WWE Smackdown 4/4/25 Review | CM Punk Favor REVEALED, Kevin Owens OUT Of WrestleMania! - Solomonster Sounds Off

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have a WWE SmackDown review back in our normal
time slot. You know I missed the earlier shows. I
have to say I do miss the earlier shows. Yes,
the international tour is over and so they are back
in the United States. SmackDown was in Chicago tonight, a
very newsworthy episode of SmackDown. A good show, not a

(00:20):
great show, but a good show, but a very very
newsworthy show with WrestleMania repercussions. It all ties into the
favor that CM Punk was owed by Paul Haman. We've
been hearing about this favor now for months, going back
to Wargames in November. What was the favor? Last week

(00:42):
we thought we had it all figured out because we
had the Triple Threat match solidified as the Night one
main event in Las Vegas. CM Punk Roman reign seth rollins,
Paul Hayman telling Punk it's in the contract, you got
what you wanted. And then that little line there at
the end of the show, right as they were going
off the air with CM Punk telling Roman reigns, but

(01:03):
that's not the favor I'm owed, which was a great cliffhanger,
but I wasn't sure if they were actually gonna tell
us what the favor was the following week. As it
turned out, they built the entire show around it right
from the beginning with a segment we had with Punk
and Hayman all the way, and they made us wait
until the end of the three hours to find out
what it was. And I've been saying the entire time

(01:24):
one thing that they really should do is add something
tangible to the triple Threat match of WrestleMania. There's no
championship on the line. You have Gunther and jay Usso
for the World Heavyweight Championship, you have these women's championship matches.
Some people are upset that they're not closing the show
with one of those matches. There's nothing technically on the
line in this match, and what you have here are

(01:45):
you have Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Cmpunk, three of
the biggest stars in the entire company. And so why
not make it a number one contenders match? Right they
all want to be world champion again. It would make sense,
And I thought, well, maybe there's a way the big
aut tie his favor into that. Punk's already got his
main event. What's the other thing that he wants? Right?
He wants to be the champion, and he was actually

(02:07):
probably going to be getting a World Championship match at
WrestleMania last year. Had he now gotten hurt, So would
they be able to add something tangible, something at stake
and on the line here in this main event. That's
what I was kind of hoping for. What I was
not hoping for. The one thing I was hoping it
wouldn't be would simply be Cmpunk saying Paul Hayman, I

(02:30):
want you to be my wise man at WrestleMania. Now,
Punk may have very legitimate reasons, you know, in storyline
for wanting this, because the relationship with him and Hayman
goes back decades. Okay, they're very, very close, and as
Punk talked about in the main event segment tonight, it's
very possible he wouldn't even be here right now were
it not for Paul Hayman vouching for him and sticking

(02:52):
up for him at a time when he was very
vulnerable and very new to this company and people did
not like him, people did not want him there. He
wasn't at a kid for him, going back all the
way to the developmental days. So on a sentimental level,
you can understand why it would be important for Punk
in his first main event to want to have Paul
Hayman there by his side, right, I get all that,
But this has been months talking about this favor, dragging

(03:16):
it out, making us wait, making us wait to find
out what this favor is going to be, only for
it to be Paul Hayman, I want you in my
corner in the main event of WrestleMania. That was the
big reveal at the end of SmackDown tonight. Paul Hayman
will be managing, he will be walking him to the ring.

(03:37):
He will be in the corner of CM Punk on
Night one in the WrestleMania main event. And this did
not sit well with Roman Reigns obviously. Now this creates
some tension and drama involving Roman and Hayman, Roman and Punk.
It does add a little bit of intrigue to the match, so,
I mean it adds something to it doesn't really have

(03:57):
anything on the line per se, but they went with
I feel like they went with the most predictable, basic
answer they could come up with for what this favor
was going to be, and it was very telling in it.
In front of a Chicago crowd that was very loud
and very energetic and very up for anything involving CM
Punk on this show. They loved him obviously. When he

(04:20):
made the announcement of what the favor was, like go
back and listen to the crowd. The crowd, it was
like a tepid reaction. I feel like there were a
lot of people in the building as much as they
love Punk, who also felt the same way, like, wait,
that's it, that's the favor. I mean that was literally
what Roman Rain said on the mic after he goes, wait,
that's it, that's the favor. And then of course, you

(04:40):
know he wanted Hayman to say no. Hayman couldn't bring
himself to say no. That's where the tension comes in.
But even the people in Chicago knew, like, come on, man,
really really now, this is what the favor is. So
they went with the obvious choice. We shall see how
that's all going to work out. Now, because I happen
to be in the camp of this only increases the

(05:02):
chances that seth Rollins is gonna walk out of WrestleMania
as the winner. I just look at this right now,
the way things are set up or a couple of
weeks out right, or three weeks, whatever it is. We're
a few weeks away from WrestleMania, I think two weeks,
and Paul Haman now is the centerpiece of this match,
and so he's gonna be in Punk's corner. But you
know that during the match it's gonna come into play.

(05:24):
Roman's gonna want him to do something for him. Punk's
gonna want him to do something for him, and I
just see that it's gonna cancel. It's just gonna cancel
the two of them out. I feel like Haiman is
gonna get to a point during this match where he's like,
you know what, fuck the ball for you, I'm out
of here. And not that he's gonna leave with seth rawlins.
I mean, that would be a huge swerve if they

(05:45):
did that. That doesn't even have to be the end
result of all this, but I feel like it's gonna
drive ham into the brink. And when all is said
and done, he's not gonna be in Punk's corner. He's
not gonna be in Roman's corner. He's gonna leave. He's
not gonna be in either one of their corners. They're
going to drive him away and seth Rollins. Ever, the
opportunist is going to sweep in and pick up the

(06:06):
win in the WrestleMania main event. That's what it feels
like to me right now. We'll see if it all
plays out that way. But that was the big reveal tonight.
Not the only thing though that was newsworthy on this show.
We had the debut of Ray Phoenix. We saw his
brother Penta two months ago. Actually it's longer than then now,

(06:27):
it's actually coming up on three months next week since
Penta debut January thirteenth on Monday Night Raw, and he
had that match with Chad Gable. Great debut for Penta.
Ray Phoenix was still what were they calling a Cantanamo Bay. Well,
he got his early release, right, he got released, and
so we knew he was going to end up in WWE.

(06:47):
We didn't know is whether or not he would join
his brother on Raw or if they were going to
separate the two of them and put him on the
other show, which is what they did. And so tonight
he had his moment just like his brother had his
and there were a lot of similarities with between the two.
And I'll talk about how that went and whether or not.
I think Penta or Phoenix had the better debut, but
it was a big moment for him on this show.
He wrestled Nathan Fraser, won half of the NXT Tag

(07:11):
Team Champions and there was a very scary moment that
took place during that match. But great to see Phoenix.
I thought he had a badass entrance again, very similar
to the one his brother has Pyro. They gave him Pyro,
so he made his debut tonight. I don't know if
he's going to have a role on the WrestleMania card.
It would make sense because why debut him now instead
of holding off until after WrestleMania if he's not going

(07:33):
to have some sort of role on the card, But
that's still yet to be determined. We had two Number
one contenders matches on this show, Last Man Standing Jacob
fa iw braun Stroman. The winner would go on to
challenge La Night at WrestleMania for the United States Championship.
Jacob FA two will be going on to challenge for

(07:55):
the title in his first WrestleMania And on the tag
team side, we had a number one Contenders match with
the MotorCity Machine Guns and DIY, both former WWE Tag
Team Champions with the MotorCity machine Guns going over, and
so like FA two, they will have their first WrestleMania
match this year as well, because it's going to be

(08:15):
the machine Guns challenging the street profits. So, like I said,
WrestleMania implications. For a lot of what we saw on
the show tonight, it certainly was newsworthy, and not always
for the right reasons, because then we get into the women. Now,
we had a WrestleMania match made official. I think we
all knew it was going to be made official. Naomi
and Jade Cargill one on one that is now official

(08:37):
for WrestleMania. A match we already knew was Charlotte Flair
against Tiffany Stratton, and those two are going to be
wrestling each other for the WWE Women's Championship. Tonight, we
had them in the ring face to face. Right a
couple weeks ago, or maybe it was last week, they
did the split screen via satellite interview and that was

(08:59):
a fucking disease. Tonight they got them in the ring together.
Wade Barrett was moderating, and we had another face to
face promo and the word I would use for this
was train wreck. If that was a disaster, this was
more akin to a train wreck between these two women.
I don't know what it is about these two on

(09:23):
the microphone. I certainly hope that they have better chemistry
in the ring in Las Vegas than they do when
they have a microphone in their hands, because these two,
I mean, you talk about oil and water. The level
of awkwardness. This is the second time now in as
many weeks, and the level of awkwardness between these two

(09:45):
is off the fucking charts. I thought that segment sucked.
I thought it was the worst thing on the entire show.
I don't know. I just don't know. I don't know
what it is about these two together when you put
a microphone in their hand, but it's not good. And
so what I'm hoping is that we have absolutely nothing
else between these two women until we get to WrestleMania.

(10:07):
You want to give us promo packages, do whatever you want,
but for the love of God, I do not need
to see these two women interact in any other way
between now and then. This was awful, and actually what
they've done so far makes me less interested in seeing
them in the ring of WrestleMania. They may well, have

(10:29):
an excellent match together. Maybe they'll have great in ring chemistry,
but I'm not seeing it so far. In fact, it
looks like these two may legitimately not like each other,
and that could sometimes be a good thing, right. We've
had people before in wrestling who don't like each other
and it kind of spills out onto TV and it
can make things a little more interesting. Not with these two.

(10:51):
Whatever they were going for in this segment did work,
and in part because apparently what they had planned for
this segment they went off script. We'll get into what
happened here, but this was a train wreck. And then
there was some sad dudes on this show because earlier
today there were reports circulating online that Kevin Owens was

(11:13):
injured and he could potentially be out of WrestleMania. Nothing definitive.
WWE hadn't said anything, and there was no word on
even what the injury was. Meltzer came out and said
that he checked with someone and that one person said
that it was a significant injury. And we're fifteen days
out from WrestleMania. Any kind of injury, let alone a

(11:35):
significant injury, is not good. Kevin Owens came out on
the show tonight, and he announced that he has to
go away and have next surgery and he is not
going to be a WrestleMania And by all accounts, this
is not a work It's not a situation where he's
going to show up next week and jump Brandy Orton.
He's hurt and he's off the card, and we don't know.

(11:58):
I don't want to say if, but with neck injuries,
you never know. And he didn't get into the specifics
of whether it's going to be fusion surgery or what
kind of next surgery He's going to have. Any kind
of next surgery is serious surgery, So we don't know
when we're gonna see Kevin Owens again. Hopefully it won't
be that long into the future. He will not be
in Las Vegas, which means that Randy Orton has no

(12:19):
WrestleMania match as of right now. And it's just weird
because two years ago we were heading into a Night
one WrestleMania main event with Kevin Owens and Sammy Zain
teaming up to wrestle for the tag team titles. The
closing shot of WrestleMania thirty nine Night one was Owens
and Zane celebrating their win, and now we are heading

(12:41):
into a Wrestlemanian. I can't remember the last time this
happened where we had a WrestleMania and neither Man was
going to be on the show. Because Sammy's ain, he's
out right, He's not even scheduled for the show. He
may have requested time off, and now Owens is hurt.
Neither Man will be on the WrestleMania card this year.

(13:01):
Very weird. So we'll talk more about what happened there,
what happened with Randy Orton when he came out as well.
I think we got a very big clue as to
what Randy Orton's WrestleMania match is going to be because
he is going to be on the show. The only
question is against who, And I think, without directly saying so,
I think we got our answer tonight. Like I said,
very newsworthy show. So they packed a lot into this.

(13:25):
Let's discuss. This is your Friday Night SmackDown review. Thank
you for hanging out with me here on Friday night,
April fourth, twenty twenty five. I am the Solemn Monster.
All right, let's get into the show here, because again
there's a lot they were in Chicago. So of course,
what better way to kick off a Chicago show than
with raw superstar CM Punk. I mean, how could he

(13:46):
not be on the show tonight and he comes out
to the predictable huge reaction. Chicago is actual of the
perfect city, frankly to come back to the States with,
because you know these European crowds, they were in London,
they were in Scotland, and where else were they? Brussels
and all the crowds were very loud and very energetic,
and so it would have sucked if they would have

(14:07):
come back here and they were I don't want to
insult anyone's hometown, but let's just say they went somewhere
where they were very quiet. Chicago is never quiet. So
they came out they were loud. Punk grabbed one of
the television cameras away from Rico, the cameraman, and so
he began filming the crowd a little bit. He said

(14:28):
that the international crowds are the best, or so people say,
and so Chicago show him who's the best, and so
everybody went wild. So he handed the camera back to
Rico and he said that he's not supposed to be here.
He said that he was born with a cord wrapped
around his neck, and he was turning blue. I'm not
supposed to be here. Funny enough, I was born, literally

(14:53):
asked backwards. I was coming out the wrong way. It
happened sometimes, and I'm still here. You're here with me.
It's amazing, he goes. I don't know if you've heard this,
but I'm in the main event of WrestleMania. And he said, well,
he looked into the camera and he patted his arms.

(15:13):
He was again. He was doing his best rock impression.
He's got the goosebumps. Does that count as our second
rock reference since we saw him an elimination chamber? So
that fan chanted you deserve it, he goes, I earned it.
He mentioned training at the Steel Domain Academy many years ago.

(15:34):
He mentioned dressing like a gangster coming down to the
ring during John Sena's entrance in this very building at
WrestleMania twenty two, and he was told that he was
He was good, and that was about as good as
it was ever going to get for him because he's
not supposed to be here. He thanked his wife April,
and we got some aj Lee chance going and he

(15:54):
said that she's probably gonna be a little mad at
him for doing that, but his puppy Larry would not be.
And so everybody loved hearing about Larry the dog. You
like the goosebumps. Huh, there you go, you got the goosebumps.
Punk said that the hard work begins now, and he

(16:14):
says that he has a date at WrestleMania and he
promised to whip seth rollins ass and to put a
beating on Roman Reigns during the main event. So then
we hear Paul Hayman's voice Ladies and Gentlemen, and out
he comes. He doesn't need any entrance music, literally, just
as Ladies and Gentlemen. That is his theme song. You know,
if they came out with one of those old WWE
albums they used to come out with the CDs every

(16:36):
few years, there would be a track for Paul Hayman
say Ladies and Gentlemen, and when you play it, it
literally is just his voice and then some crowd noise
in the background. That's his theme song. So he waddles
on down to the ring and he said that he
just arrived in Chicago. He apologized for being late, said
that it was no disrespect to his best friend in
the world, CM Punk. Fans chanted at him. Okay, I

(17:04):
thought for a second maybe they were in Philly, but no, no,
they just felt like chanting ECW at him, and Punk said,
you can't escape it, you can't escape BCW. Hayman said
not to ask what you can do for your wise men,
but rather what your wise men can do for you. Says,
you belong here, you belong in this ring, you belong

(17:26):
in Chicago, and by god, you belong in the main
event of WrestleMania. So he remembered, you know, asking Punk
to take him and then being taken out. This is
going back to last summer. Remember when they had the
segment on TV. He's like, take me, take me with you.
And then the very next week in Madison Square Garden
is when Solo Socoa and the Bloodline they power bomb

(17:46):
Hayman through the announced desk and then hey, and he said, look,
I was out for months after that, the longest that
I've ever been out for. And then he pointed out
what Punk said. The night after, or maybe it was
two nights later his Hell and a Cell match with
Drew MacIntyre of Bad Blood, where he wasn't sure if
he would even be able to come back. He was
so beat up, right, he was really selling the injuries

(18:08):
coming out of that hell in a cell match. And
Hayman said that he asked Punk after that to be
in war games, and he helped save the family, He
helped save the bloodline. Hayman thanked Punk said that he
had one more favor to ask of Punk, and Punk said, boy,
everyone's just going for favors these days. How what's the favor, Paul?

(18:30):
And he said, the favor is that you tell me
what the favor is that I owe you. Hayman said,
Roman reigns, He's gonna be here soon, and you know
how these Samoans can get, He's gonna be very upset
with me. Punk had Hayman verify. He goes, wait, you said,
he's not here, and Hayman said, yet, he's not here yet,
but he'll be here. And Punk said that as much

(18:54):
as he doesn't think the favor is any of Roman's business,
it does affect him. He said that he would like
to tell Roman to his face when he tells Paul,
and he told Paul to let him and all of
his friends know when the Big Chief decides to show up,
Punk dropped the mic and he exited the ring. So
it was a good hook for the second and third hour.
I presume the third hour of the show keep people

(19:17):
tuned in under the assumption that we would find out
what this fucking favor is, so it was smarter them
to do it the way that they did. Uh. But
this is where I started thinking, Okay, I started getting worried.
I think I know what his favor is. I hope
I'm wrong. I hope it's something more. But when he
made the comment about how this is going to affect
Roman directly, I kind of figure what the favor was

(19:39):
going to be. So after a break, Nathan Fraser was
already in the ring, one half of the NXT tag
team champions, Phraxium getting the jobber entrance here and his
opponent here in this match. This was the WWE debut
of Ray Phoenix, who entered to a great reaction. They

(20:01):
gave him an entrance very similar to the one that
they gave Penta when he debuted on RAW. I thought
the music was fine. Again, I'll have to listen to
it the more I see him come out. But you know,
he had Pyro and he was actually wearing two masks,
so he had one mask over the regular mask that
we are used to seeing him in. I think that
top mask is the one that I believe they're selling

(20:23):
already on wwe' shop. So when he got into the ring,
he took the first mask off and we got an
early standoff. After some chain wrestling, Fraser sent Phoenix to
the outside, and then he went for a suicide dive
and it almost turned into a real suicide here because
he ran and he dove through the ropes and I

(20:44):
guess I think his legs clipped the middle rope and
so it stalled his momentum. It basically just deadened his momentum,
and he nearly crashed and burned on the floor. Now,
Phoenix did his best to try to catch him and
cush him the blow, and actually it looked like he
landed right on Phoenix's leg in a very awkward way.
And I'm like, oh my god, if Phoenix ends up

(21:05):
getting hurt in this match because his opponent fucking landed
on him and fucked up the spot, how shitty would
that be. So it was very ugly. Look, I mean,
shit happens. But you know, the fans in the front
row right there, right away, like you fucked up, you
fucked up. I'm sure he already felt shitty enough about
it as it is, so Phoenix quickly scrambled up to

(21:25):
the top rope and he soared. He landed on Fraser
with a twisting dive, and then they went to the commercial.
So when they came back, Fraser and Phoenix they were
battling it out on the top rope. Fraser got knocked off,
but he ran the ropes and then he hit a
springboard superplex into a final cut neck breaker only for
a two count. Fraser went up top. He was looking

(21:48):
for a Phoenix splash on Phoenix, funny enough, but he
couldn't get it. Phoenix had Fraser draped across the top
rope while he stood on the top rope and ran
aross the top rope and then kicked him in the head.
There was a fire driver by Phoenix that got a
very close near fall Frank. I think he could have

(22:08):
ended the match with that. It was basically like a
pile driver. He fucking pile drove this guy down into
the match only for a two count, though. Phoenix then
hit Fraser with the Goodbye Amigo kick. And then he
hoisted him onto his shoulders to finish him off with
what they called the Mexican musclebuster, and he won his
very first WWE match, first win of his career here

(22:31):
in this company. When the match was over Byron Saxton
stepped into the ring to interview Phoenix. They did the
exact same thing with Penta, right only was a Kathy
Kelly or Jackie Redman. I think it might have been Jackie,
but they did the same thing after Penta's first match,
had somebody get into the ring to interview him, which
they don't do very often, but this was their first

(22:52):
opportunity to communicate with the audience, and I thought Penta
knocked it out of the park when they gave him
the mic, and you could tell how happy he was
to be there. Phoenix was very emotional when the match ended,
so as soon as he got the three count, it
looked like he was legitimately, you know, crying and tearing up.
You can kind of see under the mask. Saxton gets
into the ring and Phoenix can speak his first words,

(23:17):
and he said that he had a lot of history
in Chicago and that tonight was the rebirth of rape Phoenix.
He said he was reborn with rage and animo, and
he said that he's been waiting his entire life to
say these words. I am WWE Animo. And then he
dropped to his knees and he bowed to the canvas.

(23:38):
Like I said, he was clearly emotional. That was real
emotion that you saw there on his face. This is
a man who has been waiting a very long time
for this opportunity. Yeah, because I'm sure he's he's always
wanted to go to WWE, but just looking at the
aw situation, clearly he was not happy. Clearly he wanted out,
and he thought he was getting out with his brother.

(23:59):
Things didn't work out that way. He had time tacked
onto his contract, you know, reports set up to a
year because he missed a lot of time with injuries,
and it looked like he was going to be on
ice at least until the fall, because Tony Khan was
clearly not going to use this guy. So he's sitting
at home and just imagine what's going through his head. Now.

(24:19):
I'm sure he's very happy for his brother, but he's
watching Pentaget this spectacular debut on Monday Night Raw and
he's been killing it. And he's been selling probably a
shitload of merch and he's been doing great. And he's
got to be watching that thinking man that that should
be me. I should be with him, or I should
be getting the same treatment. That's where I want to be.
And now I have to sit here and do what

(24:42):
you know, whither away people forget about me, right, And
I'm sure it was fucking with his head, right, he
was tweeting stuff and deleting stuff. He posted that video
of him in a straight jacket. He was probably losing
his fucking mind. So finally, you know, Tony Khan had
the change of heart. He let a whole bunch of
people go early, including Phoenix. This is something that clearly
meant a lot to him, and so you could see
the emotion on his face. Outside of the one botch

(25:04):
by Fraser, which was very scary. I thought that Nathan
Fraser was a great first opponent for him, just like
Chad Gable was a very good first opponent for Penta. Right,
very talented. You know they're going to sell, you know,
sell the shit out of everything that the other guy does,
trying to get his moves over. They followed the Penta blueprint, right,

(25:25):
down to the detail, and I think debuting him in
Chicago also is very smart because it's always a great
crowd and there were plenty of people there clearly who
knew who he was, got a great reaction coming out.
I thought Penta was a little easier to understand on
the microphone, you know, obviously English is not their first language,
either of them. I've been impressed by Penta's promos and

(25:48):
he's been able to really get over with the crowd
with it. Phoenix was a little harder to understand, but
you know, I thought he did okay. You know, I
think the people pretty much got the point that he
was trying to get across. Who had the better debut
Penta did. Penta had the better debut if I had
to choose between the two of them. But I think
they were both great debuts, and I think they'll both

(26:10):
continue to have success as long as Triple H continues
to push them as something special, which everybody feels special
when they first debut. Right. I said before that Penta
is coming up on his three month anniversary in WWE,
so it's still a little early, but so far he's
still killing it and it looks like he's going to

(26:31):
be challenging for the Intercontinental title of WrestleMania. Maybe he'll
win with Phoenix, the jury is out because I think
pent it to me when you watch him, he has
a certain natural CHARISMI as a physical charisma. I don't
know if Phoenix has has it in the way the
Penta does. So the idea of Pente as a single,

(26:52):
I think he can go as far as they'll allow
him to go. Phoenix, I don't think has the same
ceiling that Penta does. And I do think eventually we'll
get the Luca bros. Together, but there's always time to
put them together. They can get attack team title run.
I just feel like as a single, Penta has a
higher ceiling than Phoenix. It does not mean that Phoenix
cannot be a big part of the SmackDown roster. It

(27:15):
doesn't mean that he can't win the United States Championship
at some point this year and that he can't have
success on his own. I think he will, but that's
going to be up to Triple H ultimately. I mean,
Phoenix can go out there and have these spectacular matches
if you put him in there with the right people,
But the creative has to be there to support him.

(27:35):
There has to be a role on the show for him,
and there have been other people on the show, including
Carmelo Hayes, that's the name I always think of who
should be in a hell of a lot better position
than he's in right now, and he's not. And that
is on Triple H. And hopefully Ray Phoenix will not
fall victim to that. But as a debut, I thought

(27:57):
it went very well. Let's see what Week two brings.
Because in the very next segment we had and I
laughed when I saw them, because you hear a lot
of jokes, Oh just don't debut these guys and just
put them in the LWO or put them in Legato
del Fantasmas. So what do we see in the very
next segment, Legato del Fantasma And they cut to the

(28:17):
back and there's Santos Escobar and he's applauding and he's
very impressed by what he just saw. I mean, he
should know. King Querno and Ray Phoenix had many matches
together in Luca Underground, so these two guys are very
familiar with each other. Can you believe it's been ten
years ten years since those matches on Luca underground man.

(28:43):
So anyway, those two are very familiar with each other.
Like I said, Burdo walks in and he joins Escobar
an angel, and he says, I'm better than him, and
Escobar was impressed by his moxie, and he says, you
know what, I'm gonna go talk to Nick all this
and I'm gonna get a match made for next week
and we're gonna have Ray Phoenix one on one against Berdo.

(29:03):
So that match is taking place on the show next week. Look,
Phoenix already, Let the jokes begin, right, Phoenix is already
in week two. He's working with Legato del Fantasma. As
long as he doesn't join then I think he'll be okay.
Right now, he's just he's in that mode where they're
going to feed him guys you know, to work with
that he can beat. As long as he doesn't join him,

(29:26):
then I think he'll be fine. They aired a vignette
with Drew McIntyre sporting an eye patch like fucking Snake pliskin.
This guy looked like this was after Damian Priest Choke
slammed him onto the windshield of that car. Last week,
McIntyre got glass in his eye He said nobody cared
about priest unless he was feasting upon his scraps, and

(29:49):
McIntyre talked about how priests lurked in the shadows last
week to ambush him. He said he was going to pray,
and whenever Drew McIntyre prays, bad things happen. He says,
By the way, I have to mention this here, since
I mentioned Snake Plisken, I have to give a shout

(30:09):
out to the man, the myth, the legend himself, the
one and only John Carpenter, My favorite director, John Carpenter, who,
for those who don't know, got his star yesterday on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame, mister Escape from New York,

(30:29):
himself so many great films. I mean, not everybody is
a horror guy, and not everybody is a Carpenter guy,
but I am so when I saw that he was
getting a star, I thought it was well deserved. Hopefully
they dug up Vince mcmahonstar and they replaced it with
John Carpenter star. Braun Stroman was interviewed by Byron Saxton
in the back Stroman said he's sick of Jacob Fatu

(30:52):
being a thorn in his side. He said he would
buzz saw him tonight and he would go to WrestleMania
and compete against La Knight for the United States Championship
and complete his Grand Slam of Championships. Solo, Soca, and
Tomatonga showed up and they laughed at him. Solo said
that no matter what Stroman says, he still has to

(31:12):
face the Samoan Werewolf. La Knight showed up and he
told Stroman not to waste his energy on this pumpkinhead.
Solo said, Knight has a lot of balls talking to
him like that. Knight said they are gargantuan. Tomatonga made
his weird mating sounds and said that Knight should be
worried about him, and Knight mocked Toma's noises and then

(31:36):
he called for a referee before making his way out
to the ring for the next match, which was La
Knight one on one against Tomatonga. Solo was out there
with he ran distraction while Knight was on the apron.
Toma took advantage by knocking Knight off the apron and
up against the side of the broadcast desk. After a commercial,

(31:57):
Tomatoga was in control until Knight avoided an elbow drop
off the middle rope. Knight knocked Solo off the apron
when he interfered again, and then he got rolled up
only for two Night came right back with a BFT
on Tama and then he pinned him. So not much
of a match, but it was a win for the
champion uh and it didn't last any longer than it
had to this one, maybe five or six minutes. Paul

(32:20):
Haymond was shown waiting at the entrance to the parking
area where you see the parking ramp. He was waiting
right at the bottom of the ramp waiting for the
tribal chief to show up. Byron Sackson walked up to him.
Haymond said, why am I talking to you? And he
looked into the camera and he addressed CM Punk and
he said, no, matter what the favor is, my answer
is yes. So he said yes without even knowing what

(32:44):
the favor was going to be. That's how you knew
that there was going to be trouble at the end
of this show. I mean, that's like signing a contract
without reading the fine print. So he said, whatever it is,
my answer is yes. But he pleaded with Punk share
the details with him. Why would you say yes and
then plead for the details. So as Hayman talked into

(33:08):
the camera, we see a black suv pulls up behind him.
He says, my tribal chief has arrived. But Seth Rollins
exited the suv instead, and he said, what you were
expecting the other shield guy, Rollin said, Hayman looked horrible.
He put his arm around him and laughed and told
him that he dug himself a hole. Rollin said that

(33:29):
this favor business affects me too, so he told Hayman
to let me know when Roman arrives because I want
to hear what the favor is also. So again, they
were really building it throughout the show, building the anticipation
for what this favor was going to be. Nick Grossel,
thank you for the nineteen ninety nine we'd be talking
about Kevin Owens here in a little bit. If you're

(33:49):
a joining late welcome. We have a lot to unwrap
on this very newsworthy show. But unfortunately we have to
talk about this next segment, which was newsworthy for all
the wrong reasons because it was Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Stratton.
They were out to the ring for a face to
face interview moderated in the ring by Wade Barrett Boy,

(34:10):
did he have some bad news for us tonight? Wade
asked Charlotte. The first question asked her to give a
little more depth as to why she chose Tiffany as
her WrestleMania opponent, and after all these weeks, does she
still feel like that was a wise choice. Charlotte said
Tiffany was begging and she's the gift that keeps on giving,

(34:33):
and she said that she wanted a moment, and Charlotte
realized that she hadn't done any charity work lately, and yes,
she did make the right choice. She wanted to show
the smartest wrestling fans here in Chicago, the smartest wrestling
fans in the world, that there is no comparison between
the two of them. So Tiffany asked if she was done,

(34:57):
Are you done? Did you get your wo in? Maybe
she got her woo wings, She didn't ask about that.
Charlotte's biggest competitor has been the fans, and no matter
how long she's been out for, that's a battle that
she will never win. Charlotte loves to act like nothing

(35:18):
gets to her, but then she's crying on some talk show.
Now I know what talk show she was on, because
I pay attention to this shit because it's what I do.
She was on the Sherry Shepherd Show, for those who
don't know, and she was talking about her divorce from
Andrade and her comeback and getting very emotional. How many people, though,

(35:39):
are going to know that this woman was on the
Sherry Shepherd Show, Right? They never mentioned it on TV
as best as I could tell, But she threw that
little mention in here in the promo. She goes, so,
which is it? Which one is it? Either you don't
let things bother you or you're on talk shows crying
and complaining. And the saddest part about all this, no

(36:00):
matter how many titles that Charlotte wins, she will always
come second to her daddy, Rick Flair. And that got
a reaction out of the fans here in Chicago and
at WrestleMania. Charlotte is going to come second to Tiffany Stratton.
So Charlotte now responds, and Charlotte says that Tiffany just

(36:20):
regurgitates what all of my opponents have said over the
last ten years. Now, at this point in the promo,
the crowd is booing so loud that this woman can
barely speak. Now, we have seen people get Meggae heat
nuclear heat on these shows before Dominic mysterio comes to
mind the New Day, immediately after they turn heel, they

(36:42):
come to mind. What a fumble that was, right, But
we've seen those moments before, and if you're a heel, right,
you live for those moments, like, that's the reaction that
you want. You want the booing to be so intense
that you can barely get a word out, right, I mean,
as a heal, that's probably the reaction that you pray for.
So that was the reaction that she started getting here
in this segment. Every time she would pick the mic

(37:04):
up to her mouth, the fans would boo, and they
would get louder and louder, and she starts talking. She goes,
it doesn't matter, Tiffany, right, But then she stops again
because the booing is so loud that she she's gonna
let the booing go on, right, So she stops again.
She goes. Tiffany reacts and goes, what's the matter, Charlotte,

(37:28):
cat got your tongue. Charlotte said, no, they're booing so
loud said, here's the thing, Tiffany can go ahead and
have the last word. That's what she said, and then
she just stood back. And what it felt to me
like watching this was that she was gotten to. She
didn't know how to react to this. She did not

(37:48):
know how to respond to all of the booing. That's
never been an issue before with Dominic or other people
when they encounter the same kind of reaction. But I'm
watching her here, She's trying to speak and she stops
and then she's like, you know what, I'll just let
you have the last word. It's like she gave up.
She didn't know how to respond to any of this.

(38:10):
So Tiffany said that at twenty five years old, what
was Charlotte doing trying to become a volleyball player, drinking
in your daddy's basement, and at age twenty five, I'm
walking into WrestleMania as the WWE Women's Champion. You say
this is just another match to you. Seems I've gotten
to you, Charlotte, and you WrestleMania record maybe four and three,

(38:33):
and you may be the queen inside the ring, but
outside the ring, and she stumbled over her words. Here
a little bit outside the ring, you ain't the queen
of shit, and they censored it. Now when she stumbled
over her words and it was very minor, Charlotte saw
an opening. So she was going for that queen of

(38:55):
queen of shit line, and Charlotte just talked right over her,
and Charlotte starts started squawking like a bird. She starts
squawking like a bird and said that Tiffany sounded squeaky.
I can't I can't even do it. I don't know
where this came from. I don't know what this was.

(39:16):
But she starts squawking and she's acting like she can't
hear her. I can't hear you. I can't hear you,
Tiffany said. For sixteen more days, Charlotte gets to call
herself WWE's least favorite NEPO baby. That's the second NEPO
baby reference, by the way, this week alone on WWE television.

(39:37):
We already had John Cena doing it on Raw Monday Night.
He called the Cody Rhoades a NEPO baby. So then
Charlotte interrupts and says NEPO queen. She corrected her, but
then Charlotte, in the very next sentence Charlotte referred to
herself as the number one NEPO baby, So which is it?

(39:58):
Are you a NEPO queen or are you a nepo
oh baby? Tiffany said, when she beats her at WrestleMania,
and when it's all said and done, you're gonna be
just like you are outside the ring alone. She said,
what's your record? Oh for three? And I think I
think a lot of people understood the reference, but some

(40:18):
people may not have. For those who don't know, Charlotte
Flair has been divorced three times, so this andrete divorce
was divorced number three. She's been married three times, hence
the O for three and Tiffany wooed and then she
dropped the microphone. That was her mic drop moment, the

(40:40):
little dig about Charlotte's marital status and then the wo
and then came the mic drop moment, and you would think,
what a great moment to allow the champion to end
the promo on right. Like John Cena and Cody Rhodes,
they had their war of words on Raw Monday Night,
and you could debate whether Sina one or whether Cody one.

(41:00):
Like the first two weeks, especially that first week, Sena
didn't even really speak to Cody, but he gave Cody
the floor and Cody was able to speak his peace,
and Sena didn't come at him. And it's like, we're
gonna give the wind to Cody because Cody's our guy,
he's the champion. We're gonna let him have the shine,
even though Sena could certainly, you know, hold his own right.
It's like Charlotte is incapable of allowing her opponent to

(41:24):
have any shine whatsoever. It's just she can't bring herself
to allow it to happen. So like Tiffany has her
mic drop moment and she rolls out of the ring,
and then Charlotte, who still has the microphone in her hand,
she looks down at Tiffany on the outside and goes, hey, Tiffany,
is that why Kaiser's in my dms? As they immediately

(41:46):
begin playing Tiffany Stratton's music, So naturally she had to
get the last word in because she can't help herself,
and that's how the segment ended. Then I see when
this was over, Russellva on Twitter posted this, Charlotte and
Tiffany said very little of what was in the rundown

(42:08):
for them off script quite a bit. Of course, I'm
not surprised. I mean you could tell just by watching
the segment, because it felt that way. But she was
thrown off by the fan, not a doubt in my mind, though.
When the fans started booing and drowning her out with
that negative reaction, Charlotte didn't know how to react. It's
like when she came back after the Royal rumble and

(42:30):
she cut that promo on raw and she was talking
about how, you know, she missed fourteen months and she
had that acl injury and she wasn't sure she was
gonna be able to fight back, and it was such
an uphill climb for her, and it was like a
really emotional promo for her, and the fans booed right,
and there's no way they were or she was expecting
the reaction to be that negative when she was trying

(42:51):
to be serious and explain how I thought my career
could be over right. This was supposed to be one
of those like moments where you root for her and
you'd cheer the fact that she was able to make
this great comeback, And the same thing that night, it
felt like she was caught off guard by the reaction.
She does not react well in these situations. And she's

(43:12):
been doing this for a long time. I mean she's
been she's been on the main roster now for ten years.
I mean, you would think that something like this wouldn't
rattle her. But not a doubt in my mind that
she allowed the crowd to rattle her here in this segment.
I'm not shocked that they went off script as much
as they did. I'm sure that had a lot to
do with it. This was a disaster. This was a disaster,

(43:36):
and this feud sucks. I mean, let's just put it
in terms that anybody can understand here. This feud sucks.
Every time these two get together. It's just it's so
fucking awkward. And I don't know what it is with
Charlotte and awkward segment. So I think back to the
belt swap with her and Becky Lynch, and you talk

(43:58):
about awkward, I mean that it was even more awkward.
So I like immediately thought of that, and then all
of the segments so far, really the talking segments between
these two. The split screen was worse in many ways.
But like the split screen, what we had tonight and
Charlotte and Becky at that time they had legitimate heat.

(44:19):
I wouldn't be shocked to find out that these two
women have heat too, and they don't like each other.
It certainly comes across that way on TV. And look,
I mean, if if you have two people that genuinely
don't like each other, that could be fun. There have
been feuds in wrestling history with two people who don't
like each other, and you could tell it comes across

(44:40):
on TV and it could add, oh wow, these two
really don't like each other, right, it makes it more fun.
Fun is not a word I would use to describe
anything that we have seen so far between these two women. Nothing,
but I'll say some nice things about it. Even though
I hated this, I'll say a couple of nice things
about Tiffany. Stratton did not come across as badly, nearly

(45:04):
as badly as she did in that split screen a
few weeks ago. She needed a segment, well, I say,
a segment like this, not quite like this, but she
needed kind of a comeback from that. I felt like
that's what this was for her. She did a lot
better here, and Charlotte got a ton of heat. That
should be a good thing. It should be a good
thing that she was out there being drowned out by

(45:25):
the crowd because she's the heel going into this match
of WrestleMania, and that's the reaction you should want. It's
just that she didn't respond to it very well, and
the segment from that point on, especially the segment just
basically it fell apart. I don't want to see these
two have any other interaction with each other between now
and WrestleMania. None. We have two Smackdowns left. We have

(45:45):
SmackDown next week and the week after is the one
in Vegas the night before WrestleMania. I have no interest
in seeing these two do a fucking thing with each
other on TV. Just put them in the ring at WrestleMania.
Hopefully the chemistry will be there and they'll be able
to have, you know, a great match, I hope, because
I don't see this being a one and done thing.
That's the thing that scares me. This may not just

(46:06):
be a WrestleMania match and then they're onto something else.
This could spill over into backlash, This could spill over
into fucking two more pls after this, which means we're
gonna get more segments on TV between the two of them,
and if the last couple have been any indication, that's
not gonna look that's not gonna be very pretty. Okay,
that's not gonna look good. So whatever it is about
these two, they just they don't click. They don't gel

(46:28):
well together. I hope that's not the case when the
bell rings. But this was the worst thing on the
entire show. I don't know, I just I don't know
what happened, but it just from the middle on it
just fell apart, and Charlotte, of course had to get
the last word in, because that's what Charlotte has to do. Ridiculous,

(46:49):
We go to the back. Nick Alis said that he
had spoken with Row general manager Adam Pierce and he
had a very special announcement. He had a major announcement
to make again WrestleMania Implications Here says the next week
on SmackDown, they will present a women's Gauntlet match with
tag teams from both Raw and SmackDown. The winner of

(47:09):
that Gauntlet will face liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez at
WrestleMania for the WWE Women's Tag team titles. Later in
the show, they flashed a graphic that showed all of
the teams that are going to be in the Gauntlet
next week. So they showed Bailey and Lyra, Valkyria, Cayden
Carter and Katana Chance, Shana Basler and Zoe Stark, Meechen

(47:33):
and b Fab. Meechen and Bfab are not going to
the title match of WrestleMania. I will I mean spoiler,
it won't be Beefab and Mechin, Piper Niven and alba
Fire it won't be them either. And Natalia and Maxine

(47:54):
Dupre Bailey and Lyra are going to WrestleMania. Bailey and
Lyra will be challenging for the tag team to It
felt that way to me on Monday, I said that
in my post show review, Bailey and Lyra are wrestling
for the Intercontinental title this Monday, but we still live
Morgan in Raquel Rodriguez in the back like huddling together, like, oh,
how are we going to address this Bailey Lyra situation?

(48:16):
And my guess is the way they address it is
that they get involved in the title match on Monday,
then we have the Gauntlet next Friday, they pick up
the win and there it is, there's your match. Because
whatever they were doing or teasing between Bailey and Roxanne
Perez has been just fucking forgotten about, Like whatever they
were building to there is not being built anymore. I

(48:36):
thought for sure they were going to do something WrestleMania
Weekend with those two and weeks ago. They just dropped it.
And Roxanne has been back in NXT. She was in
the elimination chamber. We haven't seen her on the main
roster since it's been over a month, So this was
the backup plan, I guess for Bailey. At WrestleMania, we

(48:57):
had a number one contenders match, our first of two
tonight for the tag team titles, the Street Profits the
new tag team Champions. They made their way out to
the ring. Street Profits got a full entrance, made their
way to the ring DIY after a commercial break, got
a full entrance, made their way down to the ring

(49:19):
to wrestle the MotorCity machine Guns the one team who
did not get an entrance, and as it turned out,
the one team who won the match did not get
an entrance. Here after a break, Chris Sabin hit a
suicide dive on Gargano and Shampa. The machine Guns had
Shampa isolated, but the top turn buckle ended up getting exposed.

(49:40):
Champa got the near fall on a project Champa as
Diy went to work on Sabin. Shelley made the save
and got thrown out for his troubles. So Champa in Gargano,
they're getting ready to hit meet in the middle. Right,
They're meeting the middle finish on Sabin. Sabin was able
to avoid it. There was a skull and bones at
him by the machine guns that got foiled by Gargano.

(50:03):
As Champa tried to use a leverage pin to take
advantage of the situation, he had his feet on the ropes.
Charles Robinson spotted this though, and so he stopped counting
at that point. In the end, Saban sent Champa into
the exposed turnbuckle that led to a roll up and
the win for the MotorCity machine Guns, making Sabin and

(50:26):
Shelley the number one contenders for the WWE tag team titles.
They did confront the street profits at ringside in the
front row when this was over. Assuming this happens to WrestleMania,
which is what I'm assuming, and look at me, they
could always stick this on the SmackDown before WrestleMania, you know,
in Vegas. But hopefully this will be on the WrestleMania

(50:46):
card because you have you have to have at least
one tag team title match on that show. On Raw.
They've already set up The New Day and the Viking Raiders,
so I'm guessing that we'll have one tag team title
match on each night of wrestleman And I like this
because it means we're not just gonna get some clusterfuck
of a tag team ladder match with like five or

(51:09):
six different teams, which is what they did last year
when they separated the titles. We had like a big
ladder match, and I thought, well, that's probably what we're
gonna end up getting this year. We're gonna get you know,
DIY and the machine Guns and pretty deadly, and they'll
stick Mizz and Mellow in there and it'll just be
one big clusterfuck. I much prefer this, you know, that
you just have a straight up, you know, two on

(51:30):
two tag team match. It's gonna be the first WrestleMania
match for the MotorCity machine Guns. You know, as long
as they've been in the business and doing this, they've
never had a WrestleMania match before, and now they're finally
going to get one. And I think that's pretty cool.
And by the way, I just saw that we did
unlock a second round, a bonus round of be the booker.
We already hit that goal in the chat. Let's run

(51:53):
up the score. I always like that. But yes, we
will be doing at at least the one round, at
least one Fuck that tree brother fluff Salisbury man. He
use a Salisbury steak right about now. Thank you, my friend,

(52:18):
and thank you for hitting the goal tonight. Speaking of
Mis and Mellow, we go to the back. Miss and
Carmelo Hayes. They confronted pretty deadly backstage, and they insulted
them for losing to the Street Profits last week in
their home country. Carmelo Hayes called them pretty useless, which
I have to say, Number one, that's a pretty funny insult.

(52:40):
Number two, it's quite rich coming from Miz and Mellow.
You could say the same thing about them. But he
called them pretty useless and then asked if they are
a tag team or are either Chicago Bears. Pretty deadly
responded by mocking Miss's role in the Marine movies. They
said that Hayes was wasting his time by being Miss's partner,
which Mis cited his pass as a nine time tag

(53:03):
team champion, and he asked, how many titles have you won?
Kit Wilson asked Carmelo why he's been relegated to the Miz,
and the Miz got upset and he said they are mellow,
don't miss, and we are aws him. Get it because
Carmelo Hayes says he is him, and so now they

(53:28):
are calling themselves ass him suck. You know, the fact
that this is what Carmelo Hayes has been reduced to
is really an indictment on Triple H. I've said it before,

(53:49):
I'll say it again, like there's absolutely no reason for
this man, nearly a year since his call up number
one draft pick, to be stuck teaming with the Miz.
It is kiss of fucking death and I just don't
understand it. I really don't. We had Naomi against Beefab.

(54:13):
As Naomi made her entrance, Jade Cargill ambushed her from
behind and got in some shots before security broke them up.
Naomi stumbled her way to the ring and so the
match was underway. Be Fab worked over Naomi for a
little bit because she was still shell shocked from the attack. Naomi,
though managed to gain control. She dodged a kick from

(54:34):
Befab hung her up at a tree of woe in
the corner, and Naomi got the win with I called
it a modified kneeling lung blower. I mean, if that's
gonna be her new finish going forward, I think she
could do better. After the match, Naomi called out Jade
and be careful what you wish for, because Jade hit

(54:54):
the ring and she caught her with a pump kick.
Car Gill tried to hit Naomi with Jaded. She got
her up for it. She got her, you know, in
the chicken wing position for it. Security, though intervened to
separate the two. Nick All this net appeared on stage
and he made it official. He said, enough is enough.
Let's let's just make it official now. At WrestleMania one
on one, it will be Jade Cargill taking on Naomi,

(55:17):
and Jade was thrilled and she was celebrating in the ring,
and Naomi flashed a very sinister smile. She was happy too,
but she was more subdued about it. I believe, and
I'm sure I will be fact checked on this, but
I do believe this is the first ever women's singles

(55:40):
match at WrestleMania where there was no championship on the line. Now,
they may have had some kind of like gimmick match it,
Like I know many years ago there was some sort
of like a Playboy Heillo fight, some some bullshit. I'm
not talking about stuff like that. I'm just talking like
just a regular one on one wrestling match between two

(56:01):
women that has no title on the line. This is
either the first or it's the first one in decades,
because I can't think of the last time that's happened.
There's always a women's championship on the line, or it's
a triple Thread or a Fatal four way, or a
women's tag team title match or a Battle Royal, So
it's unique in that respect. And it'll be Jade car

(56:22):
Gill's first singles match at a Wrestlemaniam last year was
her first Mania period, but it was a tag match.
This time it'll be a singles match. We got a
video of Damian Priest in the back addressing Drew McIntyre.
Since we had Pirate McIntyre earlier cutting his promo, Damian
Priest got to cut one as well, and he called
McIntyre a coward right because McIntyre attacked him like a coward,

(56:46):
cost him his shot at Wrestlemanium. Priest called McIntyre a
hypocrite and said that he's a junkie who gets off
on the high of telling stupid ass jokes every week
for a cheap ass pop. Priest said that McIntyre plays
the victim. He said Drew doesn't have to portray him
as a villain anymore because he is the villain. Priest
called for McIntyre to meet him face to face in

(57:07):
the ring next week, and Priest said that he wants
McIntyre to stop playing the victim and become his victim.
At WrestleMania Victoria and Molly Terry against the Cat WrestleMania
two thousand. Did that have actually Terry and the Cat

(57:28):
at WrestleMania two thousand, I think was the only singles
match on that entire show, But didn't that has some
kind of weird stipulation. Now maybe not Well, if that's
if that, if that is the case, that's what twenty
five years ago. It's been a long time. It's been
a very long time. After a commercial break, Nick All

(57:50):
this was standing in the ring and he said that
this is a part of the job that is not
very fun. Said that there's a fine line between coming
back last week like everything is fine and then finding
out that you may never step foot in the ring again.
He said, there's a reason that they say don't try
this at home. He said he didn't want to say

(58:10):
too much and he wanted fans to hear it from
the man himself. And with that he introduced Kevin Owens
out to the ring, and Owens walked out wearing a
bred Hart wind winged Eagle, a Bret Hart windbreaker jacket.
I got to get me one of those, a bred
Heart windbreaker jacket over a Finn Balor t shirt. He

(58:33):
was wearing a ten years of bal T shirt. Owen
gets in the ring and Owens says that he's been
doing this for twenty five years, and for those twenty
five years, he gave everything he had every time he
set foot inside this ring. He's had the chance to
experience things that he will never forget, and he's had

(58:54):
the chance to take care of his family. But there's
a price to pay for that amazing opportunity, and that's
the that it takes on their bodies. Every guy and
girl in the back there has paid that price at
different times, and now it seems that it's his turn.
For the last four months, he's been dealing with a
pretty serious neck injury and they didn't know how serious

(59:16):
it was, but this week they found out. And now
he's got to go have next surgery. And the timing,
he says, could not be any worse. Not being able
to get in the ring with Randy Orton really sucks.
He thanked WWE for giving him the chance to come
out and say all of this, because he doesn't know
when he'll be able to be out there in front
of them again, so for now he wants to say

(59:38):
thank you and he's sorry. And he went to go
leave the ring. Randy Orton's music. He got as far
as the apron, and Randy Orton's music hits and Orton
walks out. He's wearing like a black hoodie, I think,
and he's walking very slowly towards the ring and Owens
is still standing on the apron. Orton walks up the steps.
He joins Owens on the apron. They stare each other

(01:00:00):
down for a brief period. Here Owens drops off the
apron and he heads towards the back and Orton gets
into the ring. Now they cut back to Owens walking
down the aisle. As Owens is walking down the aisle,
he stops in his tracks because a fan in the

(01:00:21):
crowd said something to him that obviously, I mean, he
must have said something out of pocket to this guy,
because Owens stops in his tracks. He turns and he
walks right up to the guys. It's the bald bastard
here in the photo, and Owens gets up at his face,
and I couldn't read what Owens was asking him or
saying to him, and I didn't see what the guy's

(01:00:43):
reaction was because they cut away to Orton in the ring,
and the camera lingered on Randy Orton, and they kept
playing his music until I assume Owens either left or security,
you know, came over to intervene and separate the two.
So I don't know what the this guy said to Owens.
Obviously was something pretty shitty, because you know, otherwise I

(01:01:04):
don't think he would have reacted the way that he did.
And I don't know what it was, but I guess
Owens told him off and that was it. And once
Owens went to the back, they stopped the music. And
they continued on with the rest of the segment. So
all this broke the bad news to Randy that with
Owen's injury, he no longer has a match for Wrestlemanium,

(01:01:26):
and Orton looked devastated, and then he was kind of
like hunched over and he just he couldn't believe it.
And then came the RKO out of nowhere and he
drops the general manager down, goes Nick All this. Orton
looks up at the wrestle Mania sign and then he
looks back at Nick All this on the mat and

(01:01:46):
he leaves the ring. So let's talk about Kevin Owens first. So,
unfortunately the news that broke earlier today was true because
it was all over Twitter and there weren't a lot
in the way of specifics about what the jur was.
And the Meltzer late in the day said that he
heard it was a significant injury. So it wasn't because
I was thinking, okay, you know, depending on what the

(01:02:08):
injury is. The whole story was building to the punt kick,
and so one of two things could happen. They could
have Owens come out on TV tonight and just get
it out of the way and have Randy Orton punk
kick him tonight and let that be the right off
and we don't see him again for a while. Or
maybe Owens can make it to wrestle media and even

(01:02:30):
if you can't wrestle a full match, you could work
an angle around it and still get the punk kick in.
You get to the same result. The fact that they
didn't do that tells you how serious this injury is,
and also, frankly, not that Orton. I'm sure Orton is
a total pro. He's not gonna, you know, cripple anybody,
but still probably not the smartest thing to have Randy
Orton punk kicking somebody in the fucking head who has

(01:02:52):
a very serious neck injury that requires surgery. So it's
serious enough that they weren't going to clear him to
do anything like that. Maybe Owens just requested this and said, look,
let me just go out there be honest with people
instead of working an angle. I'll just kind of pour
my heart out, speak my mind and that'll be it.

(01:03:13):
So maybe that's something that he went to them and said, hey,
I want to do this. Whatever it was, there are
certain things that are more important than a wrestling angle.
The fact that we didn't get the punt kick. It sucks,
but it is what it is. Right, The most important
thing is that Kevin Owens has surgery, gets healthy and hopefully,
you know, he's able to make it back, and it
doesn't take a year for him to get back, but

(01:03:34):
however long it takes, hopefully he'll be able to get
this sorted out. It's crazy to think, though, that he's
been having neck issues for four months, he said, And
think about what he's been doing over the last four months. Right,
that was right in the thick of the Cody Rhodes feud.
He went out there at the Royal Rumble and had
that brutal ladder match that he had. You remember how

(01:03:56):
that match ended, So we assume he came into that
match and he was already hurt. I mean, he got
put through a fucking ladder on the outside, like a
ladder bridge on the outside of the ring, and that
was a brutal spot. He had that ladder match with
Cody at the Royal Rumble, and then a month later
he went to the Elimination Chamber and he had that

(01:04:19):
unsanctioned match, that big street fight match with Sammy's Ay
and he took more punishment and more abuse than that
match as well, So he put himself through the ringer
all the while he's dealing with a neck injury, obviously
not realizing how severe it is. I'm sure those matches
did not help. I'm sure the ladder match alone probably
made the injury far worse. Kevin Owens is not somebody

(01:04:43):
who's going to go out there in half as it now.
Kevin Owens goes out there and I feel like, even
after all these years, he's still someone who is underappreciated
because he's the kind of guy you can plug in
as a baby face, you could plug him in as
a heel. It could be a main event feud, it
could be somewhere in the middle of the card he
was doing comic stuff with Elias, or he could be
in the main event challenging for a world championship. But

(01:05:05):
he always goes out there and he always puts in
great fucking work, whether it's on the microphone, whether it's
in the ring. There's a reason why he's been around
as long as he has. I know there are people
who wish he would have, you know, more runs with
world championships, and even this time, there were people upset
that he didn't win the world title from Cody Rhodes.

(01:05:25):
In retrospect, it's a good thing he didn't because imagine
if he was the champion going into WrestleMania and had
to relinquish the title due to a neck injury. So
but there are people who were upset that he didn't
walk out of that feud with the title, even though
he got to walk around for a while with the
Winged Eagle Bell. I was like, he was the champion anyway.
But he goes out there and he doesn't complain, and

(01:05:47):
he always puts in quality work. He's a great fucking wrestler.
I've been following his career since, you know, the Mister
Wrestling days and Ring of Honors, so I'm well aware
of this man's body of work. He doesn't hold back.
He goes out there and he puts himself in situations
where he takes a lot of punishment, and he's got
a lot of mileage on his body. I'm not surprised

(01:06:10):
that he has a serious injury. What I'm surprised about
is that it took this long for him to get
a serious injury. He's been very lucky, He's been very
fortunate up to this point, but like he said here
in the promo, it catches up with you. The older
you get, the more wear and tear on your body,
it catches up with you. And it's never a good
time to get hurt. To get hurt now, and to

(01:06:32):
have to step away two weeks before WrestleMania, that sucks
and I feel bad for him, but again, hopefully it's
something that can be corrected one hundred percent. It isn't
going to end his career, It isn't going to affect
his quality of life. It just the timing of it
is very shitty, and you could tell from the moment

(01:06:54):
he walked out there, and I'm still in the back
of my mind kind of hoping that this is all
like a big swerve, but then it became pretty clear
that it's not, and so best wishes to him. Hopefully
he'll make it back, you know, one hundred percent, whenever
that may be. But it's just weird going into a
WrestleMania without him and Sammy's ain on the show. Now.

(01:07:15):
As far as what Randy Orton does at WrestleMania, he
dropped nick All. This with an RKO. When he dropped
Nick All this with the RKO immediately made me think
of the segment from last year. Maybe it was two
years ago. When was it, actually I remember exactly when
it was. But he dropped nick All this once before

(01:07:38):
with an RKO, and then he showed up a TV
the following week with a check because he was fine
fifty thousand dollars for that RKO. But he handed nick
All this a check for one hundred thousand dollars and
all this was like the fine was fifty thousand. He goes,
that's for the next one. It's the first thing I
thought of after I saw him. This was the next one.

(01:08:02):
That's now two times that he has dropped nick All
this with an RKO. And he looked up at the
WrestleMania sign and he looked back at him without saying
a word. They made it pretty clear what his WrestleMania
match is very likely going to be. So you can
come up with any scenario you want to about what
they could do with Randy Orton. Maybe they could plug
me in here, or maybe they could have a match

(01:08:23):
on night one and then he wrestled the winner on
night two. I mean, it's very simple. You don't have
to reinvent the wheel here, Randy Orton is going to
have a match of WrestleMania. Randy Orton has to get
in the ring with somebody that he can beat because
the very next pay per view is less than a
month after WrestleMania. It's in Saint Louis, Missouri, it's in
his hometown. He is going to be in the main
event of that show. He has to be, whether it's

(01:08:45):
against John Cena, whether it's against Cody Rhoades. That spot
has got to be for Randy Orton. So whoever he
wrestles to WrestleMania has to be somebody he can beat.
Nick All, this is the safest opponent that you could
possibly ask for. He's never worked a match in WWE.
We know he can wrestle we know he wants to.

(01:09:06):
I'm sure he wants to. Why not give him a
WrestleMania match, right, that'd be big for him. You've got
a built in story here where he's assaulted this man twice.
Now it'll be a one off, But so what this
situation unfortunately unfolded the way it did. You have to
pivot and come up with a plan B. Again, you

(01:09:28):
don't have to reinvent the wheel and complicate things. Here
do Randy Orton against Nick All? This? Randy Orton beats
Nick All. This, he goes on to challenge for the
championship at Backlash in Saint Louis. It's very simple, and
that's what I think they're gonna end up doing. Today's
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slash Solo Monster up. Next, we had Braunz Stroman one

(01:11:41):
on one with Jacob fought two Last man standing. This
was a Number one Contenders match, with the winner challenging
La Night at WrestleMania for the United States Championship. These
two did not waste any time. FOT two went after
Stroman outside of the ring to kick things off. In
the ring, fa Tu dropped Stroman with a running neck

(01:12:03):
breaker and he went up top. Stroman intercepted. He try
for a running power slam. Fatu fought out of it though,
hit a running elbow, and then he went up top
and he hit not one, but two back to back
mighty moon salts. But again no pinfalls, no submissions, no countouts,
no DCUs Right, you got to answer the count of ten,

(01:12:24):
so the referee began her count. Stroman was forced to
roll out of the ring just to make sure he
stayed on his feet. That led to the commercial come
back and Fatu is in control. Stroman responds with a spinebuster.
As Fatu tries to roll back to his feet, Stroman
pulls out a table from underneath the ring. He sets
the table up in the ring, up against the turnbuckles

(01:12:45):
in the corner, Stroman got sent outside. Fatu flew out
of the ring with a suicide dive that sends Stroman
backwards and he hurtled over the announced desk. Fatu then
sent Stroman into the ring post and he had him
in position for a charge into the barricade, and instead,
as he comes running in, Stroman hits him in the
head with a fucking chair and so right in the face,

(01:13:09):
and so down goes fa Tu. And then with a
full head of speed, maybe not a full head of hair,
but a full head of speed, here comes Braunz Stroman.
He's circling the ring. He's rounding the bend outside. I
know this is your favorite moment of the week, ladies
and gentlemen. Yes, indeed, we had an appearance tonight from

(01:13:30):
the Stroman Express. Here he comes, he rounds the bend
and he collides with Jacob Fatu and they go crashing
through the barricade into the timekeeper's area. So they're laid out.
Both men eventually struggle to their feet barely break the
count before ten, and that took us into a second

(01:13:51):
commercial break. They come back now they're in the crowd
and they're brawling over by the production area. They're on
top of some equipment cases and Stroman suplex is fa
tow through a pair of tables down below. So I
mean these two were just destroying furniture left and right
here like two bulls in a China shop. Once again,

(01:14:13):
both men struggle to their feet before the ten cow
they make their way back to the ring. Stroman was
right in the line of fire for a Fa Tu
running hip attack through the table that Fatu himself or
a Stroman I should say, set up in the corner
earlier in the match. He goes crashing through the table
and Fatu managed to get himself vertical as Stroman failed
to stand up in time. That gives Jacob Fatu the win,

(01:14:35):
and that makes Jacob Fatu the number one contender for
the United States Championship of WrestleMania. This was a fun match,
not the best last man standing match you'll ever see,
but it was fun for what it was that puts
a period on this whole Jacob fa Tu bronze Stroman
feud once and for all, and now Fa tw His
first WrestleMania match is a title match and he'll be

(01:14:56):
wrestling La Night and the only question now is do
you belt him? Or the way I think it'll go,
Solo Socoa will get involved, it will backfire, it will
cost Jacob Fa tou, and that will then lead into
backlash in Saint Louis, where we now have a reason
to set up the first match between Jacob fa Twu
and Solo Socoa and La Knight's rain continues on and

(01:15:18):
they'll have to find people for him to work with,
because I mean it's funny. Even his first run with
the US title very underwhelming, and it's it's less of
an La Night problem and more of a hey, can
you find somebody to program this guy with that he
can work with for a few months at a time,
Like give them a legitimate story and make it compelling,

(01:15:39):
because ever since he beat Logan Paul to win the
belt for the first time, he's had nothing nothing. This
thing with Nakamura that was a waste. It's a gigantic
waste of time. So I think he's going to retain
to wrestle Mania. I just hope to god they got
something good for him coming out of it. You know,
there there's Alistair Black is probably coming in I could
maybe they just put him into a feud with Alistair

(01:16:02):
Black upon his debut and he wins the US title,
because we got another vignette tonight. By the way, during
this show, the Smokey vignette, the flashing Roman numerals, we
had a very brief look at a shadowy figure who
we could barely make out. Clearly, this is setting up
the return of Alistair Black. Maybe that's the match. I
don't know, but I'm not feeling a Jacob fought Too

(01:16:24):
title win at WrestleMania. I think they want to have
the full breakdown of the bloodline first and get that
match with Jacob and Solo at no titles on the line.
I think that's the backlash match at this point. They
recapped the segment on Monday Night between John Cena and
Cody Rhodes and their big war of words back and forth.

(01:16:45):
They said Cody will be back on Small let me
get rid of this guy. This clown is still here,
and they said that Cody will be back on SmackDown
next week because he was not on the show tonight.
Paul Hayman was shown and he was still waiting in
the back two and a half hours later, by the way,
he's standing still at the bottom of that fucking ramp

(01:17:07):
in the parking area, waiting for his tribal chief to arrive.
And finally he did, and Roman Reigns exits the suv.
He walks right past Hayman into the arena and he
power walks through the gorilla position and out to the
rings so fast. This man was walking so fast that
by the time he got to the ring and was

(01:17:28):
ready to speak, his entrance music had barely gotten going.
You know, Roman always has those epic entrances. He's got
like the Undertaker entrance at this point where it takes
them six minutes to get to the ring and actually speak,
So his music was only really starting to get going,
and he's already standing in the ring and he tells

(01:17:49):
Chicago to acknowledge him, and so they did, and he says,
wise men, is he here, Yes, my tribal chief, and
we get chance of cm Punk from the crowd. He said,
that's exactly who I'm talking about, goes wise Man. Is
he still talking about this favor? Yes, my tribal chief.

(01:18:14):
He says, Oh, Chicago, I don't know how you deal
with this guy. Wise men, should I share a secret
with Chicago. Yes, my tribal chief. He says, CM punk
would not be back here if it wasn't for me
and the crowd booze. They actually got Roman Reign's booed
by insulting CM punk here in Chicago. Either that or

(01:18:37):
they thought Charlotte Flair was back in the ring. One
or the other. He says, CM punk would not be
in the main event of wrestle Mania if it wasn't
for me. And I get it. He's from the same
city as me. I have to like him. You're good people,
he says. You're good people. You mean well, but you're
not that smart. CM punk has been around forever. He's

(01:18:59):
wrestled everyone, legends, champions, everybody, but he's never been in
the main event of WrestleMania, not until he was introduced
to the tribal chief. He says, we bring cm punk
out here so we can We bring cmpunk out here
so we can quit this whole charade and wasting everyone's time.
Let's find out what this favor is. Indulge your tribal chief.

(01:19:22):
Roman didn't get CM Punk. Instead, he got seth Rawlins
and he danced his way down to the ring again,
he was wearing relatively normal attire as compared to the
oven mits and stuff that he usually the moon boots
and all the bullshit that he usually addresses, like you know,
Kirby the Clown. So he comes down to the ring
and he says he wouldn't miss this one for the world.

(01:19:44):
He doesn't know what this little favor is here, but
the reality is he's got a feeling it's gonna knock
his socks off. Oh. I would say that's a bit
of an overstatement, but this is what he said. He
feels like it's gonna knock his socks off. The reality
is he's got something else to say. Roman doesn't seem

(01:20:07):
to jive very much and reality. Those two things don't
really go together very well. Roman doesn't seem to jive
very much since Roman doesn't like to live in the
real world, but when he steps outside of his little universe,
reality bites him in the ass. He goes example a
Heist of the Century, example B the main event of

(01:20:28):
WrestleMania last year. So now we have chant. The crowd
is getting very restless at this point, and they start
chanting what's the favor? What's the favor? And They're chanting
that over and over again, and Rollin says, hey, I'm
wondering the same thing that Chicago is. But the reality,
Roman is that you underestimate CM Punk. You think that

(01:20:51):
you don't have to worry about Punk. You just ignore
him and he goes away. I tried that. It doesn't work,
and that is a reality that I have to deal with.
You could have stopped this in wargames, you didn't. You
could have let me do it in the cage of
Madison Square Garden, you didn't let me. So now we
have to deal with this. Reality gives you two options.

(01:21:12):
You either suffer and you get left behind, or you
adapt and you control reality. Roman says, see on Punk
stands here because Roman made a promise to the wise
man and he keeps his word. The reality is he
didn't call Seth out here. He called Punk out here.
And the fans in Chicago they started singing Roman's name

(01:21:34):
like they were doing in London last week. So now
these chants have now carried over overseas now and they
were singing his name just like they were doing on
the European tour last week. Enough of this shit, let's
find out what this favor is That's what I'm thinking.
I'm writing in my notes here. Enough of this shit,
Let's get on with it. They built this up so much,

(01:21:55):
I'm like, man, they better have a great payoff to this.
So eighty four years later, Punk's music hits and out
he comes and he gets into the ring to join
both these guys and Paul Hayman the favor. He says,
what's the favor? This is about friendship, This is about legacy,

(01:22:19):
Promise is made and promises kept. This is about loyalty.
And he looked at Rollins when he said it. Paul.
It goes back to Louisville, Kentucky, when he showed up
and they told Hayman to fire him and Paul said no,
and hell, your wise man is just that he's wise
beyond his years. He prophesied this on Monday Night Raw

(01:22:42):
and even before that, to the day that Hayman left
this company on Big Show's bus, you and me and
Big Show and RVD talking amongst ourselves, and he mistakenly
made it about himself. Punk said, he said, Paul, they're
gonna fire me, like don't And Hayman said, no, You'll

(01:23:02):
be fine, And Punk said, what can I do for you?
And Hayman looked him in the eye and said, when
you may event WrestleMania, not if, but when you may
event WrestleMania, force them to deal with us. He said, well,
they aren't here anymore, so I'm going to force you,
my tribal chief, out of your comfort zone. I'm going

(01:23:25):
to force you to deal with us because at WrestleMania,
in the main event, in my corner, your wise man,
my best friend, Paul Haman. And the reaction from the
crowd was very tepid. Maybe there are people that were

(01:23:45):
in the building tonight who are there live who will disagree.
Maybe it didn't come across that way on TV, but
relative to the reaction, Punk got doing pretty much everything
else on the show, like for this being the big announcement,
like this was not the reaction that they were probably
hoping for. But it's not a reaction that surprises me

(01:24:06):
because in the grand scheme of things, it was a
very underwhelming announcement. Roman even couldn't. Roman couldn't believe it.
He said, that's the favor, So he starts laughing. He said,
Hayman loves him, Hayman needs him. He saved him he
saved Paul Hayman. Even if he let him, he wouldn't

(01:24:27):
do it. Wise. Man goes, yes, my tribal chief, let
this desperate fool down easy, will you. And Roman is
standing there with his arms crossed, got this big, like
smug look on his face. Hayman started tearing up and
he starts getting very emotional, and Roman he wasn't looking

(01:24:48):
so smug anymore. He goes, are you crying? He goes,
you better wipe him up and tell him no. Hayman
tried to tell him. You know, he wasn't talking into
the mic, but you could see him talking like, yeah,
the family was in trouble and going back to wargames, right,
the family was in trouble and I made a promise.
And Roman snaps back. He goes, I took you in.

(01:25:11):
He says, I made you relevant. Tell him no. Haymon
said nothing. Roman said I'm going to give you one
more opportunity. Tell him no. Haymon said, no, my tribal chief,
I can't do that, and the crowd cheered. Rollins was
just laughing in the corner. Roman backed Hayman into the

(01:25:33):
corner and at that point Punk attacked him from behind.
He hoisted Reins up on his shoulders. He delivered a
go to sleep, and then he glared at Rollins, who
was standing in the corner. Hayman, meanwhile, was on the apron.
He was down on his knees like draped over the
middle rope, looking at Roman's dead body in the middle
of the ring. He was shouting no, he was crying.

(01:25:54):
Rollins ends up leaving the ring to Booze instead of
locking up with Punk, and the show closed with Punk
doing the go to sleep gesture. And we actually got
an overrun on this show, because that doesn't happen very often,
if ever, on this SmackDown show certainly didn't happen on
Fox because on Fox you couldn't go over If anything,

(01:26:16):
they usually ended two or three minutes early on Fox.
But they had a three minute overrun on this show,
which should never ever happen because the show is three hours,
and if you need an overrun on a three hour show,
then you're doing something wrong. But this did go into
overtime tonight. Doesn't happen very often. Well, Look, Punk Punk
did tell Roman before wargames. If you remember the segment

(01:26:39):
on SmackDown Roman when they were in the ring together
for the first time, and Roman looked at him and
he goes, he's my wise man, right, and Punk responded
back to him and goes, we'll see. And so here
we are now, all these many months later, and in fact,
Paul Hayman is going to be cee im Punk's wise
man walking him to the ring for the WrestleMania Made event.

(01:27:01):
On a personal level, it's a cool moment for the
two of them. It's it's almost like a full circle
moment because their relationship goes back a very long time.
Like Legit, it goes back to Louisville. It goes back
to ECW, the WWE version of ECW, and Hayman wanting
CM Punk to go over in that elimination chamber match

(01:27:21):
at December to desmember he wanted to make Punk his guy.
Vince McMahon said no, he wanted Bobby Lashley, and if
I remember correctly, I think Punk was actually eliminated first
in that chamber match. So it goes back to those
days between them, and then of course later on, when
Punk was in the middle of his four hundred and
thirty four day run his champion, he went heel Hayman

(01:27:42):
became his manager. They were a great pairing. These two
go back a long way, and so you know, to
see them now where Punk is getting his WrestleMania and
main event for the first time, and he's gonna have
Paul Hayman in his corner walking him down to the ring.
Like for the two of them, I'm sure it's a
big deal to them, and it's a cool moment for them,

(01:28:03):
and that's all well and good. And it does create
tension now, you know, between Roman and Hayman. It creates
tension involving whether or not if there's a point in
the match at WrestleMania where Roman wants Hayman to help him,
does he help him? If Punk wants Hayman to help
him do something to Roman, does he help him? Yeah?

(01:28:25):
Can Paul Hayman bring himself to favor one side over
the other? Him being in Punk's corner doesn't necessarily mean
that he's gonna, you know, turn on the other guy
or he's going to agree. Yeah, okay, Yeah, I'll pass
you a far an object and you can hit him
in the head with it. Like, how is Paul Hayman
going to react here? He's going to be pulled in
between these two different people. This was always going to
be the story for a singles match between Roman and Punk,

(01:28:48):
only now we're getting it at WrestleMania in a triple threat.
But it was always going to be where does Hayman's
loyalty lie? Right? How far does this favor extend? Is
it just walking him to the ring and standing in
his corner or does it extend to him doing more
than that? We don't know, but it's why I think
in the end, when all of a sudden done, this

(01:29:09):
is going to benefit seth Rollins. And I think that
seth Rollins. I mean, if you ask me right now
as I sit here two weeks before, who do I
think is the favorite to go over at WrestleMania and
win in this main event? It's seth Rollins. I feel
like Roman and Punk effectively cancel each other out and
they're hatred for each other in the end, and this
drama involving Paul Hayman, it's gonna blow up in their

(01:29:30):
face and they're gonna have Hayman so strung out here
and they're gonna have him at his wits end to
the point where he just says, you know what, fuck
the both of you and he may well walk out
not with Rollins, but Rollins will end up eking out
a win. Yeah, because some people may look at it

(01:29:52):
a different way and go, oh, well, Rollins is just
in there to do the job. I really don't think so.
I actually think quite the opposite. I think he has
to be the favorite right now, and then Punk and
Roman could always go on to have a singles match
after that, Rollins could go on to challenge for the
World Heavyweight Championship on the raw side, which is one
of the reasons why I think this should be a

(01:30:12):
Number one contenders match. And I think it's ridiculous the
favorite did and tie into that in some way. Hayman
doesn't have the power and the authority to have the
winner of this match inserted into the Night two main event.
It's a stupid idea anyway. The winner of this match
should not be inserted into the Night two main event.
So we get back to back triple threats at WrestleMania

(01:30:32):
this year, right, Sena and Cody have their issue. If
you're going to do Sena and Punk, you got to
build that up. That needs a proper build with promos
back and forth. Heal seen a baby face Punk, you
do that match of Money in the bank, you do
that match at Summer Slam, right, you don't just throw
it out there on Night two after announcing it on

(01:30:54):
Night one. So I was never a fan of that
idea to begin with. But how would you even square
that circle? How do you get to that point where
it's like, oh, the favor from Hayman is that the
winner of this match is inserted into the main event
of Night two? Like, what authority does Paul Hayman even
have to make that happen? The answer is none, he doesn't,

(01:31:16):
And why the Rock would even allow something like that
since he's the final boss after what Punk said about
him a few weeks ago, that makes even less sense.
What would have made sense was that Hayman, could, you know,
use his poll whatever pole he has to say, Look,
the winner of this match should get a guarantee championship
match against whatever title is attached to the brand that

(01:31:38):
they belong to. And you don't even have to put
a date on it. It doesn't have to be Backlash,
it doesn't have to be anything specific. But you get
a title shot in your back pocket for a later date,
and then you have something tangible on the line. Instead,
they went the predictable route, and now it's going to
be the Paul Hayman soap opera, you know, starring Seth Rollins. Hey,

(01:31:59):
I'm in there too, you know, at WrestleMania, and that's
what the match is going to be built around. So
the main event is going to be built around. Now.
I thought that as the favor reveal, predictable but underwhelming. Underwhelming.
I think as long as they dragged this out for
it needed to be something more And I think the

(01:32:19):
fans in Chicago also would agree, just based on their reaction.
But I did like how they kind of had you
tuned in for the entire show from the opening segment.
They used the favor as the hook. I just wish
there was a better payoff at the end of it.
But as a very very newsworthy episode, a lot of
implications for WrestleMania. We have number one Contender's crown, we

(01:32:42):
have a major WrestleMania match that is now off. We
know what the favor is, so we made progress tonight
as far as establishing certain things for WrestleMania this Monday.
John Seen is not scheduled to be there. I don't
know the John scene is going to be seen again
on TV before WrestleMania. I'm hoping he pops up as

(01:33:04):
a surprise this week or next week. He can get
revenge on Cody Rhodes for laying him out with that
Crossroads on Monday. Maybe he'll lay out Cody or right now,
he's not scheduled for any more appearances, so but Cody
will be on SmackDown next Fridays. Take a look at
the Twitter poll what did you think of SmackDown from Chicago?
Seventy percent thumbs up for tonight's show, nineteen percent thumbs

(01:33:28):
in the middle, and roughly eleven percent thumbs down. That
is the poll on x at Solo Monster. You guys
can go vote. Let me know what you thought of
this SmackDown show man. That was a lot to unpack.

(01:33:48):
It was a busy show. See, I like those shows
because at least there's stuff going on. There are weeks
where the entire show feels completely useless, like if you
missed it, you miss nothing. Can't say that about this show.
At least there was stuff going on that was important.
Let's start with death sithe he got us started with

(01:34:10):
the early super chats here that you will not see
on your screen, but I will start with him, says
I was thinking after WrestleMania forty one, Raymysterio should feud
with John Cena because when Ray won the WWE title
in twenty eleven, instead of Sina saying he would wait
until another date to let Ray recover, he took it

(01:34:32):
that same night. I remember that. But are they gonna
build an entire feud around it? No? Again, this is
seen his final year. I don't think they're gonna waste
time on him in Raymysterio. I mean, it could be
a TV match one week, but how many TV matches
is John Cena gonna work like? Realistically? I don't see

(01:34:55):
it happening holiday one night. I have a feeling that
Seth will cost Roman to WrestleMania in some form. This
may set up Roman versus Seth at WrestleMania of forty two,
possibly inside Helen his self. I have no interest in that.
I have no interest in that. There are other better,

(01:35:18):
bigger matches you could do with Roman instead of running
him and Seth back again. Honey deep fried Chicken, says
Tiffany Stratton's last line on Charlotte Flair was straight savage
Tiffany carried that segment. Boy would have been nice if
they would have just left it on that note instead
of Charlotte having to get the last word. There's no

(01:35:44):
way the Kaiser DMS line was scripted into that segment.
She just felt like she was being shown up and
she just spit it out there. He also says Charlotte
Flair's promos have been underwhelming. This Chicken here accuses WWE

(01:36:05):
of a lack of effort. Just it's bread and water
with Charlotte. On the other hand, it's peanut butter and
jelly with Tiffany. Broley says, you can call it unprofessional,
but they made me invested and it is now the
most anticipated match at WrestleMania for me, That is Charlotte

(01:36:26):
and Tiffany. You know what, brother, if that's the most
anticipated match for you at WrestleMania, then I hope you enjoy.
But I guarantee you're in the minority on that because
that really doesn't do anything to get me any more
interested in that match. Honey deep Fried Chicken says he's

(01:36:51):
starting to like the new SmackDown ring announcer Mark Nash. Ah,
he's good. He's good so far. There's something about his
voice that just it reminds me of Mike Rome. It's
like you could put Mike Rome on there and gotten
this guy started in NXT. They just kind of they

(01:37:14):
did it the other way. They did it in reverse.
Holiday one ninety seven. Kevin deserves another world title run
after being the workhorse in WWE, taking dangerous bumps and
putting on good matches. Kevin versus Sammy for the world
title of WrestleMania forty two. We don't even know how

(01:37:37):
long he's going to be out for, dude. I mean,
if it's like a spinal fusion type surgery, he could
be gone for a year. Like he may not even
be back in time for WrestleMania next year. So I'm
not gonna sit here and make the WrestleMania forty two
main event. I just hope he gets better. A Donis
ninety six. Would you agree that WWE was actually quite
good from the draft in twenty sixteen up until WrestleMania

(01:37:59):
thirty three, Also knowing that you attended both shows, WrestleMania
thirty four or WrestleMania thirty five, I well WrestleMania thirty
five because KOFE Mania was a special moment, and there
were there were some matches on that show that I like.
WrestleMania thirty four was it was not that great. I

(01:38:23):
think the opening match for the Intercontinental was like a
triple Threat or fatal four way that I remember being
very good. The Ronda Rousey debut teaming with Kurt Angle
against Triple Ah and Stephanie was the best thing on
the entire show. Outside of that, the main events sucked.
John Cena and the Undertaker was what three minutes, So

(01:38:48):
that was disappointing. Not a whole lot else going on.
But as far as like, was it good from the
draft in twenty sixteen up until WrestleMania thirty three, Honestly,
I don't remember off the top of my head. I
don't remember. There was a period though, I don't remember
if it was the end of twenty sixteen into twenty

(01:39:09):
seventeen though, where SmackDown just absolutely sucked. JM. Mela Greeto
a man without a family, Roman with no more reigns,
a chief without a tribe. Cody Rhades said this in

(01:39:29):
March of twenty twenty three. Prophecy fulfilled. See in the end,
Cody was right, man, that's why Cody is the guy
right now in WWA, Cody knew he tried to tell
us fire Panda coming in with a roughly fifty dollars bomb. So,

(01:39:58):
Solemn Monster, you say you listen to the people right then,
where oh where are my sound off? Ice cream bars? Well,
Sola Monster can't have ice cream anymore, so why am
I going to have ice cream bars made? It would
have to be that fake ice cream without the dairy

(01:40:18):
in it. Joseph Stewart, did you see Live Morgan in
Dominic Mysterio doing press for WWE in India? I did?
I saw the photo shoot they did? They look like
quite the happy couple. Do I think Live Morgan in

(01:40:41):
Dominic will do a reality TV show together on Netflix
for WWE? No, I don't em and m if Kevin
Owens can't go for WrestleMania, I think Nick All this
would be a great replacement. He can get his many
A moment and shine TNA and NWA would regret giving

(01:41:04):
up on him. I don't think that has anything to
do with him wrestling at WrestleMania or not, but yes,
it would be a nice moment for him to be
able to say that he had Joseph Stewart, What are
Ddp's top five matches in WCW. Go watch his matches

(01:41:26):
with Randy Savage, Go watch his really both matches. You
had two Nitro title matches with Staying, one in ninety
eight and one in ninety nine. And watch his Halloween
Havoc match in ninety eight with Bill Goldberg. Duff's VIDs.
What do you call a chair on a sheep a

(01:41:49):
riding lawnmower? Bad joke? Dude, that was awful. That's like
beyond bad. That's like Charlotte and Tiffany bad. Tonight. You
should be ashamed. Brother Fluff says, why did Paul Hayman
have Paul Bear's Paul Bear's makeup on tonight? Because he's

(01:42:12):
been very stressed and I don't know, I guess it
fit his demeanor tonight. Joseph says, buy or sell Michael
Keaton as Batman or Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman. Always gotta
go Catwoman, sorry, Michael Avatar nineteen seventy seven. So it's

(01:42:39):
a battle for Hayman's soul at WrestleMania. Who knew he
even had one? La Knight's finishing move can't hurt A
Samoan also get well. Kevin owens Ron says, wwe did
not seem to learn from Tony Kahn and aw A
loaded and talented roster is worthless if the booking is

(01:43:00):
mediocre and underwhelming. Well, that is undoubtedly true. I mean,
your roster is only as good as the creative that
supports it. That's why you can have the best roster
in the world and still put on an absolutely shit
television product. A Bass bears thank you for the gifted

(01:43:27):
membership to JM, who is now a channel member. Honey
deep Fried Chicken says fuck it. Jade Cargill versus Naomi
Wrestle Media forty one will overshadow the Charlotte Tiffany Stratton match.
You know what, it could happen. I'm not ready to
make that prediction, but who's to say it doesn't happen.

(01:43:51):
I'm still gonna say Charlotte and Tiffany end up doing
better in the ring and have the better match of
the two. But I do think I do think that
it's not a triple threat yet, but assuming it's a
triple threat, the triple threat for the women's world title,
we'll steal the show. As far as the women's matches,
mister Rodd says, to hear Kevin Owens have next surgery

(01:44:11):
and Randy Orton with no match of WrestleMania sucks. Prayers
for a speedy recovery. In the words of Ron Simmons,
Damn yeah, it sucks. I mean the timing on it
is just complete shit. But I mean, the guy's been

(01:44:31):
killing himself now for months now. The Cody feud, the
ladder match, then he went from a ladder match to
an unsanctioned match Nick Grosso after tonight, do they go
with Randy Orton against Nick Alldis there's a story there
because this was not the first time Orton archaot all this. Yep,

(01:44:52):
I talked about that earlier. I think that's the match.
That's the match you do next to smart Men. He's
thinking along the same lines. Mister Rod says, enjoyable show overall,

(01:45:12):
but the ending and the Charlotte Tiffany segment were the
two worst easily. Blue Jay Fantasy booking Warrior versus Gunther,
do you agree? I would love to see Gunther chop
the Warrior, but the thing is the Warrior would probably
just no sell it. So then guntherer would have to

(01:45:34):
chomp him the harder. I'd like to see that, Alex
for the twenty five. If the pre show of this
year's WrestleMania had its own pre show, then that's where
the Charlotte Tiffany Stratton Madge belongs. That back and forth
promo was beyond awful the pre show of the pre show.

(01:45:57):
You're gonna put the WWE Women's champion on the pre
show show for the pre show, Brolly. Stephanie Vicaier replied
to Tiffany's shooting on Charlotte with applause emojis, and it's funny,
Charlotte stated, started using Vicaire's face plant move that she

(01:46:20):
had not used in years. Well, Stephanie's awesome. Can't wait
to see her on the main roster. Brother Fluff says,
I live in the Florida swamps. We're all hicks. Hey,

(01:46:41):
you said it, not me. Christopher gifted a channel membership
to Science Babbel Music. So many charitable people here giving
the gift of channel memberships. I love it. Reggie with
the four ninety nine solo, please help settle this debate

(01:47:03):
with my friend. He thinks Rains will retire in three
to five years, and he's been phoning it in since
twenty twenty two. What are your thoughts. Yeah, I mean
it feels like he's been phoning it in. Kind of
coasting on autopilot, is the way I would put it.

(01:47:24):
He's going to retire in five years, you know what?
People say that. I mean, he hasn't said it, but
people say that. And he's still young enough. Where as
long as he stays healthy and he stays in remission
and all that, and he has his part time schedule,
I don't really see a need for him to retire
in the next three to five years. So I'm gonna
say no. At the schedule he works, I think I

(01:47:46):
think he'll be around longer than that. Darth Panic Channel
member for thirty five months says seems like WWE is
signing a lot of talent recently. Do you think there
will be releases from unused talent after WrestleMania, Well, this
has been the case in the past. They have the

(01:48:07):
spring cleaning post Wrestlemanium. I think there's a very distinct
possibility that we will see that number one almost Sapien,
why shouldn't you write with a broken pencil? Because it's pointless.
That is not untrue. Velvet Floor eighteen Russo voice bro

(01:48:32):
Kevin owens Bro should have been the son of a
Donnis The Son of a Donnis Bro one of the
great segments on the Sound Off Asia with the twenty
dollars super chat. I found your channel a while back,

(01:48:54):
and I'm happy I did. Your reviews are always a
great watch. Have a great weekend. Well, thank you. Kind
of is Asia or Azore. I'll say it twice though,
just to make sure, because I'm sure one of the
other is correct. But that's very nice of you to say.
I'm glad when people find the channel, stumble upon the channel,
and sometimes it's just even through YouTube recommended videos, which

(01:49:18):
is why I tell you guys to like the videos,
because it helps us kind of push them out more.
There are people that will stumble on the channel who
just never knew it existed, and then they kind of
fall in love with it and start emailing questions and
it's great. I love it. I'm glad you enjoy it.

(01:49:41):
Emperor comment. Rick just saw the Solid Monster Tony Kahank
gift pop up for the first time. Yeah, that's been
around for a while. Emperor commet. I'll have two number
nine and number nine large number six with extra dip

(01:50:04):
number seven, two number forty five's one with cheese and
a large soda. Emperor, I think I think you drove
up to the window, and I think your voice recorded
your order into your phone and it ended up on

(01:50:27):
the stream. Derenzo not gonna lie. I kind of like
how much of a shit show the Tiffy Charlotte segment was.
If I call it a train wreck, some people enjoy that.
Cripple punk, I miss Kevin already. I hope he has

(01:50:53):
a smooth surgery and recovery. Though Kevin Owens is still right,
and I hope you're having a good night solo. I
am cripple punk. I bet that's what Seth Rollins is
going to try to do it. Wrestle Many, Well, that's
a GTA San Andreas reference was the order, I believe

(01:51:15):
it or not. I never played San Andres. If I
play it now, will I finish it still before g
TA six comes out? I played Vice City. I did
not play San Andres Boomerang. I was dying at the

(01:51:36):
Kaiser's in my DM's line, Charlotte always be taking things
to heart. That she started. Don't forget how she fell
out with Becky. Oh, I haven't forgotten about that. That
was just as awkward this is. This is not the
first time that Charlotte has been involved in a very
awkward segment like this, and uh has has reacted in

(01:52:00):
such a way. Chris Manson with the thirty dollars mentos
super chat excited for Dynasty. The Hangman's stuff really sold me.
Swerve versus Hangman has to be the destination four all

(01:52:21):
in that owen Hart tournament is either will Ospray's to
lose or Hangman page. The Hangman's Swerve stuff at the
end of Dynamite was the most interesting thing on the
entire show. Sean Dee twenty four months of channel membership.
I've been thinking, and I really believe Cody won the
promo battle. I think people are saying John Cena one

(01:52:42):
because they are so hyped for him being a heel.
I said on Monday night of my review that I
gave Cody the edge Blue Jay, Gypsy Joe equals Charlotte Fleck.
Oh my god, Gypsy Joe equals Charlotte Flair. No sell

(01:53:03):
a promo now, I'm not gonna be able to get
that visual out of my head of Charlotte Flair as
gypsy Joe om too cool. If there was such a
thing called a company trade off, I would happily trade
Charlotte Hogan for Jamie Hayter or Tony Storm CNM thirty

(01:53:30):
four forty three. Charlotte is putting up prime Ross Geller
numbers for divorces. I think two more and she'll be
all caught up, you know, and tied up with her dad.
She's going to eventually pass her dad's title record. And
unfortunately for her, I mean she's kind of headed that
way on the marriage front as well. Sam Bluestein not

(01:53:56):
a Charlotte fan, but the whole But the vitriol that
she has been met with since returning is uncalled for.
I don't think she's in a good place mentally. Look,
I mean, she was out there spilling her guts in
that first promo on Raw talking about her injury, and
she got booed, and how does that not affect you?
How does that not affect your your mind? Right? But
now these segments here, it's just whatever place she is

(01:54:20):
or is and then mentally, like they're just objectively bad segments,
and you have to call out bad television when there's
bad television. But like a segment like tonight where the
crowd is booing her and she clearly allows it to
get her rattled. I just don't understand, you know. And
so then she reacts the way that she does, and

(01:54:41):
she's got to have the last word, and she can't
let Tiffany have the last word, and it's just ridiculous.
Duff's VIDs. What is Mickey Mouse's favorite game, Mini Golf?
It's a little bit better. It's definitely better than that

(01:55:04):
last one. Sean Dee says most of what John said
to Cody, Oh, this is a continuation from his previous message.
Most of what John said to Cody saved. The NEPO
part is either doubly true for him or works better
if he said it ten years ago against Roman Reigns. Yeah, well,
I mean, look, the promos he's been cutting would have

(01:55:25):
been pitch perfect twelve thirteen years ago. He's had that
in his back pocket for a long time. Pax Basonica
is a channel member now as well. Thank you for
the bomb and thank you for the membership. Thank you packs.
Duff's VIDs. You heard about the disease you get from

(01:55:46):
kissing a bird. It's called chirpies and it's untweetable. Oh
my god, suck wow untweetable. Justin g just gifted a

(01:56:12):
membership to CNM thirty four to forty three Holiday one
ninety seven. The bill to this year's WrestleMania is looking
chaotic and underwhelming, with many matches thrown together at the
last minute. I hope they start storylines this year for
at least five matches. At next year's WrestleMania for at

(01:56:35):
least five matches. I think you're gonna be very disappointed,
Pax Basonica with that fifty dollars bomb from earlier tonight,
Rains is obviously of the status that he no longer
needs to be champion. However, in your opinion, do you
think they will put the strap back on him soon

(01:56:56):
or at any point in the future. Is it inevitable
or are the days of Rain his champion over for good.
I'm not gonna say they're over for good. I think
you're absolutely right. He does not need the championship. There
are other stories to tell with him, whether it's him
in punk, whether it's him in rock, whatever it may
be that even him and Gunther at some point, I

(01:57:17):
would like to see them work together, and it doesn't
necessarily need to be for a championship. I'm gonna say
that he will be champion again at some point, but
it could be. It can be a couple of years
from now. Like I don't think it's gonna be anytime
in the near future. But I won't say that he'll
never be champion again, you know that, Like there would
have been a time where I would have said, you know,

(01:57:40):
John Cena, he's not full time anymore, He's not really
around anymore. He's not gonna be champion again, right, But like,
he's probably gonna be champion very soon. So who's to
say that Roman won't have another run. It won't be
a fucking three and a half year run. I mean,
God forbid, But I don't think it's gonna happen for
a while. Mister Ruby dogg JD and Eugene separated at birth.

(01:58:11):
Eugene Eugene was actually a very good wrestler. If you
take the gimmick away Alfonso Dream collaboration song, I recommend
you listen to baby Metal and Poppy From Me to You.
It's a banger. Didn't they use a baby Metal song
for one of the ples a few months ago. I

(01:58:33):
don't remember the name of it. I have to look
that one up, though. Baby Metal and Poppy from Me
to You. Poppy had a couple of good songs off
that last album that just came out. Bass Bears Hardcore
Invitational twenty twenty five at WrestleMania like in two thousand, No,

(01:58:56):
by the way, the finish of that match at WrestleMania
that year was fucked up, as in, it wasn't meant
to go down the way that it did. It one
Figureoa Seeampunk welcomes you to the Channel bas Beer as

(01:59:16):
Braun could revive the doink gimmick. I think it'll work
when that image appears on the screen. It just it
just works right, It just looks. It just fits. Ah.
Baby Metal tickets were two thousand dollars for a baby

(01:59:40):
Metal concert. I guess I won't be going to a
baby Metal concert. Eminem says, we got the number one
contenders for the US and TAG titles, But come on,
do we really believe that? Also? Is the women's mid
card titles a waste of time? So far? Yes, they

(02:00:00):
have been so far they can be saved, but I
think they've been mostly a waste of time so far.
See Guy is here. Thank you for the gifted membership
to Rick Shaw Devin from New Jersey. My brother never
got why Punk getting his WrestleMania main event is such

(02:00:21):
a milestone for fans when how often is the main
event even the best match on the show? Well, I
mean last last year. Last year, it certainly was probably
the best match on the show, But it's it's a
status thing. They've built it up for so many years,

(02:00:43):
like the main event is such a big deal. They've
cultivated this idea that the main event is the end
all be all on these shows, and at one time
it greatly annoyed Punk legitimately that he didn't get the
spot and The Rock did. When The Rock came back
and just wasn't a full time guy, I don't think

(02:01:04):
he's in the same headspace anymore. But they have created
this story. They've manufactured this story that he cares so
much about being in the Wrestlemanium made event, when in reality,
like I don't really think he does anymore, but it's
just the story that they chosen to tell. Nick Grosso
says did you see the dark side of the ring
on ludvig BORGA very interesting life that that guy lived

(02:01:28):
exit only. Yeah, oh yeah, I saw it all right,
I saw it all right. I'll talk about it on
Sunday this Tuesday. By the way, it is Vader that
is the episode. Bass Beer says, Punk versus Rains custody
of Hayman ladder match Hayman on a pole? How about

(02:01:49):
that Hayman on a pole? Broy have to reinforce that pole.
Tanga loa superfan with a twenty dollars super chat. The
longest stream is five hours. Be prepared to break that
record on the night that Tonga Lower returns. I know
you'll definitely have a lot to say on his return.

(02:02:10):
You might even have to break out the whiteboard and
plan his booking. I may have to break out the
hard liquor for that one. Justin g I feel Tiffany
did some low blows because Flair would. I don't know

(02:02:32):
what was and wasn't scripted, but evidently a lot of
what they ended up saying was not planned. So I'm
sure we'll find out more about this segment of the
Day's to Come. Retro Koh by Rent Sell on Catwomen,
Michelle Pfeiffer and Hathaway and halle Berry. That right there?

(02:02:53):
I mean you talk about like the triple threat of
just beautiful second see Women. Oh my goodness, how am
I supposed to choose here? How How can I go
against halle Berry? Halle Berry would be my number one,

(02:03:13):
So I'm gonna buy on her. I'm going to rent
on hmm, so tough. I'm gonna rent on en halfaway
and sell on Michelle Pfiffer. Bass Beer's favorite ECW match
one of mine is Beulah versus Bill Alfonso. I don't

(02:03:38):
off the time, I don't have a favorite ECW match.
I I don't. There's no there's no one match that
I would call my favorite. Stuff's VIDs? How does a
non binary person kill people? They them? How does a nun?

(02:04:07):
Where do you come up with these? The Julia, the
new ring announcer, seems to be doing well so far.
Also great debut in my opinion of Ray Phoenix. Yeah,
it was a great debut. Just got to keep the
momentum going and hope that he can catch fire in
the same way that his brother has because Pent has
been killing it man and he's super over on raw

(02:04:31):
bass Beers says Jay usso looks like zobooma. I don't
know what that is. No ko Mania, he says, no,
not this year, not this year. Sea guy is here
with the twenty three? Oh the Saiga? Have I been

(02:04:58):
fucking up your name again? I will donate money until
you say my name right? Also nice San Andreas reference
from Comet. So Actually, if you're gonna, if you're gonna
donate money until I say your name right, I should
continue saying your name wrong? Is that what you're telling me?

(02:05:18):
Is that what you're telling me? See Guy? The Mount
Vernon Kid Christopher Bennett thirty five months of membership. Hey, solo,
have you seen the fact the latest Kyrie Saine photos?
The progress is working. She's bulking up. Also, John Carpenter

(02:05:42):
got his star in the Walk of Fame. Yes, I
mentioned that earlier. Kyrie sayin is bulking up. I gotta
see this. I haven't seen these photos. I wish she's
got her. Scott Steiner going like, what are you talking
about here? See guy, I'm gonna is that a threat?

(02:06:06):
And Bass Beers rush Hour or Fifth Element Chris Tucker
performance rush Hour. I would go rush Hour Kyrie getting swoll.
I have not seen these photos, so I will have
to look this up. Hey, Kreflow coming in with a

(02:06:29):
twenty spot Look at this, Hi Solo. This is one
of those times I disagree with you. But the zero
for three slash volleyball line from Tiffany was colder than
the steak you ordered at Benigin's for your birthday? Is
your squeaky Charlotte a new super chat? Oh? I don't know.
I'll have to go back and watch it and see.
I just kind of busted it out in the heat

(02:06:51):
of the moment. No, I'm not saying Tiffany didn't get
some good lines in on Charlotte. I said this was
a much better performance to night for her than that's
flit screen was. I just thought the segment overall was
a fucking train wreck, and Charlotte was just awful. I
don't think she reacted well to it at all. I
think she got rattled. I think she got rattled, maybe

(02:07:13):
even by some of what Tiffany said, not just the booze.
Hey it's Sea Guy again. He says, yes, it is
a threat, and he dropped another ten on me. Thank you,
Ci Guy. I appreciate it. Can you imagine like if

(02:07:40):
Tiffany is scheduled to go over at WrestleMania and Charlotte
pulls like a Hogan on Warrior WrestleMania six, where she'll
lay down, she'll take the three, but at like three
point one she does the kickout like the post three kickout.
Oh man, all right, well, you guys earned two rounds

(02:08:06):
of be the Booker. I love it, so let's get
to it. Let's do round number one. Let's get into it.
Ladies and gentlemen. It is now time to be the booker.
All right. We had no more Hall of Fame announcements tonight,
by the way, so it sounds like the Hall of

(02:08:28):
Fame class maybe is complete. And there was no announcement
about Kamala. He was supposed to go in, so I
wonder what happened with that. All right, tag team be
the Booker. We begin with Caine and the Big Show
holding the old raw penny belts, the bronze belts. Forgot

(02:08:54):
they had those. Cain and Big Show against the faces
of fear. You know what, as far as like a
big guy match, I can fuck with that, sure, I mean,

(02:09:14):
you got Meng Meng is not somebody you want to
mess with, that's for sure. All Right, women's be the booker, right,
we got a hoss fight. We have someone who is
not on the WrestleMania card this year. We have Naya Jacks.

(02:09:35):
After having probably, like objectively her best year wrestling wise,
she is not on the WrestleMania card this year. Naya
Jack's one on one with oh my goodness, Zaia Lee.
I was trying to think of what her name is
now in TNA, but I still know her as Zaiae

(02:10:03):
And that's not a match I care to see. And
our main event of the evening. This is our WrestleMania
main event. This right here, this match. This is the
moment that these folks here live for. This is the
moment that they point to the sign and hope for.
Let's see what we get Bam Bam Bigelow. And you

(02:10:27):
know what, Bam Bam Bigelow has a WrestleMania main event
to his name. He actually did headline a WrestleMania Lawrence
Taylor is not in here, so we're not getting a rematch.

(02:10:49):
I thought we were going with that Brian Danielson against
Bam Bam Bigelow. How's that for a match Bam Bam
Bigelow in his prime against Brian Danielson. Now you know what,
that dude, that would be a fucking amazing match. That's great.

(02:11:10):
I love that one. All Right, we're not wasting any
time here. We're going right into round two. That would
rock man. That would be fucking amazing. What a great
match that would have been. All Right, Round number two.
We're gonna kick off here with some stipulations. We throw

(02:11:31):
these in whenever we get the bonus round, and so
we're gonna pick a tag team match first. But before
we pick the tag team match, let's see what kind
of match it's going to be. It's going to be
a ladder match. So now we know the stipulation. Tag
team ladder match is what we are heading into here.

(02:11:54):
The usos, Jimmy and Jay I'm sure they've been in
some tech team ladder matches before. Jimmy and Jay usso
are going to take on the former SmackDown Tag team
champions here in Johnny Gargano and Tomaso Shampa in a

(02:12:14):
tag team ladder match. Gets a bell for me. Women's match,
we need a step. We have a lumberjack match. I

(02:12:36):
don't like lumberjack matches, but we've got to book one. Now,
would this be a lumber Jill? Actually? I stould probably
do I have lumber Jill? Now we'll just keep this
all right? Lumberjack match Zia Lee again for the second time?

(02:13:02):
Have we ever landed on her before? Tonight? Now we
just hit her twice? Are you kidding me? Zilee against
Sasha Banks in a lumberjack match? One more match? This

(02:13:33):
is the night too WrestleMania main event, and it's going
to be Oh, look at this one of our new steps.
It is an Ultimate X match. You are a TNA fan.
You are very familiar with what the Ultimate X match
is all about. It's a very dangerous match though, you've
got to do some climbing. This will be very interesting

(02:13:57):
depending on who we land on, considering the dangers involved.
But you know what Ultimate X I think I think
that fits here for a main event. That can we put?
You could do a one on one Ultimate X match though, right?

(02:14:24):
Should it be one on one? We should probably pick
the number of wrestlers in this match. I just realized
it could be a multiman match. Why don't we do this?
Why don't we pick four? How about that? We'll pick
four men for the Ultimate X Match. Liv Morgan gives

(02:14:45):
you her room key. Now pick a stip oh man.
I was so excited to book an Ultimate X match,
but now we have to change the step. Those are
the rules. The Ultimate X Match is gone, we've released it.
We have to pick a new stipulation. Live Morgan said,

(02:15:08):
So we go from an Ultimate X match to a
boring old hardcore match. I feel like we get these
every week, oh man, just the boring old hardcore match. Really, man,

(02:15:29):
we go from a multiman Ultimate X match to a
one on one hardcore match with limitless Keith Lee on
one side. I don't know if we're ever going to
see him in the ring again. I just I just
hope he's healthy and doing well. Keith Lee against Al

(02:16:00):
Bundy in a hardcore match. My money is on Al
Bundy and that is be the booker. Well. We certainly
ended on a high note anything with Al Bundy and

(02:16:21):
it is an automatic bell as far as I'm concerned.
Poor keithh Lee. He just came back. He's going right
back on the injury list after he fights Al Bundy
in a hardcore match. He's going to be back on
injured reserve with peg in his corner. Yeah, she's totally

(02:16:42):
gonna turn on him low blow and then she leaves
with Keighley. Is that how you would book it? We're
in Chicago, Joey says, al Bundy is the king of Chicago. Hey,
Near is with us, Near is never far behind. Good

(02:17:05):
to have you, brother, I hope you're doing well. Kreflow
says if Charlotte Flair wasn't Charlotte Flair, do you think
her getting rattled in that segment would end her push?
You know what, I think it might. I think of
my yes. Arabian Knight says ideas for Orton at WrestleMania

(02:17:28):
Drew and Priest Winner faces Orton one Night two and
a number one Contenders match at Backlash, or he has
an open challenge and outcomes Alistair Black. I don't like
either one of those ideas. I mean, the Alistair Black
thing would be cool, but you're not gonna beat Alistair Black.
And like I said, Orton really needs to win at
Mania because I would have him challenging for the title

(02:17:50):
of Backlash. He's not gonna lose it WrestleMania and then
challenge for the WWE title. Because that doesn't make any sense.
I would stick with a safe match him and him
and nick All this give give nick All this a
WrestleMania match that's already been one RKO previously. Now he's
ar chaot him again. You've given him a reason now

(02:18:11):
to get very angry. And it's not going to be
that hard to set the matchup. I don't think. The
only thing is like Nick Allda hasn't wrestled in a
long time, and the Randy or the Kevin Owens injury
was such a sudden thing. It's it's not one of
those things where when you haven't wrestled, you can just

(02:18:31):
sort of, you know, warm up, I would think in
a week and you know, be in ring shape. So like,
is he is he in a position to go out
there and have a wrestle media match? You know, did
they is he going to be in the match? Did
they give him a heads up? Has he been preparing
or like there's other you know aspects that go into it.

(02:18:51):
It's not as easy as Okay, I guess I'm wrestling
a WrestleMania now and I haven't had a match in years.
But sure, you know he needs some time to prepare
I would imagine RDS, Harry Priest and McIntyre in a
street fight at WrestleMania. Yeah, I mean it would make

(02:19:14):
it more interesting than it is right now. And Kreflow
with the Five says, wasn't there a wrestling episode of
Married with Children? Or Am I thinking of family matters
with the Bushwhackers? No, you're thinking of the Married with
Children episode where they had wrestle Palooza and Bud Bundy

(02:19:35):
had to wrestle King Kong Bundy in a bumblebee costume
to gain entry into nomam So because King Kong Bundy
was in two different episodes that was in like the
later seasons, but he was also one of PEG's family
members in like the first or second season of the show.
Uncle Oh was his name? Uncle Irwin? He put his

(02:20:00):
head through the door at the end of the episode
and packs Basonica with a twenty been a fan since
the age of eight now forty two. But my god,
I thought he was talking about the sound off. I go,
am I that fucking old. I read that at first, like,

(02:20:24):
why is Solo Monster a punk hater? Why does he
hate punk so much? What did he ever do to him?
I read that at first, I thought you were saying
you started listening to the sound off at eight and
you're forty two. Now, I said, brother, I've been doing
this for a long time, but I haven't been doing
it for that long. Now. He says he's been a

(02:20:46):
wrestling fan for that long and he's biased to WWE
very much enjoy your content and in depth knowledge of
the business in general. It's a breath of fresh air.
And I wish I would have discovered this channel years ago.
Well that's awesome, man. That makes my night when I
hear stuff like that, and I'm glad you found the

(02:21:08):
channel again. Sometimes people find it randomly and they stumble in.
Sometimes it gets recommended, but I don't really care as
long as they find it. So I'm glad you enjoy
the content. We I say we. I do these streams
multiple times every week. I have the main podcast, which
is the main audio show. I've been doing that for

(02:21:29):
almost eighteen years and that drops every Sunday, so you
always have plenty of content. Thank you. Pas. We got
a little baby fire Panda with another fifty bomb great
news solo The Five Nights at Freddy's two. There is

(02:21:51):
a sequel, The Five Nights at Freddy's two movie trailer
has come out and it looks great. Comes out December
fifth this year. And because I know you secretly watched
the first movie, I hope you like the sequel. It
was such a secret that I couldn't tell you anything
about the movie. I'm still waiting on that proper Cloverfield

(02:22:15):
sequel and Black Mirror Season seven, which drops on Friday,
a week from tonight. Thank you, Fire Panda and Luis
with the ten dollars super chat, Rest in Peace. John Zunino,

(02:22:38):
one of La Belmont High School's best math teachers and
sports coach, just found out a few hours ago that
he has gone biggest gut punch to me because of
my YouTube username. That's right, you have Belmont right there
in your username. Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I
don't know if he was he your teacher or did

(02:22:59):
you just know of him. I mean it's sad either way,
so I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, Luis is always
representing Belmont High School. He's got it right there in
his name. Yeah, Vader was on Boy Meets World, Rock
was on that seventy show. I think Ken Shamrock was

(02:23:19):
too Matt Striker was my teacher. He was a teacher
here in New York City. Got fired once they realized
he was moonlighting as a wrestler. He was taking days
off from school to go wrestle, so he got fired.
Thoughts on all the wrestler appearances on Walker Texas Ranger

(02:23:44):
in the nineties, You know, I didn't. I didn't watch
much Walker Texas Ranger outside of those final few minutes
when it would air before Raw would go on. That
was about it. I do know that one of the
actors on the show, I forget the actor's name, but
he was also on Mattlock and he may have gone

(02:24:05):
right from Mattlock to Walker Texas Ranger. I forget his
name though he passed away a number of years ago.
But now I wasn't really a Walker Texas Ranger guy. Yeah,
he was in Diehard. Yes, yes, yes, he was also
in Diehard. He was the guy that was in charge
of trying to open the vault. Yep, same guy, But

(02:24:26):
on Mattlock he played a character Conrad McMasters. He was
basically Mattlock's like private investigator. Yes, thank you, Roderick Clarence Gilliard. Yes,
I believe that was his name stone Cold on Nash Bridges.
You know, I had always heard that they wanted him

(02:24:48):
to have his own spin off, But yeah, I mean,
he was still at the peak of his wrestling career.
He wasn't going to be going off to do some
CBS show. I think his name what was his character
name on there, Jake Cage, I think was his name.
Craploss says, my grandma used to watch Mattlock. Well, look,

(02:25:12):
I didn't watch it when I was younger, but I've
gained an appreciation for it when I come across it now.
By the way, this new Mattlock show they have with
Kathy Bates has nothing to It has fuck all to
do with the old Mattlock. I think literally, like on
the show they acknowledge like they she took the name
from the television character. It's very misleading, Like when they

(02:25:32):
brought back Mattlock, you're like, oh, maybe she's like his
wife or something, even though his wife on the show
died and we never saw her. But it has literally
nothing to do with the original Mattlock. They're literally just
just horring out the name and they're just attaching it
to this new show. I hate that very misleading. Well,

(02:25:56):
one thing you'll never see me doing is horring myself out,
I'll tell you that. But you can see me back
here live on the streams Sunday night after you like that.
You like that little segue there, huh. Sunday night we
have aw Dynasty, and I will be live when that
show is over, and of course back here Monday night

(02:26:17):
for the raw post show sound off. Episode nine oh
eight will be going up Sunday afternoon. That should be
dropping on all the usual podcast platforms, so watch for
that and check out all the other content here on
the channel as well, and I will see you back
here very soon for more sound live here on YouTube.
Until then, take care, guys,

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WWE Smackdown 4/4/25 Review | CM Punk Favor REVEALED, Kevin Owens OUT Of WrestleMania!

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