WWE WrestleMania 39 Preview: Hour 2 - 03/31/23

Mark Henry Jr. joins Jon Jansen to talk all things #WrestleMania 39.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
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and welcome back to the WrestleMania RoundTable Bonus edition. That's right,

(00:43):
special guests going to be joining usoutside separately from the roundtable conversation. Now
we're bringing it to some special guestsand one who I love the talk wrestling
with. I love to talk everythingwith. But he is a wrestling historian.
I guess you would say, loveshimself some WrestleMania, even though I
think rumbles better. Bud loves himself. Somania. It is Mark Henry Junior.

(01:06):
You can follow him at Mark HenryJunior Underscore on Twitter and we're talking
some WrestleMania. Mark. I'll startoff with the big one because we're gonna
get into the card. We're gonnatalk about, you know, everything that's
happening this weekend. But I'll startout with this, What is your favorite
WrestleMania. It's an easy one forme, I guess I should say I
think seventeen is the best. Ithink I think seventeen is by far the

(01:30):
best WrestleMania because you have the mainevent with you know, two of arguably
the four to five biggest stars inthe history of the business. My personal
one of my probably three to fivefavorite matches of all time is TLC two
at WrestleMania seventeen with the obviously iconicEdge and Jeff Hardy. That was the
best one. That was That's whenthat that's when that whole era of that

(01:53):
really peaked. That was the one, one hundred percent. That's definitely the
best of the of the Triangle Laddermatch TLC one, SummerSlam and then TLC
too, give me that, giveme that last one, that finale by
far, I think that, youknow, Edge spearing, Jeff Hardy off
of the belt is probably like atop five wrestling moment of all time.

(02:16):
Every single time I watched that,like my, my, you know,
I got goosebumps. It's just suchan amazing moment, you know, wrestle
I was tweeting about it. Thisprobably isn't my I think seventeen probably is
my favorite, but I was tweetingabout it. I love WrestleMania thirty so
much. It's just such a heartwarmingwatch like that. Daniel Bryant's story is

(02:36):
just it's unmatched in terms of thesatisfaction that it gave the fans, Like
it felt like a journey that finallyculminated the correct way with Daniel They yep,
oh perfectly. I mean that tripleh match, the start off as
a banger and then they go youknow, obviously they have the main event

(02:57):
and you know, the finish ofit. I love WrestleMania thirty and obviously
you have like the historical impact ofyou look back on you know, obviously
you have Taker losing the streak.That's gonna be the thing most people think
about from WrestleMania thirty over even DanielBryan, I think. But outside of
that, like so here's a littleI'll let you in on I'll let people

(03:19):
in on something. So my fiancehas no interest in sports, I've gotten
or in on wrestling though. Nice, well done. I probably lot a
lot of work, Probably took alot of work for that to happen.
Glad you got that done. Thoughthat's important, not really, honestly,
you know what it's done. It'sthe WWE documentaries they do. They're best,
the best. Yeah, well done, and they're and for me and

(03:43):
you, we can watch them andthey're great and we appreciate them and I
love watching them. But for someonelike my fiance, who I only really
knows about what happened outside of thepast year from what I've said, it's
nice to have these moments packaged upfor you with the little commentary about it.
Like, I love those documentaries somuch. That's done a lot.
But funny enough, I was showingher WrestleMania thirty. She loves Daniel Bryan.

(04:08):
She's a big belt, she lovesthe bellas, so she was big
on Total Divas, big on TotalBella's all that stuff. So I was
showing at WrestleMania thirty because she lovesDaniel Bryan and we're skipping through. It's
giving the matches and she's like,my god, Like the Shield, we're
still around like that recently. It'slike, yeah, like it was.
It's just crazy to go back andwatch and you're seeing bray Wyatt come out

(04:30):
to face John Cena and bray Wyatt'spretty much in the first year of his
run. It yeah, like thefirst Yeah, it's so funny how ten
years ago. It's about ten yearsago now, Yea. That was the
start of like the new era thatwe've currently been in. We're like getting
towards the end of that, butthat's that's when it all started. That's
a lot of bray Wyatt stuff.That's a lot. That's when we're getting

(04:50):
past really like the John Cenas andRandy Orton's and all that, and we're
getting into bray Wyatt's and the Shieldand run and rains and seth rollins like
that was all all starting to becomenew. Yeah. And then the next
year, I mean, thirty oneis an all timer two. I mean,
so many good, so many goodmatches. And then since I feel
like I have to, I feellike I've got to spread it around if

(05:11):
I'm gonna say seventeen, I'm gonnasay thirty. I'm gonna say thirty one.
Let me bring off the Hogan erashow, I'll say WrestleMania eight wrestling.
I guess we can go to theolder ones. Sure, sure,
he is definitely my favorite of thefirst nine. I'd say I think that
it's the best of the early WrestleManias. It's got so many matches. I

(05:32):
think Brett Hart Roddy Piper might beone of the most underrated matches of all
time. The storytelling in that matchone of the first real face face matches.
Obviously you had Hogan and Warrior twoyears before, but yet Undertaker in
his second WrestleMania against Jacobs Snake Robertsin his first turn as a baby face.
There. I love WrestleMania, andthen just I can't believe I'm just

(05:54):
gonna end up listening all thirty eight. But WrestleMania. WrestleMania ten has probably
two of the top five matches inWrestleMania history with Breton Owen and then obviously
HBK and Razor. Ramon HBK andRazor doesn't hold up quite as well as
you'd like it too, because we'vejust seen so many incredible ladder matches and
so many death defying ladder matches thatyou go back and watch that and you

(06:17):
can still appreciate it for what itwas at the time. It doesn't hold
up quite the same as breton Owendu though Breton O and A WrestleMania ten
five far the best WrestleMania opener ofall time. We'll see if Sena and
Beery can contest them. Yeah,the one I'll say I really like WrestleMania
twenty four with Shawn Michaels and RickFlairn. That should have been retirement match,

(06:40):
which was awesome, created so manycool visuals. I thought Undertaker and
Edge was a really good title match. I see him punk when the money
in the bank ladder match, whichwas really good, Like all that stuff
was so great, and it's justthey create a great moment in that moment
with Shawn Michaels given the sweets ofmusic and I'm Sorry, I Love You
was so good. So that meanYou always sticks out of my head.

(07:00):
I think it was one of thefirst ones too. I think that might
have been the first media I watched. I've got a picture it's literally sitting
behind me and people can't see meright now, but it's literally sitting behind
me. It is a signed photoof the super Kick at WrestleMania twenty four,
Michaels and Rick Flair. I willto send you a picture. Wow,
that is really Yeah, you're gonnahave to send me that. That's

(07:23):
really good. All right, SoMark, let's go into this WrestleMania.
We're in La WrestleMania thirty nine andit's a good card. So I think
we've seen the cards for both nights. So I'll ask you what night are
you looking forward to the most Nightone? I'm looking forward to Night one
because of the USSOS versus sammy's Ainand Kevin Owens. That's the match that

(07:46):
I am one hundred percent It's goingto be incredible in. I don't think
enough attention has been paid to whatthe USOS have done during this During this
run of the Blood Line, Ithink uh. I honestly think Roman Reigns
and Jay Usso probably had the bestseries of matches that we've seen in the

(08:07):
last three years in WWE. Iloved that initial storyline to kick off the
championship reign for Roman, and evensince then, the USSOS just delivered banger
after banger after banger in the tagteam division. I think they are absolutely
in the conversation of the greatest youknow, tag team of all time,

(08:28):
if not just of the last recentera. It's right up there with New
Day obviously. And I think thisrun and how important the Tag Belts feel
right now, I don't think we'vefelt that in like two decades. Like
I think that they the Tag Beltsshould absolutely main event Night one. I
wish it was a ladder match.I think if you brought the ladder match

(08:50):
out there with El Jenerico and KevinSteen who used to have ladder wars back.
I know I'm not an indie guy, but I'm an indie guy when
I go back and watch and stuffonce once my favorites are in WW or
a W, I go back andwatch a lot of the stuff. So
I would go back and watch thatfor sure. If nobody's seen, I'm
sure most have, but yeah,for those nine or for those just w

(09:11):
w W fans, and I'll watchlike all the old Ring of Honor stuff,
watch Kevin Stein and Elgenerica. Thatstuff is, that's legendary stuff and
even uh and it was nice thatit was brought to my attentions. I
actually watched a couple matches of it, but obviously when when Jay Brisco passed
away recently, a lot of peoplewere tweeting out a lot of the of
the videos of the matches and highlightclips of the Briscos and their series with

(09:35):
Stein and Elgenerico in r O H. And it's some of the craziest stuff
you'll ever see in your life.And I I not that they're gonna do
the same thing here. I don'tthink we're gonna get some of those spots
that we'd like to see from Ringof Honor. But I think the Usos
and Sammy and Ko are four ofthe absolute best wrestlers in the world,
and they're gonna put on an absoluteclinic. I'm still a little annoyed that

(10:00):
he didn't get his moment in Montreal. As I've as I've made it was
fine, he shouldn't have. It'sokay, I still had a moment.
He still had a moment. Itwas still like I I think they did
a great job with him. Ithink that we had the chance to create
such a special No Way Out twothousand and four, any Guerrero type of
moment that we'll remember in twenty years, and I just don't think we'll feel

(10:22):
the same way about the match,get that. But yeah, but the
one right now from Drains and CodyRoads, like that, that feels huge,
It feels massive. I agree,I agreed. And by the way,
I love Cody, Like I'm allin on this story, like it
has not This Sammy thing has nothingto do with Cody, And I'm also
a little biased. Sammy Zain ismy favorite wrestler in the world, like

(10:43):
there's no not even he had amatch with Neville that still revolution. Yes,
it's one of my favorite matches ever. It's actually such a good match.
I believe that's on the same cardthat had the fatal four Way of
the Four Horsewomen on NXT. Imean that's when Kevin Owens made his debut.
Yes, yes, it was again. Do you remember do you remember

(11:05):
who Kevin? Oh, it's JuceRobinson right, yep, yep, his
name was at the time. ButI know it's just something Parker something Parker.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Iremember. He broke his nose,
didn't he didn't Kevin Owens? Yeah, So yeah, that's one of my
that's probably my favorite NXT show ofall time, maybe besides the one I
went to in Brooklyn, but thethe NXT Takeover Revolution. I would say,

(11:28):
I always joke, so I hadmy hiatus from two thousand and seven,
I'd say until the pipe bomb.And the pipe Bomb, I don't
think I know a lot of peoplejust like to kind of crap on,
see I'm Punk. Nowadays, Idon't think people realize how huge that was
a moment. It's still a bigwrestling moment, absolutely, yeah, absolutely

(11:48):
is. And that brought me backand I was like, oh, I'm
interested, what's going on here?Because I already even before I had left,
I kind of already liked Punk inthe w W E c W days.
So when I heard that this guycame out and you know, took
down the fourth wall and all thisstuff, YadA, YadA, YadA,
I came back in. So Ialways say Punk brought me back. But
the people who kept me when Punkleft and when Punk, uh, you

(12:11):
know, wasn't quite as incredible ashe was during that initial run. When
I came back, the people thatkept me were Daniel Bryan, Dolf Ziggler,
Dolph. See that's one of mymy I think my biggest missed opportunities
from w w A was Dolf Ziggler. After that Survivor series, he was,
Oh god, dude, he wason fire and they did nothing with

(12:33):
it. Zero. The match hehad the next month with rest Rest in
Peace Brodie Lee uh one of theone of the most underrated ladder matches of
the last decade he had. Iremember it was in Cleveland, so Ziggler
was the hometown guy. He hadlike Cleveland Brown's tights on in that ladder
match for the ice belt. Absolutebanger. In my opinion, it's the

(12:54):
greatest w W E or AW matchthat Luke Harper slash Brody Lee ever had.
I it was so good. Bothof them were great. In that
next year, the Miz in likea three match storyline. That was the
moment that I was like, allright, I'll put my hate to the
miss aside. He's pretty awesome.Like I finally was like, you got

(13:16):
this this storyline? Yeah, onehundred percent click In that moment, I
think that was a wasn't it aretirement match for Dolf? And I think
Golf ends up winning. Yeah,an incredible, incredible series match it.
Dolph is my guy as well,he was my favorite for a very long
time, and I think it wasa huge Dolf guy miss Sammy because that's
when I just started getting back intoit again, was around that time,

(13:39):
and that was one of my firstbig moments, like, oh man,
this is incredible and Dolph is theone who's like white hot baby face.
Everybody loves him, and that wasthe first like experience I got of,
oh, this is what being awrestling fan is like. Now, Like
they don't don't capitalize on any ofthis, but luckily it's been really good.
So let's get back to the mediacar Who do you think is gonna
win that match between the U Showsand Kevin Owens Sammy's in. It feels

(14:03):
like Sammy and Ko have to win. It feels like the bloodline, rain
and story is going to end hereat WrestleMania. It'll be the interesting factor
in all of this. Does Codyget involved in this match? Do Cody
or do Sammy and Ko get involvedin the main event the next night?
That's kind of the big what's gonnahappen moment there and kind of where do

(14:24):
they go from me? I thinkwe all think Cody's gonna win the belt
right, Like I think, Ithink we all are assuming that Cody's gonna
win the belt. And if Cody'sgonna win the belt, where does the
blood line go. I can't imaginethat they'll leave the tag belts on the
USOS. It doesn't It just doesn'tseem like it would make a lot of
sense. And I know that peopleare not happy that. I think Sammy

(14:46):
deserved his moment at Elimination Chamber,but this would at least give him a
WrestleMania moment and I think that thatwould be awesome for Sammy and ko Uh.
And Yeah, it's definitely the matchI'm most excited about on night and
I know Charlotte and Ria is onNight one. Yeah, that'll be a
great match. Charlotte's the greatest women'sprofessional wrestler of all time. I mean

(15:07):
she's not my favorite, but she'sthe greatest. I mean, she is
the goat, she is the division. In my opinion, I think it's
gonna be a great match. Ithink it's pretty obvious that Rio will be
going over there. I'd be prettyshocked if Ria didn't go over. I
hadn't loved the build to it,like I just because it's hard to buy
Charlotte as a babyface or even asa tweener babyface, because she is just

(15:30):
such a natural born heel that atthis point I think I, like a
lot of people just want to rootfor Riha as a babyface, but obviously
with her in the Judgment Day itkind of complicates things there. So I
kind of feel the same about bothwomen's matches, Like Fianka Oscar will be
a banger, Charlotte Ria will bea banger. I'm just not very interested

(15:50):
in the storylines going into either ofthose matches. Yeah, I do think
both of them are a little lacking, especially the Charlotte Rio one. I
thought it could have been a littlebit better, So I do agree with
that. I'm excited for the matchthough. That's the thing with all these
it's just it's a really good cardand a lot of good matches. I
think one of the best storylines Ithink from all of that was actually,
uh the Ray Maisterio Dominic mysterious stuff. I think it's one thing of the

(16:15):
because even the Judgment Day and Edgestoryline, like it's been a lot and
they set it up really well.So I can't wait for Finn Edge.
But like, it got a fewweeks of Okay, we know it's set,
we know we want to see him. It's just started to get too
much talking. I'm like, man, I've seen enough of this. We
already know what's happening. But everythingRay and Dominic have done have been awesome.
So that's a big night one forme. Let's go to night too,

(16:38):
and let's get to let's get tosome of those matches. I guess
let's just get to the main eventright away, Roman Reigns Cody Rhods,
because I know we're both gonna probablyhave a lot to say about that.
Who is coming away with the victoryWrestleMania. Who's winning the title? It's
gotta be Cody Rhoads. I mean, there's just no way that you build
up this storyline and you throw itaway, especially because man and I love

(17:03):
Roman Reigns Run. Like I thinkRoman Reigns is on another level right now.
Then we've seen a guy be onin a very long time. And
I went to SmackDown last year.I guess a couple of months ago in
Philly and everyone, you know,everyone pulls out their phone to video a
lot of the entrances, and everyonepulls out their phone to video certain moments

(17:26):
that happened throughout the night. Butwhen Roman Reigns came out, every single
person in that arena took out theirphones to video and coming in, every
single person on that in that arenawas on their feet and reacting one way
or another. Like Roman Reigns justcaptivates the audience in a way that nobody
else does because everyone can see heis just a main eventor's main eventor right

(17:49):
now with how hot he is andhas been, but he's not wrestling every
pay per view. He's not showingup every TV show. I know that
there's a lot of fans out therethat say, like, oh, the
champions shouldn't be on every show andit makes you want him more, and
he shouldn't defend a championship match everytime. I gotta tell you, though,

(18:10):
if we're gonna do twelve to fourteenpay per views a year, twelve
plus pay per views a year,we got to have some sort of intrigue.
And some of these non Big fourpay per views that Roman missed,
it really really felt like there wasa main event lacking. I forget what
what was riddle and set the mainevent for nothing, like in the fall,
it felt like like that just can'thappen, like, and I do

(18:32):
think it'll be really really big tohave the WWE belt back on television,
like Cody Roads will probably wrestle rawmatches for the belt, like and I
know that a lot of people hatethat, a lot of Tody Rrooads will
have an amazing title ring. Likeeither way, I I don't know where
I'd land yet, I think II do think Roman's going to retain and
then you can get Cody at SummerSlamand you can really, you know,

(18:52):
continue this. But either way,Cody would be an awesome champion, no
doubt about that. I didn't knowthat I would be floored if Roman Reigns
won and I actually think I'd likeit, But I think I just I
think there's a little bit more meatthere. And the chase, the Cody
Rhads chase is going to be sogood when he finally ends up winning,

(19:15):
you know however long that does take. But the chase has been fun.
Like I'm all into the chase rightnow of Cody Rhodes trying to get the
title. I just I think Roman'sready to take some time off dude,
that absolutely could. Man, howlong has this been. This has been
years now, So yeah, Stude, I'm sure, I completely so.

(19:37):
I think he's leveled himself up froma mainstream perspective to the point where I
would not be surprised if he kindof started pulling some opportunities outside of the
WW way. Yes, I thinkwe've gotten to that point where he he
probably can and he probably will,not saying he'll do like what John con
to put. I think early on, when John Cen has started doing like

(19:57):
movies, he's still like, you'restill doing things, but obviously he was
gone a little bit more. Ithink I would be able to see that
with Roman, like he's not goingto be completely gone and you're still going
to see a lot of big runsout of him still, but yeah,
take some time off to take someopportunities elsewhere. Absolutely, that's exactly what
Stina did after he I'm biased becauseI love the Summer Slam. I was

(20:21):
there in Brooklyn in twenty sixteen,but that's what Sina did after he faced
Aj in one of the best matchesof his careers. Tina and AJ put
on a banger so AJ had thearm bands in the head bands and became
the face that runs the place andwas kind of talking about Cina while Sina
wasn't there for four months. Sowhile it felt like Sina was the round,
he actually left for like the restof that year until he came back

(20:42):
to face Aj again at Rumble intwenty seventeen. So I think that that
I think we could definitely see thesame thing with Roman. I would not
be surprised to not see Roman fora bit after WrestleMania. And that's not
a source that's not faced in anything. That's just I think he's that big
of a star now, and Ithink that we've seen him take off so
much time in this run, Likewhile he's been champion, he's missing so

(21:06):
many weekly shows and he won't beat certain pay per views. I think
that that is kind of a signof things to come a little bit.
I think Cody is walking away withthe bell on Sunday Night. I either
way, I would not be madat all. I think both guys,
it's that's what's so feels so bigabout it, man. Both guys are
just white hot right now. Bothincredible wrestlers, and I think there's a

(21:29):
lot of potential with both, soI'll end it here with you. We're
talking with Mark Henry Junior talking toWrestleMania at Mark Henry Junior underscore bold prediction.
What is what is your boldness prediction? Maybe any returns, whatever the
case may be, bold prediction forthis wrestleming. There's a lot of chatter
about Randy Orton, A lot oftalk about Randy Orton if he's gonna come
back. I don't know exactly howhe comes back. I feel like they

(21:53):
might try to weave him and Lastlytogether, just because Lastly he's kind of
screwed out out of a Mania spothere because of whatever is going on with
Grey Waatt's injury. It seems likethey were absolutely setting up that match,
and then Bray has kind of beenm I a little bit since then.
He's Lastly's going to be in theAndre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on SmackDown

(22:17):
on Friday night, and I couldabsolutely see. I don't know if Randy
would come back on SmackDown to laydown a challenge or if Randy, you
know, I don't know if there'sa been Yette that plays or I don't
know if it's even going to bea match, or if Bobby Lashley comes
out at WrestleMania to he's kind ofa face though, it's just weird.
I don't know exactly how they'll useRandy Orton, but I do think we

(22:38):
see Randy Orton this weekend. Loveit. I would love Randy Orton back,
great wrestler man and one of thebest moves in all of wrestling history.
So hopefully that does happen and hopefullyyou get to enjoy some WrestleMania.
Mark, what are your plans?What are you doing for Mania? Just
sitting home relaxing. Yeah, absolutely, watching watching with the cousins that I've

(23:00):
been watching wrestling. That's funny,that's awesome, watch watching with the fiance.
Amas Mania is that it bigs likesuper because I know we always talk
about Super Bowl spreads and snacks.What do we do for Madia? Give
a shout out to a local business, look duds, Wings to Go in
Feasterville, uh my something some ofmy favorite wings in the area. I

(23:22):
always get wings and popcorn, chickenand all the stuff from from Wings to
Go. That's definitely a go tofor me. That's a super Bowl staple.
That's a Sixer staple. That Yeah, Well, Mark, appreciate you
for joining me. Good talking wrestlingwith you. Mark Henvy Junior can follow
at Mark Henry Junior Underscore. Moreof the Bonus edition of the WrestleMania Round

(23:44):
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