November 14, 2024 • 19 mins
This week on WrestleChat Podcast, AntMan and Michael take a deep dive into the world of ECW – the extreme promotion that changed the wrestling landscape forever. Was ECW ahead of its time, or was it more of a cult classic that only gained appreciation after its demise? The guys explore what made the brand special, discussing its impact on the careers of wrestling legends like Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Dudley Boyz. How much of Austin's iconic character was born during his short yet crucial stint in ECW? They break it all down. From there, the conversation shifts to WWE’s recent return to the iconic 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. With NXT putting on a memorable show featuring surprise appearances from ECW legends like Bubba Ray Dudley, the guys analyze how the promotion has been embracing nostalgia to edge out AEW in recent head-to-head battles. But is AEW really as concerned with ratings as WWE is? AntMan and Michael debate whether focusing on social media engagement might be a smarter strategy for AEW in the long run. As Survivor Series approaches, they tackle the current storyline developments leading into War Games. Who’s going to join the Bloodline? Could Cody Rhodes or even The Rock enter the fray? The guys discuss the possible match-ups and speculate on the role Cody might play given his father’s history with the War Games concept. In a surprise twist, the episode wraps up with a conversation about WWE’s newest addition – the Women’s U.S. Title. Does Raw need its own Women’s Intercontinental Title, or would adding more championships dilute the significance of the belts? AntMan and Michael weigh in on how WWE should handle their growing roster of titles, especially in an era where every championship needs to feel important to fans. It’s a packed episode full of wrestling nostalgia, current hot takes, and predictions for what’s next.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Were you a big fan, Michael of ECW when it
was out?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
So due to my age, it was actually just a
hair before my coming into pro wrestling.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Your fandom my fandom.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I've I've revisited a lot of it, obviously, but I
loved watching it after the facts, but I couldn't be
a fan in real time.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We're a similar boat only for the fact that I didn't.
I didn't watch it and didn't care for it. I
honestly didn't At the time. I didn't appreciate ECW at all,
and still even looking back, it's like it's kind of
like the Attitude Era. Yes, there's a lot of great
things about the Attitude Era. There's a lot of stuff
we don't talk about in the Attitude era though, too,
and stuff that we just we don't bring up again
(00:52):
because of how bad it was. And I think the
ECW's a little bit like that. Now. That's just me.
A lot of people loved ECW, and even more people
loved ECW after the fact, especially after it went out
of business, and and you know, I think that a
lot of people love the stars that came from it,
but maybe not necessarily love or I do. I love
(01:13):
the stars that came out of it, but not necessarily
love the actual show obviously. I love the dud Ley's
I mean they but needless to say, they became massive
stars after they left e c W. Same with Taz
and many others. But thankful for ECW because of people
like Cactus Jack and Stone Colt, Steve Austin and many
(01:34):
many other there's too many to name right now, but
some of the even that character Stone Colts, Steve Austin,
we may not have had without ECW.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
And and I'm glad you said that, because that's where
my brain was going. Is people do not realize that ECW.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Was a very very very.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Important stop for Steve Austin on the way to the WWF.
He needed that time kind of between when he left
WCW and and and he kind of developed the first
kind of run of the Stone Cold character in ECW.
And so ECW is responsible for a lot of things
(02:11):
and being able to see it kind of full circle
with the documentaries and then you know, in the in
recent years, Paul Hayman's Hall of Fame speech and stuff
like that, it's hard to not appreciate the place in
history that ECW has.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Man for the past year, WWE has done a lot
in Philadelphia, starting with WrestleMania Well was it forty one
that you and I were at? They had so many
things happening all over Philly during that time. WWE did
not to mention even the other organizations. But then since
then they've done RAW I think a SmackDown they've done
(02:52):
just most recently last week was NXT at the twenty
three hundred Arena, the old ECW Arena now that they've
really kind of they it's not the same place. It
was a bingo hall when E c W was in it.
If wrestling wasn't there, they were calling you know, B
twenty four. But now that's pretty much all that runs
(03:13):
in that building. It seems I even hear that you
can you can go in and everything's there for you
if you want it to be. If you're a guy
that just wants to put on a wrestling show, you
can call up twenty three hundred Arena. They have the lights,
they have the ring, they have the stage, they have
all that stuff. That's pretty cool that that's what it now.
The legacy will always be wrestling for that building, and
that's kind of cool for that.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Are we getting ready to book a show.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Maybe so you could. I would honestly, I wouldn't touch
that with a ten foot poll at this moment, but
I don't know. You could probably run something there and
probably do pretty decent just having a show there.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
You know, I'm gonna sidebar a story real quick. Within
the last couple of weeks, I arrived at the party
late and bought w W two K twenty four Oh
you did for PS five and I. The first thing
I did is I went to my GM mode, which
allows you to be a GM and book shows and
(04:08):
do all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I raged quit.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I wasn't very good at it.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It was it was more than than I could handle.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So I'll have to revisit that when I'm when I
recover from the rage.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So let's get that one down first, and then we'll
talk about booking a show at twenty three hundred. There
you go. I have to get the video game rolling
NXT huge showing at that arena. It was really kind
of cool to see not only them doing something there,
but also the stars that they brought back, even surprises
that they they brought back, and Bully Ray being or
Bubba Ray. I guess I have to call Himubba Ray
(04:45):
if he's in w DOE or at an E arena. Right,
it's Bubba Ray playing a role in this. Do you
think he has a future? He's an incredible mind from
what I hear, one of the biggest jerks that you've
ever come across. But I think it's only if you
I mean, for some people it's only if you're a
jerk to him first. But I don't know. But his
(05:06):
mind in the wrestling world is pretty spot on, and
it looks like the WWE or sounds like that they
take a lot of his advice from just things that
he talks about on Busted Open. You kind of see
some little hints of that implemented here here there in
other places. But Russell mayby forty one comes out to
be a ref Since then, he's come back a few
times for a couple of things now actually in the
(05:28):
ring at NXT, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah. I think probably it's more up to him. I mean,
he's connected, but I think in this role that he's
in with Busted Open, he has the ability to not
take sides right now. And you can't go be a
producer and then turn around and talk a bunch of crap.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
On busted open if something doesn't go well.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
So honestly, it's probably more up to him in terms
of what does he have be doing. Is he happy
being kind of the unbiased opinion of the wrestling world,
or does he want to be hands on with with
booking stuff with new talent and NXT and this that
and whatever.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
I think it just depends on what he wants to do.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
You know, they were up head to head because they
were election being on Tuesday, had NXT moved to Wednesday
and having to be on the same night as AW.
Very smart of them to book a classic arena like
this and do like a one off show that was
still in their storylines but included all of these all
of these legends from ECW in the original ECW arena
(06:37):
led to them beating AW on aw's night, And I'm
not sure that that's the same accomplishment that could have
been said, you know, say a year and a half ago,
two years ago, something like that. I mean, beating them
on their night would have been a bigger deal when
they were doing much better now. I think that rating
was probably pretty much what it was going to be,
regardless if there was another show on or not, but
(07:00):
to have NXT win on that night is a big
deal and over them too. And recently I heard, in
fact I heard it just a couple of days ago
in the car listening to Busted Open. Is that I
think that Sean ross Sap made some comment or in
one of his posts. Now I'm not quoting him because
I didn't read it. I just heard them talking about it.
But I had to do with AAW not really caring
(07:22):
about ratings inside the company. They just don't really care
about ratings. If you don't care about ratings, what do
you use as a measuring stick to know whether you're
doing well or not.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
That's tough because you and I when the record buttons off,
have had extensive conversations about ratings and what they mean.
And yeah, sure, how it's not super accurate anymore. And
so I mean, maybe AW is seeing engagement on their
social platforms and playbacks and different things like that where
(07:54):
they feel like they've got enough momentum. It's bizarre to
think that you would completely omit ratings when your entire
company is funded by the concept Vision television advertising exactly.
So it's a little bit of a bizarre thing. I
think some of it is just kind of writing off
the competition thing because they know they can't hang. You know,
(08:20):
they're doing their own thing. I think cool, more power
to it. The part that I struggle is that, you know,
if if you design a bunch of art with the
intention to open an art gallery and nobody shows up, was.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
The art good?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
H You know, I think I get it. I get it,
you know, I think it's I find it living in
the same world as as the as the person who
says size doesn't matter, it's usually the guy who has
small ratings.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, or it's kind of like kind of like rich
people saying, aye, money doesn't make you fey.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
It doesn't matter. That's right. This doesn't matter when you
have all the money in the world. Absolutely. One of
my one of my favorite times of the year is
coming up in that Survivor series Saturday after Thanksgiving. Now,
this is where I mean a lot of memorable moments.
We met the Gobbledegooger at this event it was, and
we also were introduced to the Undertaker as well. But
(09:20):
you know, the Survivor series pay per view or pl
now traditionally has always just been you know, four or
five guys against four or five other guys, create teams
to see who's who's surviving. This whole thing now with
the storyline that we talked about last week, with the bloodline,
last year it meant something. This year, it means something.
And then you add in War Games, Cody's dad the
(09:42):
one coming up with it. Cody, how's coding? Not right now,
at least not in this match.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Uh, well, there's there's a lot of things to figure out.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
There's a lot of time too.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
There what is at the end of a couple of weeks, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
It's the thirtieth. Yeah, So.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I was a little.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Concerned at first that we were rushing to the War
Games storyline. I think with a couple more weeks, I think,
oh there's that.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, they sneaks, it creeps once in a while, no
matter what time of day we do this.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah, that matter.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
I thought initially they were rushing it. I don't think
that's the case so much anymore, because I think we
got a few weeks to settle in. But in terms
of Cody, I think they're The beautiful thing about where
we're at WWE right now is it doesn't matter who
you put in that slot. On the team. It has
(10:35):
storyline implications.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah, if it's.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Cody, it's Cody and Roman.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
You've got uh, You've got some Kevin Owens Shenanigans in
there with Jay and Sammy.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
You know, you've got Drew.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
McIntyre, You've got Seth Rollins, You've got everybody. Could create
an interesting little thing, especially when everybody's gone up against
Roman at some point. So I think where we're headed
is going to be a cool direction. It would make
sense if it was Cody, just because of the high
profile status and it keeps him out of a title
match obviously at Survivor Series, right, So well, I would
(11:17):
think Cody's going to be that guy. We don't know yet,
but I think it's headed in a good direction.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
We have four and four already, so if Cody is
that means other side's going to get something. Could that
be Cody in the Rock. We'll have to wait and see.
But I do like that that Sammy is now back
again part of the og bloodline at least after Monday.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Well, and we know there's more cousins out there, so.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Gosh, man, if we could share, if we could share
our text on here, we talked about it last week
on the show. But then we it continued because a
couple of people did something and another Bloodline member was created,
and another member that has been popping around some other
indies is now officially signed with WWE. I don't know
(11:59):
if there was immediate earth something to happen.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Reach and these guys don't order something.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Talking like that, since it being we're getting close to
the holidays. Do you want a fan of the Santa Clauses?
Oh yeah, yeah, so Santa Claus two. When he goes
into the the thing, it makes him look very plastic
and then you can make as many of whatever you want.
I think it's what they do with the Bloodline. Yeah,
them up there to the North Pole and do that
on this on the same line. Now, listen the first WrestleMania.
(12:24):
That show started at one pm in the afternoon and
ended at three point thirty. That was that was when
pay per views were on Sunday. Just off the top
of your head, thoughts on PL's going back to Sunday,
but let's move them to the afternoon. What do you
think about that?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
There's catch twenty two for everything. If it was Sunday
and the afternoon, that's a winning combination for cool. I think, uh,
you know, I would imagine it's hard for logistics getting
in and out of the arena doing afternoon shows and
stuff like that. True, I would imagine that's probably why
(13:02):
they don't do it. But if you did, if you're
going to spread out your stuff to international, you know,
more international shows, pl stuff like that, it would be
cool if you did all of your American ones in
the afternoon, so it would reflect properly.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
All the goods.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yeah, it would definitely be cool. I don't know if
they'll do it or not.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Well, because I think about this the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Now this is just me being selfish, and I don't
know if I don't know the people are affected by this,
but Saturday afternoon, right after Thanksgiving, that Saturday is like
it is right now. But they're even bigger college football games,
a lot of rivalries. Even I think there may be
even I may be wrong on this. I think there
(13:47):
might be some championship games that we can for different
conferences and things like that. I may be wrong on that.
That may just be the end of the season. They're
the weekend after Thanksgiving. Man, those are big ones. Like
here in this part of the world they get the
first time I think in fifteen or twenty years, Texas
versus Texas A and M. And that game is in
(14:10):
the afternoon. It's I mean, that's what everybody in Texas
pretty much is going to be watching that day. And
then you know they'll have to if they're wrestling fans
as well, they will click over to that afterwards or
watch it later time, maybe on Sunday afternoon. Just to
stay away from social media when it comes to wrestling.
I just wonder if they've ever thought about that. I'm
sure they take a lot of things into consideration. Now,
(14:32):
you mentioned that getting into the arena, in and out
of the arena maybe a bigger deal. Now. The production
now is way bigger than what it was for WrestleMania one,
and so I can imagine that it is a much
bigger deal now.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
And well, but honestly, though, they're running smaller stages and everything.
If it's a standard POE, yeah, you know, they may
run a smaller but if it's going to be a
bigger venue, there's no telling.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
But oh, I just had something else I was going
to say.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
But honestly, like right now, they can probably get in
and out of a space in one day. They can
come in at six eight o'clock in the morning, load in,
get all set up, and then be gone and tore down,
you know, by late that night. So when you're adding
another day of you know, you know, I'm slipping into
my GM mode now. But if I'm paying for the
(15:23):
arena for one day instead of two days and whatever.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
You know, I didn't put this in our notes to
chat about before we wrap up. Though we got on SmackDown.
We've got the introduction of the women's US title, and
I wonder if we get a women's in our continental
title over on Raw, that.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Would be cool.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
The tough part about where we're at right now is,
even though we've got a lot of TV, you have
to be careful not to have too many titles. I agree,
because it doesn't matter that they're different genders, different weight classes, whatever,
or the mere presence of that many titles cheapens and
(16:05):
degrades the grandeur of a title.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
So it's already sketchy enough.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
You've got two world champions, but the better one is
the WWE one. But that one's the world And how does.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
That all work? Because WWE is within the world and.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
The world is bigger, but I don't either way. If
you have too many titles, it cheapens it. So I
think the women need the mid card title because as
someone I read this online, I can't quote them, but
we constantly see women thrown into these high profile feuds,
into title pictures without any run up to that. So
(16:46):
having a mid card title being able to establish some
stars that way, it's only going to help the women's
division as long as.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
They stay on top of it.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
You know, we see stuff like the women's tag titles
that have kind of fallen by the way side a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Really just now and maybe one other time that they've
act felt like they've actually meant anything.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, yeah, And right now it seems like it's in
a good pocket with Jade and Bianca. But as long
as we continue to treat it with respect and treat
it like it's something to be chased, and then we'll
be in good shape.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
I agree with that for the most part, unless that
they have a really good story if they I mean,
I didn't really think a lot of the Intercontinental title, uh,
you know, in some points back in the day. But man,
you go back to what we've just mentioned WrestleMania one.
How about WrestleMania three, the Intercontinental title stole the show yep.
At WrestleMania three, that was a massive match and sometimes
(17:40):
ras right. Not at WrestleMania three. WrestleMania three was Macho
and Ricky the Dragon Steamer. Yeah, and uh those just
a classic and that that was not what drew the
people in. But man, that is that match. That a lot.
You remember the Slam with and you remember that full
(18:02):
match from the Intercontinental title, and that's so here a
great story. It's cool to have those titles. I think
it'll be interesting. Maybe we cap it here, let's not
delve into too much. If if that's what we're doing,
and maybe they wait a year before they do a
women's intercontinental title, I'll be okay with that too.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
And you know, there's something to be said about flooding
the market too. It's it probably wouldn't be good for
either title if you debuted them at the same time. Agree,
And it gives even if it's a couple of weeks
from now, it gives Adam Pierce the ability to go,
oh yeah, well.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
How about a women continental title, you know, and so.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Make it his idea. Yeah, absolutely. It's been fun handing
out with you guys. Let us know what you think
about anything we talked about, especially the titles. Would you
like to see a women's intercontinental title over on raw
after seeing a women's US title introduced on a SmackDown?
Do we need more? Do we need less? Should we
just have? You know, we could dive into this in
(18:56):
so many ways that we really don't have one world champion.
We have a world and we have a undisputed right.
So I don't know, sometimes it doesn't, it matters and
sometimes it doesn't. But let us know what you guys think.
And if you are watching right now, make sure you
hit subscribe and like this video. We appreciate it didn't
cost you anything. It helps us a lot. I appreciate
you guys. Begin here Michael, always good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Bud, same
Were you a big fan, Michael of ECW when it
was out?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
So due to my age, it was actually just a
hair before my coming into pro wrestling.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Your fandom my fandom.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I've I've revisited a lot of it, obviously, but I
loved watching it after the facts, but I couldn't be
a fan in real time.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We're a similar boat only for the fact that I didn't.
I didn't watch it and didn't care for it. I
honestly didn't At the time. I didn't appreciate ECW at all,
and still even looking back, it's like it's kind of
like the Attitude Era. Yes, there's a lot of great
things about the Attitude Era. There's a lot of stuff
we don't talk about in the Attitude era though, too,
and stuff that we just we don't bring up again
(00:52):
because of how bad it was. And I think the
ECW's a little bit like that. Now. That's just me.
A lot of people loved ECW, and even more people
loved ECW after the fact, especially after it went out
of business, and and you know, I think that a
lot of people love the stars that came from it,
but maybe not necessarily love or I do. I love
(01:13):
the stars that came out of it, but not necessarily
love the actual show obviously. I love the dud Ley's
I mean they but needless to say, they became massive
stars after they left e c W. Same with Taz
and many others. But thankful for ECW because of people
like Cactus Jack and Stone Colt, Steve Austin and many
(01:34):
many other there's too many to name right now, but
some of the even that character Stone Colts, Steve Austin,
we may not have had without ECW.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
And and I'm glad you said that, because that's where
my brain was going. Is people do not realize that ECW.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Was a very very very.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Important stop for Steve Austin on the way to the WWF.
He needed that time kind of between when he left
WCW and and and he kind of developed the first
kind of run of the Stone Cold character in ECW.
And so ECW is responsible for a lot of things
(02:11):
and being able to see it kind of full circle
with the documentaries and then you know, in the in
recent years, Paul Hayman's Hall of Fame speech and stuff
like that, it's hard to not appreciate the place in
history that ECW has.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Man for the past year, WWE has done a lot
in Philadelphia, starting with WrestleMania Well was it forty one
that you and I were at? They had so many
things happening all over Philly during that time. WWE did
not to mention even the other organizations. But then since
then they've done RAW I think a SmackDown they've done
(02:52):
just most recently last week was NXT at the twenty
three hundred Arena, the old ECW Arena now that they've
really kind of they it's not the same place. It
was a bingo hall when E c W was in it.
If wrestling wasn't there, they were calling you know, B
twenty four. But now that's pretty much all that runs
(03:13):
in that building. It seems I even hear that you
can you can go in and everything's there for you
if you want it to be. If you're a guy
that just wants to put on a wrestling show, you
can call up twenty three hundred Arena. They have the lights,
they have the ring, they have the stage, they have
all that stuff. That's pretty cool that that's what it now.
The legacy will always be wrestling for that building, and
that's kind of cool for that.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Are we getting ready to book a show.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Maybe so you could. I would honestly, I wouldn't touch
that with a ten foot poll at this moment, but
I don't know. You could probably run something there and
probably do pretty decent just having a show there.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
You know, I'm gonna sidebar a story real quick. Within
the last couple of weeks, I arrived at the party
late and bought w W two K twenty four Oh
you did for PS five and I. The first thing
I did is I went to my GM mode, which
allows you to be a GM and book shows and
(04:08):
do all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I raged quit.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I wasn't very good at it.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It was it was more than than I could handle.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So I'll have to revisit that when I'm when I
recover from the rage.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So let's get that one down first, and then we'll
talk about booking a show at twenty three hundred. There
you go. I have to get the video game rolling
NXT huge showing at that arena. It was really kind
of cool to see not only them doing something there,
but also the stars that they brought back, even surprises
that they they brought back, and Bully Ray being or
Bubba Ray. I guess I have to call Himubba Ray
(04:45):
if he's in w DOE or at an E arena. Right,
it's Bubba Ray playing a role in this. Do you
think he has a future? He's an incredible mind from
what I hear, one of the biggest jerks that you've
ever come across. But I think it's only if you
I mean, for some people it's only if you're a
jerk to him first. But I don't know. But his
(05:06):
mind in the wrestling world is pretty spot on, and
it looks like the WWE or sounds like that they
take a lot of his advice from just things that
he talks about on Busted Open. You kind of see
some little hints of that implemented here here there in
other places. But Russell mayby forty one comes out to
be a ref Since then, he's come back a few
times for a couple of things now actually in the
(05:28):
ring at NXT, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah. I think probably it's more up to him. I mean,
he's connected, but I think in this role that he's
in with Busted Open, he has the ability to not
take sides right now. And you can't go be a
producer and then turn around and talk a bunch of crap.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
On busted open if something doesn't go well.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
So honestly, it's probably more up to him in terms
of what does he have be doing. Is he happy
being kind of the unbiased opinion of the wrestling world,
or does he want to be hands on with with
booking stuff with new talent and NXT and this that
and whatever.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
I think it just depends on what he wants to do.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
You know, they were up head to head because they
were election being on Tuesday, had NXT moved to Wednesday
and having to be on the same night as AW.
Very smart of them to book a classic arena like
this and do like a one off show that was
still in their storylines but included all of these all
of these legends from ECW in the original ECW arena
(06:37):
led to them beating AW on aw's night, And I'm
not sure that that's the same accomplishment that could have
been said, you know, say a year and a half ago,
two years ago, something like that. I mean, beating them
on their night would have been a bigger deal when
they were doing much better now. I think that rating
was probably pretty much what it was going to be,
regardless if there was another show on or not, but
(07:00):
to have NXT win on that night is a big
deal and over them too. And recently I heard, in
fact I heard it just a couple of days ago
in the car listening to Busted Open. Is that I
think that Sean ross Sap made some comment or in
one of his posts. Now I'm not quoting him because
I didn't read it. I just heard them talking about it.
But I had to do with AAW not really caring
(07:22):
about ratings inside the company. They just don't really care
about ratings. If you don't care about ratings, what do
you use as a measuring stick to know whether you're
doing well or not.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
That's tough because you and I when the record buttons off,
have had extensive conversations about ratings and what they mean.
And yeah, sure, how it's not super accurate anymore. And
so I mean, maybe AW is seeing engagement on their
social platforms and playbacks and different things like that where
(07:54):
they feel like they've got enough momentum. It's bizarre to
think that you would completely omit ratings when your entire
company is funded by the concept Vision television advertising exactly.
So it's a little bit of a bizarre thing. I
think some of it is just kind of writing off
the competition thing because they know they can't hang. You know,
(08:20):
they're doing their own thing. I think cool, more power
to it. The part that I struggle is that, you know,
if if you design a bunch of art with the
intention to open an art gallery and nobody shows up, was.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
The art good?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
H You know, I think I get it. I get it,
you know, I think it's I find it living in
the same world as as the as the person who
says size doesn't matter, it's usually the guy who has
small ratings.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, or it's kind of like kind of like rich
people saying, aye, money doesn't make you fey.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
It doesn't matter. That's right. This doesn't matter when you
have all the money in the world. Absolutely. One of
my one of my favorite times of the year is
coming up in that Survivor series Saturday after Thanksgiving. Now,
this is where I mean a lot of memorable moments.
We met the Gobbledegooger at this event it was, and
we also were introduced to the Undertaker as well. But
(09:20):
you know, the Survivor series pay per view or pl
now traditionally has always just been you know, four or
five guys against four or five other guys, create teams
to see who's who's surviving. This whole thing now with
the storyline that we talked about last week, with the bloodline,
last year it meant something. This year, it means something.
And then you add in War Games, Cody's dad the
(09:42):
one coming up with it. Cody, how's coding? Not right now,
at least not in this match.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Uh, well, there's there's a lot of things to figure out.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
There's a lot of time too.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
There what is at the end of a couple of weeks, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
It's the thirtieth. Yeah, So.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I was a little.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Concerned at first that we were rushing to the War
Games storyline. I think with a couple more weeks, I think,
oh there's that.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, they sneaks, it creeps once in a while, no
matter what time of day we do this.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah, that matter.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
I thought initially they were rushing it. I don't think
that's the case so much anymore, because I think we
got a few weeks to settle in. But in terms
of Cody, I think they're The beautiful thing about where
we're at WWE right now is it doesn't matter who
you put in that slot. On the team. It has
(10:35):
storyline implications.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah, if it's.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Cody, it's Cody and Roman.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
You've got uh, You've got some Kevin Owens Shenanigans in
there with Jay and Sammy.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
You know, you've got Drew.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
McIntyre, You've got Seth Rollins, You've got everybody. Could create
an interesting little thing, especially when everybody's gone up against
Roman at some point. So I think where we're headed
is going to be a cool direction. It would make
sense if it was Cody, just because of the high
profile status and it keeps him out of a title
match obviously at Survivor Series, right, So well, I would
(11:17):
think Cody's going to be that guy. We don't know yet,
but I think it's headed in a good direction.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
We have four and four already, so if Cody is
that means other side's going to get something. Could that
be Cody in the Rock. We'll have to wait and see.
But I do like that that Sammy is now back
again part of the og bloodline at least after Monday.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Well, and we know there's more cousins out there, so.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Gosh, man, if we could share, if we could share
our text on here, we talked about it last week
on the show. But then we it continued because a
couple of people did something and another Bloodline member was created,
and another member that has been popping around some other
indies is now officially signed with WWE. I don't know
(11:59):
if there was immediate earth something to happen.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Reach and these guys don't order something.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Talking like that, since it being we're getting close to
the holidays. Do you want a fan of the Santa Clauses?
Oh yeah, yeah, so Santa Claus two. When he goes
into the the thing, it makes him look very plastic
and then you can make as many of whatever you want.
I think it's what they do with the Bloodline. Yeah,
them up there to the North Pole and do that
on this on the same line. Now, listen the first WrestleMania.
(12:24):
That show started at one pm in the afternoon and
ended at three point thirty. That was that was when
pay per views were on Sunday. Just off the top
of your head, thoughts on PL's going back to Sunday,
but let's move them to the afternoon. What do you
think about that?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
There's catch twenty two for everything. If it was Sunday
and the afternoon, that's a winning combination for cool. I think, uh,
you know, I would imagine it's hard for logistics getting
in and out of the arena doing afternoon shows and
stuff like that. True, I would imagine that's probably why
(13:02):
they don't do it. But if you did, if you're
going to spread out your stuff to international, you know,
more international shows, pl stuff like that, it would be
cool if you did all of your American ones in
the afternoon, so it would reflect properly.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
All the goods.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yeah, it would definitely be cool. I don't know if
they'll do it or not.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Well, because I think about this the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Now this is just me being selfish, and I don't
know if I don't know the people are affected by this,
but Saturday afternoon, right after Thanksgiving, that Saturday is like
it is right now. But they're even bigger college football games,
a lot of rivalries. Even I think there may be
even I may be wrong on this. I think there
(13:47):
might be some championship games that we can for different
conferences and things like that. I may be wrong on that.
That may just be the end of the season. They're
the weekend after Thanksgiving. Man, those are big ones. Like
here in this part of the world they get the
first time I think in fifteen or twenty years, Texas
versus Texas A and M. And that game is in
(14:10):
the afternoon. It's I mean, that's what everybody in Texas
pretty much is going to be watching that day. And
then you know they'll have to if they're wrestling fans
as well, they will click over to that afterwards or
watch it later time, maybe on Sunday afternoon. Just to
stay away from social media when it comes to wrestling.
I just wonder if they've ever thought about that. I'm
sure they take a lot of things into consideration. Now,
(14:32):
you mentioned that getting into the arena, in and out
of the arena maybe a bigger deal. Now. The production
now is way bigger than what it was for WrestleMania one,
and so I can imagine that it is a much
bigger deal now.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
And well, but honestly, though, they're running smaller stages and everything.
If it's a standard POE, yeah, you know, they may
run a smaller but if it's going to be a
bigger venue, there's no telling.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
But oh, I just had something else I was going
to say.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
But honestly, like right now, they can probably get in
and out of a space in one day. They can
come in at six eight o'clock in the morning, load in,
get all set up, and then be gone and tore down,
you know, by late that night. So when you're adding
another day of you know, you know, I'm slipping into
my GM mode now. But if I'm paying for the
(15:23):
arena for one day instead of two days and whatever.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
You know, I didn't put this in our notes to
chat about before we wrap up. Though we got on SmackDown.
We've got the introduction of the women's US title, and
I wonder if we get a women's in our continental
title over on Raw, that.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Would be cool.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
The tough part about where we're at right now is,
even though we've got a lot of TV, you have
to be careful not to have too many titles. I agree,
because it doesn't matter that they're different genders, different weight classes, whatever,
or the mere presence of that many titles cheapens and
(16:05):
degrades the grandeur of a title.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
So it's already sketchy enough.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
You've got two world champions, but the better one is
the WWE one. But that one's the world And how does.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
That all work? Because WWE is within the world and.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
The world is bigger, but I don't either way. If
you have too many titles, it cheapens it. So I
think the women need the mid card title because as
someone I read this online, I can't quote them, but
we constantly see women thrown into these high profile feuds,
into title pictures without any run up to that. So
(16:46):
having a mid card title being able to establish some
stars that way, it's only going to help the women's
division as long as.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
They stay on top of it.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
You know, we see stuff like the women's tag titles
that have kind of fallen by the way side a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Really just now and maybe one other time that they've
act felt like they've actually meant anything.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, yeah, And right now it seems like it's in
a good pocket with Jade and Bianca. But as long
as we continue to treat it with respect and treat
it like it's something to be chased, and then we'll
be in good shape.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
I agree with that for the most part, unless that
they have a really good story if they I mean,
I didn't really think a lot of the Intercontinental title, uh,
you know, in some points back in the day. But man,
you go back to what we've just mentioned WrestleMania one.
How about WrestleMania three, the Intercontinental title stole the show yep.
At WrestleMania three, that was a massive match and sometimes
(17:40):
ras right. Not at WrestleMania three. WrestleMania three was Macho
and Ricky the Dragon Steamer. Yeah, and uh those just
a classic and that that was not what drew the
people in. But man, that is that match. That a lot.
You remember the Slam with and you remember that full
(18:02):
match from the Intercontinental title, and that's so here a
great story. It's cool to have those titles. I think
it'll be interesting. Maybe we cap it here, let's not
delve into too much. If if that's what we're doing,
and maybe they wait a year before they do a
women's intercontinental title, I'll be okay with that too.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
And you know, there's something to be said about flooding
the market too. It's it probably wouldn't be good for
either title if you debuted them at the same time. Agree,
And it gives even if it's a couple of weeks
from now, it gives Adam Pierce the ability to go,
oh yeah, well.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
How about a women continental title, you know, and so.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Make it his idea. Yeah, absolutely. It's been fun handing
out with you guys. Let us know what you think
about anything we talked about, especially the titles. Would you
like to see a women's intercontinental title over on raw
after seeing a women's US title introduced on a SmackDown?
Do we need more? Do we need less? Should we
just have? You know, we could dive into this in
(18:56):
so many ways that we really don't have one world champion.
We have a world and we have a undisputed right.
So I don't know, sometimes it doesn't, it matters and
sometimes it doesn't. But let us know what you guys think.
And if you are watching right now, make sure you
hit subscribe and like this video. We appreciate it didn't
cost you anything. It helps us a lot. I appreciate
you guys. Begin here Michael, always good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Bud, same
Host
Anthony "The AntMan" Lay
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