WWE RAW Review: Finn Balor Targets World Title, Bron Breakker Gets Suspended, AJ Styles vs Gunther

<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody, welcome to the Monday Night Raw Review. Time
<v Speaker 1>to talk about last night's Monday Night Raw. And boy,
<v Speaker 1>you wouldn't know the worry rumbles around the corner, would you.
<v Speaker 2>Do.
<v Speaker 1>You have that big pl E, one of the biggest PL's.
<v Speaker 1>Some look at it as the second biggest pl Most
<v Speaker 1>fans would say that's their favorite ple of the entire year. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that one. That one is being ignored by WWE, and
<v Speaker 1>there's very little mention of it. Really just kind of crazy.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you have the biggest event of the year
<v Speaker 1>coming up with this event that has incredible ramifications into
<v Speaker 1>your biggest event of the year, and you're not even
<v Speaker 1>talking about it. It is in passing, you know, in
<v Speaker 1>passing in WWE. You're here at very very sporadically all
<v Speaker 1>for what all for the Saturday night main event. I
<v Speaker 1>just I'm not getting this. So we have now two
<v Speaker 1>weeks from this Saturday, two weeks in beloved Riad Saudi
<v Speaker 1>Arabia until the Royal Rumble, and we haven't gotten any promotion.
<v Speaker 1>It's absurd, But maybe they feel that it doesn't need it.
<v Speaker 1>I feel like it does. The Royal Rumble matches themselves.
<v Speaker 1>I think they're leaving to a big mystery of who's
<v Speaker 1>going to maybe be number one or number two. Sometimes
<v Speaker 1>some years they will reveal who number one and number
<v Speaker 1>two are. But that's fine with me. If they want
<v Speaker 1>to leave the entire roster, the entire thirty man and
<v Speaker 1>thirty woman Royal Rumble a mystery, that's fine with me.
<v Speaker 1>And it's just kind of crazy. This may be the
<v Speaker 1>least promoted Royal Rumble of all time. Now they can
<v Speaker 1>still do the next couple weeks, and they should do
<v Speaker 1>the next couple weeks of promotion, but this may be
<v Speaker 1>three weeks out the absolute least amount of promotion they've
<v Speaker 1>ever done for the Royal Rumble. But they again, they
<v Speaker 1>feel and perhaps this is the reason they feel that
<v Speaker 1>the Royal Rumble sells itself, and in a lot of
<v Speaker 1>ways it does. It does, but kind of crazy. So
<v Speaker 1>we'll get into that. We'll talk about Finn Balor, who
<v Speaker 1>is now put himself back into the main event picture,
<v Speaker 1>at least probably for a very short time to try
<v Speaker 1>to challenge cmpunk for the world title. That'll be interesting.
<v Speaker 1>And we've got other stuff to women's tag team title
<v Speaker 1>contenders coming up. Gun through versus AJ styles that took
<v Speaker 1>place last night. We're going to get to all of it.
<v Speaker 1>But as always, if you haven't joined us before, welcome.
<v Speaker 1>If you're a regular listener, thank you. We're also available
<v Speaker 1>to add free at patreon dot com slash WWE podcast.
<v Speaker 1>So let's dive into Monday night raw and the venue
<v Speaker 1>was let me get make sure I get this right.
<v Speaker 1>I feel like I forgot exactly where overseas that they are.
<v Speaker 1>Oh that's right, Dustled Germany at the PSD Bank Dome.
<v Speaker 1>But you didn't know that. Maybe New Germany, but Dusseldorf.
<v Speaker 1>I did not pick that up. Unless it's like Berlin
<v Speaker 1>outside of Berlin. How many people know any other cities
<v Speaker 1>in Germany that WWE visits anyway? Not many? So all right.
<v Speaker 1>We then had open with the highlights of last week
<v Speaker 1>and Cole said there were over on eleven thousand in attendance,
<v Speaker 1>and he of course narrates the backstage arrival of Sampunk Logan,
<v Speaker 1>Paul Bronson, Reid Austin Theory, Jamon Evans and a bunch
<v Speaker 1>of others, and then Pyro goes often we have Ria
<v Speaker 1>Ripley and EO Sky make their entrance and after playing
<v Speaker 1>to the crowd, they started to talk about facing any
<v Speaker 1>team before they were interrupted by entrance music because their
<v Speaker 1>baby faces and they have to declare or according to
<v Speaker 1>Royal Rumbles twenty fifteen promo by Roman Reigns de glare
<v Speaker 1>just watching that. If you haven't seen it, you don't
<v Speaker 1>know what the hell I'm talking about. Roman Regins has
<v Speaker 1>had some really bad flubs on the mic. The Suffering
<v Speaker 1>suck attache is obviously one of the most infamous, but
<v Speaker 1>it was the twenty fifteen Royal Rubble that he said
<v Speaker 1>he declares and then gave an awkward stare into the
<v Speaker 1>camera and then said declare and then it was a mess.
<v Speaker 1>Uh you know, turning that into the tribal chief is
<v Speaker 1>pretty damn impressive. And if I'm not mistaken, that was
<v Speaker 1>the Royal Rumble in Philly that he got completely booed
<v Speaker 1>out of the building even with the help of the
<v Speaker 1>rock where they were trying to push him as a
<v Speaker 1>face and it wasn't working. And then two, just by
<v Speaker 1>absolute miracle, the wrestling gods shined down upon WWE because
<v Speaker 1>after they made that decision, there was a massive snowstorm
<v Speaker 1>and in the east that forced raw to be snowed
<v Speaker 1>in the infamous snowed in Raw. That was really disappointing
<v Speaker 1>because if they had not done that, or rather if
<v Speaker 1>that had not happened in WWE canceled Raw, they he
<v Speaker 1>would have had a mess on their hands from her
<v Speaker 1>crowd reaction standpoint. So they they were blessed because the
<v Speaker 1>Philly crowd that was still hanging around for Raw to
<v Speaker 1>give it to WWE for allowing Roman Reigns to win
<v Speaker 1>the Rumble would have been destroyed. But that's eleven years
<v Speaker 1>ago now, good God, So live Morgan in Roxanne Perez
<v Speaker 1>walk out back to Row and they spoke as they
<v Speaker 1>headed to the ring, and once they got in the ring,
<v Speaker 1>Morgan spoke about never losing titles. When they were taken away.
<v Speaker 1>Lyra and Bailey then come out and Bailey encouraged the
<v Speaker 1>crowd to sing her song and they did. The Europeans.
<v Speaker 1>Europeans were chanting something all night. I don't know what
<v Speaker 1>the hell they were saying. As always, it's frustrating as
<v Speaker 1>a English speaking North American, It's like, I don't know
<v Speaker 1>what the hell they're saying. So it is what it
<v Speaker 1>is somebody out there all translated for me. But Lyra
<v Speaker 1>and Bailey come out and Bailey played up her and
<v Speaker 1>Lyra becoming the new champions, and Ripley said they were
<v Speaker 1>laying down a challenge and it was for anyone, and
<v Speaker 1>Van Spim sang in Bailey's song, and that's when Oscar
<v Speaker 1>and Kyrie pulled Rhea, Ripley and EO. Sky to the
<v Speaker 1>floor and beat them up, and Oscar and Kyrie entered
<v Speaker 1>the ring and fought the other teams, and Ripley and
<v Speaker 1>Sky returned to the ring and instead stood tall. So
<v Speaker 1>just telling you, hey, we have multiple teams here that
<v Speaker 1>are interested in the women's tag team division or the
<v Speaker 1>tag team titles. This is still the biggest and most
<v Speaker 1>important that the women's tag team titles have ever felt
<v Speaker 1>in their existence. And even if that doesn't mean it's
<v Speaker 1>still at the forefront of my mind or most fans'
<v Speaker 1>minds of what they want to see, and most wouldn't
<v Speaker 1>put this in the main event, this is still where
<v Speaker 1>you could This is the best place you could probably
<v Speaker 1>imagine or expect WWE to be putting the women's tag
<v Speaker 1>team titles, because for so long they were cursed, forgotten, unopposed,
<v Speaker 1>you name it, embarrassing. At one point even you can
<v Speaker 1>make an argument that you just dissolve them until they
<v Speaker 1>have a reason to a consistency with them, and so
<v Speaker 1>they're in a good spot. They're in a good spot,
<v Speaker 1>and it's just telling you, hey, there's going to be
<v Speaker 1>probably a multi women tag team match at WrestleMania. That's again,
<v Speaker 1>that's three months away, three plus months, but you could
<v Speaker 1>see that happening, much like with the women's US title
<v Speaker 1>or Intercontinental title. So okay. So we then have Jackie
<v Speaker 1>Redmen interview AJ Styles in a backstage area and asked
<v Speaker 1>what makes things so personal between him and Gunther, and
<v Speaker 1>AJ spoke about how it was all about respect when
<v Speaker 1>he started in the industry, and he said that he
<v Speaker 1>and John Cena haven't always seen eyed eye, but they
<v Speaker 1>bonded over the word respect, and Style said he would
<v Speaker 1>make Gunther tap out like a little I can't say
<v Speaker 1>the word. I shouldn't say the word. I've probably said
<v Speaker 1>it a few times, but trying to keep this show
<v Speaker 1>as clean as possible. You never know who's listening with
<v Speaker 1>kids and whatnot. I get it. So Javon Evans comes
<v Speaker 1>out and Cole plugged the WWE podcasts, No not me,
<v Speaker 1>the actual WWE podcasts and Barrett announced Kabooki Warriors versus
<v Speaker 1>Morgan and Perez versus Valkyria and Bailey in a Number
<v Speaker 1>one contenders match for later in the show. And we
<v Speaker 1>had a segment that I'm skipping, which of course has
<v Speaker 1>to do with the Judgment Day. If you, if you,
<v Speaker 1>if I see the words Judgment Day, I skip it
<v Speaker 1>because it doesn't matter to me. I know that's like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>it's part of the show. I don't care. I told
<v Speaker 1>you I'm bored to tears with the Judgment Day. But
<v Speaker 1>we have more to say about Finn later, of course,
<v Speaker 1>and we all know what that is. So Javan Evans
<v Speaker 1>takes on Bravo who is at ringside with El Grande
<v Speaker 1>Americano and Reo, and we had this match go six
<v Speaker 1>minutes and fifteen seconds with Javon Evans winning after he
<v Speaker 1>hits the og cutter and gets the victory. And after
<v Speaker 1>the match, Evans punches Bravo off the apron and Americanoll
<v Speaker 1>pulls Evans from the ring and tosses him over the
<v Speaker 1>broadcast table and Los Americano's set up a three on
<v Speaker 1>one attack, but Evans uses his speed and acrobatics to
<v Speaker 1>avoid them. According to this write up, which is true.
<v Speaker 1>Javon Evans is a freak of nature in the best way.
<v Speaker 1>He is just he embodies what the twenty twenty six,
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty five and beyond style of pro wrestling is today,
<v Speaker 1>which is insane athleticism, almost a gymnastics presentation, and that's
<v Speaker 1>kind of a slight unwrestling today. I don't like how
<v Speaker 1>it's evolving, but it is evolving because everything does. And again,
<v Speaker 1>evolving doesn't mean progress in a good way. You can
<v Speaker 1>have a lot of things evolved that aren't good. But
<v Speaker 1>that's the way it's going, and he embodies what that
<v Speaker 1>is today. He is He's a guy that you could
<v Speaker 1>look to it and say, hey, we're gonna give you
<v Speaker 1>thirty minutes tonight, go kill it, and he would. You
<v Speaker 1>know he would because he's got that type of athleticism
<v Speaker 1>inside of him, much like Logan Paul, much like Carmelo Hayes. So, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>a lot of new guys that the crowd is going
<v Speaker 1>to have to start to get used to and get
<v Speaker 1>to know. But a lot of new talent that are
<v Speaker 1>hopefully going to be the future of the WWE and
<v Speaker 1>maybe the faces of the company. Yeah, I hope okay.
<v Speaker 1>So backstage, Adam Pierce told the referee to let the
<v Speaker 1>women's teams know that it would be all settled tonight,
<v Speaker 1>and after the referee left, Adam Pierce spotted Paul Hayman
<v Speaker 1>and asked where is he? And Pierce assumed that bron
<v Speaker 1>Breaker would show up with bad intentions, and Pierce told
<v Speaker 1>Haymen to tell Breaker to go home because he wasn't
<v Speaker 1>in the mood. So then we had Sampunk shown walking
<v Speaker 1>backstage and footage of Cama Skataboo the Giants running back
<v Speaker 1>playing a ww video game, because that's what you do,
<v Speaker 1>is have you know, football stars just sitting and playing
<v Speaker 1>wrestling games whatever. Again, if you want video games, you're
<v Speaker 1>probably gonna get a two K twenty six announcement at
<v Speaker 1>the Royal Rumble. So then we have Cmpunk come out
<v Speaker 1>and he told fans he's never going to get tired
<v Speaker 1>of being their champion and plans to be champion forever. Lol.
<v Speaker 1>He acknowledged that his friend Cody Rohase just lost his
<v Speaker 1>title on Friday, but he feels like he can do
<v Speaker 1>anything with the support of fans. Stop. I don't I
<v Speaker 1>don't get it. I don't get it. What there are
<v Speaker 1>anti heroes that are some of the most memorable in
<v Speaker 1>history that you don't need to pander defans and tell
<v Speaker 1>them how important they are. And we want to be
<v Speaker 1>your champion forever, and I'll take on all comers. You know,
<v Speaker 1>the anti hero does exist and has existed. And oh,
<v Speaker 1>by the way, was the biggest star in all of
<v Speaker 1>pro wrestling. You know who I'm talking about, right, So whatever,
<v Speaker 1>this is just the formula today that every babyface champion
<v Speaker 1>must adhere to. It's the script they must follow. So anyway,
<v Speaker 1>Punk said, the royal rumbel and elimination Chamber of events
<v Speaker 1>coming up again. A nice mention here, but few and
<v Speaker 1>far between. He said the road to WrestleMania goes through him,
<v Speaker 1>and said he beat braun Breaker last week and now
<v Speaker 1>the Vision Faction is in his rear view and it
<v Speaker 1>was time for him to quote do champs stuff and
<v Speaker 1>wave goodbye. Whatever the hell that means, I mean, I
<v Speaker 1>don't know. I mean, he's that like media appearances, signings,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know what that means. A way to just
<v Speaker 1>kind of introduce Finn balor find a way for him
<v Speaker 1>to go to the next program. Who the next guy
<v Speaker 1>is and that's who it was. It's Finn Balor, which
<v Speaker 1>I don't think that was on anyone's Bengo card last night,
<v Speaker 1>because Finn Balor has been out of the main event
<v Speaker 1>scene for years and stuck in the shadow of this
<v Speaker 1>amorphous blob known as the Judgment Day that has just
<v Speaker 1>mutated into a completely irrelevant and boring organism. That's why
<v Speaker 1>I don't mention them. They are again individually no problem.
<v Speaker 1>As a collective snoozefest. It's over and I hope I
<v Speaker 1>eat my words and they do something insane with the group.
<v Speaker 1>I'm always four being proved wrong if it's for the
<v Speaker 1>betterment of the product. But it's just nice to see
<v Speaker 1>Finn Balor in a position where you know he can
<v Speaker 1>thrive and he's going to hear. So he comes out
<v Speaker 1>and said he wasn't waiting for the rumble or Chamber,
<v Speaker 1>and he wasn't asking for a handout, and he recalled Punk,
<v Speaker 1>listing him as one of the people he wants to face.
<v Speaker 1>Punk said that he was Or that was over two
<v Speaker 1>months ago. Spaler would have taken him so long. He
<v Speaker 1>said he sees Balor playing video games, worrying about Dominic
<v Speaker 1>Wistereo trying to help j D McDonough or shining live
<v Speaker 1>Morgan's shoes, and Siampunk asked if he would face Finn
<v Speaker 1>Balor or Finn Balor in the judgment day and he
<v Speaker 1>mentioned Balor's name because he's a fan, and he said.
<v Speaker 1>Punk said, of course, again, follow the script here, guys,
<v Speaker 1>follow the incredibly predictable, boring gushy. I'm a fighting champion,
<v Speaker 1>is what he said. And he said he would put
<v Speaker 1>his boots on and they would have a match to night,
<v Speaker 1>and Balor said he's been around long enough to know
<v Speaker 1>that timing is everything and said Punk didn't have to
<v Speaker 1>worry about dom Or McDonough and Balor said he watched
<v Speaker 1>Punk's career and how he took advantage of having a
<v Speaker 1>home field advantage, and Baler said they would be in Belfast,
<v Speaker 1>Northern Ireland next and there would be a new Irish
<v Speaker 1>heavyweight champion. Punk accepted as expected, and he apologized to
<v Speaker 1>the German fans who wanted to see him, and apologize
<v Speaker 1>to those in Belfast who will have to see their
<v Speaker 1>countrymen get put to sleep. And that was it, so
<v Speaker 1>fine promo from both. It'll be very interesting to me
<v Speaker 1>to see how Sampunk deals with likely a cascade of
<v Speaker 1>booze next week, despite the fact that Sampunk's the babyface
<v Speaker 1>here and we have a heel finn Balor who has
<v Speaker 1>no chance of winning the championship. I mean just absolutely
<v Speaker 1>zero chance. None, not happening. Bet your house on it.
<v Speaker 1>Don't actually, but you could and feel still feel safe
<v Speaker 1>about it. They're doing it simply because of geographic location
<v Speaker 1>and that they would get the fans, you know, excited
<v Speaker 1>to see Jade or rather a Finn Balor in a
<v Speaker 1>prominent position. And it's fine, but it'll be interesting to
<v Speaker 1>hear seam punkind bood for the first time in a
<v Speaker 1>while and hear Finn Balor get cheered. So all right,
<v Speaker 1>so good, excuse me, good to see finn Balor in
<v Speaker 1>a good position. So we have then Lived Morgan in
<v Speaker 1>Rox sand Perez take on the Kabooki Warriors versus Bailey
<v Speaker 1>and Lyra in a three way to become the number
<v Speaker 1>one contenders for the women's tag team titles. And the
<v Speaker 1>match went twelve minutes and forty seconds. The winners are
<v Speaker 1>Live Morgan in Rox San Perez and how they did
<v Speaker 1>it was Live Morgan making a blind tag Kyrie tosses
<v Speaker 1>Perez to the floor, and then Morgan hits oblivion and
<v Speaker 1>gets the victory. That oblivion, man, I don't know what
<v Speaker 1>that stuff's made of, but nobody's got the kryptonite for it.
<v Speaker 1>There might have been one or two times in the
<v Speaker 1>last however many years Live has been using oblivion to
<v Speaker 1>put away her opponents that they've kicked out. Oblivion is
<v Speaker 1>one of the most apparently devastating finishes of all time.
<v Speaker 1>That's how a finish should be treated. Oblivion is actually
<v Speaker 1>a good blueprint for every finish to follow because that's
<v Speaker 1>how often opponents should kick out, Otherwise it's not a finish.
<v Speaker 1>So I like how often people kick out. I think
<v Speaker 1>there was one or two times in the last few years.
<v Speaker 1>Then an opponent is kicked out of oblivion, but that's
<v Speaker 1>how often I feel it should happen. So all right,
<v Speaker 1>So we got to Live Morgan Amroxmperez, who have earned
<v Speaker 1>a shot at the women's tag team titles to take
<v Speaker 1>on rear Ripley and EO Sky. So we then have
<v Speaker 1>a Becky Lynch promo airing, and she complained about Maxine
<v Speaker 1>du Pre getting a rematch when it took Lynch nearly
<v Speaker 1>two months to regain the Women's Intercontinental Championship, and Becky
<v Speaker 1>mentioned defending the title in her homeland, and Cole hyped
<v Speaker 1>Becky versus Maxine for the Intercontinental Championship for next week's raw.
<v Speaker 1>By the way, there is again Saturday Night. It's made
<v Speaker 1>event that's going to take place on January twenty fourth
<v Speaker 1>in Montreal. Not to say who cares, because it is
<v Speaker 1>a nice little last stop before the Rumble, but you
<v Speaker 1>gotta look past that to talk about the Rumble. And
<v Speaker 1>all Punk did was mention it by name. There was
<v Speaker 1>no actual matches set up. It's just it's wild. It's wild.
<v Speaker 1>So back to the Becky Lynch promo here, this wasn't
<v Speaker 1>much here other than just her hyping the match for
<v Speaker 1>next week, which again much like Finn Balor challenging Siampunk Maxine.
<v Speaker 1>While she doesn't have as little of a chance as
<v Speaker 1>Finn Balor does to win the belt, she certainly is
<v Speaker 1>I mean under five percent. I think five percent or
<v Speaker 1>less to win the championship back, because if they do that,
<v Speaker 1>then why even have Becky win Maxine? Right now? I
<v Speaker 1>don't think is she's not seemingly in a position where
<v Speaker 1>fans are now saying, you know, she's our next, She's
<v Speaker 1>our next Becky Lynch, She's our girl. It doesn't seem
<v Speaker 1>that way. She still gets a nice little reaction. But
<v Speaker 1>overseas you also have to be careful of the reactions
<v Speaker 1>because overseas can be a bit deceiving on how baby
<v Speaker 1>faces and heels are treated and the volume and intensity
<v Speaker 1>of those reactions, because Overseas is its own animal and
<v Speaker 1>their home base, their home core audience of North America
<v Speaker 1>is I think, really where you take the temperature. But okay,
<v Speaker 1>we then have a trailer for WWE Unreal. You guys
<v Speaker 1>know how I feel about that coal hype season two
<v Speaker 1>being released on January twentieth, so a week from today.
<v Speaker 1>So if you care about such things and you want
<v Speaker 1>to see more of the curtain pulled back again, the
<v Speaker 1>curtain that they only allow you to see. Got to
<v Speaker 1>remember that, then check out on Real, you know if
<v Speaker 1>you care about that. Which, yeah, so aj Styles then
<v Speaker 1>was backstage hyping the main event. He had another little
<v Speaker 1>backstage segment here that did have Maxine and a curas
<v Speaker 1>Zawa and Otis and she was disappointed about losing, but
<v Speaker 1>she proved everyone that she belongs and she told Otis
<v Speaker 1>and Tazawa that she became champion because she finally believed
<v Speaker 1>in herself and she thinks it's time for them to
<v Speaker 1>do the same. And to pre said she would put
<v Speaker 1>Lynch in an ankle lock and break it. Okay, So
<v Speaker 1>a very much vanilla kind of segment here, I think
<v Speaker 1>with Maxine saying I believed in myself and I could
<v Speaker 1>that I could do it, and I did it, go
<v Speaker 1>gosh golly, Okay, maybe I just want a dark version
<v Speaker 1>of wrestling, with this whole polished version that sometimes we get,
<v Speaker 1>and we really all the time we get that makes
<v Speaker 1>it feel so produced, with everybody having cutty lines and
<v Speaker 1>kind of the same structured promos like I mentioned, with
<v Speaker 1>everybody having to say a certain thing, even if it's
<v Speaker 1>the words are different, the messages the same. About when
<v Speaker 1>babyfaces become champion and what heels do to retain championships.
<v Speaker 1>There's never been a heel that can just outright be
<v Speaker 1>a babyface. There's no such thing. Okay, So many just
<v Speaker 1>fundamental issues I have with wrestling, makes you wonder how
<v Speaker 1>I even just talk about this on a weekly basis.
<v Speaker 1>So Michael Cole stood on stage and introduced Raquel Rodriguez.
<v Speaker 1>Cole said he goes way back with Raquel and has
<v Speaker 1>always felt she would be a world champion, but he
<v Speaker 1>asked why she attacks Stephanie Vicaer when she already had
<v Speaker 1>an injured ankle. Raquel told Cole and the fans to
<v Speaker 1>go ahead and feel bad for Stephanie, but she won't
<v Speaker 1>stop until she gets her title match. Cue Stephanie Vicaire's
<v Speaker 1>music and you know she's not there to cut a
<v Speaker 1>promo because she can't. But she then has referees and
<v Speaker 1>producers holding her back. Rodriguez was escorted to the back,
<v Speaker 1>and Vicaire looked into the camera and spoke about how
<v Speaker 1>her injury won't stop her. She returned and attacked Vicaire,
<v Speaker 1>who was talking through the camera, and Rodriguez slammed Vicera's
<v Speaker 1>leg with the championship, I mean in a kind of
<v Speaker 1>brutal way. That was neat, but vercare. With her incredibly
<v Speaker 1>heavy accent, it was still difficult with a few words
<v Speaker 1>she was saying to understand. I know that, yeah, she
<v Speaker 1>spoke some English, but when she doesn't have a phrase
<v Speaker 1>that she's mastered like Osca right, like for a while
<v Speaker 1>Oscar all she knew was seemingly, at least on camera.
<v Speaker 1>All she showed was that she would say you're not
<v Speaker 1>ready for OSCA, right, and they're like, oh, okay, I
<v Speaker 1>got that part of it. Now, what did you say
<v Speaker 1>the other ninety eight percent of your promo? I mean,
<v Speaker 1>Oscar has gotten a little bit better with that EO
<v Speaker 1>Sky I think is decent given the accent, but the
<v Speaker 1>just the how thick stepan I Vikia's accent is, and
<v Speaker 1>if she doesn't have a word that she's really worked
<v Speaker 1>on or phrase she's worked on, it's very clear, and
<v Speaker 1>you have to sift through how heavy her accent is,
<v Speaker 1>which again is is it's I'm not annoyed to the
<v Speaker 1>point of like, oh my god, you know, like I'm
<v Speaker 1>not offended. I just don't think she's going to reach
<v Speaker 1>her full potential connecting with fans, which again, the core
<v Speaker 1>base will always be North America. Sorry, Europe. You guys
<v Speaker 1>are getting a treat right now, and WWE's expanding globally.
<v Speaker 1>That's great and I'm happy for you guys, but the
<v Speaker 1>core foundational audience will always be the United States. That's
<v Speaker 1>just the way it is. You know, they started here,
<v Speaker 1>they have a base that's not going away, no matter
<v Speaker 1>seemingly what they do. I'm part of that. For better
<v Speaker 1>or worse, where here and their lifeblood is here. Now again,
<v Speaker 1>they're expanding globally and they're doing what they need to
<v Speaker 1>do in Australia and Puerto Rico, I mean, the UK
<v Speaker 1>and of course Saudi and everywhere, Germany, France, Scotland, Ireland.
<v Speaker 1>I mean they're they're going and visiting you guys. Is great,
<v Speaker 1>but I just don't think she'll reach her full potential.
<v Speaker 1>Circling back, I don't think she'll reach her full potential
<v Speaker 1>until she can speak English in a way that's not
<v Speaker 1>totally fluent, like she doesn't have an accent. But you gotta, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>you got, you gotta. I think to reach your max,
<v Speaker 1>learn how to speak at least a basic level of
<v Speaker 1>English that you can sift through her accent to understand.
<v Speaker 1>I know that's offensive these days or whatever to say
<v Speaker 1>that you need to learn to speak English. No, you do,
<v Speaker 1>you do because the majority of your audience is an
<v Speaker 1>English speaking audience. And I would argue that the majority
<v Speaker 1>of the English speaking audience is not bilingual. They only
<v Speaker 1>know ingrace. So that's you know, whatever, If you if
<v Speaker 1>you want, Oh he's only wants no English. Yeah, I do.
<v Speaker 1>I want them to know English because I'm a consumer
<v Speaker 1>that is watching a product that was made here in America, right,
<v Speaker 1>and I want I want to understand what you're saying.
<v Speaker 1>But now, okay, now I've angered some of you UK fans,
<v Speaker 1>But hey, you guys listen, not UK, but just overseas,
<v Speaker 1>generally Europe and everywhere. You guys bring the energy. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know how you do it. I don't know what
<v Speaker 1>it's what it is, it's just that sports culture over
<v Speaker 1>there that you guys seemingly are just endless with your energy.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know what you're chanting half the time, and
<v Speaker 1>a lot of the time it's the same chant no
<v Speaker 1>matter what the segment. I don't know what the hell
<v Speaker 1>it means. But generally, you guys have a much higher
<v Speaker 1>base volume going through the entire show, which is impressive.
<v Speaker 1>It's impressive. So I'm not crapping on the fans over there.
<v Speaker 1>You guys are have more energy than you know, seventy
<v Speaker 1>five percent of the audiences here in the United States,
<v Speaker 1>but they I just want. I want my stars to
<v Speaker 1>be able to speak English fluently. It's tall why wouldn't you.
<v Speaker 1>It'd be like a product born out of France, for example, right,
<v Speaker 1>and all of a sudden they start expanding a little
<v Speaker 1>bit into the United States and here and there, and
<v Speaker 1>you're getting frustrated because all of a sudden you have
<v Speaker 1>somebody who is in France, who's a star in France now,
<v Speaker 1>and all they do is they speak Spanish or I'm sorry,
<v Speaker 1>they speak what's a good Maybe they speak maybe they
<v Speaker 1>speak German, and maybe you guys over there know each
<v Speaker 1>other's languages or whatever. But I would argue that most
<v Speaker 1>people are not bilingual. It be that equivalent, like I'll
<v Speaker 1>go over there and I'll be like, hey, now, no, no, no, no, hey, guys,
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to speak at English. Here, I'm going to
<v Speaker 1>speak at English. I'm not speaking French. And you guys
<v Speaker 1>can deal with the subtitles, you know, put yourself in
<v Speaker 1>that scenario, all right. I get some emails about that
<v Speaker 1>that I'm sure. No, I've already gotten some of them
<v Speaker 1>about it, And that's cool, all right. But this attack
<v Speaker 1>on the ankle of Stephanie, outside of the language barrier
<v Speaker 1>issue that I've been harping on, was nice and she
<v Speaker 1>it looked brutal, and Raquel has seemingly coming very much
<v Speaker 1>into her own. She feels relaxed, she feels like she's
<v Speaker 1>found her identity. She knows much more who and what
<v Speaker 1>she is. What she call herself the big beautiful, big
<v Speaker 1>beautiful sexy Latina or something I can't remember, but it
<v Speaker 1>was it maybe think of Kevin Nash, like big sexy,
<v Speaker 1>you know, the female version of that. So she came
<v Speaker 1>up with some line and I liked it, and I
<v Speaker 1>think that she's she's finding herself. So where are we?
<v Speaker 1>We got some We got a good segment coming here. Backstage,
<v Speaker 1>Jay wrapped up a phone call with his brother Jimmy
<v Speaker 1>when Otis and Akira greeted them, and Otis and the
<v Speaker 1>USOS were called calling out an entire tag team division,
<v Speaker 1>and Otis asked him for asked for him and to
<v Speaker 1>Zala to get a piece, and Jay started talking about
<v Speaker 1>other teams, but Otis made a mean face because that's
<v Speaker 1>what he does and told them that he was serious.
<v Speaker 1>Jay acknowledged that Otis was serious and said he would
<v Speaker 1>talk with Jimmy, and Jay held up his title belt
<v Speaker 1>and warned they would be stepping into the room with
<v Speaker 1>the best tag team in the game. Yeah, there's no chance, right, none, none,
<v Speaker 1>But Kira and Otis even if they do get a
<v Speaker 1>tag team title shot, Hey, I'm no problem against that.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you gotta have a tag team with depth
<v Speaker 1>that doesn't always have the same two teams like the
<v Speaker 1>USOS and the New Day say for example fighting. You
<v Speaker 1>got to have others come into the fold, all right.
<v Speaker 1>So then we got Bronson Reid and Austin Theory taking
<v Speaker 1>on Penta and Dragon Lee. The match went nine and
<v Speaker 1>a half minutes with Penta and Dragon Lee beating Bronson
<v Speaker 1>Reid in Austin Theory by d Q because because broad
<v Speaker 1>Breaker comes out and spears Lee on the floor to
<v Speaker 1>end the match, and then he ducked the clothes line
<v Speaker 1>speared Penta into oblivion, and he went up for another spear,
<v Speaker 1>but Adam Pierce stood in his way and recalled warning
<v Speaker 1>Paul Hayman earlier in the show, and he bickered with
<v Speaker 1>Breaker on the floor, and Reid hit Penta with the tsunami,
<v Speaker 1>and then Pierce comes in the ring and got in
<v Speaker 1>Reid's face, but not just got in his face. He
<v Speaker 1>grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. And then Breaker
<v Speaker 1>comes in and Pierce spun Breaker around as I said,
<v Speaker 1>and Breaker grabbed Pierce by the collar and backed him
<v Speaker 1>into the corner, and the other Vision members pulled him
<v Speaker 1>off and told Pierce to kiss his ass and reading
<v Speaker 1>theory walk backstage, and what was very interesting is Haymond
<v Speaker 1>was talking about how you know. He said to Adam Pierce,
<v Speaker 1>you know you made a mistake. Let's not forget you
<v Speaker 1>put your hands on bron Breaker first. And that's very true. Right,
<v Speaker 1>this was a great segment. There's a lot happening here, right.
<v Speaker 1>You have Penta getting destroyed after returning just a few
<v Speaker 1>weeks ago. You have Bronson Reid again doing what he does,
<v Speaker 1>destroying people the Tsunamis. But most importantly, you have bron Breaker, who, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>he's built as a heel here, but he doesn't feel
<v Speaker 1>like one anymore. We may have crossed the threshold quietly
<v Speaker 1>into babyface bron Breaker, because what's happened now. People like
<v Speaker 1>new People like to get on the ground floor with
<v Speaker 1>new stars, and we're not on the ground floor really
<v Speaker 1>with bron Breaker anymore. But we're starting to build the
<v Speaker 1>house now. And bron Breaker is a young guy. He's explosive,
<v Speaker 1>He's shown He's good to very good on the mic,
<v Speaker 1>especially for how how long he's been in the in
<v Speaker 1>the business, he shouldn't be as good as he is,
<v Speaker 1>but he is. Is he as good as he'm punk? No,
<v Speaker 1>but very few are. But he's certainly serviceable and only
<v Speaker 1>going to get better. I shouldn't say service serviceable. He's
<v Speaker 1>very good. And now he's got Adam Pearce on his ass,
<v Speaker 1>and Adam Pierce is going to get speared. We know
<v Speaker 1>it's coming. Adam Pierce may even put the boots back
<v Speaker 1>on for a mattress. I could see that happening. But
<v Speaker 1>Adam Pierce is going to get his ass kicked. And
<v Speaker 1>Adam Piers blowing a gasket every single week, and he
<v Speaker 1>doesn't have security to do these things. Also, does he
<v Speaker 1>have the temperament to run a international wrestling show? You
<v Speaker 1>know what I mean? If this was this was truly,
<v Speaker 1>you know, truly a show we were watching that Adam
<v Speaker 1>Pearce was truly running. It wasn't made up and produced.
<v Speaker 1>I mean having Adam Pierce the temperament he has with
<v Speaker 1>how quickly he starts screaming and yelling and turning beat
<v Speaker 1>red and blowing a blood vessel in his eye every week,
<v Speaker 1>getting physically involved now with talent, He's crossed the threshold
<v Speaker 1>and Adam Pierce is going to regret it. I could
<v Speaker 1>see Adam Pierce next week in Ireland getting a spear
<v Speaker 1>by bron Breaker and the crowd's gonna love it. See,
<v Speaker 1>that's the thing. Bron Breaker's coming out and just raising hell.
<v Speaker 1>And they've made you forget quickly. And that was a
<v Speaker 1>thing that he needs. They needed to do about the
<v Speaker 1>loss to see him punk. They moved on he's not
<v Speaker 1>involved with Punk right now and he shouldn't be. They're
<v Speaker 1>just trying to erase and they took a big step
<v Speaker 1>forward of that of bron Breaker getting his heat back
<v Speaker 1>and getting the focus on something totally different. And that's
<v Speaker 1>what they've done with Breaker this past week. The fact
<v Speaker 1>he's suspended, of course, doesn't mean anything. You know, anybody
<v Speaker 1>that's suspended will show up almost every week until their
<v Speaker 1>suspension is lifted. And in fact, WWE always finds a
<v Speaker 1>way to reward those who violate their suspension. What did
<v Speaker 1>Drew McIntyre get. He violated his suspension week after week
<v Speaker 1>after week and then makes demands, gets his demands met
<v Speaker 1>and gets a title shot and becomes champion after being suspected.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, think about it, It's just it's ridiculous. But
<v Speaker 1>it's wrestling, right, So I love this segment. Bron Breaker
<v Speaker 1>is a machine and the crowd is this close, this close.
<v Speaker 1>No matter what they're going to do. At this point,
<v Speaker 1>it may be inevitable. The crowd is ready to explode
<v Speaker 1>for uh, for bron Breaker. You know, maybe they try
<v Speaker 1>to double down and get a few more months out
<v Speaker 1>of this heel run, but they are swimming up a
<v Speaker 1>stream that is going the other way, and eventually they're
<v Speaker 1>going to have to just say, yeah, let's just go
<v Speaker 1>they you know, the more I think about it, though,
<v Speaker 1>they may have to force it down the throat of
<v Speaker 1>the fans for a few more months because of Seth
<v Speaker 1>Rollins's inevitable return and having Seth Rollins take on bron Breaker,
<v Speaker 1>as I've predicted, seems like a WrestleMania match to me,
<v Speaker 1>a big one. Yeah maybe though that He's here's the danger.
<v Speaker 1>Bron Breaker may be just forced to be a baby
<v Speaker 1>face by that time. Depending on what they do. They
<v Speaker 1>got to be very careful. There's a chance that Went
<v Speaker 1>comes back and attacks Brown Breaker, that Seth gets booed
<v Speaker 1>and bron Breaker gets cheered. It's like out with the
<v Speaker 1>old in with the new type of dynamic. They gotta
<v Speaker 1>be careful, I think so anyway, if they care about
<v Speaker 1>that stuff, and they'll tell us they don't. Oh, as
<v Speaker 1>long as there's noise. Yeah, and that's a bunch of nonsense. Okay.
<v Speaker 1>So WrestleMania of video package aired with Triple H in
<v Speaker 1>his office at headquarters, and he took a call and
<v Speaker 1>was told that WrestleMania pitches just came in. And the
<v Speaker 1>video included clips of Peyton Manning and Pete Davidson and
<v Speaker 1>Big Domino. I mean, I don't know, I'm reading a
<v Speaker 1>bunch of names that I've never heard in my life.
<v Speaker 1>This is on the the recap on Pro Wrestling Net.
<v Speaker 1>Credit to them here. The theme Wrestling wrestle Mania Vegas
<v Speaker 1>Everybody Wants In was shown in the graphics. Also asked
<v Speaker 1>people to stop texting and emailing Triple H. Yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>mean certainly, we will certainly stop pounding Triple H. They're
<v Speaker 1>talking about fancier. I don't think they are. But okay,
<v Speaker 1>so Cole said, the best thing they do, or the
<v Speaker 1>best thing about the job, is they don't have to
<v Speaker 1>beg the boss to be at WrestleMania because they'll have
<v Speaker 1>a front row seat. So okay, I mean, here's something funny,
<v Speaker 1>and this is not from me. This is from Pro
<v Speaker 1>Wrestling Nuts, and it says Cole should probably avoid boasting
<v Speaker 1>about this or the money loving TKO executives will start
<v Speaker 1>charging the broadcast team for the ringside seats. That's true,
<v Speaker 1>that's true. You know, I could see that where it's like, hey, hey, Cole, listen, listen, listen, listen.
<v Speaker 1>I know you've been here a while, but we're really like,
<v Speaker 1>you know, we're strapped for cash. We gotta start charging
<v Speaker 1>you guys. You know, look, look, we'll give you half
<v Speaker 1>price half price, you give us fifteen fifteen g's and
<v Speaker 1>we'll call it even, you know, per ticket. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>that sounds hilarious, like, but it's not too far from
<v Speaker 1>the truth. If TKO executives could do it, they probably would.
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god, they are just obsessed with money. Any way.
<v Speaker 1>They can at any cost, no matter what it does
<v Speaker 1>to the product. Just bring in that cash, baby. I
<v Speaker 1>think they've done a lot of irreputable damage to the
<v Speaker 1>presentation of we since TKO was taken over, I really do.
<v Speaker 1>There's a lot you could say about Vince McMahon, but
<v Speaker 1>there's a you know, there's a lot of good that
<v Speaker 1>people don't want to say about him that they probably
<v Speaker 1>do miss about him. Under his guidance and leadership and
<v Speaker 1>presentation of wrestling, people hesitantly would agree with some things
<v Speaker 1>about the way he presented it. The TKO does that,
<v Speaker 1>You're like, what, hey, all right? So again next week's
<v Speaker 1>Raw don't forget starts also on this wonky time if
<v Speaker 1>you're in North America at three o'clock Eastern time. Oba
<v Speaker 1>Femi got a video package as he does every week,
<v Speaker 1>and that's when we get the main event here, Gunther
<v Speaker 1>versus AJ Styles. Eighteen minutes, Guntherer beats AJ Styles and
<v Speaker 1>Gunther gets a you know, he has to hit a
<v Speaker 1>low blow and power bomb to beat AJ Styles. And
<v Speaker 1>before that, the match was as expected, two veterans going
<v Speaker 1>at it. Physical, nice in ring psychology, great pacing. It
<v Speaker 1>wasn't one hundred miles an hour. You could understand what
<v Speaker 1>was going on. I love that style, I love it.
<v Speaker 1>I love the pacing. And we then do do get
<v Speaker 1>replay footage showing that Gunther tapped when Styles said he did,
<v Speaker 1>and guntherer was tapping the hip of Styles on the
<v Speaker 1>other side of the ref, but Barrett said it was
<v Speaker 1>the smartest thing he'd ever seen, and back live, Gunther
<v Speaker 1>was laughing as he headed to the stage, and Barrett
<v Speaker 1>explained that Gunther tapped in the one place the ref
<v Speaker 1>couldn't see it, and Gunther was all smiles and he
<v Speaker 1>raised his arms and played to the crowd. He said,
<v Speaker 1>the greatest in this company, and he closed the show. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so I don't like Gunther tapping. I know that the
<v Speaker 1>ref didn't see it, so it didn't count as a TapouT,
<v Speaker 1>but this idea that Gunther taps out at all needs
<v Speaker 1>to be squashed. You just beat JOHNSONA in his retirement match.
<v Speaker 1>You can't be tapping out even again because the fans
<v Speaker 1>see it and in their minds in the court of
<v Speaker 1>public opinion, you tapped. The reft just didn't happen to
<v Speaker 1>see it. So on the record, the record will show
<v Speaker 1>you didn't tap, but you still did, so I think
<v Speaker 1>it still does a little damage to him. I don't
<v Speaker 1>want a guy like Gunther to tap. I understand aj
<v Speaker 1>Styles is one of the greatest that the pro wrestling's
<v Speaker 1>ever seen. I get that, but Guntherer is a force
<v Speaker 1>to be reckoned with. Gunther is one of a kind.
<v Speaker 1>You all again, you utilized him in a a huge
<v Speaker 1>position as the guy that beat John Cena in his
<v Speaker 1>final match, made John Cena tap which hasn't been done
<v Speaker 1>in how many years? I said, fifteen, sixteen years, maybe more,
<v Speaker 1>whatever the case was, and on only like four or
<v Speaker 1>five times in his entire career has he tapped out. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so it was a monumental moment. And you had him
<v Speaker 1>tap out to Jay Uso on Night one's main event
<v Speaker 1>for the world title. You have him, you know, tap
<v Speaker 1>out here despite the fact that ref didn't see it.
<v Speaker 1>What I mean again, it's supposed to build heat, but
<v Speaker 1>I don't need the idea that heals need to cheat
<v Speaker 1>to win. This needs to be uprooted. I don't need
<v Speaker 1>it to be never. I don't need it to be
<v Speaker 1>never that heels cheat to win. But Gunther's not a
<v Speaker 1>normal heel. Gunther is the exact type of heel that
<v Speaker 1>could just outright beat you and gloat about it and
<v Speaker 1>still be a really bad guy. Gunther is the opposite
<v Speaker 1>of what you want to do with people like this,
<v Speaker 1>meaning heels like this that they just form fit every heel,
<v Speaker 1>no matter the wrestler, into this box of you must
<v Speaker 1>cheat to win. You can't ever straight up beat the
<v Speaker 1>baby face because it's if you're a babyface and it's
<v Speaker 1>one on one and you don't have any interference or
<v Speaker 1>anything weird, go onto your match, you can beat the
<v Speaker 1>heels simply because you're a babyface. I mean, that's the
<v Speaker 1>idea that we have all just been accepting. And I'm
<v Speaker 1>not accepting this anymore. A heel like Gunther should outright
<v Speaker 1>beat the baby faces and beat them brutally until someone
<v Speaker 1>finally steps up and shuts him up. But to have
<v Speaker 1>a guy like Gunther need advantages like low blows and
<v Speaker 1>referee viewing angles at his benefit, that's not who Gunther
<v Speaker 1>should be. I still love the guy. His career is
<v Speaker 1>not over because of this. I mean, that'd be absurd.
<v Speaker 1>I just think that there's a better way to build him.
<v Speaker 1>There is a type of heel that can exist that
<v Speaker 1>doesn't fit in the box of how you want every
<v Speaker 1>heel to be just like the baby faces and the
<v Speaker 1>I'm up for every challenge and all the rest. That's
<v Speaker 1>just so stupid and I've explained why many times. Why
<v Speaker 1>just saying you'll fight anybody for this championship and defend it.
<v Speaker 1>Every time that you know you'll roll out of bed
<v Speaker 1>and defend the championship. I've explained why that is just
<v Speaker 1>so stupid. But back to some positives. Really good match.
<v Speaker 1>The ending not the greatest way to end the match,
<v Speaker 1>given how Gunther won, but he still did an he
<v Speaker 1>beat aj Styles and it puts I guess, more heat
<v Speaker 1>on Gunther for fans that are just looking for someone
<v Speaker 1>to step up and shut him up, which could be
<v Speaker 1>brock Lesner, could be if you want to go that road,
<v Speaker 1>you could have brock Lesnar and Gunthro and another Royal
<v Speaker 1>rumble moment if they want to do that. So a
<v Speaker 1>big show next week in Ireland we have of the
<v Speaker 1>world title match probably should be headlining the event, and
<v Speaker 1>you know seeing Finn Ballad lose in some way which
<v Speaker 1>could set up maybe Dom versus Finn or something like that.
<v Speaker 1>I mean I'd love that alrighty well, that I think
<v Speaker 1>will do it For this Monday Night Raw review, it
<v Speaker 1>was a fun time had I had a good time,
<v Speaker 1>even though it's really late and I need to get
<v Speaker 1>up early. So hopefully by the time you listen to this,
<v Speaker 1>you are having a good Wednesday. I'll be back on
<v Speaker 1>Friday with your mail bag. Don't forget about that. Send
<v Speaker 1>in your emails mail bag at WWE podcast dot com
<v Speaker 1>if you want your emails read and answered and your
<v Speaker 1>thoughts here on the show. That'll do it everybody. Thanks
<v Speaker 1>so much, take care, Thanks.
<v Speaker 2>For listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to subscribe
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