WWE RAW Review: Cody Rhodes vs Shinsuke, CM Punk & Drew McIntyre, Women's Tag Team Championship, Mahal vs Rollins

Let's talk about mental health. Mental health is increasingly important and something none of
us like to address. Are you feeling stuck or does your mind having you
dressing sharp but feeling dull? Perhaps it's time to talk to a life coach.
Meet fellow WWE podcast listening and wrestling fan Steve from a Damn Healthy Dose
of Coaching. Steve is a certified ADHD life coach and getting you unstuck is
what he does. Period. Working together, he will come up with strategies
and provide you with the tools you need to set you on the way.
Follow at Damn Healthy Dose on Instagram or x or visit damnhealthydose dot com.
You can also email Steve st Eev at Damnhealthydose dot com directly for a free
thirty minute consultation mention this podcast and Steve will provide you with the first two
sessions for free. To see if life coaching is a fit for you again,
visit Amhealthydose dot com. This is WWE superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening
to the WWE podcast show, the one that everybody wants me to start for
sixteen So just gross your ass is my You're gonna acknowledge me everybody, and
welcome to the w W podcast. Here we are gonna be talking about Monday
Night Raw that took place last night. A lot to discuss as we are
now just a little over two weeks away from the Royal Rumble that comes to
us live, and we have a brand new co host here tonight to discuss
Monday Night Raw with us. This is Chrissy from Tennessee. She is a
WW fan obviously, but she has her own podcast. We'll get in that
and I just want to say, Chrissy, how you doing, and welcome
to the show. Hi Matt, thank you for having me. I'm excited
and it's been fun actually getting to know you just being a podcast listener for
the past few months. Well, thank you very much. And we were
talking off air about how you actually found me and my shameless promotional efforts have
paid off, as you saw my sign on RAW on Monday Night a few
weeks back here in Albany, New York. So yay, go me right,
it worked. That's awesome. Well, you know, I'm glad to
have you here. It's really nice, first of all to have a female
voice, but also somebody that actually loves the product and is bringing their family
into it. You have a son who is being brought into this, and
you said he dressed up as the Rock for Halloween every year actually since he
has been born, So for the past eight years of his life, he
is dressed up as some version of The Rock, whether it's you know,
the Duayne Johnson version of some actor or you know, the WWE version of
the Rock. I think my favorite cost him that he had so far was
probably year two or three, where he was the turtleneck fanny pack version of
the Rock. I think four he was like the VMA version of the Rock
where it was like in their early you know, when it was peak attitude
era and the Rock had on this god awful gold vest and like matching gold
pants. So that that was another favorite. Child has not had an option
since he was born and I found out I was having the boy, I
was like, Okay, you're gonna be a wrestling fan. There's no choice.
I've said the same thing about my five year old son. I said,
I said, look, there's really no choice here. At one point,
at some point, I'm going to introduce it to him and you know,
just kind of soften my wife about hey, listen, it's not real
violence. And so I'm working on it and he's five, So we're right
at that cusp now. And so now that you have the rock back kind
of he must be so excited. And I'm imagining he saw his return.
It was like we were all screaming. So the first return, which was
that random SmackDown, we were we were losing our minds, like I wish
we had a camera on as I was screaming, like my friends know that
the rock is just everything to me. So all my friends were calling and
like, are you just dying? I'm like I'm crying. Actually, so
he's but you know, that was just such a tease. We were like,
I don't know what this means. He's like, is he coming?
Did we get to see him? And I was like, I don't.
I don't think so, Bunny. I think that was a one off.
And then now with this second return, I'm like, what organ do I
have to sell to make it to Mania? Like, how how can I
afford the strip if this happens at Mania? So fingers crossed, and I
know a lot of fans are hoping for or thinking about elimination Chamber and I'm
just like, no, please, don't please be at Mania. I know,
and that debate, you know, has been raging on social media ever
since he returned. And there's really, you know, several different opinions differ,
different schools of thought that you could take on this one, and we'll
touch on that in a little bit, but before we get into the actual
product right now, I just have a couple more things to ask you.
Number one, how did you get into wrestling? I am a child of
the Attitude era, so I grew up watching wrestling. It wasn't from my
dad didn't watch it, and I had cousins who watched it, and it
was It's such a core core memory of my childhood because we would all get
our allowance money together to pay for you know, at the time, it
was payper reas where you had to pay money to watch them, and my
aunt, who lived down the street, was the only one who had access
to it, so we chip in all our money to go to her house
and watch these pay per views. So I'm a child of the Attitude era,
and I kept up my love for wrestling up until I got to college,
where it you know, and because that was like peak with you know,
Randy Orton and Fatista. So I missed some of that section when I
was in college, but then towards the end of college that's you know now
password now where it's was the Total Divas, And that's kind of what got
me hooked back actually was watching that show because I'm a reality TV buff.
I love The Housewives and all those shows. So when I saw that it
was a reality TV show about something that I was super familiar with and that
I loved, I was like, Oh, I've got to learn more about
this. So that's what pulled me back in, and I've been stuck ever
since then. When I had my son, it was like, this is
just gonna be part of the memories I make with him, just like I
had with my childhood. So yeah, and I've loved to see the journey
of where women have come compared to when I was watching it as a kid,
where that was, you know, the era of the brown panties match,
and now where you know, the women are headlining these poe's and they're
making a huge difference in the industry. I'm like, Oh, I love
this journey for the women wrestling, and I just hope it progresses and gets
better. I don't see it going back to what it was, thank god.
But that's that's kind of where I am with wrestling. That's awesome because
everyone has their own journey, their own kind of love sometimes hate relationship with
wrestling. But we all seem to come back, you know, even if
people take some time off, and you took off some during the Ruthless Aggression
era, are missing some of the brock lesnar Era and Randy Yorton and that
whole class of John Cena. And like I mean, I'm sure you saw
John Cena. He's been here for twenty years, but you missed a chunk
of time. Then of course you can catch up at any time. But
it's always cool to hear how people get into it, what brings them back,
and what keeps them here now. And I think we're really now in
a good space as wrestling fans, probably the best we've been since Ruthless Aggression.
But one more thing about wrestling, I have to ask, what are
some of your favorite memories of wrestling, even if it is something recent,
just even or in your childhood, something that you come back to and you're
like, man, I could watch this moment, you know, over and
over. Probably I would say there's two one, although with the recent one
where I was able to take my son to his first life like in person.
We got to see the raw that was in Mephis and just being able
to see it through his eyes. Honestly, I had to like stop myself
from crime because it was just so cool to see him. So he kept
something that we're both so passionate about. So I'm loving that. That's going
to be something that we do. Anytime they're going to be in Mephis or
Nashville, We're going and that's going to be memories that I make with him
because I had those same memories growing up. When I was a kid,
my aunt would always take me to any of the live events that would come
close to town, and I specifically remember my first one. It was Peak
DX era. Triple H was the love of my life. I love Triple
H. I still do. Triple H means everything to me. I love
him much. But as a child, we had really good seats and I
remember when he walked the ramp and as he was coming close to the ring,
that feeling as a fan as a child, it was just it was
so cool to witness and to see to see him. So I will always
remember that moment. I wish that this was before the day and age of
like cell phones and capturing video, and I'm like, I wish I had
that moment on video. Now, those are the ones that stick with you.
Like you mentioned at the beginning, it's a core memory. It's part
of who you are, almost especially as part of your childhood. It really
attaches itself to you. And luckily now we're in a space and time and
where we can just go back and watch these moments over and over with YouTube
or with the network or with Peacock. It's really we're spoiled as fans because
from where we were. I mean, I'm sure you remember I at least
I remember taking a VHS and having to record raw and trying to miss skip
the commercials. Oh yes, I remember Mackdown always. It was elementary's in
middle school, a SmackDown always came on when I had a basketball game to
cheer at, and I would have to be like, mom, don't forget
to put the tape in and record it. I don't want to miss it.
And one moment that I remember on VHS that I remember we're watching was
the Triple H Stephanie Stephanie McMahon's wedding where Triple H came in and ruined it
with the Vegas Wedding. I will always remember watching that because it was like
six o'clock in the morning. I'm watching it on VHS and I'm like,
no, And that's one of the most iconic moments of RAW of all time.
I mean, it's that's a pretty good one that you remember. And
I have one that actually I've never shared this before on Area I just probably
because I haven't thought about it now that we're talking about VHS. Is I
remember as a I was think I was like thirteen, fourteen years old,
and I was like, I gotta record RAW. I gotta record RAW.
I didn't have any tapes in my house, living obviously with my parents at
that age, and I'm like, I don't have anything. I throw a
tape in a VHS and I'm like, I don't know what this one is,
but I'll hit record, so it recorded my net Raw. I take
the tape out and on the tape it has like, you know, my
my baby tapes from like my brother and I. It's all these family memories
that were on a vhs that you can't get back, and I'm like,
oh crap, like like and I'm just like, I can't tell my mom.
I can't tell my mom. Like I was just like, this better
be the best best episode of Raw of all time. So like I accidentally
recorded over things you can never get back. So yeah, I mean the
struggles of you know, the late nineties early two thousands are real, guys.
I mean, will never understand never never ever. I mean the flip
phone era and all that stuff. But you know, we remember a time
before Facebook, before social media, really a simpler time in a lot of
ways. So but all right, well, one more thing before we get
going here. I know that you're also a fellow podcaster and you have your
own company, So tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, so
I own a wedding planning firm, which it's so funny, wedding planning and
wrestling. How do those two mix? They just do? That's my weird
personality there. So I own my own wedding and planning company, and on
top of that, we have a wedding planning podcast called the Wedding Printer Podcast.
I am an educator and the vice president of a company called the C
to B pieces which stands for Certified Wedding Planner or Certified Wedding Pro And so
I educate and teach on my podcast, which is geared towards wedding planners.
That's awesome. So guys go check it out, the Wedding Planner Podcast,
And that's available on I know you have buzz Sprout, but I imagine it's
also on Apple and all the kind of the big platforms. Yes, all
of the platforms wherever you get your podcast, that's where you'll find it.
Well, very good. That's awesome, So guys go check that out.
But now it's time to dive in to pro wrestling and specifically this past week's
Monday at Raw. And you know, when you look at it, it
wasn't as epic obviously as last week with the Rock. It's really tough to
top that one, but I think we got a pretty noteworthy version of Raw.
We saw a lot of confrontations. It's also very confrontational Raw. You
know, you had Naya Jacks, you had seam Punkin, Drew MacIntyre,
you know, you had well obviously had the match with Cody Rhodes and Shinske.
When you look at this Raw. I actually, I'll let let this
one be your stage. Here. What do you look at from this past
one to night Raw last night? And you know, it's the first thing
you think about from Monny net Raw that you want to talk about, the
first thing that stood out to me. And this is going to be so
silly, but it literally I'm still thinking about it and laughing. And that's
the Our Truth promo with the video and like, oh my god, Our
Truth, Like give this man an emmy already. He the way that he
acts his humor, it's he's so good that you almost believe him. I
like you to know that this man is acting because he's so good. And
I'm the kind of person where, to be quite honest, like the comedy
side of wrestling embarrasses me, Like I get secondhand embarrassment easy, and that
is typically how the comedy section of wrestling is for me. I'm like,
oh my gosh, pass word, please stop y'all embarrass me. I cannot.
I get sweating and hot. But with Our Truth, it's none of
that. I mean, because he's just he's so good, like he is
chef's kiss. He's so good. And that was absolutely hilarious. My favorite
part of the video was the graphic way. It was like Rio when she
won the Rumble and he's like ducking from the fireworks. Yes, yes,
And then of course the tomin Nick Myterio and you know, and I we're
going to those. I think it's gonna be smacked down in March in Memphis,
and I praying that by then they have the shirts with the ar Truths,
you know, sticker at the bottom, because I'm like, I would
pay for that if you'll have it. If they haven't yet made those shirts,
I hope it's done by it. But that, oh my god,
that no progression to Rumble. It was brought nothing. And I just saw
that was so funny. I'm still thinking about it. It's eminently rewatchable that
segment. And like you said, comedy as hard as it is, like,
comedy's very difficult to do. I'm not saying it's easy. But WWE
they don't use they don't have a great set of comedians and nor should they.
And like you said, when they attempt comedy and really any wrestling motion
intemps comedy, it usually comes off pretty poorly. It's one of those segments
usually that they you know, you look at and you're like, thank god,
I'm alone. Like if I was with somebody and they were looking at
you and saying you watch this stuff, I would feel like you said,
it's just it's it's embarrassing sometimes the food fights or honestly, I love John
Cena, but when John Cena tries to be funny, it's usually the worst
thing in the world. I John Cena as a serious character I love,
but like, there are certain things that I just like you said, it's
usually very bad. But our truth is a national treasure. Our truth needs
to be protected. I mean, like our truth needs to run for president.
I love this guy he I mean, he is a guy that you
look at and you're like, why haven't we seen more of this? You
know, I know he's fifty some years old, but he doesn't act like
it. In the ring he is he genuinely feels like he is the guy
he's playing on TV. He's just this kind of oblivious but lovable guy that
is in his own reality that we're all just being a part of. And
that video needs to be upprint kind of emmy. I whoever put this together,
it was brilliant. I haven't laughed out loud at a wrestling segment on
Purpose in a long time, and this segment, this whole thing with Our
Truth and the Judgment Day. I hope it continues as long as it possibly
can. I have no idea what the endgame is, but I'm with you
on this one. I'm tank I'm wondering. I'm like, where are they
going with this? I don't even care because it's so funny and I love
even too. Like when Day the next scene was with Judgment Day, and
like Priests was laughing, you can see Dominic was laughing. It's funny.
It's just entertaining, and he is. He's a national treasure. Put him
up there with Dolly parton Our Truth is phenomenal. I agree this, it
was brilliant. I don't know what more to say about Our Truth. The
crowd just connects with them organically. So that's that's a nice way to start
off the conversation here with Our Truth and the Judgment Day. That was just
even exceeded my own expectations. It seems to be getting better by the week,
and I'm probably after this conversation and to go where you watch it,
it's it's that good. But all right, well, I guess let's move
on here. It's something a little more serious, and it's Drew McIntyre and
cmpunk. And you know this, this whole deal with Drew McIntyre, he's
been on a pretty bad losing streak, especially with championship matches. I was
of the belief his character was going to go darker and just into the abyss
and he'd come back as this raging monster and that you know, all light
would be completely vanquished from his character. And he took still more of a
calm approach, but he mentioned, hey, you know, maybe I should
leave for nine years and come back with the heroes. Welcome Sampunk came out,
took not too kindly to his words. How did you enjoy or like
or maybe dislike this interaction with Drew and cmpunk. I'm with you. I
have one hundred percent agree with you when it comes to Drew's character, like
at this point, loss after loss, I feel like he needs, like
he said, he needs to go dark. There needs to be some aggression
to this frustration that he's and I'm not really seeing I'm seeing a glimpse of
it, but I feel like I want Drew just to be heavy with it
and just to be angry about everything that's been happening to him. And with
Punk, I'm one of those people. I'm not a huge Punk fan.
I get his appeal. I was excited when you know he came back.
That was a fun pop and a fun moment. But what Punk is really
known for are his promos, and I feel like I have not seen a
promo that he's done yet so far with his new run that I have been
impressed by, or that I even really remember. And I felt like his
their interaction, what Punk brought to the table was not memorable and that's usually
what he's known for, and like I felt like it was a little lackluster.
I don't know. And I did love how Punk mentioned that his goal
is to throw throw Drew out last at the Rumble, and I think I
do believe that's going to happen. I think the final three in the Rumble
will probably Cody, Punk, and Drew, and that'll be interesting to see
how that plays out, because I truly I don't even know who I want
to win the Rumble, like, and I thought I had an idea when
I hope was hoping Randy would be in it. But now that he's going
to be in that final four way with Roman, don't I don't know there
are And I continue to say this on my show. It becomes very confusing
very quickly because there are so many options, and honestly, there's a lot
of good options. There are a few bad options. So it's almost like,
wwe can't screw this up famous last words. But it seems like they
can't screw this up because there are so many good options, some really good
options, some good options, and there are some bad ones. But there
are a lot of them with scenarios and multi man matches, and this person
could win the rumble, but then that one wins the elimination chamber, so
they can still get an opportunity at the belt of WrestleMania. So there's just
a lot going on. And this particular promo with Punkin McIntyre was number one.
It was it was it was new. So I like that, I
mean because Dunn McIntyre haven't, to my recollection, had a face to face
in person, lengthy promo. I mean that I can recall. So this
was fun to see what these two would say to each other and the line
of the night beyond him saying at the end that he was going to throw
out McIntyre. Last was that when push comes to shove, he's not just
a demon. He satan himself. And I'm like, okay, all right,
here we go. Things are getting dark and I'm ready for Punk to
stop talking and start doing stuff in the ring. Like I know, he's
known for talking, and he's a good talker. He can't have an A
plus promo every time. He's not going to have a historic promo every time.
It's not reasonable to assume that. But I'm ready for Punk to start
actually doing things, getting in brawls. I'm ready for him to start getting
physical in the ring. Not that I'm bored by his character, but I
think it's finally time to take it to the next stage for him. Yeah,
I agree. And something that made me think of you that did not
happen at the Insurance or the start of raw was no, there was no
welcome to Monday. Yes, it's going to love this. Other than the
only thing, which actually I'm okay with is having Rollin say welcome to Monday
night. Rollins, I'm cool with that, even though I think it's a
bad catchphrase. I never liked that but I'll accept it because it's tied to
his character. It's what he's always said, and it wasn't at the beginning
of RAW, so I was very excited to see it. Maybe they just
maybe they're having like discussions and zoom meetings about it this week, like damn
it, guys, we forgot. We forgot. Oh next week, we're
going to say it twice, you know, So like you know, I
did notice, and I'm glad you brought that up, because I would have
totally forgot to say that. But yes, round of applause for w w
E And if it was intentional or not, I was very happy to see
that. But all right, so anything else, I don't want to cut
you off. Anything else on Punk and McIntyre before we get to the next
time we hear. No, I'm just I'm excited to see where they take
them as we go into wrestle many of seasons. Yes, me too,
Finn Bler and Tomasco Champa here. This one was eight minutes and fifteen seconds
to be exact, and Champa ended up beating Finn Balor. What did you
What was your takeaway from Champa taking out Finn Balor. I loved how I
loved the walking and talking promo that he that he did as he was like
walking to the rank. I thought that was pretty cool and different. I'm
still wondering, like at this point, I'm like, Okay, it's twenty
twenty four. Is there a reason why the Tag Team champs still have two
belts? Like, I'm still confused there when it comes to the two of
them. But you know, I I love Judgment Day, Jugumit Days.
They're one of my favorite factions. I love to watch them, So I
from a fans perspective, I'd hate to see them going through this where they're
I feel like it's a back and forth of them doing really good and then
them losing and them fighting among the family. And so though I didn't,
I wasn't surprised by Finn losing, and I feel like they are trying to
build up some type of you know, some type of program for the tag
team belts. It's needed. So I'm excited to see where this goes.
For No, I'm with you, I mean the Judgment Day as a whole.
I mean, well, first of all, yes, this match specifically
was fine. I mean it was nothing that anyone's gonna come out of there
going. Oh man, that was the match of the night. But you
have two professional guys who put on a good match, and you had I
think the right guy win with Tomaso Champa. As you like said the Judgment
Day, they are a staple of Monday Nett Rob, but they've been on
a bit of a losing streak, and I don't think that that's been lost
on Ria Ripley, who continues to say, we need to figure this out.
What's going on? So there have been fractures that kind of show themselves
here and there in the Judgment Day. I'm not ready for this group to
split, but Ria, who's the unannounced and unofficial leader of the group,
continues to try to guide the group in the right direction and give orders and
make deals with GMS. And I really like Ria as the unofficial leader of
the group. But you're right. The promo that Champa did was something that
I don't know if I've seen. I don't want to say ever because that's
maybe an overstate, but it's been a long time since that kind of promo
was done where they're walking to the ring and cutting the promo and not just
standing backstage talking to Caleb Braxton or whoever. That was just a nice touch
and more than I'm wondering if Kevin Dunn, who was recently, I would
say he took his own or he actually resigned, but I think he was
more or less fired. He was the TV producer or the lead TV producer,
and he was one that I think kind of kept things in line.
And I don't know if this is one of the changes that was implemented after
Kevin done left. Let's talk about mental health. Mental health is increasingly important
and something none of us like to address. Are you feeling stuck or does
your mind having you dressing sharp but feeling dull? Perhaps it's time to talk
to a life coach. Meet fellow WWE podcast listening and wrestling fan Steve from
a Damn Healthy Dose of Coaching. Steve is a certified ADHD life coach and
getting you unstuck is what he does. Period. Working together, he will
come up with strategies and provide you with the tools that you need to set
you on the way. Follow at Damn Healthy Dose on Instagram or x or
visit Damnhealthydose dot com. You can also email Steve st ee V at damnhealthydose
dot com directly for a free thirty minute consultation mention this podcast and Steve will
provide you with the first two sessions for free. To see if life coaching
is a fit for you again, visit damnhealthydose dot com. I love it.
It felt organic. It felt like in reality, when you were getting
ready to go fight someone, you're talking crap all the way to go fight
them. So it felt organic, it felt natural, didn't feel as staged
as a normal interview style promo go. So I loved it. I thought
it was fun and different. And that's the kind of thing that I think
we'll see with this. Uh. You know, obviously Kevin dun Gone and
the Triple, the Vince mcmah people are starting to be weeded out a bit.
You'll see these And this is what I'm looking for, is not total
one eighty change. I don't want one eighty change, but just these little
things like the promo like stopping welcome us to mondy net raw things that are
easily fixable, that aren't going to completely revolutionize the product, but when you
add them in totality, it really adds up to a just more of a
fresh feeling, like you said, an organic feeling. So I thought this
was a nice match, the right finish, and obviously the promo I would
agree. I liked, now we have let's see here. I don't know
how many segments I want to go through here. I don't want to make
this a four hour show. The next match on the card anyway, though,
was Kofi Kingston versus Ludwig Kaiser. This was actually left off of the
Hulu version of Raw. If you watch the hu version like myself, you
have to go to YouTube to watch this. But Kingston did end up and
Kaiser ended up in a double count out in eight minutes and forty five seconds.
And then after the match, Kingston hit Kaiser with a suicide dive through
punches at him, and Kaiser gouged Kingston's eye until Kingston pushed him away,
and then Kaiser charged Kingston, who back dropped him over the broadcast table,
and the referees and producers tried to stop Kingston, who got by them.
So this got very violent towards the end in a way that I didn't really
see coming. Kingston, who's really known for kind of the happy, go
lucky character. I mean this this took a turn towards the end. Yeah,
but it was unexpected, like you know, the match was kind of
it was you know, so so it wasn't anything you know, over the
top, but the end is what stood out to me. That's what I
remember is how violent it got and and the aggression between the two of them.
So it'll be interesting to see what happens maybe, you know, when
they are they able to do a taxing or do you think they'll probably stick
with just the single between the two of them, or you know, are
they going to say, you know, Kingston's injured and he's going to be
out for a while. What that's what that's going to look like. I
know Guser's coming back next week, so I feel like this is just gonna
he's going to seeing his praises for how he was aggressive and ruthless when it
came to taking care of Kingston's. Yeah, and I don't know how much
longer, honestly, the Imperium group is going to be together. They have
really shown some serious cracks in the foundation week after week after week, and
I mean, I don't know, I mean, are they really adding anything
to GUNTHERER anymore? I don't know. I mean, Gunther is doing I
think, just fine on his own and has been doing just fine on his
own for for this point years, So I have no issue if they ended
up splitting, But you could end up having a kind of a small mini
feud here with Imperium continued to feud with the with with the New Day.
I was gonna say, judge with Day, but with the New Day.
And you know, you keep hearing about Big E floating around out there.
I mean, I don't know if Big Ee is going to be returning or
not returning, but I mean he could eventually come back and even the odds
and a three on three Imperium versus New Day matchup. But yeah, overall,
this was just nice to see Kofe Kingston doing something other than just making
inside jokes backstage or you know, or being the spoke person for like Cheetos
during a pl E. It's that's that's a good thing, and I'm wonder
for doing this because you know, we know what KOFE does at rumbles.
If they're trying to reintroduce us to Kofe, who is a wrestler and how
what amazing drop he does it rumbles, if they're trying to have us forget
about you know, him being this fokes person for lays and he is in
fact a wrestler and he does wrestle as we lead up to rumble, even
though obviously he's not going to win. I feel like every year he does
these these weird things to stay in the ring, and yet I'm like,
you're not gonna win. No, I hate it for you. Good try,
Well that's just it. I mean for Kofe, it's kind of it's
a bit of a double edged sword there because people look at Kofe of year,
like you said, and they're like, oh, what's he going to
do to stay out? But you know, but eventually get eliminated. Like
you said, they just look at him and they just look at him as
like you know, a dance for me, clown and and just do this
one trick to stay in the rumble. But then yeah, you'll get eliminated.
Like I don't know if I was Kofi, Yeah, I don't know
if i'd love her hate that, you know, like you're known for that
in the rumble, But wouldn't you at some point want to be taken seriously
enough to think you're a contender to win the damn thing. So I don't
know, I'm torn on it, but it is every year interesting to see
how they come up with something to keep kofee in. But all right,
well moving on. Here we got Michael Cole in the ring who introduced Naya
Jacks, said she was one of the favorites to win the rumble, and
then Naya Jacks comes out and yeah, he was mocked Cole. She mocked
Cole for not thinking that she would break Becky's face again. Becky Lynch or
I'm sorry, Rhea Ripley comes out and really got a big babyface reaction here.
I mean, I know Ria's not a babyface, but man, they
could just blink and she would be beloved. She's already beloved by the fans.
It's the fans have to just be like re educated every week to be
like, we're not ready yet. You should still hate her, but the
fans are ready. The fans are ready to embrace her, and we see
it every week. But we got this nice face off here with Riya Ripley
and Nya Jacks. What does your take on this? I love it and
it's so funny that Nyause when Michael Coley said something along the lines of him
being surprised, and my first thought was why, And as I was out
loud saying why, Nya said the same thing. I'm like, why would
she be surprised that she beat Becky? Look at her, She's a beat.
And I'm loving seeing the growth and the improvement from Nya because initially when
she came back, her promos were uncomfortable. I got that secondhand embarrassment even
though she wasn't trying to be funny, it was just she just wasn't doing
as well. But each week I feel like she's progressing better and better and
I'm loving to hate her each week. So I think it'll be interesting.
And I know when Becky was interviewed early in the night, she had somewhat
mentioned that it didn't seem like it was done with her and Naya. But
now that we add Ria into the mix, what's going to play out between
I'm hoping the three of them. I know it's Hartha with Naya because when
I think about what was a crown jewel where she was in the ring with
other women, and oh she looked so bad compared to all of them.
But I think if it's if it's Becky and if it's Ria and it's not
you know, one additional person, that it could be a fun match,
But I don't know what that leads towards, because I don't want the Becky
and Naya few to India because I was pleasantly surprised about how phenomenal their match
was last week and I love what they're doing, so I hope that doesn't
fade. And at some point, I mean Becky and Ria at some point,
like at some point they have to cross paths, like it's and I'm
always I'm always wondering why. I feel like Becky hasn't mentioned the championship,
she hasn't mentioned wanting to go against Ria, And I'm like, why,
if you're calling yourself the top of the company, you have to have the
belt, like and I get it, she is one of the top faces
of the company in the women's division, but she doesn't hold the belt.
So I feel like that automatically puts Ria above you, because you know,
Ria is just as beloved as York, but she's carrying the gold. So
I'll be interested to see if they bring Becky into the mix with the Naya
Jacks feud. Also, I'm you know, I will be the first one
to say I have not been a Nia Jacks fan. It's no secret I
think she has been. Before this program, I I was just kind of
down on her. She didn't seem like you said she was. She felt
uncomfortable. Yeah, and she you know, didn't. She's not as mobile
in the ring, which I've never really hated. I think that's actually can
be an asset because I don't need everyone to flip flop and fly. I
mean, I don't need like having somebody that wrestles differently. I think is
a good thing in today's style of wrestling from men and women that all kind
of feels the same in a way. Everyone has generally the same move sets
other than their finishes and signature moves, you know, like and so when
you have these bigger men or bigger women, I think it's a good thing
to have because it immediately differentiates them and they are an immediate threat because they're
so much bigger. And this program here with Becky has reinvigorated not just Nya
who has done it. I mean, I gotta give her credit. I
haven't been a fan, but she's starting to change my mind because it's like
a light switch one on with her. It's all of a sudden, she
just kind of like found herself, found her voice. She hasn't been exactly
Rick Flair on the mic, but she has been I mean, like a
different character, more comfortable, and she kind of feels like she knows who
she is in the ring now, you know, and she's she has really
put on nice matches with Becky one like last week when she won outright fair
and square beat Becky Lynch. That shocked everybody, at least in terms of
when we say shock people. It's because Becky Lynch is a much bigger star
and you think, oh, she'll pull it off, No way that Nya
can beat her. But when you look at the physical size difference, I
mean, anybody that didn't know anything about the characters would go, oh,
well, Ni Jacks would kill her. You know, it's only because the
character that you look at and go, know when Nya can win this.
But I'm all with you here on the Naya Jack's China kind of evolution that
has sped up quickly, and I would imagine re Ripley though and Becky are
going to cross paths. It's been too long. I still believe Becky's probably
the favorite to win and challenge re Ripley WrestleMania, but Nia Jacks will be
you know, the I think the final woman eliminated in the rubble. I
think so too, and it's so interesting and this kind of ties into the
women's tag match. But at some point they were having a camera backstage with
all the women backstage, so I'm like counting because I'm trying to think.
You know, it's thirty women. So I'm like, okay, how many
women are in the locker room? So sure we have women for this who
are going to bring in And the women's Rubble always makes me anxious and nervous.
I'm like, do we have enough talent to make up these thirty women?
Where it's and where it's going to be, you know, a phenomenal
thing to watch. So yeah, it'll be interesting. Well that's it.
And I mentioned this, I think last night I said that, you know
that is the concern every year, Like os no issue with the women having
the Royal Rumble. I think it's a necessity now at this point, it's
not just because oh the men have it, we should have it. No,
it's a necessity. It has built itself into the fabric of the women's
division. It's something you need to have now. But I look at this
every year and I'm like, how many filler spots, how many cameos are
we going to have in the women's Rumble to fill out the number of thirty
instead of actually having the talent of today who are showing up to compete.
You know, you'll have the Molly Hollies of the world and the Jacquelines of
the world from yesteryear, and you know, pulling out Tory Wilson or whoever.
And it's cool for in the moment, but you're also looking at this
kind of sadly going this is a bit of a referendum on the current depth
of the women's division, or at least how WWE views the women's division.
That they don't feel like they have enough star power, so they have to
bring in these older talent that you know, have zero chance of winning,
and it's just to get to that number thirty. So I hope every year
that I don't mind its alogic spots that happens in the men's Rumble. It's
fun having those surprise nostalgia spots, but over the last especially in the first
few women's royal rumbles, it was just a complete crutch that I felt like
it was not a good look for the women's division. So I hope as
we move forward that there's less of that and more of the women of today
get that get the spotlight. Yeah, I'm excited, and I'm not sure
it's because the roster with NXT, which I don't watch NXT unfortunately, but
I know we'll probably see a lot pulled from there, so that'll be interesting.
But you know, it's hard because I don't watch it, so I
can't get excited for him yet. So maybe between now and Rumble, I'll
start watching NXT just to get an idea of the women and who will possibly
make my parents at the rumble. Yeah, I know, I don't either.
I mean it's just simply it's not out of disrespect, like I just
don't have the time. I mean like hours in the day. And I
know, yeah, I know, like you have kids. I have kids,
and we got work, we got life, we got expenses, we
got you know, everything else, you know, so it's just it's just
difficult. But hey, I think it is a good idea if you and
I and others who are looking at this and going, huh, who could
come up from the NXT roster. And if you don't know any from the
anyone from the NXC roster, you're watching the rumble, you're gonna go who
cares? But maybe if we spend a little time and just figure out who's
who that it would be more interesting when the rumble comes and we see those
people come up. But all right, so moving on though. We got
a video package as expected recapping the Rocks return and the segment with gender Bahaal
from last week, and WW touting their records of one hundred and seventy one
million views over the all of social media for the Rocks return, shattering all
these records as expected. I mean, the Rock is literally the biggest star
in the world. I don't know if anyone could name a bigger star in
sports or entertainment, not sports entertainment, but literally sports, professional sports,
or in the entertainment field whether it comes to TV movies. I don't know
another name that's bigger than The Rock. I mean, he literally may be
the biggest star in the world. I don't know if maybe you disagree,
but I mean he is that big. No, I'm obsessed with The Rock.
And it's so funny because my friends, some of my friends who are
not familiar with the wrestling world at all, but they know how much I
love indoor wrestling and love The Rock that when he came out again, I
was on the phone with my friend and I'm screaming. I'm like, the
Rock is back. Oh my gosh, this is happening. This is happening.
He's going to be him and his cousin. Because she's like, who's
growing. I'm like, cause his cousin. I understand who these people are.
So she turned it on the TV and she was like, it's so
funny to see him like this because I don't know him as this person.
And I'm like, that's so wild to me because he is so you know,
well respected outside of our industry, outside of the wedding or their wedding
industry, the wrestling industry. That she was like, this is weird that
he's that is he like like this all the time. He's like, I'm
not I don't know this version of the Rock or she kept well on the
way, I was like, it's the Rock now, but it's he is.
He is he is such a huge star and oh this is gonna be
fun. I hope they do this justice in the way that it should.
And I'm with you, Matt when you're like, there needs to be why
is here, and it's like, obviously they're family, but some type of
something needs the spark in order for this promo to really have some type of
story behind it. Obviously it's going to be an amazing thing anyways, Like
they can just wrestle tomorrow and I'd be fine with it, but just having
that backstory, I think that's going to be fine. If they're doing promo
videos about them growing up and maybe them having competition with each other, just
to give some type of something to this story is going to be good.
I'm just so interested to see where this goes, literally, like if this
is going to go to Elimination Chamber or this is going to go to Mania.
I feel like we'll have a better idea of it after the Rumple.
I hope we do, at least for my sake of wanting to see this
in person, because I feel like this is going to be for me as
a lifelong rock fan who forces my child to dress up I can for Halloween.
I feel like this will be my last opportunity to see him live in
a ring, and I don't want to miss it. I am willing to
sell a kidney if I need to to make it to Mania, but part
of me is like, I don't even want to stress out about it if
it's not going to happen, you know. And I'm with you. I
mean, selling an organ is something I've teetered with as well. I've kind
of toyed with that. I'm like, yeah, maybe, I mean,
I don't know, we don't need our spleens, right, Like you know,
there's certain organs that are not necessary. You have two kidneys, mate,
like you said, maybe you can give up one. I don't know
if you know what they're going for currently on the black market, but it
is, you know, it is tempting. I mean, I'm up in
all but in New York it's it's really not that far for me to go
to Philadelphia, whether I fly or drive. It's not the worst thing in
the world. And I mean you're in Tennessee, so it's you know,
it's not across the entire country, you know, So it is tempting.
I've toyed with it too, And like you said, that's the thing is
this probably is the Rocks one of his final matches ever, if not maybe
his final match ever. We really really may not see the Rock wrestling.
I mean, he'll come back for cameos and Rock bottoms and all that kind
of stuff like the Undertaker will, like Stone Cold does for you know,
just kind of those one off fun segments, but for match when it comes
to matches, this is probably the Rocks. Last match I would imagine is
with Roman reigns. And it is tempting to say, ah, but it's
right there. I know it's it's money, it's money in time, but
I'm with you. Now. Let me ask you quick before we go on
to this Women's Tag Team Championship match, is how would you do it?
Because with Cody in there, with Elimination Chamber in Perth, Australia, with
you know, sixty thousand people there, how would you book this? If
you could just make this whatever you want it to be from now to WrestleMania,
how would you even book this? What would what would Chrissy's perfect road
to WrestleMania be when it comes to just the championship, the Universal Championship,
Cody Rock and Roman, and how would you figure this all out. I
do think that Roman needs to lose the bat before we get to Mania,
and I don't know what they're going to do with this. I don't know
if that's if they don't if they want Roman to keep it for another two
years or however long it's going to take for him to beat Hulk's record.
Ah, God, please know. And I like Roman. I don't have
an issue with him other than the fact that we don't see him anymore,
and it is getting to the point now where when he is on smack them,
I'm not even excited like I used to be, and that to me
was a sign of Okay, we got to switch something up with him.
So I don't know, because I'm not I'm not the thought of Cody finishing
his story. And I'm saying this as I'm rolling my eyes. I feel,
does it have to be a Mania? Like? Isn't his story all
about just him getting that championship, the championship that his father never had.
Why does it have to have it a Mania? Like? Why do we
have to finish Cody's story at Mania? Why? I'm torn here because I
understand that Cody has his story to finish and by God, he needs a
finnsh history in twenty twenty four, hopefully by Mania. But at the same
time, I think with Who the Rock is the fact that Mania is essentially
WWE's version of the Super Bowl. You have to have, you know,
your all star star athlete who is just going to bring in that money,
that income, that press, all those eyes will be dropped to me.
That makes sense financially, you know, And I think it'll also makes sense
with the storyline. And I'm sure Cody Banter throwing things at me right now,
but I'm like, Cody can't finish his story somewhere else. It doesn't
have to be, you know. That's the key is that's exactly right his
story as he defined it. By finishing it is winning the world the Championship.
His dad didn't win the WWE Championship, which is morphed into the Universal,
which is morphed into the undisputed Universal WWE Championship. It's the lineages of
this are very muddy, and but it is still the one that Roman has
is the one that his dad didn't win. So that's the one that he's
eyeing. And I'm all for the belt being dropped from Roman at any time.
I mean, I don't care who it is. I really don't care
who it is at this point. And like you said, and I made
this point too. I think it's important though, is now you have Roman
who shows up on SmackDown, and WWE tries to promote it as some kind
of hook for you to watch the show, and you're like, eh,
you know, it's like and we used to not feel that way, but
now that it's gotten to the point of indifference, that's a dangerous place to
be if you're WWE with the fans now kind of going like shrugging their shoulders
when Roman's there. And it was for me, as a fan of him,
that feeling was totally surprise. I was totally surprised by that. I
was like, why am I not excited? Like what is happening? Mm
hm. And it's because, I mean, at this point it's you know,
Roman's not the only draw to watch smack Down anymore. With you this
is the SmackDown and Roman has done an awesome job. I'm not taking anything
away from Roman. It's just the fact that he's hits his presence, it's
he's not there even enough for us to be like, well, he does
not have to be here. He's not here every week, but at least
he's here, like, you know, a couple times a month. No,
it's like, you know, he literally went from WrestleMania to SummerSlam without
defending his belt. He's defended it, like what twice this year. I
mean, now you're getting into WrestleMania again. You just take these large chunks
of time and you go, well, he's not going to lose it at
this pay per view, so that puts us all the way to Survivors Series,
and well, he's not gonna lose it this one, so that puts
us maybe at Rumble Ormania. You just keep taking these chunks of two to
three months out of the year and automatically adding it to his run, and
it's just it's becoming ridiculous. This is not Roman's fault. I praise him
for getting this contract, making millions of dollars, for not having to kill
your body night in and night out and do live events and be away from
your family. Good for him. I'm probably mean, I'm not not that
he cares if I'm proud of him, but I do this and I have
no fault on him for that. It's just as a viewer, it's so
frustrating at this point where you're just becoming indifferent and seeing him now isn't exciting.
It's a reminder that he's not there. Even when he's there, it's
a reminder he's not there. So all right, well let's move on here
as we I mean, I could dive into the rock thing. We'll learn
a lot more obviously as the rumble comes and goes. I think the rock
will show up there and we'll get another step here. But moving on to
the Women's Tag Team Championship match. This was Piper Kniven and Chelsea Green who
took on the Tag Team champions of Kayden Carteri Katana Chance. I'll just quickly
say I really like this match much more than I thought, And I will
say that this is the kind of consistent I don't know if representation is the
word or consistent product that the women's Tag team division needs to have to legitimize
those championships. I really enjoyed this match much more than I thought I would.
What was your thoughts name? And I love the progression of this match
because even from the tag tamps their initial entrance, the crowd was kind of
bull. They were just kind of like okay, yay, But then towards
the end as the match progressed and it builds like you could see the crowd
was getting behind them, And that's how I felt watching it. Not knowing
very much about the tag champs. I know they were in NXT and held
that the NXC titles for a record breaking rain, I believe, but just
seeing that progression, and that's what this tag team needs, you know,
that's what the belts. They need this, like you said, that representation.
So that way we can give give a crap about who's holding the belt,
because I feel like we haven't, like you know, the these sweet
little belts. You kind of sometimes even forget that they are there because they,
you know, go weeks and weeks without even having a tag team Championship
match. So I love it. I hope this is something that, even
if it doesn't happen every week, at least every other week, so that
way it's it's all always in our forefront. We're always still thinking about it
and it doesn't go up on the show like it typically does, and that's
been the achilles heel of it. I mean, even in the men's division
to some degree, although not nearly as bad. The tag team divisions have
never been a priority for WWE, and nor do I think they ever will
be a consistent main event piece to the company. But they can at least
be significant and feel like they are okay, second place or whatever, and
this is a step in the right direction. It's encouraging for this type of
match, but honestly, I mean I'm not going to get too excited yet
until I see consistency. Consistency is the one thing missing from this division,
and not just good matches. I mean, I'm just asking for the bare
minimum of them just being on the show or being talked about. So the
fact that that is the bar is pretty sad. But now that you have
actual quality wrestling in a tag team title match is really where they should be
on a consistent basis. So I mean, if they continue to deliver this
or at least talk about them every week or you know, every other week,
I'd even take that's what we need instead of just having whoever wins go
into the abyss or sit in catering or just you know, just disappear.
I mean we've seen that before too. They literally have been cursed since day
one since Sasha Banks and Bailey won them how many years ago now, and
they were introduced to the company. So someone gets some stage to those belts,
Like, what is happening with these tag times? Get a shaman or
something. I mean, we've got to exercise these belts. There's some somebody
puts some kind of demonic curse on them, and we need a priest to
exercise. Yeah, I know, Oh my god. Uh So again encouraging,
but I'm not sold yet. On one week of quality wrestling in the
women's division tag team division. It's good. It gets me optimistically excited,
but I'm still hesitant. So but again, the winners here of Kayden Carter
and Katana Chance, it makes sense. But I will say I love Chelsea
Green in her character. Piper Niven is kind of the younger version of Naya
Jax, if you will. She has the same body type. I don't
know a whole lot about her. She moves well for her size, and
I just to me like, I enjoy Chelsea Green's character of just being this
obnoxious all in kind of complete, you know what I mean, I enjoy
it. I miss I also miss Samantha Irvin's introduction of her name. I
really miss that. That just added to her brady little character. So it
was a perfect touch. I know apparently somebody in WWE, some of the
higher ups, didn't They didn't give why, but apparently they've told Samantha Irvin
to not do that. I think it's it was a great way to introduce
her, and like I said, added, it's exactly who she is.
Just by saying her name, you know who and what she is. Yes,
so, oh, here comes Chelsea. Yeah. I don't know if
anyone else follows her on like X or for Twitter or wherever she's hilarious on
Twitter or on social media. She just continues her character. It's great.
I really enjoyed Chelsea Green. So you know that's again the women's tag team
division is heating up. So all right, then we moved on here.
Let's see, I'm moving on. I see some of these backstage talking segments
here Truth spoke about all the things that he had not been through with the
faction. This is where that whole awesome was mentioned at the top of the
show, the video package of domin Nick Mysterio. It was just whoever came
up with that line needs a raise. Just that may have been the best
part of the whole thing, on top of, as you said, the
just the complete you know, the video package or the part of the video
where he's dodging the fireworks or he photoshops himself in with the Judgment Day,
it's all just genius. Wood. Yes, the women's ladder match, I'm
whoever did this, I don't know who it is, but they they need
to be getting a big promotion. It was brilliant. So again I'm watching
it after we get off off of our call here. But all right,
we got then next the Miz and JD McDonough and this one ended in actually
exactly twelve minutes with the miss beating j D McDonough. Your thoughts, This
was fun and honestly I kept watching Our Truth, so I probably should have
paid more attention to what was going on in the ring, but I was.
He was so fascinating on the outside of the ring. How he you
know, given domain nickhar Tom and Nick a hard time, But you know,
I think another it just kind of progresses that the quote unquote tension between
the Judgment Day and and Our Truth as a member, so I know they
they're tying it up next week with a match between our Truth and the Miz
and who is it? Is it? J Dan Dom? Yeah, I
think and Damien because honestly, for a second there, like when Damien laughing
and kind of getting tickled, and then when they lost the match and Priest
was like it's got to it, Like I was like, this is maybe
he's gonna kick JD up because he really didn't want JDN to begin with,
so I thought maybe he's warming up to Archers. Yeah, I know,
I say I was thinking the same thing. And I don't know, honestly,
That's why I says begin I don't know what the endgame is. I
don't know what this is. I don't know if WWE knows what the endgame
is with Truth. I think they just kind of caught lightning in a bottle
with this, with this chemistry with Truth and with the Judgment day, and
they're just kind of seeing how long they can take it before they say we
got to kind of end this. It's it's kind of run its course,
and eventually I think it will run its course. But I don't even know
if they know what the endgame is. I don't know. Maybe Truth ends
up accidentally screwing priest with his cash in where you know, he tries to
help priest with his cash and but ends up screwing up the whole thing,
and that's when it all ends. For truth, I'm not sure, but
this has been seeing the Judge. He's almost turning Judgment Day almost at times
into a babyface group because yeah, because when Priese was laughing, I was
like, oh Priest, Like it was like, for a second, I
forgot that Dayman was the bad Yeah, I know, I wonder if that
and I saw that, and I'm thinking to myself, I wonder if that
was that was a legitimate laugh where he couldn't help himself but laugh and he
just pretended that it was you know, it was part of his character,
but in real life he couldn't help himself and just found it hilarious. I
don't know which one, but the fact that he laughed at it, I
mean, it doesn't help his heel character because you're like, yeah, that
was really damn funny. So I don't know, this is every week is
a bright spot in the show. It is. I mean, I don't
know how much more we can say about it, and hopefully it continues to
just be entertaining and Truth continues to deliver. He is a you know what,
I keep saying this, but I really want everyone to really take it
to heart. Is that Our Truth Ron Killings. If you go by and
watch I think it's I can't remember the name of the docu series on WW
network, there's a docuseriies on Our Truth and it's quick, it's thirty forty
minutes whatever it is, and it tells you about the life of you know,
where he grew up in his childhood and that kind of thing. It
really even will make you like him even more with you know, the struggles
he's gone through and all that kind of stuff. I really would recommend people
check it out because it'll not just make you look at Truth as a great
comedy character and just fun to watch, but also kind of the human being
behind it. So just a bit of a recommendation, not just for you,
Chris, but does everybody. It's a good one. So I'll have
to check it out for sure. All right, Well let's see here.
So, yeah, the Miz beats JD McDonough. As you said, Our
Truth showing up at ringside to help Dom and Nick. It was a lot
of fun. Then after the match, Truth helps Dom to his feet and
he was pushed aside, and then he ends up going to the ring to
raise the armor of the miz. So after that, then we get let's
see Seth Rollins coming out and he said he's never taken a world title to
WrestleMania, and he's never been on the marquee, but that's going to change
this year. And he's worked too hard and too long, and he took
a title that didn't exist a year ago and turned it into the most important
prize in the industry. And he recalled saying he would be a fighting champion,
a workhorse champion, and that the work isn't done. And then we
got Genner Mahall coming out and interrupting Rollins. So what are your thoughts on
this? First off? What said? So, I am probably one of
the few who absolutely I look forward to seeing what Seth is going to wear.
So as a walev he loves fashion, who follows the trends. I'm
familiar with designers. I can usually spot with designer he's wearing the moment he
walks out, So I find it fascinating enough people are like, oh my
gosh, what does he got on. I love it. I find it
fascinating. I actually follow he works with a stylist, so I follow his.
I follow his follow his stylist on Instagram, and he actually style Seth
and then Becky every now and then, but also Charlotte and Live Morgan.
So it's interesting to see these w W wrestlers using stylists. And you know,
and I love it watching seeing what Seth is gonna wear. His outfit
this week was pretty tame compared to his other outfits, but I thought this
was fun. I gender has been fun to watch, even last week when
he did get his behind whooped by the rock. His promo his my skills.
For someone who has been kind of off and on very much off of
TV, it feels like he's picked back up and hasn't missed a beat with
how he talks. How like his promos, he draws you in and I'm
interested to see what he says next, and I'm excited to see where this
goes. I'm sure it's going to be short lived. I know, you
know, Seth is probably building up towards something a little bit bigger. But
I thought this was a fun promo and I like Seth entertained me. I
find him fun to fun to watch, whether he's beanned his joker type character
or serious set or wearing some SpongeBob looking boots he's I might set that set
is fun to watch, Yeah, And I really do believe he has done
a nice job with that the World Heavyweight Championship. He has made it a
championship you can see every week. He's been the anti Roman, where you
know, obviously Roman's not there and he is Seth has prided himself on doing
the opposite of what Roman Reigns has done, so we have that balance of
at least a champion there every week, and it softens the blow a little
bit, although not excusable at all for how often raw Roman Reigns has been
absent, but overall, since I think May of twenty twenty three when he
won the belt, he's done a very nice job. And I have no
issue at all with Mahall. I think Mahaal gets a bad rap unfairly.
I don't think that Mahall has gotten really the exposure he deserves. And I
know he was WWE champion before and people absolutely hate that. I didn't hate
it as much as a lot of people did. I I don't mind a
heel champion that can talk and get the heat that he does. He's from
a you know, he's a foreigner, so automatically he's hated. You know,
that's just that's just the way that wrestling has worked since the dawn of
time. Uh. And then again he can tell. He's got an annoying
voice. But also he's in incredible shape so he can put on good matches.
He's got all the tools, and I think Seth Rollins will be a
fun opponent for him, as you said, though very probably short lived.
He's a stopgap. He's a stepping stone, unfortunately to a to a bigger
end game for Seth, which I think ultimately would be probably seam punk.
Yeah. I think so too. So yeah, I don't know. I
mean, I have no issue with this. Maha will get his championship match
and lose, and you know, we'll all move on. But at least
for what Mahall will get out of this, just as he did last week,
you know, he's gonna get you know, his ass kicked. You
know, that's what's going to happen with Mahaal. But the more important thing
for Mahaal is that he gets exposure and getting exposure with one hundred and seventy
one million views, even though the Rock is there, people are gonna be
like, well, who who did he beat up? And you know from
a hall, this is nothing but a win. He didn't get any offense
in but who cares. People now may know the name of Jenner Mahall exactly.
So, yeah, you have to see him again because you know how
a lot of times those when you have those moments with the Rock, it's
usually a one off and we're not going to see you again. So when
his music time, I was like, Okay, he's getting some more TV
time. This is great. Like I think this is I'm excited for him
because, like you said, I think he is a great heel. He
looks phenomenal, Like he looks like he is ready to kick some butt,
like, he looks great. So I can't wait to see him in the
ring. What seth Yeah, I agree. I don't think it'll be a
five star match, but I do I think it'll be a fun match one
that it won't be as fast paced as I think a lot of other matches
that's at this had at Mahall works at a slower pace, and I'm totally
cool with that. Every match doesn't need to be one hundred miles an hour.
In fact, I prefer it not to be. So I think this
will bring a different style of match that we haven't seen from Seth and with
gender. When it happens, I have no issue with this. The only
concern is what happens after this from a Hall. I don't know, after
he's done kind of playing in the sandbox with these big names, what happens.
Does he go back to just being a ghost on the show, like
well, I don't know. Does he bring in the end to share with
you know, Verr, Mahan and Sanga with What happens? I don't know,
but I hope this is an introduction to a more consistent presence from a
Hall, even though you know, this main event kind of shtick he's in
right now is very short lived, but it's giving him exposure for hopefully something
after this all ends. So all right, Well, then we get hint
Kin Nakamura shown backstage, and before that, though, we get Ivar with
Or with Valhalla, who took on Otis, who was with a characters Allen
Maxine Dupri really quick match here I don't know how. I don't really have
a ton to talk about here. With Ivar beating Otis in just under four
men, did you have really anything to say on Ivar? He did a
cartwill he is a hundred plus found and then manded a cart will. I
can't even do a cartwell now. So I was watching, like, you
know, just two big boys who you know, have some agility in the
ring. It was fine. It was just a quick little match that was
interesting and final watch. Yeah, I agree. I mean two super heavyweights
that continue to kind of I feel like, trade wins back and forth.
Ivar I feel like though, although he isn't really a singles guy in a
tag team with the Viking Raiders, has done a nice job over the last
couple of months with his tag team partner being out showing what he can do
as a single star. And I really don't have any issue with this.
It was It was fine, is really all I'll say about that, But
all right. Joso was then interviewed by Jackie Redman backstage, and he or
she asked if he had any resolutions for the new year, and he said
he would win his first ever ever singles match. I'm sorry Singles Championship and
Bronson Reid showed up and mocked j by calling him Jimmy Usso's little brother and
retold Jay that he's not the only one who has plans of becoming a champion,
and Reid told Jay not to get in the way. So any thoughts
or really anything you want to add to the Jay Uso Bronson Reid interaction.
It was funny because right after the match with Otis and Ivar ended, I
thought, where's Bronton Reid and literally he popped up with that that interrupted that
interview with Jay us So. My thought is, what what singles title would
he go after? Where is there even a lane for him to go with
the singles title unless he pulls like you know, a dom or Becky and
goes to NXT, which at this point ja event is really living up to
his name, or you know, main event Jay is So, I don't
I don't know what singles title makes sense for him right now for him to
go after. So I wonder if this Bronton read will just hold them over
until there is an open and do for him to go after a single championship
title where it makes sense. My thought is it's probably the Intercontinental title.
I mean, my thinking is booking out to WrestleMania that at some point Gunther
is gonna lose the Icy Belt. At this point, he's already the longest
reigning champion of all time for the intercontinental belts. He's done what he can
do with the belt. I've loved him as champion. But I think jay
Uso, who has been on fire the last few months and the Yeat movement
and all of that, he's ready for a singles championship. And I think
you could kill two birds with one stone with jay Uso maybe an elimination chamber
beating Gunther in a some kind of multi person match, maybe Bronson Reid,
who has just declared himself also kind of an enemy of Jay. You have
a some kind of multi person match, Jay wins the Intercontinental Championship, and
at that point you could put Gunther in with brock Lesner, who has been
rumored to be the opponent for Gunther at WrestleMania. Because Gunther versus brock Lesner
for the Intercontinental Championship makes no sense, So you want the title off of
out there before you do that, and having jay Uso be the guy to
do it would be a great way to bring him into WrestleMania's champion and probably
retain at that point. I know I've booked out three or four steps that
don't exist yet, but to me, it kind of it seems like it's
lining up that way. It's just I couldn't even visualize it. So your
your storyline makes sense, don't hold me to it, all right? So
but just yeah, no, but all right, let's move on to the
actual main event here, and that is Cody Rhodes and Shinskin Nakamura. They
did a nice video package recapping this feud, and it has been a lot
of fun. It's amazing what can be done when you're able to give a
star a voice, even if they don't speak the native tongue very well and
they have a heavy accent. There are ways that they found that are you
can get around it to still communicate with your audience. And they found that
magic formula with Shinsk. They found it when he faced Seth, and now
they are finding it again now that he's facing Cody. And I've loved the
anime that they've done with it, the delivery by Shinsk, the backstage segments,
the subtitles, it has all been just pinpoint accuracy, really really nice
for Shinsky. I'm very happy for Shinsky, who has been prior to this
not irrelevant but an afterthought, and now he has come front and center as
a dangerous opponent. This match, to me, was really good. The
table spots were fun, as table spots always seem to be a crowd pleaser.
Cody wins clean. This to me is the declarative statement to the fans
of Cody's now, turning the page fully away from Shinskin Akabura to the rumble
and focusing on winning. Yeah, that's exactly how I felt at the end
of this. I was like, Okay, we're done here. Now we're
moving on towards the next chapter of his wonderful story. Shins K is gosh.
I love watching this man, and I love, like you said,
how they've created a way for us to get to know him in his native
tongue, and he the way that he does it, the way that he
delivers his his spacial expressions. He is so phenomenal to watch when he does
those prolos and then in the ring like he is, your eye is just
drawn through the way he moves, the way that he interacts with his opponent.
Oh he is. I love watching this Van Rustle. He's really great.
It just it's amazing how you can resurrect the character by just giving him
a voice and giving him a little bit of promo time, a little bit
of just called character development. It's amazing. And like you said that that
can't be undersold enough is his body language. That has done a really nice
job of substituting for him not being able to speak like you and I do
clearly and be able to communicate with the vast audience, the vast majority of
the audience without subtitles. His body language is brilliant. The way that he's
attacked his opponents, you know, with the mist and from behind and all
of that has been just a lot of fun. And after this, I
mean, I would imagine Schansky is going to go back to kind of the
mid upper card. He may be a contender from the inner kindom championship.
I think he he could be. I don't think he'll win it, because
you almost never go from a heel champion to a heel champion, So he
could be in the mix though, and the conversation. In fact, if
you're going to do some kind of multi person match for the icy title at
Mestlemania. Shens Key should absolutely be in the conversation, So that's probably where
I'm thinking he'll land is in that title picture, but he'll be a force
to be reckoned within the rumble if he's participating. And you know, I'm
not too concerned about Nakamura, But for Cody, this is all about him
with his with his obsession to finish his story, which is ironically not finishing
his story, but rather beginning one. Because once he wins, he doesn't
just retire. I mean, like he wins the belt and then okay,
that's that's a massive chapter. But we're continuing to read the book. So
I have no issue with this victory. It moves Cody up, it keeps
shins k kind of where he is, and you know, we're only a
couple weeks out of the Rumbles, so I had no problem with this.
Yep, same same, same saying, well, I don't think I had
anything else unless you do for a Monday Night raw, No, I think
that's it was. It was a good show, definitely wasn't you know,
Rock coming back? But how can you well, that's just it and Honestly,
I don't think we're going to see the Rock on Raw again for the
Rumble, Yeah, because if he's facing Roman, Roman's on SmackDown. So
this may be the only appearance on Raw for the Rock throughout all of WrestleMania
season. It's possible, so you know, I mean, not guaranteed,
because the Rockets still show up even though Roman's not there, just to see,
you know, see if they're in a big market town. I haven't
looked at the cities, but if they're in some kind of massive market and
they want the Rock to show up, maybe they'll do that. But for
all intents and purposes, that's probably one of very few appearances on Raw for
the Rock from now through WrestleMania forty. But I guess one more thing is
if there's anything on either show on either brand, if you wanted to just
voice your opinion or chat about quickly, the stage is yours, can I
say, like with I'll go SmackDown because I'm a big Charlotte fan. Gosh,
she's so phenomenal in the ring. I am very sad for her right
now that we left Survivor series with her literally saying like I'm at the top
of my career. I still have a lot left. And then going into
wrestle with Mania season without Charlotte as a Charlotte fan makes my stomach hurt because
you know, her match with Rhea at last Mania was one of my favorite
matches of the year, and oh gosh, I'm heartbroken that she was injured
right before Mania. But it has been I'm seeing all her posts on Instagram
and I'm rooting for I just I wish she was able to come back before
Mania, but I don't think based on how bad the injury was. That's
me being very, very hopeful. I am with you, and I know
that there's a lot of fans that don't really and this isn't a slight on
the fans. I mean I sometimes have guilty of this too, is you
don't really realize the Number one that there's a real human being behind the character.
And that also the struggle of coming back from an injury and doing physical
therapy and going through the pain and the emotional pain of especially this time of
year, not being involved in WrestleMania season and having to sit on the sidelines
must be absolutely heart wrenching for her. And I know this fans oh,
who cares. We just care about the on air product. Some you know,
I mean you and I and others probably that listen to wrestling podcasts may
feel the same. Here is you know, I feel awful for Charlotte as
you do. I really do. And it's Yes, her character can be
monotonous at times. Do I think she's a better heel than a babyface?
Yes? Am I tired of seeing her as champion at times? Yes?
But I think she is invaluable to the women's division. Love it or hate
it, she just is. And she's a walk in Hall of Famer right
now. If you if you, if you entered her career, she's already
a Hall of Famer. She's been a Hall of Famer for years. So
this is devastating for her, devastating for the women's division. And yeah,
I feel bad for her. But if you guys, take a look at
her Instagram videos or X videos and her going through the physical therapy. She
just had surgery a few days ago. She's walking, but very very gingerly.
But the struggle and pain that she's going through right now, I mean,
it's it can't be. It's something that an old thing. Fans really
appreciate the way that we should because we don't often get a look into that
part of it, and we don't think about it a lot. Is just
all they're gone for eight months and they're out of our minds. But what
are they doing in those eight months? You know? And it's I think
something that I think a lot of times fans forget. Yeah, if you're
doing what Randy was doing through those eighteen months, you're just somehow getting in
a time machine and looking better than ever or ayj styles, what are they
doing? Where are they going? Like, what's happening with these tumbbacks?
I'm here for it? I will they're getting jazz like Randy Orton at forty
five years However, old Randy Orton is upper forty. He looks like he's,
you know, twenty five, spending his last eighteen months in a gym
and eating raw beef. He's doing steak and eggs every day for every meal.
I'm like, what is happening? And you can tell he's having so
much fun in that ring. But you can tell that he like he is
not caring about how he's coming her cross, He's not caring about what his
legacy is gonna be he's he is just having fun. And you can tell
when he's in that ring. Oh yeah, no doubt about it. And
he is h he's absolutely doing that because he knows right now he's playing with
house money, so to speak. He's already a made man. He doesn't
have to really, you know, he doesn't have to kill himself anymore.
He's he has literally made his own legacy. He is a legend, and
not just a legend killer, but I would literally, I would actually say
he is a legend, not just a Hall of Famer, but a legend.
I would put him in that upper echelon of stars for being a lot
around as long as he has still being able to not miss a step.
I mean, you watch him now and you're like, this dude looks like
he's just you know, came out of OVW. He's unbelievable. He hasn't
aged at all. It's like Raymistereo. So yeah, it's as old as
he is when he's in the ring. Like I always forget, I'm like
Ray as a grown child. I know children, he is Dom and Nick.
Yeah, so he has two, I mean, so he think about
that. I mean, so yeah, this is a it's really crazy,
like he said, there's some time to time machine that w W he was
able to produce or create and you know, uh, it's really kind of
crazy. I saw him at the Survivorty series event when he returned and everyone
was just like, who is this guy? Okay, Randy, Yeah,
I know, I know made a lot of women bug eyed, and there's
like, I know, right, he looked he almost had a brock lesnar
look to him if he just took the head out like he he looked like
that kind of muscular his physique. And I give Randy all the credit in
the world. And I know there's people saying, oh, he's doing steroids.
No he's not. If you're doing steroids in this day and age and
w W with their well policy and all the media that would come out with
it, you're a fool. There's no, it's not happening. Eighteen months
is a long time where you're not on the road. He had the time
to heal himself, be in the gym, like, eighteen months is a
long time to completely transform your body, and he did that. Absolutely,
Yeah, no, he did. And I give him all the credit in
the world to go from well he was already in shape, but to add
as much muscle as he did and even trim a little more fat off him,
I mean he is he literally must have been eating and breathing and sticking
to a very regimented diet. I give him all the credit in the world.
That is really tough to do so. And same with aj Styles who
came back and prescribed to the rand ne Yortons school of you know, weight
loss. I mean, I don't know what he did, but they're in
the same boat here. It's just I don't know what's going on. But
all right, well I guess that'll end things here. But Chrissy, thank
you so much for coming on. It's been an absolute pleasure. You know,
guys, don't forget check out her podcast that she has as well.
It's the Wedding Planner Podcast, available everywhere you get podcasts. And do you
have any final closing thoughts? No, thank you so much for having me.
This was a lot of fun. I don't have a lot of friends
who are wrestling fans or I never get to talk to anyone about wrestling,
so thank you for allowing me to be here. Absolutely, And it is
kind of funny you mentioned that you know there are millions of fans across the
world, but somehow all of us wrestling fans feel so isolated because none of
us have any friends. Somehow we don't have any friends that like wrestling except
ourselves. It's it's amazing, but you know, come WrestleMania a season,
it's more socially acceptable to be a wrestling fan. And so you see kind
of those people that are fringe fans poke their heads back in and go,
what's going on? The Rock's back cool, I'm suddenly a wrestling fan for
one night. I mean, we all know, we all know those fans,
but I hear you. We're very isolated. We're very isolated people.
I understand so well. Very good. Thank you so much, Chrissy.
It's been an absolute pleasure and we'll definitely be talking again. Also sounds great.
Take care, Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to
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