<v Speaker 1>It's business time, baby. You are listening to solo monsters

<v Speaker 1>sounds off. I love you, mama, monster dude, I want

<v Speaker 1>your soul. Woman.

<v Speaker 2>You got grown ass wrestlers in the back going on Twitter.

<v Speaker 1>Come over here is that Pet Patterson? You have legs?

<v Speaker 1>I was ninety nine percent positive it was just chessed up.

<v Speaker 2>Now, congratulations, who hasn't beat Daniel Garcia.

<v Speaker 3>It was a good week for the horror fan in me.

<v Speaker 3>I finally got around to seeing Sinners, and I went

<v Speaker 3>to see Weapons on Thursday, which was fun to watch

<v Speaker 3>in the theater with other people. It's one of my

<v Speaker 3>great regrets with Sinners. I wish I would have seen

<v Speaker 3>it when it was in theaters. I do love me

<v Speaker 3>a good vampire movie. Actually, both movies have comedic elements

<v Speaker 3>to them. Weapons more so than Sinners. I love the

<v Speaker 3>practical effect and the makeup that they use. But the music,

<v Speaker 3>I have to say in Sinners, the music was awesome.

<v Speaker 3>I do love the music they use in that movie.

<v Speaker 3>It just gives it a whole different vibe. I'm actually

<v Speaker 3>gonna say I think it makes my mount rushmore of

<v Speaker 3>vampire movies. I think it clears the bar. I got

<v Speaker 3>fright Night, The Lost Boys from Dusk Till Dawn, and

<v Speaker 3>Sinners Now Weapons.

<v Speaker 1>I won't give any.

<v Speaker 3>Spoilers away, but it is absolutely worth seeing even if

<v Speaker 3>you're not a horror fan.

<v Speaker 1>It's the kind of horror.

<v Speaker 3>Movie that I think even a non horror fan would

<v Speaker 3>be able to enjoy. I was expecting straight horror, and

<v Speaker 3>it really was it. I wouldn't say it's scary so

<v Speaker 3>much as it's creepy, and it's also funny in parts,

<v Speaker 3>especially in the second act. There were a few scenes

<v Speaker 3>where everybody in the audience was just laughing their asses off.

<v Speaker 3>So don't get sucked into deep by the hype, Like

<v Speaker 3>if you go into it with unrealistic expectations like oh,

<v Speaker 3>it's got a you know, ninety five percent fresh rating

<v Speaker 3>on Rotten Tomatoes or something like who gives a shit,

<v Speaker 3>don't read anything about it, don't watch the trailer. Just

<v Speaker 3>go see it and you'll enjoy it more. And it's

<v Speaker 3>an original concept too, which I appreciate. It's got Julia

<v Speaker 3>Garner and Josh Brolin in it.

<v Speaker 1>They're great.

<v Speaker 3>I've been a fan of Julia Garner since I saw

<v Speaker 3>her in Ozark. I mean, she was one of the

<v Speaker 3>best parts of that show, Josh Brolin, I can't believe

<v Speaker 3>I first saw that man in the Goonies and it's

<v Speaker 3>the same person in No Country for Old Men, but

<v Speaker 3>it is. They're already talking about a prequel film for

<v Speaker 3>one of the characters too, so it takes a little

<v Speaker 3>while to get going because they switch between character perspectives,

<v Speaker 3>which is pretty neat because you get some backstory on

<v Speaker 3>a few different characters as much as they can fit

<v Speaker 3>into the runtime leading up to whatever the moment is

<v Speaker 3>that they're up to at that part of the film.

<v Speaker 3>Then they go back and here's how this character got here.

<v Speaker 3>So it's that kind of thing. But I liked it

<v Speaker 3>a lot. So I watched Sinners, I watch Weapons. I

<v Speaker 3>watched In a Violent Nature, which some of you guys

<v Speaker 3>first told me about last year. That was a recommendation

<v Speaker 3>that you guys gave me. It's a slasher film, but

<v Speaker 3>from the perspective of the killer, which is something you

<v Speaker 3>don't see very often. So this is basically, if you

<v Speaker 3>put a hockey mask on the guy, it would be

<v Speaker 3>a Friday the Thirteenth movie, but with long, boring stretches

<v Speaker 3>of Jason just slowly walking through empty fields. That's basically

<v Speaker 3>what it is like if you were playing the killer

<v Speaker 3>in a video game and had no idea where you

<v Speaker 3>were going on the map, like you're just exploring the level.

<v Speaker 1>That's this movie. It is violent, though, I'll give it that.

<v Speaker 3>I mean, it's got violins in the title of the movie,

<v Speaker 3>so I kind of knew what to expect. The kills

<v Speaker 3>are on point. It actually has one of the most

<v Speaker 3>brutal kills I've ever seen on film, the yoga scene.

<v Speaker 1>So if you know, you know.

<v Speaker 3>But it got to the end with fifteen minutes of

<v Speaker 3>dialogue in a car that I was sure was leading somewhere,

<v Speaker 3>and then it led to absolutely nothing, and I was like,

<v Speaker 3>what the fuck was the point of that? So I

<v Speaker 3>was not a fan of that ending. But they're actually

<v Speaker 3>working on a sequel. It goes into production next month.

<v Speaker 3>Hopefully it's not as boring as the first one. But

<v Speaker 3>one last thing here. I also watched the new Friday

<v Speaker 3>the thirteenth short film on YouTube.

<v Speaker 1>It's called Sweet Revenge.

<v Speaker 3>It's got a product placement in it for Angry Orchard,

<v Speaker 3>and I think people were worried, Oh, it's just going

<v Speaker 3>to be a glorified commercial. But you know, it runs

<v Speaker 3>fifteen minutes, and they kept the product placement to a minimums.

<v Speaker 1>I mean, no more so than you would see in

<v Speaker 1>any other movie.

<v Speaker 3>It's probably a less product actually not probably, it has

<v Speaker 3>less product placement than you'll see on.

<v Speaker 1>A WWE show.

<v Speaker 3>I don't know if I'm just starved for Jason Vorhees's

<v Speaker 3>content because it's been sixteen years since the Last Friday movie,

<v Speaker 3>but I I know some people didn't like it. I

<v Speaker 3>enjoyed it. I thought the music was on point, it

<v Speaker 3>had some good kills. I see a lot of people

<v Speaker 3>bitching that most of the kills came off screen, but

<v Speaker 3>it's only fifteen minutes. I mean, what did you expect?

<v Speaker 3>You know they needed time to set things up, so

<v Speaker 3>I liked it.

<v Speaker 1>I know there's a.

<v Speaker 3>Crystal Lake prequel TV series coming to Peacock. I hope

<v Speaker 3>it comes out before WWE leaves for ESPN, because once

<v Speaker 3>they do, I'm ditching the cock. I won't have any

<v Speaker 3>use for it anymore. So that concludes the horror portion

<v Speaker 3>of this week's show. This is episode nine twenty five

<v Speaker 3>of The Solemn Monster Sounds Off, where the Solomn Monster

<v Speaker 3>can sound off on anything he damn well pleases. It

<v Speaker 3>is Sunday, August seventeenth, twenty twenty five.

<v Speaker 1>They may be.

<v Speaker 3>Able to make a horror movie out of Charles Robinson.

<v Speaker 3>Poor little natch. He's had a rough summer. First he

<v Speaker 3>gets demolished by John Cena at Night of Champions. Then

<v Speaker 3>he gets one of his ribs broken by Goldberg on

<v Speaker 3>Saturday Night's main event. Brett Hard is not surprised, and

<v Speaker 3>this week he landed in the emergency room at two

<v Speaker 3>o'clock in the morning and got four raby shots after

<v Speaker 3>being bitten by a bat. A fucking bat. My newest

<v Speaker 3>fear has been unlocked. If he doesn't come down to

<v Speaker 3>the ring wearing a cape and a utility belt, I'm

<v Speaker 3>gonna be very disappointed. But if you want to make

<v Speaker 3>a PayPal donation and support the show, you may do

<v Speaker 3>so on theslom monster dot com ten dollars or more.

<v Speaker 1>We'll get you a nickname and a shout out.

<v Speaker 3>Let's get through this roll call here, because we got

<v Speaker 3>to give these people a shout out right up front.

<v Speaker 3>Big b Bryant, Visara, thank you, the Diamond Dallas Dance Machine,

<v Speaker 3>Harrison's Soap Velvet Revolver, Robert Murray, the Chicago Slayer, Willie Iicherd,

<v Speaker 3>night Stalker, if Alsaphar Daredevil, Doug Lippert, Best in the Game,

<v Speaker 3>Tray Porter, Killshot, Keith Hart. Welcome to Dirty Dirk McCullough.

<v Speaker 3>Happy birthday to Chris in the UK, who turned thirty

<v Speaker 3>seven this past Tuesday. He's been a sound off fan

<v Speaker 3>out for the past twelve years. Here's to twelve more

<v Speaker 3>birthdays five times over. I hope thirty seven treated you well.

<v Speaker 3>Shout out to Polaris, who's a fan of the podcast

<v Speaker 3>and also a filmmaker. He recently worked with Carl Fredericks,

<v Speaker 3>formerly known as Eddie Thorpe on NXT Television two dive

<v Speaker 3>into his feelings on walking away from his dream job,

<v Speaker 3>where as he says, he played a stereotypical Native American character,

<v Speaker 3>walked away from that in order to illustrate the importance

<v Speaker 3>of leaving behind the right footsteps for future indigenous generations,

<v Speaker 3>and Carl proudly identifies as a Northern Paiute Native and

<v Speaker 3>was already thinking of leaving before he was released along

<v Speaker 3>with his partner Dakota Kai. He has a short profile

<v Speaker 3>on Carl and Dakota makes a quick cameo in it

<v Speaker 3>as well. It's up on his YouTube channel right now.

<v Speaker 3>It will not take up more than a couple of

<v Speaker 3>minutes of your time. It's really well done. Just search

<v Speaker 3>for the name Polaris Castillo on YouTube and his channel

<v Speaker 3>should be the first thing that comes up. It is

<v Speaker 3>the most recent video that he posted, so definitely give

<v Speaker 3>that a watch. And the Hardys, Matt and Jeff, they

<v Speaker 3>are returning to House of Glory right here in New

<v Speaker 3>York City Friday night, October tenth. That's two nights before

<v Speaker 3>their Bound for Glory match against Team three D. Also

<v Speaker 3>that night, Amazing Rehd is wrestling the brand new TNA

<v Speaker 3>X Division Champion, the new youngest X Division champion of

<v Speaker 3>all time, Leon Slater. So that's the first time ever match.

<v Speaker 3>Get your tickets now at hog Wrestling dot Net.

<v Speaker 1>We've got some other things in the works.

<v Speaker 3>I'll leave it at that, but before then, we have

<v Speaker 3>our return to Philadelphia on Thursday, September fourth, and I

<v Speaker 3>will be there.

<v Speaker 1>You should be too.

<v Speaker 3>Again, you can get your tickets at hog Wrestling dot Net.

<v Speaker 3>I also want to say thank you for getting me

<v Speaker 3>to eighty eight thousand subscribers on YouTube. We hit that

<v Speaker 3>mark this week and We are already well on our

<v Speaker 3>way to eighty nine k, but I cannot get there

<v Speaker 3>without you, So if you are not subbed, please go

<v Speaker 3>ahead and subscribe on YouTube.

<v Speaker 1>A quick programming note, These next two.

<v Speaker 3>Weekends coming up are going to be a little complicated

<v Speaker 3>because there are two pay per views pls, whatever you

<v Speaker 3>want to call them. AW has Forbidden Door next Sunday,

<v Speaker 3>and that show has I believe a one o'clock Eastern

<v Speaker 3>start time. The following Sunday is Clash in Paris, which

<v Speaker 3>has a two pm Eastern start time, so it's right

<v Speaker 3>dead center in the middle of Sunday, which of course

<v Speaker 3>is my recording day, and it makes no sense for

<v Speaker 3>me to record a podcast on that day when I'm

<v Speaker 3>going to be watching these pay per views and then

<v Speaker 3>going live. So the plan right now is to get

<v Speaker 3>the shows up day early each of the next two weekends.

<v Speaker 1>That's the plan.

<v Speaker 3>It's possible they go up super early on Sunday morning,

<v Speaker 3>but my aim is to get the SoundOff up on

<v Speaker 3>Saturday each of the next two weekends. So if anything changes,

<v Speaker 3>I'll let you know, but just be aware of that.

<v Speaker 3>I know everyone's a creature of habit. Everybody's got their routine.

<v Speaker 3>They expect the sound duff to pop up on Sunday

<v Speaker 3>at some point. I don't want you to miss out.

<v Speaker 3>I don't want you to think, Oh, what's going on here?

<v Speaker 3>Is it going up a day early? I have no choice,

<v Speaker 3>just because they're running these Sunday shows right in the

<v Speaker 3>middle of the day, and they happen to be back

<v Speaker 3>to back weekends. So if the SoundOff goes up a

<v Speaker 3>day early, there's a good reason for it. So just

<v Speaker 3>keep your eyes peeled for that.

<v Speaker 1>Now.

<v Speaker 3>Last week I talked about the blockbuster WWE deal with

<v Speaker 3>ESPN for the rights to all of its plees starting

<v Speaker 3>with WrestleMania next year, one point six billion dollars over.

<v Speaker 3>I got my pinky to my mouth as I say this.

<v Speaker 3>One point six billion dollars over five years, which works

<v Speaker 3>out to be three hundred and twenty five million a year.

<v Speaker 3>One week later, that deal doesn't look so blockbuster anymore

<v Speaker 3>compared to the megadeal that TKO struck with Paramount for

<v Speaker 3>the US rights to UFC shows. TKO announced on Monday

<v Speaker 3>that UFC is heading to Paramount in a mind boggling

<v Speaker 3>seven point seven billion dollar deal over seven years starting

<v Speaker 3>in January of twenty twenty six all the way through

<v Speaker 3>the end of twenty thirty two, and the deal has escalators,

<v Speaker 3>so the money is going to be less in the

<v Speaker 3>first few years and much greater in the latter part

<v Speaker 3>of the contract. The deal will see thirteen numbered events,

<v Speaker 3>which are considered the big UFC shows, and thirty Fight

<v Speaker 3>Night events coming to Paramount, plus the streaming service, with

<v Speaker 3>some numbered shows being simulcast on CBS and just as big.

<v Speaker 3>This officially marks the end of the pay per view

<v Speaker 3>era for UFC, which started right from the very first

<v Speaker 3>show they did in nineteen ninety three. They've been on

<v Speaker 3>pay per view ever since. Mark Shapiro, the president COO

<v Speaker 3>of TKO, told CNBC the pay per view model is

<v Speaker 3>a thing of the past. What's on pay per view anymore?

<v Speaker 3>Boxing movies on direct TV. It's an outdated, antiquated model.

<v Speaker 3>I can't believe he didn't mention all Elite wrestling. I mean,

<v Speaker 3>did he not watch all in Texas. Dana White then

<v Speaker 3>said that pay per view was not dead and suggested

<v Speaker 3>they could do a pay per view every now and then.

<v Speaker 3>So one hand doesn't really seem to know what the

<v Speaker 3>other hand is doing here. This all comes after well,

<v Speaker 3>I mean, actually that much was pretty clear based on

<v Speaker 3>what little bit of the interview I saw Dana White

<v Speaker 3>give on Pat McAfee show. I think the day that

<v Speaker 3>this was announced, he looked as surprised as anybody to

<v Speaker 3>find out about this deal. But this all comes after

<v Speaker 3>Skydance just closed an eight billion dollar deal to take

<v Speaker 3>over Paramount, which includes all CBS stations and CBS properties,

<v Speaker 3>Paramount Pictures cable networks like MTV and Nickelodeon and Comedy

<v Speaker 3>Central and Showtime. They took it all over, and regulators

<v Speaker 3>paved the way for the merger last month said that

<v Speaker 3>they were assured by the new owners that they are

<v Speaker 3>committed to unbiased journalism. For the people who are worried

<v Speaker 3>what this means for CBS, you know, coming under their control,

<v Speaker 3>that's a whole other bag of worms, and it's not good.

<v Speaker 3>None of these big mergers are good when it comes

<v Speaker 3>to that sort of thing. David Ellison is now the

<v Speaker 3>men in charge. I don't know if he's a direct

<v Speaker 3>client of Endeavors, but I know Endeavor has represented sky

<v Speaker 3>Dance in past deals, and who runs Endeavor, Aria Manuel

<v Speaker 3>and Mark Shapiro, the same men in charge of TKO,

<v Speaker 3>which happens to own UFC. It all seems to come

<v Speaker 3>back around, doesn't it. The deal made no mention of

<v Speaker 3>the UFC library, so it looks like they're going to

<v Speaker 3>be looking to make a separate deal for that, just

<v Speaker 3>like WWE is likely to do for its library, since

<v Speaker 3>that is not part of the ESPN deal, although the

<v Speaker 3>chairman of ESPN this week said that they would be

<v Speaker 3>interested in the library if and when it becomes available.

<v Speaker 3>If you are a UFC fan who orders most or

<v Speaker 3>all of the pay per views every year, this is

<v Speaker 3>a great deal, right. Plus, they had to pay a

<v Speaker 3>pay per view fee, Like if you were like a

<v Speaker 3>hardcore UFC guy and you wanted to see all the events,

<v Speaker 3>all the major events, you were paying a full blown

<v Speaker 3>pay per view fee. I don't even know what it

<v Speaker 3>was up to now. I mean it kept going up

<v Speaker 3>and up. Like the wrestling shows were always fifty bucks.

<v Speaker 3>I think the UFC shows are probably sixty or seventy.

<v Speaker 3>You were paying that on top of your subscription fee

<v Speaker 3>for ESPN plus every month. You will no longer have

<v Speaker 3>to do that. So if you're a UFC fan, now

<v Speaker 3>you're sitting up to one thousand dollars a year that

<v Speaker 3>you would otherwise be spending with the WWE deal. It's

<v Speaker 3>a similar thing where if you pay for Peacock, you know,

<v Speaker 3>depending on which tier you pay for, and if you

<v Speaker 3>have ESPN as part of your cable package or your

<v Speaker 3>satellite package, you're not going to have to pay the

<v Speaker 3>new ESPN streaming service fee. And that service launches on Thursday.

<v Speaker 3>By the way, you're going to get those shows for free,

<v Speaker 3>and unless there's some other reason for you to keep it,

<v Speaker 3>you can just ditch Peacock altogether. Right then you'd be

<v Speaker 3>saving money too, But again that's only if you're someone

<v Speaker 3>with access to ESPN. If you're not and they don't

<v Speaker 3>reach deals with your service before WWE migrates over, then

<v Speaker 3>you would have to pay the twenty nine to ninety

<v Speaker 3>nine a month, and then you're not saving any money.

<v Speaker 3>So TKO is sitting pretty right now. I mean, between

<v Speaker 3>the nearly eight billion dollar UFC deal, the one point

<v Speaker 3>six billion dollar WWE deal with ESPN, and the ten year,

<v Speaker 3>five billion dollar deal that WWE made with Netflix, that's

<v Speaker 3>a lot of money coming in. And that doesn't even

<v Speaker 3>include the NBC Universal deal for SmackDown and the CW

<v Speaker 3>deal for NXT. Now, does this mean that the fighters

<v Speaker 3>are going to see their pay rise? Dana White says yes,

<v Speaker 3>but Dana White says a lot of things that doesn't

<v Speaker 3>necessarily make it true. It may rise, but will it

<v Speaker 3>rise enough? That's the better question, because without the fighters

<v Speaker 3>there is no UFC, right, same with WWE. Without the wrestlers,

<v Speaker 3>there are no shows. Will the average salary go up

<v Speaker 3>for a WWE performer now with all this new media

<v Speaker 3>rights money flowing in. I think it was Meltzer a

<v Speaker 3>few years ago who said they don't really have downside

<v Speaker 3>guarantees anymore, Like you would always hear about downside guarantees.

<v Speaker 3>So that's like the minimum amount of money that you

<v Speaker 3>would be paid in a given year, no matter what,

<v Speaker 3>Like if you got hurt, you couldn't wrestle, you couldn't

<v Speaker 3>work house shows and anything like, you had your downside.

<v Speaker 1>At least, right, that's what that is.

<v Speaker 3>And I think it was a few years ago he

<v Speaker 3>said they really are phasing those out and don't do

<v Speaker 3>those anymore. A lot of talent are just paid an

<v Speaker 3>actual salary, which sure sounds like that makes them employees.

<v Speaker 3>I'm just saying so instead of a downside, which for

<v Speaker 3>a mid card talent, I mean, it could be very low,

<v Speaker 3>and then you would add in things like merch money

<v Speaker 3>and bonuses. You know, they just pay you a salary

<v Speaker 3>now instead of that. I'm sure it works differently for

<v Speaker 3>the top talents, and I know that their pay has

<v Speaker 3>gone up in recent years. But will that be the

<v Speaker 3>case now? You know, that would be a good question

<v Speaker 3>to ask at one of those post show press.

<v Speaker 1>Conferences if they actually did them anymore.

<v Speaker 3>But this all segues nicely into the TNA media rites update.

<v Speaker 3>It came first from John Alba of Sports Illustrated.

<v Speaker 1>With TNA coming.

<v Speaker 3>Off the heels of its largest show ever in the

<v Speaker 3>US last month, Slammiversary, it now has its site set

<v Speaker 3>on a major new media rights deal. In a previous

<v Speaker 3>conversation with the Takedown on SI, TNA president Carlos Silva

<v Speaker 3>confirmed the company was actively seeking a new media rights partner,

<v Speaker 3>estimating TNA's annual average value to be in the realm

<v Speaker 3>of seven to ten million dollars per year. Since then,

<v Speaker 3>rumors have swirled as to when the company, which has

<v Speaker 3>leveraged its partnership with WWE to attain wider appeal, could

<v Speaker 3>expect a new deal. Silva once again spoke with the

<v Speaker 3>Takedown on SI and provided a timeline as to when

<v Speaker 3>he believes a new deal could come together. He revealed

<v Speaker 3>it's realistic to believe a new package could be brokered

<v Speaker 3>by this fall. I think Bound for Glory is a

<v Speaker 3>great stake in the sand in terms of us getting

<v Speaker 3>everything together as we look to the twenty twenty six

<v Speaker 3>year and season, and so I think August will be quiet.

<v Speaker 3>It usually is in the media, in the media.

<v Speaker 1>Will it was.

<v Speaker 3>I feel like that's all I've been told talking about

<v Speaker 3>the last two weeks, our fucking billion dollar media rides deals.

<v Speaker 1>It ain't quiet no more.

<v Speaker 3>It might be quiet for TNA, but he says, I

<v Speaker 3>think August will be quiet, but hopefully we'll work through

<v Speaker 3>a few things, move the ball forward a little bit

<v Speaker 3>in August, and then I think in September and October,

<v Speaker 3>as we get to Bound for Glory, that would absolutely

<v Speaker 3>be the goal to try and get it done by then,

<v Speaker 3>or certainly, if it's not done, have it agreed to

<v Speaker 3>the first year TNA president acknowledged the legal process could

<v Speaker 3>extend that timeline, but remained optimistic that a deal could

<v Speaker 3>be reached by October. Rumors have attached networks like the

<v Speaker 3>CW which hosts NXT and A and E, which airs

<v Speaker 3>WWE produced documentaries that could get in on the bidding.

<v Speaker 3>Multiple TNA sources have indicated that while linear networks are

<v Speaker 3>being discussed, there are also streaming options on the table

<v Speaker 3>as far as negotiations are concerned. When asked directly about

<v Speaker 3>those two specific entities being potential landing spots, Silva confirmed

<v Speaker 3>that they are very much in the running. Oh absolutely, yeah,

<v Speaker 3>all of those and more. Where we have to navigate

<v Speaker 3>all of these properties that have other properties and where

<v Speaker 3>they are in their renewals. I mean, it's a chessboard

<v Speaker 3>puzzle pieces when you're doing these deals, and so it's

<v Speaker 3>about timing. It's about who's coming, who's going, and where

<v Speaker 3>the slots are. And certainly, our job, and I think

<v Speaker 3>we did it in such a big way at Slammiversary,

<v Speaker 3>is to keep putting out a great product that creates buzz.

<v Speaker 3>If it creates buzz, then properties are going to want you.

<v Speaker 3>Multiple independent sources tell the Takedown on SI that there

<v Speaker 3>have at least been discussions, and this is the key here,

<v Speaker 3>that there have at least been discussions of TNA moving

<v Speaker 3>to a WWE associated network, and that the company is

<v Speaker 3>even open to shifting from Thursday to Wednesday nights to

<v Speaker 3>go head to head with AW Dynamite. While it was

<v Speaker 3>not directly indicated that the destination would be the CW,

<v Speaker 3>it was expressed to us that the CW's interest in

<v Speaker 3>the promotion is legitimate and that some WWE stakeholders would

<v Speaker 3>like TNA to be part of the network. It is

<v Speaker 3>not clear how far those discussions have progressed, and it

<v Speaker 3>was stressed that nothing has been signed as of yet.

<v Speaker 3>Multiple sources believe WWE has some degree of influence in

<v Speaker 3>the TNA media rights discussions, with a potential partner involved,

<v Speaker 3>but said WWE's relationship with TNA at this juncture has

<v Speaker 3>not extended beyond the talent exchange and promotion that viewers

<v Speaker 3>have seen throughout twenty twenty five. And so it begins

<v Speaker 3>the talk about competing directly with Dynamite on Wednesdays, but

<v Speaker 3>using t ANDA as a pawn to do so is

<v Speaker 3>very on brand for WWE, because for all the people

<v Speaker 3>who love to say well Tony took the first shot,

<v Speaker 3>Tony called Nick con the con man from Connecticut, years

<v Speaker 3>ago on TV and he called WWE the Harvey Weinstein

<v Speaker 3>Pro Wrestling You wanted competition. Now they're competing. No, that's

<v Speaker 3>not what they're doing here. Tony Khan ran his mouth,

<v Speaker 3>and it's okay for WWE to punch him right back

<v Speaker 3>in the mouth if they want to. That's fine, even

<v Speaker 3>though people do seem to forget that Triple H is

<v Speaker 3>the one that fired the first shot technically by calling

<v Speaker 3>AAW a pissant company at the Hall of Fame. But

<v Speaker 3>find me where Tony Khan ever counter programmed WWE the

<v Speaker 3>way the WWE does to AAW. Find me any example

<v Speaker 3>of Tony Khan going out of his way, even if

<v Speaker 3>it is to the detriment of his own business, to

<v Speaker 3>directly compete with WWE in a way that is intended

<v Speaker 3>to harm the other company. Trash talking is one thing

<v Speaker 3>that could be fun, right, that's fine within reason. Competing

<v Speaker 3>for the same talent is one thing which is absolutely

<v Speaker 3>what WWE and AW do and TNA and every other

<v Speaker 3>major promotion. This is something completely different that we have

<v Speaker 3>not seen since WCWD around And honestly, this is worse.

<v Speaker 1>This is worse. But this is a.

<v Speaker 3>Company in WWE that behaves like it has an ax

<v Speaker 3>to grind. It's either that or they feel directly threatened

<v Speaker 3>by aw's existence. And I don't honestly believe that WWE

<v Speaker 3>thinks they're in any real jeopardy of seeding their market share,

<v Speaker 3>you know, in the industry, to Tony Kahn into all

<v Speaker 3>elite wrestling, this feels personal. You know, when Dynamite first premiered,

<v Speaker 3>Triple H had one job with NXT, which was to

<v Speaker 3>extinguish the flame. That's what Vince McMahon wanted Triple H

<v Speaker 3>to do with NXT when they went head to head

<v Speaker 3>with AAW, extinguish the flame, and he failed. Vince McMahon

<v Speaker 3>was not happy about that because it allowed them to

<v Speaker 3>gain a foothold. And since they draw from the same

<v Speaker 3>pool of talent, that meant that if they wanted to

<v Speaker 3>retain some of their existing talent or to sign new talent,

<v Speaker 3>they would have to compete financially, which is why you

<v Speaker 3>ended up hearing stories about people like Fucking Dax and

<v Speaker 3>Cash and the Good Brother, all these people being offered

<v Speaker 3>you know, six figure deals that were in the high

<v Speaker 3>six figures that otherwise, believe me, they would not have

<v Speaker 3>been offered WWE was throwing money at people specifically to

<v Speaker 3>prevent them from going to AEW. Okay, I've talked about

<v Speaker 3>this before on this podcast. Around WrestleMania time, I talked

<v Speaker 3>about this. Nick Kahn did an interview I Forget with Who,

<v Speaker 3>and I brought up this very point. One of the

<v Speaker 3>biggest things that aw did to really irritate WWE was

<v Speaker 3>inflate the going rates for a lot of these wrestlers.

<v Speaker 3>Remember the report that some people in WWE felt that,

<v Speaker 3>you know what Tony Khan offered Swarb Strickland to re

<v Speaker 3>sign him was more than his value. Right, Tony overpaid,

<v Speaker 3>and therefore he was raising the going rate for other

<v Speaker 3>talents to a point that just wasn't sustainable. I'm sure

<v Speaker 3>that annoyed WWE greatly. With the TNA stuff, like, ask yourself,

<v Speaker 3>why WWE is suddenly working with TNA after all these years.

<v Speaker 3>TNA has been around for over twenty years, and there

<v Speaker 3>were a lot of years where WWE would would take

<v Speaker 3>their own little potshots at them. But all of a sudden,

<v Speaker 3>WWE is working with TNA. Is it because they want

<v Speaker 3>to help TNA flourish?

<v Speaker 1>Of course not.

<v Speaker 3>WWE does not give a single fuck about TNA, not

<v Speaker 3>unless TNA can benefit them in some way. So if

<v Speaker 3>that means propping up a company to finally pull seventy

<v Speaker 3>six hundred people for a show at the Ubs Arena,

<v Speaker 3>something they were not able to do a single time,

<v Speaker 3>not in this country anyway, in its previous twenty three

<v Speaker 3>years of existence, they finally pulled seventy six hundred people.

<v Speaker 3>If that's what it takes, then so be it. We'll

<v Speaker 3>prop them up. We'll send aj Styles out there to

<v Speaker 3>give our a rah ra speech and sell a few

<v Speaker 3>extra tickets. We won't let them do a match, of course,

<v Speaker 3>but we'll throw him a bone and will let him

<v Speaker 3>break their attendance record. If that means propping up their

<v Speaker 3>world champion on NXT so that he'll mean more when

<v Speaker 3>they eventually sign him away, than hey, it's a small

<v Speaker 3>price to pay.

<v Speaker 1>I love.

<v Speaker 3>By the way, have the same people who cried and

<v Speaker 3>moaned and bitched about Joe Hendry only getting three minutes

<v Speaker 3>with Randy Orton at WrestleMania, Oh, he got three minutes.

<v Speaker 3>He got dropped with an RKO. He treated him like

<v Speaker 3>a job or a lot of these people are okay

<v Speaker 3>with him popping out of a fucking refrigerator on NXT

<v Speaker 3>the other week. I find that very amusing. And if

<v Speaker 3>that means helping TNA get a better cable clearance so

<v Speaker 3>that they can move the show to Wednesdays just to

<v Speaker 3>fuck with Tony Kahan, then hey, what are friends for?

<v Speaker 1>TNA?

<v Speaker 3>Is WWE's useful idiot? Believe me, if TNA was to

<v Speaker 3>move Impact to Wednesdays on the CW, let's say, or

<v Speaker 3>anywhere they were to move Impact to Wednesdays, First of all,

<v Speaker 3>any TV deal that TNA is able to make is

<v Speaker 3>going to be better than the deal they have now

<v Speaker 3>with Access TV. It's going to get more eyeballs on

<v Speaker 3>the show, regardless how many more eyeballs. That's the question.

<v Speaker 3>I've been saying that for years. TNA will only grow

<v Speaker 3>to a point unless they get a fucking TV deal.

<v Speaker 3>What they have with Access right now it's better than nothing,

<v Speaker 3>but they need a real TV deal on a much

<v Speaker 3>bigger platform, a much bigger network or streaming service or

<v Speaker 3>whatever it may be. But having said that, if TNA

<v Speaker 3>was to move Impact to Wednesdays, it might take a

<v Speaker 3>small chunk out of the dynamite audience, but it's not

<v Speaker 3>about that. AW would still win the night. It's just

<v Speaker 3>about weakening them at any cost, even if that cost

<v Speaker 3>comes at TNA's expense, because I fail to see what

<v Speaker 3>the benefit is for TNA in that scenario. If they

<v Speaker 3>move the show directly opposite Dynamite like that hurts TNA,

<v Speaker 3>It hurts TNA's ability to grow, That doesn't help them.

<v Speaker 3>Like if you're looking at the schedule and saying, Okay,

<v Speaker 3>we want to maximize the audience for this show, So

<v Speaker 3>the first thing to do is to get them on

<v Speaker 3>a better network that's number one, or again it could

<v Speaker 3>be a streamer that's number one, that's priority number one.

<v Speaker 3>But also we want to get them, you know, in

<v Speaker 3>a time slot or on a night on a date

<v Speaker 3>where they're not in direct competition with another wrestling show.

<v Speaker 3>We want to maximize eyeballs on this show. But that's

<v Speaker 3>not what this is about. This so this is not

<v Speaker 3>about you know, helping TNA grow their audience as big

<v Speaker 3>as it can possibly be. It's less about helping TNA

<v Speaker 3>and more about hurting aw right because it might also

<v Speaker 3>hurt aw It's okay, and that's really all the matters

<v Speaker 3>to WWE. Just so we're clear, you know, there's nothing

<v Speaker 3>illegal about what they're doing. They're well within their rights

<v Speaker 3>to do so, so long as everybody understands what the

<v Speaker 3>point of this partnership really is between WWE and TNA, Like,

<v Speaker 3>don't be naive about this, And of all people, I

<v Speaker 3>will give credit to Eric Bischoff for making a good

<v Speaker 3>point finally, when he spoke to Ariel Helwani a while

<v Speaker 3>back about why WWE is in business at all with

<v Speaker 3>TNA all of a sudden, like, I do think there's

<v Speaker 3>another reason. It's secondary to fucking with aaw But WWE

<v Speaker 3>had to pay out a twenty million dollar settlement to

<v Speaker 3>MLW to settle their anti trust lawsuit last year. So

<v Speaker 3>it's to their benefit to play nice with TNA and

<v Speaker 3>and you know, quote unquote partner with them and maybe

<v Speaker 3>even help them gain a foothold on let's say, to

<v Speaker 3>CW or on A and E to help their cause

<v Speaker 3>the next time someone threatens them with any kind of

<v Speaker 3>antitrust claim. This is like an added bonus for them.

<v Speaker 1>You know.

<v Speaker 3>I saw Gail Kim on Twitter the other day. She

<v Speaker 3>was responding to fans, and she was bemoaning the fact

<v Speaker 3>that the reason TNA is bleeding talent is because management

<v Speaker 3>doesn't give them any real reason to stay and be

<v Speaker 3>loyal to the company right. Instead, their talent looks at

<v Speaker 3>TNA as a stepping stone to WWE. It's because that's

<v Speaker 3>what they are, and the more talent that want to

<v Speaker 3>ultimately end up in WWEE it makes TNA a more

<v Speaker 3>attractive option in the interim, which Carlos Silva and his

<v Speaker 3>team no doubt are well aware of. And they're okay

<v Speaker 3>with that. They're okay with TNA being looked at as

<v Speaker 3>a stepping stone. They're okay with TNA effectively being an

<v Speaker 3>arm of developmental Now that is a decision that they

<v Speaker 3>made a long time ago. Carlo Silva has admitted that

<v Speaker 3>they are not profitable. Anthem knows that TNA is not

<v Speaker 3>a profitable company partnering with WWE to help get them

<v Speaker 3>a better TV deal where maybe they can poll. I

<v Speaker 3>mean again, I think it's ambitious, but ten million dollars

<v Speaker 3>a year or partnering with WWE to sell a few

<v Speaker 3>hundred or a few thousand extra tickets for their big

<v Speaker 3>shows to them is worth it. And according to Dave

<v Speaker 3>Meltzer in this week's Observer, WWE has an option to

<v Speaker 3>buy TNA in their partnership agreement and has the right

<v Speaker 3>of first refusal should there be another potential buyer.

<v Speaker 1>Yeah, he says.

<v Speaker 3>The option is similar to when WWE had contracts with

<v Speaker 3>the European indies years ago, like OTT and Progress. Now

<v Speaker 3>that was for content for the WWE network. Remember when

<v Speaker 3>they started airing indie promotions on the network that didn't

<v Speaker 3>last very long because not enough people gave a shit

<v Speaker 3>about it and so they didn't watch. But they had

<v Speaker 3>the option to buy those promotions if they wanted to

<v Speaker 3>buy them, They just never had a reason to do so. Yeah,

<v Speaker 3>the end goal here is likely to buy TNA. I mean,

<v Speaker 3>I would say it's worth it just for the tape

<v Speaker 3>library if nothing else. There's so many people on their

<v Speaker 3>roster right now who either came from TNA or passed

<v Speaker 3>through TNA. I mean, they can make a fortune just

<v Speaker 3>exploiting that alone. But right now there is no need

<v Speaker 3>for them to buy TNA. They can get what they

<v Speaker 3>want out of them without buying them. They can use

<v Speaker 3>them as a pawn to fuck with aw and so

<v Speaker 3>have a direct pipeline to their talent, and they can

<v Speaker 3>grab them and snatch them up first. When they become

<v Speaker 3>free agents before Tony kankad and all they have to

<v Speaker 3>do is just prop them up a little bit. And

<v Speaker 3>TNA is not any kind of serious threat to their business,

<v Speaker 3>so they're cool with it. Now comes this report that

<v Speaker 3>former UFC co owner Lorenzo Fertida might have an interest

<v Speaker 3>in buying TNA, with the idea that anybody who buys TNA,

<v Speaker 3>if it's not going to be WWE, they would do

<v Speaker 3>so with the idea of being friendly with WWE. And

<v Speaker 3>if they're not going to be friendly with WWE, then

<v Speaker 3>they're not buying the company because again.

<v Speaker 1>WWE has the right to kill the deal.

<v Speaker 3>Lorenzo Fertida is a billionaire, So I mean that could

<v Speaker 3>be interesting to follow, you know, if there is smoke

<v Speaker 3>to the fire.

<v Speaker 1>It sounds like there may be.

<v Speaker 3>But another added benefit to all of these media rights

<v Speaker 3>deals that TKO has been negotiating, and they're not negotiating

<v Speaker 3>these deals just to spite. I'm not saying that, but

<v Speaker 3>it definitely doesn't help Tony Khan's cause now.

<v Speaker 1>Right now, AW is on solid.

<v Speaker 3>Ground with Warner Brothers Discovery for the next three or

<v Speaker 3>four years. You know, they're pulling in around six hundred

<v Speaker 3>million dollars on their media rights deal. They are the

<v Speaker 3>clear number two wrestling promotion in the country, if not

<v Speaker 3>the world, between the guaranteed money that they're pulling in

<v Speaker 3>and the time slots they have on TBS and TNT.

<v Speaker 3>But when those rights deals come up for renewal three

<v Speaker 3>years from now is a lifetime. There's no guarantee that

<v Speaker 3>Warner Brothers Discovery is going to want to be in

<v Speaker 3>the aw business anymore. I mean, hell, Warner Brothers Discovery

<v Speaker 3>is being split off soon into two separate companies. You know,

<v Speaker 3>Tony Khan is always glowing about mister David Zaslov, who's

<v Speaker 3>the head of WBD, and what a great relationship they

<v Speaker 3>have and all the wonderful people that he has relationships

<v Speaker 3>with who work, you know, for the company there. But

<v Speaker 3>if those people end up on the outs, what happens then, right,

<v Speaker 3>what happens when it's time to renew What happens if

<v Speaker 3>you get somebody in there who isn't a wrestling fan,

<v Speaker 3>who isn't an AW fan, Paramount likely won't be an option.

<v Speaker 3>Now with their UFC deal, ESPN is off the table.

<v Speaker 3>I mean, if it was ever really going to be

<v Speaker 3>on the table. To begin with. But ESPN is off

<v Speaker 3>the table. WWE has deals with NBC Universal, they have

<v Speaker 3>deal with CW. Where does that leave aw We'll see

<v Speaker 3>where TNA lands. It limits the options that Tony Khan

<v Speaker 3>has outside of WBD, and WWE knows this, You know,

<v Speaker 3>Tony Kahn once said, and he now knows what it

<v Speaker 3>must have been like for Jim Crockett when Vince McMahon

<v Speaker 3>was counterprogramming all of his big shows and was trying

<v Speaker 3>to sabotage his business. But he said, I've got a

<v Speaker 3>lot more fucking money than Jim Crockett did. He said,

<v Speaker 3>I'm serious, I'm not gonna sit back and take this

<v Speaker 3>fucking shit. Those were his exact words. You'll have to

<v Speaker 3>excuse the man. That was the same scrum where Muffin

<v Speaker 3>Man had his meltdown. So Tony might have been a

<v Speaker 3>little on edge that night, but he was not happy.

<v Speaker 3>That was when WWE was first counter programming them that

<v Speaker 3>Labor Day weekend, and I think also he knew about

<v Speaker 3>or suspected that there was contract hampering potentially going on,

<v Speaker 3>So he was not in a good mood and he

<v Speaker 3>just went off. But if you remember, he also that

<v Speaker 3>night said that if and when WWE brings the fight,

<v Speaker 3>he'll bring the fight right back to them. And he

<v Speaker 3>has a very unique way or he has very unique

<v Speaker 3>ways of doing that because he has a lot of money.

<v Speaker 3>He said, he has a lot of money to fight with. Well,

<v Speaker 3>we have now reached the point where he's going to

<v Speaker 3>have to put his money where his mouth is. I

<v Speaker 3>have no idea what these unique methods are that he

<v Speaker 3>speaks of, but if he has any, it may be

<v Speaker 3>time for him to show his cards. And that's say

<v Speaker 3>nothing of all the events the WWE has been running

<v Speaker 3>up against him.

<v Speaker 1>Like they did last month.

<v Speaker 3>Now comes the announcement the WWE is planning a main

<v Speaker 3>roster pl on the same night as All Out and

<v Speaker 3>with a main event of John Cena Versus Brock Lesner,

<v Speaker 3>John Pollock, and Brandon Thurston. Broke the news on Post

<v Speaker 3>Wrestling on Monday that WWE will be adding a premium

<v Speaker 3>live event in September on the same day as AEW's

<v Speaker 3>All Out pay per view. Post Wrestling spoke with multiple

<v Speaker 3>sources with knowledge of the WWE event schedule, who confirmed

<v Speaker 3>that a yet to be announced ple will take place

<v Speaker 3>on Saturday, September twentieth in Indianapolis, Indiana. The date represents

<v Speaker 3>a first, the first time AWWE main Roster pl will

<v Speaker 3>air the same day as an AEW pay per view.

<v Speaker 3>We've yet to confirm the start time of the WWE

<v Speaker 3>event All Out, as scheduled to begin at eight pm Eastern.

<v Speaker 3>We have not confirmed the venue for the event, but

<v Speaker 3>some recent main roster events in Indianapolis have been staged

<v Speaker 3>at Gainbridge Field House, which seems to be a likely candidate.

<v Speaker 3>Throughout this year, nxtpls have been scheduled on the same

<v Speaker 3>day as aw's Double or Nothing All in Texas and

<v Speaker 3>Forbidden Door shows. WWE is advertising brock Lesner for the

<v Speaker 3>September twelfth and the September nineteenth episodes of SmackDown, which

<v Speaker 3>all but guarantees that he's going to be wrestling that weekend.

<v Speaker 3>I just love how they bring him back at Summer Slam. SummerSlam,

<v Speaker 3>when he walked out there that was August third, and

<v Speaker 3>they make you wait almost six weeks to see him

<v Speaker 3>again or find out why he's back.

<v Speaker 1>This is why, this is why.

<v Speaker 3>They want to load that show up with the biggest

<v Speaker 3>possible attraction, and it's not about siphoning fans away from

<v Speaker 3>aw There is not a single AW siko who is

<v Speaker 3>going to hear Oh Brock Lesner is wrestling John Cena

<v Speaker 3>that night. I guess I can't watch All Out now.

<v Speaker 3>That's not what this is about. It doesn't matter if

<v Speaker 3>they they sway a single fan to watch WWE that

<v Speaker 3>night over AW. I said this on TNT on Tuesday night.

<v Speaker 3>It's about controlling the headlines. It's about controlling the social

<v Speaker 3>media conversation. That's why they do it. They want to

<v Speaker 3>dominate the headlines. They want to drown out AW that

<v Speaker 3>weekend as much as possible.

<v Speaker 1>This is their way of doing that.

<v Speaker 3>All Out will be the better show, but Lesner and

<v Speaker 3>Sena will be the bigger attraction because it hasn't been

<v Speaker 3>done in ten years and this is likely the final

<v Speaker 3>time that and Brock hasn't wrestled the match in more

<v Speaker 3>than two years. Even just Brock being a part of

<v Speaker 3>the show, even the people that hate that he's on

<v Speaker 3>the show and they don't like him, like the conversation

<v Speaker 3>will be about Brock. The conversation will be about that match.

<v Speaker 3>The conversation will be about WWE. That is what they

<v Speaker 3>want for better or worse, positive or negative press that

<v Speaker 3>is what they want. Now we learn that WWE may

<v Speaker 3>be considered airing John Sena's retirement match opposite the AW

<v Speaker 3>World's End pay per view on December twenty seventh. Originally

<v Speaker 3>they were looking at running December thirteenth in Boston, that

<v Speaker 3>would be Saturday Night's main event. Either of these things

<v Speaker 3>would likely be Saturday Night's main event. So unless they

<v Speaker 3>can work it out with NBC to air the match

<v Speaker 3>commercial free get ready for ads Galore for John Seena's

<v Speaker 3>retirement match, December thirteenth makes more sense because Peacock is

<v Speaker 3>airing an NFL game on the twenty seventh, which is

<v Speaker 3>going to do millions more in terms of viewers than

<v Speaker 3>any wrestling show is going to do that night. So

<v Speaker 3>I mean that's going to hurt AW, but it's also

<v Speaker 3>going to hurt WWE if they run that night. So

<v Speaker 3>if WWE makes it, and this will be something to

<v Speaker 3>keep an eye on. If WWE makes the decision to

<v Speaker 3>run on December twenty seventh, the only conceivable reason for

<v Speaker 3>them to do so is to hurt AW. That is

<v Speaker 3>their goal. All of these things, these are all examples,

<v Speaker 3>These are all happening in real time, right in front

<v Speaker 3>of your eyes. Their goal is not to compete, Their

<v Speaker 3>goal is to weaken them as much as possible. This

<v Speaker 3>is just another in a long line of examples of this,

<v Speaker 3>And it's one thing for them to willingly sacrifice viewers

<v Speaker 3>for Goldberg's retirement match. To sacrifice potential viewers for John

<v Speaker 3>Cena's retirement match shows the level of pettiness that we

<v Speaker 3>are talking about here. If that is what they end

<v Speaker 3>up doing, if that's the date they end up running,

<v Speaker 3>it just really demonstrates the lengths to which WWE is

<v Speaker 3>willing to go in this in this war, I mean,

<v Speaker 3>if that's what you would even call it, to snuff

<v Speaker 3>out any competition at all, whether it's competition for talent,

<v Speaker 3>whether it's competition for media rights. If they could trip

<v Speaker 3>their home alarm, they would gladly sneak into Aw's house,

<v Speaker 3>put a pillow over its face, and smother it to death.

<v Speaker 3>This is one of the key reasons why they're in

<v Speaker 3>business with TNA, to use them as a proxy against AW.

<v Speaker 3>Whether it benefits TAD in the long run is really

<v Speaker 3>of no concern to them. It's more obvious now than

<v Speaker 3>ever before. Today's episode is sponsored by Mint Mobile. Don't

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<v Speaker 3>mint Mobile for details. Carrion Cross appeared on the Ariel

<v Speaker 3>Helwani Show this week, the same week that his new

<v Speaker 3>documentary dropped on YouTube on his channel, which now has

<v Speaker 3>been viewed, by the way by almost eight hundred thousand people.

<v Speaker 1>I watched it. It was very well done.

<v Speaker 3>He's got a special connection clearly with his fans. That

<v Speaker 3>really is one of the things that came through watching

<v Speaker 3>the doc You can tell just based on all the

<v Speaker 3>social media for him, and because a lot of what

<v Speaker 3>he talked about overlaps with what he discussed with Ariel.

<v Speaker 3>I'll just run through what he talked about on Ariel show.

<v Speaker 3>He confirmed that his WWE contract expired on August tenth,

<v Speaker 3>and that he has not signed a new deal with

<v Speaker 3>the company. He said this is not a work even

<v Speaker 3>though he understands why people might think it is. I mean,

<v Speaker 3>given things that have happened recently with you know, the

<v Speaker 3>r truth stuff and seth Rolins injury. He says he

<v Speaker 3>was offered a new deal the tuesday before his contract expired,

<v Speaker 3>at which point he asked how the company came.

<v Speaker 1>To the valuation that they did.

<v Speaker 3>He was not given that information, and then he was

<v Speaker 3>told that he had twenty four hours to accept the

<v Speaker 3>offer or it would be rescinded. So they spoke again

<v Speaker 3>the next day, and when he asked that they had

<v Speaker 3>that information that he had asked for, you know, any

<v Speaker 3>metrics as to how they came to the number they

<v Speaker 3>came to, they said, no, we don't, at which point

<v Speaker 3>he said that he can't make an informed decision without

<v Speaker 3>that information, and they pulled their offer. Want to know

<v Speaker 3>how they arrived at their offer is a fair question.

<v Speaker 3>It's probably not one that they get very often, but

<v Speaker 3>it's a fair question. And if they don't want to

<v Speaker 3>provide that information, and to put a twenty four hour

<v Speaker 3>deadline on it like they're a fucking kidnapper is very weird,

<v Speaker 3>especially after they had weeks. They had weeks, they had

<v Speaker 3>months even before his deal expired, as they do with others,

<v Speaker 3>to make an offer or to say, hey, let's start

<v Speaker 3>having a conversation about this. It's coming up pretty soon, right.

<v Speaker 3>They didn't do that. Instead, they wait until almost the

<v Speaker 3>very last minute and they say, hey, sign this now

<v Speaker 3>or else we're pulling it. Why the time crunch like

<v Speaker 3>it sounds very shady. It would make me very nervous

<v Speaker 3>to put my signature on anything if they're in that

<v Speaker 3>much of a rush. He also says, wwe did not

<v Speaker 3>make a contract offer to Scarlet, and when he asked

<v Speaker 3>them why, he claims he was told, after we deal

<v Speaker 3>with you, we'll deal with her now. Would they have

<v Speaker 3>or did they want to get him signed, because really

<v Speaker 3>they wanted to keep him and not her. Who knows

<v Speaker 3>to me, Cross works better as a package with Scarlet.

<v Speaker 3>But that's kind of what it sounds like to me.

<v Speaker 3>I mean, maybe they only wanted one and not the other.

<v Speaker 3>I mean, it's not like they ever did anything with Scarlet.

<v Speaker 3>And I can never understand that she's wrestled before. It's

<v Speaker 3>not like she can't work or take bumps. You know,

<v Speaker 3>she was barely ever even given the chance to speak, right,

<v Speaker 3>she has a mouth, she can speak, she can cut promos.

<v Speaker 3>I mean, they didn't have her doing anything. He said,

<v Speaker 3>there were people in the company who thought his post

<v Speaker 3>WrestleMania forty one promo where he sat down with Sam

<v Speaker 3>Roberts and Megan Morant. I think it was that there

<v Speaker 3>were people in the company who thought it was a shoot.

<v Speaker 3>That's how convincing he was. He was under the impression

<v Speaker 3>the promo was okayed beforehand and that they all knew

<v Speaker 3>it was a work. He found out later on that

<v Speaker 3>Triple H apparently was not very happy about it, and

<v Speaker 3>he had to go explain everything to him. So he understood,

<v Speaker 3>and that right there help explain a lot of things,

<v Speaker 3>because there was a lot of truth in what he

<v Speaker 3>was saying in that promo, and it felt genuine. It

<v Speaker 3>felt like a lot of what he was saying there

<v Speaker 3>had been built up inside him for a long time

<v Speaker 3>and it was coming right from the heart. And if

<v Speaker 3>Triple H was not aware that he was going to

<v Speaker 3>do it, which I find hard to believe, but if

<v Speaker 3>he didn't, I mean it sounded like it was aimed

<v Speaker 3>right at him.

<v Speaker 1>Yeah, even if that wasn't his intent.

<v Speaker 3>Triple H is the guy, right, He's the head of creative,

<v Speaker 3>he's the puppeteer, So a lot of it was aimed

<v Speaker 3>at him, and maybe That's how Triple H felt like,

<v Speaker 3>Oh shit, this guy, he's taking aim at me. He's

<v Speaker 3>making me look bad, he's making me look inept. He

<v Speaker 3>crossed the boss, no pun intended. He crossed the boss right.

<v Speaker 3>He made Triple H look like a fool talking about

<v Speaker 3>being left off cards, having his time cut, being told

<v Speaker 3>years ago by Bill Goldberg to be a good soldier.

<v Speaker 3>So he was being a good soldier. And this is

<v Speaker 3>what being a good soldier gets you. You ignored the fans.

<v Speaker 3>I never asked to wrestle Randy Orton at wrestle Mania

<v Speaker 3>this year. That happened organically, and you ignored it. You know,

<v Speaker 3>nothing against Joe Hendry, but you ignored it. He mentioned that,

<v Speaker 3>and this is what I'm talking about. Here is the

<v Speaker 3>promo months ago that he cut. You know, in that

<v Speaker 3>same promo he said, you know, when I got eliminated

<v Speaker 3>from the Andre the Giant Battle Royal on SmackDown, the

<v Speaker 3>crowd told you how they felt about me, and you

<v Speaker 3>ignored it. And then at the very end of the

<v Speaker 3>promo he said, guy in the suit and tie in

<v Speaker 3>the truck.

<v Speaker 1>Go fuck yourself. That's from Killer Cross.

<v Speaker 3>And then he stormed off and he did a hell

<v Speaker 3>of a job convincing people that that was real, got

<v Speaker 3>a lot of people talking. But like I said, even

<v Speaker 3>if it wasn't real, even if the promo was a

<v Speaker 3>work and he told people in advance that this is

<v Speaker 3>what I'm gonna do, it's like cmpunk in the pipe bomb,

<v Speaker 3>Like they knew cm punk was going to sit on

<v Speaker 3>that stage that night in Las Vegas and cut that

<v Speaker 3>pipe bomb. As I recall, I don't think Vince McMahon

<v Speaker 3>even wanted to know what he was going to say.

<v Speaker 3>They just had an outline for Okay, here's what you're

<v Speaker 3>gonna do, and then at the right moment, we're going

<v Speaker 3>to cut you off. And probably the anti bullying campaign

<v Speaker 3>was probably the trigger, because that's when they cut his mic.

<v Speaker 3>But I don't think, if I remember correctly, I don't

<v Speaker 3>think he even wanted Vince to tell him what he

<v Speaker 3>was going to say. But even though that was a work,

<v Speaker 3>it was a work shoot because a lot of what

<v Speaker 3>Punks said in that promo back in twenty eleven was

<v Speaker 3>from the heart. Those were his real feelings. They were

<v Speaker 3>just using it as part of the show. And you

<v Speaker 3>can't tell me that A large part of what cross

<v Speaker 3>If not all of what Cross was talking about in

<v Speaker 3>that promo earlier this year was how he really felt

<v Speaker 3>those emotions were one hundred percent real. But that's what

<v Speaker 3>makes for the best promos, is when you blend fantasy

<v Speaker 3>and reality. But if Triple H was upset with it

<v Speaker 3>after and Cross had to go explain it to him,

<v Speaker 3>that may have healed his fate right then and there.

<v Speaker 3>He said he had a gut feeling all day at

<v Speaker 3>SummerSlam that his match with Sammy's Ain might be his last.

<v Speaker 3>He had a friend tell him, hey, you should do

<v Speaker 3>something for the live crowd, like as you're leaving.

<v Speaker 1>I don't know what that means. Maybe wave to them

<v Speaker 1>or something.

<v Speaker 3>I give him some kind of a signal, But he

<v Speaker 3>said he didn't want to take away from Sammy's moment

<v Speaker 3>since the moment wasn't about him.

<v Speaker 1>It was supposed to be about Sammy.

<v Speaker 3>So like if Cross, even if the match is over

<v Speaker 3>and Cross is leaving and he like waves or he

<v Speaker 3>makes some sort of hand gesture or something to the

<v Speaker 3>live crowd, like all of a sudden, somebody records that

<v Speaker 3>on social media. They put it up on Twitter. It's like,

<v Speaker 3>oh shit, look what Cross said.

<v Speaker 1>Look what Cross.

<v Speaker 3>Did is he leaving like the conversation automatically now shifts

<v Speaker 3>over to Carrying Cross instead of Sammy's ain, But he

<v Speaker 3>said big promotions have reached out to him since last Sunday,

<v Speaker 3>but AW has not been among them. I've said this

<v Speaker 3>many times my opinion, I don't think Aaw is a

<v Speaker 3>good fit for Carrying Cross. I just don't see him

<v Speaker 3>as someone Tony Khan is going to have a real

<v Speaker 3>interest in pushing any more than WWE did.

<v Speaker 1>But here's the other thing. Okay.

<v Speaker 3>He was very open in this interview about wanting to

<v Speaker 3>go back to WWE and still hoping that they can

<v Speaker 3>restart a dialogue. He said, I'm not trying to turn

<v Speaker 3>this into a game. It's not a game for me.

<v Speaker 3>It's my life. I'm very big on loyalty, but loyalty

<v Speaker 3>is a two way street. I'm very interested in trying

<v Speaker 3>to recover what I think is easily recoverable, but it

<v Speaker 3>takes two people to come together and talk about it.

<v Speaker 3>I'm still here. The goal has always been to be

<v Speaker 3>with WWE. My wife and I still want to be

<v Speaker 3>with WWE. I'm still at the table for conversations. I

<v Speaker 3>did not step out of the conversation. Now, imagine if

<v Speaker 3>you're Tony Khan hearing that, why would he want to

<v Speaker 3>sign carrying Cross like AW throwing its arms open for

<v Speaker 3>him makes no sense. It doesn't make sense for them

<v Speaker 3>or for Cross, Like, why would Tony Kahn sign someone

<v Speaker 3>who he thinks is going to bounce the first chance

<v Speaker 3>he gets if WWE shows even a mild interest in

<v Speaker 3>taking him back? And for Cross, AW is the one

<v Speaker 3>place that WWE doesn't play nice with. But for Tony

<v Speaker 3>after everything with Alistair Black and Miro and Ricky Starks

<v Speaker 3>and Penta and Ray Phoenix, Like, here's someone who is

<v Speaker 3>openly admitting that he wants to go back to WWE,

<v Speaker 3>and he never wanted to leave. Why would he push

<v Speaker 3>someone like that? Like, It's why he said, if he

<v Speaker 3>signs with anybody but WWE, TNA is the place that

<v Speaker 3>would make the most sense. You want to go back

<v Speaker 3>to WWE, you know, you go work for TNA for

<v Speaker 3>a year and at that point that might be your

<v Speaker 3>pipeline right back into WWE.

<v Speaker 1>Now.

<v Speaker 3>I know he and Scarlett had issues there previously. It

<v Speaker 3>was a messy split, but it's new management now don

<v Speaker 3>Kallis is not there anymore.

<v Speaker 1>If you know about those rumors.

<v Speaker 3>Don Kallis is actually in aw now, that could be

<v Speaker 3>another reason for him not to go there. But I

<v Speaker 3>think Cross is going to do well on the indies

<v Speaker 3>for a while. He can take his time, you know,

<v Speaker 3>maybe he and WWE start talking again. I don't know

<v Speaker 3>why he would think things would be any different next time,

<v Speaker 3>you know. I mean, if they wanted to do something

<v Speaker 3>more substantial with him, they would have, and they would

<v Speaker 3>not have waited until five days before his contract expired

<v Speaker 3>to offer him a new deal. They already fired him

<v Speaker 3>once before. Now they let him go. It's like you

<v Speaker 3>smack me across the face twice. Why would I let

<v Speaker 3>you do it a third time? But I get it.

<v Speaker 3>You know, for some people it's their dream job to

<v Speaker 3>work there. WWE is the mecha to them.

<v Speaker 1>I get it.

<v Speaker 3>But on the indies, I think Cross is going to

<v Speaker 3>be able to show off more of his creativity when

<v Speaker 3>it comes to his promos.

<v Speaker 1>You know, he's very good with that.

<v Speaker 3>It's too bad we never got to see more of

<v Speaker 3>that on WWE television, in terms of his social media

<v Speaker 3>promos and some of the stuff he was doing there.

<v Speaker 3>I watched the TMZ special on Hulk Hogan that aired

<v Speaker 3>on Fox. It's up on Hulu now if you want

<v Speaker 3>to check it out. But there's really no reason. It's

<v Speaker 3>as basic as you can get for the time allotted.

<v Speaker 3>And you know, while they do cover the sex tape

<v Speaker 3>stuff and the races rant, they gloss over so many

<v Speaker 3>things from his career and kept it to mostly a

<v Speaker 3>fluff piece. They interviewed a bunch of people for it,

<v Speaker 3>including Bill Goldberg, Mick Foley, Mark Henry, Charlotte Flair, and

<v Speaker 3>Jimmy Hart. But the one that got the most attention

<v Speaker 3>and that they really promoted it around, they got Madame

<v Speaker 3>Tusso's Wax Museum to loan them Vince McMahon for one

<v Speaker 3>night to sit down for an interview, the first that

<v Speaker 3>he has given since resigning from TKO last year. I've

<v Speaker 3>seen open casket funerals with dead bodies that look better

<v Speaker 3>than Vince McMahon looks these days.

<v Speaker 1>I thought he was.

<v Speaker 3>I thought he was going to ask doctor Gordon if

<v Speaker 3>he wants to play a game.

<v Speaker 1>Hullu, Doctor Gordon, woul game and don't sneeze in front

<v Speaker 1>of me. I don't like it would people sneeze in

<v Speaker 1>front of me fucking weirdo.

<v Speaker 3>You know what's sad. The man turns eighty years old

<v Speaker 3>next weekend. If he would have just allowed himself to

<v Speaker 3>age gracefully without all the work he's had done, he'd

<v Speaker 3>probably look a lot less scary than he does right now.

<v Speaker 3>But on the show, McMahon said that he was shocked

<v Speaker 3>when he learned that Hogan died, comparing it to the

<v Speaker 3>death of a family member. He said, you just don't

<v Speaker 3>think about someone a family member or someone that close

<v Speaker 3>to you, You don't think about them passing away. Terry

<v Speaker 3>had kicked out, so to speak, of so many surgeries,

<v Speaker 3>and you know, he overcame that.

<v Speaker 1>It was a tremendous shock. It was a blow to

<v Speaker 1>my heart.

<v Speaker 3>And he was also asked about the Hogan sex tape

<v Speaker 3>leaking in twenty fifteen, with Hogan literally calling.

<v Speaker 1>Himself a racist to a point.

<v Speaker 3>Got to include that in there, I guess because for

<v Speaker 3>some people that makes it okay. But Vince said it

<v Speaker 3>was unforgetable, and I was like, aghast, what happened? And

<v Speaker 3>when those things occurred, that's not like him. What in

<v Speaker 3>God's name is going on? As soon as it happened,

<v Speaker 3>obviously the company didn't have anything to do with him anymore.

<v Speaker 3>We took him out of the Hall of Fame. You

<v Speaker 3>just don't do those things. And then he defended the

<v Speaker 3>decision to bring him back in twenty eighteen, saying, I

<v Speaker 3>knew he wasn't a racist. I've been with him for

<v Speaker 3>so many years. He wasn't a racist. He said some

<v Speaker 3>racist things and he should pay for that, and he did.

<v Speaker 3>But in the end, I think everyone saw the real

<v Speaker 3>Hulk Hogan Terry Boleya, and they felt, well, wait a minute,

<v Speaker 3>this guy, he doesn't act like a racist. He's not

<v Speaker 3>a racist. We all make mistakes. This was a big one,

<v Speaker 3>but he wasn't a racist, so it was unforgivable. But

<v Speaker 3>he knew Hogan wasn't really a racist, so it was

<v Speaker 3>okay to bring him back and do business with him again.

<v Speaker 1>Which is fine.

<v Speaker 3>I mean, that's a corporate decision, but you can't call

<v Speaker 3>it unforgivable and then make excuses for what the man

<v Speaker 3>is not when he is on tape admitting that he is.

<v Speaker 3>They interviewed Mark Henry for the show, who said that

<v Speaker 3>he was hurt badly by what Hogan said, and then

<v Speaker 3>hurt again when he suggested they do a tour of

<v Speaker 3>black colleges where Hogan would apologize and have an open

<v Speaker 3>dialogue with people, and Hogan turned him down, saying that

<v Speaker 3>he was advised to just not comment on it anymore,

<v Speaker 3>as if silence it would be the solution here would

<v Speaker 3>just blow over and be forgotten about. I guess Henry

<v Speaker 3>felt by not doing anything, it would never go away,

<v Speaker 3>and he never believed Hogan was sincere in his apology.

<v Speaker 3>You know, whoever gave Hogan that advice gave him very

<v Speaker 3>bad advice, because it was never going to just blow

<v Speaker 3>over with some people. With some people, there was nothing

<v Speaker 3>that he was ever going to be able to do.

<v Speaker 3>Nothing he was ever going to be able to say

<v Speaker 3>that was going to get them to change their mind.

<v Speaker 3>But I do believe had he taken Mark up on

<v Speaker 3>his offer, or had he approached things a little bit differently,

<v Speaker 3>there are people who have forgiven him, not forgotten, but

<v Speaker 3>forgiven him and maybe said, okay, you know what. He

<v Speaker 3>seems genuinely remorseful over this. When the stuff leaked out

<v Speaker 3>about the meeting backstage, you know when they brought him

<v Speaker 3>back in twenty eighteen, and how it was more a

<v Speaker 3>speech about not getting caught because you never know who's

<v Speaker 3>filming you, right. That told people all they needed to

<v Speaker 3>know about how sincere he was. I think people just

<v Speaker 3>wanted to believe that he was being genuine with them,

<v Speaker 3>but the man made a career out of lying his

<v Speaker 3>ass off, even on the apology tour that he went

<v Speaker 3>on in the media when he said that maybe it

<v Speaker 3>was ingrained in him from a young age because of

<v Speaker 3>the neighborhood that he grew up in in Tampa. Yeah,

<v Speaker 3>that people use the N word all the time, like casually,

<v Speaker 3>So he was brought up thinking that it wasn't this

<v Speaker 3>greatly offensive term since people were using it all the time.

<v Speaker 3>After he said that, there were multiple ex neighbors of

<v Speaker 3>his who grew up in the same neighborhood as him

<v Speaker 3>at the time who said they'd never heard that word

<v Speaker 3>being thrown around at all, like it was some kind

<v Speaker 3>of regular recurrence. They were like, we have no idea

<v Speaker 3>what he's talking about. Everything the man says has to

<v Speaker 3>be questioned. Vince was also asked about the segment earlier

<v Speaker 3>this year in Los Angeles on the first Netflix raw,

<v Speaker 3>where Hogan was booed out of the building while promoting

<v Speaker 3>his real American beer, and McMahon said, I was angry

<v Speaker 3>because we've known each other for a lifetime professionally and personally,

<v Speaker 3>and setting up, so to speak, this larger than life superhero.

<v Speaker 3>You don't just let him walk out there. He deserves

<v Speaker 3>something very very special, more than anyone they owe him.

<v Speaker 3>It's just like, Okay, here comes Hulk Hogan. I got

<v Speaker 3>angry because that's not the way I would have done it,

<v Speaker 3>and he deserved much more. First of all, way to

<v Speaker 3>throw Triple H and the people running the show under

<v Speaker 3>the bus. If he was running the show, that never

<v Speaker 3>would have happened. That's what he's implying that if he

<v Speaker 3>had done things the way that he wanted to, then

<v Speaker 3>I guess in his mind, Hogan would not have been

<v Speaker 3>booed that night. You could have rolled out the literal

<v Speaker 3>red carpet for Hogan and shot off cannons for the

<v Speaker 3>man with giant applause signs for the audience to follow,

<v Speaker 3>and he still would have been booed out of the building.

<v Speaker 3>I promise you there was nothing different that Vince McMahon

<v Speaker 3>would have done that night that would have elicited any

<v Speaker 3>reaction for Hogan other than the one that he got.

<v Speaker 3>I just saw an item in The Observer this week

<v Speaker 3>where Tony Atlas worked a show for Limitless Wrestling up

<v Speaker 3>in Maine last weekend, and he tried to do a

<v Speaker 3>eulogy on the show for Hogan, but he got booed

<v Speaker 3>so badly he just gave up. Which is to say,

<v Speaker 3>for those who think that he was only ever going

<v Speaker 3>to be booed in La or in New York, there's

<v Speaker 3>lots of places that.

<v Speaker 1>He would have been booed. Not all of them, but

<v Speaker 1>a lot of them.

<v Speaker 3>Goldberg and the Special said that he was appalled by

<v Speaker 3>the fan reaction that night.

<v Speaker 1>Now, of course he's sticking up for his brother. This

<v Speaker 1>is his.

<v Speaker 3>Brother in arms here. Goldberg has always been very complimentary

<v Speaker 3>of what Hogan did for him. In WCW, Harvey Levin

<v Speaker 3>also brought up the ten bells salutes for Hogan when

<v Speaker 3>they paid tribute to him on Ron's SmackDown, and he

<v Speaker 3>said that it was weird not having Vince there, and

<v Speaker 3>Vince agreed, like you could just sense how mad he

<v Speaker 3>was about not being invited.

<v Speaker 1>I don't know why he would have thought he would be.

<v Speaker 3>The man is still radioactive, toxic sludge and shouldn't be

<v Speaker 3>within one hundred feet of those shows. Let's talk about

<v Speaker 3>Ron SmackDown real quick. The less time I spend on this,

<v Speaker 3>the better. I actually would much prefer to talk about Triplemania,

<v Speaker 3>which I will be doing momentarily. But one big name

<v Speaker 3>missing from Raw this past Monday was the Women's World champion, Naomi,

<v Speaker 3>who was scheduled to defend her title against eo Sky

<v Speaker 3>last Monday. Hours before the show, we learned that Naomi

<v Speaker 3>was not medically cleared to perform, so instead we got

<v Speaker 3>Eosky against Roxane Perez, which ended up being a really

<v Speaker 3>good match. It was the highlight of the show really,

<v Speaker 3>but we still have no clarity on what is going

<v Speaker 3>on with Naomi, and it has been almost a week.

<v Speaker 3>She did a joint interview with her and her husband,

<v Speaker 3>Jimmy Usso for Stephanie McMahon's podcast that dropped on Thursday,

<v Speaker 3>but that was recorded last month, not long after Evolution

<v Speaker 3>where she cashed in her money in the bank to

<v Speaker 3>win the title, So we got no update from that

<v Speaker 3>on what's going on with her now, whether it's an

<v Speaker 3>injury issue, an illness, or something else. Altogether, A lot

<v Speaker 3>of people are speculating that she may be pregnant. Maybe

<v Speaker 3>Jimmy failed to proceed with caution. And she has spoken publicly,

<v Speaker 3>even on Stephanie's podcast, about wanting to start a family

<v Speaker 3>and how these days it's a lot easier to feel

<v Speaker 3>like you could take time off to do that, whereas

<v Speaker 3>fifteen years ago when she first started, it didn't feel

<v Speaker 3>like that was really an option. Earlier this year, she

<v Speaker 3>was on Nicki and Bribella's podcast. She talked very candidly

<v Speaker 3>about realizing that she's thirty seven years old and her

<v Speaker 3>biological clock is ticking away. You know, she can't continue

<v Speaker 3>wrestling forever, and she admitted that she has only one

<v Speaker 3>ovary and she just can't ignore it anymore. So naturally

<v Speaker 3>your mind goes to that. And if it is that,

<v Speaker 3>it comes at a time where she is on top

<v Speaker 3>of the world career wise, she just won the world championship.

<v Speaker 3>She's been nailing it with this heel character. She's been

<v Speaker 3>very entertaining in that regard. So the timing is not ideal.

<v Speaker 3>But obviously this other stuff with Trump, whatever she's doing

<v Speaker 3>on a television show, that's a little more important. On

<v Speaker 3>Busted Open Radio, Natalia said this especially for the locker room.

<v Speaker 3>It's one of those things that, well, somebody will know

<v Speaker 3>what's going on, but in this situation, like Naomi is

<v Speaker 3>a really close friend of mine, but I just feel

<v Speaker 3>like it's a time right now where she needs space.

<v Speaker 3>So usually when something crazy is going on, I don't

<v Speaker 3>think it's crazy in a bad way, but I think that,

<v Speaker 3>like obviously it's private, it's personal. I feel like she

<v Speaker 3>will talk about it when she's ready to talk about it.

<v Speaker 3>But I know she would have loved to have wrestled

<v Speaker 3>EO on Monday. Crazy in a good way and not

<v Speaker 3>a bad way would seem to only amplify those rumors.

<v Speaker 3>Whatever is going on, we're going to find out tomorrow

<v Speaker 3>night whether or not she's vacating the title, because Joe

<v Speaker 3>Tessitour said on SmackDown that Naomi will be on Raw

<v Speaker 3>this Monday. Remember, Stephanie Vicaire has a guarantee championship match

<v Speaker 3>coming to her at Clash in Paris at the end

<v Speaker 3>of the month, So whatever that match is going to be,

<v Speaker 3>they need time to promote it and they only have

<v Speaker 3>a couple of weeks. So if Naomi does have to

<v Speaker 3>surrender the title, I think the solution is very simple.

<v Speaker 3>There's no need to reinvent the wheel on this. You

<v Speaker 3>do EO Sky one on one with Stephanie Vicaire.

<v Speaker 1>That's it.

<v Speaker 3>EO is supposed to get a title match on Monday,

<v Speaker 3>she didn't. Stephanie is owed a title match in Paris.

<v Speaker 3>EO against Stephanie Boom done. There's no need for any tournaments,

<v Speaker 3>There's no need for any multiperson match.

<v Speaker 1>Now.

<v Speaker 3>Monday was also the fourth straight week where the main

<v Speaker 3>event match on the show ended in a disqualification. It

<v Speaker 3>does not get any lazier than that. You talk about

<v Speaker 3>lazy fucking booking year and Adam Pierce made it official.

<v Speaker 3>For Clash in Paris, it will be Seth Rolins defending

<v Speaker 3>the World Heavyweight Championship in a fatal four way against Si.

<v Speaker 3>I'm punk La Knight and jay Usso. Now I understand

<v Speaker 3>that jay Usso scored the winning fall for his team

<v Speaker 3>at SummerSlam, but jay Uso does not need to be

<v Speaker 3>in this match. He's in the match because they want

<v Speaker 3>the Yeat entrance in Paris Remeber.

<v Speaker 1>They got that great visual for.

<v Speaker 3>It in Leone last year Leon France, so they want

<v Speaker 3>to replicate that here. I don't even think he's in

<v Speaker 3>there to take the losing fall. I mean, not that

<v Speaker 3>any of this matter is because seth Rawlins is not

<v Speaker 3>losing that World championship. But some people are like, oh, well,

<v Speaker 3>he's in the match because he's gonna get pinned. Honestly,

<v Speaker 3>I don't even believe he's in there to get pinned.

<v Speaker 3>I think somebody else getting pinned. Yeah, that's what I think. Meanwhile,

<v Speaker 3>we're probably getting Roman Reigns one on one against Bronson Reid.

<v Speaker 1>Maybe he can get his shoes back.

<v Speaker 3>Roman is supposed to be on Raw tomorrow night. I

<v Speaker 3>believe they didn't announce him, but I know he's being

<v Speaker 3>advertised locally in in Philadelphia.

<v Speaker 1>I think they're in Philly tomorrow night.

<v Speaker 3>He is being advertised locally by the Arenas for Raw

<v Speaker 3>tomorrow and then Raw in England next Monday.

<v Speaker 1>So I would expect to see Roman back on the show. Now.

<v Speaker 3>SmackDown on Friday was another very boring show. These shows

<v Speaker 3>are somehow getting worse. I don't understand it. I really

<v Speaker 3>don't mean. I'm glad it's back to two hours from

<v Speaker 3>three hours, but in terms of the quality of the show,

<v Speaker 3>it has not helped. I do not want it to

<v Speaker 3>go back to the way it was, but it has

<v Speaker 3>not helped. Collision is a better show than SmackDown. I'm

<v Speaker 3>not even trying to be funny when I say that

<v Speaker 3>Collision is a better television show than SmackDown right now,

<v Speaker 3>I didn't see one comment, by the way, on YouTube

<v Speaker 3>under the review. This is like a first because I

<v Speaker 3>went in pretty hard on this show. You'll always have

<v Speaker 3>people defending it. Oh, you're being too negative. The show

<v Speaker 3>is actually really good. I didn't see one comment in

<v Speaker 3>defense of that show, which is very rare, Like it's

<v Speaker 3>got to be real bad or real boring to get

<v Speaker 3>a consensus like that unanimously across the board. They just

<v Speaker 3>completely gave up this week, and some people pointed out

<v Speaker 3>that Triple H wasn't there.

<v Speaker 1>He was away in Greece on a family vacation.

<v Speaker 3>Blame road Dog, some people say, now, blame road Dog,

<v Speaker 3>You blame everyone you think they're putting out a show

<v Speaker 3>without Triple H approving of what's on it. I mean,

<v Speaker 3>he may have literally phoned in the show this week,

<v Speaker 3>but he could sail around the world for all I care.

<v Speaker 3>He's not escaping responsibility for that show. And it didn't

<v Speaker 3>help that there were so many big names missing from

<v Speaker 3>the show. John Cena and Logan Paul are wrestling at

<v Speaker 3>Clash in Paris. Neither of them were on the show.

<v Speaker 3>Brock Lesnar obviously was not on the show. Roman Reigns

<v Speaker 3>he's on I guess he's on the other show now,

<v Speaker 3>so he wouldn't have been there anyway. Drew McIntyre was

<v Speaker 3>like the biggest name on the show and Sammy's Ain.

<v Speaker 3>Sammy's Ain has officially moved, by the way from Raw

<v Speaker 3>to SmackDown, and I assume the same for La Night,

<v Speaker 3>but they haven't actually articulated that, but it's pretty clear

<v Speaker 3>he's on Raw now. So this is this is now

<v Speaker 3>Sammy's Ain challenging for the United States Championship. He has

<v Speaker 3>put his dreams of being the world champion on the

<v Speaker 3>back burner for the time being. And yeah, there were

<v Speaker 3>people pointing out and look, it's a fair point. I

<v Speaker 3>didn't mention this because I kind of look at it

<v Speaker 3>a little bit differently. But people were also like, how

<v Speaker 3>does this make sense if Sammy's Ain, you know, was

<v Speaker 3>being you know, offered the chance by Paul Hayman a

<v Speaker 3>couple months ago to leave Raw, just leave Raw, go

<v Speaker 3>to SmackDown, You'll have.

<v Speaker 1>A guaranteed championship match.

<v Speaker 3>If you go to smack then I've worked it out

<v Speaker 3>where you can get a WWE championship opportunity if you

<v Speaker 3>just agree to leave Raw, leave seth Rawlins alone and

<v Speaker 3>go to smack that on Friday nights. And Sammy's Ain

<v Speaker 3>rejected their offer and turned down the offer, and people

<v Speaker 3>have been pointing that out the last few days, and look,

<v Speaker 3>that's fair, but I look at it as yeah, look,

<v Speaker 3>Sammy's Ain is like the ultimate babyface, right, and so

<v Speaker 3>he's not going to take up Paul Haman on his

<v Speaker 3>tainted offer. And this is something that he is going

<v Speaker 3>to do on his own and not because somebody forced

<v Speaker 3>him to, not because somebody somebody tried to convince him to.

<v Speaker 3>And also in his promo on Friday, he thanks Solo

<v Speaker 3>Soakoa for waking him up like he's been talking so

<v Speaker 3>much about wanting to be the world champion, knowing he

<v Speaker 3>can be a world champion, but it took Solo and

<v Speaker 3>the MFTs costing him that opportunity in his match with

<v Speaker 3>Russev on Monday night to wake him up to the

<v Speaker 3>fact that there are other goals to attain. He's never

<v Speaker 3>been a US champion before, so they at least did

<v Speaker 3>take steps to try to explain that. I mean, again,

<v Speaker 3>you can use that as a criticism if you want to,

<v Speaker 3>but there's a reason I didn't bring that up.

<v Speaker 1>And by the way, I should mention this here.

<v Speaker 3>John Cena, he was at Fan Expo Chicago twenty twenty

<v Speaker 3>five this weekend and they do these audience q and as,

<v Speaker 3>and there was an audience member who asked him if

<v Speaker 3>he was upset about I don't know if it was

<v Speaker 3>about his heel turn or about the reaction to that

<v Speaker 3>initial heel promo when he first turned heel. Sina said

<v Speaker 3>he wasn't upset with the crowd reaction to his initial

<v Speaker 3>heel promo. He said, I wasn't upset. I failed. Ain't

<v Speaker 3>nothing wrong with that. You can learn from failure, right,

<v Speaker 3>I went up there and bombed.

<v Speaker 1>Shit happens.

<v Speaker 3>So he's talking specifically about that promo, But even John

<v Speaker 3>Cena here in a roundabout kind of ways, kind of

<v Speaker 3>telling you, like, you know what, maybe this heel turn

<v Speaker 3>didn't quite go the way.

<v Speaker 1>That I had hoped it would.

<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, I would say so it'd be very interesting

<v Speaker 3>to get his thoughts and reactions on the heel turn

<v Speaker 3>angle and everything that followed after he's done in the ring,

<v Speaker 3>because he said he won't comment on it until after

<v Speaker 3>he's retired, So after he's retired, he may be a

<v Speaker 3>little more open about his honest thoughts about this whole thing.

<v Speaker 3>And who knows, I mean, maybe he enjoyed the brief

<v Speaker 3>time that he was able to be a heel. He

<v Speaker 3>may be like, you know what, I enjoyed it because

<v Speaker 3>I got to work with Randy and I got to

<v Speaker 3>work with Punk again. And it may not have worked

<v Speaker 3>out the way I wanted it to, but like I

<v Speaker 3>hadn't been a heel in so long, and I always

<v Speaker 3>wanted to try it out again. Like I, I could

<v Speaker 3>just visualize the answer, But he's not going to comment

<v Speaker 3>on that until after he's done. This is the closest

<v Speaker 3>we're going to get to him criticizing the heel term,

<v Speaker 3>which was a massive disappointment. The only other thing I'm

<v Speaker 3>gonna mention about SmackDown, because it's not even worth spending

<v Speaker 3>much more time talking about this show. The Women's Championship

<v Speaker 3>picture right now on Fridays is dire.

<v Speaker 1>It is very, very dire.

<v Speaker 3>We had a backstage segment with Jade car Gill and

<v Speaker 3>Tiffany Stratton, and we know Jade is going to be

<v Speaker 3>getting a rematch soon. But then Naya Jacks shows up.

<v Speaker 3>She's been spending the last few weeks on NXT. We

<v Speaker 3>haven't seen her, I think, on SmackDown at all since

<v Speaker 3>Tiffany beat her, which was that a couple months ago.

<v Speaker 3>Now in that last woman's standing match, and there she

<v Speaker 3>is in this backstage segment, and they sure made it

<v Speaker 3>sound like we are heading towards yet another Tiffany Stratton

<v Speaker 3>Naya Jacks match or something that also involves Jade Cargill

<v Speaker 3>and Tiffany. Jade in a rematch is one thing, even

<v Speaker 3>though Tiffany pretty much soundly beat her at SummerSlam Like

<v Speaker 3>that's one thing. But now they're looping Naya Jacks back

<v Speaker 3>into this and I don't give a shit how good

<v Speaker 3>the matches may have been with her in Tiffany. The

<v Speaker 3>fact that they have to fall back on this just

<v Speaker 3>illustrates how fucking bad things are right now when it

<v Speaker 3>comes to the state of the women's championship picture.

<v Speaker 1>On this show.

<v Speaker 3>And I'll loop and Julia in the US title into

<v Speaker 3>this as well. As happy as I was to see

<v Speaker 3>her win that US title, she's had it now for

<v Speaker 3>all a little bit. They put Keana James with her.

<v Speaker 3>Kana James is going around on these shows now, Julie

<v Speaker 3>is not even around half the time, and Keana James

<v Speaker 3>is passing out her business card. And I remember, I'll

<v Speaker 3>never forget there was one person, one one fan. It

<v Speaker 3>might have been in the YouTube comment section, or maybe.

<v Speaker 1>It was a tweet.

<v Speaker 3>I don't remember who it was shout out to, whoever

<v Speaker 3>the person was. When they first put Keana James with Julia,

<v Speaker 3>I like the move. I don't think it's a bad

<v Speaker 3>thing having Julia have like a representative on the show.

<v Speaker 3>But their their take on it was, well, this is

<v Speaker 3>like a death knell for Julia or for Julia as

<v Speaker 3>the US champion, because this is not about promoting Julia.

<v Speaker 3>They're going to use this as a way to really

<v Speaker 3>get Keana James over more so than Julia. And I

<v Speaker 3>was like, I don't really see it that way, but now,

<v Speaker 3>you know what, I'm not so sure.

<v Speaker 1>Now I'm not so sure about that, Like what is

<v Speaker 1>going on here? You know?

<v Speaker 3>Meechen is going around to talking about getting a US

<v Speaker 3>title match.

<v Speaker 1>That problem is the next direction here.

<v Speaker 3>But you know, even with the US title, we're bouncing

<v Speaker 3>back and forth between Zelena and Meechen, Meechen and Zelena

<v Speaker 3>because you know, Chelsea's been out of the picture for

<v Speaker 3>a while, and like nobody cares, nobody cares. It's really

<v Speaker 3>really dire right now on the SmackDown side. Do you

<v Speaker 3>know it's not dire? You know what the exact opposite

<v Speaker 3>of dire is the Lucha lebra scene. Let's talk about this.

<v Speaker 3>Lucha libre is super hot right now. Both major promotions

<v Speaker 3>are doing very big business.

<v Speaker 1>Lucha Blog said.

<v Speaker 3>The CMLL show on Saturday night, which saw MJF successfully

<v Speaker 3>defend his CMLL Light Heavyweight Championship against Zandokin Junior, was

<v Speaker 3>a sellout with sixteen thousand fans at Arena Mexico. They

<v Speaker 3>have broken records this year at Arena Mexico that have

<v Speaker 3>stood since nineteen ninety one. That's how hot business has been.

<v Speaker 3>They were also sold last night with another fifty five

<v Speaker 3>hundred fans at Arena Coliseo, which ran opposite Triple Mania,

<v Speaker 3>and that show was sold out with nineteen thousand fans,

<v Speaker 3>almost twenty actually it's almost twenty k. That's more than

<v Speaker 3>forty thousand fans in two days, and all of those

<v Speaker 3>shows took place in Mexico City, all within seven miles

<v Speaker 3>of each other, so to say that that scene is

<v Speaker 3>thriving right now would be an understatement. CMLL in particular

<v Speaker 3>has been hot all year, probably the hottest promotion in

<v Speaker 3>the world right now, and they might even outdraw WWE

<v Speaker 3>for the year in paid attendance, which is wild. But

<v Speaker 3>the Cubs Fan is a great source for Luca Libra

<v Speaker 3>news and reviews, Cubs Fan and Luca Blog both and

<v Speaker 3>one year ago this month, Cubsfan wrote this about Triplemania.

<v Speaker 3>Triplemania Monterey was terrible because it featured a lot of

<v Speaker 3>angles that fell flat and Triple A didn't bother to

<v Speaker 3>book any pality matches. Triple Mania Tijuana was terrible because

<v Speaker 3>it focused on a bunch of feuds that were not

<v Speaker 3>over and didn't even seem to matter much to the

<v Speaker 3>people of Tijuana. Triple Mania Mexico City was the worst

<v Speaker 3>of the bunch because it made it clear there is

<v Speaker 3>no hope, no reason to expect Triple A to get better,

<v Speaker 3>and they prefer it that way. It's a dark, depressing promotion.

<v Speaker 3>Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Conen and Triple A creative.

<v Speaker 3>It seems like every year Triple Mania ends up being

<v Speaker 3>the butt of a lot of jokes online because of

<v Speaker 3>some overbooked mess of a match or botches or technical

<v Speaker 3>difficulties plaguing the show, like never forget Vampiro on commentary

<v Speaker 3>was it five years ago? Six years ago? Vampio on

<v Speaker 3>commentary for Triple Mania, responding to people on Twitter during

<v Speaker 3>the show who were complaining about his breathing heavily into

<v Speaker 3>the microphone and telling him to fuck off, It's not

<v Speaker 3>my fault. Or when he farted so loud that you

<v Speaker 3>could hear it through his headset. I mean it was

<v Speaker 3>like a guttural noise, Like it was like, holy shit,

<v Speaker 3>what the hell was that? Or when he was supposed

<v Speaker 3>to do a run in this is this is the

<v Speaker 3>classic moment right here. This is the video that went

<v Speaker 3>around for weeks and weeks. He was supposed to do

<v Speaker 3>a run and so he's sitting there at ringside. Actually

<v Speaker 3>now he's standing and he's supposed to do a run

<v Speaker 3>in on the heels in the ring, and I remember this,

<v Speaker 3>Jeff Jarrett is in the ring, and Killer crosses in

<v Speaker 3>the ring. All these people are in the ring and

<v Speaker 3>they're all just waiting, and Conan is in the ring,

<v Speaker 3>and they're all just waiting around for Vampiro to make

<v Speaker 3>the save. And Vampiro refuses to budge until they play

<v Speaker 3>his music. You got to play his music, you got

<v Speaker 3>to play back in Black by ac DC, And he's

<v Speaker 3>literally just yelling, please, for the love of God, play

<v Speaker 3>my fucking music. And they finally play it, and then

<v Speaker 3>he throws his headset down to go do the run

<v Speaker 3>in like that was far more entertaining than any Triple

<v Speaker 3>Media probably was that year.

<v Speaker 1>This year was different.

<v Speaker 3>No Vanpiro cursing or farting on commentary, that's one thing,

<v Speaker 3>but also they have WWE production now, so they had

<v Speaker 3>no technical issues. There was also a lot of WWE

<v Speaker 3>influence on the card this year. I mean three of

<v Speaker 3>the four men in the main event were WWE talents.

<v Speaker 3>It felt like a WWE show. Now, whether or not

<v Speaker 3>you think that's a good thing or a bad thing,

<v Speaker 3>I will defer to the hardcore Triple H fans. But

<v Speaker 3>what I say a few weeks ago Triple H Madia,

<v Speaker 3>I think I accidentally called this show.

<v Speaker 1>He was there.

<v Speaker 3>By the way he was there, I guess he's back

<v Speaker 3>from his Greek vacation. Him and Shawn Michaels were there.

<v Speaker 3>They didn't show him on camera, but Undertaker was there

<v Speaker 3>as well.

<v Speaker 1>What a wild photo that was.

<v Speaker 3>Someone tweeted that out Triple H did I think maybe

<v Speaker 3>tweeted that out before the show? Was a picture of

<v Speaker 3>Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and the Undertaker posing on the

<v Speaker 3>stage before Triple Mania. It's just a very weird timeline

<v Speaker 3>that we live in right now. But again, whether or

<v Speaker 3>not you think that that's a good thing or a

<v Speaker 3>bad thing, I will defer to the hardcore Triple A

<v Speaker 3>fans on that they took away the six sided ring

<v Speaker 3>and the blood and stuff like that. But it feels

<v Speaker 3>like they're trying not to stray too far from what

<v Speaker 3>Triple A is so far. That's the key so far.

<v Speaker 3>I watched the entire thing. I had a lot of

<v Speaker 3>fun with it. It was definitely the best show of

<v Speaker 3>the entire week. They had commentary with Corey Graves, jbl

<v Speaker 3>and Conan, who at least sounded more lively than he

<v Speaker 3>did at World Collide. He was inducted into the Triple

<v Speaker 3>A Hall of Fame by raymis Stereo midway through the

<v Speaker 3>show and gave a speech. Mysterio made some headlines during

<v Speaker 3>that segment two when the fans started chanting for Alberto L. Patron,

<v Speaker 3>who just wrapped up with Triple A and is still

<v Speaker 3>very popular down there as a baby, and Ray told

<v Speaker 3>the fans in Spanish. He told them something to the

<v Speaker 3>effect of, I'll bring him in wait on me. So

<v Speaker 3>that has a lot of people talking, you know. Was

<v Speaker 3>he just trying to silence the fans or does he

<v Speaker 3>know more than we do. But they had this Copa

<v Speaker 3>Bardal match, which was a lot of fun. It used

<v Speaker 3>to be just the Copa or the Copa. Triple Mania.

<v Speaker 3>Bardall is one of their sponsors, so now it's called

<v Speaker 3>the Copa Bardal. You'll see more of this coming soon

<v Speaker 3>to WWE with the sponsored matches, mark my words. The

<v Speaker 3>Mountain Dew Pitch Black match was only just the beginning,

<v Speaker 3>and that was before TKO took over.

<v Speaker 1>But the Copa.

<v Speaker 3>Bardall it worked similar to a Royal Rumble. They have

<v Speaker 3>entrances at timed intervals, and the difference here being that

<v Speaker 3>they only had fourteen entrants instead of I don't know

<v Speaker 3>why fourteen and not fifteen.

<v Speaker 1>I don't know if there's a.

<v Speaker 3>Significance to the number fourteen. And eliminations could take place

<v Speaker 3>via pinfall or submission as well as over the top rope.

<v Speaker 3>So basically the old Luca Underground Aztec Warfare match. The

<v Speaker 3>only difference is in Aztec Warfare it was pinfall or submission,

<v Speaker 3>only there was no over the top rope eliminations. And

<v Speaker 3>they kept the old staples like the mini's and the exoticos,

<v Speaker 3>including pimp Binella s Carlotta. And I saw Pimpinella s

<v Speaker 3>Carlotta come out and I said, oh my god, this

<v Speaker 3>has taken me back now to my days of watching

<v Speaker 3>Luca Underground. I will never forget the first time I

<v Speaker 3>saw Pimpinella s Carlota. Matt Striker is on commentary on

<v Speaker 3>Luca Underground and he starts, you know, explaining the exoticos

<v Speaker 3>and running through the history of effeminate wrestlers, going all

<v Speaker 3>the way back to Gorgeous George, and I think he

<v Speaker 3>may have mentioned Adriene Street and the Misz.

<v Speaker 1>And that got me. That that line got me. It's

<v Speaker 1>stuck with me ever since. The way he threw the

<v Speaker 1>mis in there. Otis is back.

<v Speaker 3>Otis has been out hurt for a few months, and

<v Speaker 3>he made his return at Triple Media of all places,

<v Speaker 3>and he was already super over in front of those fans.

<v Speaker 3>They even had him in Pimpy Neella do some spots

<v Speaker 3>together and they tease the Pimpy kissing him. Taurus was

<v Speaker 3>in the match. When Taurus walked out, I said, holy shit,

<v Speaker 3>the Beast Mortos has jumped ship. Because Mortos used to

<v Speaker 3>be Toy, he used to be Black. Taurus could not

<v Speaker 3>use the name anymore in AW Triple A would not

<v Speaker 3>allow it. They owned the name. But man, it was

<v Speaker 3>a mind fuck watching this match. From the moment he

<v Speaker 3>came in. All I saw the entire time was the

<v Speaker 3>Beast Mortos, right down to the mask. Like how many

<v Speaker 3>first time Triple A fans who only watched WWE and

<v Speaker 3>A that well they would have to watch AW also,

<v Speaker 3>But like, how many of those people were watching this

<v Speaker 3>thinking the exact same thing, What is the Beast Mortos

<v Speaker 3>doing here? They had Joaquin while than Cruise del Toro

<v Speaker 3>in the match. The only real story of the match,

<v Speaker 3>the only thing that really matters is Microman and the

<v Speaker 3>return of Omas.

<v Speaker 1>Now.

<v Speaker 3>Omas is coming off of what for him, was a

<v Speaker 3>very successful short stint in Japan. He was working for

<v Speaker 3>Pro Wrestling Noah. He was one half of the GHC

<v Speaker 3>Tag Team Champions. He seemed to be doing well. He

<v Speaker 3>was in attraction there, and then WWE pulled him. It

<v Speaker 3>was so sudden, like he had to vacate the title,

<v Speaker 3>like they had this urgent idea for him. Spoiler they

<v Speaker 3>didn't because this was months ago, and since they brought

<v Speaker 3>him back to the States they have done nothing with him.

<v Speaker 3>So this was the first time they've actually used him.

<v Speaker 3>I'm trying to think if he was even in dere

<v Speaker 3>Battle Royal this year. I don't know he might have been.

<v Speaker 3>I don't even remember if he was in there, but

<v Speaker 3>if he wasn't, like legitimately, the last time they may

<v Speaker 3>have done something with him on WWE television may have

<v Speaker 3>been WrestleMania thirty nine when he wrestled Brocklesner. I don't

<v Speaker 3>remember him doing a damn thing after that. So that's

<v Speaker 3>how long it's been. So now Omas is back and

<v Speaker 3>Microman is a three foot tall Mexican mini. Omas is

<v Speaker 3>the exact opposite of that. He's not Mexican, and there

<v Speaker 3>ain't nothing many about him. Evidently there's also no athletic

<v Speaker 3>commission in Mexico City, because when you have a three

<v Speaker 3>foot tall man standing face to face, face to the rights,

<v Speaker 3>face to ankle with a seven foot giant, you ain't

<v Speaker 3>got no commission. But that's one of the things that's

<v Speaker 3>so great about pro wrestling. But that shot of Omas

<v Speaker 3>as he's laying waste to everybody, and here comes Microman

<v Speaker 3>and I don't know if he's shaking his leg or

<v Speaker 3>hitting him in the leg, and Omas is he turns

<v Speaker 3>around and he's not looking down, He's looking around like

<v Speaker 3>what was that? And then the slow look as he

<v Speaker 3>tilts his head down and he peers down with Microman

<v Speaker 3>looking up at him is one of the greatest things

<v Speaker 3>in wrestling all year. As was Microman hitting the bottom rope,

<v Speaker 3>coming off the bottom rope and Omas mowed him down

<v Speaker 3>with a mini boot. That's where the show peaked. It

<v Speaker 3>was all downhill after that. But then Omas goes on

<v Speaker 3>to win the bar Doll Cup. Now does that mean

<v Speaker 3>they're gonna be doing more with him? Does that mean

<v Speaker 3>they're going to keep him in Mexico for a while?

<v Speaker 3>And give him a rundown there. I mean, I'm all

<v Speaker 3>for it. First Japan, now Mexico. He could he could

<v Speaker 3>do some stuff down there. Or for all we know,

<v Speaker 3>they may you know, put him back on the back burner,

<v Speaker 3>back in the you know, in the mothballs, and we

<v Speaker 3>may not see him again for six months.

<v Speaker 1>I don't know. But this this was a lot of fun.

<v Speaker 3>They had Elihdel doctor Wagner Junior beating Messius to win

<v Speaker 3>the Triple A Latin American Championship. My man Milimware tastes

<v Speaker 3>almost fifty years old and still out there looking like

<v Speaker 3>a beast. Well it's not the same though, with Dorian

<v Speaker 3>rolled on in his corner in Na Katrina.

<v Speaker 1>It's just not the same.

<v Speaker 3>At Conan was on commentary, he was going off on

<v Speaker 3>Wagner and his father the entire match. You know, his

<v Speaker 3>father was in the front road rooting on his son.

<v Speaker 3>Obviously there's history there that I am not aware of,

<v Speaker 3>so I can't say that that did anything for me.

<v Speaker 3>But the match itself was fine, with Finn Balor, JD

<v Speaker 3>McDonough and Raquel Rodriguez with Roxanne Perez in their corner

<v Speaker 3>against mister Iguana Nino hamburg Asa and Lola Wece in

<v Speaker 3>a mixed tag team match. Lola is an NXT talent,

<v Speaker 3>but they've had her wrestling matches in Triple A for

<v Speaker 3>about a month now, and they were talking about her

<v Speaker 3>on commentary like they sent her they were on excursion

<v Speaker 3>or something. She's barely been down there like for like

<v Speaker 3>a month. I don't think that's such a bad idea,

<v Speaker 3>by the way, I think they should do proper excursions

<v Speaker 3>for more developmental talents, you know, like they did with

<v Speaker 3>Omas in Progress.

<v Speaker 1>Noah.

<v Speaker 3>They did something similar with Josh Briggs and who was

<v Speaker 3>it from the No Quarter Catch Grow Tavian Heights last summer.

<v Speaker 3>They sent them down for that tournament, the N one

<v Speaker 3>or whatever that tournament is in pro wrestling.

<v Speaker 1>Noah.

<v Speaker 3>I'd like to see them do more of that sort

<v Speaker 3>of thing. The story here was Ballor pulling out a

<v Speaker 3>demon puppet at one point to counteract the Iguana puppets

<v Speaker 3>to counteract Yesca, and he pulls out a demon puppet

<v Speaker 3>that JBL somehow instantly knew the name of uncommentary as

<v Speaker 3>if we had seen the puppet before, Demonito. People wanted

<v Speaker 3>Demon Ballor back, you got Demon Balor it might not

<v Speaker 3>be in the form that you were hoping for, But

<v Speaker 3>there's your Demon Balor and Demonito ate Yesca, which is

<v Speaker 3>mister Iguana's pet Iguana. WWE already has Demonito puppets on

<v Speaker 3>sale on WWE Shop for a cool c note, if

<v Speaker 3>you've got one hundred buck laying around that you'd like

<v Speaker 3>to spend, I don't even think that includes shipping and handling,

<v Speaker 3>so it's probably like one fifteen the factor that it for.

<v Speaker 1>A one hundred bucks. That thing better eat roaches and

<v Speaker 1>spiders too.

<v Speaker 3>The match was entertaining, The finish was a little convoluted,

<v Speaker 3>but no surprise. I mean the judgment they got put

<v Speaker 3>over the guy in the Iguana costume and the guy

<v Speaker 3>who started eating hamburgers in the middle of the match,

<v Speaker 3>Los Garza. They defended their Triple A tag team titles

<v Speaker 3>against Psycho Clown and Pagano in a street fight Angel

<v Speaker 3>and Burtam and they have really stepped up their game recently.

<v Speaker 3>And the question is will Triple H take note when

<v Speaker 3>he gets them back on SmackDown. Probably not, but they

<v Speaker 3>were great here and as far as the match itself,

<v Speaker 3>I mean, just think of your typical WWE street fight

<v Speaker 3>with kendo sticks and tables. This one had some barbed

<v Speaker 3>wire involved, though barbed wire in quotation marks because I

<v Speaker 3>don't know how barbed it actually was. There was no

<v Speaker 3>blood here outside of some incidental blood on someone's back

<v Speaker 3>I forget who.

<v Speaker 1>And it ends with Burdo.

<v Speaker 3>Getting wrapped in the barbed wire while he is standing

<v Speaker 3>on the top rope and taking a Spanish fly from

<v Speaker 3>Psycho Clown and Psycho Clown and Pagano or your new

<v Speaker 3>Triple A Tag Team Champions. And then came the segment

<v Speaker 3>in the ring with Raymisterio inducting Conan into the Triple

<v Speaker 3>A Hall of Fame and Conan yelling at a fan

<v Speaker 3>in the crowd to sit down and go fuck himself.

<v Speaker 3>Apparently that was interesting. They also had someone doing the

<v Speaker 3>English translation of his speech while he was doing his speech,

<v Speaker 3>and the problem is like it was almost like in sync,

<v Speaker 3>so they were trampling over what Conan was saying, which

<v Speaker 3>I didn't understand because it was in Spanish, but the

<v Speaker 3>person is trying to do the translation in English, but

<v Speaker 3>it's at the same time it's like, dude, just wait

<v Speaker 3>until the guy takes a breath or something. My god,

<v Speaker 3>so I mean or put up close captions or something

<v Speaker 3>that was that was kind of a disaster. They had

<v Speaker 3>Lady Flammer retaining the Triple A Rena de Rahenas Championship

<v Speaker 3>over Fabe Apache and Natty Knighthart.

<v Speaker 1>The tally is doing her Blood Sport gimmick.

<v Speaker 3>I would say that I would like to see her

<v Speaker 3>doing this on WWE television, but then I, you know,

<v Speaker 3>I kind of feared that it won't be as special

<v Speaker 3>anymore because she'll just continue to lose every single match

<v Speaker 3>that she's in, you know, on those rare occasions when

<v Speaker 3>she wrestles, and it's not going.

<v Speaker 1>To mean anything anymore.

<v Speaker 3>I feel like her role on WWE television is kind

<v Speaker 3>of solidified at this point. They use her when they

<v Speaker 3>have a need for her to be in a match

<v Speaker 3>and probably take the losing fall and put somebody else over,

<v Speaker 3>and that's basically going to be their only use for

<v Speaker 3>her going forward. So, you know what, she's got a

<v Speaker 3>special thing going right now with this whole Blood Sport

<v Speaker 3>Natty Gimmick. I wouldn't destroy it by bringing it to

<v Speaker 3>WWE television right now, assuming they have no real plans

<v Speaker 3>to use her. I think that's probably the worst thing

<v Speaker 3>they could do. It won't feel special anymore. You know,

<v Speaker 3>let her bounce around to these different promotions, let her

<v Speaker 3>do some indies here and there and use that gimmick,

<v Speaker 3>and I think that is what works for her.

<v Speaker 1>You know.

<v Speaker 3>She was incorporating more submission holds and she did a

<v Speaker 3>double sharpshooter at one point at the same time, so

<v Speaker 3>that was kind of cool. She wasn't special enough though

<v Speaker 3>to win the title. Flammer retains the championship by pinning Natty,

<v Speaker 3>doing so off of a fast count by the heel referee,

<v Speaker 3>another Triple A special. The heel ref match was solid,

<v Speaker 3>nothing special. Natty and Fabie Apache they got into it

<v Speaker 3>after the match, so it looks like we'll be getting

<v Speaker 3>a match between them soon.

<v Speaker 1>And the main event.

<v Speaker 3>Had Elijdel Vikingo defending his Triple A Mega Championship in

<v Speaker 3>a fatal four way against Dominic Mysterio, Dragon Lee and

<v Speaker 3>El Grande Americano. Americano came out with a mariachi band

<v Speaker 3>sang his way to the ring, which the crowd loved.

<v Speaker 3>They ate this shit up, followed by Dragon Lee. He

<v Speaker 3>was wearing a dragon wings and there was a Chinese dragon.

<v Speaker 3>They had drummers like it was a cool entrance. Dominic

<v Speaker 3>came out. Dominic had a shirt wrapped around his waist

<v Speaker 3>and he wrestled with it was wrapped around his waist

<v Speaker 3>and it had Lived Morgan's face on it over Jesus

<v Speaker 3>Christ and they followed VI Kingo from the.

<v Speaker 1>Back for his entrance.

<v Speaker 3>He embraced his father back there before coming out to

<v Speaker 3>the ring.

<v Speaker 1>It didn't matter.

<v Speaker 3>He was roundly booed from the moment they showed him

<v Speaker 3>on screen to the moment he hugged his dad to

<v Speaker 3>the moment he got to the ring, and all throughout

<v Speaker 3>the match. Vi Kingo was booed. He continues to get

<v Speaker 3>the John Sena late two thousands treatment from the fans.

<v Speaker 3>And I'm pretty sure it started when WWE forced Triple

<v Speaker 3>A to put the Mega title back on Vikingo and

<v Speaker 3>take it off of Alberto. I'm pretty sure that's where

<v Speaker 3>all the booings started. Alberto was super over as a

<v Speaker 3>babyface there, and I think he had even beaten Vikingo recently.

<v Speaker 3>But then Triple A moved in or WWE moved in

<v Speaker 3>on Triple A, i should say, and suddenly they were like, okay,

<v Speaker 3>we want the title on Vikingo. VI Kingo was going

<v Speaker 3>to be kind of the face of Triple A right now,

<v Speaker 3>so you got to get that belt back on him,

<v Speaker 3>even though Alberto had just beaten him and it looked

<v Speaker 3>like he was moving on to another challenger, and so

<v Speaker 3>they just rushed it back on to VI Kingo, and

<v Speaker 3>the fans resent him for it.

<v Speaker 1>Right.

<v Speaker 3>It's not Vi Kingo's fault, but the fans resent him

<v Speaker 3>for it. It's the classic case of WWE shoving something

<v Speaker 3>down people's throats that they did not ask for, so

<v Speaker 3>they take it out on the talent, even though it

<v Speaker 3>isn't their fault. You know, they haven't done anything to

<v Speaker 3>warrant the booze, but he's the scapegoat. But this was

<v Speaker 3>all action from start to finish. Vi Kingo got put

<v Speaker 3>through the English announced table the judgment day, came out

<v Speaker 3>to distract Dragon Lee and held him in place for

<v Speaker 3>a six y one nine. Americano, though broke up the

<v Speaker 3>pin that followed the LWO ran out to even up

<v Speaker 3>the odds. We had two more Grande Americanos run out

<v Speaker 3>to assist Kaiser Americano and he almost won the title

<v Speaker 3>off a blockbuster to Dragonly. Then he tried to load

<v Speaker 3>the mask, slipped that metal plate under the mask. Le

<v Speaker 3>Tho stopped him from doing so and then dove out

<v Speaker 3>onto all of the interfering parties outside, and he then

<v Speaker 3>hit operation Dragon on Americano. The Kingo broke up the

<v Speaker 3>pin and then nearly got one of his own off

<v Speaker 3>of a six thirty cent on. Dom then pulled or

<v Speaker 3>maybe it was a four to fifty, but Dom then

<v Speaker 3>put on his own Raymisterio Senior mask. He loaded it up,

<v Speaker 3>He dumped the Kingo out of the ring. He head

<v Speaker 3>butted Americano. He had butted Dragonly. He almost got the

<v Speaker 3>pin on Dragonly after a frog splash, until another masked

<v Speaker 3>man yanked him off. Well, let me rephrase that, what

<v Speaker 3>are they doing down there at Triple A? Another mass

<v Speaker 3>man came into this match and started yanking off Dominic mysterio.

<v Speaker 3>Now there was another mass man who reached in and

<v Speaker 3>pulled him. He pulled him off, and that mass man

<v Speaker 3>revealed himself, My god, I'm so terrible, revealed himself to

<v Speaker 3>be aj Styles, who got a huge pot when he

<v Speaker 3>revealed himself, and he gave Dom a Styles clash which

<v Speaker 3>allowed Viking Goo to hit a six thirty cent on

<v Speaker 3>to get the pin and to retain the championship.

<v Speaker 1>They had El.

<v Speaker 3>Grande Americano in this match, but they allowed Vikingo to

<v Speaker 3>pin the Intercontinental Champion. I did not see that one coming.

<v Speaker 3>This was an excellent chaotic main event. First he had

<v Speaker 3>aj Styles showing up at Slammiversary and now Triple Mania.

<v Speaker 3>Plus he was on the WrestleMania card this year, so

<v Speaker 3>that's a nice hat trick for aj Styles. I was

<v Speaker 3>gonna say, I'm not sure anybody else has done that

<v Speaker 3>in the same year, but Joe Hendry did it this year.

<v Speaker 1>You don't have to go back very far.

<v Speaker 3>Joe Hendry was at Wrestle Batia, Joe Hendry was at Slammiversary,

<v Speaker 3>and Joe Hendry was on the other Triple Media show

<v Speaker 3>that they did back in June. But this was a

<v Speaker 3>fun time. I enjoyed this show. You can already see

<v Speaker 3>a lot of WWE elements seeping into the product, mainly

<v Speaker 3>on the production and you know, from the opening shots

<v Speaker 3>of people walking into the building to the constant cuts

<v Speaker 3>to you know, celebrities and influencers in the crowd. You know,

<v Speaker 3>Triple A was something by all accounts Triple A was

<v Speaker 3>something of a shit show as it was before WWE

<v Speaker 3>came in and took over, So you know, the better

<v Speaker 3>production value helps elevate the product booking wise. You know,

<v Speaker 3>we'll see how things pan out in the months to come.

<v Speaker 3>I know Jeremy Borash is helping out on that end.

<v Speaker 3>Conan is still involved in the booking process. We'll see

<v Speaker 3>how that pans out in the months to come and

<v Speaker 3>how and if they addressed the situation with Alberto, because look,

<v Speaker 3>there's a lot of baggage there when it comes.

<v Speaker 1>To him, and he's been involved in.

<v Speaker 3>A lot of incidents, even in terms of just losing

<v Speaker 3>his temper and you know, going off on fans or fighting.

<v Speaker 3>There's all kinds of baggage that he brings with him

<v Speaker 3>and I don't see him coming back to the WWE roster.

<v Speaker 3>But would WWE bring him back? If you know, this

<v Speaker 3>fan support continues to be there for him and people

<v Speaker 3>are cheating, you know, chanting his name and they want

<v Speaker 3>him back, would they bring him back to Triple A?

<v Speaker 2>Sure?

<v Speaker 3>I mean Raymistereo look like he flat out said that

<v Speaker 3>they might do that, So it's entirely possible they end

<v Speaker 3>up bringing him back. You know, to be part of

<v Speaker 3>the Triple A product. But WWE is airing these shows

<v Speaker 3>on their YouTube channel. So do you envision a scenario

<v Speaker 3>where they bring back Alberto L. Patron and he's in

<v Speaker 3>a key match on a future Triple A show that

<v Speaker 3>they're promoting on their YouTube channel. It's it's hard for

<v Speaker 3>me to see them doing that, but you can't deny

<v Speaker 3>that he is super popular there and people are taking

<v Speaker 3>it out on Vikingo because he's no longer there.

<v Speaker 1>Now.

<v Speaker 3>They also announced the next World's Collide show for Friday night,

<v Speaker 3>September twelfth in Las Vegas, with a ten pm Eastern

<v Speaker 3>start time, which means it starts as soon as SmackDown ends.

<v Speaker 3>So if you want to watch ball shows live, that's

<v Speaker 3>five straight hours of wrestling.

<v Speaker 1>Good luck with that.

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<v Speaker 3>dot com slash Solom Monster fifty off. Dynamite on Wednesday

<v Speaker 3>was quite the show. There was a lot to digest

<v Speaker 3>because there were only ten days left before Forbidden Door,

<v Speaker 3>so they had to make a bunch of matches, and

<v Speaker 3>because of that, they really rushed things instead of taking

<v Speaker 3>their time with them. MJF being booted out of the

<v Speaker 3>Hurt Syndicate is an example of something that was just

<v Speaker 3>seemingly dropped when there was more meat left on the bone,

<v Speaker 3>and that lends credence to the reports of someone not MVP,

<v Speaker 3>but someone in the Hurt Syndicate not wanting MJF in

<v Speaker 3>the group anymore. So they got their wish at the

<v Speaker 3>expense of really giving that story a better conclusion, although

<v Speaker 3>I am a little skeptical that it has reached its conclude. Well,

<v Speaker 3>we'll talk more about that when I get to the

<v Speaker 3>predictions later. But MJF is back on his own now,

<v Speaker 3>and he has been trying to go Hangman Adam Page

<v Speaker 3>into giving him an aw World Championship match without the

<v Speaker 3>need to cash in his Casino Gauntlet contract to get it.

<v Speaker 3>And as Hangman said, you know, MJF wants to know

<v Speaker 3>that he still has that contract as sort of an

<v Speaker 3>insurance policy, like if he loses, he could still cash

<v Speaker 3>it in. But he wasn't taking the bait. He made

<v Speaker 3>it very clear MJF would have to earn a shot

<v Speaker 3>or cash in the contract, and I naively assumed that

<v Speaker 3>MJF did earn a shot by beating Mark Briscoe, who

<v Speaker 3>had won like three straight Dynamite main events, and fair

<v Speaker 3>point to the person who commented, well, Mark Briscoe won

<v Speaker 3>three straight Dynamite main events, how is he not in

<v Speaker 3>line for a championship match? Fairpoint? Fair point. But evidently

<v Speaker 3>that's not enough to earn a shot at the world title.

<v Speaker 3>And I'm not sure why Hangman would even have the

<v Speaker 3>authority to dictate who challenges for the championship, but I

<v Speaker 3>guess he does. So their segment on Dynamite began with

<v Speaker 3>Hangman vowing not to be goaded into giving him a

<v Speaker 3>title match, and it ended with MJF being goaded into

<v Speaker 3>invoking his contract for a shot at the world title.

<v Speaker 3>Hangman got under his skin. Mjf's plan backfired. So that

<v Speaker 3>is your main event for Forbidden Door. How they do

<v Speaker 3>that finish is going to be very interesting because it's

<v Speaker 3>too early to take the title of Hangman. But you

<v Speaker 3>can't just have him beat MJF clean and move on. So,

<v Speaker 3>you know, maybe Mark brisco gets involved, he costs MJF

<v Speaker 3>the match. You know, it could be that MJF tries

<v Speaker 3>using the Dynamite diamond ring. Brisco shows up to stop

<v Speaker 3>him from using it, and that leads to a blowoff

<v Speaker 3>match between MJF and Brisco.

<v Speaker 1>But it's a little strange.

<v Speaker 3>That we have both contract holders cashing in on the

<v Speaker 3>same show and doing so in advance, and both of

<v Speaker 3>them are heels. It's gonna be very lame if they

<v Speaker 3>both fall short. Athena almost has to win the title,

<v Speaker 3>by the way. MJF retained his CMLL Light Heavyweight title

<v Speaker 3>at Arena Mexico Friday night, and after the match, MJF

<v Speaker 3>dared Mystico to come out, which he did, and Mystico

<v Speaker 3>issued a challenge for the CMLL Anniversary show on September nineteenth.

<v Speaker 3>MJF at first he rejected the match, but then said

<v Speaker 3>that he would accept if Mystico agreed to put his

<v Speaker 3>mask on the line, and Mistico agreed and so the

<v Speaker 3>match is now official. And then MJF got back in

<v Speaker 3>the ring for a handshake. Mystico shook his hand, but

<v Speaker 3>MJF laid him out with the title belt and then

<v Speaker 3>he ripped off Mystico's mask. He had to quickly cover

<v Speaker 3>up and shield his face, and then MJF gave him

<v Speaker 3>a tombstone pile driver before draping the American flag over

<v Speaker 3>his body. That's one way to get a heat. It

<v Speaker 3>felt like that's where they were going to do this rematch.

<v Speaker 3>I've been saying that for a while now, probably would

<v Speaker 3>be the anniversary show because look, AW got the first

<v Speaker 3>match right on Grand Slam, so now CMLL gets to

<v Speaker 3>host the rematch. And since Mystico is not losing his mask,

<v Speaker 3>that's another reason MJF is not likely to walk out

<v Speaker 3>of Forbidden Doors the AW world champion. I don't think

<v Speaker 3>Tony Khn wants his world champion getting pinned on that

<v Speaker 3>CMLL show. Meanwhile, will Ospray is already back only a

<v Speaker 3>few weeks after admitting that he had a neck injury

<v Speaker 3>that he can quiet from AAW medical for ten months,

<v Speaker 3>which is a hell of a thing to admit he's

<v Speaker 3>got two herniated disks in his neck. But he also

<v Speaker 3>said he hoped to be back in time for Forbidden Door,

<v Speaker 3>which made absolutely no sense to me when he said that,

<v Speaker 3>and it sounded very irresponsible if Tony con to allow

<v Speaker 3>him back in the ring with an injury like that,

<v Speaker 3>consider how important he is to the roster, how important

<v Speaker 3>Osprey is to that company. Why would you allow him

<v Speaker 3>to get back in the ring and risk further injury

<v Speaker 3>instead of healing up from the injury he already has.

<v Speaker 3>But there he was on Wednesday, and because John Boxley

<v Speaker 3>didn't care to accept Darby Allen's challenge to a match

<v Speaker 3>of Forbidden Door, Osprey had a proposal of his own

<v Speaker 3>for a ten man lights out steel cage match. So

<v Speaker 3>we are supposed to believe that John Moxley doesn't want

<v Speaker 3>to accept a one on one match with Darby Allen,

<v Speaker 3>but he's okay with a lights out steel cage match

<v Speaker 3>against five other men, including Darby Allen. Ospray later said

<v Speaker 3>he had a conversation with the Boss the Ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi,

<v Speaker 3>and he had agreed to be on his team, So

<v Speaker 3>it would be Ospray, Darby, and Tanahashi in Tanahashi's last

<v Speaker 3>ever match in the UK. And then two partners of

<v Speaker 3>I guess Osprey's choosing taking on John Moxley and four

<v Speaker 3>partners of his choosing, And they couldn't even wait a

<v Speaker 3>week to flesh out the other members. They just threw

<v Speaker 3>a graphic up on screen later in the show to

<v Speaker 3>make it official that it will be Ospray, Darby Tanahashi,

<v Speaker 3>Kenny Omega, and Kota Ibushi, neither of whom have been

<v Speaker 3>seen or heard from since All in Texas and had

<v Speaker 3>nothing to do with John Moxley previously. This is how

<v Speaker 3>their return was announced. Kenny Omega's return was announced via

<v Speaker 3>a match graphic code, and Bushie said on Instagram that

<v Speaker 3>he didn't even know he was part of this match

<v Speaker 3>until after it was announced. It came as a surprise

<v Speaker 3>to him too. It came as a surprise to a

<v Speaker 3>lot of people. It's just Will Osprey's gathering up his

<v Speaker 3>friends and boom, there's the graphic. They'll be wrestling John Moxley,

<v Speaker 3>Claudio Cassignoli, Gabe Kidd, who had to bow out of

<v Speaker 3>this year's g One because of a knee injury. I

<v Speaker 3>guess he's okay now, and the Young Bucks. I don't

<v Speaker 3>even know how this match is gonna work with ten

<v Speaker 3>men in the cage. It's not a blood and guts

<v Speaker 3>match where you have two rings where you can spread out.

<v Speaker 3>It sounds like it's going to be a complete shit show.

<v Speaker 3>The direction was Moxley and Darby. Suddenly there's eight other

<v Speaker 3>people who have no business being in the match that

<v Speaker 3>are now part of this, but I guess Tony wants

<v Speaker 3>to save Moxley against Darby for all out. I just think,

<v Speaker 3>you know, treating a Kenny Omegakody and Bushie like this

<v Speaker 3>like a throwaway almost, It's just such a short sighted.

<v Speaker 1>Thing to do.

<v Speaker 3>Then we have Adam Copeland and Christian Cage. They've been

<v Speaker 3>teasing it for a few weeks, but I wasn't expecting

<v Speaker 3>the actual reunion to happen on Wednesday, and you know,

<v Speaker 3>happened in front of eleven hundred people like that, that

<v Speaker 3>moment deserved the bigger audience. Not only did they hug

<v Speaker 3>it out after Copeland's match with Stokely Hathaway, after which

<v Speaker 3>FTR was about to spike Copeland before Christian came.

<v Speaker 1>Out for the save.

<v Speaker 3>Not only that, but they're already doing the in ring

<v Speaker 3>reunion it forbidden door for the first time since twenty eleven,

<v Speaker 3>Cope and Christian will be tag team partners. They're gonna

<v Speaker 3>be wrestling Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian And at least

<v Speaker 3>with that, I get what Tony is doing here. He wants,

<v Speaker 3>you know, to first close out the patriarchy stuff with

<v Speaker 3>Christian before he moves on to doing Cope and Christian

<v Speaker 3>against FTR, and they should close out the patriarchy stuff.

<v Speaker 3>But if they close it out of Forbidden Door with

<v Speaker 3>this tag team match, and that's it, you know, to

<v Speaker 3>never do a Christian Nick Wayne singles match is just ridiculous.

<v Speaker 3>Everything was building to that and it would have been

<v Speaker 3>a big deal for Nick Wayne. Now we may not

<v Speaker 3>even get it. I mean, we'll see if Tony does

<v Speaker 3>it as a TV match after Forbidden Door. There's still

<v Speaker 3>a chance he'll do that. But Cope and Christian, you know,

<v Speaker 3>that stuff just it felt super rushed. And now the

<v Speaker 3>eventual match with FTR in Toronto, it has to be

<v Speaker 3>for the tag team titles because you've now taken away

<v Speaker 3>the attraction of seeing them back together for the first

<v Speaker 3>time like that no longer is in and of itself

<v Speaker 3>the attraction, you know, for the attraction. Now are the

<v Speaker 3>two of them challenging for the tag team titles, And

<v Speaker 3>since their beef is with FTR, it can't be Coping

<v Speaker 3>Christian challenging the Hurt Syndicate for the titles. So I

<v Speaker 3>kind of feel like that gives away the finish of

<v Speaker 3>that match at Forbidden Door, because again, their issue is

<v Speaker 3>not with the Hurt Syndicate. Their issue is with Dax

<v Speaker 3>and Cash. You tried to end Copeland's career and FTR

<v Speaker 3>is wrestling Brody King and Bandido this Wednesday in the

<v Speaker 3>finals of the tag team tournament to decide who challenges

<v Speaker 3>Lashly and Benjamin in London. So does FTR win and

<v Speaker 3>get the match? Do we not get a winner and

<v Speaker 3>they make it a triple threat at the pay per view?

<v Speaker 3>I don't know, but the end result should be FTR

<v Speaker 3>winning the tag team titles, regardless of what MVP may think.

<v Speaker 3>Speaking of Forbidden Door, here is the current lineup for

<v Speaker 3>next Sunday show is a week away and all throw

<v Speaker 3>in my predictions for the show as well. Remember it's

<v Speaker 3>an earlier start time, so eleven am Eastern for the

<v Speaker 3>zero hour pre show should call it zero hours because

<v Speaker 3>I think it's two hours. One pm Eastern is when

<v Speaker 3>the actual.

<v Speaker 1>Pay per view starts.

<v Speaker 3>They will be live from the two in London. They'll

<v Speaker 3>have over fifteen thousand people rocking that building. They'll announce

<v Speaker 3>zero hour matches later this week, so right now I

<v Speaker 3>don't have those, but we have Kyle Fletcher defending his

<v Speaker 3>TNT championship against Hiromu Takahashi from New Japan Pro Wrestling.

<v Speaker 3>Should be a very good match, but it will also

<v Speaker 3>be a win for Kyle Fletcher. Nigel McGuinness won a

<v Speaker 3>four way match last night on Collision to earn the

<v Speaker 3>right to challenge Zach Saber Junior for the IWGP World

<v Speaker 3>Heavyweight Championship. Some British graps between these two should be

<v Speaker 3>quite good. Nigel's not winning the title, and I know

<v Speaker 3>it's not two thousand and eight Ring of Honor Nigel McGinnis,

<v Speaker 3>but this is really the perfect place to do this match,

<v Speaker 3>and it's nice to see Nigel be able to right

<v Speaker 3>the end of his own story, you know, with matches

<v Speaker 3>like this. I'm not saying this is his retirement match.

<v Speaker 3>I'm just saying that he would even be able to

<v Speaker 3>come back after all these years. He's been able to

<v Speaker 3>come back for a while. I mean, he's talked about this,

<v Speaker 3>he just opted not to. It's not like he wasn't

<v Speaker 3>medically cleared or or anything like that, but it just

<v Speaker 3>it was looking like he may never step back in

<v Speaker 3>the ring, and then he did, and now he's had

<v Speaker 3>a few matches since then. Now he's going to London

<v Speaker 3>to wrestle Saber for the IWGP title, and it's just

<v Speaker 3>a much better, you know, kind of ending chapter for

<v Speaker 3>his career than it would have been otherwise if the

<v Speaker 3>last we saw of him was as you know, Desmond

<v Speaker 3>Wolf in Impact all those years ago.

<v Speaker 1>So, I mean, that's cool.

<v Speaker 3>N Nigel invited Daniel Garcia to be in his corner

<v Speaker 3>after he won the four way last night. Garcia was

<v Speaker 3>showing frustration with the loss, but he agreed to be

<v Speaker 3>there next Sunday. It makes you wonder if he might

<v Speaker 3>be more of a sore loser than he let on

<v Speaker 3>here and if he might play a role in that finish.

<v Speaker 3>Mercedes Monet defends her TBS championship in a four way

<v Speaker 3>against Alex.

<v Speaker 1>Winsa Love that name.

<v Speaker 3>Alex Winsa representing aaw Persephone will be representing CMLL, and

<v Speaker 3>there'll be one more woman in the match, representing stardom.

<v Speaker 1>I don't know who that is. It does matter who

<v Speaker 1>it is.

<v Speaker 3>Because Mercedes is not losing the TBS title. She is

<v Speaker 3>retaining the TBS title. I know it's England. I know

<v Speaker 3>you know Alex Windsor is in the match. Do they

<v Speaker 3>give her a great hometown win? Windsor hasn't been established

<v Speaker 3>enough yet on the roster to justify a move like that.

<v Speaker 3>I mean, for as long as Mercedes has held that

<v Speaker 3>TBS title.

<v Speaker 1>My god, it's like, if she makes it to October tenth,

<v Speaker 1>I think it is, she will surpass Jade Cargile as

<v Speaker 1>the longest reigning TBS champion of all time. There's no

<v Speaker 1>sense in taking it off of her. Here, Adam Copeland

<v Speaker 1>and Christian Cage will reunite in the ring for the

<v Speaker 1>first time in fourteen years to take on what's left

<v Speaker 1>of the patriarchy in Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian. If

<v Speaker 1>you think Cope and Christian are losing their first match together,

<v Speaker 1>if I ever end up on a doubles episode of Jeopardy,

<v Speaker 1>I would not want you to be my partner. Really,

<v Speaker 1>Nick Wayne should pin Christian here, That's what should happen.

<v Speaker 1>But everything feels like it's in hyperdrive right now with

<v Speaker 1>Toronto coming up, and if the ideas for Cope and

<v Speaker 1>Christian to challenge for the tag team titles, which I

<v Speaker 1>believe it is, wouldn't really make much sense for them.

<v Speaker 3>To lose, now, does it. So this will be Cope

<v Speaker 3>and Christian for the win. In his very first defense

<v Speaker 3>of the new AEW Unified Championship, Kazuchka Okada defends against

<v Speaker 3>the former AW World champion Swerve Strickland. There was a

<v Speaker 3>segment on Dynamite where Rene interviewed Swerve and they brought

<v Speaker 3>up a knee injury. I don't know where that came

<v Speaker 3>from or if it's legit or not, but then Okata

<v Speaker 3>came out and called him a bitch and they had

<v Speaker 3>to be separated and that was it. That was pretty

<v Speaker 3>much the entire segment summed up in five seconds. It

<v Speaker 3>was a complete waste of time. The match should be

<v Speaker 3>really good, though, unless it's just Swerve selling a knee

<v Speaker 3>injury the entire time, but the injury gives him an

<v Speaker 3>out when he loses to Okata, which is what's going

<v Speaker 3>to happen here. Okada retains and he should continue to

<v Speaker 3>retain until such time that he steps into the ring

<v Speaker 3>with Kenoski Takeshta, who has been absent from AW television

<v Speaker 3>because he's been doing the g One. Takesha actually pin

<v Speaker 3>the IWGP champion Zach Saber Junior to move on to

<v Speaker 3>the finals this morning of the g One Climax against Evil,

<v Speaker 3>who beat Yotasuji, one of their rising young stars, to

<v Speaker 3>advance to the finals. Evil in the finals of the

<v Speaker 3>G One is some evil shit. It's so bad that

<v Speaker 3>Fightful had to put out a report debunking some bullshit

<v Speaker 3>rumor that started on social media that Tony Khan had

<v Speaker 3>some kind of control over the G One Final, and

<v Speaker 3>they made it clear that even Tony Khan doesn't care

<v Speaker 3>for Evil, which is why he never books him on

<v Speaker 3>aw television or in Ring of honor. Even Tony's like,

<v Speaker 3>don't blame me for this shit. People looking for any

<v Speaker 3>reason to excuse Ghetto for his bad booking. But spoiler

<v Speaker 3>got a little G One Final spoiler here. The G

<v Speaker 3>One Final took place this morning, and the winner of

<v Speaker 3>this year's G One Climax happily was not Evil. It

<v Speaker 3>was Kenoski Takeshta, which means Takeshta will challenge for the

<v Speaker 3>IWGP World Championship at the Tokyo Dome on January fourth,

<v Speaker 3>or will he. After the show, Takeshta said that he

<v Speaker 3>would like to walk into the Dome as the champion,

<v Speaker 3>just like Zach Saber did last year. Now he and

<v Speaker 3>Saber they traded wins in the g one. They're even

<v Speaker 3>right now, one win a piece. So if that happens

<v Speaker 3>and he wins the title before Wressell Kingdom, I could

<v Speaker 3>see Takeshta dropping the title at Wressel Kingdom to someone

<v Speaker 3>like Yotasuji.

<v Speaker 1>It's only fair. It's only fair with him losing to Evil.

<v Speaker 3>But I mean seriously, being IWGP champion is a full

<v Speaker 3>time job. I know Takesha has three different contracts with

<v Speaker 3>three different promotions, but AW is still his home base,

<v Speaker 3>that's still his main spot. He's still an outsider in

<v Speaker 3>New Japan, and I think having someone like Suji beat

<v Speaker 3>the outsider to bring the belt back home would be

<v Speaker 3>one way to go. The Hurt Syndicate Bobby Lashley and

<v Speaker 3>Shelton Benjamin defend the AW Tag Team titles that they

<v Speaker 3>have held since January against the winner of the Tag

<v Speaker 3>Team Title Eliminator tournament, which will be either FTR or

<v Speaker 3>Brodido Brody King and Bendito or both could always be both.

<v Speaker 3>If we get a fuck finish on Wednesday, it should

<v Speaker 3>be FTR winning the tag team titles, and I believe

<v Speaker 3>it will be and FTR will leave London with the

<v Speaker 3>titles and roll on into Toronto to Wrestle Cope and Christian.

<v Speaker 1>Timeless.

<v Speaker 3>Tony Storm ends the aw Women's World Championship against the

<v Speaker 3>Ring of Honor Women's Champion for nearly one thousand days, Athena,

<v Speaker 3>who is cashing in her Casino Gauntlet contract for a

<v Speaker 3>guaranteed world title match. Athena still being the Ring of

<v Speaker 3>Honor Women's Champion is just mind boggling to me in

<v Speaker 3>a lot of ways. When she should be a permanent

<v Speaker 3>fixture on Dynamite, she is spending more time on Dynamite

<v Speaker 3>now than she is on Ring of Honor TV, which

<v Speaker 3>is great, but so long as she has that ROH title,

<v Speaker 3>it's just it's hard for me to imagine them actually

<v Speaker 3>putting another title on her, especially when they already have

<v Speaker 3>Mercedes doing the bell collector gimmick.

<v Speaker 1>Right, you know. I mean.

<v Speaker 3>They're also making it a point to say that Tony

<v Speaker 3>has not had a lot of luck wrestling in the UK.

<v Speaker 3>She lost it all in Wembley in twenty twenty three.

<v Speaker 3>She lost again to Mariah May at all in Wembley

<v Speaker 3>in twenty twenty four. I think she finally gets that

<v Speaker 3>big win in London and Tony retains. I just feel like,

<v Speaker 3>you still need to have at least one of these

<v Speaker 3>contract holders if they're cashing in win a title that night.

<v Speaker 1>But it's just.

<v Speaker 3>I mean, if it were up to me, Athena would

<v Speaker 3>win the belt. I just can't sit here and tell

<v Speaker 3>you I think that's actually gonna happen. They're doing a

<v Speaker 3>tag team match on TV this week, though Mercedes and

<v Speaker 3>Athena are gonna be partners. They're teaming up to take

<v Speaker 3>on Tony Storm and Alex Windsor. That'll be on Wednesday

<v Speaker 3>in Glasgow, Scotland. They have a ten men, five on five,

<v Speaker 3>lights out steel cage match with Will Osprey, who has

<v Speaker 3>two herniated disks in his neck, Darby Allen who always

<v Speaker 3>has a death wish, Hiroshi Tanahashi who can barely move

<v Speaker 3>on those knees, Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi, each of

<v Speaker 3>whom have had their own injury issues. They're taking on

<v Speaker 3>John Boxley, Claudio Castignoli, Gabe Kid who's barely recovered from

<v Speaker 3>a torn meniscus, and the Young Bucks. This will be

<v Speaker 3>Tana Hashi Swan song in the UK. I guess you

<v Speaker 3>can always look at it another way and say that

<v Speaker 3>maybe he's better off in a multi person match where

<v Speaker 3>he doesn't have to carry the load. And also, you know,

<v Speaker 3>he gets to work with a bunch of different people,

<v Speaker 3>possibly for the final time, instead of working just one

<v Speaker 3>person Tana Hashi. You know he can be hidden in

<v Speaker 3>a match like this, he doesn't have to do too much.

<v Speaker 3>Now watch this fucking guy do a high fly flow

<v Speaker 3>off the top of the cage. Now that I said that,

<v Speaker 3>it doesn't even matter who wins this, honestly, I mean

<v Speaker 3>I don't even need do.

<v Speaker 1>I even need to make a prediction here?

<v Speaker 3>Like it doesn't matter, it really does, and it's just

<v Speaker 3>gonna be mass chaos. Ten men in one ring, one cage.

<v Speaker 1>I don't know how that's gonna work.

<v Speaker 3>Yeah, unless it's like a giant hell in a cell

<v Speaker 3>style cage that sort of envelops the entire ringside area,

<v Speaker 3>that might be a little bit better. But I just

<v Speaker 3>hope everyone makes it out of one piece. I'll go

<v Speaker 3>a team Osprey for the win, but I just hope

<v Speaker 3>everybody makes.

<v Speaker 1>It out of one piece.

<v Speaker 3>And in the main event, Hangman Adam Page defends the

<v Speaker 3>AW World Championship against MJF cashing in his Casino Gauntlet contract.

<v Speaker 3>I don't know what they're going to do for a finish,

<v Speaker 3>But I do think Hangman retains. Maybe we see Mark

<v Speaker 3>Briscoe make a cameo like I said earlier, to stop

<v Speaker 3>MJF from using the Diamond Ring as a weapon. It's

<v Speaker 3>hard to see Hangman losing the title in his second defense.

<v Speaker 1>Yea.

<v Speaker 3>I know a lot of times the chase is better

<v Speaker 3>than the actual rain, but once the rain starts, you

<v Speaker 3>got to give it a little bit at time before

<v Speaker 3>you put the man back in chase mode. Now, if

<v Speaker 3>they wanted to give us a big swerve in the

<v Speaker 3>main event, it would be the Hurt Syndicate helping MJF

<v Speaker 3>win the title and him being kicked out was all

<v Speaker 3>just a ruse. It was all part of a master

<v Speaker 3>plan hatched by MVP. But it would be like the

<v Speaker 3>seth Rollins fake injury, where you know, if you really

<v Speaker 3>stop and think about it, like what was the point,

<v Speaker 3>like put your kfabe glasses on, right, It didn't really

<v Speaker 3>need to happen. Rollins didn't need to fake anything. He

<v Speaker 3>could have just cashed in after a CM Punk's match

<v Speaker 3>at Summerslim exactly the way that he did here. If

<v Speaker 3>the Hurt Syndicate really never kicked MJF out of the group, Like,

<v Speaker 3>what difference would it really make? He still cashed in

<v Speaker 3>his contract for a title match. You know, whether Lashley

<v Speaker 3>and Benjamin show up to help him or not. Him

<v Speaker 3>being kicked out before him doesn't really change anything. It's

<v Speaker 3>all very silly, but you know that's wrestling. Wrestling is

<v Speaker 3>very silly. I just reviewed a show where I had

<v Speaker 3>Microman and Omas having a stare down. Okay, that's pro wrestling,

<v Speaker 3>but I'm sticking with Hangman. I think Hangman is going

<v Speaker 3>to retain the championship. I just leave open that possibility

<v Speaker 3>that maybe MJF really is not out of the Hurt

<v Speaker 3>Syndicate and they just want you to think so. But

<v Speaker 3>I'll be lying when the show is over. Again, it's

<v Speaker 3>a one o'clock Eastern start time. We know how long

<v Speaker 3>these aw shows can be, so my guess would be

<v Speaker 3>probably looking at a five point thirty six o'clock Eastern

<v Speaker 3>live stream. Whenever it's over, we'll go live on YouTube

<v Speaker 3>with the full review and probably get the podcast out

<v Speaker 3>a day early because it's fucking with my weekend. That's

<v Speaker 3>how it has to be, all right. I got a

<v Speaker 3>few questions here to go through in the mail bag.

<v Speaker 3>Not too many, We'll save some for next week here,

<v Speaker 3>but if you have questions you could email me the

<v Speaker 3>solom Monster at gmail dot com. Please include your name

<v Speaker 3>and where you are from when you write in. We'll

<v Speaker 3>start with Rayhon from Hanover, Germany. We know John Cena

<v Speaker 3>was injured just before his Last Man's Standing match against

<v Speaker 3>Randy Orton at No Mercy in two thousand and seven.

<v Speaker 3>Was the plan for Sena to retain the title or

<v Speaker 3>lose to Randy Orton? Also, if Sina had not gotten injured,

<v Speaker 3>how would things have gone for him heading into WrestleMania

<v Speaker 3>twenty four. I don't think it's ever been stated with

<v Speaker 3>any sort of clarity what was supposed to happen. They

<v Speaker 3>may not have even had that confirmed before the injury happened,

<v Speaker 3>But I think Orton what I think would have happened.

<v Speaker 3>I think Orton would have won the championship that night

<v Speaker 3>anyway from Sina. Sena had been the champion for over

<v Speaker 3>a year by that point, something like thirteen fourteen months,

<v Speaker 3>and they could have had him, you know, some shenanigans,

<v Speaker 3>and he would have been able to lose without being

<v Speaker 3>pinned in a last man standing match, so Orton wins

<v Speaker 3>the title. Now I know for a fact that Jeff

<v Speaker 3>Hardy was scheduled to win money in the Bank at

<v Speaker 3>WrestleMania the following year. That's when they were still doing

<v Speaker 3>the money in the Bank ladder matches at WrestleMania. I

<v Speaker 3>think his brother on his podcast some years ago, confirmed

<v Speaker 3>that the plan was for Jeff, or at least that's

<v Speaker 3>what Jeff was told, that he was going to win

<v Speaker 3>money in the bank before he got suspended on a

<v Speaker 3>wellness violation and that went down the drain. Honestly, I

<v Speaker 3>think think that if they follow through on that plan,

<v Speaker 3>if Jeff wins money in the Bank of WrestleMania, I

<v Speaker 3>think we still get the triple threat match that night

<v Speaker 3>that we got with John Cena Randy Orton in triple

<v Speaker 3>h and maybe they even closed the show with it

<v Speaker 3>instead of closing with Undertaker and Edge and Jeff Hardy.

<v Speaker 3>After winning money in the Bank earlier in the night,

<v Speaker 3>Jeff Hardy cashes in on Randy Orton. After Randy Orton retains,

<v Speaker 3>so Orton wins the triple Threat. Jeff Hardy comes out,

<v Speaker 3>he cashes in Money in the Bank, wins the championship,

<v Speaker 3>to close out WrestleMania twenty four and Jeff Hardy not

<v Speaker 3>seth Rollins becomes the first person to ever cash in

<v Speaker 3>their contract at WrestleMania.

<v Speaker 1>That's what I think would have happened, Mike from Chicago.

<v Speaker 3>Between Lex Luger being inducted into the Hall of Fame

<v Speaker 3>and Brett Hart recently complaining about not having enough rivals

<v Speaker 3>when he first became World champion, it made me think

<v Speaker 3>about the Brett Lex rivalry that never was. That that

<v Speaker 3>made me think more about the championship runs that never were.

<v Speaker 3>So I want to pitch a buy or sell between

<v Speaker 3>mister Perfect and Lex Luger as WWF champions. For Perfect,

<v Speaker 3>I would put him in that spot that Sergeant Slaughter

<v Speaker 3>got in nineteen ninety one, beating the Ultimate Warrior at

<v Speaker 3>the Royal Rumble and holding the belt until losing to

<v Speaker 3>Hogan at WrestleMania and remaining the top heel for the

<v Speaker 3>rest of the year. For Luger, I would put him

<v Speaker 3>in the spot Bob Becklan got in nineteen ninety four

<v Speaker 3>in which he turns on Brett sometime after SummerSlam, feeling

<v Speaker 3>like he got cheated at WrestleMania. Lax essentially restarts his

<v Speaker 3>narcissist gimmick where he says he looks like a real

<v Speaker 3>champion as compared to Brett's smaller physique. Luger beats Brett

<v Speaker 3>at Survivor series with interference from Owen and holds the

<v Speaker 3>belt at least until the rumble. If not WrestleMania, which

<v Speaker 3>would you buy or sell? I would buy on mister

<v Speaker 3>perfect in the Sergeant Slaughter spot, because you can't say

<v Speaker 3>Sergeant Slaughter.

<v Speaker 1>Had you know, the size advantage on mister perfect. I mean,

<v Speaker 1>he may have been.

<v Speaker 3>He may he may have been a couple of inches taller,

<v Speaker 3>he may have weighed, you know, twenty five pounds more,

<v Speaker 3>whatever it was, but it's not like he was some

<v Speaker 3>hulking figure. And this is why they put the belt

<v Speaker 3>on him. They put the belt on him because of

<v Speaker 3>the freaking, you know, desert storm angle and to try

<v Speaker 3>to get heat, and that whole thing was fucking lame

<v Speaker 3>and Slaughter. It was so weird because Slaughter was still

<v Speaker 3>doing the whole Iraqi sympathizer thing long after that conflict

<v Speaker 3>had ended. It was like Vince said, we invested in this,

<v Speaker 3>and damn it, we're gonna see it through to the end,

<v Speaker 3>and it ran all the way through the summer, and

<v Speaker 3>it was just very lame and very stupid, you know,

<v Speaker 3>the whole triangle of terror thing. Give that spot to

<v Speaker 3>mister perfect man. Let mister perfect have a proper heel

<v Speaker 3>runs as champion, even if just for a few months,

<v Speaker 3>and then be the top heel through the summer or

<v Speaker 3>through the fall. I think that would have been great

<v Speaker 3>to buy on.

<v Speaker 1>That I'll sell on.

<v Speaker 3>Luger and Jimmy from Forest Hills, Queens. You got to

<v Speaker 3>question recently on one of your live streams about great

<v Speaker 3>babyface turns in wrestling, and thought, since people always talk

<v Speaker 3>about great heel turns, I wondered if you had a

<v Speaker 3>list of your favorite baby face turns. So that's a

<v Speaker 3>good one, and I do. I jotted down the ones

<v Speaker 3>that would be on my list, so I can only

<v Speaker 3>rank the top three, so let me do those first.

<v Speaker 3>I gotta go with the Steve Austin Brett Hart double

<v Speaker 3>turn at WrestleMania at thirteen. That one is just iconic

<v Speaker 3>and the impact that it had outweighs any of the

<v Speaker 3>other ones on this list. Like, I can't think of

<v Speaker 3>a cooler way to turn babyface either, by just being

<v Speaker 3>a tough son of a bitch who refuses to quit

<v Speaker 3>and has blood pouring down your face, Like it doesn't

<v Speaker 3>get any cooler than that. The next one would be

<v Speaker 3>Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania at eighteen against the Raw and

<v Speaker 3>really the fans turned him babyface. Yeah, but then he

<v Speaker 3>did the respectful thing and he shook hands with the

<v Speaker 3>Rock after the Rock beat him. But that Hulk up

<v Speaker 3>in the middle of the match is just such a

<v Speaker 3>great classic moment and two five star matches. By the way,

<v Speaker 3>I consider the Austin Brett match and the Rock Hogan

<v Speaker 3>match two very different matches, but in my book, they're

<v Speaker 3>five stars all the way, and they both yielded the

<v Speaker 3>two greatest babyface turns of all time. And then third,

<v Speaker 3>I have Macho Man Randy Savage WrestleMania seven after his

<v Speaker 3>match with the Ultimate Warrior. It was a career ending match,

<v Speaker 3>which I mean, fucking lol, I know, but you know,

<v Speaker 3>the Warrior beats him, Savage is left laying there, Sherry

<v Speaker 3>is livid. The woman is beside herself, she just lost

<v Speaker 3>her meal ticket, and she just starts kicking the shit

<v Speaker 3>out of Savage. All the while they cut to a

<v Speaker 3>shot of Elizabeth, his former love, sitting in the audience

<v Speaker 3>watching all of this play out, until she can take

<v Speaker 3>no more, and she hops the barricade and she rushes

<v Speaker 3>the ring and she throws Sherry out of the ring,

<v Speaker 3>and Savage gets up. He almost strikes her because he

<v Speaker 3>didn't know it was her in the ring, and then

<v Speaker 3>they lock eyes and Savage doesn't know what to do,

<v Speaker 3>and when they finally embrace, I mean, you had people

<v Speaker 3>crying in the crowd, right Either that or their shoes

<v Speaker 3>were too tight, as Bobby Heenan said. But then Savage

<v Speaker 3>puts Elizabeth up on his shoulders and then he holds

<v Speaker 3>the ropes open for her, which he always made her

<v Speaker 3>do for him, and he exits the ring the hero.

<v Speaker 3>After walking into that arena being booed, he is cheered

<v Speaker 3>on his way out. That is how you do a

<v Speaker 3>baby face turn. One of the greatest of all time.

<v Speaker 3>And honestly, you can flip the order for any of

<v Speaker 3>those three and I wouldn't even argue it as long

<v Speaker 3>as they're in the top three. After that, you could

<v Speaker 3>put them. I'm gonna give you some more. Put these

<v Speaker 3>in whatever order you want. Maybe they're in your top three,

<v Speaker 3>but I've got the Old Stone Cold, returning on Raw

<v Speaker 3>before the Invasion pay per view in two thousand and one.

<v Speaker 3>Now it lasted less than a week and it turned

<v Speaker 3>out to be a hoax, but man, I mean, in

<v Speaker 3>that moment, it was one of the all time great

<v Speaker 3>just like cool turns like it was just such a

<v Speaker 3>badass moment. Sammy's Ain at the Royal Rumble in twenty

<v Speaker 3>twenty three, putting that share right in the back of

<v Speaker 3>Roman reigns and finally breaking free of the bloodline that

<v Speaker 3>deserves to be on the list. Mister Perfect on Primetime

<v Speaker 3>Wrestling in nineteen ninety two, accepting Randy Savage's invitation to

<v Speaker 3>be his tag team partner at Survivor Series against Rick

<v Speaker 3>Flair and Razor Ramone and them pouring a pitcher of

<v Speaker 3>water over Bobby Heenan's head. That was a show long

<v Speaker 3>angle too, because you know, Perfect hadn't wrestled the match

<v Speaker 3>in over a year. He had been out with the

<v Speaker 3>back injury and collecting that sweet Lloyd's of London money probably,

<v Speaker 3>but like he and Bobby were still together and they're

<v Speaker 3>on that panel. That's when the Primetime was a studio

<v Speaker 3>show with Vince at the head of the table and

<v Speaker 3>then they had four guests, so like you had Perfect

<v Speaker 3>and Bobby on one side of the table, those are

<v Speaker 3>the heels, right, it's the heel side, and it just

<v Speaker 3>builds throughout the entire show, where you know, you have

<v Speaker 3>Savage via satellite. If you remember the setup to this,

<v Speaker 3>the reason they even had to do this angle in

<v Speaker 3>the first place, there was no build up to this

<v Speaker 3>at all. And the reason is they fired the Ultimate

<v Speaker 3>Warrior and they needed a replacement in a pinch, so

<v Speaker 3>they decided to turn Curt handing baby face. And it

<v Speaker 3>started with the Savage proposal, and you know, Heenan's laughing

<v Speaker 3>it off like.

<v Speaker 1>He's never going to accept that, right, but he.

<v Speaker 3>Starts making these comments that are really offending mister Perfect,

<v Speaker 3>until finally Perfect just grabs Heenan and again pours water

<v Speaker 3>on his head and he says, you know what, Savage,

<v Speaker 3>I will accept.

<v Speaker 1>I am going to be your tag team partner.

<v Speaker 3>And it was just this great even though there was

<v Speaker 3>no build up, it's just this great, this great turn,

<v Speaker 3>this very memorable turn. I gotta throw Daniel Brian in there.

<v Speaker 3>From Raw in twenty fourteen, Daniel Brian sheds the skin

<v Speaker 3>of the Wyatt family after the cage match that night

<v Speaker 3>it was Daniel, Brian and Bray Wyatt against the USOS.

<v Speaker 3>And I cannot say enough good things about this. Just

<v Speaker 3>what an awesome, awesome segment that was. The crowd was

<v Speaker 3>electric for it. I'm trying to remember where they were

<v Speaker 3>that night. I want to say it might have been Providence,

<v Speaker 3>might have been Rhode Island, I don't remember exactly, but man,

<v Speaker 3>the crowd was on fire for it. And you know,

<v Speaker 3>it's it's stretching it a bit because this was in

<v Speaker 3>the middle of the Yes movement. The fans already liked Brian.

<v Speaker 3>It's not like he was like a real heel. He

<v Speaker 3>was sort of just under the spell of the Wyatts

<v Speaker 3>and then he finally broke free, finally woke up. So

<v Speaker 3>was it really a babyface turn.

<v Speaker 1>I don't know.

<v Speaker 3>He was aligned with the heel faction though, so I'm

<v Speaker 3>calling it a babyface TN. Whatever it was, it's one

<v Speaker 3>of the greatest segments in raw history. Nikita Koloff, My god,

<v Speaker 3>this has to be near the top one of the

<v Speaker 3>all time gray baby face turns. Was Nikita Koloff coming

<v Speaker 3>to the aid of Dusty Roads, coming out to the

<v Speaker 3>ring with Dusty to tag with Dusty against the Horsemen.

<v Speaker 3>This was in Jim Crockett promotions. It was supposed to

<v Speaker 3>be Dusty and Magnum Ta, but this is around the

<v Speaker 3>time that Magnum had the car accident that ended his career.

<v Speaker 3>They needed a replacement, and Nikita was the giant Russian heel.

<v Speaker 3>He was the kind of prototypical foreign menace heel. So

<v Speaker 3>seeing him walk out arm at arm with Dusty, like,

<v Speaker 3>the shock of it and the pop that it got

<v Speaker 3>was just unreal. And the explanation they went with was

<v Speaker 3>Nikita explaining that after all the wars that he and

<v Speaker 3>Magnum had, he had gained a measure of respect for

<v Speaker 3>him that he felt he had to to pay back,

<v Speaker 3>So that worked.

<v Speaker 1>I thought that was a.

<v Speaker 3>Pretty good explanation for it, and they had to come

<v Speaker 3>up with something, and Nikita was the guy, and it

<v Speaker 3>worked just such a great angle. I wasn't even watching

<v Speaker 3>Jim Crockett promotions at the time, and I was very

<v Speaker 3>young when the angle happened, But being able to go

<v Speaker 3>back and watch it and what built up to it,

<v Speaker 3>what came out of it, makes me wish I was

<v Speaker 3>a fan of the product at that time, so I

<v Speaker 3>could have enjoyed it in real time and been a

<v Speaker 3>little bit older. The Batista thumbs down in two thousand

<v Speaker 3>and five is another great turn. He won the Royal Rumble,

<v Speaker 3>he had a decision to make about which champion he

<v Speaker 3>would be challenging at WRESTLEMANI at Triple H and Rick Flair.

<v Speaker 3>They tried to steer him away from them as much

<v Speaker 3>as possible, and Batista gave the thumbs down on which

<v Speaker 3>contract he was going to sign and chose Triple H.

<v Speaker 3>And that was the end of Batista in evolution, in

<v Speaker 3>the beginning of his big baby face push. And I'll

<v Speaker 3>throw one more in there. This is a personal favorite

<v Speaker 3>of mine.

<v Speaker 1>It may not have the.

<v Speaker 3>Impact of the Austin turn, it may not be as

<v Speaker 3>memorable as Batista or Nikita, but Virgil turning on the

<v Speaker 3>million Dollar Man at the Royal Rumble in nineteen ninety one,

<v Speaker 3>that was a great angle, and it had been building

<v Speaker 3>for years. You talk about long term storytelling here. Virgil

<v Speaker 3>was Ted Dibiassi's man servant, basically his bodyguard, and Debasse

<v Speaker 3>would talk down to him and mistreat him, and finally

<v Speaker 3>it came to a head at the Royal Rumble. It

<v Speaker 3>was Debiasse and Virgil as a tag team against Dusty

<v Speaker 3>and Dustin Rhoads, the same Dustin Rhodes, by the way,

<v Speaker 3>who won the TNT Championship last month, Like, holy shit,

<v Speaker 3>he's been around for a while. But Dusty and Dustin

<v Speaker 3>they were on their way out. They lost the match,

<v Speaker 3>not before Virgil nailed Dbasse by accident, but they won

<v Speaker 3>the match anyway. And then after the match, Debasse's not happy.

<v Speaker 3>He gets on the mic and he calls Virgil stupid.

<v Speaker 3>You know, need I remind you about your family, about

<v Speaker 3>your mother, and how I found you and everything I

<v Speaker 3>did for you. Basically I brought you up to where

<v Speaker 3>you are today. Now wrap that million dollar belt around

<v Speaker 3>my waist. And Virgil is just having this crisis of

<v Speaker 3>conscience until finally.

<v Speaker 1>He wrapped it around them all right.

<v Speaker 3>He walloped Debiassi upside the head with the belt and man,

<v Speaker 3>the reaction, it was a thing of beauty, Like they

<v Speaker 3>got the reaction that they were looking for, and Virgil

<v Speaker 3>was a free man at a babyface great stuff. And

<v Speaker 3>I like their Summer SLIG match too, and Virgil won

<v Speaker 3>the million dollar belt. So those are my favorite and

<v Speaker 3>in my opinion, the best babyface turns and wrestling. Feel

<v Speaker 3>free to chime in if there's any I missed or

<v Speaker 3>where you would rank some of those, or if you

<v Speaker 3>have other ones you want to throw in there. We'll

<v Speaker 3>get some more of your questions on the podcast next week.

<v Speaker 3>Keep emailing me the Solemn Monster at gmail dot com.

<v Speaker 3>Please follow me on x at Solemn Monster. Any updates

<v Speaker 3>to the recording schedule and when the SoundOff is going

<v Speaker 3>to drop, I'll keep you guys posted, most likely on

<v Speaker 3>there more so than anywhere else. Again, I'm planning each

<v Speaker 3>of the next two weekends to drop the sound off

<v Speaker 3>a day early. It might even be the night before,

<v Speaker 3>I don't know. It definitely won't be earlier in the day,

<v Speaker 3>so if they drop on a Saturday, it would be

<v Speaker 3>sometime in the evening. But just keep your eyes and

<v Speaker 3>ears peeled for that. That's just the way things have

<v Speaker 3>to be with these pay per views coming up these

<v Speaker 3>next couple of weekends. Otherwise, I'll be live with you

<v Speaker 3>tomorrow night for the Raw Post show on YouTube. I'll

<v Speaker 3>be live with JD on his channel Tuesday night for

<v Speaker 3>Tuesday Night Titans. I believe we're up to episode one

<v Speaker 3>oh seven, and we've done so many of these things

<v Speaker 3>at this point it's hard to keep track. Wednesday night,

<v Speaker 3>I'll be live for the Dynamite post show on my

<v Speaker 3>channel then, and that should be a good show actually,

<v Speaker 3>just I think for the fun of it being in

<v Speaker 3>front of that crowd in Glasgow, they should have a

<v Speaker 3>very lively crowd. They should have a decent crowd there.

<v Speaker 3>Friday night, I'll be live after SmackDown for the SmackDown

<v Speaker 3>post show. And that's okay. That's the other thing I

<v Speaker 3>wanted to mention, So SmackDown. You know, aaw is going

<v Speaker 3>to be in Glasgow for Dynamite on Wednesday. SmackDown is

<v Speaker 3>going to be in Dublin, Ireland on Friday, the first

<v Speaker 3>time they've ever done TV from Dublin. I am assuming

<v Speaker 3>if I use my Trustee VPN and log into my Netflix,

<v Speaker 3>that SmackDown might be airing earlier in the day, that

<v Speaker 3>I could watch it earlier in the day, like I

<v Speaker 3>did for the European tour back in March.

<v Speaker 1>I don't know.

<v Speaker 3>I don't know that for a fact, but if I

<v Speaker 3>am able to watch SmackDown live much earlier in the

<v Speaker 3>day in a different time zone, I will do so,

<v Speaker 3>and then I will go live a lot earlier than

<v Speaker 3>usual for the SmackDown review. I don't know what time

<v Speaker 3>that's going to be. I don't know if it's going

<v Speaker 3>to be before dinnertime. If the show wraps up by then,

<v Speaker 3>I don't know if I'll just wait until after dinner

<v Speaker 3>and then go live at like eight o'clock when SmackDown's

<v Speaker 3>coming on TV here. But if I have the chance

<v Speaker 3>to watch the show earlier, I'm gonna go live earlier.

<v Speaker 3>So just be aware of that. Try to keep you

<v Speaker 3>guys posted on that as well.

<v Speaker 2>Man.

<v Speaker 3>There's so much going on here. Man, all these international shows,

<v Speaker 3>what's going on? They all kind of crept up at

<v Speaker 3>the same time here. Be well, stay safe, have yourselves

<v Speaker 3>a great week. I do hope you enjoyed this podcast.

<v Speaker 3>We covered a lot of ground here, so it helps

<v Speaker 3>to share and retweet and leap comments and reviews. I

<v Speaker 3>do appreciate it, and I will see you guys back

<v Speaker 3>here at some point next weekend for episode nine to

<v Speaker 3>twenty six of The Solo Monster Sounds off until then,

<v Speaker 3>take care, guys. The Solomn Monster Sounds on July twenty first,

<v Speaker 3>with Stephanie Vicaire and EO Scott.

<v Speaker 1>That match ended in a disqualification.

<v Speaker 3>Then you fast forward to July twenty eight, we had

<v Speaker 3>Jay Uso against Bronson Reid which ended in a disqualification.

<v Speaker 3>August fourth, you had seth Rawlins one on one against

<v Speaker 3>La Knight for the World Heavyweight Championship in a match

<v Speaker 3>that ended in a disqualification. And then we arrived tonight

<v Speaker 3>and see I'm punk in La Night against bron Breaker

<v Speaker 3>and Bronson Reid, And wouldn't you know how did this

<v Speaker 3>match end? It ended in a disqualification. As a match,

<v Speaker 3>it was fined. It was a good main event until

<v Speaker 3>we hit the finish and then I realized, Boy, I

<v Speaker 3>feel like I have suffered from deja vous. It almost

<v Speaker 3>feels like I've seen this before. It's almost like I'm

<v Speaker 3>watching a rerun. Jamis comes out. He talks about Banger

<v Speaker 3>after banger. We could talk about DQ after DQ after D.

<v Speaker 2>The Solo Monster sounds off bringing you the good, the bad,

<v Speaker 2>and the ugly. Check out the weekly live streams bonus

<v Speaker 2>content for subscribers, and follow The Solo Monster on Facebook, Instagram,

<v Speaker 2>and X The Solo Monster.

<v Speaker 1>I Love you so long.