Newsworthy NXT

Bryan has the news from NXT and an update on AEW Double or Nothing.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition
of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
By from San Francisco. I'm a sports byline broadcasting network.
You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with your hosts,
Brian Alvarez and Mike Semper vv. Are you ready?

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Are you ready?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Let's get it off.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
How's it going everybody? Brian Alvarez here on Wrestling Observer Live.
We are here every day Monday through Friday, New Pacific
three Eastern Sunday three Pacific six Eastern Saturday mornings with
Jim Valley, Tenday Pacific one Eastern Sundays with andrews Arian.
And it is Wednesday here in the show. You know
that means wacky Wednesday. We've got a lot going on.

(00:51):
We got Observer Live speaking of wacky in two hours,
two Pacific, five Eastern oft the after Dark Radio I
got it on. I knew After Dark Radio shirt if
you grab one FW one line dot com slash shirts.
But anyway, we'll be doing news and open lines and
feedback and all sorts of stuff and after dark today.
So I'll tell you about that later. But today here

(01:13):
on the show we got NXT from last night to
talk about, which I thought was a very good show,
certainly a very newsworthy show. We know Ricky Starks's actual name,
so we'll tell you about that, and we got all
of the rest of the news from the show as well,
including some big NXT versus TNA matches we have got

(01:36):
coming up. We've also got the location and the date
for a W Double or Nothing this year. Perhaps some
of you were listening to this going well, of course
we know where it's at. No, you don't. They moved it.
It is not in Las Vegas this year. AW Double
or Nothing has moved. We'll tell you about that, plus

(01:58):
the rest of the schedule that we know of for
a w pay per views for the rest of the year.
We have got more on Ricky starts to the long
interview about leaving AW and coming to NXT. We got
the SmackDown ratings. Show didn't do all that well. Don't
have collision yet, but we should have that very soon.
Everyone's favorite announcer and actually for some of you younger

(02:22):
folks that's probably true. Michael cole I signed a new contract.
We've got the full NXT TV report and more if
you want to Texas Today forty five seven eight zero
seven five sixty six at is forty five seven eight
zero seven five sixty six at for W online at
gmail dot comor W online, Threads, Instagram and cameo at
Brian Albarez on x and Blue Sky Back in the

(02:43):
month with more Observer Live.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
You get it Shi in the get Swinging in the
pom meantime.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
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Speaker 3 (04:44):
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Speaker 3 (05:43):
Eight hundred two six two three nine oh three eight
hundred two six two three nine oh three. Eight hundred
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two six two thirty nine oh three.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez
and Mike SIMPERVV on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
Can the show Brain Albarez here, Wrestling Observer Live, Mike
Simper VV also Wrestling Observa coming. Yeah, if you saw
that big graphic right there. Wrestle Media Weekend is coming
and we got a lot of events there, including a
Q and A and meet and greet with Dave and
I noon Pacific on Friday at the Lovely Palms Hotel

(06:36):
and Casino and you can hang out, ask some questions.
We'll do a live Q and A which will be
live only for those of you that attend. It will
not air on video or audio or anything like that.
It's an exclusive event that'll be Friday at noon at
the Palms, Meet and greet and live Q and A,
and then we've got a Texas Day Brazil lunch noon

(06:59):
on Saturday. We have got to watch Along's Friday or
Saturday and Sunday night at the Sweet We've got a
Sweet Party after WrestleMania and UH and a brunch at
the Wicked Spoon. So if you'd like to go to
any or all, head do f w one line dot
com slash Vegas that is for w one line dot

(07:20):
com slash Vegas and grab your tickets now while they're
still available, So check that out.

Speaker 7 (07:27):
Can I ask you a question?

Speaker 1 (07:29):
I'm not sure? Well question, all right.

Speaker 8 (07:34):
Let's just say Lenny bought tickets. Would he still be banned?

Speaker 1 (07:40):
No, he's only banned from the chat. Okay, I'm sure
I would get along great with Lenny in real life,
but he's not allowed. I'm I've blocked him from my chat.
The rest you can listen to him, but I blocked
him and the chat to you.

Speaker 7 (07:55):
He won't.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
He everyon gets a question and you got to go
back to the line. It's fine, he can come out
one question the Q and I don't care. I don't
care about asking questions. It's when you say completely preposterous
things and are heavily biased and cannot see it. I
just can't take it.

Speaker 7 (08:12):
Now.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
One other thing before we get to the news. After
Dark Radio is at two Pacific five Eastern, and a
couple of weeks ago, somebody asked about the Maltby Cemetery,
which is near where I live, where there is allegedly
thirteen steps down to Hell. So I told this story
and on the show today we don't have a guest,

(08:34):
so we'll be taking feedback. So I want to know
about weird stuff in your town. So everybody's got some
weird story in their town, so I would like you
to send those to me. And it doesn't have to
be anything paranormal. Like my mother, for example, went to
high school with the Green River murderer. Yes, she went
to high school with him. So whatever some unusual weird

(08:58):
thing in your next the woods, I want you to
tell me about it. Just send it to me Brian
at after darkradioshow dot com. That is Brian at after
Dark radioshow dot com, or he can send it to
my normal email, but put after dark in the subject line.
I don't care how you get him to me, but
email me some stories and give you, guys two hours

(09:19):
plenty of time, and we'll read some of them on
the air and maybe we'll do some phone calls about
about that as well. Plus all of the weird news
of the last week. So that's coming up a two
Pacific five Eastern on Sports Byline as well as YouTube
and Twitch and everywhere else you watch these shows live,
So that's coming up now. Aw Double or Nothing twenty

(09:42):
twenty five has been announced and it is not in
Las Vegas almost certainly because WrestleMania is taking place in
Las Vegas in April. So the the new location for
Double or Nothing twenty twenty five will be the Desert

(10:06):
Diamond Arena, Glendale, Arizona, and that will be as noted
May twenty fifth. So if you want to go to
Double or Nothing this year, it'll be in Glendale, Arizona,
which I think they had a did they have a
WrestleMania somewhere around that area?

Speaker 8 (10:25):
They had it at the area where was that Cardinals
football stadium.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
Which I enjoyed that Wrestlemanian Arizona. I don't think it'll
ever go there again, but it was fun to go
there that one year.

Speaker 8 (10:36):
Well, were you in Phoenix? Was everything based in Phoenix?
For that w Russell Maania?

Speaker 1 (10:41):
I don't remember. I just know I really liked Arizona.

Speaker 8 (10:43):
Glendell is I think a little outside of Phoenix, and
that's where the old hockey team I believe was playing
before they moved to Salt Lake City.

Speaker 7 (10:52):
So I don't know.

Speaker 8 (10:54):
I Hey, look, if you want to go on vacation,
going to Arizona isn't the worst thing in the world
when it comes to the web and all that.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
So so they're there. Building is right across the street
from where they ran WrestleMania twenty six.

Speaker 7 (11:05):
There you go, so there you go.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
I like that place. I don't know how it is now.
That was, you know what, fourteen years ago. Fifteen years ago.

Speaker 7 (11:13):
Plus a lot easier travel for you.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
I had to to Vegas. No, Vegas is much easier.

Speaker 8 (11:19):
No, but I mean as far as coming to the
East coast or something like that too.

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Well, of course it's never easy to travel longer distances.
But they're they're not They're in an easier flight than
the Vegas I know.

Speaker 7 (11:31):
But I like Russellmania pained Brian travel story.

Speaker 4 (11:35):
No I'm not.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
I'm not going back to New York, New Jersey. Not happening.
The Meadowlands and then the rest of the schedule has
revolution March ninth in la the Crypto dot Com Arena.
The Dynasty Show will be April sixth in Philadelphia. We've

(11:57):
got double or nothing as noted in Glendale building in Pilly.
I don't want to try and pronounce it the Lately
Chorus or whatever center all in is it the Globe
Life Field, I can pronounce that one. Arlington, Texas, July twelfth,
which I think we're going to. I'm actually not sure
I think And Forbidden Door is August twenty fourth in London,

(12:19):
venue to be announced. Not going to that one, but
I will probably go to the Seattle Show when they
announce it. So, uh, Friday Night SmackDown lowest number of
the year one point three eight four million viewers on
the USA network did do a point four to two,
which was second on all of cable, and the show

(12:44):
went head to head with the NBA All Star Celebrity Game,
which featured Bailey, So that should count as a wrestling rating, right,
Sure that did one point two million viewers in a
point four to three and eighteen to forty nine, so
that that gobbled up about j ten to forty nine viewers,
and I guess we'll find out soon. Should be like

(13:06):
any time, how that that Collision Show did? That Collision
Show should do the best collision number of the year.
It's got an enormous lead in. It was promoted for
a long time as Grand Slam Australia. It opened with
a banger, which I thought it should have and so
I guess we'll we'll see soon.

Speaker 8 (13:26):
The question is much like that college football game that
preceded it. Yes, we'll have a number, and it should
be one of their highest, but what will it finish
with by the time all is said and done, how
many people last the year?

Speaker 1 (13:39):
You know what, It'll fall off a lot. But the
last time they had a giant lead in like this,
there is there is this idea that people who don't
like aw taut which is, well, you know that first quarter,
you get like people watching for a minute and then
they turn off the show. But that first minute. So
that's actually not what happened the last time they had
a gigantic lead in from an NBA game, I believe

(14:02):
it was.

Speaker 7 (14:04):
It was football, when it was college football.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
Whatever it was. They kept those viewers for forty five minutes.
It was forty five minutes before the decline started. So
it was not a situation of you know, one minute,
five minute and then they all left. No, they stayed
around for a good forty five minutes.

Speaker 8 (14:21):
So I guess the difference will be in this case,
it came on a lot later on the East coast,
whereas that one was about the time the show usually started.
In fact, I think it started on time at eight o'clock.
In this case, what time did it actually.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
Well, actually it says here apparently the Collision Show did
five hundred and two thousand viewers and a point two
to one, so they doubled what they normally do, and
that's the average over two hours. So that first that
first quarter, half hour, forty five minutes. I mean, we
may have been up in the in the sevens. So
it'll be interesting to see what those quarters are. That's

(14:58):
five five hundred and two that and a point to
one over two hours. So given that, they probably had
a very big lead in and declined, and they probably
ended close to where they normally would end, which would
be you know, I don't know, three hundred thousand and
a point one zero. They probably did a gigantic first
few quarters, so we'll find out soon enough.

Speaker 7 (15:21):
Well, they started with the right match, I think that's
for sure.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
Well, you know, the whole show is good, but that's
definitely the match I would open with. Yeah, and they
didn't do a lot of remember actually know what it
was last time? I remember this now, first quarter top
to million, yep. So I'll talk about it after the break.
Because they did something last time that I was I
was just aghast, and to their credit, they learned from
and didn't do it this time. Back in a moment

(15:46):
Observer lives, I kind of see.

Speaker 7 (15:55):
The range, but they call me.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
You were listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez
and Mike simper Vivi on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.

Speaker 7 (16:22):
Hey, you know what what's up?

Speaker 1 (16:28):
Let me teach you all everything, actually mostly Lenny everything.
You know, It's okay to be wrong, Lenny. It's okay
to be wrong. So I was wrong before we went
to commercial because what I said was the last time
they had a giant lead in they did something and
I was aghast, and thank god they didn't learn from

(16:50):
it and do it again. That's what I said. But
you know what, I was wrong because now they think
about it. I was aghast at what they did. But then,
like I later, saw the quarters and it didn't make
any difference whatsoever. And for all I know, maybe it
helped because the first the first three quarders did like
great numbers. They opened the last show when they had

(17:12):
that giant lead in Okay. It was the NBA or whatever, NFL,
whatever it was, they had this giant lead in Okay,
and so I thought, okay, like these people are coming
off this show. You're starting like throw will Ospray and
Kenny o'meg or whoever in the ring and just do
a banger. Remember this argument, Yes, And I'm like, what

(17:32):
are they gonna start with? Like they gotta start hot,
like don't even do ring it or just start with
the match Jordy in progress. They opened up I think
it was in the Hammerstein Ballroom and they opened up
the show and it was Tony Shavani's standing in the
ring with Big Boom AJ and his kid the Riz

(17:54):
whatever his name is, and like they're just standing there.
Tony goes, we're here with Big Boom AJ and the
Riz and AJ goes boom and they all stood there.

(18:14):
Tony goes, we got a big show for you tonight,
don't we Aj? And he goes.

Speaker 7 (18:24):
Boom.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
Tony goes, yes, we do here in this beautiful and
I'm like, bro, what are we doing? Get the show
on the road. And it kept going and it was
like Tony would say something, this bloke would say boom,
and then his kid would say boom, and then he'd
say something. I was like, dude, people are turning off
this show in troupes. What's going on. Well, anyway, as

(18:47):
it turns out that never happened. I guess people were
really into Tony Shiavanni Big Boom AJ and Noel Riz
standing in the ring and saying boom for like ninth
straight minutes. I don't know, dude, But the point, my
point is this, it didn't hurt like it did. People
didn't turn off the show, so I was wrong. But
I do think it was better that this time they

(19:07):
opened hot, and as Dave noted, that first quarter over
a million, which, by the way, I think i'd have
to go back. I think that might be better than
when they had the Rizzler in the ring. So maybe
maybe I was right after all. But the point is
the first court did over a million, and so you know,
get ready everyone listen, let's all get our fingers on

(19:28):
the keyboard to get mad.

Speaker 7 (19:29):
If we add in Max, yes.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
I mean they had well over they had well over
a million for that first quarter. Mike, did they have
zero people watching on Max? I didn't even give a number.

Speaker 7 (19:42):
No, I know it.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
I know they didn't have zero because I watched it
on Max, as did most of the people in the
chat add most of the people on So anyway, whatever
the number is. And you know why people are so
stupid because I bring this fact up and then they're like, oh,
the show did two million because of the Max viewer
strong right, Brian, No, I never said they did two million.

Speaker 7 (20:03):
It's how you know.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
I never said you had a million.

Speaker 7 (20:06):
Brought the people the eyes.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
I said that probably is. I said, like everything else streaming,
they probably did twenty to thirty percent extra. Hey, if
you are, they probably did.

Speaker 8 (20:15):
If you would have just come out and said, hey,
guess what they're going to do some eyeballs on Max.

Speaker 7 (20:21):
We don't know what those numbers are.

Speaker 8 (20:22):
Well, I have to see what kind of inflated PR
releases we get, just like WWE Netflix are doing. But no,
you have to come up here and say from day one,
guess what they did the same exact amount of people
they've been doing on TV, but now they got never
can't prove that they you're telling me nobody.

Speaker 7 (20:42):
You know what, it's how you brought the argument.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
Listen, they're not doing the same on TV. They're eighteen
to forty nine is down and their viewership is down
because a lot of people are now watching on Max. Okay,
and then you know what's funny about it. As I
was saying, you know what, it seems like everybody says
they're watching on Max and not TBS, and ever's like, oh,
that's not true. Just me and all my friends, but
nobody else. And then and then it's like, if they

(21:06):
were doing well, if they were doing well, hey, I
gotta mute you now. If they were doing well, they said, well,
we would have heard something from Max, and we haven't.
If they were doing something well, we would have heard something.
So then like a few days later, we hear from Max.
It's one of the most watched live programs on And
now it's like, well that doesn't count. Okay, whatever, the

(21:28):
show's doing well on Max. You can get angry if
you want, or you could send an email to Brian
at after Dark radioshow dot com with what weird thing
is happening in your town Brian at after Dark radioshow
dot com or Brian at Restlingobserver dot com after darkness,
subject line and you know what not Johnny Jeter is

(21:50):
where on the chat he goes, I'm so sick of
ratings talk Listen. All I do is I briefly go
over numbers, and you guys got to start the fight.

Speaker 7 (21:57):
Oh the Max thing? No, Brian, we go, you go.
You started it? This time? You started people?

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Do you started it? All I said was they also
had a lot of people watching on Max and then
you had to bring up it a million and this guy,
oh it's two million.

Speaker 7 (22:13):
I'm pointing out you.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
Hey, I'm ready to move on. You want to shut
up about it? Or if we keep talking?

Speaker 7 (22:19):
It's how you bring the argument to people.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
You want to know the biggest news on NXC last night.
You want to know the biggest news on NXC last night?

Speaker 7 (22:27):
What's that?

Speaker 1 (22:30):
I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm thinking, not now that this
guy is begging me to move on. Don't beg me
to move on. It's my show here, not Johnny Jeter
is where I'll decide when I move on.

Speaker 7 (22:40):
Not you Now I've.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
Decided to move on. The big story, you know, the
biggest story on NXT last night was what What's that?
I can't even believe it? What Ricky Stark signed the
wrong contract?

Speaker 7 (22:53):
Who not? Wait? Ricky?

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Who can you believe he did that?

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Oh?

Speaker 7 (22:58):
My god?

Speaker 1 (22:59):
Good thing that have that? You're rayah, what's the what's
what's his name?

Speaker 9 (23:02):
Out?

Speaker 1 (23:03):
There's contract, and he'd have been stuck with that name
for the rest of his life. So now apparently he's
Ricky Saints, not Ricky sat Ricky Saints.

Speaker 7 (23:13):
New Orleans Saints. Yes, that's where he's from.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
If he really wanted to be different, he would have
put an apostrophe in there, just for the heck of it.
But he's wrestling on the show next week. And he
also did an interview about a w Letny log off.
Now he was unbusted open and he was asked about
his name, and he says, it's as close a you're

(23:38):
going to get to Starks.

Speaker 8 (23:39):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
I know a lot of people are going to be well,
it's going to take time. I respect they care so deeply.
They'll rebel against the name change. But at the same time,
I'm a product of New Orleans want to pay respect
to that as well. I think this is the best
of both worlds and means a lot to me. He
was then asked about uh the speculation that his appearance

(24:04):
at the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania while under aw contract.
I think he was helping Cody bring his stuff into
the building. Lead if Tony was upset with that, and
he says, I don't know the specifics. Some people you
asked the internet it was because you were at the rumble,
will screw you. He says, the footage got leaked from
me being at the rumble. I wasn't backstage. I left
after the first match. Some could say, well, you weren't

(24:25):
mating the sweep. They got you on camera cheering. Screw you.
You're an idiot with no friends and no passion in life.
If you think, hey, remember when remember when Britt Baker
was in the crowd of that NXT show and like
the camera guy didn't know she was Britt Baker and
she just got a picture of her in the Adam
Cole match. She never got heat for that, So anyway, says, uh,

(24:46):
I can What I can say for myself is when
I got hurt in March, that was it. I never
came back, and even then I wasn't hurt. It was
a precaution thing where I got scared as I had
a stinger. Then I was fine After that, no dice,
no communication, know nothing. That's okay because I ended up here.
It's fine. Everything worked out. I don't know how explicitly
where it went wrong. I can't point to one thing.

(25:08):
I can say it was a storm of things. Probably
did I use something that may have tipped them off? Sure,
asking for my release whenever you know this past whatever
could have been it. But never once was I not
willing to do something. Never once was I sabotaging anything.
I will say this, there are some people who stuck
their nose in my creative business that shouldn't have happened veterans,

(25:29):
and that's it. I'll leave it at that. They got
a problem with me, they got my number, text me
about it. I think it's what it is. If you
don't work for their creative then something had to get
the boot. That's how I see it. But I'm not
trying to be negative in my thought process. If you
want to step on me to go get ahead in
your illustrious career. Everyone has an illustrious career. Everyone should
have an illustrious career. That's perfectly fine. But at the

(25:50):
same time, I'm not wet behind my ears. And that's
what he said.

Speaker 7 (25:55):
Did you text them, well, no, it was funny.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
What do you talk about. I never said anything negative
about Ricky Starks, Dude, I was buying Ricky Starks back
at NWA Power. Remember that show. Oh yeah, I like
that show.

Speaker 8 (26:07):
They look if you look at some of the people
that they gave a spotlight to that a lot of
people like people liked Elight Knight or La Night, Eli Drake,
people liked Eddie Kingston, people liked Ricky Starks, and they
gave them the spotlight to actually go forward with.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
And by the way, I think there was like, you know,
everyone on the internet was saying these guys had to
signed NDAs. Maybe they did, but that didn't sund like
a guy that signed an NBA right now.

Speaker 8 (26:33):
I'm sure not everybody's got to sign an NDA. I
don't thinking Ricky Starks's case it's really that serious. Obviously
it was not serious when he came to him hanging
out with his friend Cody. I don't think that's a
big surprise or anything like that. And I'm sure that
they got the point that he was not trying to
be there anymore when he asked for his release. I
can absolutely see that. But I think a lot of

(26:53):
things probably have gotten blown out of proportion. But it
is going to be interesting to see if any more
comes out on who he is talking about, because I'm
sure people are going to take that and run with it.

Speaker 7 (27:04):
Was it Chris Jericho? Was it Adam Copeland? Wasn't this
person or that person?

Speaker 8 (27:08):
So by Ricky Saints, this person says, by the way,
but yes, by by him saying that, it did open
that door. But I guess we'll have to see and
really for him moving forward, as we'll get to everything
was laid out nicely for him last night.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
We do have to figure out what's going on with
his DeFi World title because he won it and I
don't know if he can go back because DeFi works
with a W and I don't think he was under
nxt WWE contract when he won the title, because I
don't think they would have given it to him if
he was. I don't even know if he could have
work there if he was.

Speaker 7 (27:38):
Well. Starks can, but Saints can't.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
We shall see back in a moment Observer Live.

Speaker 9 (27:56):
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Speaker 2 (31:01):
You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Albarez
and Mike SIMPERBB on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
In the show, Brain Albert is here Wrestling Observer Alive
except for BB also Wrestling Observer dot com. Well, let's
talk about this NXT show, all right, I'm missing something
good there? No, should I not bother? Okay, all right,
the NXT show. We'll do a full review with Vinnie

(31:34):
coming up on Thursday. But you know what I want
to talk about, actually talked about it the other day.
But it's uh, it's true. And no, I was one
hundred percent right about Corey Graves. But you'll you'll all
see soon enough. So anyway, it's a self fulfilling prophecy
and wrestling. We've actually talked about this on and off
for years now, and uh and man, this NXT show

(31:59):
was a shining exam. So this show Tuesday was almost
a women's show. The show opened up with well, I
mean there was a there was a segment with uh,
we'll get to in a minute, but like, the first
match was a women's match, the second match was a
women's match. Then they did an angle to set up

(32:21):
a women's match, which was the main event of the show.
And it was like, probably, I don't know, half the
show was segments involving women full fifty percent, and from
the moment they opened, they talked about it all night long,
and they pushed it really hard as the show was

(32:43):
going off the air. This is a company that has
the best women's division in the world. That's what they said,
the best women's division in the world. Now we're gonna
be honest. Actually, you know what, I would say that
that's true. If if we go by what exactly they said,

(33:04):
which is the best women's division in the world, this
would indicate by the words division that there's a division
between the men and the women, So that would include
you know, Stardom and Marygold and this would be just
promotions that have men's divisions and women's divisions. Okay, I
mean they're pushing hard. This is the best women's division

(33:25):
in the world. And if you look at the depth
of talent, like right now, I mean, you could argue that,
but here's the most important thing. Okay, here's the most
important thing. Fact of the matter is they treat the
women exactly like they treat the men. The women may

(33:46):
invented the pl the women may invented this TV show.
The women had fifty percent of the segments on the
entire show, and they have pushed that the women are
as important as the men and that it is the
best women's division on earth. And you know what, the
fans buy it. And they react to the women's stars

(34:07):
like they react to the men's stars. They react to
the women's matches like they react to the men's matches.
And if you look at the quarter hours, I mean
often the highest rated thing on the show is a
segment involving women. Now, let's compare that to AW. And

(34:28):
this is not a new criticism. This is a criticism
that has gone back years and years and years to
the point where a guy nearly won the prediction contest
by predicting there would be two women's matches on an
AW show. Okay, the AW women, with the exception of
britt Tony Storm, Mercedes and Mariah May, which by the way,

(34:56):
is four over the last five years. Okay, with the
exception of them, the women's I mean it's always been
an afterthought. I mean, you can love Chris stat Lander
and you can love whoever, but it has always been
treated as an afterthought. Okay, And really, really, I mean

(35:17):
forget all those women. I mean, even Mercedes is not
headlining shows. I mean, we got Tony Storm and Mariah
May headlining a show. So you know, Mariah May and
Tony is the best women's program that they've ever had.
They gave it more attention than any other women's program
in history and for a longer period of time. But

(35:41):
with the exception of that, I mean, are we is
letting gonna argue that the women are not an afterthought
in aaw And as a result, you know, you can
look at the quarter hours of Dynamite, the women are
not going to be the top rated thing on the show.
Even even the big return of Tony Storm member which

(36:01):
he made her big return and did that angle with Mariah.
That segment lost viewers. The return of Tony Storm to
feud with Mariah May. Everybody's arguing about how it was
fine for her to have her first match back on
Rampage or whatever. It was fine, dude, that segment with

(36:21):
Tony Storm her return of the ring on Rampage did
a normal number. I'm not talking about the show as
a whole, like the show as a hole. That Rampage
did better than usual, but it did better than usual
because the opening segment was the Woo Woo guy who
did like a great opening segment. But Tony's segment was

(36:41):
just like a segment on the show. So it's a
self fulfilling prophecy. Tony clearly has the idea that the
women are not going to do as well as the men.
You know, I'll do some stuff with them if somebody
like Marian Tony really get over like, I'll give them segments.
But in generally you can see that his impression is

(37:03):
they're just not gonna do what the guys do, and
so in fact they don't because that's how they're promoted
on the show. Whereas WWE is decided we are going
to push this idea that we have the best women's
division on Earth. They push it that way, they feature
them that way, They put them in prominent positions, they
put them in the top of the hour, they put

(37:24):
them in the main events, and you know what they've done.
They have created, in the eyes of their fans, the
best women's division in the world, and the women do
as well or better than the men. So there's a
lesson here. It's not like it's a new lesson. I
mean it's it's basic promotion. If you promote something is important,
like people will learn that it's important, and if you don't,

(37:46):
they won't. So that was a show.

Speaker 8 (37:50):
It's not in one to one comparison because NXT is
WWE's third branded is there to develop people and all
that sort of stuff, But really it goes back to
aw and developing talent and making people believe in certain
people and making people stand out.

Speaker 7 (38:06):
And NXT's been able to do that.

Speaker 8 (38:09):
Yes, you have Julia and Stephanie Vacher and Roxane perez
Win in there already very seasoned despite her age. But
then you've seen the Fallon Henley's of the world come along.
Then you've seen the Tiffany Strattons of the world come along.
We've seen other people kind of go through. Now we've
seen lash legend improve and these people have improved over

(38:29):
time because they've invested in them we made fun of
Jasmine Nicks when she started. Now she actually fits in
quite well with Jacy Jane and Fallon Henley. And if
Henley goes up to the main roster, it's going to
open up more doors. And things are not perfect there,
they're not great. All of the stories don't click and
all of that sort of stuff. But like you mentioned,

(38:50):
you know, when you do have.

Speaker 11 (38:51):
Stars, and look on the NXT roster, that's the one
thing they've been able to do too, is when you
do have a star that's bigger on the women's side
than the men's side.

Speaker 8 (39:02):
I mean, other than Opa, Femmi and Trek Williams, who's
really over in comparison to Julia, Stephanie and Roxanne, Like
nobody is close to that. So you know, for them
to be in the main event position, that's what it
actually should be.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
And somebody asked, yeah, well what about Ron SmackDown. Well,
on SmackDown this week, Ripley's one of.

Speaker 7 (39:27):
The biggest stars in the world.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
Over the last two years, the Piper Niven Bianca Bellair
quarter was the highest rated quarter on the show. So
that was just this week and then let's see, you.

Speaker 8 (39:41):
Don't even have to Rio Ripley's want have been one
of the biggest women's wrestlings.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Well, she's a big star, but that doesn't mean that
she's always going to do like like good numbers. But
she does.

Speaker 8 (39:49):
But yeah, but as far as you know, the argument
of how you position and place somebody, how you go
with the flow if somebody is getting over to that
sort of degree, and how you play with it, I mean,
my god, I mean look over she is.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
Stupid, God, broken images anything else? Anyway, boy, they do well,
all right, So the show opened up with actually it
was a great segment. Oba Femi comes down to the
ring for a promo, but the lights quickly go out
and out comes the TNA X Division champion Moose. Moose

(40:23):
and the place when nuts. They had like a fifteen
to twenty second chant that they had to edit. It's
just silence for like twenty straight seconds, and then Moose says,
hate to burst your bubble. I'm the one guy you
can't rule over. And they have not announced a date yet,
but this match is gonna happen, and next week we're

(40:46):
gonna get Moose in action in Cincinnati against Brian Pillman
Junior for the X Division title. So that should be exciting.

Speaker 7 (40:55):
Have we seen that at any point over the years.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
I don't know, but all I know is all they
had to do was look at each other and tease
a match, and this place was going wild. We didn't
need a brawl, we didn't need like anything. It was
simple and it was perfect and.

Speaker 7 (41:09):
We will not need the Heritage Cup on the line.
It won't be.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
Stupid Ariage Cup.

Speaker 7 (41:14):
Then we had.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
I'm not gonna go over every single segment. I know
people get mad, but that's what Thursday's for, and we
have five minutes. We had Carmen, Kolani and Jada in
a three way number one contenders match for the North
American title, and hey, you know, we've talked about it
like there's good and bad. The good thing is the
fans went nuts for this match. They saw him as
three stars fighting. The negative is that it is a

(41:40):
developmental match and as a result, it was just a
completely choreographed three way There's like no life to it.
It's just i'll do a spot, you do a spot.
I'll do a spot, you do a spot, you do
a counter, I'll do a spot. And then at the end,
which was funny, actually, Jada Parker does sit down spot

(42:01):
in the corner on Klannie and then she does her
high step gimmick and then she's high stepping. Carmen sneaks
in and pins Klannie and wins and Chetah. Parker is
very angry and even Booker's like she got she distracted herself. Booker,
I don't know, man, I don't know tonight he had

(42:24):
some moments, but you know what, he was also good.
He was good in a lot of spots, and on
a weekly basis, I get way more, way more irritated
by Vic Joseph than I do, Booker t and this
night was no exception. And then they had the most
hilarious moment ever. So there's a brawl afterwards. Jade and

(42:48):
Colonie start brawling and uh, this is an outcome j C,
Jasmine and Fallon and they start beating up Klon and Ashanti.
The Adonis is there and he goes hell, hell, and
they go to commercial. They beat on her for four

(43:09):
minutes during that commercial break. And then after they've beaten
on her for four minutes during the commercial break, in
run the baby faces Jordan and Uh and Julia or
Stephanie or whoever, and Vic Joson goes right in the
nick of time. I'm like, dude, they've been beating her

(43:32):
for four minutes. That's right in the nick of time.

Speaker 7 (43:35):
Stephanie's intro and music like Ava, Why are you letting
get beaten.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
Like dying.

Speaker 4 (43:43):
Dying?

Speaker 1 (43:44):
Yeah, good job, Ashanti. He can't even I know you
can't hit the other women like but dude, pick her
up and take her to the back, dude. He Then
we have Soul and Tzaria versus Jakara and Lash which
I don't know what I was expecting, but it was
far better than whatever I was expecting. My only negative,

(44:05):
which I've said a thousand times, and you know the
answer I got today was it doesn't matter anymore, which
I guess is probably right. But why is Carmen Why
is Soul Ruka straightening her hair? Okay, here's the thing.
Her regular hair is distinctive, number one, and in this business,
you want to be distinctive, you want to stand out.

(44:28):
And number two, her normal hair is surfer hair, and
she's got a surfer gimmick. But now she straightened it.
And I swear to God, if you watch this match,
and she looks exactly like Charlotte she's in there looking
like Charlotte. You know we don't need two Charlotte's back
in the moment.

Speaker 7 (44:48):
With More Deserve Live.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
You are listening to Wrestling Observer Life with Brian Alvarez
and Mike semperviv on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.

Speaker 7 (45:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
I don't got time to finishing at the XT report today,
but uh we do have Ethan Paige and Wes Lee
versus Ricky Saints and Javon Evans next week. I love
that match the Hardys Hardy's. The Hardys will be on
NXT and they will be facing uh uh no Corter,

(45:42):
catch crew those boys and yes, yes, if that's you
texting me right now, stop it. I'm trying to wrap
this show up.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
No, not you.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
And Fatal Influence Julian Jordan and Stephanie was the main event,
which ended with the baby Faces winning Jordan's finished Made
in Japan which is zam as Penta, and then all
three women celebrated, but you could see that they were
staring each other down and by the way throughout the show,

(46:10):
the new group the debuted the pay per view beating
people Up. They were beating people up throughout the show
and of course that had to be the Kudi gras
on the show. The show ends with more geeks beaten
up and Ava goes in and she doesn't know what happened.
Of course you don't. It was the mystery geeks. It's
been happening in the whole show.

Speaker 8 (46:30):
I gotta be honest, very clean spray painting on the
wall for somebody in a hurridan.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
Oh you also, you know what else? You know what else?
Vick was driving me nuts about God, this whole show. Okay,
it was like there was no card. Like throughout the show,
the wrestlers are just coming out and making matches for later,
like the main event was made on the fly, and like,
and Vick's like, busy night for Ava.

Speaker 7 (46:55):
Like, no, it's not.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
It's the opposite. She doesn't have to do anything. Everyone
else is booking the matches. She needna have a card.
What do you mean it's a busy night for Ava.
Ca Hey, send me your after Dark stuff to Pacific
five Eastern. I want to know about weird things in
your town, Brian at after Dark Radio show dot com,
or just send it to my email with after Dark
in the subject line. Two Pacific five Eastern. On sports, byline, YouTube, Twitch,

(47:19):
all these platforms. Check it out and that's it. Everybody
will talk to you next. I Wrestling Observer Live. You

(47:46):
have been listening to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on
the eight Side Network