Mailbag Episode #182 (Part 2): Official Preview & Predictions for Backlash & More Reaction to WWE Draft

This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the WWE podcast show,
the one that everybody wants me go. Stree sixteen said, up your ass
is my You're gonna acknowledge me. Welcome to the WWE podcast everybody. It's
part two for the mailbag, and also it's gonna be our quick pretune prediction
show for Backlash. We'll do that on the second half of the show.
But I want to welcome a new patron, and that patron is Rob who
just joined us. I hope you enjoy your free ad, free everything and
if you want to join Rob as it is now Backlash tomorrow night or really
to during the day for most of us that are watching, except if you
are in France or overseas. It's going to be an early pay per viewer
pl event that really I think is going to over deliver, and we'll see
if that happens. But let's get to the rest of the emails and then
we'll go to that preview prediction show. Let's get to Hungry Pop and another
patron says, I wanted to check in after the draft, not going to
go through my picks. Most of them are wrong. Clearly I had misplaced
expectation. I will say, if intent is to leave the roster largely unchanged,
why have such a large draft pool. Seems an easy fix to lack
of the logic in the picks is to make the draft pool smaller, maybe
include only NXT and a couple of unprotected stars, similar to Major League Baseball's
Rule five draft. I mean, there's just no logic. There's no logic.
They want to have a draft because they wanted to piggyback off of the
NFL draft that is going on simultaneously, except they didn't pick younger stars,
which is what the NFL draft does. You don't draft existing stars. But
then they also locked in the guys that are the stars. Yet the NXT
picks were what five or six of them out of dozens of picks. It
doesn't make any sense. And then to leave generally most things unchanged, and
then they're gonna violate the draft rules anyway within a couple of weeks you can
bank on it. It just makes no sense. This draft. I didn't
hate it, but I don't know what it is. I don't think it
knows what it is or wants to be. It's the most boring of both
worlds. It's not quite about really calling up young talent, which is what
drafts are unproven talent yet. But it's also not about drafting the biggest stars
because they're locked in with their title belts, and one of them, by
the way, exempted himself from the draft completely. He can't draft the Rock
On top of it, Cody Rhods is ineligible, all the every champions ineligible,
and then you have them, you know, put the draft order in
a way that makes absolutely no sense if you're trying to assemble the best roster.
It may this is a very it's a draft without an identity. But
at the end of the day, did we get the rosters that made most
sense? I mean, I guess, but you know, they're going to
be hard pressed to come up with new and fresh rivalries if they can't make
trades, if they don't do it, or they just forego trades and just
have people come over from opposing brands with no one saying boo about it,
which they've done many times in the past. Okay, let's go to let's
see bet another patron. This is from Freeman. He says the draft was
interesting this year, but more interesting were the stats given about each wrestler as
they were drafted. It felt as though they were really struggling for relevant stats.
For some people. The worst to me was Jade Carbill's. Cargill debuted
at Royal Rumble. End quote, once in a generation talent. She has
done nothing. It is expected to be a big deal even wwe can't point
out any good stats for her. She can't be any good as she had,
needs to be baby sad by the company's top talent. I'm falling off
her real quick. Freeman, you know, it's it's funny you mentioned that.
I meant to say something. I'm glad you did. I didn't read
Jade Cargills, but I believe it. I mean, what are they gonna
say about her former A E. W. Starr. You can't say that
she looks good? She posts uh ten Instagram pictures a day. I mean,
what stats does she have? I mean, that's not a credential to
say that you debuted at the Royal Rumble. It's not a it's not a
prequalification. It's just I mean, that's not that's not a it's not something
you put on your resume. I agree, but what else are they gonna
do? They have to put something And yeah, I even saw Naya Jacks
even Nya jack I believe had on their former model or model or something.
Now john Nia Jackson has been in and out of the company. She took
a little time away, right she was she was let go for a while,
but for what the better part of six years and maybe longer. And
she has former model as one of her statistics when of her go to bullets
on her resume, I mean, like, what are we doing here?
Yeah? Is uh? And as far as specifically Jade car Gill goes,
I'm still willing to keep going with her, and I think most fans are
because her look is extraordinary and that's gonna sanitize a lot of her in ring
shortcomings. But but that said, as great as her look is and her
entrance is and her aura is, that can't be deodorized forever, that can't
be hidden forever. Eventually, and you seem to be at the forefront of
this, fans are going to see through what she can and can't do,
and that WWE seems to very much be protecting her from anything longer than a
two minute match in the ring and anything more than four moves in a match.
And I'm not saying it's easy. I'm not saying that Jade, you
know, is never going to put it together. She might, but it's
clear that they are limiting her matches because she's not ready in ring yet and
she has yet to cut even a a promo that makes stick grabs you.
She's so worried about wearing the outfit that shows off her body the best,
rather than doing something deeper and connecting with fans on an emotional level. Right
now, it's very surface, and that surface level is strong, but it
can't last forever. She's eventually gonna have to deliver. The fan's gonna turn
on her. Okay, to answer your question, Ray Masteriro has been betrayed,
Ben betrayed six times in total, Eddie Guerrero, Chavl Guerrero Batista,
Dirty dom Santos Escabon, Carlito, all three of those in the last two
years. At some point, you just have to wonder, is Ray the
problem? Maybe he is actually a deadbeat dad. I mean, can you
give me one example of good parenting from Ray on screen? More interestingly,
when the LWO were picking Dom on Raw, it felt almost as if they
were a heel group acting as bullies, which made me think that if all
these betrayals are just setting up Ray to turn heel and join Dom rather than
what we all expect to happen is Dom turning face to join Ray. Has
there ever been a betrayal where the one doing the betraying stayed face and betrayed
and the betrayed turned heel. I mean, nothing comes to mind offhand,
but I will say, as far as examples go of Ray being a quote
unquote good dad, all you have to do is turn to the pandemic era.
In the pandemic era, I mean it was I remember saying this many
times. It was hard to watch. It made me want to throw up.
I mean, I thought Cody's character was too cuddly and warm. Remember
Dom and Ray backstage. I mean, it's just go watch every time before
their match is basically like they were making out with each other. It was
difficult to watch, but obviously we've seen what happens now, and I mean,
I guess that's a supportive father role. But okay, quick point.
I hope with Chelsea Green and Tifty Stratton both being on SmackDown, they don't
pare them up, it would hurt Tiffany's momentum and gimmicks. The gimmicks are
similar but approached completely differently. Well, right now, both women need help.
However, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven were fun. They actually had to
think a very unforeseen chemistry. Tifty strat and does feel very much more like
a singles wrestler than Chelsea, who seems to need someone. But Tiffany's still
new to the scene. She had a nice little moment at Elimination Chamber this
past year, fans got behind her. She does seem to be fitting in
very quickly and very nicely. That doesn't always happen with NXT call ups.
But right now they might need each other, and you know what, you
know who might need them even more the women's tag team division as a whole,
and you know who's going to also need them, specifically, when Jade
and Bianca win the tag team titles, they're going to need a team to
face and I think these two could be that team, one of them.
So all right, lastly, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that
it looks like Deaf Rebel phase of w w's coming to a close with comments
saying they have heard and are acting on the fans criticism of them, rumors
their contract won't be renewed. I do wonder who will replace them at as
it is difficult to do, and Deaf Rebel did some great stuff, but
their formula is starting to become far too apparent. Too many intros start off
with the restlers catchphrases before they go into the subpar generic sounds that all sound
the same, and I hope they were placements. Put effort into the songs
for the lower cards. Well, Freeman again, once again you dig into
a level of these songs and intros that no one does. Nothing wrong with
that. It's nothing I ever thought of, though I didn't even know about
Deaf Rebel in their contract. You know, there have been some very lame
intros to Raw. There have been almost too frequent of changes to the introductions
of Raw, the signature that opens the show. But it's never been something
that's been like a killer for me that I look at it, even if
it was the worst intro of all time, If they deliver a good show,
it's like, I don't you don't even remember that, right, But
you are talking about something that most fans, aren't. You're digging into something
that most fans probably don't even know about, and I appreciate that. Okay,
let's talk to uh Let's see, did I talk to Clayton? Well,
we're gonna talk to him anyway. Longtime listener, first time writer.
Love the show, except for your picks on the ples, I know who
to not place your bets on, Well to Clayton. Let me tell you
this, I have never portrayed myself as no stra Damis when it comes to
ples. Ples can be very difficult to predict. As the ones are gonna
hear tonight. They're not easy. They're never easy, And when the ones
you think are easy are the ones that don't end up turning the way you
think they are. Also, if I become horrible, like horrific, if
I become that bad, just do the opposite and bet on the opposite of
what I'm picking. Right, So in a way I can be helping you
because I can give you the opposite of what to do. See what I
mean? So maybe I need to become so bad that all you need to
do is, oh, oh, Matt's picking Jay you So all right,
I'm going Damian Priest you know, all right, As far as people complaining
about your views on certain topics, forget about them. There's plenty of people
that agree with you that are just silent. Please don't want to please or
people don't want to watch wrestling to see real world spill over into wrestling.
People are tired of all these idiots. It should be an escape from the
madness of what's going on. My only complaint with the show is that is,
don't overapologize or don't over explain your criticisms of legit issues with thein WWE.
Okay, so yeah, I mean, yeah, I hear you.
You know, sometimes I overdo some stuff, no doubt. You know.
I'm always trying to improve the show, believe it or not. So I
appreciate that. You know, there is a lot of people that I'm sure
are listening that do agree with what I'm saying. They just I don't hear
from them with the mailbag, a lot most listeners are silent listeners. Most
are, and that's fine. I'm not asking people that it's a requirement.
It's not a homework assignment to anybody, but most are. Most podcasts you
listen to you don't write in right. Most of them, I don't.
I have a lot of podcasts that are on my list. I don't ever
take the time to write in mostly because I know I'll never get listened to
or never get read because they're bigger shows. But also I don't have the
time. And it's just I just enjoy listening to the content and it is
what it is. But I appreciate that, Okay. Also I think Jade
will be a dud. She was uninteresting in AEW and still is uninteresting.
You can't be a stripper and tough at the same time, so I don't
understand the interest in her other than the look. You can't teach personality.
Thank you for keeping me entertained at work and making my day shorter. Keep
up the good work on the show, Clayton. Well, thanks, Clayton.
I appreciate that. And you know, really, any criticism of the
show I really do take under advisement. I really do. It sounds like
I'm being facetious. I'm not. Now. Jade in AEW, I didn't
get a whole lot of time to watch her at AEW. I don't get
a whole lot of time to watch AW period. I barely can scrape through
WWE. But WWE wouldn't have signed her if they didn't look her at aew
and say, hey, we see something here that they haven't brought out of
her, you know. Plus I'm sure that they saw the money in her
and Bianca Belle air and they love themselves a good looking, strong, muscle
bound woman, they do. And Jade has a very unique look that I
do think is going to take her much further than most women who have impressive
physiques could, because it's even more impressive than impressive. But you're already seeing
with this email in a previous one that things are starting to the cracks are
starting to show a little bit with even the kind of like at least the
beginnings of that. We're not there to have the fans turn on her yet,
but we haven't seen a very good promo from her yet. All she
has done is relied one hundred percent on her look, and that's it.
That can't be it, right. We will see through that very quickly and
we'll see how much further they can take this before the fans go all right,
I'm done with this, all right. I think this is the final
email and we'll get to maybe a voicemailer two, and we'll get to the
predictions. Levi says the draft format needs to change. It's most predictable.
It's mostly predictable, unexciting, and over the past couple of years, more
about the surprise pick announcers than the wrestlers being drafted. I'm all for a
strict split of the rosters, but this can be kept internal and fluid for
storylines when and where needed. As a viewer, I can piece together the
rosters on my own as time goes on and ultimately forget about the draft results
in a few weeks. Anyway, I'm writing this prior to Raw, but
on SmackDown three wrestlers switch brands andrede Nia Jackson Brown Breaker. So what's the
point. Just put them on the other show and in some program we can
just go along with it. It's not like they don't consistently break their own
rules anyway. I understand the simulation of a sport as the concept, but
my intelligence is insulted by giving the illusion that the picks are being made off
the cuff and not scripted into the show. For example, why am I
to believe that aj Styles is a fourth round draft pick prior a one week
prior to challenging for the WWE Championship. But that's exactly what I said,
Levi. I mean, it's absurd that you would have somebody who's challenging for
the top belt in the company drafted in the fourth round. And that's what
I said at the beginning of the show is this draft has no identity.
It doesn't know what it is. And I do think that they would be
much better off just having trades throughout the year because the draft, if they're
going to conduct this every year like this, I don't want them doing it
every year because not much changed. You had some call ups from an XT,
But you know what you can do about those, Sprinkle them in throughout
the year, make it exciting, have them debut at the Rumble a couple
of them. Have them randomly committed, you know, or not randomly,
but strategically placed at Summer Slam, after Summer Slam, the Raw, after
Mania, big spots, you know, like have them do that. You
know you can have that. You can even have vignettes of soon to come
or you know coming soon rather this person that person, create a develop a
foundation of a personality and then eventually build up to their debut. That still
works. That formula still works because most of the fans that are mainstream fans
looked at those NXT call ups and go, huh, who I don't know
who these people are, you know, and I know, with time will
learn. But my point about the draft is, if you're gonna, I
just don't like the format of this draft anymore. I know that again they're
trying to piggyback off the NFL. I know that that's what they're doing clearly
with the timing. But we've seen the draft in the fall. We've seen
it now in April. I mean, it's just it can't find a place,
it can't find an identity, and there's not a big shake up anymore.
I just yeah, it makes no sense. And then the round picks
make no sense. Politics, clearly, an outward perception clearly play a role
in who is drafted at what point in the draft, as if somehow a
first round draft pick means anything in WWE, it doesn't means nothing. So
all right, however, I'm not going to complain without having playing booker and
providing how I would change the draft. Use the concept to promote an episode
of Raw or SmackDown and do three or four rounds, one pick for each
brand to draft only NXT wrestlers. This would bring more unpredictability and provide a
real draft vibe. In addition, will briefly introduce call ups to casual viewers,
giving the audience the opportunity to do their own research prior to seeing the
wrestlers on TV. Oftentimes, I feel like as those call ups happen randomly,
a lot of audience doesn't know who they are, doesn't get invested,
and then they're gone. That might be fixed with an NXT call up.
That's it. Thanks for the time, love the show. Thanks Levi.
That's funny. I mean I really didn't. I didn't plan that. That
was kind of my suggestion if you'd just heard it, was give these guys
a foundation before you debut them, because if you just have somebody randomly come
up from n XT, most fans are gonna go, you know, I
don't know who this person is. So I mean, you could do draft.
When you do a draft, it's only for the young wrestlers, right,
and it's only one pick, so it's not a lot of people.
And then you have, you know, your established stars stay where they are.
And if you want to make trades, you do you know a massive
trade announced? Yeah, they could do an announcement on social media, massive
trade being announced on raw and boom. There it's your little shakeup. So
thanks LEVI okay, okay, okay, okay. Let's now get to believe
it or not believe it or not. Let's get to our voicemails and see
who's up first. Hey, Matt, this is your neighborhood gardener, Michael
Gross representing Wressell Magic and the whole crew that we are working on so much
stuff for you, and we've got a lot of irons in the fire.
Unfortunately it's Louisville, and if you guys don't know, there's a little horse
race in town that kind of distracts us, or distracts me from getting a
lot of things done. Kind of, you know, the tourist business makes
things a little hectic. But I just want you guys know that we're gonna
be working on stuff. Matt. You and I should do a show again
sometime soon. I know we were supposed to do roth Menia, but things
happen, Things fall through the cracks, and I just want to say I
miss everybody, and you know, shout out to my partners, everybody in
the Wrestle Crew team or excuse me, Wrestle Magic Crew, you know,
Maverick, Rocky, Michael Patrick, Mark Scully, everybody, everybody who's in
there, and my brother Tim who's recently joined with Math. Thank you guys,
and we're gonna produce you some more content. We're gonna have some fun
in the meantime. Guys have a great day, all right. Well that
is mister Michael Gross. You guys can catch him on Wrestle Magic and yeah,
it's been a while, so it probably should link up soon and do
a show. It's a life just kind of runs by, doesn't it.
You know, Like you said, there's some horse some kind of little tiny
horse race like what. I can't remember the name of that thing over in
Louisville. I don't know. Not a lot of people watch it. I'm
you know, it's I know, it's kind of a low key event over
there, but I hope all is well over there. And yeah, we'll
definitely, uh, you know, look forward to that content. I know
the Wrestle Magic team does a great job and you guys have you guys do
a crank out a lot of projects. I gotta say so, I appreciate
it. Okay, let's get to our next voicemail and see how many we
can get through tonight and move on. Oh hey, Matt, it's Devin.
Here's from Australia. I just watched Monday Night Role and h The first
thing that stuck at to me was before the Sharks started. I think Michael
Cole said that the anchor bell A was the first black women to get a
number one draft pick on SmackDown, and I was like, do we care
about that anymore? Like stuff anymore? Like who cares? What if you're
black, white, yellow, bloody green, I don't care whatever, But
does it really matter anymore? Given that this is a fantasy type, you
know, entertainment or sports entertainment. It's not like proper draft picks as you
get in NFL and whatever, Do we really care about such junk anymore?
I don't know. I might cop flat with us, but I just think
it's it's so just stupid. But anyway, I was like, oh god,
I wanted to throw up. But anyway, on the plus side,
nothing really changed with the draft picks here that a lot of everyone just seems
to be staying in the same place. I'm glad Damage controls on Royal because
that could be fun. But I don't know. I don't really see anything
exciting about the draft at all. I mean, I'm not sure. I
don't even know. And I was trying to think, you know, I
just know he's complaining if you don't have a solution sometimes I don't know.
Maybe that's just me or that's just what my boss says to me when I'm
complaining at work. But I'm trying to think what would have been some good
draft picks, So I don't know. Maybe I think maybe he was good
to stain on Raw. And now we've got Braun Stroman, who's kind of
just like a walking dinosaur roaring at everyone. Reminds me of a bit of
my child. He'll just be around there, blowing streat when he talks.
And I don't know Ron Stroman, Bronson, Reed, and guns and I've
ere the big lads there on Raw, so maybe there could be something going
on there, But none of them can cut out decent promo except Gunter,
so I don't know what would go on. But yeah, I just don't
know what would have been a good draft pick anyway. So, I mean
I was very unimpraised with the draft, regardless of who was number one pick
on number two. Just but I don't really know what I would have done
any different either, th I. So anyway, that's me, have a
good week, chis Hey Bevin. Yeah, I don't know what I would
have done either. You know, if I conducted the draft the way I
wanted to, here's what I would do. I wouldn't have a draft.
I wouldn't. I wouldn't do it because the way that it's currently constructed,
it doesn't have an identity. I keep repeating that, but it doesn't.
It doesn't know what it is. It's not really about new talent. It
kind of is about established talent. But then you're having draft picks in round
one and round two that make no sense. You're having people that are drafted
in the fourth round that are main eventing your show on the pl coming up.
It's ridiculous and it's all performance, and I know generally pro wrestling is,
but they didn't even try to make me believe this is a real draft.
And and again, uh, with Bianca bell Air, you talk about
a political you know, politics bleeding in here. And you know it's funny.
I'll just mention one thing here, and this is gonna light a fire
on some people, but this is kind of what we do here is just
kind of speak our minds and whatever happens happens. Here's the thing. I've
said this before. I'm a massive fan of biancabell Air. I do still
want her to turn heel, but that doesn't mean I don't understand what she
means to the company. She has not exactly had the biggest year of her
career, and yet she's still drafted number one and she's on the cover of
two K twenty four. This is all not by accident, Okay, this
is all very much a in part in part a political agenda by those who
have very strong political beliefs that own the company. Go look it up,
go do your research, guys. It's just what it is. And if
you, oh, there's no a politics, stop bringing it in guys.
If you think I'm bold, oh I almost had to bleet myself. If
you think I'm bs and go look at the those that own the company and
go look at what they are doing their where their money is being funneled,
what they do. It's all right in front of your face. Okay.
So when people say it's stop bringing it in, it's already in here,
okay. And what the funny thing is, the further we get away from
the slavery in America, right, the African American slave trade, Right,
the further we get away from that, it's seemingly like the the worse it's
getting. When it comes to that period. You know, you think as
time goes on that things would be healed, because time heals all wounds for
some reason, as time goes on with these things, because that's where it
all is originated, right with the slaves, the slave trade, and where
all of the oppression that today we're told that black people have just because they're
black. Then how does that like? We haven't had that in what one
hundred and sixty years? And yet the further we get out, the further
we go on, the apparently the worse it's getting, the more oppressed people
these people are. How does that work? That does that work? Tell
me how that works? Okay? You know, like no one here,
no one listening, was a slave, your your mom parents want a slave,
your grandparents want to slave. Likely your great great grandparents weren't even like
you'd have to go back on hundred and sixty years and like even then you
don't know for sure. So like anyway, I'm going off the rails.
I feel like another After Dark episodes coming. My point about all this is,
it's just as a culture, this is all like very it's very just
kind of depressing that this is the topic that the focal point that we keep
getting told is a is a problem, and yet it was one hundred and
sixty years ago, you know what I mean, Like what you know?
Anyway, I think it's something that will continue to come up and it'll just
be a talking point, and I think there's a whole agenda behind that.
Anyway, I'm gonna stop there because I've already injected stuff into the show that
I'm sure a lot of you are just like, oh my god, here
he goes. Yeah, well, this is the stuff you won't get on
most wrestling podcasts, or that they won't tell you or they don't have the
guts to say, or that's just not their flavor of their discussions. And
that's fine. But I'm going to tell you the way it is, okay,
because I pay a very close attention to the culture I understand what's happening.
I understand the agendas of both sides, and this is clearly one that
they looked at and said, oh boy, you know, we gotta we
gotta make a we got we gotta have a black woman in the first pick.
And then you know how I know that that's part of it, because,
like you said, Bevin, they made a point to say it as
if it's some kind of accomplishment. And no, I don't even think it
was deserving if you just look at it on merit. It wasn't deserving on
merit, which is, by the way, the only way you should pick
anyone is by merit, and that goes for in real life. You know,
Merit is how you should earn things, not skin color. I don't
care who you are, Okay, it's just that's that's how you should earn
things. And uh, I don't think Bianca earned it. If this was
truly a draft, she didn't earn the number one pick, are you kidding?
I think she might have been in the second round, like a top
tier second round pick, but the first overall pick in the draft. Again,
they wanted to be able to say it. They wanted to be able
to say that a black woman's drafted first, as if it's some kind of
accomplishment, which it's not. It's not. It's just the company wanted to
be able to say that to fulfill you know, check a box and put
it out there to the public, and so it could create some kind of
news headline in the media. You know, that's what they wanted. So
they fabricated it, manufactured it, and put it out there. Now,
they didn't make a huge deal about it. They didn't say it over and
over and over, but it was mentioned at the very beginning of the show,
so they clearly wanted people to pay attention to that. It's stupid,
you know, it's really stupid. I gotta say if I wouldn't want to
always be told that I'm a victim, you know, I wouldn't. I
don't want to be a victim. But victimhood has power today because if you're
a victim, you're oppressed, and then if you're oppressed, you can say
that it's it's the system that's oppressing you, and then you're a victim.
So everything you do is not or fault. You were not responsible for anything.
It's not you. Your actions are justified because the systems oppressing you.
You know, I wouldn't want to be told that. I would not want
to be told that at all. And you know, like I think again,
I'm gonna I'm gonna kind of put a filter on myself here now.
But they again, there's more to this than that. But I'm scratching the
surface and I'm gonna move on here. I think I'm gonna stop here.
Thank you Bevin for getting me riled up about this. Uh And I'm sure
all people heard. There are some people out there who heard all this is
all they heard from me. Everything I said in the last six minutes,
as they heard. All they heard from me was uh, I don't like
black people. Uh and uh, you know I'm racist. That's a lot
of what some people heard. Butch is just nonsense. It's nonsense. No
one wants to talk about it. But if I mean, don't believe we
take a look at the culture, look around you. So sure whatever,
Yeah, if someone called me a racist, I honestly I'd just be like,
yeah, sure whatever, Yeah, No I'm not. I don't need
to prove it to anybody. It's just the most it's the most overused lame
accusation today that can be used. It's lazy, but not saying racism doesn't
exist. Of course it exists. Of course it exists, but it's on
an individual level, you know, I don't think it's system wide. But
anyway, Okay, let's talk to maybe one or two more and we'll call
it a night, and then go to the preview predictions. Let's go to
a Jason from Oregon and see what he's got to say. Hey, Matt
and the WWE podcast world, this is Jason from Oregon. It's a beautiful
sunny day in Oregon and I'm just sitting here thinking about Cody Rhodes. Matt.
I heard your, uh, your rant about Dusty, and it got
me thinking. You know, I grew up watching WWE back in the eighties
era and when Dusty was wrestling, and to be honest, I always thought
he was cheesy as a as a young kid, I did not get the
American dream. I thought he was just kind of one of those cheesy type
guys. Now it was much more into Hulkgan, Randy Savage and the Ultimate
Warrior. And now here years later, you know, I missed that whole
uh, all the other eras I just came back recently, as I've said
here on the podcast before, and so I don't I didn't get that,
you know, Cody Rhodes or Dusty Rhodes starting NXT and behind the scenes,
I think a lot of people had admiration for him, and I can you
know, I can value that, and so I think that's where people are
come from. But to me, it's kind of like if Grayson Waller's dad
was one of the Bushwhackers and everyone was getting teary talking about the Bushwhackers to
Grayson Waller and you're like, well, I don't really get it. I
hope those guys are kind of cheesy. But anyway, I think, you
know, if behind the scenes people really value someone, that's where I get
it. I couldn't even believe that Aj in his promo was almost in tears.
But anyway, if someone's a great man, give him, give him
honor. But I can see where you're coming from. Anyway, Thanks for
the great show later. Ah hi Jason, Well, welcome back to the
show, and good to hear from you. I feel, yeah, it's
been a while, and so I'm really trying my best to not go on
to Cody Rant again. It's been a while. He's been a little bit
on the the DL as of late now, Dusty Rhodes is not we've heard
for most fans. Dusty Rhodes is the name we've heard more and the last
year and a half then we've heard when Dusty Rhods was actually competing for those
of us that were alive when he did, right, he has become more
of a talking point now than when he actually was wrestling in ring and it
is there been another death in wrestling in which has been more performatively cried over.
I mean, I do think some of the tiers are real, but
a lot of it has been like very much. I mean, even Cody
Rhoads couldn't fake crying. Remember that the promo before WrestleMania. He couldn't.
He was pretending to cry, but he didn't sell it all the way so
it came off very phony. And everything again, every single freaking programming he's
been in has to do with his dad. Come up with something else,
ford your own path. Okay, your dad died. It is sad,
Move on. But they're continuing to try to use it to pull out the
heartstrings of fans because they know that if they can do that, then that
creates an emotional connection and then you start to feel for him and all the
like move on. I mean, if he's so great, why does he
have to keep and why do we continue to use the strategy of his dad's
death. Has there ever been a death more exploited than this one? Eddie
Guerrero maybe, but even that wasn't used as a storyline for sympathy other than
Chavo when it initially happened. I remember Chavo Guerrero obviously a sympathetic figure,
but they didn't push him to the main event dominic. It was a kid
when that happened. But but was there a death that they really exploited as
much as this? I can't think of one. I mean, Brett Hart
well, I mean he didn't die, but I don't want to think of
that. I was thinking just connections of old stars and in the Italian Brett
Heart, but obviously Brett didn't die yet I'm trying to think of a death.
Can anybody come up with a death that has been more exploited in wrestling
than Dusty Rhoades. I cannot think of one. So yeah, it's it's
just annoying. To me, and you know, if Cody wants to stand
on his own two feet and not be known as just Dusty Rhodes's kid,
which I think. I mean again, he's he beat Roman reigns of WrestleMania,
I would say he's made it right. But like you forever want to
be always remembered as you know, Dusty Rhodes's son. Yeah, yo,
because he has done things on his own. But like everything he talks about
all the time, every time, every like everyone gets emotional every single time
they mention him. I don't know. I know that. I'm sure he's
a great man behind the scenes. He seems like he was father figured him
many all that stuff. I've just never seen the same formula being used over
and over and over and over. So anyway, Jason, yeah, thanks
for the Franks for the call. I appreciate you listening. It sounds like
you were in the car calling us, so drive safely or you know,
if you do that regularly, make sure you're on the you know, the
the speakerphone, right, So thanks so much, and I will be chatting
with you soon, hopefully, hopefully, and everyone else will be chatting with
you soon. Now let's get to the the actual pay per view here the
pl E backlash. So let's start. Let's see where do we want to
start Ko and Randy Orton versus the blood lines Solo, Socoa and Tomatonga.
This to me is a no brainer that the bloodline wins. I do not
expect Roman Reigns to show up. I do not. I do not.
I do not. If he does, I'll be shocked and kind of disappointed,
honestly. I mean, I'm excited to see Roman rains return as much
as the next versa, to see what he does and all that. But
it's not time yet. It's still a little premature. So the blood line
wins I think by Hooker Crook or by a turn by Kevin Ko or Randy.
I could see an rko on Kevin Owens or Kevin Owens stunning Randy.
I could see a massive turn here, not for them to join the blood
line, but just form one of them to turn heel. But I certainly
certainly expect the blood line to win. Now is also maybe that neither of
now here. Here's the thing. While I said that that one of them
could turn, what about a new member? As I think someone else pointed
out in the mailbag last night. What if it's a new member of the
of the bloodline that could also be possible. So either way, no matter
how you slice it, no matter how you try to pretzel this into Ko
and Randy winning, it's not happening. The Bloodline's gonna win. Solos Co
on Tomatanga need the victory and I think they'll get it here, all right.
The Women's Tag Team Championship Kabooki Warrior versus Bianca Bella and Jade Cargill.
This is to me also a slam dunk. Bianca bill Air and Jade Cargill
win. There's just no two ways about this one either. Now what I
would do is a stopwatch. Somebody needs to have a stopwatch to time the
amount of the amount of in ring minutes Bianca Bella or I'm sorry, Jade
car our Gill has because Bianca Bella Air is likely going to be carrying eighty
percent or more of this match only to tag in bel Air. I'm sorry
Jade once, probably twice for the hot tag. Let's count the number of
moves that Jade does as well. I would venture to guess five moves at
the max and a total of three and a half in ring minutes. I
mean that may be overdoing it. So I think Bianca Bella is absolutely going
to be the one to carry the most of the wrestling of the match.
So I don't expect a crazy good match. The Kabuki Warriors need to just
they need to drop the belts here and they absolutely will. All right.
How about the women's tag, or rather the Women's Championship Bailey versus Naomi versus
Tiffany Stratton. Bailey retains another slam dunk. This This papl is filled with
slam dunks, but not completely and we'll get to that that soon. Bailey
absolutely retains and when I think could be a very fun match, and really
it could be a breakout performance for Tiffany Stratton. Naomi's always solid in ring.
She does have She's not the smoothest, I have to say. She
does have her botches here and there, but you know she's never gonna put
on a bad match Bailey, same way Tiffany is. This is easily the
biggest match of her career. There is no chance of Naomi winning there.
I don't think there's any chance of Tiffany Stratton winning. It's too early.
Bailey had overcome all the odds. She was the Women's Royal Rumbel winner this
year, won at WrestleMania. She's not gonna lose it four weeks later.
Let's be honest, So Bailey retains. All right, Let's now go to
the big boys, Damien Priests versus jay Uso for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Again, it seems like jay Uso has no chance. I wouldn't say he
has no chance. I'd say his chance is like five percent that he wins
the World Heavyweight Chanceampionship. Damien does still feel to me like a transitional champion
because jay Uso is a credible threat. But you could also have Drew Mcatyre
chasing Damien and possibly winning it and then facing Punk at Wrestling Rat SummerSlam.
So Damian to me and Jamie versus jay Uso should be a fun twelve to
thirteen minute world title match that ends with Damian Priests retaining. And it could
be because of Judgment Day. I hope that Jimmy doesn't interfere. For the
love of God, please Jimmy usso do not interfere. But I think Damien
retains the title, and that's kind of it. I mean I expect a
very just a good, probably raw main event quality of a match. All
right, let's talk to or look, talk to my god. I need
to go to bed. It's almost midnight. The un to spin a championship.
Cody Rhoades, AJ Styles again, lock it up, throw away the
key. They wouldn't imagine AJ Styles win this match, and just think to
just envision that for a moment. Oh my god, there is no chance,
zero that Cody Roads wins or loses. Rather, AJ Styles is dropping
this taking yell here, he is getting dropped, he's getting pinned. It's
the end of the day. It's not happening, right, Like Cody Rhodes
is winning, he's retaining. AJ Styles has no chance. But but while
I say that so confidently, here's what I think will happen. They will
give us moments to believe. And every time there are these you know,
slam dunk overwhelming favorites, they do give us moments throughout the match that make
you question that confidence that you have. So, while there is seriously absolutely
no chance AJ Styles wins this, we are going to get I think a
very good match. Fifteen sixteen, seventeen minutes of Cody Rhads AJSL was beating
the hell out of each other, near falls, kickouts of finishes, as
we always do. That's par for the course. Do I think there's gonna
be an interference? I hope not. I hope this is kind of just
a straightforward event and this really doesn't I mean, this event does not excite
me a whole lot from a star power perspective, but it does excite me
from a wrestling perspective entering wrestling, and I think that's where this whole pl
e will shine is the wrestling part of a wrestling show. Who knew?
So I think this is gonna be a good show. Again, I would
be surprised if any of these picks are wrong. If I was to choose
one of these matches in which you could say, Okay, this one might
go either way, I would guess it could be I mean, I guess
if you're gonna pick one, it could be Wooki Warriors winning against Bianca and
Jade and then they chase them a little bit more and eventually win. That's
the one match. But even there, I feel highly confident. So this
is a this is a ple that I would not expect a whole lot of
crazy finishes, unpredictable finishes. They just made their lock in decisions at WrestleMania.
They're not going to backtrack on them four weeks later at Backlash, right,
So this is not gonna be the most exciting ple when it comes to
unpredictable finishes. But what the matches will do is provide great in ring wrestling
and to the wrestlers be able to deliver and execute and do what they do
best, which is tell in ring stories at kick Ass. That's what you
can hope for, not the outcomes, because the outcomes just are there,
may not have, may not really be a ple that I've ever seen that
is so highly confident that I've been so highly confident about. But also it's
not me being the smartest person in the room. It's just I think everyone
kind of feels this way. You know. It doesn't make any sense,
really almost no sense for the WWE to change any of these outcomes. But
what they can do is introduce new stories, new people. The outcomes can
be what they are, and that's very predictable, but what you can do
is introduce new people, like a new bloodline member, right, maybe a
big return, somebody turning heel while at the same time getting the outcome you
all expect. You have a sub sub story going in and things that happen
off of those predictable victories or losses that you can build on for the next
event. So if that makes sense, then I think that's what they'll do
here. All right, Well that'll do it for me on this mailbag Part
two, slash Backlash previewing predictions again. Tomorrow is the event, and I
probably will not be watching it live. I've got so much damn yard work.
I mean so much yardwork. I'm trying to grow grass. I'm trying
to you know, we might be putting a fence in. We're trying to
do some mulch. We're trying to paint, We're trying like all this stuff,
you know. So just it's just it's crazy, right. So there's
just no way I'm gonna be able to watch it live. I'll try to
stay off social social media during it because I don't want to ruin the outcomes.
But I will maybe try to do a review show tomorrow if I can
sneak it in throughout the day while I'm working, maybe I'll do that because
it's going to be a three hour plus show. Maybe I'll try to sneak
it in and then do a review show tomorrow night fingers crossed. But you
guys know how it is when I say that, then I don't you know,
you don't get a review show for like two days, right, So
I'll do my best and we'll see what happens. But everyone enjoy the pl
e enjoy backlash. If you want to go AD free and also get access
to the Discord server with all the other patrons, you get that at every
single level at the Patreon exclusive site. So check out patreon dot com,
slash wwe podcast. If you want access to the Discord server, it's there,
and if you don't have it, you can message me directly in Discord.
I will send it to you and you can get in and chat with
all the other patrons. It's been a blast there. I know you guys
are very active there during events that it's cool to see, especially during PLS.
You can also go to Apple and get an AD free subscription there.
Both Patreon and Apple offer AD free seven day free trials. So that'll do
it for me tonight, guys. I'll be back hopefully fingers crossed tomorrow night
with a Backlash review. If not, you guys know, Sunday for sure
will be the weekend review slash Backlash review. But we will see because I'm
also trying to sync up with somebody who's attending live Alex the French Guy.
But my schedule is so difficult and unpredictable that I don't want to have my
co host weight on, you know, wait on the line, and I'm
not there and I got other stuff going on. So we'll see. I
might not have a co host. I might stay tuned. That'll do for
me. Take care, everybody, Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast.
Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss a show,
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we'll see you next time.