WWE Elimination Chamber '24 Roundtable - 02/23/24

Jon Jansen, Jason Fanelli, Vaughn Johnson, and Nick Piccone discuss their thoughts on the current Road to #WrestleMania and predictions for #WWEChamber.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Whiney full up her jump, fatto fo Philly. Are you ready for
the Mania? Don't for the peto finish the story? Cody Road Knowledge,

(00:23):
nobody does w W E like theGambler. Don't glo Sacks grass a
small jashos house, sashbacks us youpanic Sack and your eyes right John shot

(00:56):
Sack Today up on the road.WrestleMania all down right here, every step
of the way, all throughout WrestleMania. Get you ready for the biggest event
of the year, right here inPhiladelphia. My name is John Jansen,

(01:17):
joined by the rest of the WrestlingRoundtable. We got Nick mccoone, we
got Von Johnson, we got JasonFanelli, we got wrestling, we got
Australia early wrestling times. We gotwrestling. Uh Elimination Chamber one of the
more unique matches, a match thatI still kind of love, has has
had some of its incredible moments thatI really enjoy. But it's it's been

(01:42):
an already interesting road to Mania.So we haven't talked about all this stuff
in a while. There was akickoff event, there was the Rock and
Roman now Rhodes and Roman and Rockwith Roman. It's been a lot So
I'll start here with you, Nick, with everything that happened, how do
you feel we are now in thestate of like the WrestleMania build up?

(02:04):
Is this good to you? Isit a bumpy road? Just where do
you think you stand now with sofar the build up to the Showcase of
the Immortals. Well, it's notboring. I could say, that's a
good way to boring. We stillhaven't gotten a clearer answer as to why
Cody stepped down to begin with.That's what I was hoping they would clear

(02:30):
up the last couple of weeks andthey still haven't. So even just saying
like, hey, when we talked, you sold me your story, but
clearly now you're just you started talkingsmack on me and stuff like that.
Yeah, that's that's not happening anymore. And they kind of like flirted with
that when Cody mentioned the Rocks promoand Pat McAfee saying, you know,

(02:53):
Cody cry baby song, but theydidn't like explain it. They didn't explain
it enough. And I'm like,explain you know, like I reward me
for watching. Like people are stillconfused as to why Cody just stepped down
to begin with. But right nowit seems like we're on track. Got
Cody and Roman the Rocks, youknow promo from last week's SmackDown that I

(03:16):
didn't even like pay attention closely toit, But then I saw the theories
the day after, and then Iwent back and watched him like wow,
like he could have been dropping hintsthe entire promo that I didn't even think
about when I was watching it live, So that kind of got me back
into it. If if they're goinga certain route. I liked the fact

(03:37):
that The Rock and Roman teamed upand they were gonna tell that for a
little bit. I don't know ifI want to see that kind of end
soon, But overall, I getjust hasn't been boring, and we're where
we should have been the entire timeat this point with Cody and Roman,
so at least there's that vun youfeeling about the build up, because yeah,

(04:01):
there's still a lot of gaps Iwould say in this in the story
that we still haven't gotten yet.But overall, I kind of agree with
Nick that we seem like we're atthe place we should be right now,
even though it's been a weird,odd road to get there. Yeah,
I can tell you why they don't. They haven't explained Cody's actions because it
wasn't part of the original plan tocome back to this point. They don't.

(04:26):
They just don't have an answer.They're like, look, forget about
that. We can't make sense ofit because it doesn't make any sense.
It is Is it okay for wrestlingto just be like because no, they're
not an episodic they are an episodictelevision show. But this is not like
Breaking Bad, where things have tomake sense chronologically. You know, sometimes
things can just be thrown away.And is this one that's appropriate to just

(04:47):
kind of throw away? No?I don't think so, But I mean
I get wide if thrown it away, we're past it where we should be.
So I'm not going to hold themto the to the standard that I
probably would have Breaking Bad or WalkingDead or something like that. But no,
this is not okay to do this. This is why this that was
a miscalculation to what they did andjust shoehorning the rock in. They misread

(05:08):
the room clearly. That's why theyshifted gears. And that's why we're here
now with no good reason logically,but we're here and it's what everybody actually
wants. So they're like, justforget it, guys, because we gave
you what you wanted the end ofthe day, right, but just like
it, you know, didn't makesense when they didn't want to put Daniel
Bryan in the main event at WrestleManiathirty. They found a sort of a
logical way to do it, butthat wasn't the original plan. This way,

(05:30):
they had people say out their mouthlike Cody Rhodes, I'm stepping aside,
guys, not at WrestleMania. That'swhat he said. And that's when
they did that. They obviously pinthemselves in the corner and they're trying to
get out of it, and they'vegotten out of it, and they've i
think hooked a lot of people,myself included back in by turning the rock
heel and the rock going back topretty much ninety nine, melding you know,

(05:53):
late nineties heel rock with Hollywood rock. He has. You know,
it used to be the five hundreddollars Asatchi shirt. Now it's one hundred
dollars because he got adjusted for inflationto twenty twenty four dollars, so seven
hundred dollars vers actually vest, notthe shirt, but the vest. You
know what I'm saying. He's gotthe shades. He's clowned in the Salt
Lake City talking about them in theirfifty Wives and the six hundred grand.

(06:17):
That's good stuff, so kind aboutthat. Either way, where are we
at now? We're happy with it. I think The Rock is far more
interesting as a heel right now insteadof the pandura that he was just a
couple of weeks ago. That actwas kind of getting tired, even though
the people who love the Rock,he's the people's champ, but that act

(06:40):
was kind of getting tired. Andhe's flipped the switch and it's working.
It's he's kind of overshadowing Roman Reignedslightly. But I think they'll come back
around to it by WrestleMania because heis, after all, the main event
and they got to make him feellike a big deal. But yeah,
we're We're supposed to be the farmore interesting. But again I know why
they and half an answer for CodyRoads, yet they won't have one.

(07:02):
Just forget it, get it happened? Like you notice they haven't even replayed
that segment for what because it justmakes everybody look goofy at the end of
the day. I think when theydid they left out the not at WrestleMania
part, So I'm sure because youcan't hold Cody to that anymore. Yeah,

(07:25):
And I do like it's more interestingthe Rock now and going back to
you know, a Rock that weall kind of really liked, even though
a getting healed character. But itmakes it more interesting. And I think
that's way more interesting than I'm amovie guy. I watched a bunch of
movies. The Rock was losing steam. Like the Rock is in a big
he used to be one draw.He's in a movie. He's in a

(07:46):
blockbuster. It's gonna make a bunchof money. He's not that anymore.
His last movie, Black Adams,sucked. There's an awful, awful movie
and it really didn't do that well. And not only the movie, it
wasn't good. People just like literallydisliked him for why. They blamed him
why the movie was bad. Absolutely, and there were there was a bit
of a negative, negative sort offeeling feeling towards the Rock, like he

(08:07):
wasn't Hollywood Rock anymore. He wasall right, retired of you man.
These movies suck. We don't needthese anymore. Black Adam is terrible.
He was trying to get Black athim to do a thing with Superman,
and what are you doing. You'rejust you're trying to almost what he kind
of did with TKO, Like,you're just kind of trying to strong arm
your way into these great movie situationsand try and make all this money.

(08:28):
We get it. You stink it'snot good. But so I like that
he's going back to what we likeas wrestling fans, and so I think
that the at least that we gotthere is a good thing. But Jason,
your thoughts on the whole lead upto finally getting to, you know,
the good parts of The Rock.I'm still holding out hope that they
explained what Nick wants them to explain. On Monday Night, April eighth,

(08:52):
while Cody has the belt in hishand and he says that he saw it
Council right, and then the Rockout, the Rock says on December,
and the Rock says in December,he wants to sit at the head of
the table. Cody wins the rumbleand points at Roman immediately, and then
he seeks counsel, lets the Rockin, we all our poop our pants

(09:13):
added that out we all poop ourpants for six days and then the the
preview event happens. All Cody hasto do is say that he and The
Rock colluded to take Roman off hisgame, that they that they hatch this
plan. And there's people who alreadyare putting their tin foil hats on from
that promo with The Rock on Fridaywhere he said I'm gonna make you lose

(09:39):
it WrestleMania, and the way thathe pointed and the way that the camera
was shot. He was pointing atRoman while he was talking to Cody.
So there are already people who arelooking into every action he's doing. They're
put plant potentially planning seeds of doubtto see if the Rock is even the
heel. This thing too, yep, that's right. This thing too,
that's a other one, because thatmakes it l they think he's gonna be

(10:03):
I just thought he was a bigfan of the gun club guns up.
There's no way he did that,like, no, not on purpose,
right, I don't know, unlessI'm just not paying attention and doesn't know
how to put the one up,just like just a normal one. You
know how to do that, right, you know? You know the signal.
Right, thumb is broken. Theyjust like it doesn't work. Maybe

(10:26):
played football, maybe yeah, stun'sall jacked up, so it just permanently
stays out. That's right, that'sright. I can't be but well,
I got thumb like I'm just locatedmy thumb and once upon a time I
have strong I can't bet that yearswith controllers in my hands, I can
do I can do this. Ican do a one. I can do
a one. S the theories thatwere coming up now with the Rock,
It's not me. This is theinternet, man. I other than those

(10:48):
six days where we all collectively craftour pants. Honestly, I've been I've
been sports entertained. I have beenvery sports entertained by all of this.
I'm I am. I am.I was worried about WrestleMania, and to
the point where I was like cursingthe fact that the Rock was going to
strong arm his way into the mainevent and ruined WrestleMania when it's in my

(11:11):
own backyard. And then you sawtweets. I was ready for I was.
I was ready to try it.I was rising fine. Uh.
Now, if Cody Rhodes looks upat the lights to the three count in
Philadelphia. Roman may get every ingredientof a cheese steak thrown at him as
he's going off the ramp. Thatwill not be good. A whiz scalding

(11:35):
hot whiz because people are pissed.Whiz kind of cheesy that they have not
scalding hot I'll tell you that.But I I have it in in one
of the food places at like afinancial field. We can get some hot
burgers to throw it. But no, I'm I'm excited now. I thought

(11:56):
the I thought the kickoff press conferencethat was it. That was a moment
where it was like, oh,this is brilliant. It was interesting.
I really liked how they did that, and the rest of the card too,
is shaping up nicely around it.I think that they need and we'll
get into this as we talk aboutelimination Chamber. They need to reward Drew

(12:16):
McIntyre just for his social media presencealone after he injures CM punk, he
does the Tombstone meme, CM Punk'sWrestleMania dreams and him just tonight before we
got on uh, somebody shared apicture of l A. Knight holding a
koala while he's in Australia. AndDrew quote tweeted that tweet with a screenshot

(12:37):
of a picture of a study aboutchlamydia and koalas I died. Oh my
god, hysterical. D McIntyre couldbe the almost the biggest babyface in wrestling,
but being complete jackass to everybody,he needs to be rewarded handsomely of
the year, lock and loaded.You don't, the voting is over,

(13:01):
it's already decided. It's Drew McIntyreAnd yep, everybody loves him now.
He's way more interested in what hewas last month. What did he calledself?
DM hunk fantastic. Yeah, butyeah we'll get into that Punk's breede
when he comes back. See himpunk might when he comes back. Because

(13:22):
people like Drew McIntyre right now.Yeah, it's awesome. But yeah,
I'm I'm really enjoying where wrestling isgoing here. Yeah. I think it
was the kickoff that did it forme too, because the kickoff is such
an interesting thing to begin with,and how they were doing that and making
it sort of a press conference thing. And then the reactions, I mean
it came the reactions of nobody wantedyou could tell nobody wanted Rock Roman and

(13:43):
then all of a sudden, Codycomes out finally makes the declaration I want
Roman reigns at WrestleMania, and Ithink it's just it's kickstarted this whole thing
back up again to a point whereI think it's bigger than it ever could
have been. A we now knowinglike now to see how Rock and Roman,
Rent and Cody and once he finallydeclared he wanted to face Roman,

(14:03):
this was always the match that itshould have been. This was the match
that it was such proof that thiswas the best story possible that they could
tell. The best story. Wasn'tRock Roman? You haven't done anything to
build that yet, And I thinknow this is a good way. You're
actually building that to where there couldbe a feud. Why why wouldn't Why
would the Rock go in and belike, oh the bloodline. You know,

(14:24):
I don't like this, I don'tlike our family. What do you
mean? Give him a reason tonot like Roman, give him reason to
think Roman isn't doing what's best.Roman's the one that has the title.
Roman's the one that's doing all themain events. How is Roman the bad
guy here? Or at least,how is Roman the one that's not doing
right for his family when everything seemslike it's going well. I know there

(14:45):
are some things with like Jane andsomebody could point to in the Rocks,
but that doesn't work for me.It needs to be a dispute, some
kind of conflict between the Rock andRoman, and we're building up to that.
So how this was just validation allalong that this was always the right
way to go. This was thebest drama that they could drum up,
and they're finally doing it and they'regetting maybe the best television they can out

(15:07):
of it. I thought Raw wasawesome this past Monday, and I think
that's just going to continue to getbetter after Elimination Chamber. Elimination Chamber is
going to be great. Yeah,It's just it's done wonders for them,
and it's it shows that this isprobably the strongest story they could have told
so far. Agreed. I'm justpart of that, sorry, Jason,

(15:28):
but they're part of that. Isalso the production changes kind of and the
format changes. I always love whenthey do that. They always do it
on the road the WrestleMania. Theystart to really like up things and they
do new things. Is different nowwithout Kevin Dunn, Like, yeah,
that's all I saw the clip ofLike they're like a sweeping shot of the
ring and it's like that wasn't evenlike an elaborate shot. It's just somebody

(15:52):
walking up to the ring. Andit's like, whoa, this was never
about forty fifty cuts in a spanof thirty, right, but never done
Kevin done, WW really upgraded,Like I could have shot that at myself.
I'm no professional camera man. Ican do that on my cell phone.
But that there's a testament to howlow the bar was when it came
to Kevin Dugga. People hated it, hits reduction style so much that any

(16:14):
little thing that w W does notthis is that's sort of creative. It's
like whoa, It's like that's that'sbecause the bar was in hell before this.
Yeah, like WW realizes, Hey, we can do really cinematic things
because we have the camera cameras todo it, we have the camera people
to do it. And yeah,they've done just some some awesome things.
They should have got professionals people whowrite the cameras all the time exactly,

(16:37):
like, this is a product thatshould look amazing every night, should look
high quality, and now it finallyit does have that cinematic quality to it
that I think is very good becauseyeah, you know NFL, they they
always try and do it, theyalways try and make it look cinematically whatever.
The eight K camera that they hadthat was a new addition a few
years ago everybody loved. But Ithink with w W, it's you know,

(17:00):
these guys are in places you knowthey're going to be, you know
when where they're going to be,when they're going to be there, how
they're going to do it, Soyou have these opportunities to create some amazing
angles and I think they're they're doingthat. They're they're actually they're being cinematic
with it, which I enjoy assomebody that I appreciate that good cinematography.
Yes, I appreciate that a lot. So the build up to this is

(17:21):
very good, especially the bloodline.We talked about that a lot. But
let's get into some of the otherthings that is happening right now, the
right real Ripley, especially feuding withNaya Jacks. I guess we can get
into that. I don't one ofthe toughest things for me always between this

(17:41):
pay per view, whether it's eliminationchamber or whatever, everwhere else it is.
It used to be fast Lane,right then they do fast Lane a
few times before WrestleMania. It's alwayswe know the road puns they did,
like a roadblock, they did badly. They really they were trying to do
it because they knew nobody cared aboutwhatever title match is going to happen,

(18:02):
because we already all these things areset up. We know that they've been
setting these up for months. AndI don't know, it just feels like
to me, Ray Ripley, NiaJacks has about zero Jews going into it.
Well, I think there's some juice, yeah, the Jews juice.
The she's the hometown girl, right, yeah, that's the big thing.
She's gonna get the heroes welcome andand Naya Jacks is the biggest heel on

(18:25):
the roster, even though like moreof a heel necessarily than Rear Ripley.
Like Ripley is obviously top dog,but like as far as heel reactions is
Nya Jacks who gets the most boozeon the roster. So Ree Ripley is
beloved by a lot of people,even though she's a heel, you know,
bad oh, a villain character woo. But like people love Rea Ripley,
you know, but Nya Jacks islegit a villain to a lot of

(18:47):
people for you know, some reasons, you know, terrible wrestling. Yes,
yes, I don't think she's wrestling. I think she does the job.
I think she not Everybody's going tobe showing Michaels and to put on
five star matches. She does herjob. She's always done her job,
and that's to get heat as aas a as a giant, as a
big wrestler. Everybody thinks she sucksat wrestling. Well, the reason I

(19:11):
think that is she's hurt a lotof people, right, she's she's got
a couple of couple skeletons in hercloset. Let's say she hasn't done that,
she's been back, there's nothing she'salso. You forget, she's only
been doing this for like a decade, Like it's not like she's been doing
it for that long. They caughther up probably too early in my opinion.
Uh so she's still learning even now. Probably she's still learning. So

(19:36):
she's fine. I think Nia Jackson, I think this match would be great
ripped at a big hometown pop andshe could be the underdog in this match
as well, which is good forthe baby face pops she can get and
the baby face heat she can getIn Australia, Nia Jackson be the dominant
heel Ripley overcomes the odds, hooray, and she's still the world champion.
So that's how I fish that's playing. Now you gotta think about this,

(19:57):
John, It effectively takes Naya Jacksout of a WrestleMania moment, So I
don't have to worry about that.I like that, right, I don't
have to watch it at Mania,I guess. I guess that's sure.
Yeah, that's that's fine. Butstill I don't know. I don't know,
And we don't have too many ofthese matches where we don't know or

(20:18):
we do kind of know what's goingto happen, and we know what the
main event is or what the titlematch is going to be for Mania,
so of course they're not going totake a title off of anyone. Uh.
The elimination chamber matches do a goodjob with this, I think both.
So this is the only one thatkind of has is running into that
problem of we know what we knowRay Rep is going to win. You

(20:38):
know, I always feel like werun into that that problem every time we
come into this this pay per view. The one sure, I mean it's
it's it's hard to create intrigue.I would agree with that, But I
think this is probably the only matchof the three, although I know there's
an argument for one of the otherman that's pretty much a Locke. We'll

(21:00):
get into that, But like halfof these matches I feel like are pretty
unpredictable. One's the tag match andone is one of the chamber matches.
But I'm more interested in this matchjust to see how Raya is received in
her hometown. I'd like to ifthe Perth crowd is anything like the San

(21:22):
Juan crowd was, We're in fora good time because that Backlash crowd from
last year was absolute fire, particularlyin the Bad Bunny Damian Priest match.
So that's what I'm kind of lookingforward to or hoping for from that,
from the Ripley Jacks match in particular. All Right, so let's go to
Let's just get to the card becausewe're probably gonna break down the elimination chamber

(21:45):
matches a lot. So Ray RipleyNyjacks, It's ray right, Nobody's going
in the other direction. It's Justy'smoving on. Hopefully it's the main event
because like what a moment for herthat would be, Like I imagine,
and you know, who really couldthey have built up to face Ria here?
That's not that they avoid, youknow, so they could get to

(22:07):
WrestleMania, whether it be Riya andBecky or anything like that. Like you
have to put someone there, right, So Naya, like Bawn said,
I just think she's been, shecame, and like Nya is the prototypical
challenger for this one, where likeyou can just go there's no one better
for Ria to beat, and theyalways go for a. Vince used to

(22:29):
do it too, like the giantcharacters, you know, like the Big
Show. It was so easy withina couple of weeks, Like yeah,
it's the Big Show. He's big. You can make a story out of
it. Like it felt like everytime literally how they used him. Absolutely,
yes, all the time, We'relike, oh, we need a
quick couple of weeks of a program, Big Show. Just make sure you
sell like a like you're five footother than that, you're you're tall.

(22:52):
So let's get to another thing that'sgonna happen there not a match, but
the Grayson Waller effect, it's goingto have Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins,
and Seth Rollins has been kind ofHe's been kind of teasing this it could
be us against them type of thing. Does this mean it's gonna be a
tag team? I just I doquestion. I'm not really sure how this

(23:14):
goes. You and I start withyou, Jason, what do we what
do you expect from this? Ido think this is where they officially challenge
Rock and Room into a tag matchon Night one. I think the Rock
and a tag match makes the mostsense because there's no can wrestle a full
length match and maybe when he getsgassed really fast, that's exactly right.
So I'm like all the other fiftyyear old wrestlers they tear their pecks or

(23:37):
do whatever can't finish the match.I am fully on board with that.
With a tag match like that,I think it's going to be excellent and
I think that it allows see.The thing with that match is, though,
the more I think about it,who wins and who eats the pin?
Like? Does Rock eat the pinand Roman gets mad? Okay?

(24:02):
You know what? Never mind,I just figured it out so Rock's gonna
eat the pin, doesn't matter whoit is on the other side. Could
be Cody, could be set.And then the next night Roman's chewing the
Rock out forgiving him too much confidence, and that's when the Rock sides turn
on him. That's it, bookit. No, I'm kidding, but
like yeah, I mean like there'sa lot of intrigue in that tag match,
So I think this would be agreat place to do it. We

(24:22):
know that the bloodline is not there. Roman and Rock could not be bothered,
so they have to kind of carrythis and then you know, tell
us on Friday if you want tofight us at WrestleMania whatever, and then
Grayson Waller will just be there andbe the better Austin theory that he is,
uh, and we'll oh. Ithink the Rock and Romans might be

(24:45):
in Australia. I think this iswhere you shoot, like an official angle
between between both sides. If there'sgonna be a tag match, I think
this is where you do it.I think that's a big stadium show.
They're putting a lot behind this,obviously. I don't think it'd be a
wild thing forever to show up inAustralia with I don't think, even though
I think is already put out atweet saying he won't be there, which

(25:07):
is kind of hilarious, But Ithink I don't think that's a wild thing
to, you know, to seethat. Did them show up in Australia
and then have a face to faceand maybe something happens and that's how you
kind of kickstart that angle leading intoWrestleMania. I think I do it that
elimination chamber. It would be abig rove for Grayson Waller on the Grays
Waller, Yeah, yeah, Ido to be great for him and he

(25:30):
could just stand there and look lookssilly and and get over by leading up
to the Mania match, you getto see Grayson Waller. Let's not forget
it's homecoming for him too. Yeah, A hundred percent, one hundred percent
and big Eagles fan. That GraysonWaller, by the way, is big
Eagles fan. Again again, I'mstill one of the funniest look boys.

(25:57):
So with is this because the onlything I'm afraid of is this going to
take place of is is Cody Romanabsolutely happening? Or is this going to
be a tag match? Yes,that's that has to happen. You can't
advertise this and then because that's theonly thing I'm afraid of because now now
you're doing a lot with the Bloodline, you're doing a lot with Seth Rollins,
because isn't I think the Elimination Chambermatches for the Championship for Rollins,

(26:21):
right, yes, the time?Yes, yeah, uh so yeah,
So I don't know, I justfeel like they're doing doing a lot with
Seth Rollins and Cody Roads, andthat just seemed like, so they're going
to wrestle night one and Night two. I think it's particular Seth Rollins because
he's already dealing with a knee injury, right, so how much does he
feels like a ton you know?But I mean it's a tag match that

(26:44):
doesn't have to do. But also, like you said, you're I means
if you're if you're not putting thatworkload on Seth Rollins, that means you're
putting it on Cody Roads. He'salso going to be in your the biggest
match of the year. So andyou got Roman Rains, who does he
care the workload for for the Rock? You know, because the Rock is
a little bit older, a littlebit longer in the tooth obviously, So
that means Roman Rains is wrestling twonights. You get this, You gotta
see Roman Rains two nights in therow and he has to work two nights

(27:06):
in the row. He barely worksone night in a row, so he
works two nights in the row.That'd be that'd be odd. That's why
I'm not totally sold it's gonna bea tag match. That's why. Yeah,
it feels like that, But Ijust I'm I'd be surprised. I
don't know, it's just something inmy brain that won't let that happen.
Because if there's already that they're doing, it feels like the most logical path
to get the Rock on the card, yep, because you know there's no

(27:29):
reason for the Rock to be involvedother than to have a match of WrestleMania.
So it feels like the most logicalpath. But yeah, I means,
like you said, you having threeof the four people in that match
working double duty, and you needthem the main event of your again,
they gotta work two nights and they'rethe main event match, your number one
main event that you were building up. What happens if something does happen in

(27:52):
Night one. You know, itjust feels like such a liability of you
don't want something to do your mainevent, your big main event you've been
building up to now for over ayear, and you're I don't know,
heaven forbid, Roman Reigns gets hurtin the match and he can't defend that
title my team and that Cody hasto How does what does Cody do from
there? For big Cody gets hurt? Right, But that's right. You

(28:15):
can feel like it's such a liabilityand it's it's something that doesn't I don't
know, you're putting it in therejust to get the rock. That's what
I feel like it is. Itfeels like you're just trying to get the
rock in there somehow. You've gotto get the rock in there, Yeah,
and you're not gonna instily do itin the one on one match.
Agains seth for allains you know rightnow? So I don't I don't know.
Maybe maybe that's the play. Idon't know, but it's leading to

(28:36):
something obviously involving the rock in awrestling rings. Glad I'm not the only
one because it feels like it isgoing towards the tag match, and I
just it doesn't make all that muchsense to me. Backlash, WrestleMania Backlash
now, come back for a WrestleManiabacklash. Yeah out there now. I'm
of the opinion that a tag match, if you make it like a lot

(28:57):
of drawling, a lot of posturing, a lot of like Roman Reigns,
is slow in the corner, likedrawing at people as he slapping. You
could it doesn't have to be atwenty five minute epic, right. Yes,
it's the main event of Night one, but not every main event of
Night one can be you know right? Well what what what you could be

(29:18):
right about is that Night one mainevent could be more building even more towards
nights right, instead of having tobe this amazing match, it's more of
still building this story to to makeNight two weeks event. I feel like
it's the main event. Can't belike an angle. It's got to be
like a full flash match, likea full male thing. Because I've been
since like this has been brought likeI'm going back and forth because I think

(29:41):
it would be great. It suckif that was the only night I went,
Like, if I was in thepaid for television wise for for a
back to back, you know,to to pay per views, Yeah,
to premium live events that is.I would love a synergy between those two.
A cliphanger for a WrestleMania I'd bewild. But if you paid Skaha

(30:03):
amounts of money for them tickets,you're gonna be upset if you didn't get
a good match in that main event. But you get the Rock, though,
what do you get the Rock?Yeah, all right, I don't
care about that. Yeah, apparentlythat doesn't matter all that much right now.
So yeah, I need a goodmatch. That would make more sense
to me. But yeah, youwould have to put on a match,
and it just feels weird. Nick, where do you feel like this is

(30:25):
all kind of going? I don'tnecessary I'm not necessarily yearning for a tag
match, but I guess it doesmake sense. But I don't know if
it's something you can string out tillSummer Slam either, especially if you decide
to do a Rock Turn at WrestleManiaand then tell the Rock and Romance story
for a whole year to build aWrestleMania because the Rock it always was weird

(30:49):
to me. Him coming back inJanuary saying should I sit at the head
of the table and then doing likea three month build for that match,
because I just don't take that's enoughtime. The Rock has said before he
wants when he comes back, likehe wants a story, like he wants
something that means something, and athree month story with Roman doesn't mean a

(31:10):
whole lot to me, And basedoff his words, I don't think it
would mean a whole lot to thembecause it's like, all right, three
months of telling this family story andthen what it's like all gone, Like
you got to build to that,right, Like it just seems like for
a match that big they keep talkingabout how big it is, you would
want a longer build to it.So the tag match makes sense. I

(31:33):
just don't know if I liked theidea of like a Night one tag match
and then Night two, because thenyou take more people off the card,
Like I just don't know if they'rein that business right now of doing that,
Like, I don't know if businesswise they think that, if they're
still in the mindset, let's getas many people as we can on Night
one and Night two instead of doingthe double duty thing. So again,

(31:57):
not that it would make a kthe event one way or another. I
just don't know if I like,I'm not yearning for it. So whether
they challenge, a lot of peoplewere thinking Seth's gonna eventually turn on Cody.
I mean, that's fine. Justhave him do it after Cody wins
the title, you know, likewe because we need that moment, right

(32:17):
if we don't get that moment,Like and I said this before, w
W really hasn't paid off a matchsince like one of Wrestlingdia last year when
Ko and Sammy won the tag titles. There's been yeah, and that's like
starting to frustrate me a little bit. Why hasn't gunned their loss yet?
Like he could have easily just lostand maybe regained it at this point,

(32:37):
like they're doing this thing the UStitle really, like no one really cares
about that at this point, eventhough Logan Paul holds it, Like do
you mean Logan Paul holds it?Everybody's got to care about it, right,
like holding the US title, Soeverybody's got to care now, Like
Cody and Jay won the tag titlesfor a cup of coffee and then lost

(32:59):
them like that, maybe that's theother payoff that happened, but you know,
it doesn't really count not to me, because I'm just annoyed with the
non payoffs that were continued to have, you know, like and it all
really started for me with Drew McIntyrelosing it Clash of the Castle. I
thought that would have been a perfectopportunity, but of course they didn't do

(33:20):
that. And then it's just it'snot just Roman, it's like almost all
the other titles. There's just nopayoffs. And I'm like, come on,
like, I'm begging it for apayoff, baby, I'll give you.
I'll give you that. And Ithink it's a booking philosophy. It's
like the old n w A wherethe Heels were always champions and they rarely
lost a championships. They might loseother matches, but they didn't lose the
championships very often. But you rememberthose moments when the baby face won,

(33:45):
you know, and ironically we're there, we're there. I think we're there
a lot of it now, yeah, right, but there's you know,
it's coincidentally, uh notorious finish thatwe talk about when it comes to these
types of finishes, it's a dustyfinish, right, I don't think we're
getting dusty finish the WrestleMania. Butit's you know, just you know,
it's coincidental that it's named after CodyRoads, his dad, right where the

(34:07):
Babyface would win, and then itwas give give it right back to the
to the Heel because of some technicality, just because they can keep driving that
heat and get making that money andbuilding up to that moment probably at Star
K late in the year where theBabyface would win. So I think that's
what they're they've been doing for multipleyears now. When it comes to Roman
reigns, they've been doing that forwell almost two years now. Gontro as

(34:30):
an Intercontinental Champion, they're gonna paythose off. They should pay those off.
That's the that's the grand design.They've been building these two guys up
to build somebody else up. Thatyou got to pass that heat along,
a heat transfer that has to happenwhen they lose. And the the plan
and theory is to create a newstar and have these two heel champions to

(34:52):
your Monster Champions as a vehicle tobuild new stars. So I think the
philosophy has worked. Obviously, they'vebeen selling tickets everywhere, breaking all these
records. It hasn't hurt business andand they've built up a lot of great
baby faces during this time without themwinning championships. Cody Jay usso who else?
Seth Ronalds who has won a championshipwith Kevin Owens who was a tax

(35:14):
Tam champion, and Sammys Ains alsoTax Him champion, but they got five
to six. L A. Knighthasn't won a title yet and Sammy's Ain
hasn't won a singles title. KevinOwens hasn't won a single title in a
long time. So they found thatsweet spot where you're not killing your baby
faces every week, you're not buryingthem. But they haven't won those titles
just yet. But I think,like John said, that time, I

(35:36):
think we've arrived at that time.I think that time is now as far
as the undisputed title, and Ithink the Intercontinental title, and I think
honestly the US title because I thinkLogan Paul is going to lose that title
to l A. Knight. Ithink restling year forty y'all baby faces and
everybody's going to be happy, atleast for the time being. Now,
they might lose them titles the nextnight, right, they'll hold on.

(35:57):
Do you wish there were something elsein between that could give you some good
payoffs because Kevin Owens and Sam He'sain't got a payoff and that was really
great, and it's been a whilesince we've gotten anything like that. But
I do I do like that theyare more committing towards keeping a champion,
building these long storylines. I lovethat. I love these I love champions

(36:20):
like that, and I think thattheir commitment to that it's I think it's
helped everyone. It helped Cody Roads, it helps Roman Rains. Gunther now
seems like he could be a starand do anything because of his his ic
run. It's it's great that theythere, there are these champions that sort
of it's sort of been able tokeep that long sustaining. They're the final
boss. Every story has a greatvillain. Obviously, he looked at any

(36:45):
movie they build up a great villainand then they have to get toppled.
They only get toppled once in thatmovie, though, but before that they
wiping the floor with everybody. Theygot to beat people before that. But
all it takes is one time forpeople to go yay, the evil has
been defeated. You know, likethey're final boss. They're m Bison there
Shall Khan. You gotta work yourway up to beat them, and when

(37:05):
you beat them, that's when you'vereached the ultimate height. And in the
NFL, right now, that personis Patrick mahomes See. You're sitting on
a throne while Joe Burrow and JoshAllen fight it out in front of him.
Right so, Lamar Jackson they got. But I'm just saying that's that's
It might not be good for regularsports, but it's good for wrestling.
I think no, it's I thinkit's it's very good for wrestling. It's
just interesting to see if it isgoing to work, and if I feel

(37:29):
like it is. I feel likeit is working. But I'm sure Nick's
not the only one that feels thisway. This is a long time and
h w W E for a whilewas very is very quick. You know,
everything changed a lot, and itwas trying to get the you know,
the quickest reaction you could. Butnow they are committing to very old
school thing and it takes a while. So what you said about a movie
is absolutely right, you know it, But that's two three hours that you

(37:53):
spend watching it. This is liketwo three years of waiting for stuff.
Like this in some of these payoffs, not to say that it's wrong to
do it. I just I willfind it interesting to see if it all
works, because this was a bitof a swing by Triple H. This
was very different from what they havebeen doing, and you're trying to keep
an audience and trying to keep alarge audience for how long. Again,

(38:15):
it feels like it's working. Ratingsare up, viewerships up, everything's up.
But it was just interesting that theyactually commit it to that, and
I think it would have been reallyhard. I think having all culminate at
WrestleMania forty is a great place forthat to happen. I think it's like
the honestly, that could be thepeak of this era. And no matter
what you want to call it,but these last couple of years have kind

(38:35):
of like the Triple H era ofbooking has shifted WW in a positive direction,
it's content wise, and this couldbe the culmination of all of that
at WrestleMania forty. I think they'rebuilding to this, to this event.
Whether they thought it was going tobe the Rock and Roman Rains or Cody
Roseen Roman Rains, it was stillalways meant to be kind of a culmination
of all this stuff happening leading upto this point. And I think when

(39:00):
we look back at this, youknow, in the future, look back
at this time, we can rewatchthis. It probably be one of the
most more rewatchable times, I thinkin w W history, because you can
go back and see all the littlestoryline and beasts that they took, and
all the little breadcrost the characters.I think, all the characters places right
now, right all the all thestuff that they've done to build certain people

(39:21):
along the way. I think thiswill be when you look back among some
of them, I don't feel likewe've had good Maybe what is it?
Oh my god, I forgeting.John Ruth's aggression era is rewatchable in some
ways, but really it's it's attitudeeras to me seems like the most rewatchable
one, at least recently. Buteven with the attitude there, you got

(39:44):
like the oddities, you got sillystuff that's just like what now, Hey,
I'm not saying there there's some bighits and some big swings and misses
and attitude there as well. Ithink this one's more stable, but it's
it's the best we've seen in thesecharacters, in these in these spots.

(40:07):
You know what it is. Youknow what it is, right, it's
Triple Ah. Just how to builda baby face that there was a believable
fan favorite babyface before Cody Roads.Who was it like they it was polarized.
Believe they got multiple They got Roads, they got Jay Usa, they

(40:29):
got Samy's Ay, and they gotlistening to l A. Knight. They
got a couple guys you can say, Okay, that's a guy that they
could put the world a world titleon. Got Seth Rollins who already has
a world title. So yeah,I agree with you, Jason. Yeah,
I would argue that before Triple Hcame in, they didn't know how
to what to do with baby facesand now they're they're they're spoiled. Baby
face are always even like even Johnc is a babyface and he did Well's

(40:51):
baby face, but still polarizing.The gambling Philly's Home for all things sports
gambling, Josh, Josh, Iam all right, we got like five

(41:15):
minutes for four matches? Yeah,good lord, what did we do?
What are we talking about? Y'all? So real quick judgment day against British
Strong Style Undisputed Tag Team Championship MatchDamian Priest and Finn Balor against Pete Dunn
Tyler Bate. This match is goingto uh man, this match is gonna
be a banger. I'm just gonnago Judgment Day. But I'm I'm loving

(41:38):
this. Let's pay it off.Let's have the new Catch Republic. That's
it might help with the judgment thatbecause I know Ray Ripley mentioned that they're
they're losing steam. You know thatthey're not altogether, so maybe let's get
a payoff. How about that,let's gonna pay off. Uh just happened

(41:58):
to Vengeance Day. Williams should haveone, and that's what put me on
the spot. I've never seen that. Man. Look at that over n
x T. Yeah, the crowdis so hot. Man. It's like,
come on, I'll give it tothe crowd and they don't. And
it's just wait till stand and deliver, Wait till WrestleMania weekend. Trick will

(42:19):
have his day. You're gonna whoopthat trick. Don't worry h Judgment Day
wins. I do think, ohgo ahead, I've already just bowguarded Judgment
Day wins. And I do thinkthat Uh, Bait and Dunn are incredible.
They had to matche a couple ofweeks ago against the I y of
watching the show with my wife andshe's like, who are these guys like?
You watch and you're gonna like them? And then they put on a

(42:42):
banger. She's like, Okay,I like this. It was like,
yeah, all right, they gotsomething. So yeah. But but but
Judgment Day he retains. I alsothink Judgment Day retains because you kind of
have to have the whole Judgment Dayvictory party in Rea's honor for Perth or
whatever, unless unless our truth coststhem. I could see that happening as

(43:04):
well. But ultimately I think Iwill predict the Judgment Day retaining. As
much as I love and oh I'mgonna go Judgment Day, I think this
could be a spot to get intothe British wrong style, because again,
I think they're they're building towards thisthis ascension in Judgment Day that there is

(43:29):
as yeah words, but yeah,they're they're building towards like a a conflict
within the group. Yeah, whydid I say? It's a good Lord,
I'm gonna move on from that.I'm gonna go with Judgment Day let's
go with the elimination Chamber match,the men's elimination Chamber match. Drew McIntyre,
Randy Orton, Bobby Bob, BobbyLashley, l An, Kevin Logan.

(43:53):
Who do we got? Who doIt's Drew McIntyre, right, it's
true, it is it's true.It's true. It's going to take care
of his contract expires Monday. Yeah, they're going to resign that man.
They're gonna backup to the brinks chuckfor him. By the way, when
said Bobby Lashley, it sounds likeyou said Bob blah lah from Arrested Development,
and it made me laugh. BlobBlobby Lashly, Bob fish Slashly.

(44:23):
But no, yeah, I agreewith. I agree with. Drew Logan
and La Night are going to canceleach other out and they're going to go
on their merry way to WrestleMania.Owens and Norton might do the same.
I would love to see in Owensand Orton promo fest slash grudge match at
WrestleMania. That's a perfect mid cardlike third from the End sort of match.
I would love that. That doesfeel like it would be a big

(44:43):
match. Yeah, I would digthat and then the hard corese would just
be I can't wait to watch that, And then Lashly is just there because
I think his feud for WrestleMania isoutside of that cage. So I'm gonna
go with Drew. Uh nah,whoever you're not going with yet? Who
needs everybody's going to true? Yeah? True, true, yep, all

(45:05):
right, Women's Elimination Chamber match.Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, Live Morgan,
Tiffany Stratton, Naomi kel Rodriguez isgonna be a banger. Uh.
There's a few that could win this, So where are we going with here?
I do like his Live Morgan likeeven Yeah, the only one is
Tiffany Stratton because she's so new onthe main roster. But you know where

(45:27):
Kel Rodriguez came back, not sayingshe will but Live Morgan. The Revenge
Tour thing is great. Bianca Belairobviously is huge. Becky Lynch is huge.
Uh. This has this has alot of legit contenders, So which
one is going to be the legitcontender? Nick, It's gotta go Becky
just based on the seas they planted. But this one, I'm I'm a

(45:47):
little you know, leery with Becky'smy pick, but I have a gut
feeling that Lives somehow wins. ButI'm gonna go with Becky live. Okay,
Okay, reason Morgan, no suspect, What do you mean? No?
No, We're not here for therevenge were did reunion to Morgan?

(46:10):
Revenge Tour? Just a bunch ofgreat tours. All respect to Live Morgan,
her revenge Tour. It won't makea stop in Philadelphia in the in
the World title match at WrestleMania forty. That will not be one of the
stops. I apologize in advance.They didn't put Becky Lynch and Real Ripley
on stage in Las Vegas at thatkickoff event for nothing, and they've been
booking them face to face for weeks. It's Becky Lynch, take the path

(46:32):
of leasy existence Y at wwe dowhat you didn't do with the with Cody
Rhodes. What if it's not?I am? I agree and disagree with
my friend falling here. I thinkBecky Lynch wins, but then I think
revenge Tour forces her way into atriple threat at Mania. Oh hell no,
for what? Just not? Whydo they do it for what?

(46:55):
You don't have to like it.But that's a that's the character, right,
cry about it. That's whe hershirt says that. So she gets
really pissed off and just attacks themboth until they finally agree. Okay,
fine, maybe she eats the pin. Still she gets she gets into the
match, right, I don't,And maybe maybe I just want I'm not

(47:20):
a hater. For months. Yougot a chance to put this big match
on Becky versus Riya. It's notBecky Ria and Live. I'm sorry,
Live, it's not your time.Maybe next time. Well okay, then
maybe whoever Lives getting revenge on atWrestleMania will eliminate her from the chamber.
Fine, but no, I agreewith you the Becky Wins. I agree
with the Becky Wins that we areone hundred percent on the same page.

(47:43):
There they They told you that whenshe made that joke about the bottom on
the stage at the at the kickoffthing. But I don't think Live will
be out of the scene from losingthis match. That's all I'm saying.
We'll see he's stealing right now.John Janson's having some mic trouble, So

(48:08):
I'm on a vampire Morgan's fine,I can't. Yeah, come on,
round Table. Can I trust theround Table to take over for a second
while I don't know what was goingon, John Jason, brought to you
by East Carolina University. We'll juststart doing an ad for brought to you
by Technical Difficulties. So I guessI'm going. I'm guess I'm going with

(48:32):
Becky Lynn. Sure, I guess. Also, I love what we're throwing
away all like the lingo of likelike Mommy's gonna be on the bottom,
like we're just w is just soleaning so heavily into this and it's hilarious.
I actually love that they're just like, yeah, we're not really gonna
filter any of this, go ahead. I love they're telling jokes that we

(48:55):
understand, but the kids are like, yeah, this is right. It's
just fantastic. I love that they'redoing in the WrestleMania kickoff just like it
doesn't matter. We're just gonna we'regonna lean so heavily into this. Thank
you Lea Ripley for that. No. One of the most asked questions in
Utah on Friday night was Dad,mom, what's herpes? Yeah, yeah,

(49:20):
we are, we going back toPG thirteen. It could be all
right, so we're going Becky Lynch, I guess it's boring. Sure all
spent the whole beginning of this podcastsaying that this, this is a predictable
Uh, I know, and thenwe all just did the same. You
guys were trying to tell me it'snot that predictable. I felt like I

(49:40):
was getting crickets when I was sayingthat. And then we do this,
Then we go over the entire card, We're like, yeah, we know
who's gonna win. WrestleMania should bepredictable. The Roads Wrestling, I say
it should be predictable, And lastyear earlier, that's what I was fishing
for. Do you like it?Now? I'm getting it. I was
drowning earlier the WrestleMania Cody coming outof WrestleMania thirty nine was like as dead

(50:07):
in the water as possible, Likenobody thought he would come back from that.
And you guys said earlier he's arguablyeven better in a better spot now
than he was before. And Ido think the year long without being out
for injury, and then you know, returning for three months had a lot
to do with it. People gotbehind him way more than I thought they

(50:30):
would, so like, you gotto pull the trigger now with him,
because if he loses again in WrestleMania, he's not going to be in that
same spot next year. I know, I realized I said the same thing
last year, but this is justdifferent. You don't build a guy like
for a year just to do thesame exact thing you did a year prior.
So this is like why the roadsto WrestleMania can be predictable and be

(50:51):
entertaining because they're doing entertaining things onTV. It's not like we're just sitting
through shows like yep, saw thatcoming, Yep, saw that coming.
It's actually entertaining us in the meantime, like, you know what, the
end game. We got to seethe end game. But it's been a
really long time since we were actuallyentertained during the road for WrestleMania. So

(51:12):
I guess that's all we can askfor at this point. Yeah, I
am being sports entertained. I thoughtthis was entertaining as well. Thank you,
round table, Yeah helping out here. This is always always the best,
and we're gonna be doing this againfor Wresselemania. So stay tuned for
all of the WrestleMania stuff that wegot going on heading into WrestleMania forty in
Philadelphia. John Jansen here, therest of the round table, Jason Vonelli

(51:37):
real quick over your stuff? Whatdo you got? What you got?
What he got? What he got? Big Man Finelli on Twitter's where you
can find her? Because I'm notcalling it x. I know I say
this every time, but I'm notdoing it just you know, still writing
the video game stuff at game SpotMMRPG, things like that big table top
week Magic the Gathering partnering with Fallout. Their Magic Con is this weekend,

(51:58):
so there's things happening there. Butyeah, just today was a very busy
video game day. My head isstill spinning today being Wednesday when we're recording
this, so I need to goto bed. Basically, too much happening.
Jon, you got four pm.Where do we find it? Yeah?

(52:19):
I am at one M. Johnsonon that platform formally known as Twitter.
You can find our wrestling writing atWrestling Junkie, Wrestling Junket dot USA,
Today dot com. Of course,you can listen to the Straight Shooters
available on all podcast platforms including FoxPHL The Gambler. Correct, we got
a link on that right now,right and yes, check us out.
Uh, this will be our episodefor this week. So if you're looking
forward straight Shooters episode, this wasit, so it'd be episode three eighty

(52:43):
eight technically maybe whatever, but yeah, this will be our podcast recording for
the week. Check us out andthanks for listening to it for everybody.
Thanks for listening to everybody. Keepan eye off for stuff that we got
going in wrestlingias which is again fastquickly approaching. Nick Underscore picone on Twitter
slash x and check out at ShootersRadio on Twitter and also Facebook dot com

(53:07):
Slash Shooters Radio. And then,like Vaughn said, you can check our
podcasts at all the Gambler podcasts atFOXPHL Gambler dot com. John Chance is
on there as well. Uh yeah, I'm on there somewhere. You can
find me at J's Dancer Ja jansA thirty four on Twitter, FOXPHL Gambler,
all that stuff. I do haveannouncement of a show that's gonna come

(53:28):
up soon, so maybe you canstay tuned for that. But that is
it for the Elimination Chamber Wrestling RoundTable. We'll be back Wrestle AIA week
I guess maybe sometime before, butwe'll be back with more Wrestling, More
Wrestling Roundtable. Right here on theGambler spreads totals and all the prop that's
in between. It's the Gambler