415: Top Wrestling Stories of 2024

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
What's up everyone out there on Internet land, and welcome
to episode four fifteen of the Straight Shooters available wherever
podcasts are found. My name is Vaughn Johnson and I'm
joined as always by my main man Pots and Pans,
Nick Pocona, Fox phl the Gambler and fully Influencer, and
we have yet another fantastic show ahead of us here
on episode four fifteen. It is a discussion. What are

(00:37):
we discussing? Well, we at the end of twenty twenty four,
that's when you're listening to this, and because at the
end of twenty twenty four, that means we're gonna take
a look back at the year that was before we
go into twenty twenty five and what's ahead there. Let's
take a look back at the year that was in
twenty twenty four, some of the top wrestling stories of

(00:58):
this past year, and boy, old boy, was it an
eventful one in many areas of society, but definitely in
the realm of pro wrestling. Nick, first of all, gotta
be my checking with you. I guess this is a
yearly check in since we're doing talking about the whole
year of twenty twenty four, So give me your yearly

(01:22):
checking my good brother.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
I'm not afraid to be a wrestling fan anymore. Man,
wrestling is you know again, And that is a.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Strong declarative statement that I was not expecting. But wow,
it's a powerful statement that explain, Please elaborate, because that's
that's dope.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Not that I never hid behind wrestling, like I was
never embarrassed to be a wrestling fan, but it was
just so unentertaining for a long period of time. And
you know, we're involved in the online discourse because of
our jobs and what we do and everything like that,
and just it became so toxic that just watching wrestling

(02:10):
was so exhausting just watching it because I knew and
I would think about what would be said about certain
things on w W programming, on AW programming, on other
program at TNA programming, even though you know, I just
fit them in there because whatever I felt bad, I guess,
but hey, they have a working relationship with w W now.

(02:32):
So just there's a lot of toxicity and it's still
going on. But what we were waiting for years and
years and years four happened in twenty twenty four with
WWE kind of getting hot and people not being afraid

(02:53):
like it wasn't Vince McMahon's WW anymore. And I don't
think any of us kind of expected that to be
the twenty twenty four like the story of twenty twenty four,
but the fact that we're in a world that involves
wrestling without Vince McMahon right now, I think it made

(03:15):
a lot of things better in the creative, I should
say side of W's storytelling on television still remains to
be seen if the company is doing any diligence, diligent
efforts in kind of getting away from that culture that

(03:36):
permeated through Vince's tenure there. But you know, we're here,
and you know that's being talked about as well as
we move forward in the Endeavor era of WWE. So
in the TKO, whatever you want to call it, you
know we're here. We were finally here. Twenty twenty four

(03:58):
was the year of the Vince McMahon less WW and
kind of showed what it can be without Vince and
kind of what we were striving for for years. We
started this podcast in twenty fifteen, we're almost at the
ten year mark and we've just had we've had to

(04:18):
dealt with, deal with so much wrestling. That was not
why we fell in love with wrestling, and now I
feel like we're getting constant reminders of this is why
I love wrestling because of this story being told or
that story being told. And I think that's a good
thing if you're a wrestling fan. So I'm not afraid
to watch wrestling anymore and be like insulted because I'm

(04:42):
really not going to be man.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
That's again powerful statement about your fandom pretty much returning,
I guess, and not really returning. You've always been a fan,
it always stands. But just like.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Looking forward to shows the way I wasn't a couple
of years ago, sitting through is not a chore anymore.
Sitting through SmackDown's not a chore. Even NXT's got its
high points, you know, it's not a chore to follow
w W programming the way it was back then. Aw
in the same vein. You know, it's become it's not

(05:14):
as hot, but it's still a viable alternative company that
can pay people wages that you know, they can get
big names too. They still signing big names. They'd signed
a bunch of big names in twenty twenty four, so
you know, I think it's just a stepping stone for
them to get back to what they were in twenty nineteen,

(05:35):
twenty twenty and that I'm looking forward to hopefully happening
in twenty twenty five. But you know, with the mainstream
wrestling now, people just there's too much negativity in thinking that,
you know, wrestling has change, and we've seen enough good

(05:55):
out of AW Andwe in terms of on screen product
that I think, you know, once both both companies are
hot again. Man, Like I'm not saying it's gonna be
another boom period, but looking forward to watching a wrestling
show is refreshing, I should say, Like in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, that happened quite a bit in twenty twenty four,
And yeah, man, that's pretty that's pretty dope. You said
that because it was a good year in wrestling in
a lot of different ways. But again, a very eventful year,
I know for me, and we'll talk about it a
little bit, you know, more in detail, but I had
my dream wrestling weekend in twenty twenty four, Like I'll

(06:38):
never forget this weekend in WrestleMania, and Philly couldn't ask
for a better weekend for as a Philadelphia wrestling fan.
So but let's talk about not just WrestleMania but ww
in general. It's one of the top stories of the
year of twenty twenty four and in the company's creative
resurgence and business resurgence at the same time. I mean,

(06:58):
ww has been a money make a machine for multiple
decades now, but obviously there are ebbs and flows with business,
and WWE hit a little bit of a I want
to say, a low point, but a valley and like
attendance and even ratings in some respects, but definitely attendance
and just overall buzz before the pandemic for sure, and
even coming out of the pandemic it was alright. But

(07:20):
in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four, back to
back monster years for WW where they're selling on TV
tapings and they're doing obviously they have the stadium shows
with WrestleMania now SummerSlam, but they're doing these major shows
overseas now in big arenas, and they're rapidly expanding. It
seems like they got the WWID program and in place

(07:44):
now so they can try to develop more talent and
also they're still making money. Handle over Fist when it
comes to television deals. They secured a couple more this year,
one being the primary one being Netflix, which will be
the home of Raw starting June January sixth, so in
twenty twenty five. So they landed that monumental deal, and

(08:05):
from a business standpoint, it was a lot of good
news for WW. But there was also a lot of,
you know, as far as creatively great television as well.
So it wasn't just like WW just out here just
making great business moves. There was a reason for the
surgeon business, and that was because the creative was so

(08:26):
good from twenty three to twenty four, at least when
the main evanced stuff. Not that everything was great, but
I feel like ww's creative resurgence. And I think I
always want to put twenty three and twenty four together
because I feel like they just kind of package together.
But definitely twenty four, when it was like the first
full year of just Triple H in charge, it was
a major improvement for WWE. We'll see if they can

(08:48):
keep it up in twenty twenty five, but yeah, it
was a major, major improvement, major step four for them
creatively in twenty twenty four for sure. And I guess
you kind of elluded to as well, that they don't
kind of insult your intelligence anymore with not like we're
not even talking about them reinventing the wheel neither. I
don't want to make that seem like they're the case,

(09:10):
like they're telling such elaborate stories that rival any form
of content on television.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
You know.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
There they are worthy of Emmy's, which you'll probably never
win down because of the guy running the show, not
Triple A's, but le fitting. But we're not trying to
say that they should be in Emmy contention or anything
like that, Golden Globe, nothing like that. It's just they're
just doing the basic things that we've they just got
it so far away from for so many years, and

(09:39):
look how much has helped.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Out, remember, like having conversations. It's like, if they just
do this, then I would like it. But they've done
a lot of little of this, you know, to kind
of bring us all the way back. It's like, oh
my god, Like it's.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Not even they're not reinventing the wheel Man. They're not.
It's not like Stephen King is out there writing these books.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
You know.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
It's not that level creativity happening there. It's but it's
just like you said, it's just sensible things and simple
things that have made ww go from a nonsensical product
to just a a normal show for the most part.
As far as storytelling, like this basic stuff. Man, there's
a lot of script of TV that is like surface

(10:22):
level storytelling like wild Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
Like if you're in season four and you forget about
something in season one, It's like that doesn't happen anymore.
It's like everything intertwines now with the stories these characters
are telling WWTV. It's like just something simple like Sammy
telling Seth. Yeah, like you hit Roman with a chair
and sets like you did the same damn things. You

(10:45):
know exactly where I'm coming from. It's like, yes, like
those are the connections that wet we haven't had in
so long. It's like, I want you to connect everyone
and give us a reason why to care about something.
And I think that's that's the thing, Like when you
have that connective tissue, and I think you talked about
that on this podcast before. The connective tissue between stories

(11:06):
and characters is what makes people care about it. So
why should I care about Sammy's ain and his beef
with Seth Rollins it's like, well, they're on the same wavelength.
They kind of had a similar trajectory, and you know,
maybe they're like the same type of person. But then
they just seth hates Sammy because he teamed the Roman again,

(11:26):
Like it makes sense, you know, Like it's those little
things that you don't have to sell so much for
wrestling fans to buy something, you just got to give them.
And you know, maybe it's different than twenty twenty four.
Maybe I'm kind of naive here. I'm just speaking from
my experience, but I feel like a lot of that
has permeated to other people too that I talk with

(11:47):
on social media and stuff, and it's like we just
wanted stuff to make sense. Man Like again, like you said,
you don't have to reinvent the wheel, wrestlings wrestling and
it will always be wrestling the guys.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Good guy has a goal, bad guy stands in the way,
and off we go. Like it doesn't have to be
super duper elaborate. I don't know if fans would even
want people want a wrestling company to go if you're
too far off of that formula. Obviously the formula you can,
you know, have different types of that formula. But like
for the most part, that's what wrestling fans are come
to see. It is good resus evil, and you don't

(12:23):
have to have that in every single story ever told,
but like in wrestling, that's generally what people want to see,
and you just got to make it make sense within that,
and ww has done a better job at that. I
would say the zenith and the peak of their storytelling
this year. Again, let me say this, they had a
lot of good storytelling this year, especially with Seampunkatry McIntyre,

(12:46):
which is probably the best rivalry of the year. But
I don't think anyone would argue that the biggest storyline
beat of the year was in Philadelphia on WrestleMania for
WrestleMania forty Sunday Night Night two. I guess it was
in April seventh, uh here when Cody Roads beat Roman Reigns,
and that was just a culmination for I think, not

(13:07):
only myself, but for a lot of people from the area,
for wrestling fans in general, of one of the best
times there has been in recent memory to be a
wrestling fan like that. Build up to WrestleMania was wait,
I think in hindsight, even with the bump in the
road with the rock and all that nonsense. It created

(13:27):
a lot of buzz and we got we had a
lot to talk about and it hadn't felt that way
in a long time. Yeah, and it's very few times
even in my time as a wrestling fan, where you
felt that way. And I would say resuming the build
up to WrestleMania thirty was kind of similar, but even
still that was really around one match, and the saying
goes for like that kofee Mania time just around one match.

(13:52):
This wasn't just one match. It was also it was
really two matches, both main events of each night. You
also had Toss, which the match didn't live up to
the building, but going in that was a big match,
and Sammy's An's going against Gunther and that was a different,
separate thing. So it was just a lot of different
stuff going on for that show coming in that it

(14:15):
just made for a great time. And obviously obviously for
us as Philly guys, the show was in Philly. I mean,
come on, we didn't have to go anywhere we need
to catch no flights. I just caught Septa straight downtown. Yeah,
and it was it was brilliant. It was a brilliant
week and one of my favorite times as a wrestling

(14:35):
fan ever. And I know I'm supposed to be an
objective journalist, but when you have to show in your
backyard and the fanning, you can't help but come out
it's like this was dope. So yeah, that was a
high point for me. And obviously in twenty twenty four
we talked about ww's resurgeons. That you can't talk about
w w's resurgeons without talking about wrestlming your weekend this

(14:56):
year in Philly, Yeah, and.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
That goes with you know, just the up to it.
We rebranded Fox Sports The Gambler, the Fox Sports the
Wrestler for like two weeks and we had a lot
of wrestling talk on there. The only radio station locally
that did that, by the way, So you know, we're
all enthralled. We knew what it meant, not only to
Philly but just you know, or I should say not

(15:18):
only to wrestling fans, but like even sports fans. You
had the Eagle, you had Lane Johnson in there, Jason
Kelce in there, involved the wrestlator, which we we kind
of knew what was going to happen, knew that it
was going to happen, but kind of just didn't know how.
And then when it happens, like you're still just like, yeah,
like that is awesome and it's just fun, you know,
it's fun. Not exactly bringing it back to being a

(15:41):
kid enjoying it, but like it felt like this is
why I started liking wrestling, you know, and kind of
got back to that a little bit this year now,
you know, yeah, twenty twenty five hopefully more of the same.
But you know, you had that Cody win and that
was again like I didn't know if we were going

(16:04):
to see it, you know, still to that day, you know,
I was like, are they gonna do something else or
are they gonna put you know, wait another year for
this happened, because after thirty nine, we're like, there's no
way Cody will make it back there and be as hot,
And he was hotter and made it back. Yeah, somehow
it was hotter.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
So which was a good call by w W, I
guess in hindsight, and it worked out.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
Did they back into it probably because people just didn't
want to see the rock but uh, or at least
the Rock in Roman yet.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
But I don't know if they backed into that. They
they built up equity of Cody over the course of
the next year. I mean, and and here in the
documentary talked about Triple Ah is like, yeah, you know,
I just had this feeling I just couldn't have Cody
lose again. At the Roar Rumble. He knew that day
that the Rock was gonna come back to face Roman reigns.
He was like, but some just told me that Cody

(16:54):
couldn't lose that again. Triple AZ knew what he was doing,
knew well we even doing Yeah, like even that's because
he put in so much work to make Cody the guy. Yeah,
put in so much time to make him to maintain
that level of start stardom that it would it would
have been wild to flush it down the toilet that quick.

(17:15):
It would have been crazy because they Cody, Cody had
earned it. So I don't know if they backed into
it as much as they almost messed it up, almost ruined,
they almost backed out of it.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
If anything, it was always you know, with those egos
kind of like, oh, we did it this past year,
we could do it again. We'll make Cody's hot, and
that even next year he'll be bigger, you know, like
or Hotter. It's like, do you want to like play
with fire twice? You know, like because they did play
with fire that year, but they did doubts back after
Cody loss, So I will give him that. But I

(17:47):
think that's why so many people wanted him to win
at forty two. And it's like, if you have Cody
lose again, just to bring him back at forty one,
like you do risk, you know, the exhaustion, and it's like, okay,
say old w W type thing. And you also, if
you have a new leadership, you want to get as

(18:08):
far away from you know, the man as possible. Then
you do that. You do exactly what you did and uh,
you know, all the run ins and whatnot, the overbook nonsense.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
That beautiful lovel.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
Going to happen, but like it needed to happen.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
That what needed to happen when you have all these different.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
Clean like without any interference right.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
Now, after all the interference that all the other matches
had come on every other match that interference, this one
suddenly wouldn't. And then also these characters were important. These
characters needed to be there for the for the ultimate
climax of the story. That's what you know, that's how
stories work, you know, just every you know, it's all
the Avengers and how that ended, it was all the
characters together. Like over the course of these movies, there's

(18:51):
always a big climax that involves multiple people, not just
two people generally. So yeah, if you have all these
people involved, that that that match for it. And it
was great. Obviously, it could have been better if Steve
Austin was there. If that glass shattered, that's the only
thing that I was like, Man, if they did that,
so that that gong, the gong was dope, they're gonna
be wrong here, and the Undertaker come out. What's cool, don't.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Get me wrong, and watching them believe and watching them.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
Leave, run out the building, you know, hustle on out
of there, a little little, quick, little shuffle on out
of there, straight to marri Lago straight. But besides that,
it would have been it would have been not perfect
if Steve Austin was there. However, despite that, it was
still tremendous. I had an incredible time that weekend just

(19:41):
from a personal standpoint. Obviously the show itself was great.
I think it's a moment that, uh, if you're a
young wrestling fan you're gonna remember when you grow up.
You're gonna tell your your They're gonna tell their grandkids
about Cody beating Roman Reigns at Wrestlmania forty to finally
put a cap in that story and it gets hoisted
on people's shoulders at the end, and it's one of
the most climactic endings you'll ever see in WrestleMania history

(20:04):
period it has ever been. It's up there to me
with Hogan beating Andre Austin winning Warrior beating Hogan, It's
a net same stratiffy, but for me personally, just to
get to meet all the people that I met that weekend,
to have WrestleMania be here, to be have Philly be
on that stage for a whole week, and have all
the shows be in and around Philly. I know people

(20:25):
like other cities because it's warmer and it's probably more
of a nightlife scene like New Orleans. I think New
Orleans always be a great will be a great host.
But I think just for the wrestling standpoint of the
WrestleMania from obviously the show itself to all the independent
shows that come to I think Philly is a great

(20:46):
host city for WrestleMania, and I might be biased I
say that, but like, uh, just from everything is within
walking distance. You don't have to go too far outside
the city for all the venues. Everything's for the most
part quick, you know, easy to find, uh where other
cities aren't always like that. So I think Philly did

(21:06):
a great job. I again met a whole bunch of people,
got to take my wife and my dad to WrestleMania,
which was both incredible experiences. Even though Saturday was bone chilling.
Cove the Hawk was out at WrestleMania forty on Saturday
at least.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
And I was good for a few hours, but then
like once you're out there for a few hours and
then you start feeling it and by the end that
was bad. And then to get it out was crazy too.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
And then Sunday in the parking lot with the man,
my god, Jason Finelli, the tribal chef as we called him,
uh put with the cheese steaks on the grill. Uh.
That was It was such a great time, and it
was such a just a whirlwind weekend obviously, and then
it was one thing to have WrestleMania here, but we
like WrestleMania fifteen we could have had a WrestleMania that

(21:52):
was like that was all right, you know uh, And
I feel like there's been a couple of those. I
feel like the one that was most recently in New
Jersey WrestleMania thirty five, I was you had the KOFE
Mania stuff that was great, but like other than that,
but we had one of the best ones in recent.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
Memory here that was pretty good.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Yeah, people going to look back at that show for
a long time.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
And they should. They should. It was like the first
WrestleMania of the t k O t KO era too.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
So e right.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
And they and just the fact that, honestly, it's kind
of crazy to me that will be probably not going
to get Roman versus Rock uh in Vegas. But I
think not doing it last year is a big win too,
because then you still have time to like build to

(22:49):
that and they're telling their own little Roman and solo
story first, and then you have the Rock that figures
in there somewhere. So like I say that helped. You know,
it was just so weird him coming in and be like, yep,
we're gonna have this match, and you know started at
January first, twenty twenty four of the day one raw

(23:11):
right where it's like the head of the tables, maybe
they have a table or something, and we're like, oh,
here we go, here we go. It's just the way
the rumble went about and then that whole thing. It's
so interesting how quickly people kind of turned on that
and they pivoted to their credit. Listen, the roxy ego
could have been so out of wack. He'd be like, no, no, no,

(23:32):
We're doing rock and Roman Rust many forty, that's it.
But they pivoted and they did what was right. And
maybe there's more of that in the future for the
decision makers that if something is not getting the reaction
they want, that they can pivot. You know. Hopefully it's
not a one time thing, but I do think it helps,

(23:53):
you know, And I think Philly obviously made it worthwhile,
Like did we do the right thing? I think Philly
proof that they did, just based on the live reaction
and just everything surrounding WrestleMania in itself. I think it
was I think Philly played a nice little role in
that as well.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yeah, for the fortieth anniversary, fortieth anniversary, not the fortieth anniversary.
For the fortieth edition of WrestleMania as well a milestone show.
It was. It was really, like I said, milestone stone
in multiple ways with the first TKO show and all
of that. So, uh yeah, what a weekend that was.
Can't state enough. That was easily the best time we've

(24:32):
had this year and wrestling easily and it just happened.
It was the biggest show of the year again right here.
It was easily the high point of the year for me.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah, wrestling too far off of happening again. I know
the rumors out there, will the Link get a roof?
And you know, dude, if they get the roof, like,
we're going to get big shows all the time. Wrussell
Meania is gonna come back for sure, especially if there's
a roof.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
So it there's a roof, there's going to be a
super Bowl here.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
Yeah, yeah, I know that's a Philly thing.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
At least that would be the plan. That would be
the plan is to get a super Bowl here.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
I don't think there's any chance of that not happening
at this point. I think there's no chance that that's
not going to get a roof.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
Time will tell on that, but we'll see. I don't know,
but WrestleMania forty was a massive success.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
They won't have to hear Michael Coleman anymore.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
I mean, but no, no, Like it was cold after
the first match. I remember after Becky and Ria finished up,
I'm like, I am freezing and it's just starting, but
the show is just starting. I was feeling bad for
Becky and because after the I was a doctor and like,
you know, little to no clothes because they're wrestling, right,
I'm like, man, they got to be cold out there.

(25:48):
And it's like, wait, I am also very cold. They
get to go backstage now and warm up. I'm still
out there. This is this is going to be a
long night. Yeah, and it was, and the crowd was
cold and literally cold, and why no one was cheating
because they're sitting there freezing. But it got better. The
next night it was warmer and the crowd was hotter.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
So of course the next night I was in the
press box. So the first night I was out in
the bowl area, like two, I was in the press box,
so I was couldn't have been the other way around, apparently. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
I told my wife too. She only went Saturday, and
I was like, look, I'm sorry, but you know, I wish,
you know, night two would have been a better night honestly,
just warmer, you know, experience, and I think in general.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
On my buddy night one and I was like, this
is it, Like like two, I'm only gonna be able
to go in the press box and that's it, Like
I have the ticket. And he was spending all day Sunday,
like morning in the afternoon and be like, yeah, man,
come on, like come on, come on. I'm like, I can't.
I have nothing for you.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
Take your pictures tonight. This is your night to soak
it in. I know it's cold, but you got to
take this in.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
But instead, Noboddy said, tell them I'm you're a photographer.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
Yes, yeah, that always works. Yeah, people people don't know
how credential process might be exactly to show up with
your friend and like this is my photographer, my personal photographer.
It comes with me. These for people that don't know
out that, that's not how the process works.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
They had to get their own credential and they have
to be their own person. You can't just show up
he's with me. That's not how that works. But yeah,
fun weekend, great weekend, easily the high point of the year.
For being wrestling, But there were some low points, especially
when it comes to WW yes, because they had a
slew of controversies. Even though business was booming and the

(27:35):
critics were tripping over themselves to give them praise about
what they were seeing on the screen. Away from the screen,
there were lawsuits. The reason why we are in the
Paulovec era is because the Miss mcmah era of ww
had to end and TKO said, no, we can't do
this anymore because you're making us look bad.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
It's a few days before the rumble, right.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
Yeah, earlier.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Four off with a bang that.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
Janelle Grant lawsuit drops, and the wrestling world has not
been the same since this. McMahon even though he was
gone for a little bit in twenty twenty two through
early I guess it was twenty twenty three maybe, but
he came back right and that's how the TKO merger
happened in twenty twenty three. And even though he wasn't

(28:28):
really in control of everything throughout twenty twenty three, he
definitely had his fingerprints on stuff. You can watch the
show and tell, especially in early twenty twenty three, like
in the summer twenty twenty three, but by twenty twenty,
by late twenty three into twenty four, it was reported
that he had no involvement with the show altogether, and
I remember noticing, like, man, the show is not bad anymore. Oh,

(28:50):
that's why. But then the lawsuit comes down. The lawsuit
is filed, and once the graphic detail of what you
know is in it also comes out. TKO sever is
pretty much all ties with Vince McMahon, which was, can't

(29:12):
be understated again, a monumental moment in wrestling history and
was honestly the catalyst for the twenty twenty four that
came after that for ww As far as like the
storytelling and how they approached business. In twenty twenty four,
they kind of changed a lot of things. They just

(29:32):
didn't do ads all over the ring. That was never
a thing in Vince, taking away the big stages, having
more seats in the stands, doing more shows overseas, not
just limiting it to like a couple like a tour,
although they're doing a tour and only twenty twenty five
leading up to WrestleMania, right, and then they're gonna come
back stateside for WrestleMania, but doing all the pls overseas,

(29:57):
just different things that they're doing now that they just
weren't doing under Vince McMahon. That has honestly helped their business,
their bottom line. But regardless of that, these controversies still remain.
This lawsuit is still in play, right, It's still a
thing that's happenings, still ongoing. And it wasn't just revealing

(30:17):
about miss McMahon. It's also revealing about the culture behind
the scenes in WWE and how toxic, allegedly toxic, it
was behind the scenes in a number of different areas.
It was none of it was a good look for
ww None of it. And we'll see what happens in
twenty twenty five based on our recent election results. We

(30:39):
don't know, honestly, we really don't know at this point
because you got to McMahon. Now that's a part of
the cabinet. So I'm shrugging my shoulders. I nothing is confirmed,
he's shrugging. But when this stuff first dropped, it was like,

(31:02):
there's some serious stuff about to come down, and look
this there's still could be some serious allegations that could
be levied and maybe even potentially some people might lose
their jobs. Still, it guts. It could still happen. Maybe
it won't happen, don't know. But the thing is that's
still far from over, and it's the I don't know
if all the damage has been done by has been

(31:24):
done to WWE just yet in this reputation, even though
the company and t KO as a whole, endeavor as
a whole, has tried to tried its best to move
away from that in a lot of different areas. You
don't seemstic man on television, they don't show him in videos,
you edit him out of stuff, like he is persona
no grata on his own on his own creation. And

(31:47):
then his son in law the nerve to come out
there like he did back at WrestleMania one and WrestleMania
three and say welcome to WrestleMania, y'all, it's my show now.
And his own daughter did it too. That's kind of crazy.
Not this is a funny time, but that's kind of crazy.
The thing is that the point is that ww has
tried to move away from him, yes, but they can't

(32:08):
run away from all the allegations, everything that happened in
the past, or should they.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
I mean, you know, to the fire there still might
be people involved in the company that were involved in
a lawsuit. I mean exactly, there's been rumors, so I mean,
until we find out more information, it's like you really
can't trust anything that w W has moved to, Like

(32:32):
everyone involved there is you know, hands clean, We don't know.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
So suddenly it's a you know, just a wonderful culture, right.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
You know again, when we speak glowingly about w W,
we don't want people to think we mean like the
company as a whole. It's like, whatever we see on
TV is what we're talking about. The creative direction is
what we're talking about watching it. Yes, because we love
wrestling is what we're talking about. Anything to do with,
you know, how the company's run, the people that run

(33:03):
in stuff like that. Like we're not trying to praise
you know that part of it, because yeah, that's serious
stuff that we're not doing that.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
Yeah, it's not like you can say like, oh, that
was a great game, but still not love the NFL
and a business. Right, I'm sure there's a lot of
people who don't like the NFL's business practices. I'm sure
Adam Silver in the last three games, Adam Silver is
among them. Can we have Christmas, leave.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
Us alone those Christmas games and last night's game, or
they're just the last three national NFL games. Not great.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
You know, playing all these players on short rest may
not be a good idea. How about that? How about that?
Give them a full week's rest before you.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Play though, man?

Speaker 1 (33:48):
Yeah, play safety. But uh this took controversy with WW
currently not just like oh about past stuff, past transgressions,
you know under domestic man rain. Uh WW hiredly Fitting
in August of twenty twenty three, and there's been multiple
scathing reports about him first before they hired him. When

(34:10):
they hired him, we knew this already. Is that he
was fired from ESPN partly because he was a part
of like some Emmy scandal where he was like switching
names on Emmy's and committing Emmy fraud to the point
that he's pretty much banned from the Emmys, which is like, Okay,
that's goofy. But I guess that that wasn't enough.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
WW, what's that I'll never do with the Slammies.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
Crazy? I'm just saying in that I guess that wasn't
enough for WW to be like.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Okay, yeah, right, turn away, right.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
So you're super talented. You were running College Game Day
and you're really good at it. It's a great show.
We're looking to shake up our production because our O
production was garbage, so we want to, you know, bring
into the twenty first century league. Could you help us
out out and not steal and not commit emy fraud.
That's all you got to do. But apparently there's much

(35:05):
worse than that. It's much worse than emmy fraud. Apparently
it's because he received HR complaints about inappropriate behavior that
he was conducting while he was with ESPN, saying lude
comments and stuff like that, just not a you know
again alleged you know. This is all according to the Athletic,

(35:28):
but they spoke to more than twenty people who participated
in the ESPN investigation into Lee Fitting, and they described,
quote a this is, according to the New York Post,
a workplace culture Underfitting that had offensive and sexual language,
including loot jokes and about women and their appearance. So

(35:53):
they're not out of the woods yet. And as we
record this, Lee Fitting is still employed by WW. And yeah,
the thing is too Leaf Fitting is talented, he's good
at what he does. Apparently Lee Ww's production has gotten
miles better since they hired him in August of twenty

(36:14):
twenty three. They hit it, They kind of hit a
stride in twenty twenty four. Honestly, the way they do
their the camera shots, the transitions in and out of breaks,
is so much better, so much less formal leg than
it was than it used to be. But this toxic
behavior allegedly also comes with it. So again, just because

(36:39):
ww is we're back, baby, we're on a roll, That's
what Jim Blee says, right, Yeah, doesn't mean this thing, no, uh,
some blights behind the scenes, you know, this is one.
So this is a recent controversy.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
It is, and you know, we're wouldn't be surprised we
see more not only from leaf Fitting, but you know,
possibly others. I mean, that's what happens when you have
a company as bec as that. Like no one's squeaky clean, right,
you know, in today's America, right, or today's world, I
should say, not even America. But it's you know, I
can't say I'm surprised. You know, it's just I can't

(37:21):
just have nice things. You can never just have nice things,
normal people doing normal things without controversy, without you know,
it's so easy to not say. It's so easy to
not say something like make a crude joke or anuendo
and stuff like that. It's so easy not to do that.
And when you decide to do that, that's even that's

(37:44):
like a double problem to me. I'm just like, why.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
Again, all alleged according to the athletics reporting, So yeah,
go go check that story out on the Athletic.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
They spoke this man twenty, I said, twenty people twenty
how about that?

Speaker 1 (38:06):
Different people who took part in an investigation with ESPN
while you know he was being let go. That's part
of the process.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
That's what I hired him, right, Maybe maybe maybe uh t.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
KO was the thing. And yeah, because they they announced
the Yeah, they announced the company and yeah in like
spring twenty twenty three, so I don't know when the
company became official in twenty twenty three specifically, but yeah,
there's a whole report from uh Katie Strang and Andrew Marshaan.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
Al Right, my Sean.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
I forget how you say his name, but he's big
into television reporting for the New York Post as well.
And yeah, go check him out. Your boy. ESPN's boy
leaf fitting not good stuff, you know, not good stuff
at all. I'm not Fitting, No, no, not at all.

(39:10):
But again he was already in trouble or had been
in trouble with the Emmys, where they he is banned
from future This, according to The Athletic, led to Fitting
being banned from future Emmy participation according to multiple sources.

(39:33):
So I can read from the story to read from you,
like what exactly he did? I guess, let's see it, says.
The first sign of trouble for Fitting came in twenty
twenty three, when ESPN learned that College Game Day was
integrially involved in a scheme that involved sending falsified submissions
to the National Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences, which
operates the Emmys, and led to College Game Day receiving

(39:57):
more than thirty statuettes that it didn't earn. So I
think it was like something where you couldn't have somebody
being nominated in multiple categories and he would submit a
fake name to get them. Did it somehow?

Speaker 2 (40:08):
It was?

Speaker 1 (40:09):
It was bizarre. But yeah, it's a lot, so go
check that out. But yeah, they're not out of the woods. Look, man, Emmys.
I'm sure he can say I got this person in me,
this person and me. And I'm sure that's something you
put on the resume, bro. And I'm sure that's.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
When you look them up on social media. They don't exist.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
Well, look, that's that's somebody else's problem. You're gonna not
believe Desmond Howard if he told you want three Emmys.
Most people probably would. I don't know I would look
him up. Journalists, you know, you gotta verify. Joe Blower
probably don't worry about anyt worried about that.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
Nobody Donald Trump.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
Another thing that I think happened in twenty twenty four
that I think areth is it hasn't really become a
massive talking point yet, but I think it will in
twenty twenty five. But it's something that definitely happened in
twenty twenty four, and that was ww's ticket prices being
scy high for the especially the major shows, and he

(41:15):
had that dynamic ticket pricing, which means the tickets fluctuate
based on the demand. And boy, oh boy, I think
the first instance of this, at least that we can
say that we saw it was like, oh my goodness,
look at these prices was for Wrestlemanian and I think
when they went on sale on twenty twenty three, people
were like, oh lord, those are expensive, and they didn't

(41:36):
get any cheaper the closer you got. And I know
a lot some people that are die hard fans that
would you know, that would have loved to have gone.
They didn't because it's the tickets were too crazy expensive.
We were fortunate enough to you know, be able to
be there. But man, I can't. I don't blame people
for not for sailing prices and being like, I'm good.

(41:56):
And then you hear every month WW say they're breaking
records every month, breaking a new Gate record. How does
that happen? Because you're charging more money. You're breaking a
Gate record in a twelve thousand seed building, bringing a
Gate record in a fifteen thousand seed. You just ran
WrestleMania in the seventy thousand seed stadium. You didn't That
wasn't a Gate record? Wait a second, how is that possible?

Speaker 2 (42:19):
A stadium?

Speaker 1 (42:20):
Right? How is that a thing? But no? Okay, because
you're charging so much money for these shows, and I
understand it, where you got to demand you think you
can charge it and people will buy it, And people
are apparently buying these tickets. But I think you do
run the risk of pricing at least a chunky your
fan base out.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
This is exactly what happens every year with sports teams.
They do the same thing.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
Yeah, but I think it works for is a wrestling
fan base. Is a rich wrestling fan base enough to
support all of these shows.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Like yeah, I'm just saying, like, it's not like I'm
not some rise. They're doing it. Oh yeah, like an entertainment.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
This happens in UFC too. It happens. It's happened to it.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
The fires just cut all their prices because they're so bad,
But when they get good again, they're gonna go back
to And like I said, if you price some people out,
if you.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
View yourself as a premium live event or something like that,
like a special attraction, you're gonna charge a penny for it.
It happens. And like I said, MMA and boxing and
of course other sports as well. It's just this is
the first time I can recall it really for wrestling
where it's not just the regular inflation. It's like, oh,
this is way higher. And then it continues into this

(43:37):
year with WrestleMania forty one, when that and that stick
a shock and you see that seven hundred dollars for
the upper level and you're like, oh lord.

Speaker 2 (43:47):
I paid ninety two dollars for the upper level of
wrestling its twenty nine, and that was seven hundred dollars.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
Ancient times ago. That was eleven years ago, which, yeah,
that's still over a decade ago now, but it didn't
seem that long ago. And that sounds accurate. I remember
the upper level being like one hundred dollars, about one
hundred dollars for the upper level at MetLife and at
subsequent shows about one hundred maybe hundred and fifty dollars
for the upper level. In Vegas. You're almost spending one

(44:17):
thousand dollars. Granted inflation, yes, but this is beyond inflation
because you can go to a football game for much cheaper.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
Yeah, they'll set the NFL game.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
Yeah, oh yeah, that's at the gate record. Still, it's
all about the money out everywhere.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
So what happens when they have to make their prices
go down?

Speaker 1 (44:37):
When people stop, right, which will be interesting to see.
How you know, there's a lot of factors in that.
For one, can you keep up your creative to keep
up this demand? Can you keep your stars healthy? And
start having enough star power to maintain this demand. Also,
will the economy support this demand? I mean just because
you can charge it, just mean people have the money

(44:58):
to spend it. So far, so good, but like, who
knows what's gonna happen in the next couple of years, so,
you know, and people sometimes.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
Move on to other things.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
Can you just maintain this level?

Speaker 2 (45:12):
I'll take their talents to another country and we're like,
all right, we'll do a WrestleMania in England and wrestling
maybe maybe people in Australia maybe.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
I mean, I think in WrestleMania in UK is going
to happen at some point in the near future. So
but yeah, that I think that seeing those prices where
WrestleMania generally is the place where you know, obviously it's
gonna cost you some money, but a normal fan can
make that into like a vacation. Yeah, normal regular fan.

(45:42):
I've seen it. Normal people can hop on a flight,
get the hotel for a couple of days. You're like,
these wrestling fans are rolling in the dough. These aren't
like rich people that I'm looking at on social media
and the like on YouTube and stuff like that. But
they can spend a couple of hours to get out there,
and it's been happening for years. And you have this
congregation of fans that meet each other are WrestleMania every year.
That's what they do. They hang out every year WrestleMania.

(46:04):
But these are normal people. The content creators, they're like,
they are normal people. They're podcasters. Seven hundred dollars for
the other level or you know, crazy amounts of money
for the flights, So the hotels, this is gonna be
Las Vegas. Ain't nothing cheap out there.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Man.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
I just hope that, uh, the normal fan who watches
this stuff all the every year, can go, don't. I
don't want it to be like the Super Bowl, which
I've fortunate enough to have been to a couple But
how many normal people can buy tickets to the super Bowl? Now, granted,
the super Bowl is the biggest sporting event arguably in
the world. Are one of at least it's definitely the
top five, right, top two or three probably even, But

(46:45):
so I see it to some extent, you know why
it's become that. But WrestleMania has gone forty years to
this point with being mostly still an event that a
regular fan could maybe save up a couple of dollars
to get to you know, maybe you don't have that
money just readily available, but you can make a plan
be like, Okay, next year, I'm gonna go next year,

(47:06):
so I'm gonna save set aside some money and we
can make it work. I don't know how anybody gonna
make these WrestleManias work bro in the future, so we'll see. Uh,
we'll see how it goes. But I would say, speaking
of premium live events, another change we're gonna see moving forward.
But we've saw and in some at least we've see

(47:28):
an announcement for this year is that we're gonna get
two night shows more often in the future. Now, again,
this hasn't happened yet. Still only WrestleMania is two nights. Uh,
Summer Slam is still only one night this year. But
we got the announcement that there's there's gonna happen. It's
gonna be too two nights moving forward. So just to

(47:49):
another thing that you know, people will have to pay for.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
Price people out.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
You're already paying for two nights of WrestleMania. If you
want to see all of rustle you gotta pay for
two tickets or pay a little bit, pay more money
for I guess a combo package. I don't know if
they even do that, but that wasn't the case a
long time ago, you know what I'm saying. And you
would think that if that okay, it's two nights and
maybe it's a little cheaper, but no, it's full price
maybe each night. So we'll see, because it's going to

(48:21):
be that way for Summer Slam. I think next year
is Summer Slam. The next is two nights in twenty
twenty five, I think, and then eventually it's gonna happen
for the World Bumble, and we've seen reports about that
it's going to happen at some point and then potentially
money in the bank. There's another one they'll throw out
there as a two nighter. So it's just another way

(48:41):
to sell tickets, bro I understood.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
So the biggest criticism is probably the you know, the
fans don't get to see, you know, what they want.
They have to like pick and choose and stuff like that,
and I understand that. I do think the two night
plees when you have a men's match and a women's match,
makes sense. I agree. I think it's I'm surprised we're

(49:06):
not there yet, honestly, but I'm sure there's logistics they
had to work out and stuff like that, so stuff
like the world uh snummerslim I could. I don't know,
but it's kind of like WrestleMania. So okay, money in
the bank makes sense. People are tired of the gimmick.
I'm not. I think it's I think it's I don't know.

(49:28):
I don't I'm not as tired of it as I've
seen other people kind of become exhausted with the idea
of money in the bank freecase. So you know, that
makes sense to make two nights, you know, have those women,
and it's not always going to be the women's main
event in the first night. You know, the people are
out here thinking no one watches women's wrestling. I mean
that's not true either, So women are going to get
that spotlight in the night too, if you know, throughout

(49:50):
the course, if they could do the two nights for
these events. But yeah, like the shows like Backlash, stuff
like that doesn't need to be too nice. No, No,
the thing that stinks is, like I love the Saturday
night shows. So if we have that, we're guaranteed a
Sunday night and it's like whatever, But I mean.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
But at least it's only multiple it's not every's every Yeah,
a couple of times a year if you have to
do that. So I agree with you, though I'm more
definitely on the side of more Saturday night shows and
less Sunday night shows, with the exception being a WrestleMania.
But like, if the exceptions are going to be not
just WrestleMania but Summer Slam and noor Rumble, Okay, it

(50:32):
gets money in the bank. Two.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
All right, there's the possibility they start earlier, so maybe
we're not to wait till seven or eight on a
Sunday six.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
I like that six o'clock start to Survivor series. I
think it was a six o'clock start.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
Yeah, I like it.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
That's like three o'clock eastern Western Coast time. They were
event they were in Vancouver, uh so that was like daytime.
But I'm sure everybody was happy with that start early
weeken end early, let's go.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
I almost to do the Saturday night one eight o'clock
and then the Sunday one at one o'clock. Boom.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
Now they're going to be the NFL Sunday Night is
going to be because I would assume they think that's
a better TV night. But I'm sure they'll probably do
Sunday Night. But moving on from w W and all
of its you know, successes and nonsenses, I don't know
if that's even the word, but we'll roll with it
for right now. Let's move on to AEW and because

(51:24):
they had a lot of big stories this year, a
lot of things to discuss, but I think chief among them,
and it's something that's tangible and objective to look at,
is the companies decline in ratings. Number one, television ratings
have gone down your over year and attendance, which the

(51:48):
numbers have gone down, but also you can just look
at the shows and see like it's not as many
people here as it used to. So it's not like
it's like a small decline in either area. I mean,
you can look at the TV number and see that
did they've taken a step back where they were averaging
you know, eight hundred ne hundred thousand viewers, they're now
averaging like six maybe seven, you know, but a lot

(52:09):
of times it's five and six is now And for Dynamite,
five and six and one thousand, and the attendance. Again,
it'd be one thing if they were averaging eight thousand,
not are averaging seven. But if they were averaging eight,
they're now averaging two. You know, it's a much bigger
drop off than what you would hope. You know. It's
not a small decline which you can go whatever. This

(52:30):
is a noticeable declimb and it's tough to see. And
I know they get a lot of heat about it
on social media. I know there's people on their ruthless
and some people are dancing on their graves. I'm not
one of those people. I want AW to succeed, and
I think if you're a wrestling fan, I think you
also want them to succeed, just you know, for the
wrestler's sake, at least so you can get more wrestlers

(52:52):
on TV and they can make more money, but also
for wrestling, for wrestling in general. I think it's good
for wrestling to have a viable alternative. I think it's
good for anything to have more than one of something. Competition. Usually,
competition brings out the best in people typically, and we've
seen it in the past with WWE when they had
competition from ww that made them change and they had

(53:12):
to bring out their attitude there they steal from ECW
and even in AW in twenty nineteen twenty one when
they were doing well creatively and business wise. I'm sure
that lit a fire on the WWE one, especially once
Vince left. Especially once Vince left, I'm sure that there's
people that are like, oh, they think they they think
they got it, they got the juice. Oh, we're about

(53:33):
to go off on them. And they did in a
lot of ways. But and just in general, you don't
want one and conglomerates. You want competition. You know, you
want multiple, You want to have options as a consumer.
It's good, it's best for you as a consumer to
have options. A lot of the companies don't feel that way.
They would much rather you only choose them, and that's
why they gobble up other companies so you they would

(53:56):
become the only option. You have no option but to
choose them. But it's better for you as a consumer
to have options. So AW needs to stick around. We
want them to be healthy long term. But again it's
still something that you have to talk about because it's noticeable.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
I do wonder how many fans left WW to go
to like AW just to watch like okay, like I
can't take this product anymore. Of WAW at least has
the juice you know years ago, and it's like, once
WWE gets back to what it was or can be,
I'm just going to go back. And the fact that

(54:38):
they're hot, I don't think is I don't think it's
a coincidence that it kind of coincides with AW going
down a little bit, because I do think not everyone
that was watching AW is a wrestling hardcore wrestling AW fan.
It's just like, well, they're giving me what w W
wasn't for years, and now that ww's hot, they're like,

(54:59):
you know, I only have time for a certain amount
of wrestling. I'm gonna choose W because they're hot again.
And they got see him punked there, but they got
Drew McIntyre having one of the best careers career year
I've ever seen a wrestler. Have just little things like
that that you know, AW doesn't have those characters anymore

(55:19):
that they that pull in. Uh you know, they they
signed Will Osprey, they have Hangman, they have John Moxley,
But it's not so much the person. It's like the
I don't want to say stories, but just like the
the Wilt like care about what they are doing week

(55:39):
to week. You know, it's like nothing has been super
super interesting that you know, we haven't seen AW already
do it's just like stagnant. We you know, we'll talk
about their storytelling, but this, like what like the Tony
Storm thing, the timeless Tony Storm was like fantastic this year,

(56:02):
and what she's doing now I think has the potential
to be really really fun and has been fun since
she came back. Like, but it's just it's here and there.
You know. It's like W's hitting on almost everything right now,
and that's hard to do, and wrestling, like hitting on
everything is really really hard to do. I think we've
seen that throughout the course of even aw's existence. You know,

(56:27):
they were all pretty much hitting on everything when they started,
but it just, you know, it dissipates, and how do
you rebound from that? Really tells a lot. So how
w W's got to rebound is going to tell a lot.
When they start faltering a little bit, it's I think
they do get too much vitriol because and you know

(56:48):
you're not like me, like I get just mad by
the double standard for And I don't know why, but
I do because we see a lot of WWE type
production and on AW shows and I don't like it.
I I I didn't want to watch AW just to
be reminded of w W type things of how they

(57:09):
shoot things, if the language they use, the presentation, the
white rope stuff like that. I understand that white rope
for it, but I don't like it the l E stuff.
It's like, why are you trying so much to look
like w W when you're when you're not, Like you don't
not as a rustling fan, I didn't want that. So
I think that's why I'm so critical at times of them,

(57:30):
because I want them to be with you know, they're
with w w's not and there's so many old w
employees there that it's just I guess that's why it
feels like that the producers, agents stuff like that, you know,
writers or whatever. Like I just it feels like Tony

(57:53):
thinks that's the only way to present wrestling now. And
that's frustrating to me because to me it's not. But
maybe the say that it is. Maybe that's how wrestling
needs to be presented on a mainstream level. Maybe that's
what the numbers are telling him. Maybe that's what people
are telling him. I don't know, but I don't want
to be reminded of w W when I watch that,

(58:15):
and I feel like it's just become that, uh, you
know this year just it's a w W junior program
and I don't want it to be like that.

Speaker 1 (58:27):
Yeah it is. It's not great and is again they
get I think sometimes unfair criticism.

Speaker 2 (58:32):
But I agree with that, and I might I might
be part of that in a way because like if
I see something, I might not let it play out
and I'm just like, this is ridiculous. But you know,
a lot of that, like it's a lot worse than
what I but.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
I would say a lot of it is some of
their own doing. They just have made some missteps. Now,
some of that happened in twenty twenty two and twenty
twenty three, and then it really came back to bide
them into only twenty four. I think this was the
year that aw kind of they kind of finally started
to reap what they sew and so with some of
the mistakes they made in previous years, and this is

(59:11):
where it finally reared their ugly head. And show you like,
this is the consequences of your actions or in some
cases in actions. You know, when you talk about the
Seeing Punk situation, how that just deteriorated, and how that
should have been solved long before all in in London
in twenty twenty three, and yet here we were once
again and nobody worked, they didn't work together, and nothing

(59:34):
came of it. They got nothing out of that, nothing
out of the whole thing. Meanwhile, Seeing Punk is in
WW working with people who have publicly said they don't
like him, like specifically seth Rolins. So it just stuff
like that I think led to what the year happened,
what the year that was for AW in twenty twenty four,
So it wasn't just decline and ratings and decline and intends.

(59:55):
But sometimes it's just like that's just how it is. Sometimes,
you know, like business goes down, And that's not to
say that like and I remember you said like this
because WW got hot, maybe that contributed to AW going down.
I don't think so. I think they're independent. I think
they're totally independent. Just because WW gets hot doesn't mean
AW has to suck all of a sudden. It's no,
it's AW controls what they want to do. Just like

(01:00:18):
ww back in the day, there's a point that WSWN
WWF was pretty good at the same time, and both
shows are pulling in a lot of viewers. That's not
the case right now. That's something like it's just because
one gets hot the other goes down. It's like, no,
they both couldn't be good. It's enough wrestling fans to
go around. It's just one, isn't I think I think

(01:00:41):
there's enough that there's people like wrestlers on both sides
and they want to root for those wrestlers on both sides.
If both sides were presenting let's say both sides are
presenting the same as that product, maybe one would take
a step back because obviously one has to be the one,
but people will still I think people will still like
the other product too. It's not like people would dislike that,
you know what I'm saying, Like, I think they're independent.

(01:01:05):
It's what I'm saying. That's what I'm trying to say.
I don't think one has to do with the other.
I don't blame aw's lack of success on WWE's surge
and success. I think that's a different things. You're saying
I think I do agree. I do agree that they
benefited from ww's creative failures in the beginning to stay
with the alternative, but I think that people were willing

(01:01:27):
to also give them both a chance. People talk about
online all the time, how the days, remember the days
of both WWE and WW and even ECW both being good.
They want those days back here they are so they're
willing to do it. I think for fans are willing
to do it. But yet it's just they just AW
is just not there right now.

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
A lot a lot of those saying and I'm not
I'm kind of painting with a broad brush, and I
understand that. But a lot of those same fans just
crapped on that X team when it was such a
good show compared to Dynamite. Maybe not better than Dynamite,
but it was right there, and they were like, oh,
donamite was the rating and stuff like that, and they
contributed to that. The people are now in AW and

(01:02:11):
it's like your.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
Fans are also fickle, you know that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
I think that's part of it, maybe a big part.
Maybe I'm over measuring it, but I just I feel
like the people kind of left w W when it
was bad creatively went to AW and now that wave WW.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
There's still a lot of people who watched WW still
probably still more so than AW at that point, even
when aw's just hottest, more viewers in WW. So like
AW got hot on its own, not because not just
because WW was bad. If the AW came out and
presented garbage, people wouldn't have watched AW, you know what
I'm saying, Like it wouldn't people would have said this

(01:02:53):
is objectively worse in WW, There's no way I'm watching this. Instead,
AW produced good content. So it's like, not only were good,
it's like, you're way, we're looking better than these other products.
I'm gonna go over here. But AWS had to be good.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
They had to. Yeah, they had to. They had to
put together a good show for sure. Yeah it is
for for for a long time they did. And I
feel like, uh, you know, I don't know if it
was the punk thing, if they were losing steam or
something like that didn't help it, Like it didn't help.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
Losing them punk definitely didn't help.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
Now, not even not even the fact that he went
to W almost right away, like.

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
That also didn't help.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
And uh, but it was most of those people are like, Okay,
let's see how he's gonna parish his legacy. Now, there's
a lot of people who against the Punk and he
might he's still white. Who knows. But we're just over
a year now into it. There's still a lot of
matches made event, so.

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
There's still a lot of people who are rooting against
them Punk and w W. So I don't know if
it's like people. I'm sure there are some people who
followed him, but there are also some people who said
it's not gonna work. There's a lot of those. I
saw a lot of those fans too when he first
went there. So I think the biggest thing that you know,
is holding aw back from bouncing back in these ratings
and attendance is their storytelling, is how they go about

(01:04:16):
the storytelling. They try, but they have flaws, And I
think when you lose a C on Punk, the best
way you can bounce back from that is building new stars.
That's the best way you can do it. Okay, you
lose your guy, he's big driver in business, but like, well,
we got to keep the train rolling and build up

(01:04:38):
somebody else. The problem is, I don't think they've done it,
done a good enough job when you talk about like
I think MDF had a good run in twenty twenty three, right,
but he gets hurt, he's out most twenty twenty four,
and then we go to Swerve, and I think Swerve
did a tremendous job. I think he did an incredible
job as champion. But again, it's not not just him.

(01:05:01):
It's not just one person. It has to be more
than one. So they get Ospray and he's the guy,
but it's not just him. They get to stay this money,
and they get Okada, and they get one person. But
it doesn't feel like they're building multiple people at the
same time at times, at least to build around for
the future. Right. They didn't. I don't think they quite
did that. And the problem one of those issues is

(01:05:22):
that for me, is that a lot of the characters
don't have like clear motivations. They don't have like a
stated goal or like a stated constitution that they kind
of want to live by, you know, Like I see
him punk as soon as they go out of the
War Games, it's like, I want the title. I want
to be in the main event of WrestleMania. He said
that instantly. Then they bring our self problems, and he's like,

(01:05:42):
I don't like it. I don't like you see them
punk and now you create a story just that fast,
see them punk as a goal, Steph, violence is going
to be in his way. There's your story doesn't even
take that much. But it's like when it comes to
Death Riders, what is the story? What is the end goal?
What is the change?

Speaker 2 (01:06:00):
I couldn't say that.

Speaker 1 (01:06:02):
I guess Will and Rego did leave. The Blackpool thing
was about him, so.

Speaker 2 (01:06:07):
He kept the name Walk after he left.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
Look, look I get it, I know. And they also
have Brian.

Speaker 2 (01:06:12):
Dan Think I'm highlighting the storytelling.

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
Yes, Brian Danielson also is still part of the group,
and he's loves one. That's why they changed the name. Now, okay, okay,
and they're trying to murder people left the night. But
the thing is, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:06:28):
I said, what did I say? Brian danis under Daily Bridon.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
I don't know, But I don't know to what end
they're trying to do all of this. What is their
end goal? Like they said they're taking over, how have
they taken over anything? They got the title already, so
it's not even like they're trying to get to a goal.
You know, they're trying to get to something and something
is standing in the way. The conglomoration is not standing
in the way of anything they're trying to do. So

(01:06:55):
where are we going?

Speaker 2 (01:06:57):
They already have a new TV deal, So it's not that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
That's that's the major positive for a Wan. We'll talk
about it, but like, just where are we going with
the group? What are they about? What is the constitution
that it has to make sense? It has to like
when you say it, I have to like I got it.
It can't be like leave me with more questions. What
does it mean? What do you mean when you're gonna
take over You're gonna take over the superstation and.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
Do what that. That's good for maybe a few weeks,
but then like eventually you need that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:27):
You gotta change it and you got to have a
different beat.

Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
The first promo when he was like it's not your
company anymore. To Tony Swani, You're like, I was like, okay,
that's it never was company. We're going to find out,
you know soon, and we didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:07:39):
So yeah, nothing. Yeah. I was expecting like a higher
power type figure to come in and we haven't had that.
And if you if we were, if we're getting that,
we need to hurry up because people are tuning out
and losing interest in your top story, even if even
though it's not your best story, it has your world title,

(01:08:00):
so it's your top story by default, and it's.

Speaker 2 (01:08:03):
Almost out here doing interviews like my visions this and that.
It's like it doesn't even really doesn't make sense, bro,
It just makes it no connection to his vision and
what we're seeing on TV. It feels like and.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
They're fighting for the soul of ad a w what
does that mean? It's like, these are flaws in the storytelling.
They're trying they're trying to get Daniel gar See You're over.
They're trying to get Kyle Fletcher over. They're trying to
get They're trying to make Arn't Cassidy a main event guy.
He's in main events again in the main event worlds
in in the four Way, they're trying certain things. Hook

(01:08:40):
is a guy they're working on. Obviously, Darby Allen is
probably the guy's gonna de throne John Moxley. Obviously he
still got mjf and and Adam Cole and got Ricochet
and you got to hurt syndicate, which feels like the
group that should be in charge running things, But like,
to what do we really have though with this story?

(01:09:00):
What do we got here? Where are we going? I
don't get it. I don't know. I wish I knew.
And that's the problem with a lot of the aw storytelling.
It's just I have no idea where it's going. And
I know it's like, oh, you can be surprised, but
I've never bet. The payoff is usually not there. That's
the thing, like, I could wait if you usually deliver

(01:09:23):
on the payoff. They haven't lately, and they just don't
have the story that's going to capture people and then
make people go on that ride an emotional ride. That
Cody Rose thing was an emotional ride. There was something
that people bought into. It wasn't because he's a great wrestler.
It wasn't really about him being the American Nightmare. It

(01:09:44):
wasn't like they bought into his patriotism. It was about
the prodigal son fulfilling the destiny that his family was
robbed up back in the seventies. We want to be
the w W champion and we're gonna bring it back
to the family. I'm gonna go back to the place
we have unfinished business and I'm gonna finish the story.

(01:10:06):
I'm going to finish the business and win the title
my dad never won. I'm the prodigal son coming home.
What an incredible like Luke Skywalker type of damn story.
But like it's he has a goal and he then
you throw obstacles in this way. You throw every member
of the bloodline. You throw a brock Lessner in there,

(01:10:27):
you throw Shin Skate Knacker, Mura in there, and then
you throw the rock in there. That's the story. And
in WrestleMania, you just beat Roman reigns and then you
end it. That's it. You told the story going into
WrestleMania forty. Now all you gotta do is beat Roman Rains.
You're done count the money after that. And it's like

(01:10:49):
there's no one on the roster right now that we're
going on the journey with. We're not going on the
journey with well I spread at the moment, doesn't feel
like it. Where's he going? Probably gonna lose the Kyle
Fletcher even if he do winds, where does he go
after that? He's gonna face Moxley, He's already won an
international title. We've been there, he'll be continental champion. Yippie,
mm hm, Where are we going? Who? Who's on the journey?

(01:11:13):
Swerve on the journey? He's got to fight out the
hurt synd the kid. But where are we going? That's
that's what's missing right now as far as a w storytelling,
it's just a journey. They've they've, like you said, they've
done a good job in some areas like Mariah May
and Tony Storm. Tony Storm journey. We can see, okay,

(01:11:33):
she's she's doing something. Okay, I can see kind of
where they're going with this. That's just they need that more.
They just need that more often how they're presenting Tony Storm.
And if it's it's okay if we don't know what's
gonna happen, and I should say that, I shouldn't say
that it's okay. If we do know what's going to happen,
that's okay. But just have a more of a clear

(01:11:54):
direction it's easier to follow.

Speaker 2 (01:11:58):
Yeah, and uh, I think part of the you know
a lot of people this year have brought to light
the Chris Legentile WPR motives and stuff like that, getting
these you know, guys like Bischoff and stuff like that,
doing these PR campaigns about how bad AW is and

(01:12:19):
how good W is. And I think that that's also
something that's been missing with AW because when they started,
almost everyone was saying glowing things about them. And I've
said this before, the whole Tyson Jericho push pushing pull
apart brawl type thing was just like so weird the

(01:12:42):
way the media reacted to it and tried to make
it the second coming of Austin Tyson and you know,
but there was like a PR campaign for that. I
feel like, and with AW right now, it doesn't feel
like PR is doing much to help them either. You know,
like we're the interviews, are they out there? They're not
out there, you know, like the way wbe superstars are

(01:13:05):
so like that's why that's something they got to work
on too, like get get you're not doing enough, so
you got to do more.

Speaker 1 (01:13:12):
Yeah, one hundred percent degree. So far, they've kind of
gone off through like if you build it, they will
come type of model. Just just just have a show
and whoever shows up is going to show up, because
the're wrestling fans are gonna show up. But right they
have and yeah, you're right. Even though they you know,
the owner of the company is part of a family
of billionaires, they haven't spent a ton of money on promotion.

(01:13:34):
They spent some, but not a ton maybe, and we're
gonna spend the sport to twenty twenty five and just
like the one Big Town. The one big positive from
this year for AW is that they secured a very
lucrative television deal with Warner Brothers Discovery. That you know,
with that influx of cash just guaranteed via the contract,
not only comes exposure because they're going to be on

(01:13:56):
Max the streaming platform, the library and shows after they air,
but also you can put that money elsewhere. You can
maybe spend some more money on marketing and promotion and
we'll see, you know, hopefully that's where they put it.
Hopefully that they put it into growing the business and
growing the brand in that way and not just paying wrestlers,

(01:14:17):
not just paying for high price wrestlers to come to
the company, but better utilizing the ones you've already spent
money on. You already paid the big bucks for some
big names. Now use this next influx of cash to
put them on a better platform. You know, you've seen.
That's like sports. You see teams they go out and
they get high priced players, and that don't mean they

(01:14:37):
mesh well as a team together. You can just go
out and get place. Sometimes you got to develop guys.
Sometimes you got to invest in the guys you already have.
And I think Aw's already spent the money on names
that we already mentioned, and it's just now it's time
to These are your guys, These are your guys. These
are your folks that you're gonna build around. You got
your team, now give them the best resources possible to

(01:14:58):
make them the biggest stars possible. They got star potential,
they gotta star power. Let's fully, you know, utilize it
to as fullest potential. Now now that we got this
big TV contract, this big TV deal, that's that's guaranteed
money for us, we have to worry about ticket sales
with that, we have to worry about its fluctuating. It's
set in stone, is written down is the money we're
going to make. And we got a major platform, major

(01:15:20):
conglomerate behind us that supports us. Let's utilize this again
to his fullest potential. Let's capitalize on this opportunity. Hopefully
AW does that in twenty twenty five and beyond.

Speaker 2 (01:15:32):
And you mentioned it earlier, like what kind of what next?
You know, like you you debut all these superstars I
keep saying superstars, but I mean wrestlers, whatever you had,
you know, Adam Cole, he had, probably Danielson and see
him Punk And it felt like the answer was always
a new debut. And they're really kind of like, that's
not the answer anymore. So now you got to kind

(01:15:54):
of figure out, like you said, what you you have
your team in place, who's your captain, who's you know,
your right guard, left guard, stuff like that not whatever. Uh,
but you know what I mean, let's just put them
in the in the space where they excel. You know,
your their answer is not always going to be a
new signing. Yeah, I mean twenty twenty four was a

(01:16:15):
big year for them with the signings, but right, you know,
it's not always going to be the answer.

Speaker 1 (01:16:21):
No, and it can't just continue. Who else you gonna sign?

Speaker 2 (01:16:24):
Yeah, I mean, well he coming over from w W.
I guess.

Speaker 1 (01:16:27):
I guess because WW is also signing up people on
the indies too. Yeah, they got Julia and Stephanie for
Cure off.

Speaker 2 (01:16:34):
You know, so did they resign this year? Like, uh,
I think Guns just resigned too. Uh yeah, Ben Balar,
I believe he signed. Like they're they're resigning a lot
of their guys.

Speaker 1 (01:16:44):
As well, and AW is losing people.

Speaker 2 (01:16:46):
Becky Lynch might obviously be a resigned. We don't know
that for sure, but I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:16:51):
We AW has lost some people. They lost j car
Gill obviously they lost in the process of losing the
Lucha Brothers. Yeah, you got the whole we got. It
looks like, uh, Penta is on his way into WW.
But Ray Phoenix got the injury time and all that,
which that's that's completely nonsense. By the way, we could
talk about that. How if you're not going to use

(01:17:12):
the guy, let him go.

Speaker 2 (01:17:13):
If you're gonna you're supposed to be or you're supposed
to be different than W. It's the same thing, corporation.
But it's like, you don't got to be like that.

Speaker 1 (01:17:21):
But but if you want to extend this contract, use them,
saying goes for rickety stars who got taken off the
GCW shows, only for Chris Jericho to show up on
the GCW show And it's like what I thought the
relationship was kind of flushed down the toilet, right, How
why is Chris Jericho here then? Like what's going on?
So yeah, they definitely need to get to get that
cleared up because that was also not a great thing

(01:17:43):
for They didn't a couple of negative headlines out of
that type of stuff. That has nothing to do with
the creative more of the business. That's just how you
Han practices, you know, right, and how you handle people
to handle human beings. Like people get enough of mishandling
the human beings in WW they don't want it from
you too, and just you know, people's livelihoods. Yeah, I

(01:18:04):
don't like to see that played with. So hopefully they
get that together in twenty twenty five. But I will
say again, one big positive for them in twenty twenty
four is the television deal and they have an already
talented roster that they can just utilize better in twenty
twenty five. But one of those people that was on
the roster in twenty twenty four that retired in twenty

(01:18:25):
twenty five was.

Speaker 2 (01:18:27):
Still Oh yeah, that was in February, right March March.

Speaker 1 (01:18:35):
He saw sting wrestler his last match to date. In
twenty twenty four indeed, and it was a great, great
banging dude.

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
I remember thinking like I wasn't really hyped, but then
like the closer I got to it, I'm like, Okay,
he's gonna make an event and it's gonna be like
it's AW. I think they deliver in terms of match
quality a lot. Obviously the stories are different thing, but
Sting being in the main event and just how incredible

(01:19:04):
that match was blew me away like it was. It's
still a top match of the year candidate for me, one.

Speaker 1 (01:19:11):
Of the one of the best AW put on All You,
probably my third or fourth favorite match from a w
All You and it, and it took some crazy matches
the top of the Sting match.

Speaker 2 (01:19:20):
And if anything like put to the forefront, Hey we
we can treat you like this. You know. It's like
whether you're on your way out or on your way in,
you know we this is we do good bye. You
know if you put your effort in the white, Sting
has like we'll do good bye it. And that's the
goodwill that AW can use and push and stuff like that.

(01:19:42):
And a lot of people might forget about it at
this point, like got it until you put another Rundown.
I forgot that that was that happened this year, so
you know, even though it was March, you know, it
was before WrestleMania, so then we kind of got in
the WrestleMania season and boom. But uh, yeah, that was
that was an InCred do match. Like, I don't think
it could have went better for Sting to end his

(01:20:04):
career that way, very much better ending than his run
in w WAS. I give a W Wall the credit
in the world for that, definitely deserved.

Speaker 1 (01:20:14):
He didn't really have an ending in w W. I
guess it was a polition but right, it wasn't really
something he signed up for. But but yes, things retirement
in AW was definitely a highlight of the year for me.
It's just overall. But I think for a W, I
think it was you know, a W like you said,
did right by Sting. Uh And yeah, I'm happy to

(01:20:37):
see that happy. I was happy to see Sting go
out the right way and a W did it the
right way, So kudos for that. But again, that was
like one of my favorite matches of the year from
just in you know, wrestling in general, but definitely from
a W. But I think a W Bell to Bell
probably had the two best matches of the year, at
least from what I remember watching. I will say WrestleMania

(01:20:58):
and the Cody Rose Woman Rings match of WrestleMania was
the best match of the year just because of the
drama surrounding it. I don't think you'll have a better
wrestling moment all year. I think I'm saying I don't
think you will. We have not, we will not because
the year is almost over. There's no way you can
top that, especially given the circumstances. But from just an

(01:21:19):
end ring standpoint, Will Lost bra versus Brian Danielson is
one of the best matches I've ever seen sos Will
Lost braversus swear strict one. Like, both of those matches
were incredible and they both took place in aw and
it just goes to show like, Yo, they got something.
They got people who when they when the bell rings,
they can do things that no one else in the

(01:21:41):
world can do. That anyone, whether you are casual or
you know, I die hard, you could appreciate, you could
be a fan of. And they need to put that
guy out there to give him in front of more people,
to get serve in Osprey in front of more people

(01:22:01):
so they can see how talented they are. I think
they have something. I think they have something that people
will be into. It's just on WW not WW on
AW to get them there, and hopefully we'll see more
of that in twenty twenty five. But those are just
two I just wanted to mention those two things. It's like,
those matches were incredible. I had great experiences watching those
matches this year from AW.

Speaker 2 (01:22:23):
I'm not sure in mainstream pro wrestling right now there's
a better wrestler Bell the Bell than Will Osprey. You know,
I didn't watch a ton of his new Japan stuff,
but I was familiar with him even before he came
in AW and just match after match, And I understand
people's annoyance with selling and quote unquote spotfests and stuff

(01:22:46):
like that, but I think Will Osprey is one of
the best wrestlers bout of BELL in terms of not
just doing the moves, selling, just being making moves look
good that are done to him. Like, I think he's
just one of the best best wrestlers bell the Bell
right now in wrestling. And the fact that you have

(01:23:08):
two of the best matches of the year that include
him doesn't surprise me at all. Two like different wrestlers
and Brian Danielson and Swerve Strickland too. Just I think
anytime Will's on TV is like a must watch match
because it's always going to be good. And I think
that was might have been aw's best signing this year.

(01:23:28):
I know Mercedes Mornett's up there, but in terms of
like week to week that he's wrestling almost on a
weekly basis, having great matches every single week. Yeah, I
you know, probably the MVP. You know, if Drew McIntyre
is my w W MVP of twenty twenty four, Will
Ospray might be the AW MVP for me.

Speaker 1 (01:23:50):
Oh, Drew McIntyre the MVP. He was just to your
point about Drew McIntyre real quick as inside. I can
see how you feel that way, because if to see
him punk I hurt. He carried that few for a
while so and they got some big matches out of
it and he was in his bag.

Speaker 2 (01:24:05):
Was how good Drew is? They resigned Drew McIntyre in
twenty twenty four, so that's another shooting that w did.
I mean, you know, they popped up there, guys and girls,
you know.

Speaker 1 (01:24:16):
And that's sometimes that's it. Sometimes you lock in with
the people you got, you good, we can do it
with you. Let's let's rock out. We don't need to
go out and sign everybody else. They're still gonna do
it me twisted w W. Will still sign people they.

Speaker 2 (01:24:29):
Want to back, but was like, I'm good.

Speaker 1 (01:24:32):
They also want to Will Osprey, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:24:35):
So you know it's funny that I think Will made
the right choice for his own stuff. I mean, like
he again, the matches he's having on AW like week
the week or just incredible. It could be a simple
ten minute match on Dynamite or a pay per view,
a half hour classic. Will's gonna give you, Yeah, a

(01:24:55):
great match no matter what.

Speaker 1 (01:24:57):
Yeah, he's in he's incredible, and like I agree with you,
it's one of the best, if not the best, going
today in the ring. Like he's he's special. So that's
some Like AW, let's get it together, baby. Last topic
I had here for the twenty twenty four wrap up,
uh and our biggest stories of the year is TNA's resurgence.
Remember TNA Wrestling.

Speaker 2 (01:25:16):
What what impact?

Speaker 1 (01:25:19):
TNA Impact Wrestling is back. Not only did they come back,
they had some they had some collapse this year with
NXT h Jordan Graces in the Word Rumble.

Speaker 2 (01:25:30):
They got the yellow ropes with the TNA logo in
the center.

Speaker 1 (01:25:33):
Yeah, Jordan Graces in the World Rumble. Joe Hendry was
on NXT television and then No Mercy or something I think,
so yeah. Then they parlayed that into like live events success.
TNA was selling tickets again, putting in some of the
biggest houses they've had since the old TNA days of

(01:25:55):
like kurd Angles, Sting Days and some of their shows,
not all of them, but saw and it's like, Wow,
look at TNA actually like really bounce back, even with
the name back going back to TNA, which we were
both like, I don't know about that, but it was like, wow,
look at them. It's like, look at when you put
in the time, you put out a good product and

(01:26:16):
it doesn't hurt. When you collab with NXT, it doesn't hurt.
But you do a timely collab that actually works out
for you. I don't know if the collab they did
with AW worked out for TNA whatsoever, but they went
they linked up with NXT and they got TNA talent
on NXT. That was great exposure. Obviously, when you do
all those things, people will put down the hardened money

(01:26:38):
to come see you in person. That's to be commended,
So congrats to TNA for that. However, they went.

Speaker 3 (01:26:46):
Ahead and made a very controversial decision at the end
of the year, which not for me personally because I've
never been in the same locker room with this person,
never been in the same room as this person.

Speaker 1 (01:26:59):
But based on what we've heard from people in the industry,
wrestlers who have set out their mouth. We're not lay
out their mouth, but through social media, Dave signed someone
who is generally not well liked amongst wrestlers, not just
wrestling fans, but also wrestlers, and that's Tessa Blanchard. And
it's like, why is that a bold move?

Speaker 2 (01:27:24):
It's pretty bold.

Speaker 1 (01:27:27):
She could be I'm sure she's still really good. I'm
sure that they put the title on her last time
she was there, she was a world champion, remember that. Yeah,
so I'm sure they everybody seen something in it.

Speaker 2 (01:27:40):
But I feel like.

Speaker 4 (01:27:42):
Signed all feels like it, which is like, DNA, you
don't have to You've gotten to this place where a
respectability again without her.

Speaker 1 (01:27:57):
Now you're all going to try to be the home
of the reclamation project. Good luck. Look, I hope, I
hope Testa Blanchet, after what has been alleged, has turned
over a new leaf and she's a better person now
than she was alleged to have been before. Okay, but

(01:28:19):
if I'm DNA, I don't see why we'd make this
move right for who?

Speaker 2 (01:28:26):
For what?

Speaker 1 (01:28:27):
Because it's Tesla Blanchard really gonna put them over the top,
and it's like, we gotta have her, and because we
have her, we can elevate the company.

Speaker 2 (01:28:39):
That also elevated company that also increases the likelihood she
might be in the Women's Royal Rumble too. Even if
the likelihood was zero points zero zero one to be
zero points zero zero.

Speaker 1 (01:28:52):
Two, it could I'd be wild. I wonder how.

Speaker 2 (01:28:57):
I don't think it's going to happen. But now you
gotta think about it. You gotta almost be You gotta
think after the number thirty comes out and it's not her,
you gotta be like, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:29:06):
Like I hadn't even thought about that, because she hasn't
even debuted in TNA yet. I don't think right right,
So I mean, just this.

Speaker 2 (01:29:14):
Time money laundering for w W.

Speaker 1 (01:29:18):
DNA, DNA like contract, but put it on WWT that wild.
But there's still time. Obviously, the rumble isn't until February,
which is still taking some getting used to.

Speaker 2 (01:29:30):
February.

Speaker 1 (01:29:31):
Yeah, something like that, February first or second, something like that.
But it's that's bizarre, right, Not I'm not ready for
a February er rumble, but we've lived in the era
of February super Bowls for twenty something years now. Yeah,
in January, right, Yeah, when I was a kid, super
Bowls in January, not the February. Not the super Bowls
in mid February. And it's on my birthday.

Speaker 5 (01:29:52):
Ye like at some point if they add another game
who knows, who knows, but it's on my birthday this
year or twenty twenty five, Yeah, super Bowl, super Bowl.
So I could potentially be in New Orleans on my
birthday again.

Speaker 1 (01:30:09):
For a bunch of different reasons this time. Last time
it was just for fun. This time would be for
work if if if things go the way they could go.
I'm not even gonna say the name, oh no names whatsoever,
but yeah, TNA good year. But ending on a curiously

(01:30:31):
a curious note with that decision of that acquisition that
I don't think has been made up. Has that been
made official?

Speaker 2 (01:30:39):
I don't know what.

Speaker 1 (01:30:40):
I know it's been reported, but because if that's made official,
it's still it's still pretty wild.

Speaker 2 (01:30:54):
Did re debut technically?

Speaker 1 (01:30:58):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (01:31:00):
She appeared at the final resolution pay per.

Speaker 1 (01:31:03):
View, so we'll see. Apparently Matt Hardy defended the decision.

Speaker 2 (01:31:12):
According to Blanchard in an interview with Contrelona after Final Resolution,
she is not under contract to TNA. But again we
don't know if that's part of the thing or what.
But apparently Tesla Blancards said in the interview with Contralona,

(01:31:35):
I think that's how you pronounce it that she is
not under contract. That this was posted on cage side
seats December sixteenth, so that was eleven days ago from
when we're recording this.

Speaker 3 (01:31:55):
Okay, well, either way, she's just like I said, she debuted, according.

Speaker 2 (01:31:58):
To Dave Meltzer as signed.

Speaker 1 (01:32:00):
So okay, well we'll see what happens.

Speaker 2 (01:32:04):
She's gonna pay per appearance basis. I guess she.

Speaker 1 (01:32:06):
Technically signed, but that's not a contract.

Speaker 2 (01:32:10):
No, no, no, I'm saying it.

Speaker 1 (01:32:11):
Oh yeah, I don't yeah, I don't know. We don't know,
but we'll see what happens. But twenty twenty four was
a man, what a crazy year it was in wrestling
and obviously the world at large, but definitely in the
world of pro wrestling. But as we wrap it up
for episode four fifteen and wrap it up for the

(01:32:33):
year twenty twenty four, Nick take us out with some
plugs one last time with the year twenty twenty four.

Speaker 2 (01:32:39):
Could follow me at Underscore pecone on Twitter slash x.
I'm also on threads at pecone Nick, and you can
find me on Blue Sky at pecone p i cc
ality it. Also follow us at Shooters Radio on all
those platforms as well, Twitter, slash x, at shooters Video

(01:33:00):
threads and Instagram at Shooters radio and on Blue Sky
at Shooters Radio, and also check us out at FOXPHL
Gambler dot com and the podcast tab we are under
there Street Shooters. We're also the wrestling roundtables there or
are we going to have a roundtable for the Royal
and Rubble Stay tuned. You could follow us there at
Fox PHL Gambler Duck.

Speaker 1 (01:33:24):
There you go. You can also hit us up on
shooterspot dot com too. I guess we have that site
up and running. We also have a Patreon Patreon dot
com slash Shooters Radio, you can request a future deep
dive and we're looking forward to all of your deep
dive requests in twenty twenty five. So if you have
any that you've been you know, simmering or even thinking about,

(01:33:44):
send them my way Patreon dot com slash Shooters Radio.
When you put in your request, we will fulfill your request.
And when we fulfill your your request, we will have
you make a cameo. We will allow you to make
a cameo on the show that we're diving deep into
once again Patreon dot com Slash Shooters Radio, but until
next time, until twenty twenty five. For Nick Piccone, I

(01:34:05):
am Vorn Johnson. Thanks for listening to episode four fifteen
of The Straight Shooters and we'll catch you all in
next year in twenty twenty five. Happy New Year to
you all, and thanks for rocking with us all of
twenty twenty four. Please hey Gramage, wake up the showd
on Oh yeah, JIGGI

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