WWE Backlash Review: Fatu Loses & Goes Crazy, Mini-Hausens, John Cena Announces New PLE & Championship

<v Speaker 1>Backlashes in the books coming to you from Tampa, Florida.
<v Speaker 1>We now have the answer as to what John Cena
<v Speaker 1>was promoting all week, what that was, and we'll dive
<v Speaker 1>into that really at the top of the show in
<v Speaker 1>my first segment. But before we get to any of that,
<v Speaker 1>I just want to say thank you. Those of you
<v Speaker 1>that have been joining me for however many years. Thank
<v Speaker 1>you so much for your loyal, long term listenership, and
<v Speaker 1>those that are just getting on board. I hope you
<v Speaker 1>enjoy the show and that you consider staying with us,
<v Speaker 1>or if you're maybe on Patreon and you're thinking about
<v Speaker 1>going ad free, it's a great time to do it.
<v Speaker 1>As we are. Before you know, I get a blink
<v Speaker 1>and be in SummerSlam season. So Patreon dot com, slash
<v Speaker 1>WWE podcast. Now let's get to Backlash. And there were
<v Speaker 1>some bright spots. Let me let me just say that
<v Speaker 1>off the bat, there were some bright spots, some really
<v Speaker 1>good wrestling. The main event was good. You'll top what
<v Speaker 1>Punkin Roman did, but it was good. It was good
<v Speaker 1>for everyone around, all players, including Fatu, who I've been
<v Speaker 1>very harsh on outside the ring. Even inside the ring,
<v Speaker 1>I have not been very kind to him, but he
<v Speaker 1>showed up tonight and I could admit that. And I'm
<v Speaker 1>not going to sit here and just because I don't
<v Speaker 1>like someone on a personal level or I don't really
<v Speaker 1>even like their character, can objectively say that they did
<v Speaker 1>a good job. And Fatu held up his own. I
<v Speaker 1>didn't really particularly care for the for the constant kickouts
<v Speaker 1>of finishes that are just watering down every finish movee
<v Speaker 1>you ever see. That's been a foundational problem for a
<v Speaker 1>very long time, and it continues to show its ugly head,
<v Speaker 1>where every finish you know, it's going to take at
<v Speaker 1>least three to put anyone down. And that's what we
<v Speaker 1>saw in the match with Fatu and enrollment. We'll talk
<v Speaker 1>about the after math. That is really the conversation piece
<v Speaker 1>here with what Fatu did. But I want to talk
<v Speaker 1>first know, not about Eyo Sky, who did an excellent job.
<v Speaker 1>We'll talk about it if that was a goodbye from Oscar,
<v Speaker 1>But I want to talk about, as I said, the
<v Speaker 1>John ConA announcement. Now we knew going in, and I
<v Speaker 1>had said going in that this is going to be
<v Speaker 1>nothing more than another revenue stream in some form or
<v Speaker 1>fashion by TKO to get into your pockets, and I
<v Speaker 1>was right. I also predicted that this was going to
<v Speaker 1>be some kind of way for fans to be a
<v Speaker 1>bigger part of creative and I was right. And I'm
<v Speaker 1>not sitting here to It's not to gloat it and
<v Speaker 1>it's really not. I'm not being sarcastic. I'm trying to
<v Speaker 1>open the eyes of fans here that maybe are unwillingly
<v Speaker 1>try willing, unwilling to open them, or have not opened
<v Speaker 1>them yet. TKO doesn't know how to run a wrestling company.
<v Speaker 1>They know how to be in the entertainment business. They
<v Speaker 1>know how to entertain, But wrestling is a unique form
<v Speaker 1>of entertainment. It is not one that's done through celebrities,
<v Speaker 1>through shenanigans, through bad humor, through not taking itself seriously
<v Speaker 1>by exposing the product through the Unreal series. It's not
<v Speaker 1>done that way by taking away HOWSE shows, which by
<v Speaker 1>the way, tells you all you need to know about
<v Speaker 1>what they believe about pro wrestling. HOWSE shows are where
<v Speaker 1>the men and women grind and where they get their
<v Speaker 1>reps and they're able to work in front of a
<v Speaker 1>live crowd. I understand they're not the most profitable thing
<v Speaker 1>in the world, but it allows your talent to get better,
<v Speaker 1>and they have pulled them outside of the occasional Madison
<v Speaker 1>Square Garden on TELEVI event. They've done away with them,
<v Speaker 1>and I think it's not for the better. So I'm
<v Speaker 1>trying to show everyone that it's very clear that above
<v Speaker 1>all else, TKO, at any expense, is trying to squeeze
<v Speaker 1>every dollar out of you and out of me that
<v Speaker 1>they can. I understand. They've also gone after after the streamers,
<v Speaker 1>some of the top streamers. We know who they are.
<v Speaker 1>I think. I don't know if santy Zapp has been affected.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not sure, but we all know the top streamers
<v Speaker 1>and some of them who gotten copyrighted strikes, and TKO
<v Speaker 1>is going after them, and we all believe it's because
<v Speaker 1>of the Club WWE release that they're putting forth. And
<v Speaker 1>I get it now that all said, that is somewhat
<v Speaker 1>of a pretext to what John Cena was going to
<v Speaker 1>announce here tonight, and he did just that. He did
<v Speaker 1>exactly what I thought he would do. It was over
<v Speaker 1>selling with the oversell language of epic earth shattering foundation
<v Speaker 1>shaking and underselling or under delivering, over selling, underdelivering. That's
<v Speaker 1>what this was I understand it's John Cena saying it,
<v Speaker 1>which is supposed to make of this all better, but
<v Speaker 1>this just goes to show you they don't understand what
<v Speaker 1>the problem is. Now take away even the four minute
<v Speaker 1>ad blocks that continue to plague our eyeballs with ESPN Unlimited,
<v Speaker 1>which is just the worst when it comes to any
<v Speaker 1>viewing experience. I hope there are a mass exodus from
<v Speaker 1>ESPN Unlimited to say a big fuck you to TKO.
<v Speaker 1>I understand, you got to make your money, but man,
<v Speaker 1>you have to understand what the limit is and with
<v Speaker 1>the kickback is going to be from fans and where
<v Speaker 1>that line is of how far can we push it
<v Speaker 1>before fans start to mass exodus ESPN Unlimited, which I
<v Speaker 1>don't think is a good value by the way. But
<v Speaker 1>when it comes to the announcement with John Cena saying
<v Speaker 1>that it's going to be another pl e, it's going
<v Speaker 1>to be an annual event, there's going to be another
<v Speaker 1>championship introduced, It's going to be the John Cena Classic.
<v Speaker 1>This is not good. This is not good. I don't
<v Speaker 1>care that John Cena is one of the best promos
<v Speaker 1>of all time. He's transitioned into a glorified cheerleader for
<v Speaker 1>the company. He's just coming out in suits every time now,
<v Speaker 1>which is just all you need to know about where
<v Speaker 1>he stands, and good for him. I'm not being I'm
<v Speaker 1>not crapping on John Cena. He's trying to make a living.
<v Speaker 1>He loves the wrestling business. Fine, he's just doing his job.
<v Speaker 1>But he comes out and again it's supposed to make
<v Speaker 1>everything better because it's John Cena. And there's an he
<v Speaker 1>talks about a pl that's now gonna be named after him,
<v Speaker 1>that is gonna be annual. He wants it to go
<v Speaker 1>on for decades. There's gonna be a championship, a new championship,
<v Speaker 1>and they're gonna give the fans a say more than ever,
<v Speaker 1>which again I told you what they're gonna do is
<v Speaker 1>make this like a cyber Sunday or Taboo Tuesday, except worse.
<v Speaker 1>Why worse, Well, we'll get and we'll dive into why
<v Speaker 1>it's a bad idea to at another pl E and
<v Speaker 1>another championship. We'll get into that. And I don't even
<v Speaker 1>know if this championship is going to be defended regularly.
<v Speaker 1>It could be like the Crown jewel completely invented championship
<v Speaker 1>that's only defended at the event that it was created at,
<v Speaker 1>and then the rest of the year it's completely ignored.
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, we we definitely need a championship like that.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, there's nothing more that could fix the product
<v Speaker 1>right now than another pl in another championship. We'll talk
<v Speaker 1>about that, But moreover, what makes this worse? What doesn't
<v Speaker 1>solve the problem? And I know it's their answer to
<v Speaker 1>all the complaints about Creative which again is funny that
<v Speaker 1>they said it's a vocal minority, yet they are now
<v Speaker 1>acting as if it was a majority. It's always funny
<v Speaker 1>that they downplay it in public and yet their actions
<v Speaker 1>speak differently. They always try to downplay the criticism, and
<v Speaker 1>yet they'll react to it on air. Funny, huh, tells
<v Speaker 1>you all you need to know about what's really going
<v Speaker 1>on behind the scenes. But what they're gonna do is
<v Speaker 1>allow fans to push someone through to win the championship,
<v Speaker 1>even if that wrestler didn't win the match they were
<v Speaker 1>in in this tournament that they're gonna have every year
<v Speaker 1>for the John Cena Classic. That is a horrible fucking idea.
<v Speaker 1>I understand, well, you won't Creative Control give it to
<v Speaker 1>the fans directly. This is a but you're not understanding.
<v Speaker 1>See here's here's the thing. T KO is not understanding
<v Speaker 1>what makes pro wrestling great. It's not that we want
<v Speaker 1>to click a button and make someone champion, you fucking morons.
<v Speaker 1>And maybe it's just a troll of the fans. I'm
<v Speaker 1>not sure, but I guess I'll just take it seriously
<v Speaker 1>for the for the time being, for argument's sake. It's
<v Speaker 1>not that we want to be able to click a button.
<v Speaker 1>That's that's in vote No.
<v Speaker 2>No.
<v Speaker 1>The concept of taboo Tuesday and cyber Sunday. Actually we're good.
<v Speaker 1>Like it was fun. I'm surprised I haven't done more
<v Speaker 1>of them. It was They seemed like one offs. They
<v Speaker 1>might have had maybe one or two after that, but
<v Speaker 1>it was a very short lived concept ahead of its time.
<v Speaker 1>And that Actually I have no issue with that as
<v Speaker 1>a concept. Because the fans get to vote who the
<v Speaker 1>special ref is or who gets to face who. That's fine.
<v Speaker 1>What I don't like is completely watering down and making
<v Speaker 1>the match results in said tournament completely meaningless, because ultimately
<v Speaker 1>the fans can push someone through that they voted for
<v Speaker 1>that didn't win a match. Well, then what the fuck
<v Speaker 1>is the point of winning a match if the fans
<v Speaker 1>can just nullify it. That tells me you don't have
<v Speaker 1>the balls creatively to push through something that you believe
<v Speaker 1>in as a company, that you don't have the finger
<v Speaker 1>on the pulse of the of the fans, and that
<v Speaker 1>you're going to just leave it to them. And then
<v Speaker 1>I guess they're supposed to maybe have once we have
<v Speaker 1>somebody be crowned champion, then if something goes wrong, they
<v Speaker 1>can say, well, you guys, chose this person. No. See,
<v Speaker 1>this is the this is the the fallacy here, the
<v Speaker 1>real misstep in their logic is that we want to
<v Speaker 1>be able to just choose our champions. No, here's what
<v Speaker 1>we want to do. Make this real simple. We want you, guys,
<v Speaker 1>because we're paying you to and paying you lots, and
<v Speaker 1>so are many other people. We want you to do
<v Speaker 1>what you are meant to do, which is come up
<v Speaker 1>with come up with deep storylines, deep characters, and have
<v Speaker 1>good matches. That's it. I know you want to believe
<v Speaker 1>you're not a wrestling company. I know you want to
<v Speaker 1>try to pretend that what you do isn't wrestling. You've
<v Speaker 1>tried that, even under the Vince McMahon regime for years.
<v Speaker 1>You can run and hide all you want from it.
<v Speaker 1>At the end of the day, you are still a
<v Speaker 1>wrestling company. I understand it's entertainment, but that's what the
<v Speaker 1>entertainment is, is the wrestling. The wrestling is the entertainment.
<v Speaker 1>It's in your name, for the love of God. And
<v Speaker 1>now TKO is coming up with this genius idea, which,
<v Speaker 1>by the way, anytime they use I have said this
<v Speaker 1>now for many months. I don't care if it's Triple H.
<v Speaker 1>I don't care if it's Air em Manual. I don't
<v Speaker 1>care if it's Nick con I don't care if it's
<v Speaker 1>Stephanie McMahon. I don't care if it's any of the
<v Speaker 1>heads of the creative team lea fitting, good old leaf fitting.
<v Speaker 1>I don't care who it is. Ignore their dramatization of language.
<v Speaker 1>When they say epic, earth shattering, unpredictable, most this, Ignore them,
<v Speaker 1>Ignore them. They have really taken those words and put
<v Speaker 1>them out to the pasture when it comes to what
<v Speaker 1>they used to me. Remember when we used to hear
<v Speaker 1>earth shattering and earth shaking and epic returns and epic stories.
<v Speaker 1>Most often they would deliver most of the time you
<v Speaker 1>would hear that and oh my god, here comes Stone Cold.
<v Speaker 1>He's coming back from injury or coming or undertakers coming back, right.
<v Speaker 1>I understand it's the attitude, their references, and I know
<v Speaker 1>that there's so many people that want to get away
<v Speaker 1>from it. I'm just giving you a frame of reference,
<v Speaker 1>that's all. I'm not saying I want to go back
<v Speaker 1>to the attitude era. But those words used to mean something.
<v Speaker 1>Now they're used in as commonplace to promote any other show.
<v Speaker 1>Fucking ignore them, do not pay attention when they say now.
<v Speaker 1>Occasionally it actually may come true. But they have now
<v Speaker 1>demonstrated a pattern of behavior that has shown us they
<v Speaker 1>cannot be trusted when they use those words to hype
<v Speaker 1>things up or they actually believe it, which is even sadder.
<v Speaker 1>I have no idea what is going on anymore. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>I do know, but it's a company that's unrecognizable. This
<v Speaker 1>company is unrecognizable, and I understand it. A lot of
<v Speaker 1>it can be attributed to the ownership, the change of
<v Speaker 1>ownership from Vince TKO. But remember, leadership under Vince wasn't
<v Speaker 1>all roses, certainly not especially towards the end of his career.
<v Speaker 1>Before he resigned. So this is just not exciting to
<v Speaker 1>me at all. I understand it's the well, it's anybody
<v Speaker 1>from it. It's the stars of today versus the stars
<v Speaker 1>of tomorrow. Well, how about you let that happen organically.
<v Speaker 1>How about that just happens in story. How about you
<v Speaker 1>don't force it on a ple. We don't need more plees,
<v Speaker 1>more pls, and more championships. What's the logic behind that?
<v Speaker 1>Because it has John Cena's name on it, he's using
<v Speaker 1>his name value to brand a new ple and we're
<v Speaker 1>all supposed to get excited again. It comes down to
<v Speaker 1>the fundamentals, great storytelling, great wrestling. I know that we're
<v Speaker 1>not supposed to say that anymore. We need and demand
<v Speaker 1>as a consumer base, great wrestling. It's really that simple.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not saying it needs to be black and white
<v Speaker 1>and into the nineteen sixties. I'm saying that you need
<v Speaker 1>to just create relatable characters, long term story telling, and
<v Speaker 1>wrestle your ass off in the ring. That's really it.
<v Speaker 1>And they've gone into celebrities and a shit pile of
<v Speaker 1>ads and creating more championships and more ples, getting rid
<v Speaker 1>of the live events. This is a pattern now guys,
<v Speaker 1>this is not some kind of some kind of anomaly.
<v Speaker 1>If you add all of TKO's actions up and where
<v Speaker 1>they've gone strategically with the things I just said, it
<v Speaker 1>tells you they're getting away from wrestling, making that aside
<v Speaker 1>really a sideshow of what they're really doing, which is
<v Speaker 1>using their platform to generate ad revenue and the product
<v Speaker 1>becomes secondary. And they think by adding another ple to
<v Speaker 1>an already jam packed schedule of ples on top of
<v Speaker 1>Saturday night main events, on top of two night summer
<v Speaker 1>slams to night WrestleManias, that another ple and another championship
<v Speaker 1>on top of all the other ones they've added over
<v Speaker 1>the years. Again a lot of them have been on
<v Speaker 1>the women's side, but you've added the Crown Jewel Championship,
<v Speaker 1>which is a complete joke up until one month a year.
<v Speaker 1>Now you're adding another one that's I don't know how
<v Speaker 1>it's going to be defended or when I'm guessing once
<v Speaker 1>a year. This announcement was dog shit, And if you
<v Speaker 1>don't believe me, take everything John Cena said and put
<v Speaker 1>it in the mouth of Adam Pierce, because that's how
<v Speaker 1>you know. If just as from a context perspective, looking
<v Speaker 1>at it objectively and taking John Cena out of it.
<v Speaker 1>If it's truly a good idea, imagine somebody else saying
<v Speaker 1>it that doesn't have the star power of John Cena,
<v Speaker 1>and then ask yourself if you're excited about it. The
<v Speaker 1>answer is probably no. Now is it going to be
<v Speaker 1>the drizzling shits? No? I mean as a concept, I
<v Speaker 1>understand what they did and why. I understand that you're
<v Speaker 1>trying to build for the future by giving the stars
<v Speaker 1>of tomorrow a chance to wrestle with the star of
<v Speaker 1>today under the banner of the name value of John Cena.
<v Speaker 1>I get it. But in practice this is horrible. It's
<v Speaker 1>nothing more than the Crown Jewel Championship that we all
<v Speaker 1>don't give a shit about. No One even when it's
<v Speaker 1>that month. No one cares like actually nobody. It means nothing.
<v Speaker 1>So am I rooting for this to fail? No? I'm
<v Speaker 1>actually not. I hope it works. I hope it works,
<v Speaker 1>but I just as a fan. How can you be
<v Speaker 1>excited for this? What's in it for the fans? What
<v Speaker 1>is in it for us? Oh? We get to override
<v Speaker 1>your decision. That's not what we want. We actually don't
<v Speaker 1>at our core. Some people at their movie like, no,
<v Speaker 1>I know better, I want La and nightis Champion again.
<v Speaker 1>What you're really craving, I guess I'm psychoanalyzing us here.
<v Speaker 1>What you're really craving, I think, deep down is just
<v Speaker 1>great storytelling, deep characters, great wrestling. That's it. And it's
<v Speaker 1>not our job to just to strong arm the company
<v Speaker 1>into doing what we want. Now. We do complain about
<v Speaker 1>things and say things suck. I do a lot. I
<v Speaker 1>do that a lot, But I even at my core, yes,
<v Speaker 1>I just want that because that's what makes wrestling great.
<v Speaker 1>And they are missing the point entirely. They're missing the
<v Speaker 1>point completely. So I'll stop there. I'm gonna have a
<v Speaker 1>lot more to say about this as the weeks roll on,
<v Speaker 1>because it's going to become a bigger deal and it's
<v Speaker 1>gonna be pushed on Raw and SmackDown and mister corporate
<v Speaker 1>cheerleader is probably going to be out there talking about
<v Speaker 1>it some more. But I mean again, I'm down on
<v Speaker 1>it only because it's not going to solve the issues.
<v Speaker 1>In fact, it's gonna make the worse. It's going to
<v Speaker 1>make the worse. All right, let's move on to some
<v Speaker 1>good stuff here, or actually, well, I would say the
<v Speaker 1>wrestling on the show wasn't terrible. Again EO Sky killed
<v Speaker 1>it with Oscar. But let's dive into the show a
<v Speaker 1>little bit more in depth here. So Seth Rollins and
<v Speaker 1>Brown Breaker we had this match.
<v Speaker 2>Go.
<v Speaker 1>What was the time stamp on this? Yeah, I thought
<v Speaker 1>it was. It was over twenty minutes, twenty one minutes,
<v Speaker 1>forty five seconds in a match that I think delivered.
<v Speaker 1>It delivered in a way that I don't know how
<v Speaker 1>I could have really designed this match better outside of
<v Speaker 1>the constant kickouts of finishes which happened all over the
<v Speaker 1>fucking place. Now that I just as a principle is
<v Speaker 1>just a default. That's a complaint I have, So I
<v Speaker 1>guess I'll leave that out because it's just it's there
<v Speaker 1>all the time. But this was This was really good. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>there was some scary moments of Seth Rollins and almost
<v Speaker 1>being dropped on his head and all the rest, but
<v Speaker 1>bron Breaker generally wasn't too jacked up to you know,
<v Speaker 1>paralyze somebody, which was good. This was a coming out
<v Speaker 1>party for bron Breaker. He beat Seth Rollins, he beat
<v Speaker 1>him clean. We had some really good spots by bron
<v Speaker 1>Breaker The finish was really good. Yes, he ran the
<v Speaker 1>ropes in the blink of an eye after his what
<v Speaker 1>third spear forespare, I don't know what it was. We
<v Speaker 1>had Logan Paul and Austin Theory come out as Rollins
<v Speaker 1>beat them down. So Rollins hasn't out here. If you
<v Speaker 1>really want to give it to him, he hasn't out
<v Speaker 1>protects him a little bit from the loss. The use
<v Speaker 1>of the pedigree was fun. The pedigree got a bit
<v Speaker 1>pretty big pop, which was also nice to hear. The
<v Speaker 1>falcon era so that was reversed by bron Breaker was
<v Speaker 1>really cool. The mid air sphere, obviously that ended the
<v Speaker 1>match was brutal and well done. I really don't have
<v Speaker 1>a whole bunch of criticism for this. For all the
<v Speaker 1>crap I just put on the John Cena announcement, This
<v Speaker 1>was good, really good. It showed you how good really
<v Speaker 1>both men are, but particularly Seth Rollins. Why. I know
<v Speaker 1>that he is the grizzled Vet, but to have a
<v Speaker 1>dance partner of that quality can do nothing but help you.
<v Speaker 1>And bron Breaker is right now in the zone of
<v Speaker 1>needing to be coached and working with guys much better
<v Speaker 1>than him because of all his talent, all his ability,
<v Speaker 1>and all the years he has in front of him.
<v Speaker 1>Seth Rollins is a perfect guy to be in the
<v Speaker 1>ring with. So hopefully this is an over it may
<v Speaker 1>continue into the next pl but this was just really good.
<v Speaker 1>And I mean out of five stars, I'd give this four.
<v Speaker 1>It is good, really good, no complaints whatsoever, and just
<v Speaker 1>a great way to open the show. Trick Williams and
<v Speaker 1>Sammy's aim for the United States Championship Little YACHTI was
<v Speaker 1>at ringside and the match went about thirteen minutes. Trick
<v Speaker 1>Williams did retain. We had Little YACHTI get Halluva kicked.
<v Speaker 1>Luckily we didn't have anything about the gingerbread Man, which
<v Speaker 1>is all over the place, and I know there's a
<v Speaker 1>lot of people talking about it from SmackDown. I think
<v Speaker 1>it's a just horrible. I know some people are just
<v Speaker 1>so even the really the people who are the most
<v Speaker 1>well known in the wrestling community, from journalists to streamers,
<v Speaker 1>many of them not all. I think JD from New York,
<v Speaker 1>who I really am just I love his work. Him
<v Speaker 1>and I again don't agree on a lot, but he
<v Speaker 1>really is just great to listen to. When things like
<v Speaker 1>this happen. We had a lot a lot of them.
<v Speaker 1>Those say just kind of getting beaten down, Like, you
<v Speaker 1>know what, I'm a proesting fan. This is goofy, but
<v Speaker 1>I love it. Are you really twelve? You know what
<v Speaker 1>I mean. It's almost as if they're being paid off
<v Speaker 1>by the company to say these things, or they just
<v Speaker 1>refuse to be negative, so they're just like, yeah, whatever,
<v Speaker 1>it's pro wrestling. No, that's this is not pro wrestling.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not talking about the match here tonight. I'm talking
<v Speaker 1>about the gingerbread man that I haven't had a chance
<v Speaker 1>to talk about. That was abhorrent. I understand that there's
<v Speaker 1>they're using AI now more than ever, and that was
<v Speaker 1>clearly like CHATCHBT being used to input to gingerbread men.
<v Speaker 1>And all the famous moments of wrestling from WrestleMania three
<v Speaker 1>with the Hulk Hogan and Andrea the Giant to Stone
<v Speaker 1>Cold being arrested after I think that was either he
<v Speaker 1>stunned Vince Mickmahon or drove a zamboni in the ring,
<v Speaker 1>whatever it was. He was in the crowd there and
<v Speaker 1>at a basketball game, all these things, Like I get it.
<v Speaker 1>It's a cute little thing. It's funny but you got
<v Speaker 1>to realize this is a pro wrestling show. This is
<v Speaker 1>a pro wrestling show, and they're they're bringing in a
<v Speaker 1>character that isn't even real. They're not even bringing in
<v Speaker 1>a character that's real. Why can't we just focus on
<v Speaker 1>I don't know, the wrestlers in the ring. We've already
<v Speaker 1>got Little Yachti, who's a character in and of himself.
<v Speaker 1>Trick Williams is on a damn role. Why is the
<v Speaker 1>focus on an imaginary character? What the fuck are we doing?
<v Speaker 1>And now they're bringing Ai Slop into it. That's exactly
<v Speaker 1>what it is. It's it's it's embarrassing. This is the
<v Speaker 1>guy and that kind of shit the TKO execs think
<v Speaker 1>is a good idea because they don't want to be
<v Speaker 1>known as wrastling, even though they're allowed to say pro
<v Speaker 1>wrestling has no meaning because they don't actually believe in it.
<v Speaker 1>They believe in celebrities Ai and trying to put forth
<v Speaker 1>some kind of attempt at I guess what they would
<v Speaker 1>call is humor horrible horrible. But this match was not.
<v Speaker 1>The match was good. We had the finish again with
<v Speaker 1>Trick Williams beating Sammy, but the sequence of events with
<v Speaker 1>the finish was Zane gets a running start, blasts Yachti
<v Speaker 1>with the Halluva kick to the back of the head
<v Speaker 1>that he sold really well, give him credit, and Zane
<v Speaker 1>return to the ring went for halluvakick, but Trick avoided
<v Speaker 1>it and hit the ropes with the trick shot, and
<v Speaker 1>Trick covered Zane for the victory. After the match, Little
<v Speaker 1>Yati took out money and made it rain. Cole told
<v Speaker 1>Barrett to sit down and then he knew and said
<v Speaker 1>he knew that it was more money than Barrett makes
<v Speaker 1>in a year, and Cole thanked ESPN two viewers for
<v Speaker 1>joining them, So again a bit of a marketing ploy
<v Speaker 1>to get people to buy the ESPN Unlimited app. So
<v Speaker 1>good match and not great. I'd give it two and
<v Speaker 1>three quarter stars out of five. So good, not great,
<v Speaker 1>and I think the right person one Trick Williams continuing
<v Speaker 1>sammy' z ain losing is the perfect way to continue
<v Speaker 1>his heel turned that is not yet complete but in process,
<v Speaker 1>in progress, loading as the kids say. And fine, I
<v Speaker 1>just never want to see anything about the gingerbread Man again.
<v Speaker 1>And I know that next week we'll probably get some
<v Speaker 1>kind of funeral service for him. Fucking ridiculous, but good
<v Speaker 1>for Sammy, good for Trick here, and I think it
<v Speaker 1>was the right call. All right, Dan Housen and the
<v Speaker 1>reveal of who his mystery opponent was, well it wasn't
<v Speaker 1>Jelly Roll, it was Minnie Housen. Yeah, the midgets are back.
<v Speaker 1>They took on the Mis and Kate Wilson. And before
<v Speaker 1>I get to the Mini Housen, let me just get
<v Speaker 1>to the good stuff, and that is Dan Housen wins
<v Speaker 1>and he should. There's a bit of a risk of
<v Speaker 1>him being overexposed. Yes, he wins in twelve minutes as
<v Speaker 1>a tag team, and the crowd was really into him.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, Dan Housen is a great success story
<v Speaker 1>right now. He is. I have nothing really bad to
<v Speaker 1>say about him other than the risk that WWE is
<v Speaker 1>on the edge of maybe overexposing him. But that's kind
<v Speaker 1>of what they do. And TKO is not going to
<v Speaker 1>make him go anywhere. I mean, he is selling t
<v Speaker 1>shirts hand over fist. You know what that means. All
<v Speaker 1>they see is dollar signs are like, hey, buddy, you
<v Speaker 1>ain't going anywhere. You're a cash You're one of our
<v Speaker 1>cash cows right now, which is crazy given that people
<v Speaker 1>don't even really look forward to his matches as much
<v Speaker 1>as they do his backstage segments, which goes to show
<v Speaker 1>you how important character is, even more so than in
<v Speaker 1>re But was it silly that we had Kate Wilson
<v Speaker 1>selling for somebody who is a third of his size. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>it was ridiculous, It was over the top. I wasn't,
<v Speaker 1>I guess, really in the mood for it. Now, overall,
<v Speaker 1>the execution wasn't bad for what they wanted to do. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>the execution was clearly what they wanted to do with
<v Speaker 1>the midgets and have him win and try to make
<v Speaker 1>it funny and the crowd and be entertained. And I
<v Speaker 1>think they achieved that goal. I don't like the goal,
<v Speaker 1>but I think they did it and it fits Dan
<v Speaker 1>Housen's character. What I think I have a bigger issue with,
<v Speaker 1>again beyond the midgets, just more macro issue that is
<v Speaker 1>really starting to rear its head in WWE. Notice I
<v Speaker 1>have a couple of those tonight, and that's the inability
<v Speaker 1>to deliver on the who done it? Story or mystery
<v Speaker 1>callers or mystery men or masked men. This this really
<v Speaker 1>goes all the way back to the survivor series when
<v Speaker 1>they had the mask Man attack and it ended up
<v Speaker 1>being Austin theory which started the Wompwomp, and then the
<v Speaker 1>mask Men continued and it wasn't Logan Paul as many
<v Speaker 1>people thought, and it wasn't seth Rollins. Initially it was
<v Speaker 1>some random dude, and then we get a whole bunch
<v Speaker 1>more people in random masks, and Randy Orton ends up
<v Speaker 1>being listening to her talking to a mystery caller, and
<v Speaker 1>people like, oh, it's the Rock, it's Vince McMahon or
<v Speaker 1>somebody actually worth somewhat of the time that they put
<v Speaker 1>into that, and it's fucking Pat McAfee that we all
<v Speaker 1>know was one of the biggest collapses in main event
<v Speaker 1>history in w w A. And then they had well,
<v Speaker 1>they initially had the Dan Housen reveal. Don't forget about that.
<v Speaker 1>That initially was a total flop and a horrific failure. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>it ended up working out, but I'm talking about at
<v Speaker 1>the time was just you look at it and go,
<v Speaker 1>who is this dude? Yes, I know somebody else is
<v Speaker 1>also talking to Fatu on the phone. I'm sure that'll
<v Speaker 1>end up being a flop. Two. And then you have
<v Speaker 1>now Dan Housen's mystery partner being revealed as just himself
<v Speaker 1>in a mini form and then a whole bunch more
<v Speaker 1>midgetes come out. What are we doing? Do they know
<v Speaker 1>how to deliver on mystery stories? See, this is one
<v Speaker 1>of the fundamental pillars that I'm talking about. One of
<v Speaker 1>them that I just talked about for twenty minutes was
<v Speaker 1>good storytelling. This is an element of good storytelling and
<v Speaker 1>that they clearly don't understand or don't care that they
<v Speaker 1>don't deliver on. I just gave you chapter and verse
<v Speaker 1>on said issues, on those storylines that they just did
<v Speaker 1>not deliver on. Out of all all those examples, I
<v Speaker 1>just gave you through the last several months, which one
<v Speaker 1>was a success again and I'm talking about in the
<v Speaker 1>moment and even beyond again, Dan Housen was a success
<v Speaker 1>moving forward, but in the moment it was a horrible disaster.
<v Speaker 1>So I mean, they just don't know what they're doing
<v Speaker 1>again or don't care. Triple H was booed by the
<v Speaker 1>way when he was shown on camera, which is really
<v Speaker 1>funny coming to the arena. I would love to also
<v Speaker 1>have him come on camera. I want him on camera
<v Speaker 1>to see what the reaction is in front of fans.
<v Speaker 1>Things have really changed. And again I know that he's
<v Speaker 1>the content head of content creation whatever, but since t
<v Speaker 1>KO has made a public that they're in charge, I
<v Speaker 1>don't know. I mean, Triple H should get booed, I guess.
<v Speaker 1>But Area Manual is the real heel here. He'd make
<v Speaker 1>a great heel, my guy. He'd be perfect because he
<v Speaker 1>would be a real life villain for a lot of
<v Speaker 1>fans who have seen ticket prices go up, content quality
<v Speaker 1>go down, and spots at a record all time high.
<v Speaker 1>All right, but let's go on EO Sky and Osca.
<v Speaker 1>All right, things really ramp up in a good way here.
<v Speaker 1>Eighteen minutes thirty seconds. The match was great. Uh four
<v Speaker 1>and four stars out of five excellent. I mean, these
<v Speaker 1>two have as good of chemistry as you could possibly
<v Speaker 1>hope for, and it showed you how great these two
<v Speaker 1>women are. The finish was a Sky coming back with
<v Speaker 1>the German souplex. Sky hits Oscar with a bullet train
<v Speaker 1>attack and then hit the over the Moon salt for
<v Speaker 1>the victory. After the match, Sky bowed to Oscar, who
<v Speaker 1>looked emotional. They hugged, we thought, and I thought that
<v Speaker 1>was going to be an attack. There wasn't. It looked
<v Speaker 1>very much for a lot of people, like a goodbye.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know. You never know these days, and you
<v Speaker 1>do wonder if you'll ever hear anybody ever criticize WWE.
<v Speaker 1>That's an active employee, and it's never really smart to do, obviously,
<v Speaker 1>but even more so, now you're gonna hear nothing but raw,
<v Speaker 1>raw from everybody in WWE that's currently earning a paycheck.
<v Speaker 1>Between all the rumors of hey take a fifty percent
<v Speaker 1>pay cut or you're gone, and all of the mass
<v Speaker 1>releases they did over the last couple of weeks, people
<v Speaker 1>are likely on edge. Yes, this is a normal cycle,
<v Speaker 1>but this is not normal ownership. This is not Vince
<v Speaker 1>McMahon's WWE. It's a different it's a different beast. So
<v Speaker 1>it was a great match though. This match brought me back.
<v Speaker 1>It reminded me why I like wrestling. It's just one.
<v Speaker 1>It's one those deals that you can have a shitty
<v Speaker 1>storyline going in, but the talent make it better, and
<v Speaker 1>they did. They showed you what pro wrestling can be.
<v Speaker 2>Again.
<v Speaker 1>For those that tuned out during the mini Housen stuff,
<v Speaker 1>you likely came back here and went, oh, Okay, I
<v Speaker 1>can breathe again. Credit to both women excellent match. All right,
<v Speaker 1>Johnsen's announcement, we already went through that, so I won't
<v Speaker 1>talk about it again. And let's see. We then had
<v Speaker 1>an ad though for the clash in Italy. The ple
<v Speaker 1>will be held on May thirty first. Pre show. They
<v Speaker 1>get talked about who was going to be on the
<v Speaker 1>pre show and that was it. So the next ple
<v Speaker 1>is in Italy. So here we go with the European
<v Speaker 1>tour of ples for the next several months. And the
<v Speaker 1>next one's going to and be May thirty first, Sunday,
<v Speaker 1>not a Saturday Sunday two o'clock Eastern time, so we're
<v Speaker 1>used to those Saturday as well. We did Sundays for
<v Speaker 1>how many decades as wrestling fans. We're going back to it,
<v Speaker 1>at least for a night on the thirty first. So
<v Speaker 1>that's the next one again. Yeah, we definitely needed another PL.
<v Speaker 1>I just don't get it. Maybe they'll substitute out that
<v Speaker 1>pl for another one.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>But even the only thing I'll say about the John
<v Speaker 1>con announcement, it's not my take, it's pro wrestling nets
<v Speaker 1>take again, big fan of their work. Credit to them,
<v Speaker 1>shout out to them, there's your plug, they said. This
<v Speaker 1>is according to Jason Powell, head of Pro Wrestling Net.
<v Speaker 1>He said, while I'll give the show and concept the chance,
<v Speaker 1>the idea of the John Cena Classic Championship strikes me
<v Speaker 1>as being worse than the Crown Jewel Championship. Yeah you think, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I mean it's just because there's no meaning behind it.
<v Speaker 1>Just because Johnsena slaps his name on it, We're all
<v Speaker 1>supposed to just go, oh wow, prestigious. No, in fact,
<v Speaker 1>kind of a bit narcissistic, don't you think. All right,
<v Speaker 1>final match Roman and Jacob Fatu for the World Championship
<v Speaker 1>eighteen minutes. Credit to both men as I opened the
<v Speaker 1>show with excellent work out of both men, Yes, both men.
<v Speaker 1>I'm giving it to Fatu as well. He worked his
<v Speaker 1>ass off. I think he did as good of a
<v Speaker 1>job as somebody at his stage can do. Granted, he's
<v Speaker 1>in there with one of the greats right now in
<v Speaker 1>Roman Reigns, who's at the peak of his game. He's
<v Speaker 1>an incredible shape. I don't think he's had lower body
<v Speaker 1>fat than he ever has right now. No weird interference,
<v Speaker 1>no punk, no drewm MacIntyre. Yes, we got a ref bump,
<v Speaker 1>but it was minor, minor enough to still count on
<v Speaker 1>the scoreboard. But the ref didn't get knocked out and
<v Speaker 1>have really any effect on the finish. But the finish
<v Speaker 1>was a bit weird. And I say that in the
<v Speaker 1>sense of the ring turnbuckle got pulled off by Roman.
<v Speaker 1>You could argue that was on purpose or not, and sure,
<v Speaker 1>let's go with it. Was the ring turnbuckle was then
<v Speaker 1>used by Roman. Well, some could say, well, that's heelish
<v Speaker 1>that he cheated. What about Fatu using the announced table
<v Speaker 1>to power bomb Roman through earlier in the match? You
<v Speaker 1>know what about that? What aout the ring steps? I mean,
<v Speaker 1>the things that are allowed to be done in a
<v Speaker 1>quote unquote regular wrestling match without being disqualified these days
<v Speaker 1>is quite striking. And I understand the no selling is
<v Speaker 1>Fatu's thing and that that's what he's been doing, is
<v Speaker 1>no selling everything and just shaking his head like a maniac.
<v Speaker 1>But at some point you can't no sell finishes and
<v Speaker 1>then be expected to as fans take to finish seriously anymore.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, we haven't for a while for the reasons
<v Speaker 1>I've stated, But if you have a character that is
<v Speaker 1>explicitly no selling finishes. I mean, look at this is
<v Speaker 1>kind of a weird comparison, but remember Bray Wyatt right
<v Speaker 1>The Fiend, the classic seth Rollins match with Alan to Sell.
<v Speaker 1>I've had a little bit of flashback to that. Obviously,
<v Speaker 1>different characters, different scenario, totally different time, but I had
<v Speaker 1>flashbacks to that where he was just no selling absolutely everything.
<v Speaker 1>I mean everything, Yeah, I mean you couldn't kill him.
<v Speaker 1>At one point they actually lit him on fire. Remember
<v Speaker 1>that maybe the whole dou podcast on The Fiend, which
<v Speaker 1>had its ups and massive downs, But this character has
<v Speaker 1>a little bit of that. Yes, it's in Maga. Even
<v Speaker 1>Michael Cole made the comparison to Umaga during the match
<v Speaker 1>talking about Fatu, which I think is a fair comparison
<v Speaker 1>in the sense that they have a similar look and
<v Speaker 1>body type and work style to a gree to a degree,
<v Speaker 1>I think Umaga was more talented than Jacob Fatu is mouthpiece,
<v Speaker 1>more believable. I have brought that up to on the show,
<v Speaker 1>so I don't want to circle back and talk about
<v Speaker 1>the same things. But I'm glad Michael Cole acknowledged that
<v Speaker 1>he does have that look and a little bit of
<v Speaker 1>feel of Umaga, but the no selling thing. Eventually he
<v Speaker 1>is going to have to run its course. You can't.
<v Speaker 1>You can't live like that as a character. It it
<v Speaker 1>hurts your opponents more than helps them in the long run.
<v Speaker 1>And even after the match, after Roman Reigns beats him,
<v Speaker 1>which he did clean and yes clean, because I don't
<v Speaker 1>want to hear the ring turnbuckle given all the other
<v Speaker 1>things fat two did to Roman during the match, after
<v Speaker 1>the fourteenth spear, the Roman Reigns beats Fatsu, and then
<v Speaker 1>Fatu goes crazy. Fatu beats up Roman, beats up the ref,
<v Speaker 1>beats up security. I think a GM got thrown in there.
<v Speaker 1>I mean somebody's grandma got you know, Simoonan spiked. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know, but that was what Fatu did in a
<v Speaker 1>very heel way. Crowd booed, but there were some cheers
<v Speaker 1>for him. You had those that just want violence for
<v Speaker 1>the sake of violence. I think cheering him people love
<v Speaker 1>those vicious characters. I get it, but you do wonder
<v Speaker 1>I don't. I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel.
<v Speaker 1>Is this a heel turn? I don't know. I'm not sure.
<v Speaker 1>How many times have we come out of big matches
<v Speaker 1>going I don't know how to feel Cody and Roman.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry Cody and Randy and WrestleMania less than a
<v Speaker 1>month ago, we come out of that and we're like,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know, I don't know. I don't want to
<v Speaker 1>feel that way. I don't want to hear the shades
<v Speaker 1>of gray argument either. That's stupid. Pro wrestling can be different.
<v Speaker 1>I don't want to have to think too hard because
<v Speaker 1>this is entertainment through wrestling, and I just I wasn't
<v Speaker 1>a bit fan of the no selling but violence. He's
<v Speaker 1>being put on the map. So what they did was
<v Speaker 1>have Roman retain as we all knew it was gonna happen,
<v Speaker 1>and then they immediately got and made you forget the
<v Speaker 1>finish by having Fatu just go crazy. I mean he
<v Speaker 1>no sould the finish and got right back up and
<v Speaker 1>then just started, you know, beating people up. So yes,
<v Speaker 1>that worked in the sense of oh man, that Fatu
<v Speaker 1>is gonna be pushed down the card and no, I
<v Speaker 1>mean they immediately they just got the finish out of
<v Speaker 1>the way that we all knew was coming, and then
<v Speaker 1>they're like, Okay, let's immediately pivot instantly pivot to something
<v Speaker 1>else to get your mind off and not think too
<v Speaker 1>hard about it and devalue Fatu in your brain. And
<v Speaker 1>they did a nice job of that by having him
<v Speaker 1>destroy everyone in sight and hold up the championship. The
<v Speaker 1>last thing image was him holding the World Championship above
<v Speaker 1>his head, with the commentators talking about how it looks
<v Speaker 1>like that his chase for the championship will continue. So
<v Speaker 1>perhaps that Italy we're gonna have Roman reigns and Jacob
<v Speaker 1>Fatu again. Looks like that's where we're headed, and it's
<v Speaker 1>not the worst thing in the world. Again, this company
<v Speaker 1>should be trying to build new stars. That's I mean,
<v Speaker 1>how they're going to continue to even survive is through
<v Speaker 1>new stars, right, Like, I've already talked about how that
<v Speaker 1>cycle works. I shouldn't have to, but some fans just
<v Speaker 1>seem to not understand that new star. The process of
<v Speaker 1>building new stars is not fun most of the time
<v Speaker 1>because you just want the biggest stars all the time,
<v Speaker 1>biggest names. Well, how do you think those big names
<v Speaker 1>got to where they are now? They had to be
<v Speaker 1>at this point some at some point in their lives.
<v Speaker 1>So I get it. I'm willing to go through the
<v Speaker 1>pains of it. I'm still not a Fatu fan for
<v Speaker 1>a lot of reasons when it comes to his off
<v Speaker 1>camera comments about fans, and his in ring ticks, and
<v Speaker 1>his promos and his inability to speak coherently all the rest.
<v Speaker 1>I've already outlined that all Yesterday's show, so I won't
<v Speaker 1>rehash it. Go back and listen to that show if
<v Speaker 1>you want to hear a twenty minute ran about it.
<v Speaker 1>But I got to give him credit tonight did a
<v Speaker 1>really nice job in the ring, put forth a hell
<v Speaker 1>of an effort. Roman did as always does what he does,
<v Speaker 1>and put on a great match. So all right, that's
<v Speaker 1>my review of Backlash. Hope you guys enjoy it, and
<v Speaker 1>if you want to go add free Patreon dot com.
<v Speaker 1>Slash WWE podcast is the place to go, or you
<v Speaker 1>can just leave us a five star rating on Spotify
<v Speaker 1>or Apple and I'll be back likely, you know, maybe
<v Speaker 1>even tomorrow with a video. Yeah, I think I'm in
<v Speaker 1>a video mood, especially given all the content and news
<v Speaker 1>items that I could talk about. But also I'll definitely
<v Speaker 1>be back Monday. I do have an email or two
<v Speaker 1>that I haven't got to that came and after I
<v Speaker 1>recorded yesterday, so continue to send in your emails. If
<v Speaker 1>you want your take on backlash on the show, email
<v Speaker 1>me mailbag at WWE podcast dot com. So thank you everybody.
<v Speaker 1>I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend and
<v Speaker 1>we'll talk soon.
<v Speaker 2>Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to
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<v Speaker 2>next time.