3 YEARS AGO: WWE RAW Review: Becky Lynch's Rumble Opponent Revealed, Brock & Bobby Go Face-to-Face, Maryse Walks Out on Miz

<v Speaker 1>Welcome to your Monday Night Raw review here on the
<v Speaker 1>WWE Podcast. And boy do we have a lot to
<v Speaker 1>talk about tonight with an eventful Monday Night Raw that
<v Speaker 1>just took place, including brock Lesner and Bobby Lashley going
<v Speaker 1>face to face, brock Lesner cracking a knock knock joke,
<v Speaker 1>Maurice walking out on the Miz New Raw Tag Team Champions,
<v Speaker 1>and Becky Lynch has her Royal Rumble opponent. All that
<v Speaker 1>and so much more. Right after this, let's talk about
<v Speaker 1>supplements for just a minute.
<v Speaker 2>This is WWE superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to
<v Speaker 2>the WWE podcast.
<v Speaker 1>The show, the one that everybody wants Me.
<v Speaker 3>Got three sixteen says I just grip your ass is
<v Speaker 3>my arn.
<v Speaker 2>We're gonna acknowledge me.
<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody, Welcome to the Monday Night Raw Review on
<v Speaker 1>the WWE podcast, the Unofficial WWE Podcast. I hope everyone
<v Speaker 1>is doing well on this Tuesday, January eleventh, twenty twenty two.
<v Speaker 1>And we are in the heart of winter. And if
<v Speaker 1>you live in the Northern United States, my friend, you
<v Speaker 1>are in the thick of it. And the good news
<v Speaker 1>is in about three four weeks the things should actually
<v Speaker 1>start going the other way with averages and temperatures not
<v Speaker 1>a bad thing. So we are actually right now in
<v Speaker 1>the dead of winter. We are at the bottom of
<v Speaker 1>the valley. If you hate winter, I'm on board with that,
<v Speaker 1>and you're ready to get the hell out of this winter,
<v Speaker 1>then right now is the worst of it. And we're
<v Speaker 1>already starting to see warmer or rather not warmer days necessarily,
<v Speaker 1>but brighter days. The sunlight is a little bit more
<v Speaker 1>noticeable during the day. So I just want to start
<v Speaker 1>off with something positive unrestling related that if you don't
<v Speaker 1>like the dark and cold, and you specif live, say
<v Speaker 1>north of Lake Virginia, yeah, it gets tough, it gets tough,
<v Speaker 1>and we are in the thick of it. But after
<v Speaker 1>you get through January, you're like, Okay, February is really
<v Speaker 1>the last bad month. March goes back and forth and
<v Speaker 1>then you're in the clear. Right So uh, anyway, on
<v Speaker 1>to pro wrestling. I didn't mean to give a weather report,
<v Speaker 1>but I just wanted to start off with something positive
<v Speaker 1>because I have I have a lot you know what,
<v Speaker 1>I don't have a ton of rants about this show
<v Speaker 1>about Monday Night Raw, I did write some notes as
<v Speaker 1>I was watching the show that are just kind of
<v Speaker 1>head scratchingly, like what the hell's going on? But overall,
<v Speaker 1>you know what, Overall I thought Raw was another solid show.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't think it was as good as last week,
<v Speaker 1>but it delivered. The Philadelphia crowd was a tough crowd.
<v Speaker 1>I gotta say they were tough, but as expected in
<v Speaker 1>Philadelphia and amazing that when WWE's in a city they're
<v Speaker 1>proud of, they mentioned it in every promo, either somebody
<v Speaker 1>to mention the local sports team, either positively or negatively,
<v Speaker 1>pop culture positively or negatively, talk about the nicknames of
<v Speaker 1>it being a fighting city or the city of brotherly love,
<v Speaker 1>or the whole stereotype about cheese steaks in Philadelphia. Right, Like,
<v Speaker 1>everybody has to talk about the city every single time
<v Speaker 1>when they're in a city they're proud of. When they're not,
<v Speaker 1>they either don't address the place they're in or they
<v Speaker 1>say generally New England, South Carolina, and they don't mention
<v Speaker 1>the city because god forbid, they say Evansville or you know,
<v Speaker 1>they say whatever. So I know I mentioned that every time,
<v Speaker 1>but it's just so so just small of them every
<v Speaker 1>time that they do that. And here we are in Philadelphia,
<v Speaker 1>and boy they were loud and proud about it. I'm
<v Speaker 1>surprised they didn't have a powerporn presentation on it. So
<v Speaker 1>here we are Philadelphia, Monday night raw and an eventful
<v Speaker 1>raw and you know what we're going to talk about
<v Speaker 1>Brock and Bobby in a second. But first I just
<v Speaker 1>invite you quickly you want to support the show, two
<v Speaker 1>quick ways. Go ad free on Patreon or on Apple podcasts.
<v Speaker 1>We have a subscribe button there for ad free, or
<v Speaker 1>you can also give us a five star rating costs
<v Speaker 1>you nothing. Five star rating on Spotify or a five
<v Speaker 1>star rating on Apple Podcasts. That's all I'll say. Enough
<v Speaker 1>for my jamis plugs. Let's move into monight, a raw
<v Speaker 1>and again decent show. But this it started off with
<v Speaker 1>Brocken and Paul Haman, very vintage Paul Hayman coming out
<v Speaker 1>and doing his for the one millionth time. My name
<v Speaker 1>is Paul Haman, and you know I'm the advocate for
<v Speaker 1>the rating, defending all that, and you know it's fine.
<v Speaker 1>You know, everybody does sing along with that at this point,
<v Speaker 1>and then Brock takes the mic and shoot. Soon after
<v Speaker 1>Bobby Lashley comes out. I mean, we don't wait Bobby
<v Speaker 1>gets right into it, and Bobby Lashley gets in the
<v Speaker 1>face of Brock, And this is where things get kind
<v Speaker 1>of weird for me, Like, how does Brock Lesner not
<v Speaker 1>know who Bobby Lashley is? I mean, I know that
<v Speaker 1>they're playing on the stereotype that Brock lives in Brock's bubble,
<v Speaker 1>Brock does what Brock wants, Brock doesn't know any he
<v Speaker 1>still has a flip phone. I mean, we saw that
<v Speaker 1>whole thing a number of months ago. Like, fine, you know,
<v Speaker 1>but really you don't know who Bobby Lashley? I mean
<v Speaker 1>we all know he really does not in real life,
<v Speaker 1>of course, But do we have to go to the
<v Speaker 1>level of not or pretending that Brock doesn't know who
<v Speaker 1>Bobby is? To be honest, I don't think that's a
<v Speaker 1>good way to go, because what they're trying to do,
<v Speaker 1>of course, is make Brock look like the bigger star,
<v Speaker 1>and you know what he is, but you want to
<v Speaker 1>also elevate your opponent and make this match feel as
<v Speaker 1>big as possible. In order to do that, you want
<v Speaker 1>to be able to give credibility to both individuals, not
<v Speaker 1>just your bigger star. And when you have your bigger
<v Speaker 1>star saying they don't know who your your little star is,
<v Speaker 1>you're smaller, You're I guess you're less magnified star is.
<v Speaker 1>Then you're doing that at what the expense of that
<v Speaker 1>of the secondary individual? Why to what? Further the Brock
<v Speaker 1>narrative that he's the guy that it lives in his
<v Speaker 1>own bubble and you know, only Brock knows who Brock is.
<v Speaker 1>Like that, to me, that's again that that's a net
<v Speaker 1>negative for what you think you're gaining of building Brock's personality,
<v Speaker 1>You're also taking away of Bobby Lashley's credibility because Bobby
<v Speaker 1>Lashley has been around for twenty years and I don't
<v Speaker 1>think anybody believes, even in storyline that the Brock Lesner
<v Speaker 1>character doesn't know who Bobby Lashley is. I mean, it's
<v Speaker 1>a joke. It's an absolute joke, like, no, we don't.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, I also think that the crowd wasn't
<v Speaker 1>really into Brock's jokes and things, and I think it
<v Speaker 1>did actually disrespect Bobby in a way, you know, in
<v Speaker 1>a way that it did hurt his character. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>if we wanted to make this feel as big as possible,
<v Speaker 1>wouldn't you want Brock Lesner to be the one to say,
<v Speaker 1>you know, I've been waiting for this too, you know,
<v Speaker 1>or that I've seen our careers paralleled all this kind
<v Speaker 1>of thing, and instead they just went the brock Lessner
<v Speaker 1>egomaniac in a babyface painting in a babyface. I guess
<v Speaker 1>rose colored glasses way. They went that road, like brock
<v Speaker 1>Lesson right now is an egomaniac, but in a kind
<v Speaker 1>of likable way. And it's to me, I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think it was the right approach for this
<v Speaker 1>face to face, a face to face that many people
<v Speaker 1>have been waiting for forever, and all of a sudden
<v Speaker 1>we are supposed to we get the narrative that Brock
<v Speaker 1>doesn't know who Bobby is. Come on, I didn't like that.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't like that. But still cool that they're face
<v Speaker 1>to face. It has been a twenty year somehow avoidance
<v Speaker 1>of one another. Brock's message that he has been winning championships,
<v Speaker 1>which is why he hasn't been in the same stratosphere
<v Speaker 1>as Bobby, because Bobby hasn't been that is to me,
<v Speaker 1>you know that, I understand that makes sense. But Bobby
<v Speaker 1>Lashly again is a physical specimen of other worldly proportions.
<v Speaker 1>I mean Bobby Lashly is he is. You know, he's
<v Speaker 1>like eighteen men put together, eighteen average men put together
<v Speaker 1>in terms of muscle, mass, durance, size, everything else. And
<v Speaker 1>it's just I don't think does a whole lot for Bobby.
<v Speaker 1>That said, you know, brock Lesner and Bobby not getting
<v Speaker 1>physical I'm totally fine with. In fact, I don't want
<v Speaker 1>them getting physical until the pay per view in three
<v Speaker 1>weeks now. I don't want them getting physical. I am
<v Speaker 1>all about waiting. I'm all about and have patience for
<v Speaker 1>the weight the build. Let's do this. You know. Eventually
<v Speaker 1>we of course will get to MVP versus Paul Hayman.
<v Speaker 1>That will be a war of words worth watching. Maybe
<v Speaker 1>that'll come next week or the week after, and no
<v Speaker 1>doubt about that. Now we did get Shelton and Cedric
<v Speaker 1>backstage before this whole thing went down, pleading with or
<v Speaker 1>just assuming that the Hurt Business was back together, and
<v Speaker 1>what made them believe that, I don't know. This has
<v Speaker 1>just been the most convoluted, bizarre breakup, back together, breakup,
<v Speaker 1>back together now official breakup again of the Her Business,
<v Speaker 1>of which a group that should never have broken up
<v Speaker 1>to begin with. Now we have them get beat up
<v Speaker 1>after they tried to attack Bobby after Bobby before the show,
<v Speaker 1>before he went out, basically told him that, you know,
<v Speaker 1>you guys don't get the message. I don't need anybody.
<v Speaker 1>I'm by myself. And then they tried to attack Bobby
<v Speaker 1>after Brock left the ring, and Bobby was just I mean,
<v Speaker 1>he dominated them as expected that they were just there
<v Speaker 1>to make Bobby look strong. That's all it was. Even
<v Speaker 1>though Brock Moser got the last word Bobby that was
<v Speaker 1>vindicated by are at least balanced out by those two
<v Speaker 1>individuals trying to come out and Bobby just completely decimating them.
<v Speaker 1>So that's that's the little bit of a safety net
<v Speaker 1>that they gave Bobby on raw and that's fine. You know,
<v Speaker 1>I don't think that that didn't make sense. It did,
<v Speaker 1>But I don't need Cedric and Shelton anymore. They are
<v Speaker 1>just too lukewarm, somewhat sentient bodies that they trot out
<v Speaker 1>there every few weeks and have unfortunately been misused and
<v Speaker 1>miss books since her business broke up a year ago.
<v Speaker 1>It might have been a year ago. I have to
<v Speaker 1>look at when they broke up. It feels like a
<v Speaker 1>long time ago, and it just is. It's a travesty
<v Speaker 1>for those two that are ultra talented, especially Cedric, who's
<v Speaker 1>more of the future than Shelton. Shelton obviously is the
<v Speaker 1>twilight end of his career, but nonetheless it was still
<v Speaker 1>a solid opening to the show. And Brock Lizard likely
<v Speaker 1>got on his plane the second he got backstage and
<v Speaker 1>flew back home. And that's Brock Lesner. And you know what,
<v Speaker 1>if I were him, I would too. You know, I'm
<v Speaker 1>sure he didn't stick backstage to hang out with the
<v Speaker 1>boys and give advice and be the last man out
<v Speaker 1>of the arena. I can almost guarantee it. And that's fine,
<v Speaker 1>it's cool. That's who Brock is. And this new iteration
<v Speaker 1>of the brock Lesner character, I'm starting to warm up
<v Speaker 1>to it a little bit. The cracking jokes thing is,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know, he's not a totally different character, Like
<v Speaker 1>he still can be serious when need be, and his
<v Speaker 1>in ring work is still very good, and he still
<v Speaker 1>is a beast in the ring. It's just kind of
<v Speaker 1>like this extra outer layer that has been added to
<v Speaker 1>the brock Lessner character that once you pierce you get
<v Speaker 1>the serious Brock that we've all seen before him seen
<v Speaker 1>for two decades now. But it's that extra outside layer
<v Speaker 1>of the onion that's the food I'm thinking of. But
<v Speaker 1>it's that layer that somehow was added and they decided
<v Speaker 1>to add brock Lester or Vince or whoever decided to add.
<v Speaker 1>And it's just another part of his character, another part
<v Speaker 1>that they want to explore before they aren't able to
<v Speaker 1>have him around anymore. He's not gonna be around forever.
<v Speaker 1>This guy is not young. I mean, let me google
<v Speaker 1>this because I want to know offhand, Brock how old
<v Speaker 1>is brock Lesnar. He is forty four? All right, so Brock,
<v Speaker 1>those are forty four years old? Okay? So uh, he
<v Speaker 1>does not have a whole lot of time left. I
<v Speaker 1>would say, you know, maybe if he hangs around in
<v Speaker 1>WWE on a part ten basis, maybe like a few years.
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't say he makes it to fifty. I would
<v Speaker 1>say forty six, forty seven, that's my guess. But he doesn't.
<v Speaker 1>He doesn't need the money at this point unless he's
<v Speaker 1>just trying to stockpilot, but who knows. Anyway, solid starts
<v Speaker 1>to raw. No issues there. And I want to see MVP,
<v Speaker 1>and I want to see Hayman, which we will see hopefully. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>Now where do I go next? Where do I go next? Again?
<v Speaker 1>Solid open to the show, not perfect, but solid, and
<v Speaker 1>I'm very scared to where to go and go next. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>let's start with the you know, let's go with what
<v Speaker 1>happened next, the Raw Tag Team Championship, Alpha Academy defeating
<v Speaker 1>RK bro via pinfall to win the titles. So Randy
<v Speaker 1>and Riddle lose the belts. I and others have alluded
<v Speaker 1>to the fact that when they lose them, especially near
<v Speaker 1>WrestleMania time, look out, this could be the beginning of
<v Speaker 1>the end. And this very well could be. Don't forget too.
<v Speaker 1>The rumble is in Saint Louis. Now whose hometown is
<v Speaker 1>that out of Riddle and Randy, right, Randy Orton's hometown.
<v Speaker 1>So that would leave me to believe perhaps we get
<v Speaker 1>a Riddle turn to gain sympathy on Randy and in
<v Speaker 1>his hometown, because trying to turn Randy in his hometown again,
<v Speaker 1>fans may not react the way that you want them
<v Speaker 1>to in his hometown. Like I mean, if a wrestler's
<v Speaker 1>from a specific city and you go to that specific
<v Speaker 1>city and you try to get them to do that
<v Speaker 1>person it's not very easy to do. I've seen it done.
<v Speaker 1>I've seen it done, but it's not easy, and I
<v Speaker 1>wouldn't try to swim upstream needlessly. So to me, unless
<v Speaker 1>they're not going to do a turn at Rumble, then
<v Speaker 1>don't do it at all, unless you're having Riddle turn
<v Speaker 1>on Randy in Saint Louis. To me, that's the best
<v Speaker 1>option here. My guess is that they get that rematch
<v Speaker 1>against Alpha Academy at the Rumble, and then they lose
<v Speaker 1>that rematch and then Riddle turns on Randy at the Rumble.
<v Speaker 1>That's how I think it goes, because they'll get the
<v Speaker 1>rematch and they'll be back together next week and you know,
<v Speaker 1>saying that they'll be fine, all that stuff, and we
<v Speaker 1>need to get these belts back and that kind of thing. So,
<v Speaker 1>and also to forget, Randy said to Riddle that what
<v Speaker 1>do we do when we're in trouble? What do we do?
<v Speaker 1>We tag in Randy, And that's exactly what Riddle did,
<v Speaker 1>and Randy lost the match clean to Otis, and Otis
<v Speaker 1>beat him essentially with a a what is it a
<v Speaker 1>World's Strongest Slam? I mean it was one move and done.
<v Speaker 1>I like that I like when finishers actually, once in
<v Speaker 1>a while only one of them causes a pinfall as
<v Speaker 1>it should Otherwise, why call it a finish? I mean,
<v Speaker 1>start naming the moves just like false finish one, false
<v Speaker 1>finish two. Why even call them a finish if they
<v Speaker 1>truly don't ever finish the match. I mean, at this point,
<v Speaker 1>Delve Ziggler should just call the zig zag transition move
<v Speaker 1>one transition move too. I mean, like, you know, zigzag
<v Speaker 1>has got to be one of the most kicked out
<v Speaker 1>moves finishes of all time. But so that's my guess.
<v Speaker 1>That's how I believe it happens. At the rumble is
<v Speaker 1>Riddle turning on Randy, So we'll see if that happens.
<v Speaker 1>But this overall was a decent match. You know, anytime
<v Speaker 1>you have Riddle and Gable in the match, I mean,
<v Speaker 1>these two are ultra athletic, true athletic backgrounds. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>you know, these aren't two guys that they just picked
<v Speaker 1>up off the street. You know some bodybuilders. These are
<v Speaker 1>two credentialed athletes and you get them in the ring
<v Speaker 1>and it's just another world. Most guys can't handle hang
<v Speaker 1>with them, and they are I mean, you have one
<v Speaker 1>true Olympic athlete in Chad Gable and the announcers put
<v Speaker 1>him over like a million bucks. I did a nice
<v Speaker 1>job about talking about his his achievements and saying, how
<v Speaker 1>you know, winning a state championship is one thing, but
<v Speaker 1>going to the Olympics is a whole different thing. And
<v Speaker 1>it's true. I think it was Jimmy Smith who put
<v Speaker 1>him over so good stuff here. So yeah, Riddle and
<v Speaker 1>Randy no longer our k bro is no longer, are
<v Speaker 1>no longer your tag team champions. Okay, Let's see what
<v Speaker 1>do I go with next. Let's talk about Nicki Ash.
<v Speaker 1>Let's talk about Nikki. Let's talk about Rhea because I
<v Speaker 1>like this. I liked this. You heard me right, I
<v Speaker 1>didn't stutter and you didn't have your audio skip. I
<v Speaker 1>liked a segment in which Nikki Ash was a part
<v Speaker 1>of it. Why because Nicki turned heel. I was advocating
<v Speaker 1>for this when she came up with the awful, god
<v Speaker 1>awful character that worked for like a week, and you
<v Speaker 1>only had you know, the prepubescent fans, uh you know,
<v Speaker 1>cheering while their parents rolling or rolling their eyes, or
<v Speaker 1>if you had the parents cheering, it was only because
<v Speaker 1>like whoa what a positive message for my for my children,
<v Speaker 1>you know, as if it's some kind of PBS special.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, essentially, Nikki ash was a walking PBS Saturday
<v Speaker 1>Morning special, that's all she was. And it made my
<v Speaker 1>stomach churn. And look, I'm a parent too, but I
<v Speaker 1>don't go to wrestling, nor would I expect wrestling to
<v Speaker 1>provide me with solid, wholesome, soul encouraging messages. Right, you
<v Speaker 1>go there for entertainment, a bonding experience with your kids.
<v Speaker 1>You don't and nor should you put that responsibility on WWE.
<v Speaker 1>So if you're a parent that goes there and you
<v Speaker 1>expect WWE to provide those kinds of messages, you know,
<v Speaker 1>like you're you're the reason why wrestling's sucks sometimes because
<v Speaker 1>unfortunately WWE gets pressure from a lot of these organizations
<v Speaker 1>to provide those messages. And you may say, what's wrong
<v Speaker 1>with those messages? Those are positive, you know, wonderful, but
<v Speaker 1>that's not that's not wrestling's place, you know, like, that's
<v Speaker 1>not wrestling's place to do that. I don't mind. Occasionally
<v Speaker 1>they do, like you know, of course charities and that
<v Speaker 1>they do some wonderful you know, kids cancer contributions in partnerships. Fine,
<v Speaker 1>of course kids cancer is way infinitely more important. But
<v Speaker 1>my point is when they bring characters in, they bring
<v Speaker 1>characters in that are supposed to be this wholesome connection
<v Speaker 1>to your kids, and everyone outright rejects them. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>that's your message, that that's your that is your cueue
<v Speaker 1>right there doesn't work. You know, it's too wholesome, too phony.
<v Speaker 1>And that's exactly what Nikki ash was and didn't why
<v Speaker 1>she didn't work, And that's why I said at the
<v Speaker 1>time that she should turn heel. And I said, and
<v Speaker 1>no one's gonna remember this, which is fine. I'm not
<v Speaker 1>making this up. I'm not Money Morning quarterbacking. I'm just
<v Speaker 1>simply staying a fact that I'm wrong way more than
<v Speaker 1>i'm right. Someone I'm right. I like to point it out.
<v Speaker 1>But Nikki, when I said she when she did this terribleness,
<v Speaker 1>I was saying for a couple of weeks, look if
<v Speaker 1>she just turned heel, imagine how great of a heel
<v Speaker 1>this would be. This delusional, this delusional star that believes
<v Speaker 1>she's almost a superhero and comes out and says all
<v Speaker 1>these positive things and no matter what, she can beat everyone,
<v Speaker 1>and she just will use the you know, the power
<v Speaker 1>of positivity to pun the new day, to overcome all
<v Speaker 1>the odds. Just imagine how insufferable that would be. But
<v Speaker 1>if she took it to the end degree, and now
<v Speaker 1>we're seeing it, we're seeing the results of that right now,
<v Speaker 1>except it's like four months late, but we're getting it.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, they tried to squeeze every possible piece of
<v Speaker 1>or every drop of juice out of what this tag
<v Speaker 1>team was, and that was essentially a ragtag team, which
<v Speaker 1>now means which now means that Selena, the Queen, Selina
<v Speaker 1>and Carmela are going unopposed as tag team champions. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>that's essentially what happens, right, You become tag team women's
<v Speaker 1>tag team champions, and after that, all tag teams that
<v Speaker 1>are opposing you just dissolve, right like you are the
<v Speaker 1>lonesome tag team in the division. That's just what happens.
<v Speaker 1>For God's sakes, to just delete the women's tag team
<v Speaker 1>division and just back burner the women's tag team belts
<v Speaker 1>until you have a credible, respectable division. For the love
<v Speaker 1>of God, it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. But NICKI here this
<v Speaker 1>was good stuff. And here are some of my notes
<v Speaker 1>because Nicki came out and actually let me let me
<v Speaker 1>read my notes here. Here's what I said. I said
<v Speaker 1>that Nicki comes across as a needy, whiny gas lighting
<v Speaker 1>b I mean rhymes with itch, needing valid that she
<v Speaker 1>wants Ria to still believe in her. And that's exactly
<v Speaker 1>what I said before she actually made the turn. That's
<v Speaker 1>exactly what I said. She's a needy, whiny gaslighting I'll
<v Speaker 1>just say which needing validation that she wants Rita still
<v Speaker 1>believe says she's still believe in her, So she's trying
<v Speaker 1>to compel speech from Rhea need that validation. She's like
<v Speaker 1>the awful person you're trying to break up with and
<v Speaker 1>they're saying it's your fault without saying it's your fault.
<v Speaker 1>And it's just like this whole gas lighting situation, like
<v Speaker 1>it's it's like the worst possible person. She was coming across,
<v Speaker 1>just so needy and clingy and like why don't you
<v Speaker 1>like me? And no, we can still be like all
<v Speaker 1>this stuff right, And I'm thinking to myself, if they're
<v Speaker 1>seriously trying to keep her baby face here, how how?
<v Speaker 1>How who is who is possibly writing this? It can't
<v Speaker 1>be a human being writing this and lo and behold
<v Speaker 1>Nicki after that, and they agreed to be friends after
<v Speaker 1>Nicki said, okay, we can still be friends. After Rhea
<v Speaker 1>said it just we need to go our separate ways
<v Speaker 1>and we'll still always be friends. And all this, Nicki
<v Speaker 1>went to cheer to the crowd and she put her
<v Speaker 1>hand up and the crowd just didn't do anything. They
<v Speaker 1>kind of bowed. I was thinking this was a very
<v Speaker 1>interesting situation because, honestly, no matter what they did here,
<v Speaker 1>I believe that Nicki would have been booed no matter what,
<v Speaker 1>and nick Rihea would have been cheered through the roof. Honestly,
<v Speaker 1>I would have loved to have seen them, even though
<v Speaker 1>Nicki was the one to attack Rhea here. And then
<v Speaker 1>at the end she said superheroes don't need friends or something,
<v Speaker 1>and that's fine. We'll get to what actually happened, which
<v Speaker 1>is again fine, and the crowd reacted appropriately by booing Nicki.
<v Speaker 1>But to me, would have been would have been more
<v Speaker 1>fun was having Rhea turn on Nicki but the crowd
<v Speaker 1>cheer it. It would have been a very Becky Lynch
<v Speaker 1>Charlotte situation in terms of just reaction where they tried
<v Speaker 1>to turn someone heel, but didn't see the forest through
<v Speaker 1>the trees and realize that the fans despised the Nicky
<v Speaker 1>character see through it as a phony Saturday Morning PBS special,
<v Speaker 1>and that Riha here is the one that believe people
<v Speaker 1>believe have been held back in a tag team, and
<v Speaker 1>people would have cheered the hell out of Ria Ripley.
<v Speaker 1>Had she just just completely cold cocked Nicki in the
<v Speaker 1>face and just beat her down, the crowd would have
<v Speaker 1>gone belist. I believe that you could feel it, especially
<v Speaker 1>in Philadelphia, that Philadelphia crowd would have eaten Nikki alive
<v Speaker 1>and would have absolutely cheered Rihea Ripley. But but somebody
<v Speaker 1>was smart enough to realize that not only was the
<v Speaker 1>speech to Rhea actually a precursor to what she was
<v Speaker 1>about to do, which makes sense now, but also not
<v Speaker 1>to try that because it's a very real possibility, especially
<v Speaker 1>in Philly in a very hardcore, quote unquote tough crowd,
<v Speaker 1>that you would have had the complete opposite reaction and
<v Speaker 1>it would have turned Nikki heel anyway. So they just
<v Speaker 1>went with what the smart choice was, having Nicki turn
<v Speaker 1>heel and Rhea's the babyface. And now we have the
<v Speaker 1>insufferable Nikki in the appropriate role, in the appropriate role.
<v Speaker 1>So now she's acceptable and believable as this delusional, almost
<v Speaker 1>a superhero character who just always thinks that people are
<v Speaker 1>admiring her, always thinks that people are rooting for her,
<v Speaker 1>and there's nothing that can stop her or or get
<v Speaker 1>her spirits down, Like how much do you want to
<v Speaker 1>knock somebody on their ass? Now?
<v Speaker 2>Right?
<v Speaker 1>Somebody that is actually like that? But she was really
<v Speaker 1>to begin with, but they somehow formed it into a
<v Speaker 1>babyface character. Now it's a heel character, and much more
<v Speaker 1>appropriately so. So I really enjoyed this, and I think
<v Speaker 1>it's the right right move for Nicki to turn heel,
<v Speaker 1>you know, I think that's the right move. I think
<v Speaker 1>that it's gonna work and it's gonna revive her her career,
<v Speaker 1>and that the announcers even alluded to that, basically said
<v Speaker 1>that this could revive her career. I think it will
<v Speaker 1>because Nicky has been a DA character for a couple
<v Speaker 1>of months now. I mean, let's be serious, So this
<v Speaker 1>is gonna be good. This is a this is gonna
<v Speaker 1>be good. I'm looking forward to it. It's also gonna
<v Speaker 1>reinvigorate Rhea. I mean the split here is gonna it's
<v Speaker 1>benefiting both, no doubt. Omas defeats Nick Sanders via pinfall
<v Speaker 1>after a choke bomb. There's really nothing to say here,
<v Speaker 1>nothing at all. Sanders was a scrawny enhancement talent and
<v Speaker 1>that's how CBS Sports wrote them up. And that's exactly
<v Speaker 1>what this was. It was a squash and Omas is
<v Speaker 1>gonna meet Reggie next week in a match of which
<v Speaker 1>it's squash again. So Amas is kind of teetering, tottering around.
<v Speaker 1>He's likely not gonna do anything until he gets to
<v Speaker 1>the rumble, in which he'll have a big moment in
<v Speaker 1>the rumble or two. I don't think I'll win it,
<v Speaker 1>but I do believe Omas is going to have a
<v Speaker 1>huge moment or two in that royal rumble. All right,
<v Speaker 1>let's take it a quick break for the sponsor of
<v Speaker 1>today's episode, and then we'll be back with more Monday
<v Speaker 1>Night Raw. Right after this, let's talk about supplements for
<v Speaker 1>just a minute.
<v Speaker 3>Welcome back to the WWE podcast. Let's get back to
<v Speaker 3>more great wrestling audio.
<v Speaker 1>All right, let's talk a little bit more about Raw.
<v Speaker 1>We got more stuff to talk about. We got more stuff,
<v Speaker 1>We got more stuff, So let's start out with something
<v Speaker 1>a little less significant though. Apaula Cruz, Ziggler Rude defeat
<v Speaker 1>the Street Profits and Damian Priest via pinfall when Ziggler
<v Speaker 1>pinned Angelo Dawkins with a zigzag. So, I guess I
<v Speaker 1>eat my words this week. I did not see the
<v Speaker 1>finish of this match. I saw some some highlights, but
<v Speaker 1>actually didn't see out of those highlights to finish. And
<v Speaker 1>so I eat my words that the zigzag is the
<v Speaker 1>most kicked out finish of all time. Although okay, on
<v Speaker 1>he gets a finish the zigzag used once for a
<v Speaker 1>finish out of like a hundred time, This is like
<v Speaker 1>one to one hundred ratio. So lightning strikes with the
<v Speaker 1>zigzag and then the other ninety nine times he uses it,
<v Speaker 1>it will just be a transition move. Fine, you know, Fine,
<v Speaker 1>the zigzag gets an actual w this week. I guess
<v Speaker 1>even even uh you know, losing finishes have to get
<v Speaker 1>a win every once in a while. And h boy,
<v Speaker 1>you gotta say that the Street Profits are on the
<v Speaker 1>descent right now in terms of wins loss records. But
<v Speaker 1>Ziggler and Rude Boy, they actually seemed to getting a
<v Speaker 1>quote unquote push do they is this is this? Is
<v Speaker 1>this a mirage? What is this? Is this real? I
<v Speaker 1>don't know, we'll find out, but them beating the street
<v Speaker 1>profits it's significant. And you know, and Damian Priest of
<v Speaker 1>course too, is on the losing end, but not taking
<v Speaker 1>the pinfall himself. It's still significant when you think about it.
<v Speaker 1>And we'll see if this puts them in line Ziggler anyway,
<v Speaker 1>Ziggler and Rude in line for another perhaps perhaps another
<v Speaker 1>tag team title match. You know, it's possible. A Polo
<v Speaker 1>Cruz is along for the ride right now, and boy
<v Speaker 1>he is. I really am sad about where Apollo Cruse
<v Speaker 1>lives right now because a Polo Cruz what he showed
<v Speaker 1>last year before WrestleMania with his match with Big Eie,
<v Speaker 1>and that was such a really an excellent build to
<v Speaker 1>that match, an excellent build. I remember how great it was,
<v Speaker 1>you know, and you had Apollo Cruise just come out
<v Speaker 1>of nowhere with this heel gimmick and just shine. And
<v Speaker 1>since that time after Mania, it's been slowly getting worse
<v Speaker 1>and worse for Apollo and I don't know why or how.
<v Speaker 1>He's a I mean, incredible athlete, He's got a solid character.
<v Speaker 1>He knows who he is. He's a good heel, he's
<v Speaker 1>got a bodyguard to boot, and they've just essentially sidelined
<v Speaker 1>him for six months. And I don't know why. That's
<v Speaker 1>just kind of w W e's thing. They just take
<v Speaker 1>somebody and rotate them into the bullpen and let them
<v Speaker 1>sit there and rode away for a while, and when
<v Speaker 1>they decide they need them, they pull them back out
<v Speaker 1>and dust them off, and uh, you know, they they
<v Speaker 1>you know, they give you enough shine to make you
<v Speaker 1>relevant again, and then you sometimes go right back in.
<v Speaker 1>It depends. It's a bizarre system here, but Apollo Cruise,
<v Speaker 1>to me, is a completely underutilized talent and it's a
<v Speaker 1>shame that they're not doing more with him. I'm a
<v Speaker 1>big fan of Apollo Cruise, at least since he's made
<v Speaker 1>that heel change. Okay, when he was just smiling, insufferable
<v Speaker 1>Apollo Cruise just kind of the generic smiling baby face
<v Speaker 1>of Pollo Cruise, I didn't like it. When he made
<v Speaker 1>that flip, the switch went off for me. So, okay,
<v Speaker 1>let's talk a little bit more about a couple of things.
<v Speaker 1>Number one, seth Rolins and Biggie. So here, here's what
<v Speaker 1>I have a couple of my notes here. I was
<v Speaker 1>appreciative when Seth came out and the crowd was appropriately
<v Speaker 1>responding to him doing him and Seth knows how to
<v Speaker 1>work a crowd. He's an expert. At this point, he
<v Speaker 1>is coming into his own said that a million times
<v Speaker 1>lost some momentum in the last several months, seems to
<v Speaker 1>have at least kind of found the road again, and he,
<v Speaker 1>along with management, it seems like, have at least decided
<v Speaker 1>to address the elephant in the room of how how
<v Speaker 1>did I get this Universal Championship match? Well, Seth's answer was,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know if I'm getting this exactly word for word,
<v Speaker 1>but it's close. He said that he took things into
<v Speaker 1>his own hands. What Yeah, So that's exactly how I feel, Austin, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>what what what do you mean? You took things? Okay, fine,
<v Speaker 1>that that's that's how you start a story. What exactly
<v Speaker 1>did you do to take things in your own hands?
<v Speaker 1>So they've at least acknowledged the elephant in the room
<v Speaker 1>that hey, I was drafted to raw. I cannot be
<v Speaker 1>a participant on SmackDown because of the draft. So how exactly,
<v Speaker 1>how exactly does that work? How exactly did you take
<v Speaker 1>things in your own hands? What does that mean? Right?
<v Speaker 1>Am I asking for too much? Why? And I know
<v Speaker 1>there's a lot of people out there that don't care.
<v Speaker 1>There's a lot of people. Look, we're getting the matchup,
<v Speaker 1>isn't that cool?
<v Speaker 2>Well?
<v Speaker 1>Number one, it's here versus heel. Right, that's never the
<v Speaker 1>greatest dynamic. Yes, it's a matchup we haven't seen in
<v Speaker 1>a while, but it's hell heel. So maybe that's gonna
<v Speaker 1>change when things come push comes to shove, but it's
<v Speaker 1>still heal heel. It's always kind of weird. But uh,
<v Speaker 1>I'd accept it if they'd at least explain it, explain
<v Speaker 1>it to me. Was there a one time? Except in
<v Speaker 1>the contract of seth where exactly did Paul Hayman advocate
<v Speaker 1>for him? He says that he didn't need a snake
<v Speaker 1>all a salesman. But what happened here? And apparently he
<v Speaker 1>just just taking things in my own hands. Uh, by
<v Speaker 1>doing what just showing up? If taking things in your
<v Speaker 1>own hands means just showing up, then there is no
<v Speaker 1>draft split, there are no draft rules because of that's
<v Speaker 1>what the implication was, by taking things into your own hands,
<v Speaker 1>by just showing up and and and then going to
<v Speaker 1>Adam Pierce on SmackDown. When you're a raw star, then
<v Speaker 1>there is no brand split, because that means anybody could
<v Speaker 1>do that. No one, the security is not going to
<v Speaker 1>kick you out. It does this is this is just ridiculous,
<v Speaker 1>and it's it's hard for me to say that given
<v Speaker 1>that it's in a Roman Rain storyline. It's more, this
<v Speaker 1>is a really a referendum on management. It's a referendum
<v Speaker 1>on creative it's a referendum on Vince McMahon. They don't
<v Speaker 1>explain this, They don't explain brock lizards, mention being lifted.
<v Speaker 1>It's I almost I almost said a couple of four
<v Speaker 1>letter words. It's effing lazy. It's lazy, it's cowardly. It's
<v Speaker 1>inept that they can't even bother to tell you big
<v Speaker 1>These are big details. These aren't just like little things
<v Speaker 1>that don't matter and oh we get the match anyway.
<v Speaker 1>This is what erodes the trust and emotional investment of
<v Speaker 1>people in storylines, when reality is taken completely out and
<v Speaker 1>you take huge chunks of the story and go, well,
<v Speaker 1>fans don't carry It's all about the destination, it's all
<v Speaker 1>about the matchup. They get they don't care how we
<v Speaker 1>get there. No. No, the formula for successful pro wrestling
<v Speaker 1>promotion has not changed. Human psychology has not changed. People
<v Speaker 1>will still want to be told a story. You guys
<v Speaker 1>are all about promoting storytelling and how your storytellers. You're
<v Speaker 1>not wrestlers, your storytellers, Well, then tell me a story,
<v Speaker 1>of sir, you're so damn good at it. You're the
<v Speaker 1>ones telling me that. Your storytellers, then tell me a story.
<v Speaker 1>And yet they don't do that. They give you bits
<v Speaker 1>and pieces of a story. They give you a destination,
<v Speaker 1>and they don't tell you how they get there. That's
<v Speaker 1>not storytelling. That's not storytelling. That's kindergarten lazy booking. I
<v Speaker 1>just I'm done with it. I mean, I'm done with it,
<v Speaker 1>so I'll leave it there. But that's what Seth said,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm not putting this on Seth. I would imagine
<v Speaker 1>that this has nothing to do with Seth Rowlins himself.
<v Speaker 1>He's doing what he's told. But that's that. Okay, moving
<v Speaker 1>on to something else about this though, But Biggie coming out,
<v Speaker 1>the reaction for Big Eie subpar, And yes it's in Philly,
<v Speaker 1>so you guys are the best By the way. Philly
<v Speaker 1>has always been one of my favorite wrestling reaction crowds
<v Speaker 1>because they usually get it right, at least because I
<v Speaker 1>feel they get it right. But the reaction for Biggie
<v Speaker 1>was not one of a star that people want to
<v Speaker 1>get around to rally to see champion again. Usually when
<v Speaker 1>a champion has been wronged out of a championship or
<v Speaker 1>felt they were unfairly relinquished of that belt, the crowd
<v Speaker 1>next the next time they see them, really gets behind
<v Speaker 1>them to let the company know, Hey, this is our guy,
<v Speaker 1>get the damn belt back on him. I did not
<v Speaker 1>hear that from Biggie. Biggie's reaction out of ten was
<v Speaker 1>like a two or three out of ten. I mean
<v Speaker 1>barely lukewarm. It was bad. It was bad. And big Ee,
<v Speaker 1>by the way, can't even help when he's in the
<v Speaker 1>ring not talking to the hard camera. He has been
<v Speaker 1>so trained and ingrained in his brain that he must
<v Speaker 1>be facing the front of the camera at all times,
<v Speaker 1>even if he's talking to somebody. He is the most egregious,
<v Speaker 1>just obnoxious promo to date when it comes to from
<v Speaker 1>a production standpoint, not from a content perspective. He's decent
<v Speaker 1>in his content that he says, he's he's charismatic, he's bombastic,
<v Speaker 1>he's all these wacky things sometimes, although a very serious
<v Speaker 1>tone has finally shown itself in Biggie and that's that's good.
<v Speaker 1>But he can't even help himself. When he's talking to Seth,
<v Speaker 1>he's looking at the hard camera, not even looking at Seth.
<v Speaker 1>Does anybody else have a conversation with somebody looking the
<v Speaker 1>opposite way, for at least completely rotating your body the
<v Speaker 1>opposite direction in which you're speaking to somebody. He can't
<v Speaker 1>even help them. I understand. The hard camera is the
<v Speaker 1>it's the audience's eyes, and they are trained very well
<v Speaker 1>to make sure that every time that they have anything,
<v Speaker 1>any big moments, their their promos, everything, everything is directed
<v Speaker 1>and tilted towards the hard camera. I understand that that
<v Speaker 1>that is completely just. It's a part of their DNA.
<v Speaker 1>It's so hardly and roughly ingrained into them. I get that.
<v Speaker 1>But Big E just is the most transparently awful at it.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, geez. But beyond that, here's another part I
<v Speaker 1>didn't like about this. As I continue to rent about
<v Speaker 1>this specific segment, whatever happened is Sonya Deville and Adam
<v Speaker 1>Pierce making the matches. Whatever happened to contract signings or
<v Speaker 1>they only relevant when it comes to championship matches of
<v Speaker 1>which the match has already been made, and then they
<v Speaker 1>go back and I guess just as a formality have
<v Speaker 1>contract signings. But Number one, if Adam Pearson and Sony
<v Speaker 1>Devill a the only ones who make matches, how did
<v Speaker 1>big E and Seth make a match in which an
<v Speaker 1>official said, yep, sounds good, I'm coming down because they
<v Speaker 1>said so, you know, how does that happen?
<v Speaker 2>Right?
<v Speaker 1>How many times have we been told Seth or rather
<v Speaker 1>that Adam Peers and Sonya Deville the ones that make
<v Speaker 1>them matches around here? We've heard them say that innumerable
<v Speaker 1>times backstage to stars, and yet Seth and Biggie immediately
<v Speaker 1>made a match on the spot, no questions asked. The
<v Speaker 1>official just comes out there like a good soldier and
<v Speaker 1>considers this a real match. There's no contract signing, which
<v Speaker 1>always makes you wonder why contract signings even happen if
<v Speaker 1>there was no contract here signed. I mean that you
<v Speaker 1>could say that about every match, but especially impromptu matches,
<v Speaker 1>because there's no time to sign a contract and to
<v Speaker 1>sign it afterwards. I know, I'm really ruining some of
<v Speaker 1>the logic of pro wrestling, and but sometimes things need
<v Speaker 1>to be called out here, and especially when on your
<v Speaker 1>own show you're saying that the ww official are the
<v Speaker 1>only ones that make matches, and yet you have certain
<v Speaker 1>stars that just make the matches and no one questions it.
<v Speaker 1>It's got to be called out. Sorry, it does all right,
<v Speaker 1>Oh Alexa Bliss, Alexa Bliss. Oh wait, wait, wait, wait,
<v Speaker 1>Before I get to Alexa Bliss, I do want to
<v Speaker 1>some of you do come to me for the raw review.
<v Speaker 1>In terms of the results, Seth Rollins defeated Big Eie
<v Speaker 1>via pinfall after a stomp, and I got to say
<v Speaker 1>I was surprised about this until I forgot that Seth
<v Speaker 1>is actually going to be a Universal Champion challenger. You
<v Speaker 1>have to make him look as strong as possible. If
<v Speaker 1>you are on you're in an actual big match at
<v Speaker 1>the pay per view coming up. You will win every
<v Speaker 1>match going up to that usually to make you look
<v Speaker 1>as strong as possible to face your opponent. And so
<v Speaker 1>I was shocked until I realized that. I also like
<v Speaker 1>how the stomp is being protected again one finish to
<v Speaker 1>a pinfall. Great good stuff on board Bravo on that
<v Speaker 1>and again, great match, really good match between these two.
<v Speaker 1>I mean I never complained about the quality of the matchup.
<v Speaker 1>Just the production, the big eie camera stuff, the logic
<v Speaker 1>of matches is being made even though we're told that
<v Speaker 1>they can't do it. All that stuff, the reaction to
<v Speaker 1>to Biggie, that's the stuff I'm attacking, not the work
<v Speaker 1>of these two individuals at all. Okay, but yes, so
<v Speaker 1>we had a Lexibliss return in a therapist's office as
<v Speaker 1>her quote unquote journey to Raw. We should have been
<v Speaker 1>a little more privy to that. The journey to Raw,
<v Speaker 1>not her return, her journey back to Monday Night Raw
<v Speaker 1>began in a therapist's office in which the therapist showed
<v Speaker 1>her in kind of a doctor. I was worried they
<v Speaker 1>were going to do like a Doctor Shelby kind of
<v Speaker 1>thing they did with Daniel, Brian and Kine back in
<v Speaker 1>the day, trying to make it humorous. It wasn't humorous
<v Speaker 1>at all. It was supposed to be taken seriously. Where
<v Speaker 1>we had Alexibliss shown the footage of Charlotte tearing up
<v Speaker 1>her doll, and that made her essentially psychotic, right, It
<v Speaker 1>just made her throw everything around the room and just
<v Speaker 1>act like a crazy person. And she is the exact
<v Speaker 1>same Alexiblist by the way, So all of us that
<v Speaker 1>were wondering if she was going to be different back
<v Speaker 1>to the goddess, or go darker or a hybrid, my
<v Speaker 1>prediction was a hybrid hybrid. Nope, it's the same Alexibliss,
<v Speaker 1>same Alexa. So it's her. It's the same one. For
<v Speaker 1>better or worse, we'll find out. But so this made
<v Speaker 1>her psychotic, and she screamed to end the segment. I
<v Speaker 1>you know, I don't hate this. It's first of all,
<v Speaker 1>it's just good to see Alexiblist back on my screen
<v Speaker 1>because she's a fun character. She's she's she seems like
<v Speaker 1>an actual decent human being as a person. You know,
<v Speaker 1>I I have nothing but respect and love for a
<v Speaker 1>Lexibliss as a person and a performer. But you know,
<v Speaker 1>some are gonna be disappointed that it's not some some
<v Speaker 1>kind of different character at all. I mean, it's essentially
<v Speaker 1>the exact same same outfit, everything, same makeup, nothing has changed. Again,
<v Speaker 1>we haven't seen her officially return, but you would think
<v Speaker 1>that one would draw the line, draw the dots to
<v Speaker 1>connect the dots rather to having Alexa attack Charlotte upon
<v Speaker 1>her return. That's what one would tend to believe, right,
<v Speaker 1>except here's the problem. Charlotte's on SmackDown. Oh wait, that's
<v Speaker 1>not a problem because she's on a different brand. Woo,
<v Speaker 1>who cares? Who cares? That doesn't matter, there's no there's
<v Speaker 1>a brand split only when they need it to be
<v Speaker 1>called a brand split. Otherwise, guys, you can go over here,
<v Speaker 1>you can go over here. We won't explain to anybody.
<v Speaker 1>So hey, I would have said a normal world that
<v Speaker 1>that's a barrier to this program happening. It's not Alexiblist
<v Speaker 1>versus Charlotte will happen. It will happen, you know. It
<v Speaker 1>may happen immediately, it may wait till, you know, towards WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 1>But it's not a barrier to entry anymore, because nobody
<v Speaker 1>bothers to explain why people are on their opposite shows
<v Speaker 1>at all. And so if not, if Alexa just returns
<v Speaker 1>as this enraged, even more enraged character, then she may
<v Speaker 1>temporarily feud with someone on Raw until she attacks Charlotte,
<v Speaker 1>maybe at the Rumble or beyond. So that's I'm guessing
<v Speaker 1>where they're going, you can't have this open ended program
<v Speaker 1>with Charlotte who tore up Lily, and have her not
<v Speaker 1>try to event Lily by going after Charlotte. So somehow,
<v Speaker 1>some way, Alexa will make her way to smack down
<v Speaker 1>and that will be fun. I guess if you don't
<v Speaker 1>care about the rules of a draft. All right, let's
<v Speaker 1>see Edge and Beth Phoenix won a war of words
<v Speaker 1>with miss and Maurice. So really this was just essentially
<v Speaker 1>the men putting over their women, you know. And I
<v Speaker 1>have no problem with men putting over the women. I
<v Speaker 1>think it's great. Like I have no problem with that.
<v Speaker 1>I'm all for it. I'm all for elevating your spouse,
<v Speaker 1>regardless if it's the man or woman, like I'm all
<v Speaker 1>for everyone just, you know, elevating each other. I think
<v Speaker 1>that's great. But it was almost to a sickening level,
<v Speaker 1>and almost to a level that was like, dude, no,
<v Speaker 1>if Beth Phoenix faced you, I'm sorry, you would kick
<v Speaker 1>her ass, like I mean the mis r rather Edge
<v Speaker 1>when he said if he was looking across the ring
<v Speaker 1>from his wife, he would be afraid stop stop stop.
<v Speaker 1>I know that. The I know the message that was
<v Speaker 1>supposed to send any spects his wife so much, but
<v Speaker 1>kind of I'm sorry, dude, it kind of emasculates you.
<v Speaker 1>It's again, I think it's great. You're elevating your spouse
<v Speaker 1>and building the confidence of your spouse, and you're you're
<v Speaker 1>trying to elevate her in the eyes of fans and publicly,
<v Speaker 1>you know, put her up on a pedestal. I get that,
<v Speaker 1>But dude, your edge, your edge, and you if you
<v Speaker 1>faced your wife in a ring, and if I ever
<v Speaker 1>saw her beat you, I would stop watching pro wrestling.
<v Speaker 1>You're kidding me because she has thighs that could crack
<v Speaker 1>a coconut. I mean, come on, I mean that that
<v Speaker 1>was a fun line. It was funny, and I like Edge,
<v Speaker 1>huge fan, and I love his entrance is one of
<v Speaker 1>the best entrance music music of all time. But I
<v Speaker 1>did not like this elevating your spouse to the nth
<v Speaker 1>degree to it distractingly high, almost egregious degree of like, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>this is great, but can we get to the story here?
<v Speaker 1>And we did, you know, like we did? And it
<v Speaker 1>was all about Maurice essentially cowering and walking out on
<v Speaker 1>the miss and not really walking on in him to
<v Speaker 1>slight him but more in fear of Beth Phoenix, So
<v Speaker 1>it was in fear of Beth rather than having I
<v Speaker 1>guess the perceived problem between Miss and Maurice. That's not
<v Speaker 1>the story. It's more of fear and that Maurice was
<v Speaker 1>running her mouth until Beth Phoenix showed up and now
<v Speaker 1>she has to eat her words. And Phoenix said that
<v Speaker 1>essentially she's gonna wreck her at the Royal Rumble, and
<v Speaker 1>that's fun. I'm really looking forward to seeing it and
<v Speaker 1>it did enjoy the video packages on both women. It's
<v Speaker 1>a great kind of reminder of what both women did
<v Speaker 1>in their careers. Beth Phoenix much more accomplished than Maurice.
<v Speaker 1>Maurice was much more physically I guess inclined or physically
<v Speaker 1>physically promoted in WWE than Beth Phoenix, who was much
<v Speaker 1>more of an actual athlete and promoted as such. But uh, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so this is still a fun story. I gotta say
<v Speaker 1>it's still fun. It is, and Edge pointed out that
<v Speaker 1>how much stronger and more physical Beth phoenixes. And then
<v Speaker 1>again Maurice again just kind of left in fear as
<v Speaker 1>MS was still talking. So I just I don't know
<v Speaker 1>what to make of this Maurice, will I think show up.
<v Speaker 1>She hasked to show up. This match will happen. There's
<v Speaker 1>no fear of that. But this this was an interesting
<v Speaker 1>an interesting nine at the office, as they say, and
<v Speaker 1>I I just wasn't. I wasn't a fan of how
<v Speaker 1>much that that propping up of their women happened. Again,
<v Speaker 1>people think that's great, You're it's all women empowerment. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>First of all, I'm not getting political at all. I'm
<v Speaker 1>not getting into the feminist movement or anything like that.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not touching that. My point is from a wrestling
<v Speaker 1>perspective that this was just too lopsided on like elevation
<v Speaker 1>their women to almost try to make us believe that
<v Speaker 1>they could kick their husband's ass. Let's be serious. Okay, No,
<v Speaker 1>that they would not happen, could not happen. I know
<v Speaker 1>Beth Phoenix is an extremely strong woman, but in compared
<v Speaker 1>to men, she's not. Okay, in the grand scheme generally
<v Speaker 1>speaking of men in athletic meant, she's not you know,
<v Speaker 1>and you gotta be kidding me if he is trying
<v Speaker 1>to say that, you know, if my wife was on
<v Speaker 1>the other side, kind of the subservient man right, like
<v Speaker 1>it just emasculates the dude, and it's it's not that
<v Speaker 1>you need to be superior to your woman, but it's biology, folks,
<v Speaker 1>simple basic biology. Basic biology tells you men have a
<v Speaker 1>much higher testosterone level. Which it's not just that's not
<v Speaker 1>just all right, like right to their bones, right to
<v Speaker 1>their very DNA, they have physical advantages to women. That's
<v Speaker 1>just fact fact. You know what, Beth Phoenix could probably
<v Speaker 1>beat the hell out of most women. She could, but
<v Speaker 1>don't tell me Edge, I'm going on to this too much.
<v Speaker 1>But anyway, I thought it was distractingly too much, but
<v Speaker 1>it's still still a good segment and got the message
<v Speaker 1>across that Beth Phoenix and Edge are gonna probably kick
<v Speaker 1>the hell out of Miss and Maurice at the Royal Rumble.
<v Speaker 1>That's essentially what we got told, and that's fine. I
<v Speaker 1>expect Edge Beth Phoenix honestly, win. I don't see an
<v Speaker 1>scenario in which Miss and Maurice do because Edge is
<v Speaker 1>gonna move on to bigger and better things. Okay, uh boy,
<v Speaker 1>what else do we have here? Ah? Did I talk
<v Speaker 1>about the main event? I don't think I did, although
<v Speaker 1>wait a minute, I'm seeing a tweet from Adam Pierce
<v Speaker 1>that it's official, because that's all Adam Pierce knows how
<v Speaker 1>to say it is official. Those like his that's his
<v Speaker 1>three word, that's his catchphrase. I guess that Rollins and
<v Speaker 1>Roman reigns for the Universal title is on at the
<v Speaker 1>Royal Rumble. You know how that happened? No one cares
<v Speaker 1>to say, No one knows. Oh, Austin Theory took a
<v Speaker 1>selfie after AJ Styles was attacked by Grayson Waller during
<v Speaker 1>the match. I mean, Austin Theory and AJ didn't have
<v Speaker 1>a very long match before Grayson Waller interfered, and Styles
<v Speaker 1>and Waller are scheduled for a match on Tuesday's NXT show,
<v Speaker 1>So it was interesting. It was cool to see an
<v Speaker 1>NXT star on Raw that can actually happen, you know,
<v Speaker 1>it can still happen as as rare as it is.
<v Speaker 1>And I liked how they promoted that to get people
<v Speaker 1>to maybe tune into ten XT to see that match.
<v Speaker 1>Good stuff. Austin Theory is still worrying about impressing Vince McMahon.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, look, Vince McMahon hired you, right like he
<v Speaker 1>hired everyone else. Why are you the one that you
<v Speaker 1>have to continue to impress to keep your job. Why
<v Speaker 1>is he not asking everyone else to continue to impress
<v Speaker 1>him to keep their job? Why are you being singled out?
<v Speaker 1>And I'm glad we didn't see the bumbling fumbling mumbo
<v Speaker 1>jumbo raspy voice subtitle. NASA's subtitles needed Vince McMahon on
<v Speaker 1>Raw this week. I was very excited about that. But
<v Speaker 1>all right, so AJ Styles is kind of also fumbling
<v Speaker 1>around with Austin theory. Eventually, I think he'll get his
<v Speaker 1>victory and go on also go on to bigger and
<v Speaker 1>better things. Because AJ has been also in a rut.
<v Speaker 1>I gotta say, okay, So let's see here. We had
<v Speaker 1>the main event Do Drop Live Morgan and Beyonca bell
<v Speaker 1>Air and the winner would face Becky Lynch at the
<v Speaker 1>Royal Rumble. So let me read the description of CBS
<v Speaker 1>Sports and the gray they gave it. So here's where
<v Speaker 1>can hear we go? Do Drop defeat Live Morgan and
<v Speaker 1>Bianca bell Air via pinfall when she pinned Morgan with
<v Speaker 1>a Bonzie drop to win the title to a title shot.
<v Speaker 1>I should say the number contendership. Bell Air had the
<v Speaker 1>match one after hitting Live Morgan with the kod, but
<v Speaker 1>Lynch jumped into the ring to break up the pin,
<v Speaker 1>leaving Morgan vulnerable to be finished off by Do Drop.
<v Speaker 1>After the match, Lynch entered the ring and offered to
<v Speaker 1>shake Do Drop's hand before pivoting to an attack, which
<v Speaker 1>Do Drop was easily able to shrug off. So yeah,
<v Speaker 1>this was this was fine. Yeah, And I I'm glad
<v Speaker 1>that they brought up the fact that live or yeah
<v Speaker 1>liv Morgan was the one who was about to get
<v Speaker 1>pinned and or she did get pinned, but also the
<v Speaker 1>fact that Lynch tried to attack Do Drop and dow
<v Speaker 1>Drop fought her off because she went for the manhandle
<v Speaker 1>slam and it didn't happen. And you know, I have
<v Speaker 1>to say, like this I don't think is sticking. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>the match was fine, do Drop winning with essentially with
<v Speaker 1>like the uh I mean RAKESHI had the same finish.
<v Speaker 1>There have been many names for this maneuver over the years,
<v Speaker 1>but I don't think this is sticking. In fact, I
<v Speaker 1>think it's going to be a multi payer. It's gonna
<v Speaker 1>be a fatal four way. I don't see any other
<v Speaker 1>way unless they decide to keep it a one on
<v Speaker 1>one because the other two are going to be involved
<v Speaker 1>in the World Rumble. Then I see it being fine,
<v Speaker 1>you know, and then I understand if it's due Job
<v Speaker 1>versus Becky again, another heel versus heel match. They are
<v Speaker 1>running thin on baby faces, aren't they, Because we got
<v Speaker 1>Seth versus Roman heel heel, we got due job versus
<v Speaker 1>Becky Lynch heel heel. So unless they feel that they're
<v Speaker 1>not going to be if you're a part of a match,
<v Speaker 1>you can't be a part of the Rumble. If that's
<v Speaker 1>the rules are going with, then they got to keep
<v Speaker 1>Live Morgan and Bianca bell are out so they can
<v Speaker 1>be a part of the Royal Rumble. And I think
<v Speaker 1>that's probably what they'll do. Is I just said it's
<v Speaker 1>gonna be a fatal four way. I'm thinking they'll be.
<v Speaker 1>If I had to choose only one, they'd probably be
<v Speaker 1>more valuable in the Royal Rumble. Especially God knows that
<v Speaker 1>WW needs the women bodies in the Rumble to hit
<v Speaker 1>that thirty number they're bringing back, like, you know, ten
<v Speaker 1>legends to fill you know, out of the thirty spots
<v Speaker 1>for the Royal Rumble, and so they certainly need bodies
<v Speaker 1>in that matchup so that you know I'm gonna with
<v Speaker 1>it the one on one and put Live and Bianca
<v Speaker 1>in the rumble to help fill spots. And we know
<v Speaker 1>one of them could win. I'm not saying they're just
<v Speaker 1>warm bodies. They could easily win. Honestly, both of them
<v Speaker 1>have arguments to be made to win. Now, here's what
<v Speaker 1>CBS Sports said about the entire Monday night Raw show.
<v Speaker 1>So I think I covered everything in Raw, but here's
<v Speaker 1>what CBS Sports did to wrap the whole thing up,
<v Speaker 1>and I'll give my wrap up as well. They said
<v Speaker 1>this was a rare episode of Raw with no storyline
<v Speaker 1>running through the entire show. That's not necessarily a bad thing,
<v Speaker 1>mind you, it's out of character for the show. Lesler
<v Speaker 1>and Lashley is a pairing so long in the making
<v Speaker 1>that anytime they come face to face feel somewhat special.
<v Speaker 1>As for the women's title situation, it's unfortunate, but the
<v Speaker 1>match was a bit clunky and the crowd was not
<v Speaker 1>providing much by the way of reactions for anything that happened. Still,
<v Speaker 1>Dude Drop as a fresh opponent for Lynch, and it's
<v Speaker 1>good to see. Not it's good not to see the
<v Speaker 1>lackluster few between Lynch and Morgan extended any further. So
<v Speaker 1>they gave Raw a B. As a whole, I'd say
<v Speaker 1>C plus. I'd actually take it down half of a
<v Speaker 1>grade here. Oh the one thing too, Brock calling Bobby
<v Speaker 1>a brock lizenard want to be That was the big line.
<v Speaker 1>I forgot to talk about that. But yeah, I'd give
<v Speaker 1>a C plus. Like it was. It was average to
<v Speaker 1>slightly slightly above average. It was an okay show and
<v Speaker 1>it was you know, I think it accomplished several goals.
<v Speaker 1>It moved storylines forward, It added a couple of matches
<v Speaker 1>to the Royal Rumble. You know, it definitely moved things forward.
<v Speaker 1>It was eventful Raw Tag Team Championships being lost for
<v Speaker 1>my long standing Raw Tag Team Championship run, and I
<v Speaker 1>say that again in relative terms to today's standards of
<v Speaker 1>long term title run. It also created a Raw Championship
<v Speaker 1>match for the women's side. It had a breakup of
<v Speaker 1>a tag team, another heel turn by by Nicky Cross,
<v Speaker 1>which I think is well deserved and I think is
<v Speaker 1>going to be much very beneficial to her career. So
<v Speaker 1>a decent an okay Raw to head into Rumble, which
<v Speaker 1>we are only three weeks away now, So that is
<v Speaker 1>it from my Monday night raw review. Everybody, thank you
<v Speaker 1>so much. Consider hitting a five star rating and review
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<v Speaker 1>with us. You can do that directly in Apple Podcasts
<v Speaker 1>with a subscribe button. There's an ad free button at
<v Speaker 1>the top of the page, or on Patreon where you
<v Speaker 1>get a discord server to chat with everybody about wrestling
<v Speaker 1>that's on the discord server at any time. It's a
<v Speaker 1>private little chat area. As well as everything add free.
<v Speaker 1>Hundreds of show is add free. So thank you as
<v Speaker 1>always everybody. Tomorrow, I'll be back with the mail bag,
<v Speaker 1>so send in your questions, your comments, your concerns to
<v Speaker 1>our email at realww podcast at gmail dot com and
<v Speaker 1>I will be happy to email or read the emails
<v Speaker 1>and respond to them tomorrow. I'll try to do it
<v Speaker 1>in two parts tomorrow. Last week was a disaster, so
<v Speaker 1>I'll try. I'll try my best, but sometimes it takes
<v Speaker 1>hours to get through your guys content and respond to it,
<v Speaker 1>so I appreciate it. I'm not complaining. I do appreciate it,
<v Speaker 1>So everybody, thank you so much. As always, I'll talk
<v Speaker 1>to you next time.
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