WWE Raw Review: LA Knight & CM Punk vs Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed, Sami Zayn vs Rusev, Becky Lynch vs Maxxine Dupri for IC Title

<v Speaker 1>This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre, and you're listening to
<v Speaker 1>the WWE podcast show.
<v Speaker 2>The one that everybody wants me god.
<v Speaker 3>Stand for sixteen. So just what your ass is my arm?
<v Speaker 1>You're gonna acknowledge me.
<v Speaker 2>And welcome everybody to the Monday Night Raw review for
<v Speaker 2>this twelfth day of August twenty twenty five, as Clash
<v Speaker 2>in Paris comes to us in two weeks came up
<v Speaker 2>kind of quick. I feel like I just said it
<v Speaker 2>was four weeks.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know.
<v Speaker 2>Time goes sasstro as you get older, as I'm sure
<v Speaker 2>all of you know, and there's actual science behind that.
<v Speaker 2>But way beyond the point, I hope everyone's enjoying their
<v Speaker 2>Tuesday or their or whatever day you're listening to this
<v Speaker 2>as the week rolls on here and halfway through August.
<v Speaker 2>That's crazy to me as well. Football is just a
<v Speaker 2>few weeks away. Baseball playoffs are just a few weeks away.
<v Speaker 2>The as I said, the next plee of WWE Clash
<v Speaker 2>in Paris comes to us August thirty first, and then
<v Speaker 2>stays over there for a couple of weeks, and we
<v Speaker 2>get to enjoy the last of the John Cena Tour
<v Speaker 2>which is winding down, winding down quickly, with just eleven
<v Speaker 2>dates left, and they're actually coming here to my hometown
<v Speaker 2>of Albany. But the problem is that they are not
<v Speaker 2>going to be here or Johnson is not going to
<v Speaker 2>be here on one of those dates. So I'm a
<v Speaker 2>bit discouraged to go to SmackDown. If he was coming,
<v Speaker 2>it would be no doubt about it. I would go.
<v Speaker 2>But WWE over the last several months and years has
<v Speaker 2>just spiked their ticket sales to a point that's just
<v Speaker 2>it's ridiculous. Going to a pl is means you have
<v Speaker 2>to take a second mortgage on your home. Going to
<v Speaker 2>a just a televised event means you need to use
<v Speaker 2>like a firm to have a payment plan of some sort.
<v Speaker 2>And maybe if you have enough cash laying around, you
<v Speaker 2>can get to a non televised live event, a house show.
<v Speaker 2>But I mean, it's just getting ridiculous. I haven't seen
<v Speaker 2>the ticket sales yet for here in Albany. They go
<v Speaker 2>on sale in a few days, we'll see. I might go.
<v Speaker 2>It's been a few years since SmackDown has come here,
<v Speaker 2>and WWA has advertised Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes and
<v Speaker 2>some other big stars, but no John Cena, which is
<v Speaker 2>again kind of disheartening. Is it possible that he has
<v Speaker 2>another date or two. Maybe he's not going on beyond December,
<v Speaker 2>but selfishly maybe he'll show up. So anyway, welcome to
<v Speaker 2>the show. If you guys want to go ed free
<v Speaker 2>and you enjoy the show, go over to patreon dot
<v Speaker 2>com slash you WWE podcast get an ad free experience.
<v Speaker 2>It's a perfect place to go if you want to
<v Speaker 2>get rid of all those ads, those pesky ads. You
<v Speaker 2>can also go over to app if you don't want
<v Speaker 2>to leave your app. Most of you do listen through Apple.
<v Speaker 2>Go to the subscribe button right there on Apple and
<v Speaker 2>go add free. And if you want to go on
<v Speaker 2>a yearly basis you can. It does offer a few
<v Speaker 2>months for free if you do that option. Now let's
<v Speaker 2>get into Monday Night Raw. That came to us, as
<v Speaker 2>I said yesterday, and it was in let me get
<v Speaker 2>the name of the building. I have it here somewhere,
<v Speaker 2>the Center Videotron in Quebec City, Quebec, and we had
<v Speaker 2>a recap of seth Rollins cashing in the money the
<v Speaker 2>bank contract. We're going to see that for a while
<v Speaker 2>and They showed footage of the Rollins at La Night
<v Speaker 2>Angle and the show closing angle with Rollins and his
<v Speaker 2>crew laying out Night Roman reigns in Sam Punk and
<v Speaker 2>then Sampunk comes out and he's introduced by Alisha Taylor
<v Speaker 2>and Cole said Punk held the world championship just five
<v Speaker 2>minutes before Rolins successfully cashed in the money in the
<v Speaker 2>bank contract that were allowed chants for Punk, and he
<v Speaker 2>said the fans made it hard for him to be angry,
<v Speaker 2>but then he thinks about how there should be gold
<v Speaker 2>around his waist. He says, I have a Seth Rollins problem.
<v Speaker 2>He added that Rollins is trying his best to be
<v Speaker 2>seen on Punk yet failing miserably, and he recalled becoming
<v Speaker 2>champion for the first time in over a dozen years,
<v Speaker 2>which is actually pretty crazy, and he said that if
<v Speaker 2>fans thought he was relentless in pursuit of his goals
<v Speaker 2>and obsessed with becoming champion, he's even more possessed now
<v Speaker 2>when it comes to regaining the title. He recalled saying
<v Speaker 2>hate the player, not the game, and says he doesn't
<v Speaker 2>hate the game because he's cashing it before, but he
<v Speaker 2>still hates the player. Seth Rollins and he said Rollins
<v Speaker 2>wouldn't have to pretend to be injured because he's gonna
<v Speaker 2>get his hands on him and then break his leg,
<v Speaker 2>a pretty good line. That's when Alla Knight comes out.
<v Speaker 2>Ella Knight and Punk here had an extended interaction which
<v Speaker 2>you know, I didn't think i'd see because of La
<v Speaker 2>Knight's position in the company of Late where he scratched
<v Speaker 2>the main event. But you know, he's never gonna really
<v Speaker 2>be the one to win, and it's gonna be the
<v Speaker 2>same thing here. Unfortunately for Clash in Paris. If you're
<v Speaker 2>looking for La Knight to have any chance of victory,
<v Speaker 2>it's not on the and not in the cards right now.
<v Speaker 2>Sad to say, but you know, with Rollins just becoming
<v Speaker 2>champion and they had this whole angle leading to the
<v Speaker 2>fake injury that led to the cash in, there's not
<v Speaker 2>a chance that they have any idea or any plan
<v Speaker 2>to take the belt off him much. Let's give it
<v Speaker 2>to La Knight. And by the way, after this, I
<v Speaker 2>will talk about carrying Cross, Okay, I do have some
<v Speaker 2>thoughts on that in just a moment. But finishing out
<v Speaker 2>this first segment here with La Knight and Cumpunk, which
<v Speaker 2>again was very surprising that they had to back and
<v Speaker 2>forth interaction one of this length, particularly for La Knight,
<v Speaker 2>who maybe this was his longest promo and it was
<v Speaker 2>a hell of a test for La Knight, who's going
<v Speaker 2>against one of the greatest promos in WWE pro wrestling
<v Speaker 2>history and Cmpunk. It was a hell of a test,
<v Speaker 2>and I think La Knight passed the test. He held
<v Speaker 2>his own with Punk is he has eloquent and clever
<v Speaker 2>and creative and witty with words as Punk is. No,
<v Speaker 2>he's not, but he's more than satisfactory to feel like
<v Speaker 2>he belongs. And that's what I was looking for here
<v Speaker 2>with La Knight. While La Knight's not young, he's in
<v Speaker 2>his forties, and he actually does have a lot of experience.
<v Speaker 2>He's in the Independence before WWE. It's not just like
<v Speaker 2>he arrived at WWE for the first time ever being
<v Speaker 2>in a wrestling ring. But that's what I was still
<v Speaker 2>looking for because this was his biggest test to date
<v Speaker 2>on the microphone was being able to hang with with Punk,
<v Speaker 2>not just in a short burst with prepared lines, but
<v Speaker 2>in having to add libs some things, having to go
<v Speaker 2>off the cuff a little bit, having to adjust on
<v Speaker 2>the fly and remembering the bullet points that he had
<v Speaker 2>to say, and I think l A. Knight passed and
<v Speaker 2>that was a good thing. Did he blow Punk out
<v Speaker 2>of the water? No, no, no, no, no no, no he didn't.
<v Speaker 2>But it wasn't as if he looked nervous. He didn't
<v Speaker 2>bumble too many lines. He didn't trip over his words.
<v Speaker 2>LA Knight has done that in the past, and Punk
<v Speaker 2>has done that too. I mean, see on Punk is
<v Speaker 2>not immune to fumbles, bumbles, stutters. It's just a fact
<v Speaker 2>of being a human being. But you know, he's not
<v Speaker 2>immune either, And I just wanted to bring that point
<v Speaker 2>up because I think this was a massive test for
<v Speaker 2>la Knit to see how he feels with an extended
<v Speaker 2>promo against Punk. L and Night did repeat himself a
<v Speaker 2>couple more times than he probably should have, saying that
<v Speaker 2>you know, he doesn't have a problem with him and
<v Speaker 2>he doesn't want a problem with him. He said that
<v Speaker 2>like three or four times. But it was a good
<v Speaker 2>point to drive home. I mean saying that these guys
<v Speaker 2>are not adversaries and they're trying not to be because
<v Speaker 2>they're both babyfaces, of course, and they have a common
<v Speaker 2>enemy in Seth Rollins so they both were trying this
<v Speaker 2>while showing friction, saying hey, like I don't want to
<v Speaker 2>be your enemy, you don't want to be mine, and
<v Speaker 2>then reminding each other, hey, we have a common enemy,
<v Speaker 2>Seth Rollins. You got a Seth Rollins problem. I got
<v Speaker 2>a Seth Rowland's problem. And so that was a nice
<v Speaker 2>thing to see because I don't think there's anybody who
<v Speaker 2>really wants to see Seampunk versus l a night. It's
<v Speaker 2>not it's not a match in demand. They're they're not
<v Speaker 2>anywhere near in position to do that. The fans aren't
<v Speaker 2>asking for it. They're both babyfaces, they have a common enemy.
<v Speaker 2>It's just it makes absolutely no sense for these two
<v Speaker 2>to have a one on one program. Now they will
<v Speaker 2>of course fight each other in the Fatal four way,
<v Speaker 2>and they did have the end of the match here
<v Speaker 2>with the main event we'll talk about later. They did
<v Speaker 2>have some you know, some explosion, but that's that's okay.
<v Speaker 2>Now that there's a fatal four way, they have a
<v Speaker 2>reason to be brawling with one another because it's not
<v Speaker 2>just about them. It's really about Seth and trying to
<v Speaker 2>take the belt off of Seth. And you have these
<v Speaker 2>four opponent who are going to face each other in
<v Speaker 2>just a couple of weeks. So it's okay in that context.
<v Speaker 2>But this was a good segment here. Paul Haymon did
<v Speaker 2>come out and he was out there with the bronze,
<v Speaker 2>the tribal thief. That was a good line. The shoe
<v Speaker 2>of Fala that was on Where did you come up
<v Speaker 2>with this crap? They see chat chipting his promos. I
<v Speaker 2>mean it's just crazy. I mean, who would have ever
<v Speaker 2>thought of thinking of coming up with the shoe of Fala.
<v Speaker 2>Nobody came up with that, you know, he came up
<v Speaker 2>with just the mastermind of Paul Hayman and the you know,
<v Speaker 2>the tribal thief. Great stuff, great stuff, And I mean
<v Speaker 2>you do wonder how many pairs of shoes that bronze
<v Speaker 2>Bronson Reid is going to collect before Roman reigns redeems
<v Speaker 2>that you know for sure, Roman reigns after he claims
<v Speaker 2>victory over you know, Bronson Reid and gets a spear
<v Speaker 2>in a victory, He's going to take those shoes back.
<v Speaker 2>And it's just a fun little side story. It's almost
<v Speaker 2>like a trophy that Bronson Reed is carrying around that
<v Speaker 2>makes you want to see Roman get back at him.
<v Speaker 2>It's actually don't mind it. Well, I don't feel like
<v Speaker 2>to me, it's not a personal sign of disrespect out
<v Speaker 2>of the fact that it's just against the law. I
<v Speaker 2>understand why people want to see Roman Reign's claim his
<v Speaker 2>shoes back. It's just personal property. It's a fine little
<v Speaker 2>side story, is all I'm trying to say. So Paul
<v Speaker 2>Hammond did say that, you know, he mocked the French fans,
<v Speaker 2>which was great, and said he, you know, saying a
<v Speaker 2>few words in French and then saying that's all he knew.
<v Speaker 2>But what did he say? He called it the garbage,
<v Speaker 2>the guttural language, just totally hammering French, which, hey, if
<v Speaker 2>you're a Canadian, French is it's it's a pride in
<v Speaker 2>your culture. I know that it's something that you treasure,
<v Speaker 2>especially when it comes to people that speak French. And
<v Speaker 2>I know that there are certain provinces that if you
<v Speaker 2>don't speak French, it's certainly frowned upon. And I understand
<v Speaker 2>that and so, but as an American this made me
<v Speaker 2>laugh because French here, I mean the predominant the predominant
<v Speaker 2>language is English. We actually do finally have an official
<v Speaker 2>language of America, which is English, and it should be
<v Speaker 2>not that people can't speak other languages, but if you're
<v Speaker 2>going to be here, you should at least be able
<v Speaker 2>to speak the native tongue. Right doesn't Again, it doesn't
<v Speaker 2>mean you can't speak other languages or shouldn't learn another
<v Speaker 2>language for a job or be able to travel or
<v Speaker 2>whatever other interests you may have. But a country should
<v Speaker 2>have an official language. It just should as a shared
<v Speaker 2>value for that for any country, I believe there should
<v Speaker 2>be one, and it should be expected that if you're
<v Speaker 2>going to live there, you should understand it or at
<v Speaker 2>least know the basics if you're going to travel. That
<v Speaker 2>not holding any other country to any standard that I
<v Speaker 2>wouldn't hold the United States to. But my point is,
<v Speaker 2>Hayman mocking French was funny because as somebody from the
<v Speaker 2>United States that doesn't know French, like the vast majority,
<v Speaker 2>vast majority of Americans that cannot speak French fluently, you
<v Speaker 2>just don't care about French because it's not a language
<v Speaker 2>you need to know or most people have an interest
<v Speaker 2>in learning at all or need to know. So it's
<v Speaker 2>just like, Okay, yeah, it's hilarious, Like we all know bonjour,
<v Speaker 2>we know, baguette, you know, we we we know, like
<v Speaker 2>the most basic, ridiculously elementary words for French. So it
<v Speaker 2>was funny hearing Paul Hayman mock the French language. Of course,
<v Speaker 2>if you're in Canada, you know you genuinely don't like it.
<v Speaker 2>But that's the point. So he said that he do
<v Speaker 2>whatever it took to get out of get out of
<v Speaker 2>their province so he could avoid their guttural language. That
<v Speaker 2>was great, just great. Haymond told Knight he should avoid
<v Speaker 2>getting into the favor business with Punk. It's a good
<v Speaker 2>reminder of remember the favor that Punk gave Hayman, and
<v Speaker 2>then Hayman had to return the favorite of Punk, which
<v Speaker 2>is what started the whole thing last year and ended
<v Speaker 2>with Paul Haman turning out everybody in the lining with
<v Speaker 2>seth rollins. Very nice reminder, very nice tie in by Hayman.
<v Speaker 2>He said doing so will take years off your life
<v Speaker 2>and cost you your tribal chief. And Punk cut off
<v Speaker 2>Hayman saying someone was going to get punched in the
<v Speaker 2>face tonight. And he told Breaker and Read to come
<v Speaker 2>on down, and Hayman said they could make it a match,
<v Speaker 2>and the predictable tag team match was set up, and
<v Speaker 2>that's when Breaker wanted to head to the ring, but
<v Speaker 2>Hayman talked Breaker down. Good open to the show, solid open,
<v Speaker 2>tried and true method of setting the hook for the
<v Speaker 2>main event. I know it doesn't need to happen every time,
<v Speaker 2>but it makes sense. You have your big stars to
<v Speaker 2>open the show that have a hook to the end
<v Speaker 2>of the show to keep you watching. It makes sense.
<v Speaker 2>It's been a formula that WWE has used, other protions
<v Speaker 2>have used since the dawn of time, and it just works.
<v Speaker 2>No need to break something that's not broken or fix
<v Speaker 2>something that's not broken, and I think that this is
<v Speaker 2>something I'd like to I'd like to see this more often.
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes it's we don't know what the main event is
<v Speaker 2>going to be. It just kind of happens in the
<v Speaker 2>middle of the show. So all right. We then had
<v Speaker 2>Finn Baaler speaking with Rock cal Rodriguez, Roxanne Perez, and
<v Speaker 2>j D McDonough inside the Judgment Day clubhouse. Dominicque Sterio
<v Speaker 2>shows up with Little Grande Americano, which is the Ludwig
<v Speaker 2>Kaiser version, and the others wondered why dom brought Americano
<v Speaker 2>with him. Balor pulled aside Dom and said he's good
<v Speaker 2>at reading the room and the others don't want el
<v Speaker 2>grande there. Dom spoke about using Americano at Triple A Triplemania,
<v Speaker 2>Baalor said it would be great if Americano could help
<v Speaker 2>Dom bring the Triple A Mega Championship to the clubhouse.
<v Speaker 2>Domin Americano headed out, and Ballor suggested that Rodriguez and
<v Speaker 2>Perez go speak with Pierce about the WWE Women's tag
<v Speaker 2>team titles. So good, I mean a little tension there's
<v Speaker 2>I don't really have much to say about it other
<v Speaker 2>than the fact that I can't believe that Judgment Day
<v Speaker 2>is still existing. It's still a thing. Maybe perhaps to
<v Speaker 2>just wait until Live Morgan comes back. I'm not sure
<v Speaker 2>what the this is really doing anymore for anyone. The
<v Speaker 2>Judgment Day has cooled off to a point of if
<v Speaker 2>they disbanded, you would just throw flowers at their feet
<v Speaker 2>and say, you know, job well done, very good storyline,
<v Speaker 2>help build new stars, reear Ripley, Damian Priest. I wouldn't
<v Speaker 2>say it helped Finn Balor really in any respect. In fact,
<v Speaker 2>Finn Baler is probably the one guy from this entire
<v Speaker 2>Judgment Day story that's been going on for a few
<v Speaker 2>years now that has not come out worse or better.
<v Speaker 2>He just was there. I know that's not a talking
<v Speaker 2>point for a lot of people about the Judgment Day
<v Speaker 2>and what the benefits of the Judgment Day were, or
<v Speaker 2>even the fact that Judgment Day should not even exist
<v Speaker 2>at this point. But the stars that it has helped
<v Speaker 2>create live Morgan. It's helping rak HeLa Rodriguez right now
<v Speaker 2>find something to do. Roxanne Perez is getting some notoriety
<v Speaker 2>in that group, So I guess it has a bit
<v Speaker 2>of a purpose still, but it's fading, fading fast. But
<v Speaker 2>when it comes to Finn Balor, he's maybe the only
<v Speaker 2>talent that didn't get hurt or helped by this because
<v Speaker 2>he was never the focal point. You never saw him
<v Speaker 2>break out as the true leader of the group. It
<v Speaker 2>always was by de facto Rhea or Rhea and or
<v Speaker 2>Damian Priest rather or some combination of those two. It
<v Speaker 2>helped Dominic Mysterio get put on the map as far
<v Speaker 2>as one of the biggest heels in the company's history.
<v Speaker 2>It produced a great storyline with Riha and dom and
<v Speaker 2>the chemistry there and the betrayal Live Morgan had a
<v Speaker 2>place to land and used the Judgment Day as a
<v Speaker 2>as something that she could steal from Ria Ripley and
<v Speaker 2>then take it over. The Judgment Day has been a
<v Speaker 2>nice platform. It has more than run its course, So
<v Speaker 2>I guess it has been overall absolutely a net positive.
<v Speaker 2>I guess if you were going to go into a
<v Speaker 2>micro vision of this or a micro analysis, you would
<v Speaker 2>say that Finn is the only one that you go, eh,
<v Speaker 2>j D McDonough, even j D McDonough who had some
<v Speaker 2>kind of platform also to learn and to grow and
<v Speaker 2>to gain some notoriety and respect with fans, great place
<v Speaker 2>for him to start. So yeah, I don't know. I
<v Speaker 2>didn't think I'd go into a diet tribe about the
<v Speaker 2>Judgment Day and its current status and its legacy, but
<v Speaker 2>I did anyway. So aj Styles then makes his entrance
<v Speaker 2>for a tag team match with Dragon Lee versus Dom
<v Speaker 2>and Americano heading into the break, and then Graves hyped
<v Speaker 2>Triple A and Triple A Triple Mania with YouTube, and
<v Speaker 2>then Cole hyped l El Hijo Hi Ho no God
<v Speaker 2>Della Ving Kingo versus. I shouldn't even pronounce these names.
<v Speaker 2>It's an embarrassment. Can you tell I watched Triple A regularly?
<v Speaker 2>Pretty obvious, isn't it. So anyway, there's gonna be a
<v Speaker 2>Triple Mania main event that includes El Americano and Dominic
<v Speaker 2>and Dragon Lee. I can say those names there. Dom
<v Speaker 2>then comes out wearing a mask he removed as he
<v Speaker 2>walked to the ring, and Americana was waiting at ringside.
<v Speaker 2>Cole said Graves and JBL will deliver the English commentary
<v Speaker 2>for Triple Mania, and AJ Styles and Dragonly then took
<v Speaker 2>on Dom and El Grande. The match went sixteen minutes
<v Speaker 2>and forty seconds. Quite a lengthy match, longer than I
<v Speaker 2>thought it would be. And the match ended with Dom
<v Speaker 2>putting out his mask and putting the metal piece inside
<v Speaker 2>of the of the mask right where his forehead was,
<v Speaker 2>and Styles rolled up Americano, who kicked out and then
<v Speaker 2>Dom headbutted Styles from the apron and Americano rolled up
<v Speaker 2>Styles and got the free count. So Dominic and Elgrande
<v Speaker 2>beat AJ and Dragonly, which you know, if they're going
<v Speaker 2>to continue to use this head piece metal pieces, I
<v Speaker 2>guess it's fine. It's it is becoming much of an
<v Speaker 2>Eddie Guerrero type of personality for Dom, not that El
<v Speaker 2>Grande hasn't used the metal plate. He has, but it's
<v Speaker 2>been a trend now for Dominic Masterial to continue to
<v Speaker 2>find a way to cheat to win. And the fans
<v Speaker 2>are still kind of mildly booing Dom, but hesitantly. I
<v Speaker 2>think we're all booed out. We've gotten it all out
<v Speaker 2>of our systems. I've said that since WrestleMania when they
<v Speaker 2>cheered Dom for winning the Intercontinental title. It's time for
<v Speaker 2>Dom to go babyface if it's an if they can
<v Speaker 2>put it in the cards, if they have other plans,
<v Speaker 2>of course you can. You can just you know, coast
<v Speaker 2>with Dom as a heel. But there is some success
<v Speaker 2>on the other side of the coin for Dom as
<v Speaker 2>a babyface if he adopts the Ady Guerrero version of
<v Speaker 2>wrestling when it comes to match finishes and not every
<v Speaker 2>match he needs to cheat to win. But it would
<v Speaker 2>be funny if he's able to replicate that in a
<v Speaker 2>way that's in dear and a tributary to Eddie Guerrero.
<v Speaker 2>I you know, that would be uh, that would be
<v Speaker 2>I think the best path when they decide to go
<v Speaker 2>babyface with Tom, which, by the way, I think I
<v Speaker 2>mentioned this before, but it's worth mentioning again. Eddie Guerrero.
<v Speaker 2>This year, it'll be twenty years. Twenty years now. Let
<v Speaker 2>me get the date. I forget it was. It was
<v Speaker 2>September October. When did Eddie Guerrero die? Oh no, I'm sorry,
<v Speaker 2>it was November. I thought it was oct October. I
<v Speaker 2>guess I'm wrong. So it was November thirteenth, two thousand
<v Speaker 2>and five.
<v Speaker 1>Wow.
<v Speaker 2>So twenty years this year for Eddie Guerrero, which is
<v Speaker 2>just mind blowing. And I've gone over that so many times.
<v Speaker 2>No death in pro wrestling has hit me personally harder.
<v Speaker 2>And I say personally in kind of a a distant
<v Speaker 2>personal way, because I'm not DELUSI delusional enough to think
<v Speaker 2>that I had some personal connection with Eddie. I didn't.
<v Speaker 2>Ninety nine point nine percent of us listening didn't. You
<v Speaker 2>may have seen him perform, I saw him perform. I
<v Speaker 2>saw him perform many times. Uh WrestleMania twenty and the
<v Speaker 2>most memorable when he became champion. But something about that
<v Speaker 2>death has not gone away. Two decades later. It still
<v Speaker 2>is one of the most devastating and for some reason,
<v Speaker 2>for some reason, it feels personal, even though I know
<v Speaker 2>logically it wasn't never talked to him in my life.
<v Speaker 2>He's not related to me, not my family. He's not
<v Speaker 2>a friend, not an extended friend. He's not a not
<v Speaker 2>a coworker, he's not an acquaintance. He's just a wrestler
<v Speaker 2>that I used to watch, and yet somehow he's the
<v Speaker 2>one that feels like a personal loss. I can't explain it,
<v Speaker 2>but I think it's a feeling that a lot of
<v Speaker 2>people share because they keep coming back to Eddie Guerrero
<v Speaker 2>with the moves that they use in the ring, and
<v Speaker 2>Sasha Banks when she was here, and Eddie Garre or
<v Speaker 2>a dominic was story using Eddie's maneuvers. Now and you
<v Speaker 2>still hear the Eddie chance, there's something about it. And
<v Speaker 2>I don't know how to dig any deeper than that
<v Speaker 2>without going into some kind of psychoanalysis, which I won't
<v Speaker 2>bore you with here, but twenty years, twenty years, it's
<v Speaker 2>just crazy. So maybe we'll do a big special on
<v Speaker 2>that in November, And i'd love to know your guys,
<v Speaker 2>memories of Eddie and if you were alive, I know
<v Speaker 2>some of you weren't even alive when this happened, or
<v Speaker 2>you were infants or very small children. For me, I
<v Speaker 2>was a twenty year old as a most junior in
<v Speaker 2>college in Coastal Carolina University down at Myrtle Beach. That's
<v Speaker 2>where I was in my apartment that he had set
<v Speaker 2>up down there, and I remember sitting there and yeah, anyway,
<v Speaker 2>I won't go into it. Give me your guys, you
<v Speaker 2>know your your memories of Eddie and where you were
<v Speaker 2>when it happened. So then we had all right, where
<v Speaker 2>am I here? Oh, a footage airing of earlier in
<v Speaker 2>the day of Sammy asking Adam Piers for a chance
<v Speaker 2>to win the World Championship. Pierce said he couldn't make
<v Speaker 2>any promises. He said Zayne had a match with Russev
<v Speaker 2>tonight and they could talk. After Seamus showed up and
<v Speaker 2>said Pierce wanted to see him. Pierce told Seamus that
<v Speaker 2>he couldn't have a repeat of what happened to him
<v Speaker 2>in Russev last week, and Zaane told Seamus the match
<v Speaker 2>meant a lot to him and asked him not to
<v Speaker 2>get involved. Seamus gave his word that he wouldn't interfere
<v Speaker 2>in the match. Then we had EO Sky expressing disappointment
<v Speaker 2>to Adam Pierce about her match with Naomi being postponed
<v Speaker 2>because Naomi wasn't cleared. By the way, Naomi was not
<v Speaker 2>cleared too, you compete, and Pierce said she would let
<v Speaker 2>Skuy know more once he heard something, and Raquel Rodriguez
<v Speaker 2>and Roxan Perez showed up and mocked Sky before asking
<v Speaker 2>Pierce about opportunities, and Sky said she came for a
<v Speaker 2>fight and she could find a partner, and Pierce booked
<v Speaker 2>the match, and yeah, so then we get Russ versus Sammy.
<v Speaker 2>Now this matchup went what was the ten minutes and
<v Speaker 2>thirty seconds? Okay, yeah, it's you know, somewhat of a
<v Speaker 2>short match. But the match went to a no contest
<v Speaker 2>because we had Matteo and Loa pull Zane too the
<v Speaker 2>floor and rough him up while Solo barked orders and
<v Speaker 2>they took try to control Solo's crew. That's when Sam well,
<v Speaker 2>Sammy did go for a halluva kick, but he was
<v Speaker 2>stopped by Solo and Talatanga and Jace, Matteo and Togaloa,
<v Speaker 2>so it was a no contest. And that's when Seamus
<v Speaker 2>showed up on the other side of the ring and
<v Speaker 2>attacked Russev. He got the better of Russev and ran
<v Speaker 2>him into the crowd, and Zane was still down being
<v Speaker 2>looked at by producers. So Solo, Soca and his group
<v Speaker 2>that have no business being on Raw that we're all
<v Speaker 2>supposed to forget again, I will be the lone voice
<v Speaker 2>screaming into the void that they are not Raw stars,
<v Speaker 2>They're not champions, well at least champions of any real
<v Speaker 2>consequence that could cross over. Right, Solo is a champion,
<v Speaker 2>but we don't have a reason for him to be there. Okay,
<v Speaker 2>makes no sense, but nonetheless, this matchup again was it
<v Speaker 2>was fine for what it was. I mean, Sammy Zane
<v Speaker 2>in front of the Quebec. While he's from Montreal, he's still,
<v Speaker 2>you know, a fellow Canadian, so he gets that Canadian
<v Speaker 2>hometown hero type of welcome and having it is an
<v Speaker 2>opportunity to get heat, really is what it is. I
<v Speaker 2>know that a lot of people when they go to
<v Speaker 2>these events and have their hometown guys, like when Kevin
<v Speaker 2>Owens was there, or sammy's Ain's there or of course
<v Speaker 2>Brett Hart when he was wrestling, it's an opportunity for
<v Speaker 2>the crowd to love them. But it's also a great
<v Speaker 2>opportunity you could argue it even better opportunity for heat
<v Speaker 2>because you could get that visceral reaction from the hometown
<v Speaker 2>boy or boys getting their ass kicked in front of
<v Speaker 2>their hometown, so you'll get kind of an amplified response there.
<v Speaker 2>And that's what they did here, all right. So Pearson
<v Speaker 2>security led Solo's crew out of the building and used
<v Speaker 2>his phone to reach out to SmackDown general manager Nick
<v Speaker 2>all this, but he ended the call when a referee
<v Speaker 2>arrived and informed him that they had separated Rusav and
<v Speaker 2>Seamus and Pierce's question whether it was true after last week,
<v Speaker 2>and set the referee out. So, okay, fine, you mean
<v Speaker 2>he took him out of the building with security. How
<v Speaker 2>they even get in, How they get to the point
<v Speaker 2>of actually, you know, going through security somehow, going you know,
<v Speaker 2>sneaking by all those men, sneaking by the crack security
<v Speaker 2>team there. It's a little bit implausible. The problem is
<v Speaker 2>this would be more shocking, even slightly believable, if it
<v Speaker 2>didn't happen every single week with people crossing over. But
<v Speaker 2>it does, so, all right. Kovie Kingkson, Xavier Woods, and
<v Speaker 2>Grayson Waller then approached Pierce, and Woods was upset because
<v Speaker 2>Penta ruined his twelve thousand dollars hat, and Pierce said
<v Speaker 2>Woods could take it up with Penta in a match
<v Speaker 2>on next week's show. So pent versus Woods is scheduled
<v Speaker 2>for next week. Small program, but nice to see when
<v Speaker 2>matches are scheduled a week in advance. We then at
<v Speaker 2>a Bronson Reid promo video air and he said he
<v Speaker 2>became a big star because he attacked Seth Rollins. Reid
<v Speaker 2>said he earned Rollins respect and was invited into the Vision, which,
<v Speaker 2>by the way, shout out to my listener of the
<v Speaker 2>Wahse and I believe he's in Indianapolis, Indiana. I'm pretty
<v Speaker 2>sure that's where he's from. He pointed out that last
<v Speaker 2>week Seth called his group of the Vision, and then
<v Speaker 2>I missed it. It is officially called the Vision. I
<v Speaker 2>like it short suite to the point it aligns with
<v Speaker 2>Seth's previous missions and these previous kind of catch phrases.
<v Speaker 2>It's fine and it's cool, so no objections from me there,
<v Speaker 2>and it's nice they have a name, Reid said. If
<v Speaker 2>he doesn't want or Reid said he doesn't want romans respect.
<v Speaker 2>He said he punked out Rains twice and The only
<v Speaker 2>reason it hasn't happened a third time is because Rains
<v Speaker 2>hasn't stepped up, and Reid said it would keep happening
<v Speaker 2>until Roman acknowledges his tribal chief. So there you go.
<v Speaker 2>There's your match for clash in Paris, Roman versus Bronson Reid.
<v Speaker 2>I mean it's there, it's right there. I thought it
<v Speaker 2>was official or tentative, but it's got to be right.
<v Speaker 2>Eo Sky was shown walking backstage when she encountered the
<v Speaker 2>Kabooki Warriors. Kyrie Sayin said that they were sorry about
<v Speaker 2>Sky's tuttle match, and Oscar said they could be in
<v Speaker 2>Sky's corner, and EO said that she beat Roxanne Perez
<v Speaker 2>before and could handle her again, and that's when we
<v Speaker 2>get Roxanne versus Eo Sky. This match went fifteen minutes
<v Speaker 2>and forty seconds, with Roxanne beating EO. The finish was
<v Speaker 2>Osca and EO running out to hell hold Perez against
<v Speaker 2>the ropes. EO tried to take advantage, but Perez broke free,
<v Speaker 2>and that's when Sky stopped short of hitting her, hitting
<v Speaker 2>both of her allies there, and we then had Perez
<v Speaker 2>shoved Sky into Osca insane and knocked them off the
<v Speaker 2>apron and then we got to roll up and held
<v Speaker 2>her tights to get the three counts. So Roxanne does
<v Speaker 2>beat EO in fifteen minutes and forty seconds, which was fine.
<v Speaker 2>Roxanne needs to get some momentum too. She's the newer
<v Speaker 2>girl on the block. EO is a respected champion, respected
<v Speaker 2>former champion, one of the biggest stars in the women's
<v Speaker 2>division last year and into this year, and she's not
<v Speaker 2>gonna be hurt by this loss at all. Roxanne Perez,
<v Speaker 2>even though she beat EO, did it in a way
<v Speaker 2>that you could say is a little underhanded with the
<v Speaker 2>roll up and pulling of the tights and all the rest.
<v Speaker 2>So a fine win for Roxanne. EO's not hurt in
<v Speaker 2>the least and that's it. I mean, I don't know
<v Speaker 2>if this, by the way, is going to lead to
<v Speaker 2>any tension with EO and Osca and Kyrie because of
<v Speaker 2>the fact that EO knocked into Kyrie and Osca off
<v Speaker 2>the ropes. I doubt it based on how it happened,
<v Speaker 2>but it eventually could perhaps as Oscar and Kyrie remain
<v Speaker 2>babyfaces for the moment, but that can change on a
<v Speaker 2>weekly basis with those two, so you never know. So
<v Speaker 2>Jackie Redman interviewed by the way, before I continue, I
<v Speaker 2>did not forget about carrying Cross. All right, I'm gathering
<v Speaker 2>my thoughts as i'm doing this this review, and I'm
<v Speaker 2>looking at some things he said and making sure I
<v Speaker 2>have all the info. So I said, I'm gonna talk
<v Speaker 2>about carry and I am. Just give me a moment here,
<v Speaker 2>so let's continue though with Raw, and Jackie interviewed Jay
<v Speaker 2>Usso and mentioned that he missed Raw last week. I
<v Speaker 2>honestly didn't even know he did. That was not even
<v Speaker 2>at the forefront when she said that, I go, really
<v Speaker 2>that's yeah, I go, I didn't even know you were gone.
<v Speaker 2>I don't mean that to be an insult to just
<v Speaker 2>calling a spade a spade. I didn't even know he
<v Speaker 2>was gone. Jay said it hurt him to miss last
<v Speaker 2>week's Raw. Again, most people didn't notice, I don't think,
<v Speaker 2>but he had to handle family business. Jay said receipts
<v Speaker 2>are coming, and he put Bronson read and seth Rollins unnotice.
<v Speaker 2>And La Knight interrupted the interview and said a lot
<v Speaker 2>of people felt Jay was conspicuous. I think that's what
<v Speaker 2>this words I'm reading is supposed to be by his absence.
<v Speaker 2>Knight said, some of those people were saying Jay must
<v Speaker 2>really want to get out of Roman Reigns's shadow because
<v Speaker 2>he didn't show up. Knight said he didn't believe it,
<v Speaker 2>and Knight said, everybody wants to the World Heavyweight Championship,
<v Speaker 2>but the line starts behind him and Jay welcome Knight
<v Speaker 2>to Raw and gave him a yet again Jay not
<v Speaker 2>getting to say a whole lot, But they have learned
<v Speaker 2>WWE has learned quickly that you should not give Jay
<v Speaker 2>a whole lot to say because that's not Jay's strong
<v Speaker 2>suit at all. In fact, that I bet you one
<v Speaker 2>of the major sticking points with WWE management's position on
<v Speaker 2>removing the belt from jus so so damn quickly after WrestleMania,
<v Speaker 2>they learned that he is simply not I'm really not
<v Speaker 2>trying to insult JA, but he's not championship material, not
<v Speaker 2>World Heavyweight Championship material at this point. Doesn't mean he
<v Speaker 2>can't get there. But I've gone over this many times,
<v Speaker 2>so I won't rehash it other than to say he
<v Speaker 2>didn't have a championship feel his promos were not good.
<v Speaker 2>He has yet he has a connection with the fans,
<v Speaker 2>which was very important and very admirable, but he didn't
<v Speaker 2>have the complete package to feel like a true champion,
<v Speaker 2>and w clearly felt the same way. You wouldn't have
<v Speaker 2>changed course so damn quickly after WrestleMania. All right, so
<v Speaker 2>let's move on. We had then Women's Intercamiental champion and
<v Speaker 2>her challenger, Max Sine Dupree, who was accompanied by a
<v Speaker 2>character Zawa in Italia. Yes, both of them still work
<v Speaker 2>for the company. I was as surprised as you. Cole
<v Speaker 2>hyped WWE's podcast schedule, including Jelly Roll, Who's going to
<v Speaker 2>be on Cody Rhodes's show. EO Sky bickered with Oscar
<v Speaker 2>while Kyrie Saane tried to play peacemaker. Oscar shoved Sky
<v Speaker 2>and stormed away, and that left Sky in Sane both
<v Speaker 2>looking shocked. Syne turned around and then ran off in
<v Speaker 2>Oscar's direction. So, as I just mentioned this, I must
<v Speaker 2>have missed this part because my speculation about potentially having
<v Speaker 2>the Kabookie Warriors turn heel may be founded or founded,
<v Speaker 2>depending on if they want to keep the Kabuki Warriors
<v Speaker 2>together or or of Oscar just go plain heel. Oscar's
<v Speaker 2>turned so many times I really don't know what to
<v Speaker 2>think about it. I mean, she's like the big show
<v Speaker 2>of the women's division. Osca has turned so many times,
<v Speaker 2>and she works fine in both roles. I would actually
<v Speaker 2>argue she works equally as good in both roles. She's
<v Speaker 2>not better as a heel than she has a face,
<v Speaker 2>and vice versa. I think she is equally distant from
<v Speaker 2>the destination of success when it comes to being a
<v Speaker 2>healer of face. She can do both. She's an excellent
<v Speaker 2>and ring worker again, really good at being a heel,
<v Speaker 2>really good at being a babyface and fans except both, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>she doesn't. I personally don't think she's one. One is
<v Speaker 2>better than the other. So who knows what Oscar's gonna do.
<v Speaker 2>It may change on a weekly basis, and I'll just
<v Speaker 2>go for the ride with her because I have no
<v Speaker 2>real strong feeling on where she should go. If I
<v Speaker 2>was to make a decision, I think Osca should probably
<v Speaker 2>stay with Kyrie for a couple of reasons. One, Kyrie
<v Speaker 2>needs something to do, so that's very important because without Oscar,
<v Speaker 2>Kyrie is a lost puppy in terms of character. She
<v Speaker 2>just doesn't seem to know where to go. And number two,
<v Speaker 2>the women's tag team division needs depth, just always and forever,
<v Speaker 2>and it would really, I think bolster the division if
<v Speaker 2>you have two legitimate stars that are a legitimate threat
<v Speaker 2>to the women's tag titles at any time, and especially
<v Speaker 2>if you're not gonna have Charlotte and Charlotte and Alexa
<v Speaker 2>Bliss or they call him or her Lexi now her
<v Speaker 2>real name. They're not gonna have Lexi and Charlotte. Why
<v Speaker 2>don't we just call her Ashley. We're gonna do. Let's
<v Speaker 2>just do with that, right, So, if Lexi and Ashley
<v Speaker 2>are not gonna hold the belts for long, the Kabuki
<v Speaker 2>Warriors are certainly real contenders to hold the belts and
<v Speaker 2>take them off of them. All right, Well, let's continue.
<v Speaker 2>We have then Maxine dupri versus Becky Lynch for the
<v Speaker 2>women's in her Continental title. As expected, the match didn't
<v Speaker 2>last long, and it didn't last long simply because Maxine
<v Speaker 2>is she's not ready for a lengthy match. Went five
<v Speaker 2>minutes and thirty five seconds after Becky Lynch wins by dismission.
<v Speaker 2>A dismission. Here's what I did. Here's what my brain did.
<v Speaker 2>It mixed the word disarmour and submission bit. You never
<v Speaker 2>heard that word before. But she did lock in the disarmour,
<v Speaker 2>which caused a submission, and Maxine loses as she should have.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, the fans didn't really get too much into this.
<v Speaker 2>There wasn't a whole lot of high for this. If any,
<v Speaker 2>Maxine has been largely off of the scene. She was
<v Speaker 2>a bit on the warm side when she was with
<v Speaker 2>the abuse of Chad Gable where he was berating her
<v Speaker 2>on TV along with Otis for several months and you're
<v Speaker 2>thinking Maxine's finally gonna snap. Ever since then, she's not
<v Speaker 2>really done a whole lot of the women's side of things.
<v Speaker 2>But the fact she got a women's in her continental
<v Speaker 2>title match, does she deserve it? Debatable? But she had
<v Speaker 2>a decent match for as long as it was going
<v Speaker 2>on anyway, for five minutes, and Becky Lynch wins as
<v Speaker 2>she should have. I mean, that's that's not even in question.
<v Speaker 2>But afterward, Natalia and Tazala check on Duprex, and then
<v Speaker 2>Lynch hilariously threw a cheap shot kick at Natalia, which
<v Speaker 2>is fine. I mean, this better not lead to Natalia
<v Speaker 2>versus Becky Lynch for the Intercontinental title at Clash in Paris.
<v Speaker 2>They always can use Natalia as a kind of in
<v Speaker 2>house nostalgic act that has absolutely zero chance of winning
<v Speaker 2>any match she's actually in that has any meaning, which
<v Speaker 2>they've done with her for a long time. A veteran respected,
<v Speaker 2>she has a famous uncle. I can't remember who it is.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, some dude, but she being facetious, so
<v Speaker 2>she has all that, she has the name, but she's
<v Speaker 2>not going anywhere in the company. She's had her day,
<v Speaker 2>and they could certainly plug her in as a Bechu
<v Speaker 2>lunch opponent if they really want to to give the
<v Speaker 2>women a little bit more representation on the show. But
<v Speaker 2>if you're a women's division supporter then and most of
<v Speaker 2>us are, there shouldn't be situations where we have to
<v Speaker 2>have pity matches where we have to just plug in
<v Speaker 2>people to check a box that we have. Oh, we
<v Speaker 2>need the women's in our continental title match, we need
<v Speaker 2>more women on the show. Let's just kind of pull
<v Speaker 2>theally in. It's like, no, that that's what you used
<v Speaker 2>to do when the women's wrestling didn't mean much, right,
<v Speaker 2>You just pull these women that can actually wrestle to
<v Speaker 2>have a decent match. From a technical perspective, a sound
<v Speaker 2>wrestling perspective to have a decent match. That shouldn't be
<v Speaker 2>a thing anymore. Now I'm not saying it is, but
<v Speaker 2>I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm just saying
<v Speaker 2>it looks like it could be a possibility. Okay, So
<v Speaker 2>then we have a Bailey promo video airing. She said
<v Speaker 2>she didn't know how good she got or she didn't
<v Speaker 2>know how she got to where she is. She said
<v Speaker 2>she's been doing this for almost thirteen years and has
<v Speaker 2>never felt the way she does. She wants more but
<v Speaker 2>feels less. She said she wants more and feels nothing,
<v Speaker 2>and said the role model name meant something before she
<v Speaker 2>used it, and said she was treated like one before
<v Speaker 2>she saw herself as one, but she eventually realized she
<v Speaker 2>could make a change and be an asset to the business.
<v Speaker 2>She said, now she's by herself. She said she felt
<v Speaker 2>everything that led up to where she has now got
<v Speaker 2>her nowhere, and she had no championship and couldn't remember
<v Speaker 2>the last time she felt proud of herself. She said
<v Speaker 2>it's her fault. The camera got blurry and then cut
<v Speaker 2>to black after she took a deep breath, and then
<v Speaker 2>there was a maniacal sound effect that played interesting. So
<v Speaker 2>are we getting a warped turn by Bailey? I mean,
<v Speaker 2>are we going full Nikki Cross here? I don't know,
<v Speaker 2>She's heading down some kind of path. I'm down for it.
<v Speaker 2>Bailey needs a bit of a kick in the ass,
<v Speaker 2>of course, not a little one, a proverbial kick in
<v Speaker 2>the ass certainly, So we'll see where that goes. I
<v Speaker 2>don't know if it's a bit of a bray Wyatt influence,
<v Speaker 2>or you know, if her and Lexi and Nikki are
<v Speaker 2>gonna have some I mean, I don't know they want
<v Speaker 2>to go demented with Bailey. That's interesting, But they're saying
<v Speaker 2>she feels alone and she you know, she's depressed and down.
<v Speaker 2>Is she spiraling into darkness? I mean again, I feel
<v Speaker 2>like we've seen dark women's characters before and we kind
<v Speaker 2>of know what that looks like, but Bailey has yet
<v Speaker 2>to ever explore that. I mean, she went from you know,
<v Speaker 2>having love affairs with Bailey Buddies and the you know,
<v Speaker 2>the little side ponytail loving aw Shuck's kind of character
<v Speaker 2>to slaughtering the Bailey Buddies live on air to what
<v Speaker 2>I think was the peak of her career up until
<v Speaker 2>that point with Sasha Banks, of all people that I
<v Speaker 2>just despise on every level, despise Mercedes like as a person,
<v Speaker 2>despise her. But at that point I can objectively say
<v Speaker 2>her and Sasha when they won almost all the women's championships,
<v Speaker 2>when they were running the women's division, when her and
<v Speaker 2>Sasha before the breakup happened, I mean, that was just fantastic.
<v Speaker 2>If I'm not mistaken. It was during the pandemic era
<v Speaker 2>of all things too. And despite the fact that I
<v Speaker 2>hate everything that Mercedes is and does and says as
<v Speaker 2>a person, again, as a person, that's how deep this is,
<v Speaker 2>I can still objectively say her and Bailey worked very
<v Speaker 2>well together and that to me was the peak. And
<v Speaker 2>then after that she had some she had damage control,
<v Speaker 2>which was just sadly the beginning of the end for
<v Speaker 2>Bailey's current character. A number of years ago at SummerSlam,
<v Speaker 2>when she, I believe, was interrupted Bianca bell Air and
<v Speaker 2>from there she brought back Kyrie Sane and it was
<v Speaker 2>just not a good look. From there on out, she
<v Speaker 2>was hidden in the group barely ever, the focal point
<v Speaker 2>the group was there, not there. We didn't know whether
<v Speaker 2>we were going, and then Dakota Kai and her had
<v Speaker 2>an eventual breakdown, and Dakota Kai actually before she got released,
<v Speaker 2>was had a really nice breakout performance that year when
<v Speaker 2>she turned So it's been a weird and then obviously
<v Speaker 2>this year she's left off wrestlemedia. It's been a weird
<v Speaker 2>run for Bailey, who has been largely ignored over the
<v Speaker 2>last year and a half to two years. So to
<v Speaker 2>see what they're doing with Bailey here is encouraging that
<v Speaker 2>they have some sort of plan. Whether or not the
<v Speaker 2>plan actually works, of course, we'll find out sometimes execution
<v Speaker 2>and real life will slap you in the face from
<v Speaker 2>what's just created in a board room or in a
<v Speaker 2>zoom discussion with the creative team. We'll see what we'll
<v Speaker 2>see if it comes with this, But I'm down for it.
<v Speaker 2>All right, let's continue. We then had CM punk Sorry,
<v Speaker 2>let's talk about real quickly, and then we'll get to
<v Speaker 2>Sampunk and Bronson read and all that.
<v Speaker 1>Real.
<v Speaker 2>Ripley or I'm sorry EO was shown back walking backstage.
<v Speaker 2>She was approached by Stephanie Vacor, who told her she
<v Speaker 2>wasn't the only one who was promised the title match.
<v Speaker 2>Ria Ripley showed up and told Eo that she was
<v Speaker 2>sorry for her She was looking forward to facing Sky.
<v Speaker 2>Sky facing Naomi, and Sky said Perez shouldn't have beaten her.
<v Speaker 2>Ripley agreed and questioned if Sky can trust Oscar and
<v Speaker 2>sane Oscar is rather Sky said she knew what Ripley
<v Speaker 2>was saying and didn't appreciate it. So tension all around.
<v Speaker 2>That's a moral of the story, all right. Seampunk and
<v Speaker 2>l A Night take on bron Breaker and Bronson Reid
<v Speaker 2>with Paul him and of course the ring side. The
<v Speaker 2>match went sixteen minutes and five seconds with CM Punk
<v Speaker 2>and l A. Knight beating bron Breaker and Bronson read
<v Speaker 2>by disqualification. So kind of a funky night for finishes
<v Speaker 2>as a theme, a lot of roll up DQ no contest,
<v Speaker 2>type of cheap finished nights. But Punk took a hot tag,
<v Speaker 2>he got Breaker down, hit him with the top rope elbow.
<v Speaker 2>Punk removed his T shirt and signaled for his GTS finish.
<v Speaker 2>Seth Rollins comes in and attacks Punk for the DQ finish.
<v Speaker 2>The trio then beat down the Baby Faces. Jays comes
<v Speaker 2>on the stage with a chair. Breaker met Jay in
<v Speaker 2>the entrance aisle and was put down with some chair shots.
<v Speaker 2>He comes in the ring and Reid punched the chair
<v Speaker 2>out of Jay's hands, and you know, Jay worked over
<v Speaker 2>Reid with punches, picked up the chair, cleared him from
<v Speaker 2>the ring. Adam Pierce comes out and makes the fatal
<v Speaker 2>four way match for Clash in Paris, which will be
<v Speaker 2>Seth Rollins taking on jus So in l a Knight
<v Speaker 2>forre I thought they took the word fatal out of it.
<v Speaker 2>I'm surprised because it's not like a deadly fatal four way.
<v Speaker 2>It is kind of funny that they say fatal. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>maybe it's just like a sudden death. Maybe that's the implication,
<v Speaker 2>one fall to a finish. Maybe that's again I'm guessing
<v Speaker 2>that's the implication, because to say it's a fatal four
<v Speaker 2>way or fatal five way or whatever the case, maybe
<v Speaker 2>it's kind of a strong term to use, imp implying
<v Speaker 2>that someone's going to die, Like that's the only context
<v Speaker 2>in which the word fatal is usually used. But I'm
<v Speaker 2>guessing it's just a way to say sudden death. Right,
<v Speaker 2>one fall to a finish. Okay, so fine, no Roman reigns.
<v Speaker 2>We did get Breaker and Reid holding punk on the
<v Speaker 2>mat while Rollins told him he would never hold the
<v Speaker 2>world championship. Though Rollin's left Punk laying with a stomp,
<v Speaker 2>Rollins held up his title while the credits were being shown,
<v Speaker 2>and you know, Breaker went to ringside, speared Night Reid
<v Speaker 2>hit a death valley driver on Jay. So all the
<v Speaker 2>heels ended up standing tall even after the announcement. So
<v Speaker 2>because punkin La Knight came to blows and that's what
<v Speaker 2>allowed the trio to come in and do their damage.
<v Speaker 2>According to this analysis, this person says quote another crappy,
<v Speaker 2>although stronger language finished to a WW television main event.
<v Speaker 2>It seemed like such an obvious swerve when Rollins claimed
<v Speaker 2>he was leaving the building that I thought they might
<v Speaker 2>go a different direction. Unfortunately, they took the usual approach
<v Speaker 2>to avoid a clean finish by going with a blatant
<v Speaker 2>outside interference for a throwaway DQ. They make it tough
<v Speaker 2>to be excited about the four way match announced for
<v Speaker 2>clash in Paris. Why would anyone think that I won't
<v Speaker 2>feature a bunch of outside interference before Rollins retained, given
<v Speaker 2>there are notice qualifications in before a matches. Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I mean again, the fact that way matches or multiperson
<v Speaker 2>matches are no DQ by default is stupid and I've
<v Speaker 2>made that case many times. But yeah, that's the finish.
<v Speaker 2>I know that this person feels that it's a crappy finish.
<v Speaker 2>Is predictable, Yeah, well, no kidding. I mean sometimes you
<v Speaker 2>can see a finish coming a mile away and you
<v Speaker 2>just have to accept it. And instead of looking and
<v Speaker 2>focusing on the finish of the match, which is all
<v Speaker 2>but you know, a foregone conclusion, you have to look
<v Speaker 2>for the other side effect, the byproducts of this, meaning
<v Speaker 2>the quality of the match. Can they convince you at
<v Speaker 2>any point in the match that, oh, crap, seth Rollins
<v Speaker 2>may actually lose here. You look for that kind of stuff.
<v Speaker 2>You look for any potential steps moving forward of who
<v Speaker 2>could Rowins could face moving forward or maybe without Rolins
<v Speaker 2>is Punk and La N'm gonna go on some kind
<v Speaker 2>of run, which I hope they don't, is jay Uso.
<v Speaker 2>And you know Punk gonna go on something, you know,
<v Speaker 2>some kind of one on one Probably not, but you
<v Speaker 2>look for those kinds of things. So yeah, it's predictable.
<v Speaker 1>So what.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, there's gonna be a bunch of outside interference because
<v Speaker 2>multiperson matches by default, don't have DQ. That's we're all
<v Speaker 2>gonna have to live with sometimes the outcomes being incredibly obvious.
<v Speaker 2>It's part of pro wrestling. Okay. Now, there are a
<v Speaker 2>lot of people commenting about carrying Cross, and there was
<v Speaker 2>a lot of there wasn't a lot. There was one
<v Speaker 2>we want Cross sign that I saw at the beginning
<v Speaker 2>of the show that I'm surprised wasn't taken, and there
<v Speaker 2>are reports of w WE confiscating we want Cross signs.
<v Speaker 2>There was no. By the way, this is discouraging if
<v Speaker 2>you are carrying CROSS. I did not hear any we
<v Speaker 2>want Cross chants during the show. That's discouraging. That tells
<v Speaker 2>me perhaps the fans aren't super sad that he's gone.
<v Speaker 2>They could change their minds, and if they do, it'll
<v Speaker 2>be manifesting itself online and in person. That's when it
<v Speaker 2>might get WWE's attention. Now, this is all assuming before
<v Speaker 2>I get into Cross, his comments and all the rest.
<v Speaker 2>This is all assuming that this is not a work
<v Speaker 2>because we all know that WWE is trying to go
<v Speaker 2>They're trying to deep fake us. They try to deep
<v Speaker 2>fake us with Seth Rollins's injury, although they missed some
<v Speaker 2>very key points that it would have been more convincing
<v Speaker 2>that I've gone over before. With the fact that they
<v Speaker 2>didn't come up with the timeline for his injury or
<v Speaker 2>any kind of diagnosis, they could easily lied to us, big, big,
<v Speaker 2>big holes there that led me to believe it was
<v Speaker 2>a work at the very end before the match, before SummerSlam.
<v Speaker 2>But if they're going to go deep fake now with
<v Speaker 2>people being released in contracts and things, this could be
<v Speaker 2>another deep fake for WWE. This could be another one
<v Speaker 2>of those Yeah, okay, we're gonna fake you with an injury. Now,
<v Speaker 2>we're gonna fake you with the contract signing. Now with
<v Speaker 2>with our truth Ron Killings that was real. But this
<v Speaker 2>has the feelings potentially of a work, or they could
<v Speaker 2>be seeing if they want to make this look like
<v Speaker 2>a work based on the crowd response or backlash. So
<v Speaker 2>you know, I don't I don't have a conclusion yet.
<v Speaker 2>But there were no we want Cross chants, which is
<v Speaker 2>again a bit of a discouragement. So Carrying Cross did
<v Speaker 2>comment on his departure and he did say on ex
<v Speaker 2>hey life is fighting right now, accepting bookings and he
<v Speaker 2>has his listing here of business at Killercross dot com.
<v Speaker 2>See you all again soon. So again, I'm sure a
<v Speaker 2>lot of podcasters are reaching out right now and they're
<v Speaker 2>trying to get him booked because it'll be great for
<v Speaker 2>ratings and hear what he has to say and all
<v Speaker 2>the rest. Which, hey, if you get the interview, you
<v Speaker 2>do the interview. Here, I mean, like, yes, absolutely, now
<v Speaker 2>we want Cross was trending for a little while in
<v Speaker 2>number one of the United States for a hot minute
<v Speaker 2>on X That is encouraging. But again it didn't translate
<v Speaker 2>into in person, which if your WWE is key to
<v Speaker 2>whether or not you're going to take action to re
<v Speaker 2>sign Carrying Cross. You also probably wouldn't confiscate signs if
<v Speaker 2>it was not real. So I'm leaning to this not
<v Speaker 2>being a work, but now that there is a potential
<v Speaker 2>that it is. And this is also from and I'll
<v Speaker 2>give it a credit here. Imbd says Carrying Cross has
<v Speaker 2>officially been released by a WWE. He took to his
<v Speaker 2>YouTube channel sharing his side of the story, and with
<v Speaker 2>the future holds that was not all because the video
<v Speaker 2>contained his sentiments about the quote uncertainty that each new
<v Speaker 2>day brought. However, he shared his philosophy on life and
<v Speaker 2>expected his expressed his desire to stay with WWE. Cross
<v Speaker 2>discussed that in life there is no quote real certainty
<v Speaker 2>and that things can turn dark sooner or later, and
<v Speaker 2>he expressed his ideal desire of how he would want
<v Speaker 2>things to go from here on here onwards, and he said,
<v Speaker 2>tomorrow's not guaranteed. So whatever's going to happen is going
<v Speaker 2>to happen what I would like to happen. I would
<v Speaker 2>love to stay with WWE. I'd love to really finish
<v Speaker 2>my career there. I would I don't know what's going
<v Speaker 2>to happen though, so yeah, I mean again, he was
<v Speaker 2>let go or let his contract was rather he wasn't
<v Speaker 2>let go as much as they didn't renew his contract,
<v Speaker 2>they didn't offer from a new one. Okay, that's the difference.
<v Speaker 2>Big difference, right, huge difference is that they did not
<v Speaker 2>offer him a new contract, saying that, you know, we'd
<v Speaker 2>just don't have plans for you. So, if you're a
<v Speaker 2>carrying Cross fan and this is real, and it I'm
<v Speaker 2>leaning in the direction of this being real, it is
<v Speaker 2>a bit disheartening. But if the fans' voices want a
<v Speaker 2>you know, want to be able to pull a miracle
<v Speaker 2>and do what they did with our truth. They need
<v Speaker 2>to be This needs to be a sustained movement, not
<v Speaker 2>just online. It needs to manifest itself consistently in the arenas,
<v Speaker 2>with chants, with fans trying to hijack the show with signs,
<v Speaker 2>and it doesn't seem like any of that's happening outside
<v Speaker 2>of just people typing on their phones. No, we miss Cross,
<v Speaker 2>give Cross a chance. We want Cross. And then you
<v Speaker 2>get to the arena and you don't hear anything. That's
<v Speaker 2>a massive disconnect. That's not what you want if you
<v Speaker 2>want Carrying Cross to come back. So you know, we'll
<v Speaker 2>see what happens there. Carrying Cross, you know, does have
<v Speaker 2>a desire to stay. We'll see. I don't think this
<v Speaker 2>is his last time ever in WWE. Maybe if he
<v Speaker 2>doesn't get resigned right away, he probably will find his
<v Speaker 2>way back at some point. But if fans want to
<v Speaker 2>jump on this, they got to jump jump on a
<v Speaker 2>quick because this is the best time to bring Cross
<v Speaker 2>back is when it's hot and fresh and in people's minds.
<v Speaker 2>And we all know how quickly the news cycle comes
<v Speaker 2>in and out of our heads, no matter how big
<v Speaker 2>or how tragic something is. I mean, doesn't Hulk Hogan's
<v Speaker 2>death feel like four years ago already. It's not even
<v Speaker 2>in the forefront of most of our minds. Yet we
<v Speaker 2>lost the biggest star in wrestling history. So it's just
<v Speaker 2>incredible how quickly we all move on and go to
<v Speaker 2>the next thing, and what's the next news. It's the
<v Speaker 2>world we live in, So if fans are going to
<v Speaker 2>make something happen, it's got to be now. It's got
<v Speaker 2>to be now while people are half paying attention. If
<v Speaker 2>it doesn't happen in the next couple weeks, Carrying Cross
<v Speaker 2>is probably going to go on and do his thing
<v Speaker 2>and take independent bookings or maybe if he aw is interested,
<v Speaker 2>but most likely maybe stay in the independence or make appearents,
<v Speaker 2>special appearances, do signings again, interviews, that kind of thing.
<v Speaker 2>So that I'll do it here for the ww podcast
<v Speaker 2>on this Tuesday, August twelfth. I appreciate everybody staying up
<v Speaker 2>late if you are. I know some of you do
<v Speaker 2>listen to me later. Some of you fall asleep while
<v Speaker 2>I'm talking. I guess I'll take that as a compliment,
<v Speaker 2>so I appreciate it. I'll be back on Friday with
<v Speaker 2>your mail bag. I do want to hear from you
<v Speaker 2>on your thoughts on carrying Cross on the card that's
<v Speaker 2>shaping up for Clash in Paris in a couple of weeks,
<v Speaker 2>as well as the seth Rollins story and everything else
<v Speaker 2>going on and as we head into the end of
<v Speaker 2>summer here, it's not going to be long. So if
<v Speaker 2>you want to go add free though throughout the summer,
<v Speaker 2>the rest of the summer and into the fall and
<v Speaker 2>ramping up for Survivors Series season in just a few months,
<v Speaker 2>you can do that. Patreon dot com Slash WWE podcast
<v Speaker 2>one dollar a month gets you in the door. You
<v Speaker 2>also have a free trial if you want to do that,
<v Speaker 2>or Apple podcasts as well. Hit that subscribe button and
<v Speaker 2>go add free there. Okay, everybody appreciate it. I hope
<v Speaker 2>everyone enjoys the rest of their week. We'll talk in
<v Speaker 2>a few days. See you then.
<v Speaker 3>Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to
<v Speaker 3>subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss
<v Speaker 3>a show, or head to wwepodcast dot com and for
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<v Speaker 3>next time.