4 YEARS AGO: WWE Week in Review - Roman Reigns Goes to the Next Level

<v Speaker 1>Okay, Well, guys, it is Sunday night. That means it's
<v Speaker 1>time for your WWE week in review, and tonight I've
<v Speaker 1>got somebody on that. While he's a familiar voice, we
<v Speaker 1>have not done a show together in eight months, eight
<v Speaker 1>to eight, nine, ten months. It's been a long time.
<v Speaker 1>So we're here to talk about everything going on in WWE,
<v Speaker 1>including the brilliant Daniel Bryan versus Roman Reigns match on
<v Speaker 1>SmackDown and who could be the one to finally take
<v Speaker 1>the championship off of Roman Reigns. The answer is somebody
<v Speaker 1>that's currently on the SmackDown roster. Zach gives his thoughts
<v Speaker 1>on that and we dive deep into that as well
<v Speaker 1>as of course going over everything on Monday Night Raw.
<v Speaker 1>So let's get everything going right After a word from
<v Speaker 1>our sponsor.
<v Speaker 2>Welcome to the WWE Podcast, your number one source for
<v Speaker 2>the latest in WWEE news and straightforward analysis.
<v Speaker 3>Are you ready to get this thing going?
<v Speaker 1>Hell?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 4>Good, yeah, dude, let's get this show started right now.
<v Speaker 1>Well, guys, it is time for your weekend review. Zach
<v Speaker 1>Smith of the NXT Podcast will be joining me very
<v Speaker 1>shortly to talk about everything this week in WWE. With
<v Speaker 1>raw and SmackDown anyway. So much to get to and
<v Speaker 1>we'll get to all of it in just a minute,
<v Speaker 1>but first I got to give a shout out to
<v Speaker 1>our newest patron over there on Patreon, dot com slash
<v Speaker 1>ww podcast, Derek Manton. Pretty sure got that right, Derek,
<v Speaker 1>thank you so much for becoming a patron of the show.
<v Speaker 1>Really much appreciated. And get yourself at free completely. All
<v Speaker 1>those ads that everyone else is hearing on the free feed,
<v Speaker 1>you get to hear it without ads, and you paid
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<v Speaker 1>in price and tier, but a dollar a month gets
<v Speaker 1>you to where Derek is, where you don't have to
<v Speaker 1>listen to any of these ads, and that is a
<v Speaker 1>good thing I think. I mean, I'm a patroon myself
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<v Speaker 1>a very cool thing to do. So head it over
<v Speaker 1>to Patreon and dot com slash Way podcast or just
<v Speaker 1>search out the WAW podcast on your Patreon app and
<v Speaker 1>get yourself there. And by the way, guys, I know
<v Speaker 1>I plug this every time, but I do want to
<v Speaker 1>let you know right we're gonna get to the content
<v Speaker 1>a minute, but we have now a lot of exclusive
<v Speaker 1>podcasts are going to be going to Patreon. They won't
<v Speaker 1>be here on the free feed, meaning we have a
<v Speaker 1>our Wrestling Nostalgia of course, is going to be exclusive
<v Speaker 1>to Patreon. We had a couple of exclusive podcasts go
<v Speaker 1>there from Mimi, and there will be also one going
<v Speaker 1>between Anthony Debarco and myself that we're doing on Saturdays,
<v Speaker 1>dropping there usually Saturdays. We'll see how our schedules work,
<v Speaker 1>but at least once a week where we do our
<v Speaker 1>what If show, and that's exclusive to Patreon as well,
<v Speaker 1>so that will not be available here on the free feed.
<v Speaker 1>And if you want more of the ww podcast and
<v Speaker 1>shows that you don't get to hear on the free
<v Speaker 1>feed that you're listening to right now, if you are,
<v Speaker 1>then head on over to Patreon, get yourself signed up,
<v Speaker 1>and you also get a shout out on the show
<v Speaker 1>as you heard at the beginning. You get a lot
<v Speaker 1>of other cool stuff too, so check it out. I
<v Speaker 1>don't need to tell you all the details about it.
<v Speaker 1>This isn't an infomercial, but I want to let you
<v Speaker 1>know about exclusive shows that are coming there because that's
<v Speaker 1>why you listen as audio content? Right, So, all right,
<v Speaker 1>with all that said, to get you guys into gear here,
<v Speaker 1>a lot is going on in WW and Zach and
<v Speaker 1>I break down a lot of Yes, we do some
<v Speaker 1>what ifs, and we do some fantasy booking, but I
<v Speaker 1>think intell intelligent fantasy booking easy for me to say,
<v Speaker 1>and it's a lot of well, Number one, who could
<v Speaker 1>be the one to take it off Roman rains? Who's
<v Speaker 1>going to be the one to take that Universal Championship
<v Speaker 1>off of Roman reigns? Zack Smith provides a very compelling
<v Speaker 1>case as to who that person could be. And it's
<v Speaker 1>a current member of the SmackDown roster. It's not somebody
<v Speaker 1>fantasy booking wise that could come back and win. It's
<v Speaker 1>not somebody mythical that's going to rise from the dead. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>it is somebody currently breathing and living on the SmackDown roster.
<v Speaker 1>So I think it's a very compelling case and a
<v Speaker 1>very likely case, honestly, So we break that down. So
<v Speaker 1>beyond that, of course, we have raw that we analyze
<v Speaker 1>and Charlotte Flair and what they've done with the miss
<v Speaker 1>and whether or not we believe the Miss is a
<v Speaker 1>Hall of Fame career. Really just a very fun conversation
<v Speaker 1>with Zach, and he does he does kind of stick
<v Speaker 1>it to me a few times, but hey, I hold
<v Speaker 1>my own I think I think I do a decent
<v Speaker 1>job of that. I'm doing this long enough. If I didn't,
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't be a very good podcast host. So we
<v Speaker 1>spar a little bit, but that's what keeps things fun.
<v Speaker 1>So all right, that's it for the intro, guys. I
<v Speaker 1>will be back on Tuesday with your raw review and
<v Speaker 1>then of course Wednesday Nostalgia exclusive to Patreon. The mail
<v Speaker 1>bag will be here though, so get your question in.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I want you guys to have a voice.
<v Speaker 1>If you're new and you want to get on the
<v Speaker 1>mail bag, email us at Real WWE podcast at gmail
<v Speaker 1>dot com with your questions or comments on anything going
<v Speaker 1>on in WWE, or if you want to just call us.
<v Speaker 1>It's easier. Number one, you can send a voicemail through
<v Speaker 1>the email just as an attachment. Or Number two, you
<v Speaker 1>can call us and leave a voicemail in our actual
<v Speaker 1>voice box that we have set up, which is five
<v Speaker 1>one eight nine five two zero two four seven. So
<v Speaker 1>how about that get us, Get yourself on the mail bag.
<v Speaker 1>It's always a fun show to hear from our regulars
<v Speaker 1>and new voices. So okay, that's enough for me. Thank
<v Speaker 1>you everybody for listening. Enjoy Zach and myself for two
<v Speaker 1>hours talking this week in WWE. Until then, I'll talk
<v Speaker 1>to you next time. Well, it is that time of
<v Speaker 1>week again, and we've got a host that has not
<v Speaker 1>been with us in quite some time, but a very
<v Speaker 1>familiar voice. He is your host of the NXT Review Show,
<v Speaker 1>weekly review show here on the www podcast. Zack Smith
<v Speaker 1>is back here with me live. I would say in
<v Speaker 1>studio because it just sounds cool, so I'll say it anyway.
<v Speaker 1>In studio. Zack Smith is back with me to discuss
<v Speaker 1>everything that happened this week on Raw and SmackDown.
<v Speaker 2>Hey you doing man, buddy, I am really good. I'm
<v Speaker 2>on the same wavelength. I'm closing my eyes and I'm
<v Speaker 2>pretending that we are in a studio, even that I
<v Speaker 2>don't know exactly what you look like, so I'm picturing
<v Speaker 2>you as the podcast logo in the studio with me.
<v Speaker 3>I'm very excited to be here.
<v Speaker 2>You and I talked right before and realized that we
<v Speaker 2>think the last time we did this was Extreme Rules
<v Speaker 2>Horror Show, which is much longer than we intended for
<v Speaker 2>that break to be. As I recall, we didn't get
<v Speaker 2>into a fight or anything, but you and I should
<v Speaker 2>have at least sold it like we did, or something
<v Speaker 2>drum up some interest.
<v Speaker 1>You know, maybe we should have We should just come
<v Speaker 1>up with something because it does. Right, Maybe I'll just
<v Speaker 1>have something out there to cause some clickbait and that
<v Speaker 1>way people think there's some kind of strife going on
<v Speaker 1>in our team. Yeah, let's create something. I think that's
<v Speaker 1>a good idea. So yeah, no, maybe I'm just still
<v Speaker 1>angry about the last year WrestleMania double team with you
<v Speaker 1>and Mary.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, See, I knew it. I knew it
<v Speaker 3>immediately that that's what it was.
<v Speaker 2>That you were still holding that, and I thought that
<v Speaker 2>I didn't want to bring it back up.
<v Speaker 3>But here we are.
<v Speaker 1>Well there, you're going to open open up old wounds.
<v Speaker 1>Nothing like it. So all right, Well, I do have
<v Speaker 1>us just a ton to talk about, as you know,
<v Speaker 1>and we are two weeks away from again corporately named
<v Speaker 1>WrestleMania Backlash here on the WWE podcast. I'm going to
<v Speaker 1>and you can do what you like, Zach. I'm calling
<v Speaker 1>it backlash because I just refuse to add these silly
<v Speaker 1>taglines and string out names for pay per views that
<v Speaker 1>don't need to be So with backlash in its way
<v Speaker 1>on its way in just a couple of weeks, I
<v Speaker 1>got to ask before I get into details, how are
<v Speaker 1>you viewing the ww product right now? Are you feeling
<v Speaker 1>up down in the middle? What is your overall feel
<v Speaker 1>for the product?
<v Speaker 3>Man?
<v Speaker 2>I'm I think I'm feeling okay because I host the
<v Speaker 2>NXT show here on the ww podcast network, so I
<v Speaker 2>get to see what is anyway my favorite wrestling show,
<v Speaker 2>and I also get to watch SmackDown, so two out
<v Speaker 2>of the three shows are good to great on a
<v Speaker 2>week to week basis. Raw has been Raw has been
<v Speaker 2>hard to watch, but that's been the thing for a
<v Speaker 2>while now. At the very least, it gives us stuff
<v Speaker 2>to make fun of, which we can make an episode
<v Speaker 2>about that just as easily as the greatest matches ever.
<v Speaker 2>So I feel okay about it because my standards for
<v Speaker 2>WWE in terms of the product that I watch are
<v Speaker 2>not super high except when it comes to NXT, so
<v Speaker 2>I haven't really been terribly disappointed.
<v Speaker 1>No, I'm I guess if I'm gonna answer my own
<v Speaker 1>question back. I'm I'm with you that again. And that's
<v Speaker 1>funny that because I don't have time to watch NXT,
<v Speaker 1>I catch highlights. I see kind of what's going on,
<v Speaker 1>and so maybe maybe my view is a little bit
<v Speaker 1>more skewed because I don't have that higher bar of
<v Speaker 1>NXT that I look to on a weekly basis, that
<v Speaker 1>I guess I'm viewing the product a little bit more positively.
<v Speaker 1>But that doesn't mean that I don't see its flaws.
<v Speaker 1>And it's massive flaws right now because there's so much
<v Speaker 1>really bad stuff, but there's also really really good stuff,
<v Speaker 1>and so it's it does kind of even itself out.
<v Speaker 1>But I'll start with something that really was just outstanding
<v Speaker 1>this week, SmackDown. The main event of SmackDown of Roman
<v Speaker 1>reigns versus Daniel Brian for the Universal Championship. The stipulation was,
<v Speaker 1>if Daniel Bryan loses, he's gone from SmackDown. Got we
<v Speaker 1>gotta pay attention to the language there, because I think
<v Speaker 1>it's important that they didn't say the WWE. They didn't
<v Speaker 1>say he's they didn't say he's gone here, they said
<v Speaker 1>he's gone from SmackDown. That leaves raw open NXT is
<v Speaker 1>probably not a real option, so yes, so people need
<v Speaker 1>to pay attention to that. And maybe during the draft
<v Speaker 1>later this year he'll return. We'll have to see what
<v Speaker 1>happens there. Maybe they'll just announce he's on RAW in
<v Speaker 1>like a month. Who knows MM, So that I want
<v Speaker 1>to start there, I'll toss it to you for what
<v Speaker 1>you thought about this main event.
<v Speaker 2>The main event was fantastic. It was one of the
<v Speaker 2>probably couple things I was most excited to talk with
<v Speaker 2>you about here for a few reasons. It's Daniel Brian
<v Speaker 2>and Roman Rains, who doesn't get enough credit for how
<v Speaker 2>good he is even now in the ring, and they
<v Speaker 2>put on a great match. One of my favorite things
<v Speaker 2>about this version of Roman reigns is that he can
<v Speaker 2>tell interesting stories in the ring. My favorite match of
<v Speaker 2>his before this He'll Turn started was that Money in
<v Speaker 2>the Bank match versus Seth Robins, And not only because
<v Speaker 2>it was very.
<v Speaker 3>Exciting, but.
<v Speaker 2>He turned into the de facto bad guy in that
<v Speaker 2>match and acted as such. And because he did that
<v Speaker 2>and Seth Rollins is obviously the good guy, they were
<v Speaker 2>able to tell a really good story. And there's a
<v Speaker 2>lot of history with him and Daniel Brian dating back
<v Speaker 2>to twenty fifteen that they played off of and now
<v Speaker 2>it's two completely different characters. They put on a fantastic
<v Speaker 2>main event that told a story I know that hits
<v Speaker 2>all the good points for you. It does for me too,
<v Speaker 2>and you can't really ask for a better main event.
<v Speaker 2>We're still building Roman reigns. He's not even close to
<v Speaker 2>somebody beating him yet, but this is good. You need
<v Speaker 2>to keep feeding him good guys and believable ones and
<v Speaker 2>build them up. And there's nobody better to do that
<v Speaker 2>with than Daniel Bryan, a guy that I'm so sure
<v Speaker 2>does not care about being Universal Champion, but he can
<v Speaker 2>make you believe he is. I loved it.
<v Speaker 3>It's your turn to gush about it.
<v Speaker 1>This, Yeah, this was. This is pay per view quality
<v Speaker 1>and in some cases better than pay per view some
<v Speaker 1>pay per view matches. They promoted it better than a
<v Speaker 1>lot of pay per view matches. They brought in a
<v Speaker 1>lot of Daniel Brien's history from WrestleMania thirty they haven't
<v Speaker 1>really which I'm surprised. Throughout the entire program that Brian
<v Speaker 1>had and yes, Edge got in the mix, I'm surprised
<v Speaker 1>that they didn't pull in that twenty fourteen twenty fifteen
<v Speaker 1>tie in of their history. It doesn't seem that they
<v Speaker 1>really did it. It almost was is if they were meeting
<v Speaker 1>for the first time, which I think maybe was a
<v Speaker 1>missed opportunity to tie in that history and show people
<v Speaker 1>remind people. But they didn't, and that's you know, that's
<v Speaker 1>okay because they worked so well together and we didn't.
<v Speaker 1>Also mention Roman Rains's new music. What did you think
<v Speaker 1>of Roman Rains's new music?
<v Speaker 3>I like it.
<v Speaker 2>He said that he was I think he said he
<v Speaker 2>was waiting for something big before he changed his music,
<v Speaker 2>and I thought we were going to get it at WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know if they finally just made the decision
<v Speaker 2>to change it, but that was the last thing of
<v Speaker 2>Roman reigns from the Shield. Part of the reason people
<v Speaker 2>didn't like him is because he's the only guy that
<v Speaker 2>didn't change. He came out to the same music, he
<v Speaker 2>had the same vest, he had the same look on
<v Speaker 2>his face, and now he's a completely different character. It
<v Speaker 2>makes sense that he would have different music, and it
<v Speaker 2>makes sense character wise that that character would say.
<v Speaker 3>I need this new music.
<v Speaker 2>So I liked it a lot and I liked it
<v Speaker 2>they finally changed it. That his old music didn't bother me,
<v Speaker 2>But I also felt like it didn't fit him anymore.
<v Speaker 3>I feel like this fits him better.
<v Speaker 1>That's that's a great way of putting it. That he
<v Speaker 1>outgrew his old music, and it felt like he had
<v Speaker 1>for some time. And I think that perhaps they had
<v Speaker 1>an idea they were going to change his music, and
<v Speaker 1>they wanted to do it correctly, And that is great
<v Speaker 1>if that's If that's the case, and they didn't just
<v Speaker 1>want to change it to change it. Oh he's a
<v Speaker 1>bad guy, Let's get him new music immediately. You know.
<v Speaker 1>Sometimes that happens and that's fine, But all the other
<v Speaker 1>times they it takes some time to do. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>even Austin Stone Cold Sea Bass Magus on a Baby
<v Speaker 1>Face of All Time had a disturbed remix that. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that is it's such a it's a much more edgy,
<v Speaker 1>badassah yes, paranoid yes when yes, And those of you
<v Speaker 1>that don't know, I'm sure you do. Just go back
<v Speaker 1>and listen to his theme song from one to two.
<v Speaker 1>Great great stuff.
<v Speaker 2>But hey man, real quick, I'm gonna take us down
<v Speaker 2>a quick, one quick side road.
<v Speaker 3>Here, go ahead, seth Rollins, Messiah music or burn it Down.
<v Speaker 1>Well, he's got a combo now to, isn't he?
<v Speaker 2>Uh?
<v Speaker 3>I know, But if I have.
<v Speaker 2>To pick one, you have to pick one, Matt, Well, here's.
<v Speaker 1>The problem with me, and I'll pick one. I'm not
<v Speaker 1>gonna cop out. But my problem with this is I
<v Speaker 1>have like I'm trying to detach the character I'm associating
<v Speaker 1>with that music. That's true, because I I have. I
<v Speaker 1>really like the Burn It Down, but I hated the
<v Speaker 1>baby say Face seth Rollins because it never felt right.
<v Speaker 1>But I also really I was kind of neutral about
<v Speaker 1>the the seth Rollins, Messiah gimmick or the music, but
<v Speaker 1>also I felt really good about his character.
<v Speaker 3>Sure, so.
<v Speaker 1>I like the Burn It Down. It's it's more energetic,
<v Speaker 1>but it's if I was just if I was gonna
<v Speaker 1>take it side by side and forget that characters existed,
<v Speaker 1>and I was just looking at the music, I'd.
<v Speaker 2>Say, you have to you have to come out to
<v Speaker 2>one of these and it's gonna be reset.
<v Speaker 3>It was never says that was yours mine?
<v Speaker 1>Okay, burn it Down?
<v Speaker 3>Wow?
<v Speaker 1>Only because here's the thing, I know a lot of
<v Speaker 1>people didn't like hated people tell me they hated Seth
<v Speaker 1>Rollins Messiah gimmick music. I think I am not as
<v Speaker 1>high on it only because the failure for them to
<v Speaker 1>successfully implement that character, which I thought was a missed
<v Speaker 1>opportunity between who was with him at the very beginning,
<v Speaker 1>that the tag team that was that got injured and
<v Speaker 1>then they like less aop aop. Yeah, they if they
<v Speaker 1>were awesome together, And I said, this is gonna be,
<v Speaker 1>this is gonna be the best thing that ever happened
<v Speaker 1>to Seth Rollins and aop. They get injured, the girl away,
<v Speaker 1>and then he had no disciples he had. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>how how do you have How are you a Messiah
<v Speaker 1>with no disciples? It's like King Corbin? How are you
<v Speaker 1>a king with no no followers, no subjects? He I mean,
<v Speaker 1>it just kills the gimmicks. So I think their mismanagement
<v Speaker 1>of the character damp in my perspective of the music,
<v Speaker 1>even though I don't hate the music. So yeah, that's
<v Speaker 1>my thought. What about you, would you Mesiah?
<v Speaker 2>Here's the thing, matt Uh, And I know it's part
<v Speaker 2>of the reason I brought it up, is because people
<v Speaker 2>people hated that Messiah music. And I know this is
<v Speaker 2>usually your lane. But I'm gonna do an unpopular controversial
<v Speaker 2>opinion here. If you if you love that burn it
<v Speaker 2>Down music, it's because you associate it with good memories
<v Speaker 2>and it's it's been around longer.
<v Speaker 3>Here's here's the thing. The Missia music. The Messia music bumps,
<v Speaker 3>it bangs, It's way better.
<v Speaker 2>It's it's a million times better than Burn It Down.
<v Speaker 2>I don't I don't particularly even care what his character is.
<v Speaker 2>It's the mission musics better. It's always been fantastic. The
<v Speaker 2>only reason you like Burn it Down better is because
<v Speaker 2>you liked yell and burn it Down.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, that's true if we take out burn it
<v Speaker 1>Down out.
<v Speaker 2>Of that kind of kind of generic and boring.
<v Speaker 1>And so I was gonna say now that I'm thinking
<v Speaker 1>of it because we hear burn it Down and then
<v Speaker 1>then it goes to the most eric wrestling music that
<v Speaker 1>has ever existed. Uh huh, Yeah, I mean, I hear you,
<v Speaker 1>and and it is a nostalgic feel because Seth Rollins
<v Speaker 1>the heist of the century, he was part of the authority,
<v Speaker 1>like all of those memories. I mean, yeah, yeah, it
<v Speaker 1>could be a lot of nostalgia. And they they see
<v Speaker 1>that's why I'm so dampened on the Messiah music is
<v Speaker 1>because they are the mismanagement of it.
<v Speaker 3>So it's yeah, it is mismanaged, but it is It is.
<v Speaker 2>Very important that I I make clear that burn it
<v Speaker 2>Down is nostalgic. Matt was wrong again. It's a theme
<v Speaker 2>and when we're together. It's why it doesn't have me
<v Speaker 2>on very much. Well, anyway, main events, mackdown was fantastic.
<v Speaker 1>Nice, nice, nice transition that didn't happen. Oh gosh, gotta
<v Speaker 1>love opinions and facts. Oh god, Okay, so yeah, let's
<v Speaker 1>let's continue on here as the as the rumors are
<v Speaker 1>going to heat up about our relationship. Let's yeah, let's
<v Speaker 1>let's move I so rains again, putting a from me
<v Speaker 1>a closing. I thought on this. I mean I could
<v Speaker 1>ran about this on a good way for you know,
<v Speaker 1>like in an hour on how good this match was,
<v Speaker 1>because it was that good. And if this is the
<v Speaker 1>last time that we're seeing Daniel Brian for a while,
<v Speaker 1>which I think it is, uh, you know, I guess
<v Speaker 1>his contract is up or I don't know what the
<v Speaker 1>case may be, but yeah, I think it's fine if
<v Speaker 1>he takes some time off and finds himself back on Raw.
<v Speaker 1>I think that's what's eventually going to happen. What do
<v Speaker 1>you think?
<v Speaker 3>I agree.
<v Speaker 2>I think it is one hundred percent fine if he
<v Speaker 2>takes some time off. Obviously, neither of us know him,
<v Speaker 2>so we don't know, but it does seem to me
<v Speaker 2>like he might be a little bit burnt out at
<v Speaker 2>the moment, which is completely understandable, but he has wrestling
<v Speaker 2>in his blood. To use an old cliche, and if
<v Speaker 2>you think about it, he's been on SmackDown forever. He
<v Speaker 2>was on SmackDown for this run, he was the general
<v Speaker 2>manager when he got hurt, and before his return match,
<v Speaker 2>he's been working with roughly roughly the same people, and
<v Speaker 2>now he's getting to work with a Cizarro and he's
<v Speaker 2>getting to work with Roman. But at a certain point,
<v Speaker 2>sometimes what you need for burnout, which I know is
<v Speaker 2>a dirty word in the WWE, but a very real thing,
<v Speaker 2>is you need to take time away and or you
<v Speaker 2>need to change the scenery. So I would be fine
<v Speaker 2>if he takes time off however long he wants or needs,
<v Speaker 2>and then comes back to Raw for a fresh Just
<v Speaker 2>seeing him on a fresh set, it's so silly because
<v Speaker 2>Raw and SmackDown look different, but it does feel different
<v Speaker 2>seeing somebody with the red ropes versus the blue ropes.
<v Speaker 2>Freshen him up, give him new stuff to do, let
<v Speaker 2>him work with different guys like he wants to. I
<v Speaker 2>have to assume that's the plan, and I hope it is.
<v Speaker 5>Welcome back to the WWE podcast. Let's get back to
<v Speaker 5>more great wrestling audio.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and let maybe let his hair go back out.
<v Speaker 1>I did not like the miz wanna Be hair. That
<v Speaker 1>was bad. I love Brian, we all do, but the
<v Speaker 1>hair just killed it for me a little bit. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>but again, this it's fine. And Daniel Brian, I know
<v Speaker 1>in a recent interview that he had I think a
<v Speaker 1>month or so ago, I don't remember who it was with,
<v Speaker 1>maybe like Fox Sports or something, said that he's, you know,
<v Speaker 1>he wants to figure out he's still got to figure
<v Speaker 1>out what he wants to do with his life. Very
<v Speaker 1>very telling, you know that he's looking beyond wrestling, and
<v Speaker 1>in a way, that's this was only a very small
<v Speaker 1>part of my life. Now I got to figure out
<v Speaker 1>what I want to do. That's essentially what he said.
<v Speaker 1>So even if he does return, I think that the
<v Speaker 1>days behind him are much greater than the days ahead
<v Speaker 1>of him the ring, and that's fine. You know, he's
<v Speaker 1>got a wife, he's got a kid. I get it.
<v Speaker 3>So yeah, I get it.
<v Speaker 2>And looking at it now, he's thirty nine years old
<v Speaker 2>and that's not necessarily old in terms of a wrestler nowadays,
<v Speaker 2>but with all the miles he's put on himself and
<v Speaker 2>his work style from the indies to WWE to now
<v Speaker 2>being hurt and not changing his style that much, give
<v Speaker 2>the guys some time off. If he wants to come back,
<v Speaker 2>bring it back. You know, he doesn't want a non
<v Speaker 2>wrestling role.
<v Speaker 3>We try that. Let him, let him take that time,
<v Speaker 3>be with his family and come back. I'm one hundred
<v Speaker 3>percent good with that.
<v Speaker 1>Definitely.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, Daniel Brian will always be a belove figure
<v Speaker 1>and I hope that when he does return that it's
<v Speaker 1>in front of weekly Live fans. I don't. I hope,
<v Speaker 1>So like this is look, this is this is the thing.
<v Speaker 1>We're not blaming w w frintal fans is clearly nobody's fault.
<v Speaker 1>But I gotta say Number one, hearing critically acclaimed in
<v Speaker 1>an award winning every week is just like so mind numbing.
<v Speaker 1>I can't. I can't. The pumped in crowd noise. They're
<v Speaker 1>doing the best that they can. Here's the thing I'm complaining,
<v Speaker 1>but I'm also absolutely appreciative of They're doing the absolute
<v Speaker 1>most that they can. There's nothing more that they can do.
<v Speaker 1>And I absolutely understand that. That said, that doesn't change
<v Speaker 1>my opinions that I'm getting real tired of this real
<v Speaker 1>quick and I need freaking fans, especially when you get
<v Speaker 1>a taste of it at WrestleMania and then they go
<v Speaker 1>right back. It's like they regressed.
<v Speaker 2>Now, you knows, it's hard to it's hard to go
<v Speaker 2>from a stadium for WrestleMania back to video screens. However,
<v Speaker 2>it did just occur to me, Matt, that you realize
<v Speaker 2>that when we're you know, hopefully you know, still doing
<v Speaker 2>this in like thirty years and we are like clinging
<v Speaker 2>to our younger co host for relevancy, that we're going
<v Speaker 2>to be the guys that are like, you don't understand
<v Speaker 2>how us back in the day we watched wrestling in
<v Speaker 2>a warehouse, in a garage with no fans. We watched
<v Speaker 2>a WrestleMania like that that Yes.
<v Speaker 1>Oh people won't believe it, you know, I bet you
<v Speaker 1>even say, five ten years from now, we're gonna look
<v Speaker 1>back and go, oh my god, remember that. You know
<v Speaker 1>it's gonna be that way, and we're just we as
<v Speaker 1>human beings, we adapt quickly, and this is gonna be
<v Speaker 1>one of those things that once they're back in front
<v Speaker 1>of fans on a weekly basis, which if people were
<v Speaker 1>gonna put me on the spot, the earliest whip to
<v Speaker 1>me would be like fall. I would think the fall
<v Speaker 1>on a limited basis, maybe you know, the problem is
<v Speaker 1>also the states, and like where are they going to
<v Speaker 1>travel right now? The most open states Texas, Florida, you know,
<v Speaker 1>a lot of the southern red states. So, for better
<v Speaker 1>or worse, not getting into politics, it is what it
<v Speaker 1>is right now. But that said, I would think that
<v Speaker 1>they don't want to just make a circle going into
<v Speaker 1>the same states, into the same places, you know whatever.
<v Speaker 1>I would think that they want to go back to
<v Speaker 1>any place that they want, even if it's like fifty percent,
<v Speaker 1>seventy five percent or of course one hundred percent capacity.
<v Speaker 1>But it's it's really completely out of WWE's hands. But man,
<v Speaker 1>oh man, do I miss fans on a weekly freaking
<v Speaker 1>basis being able to be there. It's it's taking the
<v Speaker 1>soul out of wrestling, So God, Okay, I want to
<v Speaker 1>move on Bianca bell Air. Now, as you know, we
<v Speaker 1>all know, Bianca bell Air is this new Smacked and
<v Speaker 1>Women's champion. Bailey has stepped up as her new contender
<v Speaker 1>for Backlash, And do you feel like I guess starting
<v Speaker 1>high level? How do you feel about her reign? Do
<v Speaker 1>you do you feel like she's kind of underwhelming thus far?
<v Speaker 1>I mean, grant, it's only been a few weeks, but
<v Speaker 1>how do you feel about it? I mean, I'm I'm
<v Speaker 1>happy for him. I would assume you are as well,
<v Speaker 1>But how do you feel about it so far? Given
<v Speaker 1>a few weeks of it?
<v Speaker 2>So obviously I feel really good about her winning it.
<v Speaker 2>It was the correct choice. It was built up right.
<v Speaker 2>It felt like a big deal that Sasha and Bianca
<v Speaker 2>main evented Night one, and that Bianca one. Even Sasha
<v Speaker 2>was happy, yep, right after she had lost. I actually
<v Speaker 2>loved that. I would never m I would almost never
<v Speaker 2>say that I'm disappointed in a champion for their title reign. I, however,
<v Speaker 2>would say in a case like this that I am
<v Speaker 2>potentially disappointed in how they are using that champion. So
<v Speaker 2>we're gonna talk about Raw later and I'm gonna do
<v Speaker 2>a the whole big old thing.
<v Speaker 3>On the Miz and say.
<v Speaker 2>Roman reigns And I understand why these are different versus
<v Speaker 2>Kofi Kingston. Now again I understand those are two different performers.
<v Speaker 2>But if you were to tell me at WrestleMania when
<v Speaker 2>Kofe won that WWE title how that rain was going
<v Speaker 2>to go, I wouldn't have believed you. And I don't
<v Speaker 2>think that that has anything to do with Kofi.
<v Speaker 3>I think that's how much.
<v Speaker 2>Or rather how many ideas they have for you. So
<v Speaker 2>it's very early, and this is her first tidle defense.
<v Speaker 2>Bailey makes sense for that, but she doesn't feel important because.
<v Speaker 3>They liked her.
<v Speaker 2>Reminds you a lot that her husband is montese Ford,
<v Speaker 2>and that's cool. I'm glad they're on the same show.
<v Speaker 2>But montes Ford is presently in a tag team that
<v Speaker 2>he's gonna end up being the Shawn Michaels of. They
<v Speaker 2>don't like tag teams, so she ends up in these
<v Speaker 2>comedy segments where rather than being Bianca bell Air, the
<v Speaker 2>badass women's champion, she's montes Ford's wife who happens to
<v Speaker 2>be the women's champion and that's not how you make
<v Speaker 2>a champion feel important. They have plenty of time to
<v Speaker 2>fix this, and the match with Bailey's gonna be really good,
<v Speaker 2>but in order for her to feel important like her
<v Speaker 2>own person, we're gonna have to back off of that
<v Speaker 2>a little bit.
<v Speaker 1>That is, you know, here's the thing, the connection that
<v Speaker 1>they're making. We all know montes Ford is married to
<v Speaker 1>bian butlair, Like I mean, it's it's extreme public knowledge
<v Speaker 1>and that's you know, like you said, that's fine that
<v Speaker 1>they're acknowledging out on air, but perhaps they're doing this
<v Speaker 1>a little too much now where they don't need to
<v Speaker 1>be teaming up on a weekly basis or coming to
<v Speaker 1>each other's aid on a weekly basis.
<v Speaker 3>You know.
<v Speaker 1>Again, this is where it gets hard because as husband
<v Speaker 1>and wife, you should come to each other's defense, help
<v Speaker 1>each other. But it's also pro wrestling, and I think
<v Speaker 1>pro wrestling should take presents a precedent over over any
<v Speaker 1>kind of like, well, they're married, they shouldn't always come
<v Speaker 1>to each other's say no, because they're in steparate storylines,
<v Speaker 1>you're gonna be I think you're handicapping one for the other,
<v Speaker 1>and I don't. I'm fine with it. Because it's only
<v Speaker 1>been a few weeks. Like if this was a few months,
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I think a bigger grice. So I understand
<v Speaker 1>what they're doing. She hasn't even defended her championship yet,
<v Speaker 1>of which it's a foregone conclusion she's going to retain.
<v Speaker 1>I think she'll She'll probably keep it through all summer,
<v Speaker 1>maybe into the fall. I think she should have a
<v Speaker 1>long rain and she's deserving so. But that said, I
<v Speaker 1>you know, having them on a weekly basis is weird.
<v Speaker 1>Then they have this tag team match with what was
<v Speaker 1>it Ziggler and Rude and uh Bianca bell Air and
<v Speaker 1>the Street Profits and who was with? Who was with
<v Speaker 1>the the Dirty Dogs? Who was the Why can't I
<v Speaker 1>remember who? Who the other the female component of that was.
<v Speaker 1>I can't.
<v Speaker 3>Oh Bailey, Yeah it was Bailey Bailey.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so the Dirty Dogs? Yeah, I mean whatever, I'll
<v Speaker 1>roll with it. I mean anything. This is the most
<v Speaker 1>relevant Ziggler's been consistently for a while.
<v Speaker 3>So fine it is.
<v Speaker 1>And the fact that the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, by
<v Speaker 1>the way, weren't even on WrestleMania. I don't want to
<v Speaker 1>hear Wrestleman. It's a bunch of nonsense, of course, But nonetheless,
<v Speaker 1>the one thing, the only thing I have to say
<v Speaker 1>about that match that took place on SmackDown that has
<v Speaker 1>nothing to do with WrestleMania or Backlash itself, was the
<v Speaker 1>fact that they had a mixed tag team match, and
<v Speaker 1>we were told right up front that Cole said that
<v Speaker 1>the men will wrestle the men and the woman will
<v Speaker 1>wrestle the women. And it's like, yeah, okay, I know
<v Speaker 1>this is the attitude era. You're not gonna get you know,
<v Speaker 1>anybody any of the men hitting the women. At the
<v Speaker 1>same time, we the finish of the match, right in
<v Speaker 1>front of the referee, we had Bianca bela Air use
<v Speaker 1>her hair as a weapon. Yes on what was it?
<v Speaker 3>Rude?
<v Speaker 1>And yes that caused Montes for from the heavens and
<v Speaker 1>you know, so like I just, I mean, the double
<v Speaker 1>standard here is, like I understand, they're not going to
<v Speaker 1>do a man on woman violence. I get it, It's
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty one. It'd be a very bad pr move,
<v Speaker 1>I think. I mean, unless you're Randy Yorton, in which
<v Speaker 1>you can just r ko Nia Jacks, you know, in
<v Speaker 1>the Rumble, or rko Beth Phoenix like many ord seems
<v Speaker 1>to be for some reason above that law. But it's
<v Speaker 1>funny career. Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean you look
<v Speaker 1>back at how many people are he are. He's r
<v Speaker 1>KAO women wise, He's done Stacy Keebler, I remember that
<v Speaker 1>very well. Who else did he do? Stephanie McMahon did
<v Speaker 1>he do?
<v Speaker 3>Was it May Young? May?
<v Speaker 1>Yes?
<v Speaker 3>I think he did.
<v Speaker 1>He did May Young. I was gonna say Lillian Garcia,
<v Speaker 1>but I don't think Lillian. Uh who? But yeah, it's
<v Speaker 1>it's a list. He's got quite a few, quite a
<v Speaker 1>few Wan same with stone Cold. He even stunned may
<v Speaker 1>Young at one point. Yes, yeah, nobody was Molly Holly
<v Speaker 1>trist Stratis. But my point is that this is not
<v Speaker 1>that era. Well, I you know, I don't think that
<v Speaker 1>was a bad thing because actually I was laughing at
<v Speaker 1>that stuff and I didn't go, oh my god, I'm
<v Speaker 1>gonna go, you know, beat my girlfriend now like this.
<v Speaker 1>People are smart enough to go, you know this is
<v Speaker 1>going to influence me. No, but I understand the culture
<v Speaker 1>and climate we're in. They're a PG product. I get it.
<v Speaker 1>Circling all the way back to the match. Now, if
<v Speaker 1>somebody had done this to Bianca, say you know we
<v Speaker 1>we had I don't know, Dolf Zigler do something to
<v Speaker 1>Bianca that costs her the match, they would have been disqualified.
<v Speaker 1>Yet Bianca bick can do it too rude and yet
<v Speaker 1>right in front of the referee. And it's like, well,
<v Speaker 1>wait a minute, Cole just told me it's a mixed
<v Speaker 1>tag team match. How is this legal? I know it's
<v Speaker 1>a little thing, I get it, but it's just it's
<v Speaker 1>something that ww does on a consistent basis. So anyway, Yeah, it's.
<v Speaker 2>One of those unwritten rules that.
<v Speaker 3>I think. I think it's twofold.
<v Speaker 2>I think in WWE rules the same way that the
<v Speaker 2>partner on the apron has to hold onto the tag rope.
<v Speaker 2>They never mentioned it, but you know, it's a rule.
<v Speaker 2>I think it might be an internal thing that one
<v Speaker 2>a woman can hit a man in that circumstance and
<v Speaker 2>it's not a disqualification, but a man can't do the same,
<v Speaker 2>or RADI is a disqualification. I'd be willing to bet
<v Speaker 2>you which is that rule is weird, but I understand
<v Speaker 2>the second half of it. And also I am so
<v Speaker 2>sure that she's allowed to hit people with her hair
<v Speaker 2>because it's a part of her body and not a
<v Speaker 2>foreign object that it just counts that way, which is
<v Speaker 2>just kind of a weird, unspoken WWE rule.
<v Speaker 3>And I don't even care.
<v Speaker 2>About the mixed tag or montes coming to Bianca's rescue
<v Speaker 2>or vice versa. I don't care about that part because
<v Speaker 2>that makes a lot of sense to me. The part
<v Speaker 2>that I care about is Bianca having a segment and
<v Speaker 2>them feeling like they need to include montese Ford in it.
<v Speaker 2>Not because montes Ford isn't good. Montes Ford is.
<v Speaker 3>Going to be huge. He is.
<v Speaker 2>He is the Sean Michaels of that team, so I
<v Speaker 2>understand to getting him in there. But as soon as
<v Speaker 2>tag teams show up, you know it's going to turn
<v Speaker 2>into a comedy segment or be less important.
<v Speaker 3>So now Bianc is associated with it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, that is the bigger problem that I mean.
<v Speaker 1>The tag team division as a whole in WWE has
<v Speaker 1>been a problem from its inception. I mean the tag
<v Speaker 1>team division. I asked this to everybody that I've spoken
<v Speaker 1>with over the last, like, you know, a few months,
<v Speaker 1>and I said, can somebody tell me the last time
<v Speaker 1>that a tag team match main evented a pay per
<v Speaker 1>view or even much less. I'll drop the standard further,
<v Speaker 1>a televised event name like a tag team match, tag team,
<v Speaker 1>like actual tag team, not one that have like single
<v Speaker 1>stars that you know, I don't even know.
<v Speaker 2>I think very very loosely, I have it without including
<v Speaker 2>actual tag teams.
<v Speaker 3>But the last time a tag match one was frankly
<v Speaker 3>featured on a pay per view but main evented a show.
<v Speaker 3>I have to cheat to be able to do this.
<v Speaker 2>Uh seth Rollins Becky Lynch versus Baron Corbin and Lacy Evans.
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god, did that mean events? My knowledge, Matt
<v Speaker 1>did that main event though I.
<v Speaker 2>Think it main evented a raw like they're skirmish, but
<v Speaker 2>I don't think it main evented.
<v Speaker 3>The pay per view.
<v Speaker 1>That's the point.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, Like I you got to go back.
<v Speaker 2>To like Jericho, Bin Wah, Triple H stone Cold for
<v Speaker 2>it to main event and that was a raw.
<v Speaker 1>Well that's the thing. That's my other point is it
<v Speaker 1>has to be a tag team for the sake of
<v Speaker 1>a tag team, not actually an individual, you know what
<v Speaker 1>I'm saying, Like a true tag team, not just a
<v Speaker 1>Stone Cold and Triple Hs. They're not you know what
<v Speaker 1>I mean. So that's my point, and and I don't know,
<v Speaker 1>I mean so WWE has never made a tag the
<v Speaker 1>tag team vision, whether it's the men or the women,
<v Speaker 1>the focus of the show. And you know, I never
<v Speaker 1>understood why, and I guess there are gent is well,
<v Speaker 1>single stars make you more money. I would argue, well,
<v Speaker 1>yeah they do. There's no argument about that that single
<v Speaker 1>stars are how you reach the highest potential. But how
<v Speaker 1>do you think Sometimes you get those single stars by
<v Speaker 1>building great tag teams, which means you need to main
<v Speaker 1>event those tag teams to build those single stars that
<v Speaker 1>you're eventually going to create from splitting that team. It's
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I don't know. I'm not saying it has
<v Speaker 1>to happen all the time, but once in a while,
<v Speaker 1>I think, hey, shake it up, throw a main event
<v Speaker 1>tag team match if it's going to be a championship match,
<v Speaker 1>especially so.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, it's hard to It's really hard to do
<v Speaker 2>that because they don't care about tag teams, and more
<v Speaker 2>than that, they actively seem to dislike them. So it
<v Speaker 2>just makes it really difficult to to present them in
<v Speaker 2>an interesting way at all because they're never going to
<v Speaker 2>do that. All right, some quick research here, as I
<v Speaker 2>stalled as I talked fine the last time under the parameters.
<v Speaker 2>Given that I can find that a two actual tag
<v Speaker 2>teams faced each other in a main event capacity, I
<v Speaker 2>have two from two thousand and nine. They both featured
<v Speaker 2>Degeneration X. So that's the tripa h. Shawn Michael's version.
<v Speaker 2>In Helena Cell two thousand and nine, it was d
<v Speaker 2>X versus Legacy, and in TLC it's DX versus Jeri Show.
<v Speaker 3>So twelve years ago.
<v Speaker 2>Featuring the boss's son in law was the last time.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, for Hall of Famers, I mean yeah,
<v Speaker 1>like you know, yes, they are a true tag team,
<v Speaker 1>you know, not gonna fine d X is yes, Okay, Okay, I.
<v Speaker 2>Had to I had to cheat on top of cheat
<v Speaker 2>to find an answer. Yeah, but bye bye God, I
<v Speaker 2>was going to find an answer.
<v Speaker 1>The fact that we have to dig that far is
<v Speaker 1>becoming of the problem. So yeah, anyway, I'm not saying
<v Speaker 1>that tag teams should take over main events. I'm not
<v Speaker 1>saying that. I'm just saying, you know, once in a while,
<v Speaker 1>on the right spot do it. It's you know, it's
<v Speaker 1>just it comes down to Vince not putting a priority
<v Speaker 1>on tag teams. It's been a thing with him forever,
<v Speaker 1>so I.
<v Speaker 3>Think him forever.
<v Speaker 2>But Also from a business perspective, you know that Montese
<v Speaker 2>Ford is going to be the one to break out
<v Speaker 2>of that. And I would be willing to bet you
<v Speaker 2>that they really like Montese for it and they see
<v Speaker 2>a future there for him.
<v Speaker 3>Now, I can't tell you.
<v Speaker 2>What the ceiling is because he can talk and wrestle,
<v Speaker 2>but that's not always enough.
<v Speaker 3>That's not the point.
<v Speaker 2>But what they're going to do is eventually those the
<v Speaker 2>street profits are gonna break up. One of them is
<v Speaker 2>going to turn on the other. They're gonna do a
<v Speaker 2>program together, and nobody's gonna care because they never built
<v Speaker 2>up this team to be anything serious. But if you
<v Speaker 2>were to build up some tag teams and build up
<v Speaker 2>the street profits, now you can put them in main
<v Speaker 2>event segments where they talk, and now you can feature
<v Speaker 2>Montees forward more and he can have opening show or
<v Speaker 2>opening show promos and main event matches. That way, Drew
<v Speaker 2>McIntyre and Bobby Lashley and MVP don't have to do
<v Speaker 2>it every week. But also you give somebody a trial
<v Speaker 2>run while they have a safety net as their tag
<v Speaker 2>team partner there. That makes more business sense to me.
<v Speaker 2>But they don't feel like a main event can be
<v Speaker 2>a tag team match, and so they're not gonna do it.
<v Speaker 2>So they're just gonna rip those two apart and just
<v Speaker 2>and just have them go off their separate ways.
<v Speaker 1>And there the thing is too right now, there is
<v Speaker 1>no better time for WWE to experiment than after WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 1>There is no better time of the year. You don't
<v Speaker 1>have to really worry about next year's WrestleMania because you
<v Speaker 1>can change storylines one hundred times between now and next
<v Speaker 1>April and Dallas, which by the way, they will have
<v Speaker 1>a full stadium, maybe eighty thousand people. It's Texas, So yes,
<v Speaker 1>if you if you're looking for a full stadium, not
<v Speaker 1>a partial capacity, there's your one hundred percent guarantee that said.
<v Speaker 1>I just I just right now. I'm all for experiments.
<v Speaker 1>I'm all for bringing somebody up trying new things. I'm
<v Speaker 1>not like right now, the status quo is the last
<v Speaker 1>thing you want to be doing. It's let's find out
<v Speaker 1>who our next stars are. They could potentially make it
<v Speaker 1>to WrestleMania next year, and why not do that? Exactly
<v Speaker 1>what you said, I don't understand this, but it's not
<v Speaker 1>you know, it's not a massive sticking point with me,
<v Speaker 1>but It's always one that I've wondered, why the hell
<v Speaker 1>aren't they focusing on the tag teams because they always
<v Speaker 1>want to make single stars and they just hey, whatever, okay,
<v Speaker 1>all right, moving on though, Boy boy, oh boy, Alistair Black.
<v Speaker 1>We've gotten two weeks of Alistair Black reading the book.
<v Speaker 1>I believe the title is Tale of the Dark Father.
<v Speaker 1>I think, yes, And he's basically referring to and again,
<v Speaker 1>this is based on the animation that they're using during
<v Speaker 1>his promos, which is very interesting animation. It is very cool,
<v Speaker 1>very just different, and it's essentially implying that Satan is
<v Speaker 1>his father. I mean, that's the implication I would think.
<v Speaker 1>So he's sitting there with his glasses on and he's
<v Speaker 1>reading these stories and talking about how we're all fools
<v Speaker 1>and he'd give us the key to our freedom. But
<v Speaker 1>you know, I here's what I make of this. It
<v Speaker 1>seems like it's his darker character, more fleshed out. So
<v Speaker 1>he's not a completely different character. He was basically rising
<v Speaker 1>from the dead during all of his entrances anyway, so
<v Speaker 1>this is an offshoot of it. It's more fleshed out.
<v Speaker 1>As I said, And I'm interested in this. How are
<v Speaker 1>you feeling about this so far.
<v Speaker 5>Welcome back to the WWE podcast. Let's get back to
<v Speaker 5>more great wrestling audio.
<v Speaker 3>I am at first.
<v Speaker 2>At first, I was My reaction was why did we
<v Speaker 2>keep him off TV forever to come up with a
<v Speaker 2>character that's just Alister Black? But now he talks because
<v Speaker 2>the old, dablished Black character, This is exactly how I
<v Speaker 2>thought he would talk.
<v Speaker 3>But watching watching the.
<v Speaker 2>Vignettes and the promos, it's something different. It plays to
<v Speaker 2>his strengths rather than having him do a traditional.
<v Speaker 3>Promo in the ring.
<v Speaker 2>You're right, the animation is fantastic and I've never seen
<v Speaker 2>anything like it on WWE. And it is cryptic enough
<v Speaker 2>that you're not giving away what it is right away,
<v Speaker 2>but it's also it's also cryptic enough that he could
<v Speaker 2>clearly just be an insane person, Like we're not necessarily
<v Speaker 2>heading for like Undertaker powers here, Like he's just a
<v Speaker 2>disillusioned crazy dude that has these thoughts. So the character
<v Speaker 2>is very cool at the moment. I just hope that
<v Speaker 2>and I know they don't. They have like a plan
<v Speaker 2>for him going forward and not just we're going to
<v Speaker 2>do these vignettes.
<v Speaker 3>We're going to do these vignettes. Hell I don't know
<v Speaker 3>what to do. Put them in the ring and rush it.
<v Speaker 2>But if they keep going and they've fleshed out this
<v Speaker 2>character well enough, this.
<v Speaker 3>Could be a really cool character.
<v Speaker 1>The vignettes are something that WW has started to bring
<v Speaker 1>back with Alse for Black of course, but who else
<v Speaker 1>had done it? Ec three famously did it and then
<v Speaker 1>went into nowhere, We had Carmela who was doing it
<v Speaker 1>live Morgan did it yet look at where they're at now,
<v Speaker 1>I mean exactly. So they do all these vignettes, which
<v Speaker 1>I'm a massive fan of vignettes. I think they are
<v Speaker 1>They don't keep done it for everybody, but they are
<v Speaker 1>effective when done correctly, and I love them generally. So
<v Speaker 1>the problem, though, is what's the actual execution of this
<v Speaker 1>character once you get them into a quote live audience,
<v Speaker 1>and what's the story? What's give us a six month plan?
<v Speaker 1>They should have minimum a six month plan, and it
<v Speaker 1>feels like they're just doing a week to week plan.
<v Speaker 1>And it's such a waste of everyone's time to go
<v Speaker 1>through this and then stop, you know, twenty percent of
<v Speaker 1>the way through and not see the whole damn thing through,
<v Speaker 1>which is what it feels like when they're doing these things.
<v Speaker 1>So I I like what I'm seeing with Alistair Black.
<v Speaker 1>I think it's interesting, it's dark. These dark characters draw
<v Speaker 1>people to them. I look at the Fiend and so
<v Speaker 1>I just I'm scared. I'm really nervous about the when
<v Speaker 1>he gets to raw, or rather SmackDown, what are they
<v Speaker 1>gonna do? Is he gonna jump into something? And then
<v Speaker 1>he's gone. Two weeks later, he just kind of goes
<v Speaker 1>to the main event, loses, and then he's just allocated
<v Speaker 1>to the mid card and just says there. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>it's I'm scared because I have a feeling that this
<v Speaker 1>is gonna be one of those deals where they don't
<v Speaker 1>have a long term plan. But I just I don't.
<v Speaker 1>I haven't seen the evidence for it. When they bring
<v Speaker 1>vignette to somebody and then they debut, I just I'm scared.
<v Speaker 2>So no, there's no reason to trust them with a
<v Speaker 2>long term story or the nourishing of a of a
<v Speaker 2>fantastic character. So these are very good and I hope
<v Speaker 2>that he has a lot of success with them. But
<v Speaker 2>if we do this again next year, I just hope
<v Speaker 2>we're not talking about Man. Remember when those vignettes came
<v Speaker 2>out and we were so excited and now he's back
<v Speaker 2>on main event.
<v Speaker 1>The sad thing is, huh, if you're gonna tell me
<v Speaker 1>what's more likely him becoming Universal Champion or being on
<v Speaker 1>main event in a year, I mean, yeah, I think
<v Speaker 1>we know the answer. So, okay, Cizarrow, I know that
<v Speaker 1>he was part of the main event. We didn't really
<v Speaker 1>talk about him and the main event where he came
<v Speaker 1>to the aid of Daniel Bryan. As Roman rains is
<v Speaker 1>gonna hit the concerto, jay Usa comes out evens the odds,
<v Speaker 1>and then of course Sammy Zay does get involved as
<v Speaker 1>well and hits the Halluba kick, and uh, you know,
<v Speaker 1>I was he in the main event. Maybe I'm mixing
<v Speaker 1>the main events up, but we had you know.
<v Speaker 3>He made an appearance towards the end.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, okay, okay, Sammy's name was involved the Intercontinental Championship match.
<v Speaker 1>I'm thinking of the Icy title. See see oh god, okay.
<v Speaker 1>See I know somebody out there is probably screaming, know
<v Speaker 1>what you're talking about? What are you talking about? I say,
<v Speaker 1>we corrected ourselves. So jay Uso came out even the
<v Speaker 1>odds and then he hit the concerto. Anyway, as Cizarrow
<v Speaker 1>was tied up in the ropes making him watch. So
<v Speaker 1>what are your thoughts. I'm gonna focus this on Cizarrow
<v Speaker 1>because Cizarrow is the dude that were we all respect
<v Speaker 1>I think the entire locker room respects, and it's just
<v Speaker 1>a matter of time before he gets that Universal Championship match.
<v Speaker 1>Do you think that it's going to be at Backlash
<v Speaker 1>or per my theory? Do you think I think that
<v Speaker 1>this is the right choice. By the way, this is
<v Speaker 1>a false choice for being given. Do you think that
<v Speaker 1>Money in the Bank when if Cesarro wins, it is
<v Speaker 1>going to force Roman Reigns's hand to finally finally face
<v Speaker 1>him because he always he told Cesarrow the answer is
<v Speaker 1>always going to be no, which tells me until he's
<v Speaker 1>absolutely forced contractually, he's not going to face Cesarrow. So
<v Speaker 1>perhaps Roman Reigns doesn't even have a championship match at Backlash.
<v Speaker 1>He's given the night off. People are pissed about it,
<v Speaker 1>which I'm fine with. I don't need I'm good with that.
<v Speaker 1>I want anger. And Cesarrow wins the match at Money
<v Speaker 1>in the Bank and it's forcing Roman Reigns there. But
<v Speaker 1>I could be wrong. What do you think?
<v Speaker 2>Hmmm, I didn't think about that. Uh, it's only fair
<v Speaker 2>I gave you a false choice, you to give one back.
<v Speaker 3>I would argue the difficulty has gone up a bit
<v Speaker 3>with yours.
<v Speaker 2>So I with seth Rollins hanging around, Cesarrow is not
<v Speaker 2>I don't think going to be the one at backlash.
<v Speaker 2>I think that's too soon for the kind of story
<v Speaker 2>that they're telling here. It could even be a seth
<v Speaker 2>Rawlins leap Frog's Czarrow thing, because that's part of the
<v Speaker 2>story that they're telling. It would make sense for Cesarrow
<v Speaker 2>to win money in the bank and then force Roman's hand.
<v Speaker 2>My concern would be that everybody that's ever won money
<v Speaker 2>in the bank and not won the title, especially the
<v Speaker 2>ones that announced it ahead of time.
<v Speaker 3>Come out looking like losers.
<v Speaker 2>So you could either do Cesarro wins money in the bank,
<v Speaker 2>forces Roman's hand, or I think Roman has shown you
<v Speaker 2>enough now that if you make him mad or he
<v Speaker 2>dislikes you, that he will put his title on the
<v Speaker 2>line in order to get to you.
<v Speaker 3>He just did that with Daniel Brian.
<v Speaker 2>There was no reason for him to put that title
<v Speaker 2>back on the line, but Daniel made fun of him,
<v Speaker 2>and he had a history with him, like a recent history,
<v Speaker 2>and so in order to get Daniel Brian away from him,
<v Speaker 2>he challenged him for the title when Edge was still
<v Speaker 2>making his decision, even though we knew who he was.
<v Speaker 3>Going to pick.
<v Speaker 2>Roman comes out and spears Edge because he's not big
<v Speaker 2>on waiting to be challenged.
<v Speaker 3>So you could either have Cizarro.
<v Speaker 2>Just win money in the bank, that's fine, or you
<v Speaker 2>could you could draw this out and slowly upon slowly,
<v Speaker 2>Cizarrow pisses off Roman enough that he either wins a
<v Speaker 2>number one contendership against Seth Rollins or whomever, or he
<v Speaker 2>pisses Roman off enough to give him a title shot.
<v Speaker 2>But either way, it certainly shouldn't be a backlash. That's
<v Speaker 2>too soon. Cesarro's not going to win. But you can
<v Speaker 2>build up Czarrow here, and this would be the way
<v Speaker 2>to do it.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, either way, regardless of whatever way that they put
<v Speaker 1>Cesarrow into the championship picture and they finally get him
<v Speaker 1>to Roman Reigns versus versus Cizar for the Universal Championship,
<v Speaker 1>it's going to be forcing Roman Reigns's hand some way, somehow.
<v Speaker 1>This is not I don't think it's going to be
<v Speaker 1>a Roman Reigns is just like, all right, I'll give
<v Speaker 1>your shot because you know you're getting me angry. Because
<v Speaker 1>the fact is he's never said this to any Roman
<v Speaker 1>never told it to anybody that the answer will always
<v Speaker 1>be no, he never has said that to anybody else.
<v Speaker 1>And yes, you can piss him off, but that doesn't
<v Speaker 1>mean he's gonna reward you with a championship opportunity. It'll
<v Speaker 1>reward you with an ass whippon, it won't reward you
<v Speaker 1>with a championship picture. And too often, honestly, this is
<v Speaker 1>a much bigger topic as well. I think championship matches
<v Speaker 1>are rewarded by bad behavior, meaning all you have to
<v Speaker 1>do is to attack a champion and you get a
<v Speaker 1>championship opportunity. That is almost all of the time that's
<v Speaker 1>what happens. So which is backwards.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so with Roman.
<v Speaker 1>Reigns, sure you'll get a match with him, but it's
<v Speaker 1>not gonna be for the championship and you're just gonna
<v Speaker 1>get your ass kicked. So I think that it's until
<v Speaker 1>he forces his hand contractually, like you said, a tournament,
<v Speaker 1>a number one for a number one contendership or money
<v Speaker 1>in the bank, that's when Cesarro will finally get Roman Reigns.
<v Speaker 1>The question is how long are they going to string
<v Speaker 1>this out? Do they actually string it out? Maybe they
<v Speaker 1>have their match at Money in the bank. Maybe he
<v Speaker 1>wins it at Money in the Bank and cashes in
<v Speaker 1>at SummerSlam. I don't know either way. If you're a
<v Speaker 1>baby face holding the money in the bank briefcase, you
<v Speaker 1>most of the time do want to announce ahead of time,
<v Speaker 1>because it's not a quote babyface thing to do to
<v Speaker 1>take advantage of somebody when they're at their weakest moment.
<v Speaker 1>It is, so that's why it's a match designed for
<v Speaker 1>heels to win generally, just like ladder matches, I think
<v Speaker 1>are designed for heels to win, just like steel cage
<v Speaker 1>matches are designed for heels to win because it's an
<v Speaker 1>easy out. So I think that they probably string this
<v Speaker 1>along another couple of months. But if you're gonna string
<v Speaker 1>ale a couple of months, well then you're getting close
<v Speaker 1>to SummerSlam season. Do you wait for Cizarro versus Rains
<v Speaker 1>at SummerSlam? There's a lot of possibilities. I guess My
<v Speaker 1>question is when Cesarrow does get that Universal Championship match,
<v Speaker 1>which we all know is going to happen, do you
<v Speaker 1>think that it's going to end with Cizarrow capturing the
<v Speaker 1>Universal Championship, or is Cizarrow yet just another stepping stone
<v Speaker 1>for Roman Reigns.
<v Speaker 3>Cizarrow is another stepping stone for Roman Reigns. That hurts me.
<v Speaker 2>And it doesn't to say that because Cizarrow has all
<v Speaker 2>the tools that you would need to be the guy
<v Speaker 2>that beats Roman Reigns, but nothing in the history of
<v Speaker 2>him in WWE has indicated to me that they feel
<v Speaker 2>that way about Cizarrow. I bring this up on the
<v Speaker 2>NXT podcast all the time. He's still Swiss, and if
<v Speaker 2>I'm judging by Stone Colds podcast, Vince McMahon still feels
<v Speaker 2>weird about that. I think that Cizarrow is a really, really,
<v Speaker 2>really good guy to put in this position of Roman
<v Speaker 2>completely not respecting him or his accomplishments or lack thereof,
<v Speaker 2>until Czarrow makes him but grudgingly respect it.
<v Speaker 3>I I if.
<v Speaker 2>You put a gun to my head and made me
<v Speaker 2>pick the guy that's eventually going to beat Roman for
<v Speaker 2>the UNI Versal title, it's not Cizarro. And I don't
<v Speaker 2>see Roman Reigns as a guy that's going to lose
<v Speaker 2>the title to win it back.
<v Speaker 1>Then that poses an interesting question. This is a tough question.
<v Speaker 1>So if you don't have an answer, I don't. I
<v Speaker 1>honestly don't. So if you ask me, I'm gonna cop
<v Speaker 1>out because I don't have one. All Right, Who is
<v Speaker 1>the person that eventually takes the championship off?
<v Speaker 3>Roman?
<v Speaker 1>Is that person on the roster right now? Meaning they are?
<v Speaker 1>So you don't believe that it's gonna be say, people
<v Speaker 1>have been booking this for years. Roman reigns versus the
<v Speaker 1>Rock at WrestleMania, and the Rock is the one to
<v Speaker 1>take it off or something you know, or overturning John
<v Speaker 1>Cena or somebody, you know what I mean, Like, do
<v Speaker 1>you in other words, is that person on SmackDown right now?
<v Speaker 1>Is that person a part of the SmackDown roster that
<v Speaker 1>is going to be the one to take it off?
<v Speaker 2>Roman Reigns, Like, so, first, yes, the person is on
<v Speaker 2>the smack Down roster? Yeah, okay, So you could have
<v Speaker 2>John Cena comeback, break Rick Flair's record, You could have
<v Speaker 2>the Rock cousin versus Cousin, he wins the title. Whatever
<v Speaker 2>would be the point of that. But now, listen, I
<v Speaker 2>understand Goldbert was just Universal Champion not that long ago.
<v Speaker 2>So I get that this is WWEE. But it's WWE
<v Speaker 2>with Roman Reigns, who treats Roman Reigns like a priceless artifact.
<v Speaker 3>If there was.
<v Speaker 2>Ever anybody in the history of wrestling sins Haul Cogan
<v Speaker 2>that they weren't just going to beat for the sake
<v Speaker 2>of beating without making sure they make a new made
<v Speaker 2>event star, it's Roman Reigns. And if you just have
<v Speaker 2>John Cena come back and beat him, or The Rock
<v Speaker 2>come back and beat him, the Rock got hurt in
<v Speaker 2>his last match with John c No, there's no guarantee
<v Speaker 2>he's gonna be able to hold that title.
<v Speaker 3>John Cena is.
<v Speaker 2>Making twelve movies at the same time, and he's not
<v Speaker 2>going to be around very much, and I don't frankly
<v Speaker 2>know if he's interested in being back in the ring.
<v Speaker 3>So yes, you could. I would love to see.
<v Speaker 2>The Rock versus Roman or for Roman wins. I'd love
<v Speaker 2>to see The Rock versus John Cena again, especially with
<v Speaker 2>that history and seeing how those promos would be different.
<v Speaker 2>But if you're going to beat Roman Reigns for that title, eventually,
<v Speaker 2>I want it to be somebody that's not yet on
<v Speaker 2>that level, that's brought to that level, and then is
<v Speaker 2>believable by the time they beat.
<v Speaker 1>Him, the formula is exactly what it has, That's exactly
<v Speaker 1>what it has to be. If they if they bring
<v Speaker 1>in a legend Hogan or Hogan, Jeez Goldberg, sena Rock
<v Speaker 1>uh and that whoever that whoever that is, beats Roman
<v Speaker 1>Reigns for the championship, I think that is a massive mistake. Massive.
<v Speaker 1>I don't care if he beats him in a non
<v Speaker 1>time match just as a showcase main event for WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 1>I think that's fine for sure. If the Rock wants
<v Speaker 1>to beat Roman Reigns for just pure pride cool, Like
<v Speaker 1>I would love to see somebody shut up Rains beat
<v Speaker 1>him down. But he has added so much that Universal
<v Speaker 1>Championship so much, and he is a special heel right now,
<v Speaker 1>I would argue he I mean not even argue. I
<v Speaker 1>think it's inarguable that he is the biggest star in
<v Speaker 1>WWE right now carrying it on his back. And you
<v Speaker 1>want to make sure this isn't just any other championship exchange,
<v Speaker 1>like you know, this is this is a big deal.
<v Speaker 1>I mean he's had it since what two hundred summer SummerSlam,
<v Speaker 1>so yeah, two and some day two hundred and fifty days. Yep,
<v Speaker 1>you need to make sure that this is a star
<v Speaker 1>that you can, like you said, build with it. This
<v Speaker 1>is not something to give to a legacy star. Could
<v Speaker 1>you imagine if this at SummerSlam, which apparently is supposed
<v Speaker 1>to be in front of actual fans, and at Summer Slam,
<v Speaker 1>if if it was Goldberg versus Roman, and Goldberg beats
<v Speaker 1>Roman reigns. I mean, yes, Roman Rains is a heel.
<v Speaker 1>But I mean, I'm sorry to put that image in
<v Speaker 1>people's minds. But the sad thing is I can actually
<v Speaker 1>see something like that where Vince is.
<v Speaker 6>Like, well damn it, Rains is a is a heel
<v Speaker 6>now and Goldberg is He's intense. I mean, like you
<v Speaker 6>you can see Vince trying to convince himself that that's
<v Speaker 6>a good idea.
<v Speaker 1>Now. I don't have heard rumors. I'm probably going down
<v Speaker 1>the road that doesn't exist. But I'm just I'm scared about,
<v Speaker 1>you know, getting the Summer Slam here. If there's nobody
<v Speaker 1>on the roster that Vince.
<v Speaker 2>I swear to I swear to God, if this happens,
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna make you do the review show with me.
<v Speaker 3>I could not care less who else you have so
<v Speaker 3>that I can yell at you.
<v Speaker 2>For an hour to put it into the universe, and
<v Speaker 2>you're not even You're just gonna have to meet the
<v Speaker 2>mic the whole time.
<v Speaker 3>Matt.
<v Speaker 1>Just think, just think of I'm sorry, I did not
<v Speaker 1>mean to do that.
<v Speaker 2>People are analogized because you're not even getting yelled at,
<v Speaker 2>so don't worry about it.
<v Speaker 1>It's it's like the pre yelling yeah, oh my god.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah person.
<v Speaker 2>The person who beats Roman reigns is already on the
<v Speaker 2>SmackDown roster and they're already Potentially this is one of
<v Speaker 2>those things where if everything goes right, this person is
<v Speaker 2>going to be ready by the time they're ready. Now
<v Speaker 2>that's never a guarantee in the WWE, but if they
<v Speaker 2>keep doing everything the correct way, he will be by
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, let's say after Summer Slam, but somewhere
<v Speaker 2>between Summer Slam and WrestleMania, they'll be ready.
<v Speaker 3>So the person you need is already there. You just
<v Speaker 3>need to stick with the plant and make two stars
<v Speaker 3>instead of one.
<v Speaker 1>Who is that person?
<v Speaker 2>The person who's I'm so glad you asked. The person
<v Speaker 2>who beats Roman rains.
<v Speaker 3>Needs to have a few qualifications. Matt let me write
<v Speaker 3>him down for you.
<v Speaker 1>Okay.
<v Speaker 2>The person who beats Roman Rains needs to be somebody
<v Speaker 2>who has never been WWE or Universal champion before I
<v Speaker 2>want this to be a crowning moment. The person who
<v Speaker 2>beats Roman Rains has to be somebody that already has
<v Speaker 2>big moments, big pay per view moments, big title wins,
<v Speaker 2>big WrestleMania moments. The person who beats Roman Reiins needs
<v Speaker 2>to pass the Vince McMahon Randy Orton test, which is,
<v Speaker 2>can you stand in the ring with Randy Orton and
<v Speaker 2>look intimidating? Would Vince McMahon think you're an attractive dude?
<v Speaker 2>The person that beats Roman Reigns needs to be different.
<v Speaker 2>The person who beats Roman Rains needs to be an
<v Speaker 2>excellent promo that can carry a show. The person who
<v Speaker 2>beats Rumen Rains needs to be able to be comedic
<v Speaker 2>when they need to be, and very very good at
<v Speaker 2>being serious and intense when they need to. And the
<v Speaker 2>person who beats Roman Rains needs to be really good
<v Speaker 2>in the ring and being able to hit him very hard.
<v Speaker 2>The only person on that roster that fits exactly all
<v Speaker 2>of those qualifications I told you is former New Day member,
<v Speaker 2>Biggie Langston, Matt.
<v Speaker 1>There is honestly nobody else as I I mean, I'm looking.
<v Speaker 1>I'm looking again, this is the current roster because maybe
<v Speaker 1>they do a draft, right, maybe if they do a
<v Speaker 1>draft then things are changed, and if they bring somebody
<v Speaker 1>from XT, things change. But yeah, I mean, I'm looking
<v Speaker 1>down here. You got I mean Chad Gable, Khalis, No, No,
<v Speaker 1>Kevin Owens has had like four chances, right, there's nobody.
<v Speaker 2>There's nobody that if they keep going otherwise, there's almost
<v Speaker 2>no point to him losing the Intercontinental title. But if
<v Speaker 2>he blows off this feud with Apollo and he starts
<v Speaker 2>having more main event segments, He's already had multiple segments
<v Speaker 2>with Paul Hayman. Paul Haman's already doing that thing where
<v Speaker 2>he's building him up and trying to send him in
<v Speaker 2>another direction, the same way he did with Roman when
<v Speaker 2>he was the advocate for brock Lesner. The only person
<v Speaker 2>that is absolutely not ready right now but will be
<v Speaker 2>by the time Roman's ready is big Ee. And I
<v Speaker 2>understand that that doesn't feel like a big match right now,
<v Speaker 2>But you could bring Drew McIntyre to SmackDown if you
<v Speaker 2>want and have them do it. But Drew's already been
<v Speaker 2>WWE champion. You're not doing anything new with that. But
<v Speaker 2>if Big Ee has his own WrestleMania moment and two
<v Speaker 2>members of the New Day win the title at WrestleMania,
<v Speaker 2>if you have a more serious Bigie that comes after Roman,
<v Speaker 2>you got it.
<v Speaker 1>Big Ee is a guy that for so many years
<v Speaker 1>people have said he's you know, he is the powerhouse
<v Speaker 1>in the New Day, blah blah blah. We've heard it
<v Speaker 1>and it's true. And he does have I think a
<v Speaker 1>lot of the New Day characteristics still lingering on him,
<v Speaker 1>which I understand that he doesn't want to change everything,
<v Speaker 1>and you know that that's what brought him to the
<v Speaker 1>dance and he doesn't want to just flip everything out
<v Speaker 1>a dime and be this whole new character and I
<v Speaker 1>can respect that, but he needs to distance himself from
<v Speaker 1>the New Day as far as he can over time.
<v Speaker 1>I don't you know, I'm okay with slow progression on this,
<v Speaker 1>but I don't need him every pay per view event
<v Speaker 1>because it's a co branded event. Him coming out and
<v Speaker 1>doing a I don't stop it. You are not with
<v Speaker 1>them anymore. I understand people like the feel good part
<v Speaker 1>of it. I'm done with it. We've seen how many years,
<v Speaker 1>like it feels like ten years of this thing. I'm
<v Speaker 1>over it. I think that it's not worth the ten
<v Speaker 1>seconds of people smiling for regressing Big East singles career,
<v Speaker 1>which I look at it when they do that when
<v Speaker 1>they're reunited backstage, like if they do that, of course
<v Speaker 1>they're going to really do that in real life. If
<v Speaker 1>that's fine, But I don't need to see it on
<v Speaker 1>camera because then all the progression that you've made with
<v Speaker 1>Big Ee as getting them, getting him in the minds
<v Speaker 1>of fans as a single star, you're taking your way
<v Speaker 1>and erasing all of that. When you see them with
<v Speaker 1>the new they're like, oh, that's right, He's just part
<v Speaker 1>of the new day. Like no, no, stop. So that's
<v Speaker 1>number one. I've said that for a while now. But yes, Biggie,
<v Speaker 1>he's got the size, he's got the look. His promos
<v Speaker 1>are a little bit cartoonish. I'm not a huge fan
<v Speaker 1>of his promos right now. He can talk, and he's
<v Speaker 1>he's charismatic, but almost charismatic just to be charismatic rather
<v Speaker 1>than real emotion, which I mean, I don't know. I
<v Speaker 1>don't need a serious promo from him, and I know
<v Speaker 1>maybe that's just who he is. And if that's who
<v Speaker 1>he is, whatever, fine, I'll deal with it.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, he's the I think, I think, son of
<v Speaker 2>a preacher, and that's why his promos sound the way
<v Speaker 2>they do.
<v Speaker 1>He sounds like a Southern Baptist preacher, like a Sunday morning.
<v Speaker 1>He's very much that way.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, However, if you were to listen to the promo
<v Speaker 2>when he was still Intercontinental Champion on Apollo Cruise, pick
<v Speaker 2>any of those promos after he got really mad, or
<v Speaker 2>yes us pick the promos when he was still in
<v Speaker 2>the New Day and they were facing the Usos and
<v Speaker 2>he grabbed the mic from one of the other members
<v Speaker 2>of the New Day and it changed the whole atmosphere
<v Speaker 2>and it got very intense, and it was like, no,
<v Speaker 2>we're having fun right now, but when it comes to
<v Speaker 2>the pay per view, I'm gonna.
<v Speaker 3>Kick the hell out of you. That biggie is in there.
<v Speaker 2>And if we can bring that out more. The reason
<v Speaker 2>that he gives silly promos is because that's part of
<v Speaker 2>who he is and we can keep some of that.
<v Speaker 2>It's also because he's been involved in a lot of
<v Speaker 2>silly stuff. So of course you're not gonna go Scorched
<v Speaker 2>Earth on a promo.
<v Speaker 3>But when he's gotten chances to, he has.
<v Speaker 2>So if after this we put him in serious situations
<v Speaker 2>and intense situations, especially if down the road we put
<v Speaker 2>him with Roman Reigns and Paul Hayman, Biggie in the
<v Speaker 2>right mind frame can one hundred percent handle himself off
<v Speaker 2>in a segment with Paul Hayman back and forth. There's
<v Speaker 2>not a ton of people I can say that about,
<v Speaker 2>but in every glimpse of that I've seen from Big Eie,
<v Speaker 2>he's absolutely capable of doing it. You just have to
<v Speaker 2>put him in the right situation so that he has
<v Speaker 2>a reason to use it.
<v Speaker 3>You do.
<v Speaker 1>Biggie is like you said, there have been glimpses of
<v Speaker 1>that man inside of Okay, holy crap, he can actually
<v Speaker 1>be serious. And there was one with Apollo Cruise that
<v Speaker 1>was like I was like, thank you, this is what
<v Speaker 1>we've been waiting for. And then he goes back to
<v Speaker 1>just being silly, goofy Biggie. It's like like, yeah, I understand,
<v Speaker 1>he can't be that serious angry dude all the time.
<v Speaker 1>I get it. I don't want him being Bronze Stroman,
<v Speaker 1>the chronically angry giant. He's just constantly angry. He's so
<v Speaker 1>one dimensioned giant baby. Just yeah, that's all he is.
<v Speaker 1>And we'll get to Bronze Stroman shortly. But big e yes,
<v Speaker 1>I've seen glimpses. I've seen progress with him. That's what
<v Speaker 1>I want, and I'm glad. It's just I cringe when
<v Speaker 1>I see the goofy Biggie. Maybe he can tone that
<v Speaker 1>part of him down or you know, who am I
<v Speaker 1>to say? But I just I don't think that that
<v Speaker 1>this exact version of Biggie as it stands on May second,
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty one is the Biggie that can defeat Roman
<v Speaker 1>Reigns for the Universal Championship. That's why you said that
<v Speaker 1>it you know, probably some time between Summerslamonmania, because it
<v Speaker 1>is an evolution and it should be an evolution of
<v Speaker 1>his character into that uh, into that caliber that is
<v Speaker 1>believable to beat Roman Reigns.
<v Speaker 2>So he is he's he is ready, He is ready
<v Speaker 2>to do that. He is ready to be Sticking with
<v Speaker 2>the analogy of Fire and Brimstone promo Cane, huh you
<v Speaker 2>see what I'm doing. M hm, You're gonna unmask him.
<v Speaker 2>He's gonna have a black streak on his face. RVD
<v Speaker 2>is gonna be there, Oh god.
<v Speaker 1>And it's like, oh god, I remember that wrong.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, his face was sure messed up. Huh. And
<v Speaker 3>he's excellent in the ring.
<v Speaker 2>He has high spots that he does. He passes the
<v Speaker 2>size test, he passes the uh IT factor test.
<v Speaker 3>He passes everything.
<v Speaker 2>And this was this was part of the problem with
<v Speaker 2>Kofi Kingston, right, he was still a member of the
<v Speaker 2>New Day. He just happened to be WWE Champion. And
<v Speaker 2>Vince McMahon likes the New Day. And I'm gonna be
<v Speaker 2>really careful here because I do this on the NXT
<v Speaker 2>podcast and think very carefully how I want to work this.
<v Speaker 2>Of course, Vince McMahon really likes the New Day.
<v Speaker 3>He likes our truth too.
<v Speaker 1>I know where you're going.
<v Speaker 3>There we go. Thanks. There's been a few times.
<v Speaker 1>Crime Time's coming back? Is that what you're saying?
<v Speaker 2>Yes, there's been a few times when I've recorded those
<v Speaker 2>segments where my wife has looked at me like, do
<v Speaker 2>you want to check with Matt before you post? I
<v Speaker 2>was like, Matt's fine, yeah, right. KOFE was a member
<v Speaker 2>of the New Day, and I love the New Day,
<v Speaker 2>But Kofe with the New Day was not WWE champion level.
<v Speaker 2>And it's not because of Kovie. It's not because of
<v Speaker 2>New Day. It's because of the way Vince McMahon sees
<v Speaker 2>the New Day, and it's because of the way they
<v Speaker 2>used him.
<v Speaker 1>So if you.
<v Speaker 2>Continue to separate Biggie from the New Day, and as
<v Speaker 2>he gets they're already doing it without meaning to. The
<v Speaker 2>further away he gets from the New Day, the more
<v Speaker 2>serious and more of.
<v Speaker 3>An edge he has to him.
<v Speaker 2>Those serious promos are coming out more, he's dancing less,
<v Speaker 2>he's more serious. In general, the entrance music has changed,
<v Speaker 2>which in universe means the character went to them and said,
<v Speaker 2>change my music. The further away he gets, the more
<v Speaker 2>intense he gets. And if you keep turning that dial
<v Speaker 2>and get it to the right place, I can guarantee
<v Speaker 2>you by the time we get to the Royal Rumble,
<v Speaker 2>if Biggie wins that thing, he's going to be ready
<v Speaker 2>and people are going to be ready for him. He's
<v Speaker 2>the person on the roster that is already on a
<v Speaker 2>trajectory to do it. He's the person on the roster
<v Speaker 2>that I can see meeting all of the qualifications and
<v Speaker 2>also otherwise, I don't see why you'd break up the
<v Speaker 2>New Day. He's not a mid card act.
<v Speaker 1>Not anymore. No, oh, no, Biggie is. He's I think
<v Speaker 1>mentally fine to be in the main I could he
<v Speaker 1>could make an event tomorrow, and I think he'd mentally
<v Speaker 1>be fine with it. It's just the evolution of his
<v Speaker 1>character that is lacking behind the perception of his character
<v Speaker 1>on TV. While fans respect him and I think everybody
<v Speaker 1>in the locker room respects him, that his character just
<v Speaker 1>still feels like it's attached to something that it shouldn't be,
<v Speaker 1>and it's just it's taking longer than I would like
<v Speaker 1>to detach it. But perhaps perhaps this is all by
<v Speaker 1>design to get him in line for a shot at
<v Speaker 1>the title. Maybe, like you said, he would be a
<v Speaker 1>favorite if the Royal Rumble was tomorrow, I would say
<v Speaker 1>Biggie's a massive favorite. Yes, he feels that way. He
<v Speaker 1>feels like he he should have that moment and you know,
<v Speaker 1>hopefully in front of fans by the time January rolls around. Yeah, definitely,
<v Speaker 1>this is a It's just such an interesting topic with
<v Speaker 1>Big Eieu, but it's absolutely going to be something that
<v Speaker 1>we're seeing within six to twelve months. If we don't
<v Speaker 1>see a Big Eie Roman Reigns Universal Championship match, I
<v Speaker 1>don't know what the hell WW is doing. Yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>really don't. So Okay, back to the task at hand.
<v Speaker 1>Here Apaulo Cruz and who did he face this week
<v Speaker 1>for the Interconninal Championship. I'm losing my mind to Jesus, Yes,
<v Speaker 1>Big Eie. So obviously Paula Cruz retains commander is Zis
<v Speaker 1>gets involved, and I mean Dabocato gets involved, and Sammy's
<v Speaker 1>a and also gets himself involved after Kevin Owens comes
<v Speaker 1>out and he tries to, you know, keep things stable.
<v Speaker 1>So I don't think whenever we see a championship match
<v Speaker 1>on TV, we all know that it's probably gonna be
<v Speaker 1>ninety five percent chance of that champion retaining. Yes, we've
<v Speaker 1>seen him. I think the only big time championship we've
<v Speaker 1>seen changed hands was when Randy Orton faced Drew Mcatire
<v Speaker 1>and Raw for the w Championship after he lost it
<v Speaker 1>three weeks earlier in Helena Sell. So that's the only
<v Speaker 1>time I can think of in the recent memory. But
<v Speaker 1>I love personally, I love Apollo Cruise as the Interconnabal Champion.
<v Speaker 1>I'll just take Dabocato, fine, he's Commander Disease. It's not
<v Speaker 1>like Dabocato was a household name. Whatever. Sure, I don't care.
<v Speaker 1>He was in Raw Underground, the beloved and forgotten Raw Underground.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry. I I know I have a lot of
<v Speaker 1>Raw Underground fans here. And yeah, so I was gonna say.
<v Speaker 1>Retribution is also a storyline that I have choice words
<v Speaker 1>for that. I don't want to offend anybody. I know that.
<v Speaker 1>You know that is also one of the most beloved
<v Speaker 1>storylines in w history.
<v Speaker 3>So but done better whatever.
<v Speaker 1>I do want to get your thoughts on that for sure,
<v Speaker 1>because we have Grabaccatower coming up soon with Reintribution and
<v Speaker 1>and Mason t Bar but with Apollo Cruz versus Biggie
<v Speaker 1>for the Interconnaal Championship again. I thought it was a
<v Speaker 1>really good match. Biggie had the match one, he was
<v Speaker 1>going to go for the cover after he hit the
<v Speaker 1>big ending and then a Commander Disease pulls out big
<v Speaker 1>Ee causes it disqualification, which causes Kevin Ollans to come down,
<v Speaker 1>get involved and try to take them down. Didn't work.
<v Speaker 1>But how are you What do you think of this
<v Speaker 1>match and the overall big e Well, Apollo Cruz Intercontinental
<v Speaker 1>Championship reign.
<v Speaker 3>It's perfect.
<v Speaker 2>I like Apollo Cruise a lot. I don't necessarily have
<v Speaker 2>a reason why. I think because I just saw him
<v Speaker 2>in n XT and I like him.
<v Speaker 3>This is a character.
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes some people aren't as naturally charismatic, like I believe
<v Speaker 2>if you were to meet Biggie just on the street,
<v Speaker 2>he would be the guy that he is on TV.
<v Speaker 3>Just turned up to eleven.
<v Speaker 2>That's not Apollo Cruise turned up to eleven.
<v Speaker 3>That's a gimmick.
<v Speaker 2>Gimmicks can be silly, this one is, but sometimes gimmicks
<v Speaker 2>are really good and it lets you come out of
<v Speaker 2>your shell a bit. And that's what's happened with Apollo.
<v Speaker 2>Apollo Cruise six months ago could not cut a promo
<v Speaker 2>on SmackDown and have it be anything remotely interesting or
<v Speaker 2>put any character in it. So I like that they've
<v Speaker 2>done this with Apollo Cruise. I really hope he's comfortable
<v Speaker 2>with the character and what it's playing off of in
<v Speaker 2>the accent all I can again real careful, just really
<v Speaker 2>hope he's comfortable with it.
<v Speaker 3>Commander disease.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, sure, we take a household named Dabacato from world
<v Speaker 2>famous WWE fight Club. It's it's not nice to disrespect it.
<v Speaker 3>Seane McMahon spent a lot of time on that.
<v Speaker 1>I can't take you seriously. Sorry, go ahead, how dare you, sir?
<v Speaker 3>Hey, sir? First off, First off, it's my time to talk.
<v Speaker 3>Second Seae McMahon.
<v Speaker 2>Sea mcman drove to every building, found a big lot
<v Speaker 2>on every lot that raw was on, siphoned power, took
<v Speaker 2>the ring ropes off, poured sand all over. It looked
<v Speaker 2>kind of sandy. Brought ers for only one.
<v Speaker 1>Week, just the first week.
<v Speaker 3>They were expensive, but didn't it was distracted.
<v Speaker 1>He thought it was the attitude or again that was
<v Speaker 1>nineteen ninety nine, he really did.
<v Speaker 2>And then had men fight each other and found a
<v Speaker 2>camera man that's willing to cut every time a punch
<v Speaker 2>of hits. Don't you ever disrespect the effort of Shane McMahon.
<v Speaker 2>But household named Dabakato, that's a that's a dumb gimmick.
<v Speaker 3>That's a dumb shirt he's wearing.
<v Speaker 2>But that's fine, big heavy love love that. That thing's
<v Speaker 2>called the Nigerian nail.
<v Speaker 3>And before that it.
<v Speaker 2>Was the Samo and Spike because that's a there's a
<v Speaker 2>foreigner fanisher and those illiterate. I like that presentation. I
<v Speaker 2>like the match. It did what it needed to do.
<v Speaker 2>Apollo is still Intercontinental Champion. Biggie had him beat but
<v Speaker 2>as he's pulled him out of the ring at the
<v Speaker 2>same time, you set up Kevin Owens to have an
<v Speaker 2>issue with Commander Disease and maybe sammy' zain to have
<v Speaker 2>an issue with Apollo so that Biggie can quietly get
<v Speaker 2>away from this. It did everything that you needed it
<v Speaker 2>to do. It's not like thet It's not a particularly interesting,
<v Speaker 2>you know, match or feud, but it did everything it
<v Speaker 2>needed to do, and I think it helped everybody involved
<v Speaker 2>kind of move to different stories.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, this was This was a just again, a very
<v Speaker 1>perfectly done textbook, let's keep the story moving match and
<v Speaker 1>this clearly is going to Apollo Cruise versus Biggie again
<v Speaker 1>at Backlash, which again, when you have a name called
<v Speaker 1>WrestleMania Backlash again, we could we could talk about that,
<v Speaker 1>the fact that it's implied that it's backlash from WrestleMania,
<v Speaker 1>but they wanted to just make sure that we were
<v Speaker 1>clear that this is, yeah, the backlash from WrestleMania. But
<v Speaker 1>with that said, if the name of WrestleMania backlash, that
<v Speaker 1>implies that it's going to be a lot of matches,
<v Speaker 1>fall out and close out of the matches and programs
<v Speaker 1>that were at WrestleMania and beyond. So this is just
<v Speaker 1>the warmed over I guess, just leftovers of WrestleMania, which
<v Speaker 1>is it should be because it's the name of the
<v Speaker 1>pay per view. I think things are going to start
<v Speaker 1>fresh the Monday night Raw after Backlash, and we'll see
<v Speaker 1>new programs, new feuds, and there should be, so I
<v Speaker 1>don't think anybody should be very surprised or complain about,
<v Speaker 1>oh my god, we're doing this again. Well you should
<v Speaker 1>kind of know, based on the name of the pay
<v Speaker 1>per view that it's not going to be all all
<v Speaker 1>new feuds, right like you may have alterations of the
<v Speaker 1>matches from WrestleMania, but it's ultimately going to be generally
<v Speaker 1>the same card, which whatever I mean, I'm sure I
<v Speaker 1>don't I don't dislike the card that's being shaped up,
<v Speaker 1>I really don't, But okay, I do want to move
<v Speaker 1>on though, because there's so much on Raw. Well, let
<v Speaker 1>me get your quick thought before I moved to raw
<v Speaker 1>about Shana Basler and Naya Jax and Tamina and Natalia,
<v Speaker 1>which I've never ever heard. And this is my only
<v Speaker 1>thought on this, and I'll toss it to you. First
<v Speaker 1>of all, I'm happy for Temina. I'm happy for Natalia.
<v Speaker 1>This is the most relevant either have been in a
<v Speaker 1>very long time. Yeah, which I mean, I don't know
<v Speaker 1>if that's good or like kind of sad or not.
<v Speaker 1>But the fact that the announced team are pointing out
<v Speaker 1>the fact that Tamina got cheered at WrestleMania multiple weeks after,
<v Speaker 1>like they are bringing up just weeks removed from the
<v Speaker 1>fans chanting to me and his name. Why would you
<v Speaker 1>bring that up? That just exposes how irrelevant she's been
<v Speaker 1>for how many years? Like I understand that was a
<v Speaker 1>great moment. That was I felt really genuinely happy for
<v Speaker 1>her as a person in that moment to have the
<v Speaker 1>first time ever fans audibly cheering your name at the
<v Speaker 1>biggest event that you have, and I really felt for her.
<v Speaker 1>But you don't continue to bring it up as basically
<v Speaker 1>her only accomplishment. That's awful, that's not a plus. And
<v Speaker 1>they're continuing to tell you that, but ultimately, like, look,
<v Speaker 1>I think it's fine to have the focus on a
<v Speaker 1>different tag team. I think eventually they will overcome Nia
<v Speaker 1>Jacksons Shaana Bezer. Probably a backlash, but that's all my thoughts.
<v Speaker 3>Your turn on that, all right, sweet, I can do
<v Speaker 3>this one quick in order to mina long career, very
<v Speaker 3>injured a lot of the time, can't do a lot.
<v Speaker 2>I'm sincerely glad as you were that she got cheered
<v Speaker 2>at WrestleMania, and I think they're bringing it up because
<v Speaker 2>it's the only thing they can think.
<v Speaker 3>Of, and I think that's not great. But I mean what,
<v Speaker 3>I don't know what the hell else.
<v Speaker 2>You're gonna do. You should sell her more as a monster,
<v Speaker 2>but you're not gonna. So here we are boom check
<v Speaker 2>that one off. Natalia. Natalia is very very very talented.
<v Speaker 2>Natalia's character is also very, very very boring. And not
<v Speaker 2>for a split second have I ever cared ever, not
<v Speaker 2>once ever, not ever. And that's not Matt, not once,
<v Speaker 2>and it's not her fault, I don't think, But she is.
<v Speaker 3>She is. She as a character is like buttered bread
<v Speaker 3>that's not.
<v Speaker 2>Toasted, Like, yeah, I'll eat it and it's fine, but
<v Speaker 2>if we had a toaster, it'd be better.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's like microwave toast.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it's like microwave toasted.
<v Speaker 2>That's a much better way to put it. And I'm
<v Speaker 2>glad you're here, and that's why you own the network.
<v Speaker 2>Boom checked off. Shana Basler is much better than all
<v Speaker 2>of this. I'm glad she has something to do. There
<v Speaker 2>was a story going around that when that WrestleMania match
<v Speaker 2>happened with her and Becky Lynch, Becky Lynch wanted to
<v Speaker 2>lose the title to her, and WWE said, no, God forbid,
<v Speaker 2>we make another star or kill Becky Lynch. She should
<v Speaker 2>have won it there. I think that would have had
<v Speaker 2>her taken more seriously. But she can't cut a believable
<v Speaker 2>promo for her style. So she can't do it because
<v Speaker 2>there's never been a There's never been a champion that
<v Speaker 2>doesn't have the right voice or caenance for it. There's
<v Speaker 2>never been a Bobby Lashley or a brock Lesnar. There's
<v Speaker 2>never been any of those dudes. So Shana's just here
<v Speaker 2>being too good for all this. Boom checked off done.
<v Speaker 2>Naya Jacks is my least favorite wrestler's She was unsafe
<v Speaker 2>took time off off, didn't practice, and is is is
<v Speaker 2>she was okay for her first match on her best day.
<v Speaker 2>And also is in an interesting promo or look or
<v Speaker 2>style or anything. She's an amalgamation of all the things
<v Speaker 2>I don't like about a pro wrestler. She's uninteresting, she's boring,
<v Speaker 2>she's hard to watch, and she is unsafe. So I mean, yeah, cool,
<v Speaker 2>she's here too. Great boom checked off. Additional note, Pat
<v Speaker 2>McAfee really good on commentary, done and done, got.
<v Speaker 1>It check check check Pat McAfee, especially for you know,
<v Speaker 1>being on on this particular job for just a couple
<v Speaker 1>of weeks. I mean, man, he feels like he's been
<v Speaker 1>here for years.
<v Speaker 3>So he's great.
<v Speaker 1>And it's only a two man booth, which it should be. Yes, God, okay, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>all right, I promise to move on. I will move
<v Speaker 1>on to raw here r K bro. That's all I'll say.
<v Speaker 1>Because I want your thoughts. You know, I have opposing
<v Speaker 1>thoughts on this. My mind is struggling, but because I
<v Speaker 1>I personally can't stand Matt Riddle's character. But but when
<v Speaker 1>you have Randy Orton as the ying to his yang,
<v Speaker 1>where he is just the serious he, they are diametrically opposed.
<v Speaker 1>They are Randy Orton the serious I mean he just
<v Speaker 1>talked he was just in a previous program with the
<v Speaker 1>Fiend where the Fiend was actually trying to kill him.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, yes, we had Alexiblis saying he will die
<v Speaker 1>at WrestleMania. That was said to Matt Riddle, who's talking
<v Speaker 1>about the sun and the stars and circling around on
<v Speaker 1>his scooter and getting new gear and saying we're we
<v Speaker 1>got something in common. We're both from Earth. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>like stupid crap like and Randy Orton's expressions, I think
<v Speaker 1>are what make this to me at least palatable. So
<v Speaker 1>I don't know what are your thoughts. Some people hate this,
<v Speaker 1>but I don't know.
<v Speaker 3>Go ahead, listen, I get it.
<v Speaker 2>First off, RK Brow, the people who hate it, You're
<v Speaker 2>gonna stop acting like rated RKO wasn't a name of
<v Speaker 2>a tag team. You're gonna stop acting like this is
<v Speaker 2>the worst tag team name you've ever heard of. I
<v Speaker 2>just said, jer a show, y'all gonna stop acting like
<v Speaker 2>RK Brow is the worst thing you've ever heard. I
<v Speaker 2>agree with you on Matt Riddle character is weird. Usually
<v Speaker 2>with an NXT person I'm kind of biased towards them because,
<v Speaker 2>especially now that I do the podcast, I talk about
<v Speaker 2>them a lot, and I talk about their journeys through
<v Speaker 2>NXT and to the main roster, where you're kind of
<v Speaker 2>nervous for their future.
<v Speaker 3>Matt Riddle is a guy who.
<v Speaker 2>Is exactly that character you see on TV, except in
<v Speaker 2>NXT he had more moments of intensity. When he got
<v Speaker 2>in there and the bell rang, he was gonna kill you.
<v Speaker 2>And when you threatened him, he didn't laugh and say,
<v Speaker 2>watch that's weird. He would try and murder you. And
<v Speaker 2>if we wanted to take him more seriously, add more
<v Speaker 2>of those moments for zero point zero seconds. Did I
<v Speaker 2>ever think that Vince McMahon was gonna look at this
<v Speaker 2>dude not wearing shoes.
<v Speaker 3>And make him serious at all.
<v Speaker 2>So I've never been a Matt Riddle guy for a
<v Speaker 2>few reasons. But fine, we'll use him as comedic relief.
<v Speaker 2>If you're gonna use him as stupid stoner comedic relief.
<v Speaker 2>I can't think of a lot of people on the
<v Speaker 2>roster that is better to do this with than Randy Orton.
<v Speaker 3>Randy Orton has been running at a main event pace.
<v Speaker 2>Since the build up to last year's WrestleMania with Edge.
<v Speaker 3>He went from Edge.
<v Speaker 2>He went from Beth Phoenix to Christian to Big Show
<v Speaker 2>to all these people to Edge, to Edge again, to.
<v Speaker 3>Drew McIntyre to Keith Lee to the Fiend.
<v Speaker 2>He's been working with a lot of people and putting
<v Speaker 2>on really good matches at a main event pace. Let
<v Speaker 2>the dude have a few months off just having fun
<v Speaker 2>with this stoner. And I'm sure that they have a
<v Speaker 2>lot of fun together, because I bet you they have
<v Speaker 2>similar interests. I think it's one of those stupid wrestling
<v Speaker 2>things that if my wife came in, she would say,
<v Speaker 2>what's this. I would try to explain it. She'd say
<v Speaker 2>it's dumb, and I'd have to agree with her.
<v Speaker 3>But that's fun.
<v Speaker 1>Sometimes dumb doesn't mean bad sometimes, you know what I mean,
<v Speaker 1>Like sometimes, and I'm not trying to insult the intelligence
<v Speaker 1>of fans here, but sometimes dumb can be entertaining. It's
<v Speaker 1>just when dumb. There's a lot of stud been dumb.
<v Speaker 1>But yes, then dumb is generally stupid, but there are
<v Speaker 1>those special kind of dumb segments that make you laugh
<v Speaker 1>and you go, well, that was I know that was
<v Speaker 1>ridiculously bad, but it's actually kind of funny. It reaches
<v Speaker 1>the level of, like when things are so bad, it's
<v Speaker 1>almost a parody of itself, which makes it funny. It's weird.
<v Speaker 1>So in this case, and I have to say this
<v Speaker 1>in people, a lot of my listeners have been emailing
<v Speaker 1>me and saying, you know, look, what are you talking about.
<v Speaker 1>Matt URL's the worst as far as his character. Nobody
<v Speaker 1>disagrees with his inn ring. I think I think his
<v Speaker 1>in ring is very good. I'm not a fan of
<v Speaker 1>the sandals and the flip flops and throwing them off
<v Speaker 1>and birds flying everywhere. I hate that crap. But in
<v Speaker 1>the ring he's intense as hell. I've liked the matches
<v Speaker 1>he had with Seamus all that, but now he's moved
<v Speaker 1>into this Randy Orton's part of his career, and I
<v Speaker 1>just you know, I was a massive I'm still a
<v Speaker 1>big Randy Orton fan, but I think that the nonsensical,
<v Speaker 1>pothead kind of stoner slash fraternity brother type of like
<v Speaker 1>dude whatever man like, you know, in just talking about
<v Speaker 1>things that don't make sense and scooting around on it.
<v Speaker 1>You know, I did not like that at all. But
<v Speaker 1>when Randy Orton stepped in again. He is the perfect
<v Speaker 1>guy to come in and shut Riddle down. But Riddle
<v Speaker 1>doesn't understand how stupid he is. But Randy Orton just
<v Speaker 1>he doesn't even know what to say to this guy.
<v Speaker 1>He didn't even know who he was. Last week he said,
<v Speaker 1>what's your name? He didn't even know who he was.
<v Speaker 1>And now I think this could work, I really do,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm I think that they they're probably a little
<v Speaker 1>bit on the fence on what to do with this,
<v Speaker 1>because if they feel that fans are looking at this
<v Speaker 1>and saying, man, this is actually kind of fun. RK
<v Speaker 1>Bro's a good name. They seem to have on air chemistry.
<v Speaker 1>They are completely opposites of one another, which makes this work.
<v Speaker 1>Randy Orton has been involved in death storylines. Let's give
<v Speaker 1>him something different to do. I'm not saying make him
<v Speaker 1>a comedy character, and you know I'm not saying that,
<v Speaker 1>But let's wait out the RKL that's inevitably coming for
<v Speaker 1>Matt Riddle. We all know that eventually Randy Orton's gonna
<v Speaker 1>turn on Riddle assumingly with an RKO. We know that,
<v Speaker 1>and it's gonna be Matt Ridle versus Randy Orton at
<v Speaker 1>some point. I just don't know if they planned on
<v Speaker 1>it being at Backlash or if now they're looking at
<v Speaker 1>it going hmm, well, guys, this is this is we
<v Speaker 1>may have. We may be onto something by accident. Let's
<v Speaker 1>string this out a couple of months and wait for
<v Speaker 1>it then. I mean, what do you think they're gonna do?
<v Speaker 1>Do you think they're gonna strike? Randy was gonna strike
<v Speaker 1>Monday or maybe a couple of months.
<v Speaker 3>No, it's gonna be a couple of months. Are gonna
<v Speaker 3>do the same thing. I know you said you don't
<v Speaker 3>often get a chance to watch n xteam. This is
<v Speaker 3>exactly what they did with Matt Riddle and Pete Dunn.
<v Speaker 2>They were the broser weights. They were an unlikely couple.
<v Speaker 2>Matt Riddle was happy, go lucky. Pete Dunn was the
<v Speaker 2>straight man who who was already sick of him, and
<v Speaker 2>slowly but surely they worked well together. They had a
<v Speaker 2>chemistry in the ring, and they used Pete Dunby and
<v Speaker 2>the straight man as comedy.
<v Speaker 3>And then even Shua Lee. They have the.
<v Speaker 2>Serious person turn on the other person because they're sick
<v Speaker 2>of it. So it's gonna be a couple months. We're
<v Speaker 2>gonna get some funny segments on it. Randy Yorton's gonna
<v Speaker 2>get a little.
<v Speaker 3>Bit of.
<v Speaker 2>A little bit of a lighter schedule in terms of
<v Speaker 2>working the main events, and then they'll turn on each other.
<v Speaker 3>They'll do a feud and Randy Orton'll make Matt Riddle
<v Speaker 3>look really good.
<v Speaker 2>And I think that's that's absolutely fine to have a
<v Speaker 2>fun team like this that's gonna run for a few months,
<v Speaker 2>and they'll break up and give them both something to do.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, I think, yeah, exactly. I don't know. Again, it's
<v Speaker 1>only a sample size of a couple of weeks. This
<v Speaker 1>is relatively new. You know, they could crap the bed
<v Speaker 1>next week. The problem is when Vince McMahon sees anybody
<v Speaker 1>that has an inkling of comedy, he takes that comedy
<v Speaker 1>and makes that their complete identity and he blows. Look
<v Speaker 1>what he did with Otis completely destroyed Otis because he
<v Speaker 1>saw him as this happy, go lucky, you know, big bellied,
<v Speaker 1>jolly guy.
<v Speaker 3>That understanding because he's on a different level than you.
<v Speaker 3>Otis is fat and that's very funny.
<v Speaker 1>Oh now I get I missed it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, see, this is why you should have me on more,
<v Speaker 2>because you miss stuff that's in front of I wasted
<v Speaker 2>so much time.
<v Speaker 1>I was like, what is so funny? And now that
<v Speaker 1>is who you know? Wow, Vince, you're too smart for me.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I think it's probably my three percent Swiss I have
<v Speaker 1>in my blood problem.
<v Speaker 3>God.
<v Speaker 1>All right, So okay, shifting gears a little bit on
<v Speaker 1>on Monday Net Raw though, But something that personally I'm
<v Speaker 1>loving this is Charlotte Flair. Charlotte Flair. While I understand
<v Speaker 1>the arguments against her being on every segment and every show,
<v Speaker 1>she's involved in every championship. Well, number one, that's not
<v Speaker 1>what she's doing anymore. She's strictly to Raw. We don't
<v Speaker 1>have to deal with that. She feels like this is
<v Speaker 1>what she should be. Number one, a heal, authentic, She's
<v Speaker 1>got different gears. She looks like she's I don't know,
<v Speaker 1>she looks good like I mean, I'm a straight man
<v Speaker 1>who's married. But I can say, like, look, she looks
<v Speaker 1>really good. I mean, let's be honest. She does, and
<v Speaker 1>she feels more confident on the mic. She doesn't have
<v Speaker 1>the robotic promo voice. That to me is number one
<v Speaker 1>is the robotic promo voice is gone and it's just
<v Speaker 1>Charlotte flair period, and that's what I love's. She broke
<v Speaker 1>the fourth wall many times on her promo back talking about,
<v Speaker 1>of course, this is a couple of weeks ago in
<v Speaker 1>Raw that know I had These are a lot of
<v Speaker 1>things that were out of my control. I was involved
<v Speaker 1>with OSCA, she needed a partner, my dad came back,
<v Speaker 1>blah blah blah, and she she basically said that, you know,
<v Speaker 1>she did not have a control over that without saying
<v Speaker 1>the word storyline. So I love that she's you know,
<v Speaker 1>I understand she's being shot into the women's championship picture.
<v Speaker 1>She attacks OSCA and tacks Rhea Ripley's Raw Women's champion.
<v Speaker 1>But okay, I'll stop there because there's more, But go ahead,
<v Speaker 1>what are your thoughts on this?
<v Speaker 3>Oh?
<v Speaker 1>And she attacked the referee and Sonya Deville this week
<v Speaker 1>reinstated or just with a simple apology. Lots of things
<v Speaker 1>going on with this, so go ahead.
<v Speaker 2>I can't decide if the ref thing is really stupid
<v Speaker 2>and I or inconsequential. I can't decide if this is
<v Speaker 2>a thing that I don't like because I'm supposed to
<v Speaker 2>not like it, or if it's a I wish that
<v Speaker 2>I weren't watching it thing.
<v Speaker 3>You are right.
<v Speaker 2>I was going to disagree with you when you started talking,
<v Speaker 2>but I thought about it because I'm a professional and
<v Speaker 2>we're friends.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well, we want to make people think that, but
<v Speaker 1>there's really some bad blood.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>By friends, I mean I can't stand you, and I
<v Speaker 2>wish I'm slowly but surely taking all of this over
<v Speaker 2>and I can't wait to get you out.
<v Speaker 1>You're saying the quiet part out loud. Now, come on, dude.
<v Speaker 3>Oh oh hey, Matt thought it was muted.
<v Speaker 1>That's cool, all right, I'll edit that out. Go ahead.
<v Speaker 2>I think that Charlotte is doing a good job and
<v Speaker 2>she has improved. She did the thing Nia didn't do.
<v Speaker 2>She went away and she got better. I think that
<v Speaker 2>at this point, Charlotte is paying for sins of the past,
<v Speaker 2>and not sins of her past, sins of WWE's past.
<v Speaker 2>WWE was so eager to make her the daughter of
<v Speaker 2>Rick Flair. She is anyway, but it's the daughter of
<v Speaker 2>Ric Flair and make her the best woman to ever
<v Speaker 2>compete that. They just constantly put her in the title picture.
<v Speaker 2>It's the same thing they did with John Cena. It's
<v Speaker 2>the same thing they did with Roman reigns, Seth Rollins,
<v Speaker 2>brock Lesner, Drew McIntyre to a degree. They think that
<v Speaker 2>the way to make you think that somebody is a
<v Speaker 2>main inventor is to constantly put them in contention or
<v Speaker 2>winning the title, and that's not what it is. So yes,
<v Speaker 2>she is being put right back into the title picture.
<v Speaker 2>But Sonya Deville reinstated her. Sonya Deville doesn't care what
<v Speaker 2>you do to a referee. She wants the superstar. That
<v Speaker 2>makes sense for a general manager. It also makes sense
<v Speaker 2>that you would sign somebody of Charlotte Flair's caliber and
<v Speaker 2>put her in a title match. Also, she's not gonna win.
<v Speaker 3>So who cares.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, she feels like a different character and I
<v Speaker 2>can I can work with that coming back. It's not
<v Speaker 2>like she was gonna go away again for six months,
<v Speaker 2>so I'm fine with her coming back different.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>The thing is with Charlotte Flair, you know when she's
<v Speaker 1>when she's there, you're thinking, well, ww is going to
<v Speaker 1>be centering everything that around the women's vision around Charlotte Flair?
<v Speaker 1>And history would say most likely yes. I mean, Charlotte
<v Speaker 1>Flair is consistently entitled pictures. She's usually the focal point
<v Speaker 1>of the women's vision where everything revolves around her. But
<v Speaker 1>this time felt different, and I'm having a hard time
<v Speaker 1>disliking this Charlotte flair. Now this is the problem now
<v Speaker 1>normally again, I'm usually on Charlotte burnout. I'm over the
<v Speaker 1>robotic voices and bow to the queen. It's very contrived
<v Speaker 1>and it felt like it was just here's my catch phrase,
<v Speaker 1>I gotta make sure I say it true that to
<v Speaker 1>me is gone by the wayside for this improved. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know what it is. Maybe she's found an awakening
<v Speaker 1>on all the time she spent on the beach as
<v Speaker 1>well on drade, which is what they just do. I mean, seriously, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I mean I brought this up on a show last week.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, if anybody follows her on Instagram, number one,
<v Speaker 1>she's doing a whole ton of like modeling pictures. Apparently
<v Speaker 1>she's I don't know, she's doing not only just modeling,
<v Speaker 1>but sitting on the beach with Andrade, and you know,
<v Speaker 1>he's grabbing her ass and they're kissing and they're in
<v Speaker 1>a great relationship. Fine, happy. I don't know. Maybe it's
<v Speaker 1>she's found herself while sitting there pondering life in a
<v Speaker 1>law in a I don't know whatever in a cabana
<v Speaker 1>and she is just loving it. So perhaps that's what
<v Speaker 1>it is. I don't care. I don't know what it is,
<v Speaker 1>don't care. I just know that she is and the
<v Speaker 1>best version of herself right now, the best version of
<v Speaker 1>Charlotte Flair I've ever seen. It feels so natural and
<v Speaker 1>it's that intangible of Charlotte Flair right now that it's like,
<v Speaker 1>this is Charlotte, but it's not the Charlotte I remember.
<v Speaker 1>So again, this is also just a few weeks. And yeah,
<v Speaker 1>the apology was weird. I liked how she got the
<v Speaker 1>referee to apologize to her that that was good. Like
<v Speaker 1>I laughed at that, and I just I'm happy A
<v Speaker 1>hard time though disliking the Charlet Blair because she feels
<v Speaker 1>so authentic. Number one, Yeah, more much more than she
<v Speaker 1>has in the past. Ria Ripley as good as she is,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm a I love Ria Ripley. She I guess
<v Speaker 1>she's supposed to be the heel I don't know, but
<v Speaker 1>she like, I don't know what to feel for real,
<v Speaker 1>I don't because they haven't really told me what to do,
<v Speaker 1>so I'm kind of up in the air about Ria Ripley,
<v Speaker 1>What do you feel for Ria Ripley, Like, I don't know.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's it's it's the same thing, and it's because
<v Speaker 2>I don't think I don't think that they've figured it
<v Speaker 2>out yet. They had a plan for her coming in
<v Speaker 2>and they had a plan for her winning the title.
<v Speaker 2>They didn't have a ton of a plan beyond that.
<v Speaker 2>And Rhea is very good at in the ring, and
<v Speaker 2>she's very good at being the specific character she is,
<v Speaker 2>which is like a like a badass that wants to
<v Speaker 2>fight you and the character needs uh nurturing. They haven't
<v Speaker 2>done that yet, so she feels like a hollow character because.
<v Speaker 3>She is a little bit and hopefully she.
<v Speaker 2>Gets guidance in that area and given more to do,
<v Speaker 2>but right now she's just kind of there.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah she is. I don't know. I mean in
<v Speaker 1>Oscar is always like I hate to say she's a
<v Speaker 1>lost cause because she's so good, but man, man, what
<v Speaker 1>I've never seen a more underwhelming championship run with such
<v Speaker 1>a big star holding the bell.
<v Speaker 2>Of course, never they don't care about they don't care
<v Speaker 2>about the Oscar that was in n XT or the
<v Speaker 2>Oscar that was anywhere else.
<v Speaker 3>Matt. Here's the thing you're not understanding. English is in
<v Speaker 3>her first language, and that's funny, and she dances and stuff.
<v Speaker 3>What does it make more sense now? Now?
<v Speaker 1>Okay, okay, I'm trying to hold back the laughter because.
<v Speaker 3>My wife mumbled under her breath. That's racist. And that's
<v Speaker 3>the whole point, isn't it.
<v Speaker 1>Well that yeah, I mean, that's weird. I don't know
<v Speaker 1>if I believe that, though Vince doesn't have a history
<v Speaker 1>of that.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, so, yeah, no, there's nothing in his history
<v Speaker 3>that would indicate anything like that.
<v Speaker 1>So I'm gonna have to say I disagree. There's no evidence.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's fair, that's fair.
<v Speaker 1>It's just, oh god, there gonna be a whole show
<v Speaker 1>on that thing. I mean, that's a.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, show that sounds like a fun show.
<v Speaker 1>That would be Yeah, that that may get me in
<v Speaker 1>some legal trouble. But at the same time, there's a
<v Speaker 1>lot there. There's a lot there. Okay, Well, let's let's
<v Speaker 1>move on to the next topic at hand. Here McIntyre
<v Speaker 1>and Strollman and I'll kind of lump this together because
<v Speaker 1>it was kind of a mess on raw Stroman facing
<v Speaker 1>Mason T. Bar By himself because he didn't want to.
<v Speaker 1>He didn't want McIntyre. And the funny thing I found
<v Speaker 1>about this was before we had Stroman come out to
<v Speaker 1>face t Bar and Mace, which again the defunct retribution
<v Speaker 1>and I don't even know what they're supposed to stand for.
<v Speaker 1>They just have this random makeup on that is what
<v Speaker 1>they quote what pro wrestlers wear. It's just something to
<v Speaker 1>put on their face of which there's no meaning or consequence.
<v Speaker 1>But we had broun Stroman just get in the face
<v Speaker 1>of Drew McIntyre in Gorilla and talk about, you know,
<v Speaker 1>who's supposed to pay attention to who and who should
<v Speaker 1>take lessons from who? And McIntyre completely scorches braun Stroman
<v Speaker 1>here because braun Stroman where McIntyre was talking about I've
<v Speaker 1>been all over the world, I'm a two time WWE champion.
<v Speaker 1>I've been doing this for sixteen, seventeen years, and braun
<v Speaker 1>Stroman's like, well, I'm the monster among men. I'm like, dude,
<v Speaker 1>like you're you're going your rebuttal to what everything that
<v Speaker 1>he laid out there on his resume is, I'm gonna
<v Speaker 1>give you my nickname. It was pathetic. Yeah, so I'll
<v Speaker 1>leave it do you have any comments on that before
<v Speaker 1>I go forward.
<v Speaker 3>Boy, Matt, here's the thing you're not understanding. I'm the
<v Speaker 3>monster among men. Yeah, it's crazy that you have this platform.
<v Speaker 3>I'm the monster among men. And get these hands are
<v Speaker 3>his catchphrase, so he has to save them. Wow.
<v Speaker 2>And if you were if you were to tell me,
<v Speaker 2>if I were to say to you, just stand back, kid.
<v Speaker 2>You're letting your emotions get the best to you on
<v Speaker 2>these podcasts.
<v Speaker 3>Let me show you how it's done. Kid.
<v Speaker 2>And you said, you know, I've I've been ranked this
<v Speaker 2>with my podcast network and I've been doing it this long.
<v Speaker 2>And I said, but I'm the monster among men. I
<v Speaker 2>won that interaction because here's the thing, Matt is, you're
<v Speaker 2>not a monster. So if you really, if you really
<v Speaker 2>dig beneath the surface layer, I know that's like where
<v Speaker 2>you like to live.
<v Speaker 3>It makes a lot of sense. Wow.
<v Speaker 1>Well there's so much guys. I hope you're listening. You're
<v Speaker 1>also feeling the revelation that I am about. Uh, you know,
<v Speaker 1>Zach being able to bring things to to light that
<v Speaker 1>were otherwise covered by this shield of just complete ignorance.
<v Speaker 1>Uh I do, man, Man, We're getting deep. I mean
<v Speaker 1>I thought I thought English was Oscar's first language.
<v Speaker 3>I mean incredible. I have this giant platform and you're
<v Speaker 3>just out here.
<v Speaker 1>I am it's all just a stroke of luck. I've
<v Speaker 1>been able to get to where I am. But this
<v Speaker 1>is I mean, this is preposterous. Like when he said
<v Speaker 1>that the Stroman, I mean, he had to have felt
<v Speaker 1>absolutely ridiculous. Of course that's what he did.
<v Speaker 3>Of course he did.
<v Speaker 2>I can, I can actually, if you want, Matt, I
<v Speaker 2>can do this one quick in order to this one
<v Speaker 2>actually works the same way the Women's Tech managed.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, maybe that's a better way to organize.
<v Speaker 2>Like, go ahead, let's I got you, Uh picking up
<v Speaker 2>between one and ten for me, Matt.
<v Speaker 1>Two.
<v Speaker 2>Great, We're starting with Drew and Uh and Strowman. McIntyre
<v Speaker 2>love that he won the WWE title. I'm very sorry
<v Speaker 2>to him that his reign was when it was during
<v Speaker 2>a pandemic.
<v Speaker 3>He did very well.
<v Speaker 2>I appreciate that he went to restumating it and didn't win.
<v Speaker 2>Now they're trying to find something for him to do,
<v Speaker 2>so he's not in the title picture all of the time.
<v Speaker 3>They're setting up stories for him. He's he's very good.
<v Speaker 3>They don't know what to do.
<v Speaker 2>With him if he's not WWE champion.
<v Speaker 3>Check done, Brounz Stroman.
<v Speaker 2>If I were, if I personally, if I were going
<v Speaker 2>to be on TV, I would not add to my
<v Speaker 2>wrestling gear a shirt that almost exclusively shows my nipples
<v Speaker 2>and immediately shows if I sweat. That is a little
<v Speaker 2>bit beside the point, but also not because if I
<v Speaker 2>have to look at it, you guys have to hear
<v Speaker 2>about it. Also, Bronz Stroman is a gigantic baby with
<v Speaker 2>a beard who Shane McMahon.
<v Speaker 3>Was right, is not smart in terms of his character.
<v Speaker 2>He likes to yell his catch and he's very angry
<v Speaker 2>about everything. Always he runs into stuff without thinking about it.
<v Speaker 3>Also, I thought it.
<v Speaker 2>Was very funny that on the Chiron, when they make
<v Speaker 2>their entrance, the last fact about him is not that
<v Speaker 2>he's a former Universal Champion, it's that he's the twenty
<v Speaker 2>eighteen Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal or. I think
<v Speaker 2>it was greatest Royal Rumble winner. I thought that was
<v Speaker 2>really really funny.
<v Speaker 3>Uh, check done. That team's done.
<v Speaker 2>Mason T Bar T Bar's Died ja Covid T Bar
<v Speaker 2>Died Jakovid is so much better than this. Those masks
<v Speaker 2>were dumb. That makeup under it was even dumber. They're
<v Speaker 2>almost doing like Shield like promos, if the Shield were
<v Speaker 2>like darker and edgier and like didn't like their moms
<v Speaker 2>because they made him go to bed at like nine,
<v Speaker 2>but like, forget her, dude, I know what I'm doing.
<v Speaker 3>I'm like an adult.
<v Speaker 2>While they smoke clove cigarettes behind the high school and
<v Speaker 2>my wife said, not close cigarettes, absolutely clove poser cigarettes.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, that's correct.
<v Speaker 1>Gust appearance from the wife love it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, of course that's the makeup they had.
<v Speaker 2>He's really good in the ring. He's actually a good
<v Speaker 2>promo if you give him a chance to talk, and
<v Speaker 2>it's not whatever in the I had to stop myself
<v Speaker 2>from swearing on this show because it's family friendly.
<v Speaker 3>That was that's t Bar check Mace.
<v Speaker 2>Mace was an announcer and he had a little thing
<v Speaker 2>with brock Lesner went away to train.
<v Speaker 3>Has a good look except for the mask.
<v Speaker 2>And the the Milli Vanilli poster cover looking makeup. Feels
<v Speaker 2>like these two could be really good, except they won't
<v Speaker 2>be because they're gonna be Mace and t bar a
<v Speaker 2>tag team and they're gonna start his mind monsters and
<v Speaker 2>have a title reign and they're gonna lose those titles
<v Speaker 2>and then they're gonna be in comedy segments for forever
<v Speaker 2>because ha ha, isn't it funny?
<v Speaker 3>Those two dudes are wearing.
<v Speaker 2>Makeup and somebody's eventually gonna say hey, Dominic and he's
<v Speaker 2>gonna says g bar if he'd be like, the real
<v Speaker 2>fans are gonna be like, oh no, that's terrible, and
<v Speaker 2>everybody's gonna be out like that's not funny, and Vince
<v Speaker 2>isn't gonna hear it because he's gonna be laughing so
<v Speaker 2>hard into a pile of money.
<v Speaker 3>I'm just gonna I understand. This is is raw.
<v Speaker 2>But again, keeping with the format again, Pat McAfee's really
<v Speaker 2>good on SmackDown.
<v Speaker 3>Boom done done.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, that's all a list?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I thought so that. No, and.
<v Speaker 1>I think that everybody can say in unison. I really
<v Speaker 1>would love to tell and I'm being serious, I would
<v Speaker 1>love to talk to somebody that was a fan of retribution.
<v Speaker 1>I mean for real, like I don't know if that
<v Speaker 1>person exists outside of whoever came up with the idea. Originally,
<v Speaker 1>it was just one of those ideas that they they
<v Speaker 1>thought about in theory. It was on paper, and then
<v Speaker 1>they decided, well, we're not gonna worry about anything beyond
<v Speaker 1>week one. We'll figure it out as the weeks go by.
<v Speaker 1>We just need to get something the ratings up. We
<v Speaker 1>don't care how the story plays out, and that is
<v Speaker 1>I don't want to hear from anybody that is exactly
<v Speaker 1>what it was between Retribution and Raw Underground essentially debuting
<v Speaker 1>the same week last year. But anyway, that's beside the point.
<v Speaker 1>Retribution is one of the worst storylines I've ever seen
<v Speaker 1>in my life that that includes that includes Katie vic okay,
<v Speaker 1>but that's how bad this was executed because of the
<v Speaker 1>logic behind it. So that said, Katie Vick is still
<v Speaker 1>probably number one. This is number Retribution is number two.
<v Speaker 3>But at the same time, both the dudes involved in
<v Speaker 3>that were world champions, so like.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's true. Kane and Triple Ah. Yeah, and Triple
<v Speaker 1>Ah going to the funeral home and God with the mannequin,
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god, my goodness. If anybody is that what
<v Speaker 1>we're talking about, you you're not around the kids. Go
<v Speaker 1>check out Triple h and a funeral home. Just search
<v Speaker 1>Katie Vick, I.
<v Speaker 4>Mean headphones in it's the attitude era. So okay, well, yeah, no,
<v Speaker 4>this whole thing I again, bron Strowman is angry, monster, angry.
<v Speaker 1>You make me angry like he's he's just so he's
<v Speaker 1>The thing is like you said with Shane McMahon, he
<v Speaker 1>is playing into what Shane McMahon said he is because
<v Speaker 1>he does. He's presented as just a one dimensional character again,
<v Speaker 1>big dude, athletic, good look, but we don't see any
<v Speaker 1>range of character from this guy other than just me
<v Speaker 1>smash things. That's it, seriously, And now they've added a
<v Speaker 1>locomotive sound, although I didn't hear it this week. Maybe
<v Speaker 1>they got the negative feedback when he goes around the
<v Speaker 1>ring and does his you know, running over people that
<v Speaker 1>apparently nobody can see coming. And you know, I'm glad
<v Speaker 1>they got rid of that. I don't. I'm not particularly
<v Speaker 1>a fan of of Stroman being in the in the
<v Speaker 1>match at Backlash, but I understand why because it's a
<v Speaker 1>way to protect Bobby Lashley's champion, because we all know
<v Speaker 1>Bobby Lashley is going to hopefully retain at at Backlash,
<v Speaker 1>and that to me is how it should happen. Maybe
<v Speaker 1>him pinning Braun Stroman and keeping McIntyre out of the loop.
<v Speaker 1>So I think that's a smart move by w W
<v Speaker 1>because they didn't want to hurt either guy at wrestling
<v Speaker 1>or at Backlash, and braun Strowman is the perfect foil
<v Speaker 1>where he's not gonna be damaged. He'll just be an
<v Speaker 1>angry monster the next night, uh and life will go on.
<v Speaker 1>So I am all for you know, Bobby Lashley's champion,
<v Speaker 1>which by the way, we're not really talking about Bobby
<v Speaker 1>Lashley's champion, which is weird. But what do you what
<v Speaker 1>do you think about lash Lee's champion thus far?
<v Speaker 3>He's been very good. He's been very believable. You saw
<v Speaker 3>it coming when the the miss One is a transitional champion.
<v Speaker 3>He's he is his like Brock Lesner.
<v Speaker 2>And he's been he's been good so far, and they've
<v Speaker 2>treated him very seriously.
<v Speaker 3>And I just I hope that continues, and I think
<v Speaker 3>it will.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think it will too. I like I like
<v Speaker 1>what I'm seeing thus far. I you know, Bobby Lashley
<v Speaker 1>at least taking the mic and trying to think promos
<v Speaker 1>is good. I think Bobby Lashleys we've seen I've seen bad,
<v Speaker 1>bad promos from Bobby Lashley that are just I mean,
<v Speaker 1>he's he's not known for his mic skills, but it
<v Speaker 1>seems like he's improving. He's he knows where his weaknesses are.
<v Speaker 1>We know what MVP's with him to pick up that slack.
<v Speaker 1>But it's not that he's standing there like brock Lesser
<v Speaker 1>did on a weekly or really monthly basis and just
<v Speaker 1>let Paul Hammond do the talking while he stands there
<v Speaker 1>and looks angry and mean, which is what brock Lezer
<v Speaker 1>didn't get paid hundreds of thousands.
<v Speaker 3>To do it.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, Bobby Lashley, I think I respect him and WWE
<v Speaker 1>for giving him the mic, giving him a chance to
<v Speaker 1>well to really fully polish his character and be a
<v Speaker 1>talking champion as well. So I'm a big fan of
<v Speaker 1>Bobby Lashley's champion. Uh So, yeah, onto the next topic,
<v Speaker 1>the miz you want you had some things to say?
<v Speaker 3>All right, man, listen. Uh So, the mis has has
<v Speaker 3>spent his time now with with with a feud with
<v Speaker 3>Bad Bunny.
<v Speaker 2>His WWB thinks that that's gonna help their business and
<v Speaker 2>maybe it does. And he's doing songs in the ring
<v Speaker 2>with with with uh everybody, and he's just in joke
<v Speaker 2>segment and not taken seriously, and my my wife does
<v Speaker 2>not know the history of the Miss and and just said,
<v Speaker 2>because I, under my breath said he should be a
<v Speaker 2>bigger deal than he is.
<v Speaker 3>And she said why.
<v Speaker 2>And it occurred to me that the miss is a
<v Speaker 2>guy that is such a fan of wrestling that in
<v Speaker 2>the early two thousands he was on a reality show
<v Speaker 2>and loved it so much that he came up with
<v Speaker 2>a wrestling character. I understand that's goofy and a little
<v Speaker 2>bit annoying, but still, and then he took it one
<v Speaker 2>step further. He didn't just talk about it. He got
<v Speaker 2>to the WWE.
<v Speaker 3>Not one fan and not one wrestler respected him at first,
<v Speaker 3>and frankly they shouldn't have. But after years and years
<v Speaker 3>and years and years, he built up tenure there and respect.
<v Speaker 3>He's not anything special in the ring, but he's dependable.
<v Speaker 2>He doesn't get hurt. He's one of the best promos INWWE.
<v Speaker 2>He's had more moments than I can count where I've
<v Speaker 2>been left almost speedless by a promo.
<v Speaker 3>He's shown up John Cena in promos. He's held his
<v Speaker 3>own with the Rock.
<v Speaker 2>He's stopped Daniel Ryan into the ground. He's a two
<v Speaker 2>time WWE champion. He's a double digit probably time Intercontinental champion.
<v Speaker 2>He's a multiple time tag team champion with different partners.
<v Speaker 2>When The Rock was coming back to that tag match
<v Speaker 2>in Survivor Series, the Miz is one of the people
<v Speaker 2>that he trusted with his first match back. My point
<v Speaker 2>in saying all this is that the Miz should not
<v Speaker 2>be a joke anymore. I understand he can do it,
<v Speaker 2>and he's willing to and get your money. I get it,
<v Speaker 2>And I understand he was a transitional champion and it
<v Speaker 2>was just to get that title on Bobby Lashley, and
<v Speaker 2>I'm fine with that.
<v Speaker 3>But the Miz.
<v Speaker 2>Has had a Hall of Fame career and is treated
<v Speaker 2>like a joke and an afterthought and like an idiot
<v Speaker 2>and as somebody who's a I cannot think of too
<v Speaker 2>many other former two time ww champions that are like that.
<v Speaker 2>You could put the Mis in there with anybody, and
<v Speaker 2>if the Mis is on with promos, I don't care.
<v Speaker 2>If it's Paul Hayman in his prime, he will at
<v Speaker 2>the very worst hold his own And I do not
<v Speaker 2>understand why he's in there making songs about bad Bunny.
<v Speaker 3>I don't understand. He's just better than that.
<v Speaker 1>So the Mis, I've been rough on him, and I've
<v Speaker 1>been rough on his character over the last several years,
<v Speaker 1>deservedly so. But but it's only been since they put
<v Speaker 1>Morrison back with him, and they were just suddenly they
<v Speaker 1>both got transported back into their fifteen year old bodies
<v Speaker 1>as sophomores in high school, where they're doing just bathroom
<v Speaker 1>humor jokes, inside jokes. I think it's again Vince McMahon's
<v Speaker 1>incessant need to have some kind of quote, and I
<v Speaker 1>say very very big air quotes here, comedy relief in
<v Speaker 1>their seg in their shows. Why don't they always have
<v Speaker 1>to meet that quota? Forced comedy in any genre is awful.
<v Speaker 1>It is exponentially worse in professional wrestling because these guys
<v Speaker 1>are not trained to do comedy.
<v Speaker 3>And I just.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not a fan of Mis and Morrison as a
<v Speaker 1>team presented to me as entertainment. I think that they again,
<v Speaker 1>as presently presented to me, I cannot stand their characters.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't Hell, I didn't like Bad Bunny. I didn't
<v Speaker 1>like Damian Priest. I didn't like that entire storyline, even
<v Speaker 1>with the fact that Bad Bunny outperformed every celebrity that
<v Speaker 1>has ever appeared ever in wrestling. I mean he I
<v Speaker 1>have given him. I've given him credit as many times
<v Speaker 1>as it possibly can that he absolutely kicked ass and
<v Speaker 1>put in work to do what he did at WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 1>But it doesn't change the fact that I could stand
<v Speaker 1>his character and I didn't like the storyline that all
<v Speaker 1>of a sudden were supposed to cheer for this guys
<v Speaker 1>and outsider and outsider. It made no sense to me.
<v Speaker 1>But that aside the Miz and Morrison need. I don't
<v Speaker 1>know where the what the end game is for these guys.
<v Speaker 1>I don't need a Miss TV every single month in
<v Speaker 1>net raw or a dirt sheet. Tell me the difference.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>There is none. I don't understand the need for that
<v Speaker 1>where Morrison sits there and he plays off of Miss
<v Speaker 1>and they're supposed to having a he he haha time great,
<v Speaker 1>it's it's channel changing garbage. I don't want to hear it.
<v Speaker 1>It's heel heat. Oh it makes you angry. No, it
<v Speaker 1>really makes me want to watch, like you know, baseball
<v Speaker 1>makes me want to watch Netflix makes me like I
<v Speaker 1>don't want to watch it. I do because I do
<v Speaker 1>the show. But that's that's that's not what you should
<v Speaker 1>be going for as a TV program, to make your
<v Speaker 1>fans so turned off they want to change to another show.
<v Speaker 1>So that all that said, I think the Miss as
<v Speaker 1>a career, all that crap I just said, I do
<v Speaker 1>think he's Hall of Fame worthy because because he's stuck
<v Speaker 1>it out, which is weird to say he stuck it out.
<v Speaker 1>Is there an evolution of the Miz that is, you know,
<v Speaker 1>from zero to one hundred, and he's been on a
<v Speaker 1>rocket ship since he came back or he debuted in
<v Speaker 1>WW No. I think, in fact, the Miss has taken
<v Speaker 1>a lot of steps back at times. Yes, and a
<v Speaker 1>lot of that happened when Morrison got involved, and really
<v Speaker 1>I think took them both back to two thousand and eight,
<v Speaker 1>which is a bad place to be for both guys.
<v Speaker 1>I just right now, the Miz is stuck. He's been
<v Speaker 1>stuck for a couple of years now, spinning his wheels
<v Speaker 1>doing the same segments, being the butt of every joke,
<v Speaker 1>and Morrison his act doesn't help. I don't know why
<v Speaker 1>they don't just split the team and make them Morrison
<v Speaker 1>could be doing, I mean, way better work on his
<v Speaker 1>own being a serious character than just everything is a joke.
<v Speaker 1>So I don't know. I hate to crap on these
<v Speaker 1>guys because I do it weekly because it's really just
<v Speaker 1>sometimes embarrassingly bad. But yeah, I think that the Miss
<v Speaker 1>is deserving a better because he does have a very
<v Speaker 1>good promo in the ring and like I remember that, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>he went toe to toe with John Cena, which johnsona
<v Speaker 1>to me is probably maybe the best of all time
<v Speaker 1>wrestler wise. On the mic, Johnson is so good, so good,
<v Speaker 1>and he was an afterthought when he faced what the
<v Speaker 1>rock or the rock was the he it was all
<v Speaker 1>about rock, and Sina Mis was just there is a
<v Speaker 1>warm body. So yeah, I mean, the miss has never
<v Speaker 1>been the focal point. I don't ever have any evidence
<v Speaker 1>to believe that they will make him a focal point.
<v Speaker 3>No, they won't.
<v Speaker 2>But he's he has had a Hall of Fame career.
<v Speaker 2>He made John Cena look like inferior on the mic,
<v Speaker 2>which does.
<v Speaker 1>Not happen, that's impossible.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, exactly, And and he has had some of the
<v Speaker 2>realist moments in w W. When they give him a
<v Speaker 2>chance to do that, he's one of the best, sincerely
<v Speaker 2>of all time. And they're never gonna give him a
<v Speaker 2>chance to do that, it seems, and it just doesn't
<v Speaker 2>make sense to me.
<v Speaker 1>He's locked in. I think, unfortunately the miss WWE has
<v Speaker 1>found his lot in life in wrestling, and I don't
<v Speaker 1>think that they are going to say, hey, let's try this,
<v Speaker 1>or that I believe that they've locked him in. So yep, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>this is the last thing I have, and then I'll
<v Speaker 1>toss it to you. One word, lily.
<v Speaker 3>Man, Listen, I don't have I don't have a lot
<v Speaker 3>on this.
<v Speaker 2>Alexi's a guest doing her own thing, and it's it's
<v Speaker 2>probably gonna be bad. Honestly, I don't even think we're
<v Speaker 2>gonna have that much to say on this for too long.
<v Speaker 3>It's just not great.
<v Speaker 1>Wow. Okay, yeah, that was short and sweet. I I'll
<v Speaker 1>take up a little bit more of an optimist approach,
<v Speaker 1>even though I don't like how they split from the Fiend.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't even know that was actually a turn on
<v Speaker 1>the Fiend, which that whole thing, whoever created I mean,
<v Speaker 1>they must have been I don't know, under the influence
<v Speaker 1>of some kind of narcotic to come up with that,
<v Speaker 1>because the turn made it apparently we were told to turn.
<v Speaker 1>Even though if I didn't hear the commentary, I would
<v Speaker 1>have been like, that's not a turn, that's just her
<v Speaker 1>being I don't know, summoning the power of the fiend,
<v Speaker 1>And why is that? Like it made no sense the
<v Speaker 1>one r KO. I mean, that whole thing at WrestleMania
<v Speaker 1>was just an absolute debacle. But I at least like
<v Speaker 1>this that Alexa Bliss is getting her own story and
<v Speaker 1>that she's she said she basically warned the female division that,
<v Speaker 1>you know, put everyone unnoticed that I'm coming, and her
<v Speaker 1>doing her transformations during the matches, I guess is going
<v Speaker 1>to be someone entertaining. You gotta be careful with hocus pocus,
<v Speaker 1>because again, can get too hoky, you can get too unbelievable,
<v Speaker 1>and so forth. But I don't know. I'm giving it
<v Speaker 1>a little bit more of an optimistic approach than you are.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not out of this world about it, but I'm like, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>I'm on board. Let's see where this goes. She hasn't
<v Speaker 1>done anything yet other than sitting her full playground, which
<v Speaker 1>is in the middle of a ring that they've set
<v Speaker 1>up backstage. Other than that, again, there hasn't been actually
<v Speaker 1>any execution in the ring with any other female stars.
<v Speaker 1>So it's good to see Alexa actually get her own storyline.
<v Speaker 1>That's the one positive it is.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and I'm I am hopeful to see where it goes.
<v Speaker 3>I just I don't I don't know. I don't trust
<v Speaker 3>him with it, I think, but I'll see where it goes.
<v Speaker 1>Is the Fiend dead? Like, No, he's not dead.
<v Speaker 3>He's coming sometime. They just don't know what to do
<v Speaker 3>with him right now, so they they're keeping him where
<v Speaker 3>he is for right.
<v Speaker 1>Now, purgatory. Yeah, yeah, okay, that's all I'm having my list.
<v Speaker 1>Did you have anything that we didn't? I know, we
<v Speaker 1>didn't get to every little thing.
<v Speaker 3>It's you know, we didn't and I don't think so
<v Speaker 3>the the stuff I had I got to. I think
<v Speaker 3>that's everything.
<v Speaker 1>Cool. Cool, Well, Zach, it has been as always a
<v Speaker 1>pleasure to have you on the show. There would not
<v Speaker 1>be a show without you making me look like a
<v Speaker 1>fool in correct in front of the I mean, that's
<v Speaker 1>just it just it's just how we it's just how
<v Speaker 1>we continue to have the listeners come back because they
<v Speaker 1>want to see me get humiliated.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, that's exactly and that's what I provide. And
<v Speaker 3>I'm happy to provide it.
<v Speaker 1>It's a free service, free of charge.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
<v Speaker 1>So, Zach, is there anything you want to share potentially
<v Speaker 1>any social media anything like that.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, I do so.
<v Speaker 2>As you said, I am the host of the NXT
<v Speaker 2>podcast here on the unofficial WWE podcast network. You can
<v Speaker 2>check me out every week here. Also the host of
<v Speaker 2>Random Wrestling, which Matt was so gracious to help me
<v Speaker 2>set up and host that had been on a bit
<v Speaker 2>of a hiatus as we moved over to Beecock, but
<v Speaker 2>it is back this week. Episode should should be Wednesday
<v Speaker 2>at the latest and you can check my Twitter if
<v Speaker 2>you want to see early what that is going to
<v Speaker 2>be on Twitter. I am at Zach in XT. That's
<v Speaker 2>at z a c H n XT so NXT podcast
<v Speaker 2>Random Wrestling this week Zach and Xt on Twitter.
<v Speaker 3>Other than that, that's it for me.
<v Speaker 1>I love it.
<v Speaker 3>I love it.
<v Speaker 1>Guys. Go check out the Random Wrestling get yourself subscribe
<v Speaker 1>because there right now there is one episode that you
<v Speaker 1>can get that is not on our feed. And yes,
<v Speaker 1>all the regular shows are there, but he will be
<v Speaker 1>doing exclusive shows that are not going to be here.
<v Speaker 1>So go over to Apple Podcasts, Google, wherever it's all there,
<v Speaker 1>search Random Wrestling. Hit the subscribe button because then you'll
<v Speaker 1>get all the all the shows that you can't get here,
<v Speaker 1>So definitely do that. And somehow, again I say this
<v Speaker 1>every time, but how he got that handle on Twitter
<v Speaker 1>is beyond me. So that's a good one. So thank you, Zach,
<v Speaker 1>thank you so much. And we will be doing this again,
<v Speaker 1>not in eight or ten months, but much sooner.
<v Speaker 2>So yes, we need to do this very soon. Thank
<v Speaker 2>you very much for having me on again. I looked
<v Speaker 2>forward to talking.
<v Speaker 3>To you very soon.
<v Speaker 1>All right, Zach, have a good night, all right you
<v Speaker 1>two buddy.
<v Speaker 3>Thanks so bad