Official 2026 Royal Rumble Review & Reaction

<v Speaker 1>Well, the Royal Rumble has come and gone from Saudi Arabia.
<v Speaker 1>Many of you are not happy with the show. Many
<v Speaker 1>of you look at the show as a big disappointment.
<v Speaker 1>In other words, it didn't meet your expectations. And I
<v Speaker 1>have to say I share in your sympathies with that,
<v Speaker 1>and there's reasons for that. And I'm not going to
<v Speaker 1>try to make this a ranting show because there were
<v Speaker 1>some bright spots for the Royal Rumble, some quality wrestling,
<v Speaker 1>some fun returns, but nothing, as Triple H would say, epic.
<v Speaker 1>And that's where I want to start with this, because
<v Speaker 1>as wwe did a let's be honest, piss poor job
<v Speaker 1>of promoting the Rumble, and yet we're still coming out
<v Speaker 1>of this feeling disappointed.
<v Speaker 2>For most of us.
<v Speaker 1>That just shows you how underwhelming this event was. Now,
<v Speaker 1>would I graded an F or a D even, No, No,
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't. If you're looking from an overall grade, I'd
<v Speaker 1>give it a C minus just below average. But even
<v Speaker 1>with that grade, going into this event and still coming
<v Speaker 1>out underwhelmed is not good. So there's that, and I
<v Speaker 1>really have to say we need to just totally disregard
<v Speaker 1>any and everything that Triple H says leading up to
<v Speaker 1>an event anyway, because his job is to hype up
<v Speaker 1>the event, but he's doing it in such comical proportions,
<v Speaker 1>using language that has absolutely no accuracy coming out of
<v Speaker 1>the event most of the time. This is now the
<v Speaker 1>second or third time that Triple H has said an
<v Speaker 1>event is going to be epic, And I don't know
<v Speaker 1>any fan that I've seen anyway that's coming out of
<v Speaker 1>this event being in lockstep with Triple H's assessment coming
<v Speaker 1>out saying wow, epic show. Has anyone said that? Now, again,
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't a horrible show, but when Triple H says
<v Speaker 1>it's epic, we just guys don't even pay attention to
<v Speaker 1>the language he uses anymore. It's nonsense. It is nothing
<v Speaker 1>more than him trying to oversell the show, and hey,
<v Speaker 1>it's his job to try to sell the show, at
<v Speaker 1>least in part. What's he going to say, you know, hey, look,
<v Speaker 1>we didn't want to promote this too much and build
<v Speaker 1>up the rumble and make you kind of forget about
<v Speaker 1>it until the last week and a half because it's
<v Speaker 1>really not.
<v Speaker 2>Going to be that exciting.
<v Speaker 1>What's he going to say, you know, of course they're
<v Speaker 1>going to say that of course he's going to have
<v Speaker 1>to say it's going to be epic, which is of
<v Speaker 1>course ridiculous.
<v Speaker 2>Coming out of this.
<v Speaker 1>Nothing of a prize happened here. Nothing of consequence, Well,
<v Speaker 1>consequence isn't the right word. Nothing of shocking consequence, No
<v Speaker 1>big turns. I don't want to hear about Brie Bella
<v Speaker 1>and quiet the kids all right here it comes all right.
<v Speaker 1>I know some of you listen with children. You've been warned.
<v Speaker 3>Uh.
<v Speaker 1>I don't give a shit about Briebella. I don't care
<v Speaker 1>about the Bellas as you know at all. And if
<v Speaker 1>that's supposed to be the return we hang our hat on,
<v Speaker 1>where are our expectations anymore? The Bella's really that's what
<v Speaker 1>we're supposed to be up in arms about and losing
<v Speaker 1>our minds over and talking about how epic the show
<v Speaker 1>is because of Brie Bella.
<v Speaker 2>No.
<v Speaker 1>Now, she did admittedly get a nice reaction from the crowd,
<v Speaker 1>she really did, but it was a lot in response
<v Speaker 1>to who her husband is not her. If you paid
<v Speaker 1>attention to the chance in Saudi, it was the yes, yes,
<v Speaker 1>yes chance, So keep that in mind as Bribella moves forward.
<v Speaker 1>I don't even find the Bella is that compelling on
<v Speaker 1>any level really outside of Okay, they're twins that are
<v Speaker 1>above average in physical attractiveness. That's kind of all they've
<v Speaker 1>got to bring to the table, and they know it.
<v Speaker 1>Nicki has I think a bit of a better ability
<v Speaker 1>in the ring than bri But they both are hanging
<v Speaker 1>on to an era, and we're the faces of an
<v Speaker 1>era that is long gone that we want to forget,
<v Speaker 1>the diva's era. They were the faces and trail blazers
<v Speaker 1>of the Diva's era. I'll give them that, but that's
<v Speaker 1>not saying much. So whatever Bribella, who cares? I really,
<v Speaker 1>I don't. I don't know how many people do now
<v Speaker 1>Looking at the women's rumble, we'll dive into that in
<v Speaker 1>a moment, piece by piece. But the winner with liv Morgan,
<v Speaker 1>I was wrong. I thought it'd be Bianca bell Air.
<v Speaker 1>Like many we did not get a Bianca bell Air return.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe her, I mean, I don't know what her finger
<v Speaker 1>is doing. If her finger is still injured, she may
<v Speaker 1>want to at this point just lop off her hand
<v Speaker 1>and get a prosthetic. That would be a quicker recovery.
<v Speaker 1>Then whatever the hell is going on with this finger
<v Speaker 1>of hers. But if Bionca Bellair is going to return,
<v Speaker 1>I would hope it's before WrestleMania. She still certainly could
<v Speaker 1>be a part of the elimination chamber. Jade versus Jade
<v Speaker 1>versus Bianca is still possibly on the table because of
<v Speaker 1>the chamber, that's your second path to WrestleMania. So Live
<v Speaker 1>versus Jade not that exciting, although Live would immediately be
<v Speaker 1>the babyface in that. I mean, there's not even a
<v Speaker 1>question Live versus Stephanie Vicaer.
<v Speaker 2>Eh.
<v Speaker 1>Sorry, that's not a wrestler any main event to me,
<v Speaker 1>not even close. But Live Morgan herself winning I thought
<v Speaker 1>she wouldn't, only because it's a soft choice. I said
<v Speaker 1>at the time, she didn't have a lot of momentum
<v Speaker 1>behind her. It didn't feel like she was being positioned
<v Speaker 1>for this victory. She was kind of in the tag
<v Speaker 1>team division for a while. But she won, And I
<v Speaker 1>am not going to sit here and complain about that choice.
<v Speaker 1>That's a bright spot for me. It wasn't Rea Ripley winning,
<v Speaker 1>thank goodness. Nothing against Rhea, but that would have been
<v Speaker 1>the most vanilla choice they could have made. Same with
<v Speaker 1>Charlotte her and Live, I think her Sorry, yeah, Charlotte
<v Speaker 1>and Rhea's victories would have been very, very poorly received.
<v Speaker 1>And now there's a little tension between Charlotte and Alexa
<v Speaker 1>because Charlotte eliminated Alexa, right, and now we have to
<v Speaker 1>think about, Oh God, is somebody turning on somebody?
<v Speaker 2>Which I hope not. So.
<v Speaker 1>Overall, live Morgan winning not a terrible decision. Was the
<v Speaker 1>women's rumble particularly exciting? I don't think so, obviously. Some
<v Speaker 1>standouts are lash Legend, who had a hell of a night.
<v Speaker 1>I had an idea that and many of you did too.
<v Speaker 1>Lash Legend would be a big time player in this.
<v Speaker 1>You knew she was going to be a part of it.
<v Speaker 1>They've been pushing her fairly high over the last several
<v Speaker 1>weeks since she's come out of the scene and aligned
<v Speaker 1>herself with Nia Jacks. So she had a good night
<v Speaker 1>and other women did too. We'll get into it, but
<v Speaker 1>first want to welcome you to the show. Welcome to
<v Speaker 1>the w podcast. If you're new here. A lot of
<v Speaker 1>listeners do kind of pop in and out on the
<v Speaker 1>big time pl days and reviews. Well, I want to
<v Speaker 1>welcome you to the show. If you're new or you're returning,
<v Speaker 1>Welcome or welcome back. You guys can go add free
<v Speaker 1>at Patreon dot com slash WWE podcast because that's a
<v Speaker 1>great way to go ad free, and I know that
<v Speaker 1>many of you do use that as well as Apple.
<v Speaker 1>So we'll also get to some emails. I know, I
<v Speaker 1>forgot about the emails this week more like push them
<v Speaker 1>to this weekend is really kind of what I did.
<v Speaker 1>But I see them. I'm going to try to get
<v Speaker 1>to them here towards the end of the show. Some
<v Speaker 1>of them pre date the Rumble. Some of them are
<v Speaker 1>in reaction to the rumble, so stay tuned for that.
<v Speaker 1>It's not just going to be me and giving my opinion.
<v Speaker 1>You're gonna hear from others as well, So you guys
<v Speaker 1>can email me too, by the way, mailbag at WWE
<v Speaker 1>podcast dot com. So let's get to the women's Rumble
<v Speaker 1>and the number one entrant, Charlotte Flair, Number two, Lexa
<v Speaker 1>Bliss totally by chance, I'm sure, but I also did like,
<v Speaker 1>here's a bright spot before I.
<v Speaker 2>Get into the nitty gritty of things.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't like the elimination number, or rather they had
<v Speaker 1>the entrant how many people have been eliminated or how
<v Speaker 1>many people have been active. They had a nice little
<v Speaker 1>ticker at the bottom that kind of kept track of
<v Speaker 1>things for you, which is nice. Actually, I didn't mind that.
<v Speaker 1>I thought that was a nice touch, So props to
<v Speaker 1>whoever came up with that idea. So Alexa and Charlotte
<v Speaker 1>were in the in the first two in the match here,
<v Speaker 1>and the number three entrant was Keanu James, but Flair
<v Speaker 1>enlisted rough up James and then let's see, we had
<v Speaker 1>number four, which was Nia Jacks. And by the way,
<v Speaker 1>the floor lights, I don't know what was going on here.
<v Speaker 1>It did I never got used to the lights. In
<v Speaker 1>the crowd. It looked like the seats were completely empty.
<v Speaker 1>Didn't like it. Just my personal preference. I know, I
<v Speaker 1>don't complain about a lot, so kind of a unique
<v Speaker 1>thing to hear me complain about things. But yeah, that's one.
<v Speaker 1>So number five was Ivy Nile. She had some German souplexes,
<v Speaker 1>but James down with the DDT. Number six was Lolavice.
<v Speaker 1>Number seven was Candice Loray. Number eight was Jordan Grace.
<v Speaker 1>And it's not over until you win, a male voice
<v Speaker 1>said before her entrance music played. Grace ran to the
<v Speaker 1>ring and beat down a couple of wrestlers shoved Wece
<v Speaker 1>and Loray over the top rope and to eliminate both
<v Speaker 1>of them, and then Grace followed up by eliminating Nile
<v Speaker 1>and Jackson Bliss. They ended up on the apron. Flair
<v Speaker 1>threw a running big boot to eliminate jacks and then
<v Speaker 1>Flair tried to save Bliss, but she also fell to
<v Speaker 1>the floor. So there's your little bit of tension here
<v Speaker 1>with Charlotte and Alexa with the bump. I thought it
<v Speaker 1>was intentional. Earlier on I mentioned that there's some tension.
<v Speaker 1>There still will be tension between Flair and Bliss. So
<v Speaker 1>number nine was Becky Lynch, big moment there, and she
<v Speaker 1>fought with Flair and almost eliminated her. Number ten was
<v Speaker 1>soul Ruka, who had a heck of a night, obviously
<v Speaker 1>being the final elimination of the Royal Roumbo, and then
<v Speaker 1>we had Ruka hit a springboard three sixty clothes line.
<v Speaker 1>She followed up by putting Lynch down with a facebuster
<v Speaker 1>and super kicked her. Number eleven was Roxanne Perez, Number
<v Speaker 1>twelve was Maxine Duprix. Thirteen was Natty not In Natalia.
<v Speaker 1>Natty Cole was very adamant that we knew that it
<v Speaker 1>was Natty not in Italia, and number fourteen was liv Morgan.
<v Speaker 1>Cole said she finished second twice in third last year,
<v Speaker 1>and Perez and Bliss high fived and then hugged. We
<v Speaker 1>then had number fifteen Lash Legend. Legend pointed at the
<v Speaker 1>WrestleMania forty two sign which I hate that number sixteen
<v Speaker 1>was Zelina. Seventeen was rare Cal Rodriguez. She had a
<v Speaker 1>fairly big night as well. She hit James with a
<v Speaker 1>big boot to knock her off for an elimination, but
<v Speaker 1>blissen Perez return of the ring and hugged Rodriguez. Number
<v Speaker 1>eighteen was Chelsea Green, Number nineteen was Julia, Number twenty
<v Speaker 1>was EO Sky, twenty one was Oscar, twenty two was
<v Speaker 1>Rhea Ripley, So now we're getting into the big hitters.
<v Speaker 1>Twenty three was Bailey, twenty four was j C. Jane,
<v Speaker 1>twenty five was Nicky Bella, twenty six was Lyra Valkyria,
<v Speaker 1>twenty seven was Kalanie Jordan, twenty eight was Kyrie Sin,
<v Speaker 1>twenty nine was Brie Bella, and thirty was Tippity Stratton.
<v Speaker 1>So the end of the match here the final four
<v Speaker 1>were Rodriguez, Morgan, Ruca, and Stratton. Morgan shoved Rodriguez over
<v Speaker 1>the top to eliminate her. Morgan smiled while looking down
<v Speaker 1>angry at Rodriguez, and then Stratton hit a springboard elbow
<v Speaker 1>on Ruca, and Morgan followed out with a knee strike,
<v Speaker 1>and Stratton hit the prettiest moon salt ever on Morgan,
<v Speaker 1>and then Ruka hit a double soul snatcher on Morgan
<v Speaker 1>and Stratton, and then she tried to dump them both
<v Speaker 1>over the top rope, which led all three women skinning
<v Speaker 1>the cat and they all survived and fought of the
<v Speaker 1>apron and Ruca went for a soul snatcher and Stratton
<v Speaker 1>saw her coming shoved her legs, causing Ruka to follow
<v Speaker 1>the floor, and then Morgan hit oblivion on Stratton to
<v Speaker 1>eliminate her.
<v Speaker 2>You know, it's.
<v Speaker 1>Funny, every World Rumble was always these finishers that every
<v Speaker 1>other time of the year, like all three hundred and
<v Speaker 1>sixty four days of the year. Then when they get
<v Speaker 1>hit with whatever finish, they don't just pop right back
<v Speaker 1>up so that they can be eliminated. They actually just
<v Speaker 1>lay there, you know. So I mean that happened with
<v Speaker 1>several finishers throughout the rumble for.
<v Speaker 2>The men and women, and.
<v Speaker 1>It's kind of I mean, I know why they do it,
<v Speaker 1>so it's kind of an impactful moment. It keeps the
<v Speaker 1>rhythm going, but it also kind of is a little
<v Speaker 1>silly that so many different finishers. Suddenly those people are
<v Speaker 1>popping back up just so they can get knocked over
<v Speaker 1>the top rope. You know that you can't have them
<v Speaker 1>lay there and then just have the the other wrestler
<v Speaker 1>just can pick them up and toss their ass over
<v Speaker 1>the top. But I mean, it's just a little nitpick there.
<v Speaker 1>So Morgan wins and Cole said Morgan was a bridesmaid
<v Speaker 1>no more, and Morgan celebrated and was mostly cheered. She
<v Speaker 1>played to the crowd, sat down, looked at the WrestleMania sign,
<v Speaker 1>she exited the ring, and then that was it. So again,
<v Speaker 1>this rumble was Okay. The analysis I'm looking here at
<v Speaker 1>is again credit to Pro Wrestling Net because they always
<v Speaker 1>do such a great job, and here's the analysis that
<v Speaker 1>they have, and I'll give you my ta on it
<v Speaker 1>as well. I'm not here to promote Pro Wrestling Net.
<v Speaker 1>Obviously they're somewhat of a competitor in my space, but hey,
<v Speaker 1>they love wrestling. I love wrestling, you know what the hell?
<v Speaker 1>So the first half of the match dragged, The second
<v Speaker 1>half of the match was better, and the finish was
<v Speaker 1>fairly suspenseful, though Morgan did seem like a heavy favorite
<v Speaker 1>once it came down to her, Ruka and Stratton. It'll
<v Speaker 1>be interesting to see where things go with Morgan and
<v Speaker 1>Rodriguez after Morgan eliminated her fellow Judgment Day stablemate and
<v Speaker 1>Ruka had a good outing and Barrett is right about
<v Speaker 1>her finish, So yeah, I would agree. You know that
<v Speaker 1>the first half of the match was just it did.
<v Speaker 1>It took a while to get going, and that's not
<v Speaker 1>a good thing, particularly when it's the first match of
<v Speaker 1>the night and you're ready to go and it still
<v Speaker 1>felt like it dragged. You know, this wasn't two hours in.
<v Speaker 1>This was minute one. Not good. But yeah it picked up.
<v Speaker 1>You know why it picked up because he got stars
<v Speaker 1>coming in. That's why star power is everything in this business.
<v Speaker 2>Just like so many.
<v Speaker 1>Others, really, every other platform of entertainment, movie, TV, show
<v Speaker 1>or other major sport, NFL, MLB doesn't matter. Stars will
<v Speaker 1>always sell the tickets forever and always. So that's why
<v Speaker 1>it felt like it picked up because simply we had
<v Speaker 1>more star power, which is also kind of typical for
<v Speaker 1>how Royal rubble matches is usually laid out, whether it's
<v Speaker 1>the men or the women. You know, you have a
<v Speaker 1>couple of big stars in the first half of you know,
<v Speaker 1>the first one to fifteen, and then you really kind
<v Speaker 1>of bottom load it with the bigger stars, particularly like
<v Speaker 1>twenty through thirty that are usually the heavy hitters. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>we then have gun thron Aj Styles, and remember if
<v Speaker 1>Styles loses, he must retire. The match went twenty four
<v Speaker 1>minutes and I kind of had a feeling it would
<v Speaker 1>go this long, but deservingly so. With Gunther winning, he
<v Speaker 1>ends the career of AJ Styles. This to me was
<v Speaker 1>it was a bit surprising, not a bad choice, just
<v Speaker 1>a bit surprising on the timing, because the timing is
<v Speaker 1>this is the beginning of WrestleMania season. What are we doing?
<v Speaker 1>And what's AJ thinking? What's wwe thinking? Most importantly, it's
<v Speaker 1>not really up to AJ per se. If they have
<v Speaker 1>something planned for him at WrestleMania and AJ said no,
<v Speaker 1>then outside on AJ, we'll never know the backstage stuff,
<v Speaker 1>at least not right now. Weird timing, weird timing, but
<v Speaker 1>a really good match. He did hit a Styles clash
<v Speaker 1>on Gunther. I didn't think he could do it. He
<v Speaker 1>got one, so credit to both men have I don't
<v Speaker 1>have an issue with this decision. The match was laid
<v Speaker 1>out great, some kickouts and finishes as expected, because.
<v Speaker 2>That's just what we do now.
<v Speaker 1>The Styles going for a phenomenal forearm and Gunther was
<v Speaker 1>waiting and tried to hook him into a sleeper, but
<v Speaker 1>Styles reverses it. Gunther grabs the ref and then you'll
<v Speaker 1>kick Styles gun through powerbomb Styles another strong near fall.
<v Speaker 1>Gunther then was barking at the referee over not getting
<v Speaker 1>the three count, and then Stiles used the ropes to
<v Speaker 1>pull himself to his feet and gun Thro threw chops
<v Speaker 1>at Styles and it was great. This was a really
<v Speaker 1>really good match. But AJ Styles loses. He loses the match,
<v Speaker 1>and now what does he do?
<v Speaker 2>Well?
<v Speaker 1>Does he go to TNA? Does he maybe somehow have
<v Speaker 1>a loophole that if guntherer would allow it, he'd come
<v Speaker 1>back for WrestleMania. I mean, this sounds insane, but would
<v Speaker 1>you guys even want to see Aj Styles and Gunther
<v Speaker 1>again if if you did wrestle the time? But it's
<v Speaker 1>like what kind of already you know, the fact that
<v Speaker 1>Gunther beat him and then he'd allow him to come
<v Speaker 1>out of retirement to beat him again is a little silly,
<v Speaker 1>but I'm saying it is a WrestleMania worthy match. I
<v Speaker 1>still want Gunther and Brock, but it is what it is.
<v Speaker 1>Aj Styles apparently is done in w W and if
<v Speaker 1>this is truly it and there's no storyline thing going
<v Speaker 1>on where he's coming back and Gunther allows him to,
<v Speaker 1>you know, it's WrestleMania season, so anything could really happen.
<v Speaker 1>Any kind of you know, detour that they want to take,
<v Speaker 1>they can take here because WrestleMania season all hands on deck, right,
<v Speaker 1>no matter how silly or you know, whatever the case
<v Speaker 1>may be, they really still may have Styles show up
<v Speaker 1>a WrestleMania. But I really would have bet a lot
<v Speaker 1>of money here, and good thing I didn't that Styles
<v Speaker 1>would have come away with a victory, but it is
<v Speaker 1>by d Q, which would kept his you know, keep
<v Speaker 1>his career alive, and then he'd go to WrestleMania. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know of another major star that purposefully ended their
<v Speaker 1>career three months before WrestleMania, not you know, I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>I know, WrestleMania is not the end all be all.
<v Speaker 1>It really isn't. Maybe another WrestleMania to AJ wouldn't have
<v Speaker 1>done much for him, and he's like, no, look, hey,
<v Speaker 1>I want I just want to stop tearing up my body.
<v Speaker 1>I want time with my family. Hey do you do you?
<v Speaker 2>Bro? Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>I have nothing bad to say about that. Maybe another
<v Speaker 1>WrestleMania isn't appealing to him. He's been there, done that,
<v Speaker 1>but how many times? Ten times more than that? So
<v Speaker 1>to him it's like a yeah, what the hell? And
<v Speaker 1>they're not going to have any big match for me WrestleMania. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it would be a nice payday. But maybe money's not
<v Speaker 1>an issue. Maybe he's just satisfied with his career and
<v Speaker 1>he knows in his heart he's done. And if that's true, great,
<v Speaker 1>cool cool, So a lot of thank you ajs and
<v Speaker 1>the hand symbol it was it was. It was a
<v Speaker 1>nice moment. But the win added really well to Gunther's
<v Speaker 1>career killing, his career killing. I guess Aura, his legacy
<v Speaker 1>that he's forging now is about killing careers. He can
<v Speaker 1>add AJ to the list of Goldberg and John Cena.
<v Speaker 1>Now I will say that both of those men rather
<v Speaker 1>Goldberg and John Cena. They didn't retire because of Gunther.
<v Speaker 1>They retired despite the outcome. Gunther just happened to beat
<v Speaker 1>them in their final matches. That's an important point, and
<v Speaker 1>that's not going to be driven home by w w
<v Speaker 1>A because they're trying to sell gun through as a
<v Speaker 1>career killer. In reality, this is fairly the first career
<v Speaker 1>killing match that he has had. But they're not going
<v Speaker 1>to give you that distinction. They're gonna say, remember Goldberg,
<v Speaker 1>Remember John Cena. AJ's like that. He's like, no, he's not.
<v Speaker 1>AJ put his career on the line. Goldberg didn't, John
<v Speaker 1>Cena didn't. They were already of their own volition, their
<v Speaker 1>own choice. They said they were ending it win loser
<v Speaker 1>draw on this date and their final match was gun there.
<v Speaker 1>So they lost to Gunther in their final match, but
<v Speaker 1>AJ ended his career because of a of Gunther. That's
<v Speaker 1>the difference. Nonetheless, it's not a complaint as it is
<v Speaker 1>just an important distinction, and you, you know, as a fan,
<v Speaker 1>I think you should just take note of that. You know,
<v Speaker 1>when they try to pull a wall over your eyes
<v Speaker 1>that he's a career killer, it's like, well, is he?
<v Speaker 1>This is his first one, truly his first one. But fine,
<v Speaker 1>we'll play along because Gunther is a big deal.
<v Speaker 2>He really is.
<v Speaker 1>So oh before I forget, let me take a little
<v Speaker 1>sip here of my beverage. The two K twenty six
<v Speaker 1>cover Superstar, I was like, it was revealed on the
<v Speaker 1>pre show. Is cmpunk right, I mean, we have the
<v Speaker 1>King of Kings, which is stupid as far as like
<v Speaker 1>a special edition. And actually let me let me go
<v Speaker 1>to the site w two K twenty six, just because
<v Speaker 1>I want to make sure I have all the information correct.
<v Speaker 1>So the two K twenty six, it's the tagline is
<v Speaker 1>the show Never Stops and we have a cmpunk is
<v Speaker 1>the cover star, and that's the standard edition. The next
<v Speaker 1>up is the King of King's Edition, and I'm not
<v Speaker 1>going to go through everything that it has. You guys
<v Speaker 1>can go on two k's website and check that out.
<v Speaker 1>Then it's two K twenty six the Attitude Era edition.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, and.
<v Speaker 1>That is expensive enough. I think that one is one
<v Speaker 1>hundred bucks, maybe one hundred and twenty. The Monday Night
<v Speaker 1>War edition is one hundred and fifty dollars. The Monday
<v Speaker 1>Night War edition of two K twenty six is one
<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifty dollars. Do they think they are GTA six?
<v Speaker 1>I have never Maybe I'm wrong with two K twenty five.
<v Speaker 1>I actually didn't even buy two K twenty five, not
<v Speaker 1>just because I don't have time to play video games.
<v Speaker 1>I used to love the wrestling games. I would literally
<v Speaker 1>count the days until they released, like the next SmackDown
<v Speaker 1>versus Raw or at the time, I remember counting down
<v Speaker 1>from you know, SmackDown, just bring it to shut your mouth,
<v Speaker 1>to here comes the Pain to then it was I
<v Speaker 1>think SmackDown versus Raw, SmackDown versus Raw six, so seven
<v Speaker 1>to oh eight, and and then then they eventually changed
<v Speaker 1>it to two K twelve. I think it was WWE twelve,
<v Speaker 1>and then thirteen, and then fourteen two K fourteen fifteen,
<v Speaker 1>so like it's evolved over time, and I used to
<v Speaker 1>count down the days. It would be like a holiday,
<v Speaker 1>you know, you look at the rumors of what's in
<v Speaker 1>the game and this and that, and I mean, I
<v Speaker 1>don't know if that's even done by people anymore these days,
<v Speaker 1>but I remember it was such a big deal and
<v Speaker 1>the video game was one version, one version of the
<v Speaker 1>game for like sixty bucks PS at the time, PS
<v Speaker 1>two or PS three or PS four, even PS five
<v Speaker 1>up until a point, and then suddenly there's these tiers
<v Speaker 1>of gaming, of the strategy that Call of Duty has implemented.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure GTA will implement, but people would empty their
<v Speaker 1>bank accounts for GTA and will empty their bank accounts
<v Speaker 1>for GTA.
<v Speaker 2>And it's just.
<v Speaker 1>Been this tiered structure of marketing for gaming. And you
<v Speaker 1>don't even have to go to the store anymore, like
<v Speaker 1>game stop or wherever you're picking up Walmart or Target,
<v Speaker 1>or you can buy of course on Amazon. You know,
<v Speaker 1>all of those places where it used to be such
<v Speaker 1>a tradition to go and wait for the game to
<v Speaker 1>come out as a midnight release, especially when a new
<v Speaker 1>console was coming out. I remember how big PS two was,
<v Speaker 1>obviously PS three, which ended up being kind of a
<v Speaker 1>disaster of a console. PS four rebounded PS five. And yes,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not a neglecting Xbox I had an Xbox. I
<v Speaker 1>had an Xbox three sixty, which so many great memories
<v Speaker 1>of Halo, Halo two, Halo three, especially Halo three if
<v Speaker 1>you want. By the way, guys, I don't know how
<v Speaker 1>old some of you are, but I would guess most
<v Speaker 1>of you are in my core audience of my age.
<v Speaker 1>I'm forty I'll be forty one soon, so I'm prime millennial.
<v Speaker 1>If you were in the gaming sphere in the mid
<v Speaker 1>two thousands, say from like three to twenty ten, twenty eleven,
<v Speaker 1>twenty twelve, and you want some nostalgia and it maybe
<v Speaker 1>you have thought of this before, but just go to
<v Speaker 1>YouTube and search like Halo three main menu music. It
<v Speaker 1>will bring you back to a time that is that
<v Speaker 1>you never thought you'd think about again, or you never
<v Speaker 1>thought you'd feel again. It sounds a little over dramatic,
<v Speaker 1>but the Halo three theme song, the music on the
<v Speaker 1>main menu is just I mean, I can't explain it.
<v Speaker 1>It's probably the best main menu music of all time.
<v Speaker 1>Halo two is also really good. Halo four doesn't get
<v Speaker 1>its flowers. Halo four is actually pretty good too. I
<v Speaker 1>didn't really play Halo five or Guardian or whatever, or
<v Speaker 1>Halo Reach. And I know Halo's also coming to PlayStation
<v Speaker 1>this year, which is crazy, although it's not going to
<v Speaker 1>be a multiplayer, which sucks. But my point about all
<v Speaker 1>this is this tiered structure of gaming.
<v Speaker 2>Sucks.
<v Speaker 1>It sucks because they could easily release two K twenty
<v Speaker 1>six as the Monday Night War Edition if they wanted
<v Speaker 1>to and give us everything that was gonna be in
<v Speaker 1>the game. Instead, you get a stripped down version for uh,
<v Speaker 1>you know, for you want you want two K twenty six,
<v Speaker 1>you can get it.
<v Speaker 2>You can get it.
<v Speaker 1>But you're gonna, you know, uh, you're gonna be getting
<v Speaker 1>a stripped down version of the game. They're what's included,
<v Speaker 1>by the way, or what don't you get for the
<v Speaker 1>stripped down version? Apparently there's a bunch of a virtual currency,
<v Speaker 1>thirty two thousand virtual currency. There's a Ringside a Pass Premium,
<v Speaker 1>it's like a season pass essentially, a King of King's
<v Speaker 1>Edition pack, Superstar Megaboost which allows you to get one
<v Speaker 1>hundred thousand virtual currency, a my Rise Megaboost, the Attitude
<v Speaker 1>Era Edition pack. I mean, there's also a WrestleMania forty
<v Speaker 1>two pack coming this summer and a Monday Night War
<v Speaker 1>Edition pack.
<v Speaker 2>Obviously you don't get.
<v Speaker 1>But my point is hered gaming sucks because they know
<v Speaker 1>what they're doing. It's almost a money grab. It's almost
<v Speaker 1>a money grab. But one hundred and fifty dollars for
<v Speaker 1>the top tier edition of two K twenty ses I
<v Speaker 1>don't know. Another game name it can maybe I'm wrong.
<v Speaker 1>Even Call of Duty, Black Ops seven Battlefield six this year,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know of another game that, even in the
<v Speaker 1>highest tier they have, that they have had this high
<v Speaker 1>of a top tier price. It's it's absurd.
<v Speaker 2>This is.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, it's laughable. Think about the price. One hundred
<v Speaker 1>and fifty bucks is nearly the price you could get
<v Speaker 1>a new switch for of the first gen, maybe not
<v Speaker 1>the second I think that's two ninety nine, but that
<v Speaker 1>used to be the price you could get for a
<v Speaker 1>console that was like an N sixty four, brand new
<v Speaker 1>N sixty four. Price it's absurd. So some of you
<v Speaker 1>will buy it the only way if it goes under
<v Speaker 1>one hundred dollars at some point I may, but is
<v Speaker 1>it really worth it? I mean I barely have time to,
<v Speaker 1>you know, play the little bit of video gaming I can,
<v Speaker 1>and right now the big thing for me is like
<v Speaker 1>Black Op seven, Not that anyone cares, but all right,
<v Speaker 1>So anyway, I wanted to give a little rant on
<v Speaker 1>the pricing of two K twenty six, which is available now.
<v Speaker 1>You can pre order it if you really want to,
<v Speaker 1>and again you can go through all the details here.
<v Speaker 1>Some of the playable stars that you get with the
<v Speaker 1>Monday Night War Edition, pretty much everybody's unlocked, and I
<v Speaker 1>guess that's the big thing. Like Shawn Michael's DX. And
<v Speaker 1>you get the WCW Thunder nineteen ninety eight arena, there's
<v Speaker 1>a selling point.
<v Speaker 2>You get the Rock.
<v Speaker 1>Nineteen ninety nine, Kne ninety eight, China ninety seven, all
<v Speaker 1>stuff that you know, they take out that should be
<v Speaker 1>included anyway, you know what I mean, and they repackage
<v Speaker 1>it as some kind of special elite edition. When you're
<v Speaker 1>naming something and focusing around the Attitude era, how do
<v Speaker 1>you not as a stock allow the Rock ninety nine,
<v Speaker 1>Cane nineteen ninety eight, Shawn Michael's DX. How are they
<v Speaker 1>not just stock part of just unlockable? Anyway, they're already unlocked.
<v Speaker 1>I just it's kind of amazing. So anyway, Yes, and
<v Speaker 1>they're trying to get you to pre order now so
<v Speaker 1>that you can get, you know, extra stuff. Let's get
<v Speaker 1>back to the Royal Rumbo. That's what we're here for
<v Speaker 1>to hear me talk about the the issues I have
<v Speaker 1>with the two k's pricing, which is of course signed
<v Speaker 1>off on by the money hungry TKO, and that should
<v Speaker 1>be absolutely no surprise that this is record levels of
<v Speaker 1>trying to you know, Penny pinch here and get every
<v Speaker 1>dollar out of all of you and me that they
<v Speaker 1>possibly can. So let's continue. We have Drew mcatoyre and
<v Speaker 1>Sammy's am for the w WE Championship. The match went
<v Speaker 1>sixteen minutes in a match that I really I enjoyed it.
<v Speaker 1>I enjoyed the pacing. The outcome was the absolute right
<v Speaker 1>thing to do. I had predicted that not just McIntyre
<v Speaker 1>was gonna win, but I figured that the way w
<v Speaker 1>w E books heels, they were going to have him
<v Speaker 1>do something underhanded to beat Zane and they didn't. He
<v Speaker 1>McIntire anyway, he is the right guy at the right time,
<v Speaker 1>right now to hold this championship. He is as good
<v Speaker 1>as he's ever been character wise, Mike work, in ring everything.
<v Speaker 1>He's at the right place at the right time. Sammy
<v Speaker 1>Zain is not. He had a great moment a few
<v Speaker 1>years ago, as we all know what, the elimination chamber
<v Speaker 1>against Roman Rings, and they didn't pull the trigger. Ever
<v Speaker 1>since then, he's been on a general downward trend and
<v Speaker 1>now he's screaming. I'm sure he'll scream and complain about
<v Speaker 1>you know how he was always the you know, he's
<v Speaker 1>always the runner up or whatever, and he always seems
<v Speaker 1>to be.
<v Speaker 2>But the timing wasn't right. It would have made no sense.
<v Speaker 1>So Drew McIntyre winning total right call. All right, but
<v Speaker 1>by the way, the match was really good.
<v Speaker 2>I enjoyed it.
<v Speaker 1>Let's go to the men's World Rumble.
<v Speaker 2>This match was.
<v Speaker 1>I enjoyed this match generally. The number one entrant was Obafemi,
<v Speaker 1>big big reaction here. Number two is bron Breaker. But
<v Speaker 1>big disappointment of a night for bron Breaker as he
<v Speaker 1>was attacked by a masked man and hit with a
<v Speaker 1>stomp and then thrown in the ring. Or he came
<v Speaker 1>in the ring and Oba Femi clothes lined him over
<v Speaker 1>the top to eliminate him. So yeah, bron Breaker was
<v Speaker 1>attacked by the masked man. Could it still be Austin theory?
<v Speaker 1>I mean, my god, I hope not. I mean, they
<v Speaker 1>have done absolutely nothing with Austin theory since he was
<v Speaker 1>revealed as the masked man. I mean, there was no
<v Speaker 1>plan there other than just yeah, we're gonn that's how're
<v Speaker 1>gonna introduce. We're going to give him really bad haircut
<v Speaker 1>and he's going to come in, not give us a
<v Speaker 1>great promo, to not really under not really like give
<v Speaker 1>us any heartfelt promo, and just be another face in
<v Speaker 1>the group. And that's unfortunately what Austin theory has been
<v Speaker 1>so far. Bron Breaker is clearly the focus, and he
<v Speaker 1>was robbed of the opportunity to compete here tonight and
<v Speaker 1>it was a bit frustrating. But also is this Seth Rollins.
<v Speaker 2>It could be.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, the stomp is back. Seth's was very clear
<v Speaker 1>that he's not going to be in the rumble, and
<v Speaker 1>he wasn't. But I looked at the body structure and
<v Speaker 1>the movement of him, it didn't look like Seth Rollins.
<v Speaker 1>I guess it still could be Seth. I mean, maybe
<v Speaker 1>he's on track to come back much earlier than we
<v Speaker 1>all realize, and that'd be great. So it certainly could
<v Speaker 1>be Seth Rollins. Makes sense to the way Seth left.
<v Speaker 1>So we got number three Solo Soka. Four was Raymisterio.
<v Speaker 1>Good to see that raised back and not from a
<v Speaker 1>potential horrific injury on raw, but looks like he's okay.
<v Speaker 1>Russev was number five. Number six was Matt Cardona. Number
<v Speaker 1>seven was Damian Priest Number eight was Javon Evans nine
<v Speaker 1>mister Iguana, you know what I think about this kind
<v Speaker 1>of nonsense. Number ten was Trick Williams. Eleven Cody Rhodes
<v Speaker 1>and Cole said Cody was looking to join Steve Austin
<v Speaker 1>as a three time Royal Rumbo winner.
<v Speaker 2>I hope that he did.
<v Speaker 1>Doesn't but at some point I'm sure he will. And
<v Speaker 1>number twelve was El Grande Americano. Thirteen was again El
<v Speaker 1>Grande Americano, but the Chad Jabel Jabel Chad Gable version.
<v Speaker 1>Number fourteen was Royce Keys and number fifteen was Austin Theory.
<v Speaker 1>Number sixteen Bronson Reed, seventeen, dragonov eighteen Laparca.
<v Speaker 2>It was the new.
<v Speaker 1>Laparka, not La Park. Fans were pretty quiet, yeah. Number
<v Speaker 1>nineteen was Dragon Lee. Twenty was Logan Paul twenty one.
<v Speaker 1>As expected here in a spot here with the vision
<v Speaker 1>l A.
<v Speaker 2>Knight.
<v Speaker 1>The fans got a nice reaction, gave a nice reaction.
<v Speaker 2>La Knight he.
<v Speaker 3>Was.
<v Speaker 1>It was reminded that it was his first appearance since
<v Speaker 1>Reid attacked him, and Night eliminated theory. He hit a
<v Speaker 1>bft on Reed and closed lined him over the top
<v Speaker 1>rope and he roughed up Logan Paul. Number twenty two
<v Speaker 1>brock Lesner fans Big reaction, Big reaction. Lesner comes in
<v Speaker 1>immediately hits a German on Cody, he gets. He followed
<v Speaker 1>up with a German on Knight and Evans, and he
<v Speaker 1>closedlined Draggon off. He hoisted up Evans and dropped him
<v Speaker 1>on Dragon off with a F five and Oba approached
<v Speaker 1>Lesner in the middle of the ring, and number twenty
<v Speaker 1>three was miss number well. Lesner eliminated dragging off. He
<v Speaker 1>hit more Germans and squared off with Oba Femei, and
<v Speaker 1>then Cole noted that Lesner asked Oba if he wanted
<v Speaker 1>to try him. Number twenty four was Ray Phoenix. Lesner
<v Speaker 1>put Phoenix down and executed a German. Cole asked how
<v Speaker 1>Lesnar looks bigger every time they see him, and Lesner
<v Speaker 1>eliminated Oba when Obafemi was focused on Logan who had
<v Speaker 1>skinned the cat, and Logan was then hit with a German.
<v Speaker 1>Twenty five was Jay Uso and twenty six was Roman Reigns.
<v Speaker 1>Let's see here, so twenty seven was Jacob Fatu, twenty
<v Speaker 1>eight was Penta, twenty nine was Randy Orton and Orton
<v Speaker 1>entered the ring. He put Jay and Penta down. We
<v Speaker 1>had number thirty as Gunther, not Chris Jericho, but Gunther.
<v Speaker 1>And there was also a graphic noting that Gunther had
<v Speaker 1>the longest time ever in a rumble match in twenty
<v Speaker 1>twenty three and they gave I think it was sixty
<v Speaker 1>one minutes and forty seconds. And let's see here. Evans
<v Speaker 1>went for the O G cutter. Orton hit him with
<v Speaker 1>an RKAO and let's see here the Fat two stared
<v Speaker 1>at McIntyre. Rains tossed a distracted Fat two over the
<v Speaker 1>top rope to eliminate him. Jay tried to eliminate Rains.
<v Speaker 1>He eventually gets eliminated himself, and the final four were Rains, Orton, Gunther,
<v Speaker 1>and Paul Lesler was also eliminated, just kind of half heartedly.
<v Speaker 2>It was just I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>Lesler did not have a huge impact in this match,
<v Speaker 1>which was sad. Yes, him and Obafemi were a fun
<v Speaker 1>face off and maybe that's a tease moving forward. But yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so no Chris Jericho. The ending here is Orton hitting
<v Speaker 1>Rains with an RKAO. Guntherer eliminates Orton, and then it
<v Speaker 1>comes down to once again Rains and gun Thro. And
<v Speaker 1>I say once again because Gunther has been the runner
<v Speaker 1>up I know at least twice, one with Cody Rhodes
<v Speaker 1>and here with Roman Reigns. Rain's escaped gun through sleeper
<v Speaker 1>and spared him before tossing him over the top. So
<v Speaker 1>Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns. And here's the analysis according
<v Speaker 1>to Prowessing that they said the Pyro had to be
<v Speaker 1>a saudy thing. There's no way the money crazed TKO
<v Speaker 1>executives signed off on that Pyro budget. Anyway, Rains isn't
<v Speaker 1>the most exciting winner, and I'm not crazy about him
<v Speaker 1>showing up after a long absence in winning. But the
<v Speaker 1>live crowd ate it up. It's as simple as Rain's
<v Speaker 1>winning the rumble followed by Cody winning the elimination chamber.
<v Speaker 1>The men's Royal Rumble was entertaining, but some of the
<v Speaker 1>eliminations should have meant more. Yeah, I agree, Yeah, like
<v Speaker 1>brock Losers for example. So yeah, not an exciting rumble.
<v Speaker 1>I would say one that was safe. It's safe, and
<v Speaker 1>that's okay. I mean it's okay. We'll see how they
<v Speaker 1>follow up on Monday night, because that's a big deal
<v Speaker 1>because we are officially officially at WrestleMania forty two season
<v Speaker 1>no more, is it? Well, kind of we're on the
<v Speaker 1>outskirts we can say that we are, No, we officially are.
<v Speaker 1>So now we can look towards Elimination Chamber and look
<v Speaker 1>towards who could be in that match to punch their
<v Speaker 1>ticket to WrestleMania. Because don't forget, only fifty percent of
<v Speaker 1>the title matches have been the paths to the title
<v Speaker 1>matches have been filled. One for the Women's Rumble, one
<v Speaker 1>for the Men's Rubble. But now there's a women's Chamber
<v Speaker 1>and a men's Chamber, so two of four spots have
<v Speaker 1>been filled, don't forget that. So there's a lot to
<v Speaker 1>get to for WWE. They've got a lot to kind
<v Speaker 1>of sort out here. When is Chris Jericho coming back?
<v Speaker 1>I mean, it could be just Mondaynet Raw. It really
<v Speaker 1>could be. Could be a Mondynet Raw appearance, could just
<v Speaker 1>be a random or not random, but an elimination Chamber appearance.
<v Speaker 2>They could wait.
<v Speaker 1>It seems as if they're feeling out when the fans
<v Speaker 1>think they know something and then just pulling the plug
<v Speaker 1>just so they don't think that we're as smart as
<v Speaker 1>we are. I feel like, even though Chris Jericho would
<v Speaker 1>have been a perfect thirty entrant to just have a
<v Speaker 1>fun moment and eliminate a person or two and then
<v Speaker 1>get eliminated himself and still be a part of the
<v Speaker 1>road WrestleMania. I mean, why would you not include Chris
<v Speaker 1>Jericho in this if you could have, just to spite
<v Speaker 1>the fans. I do wonder if they do that on purpose.
<v Speaker 1>There's no other primary reason other than to just spite
<v Speaker 1>the fans to make us feel like we don't know everything.
<v Speaker 1>I truly feel that some of the decisions they make
<v Speaker 1>are because of that. They're probably like, damn it, the
<v Speaker 1>word is out now, everybody knows, we're going to change it,
<v Speaker 1>just to change it. So we were probably right up
<v Speaker 1>until it pretty much became public knowledge that Chris was
<v Speaker 1>going to be number thirty, and they changed it.
<v Speaker 2>That's my best guess.
<v Speaker 1>But here we are, another WrestleMania season, another couple of
<v Speaker 1>months to get hyped. It's February tomorrow, which means it'll
<v Speaker 1>be only a couple of months until WrestleMania forty two,
<v Speaker 1>two and a half monthsish, because April isn't it, So
<v Speaker 1>it feels like a long time, but you know how
<v Speaker 1>quickly those days go. You know, one time you turn
<v Speaker 1>around at one point and it's, uh, you know, it's
<v Speaker 1>like whatever it is, how many days we're all like
<v Speaker 1>seventy days or eighty days, whatever it is, and you
<v Speaker 1>look probably more than that, ninety days whatever, And then
<v Speaker 1>you look up and it's fifty and then you look
<v Speaker 1>up and you're like, oh my god, it's in three weeks.
<v Speaker 1>And then the next thing, you know, like, wow, WrestleMania
<v Speaker 1>is next week. That's how it's going to go, because
<v Speaker 1>that's the way it comes every year with everything. So
<v Speaker 1>it seems like a long time away, it's really not.
<v Speaker 1>But what I truly enjoy about this WrestleMania season so
<v Speaker 1>far is there's only one pl between the Rumble and Mania.
<v Speaker 1>I don't see three other random maybe like a crown
<v Speaker 1>jewel thrown in for good measure. I don't see seven
<v Speaker 1>different Saturday Night main events. It right now looks like
<v Speaker 1>a clean rumble to change to Mania path and I
<v Speaker 1>hope they stay the course and don't throw one in
<v Speaker 1>there because they want to just make another quick buck.
<v Speaker 1>But nonetheless, overall C minus I would say for the
<v Speaker 1>royal rumble, safe choices, no big surprises. And I'm also
<v Speaker 1>taking a down half a grade because of Triple H's
<v Speaker 1>comments where he just continues to just sell us on
<v Speaker 1>total bs. It's just total bs. I mean, I don't
<v Speaker 1>know unless he truly believes it. There's also that possibility
<v Speaker 1>to where he truly believes in what he's saying and
<v Speaker 1>not just towing the company line and saying what they
<v Speaker 1>think he thinks they want him to say.
<v Speaker 2>Epic.
<v Speaker 1>Anytime Triple H uses that word anymore, ignore it. Ignore it.
<v Speaker 1>You have been schooled on his epicness a couple of
<v Speaker 1>times now, So don't listen to anything he says prior
<v Speaker 1>to events. All right, So let's get to an email
<v Speaker 1>or two.
<v Speaker 2>Let's see.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know how many I'm gonna get through, but
<v Speaker 1>I'm getting them as as we come in here. I
<v Speaker 1>see you DJ, I see your email. I see a
<v Speaker 1>couple of other people who have, let's see here put
<v Speaker 1>in their emails. So let's get to I'll get to
<v Speaker 1>a couple here. Let's get to Warpath. He's a patron,
<v Speaker 1>and he says this is his predictions. Again, these some
<v Speaker 1>of these do predate the rumble. So he says Mcatire's
<v Speaker 1>going to beat Sammy. Drew's not going to lose it
<v Speaker 1>this soon. I hope for a good run for him. Agreed,
<v Speaker 1>and looks like we're on track so far. Aj Styles
<v Speaker 1>beats Gunther. I can't see this being the end for
<v Speaker 1>aj But what would that do for Gunther? Well, I mean,
<v Speaker 1>I think we're seeing it. They're trying to build him
<v Speaker 1>as a career killer. That's I mean the ultimate goal here.
<v Speaker 1>Men's were all rumble. I would like to see elba
<v Speaker 1>Femi win, but that might be too soon. I hope
<v Speaker 1>it's not Cody Roads of Roman reigns. I like Roman,
<v Speaker 1>but not to win this. Not sure who any surprise
<v Speaker 1>participants on the men's side will be. Well, the answer
<v Speaker 1>is none. We didn't get anything big. I mean, we
<v Speaker 1>got what mister iguana?
<v Speaker 2>Who gives? Who gives a shit?
<v Speaker 1>I mean, there was no big surprise here, no rock,
<v Speaker 1>not that I expected it, but some people did, you know,
<v Speaker 1>which is really surprising because a lot of times they
<v Speaker 1>put their best foot forward in Saudi because of the
<v Speaker 1>amount of money that's on the table for w W
<v Speaker 1>in those events. It's it's astonishing. But okay, uh Women's
<v Speaker 1>Rumble surprise participants Tiffany Bianca and soul Ruka. I'm kind
<v Speaker 1>of leaving leaning towards Bianca winning. Yeah me too, I
<v Speaker 1>was too. Soul Ruka had a great night. Tiffty Stratton
<v Speaker 1>had an okay night. She at least did return. But
<v Speaker 1>no Bianca, No Bianca. It's live, you know. I'm hoping
<v Speaker 1>for a Jade and Beyonca program coming out of the
<v Speaker 1>World of Rumble. I do like what they're doing with Jade,
<v Speaker 1>other than the lack of promos from her, I think
<v Speaker 1>her heel character is spot on. I know she's not
<v Speaker 1>defended her title yet, but the women's division on SmackDown
<v Speaker 1>is very thin. Jordan Grace just got there and is
<v Speaker 1>an interesting opponent for her. I want to see Jade
<v Speaker 1>in a meaningful program to see what she can do.
<v Speaker 1>It's time for her to sink or swim. As always
<v Speaker 1>looking forward to the Rumble, even though it's in Saudi
<v Speaker 1>Warpath out. Thanks Warpath. Well, we'll see what Jade can
<v Speaker 1>do on the big stage. They are clearly trying to
<v Speaker 1>push her towards the one of maybe the main events
<v Speaker 1>of WrestleMania. Do I dare say if they go that road.
<v Speaker 1>But right now, Jade, her hero character is it's there's
<v Speaker 1>not a lot there. That's the problem I have. She
<v Speaker 1>We all know her look. Her look is really the
<v Speaker 1>only reason she's here. Let's be totally real with this.
<v Speaker 1>She's simply here because of how she looks Okay, and
<v Speaker 1>that sounds like a slam on her, but it's really not.
<v Speaker 1>There's a lot of guys that I could go through
<v Speaker 1>chapter and verse that did not have great in ring ability,
<v Speaker 1>that were there simply because of how they look. Do
<v Speaker 1>you want a big one that sounds insane? Andre the Giant?
<v Speaker 1>Do you think he would have been in w WE
<v Speaker 1>or WWF WWWF back in the day if he didn't
<v Speaker 1>look the way he did?
<v Speaker 4>Know?
<v Speaker 2>Right?
<v Speaker 1>Like, So when I say it, it's different when it's
<v Speaker 1>pro wrestling, because look can cover a lot and it
<v Speaker 1>can sell a lot. But with Jade, she's your champion,
<v Speaker 1>and in today's product, it has to be more than
<v Speaker 1>just look, all right, And I don't mean to disrespect
<v Speaker 1>to Andrea. I mean Andre the Giant is still one
<v Speaker 1>of the greatest of all time, not just because of
<v Speaker 1>how he looked, which is was just I mean, one
<v Speaker 1>of the most iconic looks of all time and his
<v Speaker 1>personality backstage, and he had decent promos. Obviously, his accent
<v Speaker 1>and you know, was a little bit tough to get
<v Speaker 1>through sometimes he was part of the Prince was a princess.
<v Speaker 2>Bride, that was what he was in or whatever.
<v Speaker 1>He's actually a fascinating backstory if you ever get a
<v Speaker 1>chance to look at some documentaries. I think A and
<v Speaker 1>He did a great kind of biography of Andre the Giant,
<v Speaker 1>which is just cool, really cool to see. I know
<v Speaker 1>some of you weren't even alive when he was wrestling,
<v Speaker 1>but anyway, my point is Jade has to have more
<v Speaker 1>than her look, and right now the promos are killing
<v Speaker 1>her entering. She's still not great, but she's making baby steps.
<v Speaker 1>So I hope it's Bianca and Jade as well, because
<v Speaker 1>Bianca could carry that match. She's a very safe opponent
<v Speaker 1>for Jade. It was a fantasy matchup right when Jade
<v Speaker 1>came in. You have Bianca, who is as athletic as
<v Speaker 1>they come. She could help Jade immensely, and they have
<v Speaker 1>a few months to get ready. I think they could
<v Speaker 1>do it, and they very well may, even though Bianca
<v Speaker 1>didn't return tonight. Again, there's two paths here. One of
<v Speaker 1>them has been filled for the women. The other path
<v Speaker 1>is not yet determined, and we don't even know who
<v Speaker 1>lives going to challenge. If Stephanie v. Kaer continues to
<v Speaker 1>be champion, I can't see living Stephanie v. Kaire one
<v Speaker 1>on one at WrestleMania. That doesn't really jive with a
<v Speaker 1>WrestleMania title match for the women. No disrespect to Stephanie,
<v Speaker 1>but she's kind of on She's on the I think
<v Speaker 1>the outskirts of a main event or a true main
<v Speaker 1>eventor I know she's champion, but that doesn't mean to
<v Speaker 1>me that she deserves the main event, because I don't
<v Speaker 1>think she's When I look at somebody who's champion, I
<v Speaker 1>look at them and say, hey, is the belt making
<v Speaker 1>them or are they trying to make the belt?
<v Speaker 2>And right now it.
<v Speaker 1>Feels like they put the belt on her to try
<v Speaker 1>her to elevate her, when I always I'm a big
<v Speaker 1>believer on the other way around.
<v Speaker 2>So we'll see.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, there's a lot of time, a lot of
<v Speaker 1>moving parts, a lot of moving parts, so it's really
<v Speaker 1>hard to say who's gonna face who right now?
<v Speaker 2>Okay, thanks war.
<v Speaker 1>Path, Uh boy? Oh boy, lots of emails here. Let's
<v Speaker 1>go to Darius. I haven't talked to Darius in a
<v Speaker 1>while from Boston. He says, pretty big week in sports today.
<v Speaker 1>We have the Royal Rumble and we have NASCAR season
<v Speaker 1>kicking off. So you're predict for the Rumble and all
<v Speaker 1>the other matches For the men. It's quite tough since
<v Speaker 1>Adam Pierce announced on Raw that Braun and the Vision
<v Speaker 1>will be in the Rumble. It's hard to decide between
<v Speaker 1>Roman and Braun. I think during the Rumble, Brock and
<v Speaker 1>Gunther will face off. Last week, I was thinking about
<v Speaker 1>Sammy z Ain, but now he has a title match
<v Speaker 1>against Drew. I don't really think he'll win the Rumble.
<v Speaker 1>For me, I'm going for Braun. I have been following
<v Speaker 1>the news on Powerhouse Hobbs. Oh yeah, that's right aw Starr,
<v Speaker 1>who has been signed to WWE. But the question is
<v Speaker 1>will he go to NXT or straight up to the
<v Speaker 1>main roster. He'll probably debut in the Rumble. For the women,
<v Speaker 1>I think Bianca will return and win. I'm kind of
<v Speaker 1>getting bored of Stephanie's title run, so I'm excited to
<v Speaker 1>see who's going to get a title match. With her
<v Speaker 1>at WrestleMania. AJ Styles will win against Gunther and they
<v Speaker 1>will have a rematch later in the year. But aj
<v Speaker 1>Styles won't win clean. Gunther will start assaulting Michael Cole
<v Speaker 1>and get disqualified. And your last prediction is that Sammy
<v Speaker 1>will lose to Drew and know lose to Drew. No
<v Speaker 1>way he's losing. He only just started his run. I
<v Speaker 1>want to thank DJ for keeping the updated on an
<v Speaker 1>nxtn TNA. What happens A quick question, what happens when
<v Speaker 1>eventually Joe Hendrew will move up to the main roster.
<v Speaker 1>Will you carry on reporting him or will you pick
<v Speaker 1>a new youngster? Well, Darius, I'll answer that. I don't
<v Speaker 1>mean to speak for you, DJ, but I'm pretty sure
<v Speaker 1>you have answered this because I asked you that too.
<v Speaker 1>I believe he said he's going to continue to pump
<v Speaker 1>out the Joe Hendry report. I'm almost positive he said,
<v Speaker 1>you know, even if when he comes up finally whenever
<v Speaker 1>the hell that is, and a consistent is a consistent
<v Speaker 1>appearance on the main roster, a presence. Rather, he's still
<v Speaker 1>going to do it, I believe, unless he's changed his mind,
<v Speaker 1>and what will actually do?
<v Speaker 2>All right?
<v Speaker 1>So DJ I know you take some time to pump
<v Speaker 1>out that report every week. What we're going to do,
<v Speaker 1>we're at the very end of the show. I'll end
<v Speaker 1>the show with your report, all right, I'll end your
<v Speaker 1>show at the report. That way, you're able to get
<v Speaker 1>in because if I don't put it in tonight's show,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not going to be recording maybe for a couple
<v Speaker 1>of days, and by then.
<v Speaker 2>It's a little bit, a little bit old, so to speak.
<v Speaker 1>So all right, but DJ, speaking of your email, let's
<v Speaker 1>get to that, all right, because I do have other
<v Speaker 1>people who are reacting to the Rumble I want to
<v Speaker 1>get to and then we'll close out the show. So
<v Speaker 1>DJ says, it's here the biggest and most exciting pl
<v Speaker 1>of the year. In my opinion, the Royal Rumble has
<v Speaker 1>the potential to be a very stacked event, especially with
<v Speaker 1>multiple returns and surprises for both the Rumble, especially the men's.
<v Speaker 1>Will Chris Jericho make his return even though he's still
<v Speaker 1>listed on aw's roster. Will brock Lesner, which I hope
<v Speaker 1>is not the case, win the Rumble after making the
<v Speaker 1>announcement on Thursday or yesterday's Pat McAfee show, Will Obafemi
<v Speaker 1>have a breakout iron Man like performance and last all
<v Speaker 1>the way to the final four after eliminating approximately, in
<v Speaker 1>my opinion, thirteen men. And most importantly, could this be
<v Speaker 1>the year that Braun Breaker steps into WrestleMania Maine event
<v Speaker 1>after winning the Rumble? Yeah, so, DJ, obviously we have
<v Speaker 1>all the answers now know Chris Jeric Oh, Brock did
<v Speaker 1>not have I'm in brock Lesner's world. Did not have
<v Speaker 1>a very impactful.
<v Speaker 2>Night.
<v Speaker 1>I understand he eliminated Obafemi. That might be going there
<v Speaker 1>for Wrestlemantia. That's fine. Oba Femi did have a big night,
<v Speaker 1>as we all know. He didn't have an iron Man
<v Speaker 1>like performance, but still was. Yeah, very impactful, big night
<v Speaker 1>for Oba and bron Breaker. No, we all know what
<v Speaker 1>Braun no mass Man attacks Yeah so uh yeah. Not
<v Speaker 1>exactly the most exciting answers here, but the women's rumble.
<v Speaker 1>Will Bianca return and be the potential runner up? We'll
<v Speaker 1>page make her return. Oh there's a name I didn't
<v Speaker 1>think of.
<v Speaker 2>Good DJ.
<v Speaker 1>Hopefully all these questions will be answered now to your
<v Speaker 1>quick predictions, Drew wins and defeats to retain gun Thro
<v Speaker 1>defeats AJ and then fortunately ends his career. Women's World
<v Speaker 1>Rumble winner, you're gonna say, I'm gonna pick different and
<v Speaker 1>say Bianca bell Air the Men's r Rumble winner. You're
<v Speaker 1>gonna say Broun. Yeah, dj cuzmost signing off, have a
<v Speaker 1>great weekend, enjoy the rumble. Yeah, so let's go Mets. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I mean, hey, the Mets stacked this year. Man, you
<v Speaker 1>guys are stacked. You talk about being able to score
<v Speaker 1>runs and hit your way out of mediocre pitching because
<v Speaker 1>your closer, your Diaz, He's gone. I forget where he went.
<v Speaker 1>But some other team actually outbid the Mets, which is
<v Speaker 1>like impossible. Steve Cohen, who's got about as much money
<v Speaker 1>as the entire country of Saudi Arabia. I mean, money
<v Speaker 1>is no object to him. But you guys, uh, you know,
<v Speaker 1>you guys have a stacked lineup, stacked, so we'll see.
<v Speaker 1>I think you guys are gonna have a should have,
<v Speaker 1>barring crazy injuries, have a a I think an n
<v Speaker 1>L East winning year, you know, despite last year's just collapse.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, sorry, but I know you're a Mets fan.
<v Speaker 1>I actually don't hate Mets. I'm a Yankees fan. But
<v Speaker 1>and I'm told i'm supposed to hate the Mets. I
<v Speaker 1>don't really hate them. I don't know why I'm told
<v Speaker 1>to now. You talk about the Red Sox or the
<v Speaker 1>Blue Jays, I have much more, much more of a
<v Speaker 1>issue with them, but the Mets whatever. I don't know
<v Speaker 1>why there's such a rivalry between them because they're in
<v Speaker 1>the same city. I don't know, But I actually don't
<v Speaker 1>mind if the Mets win. That doesn't mater me not
<v Speaker 1>a Mets fan, but I don't feel hatred towards them,
<v Speaker 1>and I think you guys will and should win the division.
<v Speaker 1>I believe Vegas has you up by a few games
<v Speaker 1>over Philly. So alrighty DJ, thank you again. We will
<v Speaker 1>get to that Joe Henry report. That'll be the last
<v Speaker 1>thing on the show that'll end the show, so stay
<v Speaker 1>tuned for that.
<v Speaker 2>All right.
<v Speaker 1>Quickly, Let's get to a couple of people here that
<v Speaker 1>have emailed us in and this is from Matt from
<v Speaker 1>the UK, says, I've been the listener of the podcast
<v Speaker 1>for quite some time and I've always appreciated the discussion
<v Speaker 1>and insight you bring. After watching the Rumble, I felt
<v Speaker 1>compelled to reach out and share my reaction as a
<v Speaker 1>longtime fan I'll be honest, I'm completely frustrated with the
<v Speaker 1>outcome of the Men's Rumble with Roman Reigns winning. From
<v Speaker 1>my perspective, it's hard to understand or support a result
<v Speaker 1>where a part timer steps in for the biggest moments
<v Speaker 1>and is rewarded with a WrestleMania main event. I feel
<v Speaker 1>the frustration. I mean, the thing is, though Roman Reigns
<v Speaker 1>has been in a part time position for years now years,
<v Speaker 1>he was a champion as a part timer for four years,
<v Speaker 1>So I mean, it's just kind of the world we
<v Speaker 1>live in. It's the world we live in now of
<v Speaker 1>big stars, but they wane as they get older and
<v Speaker 1>they don't need to do a lot of the shows.
<v Speaker 1>They get paid top dollar because they've earned it. And
<v Speaker 1>if they're you know, w WE views their star power
<v Speaker 1>as a more lucrative than them appearing more, then they're
<v Speaker 1>gonna go with the big star because big stars sell
<v Speaker 1>star power will supersede everything, for good or bad. I'm
<v Speaker 1>not saying it's you know, it's always a good thing
<v Speaker 1>in this case. What you're saying is true. You have
<v Speaker 1>people that have been there longer that are grinding. But
<v Speaker 1>you know, what Roman Reigns did the same thing for
<v Speaker 1>a while now. He had a horrible rumble in twenty fifteen.
<v Speaker 1>We all know the infamous Rock moment where he couldn't
<v Speaker 1>be saved even from the Rock coming out to help him.
<v Speaker 1>I still go back to that rumble because it makes
<v Speaker 1>me smile every time. But Roman Reigns was a young
<v Speaker 1>guy at one point too, and you had what like
<v Speaker 1>remember Batista winning the Rumble. Remember that wrestle Mania thirty
<v Speaker 1>with Batista winning, And you had a lot of guys
<v Speaker 1>at that time that you could argue, Hey, what are
<v Speaker 1>they doing? Why aren't they You get the Batista winning
<v Speaker 1>the Rumble, and I think it is what twenty fourteen,
<v Speaker 1>So again, it's the cycle of star power, stardom. Totally
<v Speaker 1>get your point. It is frustrating, and I'm sure the
<v Speaker 1>guys and gals on the back would say the same thing,
<v Speaker 1>but it's just the nature of the beast. It is
<v Speaker 1>cliche to say, but in this case it's true to say.
<v Speaker 1>You can't hate the player hate the game because this
<v Speaker 1>is just part of the game.
<v Speaker 2>Okay.
<v Speaker 1>There are so many full time wrestlers who show up
<v Speaker 1>week after week, put their bodies on the line, who
<v Speaker 1>work hard and build momentum with the audience. Seeing that
<v Speaker 1>efforts sidelined in favor of someone who only appears at
<v Speaker 1>major events feels unfair and disheartening as a fan who
<v Speaker 1>invests time and emotion into the product. Well again, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I'm with you, I totally. You are thinking rationally.
<v Speaker 1>You're thinking rationally. You just have to remember what is
<v Speaker 1>always going to be the big draw. What if you're
<v Speaker 1>a company, what will bring the most eyeballs to your product?
<v Speaker 1>Somebody that's up and coming and you want to make
<v Speaker 1>them feel good and reward them for all their hard work,
<v Speaker 1>But they're a fraction of the star power of Roman Reigns.
<v Speaker 1>Just to make them feel good, or you're gonna go
<v Speaker 1>with your tried and true formula of Roman Reigns winning
<v Speaker 1>or a big star in this case, winning doesn't have
<v Speaker 1>to be Roman of course, and have the Internet talking
<v Speaker 1>about Roman Reigns who came back. He's not there a
<v Speaker 1>lot anymore. But we know that we kind of are
<v Speaker 1>numb to it at this point. And now what's funny
<v Speaker 1>is we're going to have people who were complaining for
<v Speaker 1>years about Roman Reigns being a part time champion wanting
<v Speaker 1>him to be champion again. You know, I don't know
<v Speaker 1>if people are just it's been enough time now since
<v Speaker 1>he lost the championship where they're okay. If he maybe
<v Speaker 1>I would imagine he's going to face the um punk.
<v Speaker 2>We'll see.
<v Speaker 1>But if you know he takes the belt off of Punk,
<v Speaker 1>are people.
<v Speaker 2>Going to go? Oh? Wait, wait? What did we just do?
<v Speaker 2>Wait a sec.
<v Speaker 1>Way, remember wait, guys, remember remember WrestleMania thirty six to
<v Speaker 1>WrestleMania forty Remember that, you know, or WrestleMania thirty Well,
<v Speaker 1>he became champion at SummerSlam twenty twenty twenty. Yeah, Summerslim
<v Speaker 1>in twenty twenty and lost it obviously rest twenty forty.
<v Speaker 1>So be careful what you wish for. But all right,
<v Speaker 1>Roman Rains is obviously a huge impact on WWE, and
<v Speaker 1>this isn't meant to dismiss his past contributions. However, the
<v Speaker 1>continued prioritization of his part time appearances over the active
<v Speaker 1>roster makes it difficult to stay engaged in exciting about
<v Speaker 1>long term storytelling. The Royal Rumble results a result in
<v Speaker 1>particularly left me feeling more angry than entertained, something I'd
<v Speaker 1>never want to feel after one of their biggest shows
<v Speaker 1>of the year. Well, I'm glad you just felt something
<v Speaker 1>for the biggest show of the year, because I don't
<v Speaker 1>think they remember they had a big show of this
<v Speaker 1>show because the way they promoted it and essentially just
<v Speaker 1>disregarded it. I wanted to share this perspective because I
<v Speaker 1>feel like many fans feel similarly, and I have value
<v Speaker 1>the podcast as a space where these conversations can happen. Honestly,
<v Speaker 1>I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on this
<v Speaker 1>decision and how WW justifies it moving forward. Thanks for
<v Speaker 1>taking the time to read and to give fans a
<v Speaker 1>platform where their voices can be reflected and discussed. Bell Matt, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I hey, this is this is what's great. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>I can hear from you guys, and we can interact,
<v Speaker 1>so to speak, and it seems like I would I
<v Speaker 1>would guess there's a lot of fans that do feel
<v Speaker 1>your way. That many fans are thinking this is ridiculous.
<v Speaker 1>We you know, we've invested time in this star, that star,
<v Speaker 1>say La Knight, for example, who has been there forever.
<v Speaker 1>He's had years now of support, years of support. Organically,
<v Speaker 1>He's not a flash in the pan. He has withstood
<v Speaker 1>the test of time. You know, from from a fan perspective,
<v Speaker 1>from a fan of support perspective, La Knight is a
<v Speaker 1>guy you could point to and go wait, wait what
<v Speaker 1>about him? And I agree, I agree, But again, Roman Reigns,
<v Speaker 1>While I totally understand what you're saying, you're not dismissing
<v Speaker 1>his past contributions. He's a part timer.
<v Speaker 5>You know.
<v Speaker 1>It is going to be and will forever be about
<v Speaker 1>star power. And we saw last year right with Jay Uso.
<v Speaker 1>He wasn't the biggest star in that match, not by
<v Speaker 1>a long shot, and he won and it ended up
<v Speaker 1>being a failure, I think, an abject failure that wasn't
<v Speaker 1>even like, well, it kind of worked. No, it didn't
<v Speaker 1>work at all. I mean it was just at times
<v Speaker 1>it was embarrassing.
<v Speaker 2>But that's okay.
<v Speaker 1>Not everybody can do that. I'm not saying it's easy.
<v Speaker 1>But he clearly could not take the pressure. He didn't
<v Speaker 1>feel like he ever ever fit the role ever. And
<v Speaker 1>they went with a guy that maybe they could catch
<v Speaker 1>lightning get a bottle with with Jay, and it didn't work.
<v Speaker 1>So this year they went with a safer move. They
<v Speaker 1>went with Roman Reigns, who they know can always put
<v Speaker 1>on a great match. He has I think a decent
<v Speaker 1>amount of gas left in the tank. He's not the
<v Speaker 1>thing is Roman. You know, he's not a fifty five
<v Speaker 1>year old retired vet coming out to you know, make
<v Speaker 1>a big payday and have a fantasy match in WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 1>Held still go full time if he wanted to. He's
<v Speaker 1>just able not to because he spent so much time
<v Speaker 1>grinding and now he's able to kind of enjoy his
<v Speaker 1>life while making wrestling just a small part of it.
<v Speaker 1>And I'm jealous of that man, Like you're making millions
<v Speaker 1>and you are doing something you love but not killing
<v Speaker 1>your body, and you're able to do it part time.
<v Speaker 1>Good for him, you know. I mean I from just
<v Speaker 1>a human perspective, I respect that. Who wouldn't want that?
<v Speaker 1>And if someone that's BS, that's just because you're jealous,
<v Speaker 1>not you, Matt. But if someone argues this that that's ridiculous,
<v Speaker 1>they shouldn't.
<v Speaker 3>Well.
<v Speaker 1>No, Roman Reigns is one of the biggest names in wrestling.
<v Speaker 1>He is a needle mover now. He is a true draw.
<v Speaker 1>He makes waves and noise and gets social media buzzing
<v Speaker 1>when he comes in. That's special. He's an attraction now.
<v Speaker 1>But he's not just an attraction from a visual perspective. Right,
<v Speaker 1>he can go, he can go, he can wrestle his
<v Speaker 1>ass off, and he's shown it and he can still
<v Speaker 1>be champion easily. All Right, A couple more and then
<v Speaker 1>we'll end with DJ's voicemail. So this is a Kay
<v Speaker 1>from the Rumble or from the Rubble from Toronto talking
<v Speaker 1>about the Rumble. He has actually two emails, so I'll
<v Speaker 1>combine them into one. It's not that long, I promise,
<v Speaker 1>So Kay says, long time stuff, but stuff has been complicated.
<v Speaker 1>Still okay, still listen regularly. I appreciate that. Yeah, things
<v Speaker 1>are just wild, right, I mean, life is crazy. So
<v Speaker 1>whatever it is that you're what's going on? Man, I
<v Speaker 1>hope it's working out for you and don't stress out.
<v Speaker 2>Okay.
<v Speaker 1>So first, although I hated my girl Tiffy finishing runner up,
<v Speaker 1>I love Live and I hope this is the end
<v Speaker 1>of the joke but known as the Judgment Day. So
<v Speaker 1>Ruka and lash Legend look good as well. Yes, I
<v Speaker 1>think Live needs to completely disassociate from the Judgment Day
<v Speaker 1>and that could be the case now the way that
<v Speaker 1>she won, I hope she leaves the Judgment Day have
<v Speaker 1>really not even entered my mind. I have intentionally ignored
<v Speaker 1>them on my mena at Raw reviews because I just
<v Speaker 1>have no respect for that group. I'm not saying the
<v Speaker 1>people in the group. I'm saying the concept of the
<v Speaker 1>group I have no respect for anymore. And they that
<v Speaker 1>group's momentum died a long, long time ago. So those
<v Speaker 1>people in the group can certainly have their own storylines.
<v Speaker 1>Finn Balor has I mean, look up what he's done
<v Speaker 1>the last couple weeks. You have uh Ra cal Rodriguez
<v Speaker 1>last few months has been stellar. She's finding her own
<v Speaker 1>way now finally. And you have liv Morgan who can
<v Speaker 1>and has shown that she can stand on her own
<v Speaker 1>two feet and be a main event women star and Dominic.
<v Speaker 1>Of course the chemistry they have there. Look what he's done.
<v Speaker 1>This group has no purpose to exist anymore. So the
<v Speaker 1>group I have no respect for. That's why I disregard them.
<v Speaker 1>I don't even talk about them on my shows. It's
<v Speaker 1>as if they don't exist. But yeah, Soul Ruka, great night,
<v Speaker 1>Lash Legend, great night AJ and Gunther number two extremely
<v Speaker 1>to plan. AJ's headed to TNA, Well, yeah cool, and
<v Speaker 1>he'll finish up his career there, right, he had a
<v Speaker 1>huge impact in TNA. He's shown up there a couple
<v Speaker 1>of times over the last several months with WWE's working
<v Speaker 1>relationship with them. So yeah, maybe he'll ajl ended in
<v Speaker 1>TNA and that'd be great totally in his pro wrestling career.
<v Speaker 1>Number three Sammy and Drew same. Drew was never losing.
<v Speaker 1>Agreed four men's so obvious. Roman reigns was one hundred
<v Speaker 1>percent to win. I really liked Obafemi no Jericho, which
<v Speaker 1>was a bummer, loved Drew screwing Cody boy. The tables
<v Speaker 1>have turned. Yes, I did not even mention that. Thank
<v Speaker 1>you for mentioning. Overall, I really hate sleazy Arabia money talks.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you for all you do.
<v Speaker 2>Cheers.
<v Speaker 1>I'll get to your second comment in a minute. So yes,
<v Speaker 1>No Jericho was a bummer. And imagine paying all that money.
<v Speaker 1>And I've seen YouTubers who flew there, you know, some
<v Speaker 1>of the big ones, we all know who they are,
<v Speaker 1>that flew there, and you wonder how these people have
<v Speaker 1>been have the money to do it, that mean the
<v Speaker 1>thousands they must spend, but have flew there and were
<v Speaker 1>you know, talking about how they can't wait to you know,
<v Speaker 1>see Chris Jericho, and many people probably expected him to
<v Speaker 1>show up and they didn't have him show up. And
<v Speaker 1>is it again for the sole purpose of just swerving
<v Speaker 1>the fans, to make them not feel as smart as
<v Speaker 1>we think we are. Probably, If that's the case, shame
<v Speaker 1>on WWE. Sometimes you just need to deliver for the insane.
<v Speaker 1>Take a prices people are paying now for all the
<v Speaker 1>money they made in Saudi for the third eighty dollars
<v Speaker 1>a month that I refuse to pay for ESPN, and
<v Speaker 1>I won't pay it. I don't watch on ESPN. I've
<v Speaker 1>otherwise of watching. I despise the fact that we have
<v Speaker 1>to have peacock, you have to have the USA network
<v Speaker 1>and you have to have ESPN Plus or Unlimited for
<v Speaker 1>thirty bucks a month. Remember the nine to ninety nine
<v Speaker 1>Do you guys remember the network? I remember that time.
<v Speaker 1>I was old enough to remember that. You talk about
<v Speaker 1>a hell of a deal. That was one hundred and
<v Speaker 1>twenty dollars for the whole year, for the whole year.
<v Speaker 1>What a value. I even love the format of the
<v Speaker 1>ww network way better, the way that it was laid out,
<v Speaker 1>the wrestling, it was perfect. I loved the WWE Network
<v Speaker 1>and now you pay sixty bucks in a month for
<v Speaker 1>just just to make sure you can watch all the
<v Speaker 1>wrestling content again, if you watch on the legal streams
<v Speaker 1>or the paid streams, I should say, right, there's other
<v Speaker 1>ways we all know, but it's it's unbelievable.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, like.
<v Speaker 1>TKO has sold all of us out. And if you
<v Speaker 1>didn't forget there was a you know, tax seasons coming up,
<v Speaker 1>they put a TurboTax advertisement on the ring apron during
<v Speaker 1>the rumble. I mean, like they have no shame. They
<v Speaker 1>have no shame about the fact that they prioritize money
<v Speaker 1>over everything, and it's a shame. It's embarrassing. But if
<v Speaker 1>I went to that show, I would How could anyone
<v Speaker 1>walk out of there and say I felt like I
<v Speaker 1>got my money's worth? Maybe in the cheap seats, if
<v Speaker 1>there were such a thing. Maybe those that didn't spend
<v Speaker 1>you know, one thousand dollars and somehow and just under
<v Speaker 1>a thousand, maybe you feel like you did. Because if
<v Speaker 1>you're spending a little time in Saudi, there are some
<v Speaker 1>okay places to go, right, So like perhaps if you
<v Speaker 1>use it as also a vacation, but you can't come
<v Speaker 1>out of their feeling he got your money's worth. If
<v Speaker 1>you're sitting at home feeling like you didn't get your
<v Speaker 1>imagine spending all that time, all that money, the flight there,
<v Speaker 1>the flight back, and you're going, what what did I
<v Speaker 1>just do?
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, and Drew screwing Cody. I really love that too. Agreed.
<v Speaker 1>So I don't think that's over. That is clearly a
<v Speaker 1>sign that they're headed towards something.
<v Speaker 2>Big time.
<v Speaker 1>So Cody Roads, I'm thinking, could be a part of
<v Speaker 1>the Chamber and then eventually challenged Drew for the world
<v Speaker 1>title or for the unisputed title again at WrestleMania, and
<v Speaker 1>you could have Roman choose punk. That seems to be
<v Speaker 1>where we're going for WrestleMania. And oh your final comment.
<v Speaker 1>I think the mask Man was Seth Rollins or Austin
<v Speaker 1>theory as I think I want to turn they they
<v Speaker 1>want to turn Braun into a tough, good guy similar
<v Speaker 1>to Stone Cold. We all know Hayman is a snake. Cheers, thanks, Kay. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know if stone Call's the idea that they have,
<v Speaker 1>but I can see the similarities there. It's God, I
<v Speaker 1>would think it's Seth Rollins, you would think or if
<v Speaker 1>it's not actually Seth. It will be revealed to Seth.
<v Speaker 1>In other words, the person who did this tonight is
<v Speaker 1>not actually Seth, but they have the intention of revealing
<v Speaker 1>it as him, meaning like Seth wasn't truly medically cleared,
<v Speaker 1>so they just had like a stand in for someone
<v Speaker 1>to do the move. But if it's Austin Theory, who's
<v Speaker 1>excited about that? It was already a big womp womp
<v Speaker 1>for Austin Theory being revealed as the masked man during
<v Speaker 1>the Survivors series, Like, that's not exciting. It has to
<v Speaker 1>be Seth. It's either Seth or nobody. It has to
<v Speaker 1>be who if it's Austin Theory, now, I mean, first
<v Speaker 1>of all, not only is that just so underwhelming considering
<v Speaker 1>what they've done with Austin Theory as a follow up,
<v Speaker 1>which is essentially nothing their follow up there, and they're
<v Speaker 1>follow through, I have to give them like a d
<v Speaker 1>overall for big storylines, like a d over the last year.
<v Speaker 1>But if it's if It's Awesome Theory, not only does
<v Speaker 1>that make no sense from just a star power perspective
<v Speaker 1>and his first reveal, but also he just joined the group.
<v Speaker 1>Where is he going from there? Bron breaker's just gonna
<v Speaker 1>steamroll him. And what was all of that for? You know,
<v Speaker 1>like it can't be Austin theory, so it's got to
<v Speaker 1>be Seth. It's got to be Seth. So thank you, kay,
<v Speaker 1>and let's see here. Of course, DJ, and DJ let's
<v Speaker 1>get to your voicemail Before I do that, though, I'm
<v Speaker 1>going to say goodbye to everybody because DJ is going
<v Speaker 1>to take us right to the end. But thank you
<v Speaker 1>everybody for joining me here on the show. I appreciate it.
<v Speaker 1>And if you have your emails, you want to give
<v Speaker 1>me your thoughts on the bumble mail bag at WW
<v Speaker 1>podcast dot com. I will get to them on my
<v Speaker 1>Monday night raw review. I know there's gonna be a
<v Speaker 1>lot to talk about there already is, so go to
<v Speaker 1>a Patreon if you want to go add Patreon dot com,
<v Speaker 1>slash WW podcast, or go to of course Apple or Spotify.
<v Speaker 1>Thanks everybody, we'll talk next time and I'll let DJ
<v Speaker 1>take it away.
<v Speaker 5>This is DJ colesmell back added again on your mailback
<v Speaker 5>show record.
<v Speaker 3>You live on a Wednesday morning, and you know what
<v Speaker 3>time it is. It's time to.
<v Speaker 1>See his name man, he peers.
<v Speaker 3>I believe in Joe Hendrey.
<v Speaker 5>I believe in Joe Hendrey best right.
<v Speaker 3>Folks, Joe Hendry is his name, as I take it
<v Speaker 3>to my eighty first episode of The Jerne Report, La
<v Speaker 3>always coming to live from an undisclosed location and speaking
<v Speaker 3>of number eighty one, just a quick sidebar, folks. In
<v Speaker 3>the world of the NBA, one of my favorite things
<v Speaker 3>to watch besides for wrestling. A couple of days ago,
<v Speaker 3>most specifically on January twenty second, it was the twentieth
<v Speaker 3>year anniversary of Kobe Bryant aka the Black Mamba, scoring
<v Speaker 3>eighty one points. It was on that day on January
<v Speaker 3>twenty second, two thousand and six. Were you there in
<v Speaker 3>two thousand and six on January twenty second, but anyway,
<v Speaker 3>Kobe scored eighty one points to help the Lakers get
<v Speaker 3>a comeback victory against the Toronto Raptors with a score
<v Speaker 3>of one twenty two to one oh four in the
<v Speaker 3>old Staples Center in downtown LA. At that time, it
<v Speaker 3>was the second highest amount of points scored in an
<v Speaker 3>NBA game, behind the legendary Wilt Chamberlain, who had scored
<v Speaker 3>one hundred points. So rest in peace to Kobe Bryant,
<v Speaker 3>because it's literally now six years since his passing. But
<v Speaker 3>now back to TNA par Wrestling and the Johannes Report.
<v Speaker 3>Because this is not a basketball podcast. Now let me
<v Speaker 3>take you to the previous episode of TNA on AMC
<v Speaker 3>as I continue with the storyline of the NXT and
<v Speaker 3>ten A collaborations with the NXT invasion. In TNA, we
<v Speaker 3>get a backstage segment Fredrick aeron Nagrace and her father,
<v Speaker 3>the Director of Authority, Missus Santina Morella, as Arianna is
<v Speaker 3>apologizing to her father for all the pain that she
<v Speaker 3>calls them. Ariana blames her husband to be in mister
<v Speaker 3>Stacks for putting ideas in her head. Ariana calls Santino
<v Speaker 3>the best dad a girl could ever ask for. Ariana
<v Speaker 3>begs and pleads for Santina to forgive her. Santino was
<v Speaker 3>reluctant at first, but he couldn't stay mad at Ariana
<v Speaker 3>his daughter, so he hugged her. But the question is
<v Speaker 3>was this a rule and a scheme that Ariana is
<v Speaker 3>plotting against her father? Because something seems very very fishy.
<v Speaker 3>Also on this same episode of TENA on AMC, we
<v Speaker 3>get an appearance from the TEENA World Champion, Mister Mike
<v Speaker 3>Santana Santana plays a brief voice message from his father
<v Speaker 3>before he passed away. Santana's father mentions three things to Santana.
<v Speaker 3>One you earn your way here, two you deserve to
<v Speaker 3>be here, and three you along here. After playing this message,
<v Speaker 3>Santana talks about rebuilding himself from the ashes of injury, addiction,
<v Speaker 3>and depression to now taking the top spot in TNA
<v Speaker 3>as the TNA World Champion. Santana goes on to say
<v Speaker 3>that the journey wasn't perfect. When I fell, I picked
<v Speaker 3>myself up and kept fighting. Now I'm the guy, and
<v Speaker 3>then Santana closes off by saying I earned it, I
<v Speaker 3>deserve it, I belong here in TNA. But then we
<v Speaker 3>fast forward to a backstage segment of Mike Santana and
<v Speaker 3>Nick Nemet aka Dolph Ziggler. Nick nemet warrened Santana that
<v Speaker 3>emotional champions don't last long. Nick declares that he will
<v Speaker 3>call his shot and win the TNA World title. But
<v Speaker 3>then Nick access the impulsive question to Santana by saying,
<v Speaker 3>how will you be able to look at your daughter
<v Speaker 3>after that? All of a sudden, Santana automatically puts up
<v Speaker 3>his fists and attempts to attack Nick Nemet. However, the
<v Speaker 3>security guard broke it up. It's just a matter of
<v Speaker 3>when will Nick Nemet call his shot and challenge Mike
<v Speaker 3>Santana for the TENA World Championship at the moment when
<v Speaker 3>Santana expected now in gearing up for this Saturday's roy
<v Speaker 3>Rumble live for Rion Saard Arabia. Just like following in
<v Speaker 3>the footsteps of former TENA champions like Mickey James, Jordan
<v Speaker 3>Grace and Joe Hendry, I predict that Mike Santana, the
<v Speaker 3>TNA World Champion will make an apearance in the Men's
<v Speaker 3>Royal Rumble. But the question is what number will Mike
<v Speaker 3>Santana be coming at That is led to be seen.
<v Speaker 3>Put back to Joe Hendry, if you'll remember his folks,
<v Speaker 3>if you remember to say his name, he might just
<v Speaker 3>randomly appear and most likely at the Royal Rumble, And
<v Speaker 3>he appeared last letter NXT, Joe Hendry was featured in
<v Speaker 3>an NXT Championship qualifying match against Jackson Drake, the WWE
<v Speaker 3>Evolf Champion. But prior to the show and prior to
<v Speaker 3>the match, Joe Hendry put out a video on his
<v Speaker 3>socials a very serious Joe Hendry by saying I'm here
<v Speaker 3>because there's something I want. I want to prove you
<v Speaker 3>all right for believing in me, because I know what
<v Speaker 3>it feels like to be a champion. A year ago,
<v Speaker 3>I became the TNA World Champion, and I took that
<v Speaker 3>title to the Roy Rumble to WrestleMania, and then I
<v Speaker 3>came to WWE. I came to NXT to prove that
<v Speaker 3>I can do this at the highest level. And in
<v Speaker 3>order to truly prove that, I need to become the
<v Speaker 3>NXT Champion tonight. I have a huge opportunity myself versus
<v Speaker 3>Jackson Drake. If I can get past this, I can
<v Speaker 3>get into the Lattiman or my opportunity at the NXT Championship.
<v Speaker 3>There is a reason here at the Performance Center every
<v Speaker 3>single day because I've proven to myself, I've proven to you,
<v Speaker 3>and I've proven to the world. In twenty twenty six,
<v Speaker 3>Joe Hendry can become NXT Champion. So NXT starts off
<v Speaker 3>with this NXT Championship qualifying match of Joe Hendry versus
<v Speaker 3>Jackson Drake. However, as Joe Hendry's music is playing, we
<v Speaker 3>don't get an appearance of Joe Hendry. The camera cuts
<v Speaker 3>immediately to backstage where Vanity Project is being seen standing
<v Speaker 3>over a hobble Joe Hendry as he is lying on
<v Speaker 3>the floor. Jackson Drake, the leader of this group, is
<v Speaker 3>seen with a steel chair in his hands. They tell
<v Speaker 3>the general manager of NXT, Missus Avrain, that they had
<v Speaker 3>no idea what happened as to who attacked Joe Hendry.
<v Speaker 3>We fast forward to another backstage segment featuring Jackson Drake
<v Speaker 3>and the Vanity Project alongside Ava Rain. They ask Ava
<v Speaker 3>how is Joe Hendry doing and mockingly act surprised and
<v Speaker 3>said when he's heard. They insist that she can prove
<v Speaker 3>it was them, and Jackson Drake says nixty is anybody's
<v Speaker 3>game and they're just trying to make an impact. Therefore,
<v Speaker 3>with Joe Henry her Ava reluctantly gives Jackson drad at
<v Speaker 3>spot in the ladder match, what bans the other members
<v Speaker 3>of the Vanity Project for ringside. Ava closes off by saying,
<v Speaker 3>if Joe Hendry gets medically clear before next week, you'll
<v Speaker 3>also be in the ladder match to compete for the
<v Speaker 3>VAKE NXT champions. Now let's get to an inn ring
<v Speaker 3>appearance from Joe Hendry's tag tea partner and new best
<v Speaker 3>friend who we haven't seen in a very long time,
<v Speaker 3>and that is the Ahale as she was in a
<v Speaker 3>match against Zaria. This match lasted nine minutes and fifteen
<v Speaker 3>seconds with Diahale getting the surprise victory over the Australian
<v Speaker 3>powerhouse in Zaria due to an in ring distraction from
<v Speaker 3>Tatan Paxley attacking the NXT Women's North American Champion in
<v Speaker 3>Izzy Dame. What postmatch we get the appearance of Phalin
<v Speaker 3>Henley and Lina Reid. As they approach the ring, Dahale
<v Speaker 3>tells Zaria that she's got her back. What Zoria delivers
<v Speaker 3>in that five to THEA and I guess Zaria does
<v Speaker 3>not trust Yehal. Now we arrive at the final segment
<v Speaker 3>as apparently Joe Hendry will make an appearance to confront
<v Speaker 3>the mischie that attacked in Backstay. In this final segment
<v Speaker 3>in the ring, there were six participants that will be
<v Speaker 3>in the Ladder Match next week to compete for the
<v Speaker 3>vacant NXT Championship, and those six men were Shilow Hill,
<v Speaker 3>Deon Nunnos from Dark State, Shawn Legacy, Jackson, Drake, Ricky Saints,
<v Speaker 3>and Canal Carver as they were all bragging that each
<v Speaker 3>of them was worthy enough to win the ladder match
<v Speaker 3>and become the next NXT champion. However, a brawl between
<v Speaker 3>all six men begins. Ricky Saints is seen climbing the
<v Speaker 3>ladder to grab the NXT title that was hanging in
<v Speaker 3>the ceilings to give the crowd a visual as to
<v Speaker 3>what might happen next week when Ricky Saints becomes the
<v Speaker 3>NXC champion. Meanwhile, amongst the chaos, Vick Joseph on commentary
<v Speaker 3>apparently said his name Shoe Henry. Joe Hendry appears at
<v Speaker 3>the entrance ramp as he is limping to the ring,
<v Speaker 3>he delivers a standing ovation choke slam to Ricky Saint,
<v Speaker 3>but immediately Banavl Carter delivers a spinning power slam to
<v Speaker 3>Joe Hendry as Canovl Carter stands tall to end this
<v Speaker 3>episode of NXT with some unanswered questions. One is Canavu
<v Speaker 3>Carter the favorite to win the NXT title next week
<v Speaker 3>in the lattiman And two was Ricky Saints the one
<v Speaker 3>that attacked Joe Hendry backstage? And finally, three, who will
<v Speaker 3>stand tall next week as the new NXT Champion. Hopefully
<v Speaker 3>these questions will be answered on the next episode of NXT.
<v Speaker 3>But breaking news after when the show was over, we
<v Speaker 3>get the official word that Joe Hendry will be included
<v Speaker 3>in this ladder match for the NXT Championship. And now
<v Speaker 3>it's going to be a seven way. That's right, folks,
<v Speaker 3>a seven way ladderman or the vacant NXT Championship, and
<v Speaker 3>it will include Joe Hendry, Shallow Hill, Deon Lennox, Shawn Legacy, Jackson, Drake,
<v Speaker 3>Kenarvo Carter and Ricky Saints all seven of these men.
<v Speaker 3>As Joe Hendry is now Medica claied to compete for
<v Speaker 3>the NX Championship next week. But like always, folks, if
<v Speaker 3>you remember to say their name in THEA Hill and
<v Speaker 3>Joe Hendry, they might just randomly appear, and most likely
<v Speaker 3>they might appear at Joe Royal Rompe.
<v Speaker 5>Always remember to believe, say his name, Always remember the
<v Speaker 5>words that Joe Hendry says anytime, any place, at any show,
<v Speaker 5>and most simporly most simpoorly always remember do to this.
<v Speaker 2>Science. Welcome being Jew Hendrey.
<v Speaker 3>The Judred substeges once again This is your guy, DJ Coulsmo.
<v Speaker 3>Have a blessed week. Be ki to one of those
<v Speaker 3>stays in my friends, Believe ad peace.
<v Speaker 4>Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to
<v Speaker 4>subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss
<v Speaker 4>a show, or head to WWE podcast dot com and
<v Speaker 4>for all of these shows add free head over to
<v Speaker 4>Patreon dot com slash WWE podcast.
<v Speaker 3>Until then, we'll see you next time.