2>much information, and I just feel like, obviously, when you
<v Speaker 2>when you you you throw your spaghetti against the wall,
<v Speaker 2>one noodle is gonna stick. It's like they threw the
<v Speaker 2>whole pot, you know, it's like, don't forget about this,
<v Speaker 2>don't forget about that. So I just feel like it's
<v Speaker 2>a lot of overload as far as who we think
<v Speaker 2>might win or how they're dialing in. It's out of focus,
<v Speaker 2>how about you?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, that's and I think that's the idea. What
<v Speaker 1>you know, I don't think their their their plan was
<v Speaker 1>to make it look like one or two people could
<v Speaker 1>be the odds on favorites. I think their their their
<v Speaker 1>idea was to kind of confuse fans in a way
<v Speaker 1>that makes them go, well, well, yeah, that's true, what
<v Speaker 1>about this person? So I think what your reaction to
<v Speaker 1>that was the intended reaction when they put this together
<v Speaker 1>was you know, look, Seamus has a possibility of winning,
<v Speaker 1>and yeah, there's history between Seamus and Drew McIntyre. What
<v Speaker 1>if you know Seamus and Dream mactyre, you know they
<v Speaker 1>could main event wrestle many if Drew McIntyre retains. We'll
<v Speaker 1>get to that, you know. So I think that was
<v Speaker 1>the idea to confuse people. And yeah, we may be
<v Speaker 1>looking at it as that was just too much, but
<v Speaker 1>I appreciate what they were doing in trying to make
<v Speaker 1>all of these distractions everywhere rather than just well it's
<v Speaker 1>kind of a foregone conclusion, you know, Daniel Brian's gonna
<v Speaker 1>win or whoever, and make cases for people where you
<v Speaker 1>have that thought like oh maybe yeah, and they plant
<v Speaker 1>that seed. So I understand what they're doing, agreed. The
<v Speaker 1>ten person match that was like a singles match that
<v Speaker 1>turned into a six man tag to turnam into ten
<v Speaker 1>man that was just I mean, it was just it
<v Speaker 1>was a way to kill time. It was a way
<v Speaker 1>to kill like thirty five minutes of airtime that they
<v Speaker 1>probably didn't know what else to do with. And I thought,
<v Speaker 1>for sure, I said, oh my god, I would I
<v Speaker 1>would have bet my right hand that at the end
<v Speaker 1>of that match, we would have had people throwing each
<v Speaker 1>other over the top rope, and then the announcers like,
<v Speaker 1>if this is Sunday, they would have been eliminated. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>because they always do that crap where or the ladder match,
<v Speaker 1>you know, the TLC, and they have people climbing the
<v Speaker 1>ladders and grabbing the fake championship at the top of
<v Speaker 1>the ladder before the pay per view, as if that's
<v Speaker 1>supposed to be symbolic. They do all that kind of stuff.
<v Speaker 1>So I thought for sure that was gonna happen, and
<v Speaker 1>it didn't. But I think your your reaction to it
<v Speaker 1>is probably what they were intending.
<v Speaker 2>It's it's it's definitely out of focus. It's you know,
<v Speaker 2>at I'm with you one hundred percent on the well,
<v Speaker 2>look at the size of Strowman. Who could eliminate him
<v Speaker 2>comes Sunday on pay per view. I'm afraid that if
<v Speaker 2>fat Man's in the ring, nobody will move that mountain.
<v Speaker 2>Like I was waiting for that, Like I could just
<v Speaker 2>hear Bobby heat and turn it is great, I really could.
<v Speaker 2>I was just waiting for just I wish Bobby Heaton
<v Speaker 2>was on commentary to throw something really bad in there
<v Speaker 2>to expose somebody if that came out, but unfortunately didn't
<v Speaker 2>come out. Well fortunately actually because it's just so overdone. Hey,
<v Speaker 2>here's the beauty. At least we didn't get a contract signing,
<v Speaker 2>you know on Friday.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, Well but yeah, well they auditioning out so many
<v Speaker 1>just championship matches every single show. We don't need contract
<v Speaker 1>signings anymore. I mean the amount of championship matches they've
<v Speaker 1>given away over the last month is criminal, yes, but
<v Speaker 1>so okay, we're kind of on the same pat here
<v Speaker 1>as far as where things are at that the wonky
<v Speaker 1>mask from Orton. We all know the Fiend is coming back.
<v Speaker 1>It's just a matter of how and when. I think
<v Speaker 1>we probably will have an idea of that as we
<v Speaker 1>go on here. Yes, we have Alexa Bliss out there
<v Speaker 1>as a possible winner, with some of the other top contenders.
<v Speaker 1>We have Charlotte, we have people that aren't even announced,
<v Speaker 1>what about NXT call ups, and there's a lot to
<v Speaker 1>get to. So with all that said, though, I mean,
<v Speaker 1>I'm ready to unless there's other ancillary things in terms
<v Speaker 1>of the product that you want to discuss. If not,
<v Speaker 1>we can jump into the Royal Rumble preview here.
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely, what I was gonna ask you is, do you
<v Speaker 2>feel that well, okay, let me rephrase, what do you
<v Speaker 2>think is going to be the kickoff show? Do you
<v Speaker 2>think it's just gonna be a review of the build
<v Speaker 2>or do you think we're gonna get like a title situation,
<v Speaker 2>a US Intercontinent bump kind of thing, or do you
<v Speaker 2>feel like it's just gonna be maybe be a two
<v Speaker 2>of five Live defense or maybe a n XT random
<v Speaker 2>call up kind of showcasing.
<v Speaker 1>Well, I will say this as I'm looking at the
<v Speaker 1>card right now, I don't see I see we have
<v Speaker 1>the Women's SmackDown Championship, we have Tag Team Championship, the
<v Speaker 1>Women's Tag Belts, So I don't see any actual tag
<v Speaker 1>team championships on the line. So could Don Ziggler and
<v Speaker 1>Robert Rude be in line for maybe the Street Profits
<v Speaker 1>and get an automatic rematch for whatever reason? Yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>mean I could see that being the kickoff certainly. I
<v Speaker 1>think the other the Raw Tag Team Championship, could also
<v Speaker 1>be defended, So that's my thought. Yeah, I think the
<v Speaker 1>Tag Team Championships will come out of nowhere. They'll announcement
<v Speaker 1>on Twitter and or they'll announcement on the show and
<v Speaker 1>then that's the match we'll get.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I was kind of thinking that, of course they
<v Speaker 2>want to do a crowd height, but there's no real
<v Speaker 2>live crowd, so I figured it's just at home. Hey guys,
<v Speaker 2>this is the last pay per view you're going to
<v Speaker 2>see for a while before we merge with Peacock, and
<v Speaker 2>we anger so many people who are following and can't
<v Speaker 2>figure out how to you know, dual stream it. But
<v Speaker 2>that's a different conversation for a little bit later in
<v Speaker 2>the show.
<v Speaker 1>I was one of your thoughts on that, so yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Just shed some light on it. Okay, first of all,
<v Speaker 2>I don't know how it's gonna work. I don't know.
<v Speaker 2>I downloaded the free version of the Peacock app and
<v Speaker 2>I don't even really play with it. I just figure
<v Speaker 2>that that is going to be your conduit into getting
<v Speaker 2>the WWE network, so kind of like when you have
<v Speaker 2>Amazon on Prime. You could also subscribe to Stars for
<v Speaker 2>nine to ninety nine a month, and I don't remember
<v Speaker 2>when I did it, but you know, apparently I pay
<v Speaker 2>nine to ninety nine a month extra. So I think
<v Speaker 2>it's gonna be one of those things that might really
<v Speaker 2>incur the wrath of so many network subscribers. If you
<v Speaker 2>actually have to pay for Peacock and get a paid version,
<v Speaker 2>there's gonna be a lot of problems. But I feel
<v Speaker 2>in the next couple weeks they're gonna find a way
<v Speaker 2>around that, because the massive amount of people who will
<v Speaker 2>drop the will drop the network if they have to
<v Speaker 2>get a new pay service to piggyback it off of,
<v Speaker 2>are gonna be really upset. Not to mention, if our
<v Speaker 2>Royal Rumble Winner or our main events go in a
<v Speaker 2>sour direction, they won't know because there's no crowd because
<v Speaker 2>they're only booking themselves at this point. But if it's
<v Speaker 2>if it's a weak build, you better believe selling off
<v Speaker 2>that network. What in March seventeenth, I think is the
<v Speaker 2>first eighty Okay, so selling that off right before WrestleMania
<v Speaker 2>is the dumbest thing. Why don't you shoot yourself in
<v Speaker 2>both feet and then go for a swim.
<v Speaker 1>It's it's curious. I think their thinking is that's better
<v Speaker 1>timing because then their minds it's WrestleMania, and what better
<v Speaker 1>time to promote the network on a different platform than now?
<v Speaker 1>Right the most cybroalls on the product. So that's that's
<v Speaker 1>their thinking. I understand your position, but I'm also thinking
<v Speaker 1>about from their business perspective of wait a minute, you know,
<v Speaker 1>we're three weeks away from WrestleMania. Is there's no better
<v Speaker 1>time than right now? I'm like, but is there a
<v Speaker 1>better time than now? There's a case we made for
<v Speaker 1>both sides. Certainly, Yes, yeah, I hear it. And that
<v Speaker 1>is a good question too about do people have to
<v Speaker 1>actually subscribe to Peacock itself with a paid subscription and
<v Speaker 1>then also pay for the extra WWE network or can
<v Speaker 1>they just get the like a premium version of Peacock
<v Speaker 1>and the network's already included and it's not like a
<v Speaker 1>two step process. That's a good question.
<v Speaker 2>I know that what we're paying, is it up to
<v Speaker 2>thirteen ninety nine now, or you know, I'm not quite sure,
<v Speaker 2>just automatically deducted from from my bank account. But you know,
<v Speaker 2>I know the money's gone because I never never balance
<v Speaker 2>as a voice. So I'm not gonna add another streaming service.
<v Speaker 2>I just find that rather a name. And I also
<v Speaker 2>find the fact that I mean, like I said, I've
<v Speaker 2>got the free version of Peacock, so it just might
<v Speaker 2>be Okay, through Peacock, you can watch ww network. Are
<v Speaker 2>you subscribers sign it? If that's it, it's not gonna
<v Speaker 2>be a big deal and it just works out so
<v Speaker 2>Peacock can show us reruns or whatever else. Okay, that's
<v Speaker 2>fine if it works that way. But if if it's
<v Speaker 2>if it's an extra expenditure, you've got all these fans
<v Speaker 2>who got that network specifically just absolutely just for wrestling,
<v Speaker 2>so they don't want to watch all all these other reruns,
<v Speaker 2>and they're gonna be upset even if it's five dollars
<v Speaker 2>extra a month. It's like, I'm paying five dollars for
<v Speaker 2>so much content I'm not gonna use. That's gonna be
<v Speaker 2>a really big sour taste in a lot of amounts.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, big time, big time. I would think that's a
<v Speaker 1>terrible business model on both ends if that's their idea,
<v Speaker 1>because they know Peacock would be foolish to do, you know,
<v Speaker 1>paying making wrestling fans pay twice, thinking that they'll pay
<v Speaker 1>twice considering that they're paying nine ninety nine. Now, I
<v Speaker 1>think it's smart if there's no if there's not two
<v Speaker 1>pay walls, then there's just one paywall of say, you know,
<v Speaker 1>whatever the stream likes four ninety nine a month, then
<v Speaker 1>you've essentially cut the expense of the people who are
<v Speaker 1>purchasing the network now for nine ninety nine in half
<v Speaker 1>if those fans are willing to deal with the ads. Myself,
<v Speaker 1>I cannot stand ads. I will pay any premium service
<v Speaker 1>if I get a streaming service, which I'm trying to
<v Speaker 1>cut them down because it's adding up to how much
<v Speaker 1>a cable bill would be at this point. But you know,
<v Speaker 1>if I get a streaming service like Hulu, I will
<v Speaker 1>pay the extra, however much to not deal with ads.
<v Speaker 1>It's so worth it to me, So I will not
<v Speaker 1>be shedding any expense to me, It'll just be a
<v Speaker 1>lateral move with no added expense. If there's not two
<v Speaker 1>pay walls, I would again, I would think that's really
<v Speaker 1>foolish on both parts. But I think there will be
<v Speaker 1>a subset of fans that are willing to pay the
<v Speaker 1>four ninety nine to cut their bill in half, save
<v Speaker 1>the five bucks a month and uh and deal with
<v Speaker 1>the ads. I'm sure those people are out there.
<v Speaker 2>Oh absolutely. I just the thing that that about this
<v Speaker 2>whole purchase or sales and purchase situation is I just
<v Speaker 2>don't see for if if you've got a million point
<v Speaker 2>two or a million point five subscribers that are paying
<v Speaker 2>at base, it was nine to ninety nine, and whatever
<v Speaker 2>it's gone up to at this point, say it's eleven
<v Speaker 2>ninety nine. Okay, that's over eleven million dollars in revenue
<v Speaker 2>that you're giving up per month. So that's that's not
<v Speaker 2>just a couple of pennies. So for you to give
<v Speaker 2>up that kind of money, which adds up to well
<v Speaker 2>over one hundred million dollars a year, this deal with
<v Speaker 2>Peacock had to be astronomical. It had it had to
<v Speaker 2>be somewhere in the Fox billion dollar range. But at
<v Speaker 2>what point do you say, okay, we we've sold it
<v Speaker 2>you I would I would think that want at least
<v Speaker 2>five years of what you would pull, you know, so
<v Speaker 2>it's it's economically feasible. Is this one of these things
<v Speaker 2>where Vince McMahon says, I might not be around in
<v Speaker 2>five years, so I'm gonna sell it for what I'd
<v Speaker 2>make in five years, thinking that this is making the
<v Speaker 2>old man say it's time to retire.
<v Speaker 1>I think, here's here's my thought on it. And this
<v Speaker 1>is as far as the financials go, let me answer
<v Speaker 1>your question, because I did look at the specifics of
<v Speaker 1>how much this deal is worth, and it is about
<v Speaker 1>a billion dollars. That's two hundred million a year for
<v Speaker 1>five years. And so they got their billion dollars. So
<v Speaker 1>ww caunld say, we got our money, you know, and
<v Speaker 1>just kind of like, you know, just walk away. But
<v Speaker 1>you gotta also remember, is wwe maybe missing out on
<v Speaker 1>adding another tier to their network of which fans are
<v Speaker 1>willing to pay for maybe up up ato fourteen ninety nine,
<v Speaker 1>you know, kind of do what Netflix does, and they
<v Speaker 1>they slowly increase the bill every six to twelve months
<v Speaker 1>of two dollars one dollar, three dollars one dollar, and
<v Speaker 1>the next thing you know, you're paying you know where
<v Speaker 1>you started at seven nine, Now you're paying fifteen ninety nine.
<v Speaker 1>And they've suddenly doubled the bill. But they've done it
<v Speaker 1>in a way that is slowly. It's like boiling the frog.
<v Speaker 1>That analogy that people use where you put a frog
<v Speaker 1>in water and you don't you know, you don't put
<v Speaker 1>them in boiling water. He'll jump out. You slowly turn
<v Speaker 1>up the heat and the next thing you know, before
<v Speaker 1>he can get out, the water's boiling and he's dead. So,
<v Speaker 1>I mean it's a little bit of a morbid analogy,
<v Speaker 1>but it's it's kind of that same deal where you
<v Speaker 1>just kind of slowly turn up the heat on people
<v Speaker 1>and they just it's, what's another two dollars a month,
<v Speaker 1>what's another one dollar a month, What's another three dollars?
<v Speaker 1>You know? So I think WWE may be missing out
<v Speaker 1>on that extra revenue if they started to tear their
<v Speaker 1>network for fans that would maybe willing to pay more
<v Speaker 1>for the network over those over the five years that
<v Speaker 1>they got this billion dollars for, and maybe you know,
<v Speaker 1>they would have made more than two hundred million a
<v Speaker 1>year that this contract is for. It's all, you know,
<v Speaker 1>they got their money. I mean a billion dollars is
<v Speaker 1>a billion dollars, and now they can just bring that
<v Speaker 1>that content in Peacocks the servicer they own it now.
<v Speaker 1>So I honestly, I don't think it's the worst thing
<v Speaker 1>in the world. If you have fans that deal with
<v Speaker 1>four and nine a month, they're looking at looking at
<v Speaker 1>it as a savings. WWE has their money. They they
<v Speaker 1>don't really care how many people download the Peacock at
<v Speaker 1>this point, because they just got their money from the
<v Speaker 1>next five years. And Peacock is like, hey, yeah, we
<v Speaker 1>paid ww a billion dollars. But they're they must have
<v Speaker 1>done a hell of a lot of research into this,
<v Speaker 1>into the network to say we could do better than that,
<v Speaker 1>because otherwise they would get in a net loss in
<v Speaker 1>this deal. They would they're thinking they can make more
<v Speaker 1>than what they paid to WWE, So they must have
<v Speaker 1>some kind of strategy to promote the absolute crazy hell
<v Speaker 1>out of this to get more than two hundred million
<v Speaker 1>dollars per year back over the next five years. So
<v Speaker 1>there's you know, otherwise it's foolish on their part.
<v Speaker 2>So absolutely, now that you you spit all those numbers
<v Speaker 2>for me, and I'll just wrap it up real quick,
<v Speaker 2>because I know we had the rumble to cover. We
<v Speaker 2>could do economics all day two of us. But if
<v Speaker 2>you're making a little over one hundred million dollars a
<v Speaker 2>year just on subscribers alone, they've got ten years worth
<v Speaker 2>of money at least. So and they don't have to
<v Speaker 2>guarantee new content, brand new. You know, they produce it.
<v Speaker 2>If Peacock wants to use it, they do. If they don't,
<v Speaker 2>they don't. Maybe Peacock's gonna produce their own things for it.
<v Speaker 2>But I'm sure vincill still have his finger on the
<v Speaker 2>pulse until he doesn't have a pulse. That there's your
<v Speaker 2>morbidity from me. But so you know, honestly, if you're
<v Speaker 2>getting ten years worth it and you don't have to
<v Speaker 2>worry about anything, you know, as long as you tune
<v Speaker 2>up the engine, they can drive the car.
<v Speaker 1>No, that's that's just it. And and I'm with you,
<v Speaker 1>and I think ultimately I think this will be good
<v Speaker 1>for everyone involved in the long run. Yes, it's a change,
<v Speaker 1>and this is my final point that I promise we're
<v Speaker 1>getting to the rumble too. But I think this will
<v Speaker 1>be a more positive about it than you are, just
<v Speaker 1>because I see it from a business perspective. And I
<v Speaker 1>don't know it's because I went to school for business
<v Speaker 1>or that has anything to do with it or not,
<v Speaker 1>but I just see it as a win win win. Ww. Great,
<v Speaker 1>we have a billion dollars, just walk away, you know,
<v Speaker 1>let's move on. We have the fans who again assumingly
<v Speaker 1>and I didn't look at that detail, could cut their
<v Speaker 1>bill in half and deal with ads or it's a
<v Speaker 1>lateral move and there's no change in everyone's budget, So
<v Speaker 1>the fans are like, okay, fine, great, we have to
<v Speaker 1>download a new app.
<v Speaker 2>Big deal.
<v Speaker 1>You know, people are downloading apps all the time. It's
<v Speaker 1>a minor, minor inconvenience in this first world problem. Then
<v Speaker 1>you have Peacock, who is really taking the biggest risk
<v Speaker 1>out of all three players here because they are they
<v Speaker 1>paid a billion dollars and now they're like, okay, guys,
<v Speaker 1>we got to get that money back and more over
<v Speaker 1>the next five years. And they have a subscriber base
<v Speaker 1>of twenty two million people. Now are those twenty two
<v Speaker 1>million people all free? Obviously not, there's a subset that
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure are free that don't pay for the premium service.
<v Speaker 1>But they have a much much much bigger base than
<v Speaker 1>WWE did, potential base than WWE did with those one
<v Speaker 1>point three one point four that's where it would kind
<v Speaker 1>of hover and they would spike around mania and drop
<v Speaker 1>to about a million one point one and just very cyclical.
<v Speaker 1>And there hasn't been any growth in the network over
<v Speaker 1>the next over the last four year five years, and
<v Speaker 1>since the network debut in twenty fourteen, it really has
<v Speaker 1>kind of leveled. So I think the biggest risk is
<v Speaker 1>on peaks part, but they have a massive subscriber base
<v Speaker 1>that they could potentially use to tap into this into
<v Speaker 1>the ww network and get people that parent wrestling fans
<v Speaker 1>to go in there. I mean, there really is the
<v Speaker 1>biggest risk on that part. But okay, let's get into
<v Speaker 1>the Royal Rumble match Royal Rumble pay per view, I
<v Speaker 1>should say, and we cover the fantasy kickoff show that
<v Speaker 1>we don't know is going to exist or not, as
<v Speaker 1>far as if there's a match, which I'm thinking is
<v Speaker 1>gonna be just a tag team match. But let's get
<v Speaker 1>into the actual card, and there are six matches as
<v Speaker 1>of right now. Again, if matches get added, as they
<v Speaker 1>always do randomly, we apologize. But there's six matches as
<v Speaker 1>we see right now. So I'm gonna start it from
<v Speaker 1>the bottom and obviously work our way all the way
<v Speaker 1>to the men's Royal Rumble Match, and I'm gonna start
<v Speaker 1>with Sasha Banks versus Carmela for the WWE smack Down
<v Speaker 1>Women's Championship. Mister Gardner, go ahead and take it away
<v Speaker 1>on this one. I'm gonna I'm gonna let you do
<v Speaker 1>it first.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, Carmela is the one female I've seen actually get
<v Speaker 2>some kind of build that hasn't completely blown up in
<v Speaker 2>her face, because usually when when you're going against one
<v Speaker 2>of the four Horsewomen, unless you're another member of the
<v Speaker 2>four horse Women, you kind of get pushed in the back.
<v Speaker 2>You're you're Dana Brooks, your Natalia's I mean now, don't
<v Speaker 2>get me wrong, in Italia had her time earlier, you know,
<v Speaker 2>in the decades so so and so forth. But or
<v Speaker 2>unless you're some really hot prospect coming up from NXT,
<v Speaker 2>it's it's very hard for a woman, even though their
<v Speaker 2>their work rate has gone up, to actually believe that
<v Speaker 2>they're going to go over or have any kind of
<v Speaker 2>credible character going against one of the you know, alleged
<v Speaker 2>four horsewomen. Now, to me, I think Sasha Banks is
<v Speaker 2>not only stunningly beautiful and I am single, Sasha. You know,
<v Speaker 2>just things don't work out the Husby if if okay,
<v Speaker 2>Carmela has some depth to the character, the salmonnier, the
<v Speaker 2>whole thing. She doesn't look like a complete fool. I
<v Speaker 2>don't see her winning this, but I see this continuing afterwards.
<v Speaker 2>I think that this is gonna gonna go at least
<v Speaker 2>one more step. And I think that the weirdest thing
<v Speaker 2>we could get out of this is not a double turn.
<v Speaker 2>But what's his name, Reginald? Reggie, Yeah, Reginald. I see
<v Speaker 2>Reginald maybe leaving Carmela due to some kind of I
<v Speaker 2>don't want to say, like spousal abuse, but kind of
<v Speaker 2>he starts to get taken advantage of it, kind of
<v Speaker 2>kicked around, kind of like the whole you know, James Elsworth,
<v Speaker 2>and please, I just thought about that. It's royal rumble.
<v Speaker 2>Don't let him show up and the woman's we'll get
<v Speaker 2>there later. Oh no, but I cursed you. I'm sorry.
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna put that in my notes. Okay, But so
<v Speaker 2>I I see. I think this match is gonna be
<v Speaker 2>a lot better than people anticipate because car Carmela when
<v Speaker 2>she first came in, and she's a stunningly beautiful girl,
<v Speaker 2>but they basically saw a you know, Vince Russo. And
<v Speaker 2>every time she wrestles, and as the years go by
<v Speaker 2>she progresses that she gets better. Now she's definitely not
<v Speaker 2>one of the four horsemen women women, excuse me. She's
<v Speaker 2>definitely not Shanna Besler, Bianca Bella, air Ria Ripley. But
<v Speaker 2>what I put her above the talents of say Lacy
<v Speaker 2>Evans or anybody in the Riot squad, or even though
<v Speaker 2>Ruby's coming into her own, Yes, I would. I think
<v Speaker 2>that with each passing year, if she's put in a
<v Speaker 2>top tier storyline, Carmela goes out of her way to
<v Speaker 2>increase her ability in the ring. She may not necessarily
<v Speaker 2>create new maneuvers to use, but she definitely gets better
<v Speaker 2>at performing the ones that she has in her arsenal,
<v Speaker 2>and she doesn't do it as a move set. When
<v Speaker 2>you watch Carmela Russell, it's not always going to be
<v Speaker 2>oh she does this, Oh she does that, Oh she
<v Speaker 2>does this. The best I can put it is you
<v Speaker 2>always knew the dd TEA was coming after Jake Roberts
<v Speaker 2>short arm clothesline, which I always love that cobble with.
<v Speaker 2>The point is you always knew what came next, And
<v Speaker 2>in a Raven's stereo match, you're gonna get like almost
<v Speaker 2>the same five or six spots in a row every match.
<v Speaker 2>That's what makes it hard for me to watch him
<v Speaker 2>for the last fifteen years because you're getting the same match.
<v Speaker 2>Carmela has her moves, but it's not always set. So
<v Speaker 2>I think this match is gonna be a lot better
<v Speaker 2>than we think. I'm actually gonna predict on a one
<v Speaker 2>to ten that this is gonna be somewhere about a
<v Speaker 2>six point five. But I see Sasha retaining. I do
<v Speaker 2>see it maybe spreading out to the next pay per view,
<v Speaker 2>maybe even a push towards WrestleMania. But I think Reginald
<v Speaker 2>is gonna be a key in the storyline. But then again,
<v Speaker 2>a certain no chin man might just pop up out
<v Speaker 2>of the sewer and get back at us. So how
<v Speaker 2>about you, boss?
<v Speaker 1>Oh gosh, yeah, Well, first of all, I'm I hope
<v Speaker 1>that doesn't happen. Second of all, Sasha Banks and Carmela
<v Speaker 1>it's been a program that has been really on, even
<v Speaker 1>for me. And when I say and even, it's not
<v Speaker 1>due to the inabilities of either woman. I think both
<v Speaker 1>women are absolutely capable. I think that Carmela, upon her debut,
<v Speaker 1>has done good to very good, and then has kind
<v Speaker 1>of and I think I might have mentioned this last
<v Speaker 1>week the week before, she feels like she's just flatlined.
<v Speaker 1>And I don't mean that as she's her character's dead.
<v Speaker 1>I mean as if she's just kind of plateaued. Maybe
<v Speaker 1>that's a better word. She's just kind of plateaued, and
<v Speaker 1>she's got Reginald. But why are we focusing on Reginald
<v Speaker 1>when it's about it should be about Carmela. You know,
<v Speaker 1>I need more from Carmela. And there's just I like
<v Speaker 1>her in ring ability. She has certainly improved. I'm glad
<v Speaker 1>she's no longer our true comedy sidekick. I think that
<v Speaker 1>she is completely undervalued and was undervalued in her run
<v Speaker 1>as the SmackDown Women's Champion a number of years ago.
<v Speaker 1>I loved it, and I think that doesn't get enough
<v Speaker 1>attention or is brought up enough. But I really want
<v Speaker 1>to see her add something to her character. Maybe it's
<v Speaker 1>more Mike time. Maybe I need something be on the superficial,
<v Speaker 1>arrogant blonde. There needs to be a little more. I
<v Speaker 1>know it's there. I'm not doubting her. I just need
<v Speaker 1>to see her and hear her add more to her
<v Speaker 1>character other than again, they's just the arrogant, I drink champagne.
<v Speaker 1>I'm better than you. Okay, I need more like we've
<v Speaker 1>seen it. I get it, I'm on board with it.
<v Speaker 1>But it's just as if she's kind of been just
<v Speaker 1>using that over and over and over, and Okay, I
<v Speaker 1>have Reginald, who's the somalier or as Corey Graves called him,
<v Speaker 1>the Circa Somalier this week, which was very clever, you know,
<v Speaker 1>and I need more from him other than just seeing
<v Speaker 1>him get shamed and beat up by Sasha Banks every week,
<v Speaker 1>which is completely unbelievable, by the way, like completely unbelievable
<v Speaker 1>that this guy can do, you know, crazy flips and
<v Speaker 1>all this stuff, but he can't take care of a
<v Speaker 1>one hundred and forty pound woman. I mean, it's just
<v Speaker 1>it's absurd. But we don't deal with man and woman
<v Speaker 1>violence in ww even though the other way around is okay,
<v Speaker 1>which again their match that happened last week where she
<v Speaker 1>made him tap out, is completely just it's frustrating to
<v Speaker 1>me when I see that, not in a way that just
<v Speaker 1>makes me go I hate wrestling. It's just like this
<v Speaker 1>guy can do all these acrobatic things, he can flip, flip,
<v Speaker 1>fly and do all these summersaults, and he can't deal
<v Speaker 1>with one hundred and forty pound woman. I mean, it's
<v Speaker 1>it's just absurd to me. But I understand in WWE's
<v Speaker 1>we don't do men and women violence, but the other
<v Speaker 1>way is okay. I mean, it's just I can rant
<v Speaker 1>about that, but this is what we're talking about. We're
<v Speaker 1>talking about Carmela and Sasha Banks. And ultimately, here's my thought.
<v Speaker 1>I think Sasha Banks does retain. I'm with you on this,
<v Speaker 1>and I think it's because Sasha Banks going into WrestleMania
<v Speaker 1>is a bigger name as champion, then Carmela is as
<v Speaker 1>a name going into WrestleMania as champion. And yes, we
<v Speaker 1>have a pay per view in between, of course, and
<v Speaker 1>yes WrestleMania isn't for what another two months, roughly two
<v Speaker 1>months in change, so yeah, we could have a title
<v Speaker 1>change between now and then, and god knows, WW doesn't
<v Speaker 1>wait for pay per views to do title matches. So
<v Speaker 1>I think that Sasha Banks does retain. I am looking
<v Speaker 1>at a good quality match. I think that Carmela has
<v Speaker 1>improved in the ring, just as you said. I think
<v Speaker 1>this could be a good to very good match if
<v Speaker 1>all of all of the if everything's working right, then
<v Speaker 1>I end up thinking Sasha Banks wins. Yes, Reginald's gonna
<v Speaker 1>get involved, probably in a Carmela favorable way, but ultimately
<v Speaker 1>I think Sasha Banks retains, and I think that they
<v Speaker 1>need to make this her championship win against Bailey that
<v Speaker 1>they built and built and built and Built, which I
<v Speaker 1>think was a big flop. But they need to make
<v Speaker 1>her championship win stick and they need to I think
<v Speaker 1>continue it till WrestleMania with Sasha Banks again. Both beautiful women,
<v Speaker 1>no question about that, but in ring ability. To me,
<v Speaker 1>they are Sasha Banks. We all know what she can do.
<v Speaker 1>This is time. Really, you could argue this is Carmela's
<v Speaker 1>biggest match she's ever had in her career because it's
<v Speaker 1>at the Rumble, it's against Sasha Banks, and it's for
<v Speaker 1>the championship. So to me, I'm looking towards Carmela and
<v Speaker 1>putting the pressure on her to have a really good
<v Speaker 1>match with Sasha Banks rather than the other way around.
<v Speaker 1>But I think Sasha Banks comes out on top. All right, guys,
<v Speaker 1>we're gonna take a quick commercial break, show a little
<v Speaker 1>love to our sponsors, and then we're gonna be right
<v Speaker 1>back with more audio from Michael and myself talking Royal Rumble.
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<v Speaker 2>The only thing I can say in my conclusion to
<v Speaker 2>I'm actually really looking forward to this because as you
<v Speaker 2>put it, this is probably Carmela's most marquee marketable match. Obviously,
<v Speaker 2>Sasha is the one whose name you want to put
<v Speaker 2>on on WrestleMania. So it's it's a no brainer as
<v Speaker 2>far as the retention unless something really really crazy and
<v Speaker 2>sideways happens, or unless they have some incredibly great plot
<v Speaker 2>to put together a marquee women's match with Carmela at
<v Speaker 2>the Helm, unless it's a hot potato situation, which we
<v Speaker 2>don't need that going into WrestleMania. That's the saddest thing
<v Speaker 2>you can do is have a title that has been
<v Speaker 2>demeaned or pushed down its value level, you know, to
<v Speaker 2>you know, fertilizer for a mushroom. So I really think
<v Speaker 2>that I really feel that there's gonna be some some
<v Speaker 2>pleasantry to this match. I really think it's going to
<v Speaker 2>be a solid six point five out of ten because
<v Speaker 2>I think that just depending on how hokey it is
<v Speaker 2>with Reginald getting and that that's gonna be the biggest
<v Speaker 2>detractor is how much he's going to play in this
<v Speaker 2>match and if it's going to cheapen a victory for
<v Speaker 2>Sasha or not. So you know, that's that's the big
<v Speaker 2>thing me right there. So it is.
<v Speaker 1>And I think they want to have Sasha Sasha say
<v Speaker 1>face even though she's been kind of heelish. Really, I mean,
<v Speaker 1>to me, Sasha Banks is a heel in a in
<v Speaker 1>a in a baby face clothing. I think in a cloak,
<v Speaker 1>I should say, I'm not a I'm not a huge
<v Speaker 1>proponent of the babyface Sasha Banks. I think she is
<v Speaker 1>much much better at a heal, just like Charlotte. And
<v Speaker 1>we'll get to her and uh, right now, so let's
<v Speaker 1>get to the tag team match here for the Women's
<v Speaker 1>Tag Team Championship OSCA and Charlotte Flair versus Naya Jacks
<v Speaker 1>and Shanna Basler. Once again, I'll toss this one to you.
<v Speaker 1>I'm fairly confident on this one, but maybe you have
<v Speaker 1>a different thought. Go ahead.
<v Speaker 2>This one has been one of the hardest matches for
<v Speaker 2>me to call to be actually, uh, completely honest with you,
<v Speaker 2>because I mean, Charlotte Flair is she's she's their dominant female.
<v Speaker 2>She's she's their Roman reigns. The biggest difference is she's
<v Speaker 2>always naturally had that connection with the audience. There's she
<v Speaker 2>can do no wrong and she could lose a million
<v Speaker 2>matches and it wouldn't matter because when they say that,
<v Speaker 2>some people just have that golden parachute and you can
<v Speaker 2>erase a loss. She can go out and have one
<v Speaker 2>win over somebody major after ten losses in a row,
<v Speaker 2>and you would forget almost instantly about her losses. That's
<v Speaker 2>how gold like dipped in gold she is. Oscar, on
<v Speaker 2>the other hand, should have had that next level even
<v Speaker 2>her reins as Women's champs. Something's not. It's just never
<v Speaker 2>hit on all cylinders ever since she had that first
<v Speaker 2>major loss too. Of all people, Charlotte, so you've got
<v Speaker 2>you could have a turn in this one like they
<v Speaker 2>couldn't get along. But they've been way too buddy, buddy,
<v Speaker 2>and it's worked out way too well. I see, because
<v Speaker 2>you're gonna have to have a build for russell Mania.
<v Speaker 2>Obviously that I pushed this around. I kind of went
<v Speaker 2>fifty to fifty wishy washy. I see Jackson Basler doing
<v Speaker 2>this based on a couple of things. One if there's
<v Speaker 2>anybody I believe could eviscerate any female and just tear
<v Speaker 2>through them and leave nothing but a set of lungs
<v Speaker 2>laying in the mat, it's gonna be SHANEA. Bezler because
<v Speaker 2>it's not only the fact that she has the legit cred,
<v Speaker 2>but it's the fact that she has a different look.
<v Speaker 2>She looks like I wouldn't fight her. I don't know
<v Speaker 2>about you. I wouldn't fight her. And she's one of
<v Speaker 2>those few, like Carmela who can be put on that
<v Speaker 2>level with the Four Horsewomen. She's completely a great submission wrestler.
<v Speaker 2>She doesn't just rely on all UFC fighting style stuff
<v Speaker 2>like rond Rousi. It's not it doesn't look like a
<v Speaker 2>forced match like ronder Rousei. And I'm not trying to
<v Speaker 2>pick on Rondo, but let's be honest. Her one year
<v Speaker 2>at the top was very forgettable in my opinion, whereas
<v Speaker 2>Jack's and well, okay, Basler. First of all, I'll get
<v Speaker 2>back to the two of them together. But Basler, you know,
<v Speaker 2>going through NXT all the way up developing in case
<v Speaker 2>you didn't know who she was in UFC, it's been beautiful.
<v Speaker 2>She looks vicious, she acts vicious, she plays the role,
<v Speaker 2>she lives her gimmick. And Ni Jackson, of course, is
<v Speaker 2>one of the Samoans, you know, he loves the Samoan
<v Speaker 2>family and she. You've got two women who don't look
<v Speaker 2>your typical role. They're not beauty queens. And I'm not
<v Speaker 2>saying they're ugly by any stretch, because lord knows, they
<v Speaker 2>might whip me, but seriously, they're not ugly women. And
<v Speaker 2>that's a real statement. They're not, but they don't. They're
<v Speaker 2>not silicone, they're not bleach blonde. They're not trying angles
<v Speaker 2>with romance. You know. It's I look at those two
<v Speaker 2>as like a almost like a female version of the Steiners,
<v Speaker 2>Like you're gonna get hurt wrestling these women. So if
<v Speaker 2>we have to believe that that Charlotte and Oscar are
<v Speaker 2>gonna drop the belts, especially if you're gonna have them
<v Speaker 2>potentially go in two different directions in the rumble, I
<v Speaker 2>kind of see those two may be facing off, which
<v Speaker 2>I also think that champions shouldn't be involved in rumbles,
<v Speaker 2>but that's a different discussion for a little bit later on.
<v Speaker 2>I really think that that Jackson Basler are gonna get this.
<v Speaker 2>I think it's gonna be a between Flare and Osca,
<v Speaker 2>one of those things where it's a bad blind tag.
<v Speaker 2>If it's not a bad blind tag. I'm seeing a accident,
<v Speaker 2>you know, one teammate accidentally hits the other, which causes
<v Speaker 2>minor dissension, but you know they'll put aside their grievances
<v Speaker 2>just to meet later on in the evening and try
<v Speaker 2>to take it out on each other. But I'm seeing
<v Speaker 2>the gold switch place, and I hope, honestly it does
<v Speaker 2>switch place that we go on a monster tear with
<v Speaker 2>Jackson Basler and they become, you know, like I said,
<v Speaker 2>the female Steiners, but a darker version.
<v Speaker 1>This one. Yeah, we'll see. Now I have my pick,
<v Speaker 1>and you're making me rethinking. I okay, so I'll just
<v Speaker 1>say right off the bat, I have Oscar and Charlotte retaining.
<v Speaker 1>Now it's for the reason that you mentioned about well,
<v Speaker 1>let me say this. I agree with your logic about
<v Speaker 1>Nya Jackson Shanna Basler being the female version of the
<v Speaker 1>Steiners going on a terror and being dominant. And they
<v Speaker 1>kind of did that for their first run kind of
<v Speaker 1>they were you know, they're messing around with Lana whatever that,
<v Speaker 1>you know, for whatever that's worth uh, you know, if
<v Speaker 1>if it'll be a miracle or at least a blessing
<v Speaker 1>that Nijacks doesn't injure anyone in this match. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>lately she's been not on a good run, and she
<v Speaker 1>always is very defensive on Twitter talking about how we're
<v Speaker 1>all trolls and all this. She is not safe in
<v Speaker 1>the ring. It's just it's clear at this point. It's
<v Speaker 1>not even like an opinion. I mean, look at her,
<v Speaker 1>look at a record of accidental injuries. I'm not saying
<v Speaker 1>she's doing a new purpose. She she just has been
<v Speaker 1>on the on the bad end of injuring or on
<v Speaker 1>the interactions between stars of accidentally injuring them. It's it's
<v Speaker 1>just a fact. So she can go on Twitter and
<v Speaker 1>talk about we're all trolls and how we're we don't
<v Speaker 1>know what we're talking about, but the fact of the
<v Speaker 1>matter is that she is not a safe worker at times.
<v Speaker 1>It's it's just a fact. But nonetheless, I think Austin
<v Speaker 1>and Charlotte retain, and the reason is because I think
<v Speaker 1>while what you're saying is correct about the dissension and
<v Speaker 1>the accidental tag or you know, somebody gets selfish and
<v Speaker 1>try to you know, tries to get the pin while
<v Speaker 1>the other one stands on the apron or whatever. We've
<v Speaker 1>seen it at all, all those kinds of miscommunications between teams,
<v Speaker 1>you know we're gonna eventually disintegrate. We know what would
<v Speaker 1>happen with Bailey and Sasha over the summer. We all
<v Speaker 1>knew it was coming. I agree with you, but I
<v Speaker 1>think they're gonna wait one more pay per view. I
<v Speaker 1>think they're gonna wait one more time to have this
<v Speaker 1>build from say fast Lane, which I think is the
<v Speaker 1>next pay per view to WrestleMania. That's when I think
<v Speaker 1>the breakdown is gonna happen. I don't think it's gonna
<v Speaker 1>happen at the Rumble from Rumble to Mania Again. You're
<v Speaker 1>looking at it like a ten week, nine week build.
<v Speaker 1>It's gonna take. That's a lot of time for them
<v Speaker 1>to do that, and I think that they're gonna wait
<v Speaker 1>one more time to do it. I think the way
<v Speaker 1>you were saying is correct. I just the timing of it,
<v Speaker 1>I think is one more month away. So I think
<v Speaker 1>Oscar and Charlotte retain. I think eventually, yeah, they could
<v Speaker 1>drop it to Nijackson, Shane Basiler. I would love to
<v Speaker 1>see those two run through the roster. But the question
<v Speaker 1>then remains, does wwe see shaneon Basiler and Nijacks more
<v Speaker 1>successful asle stars than they do as a tag team.
<v Speaker 1>And I mean, if they're gonna just do nothing with
<v Speaker 1>Shannon Basler and you know, bury her like they did
<v Speaker 1>last year at WrestleMania, then I would say keep her
<v Speaker 1>in the tag team if they have no plans for
<v Speaker 1>her because she has a home there. If they're gonna
<v Speaker 1>actually do something with Shane Bazler and make her an actual,
<v Speaker 1>actual killer and make her come back and break people's
<v Speaker 1>arms like she did in the Spring this year, then
<v Speaker 1>hell yeah, bring back that's Shanna Basler. I'm not a
<v Speaker 1>huge fan of Ni Jack's. I don't care that they're not,
<v Speaker 1>you know, beautiful women by you know, some standards. To me,
<v Speaker 1>that's actually an asset that they don't look that way,
<v Speaker 1>because it's not a distraction because the fact is, like
<v Speaker 1>most of the men that are most of the people
<v Speaker 1>that watch wrestling are men, and most of the people
<v Speaker 1>that watch wrestling are men in their like middle aged men,
<v Speaker 1>younger men, even older men. I mean it's really eighteen
<v Speaker 1>to forty is the general target Demo, and I think
<v Speaker 1>so sometimes it's a distraction of how good looking some
<v Speaker 1>of these women are. Whether you're you're not watching wrestling
<v Speaker 1>for that, but it's distracting. And I think with these two,
<v Speaker 1>and I don't mean this disrespectfully, but they aren't beautifully
<v Speaker 1>distracting where it's just like you know you're watching them,
<v Speaker 1>but you're just kind of like the biological part of
<v Speaker 1>your brain or the neurons in your brain are like, man, like,
<v Speaker 1>this woman's just so attractive. It's distracting. No, to me,
<v Speaker 1>it's good that they're not, because it helps me focus
<v Speaker 1>on their actual wrestling storyline, how they are in the ring,
<v Speaker 1>you know, their character, rather than just always worrying about,
<v Speaker 1>like you said, kind of the plastic part of the
<v Speaker 1>whole thing. So long story, Shark, Oscar and Charlotte retain.
<v Speaker 1>I like your logic. I just think the timing is
<v Speaker 1>one more is one month removed from yours.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know, either way, we got to see with
<v Speaker 2>what happens on Sunday or tomorrow. Hello, So with what
<v Speaker 2>happens to tomorrow, then you and I can start pitting
<v Speaker 2>it against each other on what the build is to
<v Speaker 2>WrestleMania where they think they're going, because obviously we're going
<v Speaker 2>to see some kind of interaction in the rumble. It
<v Speaker 2>has to happen. Now, if we go your route and
<v Speaker 2>you think that they're just going to add a few
<v Speaker 2>more side dishes before we delve into the main course,
<v Speaker 2>at least it gives us something a bit more substantial
<v Speaker 2>in the build up to uh up to Mania. And
<v Speaker 2>I was doing some research here while while also so
<v Speaker 2>do we have fast lane and elimination chamber next? Or
<v Speaker 2>is it just going to be elimination chamber because that's
<v Speaker 2>isn't that usually how they pick the other, uh, the
<v Speaker 2>other candidate for whatever world titles that are not or
<v Speaker 2>haven't been decided for an opponent, Yes, yes, now, but
<v Speaker 2>I believe it used to be both fast lane and
<v Speaker 2>elimination chamber. In in both, I think it used to
<v Speaker 2>go fast lane.
<v Speaker 1>That's elimination chamber first. Yep. No, you're you're right, Yep.
<v Speaker 1>I'm looking.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I'm just trying to I'm trying to visualize
<v Speaker 2>it because I believe you were right in saying elimination
<v Speaker 2>or I mean fast laying because I think it used
<v Speaker 2>to go I think WrestleMania floated between March and April
<v Speaker 2>for a while. Yep, And I think, now, mind you,
<v Speaker 2>it's you know, I am forty five. I think that
<v Speaker 2>it would go fast Lane after after Rumble because it
<v Speaker 2>was you know, the try the road to WrestleMania fast Lane.
<v Speaker 2>It made sense, and then elimination and then uh wrestling,
<v Speaker 2>I think so, but whatever, I don't know if they're
<v Speaker 2>if they're cutting one out or bridging it this year,
<v Speaker 2>but so then we also have to think after tomorrow's event,
<v Speaker 2>I will be texting you We're going to see what
<v Speaker 2>we think is going to be the competitors for Elimination Chamber,
<v Speaker 2>and I think a lot of that is going to
<v Speaker 2>come down to your final few in the Ladies Battle
<v Speaker 2>Royal or excuse me, Ladies Royal Rumble, the Royal Rumble event.
<v Speaker 2>That is, this is not a pay per view anymore.
<v Speaker 2>So I I see your plan, and I like that
<v Speaker 2>you want more death to it, and I like the
<v Speaker 2>fact that no matter what, we both agree that that
<v Speaker 2>this isn't over. This isn't just going to be, you know,
<v Speaker 2>a one and done situation today. So I both both
<v Speaker 2>female matches so far are going to be storyline and
<v Speaker 2>scripting towards the next sixty days worth of television and
<v Speaker 2>sixty days worth of pay per view and or events.
<v Speaker 1>It's right, I mean, and I did look. It did
<v Speaker 1>confirm the Elimination Chambers on February twenty first, and then
<v Speaker 1>fast Lane is March twenty first until a month later.
<v Speaker 1>And then obviously WrestleMania is April tenth and eleventh from Tampa.
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, we have three weeks now on from the
<v Speaker 1>Rumble to Elimination Chamber and then four weeks between Chamber
<v Speaker 1>and fast Lane. So yep, there are two pay per
<v Speaker 1>views between Rumble and WrestleMania, so there are a couple
<v Speaker 1>steps that they have still to still go before they
<v Speaker 1>get to WrestleMania, which again I think kind of makes
<v Speaker 1>me more confident that it could be another pay per
<v Speaker 1>view before this actually happens, because I think they know
<v Speaker 1>that fans know it's going to happen, and when they
<v Speaker 1>think that, you know, when they know that fans know,
<v Speaker 1>I think they liked it. Lay it where they make
<v Speaker 1>fans re guess like, well they're really gonna do it?
<v Speaker 1>Are they get to like when is this gonna happen?
<v Speaker 1>I can't believe they didn't do it. So even if
<v Speaker 1>they know when that fans are confident it's gonna happen,
<v Speaker 1>they'll mess with the timing. So in this case, I
<v Speaker 1>think that it's probably gonna be elimination chamber, even fascinating.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I could see them going that long. I
<v Speaker 1>wouldn't to build to an Oscar Charlotte WrestleMania main event.
<v Speaker 1>But okay, uh, let's get to the next match here,
<v Speaker 1>and now we're starting to get into some some pretty
<v Speaker 1>crazy ones. Drew McIntyre versus Goldberg. Good lord, I'll take
<v Speaker 1>this one first. I'll be brief as I can. Okay, Now,
<v Speaker 1>about three weeks ago, I said that I'm starting to
<v Speaker 1>turn on my thoughts about Goldberg and McIntyre, where I
<v Speaker 1>was like, Goldberg's no, McIntire's gont to retain. You know,
<v Speaker 1>at first I said, Goldberg's no way he can win.
<v Speaker 1>McIntyre has been doing so good as champion. Outside of
<v Speaker 1>the three weeks that we all pretend he didn't lose
<v Speaker 1>to Orton at Helen to Sell, he has been the
<v Speaker 1>champion since WrestleMania. Outside those three weeks, He's been very
<v Speaker 1>good as champion. He has been truly what Vince wanted
<v Speaker 1>roman to be. Drew McIntyre has been and is a
<v Speaker 1>He's a man's man. He is confident. I can't see
<v Speaker 1>through his work, I can't see through his character. He is.
<v Speaker 1>He's a total package. He is just excellentist, champion and
<v Speaker 1>totally believable. And I said, no way, they're going to
<v Speaker 1>cut that short before WrestleMania, Like how cool that be
<v Speaker 1>to say WrestleMania to WrestleMania. He was champion again outside
<v Speaker 1>of the three weeks So I said, no way. And
<v Speaker 1>then Goldberg shows up and look at you know, obviously
<v Speaker 1>we're we're here now, and I'm thinking about three weeks ago.
<v Speaker 1>I said, oh my god. They kept drilling home and
<v Speaker 1>they did it this past week again. This is, you know,
<v Speaker 1>the one championship Goldberg has not had. This is the
<v Speaker 1>one championship that has eluded Goldberg. This is the one
<v Speaker 1>championship that has eluded Goldberg. And they kept drilling that
<v Speaker 1>in my head. And when they do that, when they
<v Speaker 1>drill that in my head, it sets the foundation and
<v Speaker 1>lays the foundation for when that moment happens. You're like,
<v Speaker 1>oh my god, that's right. He has never won it.
<v Speaker 1>And so I'm I'm of the belief. Here's my pick.
<v Speaker 1>I think Goldberg's gonna capture the WWE Championship. I don't
<v Speaker 1>don't want it to happen. I think most WWE fans
<v Speaker 1>do not want it to happen. I think it is
<v Speaker 1>a bad, bad move by WWE. If Drew mutains, I'll
<v Speaker 1>be I'll be ecstatic and I'll be the first one
<v Speaker 1>to commend WWE. But I am fairly confident Goldberg is
<v Speaker 1>gonna win this based on the foundation that's been laid,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm I think that they think Vince thinks. I
<v Speaker 1>should be very specific. I think Vince thinks Goldberg is
<v Speaker 1>a bigger name, a bigger draw for Russell. It's Russell Mania.
<v Speaker 1>It's gonna be Goldberg with a WWE championship. So this
<v Speaker 1>is this is a product of Vince here. I'm scared
<v Speaker 1>because I think Goldberg is going to capture the championship.
<v Speaker 1>I think it's a shame that fans are not in
<v Speaker 1>the arena to boo the holy hell of Goldberg and
<v Speaker 1>this storyline. That's really the biggest crime of this whole
<v Speaker 1>thing is that Vince doesn't get to hear the fans live.
<v Speaker 1>He doesn't he gets to play god with the reactions
<v Speaker 1>as they have been over the last several months. They
<v Speaker 1>get to play god and just play however they want
<v Speaker 1>and have the reactions exactly the way they want, and
<v Speaker 1>they're gonna have a hell of a wake up call
<v Speaker 1>whenever they get back in front of real fans, which
<v Speaker 1>apparently is WrestleMania. But we'll get, you.
<v Speaker 2>Know, we'll get.
<v Speaker 1>We'll learn more about that as the week's go on.
<v Speaker 1>Goldberg right now, I think is going to capture the belt.
<v Speaker 1>I think fans are gonna lose their minds on Twitter.
<v Speaker 1>But it's a matter of how does Goldberg win now?
<v Speaker 1>Is it by a squash? Is it by several kickouts
<v Speaker 1>of finishers? I would assume it's several kickouts of finishes,
<v Speaker 1>because that's all this match is gonna be. It's gonna
<v Speaker 1>be finish, finish, finished, kickout, finished, kickout, finish, kickout, Maybe
<v Speaker 1>a puncher, a clothes line thrown in, maybe from some variety,
<v Speaker 1>but this is a hard hitting I'd say under four
<v Speaker 1>minutes of kickout, kickout, kickout, and then you know, on
<v Speaker 1>the fourth you know, jackhammer is what takes out and
<v Speaker 1>Drew McIntyre and the fans are going to lose their
<v Speaker 1>freaking minds, while WWE gets to pretend that they have
<v Speaker 1>fans cheering for this. So that's my pick. Sadly, very sadly,
<v Speaker 1>I picked Goldberg winning the WE Championship. Do you have
<v Speaker 1>a different thought.
<v Speaker 2>First of all, I was sold on Drew for a
<v Speaker 2>long time as far as this is a no brainer
<v Speaker 2>retention until you and I spoke last time and you
<v Speaker 2>got my gears going. And this thing it reeks of
<v Speaker 2>creeping death that could gag a maggot or peel paint
<v Speaker 2>off a wall. I am telling you that putting the
<v Speaker 2>belt on Goldberg, I hate to say, I'm going to
<v Speaker 2>agree with you, and I don't know why that he
<v Speaker 2>thinks that Goldberg is more of a marquee name, especially
<v Speaker 2>the fact that he's playing a modified Tweener to heel
<v Speaker 2>role and we don't know. I see nothing down the
<v Speaker 2>road with legs for him to main event russ Romania. Now,
<v Speaker 2>one of two things could happen afterwards, in the men's
<v Speaker 2>main event of Royal Rumble for the second year in
<v Speaker 2>a row, Drew McIntyre might win it, and then it
<v Speaker 2>sets up a rematch at WrestleMania, which is pointless and
<v Speaker 2>it makes no sense or I mean, I'll put it
<v Speaker 2>also in some of the notes I'm going to cover
<v Speaker 2>with the men's main event, who Goldberg could potentially be facing.
<v Speaker 2>But the fact is, you can only go to Jurassic
<v Speaker 2>Park so many times before you realize that dinosaurs eat everybody.
<v Speaker 2>And Vince loves going to Jurassic Park and dusting off
<v Speaker 2>these dinosaurs and having them eat this young talent is
<v Speaker 2>what's killing his product, especially when they can't perform. I
<v Speaker 2>don't want to see fifteen finishers in a row because
<v Speaker 2>it's no longer a finisher. It's the same as punch kick,
<v Speaker 2>body slam. It's a heavyweight match from nineteen eighty seven.
<v Speaker 2>I don't want to see that, okay, and it will
<v Speaker 2>kill Drew's momentum. The only way I can really see
<v Speaker 2>any good of this is if somehow they finangle it
<v Speaker 2>so Drew can win the elimination Chamber and challenge Roman Reigns.
<v Speaker 2>But we'll get to that in a couple of minutes
<v Speaker 2>because I think they want to rematch that situation in
<v Speaker 2>the interim. I don't know what to do with Goldberg.
<v Speaker 2>You put that belt on him, I have no idea
<v Speaker 2>what to do with him. I am thirty five years
<v Speaker 2>into my wrestling fanhood, and I couldn't tell you what
<v Speaker 2>to do to basically put people in seats if it
<v Speaker 2>was live. I couldn't tell you anything to pop viewers
<v Speaker 2>enough to want to buy a network that you just sold.
<v Speaker 2>I have no idea what the marquee or marketable value
<v Speaker 2>of a man in his fifties who looks phenomenal but
<v Speaker 2>has been known to botch matches left and right, and
<v Speaker 2>has a skill set so limited it is nothing but
<v Speaker 2>one signature match that is less than three minutes typically.
<v Speaker 2>I have nothing in my plan, my agenda, my foresight.
<v Speaker 2>I can't see the horizon. I can't see anything. I
<v Speaker 2>could stare into the sun and go blind before I
<v Speaker 2>could actually find any reason or plan or anything to
<v Speaker 2>do with Goldberg going for you forward. That's where I am,
<v Speaker 2>and yet I see him winning.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry to the sun. I love it. It's true,
<v Speaker 1>It's so true. I want I really, I'm honestly asking,
<v Speaker 1>and I asked this last time. If there's anyone in
<v Speaker 1>the sound of my voice that wants to see Goldberg's champion,
<v Speaker 1>I would love to know why. And I don't mean
<v Speaker 1>that in a demeaning way everyone loves, you know, their
<v Speaker 1>own thing in wrestling. I mean it in a truly
<v Speaker 1>I want to understand why people want. If there's anybody
<v Speaker 1>out there, I mean, bueller, anybody you know of Goldberg
<v Speaker 1>being ww champion, I really would love to know the
<v Speaker 1>logic behind it or somebody's thought process when they see
<v Speaker 1>Goldberg as champion of that'd be great. No, I mean,
<v Speaker 1>look it may he may tipped the needle a little
<v Speaker 1>bit with ratings. Goldberg is a big name. He was
<v Speaker 1>a big name though twenty freaking years ago. He's not
<v Speaker 1>a big name anymore. Again, I was slightly excited when
<v Speaker 1>he came back in twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen. I was like,
<v Speaker 1>oh cool, he's gonna kind of avenge his terrible run
<v Speaker 1>in two thousand and four that we all know ended
<v Speaker 1>in one of the worst matches of all time at
<v Speaker 1>WrestleMania against brock Lesner. You know, okay, come, look slightly interested,
<v Speaker 1>and then every match became three minutes, okay, finish, finish, finish.
<v Speaker 1>He finally beats brock Lesner, he becomes champion, Universal Champion. Wonderful,
<v Speaker 1>but he also don't forget the other part of this
<v Speaker 1>is Vince has not been scared to take current talent
<v Speaker 1>and allow Goldberg to beat them. Albeit the Fiend the
<v Speaker 1>most recent victim of the Fiend, I mean, he's the
<v Speaker 1>only one that holds a victory over the Fiend, A
<v Speaker 1>clean victory over the Fiend is Goldberg, if we all
<v Speaker 1>remember that, And that to me still sticks in my
<v Speaker 1>mind as angering nonsensical that you have a fifty some
<v Speaker 1>year old man come in or a extremely part time
<v Speaker 1>role and very limited in the ring of beating your
<v Speaker 1>current talent and then leaving and disappearing. How does that
<v Speaker 1>help anybody? You talk about hot shotting, That is hot
<v Speaker 1>shotting to the nth degree. That benefits nobody, because yeah,
<v Speaker 1>you may have extra eyeballs in your product. Admittedly, Goldberg
<v Speaker 1>is a slight needle mover with the name value, but
<v Speaker 1>at this point in his career, no, I don't think
<v Speaker 1>he is anymore because and he doesn't add any value
<v Speaker 1>to the current product because especially when you're you're also
<v Speaker 1>making him a babyface because he comes in, he wins,
<v Speaker 1>and then he leaves, and then the talent that lost
<v Speaker 1>are there. The talent that lost are still there week
<v Speaker 1>and week out, and now you have Goldberg just disappearing
<v Speaker 1>into the abyss and coming back whenever he wants and
<v Speaker 1>thinks that he's deserving of a WWE championship match. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>that's you talk about a heal move and talking about
<v Speaker 1>disrespect that MacIntyre had. How the hell does he know
<v Speaker 1>you talk about I mean, he's the one who's saying
<v Speaker 1>I'm doing this. You know it's about respect. Well, wait
<v Speaker 1>a minute. If it's about respect, aren't you disrespecting the
<v Speaker 1>WWE champion by thinking that you're just somehow automatically deserving
<v Speaker 1>because you walk out to the ring. I mean, it's
<v Speaker 1>it's it's just so backwards. I would at least accept
<v Speaker 1>this slightly more if Goldberg was billed as a heel.
<v Speaker 1>But they'll never do it. I just it's I want.
<v Speaker 1>I can't wait to hear all the the just completely
<v Speaker 1>pumped in cheers for Goldberg when he's holding that championship
<v Speaker 1>over his head. It's gonna make me sick. Twitter's gonna
<v Speaker 1>lose its mind. I can't wait to see it.
<v Speaker 2>No, I agree. I mean I think there's gonna be
<v Speaker 2>part of a wrestling revolt. And like I said, with
<v Speaker 2>you picked, they picked one hell of a time to
<v Speaker 2>sell the network off the peacock. And if you're gonna
<v Speaker 2>go with Goldberg, you're not gonna get any new subscriptions.
<v Speaker 2>You might get a couple of people who are nostalgic
<v Speaker 2>from twenty years ago who flipped through the channels. They
<v Speaker 2>see him, They're like, oh wow, Goldberg. Then they see
<v Speaker 2>a shell of what he was and a third of
<v Speaker 2>what he was years ago. And he was no he
<v Speaker 2>was dynamite kid back then. You know, he was no
<v Speaker 2>Dean Malanko. But with that being said, he's I mean,
<v Speaker 2>the guy concusses himself, he goes into a match with
<v Speaker 2>the Undertaker and and almost ruins the mystique of wrestling's
<v Speaker 2>greatest big man ever. And it's for what. Yeah, there
<v Speaker 2>there is you know, you could talk about there being
<v Speaker 2>a catcher. There's some big payoff. I see no payoff
<v Speaker 2>to this. I'm gonna continue to stare into the sun
<v Speaker 2>until i get an answer because I'd rather be blind
<v Speaker 2>than watch that. You're just gonna have to describe it
<v Speaker 2>to me, and you could lie to me, but I'll
<v Speaker 2>have to hear it too. So I've got some thistles
<v Speaker 2>for my ears.
<v Speaker 1>That's like a perfect intro, like something like that cut
<v Speaker 1>right there is like the money line. Right, I'd rather
<v Speaker 1>stare into the sun than watch Goldberg be champion like that.
<v Speaker 1>Somebody should take that. I mean, that's good, it's true.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, at least in my perspective. Look, if you
<v Speaker 1>guys are somebody out there in the sound of my voices, like,
<v Speaker 1>what are you talking about? Goldberg's awesome. I want to
<v Speaker 1>talk to you seriously. I'm being serious. I want to
<v Speaker 1>talk to you because I want to know what's going
<v Speaker 1>inside your mind. Maybe I'm missing something, But Goldberg, like
<v Speaker 1>you said, has never been a great performer ever. He's
<v Speaker 1>just had charisma. He's been the right guy at the
<v Speaker 1>right place at the right time. He's had the look
<v Speaker 1>that's it. I mean, you talk about his moves that
<v Speaker 1>I could go in there and do that tomorrow night.
<v Speaker 1>I mean literally, I mean again, I mean I have
<v Speaker 1>the strength to do it. In terms of the jack
<v Speaker 1>hammer certainly requires strength and you know, making sure you
<v Speaker 1>don't drop the guy in his actual neck, of course,
<v Speaker 1>But the spear, I mean, these are extremely basic moves.
<v Speaker 1>He's never been a technical guy ever, and I don't
<v Speaker 1>expect him to suddenly be one tomorrow night. He's going
<v Speaker 1>to be exactly what he should be, because I know
<v Speaker 1>WWE doesn't want to risk them trying to or having
<v Speaker 1>them risk Goldberg trying something new, to just try something
<v Speaker 1>new and then all of a sudden he's injuring and
<v Speaker 1>killing someone in the ring. I mean, so there, he's
<v Speaker 1>going to be exactly what you expect. I don't expect
<v Speaker 1>any surprises, especially given what happened with the Undertaker, which was,
<v Speaker 1>you know, an unmitting a disaster. So you and I
<v Speaker 1>both agree, begrudgingly, sadly, that Goldberg is going to probably
<v Speaker 1>become WWE champion. I wouldn't put it at one hundred percent.
<v Speaker 1>I'd put it in probably eighty percent that Goldberg becomes
<v Speaker 1>WWE champion, especially given they've laid the foundation of this
<v Speaker 1>is the title that's eluded him. This is the title
<v Speaker 1>that's eluded him. So we're all supposed to be like,
<v Speaker 1>oh cool, I hope he gets it. No, I mean, like,
<v Speaker 1>so Goldberg is probably going to become ww champion. Any
<v Speaker 1>closing sad thoughts on this match before we move on,
<v Speaker 1>All right, guys, we're going to take a quick commercial break,
<v Speaker 1>show a little love to our sponsors, and then We're
<v Speaker 1>going to be right back with more audio from Michael
<v Speaker 1>and myself talking Royal Rumble. So here's something that I
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<v Speaker 2>Well, we're gonna go do the next match food. Let's
<v Speaker 2>not forget our wildcard situation with you know, the reason
<v Speaker 2>for the ratings the miss because he still has that
<v Speaker 2>money in the bank. And my next thing I want
<v Speaker 2>to point out is I do believe that he has
<v Speaker 2>He has declared himself for the Royal Rumble. So how
<v Speaker 2>is it that you automatically have a contract for any
<v Speaker 2>time you want, but yet you're entered into a match
<v Speaker 2>to win a WrestleMania match. It doesn't make sense. That's
<v Speaker 2>that's like a double negative, but so there is a
<v Speaker 2>wild card and we could explore that real quick. So
<v Speaker 2>if he comes, if he comes out to face the winner,
<v Speaker 2>or which we both agree is Goldberg, he and Morrison
<v Speaker 2>come out and do their doofy Twins, kind of Scooby
<v Speaker 2>Dumb and Scooby Dummer whole thing. I see him obviously
<v Speaker 2>getting slaughtered in just like a couple of seconds, and
<v Speaker 2>I don't know whether they're still going with My fear
<v Speaker 2>is that they want to do something bigger with him.
<v Speaker 2>But we can discuss that more once we get to
<v Speaker 2>the actual Royal Rumble match. The way he's been all
<v Speaker 2>over TV and you and I we see things very similarly.
<v Speaker 2>He's beyond x pot heat. He is my bathroom break,
<v Speaker 2>my snack break. Is he off yet? Because I'm not
<v Speaker 2>even you know, I staring at the suns for Goldberg.
<v Speaker 2>I think I'd just rather pour salt in my eyes
<v Speaker 2>than look at the miz. But that's that's personal. There's
<v Speaker 2>some people who like him, and if Matt wants to
<v Speaker 2>talk to you, if you like Goldberg, you can have
<v Speaker 2>a conversation with me on Twitter or you know, if
<v Speaker 2>mattial Havy on the show, come on, call me we'll
<v Speaker 2>talk about the miss and I'll tell you how you
<v Speaker 2>were wrong if you like him. But no, really, seriously,
<v Speaker 2>that's the wildcard. And I'm afraid where that wildcard could
<v Speaker 2>go because you don't have the guy lose the operable, first,
<v Speaker 2>lose the match to win it, to win the case
<v Speaker 2>to begin with, then win it on a hokey, silly
<v Speaker 2>fake court show, and then lose it on a cash
<v Speaker 2>and then give it back to him. That tells me
<v Speaker 2>they've got some kind of big plan and I just
<v Speaker 2>don't I'm afraid to wonder what that is. So we've
<v Speaker 2>got that wildcard on both the Roman match and this match.
<v Speaker 2>Now there's no way they're putting the Mis over Goldberg.
<v Speaker 2>And if they do, after the Goldberg went over Drew McIntyre,
<v Speaker 2>Drew McIntyre might as well quit, go to aw go
<v Speaker 2>to Japan, or I mean, at that point I'd probably just,
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, maybe just retire and go fishing for
<v Speaker 2>the rest of my life because your career's over if
<v Speaker 2>it's gonna look that bad. But we can move on
<v Speaker 2>to Roman if you want, unless you want to touch
<v Speaker 2>on the wildcard.
<v Speaker 1>I'm glad you brought that up. I really am, because
<v Speaker 1>I you know, I try to just push the mis
<v Speaker 1>out of my brain as much as possible, and Miss
<v Speaker 1>and Morrison just like they, I don't want them to exist.
<v Speaker 1>So I'm glad you bought that up. I'm surprised I
<v Speaker 1>missed it. But I will say this, there is only
<v Speaker 1>one person on the face of this earth that I
<v Speaker 1>would rather not see as champion than Goldberg, and that
<v Speaker 1>is the Miss. So if Goldberg is champion and I
<v Speaker 1>had two options in my hands of you have to
<v Speaker 1>pick one as champion, I would pick Goldberg. And that's sad,
<v Speaker 1>That is just sad, but I would. And if he
<v Speaker 1>does cash in, which I don't know if he will,
<v Speaker 1>because when you look at this, how often do you
<v Speaker 1>have heels announce of ahead of time that they're going
<v Speaker 1>to cash in the money in the bank. It almost
<v Speaker 1>never happens. Ever, if you're a babyface, you do it.
<v Speaker 1>John Cena did it and lost. I mean, there's examples
<v Speaker 1>of it. Because you want to be an upstanding guy.
<v Speaker 1>You don't want to take advantage of somebody when they're down.
<v Speaker 1>You want to be you know, when they're at their
<v Speaker 1>best and give you a heads up, which I totally
<v Speaker 1>disagree with. But if you're a bait, which is why
<v Speaker 1>it's me the heel, A heel character is built for
<v Speaker 1>a money in the bank briefcase because you want to
<v Speaker 1>be OPPORTUNISTSIC can hit somebody when they're down and take
<v Speaker 1>the belt. So with that said, do I think Miz
<v Speaker 1>is going to cash in? I don't. What I think
<v Speaker 1>is gonna happen is he'll come down after maybe Goldberg
<v Speaker 1>or whoever is champion, and he'll he'll pretend that he's
<v Speaker 1>going to cash in. The'll be that awkwardly long, unnecessarily
<v Speaker 1>long pause between when he tells the referee he was
<v Speaker 1>going to cash in, and between when the referee has
<v Speaker 1>to tell the ring announcer, and then the ring announcer
<v Speaker 1>has to tell the the you know, the timekeeper, and
<v Speaker 1>all of a sudden, it just takes twenty minutes for
<v Speaker 1>somebody to ring a bell. There's always you know, this
<v Speaker 1>has been going on for how many years?
<v Speaker 2>Now?
<v Speaker 1>You think there'll just be kind of the second you
<v Speaker 1>hand the championship, I'm sorry, the briefcase to the referee,
<v Speaker 1>the bell should ring. I mean, like, why is there
<v Speaker 1>so much pause? But it's all because the failed cash in.
<v Speaker 1>It should be instantaneous. But nonetheless, what's gonna happen is
<v Speaker 1>the mis will either a success try or will cash
<v Speaker 1>in and get immediately speared and pinned, or he will
<v Speaker 1>try to get take advantage and he's gonna get speared
<v Speaker 1>and not cash in. So either way, I think he's
<v Speaker 1>taking a claymore or he's taking a spear. He's not
<v Speaker 1>gonna become champion, and it'll either be a failed cash
<v Speaker 1>in or he won't cash in because the bell never
<v Speaker 1>rang and I'll still be carrying around that money in
<v Speaker 1>the bank briefcase that we get to hear about on
<v Speaker 1>Miz TV or Dirt Sheet the following Monday night. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that's my thought on the wild card. Okay, let's move
<v Speaker 1>on because I'm gonna get ranting on the Miz Woman
<v Speaker 1>Rains versus Kevin Owens. This is like a breath of
<v Speaker 1>fresh air to me and a last man standing match
<v Speaker 1>for the Universal Championship. I will once again it unless
<v Speaker 1>you want me to take this one first of all,
<v Speaker 1>I'll let you choose. You want me to take this
<v Speaker 1>one or are you comfortable and going first?
<v Speaker 2>I'm always comfortable. So what I'm gonna go with is
<v Speaker 2>We're actually gonna go in a reverse direction. I'm gonna
<v Speaker 2>start with if the wild card were to happen to
<v Speaker 2>this match, I think still the Miz would be unsuccessful,
<v Speaker 2>but he might be the vessel through which Kevin Owens loses.
<v Speaker 2>I don't see Owen's winning this. Once again, I did
<v Speaker 2>not want to see this as a three part challenge.
<v Speaker 2>This is not a situation where Owens looks strong and defeat.
<v Speaker 2>This is more a situation where Owens is going to
<v Speaker 2>look damage. His character is going to be damaged, the
<v Speaker 2>integrity of it is going to be damaged. I do
<v Speaker 2>like a last man's standing match. He reminds me of
<v Speaker 2>the old world class days when those things. It might
<v Speaker 2>be on ESPN at four o'clock, but that one match
<v Speaker 2>might last a half hour, but they told so much
<v Speaker 2>more of a story and they had so much more
<v Speaker 2>meaning to when they would brawl out into the crowds,
<v Speaker 2>and going through a table meant a lot more when
<v Speaker 2>you didn't break one every week. So I look back
<v Speaker 2>at some of those old classic matches I used to
<v Speaker 2>watch and I have a soft spot for it. And
<v Speaker 2>then today with the circus, you know, the three ring
<v Speaker 2>circus and the big lights and everything else and the
<v Speaker 2>breakaway tables and you're going to break every piece of furniture.
<v Speaker 2>And Owens is the babyface. So to what they think
<v Speaker 2>to make him look strong is he'll get the first pin,
<v Speaker 2>or he'll get the first you know, the first knockdown
<v Speaker 2>to where you know, so Roman gets pinned and then
<v Speaker 2>they give him till the ten count to stand up
<v Speaker 2>and he makes it up at six. Well, if they
<v Speaker 2>all came down to one pin, it would have been Owens.
<v Speaker 2>That's their way of thinking that they're making him look
<v Speaker 2>strong in defeat. But the fact is this is this
<v Speaker 2>better be the big blowoff for the two of them.
<v Speaker 2>If this is gonna be truly a last man standing
<v Speaker 2>without fans, it's gonna be hard to sell it with
<v Speaker 2>piped in booze, piped in yeats. There's gonna be a
<v Speaker 2>lot of furniture. There's gonna be a lot of goofy
<v Speaker 2>things under the ring that don't belong there, like kendo sticks,
<v Speaker 2>and lord knows whatever they pull out from under that
<v Speaker 2>the ring. These days, I get why a table might
<v Speaker 2>be under there to some extent a fire extinguisher, but yeah,
<v Speaker 2>you know, it's it's not like I reach under my
<v Speaker 2>couch at home, and oh, there's my kendo stick. So
<v Speaker 2>I see a lot of a lot of furniture, a
<v Speaker 2>lot of weapons, a lot of goofy stuff. If they
<v Speaker 2>brawl into the back, it's just kind of strange without
<v Speaker 2>the real crowd reaction, it's almost like too quiet. You
<v Speaker 2>can hear him, and sometimes you can almost hear like
<v Speaker 2>the the oosa flat splat kind of thing. You know.
<v Speaker 2>It's like you hear too much of them selling when
<v Speaker 2>they hit something, whereas in reality they would have the
<v Speaker 2>live crowd mike, so you'd hear the oh wow, cheers, jeers,
<v Speaker 2>whatever else. So that's that's gonna be my hardest time
<v Speaker 2>with this. It's it's too quiet, way too quiet when
<v Speaker 2>they get to the backstage for this part. But we're
<v Speaker 2>Roman Reigns is going over. They've got some kind of
<v Speaker 2>huge plan for him going forward. Obviously, this is the
<v Speaker 2>thing that that Vince has always wanted for Roman. I
<v Speaker 2>love Roman's character, I love Owens, but Owens is a heel.
<v Speaker 2>He is a natural heel. And while he's doing a
<v Speaker 2>great job as being the besides Daniel Bryant, like the
<v Speaker 2>only credible babyface on SmackDown. This is like Sasha, we
<v Speaker 2>got a wolf in sheep's clothing. It just it's it's
<v Speaker 2>not gonna work out in the long run, and he's
<v Speaker 2>not gonna win this. What I could see is, like
<v Speaker 2>I said, the wild card miscap in, and that could
<v Speaker 2>start in Owen's miss feud that we don't really want
<v Speaker 2>because that just waste Owen's talents and overexposes another person
<v Speaker 2>we don't really want to see. But personally, I don't
<v Speaker 2>know what happens after the blowoff, So I'm kind of
<v Speaker 2>looking at direction because you can't do a number four.
<v Speaker 2>There's no way, there's there's just absolutely no way you
<v Speaker 2>can do a number four at this point, and especially
<v Speaker 2>if you do another gimmick match that's just gonna that
<v Speaker 2>would be a tune out, that wouldn't be tuned in TV.
<v Speaker 2>That would be turn it off. I'm tired of this,
<v Speaker 2>so let's just put a bullet in it. Let's let
<v Speaker 2>Roman go over. Just give me a good match. I
<v Speaker 2>would prefer it to stay in the ring most of
<v Speaker 2>the time, and I don't really see a whole lot
<v Speaker 2>of outside interference unless it's the wildcard.
<v Speaker 1>So how about you, Oh, good analysis? I think, uh, okay,
<v Speaker 1>my prediction off the bat Roman raids, but I mean
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't bet the house on this. I think there's
<v Speaker 1>a very small chance Kevin Owen's gon to become a
<v Speaker 1>Universal Champion. But I don't think that with all the
<v Speaker 1>work and all the stuff that they've done with Roman,
<v Speaker 1>the lasts nearly six months now that they've done with Roman,
<v Speaker 1>reigns needs to be blown off by Kevin Owens. And
<v Speaker 1>I hate to say that because I love Kevin Owens.
<v Speaker 1>I love his character, I love what he stands for.
<v Speaker 1>I love that he actually has somewhat of a real promo.
<v Speaker 1>I agree he is I think trending better as a heel.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think he's as egregiously awkward as Charlotte is
<v Speaker 1>as a babyface, but I think that he is. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>he's better suited to be a heel. It's gonna be
<v Speaker 1>hard when he has the Stunner as his finish to
<v Speaker 1>be hated. I mean, the Stunner is one of the
<v Speaker 1>most beloved finishes of all time.
<v Speaker 2>Still.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, he could adjust that, obviously, but I think
<v Speaker 1>Roman rains wins. I think it's probably because not just
<v Speaker 1>of jay Uso, who is inevitably going to be involved.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe Jimmy Usso, who suddenly sees the light, gets involved.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe Apollo Cruz sees the light is don't forget that
<v Speaker 1>conversation he had with Roman Rains a couple of weeks
<v Speaker 1>ago on SmackDown that we're all just for getting about.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe he gets involved. I think it's gonna be one
<v Speaker 1>person after the other. As Roman Reigns is about to lose,
<v Speaker 1>comes out and helps, and how's Kevin Owens gonna overcome?
<v Speaker 1>Oh he does? Wait but wait, here comes the next
<v Speaker 1>person to help Roman Reigns. I think there could be
<v Speaker 1>a litany of people out there, not just Jay Uso
<v Speaker 1>who comes out and helps Roman Reigns in this because
<v Speaker 1>Kevin Owens has suffered two big losses. Yes they weren't clean,
<v Speaker 1>but there's still losses. And now he gets a third shot,
<v Speaker 1>which I think is his final shot. So I don't
<v Speaker 1>think anybody has to worry about a fourth match here.
<v Speaker 1>I think three is the magic number, which in most programs,
<v Speaker 1>three is the magic number. So we're not gonna get
<v Speaker 1>a Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens ongoing ongoing program. I
<v Speaker 1>don't think we're gonna get a Roman Reigns and Baron
<v Speaker 1>Corbin unbelievably long, like six month long program. This one's
<v Speaker 1>gonna end, I think at three, and it should. But
<v Speaker 1>I don't see Kevin Owens in any scenario really winning
<v Speaker 1>unless they've just been. Ww management have been so wowed
<v Speaker 1>by his performances at TLC and at the Christmas unexplained
<v Speaker 1>cage match for the Universal Championship that we got no
<v Speaker 1>explanation for. I think that you know which, I think
<v Speaker 1>I really did. I loved his match at TLC. I
<v Speaker 1>think it was one of his best ever to date
<v Speaker 1>in WWE. But I don't think all of this said
<v Speaker 1>overshadows what Roman Reigns has done over the last five
<v Speaker 1>to six months, which has been nothing short of brilliant,
<v Speaker 1>nothing short or brilliant. And this past week with their
<v Speaker 1>interview with one another, or their last word with one another,
<v Speaker 1>whatever you want to call it, Kevin Owens showed great emotion.
<v Speaker 1>He's very sensitive about his family, with his father, his grandfather.
<v Speaker 1>He talked about what his tattoos been on his knuckles.
<v Speaker 1>Roman Reigns was very kind of just quietly angry and
<v Speaker 1>annoyed and didn't want to hear the truth and he actually,
<v Speaker 1>you know, just hit the remote on the TV so
<v Speaker 1>to speak, which I mean a lot of it doesn't
<v Speaker 1>make sense. Apparently he apparently has a remote to a camera.
<v Speaker 1>He's not watching a TV screens, he's looking at a camera.
<v Speaker 1>You can't just hit a remote on a camera. Go ahead,
<v Speaker 1>And I just you know, I knew. I knew when
<v Speaker 1>I saw that. I'm like, oh, he's gonna say something
<v Speaker 1>on that, because it's just it's preposterous. It doesn't make sense.
<v Speaker 1>You don't look at a TV screen and there's no
<v Speaker 1>camera on the TV screen. But I know what effect
<v Speaker 1>they were going for. So I'm actually willing to overlook
<v Speaker 1>that just stupidness that WW does at times when they
<v Speaker 1>have camera angles and places that shouldn't and you know,
<v Speaker 1>so I'm sure some people didn't even like consciously pick
<v Speaker 1>that up, but you know, I get the effect. I
<v Speaker 1>understand the effect. So I'm willing to let it pass.
<v Speaker 1>Because of Roman Reigns. The purpose of it was to
<v Speaker 1>have him just completely dismiss Kevin Owens. He's not worth
<v Speaker 1>my time. I don't want to hear him anymore. But
<v Speaker 1>they could have at least done like, Okay, he shoves
<v Speaker 1>the camera away pushes the cameraman down and walks away.
<v Speaker 1>But I understand the effect they were going for. So yeah,
<v Speaker 1>let me hear your thoughts on that.
<v Speaker 2>Well, okay, it was it was so hokey. I'm like,
<v Speaker 2>all I could think is I need to get one
<v Speaker 2>of those remotes. And then I thought, well where would
<v Speaker 2>I put the camera? Oh, dear lord, I like your idea,
<v Speaker 2>just shove the camera away, because it goes into how
<v Speaker 2>vicious he is and how uncaring, and you know, you
<v Speaker 2>could go like half brick rude, like you know when
<v Speaker 2>he would say cut the music, like cut the camera,
<v Speaker 2>you know, just yeah, and maybe someone doesn't do it
<v Speaker 2>right away, and then all you have to do to
<v Speaker 2>sell it is his eyes. He just you watch his
<v Speaker 2>eyes cut across like he's staring at a camera man,
<v Speaker 2>lower his brow just like a second bam, faded black,
<v Speaker 2>like we don't want to make him angry. Shoving the
<v Speaker 2>camera also works. I love that just because it just
<v Speaker 2>it's just shows attitude. It just shows, you know, great
<v Speaker 2>attitude just to get it out of my face. But
<v Speaker 2>I like the more he he It's like Darth Vader
<v Speaker 2>versus Darth Maul. When when we all watch the Phantom Menace.
<v Speaker 2>We try to forget a lot of it too. But
<v Speaker 2>Darth Maul was like so amazing with his lightsaber and
<v Speaker 2>how and you're like, wow, Darth Vader could never stand
<v Speaker 2>up to him. You know, you know if you had
<v Speaker 2>a battle of the Darth and then you realize Darth
<v Speaker 2>Vader walked into a room and like he just moved
<v Speaker 2>his finger and he was choking people. Like it was
<v Speaker 2>a whole other level. And that's what I like about
<v Speaker 2>if Rain's just kind of says, you know, turn it
<v Speaker 2>off and then just gives a look and it's off.
<v Speaker 2>That shows me he's on upper echelon, He's at the
<v Speaker 2>top of the mountain. So the remote hokey. It's it's
<v Speaker 2>just bad TV. It's really bad TV. And it's a
<v Speaker 2>bunch of guys in creative like we don't have to
<v Speaker 2>explain it. People forget about it tomorrow. That's what it is.
<v Speaker 2>That's what it is.
<v Speaker 1>It's just a lack of basic like production. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>I look, I totally get the effect they're going for.
<v Speaker 1>I agree with the effect they were going for, but
<v Speaker 1>it's the methodology of that effect that I disagree with. Like,
<v Speaker 1>and I know we're just talking about one small thing here.
<v Speaker 1>It's just because it represents a much larger issue of
<v Speaker 1>lazy production at times with WWE. I think that's really
<v Speaker 1>what we're getting at with, you know. Like the biggest,
<v Speaker 1>I think the biggest, most egregious thing I've seen ever
<v Speaker 1>over the last like five years was when Shane McMahon
<v Speaker 1>got his head put through a car window in a
<v Speaker 1>parking lot by AJ Styles prior to their WrestleMania match,
<v Speaker 1>and there was a camera somehow live feeding perfectly at
<v Speaker 1>the angle Shane McMahon's head went through. It's just like,
<v Speaker 1>I mean, god, I just that kind of stuff is
<v Speaker 1>just so amateur, Like you're insulting the intelligence of your
<v Speaker 1>audience at that point. But anyway, we're gonna go down
<v Speaker 1>a dark road if we continue with this, So it
<v Speaker 1>really is a slippery slope for hours. However, Roman Reigns
<v Speaker 1>I think retains. I think he is the right choice.
<v Speaker 1>You're so close to WrestleMania. I would not derail him.
<v Speaker 1>I would actually have Roman rains as champion for many,
<v Speaker 1>many many months, Like I would want people so angry
<v Speaker 1>that he's still able to hang onto this belt. Because
<v Speaker 1>Roman Reins has one thing that is really evaded most
<v Speaker 1>heels in WWE. Is he has real heel heat, not
<v Speaker 1>the kind of heel heat like Sammy's Ain, who really
<v Speaker 1>is in a heel. You know, there's so many people
<v Speaker 1>who have the heel label but they're not really heels.
<v Speaker 1>And Randy Orton had it over the summer with what
<v Speaker 1>he did. I think he was one of the few
<v Speaker 1>to finally tap into real heel heat. I was actually
<v Speaker 1>wanting to see somebody beat the holy hell out of him.
<v Speaker 1>Roman Reigns I feel that same way, and I always
<v Speaker 1>knew he had it in him, and so I would
<v Speaker 1>not blow this off. They've got something really special with
<v Speaker 1>Roman Reigns right now, and I would not stunt it
<v Speaker 1>as great as Kevin Owens is. And it's really hard
<v Speaker 1>for me to say. Even Kevin Owens, I don't think
<v Speaker 1>having him capture the belt is worth derailing what they've
<v Speaker 1>done with Roman Reigns as champion. So any final thoughts
<v Speaker 1>before we get to the Women's World Rumbo.
<v Speaker 2>Match, No, I'm with you as far as Roman extending
<v Speaker 2>his championship reign, just there's so many factors, but the
<v Speaker 2>biggest factors to me is one I don't really see
<v Speaker 2>a credible babyface, and we'll touch on that a little
<v Speaker 2>bit more when we get to the men's rumble. But
<v Speaker 2>I don't see a credible babyface to be a real
<v Speaker 2>threat to him unless you have a defactor, or it's
<v Speaker 2>a defector, not a defactor, a defector from raw that
<v Speaker 2>comes over. I think that there's too much on his shoulders.
<v Speaker 2>And I think that they found, you know, it's the
<v Speaker 2>right place, right time kind of thing, and a lot
<v Speaker 2>of people liking it to you know, the rock turning heel,
<v Speaker 2>but the rocks was lightning in a bottle where his
<v Speaker 2>reins was trial by error and it worked. It worked
<v Speaker 2>in the greatest way. And it's also a benefit of
<v Speaker 2>not having fans because say the fans were kind of
<v Speaker 2>against it. They they made it work without the fans,
<v Speaker 2>you know, defcating on it. So he's he's in a
<v Speaker 2>very unique place to not have a challenger. He's in
<v Speaker 2>a very unique place to embrace the character and take
<v Speaker 2>it to a newer level. I think it's in a
<v Speaker 2>really good place. I think could it be a couple
<v Speaker 2>of clicks better, absolutely, just with small things like like
<v Speaker 2>like we were talking about, you know, telling someone to
<v Speaker 2>turn off a view you know, a live feed and
<v Speaker 2>give them a look as opposed to using a remote
<v Speaker 2>to something that doesn't exist. It's it's better writing, it's
<v Speaker 2>better cleanup, and it's better character depth, it's better character texture.
<v Speaker 2>You know, I wouldn't mind seeing, you know, when they
<v Speaker 2>get back to life the old you know here he
<v Speaker 2>comes walking in a suit like show the man in
<v Speaker 2>a three piece suit, and you know, as they're following
<v Speaker 2>him to you know, his dressing dressing room, he just
<v Speaker 2>turns around, shoves the cameraman away and ask him where
<v Speaker 2>he thinks he's going. And then you know, no, goofy miss,
<v Speaker 2>just a serious look. And then instead of that slow like,
<v Speaker 2>we'll fade to commercial, maybe an apology by the cameraman
<v Speaker 2>and actually from the cameraman's perspective, spin the camera around,
<v Speaker 2>go the other direction and then cut away, you know,
<v Speaker 2>something a little bit different. Then let's leave him thinking
<v Speaker 2>for over, you know, commercial break. So that's how it
<v Speaker 2>could be a couple clicks better. But let him run
<v Speaker 2>with that belt and whoever you find as a challenger,
<v Speaker 2>let's not draw out the best of three series in
<v Speaker 2>gimmicky matches just because whoever he's going against is not
<v Speaker 2>at this point gonna come out looking strong and defeat.
<v Speaker 2>They're just gonna look like they were defeated.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I hear you, and I don't think that. I
<v Speaker 1>just it all comes down to all roads lead to
<v Speaker 1>Roman Reigns, which I used to hate to say as
<v Speaker 1>a babyface, but I want all roads to lead to
<v Speaker 1>Roman Rains right now because he's doing He literally is
<v Speaker 1>carrying the company on his back. I mean I think that, yes,
<v Speaker 1>you have Jamactarr's doing great job as champion, but if
<v Speaker 1>you look at the overall ascent of a star from
<v Speaker 1>summer to now, Roman Reigns is at number one. I
<v Speaker 1>mean he is. He has been that good with very
<v Speaker 1>few to almost no missteps in my estimation. I'm sure
<v Speaker 1>I can nitpick if I really tried, but I think
<v Speaker 1>they've done as good as you could possibly do with
<v Speaker 1>anyone for this sustained period of time. So I hate
<v Speaker 1>to say it, Kevin Owens. If it was anyone else
<v Speaker 1>versus Kevin Owens, anyone other than Roman Reigns, I would say,
<v Speaker 1>you gotta put it on Ko. This this is his time.
<v Speaker 1>He can go to Mania. Nope, and I hate to
<v Speaker 1>say it. So Okay, let's get to the Women's Royal Rumble,
<v Speaker 1>because these matches have so much going on with them,
<v Speaker 1>and right now as it stands, I think we have
<v Speaker 1>what third, I'm looking at the numbers here, A thirteen
<v Speaker 1>of thirty entrants only announced for the Women's Royal Rumble match.
<v Speaker 1>So this one, there are there are some possibilities here.
<v Speaker 1>You know, you have Nia Jacks, you have Charlotte Flair,
<v Speaker 1>you have Bianca Bella Air one of the favorites. You
<v Speaker 1>have Bailey, Mandy Rose, Dana Brook, Peyton Royce, Alexa Bliss, SHANEA. Basler.
<v Speaker 1>So I'll take this one first. I think, boy, this
<v Speaker 1>to me is actually, as much as I may sound
<v Speaker 1>like I'm struggling, to me, is easier than the men's
<v Speaker 1>because the men's still has so many unknowns. My pick,
<v Speaker 1>my official pick, this is gonna be. This is really,
<v Speaker 1>really tough because I'm between I'll tell you what I'm
<v Speaker 1>battling in my head. I'm battling between Bianca bell Air
<v Speaker 1>and I'm battling between Alexa Bliss and yes, Charlotte Flair's
<v Speaker 1>out there. They could say, oh, she won it twice
<v Speaker 1>in a row. I think fans would not not really
<v Speaker 1>be thralled. With that, and you can still get to
<v Speaker 1>Alexa or I'm sorry, Osca versus Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 1>She doesn't have to win the rumble. You can get
<v Speaker 1>there many many ways, elimination chamber, you can get it
<v Speaker 1>just naturally happening, So you don't have to always win
<v Speaker 1>the rumble to obviously main event WrestleMania. I mean, because
<v Speaker 1>it's only half the story. There's still two brands. So
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna go with Alexa Bliss on this one. And
<v Speaker 1>that's not easy for me to say, because everyone is
<v Speaker 1>going to Beyonca bell Air. Everybody is going Bianca. Everybody's
<v Speaker 1>doing Beyonca bell Air, and I understand why. And she
<v Speaker 1>will certainly be in the final four, and deservingly so.
<v Speaker 1>She eliminated what eight women last last year. She was
<v Speaker 1>a standout last year, and you know, there's a good
<v Speaker 1>good case to be made for her winning this year.
<v Speaker 1>She got a massive win over Bailey this week. All
<v Speaker 1>the OWWM about to say the buzzword, all the momentum
<v Speaker 1>went behind Beyonca bell I know, because the momentum if
<v Speaker 1>I hear that one where it's almost as bad as
<v Speaker 1>hearing Michael Cole say, Boss time Er, big Dog. It's bad,
<v Speaker 1>but it is Biyonca bell Air right now. She should
<v Speaker 1>be the focus and she is going to be a
<v Speaker 1>massive star. She's on her way. I have nothing against
<v Speaker 1>Bianca Belair. I think she is a future women's champion
<v Speaker 1>and she could very well win the Royal Rubble. There's
<v Speaker 1>a good again, good case to be made. Charlotte Flair,
<v Speaker 1>good case to be made. It's I mean, it's just
<v Speaker 1>it's Charlotte Flair. She's always in the running. Anytime you're
<v Speaker 1>talking championship or winning a big match, Charlotte's name is
<v Speaker 1>in there, and with good reason. The rest of them
<v Speaker 1>nijacks know Bailey, No, she just lost the belt and
<v Speaker 1>she seems to kind of be on the descent. Dana Brook, No,
<v Speaker 1>Manny Rose, no, Peyton Royce, no, Shanna Basler is in
<v Speaker 1>the In the Conversation Live Morgan Ruby, Riot, Tamina Natalia.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think any of those women at this current
<v Speaker 1>stage are warranted a Royal Rumble victory. So Alexa Bliss.
<v Speaker 1>And here's why I say Alexa Bliss. It's kind of
<v Speaker 1>a couple folds here. Number one, Alexa Bliss has arguably
<v Speaker 1>had the I think the biggest ascent in the women's
<v Speaker 1>side of any of the women. Yes, Bianca Bella is
<v Speaker 1>in the conversation, but Alexa Bliss got immediately stuck with
<v Speaker 1>the Fiend, whose main event, and she has done a
<v Speaker 1>brilliant job of being the extension that arm, that one
<v Speaker 1>of the evil arms of the Fiend, and she's done
<v Speaker 1>an awesome, I think, an awesome job of doing that.
<v Speaker 1>And now we've seen the evolution of her character of
<v Speaker 1>burning Randy Yorton turning into that dark kind of like
<v Speaker 1>summoning her powers character that I'd love to see them
<v Speaker 1>pull off and when the fans are there by the
<v Speaker 1>way of just being this dark, evil character. And right
<v Speaker 1>now I think she is slightly the favorite to win,
<v Speaker 1>and I would love to see a championship run with
<v Speaker 1>Alexa Bliss facing Sasha Banks. I mean she could go
<v Speaker 1>to SmackDown. Yes, the Fiend is unwraw, I mean, there's
<v Speaker 1>some moving parts here, but I think Alexa Bliss winning
<v Speaker 1>the Rumble would make sense from my end because of
<v Speaker 1>how good she's been and putting the belt on her
<v Speaker 1>seemingly being unbeatable with the Fiend's powers again, the Fiend's powers,
<v Speaker 1>I'm back and forth on because it's kind of hoky
<v Speaker 1>at times and almost unbelievable that you know you can
<v Speaker 1>get you can be burned alive, yet wrestling moves take
<v Speaker 1>you down. I mean, it's it is preposterous. But Alexa
<v Speaker 1>Bliss is kind of doing her own thing and I
<v Speaker 1>like that. I want her to be in her own story,
<v Speaker 1>not just all about the fiend all the time, because
<v Speaker 1>then you're you're attached to what he's doing. You don't
<v Speaker 1>have your own story arc. And they were doing that
<v Speaker 1>for a little while with Nicky Cross and then she
<v Speaker 1>just went into the abyss into nowhere. So I'm not
<v Speaker 1>easily saying this, but I think Alexiblist wins Bianca bell
<v Speaker 1>Air is a very very close second.
<v Speaker 2>What about you, Okay? So, as I was telling you before,
<v Speaker 2>I put together what I believe was a top five
<v Speaker 2>situation for each Roll Rumble match, as well as that
<v Speaker 2>I would like to see as surprise entrance, as well
<v Speaker 2>as people I believe wwe would like to see a
<v Speaker 2>surprise entrance. So I'm gonna give you my top five picks,
<v Speaker 2>in descending order from one to five, who I believe
<v Speaker 2>has the best chance of winning the women's royal rumble.
<v Speaker 2>My number one is gonna blow you away because honestly,
<v Speaker 2>we don't have thirty women for royal rumbles. That means
<v Speaker 2>there's gonna be a lot of call ups. And I'm
<v Speaker 2>actually putting the stock in someone who used to have
<v Speaker 2>the momentum, Rhea Ripley. I'm gonna give her the biggest
<v Speaker 2>stepping stone she's ever had in her career because I
<v Speaker 2>think she was due for this six seven months ago
<v Speaker 2>before her career got side railed, ever derailed and sidetracked.
<v Speaker 2>And the fact is she has every tool to hang
<v Speaker 2>with every girl. She's big enough to where she looks
<v Speaker 2>like she can go toe to toe with Basler. She
<v Speaker 2>looks like she could take out Naya Jax Tamina. I
<v Speaker 2>mean she can go. It's the biggest of the big.
<v Speaker 2>But she can wrestle. She is a wrestling machine and
<v Speaker 2>she has a legit character. So we have a full
<v Speaker 2>meal on a plate. We don't just have some stuff
<v Speaker 2>where we say the steak was okay, but the potatoes
<v Speaker 2>were dry whatever else. I can't say a bad thing
<v Speaker 2>about Rhea Ripley. She's had the it factor for a
<v Speaker 2>long time. We've talked about the dreaded word momentum, and
<v Speaker 2>I thought that's where this was coming from when you
<v Speaker 2>were making your references, because Rea Ripley had all the
<v Speaker 2>momentum in the world and all of a sudden, stripped
<v Speaker 2>rug pulled right out from underneath your feet. And what
<v Speaker 2>was the point. I mean, it was an experiment to
<v Speaker 2>see if it would work, because the answer is yes,
<v Speaker 2>and we all believe that we've seen the last for
<v Speaker 2>an NXT and there's no other way to get her
<v Speaker 2>to that next level by taking it right to the
<v Speaker 2>top right away, because you have two months two months.
<v Speaker 2>If it's not gonna work, you can find a way
<v Speaker 2>to finesse it and make it not work, so to speak,
<v Speaker 2>and put somebody else in the spot. If you have
<v Speaker 2>cold feet, second and regrets and second thoughts, it could
<v Speaker 2>be done. I mean, you're gonna have to have I mean,
<v Speaker 2>Pat Patterson's gone, so you're gonna have to have somebody
<v Speaker 2>who's got a great finish to create a great storyline
<v Speaker 2>in arc to try to sculpt it. Because I really
<v Speaker 2>don't want to see Ria Ripley's Ria Ripley's character deface,
<v Speaker 2>demeaned or demoralized, especially if she's gonna do something as
<v Speaker 2>big as which I predict and hope, and that's when
<v Speaker 2>the women's royal rumble. It's an exclamation point on it. It'll
<v Speaker 2>be the first time when you say anything can truly happen.
<v Speaker 2>Because her name hasn't been brought up, we know, I mean,
<v Speaker 2>I don't see anything left for her in NXT. It's
<v Speaker 2>been pretty much known that it's been a cinar situation
<v Speaker 2>for her and the fact that I don't believe she's
<v Speaker 2>really been that prevalent on the programming. So not only
<v Speaker 2>is it her big call up, I think it's her
<v Speaker 2>big moment. And then all you have is sixty days
<v Speaker 2>to tailor it, to take that pebble, put it in
<v Speaker 2>the sand grinder and turn into a beautifully refined, you
<v Speaker 2>know stone that it just has no no chinks in
<v Speaker 2>the armor. And I think it's gonna beautiful. It's gonna
<v Speaker 2>be smooth. And that's what I think. I think it's
<v Speaker 2>rear Ripley, And in descending order after that, I have
<v Speaker 2>Bianca bell Aire just because she seems to get that
<v Speaker 2>momentum that's pushed then pulled, pushed then pulled. If she
<v Speaker 2>cut off that ponytail, they couldn't pull her back, But
<v Speaker 2>on a serious note, she's close. I think the thing
<v Speaker 2>that's her the most has been her association with the
<v Speaker 2>Street Profits because for a lot of times, especially in
<v Speaker 2>their their you know, beginnings of their tag runs and
<v Speaker 2>when they went from the super athletic team with so
<v Speaker 2>much potential to the all of a sudden can't be
<v Speaker 2>pinned tag team champions, She's always by their side. And
<v Speaker 2>they went from guys who are really talented to guys
<v Speaker 2>who are very irritating, and they took the bad parts
<v Speaker 2>of the New Day, the who what ha ha goofiness
<v Speaker 2>and the screaming during the matches and took it to
<v Speaker 2>a whole new level. And you've got someone who's their cheerleader,
<v Speaker 2>so to speak, who's married to one of the performers
<v Speaker 2>in the ring, who's supposed to get the singles pushed.
<v Speaker 2>You overexpose that person, and that was Beyonca's downfall. And
<v Speaker 2>that's why that momentum I felt was pulled away because
<v Speaker 2>you already had her on TV every week. Now you're
<v Speaker 2>not only having her on TV, you're also feeding her
<v Speaker 2>wins in her own match. So she's on two to
<v Speaker 2>three segments. People are getting bored, so these become low segments.
<v Speaker 2>So I've already seen Bianca for the night. Okay, So
<v Speaker 2>we saw her for an interview with the Street Profits.
<v Speaker 2>Then we saw her accompanying under the Ring. We saw
<v Speaker 2>her maybe get involved or chase around their valet like
<v Speaker 2>she did with Selena Vega. Now she's going to have
<v Speaker 2>a mattress Selena Vega, and now they're going to have
<v Speaker 2>a wrap up interview. Over exposure creates mediocrity, and that's
<v Speaker 2>what has hurt Bianca. So that's why I think she's
<v Speaker 2>my number two, but I think she's going to have
<v Speaker 2>an incredibly strong showing. Then my number three is going
<v Speaker 2>to be my girl Shana Basler, just because she's bound
<v Speaker 2>to break out sooner or later. I put her as
<v Speaker 2>one of the last three in but also my third
<v Speaker 2>pick in that order of potentially a person to win
<v Speaker 2>the Royal Rumble, just because she's ready for it. And
<v Speaker 2>if the writing's on the wall, if Jackson Basler do
<v Speaker 2>not get those titles, I really see Basler almost getting
<v Speaker 2>the nod over Rhea. It's just her time to break out.
<v Speaker 2>Then my number four is just sad, but I'm gonna
<v Speaker 2>say it. And it also It also carries through to
<v Speaker 2>the sidebar feuds Lacey Evans. I tried to mumble it,
<v Speaker 2>but you know, Lacey Evans, Vince likes her. She's way
<v Speaker 2>far off from being in that caliber. I honestly believe
<v Speaker 2>that they could make the mistake of thinking that they
<v Speaker 2>could polish her up and put a new code of
<v Speaker 2>pain on her in sixty days. I really don't think so.
<v Speaker 2>Just the end ring's not there yet. I'm not saying
<v Speaker 2>she's terrible, it's just not there. She's not fluid. It shows,
<v Speaker 2>and now her interviews are looking really choppy, and that
<v Speaker 2>whole thing on Monday with her and Rick and everything,
<v Speaker 2>it goes beyond. I mean, Charlotte's delivering great work. I
<v Speaker 2>mean it's supposed to be emotional, but it's better just
<v Speaker 2>as spiteful. You're an old man to her father, which
<v Speaker 2>upsets him. But then Lacy creeping in and sneaking attack,
<v Speaker 2>sneak attacking her and doing the over the top woo
<v Speaker 2>and everything else. It's so scripted. It's so look at
<v Speaker 2>the camera and so smile into the camera. It's so oh,
<v Speaker 2>I'm creeping in. You might not want to see me
<v Speaker 2>coming into it. But yet they love her and they're
<v Speaker 2>exposing her, and Vince loves her and wants her, and
<v Speaker 2>I don't, and I just have a bad feeling because
<v Speaker 2>of everything going on with her and Charlotte, and you
<v Speaker 2>have that sidebar feud if they don't have an interaction
<v Speaker 2>at the Rumble, which will not kill this and end
<v Speaker 2>this obviously, if Rick is involved, I see that she
<v Speaker 2>might have a good shot and Rick might get involved
<v Speaker 2>there too. So my number five in my last one
<v Speaker 2>is Alexa Bliss. And the only reason I put her
<v Speaker 2>so low is because she's a talented, talented in ring performer.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, sure, she's the size of my thumb, but
<v Speaker 2>the girl's amazingly talented. I never thought she'd be as
<v Speaker 2>good as she was when she came out on NXT.
<v Speaker 2>I'm incredibly wrong for that. I think she's one of
<v Speaker 2>my favorite females on the roster. She has created this character,
<v Speaker 2>she's running with this character. But the reason she's so
<v Speaker 2>low is because she has developed into the fiend. Also,
<v Speaker 2>she doesn't need a belt. She can bring a little
<v Speaker 2>bit to it, but she does not need a belt
<v Speaker 2>and all that hocus pocus goofy stuff cinematography that speaking
<v Speaker 2>in demon voices. It's like you said, when we get
<v Speaker 2>a live crowd back and that belts on her and
<v Speaker 2>they try to do that and they booed out of
<v Speaker 2>the building. They're booing her out of the building. What
<v Speaker 2>Vince hears is the person, not the hokey stuff that
<v Speaker 2>you're portraying on the person that is ruining them. I
<v Speaker 2>rather see her with their contact lenses in acting dark,
<v Speaker 2>like Nancy ben Wad did when she was known as
<v Speaker 2>the Fallen Angel back in Florida in like eighty four
<v Speaker 2>to eighty five with Kevin Salvan. Yeah, I went there
<v Speaker 2>because I can. But instead we might get too much
<v Speaker 2>smoke and mirrors that we can see through, and that
<v Speaker 2>with the belt could ruin it. That's why she's so
<v Speaker 2>low on it. She doesn't need that belt. And she's
<v Speaker 2>going to be by the fiend. And when you're hip
<v Speaker 2>to hip with somebody that polarizing and that charismatic, whether
<v Speaker 2>it be positive charisma or negative charisma, it's not heat
<v Speaker 2>and it's not go home heat. People want to see
<v Speaker 2>what she does, so she doesn't have to have a
<v Speaker 2>title around her raist and that's my five.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, Well I'm glad we're not We certainly are an
<v Speaker 1>opposite ends of the spectrum, and that's good. I'm glad
<v Speaker 1>and I did hear about Ria Ripley and I should
<v Speaker 1>have brought her up, and I'm glad you did. I'm
<v Speaker 1>I'm sticking by my guns just because I want to.
<v Speaker 1>I think it's better that I stick by my guns.
<v Speaker 1>It's more fun. But you make a good case for
<v Speaker 1>Ria Ripley. She is on a lot of people's lists.
<v Speaker 1>I was just looking at the confirmed entrance thirteen out
<v Speaker 1>of thirty. I mean, my god, leave seventeen people who
<v Speaker 1>haven't been an ouncetare or surprise whatever. So, yes, I've
<v Speaker 1>heard about Ria Ripley's certainly a good case to be made,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm all for Rea Ripley winning and I think
<v Speaker 1>that that would uh, that would generally make people happy.
<v Speaker 1>From from NXT. Even if you haven't watched an XT,
<v Speaker 1>you remember Ria Ripley from last year, right like you?
<v Speaker 1>You know, you remember what she did with Charlotte and
<v Speaker 1>she kind of went into oblivion too, But she's she
<v Speaker 1>should be returning. I don't know if there'll be any
<v Speaker 1>other NXT quote call ups to the main roster. I
<v Speaker 1>don't I haven't heard anything. There's also Tessa Blanchard's being
<v Speaker 1>thrown around, you know, all these names. I do believe
<v Speaker 1>that it's probably not going to be one of those,
<v Speaker 1>you know, Ronda Rousey's returning type of things, even though
<v Speaker 1>she's on Vegas odds, like people actually have and are
<v Speaker 1>betting money on Ronda Rowsey winning, which I would not do.
<v Speaker 1>By the way, I don't want I actually don't want
<v Speaker 1>Ronda Rowsey back in the ring at all. Like I
<v Speaker 1>don't want to see her ever again. I have known, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>like people, oh it's Ronda Rau, you do I want
<v Speaker 1>to see her because she's completely crapped all over the product.
<v Speaker 1>I don't want to hear that, Oh she's she it's
<v Speaker 1>a work she worked to send too, a work that's
<v Speaker 1>turned into a shoot. She's using all these insider terms
<v Speaker 1>that she has no effing idea what she's talking about.
<v Speaker 1>She's in the business for a year, Like I have
<v Speaker 1>no interest in her coming in to pretended as to
<v Speaker 1>use your word, defecate on the product just to make
<v Speaker 1>it more real, because we all know what it is.
<v Speaker 1>I don't need someone coming in to break the fourth
<v Speaker 1>wall to make it more real for me, and really
<v Speaker 1>just I don't want anything to do with Ronda Rowsey
<v Speaker 1>ever again, even if it's to see her get beat up,
<v Speaker 1>because seeing her get beat up in a pro wrestling
<v Speaker 1>way doesn't satisfy me. I'd want to see her get
<v Speaker 1>beat up in an octagon that because then I know
<v Speaker 1>it's to inflict actual pain. I have no interest in
<v Speaker 1>seeing her back in the WWE, because she completely disrespected
<v Speaker 1>the business and all. She's a heel she's supposed to. No,
<v Speaker 1>you just don't go there, right like, you don't go
<v Speaker 1>there because then you're completely taking away the entire product.
<v Speaker 1>What at the expense of you getting your match over?
<v Speaker 1>So I'm going on Ronda Railsey rant. I would not
<v Speaker 1>expect her to see her in the I hope you
<v Speaker 1>don't see Ronda Rowsey in the rumble. I have no
<v Speaker 1>interest in seeing her again. But I like your pick
<v Speaker 1>about about uh my gosh, I lost her name again.
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, Ria Ripley getting so riled up about Rondo,
<v Speaker 1>who's not even on the roster. But rear Ripley is
<v Speaker 1>a either very good candidate. I think she would be
<v Speaker 1>an excellent addition to the roster. That's a consistent addition,
<v Speaker 1>not just kind of hit and run like she did
<v Speaker 1>last year. I think her being here on the roster
<v Speaker 1>UH SmackDown or Raw really would be a breath of
<v Speaker 1>fresh air to both rosters that I think honestly need
<v Speaker 1>to shake up because I feel like we've seen all
<v Speaker 1>the matchups that we can possibly see we haven't seen,
<v Speaker 1>you know, like, give me, give me a matchup that
<v Speaker 1>we haven't seen on both rosters. We've seen everything, and
<v Speaker 1>they just kind of shuffle things around. So I think
<v Speaker 1>Ree Ripley would be a nice shot in the arm
<v Speaker 1>and it and yeah, I'm sticking. I'm still sticking with
<v Speaker 1>Alexa Bliss. I'm not changing my pick, but I totally
<v Speaker 1>get why you are choosing Rhea Ripley. That is a
<v Speaker 1>very solid pick. It's a it's a quote shocking win
<v Speaker 1>as somebody who hasn't even on RAAR SmackDown wins it.
<v Speaker 1>And yeah, nice pick, thank you.
<v Speaker 2>Thank you very much. You know, hell hole, I'm here
<v Speaker 2>all week. And I say that from Memphis, Tennessee.
<v Speaker 1>Uh, and any found thoughts on the on the Women's
<v Speaker 1>World rumble before I lose my mind on Rhonda, Well.
<v Speaker 2>What I'm gonna do is also throw in my surprise
<v Speaker 2>picks that that what would be a legit surprise and
<v Speaker 2>what would be the WWE version of Ye go ahead, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>So for the females, you you hit the nail and
<v Speaker 2>the head. Tessa Blantern if she's in there. If she
<v Speaker 2>doesn't win it, she's like second to last person to
<v Speaker 2>be eliminated. And as you said on our last show,
<v Speaker 2>if you don't know who she is, you got to
<v Speaker 2>look her up and you've got an automatic feud between
<v Speaker 2>her and Flair. I mean, you've got the daughters of
<v Speaker 2>two of the founding horsemen. It's it's perfect. Tessa is
<v Speaker 2>on a whole other level. And it's not like she
<v Speaker 2>doesn't need NXT NXT. She she's one of the people
<v Speaker 2>who should way bypass it, just like AJ styles. It's
<v Speaker 2>it's some things you're just really above, and it's it's
<v Speaker 2>Tesla Blancher being on a WWE product is must see TV.
<v Speaker 2>It is see it live, and it's if you have
<v Speaker 2>the DVR, you record it. It's it's not one of
<v Speaker 2>those things where you just read about it in the
<v Speaker 2>dirt sheets or YouTube, but you it's it's a moment
<v Speaker 2>you really want to see because it's just going to
<v Speaker 2>be that cool and it's going to be a clinic
<v Speaker 2>of very good, very fluid, very solid wrestling. And if
<v Speaker 2>she's in there with any of those four horse Women
<v Speaker 2>or Basler or Bliss or you know, just a couple
<v Speaker 2>of Ripley, the ones who can really go, We're going
<v Speaker 2>to see some really awesome wrestling. And so I really
<v Speaker 2>wanted that would be a legit surprise, another legit surprise
<v Speaker 2>free agent currently nowhere near as good as Tessa, But
<v Speaker 2>because of who her husband is, what about Tyavelker.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't even think about that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, John Morrison's what yep? She. I could see her
<v Speaker 2>being more as a surprise entrant into the into the Rumble,
<v Speaker 2>but then mainlining into NXT first. So, because like you said,
<v Speaker 2>there's thirteen can confirm people it's a thirty person rumble.
<v Speaker 2>So therefore I obviously know that there's gonna be a
<v Speaker 2>lot of call ups. I'm actually interested in seeing Tony
<v Speaker 2>Storm from NXT. I've been a big fan of hers,
<v Speaker 2>Dakota Kai, I'm a big fan of, not a big
<v Speaker 2>fan of Shatsi Blackheart for the way she wiggles, that
<v Speaker 2>green hair and axe kind of all weird, But those
<v Speaker 2>two t G knocks there's some really cool names that
<v Speaker 2>I think will be fun in the rumble. Of course,
<v Speaker 2>a lot of them. Definitely, they need a little bit
<v Speaker 2>more season on the stake before it's ready to serve,
<v Speaker 2>so you know, back to NXT they are after this,
<v Speaker 2>but it'll make a great rumble. And definitely if ty
<v Speaker 2>Valkyrie come in, I think she could have a decent
<v Speaker 2>showing and go to the upper mid card to the
<v Speaker 2>upper card of NXT before she you know, eventually gets
<v Speaker 2>a call up to the main roster. I'm not all
<v Speaker 2>about or excuse me, I'm not all about everybody going
<v Speaker 2>you know, straight to main roster. But there's some people
<v Speaker 2>I believe are above it. I just don't dig Taia
<v Speaker 2>at this point is quite the household name and quite
<v Speaker 2>the draw that Tessa Blanche would be. But so those
<v Speaker 2>are my two what would I think would be great
<v Speaker 2>surprise picks and then the WWE version of surprise picks.
<v Speaker 2>I had your favorite mind, Ronda Rousey, and my my
<v Speaker 2>difference is I don't want to see her either, just
<v Speaker 2>because Oliver Matches looked incredibly scripted, and some people say
<v Speaker 2>she did it on purpose. Other people said because she
<v Speaker 2>didn't understand pro wrestling, and I go with the latter.
<v Speaker 2>I think that she was the type of person who
<v Speaker 2>had to remember the whole match, move by move in
<v Speaker 2>her mind instead of doing what she naturally did in
<v Speaker 2>the octagon. As I said before, she was so forced
<v Speaker 2>down on her throats and overexposed. She was terrible on
<v Speaker 2>the MIC. I mean she got verbally destroyed by Alexa
<v Speaker 2>Bliss when they had their feud on the MIC. I
<v Speaker 2>mean she made her look dumbfounded, inane, befuddled. I mean
<v Speaker 2>she made her look really bad on the MIC. And
<v Speaker 2>that was just promos and and and then ring presence
<v Speaker 2>and ring psychology. She had none. She always had to
<v Speaker 2>get into her octagon stance. And I get that's the
<v Speaker 2>way she fought. But Basler is everything that they wanted
<v Speaker 2>rond to Rouse to be. And her championship run and
<v Speaker 2>her one year run was so incredibly forgettable. It's no
<v Speaker 2>one talks about it except like, bring her back. You know,
<v Speaker 2>I'm sure if John Jones said he retired, the first thing,
<v Speaker 2>you know, everybody would say right away, bring John Jones
<v Speaker 2>to w W. No. I'm tired of seeing all these
<v Speaker 2>MMA people come over because all of a sudden it's
<v Speaker 2>going to be no people, no wrestlers. I am for
<v Speaker 2>bringing back some gimmicks, nothing, nothing over the top, no
<v Speaker 2>more wrestling garbage men. I know that's always the go to,
<v Speaker 2>but the point is, well, you can't have too many
<v Speaker 2>of the same thing. The Undertaker was special because it
<v Speaker 2>was just he and Kane. Now if we had seven
<v Speaker 2>or eight Undertakers, it watered it down and destroyed it.
<v Speaker 2>That's why the Ministry didn't work, because you had all
<v Speaker 2>these people trying to be in the same vein. So
<v Speaker 2>what happened to the acolytes they became the Apa. What
<v Speaker 2>happened to the brew they separate, Egend Christian became Egend Christian,
<v Speaker 2>the Goofballs, and then they became the heart throbs. Then
<v Speaker 2>they became whatever they evolved. You have to evolve characters.
<v Speaker 2>You can't have all the same thing. So those those
<v Speaker 2>you know, basically Ronda Rousey and the other one for
<v Speaker 2>the the the women's royal rumble is I'm sorry, man,
<v Speaker 2>you know I was loved you. Matt James Elsworth there
<v Speaker 2>I said it.
<v Speaker 1>Imagine and look, I would love beyond my just discuss
<v Speaker 1>with that. Imagine wwe like Twitter, if that happened, if
<v Speaker 1>James Elsworth. That would be like that would be like
<v Speaker 1>Santina Morella winning the Women's Battle Royal ten fifteen years ago.
<v Speaker 1>But you'll put that on steroids, no pun intended, and
<v Speaker 1>now you would have a complete explosion against WWE. I
<v Speaker 1>think because people wouldn't look at it as, oh, it's entertainment.
<v Speaker 1>People would look at it as that's super disrespectful to
<v Speaker 1>the women. Like people would lose their minds. So I
<v Speaker 1>do not want to see James Ellsworth ever again. I
<v Speaker 1>have no problem not seeing him again. The other dark
<v Speaker 1>horse that I didn't even think of until just now
<v Speaker 1>is Becky Lynch. Right like people and Becky Lynch. Look,
<v Speaker 1>I saw the picture she put up on Instagram. She's
<v Speaker 1>doing some workout routine. She looks good. I actually like
<v Speaker 1>her when she doesn't have all the red hair and
<v Speaker 1>makeup and stuff. She looks more normal, like a person,
<v Speaker 1>you know. And so she certainly looks good. Doesn't look
<v Speaker 1>like she just delivered a baby a month and a
<v Speaker 1>half ago. But I've made this argument several times in
<v Speaker 1>the last several weeks when people have asked me or
<v Speaker 1>people have made the argument, oh, Becky Lynch, she come
<v Speaker 1>back for the rumble in time from Ania. She just
<v Speaker 1>gave birth six seven weeks ago. You know, even if
<v Speaker 1>by some act of God she is in great ring shape,
<v Speaker 1>which she's not, there's just no way. Then why wouldn't
<v Speaker 1>she want to spend time with her newborn child. You know,
<v Speaker 1>why would you not want to do that? You know,
<v Speaker 1>this is the time to do that. They're super young.
<v Speaker 1>You'd have to what get back into the wwe Yes,
<v Speaker 1>you're not traveling right now, but you eventually will be,
<v Speaker 1>and then maybe in the next coming year. We'll see.
<v Speaker 1>But you know, yeah, you only have to go to
<v Speaker 1>Orlando or Tampa and back home. So maybe that's a
<v Speaker 1>little bit of a hook for her to possibly get
<v Speaker 1>back in. But I don't think it would be a
<v Speaker 1>good look on her just giving birth six weeks ago, either,
<v Speaker 1>to all of a sudden pop back into wrestling. I
<v Speaker 1>don't think it's a good look for her. I don't think.
<v Speaker 1>You know, again, she's making your own decisions. It's her
<v Speaker 1>own life. But if it were me, I would want
<v Speaker 1>to take as much time as possible. This is the
<v Speaker 1>only time you get a chance to do that with
<v Speaker 1>your newborn kid, and I just would not I don't
<v Speaker 1>think it's a smart move on anybody's at least from
<v Speaker 1>a wrestling perspective, and how people would perceive her of
<v Speaker 1>coming back so early, and I don't think it's a
<v Speaker 1>good move. So what are your thoughts to my Becky
<v Speaker 1>Lynch possibly coming back.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you can't risk exposing a newborn with a you know,
<v Speaker 2>unfully yeah, well unfully developed immune system to COVID. If
<v Speaker 2>she came back the only capacity I would like to
<v Speaker 2>see her in a commentary role for the Women's Rumble.
<v Speaker 2>I think that would be beneficial to get the commentary
<v Speaker 2>of not some snide heel like I hate to say
<v Speaker 2>the name of Lacy Evans again, because some of these
<v Speaker 2>people don't fit the role in the right way. When
<v Speaker 2>they do commentary, it's like they're they're so stuck in character,
<v Speaker 2>but they don't know what to say without somebody piping
<v Speaker 2>into their ear, so it comes out really really fake,
<v Speaker 2>really surpy sweet. I think Becky Lynch could do a
<v Speaker 2>great job, a fantastic job doing commentary, or they could
<v Speaker 2>do a live remote, which I think would be really
<v Speaker 2>awesome because it makes her look good as a mother.
<v Speaker 2>But I don't know any mother who'd want to be
<v Speaker 2>away from their child that's soon or especially with the
<v Speaker 2>fact that they could expose them to a disease, but
<v Speaker 2>alive remote maybe almost like a picture and picture as
<v Speaker 2>commentary on her thoughts, and I think that'd be really cool.
<v Speaker 2>It's showing she's still out there, showing she's okay, maybe
<v Speaker 2>a quick here's the baby, Da da da dah, But
<v Speaker 2>then like her sitting at a desk and her just
<v Speaker 2>giving you know, her feed and what she thinks, because
<v Speaker 2>I think she could add much more layers of satisfaction
<v Speaker 2>in the moves and just calling stuff and you know,
<v Speaker 2>if she has a little bit of free reign and
<v Speaker 2>they're not piping into her ears, she could you know,
<v Speaker 2>right hand. By Charlotte, I felt that before, you know,
<v Speaker 2>just a little bit of an endorsement of some of
<v Speaker 2>the tussles that she's had with some of the ladies
<v Speaker 2>and maybe say something like I've never faced Rhea Ripley.
<v Speaker 2>I can't wait to take her on. Tony Storm is
<v Speaker 2>a fantastic competitor. She's from over over the pond too,
<v Speaker 2>and you know, we grew up, you know with the
<v Speaker 2>the Irish, you know, the the Irish English kind of
<v Speaker 2>you know, civil war, so I can't wait to get
<v Speaker 2>my hands on her. I think that kind of layer
<v Speaker 2>could be added to it. So that's the only capacity
<v Speaker 2>I would like to see her back. And I really
<v Speaker 2>don't want to see her risking the health for her child. Now.
<v Speaker 2>I don't think she will, but that's the only way
<v Speaker 2>she could come back in a surprise capacity that I
<v Speaker 2>think would be satisfaction. They're satisfactory for both the company
<v Speaker 2>and for her and her family.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that is certainly into the other part is obviously health,
<v Speaker 1>which is number one right now. So I'm totally with you, Yes,
<v Speaker 1>all right, Well, I do want to move on to
<v Speaker 1>the men's Royal Rumble. And by the way, as I
<v Speaker 1>look at the current Vegas odds for the Women's Royal Rumble,
<v Speaker 1>I will say the top I'll give you the top five.
<v Speaker 1>The top five women that are odds on favorites in
<v Speaker 1>Vegas to win the Royal Rumble are number one Beyonce
<v Speaker 1>Belle Air okay, Number two Alexa Bliss. Number three is
<v Speaker 1>Rhea Ripley, four is Charlotte Flair, five is Bailey, and
<v Speaker 1>I'll do number six and six is Sonya Deville, which
<v Speaker 1>I didn't even think of. I do want her to win.
<v Speaker 1>Rondawsey is number seven, Shanon Bezers number eight. So these
<v Speaker 1>are the these are the odds right now, guys, like,
<v Speaker 1>let's let's take a step back. People need to be
<v Speaker 1>smart with their money. But right now, man, man, oh man,
<v Speaker 1>and just for hilarioty, hilarity, the the bottom three, all right,
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry, let me do the bottom I'll do the
<v Speaker 1>bottom five of who are odds on favorites Chelsea Green, Tomina,
<v Speaker 1>Marina Shaffir, Jessemine Duke and Stephanie McMahon is the absolute
<v Speaker 1>bottom of the barrel in terms of odds to win.
<v Speaker 1>So Stephanie McMahon is still out there, possibly the absolute bottom.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you're talking about a oh my god, like
<v Speaker 1>a fifty thousand yeah, no, oh my god, no, no, no,
<v Speaker 1>the odds are fifty thousand to one on her.
<v Speaker 2>So just nobody tells Stephanie because that's gonna flip up
<v Speaker 2>to number one in just five seconds. It'll be a surprise.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, that's true. So I just wanted to put
<v Speaker 1>that out there. But okay, let's get to the men's
<v Speaker 1>because we can talk about the women's forever. I'll talk
<v Speaker 1>about I'll give my analysis quickly of the men and
<v Speaker 1>I'll actually give the odds on favorites. Here the top
<v Speaker 1>five of the Men's Royal Rumble odds on favorite right
<v Speaker 1>now Vegas again Vegas. Number one is Danga Bryan, number
<v Speaker 1>two is Edge, three is Keith Lee, four is brock Lesnar,
<v Speaker 1>five is Big E and then it goes on to
<v Speaker 1>Shinz Gage, You're McIntyre and so forth, and just also
<v Speaker 1>for hilarity, the bottom the bottom five for the Men's
<v Speaker 1>are Dolf Ziggler, Umberto Carreo, Robert Rude, Shane McMahon and
<v Speaker 1>Vince McMahon. So they're still on there. They are the
<v Speaker 1>bottom of five for the odds on favorites in Vegas.
<v Speaker 1>So I will say this, if you put some money
<v Speaker 1>on Vince and he ends up winning, you you will
<v Speaker 1>be coming overnight millionaire. Like that's how low the odds are. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>So my thoughts on the Men's Royal Rumble again, I've
<v Speaker 1>been struggling so much. People have asked me on the
<v Speaker 1>mail bag all week a month, who do you think
<v Speaker 1>could win the Men's Royal Rumble? Who do you have?
<v Speaker 1>Who do you have? And forever I have said, and
<v Speaker 1>I've stayed relatively consistent that I thought, with Drew McIntyre
<v Speaker 1>dropping the belt to Goldberg, that the reconciliation to that,
<v Speaker 1>in Vince McMahon's eyes would be having him win the
<v Speaker 1>Royal Rumble, Like, Okay, he lost the belt to Goldberg
<v Speaker 1>early in the night, but the reconciliation to that is, well,
<v Speaker 1>he's gonna win the Royal Rumble and then he's gonna
<v Speaker 1>go on to face Roman Rains at the WrestleMania, which
<v Speaker 1>I would love Roman reigns Drew McIntire WrestleMania. I wish
<v Speaker 1>they couldn't have blown it off in a stupid, pointless
<v Speaker 1>of Survivor Series match that still has zero implications to me,
<v Speaker 1>but which I really really disliked. You know, I know
<v Speaker 1>it's been a couple of months now, but that's my thought,
<v Speaker 1>that was my thought for several weeks, and looking at
<v Speaker 1>this now, they've done a lot of foundation building for
<v Speaker 1>Daniel Bryant over the last several weeks, outside of losing
<v Speaker 1>clean to Shinsky, losing clean to Cesarro, which kind of
<v Speaker 1>undermines my argument of possibly Daniel Bryan winning, which is
<v Speaker 1>a big deal. But he's come out the last couple
<v Speaker 1>of smackdowns and talked about how you know he hasn't
<v Speaker 1>He's never won the Royal Rumble, He's never won the Rumble.
<v Speaker 1>Every time they say I've never done this or never
<v Speaker 1>done that. Just like with Goldberg winning the ww Championship,
<v Speaker 1>it's very strong possibility that Daniel Brian wins and challenges
<v Speaker 1>Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. And they have a ton of
<v Speaker 1>backstory with Roman and Bryan. There's a lot of backstory
<v Speaker 1>that goes all the way back to twenty fourteen with
<v Speaker 1>these guys, and they could draw on some real stuff
<v Speaker 1>of the fans rejecting Roman reigns and wanting Daniel Brian,
<v Speaker 1>which was one hundred percent true. And Daniel Brian is
<v Speaker 1>one of the biggest culprits for the fans turning on
<v Speaker 1>Roman because of how relatable he was. He was the
<v Speaker 1>guy at the right time, in the right place, and
<v Speaker 1>Roman was the perceived choice by w w A. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>there's so much they could draw on from that that
<v Speaker 1>it would be a very good story between Brian and
<v Speaker 1>Roman leading to WrestleMania thirty seven. Certainly it could be edge. Again,
<v Speaker 1>I don't think that there's a whole I'm gonna I'm
<v Speaker 1>just going with the top couple here of the odds.
<v Speaker 1>Edge I don't think wins the rumble, and it's because
<v Speaker 1>it's about Edge and it's about Orton. Orton's not gonna
<v Speaker 1>win the championship, and nor do I think Edge should
<v Speaker 1>challenge for the championship at this point. He has not
<v Speaker 1>yet fulfilled the story with Randy Orton. I understand Orton
<v Speaker 1>is in a program with the Fiend and they should
<v Speaker 1>finish that before Edge gets to Orton. It just it
<v Speaker 1>would be very convoluted if Edge suddenly sticks his head
<v Speaker 1>in the Fiend in Orton's business. So that has to
<v Speaker 1>play itself out, which I think will at probably Elimination
<v Speaker 1>Chamber be the end of it, because Orton is gonna
<v Speaker 1>be in this match, and I think that we will
<v Speaker 1>have the Fiend inner Field do his hocus pocus eliminade Orton,
<v Speaker 1>and somehow the Fiend also gets eliminated if he's even
<v Speaker 1>in the match. I mean, we don't even know if
<v Speaker 1>he's in it. So it's just gonna be to me
<v Speaker 1>a story to build Orton and the Fiend. We'll probably
<v Speaker 1>have a tease of Edge and Orton like they'll they'll
<v Speaker 1>make eye contact, or Orton will be in the ring
<v Speaker 1>and Edges musical hit and you think they're gonna go
<v Speaker 1>at it, and then the Fiend interferes and Orton is
<v Speaker 1>gone or over the top rope. So I think they'll
<v Speaker 1>definitely be an interaction between Edge and Orton, but I
<v Speaker 1>think it's gonna be limited because the focus right and
<v Speaker 1>the focus right now is on the Fiend and Orton.
<v Speaker 1>So all that being said, my pick is Daniel Bryan.
<v Speaker 1>I know it's not interesting, I know it's very predictable.
<v Speaker 1>I know it's not controversial, and it's not a cool,
<v Speaker 1>sexy pick, but it is I think a smart pick
<v Speaker 1>given the story that they could build with ort or
<v Speaker 1>with Brian and Roman reigns leading to WrestleMania thirty seven.
<v Speaker 1>It's I think it's there's a lot to draw from,
<v Speaker 1>and we have yet to see Daniel Bryan in a
<v Speaker 1>title picture in quite some time, so I like that. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>Daniel Brien is still the underdog heading into WrestleMania thirty seven.
<v Speaker 1>If that happens again, you can make a case for
<v Speaker 1>McIntyre winning the Rumble after losing the Belt of Goldberg.
<v Speaker 1>You can make a case, I think even for brock
<v Speaker 1>Lesner returning. People are talking about that he's actually number
<v Speaker 1>four on the list. Here you can make a case
<v Speaker 1>for since Kanna Kamura, big E, I mean, I wouldn't
<v Speaker 1>want big Ee to win this early, Bray Wyatt, I
<v Speaker 1>mean Seth Seth Rollins. What about a returning Seth Rollins.
<v Speaker 1>You know, like there's at This is very, very difficult.
<v Speaker 1>This is one of the hardest Royal Rumbles I've ever
<v Speaker 1>had to predict, most difficult, complex, so many moving parts.
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna go with, unfortunately, the easy, lazy answer, but
<v Speaker 1>I think it's the safe one of Daniel Brian winning
<v Speaker 1>the Royal Men's Royal Rumble for twenty twenty one. What
<v Speaker 1>about you, my friend?
<v Speaker 2>Well, once again I did the top five, and it's
<v Speaker 2>going to be kind of boring compared to everything that
<v Speaker 2>you said, because there's a lot of some hilarities. However,
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna tweak my number one originally was You're not
<v Speaker 2>gonna believe this some guy named Daniel Bryan just I
<v Speaker 2>think that his character, it's hard for me to believe
<v Speaker 2>that he's gonna win it after they had him hanging
<v Speaker 2>out with Chad Gable and otis doing just goofy things,
<v Speaker 2>that that terrible haircut, that miss haircut that detracts from
<v Speaker 2>his character. I'm sorry, the haircut's gotta go. And I
<v Speaker 2>know people like, what's that have to do with anything?
<v Speaker 2>Trust me, if if the Road Warriors came out with
<v Speaker 2>giant afros that were pink, you'd be like, who are
<v Speaker 2>these defises? Okay? What I think? And especially lost to
<v Speaker 2>Cizarro just when he had multiple losses, My thought is
<v Speaker 2>that they're trying to reproduce Lightning in a bottle and
<v Speaker 2>build him as an underdog again. When he's transcending that
<v Speaker 2>he's a legitimate star and a legitimate credible athlete, top
<v Speaker 2>tier upper card. He's not mid card. He's now upper
<v Speaker 2>mid card. He is a definite main eventor period a
<v Speaker 2>championship caliber main eventor in fact, he spent most of
<v Speaker 2>his time with a belt around his waist post retirement,
<v Speaker 2>then he did prior, you know, especially on the world
<v Speaker 2>title level. So with that being said, to try to
<v Speaker 2>break him back down to the level where he's the
<v Speaker 2>scrappy underdog again doesn't work. And if that's what they're
<v Speaker 2>trying to do, to have him go into this and
<v Speaker 2>then act as it's act as if it is a
<v Speaker 2>surprise it's gonna blow up in their faces. And not
<v Speaker 2>that I don't believe Daniel Brian should be there or
<v Speaker 2>be the one for it. It's like you said, he
<v Speaker 2>has legit backstory with Robin Raids since twenty fourteen. So
<v Speaker 2>therefore we've got something that we can go back on
<v Speaker 2>and say, Okay, look, these guys have a history. It's
<v Speaker 2>never quite been settled. We've always kept these two away
<v Speaker 2>from each other. Now it's time for them to settle
<v Speaker 2>it once and for all. We can do that, but
<v Speaker 2>with the build has been just so weak that it's
<v Speaker 2>too easy for me to take him the same as you.
<v Speaker 2>So I'm gonna bump this one to a pick I
<v Speaker 2>do not want to make, but I'm gonna make it anyway.
<v Speaker 2>And that's the person that they've been shoving down our
<v Speaker 2>throats for two months now, and it's a person I'm
<v Speaker 2>not a real big fan of. I think it might
<v Speaker 2>be Shamus, and here's why, because they've brought up all
<v Speaker 2>of his history with Drew McIntyre. If Drew McIntyre retains,
<v Speaker 2>I can almost see Shamus doing this completely. They want
<v Speaker 2>to build that story. Triple h is in love with
<v Speaker 2>Seamus because their workout buddies. They bring up so many
<v Speaker 2>facts about him in the ring. They keep talking about
<v Speaker 2>his tenures multiple time world champion, which really the asterisk
<v Speaker 2>should say multiple time transitional World champion, because he was
<v Speaker 2>only holding that belt until they could put it on
<v Speaker 2>somebody else. Always I think that him decimate two people
<v Speaker 2>at the same time, always going back and forth with
<v Speaker 2>Keith Lee, which hurt Keith Lee's stock. But somehow it's
<v Speaker 2>not like Seamus looks good in defeat or whatever. It's
<v Speaker 2>They're always trying to show you, Oh, Seamus is here,
<v Speaker 2>Seamus is this shamous is that they love this guy
<v Speaker 2>and wwe are the people that see him, and especially
<v Speaker 2>the McMahon's and Triple h they think they have so
<v Speaker 2>much stock in this guy, and I can't figure out why.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, aside from his matches with Matt Riddle and
<v Speaker 2>a couple other matches he had about a month ago,
<v Speaker 2>his matches have been completely boring, mundane and the same
<v Speaker 2>old thing, with some of the weakest looking finishers I
<v Speaker 2>had seen in years. And yet this guy just keeps
<v Speaker 2>getting the straps put around his waist. And I think
<v Speaker 2>that's why that they've talked so much about, you know,
<v Speaker 2>his his backstory with McIntyre putting him over just everything everything.
<v Speaker 2>He's been all over the place over he is overexposed,
<v Speaker 2>but he's exposed every show at least two segments. And
<v Speaker 2>this is really funny. I don't know if you caught
<v Speaker 2>this on the other day when he was wrestling John
<v Speaker 2>Morrison and they had mentioned that these two went at
<v Speaker 2>it again about ten years ago for the King of
<v Speaker 2>the Ring Finals when Shamus best of him and then
<v Speaker 2>went on for his first championship title win over Daniel Bryan.
<v Speaker 2>Who do we just bring up Daniel Bryan? Are we
<v Speaker 2>getting the same competitors from ten years ago? And the
<v Speaker 2>statement was made that WWE fans want the same old
<v Speaker 2>thing as opposed to developing new stars, and that's why
<v Speaker 2>we're getting Goldberg in main events in twenty twenty one.
<v Speaker 2>I just see the writing on the wall on this
<v Speaker 2>one that Seamus might actually be the person. I don't
<v Speaker 2>want it. I'm gonna tell you right now, I do
<v Speaker 2>not want it. But he was my number two pick.
<v Speaker 2>By the way that they have just been building him,
<v Speaker 2>talking about him putting his face all over everything and
<v Speaker 2>associating him with the champion who's gotten over. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>both champions are over, but it's been way more organic
<v Speaker 2>and Drew McIntyre's journey, especially how he left the company
<v Speaker 2>and came back and everything just it's been way more organic,
<v Speaker 2>and I think that's why it's gonna be him. My
<v Speaker 2>backups after that would be number three. Seamus has won,
<v Speaker 2>Daniel Bryan has been next, so then Keith Lee just
<v Speaker 2>because he's up there, but I think they still want
<v Speaker 2>to season him for another year. I think he's ready,
<v Speaker 2>but I think in McMahon's eyes, he just doesn't think
<v Speaker 2>that the public want to want to glom onto him,
<v Speaker 2>especially the fact that you've got Big Ye over on
<v Speaker 2>SmackDown in such a prominent role. They are so incredibly
<v Speaker 2>similar in build. Obviously, big Ye has the following from
<v Speaker 2>the New Day thing and Keith Lee has the incredible
<v Speaker 2>athleticism and talent. His move said is way better and
<v Speaker 2>he doesn't have a really lame finisher. Then my next
<v Speaker 2>would be Braun Strowman. We can't believe who's gonna defeat him.
<v Speaker 2>He's so huge, big man, big man, Ah, how do
<v Speaker 2>you get him off his feet? Then after that, I
<v Speaker 2>had Big E but two things that they get me
<v Speaker 2>that I think should not be allowed is one, Drew McIntyre,
<v Speaker 2>if you're a champion, regardless if you win or lose,
<v Speaker 2>you shouldn't and they did it with Brockluster. You should
<v Speaker 2>not be allowed to be in the Royal Rumble. It's
<v Speaker 2>just silly. It's like, oh, if I win, then I
<v Speaker 2>don't have to fight anybody. It's just dumb. It's it's
<v Speaker 2>cheesy booking. It's it's bully mentality booking. It doesn't work
<v Speaker 2>for a babyface. It's definitely heal booking, but it's also
<v Speaker 2>it almost guarantees you that Drew McIntyre is gonna lose.
<v Speaker 2>It becomes water thin storylines, and I don't want to
<v Speaker 2>see a water thin storyline. I don't need a surprise,
<v Speaker 2>but I definitely need my whole entree, not just the
<v Speaker 2>main course. So once you once you put a champion
<v Speaker 2>in there, it cheapens your your events that that happened
<v Speaker 2>earlier that day. So if if if Drew McIntyre is
<v Speaker 2>definitely set for the Rumble, you can guarantee Goldberg's gonna win.
<v Speaker 2>There's no other reason for him to be in. Just
<v Speaker 2>the same thing as I mean, the MI is with
<v Speaker 2>the money in the bank, what you so you win
<v Speaker 2>two title shots? That's that's inane, it makes no sense.
<v Speaker 2>It's sloppy booking, it's sloppy storytelling, and so that that's
<v Speaker 2>that's kind of like my line up. I'm gonna give
<v Speaker 2>you my good surprises or these I'm gonna put these
<v Speaker 2>as probable surprises, but in a good vein, okay, and
<v Speaker 2>they are not for winners, but just making an appearance.
<v Speaker 2>Damian Priest as his call up just because he I'm positive,
<v Speaker 2>just like Ria Ripley. It's like there's that so called
<v Speaker 2>senior class of NXT that's ready for the main event,
<v Speaker 2>and they love Damian Priest. And it's kind of weird
<v Speaker 2>because I see him as winning a world title down
<v Speaker 2>the road in the not too near future, and it's
<v Speaker 2>kind of weird how he looks. He's got an eerily
<v Speaker 2>similar look to Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre. You kind
<v Speaker 2>of notice that, from the garb to the hair to everything.
<v Speaker 2>And then two more NXT of course Carrion Cross, because
<v Speaker 2>that guy should have never been in NXT to begin with.
<v Speaker 2>Way too talented. He's a legit character. He's a legit gimmick.
<v Speaker 2>He has everything, and if the stories I heard is
<v Speaker 2>true that he got main event money to go to NXT,
<v Speaker 2>if he got main roster money to go to NXT
<v Speaker 2>because they wanted him so bad, his NXT spell isn't
<v Speaker 2>going to be that long, especially winning the World Championship
<v Speaker 2>or the NXT World title off of Keith Lee in
<v Speaker 2>his first takeover match, I believe, and barely being with
<v Speaker 2>the company A cut a cup of coffee, and you know, Danish,
<v Speaker 2>I don't think he's long for NXT. And even if
<v Speaker 2>they want to have a couple more matches with him
<v Speaker 2>to pass a torch that he never really had to
<v Speaker 2>grab to begin with, I get it. But I see
<v Speaker 2>him as definitely making an appearance in the Royal Rumble
<v Speaker 2>and Finn Balord just because he transcends NXT. He should
<v Speaker 2>have never went back there to begin with. I get
<v Speaker 2>the fact that it was partly his choice, because you know,
<v Speaker 2>it was partly company choice, because if you're going to
<v Speaker 2>counteract members of the Bullet Club, you go with the
<v Speaker 2>guy who started, especially if he's going to be on
<v Speaker 2>there with Adam Cole who used to be part of
<v Speaker 2>Bullet Club, so on, so forth, you know, you want
<v Speaker 2>to get that indie look on both channels and they're
<v Speaker 2>he's a tremendous performer. But you know, that's why the
<v Speaker 2>company did it. He did it because it's a more
<v Speaker 2>serious product and it showcases what he's worth. So if
<v Speaker 2>aw is worth as much money as they say when
<v Speaker 2>they want to sign him, it's going to be a
<v Speaker 2>bigger contract for him to go join his old friends,
<v Speaker 2>or if he wants to go to New Japan, they're
<v Speaker 2>going to sign him to ridiculous money. He was the
<v Speaker 2>first Universal Champion, so on, so forth, and his career
<v Speaker 2>wasn't floundering by feuding with the likes of Elias or
<v Speaker 2>you know in you know, Terrible barn Burners with you know,
<v Speaker 2>Baron Corbyn. It's it's that that aspect is over. He's
<v Speaker 2>in the serious side of their product and that's what
<v Speaker 2>people are going to pay attention to and it doesn't
<v Speaker 2>damage his credibility or demean his character what he's worth.
<v Speaker 2>So it was our when I oh and somemojo, if
<v Speaker 2>there's a time for him to get out from behind
<v Speaker 2>that commentary booth and be a legit competitor, we'll know
<v Speaker 2>by at the beginning of the show if he's not
<v Speaker 2>part of it. I don't want to see a booker
<v Speaker 2>t thing where he gets up and he's wearing the
<v Speaker 2>tucks top or the suit top with the trunks underneath.
<v Speaker 2>That just kind of looks hokey. I would like to
<v Speaker 2>see he's not there tonight and then he becomes a participant.
<v Speaker 2>He doesn't have to win, but I unfortunately, I really
<v Speaker 2>do feel like Joe's in ring career is probably behind him.
<v Speaker 2>It's better that he went out on a high note
<v Speaker 2>than instead of going out like Taz who had the
<v Speaker 2>path of rage in ECW just to come in, get
<v Speaker 2>one win over Kurt Angle, have it fluked out and
<v Speaker 2>then just turn into a guy who's losing to Jerry Lawler.
<v Speaker 2>It was a terrible way for him to go out.
<v Speaker 2>I don't want to see some Ojoe go out like that.
<v Speaker 2>So if he's going out now on his own terms
<v Speaker 2>as a commentator and extends his career, God bless him,
<v Speaker 2>go for it. Amen. But if he comes back, this
<v Speaker 2>is the time to do it WWE style if their
<v Speaker 2>version of a surprise or return Alister Black, we haven't
<v Speaker 2>seen him in months. What has he been up to?
<v Speaker 2>Oh my lord, forgive me for this one. The man
<v Speaker 2>that's gonna go after Baron corbyin to defend Rey came
<v Speaker 2>ve Alaska's tried to say it fast. Sorry, no, he
<v Speaker 2>killed me. I'm sorry. Uh the one that I see
<v Speaker 2>this meme all over Facebook? Are you excited to see
<v Speaker 2>him potentially back gender mahal, I'm surprised he's still he
<v Speaker 2>still has a paycheck. Who even brought him back? Who
<v Speaker 2>even thought he puts eyeballs on stuff? I don't know
<v Speaker 2>why he's employed a returning legend like but just who
<v Speaker 2>has no prayer? So they shouldn't be in the royal
<v Speaker 2>rumble like to talk of making his way to the ring.
<v Speaker 2>Just get out of the ring. But I see that,
<v Speaker 2>Oh it's funny, ha ha ha. No, maybe a comedic
<v Speaker 2>celebrity like a John Stewart moment or Drew Carey moment
<v Speaker 2>that we all just say thanks, thanks for cheaping it.
<v Speaker 2>This is supposed to be world title shot and here's
<v Speaker 2>obviously a person who could never win it. They don't
<v Speaker 2>have a prayer in hell, and yeah, you're gonna stick
<v Speaker 2>them in there just so they run from some ginormous
<v Speaker 2>human being. I don't know if John Cena is a lock.
<v Speaker 2>I mean in front of a live crowd. It's a
<v Speaker 2>cheap pop. But his time has come and gone, and
<v Speaker 2>sticking around really wouldn't help that much. Rock Lesner, they'd
<v Speaker 2>make a big deal out of it, But as far
<v Speaker 2>as I know, the second his his pen hits a
<v Speaker 2>paper for any kind of extended contract, it's gonna be
<v Speaker 2>all over. It's too big of a name not to
<v Speaker 2>blow up. But then I'm afraid that would be Lesner
<v Speaker 2>versus Goldberg the rematch at WrestleMania. And that's especially with
<v Speaker 2>the Peacock deal. You're just bearing viewers at that point.
<v Speaker 2>That's you're just asking for people to dump your product.
<v Speaker 2>And then one more comedic entry, and that would be
<v Speaker 2>the number thirty. NYA Jacks tries to come out but
<v Speaker 2>dead a one off, Curtis Axel jumpser and finally gets
<v Speaker 2>a spot in the Royal Rumble.
<v Speaker 1>He's technically still in the Rumble.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, exactly exactly, So to sew that one up after
<v Speaker 2>all these years, that would be the comedic spot if
<v Speaker 2>they didn't throw like a comedy comedic celebrity, And then
<v Speaker 2>it wouldn't be one of our shows. If I didn't
<v Speaker 2>say probably Lars Sullivan.
<v Speaker 1>Oh lord, oh lord, Lars Sullivan. I can just hear it,
<v Speaker 1>the freak, I mean I can, yeah, I please, no, No,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know what it is with the starting stops.
<v Speaker 1>Just infatuation with Lars Sullivan. I don't know if they
<v Speaker 1>just can't find him and he's too busy, you know, instagramming,
<v Speaker 1>messaging married women. I don't know what he's doing. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>I really don't. I don't know what Lars Sullivan is
<v Speaker 1>up to. I don't I don't know if I particularly care.
<v Speaker 1>I kind of lost interest after they, you know, did
<v Speaker 1>the second or third time of start and stop. This
<v Speaker 1>is just getting insanely ridiculous. So well, quite a thorough analysis.
<v Speaker 1>I'm glad you brought up some things I didn't you know,
<v Speaker 1>think of. And I will say that we can guarantee
<v Speaker 1>ourselves a couple of things. We can guarantee ourselves. Number one,
<v Speaker 1>that who we will have people who are eliminated and
<v Speaker 1>no longer a legal part of the match, eliminate people
<v Speaker 1>who are still in the match. You can guarantee that
<v Speaker 1>you can guarantee that you will have people who hang
<v Speaker 1>out outside the ring and don't enter the ring, of
<v Speaker 1>which there should be a time limit or you were disqualified,
<v Speaker 1>because otherwise, why wouldn't everyone just hang out outside the
<v Speaker 1>ring and wait for other people to dis eliminate each
<v Speaker 1>other and then you don't have to do any work
<v Speaker 1>and you just win the match. And lastly, whoever wins
<v Speaker 1>the match, both men and women are corporately required as
<v Speaker 1>part of their contract to point to the WrestleMania sign.
<v Speaker 1>It is, and I know Drew McIntyre tried to own
<v Speaker 1>it last year as if, yeah, I know, we all
<v Speaker 1>do this, but we kind of have to. And it's like, no, no,
<v Speaker 1>you don't, like we're supposed to believe that you're just
<v Speaker 1>this this anomaly, this guy that's you know, not controlled
<v Speaker 1>bay anybody, and yet everyone still does it. So you
<v Speaker 1>can guarantee that fireworks will go off while someone points
<v Speaker 1>to the WrestleMania sign. So those are three guarantees, regardless
<v Speaker 1>of war picks that are happening tomorrow night.
<v Speaker 2>I'm there with you one hundred percent. I hate the
<v Speaker 2>whole point. That's so stupid. It's it made sense like
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, like around like Wrestlmania eighteen, nineteen twenty,
<v Speaker 2>where once in a while, but now like especially the
<v Speaker 2>worst one, and we'll bring her name up again. When
<v Speaker 2>Ronda Rousey did it was real stiff and just like,
<v Speaker 2>oh that was terrible. What I think also something that
<v Speaker 2>we didn't touch on, but will you kind of touched
<v Speaker 2>on it because when I get rambling, I keep going
<v Speaker 2>because you know, it keeps the stuttering factor town. But
<v Speaker 2>all the sidebar fews are gonna pay pay a lot
<v Speaker 2>of or they're gonna play a lot of of interaction
<v Speaker 2>within the rumble matches between the men and the women.
<v Speaker 2>So of course Lacy Evans and Charlie are gonna go
<v Speaker 2>at it because they've got a because they don't have
<v Speaker 2>a signed match that night, so we're gonna see that
<v Speaker 2>as as part of an elimination, so on, so forth.
<v Speaker 2>Whatever happens with the Tag Team women or the Tag
<v Speaker 2>Team women's match is gonna play a factor into the
<v Speaker 2>Royal Rumble in the women's side. In the men's side,
<v Speaker 2>Orton's gonna be there, if the Fiend's there, they're gonna
<v Speaker 2>go right for each other. So we continue that so
<v Speaker 2>that we can guarantee neither of them are gonna win,
<v Speaker 2>because they've already got their own thing going. But then
<v Speaker 2>you also have to factor an edge, so his edge
<v Speaker 2>gonna go straight for Orton or his edge and a
<v Speaker 2>j gonna pick up I And the reason I also
<v Speaker 2>said the good name of our own law as Sullivan,
<v Speaker 2>he grows up so fast right in front of our eyes,
<v Speaker 2>is the fact that if you've got a behemoth in
<v Speaker 2>there size of Stroman, either you're gonna do the eight.
<v Speaker 2>It takes eight people to eliminate him, which is a
<v Speaker 2>boring spot because I think almost is almost whatever his
<v Speaker 2>name is supposed to be in there too. I think
<v Speaker 2>it's gonna come down to if Sullivan's in there, it's
<v Speaker 2>gonna be Sullivan and Stroman going at it and e
<v Speaker 2>limit each other at at the same time because one
<v Speaker 2>they trained, they came up together, so they know each other.
<v Speaker 2>Of course, at this point, with all the surprises you
<v Speaker 2>find out, I think I don't think anybody truly knows
<v Speaker 2>Lars Sullivan, but I can honestly say it's going to
<v Speaker 2>take a behemoth to eliminate a behemoth, and then you
<v Speaker 2>already have your what do we do with Stroman at WrestleMania,
<v Speaker 2>So let's have these guys go at for the next
<v Speaker 2>sixty days. Find some kind of slot matches. Maybe put
<v Speaker 2>Stroman in the elimination chamber because he's a household name,
<v Speaker 2>but have Sullivan interfere in the elimination chambers that way,
<v Speaker 2>that takes care of the Stroman factor. In that it
<v Speaker 2>could be Caine's style, though I don't want to see
<v Speaker 2>anybody else come up from the pits of Hell, which
<v Speaker 2>is under the ring next to the Kendostick. I rather
<v Speaker 2>see his own way of doing it. I don't want
<v Speaker 2>to see rip the door off either. That was done
<v Speaker 2>by Kane. I don't want to see anything that's a retrat.
<v Speaker 2>Find your own way to do it, even maybe jumping
<v Speaker 2>in the back so we can't make I don't care.
<v Speaker 2>But the point is, if that's going to create the build,
<v Speaker 2>then we tie up two big men. So we already
<v Speaker 2>have our WrestleMania situation. We don't have to have Bronze
<v Speaker 2>Strowman as a baby face facing somebody the size of
<v Speaker 2>Sammy's a and not making sense. And at the same time,
<v Speaker 2>if you don't know what to do with Sullivan, have
<v Speaker 2>someone who can throw them around, because if you act
<v Speaker 2>stupid again, at least you have someone big enough who
<v Speaker 2>can just kind of beat them senseless. If you need to.
<v Speaker 2>So the sidebars are definitely gonna happen. We're We're obviously
<v Speaker 2>gonna see Keith Lee and Shamus. If Shamus wins, I
<v Speaker 2>think it'll come down to he and Keith Lee. Of course,
<v Speaker 2>there's gonna be a couple of NXT surprises in there.
<v Speaker 2>And here's something I've thought about, because it's not gonna
<v Speaker 2>be this year. And this is another reason that I'm
<v Speaker 2>writing Daniel Bryan it could be Daniel Brian again, because
<v Speaker 2>we both really thought that, and you still think that,
<v Speaker 2>and I know you're you're sticking to your guns, which
<v Speaker 2>I appreciate that because I think it's great both he
<v Speaker 2>and AJ are going to retire at the ends of
<v Speaker 2>their current contracts. Something tells me that eerily it's gonna
<v Speaker 2>be like a Goldberg versus Lesnar thing like it's gonna
<v Speaker 2>I think they're gonna retire each other in a final match,
<v Speaker 2>and I don't think it'll be This Mania. I think
<v Speaker 2>it'll be Next Mania. And if so, I think that
<v Speaker 2>AJ's gonna take the governor off him because it'll be
<v Speaker 2>his last match. People say he's lost a step. It's
<v Speaker 2>just that he doesn't do some of the same moves
<v Speaker 2>he used to because he's not made a teflon anymore.
<v Speaker 2>Now do I see him facing a Daniel Brian who
<v Speaker 2>knows he's gonna retire, so he's gonna pull out all
<v Speaker 2>the stops. I see those guys just not being told
<v Speaker 2>what to do and just putting on a twenty twenty
<v Speaker 2>five minute classic in their last bout, and I think
<v Speaker 2>that's how they're gonna go out. So I don't think
<v Speaker 2>it's gonna be this year. And that's the only other
<v Speaker 2>thing that I think could push Brian above Shamus in
<v Speaker 2>this Aside from that, I really wish it was Keith Lee.
<v Speaker 2>But if you had to pick one person that you
<v Speaker 2>just didn't see it coming that might be in the
<v Speaker 2>top ten pick, I might say shins Kay Nakamura because
<v Speaker 2>he's the only person who's had kind of a positive build.
<v Speaker 2>Obviously it's not gonna be Adam Pierce, but that's the
<v Speaker 2>only person I don't think they'd do it, just because
<v Speaker 2>it'd be a second Rumble win. That would be like
<v Speaker 2>the only the only person I could conceivably it's not
<v Speaker 2>gonna be Otis. You know, I don't see anymore goofball.
<v Speaker 2>Let's give him a push for no good reason thing.
<v Speaker 2>The only person I see in that top ten tier
<v Speaker 2>that might surprise me would be Shinsky again. And that's
<v Speaker 2>what I got on the Rumble.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, No, that is a you think you guys talk
<v Speaker 1>about a thorough review. We got thorough reviews right here.
<v Speaker 1>I mean that a good way sol Or Czarrow. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>like the other thing is a Cesarrow. You know, he
<v Speaker 1>had a couple of good weeks and he's been on
<v Speaker 1>commentary kind of awkwardly the last couple of weeks. He's
<v Speaker 1>probably my top fifteen of Cesarro winning. I think the
<v Speaker 1>fans will get behind it, but I don't think Vince
<v Speaker 1>is behind it. So yeah, this has been great. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>you have really given me too much to think about
<v Speaker 1>in terms of angles and sub angles and you know,
<v Speaker 1>pro and little things that happen in the Rumble that
<v Speaker 1>are the stories within stories within st But that's what
<v Speaker 1>the Rumble's about. That's why you could talk about the
<v Speaker 1>Rumble for hours and hours and hours, because there's so
<v Speaker 1>much going on, so many storylines interwoven, you know, the
<v Speaker 1>five possibilities that could come true. I really don't feel
<v Speaker 1>super confident about Daniel Bryan. I mean I know it
<v Speaker 1>picked him. I know he's the odds on favorite, but
<v Speaker 1>that also scares me. He's the odds on favorite because
<v Speaker 1>it seems too obvious and too easy. Very rarely does
<v Speaker 1>Vince go with the easy option. He usually takes kind
<v Speaker 1>of a backwards way to get there, just to surprise
<v Speaker 1>fans of time. So I'm not super confident. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>Seth Rollins could certainly win it. Uh, you know, brock
<v Speaker 1>Lessner is is brock Lesner, and I don't think brock
<v Speaker 1>would win it. But you know, looking at this top
<v Speaker 1>five list of Vegas odds, you can make a case
<v Speaker 1>for every single one of them. This is a very,
<v Speaker 1>very very difficult rumble. I would stay the hell away
<v Speaker 1>from this to put money on it. I would not
<v Speaker 1>go anywhere near this. Out of all the matches on
<v Speaker 1>the card right now, this one scares me the most
<v Speaker 1>in terms of who could win it. Even the women's
<v Speaker 1>isn't great for me, and this was great. I'm glad
<v Speaker 1>there's not a complete obvious answer. You know that it
<v Speaker 1>that it has to be like you know, you'd look
<v Speaker 1>back and Roan Rains has to win it Rome Like
<v Speaker 1>in twenty fifteen, ro Wayne's gotta win it and he
<v Speaker 1>won it, right like, So there's been times where it's
<v Speaker 1>very obvious who's gonna win it, and this year is
<v Speaker 1>extremely difficult. So uh, any final thoughts or items you'd
<v Speaker 1>like to wrap up or shout out to anything.
<v Speaker 2>Like that, Well, do you have a couple of shouts
<v Speaker 2>to throw out? But I also thought about one one
<v Speaker 2>more quick thing as far as the Man's rumble goes,
<v Speaker 2>is there a chance, like the three faces of Folly,
<v Speaker 2>we see two to potentially three faces of Wyatt.
<v Speaker 1>I that's com glad you brought that up too, because
<v Speaker 1>I said the same thing maybe last week of he
<v Speaker 1>starts out with the fun Bray Wyatt that he goes
<v Speaker 1>to the swamp cult leader and then he goes to
<v Speaker 1>the Fiend.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I thought about the same thing, like you know, and
<v Speaker 1>you're right, Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>So that that was on my mind. Or is it?
<v Speaker 2>Is it pray Wyatt you know, as like fun Bray White,
<v Speaker 2>because that's supposed to be the current version. We totally
<v Speaker 2>skipped the cult leader go into the Fiend and then
<v Speaker 2>he comes back as his third, you know, third new persona,
<v Speaker 2>which I still like the idea of the friend. I
<v Speaker 2>still think I hope wwe creative is out there because
<v Speaker 2>I'm lobbing you a grapefruit here. All you have to
<v Speaker 2>do is knock it out of the park. Okay, it's
<v Speaker 2>pretty easy. But I could see that because there's been
<v Speaker 2>so many retreads with you know, the mandal Claw, with
<v Speaker 2>the you know, Kevin Owen's using the Stunner like so
<v Speaker 2>many things, and of course you know the belief that
<v Speaker 2>people don't want change, Well, why don't they really think
<v Speaker 2>that we forget this? But we don't forget. But I
<v Speaker 2>could see that kind of happening. Aside from that, I
<v Speaker 2>would like to do some shout outs if I could
<v Speaker 2>real quick. Okay, so as everybody, as all of our
<v Speaker 2>listeners know, I'm currently on work assignment here in Memphis, Tennessee,
<v Speaker 2>which is my old stomping ground's been here for a
<v Speaker 2>long time. Last time I was on the show, I
<v Speaker 2>kind of mentioned the restaurant I was working at, which
<v Speaker 2>is the Kooky Kaduck in Cordova, Tennessee, and I had
<v Speaker 2>two of our listeners come and visit me, and I
<v Speaker 2>just want to give him a shout out. That was
<v Speaker 2>Rob Poier and Tayshaun Reid, their friends both live out
<v Speaker 2>in the Germantown area their roommates, and apparently they really
<v Speaker 2>really enjoyed the show, and when they found out they
<v Speaker 2>could actually come meet me, they came. They had some lunch,
<v Speaker 2>and we talked wrestling for about a half hour forty
<v Speaker 2>five minutes. It was really cool and it was really awesome,
<v Speaker 2>and so I just wanted to let them know that
<v Speaker 2>I would recognize them on the show. And then just
<v Speaker 2>a few people from around the town and a couple
<v Speaker 2>of businesses. While I was gone, a few new businesses
<v Speaker 2>opened nine oh one Comics. It's owned by a man
<v Speaker 2>named Shannon Merritt. It's a great comic shop if you're
<v Speaker 2>in the Memphis Cooper Young area. It's fantastic. I love
<v Speaker 2>my comic books. I've known Shannon for many years and
<v Speaker 2>I'm glad he also owns his own publishing label, and
<v Speaker 2>they have some of their own comics that they produced themselves,
<v Speaker 2>which is really cool. So you never know if somebody
<v Speaker 2>you know might become a character inside of a comic
<v Speaker 2>as just a kind of one off, kind of tongue
<v Speaker 2>in cheek thing, which is really awesome. A couple gentlemen
<v Speaker 2>who are a big wrestling fans, a man by the
<v Speaker 2>name of Randy Creswell. He's a really nice guy and
<v Speaker 2>he's really into all things that are kind of subculture,
<v Speaker 2>which I think is really awesome. You can have conversations
<v Speaker 2>with this guy all day, like you and I when
<v Speaker 2>we sidebar. A gentleman by the name of Mark Tetford
<v Speaker 2>I've known for many years. I hadn't seen for a
<v Speaker 2>long time. Who used to when he was a teenager
<v Speaker 2>sell hot dogs so he could make it to the
<v Speaker 2>Mid South Coliseum and there he would sell programs for
<v Speaker 2>the Old Continental and Old USWA and all the old
<v Speaker 2>Memphis territories and Mid South territories. And he has a
<v Speaker 2>few that I might be acquiring from him. And he
<v Speaker 2>was the man who gave me the old phrase that
<v Speaker 2>pro wrestling was his favorite hillbilly soap opera. So it's
<v Speaker 2>something I love. And the last shout out goes to
<v Speaker 2>a place called Grivet Outdoors. It's also in the Cooper
<v Speaker 2>Young area. When I was visiting the comic shop, I
<v Speaker 2>went there. I met the owner. It's a great outdoor store.
<v Speaker 2>It's not that big. I've got a great selection of shoes,
<v Speaker 2>all kinds of equipment there for anything that you want
<v Speaker 2>to do. As far as hiking, kayaking, outdoors, you name it,
<v Speaker 2>they've got it. And what really impressed me is that
<v Speaker 2>he had a thorough stand of men's body care, such
<v Speaker 2>as like every Man Jack Cremo, stuff like that. I
<v Speaker 2>use a lot of that skincare product and beard balms
<v Speaker 2>and things of that nature. You can say whatever, but
<v Speaker 2>for forty five, I look fantastic. So I thought it
<v Speaker 2>was really awesome that he had a lot of that,
<v Speaker 2>especially a lot of natural soaps and think just things
<v Speaker 2>of that nature. And like I said, his shoe collection
<v Speaker 2>is amazing. So if you're in the area, you're in
<v Speaker 2>the Memphis area and you go to Cooper Young, definitely
<v Speaker 2>check it out. And I just want to let those
<v Speaker 2>people know that I recognize them and it's fantastic. And
<v Speaker 2>any time you folks want to reach me at Twitter,
<v Speaker 2>it's at one four to four, Captain. I respond to everything.
<v Speaker 2>I love getting new followers, I love following new people.
<v Speaker 2>I love talking wrestling, and I love ideas. If you
<v Speaker 2>have any questions or anything that for the next time
<v Speaker 2>I'm on a show you would like me to answer,
<v Speaker 2>feel free to send to me. I'd love to go
<v Speaker 2>back and forth with Matt because he and I have
<v Speaker 2>some great conversations, and that's what I got.
<v Speaker 1>Very good. I mean, I would say that you you
<v Speaker 1>become somewhat of a celebrity now Memphis. That's pretty cool.
<v Speaker 1>And Robin Taishan, right, those are the two names. Yeah, okay, cool, cool,
<v Speaker 1>that's that's pretty cool that you've had. I haven't not
<v Speaker 1>had that happen, although I haven't been out really outside
<v Speaker 1>my house in about ten months eleven months, so, and
<v Speaker 1>you know, I don't know how many people actually know
<v Speaker 1>what I look like. I mean some people do. My
<v Speaker 1>logo is pretty obvious. But yeah, so very good. And Michael,
<v Speaker 1>thank you as always, this has been a great conversation.
<v Speaker 1>We've got so much to talk about. Our listeners, I'm
<v Speaker 1>sure have a lot to think about with their royal
<v Speaker 1>Rumble picks, and I'm curious to see what you guys
<v Speaker 1>think and email the show at real ww podcast at
<v Speaker 1>gmail dot comic course, and Michael, we will be doing
<v Speaker 1>this again very soon, especially post Rumble. I'm sure there's
<v Speaker 1>going to be so much to discuss. I mean, it's
<v Speaker 1>once we are now kicking at guys like tomorrow night
<v Speaker 1>is the night that we've all been looking forward to
<v Speaker 1>as wrestling fans, because yes, it's rumble and that's fun
<v Speaker 1>as hell. But it is now officially WrestleMania season. It's
<v Speaker 1>insane to say, given that I feel like I just
<v Speaker 1>watched the two nights special from WrestleMania thirty six at
<v Speaker 1>the Performance Center now the Capital City Wrestling Center, of course,
<v Speaker 1>but it's crazy that it's almost been a full year.
<v Speaker 1>So guys, it is WrestleMania season and I couldn't be
<v Speaker 1>more excited. And Michael, thank you so much for coming
<v Speaker 1>on the show and taking the time out of your
<v Speaker 1>evening and we'll be in touch very very soon.
<v Speaker 2>Thank you very much. You have a wonderful evening, and
<v Speaker 2>as always I'm humbled. Folks, Stay safe and have fun.
<v Speaker 1>Awesome, thanks so much. All right, good night, good night,