June 12, 2024 • 37 mins
Join us on the latest episode of the WrestleChat Podcast with The AntMan and Michael as we dive into the latest wrestling news! We discuss Ricochet's surprising WWE contract decision, analyze his recent RAW appearance, and speculate if it's all a work. We also break down the potential blockbuster feud between LA Knight and Logan Paul, preview the upcoming Clash at the Castle matches, and touch on the latest in tag team dynamics and the women's division. Don't miss out on our insights and predictions! Follow the show on Instagram: ➡️ https://www.Instagram.com/WrestleChatPodcast Follow the show on Threads: ➡️ https://www.Threads.net/WrestleChatPodcast Follow the show on Twitter: ➡️ https://www.Twitter.com/WrestleChatPod Follow The AntMan: ➡️ https://www.Instagram.com/TheAntMan.co Follow Michael: ➡️ https://www.Instagram.com/MichaelGlavin
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome back to the wrestle Chat podcast. My name is
the man.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
His name is Michael Hit. Talk some wrestling on Wednesday. Now,
in all fairness, we record this on Tuesday. In fact,
I think that Cody Rhodes is getting ready to walk
into the NXT arena as we start this, which we'll
watch a little bit later on. So if something major
happens there, we'll do it next week or we'll tweet
it or something like that. Michael, Hell, how are things
going on in your world?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Good man? You know, it's summertime, it's busy, the kids
are home, so you know, the grocery bill went up.
You know, my sanity went down.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
But it's all good. You know, kids are a great age.
They're a fun time. And yeah, we're just we're just
hanging out for the summer, keeping an eye on some
wrestling stuff and it's all good.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Right before we jumped on here, I was on a
phone call trying to set up a meeting for either
later in the week this week or sometime next week.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
And we started looking.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I was like, I can do it Thursday, or I
can do it the second week of July.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
There's nothing in between that I have available at that point,
we have this, we have a couple of other things
going on.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
But yeah, it is starting to get busy. And it's
that different busy than it is in the school year.
It's the busy with family stuff, which is the busy
I like, and I know you do too. Speaking of busy,
a lot going on in wrestling. Let's first start, let's
talk about Ricochet, because she's talking about Ricochet has informed
(01:32):
WWE that he is not re signing and he wants
to be a free agent after his contract is up.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You watched Raw. Things got a little crazy on Raw.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
And what's interesting is that you know a lot of
times when wrestlers are written off of TV because they
are leaving, it's almost just like an abrupt ending to
a story and they get squashed right then and they
roll out of the ring.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
It's over.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
You don't see him again until they reinvent themselves and
come back.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Not really the case with Ricochet.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I mean, this is actually a pretty big deal with
Ricochet and Braun Breaker.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
With a Braun has been on a roll.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I thought it was an interesting match that they'd put
him up against Eliot Dragonoff. We can talk about that later,
but after that match, Braun doing what Braun has been doing.
He was gonna just take out Elia after the match
is over with and was attacked by Ricochet in that match.
I didn't see that coming and I definitely if Ricochet
(02:29):
was going to be written off, I didn't see him
having such a big spotlight in that portion of just
taking out Braun.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
What were your thoughts in this moment?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Well, a few things to respond to what you're saying.
I think we're in a different time now. I think
we've got different people in charge that are more interested
in playing the long game than the loyalty game, if
you will. And I think in previous regimes it's like, well,
I'm gonna let my contract come up. Well cool, we'll
(03:01):
screw you and you know, have a nice dog. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think that Ricochet has been a great person on
the roster. I think he's well liked. Yeah, And so
I think yeah, And I think a lot of it
could just be like, hey, we want you to come back,
(03:22):
so we're going to treat you right on the way out. Now,
I don't want to distract too much from the segment itself,
but now addressing the elephant in the room, bro, Ricochet,
what are you thinking? Man? Like WWE is the hottest
it's ever been. Yeah, they break record after record after record.
(03:45):
They're doing all these international shows. They're partnering up with
other promotions like Bro. If you want to scratch an
itch asked to go over to TNA for a week
or two.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
But you have a partnership there, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, And so you know he did great on the
independent scene. He'll explode and do that. But you know,
I've not lived that life. I don't know what it's
like to work for WWE or work on the independence.
So I don't have any place to say. It just
feels like a strange decision. So I guess we'll leave
(04:19):
it at that.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well here, let me ask you this.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So I am there's a little I don't know whether
I should tell you my in thought here at the
beginning and work backwards or get to it.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I think I'm just gonna tell you.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I'm kind of wondering if this is not a work.
And here's what I mean.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
So we've had.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Will Osprey on aew say he said something about Ricochet.
Hey would love to get you over here to work
with you, something to that nature. I don't know the
exact verbiage, but there was a mention from Will about
Ricochet and them being able to work together. People even
thought there might be there could possibly be some a
(05:00):
contract tampering just by him doing that and.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Saying that on TV. Then there's also this, so maybe
you ride the coattails of that. Hey there's rumors.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Let's play with those a little bit and actually get
people interested, because let's be honest, Ricochet is great for spots,
Amazing for spots. That guy can he I think he
is still traveling north from WrestleMania whenever when he launched
off that, I mean he's still going up, still hadn't
come down. His spots are absolutely amazing. His storylines and
(05:30):
his mic work have not been up to Park. It
was with a lot of other guys. I say, up
to part he's he's great at some things that he's not.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Great at others. How about that? Yeah, they didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
They haven't really worked Samantha into any kind of storyline
except when it kind of benefited Logan Paul, when you know,
when Caves kind of really set him up as a heel. However,
on Monday, if he's been being written off of TV.
At the end, there was an attack from bron Breaker
on Rickish that ended up sending him to the hospital
(06:02):
or to the medical facility.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
The medical facility. Yes, it is a local one. It's
not one somewhere out of town. It is local for sure.
But he was in the back of an ambulance. But
who runs to his side and vacates her place at
the side at ringside announcing wrestlers coming to the ring
is his real live fiance Smith And they even show
(06:24):
her running it. If he's leaving, why do you remind
people that he has a tie to WWE and there's
something going on here that the real life couple. Now,
there was a time I know that when Dean Ambrose
was being written off of TV and they did have
and this is when Renee was still working there, They
(06:45):
did have Renee come to the ring in front of
everybody and on TV had her come to the ring
and check on him. And so because people knew that
they were really together, you know, people being fans. So
I mean, there is some precedents I guess that you
would you could incorporate this and still have the star leave,
But man, I don't know. After Monday, I kind of wondering.
(07:06):
I'm like, fifty to fifty even though the dirt sheets
are the credible ones are saying that, Okay, no, we
have confirmation. He is going I'm kind of almost in
this fifty to fifty camp. If he doesn't, if he
shows up somewhere else, then I'm going, Okay, Yeah, then
I was wrong.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
It wasn't at all.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
But if we get three weeks down the line and
Bronze in the middle of a match and all of
a sudden some guy flies in from the rafters and
it's ricochet, I could totally see that happen to.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, I think I think the biggest question mark for
me is the ability for the the powers that be
to keep the secret that. That's the weird part for
me is like unless it's you and and Hunter, just
like you know, like, how do you keep something like
(07:54):
that secret in such a big organization. So I think
we're gonna find out. I mean, time will tell, but
it's you know, wrestling is going through a great boom,
so there's opportunity everywhere, but it it's a strange move.
If it's true.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, I agree with that too, and especially with this
life you have set up over unless there's just like ridiculous,
ungodly amounts of money waiting on him at a double
or something. I mean that could be, you know, three
years at ae W and you make twenty thirty million dollars.
I'm not saying that's it. I'm saying it's something crazy.
(08:32):
Maybe you go over, you do it for three years
and go, hey, we're getting married, and he and Samantha
and they live happily ever after and don't have to
worry about money again. But I don't big, big pay
per view pl one. I want to get to the
ufc Apex Arena. We'll talk about that here in a second.
But what was your thoughts on on Jordan Grace and
(08:53):
her her time on Sunday taken on rox Emperez losing
about but also and losing an ear ring?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Would you think great match always? You know, we we
knew going into it that it was going to be
good the finish. I've been fighting off yawns this whole time.
And while it sounds like I'm I'm, you know, tastefully pondering,
I'm fighting off these yawns. But uh, but no, the.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Has a lot of natural gas at his house. It
makes him sleep.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
We're not too worried about the carbon monoxide, but yeah,
it does affects.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah, I needed the nine vaults for other things, so
I took all that's that's what it was. But but no,
it was a great match. The finish was a little
less of a cop out then I thought it was
going to be. It was definitely a better version of
kind of what we talked about last week. You know, well,
it kind of assumed that it couldn't be clean. You know,
(09:47):
I am disappointed. I think a lot of us wanted
to see Jordan Grace, you know, grab the NXT title
eaven it for just a couple of weeks. I think
it would have been a cool, cool thing to do.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
For her to have that title.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Yeah, but but you know, having a couple of TNA
people show up and and kind of weird to have
is it ashby Elegance or something like that.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yes, uh, you know, formerly.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Formerly Dana Brook. That was kind of an interesting little
tie in. But but no, it was really good. It
was a great match. You know, there's something we're building
to something with Jordan Grace because we also we also
read that she's doing uh, she's helping to do motion
capture for other WWE superstars for two K twenty five,
(10:37):
and so that's cool. Yeah, so not only is she
like actually an on screen talent, but they're using her,
you know, for her actual technical ability to do all
this motion capture stuff for other people for video games.
And so how are you? How are you TNA? And
not going Uh, this isn't looking good.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
But there's got to be a long play here though.
I think that I haven't really seen hints of other
things of other rest of the guys, Moose possibly coming
over with you know, doing something uh in w WE
with was a Damien.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, yeah, uh, something like that could be really really cool.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I like the the intertwining and the the surprising, Like
I love that Jordan came out and it was a surprise.
I also loved how the week before the Tuesday before
the p L she came out and on the back
it said, uh, uh was it?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (11:35):
I know what you're talking about, but I'm trying to
remember what it was.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
And TNA in.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
X tn A, that's it, That's what it was.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, And just putting the two together and really representing
both brands. You couldn't ask for a better person to
represent both brands.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
She's I'm also I'm also kind of waiting to see
if TNA is going to take more of a like
a direct pull there is, I didn't fight it anymore.
I I'm waiting to see if TNA takes more of
a direct like, Okay, it's our turn now. I don't
know if the deal is more like, hey, TNA, people
(12:08):
are getting exposure on a larger network, so maybe that'll
make people tune in. You would have to think there'd
be more give and take than that. But I'm also
waiting to see. I think there's a TNA pay per
view or something coming up, and I think I'm kind
of waiting to see if anybody from NXT shows up.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Over there, so it'll be interesting. It be cool. Now
this event, this ple on Sunday took place.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
They actually had it scheduled in one location, pulled it
to take it to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Apex was built or was kind of initiated during the
lockdowns where they could still have some UFC fights, kind
of like wwe took over Trumpic Cannafield to make the Thunderdome.
(12:52):
UFC had this place set up an octagon, still had fights,
but didn't have really a crowd. So we've never seen
a crowd inside there or anything significant like apl E.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Even after watching it, I thought it was still an
interesting choice.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
There was a lot of For being a small space,
they still left some dead space and weird places and
when you kind of see somebody, I would have thought
there would have been maybe more tech. Yeah, in a
place that was smaller, more technology, smaller place, Uh, they
would do more with LEDs and boards and such like
(13:27):
that with not as many people.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
And they didn't do either. One didn't have a lot
of people, didn't do really any tech.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
That has have some really cool curtains that are great
for sound back in the back.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
But do you think that this is a revisit.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Do we go back here again and do this again,
or is this a one off and say, okay, let's
there's plenty of other places we can go.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
I don't know. Two answers. One WWE has really stuck
to keeping the independent. Look for NXC you know, even
you know when we you know, when we went to
I think it was NXT Stand and Deliver. Yeah, yeah,
(14:05):
in Philly. I mean that's that's NXT's WrestleMania because it's
on WrestleMania Weekend Full Arena, and you know, they had
just come off a SmackDown. They went through all the
all the work to take down all the led everything
sure and knowing that it was going to go back
for Monday Night Raw, and so they are very, very
dedicated to keeping all that on the down low for
(14:28):
whatever reason. But but it was the the apex was
an interesting choice. To your point, the dead space things
like that. I think the thing that caught me off
guard was even in the midst of all that dead space,
one thing that I noticed is that the distance between
(14:49):
the ring and the barricade was painfully small, to the
point where there was there was you know, some people
would do some over the top rope stuff for some
suicide dives, and there was no room there. And then
the next thing I noticed was it looked like you know,
standard karate mats on the floor instead of you know,
the nice stuff around the ring that they normally have.
(15:10):
So it was definitely an interesting vibe. I don't know
if it was good or bad. I can't.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
For me, it went a little like if you're trying
to keep that that independent or or that kind of vibe.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I think we went back one step too many.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, Like I did think it was interesting how the
point you just brought up, how they took down the
LEDs for Standard deliver so much so that they took
down the LEDs but still had sponsored matches. So what
they had to do was come out with vinyl stickers
to put on the on the on the railing so
they could in the railing was even different. It wasn't
the normal padded railing. It was the bicycle railing. They
(15:50):
got so interesting how they've they've chosen to do that,
and I get the setting it apart.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Listen, you're an NXT and then you have this.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
When you get too raw or smacked down, you have
this is something to look forward to, the presentations different.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Maybe we can compromise and do something. I don't think
going back.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
I would push back against that thought though, because it's
not for them. It's for us as the viewer.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Yeah, well that's true, but it is I think it
is for the wrestler as well.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
I mean it can be, but I mean, at the
end of the day, we're the we're the viewers consuming it.
And when you do such a bang up job. You know,
at the main roster level, you don't want to make
your the stars of tomorrow harder to be vested in.
And so I'm not saying throw all the same resources
(16:37):
at it, but at the same time, don't make it
look like we pulled up to an armory either. You
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Well, I think maybe the Apex two could also just
been you.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Know, just just some of the partnership and within the family.
Now with with UFC. Hey, UFC's got this. What if
we went and did something there too, and they're like, yeah,
I want you come on into our house and and
bring your show here. That it could just be some
some friendly cohesiveness inside the t k O world before
(17:06):
we move on. We haven't talked recently very much about
Manshaw Chronicles.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
You've got some new podcasts dropping. What what's going on
this week?
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Well, we were off last week. One of the guys
had to go visit some family, so we took the
week off. We're we're gearing to be back in the
saddle this Saturday Live, I believe in the morning. You know,
the cool thing about being friends is that, you know,
doing podcasts, it reaches the point where it's like it
(17:36):
just becomes a hangout time.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
And so for the days, you.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Know, the a couple of months or whatever that we
get real structured and hey, this time all the time,
and you know that's great, it works out for everybody.
But more often anymore, the podcast is really becoming truly
you know, the way we we market it that it's
just for friends hanging out talking absolutely absurd stuff. So
(17:59):
so this weekend, I know we're doing a draft based
around some food and I know that for us, food
is part of our lives in a very very passionate way.
So we're gonna be doing a draft around some food stuff.
We're gonna play some fun games. It's going to be
a great time together. We've not been able to talk
over the last week or two just because we've all
(18:19):
been busy with work and traveling and doing all kinds
of things. So you're gonna watch us catch up in
real time, tell all the jokes. So we invite you
guys to keep an eye out Saturday morning. We'll be live,
or of course you can catch us on replay anytime
on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah, and if you're watching this on YouTube right now,
there's a link to it just here on our channel.
You can go down there and click the Manshout chronicles
and catch that on Saturday morning, but it'll be Funt's
talk about La Knight and Logan Paul. This has the
makings of being one of the could be one of
the best feuds of twenty twenty four if they play
it right. Logan Paul's doing his part. Ella Knight's doing
(18:57):
his part. Are we going to do our part as
fans and we're going to get behind this? And I mean,
I think both guys have done a great job of
getting their respective fans behind them. And there's just something
about these two that I think could just be absolutely
electric and we're going to get to see some of that,
hopefully very very soon.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
But Logan Paul turning down, turning down l A.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Knight's challenge for Clash at the Castle, like I'm busy,
I tend to do that now. I know that the
Logan said on Friday that he was going to be
at the Tetris tournament and that even La Knight, so
that well, if you know he's too busy, maybe La
Knight will go to him. Although I will say that
I haven't seen anything did he go and did he.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Attack you boys playing tetris?
Speaker 3 (19:43):
I actually don't know. I didn't see anything about it.
But all I know is that La Knight is not
afraid to get into random brawls, and we.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Know that sure this close.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
We were in the press room at Rustlemania when when
all that went down, and it was it was interesting.
But but yeah, to your point, this is it's gonna
be good. It's two guys who are really passionate about
the business, passionate about doing good work. I think I
think Logan is doing really well, and I think his
(20:20):
run with the US title was still really hot. But
I think we're probably about to the peak of it
where we need to hand it off becomes before it
becomes a little stale. They've done a really great job
with him, and it really could go on longer and
be fine, but I wanted to. I don't want to
(20:40):
sit on it too long and it becomes stale. You know. Yeh,
La Night is way overdue for some type of recognition
in an official capacity. I'm not super thrilled that it's
the US title. I don't necessarily have anything against it.
I was kind of hoping for something a little more substantial,
maybe an intercon title or even World heavyweight. But if
(21:04):
this is where we're gonna be right now, you know,
something is better than nothing. But I'm hoping as well
that there will be a little bit of back and forth.
You know, even if for instance, La and Night picks
up the title at SummerSlam or something like that, that
it won't be a one and done because I think
there's a I think there's a lot of mileage that
could be had in.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
This like so too, and that would be kind of
cool to see that title change hands in Logan's home town.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
If you look at wrestling booking, that's normally where.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
It happens exactly. That's so true. You know, I'm kind
up on the opposite side of that.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
I think it could be good for not only La
Night to get that title, but for that title to
get l A.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Knight.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
We saw what happened with Gunther and the Intercontinental title.
Intercontinental title has always been great, but it's also been
put on people as a placeholder and then went to
another placeholder and another placeholder, and then it was that's
an interesting looking new time title that they.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Designed here and just out of the blue through it
on somebody.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Now the Intercontinental title means something, and Gunther really helped
that happen. And what he did in the ring and
the longevity he had, we see in the same way
in a different vein that happening with La Knight. I mean,
just great in the ring, great on the mic. Would
be a great person to be carrying around that US
title and could he make that better? I think Logan's
(22:26):
already done that a little bit with the title, and
that title's been seen absolutely everywhere on that dude's shoulder
around his waist every place he goes.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
He takes that title with me.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
He had it doesn't have a guest on Impulsive that
I wanted to see last couple of weeks in right there,
front and center on the coffee table is the US.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
On every Impulsive. The title and prime are both setting
there on the table. And it's not a replica that
it's the one he carries around everywhere.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
It's the one he has in the ring and is
the one he has on Impulsive. It's pretty cool, But
I think that La Knight could be that guy to
help elevate that title back to where it should be.
Maybe where uh maybe we're John Cena what John Cena
did with it, and did a great job with that.
Speaking of titles, let's move to the tag division real quick,
because there's some things going on here that I think
are the opposite of what we're trying to do with
(23:15):
with the US title.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Kind of just dudes with.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
With some hardware over their shoulder or around their waist. Now,
I'm not discrediting the actual wrestlers, but the booking and
what they're doing with them, I find it very very
interesting that it let's just let's call it what it is.
On the surface, Awesome Truth is a comedic tag team.
Both of them are acting goofy, they're.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Not acting serious every week. They're acting like that, and
that's good for a period of time.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
But then they go in the ring with AOP and
beat Aop's there's nothing credible to me about Awesome Truth
beating AOP unless the guys, you know, the the suits
backstage are just not seeing what they need out of
AOP and they were trying to kind of teach them
(24:06):
a lesson. But first the Truth calls them APA, which
is just awesome.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I no, it's AOP.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
And but then to actually beat them, maybe it could
have been a disqualification if you're not ready to move
titles or something like that. I don't know, but I
are you getting the same vibe I am with these
titles around awesome truths way yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
And I think the thing that bothers me is we're
way deep into faction land right now.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
We are.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
And that's what is confusing, because you know, everybody, you know,
it was widely talked about for years that the New
Day use the Freebird rule. Yeah, and for those that
are listening that may have not have heard of that before,
goes back to the fabulous free Birds. Multiple people in
the faction, the group. The group has the tag team titles,
(25:05):
so they all have that recognition even though there's only
you know, two titles.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Any two guys could could yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
So but in faction land, you've got all these groups
of people and we're not doing anything. I can't under saying.
But like, honestly, my favorite faction right now is uh
el fantasm, el fantasma something no fantasma. I can never
say the name. I don't I can't speak Spanish, but
(25:38):
but that they're like Santo's Escobar is the stuff man.
That guy, that guy is so cool, like he's he's my,
he's my, like man crush right now. And then he's
got he's got Humberto and Angel. Now. I know their
(25:58):
contracts are being negotiated. That could probably be part of it.
But but man, that's a cool group, and like, why
are they not getting the rub right now? And you know,
I love you know, Austin Theory's cool. I love me
some Grayson Waller. And they're doing less with the titles
than they were doing before they have the titles.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I completely agree, and so need what do we need.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
To get back to where tag titles are a legit
thing and matter.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
I think all the yeah, I think all the pieces
are in place. I think it's just maybe we're you know,
for a while. If you think about it, maybe they're
just trying to do opposite booking. The tag titles were
such a focus for a while when they were on
the USSOS and then Kevin and Sammy picked them up.
Maybe they're just trying to shift back towards single titles
(26:48):
for a little while. I don't know, But that's the
only thing that I can really rationalize, because the rest
of it doesn't make sense. There's plenty of TV time.
There's plenty of room, and there's plenty of people who
are set up to do this right now and it
and you know, I want to kind of spiderweb a
little bit and go back to the AOP thing. It's
(27:08):
even more frustrating when you've got a whole faction, a
heel faction at ringside that still lost against two guys
who had no backup. It was just a weird deal, man.
It didn't It didn't feel that.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Whole group, though, could be amazing. Yeah, I mean, carrying
cross is believable. Yes, AOP Authors of Pain Pain believable.
What more do we need from this group? But they
put them together?
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I don't know. I just I would like to see
they were obviously with Paul.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Ellering as their manager, AOP being talking about he was
the manager of the Legion of Doom. I mean, he's
been with some super credible obviously tag team maybe the
best tag team ever Road Warriors.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
And if we.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Could kind of get that rub a little bit, which
I think was kind of the reason to have Paul
Ellering out there, it could totally change the face of
tag team wrestling in WWE.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
For sure.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Let's do this.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
We've got the polee coming up on Saturday. It is
two o'clock your time, eastern one o'clock my time. Let's
just run through the matches that we know about right
this second. Get thirty seconds on each one and see
where we get Cody get aj this for the undisputed
WWE title.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
You see Cody leaving with it.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I do. I don't think his time's up yet. It's
gonna be a great match. Both guys are going to
be killer. I hope it's going to be multiple matches
with these guys because I think there's a lot of
mileage here. But yeah, I don't know what to expect
from the match. But but Cody will walk away with
the title in whatever capacity.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I know it's an equip match, So I don't know.
I don't know where you go at the end of
an e equip match. Is one of the guys is
just just done. So I would like to see more
matches with these two as well. I'm not sure how
you do that after night quit unless it ends in
some other way.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Well, I mean, I think you had made a comment.
Maybe I don't know if we were talking a different
time or what, but you had made a comment that
a no contest would be cool. And if guys are
passed out from that's true, not being able to talk,
then it just is what it is.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Both could quit. Yeah, at the same time, Yeah, take
this job and shove it.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Sammy versus Chad for the Intercontinental title, is this Chad's
time to take home some gold man?
Speaker 3 (29:33):
I hope. So. I have absolutely nothing against sammy' z ain,
but the company seems to rely on him a lot
for stuff like this, and man, Sammy coming off of
Gunther it didn't work for me. And again, I have
nothing against Sammy's ain, but just very very dull of Not.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
To get too deep into this, but what we saw
from Sammy were big stories built for a while. There
was nothing built with Ian Gunthor, and he won the
title we've also got. I think I think that Chad
walks away with the gold in that. I think I
think it's his time, and I think it was just
a quick turnaround with Sammy. Maybe Sammy takes some time off.
I don't even know that's scheduled. I'm just throwing it
out there.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Women's tag three way.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
This is a We talked about the guy's titles tag
titles not really meaning anything. It feels like these two
are really trying to make the women's tag titles mean something.
Bianca Bellair and Jade Cargill versus Alba Fire and Isla
Don and Shana and Zoey. I think I think the
(30:41):
ladies who walk in with the gold leave with the gold?
Speaker 1 (30:43):
What do you think I would think?
Speaker 2 (30:45):
So?
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Are we assuming that this is a tornado match?
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, it's a three way?
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Yeah, okay, okay, Becuz it would be weird to have
a title match with a weird like tag yourself in. Yeah,
that's true, but we've not seen that as much since
the Resilent Geam, so that's that's good. But but no,
I would think that that's the case. I wouldn't mind
Alba Fire and eilad on Uh. They hit the main roster,
(31:12):
had a couple cool moments and then just kind of disappeared,
and so I think there's a lot of potential with them.
Is now the time versus Bianca and Jade? Maybe not,
but I would not be surprised if there's a lot
of attention put to I think they go by an
unholy union. Maybe yes, yeah, you're right, but I wouldn't
(31:33):
be surprised if they get a lot of attention in
the match as a way to start building them because
I think I think they've got a lot of great
stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Well, if I'm not mistaken, they are Scottish too. But
although they didn't make them look strong at all on
Monday when they faced Shana, even tapping out to her. Now,
what makes me want to what makes me believe that
they're going to do anything different in the match when
it's there's a whole other team against them.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
I thought, let me back up in just a second,
just throw this out there.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
One day felt really weird. It did not feel like
the new regime. It didn't feel like the old regime,
but it sure didn't feel like the new regime of
WWE running things on Monday, it just felt off. I'm
just gonna throw that there for maybe a future conversation.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Yeah, and all that to say, like it did feel off,
But what I will say this, this is the lull
season and it's better than stuff we were getting and not.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
The lull season, So it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Bailey versus Piper Niven This is for the undisputed Women's title.
Bailey just getting rolling with this title again. You see
Piper Niven getting her turn right now?
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Or is it too soon?
Speaker 2 (32:40):
No?
Speaker 3 (32:41):
I don't I don't understand that booking great for Piper.
It'd be fun, magical opportunity, you know, as from a
career standpoint, why not Chelsea Green? I mean, you've got
this amazing talent, did all this indie stuff. People love
(33:04):
her it. I don't get it. I it's a strange decision.
But I always have to remember, like they are steering
the ship a little bit when it comes to these
international pls, but they do treat the international ones a
little different for whatever reason. You know, We've seen it
(33:26):
countless times with like Crown Jewel or whatever, where we
just throw a bunch of high profile matches together out
of nowhere. So it doesn't surprise me the nature of
some of the composition of these matches. But at the
same time, to your point, it feels very out of place.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
This is the one that I think has the real
story at least for this pl this Saturday Drew versus Damien.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Is this Drew's time? Finally?
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Are we setting him up to be the champion going
into Summer Slam and possibly I'm assuming taking on see
him punk Or are we gonna see Drew fall short again,
this time in his own hometown.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
That's that's a tough call. Uh And and really I
have to zoom out a little bit and talk more
long term booking. If you're gonna have punk with the title,
which I think was in conversation before he got hurt,
I don't want it to go on Drew and then
off of Drew. I don't want a bunch of title changes.
(34:27):
It cheapens the title, and it really it cheapens the
performers too. But at the same time, I don't know
that I've preferred Damian Priest as a champion. If I'm
being honest with you, I love his work, I love
his character, and and I want to compliment him with
(34:52):
the way I say this, But I don't think he
needed the title. I just don't, uh, you know, everything
that was happening in Judgment Day, his his presence on screen,
the title, in my opinion, has not done anything for him. Yes,
it's a career accomplishment. I'm very happy for him with that,
but his run has been kind of a dud for me.
(35:14):
Drew would have more of that epic champion feel h
he has. You know, they're they're kind of similar in size,
but Drew just has the look, the feel, the grit.
But at the same time, if you're lining up CM
Punk and Drew for SummerSlam, you know, do you finally
let Drew go over Punk? After all? This is that
(35:34):
really where the story is. It's kind of convoluted in
the world Everyweight title lane. If you ask me, you know,
I'm not saying that Punk has to have a title shot.
So if he's out of the picture on that then
that's fine. But if Drew gets the title, and we're
constantly teasing Drew and seem Punk, you would think it
would be for the title. Yeah, and so as we
zoom back in, Uh, to answer your question, I have
(35:57):
no idea.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
I do you think that we end up seeing Punk
at this pl in one form or fashion. He will
show up and be there for this title fight. He's
it gonna be at ring sight again calling it lay
it by play. I don't see that again. I do
see him being in Scotland for this match, and we'll
see him on camera. So how that plays out, we'll
have to wait and see. Looking forward to it on Saturday,
(36:21):
is gonna be a lot of fun for clash at
the Castle. Of course, we'll talk about it all next week.
Anything else we missed we need to hit before we roll.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Michael, I'm just thankful for two o'clock. Pls.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Good.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
It's really great.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
That's a good Saturday. It really is going to be
a lot of fun, all right for Michael. We'll have
it on me and man. We'll see you next time
here on the wrestle Chat podcast. Thanks for hanging out.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Eight
Welcome back to the wrestle Chat podcast. My name is
the man.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
His name is Michael Hit. Talk some wrestling on Wednesday. Now,
in all fairness, we record this on Tuesday. In fact,
I think that Cody Rhodes is getting ready to walk
into the NXT arena as we start this, which we'll
watch a little bit later on. So if something major
happens there, we'll do it next week or we'll tweet
it or something like that. Michael, Hell, how are things
going on in your world?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Good man? You know, it's summertime, it's busy, the kids
are home, so you know, the grocery bill went up.
You know, my sanity went down.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
But it's all good. You know, kids are a great age.
They're a fun time. And yeah, we're just we're just
hanging out for the summer, keeping an eye on some
wrestling stuff and it's all good.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Right before we jumped on here, I was on a
phone call trying to set up a meeting for either
later in the week this week or sometime next week.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
And we started looking.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I was like, I can do it Thursday, or I
can do it the second week of July.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
There's nothing in between that I have available at that point,
we have this, we have a couple of other things
going on.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
But yeah, it is starting to get busy. And it's
that different busy than it is in the school year.
It's the busy with family stuff, which is the busy
I like, and I know you do too. Speaking of busy,
a lot going on in wrestling. Let's first start, let's
talk about Ricochet, because she's talking about Ricochet has informed
(01:32):
WWE that he is not re signing and he wants
to be a free agent after his contract is up.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You watched Raw. Things got a little crazy on Raw.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
And what's interesting is that you know a lot of
times when wrestlers are written off of TV because they
are leaving, it's almost just like an abrupt ending to
a story and they get squashed right then and they
roll out of the ring.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
It's over.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
You don't see him again until they reinvent themselves and
come back.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Not really the case with Ricochet.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I mean, this is actually a pretty big deal with
Ricochet and Braun Breaker.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
With a Braun has been on a roll.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I thought it was an interesting match that they'd put
him up against Eliot Dragonoff. We can talk about that later,
but after that match, Braun doing what Braun has been doing.
He was gonna just take out Elia after the match
is over with and was attacked by Ricochet in that match.
I didn't see that coming and I definitely if Ricochet
(02:29):
was going to be written off, I didn't see him
having such a big spotlight in that portion of just
taking out Braun.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
What were your thoughts in this moment?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Well, a few things to respond to what you're saying.
I think we're in a different time now. I think
we've got different people in charge that are more interested
in playing the long game than the loyalty game, if
you will. And I think in previous regimes it's like, well,
I'm gonna let my contract come up. Well cool, we'll
(03:01):
screw you and you know, have a nice dog. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think that Ricochet has been a great person on
the roster. I think he's well liked. Yeah, And so
I think yeah, And I think a lot of it
could just be like, hey, we want you to come back,
(03:22):
so we're going to treat you right on the way out. Now,
I don't want to distract too much from the segment itself,
but now addressing the elephant in the room, bro, Ricochet,
what are you thinking? Man? Like WWE is the hottest
it's ever been. Yeah, they break record after record after record.
(03:45):
They're doing all these international shows. They're partnering up with
other promotions like Bro. If you want to scratch an
itch asked to go over to TNA for a week
or two.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
But you have a partnership there, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, And so you know he did great on the
independent scene. He'll explode and do that. But you know,
I've not lived that life. I don't know what it's
like to work for WWE or work on the independence.
So I don't have any place to say. It just
feels like a strange decision. So I guess we'll leave
(04:19):
it at that.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well here, let me ask you this.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So I am there's a little I don't know whether
I should tell you my in thought here at the
beginning and work backwards or get to it.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I think I'm just gonna tell you.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I'm kind of wondering if this is not a work.
And here's what I mean.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
So we've had.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Will Osprey on aew say he said something about Ricochet.
Hey would love to get you over here to work
with you, something to that nature. I don't know the
exact verbiage, but there was a mention from Will about
Ricochet and them being able to work together. People even
thought there might be there could possibly be some a
(05:00):
contract tampering just by him doing that and.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Saying that on TV. Then there's also this, so maybe
you ride the coattails of that. Hey there's rumors.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Let's play with those a little bit and actually get
people interested, because let's be honest, Ricochet is great for spots,
Amazing for spots. That guy can he I think he
is still traveling north from WrestleMania whenever when he launched
off that, I mean he's still going up, still hadn't
come down. His spots are absolutely amazing. His storylines and
(05:30):
his mic work have not been up to Park. It
was with a lot of other guys. I say, up
to part he's he's great at some things that he's not.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Great at others. How about that? Yeah, they didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
They haven't really worked Samantha into any kind of storyline
except when it kind of benefited Logan Paul, when you know,
when Caves kind of really set him up as a heel. However,
on Monday, if he's been being written off of TV.
At the end, there was an attack from bron Breaker
on Rickish that ended up sending him to the hospital
(06:02):
or to the medical facility.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
The medical facility. Yes, it is a local one. It's
not one somewhere out of town. It is local for sure.
But he was in the back of an ambulance. But
who runs to his side and vacates her place at
the side at ringside announcing wrestlers coming to the ring
is his real live fiance Smith And they even show
(06:24):
her running it. If he's leaving, why do you remind
people that he has a tie to WWE and there's
something going on here that the real life couple. Now,
there was a time I know that when Dean Ambrose
was being written off of TV and they did have
and this is when Renee was still working there, They
(06:45):
did have Renee come to the ring in front of
everybody and on TV had her come to the ring
and check on him. And so because people knew that
they were really together, you know, people being fans. So
I mean, there is some precedents I guess that you
would you could incorporate this and still have the star leave,
But man, I don't know. After Monday, I kind of wondering.
(07:06):
I'm like, fifty to fifty even though the dirt sheets
are the credible ones are saying that, Okay, no, we
have confirmation. He is going I'm kind of almost in
this fifty to fifty camp. If he doesn't, if he
shows up somewhere else, then I'm going, Okay, Yeah, then
I was wrong.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
It wasn't at all.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
But if we get three weeks down the line and
Bronze in the middle of a match and all of
a sudden some guy flies in from the rafters and
it's ricochet, I could totally see that happen to.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, I think I think the biggest question mark for
me is the ability for the the powers that be
to keep the secret that. That's the weird part for
me is like unless it's you and and Hunter, just
like you know, like, how do you keep something like
(07:54):
that secret in such a big organization. So I think
we're gonna find out. I mean, time will tell, but
it's you know, wrestling is going through a great boom,
so there's opportunity everywhere, but it it's a strange move.
If it's true.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, I agree with that too, and especially with this
life you have set up over unless there's just like ridiculous,
ungodly amounts of money waiting on him at a double
or something. I mean that could be, you know, three
years at ae W and you make twenty thirty million dollars.
I'm not saying that's it. I'm saying it's something crazy.
(08:32):
Maybe you go over, you do it for three years
and go, hey, we're getting married, and he and Samantha
and they live happily ever after and don't have to
worry about money again. But I don't big, big pay
per view pl one. I want to get to the
ufc Apex Arena. We'll talk about that here in a second.
But what was your thoughts on on Jordan Grace and
(08:53):
her her time on Sunday taken on rox Emperez losing
about but also and losing an ear ring?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Would you think great match always? You know, we we
knew going into it that it was going to be
good the finish. I've been fighting off yawns this whole time.
And while it sounds like I'm I'm, you know, tastefully pondering,
I'm fighting off these yawns. But uh, but no, the.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Has a lot of natural gas at his house. It
makes him sleep.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
We're not too worried about the carbon monoxide, but yeah,
it does affects.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah, I needed the nine vaults for other things, so
I took all that's that's what it was. But but no,
it was a great match. The finish was a little
less of a cop out then I thought it was
going to be. It was definitely a better version of
kind of what we talked about last week. You know, well,
it kind of assumed that it couldn't be clean. You know,
(09:47):
I am disappointed. I think a lot of us wanted
to see Jordan Grace, you know, grab the NXT title
eaven it for just a couple of weeks. I think
it would have been a cool, cool thing to do.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
For her to have that title.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Yeah, but but you know, having a couple of TNA
people show up and and kind of weird to have
is it ashby Elegance or something like that.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yes, uh, you know, formerly.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Formerly Dana Brook. That was kind of an interesting little
tie in. But but no, it was really good. It
was a great match. You know, there's something we're building
to something with Jordan Grace because we also we also
read that she's doing uh, she's helping to do motion
capture for other WWE superstars for two K twenty five,
(10:37):
and so that's cool. Yeah, so not only is she
like actually an on screen talent, but they're using her,
you know, for her actual technical ability to do all
this motion capture stuff for other people for video games.
And so how are you? How are you TNA? And
not going Uh, this isn't looking good.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
But there's got to be a long play here though.
I think that I haven't really seen hints of other
things of other rest of the guys, Moose possibly coming
over with you know, doing something uh in w WE
with was a Damien.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, yeah, uh, something like that could be really really cool.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I like the the intertwining and the the surprising, Like
I love that Jordan came out and it was a surprise.
I also loved how the week before the Tuesday before
the p L she came out and on the back
it said, uh, uh was it?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (11:35):
I know what you're talking about, but I'm trying to
remember what it was.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
And TNA in.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
X tn A, that's it, That's what it was.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, And just putting the two together and really representing
both brands. You couldn't ask for a better person to
represent both brands.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
She's I'm also I'm also kind of waiting to see
if TNA is going to take more of a like
a direct pull there is, I didn't fight it anymore.
I I'm waiting to see if TNA takes more of
a direct like, Okay, it's our turn now. I don't
know if the deal is more like, hey, TNA, people
(12:08):
are getting exposure on a larger network, so maybe that'll
make people tune in. You would have to think there'd
be more give and take than that. But I'm also
waiting to see. I think there's a TNA pay per
view or something coming up, and I think I'm kind
of waiting to see if anybody from NXT shows up.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Over there, so it'll be interesting. It be cool. Now
this event, this ple on Sunday took place.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
They actually had it scheduled in one location, pulled it
to take it to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Apex was built or was kind of initiated during the
lockdowns where they could still have some UFC fights, kind
of like wwe took over Trumpic Cannafield to make the Thunderdome.
(12:52):
UFC had this place set up an octagon, still had fights,
but didn't have really a crowd. So we've never seen
a crowd inside there or anything significant like apl E.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Even after watching it, I thought it was still an
interesting choice.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
There was a lot of For being a small space,
they still left some dead space and weird places and
when you kind of see somebody, I would have thought
there would have been maybe more tech. Yeah, in a
place that was smaller, more technology, smaller place, Uh, they
would do more with LEDs and boards and such like
(13:27):
that with not as many people.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
And they didn't do either. One didn't have a lot
of people, didn't do really any tech.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
That has have some really cool curtains that are great
for sound back in the back.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
But do you think that this is a revisit.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Do we go back here again and do this again,
or is this a one off and say, okay, let's
there's plenty of other places we can go.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
I don't know. Two answers. One WWE has really stuck
to keeping the independent. Look for NXC you know, even
you know when we you know, when we went to
I think it was NXT Stand and Deliver. Yeah, yeah,
(14:05):
in Philly. I mean that's that's NXT's WrestleMania because it's
on WrestleMania Weekend Full Arena, and you know, they had
just come off a SmackDown. They went through all the
all the work to take down all the led everything
sure and knowing that it was going to go back
for Monday Night Raw, and so they are very, very
dedicated to keeping all that on the down low for
(14:28):
whatever reason. But but it was the the apex was
an interesting choice. To your point, the dead space things
like that. I think the thing that caught me off
guard was even in the midst of all that dead space,
one thing that I noticed is that the distance between
(14:49):
the ring and the barricade was painfully small, to the
point where there was there was you know, some people
would do some over the top rope stuff for some
suicide dives, and there was no room there. And then
the next thing I noticed was it looked like you know,
standard karate mats on the floor instead of you know,
the nice stuff around the ring that they normally have.
(15:10):
So it was definitely an interesting vibe. I don't know
if it was good or bad. I can't.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
For me, it went a little like if you're trying
to keep that that independent or or that kind of vibe.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I think we went back one step too many.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, Like I did think it was interesting how the
point you just brought up, how they took down the
LEDs for Standard deliver so much so that they took
down the LEDs but still had sponsored matches. So what
they had to do was come out with vinyl stickers
to put on the on the on the railing so
they could in the railing was even different. It wasn't
the normal padded railing. It was the bicycle railing. They
(15:50):
got so interesting how they've they've chosen to do that,
and I get the setting it apart.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Listen, you're an NXT and then you have this.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
When you get too raw or smacked down, you have
this is something to look forward to, the presentations different.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Maybe we can compromise and do something. I don't think
going back.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
I would push back against that thought though, because it's
not for them. It's for us as the viewer.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Yeah, well that's true, but it is I think it
is for the wrestler as well.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
I mean it can be, but I mean, at the
end of the day, we're the we're the viewers consuming it.
And when you do such a bang up job. You know,
at the main roster level, you don't want to make
your the stars of tomorrow harder to be vested in.
And so I'm not saying throw all the same resources
(16:37):
at it, but at the same time, don't make it
look like we pulled up to an armory either. You
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Well, I think maybe the Apex two could also just
been you.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Know, just just some of the partnership and within the family.
Now with with UFC. Hey, UFC's got this. What if
we went and did something there too, and they're like, yeah,
I want you come on into our house and and
bring your show here. That it could just be some
some friendly cohesiveness inside the t k O world before
(17:06):
we move on. We haven't talked recently very much about
Manshaw Chronicles.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
You've got some new podcasts dropping. What what's going on
this week?
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Well, we were off last week. One of the guys
had to go visit some family, so we took the
week off. We're we're gearing to be back in the
saddle this Saturday Live, I believe in the morning. You know,
the cool thing about being friends is that, you know,
doing podcasts, it reaches the point where it's like it
(17:36):
just becomes a hangout time.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
And so for the days, you.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Know, the a couple of months or whatever that we
get real structured and hey, this time all the time,
and you know that's great, it works out for everybody.
But more often anymore, the podcast is really becoming truly
you know, the way we we market it that it's
just for friends hanging out talking absolutely absurd stuff. So
(17:59):
so this weekend, I know we're doing a draft based
around some food and I know that for us, food
is part of our lives in a very very passionate way.
So we're gonna be doing a draft around some food stuff.
We're gonna play some fun games. It's going to be
a great time together. We've not been able to talk
over the last week or two just because we've all
(18:19):
been busy with work and traveling and doing all kinds
of things. So you're gonna watch us catch up in
real time, tell all the jokes. So we invite you
guys to keep an eye out Saturday morning. We'll be live,
or of course you can catch us on replay anytime
on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah, and if you're watching this on YouTube right now,
there's a link to it just here on our channel.
You can go down there and click the Manshout chronicles
and catch that on Saturday morning, but it'll be Funt's
talk about La Knight and Logan Paul. This has the
makings of being one of the could be one of
the best feuds of twenty twenty four if they play
it right. Logan Paul's doing his part. Ella Knight's doing
(18:57):
his part. Are we going to do our part as
fans and we're going to get behind this? And I mean,
I think both guys have done a great job of
getting their respective fans behind them. And there's just something
about these two that I think could just be absolutely
electric and we're going to get to see some of that,
hopefully very very soon.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
But Logan Paul turning down, turning down l A.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Knight's challenge for Clash at the Castle, like I'm busy,
I tend to do that now. I know that the
Logan said on Friday that he was going to be
at the Tetris tournament and that even La Knight, so
that well, if you know he's too busy, maybe La
Knight will go to him. Although I will say that
I haven't seen anything did he go and did he.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Attack you boys playing tetris?
Speaker 3 (19:43):
I actually don't know. I didn't see anything about it.
But all I know is that La Knight is not
afraid to get into random brawls, and we.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Know that sure this close.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
We were in the press room at Rustlemania when when
all that went down, and it was it was interesting.
But but yeah, to your point, this is it's gonna
be good. It's two guys who are really passionate about
the business, passionate about doing good work. I think I
think Logan is doing really well, and I think his
(20:20):
run with the US title was still really hot. But
I think we're probably about to the peak of it
where we need to hand it off becomes before it
becomes a little stale. They've done a really great job
with him, and it really could go on longer and
be fine, but I wanted to. I don't want to
(20:40):
sit on it too long and it becomes stale. You know. Yeh,
La Night is way overdue for some type of recognition
in an official capacity. I'm not super thrilled that it's
the US title. I don't necessarily have anything against it.
I was kind of hoping for something a little more substantial,
maybe an intercon title or even World heavyweight. But if
(21:04):
this is where we're gonna be right now, you know,
something is better than nothing. But I'm hoping as well
that there will be a little bit of back and forth.
You know, even if for instance, La and Night picks
up the title at SummerSlam or something like that, that
it won't be a one and done because I think
there's a I think there's a lot of mileage that
could be had in.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
This like so too, and that would be kind of
cool to see that title change hands in Logan's home town.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
If you look at wrestling booking, that's normally where.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
It happens exactly. That's so true. You know, I'm kind
up on the opposite side of that.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
I think it could be good for not only La
Night to get that title, but for that title to
get l A.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Knight.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
We saw what happened with Gunther and the Intercontinental title.
Intercontinental title has always been great, but it's also been
put on people as a placeholder and then went to
another placeholder and another placeholder, and then it was that's
an interesting looking new time title that they.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Designed here and just out of the blue through it
on somebody.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Now the Intercontinental title means something, and Gunther really helped
that happen. And what he did in the ring and
the longevity he had, we see in the same way
in a different vein that happening with La Knight. I mean,
just great in the ring, great on the mic. Would
be a great person to be carrying around that US
title and could he make that better? I think Logan's
(22:26):
already done that a little bit with the title, and
that title's been seen absolutely everywhere on that dude's shoulder
around his waist every place he goes.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
He takes that title with me.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
He had it doesn't have a guest on Impulsive that
I wanted to see last couple of weeks in right there,
front and center on the coffee table is the US.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
On every Impulsive. The title and prime are both setting
there on the table. And it's not a replica that
it's the one he carries around everywhere.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
It's the one he has in the ring and is
the one he has on Impulsive. It's pretty cool, But
I think that La Knight could be that guy to
help elevate that title back to where it should be.
Maybe where uh maybe we're John Cena what John Cena
did with it, and did a great job with that.
Speaking of titles, let's move to the tag division real quick,
because there's some things going on here that I think
are the opposite of what we're trying to do with
(23:15):
with the US title.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Kind of just dudes with.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
With some hardware over their shoulder or around their waist. Now,
I'm not discrediting the actual wrestlers, but the booking and
what they're doing with them, I find it very very
interesting that it let's just let's call it what it is.
On the surface, Awesome Truth is a comedic tag team.
Both of them are acting goofy, they're.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Not acting serious every week. They're acting like that, and
that's good for a period of time.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
But then they go in the ring with AOP and
beat Aop's there's nothing credible to me about Awesome Truth
beating AOP unless the guys, you know, the the suits
backstage are just not seeing what they need out of
AOP and they were trying to kind of teach them
(24:06):
a lesson. But first the Truth calls them APA, which
is just awesome.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I no, it's AOP.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
And but then to actually beat them, maybe it could
have been a disqualification if you're not ready to move
titles or something like that. I don't know, but I
are you getting the same vibe I am with these
titles around awesome truths way yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
And I think the thing that bothers me is we're
way deep into faction land right now.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
We are.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
And that's what is confusing, because you know, everybody, you know,
it was widely talked about for years that the New
Day use the Freebird rule. Yeah, and for those that
are listening that may have not have heard of that before,
goes back to the fabulous free Birds. Multiple people in
the faction, the group. The group has the tag team titles,
(25:05):
so they all have that recognition even though there's only
you know, two titles.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Any two guys could could yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
So but in faction land, you've got all these groups
of people and we're not doing anything. I can't under saying.
But like, honestly, my favorite faction right now is uh
el fantasm, el fantasma something no fantasma. I can never
say the name. I don't I can't speak Spanish, but
(25:38):
but that they're like Santo's Escobar is the stuff man.
That guy, that guy is so cool, like he's he's my,
he's my, like man crush right now. And then he's
got he's got Humberto and Angel. Now. I know their
(25:58):
contracts are being negotiated. That could probably be part of it.
But but man, that's a cool group, and like, why
are they not getting the rub right now? And you know,
I love you know, Austin Theory's cool. I love me
some Grayson Waller. And they're doing less with the titles
than they were doing before they have the titles.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I completely agree, and so need what do we need.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
To get back to where tag titles are a legit
thing and matter.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
I think all the yeah, I think all the pieces
are in place. I think it's just maybe we're you know,
for a while. If you think about it, maybe they're
just trying to do opposite booking. The tag titles were
such a focus for a while when they were on
the USSOS and then Kevin and Sammy picked them up.
Maybe they're just trying to shift back towards single titles
(26:48):
for a little while. I don't know, But that's the
only thing that I can really rationalize, because the rest
of it doesn't make sense. There's plenty of TV time.
There's plenty of room, and there's plenty of people who
are set up to do this right now and it
and you know, I want to kind of spiderweb a
little bit and go back to the AOP thing. It's
(27:08):
even more frustrating when you've got a whole faction, a
heel faction at ringside that still lost against two guys
who had no backup. It was just a weird deal, man.
It didn't It didn't feel that.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Whole group, though, could be amazing. Yeah, I mean, carrying
cross is believable. Yes, AOP Authors of Pain Pain believable.
What more do we need from this group? But they
put them together?
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I don't know. I just I would like to see
they were obviously with Paul.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Ellering as their manager, AOP being talking about he was
the manager of the Legion of Doom. I mean, he's
been with some super credible obviously tag team maybe the
best tag team ever Road Warriors.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
And if we.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Could kind of get that rub a little bit, which
I think was kind of the reason to have Paul
Ellering out there, it could totally change the face of
tag team wrestling in WWE.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
For sure.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Let's do this.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
We've got the polee coming up on Saturday. It is
two o'clock your time, eastern one o'clock my time. Let's
just run through the matches that we know about right
this second. Get thirty seconds on each one and see
where we get Cody get aj this for the undisputed
WWE title.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
You see Cody leaving with it.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I do. I don't think his time's up yet. It's
gonna be a great match. Both guys are going to
be killer. I hope it's going to be multiple matches
with these guys because I think there's a lot of
mileage here. But yeah, I don't know what to expect
from the match. But but Cody will walk away with
the title in whatever capacity.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I know it's an equip match, So I don't know.
I don't know where you go at the end of
an e equip match. Is one of the guys is
just just done. So I would like to see more
matches with these two as well. I'm not sure how
you do that after night quit unless it ends in
some other way.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Well, I mean, I think you had made a comment.
Maybe I don't know if we were talking a different
time or what, but you had made a comment that
a no contest would be cool. And if guys are
passed out from that's true, not being able to talk,
then it just is what it is.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Both could quit. Yeah, at the same time, Yeah, take
this job and shove it.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Sammy versus Chad for the Intercontinental title, is this Chad's
time to take home some gold man?
Speaker 3 (29:33):
I hope. So. I have absolutely nothing against sammy' z ain,
but the company seems to rely on him a lot
for stuff like this, and man, Sammy coming off of
Gunther it didn't work for me. And again, I have
nothing against Sammy's ain, but just very very dull of Not.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
To get too deep into this, but what we saw
from Sammy were big stories built for a while. There
was nothing built with Ian Gunthor, and he won the
title we've also got. I think I think that Chad
walks away with the gold in that. I think I
think it's his time, and I think it was just
a quick turnaround with Sammy. Maybe Sammy takes some time off.
I don't even know that's scheduled. I'm just throwing it
out there.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Women's tag three way.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
This is a We talked about the guy's titles tag
titles not really meaning anything. It feels like these two
are really trying to make the women's tag titles mean something.
Bianca Bellair and Jade Cargill versus Alba Fire and Isla
Don and Shana and Zoey. I think I think the
(30:41):
ladies who walk in with the gold leave with the gold?
Speaker 1 (30:43):
What do you think I would think?
Speaker 2 (30:45):
So?
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Are we assuming that this is a tornado match?
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, it's a three way?
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Yeah, okay, okay, Becuz it would be weird to have
a title match with a weird like tag yourself in. Yeah,
that's true, but we've not seen that as much since
the Resilent Geam, so that's that's good. But but no,
I would think that that's the case. I wouldn't mind
Alba Fire and eilad on Uh. They hit the main roster,
(31:12):
had a couple cool moments and then just kind of disappeared,
and so I think there's a lot of potential with them.
Is now the time versus Bianca and Jade? Maybe not,
but I would not be surprised if there's a lot
of attention put to I think they go by an
unholy union. Maybe yes, yeah, you're right, but I wouldn't
(31:33):
be surprised if they get a lot of attention in
the match as a way to start building them because
I think I think they've got a lot of great
stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Well, if I'm not mistaken, they are Scottish too. But
although they didn't make them look strong at all on
Monday when they faced Shana, even tapping out to her. Now,
what makes me want to what makes me believe that
they're going to do anything different in the match when
it's there's a whole other team against them.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
I thought, let me back up in just a second,
just throw this out there.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
One day felt really weird. It did not feel like
the new regime. It didn't feel like the old regime,
but it sure didn't feel like the new regime of
WWE running things on Monday, it just felt off. I'm
just gonna throw that there for maybe a future conversation.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Yeah, and all that to say, like it did feel off,
But what I will say this, this is the lull
season and it's better than stuff we were getting and not.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
The lull season, So it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Bailey versus Piper Niven This is for the undisputed Women's title.
Bailey just getting rolling with this title again. You see
Piper Niven getting her turn right now?
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Or is it too soon?
Speaker 2 (32:40):
No?
Speaker 3 (32:41):
I don't I don't understand that booking great for Piper.
It'd be fun, magical opportunity, you know, as from a
career standpoint, why not Chelsea Green? I mean, you've got
this amazing talent, did all this indie stuff. People love
(33:04):
her it. I don't get it. I it's a strange decision.
But I always have to remember, like they are steering
the ship a little bit when it comes to these
international pls, but they do treat the international ones a
little different for whatever reason. You know, We've seen it
(33:26):
countless times with like Crown Jewel or whatever, where we
just throw a bunch of high profile matches together out
of nowhere. So it doesn't surprise me the nature of
some of the composition of these matches. But at the
same time, to your point, it feels very out of place.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
This is the one that I think has the real
story at least for this pl this Saturday Drew versus Damien.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Is this Drew's time? Finally?
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Are we setting him up to be the champion going
into Summer Slam and possibly I'm assuming taking on see
him punk Or are we gonna see Drew fall short again,
this time in his own hometown.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
That's that's a tough call. Uh And and really I
have to zoom out a little bit and talk more
long term booking. If you're gonna have punk with the title,
which I think was in conversation before he got hurt,
I don't want it to go on Drew and then
off of Drew. I don't want a bunch of title changes.
(34:27):
It cheapens the title, and it really it cheapens the
performers too. But at the same time, I don't know
that I've preferred Damian Priest as a champion. If I'm
being honest with you, I love his work, I love
his character, and and I want to compliment him with
(34:52):
the way I say this, But I don't think he
needed the title. I just don't, uh, you know, everything
that was happening in Judgment Day, his his presence on screen,
the title, in my opinion, has not done anything for him. Yes,
it's a career accomplishment. I'm very happy for him with that,
but his run has been kind of a dud for me.
(35:14):
Drew would have more of that epic champion feel h
he has. You know, they're they're kind of similar in size,
but Drew just has the look, the feel, the grit.
But at the same time, if you're lining up CM
Punk and Drew for SummerSlam, you know, do you finally
let Drew go over Punk? After all? This is that
(35:34):
really where the story is. It's kind of convoluted in
the world Everyweight title lane. If you ask me, you know,
I'm not saying that Punk has to have a title shot.
So if he's out of the picture on that then
that's fine. But if Drew gets the title, and we're
constantly teasing Drew and seem Punk, you would think it
would be for the title. Yeah, and so as we
zoom back in, Uh, to answer your question, I have
(35:57):
no idea.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
I do you think that we end up seeing Punk
at this pl in one form or fashion. He will
show up and be there for this title fight. He's
it gonna be at ring sight again calling it lay
it by play. I don't see that again. I do
see him being in Scotland for this match, and we'll
see him on camera. So how that plays out, we'll
have to wait and see. Looking forward to it on Saturday,
(36:21):
is gonna be a lot of fun for clash at
the Castle. Of course, we'll talk about it all next week.
Anything else we missed we need to hit before we roll.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Michael, I'm just thankful for two o'clock. Pls.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Good.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
It's really great.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
That's a good Saturday. It really is going to be
a lot of fun, all right for Michael. We'll have
it on me and man. We'll see you next time
here on the wrestle Chat podcast. Thanks for hanging out.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Eight
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