Official 2023 Crown Jewel Review & Reaction

This is WWE superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the WWE Podcast, the
show, the one that everybody wants met for sixteen So just guest your ass
is my arm, you can acknowledge me. Welcome to the ww Podcast.
It's time to talk about Crown Jewel, the one that took place last night
in Saudi Arabia. And I've got Anthony DeMarco here to cover the show with
me and go through match by match about our opinions and and get into all
the nitty gritty details as we always do. But Anthony, welcome to the
show. And I have to ask you right off the bat, how did
you like the show? Kind of overall? I mean it was a good
wrestling show. I thought most of the match shows delivered from an in ring
perspective. I thought Drew and Seth was incredible, as I'm sure most of
us assumed it would be. I thought the women's match, aside from Naya
Jacks, was actually good from an in ring perspective. I feel like if
you had just eliminated Nya Jacks and it had been a fatal four way,
I think we would be talking about way more positively. Roman in La Knight.
I think was a good match until the typical bloodline tomfoolery on the outside,
which I'm sure we'll get to. I just wasn't a huge I guess
fan of the overall not deliverance, but I guess outcome of the probe of
the pay per view because it just felt that nothing really changed and it was
supposed to feel like a big pay per view. It's been presented like a
big pay per view, arguably taking the place of Survivor series as like a
Big four pay per view, and I just feel like now monumental shift happened.
And we've been talking a lot about how like WWE's creative has kind of
been stuck in the mud a bit. The reason why we took off last
week from our typical weekly show of current state was because we both felt that
there was nothing really to talk about in terms of the larger scale creative part
of WWE. So while the in ring stuff was very very good, which
has become a hallmark of the Triple Ah era, I just don't really see
how anything changed from a major pay per view, and for that I came
away a little disappointed. Yeah this one again, as we talked a little
bit off the air. I don't think this was a bad pay per view
ple. I thought this was a good average too, slightly above average ple.
I think the crowd honestly felt very underwhelming at times, and I've heard
people say, oh my god, this is one of the better crowd.
I don't know what crowd they were listening to, but outside of the La
Night entrance, John Cenn, of course Cody Rhodes, especially for the women's
entrances and matches, they were I mean it was like a morgue and they
were very very selective of who they were cheering for, and a lot of
times I saw them sitting there. So I don't know what it was,
but the crowd at times really took away from me for for some of the
matches. But you're right, the women's match minus Naya Jacks, I think
would have been better had she been there. I mean some of the things
she did were just I mean it just literally looked like she was just lazy,
and a lot of the things she did, like one of the breakup
pins that she did, she just like it was the most lazy kick I've
ever seen. I think I don't know who it was, but yeah,
Nia Jack's never been my favorite ever. And you know, that outcome,
of course was as predictable as it could have been, but the right one.
So I have no complaints about the outcome there. But starting with Roman,
I want to start there because that was the last thing we saw and
probably the biggest, biggest match on the card, you know, arguably,
So Ellen Knight loses, okay, but in a losing effort. I think
he had a really good match. He had, I think as good of
a match as you could have hoped for, given the fact that this is
the first time on WWE's main stage he has had this type of spotlight.
So he got I think enough time to tell a story. He didn't have
any botches, he sounded or he looked like he belonged. The crowd was
one hundred percent behind him. And then we get Jimmy so as expected,
it's Jimmy Us and that caused the distraction enough for Roman to take advantage.
And it's the same thing rinse and repeat that we've seen for like three and
a half years for the majority of not all of of Roman reigns run.
So as you said, yeah, I mean, we get another another Roman
Reigns win, and rumor has it he's not going to be back to the
Royal Rumble. Yeah. You know, what the thing is is that you
see the two differences between the world title matches, the heavyweight and the undisputed
one that opened the show, one that closed the show, and the Heavyweight
Championship was just a good wrestling match by two incredible in ring workers. Mono
Manno the champion Retann's clean. The Undisputed Championship match was, you know,
two very good workers. I thought it was I thought this match over delivered,
and I believe you mentioned this on your preview show that going into a
lot of pay per views, we've been underwhelmed and we come out like surprisingly
happy because of how good the in ring quality had been compared to the build
up. And I thought that the La Knight Roman Reigns build up was not
good whatsoever, as I'm sure you agreed as well, and we have talked
about, and it felt rushed and it felt predictable on all these things.
But once they got going, it was a good match, and you kind
of felt that La Night belonged. But then, like you said, the
predictable interference from the Bloodline the predictable interference by Jimmy Usso and the predictable ending
of you know, spears, Spear's spear one, two three, Roman Reigns
retains, and like you said, now he scheduled to miss another two and
a half months. And the one thing about this was, and I think
it was the first time, probably since the Royal Rumble, that you went
in, or at least I went in knowing one hundred percent that Roman Reigns
was coming out as champion. And again, predictability isn't always a bad thing,
but when it is this predictable for the world championship or the undisputed championship
in this case, and for a guy as hot as La Night has been
over the last five to six months, I thought it really hurt this match
and for it to end in such a predictable and repetitive fashion. You know,
we've spoken about this in numerous times, but I really do think it's
getting to a boiling point where we've reached now without denial, without denial,
that it is at the point of what do they call diminishing returns. That's
I guess it's a kind way to put it. Yes, yeah, I'm
blanking on the phrase. But I think that we have now reached that point
with the Roman Reigns and his title run. Yeah, that's yes. I
mean that is a very professional, nice way to put it. Of that.
You know, I don't think people are even sick of the Roman Reigns
character. They're just tired of the championship itself being hibernated and being locked away
and only being very selectively brought out. No one can talk about it.
And you know, you see Roman and you're like, uh, well,
I guess I'll see you in four months. It's just it's it's heat on
the company at this point. That's the difference. It's not even heat on
Roman Reigns himself. We know Roman isn't responsible for this. Wwe agreed to
this schedule, that Roman Reigns has a dream schedule and great, good for
him, wonderful. I'm jealous of it, we all are. But it's
on the company that's the difference. They're the ones who are calling the shots.
They are the ones who are saying that this is a good idea for
whatever magical payoff they have for all of this, which, as you and
I have discussed, it doesn't to me there's no such thing as a payoff
for what they've done all these months and years now of like, oh well
that was totally worth it. There's nothing they could come up with at all.
Ever, There's nothing that exists in this world that they could really do
that will make all of this absentee champion stuff go away and be worth all
of that and sacrificing guys' careers. Really, I mean, that's what you're
doing at this point, as we've said so, I mean, but back
to La Knight, I mean, I guess from here he goes after Jimmy
Usto and probably has some matches with him and then maybe eventually challenges for the
United States Championship with Logan Paul. We'll get to that match, but that
probably seems where he's going is he'll maybe work with Jimmy, and even though
he's not on SmackDown, or rather he is on SmackDown, if he is
able to somehow transfer himself over and and transferred, we'll be able to work
with Logan Paul. I'm sure that'll happen. But yeah, this looks like
a little bit of a Jimmy program and then off to the United States Championship.
And then who knows that the rumble at that point, I don't really
know what the path forward is for La Knight, but the follow up here
is gonna be key. Yeah. I mean that seems to be the predictable
outcome and it's not necessarily a bad thing. It just kind of seems like
what they've done with La Knight. And look, it's hard to say if
this was Triple H is doing or Vince McMahon got his grubby hands in it.
Like I'm trying to figure out the timeline here and when Vince was removed
from Creative by Area Manual, and like when his push started, if it
correlated, because the way he got pushed just right to the top of the
card seemed completely of the approach that Triple H was taking with him, you
know, in the summer and all the way up to Summer Slam, and
like it just feels like somewhere along the lines there was like an over correction,
but to like like an overcorrection to the worst proportions. Like I don't
know if over the summer Vince was you know, halting them from pushing La
Night, and then Triple H, I guess was overcorrecting in the last month,
or if Triple H was the one slow playing it and then Vince overcorrected
by trying to push him to the moon, and then by the time Vince
got taken out from creative, Triple H just like it had been too far
gone and they just had to roll with it, Or if this was all
just Triple H's mishandling. But it just feels that like, no matter what
way you cut it, La Knight was mishandled but to something over the summer
and into now, and mostly I feel like it's been since WrestleMania because I
liked the slow burn approach. I thought when he won the Royal the Battle
Royal at SummerSlam, even though it was mainly an exhibition match, I thought
that they made the right call with that. But now it's like you said,
are they gonna transition him to the US title? Like I feel like
he should have been doing that since the summer Slim and we'll get to Logan
Paul as the US champion as well, but like I don't know, like
him feuding with Jimmy USO and I would imagine by extension the solo secoa,
Like it just feels very bizarre, Like, I still think that he's gonna
win the Royal Rumble and he's gonna go over to Monday Night Raw and challenge
whoever the world Heavyweight Champion is. Post Royal Rumble at WrestleMania. That's where
I still think his ultimate destination is, and he probably does walk out of
WrestleMania as the World heavyweight Champion. I'm still sticking with that prediction. But
it just feels like a very odd detour they took with La Knight going up
against Roman Reigns in the main event, and that shouldn't be considered a detour,
and even in a loss, should still be considered a winner because he
put on a good match. He's still main evented one of the biggest shows
that they put on a year, with the biggest star they have for the
most coveted championship they have. But everything about La knights handling since SummerSlam has
been very very peculiar to me, which is odd because it's been since that
they've pushed him to the main event. It hasn't been the best. I
wouldn't say it's been destructive, though, I think that the you know this,
they could have absolutely handled him better. But I also and you I
think had concurred with this that they just did this much too soon, that
you know, knowing that they've done this, they did it so soon you
knew that there was no chance he was going to win, because it was
just it didn't feel like the right time. Even though even if you're an
LA Knights supporter, even if you believe he is going to be champion,
at some point, it just felt too It's like, oh, this is
we want him champion, but like it does feel too soon, and it
to really tip the scales to the fact that we as fans understand, yeah,
he's not gonna win, there's no chance. And also the timing of
it, not just that he was the first man up after Roman Reigns returned,
but also the fact that it's November, and now that you're into November,
WWE is very unlikely going to have Roman Reigns drop the belt before WrestleMania
because they're already thinking WrestleMania. I mean, with how much time Roman takes
off between matches and television appearances, you know they're thinking, well, it's
November. I mean next time we talked and see him, it's going to
be a WrestleMania season, so we can't have him lose the belt. Now,
guys, it's for Roman Reigns. It's WrestleMania season already. I mean,
he's living in an alternate time and space continuum here, so it's different
for Rains. And I think that l. A. Knight probably is still
the favorite to win the Rumble, and I could see him going too over
to Raw and challenging for the World Heavyweight Championship, as I think you would
probably Concur as well, And maybe I'm wrong, but you on the SmackDown
side of things, I would imagine we both think it's going to be Cody
Roman Reigns Part two. Yeah, I imagine. So I'm not sure how
they get there because Cody Roads is on Monday Night Raw. I have they
not used the elimination Chamber Well, last year it was for the United States
Championship, but in the past they've used the chamber as like a Royal Rumble,
you know, part two, where if you win the Chamber match,
you become a number one contender for whatever world championship isn't being challenged for already.
So I imagine that Cody Roads is gonna win the Chamber in Australia in
February and look for as much as I dislike the Cody Rhods character, I'm
just so ready for the Roman Reigns to one to come to an end that
I'm okay with it and to be honest, as much as the Rock and
Roman Reigns is something we've all been longing for it even though it probably seems
like that's never gonna happen now, I almost rather than do Cody, because
if Cody challenges Roman, we no one hundred percent that he's walking out his
champion. Like there's no way Cody RhoD is going to lose to Roman Rains
in back to back WrestleMania's. But if it's the Rock, it's the opposite.
It's like one hundred percent chance that Roman Reigns is going to walk out
his champion. And it's no slight on Roman Rains. I actually really like
Roman Reigns. I thought him mocking the La Night pointing thing was one of
the funniest things he's ever done. Like he his facials, like the way
he reacts to things, like he really is arguably the best that they have
right now and one of the best of all time already at this point in
his career. But it's it's just the schedule, it's the booking, it's
it's the title reign that it just feels like there's no more tread left on
the tires, and thought of turning Babyface, which I think is coming somewhere
down the line after he drops the title, like, there's just nothing more
they could do to keep this title run alive. And I think that had
they done Rock versus Roman last year, and then you could have had him
turned Babyface in the process, which it would have been in line with what
the Rock said, like ending something but starting something at the same time,
I think that maybe you could have pushed this another year, But as currently
constructed, there's nothing left to do for Roman reigns here, and you're gonna
artificially inflate this all the way to WrestleMania. But I'm sure for even someone
like myself in you that doesn't like the Cody Rhodes Babyface character, you would
be ready to see the title go on him just so the Roman run comes
to an end. Does that not speak volumes as to where we stand now
that we have spent months totally wrecking Cody Rhodes's babyface character up and down and
all around, and yet at the same time, we will concede the fact
that it is better to have that awful babyface character as champion. If Roman
reigns is able to the belt, like that tells you all you need to
know about how far we've come and how much we're just done with this this
run. And I think fans are echoing this, and I'm sure Wwe is
sitting there going how we're pushing them to the brink. We're getting so angry
and it's like, yeah, but we're angry with you guys, Like we're
not angry with the character Roman like that. The heat's not on Roman.
The heat is on you guys for continuing this. And I'm sure the guys
in the back are saying, what the hell this is? Like? Am
I ever going to get an opportunity to main event? Like if I'm on
SmackDown and I'm you know, on a Star on the Rise, I'm thinking
to myself, when the hell am I going to get an opportunity to have
a championship opportunity? Like what my career is being artificially capped because of Creative's
unmitigated decision and an indefinite decision to keep Roman as champion, and he's never
there. So, like, I mean, it's not just the fans that
are frustrated. I'm sure if you pulled the people backstage, they would say,
yeah, this is this is enough as An likes. It's reaching real
life problems. It's not just oh fans being fair Weather fans were fickle.
No, it's affecting people's actual livelihoods. I mean if I was on Smacked
then I'd be pissed. Yeah, And I guess we could kind of transition
into the next match here because this is a review, it is not a
current state. But I want to talk about Logan Paul versus Raymisterio. And
when I made the prediction on my after Dark version, I said that I
was predicting raymys str to win, with the caveat that if Logan Paul is
committing to a semi full time run, it should be Logan. But now
SmackDown has two part time champions, and while I love Logan, Pol's champion,
and as much as I thought the Raymistr run as US champion did fall
flat, and as much as I think Logan Paul once again proved that he
belonged, especially saving Raymisterio of what would have been a horrifying botch. Like
that guy just gets it, and I hate him or not on a personal
level. You have to give him, Miss Flowers. The guy has just
picked this up so fast. But as long as Logan Paul is at least
semi full time, I think this is really good. But my worry here
is that he's gonna be part time as well, and then SmackDown will not
have a singles champion on the male side week to week. What are your
thoughts? That's my concern too. Now. I believe I did pick Logan
Paul to win here, but I was concerned of the fact that that you
alluded to they're gonna have another part time champion. But the thing is,
Roman Reigns' schedule is just so outrageous that even if Logan Paul is there truly
part time, say once a month even or once or twice a month,
it won't feel like he's actual part time when you look at Roman. So
I think that that he has that going for him. Now, I don't
know what real Logan Paul's schedule is. I don't know, if he is
actually going to be there every week or if it's a short term, Hey,
I need you to commit for three months, be there at least,
you know, eighty percent of the time. I don't know what it is,
but they certainly can't have Logan Paul go on a Roman Rain schedule.
That actually would be cannibalizing their own product to the point where, you know,
as you said, they're not going to have a singles championship for the
male side at all, you know, for a male champion at all,
not to cut you off because the tag team titles live on Monday Night Raw,
So your only champion a week to week basis would be EO Sky.
Yeah, yeah, that's it. And then we'll talk about that later too.
But I think, yeah, that is a massive concern that I had,
But I actually agree with the decision that botch. If you guys go
back and watch it, Logan Paul may have actually saved raymss Teriro's life.
I mean, like he would have spiked his neck directly on the mat.
It would have been catastrophic. I mean, you know, maybe it wouldn't
have been Maybe he just would have got it, you know, A tweak
of the neck or whatever, but he was headed for complete disaster. So
I'm sure Ray Masterio's family is extremely thankful for Logan Paul's heads up on that
one, for I mean, just within inches of a total devastation, and
so props Logan Paul there for catching on and being as really aware as he
was, and of course putting on a really good match. I had no
issues with their match. I love the fact that he has cronies on the
outside of the ring brass knucks, brass knucks. I miss brass knucks.
It reminds me William Regal. I love that part of his character so much,
and I had no issue with the way he won. It protects Ray
Mysterio, it continues to make him a heal and Logan Paul it just gets
it and he's good. So I had no issue with this. How big
of a buffoon does Santa's ask a Bar look like? Literally had the brass
knucks and then just drop them on the ring apron? Yeah, perfectly on
the Yes, I saw that. Yeah, it looks like me. But
like, I don't know, like, are they going for a Santa's versus
Ray like feud with no title on the line, Like would you have would
you have any interest in that? I mean it's something for Ray to do.
I don't know if it will happen right away, but people have been
wanting for wanting that to happen in a way that's more organic than Santos saying,
oh, it's been my dream to face you Ray, which was the
last time they faced each other last month. So yeah, like bring it
on. I mean the LWO, I'm sorry you're boring. They just are.
I mean they are a babyface group, of which we don't have a
whole lot of those around. We certainly have enough heel factions and that.
So I don't want them to totally break up just to break them up.
We need to balance here. But Santos versus Ray, I mean, you
know Santos can work his ass off, so I wouldn't mind that. So
you brought up at Yo Sky before and you said we'll get to it.
I think you predicted Bianca bell Air, but I I don't think either of
us were seeing the return of the Pirate Princess or whatever she's called. Overall,
what are your thoughts on the outcome of that match, the match itself,
where they're heading all that yeah. The match itself, I thought it
was I thought it was actually better than I expected, and I think when
I was in it, I was a little bit bored by it. But
I think what bored me was the crowd not being interested and invested at all
in this. I mean, it took them a while to get going on
this, and I don't think they ever really kicked it into gear, and
so the crowd really was just quiet during this match. Even Kyrie Sayin's return
was people are looking at her like, who's this is that? Oscar?
Who? I mean, so, I'm sure some people were looking at her
going I don't even know who this is. And I know that she teams
with Osca and Oscar and her are really, I guess from what I understand,
really good in real life friends, and so I'm sure Oscar is glad
to see her back. But Kyrie sane and now EO Sky seemed to be
a lied allied, and Bailey, who wore some very interesting pants that are
getting a lot of attention on social media if you're interested in such things,
got the you know, got knocked down by EO Sky and I thought that
was a oh, here we go, finally, here we go, we're
finally getting EO Sky and Bailey splitting, But that was just a tease that
never happened. EO Sky was saved by Kyrie Sain and I could deal without
the pirate princess craft. She doesn't look like a pirate princess whatever that's supposed
to mean. You know, I don't. I think they could drop that.
I don't know why that's a thing, but you know, if she's
back and she wants to team herself with Yo Sky cool. But I actually
was not a fan of uh of EO Sky's run thus far. Up to
this point, I've been very bored by her run. And it's not it's
not a really a referend referendum on her. It's uncreative for essentially just making
her a third wheel in like every story going on you have, it's Charlotte
and Bailey or Bailey you know in whoever. And then Beyonca's back and she's
looking for revenge. So it's never been about EO. She's felt like complete
just afterthought, and so I've been bored up to this point. So maybe
things change. I predicted EO to win because I thought that they were gonna
con further building the eventual I guess breakdown of their feud and of damage control
and eventually get to Bailey and EO and that I think that's exactly where they're
going with this. And as much as the EO ron as Champion has been
a flop to this point, I think the only way that they could save
it is if they eventually result in a Bailey babyface turn. And I thought
Michael Cole did a good job pulling on the fact that the last time we
saw Kyrie Zane was against Bailey. When Bailey I believed she was aligned with
Sasha Banks, she was the SmackDown Women's Champion, and she was the person
I guess who I guess in not so many win like a backdoor indirect way,
there's the word I was for kick kyrisaying out of the WWE. So
it's a long term storytelling, probably unintentionally, but they still pulled off that,
which was good. And look, I said all my After Dark show,
I think there was that risk of pulling the trigger way too early on
Eosky, and I think they did that, but rather than pull the plug
on it and just hit the ejector cable and giving the title back to Bianca
bell Air. They are really trying to string this out and build a story
between Bailey and Eosky, And to be honest, I'm ready to see a
babyface version of Bailey, not just because of the pants she was wearing,
but because I think that everyone is just ready for that. She's been a
heel and the current version of herself since before COVID. I think she debuted
when she started cutting up all the Bailey Buddies. I believe that was the
first ever SmackDown on Fox. So we're talking north of five of four years
ago now, So I'm ready for Bailey as a babyface, and I think
the crowd is too, and not the Bailey Buddies version of Bailey, the
current sarcastic, funny version of Bailey, but as a bit baby face,
and I think that's where they're headed. And I'm ready to see Bailey as
champion again because she hasn't held gold since I believe was it Helen is selwhen
Sasha Banks ended her long reign as Smackedow Women's Champions. So I'm ready to
see Bailey as champion, and I'm ready to see Bailey as babyface. And
I think that's where this is ultimately going. And if that's where it's ultimately
going, I think that they can maybe salvage this run for EO. Yeah,
I agree, I'm ready. Bailey is a character that's in need of
a change, and I think that she's still more. She's got so much
left to give, and we haven't really seen the other side of this.
This evolved more mature version of this of this character turn babyface. What does
that look like? You know, as you said, I don't need a
side ponytail back, you know, resurrecting the belly buddies. We don't need
that, of course. But yeah, I'm interested to see where this goes.
And yeah, I wish the best for EO because I think she has
more to give too, and I think that her you know, ability to
speak English needs to be showcased more. She can't speak English. It's it's
a little bit of a heavy accent, but we've gotten through that before and
I think that will really help her build her character. So all right,
well, let's move on. I want to talk about Cody Roads and Damian
Priest, a match that a lot of us saw Cody Rhods winning, and
that's exactly what happened here with his triple crossroads that he just I don't know
why he feels he needs to hit three of those every time. I think
it diminishes as finished. But I'll save my detailed thoughts for after years.
So would you think. I guess it was just one of those matches that
it served its purpose. It was predictable, but one of those cases where
it being predictable wasn't a bad thing. I mean predictable interference by from the
on the outside, Jay Uso making the save Cody Road's a winning There's not
much left to say because this could have easily been a main event of Monday
Night Raw. But I understand why you wanted to get each of these guys
on the pay per view. I mean, aside from the two world champions
in Seth and Roman, you could make the case that these are the two
most important singles competitors right now, especially given the fact of where they're positioning
Cody between now a Mania, and especially given the fact that Damian Price has
the briefcase and is the enforcer of the probably the biggest group in WWE right
now. So you had to get them on the card. Why not put
them against each other. I just feel like we've seen this version like time
and time again. Maybe not exactly a one on one match between the two,
but we've seen the judgment day fighting the baby face contingent on Monday Night
Raw so often, whether that be Kevin Owens or Sammy Zain and now Cody
Rhodes. Now ja Us is coming to the fold. So it's a bit
tiresome. I wonder where they're going to go on Monday Night Raw in that
regard. Obviously Drew is in flux here and we will get to that later.
But predictable finish a match that I think could have easily been on Monday
Night Row, but I understand why it was on the pay per view.
But look, it's it's purpose. Yeah, I think they just wanted a
way to get Cody on the show so the crowd could say WHOA. And
I think that's the whole purpose of this eleven minute match. You know,
again, I have nothing bad to say about the match itself, you know.
I guess we're also going to tell the story of Damian Priest having a
similar finish, and I forget the name of it. Somebody out there can
probably correct me. I don't know the name of his actual Cody Road.
It's the Crossroads Bootleg. I don't know what it is. But so they're
telling that story, and you know, it seems like he's moving through Damian
Priest. As he said before the event, that this path he's back on,
that he's back telling his story. Whatever this silly bedtime story is that
we all know is leading probably to Roman at forty is right through Damien Priest.
And that's exactly what he did here, and he did it convincingly and
decisively. That tells you he is moving on. So Monday night Raw Tomorrow
night should be very interesting in what his next steps are. I really hope
he's done with the judgment day. I just I do. So. All
right, well, let's uh, let's move on here, let's talk,
Uh where do I want to go? Let's talk about John Cena and Solo
Soca. Your thoughts. I'm not gonna lie. I was watching this with
a buddy and I really hated this. I hated everything about this. I
why is John Cena back? Like, are we just bringing him back to
be a jobber and get crushed every time he's in a singles match? I
mean, if you want to make Solo Soca win, which I disagreed with.
I predicted John Cena. But if you want to make Solo win,
fine, But he just beat the you know what about it out of him,
like I the way it ended, like just the repeated simone in Spikes.
I'm just like this is I came away from that match thinking and it's
like, you can never present John Cena as a formidable threat ever again,
ever again. You have killed all credibility to the John Cena character. And
I know you're trying to build so to go up as Umaga two point oh.
And could he stop staring at his thumb like he's in a trance,
Like I get it he they're building him to be Umaga two point oh.
But it's a bit much now, Like he has his damn thumb on his
shirt like it's enough, Like it really it's enough with the thumb, Like
he stares at his thumb the way that Booker t would stare at his hand
before he did the spin of Rooney, Like I'm waiting for him to break
out in like a Samoan Rooney or something. When he's staring at his damn
thumb. I'm actually getting heated like Cody Roads heated because of this, Like
it pissed me off because look, I understand that they're telling the story of
John Cena being over the hill and does he have it anymore? But like,
you could do that in a way that doesn't completely pastraate all the character's
credibility, and that's what they did. He's not won a match since what
is it twenty seventeen, which yes it is. It is misleading, and
I do agree, but it's also how you lose those matches. And he
got squashed. He got absolutely steamrolled squashed. And this isn't like Gunther or
Damien priest or when Roman pretty much squashed him. It's Solo's Socoa. I'm
sorry, is this guy like a budding world champion? Like? I don't
think so. I get you're trying to push him as mister dangerous like enforcer,
and could we change his song? It literally sounds like it's made for
a fat person walk into the ring. It's doing him no favors. But
that's neither here nor there. I don't know. I came away from this
thinking the entire thing was stupid. I don't think it helps Solo Socoa as
much as people maybe think it did. I think I thought that him using
that Samoans spike like fifty times and I don't think that's a stretch. How
many times did he hit him when John Cena was like on the ground lifeless,
I don't think it helped anyone. And now, and it sucks to
say, but never ever, ever bring John Cena back and present him as
like a credible threat to anyone, because you completely newted that entire character's credibility.
Yeah, okay, so so much here. So I will say on
some of the positives, or at least potential positives, and this is a
much shorter list, but I will try is that Solo did get the biggest
match of his career, and John Cena is there to help build new stars.
That is why he's back. Of course Payday, Let's be honest.
He's there for money too, who wouldn't be, But he's there in the
give back part of his career to help build the next generation of stars.
So that's exactly what the point of this match was. But that's kind of
where this ends here, because was that accomplished? Did Solo Socoa feel like
a bigger star afterwards? And to that I'll actually say, I don't think
so. But also, if we're learning anything from Austin Theory's victory over John
Sene at WrestleMania last year, the answer to that is nope. And in
fact, it actually tanked Austin Theory for quite a while. Not only did
John Cena completely eviscerate Austin Theory on the microphone and really Solo Socoa by the
way, on SmackDown completely like just just chopped his nuts off. Let's be
honest. You know, he goes he's so good on the microphone. The
key here for Solo is going to be follow up. Do they do any
kind of actual follow up unlike Austin Theory, so they could maybe salvage something
from this if the idea is to help build Solo as a new star,
which I would as a rising star, which I think it is. Now
as far as the six hundred Simo and Spikes, now, let me just
get this straight. So John Cena sells that he can't really talk on SmackDown
because he got one some owned Spike the week before, even though it was
a double taping. Fine, but then you know, Paul Hayman tries to
tell us that Oh well, this is so solo can take away the one
thing that you're good at, the one strength you have, which is your
communication. Well, if that's the case and John Cena just got some owned
spike six hundred times. First of all, John Cena had barely sold it
after the match. He just kind of like raised his hand like thanks everybody,
I hope you enjoyed my performance. I'm leaving now. He didn't sell
it at all. And then if that wouldn't we have wanted to see maybe
blood coming out from his mouth. He's coughing up blood. If someone actually
used that and spiked you in the neck that many times you're in a neck
brace, you should be stretchered out. You should be coughing up blood.
Put a little blood pill in your mouth, and you'd give us something.
I know that blood isn't a thing anymore, but you can do a little
bit of it in your mouth, just something to sell it a little more
other than John Cena saying thanks guys, thanks for the thank You've seen a
chance. I'll see it probably around WrestleMania forty. I hated that. If
that's the idea, I mean, John Cena should shouldn't be able to ever
speak again, but of course that's not going to be the case. And
then the match I thought was slow pace, which I don't hate slow pace
matches, but it was the entire time a Samoan beat down by Solo Soca,
and it was it was sixteen minutes long, and I thought the outcome
was I actually didn't hate the outcome if they do the follow up correctly.
But John Cena, Yeah, so he continues as his losing streak, and
I'm sure we'll see John Cena in depression and he'll come around. He'll probably
be honestly an entrant in the Royal Rumble or at Rumble. That's when he'll
return. Ugh. I think a lost art here is building someone in a
loss, and I really think that Solo Socoa could have been built in a
loss here, and we had talked about it. I had talked about it
that the one thing missing was Solo so CoA was a consistent like a big
time feud, like not an extension of the bloodline or like him, you
know, fighting Cody Rhoades off of Rome Reign's behalf, but like a personal
feud. And I think he had this with John Cena. But I think
it could have done a lot for the character development had he taken a loss
here. And I know that he doesn't need it, but like you just
mentioned, like beating John Cena or beating a legend doesn't automatically elevate you.
And look at what losing to Kevin to to Steve Austin did for Kevin Owens.
Like nobody remembers that he lost to a fifty five year old stone cold
Steve Austin. We remember that he put on a hell of a match with
stone cold Steve Austin. And I just feel like I'm gonna look back and
I can't. I won't speak to for everyone. So with me, it's
like I'm gonna look back onto the solo Soca character Neutering, arguably the best
character of the last two decades and the strongest character of the last two decades,
just completely obliterating John Cena. And how old is John Cena? Like
I know we're supposed to be looking at him, that he's over the hill
and all this, but how old is John Cena? Forty five? How
many to what age did the rock wrestle and look like a top tier threat?
What age did taker? What age did fipple. Ah, we just
saw stone cold Steve Austin defeats Kevin Owens eighteen months ago. HBK, Like
forty five, Yes, you're past your prime, but it's not like you're
a decrepit old man anymore. And like John Cena could theoretically wrestle two three
times a year for the next five years, and what you just want to
destroy his entire character for like a mid range And let's be honest here,
Like I don't think Sola Sico is the next face of the company. Like
they're making him umaga That's that's what they're making him an And I can't even
speak a literate oomaga that is what they're making Solos Tocoa to be. And
I just I don't see why this had to be an outcome here because for
me, I know that they're gonna bring John Cena back. I know this
is a massive story arc, but he has been on like the same arc
now for years, and I think they made a mistake with how badly he
lost to Roman Reigns two Summer slams ago or I guess three Summer slams ago
at this point. And I just really think that they've completely chopped the legs
out from the John Cena character. And not to say I want him to,
you know, be the world champion or bury all this up and coming
talent, but if you want to use John Cena as a way to really
elevate guys and when someone beats him at it feels like a big deal,
you can't have him look like that. And I don't think they learned their
lesson with theory, and at least with theory, he won by hook or
crook and it wasn't a complete domination. They ruined the John Cena character,
and I don't view that character like at any time they try and present the
John Cena character as like a threat now or the greatest of all time,
that's going to be my visual is him just being annihilated by Solo. So
yeah, I think there's a distinction to be made here. And I made
this point on my previews show that nothing John Cena could do at this point.
I mean, I really do believe this still that there's almost nothing he
could do that would tarnish his career as a whole. When we look back
at his Hall of Fame career, I very much doubt that we're going to
be thinking of all, well, remember, you know, he would be
a Hall of Famer, but he got you know, destroyed by Soula Sacoa
for twenty minutes. You know. Like, but I'm not saying that.
That doesn't mean his character currently isn't damaged. It's just to me, as
a whole, I don't look at his career any differently. I don't look
at his accomplishments any differently, because, to be honest, he doesn't have
to be here right now. Yeah, like he really doesn't. I mean,
I'm sure he wants the money, that's true, but he also doesn't
have to be here. He could be doing other projects. He could be
I know that there's a writer's strike, but he could still be doing other
things. And so I know what he's trying to do, and it's it's
admirable that he's trying to help new stars, and by getting a victory over
him a name like him, he knows that that can help. But the
way that they've done this so far is they've almost, like you said,
they've made John Cena look like a child, or at least a non threat
is a better way to put it. He looks like a shell of himself.
I want the where's the confidence, Where's you know, where's the John
Cena that we want to know, we remember and the one that we want
to be in these matches. Instead, he's out there pretending that, you
know, oh, if I lose this match, I don't know if I
can do this anymore. Like what are you talking about, man, Like
you know, that's that's the problem I have. And having Solo Socoa come
out there and dominate Johnson. Like you said, Solo so is a guy
that I look at and I say, yeah, he's the enforcemer of the
bloodline, But I don't look at him and go, oh, man,
that's the guy for the next ten years. And a victory like this would
indicate that WWE feels like that is our guy for the next ten years,
and the fans are going, yeah, he's a badass, but like,
uh, that was a pretty big victory in the way he won to do
what you just did damage Johnson his current character. At the same time,
you better hope that you get the benefit you want out of this victory,
because if you don't, you're looking at another Austin theory fallout, which was
devastating for his character and I just keep looking back at that Kevin Owens loss
to Steve Austin, and I think that that could have been something viewed,
you know, And I don't know, man, like, if John Cena
comes back between Now and Roy Rumble, like that visual of him just being
royed by Solo Soca, do you not find it's gonna just seem a bit
bizarre. Yeah. But here's the thing. I totally agree. But to
most fans, they have the memory of a goldfish where they're just kind of
like, oh, well, that was so long ago. Johnsen is back
now. I mean, you know how it's gonna go. He's gonna get
a pop, He'll cut a good promo and then people will be reinvested and
they'll be right back into it. I don't think that in two months,
presumably presumably when he returns around Rumble or even February around Chamber or something,
when he finds out who his opponent's going to be for Mania, that the
fans are gonna go, oh, but he got destroyed by Solo Socoa.
I don't know if I want to see this. Johnson is probably gonna lose.
No, honestly, like most fans will look at that and probably their
mind will be erased and they'll move on. I really think that. But
the one thing I wanted to one final point I want to make very quickly
and then we'll go on move on to the next match is Raymisterio is forty
eight years old. Johnsen is forty six. Ray Masterio moves around like he's
twenty eighth. He's not sixty. That's another thing, Like it's just like
how old are we supposed? Yes, he has a bald spot and it
looks terrible. I agree, Yeah, it's really bad. I don't get
the guy had a crew cut his entire life and now he's like insistent on
growing out to say, I don't get it, so I can. I
know. It's it's just like okay, man whatever. But it's like why
are we being sold? Like he's like this, like he's falling apart,
like he was born in nineteen fifty two, Like I mean, Rick Flair
is like still wrestling for like but like Sting is having his retirement match and
he's like old enough to be my grandfather. Like I just I don't know,
man, Like I get it, Like you can sell the over the
hill part, but the you to me I can't buy into the entire like,
oh, like he's no longer a threat and he's like completely like on
the back and not and that I don't really understand. And he still looks
like he's twenty. I mean his body's and I mean he's clearly kicking his
ass at the gym and doing whatever he does to stay in shape. He
hasn't lost a step when it comes to his physical appearance, but his his
I don't know. Yeah, well, he's just pushing this narrative that I'm
so old. It's like, what, yeah, exactly what are you talking
about? Undertaker went into his fifties, I mean well into his fifties.
He was like ten years after this before he finally hung it up, as
you said, Stone Coltzy Boston in his fifties. Dwayne Johnson's fifty one,
and he just looks. I mean it's like, why are we supposed to
take John Cena any differently? I mean, I understand that's the story they
want to tell, But if anyone just does a quick Google search, so
like, well, wait a minute, he's he doesn't have any major injuries,
He's in incredible shape. Does the bald spot hold some kind of power
over him. I mean, like, is it true? Yeah, so
I don't know. And Randy Orton's like an impending return. I think he's
what two three years younger than John. But everyone's gonna freak out about Randy
Orton. But why just because he's still a full time competit Like, I
don't know. It was, you know, five years ago when the Undertaker's
gong was hit, we were like every like in their prime twenty eight year
old would be like quivering in their boots. But and he was what fifty
five at the time, But a forty six year old John Cena is like
this guy who might as well be coming down to the ring in a walker
because he has a bald spot. Like okay, Like I get what they're
trying to I get where they're trying to go with it, and I get
the story they're trying to tell. I just think that they're going on they're
going too far with it, and the way that he just got obliterated by
Solo for me was just too far. L A. Knight's forty one,
okay, yeah, so, I mean I've got some other wrestlers here.
Since Kana Kamara is forty two, the miss is forty one, Kofe Kingson's
forty Ziggler, Well, he's not there anybody. He's forty one. A
Shamus is forty four, Finn Balor's forty, Edge forty eight, Bobby Lashley
forty five, AJ Styles forty four, and Randy Orton is forty two.
So like, all of a sudden, why what may I mean? I
don't know we could go on this, but yeah, this, I hope
this opened some of your eyes, guys, because like, this is the
story they're telling, and yet all of these guys are still some of them
are in their absolute prime right now, and we just had a forty one
year old main event, a pay per view in which some of you believed
that he could actually beat Roman Reigns. So yeah, this, this whole
johnsena is old stuff needs to needs to be just forgotten. Well, and
it's like again, like, yes, you could tell the story that he's
not like he can't hang with the Rowlins and the macin Tires and the and
the Romans anymore. Let's say, on a week to week basis, you're
telling me that he like he's so old that he's getting squashed by Umaga two
points know, the guy who's like in a trance when he looks at his
thumb like he's a neanderthal, Like come on, like he comes to a
ring with a ripped up towel on his head to a guy playing deep bass
notes, like I don't know, Like I just like I've watched that and
I was just like, you know, when Roman squashed him at Summer,
So I'm just like, okay, I get it, you know that I
kind of understand. But Solo Socoa, like I'd like that to me was
a step too far. Like if Solo was going to win, it had
to be in like a hard fought match, and then you could have played
it up as like Solo finally like he overcame the greatest of all time and
all this stuff. But like for him to just steamroll John Cena, Like,
to me, that doesn't elevate Solo to like this like meteoroitic level.
It kind of just tells me that like John Cena's garbage now, like he's
just this old mind as well, be sixty year old man who's just breaking
down. And for me, now you're going to try and bring John Cena
back as like a credible threat, like before last night, I'm just like
man like, if La Knight isn't in a championship match, he could go
against John con at WrestleMania. You know, we talked about Edge before Edge
defected to aw who's also old by the way, Drew McIntyre. Like,
I thought that Drew McIntyre versus John Cena could have been a big time match
out of pay per view, maybe seth rawlins, like did John Cena break
the record of Rick Flair for sixteen championships? But no, now all of
those things go out the window because to me, you've dumped him down to
someone being squashed by Solo Socoa. And I understand enforcer bloodline umuga two point
zero. I love my thumb, I get the entire gimmick, but it's
Solo Soca. Let's remember who we're talking about here. This isn't the reincarnation
of Halcogan. One more stat and then we'll move on to a different match.
Here is let's put this into perspective. Hulk Hogan was forty nine when
he main evented WrestleMania. Well, he had that match in Toronto with The
Rock. Who's forty nine? All right, So let let's all just take
it, take a take a step back. All right, Well, let's
move on here. We've got it is. It's a valid point to I
think that it's good that we broke that all down. It is mortant,
yeah, because if you didn't look it up, you're probably like, yeah,
he does look kind of old. The bald spot he you know,
his face does look older. He's pale, Yeah, he's pale. The
paleness doesn't help. And growing his hair out. He does look ridiculous with
his hair being grown out. But yeah, all that you're like, yeah,
he's probably in his low fifties, you know, Like that's what they're
trying to do. But all you have to do is just a very simple
Google search and be like, well, actually half the guys right now on
the roster are in their forties, you know, so it's like what you
know anyway? All right, So moving on the women's five way with Rhea
Naya Raquel, Shana Zoey Naya Jacks. As you and I have said,
not our favorite character and probably would have been better without her, but she's
there, and Rhea Ripley gets the victory, and I was hoping maybe that
it wasn't gonna be always Stark in there to take the pinfall, but no,
she was there to take the pinfall, and Rhea Ripley retains, what
are your thoughts on this? Not a lot to say on it. I
actually think the women did a good job, save for Naya Jax. Like
she took some falls that were of like the most unathletic nature off of the
second rope, which is weird because when she was coming to the ring.
I actually mentioned to my friend and he concurred, like it looked like she
got herself into better shape. I don't know what the afro is about.
I'm not sure why that was deemed a good idea, but I mean to
reach his own, but she looks like she's gotten herself into better shape.
But some of the ways she falls, and like I don't know if you
saw when she broke up a count with a kick, yeah, and it
like it just looked like she ubbed her foot. I think it was Shana
Basler, maybe Zoe's Stark. Like I don't even think she got like an
inch off the ground. It's like she just nudged Zoe Stark with her shin
or something. And but she really didn't bring a lot to this match,
and I do think there are ways to use nia Jacks in a advantageous way,
but in these like multi women matches, especially with women as talented as
Zoe Starkro I thought really impressed Shana Besler all the other four women who were
really good. I thought that it really highlighted nia Jax's I guess some shortcomings
to put it nicely, because I think the other four women put on a
hell of a match, and I think that had you had just a fatal
four way match, we would be looking at this way more fondly. And
I don't like taking drive bys at Nijacks. I also think that it just
wasn't good on creatives to kind of shorn shoehorn her into this position, because
I thought the finish was pret pretty cool. I thought Real look dominant another
predictable outcome, but not a bad one. You had to find a way
to make Real look dominant against her female compatriots because she's been way too entangled
with the male side of the roster for the vast majority of her title run.
I just thought that Naya Jacks, like over Over show upcomings were way
too evident here. Yeah, she did stand out like a sore thumb given
her bro yeah, her afro, her afro. Yeah. I mean,
I don't know what it was with the hair problems last night, but there
were some. Yeah, But certainly a Nia Jackson is just honestly like she's
I think she's a danger in the ring, but not necessarily because she's careless,
but because she's just her body type is so different. It forces her
to work different at a different pace than the other women, which forces the
timings to be adjusted and increases risk. So that I think is the biggest
reason. And honestly, she's probably gonna be short in her career. She's
already had knee injuries and knee problems because physics, guys, I mean,
like physics, math, weight, it all, just it does not exempt
anyone from it. Even if it doesn't if it's something that people don't want
to talk about. And that's why Nia Jackson has been involved partly in so
many injuries. But that wasn't the issue here. It was just that she
it was the laziest breakup, as you said, like she just like taps
somebody. I'm like, I'm like, why are we selling this? Like,
don't sell it? That shouldn't be a breakup. It was. It
was the laziest breakup of a pin I've ever seen in my life. Uh.
And she obviously gets winded much quicker than the other women, because again,
guys, science, it just is what it is. But I like
Zoe Stark in this match. I think she, to me is one of
the biggest winners. Even though she didn't win. She hit the Z three
to sixty on Ripley. I thought that was a possibility she could win there.
But I mean, at the end of the day, it is Rea
Ripley who it should have been. So any close outs on this match before
we continue, just an example of winning in a loss. That's what I'm
going to say. Yep, exactly right. And she took the pinfall,
didn't she? Yeah, she did, But that that actually doesn't bother me
because she got moments in this so yep, all right, here we go
Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre for the World Heavyweight Championship. One that I had
was very I said every to everybody. I said, I would not if
you have money on any kind of wrestling match, stay the hell away from
this one. There's too many variables, especially with the miss send your money
in the bank coming out. Now, you the problem with that is you
knew the second that we had Damian Priest come out, come out, that
there's no way he's going to cash in because he is a match later in
the night and he's not gonna have a match unless it's if it's a the
World Heavyweight Championship. And then you know, I know that some people thought,
oh, well, we could have Cody win that, and all of
a sudden it's a world title match. That's not the way they want to
tell the Cody story, and that he was just kind of you know,
he lucked into a championship match, so I knew immediately that there was no
chance that he would win it because he had a match later in the night.
But I'll toss it to you for your thoughts on the outcome of Seth
retaining first thing before we get into the actual match, I think I found
the perfect scenario for Roman Raises Run to come to an end. Cody Rhodes
beats some main event of WrestleMania, he completes the story instant cash in,
and we get to see Cody Rhodes to story get pissed on at the same
time, I'm up, Yes, I gonna happen. But moving on here,
I think it was match of the night. Like you said, it
was very unpredictable and one of the case one of the situations where unpredictability is
the better option. And I think it was one of those scenarios where either
outcome would have been good because I want drewis champion. You want Drew's champion.
We both predicted Drew to win, but him losing is in the end
of the world. And they told the good story after behind the scenes in
the backstage area with Rhea Ripley, what'd she say, like, what are
you gonna do? Oh? No, She just looked at him, just
looked at him like and told basically looked at him with her body language and
said, man, I told you we could we could have helped you.
That's what she didn't say anything, but that's what she was looking like.
Yeah, And it tells a good story. And unlike Roman Reigns, there's
still tread left on the tires of seth Rawlins as the world heavyweight champion,
and I think that him beating Drew clean tells almost a better story in terms
of this slow burn of a Drew heal turn because he's slowly starting to lose
matches clean because he lost to Gunther Clean as well. Did he not at
summerstime for the Intercontinal Championship. So I mean this is like a slow descent
for this version of Drew. So and given how rappy the crowd was,
I mean, would Drew have wanted to get his first major title win in
front of people, be in front of that crowd. Not as if they
could have forecasted that. But it kind of played out well. So I
predicted Drew. But one of those situations that, even though I want to
see Drew as champion, I kind of think that maybe they made the right
call with it. Yeah, I don't hate this. You said this was
a win win for me because Seth rollins while his tread there is still tread
on the tire. To me, there's not a lot of tread left on
it. I'm kind of ready for things to move on in that respect.
Not every run needs to be a Roman Reigns run. And to me,
it's been six months since May and I've been ready. But that's okay because
this is a furthering of the Drew story, which is going to become increasingly
more desperate, increasing increasingly more dark where he gets you know, he's starting
to sink into the darkness. That's the story they're telling. Where he was
teasing it for a while, it's seem like he pulled away and now he's
realizing, you know, if I need for my own sanity, if I
want to start winning, I may need to do things I don't want to
do, but I have to. And that is the story they're telling,
and I like that. I want to see what that looks like with Drew
from week to week, how he starts to slowly turn on the crowd,
maybe start to you start to see him in the background talking to Ree Ripley
again, Like, this is a fun story that they're telling here, and
I am all about it because we are going to see Drew Hill turn that
I think was the story for Drew coming out of this. He's not hurt
at all by this loss, so Seth winning too, no problem. I
thought we were going to see the judgment at ringside. We didn't, and
that's okay too. This isn't straightforward, no outside nonsense. We you know,
we certainly get enough of that in Romans Championship matches. So that was
a nice refreshing thing. And uh, some of these some of these near
falls were very convincing the Claymore, I thought, you know, maybe that
is it, you know, and and they had some really nice chemistry.
I'm looking at the time here. I think the match was eighteen minutes.
Eighteen minutes, and it didn't feel like eighteen. They did a nice job
of pacing. I mean, I could watch these two work every single minute
that row. Yeah. No, I agree one hundred percent, and I
think that we're gonna see more of this. The big thing here is that
they're doing war games again, and I don't know how that factors into like
one on one matches. Did they have? No because Roman Reigns had both
world titles last year and he was involved in the Bloodline versus the brawling Brutes
and who wasn't brutes Kevin Owens and Drew. Yeah, so I hope that
we see Drew get a second crack at Survivor Series. That would be a
really cool stage for him, at a cool platform to win the championship because
by that point seth Rons will have past six months. And I do agree
there's not a whole lot of runway left for him. But I mean,
it's gonna be very interesting to see how they pulled the trigger on Drew,
because would you agree that it's a question of when not if Drew dethroned Seth,
like it has to be him, right, Yeah, because I think,
as we allude to earlier, the piece of the puzzle for l A.
Knight to win the rumble and if he's not challenging Roman because Cody is,
that's the only slide he can fit in. You gotta have a heel
champion. You wouldn't do Seth Rollins versus l. A. Knight. So
I think you're gonna have l. A. Knight versus Drew McIntyre on the
side of things for the championship, or maybe a triple threat. You could
throw Seth in there, but yeah, I think that's right. And I
think Drew and and l. A. Knight have a history going back to
t NA if I'm not mistaken. But I think it's gonna be Drew.
It should be Drew, And I just hope it's at Survivors Series because even
Sir Vibrus series, You've talked about it, I've talked about it. It's
kind of adopted a gimmicky vibe to it, whether that's SmackDown versus Raw,
whether that's War Games. I just think that you have to kind of make
it feel more important like one of the Big four pay per views, like
when Roman Reigns won his first ever Pardon Me WWE championship in twenty fifteen,
or the Big Show won in a triple Threat match with Rock and Triple H
in nineteen ninety nine. You have to make that championship like that pay per
view feel like in importance as far as championship ships go. You know,
it was the first ever place we saw in the elimination chamber when Shawn Michaels
won his only singles championships and upon his return in two thousand and two,
in that run. So, I mean, I think Survivor Series would be
a very good spot for Drew McIntyre to finally get his victory. Yeah,
I think it would too. And I think what even though this year though
it is confirmed that it's War Games, I mean, we saw a few
promost four survivisies during the pl here and it is War Games, so which
I don't like it. I still I mean it's better than Smack numbers run
some respects, but I just it takes away so much because you're sucking so
many guys that otherwise could have great singles matches into a main event that really
has nothing to do with anything. The rules make no sense. It's exhibition
style, so it's just again another I hate to say it, in some
ways, a throwaway pay per view, and you can have other matches on
the card that actually have consequences and have titles on the line. But you
know that a lot of the if it's five on five for men and women,
then you're gonna have a whole lot of stars in there that are just
there for exhibition reasons, and you're not gonna have a December pay per view,
So that means you are at the rumble after this, so there's no
more playing around. I don't know. I don't know. They're going to
wargames. So the other other thing about this event, they had a propaganda
piece with I think it was Bailey and la and Night and a couple others
talking about how great the city of Saudi Arabia is, which, hey,
I'll leave that propaganda piece alone. They always seem to have some kind of
agreement with the government of Hey, we you know, you guys need to
put in a piece about the event in the event that just really tells everybody
how great our city is. But you know, you do a very quick
Google search, and you know, well, you could come up with some
very different opinions and the reality of what's going on there. But that said,
as far as you know this, this whole thing goes with Seth and
Drew, I think we're going to have probably a title change, and that
maybe that's my question to you. Where do you think the title change actually
takes place? Though? Could it take place on a Monday night Raw?
If Survivor Series, you know, is not a place where they can because
of the War Games match? I mean, I guess, but is that
really like a type of significant championship change you'd want on a Monday night Row?
Like, when's the last time they changed a world title on a on
a non pay per view M Yeah, that's a I do not know.
I don't know, so, I mean, it probably isn't. I mean,
it isn't something to do very often, but I think that they could
do it given that there's no event in December and they've not been shy about
doing title matches at all on free TV, and sure they could do it
at Survivors' Series, but you know, I don't know what the motive is
for the five on five, So I'm trying to think of that, you
know, Team Who versus Team Who. I don't know who that is,
but yeah, I mean I would imagine it would be Judgment Day plus Bloodline
versus like whoever, like Cody J. Like that kind of seems where it's
going, right, like solo Jimmy and then three members of the Bloodline of
the of Judgment Day against Sammy J all that, Like I don't but again
it seems so tiresome, right, Like is that something you want to see?
No? Sorry, I think the concept of wargame sucks. I mean,
it's just it's sucks, guys, I'm sorry, I know all of
you. Oh it's got two rings. Uh, it's got ten guys,
and the match doesn't even start until everyone's in the ring. But so basically
you're telling me I don't need to watch until the bell rings, Like so
what what what am I watching the other seventy five percent of the match for
if it means nothing, Well, one team has an advantage, Well,
how do they have an advantage if you can't eliminate anybody until the ring of
the bell rings, it couldience to me, it'd be cool if it was
elimination agreed like that that I think, like if you know, like if
whoever got the second guy in in first, and then you could just eliminate
the first one and then it was just like this domino effect where one team
all, you know, like that would be cool. Boer, I don't
know, it's it's I remember it seeming just a little too chaotic for me,
like maybe I have to go back and rewatch it. But I'm apprecire.
That's a WCW concept. Oh this is a yeah, this is a
very old because this is not WWE's invention. It's not their brainchild by any
means. So yeah, I mean that's the next event we're looking forward to.
Uh, actually, gotta get the date because I don't know when the
hell the date is. Survivors Series November twenty fifth. Yeah. Yeah,
so so that's only what a few weeks, three weeks, so we don't
have a whole lot of turnaround time. They gotta crank out the matches this
coming Monday night start, you know, setting those up as we get closer
to a Survivor series, but after that it's two months over two months until
we have the next pl E. I don't like that, you know,
I like the December pay per view, Like one that I really liked they
did once in twenty twenty two was Day one, yes, but even you
know they I love that pay per view. I liked Armageddon back in the
day like I didn't like TLC, so I'm happy they did away with that.
But I don't know like you could stick in another pay per view,
whether it's Vengeance or or Armageddon or was what was New Year's Resolution, because
I guess you can always do Day one because it doesn't always conveniently fun on
a Saturday. But I don't know. I find the jump from Survivor Series
to w well, especially seeing us that they're they're both quote big four pay
per views, way too long, Like look at how many pay per views
are between you know, Summer Slim and Survivor Series or Wrestling in Summer Slim,
Like, okay, there's only one between Rumble and Mania, but even
those ones have even they have one pay per view or at times event two.
So I don't know. I do think it feels like way too big
of a lull going two plus months. Well, I think that you're right.
But also the fact that as as WWE fans watching Roman Reigns is run
the last three and a half years, two months is you know, a
breeze. It's kind of just your average Roman appearance time differences, you know.
Like so it's it's kind of just like pretending we're watching Roman Reigns and
then you're like, oh, I'll see in two months and that the next
event is going to be I mean, that's the unit of measure at this
point. So yeah, no, I'm with you. I don't know why
they don't have a December or member as you said, or like something.
Yeah, I mean I love that the day one they could do that as
kind of an introm And honestly, without that destination, it feels weird,
like it feels I mean, it feels like things are gonna drag out,
like they have to build from November, end of November to end of January.
That's why I still believe they're gonna have big matches on Raw, big
matches on SmackDown that otherwise would have been put on a pay per view card,
But since they don't have that, they're just gonna have to put them
on free TV. So I think we could see some really big free matches,
title matches, maybe even the title change. I mean, that's they're
almost gonna be forced to do something. Given eight weeks of three hour television
for RAW. I mean, that's what twenty four hours of television? Am
I wrong? Twenty four hours of straight television for RAW they're gonna have to
come up with between Survivors Series and Rumble. That's a hell of a lot
of television. So however, they shouldn't think of their their work cut out
for them to keep everyone intrigued as far as the events here is concerned,
no doubt about it. But so all right, well everybody, thank you
so much for joining us. Thank you so much for joining me, Anthony.
It's been a pleasure as always. And hey, we'll be talking again
this time next week tomorrow, guys, we are not going to be doing
a current State. This is kind of what we would have talked about anyway,
so it's a bit of a blended show. Check us out next Monday
nights for the just the current State. But hope you guys enjoyed the review
and Anthony say, thanks so much for joining us tonight. Yeah man,
looking forward to next week and thanks for having me on all right, take
care you too. Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to
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