WrestleMania 42: Night 1 Reaction, Cody Rhodes Retains & Gets Punted, Bianca's Huge News, Paige Returns

<v Speaker 1>Well, wressell Mania forty two is half over. We now
<v Speaker 1>know all the results from night one. I've got some
<v Speaker 1>interesting thoughts and I, you know, honestly, as I just
<v Speaker 1>finish up watching this, the main event ended fifteen minutes ago.
<v Speaker 1>As I record this, I don't know how I'm supposed
<v Speaker 1>to feel. It's a range of emotions and I don't
<v Speaker 1>want to hear that that's how it was designed to be.
<v Speaker 1>I am very conflicted, as was the crowd that was
<v Speaker 1>in attendance, all fifty thousand of them. So I've got
<v Speaker 1>some very interesting thoughts, and I'm going to try not
<v Speaker 1>to contradict myself because the main event made me contradict
<v Speaker 1>myself and I didn't want to. As we close the show,
<v Speaker 1>people were booing Randy, but they were cheering him through
<v Speaker 1>the whole match, and then they bowed Cody during the match,
<v Speaker 1>cheered him for his during his entrance, and then again
<v Speaker 1>cheered him when he won the match generally. And Pat McAfee,
<v Speaker 1>I mean, we'll get to that, of course, because I
<v Speaker 1>just don't understand why he was even there to begin with.
<v Speaker 1>There was no payoff. What's the payoff here? I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know where they thought that this would be
<v Speaker 1>a nice big send off. They could have done all
<v Speaker 1>of this and had the same match, but a much
<v Speaker 1>better build had Pat not been involved, and if he wasn't,
<v Speaker 1>he would have made no difference. The only thing Pat
<v Speaker 1>did was drag the entire thing down as far as
<v Speaker 1>the story. Yet, I don't blame Pat himself. I do
<v Speaker 1>blame Creative for that. He was a non factor pretty
<v Speaker 1>much right from the get go. After he was given
<v Speaker 1>the crossroads and jelly Roll ends up elbowing him through
<v Speaker 1>the table, and you're thinking, okay, he gets taken out
<v Speaker 1>right away. I'm glad Cody didn't just give him a
<v Speaker 1>crossroads and say, well that's that. We're even Stephen. You know,
<v Speaker 1>he did inflict a little bit more damage. Jelly Roll
<v Speaker 1>comes in, as you knew he would, which is going
<v Speaker 1>to lead likely to attack team match that we're all
<v Speaker 1>expecting for backlash. But jelly Roll takes him out and
<v Speaker 1>Pat McAfee gets put on a stretcher and then gives
<v Speaker 1>the finger to everybody on his way out. You kind
<v Speaker 1>of knew you'd see him again, and we did. After
<v Speaker 1>he put on a referee shirt, had an eckbrace on
<v Speaker 1>and was suddenly the referee somehow he was just imbued
<v Speaker 1>with those powers of being a referee. But it didn't
<v Speaker 1>really make much of a difference. Randy ends up archaoing him,
<v Speaker 1>He ends up arkaoing Charles Robinson. Cody got it a
<v Speaker 1>couple times, people got busted open. The blood was done
<v Speaker 1>the hard way, I think, at least for Cody, I
<v Speaker 1>think it was done the hard way. But either way,
<v Speaker 1>I love the blood. That added to the intensity. And
<v Speaker 1>if you take Pat McAfee's bullshit out of it that
<v Speaker 1>we all know, everyone knows was totally not necessary. We've
<v Speaker 1>hammered on it body has. The main event was pretty good.
<v Speaker 1>I think. I know there's a lot of people are going,
<v Speaker 1>why what are you talking about? Well, it's good in
<v Speaker 1>the sense of just a wrestling like a wrestling match,
<v Speaker 1>in terms of how they designed it and had the
<v Speaker 1>falls finishes, and there was the obligatory ref bump, which
<v Speaker 1>I think I can do without for what just once
<v Speaker 1>maybe in a championship match, we can do without a
<v Speaker 1>ref bump. But the match itself I think was nice.
<v Speaker 1>It was a nice flow, It didn't go too quick.
<v Speaker 1>The low blow done by Randy Orton or he attempted to,
<v Speaker 1>and then Cody counted it and gave him one of
<v Speaker 1>his own. And the psychology that was being pushed on
<v Speaker 1>us by Michael Cole throughout the match too was interesting
<v Speaker 1>because he kept saying, this is not the normal Cody Rose.
<v Speaker 1>This is a different side of Cody. This is a
<v Speaker 1>different side of Cody, and that's normally a setup for Hey,
<v Speaker 1>get ready. This guy's turning still may be a bigger
<v Speaker 1>part of a larger turn. It just didn't happen in
<v Speaker 1>one moment. The crowd I thought, would maybe organically do
<v Speaker 1>it and forced to do it, but they didn't. They wavered.
<v Speaker 1>The entrances I think maybe have been may have been
<v Speaker 1>the biggest heel of the whole match, because how long
<v Speaker 1>it took for every entrance. Everybody's got to have a
<v Speaker 1>specialized entrance with people that normally aren't there and special graphics.
<v Speaker 1>And you may be a fan of it, and you
<v Speaker 1>may say, hey's WrestleMania, So don't you just want to
<v Speaker 1>get to the goddamn match. What does this add other
<v Speaker 1>than just time to your night? It doesn't add anything
<v Speaker 1>to me. It just I just want to hit the
<v Speaker 1>skip button. I just want to fast forward. Through that stuff.
<v Speaker 1>I never was a fan of specialized entrances for WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 1>Just come out the way, fans, remember you what got
<v Speaker 1>you there? And instead, you know, everybody seemingly had a
<v Speaker 1>specialized entrance, whether it was aj Lee of course, Cody
<v Speaker 1>Rhoades and Randy Orton and go down the line. It
<v Speaker 1>just took forever, My god, it took forever. The entrance
<v Speaker 1>is just it was painful. And love Randy, I love you.
<v Speaker 1>You may have been on the clock for the longest entrance,
<v Speaker 1>and that's saying something given to Roman Rains his long
<v Speaker 1>entrances that he's had, and he may break the record
<v Speaker 1>tomorrow night. It's not and it's a slower walk. It's
<v Speaker 1>more pomp and circumstance. There's more showmanship, I understand. But
<v Speaker 1>then the ramp is also ten times longer. It's like,
<v Speaker 1>just get to the match, and I will say some
<v Speaker 1>overarching thoughts too. We'll get back to Randy and Cody
<v Speaker 1>and the outcome and the belt shot and everything else
<v Speaker 1>that followed after the match. But watching as I did,
<v Speaker 1>and I did watch on ESPN, I could not find
<v Speaker 1>other sources, if you know what I mean. In doing
<v Speaker 1>this show, I had no choice, so I shelled out
<v Speaker 1>the thirty which is a good tax write off for me.
<v Speaker 1>At least there's that. But I will say the experience
<v Speaker 1>of watching WrestleMania is painful, and it's just the way
<v Speaker 1>it is now. It is becoming less and less every
<v Speaker 1>year about the wrestling in WrestleMania. They might as well
<v Speaker 1>just start calling it just mania. Take the wrestle part
<v Speaker 1>out of it. Mania is now not short for anything,
<v Speaker 1>It's just mania. It's again less about wrestling, more about
<v Speaker 1>their celebrities they could find in the crowd, to the
<v Speaker 1>NFL players and B list celebrities and all the rest,
<v Speaker 1>and the celebrities that had to somehow get involved in
<v Speaker 1>the main event because TKO executives didn't believe Randy and
<v Speaker 1>Cody could sell the match enough to logan Paul and
<v Speaker 1>I show speed. I mean that's just four right off
<v Speaker 1>the top that were brought in and I show speed.
<v Speaker 1>I think did a nice job. I'll get to that too.
<v Speaker 1>I'll be it a little awkward, but I think that
<v Speaker 1>the experience has dec priests generally, and the biggest contributing
<v Speaker 1>factor to that, I think advertisements. Now I get it.
<v Speaker 1>We are in an advertisement Barrage. We are in an
<v Speaker 1>advertisement world where sponsors rule the roost. They bring in
<v Speaker 1>the most money for companies, especially t KO, who have
<v Speaker 1>really really dove into this and just said this is
<v Speaker 1>our strategy. Screwed. We are willing to sacrifice the viewing
<v Speaker 1>experience for sponsorships. They've just that's what it is. There's
<v Speaker 1>no way to interpret it other than that. But when
<v Speaker 1>you pay thirty bucks a month, which is a lot
<v Speaker 1>for a subscription, I mean, just because how many other
<v Speaker 1>subscriptions do you have? I have a lot just like you.
<v Speaker 1>It's probably adding up to more than my cable bill
<v Speaker 1>used to be back in the day. So wwe charges
<v Speaker 1>to thirty bucks. ESPN charge thirty bucks. Then, not only that,
<v Speaker 1>you have to then deal with four minute commercial breaks
<v Speaker 1>in between every match, and then after that you're brought
<v Speaker 1>back from commercial break only to experience more commercials and
<v Speaker 1>more sponsorship placements, whether it's the General or I don't know,
<v Speaker 1>Slimjym or whoever. And then when you get through the
<v Speaker 1>ads and you finally get to the segment, you're greeted
<v Speaker 1>with advertisements all over the mat which I do not
<v Speaker 1>accept and will not get used to. And not only
<v Speaker 1>that they are in every camera shot throughout the show.
<v Speaker 1>You had them now on the turnbuckles two out of
<v Speaker 1>the three turnbuckles, and every corner is now an advertisement.
<v Speaker 1>You cannot have any shot in a wrestling match without
<v Speaker 1>the camera catching a glimpse of some sponsor that WWE
<v Speaker 1>has allowed into the into the show, and they're making
<v Speaker 1>a shitload of money. I understand that, but again, at
<v Speaker 1>what cost? The viewing experience has decreased dramatically by this,
<v Speaker 1>And I realized I'm a bit of a hypocrite. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>on my ads are placed generously throughout my show. I
<v Speaker 1>get that, but I also have ad free options that
<v Speaker 1>are much less and very reasonable. And there's also something
<v Speaker 1>called a skip button there. I mean, you could you
<v Speaker 1>could move ahead in the audio if you don't want
<v Speaker 1>to listen to the ads. You actually don't have to.
<v Speaker 1>But anyway, my podcast obviously is not the same product
<v Speaker 1>as WWE, but you understand my my argument here and
<v Speaker 1>getting back to WrestleMania, though, I think that it was
<v Speaker 1>decreased the viewing experience a lot by just ads, ads, ads, ads,
<v Speaker 1>ads ads everywhere you go after already paying to watch
<v Speaker 1>the show. But let's go to the beginning here, John
<v Speaker 1>Cena opens the show, big pop for him corporate. Now
<v Speaker 1>you know, mister suit wearing scene, But it's just fine.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't expect him to come out in his jorts
<v Speaker 1>and shirt. You know that that was left behind when
<v Speaker 1>his wrestling career was done in December last year. So
<v Speaker 1>he comes out and he said, we're all here for
<v Speaker 1>the same reason. The time to talk is up, time
<v Speaker 1>to deliver is now, and talked about a little of
<v Speaker 1>the controversy heading into WrestleMania and saying it without saying it.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, that's what he does. And so no, no
<v Speaker 1>weirdness here, nothing that would say, oh God, Johnson has
<v Speaker 1>not done wrestling, so that that's good. He's staying retired.
<v Speaker 1>We then get the first match here and it was
<v Speaker 1>I show Speed Logan Paul and Austin Theory taking on
<v Speaker 1>l A. Knight, Jimmy and Jay Us. So. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>this match was feels like five seconds long, and it
<v Speaker 1>easily could have opened a SmackDown or been or it
<v Speaker 1>could have been the main event of a SmackDown. Everybody
<v Speaker 1>gave great effort. It was just very quick and I
<v Speaker 1>have to say I show Speed Dude's incredible shape. He
<v Speaker 1>took the business seriously. I respect that. I don't like
<v Speaker 1>celebrities coming in and playing half heartedly, and they did
<v Speaker 1>a nice job. He was willing to take bumps. Logan
<v Speaker 1>Paul and I Show Speed after the match got face
<v Speaker 1>to face and Logan Paul punched I Show Speed in
<v Speaker 1>the face, and eventually the segment ended with I Show
<v Speaker 1>Speed doing a really nice splash off the top rope
<v Speaker 1>onto the announced that just took a hell of a beating.
<v Speaker 1>I mean that announced table should press charges. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>it got it's ass kicked all night, and it was
<v Speaker 1>a nice bump for somebody that doesn't ever get in
<v Speaker 1>the ring and is a YouTuber and trained forever as
<v Speaker 1>long however long he did. I gotta give him credit.
<v Speaker 1>I do. Wasn't a very spectacular night though for Logan Paul.
<v Speaker 1>I mean he had that moment at the end, but
<v Speaker 1>it was very much a subdued WrestleMania for Logan Paul
<v Speaker 1>this year so far. I mean, we still have a
<v Speaker 1>day to go. But the finish had an ellen Knight winning,
<v Speaker 1>and that's fine. Ellen Knight wins for his team, but
<v Speaker 1>this didn't have any real power behind it. There was
<v Speaker 1>nothing really on the line this hour was free. If
<v Speaker 1>he didn't already subscribe to ESPN Unlimited, you could have
<v Speaker 1>seen it for free, which means more people are watching it.
<v Speaker 1>And the match was fine. The match was fine, and
<v Speaker 1>I got nothing else to say about it. It was just
<v Speaker 1>it was fine. It was a fine show. Babyfaces win
<v Speaker 1>to get everybody excited, and then we get the Samoan
<v Speaker 1>Werewolf taking on Drew McIntyre, going, there's another spectacular entrance
<v Speaker 1>the fire Dancers. Fine, yeah, it's a nice visual, and
<v Speaker 1>we had Jacob fat two come out shaking his head.
<v Speaker 1>That's kind of what he does now, it's this thing.
<v Speaker 1>And the match sadly did not go in the way
<v Speaker 1>I was hoping, with Drew McIntyre winning. But these two
<v Speaker 1>killed each other. I mean, they went out there and
<v Speaker 1>they beat each other's asses, and that's what you expected
<v Speaker 1>to happen. And Drew McIntyre, excuse me, ends up losing.
<v Speaker 1>But some of the spots here in the match, really,
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I gotta ask, has Jacob Fattu ever swung
<v Speaker 1>a chair? He's a pro wrestler, he's never swung a
<v Speaker 1>steel chair? Or has he? Maybe element that has he
<v Speaker 1>ever successfully swung a steel chair. I'll tell you I
<v Speaker 1>wouldn't want to be around him if he's bowling or
<v Speaker 1>golfing or playing baseball. He cannot hold on to anything.
<v Speaker 1>It's like he greased his fingers and hands up just
<v Speaker 1>dunked him in like some cooking oil or something right
<v Speaker 1>before he went out, because every chair and it wasn't
<v Speaker 1>just one time, it was like three different times where
<v Speaker 1>he would hit McIntyre in the back for a nice
<v Speaker 1>clean chair shot, and every time he hit him, it's
<v Speaker 1>like the chair flew from his hands. Either he had
<v Speaker 1>something slippery three times on the chair or he thinks
<v Speaker 1>that's how you're supposed to deliver a chair shot. It
<v Speaker 1>was bizarre. I know I'm critiquing very minuscule here, but
<v Speaker 1>it was something that I've never seen. But there were
<v Speaker 1>some good spots here, people going through tables. The wrench
<v Speaker 1>was that the wrench in the eye by Drew mcatire
<v Speaker 1>and Drew McIntyre tweeting in the middle of his match
<v Speaker 1>he's bored at work or whatever. I mean. Drew was
<v Speaker 1>just so entertaining and there were some booze for Jacob
<v Speaker 1>Fatou and I had suspected there would be a lot
<v Speaker 1>of cheers for Drew. It wasn't overwhelming either way. The
<v Speaker 1>crowd a little torn because they knew what Drew was
<v Speaker 1>supposed to be doing here tonight. But I give men,
<v Speaker 1>both of these men credit. And it ended with uh
<v Speaker 1>Fatu leaping on him through a table with the moon
<v Speaker 1>salt and got the victory in an unsanctioned match. Fine,
<v Speaker 1>it was. It was fine, and I would have liked
<v Speaker 1>Drew to win, but it was a massive, massive victory,
<v Speaker 1>maybe Jacob Fatu's biggest victory ever. I mean, I don't
<v Speaker 1>know how you would argue it's not his biggest victory ever.
<v Speaker 1>So I hope they do a lot with it. I
<v Speaker 1>hope they got some plans for Fatu, which likely seem
<v Speaker 1>now that they're top title contender. You know, I guess
<v Speaker 1>atmosphere is where he's going. Okay, let's continue. So then
<v Speaker 1>we have the women's match this was behind the paywall,
<v Speaker 1>and the women's tag team title match with Naya and
<v Speaker 1>Lash and the Bella's and Page. I'm sorry, not Paige,
<v Speaker 1>but we did no Page was gonna be there, Alexa
<v Speaker 1>and Charlotte and the Lyra and Bailey who are just
<v Speaker 1>invisible all right. Overall before that we get to the
<v Speaker 1>Page thing. I thought it was an entertaining match. It
<v Speaker 1>exceeded my expectations. It was a fun a fun match
<v Speaker 1>with not a lot of botches, relatively smooth, a fun
<v Speaker 1>moment with Page being the replacement for Nicki who is injured,
<v Speaker 1>and the crowd pop pretty big for her, not as
<v Speaker 1>big as I thought they would. And maybe that's because, again,
<v Speaker 1>when you're in an open air stadium, a lot of
<v Speaker 1>the noise escapes up. But also, I mean, you go
<v Speaker 1>anywhere these days and people are just on their phones.
<v Speaker 1>It doesn't matter where they are. And I don't mean
<v Speaker 1>to get into this topic, but it needs to be
<v Speaker 1>said that just because I thought generally the crowd was
<v Speaker 1>quieter than they should have been. It wasn't a bad crowd,
<v Speaker 1>but I thought at times I'm like, where are you guys? Hello,
<v Speaker 1>you know, look up from your phones. TikTok can wait?
<v Speaker 1>And I think, just generally it's a problem. You could
<v Speaker 1>be out to dinner, you could be out a movie,
<v Speaker 1>you could be at a game, you could be whatever
<v Speaker 1>the case at a wrestling event and people are just
<v Speaker 1>sitting there on their phones. Not everybody, but there's a
<v Speaker 1>lot of time that people are, and I think that's
<v Speaker 1>just part of the wrestling small part of the wrestling
<v Speaker 1>issues these days, or fans just Okay, what's going on?
<v Speaker 1>Do I need to stand up? No? Okay, back to
<v Speaker 1>TikTok you know. Anyway, Page coming out, big deal. I
<v Speaker 1>would think that she's here for at least a year
<v Speaker 1>or two years. I don't know the terms of her contract.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think it's a one off. But the moment
<v Speaker 1>she had with Charlotte was cool. I enjoyed that with
<v Speaker 1>the two women who are one of the ogs of
<v Speaker 1>the women's revolution. That was nice. That was a nice,
<v Speaker 1>cool moment and put Charlotte back in the spotlight of Hey,
<v Speaker 1>it might be time to pull her out of the
<v Speaker 1>tag team division and put her back into singles action.
<v Speaker 1>I think that's maybe where she belongs now, but we'll
<v Speaker 1>see if they do. I know there's a lot of
<v Speaker 1>talk about Charlotte and Alexa's butterfly wings that they had
<v Speaker 1>in their outfits. I really don't give a shit about
<v Speaker 1>that stuff. I don't know why, especially as guys like
<v Speaker 1>I don't give a shit about any of that stuff,
<v Speaker 1>like what your what you wear to the ring. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know why. I just don't care these special made
<v Speaker 1>outfits and the specially done this and that, Like I,
<v Speaker 1>I just don't care. I care about the story, I
<v Speaker 1>care about the match, I care about the intensity, I
<v Speaker 1>care about the outcome. But when it comes to the
<v Speaker 1>oh my god, you see their outfit, Oh they're killing it?
<v Speaker 1>What the what are you talking about? Like I personally
<v Speaker 1>again my own brain, for all its faults, I just
<v Speaker 1>I just don't care. I would, I don't, I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>I made my point. Okay, So cool moment was Charlotte
<v Speaker 1>Page there. I had the some nostalgic feels from that.
<v Speaker 1>There's it was cool? All right? Then we have let's
<v Speaker 1>see Becky Lynch and a J Lee for the Intercindenttle Championship.
<v Speaker 1>This one okay, yes, Ajlee gets her special entrance that
<v Speaker 1>takes more time than necessary and all these girls skipping whatever. Fine.
<v Speaker 1>Becky Lynch had her band that came out and was
<v Speaker 1>lip syncing and screwed up. I mean, if you guys
<v Speaker 1>are old enough to remember Ashley Simpson on the was
<v Speaker 1>it the Tonight's Show where Ashley Simpson just totally fucked
<v Speaker 1>up and she was supposed to be performing live but
<v Speaker 1>she was lip syncing, and the lip sync came on
<v Speaker 1>before she was ready, so it was very clear she
<v Speaker 1>was lip syncing. Kind of felt that way ahead a
<v Speaker 1>flashback to that with this moment here. It was just
<v Speaker 1>I don't know, I don't care about live bands being there.
<v Speaker 1>That's not what I'm watching wrestling for. Maybe it's cool
<v Speaker 1>for the wrestlers themselves to see the band come in
<v Speaker 1>and perform their theme song. I didn't care about mode
<v Speaker 1>her head when Triple H had his. I mean, I
<v Speaker 1>just that stuff doesn't It doesn't have any effect on me.
<v Speaker 1>That doesn't I don't know. To me, it's like wasted time.
<v Speaker 1>But this match was I think it was good. Quality
<v Speaker 1>was good. Uh the outcome and the finish was bizarre.
<v Speaker 1>And it don't mean because Becky Lynch won it. You
<v Speaker 1>could make a case for Becky Lynch winning. I thought
<v Speaker 1>AJ would retain, But Becky Lynch winning isn't crazy. But
<v Speaker 1>how she did was just mind numbing. And the way
<v Speaker 1>my brain is tracking this is Becky Lynch was talking
<v Speaker 1>to the ref right, Jessica Carr. She was berating her,
<v Speaker 1>even at one point put her hands on her and
<v Speaker 1>then shoved her, and she shoved her back and and
<v Speaker 1>that's that was bad enough. She could have got just
<v Speaker 1>qualified right there, but Jessica Carr said no. The finish, though,
<v Speaker 1>ended with Becky Lynch pulling Jessica Carr in front of
<v Speaker 1>her to take the bump so she could hit her
<v Speaker 1>finish and get the victory and win the title. And
<v Speaker 1>then Jessica Car's like, no, well that makes sense. Not
<v Speaker 1>only am I not going to disqualify you, I'm gonna
<v Speaker 1>award you the championship off of you using my body
<v Speaker 1>as a shield. That makes fucking sense. This is not
<v Speaker 1>a no DQ match. What the fuck was going on
<v Speaker 1>with this? How is that overlooked? It makes the referees
<v Speaker 1>look like total morons. So again, Becky Lynch winning the belt,
<v Speaker 1>that's not even my issue, that's really I mean, I
<v Speaker 1>feel a little neutral about that because both women were
<v Speaker 1>I think strong candidates to win. Well they're the only ones.
<v Speaker 1>But I'm saying you can make a case for either.
<v Speaker 1>This was just weird, so I don't get it. I
<v Speaker 1>don't get it. All right, then we get things finally
<v Speaker 1>feeling like WrestleMania with Gunther and Seth Rollins, and boy
<v Speaker 1>did they bring it back down to earth. These two
<v Speaker 1>men just brought it and it pulled you in into
<v Speaker 1>a story that you didn't know you wanted to see.
<v Speaker 1>These two men were put together, as we all know,
<v Speaker 1>because their own opponents were not ready for WrestleMania, and
<v Speaker 1>it was weird, it didn't make sense, but you all
<v Speaker 1>knew that you would be able to have an excellent
<v Speaker 1>match with these two, and that's exactly what we got.
<v Speaker 1>These two brought things back down to okay. Now it
<v Speaker 1>feels like WrestleMania, with the false finishes, the pacing, the physicality,
<v Speaker 1>the chops by Gunther. I just love watching him work.
<v Speaker 1>Rollins had in his entrance. While I don't comment on
<v Speaker 1>things with the entrance, I have to say the black
<v Speaker 1>eyes that Rollins was coming to the ring with, is
<v Speaker 1>he supposed to be? Is that supposed to be a
<v Speaker 1>tipped like demonic? Like? I mean, that's what I don't
<v Speaker 1>get it. I don't know what that was about. If
<v Speaker 1>he saw his eyes, they were like blacked out, So
<v Speaker 1>we clearly had contacts in unless he's was possessed for
<v Speaker 1>the match, I don't know. But the match itself though,
<v Speaker 1>was really good. Credit to both man. Gunther took those
<v Speaker 1>stomps like a champ. I mean he did not pull
<v Speaker 1>any punches there. He took those stomps stiff as stiff
<v Speaker 1>as you can make them without actually being concerned that
<v Speaker 1>he might have a congussion. So credit to him on
<v Speaker 1>those stomps. And it was fun. The sleeper hole false
<v Speaker 1>finishes were really good. The pedigrees and the false pedigrees
<v Speaker 1>and the pedigree on the table good stuff. And then
<v Speaker 1>the bron Breaker return. Then I had said I could
<v Speaker 1>see him being in here, and he is, and boy
<v Speaker 1>did bron Breaker deliver not one but two spears and
<v Speaker 1>the crowd loved it. It's gonna be really hard to
<v Speaker 1>keep Seth Rollins a baby face now that bron Breaker's
<v Speaker 1>back and we can fully get into bron Breaker and
<v Speaker 1>Seth Rollins. It's gonna be really difficult to keep Seth
<v Speaker 1>a baby face because people love Breaker. He's young, athletic,
<v Speaker 1>you can see star all over him. He is a
<v Speaker 1>freak in the ring. We all know his speed. It's
<v Speaker 1>just incredible. So it's gonna be impossible almost to keep
<v Speaker 1>bron Breaker from being cheered. But I will say the
<v Speaker 1>spear he gave Seth when he ran down the WrestleMania ramp,
<v Speaker 1>it looked awesome up until the last like half a
<v Speaker 1>second when he actually delivered the spear, because I mean,
<v Speaker 1>it's just it looked sloppy, and only because he's trying
<v Speaker 1>not to kill Seth Rollins and Rollins is trying not
<v Speaker 1>to get hurt. But it was just I love the run,
<v Speaker 1>but the actual connection that the actual contact he made
<v Speaker 1>was you know, a little sloppy whatever. Bron breakers back spear,
<v Speaker 1>spear spear all the way. And that's gonna be the
<v Speaker 1>what's what's talked about? Here? Now? What's the favorite Gunther's
<v Speaker 1>gonna ask? And it could it be brock Lesner at
<v Speaker 1>SummerSlam from Paul Hayman, could be yes, very much. So
<v Speaker 1>all right, let's continue with things get more serious here
<v Speaker 1>Live Morgan and Stephanie Vicaire boy Uh Live Morgan comes
<v Speaker 1>down to her song and I mean it's just a
<v Speaker 1>very overtly sexual uh song, and her her entrance was
<v Speaker 1>with all the special you know, the special the entrances.
<v Speaker 1>They just tore her calls off, which was cool, but again,
<v Speaker 1>it felt very much like a throwback to you know,
<v Speaker 1>Divas era stuff. But liv Morgan's awesome, awesome in the ring.
<v Speaker 1>You know what she can do. Stephanie vatare same thing.
<v Speaker 1>She's got her again. You notice the theme here, those
<v Speaker 1>demonic horns on her hedge, and yeah, I know this
<v Speaker 1>is I'm not turning this into anything religious. I'm just observing,
<v Speaker 1>which apparently I'm not supposed to do. I'm not supposed
<v Speaker 1>to notice these things. That's the sin. I'm just supposed
<v Speaker 1>to keep quiet. But I mean, I'm just calling it out.
<v Speaker 1>There's a theme here, there's a theme of darkness, and
<v Speaker 1>I'll just leave it at that with Stephanievacaire. And I
<v Speaker 1>know she's got her tattoos that are very very much
<v Speaker 1>overtly demonic, and the horns and everything else, which you
<v Speaker 1>could say is all that's just just just her, just
<v Speaker 1>her person or her character. You don't you don't get
<v Speaker 1>like massive swallows of your body tattooed that, by the way,
<v Speaker 1>you can't even see unless she puts pictures up on Instagram.
<v Speaker 1>But nonetheless, the match here was good. The kickouts of
<v Speaker 1>each other's finishes was, you know, kind of the par
<v Speaker 1>for the for the night here, and having live Morgan
<v Speaker 1>win the championship, I think I predicted that it was
<v Speaker 1>probably the right move because Stephanie Vickaerr had done all
<v Speaker 1>she could do, I think with the belt in this
<v Speaker 1>particular run. She's certainly not done being a champion. Live
<v Speaker 1>Morgan is now kind of the fresh coat of paint.
<v Speaker 1>You know. WrestleMania is a time to re establish and
<v Speaker 1>re recordinate where you want to go, and having Live
<v Speaker 1>Morgan be champion is fine and I had no issue
<v Speaker 1>with it whatsoever. And of course we had judgment day
<v Speaker 1>out there, and yeah, that's what you expect. Now. We
<v Speaker 1>did have Dom come out at the end and we
<v Speaker 1>were I was thinking maybe somebody's going to turn on somebody,
<v Speaker 1>but that didn't happen. It didn't happen, And yeah, this
<v Speaker 1>is just a fine match up with these two. Wasn't
<v Speaker 1>match of the night, but it was. It was one
<v Speaker 1>that I think was certainly respectable when it comes to outcome,
<v Speaker 1>execution and star power even I mean, it's great for
<v Speaker 1>Stephanie Vicare. She is getting in front of millions of
<v Speaker 1>eyeballs who may not have otherwise known who she is.
<v Speaker 1>So liv Morgan retains or rather regains the women's championship.
<v Speaker 1>John Cena announces one the night one attendance that he
<v Speaker 1>said was very much in question or talked about and
<v Speaker 1>he said it was fifty eight sixteen. Last Night Spot
<v Speaker 1>or last Night's Last Years by the way, was fifty
<v Speaker 1>eight thousand. So they sold about eight thousand less tickets,
<v Speaker 1>fewer tickets than they did last year. We'll see what
<v Speaker 1>tomorrow night brings. So if those numbers are true, and
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to take them at face value, then they
<v Speaker 1>made up a little ground in the weeks and days
<v Speaker 1>these days, actually heading into WrestleMania, which is good for them.
<v Speaker 1>It's still not where they want to be. They don't
<v Speaker 1>want to be underperforming from last year by a significant margin.
<v Speaker 1>It's not earth shattering. It's not like it was when
<v Speaker 1>they were in the thirties selling thirty some thousand tickets.
<v Speaker 1>I mean they got up to fifty. They cracked the
<v Speaker 1>fifty and that's I think what they realistically wanted to
<v Speaker 1>get to, and they did. So they're looking at this
<v Speaker 1>probably going yeah, not great now where we want to be.
<v Speaker 1>Not a disaster. But I also appreciate that they didn't
<v Speaker 1>shy away from it. I have to give them credit
<v Speaker 1>where it's due. I'm calling a spade of spade here.
<v Speaker 1>They could have not even brought that segment out, but
<v Speaker 1>if they didn't, then maybe that would have been more
<v Speaker 1>of an omission by subtraction, if that makes sense, omission
<v Speaker 1>by silence type of thing where they didn't bring it
<v Speaker 1>out and that way people would start to speculate and
<v Speaker 1>it would make TKO look bad for not even doing it.
<v Speaker 1>But this is the lesser of two evils, and I
<v Speaker 1>commend them for that. Okay, Then we have Bianca bell Air, Yes,
<v Speaker 1>Beyonca bell Air come out and it was really good
<v Speaker 1>to see her. Boy, I mean, the crowd gave her
<v Speaker 1>a nice reaction some est chance and she revealed she's pregnant.
<v Speaker 1>Crowd cheered, and she talked about how they may need
<v Speaker 1>to add one to that attendance record, and there's a
<v Speaker 1>There was a nice, really good, feel good moment with
<v Speaker 1>John Cena and the ring. Very heartfelt, genuine, nothing fake
<v Speaker 1>about this. Bionca bell Air. Her fingers, one of her
<v Speaker 1>fingers is still in a wrap or a brace or something.
<v Speaker 1>God damn that finger of hers. I hope that that
<v Speaker 1>heals before she ends up pushing a child out of her.
<v Speaker 1>And so it was really cool to see her. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>I don't remember a pregnancy announcement like this before. I
<v Speaker 1>thought she was gonna announce so she's going to be
<v Speaker 1>back or something. Nope, she's pregnant, which means if you're
<v Speaker 1>looking for Bianca bell Air to back into the ring,
<v Speaker 1>good luck. We are looking now at good God, not
<v Speaker 1>even next year's WrestleMania. I would say like WrestleMania forty
<v Speaker 1>four or Royal Rumble twenty twenty eight is probably the
<v Speaker 1>next place that that really is. That feels like an
<v Speaker 1>eternity away in a lot of ways it is, but
<v Speaker 1>that's really your next place that you could look at
<v Speaker 1>if she ever decides to come back, is like Royal
<v Speaker 1>Rumble twenty twenty eight. So alrighty, so sad, but also
<v Speaker 1>I'm happy for happy for her and montes Ford. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>now WWE, as Pat McAfee made his entrance and actually
<v Speaker 1>before he even comes out, they had a nice video
<v Speaker 1>a video package with Randy Orton and Randy Orton and
<v Speaker 1>Cody Rhodes and back to twenty eleven and some comments there,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm sitting there going, yeah, this is what it
<v Speaker 1>should have been the whole fucking time, and talking about
<v Speaker 1>twenty years in the making. Where where didn't they why
<v Speaker 1>didn't they just like lead with this it's it's on
<v Speaker 1>a silver platter. You don't have to think, and they
<v Speaker 1>added ship that just it's like adding what's it like?
<v Speaker 1>I'm trying to think of the you know, it's like
<v Speaker 1>adding mulch to a pizza. You got some you got
<v Speaker 1>some sauce, you got some dough, you got some cheese,
<v Speaker 1>some oregano in there, maybe some pepperoni or you got peppers.
<v Speaker 1>And then somebody walks in and just dumps a bunch
<v Speaker 1>of fucking foliage or something on your on your uh,
<v Speaker 1>your pizza, and you're like, what what what? What? What
<v Speaker 1>is this about? What? We don't need this? Well? It
<v Speaker 1>gets you talking, doesn't it. It's like, yeah, okay, but
<v Speaker 1>get it away from me. You know. It's kind of
<v Speaker 1>the same thing here. In w w e's own X account,
<v Speaker 1>they put out this. They said, whether you love or
<v Speaker 1>hate him, people are always talking about Pat McAfee, and
<v Speaker 1>that's just their cop out way of saying, oh, controversy
<v Speaker 1>creates cash. It gets people talking. Again, Yeah, sure it
<v Speaker 1>does in the moment, but anybody with a couple of
<v Speaker 1>brain cells to rub together would say, okay, yeah, but
<v Speaker 1>it's still giving you negative press generally, and those people
<v Speaker 1>who aren't wrestling fans are gonna go, oh yeah, screw
<v Speaker 1>this stuff. I mean, this is embarrassing. What's happening? Why
<v Speaker 1>is he involved? And it didn't I can guarantee you
<v Speaker 1>Pat McAfee himself, this whole decision was likely a net
<v Speaker 1>negative for people to buy the shit, buy the ESPN subscription.
<v Speaker 1>He had a net loss. If you were somehow able
<v Speaker 1>to calculate it. There's just no way to do it.
<v Speaker 1>But if you could, I bet you he actually had
<v Speaker 1>a net loss. Because this is what you know. This
<v Speaker 1>is what companies who are trying to cover their ass say,
<v Speaker 1>Oh whatever, people are talking about it. Yeah, okay, but
<v Speaker 1>again not sustainable number one and number two. While it
<v Speaker 1>gets a temporary quick boost, you'll end up doing more
<v Speaker 1>harm than good because those people who may have tuned
<v Speaker 1>in to see what exactly this is too right right
<v Speaker 1>back out and they like, screw this shit. So yeah, okay, whatever,
<v Speaker 1>whatever you say, triple H in corporate. Yeah, you keep
<v Speaker 1>you guys, keep keep telling yourselves that, and we all
<v Speaker 1>know the truth, all right. So Pat McAfee comes out
<v Speaker 1>on his way to the ring with stunglasses and then
<v Speaker 1>he comes out and they had a Randy Orton entrance
<v Speaker 1>here with the snake and all the rest, and it's fine,
<v Speaker 1>but Randy Orton took four and a half years to
<v Speaker 1>get to the ring. And then Cody Rhoads. Now, I
<v Speaker 1>will say this, the Cody Roads entrance, the different versions
<v Speaker 1>and eras of the Cody Roads character, the evolution of
<v Speaker 1>the character was it was a nice touch, everything from
<v Speaker 1>when he first debuted to the plastic mask on his
<v Speaker 1>face to star dust, to when he returned and then
<v Speaker 1>they had him come up with a skull, which was
<v Speaker 1>just so not Cody. It's like, it's like the nerd
<v Speaker 1>trying to be be cool by wearing a jock jacket,
<v Speaker 1>you know what I mean. It doesn't didn't fit him.
<v Speaker 1>He's not that kind of guy. But I thought that
<v Speaker 1>was actually a premonition to hey, these are the different
<v Speaker 1>versions of Cody, and now you're gonna get another one tonight.
<v Speaker 1>And we really didn't. I mean, what was I was
<v Speaker 1>hopeful was a heel turn was just a how did
<v Speaker 1>wwe phrase it? They said that he found his dark
<v Speaker 1>place or something, that he was able to find his channel,
<v Speaker 1>his inner I don't know, there's something that they just
<v Speaker 1>put out there to cover his ass. So all right again,
<v Speaker 1>I know people get all tied up in entrances. I
<v Speaker 1>even see people this might be one of the greatest
<v Speaker 1>Cody Roads entrances ever. Pure chills. Really, I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>I don't get hung up on that stuff. So we
<v Speaker 1>then have the matchup, which was good, I mean, has
<v Speaker 1>advertised really good, some nice false finishes as we expect
<v Speaker 1>with the the Rkos that did truly come out of nowhere,
<v Speaker 1>the Crossroads that just gets kicked out of by default,
<v Speaker 1>the busting open was really good. The crowd reacting to
<v Speaker 1>the blood was awesome. If you heard that. That was
<v Speaker 1>a lot of fun. And Pat McAfee again getting his
<v Speaker 1>ass kicked in the beginning of the show was the
<v Speaker 1>right call, so he wasn't a distraction throughout the match
<v Speaker 1>that I definitely agree with. You don't want Pat McAfee
<v Speaker 1>being this outside bozo who's yelling and screaming and the
<v Speaker 1>cameras on him every five seconds and he's trying to
<v Speaker 1>trip Cody Rhodes, and you know, it could have been horrible.
<v Speaker 1>So I appreciate them taking him out of the match
<v Speaker 1>right from the get go and not bringing him back
<v Speaker 1>until the end. So though was having again a ref bump,
<v Speaker 1>as I talked about earlier in the show, and the
<v Speaker 1>ref bump which you knew would end up costing somebody something,
<v Speaker 1>and that was Randy Orton the fifteenth Championship, because Randy
<v Speaker 1>Orton hit an RKO on Cody when he jumped from
<v Speaker 1>the top and there was nobody to cover him. But again,
<v Speaker 1>there's so many different levels to this, where Cody was
<v Speaker 1>poking Randy Orton in the eye and he was beating
<v Speaker 1>down Orton as a heel would throughout most of the match,
<v Speaker 1>and he did the low blow and everything else, and
<v Speaker 1>they're all chalking it up to well, Cody just had
<v Speaker 1>to do what he did to survive, and it's like, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>but this goes against all of the morals that his
<v Speaker 1>babyface character stands for. Just basically, this upstanding guy, always
<v Speaker 1>do the right thing, and everything he did in this
<v Speaker 1>match kind of spat in the face of it. And
<v Speaker 1>the announcers again and they acknowledge that, and you're thinking, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>here we go, black Jet Hair's coming, and we didn't.
<v Speaker 1>Cody Rhods wins after Pat McAfee took an RKO, and
<v Speaker 1>now that I guess means Pat McAfee's never going to
<v Speaker 1>be involved in wrestling again. I highly doubt that, highly
<v Speaker 1>highly doubt that, but that's apparently the stipulation on this.
<v Speaker 1>So after Cody wins, we had Randy Orton, which I
<v Speaker 1>did not see expect to have happen, because usually it's
<v Speaker 1>that's it. Lets Cody celebrate. But Randy takes the belt,
<v Speaker 1>hits Cody in the face and then punts him, and
<v Speaker 1>that was awesome. A bloodied head of Cody Rhoads gets punted,
<v Speaker 1>which look brutal. I have to say, I mean, that
<v Speaker 1>is not a move I'd want to take either, But
<v Speaker 1>Randy Orton did the punt. Cody Rhodes gets knocked out.
<v Speaker 1>I don't. I would be surprised if he's even on
<v Speaker 1>SmackDown next week or on Raw on Monday. We'll see
<v Speaker 1>concussion is likely. I mean, it may actually have been
<v Speaker 1>in the diagnosis, but they'll tell us at least in
<v Speaker 1>story that's the diagnosis. It just may actually mirror real life.
<v Speaker 1>But Cody Rhodes took it like a champ, no pun intended,
<v Speaker 1>and he keeps the belts, which I thought a double
<v Speaker 1>turn was coming here. People aren't gonna BeO Randy. They
<v Speaker 1>love the RKO too much. They appreciate his star power
<v Speaker 1>and what he brings to the business. No, they don't
<v Speaker 1>care he Rkod's Pat McAfee. But then he attacks Cody
<v Speaker 1>and it's like, I don't know how to feel. The
<v Speaker 1>crowd was back and forth, and I was too, and
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, what's happening here? I mean, generally I would
<v Speaker 1>side with Randy, but it was a very just kind
<v Speaker 1>of shades of gray night. When it comes to the
<v Speaker 1>moral decisions that each character made, it wasn't very clear cut,
<v Speaker 1>and the crowd reacted as such as well, because at
<v Speaker 1>the beginning, remember Wade Barrett even said, well, if there's
<v Speaker 1>any guests as to who the crowd's going to be
<v Speaker 1>behind tonight, one hundred percent of the crowd is solidly
<v Speaker 1>in the corner of Rhodes. And then, first of all,
<v Speaker 1>you're sitting there thinking, Okay, that's bullshit, shut up. Wait. Secondly,
<v Speaker 1>it oscillated throughout the match wildly, and then at the end,
<v Speaker 1>I mean, Cody Rhoades gets mostly cheered for winning, and
<v Speaker 1>then Randy gets booed. And then but he kind of
<v Speaker 1>got cheered because people didn't want that, didn't want to
<v Speaker 1>see Randy or Cody as champion got the last laugh.
<v Speaker 1>It was a very weird, weird feeling, But I guess
<v Speaker 1>this leads to this. This program isn't over, Cody Randy
<v Speaker 1>isn't over, and I just hope it means that it's
<v Speaker 1>not over between those two. Something tells me Pat McAfee
<v Speaker 1>is going to be back in this, even though he
<v Speaker 1>said he's not going to be involved in wrestling anymore.
<v Speaker 1>And Jelly Roll as well. That's the tag team match coming.
<v Speaker 1>We knew it Proudermania. It's doesn't I don't think our
<v Speaker 1>decision has changed now. If anything, it's been strengthened. So
<v Speaker 1>get ready for the tag team match at Backlash a
<v Speaker 1>few weeks. Whatever it is, I'll have to look at
<v Speaker 1>the schedule. But tomorrow night we still got a full
<v Speaker 1>night of WrestleMania, a whole other night of Jade and Rhea,
<v Speaker 1>and of course the main event of Cmpunk and Roman Reigns.
<v Speaker 1>That is going to be highly interesting. And it tells
<v Speaker 1>you that if that match was chosen to be the
<v Speaker 1>Night two main event, they got much bigger plans I
<v Speaker 1>think for that match, with maybe a big return or
<v Speaker 1>two than they did with Cody Randy. So overall, did
<v Speaker 1>I enjoy WrestleMania Night one? Yeah? I thought it was.
<v Speaker 1>It was okay, it was I would say a very
<v Speaker 1>slight thumbs up. There were again the advertisements and the
<v Speaker 1>just the feel of WrestleMania now with how just saturated
<v Speaker 1>it is with money, it's just taken away the general
<v Speaker 1>essence of what WRESTLEMANI used to be. And it's much
<v Speaker 1>less about the wrestling, much more about the celebrities, much
<v Speaker 1>more about the sizzle than the stake, so to speak.
<v Speaker 1>And that's just not my cup of tea. And then
<v Speaker 1>you pay thirty dollars to watch four minutes of ads
<v Speaker 1>every ten minutes, and then adds after you come back
<v Speaker 1>from the ads, and then adds on the turnbuckles and
<v Speaker 1>the ring side and the led boards. It's so just
<v Speaker 1>it's overwhelming. And I know we're all desensitized to it,
<v Speaker 1>but I refuse to be. I'm not better than anybody
<v Speaker 1>that's desensitized. I'm just more sensitive to it because I don't.
<v Speaker 1>I'm just not going to accept it. So yeah, whatever
<v Speaker 1>that's worth, which is nothing, all right. So that's my
<v Speaker 1>Night one recap here for WrestleMania forty two. I'd give
<v Speaker 1>it a slight thumbs up. If I'm giving it assigning
<v Speaker 1>it a numeric value, I'd say six and a half
<v Speaker 1>out of ten. It would be like, you know, just
<v Speaker 1>kind of a passing grade to a slight thumbs up.
<v Speaker 1>It's like not double thumbs up, two thumbs up, it's
<v Speaker 1>just kind of, you know, I have one thumb that's
<v Speaker 1>like slightly tilted upwards. If you're thinking about a visual
<v Speaker 1>and the wrestling effort was I think there we had
<v Speaker 1>some fun returns with Page and Bianca's announcement and John
<v Speaker 1>Cena appearing. It kind of made it feel bigger overall
<v Speaker 1>for WrestleMania and Night one, and now we got Night
<v Speaker 1>two to look forward to, a whole new night tomorrow
<v Speaker 1>with a whole new set of things to talk about.
<v Speaker 1>So that'll do it for me. If you guys want
<v Speaker 1>to go add free Patreon dot com slash WWE podcast.
<v Speaker 1>I'm also going to be putting out videos tomorrow and
<v Speaker 1>different topics about what happened on WrestleMania Night one, so
<v Speaker 1>stay tuned for that. Follow me on X. I'm very
<v Speaker 1>active on X during the event, which is the ww podcast.
<v Speaker 1>Has searched me there. So all right, everybody, get ready,
<v Speaker 1>We're only halfway there. I'll talk to you tomorrow.
<v Speaker 2>Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to
<v Speaker 2>subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss
<v Speaker 2>a show, or head to wwepodcast dot com and for
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<v Speaker 2>next time.