Current State of WWE: Is The World Heavyweight Championship Being Devalued?

This is WWE superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the WWE podcast show,
the one that everybody wants me God tell sixteen your ass's mind you can acknowledge
me. Welcome to the current state of WWE. Everybody. It is Monday,
March eleventh. It is twenty twenty four, and WrestleMania continues to creep
closer and closer. We're under that thirty day mark, getting very close to
that WrestleMania forty that we've all been looking forward to. And tonight we're going
to be focusing obviously, with Anthony here in the co host chair, we're
gonna be focusing on something a little bit different other than the Cody Rock Roman
set situation. And that is something that we've touched on a little bit,
but I think it's time to die. I've a little bit deeper into it.
And that is the question of, and the debate of, is the
World Heavyweight Championship being devalued through this entire bill to WrestleMania forty. And we'll
answer that question with Anthony. How you doing man? Not too bad?
Man? How about you? Well, I guess you know what. I
won't lead with a question. I'll just lead with an opening statement, is
the World Heavyweight Championship being positioned in any significant way? Because I know they
came out that Drew McIntyre and Seth Rowns will being quote the co main event
of Night two, but it really feels like that belts take it back seat
and the World Heavyweight Champion in Seth Rawlins is kind of playing riding shotgun with
Cody Rhodes. Well, the fact, okay, that's the first I'm hearing
of that, I'll take it at face value that they are going to make
the World Heavyweight Championship a co main event on Night two, which is really
nothing more than telling the fans. Yeah, it's really all about rock rolling
Cody and Seth for Night one and Night two, we're gonna at least pretend
that there is another main event. It's a bunch of nonsense. It's just
to cover their backside. But no, I look at this and the yes,
the World Heavyweight Championship throughout the process, how has it not been devalued
is really more of the question to me, because everything that they've done has
not been about the World Heavyweight Championship. I mean, everything other than Drew
who's the only one who's trying to make it about the championship, that's the
only character that's credited with trying to keep this belt relevant. Yeah, and
you know what was the biggest sign for me that just irked me in a
way was seth Rawlins coming out to Cody Rhodes's music on SmackDown. I don't
know why, but that really rubbed me the wrong way. And I appreciate
that they're trying to include seth Rawlins in this program as to not be slipping
into the background. So like, from that standpoint, I completely get it
and I respect it. But at the same time, the fact that he's
wasting so much time and energy in something that tangibly he has nothing really invested
in it kind of makes that title feel secondary. And like when you put
those two titles beside each other at this very point in time, it just
inherently feels like the lesser championship because it's been around for only what nine months
or so, as opposed to Roman Reigns, who is kind of holding two
championships, one of which has been around for what fifty years? And like
and then at the same time, it's the Raw Belt and he's going to
smack down, and then Drew McIntyre is like like waiting in the wings,
like it's here's where I'm at with this. When they are in the ring
and the actual segment is actualized and they are going about the execution, it's
really good stuff like that. That promo between the four of them the end
SmackDown was really really good stuff. I enjoyed it in the moment. But
when I I step back once the show is done and I start looking at
things and their overall direction of the shows, it kind of just brings me
back to like the realization that like maybe this is in a backwards way kind
of hurting the World Heavyweight Championship. It is, and I don't think that
it's Honestly, I don't think it's lost on them. The reason is,
and I brought this up last night, I think it was that WWE is
using Drew McIntyre as that kind of acknowledgment that they are devaluing the belt or
not even paying attention to it. Because Drew's whole argument is that seth.
I'm giving him a warning. If you ignore me, you're going to be
you know, you're gonna be looking up at the lights while I'm holding your
belt above you. And we even saw it symbolically on Raw last week with
Seth Rollins literally running past not even acknowledging Drew at the end of Raw and
he ends up getting claymord because of it. And it really again, I
think they understand that this belt is being ignored, and Drew is the one
who's trying to warn Seth and telling Seth, don't disrespect me, don't look
past me. Your business should be here on Raw. And that's also what's
great about the Drew character is he's right, Drew, Seth, or rather
Seth should not be focused on the other brand. If he told us that
this belt and Seth did is the workhorse belt, is the belt that is
more important, has more value than the quote unquote Hollywood belt that he labeled
Romans, then what do you care about what's going on over there? If
you're telling us you have the top prize, what the hell do you care?
What's your vested interest here? And he's telling us, well, sometimes
there are bigger things to you know, bigger fish to fry, and that
it's worth the risk of going over there and trying to take down the bloodline.
Well, why why do you do? You have no one over there
that what is the vested interest here? And he's trying to befriend Cody.
But all in the process of all this to say, that belt has,
like you said, about nine months or so and has come out of the
woodwork, and Seth has done a good job with it, but it ultimately
has taken a back seat, which is good for Drew but ultimately not good
for WrestleMania when you want the belt to mean the most. Well, and
that's the reason why I wanted them to take the World Heavyweight Championship off of
Seth Rollins going into WrestleMania, And to be fair, at the time I
thought it was going it was back when before Cmpunk got hurt and it was
going to be Seth versus Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship. But especially especially
once Cmpunk got hurt, I thought it was imperative they took the title off
of Seth because I felt like Seth's character was going in a direction where you
didn't need the championship, and let's be honest here, take that World Heavyweight
Championship away. It is awesome having Seth in this program, right now,
the execution of what WW is doing between the four of these guys is brilliant.
Like when he called the Rock mister midlife crisis, that was amazing,
Like, I'm really looking forward to this dynamic with Seth versus the Rock,
Seth versus Roman. Finally, I love the fact that they're positioning Seth right
at the top with the rest of these guys and it's respectful to him.
But then, like we said, you are inherently hurting that World Heavyweight Championship
and indirectly at the same time, And had you taken it off of Drew
McIntyre or put taken off of Seth and put it on Drew McIntyre, it
would have just given the World Heavyweight Championship its own spotlight and my personal World
Heavyweight title match would have been Drew McIntyre versus La Knight for the World Heavyweight
Title on Rock. And I know that on the surface it pales in comparison
to Rock and Roman and Seth and Cody, but think about what that program
would be with all eyes focused on the World Heavyweight Championship. Like, to
me, you really needed this world title to blaze the trail into its first
wrestle media. This is the first wrestling that the World Heavyweight Championship is inexistence
or I guess in its second existence is back in action and it's playing second
fiddle to the undisputed title, which I mean, we always kind of knew
that it was going to but the World Heavyweight Champion is just involved in this
tag team match, even though he doesn't really have a vested interest. Like,
it's just a very weird route that they've gone with it. And that's
not to say that I haven't enjoyed the content. I really really have.
But at the same time, it sucks how they've gone about it on a
macro scale. It's very weird the way I feel right now. And you
know, as you were, as you were laying this out here, it
made me realize that not only is midlife prices better than diarrhea Dwayne, I
mean, mister midlife crisis, is it is much more. I know,
it doesn't sound as cute, it's not as marketable because it doesn't start with
the same letter as Dwayne. I get that, but like it made a
lot more so to call him a mid life crisis because it kind of is
with all his identity crisis that he's having, but it's still entertaining as hell.
But more over than that is that it made me think about both belts.
Really, the belts themselves not the problem, but who's carrying them into
WrestleMania have screwed up a lot of things, like with Roman and Rock,
the dream match that we thought was going to happen. We have laid out
there how many times that this match would not have been a problem and the
fans would have accepted it. We would have had that mega match we all
wanted with baby Face Rock with Heal Roman if the belt wasn't involved. Now
we get Seth Rollins involved as a world heavyweight champion. If he just dropped
it to Drew and it was Drew versus l Knight for the world title at
WrestleMania or really or another combination that made sense, that would have been better
because then you have Seth not devaluing the belt. Drew would have been an
excellent champion walking into WrestleMania as champion, as world champion, and you have
Seth no title being involved with a guy that you could bring up the history
of with Roman that we've all been waiting for that to Reignite. I mean
to me, it's not the Belts themselves, just kind of who's carrying it
in WrestleMania that have thrown a wrench into both plans well. And it's also
like, was this tag match necessary? Because does it even feel like Roman
versus Cody right now? It doesn't to me. It feels more like Rock
versus Cody than anything. And seth, are the Belts not kind of playing
second fiddle right now? They are at all The antics to obviously to the
Rock being there, which is the reason that that match is happening, is
to give the match the RockA match at WrestleMania. I mean that, let's
be real, because otherwise, how the hell is the Rock having a match
at WrestleMania against two we don't know? I mean Randy Orton's locked up right
a Rock Lesnar although I'm sure you heard the news. Maybe we can touch
on that at the end, But other than that, I see that as
a reason to give The Rock a match at WrestleMania. It's not a one
on one, it's a tag team match, and it does have some massive
implications. I mean, we kind of saw this dynamic at WrestleMania thirty with
Triple H and with Dani O'Brien when it was a one Night's spectacle where he
beat Triple H to get into that triple threat at the end of the night.
And it's just kind of the same thing, not the same stakes,
but same idea here with Cody Rhodes having to beat Rock and Roman. Then
if he does, he's able to not just get the match, but get
the match without the bloodline. And we've gone over the many different iterations of
who can interfere and how and all that kind of thing. But I just
wanted to draw that comparison. No, it's a valid one. Like for
me personally, I was kind of looking forward to them drawing off of the
Wrong versus Triple A rivalry, and they even did that on A and E,
so I thought they were going to go forward with that, but we
haven't seen an interaction since that. They kind of came face to face at
the press event over a month ago, and I still think that him going
up against Randy Orton, who would be fighting on Triple A just behalf would
have been good. And then you let Roman and Cody do their own thing,
you do Rock versus Triple H kind of a power struggle thing on the
side with Randy Orton involved. I think that's the way I would have gone
about it, just not to take it away from the spotlight, away from
the WWE Championship and Roman and Cody. But aside from that, I kind
of get it that you need a match to put the Rock in. But
I mean, for you, are you looking forward to this tag team match
or is it kind of like like you are from an entering perspective, but
you would have rather see them go out a different direction In an overall capacity,
I am, and I'm not gonna lie and pretend I'm not. I
mean this overall the storyline has gone pretty darn well. I mean, I
have to say, even the complaints about Cody everything else, some of the
weird comments, I have generally enjoyed it. Heil Rock is infinitely more entertaining.
I mean, he has really committed to this role. He's been very
good on the microphone. His Twitter posts have been funny. Generally, Yeah,
I think this is a match I'm looking forward to specifically too because of
Roman and Seth, which is not a story that they're pushing, but it's
one that I've been wanting to see get reignited for a long time. Is
this going to be another, you know, a push for Rollins and Roman
to have a one on one program, not immediately. I mean, I'm
still waiting for that proper program. It seems as if Seth and Roman only
cross paths in exhibition ways or kind of. They're on there all the opposite
brands, so they might interact temporarily, but they haven't yet to have that
long standing, proper three month program where they just go completely balls to the
wall on it. And then they haven't done it yet, And I think
this is just another one of those you get a little teaser of these two
getting back together or having a proper rivalry, but they won't, I don't
think yet. So I'm looking really forward to that dynamic. And yeah,
the rock back in action, I mean, who can hate that? What
can he do? People? You know, is he going to blow up
in three minutes? You know, how does he look now? Does he
get injured like he did in the John Cena final match blowing out his hams?
I mean you're worried about that too. Let's just hope by the way
that they are really running a risk of doing a night one match with all
of those men in the single match. Seriously, the risk in that match
is very high because of the participants in that match that are in the main
event of Night two. So like, imagine if something God forbid catastrophic happens,
what happens to your main event the next night. I mean, they're
all professionals, but it's just really is a big risk that you're putting on
the table for all four of those men who be in that match in the
night before. And who's the only guy not involved, Drew McIntyre. So
my next question for you is do you think that this hurts Drew McIntyre in
any way? No, I mean Drew has been in spite of all this,
Drew, no matter how hot the Rock has been upon his return,
Cody Rhodes, you know whatever, everybody has done an excellent job. I
think generally, in spite of all that, Drew has been on the ascent
while that is also happening. So I'm not even concerned about, well,
Drew's not going to get the attention or whatever. Drew is carving his own
path, kind of doing something on his own, not getting involved in the
bloodline. I think that's advantageous because once this bloodline thing in the rock thing
burns out, Drew's still gonna be there every week. He's still going to
be hopefully our world heavyweight champion. He's really, i think, paralleling this
but not crossing with it now. He may It's possible Drew comes in in
that match Claymore's Seth to cost him that match. I mean, it's possible,
depending on things how it all works out. But I think Drew in
spite of it, has been doing really well, so I'm not worried about
him really in the least. Well. I think that Drew McIntyre is ready
to become the world heavyweight champion. Like, if he doesn't come out of
Wrestme as world heavyweight champion, I think there's a major, major issue nothing
in SETH. But we're coming up on what ten months now with him as
champion. It will almost be eleven by the time Wrestle Mainia comes and goes
and Drew mcatty, like you said, has there been any character more int
and then Drew McIntyre, And that's just a testament to him how awesome he's
been. We're four years removed from the COVID WrestleMania that we all wish we
could just forget. And even though he's a heel, this is his moment
and they've been teasing it for the last what five ish months. His first
cracket it was Crown Jewel back in late October, So I'm really looking forward
to this. I'm really looking forward to Drew McIntyre getting his moment because Monday
Night Roll with Drew McIntyre as a World everyeight champion, it seems a lot
of fun. Here's my question too, because I've heard rumors of this and
it's plausible. Do you think Sampunk not physically, but he also keeps saying
that his you know, his mouth still works. Do you think somehow,
some way he may end up costing Drew that match at WrestleMania. I can
see it. I just hope it doesn't happen like we've also heard of,
you know, Damian Priest cashing it, which would be very kind of apropos
given that it would be like the first cash in since rest thirty one when
Seth did it, and this would be Seth being on the other side of
that. I could fully see a world where either see him punk costs him
or Damian Priest gets involved and Drew does not walk out as world champion.
I'm just hoping that's not the case. This is insane that you have to
give Drew a six month run or something. Not every title reign has to
be like so many months. But I think that he deserves this moment,
and not just for making up what happened four years ago. Like some things
you can't make up for. But the stars are aligning now. You really
have built Drew McIntyre up into one of the most musty characters a week to
week in spite of playing second fiddle and being in the shadow of everything going
on on SmackDown, and two of Raw's top guys constantly being involved on the
on the in the storyline on SmackDown. So I think it's really like it
would be a bad decision to have Drew tyre walkout as anything Bob WWE champion.
But there is fully a world where I see it, whether it be
with cmpunk or via Damien Breeze. That's a concern. I mean, I'm
curious also to hear the crowd reaction for Drew at WrestleMania, because that's a
crowd that is always a little bit unique, a little bit more. I
don't know if Internet wrestling community is the word or hardcore fan. I don't
know how we're labeled these days, whatever kind of derogatory term we're labeled as.
It's the more, I guess baseline foundational fan. It's the fans that
can afford to go to an expensive pay per view and spend their money to
vocalize what they feel about the current product, and sometimes they have different reactions.
And my thought is perhaps that Drew gets more cheers than we realize.
And I think fans are also just generally, even outside of those fans,
fans are ready to embrace a Drew McIntyre Dramactower Heel run because Seth has done,
as we mentioned, a nice ten month run or so. He has
done nothing more than elevate that title up until the last month or two,
when he's completely lost focused that he even has it. And then Drew McIntyre
has never been more intriguing, has never been better at the top of his
game in the ring. On the my character development is off the charts.
He's just kind of this smarmy it just kind of quiet, feels like he's
always right. It's just a different type of heel that we've discussed. I
mean, they could go alternate ways, but the worst case that you could
have here, honestly is Seth retaining. Even if I would even accept Damien
Priest winning over Seth retaining, obviously Drew would be number one for me,
Damian Priest would be number two, and then Seth retaining would be number three.
I mean, I just don't see that. Do you think that there's
any good in a I don't care how it happens Seth retaining at Russelmania.
Is there any good that would come out of that? I don't think so,
because then I think you would have the fans to resent Seth Rowlins,
and you don't want that. I still think there's some juice lest to be
squeezed out Seth. But I think that you could do with a three four
month long hiatus for Seth Rowlins. Have you not kind of been Seth Rowlins?
Like? I love Seth Rawlins. I'm not like a huge proponent of
his current character with the outlandish outfits, but as a wrestler, I think
he's won the best and I really like that they're positioning him as such.
But I think a lot of like, you know, the whole absence makes
the heart grow fonder. I think we could stand with that a bit.
When's the last time we saw Seth Rawlins really like detach? Was it when
he took time off post Messiah and then he came back at the Royal Rumble
with his current theme song? And that was what like three years ago.
It's felt like Seth Rowns has just been consistently on television NonStop for three years.
Unless I'm mistaking something. No, even when he was injured he blew
out his knee a couple months ago, he was still on TV cutting promos
and I get why he is a big star. He's good on the microphone.
He does have a kind of nail on the chalkboard voice. I'm not
a big fan of his voice. It's perfectly suited for a heel, but
he's really good on the mic, especially when he's serious. And ye could
do without the outfits too, but he is one of the best in the
ring bar Nun. I am a bit Seth Rollins doubt, especially from the
song perspective of Monday Night Rollins and like, yeah, the song, I'm
just done with it. I'm kind of over people singing to the song and
that that is just my personal take on it, But I think that Seth
Rollins could benefit greatly from taking even a month off. Even a month would
feel like a long time with Seth Rollins gone from from the company, just
taking time he'll maybe I don't know, hell if he does have a bad
back, go get it's fixed. After WrestleMania is the perfect time to do
it, because then you have several months until SummerSlam if you want to make
a return, or if you're eyeing next to yours WrestleMania, but that is
the there's no better time than just after WrestleMania. If you drop a belt,
go get your body fixed, and then you're ready to go for next
WrestleMania season. And that's a perfect place really to not just anoint Drew as
your guy, have him have his moment finally, but also have Seth fix
himself, allow the fans time to Seth Rollins, And honestly, I think
it would freshen the product up, and I think it needs a little bit
with Seth Rollins, who he's not getting booed, but you're right, I
think it would cause a lot of resentment or start to cause the fans to
turn a bit on Rollins when we're all ready to see what a Drew mcatar
heel run looks like here well, and also look at it from the perspective
of superstars who would relish in that opportunity of being bolstered to the main event.
Because let's go to the assumption that Cody Rhodes wins the Undisputed Championship,
goes over to SmackDown, Drew wins, the world title, stays on Monday
Night Raw, and then you have the draft. Like in my mind,
La Knight has a one way ticket to Monday Night Raw, and I think
La Knight and Drew Mcatyre would be a hell of a program. You have
Damian priests lurking around if you want to send aj Styles to Monday Night Raw
or push him into a main event scene. They have a lot of guys
right now, probably Lashly is another one of them. They have a lot
of guys right now who have just kind of been like, not lost in
obscurity, but in that like mid ish card that could be elevated to the
main card. Like look, I've been very like and this is kind of
off the beaten path. Of it here, but like I've been a big
pusher or proponent rather of Carrying Cross. I think you do too, But
don't you feel like Bobby lash he's kind of being wasted right now feuding with
the Final Testament. I just brought this up last night to my co host,
I said, this is it. No one seems to care about this
program, because why should we when WWE doesn't seem to they are not.
There's no consistency at all. Unfortunately with Carrying Cross, who I think is
a very intriguing character. There's a lot. He's very magnetizing when he when
he's speaking. When he speaks, you pay attention. The problem is consistency
for him. He can't catch a break when it comes to just at least
for a few weeks, just three weeks in a row, having a solid
promo or a match that actually has something behind it. There are stakes on
the line. And same with Bobby Lashley, who formed this group. They
were babyface, then they went heel for a little while, and now they're
back to baby face because it's convenient. And then the street profits don't get
No one gets any time to talk or tell what they're here for or why
they're here, what their their issue is with who? Like, we get
nothing from either group. They just put them together because they had a bit
of a scuffle a month ago. So I just yeah, really both guys,
I mean, not Lastly more so because he I mean, he's not
a great promo. He's kind of awkward promo, but more so Lashly than
Carrie. And but Carriyan's not too far away from both guys. Just no
creative consistency and it's killing both of them, both of their groups. Yeah,
and I really like her and not to shift gears here, but I
guess, like before we wrap it up, like I do want to talk
about a bit to Final Testament because I like the authors of pain Scarlet.
I don't know she annoys me. I don't know why, Like, I
just I don't know what her deal is is. What's his face? Paul
Ellering? Like, I mean, what do you think he adds anything?
Paul Ellering? He I feel like he could, but we haven't seen it
yet. He's just there. So if I feel like he spoke or did
something during matches, like he's just this kind of they might as well haulogram
him in because he doesn't do or say anything, So do you like the
Final Testament? Like I like the name, I like the look. I
like how they have the heavies, they have the mouthpiece kind of the head
of the snake of carrying a cross, and they have that kind of evil
conniving woman with him. All the dynamics are there. Yeah, And I've
always and we spoke about carrying Cross several times, like do you think they
need to go over into Monday Night Raw just where there's more time, because
like I look at some of the things that they're investing with on Monday Night
Raw, like time wise, like could you fit the Final Testament on Monday
Night Raw? And would they have more legway because it feels like on SmackDown
they're just trying to cram so many factions in every single show, whether it's
the LWO or Legato, delphine As, the Bloodline, the Final Testament,
lastly in the Street Profits. Like maybe they're just being buried behind so many
factions on SmackDown. Also the fact that the Rock and Cody and Roman and
Seth have been taking up like forty five minutes a show. Yeah, like
they're taking up almost half the show. So to be fair, they're not
the only ones being victimized by this being I mean, it's sucking all the
air out of the room with this program, and I understand why it is
a massive deal, but like, yeah, this is the sacrifices you're making.
These are the collateral damages that you're seeing our groups like The Last the
Final Testament and like the Street Profits and Bobby Lashley that still doesn't have a
name. So yeah, what I'm looking forward to is post Mania for these
guys, because I think they weren't fitt into the WrestleMania plans, and after
WrestleMania, I think they have a better chance of actually having more consistency because
they have clearly of nothing for them at WrestleMania forty at least of any massive
significance. They might be involved in an eight man tag or whatever, like
fine, but I think that No, for right now, I'm looking post
WrestleMania for them to really to look forward to possibly more consistency. We spoke
about on the show how many times that Raw need to go to two hours.
Do you think SmackDown needs to go to three hours? I don't.
Here's the thing. I don't like any three hour show of anything that much.
I mean, now, I understand that they do it for AD revenue,
big deal. AD revenue is a massive source of income, even more
than the fans with their investments in the network and everything else. So I
get that. I don't know if they'll ever do it. They might swap
if they were gonna swap, sure, Like, let's if you're gonna make
the swap, swap it to smack Down, just so that maybe it's not
a total loss of losing that hour of ad revenue. I get that,
But generally, I like a two hour wrestling show just as a standard two
hours is a great time of it, you know, for people to hold
their attention, It gets the you know kind of it allows creative to also
not have to deal with that third hour. I mean, that's thirty three
percent of the show. They don't have to worry about it anymore and really
do a nice job of honing in on just this. It allows them to
folk is a lot more. So I'm a big proponent of two hours if
they could do it and it doesn't hurt them monetarily. But if you had
to, yes, I'd switch it to SmackDown. Yeah, I just think
that SmackDown every week you're trying to cram so much in there. But to
your point, I wonder how it's gonna be Postmania Whents not just Bloodline,
Seth Cody all this, because there's some like even Seth, like AJ Styles
and La Knight. They've only been viewed in backstage segments since they've come back
from Saudi not Saudi Arabia, Australia, right, Like, have have either
of them come out like live in person? Yet? I don't think so.
I mean no, La Knight's been on a warpath just destroying TV's backstage
and yelling at Nick all this, and and then AJ Styles cut it out.
I mean, I'm sure you saw it. Yeah, really good pro
I really enjoyed that promo for that felt like a different man. His promo
was just so damn good with AJ Styles against the La Night. I believe
they'll be in the same building next week, but before we go, because
I know we're we're coming up against the clock here. Have you heard about
the Brocklesner returned to the main roster on WWE's website. He was taken off
when the whole scandal broke and Brock was being tied to the Vince mcmansex scandal.
But now he's been put back into the roster on WWE's page. What
do you make of this? Well, it's significant, right, I mean,
I guess this because did more details not come out about this lawsuit?
Like I saw Nick Cohn's name draw into it, Like maybe brock Leisure's involvement
was I guess proven to be like exaggerated or I don't want to speak out
a turn here, but like given WWE being owned by UFC now and Endeavor
and how much they presumably care about their image and they've even been very vocal
about how serious they take these matters, it must mean that they've found some
evidence to suggest he's innocent. Right, that's my assumption. It wouldn't make
any sense none to put have WWE, who know they have fans who look
at these things, to have Rock be put back on the roster active roster
page. If he wasn't there wasn't overwhelming evidence that he was. I don't
know, if he was I guess exonerated, or it was just just overwhelming
evidence that it likely wasn't brock Lesser involved or whatever, then they wouldn't put
him back on because again They're not a private company, as you said.
They are a very very publicly traded, non McMahon owned company now, so
they have a ton more stockholders and shareholders to beholden to. It would be
a very bad look if they put them back. He put him back on
the roster, brought him back on TV, and then something else comes out.
So they must have really really done their homework on this case and looked
through the evidence and looked at us and said, hey, I guess Brock
wasn't involved. Now he's not back on TV yet, but that'd be My
next kind of closing question is if they bring him back, did they just
throw him in with Gunther. I know we have a Gauntlet match happening on
on tonight that will determine who's going to face gun Through at WrestleMania. But
if Brock is good to go and they're gonna put him back on, what
do you do with Brock now that we've only got a few weeks. Well,
assuming that they are fast tracking Brock to back to WrestleMania and back onto
the w programming, maybe he returns tonight and just annihilates all seven members of
that Gauntlet match, Like, did that Gauntlet match not have pretty bad backlash
from the crowd or from from fans. I haven't well, I don't know
if it's taken place yet. I mean I don't know. I meant no,
just the booking, like just like in general, like people had an
issue with them booking that Gauntlet matually because they feel like Gunther deserves better.
I mean like people feel like at this point, Gunther should have had a
mainstream opponent, you know, assigned to him. He should have already been
in a program with somebody that was fast or being on track for WrestleMania to
clash, and the fans just kind of look at the lineup, going eh,
yeah, yeah, well because I know I think he might be hurt,
But would it have not made a lot of sense for it to be
shamous, like in a full circle kind of way. I think it absolutely
would have. Accept The one thing also is Seamus's I mean this may be
also a kind of a red herring, but Seamus deactivated his x account Twitter
account just recently over the last like twenty four to forty eight hours. Seamus
has just it says if you go in this profile, this profile has been
deactivated. So I don't know if Yeah, So it could mean that he's
trying to trick us all and he's going to come back, or it could
just mean that him and WWE are not on good terms. But it does
if you look, it says it's been deactivated. Cool, that would suck.
He just God, was his last match was against Edge? Was it
not? Yeah? In Toronto? Yep? What a want want for both
of those careers down that way. I mean, no disrespect to obviously Toronto
Canada, but on a yeah, just in an exhibition, friendly competition type
of match, not the way that if if truly Seamus, if he's done,
not the greatest way to go out. But for Edge, I guess,
I mean, that's a whole other story. So yeah, it is
just kind of a it's just a fart. Yeah, it's a wet fart
in church. It's just kind of like no one wants to see that,
you know. It's you expect bigger moments for those two men's careers to end
in WW But all right, any final thoughts, No, all this to
say is well, all I wanted to say rather is that I am enjoying
the Rock and Roman and Seth and Cody. I find the execution under Triple
H is awesome, And that's a testament to their writing because even if I
don't necessarily agree with things on a macro scale, whenever they do execute something,
it's usually knocked out of the park. I love the Rocks entrance.
I like the banter with seth Rawlins and Cody Rhodes. I think that everything
that they've been doing, especially with Paul Hayman looking at him putting up the
owl sign while doing the like the point for the Bloodline, there's a lot
more attention to details. So it's a testament to how good the writing has
been under Triple H is that even when I don't necessarily agree with the direction
overall, when the segments are actually executed, it's done so brilliantly. It's
just also a sign of respect to fans when you put more detail in,
because the fans, I think there are fans that just look for that detail
and maybe overanalyze to the point of looking for things that aren't there. But
with Under Vince, it was very much kind of simplistic. There wasn't a
ton of detail, there wasn't a lot of long term booking. It was
just kind of hot shotting things at times, especially towards the end, but
Triple H, I think there is it just shows more of a sign of
respect to the intelligence of fans that a lot of times was insulted under the
Vince mcmahn regime. So I think that, Yeah, with Triple H in
charge, hopefully it continues. And it's not to say he's not gonna have
blunders. He's already had a few, but of course he's going to.
So yeah, I would agree with that. And I'm really I'm ready.
I know it's like three four weeks away, but I'm ready to just like
see this match. You know, the build is still gonna be fun.
But right about three weeks out, I get to the point of like,
okay, can we just get to this match. I need see what this
match is going to do, and what these matches are going to do.
I want to just get the final, the outcome right. So I'm already
getting a little bit I guess trepidacious about it, but yeah, so well,
thanks for coming on tonight. It's has always been a blast. I
know that we don't we're a little short on time tonight, but we'll make
up for it tomorrow or next week. As we will be just my God
twenty days out from WrestleMania, so looking forward to that and any final thoughts
before we head out. We'll just check out after dark. That's right.
Yeah, I would say, I actually, what did I cover this week?
I think it was actually somear to what we talked about, like the
overall directing the WrestleMania direction. Yeah, exactly, so, as you know,
kind of like a consistent theme of mine lately. And not to say
that I'm enjoying it, it's just that overall, maybe I would have taken
in a different direction, but I still think the execution has been awesome,
so I staying positive. There you go. That's that's exactly right. You
cannot agree with the direction but respect the process and the execution at the same
time. So I think that's where you land. But very good. Well,
thanks for coming on tonight, buddy, and we'll be chatting in seven
days. Looking forward to it, man, Take care you two. Thanks
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