WWE Royal Rumble '23 Roundtable - 01/27/23

Jon Jansen, Jason Fanelli, Vaughn Johnson, and Nick Piccone preview the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
My last name is all abound ina lot of things. For something you
should know about me, I'm stillshame old inn. Don't give it.
Damn afraid to throw a dan book. Go my Instagram at the whole House,

(00:24):
Wall the Wall, fir Sow.It is that time of year again,
the greatest show on the wrestling calendar. Who is going to main event
WrestleMania? It is the Royal Rumblehappening this weekend. So of course,

(00:46):
as we do every year for everymajor pay per view, we gotta get
the round table together, and it'sa special edition of the Royal Rumble Roundtable.
Here on the line change Fox SportsThe Gambler presented by Cure Auto Insurans.
My name is John Jansen, andI have three others joining me on
the program today. First Jason Finelliof Cheese Steaks and Controller. You can

(01:10):
follow him at big Man Finelli.Also joining me the Shooters Radio podcast crew
Nick pecone, you can follow atpecone. Underscore? Am I getting that
right? Nick? You changed atUnderscore pcone? I got the underscore wrong.
I know Vaughn's though it's easy,it's good, it's professional. He's
got the headshot, he's got thebann Early works. It is the most

(01:32):
professional Twitter account out of this entiregroup. It's Vawn Johnson at von m
Johnson again, those two Nick Vaughnhosts of Shooter Radio podcasts, which they
done awesome job. What did youguys do two thousand Rumble and then you
did the ninety seven and Rumble withme. So a lot of Royal Rumble
content to check out over at ShootersRadio. But as I said, could
be a little controversial, may bevery controversial, hot take, I guess.

(01:56):
But I think to me, RoyalRumble is the greatest pay per view
on the WWE calendar. It's themost anticipation. It's the one that starts
off WrestleMania season. I would sayit's like the Divisional Round or the Championship
weekend of an NFL season. It'syou just get a lot of it.
It's a lot of quality, andthe super Bowl and WrestleMania it's just one

(02:16):
game, one show of though WrestleManiais two nights. But I feel like
Royal Rumbles for the hardcore fan,like the Divisional Round is big for the
hardcore NFL fan, and then bam, super Bowl comes in and every casual
viewer is watching it. I justlove it. Jason. I'll start with
you. Am I wrong in this? Where does the Royal Rumble rank in

(02:37):
the importance of the wrestling calendar?Oh? Number one, one hundred percent
agree with you. I actually likenit to the Round of sixty four and
the Beautiful Yeah, that's a better. Yeah. I mean that's like two
days of nothing but college basketball,so that one's a little bit longer.
But as far as like the setupfor it's just madness, It's it's just

(03:00):
chaos. And that's what I feelabout. The unpredictability. In this case,
you don't know who's going to bein it. In that one's case,
it's upsets and stuff like that.It's got the anticipation, it's got
the hype behind it, and thefurther you get into WrestleMania season, the
more people start to tune in casuallyuntil you get to the big moment aka
the National Championship or WrestleMania. Soyes, one hundred percent agree with you.

(03:23):
Nick. How we feel about Rumble? Is it the best pay per
view? Do you always get moreexcited for this than every other pay per
view? Or am I going toofar there? Is it's still WrestleMania,
but Rumble. I mean, tome, it's just like Jason said,
it just starts everything. It's Ithink it's the most like you hear all
the backstage rumors of who's going tobe there, who could win it,
it's really showing. This is thefirst time you see WWE's hand, Like

(03:46):
if you're at a poker table,they show their hand like, hey,
here's the cards we're playing here,and that always excites me, I think
more than anything, I think it'sa perfect way to put it. You
know, they show their hand atthe Raw Rumble. Now they show their
hands twice because now we have awoman rumble. At the last time they
were in the Alamodome, they didnot have, as we covered on our
twenty seventeen deep dive, when theyhad the Raw Rumble in the Alamodome,

(04:10):
that was the last one that didn'thave a women's Rumble match. So you
get two major storylines coming out ofthat pointing to you know, their respective
title matches the fact that WrestleMania isthe event. But you kind of you
obviously know that direction. You knowwe've seen through the years. You know,

(04:32):
Heels win the Rumble and then likenot win it WrestleMania, and that
storyline is kind of lame for professionalwrestling, but hey, I guess they
got to change it up every nowand again. But this is always the
most anticipated event for me personally anda lot of wrestling fans that you finally
see their hand at the end ofthe night. So this woll and coming

(04:56):
into this specific year. I don'tthink we're going to see something like at
Alberto Del Rio win the Royal Rubbleas a heel and then lose at WrestleMania
to edge it. Stuff like thatjust never makes sense to me, don't
I hope. I think it's almostbulletproof that they can't screw this up,
especially with somebody new call the shots. Yeah, I don't feel like they
can, especially this year's Rumble.We have the predictable winner. We could

(05:19):
have some unpredictable ones that would bea lot of fun. Look, rumbles
has been messed up, but they'regood Vaughan Rumbles. It's again when it
gets bad, it can be bad, but I feel like some of the
best moments we see are rumbles,and I feel like that's why you know,
Jason and Nick All like it.I mean, are you the same.
I feel like the moments just pileup enough to where Rumble is I

(05:40):
think one of the more memorable matcheson the on the year, for sure,
the best like gimmick match that's everbeen the War Rumble. Most profitable
for sure is it got his ownshow. They put it in stadium,
so that's number one. Number Thesecond thing is whether it's the best show
in in calendar. I'll still goat WrestleMania because it's the biggest one and
it is in theory where big stuffshould happen, but the ward Rumble is

(06:01):
definitely where the anticipation gets kind ofkicked in the high gear. Like usually
we're coming out of a winter ina fall that's like it's all right usually
with WWE, but we got apretty good one this The last big pay
per view on per Se quote unquoteis Survivor Series, right, and then
it's just usually that's forgettable, LikeI don't care about Survivors, very forgettable

(06:23):
recently, but we've had a differentat least in the main event. You
know, it's been pretty hot anda pretty good Survivors is this year,
especially with war Games, So Iwould say though for the War Rumble.
Even though WrestleMania is the biggest showand that's obviously where you get the most
casual eyeball, I think War Rumbleis a very casual fan friendly show and
a match to watch because there's somany different people and there is an unpredictable

(06:46):
nature. You can see all theentrance and all the reactions to each entrant.
I think that's good for casual fansget to see a bunch of different
people instead of seeing, uh,you know a match that you know,
maybe as hardcore would be into,but a casual fan, but I don't
care about this twenty minute matches.Fine, you know, something like that,
but we're into but they're not.But the War Rumble is also,
I think a very casual friendly match. The match that can bring in you

(07:11):
can bring in celebrities and stuff likeyeah no outside people, Yeah absolutely.
So yeah, that's that's my takeon the world on board, and I
like your analogy about it being kindof the conference Championship to WrestleMania super Bowl.
That's how I always look at itbecause that's where people punch their ticket
to WrestleMania typically, and it justwhat happens is around the same time when
the sports calendar two ass the AFCand NFC Championships. This particular time,

(07:32):
it's the same weekend. Fortunately,the night before ww knew what they were
doing. Yeah but yeah, yeah, they as soon as they saw the
NFL add another week, it waslike, well, I guess we're going
to a Saturday war Rumble. Thenwe can't avoid these playoff games. I
don't know if I like this Saturdaysor not, but I will say that

(07:53):
it is good to not have iton the same day as conference championships only
because I don't think I'd be ableto watch Conference champion PA Chips without getting
my mind off of Rumble. Rumbleis like, that is my event,
that is my thing. And I'lleven say I'm more excited about the Rumble
than the NFC Championship game, andthat includes a team that I root for.
I know, I know, I'mso excited for the Rumble though that

(08:16):
I love this event. I knowI'm getting I get so I go so
overboard with it, but I know, I know, I know I am.
That is a me opinion. Iwill stick to that. Though I
love the Rumble. Let's go withthis because I want to get into the
matches, because what we always doon the round table is to go too
far and talking about before the show, and then we get during the show

(08:37):
and all the card and all thematches. We never get through it.
So I'm learning my lesson. Thisis growth for me. So I'm just
gonna go real quick right down therow as I just did, starting with
Jason first again, your favorite royalrumble? My favorite royal rumble? Hmmm,

(08:58):
that's good questions. That's tough.So are we talking about the match
or an entire show. I'll leaveit up to you. If we're talking
just match, probably ninety two thatshould I just watched that. Well,
the whole show is alright, eventhe actual the actual match ninety two being

(09:22):
the favorite, Yes, that definitelyshould be unanimous. Bobby Heenan makes that
rumble even better than it already is. It's not a perfect rumble skinner is
there, but it's it's the awesome. It's absolutely amazing. As for complete
show front to back, Oh,that's a little bit more difficult. Two

(09:46):
thousand, yeah, is a reallygood one. That Cactus Jack triple h
match is out of this world.I watched that and I watched the reveal
of Cactus Jack a lot. It'sone of it might go to wrestling clips.
So right now, for lack ofbeing able to think of any other

(10:07):
ones, I'm gonna go with twothousand. But if something nice two thousand
one, I was gonna go betweenthe two, and if somebody would have
said one of them, I wouldgo the other. Two thousand. We
just did two thousand straight shooters,and I look, I kind of like,
I think we kind of undersold ita little bit, but like we'd
look at like the main event withthe war Rumbled stuff, which was kind
of fun, Like I enjoyed that. It wasn't anything overly flashy, right,

(10:31):
it just was. It was fun. It was it was fun show,
fun match, and you had thestreet fight and in that tables match
with the Dudleys and the Hardy's wasthree bangers in my opinion. So the
rest of the show and then youhad Tas debut. Yeah, so it
was fine. The end of condinaltitle match could have gone somewhere, and
at tag title match could have gonesomewhere too, But other than that,
I think it was a pretty goodshow. It's pretty memorable as far as

(10:52):
depth and the war Rumble because youdon't usually find it, Like ninety two
was great, and I'm trying tothink of other war Rumble shows, and
I was like, man, Iwant to watch that front the back.
The only one I would probably goback to is two thousands, so like,
it's a great one. I'm asucker. That nineteen ninety one Rubble
from top to bottom, first oneI ever saw live, is among the

(11:13):
best. Still it holds up todayat twenty twenty three. I watch it
along with the ninety two Rubble everysingle year. Kind of mad because I
watched both of them a couple ofweeks ago, kind of like I might
watch them again before the Rubble thisweekend. Nineteen ninety one, you had
the Big Sargeant slaughter the Iraqi Turncoatbeaten the Ultimate Warrior for the title because

(11:35):
macho man, that damn scepter betweenthe eyes of the Ultimate Warrior. You
had Virgil turned on Ted DBIASI.You had a banger in the Orient Express
versus the Rockers. You stop itright now. That was a great tag.
It was a good mad just afine lot. The Orient Express banger.

(11:56):
It was just off just for racismalone. We can't do it.
It was a great match. Itwas fine. It was a great match.
Go go watch back by teen ninetyone Royal Rubble in the in the
heat of the Person Gulf. Youknow that was I mean that itself wasn't
great that w WF used that,but as an event, the Royal Rumble

(12:18):
was fun despite Halt COVID winning andeliminade and earthquake, I mean it was.
That was a fun match to BobbyHeat and Girl Monsoon were on commentary
together, or actually it was RoddyPiper and Girl Monsoon, which was still
a good commentary team. The ninetyone Rubble is probably my favorite Royal Rubble
top to bottom. Also did thedeep dive on that show. I would
go with two thousand just because I'mgoing to repost it. Two thousand was

(12:41):
great. I loved the two thousand. I'm gonna go two thousand. But
that ninety one show is very interesting. As Nick mentioned in the middle of
at the very start of the golfthe first Golf War back in ninety one,
so it was very patriotic theme tothat show and WrestleMania next the next
couple months. So yeah, checkedthat out in archives on the straight shooters,
so the one I like, andno, it's not because it was

(13:03):
in Philly. I think two ofone of the better booked rumbles. Two
of some of the better booked rumbleshappened in the two thousand and eight Royal
Rumble. Shinske Nakamora and Osca bothwon, but it's the booking. I
think both of those. I rememberhaving so much fun watching those matches.
Like the Heath Slater stuff that happenedduring the men's Royal Rumble I thought was

(13:24):
fantastic. I don't know if likethe rest of the show holds up.
There were some decent matches there thatI liked, but I think if I'm
talking about like favorite booked Royal Rumblesand how much fun they were to watch,
the twenty eighteen and that's why Iliked the two thousand Rumble a lot.
That's why it's one of my favorites. But the twenty eighteen Royal Rumbles,
both the men's and the women's,and that's when we first got that.

(13:46):
I think Ty Dillinger was the tenthentrance for the men's, which was
awesome. The Heath Slater stuff wasfantastic, and then I think that we
saw Ronda Rousey come out at theend of the twenty eighteen Royal rum if
I'm not mistaken. Yeah, Soit's like everything about both of those rumbles
were just awesome, gigantic things happenand just a lot of fun. I

(14:09):
thought both were really good. Ha lot of great uh. Surprise entrance
in the men's and women's side.Uh, it was great. So the
twenty eighteen Rumble rumbles, both ofthem are probably my favorite. I love
those. So those are our favoriterumbles. Now, let's get into the
card itself so we don't waste anytime on talking about this weekend's Royal Rumbles.

(14:33):
Is you're tuned into the Royal RumbleRoundtable here on the line, change
Fox Sports the Gamebler presented by CureAuto Insurance. Going through the card,
let's start with the undercard before bothrumbles first, starting with Bray Wyatt and
La Knights, of course, ina gimmick a lights out match, I
don't pitch by Mountain Dew pitch black. Wait, really is it actually present?

(14:58):
No, Ca, it's black matchbecause a Mountain Dew bro You didn't
It's a red herring. I'm tellingyou right now, bray Wyatt thinks things
through way too much to put tonot put a sponsor on that match to
make us think it's going to becrap. Maybe I have too much faith
in him, but yeah, theboy comes back in October. He takes

(15:24):
all this time to get to therumble. If you don't think he's got
something nuts planned, I would heavilydisagree with you. Hey, whether or
not that nuts thing comes through,that's another story. But I think this
is going to be a turning pointin this character up until WrestleMania. Maybe
that's just me wanting that because Iwant bray Wyatt to succeed. But I

(15:46):
really something about this match. Idon't know what it is, but I'm
very optimistic about it. Look,this is a corporate sponsorship match. Hope
and see it. Because it's calleda pitch black match. I mean we
can't see anything apparently, but yeah, what if it's it's just like an
auditory mat. I can hear thering hitting and stuff, and that's it.

(16:07):
I would hope that there's a turningpoint in bray White character. Since
he hasn't wrestled yet, so thisis his first match, there should be
a change in this character after this, So bray White is going to win.
I agree with that, And also, what are the would you consider
it maybe being uh pre recorded?Yeah, like like they yeah, I

(16:29):
would say, you see that,but I don't. Yeah, I don't
think still neither, I think.I don't think so. I think they
want to get in front of specificallyfor this match and can't watch it live
at ring. They won't want torefor it would be called Bailey versus Specu.
Lynch in a steel cage is brutal. Yeah, that's for another time.
But no, I think it's it'sgotta be. It's gonna be in

(16:51):
front of a crowd. I hopeit's not too gimmicky because I feel like,
what because bray Whye the Fiend wassuch a great character, and I
feel like the moment it started togo kind of sour was when the matches
they didn't have gimmicks attached to himper se, but there was like red
lights on all the time, andit was, you know, everybody didn't
like watching that. Like, hopefullythis isn't overly produced to the point where

(17:12):
we can't just watch a match.I honestly, I don't know what the
lights out are the pitch black,pitch black, pitch black match. I
don't know what it's going to entail, but I do hope we still get
just like some semblance of a wrestlingmatch, because at the end of the
day, I just like bray Whyat the wrestler, and I want to
watch him wrestle, you know,and and the gimmick's great. I like,

(17:33):
I always love his gimmicks, butsometimes it just turns into, you
know, trying to gimmick the matcha little bit too much, when honestly,
I just love pray White as awrestler as well. So that's all
I'm hoping. I think bray Whitewins. I don't know how he doesn't,
but just in terms of the match, I just hope it's not too
overly produced. He's at minus onefifty, So wait, there are odds

(17:56):
for bray White worst. That's onlyminus one fifty for bray White to win
this match. He's one hundred percentwinning this match. That should be.
That's gotta be it turns on himagain or something I see that could happen.
Oh yeah, what do we thinkabout this? Uncle uncle howdy stuff?
Any predictions. I'll leave that opento the floor because I got nothing
any predictions, Yeah right, Igot I got nothing, Like what is

(18:21):
it any chance of this is good? Like good enough, like to pay
off all of this unknown that we'vebeen seeing for hope, it is for
everybody's sake, For everybody's sake,I have, for Bray's sake, for
Triple H's sake, specifically Braised thisis you can tell this is He's getting
carte blanche with this. There's betterwork now. I have a Everyone thinks
that Uncle Howdy is bo his brother, but I just by the way he

(18:45):
his mannerisms are, just by theway he moves around. I think Uncle
Howdy is what a certain wrestler foundwhen he went to the moon. I
think it's Cameron Grimes under there.Whoa Cameron I would like Camera Grimes.
I wouldn't think like him, ButI'm a big Cameron Grimes guy. Watched
him, watched him wrestle in themiddle of nowhere, North Carolina. Would

(19:08):
that be a letdown on? Thatwould for me? It wouldn't because I
love Cameron Grimes, but yeah,that would be I think. Yeah,
I don't know how it will playout on TV and w W raw or
smacked out audience. I just therewas so much left because the Bray Bray
Wyatt kind of just left abruptly becauseobviously, like the vinc Man stuff,

(19:30):
let him go. But there wereso many like loose ends to that story
that are still kind of there becauseAlexa Bliss is still involved in this now
Uncle Howdie's getting thrown in. Idon't think we know exactly what Bray White
is yet. There's just so manyloose ends and so many things that I
have questions about. So I'm I'mnot sure how to feel about any of
this. To be honest, I'mJason. I'm a few sometimes that I

(19:53):
want to just trust the fact thathe he has done some brilliant stuff before,
and I hope he can hear.But I gotta be honest, I
got nothing. I have no ideahow to feel about any of this,
or if I'm excited for it,or if I should be excited for it,
or if there's gonna be some crazyreview. I have no idea.
I'm just kind of hopefully it's good. Hopefully this is good enough that it

(20:15):
makes me invest in bray White againbecause I want to because I've always liked
Bray whyet yeah, I don't knowhow to feel about it either. I
have no choice but to be optimistic. The only thing that he hasn't come
through yet with all of the teaseshe was doing on social media before he
was even the White Rabbit and allthat stuff, is the Wyat Six,
him and five other people making thisfaction now. Originally, if you believe

(20:41):
the stories, the Wyatt family wassupposed to be six people and two of
them being the Briscoes before they screwedup in twenty fifteen with the tweet and
all that stuff. So maybe thisis him returning to his original idea for
the Wyatt family, just calling atthe Wyatt six. I don't know,

(21:02):
but I hope we get some answersin this pitch black match. I really
do. There needs to be somany answers here, and that's what's kind
of scary about it is there's there'sa lot this match needs to do,
and because of that, it couldit could go in a wrong direction very
quick. Let's go to the nextmatch, Raw Women's Championship. Speaking of
Alexa Bliss, she is taking onBianca Blair. There has been some Uncle

(21:26):
Howdy shenanigans in here. I imaginewe're not going to get that too much.
This is gonna be straight up BiancaBlair is gonna win this one.
Any objections, gentlemen, any objections. Yeah, she's not losing the title
till something maybe in Mania or something, but she's not losing it here.
I don't Yeah, I tend tolean that way. I'm gonna pick Bianca

(21:47):
just for posterity, but like Idon't know, Yeah, and there might
be some uncle Howdy nonsense, andbut bray White not to helps her win.
I wouldn't be surprised if that happens. Is it gonna be the starting
something of the show? Then?Could could that bray White's and his uncle
Howdy stuff? Could that be?Could it keep showing up in this show?

(22:07):
Rumbull? I think it definitely bleedsover into at least this match,
because they've been doing the whole timeleading up to it. So to me,
they've been pretty much teasing that Alexais changing, So to have her
just lose would be weird. Atleast, it wouldn't be like Beionca just
gets it with the kod and that'sit. Like that would be kind of
wild to me, unless something ithas to be something more to it than

(22:27):
that. So I don't know.I don't think this was gonna be a
straight up just Matt Klassic here.I think there's gonna be some bells and
whistles, And even if Alexa doesn'twin the title, she's not going to
just get straight up beat with theko D anybody like that, or or
going with Alexa Bliss here as well. No, if anything, I think
Bianca wins and that causes more.We could cause something, okay, and

(22:51):
there's something after the match. Ultimately, Yeah, ultimately I think Beller leaves
with the belt. I do too, because it's so easy what they they
should do for Mania. To me, it's got to be It's got to
be Ripley bel Air. There's somuch history there. They came up near
the same time. They got kindof big at the same time. Blair

(23:11):
kind of took off a little bitquicker once she got to the main and
not a little bit she took offmuch quicker when she got to the main
roster. But Ripley's caught up.Ripley's got this character now and doing very
well. It's just it's setting upfor me for a really organic, great
match for Mania and Beyoncaa. SoI'm just hoping they keep it on her
for the time being. Nick did, was there an official prediction from you?

(23:33):
There was? Was it Beyonca go, I'll go Bianca? But you
know, I kind of move on. You know, Shenanigans could happen.
Uh, you know, maybe there'sa rematch next month and if Alexa wins
and Bianca wins the belt back,but she definitely needs to be champion head
an Endo Mania, Yeah, Ithink. So let's move on to the
undisputed WWE Universal Championship. And thisproduced one of the greatest segments I've seen

(24:00):
on WWE television in quite a while, with the trial of Sammy's Ain and
all that, and then also theweek before, Kevin Owens got like,
it's this, this feud, thisobviously this storyline with Sammy's A and Roman
Grains and all that, and thenthrowing Kevin Owens in all of it.
It has turned up to be,to me, some of the best television
WWE has had in quite a while. And I'm hoping it just turns him

(24:25):
into a really good match because KevinOwens, I think is spectacular. Obviously,
I don't think he's going to win. But this is a great spot
for Kevin Owens, and I feellike you can always do well in matches
like this. I know him andRoman didn't get off to the greatest foot
in that War Games match or whateverand did a spot that wasn't planning and
then Roman rains. It looked likegave him a receipt not too far down
the line after that match. ButI think it's Roman Reigns. But this

(24:48):
has potential to be a very goodundercard match in the same way I look
at the Seth Rolin, Sena andLesnar triple threat match like this. I'm
hoping this is really good because ofall the bloodline stuff thrown into it.
In fact, that Owens is justdamn awesome. This is also the rubber
match it is in the trilogy ofRoman Reigns versus Kevin Owens at the Royal

(25:08):
Rumble. Yeah, Kevin Owens wintwenty seventeen. Well, Chris Jericho in
a shark cage above the ring,you remember that, unfortunately, and uh
obviously Roman won in twenty twenty one. I believe it was in the Thunderdome,
so uh yeah, I mean,Roman's going to keep the title here,

(25:30):
but I'm they couldn't have done abetter job building to this specific match,
and everyone's going to wonder what Sammy'snine's gonna do. Like I almost
feel bad for Kevin Owens in away because it's mainly about Sammy. But
that's the beauty of it, becauseKevin's not going away, you know,
it's his storyline as much as Sammy's. But I'm more excited to see if

(25:52):
Sammy gets involved here. I knowRomans said, you know at the Rumble
is going to be Sammy's final test. I don't know if it's going to
be or in this match or thethirty man Royal Rumble match, So we
will see about that. But uh, you know Roman will walk out the
champion, but uh, I thinkKevin Owens is gonna a few times.

(26:14):
Yeah, it's it's it's that's agreat thing about this matches. I'm excited
for it, not because of whoI think is gonna win, you know,
it's it's good for a match whenI know Roman's gonna win because he's
a great champion and they're keeping thebelt on him, but at least make
it interesting. And there's there's alot of different ways this this match can
go and a lot of different thingsthat could you know the fallout from this?
Uh Von Jason, any objections toRoman Reign as the winner or what's

(26:37):
the expectations for this match for youguys? I have no objections and I
think same thing will definitely play apart in this match. Yeah, one
hundred percent agree. Samy Zane's gonnacost Owens the match, and then Owens
is gonna cost Sammy Zain the Rumbleif I had to guess. All right,
so those are the matches for theundercard. I'm sure there might be

(26:57):
more pre shows off all of that, but we're running out of time,
So guess what we're gonna go onthe other side to the two Royal Rumble
matches, because I'm sure we canbreak down all Royal Rumble stuff coming up
next year. On the Line ChangeFox Sports a Gambler. I'll present it
by Cure Auto Insurance WDAS and WDtwo seven three D is Fox Sports Radio

(27:22):
Philadelphia and iHeartRadio Station presented by CureAuto Insurance. It time umble, good
time, Um, It's time torubble. Welcome back to the Royal Rumble

(27:44):
Roundtable. On the Line Change FoxSports a gambler presented it by Cure Auto
Insurance. Royal Rumble, Royal Rumblepay per view this weekend. That's hard
to say. Does anybody else havetrouble saying Royal Rumble. That's a lot.
It's a premium live, it's apremium I know, I can't say
premium live event. That's a mouthful. But there's a premium live event this

(28:07):
weekend. So we're going over that. Now Here on the line change and
again joining me John Jansen at JayJansen thirty four is Jace Fonelli. You
can follow Ads big Man Finelli andthen the hosts of Shooters Radio podcast,
Nick Piccone at Underscore pecone and alsoVaughn Johnson at Von m Johnson. Now,

(28:30):
let's get to the two biggest matches. We've gone over most of the
card, most of the big matches, but it's the two that we're here
for, and it's Royal Rumble.We'll start off with the women's Royal Rumble
because I I don't know if that'sthey're both kind of easy predictions. Maybe
somewhat I could say, but I'mgonna start off with the women's one because

(28:52):
we already mentioned a match that couldtake place at WrestleMania. That would be
very interesting. Bianca bel Air,if she comes out, is Raw Women's
Champion at the end of this show. I would love to see Raya Ripley
win the rumble. She has beenthe great thing. I don't know if
this is just a Triple H thingor what, but characters seemed to thrive
well whenever Triple H is there.I'm not saying the shows are always the

(29:15):
best, but characters seem to findtheir rhythm under Triple H. And I
think Raya Ripley has been one ofthe biggest benefactors of you know, creative
switching hands over to Triple H.And she has been fantastic. It's been
a great rise and it's been alot of fun television that we've seen from
Rayah Ripley and Dom Mysterio Jason's favoritewrestler. So I think this is a

(29:37):
perfect spot for I think this isa perfect spot for Raya Ripley to win
and continue that assent. Maybe wedo see some shenanigans from Dom and the
rest of the judgment, but Vaughan, who do we got here? Who
do we got for the Women's Royalrumble match man. This is tough.
I think there's a lot of candidateswhere you go Becky Lynch, whether you

(30:02):
go even Bailey or uh Like Isaid, real Ripley, do you honestly
because you're saying a lot of thetop ones, because you're right, Ray
of Ripley is the favorite, bythe way, minus one sixty seven.
I mean you mentioned Becky Lynch istwo to one, Charlotte Flair six to
one, Bailey seven to one.She has the title. So I'm ruling
her out. Yeah, I don'tknow why she's six to one, but
she is six to one, AlexaBliss fourteen to one, Oscar fourteen to

(30:26):
one, Live Morgan fourteen to one, Sasha Banks fourteen to one. Uh
so I don't think that's could thathappened? Maybe? I mean she's not
signed by anybody. I mean,I don't know the agent. Technically.
If we're expecting some surprises, couldSasha Banks be one of them? I

(30:47):
mean, I guess and she comesout as Mercedes Monet where her new Chris
is the Snoop Dog one. Yeah, I guess we're talking open open that
door up, baby. I'm gongo aa Ripley for this one though she
seems like a clear and obvious chores. You know, there's some other people
that could, you know, potentiallyget in there, but nobody else sticks

(31:08):
out as like somebody who makes completesense, maybe other than Becky Lynch.
Maybe because I don't think she's wonone yet, so has she? I
don't know she has. Did shewin in twenty nineteen? Actually I think
she went nineteen. Yeah, shedidn't win twenty nineteen, so yeah,
So besides her, I mean she'sthe one that sticks out that makes the
most sense to me. Is RiaRipley Nick. Yeah, I gotta go

(31:29):
Ripley here. I would originally havechosen Becky Lynch, but based on what
happened at the Raw x x X, I think they're gonna go Bailly and
Becky Lynch. They're gonna build tothis big match at WrestleMania. Maybe it's
some big stipulation, maybe Helen toSell, who knows, but I think
that would be a great direction totake, by the way, you know,

(31:51):
Bailey versus Becky with no titles,huge WrestleMania match. So I would
go Ripley to win the Royal Rumble. Jason, We're gonna make it an
all Ripley. I don't know ifwe did this last year for the Rumble
at all, but it seems likewe're doing it this year. Is it
gonna be an all Ripley all Ripleypanel here, never go full panel,

(32:13):
but we are. I know younever go full panel, and so I'm
not. Oh. I think Ithink we get our first two time Rumble
champion on the women's side, andthat is a returning dark Oscar. Oscar
put out those promos like five orsix weeks ago saying she's going to Japan

(32:35):
to find something that she lost.I think she re debuts in this Royal
Rumble as the badass Kana that shewas in New Japan and over it start
to excuse me, and over thereshe wins the Rumble, goes to SmackDown
and challenges Charlotte that's my jam,which leaves rear Ripley open to still challenge

(32:59):
beyond. On the roll side.That's not a bad one because Oscar is
one of those that you just youdo the character a little bit right,
and Oscar is always money and gonnaput on great matches. So I love
that and it could be onto somethingthere that you know that character would be
very good, so Oscar would beone of them. Do we want to
go dark Horse? We Does anybodyhave predictions on who might show up?

(33:22):
I know it wasn't Kansas Michelle tryingto get in on this. We have
a lot that could potentially happen.Do we think Naomi shows up? What
do we think happens here? Whatare is there anything we're anticipating or excited
for or predicting to happen. There'sonly seven people confirmed as of records.
Yes, there's not a lot.Yeah, that which is weird, right,

(33:45):
Usually Nick and Vaughan you could probablytell me, but I feel like
there's always at least more than seventhat are announced. Yeah, I feel
like that too. They now mostof the field, most before the rumboard,
and they leave like maybe eight toten, right, Yeah, not
announced, But you know, Idon't know. They're going to have some

(34:05):
NXT call ups obviously for the match, because I think the I think the
women's division on either show is deepenough to have one on its own,
And as far as surprises or maybereturns, Naomi's a good candidate because she
hasn't really popped up anywhere yet.I guess they'll bring out some legends.
Maybe Michelle McCoo will popped back up, maybe christ Jaddis to show back up.
Who knows, But but yeah,I don't. I don't honestly don't

(34:28):
know. I don't know how they'regonna play this with is it twenty three
open spots that the majority of whichI would imagine would go to like people
we just haven't announced yet, orpeople that's on NXT. But it'll be
intervesting to see. Yeah, wellbeazy as we record this on January twenty
sixth. The last announced competitor andthe Women's Royal Rumble happened on January twenty

(34:50):
first, so five days ago andthere's still only seven So they didn't announce
anybody on Raw, you know,tonight on SmackDown. We'll see if they
announce somebody, but I'm assuming theywill. They have to write as the
Royal Rubble is just one day awayas you listen to this, But yeah,
I don't know, dude. It'sridiculous. They have two women from

(35:13):
Raw. The rest are from SmackDown. Not doing a great job building this
Women's Rumble right now with names thatlike, I don't want the Women's Rumble
full of just one hit one,like a one off, because you just
know they're not going to win.Like I it seems like this effort for
the women's Rubble is really really lackluster. I hope that they hit a home

(35:37):
run with it, because they can, but just to build to it,
it's just like, oh, you'rein the Alamodome again, and the last
time you were there, he didn'thave a women's Rubble match, So you
think they do a better job buildingthis one specifically, and to go back
to the Alamodome, but still onlyseven at the time of this recording.
It's really ridiculous. But you know, hopefully that is exactly. Hopefully the

(36:02):
reason why it's not announced is becausethey are there's gonna be you know,
surprise, you know return exactly Likemaybe this is because they're really trying to
build something here with the women's matchesand women's card and that division in general.
So I'm I'm hoping you're right thatthe reason why they're they're keeping everything

(36:25):
kind of close to the vest andnot really revealing who's in the rumble is
because they they have something in storehere. If not, it just feels
like the women's rumbles been an afterthought, right. I hate to put it
like that, but there's been nobuild to it. There's been sort of
nothing and not many announced. SoI'm just hoping it's for a reason and

(36:45):
they have something big in store,and I don't know what exactly that would
be, but I'm hoping it's something, because yeah, I'm I'm not liking
to build to this. So let'sget to the Men's Royal Rumble match,
and we already have what we thoughtwas going to be the big surprise coming
back for the Rumble. We alwaysgot it the John Cena moment right where
he comes back from injury and hismusic plays and he, you know,

(37:08):
arms cross and puts his head upand bam, it's John Cena and oh
my gosh, Sena's back. Wethought we were gonna get that with Cody
Rhodes, but he already announced he'sgoing to be in the Men's Royal Rumble.
Let's go through the odds here becauseuh, there's there's an interesting name
at the top. So Cody Rhodsis the favorite minus one forty three.
The next favorite right behind Cody Rhodesat plus one point fifty Dwayne the Rock

(37:37):
Johnson at plus one, fifty plusone, seventy five, Sammy z Ain
four to one, Seth Rollins.Then we dropped significantly sixteen to one,
Kevin Owens seventeen to one, RomanReigns twenty to one, Bobby Lashley twenty
to one, Brock Lesner thirty toone, Jay Uso, and everybody's thirty
to one Rowe. It is crazy, how you know, the women's rumble,
it's kind of spread out a littlebit and you get to a lot

(38:00):
of wrestlers before you start getting tolike the thirty to ones and all that.
The men's it goes from Cody Roadsthe Rock, Sammy's Ain, Seith
Throllins, and bam, a hugedrop off to Kevin Owens in the rest
of the field. Are we thatconfident in the four that are listed?
I'll start with that before we getinto the rest of the match, Nick,
Are we that I know you've seenthese odds a lot and try and

(38:22):
make you wrap your head around it. Does that top four make sense?
Oh? Yeah, oh yeah,I believe we we. I mean,
here's the thing with surprises. Everyoneexpects a surprise and then when they literally
advertise like Cody coming back, youknow, people get upset. It's like,
well, you knew he was gonnabe back anyway, man Like,

(38:44):
like we all follow the same reports. It's a wasted surprise if you just
wait for Cody Rose to come back. So to me, that opens a
door for perhaps another surprise. Yeah, I was gonna say it takes it
puts the eyes all on him,and it takes the eyes off of whatever
else they might be doing. You. That's perhaps it opens a surprise for
a certain Hall of Fame wrestler fromTexas who won the nineteen ninety seven Royal

(39:07):
Rumble. Whoa wat watch that one? Perhaps, But I think Cody is
the logical choice hard no rumble wrestfrom Texas. Now, seriously, I
was trying to do the joke ofmore of he won the ninety seven Rumble,
but yeah, no, he's notfrom Texas. But uh, you

(39:30):
know, the Rock coming back doesn'tto win the Rumble. It doesn't exactly
make sense to me. And theycould do that without the Rock winning the
Rumble. They could do Rains versusRock without that. Austin winning is obviously
you know, the report from somerreEl SAP recently is that w W made
Austin a big money offer to comeback and wrestle rains. So you think,

(39:52):
Okay, the Rock's definitely out.Then it could all be a smoke
screen. You know, we wehave no idea what's going on until we
see it play out. So I'mexcited. Those top you know, odds
make sense to me. Cody wasalways gonna be in the odds whether they
announced him or not, so hewas probably always gonna be right at the
very top too. So you comeback and you know that you have to

(40:15):
have that story book ending for Codywinning the title, whether it's the w
W title, whether it's the universaltitle, or whether it's the undisputed w
W Universal title. So whoa,this is a great He split the titles.
I mean he's gonna win one orthe other, but he's split it.
I mean it's just split it.Yes, we will, we will

(40:35):
see. But I'm gonna pick Codyjust because, Uh, it's very hard
for me to pick somebody that hasn'tbeen advertised. I don't think I've done
that. Maybe I've done that onceon this show, on this round table.
I might have done it last year, actually, but I don't believe
like Austin would just come back andwin the Royal Rubble, or the Rock

(40:57):
would just come back and win theRubble, Like I don't know, that's
that's all for me to believe.That's why I'll go with Cody. Yeah,
Jason, how do we feel aboutthe Rock being plus one fifty here?
How we feel I understand why hewould be up in the favorites,
But I'm kind of of the mindthat Nick is you can make the Rock
versus Roman reigns without them needing theRumble to do it, have the Rock

(41:22):
cost Roman against Kevin Owens, orcome out and attack him after Rains beats
Kevin Owens, something like that.Maybe maybe samby Zain's final test is to
convince the Rock to help Roman.He does and then he beats up Roman
anyway or some weird I'm I'm notthe booking committee, but you can do

(41:43):
that and set up that match withoutneeding Roman, without needing the Rumble.
You don't need the titles either,But that's the whole other story. So
I am actually also picking Cody,and then he'll split He'll specifically want the
WWEE Championship, he'll win it,split it off, and that'll be Rall's

(42:06):
top title, and he'll be Rall'sflagship person for the foreseeable future. Now,
there is some unpredictability here. Aswe mentioned with the Women's Rumble,
only sixteen out of thirty have beenannounced as of this recording. It is
not quite an even split nine toseven in favor of SmackDown. You figure

(42:29):
there'll be some NXT call ups inthere as well. Bronze Breaker will probably
show up, but ultimately I dothink Cody's big return will end with a
win in this match. Vun Doesit make sense for the rock Stone call
it? I mean, it feelslike there's been predictions about WWE trying to

(42:50):
shoot for the stars, no punintended, But does it make sense at
all here? I think so itmakes sense like nick' sai. You know
Derry Steve Auston Texas. We knowwhere he is. The show is in
Texas. They can probably throw somemoney Adam make him come back, you
know, I have him come back, convincing to come back after his great
show in last year WrestleMania. Uh. And the rock makes sense too.

(43:14):
I know there's reports that he maynot be there, but I got a
conspiracy that I don't think. I'meven alone in this far fetched thing.
It's not that far fetched because I'veseen other people floated around on x on
social media as well. Just Ihad to check this in case I was
alone on this, and I wasn'tbecause it's not that big of a stretch.

(43:37):
But uh, this show takes placein San Antonio. It is in
the Alimal Dome, which has alieutenant. Is a football team now and
that plays in the Alimal Dome.That football team, that football team,
Oh wait wait, that football teamplays in the league called the XFL and

(44:00):
they will play their games the AnimalDome. That football team is also owned
or that that league, I shouldsay, is owned by Duayne the Rock
Johnson. Guess what the name ofthat team is in San Antonio. Oh
no, they're called the San AntonioBramas. They're named after Oh that Dwayne

(44:23):
the Rock Johnson guy. So I'madam. I'm just saying like it would
make if I'm somebody working with theXFL and I have nothing to do with
WW I would be begging Dwayne RockJohnson to show up in San Antonio wearing
the San Antonio Bamas jersey to onecreate awareness of the league. And that's

(44:43):
about to kick off in a coupleof weeks we got through the Super Bowl.
XFL's first game is going to beplayed. Also, you help sell
some tickets in that local market,because again they will be playing their games
in that stadium. They could probablysay, Hey, the Rock is here.
Oh go buy your San Antonio Bamasticket. Ye, now you're one
hundred percent there. There's gotta besome promotion. I don't know in what
way it is, but I'm surethe Rock sees this as an opportunity to

(45:06):
promote the hell out of the XFL. Uh I agree with you? There?
Does it turn into a rumble entrant? I don't. I don't know.
I could not to say, couldn't, But I think what the good
thing is is it does entice involvementin the show in some way. Yes,
there is exactly exactly because promoting.Obviously, he's put his own money

(45:30):
on the line in this. Himand Danny go see A co owned this
a long ward. I think RedbirdCapitalist, the name of the company he
teamed up with. Uh, sothey got skin in this game. Clearly,
they obviously want this to work.Like so, any promotion opportunities that
could be had will be taken Iwould assume. But you know, again,
that's me wildly speculating. That's notany I don't know. I don't

(45:53):
know if that what are you?Are you turning that speculation into you think
the Rock's gonna win the Run Bowl. No, I'm turning that into I'm
picking Cody Rose because he's not announcedto I can't, like Nick said,
I can't pick somebody who's not evenannounced. That seems like a very wild
thing to do as a wrestling fan, like like predicting uh Gardner Minshew to

(46:13):
have a great game Sunday. He'snot even in the starting lineup, like
hopefully he doesn't play. Right.If you're an Egles fan, the damn
I'm just saying, you don't predictthe backups or like somebody who's not on
the starting lineup to have a biggame necessarily, Like at least you know
you don't. You don't want tosee the backup center for the Eagles.
You want to see Jason Kelcey outthere, right, So same with this,
I can't predict somebody who's not evenon the on the card, on

(46:36):
the lineup, per se. Butif the Rock does show up, I
would not be totally surprised if he'salso wearing a San Antonio Brahmas jersey or
shirt or something. You know,I could see, I could see it.
I could absolutely see that. SoVaughan the Rock Conspiracy, I liked

(46:57):
Nick, I'll go with you.I know we got kind of Jon who
he thought he was gonna win toNick, I'll go with you. What
what are you expecting from this rumble? Any bold predictions? And also who
you got? Who you got?It's the question of the show. Who
you got? So I got Cody, But I feel like, you know,
Vaughn said earlier he thinks Sammy's aineis going to play a part in

(47:20):
the Roman reigns Kevin Owen's match.I feel like Sammy's test is actually going
to be in the Royal Rumble match, and he is going to his test
is going to be eliminate himself,so he's no longer he's not a threat
to Roman's title. So I don'tknow how. I don't know if Roman
comes out and they do that,or the USOS are involved or Solos involved,

(47:43):
Paul Haman involved by the which isjust cracks me up that he was
the very first one, Like Iwas Sammy's ain dead and I was like,
I came out of nowhere. Butit was building, you know,
for for you know, weeks.You could see Paul's subtle facial expressions,
maybe not so subtle, but Ifeel like that might be where Sammy's test
is at the Royal Rubble and theactual War of rubble Mats. So that

(48:07):
is my I guess it's a boldprediction where perhaps Roman gets involved and make
sure Sammy is eliminated so he isnot a threat to his title. And
then maybe you know Sammy's let yo, what the hell? So what the
hell? Von? I know youjust wan, but do we get a
prediction from you? What was theYou're going with Cody? We got your

(48:30):
conspiracy. I just wanted to makesure I will go with Cody. I'm
gonna go Cody on that. Forthe War Rumble winner, I think Tasha
Steeles is announced He's going to NXT. Not so subtly, by the way,
but that's a different story. Butyes, Cody Rhoads will win the
War Rumble. Jason Bold predictions CodyRoads. Okay, Cody Roads with a
War Rubble. Like I said,I think Brown Breaker is going to be

(48:52):
an NXT appearance in the match.Maybe also Von Wagner because he needs something
to do, not scripts scripts.But yeah, I think you'll see two
or three from NXT. But Cody'sgoing to be the winner. Yep,
I can see Cody. I justI don't know where the bloodline payoff is

(49:17):
going to be or or kind ofthat that sudden turn in this Bloodline story.
I don't know when that's going tobe. If it's not in the
Roman Reigns Kevin Owens match, it'sgot to be in the Royal Rumble.
And the tough part is is Ican't say after you know, we've seen
so many fight for wrestling, Ican't say dirt sheats anymore because it's actually

(49:38):
like real good reporting now. SoI can't say dirt cheats. That's like
derogatory. But Geen Ross sap fightfulas reported Steve Austin and then Dave Meltzer.
I think he had the rock orsomething like that. I forget there.
There's been multiple reports about big namedwrestlers trying to face Roman Reigns in

(49:59):
the main of so I can't sithere and tell you that I feel confident
in saying Sammy's Ain can win therumble, and that's where the turn takes
place. Because if they're trying tobook all these big matches and then all
of a sudden they're like, hey, let's land on Sammy's Ain for this
spot, it's like, I don'tknow, man, Like we're taking a
big swing missing and going yeah,we're just gonna like we got two strikes

(50:22):
left. We're just gonna head thedugout and call it. We're done.
You know, we're not even gonnatry it. That's I don't think that's
a WrestleMania main event, but it'ssomewhere to yeah, yeah, something like
that. That's that's where you getthat payoff. But yeah, I just
I would love to see it withSammy's In because I think he's an awesome
wrestler and a great storyteller, andwe already seen him in WrestleMania matches wrestling

(50:45):
the entire Jackass Crew and it happenedto be one of the most memorable moments
of that entire Mania weekend. SoSammy's In can put on a big special
main event match and put a greatstory on it. It's just that if
you're gonna swing for the Rock andStone Cold Steve Austin. How can I
expect them to just settle on Sammy'sAin. So as much as I want

(51:05):
to say Sammy's Ain, I thinkthere can be a great story told.
I think there's a great main eventin there. That's my long way of
saying, it's got to be CodyRhodes. Who else can it be?
Who else? I will say,though, regardless of what happens, I'm
just looking forward to it. Thisis probably the most excited I've been for
very, very Yes, we don'tknow what's gonna happen, there's that that
bloodline storyline is really part of themain one of the main reasons why I'm

(51:29):
excited. That segment on Raw Mondaywas tremendous, really created a lot of
entry for not just for its prettymuch two matches. You know, you
assume he's gonna be in Samy Zineis going to be in a rumble,
but also the Rumman remains Kevin Owensmatch. I'm just excited a Saturday night.
It's gonna be a good time.Let's do it all right? That
that wraps it up here, Thatwas so fast. It always happens like

(51:51):
that. I've looked forward to thisevery year, talking to you guys on
the round table, and it endsso quickly. But that is it for
the Royal Rumble round Table. Hereon the line change Fox Sports a Gamble
presented by Kur Auto Insurance. Againmy guests on the program, follow them.
Jason Vonelli follow him at big ManFinellia. Checkout the Cheese, Steaks
and Controllers podcast on the iHeartRadio appwherever get you podcasts, and you can

(52:12):
also hear it every Saturday here onThe Gambler as well at three o'clock.
And then the hosts of the Shooterthe Straight Shooters Pod. I always just
say Shooters Radio. Should I saythe Straight Shooters Pod. That's the name
of it. It's a great name, it's a great podcast. The Shooterspod
dot com. Nick Pacone can followhim at Underscore pecone and also Von Johnson
at Von M. Johnson. Nickalso helps out here with The Gambler and

(52:36):
Vonda stuff with the Inquirer. Sothank you guys so much. Into the
Roundtable down. We'll be back foranother one, I'm sure very soon.
But more of the Gambler coming upnext to here. Fox Sports a Gambler
presented by Kur auto insurance small,What the raw is cooking, sh