Origins, Ops & Outta Nowhere: My Story + WrestleMania 41 Predictions

John Knopick kicks off the first episode with listener feedback, philosophical musings, and personal anecdotes. He delves into acting, tech, and social media, then transitions to WrestleMania 41 predictions and match discussions, wrapping up with listener engagement and closing remarks.

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to the initial launching of TheSmorgasbord.
I am John Kanopik, and I honestly have no ideawhat the show is going to be about, hence the
term smorgasbord.
You'll see you'll come to find actually that Iam the kind of person that loves to ramble

(00:25):
about very different things at very differenttimes.
I can go from one topic to another in a quickspan, and I get very long winded, especially
when I'm talking about something that I'm verypassionate about.
Now on this show, you're gonna come to findthat we're gonna be touching a little bit of
everything from conspiracy theories toprofessional wrestling that I've been a huge

(00:46):
fan of for forty plus years to current eventsto the political scene to life events, things
that have gone on in our lives.
I have a bunch of, stories to tell you as we goalong, including one I'm gonna be talking about
here shortly regarding my previous week, whichhas been one of the most insanely, chaotic,

(01:09):
stressful, and insane weeks of my entire fortyfour, almost forty five years on this, spinning
rock that we call the, third rock from the sun.
But, yeah, on this show, you're gonna find thatit is very, very up in the air.
We're gonna be discussing a lot of things.
Case in point, we've got WrestleMania coming upa week from Saturday, and the card looks pretty

(01:35):
stacked.
A lot of people have varying opinions on that.
You know, some people are thinking it's it's asolid looking show.
Other people say that it's, in some spots,looks really weak compared to other years.
And I can see both both sides of the coin.
And that's another part of what the show isgonna be about is user feedback.

(01:56):
I I feed heavily off of everyone's thoughts,opinions.
I love getting getting different perspectives,going back and forth.
Eventually, we're gonna have guests on heredepending on what the topic is for the week's
show.
We're gonna be having a bunch of differentthings, even possibly some fan interaction by

(02:18):
way of feedback on these episodes as they getreleased to your favorite podcast channels such
as YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, etcetera,etcetera.
And I might even throw in some fan live faninteractions as well once I feel a little more,
ballsy and, confident in my abilities here to,put out some solid, solid content, for you guys

(02:42):
out there.
Now this this has been a labor of love for me,for a very long time.
I have always been the kind of person that hasa lot of opinions, has a lot of things that I
wanna say, a lot of things I wanna get off mychest.
As the world and everything changes, I sit backand I do a lot of observing and just taking it

(03:07):
all in and things like that.
And I've always needed an outlet and feelinglike this is absolutely gonna be that chance
for me to do exactly what I've been looking todo, and that's get get this all out there and
just get the conversation going because we haveall of these opinions.
We have all of these thoughts, these thesevisions, and things like that, but we tend to

(03:31):
be very skittish and very hesitant and veryvery reluctant to let them out, and I feel this
is gonna be a free space.
I feel this is gonna be a space where you canpretty much speak your mind to a certain
extent.
Obviously, there are guidelines in place forvulgarity and other things like that, but we're

(03:52):
also not going to be a hard stickler on thecursing and other things like that.
Obviously, there will be certain topics thatare absolutely off topic.
We're not going to be diving into those or evenacknowledging what those are.
But, you know, as well as I do out there incyberspace, there is pretty much room for

(04:12):
everything, and at the same time, there areareas that you should absolutely not be
touching, and I don't even wanna think aboutthose.
But this podcast, being called the smorgasbordis just simply that.
It is a smorgasbord.
It is a melting pot of a forty four, almostforty five year old individual's random

(04:38):
thoughts and beliefs and opinions and feedback,and who knows?
I mean, we could do we we can do lives youknow, live reactions to, like, wrestling events
and things like that or covering breaking newsas it happens depending on what's going on in
the world and stuff like that.
So, you know, there's there's going to be a lotof room for a bunch of different things that

(05:01):
we're gonna be able to dive into here on thisshow.
I initially, when I was gonna be starting thispodcast way back in the day, was looking at
mainly steering towards the conspiracy theoryrealm because I am very a very big proprietor
of not believing everything you see at facevalue.

(05:22):
Because the moment you start just takingeverything you say as gospel, you're
immediately shutting down all possibilities forthings to be any way except for one certain
way, and that's the way that you're being toldthat it should be.
One of my big mottos in my life is questioneverything.
That's why I have a huge question mark tattooon my wrist.

(05:44):
It's also a nod to Jim Carrey's portrayal ofthe Riddler in Batman Forever, which I
absolutely love.
Again, I tend to also divert from my mainpoints, But just to go off a little bit on
that, Jim Carrey to me is my favorite one of myfavorite all time Batman movie characters.
His role of Edward Enigma, aka the Riddler, wasphenomenal.

(06:09):
One of the best right up there with HeathLedger as the Joker, and I know that's very
high praise.
But, yeah.
But my tattoo is a nod to him as well as a wayof saying, you know, question everything.
Don't take anything you see at face value.
Always be digging in a little deeper, doingsome investigation, doing your due diligence

(06:29):
because you never know what you might be ableto uncover once you start digging down in
further and further.
But, yeah, this initially was going to becalled the conspiracy bunker where I was just
gonna be talking about conspiracy theories,random ones past, present, from, you know,
everything from the Bohemian Grove to Pizzagateto UFOs to Area 51 to the JFK assassination,

(06:54):
etcetera, etcetera.
But I didn't wanna shoehorn myself.
I didn't wanna silo myself into one specificniche or genre of what this podcast is going to
be.
So that's the reason why I've called it theSmorgasbord because it's gonna allow me to be
able to go into that that space as well as dothe pro wrestling stuff, as well as doing the

(07:14):
current events stuff, the political landscape,things like that.
You know, peep you know, current life stuff andand things along those lines.
Just to give you a little feedback aboutmyself, a little little bio on me.
Again, like I said, I'm gonna be 45 here inabout a month.
I was born and raised in the, boomingmetropolis, college town known as Iowa City,

(07:40):
Iowa.
I will be a forever Hawkeye, no matter where Icall home.
I I honestly don't recommend if you've everlived in Iowa and you were able to get out,
congratulations.
If you are planning on visiting Iowa, you mayfind it nice.
You may find that Midwestern hospitality to becharming and welcoming.

(08:05):
But believe me, you it's not a place you wannalive for decades on end.
It is a place that, unfortunately, from myperspective and my my life, was filled with a
lot of trauma and drama and heartache for themost part.
It also made me the man I am today somewhat,but at the same time, very glad I left.

(08:28):
And after living there, the majority of mylife, I actually was born the day before or the
day that Mount Saint Helens erupted.
That's my one of my claims to fame.
After living there for over three and a halfdecades, we finally were able to escape Iowa
for the sunny, sunny, sunny, sunniness that isSouthern California.

(08:50):
I was able to get a great job opportunity witha major television station out in SoCal, and I
was able to do some tech support work for them.
You also come to find that I am a massive technerd.
I am known in my in law's family as their geeksquad agent.
Any tech issues they have, I'm the first personthey reach out to, be it via Facebook

(09:13):
Messenger, text, phone, you name it.
But yeah, I was lucky enough to be able to moveout to Southern California in 2016 with my
wife, and we set up shop over in Woodland Hillsin the Valley.
Worked for my TV company for about a year and ahalf.

(09:34):
Then fortunately, they went under Wenderwentzand layoffs, and because I was one of the last
ones in, I was one of the first ones out.
Job title got eliminated, moved me on toanother television station that I absolutely
loved working for.
Got to actually help them build their theirwhite glove concierge tech support service

(09:56):
literally from the ground up.
And not to name drop or anything like that, butI did get to help troubleshoot and tech support
issues for the likes of Terry Bradshaw, AaronAndrews, just to name a few.
Again, one of the highlights of my professionalcareer was getting to do something like that,

(10:17):
not just building something from the ground up,but to being able to help people on that scale
was just a true dream come true.
After that, I moved over to a tech company thatspecialized in open to close, online e
mortgages.
They basically worked you cover to cover, startto finish.

(10:40):
They handled everything, and I loved workingfor them.
One of my best friends, now, I met him, throughthat company, and he and I have been really
good friends since then.
And, yeah, after that, we finally were able tohave my incredible little five year old son.
We now live we moved in 2020 pride right beforethe pandemic.

(11:03):
Decided to move back to Iowa because, you know,that was a fantastic idea.
But we thought, you know, hey.
Let's we finally have our family.
We have our little guy.
Let's move back to our old stomping grounds.
Everything's gonna be unicorn rainbows and andglitter.
And, unfortunately, the AI moved back, they theday we got back, literally twelve hours prior

(11:28):
within twelve hours of meeting him in personfor the very first time, my mother unexpectedly
passed away.
So as I said, Iowa equals trauma, drama, andthings that I would just rather not revisit.
That was the absolute lowest point of my lifeto this very moment.

(11:49):
Ever since that point, the whole time we werethere, we only lived in Iowa for about a year
and a half after that.
And even with the pandemic going on, it wasstill a main major, major, major train wreck
cluster, you know what, and I couldn't wait tofind a way to get out of there.
I ended up working for another televisionstation, sensing a theme.

(12:12):
And luckily, through them, I was able to getwhat they considered to be a promotion and to
take on the role of an IT manager in trainingfor a television station down in Birmingham,
Alabama.
So in 2022 2021, we moved to Calera, Alabama,and that was a culture shock.

(12:37):
Going from Iowa to Southern California back toIowa down to Alabama.
And, yeah, Alabama was interesting to say theleast.
Unfortunately, the individuals I worked for,the higher ups, had a bull's eye on me from
square one and were trying to find any reasonthey could to part ways with me because my my

(13:02):
opinions and my vision that I was my directivesthat I was given for taking over that role
didn't quite jive with the way that they rantheir station, and we butted heads a lot.
And, unfortunately, they were able to find away to, essentially cut me out.
Got a really nice severance out of the deal andsome time off, but, yeah, it was a definite

(13:27):
shock to the system.
And in this entire time, just an FYI, since2016, my wife has had the luxury of not being
able to need to hold an actual nine to fiveoffice job because of the money that I've been
making throughout my my tech, spots.
She's been able to focus on her labor of love,which is, her novel.

(13:49):
She's writing a series currently, a young adultseries, and we'll be talking to more about that
later.
And she's in actually in the process of gettingready to publish the first one, so I'll be
definitely mentioning that as time goes along.
But going back to Alabama, yeah, culture shock.
Big culture shock.
It was nice to have the Gulf Of America, k,just a couple hours down south from us in

(14:15):
Calyria because we were, like, literally rightin the middle of the state.
So we had Gulf Of America Couple Hours south,Panama City Beach, Mobile, Alabama, Pensacola,
all that down there.
And we we frequented it a few times.
And then up north, a couple hours north was, mysister, my incredible sister.
I have a couple, one I don't talk to, and wemight get into that at some point here, but,

(14:41):
when we talk about family trauma and thingslike that.
But my incredible sister, she lives, at thetime, she lived two hours north of us in just
South of Nashville in a little town calledSpring Hill, Tennessee, where she still calls
home.
And it was nice being able to have family thatclose because when we lived in California, all
of our family was back in Iowa, so definitelywasn't as close.

(15:05):
But we were able to set up shop in Alabama fora couple years, and we enjoyed the area for the
most part, but we definitely knew it was notgoing to be like our forever home type
environment.
So the position after I lost the position withthat television station, I was able to get on

(15:26):
with a phenomenal record label that I currentlyam proud to be still employed and associated
with and have been now for just over threeyears, and that allowed us to move up to
Jackson, Tennessee, aka Little Gunshot Alley.
If you guys are familiar with WesternTennessee, especially near the Memphis area,

(15:52):
you'll come to find that that is not the safestplace for people to reside, especially people
who have young families.
And Memphis is about an hour west of Jackson,and unfortunately, Memphis' crime and all of
the other negative stuff has been slowly makingits way eastbound and has started to infiltrate

(16:16):
Jackson more and more, so much so that I didn'teven feel comfortable having my wife and son go
to our local live public library for story timeevery week because they'd been approached by so
many transients and other people, and it wasjust not a safe area.
But we lived there for a year.
We had to do the whole lease thing becausewe've been renting to own.

(16:36):
Just don't have the credit right now to be ableto get a, actually buy a house nor did we feel
like we wanted to set up roots there.
But after that year was up, we were fortunateenough to find a spot here in Columbia,
Tennessee, where I now call home at the currenttime, just about six miles away from my,
incredible sister in Spring Hill.

(16:57):
We're about 40 miles south of Nashville, sowe're right in a very good spot here in Middle
Tennessee.
My son and wife have been thriving in thisarea.
He has made made he makes fast friends.
If you ever met him or got you ever get achance to meet him, he he has an infectious

(17:17):
personality, and he grows on you so quick.
Very quick witted just like his dad.
Very, very intelligent like his mom.
And, yeah, he made him and, he made some verygood friends that he's been building out, I
call his crew, his group of friends, and my mywife who's been who's not a very big social

(17:39):
butterfly.
She's expanded her social circle too and hasbecome more comfortable and has really enjoyed
getting to know our little dude's parents, andshe's made fast friends with them as well.
They've helped us out in a pinch more than amore than a few times since we've been here.
And So now we call Jackson home.

(18:02):
Jacks I'm sorry.
Jackson.
Wow.
Yeah.
We call Columbia, Tennessee home.
And, yeah, I definitely feel like this is anarea where we could definitely look at setting
up roots as time goes along.
It's a place where you can get everything youneed all within a good distance.

(18:22):
Things aren't massively spread out, spreadapart.
Crime, at least in our area here, we're inNorthern Columbia, just literally we're we're
by a massive GM plant in between the border ofColumbia and Spring Hill.
So this area of Columbia is really nice.
We're in a brand new development.
Our house was built just in February of lastyear.

(18:47):
So it's only been here just a little overalmost a year and a half.
Not probably a year and a half.
But, yeah, no no issues with crime or anythingup here or anything like that.
You have to get further down into Columbia andfurther south before you start running into any
kind of, you know, negative connotationnegative environments or anything like that.
And plus the fact that with Nashville, unlikeJackson, unlike Kalira, there's a lot more to

(19:15):
do here, a lot more for me and my family to dohere.
We frequent quite a lot of the or we havefrequented quite a few Nashville Predators
games.
We've gone to some Nashville Sounds baseballgames, and in addition to that, we've had other
opportunities.
We've gone up to Murfreesboro, which is aboutan hour forty five minutes to an hour northeast

(19:38):
of here, and there's a, like, a go kart trackand a mini golf mini golf course and bowling
alleys.
My son loves doing that stuff.
He's looking forward to going back up there.
And even even still, my wife's family is backin Iowa, and we are able to drive.
It's about an eight eight and a half hour drivefrom here to Iowa because, again, don't have

(20:02):
the money, unfortunately, right now to do thewhole flying back and forth.
So we're able to at least drive.
It's, again, much easier than if we were stillin California.
So everything everything we need essentially iswith is centrally located here.
You will also come to find, tying into thingsthat you can do around here and and and

(20:25):
opportunities, that I am an aspiring still anaspiring actor.
I love performing.
I love improv.
When I lived in California, I did do someimprov for a local theater out in Burbank
called the LA Connection.
It unfortunately made us have to pay them amonthly fee to be able to perform, which is

(20:49):
kind of backwards.
We didn't even get a cut of the gate at all,the amount of people that showed up for our
performances and things, but it allowed me toat least perform.
And I got to have the honor of performing onthe main stage of Flappers in Burbank alongside
Edie McClure, known by a lot of people as Gracefrom Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

(21:12):
That was a dream come true.
Getting to perform on stage with her and justriffing back and forth was a time of my life.
But I got to do improv there.
I tried doing some improv here in Nashville.
Unfortunately, haven't been able to really landany gigs.
I've gone out for some for some troops here,but either didn't get it and didn't hear any

(21:39):
feedback or didn't get it and really didn't getmuch in the way of productive and constructive
feedback.
So, yeah, that was kind of a downer a littlebit, just because I like being able to, as I
said, I love being able to perform.
I love being able to make people laugh, makepeople smile.
I love engaging and getting people to just tobuy into what I'm what I'm doing.

(22:04):
I have done the local theater scene when Ilived in Iowa.
I did some productions up there, someunderground theater plays and things like that.
Didn't really do any theater work when I wasout in California.
I did do a few little like central castingbackground stuff where it didn't really amount
to anything.
Like I was a background extra on Lethal Weapon.

(22:26):
I was a background extra on a couple othershows as well, but I never really even saw
myself on those episodes.
And then in Alabama, I didn't really partake inany theater there as well.
Up here in Tennessee, I did take part in AChristmas Story in Jackson where I was Santa

(22:49):
Claus.
So I was essentially seen but not heard.
And that was fun mainly because of the factthat I got to at least make the crowd laugh and
get to do my loud booming voice and got tomake, you know, all these wisecracks and things
when the kids were coming up to tell tell mewhat they wanted for Christmas.

(23:10):
And another highlight was on one of our lastshows.
I actually got to go out front in the lobbybefore the the show actually started, and my
wife and son excuse me.
My my wife and son showed up to thatperformance, and I have a photo of my son
sitting on my lap with me in full Santacostume, and that that's something that I will

(23:30):
cherish forever is getting to have him sit onmy lap, telling Santa what he wants knowing
that, hey.
It's actually data under there.
So that was that was just an an incredibletime.
And I loved the cast.
I loved everybody out there, and it's throughit's through Jackson Theater Guild, so I send a
massive hat tip to the Jackson Theater Guild.

(23:51):
And I highly recommend if you do ever find yourway up into Jackson, Tennessee, catch a show
there.
They put on incredible, incredibleperformances, and you will not be disappointed,
if you attend one of those.
But, yeah, here in Nashville, again, I haven'tdone any theater work yet.
We've been here not even quite a year.

(24:13):
Been here since the June.
I have done some extra work.
I did five different extra scenes tied intoepisodes for an upcoming Amazon show being
released called Scarpetta that stars NicoleKidman and Jamie Lee Curtis, just to name a
few.
I'll be I played a role of lab technician, andI got to play the same role all five times that

(24:39):
they called me back for that.
So, not a speaking role or anything like that,but I have a feeling you'll definitely see me
on camera at least in a couple episodes.
So that was solid.
And then just recently here within the lastweek, I got to take part in a background role
as a diner patron for a feature film rollingout, called I Can Only Imagine two, which is a

(25:03):
sequel to the original I Can Only Imagine,starring Milo Milo Ventricle Melania.
I am I am butchering the last name, and Iapologize.
And if for some shocking reason, Milo, youlistened to this episode, I apologize a
thousand times over, and please forgive me.

(25:24):
I actually got to meet him briefly as we wereheading to set.
He was actually in the van that I was ridingin, and he's incredibly down to earth and
incredibly humble and even even more so on set.
Just interacting with the crew, the other cast,very, very down to earth.
I also got to interact briefly with TraceAdkins, which was another shock that wasn't

(25:50):
expecting.
I know he's in the movie, but I was notexpecting it.
Very, very tall dude and voice just as deep asyou you hear on the radio and you see on TV.
I didn't get to interact with him that much,but he definitely also seemed like a really
nice guy.
And, yeah, it was it was an incredible day andone that I absolutely loved getting to do and

(26:15):
would jump at the opportunity to do it againshould it arise.
But yeah.
So, I mean, that's that's a little bit about mein a nutshell.
As I said, you know, I am I'm a nerd.
Proud of it.
Been a nerd very long time, as long as I canremember.
You want me to throw back to how old I am?

(26:37):
I my first computer was a Head Start Explorerthat my parents got for me when I was five
years old.
So, not a day goes by that I'm not on a pieceof technology in some form or fashion like
here, recording the podcast as we speak.
Yeah.
I I love I love technology.
I have a PlayStation five.
You'll find me on there most nights justplaying games, everything from right now, I've

(27:01):
been, replaying Forspoken because I didn't geta chance to finish it last time I played it.
Playing sports games, WWE two k 20 five, ofcourse, MLB the show.
I've been playing Assassin's Creed Shadows.
I'm a huge, huge fan of Borderlands.
Cannot wait for Borderlands four to come out.
It is going to be the chef's kiss.

(27:23):
Every every iteration that they've released hasbeen phenomenal, And I just savored it.
I didn't just play it straight through as fastas I could, I just enjoyed every single second
of it.
Assassin's Creed has that same space in myheart as well for the most part.
They have had some iterations of that game thatI have not been a fan of, like Assassin's Creed

(27:43):
Black Black Flag.
I wasn't a fan of having to, you know, just beon a pirate ship the most majority of the time.
Or the Assassin's Creed Revolution, the onethat was centered around the American
Revolutionary War.
Wasn't a big fan of that one either.
Those were the only two little, little twooddities out of the whole series that I didn't

(28:05):
really jive with.
Another series that I'm crazy about is Far Cry.
I've played all of them all the way throughsix.
Giant Giancarlo, it's Zito.
Giancarlo, I'm not sure how to say his lastname.
One of my all time favorite actors, and he wasthe main protagonist in that game, and he just

(28:27):
killed it.
He knocked it out of the park.
Every single role that he is in, he just blowsme away with how with how amazing he is.
And yeah.
So definitely a fan of Far Cry.
Of course, who would be a nerd without sayingthat they're looking forward to GTA six finally

(28:50):
dropping?
Rockstar Games after all this time over adecade, we finally get GTA six, and I cannot
wait to play that game.
It's it's looking amazing, and it's gonna havea female cast member for one of the first times
ever that you actually get to play with.

(29:10):
Looking really, really, really looking forwardto that.
I mean, there are other games, you know, that Ithat I've played as well, Elden Ring and things
of that nature.
So I'm I'm all over the board from first personshooter to sports to, traditional role playing,
you know, you name it.

(29:32):
Just like the just like the podcast here, thesmorgasbord, I'm very eclectic when it comes to
most things, video games, stuff I'm passionateabout, things along those lines.
Yeah.
So, you know, again, I'm also an open book.
So anything anything you wanna know about me, II implore you when you listen back to this.

(29:54):
Shoot me an email.
I'm gonna be throwing up socials here, creatingsocials as we go.
I'm planning on setting up domains for thesmorgasbord.com and other things like that and
getting getting the word out on social media.
I have a massive, massive platform now that Iam absolutely proud to be power proud to be

(30:19):
part of, and that I've just recently engagedwith some people on that have allowed me a
platform to be able to make my podcastingdreams and things come true, and that is the
Midcat Midwest Podcasting Network.
I'm sending a massive shout out right now tothe mid cat Midwest.

(30:39):
I can say it.
I swear to god.
I'm sending a massive shout out to the MidwestPodcasting Network as well as the SCENE
projects, which is also tied to that.
Both of these are ran by the phenomenallyincredible Bubba Starts.
And Bubba, thank you so much for theopportunity that you're giving me to not only

(31:00):
put up this very eclectic show on your network,but to be able to help you as well with the
other shows that we're gonna be, pouring up onthe the network as time goes along.
I also wanna send another massive hat tip outto Michael.
He's, with Podcast.ai.

(31:21):
Michael is a genius in no uncertain terms.
He is his ability to create things using AI andusing all these the new technology and software
out there to allow us to create amazing things,like from my logo to show ideas and things like

(31:43):
that.
And there are a lot of big contractualagreements and things that are on the books or
in the in the cards right now and in in workingbehind the scenes that are gonna absolutely
blow you guys away, and he is a massive,massive part of that.
He's actually out of Toronto, Canada.
So good sending a nice big shout out to myCanadian friend up there, Michael.

(32:06):
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very, very, very much for all of yourassistance and guidance through this here, just
in in its infancy.
So, yeah, at this point now, I want to switchgears away from myself.
I'm going over everything that, you know, makesme who I am, and I wanna quickly, run down what

(32:29):
is currently, slated for the WrestleMania fortyone card and give you guys my quick thoughts
and opinions on, the different matches that areout there, as well as what I feel might be a
couple more matches that have not officiallybeen announced, but I think might be announced
based off of goings on currently in the WWEworld, as well as give you my quick little

(32:51):
predictions for what I feel is going to happen.
So let's dive in, shall we, to the WrestleManiaforty one predictions and, opinions section of
this this Smorgasbord debut episode.
So we're gonna start off with night one of theWrestleMania forty one card.

(33:13):
Starting off with the confirmed matches fornight one, we've got Tiffany Stratton taking on
Charlotte Flair in a singles match for the WWEWomen's Championship.
I need to say first and foremost, I've beenreading a lot of articles regarding what the
initial script was going to be for their backand forth little tete a tete that they had this

(33:41):
past Friday on SmackDown.
And if you read it and if it was if it actuallyis legitimate, it probably would have flown
over like a lead balloon.
It really didn't it didn't really progress thefew progress the feud the way it should have.
That being said, the women decided toessentially go into business for themselves and

(34:04):
start getting personal, start ripping on eachother, back and forth in ways that the
backstage people were starting to rip out theirhair.
And, I couldn't have been happier to see that.
From and you could tell the Chicago crowd theentire time was 100% on Tiffy time.

(34:29):
Charlotte was just completely out of herleague, not only with what Tiffany was saying,
but in addition to the way the crowd wasreacting, and you could tell it was frazzling
her.
To the point that at the very end of theirlittle verbiage, their verbal, war back and
forth, Tiffany got in one final shot ofessentially saying, you know, you're you're

(34:51):
going to end up, alone, o and three, just likeoutside of the ring.
Obviously, a nod to Charlotte's now threepreviously failed marriages.
And you could tell Charlotte was definitelytaken aback by that, and the crowd was eating
it up.
So much so that Tiffany was able to get out ofthe ring, and even as Tiffany was walking away,

(35:15):
Charlotte tried to get in one final little shotsaying, yeah, well then why is, Ludwig Kaiser
the stage name of Tiffany Stratton's real lifeboyfriend?
Why is Ludwig in my DMs?
So Charlotte was just trying to save face thereat the end, and obviously, it's like when a
boxer is knocked out and they're still tryingto throw that last punch even though they're

(35:38):
already on the canvas.
That's literally what Charlotte was doing.
So at this point, unless WWE absolutely wantsto turn the crowd against them and burn down
this momentum that Tiffany has been gainingwith and and the confidence she's been building
with her last few promos and things, I see themkeeping the strap on Tiffany.

(36:01):
I don't see them putting it back on Charlotteat this point.
Even though when the she the initial plan whenshe got out, when she reappeared in the Rumble
this year was for Charlotte to be a babyfaceand to, you know, ascend back to her rightful
spot at the top of the card and on on thethrone.
It has not played out that way.

(36:21):
Charlotte has absolutely be played become theheel, and the crowd basically has told her in
no uncertain terms, we don't want you here.
You don't need to be here.
We don't want you back.
And because of that, I think I definitely seeTiffany retaining, and this will only help to
boost her star status as she continues to,reign as the WWE Women's Champion on SmackDown.

(36:46):
Next match that's been confirmed on the nightone will be Gunther taking on, main event Jay
Uso for the World Heavyweight Championship,which is from a Raw, Monday Night Raw that both
these gentlemen are on.
And to say the least, their little feud buildupstarted out with a shock with Jay actually

(37:09):
winning the Royal Rumble.
I can honestly tell you, and I know a lot ofpeople agree, none of us thought that Jay was
gonna be winning that thing.
None of us thought that he was gonna be pullingit out.
They're thinking, who is gonna be in the lastfour?
That's great, great showing, but it's gonna bepunk or it's gonna be, you know, Roman or, you
know, somebody or or Sena.

(37:30):
It's not gonna be it definitely won't be Jay,but he shocked the world, and Jay won.
So because of that, he got to pick who hewanted to face for the world heavyweight champ
or for his, world title match, and he couldhave picked between Gunther or Cody Rhodes.
And, obviously, we'll get to Cody here in alittle bit.
But Jay decided, you know, hey.

(37:52):
Gunther basically poked and prodded him andpoked him and poked him and poked him to the
point that Jay said, you know what?
I've decided, you know, I'm I'm not gonna wait.
I I'm choosing you.
And, again, you know, their feud kinda startedoff kinda slow.
It was just this whole Jay is scared, goingthrough and just acting like this arrogant
prick for no one in certain terms as hischaracter is going, you know, you're you're not

(38:17):
in my league.
You have no business being here.
You don't even deserve this this titleopportunity that you're getting.
But Jay has been gaining more and moremomentum.
I went to the Raw that was here at theBridgestone in Nashville.
And when he came out, that reaction, I have iton video, I got goosebumps.
And I went to WrestleMania thirty two inDallas, and when Bray came down rest in peace,

(38:44):
Bray.
Love you.
When Bray came down with the Fireflies and the,the Wyatt family, I had some of the most
massive goosebumps I'd ever had ever ever goingto a wrestling event.
Jay's appearance just on Raw in Nashville gaveme goosebumps of a similar nature.
Because of that, just he's got, you know, thecrowd.

(39:08):
It's just this organic crowd following a laDaniel Bryan's lead up to WrestleMania thirty
when he started the Yes Movement, whicheventually led to him winning and defeating the
entire group of Evolution, Triple H in firstmatch of WrestleMania thirty, and then Randy
Orton and Batista in the main event later thatnight.

(39:29):
But, yeah, Jay has been gaining more and moremomentum and more and more confidence.
And just in the last few weeks, especially inone of their last encounters where Gunther
savagely bloodied the living you know what outof Jay's brother Jimmy and had Jay zip tied to

(39:51):
the middle rope making Jay watch as Guntherjust pounded and pounded and pounded Jimmy away
to the point where Gunther was smearing Jimmy'sblood all over his body and holding the belt
right out in front of Jay saying this is theclosest you're ever gonna get.
This is the closest you're ever gonna get.
And then the next week, this past Monday, Jaycame out and Gunther was gonna talk.

(40:14):
He was all smug with his red tie and his suit.
And Jay just smacked that microphone out of hishand.
He spoke from the heart.
He used his real name.
He asked Gunther, you know, do you have amother?
And he he went into a long promo about, youknow, having to face his mother Jay having to

(40:37):
face his mother saying, why couldn't youprotect your brother?
Why couldn't you protect him?
And Jay just seething.
Like, literally, you could feel through thetelevision that Jay wanted to rip off Gunther's
head and use it as a basketball.
It was that passionate and incredible of apromo on Jay's part and really helped to

(41:00):
further this feud.
That being said, you know, it was one of thefirst times you actually and they even said it
on Raw.
It says one of the first times where Gunther'sback on his heels.
He hasn't been on his heels this entire time,but now with that promo by Jay and Jay's focus
and Jay's viewpoint, he's locked in.

(41:21):
And as much as I could see Gunther retaining, Ijust I feel they're gonna they're gonna give
Jay a shot with this.
They're gonna give Jay his final or his hisfinally give Jay his opportunity to, ascend to
the mountaintop.
And that's gonna be, like, one of the feel goodmoments of the night, I feel, is, Jay capturing

(41:48):
the World Heavyweight Championship andcelebrating with Jimmy and his family and
everybody else is gonna be in attendance there.
But it is going to be a bloody match.
If they don't bleed, I will be shocked.
It it's I'm surprised it's just still a regularsingles match.
I'm surprised they haven't already added thestipulation of, like, no holds barred or

(42:09):
something more sinister.
And I could maybe see them doing that possiblyon the go home raw here, coming up next week.
But yeah, that match I'm absolutely lookingforward to.
Next match that's been announced, for night oneis the main event of the night, and that is

(42:29):
Roman Reigns, the tribal chief, the OTC, versusSeth freaking Rollins, a fellow Iowa boy from
Buffalo, Iowa.
They say Davenport, Iowa, but he's actuallyfrom Buffalo, which is about about a half an
hour, forty minutes north of Davenport in theQuad Cities, versus the first time WrestleMania

(42:50):
main eventer, a young upstart by the name ofChick Magnet Punk, aka Phil Brooks, aka
Centimeters Punk.
This one this one's been building for a while.
Roman Roman gotten interjected into it more sokind of started with, back in survivor series

(43:10):
where Roman needed, Paul needed help becauseRoman was down a man in their five on five
against the blood the new bloodline.
And Paul called in his favor to his bestfriend, Centimeters Punk, who agreed to be the
fifth man and essentially helped them win the,WarGames match.

(43:31):
So before that though, when Punk made his,triumphant return to WWE after more than ten
years away back at Survivor Series twentytwenty three in Chicago.
Still one of the greatest returns in thehistory of the company.
And just that pop that everybody gave it wasjust it literally blew the roof off of the

(43:53):
United Center, and it was fantastic.
But ever since he came back, Seth has been oneof the biggest proprietors that feels that punk
has no business being back with this companyand hates him with the fire of a thousand suns.
That's a direct quote.
If you know that what movie that's from, athousand points to you and a thousand points to

(44:14):
Gryffindor.
Slytherin, actually, is the best house.
But, Punk and Seth have been feuding ever sincePunk got back in 02/2023.
He has also been feuding with Drew McIntyre.
Drew, obviously, is not in this match.
He's got his own little situation that he'sdealing with.
But Punk and Drew also had their little battlesbetween 02/2023 and now.

(44:39):
But this match was essentially, you know, setup as a triple threat just from the fact that
everybody hates everybody in this match.
Roman can't stand Seth, hasn't been able tostand stand Seth since Seth broke up the shield
many moons ago with the chair shot to the back,heard around the world.

(45:00):
Seth can't stand Roman because, you know, wholebloodline and have it feel like Roman was the
god for over four plus years.
Centimeters Punk again, you know, the reasonwhy him and Seth have had a blood feud because
they just don't like each other.
And then Centimeters and Roman have recentlykind of started cut be at odds because, you
know, Paul loves them both, and Roman doesn'tlike the fact that Paul loves them both.

(45:25):
And Paul Roman wants Paul all to himself.
So punk called in his favor.
Punk punk told Paul, you know, hey.
I'm gonna help you out at war games, but you'regonna owe me a favor.
And Paul thought the favor was going to bemaking sure that this triple threat match was
gonna close the night and be a main event ofWrestleMania.
And Punk signed the contract and then toldPaul, hey, Paul.

(45:48):
Yeah.
That's not the favor.
And everybody's like, oh, what's the favorgonna be?
What's the favor gonna be?
And as of now, the favor is is that Paul isgoing to be in Centimeters Punk's corner and
walking him down the aisle to this matchinstead of Roman Reigns or Seth.
But I'm not sold on that, and a lot of peoplearen't either.

(46:11):
Just this past Monday, Seth was getting readyor Seth and, Centimeters Punk battled because
Paul was in the ring, and Seth came in, andSeth was getting ready to essentially beat the
crap out of Paul.
Punk come came down trying to save him.
Seth curb stomped him and then looked at Paul.
And before Seth left the ring, said, Paul, nowyou owe me a favor.

(46:36):
So this is leading everybody, myself included,to believe that what's going to happen is this
Monday night on Raw, the the final episodebefore WrestleMania.
At some point, they will announce that theactual stipulation, these favors and things, I
have a feeling is going to be that the winnerof this, and they'll either either announce it

(47:01):
on Raw or they may save it until after nighttwo of WrestleMania ends.
They're gonna announce that the winner of thistriple threat match will be becoming the number
one contender for the undisputed WWEchampionship and will immediately get a chance
to wrestle the winner of Cody Rhodes and JohnCena, which will be closing night two of

(47:26):
WrestleMania next Sunday night, the twentieth.
So that I feel is what's going to happen withthe as far as what the favor is.
I don't feel the favor was just, I want you towalk me down the aisle for this match because
that'd be a very underwhelming favor,especially if you remember back.
And if you're a wrestling fan, you should.

(47:47):
In 2013, Paul actually said to CentimetersPunk, I am looking forward to the day where I
can walk you down the aisle at the main eventof WrestleMania as you battle for the WWE
championship.
So why not make that a reality?
My choice, although all three of these guyshave a claim to win this match, I would rank it

(48:13):
for my lowest to highest probability ofwinning.
I would say Roman is gonna be least chance ofwinning.
Seth would be second.
My pick is going to be Centimeters Punk.
I feel Paul eventually is is is allegiance toPunk will come through even though he's gonna

(48:34):
look like he's gonna be trying to help each oneof these gentlemen.
I see Punk winning and going on, and that'llfeed into my thoughts for night two.
And then moving on to night two, we've got twoso far confirmed matches.

(48:54):
Right now the first match is another triplethreat, Only this time, it's for the WWE
Women's World Championship.
Io Sky, the current Women's Champion, will betaking on the EST of WWE, Bianca Belair, taking
on Rhea Bloody Ripley.
And this has really become entertaining moreand more, as time has gone on.

(49:22):
Now Bianca, she's done everything she's neededto do to earn her spot in this match, as she
also said on Monday Night Raw.
She won the elimination chamber match, whichgave her the ability to to challenge the

(49:44):
women's world champion, who at the time wasRhea Ripley.
Rhea unfortunately lost it to Io because Biancawas sitting on the outside of the ring.
Ria took her eye off the ball, got distractedby Bianca.
Io took advantage, and Io won the championship.
Io is now the champion.
But Bianca has been very strong through this.

(50:04):
She had a very strong showing in, the RoyalRumble.
Unfortunately, didn't win.
Obviously, Charlotte won that, and that's whyshe picked Tiffy for her opponent.
But Bianca won the the elimination chamber,which gave her the ability to challenge for
this championship.
And then Ria and Io had been battling back andforth.

(50:24):
And essentially, they had a match and Riawasn't able to win.
So it was going to be Io Sky versus BiancaBelair.
It was gonna be a one on one match for thechampionship.
Ria was not happy with that fact.
Rio was not going to let that fact just sit andjust become gospel.

(50:46):
So she's been interjecting herself andbasically making Io feel like a redheaded
stepchild.
They've been shoving Io out of the way whenthey've been Bianca and Ria have been battling
back and forth.
They've tried to rekindle that rivalry they hadwhen they were in NXT.
And they've been shoving Io out of the way, andIo's finally been saying, you know what?

(51:09):
Screw this.
I'm done.
I'm finished.
I've had it.
And she's been fired up a lot lately.
And that's what's gonna make this this matchvery interesting is the fact that Bianca and
Ria are definitely alpha females to say theleast, and they have massive egos and massive
attitudes.
And Io is this quiet champion with a very meanstreak when she wants to have one.

(51:34):
And because of that fact, I think I honestlythink that Io is gonna retain.
I don't I don't see.
I see Bianca or either Bianca or Ria is orthey're gonna do something that, again, like
they did on Raw, is gonna make them drop dropthe ball, keep take their eye off the ball, and
Io is gonna take advantage, and she's gonnawalk out champion still.

(51:58):
And both of them are gonna be fuming at eachother, and that's gonna lead to a a feud, and
they're gonna have, you know, a a rivalry.
That's gonna lead to a match between the two ofthem going forward, and Io will move on to her
next challenger.
So at this point, I feel Io is going to retainher championship and remain women's champion.
The next match I'm seeing here is going to beCody Rhodes, the current undisputed WWE

(52:25):
champion versus John Cena.
And I'm gonna give you my opinion on that herein just one second, because I definitely have a
lot to say about Cena.
So give me just one moment.
Alright.
So the next match on the card that has beenconfirmed so far is Cody Rhodes versus John

(52:45):
Cena, which is for the undisputed WWEchampionship.
Now this one definitely has some history, tiedwith it.
Now going back, way back old school,unfortunately, Dusty Rhodes, Cody's father, was

(53:08):
never able to win the true WWE championship.
That was one of the biggest things, was thatRhodes had never held a WWE heavyweight
championship in the history of the company.
Cody, who obviously, if you knew if you watchedWWE growing up, was in WWE to begin with.

(53:32):
He did some very horrible gimmicks from dashingCody Rhodes to his Stardust gimmick.
Left the company, helped start an upstart rivalpromotion with some of his buddies, a promotion
that I am I am a fan of.
I am not.
This is not Marvel and DC here at all.

(53:55):
I am just as much of an AEW fan as I am a WWEfan.
But he helped start AEW alongside his goodfriends, the Young Bucks, as well as Kenny
Omega, who I absolutely adore, and Hangman AdamPage.
Cody went over there, did some good stuff forthem for a few years, and then made his way
back to WWE.
And everything since his return to WWE wasabout Cody being able to finish his story,

(54:21):
finish the story of the Rhodes legacy andfinally hit the mountaintop and become world
champion.
Unfortunately, WrestleMania thirty ninehappened and he took on Roman and didn't get
the job done.
So he had to wait an entire another year toWrestleMania forty, where Cody was able to win
the the Royal Rumble a second time.

(54:42):
And in doing so, was able to finally finish thestory with the help of, at the time, a good
John Cena foreshadowing, as well as TheUndertaker and the Usos, Jay Usos helping out
as well to clear the clear the riffraff toallow Cody to finally topple Roman Reigns and

(55:05):
Roman Reigns' four plus year reign as championand become the world or the undisputed WWE
champion, which he still is to this day.
Now that's the history on the Cody side.
The history on the Cena side is more of ashock.
And again, as a kid growing up loving wrestlingfrom the from a a very young age, I was alive,

(55:27):
thriving, a thriving teenager when bash at thebeach happened WCW's bash at the beach
happened, and it was Holland Nash, theoutsiders, taking on, Sting, Lex Luger, and
Randy Savage.
It was three on two.
And they were like, we're gonna have a thirdman.
Everybody's like, who's gonna be the third man?

(55:48):
And nobody knew who's gonna be.
And the match broke down, and eventually, Hogancame out.
Everybody's like, oh, Hogan, he's coming outwith the red and yellow.
He's gonna save the day.
And Bobby, brain Heenan, RIP.
Love you, Bobby.
Greatest one of the greatest Mike guys of alltime.
He he said the ultimate words, but whose sideis he on?

(56:12):
And, obviously, as as, you know, as his storyas history tells us and shows us, Hogan gets in
the ring, pushes off the referee, and promptlydrops a leg drop right on to Randy Savage.
And he was the third man, and he kicked off theNWO at that point.
I have a lot of NWO gear.
I'm currently wearing NWO sweatpants as wespeak.

(56:34):
I love the NWO.
Still due to this day.
So, yeah, that was, like, at the time, the mostshocking heel turn probably in the history of
professional wrestling, from most people'sstandpoint.
That is until, the elimination chamber thisyear in Toronto.

(56:54):
Essentially, Cena was in the chamber match.
He said, you know, I earned this after mytwenty five years of service to the WWE.
I have a right to be in this match.
I'm gonna be in this match.
So I'm in.
I'm not qualifying.
I'm just in.
And he made his way in.
And unfortunately, you know, Punk was in thereas well, but for the bunch of other guys like

(57:16):
Seth and Drew and stuff.
And Seth had just gotten eliminated.
Punk was looking like he was going to win thechamber and may you know, get it his title
opportunity at WrestleMania, much the same way,you know, Bianca did on the women's side.
But as Punk, they were just getting ready toleave.
Seth had just gotten, eliminated and gettingready to leave the chamber.

(57:38):
The door was open, and he came back up thesteps and curb stomped Punk.
Cena pulled him back in, took advantage, andCena won the match.
Cena became the number one, you know, becamethe the number one contender.
And later on in the night, well, actually,right, actually, take that back.
After that match, Cody came down to well,actually yeah.

(58:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cody came down to thank him, you know, to sayto set up their little you know, to
congratulate him and say, hey.
We're gonna have a great match.
Rock came down afterwards because The Rockbasically told Cody, hey.
Earlier, I want your soul.
And at Elimination Chamber, we're gonna have adiscussion.
So you have Rock, Cody, and Cena in the ring.

(58:23):
Rock telling Cody, you know, it's time.
And Cody's like, know, I can't give you my soulbecause I've already given my soul to this
ring, these fans, and.
And then he tells Rock in no uncertain termsand not bleeped out on WWE.
And yes, I'm going to curse one time becauseit's my show and I can.

(58:43):
Well, I'm I'm gonna I'm still going to bleep itout just because I don't wanna get in trouble
just in the off chance that we get thispublished out there and things like that.
But, basically, he tells tells Rock he says,hey, Rock.
Go fornicate yourself.
It's such it's literally what he said word forword, and they didn't bleep it out.
It was on Netflix, but they didn't bleep itout.
Everybody's like, oh, no.

(59:04):
He didn't know.
Woah.
What's he gonna what's gonna happen next?
And then you look behind Cody and Cena standingthere.
And Cena Rock does this little finger on thethroat slash thing, and Cena's demeanor
changes.
For twenty five years, Cena has been thehustle, loyalty, respect, make a wish champion,

(59:28):
good guy up and down the line, and seen hisdemeanor just changes.
And we're like, he's doing it.
They're finally on it.
This is his this is his retirement tour.
This is his last year of entering competitionin wrestling, and they're finally letting him
do it.
And he finally agreed to it.
And he, spins Cody around.
He smiles at him and then kicks him right inthe mommy daddy button.

(59:52):
And the Cena heel turn begins, And he justbeats the ever loving tar out of Cody, bloodies
him up.
The Rock whips him.
Even Travis Scott, that freaking moron who hadno business being in the ring, pops scene pops
Cody in the ear rupturing his eardrum.

(01:00:13):
But, yeah, he turned heel.
And it was the most shocking, again, right upthere with Hogan in the NWO, one of the most
shocking heel turns in the history of thesport.
And ever since then, Cody or I'm sorry.
Cody's been doing a great job at trying to, youknow, basically tell Cena, hey, this isn't the
guy I want at WrestleMania.

(01:00:33):
I want the hustle royalty respect.
I want the 16 time world champion.
I want that guy, not this weak little femaledog.
Because Cena's just been crying about, oh,well, you guys never you guys never, you know,
acknowledged what I did, and you guys neverloved me.
You guys just used me as a as a toy, and I wasjust a puppet.

(01:00:54):
And then Cody became the new shiny toy, and Igot thrown aside and da da da da da.
So, basically, it's what was me.
At this point, my prediction for this match,now if it all it all kind of stems on who wins
the triple threat, and if they do decide,they're gonna pull that little contract thing

(01:01:17):
at the at the, at the close.
Because if Punk wins, I fully could see Cenataking 17 here, being the becoming the all time
greatest, most win most championship wins inthe history of professional wrestling passing
Ric Flair.
I could see Cena win and then having a PunkCena and then having Punk go over Cena and

(01:01:41):
immediately close the night with Punk on top,winning both main events of night one and night
two.
And then Cena and Punk have a few with Cenatrying to get it back through the summer.
That being said, I could also see Seth possiblywinning the triple threat.
And if he did, that would lead me more towardsseeing Cody potentially retaining because Cody

(01:02:06):
and Seth had some incredible, matches againsteach other once Cody first came back.
So to me, it's up in the air at this point.
My I'm gonna go I'm going to go with Codyretaining.
Again, I could fully see Punk winning bothnights, so that would mean Cena would

(01:02:26):
ultimately win because I don't I don't seeunless they wanna turn Punk heel for some
reason, and I don't see why they would do that.
Because then you would have Cody winning in ahard fought match and then Punk coming on
immediately cashing in the favor and winningthe title.
I don't see him doing that.
I don't see him immediately turning Punk heel.
So at this point, I'm gonna say Cody's gonnaretain.

(01:02:47):
I know I said I I said Punk would win thetriple threat earlier, but I just I can't see
no.
I'm gonna go with Cena.
I'm gonna go with Cena.
I I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna die on that hill.
If punk if if punk wins a triple threat, I seeCena winning the second night and then punk
cashing in on Cena and and walking out aschampion after night two.

(01:03:10):
That that is my pick.
I am locking it in.
I don't need to phone a friend.
Now quickly, will go through the eight matchesthat have not officially been assigned to
cards, night cards just yet.
These matches are AJ Styles versus Logan Paul.
Logan grates on me like nobody's business, butyou gotta give the kid credit.

(01:03:34):
He is an amazingly talented athlete.
He's picked up on things exceptionally fast.
He's, you know, he's he's quickly caught on asone of the fastest rising non athlete based
wrestlers that WWE has ever had.

(01:03:55):
And that's the reason why I feel Paul will goover Styles here.
Styles doesn't need to win.
It does nothing for him if he loses.
If anything, this is gonna give Paul even moremotivation to move him up a little bit higher
in the card and give him more of an ego.
So I would say I would say Paul over styles inthis.
Next match is LA Knight versus LA I'm sorry.

(01:04:18):
Next match is LA Knight, yeah, versus JacobFatu for the WWE United States championship.
I'm giving this one to the werewolf.
I'm saying Fatu is gonna go over Knight.
Knight has been a good champion, but Knighttends to be more of a transitional champion.
He held the belt for a while, did really well,and then Shinsuke took it for a little bit.

(01:04:39):
Knight got it back.
But Fatu has been in an incredible role eversince he stepped foot in the WWE ring.
They have struck stuck a rocket to his back,and he's been launched into superstardom.
So at this point, I see Fatu going overnightand Fatu picking up his first ever singles
championship in the WWE and becoming the WWEUnited States champion.

(01:05:01):
We've got a War Raiders, Erick and Ivar, versusThe New Day, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, in
a tag team match for the WWE World Tag TeamChampionships.
I've been hearing that this might actually goon on next Friday's SmackDown before

(01:05:22):
WrestleMania, which would suck because boththese guys deserve to be both these teams
deserve to be on the WrestleMania card.
New day, obviously, they're legends.
And the War Raiders have been doing phenomenalever since they got the straps.
So they may be going on, during Friday nightSmackDown prior to WrestleMania.
They may not even be in the WrestleMania card.

(01:05:43):
That being said, I feel the War Raiders aregonna retain.
They haven't held the belts long enough.
New Day, well, this is just gonna make themsieve even more and dive even deeper into their
little heel run.
So at this point, I feel the, War Raiders aregonna retain.
The next match, Damian Priest versus DrewMcIntyre in a singles match.

(01:06:08):
Excuse me.
And I see, in this one, Drew actually has alegitimate, eye injury that he suffered, but
they said he should still be good to go forWrestleMania.
At this point, I see McIntyre winning.
I see Drew winning.
Damian's been doing some good things on his ownsince he split from the Judgment Day.

(01:06:30):
However, at this point, I feel Drew needs toget back on the winning ends with winning ways.
And one way to do that is to have an incrediblematch with Damian, which he will come through
and be victorious at WrestleMania.
So Drew is my pick for that match.
Ray Mysterio versus El Grande Americano.

(01:06:54):
Basically, they rehashed the Captain Americagimmick that Hogan used to pull back in the day
when Vince was still in charge.
Anybody who has half a brain realizes that thisis clearly Chad Gable in a Lucha Libre mask.
Ray has taken offense to it and rightfully sobecause Lucha Libre is very it's a it's it's a
heritage.

(01:07:14):
It's a culture.
It is very sacred, and Gable's basically takinga piss on it right now.
Is it funny?
Kind of.
Just the way they've done the video packagesand stuff, but, Ray doesn't think it's funny.
Unfortunately, I feel that El Grande Americanois going to win this one.

(01:07:36):
Due to outside interference from the CreedBrothers and Ivy Nile, I think that he is going
to pick up a cheap win over Rey Mysterio.
He might end up in the process accidentallyrevealing himself as who he is, being really
Chad Gable.
But, yeah, I don't again, Rey doesn't need towin at WrestleMania.

(01:07:56):
I don't see him winning.
So I'm gonna give this one to El GrandeAmericano.
We got Braun Breaker versus Penta versus FinnBalor versus Dominik Mysterio in a fatal four
way for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
This one's been fun.
Not gonna lie.
Braun is an animal among men.

(01:08:18):
That dude just continues to get better weekafter week and honing his craft.
The way he speared Carlito on the ramp way, Istill think Carlito was flying through the air
at this very moment.
That was a truly a thing of beauty.
And Braun's been getting better on the mic too.

(01:08:39):
He was green when he first came up from fromNXT here into main the main roster, but he's
been getting better and better and better.
I don't see Finn or Dominic winning this justbecause, you know, there's really why would you
put it on you could put it on one of them andthen maybe they feud with one another, but I
don't really see a point in that.

(01:08:59):
Penta has been on a hell of a run ever since hemade his debut.
I got to see him when I went to Raw, and he'sincredible in the ring.
His style is like none other, but at thispoint, Braun's retaining.
Braun is just too strong, too powerful, toovicious, and he's got too much momentum on his

(01:09:20):
side at this point.
So Braun is my pick to retain as theIntercontinental Champion.
We've got a grudge match, Jade Cargo versusNaomi.
It was finally revealed that Naomi was the onewho took out Jade, to allow herself to become
partners with Bianca when they were able to,capture the women's tag titles.

(01:09:41):
And then Naomi finally admitted, yeah, I didit.
A lot of it is envy because she sees howsuccessful Jade is.
She sees how much Bianca loves hanging out withJade.
And Naomi finally let her green streak take thebest of her, and she just hauled off and
slammed Jade's head in the well, yeah, mean,they they they destroyed each other, at at

(01:10:06):
Elimination Chamber.
And Naomi finally admitted, yeah, it was me.
I did it.
I'm the one who who who put Jade on the shelf.
And ever since then, like, they've just beenit's been a blood feud.
Even a short blood feud.
It hasn't been a long drawn out one.
It has been from the injury standpoint, but wedidn't really know until just, you know, back

(01:10:27):
at elimination chamber that Naomi was the onewho was responsible for it.
So this is gonna be in a a very vicious match,and I absolutely see Jade winning this.
I wouldn't say it was gonna be a squash matchnecessarily, but I think Jade is going to
destroy her.
So my pick will be Jade over Naomi.

(01:10:49):
And then we've got a gauntlet match todetermine the opponents for Liv Morgan and
Raquel Rodriguez for the women's tag teamchampionships.
And at this point, you know, I depending on whocomes out of that that gauntlet match between
the two of them, I don't see I don't see Livand Raquel losing their match.

(01:11:20):
I see them retaining their women's tag titlesat this point, especially because they don't
even know who's going to be their opponents forthe match.
The the gauntlet match is gonna be actually onSmackDown on the SmackDown before WrestleMania.
So we don't know, you know, exactly what isgonna go down that night.

(01:11:44):
It's gonna be Kaiden or, Katana Chance andKaiden Carter versus or versus Bailey and, the
Intercontinental Champion Lab, Valkyria versusPure Fusion Collective, which is Shayna Baszler
and Zoe Stark versus Mia Yim and B Fab versusPiper Niven and Ivy Nile versus Natalia and,

(01:12:11):
I'm sorry, Piper Niven and, oh, I can'tremember her name.
Isla Dawn.
Sorry.
Piper Niven and Isla Dawn versus Natalia andIvy Nile.
So you have the six women gauntlet match, andone of these six teams is going to be the tag
or the, opponents for the tag women's tagchamps at WrestleMania.

(01:12:37):
It's a hodgepodge.
Essentially, they they didn't have a properfeud for Liv and Raquel, so they were like,
let's throw six teams together, have thembattle it out on SmackDown and a golem match,
and the winner could go into WrestleMania.
And I have a feeling this is gonna probably beon the preshow or on yeah.
So it's probably gonna be on the preshow.
And I mean, at this point, you know, justlooking at them, I'm just gonna go on a limb.

(01:13:06):
I'm just gonna say Lia Volkeria and Bailey aregonna be the ones that'll be, advancing to the
tag title match, where Liv and Raquel willretain their championships.
Just again, because you're you're throwingthese guys together at the last minute.
There's no buildup.
There's no real there's not gonna be anythingif one of them happens to knock off Liv and

(01:13:27):
Raquel.
And there's no distinction between Liv andRaquel either.
So yeah, there's really no reason to say thatthey're not going to retain those titles.
So at this point, that is the WrestleManiacard, and my thoughts and opinions on that.
And in addition to that, we're gonna go aheadand we're gonna wrap up this episode.

(01:13:49):
Again, this has been a very interesting, firstepisode to say the least, and one that I'm
gonna look back on and go, okay.
Now where do we go from here?
And that's where you guys come in.
I need I need the feedback.
I have a lot of ideas.
I have a lot of thoughts and ways I wanna gowith this with this show and different episodes

(01:14:09):
and things I wanna do and talk about and stuff,but, feedback is key.
So I wanna know what you guys wanna hear, whatyou guys wanna talk about, what what interests
you, what's going on in the world that, know,you wanna hear somebody ramble on about and get
some feed or get get their opinion on and riffback and forth with?
So, yeah, at this point, I'm gonna be gettingall my social medias up here shortly.

(01:14:32):
And right now, if you want to reach me, thebest way to reach me would be, my email, which
isjohn,j0hn,@canopic,kn0pick,ventures,ventures,.com.
Again, I'm gonna be locking up the smorgasborddomain names and things here shortly.

(01:14:55):
But, yeah, at this point, that's the best wayto reach me.
I'm gonna be I'm currently on all social mediaright now.
I'm on Facebook.
I'm on Instagram.
I am on X, Twitter, whatever you wanna call it.
You can find me actually on Twitter currently.
I am smorgasbordjk on Twitter.

(01:15:17):
You can only have certain number of characterson there.
Smorgasbordjk is probably gonna be my handle onall social medias, but for right now, it's
active on Twitter.
So if you wanna reach me, that's one definiteway you can do that.
I'm gonna be getting this out to all thepodcasting, outlets, be getting out Spotify,
Apple Podcasts, and everything like that.

(01:15:40):
Yeah.
Thank you guys so very much.
If you've listened to my my rambling and,goings on here for the last hour and change, I
thank you immensely.
I appreciate you.
I really hope you stick with me on this ride.
It's gonna absolutely be a journey, and it'sgonna be one that's gonna be evolving every
single episode as time goes on.

(01:16:01):
And I I'm excited for it, And I'm reallylooking forward to seeing what we can make of
this and seeing how big we could take thisthing.
Yeah.
Because, mean, sky's the limit at this point.
You know?
With all with everything that's going on in theworld, especially here in the year 2025, We got
a lot to talk about, guys, and I'm I'm here forit.
So for now, I'm gonna sign off.

(01:16:23):
This has been the debut episode of thesmorgasbord with John Kanopic.
I, of course, have been John Knoepic.
Thank you very, very, very much for tuning in.
I wish you guys all nothing but the best.
Always remember to question everything and toquote one of my favorite all time lines from

(01:16:43):
one of my favorite all time TV shows.
Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice, pull downyour pants, and slide on the ice.
Have a great one, guys.
Thank you for tuning in, and we'll see you nexttime.