WWE Week in Review: Mass Releases, Danhousen & Miz, Jacy Jayne Gets Huge Heat, Jacob Fatu Confronts Roman

<v Speaker 1>Welcome everybody to the week in Review. It's Saturday, doing
<v Speaker 1>it a bit early this week, so that means that
<v Speaker 1>if you send an email in on Sunday, I didn't
<v Speaker 1>get it yet, but I will absolutely include it in
<v Speaker 1>the next show that we do, which is the Monday
<v Speaker 1>night Raw Review. But stay tuned. We have a lot
<v Speaker 1>more coming this week, more videos. I'm putting videos out
<v Speaker 1>for those of you on Patreon probably three times a
<v Speaker 1>week at least, So that's exclusive to those on Patreon
<v Speaker 1>above the I'm sorry if you're on the NXT tier,
<v Speaker 1>it's not in that tier anymore. It is in the
<v Speaker 1>jobb or tier, which is our base tier. The NX
<v Speaker 1>tier NXT tier has been sunset. So that said, we
<v Speaker 1>got a lot to talk about. We got a lot
<v Speaker 1>and there were a lot of releases over the last
<v Speaker 1>twenty four hours from WWE and I have to say
<v Speaker 1>right at the onset here, this is part of the business.
<v Speaker 1>This is a normal cycle of business. You may not
<v Speaker 1>like who they were least, but they have the right
<v Speaker 1>to do it, okay, And that doesn't mean that I
<v Speaker 1>don't have compassion for those individuals who lost their jobs
<v Speaker 1>and now have to try to find work. Elsewhere with
<v Speaker 1>a very specialized skill set. You have AW have New Japan,
<v Speaker 1>you have TNA, you have some independence. I get it,
<v Speaker 1>But no show is like WWE. Most places won't pay
<v Speaker 1>you like WWE. Most and not every organization is interested
<v Speaker 1>in talents that get released by WWE. So I feel
<v Speaker 1>for these men and women. I do, But when I
<v Speaker 1>look at it from a corporate perspective, they're a private organization.
<v Speaker 1>They are not a state run organization. There's no union
<v Speaker 1>to protect these men and women. They're independent contractors. They
<v Speaker 1>have the legal right to let them go whenever they
<v Speaker 1>want to let them go at any point, and they
<v Speaker 1>exercise that right as they do about once a year
<v Speaker 1>or two, as they probably term it, trim the fat.
<v Speaker 1>But guess what, they don't operate any differently in principle
<v Speaker 1>than any other privately run organization. And you may say, well,
<v Speaker 1>they're not private, they're public. Okay, they're publicly traded right.
<v Speaker 1>Their funding source, though, is not from a government. They
<v Speaker 1>aren't a government run organization or some kind of municipality.
<v Speaker 1>They are private. They get to run their organization as
<v Speaker 1>they see fit. Now, that doesn't mean they don't have
<v Speaker 1>to adhere to rules and standards and they can't be sued.
<v Speaker 1>Of course they can, just like anybody else can. But
<v Speaker 1>my point is this is part of the business. This
<v Speaker 1>is the nature of the business, and that's again in
<v Speaker 1>any industry. And this is a normal time where they
<v Speaker 1>do have mass releases of men and women they don't
<v Speaker 1>believe are going to be able to meaningfully contribute to
<v Speaker 1>the organization. They don't have plans and so forth. That's
<v Speaker 1>the way it goes. I mean again, these men and
<v Speaker 1>women might find work not I'm guessing that not everybody
<v Speaker 1>on that list is a multimillionaire. You don't really make
<v Speaker 1>the top money until you're a top guy or gal.
<v Speaker 1>That's so way it goes. So I feel for them.
<v Speaker 1>And some of the names are a bit surprising, Zelina
<v Speaker 1>Vega Kyrie saying the entire wyat six, Some of those
<v Speaker 1>names do surprise you, given they had active storylines. Typically,
<v Speaker 1>the people that appear on that list every April are
<v Speaker 1>individuals that haven't been on TV in at least a month,
<v Speaker 1>maybe two months, three months or more, like Apollo Cruise,
<v Speaker 1>to my analogy, has amount on TV in quite a while.
<v Speaker 1>You can kind of go through the roster sometimes and
<v Speaker 1>see it coming you almost without even being a part
<v Speaker 1>of the company, could sit down and get about seventy
<v Speaker 1>percent of who you think they'll cut in April, right,
<v Speaker 1>and yeah, So I wanted to talk about that right
<v Speaker 1>off the top, because there's a lot of discussion, a
<v Speaker 1>lot of backlash towards WWE, which is just silly. But again,
<v Speaker 1>it depends on how you're looking at it. If you're
<v Speaker 1>only looking at it through the humor humanitarian perspective, then
<v Speaker 1>you're upset and you feel that they didn't get there
<v Speaker 1>just due and they could have done more with this
<v Speaker 1>person in that person. And that may be true, and
<v Speaker 1>some people do find their way back to the company,
<v Speaker 1>some do, some don't, Some never will. Some of those
<v Speaker 1>names that were announced yesterday will never be in a
<v Speaker 1>WWE ring. Ever. Again, we don't know who those people are,
<v Speaker 1>but there are some on that list. Kind of crazy now,
<v Speaker 1>the whole Wyat six group being released, not surprised. They
<v Speaker 1>were involved in some minor active storyline, but it was
<v Speaker 1>over a fucking lantern. That's how silly their storyline was.
<v Speaker 1>Or a lantern, and back and forth and away we go.
<v Speaker 1>They're trying to get it back and it became very
<v Speaker 1>ridiculous on the air, and you know that tells you
<v Speaker 1>that they didn't have a whole lot in store for them.
<v Speaker 1>They never really did it seems like have much in
<v Speaker 1>store for them. They were a glorified Bray Wyatt tribute
<v Speaker 1>group that were nothing more than an entrance. At least
<v Speaker 1>that's what they ended up being. After all that, all
<v Speaker 1>that time, and all the all the different men and
<v Speaker 1>women in that group, well only one woman, but Dexter
<v Speaker 1>loom Is, Joe Gacy obviously, bo Dallas, Nicky Cross. All
<v Speaker 1>of them are now on the unemployment line, not for long,
<v Speaker 1>and some of them may start their own stuff, and
<v Speaker 1>I hope they do. Maybe they start their own podcast.
<v Speaker 1>You can get a lot of attention that way and
<v Speaker 1>make a decent living, especially if you already have built
<v Speaker 1>in name value, right, sponsors are going to be interested
<v Speaker 1>in that. Look what Stevie Richards did. I know he's
<v Speaker 1>not a recent release from WWE, but Stevie Richards love
<v Speaker 1>his show on YouTube. They do an awesome job. They
<v Speaker 1>are very very good. His audience is growing like crazy.
<v Speaker 1>There's a shout out to the Stevie Richards Show. I
<v Speaker 1>really like what they do and a very intelligent, very likable.
<v Speaker 1>So maybe those skills can translate into some kind of
<v Speaker 1>non wrestling role. So let me know what you guys
<v Speaker 1>think about the releases. I know, I'm sure there'll be
<v Speaker 1>some talk about it. It is certainly a topic of discussion.
<v Speaker 1>But no one should be surprised. This is the normal.
<v Speaker 1>This is the normal function of business. It's not a
<v Speaker 1>cool one. It's not a fun one to tell people
<v Speaker 1>that they're no longer employed. And what is WWE supposed
<v Speaker 1>to do? Are they supposed to employ everyone for life?
<v Speaker 1>Is that their job? The moment that they hire somebody,
<v Speaker 1>they're now obliging by law to keep that person employed
<v Speaker 1>for the rest of their existence on Earth. No. But
<v Speaker 1>here's the other thing I'll toss to you guys and
<v Speaker 1>give you some hope. If you want a certain star,
<v Speaker 1>you feel a certain star should be rehired by WWE,
<v Speaker 1>and you want to actually maybe reverse that decision, here's
<v Speaker 1>the solution. Not an easy one, but it is one.
<v Speaker 1>Rally the entire IWC behind you and start a hashtag movement.
<v Speaker 1>That may sound stupid, it may sound impossible, even if
<v Speaker 1>you achieve that there's no guarantee. Yes, but here's the thing.
<v Speaker 1>While we can't really rally and unite today seemingly as
<v Speaker 1>a human race around anything together, if you get a
<v Speaker 1>significant portion of the audience and start a trend downline
<v Speaker 1>of hashtag justice for Kyrie, I don't know, something like that,
<v Speaker 1>then perhaps it might get WWE's attention. It doesn't mean
<v Speaker 1>that even if it does that they'll bring them back.
<v Speaker 1>Look at several examples carrying Cross for example, and scarlet.
<v Speaker 1>They didn't get any justice quote unquote because they're not
<v Speaker 1>due justice. But in some people's minds, they were unjustly
<v Speaker 1>let go, So in their minds, justice would be getting
<v Speaker 1>them rehired. So public pressure could be the only way
<v Speaker 1>to get some of these men and women hired. I
<v Speaker 1>don't anticipate that happening, and I know I've had some
<v Speaker 1>people say, well what about so and so these people. Well, again,
<v Speaker 1>you need sustained massive support to get the attention of
<v Speaker 1>TKO to maybe reverse the decision. You need a large
<v Speaker 1>number of people for a significant amount of time and
<v Speaker 1>even translating into person events to change that. But we've
<v Speaker 1>seen it done. We've seen the change an impact that
<v Speaker 1>just a hashtag can make. The Women's Revolution began because
<v Speaker 1>of a hashtag our truth was brought back because of
<v Speaker 1>a hashtag that went viral. Hell, the WrestleMania forty main
<v Speaker 1>event changed because of a hashtag. So don't tell me
<v Speaker 1>that it's not doable. It's not easy, it's not common,
<v Speaker 1>it's not likely, but it's possible. We've seen it multiple times.
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't count on it. If I'm a star who
<v Speaker 1>just got released, it's not a likely avenue of being rehired.
<v Speaker 1>And also, if I was somebody that was in the
<v Speaker 1>shoes of say I don't know Bo Dallas, for example,
<v Speaker 1>and I was released, and then I see this movement
<v Speaker 1>online of rehire Bo something whatever, and it catches fire
<v Speaker 1>and it's going viral. People are making videos, they're mention
<v Speaker 1>doing mentions at TKO, at Paul of Esque or Paul
<v Speaker 1>of ec everybody, right, everybody that can have an impact
<v Speaker 1>on rehiring that person gets it, gets their attention, and
<v Speaker 1>it clearly does. Then TKO decides, after all of this,
<v Speaker 1>this is not a fad. They're not messing with us.
<v Speaker 1>This is a true need, buy and want by the audience.
<v Speaker 1>Let's rehire him. And I'm that person, I would actually
<v Speaker 1>not want to be rehired that way, because first of all,
<v Speaker 1>look what they did with our truth, which is essentially nothing.
<v Speaker 1>They turned him heel, shaved his head, and gave us
<v Speaker 1>the truth that we didn't want back. So maybe that
<v Speaker 1>was done out of spite, but I would feel almost
<v Speaker 1>like it's a pity rehire. Now. The money would be welcome,
<v Speaker 1>but I would feel like it's a pity. Higher It's
<v Speaker 1>not because I got there on my own merit. It's
<v Speaker 1>because people cried and complained, well, you shouldn't have you
<v Speaker 1>shouldn't have fired this person. We want them back. So
<v Speaker 1>they went to mommy and daddy, and mommy and Daddy said, fine,
<v Speaker 1>we don't really want them, but I guess bring them over, right.
<v Speaker 1>It would feel a little condescending in my mind. If
<v Speaker 1>I was somebody that got rehired in that fashion, I
<v Speaker 1>would welcome it because I need the money, but I
<v Speaker 1>would also feel a little icky and my I guess
<v Speaker 1>my own ego would be a little bit sliced, right,
<v Speaker 1>because you're you're not being hired in the way that
<v Speaker 1>you feel like you should, and there's no guarantee what
<v Speaker 1>they would do with you, and you might be let
<v Speaker 1>go again. So all right, well that's enough on the
<v Speaker 1>releases more to come, I'm sure from the emails that
<v Speaker 1>we get from you guys. But let's get into the
<v Speaker 1>week in review. But if you want the full SmackDown
<v Speaker 1>review in detail, you can go to Amanda's review that
<v Speaker 1>she did today and I released it and she did
<v Speaker 1>a great job covering SmackDown while the releases were going on.
<v Speaker 1>SmackDown was live, so that was interesting. But oh, one
<v Speaker 1>thing too, we had, most famously, I think over the
<v Speaker 1>last day Zelena Vega, who told Shaun Ross Sap go,
<v Speaker 1>you know, fuck you, dude. I have to say this,
<v Speaker 1>I do not agree like Shaun Ross Sapp is a
<v Speaker 1>from a journalist journalistic perspective, is one of the more
<v Speaker 1>prominent journalists in the field of professional wrestling, and he
<v Speaker 1>does He's created a large following. Uh, he's certainly got
<v Speaker 1>a website that is successful and we all know that.
<v Speaker 1>But I mean, outside of that, I mean, he's a
<v Speaker 1>He is just the worst in terms of every other
<v Speaker 1>ideological belief. Him and I are polar opposites. I'll just
<v Speaker 1>leave it at that. As a person, I think he's
<v Speaker 1>just a an insufferable person. But beside the point that is,
<v Speaker 1>but the journalistic perspective. I will take his side on
<v Speaker 1>this because I like Zelena. I think she is and
<v Speaker 1>has been underutilized for years. She finally became champion, but
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't long last and she she certainly had a
<v Speaker 1>moment in her home country which was fun, and I
<v Speaker 1>think overall she has been underutilized. I've said that for
<v Speaker 1>ten years now, but from what I understand, I'm taking
<v Speaker 1>everything at face value. Shawnross Sapp does not announce any
<v Speaker 1>news of releases until they have confirmed that the talent
<v Speaker 1>have been notified, and Zelena was pissed off because Seawnross
<v Speaker 1>Sap had announced that Zelena Vega had been released, but
<v Speaker 1>Zelena wanted to do it herself. It didn't want Shawnros's
<v Speaker 1>sap to be the first one out there. She wanted
<v Speaker 1>to be well, I've got bad news for Zelena and
<v Speaker 1>this This pains me to side with somebody of just
<v Speaker 1>horrific beliefs. But I'm taking aside from a professional perspective.
<v Speaker 1>How long, that's his job. That's what journalists do. Journalists
<v Speaker 1>report the news, and they have a courtesy policy fightful
<v Speaker 1>of making sure that the talent have been notified before
<v Speaker 1>they go out and with the news, so you were
<v Speaker 1>notified before Sean Ros's sapp was And then look, what
<v Speaker 1>is he supposed to do? Check in with you to
<v Speaker 1>be like, hey, when are you gonna let everyone know?
<v Speaker 1>Because I'm gonna I'm gonna post it. No, Plus, you
<v Speaker 1>want to drive as much traffic to your site and
<v Speaker 1>your profiles as you can. That's a courtesy that they
<v Speaker 1>have to do. I understand that you'd want to be
<v Speaker 1>the one to do it, given it to your career.
<v Speaker 1>But what is he supposed to do with everybody that
<v Speaker 1>has a release from w W they have to what
<v Speaker 1>does they have to individually call or wait for that
<v Speaker 1>person to post on X? No he shouldn't. So I actually,
<v Speaker 1>as much as I love Zelena, I disagree with her
<v Speaker 1>wholeheartedly on this. I understand you wanted to and I
<v Speaker 1>get why you did, but his right to post what
<v Speaker 1>he posted should not be infringed because you want to
<v Speaker 1>be able to do it first. There's there's I mean again,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not saying there's any illegality of what he did.
<v Speaker 1>That doesn't hold any water, but Selena was making a
<v Speaker 1>big stink about it and went viral over it, and
<v Speaker 1>I actually I disagree with her on that professionally, of course.
<v Speaker 1>Other than that, I've been one of her biggest supporters
<v Speaker 1>and cheerleaders for a long long time here, I've said
<v Speaker 1>forever that she would make an amazing women's champion. She's
<v Speaker 1>much better on the mic than people give her credit for.
<v Speaker 1>Also Alis for Black. Her husband let go, which is good.
<v Speaker 1>I say good in the sense that they're not split
<v Speaker 1>where one is on the road and in WWE, the
<v Speaker 1>other one got fired and then there's some bad blood
<v Speaker 1>and no like I if they're gonna if they're gonna go,
<v Speaker 1>I mean, having them both go is probably the amicable
<v Speaker 1>thing to do. Okay, let's get into this week. I
<v Speaker 1>mean we've talked a lot about this. Now, let's talk
<v Speaker 1>a little bit about SmackDown, which again you can get
<v Speaker 1>from Amanda and you can get that ad free at
<v Speaker 1>patreon dot com Slash WWE podcast. So that we had
<v Speaker 1>SmackDown open with shots of Cody Rhodes and Ray Ripley
<v Speaker 1>and Trick Williams with gingerbread man Jacob Fought two comes
<v Speaker 1>out and he talked about how he and Roman, how
<v Speaker 1>he told Roman he wanted him. He said, he told
<v Speaker 1>Roman he doesn't he excuse me. He don't want that title,
<v Speaker 1>but he needs that title. The English gets better. Don't worry,
<v Speaker 1>he said. Roman told him I to ie, you're not ready.
<v Speaker 1>Jacob said the truth is Roman's right. Jacob said he's
<v Speaker 1>always heard you're not ready from friends, family and everybody.
<v Speaker 1>It's not your time. You're not ready, You're not good enough.
<v Speaker 1>He said to keep it one hundred. If Roman thinks
<v Speaker 1>Jacob isn't ready, he better step it up and prove
<v Speaker 1>in the ring to prove it. Jimmy and Jay then
<v Speaker 1>come out and Jimmy said they heard that Jacob wants
<v Speaker 1>it all to take care of fam, to raise the kids,
<v Speaker 1>and Jimmy said, Cody defended his title, but he's slipping.
<v Speaker 1>Jimmy said that it should be his target, and he
<v Speaker 1>said not to go after the OTC and run the
<v Speaker 1>play with the family. The crowd then started channing fatu
<v Speaker 1>and Jimmy said those foos, yes foos, I guess we don't.
<v Speaker 1>We're just too lazy to add the l won't give
<v Speaker 1>him a lifestyle, big money or put the kids in school.
<v Speaker 1>Jay said it's too late, so Jimmy attacking the crowd
<v Speaker 1>was a weird moment here. I don't know whether we're
<v Speaker 1>supposed to cheer or boo the USOS, but then they're
<v Speaker 1>aligned with Roman. Jay was not heelish, but Jimmy's line
<v Speaker 1>against the crowd was yet we're supposed to cheer for
<v Speaker 1>Jacoba to it's kind of weird. So then we had
<v Speaker 1>Jay said, Jacob stepped up and opened his mouth. Jay
<v Speaker 1>said it was time to see if oos can swim
<v Speaker 1>in the deep end, and Jay said to get respect
<v Speaker 1>from Roman is to walk up to him, look him
<v Speaker 1>in the eye, and get ready for war. Solo and
<v Speaker 1>the MFTs then made their entrance. Solo said or Solo
<v Speaker 1>told Jake that the USOS are lying to him, and
<v Speaker 1>Solo said they didn't bring him to w w EE.
<v Speaker 1>Solo did, and he joked that all j would do
<v Speaker 1>is teach Jacob to yeat, which is probably true. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>he joked that, but it's like kind of true. He
<v Speaker 1>might teach him to yeat and throw super kicks. It's
<v Speaker 1>probably the extent of it. But Solo said, if Jacob
<v Speaker 1>wants to be champions, Solo can help. He said that
<v Speaker 1>Jacob is gonna need an army to beat Roman, and
<v Speaker 1>he has that army. Toma Tonga snatched the mic from
<v Speaker 1>Solo good to hear them talk and said they are
<v Speaker 1>wasting their time because Solo is a lost cause. Who
<v Speaker 1>can't beat Roman. Thomas said Jacob can't even beat Solo,
<v Speaker 1>and Jacob caught Toma with a superkick. Okay, Jacob said
<v Speaker 1>to keep it one hundred because that's like one of
<v Speaker 1>the sentences that he is always saying. He's big on
<v Speaker 1>keeping it a hundred, Keep it a hundred, Keep it
<v Speaker 1>a hundred. Very gen zish of him, I guess. But
<v Speaker 1>we then have let's see getting to the first match Julia,
<v Speaker 1>Julia and Tiffany Stratton for the women's United States Championship,
<v Speaker 1>and this match went nine minutes with Timpany Stratton beating
<v Speaker 1>Julia to become the new women's North American Champion. Well,
<v Speaker 1>the United States Champion. They I think that the right
<v Speaker 1>up I have here is wrong, but it's the United
<v Speaker 1>States Championship for the women at the North American Championship.
<v Speaker 1>So good match, and the crowd reacted in a way
<v Speaker 1>that I thought was encouraging for Tiffany, who has been
<v Speaker 1>on a massive downslide. Wasn't a part of WrestleMania. She
<v Speaker 1>has fallen off a cliff. Maybe she's too busy getting
<v Speaker 1>her admiring her boyfriend's tattoos of her or something, I
<v Speaker 1>don't know, or making some get ready video with me
<v Speaker 1>on TikTok, or watching her put on forty six layers
<v Speaker 1>of makeup. I don't know, because I mean, you think
<v Speaker 1>I'm exaggerating, I mean, just go watch her social media.
<v Speaker 1>I'm just observing it again. But we're not supposed to notice.
<v Speaker 1>We're not supposed to notice these things. We're supposed to
<v Speaker 1>just ignore them. We're not allowed. So Tiffany just doing
<v Speaker 1>very tiffy things, I guess. But she wins, and she's
<v Speaker 1>now the United States champion. Big move up from where
<v Speaker 1>she was, which I thought was headed towards almost irrelevancy. Well,
<v Speaker 1>just she was barely on TV, and then when she was,
<v Speaker 1>she wasn't doing much and the crowd was really starting
<v Speaker 1>to just not even react to her. So this is
<v Speaker 1>a good, good thing for Tiffany and her fans to
<v Speaker 1>put her in a position to be women's US champion.
<v Speaker 1>It's really good here. I'm nothing bad to say during
<v Speaker 1>the break or not during the break. Tiffany then after
<v Speaker 1>held up the belt and there was a replay shown
<v Speaker 1>of Keana James of course in disappointment, And what was
<v Speaker 1>interesting was the fireworks going off. Fireworks went off, Pyro
<v Speaker 1>went off, which I thought was only reserved for like big,
<v Speaker 1>big moments at Ples. I'm not complaining, just kind of huh,
<v Speaker 1>just take notice. I don't know the last time that
<v Speaker 1>a non top championship changing hands warranted wwe using the
<v Speaker 1>Pyro on an again, non pl e, non top belt
<v Speaker 1>named the last time that happened. It's a small thing,
<v Speaker 1>but it's kind of worth noting. Is this a thing
<v Speaker 1>moving forward? Every time there's a change in championship from
<v Speaker 1>a heel to a babyface, are we gonna get Pyro?
<v Speaker 1>Not sure. I don't know what the decision was on that.
<v Speaker 1>It's small, but it might be a formula change. We'll see.
<v Speaker 1>So we then have earlier this week, Dan Housen at
<v Speaker 1>Miss's house. He knocked on his door and Mis opened
<v Speaker 1>it and he was gone. Instead, he teleported in the
<v Speaker 1>house and MS asked Dan Housen how he found it.
<v Speaker 1>He said he had star maps, and MS kicked dan
<v Speaker 1>Housen out. Mis went to his backyard and Dan Housen
<v Speaker 1>was in the pool. He tried to tackle him and
<v Speaker 1>he sent himself into the pool when dan Housen dodged
<v Speaker 1>and to be continued graphic aired. I don't mind this.
<v Speaker 1>It has its place comedy if done even average lee
<v Speaker 1>and it's done. I think above average has its place here.
<v Speaker 1>I have no issues with this. So those of you
<v Speaker 1>that think I'm gonna crap all over this, I'm not.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not. I think dan Housen has done more than
<v Speaker 1>I ever thought he could ever do, given what his
<v Speaker 1>debut was for w w A, and it was horrific,
<v Speaker 1>it was embarrassing. But I have come to eat my
<v Speaker 1>words with his character, and I'm glad I do because
<v Speaker 1>that means I was wrong. But I don't celebrate me
<v Speaker 1>being wrong. I'm celebrating me being wrong because that's better
<v Speaker 1>than me being right in this instance. Anyway, don't ask
<v Speaker 1>my wife that question though. So the Women's Champion, bri
<v Speaker 1>bella tag team champion, Bribella and Page come out and
<v Speaker 1>Bree hyped up the crowd, but no one wants to
<v Speaker 1>hear from Brie. They want to hear from Page. So
<v Speaker 1>she said WrestleMania was special and even though she couldn't
<v Speaker 1>compete with her sister. At least she could count on
<v Speaker 1>a person she can call a sister. And she told Paige,
<v Speaker 1>welcome back, and she said, I'm back, and she's talked
<v Speaker 1>about how she lost her voice, but it was one
<v Speaker 1>hell of a week. She said, she's so proud to
<v Speaker 1>be with Brie and they walked out as Women's Tag
<v Speaker 1>team champions. Paige said it was a tough road, but
<v Speaker 1>she's so happy to be home. She said she was
<v Speaker 1>in the room with the best women of the world.
<v Speaker 1>But she wants to remind everyone that's smacked down his
<v Speaker 1>Page's house. And that's when Charlotte and Alexic come out. Well,
<v Speaker 1>first of all, it is good to see Page back.
<v Speaker 1>It is I genuinely mean that she's still got it.
<v Speaker 1>She looks great. She's in a certain in addition to
<v Speaker 1>the women's division, freshens things up but ads star power
<v Speaker 1>at the same time. It's a great combination. At some point,
<v Speaker 1>she'll probably be competing for a women's championship. I don't
<v Speaker 1>know how long she'll be actually in WWE wrestling. I'm
<v Speaker 1>guessing not many many years. So do I think win
<v Speaker 1>a women's championship? Hard to say. I'm talking to like
<v Speaker 1>the WWE or Women's World title. Hard to say, but
<v Speaker 1>the one thing I will say about Page is, I mean,
<v Speaker 1>we all know the video footage that leaked years and
<v Speaker 1>years ago, right with Brad Maddox and Xavier Woods, and
<v Speaker 1>I mean remember that time. But apparently it was so
<v Speaker 1>bad for Paige that she actually thought about ending her
<v Speaker 1>own life and her dad had to essentially convince her
<v Speaker 1>not to. So that has nothing to do with SmackDown,
<v Speaker 1>but it was a news bite that came out this week,
<v Speaker 1>so I wanted to talk about it, and I mean,
<v Speaker 1>that's it's horrible to here understandable why she would feel
<v Speaker 1>that way when her footage was leaked, which was just
<v Speaker 1>just horrible. But it also I mean it's kind of
<v Speaker 1>dual edge sorder Number one, I'm glad she's here. Number two,
<v Speaker 1>it kind of makes you think twice, not just as
<v Speaker 1>a celebrity or somebody in the public eye, just you.
<v Speaker 1>I'm guessing most of you who are listening are just
<v Speaker 1>kind of the average person. I shouldn't say average, I
<v Speaker 1>feel like that's insulting, but you're just a non public
<v Speaker 1>figure that is just got a job and a family
<v Speaker 1>or whatever. It makes you think twice about potentially recording
<v Speaker 1>things like that. Even if you have a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife,
<v Speaker 1>and no, I'm not gonna say partner. Okay. If somebody
<v Speaker 1>that's talking to me says, how are you and your partner?
<v Speaker 1>I would just probably stare at them. I don't know
<v Speaker 1>if I'd come up with a response, I'd have an
<v Speaker 1>uncomfortable few seconds because what I would say next I'd
<v Speaker 1>have to really think about. Not that I'm not saying
<v Speaker 1>I would physically get violent. I'm just saying it would.
<v Speaker 1>I would try not to be insulting back. It's it's
<v Speaker 1>very uh to twenty twenty six to call somebody you're
<v Speaker 1>married to, even your partner. This isn't a law firm,
<v Speaker 1>you know, wife, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend, That's it. That's all
<v Speaker 1>that someone can be if they are intimate with you. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>you can do friends with benefits. I'm talking when you're
<v Speaker 1>in an official status of something, not saying the will
<v Speaker 1>you know I'm hooking up with somebody, I'm saying, no, No,
<v Speaker 1>are you guys official orre you not? Okay? If you are,
<v Speaker 1>here's the only things you can be. The only thing
<v Speaker 1>you could be is either boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, and
<v Speaker 1>you can say, oh, fiance, Okay, fiance, but you're still
<v Speaker 1>not actually married, so you could say it's like boyfriend girlfriend, right,
<v Speaker 1>you get my point. So I don't know what brought
<v Speaker 1>that out, but I'm hearing people say, well, my partner,
<v Speaker 1>What the fuck do you mean your partner? It's such
<v Speaker 1>a sanitized way of saying husband or wife. It's just
<v Speaker 1>I don't know. I hate it all right, and those
<v Speaker 1>of you that are still here, let's continue with wrestling.
<v Speaker 1>Charlotte said it was good to see Page back. Alexa
<v Speaker 1>said it was good too, even though they pinned her.
<v Speaker 1>Alexi said they aren't going to let one WrestleMania moment
<v Speaker 1>get in their way. Charlotte proposed a max between her
<v Speaker 1>and Alexa against the champs, and the crowd channeled yes.
<v Speaker 1>Page said she was down. Charlotte did a WU and
<v Speaker 1>we get the match, and the match went two minutes,
<v Speaker 1>sadly two minutes, with Brie and Page ending in an
<v Speaker 1>apparent note contest because because hit this, we had fatal influence.
<v Speaker 1>Fatal influence fallon Henley Laney Reid comes out and they
<v Speaker 1>and Jacy Jane, Jacy Jane who got massive heat, massive heat,
<v Speaker 1>which is great to see great to see. And if
<v Speaker 1>you're not familiar with the NXT version of them, they
<v Speaker 1>ran rough shot in NXT. They worked very well together.
<v Speaker 1>They our fresh faces young. This is how you build
<v Speaker 1>new stars. This is what we go through every year, folks,
<v Speaker 1>and on top of the releases, you bring in some
<v Speaker 1>new blood, try to build a new star heading towards
<v Speaker 1>next year's WrestleMania. So, I mean this was good. I
<v Speaker 1>mean I wouldn't say it's good in the sense that
<v Speaker 1>the match was good. The match is kind of the
<v Speaker 1>beside the point. This was just a platform and setting
<v Speaker 1>the table for the introduction of this group. That was
<v Speaker 1>all the purpose of this match was for, which pissed
<v Speaker 1>off the crowd. So, okay, a Royce Keysman yet aired,
<v Speaker 1>which was nice to see. And then Cody Rhodes. Cody
<v Speaker 1>Rhodes comes out, got that black eye, whoof and he
<v Speaker 1>said the decision was made to be ready and available.
<v Speaker 1>That's what champions do. And he said he wanted to
<v Speaker 1>send a message at WrestleMania, and he wanted to send
<v Speaker 1>a message to the man who's not here tonight, Randy Orton.
<v Speaker 1>He talked about how Randy started him in this sport.
<v Speaker 1>He said, Randy gave him his bad shot, a punt
<v Speaker 1>to the head, and he's still standing. He said he
<v Speaker 1>wanted to send a message to sarcastic and condescending Sammy
<v Speaker 1>Zin who called him a golden boy, and Cody said
<v Speaker 1>he is head to toe in gold. He said, his
<v Speaker 1>friend's family and fans will all be gold, and that's
<v Speaker 1>kind of weird. He said. The most important message he
<v Speaker 1>wanted to send is to outside forces who keep trying
<v Speaker 1>to interject their plans. He said, they're zero to three
<v Speaker 1>and they should sit back and count their money and
<v Speaker 1>mind their own damn business. That's a great line. And
<v Speaker 1>I have to say, for all the shit I give
<v Speaker 1>Cody and he still is not my kind of babyface,
<v Speaker 1>all these years later, I just don't buy it. I
<v Speaker 1>don't I don't need to go through it. But my
<v Speaker 1>point is he did a nice job here and a
<v Speaker 1>nice subtle attack back at those in TKO who made
<v Speaker 1>the horrible decision to put Pat McAfee in this. We
<v Speaker 1>all know that I won't beat that to death, and
<v Speaker 1>so it's it's interesting. It does make you wonder what
<v Speaker 1>the payoff's going to be if if there is one here,
<v Speaker 1>maybe there's not maybe this is just the bow on
<v Speaker 1>the gift of WrestleMania and there isn't going to be
<v Speaker 1>a payoff. And after all the mention of TKO, the
<v Speaker 1>attack of TKO by Punk on TKO. By the way,
<v Speaker 1>he also said he was going to give Pat McAfee
<v Speaker 1>a re seat. He never did notice that not a
<v Speaker 1>huge deal, but we had to see him Punk attack
<v Speaker 1>TKO for the ticket prices. Punk attacked the Rock on
<v Speaker 1>the mic. We had Cody Rhoades then talk about TKO
<v Speaker 1>several times in the lead up to WrestleMania. Now last
<v Speaker 1>night at SmackDown talking about those the powers that be,
<v Speaker 1>we all know who he's referring to, Er Emmanuel, board
<v Speaker 1>of directors, Yes, the Rock. He's talking to all of
<v Speaker 1>them who made the decision to bring Pat in and
<v Speaker 1>also to bring The Rock in to face Roman Reigns,
<v Speaker 1>and the whole said hashtag that the fans no, fuck you,
<v Speaker 1>we're not we don't want the Rock in Roman, we
<v Speaker 1>want Cody and Roman and they got their wish. So
<v Speaker 1>there is certainly some precedent here being set for and
<v Speaker 1>it may be a pretext for having The Rock come back,
<v Speaker 1>or maybe you know what would be awesome is if
<v Speaker 1>Airy Emmanuel came out. I think Ari Emmanuel would be
<v Speaker 1>a perfect heel because it's a real life heel to
<v Speaker 1>the fans. Why not. It'd be awesome a heel authority
<v Speaker 1>figure that is truly an authority figure, not just to
<v Speaker 1>play one, and people know that a lot of the
<v Speaker 1>heat is on him. I think a lot of the
<v Speaker 1>heat's back off a triple H and on Air em
<v Speaker 1>Manuel in company. So I think it would be a
<v Speaker 1>great payoff if they do that. But this all this
<v Speaker 1>also could be a whole bunch of nothing. There could
<v Speaker 1>be nothing in this burger. It could just be a
<v Speaker 1>bunch of talk about TKO to make the promos sound
<v Speaker 1>good and real and break forth Wall and all the rest,
<v Speaker 1>and just not leading to anything. It's not leading to
<v Speaker 1>the rock. It's not leading to anybody from the board
<v Speaker 1>coming down, or Air Emanuel or Mark Shapiro or Vince
<v Speaker 1>McMahon coming back. To be a bit of a disappointment.
<v Speaker 1>But it's also, I think equally possible that this is
<v Speaker 1>leading to a sign that you look up and says
<v Speaker 1>dead end on it. Okay. The next match then, was
<v Speaker 1>Damian Priest and Our Truth taking on the MFTs for
<v Speaker 1>the WWE Tag Team Championships. The match win eight minutes
<v Speaker 1>and fifteen seconds, with Damian Priest and Our Truth retaining
<v Speaker 1>the tag titles. The finish was Truth dodging Tama to
<v Speaker 1>send his head into the ring post Priest got a
<v Speaker 1>blind tag in, and then Priest and Truth hit JC
<v Speaker 1>with their flat Liner flapjack combo for the victory. So hey,
<v Speaker 1>our Truth is still competing. That's good. He's hell He's
<v Speaker 1>one half of the Tag Team champions. I miss his
<v Speaker 1>hair a lot. I really miss Our Truth's hair. He
<v Speaker 1>aged seventeen years in the blink of an eye without hair.
<v Speaker 1>I miss it, so Testitur then sent back the show
<v Speaker 1>to Dan Housen and the Mizzes skit at Missus House
<v Speaker 1>and Dan Housen was playing Missus golf simulator and Dan
<v Speaker 1>Housen hit miss in the balls off the back swing
<v Speaker 1>and Dan Hausen stole his slammy before leaving, and then
<v Speaker 1>he ran into Maurice, who told Dan you and mis
<v Speaker 1>tried to throw a bowl of chocolate powder at Dan Housen.
<v Speaker 1>He dodged and accidentally covered his wife in chocolate. It's
<v Speaker 1>just a bunch of silliness, a bunch of just slapstick comedy.
<v Speaker 1>It's fine. It does remind me a little bit of
<v Speaker 1>our truth and the the uh what is it? The
<v Speaker 1>twenty four to seven title? That nonsense. So this won't
<v Speaker 1>last long. These things never have a long shelf life,
<v Speaker 1>so enjoy them while they're still here, all right. We
<v Speaker 1>then have the Trick Williams come out with Little YACHTI
<v Speaker 1>and the gingerbread Man. Trick asked with the crowd, asked
<v Speaker 1>the crowd what Trick was at Mania. I don't understand
<v Speaker 1>this anyway. The crowd just ended up channing whooped that.
<v Speaker 1>Trick and Little YACHTI talked about how other celebrities left,
<v Speaker 1>but he's here to stay. Trick and Yachty said they
<v Speaker 1>were like Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones, Mike Tyson and
<v Speaker 1>Don King, Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson. Yachty said they
<v Speaker 1>can't hand out handouts, so no more open challenges, and
<v Speaker 1>Trick said, if you want to find a handout, find
<v Speaker 1>a clinic, and said, if you want to find a
<v Speaker 1>US champion, then you find Trick Williams. He's slick on
<v Speaker 1>the mic. He is slick, no doubt. He then played
<v Speaker 1>the presumably and the segment, but the ginger bread Man
<v Speaker 1>betrayed them, hit him with a giant candy cane, and
<v Speaker 1>lo and behold who was it behind in that costume?
<v Speaker 1>Well it was Sammy z Ay. The crowd ate it
<v Speaker 1>up and bowed the hell out of Sammy, who seemed
<v Speaker 1>kind of surprised that he was being booed, which is
<v Speaker 1>just fun. The more he tries to play the good
<v Speaker 1>guy and try to reason with the people why they
<v Speaker 1>shouldn't cheer, should shouldn't boo him, the more he's gonna
<v Speaker 1>get booed. This is a fun down trend for Sammy.
<v Speaker 1>This is just a fun i think, revitalization of his
<v Speaker 1>character because we know what the babyface Sammy is been.
<v Speaker 1>They're done that one hundred times. But what does they
<v Speaker 1>heal Sammy Zain look like in twenty twenty six. It's
<v Speaker 1>an interesting question. We're getting to see it now. Sammy's
<v Speaker 1>talented on the mic, talented in the ring. Now we
<v Speaker 1>get to see a side of him we haven't seen
<v Speaker 1>in what four years maybe more so we'll see how
<v Speaker 1>long this gingerbread thing lasts. But we then get Dan
<v Speaker 1>Housen in the midde is going one on one match
<v Speaker 1>went one minutes in forty two set one minutes, one
<v Speaker 1>minute in forty two seconds, with dan Housen beating the
<v Speaker 1>Mis via pinfall because Dan Housen did, the undertaker sit
<v Speaker 1>up and curse the Mizz, but that's summoned to a
<v Speaker 1>smoke pyro cannon and dan Housen then rolls up the
<v Speaker 1>Miz for the victory. Another puff of smoke went off
<v Speaker 1>and dan Housen ran away, and that caused Miz and
<v Speaker 1>uh Kate Wilson to run into each other. Does good?
<v Speaker 1>I mean, hey, it's just silly nonsense, silly nonsense. That
<v Speaker 1>is just It's fine. You're not gonna specifically watch SmackDown
<v Speaker 1>for this, but it has its place and as long
<v Speaker 1>as they're executing well and it's well written, I'm fine
<v Speaker 1>with it. So okay. We then had a Blake Monroe
<v Speaker 1>vignette air so coming soon. Women's Champion Ria Ripley then
<v Speaker 1>makes her way out and Rhea talked about how mommy
<v Speaker 1>was chamingapion again. She said at Mania, Jade proved that
<v Speaker 1>she can go and said it's her time to prove
<v Speaker 1>that the Women's champion is a fighting See look at this,
<v Speaker 1>look at this shit. There is something I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>Does WWE or do the executives threaten their family if
<v Speaker 1>they don't say this line When a babyface wins a championship,
<v Speaker 1>she has to Why do we need the statement? Why
<v Speaker 1>do we need the obvious? Why do we need to
<v Speaker 1>hear that that per said person said babyface man or
<v Speaker 1>woman is going to be a fighting champion? Yeah? Why
<v Speaker 1>do we need to hear that? We know? This is
<v Speaker 1>your philosophy, which I think is extremely flawed. I think
<v Speaker 1>it is flawed down to its core that you have
<v Speaker 1>to not only tell people all the time that they're
<v Speaker 1>a fighting champion, because again, it's insanely flawed. That logic is.
<v Speaker 1>I know that on its surface, we're not supposed to
<v Speaker 1>look past the surface, but I do, and I have
<v Speaker 1>more brain cells than seemingly the people that push this narrative,
<v Speaker 1>and that is being a fighting champion doesn't make you smarter,
<v Speaker 1>and it also doesn't value the championship anymore. In fact,
<v Speaker 1>I would argue it takes value away from the championship
<v Speaker 1>that you have. I know that the premise is supposed
<v Speaker 1>to be while they don't want to look like a coward,
<v Speaker 1>but here's what they do in lieu of that. There's
<v Speaker 1>also it's not one or the other. You don't need
<v Speaker 1>to take on all comers and put the belt on
<v Speaker 1>the line or someone will think you're a coward. It's
<v Speaker 1>not one or the other. See, you cannot put your
<v Speaker 1>belt on the line and not just say yes to
<v Speaker 1>any bad guy or girl or woman that comes to
<v Speaker 1>your doorstep and asks for a title match, and also
<v Speaker 1>not look like a coward. See you can have both.
<v Speaker 1>You can turn down challenges for your belt and also
<v Speaker 1>not look like a coward. Here you want an easy solution,
<v Speaker 1>b What are you talking about? Really? How Uh, here's
<v Speaker 1>an easy one. Don't put your belt on the line,
<v Speaker 1>but still offer to fight them, or just talk about
<v Speaker 1>what that belt means to you and that they have
<v Speaker 1>to earn it. Talk about how that they had to
<v Speaker 1>earn it, and scratch and claw like you did, two
<v Speaker 1>simple solutions right off the bat. But it just takes
<v Speaker 1>the steam out of it for me, and it it
<v Speaker 1>it makes it it. I don't know what it does
<v Speaker 1>for me. I don't know. I can't explain why this
<v Speaker 1>bothers me so much. Maybe because we hear it every time.
<v Speaker 1>A women's champion is a fighting champion, just like when
<v Speaker 1>Drew won it and Punk won it. Who reminds us
<v Speaker 1>every week he's a fighting champion And when Dolph Ziggler
<v Speaker 1>was actually world champion, he did it. I mean, go
<v Speaker 1>down the list. It's exhausting, and it just is. It's
<v Speaker 1>one of those things that is it's small, but it's
<v Speaker 1>representative of something larger that they just don't understand. You
<v Speaker 1>don't being a coward doesn't mean you don't put your
<v Speaker 1>belt on the line. Okay, So Fatal Influence comes out
<v Speaker 1>and Ja c Jane is again is getting booed, and
<v Speaker 1>the crowd overwhelmed jac with booze, and Jace barked back
<v Speaker 1>and she couldn't get any words out because the crowd
<v Speaker 1>kept boomer which was pretty impressive. And Jasey said the
<v Speaker 1>crowd needs to give Fatal Influence credit for taking out
<v Speaker 1>all their precious little legends, and Rihea said she saw
<v Speaker 1>what they did and taking out as many legends is impressive,
<v Speaker 1>and Riea said she'll give jac a lesson and stop
<v Speaker 1>while you're ahead, and they ended up throwing hands and
<v Speaker 1>Nick all this come out and said he was thinking
<v Speaker 1>of a punishment for Fatal Influence and it ended up
<v Speaker 1>being Ria Ripley versus j C Jane for the Women's
<v Speaker 1>not I'm sorry, it's in a non title match. See
<v Speaker 1>See you cannot be a coward at the same time,
<v Speaker 1>you can protect the inherent value of the championship. See
<v Speaker 1>how easy that is. Non title matches exist. So the
<v Speaker 1>match went almost eleven minutes, with Ria Ripley beating jac
<v Speaker 1>Jane by d Q. The finish was Ria hitting jac
<v Speaker 1>with a razor's edge. JC kicked out at two and
<v Speaker 1>then Ria caught JC with a headbutt. She went for
<v Speaker 1>riptide but then hit Henley hit Rio with a chop
<v Speaker 1>block for the DQ, and we then had then beat
<v Speaker 1>down Rhea and that was it, so good stuff. I
<v Speaker 1>enjoyed this. I mean, you got a new group established
<v Speaker 1>off the bat with heat that I'm sure they didn't
<v Speaker 1>expect to that level, so that's good for them. So
<v Speaker 1>we then have Jacob ou two. He's kind of gearing
<v Speaker 1>up backstage. Jimmy said they'll have Jacob's back to count
<v Speaker 1>of the MFTs and just getting ready for the match.
<v Speaker 1>A brock Loaveser career video highlight then aired and Ricky
<v Speaker 1>Saints was announced as an next SmackDown Star and he's
<v Speaker 1>going to debut next week, so Ricky Saints is on
<v Speaker 1>his way. And in the main event, Jacob two versus
<v Speaker 1>Solo Sokoa that went eleven minutes with jacobatu beating him
<v Speaker 1>as he should. I mean, he's gonna be facing Roman
<v Speaker 1>Reigns at Backlash in just a couple of weeks. You
<v Speaker 1>have to make him look like a monster. You have
<v Speaker 1>to make him look like a threat, even though we
<v Speaker 1>all know, you know, I know, wwe creative knows that,
<v Speaker 1>we know that they know that we know that it's
<v Speaker 1>not gonna change hands, but they at least have to
<v Speaker 1>make him look like play the part, will play along,
<v Speaker 1>but we don't actually believe that there's any shot in
<v Speaker 1>shit that Roman Reigns is going to drop the belt
<v Speaker 1>at Backlash. So fine, but but again, you have to
<v Speaker 1>follow this formula. I'm not saying they shouldn't do. You
<v Speaker 1>have to look have to have Jacoba to make him
<v Speaker 1>look like a beast, and they did. He beats Solo,
<v Speaker 1>who's just on a horrible losing his streak. MFTs get
<v Speaker 1>beat down. I mean it was just a one on
<v Speaker 1>three beat down, That's what it was, all right, So
<v Speaker 1>I'll end the splash of the renounce stable Jacob hit
<v Speaker 1>Loo with a nouso splash that looked like he just
<v Speaker 1>he looked like he was dead, just falling on on loa.
<v Speaker 1>It was pretty funny. So there you go, there you go,
<v Speaker 1>There you go, There you go. Jacoba too getting beat down.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry the MFT is getting beat down, having them
<v Speaker 1>be used as pawns essentially to help build up Jacob
<v Speaker 1>fa two. It's the cycle of life, my friends. It's
<v Speaker 1>a cycle of building a new star. But I don't
<v Speaker 1>believe that Jacob Fatou. I mean, this goes right back
<v Speaker 1>to his promo, but I guess I'll just feed off
<v Speaker 1>his promo. He isn't ready to be world champion or
<v Speaker 1>WWE champion. He is not yet there. We're in the
<v Speaker 1>star building process. I actually wouldn't have pushed him as
<v Speaker 1>hard as they did, as far as they did, but
<v Speaker 1>they have, and I just don't think he's ready from
<v Speaker 1>a mic perspective, from a presence perspective, he still doesn't
<v Speaker 1>feel like a huge star yet. They're doing a decent
<v Speaker 1>job moving him forward. But I think after this Roman loss,
<v Speaker 1>coming up at Backlash or he could win. But if
<v Speaker 1>fits spy dek with the title won't change change either way.
<v Speaker 1>Title's not going to Jacob. I think he'll take a
<v Speaker 1>step back. I firmly believe he should take a step
<v Speaker 1>back after this Roman loss coming up in just a
<v Speaker 1>couple of weeks at Backlash. Have him cool off, simmer
<v Speaker 1>behind the scenes, be dominant behind the scenes, US title picture,
<v Speaker 1>whatever interconmental title picture doesn't matter. Live there, Live there.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe have a program with Lle Knight or something who's
<v Speaker 1>also kind of in the sane position where he's a
<v Speaker 1>part of the main events but never really be considered
<v Speaker 1>the winner for the main event. He's kind of that guy, sadly,
<v Speaker 1>but Jacob Fatu he's a star, but he's not a
<v Speaker 1>made man yet, So we'll see what they do. I
<v Speaker 1>think that this is an interesting time to be a
<v Speaker 1>wrestling fan. I mean, we have a lot of new
<v Speaker 1>blood coming in. It's the time of the year that
<v Speaker 1>all the wrestling fans who only come in for WrestleMania
<v Speaker 1>are long gone and they wouldn't want to watch the
<v Speaker 1>product anyway. Now they look at the product. Imagine taking
<v Speaker 1>somebody who watched WrestleMania for only the big stars that
<v Speaker 1>come in every year for that and you show them
<v Speaker 1>like this episode of SmackDown. They would have looked at
<v Speaker 1>that and been like, I kind of remember this guy
<v Speaker 1>from Wrestle Wait who are these people?
<v Speaker 2>Wait?
<v Speaker 1>Wait what I don't get give me a lot of that.
<v Speaker 1>Like we are in the part of the year that
<v Speaker 1>is the star building ground levels. You know, beginnings for
<v Speaker 1>stars are going to be built throughout the year. And yes,
<v Speaker 1>if you've been following obviously before the main event or
<v Speaker 1>before the main roster debuts in NXT or Evolve or
<v Speaker 1>TNA or elsewhere at the a AW, then yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>mean you you even have more of a foundation for
<v Speaker 1>those people coming in, which is great, Which is why
<v Speaker 1>I always encourage people to watch things other than WWE.
<v Speaker 1>I do. I shouldn't say I always do it, but
<v Speaker 1>when I remind remember to, I will do that, and
<v Speaker 1>I'm doing it right now. I'm not one of those guys.
<v Speaker 1>Is WWE or nothing? No why? And also the people
<v Speaker 1>that are in the company, the wrestlers, do you think
<v Speaker 1>that they are loyal to WWE if they got a bigger,
<v Speaker 1>better offer from AW money wise, money talks a lot,
<v Speaker 1>my friends, they got it. What you gotta do. And
<v Speaker 1>I'm not one of these fans that just says, you
<v Speaker 1>know WWE or nothing. No, I think again, WWE has
<v Speaker 1>its place. They are still the biggest wrestling company in
<v Speaker 1>the world. They are despite what anybody thinks about AW
<v Speaker 1>they just are definitionally by every metric, they are the
<v Speaker 1>biggest wrestling company in the world. But there's something special
<v Speaker 1>about watching a star grind his or her teeth in
<v Speaker 1>other promotions, even the indies, and just think about one
<v Speaker 1>day when they'll debut on the roster. And yes, WWE
<v Speaker 1>is the ultimate goal for most people. Because they have
<v Speaker 1>the biggest footprint in wrestling. They can help make you
<v Speaker 1>a star much quicker than they even Aewken. They have
<v Speaker 1>more digital media partners, as we all know. They love
<v Speaker 1>to tout about that. They're on Netflix, they have an
<v Speaker 1>ESPN deal. Yeah, they're loaded with cash. They've got massive
<v Speaker 1>amounts of revenue coming in the Saudi deal that's going
<v Speaker 1>at least through another couple of years and then will
<v Speaker 1>sadly be probably re uped. We got Night of Champions
<v Speaker 1>I think coming up in June. I think it is
<v Speaker 1>I think June for Night of Champions and so that
<v Speaker 1>that'll be fun to go to Saudi again. I I
<v Speaker 1>won't get used to it. I just won't. And I
<v Speaker 1>will say with all the conflict going on, I would
<v Speaker 1>be very nervous to go over there. I know you're
<v Speaker 1>not landing in Iran, but like it's still they're still
<v Speaker 1>involved indirectly in with what's going on, and if you
<v Speaker 1>read some of the news, it can be kind of scary.
<v Speaker 1>But we'll see if those foreign conflicts actually interfere with
<v Speaker 1>pro wrestling. If it does, I think they'll maybe rethink
<v Speaker 1>their decision to sign with Saudi. But I will say
<v Speaker 1>Saudi has got a lot of money that can solve
<v Speaker 1>a lot of potential problems at wwecs. It can make
<v Speaker 1>a lot of things, it can sanitize a lot of stuff,
<v Speaker 1>and we'll see if WWE can look past all the
<v Speaker 1>conflicts and maybe future conflicts with overseas and wars and
<v Speaker 1>all that stuff. But yeah, so there is my week
<v Speaker 1>in review a day early. If you want to get
<v Speaker 1>your email on the show, you can do that mail
<v Speaker 1>bag at WWE podcast dot com. That's mailbag at WWE
<v Speaker 1>podcast dot com. Follow me on X where I post
<v Speaker 1>stuff a lot every day. I'm much more active on
<v Speaker 1>X than I ever used to be, and subscribe on Patreon.
<v Speaker 1>If you want to go ad free and see our
<v Speaker 1>videos that we post multiple times a week, go to
<v Speaker 1>Patreon dot com slash WWE podcast. That's it for me, everybody.
<v Speaker 1>Hope you have a great night, morning, afternoon, evening and
<v Speaker 1>we will talk in a day or two with the
<v Speaker 1>Monday Night Reel review.
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