WWE Podcast Throwback: Current State of WWE for January 8th, 2024 - Roman Reigns vs The Rock

<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.
<v Speaker 3>Met for sixteenths.
<v Speaker 2>Your ass is mind, you're going to acknowledge me.
<v Speaker 3>It's time for the current state of WWE. Here on
<v Speaker 3>this Monday, the eighth of January twenty twenty four. We
<v Speaker 3>are now just a few less than three weeks away,
<v Speaker 3>now two weeks in five days, if you want to
<v Speaker 3>be exact, until the Royal Rumble, which, as we always
<v Speaker 3>know every year, kicks off WrestleMania season officially, and also
<v Speaker 3>what's been kind of unofficially official is the Rock and
<v Speaker 3>the fact that he's he returned a couple of weeks
<v Speaker 3>ago on mo No Net Raw and or last week rather,
<v Speaker 3>and he made himself very well aware or made the
<v Speaker 3>fans aware that this is going to happen, referring to
<v Speaker 3>the head of the table that where should he sit?
<v Speaker 3>And then Paul Hayman followed up on SmackDown, telling the
<v Speaker 3>Rock that you know you are not invited to the
<v Speaker 3>island of relevancy, and it looks like we are now
<v Speaker 3>finally going to get Roman reigns versus the Rock. Now
<v Speaker 3>where it happens when it happens has been up for
<v Speaker 3>a lot of debate. But first, Anthony, here we go,
<v Speaker 3>and how you doing?
<v Speaker 2>Not too bad man? And I'm sure people realize that
<v Speaker 2>this past week I released I released After Dark a
<v Speaker 2>day later, and sometimes I do dropped on Saturdays, but
<v Speaker 2>that's mainly out of laziness. This time it was by
<v Speaker 2>design because with the New Year's Revolution branded version of
<v Speaker 2>SmackDown and so much at stake in the way of
<v Speaker 2>the number one contendership for the undisputed championship on the
<v Speaker 2>line in the main event, I really wanted to reserve
<v Speaker 2>doing my podcast until we got clarity on that. And
<v Speaker 2>to be honest, they went in a way that I
<v Speaker 2>didn't expect. They went in a way that I thought
<v Speaker 2>was kind of like a want Want want type of
<v Speaker 2>ending to what was somewhat of a quasi pay per view.
<v Speaker 2>In other ways, I really liked it. I'm really digging
<v Speaker 2>nickoldis as SmackDown GM. He's not a babyface or a heel.
<v Speaker 2>He just feels like a real life executive. He feels
<v Speaker 2>like a quick side note on Nick all of this,
<v Speaker 2>does he not feel like someone that would work in
<v Speaker 2>like a sports franchise's front office, like in the mlvia NFL.
<v Speaker 3>He's authentic.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, so that part I really liked. I like that,
<v Speaker 2>like he's a nobs kind of guy. But I'm very
<v Speaker 2>skeptical in how this fatal four way will play out here,
<v Speaker 2>because not because I don't like it being a fatal forward,
<v Speaker 2>to be honest, when I actually think of how the
<v Speaker 2>match will be, I think it's kind of a breath
<v Speaker 2>of fresh air. It's very rare that we see these
<v Speaker 2>multimn matches, especially more than triple threat matches for world titles.
<v Speaker 2>Like I can't even really remember the last time Rome
<v Speaker 2>was involved in one. I imagine it was at it
<v Speaker 2>May happened.
<v Speaker 3>And actually he's in terms of defending this championship. He's
<v Speaker 3>never defended this championship in a fatal four way.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, Yeah, So the only other the only other multiman
<v Speaker 2>match I could think of was the triple threat with
<v Speaker 2>Edge and Daniel Bryan at Wrestling in thirty six I
<v Speaker 2>believe it was. So that is coming up on three
<v Speaker 2>years ago, and it's going to be an interesting kind
<v Speaker 2>of in ring from an in ring perspective, and I
<v Speaker 2>do think that maybe they were overdone. I think they
<v Speaker 2>even had a fatal four way pay per view in
<v Speaker 2>the early twenty tens or late two thousands that obviously
<v Speaker 2>didn't last long for obvious reasons. But I guess I'll
<v Speaker 2>start with like the in ring approach of this and
<v Speaker 2>how I think this will play out, before we get
<v Speaker 2>into maybe more of a macro scale that for you,
<v Speaker 2>are you excited to see a fatal four way match
<v Speaker 2>with the four competitors involved.
<v Speaker 3>I've been back and forth on this since it happened.
<v Speaker 3>From in one sense, I am disappointed that it's not
<v Speaker 3>one on one, especially with Randy Orton. He's got an
<v Speaker 3>eighteen month story behind him being out being injured. Randy
<v Speaker 3>Orton in Roman Reigns, one on one makes one hundred
<v Speaker 3>percent sense. Now, the rumblings coming out of the newswire
<v Speaker 3>is that WWE didn't want him to get pinned so
<v Speaker 3>soon after his return, which to me is a lame excuse,
<v Speaker 3>because Randy Orton can't be damaged at this point in
<v Speaker 3>his career. He's a he's a made man. There's nothing
<v Speaker 3>you can do. I understand why they would say that,
<v Speaker 3>but that's to me a nonsensical reason. But when I
<v Speaker 3>heard it was a fatal four way. It did feel
<v Speaker 3>like a wompwomp for me. But I'm thinking to myself, well,
<v Speaker 3>why are they doing this? And yes, inherently it instantly
<v Speaker 3>makes it more unpredictable because now you have three guys
<v Speaker 3>instead of one. Roman doesn't have to be involved in
<v Speaker 3>the decision to lose, which is the one of the
<v Speaker 3>first time or one of the few times in his
<v Speaker 3>career defending the championship that he has to deal with
<v Speaker 3>this scenario and unpredictability in this case is a lot
<v Speaker 3>more fun and something that has been missing from roman
<v Speaker 3>reigns matches for years is unpredictability, and this one does
<v Speaker 3>add more to that because could the rock interfere, you know,
<v Speaker 3>could he come out afterwards? What's gonna happen? So I
<v Speaker 3>like the unpredictability. I don't like that it's not one
<v Speaker 3>on one, but I understand why they're doing it. And
<v Speaker 3>the other thing is are these men, all three men
<v Speaker 3>going to be exempt from the rumble? It depends on
<v Speaker 3>when this match goes on. Are they before the rumble?
<v Speaker 3>Is that after the rumbles? So that really matters? Is
<v Speaker 3>okay if Roman retains, but can those three men still
<v Speaker 3>enter the Royal Rumble.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Well, my pick leaning up to this past Friday
<v Speaker 2>for the Rumble, which was I guess somewhat of a
<v Speaker 2>dark horse, was La Knight because I was still buying
<v Speaker 2>the drum that he was going to go over to
<v Speaker 2>Monday Night Raw and challenge Drew mcindiv for the World
<v Speaker 2>Heavyweight Championship. But now, like you said, depending on when
<v Speaker 2>this match goes on, who knows. And it's kind of
<v Speaker 2>like an double edged sword because if this match doesn't
<v Speaker 2>go on last well, then it means that Roman Rains
<v Speaker 2>is retaining the championship one hundred percent, because there's no
<v Speaker 2>way they're not going to close the show with him
<v Speaker 2>without him losing, or with him losing. I kind of
<v Speaker 2>lost myself there. But if it goes on before the Rumble,
<v Speaker 2>then that means La Knight isn't involved there, Orton's not involved,
<v Speaker 2>their Styles isn't involved. But we don't think that Orton
<v Speaker 2>or Styles have a snowballs chance of hell in winning
<v Speaker 2>this Rumble. But I think La Knight would be a
<v Speaker 2>really cool X factor at all this because everyone is
<v Speaker 2>obviously pointing to the favorites, whether it be Tody or
<v Speaker 2>CM Punk, obviously to a lesser extent and maybe Drew McIntyre,
<v Speaker 2>although I wonder if he's gonna get another crack at
<v Speaker 2>the world title at the Rumble. But I'm really looking
<v Speaker 2>forward to it from an in ring perspective, and I
<v Speaker 2>think the match quality is gonna be fun. It's gonna
<v Speaker 2>be something different. It's not gonna be the same old,
<v Speaker 2>copy paste Roman Reigns match that we've been accustomed to
<v Speaker 2>for the last eighteen months or so. But I'm disappointed
<v Speaker 2>because for me, the first thought in my head was
<v Speaker 2>he's gonna retain. He's going to retain the title, because
<v Speaker 2>there's no bleeping way that they're gonna make Roman Reigns
<v Speaker 2>drop the championship after close to four or three and
<v Speaker 2>a half years in a fatal four way match. But
<v Speaker 2>then I started thinking, like, is this their way of
<v Speaker 2>protecting Roman Reigns going into WrestleMania, And have they maybe
<v Speaker 2>started thinking along the lines of us, like, Hey, there's
<v Speaker 2>no way that we're ever gonna pay this off with
<v Speaker 2>like a groundbreaking title change that's gonna shock the world
<v Speaker 2>and he's gonna be remembered forever because then, let's just say,
<v Speaker 2>for argument's sake, he loses to Cody at WrestleMania. Everyone's
<v Speaker 2>gonna know he's losing. There's no way that Cody Roads
<v Speaker 2>is gonna lose back to back WrestleMania's with the way
<v Speaker 2>that they've built Cody Rhads as this generation's John Cena
<v Speaker 2>for in a lot of ways. So I'm starting to
<v Speaker 2>think maybe this is them saying, well, we're going to
<v Speaker 2>find a way to take the belt off of Roman
<v Speaker 2>while protecting him and not suffering a pinfall while we
<v Speaker 2>get him ready for the Rock. Because for me, that's
<v Speaker 2>exactly what this comes down to. It comes down to
<v Speaker 2>whether or not he's gonna win the title because for me,
<v Speaker 2>that the entire branding of this match potentially being a
<v Speaker 2>success hinges on.
<v Speaker 3>That this is a fascinating next couple of months. You're right,
<v Speaker 3>this is I mean, this is a match that looks
<v Speaker 3>like it's a set up to protect Roman Reigns because
<v Speaker 3>he doesn't have to take the pinfall to lose it.
<v Speaker 3>He can continue his streak in some respects he loses
<v Speaker 3>the belt without actually being pinned. He has an ax
<v Speaker 3>to grind that does protect Roman Reigns going in and
<v Speaker 3>if you want to have Roman Reigns versus the Rock
<v Speaker 3>in a nine title, which you and I and others
<v Speaker 3>have been a very big proponent of. Because the belt
<v Speaker 3>in a very rare instance, detracts from the match here
<v Speaker 3>and several ways. Then that's how you could get to it. Now,
<v Speaker 3>I've heard rumblings and you probably have two on social
<v Speaker 3>media of well where does Rock Roman have happen? It?
<v Speaker 3>Could it happen in Perth? Should it happen in Perth?
<v Speaker 3>It's at elimination chamber? But what if Cody wins the rumble?
<v Speaker 3>Is it going to be a triple threat with the
<v Speaker 3>Rock and Roman and Cody at WrestleMania? Like we've heard,
<v Speaker 3>and I've heard so many different iterations and people believing
<v Speaker 3>that Rock Roman should happen at the at an elimination chamber.
<v Speaker 3>I'm not of that belief. I understand the temptation to
<v Speaker 3>do it, but you can't sell me on the fact
<v Speaker 3>or make me believe that The Rock is going to
<v Speaker 3>come back for WRESTLEMANI or for the elimination chamber. Face
<v Speaker 3>Roman reigns win loser draw, then he's just gonna go
<v Speaker 3>away for WrestleMania. He has to have a match for WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 3>That to me, though, is one of the final few
<v Speaker 3>fantasy matchups that still exist, and you're telling me it's
<v Speaker 3>going to happen at Elimination Chamber and not just a
<v Speaker 3>month and a half later at WrestleMania. It makes no
<v Speaker 3>sense to me why people think it's a better idea
<v Speaker 3>to have Rock Roman as an you know, at Elimination Chamber, unless,
<v Speaker 3>of course, their idea is to add Cody to the
<v Speaker 3>mix to make it a triple threat at WrestleMania for
<v Speaker 3>the Indisputed Championship with Rock and Roman as well. There's
<v Speaker 3>just there's so many different scenarios, So I don't know
<v Speaker 3>what your thoughts are, well my.
<v Speaker 2>Thoughts on here's the thing. Obviously, Elimination Chamber isn't really
<v Speaker 2>the typical B level pay per view that it has
<v Speaker 2>been accustomed to, but because it's obviously literally across the
<v Speaker 2>world and it's in a stadium of sixty thousand people,
<v Speaker 2>so you could kind of say, well, this is on
<v Speaker 2>par with WrestleMania, Summer Slammer, Survivor Series or whatever, not
<v Speaker 2>even Survivor Series, more like the Rumble. But it's just like,
<v Speaker 2>you're gonna make the Rock and Roman, a match that
<v Speaker 2>has been four years in the making, a match that
<v Speaker 2>could argue to be the like the biggest match of
<v Speaker 2>the decade in a lot of ways if you look
<v Speaker 2>at it from a perspective that transcends wrestling because of
<v Speaker 2>how big of a star of the Rock is and
<v Speaker 2>you're not gonna do it on like part of the cliche,
<v Speaker 2>but the grandest stage of them all. But at the
<v Speaker 2>same time, I could imagine it like, I mean, is
<v Speaker 2>the Rock coming back because Australia is just paying a
<v Speaker 2>bleep ton Is he going to come back and put
<v Speaker 2>Roman over and make Roman look as strong as ever
<v Speaker 2>heading into the fortieth anniversary of WrestleMania. It's just so
<v Speaker 2>like I'm fearful of that because then it's just back
<v Speaker 2>to back pay per views, one of them being WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 2>Of just predictable outcomes to me, you have him beat
<v Speaker 2>the Rock at the Elimination Chamber because if he faces
<v Speaker 2>the Rock for the championship at an elimination chamber, we
<v Speaker 2>all know Roman Raids is winning, right, There's no way
<v Speaker 2>the Rock deep rones him at WrestleMania and it's Cody
<v Speaker 2>versus the Rock. But him facing Roman at Elimination Chamber
<v Speaker 2>for the championship would be the worst outcome, because then
<v Speaker 2>you would you know he's beating Rock at Mania at Chamber,
<v Speaker 2>and then you pretty well know that Cody's going to
<v Speaker 2>defeat him at WrestleMania. And I am not always here
<v Speaker 2>to say that it has to be unpredictable, but at
<v Speaker 2>the same time, like when it's that predictable for consecutive
<v Speaker 2>pay per views in such a big way, when there's
<v Speaker 2>unpredictable options and better options, to be honest, that's when
<v Speaker 2>I would probably start getting frustrated.
<v Speaker 3>Well for all the Cody fans out there, and I
<v Speaker 3>understand why you want Cody in the main event here,
<v Speaker 3>why people feel that The Rock is taking Cody's spot,
<v Speaker 3>and why he is a better candidate to beat Roman
<v Speaker 3>for the title. I am of that belief as well,
<v Speaker 3>that he's a better candidate than the Rock. The Rock
<v Speaker 3>should be nowhere near the belt. But my concern is
<v Speaker 3>if you are a Cody fan and and many people
<v Speaker 3>believe that Roman Reigns could drop the belt in the
<v Speaker 3>next few weeks at the Rumble, well you can't have
<v Speaker 3>the Royal Rumble winner face Roman Reigns if he's not
<v Speaker 3>the champion, So you could get Rock Roman at elimination
<v Speaker 3>chamber non title where Roman drops the belt a month
<v Speaker 3>earlier at Rumble to Orton or I mean probably not
<v Speaker 3>aj styles, but you could get that where you have
<v Speaker 3>a nine title perfect and then it's Rock Roman and
<v Speaker 3>elimination Chamber. But then where does Cody fit in? Does
<v Speaker 3>he face Randy Orton as we have thought about in
<v Speaker 3>the past as well, with their history, you could have
<v Speaker 3>Roman Reigns or rather Cody Rhodes face off against Randy Orton.
<v Speaker 3>Given their history. That'd be a fun matchup. But for
<v Speaker 3>the triple threat to happen, I just it has to
<v Speaker 3>be because and I'm bringing up this triple threat because
<v Speaker 3>it has been a big talking point among other major
<v Speaker 3>podcasts and you know, other circles in wrestling that this
<v Speaker 3>triple threat is a better idea than Rock Roman one
<v Speaker 3>on one WrestleMania forty as to help save face for Cody.
<v Speaker 3>If this is all about protecting Cody, then Roman Reigns
<v Speaker 3>should probably retain at the Royal Rumble and then you
<v Speaker 3>get Cody Roads selecting Rome rains and that's when the
<v Speaker 3>Rock faces Roman non title. He could still see here's
<v Speaker 3>the thing. Roman Reigns could still be champion and he
<v Speaker 3>says I'm not putting the belt on the line, and
<v Speaker 3>the Rock says good because that's not what I'm after.
<v Speaker 3>And you get rocked Roman at Elimination Chamber, non title,
<v Speaker 3>and that's when Cody brings himself into the mix, and
<v Speaker 3>then it is a triple threat at WrestleMania for the
<v Speaker 3>Undisputed Championship with the Rock involved. I mean, because I
<v Speaker 3>can't see Rock doing anything else other than something with
<v Speaker 3>Roman Reigns, whether it's a one or two man match
<v Speaker 3>or three man match at WrestleMania forty. It's just it
<v Speaker 3>doesn't make sense to me that people think Cody Roads
<v Speaker 3>should be the one to do it from a from
<v Speaker 3>just a business perspective, that it should be Cody Roads
<v Speaker 3>and Roman Reigns one on one. You have the biggest
<v Speaker 3>star literally on the on planet Earth, and you're gonna
<v Speaker 3>tell me he shouldn't doesn't belong in the main event
<v Speaker 3>and you want to make money. It doesn't make sense.
<v Speaker 2>Well, here's the thing, as we try and like jump
<v Speaker 2>through loot like hoops, like trying to figure out how
<v Speaker 2>it all makes sense. Because as much as I hate
<v Speaker 2>Cody Rhodes, I still do think that he shouldn't be
<v Speaker 2>pushed aside, like because he has no spot on Raw
<v Speaker 2>for the world title because that's Punkin Rolins or Drew
<v Speaker 2>McIntyre in some way, right, And if it's Rock and Roman,
<v Speaker 2>then what is he going to face Damian Priest again?
<v Speaker 2>And on telematch? Like, for as much as I despise Cody,
<v Speaker 2>he deserves to be used in a prominent spot And
<v Speaker 2>all of the options here, like all the best case
<v Speaker 2>scenarios could just be solved by Roman dropping the championship.
<v Speaker 2>And it's kind of like what we've been talking about
<v Speaker 2>since Sammy zane last year Elimination Chamber in Montreal is
<v Speaker 2>how much are you willing to sacrifice at the altar
<v Speaker 2>of Roman Reigns? Like are you going to sacrifice Rock
<v Speaker 2>versus Roman head of the Table match? Are you going
<v Speaker 2>to sacrifice a potential Cody versus Orton for the un
<v Speaker 2>disputed championship match with Orton reinvigorated after an eighteen month
<v Speaker 2>absence and Cody Ruins are looking to finish the story
<v Speaker 2>against his mentor, Like, are you going to sacrifice the
<v Speaker 2>likes of you know, La Knight and aj Styles taking
<v Speaker 2>yet another prominent loss? Are you going to sacrifice thoughting
<v Speaker 2>out two back to back main events at prominent pay
<v Speaker 2>per views in arguably the most important time of the
<v Speaker 2>wrestling year. For me, It's like, you always talk about
<v Speaker 2>what's best for business, both behind the scenes and on
<v Speaker 2>camera historically, and what's best for business right now is
<v Speaker 2>Roman not holding that championship because look how much we're
<v Speaker 2>twisting our brains into a pretzel, Like, OK, you could
<v Speaker 2>face the Rock here, but then maybe a triple threat match.
<v Speaker 2>Oh what if he has a non title match against
<v Speaker 2>the Rock while he's still the like and we're all
<v Speaker 2>like trying to jump through hoops and make sense of
<v Speaker 2>how everybody gets their fair share. But at the same time, simultaneously,
<v Speaker 2>there's an option there where you could say you could
<v Speaker 2>have three major main events, Like I've I've been about
<v Speaker 2>beating the drum for four major main events, but I've
<v Speaker 2>kind of like, at this point lost hope on the
<v Speaker 2>Drew versus La Night World title match, especially since ly
<v Speaker 2>Knight might not even be in the rumble. But you
<v Speaker 2>could have three major main event caliber matches Rock versus Roman,
<v Speaker 2>Head of the Table, Phunk vers Rolins World Heavyweight Title,
<v Speaker 2>Rhodes versus Orton WWE championship, to say nothing of what
<v Speaker 2>we could see on the women's side. So for me,
<v Speaker 2>at this point, like I just cannot see a logical
<v Speaker 2>way aside from destroying everything in all to get Roman
<v Speaker 2>Reigns to whatever record you want to get them to.
<v Speaker 2>But at this point you are only hurting the product
<v Speaker 2>to keep the title in Roman Reigns.
<v Speaker 3>Well, that's it. That's the thing we've been talking about
<v Speaker 3>for months is at what costs are we doing this
<v Speaker 3>to keep Roman as champion? There there is a lot
<v Speaker 3>of expense and a lot of a lot of things
<v Speaker 3>you have to give up for what you believe is
<v Speaker 3>a better choice used to keep Roman his champion, And
<v Speaker 3>so far I have not seen, at least the last
<v Speaker 3>especially six months, a good reason to keep it on.
<v Speaker 3>It really since last year's WrestleMania, it just doesn't really
<v Speaker 3>make a ton of sense to keep the belt on
<v Speaker 3>for so many reasons as we've gone over. But yeah,
<v Speaker 3>the fact that we are having to come up with
<v Speaker 3>these scenarios that are I don't know if it's off
<v Speaker 3>the wall is the right word, but because they're not
<v Speaker 3>off the wall crazy, they're just they're over complicated. They're
<v Speaker 3>not we're over complicating a scenario that may not need
<v Speaker 3>to be even though there are several people in the
<v Speaker 3>there are many players in the room here, but it
<v Speaker 3>really may not be that difficult to figure out as
<v Speaker 3>you laid out. I like the card you laid out.
<v Speaker 3>I think that it makes sense. But I also think
<v Speaker 3>that Roman reigns, as you said, if he drops the belt,
<v Speaker 3>a lot of these problems go away. But it all
<v Speaker 3>comes down to does wwe value that damn streak and
<v Speaker 3>beating Hogan over everything. I would hope that they look
<v Speaker 3>at this and say no, but I know that remains
<v Speaker 3>to be seen now when when we get that official
<v Speaker 3>face to face. Let me ask you this kind of
<v Speaker 3>working from rumble to mania here, do you think that Roman?
<v Speaker 3>Let me let me just ask your point blank, does
<v Speaker 3>Roman Reigns drop the belt at the World Rumble.
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna say yes, just because I think they know
<v Speaker 2>what they have at their fingertips, Because I know I
<v Speaker 2>was kind of on an island about a month ago
<v Speaker 2>when I think I was the first person to suggest
<v Speaker 2>Cody Versus important for the championship. So I'm gonna I'm gonna,
<v Speaker 2>you know, pump my own tires because of that. But
<v Speaker 2>now if you look at like people discussing things on
<v Speaker 2>the internet and podcasts, like this is something that's actually
<v Speaker 2>gaining traction ever since the Row came back, because it's
<v Speaker 2>a way to have your cake and eat it too,
<v Speaker 2>and it's just so obvious and obviously the right choice
<v Speaker 2>in so many ways that there's no way that Triple
<v Speaker 2>H and ww Creative can't see this, Like there's no
<v Speaker 2>way that they can't be staring at this and saying, man,
<v Speaker 2>we have the chance for three major box office smashes here.
<v Speaker 2>And we all know that WWE has notoriously promoted ww
<v Speaker 2>WrestleMania rather with three main events. That's one of the
<v Speaker 2>reasons Cmpunk left actually was that, yeah, you're one of
<v Speaker 2>the main events. And whether you agree or disagree with it,
<v Speaker 2>those all three of those matches could justifiably main event
<v Speaker 2>the second night of WrestleMania, right, and one of them
<v Speaker 2>is probably going to be arguably a Match of the
<v Speaker 2>Year candidate with Orton and Rhodes, one of them is
<v Speaker 2>five years in the making with Punk and Rawlins and
<v Speaker 2>would see Punk's first Mania match in eleven years, and
<v Speaker 2>the other would transcend the wrestling business with the Rock
<v Speaker 2>and Roman reigns, and there's just like you don't even
<v Speaker 2>need to really say anything, like you just put them
<v Speaker 2>in front of each other, and the story writes themselves.
<v Speaker 2>And if I'm triple h I just can't really come
<v Speaker 2>up with any logical and rational explanation as to why
<v Speaker 2>you'd forego that so in a big lawn and long
<v Speaker 2>easy enough for me to say roundabout way, I really
<v Speaker 2>got lost in my words there. I just think that yes,
<v Speaker 2>he will be dropping the title at the Royal Rumble,
<v Speaker 2>although I'm very, very skeptical about it, just because there
<v Speaker 2>is always that chance that they will destroy everything to
<v Speaker 2>get Roman reigns farther along on this title rain.
<v Speaker 3>And don't forget I mean the Rock could enter the
<v Speaker 3>Royal Rumble like, I mean, that's still possible. What if
<v Speaker 3>the Rock wins the Royal Rumble. I don't think that's
<v Speaker 3>the case. I think it will be likely it will
<v Speaker 3>be Cody Rhodes. I'm still on that train. I think
<v Speaker 3>he is the right guy the right time. As much
<v Speaker 3>as you and I don't like his character anything, it's
<v Speaker 3>just horrific as a babyface, he is the right guy.
<v Speaker 3>We can acknowledge him, no pun intended and also hate
<v Speaker 3>him at the same time. And I think that if
<v Speaker 3>Randy Orton wins, I think he will, you'll probably have
<v Speaker 3>The Rock come out to face Roman Reigns. Roland Rains
<v Speaker 3>could even be lost lose the belt because of the Rock.
<v Speaker 3>What's happening here is I think that the Rock and
<v Speaker 3>Roman Reigns. Roman Rains is playing a little bit coy
<v Speaker 3>right now with the Rock where he's not even acknowledging him,
<v Speaker 3>he's just laughing him off, giving him emojis. And what's
<v Speaker 3>going to happen is And I've brought this up on
<v Speaker 3>my podcast a couple of times, but I'm drawing back
<v Speaker 3>to this rivalry of WrestleMania twenty six with Shawn Michaels
<v Speaker 3>and the Undertaker with part two here, and they Shawn
<v Speaker 3>Michaels wanted a match with Undertaker, an Undertaker said no
<v Speaker 3>and kept saying no and no, and that eventually he
<v Speaker 3>forced the Undertaker's hand by costing him the championship inside
<v Speaker 3>the elimination chamber right before WrestleMania, and the Undertaker finally
<v Speaker 3>gave in. So it could be a little bit of
<v Speaker 3>that where the Rock is, you know, trying to get
<v Speaker 3>Roman's attention and you know, which is weird that the
<v Speaker 3>Rock is chasing Roman for a match here, but it
<v Speaker 3>seems to be where they're headed, and the Rock eventually
<v Speaker 3>gets Roman's attention by costing him the championship at the
<v Speaker 3>Royal Rumble. It could happen. I still think we get
<v Speaker 3>an opportunity to see the Rock and Roman face to
<v Speaker 3>face at the Rumble, which is going to be that moment.
<v Speaker 3>I think we're under selling how crazy that moment's going
<v Speaker 3>to be because you said it was what four or
<v Speaker 3>five years in the making. I think it's nine years
<v Speaker 3>in the making. When you look at this matchup that
<v Speaker 3>takes back all the way to Philadelphia nine years ago
<v Speaker 3>at the Royal Rumble, where it was a disaster for
<v Speaker 3>the company. W W was gifted from the Wrestling Gods
<v Speaker 3>a snowed in raw the next night so they didn't
<v Speaker 3>have to deal with the crowd that would have ate
<v Speaker 3>them alive. And it dates back to then. So it's
<v Speaker 3>really to me nine years that this match has been
<v Speaker 3>kind of on the table back and forth and that moment,
<v Speaker 3>I think we're under selling how awesome that's going to
<v Speaker 3>be with the crowd is when they finally just come
<v Speaker 3>within a couple of inches of each other face to face.
<v Speaker 3>It's gonna be something to be old, and I just
<v Speaker 3>you cannot understate how big this match is when yes,
<v Speaker 3>it may not live up to the wrestling of Codyan
<v Speaker 3>and Roman, but the story supersedes that. It's not all
<v Speaker 3>about having the five star match. Sometimes the story supersedes
<v Speaker 3>what could happen in the ring, and I'm not worried
<v Speaker 3>about that. So I like the three main events that
<v Speaker 3>you laid out there, Rock Roman. You have Punk and Rollins,
<v Speaker 3>and then you have Orton and Rhodes. I think those
<v Speaker 3>three are right there for the taking. If they want
<v Speaker 3>WrestleMania forty to be the biggest of all time, it's
<v Speaker 3>right there. But I'm just I'm still fearful that they're
<v Speaker 3>just gonna do what we said is probably gonna happen.
<v Speaker 3>If I know, Vince isn't there anymore, but sometimes his
<v Speaker 3>legacy lives on in spirit. It's just gonna be Rock
<v Speaker 3>Roman for the championship at WrestleMania forty. I'm still fearful
<v Speaker 3>that's on the table. Still.
<v Speaker 2>It's the problem here is that the entire bloodline angle
<v Speaker 2>has gone completely stale, and I never thought that we
<v Speaker 2>would see the day, but it's like they ran out
<v Speaker 2>of all the ideas. And we talked about how it
<v Speaker 2>was kind of going stale post wrestling in thirty eight
<v Speaker 2>against Brock Lesner and Sammy Zane prolonged it, and then
<v Speaker 2>it was kind of going stale again, but then the
<v Speaker 2>Civil War stuff was short but sweet and it prolonged it.
<v Speaker 2>And since SummerSlam it has just been more stale and
<v Speaker 2>more stale and more stale, and you've even seen like
<v Speaker 2>the like the wind come out of the solo sicoa sales.
<v Speaker 2>Jimmy Uso is just I feel bad for him given
<v Speaker 2>what his brother's doing on Raw, but he is just
<v Speaker 2>like it's just like channel changing with him, because it's
<v Speaker 2>like he tries to be like funny in a helish way,
<v Speaker 2>which I can kind of respect. It's not his fault.
<v Speaker 2>But aside from Rock versus Roman, there's no more intrigue
<v Speaker 2>for the bloodline, and I don't know that with him
<v Speaker 2>holding the title, there's anything more that you could do
<v Speaker 2>that's interesting here. If you take the title off of
<v Speaker 2>him and then you stretch it to Mane against the Rock,
<v Speaker 2>at least it's different and it's not the prominent thing
<v Speaker 2>that's being held hostage with him taking two, three, four
<v Speaker 2>weeks off at a time, if not longer. If it's
<v Speaker 2>just like a side angle between two part timers for
<v Speaker 2>the Head of the Table, I have all the time
<v Speaker 2>in the world for that, and with the Rock hinting
<v Speaker 2>and I could be wrong here, but has the Rock
<v Speaker 2>not hinted that this might not be a one off? Yeah?
<v Speaker 2>So if this is so, it isn't going to be
<v Speaker 2>a one off, right, So he's saying.
<v Speaker 3>And that's what he's saying.
<v Speaker 2>So if it's not going to be a one off,
<v Speaker 2>and he actually wants to do the whole you know,
<v Speaker 2>ending something but starting something else, would it not make
<v Speaker 2>most sense for the Rock to defeat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 2>Roman Reigns goes away, y'all. Hear that he's going to
<v Speaker 2>take off like significant time, And if they're saying Hey's
<v Speaker 2>taking off significant time, then that means it's like at
<v Speaker 2>least six months, right, a year? Yeah, yeah, exactly, So
<v Speaker 2>maybe that ends the Head of the Table Tribal Chief
<v Speaker 2>version of Rowan rains he comes back as a babyface,
<v Speaker 2>you do a bloodline babyface run and then next year
<v Speaker 2>at WrestleMania. It's Roman saying, you humbled me, I changed,
<v Speaker 2>but now I need another crack at you him and
<v Speaker 2>Rock number two. Roman wins, the Rock retires. That's how
<v Speaker 2>I see it. If you really want to squeeze the
<v Speaker 2>most out of anything to do with the bloodline, that's
<v Speaker 2>how you book this thing, assuming that the Rock is
<v Speaker 2>willing to give you another year. But the Rock's what
<v Speaker 2>fifty one. He probably knows that he only has X
<v Speaker 2>amount of time left that he can play this character
<v Speaker 2>and perform in the ring up to the expected capabilities.
<v Speaker 2>He's a spring chicken. He knows he's on the wrong
<v Speaker 2>side of fifty. Maybe he's saying to Triple it's like, look,
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna give you one more run kind of what
<v Speaker 2>I did in twenty eleven to twenty thirteen. I'll give
<v Speaker 2>you a fifteen month run. Put a bow on the
<v Speaker 2>Roman reign stuff. Give you back to back Mania matches
<v Speaker 2>one that cements him, closes the chapter on him as
<v Speaker 2>a heel, and then he comes back as a baby face.
<v Speaker 2>A bloodline run as Babyfaces, which I think we all
<v Speaker 2>want to see. That's how you prolonged the bloodline this
<v Speaker 2>time around, but with the current version of Roman as
<v Speaker 2>the heel champ and the minions of Jimmy and Solo
<v Speaker 2>and him beating everyone in every single pay per view
<v Speaker 2>going off air with him holding up the championships and
<v Speaker 2>fireworks going off. It's done and it was awesome. It
<v Speaker 2>was bleeping great. Should I should redo this speech on
<v Speaker 2>after dark so I could really not bleep myself out?
<v Speaker 2>But it was so good. I've spoken to several of
<v Speaker 2>my buddies who were just like, it was awesome. It
<v Speaker 2>was great, one the best joys ever. But it's done.
<v Speaker 2>It's over, and it's okay. You squeezed a solid three
<v Speaker 2>years out of it, because everything since SummerSlam to me
<v Speaker 2>hasn't been good. But up to Summer Slim everything was
<v Speaker 2>really really awesome. You squeeze three years out of it.
<v Speaker 2>But it's done. And that's the framework for me that
<v Speaker 2>I would go with.
<v Speaker 3>Well, that's exactly what they could be. If Rock is
<v Speaker 3>so concerned about starting something and ending something, well, you
<v Speaker 3>could end Roman Reigns's run and start his babyface run there.
<v Speaker 3>I mean this, just like you said, I've still am
<v Speaker 3>of the belief that the moment Roman Reigns drops the belt,
<v Speaker 3>that he becomes a baby face. Now, if he drops
<v Speaker 3>it at Rumble, he's not going to be a babyface
<v Speaker 3>facing the rock. But anytime from WrestleMania forward, if he
<v Speaker 3>drops the belt, he's instantly going to become a baby
<v Speaker 3>face because people are going to look at him and
<v Speaker 3>not look at him and just get angered, almost in
<v Speaker 3>reflex that seeing him is a reminder of just, you know,
<v Speaker 3>of keeping that beat hostage for so damn long. You know,
<v Speaker 3>he's the face of the absentee champion. And I think
<v Speaker 3>that people have they've kind of tuned out of the story.
<v Speaker 3>It's not even it's not even that you're just angry
<v Speaker 3>with the character. You're just kind of like you're starting
<v Speaker 3>to reach indifference. And that's the kiss of death for
<v Speaker 3>any storyline when you just go, man, I don't really care.
<v Speaker 3>That's not what WW wants you to do. So I
<v Speaker 3>think fans are starting to feel that way, and I
<v Speaker 3>think that it could be absolutely a babyface run in
<v Speaker 3>twenty twenty four for Roman reigns. I do believe Roman
<v Speaker 3>Rains will be a babyface in twenty twenty four. I
<v Speaker 3>still believe he's going to drop the belt, don't. I
<v Speaker 3>haven't really thought about or really definitively decided when it's
<v Speaker 3>going to be. It could be as soon as two
<v Speaker 3>and a half weeks from now, it could be as
<v Speaker 3>late as September of twenty four. But I still think
<v Speaker 3>that whenever it happens, Roman reigns is going to be
<v Speaker 3>on that path becoming one of the biggest baby faces
<v Speaker 3>of all time. The bloodline story completely changes, Solo maybe
<v Speaker 3>goes off on his own, or maybe the whole group
<v Speaker 3>turns babyface. Maybe eventually Jay comes back into the fold
<v Speaker 3>in late twenty four into twenty five, they have a
<v Speaker 3>babyface run as a group. I mean, there's a lot
<v Speaker 3>you can do. It's just we haven't even seen the
<v Speaker 3>babyface version of this whole thing yet. It just can't
<v Speaker 3>be with Roman at the top here as champion, and
<v Speaker 3>I'm just looking forward to I mean, just there are
<v Speaker 3>so many different ways to go with this. I'm just
<v Speaker 3>to me though, when I specifically hone in on the Rock,
<v Speaker 3>I do believe it's going to be Rock Roman in
<v Speaker 3>the main event of WrestleMania. I mean to say it's
<v Speaker 3>a boring selection, but to say it's for the championship
<v Speaker 3>could still be the right, could be the right solution,
<v Speaker 3>even if it is one that is predictable, because if
<v Speaker 3>the Rock's willing to give you some time, then sure,
<v Speaker 3>Like if he's going to stick around for a little bit,
<v Speaker 3>then then fine. But if Rock turns into a Roman schedule,
<v Speaker 3>then what the hell is the point of giving Rock
<v Speaker 3>the belt? I mean that that would be you know.
<v Speaker 2>What I mean. I wasn't saying that he should have
<v Speaker 2>the belt. I'm saying that he should defeat Roman in
<v Speaker 2>a non time I don't match like the way I
<v Speaker 2>would book, and I don't usually like to do fantasy booking,
<v Speaker 2>but I would have the Rock screw Roman in some
<v Speaker 2>way at the during the Fatal four way. I would
<v Speaker 2>have J involved as well in some capacity, like maybe
<v Speaker 2>the Bloodline screwed J and the Rumble early on in
<v Speaker 2>the match in the night, rather Ja gets involved, the
<v Speaker 2>Rock is gets involved. Because I don't know if people
<v Speaker 2>have realized, but Jay has started using some Rock mannerisms
<v Speaker 2>in the ring, like the whole slapping thing, spit on
<v Speaker 2>the hand like. I feel like J and the Rock
<v Speaker 2>are going to cross pass in a partnership in some
<v Speaker 2>way soon, and I could see an elimination chamber them
<v Speaker 2>doing another Bloodline Civil War type thing like and one
<v Speaker 2>that I would actually be intrigued with. If you have
<v Speaker 2>j in the Rock in a handicapped match against Roman,
<v Speaker 2>solo and Jimmy, kind of similar to Evolution versus Rock
<v Speaker 2>and saw Connection nineteen years ago at WrestleMania. So that
<v Speaker 2>and then that would lead into Rock versus Roman non
<v Speaker 2>title at WrestleMania. The Rock defeats Roman reigns. No, I
<v Speaker 2>no way should the Rock hold the championship. I'm sorry
<v Speaker 2>if I if I misconstrued that, like, no, there's no
<v Speaker 2>they can have another part time chat. They can't. It
<v Speaker 2>has to be as much as it twists my stomach
<v Speaker 2>to say and makes me want to vomit through my nostrils,
<v Speaker 2>Cody Road should be the WWE champion post WrestleMania. That's
<v Speaker 2>the way it should be. As much as I detest
<v Speaker 2>everything to do with his stupid blonde hair and his
<v Speaker 2>dumb outfit and his stupid weight belt and his dumb
<v Speaker 2>neck tattoo and everything stupid about him, he should be
<v Speaker 2>objectively the guy to walk out with the undisputed championship.
<v Speaker 2>The Rock should defeat Roman in a non title match
<v Speaker 2>at Mania that humbles Roman, makes Roman go away till
<v Speaker 2>at least SummerSlam, and when he comes back, he's humbled
<v Speaker 2>as a babyface.
<v Speaker 3>It really could be that simple, guys. I mean, I
<v Speaker 3>hate to say it, and I twisted myself to a
<v Speaker 3>pretzel earlier in the show. But that's kind of where
<v Speaker 3>the fans are at right now, and it's actually an
<v Speaker 3>envious spot if you're a WWE. That's kind of where
<v Speaker 3>you want the fans. You want them just kind of
<v Speaker 3>going this way and that way. Well, if this, then that,
<v Speaker 3>then this, well, I don't know, this has to happen
<v Speaker 3>for that to happen. There's so many different scenarios. It's
<v Speaker 3>a great place to be if you're WWE, but also
<v Speaker 3>a dangerous one because no matter what you choose, the
<v Speaker 3>fans are going to second guess it and say, ah, well,
<v Speaker 3>this would have been better, that would have been better.
<v Speaker 3>We only have one reality to live in. There's a
<v Speaker 3>whole lot of great options, honestly, and very few ones
<v Speaker 3>that are awful. So to me, they can't really step
<v Speaker 3>on a landmine here. There are a lot of great options.
<v Speaker 3>They're not dumb enough to choose the ones that are
<v Speaker 3>just horrific. What are the horrific ones? Rock winning the
<v Speaker 3>Rumble would be horrific because what does that do for
<v Speaker 3>any of the talent. I mean even I'd be sympathetic
<v Speaker 3>to Cody Rhodes on that one. You can't have Rock
<v Speaker 3>win the Rumble. You can't have Rock just appear at
<v Speaker 3>elimination chamber and then disappear. That makes no sense. People
<v Speaker 3>have actually proposed that. You know, you can't have like,
<v Speaker 3>for example, as much as I like a just I
<v Speaker 3>was a candidate, just I was winning the belt before,
<v Speaker 3>you know, certain things that are just ridiculous. But I
<v Speaker 3>think that that is it could be that simple. It
<v Speaker 3>really could be that simple. I'm all for non title.
<v Speaker 3>I think that WWE would recognize that if we're doing
<v Speaker 3>Rock Roman, fans are going to look at that and say, well,
<v Speaker 3>Rock typically goes back to Hollywood the night after WrestleMania,
<v Speaker 3>so there's not a chance in hell Rock's winning this match.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, WWWE has to know that. So you can't
<v Speaker 3>have Roman as champion. You can't make one of the
<v Speaker 3>biggest and last fantasy matches that's possible in twenty twenty four,
<v Speaker 3>the most predictable outcome of all time. So they have
<v Speaker 3>to have Roman drop the belt. I may be throughout
<v Speaker 3>this show here I may have talked myself into believing
<v Speaker 3>Roman Reigins is dropping the belt at the Royal Rumble here.
<v Speaker 2>Because it's low hanging fruit that should be obvious. You
<v Speaker 2>know how you always say predictable isn't a bad thing
<v Speaker 2>if it makes sense? Well, we're right there. That's literally
<v Speaker 2>what this is. Everyone wants to see it, and like
<v Speaker 2>we've said, there is no more perfect ending to Roman reigns.
<v Speaker 2>Should he be dropping one of the most historic championship
<v Speaker 2>runs in a fatal four way at the Rumble? Probably not?
<v Speaker 2>Probably not. But at the same time, do we remember
<v Speaker 2>who Bruno Sammerteama lost the championship too? Do we remember
<v Speaker 2>who Bob Becklan lost the championship too? Do we remember
<v Speaker 2>who Haul Cogan lost the championship to? To even see
<v Speaker 2>him punk? When we talk about his run from the
<v Speaker 2>summer of twenty eleven to Rumble twenty thirteen, it was
<v Speaker 2>the rock, but not many people talk about that, And
<v Speaker 2>when they do, it's only sometimes to say that it
<v Speaker 2>should have gone on longer with Punk, like nobody will
<v Speaker 2>really give a dam in five years from now that
<v Speaker 2>he lost the title to Randy Orton in a fatal
<v Speaker 2>four way match, especially if they go the route that
<v Speaker 2>we're talking about, because it's the right thing to do,
<v Speaker 2>and you would set yourself up for one of the
<v Speaker 2>biggest wrestle me is ever with three major main events,
<v Speaker 2>like each one of those main events could arguably have
<v Speaker 2>main evented each of the last like ten WrestleManias.
<v Speaker 3>I know. I mean, that's the kind of roster in
<v Speaker 3>storylines they have going on right now. I mean, WW
<v Speaker 3>is in one of the best positions I've seen them
<v Speaker 3>in in a decade. They are more, yeah, maybe more.
<v Speaker 3>I mean I reckoned it back all the way to
<v Speaker 3>the Ruthless Aggression era. I mean, that's how far back
<v Speaker 3>I'm going here. Before they had a roster this stacked
<v Speaker 3>with a fantas.
<v Speaker 2>Can I give you one example. Yeah, the last time
<v Speaker 2>I remember them having a roster this stacked going into
<v Speaker 2>WrestleMania was probably like going into wrestling at twenty three,
<v Speaker 2>where you had brought you had John Cena versus Shawn Michaels,
<v Speaker 2>the Undertaker versus Bobby Lashley, and then Oomaga versus you know,
<v Speaker 2>it was an Undertaker versus Batista, and Bobby Lashley versus Umaga,
<v Speaker 2>which was obviously highlighted by McMahon versus Trump, Like that's
<v Speaker 2>the last and you had like Edge and Randy Orton
<v Speaker 2>in a and Jeff Hardy and like a money in
<v Speaker 2>the Bank ladder match, Like that's probably the last time
<v Speaker 2>that they had so many star level players at their disposal.
<v Speaker 3>I would I don't know. I mean, I'm thinking, oh, well,
<v Speaker 3>what about Wrestle MAINGA twenty five? I remember Wrestle MAINGA
<v Speaker 3>twenty five with I mean, honestly, that may have been
<v Speaker 3>the best WrestleMania match of all time I've seen with
<v Speaker 3>Undertaker and Sean Michaels in Houston. But that was really
<v Speaker 3>the only thing you remember, Like, tell me another match
<v Speaker 3>from WrestleMania. It's twenty five that you remember?
<v Speaker 2>John? Wait, didn't they have wasn't Triple h versus Randy
<v Speaker 2>Orton in a no holds a Bard match? And then
<v Speaker 2>the triple threat match for the World Heavyweight title of Edge,
<v Speaker 2>John Cena and Big Show? But who the hell remembers
<v Speaker 2>of those two matches?
<v Speaker 1>Well?
<v Speaker 3>That's yeah, I mean, you're you're the exception here, but exactly,
<v Speaker 3>I mean, but most people can't. I mean, so I'm
<v Speaker 3>looking back this roster right now is in a position
<v Speaker 3>that they are. I don't know. Part of this has
<v Speaker 3>to be attributed to Vince a little bit because he
<v Speaker 3>was he'll still here when some of this talent came up,
<v Speaker 3>but obviously Triple H has been driving the machine since
<v Speaker 3>that time. I think this is a this is a
<v Speaker 3>transition time for WWE. It's one that they are in
<v Speaker 3>a very good position to negotiate contracts with networks and
<v Speaker 3>everything else, and they are about making money. Whether you
<v Speaker 3>know they're a feel good company, you put your smile
<v Speaker 3>on your face and all that gushy crap, But at
<v Speaker 3>the end of the day, they're there for money, just
<v Speaker 3>like all the talent are. And that means they're going
<v Speaker 3>to put the biggest match or matches forward at WrestleMania possible,
<v Speaker 3>which tells me, guys, you cannot have Roman Reigns and
<v Speaker 3>Cody Roads one on one anyway at WrestleMania. You you
<v Speaker 3>just you can't do it unless you're going to have
<v Speaker 3>Rocks somehow involved in that. It just doesn't make sense
<v Speaker 3>that if nobody could tell me that Rock Roman is
<v Speaker 3>a lesser of a match than Cody Roads and Roman Reigns,
<v Speaker 3>it just it's it doesn't make any logical sense. The
<v Speaker 3>biggest star in the world. He gained two hundred and
<v Speaker 3>fifty thousand viewers the Rock did just by showing up.
<v Speaker 3>Cody Roads doesn't pull those numbers un raw, it doesn't happen.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, just looking at one metric tells you all
<v Speaker 3>you need to know about the star power comparison of
<v Speaker 3>Rock and Cody. So I mean, hey, I think the
<v Speaker 3>solution we played out here makes total sense to me
<v Speaker 3>with those three massive matches and main events that should
<v Speaker 3>play out at WrestleMania forty and I guess I'll end
<v Speaker 3>it there. If you have any wrap up thoughts.
<v Speaker 2>I guess just my wrap up thoughts would be that
<v Speaker 2>WWE has something to do, something really has a chance
<v Speaker 2>rather to do something very special, and it's right at
<v Speaker 2>their fingertips. It's a low hanging fruit at this point.
<v Speaker 2>It's just up to whether or not they have the
<v Speaker 2>balls to do it. And by the balls, I mean
<v Speaker 2>like just finally rip the band aid off, because at
<v Speaker 2>this point, since Summerslime, it's felt like a band aid
<v Speaker 2>with Roman reigns, like everyone's just kind of waiting for
<v Speaker 2>it to end, and it sucks that it's gotten to
<v Speaker 2>this point. It really really sucks that it's gotten to
<v Speaker 2>this point. But you did the thousand days. You've stretched
<v Speaker 2>it as long as you could. But now you literally
<v Speaker 2>have maybe not the perfect match for it to end,
<v Speaker 2>but the perfect story and the perfect setup company wise
<v Speaker 2>on a macro scale for it to end like it
<v Speaker 2>doesn't just have to be the exact ending with Roman
<v Speaker 2>Reigns in the match. You have to look at where
<v Speaker 2>the company is. I would admit that up until this
<v Speaker 2>past summer, there was reason, there was a legitimate reason
<v Speaker 2>for WWE to hang on to Roman Reigns as the champion,
<v Speaker 2>especially without a World Championship on Monday Night Raw and
<v Speaker 2>without the legit main event guy to replace him. But
<v Speaker 2>now Seth Rollins has really legitimized that world title on
<v Speaker 2>Monday Night Raw. You have a returning Cmpunk. You have
<v Speaker 2>a Randy Orton who feels completely reborn. You have Cody Rhodes,
<v Speaker 2>who the Fens are still inexplicably behind, but I have
<v Speaker 2>to acknowledge that they are still behind him. You have
<v Speaker 2>a returning Rock. You still have La Knight who's getting
<v Speaker 2>good reactions. You have Drew mcin who, in my opinion,
<v Speaker 2>is the most intriguing character on both brands. You are
<v Speaker 2>in such a good spot that you don't need Roman
<v Speaker 2>Reigns anymore to be champion. Not to say you don't
<v Speaker 2>need them in general, you just don't need him to
<v Speaker 2>dominate and and it or and keep the main event
<v Speaker 2>seen hostage and on major pay per views. Yes, Seth
<v Speaker 2>Rawlins is an amazing drug. With the world title, the
<v Speaker 2>Undisputed Championship is still the main title, and you just
<v Speaker 2>don't need Roman Reigns to keep that title hostage anymore.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, well said. I mean, I don't know what more
<v Speaker 3>to add to that other than to say Drew does
<v Speaker 3>intrigue the hell out of me right now, because and
<v Speaker 3>I'll end it with this. With Drew McIntyre losing last
<v Speaker 3>week to Seth, I think that his character is going
<v Speaker 3>to go into a very dark place. You know, as
<v Speaker 3>he continues to lose title match after title match, eventually
<v Speaker 3>he's gonna snap. I know, he was kind of a
<v Speaker 3>quasi heel. He was kind of like the guy that
<v Speaker 3>was you know, he would bring up family, you felt
<v Speaker 3>like you should still cheer for him, but then he
<v Speaker 3>would do something kind of sly in the match. I
<v Speaker 3>think this could really send his character into the depths
<v Speaker 3>of darkness and just you know, completely change him into
<v Speaker 3>this a different human being. And I think that's what
<v Speaker 3>this was for Drew last week was I was disappointed
<v Speaker 3>he lost, but I think it's gonna now where he
<v Speaker 3>was kind of teetering on the edge, it's gonna push
<v Speaker 3>him full off. I mean, he's going right off the cliff,
<v Speaker 3>I think, and I hope so well.
<v Speaker 2>And that's one of the reasons why I keep beating
<v Speaker 2>the drum to get the title off of Seth because
<v Speaker 2>in a way, Seth versus Punk doesn't need the world
<v Speaker 2>title either, like it's to a much lesser extent than Roman,
<v Speaker 2>but Seth versus Punk could be a very legitimate grudge
<v Speaker 2>match as well. And then you could create another main
<v Speaker 2>event style match of Drew versus l A. Knight, And
<v Speaker 2>obviously that would kind of be like the like the
<v Speaker 2>redheaded step child of the four main events, but that
<v Speaker 2>could have the potential to really blow the doors off
<v Speaker 2>the place. Like if you open let's say Night two
<v Speaker 2>or something or Night one with the World Heavyweight Championship
<v Speaker 2>match and set the tone for WrestleMania with La Knight
<v Speaker 2>versus Drew McIntyre going half an hour. I think that
<v Speaker 2>would have the potential to really set the stage for
<v Speaker 2>punk versus Rolins and rock versus Roman, you know what
<v Speaker 2>I mean. I really think that they would have a
<v Speaker 2>ton of potential to really kick things off.
<v Speaker 3>And we haven't even talked about Gunther and Lesnar like exactly,
<v Speaker 3>like this is insane.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, so this what would Kevin Owens be doing,
<v Speaker 2>your Logan Paul be doing, like you know, like there's
<v Speaker 2>just the Judgment Day. What would Judgment Day be doing.
<v Speaker 2>They've been arguably the most intriguing thing on either show
<v Speaker 2>for the last six months. Like they are in such
<v Speaker 2>a good spot that you don't have to sacrifice everything
<v Speaker 2>at the altar of Roman rains.
<v Speaker 3>Right, And that's what they've done for a long time.
<v Speaker 3>And it again, I understand it. They they've sucked all
<v Speaker 3>the value out of it. They did what they should
<v Speaker 3>have done, although I think too long, and it's it's
<v Speaker 3>been great. You can create a documentary that they've already
<v Speaker 3>been filming for it. You can create T shirts, you
<v Speaker 3>can create video DVDs if they still make them. You know,
<v Speaker 3>you can do a lot with this, and I understand that.
<v Speaker 3>And they've done it, but it's just time for it
<v Speaker 3>to end, and I my optimism is a little higher
<v Speaker 3>as I talk myself into it that he'll lose it
<v Speaker 3>at the rubbles. So all right, well, I guess we'll
<v Speaker 3>end it there, you know, as we always do. This
<v Speaker 3>has come to an end and we will chat in
<v Speaker 3>a week. But do you have any anything else that
<v Speaker 3>you want to share. I know that you have your
<v Speaker 3>latest show that you just did that wrapped up the
<v Speaker 3>New Year's Revolution review on the after Dark show. Guys,
<v Speaker 3>that's exclusive to patrons and Apple podcast subscribers, so check
<v Speaker 3>that out. But I'll just hand it to you, hand
<v Speaker 3>the mic to you, and if you have anything else
<v Speaker 3>before we close.
<v Speaker 2>Out, well just go and listen to it. Obviously came
<v Speaker 2>out a day late than usual because of New Year's Evolution.
<v Speaker 2>I thought it was really important to take in the
<v Speaker 2>results of that into consideration. But obviously, depending on what
<v Speaker 2>happens on Monday night Row tonight, I saw that there
<v Speaker 2>was a confrontation between Drew and Punk, although I don't
<v Speaker 2>know the context or what was said, but yeah, be
<v Speaker 2>sure to check that out this coming Friday.
<v Speaker 3>Awesome, very good. This has been a lot of fun
<v Speaker 3>and guys, this is gonna get better as we get
<v Speaker 3>into Wrestlemandy season where things are just getting going. So
<v Speaker 3>all right, well, thanks so much, buddy. We will be
<v Speaker 3>chatting in a week.
<v Speaker 2>Looking forward to man.
<v Speaker 4>Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to
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