<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 fighting 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 982 of the Salamonster Sounds

<v Speaker 1>Off for Sunday, September 27th. 2026. I am the Solemn Monster.

<v Speaker 1>Happy to have made it back to New York without

<v Speaker 1>my flight getting canceled yesterday. I was so worried about

<v Speaker 1>this storm, this Nor'easter that was battering the East Coast

<v Speaker 1>the last few days. It's been wet. It's been windy.

<v Speaker 1>But actually, right now, it's actually very calm. So it's

<v Speaker 1>not as bad as they were projecting it to be.

<v Speaker 1>But I made it back after the House of Glory

<v Speaker 1>show on Friday night in Chicago. Windy City Warfare. With

<v Speaker 1>Killer Kross returning to take on Charles Mason, two psychopaths

<v Speaker 1>beating the living daylights out of each other. We had

<v Speaker 1>the return of the Motor City Machine Guns. We had

<v Speaker 1>Raheem Royal doing another absolutely ridiculous dive off the balcony.

<v Speaker 1>Tempting fate every single time. Shotzi Blackheart, Nikki Cross, they

<v Speaker 1>had a fun match for the HOG Women's Championship. Lio

<v Speaker 1>Rush and Gringo Loco had a very weird match. A

<v Speaker 1>solid match, but a weird match for the Cruiserweight Championship.

<v Speaker 1>And we even had a surprise appearance by Hook. Got

<v Speaker 1>some AEW versus WWE Evolve action going on there against

<v Speaker 1>Aaron Rourke. So again, we had that and a lot more.

<v Speaker 1>It was a fun night. I saw that the stream was,

<v Speaker 1>I don't know if it's already at or nearing 60,000

<v Speaker 1>strong on YouTube. It'll be over that soon. But if

<v Speaker 1>you want to see the full show or even just

<v Speaker 1>parts of the show, the full stream is up right

<v Speaker 1>now on the official House of Glory YouTube channel. We

<v Speaker 1>also have another show coming up very soon. Actually, not

<v Speaker 1>this coming Friday, but the following Friday, October 9th, we're

<v Speaker 1>back in New York City. The Psycho Killer is coming

<v Speaker 1>to HOG. Tommaso Ciampa, who had a fucking great match

<v Speaker 1>with Okada that I'm going to talk about here in

<v Speaker 1>a little bit, last night at All Out. Also on

<v Speaker 1>that show, the Motor City Machine Guns will be making

<v Speaker 1>their New York City return. And we'll have more to

<v Speaker 1>announce in the upcoming weeks. So, HOGRestling.net for tickets. I also,

<v Speaker 1>on this trip, by the way, I knocked off the

<v Speaker 1>first Avengers movie. And I knocked off Thor, the Dark World.

<v Speaker 1>So I got two more Marvel movies as part of

<v Speaker 1>my Marvel Madness marathon before Doomsday. I will say the

<v Speaker 1>first Avengers was great. I did see the Avengers many

<v Speaker 1>years ago. I had very little memory of the movie.

<v Speaker 1>Literally the only thing I remembered about seeing that first

<v Speaker 1>Avengers movie, when it initially came out, it popped me,

<v Speaker 1>was the scene in the building, in the tower, with

<v Speaker 1>Hulk and Loki. Where he is just smashing him back

<v Speaker 1>and forth like he's nothing. Like back and forth, back

<v Speaker 1>and forth. That got a laugh out of me. But

<v Speaker 1>I remembered nothing else about this movie. It was like

<v Speaker 1>I was going into it for the very first time.

<v Speaker 1>And I remember what I loved about it. I thought

<v Speaker 1>it was great. I gave it four and a half

<v Speaker 1>stars out of five. Same score I gave the Batman.

<v Speaker 1>But the Thor sequel, that was pretty bad. I gave

<v Speaker 1>that two stars. I hope Ragnarok is better when I

<v Speaker 1>get to it. I was going to go live for

<v Speaker 1>the all-out review last night. I came home yesterday. I

<v Speaker 1>was exhausted. And then I realized that the pay-per-view was

<v Speaker 1>starting at 8 p.m. I mean, the pre-show started at 7,

<v Speaker 1>but I thought the pay-per-view was starting at 7. I

<v Speaker 1>thought they were continuing this pattern. I guess it's not

<v Speaker 1>a pattern. They did it once for redemption. And then

<v Speaker 1>all-in was at a much earlier time because of the

<v Speaker 1>time zone difference. But I thought Tony Khan was going

<v Speaker 1>to stick with the earlier start time. He didn't. And

<v Speaker 1>I was like, yeah, I'm not doing this because I

<v Speaker 1>know exactly when this show is going to end. And

<v Speaker 1>there's no way I'm staying up for this. So I

<v Speaker 1>watched the show. I mean, I ended up being up

<v Speaker 1>late anyway, working on my notes and stuff. But I

<v Speaker 1>said it'll be a lot better if I just save

<v Speaker 1>it for the sound off tomorrow. So you're going to

<v Speaker 1>get my full all-out review here from last night's pay-per-view.

<v Speaker 1>I got some thoughts from SmackDown on Friday. I just

<v Speaker 1>fully caught up with SmackDown this morning from Friday night.

<v Speaker 1>And a fun segment. Talking about this year's PWI 500 rankings.

<v Speaker 1>I go over them every year. The top 10, not

<v Speaker 1>the full 500. and a few others of note, so

<v Speaker 1>we'll have some fun with that. Someone who did not

<v Speaker 1>have any fun last night, well, I mean, other than

<v Speaker 1>Sting's son, I'll have more on that in a bit,

<v Speaker 1>was Joseph Sawyer, the former Joe Gacy of the Wyatt Six,

<v Speaker 1>who just signed with TNA alongside Samuel Shaw or Dexter Loomis.

<v Speaker 1>I mean, they literally just debuted on television Thursday night.

<v Speaker 1>They jumped the Hardys. Gacy is also the GCW world champion.

<v Speaker 1>He got hurt at their show last night in Cincinnati.

<v Speaker 1>And it happened during an open challenge against Jeffrey John,

<v Speaker 1>the people's babushka. After taking a cannonball in the corner,

<v Speaker 1>Sawyer immediately rolled out of the ring. You can find

<v Speaker 1>the clip. It's on social media. He immediately rolled out

<v Speaker 1>of the ring. He started limping. He was very weird.

<v Speaker 1>He's walking into the crowd, and then he sat down

<v Speaker 1>on the floor. He pulled his knee pad down to

<v Speaker 1>show his knee. He got back up. Again, he's kind

<v Speaker 1>of walking back and forth. Referee goes over to check

<v Speaker 1>on him, make sure he's okay. And even his opponent

<v Speaker 1>came up to him. And I don't know what's going

<v Speaker 1>on here as I'm watching this. And then he took

<v Speaker 1>the microphone. He's sitting on the apron. And he's saying,

<v Speaker 1>you know, he might be done for months. And then

<v Speaker 1>he got in some fan's face. And then he just

<v Speaker 1>left in the middle of this match. Now, this was

<v Speaker 1>his second match of the night. He had just defended

<v Speaker 1>the championship in an open challenge against Jazzy Yang. And

<v Speaker 1>so this was match number two. But he just left.

<v Speaker 1>And so he posted on social media later in the night,

<v Speaker 1>he said, to clear the air, yes, I did get hurt. No,

<v Speaker 1>I didn't finish the match. I tried to get feeling

<v Speaker 1>back in my knee to see if I could continue,

<v Speaker 1>and sadly, I couldn't. Luckily, it seems like it isn't

<v Speaker 1>anything that will put me out for an extended period

<v Speaker 1>of time. So yes, I think I'll be okay for now.

<v Speaker 1>And then this morning, he tweeted again and said, actually

<v Speaker 1>walking better already this morning. Thank you to everybody that

<v Speaker 1>reached out. He didn't say if you might have to

<v Speaker 1>miss any dates or anything like that. Obviously, if he did,

<v Speaker 1>The timing couldn't be worse for him. I mean, with

<v Speaker 1>the TNA debut, and again, he's the GCW champion, but

<v Speaker 1>having just debuted for another promotion on TV in a

<v Speaker 1>program with Matt and Jeff Hardy, this would not be

<v Speaker 1>the ideal time for him or his partner for him

<v Speaker 1>to go down with an injury. At least that update

<v Speaker 1>sounded more optimistic, so hopefully it turns out to be

<v Speaker 1>nothing serious. If you would like to make a PayPal

<v Speaker 1>donation and support the podcast, as I know many of

<v Speaker 1>you do every single week, and I appreciate the hell

<v Speaker 1>out of you for it, you may do so on thesolidmonster.com.

<v Speaker 1>You'll see the PayPal link at the top of the page.

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

<v Speaker 1>shout-out here on the show. Like the Portland pop star

<v Speaker 1>Paul Hamilton, Big B Brian Becerra, the Diamond Dallas Dance

<v Speaker 1>Machine Harrison Soep, still dancing away, Velvet Revolver Robert Murray,

<v Speaker 1>the Chicago Slayer, Willie Eichert, I had the chance to

<v Speaker 1>see Willie again and catch up with him and Mama

<v Speaker 1>Eichert on Friday at the HOG show. Always a fun time.

<v Speaker 1>The Georgia Nightmare, Timothy Tillis. Left Hook, Luke Hyams. Recon,

<v Speaker 1>Russell Boulware. Killshot, Keith Hart. Jackpot, Jarqual Ware. Thank you,

<v Speaker 1>my friend. And H dropped a dono as well. We're

<v Speaker 1>dropping some H here on the podcast. I don't know

<v Speaker 1>when House of Glory is coming to the UK yet.

<v Speaker 1>I will say there seem to be enough of you

<v Speaker 1>guys that they're always asking me about it that I

<v Speaker 1>think we probably would do well there. Although the travel,

<v Speaker 1>it might be a little cost prohibitive. But I'm not

<v Speaker 1>too worried if we do make our way over there

<v Speaker 1>one day that we won't have a decent audience there

<v Speaker 1>because I get a lot of questions about that. hopefully

<v Speaker 1>one day, and maybe we could do a meetup. We

<v Speaker 1>could do a SoundOff meetup. That's one thing I have

<v Speaker 1>not been able to do. I've had SoundOff meetups over

<v Speaker 1>the years in a lot of different states and different places,

<v Speaker 1>but never in the UK. I've never been there before.

<v Speaker 1>So I think that would be cool. He did want

<v Speaker 1>to know if AEW had its own Hall of Fame,

<v Speaker 1>who would be my first inductees? And he said, tags

<v Speaker 1>count as one. Now, he listed six of them. I

<v Speaker 1>don't know if he wants six for me. So if

<v Speaker 1>that's what you're looking at here, in no particular order,

<v Speaker 1>How do you not go with Chris Jericho and the EVPs?

<v Speaker 1>Like right out of the gate, right? Cody Rhodes, although

<v Speaker 1>I can understand why they might not want to put

<v Speaker 1>Cody in right now, but Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, the

<v Speaker 1>Young Bucks, Jericho, they're a given. That would be four.

<v Speaker 1>Then you've got Jon Moxley, who in many ways is

<v Speaker 1>the ace of this company, and Sting. I don't know

<v Speaker 1>that I would be putting in six really huge names, though,

<v Speaker 1>all at once in that first class. I would want

<v Speaker 1>to spread some of those bigger names out. Maybe let

<v Speaker 1>Moxley headline the following year or something. You can induct

<v Speaker 1>Brodie Lee in that first class. Anyway, that's what I

<v Speaker 1>would do. And a quick happy birthday to Chris from Bethlehem.

<v Speaker 1>Robo Solo is on vacation, but I hope 41 treats

<v Speaker 1>you well, my friend. I hope you have a great

<v Speaker 1>birthday this week. So let's get into the AEW stuff.

<v Speaker 1>Because I did watch AEW All Out last night. They

<v Speaker 1>were sold out at the NOW Arena in Chicago with

<v Speaker 1>more than 9,400 fans in attendance. I thought All Out

<v Speaker 1>was a good show. Maybe very good even, but not

<v Speaker 1>at the level of their great shows. There were four

<v Speaker 1>matches that I thought were very, very good. The ladder match,

<v Speaker 1>the women's tag team street fight, the trios title match,

<v Speaker 1>and Okada Champa. And it's not like there was anything

<v Speaker 1>that was overly bad, although I was not a big

<v Speaker 1>fan of that main event. But AEW sets a high

<v Speaker 1>bar with their pay-per-views, and so I judged them accordingly.

<v Speaker 1>This was a few steps below last year's All Out.

<v Speaker 1>But still, four great matches, three of which were tags,

<v Speaker 1>by the way. We had one title change. We had

<v Speaker 1>one very scary injury and a vignette for the return

<v Speaker 1>of a former champion, former TNT champion in Wardlow. There's

<v Speaker 1>a name I bet you haven't heard in a very

<v Speaker 1>long time. If this guy didn't have bad luck, he

<v Speaker 1>would have no luck at all. He has not wrestled

<v Speaker 1>a match in two and a half years. The last

<v Speaker 1>time Wardlow wrestled was against Samoa Joe for the AEW

<v Speaker 1>World Championship. That was the big business show they did

<v Speaker 1>in Boston. That was the night Mercedes Monet debuted in

<v Speaker 1>the company. That's how long it's been. Then they brought

<v Speaker 1>him back last year at Forbidden Door. He joined the

<v Speaker 1>Don Callis family. He attacked Swerve Strickland. In so doing,

<v Speaker 1>he tore his peck. We have not seen him since. Actually,

<v Speaker 1>that's not true. I think he was standing in the

<v Speaker 1>background on Dynamite the following week. After that, he disappeared.

<v Speaker 1>We haven't seen him since. And they didn't say where

<v Speaker 1>or when he would be coming back. It was a teaser, basically.

<v Speaker 1>It was a very generic video hyping his return. Will

<v Speaker 1>he even still be part of the Don Callis family

<v Speaker 1>when he comes back? Probably. I mean, Brian Cage was

<v Speaker 1>another one. He joined the Callis family, right? He was

<v Speaker 1>gone for a while, came back, and they slotted him

<v Speaker 1>right back in there. So unless they want to do, look,

<v Speaker 1>they could always do something where they kind of reunite

<v Speaker 1>him and MJF. I don't know what storyline sense that

<v Speaker 1>would make considering their past issues and how MJF treated

<v Speaker 1>him before or that MJF even needs him. I just

<v Speaker 1>bring that up if they wanted to do something different

<v Speaker 1>and not have him in the Callis family and MJF

<v Speaker 1>right now is, is this, you know, he's disappeared. We

<v Speaker 1>don't know when we're going to see him again. That's

<v Speaker 1>always a possibility. My guess is he'll end up back

<v Speaker 1>in the Callis family and hopefully he can stay fucking

<v Speaker 1>healthy this time. I mean, it's, it's just crazy how

<v Speaker 1>there was a point in time and we're talking years

<v Speaker 1>ago now, not even months, years ago, where a lot

<v Speaker 1>of people, myself included, thought, man, this guy's got like

<v Speaker 1>top star potential. You know, he can talk. things he

<v Speaker 1>can do in the ring. He's very agile. You know,

<v Speaker 1>it's not like he's, you know, got two left feet

<v Speaker 1>or he's boring to watch. Like, you know, he, he

<v Speaker 1>could be in there and have good wrestling matches. So

<v Speaker 1>it's just a matter of putting all the pieces together

<v Speaker 1>and giving him the opportunity. And maybe one day he

<v Speaker 1>could be a world champion in this company. And then

<v Speaker 1>he just got snake bitten, you know, and, and it,

<v Speaker 1>you could really trace it all the way back to

<v Speaker 1>when he demolished MJF at that, uh, double or nothing

<v Speaker 1>show that one year. And this might've been 2022, uh,

<v Speaker 1>And it was all about MJF and the controversy that

<v Speaker 1>came out of that after the fact. Nobody was even

<v Speaker 1>talking about Wardlow, who was the one that gave this

<v Speaker 1>guy 10 power bombs and beat him in decisive, dominant fashion.

<v Speaker 1>It was all about MJF. I kind of look at

<v Speaker 1>that as the beginning of the end, because he just

<v Speaker 1>was never the same after that. And maybe he just

<v Speaker 1>wasn't the same after the MJF stuff ran its course.

<v Speaker 1>Whenever they tried to do other things with him, it

<v Speaker 1>just never felt like a big enough deal, but The

<v Speaker 1>injuries had a lot to do with that. So again,

<v Speaker 1>I hope he can get everything all straightened out on

<v Speaker 1>that end, and we'll see where he can go. Because

<v Speaker 1>he's one of those guys now where it feels like,

<v Speaker 1>at least in this company, I don't know how old

<v Speaker 1>he is, probably mid-30s, but at least when it comes

<v Speaker 1>to AEW, like he's coming back, if there's any other

<v Speaker 1>issues that pop up or he gets hurt again or

<v Speaker 1>anything like that, it's like now or never. Like, if

<v Speaker 1>it doesn't work out this time, it ain't going to

<v Speaker 1>work out in this company, and maybe he needs to

<v Speaker 1>try his luck somewhere else. Because at that point, I

<v Speaker 1>don't even know what to say. But they had a pre-show.

<v Speaker 1>It was the tailgate brawl. It aired on television as

<v Speaker 1>well as YouTube and HBO Max and everywhere else. They

<v Speaker 1>had Jack Perry, real quick here, pick up a win

<v Speaker 1>over Katsuyori Shibata. He called out Samoa Joe again when

<v Speaker 1>the match was over. The ops come out, and Perry's like, Joe,

<v Speaker 1>where are you? And then we hear Joe's music. And

<v Speaker 1>then out comes Samoa Joe, who's been gone for a

<v Speaker 1>few months. And he came to the ring. He didn't

<v Speaker 1>even want to give Perry the time of day once

<v Speaker 1>he actually got to the ring. Perry spun him around.

<v Speaker 1>Joe shoved him down. That was it. That was the

<v Speaker 1>extent of it. And, I mean, Perry had to win

<v Speaker 1>this match because if they're going to build to something

<v Speaker 1>with him and Samoa Joe, you know, if he's going

<v Speaker 1>to go through Joe's friends, if they're going to go

<v Speaker 1>through Joe's colleagues first, he's got to beat them. Otherwise,

<v Speaker 1>there's no point in even doing a match with him

<v Speaker 1>and Samoa Joe. But it's good to see Joe back.

<v Speaker 1>We had Sky Blue and Julia Hart. They picked up

<v Speaker 1>a win over Queen, Aminata, and Mina Shirakawa. And then

<v Speaker 1>we had the Bang Bang Gang. Jay White, Ace Austin,

<v Speaker 1>Austin Gunn, and Colton Gunn with a win over David Finley,

<v Speaker 1>Clark Connors, Wheeler Yuta, and Daniel Garcia. And they had

<v Speaker 1>these football-style intros. And I think Juice was dressed up

<v Speaker 1>as like a head coach or They were doing a

<v Speaker 1>lot of comedy spots here. It was fine. I mean,

<v Speaker 1>it was entertaining for what it was. More importantly, Jay

<v Speaker 1>White's team won. Because if Jay White's team can't even

<v Speaker 1>pick up a win over these guys on the pre-show,

<v Speaker 1>then I don't even know what to say. So at

<v Speaker 1>least they won the match. But then they opened with

<v Speaker 1>the main card. And they opened with the national championship

<v Speaker 1>match between Andrade El Idolo and Pac. This was a

<v Speaker 1>match five years in the making. They were supposed to

<v Speaker 1>wrestle at All Out in 2021. Pac had travel issues

<v Speaker 1>and never happened. This time around, Andrade feels like a

<v Speaker 1>much bigger star, and Pac decidedly feels like less of

<v Speaker 1>a star, especially in that singlet. There's something about his

<v Speaker 1>ring gear now that makes him less of a star

<v Speaker 1>to me. I'm sorry. That's just how I feel. But

<v Speaker 1>even just his positioning, he's still part of the Death Riders,

<v Speaker 1>and he's still a great wrestler, but he feels like

<v Speaker 1>less of a star. Andrade feels like a star on

<v Speaker 1>the rise. I was surprised by how quiet the crowd

<v Speaker 1>was for the first half of this match. These AEW crowds,

<v Speaker 1>and this was a sold-out crowd in this building in

<v Speaker 1>a market that they have run many, many times before.

<v Speaker 1>And this isn't just even an AEW thing, but this

<v Speaker 1>could just be a general wrestling thing. When the show

<v Speaker 1>starts and you have the opening match, the crowd tends

<v Speaker 1>to be hotter for it than it would be maybe

<v Speaker 1>for match two, three, four. It depends, right? Now, they

<v Speaker 1>had an hour-long pre-show, so technically this wasn't the first match.

<v Speaker 1>But I figured, okay, this crowd is, you know, they're

<v Speaker 1>going to be hot. They're going to be energetic right

<v Speaker 1>from the opening bell. And they really weren't. It was

<v Speaker 1>very noticeable, especially for an opener. But that's no shade

<v Speaker 1>on the work from these two. They had a very

<v Speaker 1>good pro wrestling match. Marina Shafir was at ringside. She

<v Speaker 1>got involved multiple times. I thought the spot in the

<v Speaker 1>front row with the female fan, quote unquote, the girl

<v Speaker 1>that Andrade went up to to do the selfie with,

<v Speaker 1>that was actually a great spot. And Andrade saw none

<v Speaker 1>of this, but he goes up to her in the

<v Speaker 1>front row, and this woman has her phone, and I

<v Speaker 1>guess in her phone, she could see behind her, she

<v Speaker 1>got a glimpse of Marina Shafir, who snuck up behind her,

<v Speaker 1>and just the look of panic on this woman's face

<v Speaker 1>in that split second before Marina put her in a

<v Speaker 1>chokehold was actually priceless. But in the end, Pac got

<v Speaker 1>the brutalizer applied, Andrade rolled him over into a pin,

<v Speaker 1>and he retains the championship. Then we got Darby Allen

<v Speaker 1>and Steven Borden against Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight with

<v Speaker 1>the winners becoming number one contenders for the AEW world

<v Speaker 1>tag team titles. This was very unfortunate. They were having

<v Speaker 1>a solid enough match with the heels, getting the heat

<v Speaker 1>on Darby for a long time. They were, they were

<v Speaker 1>building to, they were teasing a hot tag to Borden, which,

<v Speaker 1>you know, happened at one point. He got the tag referee.

<v Speaker 1>Didn't see it though. Eventually though, he got the tag

<v Speaker 1>and the ref saw it and he, He overshot on

<v Speaker 1>a stinger splash. He went tumbling to the floor. I mean,

<v Speaker 1>that was by design, but he went tumbling to the floor.

<v Speaker 1>But then we got a spot where Kevin Knight started

<v Speaker 1>climbing on one side of the ring. Across the way,

<v Speaker 1>on the same side, Borden climbed to the top rope.

<v Speaker 1>And he was already on top. And they were teasing

<v Speaker 1>a coast-to-coast collision, very similar to what Ricochet and Logan

<v Speaker 1>Paul did in the Royal Rumble that one time, only

<v Speaker 1>that was a little bit different. That was a springboard spot.

<v Speaker 1>I believe, but this was the same basic idea. And

<v Speaker 1>the first thing I noticed was how tentative Borden looked

<v Speaker 1>doing it because he's still new to this and he

<v Speaker 1>doesn't know a lot of the stuff. You know, when

<v Speaker 1>it comes to like doing top rope stuff, we haven't

<v Speaker 1>really seen him do hardly anything off the top rope.

<v Speaker 1>He's never done a spot like that before. And he

<v Speaker 1>looked very nervous. He was trying to balance himself and

<v Speaker 1>not fall off because Knight was not yet on the

<v Speaker 1>top rope. So he's already on top. He's trying to

<v Speaker 1>keep his balance. Kevin Knight is kind of looking around.

<v Speaker 1>He's selling it like, oh, he wants to do this.

<v Speaker 1>Should I do it? Or like he's having second thoughts, maybe.

<v Speaker 1>As soon as he started to climb, though, he still

<v Speaker 1>wasn't on top yet. Borden jumped. He jumped too soon.

<v Speaker 1>And I'm not sure it would have made much of

<v Speaker 1>a difference in what ended up happening here, but Knight

<v Speaker 1>had to rush to meet him halfway. The idea was

<v Speaker 1>that they would collide. Borden, like I said, he jumped

<v Speaker 1>too soon, and they didn't collide really at all, so

<v Speaker 1>much as Borden just sort of smacked him in the chest.

<v Speaker 1>It's almost like he chopped him in the chest in midair.

<v Speaker 1>And both men fell to the mat. And when Borden landed,

<v Speaker 1>he obviously smacked the back of his head very hard

<v Speaker 1>on the mat. because he immediately went into what's called

<v Speaker 1>a fencing position. You see this in football sometimes. I mean,

<v Speaker 1>it could happen to anyone. It could happen to wrestling.

<v Speaker 1>It could happen in any contact sport. But as soon

<v Speaker 1>as I saw that, and Taz saw it too, you

<v Speaker 1>could hear it in the way he reacted instantly on commentary.

<v Speaker 1>As soon as I saw that, I said, oh boy,

<v Speaker 1>this is not good. And Bryce Remsburg noticed something was wrong.

<v Speaker 1>He rushed over. He ushered Doc Samson into the ring.

<v Speaker 1>They showed a slow-mo replay of what happened. and it's

<v Speaker 1>exactly like what I said he he didn't land awkwardly

<v Speaker 1>he took a flat back bump but it looked like

<v Speaker 1>his head just really hit the mat very hard and

<v Speaker 1>they called the match off they awarded the win to

<v Speaker 1>Fletcher and Knight So they're going to be getting a

<v Speaker 1>tag team title match very soon. Whether that was going

<v Speaker 1>to be the outcome or not, I figured Darby and

<v Speaker 1>Borden were going to win, but it doesn't really matter

<v Speaker 1>at this point. That's not even important here. The big

<v Speaker 1>story is Borden and how badly he is hurt. They

<v Speaker 1>eventually took the camera off of what was happening in

<v Speaker 1>the ring, and this was going on for a while.

<v Speaker 1>They kept it on the announcers. They had a stall

<v Speaker 1>for time. Medical was working on Borden to address the situation. Taz,

<v Speaker 1>I thought in particular had some great insight here into

<v Speaker 1>his own injuries, trying to relate to like, Hey, this

<v Speaker 1>could happen to anyone. It doesn't matter if you're a rookie.

<v Speaker 1>It doesn't matter if you're like me, when I broke

<v Speaker 1>my neck, I was already a 14 year pro injuries happen.

<v Speaker 1>Things happen. Excalibur says the reason why I'm not in

<v Speaker 1>the ring anymore, you know, was because I don't know.

<v Speaker 1>I don't know if Excalibur retired because he had suffered

<v Speaker 1>some injuries or he was just worried about, you know,

<v Speaker 1>getting hurt and he stepped out of the ring, but

<v Speaker 1>they're just trying to, offer their own insights here and

<v Speaker 1>just kill some time so they could get him out

<v Speaker 1>of the ring, which they eventually did. We didn't see it,

<v Speaker 1>but people in the venue said that he was put

<v Speaker 1>on a stretcher and they wheeled him out of there.

<v Speaker 1>And there will be time to talk about how wise

<v Speaker 1>that spot was. People are going to say whatever they're

<v Speaker 1>going to say about it. It wasn't, by the way.

<v Speaker 1>It wasn't very wise. And it looked that way, by

<v Speaker 1>the way, even before he made the leap. But that's

<v Speaker 1>a whole other conversation. The concern at the time was,

<v Speaker 1>what is his condition? And a little bit later into

<v Speaker 1>the show, they cut back to the announcers. Tony Schiavone

<v Speaker 1>gave an update per Tony Khan, said that Borden is conscious,

<v Speaker 1>he's responsive. He had a CAT scan done. They're pending

<v Speaker 1>the results, but he's talking about the match, which was

<v Speaker 1>a positive update. And then later on, after the show

<v Speaker 1>was over during the scrum, Tony Khan said that Borden's

<v Speaker 1>CT scan looked good, and the hope was that he

<v Speaker 1>would be discharged from the hospital today. And hopefully by

<v Speaker 1>the time you listen to this, and even now when

<v Speaker 1>I'm recording this, hopefully that is the case. Because I

<v Speaker 1>am sure, you know, his parents or, you know, Sting's

<v Speaker 1>probably watching at home, right? So he can watch his

<v Speaker 1>son and what's going through his head, right? That's one

<v Speaker 1>of the things I was thinking about too, is like, man,

<v Speaker 1>you know, Sting is watching this and he's just got

<v Speaker 1>to be beside himself, you know, obviously worried about his son.

<v Speaker 1>So Hopefully he's back home with his family and hopefully

<v Speaker 1>he's going to be okay. I'm sure it's a concussion.

<v Speaker 1>And so how long he's going to be out for,

<v Speaker 1>you never know. I mean, you could be out for

<v Speaker 1>a week or two. You could be out for months.

<v Speaker 1>You know, you could be forced into an early retirement

<v Speaker 1>if it's bad enough. You just don't know when it

<v Speaker 1>comes to these sort of traumatic brain injuries. But when

<v Speaker 1>you see someone suffer an injury like that and they're

<v Speaker 1>seizing up or again, their hands are contorted and they're

<v Speaker 1>fencing or whatever the case may be. And I know

<v Speaker 1>he played football. before getting into wrestling. He played football

<v Speaker 1>in school, I believe. I don't know if he has

<v Speaker 1>a history of concussions, if this is his first one.

<v Speaker 1>Sometimes all it takes is one. Obviously, it's worse the

<v Speaker 1>more you suffer. He's not a young man like some

<v Speaker 1>of these wrestlers. They're in their early 20s and stuff.

<v Speaker 1>He's well into his 30s, but still, you have to

<v Speaker 1>kind of weigh the pros and cons of that sort

<v Speaker 1>of thing and just hope if you are going to

<v Speaker 1>come back, that this doesn't become something that happens more

<v Speaker 1>and more. That's what you kind of hope for. You

<v Speaker 1>have a lot of people in the wrestling business who

<v Speaker 1>have suffered so many concussions, they don't even know the

<v Speaker 1>exact number. They can't even keep track of how many

<v Speaker 1>they've had. You don't want him to end up being

<v Speaker 1>in a position where this sort of thing happens more

<v Speaker 1>and more. Some people are prone to it. Again, we're

<v Speaker 1>getting ahead of ourselves here, but hopefully he's okay. Was

<v Speaker 1>it a dumb spot? Probably for someone with his level

<v Speaker 1>of experience who hadn't, and I don't know if he

<v Speaker 1>practiced it or not. I'm just telling you, he looked

<v Speaker 1>like a nervous wreck on that top rope. That's what

<v Speaker 1>I saw before he even made the jump. And right now,

<v Speaker 1>the only thing that matters is that he'll be okay,

<v Speaker 1>and then hopefully he'll be able to come back and

<v Speaker 1>avoid that sort of thing in the future. You see,

<v Speaker 1>he's got a lot of the tools to become a star.

<v Speaker 1>He looks the part. He's clearly an athletic guy. He's

<v Speaker 1>in good shape. The basic kind of moves and fundamentals

<v Speaker 1>that we've seen him doing on television looks very crisp

<v Speaker 1>and very solid. It's a good base, I think, for

<v Speaker 1>him to eventually become a great pro wrestler. And hopefully

<v Speaker 1>it's not a situation where, you know, his career is

<v Speaker 1>cut short long before that without even finding out if

<v Speaker 1>he can make it or not. That would be terrible.

<v Speaker 1>So that sucked the air out of the building heading

<v Speaker 1>into this next match, which saw Persephone out to the

<v Speaker 1>ring with Dr. Britt Baker in her corner. putting her

<v Speaker 1>TBS championship on the line in an open challenge against

<v Speaker 1>the debuting Danny Luna, a former TNA knockout tag team

<v Speaker 1>champion who requested and received her release from TNA earlier

<v Speaker 1>this year. Maybe not the name that people were expecting

<v Speaker 1>or hoping for when it comes to an open challenge

<v Speaker 1>and kind of a mystery surprise star coming out to

<v Speaker 1>the ring. You know, I had no expectations for this,

<v Speaker 1>especially after I heard the report that it was not

<v Speaker 1>going to be Kairi Sane, who I at least thought

<v Speaker 1>last week maybe there was a chance it would be her.

<v Speaker 1>Once I knew it wasn't going to be her, it's like,

<v Speaker 1>I don't know who it's going to be, and I

<v Speaker 1>have no expectations one way or the other who it's

<v Speaker 1>going to be. I have to admit, watching this, it

<v Speaker 1>was hard for me to kind of get into it

<v Speaker 1>after the Borden stuff had just happened. It kind of

<v Speaker 1>cast a dark cloud over things, not knowing how badly

<v Speaker 1>he was hurt. But there was a wild spot here

<v Speaker 1>where Luna, she pulled Persephone up into a pull-up, released

<v Speaker 1>German suplex from the apron back into the ring. Britt

<v Speaker 1>interfered without Aubrey Edwards seeing it. Britt, who was on

<v Speaker 1>commentary on Wednesday, sounding like she did not even want

<v Speaker 1>to be there. I've heard more enthusiasm at funerals than

<v Speaker 1>I did from her commentary on Wednesday. But with Baker

<v Speaker 1>still getting involved in the match here, it distracted Danny

<v Speaker 1>long enough for Persephone to sneak up behind her as

<v Speaker 1>she was on the ropes. And she grabbed her under

<v Speaker 1>her arms, she folded her up with a razor's edge,

<v Speaker 1>and she got the pin to retain the title. Tony

<v Speaker 1>Khan gave Danny Luna the All Elite graphic later on

<v Speaker 1>to make her signing official, so she's in. And that's

<v Speaker 1>a solid addition to that women's roster. I actually think,

<v Speaker 1>I mean, we could talk about Tony Khan continuing to

<v Speaker 1>sign more and more people. I actually think the women's

<v Speaker 1>division could use some more people. So that's why I

<v Speaker 1>think this is a good signing, and could probably use

<v Speaker 1>one or two more, to be honest with you. Then

<v Speaker 1>we had Kazuchika Okada defending his AEW International Championship against

<v Speaker 1>Tommaso Ciampa. The Rainmaker against the Psycho Killer. This is

<v Speaker 1>the match I was most looking forward to coming into

<v Speaker 1>this show. And they did not disappoint. This was a

<v Speaker 1>great fucking match. Ciampa's wife, Jessie, who was a contestant

<v Speaker 1>on the second season of Tough Enough, and she's also

<v Speaker 1>worked as a producer for WWE and TNA behind the

<v Speaker 1>scenes in the past. She was at ringside. with their

<v Speaker 1>daughter Willow, who was celebrating her eighth birthday. And I

<v Speaker 1>knew this because of the birthday hat that she was

<v Speaker 1>wearing that had the number eight on it, on her head.

<v Speaker 1>And Willow gave us the best part of the entire match.

<v Speaker 1>Willow gave us one of the best parts of the

<v Speaker 1>entire show, and I'm not talking about Willow Nightingale. Okada

<v Speaker 1>walks over to her in the middle of this match

<v Speaker 1>after beating up her dad right in front of her.

<v Speaker 1>And he's looking at the birthday girl, and he sarcastically

<v Speaker 1>wanted a high five. High five, he says, and she's

<v Speaker 1>shaking her head no. And Okada's smile turns to this

<v Speaker 1>very serious look. And he has his hand raised, his

<v Speaker 1>hand balls up into a fist. And you can see

<v Speaker 1>where this is going. And then the finger goes up.

<v Speaker 1>And he flips this little girl off. An eight-year-old girl

<v Speaker 1>on her birthday, he flips her off. So she turns

<v Speaker 1>to look at her mom, who gave her permission. And

<v Speaker 1>then she flips Okada the double bird to the biggest

<v Speaker 1>pop of the entire show so far. This got a

<v Speaker 1>bigger response than anything on this pay-per-view up to this point.

<v Speaker 1>And I didn't even catch it the first time, not

<v Speaker 1>until they showed a replay of it. She cussed him

<v Speaker 1>out right after that, too. I think she called him

<v Speaker 1>a bitch. Hey, at least she asked for permission first.

<v Speaker 1>She looked to her mom, her mom said okay, and

<v Speaker 1>then she did it. And Don Callis, he was on commentary.

<v Speaker 1>He got up from the booth. He was providing a distraction.

<v Speaker 1>Not very hard to do that when Rick Knox is

<v Speaker 1>the referee. Okada then pulls out a screwdriver from under

<v Speaker 1>one of the turnbuckle pads. He went to go use it. Instead,

<v Speaker 1>he ate a pumped knee. And then we got a

<v Speaker 1>hop back and forth between the two. Where Ciampa, he

<v Speaker 1>did a baseball slide under an Okada dropkick attempt. And

<v Speaker 1>then connected with a running knee strike for a very

<v Speaker 1>convincing near fall. The closest of the match. And that

<v Speaker 1>had the crowd... feel in a certain way Okada later

<v Speaker 1>on he whiffed on a Rainmaker hit a dropkick though

<v Speaker 1>Ciampa did not go down he charged in and Okada

<v Speaker 1>finally put him down with a Rainmaker one Rainmaker to

<v Speaker 1>retain the title I was really hoping for a title

<v Speaker 1>change there by the end because they had me into

<v Speaker 1>this I knew better though coming into the match the

<v Speaker 1>crowd was really hoping for a title change too and

<v Speaker 1>I'm glad that Ciampa gets the chance to go out

<v Speaker 1>and have matches like this and show people what he

<v Speaker 1>can still do and that he can get a singles

<v Speaker 1>match on pay-per-view, because there's not a lot of real estate.

<v Speaker 1>I know Tony Khan likes having a lot of matches

<v Speaker 1>on these shows, but still, relative to the number of

<v Speaker 1>people they have under contract and on that roster, there

<v Speaker 1>aren't that many spots to go around when it comes

<v Speaker 1>to these pay-per-views. So when I saw that he was

<v Speaker 1>getting a singles match and it was going to be

<v Speaker 1>against Okada, of all people, I said, I am seated,

<v Speaker 1>and I am looking forward to that. And again, they

<v Speaker 1>did not disappoint. I think Ciampa in the C2 this

<v Speaker 1>year would be a lot of fun. The Brawling Birds,

<v Speaker 1>in their first defense, of the AW Women's Tag Team titles,

<v Speaker 1>I do believe, put them up against the former champions,

<v Speaker 1>Divine Dominion, in a Chicago street fight. And they took

<v Speaker 1>full advantage of the stipulation. Alex Windsor bled. Megan Bain bled.

<v Speaker 1>There were chairs, including barbed wire chairs. There were kendo sticks.

<v Speaker 1>They brought the guardrail into the ring, Megan Bain did

<v Speaker 1>at one point. Divine Dominion, they brought a barbed wire

<v Speaker 1>board into the ring, and they propped it up in

<v Speaker 1>the corner at one point. Bain ended up being the

<v Speaker 1>one who took a Death Valley driver through the barbed

<v Speaker 1>wire board. Lena Cross, she emptied a bag of thumbtacks

<v Speaker 1>in the ring towards the end, but it was Jamie

<v Speaker 1>Hayter who caught her with a chain-wrapped punch, and then

<v Speaker 1>the champions hit their two birds, one stone finish onto

<v Speaker 1>the tacks. Which wasn't very bright because Hayter took most

<v Speaker 1>of the tax in her ass on the landing and

<v Speaker 1>wins her pin cross to retain the titles. I can't

<v Speaker 1>say the build up to this, whatever they did on

<v Speaker 1>television was terribly interesting because it wasn't. Building up to

<v Speaker 1>this rematch here. It was very simply Tony Khan running

<v Speaker 1>it back again from Wembley, only this time with a stipulation.

<v Speaker 1>But they lived up to it. It was violent. It

<v Speaker 1>was bloody. But not overdone, right? Probably longer than it

<v Speaker 1>needed to be, but I thought they had a very

<v Speaker 1>good brawl with the champions winning again just to prove

<v Speaker 1>that all-in was not a fluke. Then we had Swerve

<v Speaker 1>Strickland and the new level. Kofi and Austin Creed defending

<v Speaker 1>their AEW Trios titles against Hangman Adam Page, Brody King,

<v Speaker 1>and Bandito. This just topped Okada and Ciampa for me

<v Speaker 1>as the match of the night. If I had to

<v Speaker 1>pick one match of the night, this is the one

<v Speaker 1>right here. Kofi and Creed, they continue to kill it

<v Speaker 1>so far in their AEW run, and they've only been

<v Speaker 1>there for a month. They have yet to have a

<v Speaker 1>bad match or a boring match. After Hangman tagged in,

<v Speaker 1>Creed drove him back into the champion's corner, and when

<v Speaker 1>Hangman held up one of his arms, one of his

<v Speaker 1>hands hit Swerve. And this enraged Swerve, who pulled him

<v Speaker 1>to the floor, and the two of them started going

<v Speaker 1>at it like a hockey fight. They made this shit

<v Speaker 1>look like they legit hated each other, and they had

<v Speaker 1>to be pulled apart again. Their own partners had to

<v Speaker 1>calm them down. And the fans lost their shit for this.

<v Speaker 1>This was great. And I said coming into this, anytime

<v Speaker 1>you get Swerve and Hangman together against each other, it's great.

<v Speaker 1>So long as there's no syringes involved, it's great. So

<v Speaker 1>they went at it again later in the ring, legally.

<v Speaker 1>In the end, King missed a gonzo bomb. Kofi connected

<v Speaker 1>on a trouble in paradise. Hangman, though, used Swerve's back

<v Speaker 1>as a springboard to hit a buckshot lariat to Kofi.

<v Speaker 1>and Hangman then tried for a buckshot to Swerve. Creed, though,

<v Speaker 1>shoved Swerve out of harm's way to take the bullet

<v Speaker 1>for him. Swerve then caught Hangman with a house call kick,

<v Speaker 1>but Bandito was back in to get Swerve up on

<v Speaker 1>his shoulders and down into the X-knee. Here comes the 21-plex. Swerve, though,

<v Speaker 1>flips out of it onto his feet, and he got

<v Speaker 1>Bandito up into position for big pressure, and he drove

<v Speaker 1>him down into the mat for the three count to

<v Speaker 1>retain the titles. 25 minutes or so this went. It

<v Speaker 1>never felt too long to me. One of the best

<v Speaker 1>trios matches I think that AEW has ever produced. There

<v Speaker 1>have been so many, I don't know if I can

<v Speaker 1>call it the best because I'm sure I'd be forgetting

<v Speaker 1>a lot of them, but this one was up there

<v Speaker 1>for sure. New Day out there still showing that they

<v Speaker 1>had a lot of value left. WWE's loss is AEW's gain.

<v Speaker 1>This was great. Then we had Willow Nightingale against Tekla.

<v Speaker 1>in a number one contenders match for a shot at

<v Speaker 1>Mercedes Monet and her AEW Women's World Championship next month

<v Speaker 1>at WrestleDream. This was not as good as their redemption

<v Speaker 1>match for the title, and it didn't help having Julia

<v Speaker 1>and Sky Blue running in and running interference. I mean,

<v Speaker 1>it's not like it enhanced the match at all. It didn't.

<v Speaker 1>Sky absolutely blasted Tekla in the head with the belt

<v Speaker 1>at one point, a shot that was intended for Willow.

<v Speaker 1>I say the belt, but Sky hit her with the...

<v Speaker 1>What belt did she hit her with? Everyone's got a

<v Speaker 1>fucking belt these days. I think it might have been

<v Speaker 1>one of their stardom belts, but anyway. Willow went for

<v Speaker 1>the doctor bomb, but the injured hand gave out on her.

<v Speaker 1>Tecla had been working it over for much of the match.

<v Speaker 1>Tecla hit a curb stomp, first to the hand, and

<v Speaker 1>then a regular one, and she picked up the win.

<v Speaker 1>And after the match, Mercedes Monet walked out in her

<v Speaker 1>face mask, to pose with her title on stage, she

<v Speaker 1>now has her opponent for WrestleDream. I thought they might

<v Speaker 1>do a finish that kept it open for a three-way

<v Speaker 1>at the pay-per-view, which is what I assumed the match

<v Speaker 1>would have been on this show if Mercedes was cleared

<v Speaker 1>to wrestle. But if they were going to go one

<v Speaker 1>over the other, Tecla was the right choice. It's a

<v Speaker 1>fresh match. It's an interesting one to me since Tecla

<v Speaker 1>is also a heel, but she's a heel who the

<v Speaker 1>fans like and who they cheer for because she's a badass.

<v Speaker 1>She's cool to them. She's the cool heel. who will

<v Speaker 1>absolutely be the babyface for this program, whether they book

<v Speaker 1>her that way or not. So I'm looking forward to

<v Speaker 1>that match. Then we had Adam Copeland and Christian Cage

<v Speaker 1>defending their AEW World Tag Team titles against the Young

<v Speaker 1>Bucks and FTR in a ladder match. This was their

<v Speaker 1>version of TLC, and even though it was billed as

<v Speaker 1>a ladder match, I lost track of how many tables

<v Speaker 1>were broken in these 23 minutes. We got a lot

<v Speaker 1>of the usual insanity in these types of matches happening,

<v Speaker 1>Plus a few creative spots I've never seen before, which

<v Speaker 1>is tough to do because we've seen so many of

<v Speaker 1>these matches and with many of these same guys, right?

<v Speaker 1>Copeland and Christian, they made a name for themselves doing

<v Speaker 1>these types of matches, which have been held up as

<v Speaker 1>the blueprint for what we see today. Only people keep

<v Speaker 1>trying to find new ways to up the ante and

<v Speaker 1>make them even more dangerous than they already are. So

<v Speaker 1>it's no small feat to come up with some new

<v Speaker 1>things to do. Christian was bleeding from the face pretty

<v Speaker 1>early in this match. Dax was bleeding too, but he

<v Speaker 1>always bleeds. There was an avalanche kill switch off the

<v Speaker 1>top onto a ladder that looked like it sucked for

<v Speaker 1>all involved. Poor Stokely Hathaway, he got involved in this,

<v Speaker 1>and he started to climb the ladder. He was going

<v Speaker 1>to pull down the belt himself. And Adam Copeland recovered,

<v Speaker 1>and he's standing there at the bottom, and he kind

<v Speaker 1>of waves bye-bye. And slowly tips over the ladder, just

<v Speaker 1>like he did to Undertaker all those years ago. Whatever

<v Speaker 1>show that was, a one-night stand show? I still can't

<v Speaker 1>believe Undertaker took this bump at that point in 2008

<v Speaker 1>or whatever it was. But he tips over the ladder

<v Speaker 1>and Stokely goes crashing through what was supposed to be

<v Speaker 1>two tables outside that were next to each other. He

<v Speaker 1>went through one of them. At least he actually went

<v Speaker 1>through it this time, unlike World's End last year. If

<v Speaker 1>you know, you know. If you remember that bump. But

<v Speaker 1>late in the match, the Bucks, they positioned Copeland and

<v Speaker 1>Dax on tables and climbed the ladder that was on

<v Speaker 1>the floor. They hit stereo dives, crashing through each table. Christian, though,

<v Speaker 1>he stumbled right into a place where he did not

<v Speaker 1>want to be. He was right in harm's way. Cash Wheeler,

<v Speaker 1>out of nowhere, comes flying out of the ring through

<v Speaker 1>the ladder that I just mentioned that was set up outside.

<v Speaker 1>I mean, you've got to be real precise here. to

<v Speaker 1>fly through the opening in that ladder when that ladder

<v Speaker 1>is set up. There's not a lot of margin for

<v Speaker 1>error there. And they ended up going crashing through a

<v Speaker 1>table that I think might have been propped up against

<v Speaker 1>the barricade. The ladder also tipped over in the process

<v Speaker 1>and could have hit some fans in the front row. Thankfully,

<v Speaker 1>it didn't look like anybody got struck. Eventually, all six

<v Speaker 1>men started climbing ladders. They're all going for the belts.

<v Speaker 1>Copeland then ran under all the ladders and speared Matt

<v Speaker 1>Jackson down. Nick ate a shatter machine off of a ladder.

<v Speaker 1>Then the champions, they trapped Harwood's head, his bald head,

<v Speaker 1>between the ladders and they delivered a standing concerto. Cash Wheeler,

<v Speaker 1>he took this ridiculous bump, like a backdrop bump, over

<v Speaker 1>one of the ladders all the way to the mat

<v Speaker 1>down below. And the Bucks had Christian near the top

<v Speaker 1>of one of the ladders. They gave him a BTE trigger,

<v Speaker 1>which sent Christian crashing down to the mat. And the

<v Speaker 1>young Bucks pulled down the straps to make history as

<v Speaker 1>the first ever four-time AEW Tag Team Champions match. Their

<v Speaker 1>first reign in two years. None of these men were

<v Speaker 1>healthy enough to be at the post-show media scrum. And

<v Speaker 1>if you watch the match, you can see why. It

<v Speaker 1>wasn't easy, I'm sure, for Copeland and Christian to take

<v Speaker 1>some of the bumps that they took in those old

<v Speaker 1>TLC matches 25 years ago. Now they're 25 years older

<v Speaker 1>taking those bumps, which is crazy. Two men who were

<v Speaker 1>forced into an early retirement due to injuries are in

<v Speaker 1>another TLC match. Not the smartest thing for them to

<v Speaker 1>be doing, but all three teams, I thought, killed each

<v Speaker 1>other here. They killed it as these types of matches go.

<v Speaker 1>This was a great one. I got to shout out

<v Speaker 1>Stokely as well, who has been killed so many times

<v Speaker 1>in this company, but he just keeps coming back for more.

<v Speaker 1>The man is a masochist. I had the Bucs winning this,

<v Speaker 1>but only because I thought they were going to win

<v Speaker 1>the belts at Wembley, and they didn't. So they just

<v Speaker 1>delayed it by a month. But I always figured the

<v Speaker 1>play here was to transition the belts from Cope and

<v Speaker 1>Christian to the Bucs. And now that the new level

<v Speaker 1>is here, I think those belts are going to stay

<v Speaker 1>on the Bucks long enough for Tony Khan to build

<v Speaker 1>to the match that we thought we would never see.

<v Speaker 1>Matt and Nick against Kofi and Creed. And I think

<v Speaker 1>if Tony ends up doing a big show in April,

<v Speaker 1>which I think he will, with WrestleMania being out of

<v Speaker 1>the country, that would be the place to do it.

<v Speaker 1>Especially if he's looking to fill up a big building.

<v Speaker 1>That would be one of the matches that I would

<v Speaker 1>want to save for a card like that. And then

<v Speaker 1>we have the main event. Will Ospreay. along with his

<v Speaker 1>United Empire friends, Speedball Mike Bailey and Francesco Akira, taking

<v Speaker 1>on Jon Moxley, his first defense of the AEW World

<v Speaker 1>Championship since winning it at Wembley Stadium. And for Ospreay's pre-entrance,

<v Speaker 1>I guess we'll call it, and for the opening defense,

<v Speaker 1>video for his entrance, they had a violinist playing in

<v Speaker 1>the aisleway. And the video was Assassin's Creed inspired, I

<v Speaker 1>guess to promote whatever the new video game is that

<v Speaker 1>they have. And it was narrated, I think, by the

<v Speaker 1>voice of one of the characters in the game. I think.

<v Speaker 1>Don't come at me with pitchforks if I'm wrong about that.

<v Speaker 1>Then they cut to the parking lot where Speedball is

<v Speaker 1>holding a Death Riders flag with Akira, and Ospreay has

<v Speaker 1>a lighter. He sets it on fire, as if we

<v Speaker 1>haven't seen enough things being set on fire on wrestling

<v Speaker 1>television recently. Ospreay then looked into the camera and he said,

<v Speaker 1>Let's fucking end this. Which is what I was saying

<v Speaker 1>as the clock ticked towards midnight and these entrances wouldn't end.

<v Speaker 1>A slow start for this match, but they hit the

<v Speaker 1>key beats that you would expect. So like Moxley working

<v Speaker 1>over Ospreay's surgically repaired neck, right? The neck that they

<v Speaker 1>gave Moxley credit for, for breaking last year. But I

<v Speaker 1>wasn't feeling this the way that I did the match

<v Speaker 1>with Omega last month. I wasn't feeling this the way

<v Speaker 1>that I felt the match with Swerve in the Owen

<v Speaker 1>final or some of the other great matches that I

<v Speaker 1>have seen Will Ospreay have this year. This was not

<v Speaker 1>as good as those. And look, these two had a

<v Speaker 1>story coming into this match, stretching all the way back

<v Speaker 1>to last year. This was the end. This was the payoff,

<v Speaker 1>or at least that's what it felt like coming into this.

<v Speaker 1>This was supposed to be the payoff to that story.

<v Speaker 1>And because Moxley's continental title wasn't on the line here,

<v Speaker 1>they were bound by continental rules, which meant that the

<v Speaker 1>Death Riders could interfere at will, and so could everybody else.

<v Speaker 1>And in that way, it felt like maybe they were

<v Speaker 1>trying to replicate some version of what we got last

<v Speaker 1>year at All In with Moxley and Hangman, only this

<v Speaker 1>time Moxley was the challenger and not the champion, so

<v Speaker 1>the dynamic was a little bit different. But it was

<v Speaker 1>a callback to Moxley's Reign of Terror and all the

<v Speaker 1>times that the Death Riders would get involved in every

<v Speaker 1>one of his matches. And I'm sure that was by

<v Speaker 1>design because they wanted to make you think that maybe,

<v Speaker 1>just maybe, they might actually change the title here and

<v Speaker 1>shock people. And I am sure also that this was

<v Speaker 1>planting the seeds for a Blood and Guts match between

<v Speaker 1>the Death Riders and Osprey's United Empire, which should be

<v Speaker 1>more filled in by the time November rolls around, which

<v Speaker 1>is when Blood and Guts is taking place. Sometimes this

<v Speaker 1>shit can work, you know, the interference and the overbooking

<v Speaker 1>and all that, and it enhances the match, right? Sometimes

<v Speaker 1>I love it. And it makes the match more fun,

<v Speaker 1>like All In last year, right? Or even like that

<v Speaker 1>match that Ospreay had on Dynamite in the Owen against

<v Speaker 1>Mark Davis. And there were people who shit all over

<v Speaker 1>that and said, oh, this is ridiculous. Everybody is interfering

<v Speaker 1>in this match. But they had that match on Dynamite

<v Speaker 1>back in June. I thought that was so much fun.

<v Speaker 1>That was one of the most fun television matches I've

<v Speaker 1>seen all year. It didn't work for me here. I

<v Speaker 1>thought it brought the match down. Yuta and Garcia and Shafir,

<v Speaker 1>they're all getting involved and they're fighting with Bayley and Akira.

<v Speaker 1>Here comes Pac now with that fucking briefcase again, the

<v Speaker 1>one that Moxley used to keep the belt in. And

<v Speaker 1>so this brings out Andrade and he saves Ospreay and

<v Speaker 1>he takes out Pac and then he flashes the United

<v Speaker 1>Empire sign of which he's already a member. He didn't

<v Speaker 1>join them so much as he's already a card-carrying member,

<v Speaker 1>maybe not of Ospreay's new crew, at least not yet.

<v Speaker 1>But then out comes Mrs. Osprey, Alex Windsor, with her

<v Speaker 1>head all bandaged up from her match earlier. And here's

<v Speaker 1>Jamie Hayter, and they too flashed the gang sign for

<v Speaker 1>United Empire, so I guess they're members too now. I

<v Speaker 1>don't know. I don't know. It could have been as

<v Speaker 1>simple as his wife and her friend came out just

<v Speaker 1>to help him out and provide the assist. Moxley, though,

<v Speaker 1>had a crisis of conscience late in the match. He

<v Speaker 1>had the briefcase. He had the opportunity, without the referee

<v Speaker 1>seeing it, to blast Ospreay in the head with this

<v Speaker 1>metal briefcase, but he was acting like he didn't want

<v Speaker 1>to do it. And he's saying, I gave you everything,

<v Speaker 1>don't make me do this, but he did it anyway.

<v Speaker 1>And Ospreay still kicked out. And then he hit multiple

<v Speaker 1>paradigm shifts into a Death Rider, and again, Ospreay kicked out.

<v Speaker 1>And then the Bulldog Choke got applied, and Will is fading,

<v Speaker 1>but he bites his way free, and you could see

<v Speaker 1>even after the bite mark on Moxley's arm. And then

<v Speaker 1>it was more finisher spam, and then it was more

<v Speaker 1>kickouts until he had Moxley on his knees with his

<v Speaker 1>back turned. And Ospreay pulled off the elbow pad. Moxley

<v Speaker 1>had a smile on his face, like he realized what

<v Speaker 1>was coming. He accepted his fate. He knew it was coming,

<v Speaker 1>even though his back was turned. And as soon as

<v Speaker 1>he turns around, he eats one final hidden blade to

<v Speaker 1>give Ospreay his first successful title defense. And then after

<v Speaker 1>the match, Moxley ripped the belt away from him only

<v Speaker 1>to wrap the title around Ospreay's waist himself. And the

<v Speaker 1>two men shook hands to put their beef to bed

<v Speaker 1>once and for all. Or have they? Because again, I

<v Speaker 1>think this now leads to blood and guts. I did

<v Speaker 1>like the finish. With Mox accepting his fate and Ospreay

<v Speaker 1>waiting for him to turn around so he could see

<v Speaker 1>it coming. But the rest of this, I just wasn't

<v Speaker 1>a big fan of. This will rank low on my

<v Speaker 1>list of AEW pay-per-view main events this year. But I

<v Speaker 1>can also admit, you know, they accomplished a lot of

<v Speaker 1>things here. So to AEW, they would see this as

<v Speaker 1>being very productive. Ospreay got to avenge his loss to

<v Speaker 1>Moxley at Dynasty. He got his first successful title defense

<v Speaker 1>under his belt against the man who had gone undefeated

<v Speaker 1>in singles matches this year. Ospreay beat the unbeatable Jon Moxley.

<v Speaker 1>And they put the pieces in place for a blood

<v Speaker 1>and guts match between the two groups once Ospreay fills

<v Speaker 1>it in a little bit more. And possibly, and I

<v Speaker 1>want to say possibly, because I thought this a year

<v Speaker 1>ago and nothing happened. But it does feel like maybe

<v Speaker 1>now we actually are headed for the end of the

<v Speaker 1>Death Riders, or at least Moxley being booted out of

<v Speaker 1>the Death Riders. If they wanted to keep the group together,

<v Speaker 1>they could keep it together with a new leader. I

<v Speaker 1>can think of a certain Irishman who may be available

<v Speaker 1>soon and may be on his way into AEW, and

<v Speaker 1>he's even pretty good friends with that Claudio guy, I'm

<v Speaker 1>just saying. Because they have dropped hints in recent weeks

<v Speaker 1>of Pac being unhappy with Moxley, right? And him bringing

<v Speaker 1>Ospreay into the Death Riders in the first place. He

<v Speaker 1>wasn't a big fan of that. Even in this match, right?

<v Speaker 1>There was that moment of hesitation by Moxley before he

<v Speaker 1>hit Ospreay with the briefcase. A sign of weakness. If

<v Speaker 1>they were going to shoot the angle to boot Moxley out,

<v Speaker 1>blood and guts would be the place to do it.

<v Speaker 1>But before we get there, at the post-show scrum, Will

<v Speaker 1>Ospreay was speaking when Okada walked in with Don Callis.

<v Speaker 1>And Ospreay put Okada over as a mentor of his,

<v Speaker 1>and the one face that he was hoping to see

<v Speaker 1>backstage at All In when he was making his big entrance,

<v Speaker 1>and he didn't see him there. And he was hoping

<v Speaker 1>Okada would accept his challenge for a world championship match.

<v Speaker 1>He will defend his world championship in Paris on October

<v Speaker 1>6th at Grand Slam France. And Okada accepted, because of course,

<v Speaker 1>what the fuck else is he going to say? He accepted,

<v Speaker 1>and then he said, can I say one thing? And

<v Speaker 1>he looked into the camera and said, Bonjour, bitches. And

<v Speaker 1>he laughed and he left. That's a big main event

<v Speaker 1>for that show. Would also be a great place to

<v Speaker 1>debut Ilya Dragunov on that Grand Slam France show. Even

<v Speaker 1>better as a member of Osprey's United Empire. Osprey also

<v Speaker 1>had a very direct message for WWE, without ever naming them.

<v Speaker 1>It was very clear who he was referencing, though. A

<v Speaker 1>message for WWE... If they are ever thinking about counter-programming

<v Speaker 1>them again, like they did with Worlds Collide this weekend.

<v Speaker 1>He said, I cannot tell you the pride that I

<v Speaker 1>feel because people did have a choice. And everyone that

<v Speaker 1>came to this show tonight chose the right company. Because

<v Speaker 1>we deliver the best pay-per-views, the best professional wrestling. Anytime

<v Speaker 1>anyone wants to come and step up to us, here's

<v Speaker 1>the reality for you. We're going to knock you down

<v Speaker 1>two fucking levels. We are the best pro wrestling in

<v Speaker 1>the entire fucking world. Do not fucking step to us

<v Speaker 1>ever again. And look, I can appreciate him beating his

<v Speaker 1>chest as the champion, thinking he needs to stand up

<v Speaker 1>for his company. But the irony of him saying this

<v Speaker 1>minutes before throwing out a challenge to Okada for Grand

<v Speaker 1>Slam France, a show that is airing on a Tuesday

<v Speaker 1>opposite NXT on their night. Just too much for me.

<v Speaker 1>And look, I know it's not an apples to apples thing, okay?

<v Speaker 1>They're being bumped out of their usual time slot that

<v Speaker 1>week for game three of the, it's the AL Division Series,

<v Speaker 1>I think, the American League Division Series. But still, they

<v Speaker 1>are technically counter-programming WWE that week. It is very transparent

<v Speaker 1>why WWE keeps doing it, though. And it never works.

<v Speaker 1>And they know it doesn't work, and they just, they

<v Speaker 1>do it anyway. They do it because any chance they

<v Speaker 1>can be a pain in Tony's ass, they're going to

<v Speaker 1>take it. whether it works or not. Tony Khan was

<v Speaker 1>actually asked about WWE during the scrum, bringing up a

<v Speaker 1>report from Fightful Select that sources in WWE allegedly admitted

<v Speaker 1>the company did not expect AEW to sell out the

<v Speaker 1>Now Arena for All Out and to do as well

<v Speaker 1>as they did attendance-wise. This is a report that was

<v Speaker 1>brought up by Adrian Hernandez here during the scrum. He

<v Speaker 1>asked about WWE scheduling Worlds Collide on the same day

<v Speaker 1>as All Out. and airing the show this Wednesday on

<v Speaker 1>YouTube at the same time that Dynamite is airing. That's

<v Speaker 1>what he asked about. And Tony responded with, Did WWE

<v Speaker 1>actually go on record and say they were surprised that

<v Speaker 1>we did so well? I was just curious about that.

<v Speaker 1>We had our own show to do. I was kind

<v Speaker 1>of surprised they would say that because we've done very,

<v Speaker 1>very well. And let me just say this. No, WWE

<v Speaker 1>did not go on the record. and say that. That

<v Speaker 1>was on background from a source that Fightful has in

<v Speaker 1>the company. But this was a chance for Tony to

<v Speaker 1>stick the dagger in just a little bit. You could

<v Speaker 1>tell from the look on his face. He was enjoying this.

<v Speaker 1>He wanted to bring this up. And then he said,

<v Speaker 1>AEW is having an incredible year. Why would they be

<v Speaker 1>surprised that we would sell out? We've sold this arena

<v Speaker 1>out many times, and AEW is having a fantastic year.

<v Speaker 1>I think anybody underestimating AEW would be making a mistake.

<v Speaker 1>AEW continues to defy the odds and succeed. If AEW

<v Speaker 1>has ever been on the mat, every single time we've

<v Speaker 1>gotten up and fought. I agree with what Will Ospreay said.

<v Speaker 1>He went out and had a great main event with

<v Speaker 1>Jon Moxley. And from start to finish, All Out was

<v Speaker 1>an amazing event. I was surprised when I read that

<v Speaker 1>WWE sources commented that they were surprised themselves that AEW

<v Speaker 1>All Out performed very well, the pay-per-view did great, and

<v Speaker 1>the show sold very well. I don't know why anybody

<v Speaker 1>would underestimate AEW. We had a great year in 2025,

<v Speaker 1>and this year has been even better. Well, I mean,

<v Speaker 1>what else is he going to say? As long as

<v Speaker 1>WWE keeps on doing this, he's going to get asked

<v Speaker 1>about it, and he has the right to comment on it.

<v Speaker 1>And a quick note on this story here that will

<v Speaker 1>affect AEW. We just don't know how yet. But Paramount

<v Speaker 1>has come to a settlement with the state attorney's general,

<v Speaker 1>12 of them in total that were suing over their

<v Speaker 1>takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery, who is the media rights

<v Speaker 1>partner for All Elite Wrestling. I talked about this on

<v Speaker 1>the Uncrowned Wrestling Show on Tuesday. Variety... in their report

<v Speaker 1>from earlier in the week, noted that the two sides

<v Speaker 1>spent last weekend intense discussions over Paramount's commitments to remain

<v Speaker 1>in California, which they were threatening to leave. And the

<v Speaker 1>discussions also focused on editorial oversight of CBS and CNN,

<v Speaker 1>which was a key concern for the East Coast attorneys general.

<v Speaker 1>I mean, when you really read through some of these points,

<v Speaker 1>these bullet points of what they agreed to and the

<v Speaker 1>understanding they came to with these editorial boards, Like, there's

<v Speaker 1>an expiration date on all this stuff. Like, it's not infinite.

<v Speaker 1>It's not even permanent. So basically what happened is they capitulated.

<v Speaker 1>The states capitulated, and now the merger is going to

<v Speaker 1>go through. It just may take a little bit longer because,

<v Speaker 1>as far as I know, the last update on this

<v Speaker 1>is that a judge has not signed off yet on it,

<v Speaker 1>but it is delayed until the judge goes over various documents.

<v Speaker 1>And basically a Hail Mary move here to... Try to

<v Speaker 1>throw this thing off. The judge has agreed to delay things.

<v Speaker 1>We'll probably get some sort of decision this week. Because remember,

<v Speaker 1>if this were to extend into and beyond October 1st,

<v Speaker 1>there is what is called a ticking fee. It's like

<v Speaker 1>a penalty fee that, you know, Paramount is responsible. And

<v Speaker 1>we're talking millions and millions of dollars on a daily

<v Speaker 1>basis until this deal goes through or doesn't. They don't

<v Speaker 1>want this to go to October 1st, and they certainly

<v Speaker 1>don't want it to go beyond October 1st. So I

<v Speaker 1>would expect that we'll get an answer in the next

<v Speaker 1>day or two, certainly this week. This thing is probably

<v Speaker 1>going to go through. Tony Khan has spoken very enthusiastically

<v Speaker 1>about hoping that the deal with Paramount would go through.

<v Speaker 1>He's talked about the great relationship that he has with

<v Speaker 1>David Ellison, and he was asked about it on the

<v Speaker 1>media call for All Out this past Thursday. And he

<v Speaker 1>commented on it more there. He said, I've made it

<v Speaker 1>no secret dozens and dozens of times that I've gone

<v Speaker 1>on record and said that I look forward to a

<v Speaker 1>time when hopefully it will be Paramount and Warner Brothers together.

<v Speaker 1>Or I guess as some people are calling it, Parabros.

<v Speaker 1>Oh my, that makes me sick. But he said, I

<v Speaker 1>think it'll make AEW stronger. I've said time and time again,

<v Speaker 1>and I believe we are very close to that time. said,

<v Speaker 1>what a fantastic announcement for AEW and our fans to

<v Speaker 1>have the leadership of the great David Ellison coming in.

<v Speaker 1>I've said it time and time again, this is somebody

<v Speaker 1>who loves professional wrestling and loves sports, who I've worked

<v Speaker 1>with with the National Football League, whether it's NFL Films

<v Speaker 1>or now CBS and the great partnership with the NFL.

<v Speaker 1>This is a great TV producer, a great film producer,

<v Speaker 1>and somebody who I think is going to be a

<v Speaker 1>great leader for Warner Brothers, just like he is now

<v Speaker 1>for Paramount. Well, Tony Khan may think this deal is great.

<v Speaker 1>I think it's shit. And I hope the whole fucking

<v Speaker 1>thing falls apart. But then again, I feel that way

<v Speaker 1>whenever these two large companies come together and they merge

<v Speaker 1>and everything's being consolidated. And I just think that's overall

<v Speaker 1>just a terrible thing. This is no different. Plus, this

<v Speaker 1>deal makes no fucking sense to me. When you read

<v Speaker 1>these stories and you look at the numbers that are involved,

<v Speaker 1>and then you look at the numbers for Paramount Skydance

<v Speaker 1>and the debt that they're carrying and what this is

<v Speaker 1>going to look like if this deal goes through. I

<v Speaker 1>don't understand how any of this makes any economic sense.

<v Speaker 1>I guess to them, the control that they would get

<v Speaker 1>over various properties, whether it is some of the cable

<v Speaker 1>networks or it is some of the IP, I know

<v Speaker 1>they want to merge Paramount Plus with HBO Max. They

<v Speaker 1>were looking at that, you know, and that will obviously

<v Speaker 1>be a big boon for them. I can understand why

<v Speaker 1>they would want that. But for the money they're spending

<v Speaker 1>on this deal, and there's a lot of foreign money

<v Speaker 1>they had to bring in for it, this whole thing

<v Speaker 1>is just a fucking mess. I don't see how this

<v Speaker 1>thing is going to end up being a positive at all.

<v Speaker 1>And if it's a positive for Tony Khan, hey, that's

<v Speaker 1>great for him. But wrestling is one very small, minor

<v Speaker 1>part of the big picture here when it comes to

<v Speaker 1>this stuff. And yeah, I think this is all just

<v Speaker 1>generally very terrible. But hey, Tony Khan seems pretty enthusiastic

<v Speaker 1>about it as far as AEW having a good chance,

<v Speaker 1>I guess, of being renewed or sticking around. Maybe he'll

<v Speaker 1>be singing a very different tune a year from now.

<v Speaker 1>Only time will tell. We don't have the answers to

<v Speaker 1>that question just yet. Now over on the WWE side.

<v Speaker 1>Last night, WWE held its Worlds Collide show from the

<v Speaker 1>Allstate Arena in Chicago, and they had a very healthy

<v Speaker 1>crowd themselves, even bigger than the one AEW had. They

<v Speaker 1>had over 13,000 people in the building for a show

<v Speaker 1>that nobody saw. Unless you were in the building, the

<v Speaker 1>only thing you would have seen were clips that WWE

<v Speaker 1>posted and spoiled on their own social media. And there

<v Speaker 1>was an update a few days ago. I guess JBL

<v Speaker 1>was on the Something to Wrestle podcast, as Bruce Prichard,

<v Speaker 1>I guess, is MIA again. So they were talking, I guess,

<v Speaker 1>about his role, if he's going to have one, as

<v Speaker 1>far as commentary for the Worlds Collide show. He didn't

<v Speaker 1>seem very sure himself about what was going on. He said,

<v Speaker 1>I'm not going to be there. We're going to call

<v Speaker 1>it post-fact. I'm not going to be there. They asked

<v Speaker 1>if I would come in. I said, absolutely, I would

<v Speaker 1>be happy to. But they're not bringing in announcers. And

<v Speaker 1>then when pressed about the streaming destination for the show,

<v Speaker 1>he said, I don't know. Things have changed so much.

<v Speaker 1>They called me two or three weeks ago and said,

<v Speaker 1>would you mind coming in? I said, I'd be happy to.

<v Speaker 1>I know most things are remote in Mexico. I told

<v Speaker 1>them I'd be happy to come to Chicago. But things changed.

<v Speaker 1>What they told us initially, this was a few weeks ago,

<v Speaker 1>is that we would probably voice it over next week.

<v Speaker 1>They may have changed that since. I don't know. So

<v Speaker 1>they've kept him in the dark about it, and he's

<v Speaker 1>the one doing commentary for the AAA shows. And they're apparently,

<v Speaker 1>in the last few weeks, asking him if he would

<v Speaker 1>fly in to do commentary. He says yes, and then

<v Speaker 1>doesn't hear anything back, where all of a sudden they've

<v Speaker 1>changed their mind. There was something, it might have been

<v Speaker 1>Meltzer on Observer Radio, who made a comment that the,

<v Speaker 1>or maybe it was in the newsletter, but there was

<v Speaker 1>a comment that the decision had already been made in

<v Speaker 1>early August, that they knew what they were going to do,

<v Speaker 1>that there was not going to be commentary live, they

<v Speaker 1>weren't going to stream it live. Again, I don't know

<v Speaker 1>if I buy into that, because here you have one

<v Speaker 1>of the announcers who claims that in the last two

<v Speaker 1>weeks or so, he was asked if he would fly

<v Speaker 1>in for the show, and he said, sure, and then

<v Speaker 1>something changed. So I doubt very seriously that WWE had

<v Speaker 1>already decided in early August or whatever it was that

<v Speaker 1>he said. I don't think that that's the case at all.

<v Speaker 1>And during SmackDown, it was announced that Worlds Collide would

<v Speaker 1>premiere exclusively on WWE's YouTube channel at 7 p.m. Eastern

<v Speaker 1>Time this coming Wednesday, September 30th. So now we know

<v Speaker 1>they're going to be doing commentary and posts because they're

<v Speaker 1>going to be airing this on Wednesday this week on YouTube,

<v Speaker 1>which is better, I suppose, than putting it behind a

<v Speaker 1>paywall on Club WWE, which I thought there was a

<v Speaker 1>very good chance they would do. Again, we know why

<v Speaker 1>this is being done. We know what the entire purpose

<v Speaker 1>and intent of this show was in the first place.

<v Speaker 1>It was to try to hurt the attendance of the

<v Speaker 1>other show that was happening in Chicago that night. And

<v Speaker 1>like I said, it didn't work. And I think what

<v Speaker 1>happened is they lost interest. I really do. I think

<v Speaker 1>that this would have been a bigger production, something that

<v Speaker 1>would have been live and everybody could see it. And

<v Speaker 1>I think that when they realize, oh shit, you know,

<v Speaker 1>what we did didn't work. I just feel like in

<v Speaker 1>their mind, it's almost like the fun was taken out

<v Speaker 1>of it for them. And it's like, all right, well, whatever.

<v Speaker 1>We'll do the show. We're going to have a lot

<v Speaker 1>of people there. And we'll put Punk on there. He'll

<v Speaker 1>be a big draw. And then we'll just throw it

<v Speaker 1>up on the YouTube channel. And hey, what day would

<v Speaker 1>be good to do that? How about Wednesday? How about that?

<v Speaker 1>How about Wednesday at 7? We'll get the jump on

<v Speaker 1>them by an hour. Because there's nothing else going on

<v Speaker 1>on a Wednesday night. Oh, my goodness. Now, I won't

<v Speaker 1>give out any spoilers. The spoilers are out there if

<v Speaker 1>you want to know what happened on the show. I

<v Speaker 1>will say this, though. And WWE, I think, posted something

<v Speaker 1>themselves about it. So, hey, it's fair. It's fair game.

<v Speaker 1>CM Punk was teasing on social media in the days

<v Speaker 1>leading into this show last night. Something about how, like,

<v Speaker 1>this fire burns within him. It was very clear, like,

<v Speaker 1>what he was doing. And it would have been very

<v Speaker 1>disappointing then for him to come out to anything other

<v Speaker 1>than that song. He did come out for the main

<v Speaker 1>event last night. Not to Cult of Personality. But he came.

<v Speaker 1>out to his old This Fire Burns entrance music, which

<v Speaker 1>I believe is Killswitch Engage. It's the music he came

<v Speaker 1>out to during his first WWE run up until he

<v Speaker 1>won the championship, and then he got Vince McMahon to

<v Speaker 1>buy the rights, or at least license the rights to

<v Speaker 1>Cult of Personality, and he started using it then. I,

<v Speaker 1>listening to that song last night when he was coming

<v Speaker 1>out for the entrance and he came out wearing his

<v Speaker 1>old straight edge society lucha mask but watching that clip

<v Speaker 1>when he came out and listening to that music and

<v Speaker 1>the response to it it's a better fucking song for

<v Speaker 1>him to come out to than cult of personality i

<v Speaker 1>wish he would adopt this as his entrance music going

<v Speaker 1>forward and start using this again honestly just looking at

<v Speaker 1>him coming out to it again it brought back a

<v Speaker 1>lot of memories man from that 20 i know he

<v Speaker 1>had it before then but like that 2010 2011 period

<v Speaker 1>And I had told you guys coming into the show

<v Speaker 1>they had advertised that Omos was going to be in

<v Speaker 1>the main event and that Obafemi was being promoted for

<v Speaker 1>a special appearance. And I said, well, it's only one

<v Speaker 1>thing that they could probably be thinking about doing. They

<v Speaker 1>haven't told us what Obafemi is going to be doing

<v Speaker 1>on the show. There was, in fact, a confrontation. There was,

<v Speaker 1>in fact, an exchange between Obafemi and Omos at the

<v Speaker 1>end of that show last night. But that'll all be

<v Speaker 1>airing on YouTube on Wednesday if you want to check

<v Speaker 1>that out. I'm not planning on deviating from what I

<v Speaker 1>normally would do. We got Dynamite that night, and unless

<v Speaker 1>I change my mind, that's still going to be the

<v Speaker 1>plan for Wednesday night. But if you want to watch

<v Speaker 1>Worlds Collide, that's when you can watch Worlds Collide. I'll

<v Speaker 1>just watch it after the fact. Let's talk a little

<v Speaker 1>bit about Money in the Bank here and who qualified

<v Speaker 1>for the men's and women's ladder matches this week on Monday.

<v Speaker 1>We were supposed to get a match involving Solo Sokoa,

<v Speaker 1>Dragon Lee, and Dominic Mysterio. One of those men would

<v Speaker 1>move on to Money in the Bank. And I said, well,

<v Speaker 1>looking at these three names, we're looking at Dominic Mysterio

<v Speaker 1>being in Money in the Bank. And then Solo Sokoa, unfortunately,

<v Speaker 1>was beaten and abducted by 946. They kidnapped him and

<v Speaker 1>they dropped him off somewhere because they posted after on

<v Speaker 1>social media that they let him out. He had like

<v Speaker 1>a bag over his head. And they told him, start walking.

<v Speaker 1>And so he starts walking and they drive away. And

<v Speaker 1>I said it looked like he was in like an

<v Speaker 1>airport hangar. It wasn't like he was in the middle

<v Speaker 1>of the desert or anything like that. I'm like, where

<v Speaker 1>is he supposed to walk to? He's going to walk

<v Speaker 1>home from San Antonio, Texas. This whole thing was stupid.

<v Speaker 1>It was so corny and ridiculous. But he was out.

<v Speaker 1>He was not able to participate in the main event

<v Speaker 1>because he was fucking abducted. But as Adam Pearce said,

<v Speaker 1>the show must go on. I promised you all a

<v Speaker 1>triple threat match, and damn it, I'm going to give

<v Speaker 1>you a triple threat match. And so they slotted Penta

<v Speaker 1>in there. One week after Penta had that incredible main

<v Speaker 1>event in Mexico City against Roman Reigns, came this close

<v Speaker 1>to winning the World Heavyweight Championship, but did not. Now

<v Speaker 1>he's got an opportunity to get into the ladder match

<v Speaker 1>and win the briefcase and maybe get another crack at

<v Speaker 1>the title. As soon as they announced that Penta was

<v Speaker 1>the replacement, Penta became the favorite to win the main event,

<v Speaker 1>and of course he did. And so Penta is in

<v Speaker 1>the Money in the Bank match this year. Now, per

<v Speaker 1>WrestleVotes on Fightful Select, WrestleVotes Radio, they reported this week

<v Speaker 1>that it was relayed that many in creative viewed Penta

<v Speaker 1>versus Roman as a one and done going into it.

<v Speaker 1>But that may have changed. Several in creative now believe

<v Speaker 1>a rematch makes sense, both from a business and creative standpoint.

<v Speaker 1>Penta is now viewed by several within WWE creative as

<v Speaker 1>a heavy favorite to win Money in the Bank. That

<v Speaker 1>was not the plan as of SummerSlam, but the reaction

<v Speaker 1>to Penta versus Roman in Mexico City may have changed things,

<v Speaker 1>including discussion of a potential rematch. And all I'm going

<v Speaker 1>to say about that is this, because I don't know

<v Speaker 1>if they are going to do that or not. And

<v Speaker 1>Penta had the exaggerated reaction because they were in Mexico City.

<v Speaker 1>He gets great reactions everywhere, but the reaction in Mexico

<v Speaker 1>City was amplified because it was fucking Mexico City. So,

<v Speaker 1>of course, he's going to be treated like a fucking

<v Speaker 1>hero there. If they are serious about this, and I'm

<v Speaker 1>reading this report and it's talking about a rematch, maybe

<v Speaker 1>it won't be a one and done. I don't want

<v Speaker 1>to see a rematch unless Penta wins the championship. I

<v Speaker 1>had no problem with them doing the match in Mexico

<v Speaker 1>City as a one-off. I knew Penta was going to

<v Speaker 1>lose going into it. I fucking knew he was going

<v Speaker 1>to lose. And I still thought it was a great idea,

<v Speaker 1>and it was. Because look, it's elevated. Even in the

<v Speaker 1>eyes of people in creative, this elevated him. All of

<v Speaker 1>a sudden, they're looking at him a little bit different

<v Speaker 1>than they were 10 days ago or two weeks ago, right?

<v Speaker 1>He upped his stock in that match. Sometimes even when

<v Speaker 1>you lose, you win, and that was a great example

<v Speaker 1>of it. But if the plan is to run this

<v Speaker 1>back again and do a rematch and just have Roman

<v Speaker 1>beat him again, I don't see what the fucking point

<v Speaker 1>of that would be. Because all you're doing then if

<v Speaker 1>you do that is you're showing people, yeah, the first

<v Speaker 1>time was no fluke. Like, he ain't at this guy's level.

<v Speaker 1>He's not world championship material. We'll just have Roman beat

<v Speaker 1>him again, and then what? And then what? Unless you

<v Speaker 1>come up with some sort of long-term plan. I don't

<v Speaker 1>want to hear this bullshit about, well, now they're thinking

<v Speaker 1>about doing a rematch. No, either you do a rematch

<v Speaker 1>at the right time if you're going to put the

<v Speaker 1>belt on the guy, or what I'd like to read

<v Speaker 1>about is now they're considering an actual extended program between

<v Speaker 1>these two with the idea that maybe it's more than

<v Speaker 1>just a rematch and maybe eventually it actually builds to

<v Speaker 1>something where Penta wins out in the end. That's what

<v Speaker 1>I'd like to read about. If all we're talking about

<v Speaker 1>is one more rematch. And this time it won't even

<v Speaker 1>be in front of that hot crowd in Mexico City.

<v Speaker 1>And he's just going to fucking lose again. I have

<v Speaker 1>no interest in that. None. So hopefully it's a little

<v Speaker 1>bit deeper than that. Or don't do it at all.

<v Speaker 1>But keep him in that mix at least. He doesn't

<v Speaker 1>have to wrestle Roman. But keep him in that mix.

<v Speaker 1>Him winning money in the bank. I mean look to

<v Speaker 1>me as I sit here right now. It's him or

<v Speaker 1>it's Braun Breaker. And you can make the case for

<v Speaker 1>either one of those guys. Braun Breaker. To me, Bron

<v Speaker 1>Breaker is likely the one walking away with the briefcase.

<v Speaker 1>I mean, I'll do my Money in the Bank predictions

<v Speaker 1>next week. I would love to see Penta, though, win it.

<v Speaker 1>Especially if they're serious about doing more with him. I'd

<v Speaker 1>love to see him win the briefcase and carry that

<v Speaker 1>around for a while. And when the time is right,

<v Speaker 1>when the opportunity is right, whether it's Roman with the

<v Speaker 1>belt or somebody else, maybe you can use that as

<v Speaker 1>an in. Penta doesn't strike me as the kind of guy, though,

<v Speaker 1>who's just going to cash in on you when you've

<v Speaker 1>just had a 20-minute match and you've You've already expended

<v Speaker 1>all of this energy. Penta strikes me as the kind

<v Speaker 1>of guy that would be more like an RVD when

<v Speaker 1>he cashed in in 2006. He called his shot in advance.

<v Speaker 1>He didn't jump the guy at the end of his

<v Speaker 1>match or after his match. He said, John Cena, I'm

<v Speaker 1>challenging you. One night stand. Hammerstein Ballroom for the WWE

<v Speaker 1>World Championship. And he fucking won. And if it wasn't

<v Speaker 1>for his own fucking mistakes... Maybe he would have had

<v Speaker 1>a little more time with that belt, but what a

<v Speaker 1>huge moment that was for him. I'd like to see

<v Speaker 1>something similar for Penta. Otherwise, don't bother. Now, Roxanne Perez,

<v Speaker 1>she also qualified for Money in the Bank over Io

<v Speaker 1>Sky and La Catalina. Then on SmackDown, we had two

<v Speaker 1>more qualifying matches in the women's match. Lash Legend picked

<v Speaker 1>up the win over Charlotte Flair and Giulia. And yes,

<v Speaker 1>we got another Tower of Doom spot and a finish

<v Speaker 1>that was very similar to what we saw from both

<v Speaker 1>qualifying matches last week. The only difference here is that

<v Speaker 1>instead of Lash stealing the pin on Charlotte after Julia

<v Speaker 1>hit Charlotte with her Northern Lights Bomb, Lash grabbed Julia

<v Speaker 1>and hit her finish on Julia and pinned her instead. Because,

<v Speaker 1>come on now, with Julia in the match, ain't no

<v Speaker 1>way they were pinning Charlotte Flair. But still, what is

<v Speaker 1>this obsession? It's like they have the same fucking blueprint

<v Speaker 1>for so many of these matches and they just don't

<v Speaker 1>deviate from it. At least there was no Tower of

<v Speaker 1>Doom in the main event, which was CM Punk, Gunther,

<v Speaker 1>and Finn Balor for the right to go to Money

<v Speaker 1>in the Bank. We did, however, get another stolen finish

<v Speaker 1>where Gunther had Punk in a sleeper hold. He was

<v Speaker 1>giving up his back. He basically had Punk in a sleeper,

<v Speaker 1>but Punk was lying face down on the mat. Gunther

<v Speaker 1>was on top of him. And that allowed Finn Balor

<v Speaker 1>to come off the top with a coup de grace

<v Speaker 1>to Gunther's back, which broke the hold. Punk then stole

<v Speaker 1>the pin on Gunther before Balor could break up the pinfall.

<v Speaker 1>And CM Punk qualifies for Money in the Bank. I

<v Speaker 1>thought the main event on Friday night was really good.

<v Speaker 1>I just finished watching it this morning. Very good stuff.

<v Speaker 1>This will be Punk's fifth Money in the Bank match.

<v Speaker 1>He's already won two of them before, both of them

<v Speaker 1>at WrestleMania. And as of this moment, he is the

<v Speaker 1>only man with prior Money in the Bank experience actually

<v Speaker 1>in the match, which could also be why they wanted

<v Speaker 1>him in there. As Punk was walking out for the

<v Speaker 1>main event, by the way, Cody Rhodes was exiting after

<v Speaker 1>his promo, and the two of them shared a very

<v Speaker 1>tense stare down. I think we're looking into the window

<v Speaker 1>of our future, one of our two WrestleMania main events

<v Speaker 1>next year in Saudi. Only this time, I need one

<v Speaker 1>of them to come into that match as the clearly

<v Speaker 1>defined heel. None of this babyface against babyface bullshit. We've

<v Speaker 1>already done that. If you're going to do this again,

<v Speaker 1>I don't even care who it is. I would prefer

<v Speaker 1>that it's Cody, preferably, that they turn. But I don't

<v Speaker 1>even care. As long as one of them comes in

<v Speaker 1>as the babyface and one of them comes in as

<v Speaker 1>the heel. That's what I would like to see, just

<v Speaker 1>to make it that much different from the match we

<v Speaker 1>saw them have at SummerSlam. And then the only other

<v Speaker 1>thing on SmackDown just worth mentioning here, Trick Williams and

<v Speaker 1>Baron Corbin had yet another match. This time it was

<v Speaker 1>inside of a steel cage, and the end result was

<v Speaker 1>the same. Trick Williams gets the win. And that was, look, guys,

<v Speaker 1>that was only their fourth match. We have at least

<v Speaker 1>three or four more to go, right? So start thinking

<v Speaker 1>of stipulation. Maybe we can get a loser leaves town stipulation.

<v Speaker 1>And so the loser has to go to the other

<v Speaker 1>brand to get them the fuck away from the other guy.

<v Speaker 1>That's the only rematch I would support at this point. Otherwise,

<v Speaker 1>I think it's time to move on. Now, this coming

<v Speaker 1>Friday on SmackDown, the final batch of qualifiers for Money

<v Speaker 1>in the Bank. On the women's side, Candice LeRae, Tiffany Stratton,

<v Speaker 1>and Tatum Paxley will fight for the final spot in

<v Speaker 1>the women's ladder match. I think that spot's going to

<v Speaker 1>go to Tatum. On the men's side, it's Cody Rhodes,

<v Speaker 1>Kevin Owens, and Johnny Gargano. Sami Zayn is the one

<v Speaker 1>who got Gargano put into the match because he claimed

<v Speaker 1>to Johnny, look, I went to Nick Aldis. I tried

<v Speaker 1>to get you that rematch because Johnny's still telling him, hey,

<v Speaker 1>when do I get my shot? He said, well, all this,

<v Speaker 1>he said no. But what I was able to do was,

<v Speaker 1>I got you a qualifying match for Money in the Bank.

<v Speaker 1>And hey, Candice, I got one for you too. So

<v Speaker 1>the only reason they're even in these qualifying matches, according

<v Speaker 1>to Sami Zayn, is because of him. Gargano, Owens, and Cody,

<v Speaker 1>there is a case to be made for any of

<v Speaker 1>those three. Like, you could potentially put Gargano in there

<v Speaker 1>if you wanted to really tease this idea, as Sammy

<v Speaker 1>was saying on Friday, that, hey, you go in there,

<v Speaker 1>you're going to qualify, you're going to win money in

<v Speaker 1>the bank, and then I'll have the belt, and you'll

<v Speaker 1>have the briefcase. And then Johnny said, and then I

<v Speaker 1>get my shot, right? And Sammy was like, yeah, yeah,

<v Speaker 1>you get your shot at that point. So maybe, maybe

<v Speaker 1>they want to send Gargano at least to the ladder match,

<v Speaker 1>not that he's going to win. And maybe that's the

<v Speaker 1>play here. Cody Rhodes, You don't need me to tell

<v Speaker 1>you what the play would be. The play is very simple.

<v Speaker 1>Cody is one of their top stars, and if they

<v Speaker 1>want him on that show that night to help sell

<v Speaker 1>more tickets, then they'll put him on the Money in

<v Speaker 1>the Bank card. Otherwise, he's got nothing to do, unless

<v Speaker 1>they do the Cody and Orton rematch on that show,

<v Speaker 1>which it doesn't feel like they're going to. Unless Cody

<v Speaker 1>was in the ladder match, that would mean he would

<v Speaker 1>have no role on the PLE. And the same for

<v Speaker 1>Kevin Owens. This feels like a Kevin Owens win. Kevin

<v Speaker 1>Owens winning this makes the most sense to me, although

<v Speaker 1>I have to say this. Kevin Owens is also coming

<v Speaker 1>off a 17-month layoff after very serious, potentially career-ending neck surgery.

<v Speaker 1>I don't know that almost immediately thrusting him into a

<v Speaker 1>money-in-the-bank ladder match is a very wise move. But since

<v Speaker 1>CM Punk got into the match, I think Owens does too,

<v Speaker 1>and it further builds to an eventual three-way match, or

<v Speaker 1>at least it continues to build this three-way feud between Punk, Owens,

<v Speaker 1>and Sami Zayn. And there was a backstage segment on

<v Speaker 1>Friday where Punk and Owens were face-to-face, and they still

<v Speaker 1>don't like each other, and they're still building to something.

<v Speaker 1>So with Punk getting in, that makes me think it's

<v Speaker 1>more likely that Owens is going to get that spot.

<v Speaker 1>I just hope he doesn't kill himself in that match.

<v Speaker 1>We'll do Money in the Bank predictions next week. We've

<v Speaker 1>got one more sound off before we get to that PLE.

<v Speaker 1>We did have some news this week on the WWE front.

<v Speaker 1>This came from, well, I pulled this anyway, from The

<v Speaker 1>Hollywood Reporter. It's out there now. WWE has announced it themselves.

<v Speaker 1>But The Hollywood Reporter had a story of this week. Headline,

<v Speaker 1>WWE main event moves from YouTube to Rumble, a conservative

<v Speaker 1>streaming platform backed by J.D. Vance. Rumble, it says, is

<v Speaker 1>also home to Dan Bongino, who is also an investor,

<v Speaker 1>Steven Crowder, and Andrew Tate. What a fucking trio that is.

<v Speaker 1>WWE main event is ready to rumble. What a great,

<v Speaker 1>that's a great joke. Anyway, starting October 14th, WWE main

<v Speaker 1>event is tagging out of the YouTube ecosystem and strutting

<v Speaker 1>down the entrance ramp to rumble a video sharing platform

<v Speaker 1>and cloud provider. That is a favorite of conservative commentators.

<v Speaker 1>And then they mentioned again, a bunch of names here

<v Speaker 1>and apparently Dr. Disrespect as well. Rumble is also where

<v Speaker 1>Dana White's Power Slap competition stream. Rumble markets itself as

<v Speaker 1>being anti-cancel culture. It was founded in 2013 and went

<v Speaker 1>public as Rumble Inc., the neutral video platform in 2021.

<v Speaker 1>Main event, which features matches that take place weekly ahead

<v Speaker 1>of Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown, will stream

<v Speaker 1>Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern. There's that time again. Hey,

<v Speaker 1>you know, we got Worlds Collide. coming up at 7

<v Speaker 1>Eastern on YouTube this Wednesday. And then we got Main

<v Speaker 1>Event moving to Rumble on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Very interesting. Now,

<v Speaker 1>they already have Evolve at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays. That

<v Speaker 1>airs on Tubi. At least here in the U.S. it does.

<v Speaker 1>It may be on YouTube outside the U.S. Maybe they

<v Speaker 1>don't give a shit about Evolve. I'm not even sure, honestly,

<v Speaker 1>how much longer Evolve is going to be around for.

<v Speaker 1>I mean, I know they tape. God, they taped those

<v Speaker 1>shows months in advance. I saw Wendy Chu was featured

<v Speaker 1>on the most recent episode, I believe. She returned. I'm like,

<v Speaker 1>Wendy Chu returned? She got fired? Did they bring her back?

<v Speaker 1>Evidently not. Apparently they're just so far behind on the

<v Speaker 1>taping schedule that I guess it only just aired the

<v Speaker 1>episode where she returned and she's not even there anymore.

<v Speaker 1>So I don't know how many months in advance they're

<v Speaker 1>taping these shows, but They don't really seem to give

<v Speaker 1>a shit, I guess. They already have another show airing

<v Speaker 1>in that same time slot on a different service. Main

<v Speaker 1>event typically gets posted, like right now, it gets posted

<v Speaker 1>on Thursdays. So it's going to be Wednesdays at 8.

<v Speaker 1>Unless they move Evolve to Thursdays, again, they would have

<v Speaker 1>the two shows competing with each other. Thursday would be

<v Speaker 1>an open night. Saturdays they have AAA. Sundays are open

<v Speaker 1>when they don't have a PLE. But, I mean, they

<v Speaker 1>do have LFG, which I think airs on Sundays, but

<v Speaker 1>that's not year-round. So they're getting closer to their ultimate

<v Speaker 1>goal here, which is, I think, to have something on

<v Speaker 1>every night of the fucking week. They're getting very close.

<v Speaker 1>Here's my take on this. I wasn't watching Main Event before,

<v Speaker 1>and I won't be watching Main Event now. So I

<v Speaker 1>don't give a shit, and neither will anybody else. This

<v Speaker 1>is not going to change anything. It is more likely

<v Speaker 1>the shows will lose viewers than it is that they

<v Speaker 1>are going to bring new ones to Rumble, which I'm

<v Speaker 1>sure Rumble is banking on here. I'm sure they're paying

<v Speaker 1>WWE for this. And they're hoping, man, we can bring

<v Speaker 1>some of that WWE, you know, social media eyeballs over

<v Speaker 1>to Rumble. Whatever they bring over, I don't think it's

<v Speaker 1>going to be all that much. Because at the end

<v Speaker 1>of the day, people know what they are getting is

<v Speaker 1>WWE's C-Show. This is not like when the show debuted

<v Speaker 1>in 2012 and they had champion against champion between CM

<v Speaker 1>Punk and Sheamus on that very first episode, right? I mean,

<v Speaker 1>that was crown jewel before crown jewel was even a thing.

<v Speaker 1>And then it wasn't. And then it became obsolete because

<v Speaker 1>WWE didn't give a shit about it. That's not going

<v Speaker 1>to suddenly change. The annual PWI 500 rankings dropped on Thursday.

<v Speaker 1>And as I remind people every year, this is a

<v Speaker 1>kayfabe list. The evaluation period for this year was August 1st,

<v Speaker 1>2025 through July 31st, 2026. These are the criteria, according

<v Speaker 1>to their website, that they weigh in determining who ranks where,

<v Speaker 1>if they rank at all, on this list. Number one,

<v Speaker 1>in-ring achievement. That includes win-loss records, championships, tournaments, and key

<v Speaker 1>contests won. Number two, influence. That is visibility and prestige

<v Speaker 1>within a promotion and or the industry as a whole.

<v Speaker 1>Number three, technical ability. Quality of moves, matches, and in-ring storytelling.

<v Speaker 1>Number four, competition. Success against the most varied and highest

<v Speaker 1>quality field of opponents. And number five, activity. Minimum 10

<v Speaker 1>singles matches total, or barring this, six such matches in

<v Speaker 1>separate months. We're going to come back to that a

<v Speaker 1>little bit later on. Topping the list in the number

<v Speaker 1>one spot, after coming in at number 30 last year,

<v Speaker 1>the former AEW world champion, MJF. who was only the

<v Speaker 1>third AEW name to top the list since the promotion

<v Speaker 1>opened its doors in 2019. On the very day that

<v Speaker 1>the evaluation period began, MJF won the CMLL World Heavyweight

<v Speaker 1>title at Arena Mexico. And then a month later, he

<v Speaker 1>lost the belt to Mystico, title versus mask, in one

<v Speaker 1>of the best matches all year. Then he lost to

<v Speaker 1>Mark Briscoe in a tables and tax match, and he

<v Speaker 1>disappeared for about three months, only to come back and

<v Speaker 1>win back the AEW World Championship at World's End. And

<v Speaker 1>he held that title for the next four months, which

<v Speaker 1>included his Texas death match, a win over Hangman Adam Page,

<v Speaker 1>a win over Zillow Fatu in House of Glory for

<v Speaker 1>that same AEW world title, and a win over Kenny

<v Speaker 1>Omega at Dynasty. He lost the belt, but then he

<v Speaker 1>won it back. And the loss to Kenny at Beach

<v Speaker 1>Break would have been the last thing that counted during

<v Speaker 1>the evaluation period. But that's a pretty strong year right there.

<v Speaker 1>And that's with him taking three months off. But I

<v Speaker 1>can't really disagree with this because realistically, who had a

<v Speaker 1>stronger year overall, like in the position that he was in,

<v Speaker 1>holding two different world titles and having the quality of

<v Speaker 1>matches and opponents that he had? One person who was

<v Speaker 1>not anywhere to be found in the top 10 this

<v Speaker 1>year is the reigning AEW world champion, Will Ospreay. But

<v Speaker 1>that's because Ospreay missed five months after neck surgery. So

<v Speaker 1>as long as he can stay healthy, if he's not

<v Speaker 1>number one next year, he'll be in the top three guaranteed.

<v Speaker 1>This year, he was number 16. I still think that's

<v Speaker 1>way too low for the match output that he has

<v Speaker 1>had this year. They had Trick Williams at number eight.

<v Speaker 1>I mean, I would swap him out for Ospreay. Number two.

<v Speaker 1>two this year was the American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes, who

<v Speaker 1>last year became only the fourth wrestler in history to

<v Speaker 1>go back-to-back years in the number one spot. They call

<v Speaker 1>him QB1, right? That is what he has been positioned

<v Speaker 1>as in the biggest promotion in the world, so of

<v Speaker 1>course he's going to be high up on this list.

<v Speaker 1>The first match of the evaluation period for him was

<v Speaker 1>that excellent match he had with John Cena at SummerSlam

<v Speaker 1>last year when he won the belt back. He remained

<v Speaker 1>the champion until January. Then he won it back in March.

<v Speaker 1>He headlined night one of WrestleMania against Randy Orton, and

<v Speaker 1>he won. And his match with CM Punk at SummerSlam

<v Speaker 1>doesn't count because it came the day, actually one day,

<v Speaker 1>after the evaluation period ended. But it's still hard to

<v Speaker 1>argue him not being at least in the top three.

<v Speaker 1>Would Cody have been my number two? Probably not. But

<v Speaker 1>He still would have been up there. This is not

<v Speaker 1>like an egregious pick. Speaking of CM Punk, he was

<v Speaker 1>number three on this list, a spot that he has

<v Speaker 1>occupied twice before, once in 2022 and once in 2010.

<v Speaker 1>If you wanted him and Cody to trade places, I'd

<v Speaker 1>be fine with that. He won the World Heavyweight title

<v Speaker 1>twice during the evaluation period, which included a match with

<v Speaker 1>Roman Reigns at WrestleMania that may well win for Match

<v Speaker 1>of the Year on a lot of people's lists. And

<v Speaker 1>he also won the WWE Championship from Sami Zayn in

<v Speaker 1>his very next match. He's had some really good matches

<v Speaker 1>against some name opponents. And as far as influence goes,

<v Speaker 1>I would say he's still one of the most influential

<v Speaker 1>names in the business. So as the criteria goes, that tracks.

<v Speaker 1>Number four was Mystico, up from number nine last year.

<v Speaker 1>No one man has been bigger box office for his

<v Speaker 1>home promotion when it comes to selling tickets than this man.

<v Speaker 1>with all the sellouts that CMLL has had this past year.

<v Speaker 1>And the titles that he's won, not only in CMLL,

<v Speaker 1>but in AEW, right, a former Trios champion. Right now,

<v Speaker 1>he's won half of the Ring of Honor Tag Team

<v Speaker 1>Champions with Maskura Dorada. And in New Japan, he's won

<v Speaker 1>half of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions with

<v Speaker 1>El Desperado. And that mask versus title match with MJF

<v Speaker 1>from last year, that would be included in the evaluation

<v Speaker 1>period too. So that only strengthened his case. I was

<v Speaker 1>happy to see Kanosuke Takeshita at number five. That match

<v Speaker 1>with Okada at Double or Nothing where he won the

<v Speaker 1>international title is one of the best matches all year.

<v Speaker 1>And he's the New Japan World Television Champion right now.

<v Speaker 1>Before that, though, he won the IWGP World Heavyweight title

<v Speaker 1>late last year before he lost it at the Tokyo

<v Speaker 1>Dome to Yota Tsuji. And that was another great match

<v Speaker 1>in a pretty prominent position, no less, in another promotion.

<v Speaker 1>The only reason they didn't headline, by the way, the

<v Speaker 1>Tokyo Dome with that match was because they had Tanahashi's

<v Speaker 1>retirement in that spot against Okada. Otherwise, that would have

<v Speaker 1>been your Tokyo Dome main event this year. And he

<v Speaker 1>was also part of the G1 Climax for the second

<v Speaker 1>time this year, which was still in progress when this

<v Speaker 1>evaluation period would have ended. Then you get into the

<v Speaker 1>bottom of the top ten. Number six, Hangman Adam Page.

<v Speaker 1>At the start of the evaluation year, he was the

<v Speaker 1>AEW world champion. He dropped the belt to Samoa Joe

<v Speaker 1>at full gear. He won the trios titles twice, and

<v Speaker 1>he had that Texas death match with MJF at Revolution.

<v Speaker 1>I could go either way on this one. I like Hangman,

<v Speaker 1>but if he ended up in the ass end of

<v Speaker 1>the top 10, a little bit lower, I wouldn't say

<v Speaker 1>that was unfair. Number seven was Yota Tsuji, the IWGP

<v Speaker 1>World Heavyweight Champion, the new ace of New Japan. He

<v Speaker 1>lost the belt not long after winning it to Callum Newman,

<v Speaker 1>but then he won it back for a second time.

<v Speaker 1>He has not defended it at all since June. Number

<v Speaker 1>eight was Trick Williams, whose new Lemon Peppa Steppas t-shirt

<v Speaker 1>got pulled from WWE shop as quickly as it went up,

<v Speaker 1>and for good reason. It sucked. I don't know whose

<v Speaker 1>idea that was. Trick probably had a say in it

<v Speaker 1>if it wasn't his idea, but it was just a

<v Speaker 1>bad shirt. There's got to be quality control with this stuff.

<v Speaker 1>Even if you didn't find anything offensive about the shirt,

<v Speaker 1>it was still an offensively bad t-shirt. It was offensive

<v Speaker 1>one way or the other. That was an offensive shirt.

<v Speaker 1>Lucky for him, PWI doesn't consider the quality of one's

<v Speaker 1>merch in their rankings because he made the top 10.

<v Speaker 1>That's after coming in at number 19 last year. And look,

<v Speaker 1>no doubt, he's had a good year. He's had a

<v Speaker 1>breakout year. From the moment he came to SmackDown, he

<v Speaker 1>has been pushed. He's gotten over. And he won the

<v Speaker 1>United States Championship at WrestleMania. But he was also with

<v Speaker 1>the TNA World Heavyweight Champion for the first few months

<v Speaker 1>of the evaluation period last year. Before losing it to

<v Speaker 1>Mike Santana at Bound for Glory. Is that enough to

<v Speaker 1>make him number eight, considering some of the other names

<v Speaker 1>that did not make the top ten? I'm not so sure.

<v Speaker 1>I mean, look, it's not an egregiously bad choice for

<v Speaker 1>number eight, but I would still, for example, have Will

<v Speaker 1>Ospreay ahead of him on this list, even with the

<v Speaker 1>five months he was out. Number nine was Obafemi. He

<v Speaker 1>was the NXT champion at the beginning of everything. He

<v Speaker 1>lost it, then he won it back later. He surrendered

<v Speaker 1>it before coming to the main roster. This would also

<v Speaker 1>include his match with Cody Rhodes on Saturday night's main event,

<v Speaker 1>but it's the feud with Brock Lesnar that got him

<v Speaker 1>into the top ten. Let's just be honest. He beat

<v Speaker 1>Brock in his very first WrestleMania, and then he won

<v Speaker 1>King of the Ring. I would actually have him higher

<v Speaker 1>on this list than Trick Williams. Next year, he'll be

<v Speaker 1>a lot higher than this. And number 10 was the

<v Speaker 1>Ring General, Gunther, who did not do anything after losing

<v Speaker 1>the world title to CM Punk at SummerSlam until the fall,

<v Speaker 1>when he won the right to be John Cena's final opponent,

<v Speaker 1>and he beat him. He made John Cena tap out

<v Speaker 1>of which I guess in kayfabe is just as good

<v Speaker 1>as winning a world championship. Then he retired AJ Styles

<v Speaker 1>at the Royal Rumble. And that's it. That's it. He

<v Speaker 1>hasn't done anything else of any real note this year.

<v Speaker 1>It's been a very poor follow-up for Gunther. But sending

<v Speaker 1>John Cena and AJ Styles off to the Shady Pines

<v Speaker 1>retirement village is what barely kept him in the top

<v Speaker 1>ten after coming in at number three last year. Conspicuous

<v Speaker 1>by his absence from the top ten... after coming in

<v Speaker 1>at number two last year, was Jon Moxley, who is

<v Speaker 1>far more important to his home promotion than Trick Williams

<v Speaker 1>is to his, or even Gunther, quite frankly. And he's

<v Speaker 1>gone undefeated in singles matches this year, at least he

<v Speaker 1>did up until last night. You know, Moxley came in

<v Speaker 1>this year at number 19, which is just wild to me.

<v Speaker 1>I mean, whatever you think of Jon Moxley, when you

<v Speaker 1>think about how he's been pushed and positioned and the

<v Speaker 1>matches and the opponents, the name opponents he's had. I

<v Speaker 1>don't know how you have him at number 19. I

<v Speaker 1>don't really get that. Uh, Cruz Montana. He was number 13.

<v Speaker 1>Dominic Mysterio came in at number 18. Okay. Both, both

<v Speaker 1>of those men ahead of John Moxley. Although Moxley was

<v Speaker 1>one spot ahead of Seth Rollins and number 20 and

<v Speaker 1>Kyle Fletcher and number 21. And just to round out

<v Speaker 1>the entire, uh, you know, top 25 for you from

<v Speaker 1>number 11 on. Number 11 was Bandito. Number 12 was

<v Speaker 1>Darby Allin. 13, as I said, Cruz Montana. Number 14

<v Speaker 1>was Callum Newman. Number 15, Kenny Omega. Number 16, Will Ospreay.

<v Speaker 1>Number 17, Kazuchika Okada. Number 18, Dominic Mysterio. 19 was

<v Speaker 1>Jon Moxley. 20 was Seth Rollins. 21 was Kyle Fletcher,

<v Speaker 1>which just feels way too low. Number 22 was Sami Zayn.

<v Speaker 1>Number 23 was Penta. 24 was Kevin Knight. And number

<v Speaker 1>25 was Swerve Strickland. Jey Uso, who came in at

<v Speaker 1>number 6 last year, was down to number 45 this year.

<v Speaker 1>The world is healing. Poor Jimmy Uso was down to

<v Speaker 1>number 246 on the countdown this year. I was looking

<v Speaker 1>for El Grande Americano on this list. You talk about

<v Speaker 1>breakout years. He had a breakout year and they have

<v Speaker 1>him down at number 43, especially when they have Lee

<v Speaker 1>Moriarty at number 35. But Moriarty has been wrestling way

<v Speaker 1>more than Kaiser has, I guess. And he's had that

<v Speaker 1>Ring of Honor pure title for almost 800 days. But

<v Speaker 1>I mean, is he as important to his brand as

<v Speaker 1>Americano is to AAA, though? No, he's not. So I'm

<v Speaker 1>not sure how they're weighing that. But the former House

<v Speaker 1>of Glory world champion, Charles Mason, he ranked number 70.

<v Speaker 1>Do you know who beat him out by one spot

<v Speaker 1>this year? This is going to drive him nuts. Dan Housen.

<v Speaker 1>Dan Housen was number 69. Dan Housen beat out Charles Mason.

<v Speaker 1>He's not going to like that very much. Now, you

<v Speaker 1>may be asking the big question here. Where the hell

<v Speaker 1>is Roman Reigns on this list? You forgot to mention

<v Speaker 1>the tribal chief. He may be your wrestler of the year.

<v Speaker 1>He's had great matches with CM Punk and Penta. Well,

<v Speaker 1>he didn't make the list. He did not make the

<v Speaker 1>PWI Top 500. And the reason that he did not

<v Speaker 1>make the list is because he did not meet the

<v Speaker 1>criteria to make the list. For the third straight year.

<v Speaker 1>As per the rules, a wrestler needs to have a

<v Speaker 1>minimum of 10 singles matches total, or 6, across a

<v Speaker 1>period of 6 separate months. Roman had a total of

<v Speaker 1>five matches in that one-year period. Five singles matches in

<v Speaker 1>one year. Two against Bronson Reed. That came last year.

<v Speaker 1>WrestleMania against CM Punk. And the two in May against

<v Speaker 1>Jacob Fatu. That's it. War Games doesn't count. The Royal

<v Speaker 1>Rumble doesn't count. But yeah, three straight years of this.

<v Speaker 1>Mullet Man came in at number 498 out of 500.

<v Speaker 1>Mullet Man had a more taxing schedule this year than

<v Speaker 1>Roman Reigns did. Let's open up the mailbag for a

<v Speaker 1>few questions. You can always email me, thesolomonster, at gmail.com.

<v Speaker 1>Please include your name and where you are from when

<v Speaker 1>you write in. Tori from Atlanta, who is celebrating a birthday.

<v Speaker 1>Happy birthday, Tori. This is my gift to you. He says,

<v Speaker 1>I haven't watched wrestling as frequently in recent years as

<v Speaker 1>I did as a child. I generally rely on you

<v Speaker 1>to keep me updated on what's going on. When I

<v Speaker 1>do watch, I notice that something is missing. Most wrestlers

<v Speaker 1>lack genuine aura. Do you agree with me that in

<v Speaker 1>that aspect, or am I missing something? Maybe it's due

<v Speaker 1>to social media that I feel that way. Also, after

<v Speaker 1>watching Paul Heyman's interview with Chris Van Vliet, it amazes

<v Speaker 1>me the amount of longevity he has had in the business.

<v Speaker 1>What would you say has contributed to his continued relevancy?

<v Speaker 1>I think what has continued to his longevity is the

<v Speaker 1>fact that he realizes that you got to change with

<v Speaker 1>the times. And I think he's said this before, where

<v Speaker 1>If you're not adapting, you're dying. Even if there are

<v Speaker 1>certain things that you feel should still be the way

<v Speaker 1>they used to be, you kind of read the tea leaves,

<v Speaker 1>you see what's going on, you pay attention to what's

<v Speaker 1>going on, and you see that things are changing. Or

<v Speaker 1>maybe you could also see where things may be headed

<v Speaker 1>in the future. And you adapt. Because if you don't,

<v Speaker 1>you're going to be left in the dust. I think

<v Speaker 1>that's the biggest key to his success. He always is

<v Speaker 1>able to see things for what they are and where

<v Speaker 1>they're going and And he just makes sure that he's

<v Speaker 1>not left out of it. You know, he studies it.

<v Speaker 1>He understands it. And he's been able to be a

<v Speaker 1>part of it this entire time, whether it's as a promoter,

<v Speaker 1>a performer. He's worn a lot of different hats, photographer.

<v Speaker 1>There's a lot of things he's done in wrestling alone,

<v Speaker 1>let alone outside of wrestling. And so he's just done

<v Speaker 1>a very good job of that, right, over all these

<v Speaker 1>many years. And even when he was put in charge

<v Speaker 1>of ECW, put in charge of ECW when WWE had it,

<v Speaker 1>He had all these ideas for like things to kind

<v Speaker 1>of keep them ahead of the curve and people to push.

<v Speaker 1>And he was going to build things around CM Punk,

<v Speaker 1>I think was one of the things he wanted to do.

<v Speaker 1>And he had all these ideas. And I'm sure he

<v Speaker 1>would have had a lot of ideas like that for

<v Speaker 1>TNA if he had bought into TNA when the pitch

<v Speaker 1>was made to him many years ago and he met

<v Speaker 1>with Dixie Carter. You know, he is always trying to

<v Speaker 1>be forward thinking, I guess is what I'm trying to

<v Speaker 1>say in that way. That helps a lot. Look at

<v Speaker 1>the promoters that Vince was able to stomp out in

<v Speaker 1>the 80s. Would they have been in business if Vince

<v Speaker 1>did not play the games that he played and was

<v Speaker 1>ruthless in the way that he tried to kill off

<v Speaker 1>all the territories? No, eventually they would have died anyway,

<v Speaker 1>many of them. Not all of them, but many of

<v Speaker 1>them would have died off. Why? Because those promoters, they

<v Speaker 1>were stuck in their ways. Even though the television world

<v Speaker 1>was changing and cable and things were becoming more national

<v Speaker 1>and less regional. You had a lot of guys that

<v Speaker 1>were in their 60s, 70s, 80s, they were all farts,

<v Speaker 1>and they were stuck in their ways, and they were

<v Speaker 1>not willing to adapt, or they didn't see the wave

<v Speaker 1>that was coming in that was crashing down upon them.

<v Speaker 1>So many of them would have been out of business anyway.

<v Speaker 1>If Heyman was one of those promoters back in the 80s,

<v Speaker 1>he would have been smart enough to recognize, oh shit,

<v Speaker 1>change is coming here, and I don't want to be

<v Speaker 1>wiped out and sent out to sea, so I better

<v Speaker 1>make some changes here and make sure that I can

<v Speaker 1>do whatever I need to do to stay relevant and

<v Speaker 1>stay in business. So I think that's the biggest thing

<v Speaker 1>that has helped him stay in wrestling. And as you said,

<v Speaker 1>stay relevant for so long. Plus, he also just has

<v Speaker 1>certain skills that lend itself very well when it comes

<v Speaker 1>to talent development or recognizing talent, bringing out the best

<v Speaker 1>in a talent, hiding weaknesses. And it was a lot

<v Speaker 1>of what people gave him credit for in ECW the

<v Speaker 1>first time when he ran ECW back in the 90s.

<v Speaker 1>But as far as the first part of your question, yes,

<v Speaker 1>I think social media definitely has had a negative impact

<v Speaker 1>in that way where certain wrestlers that you would not

<v Speaker 1>know anything about outside of what you saw on television,

<v Speaker 1>larger than life characters, it's a little bit different when

<v Speaker 1>you see them on social media and they're just regular people.

<v Speaker 1>You know what I mean? And they're posting photos of

<v Speaker 1>them backstage hanging out with the other wrestlers and some

<v Speaker 1>of them maybe are heel. Oh, my God, why are

<v Speaker 1>they hanging out together? Or it humanizes them. Which I

<v Speaker 1>think can be a positive thing, but it could also

<v Speaker 1>be a negative thing when it comes to, hey, these

<v Speaker 1>people don't feel larger than life the way they did

<v Speaker 1>30 or 40 years ago. So you're not wrong about

<v Speaker 1>social media. That has a lot to do with it.

<v Speaker 1>Although it's not the only reason. Look, there are wrestlers

<v Speaker 1>that have a certain aura to them when they come

<v Speaker 1>out still. Brock Lesnar still had. Oba Femi has that.

<v Speaker 1>Roman Reigns has that. There are certain people who do

<v Speaker 1>have that, but it's very few. There are very... few

<v Speaker 1>wrestlers left who just by when they walk out to

<v Speaker 1>the ring where they enter a room everything just kind

<v Speaker 1>of changes and feels different and it's like oh so

<v Speaker 1>and so just walked in like you don't you don't

<v Speaker 1>have that as much as you used to john from

<v Speaker 1>queens new york kevin dunn was known for his constant

<v Speaker 1>camera cuts which increased dramatically following the move to hd

<v Speaker 1>in 2008 but i've noticed the camera cuts on today's

<v Speaker 1>programming once again features a ton of camera cuts Yet

<v Speaker 1>nobody seems to be complaining about it. Did we all

<v Speaker 1>just hate it because it was Kevin Dunn doing it? No.

<v Speaker 1>The camera cuts that we have from time to time

<v Speaker 1>today are nothing compared to what they were under Kevin Dunn.

<v Speaker 1>I don't know what show you're watching. I mean, I

<v Speaker 1>assume you're referring to the 946 stuff from a few

<v Speaker 1>weeks ago. That was a one-time thing. They don't do

<v Speaker 1>that every week. This was constant. Like, this was every

<v Speaker 1>fucking week with the constant camera cut to the point

<v Speaker 1>where it would make you nauseous. I don't see that

<v Speaker 1>at all these days, not at the level that it

<v Speaker 1>used to be. So no, it wasn't a Kevin Dunn thing,

<v Speaker 1>although it was easy to pile on him because he

<v Speaker 1>just seems like a generally miserable human being. And he

<v Speaker 1>would do some stuff that you would see on the

<v Speaker 1>television shows that, again, would make you just nauseated. But no,

<v Speaker 1>it's not anything like what it used to be. That's

<v Speaker 1>one of the great improvements about the changes that have

<v Speaker 1>been made to WWE production. For all the stuff that

<v Speaker 1>we could talk about in the TKO era and the

<v Speaker 1>commercialization and everything else that we don't like, that is

<v Speaker 1>one of the positive changes that they were able to make,

<v Speaker 1>which is that you don't have to rely on these

<v Speaker 1>camera cuts like you're in some sort of movie for

<v Speaker 1>every single angle that you do. Like, it was constant,

<v Speaker 1>and now it's not. Julius from the Bronx, you've said

<v Speaker 1>that the greatest WWE ladder match was Rock versus Triple

<v Speaker 1>H at SummerSlam 98. But I think Jeff Hardy against

<v Speaker 1>RVD at SummerSlam 01 is great as well. Where does

<v Speaker 1>that rank among your all-time great ladder matches in WWE history?

<v Speaker 1>I mean, it's not one of the greatest ones, but

<v Speaker 1>that was a great one too. I think that was

<v Speaker 1>for the hardcore title. I remember that one. I thought

<v Speaker 1>that was a very good ladder match. It's just not

<v Speaker 1>in the elite category. Like if I were to think

<v Speaker 1>of my three or five favorite ladder matches, Rock, Triple

<v Speaker 1>H at Madison Square Garden would be on there. The

<v Speaker 1>Shawn Razor, probably both Shawn Razor ladder matches would be

<v Speaker 1>on there. Jericho and Benoit had a really, really good one,

<v Speaker 1>an excellent one at Royal Rumble in 2001. And there

<v Speaker 1>are others I'm not even thinking of right now. That

<v Speaker 1>would not be in my top five or ten probably.

<v Speaker 1>But it's pretty high up there. I mean, I thought

<v Speaker 1>that was a very good one. Tom from New Jersey.

<v Speaker 1>My question has to do with the commercials in WWE.

<v Speaker 1>I am a newer wrestling fan. WWE starting on Netflix

<v Speaker 1>is why I started watching in the first place. And

<v Speaker 1>now less than two years into it, they have lost

<v Speaker 1>me completely. Thank God for AEW. On a recent episode

<v Speaker 1>of Raw, one match ends and they go to a

<v Speaker 1>three-minute commercial break. Come back from commercial to a DoorDash

<v Speaker 1>ad read by Joe Tessitore. Then Sol Ruka starts walking out.

<v Speaker 1>In the middle of her walkout, back to another three-minute

<v Speaker 1>commercial break. Come back from commercial and the match has

<v Speaker 1>already started. Then four minutes into the match, it went

<v Speaker 1>to another three-minute commercial break, and I just turned it off.

<v Speaker 1>I absolutely cannot take it anymore. I know wrestling is

<v Speaker 1>your job, but I guess my question is, at what

<v Speaker 1>point will enough be enough for you when it comes

<v Speaker 1>to the commercials? Yeah, I mean, it's not like I'm

<v Speaker 1>going to quit watching wrestling that I've been watching for

<v Speaker 1>30-some-odd years because there are commercials in the show. Are

<v Speaker 1>they worse? Does it feel worse now than it was before? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

<v Speaker 1>It's as bad as ever now. And I can understand

<v Speaker 1>people saying, hey, just makes the shows unwatchable when you're

<v Speaker 1>in the middle of a match. Like, because that'll be

<v Speaker 1>the worst, right? When you're in the middle of a

<v Speaker 1>match and all of a sudden they cut to a

<v Speaker 1>break or what have you. And it's like, it's tough, right?

<v Speaker 1>It's because it takes you out of it or they

<v Speaker 1>come back from a break and then there's a whole

<v Speaker 1>lot of nothing. It's a whole bunch of like minor,

<v Speaker 1>you know, relatively insignificant backstage interactions, and before you even

<v Speaker 1>can get to another match, they're off to another break.

<v Speaker 1>So yeah, I get it. I understand. I would also

<v Speaker 1>recommend using a VPN for those shows, because that's one

<v Speaker 1>way to try to avoid that, and you'll still see

<v Speaker 1>the WWE ad spots for their stuff, but like watching Raw,

<v Speaker 1>many times you'll be able to keep up with whatever's

<v Speaker 1>going on during commercial, and a lot of times it

<v Speaker 1>might just be a interview segment to kill time until

<v Speaker 1>they come back. But sometimes like when they're in the

<v Speaker 1>middle of a match, and you can just pick right

<v Speaker 1>up with the match while everybody else is watching, you know,

<v Speaker 1>ads for four minutes. It's definitely an improvement. I do

<v Speaker 1>it with Raw, I do it with SmackDown. And that

<v Speaker 1>would be my advice to you because there's really no

<v Speaker 1>other way around it uh nicholas from long island new

<v Speaker 1>york i wanted to get your thoughts on pat tanaka

<v Speaker 1>and the many not so kind stories about him screwing

<v Speaker 1>wrestlers and various promotions on the road I'm asking this

<v Speaker 1>due to the news of his most recent scandal of

<v Speaker 1>ghosting the AIW promotion. It's hard to keep track of

<v Speaker 1>how many times he's done this. Out of all the

<v Speaker 1>incidents involving Tanaka, what is the craziest that you've ever heard?

<v Speaker 1>So yeah, a couple of weeks ago, Absolute Intense Wrestling

<v Speaker 1>posted this. I found the tweet, posted this on their

<v Speaker 1>social media. I guess the promoter did. He said to

<v Speaker 1>be fully transparent, we made an agreement with Pat Tanaka

<v Speaker 1>and gave him the necessary funds to get here after

<v Speaker 1>his travel arrangements fell through Wednesday night. He did not

<v Speaker 1>arrive for his scheduled seminar Friday night and had not

<v Speaker 1>been in any communication with us since Thursday evening after

<v Speaker 1>attempting to call him around 15 times until about 3.30 p.m. yesterday.

<v Speaker 1>At that time, Pat called and claimed to have been

<v Speaker 1>in a car wreck and had been in a ditch somewhere.

<v Speaker 1>And said that he should have called sooner but was

<v Speaker 1>trying to figure out how to get here and was

<v Speaker 1>booking a flight with his miles that left at 7pm

<v Speaker 1>and landed at 7pm somehow. And then he rewrote time

<v Speaker 1>zones with a question mark in parenthesis. Yeah, how does

<v Speaker 1>that work? A flight that leaves at 7pm and lands

<v Speaker 1>at 7pm. That's one hell of a fucking layover. Holy shit.

<v Speaker 1>And he asked for us to move his match to

<v Speaker 1>a little later on on the card. It is Sunday morning,

<v Speaker 1>and Pat Tanaka has still not arrived, and we have

<v Speaker 1>not heard from him since. We wanted the Pat Tanaka experience,

<v Speaker 1>and it seems like we got it. We love to

<v Speaker 1>gamble on these wildcard old-timers, so I'm sure we will

<v Speaker 1>be in this situation again with one of these guys

<v Speaker 1>down the road. As for Pat's flight and when it

<v Speaker 1>is landing, that is to be continued, but he has

<v Speaker 1>allegedly been up in the air for quite some time

<v Speaker 1>at this point. He is a very nice guy on

<v Speaker 1>the telephone, though, when he does answer, and we wish

<v Speaker 1>him the best. That was probably just the nicest, classiest

<v Speaker 1>way to address getting fucked over by one of these guys.

<v Speaker 1>And there have been a lot of stories about Pat Tanaka, unfortunately,

<v Speaker 1>over the years. This is not his first rodeo. He

<v Speaker 1>is notorious for this. He has a reputation for this.

<v Speaker 1>Pat Tanaka, by the way, won half of the Orient Express.

<v Speaker 1>That was my first exposure to him growing up as

<v Speaker 1>a young WWF fan. He's a great wrestler. Very good

<v Speaker 1>friends with Marty Gianetti. I can only imagine those road

<v Speaker 1>stories and party stories between the two of them, like

<v Speaker 1>two peas in a pod. But I figured, you know,

<v Speaker 1>the best thing to do, because I remember MVP had

<v Speaker 1>a story about Pat Tanaka. So I found the tweet,

<v Speaker 1>the Twitter thread that MVP posted. This would have been

<v Speaker 1>about three years ago. And I have the tweet pulled

<v Speaker 1>up here. I'm going to read just to you from

<v Speaker 1>what he wrote in his tweet, because below it are

<v Speaker 1>a bunch of replies from people that I guess have

<v Speaker 1>had the Pat Tanaka experience beforehand. And it's sad, but

<v Speaker 1>also comical to read through this. But this is what

<v Speaker 1>MVP said. He said, True story. Pat Tanaka tried to

<v Speaker 1>rip me off for crack money when I was a

<v Speaker 1>young indie wrestler. He called me and told me to

<v Speaker 1>wire him $ 300 ASAP for a wrestling license in Japan,

<v Speaker 1>and I would be making $ 2, 500 a week plus a

<v Speaker 1>$ 50 a day per diem. He didn't get the money,

<v Speaker 1>but he did gain an enemy. And the first response

<v Speaker 1>underneath was, Tanaka gave one of the all-time delusional ex-wrestler

<v Speaker 1>interviews about a decade ago. You may not know that

<v Speaker 1>he debuted at 12 years old under a mask, was

<v Speaker 1>quickly making $ 1, 000 a week, and later got paid $ 1

<v Speaker 1>million per day of WrestleMania. Which is very impressive, especially

<v Speaker 1>back then, that one half of the Orient Express would

<v Speaker 1>have been paid $ 1 million for their WrestleMania match. Jason Ayres...

<v Speaker 1>was another comment underneath. He is currently a referee in WWE.

<v Speaker 1>I think Jason Ayres might have been the one refereeing

<v Speaker 1>the main event on SmackDown this week. He said, Tanaka

<v Speaker 1>still owes me 50 bucks from a show he booked

<v Speaker 1>me on in 2008, and the house was light, brother.

<v Speaker 1>And then he put in parenthesis, packed house. And quote,

<v Speaker 1>I'll mail it to you in a Christmas card, which

<v Speaker 1>he said never happened. At that point in my life,

<v Speaker 1>that was grocery money for a broke kid with a one-year-old.

<v Speaker 1>So then, let's see here. We got some others underneath here.

<v Speaker 1>MVP posts again. I called Steve Kern to ask him

<v Speaker 1>about a Japanese wrestling license. This is to go back

<v Speaker 1>to the MVP story. I called Steve Kern to ask

<v Speaker 1>him about a Japanese wrestling license. Steve's first words were,

<v Speaker 1>did Pat Tanaka call you? Steve Kern smartened me up.

<v Speaker 1>I called Pat and told him about my felony conviction

<v Speaker 1>slash prison time and asked if that would affect my

<v Speaker 1>Japanese visa. He said yes. And Mark responds to that.

<v Speaker 1>Steve Kern is the best. Tanaka came in for some

<v Speaker 1>indie shots while I was in Memphis. He asked literally

<v Speaker 1>every indie guy on the card for money to get

<v Speaker 1>booked on something somewhere. And then Tony Myers warned me

<v Speaker 1>up front. Pat is going to ask you for money.

<v Speaker 1>Do not give him anything. Then we have Justin here.

<v Speaker 1>The big one he hit me up for and other

<v Speaker 1>IPW guys. was New Japan dojo tryout fees. $ 500 for

<v Speaker 1>the dojo and $ 125 for hotel room. I don't know

<v Speaker 1>who sent money to that carny fuck, but I know

<v Speaker 1>it wasn't me. And a little further down, we have

<v Speaker 1>another wrestler here. I had to drive Pat to a

<v Speaker 1>show in Texas once. He set his entrance jacket on

<v Speaker 1>fire in a gas station parking lot and then tried

<v Speaker 1>blaming my tag partner and shaking the promoter down for

<v Speaker 1>more money to replace it. And Eric says he recently

<v Speaker 1>opened a school in Fargo, North Dakota, and took all

<v Speaker 1>the kids for a ride financially. He'll never change. And

<v Speaker 1>there's plenty of other stories. I mean, even even Marty

<v Speaker 1>Jannetty and Pat have done shoot interviews and they've told

<v Speaker 1>stories about their, you know, partying and stuff. And it's

<v Speaker 1>just wild, ridiculous stuff. But again, promoter stories, wrestlers who

<v Speaker 1>have been scammed or almost scammed by this guy. He's

<v Speaker 1>got a reputation for it, so take your pick. To me,

<v Speaker 1>my favorite story might be this one, honestly. The fact

<v Speaker 1>I was driving and I landed in a ditch, but

<v Speaker 1>now he's flying to the show. And so it's wheels

<v Speaker 1>up at 7 p.m. and wheels down at 7 p.m.

<v Speaker 1>How exactly that works, where he was coming from, I

<v Speaker 1>have no idea. Maybe he's still in the ditch. Maybe

<v Speaker 1>that's why he hasn't made it to the AIW show

<v Speaker 1>just yet. But yeah, there are a lot of carny

<v Speaker 1>old fucks in the wrestling business. Anyway, if you have

<v Speaker 1>questions for the mailbag, keep emailing me to Salomonster at gmail.com.

<v Speaker 1>Do not send your money to Pat Tanaka. I'm going

<v Speaker 1>to be live for the Raw post show on YouTube

<v Speaker 1>on Monday night. Tuesday will be a brand new episode

<v Speaker 1>of the Uncrowned Wrestling Show and then a brand new

<v Speaker 1>Tuesday night Titans. Wednesday night will be the Dynamite post show.

<v Speaker 1>Of course, Worlds Collide will also be airing on YouTube

<v Speaker 1>that night, not live. And then Friday night, we got SmackDown.

<v Speaker 1>I believe that will be the first, is it Friday?

<v Speaker 1>I think Friday will be the first stream for the

<v Speaker 1>month of October. So we're about to start a brand

<v Speaker 1>new month. Let's end the month of September strong. We've

<v Speaker 1>made some fun changes and additions to Be The Booker

<v Speaker 1>as well. So hopefully we'll be able to hit those

<v Speaker 1>goals on the streams this week. And then I'm going

<v Speaker 1>to be back with you next Sunday. That'll be a

<v Speaker 1>brand new episode of The Sound Off, episode 983. And

<v Speaker 1>that leads very nicely into my birthday week. It should

<v Speaker 1>be a good time. So until then, be well. Stay safe.

<v Speaker 1>Have yourselves a great rest of your weekend and week.

<v Speaker 1>And I'll see you back here for more Sound Up

<v Speaker 1>real soon. Until then, take care, guys. the solid monster

<v Speaker 1>sounds off so that announcement brought out cody rhodes who

<v Speaker 1>ran out to the ring jacketless cody was all fired

<v Speaker 1>up he did that thing that he does where he

<v Speaker 1>gets very angry and he screams enough enough that's his

<v Speaker 1>thing now like a like a substitute school teacher when

<v Speaker 1>the class is just out of control enough enough he

<v Speaker 1>tried to sound all tough like he's gonna he's gonna

<v Speaker 1>whoop that ass enough Enough! See, Cody doesn't say it

<v Speaker 1>as deeply as that. It's just not intimidating enough. That's

<v Speaker 1>the problem. Like, I can see, like, if he had,

<v Speaker 1>you know, his kid or whatever is misbehaving at home

<v Speaker 1>and just, you know, he starts yelling, Enough! I have

<v Speaker 1>had absolutely enough! The kid probably looks at him and

<v Speaker 1>just laughs and walks away. Enough! The Salamonster sounds off.

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<v Speaker 1>On you!