Official 2025 Royal Rumble Review & Reaction

<v Speaker 1>This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to
<v Speaker 1>the WWE podcast show.
<v Speaker 2>The one that Everybody wants Me got.
<v Speaker 3>Fore sixteen said, just Gi, your ass is my arm.
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<v Speaker 4>Well, Harry, are everybody past the Royal Rumble? Our questions
<v Speaker 4>about the Royal Rumble have been answered, for better or worse.
<v Speaker 4>We're gonna go through all of the results that happened
<v Speaker 4>last night in Indianapolis, Indiana. Got some mixed reviews, as
<v Speaker 4>you'd imagine for myself, I know from any of you
<v Speaker 4>very mixed reaction. But what pl doesn't have a mixed
<v Speaker 4>reaction and what results could there have been for the
<v Speaker 4>Women's and Men's World Rumble in which you wouldn't have complaints?
<v Speaker 4>The answer is there is no such thing like the
<v Speaker 4>limit does not exist there. But we're gonna go through
<v Speaker 4>it and I'll give you my thoughts which you may
<v Speaker 4>or may not disagree with. But before we get to
<v Speaker 4>any of that, I want to welcome to new patrons
<v Speaker 4>who have joined us over on Patreon. Several of you
<v Speaker 4>have over the last day or so, and I want
<v Speaker 4>to give a shout out to Budgie Smuggler I'm not
<v Speaker 4>sure if that's one of those fake names.
<v Speaker 5>I don't think it is.
<v Speaker 4>If not a cool name, rohanth rowanth Rowanth, I think
<v Speaker 4>I got that right, Amber, Amber, Cheryl, and Alex Blundell.
<v Speaker 4>Thank you all for joining us over on Patreon, and
<v Speaker 4>I hope you get your ad free experience that you
<v Speaker 4>were looking for and the exclusive after Dark show. If
<v Speaker 4>you got on the NXT Plus and Higher, you got
<v Speaker 4>that NXT or I'm sorry, you got the the after
<v Speaker 4>Dark show done by Luis every single week that is
<v Speaker 4>getting rave reviews, and that's exclusive to those Tears and
<v Speaker 4>Higher of course, So let's just first of all, get
<v Speaker 4>the elephant out of the room. If this is an elephant.
<v Speaker 4>Maybe it's just my own ego, but I totally bombed
<v Speaker 4>the men's Royal Rumble. I said there was no way
<v Speaker 4>jay Usa is gonna win. I was wrong, as is
<v Speaker 4>very often here on this show, but I was wrong
<v Speaker 4>about Juso. I was also wrong about the women's rumble winner,
<v Speaker 4>although Charlotte was a close second for me. We'll dive
<v Speaker 4>into the men's rumble in just a little while, but
<v Speaker 4>we'll start we'll start with the women's right, We'll start
<v Speaker 4>with the match that we all kind of knew was
<v Speaker 4>going to open the show. Anytime there's a men's and
<v Speaker 4>women's equivalent match, the women are usually going to go first.
<v Speaker 4>I don't know if they've ever gone last, other than
<v Speaker 4>WrestleMania thirty five with Becky and Charlotte and Rona Ralsey,
<v Speaker 4>but certainly this was one that had some kind of
<v Speaker 4>more controversy around it than even I think the Jay
<v Speaker 4>Uso win in a lot of ways. But before we
<v Speaker 4>get to the Charlotte victory, we had some fun moments
<v Speaker 4>in this matchup. No, I'm not going to go through
<v Speaker 4>every single elimination or every single entrant, you guys know,
<v Speaker 4>I'm going to hit the highlights here, which for me,
<v Speaker 4>the first thing that pops into my mind is Jordan Grace. Right,
<v Speaker 4>she is just a monster, and she's so small, yet
<v Speaker 4>her frame is incredibly muscular. She is now with we.
<v Speaker 4>She's not part of T and A anymore. From what
<v Speaker 4>I understand, they made that. I think they made it
<v Speaker 4>clear on the broadcast too. So Jordan Grace with the
<v Speaker 4>spot on Piper Niven, I mean, my god, just that's
<v Speaker 4>in me at least double her body weight doing that.
<v Speaker 4>You know it was a fire and carry slam or.
<v Speaker 4>I might get the movement name the move wrong, but
<v Speaker 4>the results the same. She put Piper Kniven on her
<v Speaker 4>shoulders and then drove her to the mat and there
<v Speaker 4>was so much force that it actually forced Jordan Grace
<v Speaker 4>to be ricocheted off of the body of Piper Niven.
<v Speaker 4>Incredible and that was a holy s moment and deservingly so.
<v Speaker 4>Now we've seen women do this before. We've seen, you know,
<v Speaker 4>we've seen Rhea Ripley do things with Nya and Jacks
<v Speaker 4>that are pretty impressive given the size difference. We've seen
<v Speaker 4>Bianca bell Air do her finish to Piper Niven as well,
<v Speaker 4>and that's pretty damn impressive. But the size difference between
<v Speaker 4>Jordan Grace and Piper Kniven was probably the most striking,
<v Speaker 4>just incredible. So I expect big things from her. If
<v Speaker 4>they're gonna put her on a full time basis, I'm
<v Speaker 4>not sure, but she could do big things, no doubt
<v Speaker 4>about it. Now the other spot, is it a potential
<v Speaker 4>Beyonca He'll turn here where she gets jealous of Naomi
<v Speaker 4>reuniting with Was it Jordan Grace?
<v Speaker 5>I think it was? Uh? Why is it?
<v Speaker 4>Why is it something that that Naomi's not able to do.
<v Speaker 4>If you're inn a tag team, you're not in a relationship.
<v Speaker 4>You know, it's it's most of the time strictly business.
<v Speaker 4>Why is Bianca acting jealous as if Naomi's not permitted
<v Speaker 4>to do that and hug somebody else?
<v Speaker 5>What?
<v Speaker 4>No one's even talking about this, But I'm not quite
<v Speaker 4>understanding what grounds that Bianca Bella has to stand here,
<v Speaker 4>as if she's confused in playing the jealous psycho girlfriend role.
<v Speaker 4>On top of that, not only are you in a
<v Speaker 4>tag team, but also it's in a match that it's
<v Speaker 4>every woman for herself, so you're gonna also get angry
<v Speaker 4>in a match in which you know, I mean, like,
<v Speaker 4>did you see the double insanity here? I don't understand
<v Speaker 4>that whatever, But I thought this was a match that
<v Speaker 4>I know a lot of people kind of crapped on
<v Speaker 4>because of the finish, but it had us moments on
<v Speaker 4>top of yes, the return of Nikki. Yeah, I don't
<v Speaker 4>care about that, although we will talk about it. Of
<v Speaker 4>Alexa Bliss and might arguably want to be one of
<v Speaker 4>the biggest pops of the night. Now I'll have to here,
<v Speaker 4>you know, get some notes from some of you who went,
<v Speaker 4>and I know there were some of you, and I'm
<v Speaker 4>interested to hear if indeed Alexa Bliss got the biggest
<v Speaker 4>pop of the night or one of I would think, yes,
<v Speaker 4>seeing her back was cool, you know, and seeing her
<v Speaker 4>back in a way that's paying tribute to Bray Wyatt
<v Speaker 4>Wyndham Rotunda is absolutely cool to see too, you know.
<v Speaker 4>Still carrying Lily is that the name of the doll?
<v Speaker 4>It's been so long and kind of an updated version
<v Speaker 4>of her dark character. Crowd loved it. She seemed excited
<v Speaker 4>to be back. The question is was this a one
<v Speaker 4>off or was it something of Okay, I'm back for
<v Speaker 4>you know, full time now. I don't know. I'm not sure.
<v Speaker 4>But she looked like she never had a kid. I mean,
<v Speaker 4>it's incredible. She just she popped out another human being
<v Speaker 4>and it looks like she didn't even eat breakfast, you know,
<v Speaker 4>so krudos to her. And she looked good in there.
<v Speaker 4>The crowd was absolutely behind her and it was a
<v Speaker 4>fun moment. And I know that during her entrance, Cole
<v Speaker 4>was pretending to be played in the role also of
<v Speaker 4>the WWE fans online and if if we can retire
<v Speaker 4>one phrase on top of the what chance. Maybe here's
<v Speaker 4>what we can also add to that. Can we also
<v Speaker 4>add to that list the term dirt sheets? What exactly
<v Speaker 4>are the dirt sheets?
<v Speaker 5>Wade?
<v Speaker 4>That's an outdated term that needs to be retired. Do
<v Speaker 4>you just mean online?
<v Speaker 5>Is that what you mean?
<v Speaker 4>There's no like these these websites that are underground news
<v Speaker 4>information rumor like those sites don't exist anymore, or if
<v Speaker 4>they do, no one's paying attention. So what you really
<v Speaker 4>mean is what people were talking about online, what most
<v Speaker 4>people were talking about, the trends you're seeing. How is
<v Speaker 4>that dirt sheets? I mean, that's just social media? I mean,
<v Speaker 4>is that the term you're using now? I guess it's
<v Speaker 4>supposed to be derogatory towards the fans that think they
<v Speaker 4>know everything. That's just kind of a catch all phrase.
<v Speaker 4>Is anytime that the rumors are wrong, it's dirt sheets,
<v Speaker 4>And anytime they're right, you know someone's in the company
<v Speaker 4>leaking things.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>Also, Triple H took a shot at the media too
<v Speaker 4>during the post press conference, and he's talking about how,
<v Speaker 4>you know, you know, how these media out lets, some
<v Speaker 4>mediault's feel like they know what we're gonna do. And
<v Speaker 4>this guy talk to this guy who talked to a
<v Speaker 4>source who talked to something, and he's trying to play
<v Speaker 4>off like and it's like, actually, bro, like, there are
<v Speaker 4>a lot of credible a lot of credible sources out
<v Speaker 4>there that you do have leaks in the company, you
<v Speaker 4>do have moles in the company that are still there,
<v Speaker 4>and a lot of leaks that come out are often true.
<v Speaker 4>So I don't know what it is. They just really
<v Speaker 4>took a shot at the inner community, which is really
<v Speaker 4>just everyone. By the way, being on the internet is
<v Speaker 4>no longer a niche thing. These terms that they're using
<v Speaker 4>are acting like it's the mid nineties and you know
<v Speaker 4>your friend down the street has the Internet and you
<v Speaker 4>don't yet, or you still have dial up and your
<v Speaker 4>friend has broadband. Remember Roadrunner? Anybody have Roadrunner up here
<v Speaker 4>in the Northeast when that was the thing, And you know,
<v Speaker 4>it's this kind of like, oh wow, what did you
<v Speaker 4>hear online? Did you see this website? Those things don't
<v Speaker 4>exist anymore. Everyone has the Internet all the time in
<v Speaker 4>their pocket, every day, every second of every day. So this,
<v Speaker 4>you know, this idea that being in the rumor mill
<v Speaker 4>or you just trying to talk about rumors that are
<v Speaker 4>going around is somehow being a smart mark or whatever. No,
<v Speaker 4>that's just that's just your general audience.
<v Speaker 5>That's it.
<v Speaker 4>That's just everyone that encapsulates everyone who the show. I
<v Speaker 4>don't know who you think you're targeting anymore, some fourteen
<v Speaker 4>year old geek that lives in his mom's basement and
<v Speaker 4>thinks he knows everything about wrestling. Is Is that the
<v Speaker 4>target audience that you think you have that you are
<v Speaker 4>slamming is that? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that demographic is
<v Speaker 4>non existent. Okay, anyway, beyond the kind of jab at
<v Speaker 4>wrestling fans just generally and their outdated uce of terms,
<v Speaker 4>Alexi Bliss's moment was a lot of fun. Charlotte coming
<v Speaker 4>out was underwhelming as expected people.
<v Speaker 5>And I say this respectfully to.
<v Speaker 4>Charlotte, and I know a lot of people just don't
<v Speaker 4>want to see Charlotte are over her, and I understand
<v Speaker 4>that much like Becky Lynch to me, not all. I mean, yes,
<v Speaker 4>I have respect for them and everything they've done. I
<v Speaker 4>don't need to see them anymore.
<v Speaker 5>And I don't mean.
<v Speaker 4>That in you were terrible, You're not needed or you know,
<v Speaker 4>or you're you wouldn't add value to the product. They
<v Speaker 4>should say, but you've done it all. We've seen you
<v Speaker 4>as champion six hundred and forty four times, like you,
<v Speaker 4>chasing a championship is no longer exciting. That died a
<v Speaker 4>long time ago. You've made event in WrestleMania. You've been
<v Speaker 4>in Hell in a Cell matches, You've been in women
<v Speaker 4>the Money the Bank, Women's Ladder matches, You've been in
<v Speaker 4>every conceivable championship match. You've won every conceivable championship other
<v Speaker 4>than the new ones they created with women's in her
<v Speaker 4>continent in US. Sure, like to me, if Charlotte retired tomorrow,
<v Speaker 4>I would say, job, well done, cool man, like that's you.
<v Speaker 5>That's what I would say.
<v Speaker 4>I don't need to see Charlotte anymore. All the time
<v Speaker 4>she was away, I was talking about her because I
<v Speaker 4>was predicting her to come back and come back, and
<v Speaker 4>it was like two years. Like she took to come
<v Speaker 4>back because she got a new face on top of
<v Speaker 4>a new knee and took some time off. And good
<v Speaker 4>for her, but her winning the Rumble first of all,
<v Speaker 4>sure add it to the list of accolades. It really
<v Speaker 4>does nothing to help her. This is really all designed.
<v Speaker 4>I hope to help Tiffany Stratton because if Charlotte wins
<v Speaker 4>the championship here at WrestleMania, no one is going to care.
<v Speaker 4>Charlotte is playing the heel in this one too. If anybody,
<v Speaker 4>if WWE thinks anything else, they are fooling themselves. Charlotte
<v Speaker 4>will get booed because still after many years, people still
<v Speaker 4>do not want to see Charlotte as champion because they
<v Speaker 4>know that they've seen that movie before on repeat. I
<v Speaker 4>really don't think anybody wants to see Charlotte in a
<v Speaker 4>championship match, much less win the thing.
<v Speaker 5>Now.
<v Speaker 4>On the plus side, Tiffany Stratton's going to get a
<v Speaker 4>nice rub with a great match with Charlotte. I do
<v Speaker 4>believe these two are gonna have a hell of a match.
<v Speaker 4>Is this all designed to put Tiffany Stratton over and
<v Speaker 4>retain the championship at WrestleMania. Probably? Probably, although we have
<v Speaker 4>a long road to get there. Don't forget WrestleMania, guys,
<v Speaker 4>is like third week of April this year, latest I
<v Speaker 4>can ever remember it being. So we've got a long
<v Speaker 4>journey to get there, a lot of promos, a lot
<v Speaker 4>of twists and turns, maybe a lot of additions or
<v Speaker 4>subtractions to the match. Injury who knows. But if the
<v Speaker 4>match were tomorrow, I think that the fans would boost Charlotte,
<v Speaker 4>cheer Tiffany Stratton. They'd have it a good match. Charlotte
<v Speaker 4>would try to cheat to win, maybe her dad's at ringside,
<v Speaker 4>I mean, who knows, And she ends up losing to
<v Speaker 4>Tiffany Stratton, goes back into her whole of hiding for
<v Speaker 4>six months and yeah, and kind of slowly comes back
<v Speaker 4>in and out of wrestling. I don't need Charlotte full time.
<v Speaker 4>She is one of the greatest in ring women's wrestlers
<v Speaker 4>that He's ever had. Despite what you may think of
<v Speaker 4>being bored of her character, and her character has been
<v Speaker 4>played out in every conceivable way.
<v Speaker 5>I hate to say.
<v Speaker 4>Her career is over. Obviously, I can't tell her that.
<v Speaker 4>Wwe can't even really tell her that. The only person
<v Speaker 4>that really would tell Charlotte that her career is over
<v Speaker 4>is herself, right, But I think I maybe I'm wrong.
<v Speaker 4>Maybe there's some of you out there who disagree with me.
<v Speaker 4>But with Charlotte here, it's not a signal we're moving forward.
<v Speaker 4>It's a signal that for the women's division, we haven't
<v Speaker 4>found anyone that can compete to the star level of
<v Speaker 4>Charlotte yet we haven't found her replacement yet because if
<v Speaker 4>they did, they wouldn't need Charlotte to come back and
<v Speaker 4>win the rumble the women's on the match. Other than
<v Speaker 4>that it was okay, I didn't love it. I thought
<v Speaker 4>it was fine. No returns of Becky, which I wasn't
<v Speaker 4>said about. I feel the same way about Becky Lynch
<v Speaker 4>by the way. I know she didn't appear, but with
<v Speaker 4>Becky Lynch as she retired tomorrow, I know. I look,
<v Speaker 4>I know many of you love Becky, and I'm not
<v Speaker 4>disrespecting Becky, just me personally. If she were to retire tomorrow,
<v Speaker 4>stand up, I'd give her her flowers. I really would
<v Speaker 4>hell of a run. But thank you, and you know,
<v Speaker 4>thank you and good night. That's what That's what I
<v Speaker 4>would like to say, because I have no interest in
<v Speaker 4>nobody's missing Becky. Most fans are you don't hearing Becky.
<v Speaker 4>We want Becky like I'm not hearing that either. What
<v Speaker 4>people really wanted in that match, really wanted is what
<v Speaker 4>we didn't get in number thirty. Now people still cheered
<v Speaker 4>for Nicki Bella, which is really surprising to me. She
<v Speaker 4>got a mildly warm response, But everybody. Everyone was waiting
<v Speaker 4>to explode for aj Lee, everyone, and it was highly
<v Speaker 4>disappointing that she wasn't there now. Alexa Bliss certainly helped.
<v Speaker 4>She was a genuine surprise for a lot of people.
<v Speaker 4>Cool and I hope that she sticks around for a while.
<v Speaker 4>But the return that everybody really, I think was looking
<v Speaker 4>for was aj Lee. That's what they wanted, and we
<v Speaker 4>didn't get it. Now, could we still get it in
<v Speaker 4>some kind of weird match with Punk. Yeah, we could
<v Speaker 4>Punk and Seth versus you know, or other Punk and
<v Speaker 4>aj versus Seth and Becky. That's been a match that's
<v Speaker 4>been discussed for a couple of years now. It's possible.
<v Speaker 4>It's possible. I don't know if aj has any interest
<v Speaker 4>in wrestling anymore, though she is in such high demand.
<v Speaker 5>It's wild. It's why she is.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, I've never in at least in the women's division.
<v Speaker 4>I've never encountered such an anticipated return on the women's
<v Speaker 4>side of things over a sustained number of years. So
<v Speaker 4>it was highly disappointing. I don't need to see, and
<v Speaker 4>didn't need to see, and didn't want to see Nicky
<v Speaker 4>Bella doing her stripper pole dance at the top of
<v Speaker 4>the entrance way, you know, on her way to the ring.
<v Speaker 4>I just I just don't care about any of that,
<v Speaker 4>and I never did. I you know, she's a diva
<v Speaker 4>in a woman's world and that's what she's always been
<v Speaker 4>to me.
<v Speaker 5>Just I don't know.
<v Speaker 4>But anyway, having her in John Cena backstage must have
<v Speaker 4>been fun. Huh. No tension there. I mean, maybe they're
<v Speaker 4>on Great Terrors, that's more likely than not, but I'm
<v Speaker 4>imagining it was still kind of awkward. If you know,
<v Speaker 4>John Cena and Nikki crosspaths. I'm sure they did somehow,
<v Speaker 4>some way. So that said, the women's rumble was was okay,
<v Speaker 4>it was it was fun. I'd give it a C plus.
<v Speaker 4>And with Charlotte winning, didn't it to me? It didn't
<v Speaker 4>certainly didn't help the women's match, but I don't think
<v Speaker 4>it didn't devastate it either.
<v Speaker 5>Charlotte is a choice.
<v Speaker 4>She's a safe choice from the perspective of, you know,
<v Speaker 4>you've got a couple boxes checked. With her number one
<v Speaker 4>star power, she's right at the top of the list.
<v Speaker 4>Number two in ring ability check, right, number three credibility check.
<v Speaker 4>She's got the credentials, the problem is she's just she's
<v Speaker 4>worn out or welcome so much. Here's a question, has
<v Speaker 4>anyone men or women, I don't care what era. Maybe
<v Speaker 4>I'm over dramatizing this. Has there ever been a star
<v Speaker 4>the caliber of Charlotte that has taken a couple years
<v Speaker 4>off and come back to a less interested audience than
<v Speaker 4>what she got last night? Now it wasn't quiet, but
<v Speaker 4>the fans are like, yeah, hey, Charlotte, good to see.
<v Speaker 4>Uh cool, you're back. All right, now, go on in there,
<v Speaker 4>you little rascal and get eliminated. You know, don't win it. No, no, no, no,
<v Speaker 4>that's not what we're talking We're talking about you adding
<v Speaker 4>some star power, maybe coming down to the final three
<v Speaker 4>or four, and I say, you're just gonna get knocked
<v Speaker 4>over the top, right, you go have fun, kid. No,
<v Speaker 4>that's not what happened. That's what should have happened, I think.
<v Speaker 4>But it's for Charlotte Flair. I mean, she's tried playing
<v Speaker 4>the baby face. It's not gonna work. So definitely a
<v Speaker 4>heel here. And yeah, so that was not a fun win,
<v Speaker 4>but I know why they did it. And yeah, so
<v Speaker 4>all right, let's move on. I've already spent twenty minutes
<v Speaker 4>talking about the women's match. I didn't talk about every
<v Speaker 4>little looking cranny, every little elimination, every you know, all
<v Speaker 4>all the interactions. I know there's things I probably missed,
<v Speaker 4>but I hit on the big items, at least with
<v Speaker 4>the women's rumble. So Dy and Motor City Machine Guns
<v Speaker 4>best of three falls for the tag team titles. Dy
<v Speaker 4>get the first fall, and then Motorcitty Machine Guns get
<v Speaker 4>the second fall as expected, and then Dy end up
<v Speaker 4>defeating Alex Shelley and Crisaban in fourteen minutes to retain
<v Speaker 4>the tag team titles. That's because the Street Profits showed
<v Speaker 4>up at ringside wearing hoodies. Ford distracted the referee while
<v Speaker 4>Dawkins hit Shelley with a crutch, and then Diy hit
<v Speaker 4>Meet in the middle on Shelley and then Champa pinned him.
<v Speaker 4>So profits are back.
<v Speaker 5>Cool.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, that is kind of a good thing. Profits
<v Speaker 4>need an identity, they need to do something different, and
<v Speaker 4>maybe this is the start of it. So alrighty, let's
<v Speaker 4>go Kevin Owens Cody Rhodes Ladder match for the WWE Championship.
<v Speaker 4>Good I mean not good, really good match here. It
<v Speaker 4>exceeded even my expectations. Maybe that's because of my disdain
<v Speaker 4>for Cody. This was a long match, though, twenty five
<v Speaker 4>minutes deservingly so this program has delivered on a lot
<v Speaker 4>of levels, and it was the outcome that we all saw.
<v Speaker 4>We all saw Cody Rhodes winning that. I don't think many,
<v Speaker 4>if anybody, was seriously with a straight face, predicting that
<v Speaker 4>Cody Rhodes would drop it to Kevin Owens, you know,
<v Speaker 4>two months, three months out of WrestleMania, not gonna happen,
<v Speaker 4>but still fun, no interference, and that maybe a general
<v Speaker 4>theme throughout this entire pl is Yeah, there was no
<v Speaker 4>the lack of returns. And I know a lot of
<v Speaker 4>you say, oh, that's all you talk I don't talk
<v Speaker 4>about return Returns are one of the most crucial and
<v Speaker 4>exciting moments that professional wrestling can deliver. Pro wrestling is
<v Speaker 4>built one of the pillars, not all of them, of course,
<v Speaker 4>quality matches, presentation, promos, yeah, of course, but returns. There
<v Speaker 4>is nothing like the moment of return, like a return
<v Speaker 4>when the music hits. And that's what most people YouTube.
<v Speaker 4>People don't most people don't YouTube five star match with
<v Speaker 4>you know X and se whoever, it's the rock returns
<v Speaker 4>to stone Cold returns to the Undertaker returns.
<v Speaker 5>To like go and look, you know.
<v Speaker 4>So that may be, though on that same point, one
<v Speaker 4>of the themes here of just the Triple H era
<v Speaker 4>in general is he doesn't seem to be or this
<v Speaker 4>Maybe the the chips haven't fallen where they should and
<v Speaker 4>it's not all him, but his general theme for most
<v Speaker 4>ples that he's been in production of and been responsible
<v Speaker 4>for under his watch have not included so many returns
<v Speaker 4>that we expected them to have. Now he's given us
<v Speaker 4>c them Punk twice, Randy Orton right, Undertaker during some
<v Speaker 4>of these raws like yeah, okay, fine, I mean, I
<v Speaker 4>don't know, maybe we need to as fans start lowering
<v Speaker 4>our expectations from the return side of things or crazy interference,
<v Speaker 4>And maybe that's something that we need to do because
<v Speaker 4>every time that we decide collectively that all someone who's
<v Speaker 4>going to come in and interfere, there'd be a perfect
<v Speaker 4>time for a return, And then how often are we
<v Speaker 4>sitting here postpl including myself, going oh my god, yeah,
<v Speaker 4>no returns, no big where was this guy, this guy?
<v Speaker 5>Where is this guy?
<v Speaker 4>You know, I mean, go down the list for this
<v Speaker 4>pl e right, no Brock Although things seem darker for
<v Speaker 4>Brock as he was named I think exclusively in the
<v Speaker 4>lawsuit to sexual allegations law.
<v Speaker 5>So, uh, Brock is.
<v Speaker 4>Not looking good for Ustlemania. So but if you thought
<v Speaker 4>there was a small chance, then you were disappointed Brock
<v Speaker 4>was not there. We did not get aj Lee, which,
<v Speaker 4>as I mentioned earlier, really disappointed so many people. We
<v Speaker 4>did not get big E. Big E was one of
<v Speaker 4>the ones that you're thinking, all right, but he was
<v Speaker 4>part of the pre show and you're like, oh, well,
<v Speaker 4>I guess he still could But so no big E,
<v Speaker 4>he's out. There's another one, right, o Mass No O Moss.
<v Speaker 4>I know that he was rumored, and I know some
<v Speaker 4>of you are going, who cares? But he was another
<v Speaker 4>rumor that was floating around for days prior to the
<v Speaker 4>Royal Rumble, and you're thinking, well, you know, okay, O Moss,
<v Speaker 4>not exactly my favorite character, but you'd be a good
<v Speaker 4>person to put in the Royal Rumble. And that didn't happen.
<v Speaker 4>No Randy Orton and not just no Randy Orton in
<v Speaker 4>the Rumble, and even more importantly, no Randy Orton here
<v Speaker 4>during this match. And perhaps they did it to make
<v Speaker 4>sure that that Cody didn't look like he needed help.
<v Speaker 4>Probably if Randy was actually physically available to then the
<v Speaker 4>reason they didn't do it is to simply make sure
<v Speaker 4>that you don't have Randy Orton, make have it look
<v Speaker 4>like Cody needs Randy as a crutch, you know, because
<v Speaker 4>he's gonna be talking Kevin Owens and he didn't show up. No,
<v Speaker 4>Becky Lynch, And we'll get to the biggest non appearance
<v Speaker 4>in the men's rumble in just a minute here. But
<v Speaker 4>the match on its own, you know, standing on its
<v Speaker 4>own here, Cody and Kevin. I can't remember a ladder match,
<v Speaker 4>or a TLC match, or even a hardcore match in
<v Speaker 4>recent memory where I was sitting there going, oh my god.
<v Speaker 4>I was just I could feel what they were feeling,
<v Speaker 4>as close to feeling it as you can without actually
<v Speaker 4>doing that. Right, the ladder bumps they took, Oh my god,
<v Speaker 4>I was just cringing. Not in a bad way, not
<v Speaker 4>in a way that I was saying, oh my, you
<v Speaker 4>guys are idiots. No, just respect for both guys, yes,
<v Speaker 4>both guys. Respect. A transfer of pain, some kind of
<v Speaker 4>translucent pain that was able to come through my my
<v Speaker 4>computer screen and concern. That was the other thing. I'm
<v Speaker 4>sitting there going on wait for the ref to just
<v Speaker 4>stop the match. The bump, one of the two bumps
<v Speaker 4>really got me. One was a bump I've never seen,
<v Speaker 4>which was the one where Kevinoan's was slammed on the
<v Speaker 4>spine of the ladder. While it was it wasn't flat
<v Speaker 4>in the ring, you guys know what I'm talking about.
<v Speaker 4>It was on its side and they never bump on
<v Speaker 4>that side because of obvious reasons. It's just like landing
<v Speaker 4>on a metal rod.
<v Speaker 5>There's just no give.
<v Speaker 4>And yes, some of the rungs were worked, some of
<v Speaker 4>the supports were worked. They kick them off. Go and
<v Speaker 4>try that on your metal ladder and your garage.
<v Speaker 5>It ain't happening right.
<v Speaker 4>As light as the aluminum is, it is a tough
<v Speaker 4>material and you're not going to kick off a support
<v Speaker 4>beam like that. Like fine, they were worked, it is
<v Speaker 4>what it is. But the structure of the ladder is
<v Speaker 4>largely real because it has to be to support the
<v Speaker 4>weight of the wrestlers otherwise safety issues. So when Kevin
<v Speaker 4>landed on that, I'm laying there in my bed and
<v Speaker 4>I go, oh, my wife's like looking at me. You know,
<v Speaker 4>I'm trying not to wake up my kids, and I'm
<v Speaker 4>just like, oh my god, I just it's like groaning.
<v Speaker 4>And the other spot I was concerned about, and this,
<v Speaker 4>there's others. Two actually two others now that I'm thinking
<v Speaker 4>of it.
<v Speaker 5>The suplex.
<v Speaker 4>That Kevin Owens gave to Cody off the second or
<v Speaker 4>second or top rope onto the ladder where both got
<v Speaker 4>you know, they had to stop the match, and that
<v Speaker 4>man have been a legit spot where they had to
<v Speaker 4>stop and make sure both guys were okay. That was nasty.
<v Speaker 4>And then of course the finish bump which had Kevin
<v Speaker 4>Owens almost being piled driven through the ladder that was
<v Speaker 4>outside the ring by the announced desk, and he was
<v Speaker 4>driven through it. I mean, in a I don't know
<v Speaker 4>how you can't practice this. It was just divine intervention.
<v Speaker 4>Kevin hit it perfectly, so you hit the weak spot,
<v Speaker 4>so it took the fall for you. But his head
<v Speaker 4>went perfectly between the you know, a set of rungs
<v Speaker 4>and then nearly spiked his head on the floor. I mean, holy,
<v Speaker 4>you know, just damn.
<v Speaker 5>Damn.
<v Speaker 4>I was fearing for the safety of both men.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>I don't like Cody, we all know that. But that
<v Speaker 4>doesn't mean I'm you know, I take the humanity out
<v Speaker 4>of it.
<v Speaker 1>That.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, I'm I'm not that.
<v Speaker 4>I'm not that.
<v Speaker 5>Soulless.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, I can differentiate between pro wrestling character and human being, right,
<v Speaker 4>So I was genuinely concerned for Cody as well, but
<v Speaker 4>Kevin took some nasty ass bumps and credit to both
<v Speaker 4>of them. Fun matchup. The one thing that I would say,
<v Speaker 4>and this is a running theme, but I'll say it
<v Speaker 4>because it continues to exist, Cody Rhodes finish is sold
<v Speaker 4>and number you guys know, it looks like crap because
<v Speaker 4>it's preposterous that there's any any kind of pain being
<v Speaker 4>delivered to the person who's taking it, because clearly you're
<v Speaker 4>the one just taking a back bump.
<v Speaker 5>Anyway, the.
<v Speaker 4>Spot with Cody Rhodes hitting crossroads on Kevin Owens, first
<v Speaker 4>of all, the crowd barely reacted because we're all educated
<v Speaker 4>to not be excited by one finish anymore. It takes
<v Speaker 4>three to four. Yeah, this wasn't a match that you
<v Speaker 4>could end with pinfall, but still, hitting a finish in
<v Speaker 4>a ladder match should allow you enough time to climb
<v Speaker 4>the ladder well. His finish was so weak, and it's
<v Speaker 4>been diminished to just such a level that after Cody
<v Speaker 4>hit it, Kevin's got to Kevin Owens got to his
<v Speaker 4>feet before Cody did. That's where we're at, guys.
<v Speaker 5>I mean what so.
<v Speaker 4>I just had to put that in there because it
<v Speaker 4>continues to be just an absolute mess of finishers. So anyway,
<v Speaker 4>really good match, no interference. Sammy's Ain was there, but
<v Speaker 4>he didn't have any impact really on the match. That
<v Speaker 4>could still lead to Kevin Owens getting frustrated and turning
<v Speaker 4>on Sammy for the eighteenth time because sir, sure Sammy
<v Speaker 4>didn't turn on anybody or hit anybody by the accident
<v Speaker 4>or have any real impact. But that could also be
<v Speaker 4>something that pisses off Kevin is in action is still
<v Speaker 4>in action. Therefore, you didn't do what I told you,
<v Speaker 4>and now you're going to pay the price. I think
<v Speaker 4>that's probably where they're they're going to go if you
<v Speaker 4>are indeed going for a Kevin Owens and Sammy's Ain
<v Speaker 4>program again. Now, Kevin Owens went for a package pile driver.
<v Speaker 4>I thought he was going to hit it. He didn't,
<v Speaker 4>so that was wrong about that.
<v Speaker 5>But a really.
<v Speaker 4>Physical could you imagine just for a moment being Kevin
<v Speaker 4>Owens's body waking up this morning. I mean, sure, he's
<v Speaker 4>a wrestler, he sore and in pain all the time
<v Speaker 4>by default, but this this just like rearranged your spine, man,
<v Speaker 4>man oh man. He was also bleeding on top of it,
<v Speaker 4>so yeah, a little side note, Kevin Owens was bleeding,
<v Speaker 4>all right. So let's get to the Men's Royal Rumble match, which,
<v Speaker 4>as many matches do. In the Royal Rumble, pl e
<v Speaker 4>have ebbs and flows and stories that start and stop
<v Speaker 4>and themes and you know, alliances that start and stuff.
<v Speaker 4>It's just the theme. And I think this this matchup
<v Speaker 4>started out fun with Raymisterio and Penta.
<v Speaker 5>Fun.
<v Speaker 4>It's a matchup that I think a lot of us
<v Speaker 4>have maybe dreamed about. It is, in theory, a dream match.
<v Speaker 4>If you never watched any promotion other than WW though,
<v Speaker 4>you'd be like, who the hell is Penta? You know,
<v Speaker 4>you wouldn't even know who he is. But crowd reacted
<v Speaker 4>very nicely for him and Raymisterium Penza had a fun
<v Speaker 4>interaction back and forth for a little bit, the handshake,
<v Speaker 4>the mutual respect which made sense, and then Chad Gable
<v Speaker 4>comes out Carmela Hayes comes out, Santo Saskeabar comes out,
<v Speaker 4>So it was like the third luchador here, so very
<v Speaker 4>lucidor heavy first half of this match, and then Otis
<v Speaker 4>shook things up and he ended up who do you eliminate?
<v Speaker 5>He put Gable in.
<v Speaker 4>A torture rack, and Gable and Hayes tried to toss
<v Speaker 4>Otis over but that didn't work. And then bron Breaker, Okay, boy,
<v Speaker 4>bron Breaker had a night did he not one of
<v Speaker 4>the more viral c crips? Yeah, clips of the whole
<v Speaker 4>night Speed some YouTuber. I've never heard of him in
<v Speaker 4>my life, I don't. I do remember Randy Orton rk
<v Speaker 4>owing him now that they mentioned that, that's like one
<v Speaker 4>of his resume points. It's like it's like a graphic.
<v Speaker 4>It's one of those accomplishments that they, you know, put
<v Speaker 4>on the graphic when you're being introduced. Somehow, being rkaod
<v Speaker 4>by Randy Orton in WrestleMania is an accomplishment. It's something
<v Speaker 4>you put on your resume. So that was funny, But
<v Speaker 4>so it's the only time I even thought about it
<v Speaker 4>other than that. If you didn't tell me that, I'd go,
<v Speaker 4>who the hell is this guy? I just like a
<v Speaker 4>lot of the current musicians. And yeah, I'm a millennial,
<v Speaker 4>But I don't know. Maybe it is my age or
<v Speaker 4>the fact that I just have other things that are
<v Speaker 4>more important in my life that I focus on, other
<v Speaker 4>than who's the top YouTube star or who's who's the
<v Speaker 4>top R and B star. I that's that stuff I
<v Speaker 4>don't really care about, right per se. And perhaps it's
<v Speaker 4>partially I don't care partially of the fact that I've
<v Speaker 4>got other things in my life that are far more important. However,
<v Speaker 4>certainly insanely successful star on YouTube thirty some million subscribers,
<v Speaker 4>so kudos to him.
<v Speaker 5>But but but.
<v Speaker 4>Bron Breaker doing what he did to I was at
<v Speaker 4>I show Speed, I Speed something like that. Whatever his
<v Speaker 4>name is, Oh my god, you know that. I love that.
<v Speaker 4>I doubt I show speed, Yeah, I show Speed is
<v Speaker 4>his name. I very much doubt that he was meant
<v Speaker 4>to be hit that hard or because you're risking injury
<v Speaker 4>at that point, and he actually had an injury to
<v Speaker 4>his leg. I mean his skin was torn from his calf.
<v Speaker 4>They showed something after the match where his skin was
<v Speaker 4>actually like ripped. I don't know how that happened from
<v Speaker 4>the spear. But it did. But oh my god, that
<v Speaker 4>is what I want. The celebrities that come into wrestling
<v Speaker 4>who don't take it seriously, I want that to happen
<v Speaker 4>to them. That's the bumps do you want you guys
<v Speaker 4>want to get into pro wrestling ring? Okay, here's the
<v Speaker 4>gatekeeping activity. Bron Breaker is gonna spear you, and if
<v Speaker 4>you don't die, you're in. Yeah, broad Breaker, My god.
<v Speaker 5>Just just literally I haven't seen.
<v Speaker 4>That was a better spear, maybe than any spear I've
<v Speaker 4>ever seen in bro wrestling. And the reason is because
<v Speaker 4>it was real. It wasn't really working together. It was
<v Speaker 4>just bron Breaker flattening this kid through the earth. Rumor
<v Speaker 4>has it he's still plummeting to the center.
<v Speaker 5>Of the earth.
<v Speaker 4>We'll have to check on that. I think that there
<v Speaker 4>might be a news update. I mean, he got driven
<v Speaker 4>through the ground.
<v Speaker 5>Oh my god.
<v Speaker 4>So you know, I don't know if it was planned
<v Speaker 4>to be that, I doubt it, But if it was,
<v Speaker 4>if it was planned to be like that, then I
<v Speaker 4>give I show speed credit for taking a bump like that.
<v Speaker 4>I really do as much as I'm you know, downplaying
<v Speaker 4>the fact that I don't know who he is, and
<v Speaker 4>all that doesn't doesn't negate the fact that if that
<v Speaker 4>was planned, I give him credit, all right, continuing, Jimmy
<v Speaker 4>Usso comes out, he's number ten andrade and then another
<v Speaker 4>side story that I this I was right about, and
<v Speaker 4>I'm glad I was, not because I can gloat about it,
<v Speaker 4>but more because it's something that is going to benefit
<v Speaker 4>him down the road. As Jacob Fatu at number twelve,
<v Speaker 4>Jacob Fatu, as I hoped and as I predicted, had
<v Speaker 4>a hell of a night. The crowd is, I mean,
<v Speaker 4>they are fully behind him at this point. I don't
<v Speaker 4>I don't care if he's with Solo, I don't care
<v Speaker 4>who he's with. He is going to get the support
<v Speaker 4>of the crowd. The crowd have now they've put their
<v Speaker 4>talents in him. They have identified their X star. Fans
<v Speaker 4>love that. Fans love that. It's yeah, it's kind of
<v Speaker 4>like Daniel Bryan in a way, although I'm certainly not
<v Speaker 4>the same dynamic with the underdog. Not that, but when
<v Speaker 4>the fans can find a star that they know is
<v Speaker 4>in the making and they see big money with therein
<v Speaker 4>and even Cole said, you know when Roman reigns and
<v Speaker 4>Fatu went face to face. Here's a future WrestleMania main
<v Speaker 4>event possible? Absolutely yeah, I mean so we'll see how
<v Speaker 4>fa Twu does. That was you know, I Fatu had
<v Speaker 4>a hell of a night, hell of a night. So
<v Speaker 4>one thing I will say, just overall about the match.
<v Speaker 4>We've got a lot more to go through here. But
<v Speaker 4>the the need and there needs to be some kind
<v Speaker 4>of different format, some kind of different template used because
<v Speaker 4>the template of throwing bombs, yeah yeah, yeah, who like
<v Speaker 4>the you throw a punch, then I throw a punch.
<v Speaker 4>After a standoff, you throw a punch, then I throw
<v Speaker 4>a punch. And the crowd got exhausted from that after
<v Speaker 4>about the fifth time everyone was using that formula. Have
<v Speaker 4>they ever have the wrestlers forgot about all? I don't know,
<v Speaker 4>a collar and elbow tie up? A collar and elbow
<v Speaker 4>tie up? Have they forgotten that they can still wrestle
<v Speaker 4>instead of delivering punches that have zero effect on your opponent.
<v Speaker 4>That and not only that, but the other I guess
<v Speaker 4>the only other format they used was when there was
<v Speaker 4>a standoff, the the you know who can punch faster
<v Speaker 4>and have no effect on my opponent. Nobody was selling
<v Speaker 4>any of the punches at all. It was just who
<v Speaker 4>can swing their arms faster but not hit their opponent.
<v Speaker 4>That's essentially what it was. I don't like that because
<v Speaker 4>it's such an exposure. When you're doing that and your
<v Speaker 4>head's not even moving, you're not selling anything. Or the
<v Speaker 4>bombs back and forth like it happened way too much,
<v Speaker 4>way too much. You can do a color double time,
<v Speaker 4>you could do off the rope. Somebody goes through a
<v Speaker 4>clothesline and then bam, you go into your sequence. You
<v Speaker 4>I mean, there's a million I don't know what it was.
<v Speaker 4>Everyone was just directed and anytime there was a standoff
<v Speaker 4>to do that exact spot the same way. But there
<v Speaker 4>there's your complaint for everybody that wants to grab.
<v Speaker 5>Onto I don't like wrestling.
<v Speaker 4>It's somebody on Spotify said that, No, he clearly doesn't
<v Speaker 4>like wrestling. I mean, do you know anyone that has
<v Speaker 4>done anything voluntarily for thirty years and not enjoyed what
<v Speaker 4>they were doing. I'm not saying, oh, I have worked
<v Speaker 4>at for thirty years, I don't like it. Of course
<v Speaker 4>we all have. Most of us don't like the jobs
<v Speaker 4>we are that we have to do. But I'm saying recreationally.
<v Speaker 4>This is a recreation for me. It's not a need.
<v Speaker 4>I love doing this. It'd be pretty silly and counter
<v Speaker 4>productive if I was to watch something that I choose
<v Speaker 4>to watch that I don't have to and then dedicate
<v Speaker 4>hours and hours a week, thousands of hours over my
<v Speaker 4>life to do this. That makes sense, But h okay,
<v Speaker 4>more to get to here, Lugwood Kaiser came in, and
<v Speaker 4>boy did he have a disappointing night, gets eliminated. I mean,
<v Speaker 4>Warlord Santina Morella time right, he didn't break a record,
<v Speaker 4>but it's kind of hard to break a record. I
<v Speaker 4>think Santina Morella may end up holding that record forever
<v Speaker 4>because you can't go in and out any quicker than
<v Speaker 4>Santina Morella did. I don't think it's humanly possible unless
<v Speaker 4>we're going to get into fractions of a second. I
<v Speaker 4>really don't know what you can. So I think Santino
<v Speaker 4>might hold that forever. But Kaiser got eliminated. For all
<v Speaker 4>the build that they've done and all the segments they've
<v Speaker 4>done with him and Gunther boy, I just that was disappointing.
<v Speaker 4>That was disappointing with Ludwig Kaiser. But okay, Miz comes out.
<v Speaker 4>Then we had say his name and he appears area
<v Speaker 4>is number fifteen. He appeared in the Rumble, as I've
<v Speaker 4>been saying for what six months, perfect spot for him
<v Speaker 4>the TNA World Champion. They did mention Nick Nemeath by
<v Speaker 4>name my e Dolf Ziggler. So that was interesting because
<v Speaker 4>it's in a different promotion. It just still feels weird.
<v Speaker 4>But I love this working relationship that they have. It's
<v Speaker 4>a great relationship for both parties. TNA will never be
<v Speaker 4>a threat to w WE, and it's a great way
<v Speaker 4>to also give exposure to the talent that are on
<v Speaker 4>TNA that you're like, oh wow, Joe Henry's there, let
<v Speaker 4>me go watch DNA. But the reaction he got was awesome.
<v Speaker 4>The crowd was just loving that.
<v Speaker 1>No.
<v Speaker 4>Number sixteen was Roman Reigns. The crowd pop pretty big
<v Speaker 4>for that. He spears the misz and that's when we
<v Speaker 4>had the standoff with the rains in Fatu. Then Drew
<v Speaker 4>McIntyre comes out, which, by the way, there's was this
<v Speaker 4>story about Drew where he got super pissed off after
<v Speaker 4>the Rumble.
<v Speaker 5>Legitimately, and I don't know.
<v Speaker 4>If this is a work shoot shooting a work whatever,
<v Speaker 4>seems to be real that he got really pissed after
<v Speaker 4>the rumble and left the arena early because he felt
<v Speaker 4>that guys that were in there were not doing what
<v Speaker 4>they were supposed to do and only worried about que
<v Speaker 4>quote unquote getting their s H I T in And
<v Speaker 4>then I don't know how true that is. There seems
<v Speaker 4>to be some truth to that. Given that, how do
<v Speaker 4>you work that into a story? You know, you can't
<v Speaker 4>If that's the narrative, you can't work into the story
<v Speaker 4>that Drew was angry. I'm Michael Cole talking about Drew
<v Speaker 4>left the arena early. There's reports he left early because
<v Speaker 4>he was angry that the wrestlers weren't doing what they
<v Speaker 4>were told to do from Triple H's script. So, uh,
<v Speaker 4>you know, Drew was mad because they weren't following that
<v Speaker 4>and they just wanted to get their moves in, right,
<v Speaker 4>can't do that, So more than likely it's probably real.
<v Speaker 5>All Right, Finn Balor.
<v Speaker 4>Comes out to absolutely no reaction. Finn Balor had nothing.
<v Speaker 4>I mean a lot of it did have to do
<v Speaker 4>with the fact that he changed his music and people
<v Speaker 4>were like, who the hell is this guy? So that
<v Speaker 4>didn't help but Finn balor Man. Even when they figured
<v Speaker 4>out who it was, they were like, oh oh, oh cool,
<v Speaker 4>hey it's Finn. I mean, but at this point, the
<v Speaker 4>fans are starting to lose their energy. And I'm sure
<v Speaker 4>that you international crowd, international fans that are just chomping
<v Speaker 4>at the bit or looking at this crowd in Indianapolis
<v Speaker 4>going oh my god, are they sleep? I actually enjoy
<v Speaker 4>it now. Is it have to do with me being
<v Speaker 4>from the US impartial to being from the US. Maybe
<v Speaker 4>a little bit of you know, patriotic pride, But more
<v Speaker 4>often than not, I want to pay attention what the
<v Speaker 4>hell's going on the ring, make my own judgments whether
<v Speaker 4>that's a good or bad thing. I also don't want
<v Speaker 4>to hear chants that have to me absolutely no meaning
<v Speaker 4>or that have nothing to do with what's going on
<v Speaker 4>in the ring. And the fans are just doing it
<v Speaker 4>for their own sake to see how loud they can be. Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>I'm good, I'm good with that. To me, I prefer
<v Speaker 4>US crowds, even Canadian crowds. You know, Canadian crowds are
<v Speaker 4>fun too. For all my listeners in Canada. I really
<v Speaker 4>enjoy you guys too. But when you go overseas. I'm
<v Speaker 4>sorry you guys, just it's just a difference in culture,
<v Speaker 4>which is all it is, and that's okay. But it's
<v Speaker 4>this crowd that just decides to, you know, chant and
<v Speaker 4>cheer for everything that has really all your sports chances
<v Speaker 4>you do that have nothing to what's going on in
<v Speaker 4>the ring is It's just it's distracting. I don't enjoy
<v Speaker 4>my sporting events like that. And that's just all personal preference.
<v Speaker 4>And I'm sure you guys hated the United States crowds,
<v Speaker 4>going what what are they doing?
<v Speaker 5>That's cool?
<v Speaker 4>Again, all depends on what you're used to and of
<v Speaker 4>course where you grow up and what you like. So
<v Speaker 4>personal preferences. Mine is the crowd that we had last
<v Speaker 4>night was good. I've certainly heard better. Not saying they
<v Speaker 4>were a you know, a perfect crowd by any means
<v Speaker 4>or some kind of template we should use going forward. No,
<v Speaker 4>they were quiet at times, but wanted to point that
<v Speaker 4>out that I'm thinking, my god, imagine the people in
<v Speaker 4>France that are coming up they got a was it
<v Speaker 4>something in Paris coming up this year in summer, at
<v Speaker 4>the summertime in the summer, They're thinking, oh my god,
<v Speaker 4>they're embarrassing themselves, right, okay, So Shinzkanakamura also comes out
<v Speaker 4>to almost no reaction, sadly. And then number twenty Jay Us,
<v Speaker 4>so we'll talk about him. He comes out and the
<v Speaker 4>returning AJ styles. That was fun. Seeing AJ back was good.
<v Speaker 4>I was happy he was back. I don't know again,
<v Speaker 4>if he's back full time, I would think he's back,
<v Speaker 4>at least on a television basis, maybe not on a
<v Speaker 4>house show basis. But seeing AJ back, remembering back in
<v Speaker 4>twenty sixteen, how he debuted all of his progress over
<v Speaker 4>the last nine years.
<v Speaker 5>Wow, nine years. It was fun.
<v Speaker 4>The fans were behind him and he and Fatu met
<v Speaker 4>in the middle of the ring.
<v Speaker 5>That was a cool moment.
<v Speaker 4>Number twenty two bron Strowman. They said it was his
<v Speaker 4>eighth rumble match. I was sitting there going what I
<v Speaker 4>was like, Really, I mean, I guess that's true. You know,
<v Speaker 4>they didn't never give him like a one on one match,
<v Speaker 4>so putting a huge guy like that in the rumble.
<v Speaker 5>Makes sense, all right.
<v Speaker 4>Number three twenty three John sena cole of course wedem'slf
<v Speaker 4>talking about the greatest of all time is here again.
<v Speaker 4>He declares it as if it's fact, it's of course
<v Speaker 4>not in its opinion. But we had number twenty four Punk,
<v Speaker 4>number twenty five Rollins. Everyone just kept, you know, standing
<v Speaker 4>there having standoffs, and the entrance ramp was four and
<v Speaker 4>a half miles long, so it took them a while
<v Speaker 4>to get to the actually inside the ring, and they
<v Speaker 4>all had their moments of staring off at each other,
<v Speaker 4>and they kept waiting, and they built the next guy
<v Speaker 4>coming out and the next guy coming out, and number
<v Speaker 4>twenty six was Dominic Mysterio. After they did break down though,
<v Speaker 4>by the way, punching kicks, you know, all the rest,
<v Speaker 4>Dominic came out and then Sammy Zay comes out hit
<v Speaker 4>Halluva kicks on Rollin's MacIntyre. The crowd was singing Sammy's song.
<v Speaker 4>Number twenty eight was Damien Priest, twenty nine was La Night,
<v Speaker 4>good reaction for him, and then number thirty Logan Paul.
<v Speaker 4>Good to see him in there. I gotta say, I mean,
<v Speaker 4>he just you see him and you just go, man,
<v Speaker 4>oh man, this guy, if he does this full time,
<v Speaker 4>love it or hate it, is going to be a
<v Speaker 4>top guy.
<v Speaker 5>He just is.
<v Speaker 4>So what happens here, well, interesting dynamics here. So here's
<v Speaker 4>what it is if you didn't watch or you just
<v Speaker 4>want to refresh of what happened. Okay, So we had Rainsy,
<v Speaker 4>Rollins hit Rains with a superkick. Rains moved closelined him,
<v Speaker 4>Rollins held onto the ropes, but then Punk pushed Rollins
<v Speaker 4>and Rains out to eliminate them both. Paul then eliminates Punk,
<v Speaker 4>and then Rollins and Punk fight on the floor. Hayman
<v Speaker 4>yelled at Rollins, who then stomped Rains on a piece
<v Speaker 4>of the ring steps. He also stomped him on the
<v Speaker 4>just on the floormat outside. I believe Punk went after
<v Speaker 4>Rollins again, but he pulled them apart. Rollins had it
<v Speaker 4>to the back. Punk stepped over Rains and walked past Hayman,
<v Speaker 4>who was on his knees concerned for Rains. And then
<v Speaker 4>the final three Versina Logan, Paul and Jay and we'll.
<v Speaker 5>Get to that in a minute.
<v Speaker 4>So before we get to the final three, a lot
<v Speaker 4>of people have speculated that this is leading to a
<v Speaker 4>triple threat at WrestleMania between Rollins, Rains, and Punk. I
<v Speaker 4>will say I don't want that. The reason is singles
<v Speaker 4>matches between any of the combinations of these preferably Rains
<v Speaker 4>and Rollins is or CM Punkin Rains because we've already
<v Speaker 4>on Punk and Rollins enough, so it's either gonna be
<v Speaker 4>Punk versus Rains, Rollins versus Rains, or CM punk versus
<v Speaker 4>Rollins versus Rains. And if you do the triple threat,
<v Speaker 4>what are they fighting for? You're gonna take three big
<v Speaker 4>names like that and just put them in a grudge match?
<v Speaker 4>Now you could? And maybe I'm perhaps you know, a
<v Speaker 4>bit poisoned by the idea that there always needs to
<v Speaker 4>be a championship on the line here instead of pride
<v Speaker 4>and just having the guy that.
<v Speaker 5>You like win.
<v Speaker 4>But but this, you know, does seem to scream one
<v Speaker 4>on one because I don't need number one Rollins and Rains.
<v Speaker 4>I don't need Rollins and Punk rather in any kind
<v Speaker 4>of interaction anymore. We're done with that, at least for now,
<v Speaker 4>I think. But I could be wrong, and it seems
<v Speaker 4>like I might be.
<v Speaker 5>The real story here is Punk.
<v Speaker 4>I'm sorry, I keep getting this messed up. It's Rollins
<v Speaker 4>and Rains. Those of the two that I've been screaming
<v Speaker 4>for years have not had a proper finish to their program,
<v Speaker 4>even a proper program that lasted months so it seems
<v Speaker 4>they're going that road. At least bare minimum, we're gonna
<v Speaker 4>get Rollins's versus Rains. If Punk shows in the middle
<v Speaker 4>of this, I don't know how that's a favor from
<v Speaker 4>Hayman because that's still floating around. So it's not a
<v Speaker 4>favor from Hayman to be put in a triple threat
<v Speaker 4>with nothing on the line. He could do that all
<v Speaker 4>on his own. So some gotta be something that Punk
<v Speaker 4>needs from Hayman that he can't get on his own
<v Speaker 4>that you would think is a championship match. Both Rollins
<v Speaker 4>and Rains have neither of those things or neither of
<v Speaker 4>them have that thing. So for me, Punk should step aside.
<v Speaker 4>Whatever favor he's asking from Hayman for should be for
<v Speaker 4>a championship match. It could be against Cody. That seems
<v Speaker 4>to be actually the more likely scenario that it's Punk
<v Speaker 4>versus Cody WrestleMania. I have no problem with that. That
<v Speaker 4>would be fun. Their promos will continue to heat up,
<v Speaker 4>and it's possible that Sam Punk wins. Now you're risking
<v Speaker 4>baby Face. Babyface, do fans turn on Cody? Are they
<v Speaker 4>trying to force the fans to choose? I would just
<v Speaker 4>let them go. I wouldn't have anybody turn. Actually, of
<v Speaker 4>course i'd have Cody, But in the real world, you know,
<v Speaker 4>they're probably not going to do that, and just let
<v Speaker 4>the fans cheer who they want to cheer, and then
<v Speaker 4>we'll come out of it and they'll both be babyfaces,
<v Speaker 4>you know. But for me, Rollins and Rains is a
<v Speaker 4>program that is so long in the making, with the
<v Speaker 4>storyline they have, with the background they have, with the
<v Speaker 4>Shield and how that's where they began the Shield in Indianapolis,
<v Speaker 4>That's where they broke up the Shield in Indianapolis. All
<v Speaker 4>great stories, all great promos. They're mature professional wrestlers now,
<v Speaker 4>they are fully polished. They know who and what they are.
<v Speaker 4>This is a perfect time to have Rollins versus Rains.
<v Speaker 4>Now again, what's on the line, Pride, you don't need
<v Speaker 4>a championship, don't need one. That's what's on the line.
<v Speaker 4>So that's what happened. And no Number thirty one, there.
<v Speaker 5>Was no Rock.
<v Speaker 4>That's the other one that I know that a lot
<v Speaker 4>of us were disappointed about. And is it still possible
<v Speaker 4>the Rock comes back at Chamber or after Chamber and
<v Speaker 4>has a last minute booking into a match.
<v Speaker 5>Sure, it is.
<v Speaker 4>I had said that this will tell you whether or
<v Speaker 4>not The Rock's going to be involved in WrestleMania. I
<v Speaker 4>probably should have amended that and said it'll give you a,
<v Speaker 4>you know, a pretty clear indication, but not a definitive
<v Speaker 4>one that The Rock will or will not be involved
<v Speaker 4>in WrestleMania and at least a official match. And after
<v Speaker 4>last night, the meter of Rocks, you know, chances of
<v Speaker 4>going to WrestleMania have definitely cooled off. We're on the
<v Speaker 4>blue side of that meter, all right. The Rock again
<v Speaker 4>could come back at any moment. He could surprise us
<v Speaker 4>and bam wham or is it no, it's wham bam,
<v Speaker 4>Thank you, ma'am. That's of course you use for something else.
<v Speaker 4>But that's what they could do. And all of a
<v Speaker 4>sudden the Rocks back in it, and so could.
<v Speaker 5>They do that?
<v Speaker 4>Sure, but it's seemingly pointing that The Rock is not
<v Speaker 4>involved in WrestleMania. Maybe he's too busy being Dwayne. He's
<v Speaker 4>probably too busy being Dwayne, And that's very sad for
<v Speaker 4>US wrestling fans, especially after last year where it felt
<v Speaker 4>like there was more story to tell and there is
<v Speaker 4>with Cody, with the Cody versus The Rock for the
<v Speaker 4>championship that they teased the Monday it Rock to WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 4>They we still don't know if maybe Solo was taking
<v Speaker 4>orders from The Rock for what he did, you know,
<v Speaker 4>creating a second bloodline and what's Solo going to do?
<v Speaker 4>So is it sad that The Rock's not there? Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>now said that we're not going to get Rock Roman. Yes,
<v Speaker 4>I would still like Rock Roman over any other opponent
<v Speaker 4>for Roman.
<v Speaker 5>But it doesn't he like we're gonna get there.
<v Speaker 4>No number thirty one, no surprise entry, no appear nothing,
<v Speaker 4>And I know the crowd was ready to explode, and.
<v Speaker 5>Then they didn't.
<v Speaker 4>They didn't get it in there in Indiana. So but
<v Speaker 4>we got down to the final three here and it
<v Speaker 4>ends up getting Seena clotheslining Logan Paul over the top
<v Speaker 4>to eliminate him. And the final two where Jay and
<v Speaker 4>Sena a lot of you know, pomp and circumstance and
<v Speaker 4>prating those blow haymakers back and forth, and Sena on
<v Speaker 4>the edge of the rope and he looks like he's gonna,
<v Speaker 4>you know, looks like he's gonna get eliminated, and then
<v Speaker 4>he doesn't. And then Sena, you know, ends up getting
<v Speaker 4>eliminated finally by Jay Uso, and the crowd seemed to
<v Speaker 4>buy it. You know, the crowd seemed to be into it,
<v Speaker 4>and Sena did his best to look shocked that he lost.
<v Speaker 4>And more interestingly than Jay winning to me is the
<v Speaker 4>post press conference for the event, here where Sena said
<v Speaker 4>he's going to do something a little different. He's not
<v Speaker 4>taking any questions, He's just going to make a statement.
<v Speaker 4>And what he did was say that essentially I deserve
<v Speaker 4>to be in the elimination chamber and that I've earned that,
<v Speaker 4>and that it's what's best for me and the company
<v Speaker 4>right more specifically the company. So he tried to try
<v Speaker 4>to deodorize what's really good for him with what he's
<v Speaker 4>saying is good for the company. Now, this could be evidence,
<v Speaker 4>could be I'm not saying it is, but this could
<v Speaker 4>very well be evidence for a heel turn for John Cena.
<v Speaker 4>When is the last time that you've heard John Cena
<v Speaker 4>say I deserve anything? I just I don't think I've
<v Speaker 4>ever heard him say that in a babyface character.
<v Speaker 5>This just hasn't happened.
<v Speaker 4>So could it just be him playing him being himself? Yes,
<v Speaker 4>it could be, but it does seem very odd that
<v Speaker 4>Sina wouldn't take questions, and that he's saying he's just
<v Speaker 4>going to be in the elimination chamber without actually having
<v Speaker 4>to qualify, and just because it's his last run, all
<v Speaker 4>of a sudden, he's automatically qualified. Well, if he's all
<v Speaker 4>about earning stuff, then you gotta earn it. You don't
<v Speaker 4>have a lifetime pass to any kind of main event.
<v Speaker 4>Your name's not Bill Goldberg. You can't just walk on
<v Speaker 4>set and get the main role, you know, or the
<v Speaker 4>lead role. It's not how this works. But I apologize
<v Speaker 4>probably here my kid crying, but that's not how this works.
<v Speaker 4>And it is some evidence here that it could be
<v Speaker 4>a heel turned for John Cena. I'm not definitive on
<v Speaker 4>my answer on that. You will have to see how
<v Speaker 4>his future appearances go if he is leaning more to
<v Speaker 4>heel or if he's not, but it does have evidence.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, Seth Rollins even, I mean what he did
<v Speaker 4>with the Roman Reigns you could argue is a turn
<v Speaker 4>to the dark side attacking Roman Reigns the way he did,
<v Speaker 4>so Seth is probably more on that side than Sena is,
<v Speaker 4>but I don't know. It's something to think about. Now
<v Speaker 4>here's how I think things are going to go out
<v Speaker 4>moving forward, at least from a big picture perspective. The details,
<v Speaker 4>anybody thinks they know what the details are just lying
<v Speaker 4>outside of Triple H and his inner circle. The World
<v Speaker 4>Championship match, I think you're going to have Jay choose Gunther.
<v Speaker 4>He made it clear that he could beat him. Now
<v Speaker 4>it does make me a little and this is one
<v Speaker 4>of the biggest reasons that I didn't choose Jay is Look,
<v Speaker 4>he's a guy that does have the crowd support. I
<v Speaker 4>have no real big issue with him winning other than
<v Speaker 4>the fact that Number one, we've already seen. We've already
<v Speaker 4>seen Gunther and Jay more than once. So like, we've
<v Speaker 4>already seen this match, and yet you're giving it to
<v Speaker 4>us at WrestleMania again. Now they can build it in
<v Speaker 4>a different way that makes you feel it makes it
<v Speaker 4>feel like it's new in a couple months, and I
<v Speaker 4>think they'll do a nice job of that. But it's
<v Speaker 4>like we've already seen this. Jay loss clean. This isn't
<v Speaker 4>a guy that has been on the rise per se
<v Speaker 4>that he feels like this is his shining moment. It's
<v Speaker 4>weird timing, it's weird timing. I don't see him choosing Cody,
<v Speaker 4>but what if Gunther wins?
<v Speaker 5>Right, That's what I would do.
<v Speaker 4>Because the other part of this is Gunther's kind of
<v Speaker 4>in the same boat, I think a little bit further along.
<v Speaker 4>Clearly he is, but Gunther shouldn't be overlooked here. If
<v Speaker 4>you remember, Gunther was the longest running intercontinental champion. He's
<v Speaker 4>done a really nice job as world champion, although at
<v Speaker 4>times I think he's been off to be too much
<v Speaker 4>and people are looking at it as the Royal Rumble
<v Speaker 4>winner should just automatically always win. Now, I'd like to
<v Speaker 4>look at the percentage of those who won the Rumble
<v Speaker 4>with the percentages of them winning the championship. I think
<v Speaker 4>it is a pretty high percentage, but I wouldn't always
<v Speaker 4>do it. For me, I would have gun Through win
<v Speaker 4>beat Jay. They probably won't do it, Jay, I'll win
<v Speaker 4>it WrestleMania. That's my guess right now. But I don't
<v Speaker 4>know why we're overlooking gun Through here. So that's to
<v Speaker 4>me one on one. Could you insert Punk I guess
<v Speaker 4>you could. Sena is going to go in the chamber
<v Speaker 4>and he could end up winning the chamber and face
<v Speaker 4>Cody Rhoades. That would be fun because if you did
<v Speaker 4>Punk well, then Sena versus Punk versus Cody for the
<v Speaker 4>WrestleMania main event, that'd be good too. I think, excuse me,
<v Speaker 4>you're going to have a triple threat in one of
<v Speaker 4>two cases. I think Punk is the third man in
<v Speaker 4>the Rollins Reins match, or Punk is the third man
<v Speaker 4>in the Sena versus Roads match, where Punk could be
<v Speaker 4>involved there. So that's my guess. Now, where does Drew
<v Speaker 4>McIntyre fit in. He could fit in into the I
<v Speaker 4>guess the championship match against Cody he recently transferred to
<v Speaker 4>SmackDown via this just open ended forever existing in extremely
<v Speaker 4>ambiguous transfer window. I mean that's also possible. There's a
<v Speaker 4>lot of potential. Just because the Rumble has come and
<v Speaker 4>gone doesn't mean we have all our answers.
<v Speaker 5>Far from it.
<v Speaker 4>We just got the next chapter of the book. We're
<v Speaker 4>far far from reading the whole book. So that's my again,
<v Speaker 4>too many possibilities again, rabbit hole of possibilities, And I'm
<v Speaker 4>not going to go to all.
<v Speaker 5>Of them here.
<v Speaker 4>It'll just bore you because everyone's got their own theories.
<v Speaker 4>But that's my thought, at least in the World's Championship
<v Speaker 4>in the w Undisputed Championship Pictures Intercontinental. I haven't really
<v Speaker 4>thought about yet US title all that is probably forthcoming.
<v Speaker 4>And where is Logan Paul fit in? And does the
<v Speaker 4>Rock Dare come back?
<v Speaker 5>All?
<v Speaker 4>I mean, all these things I'm just gonna leave The
<v Speaker 4>Rock out of at this point because you know, even
<v Speaker 4>when he made his one appearance on Raw we all know,
<v Speaker 4>and then the debut of Netflix, he was just Dwayne.
<v Speaker 4>He went from being one of the most successful characters
<v Speaker 4>that he's ever developed for his persona to just Dwayne
<v Speaker 4>pretending to be the Rock and congratulating everybody and kissing
<v Speaker 4>Cody's ass for some weird reason. I mean, it's just
<v Speaker 4>it was horrible. So you know, he didn't rectify it
<v Speaker 4>on the ar Rubble, But I guess I'll just chill
<v Speaker 4>on his return until it actually happened. So we'll deal
<v Speaker 4>with the players we actually have, and there's a lot
<v Speaker 4>to look forward to as we get into now officially
<v Speaker 4>WrestleMania forty one season.
<v Speaker 5>We're there.
<v Speaker 4>We're no longer speculating, we're no longer looking at the it. No,
<v Speaker 4>this is now. We are in guys, you and me
<v Speaker 4>listening we are in WrestleMania season, so a lot to
<v Speaker 4>get it through, and the Chamber is the only event.
<v Speaker 4>I don't think there's another event. I keep looking at
<v Speaker 4>the calendar. The Chamber is the only event between now
<v Speaker 4>in WrestleMania March first in Toronto, the only event. So
<v Speaker 4>we go from let's say about four weeks to then
<v Speaker 4>six weeks I mean from March first. I don't think
<v Speaker 4>unless they shove another win in there that I'm unaware of.
<v Speaker 4>You go from March first to April twentieth, Wow, and
<v Speaker 4>wrestling time that is an eternity. So there's gonna be
<v Speaker 4>a big gap there, but a lot of time to
<v Speaker 4>discuss it. Big implications of course from the elimination Chamber.
<v Speaker 4>Let's Sena involved in the other five guys who are there?
<v Speaker 4>Who knows, but to be fun at. A lot of
<v Speaker 4>look forward to. And the John Cena two continues, which
<v Speaker 4>is good and bad. It's kind of sad, kind of
<v Speaker 4>kind of nostalgic at the same time. And John cen
<v Speaker 4>will never again be in the Royal Rumble ever, so we.
<v Speaker 5>Got to see it for the last time.
<v Speaker 4>All right, that'll do it for me here on the
<v Speaker 4>ww podcast. Thank you everybody. Thank you to all the
<v Speaker 4>new patrons who have joined us over the last week
<v Speaker 4>or really last forty eight hours for Royal Rumble, hope
<v Speaker 4>you stick around as we continue to give you content
<v Speaker 4>almost on a daily basis for NXT and this particular review.
<v Speaker 4>Usually it's called the week in Review, but with any
<v Speaker 4>ple that takes place on a Saturday, we forego the
<v Speaker 4>review of the whole week and just talk about the
<v Speaker 4>pl But the SmackDown review takes place every single Saturday morning,
<v Speaker 4>the exclusive after dark show that's only for NXT and
<v Speaker 4>a a bluff above patrons are also available to you,
<v Speaker 4>and that'll do it.
<v Speaker 5>So thank you everybody.
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