419: 2025 Royal Rumble Reaction

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
What's up for everyone out there on the Internet land,
and welcome to episode four or nineteen of the Straight Shooters,
available wherever podcasts are found. My name is Varon Johnson
and I'm joining as always by my main man Pots
and Pants, Nick Pocona, Fox, PHL The Gambler and Philly Influencer.
And we have some special guests in the building for
our round table esque discussion and not the round table

(00:34):
but was not on The Gambler, But we're having a
round table discussion about the twenty twenty five rod Rumble
with some special guests in the building. We got from
The Gambler, We got mar Henry Jr. And the good
brother Roy Burton Junr. It's a full house, y'all talking
about the Royal Rumble. How's everybody doing on this lovely
Wednesday evening.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I'm doing pretty well. I know Mark Henry Jr. Probably
not doing as well given what we saw at the
Rumble last weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Hey hey, hey, you know it's Super Bowl week. I
can't be doing too badly, but I've got some I've
got some thoughts on.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
The on the Rumble.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
And you know mister Leveck well what he did on Okay, Saturday.

Speaker 5 (01:13):
And I've got it two hours to lay tomorrow, so
I'm staying up till midnight tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Look at that, and let me do my weekly check
on my man Man Popps and pants.

Speaker 6 (01:21):
Nick.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
How are you, my good brother?

Speaker 5 (01:23):
Uh? Probably not as good as you are down there
in the big easy. I would imagine having the time
of your life even though you're working, but you're probably
enjoying it a little bit, I'm assuming, right.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
I mean, it's a lot of wordy. So for those
who don't know, if my audio sounds a little different
than usual, that's because I forgot my microphone because I
have I'm out of town. I am in New Orleans covering,
you know what, that game that we've been talking about
for the last couple of weeks and saying like, oh,
we're gonna be real busy because it's that time of
the year. Everybody's busy. Yeah. Well, I'm here and I'm

(01:55):
currently sitting on the floor in the earnest Moral Convention
Center known as the Media Center here at Super Bowl
fifty nine, recording this podcast right now because I love
all y'all out there at the straight huge universe, as
we'll call it. So I gotta still come through for
the folks and do a show this week. And what
are we talking about this week? We're talking about the

(02:15):
Royal Rumble that happened this past Saturday out there at Indianapolis,
and we got some thoughts and opinions of coming out
of that. And we have Raw this past Monday night,
which I will full disclosure say I did not watch
because again I'm in New Orleans. But from the sounds
of it, not much happens. So we can talk still
a lot about the World Rumble, and let's talk about

(02:35):
Let's start it off with I guess the big hoopla
that came out of it in the men's World Rumble winner,
which was main event Jay Usso, and he is moving
on to WrestleMania forty one to headline the show against
the championships, choosing either Gunther, which is like the likely

(02:56):
option in my opinion, for the World Heavyweight Championship, or
of course protection Cody Rhodes for the ww Championship. But
I think it's safe that he's going to go against Dunter, right, Like,
I think we're gonna agree on that at least to begin.

Speaker 6 (03:09):
I think it's a fair assumption. I think it's a
fair assumption.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, okay, okay, but there's a lot of disagreement over
the fact that Jay us one to begin with. And
one of those people who vehemently disagree with this, and
I'll let them go first before we have some rebuttals,
and that is Mark Henry Jr. Mark the floor's yours.

Speaker 4 (03:34):
Yeah. I mean, wrestling is an objective thing. You know.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
People enjoy different things about wrestling, and people like different
characters obviously, and people want to I think there's a
lot of people out there who just get upset anytime
anyone complains about anything, and I think that's wrong. I
think it's totally fine to watch wrestling, just like you're
watching any television show and disagree with certain storylines or

(04:01):
dislike certain storylines. I love the television show Friday Night Lights.
It was weird when they had Landry kill a guy
spoiler alert. But I think that it's fair to question
when you have incredible stories that can be told on
so many levels. With CM Punk, with John Cena, with

(04:22):
Roman Reins, with even if you wanted to go Seth
Rollins or.

Speaker 4 (04:26):
Drew McIntyre there.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
I just think that there were so many, so many
more interesting paths than oh, the guy who's you know,
has the catchphrase that people really like, is going to
go face the guy who we've seen him wrestle ten
times in the last three months and have another you know,
two and a half star match. I think jay Husso,

(04:49):
I think people would be hard pressed to tell me
the best singles match that jay Uso has had that
should get me really excited for a big time, you know,
main event match at and if it's if it's Roman Reigns, sure,
I mean, I think you could go back and watch
those Roman matches and it's a lot more just kind

(05:09):
of storytelling because of the bloodline situation and story and
then you know, stopping wrestling for five minutes and talking
to the camera, which was fine, and it's it was
fun in the covid era. But I just don't think
jay Uso is in any way a main event worker.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
He's over right now.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
I think that there's been plenty of people who have
been over without being given the rub of you know,
an absolute legend while being given everything possible. You got
given the Intercontinental Championship and beating bron Breaker a couple
months ago, you get you know, feuds with Roman, reigns
main events of Summer Slam, and now you get to

(05:48):
go win the Rumble and go main event WrestleMania after
having I think one of the worst WrestleMania matches of
the decade last year.

Speaker 4 (05:56):
I just I don't get it. I'm totally out.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
I think it's totally own the entire booking of the
entire WrestleMania card off of the loop. I don't think
Sena Cody is all that interesting personally. I get that
they're doing this whole Cody heelish thing, and that's gonna
be how Sena comes in here. I think it would
have made a lot more sense than just have seen
a goonther with the storyline being about set seen his
seventeenth title, and have Cody go against you know, an

(06:21):
actual star in Roman or Punk or Seth or Drew
or something other than I think shoehorning jay Us to
a main event match.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
The fact that you said actual star is hilarious.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
As one wall, he said, Hey, beating CM Punk, beating Roman,
beating John Cena, that could have added to my legacy
beating you.

Speaker 4 (06:45):
It's just another it's just another night, a spoiler.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
He's not going to beat j Usa.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
Tell you, I don't care that much if he wins
the title or not.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
I think him being put in the match alone is
enough for me to be upset.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
Well, shall I? What can I so? Wrestling?

Speaker 6 (07:13):
Right?

Speaker 1 (07:14):
I know wrestling is about wrestling, right, that's at least
a piece of it. Right. What you do between the
bell is important. But I would love to know who
in the last fifty years was a huge megastar that
you can name that was also a five star banger

(07:36):
match every night.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
Every You can't tell me, Hogan, I would say.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
You can't tell me, Hogan, you can't tell me Austin,
you can't tell me. You can't tell me Sina. So
here's my point. The problem is the thing is wrestling
is more than just what happened in that ring, and
we spent years and years complaining when people would get
themselves over and invents win cash in case in point,

(08:02):
remember Zach Ryder, Remember over he got himself in twenty eleven,
twenty twelve. We were like, give him, give him a push,
and they gave him the title and then they put
him in a wheelchair and wheeled them off the side
of the stage and killed them pretty much, and we
were all like, man, if they only gave him a shot,
listen to the fans. The fans are telling you what
they want. Remember many years of Dolph Ziggler. Oh, he's

(08:24):
so over. The fans love him. They never pushed them.
And we were upset and a lot of people stopped watching.
And here comes jay Usso. Not only are the people
reacting to him in the buildings, which is enough right there,
he's also making money for the company more so than
a Zach Ryder did or Dolf Ziggler did. He's selling
merch and you're supposed to as a company of WWE.

(08:46):
You got this guy, you're selling all this merch and
and got these people in the palm of his hand
every night, not just you know, in the buildings, but
when he makes appearances. You gotta understand jay Usa also
is making these appearances and people love him, all right.
They gotta re warre this guy for putting in the
work for and also pay off the story they've they've
been telling with main event jus So for now almost

(09:07):
five years. And I feel like, if you don't pay
it off, and if you don't reward him for the work,
we're right back to where we were ten years ago,
and we were like, why don't they just give Zach
Ryder a chance? Here they are given a guy who's
a fresher face. Not necessarily young because he's almost forty,
but he's a fresher face. He's new to the main
event scene. He's getting his shot. He's earned Its not
like it came out of nowhere. It's not like even

(09:29):
Roman reigns in twenty fourteen, where he really he wasn't
selling to merge. The people weren't reacting to him, and
yet he was in the main event of WrestleMania against
Black Lessner. This is not that sure. Is he the
best worker? Probably not, but they clearly don't care. But
it doesn't matter that much because the fans when he
won the rumble pop.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
Yeah, that's what. Wouldn't have pop for Sina or Roman
or Pump.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
They would have, but they also popped. They do, but
they've also been in this spot. How many times you've
seen the But you got.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
To create outside of this, outside of justice, same customers
in the building.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
So you're supposed to run back scene and Roman reigns
every year, or can you create a new star which
was also something we were complaining about a lot about
doing domistic man era, create new stars, create new stars,
stopped relying on names from the past. Scene is almost
fifty Roman reigns ain't getting no younger, so let's get
a newer face. And it also just so happened to
be selling a bunch of merch and got the people
in the palm of his hand. To me, j Uso

(10:30):
winning the Rumble. I didn't predict it because I just
didn't think they would do it, because they just beat them,
I said, the nice main event. But when you think
about it, it makes complete sense given where we've been
for the last five years with j Uso, and also
just given the time rain with him, like he is
one of their most overstars. You know how I knew
jay Ussa was over when they came to Philly in

(10:51):
October for raw and they had Philly specific for Juso.
You don't see everybody get town specific merch. J Uso has,
you know it because they know they're gonna sell it
because he's over.

Speaker 4 (11:04):
What's the best singles five year run?

Speaker 1 (11:08):
The next one? I don't care, Honestly, I don't care.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
I do care.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
I don't care. I don't care about the ratings. I don't.
I don't care about their star ratings because that's a subjective.
Like you said, what's real is the money in the miles,
and he's making the money.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
Every time he's in a singles match in a big spot.
It's an absolute snor fester skip for me personally. And again,
it's so Saturday.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
I thought it.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
I thought it was probably I don't know if it
would be a top ten match that's happened in twenty
twenty five on WWE television. Like I again, like I
think the match that just happened on Monday between Punkin
Sammy and again, I think there's a big difference between
putting Zach Ryder in a wheelchair and wheeling him off
the stage when Vince was mad that the fans liked him,
and having a guy main event wrestlemanian win the Rumble

(11:54):
by eliminating John Cena and getting the rub from a
legend on his last year at the company. Like, I
think that there's a big difference between the two things.
I don't think they necessarily had to have him win
the Rumble in main event WrestleMania to give a guy
a chance at proving that he can be a main
eventor before he's ever had a compelling singles match or
a compelling singles few and the roll the Rall promo

(12:18):
with Gunther outside of Gunther being real to his face
and obviously in KFE, but I I think that it
was just more the same as the yat Man as
the as the memes are saying online. I just think
it's the he's super over. The fans loved the entrance.

Speaker 4 (12:35):
L A.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
Knight was super over a year and a half ago
or whenever that was. Triple Ah didn't give him the
money in the bank, Sammy Zain was super over selling
a ton of merch the month before wrestling.

Speaker 5 (12:49):
Neither.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
I think it's a difference when it's building the Sammy's
Ain thing. He was part of a faction that was
selling a ton of merch for a year then, and
he only had about a month from the breakup. It's
not like he was able to break up and then
have the year and a half run before that match.
But it's obviously everything's a little bit of a different situation.
But I think we've seen Triple H ignore a ton

(13:13):
of guys getting hot, and he's basically pushed Drew McIntyre
back down to the bottom of the pile. And honestly,
what it comes down to for me is I don't
think we've ever had a more talented roster than with
WWE has right now, and I don't think that they
I think they just had someone win the Rumble who's
not one of the top I don't know twenty five

(13:33):
wrestlers when it comes to in ring work, and just
for me, he wouldn't be one of the top guys
of the overall product if we're considering on the mic
and the ring, compelling feuds and storylines.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
I just don't see it.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
And hey, maybe he'll prove me wrong and maybe this
will be a five star classic and you know, we
can compare it to I will say I hate the
comparisons to Kofy Many and Daniel Bryan.

Speaker 4 (13:56):
He just won the rumble those guys.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
The whole point of that it was it was organic
push from the fans who were rejecting.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
Listen and Vince Listen. Actually people were upset, not eventually eventually.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, eventually eventually, But I actually think that made it
a better story in the end that Daniel Bryan. I
don't think the Yes Movement push instead of just going
and winning the Rumble that year, I think it made
it a better story that Kofe had to have the
guys from the New Day win that gauntlet match. And
I thought that was one of the best moments in
just like weekly television the last ten years or so.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
I thought that whole Koche made your run was compelling.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
This is just a guy winning a rumble and oh
now he's, you know, a main eventor and we have
to treat him like that, even though we've been calling
a main event jay us So for like five years.
I just again, I think it's fine to complain when
someone some a company that you like did something you
didn't like. And I'm I've been to WWE show for

(14:55):
a long time. I I kate for WWE all the time.
I defend them with people. I actually, if we want
to talk about the women's Rumble, I'll defend something that
people don't like. But I think I'm allowed to every
once in a blue moon point out when I'm totally
out on a guy.

Speaker 4 (15:10):
I do not see Jay Usso as the main event guy.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
I think this, even if he does win the title,
I think it's going to be a really short lived run,
and I think it'll be back to the mid card forever.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
I think that, and I'll say this, I move on
to Nick and Roy. I'll let you gotta get your
input as well. If we want to watch banger matches,
just go over to TBS and watch ae W.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
And you'd see matches with story.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
But they're not. Honestly, I don't think they have a
whole slew of banger matches. Bro, I'm sorry they don't.
They don't get to this point. They don't. They did.
I would tell you this, They didn't get back to
this points of prominence where they're doing all the selling
all the tickets and breaking all these Gate records because
they have bomb five star matches. That's not what's happened.
That's not what's happened. I've ben probably named two or
three matches that's been like tremendous for w W in

(15:59):
the last four years since they've had this resurgence, They've
not gotten here because they've had bangers. What bangers they
had that really bad made people go, I want to
watch WW now, it's really I want to watch Rroman Rains,
I want to watch the Bloodline. I want to watch
Cody Rose, I want to watch ja Uso. It's the people,
it's the characters that people are enthralled by. It ain't
the matches.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
I think all matches were great because if.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
That's the case, If that's the case, jay Usa wouldn't
be over for me. Happened and we all can agree
that match wasn't great. But guess what, the people are
still with them. Clearly they didn't care that much. You
can watch TVs and be like, oh, they have great matches,
but nobody's in the stands, at least not as many
people as there are in the stands with jay Uso
is out there, so I don't know.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
And Hell and a Cell had one of the best
matches in the last decade. I think Sethan punk in
Hell and is Cell just a few years ago with
that Tornpeck situation at an incredible match. I think Drew
has had an incredible matches with a ton of people,
including Roman. Roman had a great match with Sammy the
month before Mania, which we talked about.

Speaker 4 (17:02):
Ko and Cody just had a great match at the Rumble.
Ko's had great matches with a ton of people, And.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
I agree with you and that those matches are great,
But I don't think that those any of those matches
were the reason why more people are watching ww now.
I think it's but I think that's I think my
point is that this, this is more than just the
I think we get too focused on that sometimes, and
to be a top guy is way more than just

(17:30):
Kenny work. I'm the way more than that.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
I'm the guy that's always yelling at that about aw
like I don't really care about like you know, the
the guys, the young bucks who who just go out
there and I don't think they've ever been involved in
an interesting feud in their lives on television and a
w but they can work.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
I'm not really interested in all that.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
I think that the best part about WWB is you
have these guys who can go and who can have
these banger matches and these incredible four plus star matches
with also really good and really good storytelling. And I
think now the fact that we're throwing Roman Seth and
Punk and a triple threat together when there's no title
on the line, and it makes no sense to have

(18:10):
a triple threat when there's nothing on the line, and
it's just I think they're wasting a lot of really
potentially interesting storylines that they could have went to for
WrestleMania to have this gunther j thing and to try
to push this new guy, and I have little faith
that it's going to be a long term thing. I
think people like the eat thing right now. I think
when he's a champion and when he's taken as a

(18:31):
main eventor people are gonna get sick of it.

Speaker 5 (18:35):
I will say that you think back to the stars
that W's had over the decades at a Hogan seen
as they've never been good in the ring, they never
had to and I think that's one of the things
that tries to instill in those stop guys. Cody might
be the guy that transcends this a little bit because

(18:57):
he tries to go out and puts his body on
the line a lot. He tries to have these great matches.
They're not always great, but he I think he and
himself is like I'm Matt guy, Like I'm not a
John Cena that'll just go and go through the motions
like it's twenty ten again with these really really boring
main events, that it was a chore to sit through

(19:17):
some of those matches when his few would see on
Punk came about in twenty eleven. That was one of
the best things that as a viewer of this product
for years. I think two thousand and seven, maybe two
thousand and eight was, you know, the last interesting year
in we when it came to like storylines and in

(19:37):
ring action, and then we finally had something to sink
our teeth into and they did the Punk scene a thing,
and then once Punk left seen it was back being
boring as hell until he got dominated by brock Lesner
and he was still boring as hell beating Bray Wyatt.
Finally Kevin Owens came up here and then he john
Asena kind of rejuvenated his his legacy, I would say,

(20:00):
because up to that point I was like done with
Johnson and I was like, I don't need this guy.
But he was again w shoving him down our throat.
Of course, he's gonna sell merchandise. He's for the kids,
he's not for the adults. Stuff like that. So you know,
I feel like w W's in a position now where
the Rock just decided I'm not coming back this year.

(20:22):
They shoehorned Seth Roman and Punk into a match that
I agree, I don't care about that that's I think
it's almost a I don't want to say ridiculous match,
but I think I don't have any interest in watching
that match at all. So I think w W was
just like, Okay, we're gonna go this direction. So who

(20:43):
do we can't have one of those guys win the rumble? Uh,
maybe they're gonna they maybe maybe they want seen it
to have that moment at elimination chamber, So maybe that
was already shoehorn in, So like, who can we have
the win win rumble? And I think Jay, you could
have done a lot worse than Jay us maybe give
him that moment that they felt he needed. I don't

(21:03):
know if he's going to win a World heavyweight championship,
but I think the signs right now as a February fifth,
twenty twenty five are pretty good. I would say when
he lost to GUNTHERER, I wouldn't have pegged him to
be in this position, But you know, I think they
could have done a lot worse, and they have done
a lot worse under a different regime. So I think

(21:23):
given Jay that that moment in his career was good,
and I think it was unexpected because again I'm sure
none of us picked Jay to win the rumbles so
or even maybe be in the last four, perhaps was
the highest people would have predicted that. So when he
actually won and I pivoted in a real time Roy Mark,

(21:45):
you know, I was in a gambler chat once it
came down to Sena and Jay, and my pick was Sina.
I'm like, they gotta pivot and give it to Jay,
because if Sena was going to eliminate Jay, that might
have hurt Jay way more than you know, people might think.
Seen it's hurt right now, even though he's an elimination chamber.
So you know, those are kind of my roundabout thoughts

(22:07):
on what occurred with Jay Uso right now. Again, he
did the entrance twice on Monday Night Raw, and they
just we haven't seen that, you know, Like it's kind
of like a really cool visual just having the talent,
having the fans dictate what a talent does, and we
haven't seen that in so long. So it's in a

(22:28):
way I think that's organic. Maybe not right now, but
you know, in twenty twenty four, I think it was
certainly organic. The way Jay, even after that bad WrestleMania match,
continued to grow in popularity and again the fans were like, hey,
that was like a mulligan or something, because we know
this isn't the Jay Us, so we love and hell
maybe it was Jimmy's fault, who knows, but I think

(22:52):
they could have done a lot worse. And I think
right now, because of the Rock just I mean, where
does he fit in, Like I guess he really going
to come back and face Cody of what happens with Cina,
So I just think he's out of the picture completely.
And I think that's why they gave Jay the Royal
Rumble win.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Yeah, I agree with Base a lot of what everybody's saying.
I'll try to kind of cut the middle here. I
don't have a problem with Jay being in the mix,
the main event mix. And you know, like Vaughan said,
like you got to build superstars at some point, right,
like you got to build the next generation of guys,
and Jay's probably in that next generation of guys who
are going to be there. I'm just like, the spots

(23:28):
don't make sense to me. And by that, I mean, like,
you know, when you win the Royal Rumble, that's a
pretty big deal, right, That's a pretty big spot. And
you know when you get the spot spot exactly, and
when you get the main event on WrestleMania, I mean
like that's like, you know, like WrestleMania Night one, fireworks

(23:48):
going off the lower thirds coming on the screen, you're
gonna see you know, Triple Ah's name. You know, we'll
see Lee Fittings name when on the screen. And when
I see Jay Husso with the belt at the end
of Night one a WrestleMania in Las Vegas, that to me,
that seemed that scene doesn't feel right, if that makes
sense right, So it's like a spot to me doesn't
feel right for Jay Uso.

Speaker 6 (24:08):
We're given where he is right now.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yes he's in the mix, Yes he sells a lot
of merch, Yes he yeats over like that. But winning
the Royal Rumble and being the guy who's going to
be that you know, end of day one firework kind
of guy with the belt above the show you know
on above his head doesn't feel right to me. So
like if you wanted to do this with Jay and
I know you probably wanted to give him the rub
a scena rub, and I know you wanted to give
him the bump from from Rumble, But if you just

(24:32):
wanted to give jay a belt, just have just have
him win elimination Chamber and just have him fight Guther
after that, and then he's not in the quote unquote
main event in WrestleMania, but he's still fighting Guther. He
still gets a belt, he still gets you know, he
still gets a little bit of a bump when he
wins and fans go crazy. I think winning Rumble and
main eventing WrestleMania, I think that's just the extra step

(24:53):
too far from me for jay us at this point
in his career.

Speaker 4 (24:57):
Why it's I don't think it's going to be the
main event.

Speaker 6 (25:00):
Well, it will be a co main event, you know.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
It's it's said they say main event, they say main event,
but it'll be a you know whatever, the women's whatever,
all women's matches on night one is. You know, that'll
be the co main event with this, I'm sure.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
I think it'll main event. I think main event.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
Jay Uso is opening the show, probably in the World
Heavyweight title match. Okay, because I don't think that Gunther
Jay as the juice to main event a two night WrestleMania,
let alone a one night WrestleMania, which I think says
everything it needs to say about the rumble decision for
the winner. But I think that Roman Seth Punk even
though it makes no sense, no sense if you just

(25:36):
go look at the history of triple threats, there's been
like three triple threats in history that haven't been for something.

Speaker 4 (25:44):
It's literally in ww B history.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
I should say, it's like there was like an rv
D Jackswagger Cizarro triple threat, and then there was a
like a d O a versus the Nation versus Barique
was triple threat that was for backing around zero ninety seven.
And I will say I get the whole thing, like
we don't need the guy to be the best worker. Ever,

(26:07):
I do think using Sina and Hogan is a little
bit of like the exceptions that prove the rule. And
I also don't think Jay Usso is John Cena or
hul Cogan personally. But I think that you look at
the other top guys of the last twenty to thirty years,
most of them have been great workers. Cody's a great worker,
Triple h was a great worker. Cody or A Randy

(26:29):
was a really good worker.

Speaker 6 (26:30):
Punk.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
You brought him up there in the mid twenty tens.
It was a great worker. I even if you want
to dip into the nineties with Breton Sean, I know
what we pointed Austin. Austin got over partially because of
how great of a worker he was in ninety six
and ninety seven, and then once he was over, he
kept adding to the character portion of it. But I

(26:50):
do think and even if you want to compare him
to Sina, I've been watching my ruthless aggression stuff. Go
watch like the NOE outo for Triple Threat with John
Cena Kurt Angler a Big Show, Or watch some of
his matches with Kurt Angler Chris Jericho Form three, like
those are far better matches than jay Us has ever
had as in a singles match in his life.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Ah man, well, I've heard all your points, and.

Speaker 4 (27:20):
I'm ready to be positive. I'm ready to be positive
about you.

Speaker 6 (27:23):
Are positive. That is not ready for the spot, right,
I will.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
Say it is. I think I think the outrage has
been a little bit much because it's still just like
I don't understand like Mark, I'm I'm cool with you
disagreeing with me, obviously, but like I think some of
the discourse I've seen online because obviously there's different strokes
of different folks. Not everybodys gonna love the same thing,
but some of the discourse is outrageous given the fact
that he's super over. It's I'm like, he's undeserving of

(27:53):
the spot. That's the wild thing to me. You might
not like his work, but it's like you shouldn't understand why.
I think. I feel like some people online are just like,
I can't believe this, and it's like, what do you
what have you been watching for the last four years?
You can't believe that the most over guy arguably is
in the main event of WrestleMania and could potentially win
the world title. I feel like that's what we all

(28:14):
usually root for. It's like I think Nick said earlier,
for the people were kind of to decide and have
us say, and who gets these top spots? And I
think it's smart of w W And now Grant, let
me make this statement. They don't do everything perfect. I
don't know if they should have Charlotte be the same
person and just win all the matches all the time.
I still feel like there needs to be a tonal

(28:36):
ship with Charlotte that that we hadn't gotten to yet.
Maybe that's coming, But what's happened.

Speaker 5 (28:42):
She got bud mercilessly on raw because people, so he's
this audience doesn't want to see you just come back
and get it like that. Like Jay works his way
out of the blood life exactly out of Roman's shadow,
shunned Roman. That's what people got behind. That's why people
love jay U's It's not the Eat stuff, it's they

(29:03):
they've been with Jay since they saw Roman doing him
dirty all the time. That's when they got behind him.
So whatever Jay did, if he had another catchphrase, it
would be I think it would be just as over.
But what he's doing now I think was always a
possibility given where his story started with Roman. And I
think that's when we were talking about on this podcast,

(29:25):
like maybe Jay should be the guy to defeat Roman
for the title eventually, and you know, you know that
it was there were people also elsewhere saying that, not
not just us, but I think that's where the ground
swell of support came from Jay. I don't think it was.
It just happened last year, you know, Like I think
it grew and once he grew into this Eat character,

(29:45):
it just took off. So it's the same people plus
like casuals obviously latched on, but the ground swell of
support he got was much much earlier than last year.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Yeah and yeah, like you said, back to twenty twenty
twenty one, pretty much when he was a heel, people
saw how he was being treated and they felt bad
for the guy. Which when he turned babyface, everybody was like, oh, yes,
Jay so finally turned his back on Roman reigns. Every
was super happy and then good for him for actually
like capitalizing on an opportunity. There's so many others who

(30:15):
fell short he did not, and then not just talking
about like winning the war, were talking about being over
being pro and having the people behind him. That's not easy.
It's not easy to be that guy that he did
in the position that he's in is not easy. But
yet he's pulling it off. So I understand that people
don't love his wrestling. I get it, but like, I

(30:38):
don't know, man, I just I don't. I don't think
about it like that anymore.

Speaker 5 (30:42):
I don't think. I don't think.

Speaker 6 (30:47):
I'm more I'm.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
More caught up in the in the story and the
characters and stuff like that. That's what got me into
wrestling to begin with. When I was a kid, I
wasn't talking about who this guy is not a good worker,
Like I didn't care how good of a worker Brett
hartwa I'd love her hard just because you're the he
was the hit man. It wasn't until I got older
that I started appreciating his work. But we kind of
lose sight of like why we even like this stuff sometimes,

(31:10):
And I think part of it is just we get
too caught up on what happens between the belle and
I think that obviously that's important. It's not like it's
not important, But there's so much other stuff that goes
into it that I think people, not you Mark, not specifically,
I just think people in general just kind of forget
about and it's like, but you know why you like
this guy, right, you know why he's over right, you
get it right? But I think who knows different?

Speaker 5 (31:33):
Vein you have Charlotte coming back great worker, but coming
back and just taking a title that that's why people
don't like her, Like it's not. I don't think it
has anything to do with her n ring work.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
It's just like, oh, you're not going to find a
better in wing worker than Charlotte. Probably honestly, she's probably
the best amongst the on the roster, as far as
the women. And yet, like you said, people don't want
to see it. Why because it's the same thing we've
seen already. We're a law time and I've been saying
this well while now. She needs a tonal ship in

(32:04):
her character.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
I thought that the eighteen months off would help, but
apparently not. I was surprised at Halb said maybe they
should have had her be a surprise instead of announcing
it the week before. I do think that might have
had a little bit of an impact. And then not
getting aj not getting Becky when people were excited about
one or both of those, I'd say, I think that

(32:28):
probably hurts Charlotte too, But I think announcing her was
probably the biggest problem. If you were gonna have her win,
it should have been like an at least surprised people
with Charlotte. Let people forget that. They don't write that
they don't like Charlotte. Instead of being like, hey, she's
coming back, boo her when she comes back.

Speaker 1 (32:49):
I think she'll be booed against Tiffany Stratton anyway. Tiffany
Stratton is super over, so they were gonna turn on
her anyway. I think Roder. What are your thoughts on
Charlotte winning The word rumbles now we're here talking about Charlotte.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah, that's that's my thing is like I think I
think the total shift comes after Mania because I don't
think she wins, right like I think Tiffany wins. I
think Tiffany gets the rub, she beats Charlotte Flair, and
I think that's when the total shift comes in the
Charlotte Flair character.

Speaker 6 (33:13):
So that's why I think that's why I think they brought.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
Out Charlotte the way they did, because when she loses
to Tiffany, and Tiffany's elevated to that higher level, you know,
after beating you know, like you said, one of the
best or if not the best entering work on the roster,
then Charlotte has to kind of reevaluate herself. It's like,
you know what, maybe everything I did before, you know,
the old Charlotte Flair is dead because that doesn't work anymore.
So that's the way, that's the way I think it's

(33:35):
gonna get booked.

Speaker 5 (33:38):
She's gonna bury the robe.

Speaker 6 (33:40):
Bury the robe, bury the strut.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
If you're right, I would welcome that roy because, like
I think it's so needed. I feel like I've said
this multiple times recently, is that like she cannot just
be the same character you're in year out. Everybody evolves
and changes and shifts. Look at jay Us, look at
Roman Reigns to get the legends like an undertaker, even
he changed. Even you know, Steve Auston had to evolve

(34:05):
and morph. The Rock did that. Like all these people
change and morph, and they tweak and they tink her
with who they are, even something that simple's changing their
tire or even their name.

Speaker 5 (34:14):
Bailey, Bailey, Alex Lynch.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
Even since Beculuspis has become the man, she's shifted. She
went from the man with the T shirt and love
the jacket, then she became big time becks right, she
started wearing the outlandish outfits. Who knows what she's gonna
be when she comes back, but like you have to
do that, and it feels like for me, Charlotte is
just a one note character. She's the queen. She has
a robe, it's immaculate, she is beautiful, and she says

(34:42):
WU and she's great at what she does. We got it.
We've been there, We've been there a lot. Yeah, I
think Charlot's been on the main roster ten years.

Speaker 5 (34:49):
Now, and it is kind of crazy to think about.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
Crazy, think about and think about how much has changed
over the last ten years for all the star wars
around her, everybody around her morph than involved. Charlotte's the
same character.

Speaker 6 (35:03):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
I think it's doing her disservice, even though yeah, sure
she's in the main event of WrestleMania, like she's she's
all right, But I think she could be doing She
could be doing so much more, and people can really
sink their teeth into it if they changed it, but
they're just not there yet. We had a lot of
match door rumble before we get to the ladder match.
How about other standouts from either the men's or women's

(35:25):
wear rumbles that kind of other things that kind of
stood out to you guys. I'll start with you boy,
any other observations from either rumble?

Speaker 2 (35:34):
I think, well, let's start with a little since we're
talking about the women again. Great to see Jordan Grace
on that stage again. You know, with with those talents,
she's gonna be fantastic. I mean, I'm sure they're probably
gonna put it on in an NXT and she'll dominate
down there.

Speaker 5 (35:46):
So everyone. Dude. When Daniel Bryan was eliminated from the
twenty fifteen Rumble, that was me. When Jordan Gracy was
because I picked her to win, you know, he hit
the floor. I cried.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
That would have been that would have been a nice
little swerve if they wanted to go that direction.

Speaker 6 (36:03):
But I'm not.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
You know, it is what it is, the men's Rumble.
I mean, look, I am I don't know if I'm
the president of the Jacob fat Tu fan Club, but
I'm either like the vice president, the treasurer or the
secretary or something like that. I need any and all
Jacob fat two showdowns with everybody on that roster, whether
it's Braun, whether it's Roman, whether it's you know, bron
Breaker or whatever. I'm here for all sorts of Jacob

(36:24):
Fatuo stuff. So it was cool to see him get
get a couple of moments in the Rumble as well.
So yeah, I guess those are those are the two
things that kind of sit out for me.

Speaker 7 (36:37):
What about you, Mark, Yeah, I totally agree with Roy,
But if we I wasn't totally I mean, if I
would book the Rumble, and obviously I probably would have
ran with one of the scene of Punker Roman people
to win the rumble.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
But if you're just talking about we had to elevate
a guy, it couldn't be one of scene a Punker Roman.
You had to pick someone else. I would have just
strapped the rocket on Jacob fat two or brom Breaker.
I think those two guys were the two standouts of
the rumble for me, maybe even more bron that than Fatu.
I think both are awesome, but I I think bron

(37:10):
Breaker is like the future guy, like the top guy
of the company. I just think the the intensity that
guy has like is just unmatched. When you know that
that showed Yeah he did show, he showed speed there,
but you look at the speary laid on Roman. I

(37:31):
think even Roman was like whoa. I don't think anyone
anyone's five years YEA, bron Breaker stands out in a
in a ring full of athletic freaks nowadays that WWE
has on the roster, bron is a next next level
athletic freaking. Those kind of stare offs had juice. I

(37:54):
will say, like I did feel like the first half
of the rumble it took a while to get going,
and then you got kind of the Joe Hendry spot
and then Roman was out, and then eventually you kind
of got your Drew's the AJ seen a punk set
like that kind of run, but not a lot of surprises.
I guess AJ was a little bit of a surprise.

(38:15):
We didn't get Randy back. I don't know how many
more surprises were out there, really, but I was pretty
even outside of my opinion on the on Jay Usa,
I've seen a lot of people talk about how much
they loved this Rumble. I kind of I didn't love it,
Like I felt like we should have got more of
a scene of punk moment. We should have probably got

(38:35):
more of like a Roman Sammy moment. You could have
probably I think you could have booked the Rumble more interestingly,
I think one of the top guys should have been
out there in the first five to ten, so you
could have had him kind of have that that run
through the Rumble with different characters that they either have
history with or kind of new characters that they don't

(38:57):
have history with.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
All Right, Yeah, I think I agree with you both
of y'all, like Jacob Fat two being the guy the
next guy and saying with bron Breaker, I mean Jacoba
two's promos are when he's in the hallway before he
makes his entrance. I believe everything he's saying. Bro, every's
that promo, and how many people can talk like that
and you believe him right before they're actually about to
beat somebody up, Like that's crazy. And he just feels

(39:22):
like he's on the edge of saying like so many
crazy things, like so many curse words, that he just
somehow holds himself back. But I feel like he's on
to slip up one day and just be, you know,
cussing up a storm, like, oh my bad. Maybe on
Netflix you can get away with it. I don't know,
but situation, Look, I'm waiting for it, all right, I'm
waiting for it to happen, just to tell you know,

(39:44):
because it feels a real, real Okay, it feels like
Jacob Fatoo has talked to somebody in real life that way,
and they probably have p run down the leg after too.
But yeah, both of those guys are destined for obviously
bigger and better things in the future. Nick observation is
from either humble men or women?

Speaker 5 (40:05):
What did that spear on speed do? Three hundred plus
million views on YouTube? Ron got that.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Rob that's exactly what they wanted. But it sounds like
success to me.

Speaker 5 (40:16):
Man, that very few things make me like audibly react,
like when I'm even when I'm watching sports, uh like
a show, like I might laugh at a joke, but
like when I watch wrestling, I don't really audibly react
to in real time. And when I saw Bron's spear,

(40:36):
I actually went oh, like I just couldn't. I thought
he was dead. I was like, oh my god. And
they showed like replay after replay after replay, and like
I'm watching my dad and I'm like, like, that's incredible.
My Dad's like damn, Like he's eighty six years old,
he's like damn. So even he was, you know, surprised

(40:59):
by it, and uh, that was like a great moment,
just the fact that the whole like it's stupid, but
it was entertaining to me where oh a curates as
was out show speed you're in like like is doing that?
Like I was just like it's so stupid that it's fun.

Speaker 1 (41:14):
That's just how wrestling works.

Speaker 6 (41:19):
Random guys backstage like yo, let's go, you know, and.

Speaker 5 (41:21):
Like the waiting like you're out there, like.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
You couldn't have got Savia Woods or KOFE Kingston. They
weren't in the wrong, but we could have got Yeah,
I don't know either way, they weren't could have you
could have got either member of the New Day. No,
get Steed out there like one of two black guys
in the Rumble. This was kind of funny, not funny,
but it's also a thing to note that you know
that people people are talking about online.

Speaker 4 (41:45):
The New Day is one of the best things they
have going right now.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
Like I really do think it's one of the most
interesting storylines they have, and it's one of the more
over things they have in terms of like weekly things
they're doing.

Speaker 4 (41:55):
And having them not being the Rumble.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
I was shocked, like I had this like counter of this,
like a now the people who were announced in from
this website and how many spots were left, and I
was like, wait, like we're not getting Xavier in Kofe.
Like we're not even gonna get a KOFE spot. I
know they didn't do one last year. I was shocked
by that. I not to bemoan the Jay Uso thing,
the USO's versus New Day was right there. They could

(42:18):
have done an USO's New Day Mania match and done
it up and made that rivalryal to be what it is,
like one of the better rivalries WWE's had over the
last ten to fifteen years. So I would have loved
like an USO's New Day Ladder match for the tag
titles at Mania or something like that, But here we are.

Speaker 5 (42:39):
I will say that I don't know whether this stuff
with Drew McIntyre is real or not, but that was
kind of funny watching it back and La Night and
Logan Paul getting in the way apparently of an elimination
spot with priests apparely touching Drew McIntyre who goes over
the top rope. So I can understand if Drew was
a little pissed off, maybe they you know, overblew it

(43:01):
to the dirt sheets perhaps, But yeah, Drew with Damien,
I don't think it's a bad you know match the
way other people do, but it's just if that's the
way it starts, then yeah, you might have some work
to do. And trying to get us to care about
that a little bit.

Speaker 3 (43:19):
I kind of feel the way about Priest that you
guys were talking about Charlotte, like, I just he's actually
like one of the guys, that's kind of the anti
of what I'm talking about, Like, Priests are a really
good worker.

Speaker 4 (43:28):
I just I've never.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
Been really interested in anything like storyline wise with Priest
or anything character wise with Priest. I feel like that's
the problem with the Drew feud. It does feel like
you're kind of pushing Drew back down to the mid
card after like what an amazing year he had, even
if that's fair enough because Priest was like a champion
a couple of months ago. But I think there's a

(43:50):
lot of people who are just like Damian Priest to
kind of snore.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
I think the dame with Damian Priest is that, Yeah,
I think he could also use a ship character. He
still kind of like feels like he's a judgment Day vibes,
but I also feel like that's also what he likes,
that's kind of his own personal vibe. So I think
he's just kind of leaning into who he what he likes,
which I mean, I get that, and maybe that's the
same for Charlotte Flair. But I think when you can
compare the two between Charlotte Flair and Damian Priest, I

(44:18):
think there's still there's still more to do. With Damian Priest.
But we've been there and done that with Charlotte so
many times, So yeah, I see what you're saying though
about Damian Priest and how his story and his character.
He may not have been able to really sink your
teeth into it yet because it just hasn't happened yet.
But I think with Chelotte we've been there and done that.

(44:39):
We didn't have a lot of match at the word
of rumble. We didn't just have horror rumble matches. There
are two other matches, the a lot of match in
Kevin Owens and Cody Roads for the w W Championship.
The undisputed ww Championship was in a word, violent at
times because Kevin Owens just doesn't care about his body
and will take any bump that you put in front

(44:59):
of Nick. Any any thoughts that you have coming out
of the ladder match between Cody and.

Speaker 5 (45:06):
Kevin, there's some ladder bumps that you're You're you've seen
so often that you're just like, Okay, you're almost desensitized
to it in a way. And I will tell you
maybe because it was the end of the match, I
don't know, but that Ala pa a slam onto the
ladder was one of the sickest bumps I've seen in
a long long time. And you know, we had also

(45:29):
seen that spear By broad Breaker to speed, which was
a sick bump too, but just the way Owen's landed
and this contorted his body and it was just almost perfect.
And obviously he's just like all right, I'm gonna stay
like this, you know, and sell it just incredible and
having Sammy like kind of try to help him but
not stop Cody from going up the ladder. And I

(45:52):
was like, oh, that's gonna be why Kevin flips on
Sammy and I won't behold he attacks him at the
end of all. I thought maybe we might wait another
week or two because Kevin was just that was forty
eight hours after Kevin Ellens was like almost dead, but
him attacking Sammy at the end of all Package Pile Driver,

(46:12):
So perhaps we won't see Sammy for a few weeks now.
But uh yeah, I was like, okay, that's I guess
that's okay. Of course they have bannards, but I'm almost
set the maybe with Mark and with Jay, I was like,
do I want to see Kevin Ellens and Sammy's ain't again,
like because they've already done like a lot with them
on the main roster, So how would it has been?

(46:35):
It has been different.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
It has been a while at least with them too,
right like, and there there's a lot of build up
to this encounter that maybe it wasn't there in the past,
right like when they face each other and like what
was it fifteen or sixteen or whatever it was even
a n XT. I don't think that the history between
the two had been It's been established, But I think
this last two years because I think we're going back
with these two, back to at least this particular chapter,

(46:59):
back to like two late twenty two, early twenty three
when Sammy's am with him in the Bloodline and then
when they cross pass we were like, okay, well we
know where this is going. They're going to win the
tag title together. But so this is like a two
year build between This is different. So I agree with
you and that we obviously we've been here a lot,
but I think this one, this is probably the last one,

(47:20):
I think too, and I think the most important.

Speaker 5 (47:22):
Yeah, I think it's probably you know, this go around,
Kevin feels he's not just a jerk, turning on his friends.
He feels like he's going insane because he's the good.

Speaker 6 (47:35):
Guy and he's justified.

Speaker 5 (47:37):
Right exactly, So I think that's probably the story they'll
tell it, Like I asked my best friend to help me,
and you watched Cody climb the ladder and grab the titles,
what the hell? And he's gonna feel justified again turning
on Sammy, So you know that I can get behind.
But you know, the match of itself, like will it
be a gimmick match? Like I don't know if a

(47:58):
one on one works at this point of their history,
Like just a one on one I don't think would
do much for me. Maybe they might even do two
or three matches, but I guess we'll see on that.
But yeah, I mean the ladder match was just like
again the way the Triple Threat match was for the

(48:21):
twenty fifteen Rubble, it just did a deep dive on
with Brock Seth and Sina. This was that for the
twenty twenty five Rubbles. Just like a match that I
will actually go back and watch at some point before
WrestleMania again, which I don't know what we do nowadays
because there's so much wrestling that's so hard to just

(48:42):
like rewatch something without being busy. But that's one. Then
I'm gonna go back and rewatch.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
I just want to dovetail off your point quick Nick,
because again I thought I thought this might after you know,
the ending of this match. I thought this was a
way to write Kevin off TV for for a bit, right,
and comes back two days later. It's like, all right,
so like.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
He's a solid sure, but it's like Jesus caalcay walk.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Right, like Cody and Kevin, like they fight it at
Saturday Night Saturday Nights Man event, you know. Then Kevin,
you know, steals the US wing egle belt he's running
around with and defends it and all this other good stuff.
It's like, all right, you made me believe that this
is a viable storyline and they're going to fight again
at real and then Kevin Owens almost dies and I'm like,
all right, Kevin, he's done a really good yeoman's work
these last three months, making this story work go away

(49:31):
for a month, you know, do whatever. My man comes
back two days later and like just takes out Sammy
saying I'm like wait a minute, Like I think there's
a better way to book it, you know, like like
let the man sell his injuries a little.

Speaker 5 (49:42):
Bit and then Chamber.

Speaker 6 (49:44):
We got Chamber like you you go away a little bit.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
So yeah, I just that that was just my main
takeaway from this, Like kudos to Kevin Owens again from
making that that Cody this Cody feud like you know
mean something, because this is this is probably the best
feud of Cody's a title run. But I mean, I
think I would have sold it a little bit more
with that that after that, after that Alabama Slam, that
is fair.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
I mean, you took an Alabama Slam just in general
is a crazy bump to take. But then he took
it on a ladder, blood everywhere, right, Yeah, that was
the tough mark. I don't mean to cut you off.

Speaker 4 (50:18):
No, no, you're good. Here's where I'll be the WWE show.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
I loved everything about everything that's happened in the match
and the postmatch and on Monday, if you watch the
Kevin Owens beat down on Sammy's walking around like he's
got like a broken leg and like broken ribs. Like
I loved how much he was selling it and how
beat up he looked and wearing the Sammy's Aim Forever shirt.
I'm a mark for the Black and Gold era of NXT,

(50:44):
so that Kevin and Sammy lever that they can pull
like once a year every other year, like I'm sitting
and seated for it every single time. Like Kevin and
Sammy are both two of those guys too that like,
I'm just always captivated by the stories they're in, and
I think they're two of the best workers in you know,
the industry. So everything they do I'm in on. I

(51:07):
would love it. The only reason that I was upset
that this Cody Uh, this Cody Kevin match was a
ladder matchress because I was kind of I was hoping
for some way to get Kevin and Sammy in a
ladder Wars type match at WrestleMania, but a little hard
to do that when neither guy has a belt or anything.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
And honestly, we don't need we don't need Kevin Owens
and Samy's a and aladder match. They've had too many
of those. When he beats the daylights out of each other,
then together is going to be terrible. Like Kevin Owens
by himself is wild, and ladder matches going back to
Ring of honor them two together, they might not survive.
So I'm okay.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
Rules Still, I still have no idea what that means
whatever Sammy.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
I think Samy can invoke bloodline rules is that is
that within his there's only the tribal chief and invoked that.
I don't know, like, how does that work? But you
get clear? Yeah, you can clear with the tribal chief. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
The one thing by the way, two things, but the
one thing that we didn't mention about the rumble Roman
looking at Punk and.

Speaker 4 (52:10):
Sane we literally partnered a month ago.

Speaker 3 (52:13):
It was one of the funnier, one of the funnier
twits of all time from Roman. But in this match,
I think my biggest takeaway outside I mean, it was
probably my favorite match of the year so far in
any of the companies. But my my biggest takeaway from
the match was how heelish Cody was being after the
match and Kevin's laying there as a dead corpse in

(52:36):
Samon arm and Cody's like doing the woe arms behind
him on the.

Speaker 6 (52:43):
Team standing on the table with the titles.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
Yeah, yeah, like looking like Homelander Like it was. It
was some serious heel stuff from Cody after that match.
If Kevin, you know, Kevin's definitely uh feeling more vindicated
than ever on the Kevin Right stuff.

Speaker 1 (53:01):
I'm telling you when Cody turned up, I'm I said
this last year by Roman Range. When Roman Rings turns
baby face, he's gonna be huge. And you know that
wasn't a real I wasn't going out on a major limb.
But like you know, it's come to fruition, right when
Cody turns heel, boy, oh boy, he's gonna be I
would make him a I want to make him a

(53:22):
politician because I think in today's climate that would be
kind of rough. But maybe politicians adjacent somewhat like, I
don't know, I'd have a vision for him. But either way,
I think Cody as a heel could be money. He
wears suits all the time. People don't like that already.
And then he's the American nightmare. Some people don't feel
great about America right now, like some people feel like

(53:43):
they're actually they're actually living in an American nightmare. So uh,
I think, yeah, I think Cody turning heel at some
point is money. And could it work against you know,
now we're booking ahead, could it work against Sena? Yes,
cause Sina is it's going to be the sympathetic figure
all year. So yeah, if there's a person to turn
Cody a heel against Sena is a pretty good person.

(54:04):
He started with He started with Ko and then you
pull it off with Sena.

Speaker 5 (54:09):
I think man Sina beat like losing to Cody maybe
two times, and then he has a third match where
he beats Cody. With Cody be in the heel would
be something out of money, really interested in.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
Actually that's money right there, because money. If if Sena
is gonna win seventeen, which I think he bet will
win seventeen, I think I think everybody wants him to
win to who does he beat for it to make
it a major match? I would I would put Cody
in that spot. Cody, Now that's not what I would do.

(54:42):
But how long does Cody hold the title then? Like
does he lose it before then? Because who knows. I
don't think that Sena will win it that Wrestling Mania.
If anything, I would hold off until like a Summer Slam,
maybe even maybe even Slayton later in the year if
you want, because he's there the whole year technically, so
you can drag it out. So does Cody year and
a half.

Speaker 6 (55:02):
In your house, be aware of a dog.

Speaker 4 (55:05):
I don't think it.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Probably doesn't.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
Yeah, That's why I thought seen a Gunther made them
so much sense, because I think you totally could have
had Sena vanquished the foreign heel, and I don't think
it would have hurt Gunther at all. Like Gunther could
just have won the belt back in a month or
two and went on another year long rain or whatever
you wanted to do with him. Like, I really think
seeing the right guy for seeing it a beat for

(55:33):
it is Goonther. I think because it doesn't it doesn't
hurt a baby face that you're trying to push, just
one of the top guys in the company. Like I
think Goonther could re establish himself pretty easily. He lost
to Sammy at Menia and it didn't do anything to him.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
Yeah, No, I I think it's gonna be seen in Cody.
But to your point, Mark, I mean, if seeing a
beat gun there, I think that would even make that
belt mean a little bit more, right, Like that would
elevate that belt. So like if nothing else, I would
pull the trigger on that just but just because you
can make that title mean a little bit more than
it does now.

Speaker 5 (56:04):
What I think it could mean more now than with
the Royal Rumble winner are going after it if obviously
that's what they do, so maybe they're banking on that
as well.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
I guess we will what happens moving forward. We will
see what happens.

Speaker 6 (56:22):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (56:22):
There's a two out of three falls match on the
show as well between d I Y the ww Tag
Team Champions and they defended against the Motor City Machine
Guns and somehow, much to my surprise, this match was
shorter than I expected, especially to sending the show in
totality was like over four hours. So I was a

(56:42):
little disappointed in this because I figured they would get
a good run of things to try to go out
there and be the match that like kind of tears
the house down from an in ring standpoint. But yet
we didn't really get that. We had a decent match,
but it went by kind of fast. Uh, Nick, what
were your thoughts on the two out of three falls match?

Speaker 5 (57:02):
I was hoping it was still the show, but it did,
and the Street popits coming in. It's just like, man,
I didn't I didn't even expect it really to have interference,
but whatever. Uh, it was kind of I was kind
of down about it. I wanted Motor City machine Guns
to win, and I know they they could tell some
I did think the phantom tag was a really clever thing.

(57:23):
D I I did with like the fake tag, but
he didn't really tag, but he came in and acted
like a tag. I mean that was a little thing
and the grand scheme of the match, but that led
to the first fall. But I thought that was kind
of like the coolest part of the match.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
Honestly, Yeah, I agree with that. That was dope. Something
you don't see often. A fake tag I thought was
pretty cool.

Speaker 5 (57:48):
Mark was like, hey, did.

Speaker 4 (57:56):
That was a sixth Yeoh, for sure.

Speaker 3 (57:58):
I was surprised this made the car and you know,
even as like a champ of Gargano guy.

Speaker 4 (58:03):
Like again, I love the black and Gold era of nxtate.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
This did feel like triple H like throwing those guys
a bone a little bit out of one of the card.
But yeah, I gotta be honest, I'm a little sick
of the four match cards. And I think I talked
to the pecone about this on my radio show on Saturday.

Speaker 4 (58:20):
It's just because if one of the.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
Matches don't hit, you're like you're just left with so
little to grab onto from a pay per view. And
I get the idea of giving guys more room to
do more time and their matches, and I think that
it has caused some really good matches, some good main
events to get the amount of time they should. But
I think that's part of the problem with having such
a short card.

Speaker 6 (58:45):
Yeah, I completely agree.

Speaker 2 (58:46):
There is a middle ground between these these four and
five match cards on WW and he's like thirty eight
match cards on the aw pay per views.

Speaker 6 (58:54):
Like there's a.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
Middle ground, right, Like we can all live with seven
eight matches, Like that's fine. Yeah, I think this was
you know, like Mark said, I think this was just
a bone thrown to these guys to put them on
the card because it's the first time those tag team
or I think any tag team belts got defended on
a PLA since WrestleMania, which is you know, nine months
ago or whatever have you, you know what you know,
I like, I'll say, love a lot of what Triple

(59:17):
Ah has done, you know, since he's been Coe or
whatever it's official tittle is, he's completely neglected this tag
team division. I mean, like tag team belts, like the
tag team like these guys are just fillers for like
the Phil smack town A SmackDown and Phil Time a Row.
And I think that's what this what this this smatch
was in general. And I think you have a really
good roster. You have a loaded roster. You have a

(59:37):
bunch of really good tag teams. I mean, like you
can really build up this tag team division men and women.
You can build up this division if you really want to.
But I don't think they care. I think they just
kind of like, use these use these matches to fill
some time, you know, until you know see them Punk
cuts a promo or until Charlotte Flair cuts a promo.
And I think it kind of kind of does you know,
MotorCity machine Guns and street Profits and all these t

(01:00:00):
is it the service?

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
To be honest, I agree with you on the fact
that the tag team division in WWE has been, like
you said, neglected to a certain extent. It's weird how
multiple regimes now on ww just like doesn't really even
though I would say that I would say Triple A
seemingly invested in it as far as talent, but not

(01:00:21):
with the TV time it's necessary given the talent, like
we got d I Y and the machine guns. You
should have in the Street Profits. You should have a
pretty good tag team scene going on with just those
tree alone. And then of course on Raw you got Viking,
not Viking Raiders. They are the warring biking experiences. Don't please,
don't but but and of course New Day, who I

(01:00:45):
think should be the next tag team champions. But yeah,
the depth isn't there. I think the biggest problem is
that there's two titles. I don't think there's a need
for it. As much as I like the design of them,
and maybe they want to have each show with their
own titles, I get that there's just not enough teams
to go around. Uh, that's interesting enough. This SmackDown, you
got four teams. How how many different combinations can you

(01:01:06):
run out there on a week, month to month basis?
With only four teams, you got the Street Profits, D
I Y, machine Guns and pretty deadly Garza and it
was I can't forget remember the name most guards I'll
call them. Yeah, so that's five. We have five teams
pretty much that I can think of off the top

(01:01:26):
of my head, and there's just not enough. If you
can bind these divisions, you might have some variety to
play with there, but they just they just don't have
it right now. So and they and again even without
the depth, they're just not really making anything pop right now.
Like first time the titles have been defended on a
p l E and months. I didn't even think about

(01:01:46):
that until this match got announced, and that's when they
split the titles. They didn't even emerging together that split.

Speaker 5 (01:01:54):
It's because they use those matches on like the SmackDown before.
It's like, well, like.

Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
You do that right, and that don't that could be
for the smack Down titles? What about the WRAW ones?
The Raw ones barely get defended at all. What were
the war I didn't watch it all, So what were
the war Raiders even on Raw?

Speaker 6 (01:02:13):
I don't know, don't think they were. I don't think
they were. And d the titles for like months and
didn't defend them at all.

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
Didn't defend them. So's they went out of their way
to create the new titles and rename them. And I'm
sure the lineage is all screwed up because who knows
where they're starting to stopping with the lineages. You do
all of that just to be like all right, here's
these here's these titles, and now wait for us to
call you. We'll call you, don't call us.

Speaker 5 (01:02:38):
Pretty much like remember the good old days of Jau
Sot and Cody Rhodes tag team champs.

Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
Man the good old days right when they were drunk
at the pressor pretty much what we thought great times,
great times before we wrap up here on episode four nineteen,
any thoughts moving forward as we come out of the
word rumble, what do you look at four to now?
And that we'll pass it on this road to WrestleMania, Mark,

(01:03:03):
I'll start with you.

Speaker 3 (01:03:05):
Yeah, it's just I guess the main thing is just
how they're gonna figure out this triple threat with with
Punk Roman and Seth or if that's the direction they're
gonna go, and how they make that interesting without adding
a belt to it or a stipulation of some kind.
And I don't it's hard to even figure out what
stipulation that could be. It's like, what is a retirement
match for two of the three people in the match,

(01:03:26):
Like it doesn't really like make sense, Or maybe there's
a shoe to drop that we don't know yet, or
maybe there's a plan that'll change down the stretch here
and they'll they'll have to make an adjustment and it
won't be those three guys. It'll be two of them
and one of the other guys will be doing something else.
I don't know, but I think they're the three most
interesting guys.

Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
To me and the whole company right now.

Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
So to me, I'm kind of watching to see what
those three guys are doing, and selfishly as a punk mark,
which is if you can't tell where a lot of
my ja Uso anger comes in here.

Speaker 4 (01:04:01):
Is I ever gonna let this guy main him at WrestleMania?

Speaker 6 (01:04:03):
Are they?

Speaker 3 (01:04:03):
Are they just gonna keep having every person on the
roster get to use it against him in KFE arguments.
I Uh, that's kind of my biggest focus. Is my
guy gonna get to main event Mania? And are those
three guys gonna tell a story that makes any sort
of sense?

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
All right? Roy? Which the road to WrestleMania?

Speaker 6 (01:04:24):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
So so I so, I also want to want to
look forward to that how they resolved this three way.
Hopefully it's not that, but I am looking forward to
at some point, maybe he don't smack down, maybe this week,
maybe next week, Jay Usso comes out to Cody Road
and says, you know what, maybe I'll fight you for
the title of WrestleMania. Maybe maybe I'll step aside, and

(01:04:44):
then someone's music hits. The Final Boss comes out, Canazoa
in his hand, He takes Jay Husso's spot at WrestleMania,
and we get Dwayne versus Cody at wrestlem No just
playing if you want to seriously, if you wanted The
Rock to come and mess with the WrestleMania main event,
this would have been the year, not last year, right,

(01:05:06):
Like you could rape yourself out of, you know, a
kind of mid made event if The Rock came out
and just imposed his will and took jay Uzo spot
of WrestleMania. But neither here nor there. That that's just
something that I'd love to see about.

Speaker 5 (01:05:18):
A fatal four way for the People's Championship. Oh, I
like that The Rock in with Roman punkins like that.

Speaker 6 (01:05:24):
I like that at least there's a belt. At least
there's a belt, right at least, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
That'd be the single be the second worst fatal four way.

Speaker 6 (01:05:34):
Always going to be the second worst, always, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
Because the first you know, the worst one is from
two thousand, you know, Yeah, that nonsense. Well, we needed
a McMahon in every single.

Speaker 6 (01:05:42):
Every man in every corner.

Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
Yeah, good look, if it's a six outed ring, they
would have brought up a couple of other McMahon's.

Speaker 5 (01:05:49):
Which that was in the Milling story because Triple HS
retired mcfoley. But then Linda McMahon was like, no, no,
mis gonna be in the main event of russelinga anyway.

Speaker 4 (01:05:59):
That's the end of the.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
Department of Education to you with some respect on her name?

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
How much long are the department gonna last? I mean,
who knows she might be out of a job. She
didn't even get the job yet, he about he about
the end of all. That's crazy.

Speaker 6 (01:06:17):
That gives her more time from Ania.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
Oh yeah, that's that's fair. You can put herself in
the corner again and stand up something like that. There
you go. She had on her her suit from two
thousand to her gear was from like the t N
A day, not total non stop action but testing Alburt days,
which I did not recall. I didn't remember seeing that
back then.

Speaker 5 (01:06:39):
I get easy.

Speaker 1 (01:06:43):
They settled on their partner. Don't get bombed from the
podcast here. But yes, Nick, since we were talking about
you here, what are you looking forward? To on this
road to WrestleMania.

Speaker 5 (01:06:59):
I mean, it almost does feel like a letdown from
last year because it was in Philly and we were
so amped for it. So I'm kind of just a
wait and see approach right now, Let's see what happens
in elimination Chamber. I mean, not as of right now.
I'm interested to see the storyline for John Cena this year,

(01:07:19):
and if you know, I think he needs that seventeenth title,
so I'm interested to see when and where. So I'm
assuming he's going to win it at some point this year,
and if he doesn't, I think that's a huge missed opportunity.
But I don't want to I don't want to think
about that of February fifth of his final year when

(01:07:42):
we're only in the starting the second month of his run.
But yeah, I'm whether obviously it's I don't think he's
gonna win in WrestleMania. But what do they tell that
story of like with the Rock, You remember, like he
lost to the Rock and they had a really tough year,
and then he he won the war Rumble and he
faces the champion at WrestleMania and the Rock beats Cmpunk

(01:08:05):
for the title. So it's Sena in the rock and
it's time for redemption and stuff like that. So will
he have will he lose, perhaps to Cody, and then
build his way back up to finally beat him at
the end. I would like to see a story similar
to that because I think that's really the only I

(01:08:27):
think with the crowd reaction, Like, obviously they're gonna pop
whether he beats Guther or Cody. I'm assuming Guther is
if he loses the title, it's gonna be to jay Uso.
But if not, then maybe it's gonna be Gutherer. Who knows,
maybe jay Uso is the guy that's gonna lose a WrestleMania,
you know, Like I don't think that's gonna happen, but

(01:08:49):
you know, we'll see. You know what they did with
Cody a couple of years ago, everyone thought he was
gonna win, and then he spent the whole year and
then he got hot. He was the hottest he's ever
been when he beat Roman last year at Mania. So
I don't know if they'll do the same thing with
Jay or try that, but they might be playing with
hot water again if they do do that. So you know,

(01:09:11):
I'm more or less looking forward to John Cena's story.

Speaker 1 (01:09:18):
Yeah, I think that's gonna be fun. John Seena's story.
I know, the triple threat, could you know, potential triple
threat with Sea On Punk, Seth Rollins and Roman Remains
is wonky because, like you said, there's nothing on the
line technically, at least not as of yet, except I
guess just bragging rights. But the story could be cool
getting there. Even that doesn't make any sense, that could

(01:09:39):
be interesting.

Speaker 5 (01:09:40):
At least it's most interesting thing might be Paul Haymen, honestly,
I mean he I guess the only person that have
allegiance to it is Seth Rollins, but like you'd imagine,
he's still gonna be a central figure in that story.

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
But yeah, it's still so much kind of up in
the air when it comes to wrestle Mania, it's hard
to kind of say, like, oh, I'm looking forward to this,
I'm looking forward to that. I will say this, I'm
looking forward to Jay Usso proving a lot of these
fans wrong and at least silencing some of them, not
only when he by winning the world title, but I
think having a damn good match I have it, and

(01:10:14):
just again, if he wins and the people are with it.
You're going to see I don't know how many people
are going to be there, sixty seventy thousand people all
yeating at the same time, and that's a big deal obviously.
So I'm looking forward to that. But let's wrap it
up episode four nineteen. So Ror I'll start with you.
Can you please plug away.

Speaker 2 (01:10:37):
Roy Burton catch me on Twitter at the BS line.
We have plenty of content on Fox Sports to Gambler
this week getting you guys ready for Super Bowl fifty nine.
So can check us out Fox Sports to Gambler on
the I Heard website and again Fox Sports to Gambler
on Twitter. Just follow us and keep it locked in
as the Birds get to get down the bourbon to

(01:10:57):
quote unquote finish the story.

Speaker 1 (01:11:03):
Yeah, it's like Eagles are Cody Roads, right, They got
to finish the story, which he finished. He finished the
story in Philadelphia. The Eagle's got to come to the South,
not not Atlanta, not Cody's hometown, but the South is
sort of close to finish their story. Look at that,
Look at the parallels we made there, Look at look
at that. Man, This is what we do here. Markenry Jr.
Your turn please plug away.

Speaker 3 (01:11:24):
Yeah, we've gotta you know, we've got to write a
bad booking decision, just like Cody did at forty uh.
We we've got that booking decision Roger Goodell made two
years ago.

Speaker 4 (01:11:34):
He'll never He'll never win Booker of the Year after that. Well,
I for sure, But I.

Speaker 3 (01:11:39):
Know every like Roy said, everybody check out all the
coverage we have over at Fox Sports to Gambler, great
super Bowl coverage, hitting it from every angle.

Speaker 4 (01:11:49):
But everybody's doing great stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:11:51):
Roy, great stuff behind Enemy Lines, Sean Bernard, Sean Brace, Beef,
Rian Beef, Coil, everybody. It's got great stuff going On Saturday.
I'm gonna get a little bit of everybody's take and
some of their favorite props on the Tough Cover Radio show.
And of course, I mean it's funny to give a
plug on the podcast you're on. But go back and
check out some of the old Straight Shooters radio pay

(01:12:13):
per view live calls like I've been doing.

Speaker 4 (01:12:16):
You know, I text pecone about it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:17):
Sometimes I like to go through these and watch pay
per views in chronological order from the past, do these
little rewatches when I'm bored and I'm traveling, so I
have these podcasts to listen to while I'm flying or driving,
So I watch an old pay per view and then
I download the podcasts from The Straight Shooters and some
other pods out there. Great stuff, always great shelf life

(01:12:40):
on the old pay per view pods. The one pod
you guys were talking about the Sixers being up three
to two on the Celtics and about to advance to
the conference finals. I almost swerved off the road and
had to text pecone. But other than that, it's been
a fun, kind of fun memory fun trip down memory

(01:13:01):
lane looking at some of the old thoughts.

Speaker 1 (01:13:03):
Well, we appreciate you for checking us out on the
archives and checking out our old podcasts. You all should
do that out there as well. On the Internet world.
What do I call it the Internet land? I guess
I should call it. But please check out our archives because,
like Mark said, they still hold up and the little
time capsules and including if you're a Sixess fan, heartbreak

(01:13:24):
in the second round Yeah again, if you want to
relive that, go listen to that episode of The Straight Shooters.
If not, I understand you can pass forward through that part.
Nick take us out with some plugs, please, you.

Speaker 5 (01:13:35):
Can check us at check us out at Shooters Radio
on Twitter and Blue Sky and we're also on threads
and on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash Shooters Radio.
You can check me out at Underscore pacone on Twitter
and also on threads at pecone Nick, and I'm on

(01:13:55):
Blue Sky as well at pacone, so you could check
you out. God Man a Sunday. They better finish the
story because my socials will be lit up if they do,
so check it out. Check out Fox Sports The Gambler
YouTube channel and also at FOXPHL Gambler dot com our
special Finish the Story all week as all podcasted up there.

(01:14:19):
He got Night one and Night two up there pretty soon.
Night three is gonna be up there as well. We
got I think Luke Arcadie and Joe Tansey tonight and
Joe John Jansen and Jeff Parls as well. So go
to FOXPHL Gambler dot com check the podcast tab and
you can catch the Finish the Story story on FOXPHL

(01:14:42):
Gambler dot com and uh yeah, that's.

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
It here you go. Speaking of socials, I'm at Vaughan M.
Johnson on X. You can find me on Blue Sky
at Vaughn Johnson on Blue Sky. But speaking of socials again,
like I said earlier, I'm here in New Orleans at
the super Bowl doing a lot of work. So if
you're listening, i'd appreciate you. Gotta hand it over to
at Philly Sport on X and at Philly I n

(01:15:06):
Q Philly in Sports, I in Q Sports on Instagram,
and all of these platforms were on at the Philadelphia
Philadelphia Inquiry, so at Philly Inquire on Instagram, I think
we're at Philly Inquir on X two. We're out here
shooting content throughout the week. Obviously I was. I just
posted not too long ago our video about having Eagles

(01:15:30):
players spell mayor because our mayor in Philly had trouble
spelling Eagles. So go check that out, I asked. I.
Apparently Cooper Degene has never known his astrology signed his
odiac sign, so I told him that yesterday, not intentionally,
I asked him about it. It's like, hey, give a
shout out to the Quarius. Says Hi, yeah, because my

(01:15:50):
birthday is also February nineth, and nobody ain't nobody talking
about me even though it was my birthday. First, because
I'm older than both of sa Kuana and Cooper Degene
but and I said that, he was like, what's that?
So go check out his reaction to that, and we're
gonna have more stuff. I just ran a fourty yard
dash at the super Bowl experience. That's gonna be up soon.

(01:16:12):
I promise you that I had a good showing for myself,
even though I will protest the time. And I ate
some good food and we did a video about it
at the super Bowl Food and Beverage preview. I had
a oyster BLT po boy nice which and it was
a maculate as it sounds, okay as the maculate as
it sounds. So go check out all that content. I

(01:16:33):
appreciate the love already, and we got more to do.
It's only Wednesday as I record this. We've got a
couple more days of this.

Speaker 5 (01:16:40):
Y'all feel so much longer than that.

Speaker 1 (01:16:42):
Honestly, I'm only Wednesday, and it's still got NFL honors
coming up. This is so much stuff, but please, I
would appreciate you. Go everybody, go and checking that out
over and all those platforms I mentioned earlier. But until
next time. For Nick Facone, Mark Kenmy Jr. And Roy Burton.
This is Born Johnson. Thanks for listening to episode four

(01:17:02):
ninth Straight Shooters and we'll catch you again next week.

Speaker 5 (01:17:05):
Appreci Hey Cravage, wake up the should on?

Speaker 1 (01:17:08):
Oh yeah, Jiggy

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