January 7, 2025 • 33 mins
Welcome to the first WrestleChat Podcast of 2025! And what a way to kick off the new year! In this episode, AntMan and Michael break down the monumental debut of WWE Raw on Netflix, dubbed the “Netflix Era.” They dive into every detail of the night, from the cinematic cold open to the stunning new production elements at the Intuit Dome that redefined the show’s presentation. Hear their take on the mind-blowing crowd visuals, black ring mat, revamped referee attire, and how these changes set the tone for a new chapter in wrestling. The conversation gets heated as they debate whether we saw The Rock or Dwayne Johnson in the ring and reflect on the emotional return of Triple H in a moment steeped in nostalgia. Plus, they tackle the epic tribal combat main event, the women’s world title match, and the unexpected crowd reaction to Hulk Hogan. Was the response deserved or inevitable? Also in this episode: John Cena’s masterclass promo—did he fool everyone? A deeper dive into the future implications of Raw’s new format and international reach. Plus, a special shoutout to the premiere of The Claw Pod with Ross and Marshall Von Erich! This episode is packed with thoughtful insights, tech breakdowns, and a lot of laughs. Whether you're a die-hard wrestling fan or just tuning in to witness history, this is one episode you don’t want to miss! 👉 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share! Follow the show on Instagram: ➡️ https://www.Instagram.com/WrestleChatPodcast Follow The AntMan: ➡️ https://www.Instagram.com/TheAntMan.co
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here we are twenty twenty five, the first wrestle chat
podcast of the year, and what a way to start.
Just on the heels less than forty eight hours ago,
WWE Raw moves to a brand new era, in fact,
such the era that they have nicknamed it then Netflix Era.
How appropriate. Michael, Welcome to the podcast. Good to see you,
my friend.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good to see you as well. It's great to be here.
As you said, it was just an explosive start to
wrestling for twenty twenty five. It's if you're a wrestling fan,
it's hard not to just be completely stoked right now.
But thanks for having me. Good to be here and
excited to see what the year has in store.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I took notes last night, and I just had to
quit taking notes when I was I tried to take
notes and I tried to hang out on Twitter or
x throughout the show, and I'm like, I'm missing half
the show because I'm responding or tweeting about what I
caught in between tweets and things like, I was like,
this is dumb. Shut Twitter off, get to it afterwards,
just enjoy the show. And so I ended up doing
(01:02):
that after about the first fifteen minutes and man, I'm
glad I did. I thought it was very I mean,
normally if you told me that you didn't get the
first match, or you got one match in fifty four minutes, like, man,
this is a weird show. It's got a lot of downtime.
And I didn't feel like that at all to me,
did it you?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
No, not at all? And it was such an interesting ride. Probably,
you know, for all the episodes that you and I
have done together and for all the tangents that I've
gone off, you know, on or whatever, this episode is
probably going to be the hardest for me to not
just jump ahead or whatever. So I'm gonna try and
say as linears as humanly possible. No one, I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I'm glad I took notes. Then, so we'll just kind
of hit some bullet points then go ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
What I'm gonna say, you know, one match in an hour.
You would think that just if you would have told
me that would have been on USA, I think I
would have not liked that. But in the it just
felt very fluid, and I still think there was a
commercial break in there or two, but it just it
(02:07):
fit and it worked, and it was very very It
was this mature, evolved version of itself and it was
very very interesting to see.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, agreed, let's just start at the beginning. I was thinking,
maybe this might kind of be boring if I just
went to bullet points, but it might be the best
way to just kind of hit as much as that
we can on this. Let's just start with the open,
that cold open that they did just after Michael Cole
said Welcome to Raw on Netflix, and then it went
to the pre recorded package that ended up being the
painting on the canvas of a wrestling ring. Who are
(02:43):
are they taking people from Hollywood and plugging them into
wrestling or are they just developing their own that are
just really really great at cinematography.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Honestly, I think it's probably both.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I mean, WWE, up until the last five ten year
years was on the complete fringe of the sports industry,
the entertainment industry, and I have to believe that you
got fringe type people too. And I'm not saying that
the people are bad or anything, but you don't have
your ESPN camera guys, pyro guys, art directors, all this stuff.
(03:20):
You don't have the guys that are gunning to work
at ESPN going, oh, you know what, I'm gonna go
to WWE because that's like the perfect thing. But now
that it's becoming more mainstream, yes, you're getting more and
more talent, but you know, prior to ten years ago,
we still saw creative stuff, which means they're able to
develop business people and artistic people just like they're able
(03:40):
to develop superstars. But now you have the benefit of
being able to make your talent and acquire your talent
because WWE has become so incredibly mainstream. You stopped at
the canvas part, and if that would have been all
we got, right right, I thought it was incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, I was.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I was moved. I can't say that I was like
tearing up or anything, but that first up until the
canvas reveal, Like, I was very very moved. But we
carry on.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, that and the curtain and that all shown. Although
this arena, and here's what I think that maybe more
important than episode one is going to be episode two, three, four, five, six, seven,
nine of ten because there were a lot of production
elements that were in just this building that you don't
get in any other arena in the world. The giant
(04:38):
jumbo tron that encircles the arena floor if you will,
that you would see it on the outside. But if
you're down on the floor or lower level, the first
lower level, you're looking still at the image, but on
the inside of the screen on the opposite side of you.
If that makes sense at all, that you don't see
(05:00):
any other arena. The puck lights that were on the
arm rests of every one of the seats. I heard
somebody say, how are they going to take that with them? Well,
they're not. That wasn't part of WWE's production. That's a
part of the arena's production. So there's a couple of
things right there that that supplied some of the esthetics
that we saw on raw that you're not going to
(05:20):
have on episode two because that's in San Jose. In
a normal arena, I would call it the ones that
we're used to. This was a state of the art
arena where the Clippers play, and they just finished this
arena less than six months ago, I believe, and so
this is brand new, state of the art. It's what
you're going to see eventually, but it's not what you're
(05:40):
going to see in the majority of shows in twenty
twenty five. In fact, I live in Central Texas and
we have a show coming to Austin or raw coming
to Austin, and I know what that arena is. It's
a really nice arena. It doesn't look anything like the
into a Dome Into It Domes are what it was.
It doesn't look anything like that. It's very nice, it's
very updated. It's about two years old or something like that,
(06:04):
and it's going to look like more of what the
rest of the year would look like in any other arenas.
So it's going to be interesting to see what they
do there. One of the biggest things that I think
that they are going to be taken with them that
I love was the entrance ramp that we have. Not
we're not paying attention to the stage and the production
on that. The fans are the production and seeing that
(06:27):
everybody when they get that wide shot and you see
that every seat is full in three hundred and sixty
degrees except for maybe maybe one or two right by
the hard cameras. Everything else is just packed to the
gills and it just really adds to the atmosphere there.
So I love that and love that's what we'll get
to see in other arenas. As to having triple h
(06:47):
start with after the curtain fell, was having him stand there.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Well, hold on there, buddy, what I miss? You skipped
over the whole video that was on the on the
the sheet.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, that's what I was. That's what we were. The
whole thing was on the sheet.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I thought. I thought there was like the did it
switch over to the cause it was full screen and
then it and then it switched over.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
What people were watching in the arena was all on
the screen, all on that sheet.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Okay, okay, okay, so let me backtrack then. Okay, so
the back half, you know, if you're watching the bro
the broadcast on Netflix, on the back half when it
switched to Uh, I work in the production field. That's
that's called like a kabookie drop. I think, if I'm
not mistaken, where you have the thing up in it
and it falls, but uh, having the video play on
(07:39):
that and just artistically what it looked like, and then
the drone and then like all of that. I thought
that was a separate video initially, but now that it's
all one thing. I was bawling like a baby halfway
through the curtain part of it because I literally they're
just going through and just like everybody else. My childhood
(08:04):
was in a chunk of that video. Not all of it. Sure,
all of it is what I love, and I've learned
about all of it. But there was the moment in
there that took me back to being that kid and
coming across that channel in real time with no way
to pause and watching, you know, for me at the time,
(08:25):
the slimy heeled triple h you know, going against Scott
Steiner and you know, month after month after month at
pay per views, and that cool feeling that it had,
like man, this is just so cool. And being able
to relive that just for those brief moments through that
video was incredibly touching and just a reminder of why
(08:49):
we love rustling so much is because it transcends just
being a sport. You can be so passionate, be vested
in a sport, but there's something about russ that just penetrates,
like your life and your memories and everything. It's just
I could go on and on and on, but I'll
get off my sobox.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
But but that bridges the gap there. Yeah, everything was
up on that on that on that sheet and then
it drops and triple ages standing there. I would like
to see something or at least hear him talk about
what it was like standing in that ring with no
one knowing that you're there, and watching that same video
on the opposite side of the curtain.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
How he was not a blubbering child.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Afterwards exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Probably he probably was like, well, they probably did rehearsal,
and he's like, I'm going to stand here ten times
and I want to get numbed to.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
This thing, right, gotcha? I got to see it that
many times and then.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
A few seconds later he cut his promo and then
he died because everything exploded around him.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
It was so we had triple ag Yeah, no kidding,
I mean it was. It was funny. My wife goes,
what is that that's sitting in the ring in front
of him? That's going to be Pyro here and just
minute and boy was it. And for not having a stage,
they had a lot of Pyro everywhere it's usually put
in those places. He gets he so Triple h the
very first person other than the announcers to be in
(10:13):
the ring and talk on raw on Netflix, and then
of course got the biggest man in entertainment. Now I
have a debate here, did we get the rock or
did we get Dwayne Johnson. I think we got Dwayne Johnson.
Everything that he said so too.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
He was dressed the part, but he definitely was not
acting the part. And I gotta be careful again not
to jump ahead. I felt it and I felt it, and
I was like, oh, I'm gonna but I held back.
But no, I think we got Dwayne And I think
it was just such a night event of uh appreciation
and looking ahead. It one thing that I'm gonna say,
(10:56):
I'll throw go ahead and throughout this comment since we're
kind of in the first segment, this show was like
you opened like an educational wrestling booking textbook or something.
Oh I got I got a minion.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Hi baby, I'll be there in just a minute.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Can you close the door? Yeah, but feel free to
leave that in if you so choose.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
But what was I saying? I lost my stream? Like, yeah,
the whole show is like if you opened a textbook
of somebody trying to teach wrestling booking. Like everything was
playfully predictable, but like in the best way, Like they
they pulled out all of the classic wrestling things that
(11:47):
happen in storylines. The way the announcers explained everything a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Knowing that there were going to be a lot of
people that didn't normally watch the show watching the show
exactly they did on Saturday nights made event too.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah. Yeah, and so connecting that with what we were
talking about with the rock Duyane Johnson, I think that
it was just a moment for him to just soak
in the accomplishment of the moment. Yeah, there was a
little bit of story weaved in there somewhere, but I
think overall everybody just wanted the night to almost stand
(12:21):
alone by its what it really felt like.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, it didn't, I don't think that much. There wasn't
much continuation or or expounding on the stories that are.
Nothing really progressed, not much. I mean, Rhea Ripley winning
the women's world title obviously massive. We'll get to that
here in just a minute, but that was really the
only thing that kind of progressed in anything. I don't
(12:46):
jumping way ahead to the to the main event. It
didn't give us any finality with Punk and Seth. If anything,
it just I can't wait to hear what Seth has
to say next week and see where some of that
that feud goes between the too, but nothing. And I'll
be honest, there's a part of me that felt very
confused until I realized it's not the Rock talking. Yeah,
(13:08):
I thought it was a rock talking this. I'm very like,
I don't. I don't even know what to think at
the moment, because he's thinking, Cody Rhodes for carrying the
company over the last year. You're the same guy that
was whipping with your belt, lugeoning him in the parking lot,
gaving back the watch. We presume the last time he
(13:29):
was on the last time we saw a rock, he
slashes the slashing symbol in his own throat and counts
three two one or one two three or whatever. It was, Uh,
just very confusing on that part, and I didn't know
what to think of it.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
I think we all had that, like the diehard wrestling
fans had that conversation with ourselves. But I think I
think what they did was they did a quick pivot
to position Rock as high chief Suli or however you
say it, knowing that that's the next step because because
(14:02):
here's the thing, the rivalry, and we're still bouncing around
a little bit, but the rivalry with with Solo and
Roman has been fantastic main event level stuff, but the
reality is it's only a blip on the radar in
the midst of the bigger story. Solo was the placeholder.
(14:25):
And I do not say that anything against Solo, because
I've enjoyed it just as much as any other part
of the Bodline story. But I don't think that the
payoff because initially I was like, you know, this match
is the first one out of the gate, it's it.
I predicted it a mile away, down to the number
(14:47):
of finishers, like, I don't hate it, but I feel
a little disappointed. And then I thought about it. I
took a minute, and I put myself back in the
set of being a fan and less like like a
wrestling critic or commentator, and and I said, the story
had to conclude, and why not tonight, and why not
(15:11):
that way? And and when I realized that it didn't
need some big twist or turn, it was what we
all knew was going to happen, which was Roman Reigns
was going to be the certified tribal chief and that's
going to go on to meet the Rock. And so
(15:32):
then when I framed it up that way, these fans
don't need they to be the same. You know, the
new fans don't need to be bought in the same
way to the story. They just get to see the
epic conclusion. They get to walk in the door and
be like, holy crap, they're fighting over being the king
of a tribe. Like this is awesome. You know.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
They weren't fighting with a king of the tribe. They
were fighting over a chili pepper necklaces. That's what the
rest of the world's going think.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
You were very patient with that long ranch, but I
think it was worth it. But I'm biased.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, No, for sure, I think so too, And I
think it's left to be seen. We're so quick to
you know, typically we're so quick to go, well, this
should have happened, and that should have happened, and this
should have happened. We have no idea what's being set up.
And that's that goes for every single show and every
time the Rock is in the ring, and every time
that especially if he and Roman and in the ring,
and even more of he, Roman and the Wise Man
(16:24):
are in the ring together, there's both of those guys
gave me the feeling that, oh crap, something's about that.
Oh he's about to do. So, Oh that one's now
that he's got it, something's about to happen. Okay, nothing happened.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Nothing happened.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Well, now that's something I made.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Myself look like an idiot too, because I was sitting
with people and I'm like, yeah, you watch this, let's
check this out. Check this out.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Oh he put a necklace on him. That's great, Michael,
that's cool.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
And then and then it cuts and they're like, we're
tard about and I'm.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Like, you didn't see that.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
You know it's you just have to wait till later.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
I got a couple of aesthetics things. I want to
get your thoughts on this mat.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Like it?
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah? Love it? Yeah? Absolutely. I thought the sponsors on
it and everything else that something else came in the
field of you popped because of the black mat. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
And then simultaneously it was less obnoxious and intrusive than
ads on the brighter mat.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Yeah, I was.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I was very much less overwhelmed with adverts on the
black mat, and I was one dred percent cool with it.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Rough shirts, two thumbs way up, way up. It's the progression. Absolutely.
I thought that was really cool, and there was something
that Pat McAfee noticed too. On one of the guys
he said his fade is always on point, as well
as his kicks or something. And the first time I
looked at oh, dudes wearing all black Jordans, that's awesome,
(17:51):
that's really cool. I don't remember which ones they are.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Those shirts are crafty as mac and cheese.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
My friends love it. And what I love is there
is now even more of a distinct difference between the
look of Raw and SmackDown. Yeah, brand new dark, darker
blue matte on SmackDown and a black matt on on Raw.
And it's it's not that you still have the traditional
red and blue for each brand, but it's not everything
(18:20):
red and everything blue like before. You know.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Well, and the dark aesthetic, yeah, because there was, there
was a dark aesthetic to everything that made the limited
color pop there. It just felt good, like they I
don't know if they psychology eat all that, but man,
I was bought into a hook line and sinker.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
The starting with a tribal combat I thought was also
I wondered what would start Raw, and I thought, you
got to start with with a main event, and so
it's either going to be the tribal combat match or
it's going to be Seth and Punk. It's going to
be one of the two, because those are the two
biggest matches on this And I had heard also that
(19:02):
that before that Raw each got together with all of
the talent and said, this is just one show. This
is not like Wrestle Maanie in the fact that we
tried to include everybody over two nights and what have you.
This is just one show. You may be on show two, three, four, five, six,
sevent eighty nine, ten, but there's only so much we
can put on show number one, and we've got to
(19:23):
put the best stories and the best matches on that show,
and I think they accomplished. The only one that I
would say that that maybe felt a little odd if
you just kind of put it in the mix of
everything was the was the Drew J match. But that
any other time that would have been perfectly fine.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
In all of Michael Cole's story monologues that he did
before each match, they all felt really good, and even
he struggled a little bit with the Drew J match
because how do you include three years of story exactly
(20:05):
into a thirty second bit and it's so nuanced, and
it really is true long term, I just hate these guys,
and you can't quite manifest that the same way you
could with Punk Rollins or you know, the the tribal
combat match. So I completely agree in terms of opening
(20:26):
up or in context of opening up with that match.
I didn't have the foresight to really think about it
ahead of time. I didn't. I was just gonna be
along for the ride. In hindsight, there was no other
way to do it. It's the easiest story to explain.
It has movie like qualities, and everybody involved is just
(20:47):
top of their game, and so nothing else makes sense
if that was what was in play for the show.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Plus, if you're only if you get people that only
sampled part of the first hour, and that's what they
got that to gain. Absolutely, you needed them to get
that out of everything that happened that night.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
That would if you look, there is a stone cold,
no pun intended reason that the whole Tribal Combat segment
lasted the entire first hour. It's because they knew that's
when they were going to have the larger majority of
people and it was going to drop off to casual fans.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Well, and speaking of larger majority of people watching now
includes eighty percent of the world. Let that sink in
because the majority of people now by now they have
the majority of people though watching didn't watch it until
the latter part of the first twelve hours after it ended.
(21:45):
Think about that, it was just really the United States.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Dude, that's crazy. The perspective that you just put on
that is just it is. It's insane.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
The majority of the world did not watch that until
twelve hours after its own I mean because if you
think about it, that at seven eight pm when it
started on the East coast, it's only I have my
math correct noon in Hawaii, mm, and so it you know,
and if you're going east and people already in bed
(22:16):
in England, you know, it's it's six hours difference from
the East coast of the United States to England. So
those guys are getting ready to get up. They may
watch it that morning and may wait till that night
and check it out then. So I'm anxious to see numbers.
If those are not, I haven't seen them yet. They
may be out by now.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I haven't seen anything on and talk about having to
relearn what numbers.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Mean exactly, like poor.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Amous wrestling journalists that I'm not going to name, but
it's like, what do you do now, Bud.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Here's the If somebody ask you what the numbers were
for the show, I'm sorry, I can't give you those yet.
We haven't completed one rotation of the Earth. I mean
think about that. I can't tell you until the World
Finish finishes spending one time, then we can talk about
the uh. Starting with trouble, we hit that. If you
(23:13):
were ever looking for a masterclass on how to cut
a promo, go watch John Cena last night. Last night.
Watched John Cena Monday night. Just incredible. There was there
was nothing about that promo that I would go I
don't know about that. Every single thing was absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
You know made me mad about this? Well, maybe mad
is that he got me. Yeah, like he was going
into He's like a lot of people want me to
win the championship. Guys, I don't want to get your
hopes up.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah exactly, And I'm like this.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Is reasonable because this is reality. Like what are you
gonna do? Be a champ for two months and then
lay the belt down and go home? Like why bother?
Like you know that he got your hopes up, and
and then and then he goes well, unless somebody like
you know entered the row rumbo and I'm like you,
son of a biscuit eating bulldog, you got me, sir?
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Well, I think what's great about it too, I mean,
there's too many things great about the one big takeaway
that I thought was awesome from him was that he
he made the the pre planned not seem predictable, but
give you it gives you the impression of all of that.
The lottery tickets, as he calls them, real, Yeah, I'm listen,
(24:37):
just me on my own, I'm probably not going to
win a championship in this year. However, WWE provides a
couple of lottery tickets throughout the year. If I can
grab one of those, there's a chance I get a title.
And it's interesting because.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
I don't I don't know that I've tangibly heard somebody
say it that way, bef. Yeah, and that that was
what was the most vision. Yeah, it's like, whoa, These
aren't just gimmicky pay per views, these are these are
lottery tickets, these are gambles, this is this is a
night in Vegas, Vegas and uh yea, but yeah, crazy
(25:21):
stuff man.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
The uh we could touch on a lot of things.
I've just got a couple more here. We can hit
a couple of viewers, and we're not going to keep
this stringing along forever. But I want to match graphics.
I noticed that more towards the end when they're talking
about next week, next level. Love the graphics side of it.
You and I both love the production of things and
new toys for the production guys to play with, new
(25:42):
graphics to play with, always fun to do. I'm sure
for them. I know it is when I'm doing some
but to see it's like, oh, this feels fresh. I
like this. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Absolutely, I the I have a slightly anxious personality, and
so I tick towards Even though I'm not diagnosed with
something like OCD, I lean that direction, and so when
I do things, I think uniform, symmetrical, all of those things.
The thing that was so captivating about the way everything
(26:15):
looked is that it matched, but it was not equal
or symmetrical. The match graphics were not the same poses
with the same background. It was different layers and versions
of the same match graphics, and those variable differences. As
someone who pays attention to nerds out on that stuff,
(26:37):
it was really cool. To see. But then from a
fan perspective, for people that can't dissect it from a
technical standpoint, it gives this feeling of this epic and
this awe inspiring thing. So just graphics top notch.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
While they were not symmetrical, they weighed the same. There
was weight on both sides of that. That's getting really weird,
and you.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Know, I get it.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
It turns into a tech talk right here all of
a sudden. But yeah, I think that they the weight
of because that's what I thought. I didn't think about
the non symmetrics because I felt that they weighed the
same one.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yes, I love I love that.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, that's what I'm going to kind of bring up here.
Did you think the booze were deserved for hull Cogan?
Expected rather than deserved expected? How about that?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I think I think they should have been expected. First
of all, Ryan Olsen, if you're watching this, I still
love you. I'm sorry, but it was expected whether.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
I was expected for you, because I may have a
different reason.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Listen, I think that there have been some unfortunate moments
in the life of Terry Bolea that have severely affected
Hull Cogan. Uh, and that those two entities cannot be separated,
(28:03):
and unfortunately, there's some things that some people feel need
to be booed in regards to Terry Bolea, and unfortunately
Hulk Hogan has to be along for that ride as well.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
See, now, what it probably is, more than likely is
a mix of your feelings, your thought on that, and mine,
probably both together. We're in the deepest part of the
most one of if the most, if not the most
liberal city in the entire United States, with a guy
who has been campaigning for the forty seventh president of
(28:38):
the United States for the last year.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Or what did you see the Maga Powers shirt? Logan
had a Maga Powers shirt. Maga Powers.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
There you goes, So I think it's probably a combination
to both of our thoughts. In fact, I was just
kind of like, why are they blewing? And my wife goes,
why would they not be? They're in la Okay, I
got it, that's probably it. Okay, got a few more
minutes here. What did I miss? What's one top of
mind that we've got to hit for.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
You don't want to brush over the women's championship match.
Fantastic match, Very well done. I think we always speak
more about women's wresting has evolved to such a point
where when it's good, it doesn't get it doesn't get
(29:41):
the wow like a lot of other stuff does. Like
we get good matches all the time, they don't wow
us because we're used to it. Good women's rsting has
fallen into that women's wresting is still not shaken like
the extra criticism when it doesn't hit. This match was
on par with any men's main event match I've ever seen.
(30:02):
It didn't feel slow, it didn't feel clunky, There wasn't
botches it. It operated the way it should have. And
both of them did a phenomenonal job.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
And what they one thing that I noticed that they
did in that too so interrupt you here, but they.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Hit very hard, yeah, very hard. Yeah yeah yeah. And
other than the complete no set was was that the
one where it was the superplex, the roll through somebody
no sold like a big super plex or something to
end a match. I can't remember who that was punk
my bad, but anyway, great match. Overall, I felt that
(30:43):
the whole rundown of the show was just flawless. The working,
the working of Kofe and Xavier Woods trying to get
the interview, but can never get it done. Brilliant, assolutely brilliant.
The show front to back is a It is the
(31:08):
masterclass of a professional wrestling TV show. I think it's good.
It can't be that good all the time because it's
obviously stacked, but that is everything you love and need
to know about professional wrestling.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I think it's cool. They hit really high. They're going
to take us through little roller coaster and then hopefully
hit another high come the middle of March for wrestler
March or April. I've been changed the date so I
can't remember. I think it's April, but yeah, for WrestleMania
in Las Vegas, so it be a nice little ride
before then. It should be a lot of fun. Listen
(31:45):
if you came here to watch this from the claw Pod,
appreciate you guys checking this out. If you're wondering what
I just said, it's a brand new podcast that I'm
doing with Ross and Marshall Vaughan Eric, Yes, the sons
of the legendary Kevin Vaughan. Eric. Brand new episode just dropped.
I'll say a brand new it's the very first episode
brand new podcast, So would love for you to check
(32:06):
that out. Big news from those guys on the first
episode that I think you'll enjoy. If you're just a
wrestling fan. You don't have to be a WWE fan,
a TNA fan, a AW fan, just if you're just
a fan of wrestling, you'll love this news. So check
that out. We put it in the other channels that
we love on this channel, so love for you to
check that out. It's called the Claw Pod, as in
(32:28):
The Iron Claw with Ross and Marshall, Vaughan Eric. So
glad you guys checked this out if you came here
from there. If you didn't and you don't know what
that is, you'd like to check it out, you can
click that on this channel and come join us over there.
Both episodes here and there drop on Thursday, So we
appreciate you you being a part of it. If you're
watching right now on YouTube, give us a follow up.
Give us a lie doesn't cost you anything and means
(32:50):
the world to us, So we appreciate you doing that.
Looking forward to talking with you again, Michael after episode
number two of Raw on Netflix next week. So that'll
be the real test. That'll be the one like, Okay,
this is what ROW is going to look like? Here
here on out, for the next, for the foreseeable future,
so looking forward to that. Good to have you on
today and good to see you Happy New Year Man,
(33:12):
thanks man, always a pleasure.
Here we are twenty twenty five, the first wrestle chat
podcast of the year, and what a way to start.
Just on the heels less than forty eight hours ago,
WWE Raw moves to a brand new era, in fact,
such the era that they have nicknamed it then Netflix Era.
How appropriate. Michael, Welcome to the podcast. Good to see you,
my friend.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good to see you as well. It's great to be here.
As you said, it was just an explosive start to
wrestling for twenty twenty five. It's if you're a wrestling fan,
it's hard not to just be completely stoked right now.
But thanks for having me. Good to be here and
excited to see what the year has in store.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I took notes last night, and I just had to
quit taking notes when I was I tried to take
notes and I tried to hang out on Twitter or
x throughout the show, and I'm like, I'm missing half
the show because I'm responding or tweeting about what I
caught in between tweets and things like, I was like,
this is dumb. Shut Twitter off, get to it afterwards,
just enjoy the show. And so I ended up doing
(01:02):
that after about the first fifteen minutes and man, I'm
glad I did. I thought it was very I mean,
normally if you told me that you didn't get the
first match, or you got one match in fifty four minutes, like, man,
this is a weird show. It's got a lot of downtime.
And I didn't feel like that at all to me,
did it you?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
No, not at all? And it was such an interesting ride. Probably,
you know, for all the episodes that you and I
have done together and for all the tangents that I've
gone off, you know, on or whatever, this episode is
probably going to be the hardest for me to not
just jump ahead or whatever. So I'm gonna try and
say as linears as humanly possible. No one, I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I'm glad I took notes. Then, so we'll just kind
of hit some bullet points then go ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
What I'm gonna say, you know, one match in an hour.
You would think that just if you would have told
me that would have been on USA, I think I
would have not liked that. But in the it just
felt very fluid, and I still think there was a
commercial break in there or two, but it just it
(02:07):
fit and it worked, and it was very very It
was this mature, evolved version of itself and it was
very very interesting to see.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, agreed, let's just start at the beginning. I was thinking,
maybe this might kind of be boring if I just
went to bullet points, but it might be the best
way to just kind of hit as much as that
we can on this. Let's just start with the open,
that cold open that they did just after Michael Cole
said Welcome to Raw on Netflix, and then it went
to the pre recorded package that ended up being the
painting on the canvas of a wrestling ring. Who are
(02:43):
are they taking people from Hollywood and plugging them into
wrestling or are they just developing their own that are
just really really great at cinematography.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Honestly, I think it's probably both.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I mean, WWE, up until the last five ten year
years was on the complete fringe of the sports industry,
the entertainment industry, and I have to believe that you
got fringe type people too. And I'm not saying that
the people are bad or anything, but you don't have
your ESPN camera guys, pyro guys, art directors, all this stuff.
(03:20):
You don't have the guys that are gunning to work
at ESPN going, oh, you know what, I'm gonna go
to WWE because that's like the perfect thing. But now
that it's becoming more mainstream, yes, you're getting more and
more talent, but you know, prior to ten years ago,
we still saw creative stuff, which means they're able to
develop business people and artistic people just like they're able
(03:40):
to develop superstars. But now you have the benefit of
being able to make your talent and acquire your talent
because WWE has become so incredibly mainstream. You stopped at
the canvas part, and if that would have been all
we got, right right, I thought it was incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, I was.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I was moved. I can't say that I was like
tearing up or anything, but that first up until the
canvas reveal, Like, I was very very moved. But we
carry on.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, that and the curtain and that all shown. Although
this arena, and here's what I think that maybe more
important than episode one is going to be episode two, three, four, five, six, seven,
nine of ten because there were a lot of production
elements that were in just this building that you don't
get in any other arena in the world. The giant
(04:38):
jumbo tron that encircles the arena floor if you will,
that you would see it on the outside. But if
you're down on the floor or lower level, the first
lower level, you're looking still at the image, but on
the inside of the screen on the opposite side of you.
If that makes sense at all, that you don't see
(05:00):
any other arena. The puck lights that were on the
arm rests of every one of the seats. I heard
somebody say, how are they going to take that with them? Well,
they're not. That wasn't part of WWE's production. That's a
part of the arena's production. So there's a couple of
things right there that that supplied some of the esthetics
that we saw on raw that you're not going to
(05:20):
have on episode two because that's in San Jose. In
a normal arena, I would call it the ones that
we're used to. This was a state of the art
arena where the Clippers play, and they just finished this
arena less than six months ago, I believe, and so
this is brand new, state of the art. It's what
you're going to see eventually, but it's not what you're
(05:40):
going to see in the majority of shows in twenty
twenty five. In fact, I live in Central Texas and
we have a show coming to Austin or raw coming
to Austin, and I know what that arena is. It's
a really nice arena. It doesn't look anything like the
into a Dome Into It Domes are what it was.
It doesn't look anything like that. It's very nice, it's
very updated. It's about two years old or something like that,
(06:04):
and it's going to look like more of what the
rest of the year would look like in any other arenas.
So it's going to be interesting to see what they
do there. One of the biggest things that I think
that they are going to be taken with them that
I love was the entrance ramp that we have. Not
we're not paying attention to the stage and the production
on that. The fans are the production and seeing that
(06:27):
everybody when they get that wide shot and you see
that every seat is full in three hundred and sixty
degrees except for maybe maybe one or two right by
the hard cameras. Everything else is just packed to the
gills and it just really adds to the atmosphere there.
So I love that and love that's what we'll get
to see in other arenas. As to having triple h
(06:47):
start with after the curtain fell, was having him stand there.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Well, hold on there, buddy, what I miss? You skipped
over the whole video that was on the on the
the sheet.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, that's what I was. That's what we were. The
whole thing was on the sheet.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I thought. I thought there was like the did it
switch over to the cause it was full screen and
then it and then it switched over.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
What people were watching in the arena was all on
the screen, all on that sheet.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Okay, okay, okay, so let me backtrack then. Okay, so
the back half, you know, if you're watching the bro
the broadcast on Netflix, on the back half when it
switched to Uh, I work in the production field. That's
that's called like a kabookie drop. I think, if I'm
not mistaken, where you have the thing up in it
and it falls, but uh, having the video play on
(07:39):
that and just artistically what it looked like, and then
the drone and then like all of that. I thought
that was a separate video initially, but now that it's
all one thing. I was bawling like a baby halfway
through the curtain part of it because I literally they're
just going through and just like everybody else. My childhood
(08:04):
was in a chunk of that video. Not all of it. Sure,
all of it is what I love, and I've learned
about all of it. But there was the moment in
there that took me back to being that kid and
coming across that channel in real time with no way
to pause and watching, you know, for me at the time,
(08:25):
the slimy heeled triple h you know, going against Scott
Steiner and you know, month after month after month at
pay per views, and that cool feeling that it had,
like man, this is just so cool. And being able
to relive that just for those brief moments through that
video was incredibly touching and just a reminder of why
(08:49):
we love rustling so much is because it transcends just
being a sport. You can be so passionate, be vested
in a sport, but there's something about russ that just penetrates,
like your life and your memories and everything. It's just
I could go on and on and on, but I'll
get off my sobox.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
But but that bridges the gap there. Yeah, everything was
up on that on that on that sheet and then
it drops and triple ages standing there. I would like
to see something or at least hear him talk about
what it was like standing in that ring with no
one knowing that you're there, and watching that same video
on the opposite side of the curtain.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
How he was not a blubbering child.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Afterwards exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Probably he probably was like, well, they probably did rehearsal,
and he's like, I'm going to stand here ten times
and I want to get numbed to.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
This thing, right, gotcha? I got to see it that
many times and then.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
A few seconds later he cut his promo and then
he died because everything exploded around him.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
It was so we had triple ag Yeah, no kidding,
I mean it was. It was funny. My wife goes,
what is that that's sitting in the ring in front
of him? That's going to be Pyro here and just
minute and boy was it. And for not having a stage,
they had a lot of Pyro everywhere it's usually put
in those places. He gets he so Triple h the
very first person other than the announcers to be in
(10:13):
the ring and talk on raw on Netflix, and then
of course got the biggest man in entertainment. Now I
have a debate here, did we get the rock or
did we get Dwayne Johnson. I think we got Dwayne Johnson.
Everything that he said so too.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
He was dressed the part, but he definitely was not
acting the part. And I gotta be careful again not
to jump ahead. I felt it and I felt it, and
I was like, oh, I'm gonna but I held back.
But no, I think we got Dwayne And I think
it was just such a night event of uh appreciation
and looking ahead. It one thing that I'm gonna say,
(10:56):
I'll throw go ahead and throughout this comment since we're
kind of in the first segment, this show was like
you opened like an educational wrestling booking textbook or something.
Oh I got I got a minion.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Hi baby, I'll be there in just a minute.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Can you close the door? Yeah, but feel free to
leave that in if you so choose.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
But what was I saying? I lost my stream? Like, yeah,
the whole show is like if you opened a textbook
of somebody trying to teach wrestling booking. Like everything was
playfully predictable, but like in the best way, Like they
they pulled out all of the classic wrestling things that
(11:47):
happen in storylines. The way the announcers explained everything a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Knowing that there were going to be a lot of
people that didn't normally watch the show watching the show
exactly they did on Saturday nights made event too.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah. Yeah, and so connecting that with what we were
talking about with the rock Duyane Johnson, I think that
it was just a moment for him to just soak
in the accomplishment of the moment. Yeah, there was a
little bit of story weaved in there somewhere, but I
think overall everybody just wanted the night to almost stand
(12:21):
alone by its what it really felt like.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, it didn't, I don't think that much. There wasn't
much continuation or or expounding on the stories that are.
Nothing really progressed, not much. I mean, Rhea Ripley winning
the women's world title obviously massive. We'll get to that
here in just a minute, but that was really the
only thing that kind of progressed in anything. I don't
(12:46):
jumping way ahead to the to the main event. It
didn't give us any finality with Punk and Seth. If anything,
it just I can't wait to hear what Seth has
to say next week and see where some of that
that feud goes between the too, but nothing. And I'll
be honest, there's a part of me that felt very
confused until I realized it's not the Rock talking. Yeah,
(13:08):
I thought it was a rock talking this. I'm very like,
I don't. I don't even know what to think at
the moment, because he's thinking, Cody Rhodes for carrying the
company over the last year. You're the same guy that
was whipping with your belt, lugeoning him in the parking lot,
gaving back the watch. We presume the last time he
(13:29):
was on the last time we saw a rock, he
slashes the slashing symbol in his own throat and counts
three two one or one two three or whatever. It was, Uh,
just very confusing on that part, and I didn't know
what to think of it.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
I think we all had that, like the diehard wrestling
fans had that conversation with ourselves. But I think I
think what they did was they did a quick pivot
to position Rock as high chief Suli or however you
say it, knowing that that's the next step because because
(14:02):
here's the thing, the rivalry, and we're still bouncing around
a little bit, but the rivalry with with Solo and
Roman has been fantastic main event level stuff, but the
reality is it's only a blip on the radar in
the midst of the bigger story. Solo was the placeholder.
(14:25):
And I do not say that anything against Solo, because
I've enjoyed it just as much as any other part
of the Bodline story. But I don't think that the
payoff because initially I was like, you know, this match
is the first one out of the gate, it's it.
I predicted it a mile away, down to the number
(14:47):
of finishers, like, I don't hate it, but I feel
a little disappointed. And then I thought about it. I
took a minute, and I put myself back in the
set of being a fan and less like like a
wrestling critic or commentator, and and I said, the story
had to conclude, and why not tonight, and why not
(15:11):
that way? And and when I realized that it didn't
need some big twist or turn, it was what we
all knew was going to happen, which was Roman Reigns
was going to be the certified tribal chief and that's
going to go on to meet the Rock. And so
(15:32):
then when I framed it up that way, these fans
don't need they to be the same. You know, the
new fans don't need to be bought in the same
way to the story. They just get to see the
epic conclusion. They get to walk in the door and
be like, holy crap, they're fighting over being the king
of a tribe. Like this is awesome. You know.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
They weren't fighting with a king of the tribe. They
were fighting over a chili pepper necklaces. That's what the
rest of the world's going think.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
You were very patient with that long ranch, but I
think it was worth it. But I'm biased.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, No, for sure, I think so too, And I
think it's left to be seen. We're so quick to
you know, typically we're so quick to go, well, this
should have happened, and that should have happened, and this
should have happened. We have no idea what's being set up.
And that's that goes for every single show and every
time the Rock is in the ring, and every time
that especially if he and Roman and in the ring,
and even more of he, Roman and the Wise Man
(16:24):
are in the ring together, there's both of those guys
gave me the feeling that, oh crap, something's about that.
Oh he's about to do. So, Oh that one's now
that he's got it, something's about to happen. Okay, nothing happened.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Nothing happened.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Well, now that's something I made.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Myself look like an idiot too, because I was sitting
with people and I'm like, yeah, you watch this, let's
check this out. Check this out.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Oh he put a necklace on him. That's great, Michael,
that's cool.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
And then and then it cuts and they're like, we're
tard about and I'm.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Like, you didn't see that.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
You know it's you just have to wait till later.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
I got a couple of aesthetics things. I want to
get your thoughts on this mat.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Like it?
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah? Love it? Yeah? Absolutely. I thought the sponsors on
it and everything else that something else came in the
field of you popped because of the black mat. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
And then simultaneously it was less obnoxious and intrusive than
ads on the brighter mat.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Yeah, I was.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I was very much less overwhelmed with adverts on the
black mat, and I was one dred percent cool with it.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Rough shirts, two thumbs way up, way up. It's the progression. Absolutely.
I thought that was really cool, and there was something
that Pat McAfee noticed too. On one of the guys
he said his fade is always on point, as well
as his kicks or something. And the first time I
looked at oh, dudes wearing all black Jordans, that's awesome,
(17:51):
that's really cool. I don't remember which ones they are.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Those shirts are crafty as mac and cheese.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
My friends love it. And what I love is there
is now even more of a distinct difference between the
look of Raw and SmackDown. Yeah, brand new dark, darker
blue matte on SmackDown and a black matt on on Raw.
And it's it's not that you still have the traditional
red and blue for each brand, but it's not everything
(18:20):
red and everything blue like before. You know.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Well, and the dark aesthetic, yeah, because there was, there
was a dark aesthetic to everything that made the limited
color pop there. It just felt good, like they I
don't know if they psychology eat all that, but man,
I was bought into a hook line and sinker.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
The starting with a tribal combat I thought was also
I wondered what would start Raw, and I thought, you
got to start with with a main event, and so
it's either going to be the tribal combat match or
it's going to be Seth and Punk. It's going to
be one of the two, because those are the two
biggest matches on this And I had heard also that
(19:02):
that before that Raw each got together with all of
the talent and said, this is just one show. This
is not like Wrestle Maanie in the fact that we
tried to include everybody over two nights and what have you.
This is just one show. You may be on show two, three, four, five, six,
sevent eighty nine, ten, but there's only so much we
can put on show number one, and we've got to
(19:23):
put the best stories and the best matches on that show,
and I think they accomplished. The only one that I
would say that that maybe felt a little odd if
you just kind of put it in the mix of
everything was the was the Drew J match. But that
any other time that would have been perfectly fine.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
In all of Michael Cole's story monologues that he did
before each match, they all felt really good, and even
he struggled a little bit with the Drew J match
because how do you include three years of story exactly
(20:05):
into a thirty second bit and it's so nuanced, and
it really is true long term, I just hate these guys,
and you can't quite manifest that the same way you
could with Punk Rollins or you know, the the tribal
combat match. So I completely agree in terms of opening
(20:26):
up or in context of opening up with that match.
I didn't have the foresight to really think about it
ahead of time. I didn't. I was just gonna be
along for the ride. In hindsight, there was no other
way to do it. It's the easiest story to explain.
It has movie like qualities, and everybody involved is just
(20:47):
top of their game, and so nothing else makes sense
if that was what was in play for the show.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Plus, if you're only if you get people that only
sampled part of the first hour, and that's what they
got that to gain. Absolutely, you needed them to get
that out of everything that happened that night.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
That would if you look, there is a stone cold,
no pun intended reason that the whole Tribal Combat segment
lasted the entire first hour. It's because they knew that's
when they were going to have the larger majority of
people and it was going to drop off to casual fans.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Well, and speaking of larger majority of people watching now
includes eighty percent of the world. Let that sink in
because the majority of people now by now they have
the majority of people though watching didn't watch it until
the latter part of the first twelve hours after it ended.
(21:45):
Think about that, it was just really the United States.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Dude, that's crazy. The perspective that you just put on
that is just it is. It's insane.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
The majority of the world did not watch that until
twelve hours after its own I mean because if you
think about it, that at seven eight pm when it
started on the East coast, it's only I have my
math correct noon in Hawaii, mm, and so it you know,
and if you're going east and people already in bed
(22:16):
in England, you know, it's it's six hours difference from
the East coast of the United States to England. So
those guys are getting ready to get up. They may
watch it that morning and may wait till that night
and check it out then. So I'm anxious to see numbers.
If those are not, I haven't seen them yet. They
may be out by now.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I haven't seen anything on and talk about having to
relearn what numbers.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Mean exactly, like poor.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Amous wrestling journalists that I'm not going to name, but
it's like, what do you do now, Bud.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Here's the If somebody ask you what the numbers were
for the show, I'm sorry, I can't give you those yet.
We haven't completed one rotation of the Earth. I mean
think about that. I can't tell you until the World
Finish finishes spending one time, then we can talk about
the uh. Starting with trouble, we hit that. If you
(23:13):
were ever looking for a masterclass on how to cut
a promo, go watch John Cena last night. Last night.
Watched John Cena Monday night. Just incredible. There was there
was nothing about that promo that I would go I
don't know about that. Every single thing was absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
You know made me mad about this? Well, maybe mad
is that he got me. Yeah, like he was going
into He's like a lot of people want me to
win the championship. Guys, I don't want to get your
hopes up.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah exactly, And I'm like this.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Is reasonable because this is reality. Like what are you
gonna do? Be a champ for two months and then
lay the belt down and go home? Like why bother?
Like you know that he got your hopes up, and
and then and then he goes well, unless somebody like
you know entered the row rumbo and I'm like you,
son of a biscuit eating bulldog, you got me, sir?
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Well, I think what's great about it too, I mean,
there's too many things great about the one big takeaway
that I thought was awesome from him was that he
he made the the pre planned not seem predictable, but
give you it gives you the impression of all of that.
The lottery tickets, as he calls them, real, Yeah, I'm listen,
(24:37):
just me on my own, I'm probably not going to
win a championship in this year. However, WWE provides a
couple of lottery tickets throughout the year. If I can
grab one of those, there's a chance I get a title.
And it's interesting because.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
I don't I don't know that I've tangibly heard somebody
say it that way, bef. Yeah, and that that was
what was the most vision. Yeah, it's like, whoa, These
aren't just gimmicky pay per views, these are these are
lottery tickets, these are gambles, this is this is a
night in Vegas, Vegas and uh yea, but yeah, crazy
(25:21):
stuff man.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
The uh we could touch on a lot of things.
I've just got a couple more here. We can hit
a couple of viewers, and we're not going to keep
this stringing along forever. But I want to match graphics.
I noticed that more towards the end when they're talking
about next week, next level. Love the graphics side of it.
You and I both love the production of things and
new toys for the production guys to play with, new
(25:42):
graphics to play with, always fun to do. I'm sure
for them. I know it is when I'm doing some
but to see it's like, oh, this feels fresh. I
like this. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Absolutely, I the I have a slightly anxious personality, and
so I tick towards Even though I'm not diagnosed with
something like OCD, I lean that direction, and so when
I do things, I think uniform, symmetrical, all of those things.
The thing that was so captivating about the way everything
(26:15):
looked is that it matched, but it was not equal
or symmetrical. The match graphics were not the same poses
with the same background. It was different layers and versions
of the same match graphics, and those variable differences. As
someone who pays attention to nerds out on that stuff,
(26:37):
it was really cool. To see. But then from a
fan perspective, for people that can't dissect it from a
technical standpoint, it gives this feeling of this epic and
this awe inspiring thing. So just graphics top notch.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
While they were not symmetrical, they weighed the same. There
was weight on both sides of that. That's getting really weird,
and you.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Know, I get it.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
It turns into a tech talk right here all of
a sudden. But yeah, I think that they the weight
of because that's what I thought. I didn't think about
the non symmetrics because I felt that they weighed the
same one.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yes, I love I love that.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, that's what I'm going to kind of bring up here.
Did you think the booze were deserved for hull Cogan?
Expected rather than deserved expected? How about that?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I think I think they should have been expected. First
of all, Ryan Olsen, if you're watching this, I still
love you. I'm sorry, but it was expected whether.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
I was expected for you, because I may have a
different reason.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Listen, I think that there have been some unfortunate moments
in the life of Terry Bolea that have severely affected
Hull Cogan. Uh, and that those two entities cannot be separated,
(28:03):
and unfortunately, there's some things that some people feel need
to be booed in regards to Terry Bolea, and unfortunately
Hulk Hogan has to be along for that ride as well.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
See, now, what it probably is, more than likely is
a mix of your feelings, your thought on that, and mine,
probably both together. We're in the deepest part of the
most one of if the most, if not the most
liberal city in the entire United States, with a guy
who has been campaigning for the forty seventh president of
(28:38):
the United States for the last year.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Or what did you see the Maga Powers shirt? Logan
had a Maga Powers shirt. Maga Powers.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
There you goes, So I think it's probably a combination
to both of our thoughts. In fact, I was just
kind of like, why are they blewing? And my wife goes,
why would they not be? They're in la Okay, I
got it, that's probably it. Okay, got a few more
minutes here. What did I miss? What's one top of
mind that we've got to hit for.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
You don't want to brush over the women's championship match.
Fantastic match, Very well done. I think we always speak
more about women's wresting has evolved to such a point
where when it's good, it doesn't get it doesn't get
(29:41):
the wow like a lot of other stuff does. Like
we get good matches all the time, they don't wow
us because we're used to it. Good women's rsting has
fallen into that women's wresting is still not shaken like
the extra criticism when it doesn't hit. This match was
on par with any men's main event match I've ever seen.
(30:02):
It didn't feel slow, it didn't feel clunky, There wasn't
botches it. It operated the way it should have. And
both of them did a phenomenonal job.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
And what they one thing that I noticed that they
did in that too so interrupt you here, but they.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Hit very hard, yeah, very hard. Yeah yeah yeah. And
other than the complete no set was was that the
one where it was the superplex, the roll through somebody
no sold like a big super plex or something to
end a match. I can't remember who that was punk
my bad, but anyway, great match. Overall, I felt that
(30:43):
the whole rundown of the show was just flawless. The working,
the working of Kofe and Xavier Woods trying to get
the interview, but can never get it done. Brilliant, assolutely brilliant.
The show front to back is a It is the
(31:08):
masterclass of a professional wrestling TV show. I think it's good.
It can't be that good all the time because it's
obviously stacked, but that is everything you love and need
to know about professional wrestling.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I think it's cool. They hit really high. They're going
to take us through little roller coaster and then hopefully
hit another high come the middle of March for wrestler
March or April. I've been changed the date so I
can't remember. I think it's April, but yeah, for WrestleMania
in Las Vegas, so it be a nice little ride
before then. It should be a lot of fun. Listen
(31:45):
if you came here to watch this from the claw Pod,
appreciate you guys checking this out. If you're wondering what
I just said, it's a brand new podcast that I'm
doing with Ross and Marshall Vaughan Eric, Yes, the sons
of the legendary Kevin Vaughan. Eric. Brand new episode just dropped.
I'll say a brand new it's the very first episode
brand new podcast, So would love for you to check
(32:06):
that out. Big news from those guys on the first
episode that I think you'll enjoy. If you're just a
wrestling fan. You don't have to be a WWE fan,
a TNA fan, a AW fan, just if you're just
a fan of wrestling, you'll love this news. So check
that out. We put it in the other channels that
we love on this channel, so love for you to
check that out. It's called the Claw Pod, as in
(32:28):
The Iron Claw with Ross and Marshall, Vaughan Eric. So
glad you guys checked this out if you came here
from there. If you didn't and you don't know what
that is, you'd like to check it out, you can
click that on this channel and come join us over there.
Both episodes here and there drop on Thursday, So we
appreciate you you being a part of it. If you're
watching right now on YouTube, give us a follow up.
Give us a lie doesn't cost you anything and means
(32:50):
the world to us, So we appreciate you doing that.
Looking forward to talking with you again, Michael after episode
number two of Raw on Netflix next week. So that'll
be the real test. That'll be the one like, Okay,
this is what ROW is going to look like? Here
here on out, for the next, for the foreseeable future,
so looking forward to that. Good to have you on
today and good to see you Happy New Year Man,
(33:12):
thanks man, always a pleasure.
Host
Anthony "The AntMan" Lay
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