March 23, 2026 • 46 mins
This week Battle, Eli and Josh break down Ronda Rousey’s surprise AEW return, whether it actually moves the needle, and what it could mean for the women’s division. They also dive into the Ricochet social media controversy, where the line is between heel work and going too far, and how public backlash can impact a wrestler’s career. Plus, the road to WrestleMania heats up with talk on Jelly Roll, celebrity crossover, Gunther’s missing Mania path, and the matches they’re most excited to see take shape.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It's a Battle Brown, Battle Brown, Battle Brown podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
What's up you guys.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
Welcome back into the Battleground Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
It is Battle Alongside.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
I've got my tag team partners, I've got Eli, I've
got Josh, and welcome in to another episode. It's gonna
be a fun time for sure on the show today,
and we're kind of looking back at everything that happened
last week and looking forward to everything that's gonna happen
this week, and we're gonna try to cram it all
in one little episode for you every Monday. And man,
(00:39):
big things happening last week. Josh, what's the first thing
on the agenda this morning? What's the first match on
the card?
Speaker 5 (00:45):
I'm gonna go with Ronda Rowsey making her surprise appearance
last Sunda at aw Revolution. Obviously, she used to be WWE.
She had a run out there, She's had it falling
out with them, so she said, hey, look I'm gonna
show up on the competition.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
But here's the thing though, this is the second time
that she showed up there on the competition because I
think what was she showed up at Ring of Honor?
Was it?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
What was that Eli Ring of Honor.
Speaker 6 (01:09):
Right, she had a tag match with Marina Straffere.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
And then it just kind of was maybe like a
cup of coffee, and then she went away and now
she's back. But I feel like now that she's back,
is she signed with AW, because I know Tony hasn't said, hey,
she's signed with US, right, Is that going to move
the needle for the women's division with Ronda Rowsey being
(01:32):
in AW.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I don't think it will.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
I think that I think her and wrestling have kind
of have already passed US by. And that's not a
knock on her or you know, professional wrestling in general.
Speaker 6 (01:47):
Or even what she's done in wrestling.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, she's has success.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
She's very well known in both MMA and and you know,
pro wrestling, But it just seems like, I don't know
when I when I saw her show up, I was
kind of like, oh, that's cool. You know, people know
who she is. But I don't feel like there was
a pop. I don't feel like there was anything exciting
about right.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
And that was the thing that I thought myself as well,
because it's like Tony Storm just had a hell of
a match at the show and then all of a
sudden there's nothing, and she's just laying there on the
ramp and everybody's like, oh, there's Ronda Rousei in the ring.
No Joan Jet playing no like her coming out and
flinging her like a rag doll.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
She just rolled into the ring.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Camera panned out, there's Ronda Rousey doing her little whatever
point come here.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
It kind of reminded me of WrestleMania when The Rock
brought her in with Triple Ah and Stephanie and the
camera's kind of right next to her and then it's like, oh,
there she is. It just there was no surprise. It
just felt like, all right here, here she is. Look,
I have no problem with her being in it. I
have no problem with her wanting to return to professional wrestling.
I just I just wish it could have been a bigger,
(02:58):
you know, entrance last week.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I think the big thing with her is just I mean,
she's burnt a lot of bridges. I mean, she's talked
a lot of almost that right there about you know,
specifically WWE, but also just pro wrestling in general.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
And I don't know, she just I don't know.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I think she's one of those that kind of fell
into it, you know, like I think she like likes
wrestling now, but I don't think it was ever a
passion or ever something she aspired to.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
You know, do you think she's still ELI, Do you
think she's still mainstream enough to garner that attention?
Speaker 6 (03:42):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
The question was something about boosting the women's division, and
I don't think I agree with you like I don't.
I don't think she's signing like a three year deal,
and I don't think she's going to be like, you know,
going after Tecla from the world as far as like
the buzz going into her fight on Netflix and all that.
And then you know, there's this perception of maybe she's
(04:05):
doing it as a middle finger to TKO, who owns
UFC ANDWWE. I could see that too. You know, she's
kind of maybe got that spirit to her.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Well, and you mentioned the big fight that she has
coming up on Netflix, and I've kind of sat here
and thought about this for a second, because you remember
when they started doing all the promo for Happy Gilmore
and MJF was in it, and all of a sudden, WWE,
according to reports, was like, Nope, you cannot have any
clips of MJF shown, and the Happy Gilmore promo that
(04:37):
we played during Monday Night roll or this or that.
How is this going to affect that partnership with Netflix now,
because obviously Netflix made a big ordeal to put her
and Gina Carano up against each other and this this
mma fight right.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, now she shows up in.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
AW is WW and TKO gonna flex their muscles and
be like, hey, nope, sorry, just like they did with MJF.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
I think it's a little bit different. You know, he's
a contracted wrestler. He's contracted, you know, employee of AW
Like you said earlier, there's there's no there's been no
talk of her actually being signed, and you know when
you're not signed. I mean what I mean, they could
do it. They can do whatever they want. It's their broadcast.
But I don't, right, I don't think. I don't think
(05:21):
it's at that point where they're going to do that.
Plus I don't know if Netflix would allow them to
do it at that point, because you know, that's promotion
for a big event versus a movie.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
But you got to understand, though, that was a big
movie because Netflix has that big, big movie deal with
Adam Sandler.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know It's like, I think
the WWE deal is bigger.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
It's obviously a longer deal.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And more money and stuff, more moving parts. This run
to fights a one off, but I mean it's a
big one off. But still it's just it's a one
time a bit. I don't know, man, I mean, you know,
just seeing how WW has operated my entire life, I
would not put it past him to the least cut
(06:09):
at the minimum. If it looks like she's gonna do
something with AW for the next two or three months,
then like the fight will not be promoted on WW.
You know, you won't see it on.
Speaker 6 (06:21):
The ring Apron.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
You know, I could see all that kind of stuff.
But if Netflix wants to run the ad during the show,
like what is what isw gonna do?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Right? I agree with that.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be interesting to see how
it plays out. Because again, I think at the post
press conference at the AW show, they asked if Ronda
assigned with AW. I think Tony said that she's with
us for now, but I don't think he officially said
she's all elite. I don't think there's like a contract,
So maybe this is just kind of like the Ring
(06:54):
of honor thing, and maybe maybe they brought Ronda in
because they knew something was going on with Tony Storm,
because I know that there's the reports out there that
she's not gonna be wrestling for the rest of twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
So maybe is this a way that.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
You know, they bring more eyes to it because of
how polarizing Ronda is. Yeah, They've also got a lot
of other female wrestlers on the AW roster that you know,
could have TV time, because if you think about it,
I go back to Britt Baker before Tony Storm got there.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Britt was on TV every week.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
She was kind of the the focal point of aw's
women's roster, and then Tony came in and then BRIT's
off TV.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, I mean I could see so Okay, So the
thing that I'm just curious about is like I saw
a thing and the angle was who killed Tony Storm?
And so I don't know if they're doing it, like
they're killing the character and she's gonna come back as
a new version or whatever.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
But you know, I could see Ronda being a part.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Of that, like did Ronda do it, you know, or
you know, maybe Britt being it or even come he Ill.
You know, like I think that ship may be sailed,
but you know, there's just so many people that are
just i mean not even being considered for TV time
right now.
Speaker 6 (08:10):
So I think that's part of it.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Is just you know, when you have someone who's.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
Kind of vocally.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Ripped the pro wrestling industry to come back and get
a marquee spot with Tony Storm probably one of the
top five in the world right now, I think that
could rub people the wrong way backstage as well.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
To be seen, I'm I'm I'm excited to see what
they're going to do. I actually kind of have like
this small inkling like or idea like it would be
awesome if there was some kind of legit beef between
you know, Rhonda and t k O and WWE, and
you know, things are mentioned on TV that you never
(08:52):
thought would be mentioned before, and yeah, we're in a
good place with that. We're in a good place.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, all right, we're stick.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
We're gonna stick with a w And I'm very I'm
very interested in this one. Ricochet had some words that
he had said on social media about a woman with
MS and there was some backlash with it. Uh So
he immediately apologized. I think the original tweet was deleted,
(09:21):
which doesn't mean it he never said it, and it
went it went viral quickly. I mean I saw that
almost immediately the other day in the morning. I mean,
is this is this gonna affect his career? Is this
gonna you know? And and a lot of people are like, oh, well,
that's his character. Now, he's a jerk, he's an a hole, whatever, whatever.
(09:43):
I think that's crossing the line.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
And yeah, and I'm right there with you. I think,
like I get it, you could be a heel. Like
if you watch any of the interactions with m j F,
like he is a heel to the t what you
see on TV, what you see a meet and greets whatever,
And I see m JF what he does is you know, okay.
But when he was I guess whatever ricochet was it,
(10:05):
he said like I'm glad you got MS or something
along those lines. And I'm paraphrasing because I don't have
it in front of me. I do think that was
a little too far. Like again, I get you play
a heel, and I get you kind of have this freedom.
But I think there was like some reports that I
read online where there there was like talks with management. Again,
reports we're we're not reporters. We're not giving you cold
(10:30):
stone cold facts, none of that stuff. We're just reading
what we see online and just kind of relaying it
to you. But I think there was like some reports
that were out there saying that he's in hot water
and then you know.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Potentially losing his jobs.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
I know that his fiance Samantha deleted her social media
accounts because she was getting death threats over it, and
he went and apologized to the person that he tweeted.
But again, it still doesn't make it right.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
It just seems like he didn't think before he wrote yeah,
And it kind of reminds me of I can't remember
who it was who did the goose Oh JBL did
the goose step years ago? Uh when w W did
ran a house show out in Germany and it got
a little bit of backlash. But everyone's like, oh, he's
a heel, he's a heel. I think using someone's uh
(11:19):
illness or disability is kind of off limits.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
You never see MJF do that.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, I.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
So, I don't. I don't. I don't think this is
going to impact his job. I don't think he's gonna.
You know, there have been.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Way, way, way, way worse, way worse examples of wrestlers
fan interactions. And I mean there's been wrestlers that have
touched fans like like assaulted them. So like, yeah, not
a great tweet, of course, I think I agree. I
think he was leaning into the heel a little too much,
and I think he you know, maybe I don't think
(11:58):
there was a lot of depth to the thought, like
you know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
I think it was that, you know, from what I
the reports that.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I read, he he volunteered the apology.
Speaker 6 (12:13):
Warner Brothers and AW did not force him to or
anything like that. I you know, it's somebody posted something.
I have limited social.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
By the way, I just have the Twitter thing on
my phone right now. So someone posted about Nick Bockwinkle,
the legend aw world weight champion for back of the day.
His whole thing with heel work was you never make
fun of somebody they You never make someone fun of
someone's whatever that they can't fix in five seconds, in
(12:50):
five minutes or five seconds, you know what I mean.
So like I can't go for someone's weight, They can't
lose the weight in five minutes. I can't go over
to their ball. They can't fix that, you know what
I mean, Like you have to go over what they're wearing,
what they're saying to you.
Speaker 6 (13:03):
That kind of thing. So in that line of thought,
way out of line. He went way, way, way way
out of line.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
That's just a different stratosphere. But I think it's redeemable.
I mean, yeah, I think he can come back from it.
I don't think there hasn't been a million instances of
him doing this, and you know, he's generally considered a
likable guy in the industry and stuff, So I don't
think it's going to be a long term thing.
Speaker 6 (13:27):
But it's it's a black eye of black eyes for sure.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
So let me let me ask you something, both of you.
We we live in a cancel culture, and you know,
people say some pretty stupid things. I don't know how
he could get around this without any kind of repercussion.
Whether he gets canceled.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I don't know. I don't know what the future is
with that.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
But there's you know, there's something about it that's it's
just it's not sitting well with me because of the
of a disability, you know.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Right no, rightfully so and it's it's like you know,
in in mine and Josh's line of work, with us
being in radio, we're always in the public eye. You
watch what you say, you watch what you do.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
And it's been you know, taught to us.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
You don't say anything online something like that because like
you could lose your job over it. And like if,
for example, if on dear My Morning show, somebody calls
in and like talks trash to me, I don't fire
back at them as on the show, I don't say
anything wrong to them. I don't call them out on
anything like that. I just kind of roll it off
(14:33):
and go. But if I was to get on the
radio and somebody came in and said some stuff and
then I was like, you know, well that's why you
have depression and blah blah blah, Like it's something like
that you don't joke about, like you said, the mental illness,
uh uh, you know, health reasons things like that. I
think we probably don't see Ricochet on TV for a
(14:54):
little bit, just to let just to kind of let
the heat go down. I think he goes into some
sort of like I don't know if it's damage control,
but I think he goes through something of like sensitivity.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah, sensitivity training, that's it.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
He learns more about MS, maybe they find him for
saying that on social media, and then he donates to
an MS you know, charity does something with that person
that he called out on social media. Again, in this
day and age, I look at it as we have
more access to these wrestlers than we did when we.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Grew up watching wrestling. Like I can sit.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Here and DM a wrestler and it shows that they
see it if they see it, and I can communicate
with them back and forth.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
Right that, But that kind of that kind of goes
into the parasocial thing where you know, you talk to
someone on social media that's a celebrity, whether they're wrestler,
act or whatever, and you think you know them now
and again behind why he said what he said, destruct
friendly the show?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're friends of the show.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
I mean, I mean they're they're we're best friends with them.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Once we talked to the ones exactly exactly. You know,
they come on here a couple of times. Hey, they're
friends of the show.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
All jokes jokes.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
It's it's it's difficult in this day and age to
have a kind of privacy when you are a public figure,
like you said, it goes for people like you and I.
Some of our listeners will send you a d M
or an email and you right back, Yeah, thanks for listening. Yeah,
I think your friends. I don't know what prompted him
(16:34):
to say that. I still I don't know the background
of that, but the fact that he even said to
someone you you would have to you would have to
like have some balls to say that, you know what
I mean, you got to be whether you're doing it
as a gimmick or k fab or whatever. I don't
know the people now, whether it's him, whether it's people
(16:57):
you and I, fans, whatever. I don't know why we're
using social media this way to say whatever we want,
especially when you're a wrestler, an actor, a singer.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Whatever, you know. I don't get it.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
It's it's a wild time again because when we go
back to like when we grew up watching wrestling, there
was not all this access.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
There wasn't.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Hey, you go to wrestle Con, you pay seventy five
dollars and you get to talk to the wrestler you
wanted to see, that wrestler, your favorite wrestler, Stonecold Steve Austin,
the Rock or whatever. You bought a ticket to the show,
and the closest you got to them is if you
bought ringside seats.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
But now twenty four to seven access to these wrestlers.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Some of these wrestlers are doing things where you can
pay one hundred bucks and you can quote unquote text them.
You can pay ten dollars a month and tech talk
to them on only fans. You could do a Patreon,
you could do all these things. But then all of
a sudden, these people think that they're best friends with
these wrestlers. They think, and then that kind of goes
(18:01):
into where they're like, hey, I'm I know so and so,
Like I could tell you off the top of my head,
I'm friends with a few of the wrestlers that have
been on the show, like really good friends with them
that I could text him be like hey, you know
you want to do this, you want to do this.
But it's now, with this day and age of social
media and everything, people think because they like a comment
(18:24):
or they followed them back on social media, they're automatically
their their friend and they could just do whatever.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
But what what is What prompted Ricochet to say that, like,
what what was the story behind the person with MS.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I think it was just a comment after he lost
the title. I think he was just kind of doing
his heel flame out after.
Speaker 6 (18:44):
Because the mass.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
But does he do that often online or or is
this like the.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Friends since he's been here, since he since he's redone
his character and he has Yeah, so I didn't know
if you saw the match, but it was a he
was the national champion and it was a Battle Royal
and so the winner of the Battle Royal was the champ,
so he didn't have to pin get pinned to lose
the belt. So Jack Perry was the new champ, and
(19:12):
so it was he kind of has that whole like
I didn't get pinned thing going for him. But I
think it was the I think he was just flaming
out after after he lost.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
I just I hey, my brain, I listen, We've all
said some stupid stuff, all of us. I just can't
imagine being in the public eye, like a wrestler in
the second biggest company you know, in the world, and
putting someone down for their disability just because your character
(19:45):
like MJF does it right and I can't. I can't
put my finger on it, and Eli, you might you
might be able to the big here. When I see
his stuff, when I see him say stuff to people,
even when he curses little kids, it's.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Funny, you laugh, you know, you know he's a character.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
But but but you know, like you suspend belief for
a moment, you.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Know, right, and you kind of know it and going
back to it real quick. The tweet that somebody somebody
was responding to a tweet about Ricochet and the person
put a bunch of laughing emoji and said his acting
hasn't improved. And then that's when he responded back, I'm
glad you got ms.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, that's yeah, No, that's not cool.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Yeah, not a great did he Has he ever said
anything like that, like like that hard.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Times and he's clapped back at people, but it's more
or less of like the trolls of like, well that's
why you don't use deodorant or something along those lines.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
I think this is the first time that he's ever
clapped back and was like saying that to somebody. And
I have no problem with them responding. I mean, look,
if if you want to respond because they said something,
make a joke and make it a harsh joke, don't
bring the disability. And I'm just so I'm disappoint him
(21:01):
for doing that. You know, we've talked offline before. It's
not that I'm not a fan of his I just
it's whatever, he's there. I'll watch his matches. But like,
do you think it went through his brain like this
could put my job in jeopardy? Well, obviously is, but
it could. I mean, obviously he did have to go
to that person social media to see that they had
(21:22):
it right.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
You know, we all check our mentions, so if they
mentioned him, you know, we all do it. We all
do it, whether you have been on Twitter for a
day or one hundred years, we all look, we all,
we all look. Times you just kind of have to
rush it right off your shoulder. You have to not
worry about it.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Listen.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
You know how many.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Times people text me and call in on my morning show,
me like battle you suck.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
I wish the other two guys or they're not wrong.
But yes, yeah they're not wrong, but hey, you know
what it is. What it is.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
I'm like, oh, well, thanks for listening, thanks for hate
listening to my show.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
I still have a Josh say if Ricochet just would
have said, you know, thanks for watching the match. That's
a better response because it's more trolling than calling out
someone's disability.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I'm just disappointed in him.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I mean, I think with all that said, I mean,
the fallout from it has been way beyond extreme. I
mean death threats and all that, Like, I don't really care,
Like that's again way above the past line.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
So it's just this whole situation suck.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
And again this goes back to the fact that we
have access to these wrestlers twenty four to seven.
Speaker 5 (22:26):
Now, you know, if I was watching WrestleMania back in
the day and I saw, you know, a whole cog
and cheat and Randy Savage wins, you couldn't just be like, Hulk,
you're an a hole for doing that or whatever. You
just watched it and complain to your friends and related
waited for the next you know, TV showed a couple
on just to be like he stinks for doing that.
(22:47):
I just I wish some of the I wish some
people just realize, like, you don't have to you don't
have to say stuff like that. It's fine if you're
like us, if we made jokes, fine, it's people that
know each other.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Yeah, these wrestlers don't know us.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
I mean, like you said, there's some that know us
as personalities on radio, but they don't.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Again, disappointed they're not inviting us to their birthday party
or their weddings.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Let's let's actually talk about Jelly Roll. He made an appearance.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
The past Friday on SmackDown, and then he was just
there this past Friday as well. He's the he's the
WrestleMania celebrity as we go on the road to Vegas
this year. I think he's gonna show up at WrestleMania.
Do you think they're they're trying to plant seeds? Is
he going to be involved with the Cody and Randy
(23:37):
Orton match?
Speaker 1 (23:39):
You know? I love I love.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
When WW uses celebrities, especially on WrestleMania. I wasn't real
fond of Travis Scott last year, but I don't think
anybody was. I don't think any of ye But.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
But I like that.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
I like when they bring in celebrities, especially someone like
Jelly Roll who's training.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
He serious about it.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
I read a report today that he like cleaned up
the ring after he was done training at the performance center.
He's he's he wants to be one of the boys.
And I respect that right, and.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
I'm right there with you on that because I think
about this and I go back to the times that
we have done this right with celebrities showing up in WWE,
and I think, to be completely honest with you, ever
since Bad Bunny showed up as the quote unquote celebrity,
these celebrities aren't coming in here just to.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Do like a quick spot.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
They saw what Bad Bunny did and they're like, we
we can't.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I mean when Logan Paul came in, Logan Paul, as much.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
As we all want to hate him, and he does
really good job as a heel, put in work to
be an actual wrestler and got a contract with it.
I mean again, Bad Bunny, Logan Paul, you sit here
and you think about it, and I go back to
years ago when they put Snooky in the WrestleMania match.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Right, I'm just like, what are we doing? Like she
and yeah, but I think the days.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Are over of the celebrity coming in to just do
a quick spot and leave. I mean, Jelly Roll, was
it SummerSlam last year that he actually wrestler Cleveland?
Speaker 1 (25:14):
It was the one in Cleveland I think.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
So he actually wrestled and took the pin.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
And I think the days of.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Us going to the wrestlers show or the celebrities shows
up and they just slap the person and then they leave,
like the days of having Floyd Mayweather fight Big Show WrestleMania,
I think that that is over and done with.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
It's uh.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
It's interesting because celebrities have always been a part of WrestleMania,
like even since the first one. Yeah, that's that's all.
There was a time sometime after I want to say
early two thousands, maybe a little bit later than that,
where they didn't have any celebrities at WrestleMania. The performers
(25:56):
were the celebrities, you know, Yeah, someone like the Rock
or Batista or whoever. They were names that people know,
and they didn't have the celebrity rub uh. And maybe
they went back to that just because again, that's the
social media thing. It's a good way to get a
viral moment. Blah blah blah. I don't know if we're
going to see any other celebrities.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
I could tell you who we're going to see as
a celebrity at WrestleMania.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
I don't want I don't want any spoilers do what
I said, Is it a spoiler because I don't like spoilers.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
No, it's not a spoiler, just me watching things unplay
on social media. And I'm gonna say this right now
as we are recording this, Tom Brady will somehow be
a part of WrestleMania, I mean and part.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Owner of the Raiders, so you know he's going to
be in Vegas exactly.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
And you go back to looking at this trash talk
between Logan, Paul and Tom Brady right about Tom Brady
saying it's cute and fake bs and blah blah blah.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
And by the way, if you want to go back and.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Listen to an earlier episode of the Battleground Podcast, the
one before this one that you're listening to, I asked
Nya Jacks and lash Legends their thoughts on Tom Brady
and his comments about wrestling being fake and bs and scripted,
and Nia Jack.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Said, tom Brady gets botox and fillers.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
So and then of course the comments on our Instagram
page right now, which, by the way, if you want
to follow us Battleground Podcast on Instagram, a lot of
people are saying, hey, you know what, let Nia Jacks
wrestle Tom Brady wrestle Mania and let him let her
deflate his balls another way.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
That was what one comment said. I thought was fine.
Speaker 5 (27:26):
I'm worried about that though, if it's him and Logan Paul.
You know, everyone seems to dislike Tom Brady and everyone
seems to dislike Logan Paul. But as a wrestling fan,
I'm I'm backing up Logan Paul on this one because
how dare Tom Brady talk smack on the theater?
Speaker 1 (27:45):
The theater, if you will, the entertainments, the entertainment. And
here's the.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
Thing, though, if you want to turn if you want
to turn Logan Paul into a baby, here's how you
do it. You put him up against the most hated
man in the entire NFL history, next to.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Rodreg And now I still hate him exactly.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
And of course it panned over into that fanatics flag
football that we saw of him and Tom going back
and forth and again going back to what you said, Uh,
it's in Vegas. Tom's a part owner. Rob Gronkowski is
a former twenty four to seven champion for WWE. He
he was sort of in that Andre the Battle Royal
(28:29):
and he jumped in and that security guard stopped him,
but then he speared gender Mahal and gave yeah, I
think we get Tom Brady somehow there in the crowd. Right.
If he's in the crowd, he's gonna be a part
of WrestleMania somehow. I don't think we're gonna see Tom
Brady actually wrestle No, I think he's gonna be involved somehow,
(28:53):
some way, because it's a big ordeal for them to
go back to Vegas, especially with it being the second
year in a row after them kind of telling hey,
New Orleans, we're giving you WrestleMania, and then it's like, Nope,
just kidding, you're getting money in the bank.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
We're going back to Vegas.
Speaker 6 (29:08):
Yeah, so they're.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Gonna have to pull out all the stops for this
one in Vegas.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
And one thing I saw is Tom Brady's gonna be
at Fanatics Fest in the summer, and there's a bunch
of WWE superstars on that as well. Because of Fanatics
and TK and all that stuff. I'm just saying this
could this could lead all the way down to the
Summer Slue. This might be planning the seeds for something
at Summer Slope.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Now, I don't want to go past WrestleMania.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
I'm just saying he's I just.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
My whole thing, I guess kind of the Devil's Kid
is just like you know, the big thing is is
just like, no matter how good the celebrity is, they're
taking a spot from someone else, so it has to
be a home run like it had like and to me,
jail Roll is not a home run. I mean, like
seeing him these last few weeks leading up to this,
(29:52):
I mean, he his acting is awful, Like I don't
I don't know what everyone's looking at, but like he
is not a gre actor and now ri promos are
very kind of I'm just he's he's he's taken me out.
Now commend him on the work ethic and you're losing
the weight and you know, I just saw the report
on sweeping the rings and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
I mean, I can tell.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
He's there, but like that's not not everyone gets a
WrestleMania moment, bro, especially celebrities.
Speaker 6 (30:22):
So that's my concern.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
I mean, you had someone like Bailey last year, not
at WrestleMania that's a huge name.
Speaker 6 (30:26):
Gun Throw doesn't have a match so far.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
I mean there's just people that should be on this
show before you start. Let's bringing Tom Brady, Like I
don't think he's going to do a match, but still
like I'm just I want to I want to kind
of pump the brakes on some of these just because
like this, even aj Aj is like WRESTLEMANI has lost
the luster.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
It's not what it used to be, and.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
I cannot disagree with that, and so that's my whole thing,
is just cool whatever. And then now we're doing a
Tom Brady thing and Gronk's probably gonna be like, how
much Like.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
What if it was a back stage thing? What if
it was a quick.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
I'm fine, you know, just the one word away time
from a real you know.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Again, they only do three or four matches per night now,
so I mean, like you think with two nights there's
way more time. Nope, they're condensing it now, so like
it's there's actually almost less time now, it seems compared
to previous years. So that's my only that's my only concerned.
I mean, you know, he he's not bad, bunny. I
would not trust him in a ten or fifteen minute
(31:28):
match with someone, you know, like to go do something
by myself so like, that's my my hesitation. I just
I don't think everyone I don't I don't think everything
needs to play out WrestleMania. Like I don't care about
Tom Brady and Logan Paul hating each other.
Speaker 6 (31:42):
I don't care.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
I don't care about the whole real athlete pro I don't.
Speaker 6 (31:47):
I don't really care.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
There's so many you have to remember, WrestleMania is the
biggest mainstream wrestling events of the year. People who don't
even watch pro wrestling know what wrestling, people who who
probably haven't watched in years. It's a it's a household
brand well.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
And it's also you got to think it's also a
lot much bigger now with WrestleMania.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
It's gonna be on ESPN. This is the first.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
This is the first one on ESPN, so you know
they're gonna have everything for this one.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
And that might the other reason why Tom Brady's involved
with it being on ESPN.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
There's the crossover.
Speaker 5 (32:23):
I'm I'm an entertainment guy, which is one of the
reasons why I watched ww I like the entertainment side
of it. I think that getting that mainstream coverage for
WrestleMania Survivor series, SummerSlam Royal Rumble. It's done intentionally because
it's WrestleMania. You want the mainstream coverage.
Speaker 6 (32:46):
I'll interchecked there.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Like the whole thing is like they're mainstream, Like they
don't need mainstream coverage. They are mainstream, Like everything is
already main Like how much more mainstream can you?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Like?
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Everything mainstream already talks about WWE Like I said your point,
but like they're the mainstream, Like they're already.
Speaker 6 (33:04):
Yeah, I get what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
They're already the NFL. Everybody's gonna talk about them.
Speaker 5 (33:08):
There's anything something happens Now in September when when Tom
Brady returns to Fox, they're gonna say, oh, you know,
here's if you didn't see it, this happened.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
What were you doing over summer?
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Tom? Right?
Speaker 6 (33:21):
Right?
Speaker 5 (33:21):
I just think that kind of mainstream is what I
mean is that's for the people who your friends, friends,
friends who know that you like wrestling and know your
friends like wrestling, and they might catch a thing here
and there, but unless the Rock is involved, they probably
don't know what's happening. So you put someone like Tom
Brady in there, someone like it's it's giving more ice
(33:42):
the bigger sense of the product because then you go, well,
that's kind of cool. What else do they have? And
you keep watching and that's across the board. That's not
a WW exclusive, that's across.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
I mean, it's already the super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
I mean it's it's a super Bowl wrestling.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
We all know.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Like it's like smartphones, Like smartphones are saturated.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
Like everyone that owns.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
A smart phone is going on a smartphone. Like if
there's not a there's not a slam, it's everyone has
a smartphone. Yeah, so I mean I get it. It's
just again, if it's gonna take away, if it's gonna
be a you know, Tom Brady, Gronk and somebody against
Paul somebody like a three Like, I don't want it.
Speaker 6 (34:20):
I don't want that. I'd rather have going thir fight
squash somebody. I'd rather have whatever.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
You know, Shame has come back and try to go
after that.
Speaker 6 (34:27):
I see time.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I mean, there's so many different stories that they could do.
Throw in the they're trying to break up the MotorCity
machine guns, make them just give them a tag mat,
Like what are they doing over there? I don't anyways,
that's mo Ony gret I don't want these celebrities to
have marquee matches on something as big as Mania, knowing
how much talent should be showcased, what.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
You're wanting to see them as, like something at like
a Summer Slam or a Royal Rumbull or even even
if they do that, like going back to what Josh said,
even if they do a backstage promo, what is uh,
what is the pay per view that's after WrestleMania that
basically is everything from his backlash, So it's pretty much
every match from WrestleMania.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
It's just them just getting back.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
Maybe put it on that one and you set it
up at WRESTLEMANI but take don't take away the time
because I and you've mentioned his name a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Goother does not have anything at WrestleMania.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
And and I kind of want to sit here and
get your thoughts on this, because original reports were Goother
versus Ray Mysterio, which was going to be a retirement
match too, and so that was yeah, and so obviously
Ray has been hurt something with his ribs that was
supposed to be the thing. But then I also saw
(35:44):
another report where Ray was like, I don't want.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Him to retire me.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
I want Dominic to retire me, which would be much
in the grand scheme of things. I would be more
invested to seeing Dominic retire his dad than goother retiring Raymond.
So that leads you to the point of you've already
set Gunther up as this quote unquote legend killer. Most
(36:08):
of your main event guys are in their forties, right,
So who are you going to have gnther go up
against WrestleMania and put their career on the line.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
I don't I don't think there's anybody. And to be frank,
what is it three weeks now to WrestleMania. This is
the three weeks from this weekend. I know that's not
a lot of time, but it is a lot of
time for as many hours as they do. I don't
see why they couldn't come up with something quickly. I mean, Ray,
I just saw earlier today that ray is going to
retire Clash in what is that in Italy this year?
(36:42):
And it didn't you know, there wasn't like, oh, rumors
are done whatever, but he said, you know, because of
the injuries, we're going to do it at Clash. Yeah,
WrestleMania would have been a great moment for that. I
don't know who Gunther can retire at this point because
you know, your main main event guys aren't retiring, you know,
unless unless some strange reason. Seeing Punk's like I'm done
after WrestleMania, but I don't. I don't see that happening,
(37:05):
you know.
Speaker 4 (37:05):
Yeah, And that's the thing is who you've already made
guther as again the guy that ends people's careers Sina aj.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
As of right now is supposed to be Ray Goldberg Goldberg,
So like, who do you do? You bring somebody back?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
See, part of the problem is they painted themselves in
the corner with Gunther. Gunther's thirty nine years old, bro,
Like he's not like Orton when he was twenty three
or twenty four, Like right, I mean, he could retire
in two years, and then this whole thing was just
for nothing, you know what I mean? Like, that's my
only thing is just like some of these you know,
some of the angles they just throw against the wall
(37:47):
and see what sticks.
Speaker 6 (37:47):
And then when the reality hits like, oh what, oh crap?
Were you know.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
I it's gonna be hard for him to kind of
have normal matches now because that's the angle that they're
doing is he's the one that retires people. So it's like, Okay,
he just fought Dragon Lead, does that mean he's going
to retire Dragon Lead? Like they put so much emphasis
on that, and and you know, had to tie up
Sena's retirement with Hit, like no matter what the crowd
(38:15):
was saying, like no we want this one's like okay, well.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
Gunster's going to retire.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Like you know, they were actively not listening to what
the crowd wanted, and you do all this and then
it's like like you said, Okay.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Now what you know?
Speaker 2 (38:28):
And you know, I don't know if it's a combination
of just people aren't ready to retire yet.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Or or what, but it's just a lack of talent
that wants to retire at this Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Yeah, because I think it's like you said, I mean,
Punk's forty eight, but I mean he's now he's in
the good.
Speaker 5 (38:44):
Well, I mean the forty five to fifty is a
lot different now than it was back in nineteen eighty five.
But point, you know, obviously point taking the only one
in battle.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
I'm gonna piggyback off what.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
You said, bringing someone back the only the only person
that comes to mine that could do that right now
is Chris Jericho. And I know he said he wanted
to retire. I believe with WWE he wanted to And
you know a run there, that's literally the only one
that comes to mind. And unless they put make him
a surprise appearance on the raw after WrestleMania, he's not
(39:16):
gonna you know, where are we gonna get him between
now and Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:20):
The other the other one you could think of is
in this This could be an interesting one which we
haven't talked about. And I know he's gone through next Surgers,
everything else. Kevin Owens, Like you know, obviously they're able
to have amazing doctors in the WWE that people could
come back and wrestle. I mean, look at what Stone
Cold did a couple of years ago. You know, stone
(39:43):
Cold never really officially retired. He said that he would
still be wanting to do stuff with WWE if the
moment's right. So do you have Gonther retire the greatest,
one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
That's the tough thing.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
Is like Goldberg, he had fans, It's whatever, right, aj
styles whatever. But now you're having to figure out who
can doom to retire, right, Obviously, you're not gonna have
him retire stone Cold. You're not gonna have him retire
The Rock because they're still doing stuff. You said, Chris Jericho,
(40:22):
that would be a great one to retire, but again,
what how, what what are you going to do? Do you
show him at the Royal Rumble and then it's you know,
that's it and Dounter eliminates him.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
And if we're thinking past Wrestlingia, possibly, but he doesn't
have a WRESTLINGIA match. So either you're gonna rush Chris
Jericho coming back or somebody coming back in the next
three weeks, or you have to figure out someone who's
absolutely gonna retire, or hey, listen, it's a retirement match.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
But gone through loses, it's okay for come to to lose,
you know.
Speaker 5 (40:54):
I know they build him up as a monster and
beating everyone in his way, but I think he's only
lost one match by pinfall in the last couple of years,
and that was a tag match.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
I've got I've got the perfect match for for Gounther
for his retirement. You know how I almost retire. People
have him wrestle Ludwig Kaiser, right and Ludwig Kaiser has
to retire because.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
We all know, yes, we know, we know, we all know.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
We don't even have to explain it, but we all know.
Speaker 4 (41:24):
So then you just right off Ludwig Kaiser because he
is over in Triple.
Speaker 5 (41:29):
A, right and everyone everyone knows it's him anyway, or
do it the other way around and have him retire
aland Americano and Kaiser comes back or.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Something, you know, or takes the I got you.
Speaker 5 (41:43):
I'm not retiring because you retired El Grande and that
could work, especially because he's you know, currently performing. But
but again, you have three weeks.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
I don't know how Chad Gable retire right right, one
of the one of the But yeah, I think, I mean,
the only thing that I could see happening is just
like if he like, say he got another one retire,
Like let's say he's the one that does ray. I
think from there he would go like the only thing
would be to like win the title back and just
(42:16):
be another monster heel, you know, I mean, he's eventually
got around out of people, you know, I think there's
more people wanting to retire later and stuff like that.
Speaker 6 (42:27):
So I don't know, it's just a head scratcher.
Speaker 5 (42:32):
Yeah, it's a well, we have three weeks to figure
it out, and and I'm hoping.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
Listen, I'm hoping.
Speaker 5 (42:39):
I'm hoping he performs on WrestleMania. I think he's over
enough as a heel and people want I think he
should lose at WrestleMania because it would make no sense
to retire someone. I think it's better to lose on
a big stage because he's been beating everyone since John Cena,
even like Goldberg Sena AJ, Like, Okay, we're done, We're
done with you being retired. I'll tell you what, whoever
(43:01):
it is, I'll beat you. You don't retire anyone anymore.
Like that's kind of where i'd like to, you know,
wanted to maybe Jolly Roll will do it.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
You know, he'll be the one that beats maybe maybe.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
I don't know. But they've got a few more weeks.
Speaker 4 (43:13):
It seems like they're they're kind of starting to figure
out what this card is going to look like for WrestleMania.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
I know, Josh, you're gonna be going there for the weekend.
Speaker 4 (43:21):
I mean, so far, what we've got Roman and Punk,
We've got uh Cody and Randy, Uh, what is it
live and uh, Valkyria or not Valkyria. No, as as
the side crowd over here, my nine year old jumps
into it. Uh.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
And we've got the Jade one as well. Uh.
Speaker 4 (43:45):
Also and we can dive into this uh on next
week's episode talking about how much wrestling is too much
wrestling on a car because uh, I can understand why
ww split it into two nights. Kind of going back
to aw Revolution, which we talked about the getting of
the show, there was what thirteen matches including a pre
show show.
Speaker 5 (44:03):
Yeah, and it ended around what twelve thirty ELI Eastern time?
Is that was in La so yeah, so yeah, so
they were nine thirty then, but still, you know, just
like WrestleMania on the West coast, you know, it.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Ended last year.
Speaker 5 (44:18):
I think it was eleven East, which is a normal
time for you know, sports to end on the East Coast.
You also forgot Oba and Brock, which that which is
my favorite match of the of the show.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
I can't wait for that match.
Speaker 4 (44:30):
Which I know we're kind of getting up close towards
the end of this, so I want to save that.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
For next week.
Speaker 4 (44:34):
I have to see just to see how things play
out on Monday Night rawl because this is going to
be a fun one to watch.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
I think this could potentially the match of the nine.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Yeah, this set up angle was grown worthy, I'll be honest,
like the whole mass man like just stop all that
crap with Seth bro Like he's back, we get it,
Like it's so confusing, And I just think, I don't know,
I think Oba deserved a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
I think the face down with him and Brock could
have been a little bit but like, I don't know,
I just think that the.
Speaker 6 (45:06):
Swerve with Seth was a little brand. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
I just don't know if they're Peyton Oba in the
right light right off the bat, you know, imtic right now?
He has to I mean if he doesn't win this match,
like I don't you know, Yeah, I don't know. I
mean he's taking his place, like he doesn't win this match,
(45:31):
Like I don't know how he comes back, you know.
But Yeah, I think this one, Uh, he kind of
reminds me of a was it gun thro Seamus and
Drew last Yeah?
Speaker 3 (45:43):
Was that it was that threat? It was for the
I think it's for the Icy title.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
Three three years ago.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
Maybe it wasn't in Philly. I think that was in
l A R R.
Speaker 6 (45:54):
Right, Yeah, that was a banger.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
I mean, I think it's gonna be one of those
where it looks solid on paper and then you're like,
oh crap, that really is a bigger m h.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
Yeah. Absolutely, Well it has been fun.
Speaker 4 (46:07):
And just a heads up, by the way, if you
are listening to this on the iHeartRadio app, and if
you ever want to just be a part of the show,
you want to give your thoughts, you want to give
your opinions. There's a little red microphone button in the
top right corner. You just press that. You can record
a message thirty seconds, say whatever you gotta say, and
you might be featured on next week's show if you
got a thought opinion.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
You just want to say, what's up?
Speaker 4 (46:26):
And it's okay to tell us we suck. We don't
and it's okay to tell us we suck. We won't
say anything bad to you on social media.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
We'll just tell you ability. That's not just don't use
the disability.
Speaker 4 (46:35):
Yeah, we we just well, we'll just say thank you
for listening, and we'll sing you a battleground podcastick or
something for sure.
Speaker 6 (46:41):
And we also have some teeth for Dan Housen.
Speaker 3 (46:44):
Yeah, whenever that happens. But thanks for listening to the show.
Speaker 4 (46:47):
Make sure you follow us on social media's The show's
handle is Battleground Podcast.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.
Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It's a Battle Brown, Battle Brown, Battle Brown podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
What's up you guys.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
Welcome back into the Battleground Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
It is Battle Alongside.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
I've got my tag team partners, I've got Eli, I've
got Josh, and welcome in to another episode. It's gonna
be a fun time for sure on the show today,
and we're kind of looking back at everything that happened
last week and looking forward to everything that's gonna happen
this week, and we're gonna try to cram it all
in one little episode for you every Monday. And man,
(00:39):
big things happening last week. Josh, what's the first thing
on the agenda this morning? What's the first match on
the card?
Speaker 5 (00:45):
I'm gonna go with Ronda Rowsey making her surprise appearance
last Sunda at aw Revolution. Obviously, she used to be WWE.
She had a run out there, She's had it falling
out with them, so she said, hey, look I'm gonna
show up on the competition.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
But here's the thing though, this is the second time
that she showed up there on the competition because I
think what was she showed up at Ring of Honor?
Was it?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
What was that Eli Ring of Honor.
Speaker 6 (01:09):
Right, she had a tag match with Marina Straffere.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
And then it just kind of was maybe like a
cup of coffee, and then she went away and now
she's back. But I feel like now that she's back,
is she signed with AW, because I know Tony hasn't said, hey,
she's signed with US, right, Is that going to move
the needle for the women's division with Ronda Rowsey being
(01:32):
in AW.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I don't think it will.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
I think that I think her and wrestling have kind
of have already passed US by. And that's not a
knock on her or you know, professional wrestling in general.
Speaker 6 (01:47):
Or even what she's done in wrestling.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, she's has success.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
She's very well known in both MMA and and you know,
pro wrestling, But it just seems like, I don't know
when I when I saw her show up, I was
kind of like, oh, that's cool. You know, people know
who she is. But I don't feel like there was
a pop. I don't feel like there was anything exciting
about right.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
And that was the thing that I thought myself as well,
because it's like Tony Storm just had a hell of
a match at the show and then all of a
sudden there's nothing, and she's just laying there on the
ramp and everybody's like, oh, there's Ronda Rousei in the ring.
No Joan Jet playing no like her coming out and
flinging her like a rag doll.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
She just rolled into the ring.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Camera panned out, there's Ronda Rousey doing her little whatever
point come here.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
It kind of reminded me of WrestleMania when The Rock
brought her in with Triple Ah and Stephanie and the
camera's kind of right next to her and then it's like, oh,
there she is. It just there was no surprise. It
just felt like, all right here, here she is. Look,
I have no problem with her being in it. I
have no problem with her wanting to return to professional wrestling.
I just I just wish it could have been a bigger,
(02:58):
you know, entrance last week.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I think the big thing with her is just I mean,
she's burnt a lot of bridges. I mean, she's talked
a lot of almost that right there about you know,
specifically WWE, but also just pro wrestling in general.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
And I don't know, she just I don't know.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I think she's one of those that kind of fell
into it, you know, like I think she like likes
wrestling now, but I don't think it was ever a
passion or ever something she aspired to.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
You know, do you think she's still ELI, Do you
think she's still mainstream enough to garner that attention?
Speaker 6 (03:42):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
The question was something about boosting the women's division, and
I don't think I agree with you like I don't.
I don't think she's signing like a three year deal,
and I don't think she's going to be like, you know,
going after Tecla from the world as far as like
the buzz going into her fight on Netflix and all that.
And then you know, there's this perception of maybe she's
(04:05):
doing it as a middle finger to TKO, who owns
UFC ANDWWE. I could see that too. You know, she's
kind of maybe got that spirit to her.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Well, and you mentioned the big fight that she has
coming up on Netflix, and I've kind of sat here
and thought about this for a second, because you remember
when they started doing all the promo for Happy Gilmore
and MJF was in it, and all of a sudden, WWE,
according to reports, was like, Nope, you cannot have any
clips of MJF shown, and the Happy Gilmore promo that
(04:37):
we played during Monday Night roll or this or that.
How is this going to affect that partnership with Netflix now,
because obviously Netflix made a big ordeal to put her
and Gina Carano up against each other and this this
mma fight right.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, now she shows up in.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
AW is WW and TKO gonna flex their muscles and
be like, hey, nope, sorry, just like they did with MJF.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
I think it's a little bit different. You know, he's
a contracted wrestler. He's contracted, you know, employee of AW
Like you said earlier, there's there's no there's been no
talk of her actually being signed, and you know when
you're not signed. I mean what I mean, they could
do it. They can do whatever they want. It's their broadcast.
But I don't, right, I don't think. I don't think
(05:21):
it's at that point where they're going to do that.
Plus I don't know if Netflix would allow them to
do it at that point, because you know, that's promotion
for a big event versus a movie.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
But you got to understand, though, that was a big
movie because Netflix has that big, big movie deal with
Adam Sandler.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know It's like, I think
the WWE deal is bigger.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
It's obviously a longer deal.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And more money and stuff, more moving parts. This run
to fights a one off, but I mean it's a
big one off. But still it's just it's a one
time a bit. I don't know, man, I mean, you know,
just seeing how WW has operated my entire life, I
would not put it past him to the least cut
(06:09):
at the minimum. If it looks like she's gonna do
something with AW for the next two or three months,
then like the fight will not be promoted on WW.
You know, you won't see it on.
Speaker 6 (06:21):
The ring Apron.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
You know, I could see all that kind of stuff.
But if Netflix wants to run the ad during the show,
like what is what isw gonna do?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Right? I agree with that.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be interesting to see how
it plays out. Because again, I think at the post
press conference at the AW show, they asked if Ronda
assigned with AW. I think Tony said that she's with
us for now, but I don't think he officially said
she's all elite. I don't think there's like a contract,
So maybe this is just kind of like the Ring
(06:54):
of honor thing, and maybe maybe they brought Ronda in
because they knew something was going on with Tony Storm,
because I know that there's the reports out there that
she's not gonna be wrestling for the rest of twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
So maybe is this a way that.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
You know, they bring more eyes to it because of
how polarizing Ronda is. Yeah, They've also got a lot
of other female wrestlers on the AW roster that you know,
could have TV time, because if you think about it,
I go back to Britt Baker before Tony Storm got there.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Britt was on TV every week.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
She was kind of the the focal point of aw's
women's roster, and then Tony came in and then BRIT's
off TV.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, I mean I could see so Okay, So the
thing that I'm just curious about is like I saw
a thing and the angle was who killed Tony Storm?
And so I don't know if they're doing it, like
they're killing the character and she's gonna come back as
a new version or whatever.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
But you know, I could see Ronda being a part.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Of that, like did Ronda do it, you know, or
you know, maybe Britt being it or even come he Ill.
You know, like I think that ship may be sailed,
but you know, there's just so many people that are
just i mean not even being considered for TV time
right now.
Speaker 6 (08:10):
So I think that's part of it.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Is just you know, when you have someone who's.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
Kind of vocally.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Ripped the pro wrestling industry to come back and get
a marquee spot with Tony Storm probably one of the
top five in the world right now, I think that
could rub people the wrong way backstage as well.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
To be seen, I'm I'm I'm excited to see what
they're going to do. I actually kind of have like
this small inkling like or idea like it would be
awesome if there was some kind of legit beef between
you know, Rhonda and t k O and WWE, and
you know, things are mentioned on TV that you never
(08:52):
thought would be mentioned before, and yeah, we're in a
good place with that. We're in a good place.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, all right, we're stick.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
We're gonna stick with a w And I'm very I'm
very interested in this one. Ricochet had some words that
he had said on social media about a woman with
MS and there was some backlash with it. Uh So
he immediately apologized. I think the original tweet was deleted,
(09:21):
which doesn't mean it he never said it, and it
went it went viral quickly. I mean I saw that
almost immediately the other day in the morning. I mean,
is this is this gonna affect his career? Is this
gonna you know? And and a lot of people are like, oh, well,
that's his character. Now, he's a jerk, he's an a hole, whatever, whatever.
(09:43):
I think that's crossing the line.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
And yeah, and I'm right there with you. I think,
like I get it, you could be a heel. Like
if you watch any of the interactions with m j F,
like he is a heel to the t what you
see on TV, what you see a meet and greets whatever,
And I see m JF what he does is you know, okay.
But when he was I guess whatever ricochet was it,
(10:05):
he said like I'm glad you got MS or something
along those lines. And I'm paraphrasing because I don't have
it in front of me. I do think that was
a little too far. Like again, I get you play
a heel, and I get you kind of have this freedom.
But I think there was like some reports that I
read online where there there was like talks with management. Again,
reports we're we're not reporters. We're not giving you cold
(10:30):
stone cold facts, none of that stuff. We're just reading
what we see online and just kind of relaying it
to you. But I think there was like some reports
that were out there saying that he's in hot water
and then you know.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Potentially losing his jobs.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
I know that his fiance Samantha deleted her social media
accounts because she was getting death threats over it, and
he went and apologized to the person that he tweeted.
But again, it still doesn't make it right.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
It just seems like he didn't think before he wrote yeah,
And it kind of reminds me of I can't remember
who it was who did the goose Oh JBL did
the goose step years ago? Uh when w W did
ran a house show out in Germany and it got
a little bit of backlash. But everyone's like, oh, he's
a heel, he's a heel. I think using someone's uh
(11:19):
illness or disability is kind of off limits.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
You never see MJF do that.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, I.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
So, I don't. I don't. I don't think this is
going to impact his job. I don't think he's gonna.
You know, there have been.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Way, way, way, way worse, way worse examples of wrestlers
fan interactions. And I mean there's been wrestlers that have
touched fans like like assaulted them. So like, yeah, not
a great tweet, of course, I think I agree. I
think he was leaning into the heel a little too much,
and I think he you know, maybe I don't think
(11:58):
there was a lot of depth to the thought, like
you know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
I think it was that, you know, from what I
the reports that.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I read, he he volunteered the apology.
Speaker 6 (12:13):
Warner Brothers and AW did not force him to or
anything like that. I you know, it's somebody posted something.
I have limited social.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
By the way, I just have the Twitter thing on
my phone right now. So someone posted about Nick Bockwinkle,
the legend aw world weight champion for back of the day.
His whole thing with heel work was you never make
fun of somebody they You never make someone fun of
someone's whatever that they can't fix in five seconds, in
(12:50):
five minutes or five seconds, you know what I mean.
So like I can't go for someone's weight, They can't
lose the weight in five minutes. I can't go over
to their ball. They can't fix that, you know what
I mean, Like you have to go over what they're wearing,
what they're saying to you.
Speaker 6 (13:03):
That kind of thing. So in that line of thought,
way out of line. He went way, way, way way
out of line.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
That's just a different stratosphere. But I think it's redeemable.
I mean, yeah, I think he can come back from it.
I don't think there hasn't been a million instances of
him doing this, and you know, he's generally considered a
likable guy in the industry and stuff, So I don't
think it's going to be a long term thing.
Speaker 6 (13:27):
But it's it's a black eye of black eyes for sure.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
So let me let me ask you something, both of you.
We we live in a cancel culture, and you know,
people say some pretty stupid things. I don't know how
he could get around this without any kind of repercussion.
Whether he gets canceled.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I don't know. I don't know what the future is
with that.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
But there's you know, there's something about it that's it's
just it's not sitting well with me because of the
of a disability, you know.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Right no, rightfully so and it's it's like you know,
in in mine and Josh's line of work, with us
being in radio, we're always in the public eye. You
watch what you say, you watch what you do.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
And it's been you know, taught to us.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
You don't say anything online something like that because like
you could lose your job over it. And like if,
for example, if on dear My Morning show, somebody calls
in and like talks trash to me, I don't fire
back at them as on the show, I don't say
anything wrong to them. I don't call them out on
anything like that. I just kind of roll it off
(14:33):
and go. But if I was to get on the
radio and somebody came in and said some stuff and
then I was like, you know, well that's why you
have depression and blah blah blah, Like it's something like
that you don't joke about, like you said, the mental illness,
uh uh, you know, health reasons things like that. I
think we probably don't see Ricochet on TV for a
(14:54):
little bit, just to let just to kind of let
the heat go down. I think he goes into some
sort of like I don't know if it's damage control,
but I think he goes through something of like sensitivity.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah, sensitivity training, that's it.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
He learns more about MS, maybe they find him for
saying that on social media, and then he donates to
an MS you know, charity does something with that person
that he called out on social media. Again, in this
day and age, I look at it as we have
more access to these wrestlers than we did when we.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Grew up watching wrestling. Like I can sit.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Here and DM a wrestler and it shows that they
see it if they see it, and I can communicate
with them back and forth.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
Right that, But that kind of that kind of goes
into the parasocial thing where you know, you talk to
someone on social media that's a celebrity, whether they're wrestler,
act or whatever, and you think you know them now
and again behind why he said what he said, destruct
friendly the show?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're friends of the show.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
I mean, I mean they're they're we're best friends with them.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Once we talked to the ones exactly exactly. You know,
they come on here a couple of times. Hey, they're
friends of the show.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
All jokes jokes.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
It's it's it's difficult in this day and age to
have a kind of privacy when you are a public figure,
like you said, it goes for people like you and I.
Some of our listeners will send you a d M
or an email and you right back, Yeah, thanks for listening. Yeah,
I think your friends. I don't know what prompted him
(16:34):
to say that. I still I don't know the background
of that, but the fact that he even said to
someone you you would have to you would have to
like have some balls to say that, you know what
I mean, you got to be whether you're doing it
as a gimmick or k fab or whatever. I don't
know the people now, whether it's him, whether it's people
(16:57):
you and I, fans, whatever. I don't know why we're
using social media this way to say whatever we want,
especially when you're a wrestler, an actor, a singer.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Whatever, you know. I don't get it.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
It's it's a wild time again because when we go
back to like when we grew up watching wrestling, there
was not all this access.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
There wasn't.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Hey, you go to wrestle Con, you pay seventy five
dollars and you get to talk to the wrestler you
wanted to see, that wrestler, your favorite wrestler, Stonecold Steve Austin,
the Rock or whatever. You bought a ticket to the show,
and the closest you got to them is if you
bought ringside seats.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
But now twenty four to seven access to these wrestlers.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Some of these wrestlers are doing things where you can
pay one hundred bucks and you can quote unquote text them.
You can pay ten dollars a month and tech talk
to them on only fans. You could do a Patreon,
you could do all these things. But then all of
a sudden, these people think that they're best friends with
these wrestlers. They think, and then that kind of goes
(18:01):
into where they're like, hey, I'm I know so and so,
Like I could tell you off the top of my head,
I'm friends with a few of the wrestlers that have
been on the show, like really good friends with them
that I could text him be like hey, you know
you want to do this, you want to do this.
But it's now, with this day and age of social
media and everything, people think because they like a comment
(18:24):
or they followed them back on social media, they're automatically
their their friend and they could just do whatever.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
But what what is What prompted Ricochet to say that, like,
what what was the story behind the person with MS.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I think it was just a comment after he lost
the title. I think he was just kind of doing
his heel flame out after.
Speaker 6 (18:44):
Because the mass.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
But does he do that often online or or is
this like the.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Friends since he's been here, since he since he's redone
his character and he has Yeah, so I didn't know
if you saw the match, but it was a he
was the national champion and it was a Battle Royal
and so the winner of the Battle Royal was the champ,
so he didn't have to pin get pinned to lose
the belt. So Jack Perry was the new champ, and
(19:12):
so it was he kind of has that whole like
I didn't get pinned thing going for him. But I
think it was the I think he was just flaming
out after after he lost.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
I just I hey, my brain, I listen, We've all
said some stupid stuff, all of us. I just can't
imagine being in the public eye, like a wrestler in
the second biggest company you know, in the world, and
putting someone down for their disability just because your character
(19:45):
like MJF does it right and I can't. I can't
put my finger on it, and Eli, you might you
might be able to the big here. When I see
his stuff, when I see him say stuff to people,
even when he curses little kids, it's.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Funny, you laugh, you know, you know he's a character.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
But but but you know, like you suspend belief for
a moment, you.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Know, right, and you kind of know it and going
back to it real quick. The tweet that somebody somebody
was responding to a tweet about Ricochet and the person
put a bunch of laughing emoji and said his acting
hasn't improved. And then that's when he responded back, I'm
glad you got ms.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, that's yeah, No, that's not cool.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Yeah, not a great did he Has he ever said
anything like that, like like that hard.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Times and he's clapped back at people, but it's more
or less of like the trolls of like, well that's
why you don't use deodorant or something along those lines.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
I think this is the first time that he's ever
clapped back and was like saying that to somebody. And
I have no problem with them responding. I mean, look,
if if you want to respond because they said something,
make a joke and make it a harsh joke, don't
bring the disability. And I'm just so I'm disappoint him
(21:01):
for doing that. You know, we've talked offline before. It's
not that I'm not a fan of his I just
it's whatever, he's there. I'll watch his matches. But like,
do you think it went through his brain like this
could put my job in jeopardy? Well, obviously is, but
it could. I mean, obviously he did have to go
to that person social media to see that they had
(21:22):
it right.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
You know, we all check our mentions, so if they
mentioned him, you know, we all do it. We all
do it, whether you have been on Twitter for a
day or one hundred years, we all look, we all,
we all look. Times you just kind of have to
rush it right off your shoulder. You have to not
worry about it.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Listen.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
You know how many.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Times people text me and call in on my morning show,
me like battle you suck.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
I wish the other two guys or they're not wrong.
But yes, yeah they're not wrong, but hey, you know
what it is. What it is.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
I'm like, oh, well, thanks for listening, thanks for hate
listening to my show.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
I still have a Josh say if Ricochet just would
have said, you know, thanks for watching the match. That's
a better response because it's more trolling than calling out
someone's disability.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I'm just disappointed in him.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I mean, I think with all that said, I mean,
the fallout from it has been way beyond extreme. I
mean death threats and all that, Like, I don't really care,
Like that's again way above the past line.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
So it's just this whole situation suck.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
And again this goes back to the fact that we
have access to these wrestlers twenty four to seven.
Speaker 5 (22:26):
Now, you know, if I was watching WrestleMania back in
the day and I saw, you know, a whole cog
and cheat and Randy Savage wins, you couldn't just be like, Hulk,
you're an a hole for doing that or whatever. You
just watched it and complain to your friends and related
waited for the next you know, TV showed a couple
on just to be like he stinks for doing that.
(22:47):
I just I wish some of the I wish some
people just realize, like, you don't have to you don't
have to say stuff like that. It's fine if you're
like us, if we made jokes, fine, it's people that
know each other.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Yeah, these wrestlers don't know us.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
I mean, like you said, there's some that know us
as personalities on radio, but they don't.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Again, disappointed they're not inviting us to their birthday party
or their weddings.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Let's let's actually talk about Jelly Roll. He made an appearance.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
The past Friday on SmackDown, and then he was just
there this past Friday as well. He's the he's the
WrestleMania celebrity as we go on the road to Vegas
this year. I think he's gonna show up at WrestleMania.
Do you think they're they're trying to plant seeds? Is
he going to be involved with the Cody and Randy
(23:37):
Orton match?
Speaker 1 (23:39):
You know? I love I love.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
When WW uses celebrities, especially on WrestleMania. I wasn't real
fond of Travis Scott last year, but I don't think
anybody was. I don't think any of ye But.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
But I like that.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
I like when they bring in celebrities, especially someone like
Jelly Roll who's training.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
He serious about it.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
I read a report today that he like cleaned up
the ring after he was done training at the performance center.
He's he's he wants to be one of the boys.
And I respect that right, and.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
I'm right there with you on that because I think
about this and I go back to the times that
we have done this right with celebrities showing up in WWE,
and I think, to be completely honest with you, ever
since Bad Bunny showed up as the quote unquote celebrity,
these celebrities aren't coming in here just to.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Do like a quick spot.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
They saw what Bad Bunny did and they're like, we
we can't.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I mean when Logan Paul came in, Logan Paul, as much.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
As we all want to hate him, and he does
really good job as a heel, put in work to
be an actual wrestler and got a contract with it.
I mean again, Bad Bunny, Logan Paul, you sit here
and you think about it, and I go back to
years ago when they put Snooky in the WrestleMania match.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Right, I'm just like, what are we doing? Like she
and yeah, but I think the days.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Are over of the celebrity coming in to just do
a quick spot and leave. I mean, Jelly Roll, was
it SummerSlam last year that he actually wrestler Cleveland?
Speaker 1 (25:14):
It was the one in Cleveland I think.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
So he actually wrestled and took the pin.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
And I think the days of.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Us going to the wrestlers show or the celebrities shows
up and they just slap the person and then they leave,
like the days of having Floyd Mayweather fight Big Show WrestleMania,
I think that that is over and done with.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
It's uh.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
It's interesting because celebrities have always been a part of WrestleMania,
like even since the first one. Yeah, that's that's all.
There was a time sometime after I want to say
early two thousands, maybe a little bit later than that,
where they didn't have any celebrities at WrestleMania. The performers
(25:56):
were the celebrities, you know, Yeah, someone like the Rock
or Batista or whoever. They were names that people know,
and they didn't have the celebrity rub uh. And maybe
they went back to that just because again, that's the
social media thing. It's a good way to get a
viral moment. Blah blah blah. I don't know if we're
going to see any other celebrities.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
I could tell you who we're going to see as
a celebrity at WrestleMania.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
I don't want I don't want any spoilers do what
I said, Is it a spoiler because I don't like spoilers.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
No, it's not a spoiler, just me watching things unplay
on social media. And I'm gonna say this right now
as we are recording this, Tom Brady will somehow be
a part of WrestleMania, I mean and part.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Owner of the Raiders, so you know he's going to
be in Vegas exactly.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
And you go back to looking at this trash talk
between Logan, Paul and Tom Brady right about Tom Brady
saying it's cute and fake bs and blah blah blah.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
And by the way, if you want to go back and.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Listen to an earlier episode of the Battleground Podcast, the
one before this one that you're listening to, I asked
Nya Jacks and lash Legends their thoughts on Tom Brady
and his comments about wrestling being fake and bs and scripted,
and Nia Jack.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Said, tom Brady gets botox and fillers.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
So and then of course the comments on our Instagram
page right now, which, by the way, if you want
to follow us Battleground Podcast on Instagram, a lot of
people are saying, hey, you know what, let Nia Jacks
wrestle Tom Brady wrestle Mania and let him let her
deflate his balls another way.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
That was what one comment said. I thought was fine.
Speaker 5 (27:26):
I'm worried about that though, if it's him and Logan Paul.
You know, everyone seems to dislike Tom Brady and everyone
seems to dislike Logan Paul. But as a wrestling fan,
I'm I'm backing up Logan Paul on this one because
how dare Tom Brady talk smack on the theater?
Speaker 1 (27:45):
The theater, if you will, the entertainments, the entertainment. And
here's the.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
Thing, though, if you want to turn if you want
to turn Logan Paul into a baby, here's how you
do it. You put him up against the most hated
man in the entire NFL history, next to.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Rodreg And now I still hate him exactly.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
And of course it panned over into that fanatics flag
football that we saw of him and Tom going back
and forth and again going back to what you said, Uh,
it's in Vegas. Tom's a part owner. Rob Gronkowski is
a former twenty four to seven champion for WWE. He
he was sort of in that Andre the Battle Royal
(28:29):
and he jumped in and that security guard stopped him,
but then he speared gender Mahal and gave yeah, I
think we get Tom Brady somehow there in the crowd. Right.
If he's in the crowd, he's gonna be a part
of WrestleMania somehow. I don't think we're gonna see Tom
Brady actually wrestle No, I think he's gonna be involved somehow,
(28:53):
some way, because it's a big ordeal for them to
go back to Vegas, especially with it being the second
year in a row after them kind of telling hey,
New Orleans, we're giving you WrestleMania, and then it's like, Nope,
just kidding, you're getting money in the bank.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
We're going back to Vegas.
Speaker 6 (29:08):
Yeah, so they're.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Gonna have to pull out all the stops for this
one in Vegas.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
And one thing I saw is Tom Brady's gonna be
at Fanatics Fest in the summer, and there's a bunch
of WWE superstars on that as well. Because of Fanatics
and TK and all that stuff. I'm just saying this
could this could lead all the way down to the
Summer Slue. This might be planning the seeds for something
at Summer Slope.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Now, I don't want to go past WrestleMania.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
I'm just saying he's I just.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
My whole thing, I guess kind of the Devil's Kid
is just like you know, the big thing is is
just like, no matter how good the celebrity is, they're
taking a spot from someone else, so it has to
be a home run like it had like and to me,
jail Roll is not a home run. I mean, like
seeing him these last few weeks leading up to this,
(29:52):
I mean, he his acting is awful, Like I don't
I don't know what everyone's looking at, but like he
is not a gre actor and now ri promos are
very kind of I'm just he's he's he's taken me out.
Now commend him on the work ethic and you're losing
the weight and you know, I just saw the report
on sweeping the rings and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
I mean, I can tell.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
He's there, but like that's not not everyone gets a
WrestleMania moment, bro, especially celebrities.
Speaker 6 (30:22):
So that's my concern.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
I mean, you had someone like Bailey last year, not
at WrestleMania that's a huge name.
Speaker 6 (30:26):
Gun Throw doesn't have a match so far.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
I mean there's just people that should be on this
show before you start. Let's bringing Tom Brady, Like I
don't think he's going to do a match, but still
like I'm just I want to I want to kind
of pump the brakes on some of these just because
like this, even aj Aj is like WRESTLEMANI has lost
the luster.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
It's not what it used to be, and.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
I cannot disagree with that, and so that's my whole thing,
is just cool whatever. And then now we're doing a
Tom Brady thing and Gronk's probably gonna be like, how
much Like.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
What if it was a back stage thing? What if
it was a quick.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
I'm fine, you know, just the one word away time
from a real you know.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Again, they only do three or four matches per night now,
so I mean, like you think with two nights there's
way more time. Nope, they're condensing it now, so like
it's there's actually almost less time now, it seems compared
to previous years. So that's my only that's my only concerned.
I mean, you know, he he's not bad, bunny. I
would not trust him in a ten or fifteen minute
(31:28):
match with someone, you know, like to go do something
by myself so like, that's my my hesitation. I just
I don't think everyone I don't I don't think everything
needs to play out WrestleMania. Like I don't care about
Tom Brady and Logan Paul hating each other.
Speaker 6 (31:42):
I don't care.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
I don't care about the whole real athlete pro I don't.
Speaker 6 (31:47):
I don't really care.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
There's so many you have to remember, WrestleMania is the
biggest mainstream wrestling events of the year. People who don't
even watch pro wrestling know what wrestling, people who who
probably haven't watched in years. It's a it's a household
brand well.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
And it's also you got to think it's also a
lot much bigger now with WrestleMania.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
It's gonna be on ESPN. This is the first.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
This is the first one on ESPN, so you know
they're gonna have everything for this one.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
And that might the other reason why Tom Brady's involved
with it being on ESPN.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
There's the crossover.
Speaker 5 (32:23):
I'm I'm an entertainment guy, which is one of the
reasons why I watched ww I like the entertainment side
of it. I think that getting that mainstream coverage for
WrestleMania Survivor series, SummerSlam Royal Rumble. It's done intentionally because
it's WrestleMania. You want the mainstream coverage.
Speaker 6 (32:46):
I'll interchecked there.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Like the whole thing is like they're mainstream, Like they
don't need mainstream coverage. They are mainstream, Like everything is
already main Like how much more mainstream can you?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Like?
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Everything mainstream already talks about WWE Like I said your point,
but like they're the mainstream, Like they're already.
Speaker 6 (33:04):
Yeah, I get what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
They're already the NFL. Everybody's gonna talk about them.
Speaker 5 (33:08):
There's anything something happens Now in September when when Tom
Brady returns to Fox, they're gonna say, oh, you know,
here's if you didn't see it, this happened.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
What were you doing over summer?
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Tom? Right?
Speaker 6 (33:21):
Right?
Speaker 5 (33:21):
I just think that kind of mainstream is what I
mean is that's for the people who your friends, friends,
friends who know that you like wrestling and know your
friends like wrestling, and they might catch a thing here
and there, but unless the Rock is involved, they probably
don't know what's happening. So you put someone like Tom
Brady in there, someone like it's it's giving more ice
(33:42):
the bigger sense of the product because then you go, well,
that's kind of cool. What else do they have? And
you keep watching and that's across the board. That's not
a WW exclusive, that's across.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
I mean, it's already the super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
I mean it's it's a super Bowl wrestling.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
We all know.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Like it's like smartphones, Like smartphones are saturated.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
Like everyone that owns.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
A smart phone is going on a smartphone. Like if
there's not a there's not a slam, it's everyone has
a smartphone. Yeah, so I mean I get it. It's
just again, if it's gonna take away, if it's gonna
be a you know, Tom Brady, Gronk and somebody against
Paul somebody like a three Like, I don't want it.
Speaker 6 (34:20):
I don't want that. I'd rather have going thir fight
squash somebody. I'd rather have whatever.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
You know, Shame has come back and try to go
after that.
Speaker 6 (34:27):
I see time.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I mean, there's so many different stories that they could do.
Throw in the they're trying to break up the MotorCity
machine guns, make them just give them a tag mat,
Like what are they doing over there? I don't anyways,
that's mo Ony gret I don't want these celebrities to
have marquee matches on something as big as Mania, knowing
how much talent should be showcased, what.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
You're wanting to see them as, like something at like
a Summer Slam or a Royal Rumbull or even even
if they do that, like going back to what Josh said,
even if they do a backstage promo, what is uh,
what is the pay per view that's after WrestleMania that
basically is everything from his backlash, So it's pretty much
every match from WrestleMania.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
It's just them just getting back.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
Maybe put it on that one and you set it
up at WRESTLEMANI but take don't take away the time
because I and you've mentioned his name a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Goother does not have anything at WrestleMania.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
And and I kind of want to sit here and
get your thoughts on this, because original reports were Goother
versus Ray Mysterio, which was going to be a retirement
match too, and so that was yeah, and so obviously
Ray has been hurt something with his ribs that was
supposed to be the thing. But then I also saw
(35:44):
another report where Ray was like, I don't want.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Him to retire me.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
I want Dominic to retire me, which would be much
in the grand scheme of things. I would be more
invested to seeing Dominic retire his dad than goother retiring Raymond.
So that leads you to the point of you've already
set Gunther up as this quote unquote legend killer. Most
(36:08):
of your main event guys are in their forties, right,
So who are you going to have gnther go up
against WrestleMania and put their career on the line.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
I don't I don't think there's anybody. And to be frank,
what is it three weeks now to WrestleMania. This is
the three weeks from this weekend. I know that's not
a lot of time, but it is a lot of
time for as many hours as they do. I don't
see why they couldn't come up with something quickly. I mean, Ray,
I just saw earlier today that ray is going to
retire Clash in what is that in Italy this year?
(36:42):
And it didn't you know, there wasn't like, oh, rumors
are done whatever, but he said, you know, because of
the injuries, we're going to do it at Clash. Yeah,
WrestleMania would have been a great moment for that. I
don't know who Gunther can retire at this point because
you know, your main main event guys aren't retiring, you know,
unless unless some strange reason. Seeing Punk's like I'm done
after WrestleMania, but I don't. I don't see that happening,
(37:05):
you know.
Speaker 4 (37:05):
Yeah, And that's the thing is who you've already made
guther as again the guy that ends people's careers Sina aj.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
As of right now is supposed to be Ray Goldberg Goldberg,
So like, who do you do? You bring somebody back?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
See, part of the problem is they painted themselves in
the corner with Gunther. Gunther's thirty nine years old, bro,
Like he's not like Orton when he was twenty three
or twenty four, Like right, I mean, he could retire
in two years, and then this whole thing was just
for nothing, you know what I mean? Like, that's my
only thing is just like some of these you know,
some of the angles they just throw against the wall
(37:47):
and see what sticks.
Speaker 6 (37:47):
And then when the reality hits like, oh what, oh crap?
Were you know.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
I it's gonna be hard for him to kind of
have normal matches now because that's the angle that they're
doing is he's the one that retires people. So it's like, Okay,
he just fought Dragon Lead, does that mean he's going
to retire Dragon Lead? Like they put so much emphasis
on that, and and you know, had to tie up
Sena's retirement with Hit, like no matter what the crowd
(38:15):
was saying, like no we want this one's like okay, well.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
Gunster's going to retire.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Like you know, they were actively not listening to what
the crowd wanted, and you do all this and then
it's like like you said, Okay.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Now what you know?
Speaker 2 (38:28):
And you know, I don't know if it's a combination
of just people aren't ready to retire yet.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Or or what, but it's just a lack of talent
that wants to retire at this Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Yeah, because I think it's like you said, I mean,
Punk's forty eight, but I mean he's now he's in
the good.
Speaker 5 (38:44):
Well, I mean the forty five to fifty is a
lot different now than it was back in nineteen eighty five.
But point, you know, obviously point taking the only one
in battle.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
I'm gonna piggyback off what.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
You said, bringing someone back the only the only person
that comes to mine that could do that right now
is Chris Jericho. And I know he said he wanted
to retire. I believe with WWE he wanted to And
you know a run there, that's literally the only one
that comes to mind. And unless they put make him
a surprise appearance on the raw after WrestleMania, he's not
(39:16):
gonna you know, where are we gonna get him between
now and Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:20):
The other the other one you could think of is
in this This could be an interesting one which we
haven't talked about. And I know he's gone through next Surgers,
everything else. Kevin Owens, Like you know, obviously they're able
to have amazing doctors in the WWE that people could
come back and wrestle. I mean, look at what Stone
Cold did a couple of years ago. You know, stone
(39:43):
Cold never really officially retired. He said that he would
still be wanting to do stuff with WWE if the
moment's right. So do you have Gonther retire the greatest,
one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
That's the tough thing.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
Is like Goldberg, he had fans, It's whatever, right, aj
styles whatever. But now you're having to figure out who
can doom to retire, right, Obviously, you're not gonna have
him retire stone Cold. You're not gonna have him retire
The Rock because they're still doing stuff. You said, Chris Jericho,
(40:22):
that would be a great one to retire, but again,
what how, what what are you going to do? Do you
show him at the Royal Rumble and then it's you know,
that's it and Dounter eliminates him.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
And if we're thinking past Wrestlingia, possibly, but he doesn't
have a WRESTLINGIA match. So either you're gonna rush Chris
Jericho coming back or somebody coming back in the next
three weeks, or you have to figure out someone who's
absolutely gonna retire, or hey, listen, it's a retirement match.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
But gone through loses, it's okay for come to to lose,
you know.
Speaker 5 (40:54):
I know they build him up as a monster and
beating everyone in his way, but I think he's only
lost one match by pinfall in the last couple of years,
and that was a tag match.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
I've got I've got the perfect match for for Gounther
for his retirement. You know how I almost retire. People
have him wrestle Ludwig Kaiser, right and Ludwig Kaiser has
to retire because.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
We all know, yes, we know, we know, we all know.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
We don't even have to explain it, but we all know.
Speaker 4 (41:24):
So then you just right off Ludwig Kaiser because he
is over in Triple.
Speaker 5 (41:29):
A, right and everyone everyone knows it's him anyway, or
do it the other way around and have him retire
aland Americano and Kaiser comes back or.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Something, you know, or takes the I got you.
Speaker 5 (41:43):
I'm not retiring because you retired El Grande and that
could work, especially because he's you know, currently performing. But
but again, you have three weeks.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
I don't know how Chad Gable retire right right, one
of the one of the But yeah, I think, I mean,
the only thing that I could see happening is just
like if he like, say he got another one retire,
Like let's say he's the one that does ray. I
think from there he would go like the only thing
would be to like win the title back and just
(42:16):
be another monster heel, you know, I mean, he's eventually
got around out of people, you know, I think there's
more people wanting to retire later and stuff like that.
Speaker 6 (42:27):
So I don't know, it's just a head scratcher.
Speaker 5 (42:32):
Yeah, it's a well, we have three weeks to figure
it out, and and I'm hoping.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
Listen, I'm hoping.
Speaker 5 (42:39):
I'm hoping he performs on WrestleMania. I think he's over
enough as a heel and people want I think he
should lose at WrestleMania because it would make no sense
to retire someone. I think it's better to lose on
a big stage because he's been beating everyone since John Cena,
even like Goldberg Sena AJ, Like, Okay, we're done, We're
done with you being retired. I'll tell you what, whoever
(43:01):
it is, I'll beat you. You don't retire anyone anymore.
Like that's kind of where i'd like to, you know,
wanted to maybe Jolly Roll will do it.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
You know, he'll be the one that beats maybe maybe.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
I don't know. But they've got a few more weeks.
Speaker 4 (43:13):
It seems like they're they're kind of starting to figure
out what this card is going to look like for WrestleMania.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
I know, Josh, you're gonna be going there for the weekend.
Speaker 4 (43:21):
I mean, so far, what we've got Roman and Punk,
We've got uh Cody and Randy, Uh, what is it
live and uh, Valkyria or not Valkyria. No, as as
the side crowd over here, my nine year old jumps
into it. Uh.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
And we've got the Jade one as well. Uh.
Speaker 4 (43:45):
Also and we can dive into this uh on next
week's episode talking about how much wrestling is too much
wrestling on a car because uh, I can understand why
ww split it into two nights. Kind of going back
to aw Revolution, which we talked about the getting of
the show, there was what thirteen matches including a pre
show show.
Speaker 5 (44:03):
Yeah, and it ended around what twelve thirty ELI Eastern time?
Is that was in La so yeah, so yeah, so
they were nine thirty then, but still, you know, just
like WrestleMania on the West coast, you know, it.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Ended last year.
Speaker 5 (44:18):
I think it was eleven East, which is a normal
time for you know, sports to end on the East Coast.
You also forgot Oba and Brock, which that which is
my favorite match of the of the show.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
I can't wait for that match.
Speaker 4 (44:30):
Which I know we're kind of getting up close towards
the end of this, so I want to save that.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
For next week.
Speaker 4 (44:34):
I have to see just to see how things play
out on Monday Night rawl because this is going to
be a fun one to watch.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
I think this could potentially the match of the nine.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Yeah, this set up angle was grown worthy, I'll be honest,
like the whole mass man like just stop all that
crap with Seth bro Like he's back, we get it,
Like it's so confusing, And I just think, I don't know,
I think Oba deserved a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
I think the face down with him and Brock could
have been a little bit but like, I don't know,
I just think that the.
Speaker 6 (45:06):
Swerve with Seth was a little brand. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
I just don't know if they're Peyton Oba in the
right light right off the bat, you know, imtic right now?
He has to I mean if he doesn't win this match,
like I don't you know, Yeah, I don't know. I
mean he's taking his place, like he doesn't win this match,
(45:31):
Like I don't know how he comes back, you know.
But Yeah, I think this one, Uh, he kind of
reminds me of a was it gun thro Seamus and
Drew last Yeah?
Speaker 3 (45:43):
Was that it was that threat? It was for the
I think it's for the Icy title.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
Three three years ago.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
Maybe it wasn't in Philly. I think that was in
l A R R.
Speaker 6 (45:54):
Right, Yeah, that was a banger.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
I mean, I think it's gonna be one of those
where it looks solid on paper and then you're like,
oh crap, that really is a bigger m h.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
Yeah. Absolutely, Well it has been fun.
Speaker 4 (46:07):
And just a heads up, by the way, if you
are listening to this on the iHeartRadio app, and if
you ever want to just be a part of the show,
you want to give your thoughts, you want to give
your opinions. There's a little red microphone button in the
top right corner. You just press that. You can record
a message thirty seconds, say whatever you gotta say, and
you might be featured on next week's show if you
got a thought opinion.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
You just want to say, what's up?
Speaker 4 (46:26):
And it's okay to tell us we suck. We don't
and it's okay to tell us we suck. We won't
say anything bad to you on social media.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
We'll just tell you ability. That's not just don't use
the disability.
Speaker 4 (46:35):
Yeah, we we just well, we'll just say thank you
for listening, and we'll sing you a battleground podcastick or
something for sure.
Speaker 6 (46:41):
And we also have some teeth for Dan Housen.
Speaker 3 (46:44):
Yeah, whenever that happens. But thanks for listening to the show.
Speaker 4 (46:47):
Make sure you follow us on social media's The show's
handle is Battleground Podcast.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.
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