WWE 2024 Year in Review - EP66

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On this episode we talk about all that has happened in WWE in 2024 as we bring to you your Punks Talk Wreslting Year in Review!

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Paul Heyman and as your wise man I'm here to

(00:05):
bestow upon you the wisdom that you're listening to PUNK'S TALK WRESTLING.
Welcome to PUNK'S TALK WRESTLING! On this episode we talk about everything that's

(00:26):
happened in the last 12 months as we wrap up 2024 with our PUNK'S TALK WRESTLING
YEAR IN REVIEW! I am R.W. Hellborn, the PA Rock Prince, hailing quote-unquote from
Philly! And I am one half of the crowd, which is one half of your PUNK'S TALK WRESTLING

(00:53):
Inter-Universal Tag Team Podcast Champion of the World!
Now, then, and forever by my side, 3500 miles away in London, England!

(01:18):
He is my Tag Team Podcast Partner, he is the other half of the crowd, which is the other half of your PUNK'S TALK WRESTLING
Inter-Universal Tag Team Podcast Champion of the World!
Mr. Did You Know? Sir King of Reels, the proper prick, CJ Newbanks!

(02:08):
Did you know that this past year's WrestleMania, WrestleMania XIV, broke a record that I didn't know about until just a second ago?
And there were more title changes at WrestleMania XIV than at any other pay-per-view or PLE in history.

(02:33):
Seven title changes, two sets of Tag Team Championships, new Icono Championship, two new World Heavyweight Champions, being Drew McIntyre,
then Damian Priest, a new Women's World Champion, and a new undisputed WWE Universal Champion as well.
So, seven all together. You could, there's a little caveat to this, WrestleMania 35 did see eight title changes, but only six of them took part on the main, actual main card.

(03:08):
The others took part of the pre-show, so, as part of the main card. Huh?
Was it a Sunday Night Heat?
No, WrestleMania 35, it was only like five years ago. Just a pre-show.
Oh! Oh right. Yeah, that was, the US, what was that, one of them was the US title.
Yeah, probably US title, and probably the mid-card title, let's face it, they weren't really taking much notice of back then, were they, really?

(03:39):
Yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't think there was, that's crazy, I don't think there was an IC title match on the main card of WrestleMania 35.
Let me find out real quick.
Yeah, we need to, yeah, hold on, that doesn't sound right, something about that.
WrestleMania 35 pre-show was, um, Tony Nese defeated Buddy Murphy for the Cruiserweight Championship.

(04:05):
Oh, the Cruiserweight title!
Yeah, and Kurt Hulkins and Zack Ryder defeated the Revival for the Tag Team, Raw Tag Team Championships.
So those were the two, the two title changes on the pre-show.
What were the, so what were the titles?
Uh, we had Becky Lynch defeating Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair for the, both Women's Championships.

(04:30):
Right, we had Seth and Brock Lesnar opening that.
Opening the, opening the night, yep, we had, uh, uh, the Usos in a fatal four-way.
We had, for the Tag Team Championships, Kofi Kingston won the WWE Championship.
Samoa Joe defeated Rey Mysterio.

(04:54):
Oh, right.
Yeah, for the US Championship.
Looking back at this, this is so piss poor, the US Championship match, 58 seconds.
Yeah, yeah, that was the match.
Seth Rollins versus Brock Lesnar, two, two minutes, 30 seconds.
Well, that, yeah, but the caveat, the caveat to the, the Rollins-Lesnar was that they fought outside the ring before the match started for like five minutes.

(05:16):
Yeah, true.
But like, look at this, like, this is, uh, WrestleMania 40, and if you count, sorry, WrestleMania 35,
and if you count the pre-show, that's 16 matches, 16 matches in one night.
Dude, that one, yeah, WrestleMania 35 was ridiculously long.

(05:38):
I mean, I was there at that one too.
Oh yeah, you were there at WrestleMania 35.
It didn't end until almost one o'clock.
But, look at this, and then you got two-night WrestleMania, WrestleMania 40, no pre-show, 14 matches.
There were less matches on a two-night pay-per-view.
Yeah, yeah.
And not only that, you were in attendance for the two highest title-changing, title-changing WrestleMania's.

(06:06):
Yup, yes I was.
I guess if you're in attendance at WrestleMania, watch out, you're gonna see a lot of title-changing.
Yeah, man, I only go to the big ones.
I only go to the biggest of the big ones.
All right.
You gotta start paying me to come to those WrestleMania 41s, those ones that aren't 0s and 5s.
0s and 5s, yeah.

(06:27):
They always kinda go big for the 0s and 5s, don't they?
Well, yeah, as they should.
Round numbers.
But how's about we talk about this past year in 2024, WWE?
Yeah.

(07:10):
Yeah.

(07:40):
The way they've positioned themselves is just phenomenal to see.
And I mean, going into, I guess what we're planning on talking about on this episode anyway is the 2024 year wrap-up.
I mean, this whole year is really what has broken WWE.

(08:03):
They've broken their own ceilings, you know, and blown out every record.
Yeah, I think it's safe to say that 2024 was probably the biggest, especially by numbers, obviously.
It was the most successful year that WWE has ever had, for sure.
Yeah.

(08:24):
Now, I don't know how you wanted to go into talking about this.
I don't know what notes you might have taken.
I know we're gonna list off our...
We've got our categories, yeah.
We've got our categories, but talking about the year overall, I was thinking, what if we just ran through the major pay-per-views and kind of...

(08:48):
What, uncool that one episode?
Because we're kind of trying to do two today, right?
Yeah. Oh, yeah, we could. We could make that a separate episode.
Yeah.
I don't know why I was thinking... Yeah, that could be it. That could be it. That could be more our...

(09:09):
A retrospect.
Yeah, the retrospect. Well, shit. Where's my notes that have categories?
What do you want to do first, then, the retrospect or the categories?

(09:31):
Let's go through the year in retrospect. You know what? I don't even think I ever made my list.
Oh, boy. Maybe you can do it on the flyer. I've got the list. Maybe you can give your options on the flyer. That might be more fun.
Yeah, I'll do it. You know what? Yeah, so let's go through the year in retrospect. Geez.
Starting the year off in classic punk-stalk wrestling style. A train wreck from the beginning.

(09:56):
Also, by the way, this is our second...
How long is it? A year and a half now, almost.
Yeah, I guess around a year and a half, yeah. But technically, I was thinking before we started recording that...

(10:17):
We're within the third year, as in we've recorded this podcast in three separate years now.
Yes, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
2025, yeah. So pretty cool.
You know what? I know what's off. I know why I'm so off still.
Oh, there we go. There we go.

(10:39):
The first official generic seltzer from Giant opening.
That's why. That's why. And here we go, of course, followed up by the...
First official Ice Breakers Ice Cube Spearmint gum.

(11:01):
Remember this moment. Oh, yeah.
That is our New Year's...
As I got to get it to the perfect chewing spot before I continue. This is great, great content.

(11:22):
This is what people listen for, honestly.
All right.
I guess the best way to do this is kind of go from pay-per-view to pay-per-view.
Yeah, I think so. I've already got the Wikipedia page up for Rumble.
Rumble, same here.
Shout out to Wikipedia. Support Wikipedia.

(11:44):
The big takeaway going into this event was, obviously, we kind of were expecting...
Although we weren't for sure, we didn't know for sure that Cody Rhodes was going to win to face Roman Reigns,
but I think that was kind of likely what was on most people's radar.
But this was CM Punk's first match back since his return,

(12:06):
if you don't count the house show against Don McMysterio.
But yeah, his first appearance on TV in a ring.
I wonder, and I wonder if now...
Because they made such a big deal about this year's Saturday Night...
Because that was essentially a Saturday Night's Made event.
It was on Telev... It was Madison Square Garden.

(12:27):
It was a time period at the end of the year where they would have done Saturday Night's Made event as a holiday thing.
They didn't televise it, and part of me now wonders if they did it that intentionally,
especially with a match like this, literally CM Punk's first match, but we're not really even going to talk about it.

(12:48):
And they did it intentionally just to get people on the internet to talk about it,
so that it builds up buzz for the Saturday Night's Made event returning this year.
But this was also the start of all the insanity at the beginning of the year.
Vince McMahon is out.
This was the first WWE event to have zero involvement by Vince McMahon.

(13:14):
Wild.
Yeah, that happened. That was a year ago.
That's crazy, right?
That was a year ago that all that shit came out.
And, like you said, as we then figured out, Cody Rhodes did win again for the second time,
making him the fourth, only the fourth person to ever win back-to-back Royal Rumbles.

(13:39):
Yeah, I think so, yeah.
And as a digibonus, I'm going to digibonus you.
Oh shit, how the tables are turned.
Oh shit, yeah.
Do you know the – can you name the other three people who won back-to-back Royal Rumbles?
It'll be Stone Cold Steve Austin, who technically won three altogether now.

(14:01):
Shawn Michaels.
Yep, that was – yeah, Austin was 97, 98, Michaels was 95, 96.
Yep. And then who the fuck's the third?
Oh man, I should know this.
Right?
Yeah. Oh, Hulk Hogan.
Yeah, 91.
Yeah, there we go. When in doubt, Hulk Hogan.

(14:26):
Four blonde-haired white dudes.
I should be general, but no, I – I – but when I saw that, I realized, like, they were also the guy.
These were the guys of the generation.
Of their era, they were all the – for sure, the guy – and just like – yeah, yeah.

(14:47):
All those people.
And Cody Rhodes is 100% the Hulk Hogan of this era.
He's going to be the – he's the all-American guy who's going to – he – you know, he's shaking hands and kissing babies,
and everybody is going to hate him for being so good, and he's not turning heel.

(15:14):
He's – they're not going to turn him heel. I think they're going to – I mean, and if they do, it's not going to be for years.
It's – if anything does happen with him, it's going to be a slow burn, and at the end of the day –
Yeah.
I mean, I don't know if you've – everyone keeps making the comparisons to Homelander from the boys, but he is –

(15:35):
Of course, because –
He is Homelander from the boys. He just is.
Yeah, but I mean – yeah, I don't know. I really can't tell. I mean, I say I don't think that, but I've been known to be surprised on many of occasions.
That's right.
But what I mean by that, though, is I don't think you need to.

(15:57):
Like, Shawn Michaels was – Hulk Hogan was of baby face, you know, as far as his character.
Yeah.
Shawn Michaels was, at that time, also still a baby face. You know, even when he – even when he – it was D.X. Michaels, it wasn't necessarily baby face, but he was just like – Austin was an anti-hero.
Yeah.
Like, he was the one everyone cheered for, and Cody's the one everyone cheers for. And it's funny to see – it's just an interesting comparison that those are the only four people that –

(16:32):
that have done it.
Yeah.
And it's been so long since it's been done as well.
Yeah, it's been a – yeah, I mean, the 90s, we're talking about.
Yeah, they were all – Hogan – they were all in the 90s.
Yeah, yeah, you're right. So, yeah, I guess it was – it's a surprise, to be honest. It's a surprise that John Cena never achieved that. You kind of think that with the run he had –

(16:56):
Yeah.
– all those – for all those years, you'd think that he would have won the Rumble a few times on the road.
Right. And now you know he never will.
Yeah, no, yeah, you're right. Yeah, going into his last year, that's a whole other kettle of fish right there. But, yeah, this obviously set up – obviously, Cody Rhodes won, and he goes into Raw.
Obviously, he finishes the match, points up at the box. He definitely points at Roman Reigns.

(17:20):
Yeah.
He goes into SmackDown, SmackDown following the Rumble, and then he gives his championship shot away to the rock in what then turned into some of the best fucking TV for three months straight.
Oh, God. That whole – the whole Cody Crybabies thing, the – everything that came out of that.

(17:46):
Yeah, the final boss.
Regardless of whether it was intricately planned ahead of time – oh, excuse me. Whoo.
Man, the raspberry lime was a little extra carbonation. Yeah, it got me.
Whether it was intricately planned and it was all a work all along or whether they really did pivot because of the – fan reaction, yeah.

(18:18):
And then, you know, online, it doesn't matter. The beauty of it is that it was done so well that there's no way you can definitively tell me it was or wasn't all work. They could – we know that they know how to work the fans, especially the online communities.
They've been doing it brilliantly forever.

(18:43):
Yeah.
And that – but that's – but this is also the year where the lines really began to blur again. And you just – we just can't tell where any of the real – anything that's really real or anything that's completely scripted.
Yeah. And that's great. And that's great that the WWE and wrestling, in a way, has gotten back into that spot because that was the charm of wrestling back in the 90s and 80s that you didn't quite know what was real, what wasn't, because you couldn't get your shit off the internet.

(19:18):
And now I feel like WWE, especially, have got so far ahead of the curve that even the internet can't keep up anymore. So –
Yeah. And I also love – I also love this as a year where we – where people started to figure out that a lot of people were starting to get fed incorrect information on purpose.
Yeah.
Just to – just to further – again, some people might be really mad about that. Some people might think it's hilarious. Some people might not care at all. But I think it – but I think it was very specifically done in order to continue to blur these lines.

(19:56):
100%, yeah.
You know, I know it comes out – we'll probably get to it. We never really talked about it in full. But like this year also, because we noted this was the first one without Vince, the McMahon – that McMahon Netflix documentary came out after we heard about – now, that might be down the – we should probably bring that up later.
Yeah.

(20:17):
But there's just so much more to that that makes you realize, fuck man, the Montreal screw job probably was all the work, just like I've always said.
Yeah.
You know, there is – you know, that's what I mean. It's just beautiful how professional wrestling works.
Yeah.
Anyway, yeah, we've gotten into – so the beginning of this year kicks off –

(20:43):
With a bang.
Yeah.
Yeah. Let me roll through into Elimination Chamber, and this was – well, this was the first foray for the WWE into – well, of this year anyway, of 2024, to doing one of their pay-per-views or PLEs in another country. So it was in Perth, in Australia.

(21:08):
I think the – and the first – pretty sure the first big event in Australia of this nature, right?
They've done one before. I can't quite remember what the name of the event was, but they definitely had done – oh, God, I'll be here all day trying to find it. But they definitely did a PLE in Australia before, but I cannot remember the life for me, what it's called.

(21:34):
You don't have to remember everything. It's all right. It's okay. It's okay, CJ Newman. You –
I don't know, but it's –
That's why we have – yeah, that's why we have Danny the Brain Bow and he'll correct us. He'll be fine.
Yeah, exactly.
He'll note it.
But not much came out of this apart from, obviously, Drew McIntyre won the men's Elimination Chamber because he would then go on to face Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania.

(21:59):
And obviously, Becky Lynch won her match – won her Elimination Chamber to go on to face – who was the champion at the time?
She won it because –
Oh, she went to face Rhea Ripley.
Right.
At WrestleMania, and Knight won, which was a great match.

(22:21):
Right. Right. And that – yes, and that was – but Rhea – yeah, Rhea eventually retained –
Yeah.
Against her. And then she was injured. And then we had the whole – then we put the belt right back on the man.
Yeah, pretty much. And then we obviously rolled into WrestleMania. WrestleMania that –

(22:43):
Wait. Was it –
What?
Wait. Hold on a second. Why do I have – oh, sorry. I got – yep, WrestleMania was next. There was an NXT standard –
Oh, yeah, yeah. I know, yeah. Yeah, WrestleMania, I mean, an event that – I mean, not for the only – for the reason that we were there in person, but –
Right.
I mean, we won't quickly forget it because of that, but I don't think we would have quickly forgotten it even if we weren't there. It was –

(23:09):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's up there. I think a lot of people would say it's one of their favorite WrestleMania's of all time.
Absolutely. I mean, it is – by all accounts, it has to be considered at least top three.
Yeah.
If not the greatest ever.
Yeah. And it finished a story that – I mean, if it wasn't – let's just quickly go back to this Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, rock situation.

(23:38):
And the fact that they pulled it off in Philly, too. It was so good. I'm proud of – I'm happy.
Yeah, it's – yeah. It's – this storyline – you can thank this storyline a lot for the success that WWE has had this past year.
Yeah.
Because this storyline has had ripple effects through the entire company. It's affected other storylines.

(24:03):
It affected the careers of Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins. And you just keep going from there.
By proxy, by affecting Sami Zayn, it affected Gunther. It affected Gunther becoming world champion. It affected Dianne Priest.
It just – it kept going. And I feel like –
Everything. Kevin Owens. It affected Drew McIntyre. It affected like every – yeah.

(24:29):
It really did set a precedent for –
How successful this industry can be, basically, in a day.
But it also – you know, people talked about how – like, for a while, even our own Danny the Brain was like, I'm getting tired.
I'm getting a little tired of the bloodline. I'm getting a little tired of it.
Yeah.
Like, they – because that is what was happening. It was becoming so all-consuming, it was for a purpose.

(24:57):
It was culminating into this epic final battle that just – that has so much history, so much around it.
And Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns don't really even have any – there's no – the crazy part about it is it doesn't even have anything to do with them personally.

(25:18):
It was just about the title. And that's – and that's really the last – this has been the first time in a long time.
That a story like this has been so purely about – just about the title.
Yeah.
And not about – it has nothing to do with who has the title. Cody is just coming for the title. You know, it is –

(25:44):
Yeah, you're right. It has been a long time. Like, you know, a lot of people complain a lot about the value of championships.
And I actually feel like this year we really brought back the value of championship. You know, with Gunther's – Gunther's Intercontinental Championship reign and, you know –
There are a lot of people – there are certainly a lot of people that I, in 2025, have determined just cannot, you know, communicate with in the IWC.

(26:14):
Yeah, yeah.
I've given myself – I think I'm just not going to comment on social media other than like replying to people that leave us comments.
Because there are people's – I don't know, man. I just don't understand how some other wrestling fans view some of these things so drastically differently.

(26:39):
I'll never get it. Anyway –
Some people just don't worth the time.
Yeah, yeah. Well, that's all it is. They have different – they're valuing something different and that's all. That's all there is to it. Anyway –
Moving on, we go into Backlash and again another international PLE. We're in France this time.

(27:00):
Yeah. Backlash France, not Backlash colon France.
Yeah.
I don't even know where that came from at one point.
Yeah, I think that was the year before, right?
Maybe it was.
Or Backlash colon wherever the fuck – Puerto Rico, wherever they were the year before.
That might have been where it was because if you look at the next thing, it's Clash of the Castle colon Scotland. It might have just been –

(27:29):
Yeah.
There's an inconsistency in their uses of colons and they need to clear this and we need to get this cleared up in 2025.
Yeah.
Come on, Paul. Come on, Paul. Get it the fuck together, Paul. Get your colons in order.
Get your colons, yeah. Get a colonoscopy.

(27:52):
Yeah.
Where are we? I've forgotten.
Yeah. We're in France.
I've completely lost my face.
We are at the greatest intro, Jeyuso's greatest intro ever.
Oh, yeah.
Some of the most energetic and jealousy inducing crowds of the year.

(28:23):
Yeah. And no one expected it.
Like, France obviously don't often get –
Except everyone from France who was online being like, yeah, we be like that all the time.
Yeah, yeah.
We be like that for everything. Y'all just lazy.
Yeah. Obviously everyone always goes on all the time about British fans and how – obviously the British fans are great, but shit.

(28:47):
At one point, the camera was literally –
Shaking.
– shaking because people were bouncing up and down in unison because everyone was such in unison that a stadium with steel reinforced beams and concrete was physically bouncing.

(29:09):
It's just fucking wild. Yeah. And it was a great show. I mean, there is literally no wrong answer for PLEs this year. Like, every single PLE was just stellar.
And we got – I mean, this was – and if you look at how we have continually progressed, this was the first bit of new bloodline coming – all the new bloodline stuff started happening now.

(29:37):
Yeah, yeah.
The Solo Zicola and Tomatonga showed up right after WrestleMania.
Yeah. And in fact, Tongaloa, I think, made his debut in this match in France.
Yeah, in the street fight.
Yeah, he got himself involved. Yeah.
Yeah, that's how they defeated Kevin Owens and Randy Orton.

(29:58):
Yeah.
Man. At this point in the year, Kevin Owens and Randy Orton were tag-teaming against the bloodline. This is May. This is almost halfway in the year.
Yeah.
We had – oh, yeah, this was Jey Uso's – that's right, because this was Jey Uso's World Championship match against Damien Percival at intro.

(30:19):
Yeah, if there was ever a moment that he could have won it, it definitely was this match.
Man. But that was so – no, but I think they did it right. I honestly think they did it right.
They did it right. They did it right. I just – I really, really want a world title to be in Jey Uso's future this year.
But you know what? But I'm glad they – they put him in the fight, and they saw exactly what everyone wants and what they know.

(30:46):
But then they brought him back down, gave him the IC title, because if they did it – if they put him up to the World Championship first,
and then any time he would win the IC title later, it immediately devalues the World Championship.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
They're being extremely smart about making the titles – making the titles matter.

(31:11):
And making them – especially making the World Championship on Raw.
Yeah, this relatively new – I mean, a lot of people see it like the World Championship of old, but it is still a new championship.
So yeah, I mean, it's – I really – I just really – Jey Uso's just been – the last couple of years, I just fucking love that guy.

(31:37):
And they've done such a good job of building him. And just when you think his momentum's slowed, he comes back again even stronger than he did before.
So I really just hope a world title is in his future. I don't suspect it would be the WWE – I feel that the WWE Championship at this point is such an unreachable –
like, goal. And as it should be – Yes, as it should be. As it should be.

(32:01):
It should be – and I mean like on a real life level here. I feel like there are very few people on this planet that should technically be getting that title.
And it really should be if you are the best in the business.
Yeah. And this – there's a lot of things that tie into these – that tie all these little things together.

(32:22):
But I also think that what they did with Crown Jewel – we'll get to that idea – I think that that was – you know what? I'll leave it for when we get to it.
Yeah. But this is – but here – we also had Cody Rhodes versus AJ Styles.
Yeah, which is an excellent match.
In a phenomenal match.
Yeah.
Which also set up – it set up Cody Rhodes as a – we need a good match for your first – for one of your first matches. Let's just make it a good match.

(32:53):
Yeah.
It doesn't have to be about anything other than AJ Styles is mad and wants the championship. He's going to fight for it.
We also got the – we didn't mention it during WrestleMania, but Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill have got the Tag Team Championship at this point.
Yep. Yes, they have.
And they're making – and they're making that super important. I think that was – I think that was absolutely brilliant of them to start her out this way.

(33:25):
We'll get – you know, we'll – we know that she ended the year still on the shelf for it injured. I don't know if we're going to see her – I don't know if we're going to see her – as we're recording this, it is Monday.
It is the Monday, January 6th of Monday Night Raw on Netflix. So I don't know if we're going to see – we're going to probably drop some predictions in here and then we'll retroactively see how right we are.
We might see her return tonight. Maybe not. Maybe she comes back on – oh, at the Royal Rumble.

(33:51):
Maybe – could be the Rumble. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. But this was so – it was so smart of them giving her time and letting her be in a position where she can also elevate and make the women's tag division more relevant because it desperately needed it.
Yeah.
You know?

(34:12):
Moving on to the next PLE. We had the King and Queen of the Ring again in –
Oh, wait.
What's up?
What?
What did I – what did I do that's wrong here? Oh, shit. I went – see, I'm getting confused by the new tiers of the –
Yeah, there's a lot of difference. When you get King of the Ring, there's like fucking five different options.

(34:36):
Yeah. I went to WWE in Europe chronology, which I mean, I love that they have it, but it – alright, anyway, King and Queen of the Ring. Yeah.
Yeah. Saudi Arabia.
Yeah.
So –
I love it.
We had something that people have been asking for for years, and that's if the King of the Ring actually having a reward if you win it.
And both the winners of the King of the Rings would then go on to face the world champions of their respective divisions.

(35:03):
And they would win it. And both of them won.
Yes. Nia Jax. Yeah. Both of these people – I mean, let's look at – let's look at the facts here. Like, both the winners of both King and Queen of the Ring, it propelled their career to main event status.
Yep. This event – this event was an amazing start also to a lot of other storylines. Liv Morgan beat Becky Lynch to get to –

(35:28):
Yep. For the championship. Yep.
Yeah.
Which she still has now, so that's been a long reign.
Sammy Zane obviously was still in the continental champion at the time, and he was going up against Chad Gable, the Bonsin Reed.
Yep.
And yeah, we had Cody Rhodes – Cody Rhodes versus Logan Paul as well for the championship, which is again a great match.
Yeah. It was a great match.
Yeah.

(35:49):
No matter what you think about certain people in the match.
Yep. And obviously Logan Paul is going to be on Raw as well, so that'd be interesting to see what happens there.
Yep. Yep. Yep.
Up next we had Clash at the Castle in Scotland. Once again, we're like four PPVs deep, and they've yet to have one in America since WrestleMania.
Yeah.
So yeah, Scotland – yes, obviously we had Drew going up for the World Heavyweight Championship against Damien.

(36:18):
Obviously Damien cashed in against Drew at WrestleMania, so this is kind of like the follow-up to that whole situation.
Yep.
And we had Cody Rhodes and AJ Styles in an I Quit match for the very first match of the night, and that match was again a fucking banger,
because I don't think Cody Rhodes and AJ Styles can have a bad match. I don't think it's quite possible.
Nope. No, it's not.

(36:41):
No, it's not.
But you've got to see what I found fascinating about this as well. They put Cody Rhodes in a position in a match where he had to be more than just a wrestler.
You have to be – menace your opponent, and he literally scared AJ Styles into quitting, because he was going to smash him in the head with steel steps.

(37:05):
Yeah.
So you've got to see a first glimpse of that – like we said, the Homelander version of –
The Homelander version of – yeah, that's true.
That's a bit of evil, like to even – you're pushing him over the line to do things that a babyface shouldn't be doing.
Yeah. I mean, I don't know if you saw his little backstage segment with Nick Aldis on SmackDown last week, but he was basically – he was pretty ruthless there.

(37:34):
He was like, I don't give a fuck who you are. I'm going to get my – he was like, I don't know if you care if you look like Kevin Owens. I'm going to come after you.
Yeah.
And that's like – it's pretty ruthless, the way he was talking. It was like – and he was like kind of shit talking Nick Aldis as well.
Yeah, and I think they're going to – they're really pushing the when is Cody going to – this is more of a – he's breaking, in a sense.

(38:01):
Yeah. And you know what would be great as well is like the perfect test for Cody is when John Cena's back. We know that these two are going to meet in the next year.
Yeah.
Like they have to. They have to. And when that happens, that's a – that would be a great time to really show some cracks in Cody Rhodes because it would be like, I'm the guy.

(38:23):
I'm the American guy, like not this guy. Like he's the guy from the past. And even though they're both faces, I feel like it's a good opportunity to show those kind of home man style cracks.
You can – well, and you can also – yeah, there's – there are a lot – there certainly are a lot of ways that you could portray it as we – also as we say how professional wrestling is always a mirror of our society.

(38:55):
There's a lot of – there's a lot of blurry lines going on all over the place. So yeah, it's – it makes sense. It makes sense if they're pushing it towards us.
I just – I don't know if they're going to pull the trigger and have him go full heel because we don't have anyone else. We don't have anyone else right now in that role.
Well, I guess except for John Cena. Maybe that's the thing. Maybe the time for Cody to be heel is while John Cena's back.

(39:23):
Yeah.
So maybe – I've worked – I kind of worked myself logically around it.
Yeah.
Cody Rhodes turns heel this year. There we go. I'm going to – I'm going to –
There you go. You just worked yourself into a shoot, my friend. Brother. Brother.
I shot myself into the work.
Real quick. The WWE have just announced that the 2026 Royal Rumble will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

(39:47):
Oh, shit. Saudi Arabia's going to get our first – the first big five.
That's one of the first ever big five to be held outside – outside of North America.
They're going to be so mad.
Yeah, the internet's going to be so mad. And apparently reports are that Raw tonight is going to be three and a half hours long, which would make it the longest Raw of all time.

(40:08):
Of all time. That also makes sense. Starting at 8 p.m.
Both of those reports come from our very own Danny the Brain Bauman. He just sent us those links in the chat.
Nice. Shout out to our very own Danny the Brain Bauman for always being on it.
On the pulse.
On the pulse. Yeah, even while we're recording.

(40:30):
Next up, we have Money in the Bank, which was in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. So again, we have not been in America since WrestleMania.
This – I was, you know, going into this, I was so fucking – I was pumped. I really wanted Jey Uso to win Money in the Bank.
We all did.

(40:52):
That's OK. Drew McIntyre won it, which I don't think anyone really expected, but pretty cool that he did.
And this was a – oh, excuse me. I'm the one burping now.
We had –
Yeah, but later on we recognize why. Of course, the storyline with Drew and cashing in.

(41:17):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
But we also have, more importantly, which we – since we're not talking – we didn't have an episode dedicated to the first three-hour SmackDown on USA, but we'll mention it here.
This is where Tiffany Stratton wins her Money in the Bank contract and as we know, cashed it in successfully on the first SmackDown of the year.

(41:42):
Yeah.
What a phenomenal fucking year. I mean, also, this was Tiffany Stratton first entered the – it was her first entry in the Royal Rumble at the beginning of the year.
She debuted on SmackDown after that Royal Rumble. She's only been – so this was literally her year.

(42:04):
Yeah, her first year on the – I mean, what a – yeah, you're right. What a fucking year.
God.
She debuted in the Royal Rumble, right? Am I correct in saying that?
Yeah. Yep. She debuted in the
Royal Rumble, yeah. Aaron, Aaron was recognized by multiple people for being a star on this year, but now you have her every single week.

(42:32):
and then love and root for her within the span of six months.
Because when she first, until she really got involved
with Naya Jax, which I guess was right about this time,
and this is what?
This is July, so this is the middle of the year.

(42:53):
Within six months, because you just hated her.
She was annoying, she was,
but, oh God, yeah, just the amount of work she put in
this back half of the year.
Yeah, she totally deserved, and it's, yeah,
I'm intrigued to see where this title reign goes.
Like, does she hold it now to WrestleMania?

(43:15):
Like, does she, who knows?
I mean, we'll see where it goes.
We also have, we also get the increase,
the slightly now increased bloodline three on three,
a six-man tag match, because now of Tomatonga and Tonga,
well, Tongaloa's here, but Jacob Fatu has come,
Jacob Fatu showed up just earlier that week, right?

(43:41):
Yeah, maybe, yeah, just earlier, yeah,
that week or that month, yeah, a few weeks beforehand, yeah.
So we've got now the bloodline solo-so-co-ed
Jacob Fatu and Tomatonga with Tongaloa.
Yep.
And we've got Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens, and Randy Orton.
So we've got all these guys battling.
Yeah, that group is definitely not together anymore.

(44:02):
Yeah, holy shit.
Like, yeah, after that.
After that, we go into SummerSlam.
SummerSlam, holy shit, we just got the SummerSlam now.
Just got the SummerSlam, Cleveland, Ohio, first PLE.
SummerSlam, our pay-per-view, our one-year anniversary.

(44:23):
Oh, yeah, yeah, that was our one year.
WWE back in America for their first PLE since WrestleMania.
Yep, Cleveland.
Yeah, in Cleveland.
And we'll be potentially the last ever
one-night SummerSlam next year.
We're moving into two, or this year even, coming.

(44:43):
It'll be two-day SummerSlam, I believe.
Yeah, and what a crazy SummerSlam, because we've got,
I mean, first up, we've got the definitive Dirty Dom
and the bloodline turning on Rhea Ripley.
Yep.
Which was fucking crazy.
Yep, that was cool.

(45:03):
Then we had Brom Breaker taking the title from Sami Zayn.
Yep, LA Knight defeating Logan Paul for the US title.
Yeah, Knight. Knight Jax defeating Bayley
for the championship. Yeah, everyone
winning the championship.
Fuck, I didn't realize how many championship changes
were at this PLE.
Every single champion lost except for Cody Rhodes

(45:24):
against Solosikowet.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, how crazy is that?
Gunther won the world title against Damien,
and the crazy thing is Gunther, Nair until last week,
and Liv Morgan still all had their championships
until last week.
So that means Liv Morgan and Gunther
has been world champions now for quite some time.

(45:46):
Yeah, but- The Drew McIntyre CM Punk
with Seth Rollins, you know-
As a special referee, that was a great fucking match.
Their storyline is still coming, like,
I have to imagine Drew McIntyre might show up
for this on RAW too because fuck him.
Like, he still hates both of those guys.

(46:09):
Yeah, I think his focus right now is the bloodline.
I think with Seth and CM Punk,
I- It would have been-
He'd kind of done with them.
There'll be a definitive ending,
but I definitely see this in like a best of three situation
with Punk and Seth.
It doesn't just end tonight at RAW for sure.

(46:30):
No, he'll sometime, he'll get something.
We've definitely not seen the last
of CM Punk versus Drew McIntyre.
Yeah, oh yeah, no, that will roll back around
at some point for sure.
Yeah.
But obviously the biggest thing to come out of this
is the first appearance from Roman Reigns.
Roman Reigns returns after losing at WrestleMania

(46:51):
in the main event in the Bloodline Rules match
with Cody versus Solo.
And what a moment it was, half an hour match,
fucking epic as fuck.
Yeah, holy shit.
And we roll straight into Bashamberlin
and off we go again.
Yeah, new pay-per-view.
New PLA and back out of America once more.
New PLA, yep.

(47:11):
Just again, proving WWE's global outreach this year
has just been fucking unbelievable.
Like they've never had a year like it.
They've had occasional PLE outside the United States,
but this year was country to country to country.
It was just fucking insane.
I think they had more PLEs outside of the country

(47:34):
this year than they probably did in the last decade.
You're probably right.
Yeah, if not the last two decades really,
to be honest with you.
Yeah, once again we get Cody Rhodes opening the show.
Him and this is the first meeting of Kevin Owens,
the reluctant Kevin Owens.
Yeah, this is the hesitant I don't want to hurt,

(47:59):
I don't want to attack the injured.
Yeah, because Cody had an injury in his arm or something
and he could have taken advantage of it, but he didn't.
Yeah, oh no, it was his arm or it was his knee.
Yeah, now you're saying I feel like it was his knee.
Yeah, anyway, he didn't want to take advantage
of the injury, Kevin Owens lost the match
because he wasn't being Kevin Owens.

(48:20):
Yeah, pretty much.
We've got a continuation of Bianca and Jade
being dominant in the WWE Women's Tag Division.
They're winning, but they're putting everyone over
by making everyone seem like every other team
is deserving, is relevant, is capable.

(48:40):
But also, yes, Bianca and Jade, of course you need,
it makes so much sense that someone had to be taken out
for them to be a little less dominant
and as we see what's gonna happen later on in the year.
See, we got the CM Punk Drew McAdar Strat match.
Yep, CM Punk won that one.

(49:03):
So now we're one and one.
Yep.
Of course we know that it was Finn Balor
that also interfered causing Damian Priest
a championship against Gunter before.
So now we've got Damian and Rhea versus Dom and Liv
in a mixed tag match, which was good for what it was

(49:23):
at the time.
They had to keep, they had to do that.
It gave, some unfinished business was settled in a way.
Well, saying that, Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley
is still in a rivalry with the Judgment Day,
even to this day, so.
Right, they still are, but yeah,
it was the least important match of the night.
I think it was.
Yeah, I would agree.

(49:44):
I think it was, I think the only thing,
my main thing is mixed tags are always a little odd
for me, like.
Yeah, they kind of, they feel a little bit disjointed
at times, yeah.
Yeah.
There could have been other things.
I think that story would have been,

(50:04):
I think it didn't need to be on the pay-per-view.
It could have been, but I get it because you want to,
you want the people in Berlin to see the people
that they want.
And this is the way to have them see everybody they want.
So for that, it makes sense more than anything.

(50:25):
And hey, you gotta, or in German,
it'd be something else.
I don't speak German.
Something in German.
Yeah.
Something in German, I'll figure it out
by the next time we get a bash in Berlin.
As obviously main event, we had Gunther
defeating Randy Orton in the main event.
Bit of a hometown hero situation.
We got a 34 and a half minute match almost.

(50:46):
Yeah, epic.
Crazy, I mean, Randy Orton, this stage in his career,
44 years old, I think he is.
And this was because, and they,
because Randy was on Raw,
but they made it happen because of the
King of the Ring final where Randy's shoulders were
definitely off the mat, but he was still counted out.

(51:08):
So that's how they wrote in this match to make it work,
which it did perfectly.
Next we're in October now, October 5th.
Yep.
Bad Blood, first Bad Blood since 2003 or so.
And I mean, fuck, we roll straight into CM Punk,
Drew McIntyre having the cell match.

(51:28):
What a fucking match.
I mean, Jesus Christ.
This, this match was,
I mean, we'll get to our best of 2024 episode
in the next episode, but holy fuck.
What a match.
We had Nijax, Bayley, Damien Priest,

(51:49):
Finn Balor, that's still going on till this day.
So as his, yeah, we've got, yeah,
Rhea Ripley versus Liv Morgan on the episode.
We got the Shark Cage, we had Mysterio.
Oh, the Shark Cage moment, yeah, that was great.
Love whenever they bring that out.
It's something, they don't use it often,
but they use it well.

(52:09):
Yeah.
They've always done it, they've always done it right.
And then we had a-
And tying in that little bonus though of Ray Mysterio
being afraid of heights was just kind of, you know,
was just great.
And then we had Roman Reigns first match back.
So he was teaming up with Cody Rhodes,
the Hellfire Resolver.

(52:30):
Talk about bad blood.
Yeah, right.
Someone's like, they named it that on purpose.
They all, they just wanted to make it sure,
you know that's all about blood.
Go up against Soda Sikora and Jacob Fatu
in what I remember being a great fucking match.
It was a great fucking match.
Yeah.
GFM.

(52:50):
And then that's where the Rock,
that's the last time we saw the Rock,
he turns up at the end.
We did.
Just want to make a quick reference.
Yeah.
I don't know if you know it,
it's the way the Rock did the three, two, one,
the way he counts with his fingers.
Yeah.
On SmackDown this past week,
Paul Heyman did the exact same gesture

(53:11):
when he said three, two, one with his fingers as well.
Oh, he did.
Because the Rock did it in a very particular way.
He did one, two on his like middle and index,
and then he made the three.
With the okays?
With the little finger, the ring finger and the middle.
Like he kind of changed.

(53:33):
And Paul Heyman did exactly the same thing.
And he'd obviously done that on purpose
to make you start thinking.
But.
Wow, I did not catch that.
That's some, that good eyesight there.
It's a very good little touch there.
But yeah, that's the last time we saw Rock,
but the Rock did announce on social media
that he's gonna be on Raw.
So obviously by the time this episode comes out,

(53:53):
you'll know exactly what the fuck happened.
But. Yeah.
We don't know yet.
So.
We'll see if we're right.
We'll see if we're surprised.
Rolling on from Bad Blood, we go, I think, into Crown Jewel,
Saudi Arabia, back out of the United States once again.
This is where we had the Crown Jewel Championship.

(54:14):
So good.
Those titles, come on, man.
Those titles are just, they are the most professional
wrestling looking titles ever.
They are, they're something.
So you have Cody Rhodes and Liv Morgan walking away with the.
I mean, I guess I should say they're the most
sports entertaining looking titles.

(54:36):
Yeah.
And they obviously, they got their rings
and I look forward to seeing where that goes
in the future with the whole.
Yeah, man, I love it.
I can't say that I don't.
I love, I love that they're making it something unique.
Yeah.
To itself.
Because here's the thing that I think,

(54:58):
we might've brought it up.
I don't remember if we brought it up when we talked about it
originally in the previous episode.
But one of the things to remember is the title belt
is just a representation of the champion.
The belt is not the title.
The title is the title you earn by winning the match.

(55:20):
Yeah.
The belt is a representation of,
a physical representation of your title.
You know, as in Sir King of Reels is your title.
We could make you a ring.
We could make you a belt.
It's true.
To signify.
We could make you a jacket.

(55:41):
It could be a Sir King of Reels jacket, you know,
like to signify a physical sort of like, like,
like in D and D.
Any magical item.
It's the Ulefala.
Yeah, it's the Ulefala.
That's why, like, do you remember,
did you hear for like the, for like the two days
where everyone was going fucking,
they were going, they were going insane.

(56:03):
They were going more insane than I've ever heard
the internet whining community ever go,
because someone said something about the idea of making a
tribal chief championship title.
That was, which was never a fucking thing.
That was, I mean, one of the things it was,

(56:24):
either it was something that someone said to like,
really just feed.
Let's see if, let's see if someone will believe this shit.
Yeah, like, hold my beer moment.
But I, but I think what they were trying,
what was probably what was happening was,
people were discussing the Ulefala in a way
as a championship because,
because the tribal chief is a title.

(56:47):
Yeah.
Just like WWE universal,
WWE undisputed champion is a title.
The belt is the WWE undisputed championship title belt.
It is the, so any of these things, the,
what is it on NXT?
They have the, the heritage cup.

(57:08):
Like the heritage cup is a, is just as much a title.
It means just as much, same thing as,
same thing as the trophy from the Andre, you know,
any of those things are a representation of the title of
greatest Royal Rumble winner, Braun Strowman.
Like, you know, he earned, he, he is the title.

(57:31):
He's the only one who has that title.
And the physical representation of the title is a green belt
that looks like, that looked like every other belt,
but who cares?
Actually, no, it looked like the UK championship.
Oh, that's right.
It looked like the, it was, yeah.
So it's actually better.
That was a cool title.
There is a lot of talk actually of the,

(57:52):
obviously it's going to be Kevin Owens versus Cody Rhodes
for both the wing legal and the WWE championship.
Oh, oh yeah.
Royal Rumble and I mean, totally expecting a new design.
Oh, I, well, I don't know.
I think, I think, I think we should just totally expect
that they're going to bring the winged eagle itself back
because if they went through all of this trouble

(58:15):
after they, after we've been talking about this
for fucking a decade and then they give it to us
for like a minute and then give us something else.
No, I, I think that, I think what they've done,
I think what they, if they do change the design,
do we get a brand new design?
And obviously the designs lately have been fantastic.
Like the tag team championships and everything.

(58:37):
If we do get that, it kind of, it's a, it's a happy medium.
It's like, all right, the fans wanted back
the winged eagle championship and they gave them that
for quite a, you know, a few months.
Honestly, I'd completely understand that the WWE
didn't want to bring back an old design
because they want to, they want to evolve.
They want to, something to represent an era.

(58:57):
This, the winged, the winged.
But Cody Rhodes brought back the old IC belt too.
It's sort of, it's sort of.
He did, but I think, I think in this day and age,
I think, hell, let's face it,
they brought back the winged eagle championship
and I guarantee you any money,
they've made a lot of sales in their shop
by bringing that championship back for a couple of months.
Hell yeah, they did. And I think that's all you need to do.

(59:19):
You need to just remind people, hey, remember this fucking
coolest shit championship belt?
Here it is. Yeah.
That'll make the sales for a couple of months.
Now, you've given the people what they wanted
for like a couple of months
and brought back the winged eagle championship.
I think when you've got the WWE championship,
that championship going all the way back to the fucking 60s
represents each era.

(59:41):
If you look at the spinner belt,
if you look at the, the, the attitude era
kind of round belt.
Yeah, you do, you're right.
The undisputed, you know.
They need a belt for the era.
You need a belt for the era.
And the one that Cody currently has is representative
of the pre Triple H era, in my opinion.
And I think now it needs something.
It needs a new fresh coat of paint.

(01:00:02):
And what you need to do is just someone out there
has hopefully designed a version of this,
the new WWE championship that's a mix
between the winged eagle and the current design.
Yeah. And, and Triple A, if you need help with that,
if you haven't figured it out yet,
I mean, I'm sure you probably have,
but if you haven't quite figured out what the design is,

(01:00:22):
you know, you know, there is someone
that designs extremely good looking belts.
That's me.
I'm just you.
Yeah. If you haven't looked at our logo,
just look at our logo.
It's all you need to see.
Our logo is based on the winged eagle.
And the Ramones.
And the Ramones.
Yeah. And what else?
I mean, it's, it's on a punk store.

(01:00:44):
Anyway. So then we go on to.
So we've got war games.
War games. War games.
War games.
Then we got war games.
Fucking excellent pay per view.
Last pay per view of the year.
PLE. P whatever the fuck you want to call them at this point.
I keep saying P pay per view
because I've been conditioned to say it
for the last 25 fucking years.

(01:01:05):
It's really hard.
Yeah. It's difficult.
We saw Shinsuke Nakamura with a brand new gimmick.
And yeah. Holy shit.
And I hope you saw it,
but he wrestled at pro wrestling Noah in Japan this past week.
I didn't see it, but I saw that it happened.
Yeah. And if you don't watch anything, just watch his entrance.
Because it's fucking cool as fuck.

(01:01:27):
Yeah. He's got the whole Japanese like out, you know, garb on.
And he's got the mask and he looked just cool as shit.
Just go and watch his entrance if you don't watch anything else. Yeah.
We had good the Damien Priest.
We had obviously.
Yeah, we had the fucking bloodline civil war,
which everyone had been calling for such a long time.

(01:01:49):
And with CM Punk involved
another see in the run up to this, we had CM Punk getting a favor from Paul
Heyman, we don't know what that is. Right.
And and that's it.
That kind of caps off the year.
And then going through all this, I've just just kind of like you've spoken
about so many times before, like I really feel like we've ended twenty twenty.
So we had we had.

(01:02:10):
Oh, wait. Now that was NXT's deadline. Yeah.
No, I mean, I guess Saturday, but Saturday, it's made event kind of.
We we we did wrap that.
Did we talk about Saturday? Yeah, we did talk about that was last episode.
So we really don't have to go into that. But yeah, that was.
Yeah, but I think the big thing that's come out of this year for me
is I'm looking around the whole the whole chess table here, all the all the

(01:02:32):
all the all the wrestlers. And I'm like,
we're in such a good spot now where it's like the waters are murky.
There are no faces. There are no heels.
You could literally agree with what Kevin Owens is saying.
You literally could, because you could you could
totally take a standpoint, though, I can totally see where you're coming from.
Like you could do the same with CM Punk, with Seth Rollins,

(01:02:54):
with with Sony, these Drew McIntyre.
You could totally agree with Drew McIntyre, even though he's an asshole.
You can kind of be like every heel has a fucking motive.
Now you're actually like, yeah, I can see they're they're logical.
And it's more than just why you're angry.
Yeah, it's more than just.
I'm a bad guy, so I'm going to do bad things because.

(01:03:15):
Yeah, it's like, oh, yeah.
Yeah, I'm just going to I'm just going to insult the hometown that I'm in.
Whatever. Yeah, I.
Yeah. Oh, you know what else?
Just as just as a quick another mention to the interview, the Triple H interview.
Yeah. When they were talking about
the Netflix deal and how people were speculating,

(01:03:37):
does this mean that it's going to be like, you know, they're going to be foul
language and everything? It's like, no, it's still PG.
He literally said this is still going to be family oriented television.
It's still going to be PG.
Yeah, well, he has I think I did read earlier.
He said basically.
The things like things like F bombs and blood are useful,

(01:03:59):
just like they were during the the Rock and Cody Road stuff.
But if you use them, yes, sparingly, if you use them constantly,
they don't have any significance.
They just they're just you expect it and you become numb to it.
But if when you know WWE, they used a pile driver for the first time

(01:04:20):
in like 20 years and everyone lost their collective minds.
That's how you fucking do it.
That's how you do it.
And you know why?
And you know why?
Even though even though other places use pile drivers every week,
the reason why is because we're actually invested because we actually because we
actually because we know why it is banned in WWE.

(01:04:43):
We understand it and we we we are a part of the WWE universe and we're playing
along where we are truly invested.
Yeah, we're playing our part as a character as well.
In a way, the crowd is playing a character like we're totally going along with all
this shit. Yeah.

(01:05:03):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, like this year we saw blood twice.
We saw it when The Rock beat beat down Cody Rhodes next to his bus.
And we saw it in the Drew McIntyre CM Punk match twice this entire year.
You go watch AEW.
If you review the last year of AEW, I'm pretty sure.
Well, there was blood.
There's literally this past week and dynamite for fuck's sakes.

(01:05:24):
I mean, I know that. Yeah, I mean, I'm we know that.
Yeah, but.
This is also I mean, talk about the year,
rap, this is also the this is also the year of the most tribalism between between fandom,
which you can look one way or another at it.
We've we've always been we've always been on the same.

(01:05:45):
We've always been on the same side and the same kind of idea.
I I understand why people like other things.
And that's fucking rad.
I love that you I love that you love the thing that you love.
Yeah.
What I what I don't tolerate is.
People, people, people saying that their their thing is better and that my and that

(01:06:11):
my thing is terrible because of because of things that aren't relevant,
because of because of because of because of arbitrary ideas that they have on what
they like and don't like, and that it's it's really hilarious.
Now, when you see the land, how the landscape is shifting and turning and

(01:06:34):
there are other there are other places that are getting a lot of criticism.
And and honestly, I believe rightfully so.
And and and there are people that are all upset that they're being criticized for
things that are very, very blatantly obviously can be criticized for.
When I think when those are the people

(01:06:55):
that five years ago were constantly berating the thing that we've never
stopped liking, but I've never stopped liking it, whether or not I whether or not
I've really, really liked it or whether it's been whether it's been better or
worse, I've never stopped being a fan of the thing.
And we we we deal with this all the time as as lifelong.

(01:07:18):
I guess it is lifelong WWE fans because we are different.
WWE fans are there is a different
realm of someone who is I'm a fan of WWE.
Yes, there's other stuff.
And yeah, some of it's good, but I just don't care.
I'm a fan of WWE.
There's more than enough.
They give me everything that I want.

(01:07:40):
I don't need to worry.
Stop telling me to go watch something else
when I'm perfectly happy watching the thing that I'm watching.
Exactly. Yeah.
And like, especially in this day and age, WWE,
especially with Triple H in charge, he's on the pulse of professional wrestling
as a whole enough to give you everything you kind of want on it,

(01:08:01):
even on one episode of Raw.
And like, I'm not that's not me shitting on any other company and what they do.
It's just like, that's cool.
I don't shit on the company as much as I shit on the fans of the fans of the company
trying to tell trying to tell me that that their their shit is gold.
And honestly, I don't care.
AEW, just to call a spade a spade for a second, like, yeah,

(01:08:26):
there's some questionable, like,
you know, booking situations and storylines and whatnot.
That's fine. But to be honest with you,
like the biggest problem they have is their fans.
And a lot of the booking decisions being made by Tony Khan is because he's going
with what the fans want.
And the problem is, there's a reaction.

(01:08:49):
That's why there is nothing wrong with going with what the fans want.
And I see a lot of the time the WWE go with what the fans want.
Yeah, but doing it without thinking,
without the fan base, whatever the fan base,
the AEW fan base, you're listening to this small minority of the Internet.
There are AEW fans and you're listening to them.

(01:09:10):
You're listening to the wrong people.
There's a reason your viewership and your attendance is slow.
It's like going down and it continues to do so is because you're listening to the
wrong crowd of people.
Yeah.
In fact, you can't just give everyone what they want immediately.
That's what you do.

(01:09:32):
That's what you do with a spoiled little brat.
Yeah.
And so that is what essentially Tony Khan is and how he's treating his entire fans.
He's treating everybody like spoiled little brats.
But you know what?
A big thing you said you like the matches, you like the matches.
That's fucking great.
But

(01:09:54):
but we've seen it before every single time.
And the fact that what I've always said and what I've always been hot about is
they made it a point to make their identity about being against
WWE.
They were anti they weren't they weren't the alternative.
They were they could say they're an alternative, but they but they positioned

(01:10:17):
themselves as WWE is bad.
Here's all the reasons why they're bad.
And so they spend years and years and promos like every time that the WWE was
the fact that they would bring the WWE up to begin with is one thing.
They would just constantly bring them up.
Every time they would, it was in a negative light.
And one thing that really resonated with me,

(01:10:39):
eventually people got tired of it.
Eventually, people were like, dude, you shut the fuck up about it.
Yeah. And and now and I see it.
I see it on threads.
I see it on Instagram.
I see it on Facebook all the time.
You've you've got these people that just refuse to believe that that that that's
how it's being perceived when no, man, this is this is.

(01:11:03):
But I came to a realization before I came to a realization before we started
recording and I'm glad we kind of got to this point.
I wanted to vent a little bit.
Cool. But this all of this.
Goes back to what I have always said,
and that the that the creation of AEW has been has been a complete work

(01:11:25):
that because why else would like there is no way Cody Rhodes as someone who as
someone who supposedly created this idea and created this company,
a founder of AEW, a member of the board, and he and he walks away
literally at the best possible time before the before the ship before the ship starts

(01:11:49):
taking on water.
Like the way that they set up because what because what always happens,
W.W.W.E. needed competition and I and I really do believe that somewhere along
the lines, whether it was whether they were they might not have been working
together financially or legally or in any way other than a hey, you know what?

(01:12:12):
Somebody should somebody should somebody should get behind Cody Rhodes and maybe
back him, maybe back this idea of creating his own creating promotion because
creating your own creating your own competition doesn't work if people know
that you created your own competition.
But but this has but this all of this has worked out

(01:12:34):
beautifully for W.W.W.E. in the long game, even the shit after watching
the document after watching the finally watched finally finished the McMahon
documentary, by the way.
OK, cool.
Did you I never even got around to watching it to begin with.
So I definitely something I need to do at some point there.
If I mean, you listen, the only conspiracy theory is I subscribe to our

(01:12:55):
conspiracy theories on surrounding professional wrestling.
I think I think I think the Montreal screw job was was one of the greatest
works of all time.
Um, there's there's there's a tip for that out, everyone.
Yeah, there's nothing there is nothing about it because it because it benefited
to as best as it could.

(01:13:16):
It benefited all people in the long run, you know.
Maybe not Bret Hart.
But I think, well, well,
what what didn't benefit Bret Hart was getting kicked in the head by fucking
Goldberg like he once once you're gone, once you're not once you're not under
the W.W.E., he didn't have the protection of the W.W.E., right?

(01:13:38):
Like shit, that was good.
I mean, you can't you can't help you can't help the mess they walked into.
But they what I what I've always what you know what I mean?
I've said this all the time by screwing by screwing Brett over at at in Montreal.
It set Bret Hart up for the best possible entry into WCW.

(01:14:00):
They gave him it gave him so much more.
It gave him so much more heat
going into WCW when he showed up because he just got screwed out of the title
in his hometown. It was otherwise.
It's just Bret Hart is in WCW.
You like it benefited him.
And I really believe that I'll never not believe it.

(01:14:23):
I know you won't.
I know. And that's why we all love you so much.
All right. Let's wrap this episode up because I really need to go to the toilet.
And I know the episode to record.
We got it. We do.
And I got to figure it. I got to figure out what I mean.
I got to figure out my list for the next episode.
Yeah, there's that too.
Fuck. So, um, so yeah, let's wrap it up.
This this 2024 was fucking amazing.

(01:14:46):
Yeah. Best one of the best years from a guy.
I mean, I've been watching wrestling since 1997.
You've been watching it since what? 1987.
Yeah, probably about that. Yeah.
Yeah. So for that, yeah, I was probably before that.
Yeah.
I would go down and say this is one of the most fun years of professional
wrestling I've ever watched.
I've been watching wrestling for almost 40 years.

(01:15:06):
Yep. Look at you.
Yeah, because it was definitely it was definitely I found out about wrestling.
It was WrestleMania three by the time I.
Well, yeah, yeah, so how about that?
How are you?
I'm I am how old am I?
No, well, you went in WrestleMania three.
How are you?
Six, six.

(01:15:27):
Yeah, it's kind of I yeah.
And I was 97.
I was eight years old when I found out about wrestling.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, that's the right amount.
That's the right time.
That's how and that's how WWE has always been except in the attitude era.
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty much.

(01:15:48):
Focused on.
Well, you say that I I was eight years old in 1997.
And that's what I got.
Yeah, that's the idea.
And that's when I got into wrestling.
My dad did give my dad watched it with me.
So
my dad make my dad made questionable parental choices.
It worked out the end.
Yeah, yeah.
Me and my dad would constantly watch the Cactus Jack Triple H match from the Royal

(01:16:11):
Rumble. And like, yeah, at the time when I was watching it with him as a kid, I was
like, I don't know, like neither of us really made mention of the blood and the
barbed wire and the thumbtacks.
And now years later, I'm like, that was kind of fucked up for like a
an 11 year old kid to watch.
But yeah, man, I remember.
I mean, the first the wrestling that I remember watching with my dad early on was

(01:16:31):
like and this this was the air like
Dusty Rhodes was in the WWF.
You know, he was he was coming to the ring with Sapphire.
And I thought that was I thought that was wild as a kid in the you know, in the 80s.
You know, interracial relationships were
you know, not that there was a relationship, but I didn't know as a kid, I just saw a guy.

(01:16:54):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't even think about like that, but it was just there were there
were things there as as a kid that I was like, I don't see this anywhere else.
Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, that's fair.
Yeah.
But I, you know, I thought I thought I thought Dusty Rhodes was awesome.
You want it because you know why?
Because he because he was positive and he was happy, you know, like

(01:17:16):
so like people, people that talk about I know there's I know there's a lot of people
that will say shit about how Dusty Rhodes may or may not have been treated
as a performer in WWE, but I'll tell you what, man, I was a kid and I loved him.
They made people that say for kids, don't get me wrong,
Dusty Rhodes is great in like the NWA and WCW and stuff, right?

(01:17:37):
Yeah, of course he was right.
He was a great character and pulled off great promos.
But I think if you're saying that that was the only good version of Dusty Rhodes
and that the version of him in the WWE, the polka dots and Sapphire was not good,
then you're just trying to be cool.
You're not cool.
Like, yeah, he was a good performer, just like Cody Rhodes was great.

(01:17:59):
Cody Rhodes, just like Cody Rhodes, he was great as Stardust.
He was great as the undashing, he was great as dashing.
And he's great.
And he's great now. He's just a good fucking performer.
He is horrible. I hate him.
No, I mean, I still, I,
my,
my, my, my, my feelings of Cody Rhodes,

(01:18:20):
my feelings of Cody Rhodes are he's exactly who he's meant to be.
You know, he's, and he's definitely, Cody Rhodes, I am not the target.
I am not the target for Cody Rhodes, but I, but I know.
Yeah, you're not the target market, but, you know,
but sometimes it just, sometimes it just resonate. J-J-U's, I'm definitely not J-U's
target market, but I'm the biggest.
But I fucking get it.
I fuck, yeah, I get it.

(01:18:41):
Yeah, fuck, I'm, I'm not really the target market for any of them
at this, at this age.
All right, we're done.
Let's finish this episode.
We still got to do the intro for this episode.
Yeah, I know. Yeah.
All right, well, anyway, we'll just pause it.
I'll edit this somehow.
All right, while you do that, you know,
I'm going to go take a bathroom break too.
Right, sweet. Be back in a bit.
Bye.