Mailbag Episode #186: Listener Reactions to King & Queen of the Ring, Looking Ahead to Clash at the Castle

This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the WWE podcast show,
the one that everybody wants me tell you for sixteen so your ass is mind
we can acknowledge me. Hey, guys, welcome to the mailbag on the
ww podcast. Let's get into those of you who send us emails, and
we might have a voicemailer two, although that's pretty minimal this week, and
those of you who are patrons, of course get the priority placement in the
show. I don't think we have a ton of content this week. I
think we might rock you through this quicker than we normally do. So let's
start though with patrons, and let's talk with somebody we haven't spoken with in
a while, and that's Sharon from Israel. He says, how how are
you all? Hail King Gunther. I knew that he would win. He's
the best wrestler in the world. He's so great that he's not wearing his
goofy crown and acts like a fake king. I would agree both. Really,
both of the winners for the men and women, Naya and Gunther are
not doing your typical sudden transformation to dress up. I appreciate that they're carrying
them. They may have worn them once or twice, and Naya may wear
it a little bit more than Gunther does. But it's not your typical kind
of just meaningless, goofy victory. So I like that as well. I
am telling you this year, the clothes of the women in the King and
Queen of the Ring was outrageous. Rabbi Becky, Power Rangers, Jade and
l A Knight and Orton in underwear. Come visit, Saudi girls, come
with the suitcase. Boys don't need one. Yeah, I mean I went
over this too. And hey, the people in Saudi Arabia, nothing against
them, you know, they seem like nice people. It's the the government.
Those that have the power in the Saudi Arabian government seem to be obviously
the ones driving what is required and what's not. So it's not again,
not a slight against the people of Saudi more of just the fact that we're
supposed to be celebrating this country and pretending that it's some kind of vacation destination.
And there may be some beautiful spots, I'm sure there are, I
saw them. But the fact that we're supposed to just celebrate this country as
some kind of emerging leader in women's you know, women's progress, or some
kind of leader in the culture. Again, it's some kind of destination that.
No, it's not. How many people do you know talking to everybody
that are going on vacation and saying, you know, you're asking, hey,
where are you going, and you're like, oh, man, I
can't wait, I'm going on my vacation in Saudi Arabia. The answer is
no one. Nobody is saying that. No one. They're trying to make
it that and WWE is being used by the Saudi government to push their propaganda
as trying to reframe how people view Saudi Arabia. People know, they know
how what people think about Saudi and so they're using WWE as a platform to
try to reshape that how people view it by showing only the best of the
best, the destinations, how great it is, the you know, the
stadiums they have, the buildings, the architecture, the beach, the sun,
the palm trees. It's propaganda, that's all it is. Okay,
last thing, did you see an NXT that Jordan Grace or I think it's
Jordonna Grace from TNA will Face Rock Samperez, Yes, I did. I
did see that. I saw the Rock's daughter come out and announce that.
I actually did catch that, believe it or not. For the very little
NX, I do catch WTF Finally, acrossover. What do you think we
can see in the future, maybe in aj styles return see you later,
start working on pronouncing the right Scottish English. It's glass Cow or Glasgow with
z u rs glass go or whatever. And I know that. Look,
there's a lot of English speaking countries. It's not to say that they don't
speak English there like a lot of other countries. But there's different variations of
English all over the world. Even when you go from just New York State
down to Florida, right or even New York to Virginia. They have different
ways of pronouncing things, different accents. So it's not as if it's a
totally different language. It's a variation of the language that I am not familiar
with. Why because I live here, I don't live there, all right,
And I'm not obligated to say it correctly. Just as the things we
say in New York, I wouldn't expect people in Scotland or anywhere to pronounce
it the same way we do, and it is what it is, you
know, all right for own good to hear from you. Hope you enjoy
the next couple weeks leading into Clash of the Castle. It's gonna be a
big one and it's a quick turnaround, quick turnaround, I mean only a
couple weeks. Two weeks from tomorrow is already our next pl E all right,
let's go to our next patron and DJ Cuzmo says, hey awnw Podcast
World. DJ back at it again on the Mailbag show. Another pl is
coming gone, Yet another pl is in two weeks Clash at the Castle.
Having to watch these international pls at a different time rather than watching it live
like everyone else is, putting my phone on do not disturb to avoid all
spoilers. It's just part of the new routine that I'm still getting used to.
No offense to the international listeners of this podcast. Yeah, it is
a pain in the flatout pain in the ass. It is a flat out
pain in the ass because if you pick up your phone at all, if
you look at Facebook, you look at Instagram, you're on TikTok, you
go to X, You're gonna inevitably run into spoilers. And it messes up
your whole pay per view because most of us in the United States aren't gonna
be able to watch it live. We've got stuff going on during the day,
you know, and it's a pain in the ass. It is just
it is. However, we're going to get zero sympathy, zero from anyone
that is overseas that as a wrestling fan, because for decades they have had
to deal deal with this, while only in the last several months to year
a year or two, we've in the United States had to deal with this
for only part of the year. So I would imagine that those in the
UK, and we have some listeners in South America, South Africa, Germany,
France, Scotland, those of you out there, you're gonna say,
hey, welcome to the party. You get zero sympathy here. Anyway,
in regards to the controversial finish of Orton and Gunther, do you think Creative
will revisit that weird ending by having some sort of rematch because Triple H mentioned
in a backstage jenerview with Byron and that he is okay with the ref's decision
to credit gun through the victory, and at some point we want to have
a matchup of gun Through and Orton in the future. My only take on
this is why book a finish like that. Couldn't creative just book this as
a clean finish since both guys are on different brands and the loss doesn't hurt
Orton since he's a future Hall of Famer, just saying That's what I was
mentioning as well that I have continued to pound this point home is if this
finish was by design, then it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Why there's no shame in losing to gun Through. Even if you're Randy Orton,
you're trying to build Gunther Orton is he's bulletproof at this point, he
will lose absolutely nothing and there's only something to gain if it's a clean finish.
Instead they were if it's by design, creative was talked into triple h
was making sure that also Orton is protected here. Why why do I need
to protect Orton? There's no need to. I love Randy Orton, one
of the greatest of all time, but he has he could do. There
is nothing left that he could do to hurt his career, and losing to
Gunther and a King of the Ring, you think it's gonna be somehow damaging
to his his resume. Yeah, it made no sense to me. It
does taint Gunther's victory a little bit. I don't care what Triple H says.
I don't care what the justification is. If it was by design and
not by accident, then this is a It's just a bad creative decision.
Not that not a bad creative decision have Gunner win, but a bad creative
decision to have the well, have the finish be one that you could protect
both stars when there's no need. I would agree. Overall, it was
an okay p l e. It seems like Becky will be off TV for
a long while, which is okay because she got a daughter. She's got
a daughter and there really isn't left for anything for her to do in WWE.
I'm not a Live fan like most people, but this Living Dom and
Judgment Day story is really intriguing to me. Let's see where a creative takes
this as we rate the return of Rhea Ripley, DJ Cosmas signing off,
have a great weekend. See all the Discord chat for Friday Night SmackDown this.
Let me let me take this in reverse. Ria Ripley and Live.
The moment Reea Ripley returns, the roof is going to blow off the place.
She is poised to have one of the biggest Babyfaces babyface runs in the
history of the women's division, maybe even bigger than Becky's was back in twenty
eighteen when they WrestleMania thirty five and all that. Right, So that is
there's a setup, a big setup here. Live is doing an excellent job.
I love what they've done with her. Dom is playing his part well.
And when Rhea comes back and Live has con really done everything she can
in her power to piss off Fore Ripley taking her championship, now taking her
man her revenge tours complete all that, Ria Ripley's going to be on a
tear, chasing Live and chasing her for that championship and out for blood.
I mean, she says she's coming back for blood. Remember, I don't
think initially Riea is going to win the belt. This could be a long
term story arc to have Riea regain her belt. I don't know if they're
going to give it back to her right away, even though she lost it
because she had to relinquish it. But it's gonna be a fun story.
I would agree it's intriguing as far as Becky Lynch goes. Yeah, it
seems like she is taking a extended leave. I hope that's true. I
hope it's not some kind of red herring. That's yeah, we'll put that
out in the reports. But she'll be back in a month. No,
Becky needs I mean, honestly, I mean even to say this, I
don't mean it as a slight to Becky, but if this is actually her
retirement and she goes off into the sunset and she's done with her wrestling career,
I think she has done everything she can do. I agree, there's
nothing left for her to do. It feels like she's a complete career does
I mean, it just does right. She's done everything. She's faced everyone,
She's won every championship there is to win. She's main invented WrestleMania,
for God's sakes. So when you look at her, she can't sit back
and go, oh, well, I can't wait till I get to do
this or that. She's done everything. I mean really, so to me,
if she retired, I would say, you know, I would,
I'd give her her flowers and I'd say, listen, a job well done,
a career worth worth gloating over, a career that is respectable, is
one of the best of all time, and there's nothing to be ashamed of.
It just feels that that's I think what it is is her character has
felt stale on top of the fact that there's nothing that you're not looking at
Becky and saying, oh, man, wouldn't that make when is she going
to be able to do this or win? That there's nothing left. She's
also done the heel thing too, which didn't work out particularly well, and
then she went back to the same character that she was at for you know,
four years, and it's been bland, and I think that maybe that's
what it is, Maybe that it's just she's done at all. Now.
That's not to say that she can't come back and find a way to be
more interesting. Maybe a darker character, something that I'm not thinking of that
would intrigue me. But as it stands right now, if she retired,
I would be like, job well done, job well done, hall of
famer. You know, it feels like she's just complete now. Again,
I don't know when she's coming back. Maybe she's eyeing WrestleMania forty one.
Towards the Rumble, I would imagine if she's saying extended, that could mean
six months or more. That's how I would read into that, And she
could be a surprise return at the Royal Rumble. That's maybe what they're eyeing
as she gets closer to WrestleMania forty one. Or maybe she just calls it
a career and she just decides to be a mother. Nothing more important than
that in my mind, But I'm triggering, pissing off all the feminists now
right, goes, what do you mean there's nothing more important to me?
And mother? Tell me there's when you're raising a human being, what could
be possibly more important than that? Seriously, just as the father, you
know. But if that's what she wants to do, more power to her.
If she decides this mother life is something she wants to continue forever.
Good. Great, But I would imagine she's gonna have the itch to come
back, and how would I Royal Rumble? Thank you DJ. Let's go
to bad Fish another patron and he says, Hey, Matt, I just
heard the King of the Ring review and I couldn't agree more about Cody.
How do people cheer this guy. The only reason I watched the main event
was for Logan Paul. His character is puke worthy. Hell Damien Priests more
like a champion than Cody. At least Priest doesn't cry in the ring and
try to be everyone's friend. I wonder how long it's going to take for
fans to realize that the undertaker on John Cena can't be at every title defense
and making it interesting. One last thing, why is Logan Paul using the
brass knucks on Cody? So frowned upon? But when Cody was facing Brock
with his titanium arm brace or whatever that was, he could use it and
it was a heroic move to try and beat the beast Cody. Fans need
to get their stuff together. Okay, well, actually, let me crazily
come to the defense of Cody. When it comes to the analogy about Cody
using the titanium arm brakes when he faced Brock Lesner. The difference with that
was he had to wear that because Brock broke his arm. The brass knucks
are an optional accessory, you know, like Cody in order to compete has
to keep that on as like a metaphor medical reasons that was also, by
the way, caused by brock Lesner, who quote unquote broke his arm.
The brass nucks again, are just a it's extracurricular activity that's not needed to
try to win a match. So that's the difference. But that's the only
time you'll hear me defend Cody on that front. But you're right about Damian
Priest. I relate more to Damian Priest, and I feel like he acts
more like a champion that I can get behind than Cody Rhoades I act.
But here's the thing. I don't think we're gonna see Damian Priest champion much
longer. I think his title reigns coming to a close, probably in two
weeks. He probably is going to be a transitional champion. If they don't,
I'll be okay with it. But also I don't know if they can
really lose here. Right, Like Drew winning is a great moment. He
finally gets his moment, but not only gets his moment in front of fans,
gets his moment in front of fans, that is that that's at home
for him. You cannot design a better time for him to win. So
I would still I would still advocate for Drew to win, because I'm very
intrigued by what a what a h Drew McIntyre heel run looks like. On
top of the fact, Punk's going to come back shortly thereafter and challenge him,
and punkin Drew will be fighting one another for the title. But Damien,
if he won, I wouldn't hate that either. Damian Priest has felt
like a champion more than I thought he would, and he acts more like
a He acts more like a man, even more importantly than a champion.
He acts more like a man that's a relatable guy. And how many people
you know that walk around and suits by choice, by choice, you know,
dye their hair and whiten their teeth and get manicures and pedicures as a
man. He says, sorry, that exactly something that I can relate with.
And deep down, you guys know that I'm right. But somehow you're
all enthralled by his woes and his fireworks and his quick wit on the mic,
and he's admittedly again very good in the ring. Was he still the
right guy to beat Roman? Yes? I still believe he was despite all
my feelings, aside all my negative feelings about his feminine character aside, I
still believe he's the right guy to win, so I don't disagree with that.
It's just cheering this guy from being a man. Seeing a man act
like this, it's it is, it's it's it's nauseating. So yeah,
I don't think i've made that clear before, right, I think be the
first time he guys have heard me say that. Thanks buddy, ah Dino.
Let's get to it from Scotland. He says. If you thought backlash
France crowd was annoying, just wait till they come to Glasgow. There's a
group on Facebook where there's thousands of people who will be in attendance, and
they all realize how rowdy the French crowd was, and they're all planning to
up their game. The Scottish crowd was already very rowdy, but it's going
to be even more so now expect quote, if Drew loses, we riot
signs. So yeah, there's a chance you're going to find it even more
annoying that backlash in France. Either, my sell for my cousin drive,
so we'll be getting the train, which is only a twenty minute journey,
so we'll probably be home within an hour. How awful is okay, well,
before I continue with your second piece here, I'm conflicted on this.
Crowds now are trying to outdo one another instead of just instead of organically being
loud because the product is awesome, it's more about now going into business for
themselves, and I don't like it's just the motivations behind it is I think
the biggest problem I had, on top of the fact it's just it's obnoxious
to listen to. It feels like they're just there and wrestling is a is
an afterthought, and they're more worried about their chance that they do at all
their soccer games or excuse me, you guys call it football games. It
seems more like they're just there to to mess with each other, and oh,
there's a wrestling match going on. Let's let's pay attention to that for
a while, wile a little while, Oh, back to our chance.
It's I'm sorry, like there does reach a point where it becomes obnoxious and
it doesn't feel like it's about the matches. It doesn't feel like it's about
the wrestling. It doesn't feel like it's about the product. It feels very
much about their own their own agenda, their own chance, their own ideas,
their own motivations outside of wrestling, and that's I think the biggest problem
I had. So if it's going to be like that again, I mean,
I appreciate the volume, but volume for volume's sake is not always better,
even though Triple H will say it is and he'll teut how loud it
is and say there's like noise warnings or something. I don't care about that.
To me, it's a now it's transition because of the crowd that France
was, which again I appreciate the loud, I appreciate the energy, but
the motivation behind it is what I question. I question it, and especially
when you also get into a culture that I don't understand language of I mean,
I I just that also doesn't help because it would have been better for
again the English speaking world, anybody else who speaks French. I mean,
it must have been a blast or understands French blast. But when you get
to the people that only speak English but is a large portion of their audience,
it's obnoxious because you're sitting here going how many times you how many times
did people who only speak English sit there and go, what the hell?
Are they saying now, Like, what are they singing? What kind of
it? Was obnoxious? I'm sorry. So if Scotland's going to do this,
can you guys at least make it in English? I would imagine that
you most most of Scotland speaks English, although with a very heavy accent compared
to other I mean again, accents are always relative because I have an accent
if I went overseas, but anybody who comes here has an accent. So
it's always you only have an accent if you're not speaking the native tongue,
obviously, but if you can make it English, like talk to your buddies,
all right, I don't want Dutch. I want I want English.
I want English. Please, So at least if you're going to try to
outdo one another, even though I don't, I don't like the motivation for
wanting to do it that way. It should be about the product. Because
I'm everyone's overlord here, I get to dictate why people do things, right,
I just think that it should be just motivated by purely wrestling and purely
what's going on in the ring, and not these ancillary, unrelated chants.
Okay, I think I've said said my piece and offendedout a quarter of my
audience. So that's always good, good for business. Okay, how awful
is Alicia Taylor? Having been watching and listening to her unsmacked Down the past
couple weeks, she sounds awful. She sounds barely like she even puts any
effort into the announcements, And all of a sudden, I find myself realizing
just how good Mike Rome is. I guess it's only now that I realized
she was brought to smack Down. But hey, as you've been saying,
there's an agenda to keep up with right, and so unfortunately the better announcer
has been sacrificed, and it's due to the detriment of SmackDown. Just in
my opinion in regards to Mike Rome. For me, this is the case
if you didn't know what you had till it's gone. You know, you're
starting to push past the wrestling part of things for me. But I've said
this before. I know nobody wants to hear it because let's not about keep
it about wrestling. Yeah, except it's now in your face, guys.
It's in the company's annual report. It's something that they push. It's WWE's
no longer a private organization. They haven't been in about twenty years, but
even more so now they're not even they're not owned by the McMahons anymore.
They are owned by a large conglomerate that has its own political agenda, and
that political agenda does include DEI I've said that. I know you don't want
to hear it, but it's true. You don't believe me. Go look
at their annual report. You think I'm making it up or trying to be
Oh, he's a conservative. No no, no, no, go look
at it yourself. It's in black and white. Okay, And this,
to me was one of those hires. Now, could Alicia Taylor be an
announcer? I think she can be. But when you replace somebody with somebody
that's worse, somebody that's good, if somebody that's worse, and then w
WE calls and talks about and you know, promotes the fact that, wow,
great, now we have the first ever duel black woman black women being
announcers. Do you kind of look at it and go, I get it.
I see the agenda. You know, it's very in your face,
but you're not supposed to talk about it. And if you talk about it,
you're racist, right, And I'm sure some of you were sitting there
going, well, he's a white guy, clearly he has I don't have
any issue. I've been I was on the bandwagon of banging the drum for
Samantha Irvin well before it was cool to do. So you can go back
and listen. She has been and I have said this for over a year,
before it was cool to point out how great she is and all that,
I've been pointing out how how awesome she is, how much she adds
to the product, how she's maybe the best announcer since Tony Chimmel. And
I've been talking about it, right, I've been. I've been saying for
Bianca Belair, hey, she is probably the best pure athlete WWE has.
Jade Cargill has been much improved. But when I see things and I have
a company in black and white telling me they're doing something, and then I
see it translate to on air, I'm not supposed to mention anything. I'm
just supposed to go, oh, yeah, they're here because of the credentials.
Right now, you could have somebody who's non white obviously earned something.
But the problem with This is when you have a company that has in black
and white, what of their agenda items, you see it implemented, and
even if it isn't actually a part of that initiative, if it's somebody that
earned it on their own merit, the problem with implementing that policy, even
having it in your mission is that now every time you see someone that's non
white, guess what you're gonna think? Are they a DEI higher. That's
not fair to those who have actually earned it, black white whoever. So
now they have skewed the whole. Really, the culture, especially in America,
has skewed what merit is. And you've also looked at any of these
hires and you've automatically think, oh, well, isn't one of those hires
right? Because DEI is the last point I'll say. DEI is nothing more
than a euphemism for make things less white. That's all it is. That's
exactly what it is. But you don't want to know why, because if
it wasn't, you'd be hiring based on merit, which, by the way,
you should be just doing anyway. I don't care who you are,
what's how much melanin you're having in your skin? I don't care. I
just want the best of the best there. I could care less. Like
diversity for diversity's sake is not something that is should be a goal. That
should not be something that is aimed for. It should be based purely on
who's the best person for the job. End of story. That's it.
And if it happens to be a more diverse crowd, cool, If it
doesn't cool, you know why, because the best should always be hired based
on merit. Are you the most qualified? Are you the most qualified?
That's the only damn thing that you'd be looked at. But all right,
So, but no matter what I say, those of you who are gonna
sit here and go, my god, he's such a racist, I could
care less. If you think that, you think that I really doesn't bother
me. Doesn't bother me. I don't need to hear and prove it to
anybody. But I'm saying the quiet part out loud. I'm saying what I'm
not. I'm saying things that I'm not supposed to notice, or at least
if I take notice of, I'm not supposed to say. But it's just
the way it is of the world now. Politics have made their way into
wrestling. They have made their way in. Nobody can tell me Alicia Taylor
is better than Mike Rome. If you are, you're just you're lying.
And by the way, Alicia Taylor is nowhere near like you. Now look
at Alicia Taylor and you're comparing her to Samantha Irvin, right, even better.
I think Samantha Irvin is better than Mike Rome. I think I think
he is, or if she is, I'm sorry. I think that Samantha
Irvin is I don't know about a lot, but significantly better than Mike Rome.
She's the best announcer of w W has. So when you go from
Samantha Irvin to Mike Rome, who's good, to someone even worse, Alicia
Taylor. Now you're listening to Alisha Taylor and going oof. That sounds bad
because you're used to Samantha Irvin doing such an outstanding job. And then you
see WWE touting about how oh two black women. It's like, come on,
right, But the game is set, right, The trap is set
where if people like myself who are obviously white, mention this and I pointed
out, it's you're racist, right, of course, there's no evidence for
that, and the system has been rigged so that if you do mention it,
you can start labeling somebody as a racist. But it's obviously obviously an
agenda for those in the company, the higher ups, right, those that
are on the TKO board right. Again, I know this is making some
of you uncomfortable, but it just is what it is. So thanks Dino
for probably probably pissing off a fraction in my audience. But I just tell
me where the lie is. Tell me where the lie is? Anyway,
moving on back to wrestling. What do you make of these long shots that
they're doing every week now? I'm loving it. It's really adding to the
show for me. My favorite so far is the entrance to Sammy's Ain and
Montreal a few weeks back. Just amazing. Yeah, I mean I would
agree. I don't have a ton to say about it other than just I
like them, that's kind of it. I hate to be a cop out,
but before we continue, I want to welcome some new patrons. Jasamine
Foster or Jasmine Foster, sorry Jasmine Foster, Isaac. Thank you guys for
joining us. I know some of you are free members, other of you
have just jumped right into supporting the show, and let's see you make sure
you can get anybody else we've got. Oh yeah, no, I think
that might be it. Dante Santiago, I think I already give you a
shout out. But if I didn't already, welcome and Junior Riki, thank
you, Junior Dante, Jasmine, thank you. All righty, let's continue
Dino, and let's go to Freeman. He says, it's time to talk
about Saudi. The location has its plus points and minus points, so let's
start with a plus. I appreciate the women's dress code more and more we
get to focus on wrestling. They're so careful with the camera angles not to
show us direct vagina. Oh gosh, I think, go a little ott.
But they really could learn something for the normal show, especially with regards
to not showing us expose us exposing camera angles. It makes me think they
only ever use the best cameraman in Saudi, or they go out of their
way to show us intimate areas and the rest of the world. Oh boy,
all right, I'm actually I have to disagree with your Freeman. While
I have gone on my crusade of not sexualizing women in wrestling, because I
think that was one of the biggest problems with wrestling before the Women's Revolution was
or is that the problem? Here's the issue. You're now advocating for a
country to say men can wear what they want, but women need to follow
this dress code and cover every part of their area except hands, feet,
and their head. And that's not I don't I wouldn't prescribe to that.
I don't want women wearing potato sacks to the ring. I have no interest
in that. I also, at the same time, don't want them essentially
wearing a you know, a brawl on a glorified brown panties plug, you
know, a tire to the ring. I'd like just athletic wear. I'm
a big fan of that, and women's wrestling has done very well with that
kind of mid range of attire. I don't think this is a good thing
to do for women, to say you have to wear certain clothing. I
think it's a double standard and not prescribing to that. Speaking of women,
I was scanning in the crowd and I swear the only women in the building
were the one the front row and direct view of the camera. Same for
kids, but I get they're harder to spot. The pandering the Western audience
is amazing. I don't understand why they do it, though, as I
don't think anyone would notice if the women's front row parade wasn't there. I
also found it funny when they did the camera pan to show them all off
like little statues that they were on their mobiles. I mean, I'm guessing
you mean their phones. I've never heard anyone say mobiles their cell phones,
right, iPhones, whatever, Okay, not paying any attention until they noticed
the camera, and then all they all tried to hide from it. Did
they not realize they were there? Were where they sat? Well, maybe
it was done also as kind of a perception, a bit of a you
know, it kind of aligns with what Saudi's trying to propagate to the Western
world which has come visit us. Women are doing great, you know,
and there's only like that thin row of women in the beginning right or in
the front row, and they're there just kind of skew your perception. But
then the rest of the audience has mostly men. Perhaps that's the case.
I didn't really pay attention to that. Lastly, I'm going to have to
call you out for being a hypocrite again. Yes, the social the special
local celebrity getting involved in the Cody Logan match was completely absurd and shouldn't happen.
I agree that no one knows who they are and no one outside of
Saudi cares. Whoever, in the WrestleMania match of Don versus Ray this year,
which was also decided by local celebrities getting involved, no one outside of
the US cared, So why would you defend one but not the other?
All of a US international fans don't care either way. And if it's okay
for the US to have a local celeb get involved, surely it's okay for
every other country. No. I'm very consistent about this. I mean,
if I didn't mention it about wrestling, man, Yeah, I'm very consistent.
I don't want celebrities. I think it's a general rule of thumb.
I want celebrities nowhere near wrestling. When it comes to deciding outcomes, I
have no interest. I don't care if it's someone from the United States.
I don't care if, especially someone that I don't know makes it worse.
And this dude in Saudi is constantly getting involved for whatever reason. It's obnoxious.
I mean, so when you don't know it, it makes it even
worse. But even if I do, and it's a local celeb in the
United States, I don't care. I don't want them near wrestling because typically
they make wrestling look like a joke, and also they almost never take bumps.
Usually the celebrities are there to make the wrestlers look like fools, and
that's always been a big sticking point of mind that I think is a ye,
a bit of an embarrassment for the sport. So I know I'm consistent
in this. I don't want like Snoop Dogg. I wouldn't. I don't
want him on wrestling anymore. I'm done with Snoop Dogg in wrestling. I
don't like I especially didn't like him on commentary, really didn't like him on
commentary, and I don't like him in the ring. I don't really have
any interest in Snoop Dogg. There's been very few celebrities that I think have
pulled it off in wrestling, even for like a cameo appearance. So no,
I'm not defending one and not defending the other. I think both.
You know, I don't care if they're an NFL player like Rob Gronkowski here
in the United States. I don't care. I don't want them in wrestling
unless the only time I would say it's okay is if they're there to take
a bump and make wrestling look cool. But you know that almost never happens.
They are the ones who make the wrestlers look like idiots. So no,
I'm very consistent and I'll stand by that, all right, Freeman.
Let's go to two more and one is from Let's see Ali. This is
from Melbourne. Hey, Matt, hope the world's treating you well. Just
want to write in and ask with the whole Live Morgan, Rhea Ripley Dom
Love Triangle. I was wondering if you'd like to see the return of Buddy
Murphy and if you think of return as possible. As a fellow Aussie myself,
I would like to see this, but wanted to get your thoughts.
Sure, however, I don't know what his contract status is right now.
I think it would be awesome. I might obviously those two are Rea Ripley
and Buddy Murphy are involved in an actual relationship. I believe they're engaged.
If I'm not mistaken, they engaged. I think so, And you know
they constantly are posting pictures. Even Buddy Murphy posted a picture of Ria Ripley's
ass on Instagram that was interesting. But sure, as long as Buddy Murphy
is more interesting than his first go around with wrestling, especially WW, that's
fine. You know, bring his real life, bring real life into it.
The only question would be like, okay, well, we now if
you're gonna do that, well, Rihea has been on air in a sexually
charged relationship with Dom for the past year and a half, while at the
same time we knew that Buddy Murphy and Ria Ripley were an actual couple.
And then if you're gonna bring Buddy Murphy in as Ria Ripley's actual partner,
boyfriend, fiance, whatever to defend Rhea to beat up Dom, well,
it's like, well, okay, now you brought in reality, but now
you also have to mix the fact that, wait, she's been with Buddy
in real life that they're bringing into the story, but also she's been with
Dom on air during the same time. How does that work? It gets
a little messy, but I think ultimately fans might accept it. Yeah,
I wouldn't. I like Buddy Murphy. I think he's one of the most
underrated talent w had, especially during the pandemic era, remember him having really
good matches. But sure, bring it in, but it'd be hard to
explain that because there's an overlap. You're bringing in reality but have to keep
the current story involved. It would be weird. Okay, let's talk to
Ryan. He's the host of Somewhere in the Ring podcast, and he says,
Hey, Matt, I heard you talking about about not going to SmackDown
at Albany now tonight. Just want to let you know I'll be there with
my dad, so we'll be sure to share anything crazy that happens. Your
quote all time favorite baby face Cody Rhoades did promise something special for the Albany
crowd. We'll see if he lives up to that promise. Well, I
mean, yeah, I'm probably not going. I still could you can.
I'm sure there's tickets still available, so I still could still could go.
It's unlikely, but if I do, obviously I'll let you guys know.
The fact that Cody is promising something special doesn't have me excited at all.
Sorry, I mean maybe probably by that, what he means is he's bringing
his stupid dog, right, maybe he's gonna put a new handkerchief on his
dog. That's the surprise, you know, maybe he's wearing a new suit.
I'm mocking it, but watch it's something actually massive like the rock or
so I I don't even want to talk about it. So I'm taking a
calculated risk here, no doubt. We unfortunately lost my mother about two weeks
ago, so I thought I thought going to a WW event, which my
father and I used to do in Syracuse when I was a kid, would
help distract us both for at least a few hours and lose ourselves in the
atmosphere of pro wrestling. Great memories going with him as a kid, and
hoping to make even greater memories this Friday. That's what I love about WW
and your show. It helps a lot of us just simply get through not
only tough times, but just get through the regular days as well. I'll
be sure to talk up the WW podcast while at MVP and sending my best
to all the regular listeners out there. Ryan, Thanks so much, Ryan,
and sorry to hear obviously about your mom. You know, tough stuff,
but wrestling is like and I'm not. I'm glad that this show helps
you. You know, that's cool. It's kind of weird to hear.
I'm just like sitting in my office, like, you have no idea who
I'm reaching, no idea, right, But wrestling is like a best friend
that never lets you down. They're always there when you need them to get
lost to feel better, you know, and if you just need a need
time to disconnect from reality, that wrestling's there. You know. It's like
it's a really good friend. So hopefully when you go, you're able to
have it. Hopefully it's a great show. You know, Hopefully you enjoy
yourself, and by all means, if you want to promote the show,
I'm not going to stop you, you know, but I wouldn't expect that
you do, you know, because it's kind of weird, right, like,
how do you how do you You're just sitting there and you're like,
hey, hey, hey, check out this podcast. Check this out,
right, I don't know how you promote it to random people. I wouldn't.
I wouldn't even as the host and creator of the show. I wouldn't
feel comfortable doing that. I'm more of an introvert, believe it or not,
and people always say to me, how are you an introvert? You
have a podcast. Well, it's very easy. The podcast, I'm talking
to myself. I have co hosts, of course, but most of the
time I'm sitting here in this room by myself, talking to myself. That's
how you can be an introvert and have a podcast. In fact, I
would argue that if you're an introvert, you're better at podcasting, and more
introverts are into podcasting because it's a perfect environment to do so, unless,
of course, you have co hosts and you're in live in person all that
kind of thing. But so anyway, again, sorry to hear about your
mom. You know, it's just hopefully it does distract you guys, and
you know, just at least for a few hours, you can go and
sing whoe and watch Cody with his bleach hair and maybe brings his dog in,
and maybe he'll cry for some unknown reason, and maybe he'll reveal who
his father is. Because we still don't know. We're still waiting on that
big reveal we have not heard. It's supposed to be a big payoff.
I know that it's coming. They keep teasing it. You know, who's
Cody's dad, we don't know. So hopefully those things are revealed and you
get to see him smile and shed some tears and weep, you know.
And you know what, for all this mocking, I probably will eat my
words and it there'll be something big happening tonight and I will lose my you
know what. I deserve that, right, But anyway, enjoy yourself,
you know, get lost for a few hours and take care. Thanks Ryan,
all right, that will do it here for the UH. As far
as the emails go, I'm checking my voicemail box right now. We don't
get a whole bunch more. We don't get a bunch of them. You
know why, because I haven't read them or I get to them in a
while. I'm terrible, right, I haven't done the voicemail. So you
guys are like, well, screw it. I'm not going to call in.
I don't blame you. I've been awful at it. I do try
to sneak them in here and there, but we don't have any voicemails.
So that's embarrassing for me. But also I don't blame you guys. If
I'm not going to get them on the air, then what the hell are
you sending them in for? Right? But you can you can take your
chances. Sometimes I do have extra time, like I actually do. Right
now, I'm sitting here going oh, I actually would have played a few
voicemails, but I don't have them. So all right, that'll do it
for you, guys. If you're going to the SmackDown Show tonight, enjoy
it. And I mean this in a selfish way. I hope it's an
extremely boring show and that it's one of the worst smackdowns of all time because
I won't be in attendance, so therefore I won't feel bad for not going.
I'm sure you that the rest of you are hoping that there's a big
return or something kind of crazy happens or whatever, and you know, for
your sake, I hope it does. But yeah, so if you're going
tonight, cool. Let me know if those of you, like Ryan or
others that are going your in person experience. I always value that. If
you want to send me some just bullet points or whatever, that's your homework
assignment. So that'll do it for me tonight guys or today, and I'll
be back Sunday with the weekend Review, hopefully with Anthony DeMarco. We're trying
to link up this week. I think we'll be able to do that on
Sunday night for the weekend review, and I'll talk to you next time.
Take care. Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to subscribe
on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss a show, or head to
wwepodcast dot com and for all of these shows add free head over to Patreon
dot com slash WWE podcast. Until then, we'll see you next time.