Mailbag Episode #183: Listener Reactions to Backlash & Looking Ahead to King & Queen of the Ring

This is WWE superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the WWE podcast, the
show, the one that everybody wants me God, I'll stand three sixteen said,
your ass is mind, you can acknowledge me. Hey, everybody,
welcome to the WWE podcast. Time for the mailbag here on this Wednesday,
May eight, twenty twenty four. Let's jump right in. Let's start with
those patrons. You guys know you get priority. Let's start with Djkuzmo.
It's been a while since I've started with you, DJ, so let's do
it. And he says, hello, WWE and a w podcast Worlds.
Djkuzmo back at it again. Was this really the best crowd in wwepl E
history? Because from Friday Night's SmackDown to Backlash on Saturday, this crowd in
Leon France was absolutely loud, louder than I have ever heard of crowd.
No offense to Puerto Rican, the Puerto Rican crowd last year for Backlash,
but this crowd in Leon France was the MVP of the entire weekend. Hopefully
Backlash and Leon France becomes an annual tradition every year, kind of similar to
what aw does every year. In Chicago for All, in in Vegas for
double or nothing. Speaking of Vegas, was there ever a doubt that WrestleMania
forty one was going to be in Las Vegas? Because it seemed obvious to
me in a no brainer to have a city like Vegas hosting host of WrestleMania.
However, I don't think the Vegas crowd will ever come close to the
loudest crowd I've ever heard from Leon France for Backlash. Lastly, speaking of
Backlash in France, did anyone here or did anyone have on their Bingo Carter
prediction sheet that Tomatonga's brother Tangaloa was going to debut because I thought Jacob Vattu
would debut instead. Anyway, another new meta joined Solo's Rogue bloodline. As
this bloodline saga continues and hopefully it leads back to the Rock being the leader
of the group and a reunion of sorts for Roman, Jay and Jimmy post
Summer Slam, leading to Serprobres series war Games later this year. I know,
I know, I'm booking six months from now Saturday, November thirtieth,
host city to be announced. Anyway, have a great weekend. See all
the Discord chat for Friday Night SmackDown. All right, so thanks DJ.
Of course, greatest crowd in history is a subjective term. I see why
many people feel that they were the greatest crowd. That they gave the crowd
a lot of props, and I did too. I gave them props for
their energy throughout. The sustained energy for three hours is just really inhuman,
and they brought it. They certainly added to the show. At times,
were they the loudest crowd I've ever heard. They're up there, they are
up there for sure. For me, the chanting, the constant chanting,
and the constant need to hear themselves sing their songs that they sing at sporting
events became a distraction throughout the show. At first, it was endearing,
it was wow, it was oh my god, this may be the biggest
and best crowd ever. And then as the show went on, I found
myself getting annoyed with the crowd. I mean just simply because I wanted to
enjoy the wrestling and not have to sit there and wonder what the hell they're
chanting. I mean, that's just me, just me. I mean,
I felt that listening to the crowd was a little much as the show went
on, and I'm just like, you know, sitting there going you know,
this is a it's annoying. It's annoying because especially when you don't understand
what they're chanting, it becomes double annoying. But I totally appreciate the energy
they brought and they are certainly one of the loudest crowds wwa's ever had.
So loudest, does that equal automatically greatest. I'll leave that up to you
to decide. But as far as as WrestleMania forty one in Vegas, Hey,
what better city to do it? And I know that Minneapolis was close
from what I understand, but Vegas, come on, you know, I
mean the cities have to bid on it, though. I mean, it's
not just WWE handpicking where they want to go. These cities bid on this
opportunity. They put a proposal together, They try to sell WE on why
they should come to their city for WrestleMania. You know, logistics, how
much money they can bring in to the event, their population, their demographics.
I mean, it's a whole thing. People just think, oh,
ww is gonna choose to go here in the City's like, yeah, cool,
no problem. Like, there's a lot that goes into it, and
I think Vegas can absolutely host a WrestleMania. It's gonna be a I mean
insane right Vegas in April, which is like April twentieth or twenty second,
so it should be a lot of fun. But yeah, the Tomatonga and
Tangalo, it's gonna be a lot of fun. And yes, Jacob Fattoo
is coming. I think he's going to be a massive impact. And then
you have The Rock as the leader of that group, and you have Roman
likely leading a reunited Jimmy and Jay and they'll have to find a third or
fourth person to It's kind of even things out. But no, I don't
think you're even though it's six months from now, DJ, I think you're
on track. The Rock's probably not coming back till SummerSlam, and then you're
only a few months from Survivits series, so that's not crazy. We're already
seeing the foundation for it being laid right now. This is gonna be so
much fun with this Rogue bloodline versus the og bloodline, or however they're gonna
market it and phrase it with Roman's group being the Babyface group and you have,
you have, of course Rock leading the Rogue Bloodline, and who could
be that fourth member? I mean, what if Sammy Zaine rejoins them put
their differences aside. I mean, I know he's not a member by blood,
so it kind of defeats the purpose of the name bloodline, but he
was a big factor in that group during that time. So what if Sammy
has a reuniting with Roman and with Jimmy and with Jay and they decide to
fight side by side against Rock's Rogue Bloodline at Survivors series. Oh, I'm
getting chills. Seriously, this is already it's already masterfully crafted and hasn't even
been executed yet, So I guess I'm jumping the gun a little bit.
All right, let's go. Let's go to another patron. Let's go to
Matt and he says, I completely agree with your take on the French crowd.
As cool as it was the first at first, it definitely kind of
took me out of the moment. I know I'm in the minority, but
I'm getting tired of Jay Uso. He's called main event, but every time
he's in the main event, he loses. Also, though he's good in
the ring. He does the same few moves, superkicks, suicide dive,
so splash, a weak spear. If it wasn't for the yet chant and
a cool entrance, I think people would see that. You also say the
same about Cody and his entrance. What's your take? Thank you and have
a good rest of your week. Thanks Matt and Cody I think would lose
if his entrance wasn't so captivating and his music wasn't so catchy, and his
you know everything had about his entrance, his or wasn't what it is.
I don't know if he'd be where he is right now. And that's not
to say he's a entrance only guy, clearly not. I also think that
Cody has a more diverse arsenal in his wrestling bag of tricks, so to
speak. But I think what would help Jay is stop using the superkick.
I think what would help professional wrestling just as a whole is stop using the
superkick. I e. Sweet chin music. That's what it is. Once
upon a time it was a finish, and you know what it should be
a finish? How is it not a finish? That's why Seawn Michaels used
it as that think about what it's doing. Imagine getting kicked in the jaw.
It's a knockout shot at the very least busted jaw, broken teeth.
I mean, and everyone just sells it like they just get knocked down from
a shove. I mean, I could go into a whole tirade about the
lack of selling generally among wrestling. I mean, I love professional wrestling,
but the lack of selling as a whole is a is a It's an industry
wide problem. Not just WWE. It's it's AW It's yeah, of course
that XT it's uh, you know New Japan. I mean everywhere. The
lack of selling is a problem. I mean, like this, you could
hit somebody in the head with the superkick or hit him with the clothesline or
a shoulder tackle, and they sell it the same. They both get knocked
down, and then they don't sell where they actually got hit, to show
the pain that that move inflicted. They just move on as if every move
just is wears them down. It's about just being out of breath. Every
move is just about being out of breath. It's not about like actually targeting
a body part normally and focusing on that body part selling that body part.
I mean, I don't know, did you see what I mean? Like
at the end, at the end of every match, there could be forty
super kicks and that person is totally fine, no bruising. And I'm not
asking for actual kicks to be thrown or bruises to be inflicted. I'm not
asking for that. But it's did a massive exposure of the business when you
could have a chain wrestling match with no strikes or a brawl and both men,
both losers and winners, come out looking the same. They're just out
of breath. Do you see what I'm saying? Sorry, Matt, you
set me down a rabbit hole, you know. But I think Jay Us
while he is calls himself made event ja us. So you know, I
made this concern up front, right when he came up with the name.
I said that this is going to be this is a cool name, but
I said, the problem is going to be when you're not in the main
event, or like you're seeing right now, he's in the main event and
loses consistently where it's almost a parody because you're calling yourself made event, you're
anything butt main event right now? Yeah, I mean, however, Jay
is super over. I mean he's over and the Eat movement and all that.
You know, you could you could say the same thing though about oh
well La night if he didn't have yeah yeah movement, the Eat movement,
the Yes movement with Daniel Bryant. I mean you could go down the list
with all these like catchphrases in one word in marketing. I don't want to
call him schemes, but kind of just those very superficial connections with the crowd.
Are they deeper? Do they mean more? Yeah? You could,
you could really dive into every one of those scenarios with ja I think that's
deeper. I think the fans genuinely feel connection for him. Though. Let's
go to another patron. This is Hungry Puppy says, we have a lot
to be excited about these days. I feel like we continue to see some
exciting in ring wrestling. Backlash was a lot of fun with many more highs
than Low's. Here are the highs. AJ's phenomenal in ring work, the
crowd's energy bringing excitement to the mid card supplement. I don't know how to
pronounce this is so sad. D e Ux only two. I don't know
what that even means don't know, I'm gonna pronounce it and then I'm gonna
embarrass myself. So I'm just gonna, like I said, I'm just gonna
leave it as what I spelled it as. I have no clue what that
means. Women's triple thread stealing the show, high tension street fight featuring the
rise of the new bloodline. I would agree with all that. Again,
I don't know what supplement d eux is no clue, but the crowd's energy,
I would agree. Aj Stule shows you that he is constantly and forever
at least until further notice, a perennial main eventor and world class athlete.
The women's triple threat was pretty damn good. And you know what I also
think stole the show in a way that no one's really talking about is the
women's tag team titles with Jade and Bianca. Jade finally arrived and all the
concern about her, you know, very limited in ring action, has been
subsided. She's shown us she can go the low's and unpopular opinions Kyrie saying
and Jade's final sequence, so Chaos jumps on Jade's back, Kyrie saying and
carried Jade through the ending, Jade wins low point of the night. Okay,
hey, that's you know. I have no issue with you having a
dissenting opinion to mine. None. Cool, that's why you you mean again?
You love what you love. I love what I love. Yeah,
all fans have their own things, no problem there. Number two, Jay
Usa continues to bore me in the ring. Priest does great work, but
this match wins Underachiever of the night due to the repetitive nature of Jay's n
ring behavior. His character needs a new move set. It's like my six
year old created him. On two K twenty four. Side note, Ricochet
wins best performance in ring on Monday Night. It's a shame his character is
an interesting because he does a great job keeping me from fast forwarding. So
yeah, I mean this seems to be a trend now with jay Uso being
boring or feeling that he may not be over if it wasn't for his yeats
stuff. But now I would say that jay Uso is a future world champion.
Does he need a little in ring variety? Yes, And again here's
what I think is the hilarious part. I think it would be additioned by
subtraction in the ring. I don't even know if he needs to add more
moves. I think maybe he just needs to take away the superkick. If
he took that away, you'd actually feel like he added other moves because you
wouldn't be focusing on the superkick so much and realize he does other stuff.
So I think if he just simply eliminated the superkick, which I'm an all
favor for, I would all rise as they say for that one. If
he did that, I think it would feel like he's adding maneuvers and different
moves to his arsenal and as far as Ricochet, you know. Again,
on a personal level, I think he's kind of a entitled, fragile d
bag I do. I mean, I think I just think he's a a
very much. It feels like he's an entitled Yeah, I'll leave it there.
But from a professional level, yeah, he can go in the ring
like no one else. He can go in the ring. Absolutely, the
things he does in the ring no one I've seen very few people do what
he can do. He's young ish, he can go like crazy. But
here's the thing, even if he finds his personality his in ring style,
he will have to modify for longevity and safety. He cannot continue to do
what he's doing for a long period of time. It's high risk, higher
than need be, and eventually something's gonna happen. I'm not gonna say he's
gonna die, but you could have injury after injury, sprained ankle, torn,
you know, torn meniscus, you know torn tricep show a look,
dis look at his shoulder. I mean you could. You you are running
the risk of injury after injury after injury, and more tax taxing on your
body than needed. But if he finds a personality, he could be a
bigger star than he is right now, no question about it. They just
don't give him a ton of Mike time, but they did give him a
little bit this week. But he needs Mike time. He needs character development
and there's got to be something. I think there's something there besides being a
fragile, entitled d bag, which I think is what he is. So
let's go to let's see, let's go to Dino. He said, it's
Dina from Scotland. Am I the only one from Scotland listening to the podcast?
I'd like to put out an appeal to anyone else listening in from Scotland,
please come forward. Just send an email to this show at mailbag at
ww podcast dot com or hit me up in the discord chat at Dino d
e a n O from Scotland. If you're out there, let's connect and
get a buzz. Hey. I mean, I know there are people from
Scotland that listen to the show. There's multiple. I don't know who they
are. They're not the only one. But you gotta remember, Dino,
most people that listen to podcasts, the vast majority, don't connect with the
show. They just listen in in, you know, behind their wall of
privacy, and that's fine. I do the same thing. So I would
say, like ninety eight percent of the people that listen to this show don't
come forward and email us, and I'm not asking them to. But yeah,
so I don't know if I know there's other ones out there from Scotland
for sure. All right, so backlash, you thought it was okay a
bee for a B show. I couldn't stop cringing half the time during Jade
Jade Bianca and the tag team match with the boxes and all. I had
no appetite for the main event between Cody and aj I only watched the show
till the end because of the crowd, if I'm being honest, So I'm
really hoping we don't get this matchup again because it's once is enough for myself.
I laughed during your Backlash review when you started complaining about the crowd.
You seem like a hard man to please. Hey, hey, I'm not
difficult to please again. I would take this crowd over a quiet crowd.
Absolutely my only complaint, and I guess that is what it is. Is
for the first time ever in my wrestling viewing career, I got annoyed by
a crowd that was too loud because the chance I couldn't understand, which was
half of the problem and annoying. And also it's just I want the crowd
to just shut up so we can enjoy the show. Now that may sound
like, oh my god, you have a crowd that's too loud, but
then they're too quiet, right, Oh, there's no pleasing you. But
there's extremes. There's extremes where the crowd is taking so much for themselves and
singing and jumping and doing all these things that feel very self serving that it's
a distraction from which's actually going on in the ring. And then there's of
course the crowds like you have, and we have seen many US crowds that
are just mouse church mouse quiet, and it's and it's it's terrible and it's
no fun. But in that in between the other ninety five percent of crowds
are I love it. So I thought the crowd was amazing and really added
to the show and probably made the show what it was, to be honest,
and I can't help but feel like it. If this was in the
US, it would have been a lame ass b pay per view. So
well done, Frands. You guys really make a great case for yourselves for
a stadium show over there. I remember a few weeks back when you said
that they've done televised shows internationally all the time, that the novelty would wear
off and it would eventually end up like American crowds because we would end up
getting used to these shows all the time. This isn't true, because there
isn't a whole world out there or there there's a whole world out there,
and in Europe alone there are over eight hundred cities, and that's before you
even take the rest of the world. Into consideration. I mean, I
still think though with human nature it may not be as quiet as the US
crowds you hear at times, but people are still people. You can't take
human nature away from humans. And I think that if w W was to
make their regular rounds like they were there like every every few months, right
like they do like four or five, they start doing half the pls overseas,
you would see a slow tick downward, especially if they go into repeat
cities of the crowd reaction. You would start to hear the crowd slowly level
off. I really do believe that. I'm not saying they would be as
quiet as some of the US crowds and be as embarrassing as we are,
but I think just with human nature they would they would quiet to some degree.
All right, I have I have an idea for Becky Lynch to freshen
things up. She should change her gimmick to the Irish ass kicker. No
no, no, you say, we don't say, ask say last kicker.
Huh See what I did there, and dye her hair from orange to
green, thus giving her a fresh lick of paint, which in turn gets
people's interest levels and her character back up. It's a pity she's never done
this for her return a couple for her return a couple of weeks ago,
as I would have loved to have seen this. The man gimmick for me
is becoming stale and boring. I would absolutely second you with the latter part
of this. The man gimmick is done. It's over with. It's to
me, it's rehashing twenty eighteen over and over and over and over and over.
And I'm over it too that you can hear the crowds start to get
a little bit restless with her. They aren't in love with her like they
were five years ago. It's just a lack of evolution. She tried to
heal thing, and maybe she could. She could try it again in some
kind of different way. But I don't know if doing the Irish ass kicker
and dyeing her hair from orange to green, maybe you know. Maybe here's
what I would also say, change her music. Her music is iconic,
but I think that if she's going to go into a different phase of her
career, you could try something different with her music. If you're especially if
you're turning her heel, because her current music is very much babyface music.
It's fun to sing along, it's upbeat, it's got a great sound to
it. But if you want to see something embarrassing with Becky, I mean
I feel like you're describing her her very first debut in NXT. Go watch
that. You want to feel embarrassed, You want to say, feel secondhand
embarrassment. She had green tights on, she was doing the Irish jig.
She was the stereotypical, uh, you know, Irish Irish girl. I
guess, I don't know, I'm not I don't know if there's a stereotypical
Irish girl. But she took all of these stereotypes of Irish people outside of
you know, chugging a pine of beer to the ring and it was it
was all awful. I mean, go watch it. It's hard to watch
without feeling embarrassed yourself. But I agree she needs to do something. Your
idea isn't crazy, But I don't know if you are. You're proposing turning
or heel or what last I've been listening to you getting annoyed at Drew and
Seamus using the word arts instead of ask. I can confirm that's what we
say over here in Scotland and Ireland. Okay, Okay, now not one
hundred percent sure, but I'm pretty certain that's the way they say it in
the rest of the UK too here, so it's not saying ours to make
asks sound more than what it is. In fact, they themselves probably don't
even know or think that was a big of a deal. That big of
a deal if any of them are listening to your podcast, it's genuinely how
they say it and probably have in their retire lives. Okay, Hey,
I don't live there, so I'm glad that you let me know. It
felt like they were just trying to purposefully censor themselves, which made no sense.
They were also doing it at a time when cursing was still a big
no no on TVPG, where now it's been expanded very much so, so
it felt like they were just you know, saying ars instead of ass.
And I'm like, for me as a viewer, and most of the most
of these fans are in North America, we say ass right, like most
OF's fans that are their core audience. That's how they say it. And
so when I hear ours, it's like, why are you mispronouncing it?
It sounds like you're mispronouncing it right. But if that's how they say it,
that's how they say it. So it's good to know. Thanks to
you know, it's got a bad fish, short and sweet. Who or
what do the winners of the King and Queen of the Ring win? Just
the crown, props or actually something of value. Well, in the past,
it's just been usually a vehicle to turn somebody heel and you know,
have a scepter for several months and wear the cape and the crown, and
suddenly they're playing dress up every week, calling the crowd their subjects and speaking
down to them, and they adopt an Irish acts or a British accent for
some reason. And that's usually how it goes. And it's nothing more than
just a quick gimmick change for whoever wins, and there's no real value.
But with triple H Paulovek, maybe he has something in mind where it's more
than just a gimmick character change for whoever wins, on for the men and
women for a few months. Then I hope that's the case. I do
maybe there is maybe guarantees them a future title opportunity, not like money in
the bank, but rather just vaguely they'll get one right, something along those
lines, because if it's just a gimmick, I'm not here for it.
So thank you. Let's go to a new patron here. Let's go to
uh let's see Mo Mo k and and I'm assuming you're a guy. So
he says good morning. Yes, the crowd was popping, but this crowd
was different. They didn't take over the show. I feel like they were
supporting it, and it showed their appreciation for stars like Randy and Kohen.
When has Randy's song ever been sang like that? No? No, true,
Yeah, they had passion. Absolutely, they did things that no one
know where the crowd has done. And absolutely again, very impressive crowd.
From an energy sustainable sustainability standpoint, it's incredible. It just for me.
As the show went on, it started to wear thin. That's all.
I'm so happy Naomi got the reception she did. She's put a lot of
effort into her entrance and ring gear. Yeah, she didn't get the biggest
entrance, you know, I would say out of the three women, she
didn't exactly you know, blow the roof off the place. But to me,
I think there could be an Naomi hil turn coming I think a Naomi
Hiltern would be a lot of fun and something different for her to do.
Jade Cargill is a little green in the ring, but hopefully the other women
in Vets and Bianca's supporting her can support her and she improves in her in
ring work. I don't am I the only one that felt like Jade actually
overachieved. Maybe the bar for me was so low with Jade that I didn't
notice that she was clunky, and there were some times I think that in
as my memory serves me, she did have a couple moments that weren't the
best, but I think she started to settle into herself and put on a
better performance than I thought. I mean, at least from what I expected
and given what we saw previously of her doing you know, three moves and
calling it a night. This to me was overachieving. But I myself and
from the UK, but I wanted to stick up for the US crowd.
Yes, you guys are generally quieter, but I think it's just a part
of your culture and there's nothing wrong with getting loud only for big spots and
big stars. I just want to finish by saying what I don't know what
you're saying. This is the second person who's saying U n dux simplement dux.
I love the two counts. Yeah there was something there. Okay,
what does this have to do with two counts? I'm very lost? Is
this a different language? Are you guys punking me? It's a what are
you trying to get me to say something? I don't know what this is.
I have no clue what this dux thing is, and I don't have
the energy to google it either, because I'm just a lazy sob. So
somebody explain it to me next week, and I feel like I should know.
I've never heard of that in my life. Okay, but no,
I appreciate you sticking up for the US crowd. It's it's kind of sad
that somebody from a different country has to stick up for the country I'm in
when I don't stick up for the crowd that I'm in for the country I'm
in. But again, not all the crowds are quiet here. But in
comparison, Apps, I mean, yeah, compared to France, we are
as quiet as gets. We're like, you know, a crowd at a
funeral. I mean, compared to France. This past Saturday. So you
know, it's just also, like you said, it depends. It depends
on the city here, it depends on the match, it depends on of
course star power, which will always be the most important thing. So yeah,
I mean, it's just it's different. It is It's just a part
of the culture. It is, and that's what it is, just a
cultural difference. Alrighty, let's let's see this is man. I'm not sure
if this is meant for the mailbag, but I'm gonna ask bring it anyway.
This is a question I got and it's from Fox and Squid. Is
that like a show or something? And they said a few years ago,
Matt made a podcast about how he advertises the WWE podcast and what programs and
apps he uses. Did he ever make follow up to that? I found
it super helpful at the time. Do you happen to know if you have
a link to it? I can't find it anymore. Thanks for everything you
do. Oh okay, you know, I didn't know what this person was
after until I read it aloud. So there was a time when I had
kind of a side show that was about I think it was. It was
it the after show. I haven't I had like two episode, three episodes,
and I'm just like, yeah, I have no time for this.
It was like the ww podcast after show, and it was where I would,
you know, give tips and tricks for those that are looking to get
into podcasting of what I use, how I monetize that kind of thing.
Okay, got it? So maybe I'll dig that back up. Okay,
because there's just too much to discuss on this show, and there there was
a time when I did share some of that information. So all right,
I don't even know if that person's listening to this, but let's move on.
And uh patron Deanna says that I just wanted to say I had to
mute my TV during the plee because it was driving me nuts with the French
crowd. Chance. Yeah, Danna, Hey, you know, do you
feel I'm glad somebody's on my side here? You feel conflicted because you appreciate
the energy. It's a crazy energy. But I think we've learned that just
in principle, louder is not just always and forever better because it depends on
what they're channing, why they're channing, you know, the timing, how
much. It doesn't just have a graph that goes in infinity upwards of a
graph of level of noise and happiness watching wrestling, and that graph isn't forever
and it's cornel sent upwards. I think we finally learned that for the first
time in my I've been watching since nineteen ninety seven, so in I what,
I don't know how many years that is twenty seven years, I think,
however long it's been, that's the first time I've experienced a crowd where
it's like, okay, can you guys shut up? Nick? You know,
like I love you your passion. I appreciate it. But about halfway
through the show, I'm like, all right, you know, like I
get it. We've heard we've heard your old a chant forty times. Now
we get it. Okay, whatever this two count chant is, we get
it, got it, Okay, we got it, you know the first
eighteen times, you know. So there were moments I felt frustrated, But
hey, if I had to choose between a quiet crowd and this crowd,
I choose this crowd every time. All Right, we've got the last patron
here and Shahar, she says, I want to discuss two things about the
crowd and backlash. I totally agree with you and everything you said what I
expected different. I thought for sure you would debate me, but okay,
I thought they were loud, active and enthusiastic as hell. I like them
at the beginning, but it all changed when the unispeeded championship began. They
pissed me the hell off. It's like they weren't interested anymore. They couldn't
care less about the match. I couldn't concentrate. It took me out of
the moment. I couldn't stop saying, shut the hell up. And I'm
sorry, but I don't get the French singing. I promise you that if
w W comes to Israel sometime in the future, we won't start singing in
Hebrew. Hey Shahar, I mean I echo your sentiments. It's a very
weird place to be because I also am a co fan with the French crowd.
Like you, I'm from the United States. We have our own culture
here. You're from Israel, you have your own culture there. The French
have their own culture. We all share a passion for wrestling. However,
our cultures deal with sports differently, react to sports differently. We all have
different ways and mannerisms and things that we do that are traditional, right,
from customs that are done at sporting events specifically, to everything that you do
in your life. Every country has its own. I think I made my
point, but we share a passion of wrestling, and I think that we're
all annoyed because we are not engulfed in the culture of France and how they
deal with sporting events and their chance and most of us don't know French.
I would imagine that's what they were speaking, but whatever whatever language they were
using, most of us didn't understand it. So we're suddenly going, okay,
cool, all I hear is noise, and it's annoying, and you're
hearing the same repetitive noise, repetitive noise, and it just felt like,
yeah, they were just worried about hearing themselves at times, and not with
going on in the match. Not in all the time, but a lot
of the time. It's just do they even know what matches going on?
Or are they just more worried about what cool, creative, witty chant they
can come up with next. I did feel like that, So, okay,
I'm gonna hold you to that, Shahar. If they come to Israel
and y'all start singing in Hebrew. I may have to get on a flight
and have a discussion with you over there. That's not a threat, by
the way. Okay, two, about what Dakota Kaya set on raw She
said, quote two years ago, we took out Becky Lynch. What the
hell is she talking about? Damage control didn't exist two years ago. They
debuted at SummerSlam twenty twenty two in August. At that event, Becky injured
her shoulder and the match with Bianca. She returned at SmackDown before Survivors Series
almost four months later. After that, she's started feuing damage control. It
ended when she defeated Bailey in a steel cage with the help of Lda and
Trish. What exactly did she take out Becky until next time? My friend,
it's a good point. I heard that on wrong. I just kind
of took it at face value. I'm like, well, wait, I
remember SummerSlam twenty twenty two. I remember Bailey coming back, bringing back Dakota
Kai, bringing back Eo Sky or as then she was known Eo Sharai.
I remember that, and I'm like, wait a minute, the math isn't
mathing here, the numbers aren't computing, You're off by like a few months
here, but I'm like, all right, well fine, it was twenty
twenty two, it's twenty twenty four. She's off by three months. And
I was like, oh, I'll let it go right, it's rounding a
little bit, but close enough. But then you're right. She brings up
the fact that she took out Becky two years ago, and I'm sitting there
going, what are you talking about? I didn't even mention this, I
don't think on my raw review. So I'm glad you brought it up because
I was sitting there thinking too, like, wait, no, you took
out Bianca. Eventually you got to Becky, but that wasn't two years ago.
Becky was injured in the match, which set her back a long time.
So yeah, like I, she just it was I think it was
a flub or an oversight or thinking that, oh Becky was in the match
and we debuted to nearly two years ago and Becky was injured, but it
had nothing to do with damage. Like I, yeah, this is a
weird one, no doubt about a Shahar. It was a weird comment to
make. I don't know if it's gonna really have any legs moving forward,
if they're going to continue to focus on Becky or not. But good point,
very good point. All right, let's see if we have any more
emails. We're gonna check it out. I don't think we do. I
don't know if we hold on, Hold on a second. No, We've
got Andrew from New Zealand, and this is our final email. He says,
just thought i'd put in my two cents about backlash Jay versus Priest,
awesome match. But did we just see the start of Judgment Day and play.
I think the final straw will be a clash of the Castle when Drew
beats Priest because of a backfire interference from Jay demon baalor Well, here's the
thing. We've seen cracks form and then get fixed over and over and over
in the Judgment Day. Eventually one of them is going to stick, and
eventually this group's gonna split. They've still got some legs though, and there's
still a story going on, a subplot story going on with Dom and with
Live and the returning and pending Ria. Ripley returned that eventually she's gonna feud
to Live and there's a love triangle going on as Dom cheating on Rhea and
all this, which is gonna be fun. It's kind of a side story,
but it's going to be fun. But I mean, again, the
further we get into this group's evolution, the better chance of them breaking up
is. I mean, Finn Balor has been hidden for a while that I
think he hasn't got a chance to really shine as a single star in quite
a while, and I think there is something that's coming. Two, I
personally did not like Cargill. I found her stiff and awkward when performing moves.
You just had to watch the flow between the others during the match,
which was awesome, But when Cargo was in I couldn't watch. I was
it was so awkward and stiff. She needs a lot more time to be
at the same level as Bianca. Well, I think here's the thing Bianca
Bellair, as I've said over and over and over and over, is I
believe on the women's side of things, the best pure athlete WWE has.
So if you put her in the ring directly next to Jade Cargill, who's
bigger, stronger, a greener, and doesn't have the same fluidity as Bianca
does, you're going to see those weaknesses a lot more glaringly right, because
you're putting her in the ring right next to one of the greatest that ww
WE has right now, the most athletic, one of the most athletic,
athletically gifted women that they have in Bianca beell Air. So yeah, next
to her, there is a difference. But here's the thing. If you
took Jade Cargill at the beginning of this women's evolution revolution and she had a
match, you would be like, wow. You know, if this match
happened where it was just you know, this tag team match happened, you
would say, wow, this is a great effort from both women. Oh
my god. Right, If Jade Cargill had been at the beginning of this
women's evolution of revolution, you would say she was a trailblazer. She's the
one that helped lead the way, lead the women out of obscurity. But
it's just because we have now seen them with the women are capable of and
the bar has been raised that you look at Jade and go she does seem
a little stiff, a little awkward, and it feels like she's not up
to that bar, But it's only because the bar has been raised incredibly high.
Again, you go back five six years, you'd be like, she
seems to fit right in. She's a you know, athletic woman. She's
got a great look. See how our standards change. Not a bad thing,
but I think that's just a little perspective there. Three. Just when
the Bloodline story gets stale and non interesting, they revitalize it and make it
watchable again. I can't wait for Roman and Rock to get back to see
what happens next. I just hope that when WW comes back to New Zealand
one day. The one time they did come for a house show, it
was awesome. No major stars were there except Taker. Cheers for everything you
do, Andrew. Thanks cheers for that, Andrew, and I hope you
are enjoying your day. I'm sure they'll be back in New Zealand. WWE
is on a global tear right now. I mean, it seems like half
the pls are overseas, and that's great. They have a global strategy is
that they're implementing and implementing very successfully. So. But as far as the
Bloodline story goes, Yeah, just when you're out, they pull you back
in. Yeah, just when you think I'm done with this, My god,
they rope you back in and it's it's incredible. The storytelling for the
Bloodline story, generally since its inception, at times, while little boring and
a little repetitive, has been generally one of the most successful storylines WWE has
ever produced in their company's history, one of So all right, enjoy it
and enjoy New Zealand Andrew. Alrighty, so that'll do it for the emails
here we might have do I dare say a couple Wait, no, no,
no, Charon, See Charon, here's the deal. I almost missed
you. I almost miss you. Sharon. This is a quick email,
and it's only because you're the only one that sends me the questions to my
old email. So you're probably thinking yourself, oh my god, you forgot
almost very close, my friend. All right, so we'll get to your
let's get to your emails very quickly, and then we'll get to maybe a
voicemail to and call it a night. All right, Charon, says Hi,
Matt, how are you? Israel is still in a war, But
be happy because we has great accomplishments all over the place. Look at this
photo. Now, we are going to glory and success for sure, all
Right, so let me look here. What is this photo? This photos
is from Facebook on Dirt Sheet Radio. Okay, it says fight Ful reports.
Alisha Taylor is scheduled to begin ring announcing on the main roster imminently.
Mike Rome will return to NXT and for Alisha Taylor, she'll be on SmackDown.
This will mean the main roster will have an all black women ring announced
team going forward for the first time. You know, Charon, are you?
Oh my god? Okay, this is from Dirt Sheet Radio and I'm
gonna take this at face value. Okay. I have no idea who Alicia
Taylor is. Should I maybe she's she is she like a singer? She
sounds like she'd be like a R and B singer, or I'm thinking of
I don't know. I can't think who I'm who I'm imagining here, but
I'm I'm trying to be a little bit cautious here in what I say.
I have zero issue of who was announcing. I don't care who you are.
I don't care what your beliefs are, I don't care what you look
like. Here's what I care about. Here's the most important thing, and
the one thing that I think companies including w W E and t KO,
their parent company, and a lot of corporations in America have fallen off of
and focused on is instead of doing a good job that comes second, it's
what do the people look like that are doing the job that is the most
important to them. And instead of worrying again about doing a good job and
choosing the best people for the job, the focus has been, hey,
we got we don't have enough. We don't have enough white people, we
don't have enough black people, we don't have enough brown people. Let's make
sure that the look is better. We'll worry about the actual quality of their
skills, secondary or tertiary. We're going to make sure that it's about filling
a you know, a quota. Now, I'm not saying that Alicia Taylor
is good or bad. I know nothing about her. She may be the
best woman for the job. She really may be, and if she is,
great, But if they have to make a point, if WWE has
to make a point to tell you that it's the first black woman this or
black woman that, and they continue to harp on it, it feels very
much like a forced decision, feels very much like they didn't choose based on
merit, right, And that's not to say that of course, Now somebody
just took that intid of you're saying black women can't get a job based on
merit. No, I'm not absolutely not. What I'm saying is companies and
this is happening all over the country now in WWE here it comes, are
choosing DEI. Okay, here it comes. That's the keyword, right,
there's the buzzword. But it's true. Over merit, all I want is
the best people for the job. And if you tell me multiple times then
oh it's the first black this or black that, it tends to make me
believe that those people you chose were not based solely on merit, because you're
making it a point to make it a big deal, all right, So
especially when you take the white guy Mike Rome and shove them back to NXT,
who I think does a great job. But for them to just be
able to say that, oh, we got the first ever women's black,
all women black rigginounced team, and suddenly we're supposed to be like, okay,
cool, right, like just do a good job, Like just do
a good job, right, But it can't just be about merit. Anymore.
It's not on merit. It seems like we're going backwards, folks.
We're going backwards and hiring based on you know, how much melanin's in your
skin. It's ridiculous. I just want the best people for the job.
The take what they look like away, look at their resume, look at
their qualifications. Are they the best person for the job? Yes or no?
If they're not, you don't hire them. End of story. Case
closed, Right, But that's not happen. What's happening today? And again,
I know nothing about Alisha Taylor. She maybe the best bring anouncer for
the job. But in today's culture, it does make you kind of raise
an eyebrow and go, God, here we go. Right, it just
shoves it's it's you know. But then if you say anything against it,
it's you're a racist. Right, So they say they set a trap.
They set a trap for people like me who look at this and go,
oh no, you start complaining about two black women. That's racist. And
it's you know again, it's the sin of noticing. It's the sin of
noticing. I notice what they're doing, and that's the that's the ultimate sin.
You're supposed to just completely ignore it. So we'll see now I've gone
off the deep end damage. Sharon, also dragging Off is the real deal.
The man Dragon is the best wrestler in the business with Gunther. Please
run now to see their matches in the NXT UK. They're outstanding and in
the end, I hope so much that the facts will appear at King of
the Ring. It's gonna be amazing. Now I will say something I never
thought i'd say. I'm looking forward to King of the Ring. All hail
King dragon Off. Hey, I think you may be honest on that.
Dragon Off is certainly impressed on Monday. He was certainly impressive and his workout
video is very impressive, and I think there is a big future for him
and perfect guy to win a King of the Ring tournament. So thanks,
Sharon, and thanks for you're gonna get me in trouble on this show.
Charon, You're gonna get me in trouble. All for just saying I want
people to be hired on merit and merit alone, that's it. I don't
care. Hey, if forty black women are more qualified than forty white men,
hire all the black women, I don't care. Right, good,
great, I just want the best people to do the best job. That's
all. But that's not enough today, right, it has to be done
based on other factors. And then then it's like yeah, whatever, all
right, alright, So now that many of you think somehow I'm racist from
that, because that's just how the culture is, and I was gonna do
voicemails, doesn't look we have any. So we're gonna just kind of close
the show and say thank you. If you guys want to call us,
though, the number is in the notes of this show, and it's also
if you want to write it down or put it on your phone five point
eight nine to five two zero two four seven, and it'll cut you off
after three minutes. No, I don't want you to send multiple voicemails.
One voicemail will suffice per week. If you'd like to participate and get your
voice on the show, I would appreciate it, because we're gonna try to
get the voicemails in. I know that sometimes I don't, and I really
want to be able to give everyone a voice, and you guys take the
time to call in, I want to be able to give you that back.
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I'll talk to you next time. Thanks for listening to the WWE Podcast.
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