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

<v Speaker 1>Sounds Off. I love you, Solo! Mama Monster! Concord! My home!

<v Speaker 1>I want your soul. I like playing in a woman.

<v Speaker 1>You've got grown-ass wrestlers in the back going on Twitter.

<v Speaker 1>Come over here and fight me. Is that Pat Patterson?

<v Speaker 1>You have legs. Holy mackerel, did he get fat? I

<v Speaker 1>was 99% positive it was just chest up. I have

<v Speaker 1>been begging him for a job on every platform I can,

<v Speaker 1>and I want to know the reason why he won't

<v Speaker 1>hire me. This is episode 979 of the Sala Monster

<v Speaker 1>Sounds Off for Sunday, September 6th. 2026 and I hate

<v Speaker 1>that I have to talk about this right from the

<v Speaker 1>top but this was terrible news to wake up to

<v Speaker 1>this morning last night there was a very scary incident

<v Speaker 1>at the enjoy wrestling show just outside of Pittsburgh enjoy

<v Speaker 1>is a Pittsburgh indie that was hosting its five-year anniversary

<v Speaker 1>show and it's penultimate show no less as the promotion

<v Speaker 1>is shutting down after one last show in October and

<v Speaker 1>I know Amazing Red was flying from the House of

<v Speaker 1>Glory show in LA on Friday to head back east

<v Speaker 1>to wrestle Lee Moriarty on the Enjoy show. But also

<v Speaker 1>on that show, The Butcher and The Blade, formerly of

<v Speaker 1>AEW fame, they were scheduled to challenge for the Enjoy

<v Speaker 1>tag team titles. They had just hosted a seminar for

<v Speaker 1>the promotion in town the night before. All seemed well.

<v Speaker 1>And then last night, The Butcher, Andy Williams, he collapsed

<v Speaker 1>at the end of his match and And the rest

<v Speaker 1>of the show was cancelled. The company posted the following

<v Speaker 1>update at 10.49pm. Andy collapsed at the end of his

<v Speaker 1>match this evening. Our doctors on staff tended to him immediately,

<v Speaker 1>administering CPR until the ambulance arrived. We sent everyone home

<v Speaker 1>and are at the hospital now waiting for more information.

<v Speaker 1>And there was a grim video posted online of someone,

<v Speaker 1>a medic I presume, doing chest compressions on the floor

<v Speaker 1>right outside the ring. People at the show said that

<v Speaker 1>a defibrillator was used. And that's all we knew. And

<v Speaker 1>I went to bed last night hoping for the best,

<v Speaker 1>but what we did know did not inspire a lot

<v Speaker 1>of optimism. And then I woke up this morning to

<v Speaker 1>see on TMZ that Andy Williams died on Saturday night,

<v Speaker 1>as confirmed by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office. No

<v Speaker 1>cause of death has been given as of yet, but

<v Speaker 1>he was only 48 years old. And... Man, that's awful.

<v Speaker 1>Doing what you love one minute and then gone the next.

<v Speaker 1>Most people also know that he was a guitarist for

<v Speaker 1>the band Every Time I Die, dating back to when

<v Speaker 1>the band was founded in 1998. Wrestling, though, was his

<v Speaker 1>first passion, even before music. He started training to become

<v Speaker 1>a pro wrestler when he was 18 years old, but

<v Speaker 1>he blew out his ACL. And when he did so,

<v Speaker 1>that's when he made the pivot to music and the

<v Speaker 1>band came together. They were a blend of heavy metal

<v Speaker 1>and hardcore. In fact, the first time he ever missed

<v Speaker 1>a live show with the band was over 20 years later.

<v Speaker 1>And it was only because he had a wrestling show

<v Speaker 1>to go to. That was his first priority. So you

<v Speaker 1>can tell, again, what his real passion was. It was wrestling.

<v Speaker 1>And I didn't know of him until I first saw

<v Speaker 1>The Butcher and The Blade on AEW Dynamite. Those two

<v Speaker 1>go back to the early days. Not the first episode,

<v Speaker 1>but one of the first. I don't know, maybe the

<v Speaker 1>first five or ten episodes, somewhere in that range. They

<v Speaker 1>had been paid off by MJF to be his muscle

<v Speaker 1>during his feud with Cody Rhodes. So their very first appearance,

<v Speaker 1>they beat up Cody. And I remember that because Jim

<v Speaker 1>Ross was so confused when they came up from under

<v Speaker 1>the ring. They cut a hole in the ring. I

<v Speaker 1>think the Blade was out first, and then the Butcher,

<v Speaker 1>and then eventually the Bunny... Allie comes out of the hole,

<v Speaker 1>but each time someone new would pop up out of

<v Speaker 1>the hole, nobody knew who they were. At least of

<v Speaker 1>all JR. But Excalibur somehow, he knew. As soon as

<v Speaker 1>the blade shut, it's the blade. And look, it's the butcher.

<v Speaker 1>And there's the bunny. Even though they had never appeared

<v Speaker 1>together before. And I was like, how would he know this?

<v Speaker 1>Did MJF tip him off in advance? How would this

<v Speaker 1>man know this? I always thought that was funny. But

<v Speaker 1>they never won the tag team titles. AEW had long

<v Speaker 1>since moved on from doing anything of note with either

<v Speaker 1>of them, really. In fact, Butcher hadn't wrestled a match

<v Speaker 1>for them since January of last year. But he remained

<v Speaker 1>under contract. I believe they both did. And I know

<v Speaker 1>Blade had some pretty bad injury issues for a while,

<v Speaker 1>but I believe they both remained under contract until June

<v Speaker 1>of this year. He was someone whose voice really did

<v Speaker 1>not match his appearance. Like, the first time I heard

<v Speaker 1>the man speak, it didn't make any sense to me. Like,

<v Speaker 1>it's like hearing Mike Tyson speak for the first time.

<v Speaker 1>He looked like a throwback to a bygone era. You know,

<v Speaker 1>like a big old southern boy you'd see wrestling in

<v Speaker 1>Crockett Promotions or Mid-South or someplace like that or Memphis.

<v Speaker 1>He had that big bushy mustache, that gruff exterior, but

<v Speaker 1>he was the most soft-spoken guy, just like a regular dude.

<v Speaker 1>By all accounts, a really cool dude, too. Very likable,

<v Speaker 1>very kind. And this just sucks. It really, really sucks

<v Speaker 1>to hear this. I'm very sorry to his family and friends.

<v Speaker 1>Anybody who was at the show last night, I'm sure

<v Speaker 1>that was just a terrible experience all around. But not

<v Speaker 1>the kind of news you want to wake up to

<v Speaker 1>this morning. And unfortunately, that was not the only wrestling

<v Speaker 1>death to be reported this morning. Memphis wrestling legend Bill

<v Speaker 1>Dundee passed away at 3.30 this morning at the age

<v Speaker 1>of 82. That is according to his son Jamie Dundee

<v Speaker 1>on Facebook. Jamie had revealed on Dutchman Tell's podcast three

<v Speaker 1>years ago that his father was suffering from stage 3 dementia.

<v Speaker 1>So he had been dealing with health issues in recent years.

<v Speaker 1>You can't talk about Jerry the King Lawler and his

<v Speaker 1>history in Memphis wrestling without also mentioning Bill Dundee, who

<v Speaker 1>was his greatest rival. The battles those two had, the

<v Speaker 1>box office they drew. is the stuff of legend. But

<v Speaker 1>he was also a tag team champion with Lawler in

<v Speaker 1>the AWA and then later on in the USWA, so

<v Speaker 1>they were good friends but better enemies, you might say. Lawler, tongue-in-cheek,

<v Speaker 1>I would hope, posted a video on the Memphis Wrestling

<v Speaker 1>IG account, or they posted a video of Lawler, this

<v Speaker 1>was just last month, this was less than a month ago,

<v Speaker 1>where he teased the idea of one more match between

<v Speaker 1>with Dundee. So what do you think? Well, how about it?

<v Speaker 1>One more match. That wasn't happening anyway, but it's definitely

<v Speaker 1>not happening now. But he and Lawler, they were both

<v Speaker 1>part of what is considered to be the match that

<v Speaker 1>gave birth to the modern hardcore style of wrestling that

<v Speaker 1>we see on TV every week. The famous Tupelo concession

<v Speaker 1>stand brawl in 1979 with Lawler and Dundee against Larry Latham,

<v Speaker 1>the future Moondog Spot, and Wayne Farris, the future Longest

<v Speaker 1>reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time. A record that stood

<v Speaker 1>for many, many years. The future Honky Tonk Man. Business

<v Speaker 1>was not very good at the time. Jerry Jarrett was

<v Speaker 1>losing talent. Really, the match was born out of desperation

<v Speaker 1>more than anything else. And you had blood and mustard

<v Speaker 1>splattered everywhere. Just mass chaos. And it went so well

<v Speaker 1>that Jarrett booked return matches in every town in the territory.

<v Speaker 1>And attendance steadily went up. So it worked. And if

<v Speaker 1>you think I'm lying when I say that it's seen

<v Speaker 1>as an inspiration for modern hardcore wrestling, at least the

<v Speaker 1>concept anyway, they ran it back two years later. This

<v Speaker 1>time with a young Atsushi Onida as one of the participants.

<v Speaker 1>And then years later when Onida's body was wrecked and

<v Speaker 1>his knees were wrecked and he couldn't wrestle the way

<v Speaker 1>that he used to, he was very limited in what

<v Speaker 1>he can do, very likely drew inspiration from that match

<v Speaker 1>that he was a part of, that Tupelo concession stand

<v Speaker 1>brawl that he was a part of, when he formed

<v Speaker 1>FMW in the 90s. If you wanted barbed wire and bombs,

<v Speaker 1>FMW was your go-to place for it. I want to

<v Speaker 1>say thank you to those who I had the chance

<v Speaker 1>to meet and who said hello on Friday in Los

<v Speaker 1>Angeles at the House of Glory show, which, as the

<v Speaker 1>matches go, I thought was very good. I am not

<v Speaker 1>happy about the streaming issues at the beginning of the show. Thankfully,

<v Speaker 1>we got it working after a little bit, but that's

<v Speaker 1>not good enough. This is not the first time that's

<v Speaker 1>happened at the Globe, whether it's the Globe or anywhere else.

<v Speaker 1>It's unacceptable. It's embarrassing, and you deserve better. Believe me,

<v Speaker 1>no one was angrier about that than I was. But

<v Speaker 1>the full show is now up on the YouTube channel.

<v Speaker 1>I hope you all check it out. In particular, the

<v Speaker 1>main event between Amazing Red and Kyle Fletcher. Hook and

<v Speaker 1>TJP had a hell of a battle, too. The most

<v Speaker 1>battle-tested that I think Hook has ever looked. honestly, in

<v Speaker 1>all the matches I've seen him ever have in AEW.

<v Speaker 1>But that main event was something very special, and I'm

<v Speaker 1>glad that we were able to play host to it.

<v Speaker 1>And on my flight, by the way, I was able

<v Speaker 1>to knock out the first two Iron Man movies, Thor

<v Speaker 1>and Captain America, as part of my Marvel Madness marathon

<v Speaker 1>as it rolls on, and SmackDown as well, which I'll

<v Speaker 1>have a review for today since I couldn't go live

<v Speaker 1>on Friday. If you would like to make a PayPal

<v Speaker 1>donation to the show, you may do so on thesolomonster.com.

<v Speaker 1>$ 10 or more will get you a nickname and a

<v Speaker 1>shout out. I want to say thank you to the

<v Speaker 1>Portland pop star, Paul Hamilton. Holy shit. Paul dropped a

<v Speaker 1>bomb on me like he was 90s Onida in FMW.

<v Speaker 1>Thank you, Paul. Rachel from the Badger State. Very much

<v Speaker 1>appreciate your support and your kindness as well. I hope

<v Speaker 1>you're having a great weekend. Big Beeb. Becerra. James Hollywood Herrera,

<v Speaker 1>good seeing you again on Friday. He made it out

<v Speaker 1>to the HOG show. The Diamond Dallas Dance Machine, Harrison Soep.

<v Speaker 1>Velvet Revolver, Robert Murray. The Chicago Slayer, Willie Eichard. The

<v Speaker 1>Georgia Nightmare, Timothy Tillis. And Killshot Keith Hart. No word

<v Speaker 1>yet on an HOG return to Philly. I know Keith

<v Speaker 1>was wondering about that, but I will keep you up

<v Speaker 1>to date on that. Also want to shout out Dean,

<v Speaker 1>the Mountain Man Mowbray of Scenescape Shop on YouTube. He

<v Speaker 1>is back. He's got some new WWE paintings up on

<v Speaker 1>his website for you to browse. These silhouette wrestling paintings

<v Speaker 1>are very cool. He's got some new ones for Roman

<v Speaker 1>Reigns and Oba Femi. in addition to legends like The Rock,

<v Speaker 1>Stone Cold, Macho Man Randy Savage, and Bret the Hitman Hart.

<v Speaker 1>I think the pink really stands out myself on the

<v Speaker 1>Bret Hart one. You can actually build yourself your very

<v Speaker 1>own Mount Rushmore of paintings with what he's got on there.

<v Speaker 1>Just visit the site at deanmobray.co.uk slash wrestling. That's dean

<v Speaker 1>and then m-o-w-b-r-a-y dot c-o dot u-k slash wrestling. And

<v Speaker 1>right now he's offering 20% off for SoundOff listeners by

<v Speaker 1>using the code Salamonster at checkout. So again, DeanMobre.co.uk slash

<v Speaker 1>wrestling and find him on YouTube and Facebook at Scenescape Shop.

<v Speaker 1>There were unfortunately some NXT and Performance Center cuts in

<v Speaker 1>WWE on Friday, including some names that you know and

<v Speaker 1>many that you probably don't. The main roster was unaffected.

<v Speaker 1>Wendy Chu. According to Bryan Alvarez, her release was said

<v Speaker 1>to have shocked the entire PC. Her stint in WWE

<v Speaker 1>dates back all the way to the 2018 Mae Young Classic,

<v Speaker 1>when she was Karen Q. Then she played the Mae

<v Speaker 1>Ying character as part of the Tian Sha group in 2020,

<v Speaker 1>and I've completely forgotten about that. And then they repackaged

<v Speaker 1>her as something very much not in line with the

<v Speaker 1>Mei Ying character in Wendy Chu. I still remember the

<v Speaker 1>lights out match that she had with Tiffany Stratton in

<v Speaker 1>NXT early in the 2.0 era. Instead of tacks, they

<v Speaker 1>used Legos at one point. Stratton went on to become

<v Speaker 1>a world champion on the main roster. Wendy wound up

<v Speaker 1>in Evolve as the women's champion a few months ago.

<v Speaker 1>I know she had a match on Main Event last month,

<v Speaker 1>a loss to Maxine Dupree. They allowed her to work

<v Speaker 1>the TNA tapings in July in a knockouts title. I mean,

<v Speaker 1>I say they allowed. They probably just loaned her out

<v Speaker 1>to them. But she wrestled in a knockouts championship match

<v Speaker 1>against Zaya Brookside. But it just became very evident they

<v Speaker 1>were not going to do anything with this woman. So

<v Speaker 1>I can't say that I'm surprised. I mean, it sucks,

<v Speaker 1>but I'm not shocked. I'm more surprised, frankly, that Nikita

<v Speaker 1>Lyons is still employed with all these other people being

<v Speaker 1>cut the past few years. Especially with the injury issues

<v Speaker 1>that she's had. When I saw that Lyons was the

<v Speaker 1>one who beat her for the Evolve title, that's why

<v Speaker 1>I mentioned her. I'm not trying to single the woman out,

<v Speaker 1>but I'm like, I'm looking up this Evolve title run

<v Speaker 1>that Wendy Chu had and she lost the belt to

<v Speaker 1>Nikita Lyons. I'm like, fuck, Nikita Lyons. I forgot all

<v Speaker 1>about her. She's still there. A lot of other people

<v Speaker 1>are gone, but she's still there. Adriana Rizzo is not there.

<v Speaker 1>She's also gone. She was part of Tony D'Angelo's family

<v Speaker 1>when he was doing the cosplay Tony Soprano stuff, but

<v Speaker 1>she had some pretty significant injuries. Three years ago, she

<v Speaker 1>tore her left Achilles. A few months later, she partially

<v Speaker 1>tore her ACL. Then last year, she tore that same

<v Speaker 1>ACL completely, plus the meniscus, and she sprained her MCL

<v Speaker 1>as well, all in her left leg. And they had

<v Speaker 1>just brought her back as a backstage interviewer on Evolve

<v Speaker 1>in July, which may have been a sign that they

<v Speaker 1>already had given up on her as an in-ring talent.

<v Speaker 1>And this week they made that official. Jasper Troy is gone.

<v Speaker 1>As the curse of LFG continues. Now I know that

<v Speaker 1>all these LFG folks are not all going to pan out.

<v Speaker 1>They're not all going to go on to make a

<v Speaker 1>lot of money and become big stars. But he won

<v Speaker 1>LFG Season 1 last year. So did Tyra May Steele.

<v Speaker 1>She got released in April. So that's both season one

<v Speaker 1>winners out the door. And one of the season two winners,

<v Speaker 1>Skylar Ray, I believe her name was, she got cut

<v Speaker 1>back in April. So Shiloh Hill is the only one

<v Speaker 1>left standing here as far as the LFG winners are concerned,

<v Speaker 1>at least from the first two seasons. So, I mean,

<v Speaker 1>this company seems to be taking that LFG acronym a

<v Speaker 1>little too literally, aren't they? I don't feel too bad

<v Speaker 1>now about not watching it. Also on the cut list,

<v Speaker 1>Xena Sterling, who was apparently a standout from LFG, PJ Vassa,

<v Speaker 1>Anya Roon, Braxton Cole, Gary Wilson, who worked as a

<v Speaker 1>referee in NXT, Marcus Brown, a bodybuilder who only just

<v Speaker 1>signed with them earlier this year, and Ellen Ackeson. I

<v Speaker 1>don't know if it's Akison or Akison. I'm going to

<v Speaker 1>say Akison. Hopefully I'm pronouncing that right. But she was

<v Speaker 1>a Swedish powerlifter and world champion arm wrestler who took

<v Speaker 1>part in last year's SummerSlam tryout. She got signed in March.

<v Speaker 1>And she's got over 100,000 followers on Twitch. She noted

<v Speaker 1>only a few weeks ago on her Twitch that she

<v Speaker 1>had just moved from overseas to Florida, which is where

<v Speaker 1>the PC is. She just moved here, only to get

<v Speaker 1>cut a few months later. That's rough. And your work

<v Speaker 1>visa is, it's my knowledge, your work visa is specifically

<v Speaker 1>tied to your employer. So I don't know if she

<v Speaker 1>would have the standard 30-day notice of termination that the

<v Speaker 1>NXT folks usually get. Let's say she does, right? And

<v Speaker 1>then on top of that, there's probably a grace period of,

<v Speaker 1>I don't know how long, but it's probably not too

<v Speaker 1>long as far as the work visa goes to find

<v Speaker 1>employment somewhere else. Otherwise, she may have to move right

<v Speaker 1>back out of the country. You know, sometimes we forget

<v Speaker 1>about stuff like that when it comes to the increase

<v Speaker 1>in international talents that they are recruiting. And the work

<v Speaker 1>visa situation seems like it's a fucking mess right now,

<v Speaker 1>more than ever before. And it's taking longer, and I'm

<v Speaker 1>sure it's very frustrating and stressful for these men and women.

<v Speaker 1>And so when they get cut and they lose their job,

<v Speaker 1>you know, it's different than just someone who gets cut

<v Speaker 1>and it's like, all right, they have their 30 days

<v Speaker 1>or their 90 days, whatever it is, and then they'll

<v Speaker 1>just go work somewhere else. It's not that simple, you know,

<v Speaker 1>when it comes to a lot of these international talents.

<v Speaker 1>So all the best to her. I mean, that's that's

<v Speaker 1>not a fun situation to be in. But to my knowledge,

<v Speaker 1>those were the only cuts coming out of Friday. Again,

<v Speaker 1>nothing from the main roster. Speaking of the main roster

<v Speaker 1>very quickly here, Raw this past Monday night. had a

<v Speaker 1>very chaotic opening to the show with the return of

<v Speaker 1>the Kevin Dunn camera cuts and Netflix censoring the blood

<v Speaker 1>on Jimmy and Jey Uso as Royce Keys and OTM

<v Speaker 1>laid a beatdown on them in the parking lot. Jacob Fatu,

<v Speaker 1>he was late to the party. He showed up, grabbed

<v Speaker 1>the lead pipe, chased them away. They also bloodied up

<v Speaker 1>Solo Sokoa in the back later in the show, although

<v Speaker 1>we never saw that. We just cut to the back

<v Speaker 1>and saw Solo bleeding on the floor. But very interesting

<v Speaker 1>how they have yet to, in the last couple of weeks,

<v Speaker 1>they have yet to put their hands on Jacob Fatu.

<v Speaker 1>And we know the past relationship and friendship with Jacob

<v Speaker 1>and Royce Keys. WrestleVotes Radio on Fightful Select reported that

<v Speaker 1>some within WWE's post-production department feel handcuffed by Netflix's restrictions

<v Speaker 1>following recent Raw censorship. WrestleVotes was told WWE knew parameters

<v Speaker 1>would be in place, but some internally did not expect

<v Speaker 1>them to be this intensive. Yeah, so during that beatdown

<v Speaker 1>at the beginning, they were trying to blur and censor

<v Speaker 1>their faces of the Uso so he couldn't see the blood.

<v Speaker 1>And they did the same thing with Solo Sokoa later.

<v Speaker 1>This is weird pixelation where they were like trying to

<v Speaker 1>block it, but they weren't doing a great job of it.

<v Speaker 1>The whole thing looked completely ridiculous. And I'm sure there's

<v Speaker 1>a reason for it as far as like international partners

<v Speaker 1>and where the show airs in other countries. I mean,

<v Speaker 1>that's all well and good. WWE has to abide by

<v Speaker 1>those rules. But as a viewer here, it's completely ridiculous.

<v Speaker 1>You know, and it's just you watch this and every

<v Speaker 1>little thing. Whether it's on the replay, sometimes maybe they

<v Speaker 1>don't catch this stuff live. I just remember when Raquel

<v Speaker 1>Rodriguez got busted open a few months ago, maybe not

<v Speaker 1>even a few months, in a match on Raw. It

<v Speaker 1>was bleeding from the nose and everything else. And on

<v Speaker 1>the replay, I wish I could remember what episode it is,

<v Speaker 1>but on the replay, people said if you go back

<v Speaker 1>and watch on Netflix, for the remainder of the match,

<v Speaker 1>you get this... far-out shot instead of the hard cam.

<v Speaker 1>You get this far-out shot. It's like you're sitting deep

<v Speaker 1>in the crowd because they just can't see the blood

<v Speaker 1>on this woman's face, and it's just, it's completely preposterous.

<v Speaker 1>Triple H, he posted the full unedited segment on his

<v Speaker 1>social media immediately after the show. That's all well and good,

<v Speaker 1>but I just find all this stuff to be completely silly.

<v Speaker 1>Penta and Ray Phoenix, they were in the finals of

<v Speaker 1>the Lucha Tournament to crown a number one contender for

<v Speaker 1>Roman Reigns in Mexico City coming up Not tomorrow, but

<v Speaker 1>next Monday, September 14th, is the big Mexico City Raw.

<v Speaker 1>Of course, SmackDown is in Mexico City first. That's coming

<v Speaker 1>up this Friday. We'll talk about SmackDown in a little bit.

<v Speaker 1>But Penta and Ray Phoenix, they had one of the

<v Speaker 1>better television matches of the year. Took a while for

<v Speaker 1>the crowd to really catch on, but once they did,

<v Speaker 1>they kicked it into a different gear in the closing minutes,

<v Speaker 1>and this was great. Penta wins. He gets the championship.

<v Speaker 1>match with Roman now. They had a little face-off at

<v Speaker 1>the end of this. I do like how they have

<v Speaker 1>a few different things going on with Roman Reigns. He's

<v Speaker 1>got the match set with Penta now for next Monday.

<v Speaker 1>He's got this ongoing feud with LA Knight that's going

<v Speaker 1>to lead to money in the bank, and the Bloodline

<v Speaker 1>is now fighting a war with Keyes and OTM One

<v Speaker 1>that he tells Jacob Fatu is his problem. It's not

<v Speaker 1>our problem. This is your problem. He's your friend. He's

<v Speaker 1>not family. Except it is very much their problem, given

<v Speaker 1>that they sent the Usos to the hospital. Or, I'm sorry,

<v Speaker 1>a local medical facility is where they were sent. We

<v Speaker 1>also have a number one contender now for the men's

<v Speaker 1>Intercontinental title on that Mexico City show. After Dragon Lee

<v Speaker 1>beat Ethan Page on Monday, it will now be Chad

<v Speaker 1>Gable defending against Dragon Lee next Monday. So that show

<v Speaker 1>is shaping up to be a big one. Let's backtrack, though,

<v Speaker 1>to Friday. Obviously, I wasn't here for the live stream,

<v Speaker 1>but I did watch SmackDown. I have some thoughts. The

<v Speaker 1>final taped show of the bunch. We're finally back live

<v Speaker 1>tomorrow night. And it was the usual cast of characters

<v Speaker 1>very upset with Sami Zayn over ruining their chances of

<v Speaker 1>becoming WWE champion. Gunther and Finn Balor and Kevin Owens.

<v Speaker 1>They were all trying to get a piece of this guy.

<v Speaker 1>CM Punk, he was taking it all in, watching backstage.

<v Speaker 1>And then as he was walking with Nick Aldis, he

<v Speaker 1>came upon Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano, planking on his crate,

<v Speaker 1>as he's been doing for the last six months. But

<v Speaker 1>this time they were in Cleveland, which is Johnny's home. Well,

<v Speaker 1>I mean, the crate has become his mobile home, but

<v Speaker 1>Cleveland is his birthplace. And I knew he would get

<v Speaker 1>a big pop when the day finally came that he

<v Speaker 1>would get up off the box. They waited to do

<v Speaker 1>it in his hometown. That's cool and all, but they

<v Speaker 1>still wasted six months of this man's career on this

<v Speaker 1>hokey bullshit, which cannot be ignored. But they made a match.

<v Speaker 1>The reason he got up off the crate is because

<v Speaker 1>he was reinvigorated at the idea of challenging CM Punk

<v Speaker 1>for the WWE Championship in the main event. Punk had

<v Speaker 1>pitched the idea of a title match to him, hoping

<v Speaker 1>it would work. At first it didn't, and then the

<v Speaker 1>camera cut away. When they panned back, there he was.

<v Speaker 1>He was standing up on his own two feet. So

<v Speaker 1>that set up the main event for later in the show.

<v Speaker 1>Charlotte Flair and Tatum Paxley. They picked up a win

<v Speaker 1>over the women's tag team champions, Fatal Influence, which should

<v Speaker 1>earn them a title match now, but it probably won't.

<v Speaker 1>Beat them in three minutes. They let Paxley get the

<v Speaker 1>win with her Cemetery Drive finish. Jade and her baddies

<v Speaker 1>they attacked after just to put one last bit of

<v Speaker 1>heat on things before their six-woman tag match tonight on

<v Speaker 1>Sunday night's main event. I will have final predictions on

<v Speaker 1>that here in a little bit. They interviewed Nikki Bella

<v Speaker 1>in the back about her attack on Paige and her

<v Speaker 1>issues with Paige. She blamed Paige for having more passion

<v Speaker 1>behind closed doors than in the ring and blamed her

<v Speaker 1>for her sister getting injured. And then Paige showed up. Paige, heya!

<v Speaker 1>Can't do it the way that she does, but she

<v Speaker 1>showed up and she said, I'm not going to touch you.

<v Speaker 1>Don't worry, sweetheart. It's so nice how everyone is respecting

<v Speaker 1>the rules, by the way, of not touching their opponent.

<v Speaker 1>It makes for such exciting television. She said Nikki never

<v Speaker 1>liked her because she built her career on hustle, loyalty,

<v Speaker 1>and respect, while Nikki just slept with it. She said

<v Speaker 1>Nikki better bring it next week in Mexico City because

<v Speaker 1>she's going to end her career faster than her last relationship.

<v Speaker 1>So they went the cheap heat route. I'm not really

<v Speaker 1>sure what's accomplished by people repeatedly bringing up, like on television,

<v Speaker 1>bringing up her relationship with John Cena, which ended years ago.

<v Speaker 1>This isn't the first time they've done it. I mean,

<v Speaker 1>it gets a cheap pop, but that's all it is.

<v Speaker 1>And it has absolutely nothing to do with what these

<v Speaker 1>two are feuding over. It's like they realize that there's

<v Speaker 1>no heat for any of this, and the only way

<v Speaker 1>to get a reaction is to go in the gutter

<v Speaker 1>Like it's the diva search all over again. Netflix, by

<v Speaker 1>the way, to piggyback on the Netflix censorship I was

<v Speaker 1>talking about a few minutes ago, Netflix has reportedly edited

<v Speaker 1>all of the Cena relationship references out of this promo

<v Speaker 1>on their international feed. And bust a bit on the

<v Speaker 1>replay later because I used my VPN to download the

<v Speaker 1>episode to my tablet in the Netflix app locally so

<v Speaker 1>I could watch it on the plane ride home. And

<v Speaker 1>it was in there. Like nothing looked to be edited out.

<v Speaker 1>So if they took it out, they must have taken

<v Speaker 1>it out after. But I just, I continue to laugh

<v Speaker 1>at all of the things that Netflix has censored when

<v Speaker 1>thinking back to the people who thought that we were

<v Speaker 1>headed to some sort of new age TV 14 era

<v Speaker 1>of WWE programming when they first signed with Netflix. They're

<v Speaker 1>more strict now about that stuff than they ever were before.

<v Speaker 1>It actually went in the exact opposite direction. But there

<v Speaker 1>was a backstage segment where Gunther confronted Nick Aldis about

<v Speaker 1>his recent treatment. Johnny Gargano, he gets a title shot,

<v Speaker 1>a man who's been laying on boxes, but he has

<v Speaker 1>to fight for them. He said Aldis has been making

<v Speaker 1>a lot of very erratic decisions lately. So this was

<v Speaker 1>all just an excuse to have Danhausen pop up in

<v Speaker 1>the segment, to call him Gooner again, and try to

<v Speaker 1>pat Gunther on the back. Gunther told him, don't ever

<v Speaker 1>put your hands on me ever again. So my takeaway

<v Speaker 1>from this is that we're getting a match soon between

<v Speaker 1>these two. Gunther against Danhausen. Terrific. They had Nick Aldis

<v Speaker 1>in the ring with a doctor to address the status

<v Speaker 1>of Chelsea Green's injury and they brought her out to

<v Speaker 1>the ring. She did not even let the doctor speak

<v Speaker 1>before launching into a promo on him about how she

<v Speaker 1>didn't care what he had to say. She's a fighting

<v Speaker 1>champion and They're not going to take that away from her.

<v Speaker 1>She wasn't concerned about her safety. She was concerned about

<v Speaker 1>her legacy. Which is typical pro-wrestler mentality. I mean, I

<v Speaker 1>don't give a shit if this is hazardous to my

<v Speaker 1>health and well-being. I just want people to remember me as, hey,

<v Speaker 1>you remember that stupid shit that that woman did that

<v Speaker 1>one time when she got in the ring with a

<v Speaker 1>broken face? And then it never healed properly. This is

<v Speaker 1>a good time to bring this up. Chelsea did another

<v Speaker 1>sit down with Chris Van Vliet. She's becoming a regular

<v Speaker 1>on Chris's shows. And she revealed that any further damage

<v Speaker 1>to her eye could force her to get a metal

<v Speaker 1>plate surgically implanted in her face. She said, if you

<v Speaker 1>don't take care of yourself and you don't push to

<v Speaker 1>get answers medically, you could be out for as long

<v Speaker 1>as you want to be out for. You could be

<v Speaker 1>out for ages, just rehabbing. We've got so many things

<v Speaker 1>wrong with us, all of us do. So I just

<v Speaker 1>always want to make sure I get ahead of it. No, no, no.

<v Speaker 1>Give me a date now. If I can beat the date, great.

<v Speaker 1>It's rare, but if I could beat the date, then

<v Speaker 1>that's great. So I got a date in Philly that night,

<v Speaker 1>and then I went back home. I had a couple

<v Speaker 1>of very rough days at home after flying, after coming

<v Speaker 1>down from the adrenaline, after swelling and all that stuff.

<v Speaker 1>It was a rough few days. And then I found

<v Speaker 1>a surgeon in Orlando. I went to him, and then

<v Speaker 1>I doubled down and made sure I had a written

<v Speaker 1>note that said when I could come back, because WWE,

<v Speaker 1>they're so careful. They have to be. This is my eyeball.

<v Speaker 1>And if I break it anymore, if I break my

<v Speaker 1>orbital bone anymore, that means my eyeball drops down an inch.

<v Speaker 1>That's disgusting. It means a plate in my eye. That's

<v Speaker 1>a big deal. Oh, man. She's going to end up

<v Speaker 1>looking like Sloth from The Goonies with one eye up

<v Speaker 1>here and one eye down there. Hey, you guys! Right? Remember?

<v Speaker 1>You guys remember Sloth. Come on now. That's going to

<v Speaker 1>be the new soundbite that Def Rebel puts at the

<v Speaker 1>beginning of her entrance music instead of that Pledge Your

<v Speaker 1>Allegiance crap. It's going to be, hey, you guys. Anyway,

<v Speaker 1>we heard from the great Dr. Woodruff, I believe was

<v Speaker 1>his name. I wonder which writer they borrow that name from.

<v Speaker 1>That's usually how these things work. That name comes, it's

<v Speaker 1>some sort of inside joke that comes from somebody who

<v Speaker 1>works in the company. But he was of the opinion

<v Speaker 1>that as long as Chelsea wears her bedazzled face mask,

<v Speaker 1>she was clear to compete. And all of a sudden,

<v Speaker 1>he became Chelsea's best friend with that news. And she

<v Speaker 1>was so excited and so happy. And that brought out

<v Speaker 1>Nia Jax and Lash Legend. Nia said, good, that means

<v Speaker 1>you can give me a shot at the title now.

<v Speaker 1>And instead, Aldis announced the match for this Friday. But

<v Speaker 1>we did end up with a Nia Jax-Tiffany Stratton match

<v Speaker 1>out of this, and it wasn't very good. Too short

<v Speaker 1>to mean anything anyway. I mean, it didn't even go

<v Speaker 1>three minutes. Just like a typical night with you and

<v Speaker 1>John Cena, am I right? I'm sorry, I lapsed into

<v Speaker 1>that Paige-Nikki Bella segment there for a second. Lash got involved.

<v Speaker 1>This led to Nia squashing Tiffany with the Annihilator for

<v Speaker 1>the win. I don't know why Nia Jax fighting for

<v Speaker 1>the Women's Championship is still a thing, but it does

<v Speaker 1>not speak very well to the state of things with

<v Speaker 1>that women's division. We got one last bit of hype

<v Speaker 1>for the Cody Rhodes-Randy Orton match tonight on Sunday night's

<v Speaker 1>main event. Corey Graves conducted a sit-down interview with Cody

<v Speaker 1>in a lounge area backstage. Graves asked Cody, basically, how

<v Speaker 1>did we get here? And Randy Orton then showed up

<v Speaker 1>and he wanted to know the same thing. And Orton

<v Speaker 1>again reminded Cody of the stipulation that they can't touch.

<v Speaker 1>You can't touch me. Orton tried to goad Cody again

<v Speaker 1>as he did last week by reminding him of some

<v Speaker 1>of the things that he said about Cody's mother and

<v Speaker 1>about Cody's wife. He did say it turns out Cody's

<v Speaker 1>dog isn't actually dead. So that's good to know. We

<v Speaker 1>have confirmation now that Pharaoh is still among the living.

<v Speaker 1>He said the dog had... a little time left, but

<v Speaker 1>Cody would be burying him soon enough. Orton said Cody

<v Speaker 1>clearly loves the WWE Championship more than he loves his

<v Speaker 1>own family. People say he's sick with the voices in

<v Speaker 1>his head, but Cody is sicker than anyone. So Cody

<v Speaker 1>had enough of this. He stood up and very quietly

<v Speaker 1>and very calmly he said that if Orton is right,

<v Speaker 1>then that means on Sunday, you're screwed. And with that,

<v Speaker 1>he just walked away. And he left Orton for the

<v Speaker 1>second straight week to show that Cody's words got to him.

<v Speaker 1>They got under his skin. We then got the debut

<v Speaker 1>of Boksai, which is the new team of Shinsuke Nakamura

<v Speaker 1>and the debuting Hiromu Takahashi, now going by Kiyoki. They

<v Speaker 1>took on The Miz and Kit Wilson. They were determined

<v Speaker 1>to give Miz and Johnny Gargano matches on this show,

<v Speaker 1>given that they were in Cleveland. I thought this was fine.

<v Speaker 1>You know, Hiromu was very animated with his expressions. He's

<v Speaker 1>like the crazy one of the team. And I think

<v Speaker 1>he'll work the WWE style well enough, which is slower

<v Speaker 1>and safer than the stuff that he was doing in

<v Speaker 1>New Japan. But it's also what made him stand out.

<v Speaker 1>You know, you take that away, he's going to have

<v Speaker 1>to really... Rely more on his charisma. And again, English

<v Speaker 1>is not his first language, so he's not going to

<v Speaker 1>be out there cutting promos either, or at least not

<v Speaker 1>long ones. So if his ring style is changing and

<v Speaker 1>his promos aren't that great, he's going to have to

<v Speaker 1>fall back on something, you know, to really get over

<v Speaker 1>with this audience. And he is a charismatic guy. And

<v Speaker 1>I think that could work out for him. Now, he

<v Speaker 1>doesn't have Daryl the cat with him. At least not yet.

<v Speaker 1>He did post a photo of Daryl on social media,

<v Speaker 1>so Daryl did make the trip with him to the States.

<v Speaker 1>He just might not have gotten his work visa. I

<v Speaker 1>don't know how the work visa situation goes for cats,

<v Speaker 1>but he won the match for his team with what

<v Speaker 1>Wade Barrett called a reverse stunner, which did not look

<v Speaker 1>at all like a move that you would use to

<v Speaker 1>finish matches with. I think he's got to find something else.

<v Speaker 1>Something a little more impactful. He just let him use

<v Speaker 1>the time bomb. After they won, the MFTs walked out

<v Speaker 1>on stage with Haku. They held up their tag team

<v Speaker 1>titles to tease the eventual match. Yet again, we were

<v Speaker 1>denied a match this week between Julia and Blake Monroe.

<v Speaker 1>And Julia attacked Blake in the back and then out

<v Speaker 1>into the arena before Blake was about to make her entrance.

<v Speaker 1>I got to say this. They clearly have some sort

<v Speaker 1>of plan here. And I will just say the payoff

<v Speaker 1>to this better be amazing. they better let these two

<v Speaker 1>go out there and give them time. Give them 12 minutes.

<v Speaker 1>Give them 15 minutes. And let them go out there

<v Speaker 1>and have a hard-hitting killer match. Or else this is

<v Speaker 1>all just a waste of everyone's time. This can no

<v Speaker 1>longer be one of those matches that you give seven

<v Speaker 1>minutes to, of which half takes place during a fucking

<v Speaker 1>commercial break. You're going to have to give me more

<v Speaker 1>than that if you're making me wait this long to

<v Speaker 1>see it. The best part, though, of giving Johnny Gargano

<v Speaker 1>the main event spot and getting him back in the

<v Speaker 1>ring was hearing him come out to his old Rebel

<v Speaker 1>Heart theme from NXT, less than a week before the

<v Speaker 1>Rebel Heart episode of AEW Dynamite, which is just a

<v Speaker 1>happy coincidence, but I'm glad we got it. And I'm

<v Speaker 1>glad we got this match because it was very good.

<v Speaker 1>Of course, Sami Zayn had to get involved. They did

<v Speaker 1>the Zelina Vega spot from Gargano's TakeOver Philadelphia match with

<v Speaker 1>Andrade where She came off the apron with a Hurricane

<v Speaker 1>Rana to the floor. This time it was Candice LeRae

<v Speaker 1>in that spot, and that Rana sent Punk face-first into

<v Speaker 1>the ring steps. Gargano then caught Punk with the one

<v Speaker 1>final beat DDT for a great near fall, and that

<v Speaker 1>wasn't even the best one of the match. That came

<v Speaker 1>after Punk hit Gargano with a GTS. But Candice distracted

<v Speaker 1>the referee. That allowed Sami to blast Punk in the

<v Speaker 1>head with the WWE Championship. And then Gargano made the

<v Speaker 1>slow crawl to drape one arm over Punk for the

<v Speaker 1>closest of near falls. I thought that was fantastic. Kevin

<v Speaker 1>Owens had come out. Gunther came out. Finn Balor came out.

<v Speaker 1>All the different points trying to get at Sammy. Eventually,

<v Speaker 1>Nick Aldis came out to get him out of there.

<v Speaker 1>While all of that was happening, Johnny was distracted and

<v Speaker 1>it left him open for a GTS from Punk who

<v Speaker 1>got the three count to retain the title. Punk said

<v Speaker 1>after the match that he would give Sammy what he wants,

<v Speaker 1>a championship match next week in Mexico City. So they're

<v Speaker 1>loading that show up for Friday with five matches already announced.

<v Speaker 1>When was the last time we got that many matches

<v Speaker 1>announced this far in advance for Raw or SmackDown? I

<v Speaker 1>can't remember. But the card for Friday looks like this.

<v Speaker 1>Rey Fenix puts his AAA Cruiserweight Championship on the line

<v Speaker 1>against Ricky Saints. The War Raiders put their AAA tag

<v Speaker 1>team titles on the line against Damian Priest and R-Truth.

<v Speaker 1>I'm expecting a Damian Priest heel turn. A Damian Priest

<v Speaker 1>heel turn in Mexico City. Or, if they really want

<v Speaker 1>to throw us off, an R-Truth heel turn, since they've

<v Speaker 1>kind of already telegraphed the Damian Priest one. You want

<v Speaker 1>to really shock people. Priest being turned on instead of

<v Speaker 1>being the one to do the turning. would be a surprise,

<v Speaker 1>but only if they allow him to be Ron Killings,

<v Speaker 1>and they don't want to do that. He was Ron

<v Speaker 1>Killings for about two weeks, and then he went right

<v Speaker 1>back to being R-Truth. Somebody is going to turn here, though.

<v Speaker 1>This tag team is not going to end on friendly terms,

<v Speaker 1>nor are they going to win the AAA tag team titles.

<v Speaker 1>Paige and Nikki Bella, they go one-on-one. I should throw

<v Speaker 1>in some predictions here. Rafe Phoenix is going to retain.

<v Speaker 1>The War Raiders are going to retain. I will say

<v Speaker 1>Nikki Bella picks up the win over Paige. Chelsea Green

<v Speaker 1>is defending her WWE Women's Championship against Nia Jax. God

<v Speaker 1>forbid there's a title change here. So that should be

<v Speaker 1>a win for Chelsea. And then in the main event,

<v Speaker 1>CM Punk puts the WWE title on the line against

<v Speaker 1>Sami Zayn. And no, I don't think they're changing the

<v Speaker 1>title back to Sami. As taped shows go for Friday,

<v Speaker 1>I've seen worse. If you watch that main event on Friday,

<v Speaker 1>that's all you really needed to bother with. Now tonight,

<v Speaker 1>as I am recording this, it is Sunday night's main

<v Speaker 1>event in Atlanta. And as Netflix continues to censor anything

<v Speaker 1>and everything that is even remotely objectionable on WWE programming,

<v Speaker 1>the company is partnering with a popular Atlanta strip club

<v Speaker 1>for a new merchandise collaboration. WWE and Magic City are

<v Speaker 1>now partnering to sell t-shirts and hoodies for men only,

<v Speaker 1>no women or children. one sleeve on the t-shirt features

<v Speaker 1>a peach wearing a thong because nothing screams family friendly

<v Speaker 1>more than strip joints. You know, the Atlanta Hawks, they

<v Speaker 1>announced a magic city Monday promotion last year that was

<v Speaker 1>promptly canceled after they got a ton of backlash for it.

<v Speaker 1>But TKO is going to partner with anyone they think

<v Speaker 1>can make money for them or that they can make

<v Speaker 1>money off of me personally. I don't even give a shit.

<v Speaker 1>I mean, that's fine. They can have a collaboration with

<v Speaker 1>a strip joint. I just, Feel like you should be consistent.

<v Speaker 1>You can't claim to be family-friendly one minute and then

<v Speaker 1>climb into bed with anybody who waves a C-note in

<v Speaker 1>your face in the next. There's a disconnect there. Quavo

<v Speaker 1>is going to be opening the show with a concert.

<v Speaker 1>In his hometown of Atlanta, he's going to be performing

<v Speaker 1>an unreleased track off of his upcoming album. And so

<v Speaker 1>we didn't get the Lil Yachty concert that was rumored,

<v Speaker 1>but we're getting Quavo instead. I may have to tune

<v Speaker 1>into this five minutes late. Lil Yachty, though... is going

<v Speaker 1>to be stepping into the ring for the first time

<v Speaker 1>to go one-on-one with the United States champion Baron Corbin.

<v Speaker 1>And if he can survive, he doesn't have to win.

<v Speaker 1>He just has to survive and last five minutes. Trick

<v Speaker 1>Williams will instantly get a United States championship match. I'm

<v Speaker 1>going to say that he survives the five minutes. Trick

<v Speaker 1>gets the match. If Trick gets the match, he is

<v Speaker 1>winning the title. Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, and Tatum Paxley

<v Speaker 1>are taking on Jade Cargill, Beechin, and Why do I

<v Speaker 1>keep calling her Beechin? Not the first time I've done that.

<v Speaker 1>I'm going to petition for them to just change her

<v Speaker 1>name so I don't have to keep making this mistake.

<v Speaker 1>I want a petition started to change her name to

<v Speaker 1>fucking Beechin. And we'll have Beechin and MeFab. And that

<v Speaker 1>way I can be right from now on instead of

<v Speaker 1>constantly getting it wrong. Jade Cargill, MeChin, and BeFab. My God.

<v Speaker 1>wrong with me Charlotte Alexa and Tatum I'm going to

<v Speaker 1>say end up picking up the win here Obafemi he

<v Speaker 1>collides with Bron Breaker this is a battle for the

<v Speaker 1>future of WWE who is going to be front and

<v Speaker 1>center as the future of this company it's going to

<v Speaker 1>be Obafemi I'm going to go with Bron Breaker to

<v Speaker 1>win this match though with some help from the returning

<v Speaker 1>Bronson Reed and whether or not it's a DQ or

<v Speaker 1>a clean finish or I guess it wouldn't be clean

<v Speaker 1>but whether we get a real finish or a DQ

<v Speaker 1>schmoz type finish I'm going to say Bronson Reed is

<v Speaker 1>back tonight. I've been saying that now for the last

<v Speaker 1>week or so. I haven't checked. I haven't looked to

<v Speaker 1>see what the rumors are so far today. Spoilers for

<v Speaker 1>tonight's show. I have no idea. But I'm going to

<v Speaker 1>say Bronson Reed helps Braun Breaker beat Obafemi. And it's

<v Speaker 1>okay if Obafemi takes a loss to Braun Breaker with

<v Speaker 1>an assist from Bronson Reed. If he takes the L,

<v Speaker 1>it will not kill him. It will only piss him

<v Speaker 1>off and set things up for an Obafemi-Bronson-Reed battle. So

<v Speaker 1>I'm fine with it. And then Cody Rhodes. I presume

<v Speaker 1>this would be the main event. I suppose it could

<v Speaker 1>be Obafemi and Braun Breaker. Maybe they open with Cody

<v Speaker 1>and Randy. But this is the biggest match on the

<v Speaker 1>show in terms of star power. Cody Rhodes one-on-one with

<v Speaker 1>Randy Orton. And of course it would be because it's

<v Speaker 1>a fucking WrestleMania main event rematch. No titles on the

<v Speaker 1>line this time. No Pat McAfee, thank God. Nor do

<v Speaker 1>I believe this will be the last match that we

<v Speaker 1>see between these two men. And since Cody got the

<v Speaker 1>win at WrestleMania, I think that Randy Orton gets the

<v Speaker 1>win here. And then we need the rubber match between them,

<v Speaker 1>probably with some sort of stipulation. But that's how I

<v Speaker 1>think that match is going to be going. And as

<v Speaker 1>of right now, that is the card, as it stands,

<v Speaker 1>for Sunday night's main event. I will be live tonight

<v Speaker 1>on YouTube, so when the show is over, come on

<v Speaker 1>over to the channel and we'll hang out and we

<v Speaker 1>will talk about everything that happens in Atlanta tonight. And

<v Speaker 1>then after, we'll all head over to Magic City. Lap

<v Speaker 1>dances on me. Some AEW news. We have the official

<v Speaker 1>turnstile count, for those of you who care about this

<v Speaker 1>sort of thing, for all in London. This is coming

<v Speaker 1>from the local government, their local organization, Brent Council. 41,102

<v Speaker 1>is the official turnstile count for the show. The turnstile

<v Speaker 1>count or drop count as it was, represents the number

<v Speaker 1>of tickets actually recorded as used for admission. So generally

<v Speaker 1>for wrestling events, the turnstile count that is lower than

<v Speaker 1>the number of tickets sold for said event. WrestleTix estimated

<v Speaker 1>roughly 47,000 tickets distributed for all in this year. That referring,

<v Speaker 1>of course, to the number of tickets sold or given

<v Speaker 1>away for free. So to compare to some of the

<v Speaker 1>recent shows that they've done, the other shows, previous shows

<v Speaker 1>at Wembley, the first one in 2023, the reported attendance

<v Speaker 1>was 81,000. The turnstile count was 72. In 2024, it

<v Speaker 1>was 53,000 announced and the turnstile count came out to 46,000.

<v Speaker 1>For this year, it was 47,000 announced and the turnstile

<v Speaker 1>count was 41. All Great numbers. Obviously, it's gone down

<v Speaker 1>each time since, which you would expect. Still a great number,

<v Speaker 1>but I feel vindicated now. That was my prediction from

<v Speaker 1>months ago when somebody asked me, like in May, what

<v Speaker 1>do you think the show's going to do? I said,

<v Speaker 1>I think 40-ish sounds about right. 40 is attainable. I

<v Speaker 1>didn't think 50 was attainable. Kofi and Creed. We saw

<v Speaker 1>them make their debut at Wembley at All In. They

<v Speaker 1>are now two-thirds of the Trios champions with Swerve Strickland.

<v Speaker 1>They were also guests on the Ariel Helwani show this week.

<v Speaker 1>And they were talking about how their deal came together

<v Speaker 1>and addressing rumors of what led to their departure from

<v Speaker 1>WWE and reports of a 50% pay cut that they

<v Speaker 1>were asked to take. Kofi said, well, that's not entirely accurate.

<v Speaker 1>He says, I don't know exactly what's out there. I

<v Speaker 1>will say it was more than 50%, which a lot

<v Speaker 1>of people don't know. Now, Conrad Thompson said, He was

<v Speaker 1>talking to JR on his Grilling JR podcast, and he

<v Speaker 1>mentioned on the show that he had heard the proposed

<v Speaker 1>pay cut from WWE was a lot more than 50%.

<v Speaker 1>He said, more than 90 days ago when we found

<v Speaker 1>out that New Day was no longer in WWE and

<v Speaker 1>there were lots of rumors and innuendo at the time

<v Speaker 1>that they were offered a 50% pay cut. The rumor

<v Speaker 1>and innuendo that I've heard is that it was actually

<v Speaker 1>a 75% pay cut. And some of that was confirmed

<v Speaker 1>on an interview with Ariel Helwani. Now, they didn't say 75,

<v Speaker 1>but that's the number that I've heard bandied about. Brian

<v Speaker 1>Alvarez later reported that it is not a case where

<v Speaker 1>they were asked to take a 75% pay cut. The

<v Speaker 1>pay cut offered was slightly higher than 50%. He said

<v Speaker 1>that it was exactly what they said it was, which

<v Speaker 1>was just slightly more than 50%. There was an update.

<v Speaker 1>Later on, Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live stated that the

<v Speaker 1>56% pay cut recently revealed by Ridge Holland that he

<v Speaker 1>was asked to take was almost exactly what New Day

<v Speaker 1>was asked to take. Because on Thursday, Ridge had posted

<v Speaker 1>a tweet that said he may have been the first

<v Speaker 1>wrestler to experience the, quote, new TKO version of contract negotiations.

<v Speaker 1>He said, honestly, I think I may have been the

<v Speaker 1>first at 56%. Ouch. So either way, look, whether it

<v Speaker 1>was 56% or 50%, that's a lot of money to

<v Speaker 1>go to someone who I'm sure was making a lot

<v Speaker 1>of money, who's been there for a very long time

<v Speaker 1>and say, hey, not only do we want to reduce

<v Speaker 1>your income, but we want to reduce it by more

<v Speaker 1>than half of what you're currently making. I know what

<v Speaker 1>my response would be, at least in the moment. I

<v Speaker 1>would hope that I would at least have enough sense

<v Speaker 1>to think about what my options were. But I know

<v Speaker 1>in my head what I would be thinking. You could

<v Speaker 1>do with your fucking pay cut. But Woods talked about

<v Speaker 1>the phone call that he received when his pay cut

<v Speaker 1>was first offered. He said he never expected the call

<v Speaker 1>to be bad news when he initially saw the 203

<v Speaker 1>area code pop up on his phone, even though it

<v Speaker 1>was weird because it was coming up as a phone

<v Speaker 1>number and not as someone's name who was programmed into

<v Speaker 1>his phone. But the idea that it would be bad

<v Speaker 1>news just never made any sense to him. He said,

<v Speaker 1>that was the first time that we had the conversation.

<v Speaker 1>We realized like, hey, we got to go. This doesn't

<v Speaker 1>work for us. This is after he and Kofi respectively

<v Speaker 1>got told by WWE that this is what we want

<v Speaker 1>from you guys. And their response was, you know, and

<v Speaker 1>then you could understand why we got to get the

<v Speaker 1>fuck out of here. We can't say yes to this.

<v Speaker 1>He said, this isn't what we want to be doing.

<v Speaker 1>To Kofi's point, we want to work. We want to

<v Speaker 1>be able to have these matches and fulfill these goals

<v Speaker 1>and dreams. And of course, it was always about beyond

<v Speaker 1>just the money or even the idea that, forget the

<v Speaker 1>dollar amount, you want to do what? You want to

<v Speaker 1>cut our pay by 56%? And on top of that,

<v Speaker 1>to do what? So we could be locked in for

<v Speaker 1>another three, four, five years doing what we're doing now,

<v Speaker 1>which is nothing? Because clearly you felt like you've squeezed

<v Speaker 1>all you can out of the fucking sponge and it's

<v Speaker 1>bone dry. And we've been here for a long, long time.

<v Speaker 1>We're not a priority anymore. And that's fine. But if

<v Speaker 1>we're just going to be doing stuff during commercial breaks

<v Speaker 1>and barely working, then why would we resign for less

<v Speaker 1>money to stay and do nothing? What sense does that make? Now,

<v Speaker 1>I'm sure there's a lot that goes into these decisions.

<v Speaker 1>They have a lot of friends and colleagues they've been

<v Speaker 1>working with for years and years, and maybe people they

<v Speaker 1>travel with, and maybe that's important to them. WWE controls

<v Speaker 1>their legacy, especially Kofi, even more than Woods. All professional

<v Speaker 1>footage of Kofi Kingston is owned by WWE because he

<v Speaker 1>basically grew up in that system. He's been there for

<v Speaker 1>20 years, his whole career. All of his championship wins,

<v Speaker 1>all the great matches that he's had, his WrestleMania moment,

<v Speaker 1>all of that is owned by TKO and WWE. And

<v Speaker 1>if you go somewhere else and you're not part of

<v Speaker 1>that family anymore, it's a weird thing where in AEW,

<v Speaker 1>if they wanted to do some sort of retrospective video

<v Speaker 1>on these guys in a few years, it's just going

<v Speaker 1>to be AEW footage, right? Because obviously the two companies

<v Speaker 1>don't play well together. But it's kind of weird knowing

<v Speaker 1>that this other entity that you no longer work for

<v Speaker 1>and have anything to do with basically owns your legacy.

<v Speaker 1>And how important is that to you? These are all

<v Speaker 1>things I'm sure that go through your mind if you're

<v Speaker 1>in the position that they're in. But at the end

<v Speaker 1>of the day, when you really just look at it,

<v Speaker 1>you kind of take a 360-degree view of the entire thing,

<v Speaker 1>they had to leave. They had to leave. There was

<v Speaker 1>no reason for them to stay. Kofi said that while

<v Speaker 1>compensation was definitely a big part, biggest reason they chose

<v Speaker 1>to leave was that they wanted to work and showcase

<v Speaker 1>their skills and the thought of joining that tag team

<v Speaker 1>division was very exciting he said this is very arrogant

<v Speaker 1>to say i'm just gonna say it i don't mean

<v Speaker 1>it in a cocky way but when you have the

<v Speaker 1>career that we've had collectively as a group you feel

<v Speaker 1>like you know what i mean that you would not

<v Speaker 1>have to be in a position where you would have

<v Speaker 1>to go and bet on yourselves again but here we

<v Speaker 1>are or here we were They also said that the

<v Speaker 1>deal with AEW came together less than 24 hours before

<v Speaker 1>All In. I'm sure they were negotiating for days or

<v Speaker 1>weeks in advance of that, but apparently AEW It didn't

<v Speaker 1>really come to fruition. They didn't put pen to paper

<v Speaker 1>on their deals less than 24 hours before that fucking show.

<v Speaker 1>I mean, I don't know what Tony's backup plan would

<v Speaker 1>have been. I mean, he was teasing pretty hard that

<v Speaker 1>Swerve was going to be in that trios match with

<v Speaker 1>a couple of partners. I don't know if he would

<v Speaker 1>have opted to plug the Hurt Syndicate in there because

<v Speaker 1>who else would he have put in that spot? The

<v Speaker 1>Machine Guns? I mean, the whole thing seemed tailor-made for

<v Speaker 1>a New Day debut. So if they couldn't get the

<v Speaker 1>deal done at the last second, I don't know what

<v Speaker 1>he would have done. The whole gauntlet, the whole match,

<v Speaker 1>wasn't really a gauntlet, I guess, but the whole match

<v Speaker 1>was built around these guys showing up. So, I mean,

<v Speaker 1>that could have been a disaster. But the thing they

<v Speaker 1>also said they really like about this new deal is

<v Speaker 1>the fact that they can wrestle for other promotions. Creed said,

<v Speaker 1>we can jump around and do some other things. So

<v Speaker 1>we have opportunities to go to other places and wrestle people.

<v Speaker 1>So that fact, that tag team wrestling is all across

<v Speaker 1>the world is something that is really exciting to us.

<v Speaker 1>And Kofi said, everything is on the table. I'm still

<v Speaker 1>getting used to being able to have so much freedom

<v Speaker 1>to be able to just do what we want to do.

<v Speaker 1>So like Austin said, there's opportunities aplenty, as you see

<v Speaker 1>with a lot of the AW wrestlers doing all kinds

<v Speaker 1>of things on the roster and then internationally as well.

<v Speaker 1>I don't remember who the promotion was that he was

<v Speaker 1>wrestling for, but somewhere in Africa, he was wrestling. He

<v Speaker 1>was the champion there in Africa somewhere. You know what

<v Speaker 1>I mean? So the possibilities are endless. And yeah, it's

<v Speaker 1>very exciting to have those opportunities. I don't remember if

<v Speaker 1>he was referring to Creed or somebody else when he

<v Speaker 1>mentioned that. But you could tell how excited they are

<v Speaker 1>to just have the freedom to say, man, we want

<v Speaker 1>to work with this team. Maybe in this indie or something, right?

<v Speaker 1>Now we can do that. Because all of these promotions

<v Speaker 1>would love to work with these guys. So... At that point,

<v Speaker 1>it's not even about the money, I think, as much

<v Speaker 1>as it is, like, we just think it would be

<v Speaker 1>really cool to work here or work with these guys.

<v Speaker 1>And they're not tied down specifically just to the AEW roster.

<v Speaker 1>But the AEW roster has such a rich tag team

<v Speaker 1>division right now that if they worked nowhere else, they

<v Speaker 1>would still have plenty of teams to work with. Speaking

<v Speaker 1>of contracts, we have some contract news on the former

<v Speaker 1>acclaimed Anthony Bowens and Max Caster. Anthony Bowens specifically, his

<v Speaker 1>AEW contract is reportedly set to expire very soon. According

<v Speaker 1>to Fightful, on Tuesday, Bowens' contract is set to expire

<v Speaker 1>on October 1st. The report comes a little under a

<v Speaker 1>month after Fightful also reported that Bowens' longtime partner in

<v Speaker 1>the acclaimed Max Caster's deal was set to expire around

<v Speaker 1>October as well. Fightful reports that they have not learned

<v Speaker 1>if discussions on a new deal have begun. Bowens has

<v Speaker 1>been wrestling as part of the Ops. And he did

<v Speaker 1>wrestle on the all-in buy-in at Wembley Stadium last Sunday

<v Speaker 1>where he, Action Andretti, Hook, and Katsuyori Shibata lost to

<v Speaker 1>Lio Rush and the Rascals. Caster has not wrestled for

<v Speaker 1>AEW since December. He's wrestled for House of Glory more

<v Speaker 1>recently than he's wrestled for AEW. But these guys, former

<v Speaker 1>AEW Tag Team Champions, they were super over at one point.

<v Speaker 1>And it was as if Tony Khan just kind of

<v Speaker 1>lost interest in doing more with them. They had that moment.

<v Speaker 1>And then after that, it was kind of like on

<v Speaker 1>to the next. And then they broke them up and

<v Speaker 1>they tried to do different things with them. And they

<v Speaker 1>had different ideas, I'm sure, for what they wanted to do.

<v Speaker 1>And I can't imagine that they were very happy. in

<v Speaker 1>the position that they were in. Now, Bowens, again, was

<v Speaker 1>added to the ops a number of months ago, and

<v Speaker 1>it's something, I guess, it's more than what they're doing

<v Speaker 1>with Max Castor, which is nothing. With Castor, it definitely

<v Speaker 1>feels like they're just running out the clock on him.

<v Speaker 1>With Bowens, it feels like they're at least trying something different,

<v Speaker 1>but they're not trying in a way that gives you

<v Speaker 1>the impression that he's kind of earmarked for any kind

<v Speaker 1>of singles push. And I'm sure that's what he's itching for.

<v Speaker 1>He's just itching for an opportunity to go out there

<v Speaker 1>and work programs with different people, and show what he

<v Speaker 1>can really do on his own. And now he's just

<v Speaker 1>a face in the crowd. He's part of a faction

<v Speaker 1>with other members. They have a ways to go if

<v Speaker 1>they want to catch up to the Don Callis family. But, yeah,

<v Speaker 1>I don't know if he would have re-signed with AEW

<v Speaker 1>that his position is going to change much from what

<v Speaker 1>it is now. But I also can't sit here and say, oh, man,

<v Speaker 1>he really should go to WWE because would he be

<v Speaker 1>going to WWE as a single? Would he be going

<v Speaker 1>to WWE, let's say, caster also? His contract expires. Would

<v Speaker 1>they bring them in together as a tag team? You know,

<v Speaker 1>there have been reports that they're interested in rebuilding their

<v Speaker 1>tag team division. I don't buy it. I'd like to

<v Speaker 1>think that they would see the value in doing so.

<v Speaker 1>But until I see evidence of this, I'm not going

<v Speaker 1>to buy it. So if you're a tag team, you're

<v Speaker 1>going to WWE, it's 50-50. You know, you're taking a

<v Speaker 1>real risk if you think that you're going to go

<v Speaker 1>there and there's going to be some big tag team

<v Speaker 1>renaissance in that company. Even as a singles though. I

<v Speaker 1>don't know. I don't know that WWE would see the

<v Speaker 1>value in him as a single star in a way

<v Speaker 1>that would be satisfactory to him. I don't know. I

<v Speaker 1>can't get in his head. But it's tough. I don't know.

<v Speaker 1>As a fan, I'm watching this and I'm reading about

<v Speaker 1>this and I'm like, where would I rather see these guys?

<v Speaker 1>Just re-sign with AEW and they're not going to be

<v Speaker 1>one of the more featured teams in that division. It's

<v Speaker 1>so stacked. Maybe take the chance and go somewhere else.

<v Speaker 1>He could always end up in a worse position, but

<v Speaker 1>maybe it's worth it to take that risk because I

<v Speaker 1>just don't see them going anywhere in AEW. And by

<v Speaker 1>the way, that doesn't have to be WWE. It could

<v Speaker 1>be TNA. The options are limited in terms of the

<v Speaker 1>big promotions. WWE would make sense. NXT, if they put

<v Speaker 1>them in NXT, maybe they could do some stuff down

<v Speaker 1>there for a while. That's where Santana is right now

<v Speaker 1>in Zilla. So maybe that could work. In AEW, they're

<v Speaker 1>not going anywhere. Dynamite on Wednesday was the Aftermath edition

<v Speaker 1>coming out of All in Wembley, which was a better

<v Speaker 1>post-pay-per-view episode than a lot of the ones they've done

<v Speaker 1>this year. The main event had Will Ospreay teaming with

<v Speaker 1>Andrade and members of the United Empire in a win

<v Speaker 1>over The Demand and The Dawgs. And when the match

<v Speaker 1>was over, Jon Moxley and Will Ospreay, they ended up

<v Speaker 1>in the ring alone together. Moxley and the Death Riders

<v Speaker 1>had come out as part of some big post-match brawl.

<v Speaker 1>But it was Ospreay and Moxley. And then at the

<v Speaker 1>same time, they glanced up at the big screen, and

<v Speaker 1>they both looked very surprised at what they saw, which

<v Speaker 1>was a match graphic for a championship match at All

<v Speaker 1>Out in Chicago later this month with Ospreay defending the

<v Speaker 1>title against Jon Moxley. That is how we found out

<v Speaker 1>about the main event at All Out. And Moxley's eyes

<v Speaker 1>got real wide like he was shocked and he slowly

<v Speaker 1>backed away from Osprey. Reality set in like, okay, this

<v Speaker 1>is official now. This is happening. Obviously, there's been a

<v Speaker 1>lot of history between these two. The way they did it,

<v Speaker 1>I guess going for that shot of them being shocked

<v Speaker 1>is what they were going for. And I thought it

<v Speaker 1>was effective. I wouldn't say it was the most ideal

<v Speaker 1>way to announce what your pay-per-view main event is going

<v Speaker 1>to be out of the blue like that. But... Moxley

<v Speaker 1>has a win on pay-per-view this year over Will Osprey.

<v Speaker 1>That was always unresolved. Osprey never really did get his revenge. Instead,

<v Speaker 1>he just linked up with him. He linked up with

<v Speaker 1>the Death Riders, and they took him under their wing,

<v Speaker 1>and it led to him ultimately winning the championship at

<v Speaker 1>the biggest show of the year right in front of

<v Speaker 1>all these people at Wembley Stadium in his home country.

<v Speaker 1>He got what he wanted. He got what he worked

<v Speaker 1>so hard for, and now it could all be taken

<v Speaker 1>away from the guy who helped get him there. This

<v Speaker 1>is going to be Ospreay's opportunity to get that win

<v Speaker 1>back and do the one thing that nobody else has

<v Speaker 1>been able to do all year in this company, which

<v Speaker 1>is beat Jon Moxley. Clearly, they have been saving it

<v Speaker 1>for this moment with Will Ospreay. Mercedes Monet is the

<v Speaker 1>new women's champion coming out of the pay-per-view. She beat

<v Speaker 1>Willow Nightingale, who I guess is going to be nursing

<v Speaker 1>her broken hand until she's cleared to come back. She

<v Speaker 1>came out, Mercedes did, for a celebration. Tekla was in

<v Speaker 1>the crowd. She crashed the party. We got not even

<v Speaker 1>a back and forth. It was just Tecla cutting a

<v Speaker 1>promo on her. Tecla's great. Very entertaining. And they didn't

<v Speaker 1>make the announcement, but they certainly led you to believe

<v Speaker 1>that we are going to be getting a Mercedes and

<v Speaker 1>Tecla match probably at All Out for the Women's Championship.

<v Speaker 1>And if so, that's a match I'd love to see.

<v Speaker 1>I hope we do get the match on that show.

<v Speaker 1>Now Mercedes made news for a different reason this week.

<v Speaker 1>Because Dave Meltzer made a comment on his end coming

<v Speaker 1>out of All In. referring to Mercedes Monet as the greatest,

<v Speaker 1>and I'm paraphrasing here, but it was the greatest, I

<v Speaker 1>believe he said, American women's wrestler of all time. Well,

<v Speaker 1>before Dave said a word, I said as much on

<v Speaker 1>my live stream that night when I did my all-in review,

<v Speaker 1>and I thought that match was excellent between Mercedes and Willow,

<v Speaker 1>and I've seen enough great Mercedes Monet matches, not just

<v Speaker 1>from her WWE run, but ever since she left the company,

<v Speaker 1>and not just in AEW either, but also independent promotions

<v Speaker 1>and overseas in Japan. She's had so many great matches.

<v Speaker 1>She's done all kinds of things and won all kinds

<v Speaker 1>of championships and accolades. If that is something that's important

<v Speaker 1>to you, everybody has their own criteria for who they

<v Speaker 1>think is the best and why and what matters most

<v Speaker 1>to you. Is it the, is it the complete package?

<v Speaker 1>Is it more the in ring? Is it the accomplishments,

<v Speaker 1>which are great, but I mean, again, it's, it's a work.

<v Speaker 1>So like, You can't just say, well, because this person

<v Speaker 1>won 30 championships, they're the best of all time. I mean,

<v Speaker 1>it's a work, bro. It's a work, bro. Okay, there's

<v Speaker 1>got to be more that goes into it than just

<v Speaker 1>a bunch of phony accomplishments. More than the championships. It's

<v Speaker 1>the work. It's the output. Whether it's on the mic.

<v Speaker 1>It could be right promos are important to people. It

<v Speaker 1>could be in the ring. Whatever it may be. Everybody

<v Speaker 1>has their own criteria. It's a very subjective thing. The

<v Speaker 1>comment that I made was, Mercedes is the best that

<v Speaker 1>I've ever seen. All due respect to all those great

<v Speaker 1>Joshi wrestlers that have come out of Japan, some of

<v Speaker 1>whom have been able to break through here in the States,

<v Speaker 1>many who have not. You'll hear a lot of the

<v Speaker 1>same names, whether it's Mayu Iwatani or Aja Kong or

<v Speaker 1>Manami Toyoda. I mean, we can go on and on

<v Speaker 1>with all the great wrestlers to come out of Japanese

<v Speaker 1>women's wrestling. All due respect to them. And there's a

<v Speaker 1>great one who got over pretty well here in the States,

<v Speaker 1>by the way, named Io Skye, I think is still

<v Speaker 1>one of the best wrestlers in the entire world right now.

<v Speaker 1>Mercedes Monet is the best women's wrestler that I have

<v Speaker 1>ever seen. That's what I said a week ago on

<v Speaker 1>Sunday in my review when I was talking about All In.

<v Speaker 1>Dave made his comment at some point during the week,

<v Speaker 1>and then in the Observer, I think it might have

<v Speaker 1>been Observer Radio, he expanded on it even more when

<v Speaker 1>he was talking about consideration for the Wrestling Observer Hall

<v Speaker 1>of Fame. He said that she's the first person ever

<v Speaker 1>to hold the WWE, CMLL, New Japan, and AEW championships,

<v Speaker 1>which again, I also pointed that out on my end

<v Speaker 1>when I did my review. But he said she's the

<v Speaker 1>first woman to have ever competed at the Tokyo Dome

<v Speaker 1>as well as Madison Square Garden and Wembley Stadium and

<v Speaker 1>Arena Mexico, all of which are like meccas in the

<v Speaker 1>world of pro wrestling. So where it becomes very impressive

<v Speaker 1>is not just talking about how many championships someone has won.

<v Speaker 1>Those are the kinds of accomplishments that I think are

<v Speaker 1>even more impressive. When you can say that you've won championships...

<v Speaker 1>in all of these different places, all of these big,

<v Speaker 1>important places, and you've also been able to work all

<v Speaker 1>of these different iconic venues, that is impressive. And there's

<v Speaker 1>a reason why not a lot of people have been

<v Speaker 1>able to do that. And in the case of the women,

<v Speaker 1>nobody has been able to do that. But he was

<v Speaker 1>talking about this in terms of the Observer Hall of Fame,

<v Speaker 1>and he mentioned something that I hadn't even thought of.

<v Speaker 1>I wasn't even aware of this, which is that Japanese

<v Speaker 1>women have been voted into the Hall of Fame. No

<v Speaker 1>American woman has ever been voted into the Wrestling Observer

<v Speaker 1>Hall of Fame. And again, to point out for people

<v Speaker 1>who are like, well, who cares about the Observer Hall

<v Speaker 1>of Fame? Dave is not the one voting on the

<v Speaker 1>Hall of Fame, right? It's contemporaries and fans and other people.

<v Speaker 1>And some people put more value on that Hall of

<v Speaker 1>Fame than they do the WWE Hall of Fame. But

<v Speaker 1>I hadn't realized that no American woman had ever been

<v Speaker 1>voted in. And in a way, it kind of makes sense,

<v Speaker 1>I guess, if the criteria has a lot to do

<v Speaker 1>with drawing power. How many women, American women, have there

<v Speaker 1>been that have been proven drawing cards? Like, if you

<v Speaker 1>just want to look at it from a purely business perspective,

<v Speaker 1>it's probably a very short list. However, part of that

<v Speaker 1>may also be the fact that up until a number

<v Speaker 1>of years ago, at least in a big company like WWE,

<v Speaker 1>and AEW didn't even exist at that time, there was

<v Speaker 1>no great emphasis on women's wrestling in WWE. TNA had

<v Speaker 1>a good thing going there for a while with the

<v Speaker 1>knockouts division, but TNA is very small. Their impact, no

<v Speaker 1>pun intended, their impact is going to be small overall

<v Speaker 1>when it comes to that sort of thing. And I

<v Speaker 1>can't imagine that somebody who did well in the knockouts

<v Speaker 1>division and nowhere else is going to suddenly be voted

<v Speaker 1>into various halls of fame. You need the bigger promotions, i.e. WWE,

<v Speaker 1>to see the value in women's wrestling and make it

<v Speaker 1>a priority in some way. They didn't really start to

<v Speaker 1>do that, honestly, until 2015, 2016. And it can be

<v Speaker 1>a self-fulfilling prophecy in that regard. Well, there haven't been

<v Speaker 1>any great drawing women's cards. Yeah, but you got to

<v Speaker 1>put them in a position to become that. And they

<v Speaker 1>really didn't do that for the longest time. Becky Lynch,

<v Speaker 1>I think, is someone who is absolutely in that conversation

<v Speaker 1>because Becky was not only the biggest star in the

<v Speaker 1>women's division for a period of time, she was one

<v Speaker 1>of the biggest stars legitimately in the entire company. And

<v Speaker 1>they did give her some main events, like pay-per-view main

<v Speaker 1>events and TV main events, and she won championships and

<v Speaker 1>she was getting a lot of television time and Was

<v Speaker 1>she creating new fans? Yeah, quite possibly. And probably inspiring

<v Speaker 1>a whole generation of women to become wrestlers who may

<v Speaker 1>have only become fans when Becky Lynch got hot. Becky

<v Speaker 1>Lynch will go down as a Hall of Fame-worthy women's

<v Speaker 1>wrestler who spent the majority of her career in WWE.

<v Speaker 1>So when I look at that and I compare her

<v Speaker 1>to someone like Mercedes, right? Two of the four horsewomen.

<v Speaker 1>People will say to me, and they did this the

<v Speaker 1>other day when I responded to... Someone mentioned what Dave said,

<v Speaker 1>and I just reiterated it. I said, well, yeah, I

<v Speaker 1>agree with Dave. I said as much on my end.

<v Speaker 1>And you should have seen these comments. And it was

<v Speaker 1>a mix of people who agreed with me and then

<v Speaker 1>people who respectfully disagreed with me and then people who,

<v Speaker 1>of course, just don't know how to conduct themselves civilly

<v Speaker 1>and really showed their ass and were just acting like

<v Speaker 1>a bunch of fucking morons. So it was a nice

<v Speaker 1>eclectic mix on X, as you usually get. Get the

<v Speaker 1>fuck out of here. You're doing drugs. Mercedes isn't even

<v Speaker 1>in the top 25. Again, just dumb dipshit comments like that.

<v Speaker 1>But the point is, if you were going to say, well,

<v Speaker 1>Becky Lynch was better on promos. Mercedes has never cut

<v Speaker 1>a great promo in her life. I'm not going to

<v Speaker 1>sit here and tell you that Mercedes is a better

<v Speaker 1>promo than Becky Lynch. I'm not going to sit here

<v Speaker 1>and try to argue that Mercedes... cut any memorable promos

<v Speaker 1>in AEW that I could even point out to you.

<v Speaker 1>It's not her strong suit, right? She's not the worst

<v Speaker 1>at it, but no, she doesn't stand out in the

<v Speaker 1>way that someone like Becky does. To be perfectly honest

<v Speaker 1>with you, though, how many great female promos can you

<v Speaker 1>rattle off off the top of your, and I mean

<v Speaker 1>great female promos who they, I mean, the way they work,

<v Speaker 1>the mic is as good as anybody that you'll see, right?

<v Speaker 1>I would absolutely put Becky in that category, but it's

<v Speaker 1>going to be a very short list. You're not going

<v Speaker 1>to have this robust list of the top 10, 15,

<v Speaker 1>20 women's promos of all time. It doesn't exist. Becky

<v Speaker 1>stands out in that regard. And Becky has also had

<v Speaker 1>some great matches. She's had some great matches. But I

<v Speaker 1>also look at it, and this is just me, I

<v Speaker 1>look at it and go, what Mercedes has been able

<v Speaker 1>to do. is she has put together a very impressive

<v Speaker 1>body of work and a very impressive list of matches

<v Speaker 1>that don't just include WWE. It's not just limited to

<v Speaker 1>one company. And I do think that that hurts Becky

<v Speaker 1>in that regard. If Becky is only great in WWE,

<v Speaker 1>it leaves the question of, well, would she have been

<v Speaker 1>great if she went somewhere else? I think she probably

<v Speaker 1>would have. I think if you dropped her right now

<v Speaker 1>in the AEW women's division, she would tear it up

<v Speaker 1>with a lot of the women on that roster. Absolutely, right?

<v Speaker 1>But that's not going to happen. People will make the

<v Speaker 1>same argument, by the way, when that day comes for

<v Speaker 1>Kenny Omega. And if they think Kenny Omega is the

<v Speaker 1>greatest wrestler of all time, but man, he never went

<v Speaker 1>to WWE. He never went to like the biggest company

<v Speaker 1>and got to work with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins

<v Speaker 1>and CM Punk and all of these different people. So

<v Speaker 1>there'll always be that question mark. And that's fair. And

<v Speaker 1>that may factor into where you rank him all time

<v Speaker 1>once he's retired and he's done. Because he never went

<v Speaker 1>to WWE. But I also consider that when it comes

<v Speaker 1>to some of these women because Charlotte Flair, right? Same thing.

<v Speaker 1>Only in WWE. Mercedes was able to leave. She left

<v Speaker 1>the bubble. And she didn't wilt. She went out there

<v Speaker 1>and she's had killer matches everywhere she's gone. Whether it's

<v Speaker 1>the US or Japan or Mexico. CMLL, New Japan, AEW,

<v Speaker 1>it doesn't fucking matter. Everywhere she's gone, she's had these

<v Speaker 1>great matches. From the very first big match I saw

<v Speaker 1>her have in NXT, which I had the pleasure of

<v Speaker 1>being there for, her and Bayley, what they were able

<v Speaker 1>to do that night in Brooklyn at TakeOver was fucking amazing.

<v Speaker 1>The story leading up to the match, that character, that

<v Speaker 1>underdog babyface character that Bayley was portraying at that time

<v Speaker 1>with the pigtails and everything, and Sasha being the big

<v Speaker 1>bully that she was, And it all comes to a

<v Speaker 1>head in that match in Brooklyn at TakeOver. And they

<v Speaker 1>just had this incredible match. And the crowd was hanging

<v Speaker 1>on to every fucking thing that they did. It was

<v Speaker 1>so great. A lot of the matches they had were great.

<v Speaker 1>To me, nothing will ever top that Brooklyn TakeOver match

<v Speaker 1>that they had, though. And that was just NXT. That

<v Speaker 1>was before either of them even made it to the

<v Speaker 1>main roster. And once they did, Sasha went on to

<v Speaker 1>have great matches with Becky. and with Charlotte. I remember

<v Speaker 1>her pulling one of Ronda Rousey's better matches out of

<v Speaker 1>her when they wrestled at the Royal Rumble that one year.

<v Speaker 1>But then to be able to leave, and I didn't

<v Speaker 1>even mention, by the way, the WrestleMania main event with

<v Speaker 1>Bianca Belair. And I don't want to hear, well, it

<v Speaker 1>was night one, it doesn't count, right? Fuck off. She

<v Speaker 1>was in one of the WrestleMania main events, and they

<v Speaker 1>had an excellent match. But then to leave the company

<v Speaker 1>and have matches with, again, whether it's Stephanie Vicaire, Chris Statlander,

<v Speaker 1>Willow Nightingale, Toni Storm, and then some of the people

<v Speaker 1>that she's wrestled in Japan and in Mexico. When I

<v Speaker 1>look at her body of work on the women's side,

<v Speaker 1>she is the best that I have ever seen. And

<v Speaker 1>I stand by that. I haven't changed my mind. And

<v Speaker 1>until somebody else comes along and proves me wrong, I'm

<v Speaker 1>not going to change my mind. That is how I feel.

<v Speaker 1>If you feel differently, congratulations. I'm happy for you. You

<v Speaker 1>don't have to like her. You don't even have to

<v Speaker 1>agree with it. But to post a comment as, and

<v Speaker 1>there were some like this that I saw that said, oh,

<v Speaker 1>she's not even in the top 20 or the top

<v Speaker 1>50 or her matches are all boring. Like, I can't

<v Speaker 1>take you seriously. Because if you're not going to argue

<v Speaker 1>in good faith, I cannot take you seriously. But there

<v Speaker 1>were a lot of people who made valid points about, well,

<v Speaker 1>you know, I just think that Becky or this person

<v Speaker 1>was better in this regard. I think one thing that also,

<v Speaker 1>by the way, works to her advantage is the fact

<v Speaker 1>that she's the youngest of the four horse women you

<v Speaker 1>know charlotte i believe is the oldest i think she

<v Speaker 1>was born in 86 86 or 87 i think uh

<v Speaker 1>mercedes was born in 92 so she's still what is

<v Speaker 1>she 33 34 years old and as long as she

<v Speaker 1>could stay healthy and wants to continue to do this

<v Speaker 1>i have no idea for how long she wants to

<v Speaker 1>wrestle but there's a a lot of runway left for

<v Speaker 1>her To go out there and continue to have great

<v Speaker 1>matches and continue to build up her resume to where

<v Speaker 1>she's only going to get better, you would think. And

<v Speaker 1>think about how young she would have been then in

<v Speaker 1>NXT when her and Bayley went out there and had

<v Speaker 1>that match that they had. And the fact that she's

<v Speaker 1>still only 34, right? I mean, that's pretty impressive when

<v Speaker 1>you consider what she's done and what she could yet do.

<v Speaker 1>I didn't even mention the matches that she's had with Athena,

<v Speaker 1>who has now publicly expressed her desire to become a

<v Speaker 1>full-time roster member on the AEW roster. And she wants

<v Speaker 1>to go after all the championships. She talked to the

<v Speaker 1>Dallas Morning News about her desire to be on the

<v Speaker 1>roster full-time. And she talked about her women's championship run

<v Speaker 1>in Ring of Honor that has now lasted over 1,360 days.

<v Speaker 1>She said, it's finally time for me to make that

<v Speaker 1>forever as well. I feel like I've given the world

<v Speaker 1>to Ring of Honor. I've given years of my career

<v Speaker 1>being the forever champion. I've given so much to the

<v Speaker 1>longest reigning champion in the modern day era, the most

<v Speaker 1>violent champion of the era. But when it comes to me,

<v Speaker 1>I want to do more with AEW. So this means more.

<v Speaker 1>I want to be the AEW Women's Champion. I want

<v Speaker 1>to be the TBS Champion. I want to be the

<v Speaker 1>AEW Tag Team Champion to show the world that everything

<v Speaker 1>I've done, holding a whole company on my back, Climbing

<v Speaker 1>to the top of the mountain with it was all

<v Speaker 1>worth it. I agree. I don't think there's much more

<v Speaker 1>I can add to that. This is something that should

<v Speaker 1>have happened a long time ago, and I don't know

<v Speaker 1>why it hasn't. But now she's out there publicly telling

<v Speaker 1>Tony Khan, hey, look, I'm right here. I sure would

<v Speaker 1>love it if you could, you know, put me in

<v Speaker 1>there with the women on the main roster here in

<v Speaker 1>AEW so I could work with them and prove how

<v Speaker 1>great I am there. I think she's more than earned

<v Speaker 1>that right. Let's make that happen. Other news and notes

<v Speaker 1>on the women's front. Actually, Tessa Blanchard. This is a

<v Speaker 1>very interesting situation here. Tessa Blanchard, it was reported, officially

<v Speaker 1>signed with MLW. And she talked to TMZ Sports herself

<v Speaker 1>and made the announcement. This is coming from her. This

<v Speaker 1>is not some random rumor. MLW then announced that Tessa

<v Speaker 1>would make her debut at their Fightland event coming up

<v Speaker 1>on September 12th. So speaking with TMZ's Inside the Ring,

<v Speaker 1>Blanchard talked more about her upcoming debut. She said, well,

<v Speaker 1>first of all, I think MLW's women's division, it's one

<v Speaker 1>of the best kept secrets in wrestling. They continuously have

<v Speaker 1>great matches. They have great workers. They have real depth

<v Speaker 1>within the division. I've been watching here from Mexico City.

<v Speaker 1>I pay attention to all of our alliances, whether it's AEW,

<v Speaker 1>New Japan, Stardom, MLW, RevPro. I watch all of it.

<v Speaker 1>I love wrestling. You got to study your craft. I

<v Speaker 1>think What's been missing from MLW is a franchise, a

<v Speaker 1>name that the division is built around. This division was

<v Speaker 1>built and now the franchise, well, I'm here. That's exactly

<v Speaker 1>why I'm here. Every step of this division's growth, it's

<v Speaker 1>been leading to this. My goal in MLW, it's actually

<v Speaker 1>very simple. I want to make the MLW Women's Championship

<v Speaker 1>the number one women's title in wrestling. Not just one

<v Speaker 1>of them, but the one. I think that I'm more

<v Speaker 1>than capable of doing it. I've gone against some of

<v Speaker 1>the biggest names in pro wrestling, male or female. I've

<v Speaker 1>had A company built around me before, but there's been

<v Speaker 1>a lot of noise about where I'm going to land.

<v Speaker 1>That noise exists because people already know what MLW is missing.

<v Speaker 1>I didn't come to MLW to join a division, but

<v Speaker 1>I'm going to go there to define one and help build.

<v Speaker 1>And then when she was asked if she would continue

<v Speaker 1>working for CMLL, she said yes. She called MLW her

<v Speaker 1>second home. She said, well, 100% CMLL. It's my home.

<v Speaker 1>I feel like MLW is just going to be A

<v Speaker 1>second home for me. I'm going to continue to work

<v Speaker 1>in Mexico City, live in Mexico City. If anything, I

<v Speaker 1>think that this is just going to be a huge

<v Speaker 1>plus because all of the success that I have in MLW,

<v Speaker 1>I can take that with me to CMLL and vice versa.

<v Speaker 1>If anything, it just strengthens both alliances. I'm so excited

<v Speaker 1>for that. Well, CMLL later issued the following statement. Regarding

<v Speaker 1>Tessa Blanchard's participation in MLW, CMLL states that the agreement

<v Speaker 1>between the parties is strictly limited to her participation in

<v Speaker 1>the September 12th event and does not include any additional

<v Speaker 1>commitments or the opportunity to compete for any championship. Therefore,

<v Speaker 1>there is no agreement between Tessa Blanchard, MLW and CMLL

<v Speaker 1>that extends beyond this appearance. Well, that took a turn.

<v Speaker 1>Since then... PW Insider reports that the article touting her

<v Speaker 1>debut and the roster page listing for Tessa on the

<v Speaker 1>MLW website have all been scrubbed. They're not there anymore,

<v Speaker 1>so it looks like that September 12th debut may not

<v Speaker 1>even be happening after all. This just reads to me

<v Speaker 1>like one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing.

<v Speaker 1>Tessa Blanchard and some sort of controversy. Find me two

<v Speaker 1>things that go together better, outside of Ric Flair and

<v Speaker 1>a Bloody Mary. All right, mailbag time. If you want

<v Speaker 1>to email me, go ahead and do so, thesolomonster at gmail.com.

<v Speaker 1>When you do, please make sure you include your name

<v Speaker 1>and where you are writing from. Andy is a longtime listener.

<v Speaker 1>He sent this in. This put a smile on my face.

<v Speaker 1>I got your 15-year anniversary shirt, and I'm past due

<v Speaker 1>for a new one. Anyway, my wife is a preschool

<v Speaker 1>teacher and a big fan of yours, so I surprised

<v Speaker 1>her with your mom's book for the class. I also

<v Speaker 1>got a book specifically for a little boy who requested

<v Speaker 1>one about dinosaurs. After she read both books to the class,

<v Speaker 1>he asked if his favorite dinosaur would be able to

<v Speaker 1>get to the farm. So cute. Hardy the Horse was

<v Speaker 1>a big hit. I thought you would like to know

<v Speaker 1>and just wanted to give you and Mama Monster a

<v Speaker 1>huge thank you. Well, Andy, I loved reading that. That

<v Speaker 1>was awesome. I'm glad that the book is still being

<v Speaker 1>spread around. Now, the book has been donated to different libraries.

<v Speaker 1>There have been different readings in classrooms. People send me

<v Speaker 1>an email or like a photo every now and then.

<v Speaker 1>even still. And I love hearing that, and I'm very

<v Speaker 1>happy that you were able to share that. And again,

<v Speaker 1>if anybody wants to check out a hardcover copy of

<v Speaker 1>The Adventure of Hardy the Horse, it is still up

<v Speaker 1>on Amazon. You can go check that out. Moli from Toronto.

<v Speaker 1>I don't know if this is really a question, but

<v Speaker 1>after Will Ospreay's entrance at All In, we've seen so

<v Speaker 1>many different WrestleMania entrances using different vehicles, or coming up

<v Speaker 1>from the ground, or down from the ceiling, like Undertaker

<v Speaker 1>and Shawn Michaels, or being played out by live bands.

<v Speaker 1>But Ospreay's walk was so simple, just him walking past

<v Speaker 1>his friends and foes, basically his journey to this moment.

<v Speaker 1>It proves that less really is more. It was one

<v Speaker 1>hell of an entrance, the best I've ever seen. Well,

<v Speaker 1>I said that on Sunday as well in my review,

<v Speaker 1>right at the top. I said it was probably the

<v Speaker 1>greatest wrestling entrance that I've ever seen, and there have

<v Speaker 1>been some cool entrances. But the way they did this

<v Speaker 1>one from then again, the narration by his mom, the

<v Speaker 1>music they were able to get the rights to starting

<v Speaker 1>from the locker room, showing him with his friends and

<v Speaker 1>then walking by kind of the ghosts of his past.

<v Speaker 1>And then Moxley being the last person to come in

<v Speaker 1>there at the very end that he hands him the flag.

<v Speaker 1>And only then did his entrance music kick in. That

<v Speaker 1>was like, that was just the first half of the entrance.

<v Speaker 1>Then the entrance music kicked in and everybody went nuts

<v Speaker 1>and he goes out there 45,000 plus at Wembley. And

<v Speaker 1>it was just, It was a spectacular entrance. It really

<v Speaker 1>was big, big time fight feel for it. And Kenny

<v Speaker 1>had a great one too, but none better than the

<v Speaker 1>one that Osprey had. Uh, Chris from Cleveland. I'm huge. Uh,

<v Speaker 1>I'm a huge Chad Gable fan. It's such a fantastic

<v Speaker 1>wrestler and it's criminal. It took them all these years

<v Speaker 1>to give him a push. He was perfect for the

<v Speaker 1>El Grande Americano character and masked versus mask is the

<v Speaker 1>match of the year. They absolutely had to do the

<v Speaker 1>baby face turn. It was a great moment, but let's

<v Speaker 1>be honest. Chad Gable is so good and so much

<v Speaker 1>better as a heel. It just feels like he is

<v Speaker 1>a square peg in a round hole being a babyface. Again,

<v Speaker 1>the babyface turn was epic, necessary, and fantastic, but he

<v Speaker 1>needs to turn heel before WrestleMania at the latest. I

<v Speaker 1>think he's a great heel, but I think he could

<v Speaker 1>also be a great babyface. I think that it's tough

<v Speaker 1>sometimes for people to, when you have somebody who kind

<v Speaker 1>of comes off as very, you know, vanilla, right? Because

<v Speaker 1>as a babyface, he's not able to show that charisma

<v Speaker 1>as much. So he is limited in that regard. But

<v Speaker 1>he's such a great babyface that I hesitate to say

<v Speaker 1>that he should be turned back heel anytime soon. I

<v Speaker 1>do think at some point he'll be a heel again.

<v Speaker 1>And him being a heel is better in some regards.

<v Speaker 1>But you've got to ride this babyface run out as

<v Speaker 1>long as you can. Now, if you see evidence that

<v Speaker 1>it's not working, if the fans turn on him in

<v Speaker 1>some of his feuds and side with the other guy

<v Speaker 1>or the crowd reactions change or they're not reacting at all,

<v Speaker 1>then you may have to pivot and make some kind

<v Speaker 1>of change. But otherwise, I wouldn't be in any kind

<v Speaker 1>of rush to turn him back heel. He was heel

<v Speaker 1>for years, literally years, doing the Alpha Academy stuff and

<v Speaker 1>being a bully and all that stuff. You've got to

<v Speaker 1>let this babyface run play itself out. He's only been

<v Speaker 1>a babyface since June. So, yeah, I don't think that

<v Speaker 1>you need to rush him back as a heel. Even

<v Speaker 1>if it does make him a little more interesting, I guess.

<v Speaker 1>that i'm not saying you're wrong but i think he's

<v Speaker 1>doing well as a babyface i think he's going to

<v Speaker 1>go to mexico city tomorrow or not tomorrow but uh

<v Speaker 1>next monday and again he's he's going in there the

<v Speaker 1>last we saw him there the fans They took to

<v Speaker 1>him in a way that was very cool to see

<v Speaker 1>after booing him and wanting to kill this man. They

<v Speaker 1>embraced him. So that first time for him back in

<v Speaker 1>Mexico City is going to be something special. And he

<v Speaker 1>doesn't get reactions like that in the States every single week.

<v Speaker 1>But I think he's doing fine so far. I would

<v Speaker 1>not be giving up on the Chad Gable babyface turn

<v Speaker 1>this soon. Again, it's crazy to me. He's been a

<v Speaker 1>babyface for a handful of months now. John from Staten Island.

<v Speaker 1>There's been a lot of talk of nepo babies in wrestling. Yeah,

<v Speaker 1>I agree. Can we stop with that? Can we put

<v Speaker 1>a moratorium on that? Because when you keep going back

<v Speaker 1>to that well, eventually somebody is going to call them

<v Speaker 1>nympho babies and it's going to turn into a meme. Oh, wait.

<v Speaker 1>He says, who are some of the best second or

<v Speaker 1>third generation wrestlers and who are some of the worst? Now,

<v Speaker 1>I think it's important to make the distinction here, and

<v Speaker 1>I'm not saying that John, I'm not addressing this to

<v Speaker 1>you specifically, but it's important to make the distinction. Being

<v Speaker 1>a second or third generation wrestler does not make you

<v Speaker 1>a nepo baby. For anyone out there who thinks that

<v Speaker 1>they're one and the same, they're not. It's a derogatory term.

<v Speaker 1>As a second or third generation star, okay, I'll address

<v Speaker 1>that aspect of the question. There's too many to name

<v Speaker 1>because there's been so many great second and third generation wrestlers.

<v Speaker 1>The Rock. Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Bret Hart, Owen Hart,

<v Speaker 1>Randy Savage, Randy Orton, Kurt Hennig, Charlotte Flair, right? I mean,

<v Speaker 1>there's lots of others. In terms of the worst ones,

<v Speaker 1>the two names that always come to mind, and you'll

<v Speaker 1>probably find them on most lists, I would imagine, are

<v Speaker 1>David Flair and Eric Watts. Flair being the son of

<v Speaker 1>Ric Flair... Eric Watts being the son of the promoter,

<v Speaker 1>Bill Watts. David Sammartino was another. Lacey Von Erich was

<v Speaker 1>fucking terrible. I'm sorry, but she was. Jason Jordan was

<v Speaker 1>very good, but let's be honest, he was nothing like

<v Speaker 1>his dad, Kurt Angle. Michael from Long Island. Do you

<v Speaker 1>think that they would do a Dark Side of the

<v Speaker 1>Ring episode on Bray Wyatt, even though Bray had that documentary?

<v Speaker 1>They could include the things that WWE did not include

<v Speaker 1>or go in-depth about Vince changing the finishes to have

<v Speaker 1>The Fiend lose to Goldberg and lose to Randy Orton

<v Speaker 1>at WrestleMania and maybe combine it with Brodie Lee. I

<v Speaker 1>think your second point more so, I could see them

<v Speaker 1>maybe doing some sort of combined Wyatt episode one day.

<v Speaker 1>Two very sad stories, two very premature passings. Doing a

<v Speaker 1>standalone one on Bray, probably not anytime soon, but if

<v Speaker 1>you combine the two, you kind of combine their two

<v Speaker 1>stories and what happened there at the end, I think

<v Speaker 1>that they could do something like that. Not season eight,

<v Speaker 1>but maybe if the show is still going, like a

<v Speaker 1>season nine or a season ten or something, I could

<v Speaker 1>see that. Nicholas, also from Long Island, New York. Maybe

<v Speaker 1>your neighbor's. You didn't specify, though, which one of you

<v Speaker 1>was in Nassau County and if one of you was

<v Speaker 1>Suffolk County. You're a New York person. If you know,

<v Speaker 1>you know. I can't believe it's been 16 years since

<v Speaker 1>the wrestling world lost Lance Cade at the age of 29.

<v Speaker 1>I often remember WWE being very high on the guy,

<v Speaker 1>making him tag champs with Trevor Murdoch and even paired

<v Speaker 1>him with Chris Jericho in 2008. Do you have any

<v Speaker 1>memories of Lance Cade's time in wrestling? Could he have

<v Speaker 1>been a notable name in the business world? If he

<v Speaker 1>did not have his issues, and would you be interested

<v Speaker 1>in Vice maybe doing a Dark Side of the Ring

<v Speaker 1>on the guy? I mean, me personally, I wouldn't be

<v Speaker 1>overly interested in it, but I think he absolutely would

<v Speaker 1>qualify for a Dark Side of the Ring episode. Do

<v Speaker 1>I think he could have been a notable name in

<v Speaker 1>the business if he didn't have his issues? He had

<v Speaker 1>the tools. Like you said, they were very high on him.

<v Speaker 1>He was very athletic. He can cut a promo. From

<v Speaker 1>what I remember, he was pretty good on promos. So yeah,

<v Speaker 1>I think he could have been, I can't tell you

<v Speaker 1>how far I think he would have gotten. It's impossible

<v Speaker 1>to know, but I think he could have done a

<v Speaker 1>hell of a lot more than he did, for sure.

<v Speaker 1>As far as, you know, do I have any memories

<v Speaker 1>of his time in wrestling? I mean, outside of some

<v Speaker 1>stuff he did in WWE, like you said, with Murdoch,

<v Speaker 1>I don't have any memories of Lance Cade. You know,

<v Speaker 1>I mean, it didn't, he didn't stand out to me

<v Speaker 1>in that respect as someone where it's like he had

<v Speaker 1>this body of work or these matches that he had. Like, no,

<v Speaker 1>there was nothing like that because he never had the chance.

<v Speaker 1>He just, he didn't live long enough and have that

<v Speaker 1>kind of success to where he could have achieved that.

<v Speaker 1>Which is sad because I think, again, if he had

<v Speaker 1>lived longer and didn't have his demons and his issues,

<v Speaker 1>I think he absolutely could have been a star. John

<v Speaker 1>from Kentucky, every year the same names for potential Dark

<v Speaker 1>Side of the Ring episodes come up. I would love

<v Speaker 1>to see episodes on Bob Sweetan. child molester of his

<v Speaker 1>own daughter. Hardbody Harrison, sex cult leader. Danny Hodge, the

<v Speaker 1>most accomplished amateur wrestler besides Kurt Angle to participate in

<v Speaker 1>pro wrestling and coincidentally also broke his neck. And finally,

<v Speaker 1>Grandmaster Sexay, Brian Christopher. You had me on all of

<v Speaker 1>them except Danny Hodge. What the hell did Danny Hodge

<v Speaker 1>do to get thrown into a dark side of the

<v Speaker 1>ring conversation? Moli sent this one in. I meant to

<v Speaker 1>include this with Moli's other question. This one was from

<v Speaker 1>a little while ago, but I'll read it here. Who

<v Speaker 1>do you think recently or right now have an amazing

<v Speaker 1>rivalry where both of them can flip-flop and they can

<v Speaker 1>both play the protagonist and antagonist at any time? For example,

<v Speaker 1>Swerve and Hangman. I wouldn't call it amazing, but right

<v Speaker 1>now CM Punk and Kevin Owens. You could easily flip

<v Speaker 1>their roles between babyface and heel, and I think it

<v Speaker 1>would work just as well. And then I'll throw this

<v Speaker 1>one at you. Obafemi and Jacob Fatu. I feel the

<v Speaker 1>same way. If one of them was a heel and

<v Speaker 1>one of them was a babyface, I feel like if

<v Speaker 1>you flip it, it could still be as great. Chris

<v Speaker 1>from Northern New Jersey. I was thinking about Will Ospreay

<v Speaker 1>on this all-in weekend, and I went back to the

<v Speaker 1>first time I saw an Ospreay match. I forget the year,

<v Speaker 1>but I believe it was... In ROH New Japan pay-per-view

<v Speaker 1>Global Wars, he had an amazing match against J. White.

<v Speaker 1>I didn't know any of these guys yet, but the

<v Speaker 1>crowd was electric. The match ended with Punishment Martinez, whom

<v Speaker 1>we know today as Damian Priest, coming in and pummeling

<v Speaker 1>both men. The crowd hated it. Now it appears Priest

<v Speaker 1>is turning heel. And so my question is, what would

<v Speaker 1>you rather see Priest do? I think main event on

<v Speaker 1>SmackDown is stacked right now, but I could see him

<v Speaker 1>having a solid program against Trick Williams. after he wins

<v Speaker 1>the U.S. title back, or I could see him go

<v Speaker 1>to Mexico and be a big bad over there to

<v Speaker 1>feud with El Grande Americano. Yeah, I mean, I guess

<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't mind that either. I don't watch the AAA

<v Speaker 1>shows weekly, so if he disappeared from SmackDown and went

<v Speaker 1>to AAA, I would barely see him. So that doesn't

<v Speaker 1>do anything for me. Do I think it could work?

<v Speaker 1>I think for like a brief period of time, maybe

<v Speaker 1>like a handful of months, and then you bring him back, sure,

<v Speaker 1>it could work. As far as SmackDown and what you

<v Speaker 1>would do with him if you turned him heel, he

<v Speaker 1>did have a face-to-face with, it was Cody, right? Because

<v Speaker 1>it was before Punk won the belt. I don't know

<v Speaker 1>that he went face-to-face with Punk yet backstage. But I

<v Speaker 1>remember him and Cody having a face-to-face in the back.

<v Speaker 1>And that was when he was teasing potentially coming after

<v Speaker 1>the championship. And he still hasn't done that. So you

<v Speaker 1>still have a babyface WWE champion, at least for now.

<v Speaker 1>If he goes heel, you could build him up for

<v Speaker 1>a match with CM Punk and do something with Punk

<v Speaker 1>and Priest. Priest and Punk. It kind of works. So, yeah,

<v Speaker 1>I mean, that's a direction you could build towards. If

<v Speaker 1>you want to start him out a little bit lower, yeah,

<v Speaker 1>you could do him in trick for the U.S. title.

<v Speaker 1>I think that's fine. Josh from California. Do you think

<v Speaker 1>if they kept Batista as a surprise entrant in the

<v Speaker 1>Rumble that the fans would not have soured on him

<v Speaker 1>so fast? Obviously, we know it was Daniel Bryan's year.

<v Speaker 1>But do you think the fans would have at least

<v Speaker 1>accepted Batista more had they just let him be a

<v Speaker 1>surprise and not announced him a few weeks in advance

<v Speaker 1>on Raw? I think his initial reaction would have been

<v Speaker 1>a lot more positive, like coming out, because people would

<v Speaker 1>have been shocked. If you could have genuinely kept that

<v Speaker 1>under wraps, he would have gotten the initial... It's like

<v Speaker 1>John Cena when he came back at the Rumble in 08.

<v Speaker 1>And the thing with him was, everybody would boo. But

<v Speaker 1>when they hit his music in number 30, they lost

<v Speaker 1>their shit. But then when he got to the ring,

<v Speaker 1>they remembered, like, oh, we hate this guy. And they

<v Speaker 1>started booing again. It was the funniest thing. Being there

<v Speaker 1>in the building was very surreal for that moment. But

<v Speaker 1>it was the funniest thing. With Batista, it would have

<v Speaker 1>been the same thing, where I think his initial response

<v Speaker 1>coming out would have been huge. But I think him winning,

<v Speaker 1>it still would not have been well-received. Like you said,

<v Speaker 1>it was Daniel Bryan's year. Many of those fans invested

<v Speaker 1>in him. They spent months... He was the ultimate underdog.

<v Speaker 1>He was screwed over. People were fed up with it.

<v Speaker 1>They were sending a message to WWE. That doesn't change

<v Speaker 1>if Batista comes back as a surprise or if Batista

<v Speaker 1>is announced four weeks in advance. I think the end

<v Speaker 1>result is still the same. Darren from Newark, New Jersey.

<v Speaker 1>We know that since 1993, the winner of the Royal

<v Speaker 1>Rumble gets a world championship match at WrestleMania. If this

<v Speaker 1>was introduced in 1988... Who wins those rumbles from 88

<v Speaker 1>to 92? Does history slightly change or not at all?

<v Speaker 1>Not the people who won. In 88, they took the

<v Speaker 1>title of Hogan the following month and held it up

<v Speaker 1>in a tournament because he was leaving to go film

<v Speaker 1>No Holds Barred, right? So Savage won the title. So

<v Speaker 1>It wouldn't have made sense for Savage to win the

<v Speaker 1>Rumble or Andre since he was challenging Hogan for the

<v Speaker 1>belt a few weeks later. Unless you have Andre win

<v Speaker 1>the Rumble to earn a shot at Hogan on NBC. See,

<v Speaker 1>that would have made more sense. Otherwise, if you don't

<v Speaker 1>want to do that, I would say Ted DiBiase wins

<v Speaker 1>the Rumble for the WrestleMania shot. And then when the

<v Speaker 1>title gets held up, Jack Tunney rules that DiBiase gets

<v Speaker 1>an automatic shot at the winner of the, he's not

<v Speaker 1>even in the tournament. He gets an automatic shot at

<v Speaker 1>the winner of the tournament that night. So he's fresh

<v Speaker 1>as a daisy coming into that main event. Savage, he

<v Speaker 1>wins the tournament to challenge DiBiase, having already wrestled three

<v Speaker 1>matches that night. And he pulls it out in the

<v Speaker 1>end by beating DiBiase with the assist from Hogan, right?

<v Speaker 1>Something along those lines. In 89, it would have been Hogan.

<v Speaker 1>In 90, it would have been Warrior. In 91, I

<v Speaker 1>think it would have been Hogan again. And 92 stays

<v Speaker 1>the same with Flair winning the title because you don't

<v Speaker 1>fuck with the 1992 Royal Rumble. Marlon from Fort Worth, Texas.

<v Speaker 1>With this Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes feud still going,

<v Speaker 1>I feel like there's a missing piece to the puzzle.

<v Speaker 1>Ted DiBiase. I know he was acquitted of his legal issues,

<v Speaker 1>but I do believe he was in attendance at WrestleMania

<v Speaker 1>this year. Since Orton has to win this next match

<v Speaker 1>because Cody won at Mania, I don't think WWE is

<v Speaker 1>going to have Orton beat Cody clean. So in my opinion,

<v Speaker 1>this would be the perfect opportunity to tie everything together,

<v Speaker 1>add that missing piece, and give Cody an escape goat.

<v Speaker 1>Do you think? An escape goat. Give Cody an escape goat.

<v Speaker 1>That's a weird expression. I've heard of scape goat. I

<v Speaker 1>don't know that I've heard it used that way before. Anyway,

<v Speaker 1>this really just bewildered me. Do you think WWE has

<v Speaker 1>spent these past four months since WrestleMania investing in Ted

<v Speaker 1>DiBiase getting back into shape so he could potentially cost

<v Speaker 1>Cody the match against Randy Orton? I really like this

<v Speaker 1>idea because it could create an entirely new story for Cody.

<v Speaker 1>When Legacy was originally going, I always assumed DiBiase would

<v Speaker 1>ultimately benefit from the group more than Cody. That could

<v Speaker 1>become a storyline itself with Ted essentially saying that he

<v Speaker 1>was the chosen one, not Cody. What do you think

<v Speaker 1>about this idea? Well, Marlon, you sound a hell of

<v Speaker 1>a lot more excited about this idea than I am.

<v Speaker 1>Because I have no interest in seeing Ted DiBiase Jr.

<v Speaker 1>back in WWE. Nor do I think he's going to

<v Speaker 1>have anything to do with this match. I'm sorry to

<v Speaker 1>burst your bubble. I would not watch this show tonight

<v Speaker 1>with the expectation that Ted DiBiase is going to have

<v Speaker 1>anything to do with this. And he was at Mania

<v Speaker 1>because he wanted to go to Mania. I don't know

<v Speaker 1>that he was invited to go. I think he bought

<v Speaker 1>a ticket and went. But there was no... There were

<v Speaker 1>no photos from backstage of a legacy reunion and him

<v Speaker 1>meeting and greeting everybody. I think he bought a ticket

<v Speaker 1>like everybody else and was acting like he was some

<v Speaker 1>special guest. No, I don't have any interest in that.

<v Speaker 1>I know what you're trying to say and trying to

<v Speaker 1>tie it all together with their history, but DiBiase was

<v Speaker 1>someone they pushed for a period of time. The reason

<v Speaker 1>that it didn't work is because he wasn't the guy

<v Speaker 1>for that spot. And there was nothing he did during

<v Speaker 1>that initial run, which was so long ago, by the way.

<v Speaker 1>It was a long time ago. He's a lot older now.

<v Speaker 1>I mean, all these guys are older, but he's been

<v Speaker 1>out of the game now for so long that the

<v Speaker 1>idea of him suddenly coming back and having this new

<v Speaker 1>renaissance and this new career for himself, it ain't going

<v Speaker 1>to happen. It ain't going to happen, and I have

<v Speaker 1>no interest in seeing it. George from Manchester, between Zilla

<v Speaker 1>Fatu and Avery Stiles, who do you think will be

<v Speaker 1>the bigger star in terms of Royal Rumble wins, championships,

<v Speaker 1>and WrestleMania main events? I have no idea. I have

<v Speaker 1>no idea. All I can tell you is that right

<v Speaker 1>now Zilla is a bigger star than Avery because Avery

<v Speaker 1>just started. Talk to me in two years when Avery

<v Speaker 1>Stiles is actually in a position where we can look

<v Speaker 1>back at what he's done. He's done nothing so far.

<v Speaker 1>He signed with TNA. He signed with TNA. He should

<v Speaker 1>be working indies is what he should be doing. He

<v Speaker 1>should be working for different independent promotions. He can come

<v Speaker 1>on into Hawk. He can go anywhere he wants to

<v Speaker 1>go and really start to build his name. What little

<v Speaker 1>I've seen of him is very impressive, but I think

<v Speaker 1>that's the route that he should take beyond just whatever

<v Speaker 1>he's going to be doing in TNA to really get

<v Speaker 1>that experience and get in the ring with different people

<v Speaker 1>from all kinds of backgrounds and of all shapes and

<v Speaker 1>sizes and really just kind of build up his name.

<v Speaker 1>That's what his dad did, right? When his dad was younger,

<v Speaker 1>his dad was working independent promotions and not just TNA,

<v Speaker 1>but he was working all over the place and making

<v Speaker 1>a name for himself. And that's what he needs to do.

<v Speaker 1>Zilla has already sort of followed that blueprint. I think

<v Speaker 1>most people expected he would eventually end up in WWE.

<v Speaker 1>So he's exactly where everybody thought he would be. But

<v Speaker 1>he hit the independent scene, whether it was for us

<v Speaker 1>or whether it was for, you know, Booker T's reality

<v Speaker 1>of wrestling or fourth rope promotions or GCW or any

<v Speaker 1>of these places that he worked. And he just slowly

<v Speaker 1>but surely built up his name over the last three, three,

<v Speaker 1>three and a half years or so. He popped up

<v Speaker 1>on NXT in week one and got a superstar reaction.

<v Speaker 1>People already knew who he was. So right now, if

<v Speaker 1>you force me to give you an answer, I'm going

<v Speaker 1>to say Zillow fought too. But I have very little

<v Speaker 1>to go on when it comes to Avery Styles. And

<v Speaker 1>I can't tell you how many fucking Royal Rumbles the

<v Speaker 1>guy's going to win. I mean, come on now. All right,

<v Speaker 1>there's a few other questions and actually one interesting story.

<v Speaker 1>Shout out to Ty. I'm going to tie this up

<v Speaker 1>and I'm going to save this for next week. We're

<v Speaker 1>going to cut this off here because I got to

<v Speaker 1>go get some stuff done before Sunday night's main event tonight.

<v Speaker 1>We'll pick back up with this next week. Keep emailing me. Again,

<v Speaker 1>I will be live on YouTube tonight as soon as

<v Speaker 1>the show is over. So hopefully you will be able

<v Speaker 1>to join me there. I'll be live with you this week.

<v Speaker 1>Also after Raw on Monday night, tomorrow night. Brand new

<v Speaker 1>episode of the Uncrowned Wrestling Show coming your way on Tuesday.

<v Speaker 1>Make sure you are subbed. If not to the Uncrowned

<v Speaker 1>Wrestling Show feed, then to the Ariel Helwani Show feed

<v Speaker 1>because the show pops up there as well. Brand new

<v Speaker 1>Tuesday Night Titans coming over on JD's channel on Tuesday night.

<v Speaker 1>Dynamite post show on Wednesday. And then we have a

<v Speaker 1>big Mexico City Smackdown coming up this Friday. with the

<v Speaker 1>WWE Championship on the line, CM Punk defending against Sami Zayn.

<v Speaker 1>So there's going to be a lot of content this week.

<v Speaker 1>I appreciate all of your support. I will see you

<v Speaker 1>back here next Sunday for more Sound Off. That'll be

<v Speaker 1>episode 980. So until then, be well, stay safe, have

<v Speaker 1>yourselves a great rest of your week, and I will

<v Speaker 1>see you even before 980 tonight for the Sunday night's

<v Speaker 1>main event review. Until then, take care, guys. the solid

<v Speaker 1>monster sounds off so that announcement brought out cody rhodes

<v Speaker 1>who ran out to the ring jacketless cody was all

<v Speaker 1>fired up he did that thing that he does where

<v Speaker 1>he gets very angry and he screams enough enough that's

<v Speaker 1>his thing now like a like a substitute school teacher

<v Speaker 1>when the class is just out of control enough enough

<v Speaker 1>he tried to sound all tough like he's gonna he's

<v Speaker 1>gonna whoop that ass enough Enough! See, Cody doesn't say

<v Speaker 1>it as deeply as that. It's just not, it's not

<v Speaker 1>intimidating enough. That's the problem. Like, I can see, like,

<v Speaker 1>if he had, you know, his kid or whatever is

<v Speaker 1>misbehaving at home and just, you know, he starts yelling, Enough!

<v Speaker 1>I have had absolutely enough! The kid probably looks at

<v Speaker 1>him and just laughs and walks away. Enough! The Salamonster

<v Speaker 1>sounds off. Bringing you the good, the bad, and the ugly.

<v Speaker 1>Check out the weekly live streams, bonus content for subscribers,

<v Speaker 1>and follow the Salamonster on Facebook, Instagram, and X. The Salamonster.