Podcast Throwback: The Very First Episode of The Mailbag (Aired November 2020)

<v Speaker 1>Hey guys, welcome to the very first WWE podcast mailbag
<v Speaker 1>episode where we take all of your questions in voicemails,
<v Speaker 1>put them on the show and answer them, comment on them,
<v Speaker 1>and have a little fun. And there's no jingle. This
<v Speaker 1>is just a straightforward episode. It's just to the point
<v Speaker 1>and that's what this is for. So keep the questions coming,
<v Speaker 1>keep the voicemails coming. If you want to send in
<v Speaker 1>a question, you can do that. Whether you want to
<v Speaker 1>actually text a question, write it out the email, or
<v Speaker 1>you can create an audio file and attach it to
<v Speaker 1>the email. Both of those are fine, or you just
<v Speaker 1>call the voicebox that we have voicemail box, which is
<v Speaker 1>five P one eight nine five two zero two four seven.
<v Speaker 1>And so we're gonna get to as many as we
<v Speaker 1>can tonight and answer your questions. I'll get people a
<v Speaker 1>little bit more brief than I normally am in my responses,
<v Speaker 1>just for the sheer volume that we have already. Well,
<v Speaker 1>let's get to that very first voicemail and respond.
<v Speaker 2>We just I do apologize to the background hound start
<v Speaker 2>winning here right now.
<v Speaker 3>A lot of crazy weather. I wanted to bring up
<v Speaker 3>a couple of things with the sweet that we can
<v Speaker 3>past one of things that I saw was Adama and
<v Speaker 3>most making out.
<v Speaker 2>It was one things that really is gonna sind have
<v Speaker 2>happened Mercy's ratings. It's gonna get into like hor of
<v Speaker 2>a mean of that status. And I had a thing
<v Speaker 2>for sure that it was probably gonna happen, and it
<v Speaker 2>was gonna and seeing step around laugh at it, look
<v Speaker 2>do I he enjoyed it all and I know it's
<v Speaker 2>not gonna go well. But the found number two they
<v Speaker 2>so like steal.
<v Speaker 4>Care is not what we expected.
<v Speaker 5>Because when did they quote ball in live thing? And
<v Speaker 5>he went by his word.
<v Speaker 2>Jay us So brutally, I mean brutally attacked Daniel Bryant
<v Speaker 2>and injured him.
<v Speaker 6>And I saw and.
<v Speaker 2>He's now who coopering at home?
<v Speaker 4>Hope we gets better soon.
<v Speaker 1>Hey, Sean, thank you for calling in. Always a pleasure
<v Speaker 1>to talk with you. Yeah, your voicemail was a little rough,
<v Speaker 1>I know, the voice, the weather you said was not great.
<v Speaker 1>So it's fine. I got the gist of it, so
<v Speaker 1>I had to pick up the Daniel bryan piece of it.
<v Speaker 1>How he was beat down by jay Uso and he
<v Speaker 1>followed through with his word.
<v Speaker 7>I like that.
<v Speaker 1>I'm a fan of that.
<v Speaker 7>I like that.
<v Speaker 1>Jay Uso is the most relevant he's ever been in
<v Speaker 1>his career ever, ever, and Jauso is main event talent.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, he's proven that he can hang and and
<v Speaker 1>not just do the silly speaking in kind of nursery
<v Speaker 1>rhymes and just ending everything with the USO Penitentiary. I
<v Speaker 1>could get over him calling everyone Oose. Can you just
<v Speaker 1>go by the name, like, we don't need to give
<v Speaker 1>him one cute nicknames? It's not my favorite thing. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>It's kind of like like I said earlier this week
<v Speaker 1>about Angela Dawkins calling everyone fam. Okay, can we just
<v Speaker 1>say family or just use their real name?
<v Speaker 7>Please?
<v Speaker 1>Just preference, just preference. But yeah, so thank you Sean
<v Speaker 1>for calling in. And I probably didn't answer every question,
<v Speaker 1>but it was a little choppy, So feel free to
<v Speaker 1>call back when you're in a closed building. I think
<v Speaker 1>that will that will definitely help. Already, let's get to
<v Speaker 1>the next one.
<v Speaker 8>Pennsylvania today, I actually have a question for you, looking
<v Speaker 8>for a little insight into the whole Brandy Orton's versus
<v Speaker 8>prey Wy things. I know you have to get a
<v Speaker 8>ton of emails and have a lot of followers and stuff,
<v Speaker 8>so I'm sure. You obviously don't remember everything every person
<v Speaker 8>tells you out themselves, so I'm sure you forgot that.
<v Speaker 8>I literally took off like twenty some years of watching wrestling.
<v Speaker 8>I didn't watch wrestling from probably the around the end
<v Speaker 8>of the nwowcw SO WrestleMania twenty nineteen last year. So
<v Speaker 8>obviously I missed the entire of the Ortons and Bray
<v Speaker 8>Wyatt's program. And honestly, I'm just being a little too
<v Speaker 8>lazy to go back and look right now. So I'd
<v Speaker 8>just like for you tell me did they end up
<v Speaker 8>having a match? And I know you said on your
<v Speaker 8>podcast that it made the stronger. I was just wondering
<v Speaker 8>who actually wants them? And the other thing I was
<v Speaker 8>wondering where they both heals then also for their first program,
<v Speaker 8>because I don't I don't know. I mean, they seem
<v Speaker 8>like they've both always been heals to me. I know
<v Speaker 8>Randy was sort of a baby pace for a little
<v Speaker 8>bit while I've been watching. But that's all I got
<v Speaker 8>for you today, Just that question, buddy. I'd appreciate it.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you, hey, Brad, thank you for calling in. And yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I did forget. I did forget that you haven't watched
<v Speaker 1>wrestling in quite a while. You had a massive gap
<v Speaker 1>in things that you missed.
<v Speaker 7>But let me get you up to speed.
<v Speaker 1>So back in was I think it was WrestleMania thirty three.
<v Speaker 1>That's the rivalry that is sparking the fiend to be
<v Speaker 1>angry at Randy Orton because he burned down Sister Abigail's house.
<v Speaker 1>That's what Randy Orton did. He I believe they even
<v Speaker 1>had a House of Horrors match that's actually kind of
<v Speaker 1>worth seeing.
<v Speaker 7>It's so hokey.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, it's just you gotta see it. But Randy
<v Speaker 1>Orton ended up burning down Sister Abigail's house that he
<v Speaker 1>located somehow in the woods. And that's the image you
<v Speaker 1>go always see painted on the Firefly fun houses that
<v Speaker 1>the fire trail leading to the burned down house was
<v Speaker 1>because of Randy Orton. Now the results answer your question.
<v Speaker 1>Randy Orton did beat Bray Wyatt. I was actually in
<v Speaker 1>Orlando at the time when this and in in person
<v Speaker 1>attendance for WrestleMania thirty three, and this was not one
<v Speaker 1>of the best matches that In fact, it was actually
<v Speaker 1>probably one of the bottom matches, if not the worst
<v Speaker 1>match of the night. Simply for the fact of the
<v Speaker 1>chemistry wasn't super good. They had images like I remember
<v Speaker 1>bray White because at that time he was the swamp
<v Speaker 1>cult leader. Don't forget he wasn't the fiend, Okay, he
<v Speaker 1>was the swamp cult leader that spoke in riddles and
<v Speaker 1>just cackled to himself in backstage promos while he has
<v Speaker 1>an Edison ball above his head. I mean that was
<v Speaker 1>the every single week bray Wyatt we got and bray
<v Speaker 1>White ended up using the images of worms and stuff
<v Speaker 1>that appeared on the canvas. It was bizarre. It made
<v Speaker 1>no sense. And if Randy Orton is, you know, a
<v Speaker 1>grown adult, he would realize, oh, well, these are just images, right,
<v Speaker 1>They're not real, So I don't care. Randy Orton ended
<v Speaker 1>up winning anyway, and it was Randy Orton as a
<v Speaker 1>babyface versus bray White as a heel. So that was
<v Speaker 1>the dynamic. Now it would be heel versus I guess,
<v Speaker 1>pray why it's a heel. They haven't really established it,
<v Speaker 1>and I think they should, but it looks like it's
<v Speaker 1>heal versus heel now, as it is with Roman and
<v Speaker 1>Roman and Randy. So hope I got you up to
<v Speaker 1>speed Brad, thanks for calling in and please feel free
<v Speaker 1>to call back. All righty, well, let's take a little
<v Speaker 1>bit of a break from the voicemails because I do
<v Speaker 1>have an Instagram question that I promised I would answer
<v Speaker 1>on the show, and let me pull it up here
<v Speaker 1>as I fumble through my phone live here. The question
<v Speaker 1>was from Kyle. I'll just leave it at that. I
<v Speaker 1>won't give away I'm guessing the last part of it's
<v Speaker 1>your last name, so I won't do that. But Kyle
<v Speaker 1>on Instagram said, Hey Kyle from Norwich, UK. All right,
<v Speaker 1>so question for you. If the rumors are true that
<v Speaker 1>next WrestleMania we could see Rains versus The Rock and
<v Speaker 1>Orton versus Edge, assuming these are for the titles, then
<v Speaker 1>are we to assume that we can predict the winner
<v Speaker 1>of the twenty twenty one Royal Rumble will either be
<v Speaker 1>The Rock or Edge. Surely, ww he hasn't become that predictable.
<v Speaker 1>Looking forward to hearing your raw review.
<v Speaker 7>Stay safe.
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, I was supposed to originally review this on
<v Speaker 1>RAB but since I am kind of piling all my
<v Speaker 1>voicemails into one show, that's why I'm answering it now.
<v Speaker 1>Winner of the twenty twenty one Royal Rumble could very
<v Speaker 1>well be Edge. I think Edge has a much higher
<v Speaker 1>chance of winning than does the Rock. I think the
<v Speaker 1>Rock versus Rains, I don't think the Rock is needs
<v Speaker 1>to go through the Rumble or be a surprise.
<v Speaker 7>Entrant to face Rains.
<v Speaker 1>I think he would make more sense to just kind
<v Speaker 1>of come out and challenge him, and I think Edge
<v Speaker 1>would be since he debuted a number twenty one last year,
<v Speaker 1>maybe he did, he's at number twenty one again this year.
<v Speaker 1>It'd be very poetic for him. I've always booked this
<v Speaker 1>as such, like here's how I would have booked it.
<v Speaker 1>I would have had Randy Orton untouchable as champion for
<v Speaker 1>six plus months, untouchable, No one hits a finisher.
<v Speaker 7>He's just escapable.
<v Speaker 1>He's garnering massive white hot heat, and he ends up
<v Speaker 1>plowing through people at the at Royal Rumble, He's like
<v Speaker 1>entering eighteen or nineteen. He ends up, you know, eliminating
<v Speaker 1>however many people, and he's standing alone in the ring
<v Speaker 1>and he eliminates one after the other after the other,
<v Speaker 1>and then out comes Edge an Edge in Orton fight,
<v Speaker 1>and you know.
<v Speaker 7>You could say, well, Orton's the one who's champion. Why
<v Speaker 7>is he in the Rumble? We've seen it before.
<v Speaker 1>We've seen the champion in the Royal Rumble before, even
<v Speaker 1>though it made no sense. So that's how I would
<v Speaker 1>book it, or just have Edge even without Orton there,
<v Speaker 1>win the Rumble and Orton is forced to face Edge
<v Speaker 1>for the championship at WrestleMania. That to me, is a
<v Speaker 1>better story than The Rock. The Rock again could just
<v Speaker 1>come out out of nowhere and be like, Hey, I'm
<v Speaker 1>the Rock, I deserve a championship opportunity, and hey, there's
<v Speaker 1>also a built in storyline with you attacking our own
<v Speaker 1>family and being the head of the table. I don't know, though,
<v Speaker 1>if The Rock is interested without true fans being there,
<v Speaker 1>if he's interested in coming back for a payday when
<v Speaker 1>there's no fans for him to interact. The Rocks character
<v Speaker 1>is so built around fan interaction to be very awkward,
<v Speaker 1>I think, honestly, because got so many catchphrases and lines,
<v Speaker 1>it would just be weird. But I guess time will tell.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe people will be allowed back in an arena. Even
<v Speaker 1>though today was like I think, the highest recorded day
<v Speaker 1>of cases of coronavirus ever since the things started over
<v Speaker 1>one hundred thousand, so unfortunately we're heading the wrong direction.
<v Speaker 1>But what we will have to see maybe things will
<v Speaker 1>turn around when the vaccine comes out. So alrighty on
<v Speaker 1>to the next voicemail.
<v Speaker 4>Hello, this is Bo from Las Vegas. I've been listening
<v Speaker 4>to the voice to the podcast for a couple of weeks.
<v Speaker 4>Now I love it. It's great stuff, good content, entertaining.
<v Speaker 4>Got a couple questions, I guess number one, what is
<v Speaker 4>the problem with WWE and lazy Eers. Why isn't she
<v Speaker 4>getting to push that she needs? They're messing with Lana,
<v Speaker 4>They're messing with ain't a Brook. These women that can't wrestle.
<v Speaker 4>I mean they're slow. I mean I like Zelina Vega,
<v Speaker 4>she's got the charisma, she's got the mic skills, but man,
<v Speaker 4>her matches are like boorfests. But here's Lacey Evans. She's
<v Speaker 4>got a great look, she's got great skills in the ring,
<v Speaker 4>she's got a great mic skills, and they're doing nothing
<v Speaker 4>with her. But instead they're pushing people like law. You
<v Speaker 4>know these women that I guess they're attractive, but they
<v Speaker 4>don't have any wrestling skills. They're boring. So I just
<v Speaker 4>want to get your thoughts on why Lacy Evans and
<v Speaker 4>then getting a push. I think she's got all three things.
<v Speaker 4>She's got a great gimmick, she's got great mic skills,
<v Speaker 4>and she can wrestle. And then my second thing, hopefully
<v Speaker 4>I get it in time, is I'm pretty new to wrestling.
<v Speaker 4>I watched it back when I was a kid. It
<v Speaker 4>was about twenty years ago, and I just wanted to
<v Speaker 4>get your vice on watching it as an adult and
<v Speaker 4>knowing about the storylines and just how you want to
<v Speaker 4>be invested in wrestling, but some of the matches are
<v Speaker 4>just the worse. I mean, and you you want to
<v Speaker 4>be invested, but you know how impossible some of these
<v Speaker 4>directions that creative has taken. And my personal opinion is
<v Speaker 4>I think because there's no live audience to tell management
<v Speaker 4>that we're tired of the mysterio seth rawlins, feud and
<v Speaker 4>we're tired of all these things. Because the live audience
<v Speaker 4>isn't there to push back, I think management is pretty
<v Speaker 4>much blind. And I wanted to get your thoughts on that,
<v Speaker 4>the idea of how do you watch it now as
<v Speaker 4>an adult? And I need some advice on being disappointed.
<v Speaker 4>I guess and then what do you think about the
<v Speaker 4>lack of audience and how that's affecting creative Thank you.
<v Speaker 1>Hey bo, it sounds like you're a first time caller
<v Speaker 1>but also just started listening to the show a few
<v Speaker 1>weeks ago, and welcome. Thank you so much for the compliments.
<v Speaker 1>I hope you stick around. We are, I think a
<v Speaker 1>very unique show. I mean, I think we fit into
<v Speaker 1>a category of fans that I try to be real right, like,
<v Speaker 1>this is not a show that I'm putting on an
<v Speaker 1>act or I swear to swear and get clicks like. So,
<v Speaker 1>I'm glad that you are enjoying the show, and again,
<v Speaker 1>hopefully you continue to hang on to us. All right,
<v Speaker 1>so let me answer you your latter questions first, because
<v Speaker 1>otherwise I'll forget them and I'll get to Lacey Evans
<v Speaker 1>on the other end. As far as enjoying wrestling as
<v Speaker 1>an adult, so I guess it's kind of like believing
<v Speaker 1>in Santa Claus when you're like, I'm thirty five years old,
<v Speaker 1>maybe you're around the same age. If you're an adult
<v Speaker 1>eighteen plus, you kind of have to at times just
<v Speaker 1>remove your brain from your body. And those are the
<v Speaker 1>times when wwe is not doing a great job storytelling you, Like,
<v Speaker 1>as you mentioned, when the matches are awful or you're
<v Speaker 1>not even sure why people are wrestling, they don't give
<v Speaker 1>you a story. Things just happen with no explanation, like retribution,
<v Speaker 1>showing up, they get contracts even though they destroyed stuff
<v Speaker 1>raw underground, all these things that you look at and
<v Speaker 1>you're like, this is eye rolling, and it makes you
<v Speaker 1>embarrassed to be a wrestling fan. Anybody that can relate
<v Speaker 1>to that, anybody out there, right, even though you're a
<v Speaker 1>hardcore wrestling fan, because if you are, you're listening to
<v Speaker 1>this show, you listen to wrestling podcasts, then I'd say
<v Speaker 1>you're a pretty hardcore fan. But there are times when
<v Speaker 1>as much as I've been watching, and everyone else that
<v Speaker 1>has been watching for twenty plus years has been watching,
<v Speaker 1>there are moments when you feel embarrassed. It's secondhand embarrassment
<v Speaker 1>to be a fan. You're thinking, thank god, no one's
<v Speaker 1>in the room with me, right, Like, none of my
<v Speaker 1>friends are here watching this with me, because I would
<v Speaker 1>be super embarrassed that I'm even watching this myself. And
<v Speaker 1>you're embarrassed on behalf of the product. Anybody else feel
<v Speaker 1>that way sometimes Oh yeah, oh yeah.
<v Speaker 7>I do too.
<v Speaker 1>So as an adult, here's what you have to do.
<v Speaker 1>You have to uh, you have to just you have
<v Speaker 1>to learn to love the product kind of the way
<v Speaker 1>it is, and that means there are gonna there's gonna
<v Speaker 1>be a lot of stuff you don't like, but there
<v Speaker 1>usually are one or two things that you can sink
<v Speaker 1>your teeth into. Right now, For me, it's Roman reigns
<v Speaker 1>jay Uso, one of the best storylines w WWE has
<v Speaker 1>had in a long time. You can find characters, usually
<v Speaker 1>find characters that you can relate to and that they're
<v Speaker 1>doing a halfway decent job with. It's not always all
<v Speaker 1>crap all the time. And I think a lot of
<v Speaker 1>fans overgeneralize WWE for just oh so it's terrible, you know,
<v Speaker 1>but yet they keep watching every week. So I would say,
<v Speaker 1>find those one or two things that you love and
<v Speaker 1>remind yourself why you love it and stick to it,
<v Speaker 1>because if you look at the product as a whole
<v Speaker 1>as terrible, you gonna go away. You're gonna stop watching wrestling,
<v Speaker 1>And I think that's doing a disservice to yourself because
<v Speaker 1>clearly you have a passion for it. Otherwise, you wouldn't
<v Speaker 1>be watching and listening to this show. So yeah, again,
<v Speaker 1>it's a little bit like believing in Santa Claus at
<v Speaker 1>thirty five, because you remember how fun that was back then.
<v Speaker 1>I'd loved believing in sant I wish I still did.
<v Speaker 1>It was so much more fun as a kid. I
<v Speaker 1>wish I could just reinstill that belief in me. But
<v Speaker 1>when you get lost in a story and when you
<v Speaker 1>forget you're watching wrestling and just want to see what
<v Speaker 1>happens next, They've got you. And it does still happen,
<v Speaker 1>believe it or not. Even after again, I've been watching
<v Speaker 1>since ninety seven. That puts me at twenty three years.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure some of you have watching a lot longer
<v Speaker 1>and some a lot shorter, but that's where I'm at,
<v Speaker 1>and I still love the moments that give you goosebumps,
<v Speaker 1>and I still get them edge returning at the Royal
<v Speaker 1>Rumble at number twenty one last year, that was one right,
<v Speaker 1>jay Usow in Roman Reigns, the Roman reigns, He'll turn.
<v Speaker 1>That was another one recently, too, Undertaker anytime he returns,
<v Speaker 1>which should should be also shortly, that is also special.
<v Speaker 1>There are still things that happened that are really good,
<v Speaker 1>but I understand there are a lot of matches that
<v Speaker 1>don't make sense, storylines that don't make sense because WWE
<v Speaker 1>has lost their art of storytelling and have put the
<v Speaker 1>emphasis on just production and having great matches instead of
<v Speaker 1>having great stories. Where the matches are secondary. The matches
<v Speaker 1>are not a means to an end. There should be
<v Speaker 1>a vehicle to tell your story. They shouldn't be an
<v Speaker 1>end onto themselves so already. And also about Lacy Evans
<v Speaker 1>before I move on, Yeah, I don't.
<v Speaker 7>Know what they're doing with her.
<v Speaker 1>She seemed to be the flavor of the week for
<v Speaker 1>Vince a few months ago, and then they decided to
<v Speaker 1>turn her heel out of nowhere again and for drop
<v Speaker 1>the whole Alma Marine, I'm a mom thing and just
<v Speaker 1>remember that, you know, Oh wait, she's calling me a
<v Speaker 1>nasty I'm sols to not like her. And then she
<v Speaker 1>did the karaoke that awful segment Unsmackdown several months ago
<v Speaker 1>as well, sometime during the summer, and that didn't help
<v Speaker 1>her in order to help anyone, that segment that was
<v Speaker 1>just one of those eye rolling God, please stop the
<v Speaker 1>pain moments. But you know she hasn't done much, and
<v Speaker 1>I think that right now, while they're not doing much,
<v Speaker 1>that could change in any moment. I mean it really could.
<v Speaker 1>You know, she's proven that she can talk in the mic.
<v Speaker 1>She can she's improved in the ring. She's not outstanding,
<v Speaker 1>but she's good in the ring. So obviously the look
<v Speaker 1>and she's in super good shape and she stays out
<v Speaker 1>of trouble all that stuff. So there's something there with
<v Speaker 1>Lacey and they know it. I just think it's kind
<v Speaker 1>of cyclical, like it was Lacy's time and then it
<v Speaker 1>gets to be Oscar's time, and then it gets you know,
<v Speaker 1>like Nia Jackson to Nia Jackson to me, Ni Jackson
<v Speaker 1>Shannon Basler. Like they go in spurts, they go in cycles.
<v Speaker 1>It's just not the cycle for excuse me, not the
<v Speaker 1>cycle for her right now, but I think it will be.
<v Speaker 1>You know, she's been out of the loop, the main
<v Speaker 1>event loop for quite some time. Saying with Dana Brook,
<v Speaker 1>who Dana Brook's been sorry, she's been kind of a
<v Speaker 1>joke or no, she has been a joke almost her
<v Speaker 1>entire career. She's the butt of the joke. She's in
<v Speaker 1>the match to take the fall. She's a good athlete,
<v Speaker 1>and she checks all the boxes. They just haven't done
<v Speaker 1>anything with her. She's kind of an odd promo. I've
<v Speaker 1>never found Dana Brooks promos particularly engaging.
<v Speaker 7>But it's all about emotional.
<v Speaker 1>Investment, man, I mean, it's all about emotional investment. That's
<v Speaker 1>the key phrase that will forever be the driving force
<v Speaker 1>of success for wrestling, for movies, for books, for TV.
<v Speaker 1>It's emotional investment that has been and always will be
<v Speaker 1>the key success factor. So alrighty, thanks for calling in
<v Speaker 1>on to the next voicemail.
<v Speaker 5>Hey Matt, it's Kyle from New York.
<v Speaker 4>So two things.
<v Speaker 5>One, I don't know if you heard there's a horm
<v Speaker 5>where that Tripleations Stephanie Man might take over Friday and
<v Speaker 5>SmackDown like I got Triple XT definitely might take over
<v Speaker 5>Friday and SmackDown. So when are your thoughts on that?
<v Speaker 5>Along wonder is do you think they're gonna book small?
<v Speaker 5>I found a really good like next? Do you think
<v Speaker 5>smacks But do you think smack guns will basically be
<v Speaker 5>the same as the ONTs of procured there and never
<v Speaker 5>kishots there? Or do you think it's actually gonna be
<v Speaker 5>better or Triple It's definitely in charge, maybe it'll be
<v Speaker 5>a better show. So I think it's already in my opinion,
<v Speaker 5>I think it's already really good right now, but maybe
<v Speaker 5>when you're in charge, it will be even better. My
<v Speaker 5>second question, you already talk about something. You've already talked
<v Speaker 5>about this on many episodes, but Daniel Brian has said
<v Speaker 5>this is his last full time run on WWE. I
<v Speaker 5>think the contract aspires like September twenty twenty one, so
<v Speaker 5>that's only like it's like ten or eleven more months left.
<v Speaker 5>So one what I want to ask you is what
<v Speaker 5>do you think is final max is gonna be? I
<v Speaker 5>can't even think of anyone right now. Honestly, it will
<v Speaker 5>find that come to me, But like right now, I
<v Speaker 5>can't think of anyone. So who do you Who do
<v Speaker 5>you think Daniel O'Brian's final opponent, and that he's going
<v Speaker 5>to be at least full time. Maybe it won't be
<v Speaker 5>the final match. I mean like Melba's left match full
<v Speaker 5>time and he'll still match this part time. So what
<v Speaker 5>do you think is final match or final full time
<v Speaker 5>match is going to be? So let me know and yeah,
<v Speaker 5>it's it, thanks.
<v Speaker 7>Hey, Kyle.
<v Speaker 1>So let's address the triple h stephan McMahon taking over SmackDown.
<v Speaker 7>I heard that too.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think it honestly matters. I don't think it
<v Speaker 1>matters whether Triple Hs and Stephanie run it, whether whether
<v Speaker 1>it's Eric Bischoff, Paul Hayman, Jim Ross, myself.
<v Speaker 6>You.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think it matters is who has the title
<v Speaker 1>of SmackDown executive producer, executive director. I honestly don't think
<v Speaker 1>that matters. And the reason it doesn't matter really are
<v Speaker 1>two words. Vince McMahon. Everything still flows through Vince. Vince
<v Speaker 1>has a certain amount of chain that he'll let his
<v Speaker 1>executive producers and directors get before he kind of reels
<v Speaker 1>the man or goes, well, I do it this way
<v Speaker 1>that way right. You've seen and heard about that micromanagement control.
<v Speaker 1>This isn't just me talking out of my backside. This
<v Speaker 1>has been corroborated many times through people leaving the company
<v Speaker 1>and through them doing other podcasts. So the control is
<v Speaker 1>so tight that I very much doubt it really will
<v Speaker 1>matter who indeed gets the quote control of SmackDown, because
<v Speaker 1>Vince is the ultimate filter. He has the ultimate say,
<v Speaker 1>and until Vince is gone, you won't see true sustainable change.
<v Speaker 1>About that. I think that's a fair honest answer.
<v Speaker 7>But also.
<v Speaker 1>As far as Daniel Bryan goes his yeah, his contract
<v Speaker 1>I guess does go through next September. He's got some time,
<v Speaker 1>and I think I'll have a nice run with Roman
<v Speaker 1>Reigns here for the next couple of months, if not longer.
<v Speaker 1>I think his final opponent. That's tough because what if
<v Speaker 1>he's on a different brand by then, you know, I
<v Speaker 1>mean it gets traded or wwe decide just have their
<v Speaker 1>own random draft and have a season premiere in you know, August,
<v Speaker 1>I mean, who the hell knows. But assuming he's unsmacked
<v Speaker 1>down with the current roster, I mean, it's got to
<v Speaker 1>be still Roman Reigns, right, I mean, or Triple H.
<v Speaker 7>You know, Triple H.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure could still go with Daniel Bryan, considering the
<v Speaker 1>story they have, but that would be his retirement match.
<v Speaker 7>It's hard.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think I've ever been asked what about his
<v Speaker 1>you know, his final full time match. I would say
<v Speaker 1>it would be somebody that would injure him in an angle,
<v Speaker 1>which to me would be Roman Reigns right now. It
<v Speaker 1>could be bron Strowman, right, I mean, who else? But
<v Speaker 1>to me, it would be Rowan Rains to injure him,
<v Speaker 1>which would explain why he's now there for a long time,
<v Speaker 1>and then he's kind of back on a part time schedule.
<v Speaker 1>So already, let's get to that next voicemail.
<v Speaker 5>Hey, Matt is Kyle from New York. Again, here's definitely
<v Speaker 5>not a question about like WTV. It's a question about
<v Speaker 5>W network. Well, I don't explain this, but anyway, I've
<v Speaker 5>been in w W fans since like twenty twenty eleven,
<v Speaker 5>No twenty.
<v Speaker 8>Ten, my bad.
<v Speaker 5>I mean w fans definitely into ten, and I'm.
<v Speaker 3>Like I was thinking the.
<v Speaker 5>Other day, I was thinking to myself, I kind of
<v Speaker 5>want to like binge watch every single like Raw and
<v Speaker 5>SmackDown like under the WW network in my paper view
<v Speaker 5>three views too, So like I I want to start
<v Speaker 5>for like old stuff and then like just watch binge
<v Speaker 5>wats on, just binge watch like them all Home by
<v Speaker 5>one all the way till like present day. But like
<v Speaker 5>I don't know where to start. So like my question,
<v Speaker 5>my question is what do you think would be like
<v Speaker 5>the best year to start pushing w W. Well wrote
<v Speaker 5>to you, taking your opinion, what will be the best
<v Speaker 5>year to start watching w w a to start to
<v Speaker 5>start binge watching every Raw, every smack on, every pay
<v Speaker 5>per view like that. That's matter of the male of
<v Speaker 5>the question. I've been doing anying, I'll say, so, yeah,
<v Speaker 5>I'm just able to binge watch. That's my question. So
<v Speaker 5>that's it.
<v Speaker 4>Thanks.
<v Speaker 7>Oh hey, Kyle, welcome back.
<v Speaker 1>So as far as what time frame to start watching
<v Speaker 1>and binge watching, wow, Well, number one, it depends on
<v Speaker 1>how much time you have on your hands. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>it's that's a hell of a time commitment to be
<v Speaker 1>able to go and watch binge watch everywhere on SmackDown.
<v Speaker 1>That's number one. Number two, I would like to start
<v Speaker 1>you at the beginning of an era, you know, I
<v Speaker 1>really would. I'd like to start you at the beginning
<v Speaker 1>of an era so that it's fair that you can
<v Speaker 1>so you could now analyze fairly that that era. And
<v Speaker 1>this is a little bit of a bias selection and
<v Speaker 1>it's only simply due to the fact that this is
<v Speaker 1>when I started and I'd say nineteen ninety seven, right
<v Speaker 1>like Raw nineteen ninety seven, the summer of ninety seven.
<v Speaker 1>That's just simply nothing more than being biased. And that's
<v Speaker 1>really when the attitude era was starting to crank up,
<v Speaker 1>you know, officially, And so that's what I would say.
<v Speaker 1>If you want to skip the nineties and skip Austin
<v Speaker 1>Rock triple h all that, which I mean, you're missing
<v Speaker 1>out big time. But you could go straight to the
<v Speaker 1>Ruthless Aggression era which started in two thousand and two.
<v Speaker 1>You'll still have a little bit of a hangover from
<v Speaker 1>the from the attitude era with Austin there, the nWo
<v Speaker 1>comes in, you have the Rock, right, He's still there,
<v Speaker 1>kind of starting to fade out into his Hollywood dreams,
<v Speaker 1>but you know, and Goldberg in two thousand and four
<v Speaker 1>finally comes back and faces the Rock. So you could
<v Speaker 1>you could start in oh two, or then you could
<v Speaker 1>start in the pg ero which started in two thousand
<v Speaker 1>and eight. So I mean, I really hate to direct
<v Speaker 1>you to tell you where to start. I'll give you
<v Speaker 1>the start of the eras ninety seven, two thousand and two,
<v Speaker 1>two thousand and eight.
<v Speaker 7>So take your pick.
<v Speaker 1>But if you want to, if you want to do
<v Speaker 1>what I did, start in the mid nineteen nineties and
<v Speaker 1>then work your way up. It's a lot to digest.
<v Speaker 1>You're gonna see a lot of stuff, and that's a
<v Speaker 1>hell of a time commitment.
<v Speaker 7>So good for you.
<v Speaker 1>Already on to that next one.
<v Speaker 9>By Matt just as Solomon from Edver, Colorado and calling
<v Speaker 9>about Survivor series. I think the whole concept is bad.
<v Speaker 9>I think they should maybe have something like do two
<v Speaker 9>teams to like they did in twenty fourteen with Team
<v Speaker 9>Tina versus Team Authority. I think they should do something
<v Speaker 9>like that, or if they're going to do brand versus brand,
<v Speaker 9>I think they should have it so that there's a
<v Speaker 9>consequence such as maybe the winning team gets to know
<v Speaker 9>book the other show for a night or something like
<v Speaker 9>they've done in the past. Anyways, thanks, I love your shows.
<v Speaker 1>Bye, Hey Solomon, thanks for calling in and listen. You're
<v Speaker 1>preaching to the choir. I mean I say this, and
<v Speaker 1>I say it throughout the year kind of sporadically, but
<v Speaker 1>I especially crank it up every time they try to
<v Speaker 1>shove this down our throats every November, that we're supposed
<v Speaker 1>to care about a rivalry that's built into the schedule,
<v Speaker 1>and that suddenly everyone has the just you know, complete,
<v Speaker 1>complete and utter loyalty to the brand that they got
<v Speaker 1>drafted to a month ago.
<v Speaker 7>It's just preposterous.
<v Speaker 1>And like I said, there's nothing on excuse me, nothing
<v Speaker 1>on the line. There's literally nothing on the line. We've
<v Speaker 1>established that, you've established that. It's not even like bragging
<v Speaker 1>rights don't even matter because those the fans don't care
<v Speaker 1>because they watch all brands most of the time, or
<v Speaker 1>both brands, maybe not NXT so much. But it's a
<v Speaker 1>false premise that fans are supposed to care based on
<v Speaker 1>the marketing, like a draw vers a SmackDown. Okay, well great,
<v Speaker 1>because I watch both, so I have no loyalty or
<v Speaker 1>investment right off the bat, so congratulations, But.
<v Speaker 7>Yeah, you could.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, yes, they should have put something on the line.
<v Speaker 1>They put something on the line. I don't know what
<v Speaker 1>that is, Like you said, maybe he's booking a show.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know. But if there's nothing on the line
<v Speaker 1>other than aha, we beat you that, then I don't care.
<v Speaker 1>I literally do not care about this pay per view.
<v Speaker 1>And it's sad because there are a lot of great
<v Speaker 1>matchups on this pay per view, and it's just to me,
<v Speaker 1>it's just a stepping stone to get the TLC and
<v Speaker 1>beyond because there's no titles on the line. It's nothing
<v Speaker 1>but bragging rights.
<v Speaker 7>That's it.
<v Speaker 1>Just rename this pay per view to bragging rights. That's
<v Speaker 1>essentially what this is. So already on to that next
<v Speaker 1>voicemail Hice.
<v Speaker 10>Kyle from turb Maryland. I would talk about, you know,
<v Speaker 10>ask her as the champion isn't working at all. There's
<v Speaker 10>really nobody on raw for her to face. That's a
<v Speaker 10>CREDI post challenger at this point.
<v Speaker 3>But I don't know.
<v Speaker 10>It seems like there's something messing with the mom's vision
<v Speaker 10>on law in general. And next put is to matafa
<v Speaker 10>Ali before I step before I like this group of
<v Speaker 10>which would him give part of retribution? I just think
<v Speaker 10>you see to start with he matches and but I
<v Speaker 10>want to like the screw because I'm a family Ali,
<v Speaker 10>So what you think is next for retribution?
<v Speaker 8>But they call.
<v Speaker 1>Kyle always good to hear from you.
<v Speaker 7>So two things that.
<v Speaker 1>You mentioned, Osca, Your guess is as good as mine.
<v Speaker 1>With the hell are doing with her, it could be
<v Speaker 1>a lack of talent, a lack of a serious storyline.
<v Speaker 1>But the worst thing is what they're doing is just
<v Speaker 1>kind of floating her around being a comedy relief character
<v Speaker 1>as Women's Champion. It's it's maddening. I don't need to
<v Speaker 1>have her scream in Japanese and dance like she's on
<v Speaker 1>a Saturday morning cartoon. It's embarrassing what they're doing with her.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know why they're not engaging here in a
<v Speaker 1>real feud. Maybe she they're waiting on Charlotte Flare to
<v Speaker 1>possibly return shortly.
<v Speaker 7>I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>But there's nothing of substance going on with Oscar other
<v Speaker 1>than being involved with the street profits and saying she
<v Speaker 1>wants to smoke or sticking her in, you know, a
<v Speaker 1>random segment that's a that's a mean nothing segment. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know they it's clear they have nothing for her.
<v Speaker 1>It's awful, but that's kind of the nature of what
<v Speaker 1>they're doing right now.
<v Speaker 7>It's just I don't know. I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>But as far as Mustafa Ali goes, yeah, I'm I'm
<v Speaker 1>a fan of him too, and I think that he
<v Speaker 1>found something being a leader of Retribution. But the whole
<v Speaker 1>Retribution group hasn't got a win and they're this this
<v Speaker 1>threatening group that's coming in and destroying everything. But man,
<v Speaker 1>they can't win a match. It's that makes no sense.
<v Speaker 1>It tells me they have no faith in this group.
<v Speaker 1>It tells me that they are kind of admitting when
<v Speaker 1>you read between the lines that this group sucked like
<v Speaker 1>it's just it's not working. That's what they're telling you
<v Speaker 1>by not having them having them be a dominant force,
<v Speaker 1>winning after match after match after match after match. And
<v Speaker 1>Mustafa Ali is the leader that also kind of tells you.
<v Speaker 7>Look.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I'm a big fan of him too, and
<v Speaker 1>he's certainly got more talent than what we've seen. But
<v Speaker 1>for their leader not to revealed as a big name
<v Speaker 1>tells you that they don't have a lot of faith
<v Speaker 1>in this group or storyline, nor should they. I wouldn't either.
<v Speaker 1>I've torn it for Limb from Limb. I'm not gonna
<v Speaker 1>get into it. You guys have heard me rant on
<v Speaker 1>retribution so many times that it hurts so alrighty, well,
<v Speaker 1>let's let's continue here. And I believe this is our
<v Speaker 1>final voicemail, so let's see who it is.
<v Speaker 6>Hey, Matt, this is Jeff again from the Philippines, and
<v Speaker 6>I just want to go on a rant about the
<v Speaker 6>guitar on the pole match. You see, this is one
<v Speaker 6>of those stipulations that doesn't make sense to me that
<v Speaker 6>if the ending of the match should be a pin
<v Speaker 6>or submission, then why do they have to get the
<v Speaker 6>guitar and smash it through their opponents. So what if
<v Speaker 6>Jeff Party is smashed the guitar on Elias, But Eli,
<v Speaker 6>do they have to put another guitar on the pole
<v Speaker 6>so Alias could get another chance and he could smash
<v Speaker 6>Jeff Hardy with the guitar. And yeah, like why do
<v Speaker 6>they have to use a guitar at the ending of
<v Speaker 6>the match? Should be a pen or submission table. Matches
<v Speaker 6>don't have to go through a pin or submission. They
<v Speaker 6>just have to go put there upon and through the table.
<v Speaker 6>And during Elia's return, he already he already said in
<v Speaker 6>a backstage interviewed that he knows that a red haired
<v Speaker 6>guy was driving the car that hit him, but instead
<v Speaker 6>he went after Jef Party. Even if he knows that
<v Speaker 6>a red haired guy was driving the car. They should
<v Speaker 6>be teaming up in here, Jef Party and Elias should
<v Speaker 6>be teaming up against Seamus. They're both on the same show.
<v Speaker 6>They're they're all in raw and them into everything. We're
<v Speaker 6>just saying that and it's not proven who is the
<v Speaker 6>driver of the car in them, but they're trying. Oh no,
<v Speaker 6>they're just too much blurred lines in this story storyline.
<v Speaker 6>And yeah, that's a home man. Thank you and have
<v Speaker 6>a great day.
<v Speaker 1>Hey, Jeff, you are definitely definitely justified in going on
<v Speaker 1>a rant there for what the whole premise of a
<v Speaker 1>guitar and poll. We've seen it before though. We've seen
<v Speaker 1>how many objects on a pole? Right, We've seen pink
<v Speaker 1>slip on a pole I think probably kendlestick on a
<v Speaker 1>pole match. We've seen many different items on a pole,
<v Speaker 1>and outside of the pink slip, which actually has real
<v Speaker 1>ramifications of your fired if you don't get it, the
<v Speaker 1>weapon of choice, whatever's hanging above there, what if you
<v Speaker 1>don't grab it and you still beat your opponent?
<v Speaker 7>Do you win? Right?
<v Speaker 1>I mean, like, what if what if I had it's
<v Speaker 1>a it's a kendowstick on a pole match? But I
<v Speaker 1>ended up beating my opponent with a chair and I
<v Speaker 1>never grabbed the kendowstick and it just remains up there.
<v Speaker 7>Do I lose?
<v Speaker 1>Am I required to go up to the pole and
<v Speaker 1>grab what's up there? I mean, I guess not, you know,
<v Speaker 1>I guess not. But that, Yeah, the whole Jeff Hardy
<v Speaker 1>thing with the lias makes no sense. And if he
<v Speaker 1>actually acknowledged that it's a red haired guy that he
<v Speaker 1>knew was rumored to be driving the truck of the car,
<v Speaker 1>whatever it was.
<v Speaker 4>This is.
<v Speaker 7>This is just ridiculous. It's just ridiculousness.
<v Speaker 1>And I believe the announcers alluded to this being over
<v Speaker 1>since Jeff Hardy got a clean victory over Elias on
<v Speaker 1>Monday with the guitar and a pole match, I think
<v Speaker 1>it's over. I hope it's over, because this was not
<v Speaker 1>something I was invested in from the beginning, nor were
<v Speaker 1>many of the fans. I mean, it's just it was
<v Speaker 1>it was kind of a forced rivalry to begin with.
<v Speaker 1>Elias has turned face to heal so many times that
<v Speaker 1>people are becoming indifferent to his character. And I believe
<v Speaker 1>that the fans would have been very quiet during this match,
<v Speaker 1>even though with Jeff Hardy there. I really believe that
<v Speaker 1>so fans not being there is a It's one of
<v Speaker 1>those things that is it's so critical in pro wrestling,
<v Speaker 1>and when you don't have them there to give that
<v Speaker 1>immediate response, WWE just kind of does their own thing. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>you have social media, Yeah, I know that's somewhat of
<v Speaker 1>a measuring stick, but certainly fans and attendance are the
<v Speaker 1>ones that are going to immediately tell you what's working
<v Speaker 1>what's not, And in pro wrestling, more than any other sport,
<v Speaker 1>that is key because other sports aren't driven by what
<v Speaker 1>the fans want. They just perform to their best level.
<v Speaker 1>It's true competition. In pro wrestling, it is what the
<v Speaker 1>fans want. You can create whatever story you want based
<v Speaker 1>on what the fans like and what they don't like.
<v Speaker 1>But when you can't hear what the fans like and
<v Speaker 1>don't like, you kind of just have to assume. So
<v Speaker 1>I bet you Vince is loving this too at the
<v Speaker 1>same time, being able to pump in crowd noise, be
<v Speaker 1>able to just do what he wants and have the
<v Speaker 1>crowd reaction on TV come across the way he's always wanted, right,
<v Speaker 1>So he's kind of I'm sure also having fun on
<v Speaker 1>that on that end of it. So all right, Well,
<v Speaker 1>that actually concludes all all of our voicemails tonight, so
<v Speaker 1>I'm glad that they're finally cleaned out of my mailbox.
<v Speaker 1>But fill it back up, guys, because this is this
<v Speaker 1>is fun to be able to just do a single
<v Speaker 1>show and just plow through all of your voicemails.
<v Speaker 7>I hope you enjoyed it.
<v Speaker 1>You call the show at five one eight nine to
<v Speaker 1>five two zero two four seven. Again that's nine five
<v Speaker 1>one eight nine five two zero two four seven, or
<v Speaker 1>email the show at real WWE podcast at gmail dot com. Well, guys,
<v Speaker 1>that concludes the mailbag portion of the WWE podcast, kind
<v Speaker 1>of a fill in version of the show rather than
<v Speaker 1>pumping these at the at the end of show is
<v Speaker 1>the beginning of shows. I think it's cleaner to do
<v Speaker 1>it this way. So already, thank you everybody for listening. Again,
<v Speaker 1>tons of stuff coming to the rest of the week, rivalries,
<v Speaker 1>we can review SmackDown review with Michael Ritter on Saturday.
<v Speaker 1>Just so much stuff, so get yourself ready, tons of
<v Speaker 1>stuff to come.
<v Speaker 7>Hope you're hopefully you're doing well.
<v Speaker 1>Destressed and uh and things are going well. So all right, everyone,
<v Speaker 1>take care. I'll talk to you next time.