April 20, 2024 • 35 mins
In this episode, we welcome back co-host Michael Glavin along with the show's host, The AntMan. The duo kicks off the season with a bang, discussing the highly anticipated WWE Draft and its implications for NXT and the broader WWE universe.
The episode also explores the latest developments in WWE, including intriguing QR codes and glitches that hint at mysterious storylines, possibly related to the legacy of Bray Wyatt. Special attention is given to the upcoming changes and potential superstars' moves in light of the WWE Draft, stirring excitement about how these shifts will reshape the landscape of professional wrestling.
The conversation also touches on recent matches, wrestler updates, and the emotional moment of Rhea relinquishing her Women's World Championship.
Interactive and engaging, The AntMan encourages listeners to chime in with comments and join the dynamic discussion, making each listener feel like part of the WrestleChat family. Whether you're catching this episode live or tuning in later, the WrestleChat Podcast promises deep dives into the intricacies of wrestling narratives, fan theories, and the ever-evolving storyline surprises that keep fans on the edge of their seats.
Subscribe and be part of the community as we gear up for another thrilling season of wrestling discussions and debates.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When it comes to professional wrestling. If you were talking
about it, we are talking about it. Welcome to the
wrestle Chat Podcast with the yet Man, Glitches and codes
and mysterious messages, Oh mine. Welcome to the second episode
of a new season of the wrestle Chat Podcast. I'm
your host of the ant Man. Thanks so much for
dropping in to hang out with us for a little bit.
(00:22):
If he seems well, it's had angry today, it's because
he just found out that spongebaths have ended.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
The gren Adalanche. Michael Glavin. Good to have you back
by man. How you feeling.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
It's good to be back, man, Thanks so much for
all love this week. Thanks to JR. Man, you know
when you sit when you sit on the sidelines and
you watch somebody come in and just kill it like
JR did. Man, I was like, I was like, Man,
I think I just need to come back to being
a spectator. But no, thanks to thanks to him for
(00:55):
holding down the four great episode last week. And man,
a lot has happened, you know, in wrestling over the
last week or two. And man, it's just great to
be back and jumping in talking about it with you.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
JR. Does it for a living. He should be good.
That's the thing.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
As always, if you're watching live, you're invited to chime
in on anything that we're chatting about today. Drop us
a comment, we'll share it here on the show. Check
in and let us know where you're joining us from.
If you're watching anytime after Saturday morning or listening after
Saturday morning, we invite you to join in on the conversation. Still,
just simply drop a comment on this episode about anything
that we are talking about, or maybe even more importantly,
(01:35):
things that we're not talking about. Something you want to
bring up, we'd love to hear those two. Drop us
a comment here or a message on Instagram. Were wrestle
Chat podcast. Man, there are so many things that we
need to get to, so many places to begin. I
say we just pick one and get rolling. Michael, how
about we start with the WWE draft that chaos begins
(01:57):
in less than a week next Friday, Red and, judging
from the logo, possibly the Gold get to bid on
acquiring the services of many superstars to join their brand.
If in fact, the Gold swoosh in the logo means
that NXT is going to be involved in this year's draft,
that's a nice little wrinkle with this new administration that
(02:18):
has the potential to really elevate WWE's you know, third
brand leading into their move to the CW later this year.
That could be really big. But I still wonder if
the WWE Draft means most of the time and not
all of the time. Michael, I will say to me,
it's felt like this past year the ww Draft has
meant more than previous years. Stars for the most part
(02:41):
staying true to the brand that they belonged to. However,
we would still get you know, like a trade here
and there, randomly a wild card night and we'd see
you know, superstars swap shows. That is actually something that
happens in you know, traditional professional sports. But they have
a certain timeframe and a deadline, so football, I think
if they have they have a deadline and a timeframe
(03:03):
for for free agents. I think if WWE goes that direction,
it'd be great to mark a knight another special night
mid season that leads to a trade deadline for possible
free agents. Possibly maybe even stipulations and matches that make
you a free agent tie stories with potential free agency.
That'd be an interesting little turn with things they've done
(03:25):
here in the past, I will say I'm more optimistic
about this year's draft than any other.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
What say you, man, it's a deep topic.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
And you know, if you go back a year or
roughly a year, we had a lot of conversation about
the WWE draft last year when it was coming around,
and this was in the middle of some recent regime changes.
As the way the timeline goes, and so here's what's interesting,
(03:55):
and here's here's what I would take this little moment
to talk about. Pre rustle Mania, just a few weeks ago,
we thought we had seen the new regime and their
methods and storytelling and everything already in gear and playing
out among us. And if there's something russell Mania showed
(04:16):
us this year is that that's not the case. Wrestle
Mania was the kickoff for this new regime, for this
new staff, the way they're gonna run things, the way
they're gonna do things. We have seen just a complete
shift in everything since wrestle Mania. And so going back
(04:36):
a year and saying, well, they they've mostly adhered to
the draft, well, yeah, that is a true statement. I
can tell you that my expectations are simultaneously super high
and missing in action. All at the same time, because
how do you make the draft fresh, how do you know,
what do you do with it? But at the same time,
I'm looking at the last couple of weeks, mainly since
(04:58):
Russell Mania, I'm like, man, it feels like there's a
plan for everything. And so with these new logos to
your point, the gold swoosh, you know, maybe how that
plays into everything. How we're seeing so much more of
an approach to be more professional sports driven in the
presentation and the way they address things. The superstar walkins,
(05:21):
you know, into the arena, all these different little threads.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
That we're pulling on.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
I think we could see a very very different draft
that actually, to your point, has implications all throughout the
year instead of just the Yatzi container once a year.
So I'm really excited to see what becomes of all
this because the potential of it under this new regime
is super super high.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, great analogy with the Yatsu one. I was thinking
cards too. If you're a card counter, You're sitting there
counting cards and all of a sudden, a brand new
deck gets brought in and a brand new dealer, And
that's what it feels like. It's all shuffled, and we
have no idea what to expect, but here for it.
Chime in with your thoughts on next week's draft and
we'll share him here on the show. As I alluded
to at the top of the show, we saw more
(06:09):
glitches and the addition of QR codes that have led
to mysterious messages on both Raw and SmackDown this week.
These are messages and signs that are signs that they're
not unfamiliar. There was a certain strange character that emerged
from a rabbit hole a couple of years ago, but
(06:30):
unfortunately we lost the man behind that character unexpectedly last year.
The ending of the Bray White documentary led many of
us to believe that the lantern still had plenty of flame.
The only question was who would be the person to
carry it. Let's look at this. We haven't seen bron
Strohman in WW in quite some time, at least in
the ring. Alexa Bliss left on maternity to leave, but
(06:54):
that's been a while talk of her possibly coming back.
There was news about Eric Rowan this week regarding him
having to pull out of independent shows due to quote
contractual obligations.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I used to when I was a kid.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I used to love to take a pencil or a
crayon and start at one and I go to two
and three, four or five, and you know.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Connect the dots.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
So if I'm doing that here, I'm hoping that the
finished picture is a new Wyatt family lantern being carried by.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Bray's brother Beau or uncle Howdy Michael.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Are the signs pointing to the same outcome for you
or are you connecting dots for a different picture?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
You know, I definitely think that is the low hanging fruit.
And I think that that is deeper than anything storytelling,
deeper than anything on the surface of wrestling. I think
we hope, just us as people, that we get to
live in this universe of the creation of Bray Wyatt.
(07:55):
I think I think all of us, myself included, want
anything that can come from that, obviously, just because of
the heartache and the hurt and the and everything that
you know came from losing Bray way way too early.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
So yes, that is the hope.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
What I do know is that those guys, Bray Bow,
these guys were exceptionally creative individuals. And what we do
know is that there was a lot of things in
place for Bray Wyatt as he was coming back in
stories that we're going to be told. And so the
(08:34):
silver lining to a very horrible and sad situation is that,
you know, Wyndham left us threads of what he was
going to do and almost like a blueprint for how
other people could carry this story on. And so whatever
that looks like, however it comes, we know it's coming.
(08:55):
I mean, it would be very strange that these things
that we're seeing would not be related to you know,
Bray White or the Wide family, and so I'm very excited.
I'm very anxious to see all of this come to fruition.
If nothing else, then it's hard to put words to it.
But maybe the only one I can grab right now
(09:15):
is it's going to be kind of therapeutic or cathartic
in some type of way to see this continue on
even in an unfortunate absence.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, where are those glitches headed? We have to wait
and see, and I'm excited about it. I'm excited about the.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Process of seeing how they evolve.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
The teasing. I think it's kind of cool. Chime in
on the chat today. Let us know your thoughts. We'd
love to share those here on the show bad news
for Ria fans this week. Michael and I both included
in that group as Ria fans. Ria is out and
has relinquished her World Women's World Championship. Ria as close
to tears as I think that we're ever going to
see was her on Monday. She'd held that title for
(09:54):
just over a year, winning the SmackDown Women's title from
Charlotte Flair back at russell Mania thirty nine. Of course,
that title was swapped out for the newly established Women's.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
World title this past fall.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
A new champion is going to be crowned on Monday
in a Battle Royal Now match that you know would
typically lend itself to either someone with in a faction,
maybe with people to watch your back, or possibly someone
of size.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I mean, the.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Whole object the objective of it is to get him
over the top row. But the story with Rhea involves
someone who is neither liv Morgan. She's on her revenge tour,
but is she gearing up for a champions tour or
does someone like Becky step up to carry the torch
once again? Michael, We're going to find out on Monday,
But how are you feeling about it right now?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I'm frustrated, and I'm really frustrated. I have to trust
the process. I have to trust that whatever information is
available about her behind the scenes is accurate. I would
say that I do join a little bit with wrestling
Twitter to say that I don't quite understand the the
(11:04):
the express and the rush to have her drop the
title when we were okay with part time champions, when
we were okay with you know, seth uh, you know
kind of limping along into Mania as he was, you know,
having knee issues. You know, a lot of titles changed
hands that you know, Uh, our our w w EE
(11:26):
undisputed champion, Uh, Cody Rhoads is gonna is gonna be
on TV all the time. I think we had room
to have a part time champion for a little while,
to let Rhea carry that forward. But I also recognize
that sometimes you don't have all the information and and
maybe she was around the corner to to dropping it
for some reason. Anyway, maybe it was, you know, moving
(11:49):
up a storyline. I don't know, but uh, for the
workhorse that she's been this last year, it was it
was a frustrating ending for for me as a big
fan of hers, And so again I'm gonna trust the process.
I'm gonna trust the powers that be, and I'm gonna
grip my teeth, smile and move on to another day.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Well, you know what's interesting with Monday is it it
left me excited for when she comes back. Whoever's holding
it should already be scared before they even hold that title.
So chime in, who do you see being the woman
to beat come Monday night?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Hit us up? Do we have a new bloodline? Well,
you know what it's. It's looking like it.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
But at this point, all I know for sure is
Solo got some new threads, so we're gonna chat about
that and those new titles that were presented this week
coming up. But speaking of titles, we've got a chance
for you to score your own replica title here.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Check this out.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Damian Priest now has the world title. Cody finished the
story to take on the undisputed title. So the question
is which one are you taking home? We're giving you
your pick. Just make sure you've subscribed to the wrestle
Chat podcast on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Once we hit ten thousand subscribers, we'll draw one winner
who will take their pick and take calm their own
WWE replica title. If you've already subbed, be sure to
tell a friend the quicker we get to ten k
the quicker, we draw a winner.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Take on the.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Gold with a wrestle Chat podcast on YouTube. Subscribe today.
Thanks so much for hanging out with us here today
on the wrestle Chat podcast.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Love that you've joined in.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
If you're watching this after Saturday morning, thanks for checking
out the podcast. We really appreciate that. If you are
watching it afterwards and listening to it after we're doing
it live, drop a comment on this episode. Let us
know where you're watching from where you were listening from.
Appreciate you being a part of the chat this morning.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
If it were a ZZ top song, it might start
out with these lyrics black suit red square still with
a look as if he doesn't care.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Maybe I shouldn't rewrite the lyrics to Sharp dress Man
for Sol Soka. But there's no dying that there's something
going on in the bloodline, one that none of us
have a clue about yet, And how could we when
it appears that even the wise man is confused about
what's happening. Last week we saw Solo Hug his brother
Jimmy USO, only to stand by and then watch him
(14:20):
be attacked by a hooded figure after Solo you know,
jammed his thumb into Jimmy's neck. We saw the hooded
figure uncover to introduce a new member, Tomatonga, confident that
his name was on that big giant tree that the
Rock showed at that press conference thing right, Jimmy's out
and Paul soaked his trousers. Fast forward seven days, Solo
(14:40):
shows up to smack down, dressed much differently, dressed like
a man in charge, like a boss, although not the
final boss, in a suit, asking where Kevin Owens was.
Later in the show, Tom shows up with Kevin, Kevin
soaked in blood. Kevin has been a little more than
a fringe story with the blood Line in the past. However,
(15:01):
it looks as though these actions are assigned, that his
number has been called by the tribal chief, whoever that
might be. These days, Michael, the Bloodline continuing to be
an intriguing story within the Wwe give me your take
on all this.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Okay, let's uh, if.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
You don't have to see guy, I know you had
you had surgery.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
If you guys have lunch, in the oven. Forget about it.
It's gonna burn. We're gonna be here a while. So
here's the thing. Last week, when all this started to
kind of take shape, you know, you expected the bloodline
to drop into a different gear, maybe disappear for a while.
Well we saw this shift, you know, with Solo and
(15:44):
Tomatonga and uh. And so I'm like, okay, all right,
and we're buying time or whatever. And you know, you
see last week that Solo's kind of calling the shots,
and I'm not gonna lie. I'm gonna I'm gonna be
very honest with everybody. I was like, okay, all right,
I'm sure we gotta do something. Roman needs some time off.
He's gonna film some movies. We get we gotta get
(16:06):
ready for the next thing. This this will cover us
in the meantime, okay, whatever. We fast forward a week. Whoa,
hold on, dude looks dude looks good in a suit.
Hold on, wait, he's talking to Paul Hayman and he's
and he there's there's some bass to his voice.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Hold hold on a minute.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Uh, walking around calling shots, doing stuff whatever. And I'm like,
hold on, hold on, do I think solos the tribal.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Chief because the guy who hasn't spoke ever, guy who
hasn't because because it's feeling like he's the tribal chief now.
And but and I'm kind of here for it, Like
what's there's there's confusion, you know, It's like it was
almost like mentally cheating on my tribal chief, you know,
uh with another tribal chief, you know, entanglement and such.
So I don't know what happened, but we just shifted
(16:56):
into another gear and it feels amazing. And uh, whatever
they're cooking, uh, you know, whatever they're cooking. Uh, I'm
here for it because I don't know where it's going.
I don't know if we're talking multiple blood lines. I
don't know if we're talking struggle for one blood line,
you know, classic black and white, wolf pack MWO type stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I don't know what.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I don't know what we're doing, but I'm here for it.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
So change the color.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
We'll know, right, Great great TV over the last week,
great progression of storytelling. Man the presentation of Toma Tonga
for the majority of people not knowing necessarily who he was.
It looks like we got a comment here Home wrestlingly
there's some confusion, but Roman has been favoring him for
(17:47):
a couple of months now, that is true. You know,
we we have been looking to Solo in several moments
and and things like that. So that's that's a great point.
But wherever we're headed, it's very cool the way they
set up Tomatonga, with how strong he looks, with just
how kind of over he seems within the Bloodline, how
(18:07):
serious he is and an established figure he is after
a week. It's just incredible work by everybody. So good
job to the writing team, good job to everybody on screen,
just amazing.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Thank you Home Wrestling team for chiming in. Where do
you guys see this going? Who in fact is the
tribal chief? You can chime in on the chat and
give us your thoughts or drop us a message.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Michael.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
The Bloodline without Gold for the time being, however, I'm
sure their eyes, along with anyone else with a partner,
are staring at some newly released gold. Monday night, we
saw Awesome Truth trading their rog tag titles for the
newly created World Tag Team titles. Round gold plates, splash
of red in the banners. They look sharp, overshadowed, slightly
(18:51):
by Our Truth's confusion, thinking Triple H was Tamaso Champa
trying to trick them. When clarity actually finally came, Awesome
Truth strutted out with straps ones that you can now
purchase replicas of on the WWE shop.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
How convenient is that.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Fast forward to the second segment of SmackDown last night
and we see the same you know you got the
title stand in the middle of the ring. This time
Nick Aldis brings out Triple H. I don't know about you,
but I was halfway expecting to see similar titles that
were just given to Awesome Truth, maybe splashed with blue banners.
That's kind of what we were typical to seeing something
(19:26):
very similar and those given to a town down under. However, no, no, no, no,
they did. They did get new titles, the WWE tag
team titles, but they look nothing like the world titles.
They had the old school look and the feel of
the WWF titles the guys like you know Demolition carried
back in the early nineties. Michael I was impressed with
(19:46):
the direction of what they did with these titles, and
I'm gonna go out on a limb. Although I don't
think it's way far out to say that you were impressed.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
To I am a sucker for a good callback to
a good title. It's it's no secret that over the
last decade or two there's been some disappointment in the
way some titles look. You know, I understand the branding
is important and making sure that we have the most
(20:15):
prominent do w's on. You know, these these straps are important,
but we are we are definitely getting new titles from
a guy who is very clearly a fan of wrestling history,
very clearly that has love of the business. Because you know,
(20:36):
the first set of titles from Raw was great. They
were still really round. I was like, okay, it's it's
honoring to where they're coming from.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
But they look good.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
They've got depth, they've got pizzazz, like they actually look
like a title should instead of like you know that
machine where you go to like the old Wild West
Worlds and you stick a penny in and you do
the crank thing and it kind of comes out like
a belt buckle or something like that. Well more or
less that, but you know, smack the You know, I
feel bad for Awesome Truth because wow, the WWEE tag
(21:06):
Team championships just look phenomenal, looks super sharp, vintage but
not old by any stretch of the imagination. So it
made my heart happy. I definitely popped. You know, if
you go back to our text messages from last night,
it's lots of capitalization, lots of exclamation points. It was very,
(21:29):
very very cool to see those come out. So it
was a great night for those of us that really
love those belts.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, make sure them W's is prominent in them belts.
Two collectors, let me know if these are straps that
you plan on adding to your collection sooner, if you're
not a collector yet and you want to be, if
this is something you plan on jumping with both feet into.
What do you think of the new World and WWE
tag team titles? Drop a comet and chime in here Today,
Backlash in France is starting to take shape with a
(21:58):
now confirmed WWE title match. It's gonna be Cody's first
as the new champ and he'll take on AJ Styles now.
But nothing about AJ's qualifying match with La Knight leads
me to believe that things are over between these two.
Not that you know that Dusty has to be brought
up in every Cody match, But it is interesting to
note that AJ had a chance to face Dusty over
(22:20):
in TNA and it was for a title for the
NWA Championship. That was one that many IWC sleuths were
quick to bring up after AJ's win last night. Not
that the fight with Cody's father is the way to
go when it comes to storytelling, but I am interested
to see what story they weave here over the next
couple of weeks with these two, and how or or
if La Knight gets involved somehow. What do you think
(22:44):
of Michael Uh?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
I think Aj Styles is a beautiful first opponent for
Cody Rhodes. You're you're gonna get entertaining, rustling, You're gonna
get you know, well, how do I how do I
even approach this? It's just a good fit. Do I
legitimately think that AJ stands a chance of taking the
(23:08):
strap off of Cody? No? I really don't. However, AJ
feels like a credible threat. He's doing really great work
right now. His stuff with La Knight has been absolutely fantastic.
I love Aj Styles. I'm an Aj Styles fan to
my core anyway, but I feel like this is going
to be a fantastic match for a great pay per view.
(23:30):
As it's taking shape, I'm really looking forward to seeing
these two guys work together. Possibilities of this match are
just endless.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Speaking to pay per views, we've got a we've got
a couple of a couple of dandies this weekend. We'll
run over those and we'll discuss the return of the
Celtic Warrior Shamus.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
When we come back. Stay right here you Wrestle Chat podcast.
Monday night, the lights got bran On wrong.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Not because of another production change, No, No, it was
because we saw the Great White Shark return. Because we
welcome back Seamus. Boy, that's a reflection from that guy.
Many trolls jumped on x to comment on the shape
of Seamus, Trolls that clearly have no mirrors in their home,
or if they do, they simply haven't gotten up from
their cheeto stained couch to glance and glance at recently, Yes,
(24:24):
Seamus looked a little differently than he used to. However,
the dude was nearly put on the shelf, like for real.
He battled through to come back. So dare I say
Seamus will more than likely for the rest of his
life be in better shape than I will ever be
even on his worst day. I'm more concerned though, with
the direction of Seamus Michael. I'll be honest, I'm lost,
(24:48):
and for good reason. I mean, he's a star that
I'm at least confident about with this new regime. But
I just don't know what they're going to do with him.
It's not because anyone's failure. But is it a repackage?
Is it a run outside of the WWE like we've
we've seen with with many others. Could Seamus be a
(25:11):
part of a working relationship with TNA. Maybe we see
him go over there and just create new fuds that
cross that barrier back and forth. Help me out here, Well,
how are you feeling about Seamus? Not what the Internet
likes to talk about right now, but what do you
do with a guy that feels like it's kind of
just been floating along for a while? Uh?
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I think your I think your questions are valid. I
don't know what they're cooking up, but they definitely you know,
I go back to trust the process. They put him
back out there for a reason, and whether it's you know,
a run as he's going to close out his career,
whether they want him to be a staple of the
mid card. It was definitely a lot of oomph behind him,
(25:55):
and it seems as though.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
It was just out of place.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
So when you look at who they're pushing on the
rest of the roster, it's a lot of younger guys,
a lot of guys that are you know, haven't seen
a lot of story time on TV. I don't dislike
Shamus at all, but but kind of something you alluded
to is, hey, do we bring in some of these
stars who we don't really want to push on our
(26:20):
brand because we're focused on the next generation. But do
we loan them out to TNA and have really great
television feuds and and create working relationship with with the
rest of the wrestling community. And that's a very captivating
thought that I think is more possible now than ever.
I sent you a tweet I believe last night of
(26:42):
Jordan Grace from TNA and Natalia talking on X and
you know, Jordan Grace saying, Hey, I'd love for you
to come over to TNA and Russell in my house
and Natty said, let's do it. Well, I don't think
that Natty would just go out on a limb and
say something like that unless there was some type of
permission or some type of culture that is fostering that
(27:05):
type of thing. And with seeing Jordan Grace, you know
recently in the Rumble, maybe that's a thing and building
it back to the point of Shamus. You know, I'm
not going to say that they're putting him on TV
solely to farm him out. That's not what I'm saying.
But what I am saying is the WWE is doing
a great job at maximizing their resources everywhere, not just
(27:25):
in WWE, but possibly in TNA and other things. You know,
there's rumor circulating around other promotions that are starting, and
there's a lot of cool things happening, and especially under
Nick con at the helm of WWE, there are going
to be business decisions made for the benefit of the business,
not for the protecting of an individual's pride or to
(27:50):
to you know, try and hoard fame or glory or
success if you can. So I'm excited to see what
becomes a bit. But for Seamus right now, he came
out strong. He looks fantastic, despite what the Internet says.
I'm excited to see him go on another run, whether
it's if it's for you know, a US title or
(28:12):
an intercon title. Like the dude's just good. He's great
in the ring, So let's let's enjoy the time that
we have with him and let's just see what becomes
of it.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I could go for a Seamous Logan Paul feud.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I'd be all right with that. What would you like
to see from Seamus now that he's back? Chime in
let us know. Tonight we got TNA Presents Rebellion live
on pay per view from the Palms and Las Vegas. Moose,
the TNA champ, is going to take on Nick Neimath.
Is it possible that Nick wins his first championship outside
(28:43):
of WWE tonight? I'm calling it now and I say yes,
even though Moose is almost twice Nicked size. We're also
going to see must of a Ali take on Jake Something.
If you haven't seen this guy yet, I'm not talking
to must of It. I know you've seen him if
you've watched any WWE program and underutilized many many times
in WWE. But Jake Something, I don't know how he's
(29:06):
not called up to WWE at some point, but Jake
much like Moose, much bigger than Mustafa, and this is
for the X Division. Something creative that Mustafa was trying
to actually get going this week was a hashtag that
was something Ain't right, insinuating that Jake something isn't right
(29:26):
for the X Division.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Super creative.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Love that. Plus they've been teasing who's gonna show up
when the.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Lights go out?
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Been a really cool feature that they've had every Thursday
with a free agency. The way it is, I'm intrigued.
I don't have a guess, but I am intrigued to
see who that's on TNA's rebellion and that's coming up tonight.
I know you're a big fan of Nick Nima. How
you feeling about a Nick against Moose on the paper
FOREW tonight?
Speaker 3 (29:53):
That's a great match, Like Moose, Moose is great. I
would say that Moose is probably one of those guys
that deserves to be Okay, let me rephrase this, let
me let me start over. It would be great to
see Moose in WWE, but I don't think Moose necessarily
needs WWE. And let me be clear, because TNA is
its own successful thing. Is it as big as WWE?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
No?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
But that's not necessarily a bad thing. So I don't
want to take a dump on TNA. That's not what
I'm saying. But Moo's fantastic talent going against Nicknamath. I'm
a big Nick Namath guy. Would love to see him
go over. He looks like a champion, he acts like
a champion, he wrestles like a champion.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Give me Nick Namath all day long.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Tomorrow night, AEW Dynasty the Bucks are going to take
on FTR for the tag titles and a ladder match
that right there on the surface, that has the potential
to be a knockout match. However, I think the controversy
that Tony and AEW has created for themselves has really
kind of overshadowed what the match actually is. Two big
matches with a lot on the line, though AEW Women's
(30:59):
title that Thunder Rosa taken on your girl, Tony Storm.
Thunder's Mike work last week absolutely incredible. It cut through
the drama in black Cloud of AW right now, and
how could Thunder not. She has a voice that Pierce's
brick walls. I mean, she has she has the attitude
(31:20):
and lives the attitude day in day out. Her real
life character you often hear like Stone Cold talked about it,
that was him just turned up to eleven. Rock said
the same thing. I think thunder Rosa is. This is
Thunder turned up to eleven when you see her on TV.
I wouldn't hate to see her have a run again,
though with them the women's title after being injured last
time and having to relinquish that title and never really
(31:42):
seeing anything much from her after that. I know she
took a while to heel, but now she's back. And
the other the AEW World title Samoa Joe and Swervestrickland
whoa dark cloud I was talking about that seems to
cling to the letter's ae W and it's kind of
pushed this match backward some, although the controversy not directly
related to him. I love Joe, He's one of my
(32:05):
favorites for sure, but man, there's no denying if there's
any swell with a W right now, it's whose.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
House Swerve's house.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Swerve is hot, although I'm not sure what he's doing
with this makeup thing.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
It looks like he's always tired.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Besides the point, so it's likely in my book that
Swerve walks out of Dynasty the new ae W World Champion.
Looking on the surface of these Michael, how you feeling
about these matches? Uh? Great?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
An you want to stand out when you look at
this car. I'll speak about the card in general and
then some specifics, but this card is is pretty stacked.
I mean, you know, even in situations where you've got
who mainstream wrestling would consider lesser known people, it's partnered
up with people who are a little bit more known.
(32:54):
You know, We've talked about it in the past, that
aw has all this just incredible just worldwide talent, especially
with a lot of people that they're bringing over across
the pond, but maybe a lot of mainstream and or
you know, Continental US wrestling fans don't really know them.
This card has done a really great job of setting
up good matches with some some you know, more known names,
(33:17):
with with some not known names but still famous.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
You know.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
All that to say, the the the Joe Swerve Strickland match,
that's gonna be one to watch. I think there's a
lot there. I'm actually gonna go against you and say
I think Joe's gonna retain. I think they're gonna sit
on Swerve for a minute. If I'm if I'm being honest,
the other one that I was looking at where I'm
pulling up my list here because I short term memory.
(33:42):
Will ospray Daniel Bryan, Oh yeah, do you do you
even really need to say anything else? You know, I mean,
there's there's a lot going on there. I think a
sleeper match though, is the the Roger Strong kylo' Riley match.
Now I'm gonna say something more negative in them, bring
it back to positive. Character Wise, they have not hit
(34:06):
the same way that, in my opinion, they did an
NXT and WWE when they were doing the Undisputed Era
and even when they broke apart before a bunch of
injuries started happening and stuff, they were hitting on all
cylinders in w w E NXT. I feel like some
of it was copy and paste. However, regardless of that,
(34:27):
these two guys are super, super good at what they do,
and so this match to me is going to be
the sleeper match in terms of something that you're just
gonna walk away from going wow, that that was really
cool to see.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
So copy and paste without without the same machine behind it.
But man, I'm excited for both of these pay per views.
If you happen to watch them. Want to tweet a
long follow me at the ant man. I typically do
that during UH, during pay per views or premium live events.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Are we If you're on pay per view, it's called
a pay per view.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
If you're on peacock or streaming somewhere else, it's a
pole I guess I don't know. We're excited that you
hung out with us a little bit this morning. It's
always fun to UH to check in and and UH
and talk a little wrestling Saturday morning. It's it's taking
the place of cartoons for me UH from when I
was younger. So good to hang out with you guys.
Michael obviously always good to hang out with you and
(35:20):
talk wrestling. And I'm glad you're feeling better. Good to
have you back and continuing to heal up.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Thanks man, appreciate you for.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Michael Glavin, I'm the ant man that does it for
this week on the wrestle Chat podcast.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Thanks for hanging out
When it comes to professional wrestling. If you were talking
about it, we are talking about it. Welcome to the
wrestle Chat Podcast with the yet Man, Glitches and codes
and mysterious messages, Oh mine. Welcome to the second episode
of a new season of the wrestle Chat Podcast. I'm
your host of the ant Man. Thanks so much for
dropping in to hang out with us for a little bit.
(00:22):
If he seems well, it's had angry today, it's because
he just found out that spongebaths have ended.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
The gren Adalanche. Michael Glavin. Good to have you back
by man. How you feeling.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
It's good to be back, man, Thanks so much for
all love this week. Thanks to JR. Man, you know
when you sit when you sit on the sidelines and
you watch somebody come in and just kill it like
JR did. Man, I was like, I was like, Man,
I think I just need to come back to being
a spectator. But no, thanks to thanks to him for
(00:55):
holding down the four great episode last week. And man,
a lot has happened, you know, in wrestling over the
last week or two. And man, it's just great to
be back and jumping in talking about it with you.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
JR. Does it for a living. He should be good.
That's the thing.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
As always, if you're watching live, you're invited to chime
in on anything that we're chatting about today. Drop us
a comment, we'll share it here on the show. Check
in and let us know where you're joining us from.
If you're watching anytime after Saturday morning or listening after
Saturday morning, we invite you to join in on the conversation. Still,
just simply drop a comment on this episode about anything
that we are talking about, or maybe even more importantly,
(01:35):
things that we're not talking about. Something you want to
bring up, we'd love to hear those two. Drop us
a comment here or a message on Instagram. Were wrestle
Chat podcast. Man, there are so many things that we
need to get to, so many places to begin. I
say we just pick one and get rolling. Michael, how
about we start with the WWE draft that chaos begins
(01:57):
in less than a week next Friday, Red and, judging
from the logo, possibly the Gold get to bid on
acquiring the services of many superstars to join their brand.
If in fact, the Gold swoosh in the logo means
that NXT is going to be involved in this year's draft,
that's a nice little wrinkle with this new administration that
(02:18):
has the potential to really elevate WWE's you know, third
brand leading into their move to the CW later this year.
That could be really big. But I still wonder if
the WWE Draft means most of the time and not
all of the time. Michael, I will say to me,
it's felt like this past year the ww Draft has
meant more than previous years. Stars for the most part
(02:41):
staying true to the brand that they belonged to. However,
we would still get you know, like a trade here
and there, randomly a wild card night and we'd see
you know, superstars swap shows. That is actually something that
happens in you know, traditional professional sports. But they have
a certain timeframe and a deadline, so football, I think
if they have they have a deadline and a timeframe
(03:03):
for for free agents. I think if WWE goes that direction,
it'd be great to mark a knight another special night
mid season that leads to a trade deadline for possible
free agents. Possibly maybe even stipulations and matches that make
you a free agent tie stories with potential free agency.
That'd be an interesting little turn with things they've done
(03:25):
here in the past, I will say I'm more optimistic
about this year's draft than any other.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
What say you, man, it's a deep topic.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
And you know, if you go back a year or
roughly a year, we had a lot of conversation about
the WWE draft last year when it was coming around,
and this was in the middle of some recent regime changes.
As the way the timeline goes, and so here's what's interesting,
(03:55):
and here's here's what I would take this little moment
to talk about. Pre rustle Mania, just a few weeks ago,
we thought we had seen the new regime and their
methods and storytelling and everything already in gear and playing
out among us. And if there's something russell Mania showed
(04:16):
us this year is that that's not the case. Wrestle
Mania was the kickoff for this new regime, for this
new staff, the way they're gonna run things, the way
they're gonna do things. We have seen just a complete
shift in everything since wrestle Mania. And so going back
(04:36):
a year and saying, well, they they've mostly adhered to
the draft, well, yeah, that is a true statement. I
can tell you that my expectations are simultaneously super high
and missing in action. All at the same time, because
how do you make the draft fresh, how do you know,
what do you do with it? But at the same time,
I'm looking at the last couple of weeks, mainly since
(04:58):
Russell Mania, I'm like, man, it feels like there's a
plan for everything. And so with these new logos to
your point, the gold swoosh, you know, maybe how that
plays into everything. How we're seeing so much more of
an approach to be more professional sports driven in the
presentation and the way they address things. The superstar walkins,
(05:21):
you know, into the arena, all these different little threads.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
That we're pulling on.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
I think we could see a very very different draft
that actually, to your point, has implications all throughout the
year instead of just the Yatzi container once a year.
So I'm really excited to see what becomes of all
this because the potential of it under this new regime
is super super high.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, great analogy with the Yatsu one. I was thinking
cards too. If you're a card counter, You're sitting there
counting cards and all of a sudden, a brand new
deck gets brought in and a brand new dealer, And
that's what it feels like. It's all shuffled, and we
have no idea what to expect, but here for it.
Chime in with your thoughts on next week's draft and
we'll share him here on the show. As I alluded
to at the top of the show, we saw more
(06:09):
glitches and the addition of QR codes that have led
to mysterious messages on both Raw and SmackDown this week.
These are messages and signs that are signs that they're
not unfamiliar. There was a certain strange character that emerged
from a rabbit hole a couple of years ago, but
(06:30):
unfortunately we lost the man behind that character unexpectedly last year.
The ending of the Bray White documentary led many of
us to believe that the lantern still had plenty of flame.
The only question was who would be the person to
carry it. Let's look at this. We haven't seen bron
Strohman in WW in quite some time, at least in
the ring. Alexa Bliss left on maternity to leave, but
(06:54):
that's been a while talk of her possibly coming back.
There was news about Eric Rowan this week regarding him
having to pull out of independent shows due to quote
contractual obligations.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I used to when I was a kid.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I used to love to take a pencil or a
crayon and start at one and I go to two
and three, four or five, and you know.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Connect the dots.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
So if I'm doing that here, I'm hoping that the
finished picture is a new Wyatt family lantern being carried by.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Bray's brother Beau or uncle Howdy Michael.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Are the signs pointing to the same outcome for you
or are you connecting dots for a different picture?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
You know, I definitely think that is the low hanging fruit.
And I think that that is deeper than anything storytelling,
deeper than anything on the surface of wrestling. I think
we hope, just us as people, that we get to
live in this universe of the creation of Bray Wyatt.
(07:55):
I think I think all of us, myself included, want
anything that can come from that, obviously, just because of
the heartache and the hurt and the and everything that
you know came from losing Bray way way too early.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
So yes, that is the hope.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
What I do know is that those guys, Bray Bow,
these guys were exceptionally creative individuals. And what we do
know is that there was a lot of things in
place for Bray Wyatt as he was coming back in
stories that we're going to be told. And so the
(08:34):
silver lining to a very horrible and sad situation is that,
you know, Wyndham left us threads of what he was
going to do and almost like a blueprint for how
other people could carry this story on. And so whatever
that looks like, however it comes, we know it's coming.
(08:55):
I mean, it would be very strange that these things
that we're seeing would not be related to you know,
Bray White or the Wide family, and so I'm very excited.
I'm very anxious to see all of this come to fruition.
If nothing else, then it's hard to put words to it.
But maybe the only one I can grab right now
(09:15):
is it's going to be kind of therapeutic or cathartic
in some type of way to see this continue on
even in an unfortunate absence.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, where are those glitches headed? We have to wait
and see, and I'm excited about it. I'm excited about the.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Process of seeing how they evolve.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
The teasing. I think it's kind of cool. Chime in
on the chat today. Let us know your thoughts. We'd
love to share those here on the show bad news
for Ria fans this week. Michael and I both included
in that group as Ria fans. Ria is out and
has relinquished her World Women's World Championship. Ria as close
to tears as I think that we're ever going to
see was her on Monday. She'd held that title for
(09:54):
just over a year, winning the SmackDown Women's title from
Charlotte Flair back at russell Mania thirty nine. Of course,
that title was swapped out for the newly established Women's.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
World title this past fall.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
A new champion is going to be crowned on Monday
in a Battle Royal Now match that you know would
typically lend itself to either someone with in a faction,
maybe with people to watch your back, or possibly someone
of size.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I mean, the.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Whole object the objective of it is to get him
over the top row. But the story with Rhea involves
someone who is neither liv Morgan. She's on her revenge tour,
but is she gearing up for a champions tour or
does someone like Becky step up to carry the torch
once again? Michael, We're going to find out on Monday,
But how are you feeling about it right now?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I'm frustrated, and I'm really frustrated. I have to trust
the process. I have to trust that whatever information is
available about her behind the scenes is accurate. I would
say that I do join a little bit with wrestling
Twitter to say that I don't quite understand the the
(11:04):
the express and the rush to have her drop the
title when we were okay with part time champions, when
we were okay with you know, seth uh, you know
kind of limping along into Mania as he was, you know,
having knee issues. You know, a lot of titles changed
hands that you know, Uh, our our w w EE
(11:26):
undisputed champion, Uh, Cody Rhoads is gonna is gonna be
on TV all the time. I think we had room
to have a part time champion for a little while,
to let Rhea carry that forward. But I also recognize
that sometimes you don't have all the information and and
maybe she was around the corner to to dropping it
for some reason. Anyway, maybe it was, you know, moving
(11:49):
up a storyline. I don't know, but uh, for the
workhorse that she's been this last year, it was it
was a frustrating ending for for me as a big
fan of hers, And so again I'm gonna trust the process.
I'm gonna trust the powers that be, and I'm gonna
grip my teeth, smile and move on to another day.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Well, you know what's interesting with Monday is it it
left me excited for when she comes back. Whoever's holding
it should already be scared before they even hold that title.
So chime in, who do you see being the woman
to beat come Monday night?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Hit us up? Do we have a new bloodline? Well,
you know what it's. It's looking like it.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
But at this point, all I know for sure is
Solo got some new threads, so we're gonna chat about
that and those new titles that were presented this week
coming up. But speaking of titles, we've got a chance
for you to score your own replica title here.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Check this out.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Damian Priest now has the world title. Cody finished the
story to take on the undisputed title. So the question
is which one are you taking home? We're giving you
your pick. Just make sure you've subscribed to the wrestle
Chat podcast on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Once we hit ten thousand subscribers, we'll draw one winner
who will take their pick and take calm their own
WWE replica title. If you've already subbed, be sure to
tell a friend the quicker we get to ten k
the quicker, we draw a winner.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Take on the.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Gold with a wrestle Chat podcast on YouTube. Subscribe today.
Thanks so much for hanging out with us here today
on the wrestle Chat podcast.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Love that you've joined in.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
If you're watching this after Saturday morning, thanks for checking
out the podcast. We really appreciate that. If you are
watching it afterwards and listening to it after we're doing
it live, drop a comment on this episode. Let us
know where you're watching from where you were listening from.
Appreciate you being a part of the chat this morning.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
If it were a ZZ top song, it might start
out with these lyrics black suit red square still with
a look as if he doesn't care.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Maybe I shouldn't rewrite the lyrics to Sharp dress Man
for Sol Soka. But there's no dying that there's something
going on in the bloodline, one that none of us
have a clue about yet, And how could we when
it appears that even the wise man is confused about
what's happening. Last week we saw Solo Hug his brother
Jimmy USO, only to stand by and then watch him
(14:20):
be attacked by a hooded figure after Solo you know,
jammed his thumb into Jimmy's neck. We saw the hooded
figure uncover to introduce a new member, Tomatonga, confident that
his name was on that big giant tree that the
Rock showed at that press conference thing right, Jimmy's out
and Paul soaked his trousers. Fast forward seven days, Solo
(14:40):
shows up to smack down, dressed much differently, dressed like
a man in charge, like a boss, although not the
final boss, in a suit, asking where Kevin Owens was.
Later in the show, Tom shows up with Kevin, Kevin
soaked in blood. Kevin has been a little more than
a fringe story with the blood Line in the past. However,
(15:01):
it looks as though these actions are assigned, that his
number has been called by the tribal chief, whoever that
might be. These days, Michael, the Bloodline continuing to be
an intriguing story within the Wwe give me your take
on all this.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Okay, let's uh, if.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
You don't have to see guy, I know you had
you had surgery.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
If you guys have lunch, in the oven. Forget about it.
It's gonna burn. We're gonna be here a while. So
here's the thing. Last week, when all this started to
kind of take shape, you know, you expected the bloodline
to drop into a different gear, maybe disappear for a while.
Well we saw this shift, you know, with Solo and
(15:44):
Tomatonga and uh. And so I'm like, okay, all right,
and we're buying time or whatever. And you know, you
see last week that Solo's kind of calling the shots,
and I'm not gonna lie. I'm gonna I'm gonna be
very honest with everybody. I was like, okay, all right,
I'm sure we gotta do something. Roman needs some time off.
He's gonna film some movies. We get we gotta get
(16:06):
ready for the next thing. This this will cover us
in the meantime, okay, whatever. We fast forward a week. Whoa,
hold on, dude looks dude looks good in a suit.
Hold on, wait, he's talking to Paul Hayman and he's
and he there's there's some bass to his voice.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Hold hold on a minute.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Uh, walking around calling shots, doing stuff whatever. And I'm like,
hold on, hold on, do I think solos the tribal.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Chief because the guy who hasn't spoke ever, guy who
hasn't because because it's feeling like he's the tribal chief now.
And but and I'm kind of here for it, Like
what's there's there's confusion, you know, It's like it was
almost like mentally cheating on my tribal chief, you know,
uh with another tribal chief, you know, entanglement and such.
So I don't know what happened, but we just shifted
(16:56):
into another gear and it feels amazing. And uh, whatever
they're cooking, uh, you know, whatever they're cooking. Uh, I'm
here for it because I don't know where it's going.
I don't know if we're talking multiple blood lines. I
don't know if we're talking struggle for one blood line,
you know, classic black and white, wolf pack MWO type stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I don't know what.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I don't know what we're doing, but I'm here for it.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
So change the color.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
We'll know, right, Great great TV over the last week,
great progression of storytelling. Man the presentation of Toma Tonga
for the majority of people not knowing necessarily who he was.
It looks like we got a comment here Home wrestlingly
there's some confusion, but Roman has been favoring him for
(17:47):
a couple of months now, that is true. You know,
we we have been looking to Solo in several moments
and and things like that. So that's that's a great point.
But wherever we're headed, it's very cool the way they
set up Tomatonga, with how strong he looks, with just
how kind of over he seems within the Bloodline, how
(18:07):
serious he is and an established figure he is after
a week. It's just incredible work by everybody. So good
job to the writing team, good job to everybody on screen,
just amazing.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Thank you Home Wrestling team for chiming in. Where do
you guys see this going? Who in fact is the
tribal chief? You can chime in on the chat and
give us your thoughts or drop us a message.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Michael.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
The Bloodline without Gold for the time being, however, I'm
sure their eyes, along with anyone else with a partner,
are staring at some newly released gold. Monday night, we
saw Awesome Truth trading their rog tag titles for the
newly created World Tag Team titles. Round gold plates, splash
of red in the banners. They look sharp, overshadowed, slightly
(18:51):
by Our Truth's confusion, thinking Triple H was Tamaso Champa
trying to trick them. When clarity actually finally came, Awesome
Truth strutted out with straps ones that you can now
purchase replicas of on the WWE shop.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
How convenient is that.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Fast forward to the second segment of SmackDown last night
and we see the same you know you got the
title stand in the middle of the ring. This time
Nick Aldis brings out Triple H. I don't know about you,
but I was halfway expecting to see similar titles that
were just given to Awesome Truth, maybe splashed with blue banners.
That's kind of what we were typical to seeing something
(19:26):
very similar and those given to a town down under. However, no, no, no, no,
they did. They did get new titles, the WWE tag
team titles, but they look nothing like the world titles.
They had the old school look and the feel of
the WWF titles the guys like you know Demolition carried
back in the early nineties. Michael I was impressed with
(19:46):
the direction of what they did with these titles, and
I'm gonna go out on a limb. Although I don't
think it's way far out to say that you were impressed.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
To I am a sucker for a good callback to
a good title. It's it's no secret that over the
last decade or two there's been some disappointment in the
way some titles look. You know, I understand the branding
is important and making sure that we have the most
(20:15):
prominent do w's on. You know, these these straps are important,
but we are we are definitely getting new titles from
a guy who is very clearly a fan of wrestling history,
very clearly that has love of the business. Because you know,
(20:36):
the first set of titles from Raw was great. They
were still really round. I was like, okay, it's it's
honoring to where they're coming from.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
But they look good.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
They've got depth, they've got pizzazz, like they actually look
like a title should instead of like you know that
machine where you go to like the old Wild West
Worlds and you stick a penny in and you do
the crank thing and it kind of comes out like
a belt buckle or something like that. Well more or
less that, but you know, smack the You know, I
feel bad for Awesome Truth because wow, the WWEE tag
(21:06):
Team championships just look phenomenal, looks super sharp, vintage but
not old by any stretch of the imagination. So it
made my heart happy. I definitely popped. You know, if
you go back to our text messages from last night,
it's lots of capitalization, lots of exclamation points. It was very,
(21:29):
very very cool to see those come out. So it
was a great night for those of us that really
love those belts.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, make sure them W's is prominent in them belts.
Two collectors, let me know if these are straps that
you plan on adding to your collection sooner, if you're
not a collector yet and you want to be, if
this is something you plan on jumping with both feet into.
What do you think of the new World and WWE
tag team titles? Drop a comet and chime in here Today,
Backlash in France is starting to take shape with a
(21:58):
now confirmed WWE title match. It's gonna be Cody's first
as the new champ and he'll take on AJ Styles now.
But nothing about AJ's qualifying match with La Knight leads
me to believe that things are over between these two.
Not that you know that Dusty has to be brought
up in every Cody match, But it is interesting to
note that AJ had a chance to face Dusty over
(22:20):
in TNA and it was for a title for the
NWA Championship. That was one that many IWC sleuths were
quick to bring up after AJ's win last night. Not
that the fight with Cody's father is the way to
go when it comes to storytelling, but I am interested
to see what story they weave here over the next
couple of weeks with these two, and how or or
if La Knight gets involved somehow. What do you think
(22:44):
of Michael Uh?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
I think Aj Styles is a beautiful first opponent for
Cody Rhodes. You're you're gonna get entertaining, rustling, You're gonna
get you know, well, how do I how do I
even approach this? It's just a good fit. Do I
legitimately think that AJ stands a chance of taking the
(23:08):
strap off of Cody? No? I really don't. However, AJ
feels like a credible threat. He's doing really great work
right now. His stuff with La Knight has been absolutely fantastic.
I love Aj Styles. I'm an Aj Styles fan to
my core anyway, but I feel like this is going
to be a fantastic match for a great pay per view.
(23:30):
As it's taking shape, I'm really looking forward to seeing
these two guys work together. Possibilities of this match are
just endless.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Speaking to pay per views, we've got a we've got
a couple of a couple of dandies this weekend. We'll
run over those and we'll discuss the return of the
Celtic Warrior Shamus.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
When we come back. Stay right here you Wrestle Chat podcast.
Monday night, the lights got bran On wrong.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Not because of another production change, No, No, it was
because we saw the Great White Shark return. Because we
welcome back Seamus. Boy, that's a reflection from that guy.
Many trolls jumped on x to comment on the shape
of Seamus, Trolls that clearly have no mirrors in their home,
or if they do, they simply haven't gotten up from
their cheeto stained couch to glance and glance at recently, Yes,
(24:24):
Seamus looked a little differently than he used to. However,
the dude was nearly put on the shelf, like for real.
He battled through to come back. So dare I say
Seamus will more than likely for the rest of his
life be in better shape than I will ever be
even on his worst day. I'm more concerned though, with
the direction of Seamus Michael. I'll be honest, I'm lost,
(24:48):
and for good reason. I mean, he's a star that
I'm at least confident about with this new regime. But
I just don't know what they're going to do with him.
It's not because anyone's failure. But is it a repackage?
Is it a run outside of the WWE like we've
we've seen with with many others. Could Seamus be a
(25:11):
part of a working relationship with TNA. Maybe we see
him go over there and just create new fuds that
cross that barrier back and forth. Help me out here, Well,
how are you feeling about Seamus? Not what the Internet
likes to talk about right now, but what do you
do with a guy that feels like it's kind of
just been floating along for a while? Uh?
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I think your I think your questions are valid. I
don't know what they're cooking up, but they definitely you know,
I go back to trust the process. They put him
back out there for a reason, and whether it's you know,
a run as he's going to close out his career,
whether they want him to be a staple of the
mid card. It was definitely a lot of oomph behind him,
(25:55):
and it seems as though.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
It was just out of place.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
So when you look at who they're pushing on the
rest of the roster, it's a lot of younger guys,
a lot of guys that are you know, haven't seen
a lot of story time on TV. I don't dislike
Shamus at all, but but kind of something you alluded
to is, hey, do we bring in some of these
stars who we don't really want to push on our
(26:20):
brand because we're focused on the next generation. But do
we loan them out to TNA and have really great
television feuds and and create working relationship with with the
rest of the wrestling community. And that's a very captivating
thought that I think is more possible now than ever.
I sent you a tweet I believe last night of
(26:42):
Jordan Grace from TNA and Natalia talking on X and
you know, Jordan Grace saying, Hey, I'd love for you
to come over to TNA and Russell in my house
and Natty said, let's do it. Well, I don't think
that Natty would just go out on a limb and
say something like that unless there was some type of
permission or some type of culture that is fostering that
(27:05):
type of thing. And with seeing Jordan Grace, you know
recently in the Rumble, maybe that's a thing and building
it back to the point of Shamus. You know, I'm
not going to say that they're putting him on TV
solely to farm him out. That's not what I'm saying.
But what I am saying is the WWE is doing
a great job at maximizing their resources everywhere, not just
(27:25):
in WWE, but possibly in TNA and other things. You know,
there's rumor circulating around other promotions that are starting, and
there's a lot of cool things happening, and especially under
Nick con at the helm of WWE, there are going
to be business decisions made for the benefit of the business,
not for the protecting of an individual's pride or to
(27:50):
to you know, try and hoard fame or glory or
success if you can. So I'm excited to see what
becomes a bit. But for Seamus right now, he came
out strong. He looks fantastic, despite what the Internet says.
I'm excited to see him go on another run, whether
it's if it's for you know, a US title or
(28:12):
an intercon title. Like the dude's just good. He's great
in the ring, So let's let's enjoy the time that
we have with him and let's just see what becomes
of it.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I could go for a Seamous Logan Paul feud.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I'd be all right with that. What would you like
to see from Seamus now that he's back? Chime in
let us know. Tonight we got TNA Presents Rebellion live
on pay per view from the Palms and Las Vegas. Moose,
the TNA champ, is going to take on Nick Neimath.
Is it possible that Nick wins his first championship outside
(28:43):
of WWE tonight? I'm calling it now and I say yes,
even though Moose is almost twice Nicked size. We're also
going to see must of a Ali take on Jake Something.
If you haven't seen this guy yet, I'm not talking
to must of It. I know you've seen him if
you've watched any WWE program and underutilized many many times
in WWE. But Jake Something, I don't know how he's
(29:06):
not called up to WWE at some point, but Jake
much like Moose, much bigger than Mustafa, and this is
for the X Division. Something creative that Mustafa was trying
to actually get going this week was a hashtag that
was something Ain't right, insinuating that Jake something isn't right
(29:26):
for the X Division.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Super creative.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Love that. Plus they've been teasing who's gonna show up
when the.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Lights go out?
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Been a really cool feature that they've had every Thursday
with a free agency. The way it is, I'm intrigued.
I don't have a guess, but I am intrigued to
see who that's on TNA's rebellion and that's coming up tonight.
I know you're a big fan of Nick Nima. How
you feeling about a Nick against Moose on the paper
FOREW tonight?
Speaker 3 (29:53):
That's a great match, Like Moose, Moose is great. I
would say that Moose is probably one of those guys
that deserves to be Okay, let me rephrase this, let
me let me start over. It would be great to
see Moose in WWE, but I don't think Moose necessarily
needs WWE. And let me be clear, because TNA is
its own successful thing. Is it as big as WWE?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
No?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
But that's not necessarily a bad thing. So I don't
want to take a dump on TNA. That's not what
I'm saying. But Moo's fantastic talent going against Nicknamath. I'm
a big Nick Namath guy. Would love to see him
go over. He looks like a champion, he acts like
a champion, he wrestles like a champion.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Give me Nick Namath all day long.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Tomorrow night, AEW Dynasty the Bucks are going to take
on FTR for the tag titles and a ladder match
that right there on the surface, that has the potential
to be a knockout match. However, I think the controversy
that Tony and AEW has created for themselves has really
kind of overshadowed what the match actually is. Two big
matches with a lot on the line, though AEW Women's
(30:59):
title that Thunder Rosa taken on your girl, Tony Storm.
Thunder's Mike work last week absolutely incredible. It cut through
the drama in black Cloud of AW right now, and
how could Thunder not. She has a voice that Pierce's
brick walls. I mean, she has she has the attitude
(31:20):
and lives the attitude day in day out. Her real
life character you often hear like Stone Cold talked about it,
that was him just turned up to eleven. Rock said
the same thing. I think thunder Rosa is. This is
Thunder turned up to eleven when you see her on TV.
I wouldn't hate to see her have a run again,
though with them the women's title after being injured last
time and having to relinquish that title and never really
(31:42):
seeing anything much from her after that. I know she
took a while to heel, but now she's back. And
the other the AEW World title Samoa Joe and Swervestrickland
whoa dark cloud I was talking about that seems to
cling to the letter's ae W and it's kind of
pushed this match backward some, although the controversy not directly
related to him. I love Joe, He's one of my
(32:05):
favorites for sure, but man, there's no denying if there's
any swell with a W right now, it's whose.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
House Swerve's house.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Swerve is hot, although I'm not sure what he's doing
with this makeup thing.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
It looks like he's always tired.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Besides the point, so it's likely in my book that
Swerve walks out of Dynasty the new ae W World Champion.
Looking on the surface of these Michael, how you feeling
about these matches? Uh? Great?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
An you want to stand out when you look at
this car. I'll speak about the card in general and
then some specifics, but this card is is pretty stacked.
I mean, you know, even in situations where you've got
who mainstream wrestling would consider lesser known people, it's partnered
up with people who are a little bit more known.
(32:54):
You know, We've talked about it in the past, that
aw has all this just incredible just worldwide talent, especially
with a lot of people that they're bringing over across
the pond, but maybe a lot of mainstream and or
you know, Continental US wrestling fans don't really know them.
This card has done a really great job of setting
up good matches with some some you know, more known names,
(33:17):
with with some not known names but still famous.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
You know.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
All that to say, the the the Joe Swerve Strickland match,
that's gonna be one to watch. I think there's a
lot there. I'm actually gonna go against you and say
I think Joe's gonna retain. I think they're gonna sit
on Swerve for a minute. If I'm if I'm being honest,
the other one that I was looking at where I'm
pulling up my list here because I short term memory.
(33:42):
Will ospray Daniel Bryan, Oh yeah, do you do you
even really need to say anything else? You know, I mean,
there's there's a lot going on there. I think a
sleeper match though, is the the Roger Strong kylo' Riley match.
Now I'm gonna say something more negative in them, bring
it back to positive. Character Wise, they have not hit
(34:06):
the same way that, in my opinion, they did an
NXT and WWE when they were doing the Undisputed Era
and even when they broke apart before a bunch of
injuries started happening and stuff, they were hitting on all
cylinders in w w E NXT. I feel like some
of it was copy and paste. However, regardless of that,
(34:27):
these two guys are super, super good at what they do,
and so this match to me is going to be
the sleeper match in terms of something that you're just
gonna walk away from going wow, that that was really
cool to see.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
So copy and paste without without the same machine behind it.
But man, I'm excited for both of these pay per views.
If you happen to watch them. Want to tweet a
long follow me at the ant man. I typically do
that during UH, during pay per views or premium live events.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Are we If you're on pay per view, it's called
a pay per view.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
If you're on peacock or streaming somewhere else, it's a
pole I guess I don't know. We're excited that you
hung out with us a little bit this morning. It's
always fun to UH to check in and and UH
and talk a little wrestling Saturday morning. It's it's taking
the place of cartoons for me UH from when I
was younger. So good to hang out with you guys.
Michael obviously always good to hang out with you and
(35:20):
talk wrestling. And I'm glad you're feeling better. Good to
have you back and continuing to heal up.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Thanks man, appreciate you for.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Michael Glavin, I'm the ant man that does it for
this week on the wrestle Chat podcast.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Thanks for hanging out
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