WWE Raw Review: CM Punk & Seth Rollins Torch Each Other in Promo, Women's IC Title Match Set, Sheamus Returns, Build for Next Week on Netfli

<v Speaker 1>This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre, and you're listening to
<v Speaker 1>the WWE podcast show.
<v Speaker 2>The one that everybody wants me Godot three sixteen.
<v Speaker 3>So I just what your ass is?
<v Speaker 1>My arm?
<v Speaker 2>You can acknowledge me.
<v Speaker 4>Hey, everybody, how you doing? Happy New Year? As we
<v Speaker 4>roll into twenty twenty five, has evercre this, it's still
<v Speaker 4>twenty twenty four, but for all intents and purposes anyone
<v Speaker 4>that listens to this, it's officially twenty twenty five, and
<v Speaker 4>I hope it was a happy, healthy, fun new year.
<v Speaker 4>The days of my going out and drinking my face
<v Speaker 4>off for New Year's have long since passed me by,
<v Speaker 4>but I do remember them fondly or not so much,
<v Speaker 4>as the case may be, but I hope yours was
<v Speaker 4>a memorable one. Or if it wasn't memorable, hey, sometimes
<v Speaker 4>those are the fun nights when you actually don't know
<v Speaker 4>what happened and it sounds kind of silly to say,
<v Speaker 4>or I guess I haven't grown up yet, But regardless,
<v Speaker 4>I hope it was nice. I hope it was fun.
<v Speaker 4>And now we get to go into twenty twenty five
<v Speaker 4>hopefully feeling better. For those of you who did go
<v Speaker 4>out and have a little bit of fun last night.
<v Speaker 4>You're probably recovering right now, and I hope that you
<v Speaker 4>continue to feel better as we get into the new year.
<v Speaker 4>And it means Raw is coming, a big Raw is
<v Speaker 4>coming now. SmackDown is still staying on the USA network,
<v Speaker 4>but Monday Night Raw is we all know. If you
<v Speaker 4>haven't heard by now, I don't know what you're doing.
<v Speaker 4>Raw is coming to Netflix next. Monday Night Raw has
<v Speaker 4>seen its final day on the USA network probably forever,
<v Speaker 4>but I mean, crazier things have happened. WWE and USA
<v Speaker 4>have a great relationship, so if something funky happens with Netflix,
<v Speaker 4>I'm sure they have a landing spot a home anytime
<v Speaker 4>they want to go back. If they do, I doubt
<v Speaker 4>they will, but we likely have seen the last Monday
<v Speaker 4>Night Raw ever on USA, which is kind of crazy.
<v Speaker 4>USA has always felt like the home from Monday Night Raw,
<v Speaker 4>even when it was on TNN or on where else
<v Speaker 4>was it for a little while, can't remember whatever home
<v Speaker 4>it was on UPN used to be SmackDown. I'm thinking
<v Speaker 4>of the early days of SmackDown. But wherever it used
<v Speaker 4>to be, it never felt right until it was back
<v Speaker 4>on USA. For me, here in Upstate New York, it
<v Speaker 4>was always Channel twenty eight. I don't have cable now,
<v Speaker 4>so I don't know if that's the right channel, but
<v Speaker 4>for years it was always Channel twenty eight for USA Network.
<v Speaker 4>And I remember the days of recording Raw and trying
<v Speaker 4>to avoid the commercials so that you had a full
<v Speaker 4>episode of all recorded on a VHS tape, and I'd
<v Speaker 4>go and bring it to one of my friends at
<v Speaker 4>school who didn't have cable and I had to, you know,
<v Speaker 4>I'd show him on the net Raw, give him the
<v Speaker 4>commercial free version. I was essentially his Hulu to get
<v Speaker 4>rid of the commercials. And sometimes I'd miss it. Sometimes
<v Speaker 4>I wouldn't, But then after all, I believe was leafem Nikita.
<v Speaker 4>Anybody else remember that is a very very action heavy,
<v Speaker 4>but sexualized show. Very much in the mail audience. They
<v Speaker 4>knew what they were doing, and Raw would sometimes go
<v Speaker 4>over five ten minutes. I'm trying to think the longest
<v Speaker 4>I've ever remembered Raw in the USA going over might
<v Speaker 4>have been ten twelve minutes. I'm sure they paid a price.
<v Speaker 4>Every second must have cost them tens of thousands and
<v Speaker 4>one hundreds of thousands of dollars every well, every minute.
<v Speaker 4>But it was always that overrun was always the big
<v Speaker 4>moments of Raw, that overrun you'd always look forward to,
<v Speaker 4>because back in the nineties, early two thousands, it was
<v Speaker 4>always Who's coming back, the Rocks were turning, a big
<v Speaker 4>save by Stone Colls, Steve Austin, a big moment with
<v Speaker 4>the Undertaker, a big storyline like it always that that
<v Speaker 4>last five minutes of Raw used to be something so
<v Speaker 4>special and would leave you on such a cliffhanger you
<v Speaker 4>had to see the next episode. And that's I mean, yes,
<v Speaker 4>we had an all star roster, but it was just
<v Speaker 4>they had a very well oiled machine of storytelling. And
<v Speaker 4>now I don't know how much that magic still exists,
<v Speaker 4>you know, I think over the years it's kind of
<v Speaker 4>waned and ples don't mean what they used to because
<v Speaker 4>championship matches take place on every single Monday night Raw.
<v Speaker 4>There's more championships now than ever, which of course Steve
<v Speaker 4>values all championships. They don't adhere to the brand rules
<v Speaker 4>even when they say they're going to, and it just
<v Speaker 4>has become much more of a gymnastics production rather than
<v Speaker 4>an actual competition. And I heard something and I'll give
<v Speaker 4>credit where credits due Steven Stevie Richards. If you guys
<v Speaker 4>used to watch in the early two thousands, he came
<v Speaker 4>from a most famously a group from Right to Censor RTC,
<v Speaker 4>and they were essentially playing the FCC and they were
<v Speaker 4>trying to censor everybody, and they were the kind of
<v Speaker 4>wholesome group that would look down upon the filth that
<v Speaker 4>was the Attitude era, and it worked really well, and
<v Speaker 4>they had the most annoying theme song of all time.
<v Speaker 4>Those of you who have no idea who I'm talking about,
<v Speaker 4>I would still look up Stephen Richards the Stevie Richards Show.
<v Speaker 4>I'll give him a shout out. I really enjoy it
<v Speaker 4>on YouTube. I don't know if it's new or not,
<v Speaker 4>but I've been really getting into his podcast. He's very
<v Speaker 4>well spoken, very well done show. I think he's got
<v Speaker 4>about seventy five thousand subscribers and growing, so shout out
<v Speaker 4>to them. And my point from the show that I'm
<v Speaker 4>going to take and tell you is that there's a
<v Speaker 4>lack of a struggle today. Everything feels like, okay, you
<v Speaker 4>do your move, on, do my move. There's no struggle
<v Speaker 4>as if it's trying to the goal of providing the
<v Speaker 4>illusion that this is real, you know what I mean?
<v Speaker 4>Everything is there's no selling anymore. It's just reacting, but
<v Speaker 4>there's no selling. Meaning if you get kick super kicked
<v Speaker 4>in the face, you'll register it for about five seconds
<v Speaker 4>and then you'll go on to the next move tornado
<v Speaker 4>DDT boom boom booman, forget about the fact that you
<v Speaker 4>just got kicked in the teeth five seconds ago. And
<v Speaker 4>the fans have accepted it. I still have issues with it,
<v Speaker 4>maybe because I'm I dare I say, the old grumpy guy.
<v Speaker 4>I'll be forty in a couple months, less than a
<v Speaker 4>couple months, well a weekend or a month and change.
<v Speaker 4>So I don't know if I'm the old grumpy guy
<v Speaker 4>who just appreciates pro wrestling being pro wrestling, and I
<v Speaker 4>think that's kind of I think it's a failed wish
<v Speaker 4>because obviously evolution happens, the sport evolved. Ownership has evolved
<v Speaker 4>into McMahon's are no longer even in power at all,
<v Speaker 4>which is just crazy to think. Anyway, I'm getting way
<v Speaker 4>off track. I apologize, but we have a big raw,
<v Speaker 4>big raw coming next Monday night, and you know I've
<v Speaker 4>gone over that many times. As far as what can
<v Speaker 4>you can expect. I even did a little bit of
<v Speaker 4>a preview on my show for the wrap up of
<v Speaker 4>twenty twenty four of my previous show, I encourage you
<v Speaker 4>to go check it out, where I talked about the
<v Speaker 4>three confirmed matches, and you know what, I downplayed this
<v Speaker 4>raw maybe a little bit too much, meaning the raw
<v Speaker 4>that took place last night. I figured, and I was
<v Speaker 4>still largely right, but not completely, that this was an
<v Speaker 4>inconsequential raw. It was nothing more than a preview for
<v Speaker 4>next week. And I'm sure a lot of the fans
<v Speaker 4>in attendance during commercial we're getting super annoyed that. I'm
<v Speaker 4>sure on the Titan Tron they saw all of these
<v Speaker 4>video packages for next week, and I mean they essentially
<v Speaker 4>got that with Live and Rhea. They got nothing other
<v Speaker 4>than that, which was a video package, and you know,
<v Speaker 4>you have the promotion of Roman and Solo for next week,
<v Speaker 4>obviously Siam Punk and Raw Seth Rollins. But even though
<v Speaker 4>they didn't get the match of Saam Punk and Seth Rollins,
<v Speaker 4>they got a hell of a segment with these two.
<v Speaker 4>And we'll get into that a little bit later with
<v Speaker 4>their promo that I mean, I've been waiting for that
<v Speaker 4>fire from Punk because it feels like Punk has been
<v Speaker 4>kind of holding back. He's been kind of the nice guy.
<v Speaker 4>I'm here to make well he said, he's not here
<v Speaker 4>to make friends, but he very much felt like he
<v Speaker 4>was still there to be nice and kind and pretend
<v Speaker 4>he's a nice guy. But deep down, that devil still
<v Speaker 4>is there. And I do believe that's true. And he
<v Speaker 4>came out, that part of him came out and that
<v Speaker 4>promo with Seth, and I really enjoyed that, And I
<v Speaker 4>still believe that this is leading to a Seth rollins
<v Speaker 4>Heel turn, hopefully aligning with McIntyre fighting against their common
<v Speaker 4>foe of the bloodline. That's ultimately where I think it's going.
<v Speaker 4>I'm finally, I think, finally think I'm on the on
<v Speaker 4>the train of I'm ready for Seth now to turn heel.
<v Speaker 4>He's not wearing out his welcome, I think among most
<v Speaker 4>casual fans. But he's been a babyface now long enough.
<v Speaker 4>He was the world champion, first world champion when they
<v Speaker 4>reintroduced it and then pretended it didn't exist. He had
<v Speaker 4>a heck of a run, you know, six months or so,
<v Speaker 4>but still fun. He has found himself as a character
<v Speaker 4>He's no longer the Monday in at Messiah. He's no
<v Speaker 4>longer the corporate shill that he was with the authority.
<v Speaker 4>He knows who and what he is right, he knows
<v Speaker 4>when what he is the visionary, the revolutionary. But that
<v Speaker 4>time for me and I think the time for w
<v Speaker 4>WE to strike, to evolve the character again is approaching
<v Speaker 4>and they may not take this path. B and I, if
<v Speaker 4>I had the chance to, I would be the one
<v Speaker 4>to pull the trigger. It's time for Seth to evolve
<v Speaker 4>a little bit more. Back to a heel is just fine.
<v Speaker 4>I think it's fine. The only question is, okay, if
<v Speaker 4>he turns heel, who takes his place as a babyface?
<v Speaker 4>You've got CM punk. He's a pretty big babyface on
<v Speaker 4>the roster. Is see the future of the company. No,
<v Speaker 4>but he doesn't need to be. And you know what,
<v Speaker 4>since anybody can come over from anybody from any roster
<v Speaker 4>at any time and no one cares, then what's the
<v Speaker 4>big deal? Honestly, turn Seth heel. I think it would
<v Speaker 4>reinvigorate his character that needs a little bit of a boost,
<v Speaker 4>and aligning with McIntyre would be a hell of a duo.
<v Speaker 4>So long introduction to say welcome to THEWE podcast. Everybody.
<v Speaker 4>Thank you so much for joining me here again on
<v Speaker 4>this New Year's Eve as I record this likely New
<v Speaker 4>Year's Day or beyond, as you listen to this, and
<v Speaker 4>I want to invite you, if you haven't already, to
<v Speaker 4>check out our Patreon site because everything there is AD free.
<v Speaker 4>You can go up in tier get exclusive shows, including
<v Speaker 4>the after Dark Show. There is also an opportunity for
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<v Speaker 4>high in tier enough and other perks, So check it out.
<v Speaker 4>It's WWE podcast on Patreon or patreon dot com, slash
<v Speaker 4>ww podcast or Apple. There's also the subscribe button there
<v Speaker 4>and both offer a one week free trial. So let's
<v Speaker 4>dive into Raw. Let's dive into it and we'll start
<v Speaker 4>at the top of the show. And to open the show,
<v Speaker 4>which by the way, was from Houston, Texas and the
<v Speaker 4>Toyota Center, we had Joe Testator talk about Raw on
<v Speaker 4>US Network. It's the final Raw, saying SmackDown's still going
<v Speaker 4>to remain on USA and New Day come out. Kofe,
<v Speaker 4>Caseon and Xavier make their way out. It's interesting that
<v Speaker 4>they haven't actually dissolved the New Day. They just evolved it.
<v Speaker 4>So they're still being introduced as the New Day, which
<v Speaker 4>I'm kind of split on how I feel about it.
<v Speaker 4>I'll let the story play out, but New Day sucks.
<v Speaker 4>Chance broke out and they stood on the ring. Apron
<v Speaker 4>and Kofe try to tell the fans they had limited time,
<v Speaker 4>and the booze continues. So they're dominic mysterioing these guys.
<v Speaker 4>And here's what I would say. If I'm king of
<v Speaker 4>WWE fans and I get to rule, you know, and
<v Speaker 4>you know, get to make my decree. Here's what my
<v Speaker 4>decree is. We don't have to ray dominic mysterio every
<v Speaker 4>heel that's doing a good job or anybody that means
<v Speaker 4>they're doing what they're supposed to do, eliciting a negative reaction.
<v Speaker 4>And I understand that it's heat and it's fun for
<v Speaker 4>a little while, and it's you know, it's a real
<v Speaker 4>way to show them that we'll shut you up because
<v Speaker 4>we can be louder than you and we'll interrupt your promo.
<v Speaker 4>I think it's partly for them, partly for the fans
<v Speaker 4>to do it, even though I think that it's actually
<v Speaker 4>detrimental to the show. Because here's what happens. Dominic Mysterio,
<v Speaker 4>for example, has barely had or been able to evolve
<v Speaker 4>as a character because he hasn't been able to speak.
<v Speaker 4>And sure, you can do pre cut promos, you can
<v Speaker 4>do backstage stuff where the crowd is a non factor,
<v Speaker 4>but where you really grow is with the crowd. You
<v Speaker 4>really grow in front of people, not backstage, not in
<v Speaker 4>front of a camera, backstage where you're kind of shielded
<v Speaker 4>from the noise. You can get the message across that
<v Speaker 4>way in some cases, but it's limited. So I'm really
<v Speaker 4>hoping that this isn't a weekly occurrence and it's not
<v Speaker 4>Monkey See, Monkey Do. And every time they go to
<v Speaker 4>they don't allow Kofey or Xavier to speak because sure,
<v Speaker 4>for like a show or two, it's like oh okay, cool, Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>they shut them down, and WWE has to adjust on
<v Speaker 4>the fly and all like fine, but can I really
<v Speaker 4>want to hear what they have to say? You can
<v Speaker 4>boo what they have to say, but shut up while
<v Speaker 4>they're talking. And I think WWE fans don't understand they're
<v Speaker 4>doing themselves a disservice down the line, because you'll suddenly realize, wow,
<v Speaker 4>this person is even kind of promo we haven't even
<v Speaker 4>heard what they have to say, or why or what
<v Speaker 4>they're deep reasoning is we're just booing them, and actually
<v Speaker 4>we're shooting ourselves in the foot here when it comes
<v Speaker 4>to storytelling and character development. I don't think fans really
<v Speaker 4>realize that. So I actually want to hear what Kofe
<v Speaker 4>and Xavier have to say. You can boo them, just
<v Speaker 4>let us hear the words. So that's my decree, and
<v Speaker 4>you almost follow or be imprisoned. So Jay Usa comes
<v Speaker 4>out though, and we have well, once he's in the ring,
<v Speaker 4>Woods said that they will they go way back with Jay,
<v Speaker 4>and Jay told the fans to quiet so they could
<v Speaker 4>hear what quote this Trump has to say, and the
<v Speaker 4>I mean Woods was still booed. So you had Jay
<v Speaker 4>try to help them, and even Ja He's like, uh,
<v Speaker 4>well f itt, yeah, I tried. It's kind of the
<v Speaker 4>same thing in a different way with Seth Rollins's music,
<v Speaker 4>where the fans used to but not so much anymore
<v Speaker 4>do the whoa They extend the song and it would
<v Speaker 4>go on way too long. It's kind of that same thing.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, the fans can have a negative effect when
<v Speaker 4>they go into business for themselves, and this I know ww,
<v Speaker 4>we'd argue it, but there is a case to be
<v Speaker 4>made for this actually being a long term net negative
<v Speaker 4>with the fans not allowing heels to speak. But all right,
<v Speaker 4>so a New Day Sucks chant broke out, Woods got upset,
<v Speaker 4>and Jay said there are other problems to address. He
<v Speaker 4>said Roman Reigns would handle Solo and he'll handle Drew,
<v Speaker 4>and he called out Drew. That's when the Bloodline showed
<v Speaker 4>up on big screen, Solo, Jacob and Tomatonga, and Solo
<v Speaker 4>said Sammy got a little too close on Friday, and
<v Speaker 4>Solo said the will stay on his neck forever. He
<v Speaker 4>said he will destroy Roman Reigns next week in the
<v Speaker 4>Travel Combat match, and everyone Jay and everyone else will
<v Speaker 4>acknowledge him. Drew then entered the ring and attacked Jay
<v Speaker 4>with a cheap shot, and we had Jay try to
<v Speaker 4>fight back. The he went for the Claymore security and
<v Speaker 4>agents pulled him back. McIntyre seemed like he was going
<v Speaker 4>to go up the ramp. He made it all the
<v Speaker 4>way to the top, ran back and hit the Claymore,
<v Speaker 4>which is just great, just great. I mean, Drew is
<v Speaker 4>just great. So I was sad we didn't get to
<v Speaker 4>hear him actually say something this week because Drew on
<v Speaker 4>the microphone is I mean, it's one of the highlights,
<v Speaker 4>one of the bright spots not just of the show,
<v Speaker 4>but like of my week is hearing Drew on the
<v Speaker 4>Mactyre on the mic So it kind of I don't
<v Speaker 4>know if that's a referendum of my life, but it
<v Speaker 4>is one of the bright bright points of my of
<v Speaker 4>my week when I get to see what Drew has
<v Speaker 4>to say. He's just so miserable, but he's a truth
<v Speaker 4>telling machine, and I just it's a great combo. It's
<v Speaker 4>a refreshing brand of heel, is what it is. Heels
<v Speaker 4>seems so formulaic that they always have to cheat to win,
<v Speaker 4>they always lie, and sure, like that's a tried and
<v Speaker 4>true formula, it'll work. But I think that this is
<v Speaker 4>a just a nice change of pace, a different brand
<v Speaker 4>of heel that we haven't seen. All Right, So, backstage,
<v Speaker 4>Kathy Kelly interviewed American Made, and Gable said he's sick
<v Speaker 4>of the talk that he can't win a title and
<v Speaker 4>he has trouble with luchadors. He said he would cross
<v Speaker 4>one off his list by beating Otis to show that
<v Speaker 4>the master remains the master, and that's when we had
<v Speaker 4>Chad Gable versus Otis. We finally get it, We finally
<v Speaker 4>get it. It feels about three months late, and it's
<v Speaker 4>certainly not as hot as the program once was, but
<v Speaker 4>it lasted nine minutes and twenty seconds with Gable beating Otis.
<v Speaker 4>Now here's how he did it. Gable tripped Otis into
<v Speaker 4>the ropes to break the hold and then hit a
<v Speaker 4>dead lift German souplex. Gable went for a top rope
<v Speaker 4>move that Otis avoided. Otison played to the crowd. Nile
<v Speaker 4>grabbed one of Otis's legs for a moment, but he
<v Speaker 4>didn't budge. Gable took advantage of the distraction and put
<v Speaker 4>Otis in an ankle lock until he tapped. That's a
<v Speaker 4>big deal. That's a big deal. Now, fun match, but
<v Speaker 4>for Otis to lose clean to the heel, that tells
<v Speaker 4>me they have potentially bigger plans for Chad. Not saying
<v Speaker 4>world title picture, but Otis has been pretty over for
<v Speaker 4>a while and was actually as hot as he ever
<v Speaker 4>was against Chad when this whole thing originally boiled over
<v Speaker 4>three months ago or six months ago, whatever it was.
<v Speaker 4>Actually it was when the Wyatt's debuted when it really
<v Speaker 4>peaked six months ago, and you're thinking, Okay, here we go,
<v Speaker 4>and it never happened. And then they get to it
<v Speaker 4>six months later and we have Chad beat otis. Sure
<v Speaker 4>you could say he was distracted, but he still tapped out.
<v Speaker 4>He quit. Big win for Chad, big win.
<v Speaker 1>All right.
<v Speaker 4>We got a let's see a video package for Rhea
<v Speaker 4>and live for next week's Women's Championship match. Fun. It
<v Speaker 4>was a fun promo, you know, That's probably all they
<v Speaker 4>could have done this week. Ripley saying that she was
<v Speaker 4>supposed to be It was supposed to be Mommy's year
<v Speaker 4>in twenty twenty four, and she said that after a
<v Speaker 4>year long range, she walked into an out of WrestleMania's
<v Speaker 4>Women's World Champion and she took her eye off the
<v Speaker 4>ball and paid for it ever since. Morgan talked about
<v Speaker 4>taking the Women's Championship the Judge Day and Dominic from
<v Speaker 4>Ripley or Firm. Ripley. Morgan said that she's been having
<v Speaker 4>so much fun that she's sad it has to end.
<v Speaker 4>So this is all they can do. And I'm not
<v Speaker 4>sad that neither woman was actually there, because what are
<v Speaker 4>they gonna do. What are they gonna do? Have Ripley
<v Speaker 4>do the same thing she's been doing for the last
<v Speaker 4>five months, No, and interrupt and Chase rear A, Chase
<v Speaker 4>Live Morgan into the crowd and grab her and then
<v Speaker 4>grab Dom and it felt like I've seen that play
<v Speaker 4>over and over and over. This also feels very conclusive
<v Speaker 4>that this is the final match for these two in
<v Speaker 4>this particular program. That's good because fans are ready. I'm ready,
<v Speaker 4>Let's do it one more time, run it back and
<v Speaker 4>have some fun, and that will be off here. And
<v Speaker 4>that tells me if if this is over, then there's
<v Speaker 4>no title change, because if Ria won it, you'd think
<v Speaker 4>that Live would try to get it back, and they're
<v Speaker 4>not gonna go there. So the fact that this is
<v Speaker 4>the final matchup, based on what they've said anyway, that
<v Speaker 4>leads you to believe that there's a very strong possibility
<v Speaker 4>that Live retains here, and I think she should. Honestly,
<v Speaker 4>all right, let's continue, We've got the judgment day, let's
<v Speaker 4>see coming out or I'm sorry, not yet, although they
<v Speaker 4>did have new music. We'll get to that. The next matchup, sorry,
<v Speaker 4>was Dakota Kai versus Zoe Stark and it's for the
<v Speaker 4>Women's IC Title Tournament semi final match. This match was
<v Speaker 4>really good and it lasted. I'm trying to look at
<v Speaker 4>the time stamp here. I never ever get it right.
<v Speaker 4>Eight minutes and fifteen seconds there it is. Dakota Kai wins.
<v Speaker 4>Really good match. Probably Zoe Stark and Dakota Kai's best
<v Speaker 4>match on raw, not just together but separately against any
<v Speaker 4>other opponents. I enjoyed this. Zoe Stark. Yeah, while she's
<v Speaker 4>changing a little bit of her look still kind of
<v Speaker 4>feels bland. Dakota Kai after her turn on Bailey, remember
<v Speaker 4>that we all forgot about that, she seemed to get
<v Speaker 4>the majority of the support from the crowd. I think
<v Speaker 4>where Dakota Kai. The fans I guess decided during the
<v Speaker 4>match that Dakota KaiA was the babyface and Zoe Stark's
<v Speaker 4>the heel. But Zoe Stark, ever since she aligned herself
<v Speaker 4>with Trish and the thank You Trish stuff, she's still
<v Speaker 4>trying to, I think, wipe herself clean of that because
<v Speaker 4>that's the last significant program that Zoe Stark was in
<v Speaker 4>was with Trish. So Dakota Kai, I think was the
<v Speaker 4>right call here to win. So Dakota Kai will be
<v Speaker 4>in the finals for the women's IC title and we'll
<v Speaker 4>face the winner of EO versus Lyra, which we know
<v Speaker 4>the winner of that. We'll get to it all right.
<v Speaker 4>Then we got another video package here and by the way,
<v Speaker 4>I know the finish was botched on that match, It's
<v Speaker 4>still enjoyable. So let's see. We got a little bit
<v Speaker 4>of a recap of the first episode of Raw on
<v Speaker 4>January eleventh, nineteen ninety three and crazy. And we got
<v Speaker 4>let's see a brief add of John Sina's farewell tour
<v Speaker 4>that will be starting next week on Raw. Again, a
<v Speaker 4>lot of hype for next week. And then we got
<v Speaker 4>Damian Priest and the war Raiders versus Finn dom and
<v Speaker 4>JD with Carlito. This match was nine minutes again, not
<v Speaker 4>another really exciting or long match. It ended with Domina
<v Speaker 4>getting pinned at he got caught with South of Heaven
<v Speaker 4>by Damien Priest. But I feel like, how many times
<v Speaker 4>have we seen this another program that does need to
<v Speaker 4>also kind of come to a conclusion, come to an end,
<v Speaker 4>come to a rebirth. I don't know, it needs to
<v Speaker 4>also move on. I don't need to see Rhea or Damien,
<v Speaker 4>few with anybody anymore from the judgment day. Everybody needs
<v Speaker 4>to move on. I understand there's still some unresolved issues
<v Speaker 4>with Damien and with Finn. Seems to be that they
<v Speaker 4>might conclude that as well. I hope they do. It's
<v Speaker 4>been fun, it's been good, it's been real, as they say,
<v Speaker 4>But like I don't know, I'm ready, I'm ready, and
<v Speaker 4>that's it's not a slight on the program, but it
<v Speaker 4>just it has to know when his life cycle is up,
<v Speaker 4>and I think it's up, all right. So then we
<v Speaker 4>got Ludwig Kaiser standing in the ring and he's referred
<v Speaker 4>to himself as the European as European Elegance and started
<v Speaker 4>to talk about bron Breaker, but he was interrupted by
<v Speaker 4>Seamus who comes out. He's dressed in street clothes. He
<v Speaker 4>fought with Kaiser, hit a knee strike, and then Shamus
<v Speaker 4>played to the crowd and hit Kaiser with a bro kick.
<v Speaker 4>A bit disappointing for Kaiser here, who's been building momentum
<v Speaker 4>with the endorsement of Gunther and I've been of the
<v Speaker 4>belief that Kaiser is and will be a future champion
<v Speaker 4>in the next six to say, six to eight months
<v Speaker 4>after WrestleMania, Kaiser should I think become ic or us
<v Speaker 4>to champion. He has really I think grown as a character.
<v Speaker 4>Does he still have a long way to go? Yes,
<v Speaker 4>he's not fully developed, not by any means, but his
<v Speaker 4>backstage development with gun Gunther giving him stamps of approval,
<v Speaker 4>giving him advice. Even though Kaiser has not exactly been
<v Speaker 4>able to cash in on all that, I think it's
<v Speaker 4>still been a positive run for Kaiser, coming close to
<v Speaker 4>winning the Icy title from Breaker, you know, having moments
<v Speaker 4>of domination over Seamus, and now Seamus is back for revenge. Okay.
<v Speaker 4>We then have backstage raymis Teriro stood with the rest
<v Speaker 4>of the LWO and praised Otis, who was with Alpha Academy,
<v Speaker 4>for standing up to his mentor. No that you don't
<v Speaker 4>get praise for doing something that you should have done
<v Speaker 4>six months ago and allow yourself to be humiliated and
<v Speaker 4>emasculated on national television in front of millions of people
<v Speaker 4>for weeks and weeks and weeks. You don't get credit
<v Speaker 4>for that, mister moral compass. I'm speaking to Ray, who
<v Speaker 4>is just I don't like Ray as a character. I
<v Speaker 4>know a lot of you love Ray and in the
<v Speaker 4>ring I have nothing but respect for him, but his
<v Speaker 4>character is such a soft, gooey character. It's a I've
<v Speaker 4>never I've never enjoyed his character at all. I think,
<v Speaker 4>you know, he's he's too nice and too kind and
<v Speaker 4>doesn't have any kind of edge at all. But we
<v Speaker 4>then have New Day Yes Covid Xavier come in the
<v Speaker 4>picture mockingly applauding Ray for being a locker room leader,
<v Speaker 4>and Ray said he and one of his allies would
<v Speaker 4>face them in a match, and that's when EO Sky
<v Speaker 4>comes out here for the second half of the Women's
<v Speaker 4>Icy Title Tournament semifinals, Eo versus Lyra. This match went
<v Speaker 4>nearly twelve minutes, which for a women's match, I mean
<v Speaker 4>in some weeks that's this is like four or five
<v Speaker 4>women's matches wrapped into one time wise. So this was
<v Speaker 4>fun to see and Aneo, where I think pretty well matched.
<v Speaker 4>A lot of fans disappointed here as Lyra does beat
<v Speaker 4>EO Sky in twelve minutes to advance. So it's going
<v Speaker 4>to be Dakota Kai versus Lyra Valkyria for the Women's
<v Speaker 4>IC Championship. EO Sky I mean I figured it was
<v Speaker 4>EOS to win here now they're using it to elevate
<v Speaker 4>newer talent. Eo has, you know, really, I think man
<v Speaker 4>a name for herself. She was women's champion, she was
<v Speaker 4>a SmackDown women's champion. But I think that they're looking
<v Speaker 4>to get a new face and Dakota Kai and or
<v Speaker 4>Lyra Valkyrie, I think would both be fine champions for
<v Speaker 4>what they're trying to do here. But it felt like
<v Speaker 4>this was Eos to win. She had a hell of
<v Speaker 4>a lot of momentum going in. Fans were starting to
<v Speaker 4>get behind her. Fans forgot about the damage controlled nonsense,
<v Speaker 4>and they just started to realize, wow, or be reminded
<v Speaker 4>how good Eo Sky is in the ring. So it
<v Speaker 4>was disappointing too for me to see her lose to
<v Speaker 4>somebody that has nothing going on character wise nothing Lyra
<v Speaker 4>has nothing going on, But I mean, I guess they
<v Speaker 4>know better than I do. Really good match though, I mean,
<v Speaker 4>you can make this the match of the night candidate
<v Speaker 4>these two women. If I see them fight again, I
<v Speaker 4>would gladly watch. And the finish of this was a
<v Speaker 4>roll up, but it was countered into a pin and
<v Speaker 4>got the three kind of a very unique pin. It
<v Speaker 4>wasn't your typical roll up pulling up the tights. It
<v Speaker 4>was very well done where Lyra was holding down the
<v Speaker 4>shoulders of EO in kind of a bridge. Show a
<v Speaker 4>bridge roll up if you will, and it was good.
<v Speaker 4>It was good. I enjoyed this. So final psych in
<v Speaker 4>here after another video package for Roman and Solo and
<v Speaker 4>the travel Combat Combat match for the Ula follow next week.
<v Speaker 4>So we have seth. Rollins come out and talking about
<v Speaker 4>twenty twenty four. It's the last row on USA network.
<v Speaker 4>What do you say we go out with a bang?
<v Speaker 4>He put over his match with Punk is the biggest
<v Speaker 4>match in the business. Instead it would be self the
<v Speaker 4>self proclaimed best in the world versus the actual best
<v Speaker 4>in the world. And Roland said he'll be on every
<v Speaker 4>raw raw every week. You can't say the same thing
<v Speaker 4>for Punk if things don't go his way and Punk's
<v Speaker 4>music hit walked out and Rollins he called Rollins or
<v Speaker 4>asked Rollins which quote paragon of virtue? Where the hell
<v Speaker 4>do you get that phrase? I mean really, he said that.
<v Speaker 4>I'm like, where did you carry if the source around
<v Speaker 4>with you? I don't understand, but all right, Zoy said
<v Speaker 4>he quote he got the take your ball and go
<v Speaker 4>home line, from because that's what Seth had told him earlier,
<v Speaker 4>that he's going to take his ball and go home,
<v Speaker 4>where Seth will be on Rong every week. And I'm
<v Speaker 4>glad Punk called this out. He called it the most
<v Speaker 4>industry plant cliched boot lickor line he's ever heard. He said,
<v Speaker 4>that's what he said, That's what was said when a
<v Speaker 4>man was told no or that he was wrong. Punk
<v Speaker 4>asked if Steve Austin took his ball and went home.
<v Speaker 4>He asked if Rollins Rollins, if the man took her
<v Speaker 4>ball and went home too, And Punk said, Rollins wants
<v Speaker 4>to tell the fans that he abandoned them, but Rollins
<v Speaker 4>is just mad because he abandoned him. Punk said he
<v Speaker 4>has no regrets, and then he asked Rollins how his
<v Speaker 4>neck is. Punk asked about his knee, about his insides
<v Speaker 4>after what Bronson Reid did to him, and I'm surprised
<v Speaker 4>he didn't ask about the back. Remember the back injury
<v Speaker 4>that we had Chinsky Nakamura play off of that every
<v Speaker 4>his back was hanging on by a thread by like
<v Speaker 4>one like a couple of cells. That that's all that
<v Speaker 4>was left was like two nerve endings that were touching
<v Speaker 4>and that's all it was. I mean, that's what we
<v Speaker 4>were told to believe, and then magically that got healed.
<v Speaker 4>So it's weird that he didn't talk about his back
<v Speaker 4>when he talked about his knee and his neck. I'm like,
<v Speaker 4>wait a minute, are there now injuries we don't know about?
<v Speaker 4>Because as a fan, I'm thinking the latest and greatest
<v Speaker 4>injury that we all knew was going on was the
<v Speaker 4>back and that was a real injury that he worked
<v Speaker 4>through with shinsk And I'm like, okay, well, I know
<v Speaker 4>he blew out his knee, but that was before WrestleMania,
<v Speaker 4>like eight years ago, at a house show with Seamus
<v Speaker 4>and so I'm like, what the hell's he talking about?
<v Speaker 4>So I don't know. I hope there's no more injuries
<v Speaker 4>to to seth. But this was a fun promo. Now
<v Speaker 4>it continued and I don't want to go through every
<v Speaker 4>line here, but the little brother stuff came up again
<v Speaker 4>to take your ball and go home thing. It is
<v Speaker 4>overused and it was originally I remember when that line
<v Speaker 4>was originally mentioned, and it was with Stone Coltze of Austin.
<v Speaker 4>It was, I believe, if I'm correct, the first time
<v Speaker 4>it was uttered was on a show called Bite This.
<v Speaker 4>Anybody remember that show. It was hosted by me and
<v Speaker 4>gene Oakerland and it was kind of a podcast before
<v Speaker 4>there were podcasts, kind of a show interview show or
<v Speaker 4>a inside behind the scenes show before that was kind
<v Speaker 4>of trendy to do. It was a show ahead of
<v Speaker 4>its time, no doubt about it. But it was a
<v Speaker 4>show that I think doesn't get enough attention, where a
<v Speaker 4>lot of interesting things were said and done on that
<v Speaker 4>show that were very real. And this is when a
<v Speaker 4>then refused to do the job to brock Lesner in
<v Speaker 4>two thousand and two during a semi final match, a
<v Speaker 4>quarter final match with brock Lesner, an unadvertised match in Atlanta, Georgia,
<v Speaker 4>and Austin famously walked out. And that's when Vince went
<v Speaker 4>on the show and said, you know, Austin took his
<v Speaker 4>ball and went home, and obviously I'm pissed off, and
<v Speaker 4>that's true. There's nothing fake about that, nothing pre ticked
<v Speaker 4>about that. So that's the first time I remember hearing it,
<v Speaker 4>and then the Rock Uttered it a few times afterwards
<v Speaker 4>about Stone Cold and others have as well. And you've
<v Speaker 4>heard it before, You've heard it about John Cena and
<v Speaker 4>anybody else that's left. You heard it even about the
<v Speaker 4>Rock taking his ball and leaving the company. So anyone
<v Speaker 4>that leaves this line is used, and it's overly used,
<v Speaker 4>and I'm glad Punk actually called that out. So and
<v Speaker 4>also talking about Becky Lynch. That was an interesting I
<v Speaker 4>did not expect him to talk about Becky Lynch. She's
<v Speaker 4>not here, but and then Punk comes back and says, oh,
<v Speaker 4>you know, well, she's decided to take some time off
<v Speaker 4>to raise her their child, and it's something he'd know
<v Speaker 4>nothing about. As we know Punk and his wife don't
<v Speaker 4>have kids. So fun jabs, fun jabs all around here.
<v Speaker 4>And we then have Rollin's talk about how Punk left
<v Speaker 4>went on his Buddies podcast called Cabana and he took
<v Speaker 4>every shot at the company to kill it and said,
<v Speaker 4>then you took a big chunk of change to go
<v Speaker 4>to the competition. How that work out for you? And
<v Speaker 4>the crowd was like, oh my god. They indirectly referenced
<v Speaker 4>aw Honestly, what's more shocking is they actually referenced AEW
<v Speaker 4>as competition. They're not, I mean, they're competition in the
<v Speaker 4>fact that they're in the same market space. Competing for
<v Speaker 4>the same fans, but they're not a true competitor in
<v Speaker 4>the sense that there's any real rivalry going on of
<v Speaker 4>who's going to take the top spot or you know
<v Speaker 4>a Monday Night War esque type of rivalry where WCW
<v Speaker 4>wins this week, ww loses this week and all the rest.
<v Speaker 4>It's I mean, AW is nowhere near WWE's foothold in
<v Speaker 4>the global wrestling in global wrestling fans brand awareness just
<v Speaker 4>they aren't there. I mean, they've got a lot of cash,
<v Speaker 4>but cash doesn't produce results, it just it just allows
<v Speaker 4>you to produce a lot of potential. So anyway, that
<v Speaker 4>was interesting and again the crowd crowd really on that one.
<v Speaker 4>Rollin said, Punk wants to come back in and wave
<v Speaker 4>the flag, but he doesn't get to, and Rollin said
<v Speaker 4>Punk will take on another ten years off because he'll
<v Speaker 4>be making the decision for Punk, meaning essentially meaning he's
<v Speaker 4>going to put him back into retirement or just beat
<v Speaker 4>him so bad that you know it's gonna take a
<v Speaker 4>lot of time off. Punk said you can reckon the
<v Speaker 4>pioneers because of the arrows in their back and said
<v Speaker 4>it was the first one. He was the first one
<v Speaker 4>through the wall and he got bloody for it. Punk
<v Speaker 4>said Rollins wouldn't be there if it wasn't for him,
<v Speaker 4>and this was another really fun line. I love the
<v Speaker 4>place I worked. I just hated the guy in charge,
<v Speaker 4>and he loved you Vince McMahon. Obviously, that's again referencing
<v Speaker 4>two people you didn't think he'd talked about indirectly, not
<v Speaker 4>by name, Becky Lynch and Vince McMahon. Punk said that
<v Speaker 4>in situations where Rollins should have had had his back,
<v Speaker 4>all he did was shoot arrows in it and Punk
<v Speaker 4>were called Rollins, stelling Rollin's stabbing Roman reigns in the
<v Speaker 4>back and how he's now trying to play victim in
<v Speaker 4>a situation that he created. Punk said, those arrows kill,
<v Speaker 4>will kill weak people. He said he left because he
<v Speaker 4>had to, and after some time he was able to
<v Speaker 4>pull the arrows out. He's going to those arrows to
<v Speaker 4>the match next week figuratively, of course. So good promo.
<v Speaker 4>I mean I didn't cover every little nugget of it,
<v Speaker 4>but I hit the big points and this should be
<v Speaker 4>a fun match. And it does still make me wonder
<v Speaker 4>if this is still a one off for the time being.
<v Speaker 4>To get to it, so that these two can go
<v Speaker 4>their separate ways for whatever WrestleMania plans they have. I
<v Speaker 4>haven't figured it out yet, and I think we'll figure
<v Speaker 4>it out next week. I really don't know. I just
<v Speaker 4>I don't know if this is the one off, if
<v Speaker 4>it's the Okay, guys, here you got the match. We
<v Speaker 4>got to get through WrestleMania season. We've got other plans
<v Speaker 4>for these two other than these two facing each other,
<v Speaker 4>which is why we're doing this now. That makes more
<v Speaker 4>sense to me because if this is really WrestleMania, like
<v Speaker 4>you're giving away WrestleMania right now, why they don't do that.
<v Speaker 4>That's not WWSMO And that leads me to believe that
<v Speaker 4>this is just a hold me over. See, we did
<v Speaker 4>the match type of match with an eventual proper program
<v Speaker 4>maybe down the line, so that's how I'm thinking. Or
<v Speaker 4>maybe it does continue and it goes through the Rumble
<v Speaker 4>with these two in the Rumble, or they have a
<v Speaker 4>match of the Rumble and they go through elimination Chamber
<v Speaker 4>Saturday at main event, whatever else, and it ends in
<v Speaker 4>say February, it ends in like a month and a
<v Speaker 4>half end of February through the Chamber and then the
<v Speaker 4>Chambers it with these two something like that, and then
<v Speaker 4>they have separate programs going into WrestleMania. My point though,
<v Speaker 4>is still I don't believe these two go to WrestleMania
<v Speaker 4>and face one another as they were scheduled to last
<v Speaker 4>year until the injury to Punk. So interesting that they
<v Speaker 4>are going to be on Monday at Raw in a
<v Speaker 4>you know, in the maat event of Raw. Deservingly so,
<v Speaker 4>but this has been reduced to the main event of Raw,
<v Speaker 4>where it was going to be one of the semi
<v Speaker 4>main events of WrestleMania forty man. I mean, I'm glad
<v Speaker 4>they're getting to it, But whatever plans they have for
<v Speaker 4>these two going int a WrestleMania forty one, if it's
<v Speaker 4>not facing each other, and I don't think it is,
<v Speaker 4>they must have a heck of a plan. They must
<v Speaker 4>already know what they're doing for WrestleMania, because if they didn't,
<v Speaker 4>they wouldn't give this match away knowing that they had
<v Speaker 4>it in their back pocket to pull out for these
<v Speaker 4>two for WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 2>You know.
<v Speaker 4>So well, let's see what they do. I still believe
<v Speaker 4>that this is a kind of a one and done
<v Speaker 4>for the time being. And yeah, so well, that's a
<v Speaker 4>quick and dirty RAW review. Overall, a show that had
<v Speaker 4>more content and things to talk about than I thought
<v Speaker 4>there would be. Very much still though, a preview show
<v Speaker 4>for the big show next week, and what a show
<v Speaker 4>it's going to be. John Cena. I think John's is
<v Speaker 4>going to open Raw. That makes the most sense to me.
<v Speaker 4>Who's going to interrupt him? I don't know. I've made
<v Speaker 4>my stands very clear about John Cena. How I want
<v Speaker 4>him to be serious, not tongue in cheek. If he's
<v Speaker 4>going to be Sena b Sena, and if you have
<v Speaker 4>the chance to go see him, guys, go see him.
<v Speaker 4>I keep saying that this is literally the last time
<v Speaker 4>he's giving is everybody as much of a chance as
<v Speaker 4>he can, touring around the country, touring around the world,
<v Speaker 4>saying you guys want to see me, let's go. Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>this is your chance, and it's true, there's nothing fake
<v Speaker 4>about that whatsoever. So well, anyway, I hope you guys
<v Speaker 4>enjoyed Raw as well. You can catch this show ad
<v Speaker 4>free at Patreon dot com, slash WWE podcast. We'll be
<v Speaker 4>coming back to you tomorrow with maybe a nostalgia show
<v Speaker 4>and after dark for those of you on Patreon, and
<v Speaker 4>we will also be doing a mailbag show on Friday
<v Speaker 4>and also doing a spackdown and back to your Weekend
<v Speaker 4>review this coming Sunday. So lots coming up, including the
<v Speaker 4>NXT review as well. We posted our main event review
<v Speaker 4>with Daniel from the UK. We've got that up if
<v Speaker 4>you want to check that out, so I hope you
<v Speaker 4>guys do and appreciate you listening. And also check out YouTube.
<v Speaker 4>I'm in the amateur stage of YouTube. Okay, you look
<v Speaker 4>at the videos that go I didn't even have the
<v Speaker 4>right orientation. It's not very well produced, but sound quality
<v Speaker 4>is really good. And I'm trying to find my footing
<v Speaker 4>on YouTube. So give us a follow on YouTube, give
<v Speaker 4>us a subscribe on YouTube. You know how to search
<v Speaker 4>for it. I think you got the name down right,
<v Speaker 4>so all right, well that'll do it for me. Everybody.
<v Speaker 4>Hope you all had a great New Year and we'll
<v Speaker 4>be talking next time.
<v Speaker 3>Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to
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