Top Moments in WWE of 2023

This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the WWE Podcast, the
show, the one that everybody wants me god Stand three sixteen, So just
cut your ass is my ard. We're gonna acknowledge me. Welcome to the
WWE Podcast. Everyone. We are gonna talk about the big moments of twenty
twenty three. And this is really in any particular order. It's difficult for
me to do it like a top five because number one, they're so subjective,
So I kind of just lumped the big moments that I feel captured twenty
twenty three together, and we're going to talk about those and later in the
week, in about I don't know, four or five days. Next week,
we're going to be talking about twenty twenty four, the big things that
we expect to happen in twenty twenty four. As of course, it's only
what a week away, and we have a lot to talk about there as
well, and especially given this as a review week for WWE, with not
a ton of revelational new content, we're going to be discussing everything that has
happened and everything that we think will happen, and we will include Patron's thoughts
as well, because we are going to be collectively figuring out what twenty twenty
four could bring on the men's and women's sides of things. So, no
doubt about it, it's going to be a wild twenty twenty four. But
before we go forward, let's take a look back. I think it's worth
every year looking back to reflect on what this year brought to the company,
because this is a big year, no doubt about it. Cody Rhodes wins
the Rumble, he faces Rowan Raigns in the main event of WrestleMania many expect
most expected him to win, and he loses. Roman continues on his run.
He doesn't defend his belt until SummerSlam again. John Cena returns, John
Scene has a match against Solo Sokoa loses. We had Edges final match,
Like, I mean, we had so many different things happen in twenty twenty
three. Rhea's continued dominance on the women's side of things, Becky Lynch going
into obscurity up until just recently coming back for resurgence. Yeah, just so
many things. I mean, I'm sure you guys can mention it off the
top two and including a lot of ples that really over delivered, and that
was kind of the theme for me in twenty twenty three, and a lot
of people were what was looking back and saying, man, we had a
lot of awesome ples that even if the build wasn't great, you know,
you came out of it saying that kicked ass. That didn't happen every time,
but a lot of times it did. And that was also the theme
on top of wild crowds overseas for multiple pls. That's certain helped as well.
You know, just guys, it was a awesome, awesome yere Sammy's
ain and Roman reigns. You know, that was another thing that I think
encapsulated the ww fans. Gunther's dominant reign continues with no end in sight.
You know that that that's of course going to be discussed here a little bit.
But guys, let me just say at the bat, this is not
a complete list, all right. There's gonna be some things that you guys
comment in here and say what about this? What about that? How did
you miss this? Oh my god, how about that? Of course,
this is not a a very you know, long show. I don't anticipate
this this episode going super long. It is more of a reflection. But
I'm not gonna capture everything that you think was worthy of twenty twenty three discussion
discussion, but send it to me, all right. If you if you
say, if you look at the comments and you're like, hey, hey,
they missed this or that they missed this or that, throw it in
there, all right, I'm curious as to what you think some of the
big moments of twenty twenty three are. And I don't need a top five
list. I don't need everyone to compile a top five list, and in
fact, I please don't do that, because then you know I've got fifteen
top five lists running around. And it's also, I think usually not as
good for a listening experience if everyone has top fives and rather just throw good
moments. Throw big moments out there to me. I'll be interested to hear
what you think they are, or just give me your top moment. You
know, I'll be very interested to here what everyone else thinks. But let's
get to it. I wan One thing new to Apple Podcasts subscribers, The
ad free subscribers on Apple Podcasts are now also receiving the after Dark Show with
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encourage you to go listen to that, which is available on Patreon and available
on Apple Podcasts, so check it out. But it's only available on Apple
Podcasts if you are an ad free subscriber. You won't see it in the
feed if you're a new or a free subscriber. So just a little bit
of a tidbit there. All right, let's dive into some things that I
think were big moments in WE in twenty twenty three. I'm gonna start with
Gunther and his his breaking of the Intercontinental Championship record. I think it's worth
noting. It's more than worth noting, it's worth celebrating, all right,
Gunther throughout the twenty twenty three year has really been and become one of the
faces of WWE. All right, between the matches of course with him and
Seamus, which were amazing, and the triple threat with Drew McIntyre, Shamus
and gun Through at WrestleMania, which I thought was good, not as good
as Shamus and gun Through one on one, but still very good. And
then you have the matches, the the series of matches with Chad Gable that
were just wrestling clinics, all right. I mean this, this guy has
set himself up for main event anytime that WWE and Gunther are both ready,
you know, at the moment they want to pull the trigger, they can
make it happen. Gunther has proven himself to be not just an asset,
but one of the faces of the company. He has to say he has
reinvigorated the Intercontinental Championship is the understatement of the year. He has redefined it.
I mean, I'm not trying to be over dramatic, Okay, I
really believe that he has redefined what it means to be Intercontinental Champion, not
just added equity to or added value to it, all right, which which
is important and and is something that doesn't always happen with champions. But if
he did that, I would say it was a success. But he has
redefined it. What you think of now as an Intercontinental champion. After Gunther
drops the belt, whoever that person is, and whoever succeeds that person and
so forth. Gunther's now the measuring stick to the Intercontinental Championship. I think
he is the greatest and it's not just because he has the number of days
behind him. I know that's suddenly greatest is directly associated with number of days
you're champion in WWE. I don't prescribe to that at all, So I'm
taking that out of the equation. Even if he didn't break the record,
I would still say he's the greatest intercontinental champion of all time, and I
do believe that. Why how is he better than Pat Patterson? Okay?
Well, first of all, just because you're the first doesn't mean you're the
best. Okay. That's also is important to note you have other intercontinental champions
as well. I understand that. Understand the Triple h or I'm sorry,
The Rock and Austin were both the intercontinental champions, but they weren't great intercontinental
champions. Okay, Austin I remember, gave up the intercontinental championship to the
Rock. That's how much it meant to him. So, you know,
Chris Jericho was a great, really good intercontinental champion. But Gunther has brought
a sense of realism to the intercontinental championship. He has just again redefined I
don't know what else, whatever word I can use, other than that he
has absolutely just completely revived the Intercontinental Championship and thinking about where it was.
I mean, guys, you remember when like Shins get out to where it
was Intercontinental Champion just a couple of years ago, and they never did anything
with him. The Interconnental Championship was like a forgotten championship and it was on
life support. Well, Gunther took it and just completely rebirthed it. And
I love everything he's done. I love everything about it. I love everything
that Gunther stands for. I have. You know his in ring work is
it's so different but also believable, and he feels like he's actually that guy
that it's hard to see through his work, and that's not a trait that
is often you know, I think it's a trait that's missing a lot in
WWE. So GUNTHERER. I can't say enough about it. And honestly,
I don't know when he's gonna drop it. It could be before WrestleMania,
but it could be after. I don't think there's any room right now for
Gunther in the Intercontinental Championship picture, or rather the world title picture. Before
WrestleMania, they've already locked in who those people are. And one of their
they're not named Gunther. Plus, I think that you have brock Lesnar looming
and people are saying, oh, well, he could face brock Lessner for
the title. Well, no, he can't take the title out of it.
It's like having the Rock and Roman for the championship. It sounds more
important on paper, but it's not for numerous reasons. But I think Gunther,
to be honest, drops the belt before WrestleMania thirty eight. Oh my
god, before WrestleMania forty. I think he drops the belt and then he's
gonna face brock Lessner. Maybe brock Lesner is the reason that he drops the
belt. So alrighty, that's a big moment for me. I don't know
what you guys think. Sammy Zain turning on Roman Reins. Do you guys
remember this? At the Royal Rumble, after months and months of abuse,
Sammy Zain, at the direction of Roman Reigns, is handed a chair to
demolish Kevin Owens. After Kevin Owens is handcuffed to the ring ropes, people
were waiting for Sammy's Ain to snap. People saw it coming, but they
didn't know when. Many believed, including myself, that Sammy could be the
one to dethrone Roman, and I still believe to this day that he should
have been the one, more than Cody, more than even Seth Rollins,
more than Kevin Owens, more than Randy Jordan. I still believe sammy's Ain
character wise was the right guy to do it. Now, that's not going
to happen anymore, clearly, But this moment at the Rumble last year,
nearly a year ago, can you believe it? Nearly a year ago,
sammy's Ain took the chair that Roman handed him and as Roman turned his back,
Sammy z Ain hit Roman Reigns in the back with the chair and the
crowd absolutely explodes. Go back and listen, Go back and listen to it
is one of the biggest pops of twenty twenty three. And then from there
Jimmy and Jay proceed to beat down Sammy Zain, but the damage was done
and Sammy had split from Roman, and then they were going to go on
to of course Elimination Chamber in twenty twenty three at the Montreal Bell Center and
in one of the most emotional matches that we've seen in years in WWE,
one of the culmination of the one of the best stories in WWE in years
in WWE was Sammy Zay Roman reigns for the undisputed Championship in Montreal, of
course Sammy's hometown, and many believing this could finally be it and it wasn't.
It was not but a match that, of course we will never forget
with Sammy and in Roman reigns. All right, now, this is a
moment and I've seen these other people's lists. It's one we all saw coming.
It's one that I said, WWE is going to score, go scorched
Earth to get to this, and that was a thousand days for Romanist Champion,
and they got there. And now of course they're looking at Hulk Hogan
and saying the same thing. But he reaches a thousand days as champion.
So for what that's worth, you guys, I know I've seen a lot
of It is a big moment, but one honestly that is that that begs
the question at what cost? At what cost? And what costs we continue
to pay as fans and the talent themselves continue to pay With Romanist Champion.
This is no longer even about storyline, you know what I mean. It's
actually gone beyond story it's gone in very few I can't even remember the last
story that WWE told that actually blurred the lines or even crossed the line into
negatively affecting people's lives, real lives, not on air characters, real lives.
And what do you mean by that, Well, the fact that of
course fans are angry and bored by it, but the actual talent who could
perhaps ascend to that next level and use that as a as a springboard,
And all the championship matches that we have been withheld from because of Roman's schedule
and WWE it's not again not blaming Roman, it's one one here, the
management, but all of the championship matches we've been denied that we'll never know
could have existed, and the men's talent that are sitting on SmackDown, going
well, this effing sucks. I have no champions no top belt to contend
for because that's all locked up every four months with you know, somebody else,
you know, So they're they're screwing with actual guys, lively livelihoods.
That that's not something that happens very often, where it's a self inflicted wound
that they continue to open. And I know they don't see that that way.
I know that they think that getting to a you know, Hulk Hogan's
record is going to be somehow this magical moment that everything's gonna make sense and
the fans are going to say, oh, that was all worth it.
It's not gonna happen. It's nothing they could do anymore. As I've said,
but I wanted to mention the thousand days because he did reach a thousand
days in twenty twenty three. Alrighty again, guys, this is in no
particular order. But the other moment, and I this is more of a
kind of a wholesale business moment in WWE is WWE being sold, WWE merging
with UFC to form a TKO and something that we never thought would happen.
Many people never thought the Vince would ever do it. And having Vince out
of the driver's seat of his own company for the first time in his life
is a significant moment, you know, a moment that has really not been
a It's been a game changer because from a fans perspective, you look at
this and say, what is the creative going to be? Like? Okay,
when Vince finally decides or he's forced to move aside what does the creative
look like? And that's what fans really care about, right Fans care about
that. Fans care about how good is the product? How good is are
the matches, How good are the storylines, how good are the characters?
That kind of thing, And rightfully so, most of us, most of
us, not all, don't have any vestent interest in WWE's stock. Not
to say none of us do, but the primary concern for fans is on
air product. And I think generally speaking it has been a subtle change.
I don't think it has been, you know, a complete one to eighty
of any kind from Vince's philosophies. There are still some things that Vince does
or did that carry over to now that make you think, man, really,
with Vince gone, we're still doing this stuff, you know, some
of the goofy craft that they do that they just can't help themselves but do.
Not paying attention to the Women's Tag Team Championships consistently was a big disappointment.
And I know right now they're kind of on it, and we have
new Women's Tag Team champions that doesn't I don't care about that, because why
should I? Until they prove me wrong and I want them to. Why
the hell should I care about them? You know? So that is a
big moment, though. Wweb being sold is a huge moment. Merging right,
merging with UFC under one umbrella called you know It's Entertainment Group TKO.
I think that's the official name. So again, with Vince McMahon out of
power, absolutely crazy. I mean a year that I don't think a lot
of people saw coming just a few years ago. What else? So cmpunk,
cempunk returning to the company. How can you not mention this on anybody's
list. I'm sure a lot of people would put this as number one.
Cempunk returning to the company for the first time in nearly not quite, but
nearly ten years, will round it. Everyone likes the nice ten. It's
a nice round number, and the shirt says it all. Hell froze over.
I really didn't think WWE should bring him in. I if you guys
want to go back and find my shows where I said that, I'll stand
by it. I don't change my opinion, you know from well, I
won't change my I wouldn't change my opinion then, even knowing what I know
now, that's not to say it hasn't been a success w bringing in Punk.
I mean, if you don't think it's been a success, I mean
you're just not paying attention. You may not personally like it, but when
you look at the numbers, when you look at the fact that he has
like record merchandise numbers, he's number one in merch right now. That's making
everyone money. The ratings show it too. Punk is a ratings draw.
He just is. And he's a money draw right now. And think of
all the cool matchups we could see that we haven't even touched on yet,
that we haven't even skimmed the surface. Now I know Seth and and Punk
is going to happen when we don't know. But Punk back in w WE
at Survivors Series in Chicago is a massive moment. W There's there's no way
about it, no two ways about it. Of course, Randy Orton can't
not be mentioned here. Two after being injured in May of twenty twenty two,
having backfuse and surgery doctors telling him he may not ever wrestle again,
and then coming back looking more jack than ever, that's a big moment,
and at the same pay per view as well, coming back in the cage
match, right, So that to me, or the Survivors Series event just
last month, was a massive, massive pay per view for WWE, one
that I think is going to have long standing implications for more games, long
standing because Randy Orton, despite my continued belief, he's not going to beat
Roman. He could, but I don't think he will. We have Punk
who is going to sign a multi year deal or has sign a multi year
deal. We have Orton who's sign a multi year deal. So I think
these two I don't know what multi year means. It could mean two,
it could mean four, could mean five, it could mean three. I
would say anywhere between two and five years. He's a pretty safe bet to
assume. That means we have multi year Punk and Orton floating around unopposing brands
unless they do another brand, you know, shake up again. Right,
So there's a lot to look forward to. Punk is not going to be
at everywhere every raw. He is going to be I think it's like every
few raws, every two raws, every three or whatever it is. But
trust me, that will still feel like he's there full time compared to Roman
reigns. So you know, Roman is for all the things that are frustrating
about Roman's run, including the fact that without even having him be there,
since the number of days is all likes to talk about with Roman and they
use that as like the benchmark, and one of his biggest accomplishments is the
number of days, number of days, number of days, number of days,
and it does hurt every other champion, like Gunther, who's over five
hundred. And you'd say, if Roman's reign didn't exist, if his title
run didn't over have this crazy number, you'd be like, Wow, Gunther's
on fire. This rain is crazy long. But you can't help but compare
it to Roman's reign and then you go, oh, yeah, five hundred,
it's a solid number, bro. But you know Romans at like twelve
hundred, you know what I mean. So, like Roman, without even
having him be there, is overshadowing everyone else's run that WWE is keeping tabs
on in terms of old they crossed one hundred days, this champion, they
cross four hundred days. This chance it's like, yeah, so, you
know what I mean, it's inadvertently collateral damage. But for the one thing
that is good for his absence is when people actually are part time in some
sense like Punk, who's not gonna be there everywhere, aw and nor should
he be. You're looking at this going wow, well, okay, Punk,
but it kind of feels like you're here a lot more given that,
you know, we have Roman reigns over there who's not here ever, So
Roman in that respect is giving out everyone else kind of a longer leash with
fans of the otherwise would because when you watch someone as champion for three and
a half years and for the last year and a half barely be here.
You know, you look, nearly two years now since the merger of w
Championship in the Universal Championship at WrestleMania thirty eight against Brock has really won the
absentee championship nonsense started, So nearly nearly two years, we're closing in on
it. You know. That is one of the benefits to all the other
talent is oh, well, you know, even though I'm not here for
a month, fans will feel like, hey, he feels like he's here
when he comes back on that fifth week, you know what I mean.
So that's the one one of the few good things that has come from Roman's
reign. So I'm trying to think of what else happened here. I mean,
we had bad Bunny, I don't really care. I'm looking at some
of the other moments here. We've got Trish back, Trish Stratus on a
run in WWE. I don't think that can really be understated or overstated enough.
Is the whole thank you Trish thing was still? Was it overdone at
times? Yes? But I think that fans unfortunately focused and including myself at
times, focused on how long the Becky Lynch program went on and Zoe Stark
and all that, and we were just like, oh my god, can
we please get back into a program that matters? And this is boring?
And then they had the awesome kick ass cage match to finish it, and
people were like, oh wow, this ain't so bad. Unfortunately, their
best and most emotionally invested match came at the very end. Not great timing,
but Tris Stratus going on any kind of lengthy run one is significant.
You know, like Trishka, who's a mom coming out of her you know,
out of retirement in her forties, still coming out there and having kick
ass matches is something to be said. So again, yeah, that was
a payback in twenty twenty three with the women's steel cage match. So that
was awesome. It like a twenty minute cage match. Judgment day, can't
be you know. They they really, I think had one of those one
of those factions that you look at and go, huh, could they be
inducted into the Hall of Fame at this point as a faction? And I
think they're on the path there. I don't think they're quite there, but
look at what's going on there. I mean, you've got Finn Balor as
one half of the undisputed tag team champions with Damian Perus, who's also carrying
that the bank briefcases send your money in the bank. It's going on seven
months now, so he's coming up on the back end of that guaranteed championship
opportunity. So keep that in mind, and I think that'll become prominent as
we move forward very much. So I think he could take Seth World Championship.
We'll talk about that in another time. But rha Ripley of course having
one of her best years ever, even though she never really had any true
opponents up until recently. I mean she went essentially unopposed for months after WrestleMania.
I don't want to hear about you know, in terms of storyline,
storyline, not what I believe she's potentially capable of. Zelena Vega wasn't a
real threat. I love Zelena, but in storyline, you just knew there's
no chance, even though it was in Puerto Rico and the crowd was hot
as hell for her and I love that moment for her. But Natalia,
come on, no chance. You know, There's just there's certain people you
just look at and you're like, can we get a real opponent for Rhea?
And even with all that said, she has done an awesome job as
the unofficial official, the unofficial official leader of Judgment Day. So I loved
Ria Ripley in twenty twenty three, saying for Tom who continues to be the
biggest heat magnet I've seen in a long time. Jane D McDonough making a
name for himself over the last several months, joining Judgment Day officially, having
good match after good match after good match, taking the bullets for the rest
of the Judgment Day members. It's all been a lot of fun. Jimmy
and Jay splitting and then Jay going off to be main event Jay Uso,
The Rise of Yeat in twenty twenty three can't be overstated enough either, you
know, Wwe certainly made the right choice in purchasing the copyrights of Yeat for
Jay and for the company. It's a lot of money there. Jimmy,
although while breaking out and then screwing Jay at SummerSlam and it was a terrible
ending, he made no sense. And now he's back with Roman and that
still doesn't make sense, and he's still binding for the approval of Roman.
None of this for Jimmy makes any sense. And Jimmy's not in the best
spot right now, even though he's in the blood line because we've kind of
been there, done that with family, you know, the family line and
who's next in line and what's the drama? Like, we're kind of over
intra bloodline stuff. But Jay on his own right now is kicking ass.
And the rise of Jay Usso as a solo act has also been a lot
of fun to watch in twenty twenty three. All right, Kevin Owens and
Sammy's Ain winning the Undisputed Tag Team Championships was also a big moment at WrestleMania
thirty nine this past year. Let's see, we got Bianca Bellair, who
took on Heo Sky Backlash in what I thought was a decent match win eighteen
minutes. Biachapelle went a one in that match. If you forgot at Backlash
we had, of course Charlotte Flair injury just recently happened that it's going to
I think, create opportunity for talent but also hurt the division at the same
time with star power being reduced but also opportunity slot being opened. Bad Bunny
versus Damian Priest at Backlash I think over delivered. Bad Bunny continues to impress
and not embarrass and that's always a good thing. When you bring in a
celebrity who you're always worried is just going to be an embarrassment, and we've
seen that before. Let's see we had again Ria Ripley be anointed Women's Champion
at WrestleMania. That was a lot of fun and uh, you know,
of course, Cody Roads losing to Roman WrestleMania was a big moment in its
own right. And The Rock returning. Don't forget about The Rock returning just
a few month months ago to take out Austin Theory and tease us with once
again nothing so far that his menu manifested itself into a actual match against Roman,
so we'll see. I'm not holding my breath at all on that one.
But that's Those are the kind of the moments here. And I did
cheat a little bit and look at some you know, top moments of w
in twenty twenty three. It's pretty easy to find, but those are my
moments. I didn't go and copy someone else's you verbatim, okay, but
those are my top moments that I think we're worthy of twenty twenty three's reflection.
Now, what is in store for twenty twenty four? As I said,
that podcast is going to be coming to you later next week and after
the holidays as we well, I'm probably before before New Year's all right,
it'll probably be like Thursday or something something wacky. Next week, I'll do
a looking ahead to twenty twenty four, but that'll be a lot of fun
as we make predictions and looking ahead to what the chaos could create and be
in twenty twenty four. So that'll do it for me. If you guys
want to go add free Patreon dot com Slash WWE podcast is the place to
go, or Apple podcast, which now has the ad free versions of every
show, but also the exclusive after Dark show, which is not a PG
show, that started just yesterday. I published that episode for those of you
on the ad free version of Apple podcast as well. So all right,
and that is going to do it for me everybody, I think, and
we'll be dropping that twenty twenty four preview show again very soon. I'm recording
this actually on a Saturday, okay, December twenty third, but I'm releasing
this on a Tuesday. I'm gonna guess I'm releasing this on a Tuesday.
I guess we'll see if I'm right in place of the raw review for my
own top moments. So thank you everybody for listening, and I will talk
to you soon. Take care. Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast.
Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss a show,
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