3 YEARS AGO: WWE Raw Review - 2 MAJOR Heel Turns, New United States Champion, Vince vs Pat McAfee

Originally aired in March of 2022:

In this very eventful edition of Monday Night Raw we bring on guest co-host Anthony from Patreon to talk about the possibility of Vince vs Pat McAfee, Randy Orton's potential injury, the brilliance of Chad Gable, the two huge heel turns and much more.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-wwe-podcast--2187791/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the WWE podcast Monday Night Raw Review. Thank
you for joining me, and we're gonna get going in
just a minute. Here with a brand new guest co host,
Anthony from Patreon, who's joining us tonight to talk about
Monday Night Raw, the WrestleMania implications, the massive two heel
turns that took place on the show, a new United
States Champion, and so much more. Definitely a lot to

(00:22):
talk about, so let's get everything started right after this.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre, and you're listening to
the WWE podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Show, the one that everybody wants me.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
I'll start for sixteen, said just Russ.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Your ass is Myron. You're gonna acknowledge me, all right, everybody,
Welcome to the w W podcas Monday Night Raw Review. Guys,
right off the bat, I apologize. I know it's Wednesday
when I'm posting a Monday Night Raw review. Not good
for downloads, not good for business. But life sometimes dictates that,
and specifically a seven month old human being dictates when

(01:14):
I release these episodes as I you know, just being
put through the ringer of no sleep and all that stuff.
You guysn't want to hear about that. You don't care,
and I understand that, but I'm just giving you the
reasons for it. I think you guys are owed an
explanation why.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
It's so late.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
So it's just life and I'm doing the best to
get these out now. That said, I do have also
mailbag coming today, so I'm doing double duty today. But
one thing about the mailbag, I will say before we
get into Monday night. You guys and I put this
tweet out there. You guys are just very passionate about wrestling.
I am too, That's why I do this, and I
appreciate all the voicemails, all the emails, everything, and you

(01:48):
guys are just bombarding me. And it's growing to the point,
which is great. It's a good problem to have, but
it's growing to the point where it's becoming a little
bit unmanageable for me to get done in a single
day or without splitting it into two parts, which I
don't want to do. You guys don't want to do.
You'd rather have in one episode. So what I'm gonna
do because it's just so much and it's going to

(02:10):
turn into a three hour plus show, which I cannot do.
What I'm gonna do is I'm limiting everyone to I
have to guys, one voicemail, one email only you know,
and and it has to be a three minute voicemail.
I love the longer voicemails from you, guys, but it's
just it's not feasible for us at this point. Now,

(02:34):
I was debating back and forth whether I should do
that or I should just say, Okay, we're going to
not get to everybody and cut off the show at
like an hour and a half. And if I don't
get to your your email or or whatever, I don't.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Get to it.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
But I think the better way is to at least
have give more people a voice, even if it's a
more limited capacity. So guys, moving forward, please limit your
emails you know, to a reasonable length, and also your voicemails.
You can still send them via email, it doesn't have
to be through our voicemail system. But it also needs

(03:07):
to be just manageable. Just because I sounds like I'm complaining,
I just it's physically not possible for me to continue
to do like two and a half three hour plus
shows sometime. I mean I've gone beyond three hours sometimes
sometimes too so. And how long it takes to produce
and everything else through stuff behind the scenes that takes place.
So anyway, I'm very appreciative and the GROST show is

(03:29):
growing because of you guys. But just in order to
be feasible and manageable on my end, try to keep
things to three minutes or less in an email. If
you want to do an email and a voicemail, that's fine,
but just make sure it's one only. If you have
multiple voicemails, I have to pick one. I'm not going
to do multiple. I just can't. Some of you guys

(03:50):
send three or four voicemail I can't do it. So
like you guys are awesome, it's just I mean, think
about it from my perspective where I mean, I'm a
one man show with production and everything, so it's a
little bit. It's tough. It's tough. So thank you and
continue to send them. I mean, you know, I really
do appreciate it. So all right, with all that said, guys,
I do appreciate it, and we're gonna get into money

(04:12):
net roll and boy did we see two massive heel
turns or what one bigger than the other. One was
already kind of in the works. One of them was
a little bit more abrupt in Edge. Obviously, with Damian
Priest turning heel, we kind of saw that he was
flirting with heel anyway. Over the last several weeks he
now fully went heel. I think that's appropriate. Edge going heel,

(04:32):
I think is appropriate. I know it's abrupt, but it
feels appropriate. And we're going to get into the conversation
with Anthony, a patron of the show and is in
a tier that allows him to come on the show
once a month, which, by the way, you guys can
do too. If you join Patreon on the ten dollars
tier or higher, you were allowed to come on and
join me, just as Anthony is about to do and

(04:53):
co host with me. You don't have to, but it's
an option that's provided to you in the Patreon feed.
And also, guys, one last p not just for Apple
podcasts going there's an ad free button there if you
want to just do it directly on Apple Podcasts, but
also on my website. Spend a lot of time and
money redesigning the website and there's a VIP area now

(05:13):
where there's video updates. I have a couple up there
now as well as ad free content moving forward, I
think I have about a week and a half, two
weeks worth of ad free content there. It's not the
whole library, it's not it's not something I was able
to get all transferred over. But from the last two
weeks and until forever, you will have ad free content
for everything, and video updates that are not found anywhere,

(05:34):
not on TikTok, not on Instagram, not on Patreon. Even so,
consider going ad free and getting video updates on ww
podcast dot com. Click the VIP button you'll see like
a there's like a login button, or go vip area
and use the promo code WrestleMania because that'll get you
fifty percent off the first month. The first month is

(05:55):
three bucks, but if you use that promo code, it's
a dollar fifty. So i'd really recommend that you do.
It's a going to be that promo code's only going
to be valid through WrestleMania, so i'd encourage you to
get yourself signed up. All right, well, everybody again, before
I jump into anything else, I want to give the
conversation over to myself and to Anthony, because I think

(06:17):
we had a great conversation for the first time of
us ever talking. I think we had a really nice
chemistry and I appreciated him coming on. And I think
a new voice is always good. You guys know that
because I put many of you to sleep, so I'll
take that as a compliment. All right, Well, that's enough
for me right now. I'm going to hand it over
to Anthony and myself as we talk about Monday Night Raw.

(06:37):
I'll be back later tonight with the mail bag. So
thank you everybody as always for listening, and I'll talk
to you next time. All right, everybody, welcome to Monday
Night Raw. And with the magic of editing and the
magic of behind the scenes. You guys don't even know.
This is the second time we're doing this because my
recorder on my Skype decided to not work.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
It is now working.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
And the reason I'm saying that is because I have
with me a new a new co host here from Patreon.
Anthony from Arizona is here and I want to introduce
him and and first of all say thank you for
supporting the show. But I'm really excited to have you here.
How you doing doing quite well?

Speaker 4 (07:14):
Man? Glad to get on the show and chime in
my thoughts. Opinions and uh, you know, leave a leave
a get a good good leave my thoughts on.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
The show, absolutely, and you know before we get started,
and I didn't do this the first time around, so
I guess the second time is a little bit better
because we had some damn good content. But we'll make
it better here. What I want to ask is, let
everyone know, how did you get into wrestling and when
did you get into wrestling?

Speaker 4 (07:42):
Who goes back man back in like two thousand and
seven is when I kind of stepped my feet into wrestling.
I think my uncle was the first guy who was
like kind of into it, and he got my grandfather
into it. And when when I started watching with my grandfather,

(08:03):
you know, the first matches I ever seeing were you know,
seeing just Undertaker on SmackDown and you know, just just
a good It was a good era for me and
that I was definitely enjoying. And the first paper guy
I ever saw was that WRESTLINGIA twenty three and I
got into a batift Undertaker. I mean, that was a
great match. And so I stayed up with wrestling up

(08:23):
until about twenty ten midway or so I fell out
of the picture. From twenty eleven to about twenty seventeen,
and when I got back into wrestling was the WrestleMania
where the Hardy Boys re united and came together and
kind of been following a long since, and it was
for a while it was mild, but over this last
year year and a half, more so when I started

(08:45):
listening to this podcast, I mean, I've been more heavily
invested into wrestling again and definitely funded a great escape
for me. I mean, it's definitely enjoyable.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
That's really cool.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
I mean, do you hear everyone's stories of when they
drop off. I've talked to so many people that just
drop off of wrestling for many years, all of a
sudden come back and they're they're invested in the product again.
It seems to never really leave them. You know, once
they watch it again, they start getting right back into it.
And you started in seven that is a hell of
a time. While it is kind of the end of
the Ruth of Discretion era and starting of the PG era,

(09:18):
you did have some excellent match, like you said, Taker
Batista Undertaker HBK at WrestleMania twenty five in Houston, that
was again to me, still one of the best, if
not the best WrestleMania match of all time is that matchup?
But yeah, and then coming back in twenty seventeen, I
was actually at that WrestleMania in Orlando, and sadly, stupidly,

(09:40):
the only time that I moved from my seat was
I don't know, I was going to get a T
shirt or going in to the bathroom or some I
can't remember the damn Hardy Boys music hit as I
was underneath and I'm hearing it and I'm like, you
have to be kidding me. It was like one of
the biggest pops of the night, and my stupid you
know it self is downstairs getting merch and I'm like,
I will never ever forget, forgive myself for that. But yeah,

(10:04):
So that was a cool time, really nice. So that night,
I believe ended with Roman reigns an undertaker and that
whole debacle.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
So cool.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, that's always it's always fun to hear how people
get in and out of wrestling or how they started
and so good stuff, good stuff. So let's jump into
Monday Night Raw. Let's fast forward here, and we're a
few weeks away, four weeks away, roughly four and a
half five weeks until WrestleMania, and we've got a lot
of a lot of things moving forward on Monday Night Raw,
particularly headlined by Edge turning heel. We'll get to that

(10:36):
towards the end of the show. I mean that is
a big development, of course, Demian pret turning heel. But
let's start at the beginning of the show here, and
we'll go in order and we'll get through this, guys,
and I promise that we'll make it better than the
first one.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
You didn't hear. So let's go through, and let's start
with what.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
Opened the show, and that was the Kevin Owens Show
and having it start with KO. The guests on their
show were the Alpha Academy and you and I talked
the first time that nobody heard and said that they
had great chemistry. Do you have anything to say about
this particular segment and did you did you enjoy the segment,

(11:14):
but also the segment that led to the match.

Speaker 4 (11:18):
I thought the segment was okay. It was you know,
it's the back and forth, the shoosh and the shut up, shoosh,
shut up, and then the stunner. You know, you know,
it led on into the match, and you know, I
thought it was fine. But the match again, I thought
it was a great match. I mean, no arguing it.
I mean it really set the show. I mean it was.

(11:39):
It was a good, good match to start with.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
It was excellent.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
I mean, yeah, what do you what do you expect
from these four guys?

Speaker 3 (11:44):
Even Otis, who is.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Much more limited in the ring, still does his part
and does it does it well. The shooting and like
you know, all all that stuff from from Shorty g
to to what they've done here is light years from
what he was getting berated backstage. Every chance that Vince
got to write somebody a script that had to make

(12:06):
fun of Chad Gables height five times a show to
being one of the really shining lights right now of
Monday Night Raw. In this tag team, this Alpha Academy
tag team, which when they probably when they put them
together in many months ago, I don't think there was
a lot of high hope for them, But boy have
they excelled.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
To me.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
They are They're not just two individuals put together and
labeled as a tag team. They feel like a legit
tag team. That's rare in WWE tag team land. So
I'm really enjoying what they've done here and the chemistry
between them, the shooting, the thank yous, the just everything
that Chad has come up with. Everything he's saying right
now is just being slapped on a T shirt. He's

(12:45):
doing such good work and I could see him as
a future world champion? Is that in twenty twenty two
or Vince actually pull the trigger on that given his
height and the issue the stigma around his height that
Vince has a problem with. I don't know, but Chad
Gable right now is on fire and I'm really enjoying
this tag team that this matchup, of course was excellent

(13:05):
and it ended with a a k O and Seth
Rollins victory. So did you have anything else to add
to this?

Speaker 4 (13:14):
Yeah, to follow up with what you were saying with
a Gable there, he's definitely the mastermind behind that tag team.
And when I when I when I heard the story
about the two being the best friends and all, and
I mean they're even neighbors so here and they spend
a lot of time on the road together. They definitely
built a lot of great chemistry there. And I mean
even when they first formed, I think Michael Ritter went

(13:37):
on he I mean, I think he set the tone.
He always had I think he told I mean, he
essentially told us to keep keep an eye on Off
like that. I mean, they definitely did a great job
of building up over these last couple of months, and
they're doing great work right now. I think they're definitely
the tag team champions for a reason.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yes, And I think that that's an interesting and a
good point to bring up that. But these two as
actual behind the scenes good friends and neighbors, I think
that has translated very nicely into the ring. They you
can just feel the connection with them, and I hope
that there are no plans to break this team up.
I haven't heard anything, but god forbid, I mean I've

(14:15):
that right now they are both exactly where they need
to be, particularly Chad Gable, and you forget that he's
an actual Olympian. I mean, the guy is a true
athlete in the in the real sense of the word.
So I'm a big fan of Chad Gable and I
can actually see him turning babyface at some point, just
kind of being that lovable but tough, you know, shorter

(14:35):
stature guy that has earned his credibility in front of
the fans, has grinded his teeth and all that and
the fans start to clam onto the the the catchphrases
and the shoe shoes and stuff like. I remember when
Daniel Brian started doing the yes thing. It was supposed
to be done as annoying, and it just caught fire
and fans just really gravitated to it. Now, I'm not

(14:55):
saying this is Daniel Brian two point zero, but certainly,
you know we've seen it before. We're catch fire. But
they do so in a way that is endearing the
fans that are endeared to that particular phrase or or whatever.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
And I could see shoosh.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
Or the GPA thing or the thank you being something
that is easily transferable to a baby face whenever they
turn them.

Speaker 4 (15:21):
Yeah, you know, I've definitely been loving the whole you know,
al it's catchphrase and whatnot. Unfortunately, I mean like Chad Gable,
I mean, he's his character's definitely shown that he could
that he could be a champion. But of course with
the championship unification, I think it's kind of hard for
him to stack up to a guy like Roman Reigns
right now. But if he ever got the chance, I

(15:43):
don't know, if he had the split up from the team,
but he definitely could see himself in a higher one
of the higher mid title roles or something along that
line for ww's liking. But you know, love his character
and definitely excited to see you know how how the
weeks turn up come out Mania for the for Otis
and Gable there.

Speaker 1 (16:03):
So let me ask you, let me just point blank,
what do you think is gonna happen with Stone Cold?
Do you think that they'll what will happen? I mean,
my thing is that they will. Kevin Owens and Seth
Rollins will lose that tag team match next week, There'll
be no road to WrestleMania for the two, and then
Austin may follow suit the week after once, you know,
Kevin Owens just brates Texas for the eighth week in

(16:24):
a row. Finally we get Stone Cold to come out
and defend the entire state of Texas. And so that's
my guess if they're.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Going to do a match.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
But what's your thought on Stone Cold, Steve Austin and
Kevin Owens? Do you think it's going to happen or
not happen?

Speaker 4 (16:37):
It's tough. I want to see I think I'd want
to see it, I mean, and you know, obviously Stone
Cold doesn't want to put anything lackluster you know on TV.
He definitely wants to put up you know, the best
of him. Do I think, you know, like you said,
do you think a match will happen? We're unsure, but
you know, maybe he shows up as a stunner next week, definitely.

(17:01):
You know, I have Alpha Akademe retaining there. I don't
think Rawlins and Ko are ready to win the championship
right now. However, it's kind of you know, going in
the Mania. I mean it's kind of hard not I mean,
how do you how do you not put seth Rawlins
into the show? I mean, he definitely deserves a spot there,
and if KO is the only one getting a ticket there,
so be it. But it'd be you know, you can't

(17:23):
just you know, throw out this old dumb old Texas
thing just for nothing. I mean, they're definitely they're definitely
doing it for a reason.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
Oh no, no question about it.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
And I think it will end up minimal at the
very minimum, going to be stunners and beer all over Ko,
even if it's not an actual match. But you're right,
the biggest victim right here is seth Rawlins. The biggest
collateral damage of taking the w WE Championship away from
Raw and putting it into one match, which is to me,
I've expressed many times on the show, is just a
travesty of things. You are taking that opportunity away from

(17:54):
Seth at WrestleMania, and you're right, you know, if Kevin
Os does go off against stone Cold, then yeah, where
the hell does that leave Seth rollins? You know that's
a that's a good question, but we'll leave that to
talk about another day. Omas versus t Bar was next,
and from our first conversation you weren't a big fan
of this.

Speaker 4 (18:13):
No, I mean, we're getting the same thing every week.
Omas is just crushing upon nufterr opponent and almost tries
to I suppose maybe give a give an upper hand
to t Bar saying this is the biggest super the
biggest guy's face height wise. Maybe, But I mean, you know,
the match being a series of maybe three four moves

(18:34):
and you know, almost coming out to win here with ease.
It's definitely leaving us hungry for seeing something actually happen
with Omas, and I.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
Don't know what that's something is. Again, I've I've said
this before. I think it's Omas who is going to
be in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, and
he'll win it, and he'll stand there and he'll have
to pose like Andre the Giant does on the statue,
because that's just what you do. I don't I don't
see Almas in a singles match at WrestleMania because of
his limitations. WW doesn't trust him yet. I don't trust

(19:06):
him yet in a matchup. He's not capable yet of
I don't think having a one on one match at WrestleMania.
There's no sign of that happening. I think that Omas
is just going to be the guy that is is
the winner of the the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
You know that's at the That's probably what's going to
happen here. But right now, he's spinning his wheels, he's

(19:26):
squashing people, and you know he's he's just he's so big,
he's so limited, and I don't I'm not saying that
in a negative way because I don't need everyone to
flip flop and fly. I think having this different type
of body in different style of a match is good
for the product. I don't need every match to feel
and look the same, and Omas, I think brings that.
If anything else, he brings that sense of kind of

(19:48):
just just the big man match that we don't see
a whole lot of in WWE. So there is that,
and I'm a big fan of Omas. He has a
presence that is undeniable on TV when you when he's
on TV, even if his match his formulaic and kind
of boring your watch, and that's really that's such an
asset for WWE, and they know that.

Speaker 4 (20:10):
Yeah, for almost right now, for me, definitely, I love
his presence. Unfortunately, I just don't think we're gonna get
a whole lot of out of them. I'm prepared for
the slow build and I'm kind of honest, quite honestly,
right now, I'm I'm more prepared to see how he
evolves backstage more so than in the ring right now,
just because it's gonna take some time. So let's let's

(20:31):
get some character in him.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah, he he does need character beyond just kind of
his mean face, you know, I mean, you know, honestly,
the same thing can be said for Ronda Rowsey. And
Ronda Rowsey has got two emotional states and that's it.
It's elated or super angry, and that's all she shows.
There's no middle ground for Ronda Rowsey. But I think
Amas could could do well by showing a range of
emotions and you know, getting a little bit of depth

(20:55):
in his character. I think that's that's a great way
to put it and really something he could work on
that anybody and work on, regardless of their size in
the ring. So okay, Becky Lynch, do drop Nikki a
s h versus Rhea Ripley, Live Morgan and Bianca bell Air.
The biggest story coming out of this was the use
of the hair from Bianca whipping Becky Lynch in her
stomach and the sounds it made.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
So take it away.

Speaker 5 (21:18):
You're listening to the w w E podcast. We'll be
right back after this short break.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
Yeah, definitely the whole uh you know bite, you know,
keep on nagging it, the hair of the entire match.
I definitely love that. I thought it was a good
spot there with in the turn buckle, using the hair
to just you know pull her into that urn buckle
and then you know, I mean actually had the wrapping
around the wrapping around the ropes there with the with
the with the braid, we We kind of alluded there

(21:56):
back in the in the first casting there about that
that that hair whip you know was her ad It
sounds nonetheless, I mean it was. It was brutal. You
could see all the welts on her skin. I mean
it was it definitely, you know, you definitely left you,
you know, feeling a little wof you know, like you
knew it hurt. Oh.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
Absolutely. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
For all the flack or just pro wrestling in general
gets for being quote fake, this is one that I
would love to see somebody tell me how that one
was faked. You know, even if the sound was pushed in,
even if the sound was post edited or whatever, or
they were able to on a live show have that
ten second delay and stick that sound effect in. I
don't think they did. But even if they did, I
don't care because the results are the same. It looked brutal.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
There's a real weltz.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
On Becky Lynch's stomach, and it was kind of hilariously
produced by her, meaning that she wore that outfit knowing
that this is going to be a spot where they
were going to do these things, of course, but that's fine.
But she was like pushing her stomach out to the
camera instead of curling over and running backstage, which if
you were truly injured and your stomach hurt that much,

(23:00):
would just curl, bend over and run to the back.
But that's not what she did because it's it's fine,
it's production. She needs to make sure that she get
They get the best shot possible for all the video
packages as they do, so I get that, but it
was well done. I think it put fear into Becky Lynch.
We haven't seen her act like that before, and I
think it will result in Becky Lynch probably doing some
kind of barring of her hair and some in a

(23:22):
contract stipulation in the coming weeks. She'll find a way,
as the heel that she is, will try to find
a way to ban her hair as a use of
a weapon, or if she does during the match, then
she will she'll lose the matchup that it will be
a disqualification. But one last thing, of course, I gotta
ask is what do you think about Bianca Bellair and
Becky Lynch at WrestleMania and maybe maybe an early call.

(23:44):
Do you think Becky Lynch drops the belt at WrestleMania?

Speaker 4 (23:48):
Oh well, going into Mania, definitely I know we want
to see too, We want to see more on these
two superstars. You know. Again, the match definitely, you know,
it is builds beyond going into going into the paper,
going premium live events. I'm definitely expecting a show there.
I don't see well, yeah, yeah, I would see Becky

(24:11):
Lynch if she's gonna lose it. I mean, I think
this is a fair time to lose it because Bianca,
you know, she had the whole go to the back
of the division. She did. She faced pretty much everybody
that was on the roster and built her way up,
and here she is in the title picture. I mean,
I would say there's no better time to give a
belt to Bianca. And following that, I mean, we'll see

(24:36):
what happens there with Ria Ripley.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Yeah again, yeah, re Ripley, I'm glad you brought that
up too.

Speaker 3 (24:42):
You know.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Of course, Bianca Beeller got the victory here with hitting
Nicky with kod Nicky has I don't think Nikky's won
a match in like three months, and I'm not complaining
about it makes me happy.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
But yeah, Ria.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
Ripley, honestly, you know, is one of those stars that
you look at and go I could see her being
pushed into the main event here. I could see this
being a triple threat because Rea Ripley has made a case,
like very nice case over the last several months that
she's she's back, she's no longer an attack team, and
that she's here to play and made a lot of
noise in the last several weeks, and I think that

(25:15):
there is something to be said for Ria Ripley and
being in the main event. I don't think the lad
heard of the as as a triple threat. Uh to
make it a triple threat? Do you think they'll actually
go that road or maybe wait till after WrestleMania and
have her face the winner at that point, I think.

Speaker 4 (25:32):
They have to wait till after Mania. I think, you
know it'd be it'd definitely be a fun match to see.
But if you're if you're adding her to the match
and have maybe Bianca pen Ria Ripley, then you know
you're protecting Becky, but you're not really. I don't think
that really puts over Bianca. I think with the shortcomings
that Bianca had in the past, you definitely want her
to single handedly beat Becky, so you know sets that uh,

(25:56):
you know set you know, sets it forward that Hey,
I finally beat I found lead.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, exactly, And I think I think you're right too.
I mean, I'm a big fan of one on one
matches in general. It's a rule that I follow that
one on one matches to take place at WrestleMania. But
if Riha Ripley is lined up as an opponent for Postmania,
for either Bianca or Becky, that to me is perfectly fine,
and then you could do your triple threat. Maybe they
have a rematch with whoever the you know, whoever loses

(26:24):
the belt. Say say we have Becky drop the belt
to Bianca. Then Rhea interjects herself and at Backlash, No,
I'm not going.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
To say WrestleMania Backlash, it's just backlash.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
At Backlash, we will have a triple threat, and then
then you can do your triple threat.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
But I'm cool with it being one on one at WrestleMania.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
So okay, let's let's move on here. And this is
where we we ended our first conversation. But it was
Robert rud versus Tomaso Champa. What are your thoughts on this?
As Tomasco Champa gets a roll up victory on Rude can.

Speaker 4 (26:59):
Have a have a WW show with our team we
roll up, So definitely got a love that. Uh, you know, Tampa,
Unfortunately they're they're changing playing with his music there. I've
been wondering for a couple of weeks now, I mean,
are they are they trying to push TRUMPA to the
main roster. I suppose we'll see how that turns out.
But obviously, you know, we've definitely seen the playing around

(27:20):
of moving superstars to down the NXT and then you know,
move some NXT to to the main roster just for
a couple of matches. So you know they'll they'll probably
keep going down that route and that's fine, but you know,
a you know, a filler match just to put it
out there and then build up towards tomorrow night with
the following up with that tonight show on nx T

(27:42):
two point zero with a bron breaker and Tampa against
Rude Dirt against the Dirty Dogs there, so, uh, you know,
a match just to get us by there.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, I don't think the match was as important as
what they were trying to get to, which was the
post match beat down from the Dirty Dogs. I mean,
just to leave champelon I think that was really the
whole point of this. The rollout victory means nothing for
either man, because Robert Rude means I'm sorry. He doesn't
mean a whole lot in pro wrestling.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
He just doesn't.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
He's got a good body, he's got a decent look,
but he just doesn't have any value that would that
would make you concerned if he won or lost a match.
You just go, okay, he won, Oh, okay, he lost.
No one cares. I mean, like, actually nobody. And you
know it's not to say Robert rud can't be somebody,
but the way they've booked him so many years, we've
just been educated to just be numb to whatever he does.

(28:29):
If he wins, if he loses, no one cares. So
this didn't do anything for anybody other than push ahead
the narrative that we want to see Cha Champa get
victory over over Ziggler and eventually get revenge and beat
both of them down. I think that's ultimately what we
wanted to see, and that's the point of this whole thing.
So it was okay, it was okay. It was just

(28:49):
your kind of run of the mail match up here
that standard didn't do a whole lot for anybody. But okay,
let's move on. Reggie and Dana Brook versus Tamina and
Akira Tozawa.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Yeah, you go ahead, go ahead, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:06):
You know, it's it's it's it's it's it's your I mean,
it's your launchable break there, am I right? I mean
it's I'm not sure what much to say about it.
I mean, it's it's getting a little little it's too cringe.
It's getting a little cringe to watch there with the now,
I mean, I guess I suppose w W is turning
into a makeout show. I'm not sure that's all going.

(29:29):
You know, Reggie and Dana, it's turning out to be
some weird couple. And then you know, to me, to
me last week, I got a kick out of it
with that to me to tossing the car on the ground.
But here, it's just it's just a little weird for me.
It's it's a little over the top. I mean, I
could do without it.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
It's the entertainment part of w w E. I mean,
we got the E here in the w w E.
Uh And yeah, it's I didn't really care for this.
I mean, I guess the biggest thing coming out of
this was okay, Data and Reggie kissed, and Tamina and
Tizow Tizawa kissed. Okay, I mean got a little drama
to the soap opera.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
And that's what this was.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
And that's why you and I and most of the people
listening to wrestling podcasts don't like this because people listen
to wrestling podcasts are typically more the either not old fashioned,
but the long standing wrestling fan, the one that likes
kind of traditional wrestling, not necessarily the ones that are
all about the entertainmenty soap opera stuff. But it's it's
part of the show. I didn't hate it. It didn't
make me lose my mind. It's just kind of the

(30:29):
part that I look at and go, yeah, that's that's
clearly not for for me.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
Like, that's not what's geared toward.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
It's a thirty seven year old male, you know, audience
demographic that has been watching wrestling for twenty five years.
That's not what this is geared towards. It's It's fine,
I really don't. I don't hate this, but I understand
the need for or the want for them to put
this in so uh all right, it was it was
kind of a harmless segment, just silliness her her business

(30:57):
that are kind of together, not together fighting with Bobby Lashley,
not with Bobby Lashley. No one explains anything about this group,
the most mysterious group of all time ends up facing
the Mysterios and the I'm reading the description to make
sure I don't miss anything. The last part of this match,
the Mis pulled Dumb's leg while the ref was distracted,

(31:19):
so Ray chased him through the crowd and that allowed
Benjamin to get the roll up on Dominic. That's right,
got the roll up on Dominic for the victory. So yeah,
go ahead once again, Anthony.

Speaker 4 (31:29):
I forgot his roll up, yep. But more so what
I got out of this was the probo in the
beginning classic line there calling the Mis a Hollywood mega dumbass.
I love. It is a fine match. Not much to
take out of it. I mean, definitely the whole weird

(31:49):
deal with the Hurt business. I mean, they seem to
carry on the names even without Lashley and MVP. They're
doing their thing and they're definitely lower of the card
tag team for me. Yeah, seeing Raymisterio chase him off
and Dominic taking the pin there it gets us in the.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
Next segment, it does, and you know, you're right about that.
That was a good line.

Speaker 3 (32:13):
I got to say.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
Even it was clearly written, but it's it was one
of those written lines that you know, sometimes even written
promos every once in a while work. Anything really from
Dominic was is good because he needs to actually say something.
He's finally starting to show something. Even if they are
written lines, they're they're they're at least realizing, oh, yeah,
we can't just have him in the ring doing stuff.
He needs to say stuff too, and they're they're starting

(32:36):
to finally realize that.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
And that line was good.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
And the Miz came back and and did his uh
did a nice kind of rebuttal against that, and you know,
he reminded us that he Maine invented WrestleMania against John Cena,
and I mean I remember that as well. Albeit it
was really about Rock and Sina. I mean, he was
just the side show as the w champion, which was hilarious.

(33:00):
But to me, this was all about just getting to
the mysterios versus the Miz and Logan Paul Logan, Paul
is not in the arena and he was probably too
busy on his YouTube channel or doing whatever he does.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
And Logan Paul.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
Look, I'm not a celebrity fan. That's a fan of
ww bringing in celebrities. But that being said, if they're
going to book them in the right in the right
role of being a heel when they come in, I'm
okay with it. So what do you think about this,
this matchup here with the Miz and Logan Paul that's
going to take place against the Mysterios at WrestleMania.

Speaker 4 (33:35):
I think it's fine. I think it's better than last year,
or I think I was back at summer time. I'm
not too sure where it was, but you definitely think
it's better to have Logan Paul here as a hell
teaming up with the Miz rather than being like some
you know, halfway not sure what he's gonna do. And
then Logan I think last time around he went I
think he did something to to miss h. Nonetheless, I mean,

(33:59):
it'll be a fine match, but I mean, more so,
is what's better than one celebrity is having two at Mania?
It's yeah, it seems to be there too many thing
every year, so is what it is.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
And I gotta say these I mean we have Johnny
Knoxville on SmackDown facing Sammy Zane. Presumably that's not a
confirmed match, presumably for the Icy title, which will be
a travesty of travesties if Johnny Knoxville is competing for
the Icy title, and so many things are wrong with that.
But then on this side you have Logan Paul in
a tag team match, and I will say that both
of these celebrities have a high bar to try to

(34:33):
reach from what Bad Bunny did last year. I mean
Bad Bunny, as much as I couldn't stand the whole
personality of him and everything that he brought to the
table on a personality promo perspective, in the ring, he
set the bar, and so I think he may have
set the bar unachievably high for future celebrities coming in
at WrestleMania, even Logan Paul, who is one of the

(34:53):
better athletes they brought in. He was an amateur wrestler
in high school and in college. He did obviously boxing,
he did him and may he is a hell of
an athlete. But that doesn't always translate to a well
oiled machine in pro wrestling.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
It just doesn't.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Sometimes it doesn't work out at all. But I just
will say that the bar has been set crazy high
after what we saw from Bad Bunny last.

Speaker 4 (35:16):
Year, Right, I have to say going into this into
this one, do we think that the Mysterious can make uh,
make Logan Paul look as good as uh? I mean
because I think that when because Bad Bunny, I mean
I think it was good. I mean the whole diesel truck.
I mean that's his entrance. I mean I think again,

(35:38):
the bar is pretty high there for him. I mean,
it was a great cell by John Morrison. Uh definitely
held him out there with that sunset flip or whatever
it was. Can can can the Mysterious put over Logan Paul?
Or I think it's more so the Mysterious are just
out to get their revenge. But it should be a
you know, a fine match.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yeah, I'm not. I'm not super concerned about the quality
of the matchup. You know.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
I'm sure that he'll be serviceable enough where he he
won't spend a whole bunch of time in the ring,
and he'll have that crutch of a tag team partner
of the Miz to do about eighty percent of the work,
you know, So it's not a one on one match,
He's not going to be too much of the spotlight
because he'll have three other guys in that match that
can work the match, and one tag team partner of

(36:21):
the Miz that's probably gonna be in, as I said,
at least seventy five eighty percent of the match. That's
my guess, you know, that's my that's my guess, is
that that's what's gonna happen. But all right, let's move
on a few more segments here of Ron and will
close things out. But we're starting to get some big,
big stuff here, guys, RK bro versus the Street Profits.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
Now, this wasn't a big.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Deal until until we got a potential injury scare from
Randy Orton after the From the Heavens from montes Ford.
Apparently right now it's a injury scare. I haven't heard
of anything confirmed yet from from Randy Orton that he
could be seriously in but he was clearly injured from

(37:03):
the From the Heavens obviously not on purpose from montese For.
But this matchup was really good. I mean these I
thought this was maybe the match of the night with
these two. And we're still waiting for the other shoot
to drop with the Orton turning on Riddle. We haven't
seen it yet, but now let me let me get
your take, Anthony, what'd you think about all this?

Speaker 4 (37:23):
I thought it was a good match. I quite enjoyed it. Definitely,
you get your spots with Randy Orton and his DDT,
the good old Power Slam everything. I love seeing Randy
Orton out there and no street pop. It's I mean,
you can always count on them to put on a
solid match, so it's good to see them on TV.
Not so much for the character. I think it's okay,
but definitely a good matchup that I enjoyed. And yeah,

(37:46):
following that from the heaven that you know, from the
Heavens or whatever it is there from mantas Ford, I
tried to catch it, man. I think the knee landed
there on Orton's chest. I don't know exactly how it
turned out, but obviously you could see Orton there grimacing,
and it's a little weird with the trying to reach
for the rope there with his foot and then Angelo

(38:08):
Dawkins pushing it away from the ropes. It doesn't get
the rope break. But it is a good match, great match.
I loved it. Unfortunately, you know, we're not sure how
Orton's doing there.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Yeah, and I do hope for his sake that being
so close to WrestleMania, that there isn't something seriously wrong
with him. And you know, I haven't heard anything. I
keep looking at you know, articles right now as you're speaking,
and everything seems to see injury scare, injury scare, injury scare.
That would tell you that if it was something more serious,
he would have already gotten an MRI, he would have
already gotten, you know, a diagnosis of six to eight

(38:42):
months shoulder recovered. Whatever it was, you know, so clearly
it was something that was maybe initially thought to be
very serious and has I guess, presented itself not as
the case. So we'll have to see and hopefully it's not.
Because I think Randy Orton Riddle at WrestleMania would be
a hell of a lot of fun and uh but yeah,
this matchup was I thought really good and Orton just

(39:05):
being Orton. Orton could be asleep during a match, and
he could be sleepwalking and probably put on an A
plus match because he's just that good. He's he's he's
at this point, he could do this in his sleep, literally,
And so both all four guys I think busted their
asses in this matchup, and you know, it really was
a nice kind of send off. If this is one

(39:25):
of the final matches for r K BRO that you
know we will get to remember them by. And also
next week, because boy, WWE has been pushing this triple
threat for the raw tag team titles. They've pushed this,
maybe this is the most important the raw tag team
titles have ever felt. I mean, just because of how
much they've been promoting it. They actually promoted it weeks
in advance for a tag team title match of all things.

(39:47):
So I'm looking forward to this tag team title triple
threat next week. And I think that these these two
individuals of Riddle and Orton, hopefully Orton can go. If
he can't, maybe Riddle goes it alone or finds a
stand in. And I don't think they're destined to win
it anyway, But let me get your thoughts.

Speaker 5 (40:04):
You're listening to the WWE podcast. We'll be right back
after this short break.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
Meat Wheat podcast, because sometimes it's fun to listen to
a moron rant about nothing for half an hour. You
want comedy, suspense, news. Well they have none of that,
or maybe they do. They have whatever they feel like.
Only way to know is to listen up. You can
follow them on Instagram at meat Wheat Pod and check
them out on Spotify. Again, that's Meat Wheat m E

(40:35):
E T w h e A T podcast. Check them
out on Spotify.

Speaker 5 (40:41):
Welcome back to the WWE podcast. Let's get back to
more great wrestling audio.

Speaker 4 (40:58):
Yeah, going into the Vacuum Suttle match here back when
they're doing the segments, just doing the scooter race and
the trivia show and all that. You know, I thought
they were just going to get the rematch, get it
over with, get out the way. But I definitely like
the WWE here is prolonged. It left us waiting, definitely

(41:19):
keeps you. I think it keeps us invested. And I actually, yeah,
I want to see this match happen. And I think
alph Academy has done a good job of excelling the
titles a little bit. Not that o K Bro didn't,
They definitely did a good job carrying it for a
couple of months there. I'm excited to see the match.
I mean it should be great.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
Yeah, I've know no question about the quality of the match.
The quality of the match is not even in peril
for me. To me, it's not about that at all.
And that's what's going to be great about this matchup
is if you're looking for great just wrestling, if you
turn into wrestling show to watch, you know, wrestling, I
think he'll be very satisfied with this matchup that takes place.
Probably you'd imagine the way that they've been promoting it

(41:59):
and how heavily that this would be the main event
of the show next week on RAW. I can't confirm that,
but you would imagine how the big names that are
in this matchup as well that it would be the
main event of the show, which would tell you if
this is the main event of the show, I would
be very weary of in a good way of what
can happen during that Because if this tag ting title
match is the main event of the show and the

(42:20):
Alpha Academy end up retaining, then I could see somebody
like a Stone Cold coming out to confront Kevin Owens
if he gets on the mic and starts, you know,
complaining about having he has no road to WrestleMania now.
So those are the kinds of things I look for
we'll see, maybe just wishful thinking on my part. But

(42:40):
back to the matchup here, the one last thing I'll
say is that, yeah, that part with Orton trying to
get his foot on the rope was a little weird
because Orton, I think was I think he was a
bit shell shocked from the presumed injury he just suffered,
and he was kind of disoriented trying to He knew
he had to hit his spot of getting his foot
on the rope, but he didn't quite make it. So

(43:00):
Angela Dawkins pushed it off, but it wasn't gonna make
it anyway. Like Orton was a couple of inches away
from the rope, he would have missed it anyway. So
they were all just trying to hit their spots the
best they could.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
But it was a little weird, right.

Speaker 4 (43:14):
And then going into next week with that with that
tag teams I don't match. I mean definitely if it's
a main eventor which everything I would hope. So as
the buildup's been been there for a while, it definitely
leaves a I mean with the end of the show,
I mean definitely is open for a segment. I mean,
whether we see Austin I think I've seen a report.
I mean that Austin should be showing up the week

(43:36):
of three sixteen, is what I've heard that leaves us
a little close to mania. But you know, whenever, whenever
we can get it, I mean, I suppose we'll see.
We're gonna be curious, though, is it are we gonna see?
I mean, is it just gonna be a flat ended
match where you know, Alpha Academy probably retains here? Or
does that? Does that a good book open for seeing

(43:56):
that happens with the Rawlins and Ko or does it
allude to an RK bro break up there? I'm not
too sure, but it doesn't necessarily feel like RK Bros
reatd to break up. But spuzzle see.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
And I'm looking ahead to the UH, to the whole
What what's the schedule look like coming up? And maybe
where they if they were gonna bring back Austin, what
would it look like and what's the best place to
do it? So next week they're in Cleveland. The following
week they're in Jacksonville, Florida. The following week, uh, they
are in the All State Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. I E,

(44:30):
I think right, And they'll call it the shadow of Chicago.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
I'm sure.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
I mean, I'm sure they'll they'll say something because I
don't want to say Rosemont, illinois'll they'll say we're in
you know, we're in the shadow of Chicago, like they
do when they're kind of near the uh kind of
New New York City where there we're in the shadow
of New York City. No, you're not, you know, like
they just like to embellish things. So I think that
the All State Arena, Austin has said many times, is
one of his favorite arenas of all time. Uh, they

(44:55):
used to call it. There's another, the rosemand I think
it was the Rosemont Horizon.

Speaker 3 (44:58):
They used to that.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
It was prenamed before, and he loves he has said
many times he loves that arena because of the acoustics.
He loves the energy that that particular crowd brings. So
I know that's the twenty first of March. I mean,
at that point, you're two weeks from WrestleMania. I would
imagine they don't want to go that close, but they
could do the week before. If they do the week before,
they're in Jacksonville, Florida. It's March fourteenth. It's sad that

(45:22):
it's not March sixteenth. I know, maybe they can delay
raw till the I don't know, Wednesday, March sixteenth, but yeah,
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (45:28):
Just look at ahead of the schedule.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
It's Cleveland, Jacksonville, and then the shadow of Chicago and Rosemanto, Illinois,
and then it gets to Pittsburgh after that. So yeah,
I don't know, just just looking ahead and kind of
maybe thinking about where it could happen if it happens.
So okay, let's get to the two big things that happen.
I'm monning net raw here, the two things that everyone's

(45:50):
talking about. And the first thing kind of the advertiser
before the entre here Damian Price versus Spin Valor for
the United States Championship that I thought was really good.
And again a lot, you know, I gotta say a
lot of quality wrestling on Monday Night. I mean, there
wasn't a whole lot of bad matches. I mean, outside
of the Reginald and all the dand Brooks stuff, which

(46:13):
was wasn't meant to be a great match anyway, this
was a really nice Monday Night Raw in terms of
wrestling as I'm thinking about it now, And this was
no exception here Finn Baler and I think Damian Priest
did a very nice job and it ended up with
Damian Priest Finn Baller winning the United States Championship, and
I think it is a breath of fresh air for

(46:34):
the title. It felt very stale and kind of held
hostage almost by Damian Priest. But the most important thing,
I guess depends on your perspective. But the other important
thing is not just Finn winning, but also Damian Priest
turning heel and fully turning heel. And he had a
postmatch promo that really solidified that and then attacked Baler

(46:58):
after the match, drawing him into the announced table.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
So did you enjoy this? What'd you think?

Speaker 4 (47:05):
I did enjoy it? We need so going into the
matt Yeah, it was a great night for wrestling, and
I definitely loved it going into this matchup. I'm happy
for Balor. Weeks ago, we thought Baalor dropped up the
face of the Earth, Evince gave up on him. But
it's glad to see him back into the picture and
definitely getting a good spot here where he can, you know, maybe,

(47:26):
you know, bring bring some light to the United States
Championship and a little more excitement. They're on raw. I
thought it was a great match, some good spots there
after the match, following it with the little promo there.
It's just the whole thing with Damien. His his character
has just been so confusing. When the when when the
whole change happened, you know, splitting him into two personalities.

(47:50):
I really bought into it. I was there for a
couple of weeks, and then then it just got old,
and I mean it was just confusing when he when
he wants to turn and you know, when his emotions
really settle in. But I was kind of when I
seen Damien out there, just like after his loss, I
was waiting to see him, you know, explode, but instead
he just comes in the ring and he comes in

(48:11):
as Priest and he just he just calls out the
crowd for not cheering for him during his Tatle reign
and then obviously the attack there on Valor. I think
that he definitely needed to solidify who he was going
to be there, and I think he's the right move
for him to be to be healed because we've just
been so unsure what's happening with Priest.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
Yeah, this was a this was the right move by creative.
There's no question that turning him heel, which he was
already kind of organically turning heel anyway, because fans were
just so confused, as you said, just just not sure
what he is.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
And then the split.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
Personality was never explained. It was never explaining where did
this come from, how did this happen, what triggers it,
and why you know, did something happen to your childhood?
Of course, there's no backstory. We're just supposed to accept
it on face value. A lot of things in w
W or that way at times is just don't don't
dig be on the surface, just accept it and move on,
which I'm not a big fan of. But anyway, so
Damien again is coming out, and I thought you're right.

(49:08):
I thought for sure he's gonna snap, he's gonna attack
him from behind, and instead he just kind of calmly
comes in and cuts his promo, blames the fans, and
then attacks Finn. I still don't understand either, why though,
why his alter ego evil side is named Damien when
he has been Damian Priest all along. So I don't know, like,
if you're Damian Priest, but your alter ego evil person.

(49:29):
Your evil twin is also just Damien, Like why are
we I mean, like, can't you just come up with
something else, come up with anything else, another name that
you've given it, come up with something, and yet they've
named it the same name that you are when you're
supposed to be this kind of just levelheaded guy. I
don't know, it's weird, but I'm a big fan of
Damian Priest. His delivery, his promos are usually very good.

(49:50):
He's got a very nice, deep talking voice, a very
commanding voice when he speaks.

Speaker 3 (49:55):
That's great.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
And again this matchup, if they do it again and
the Cloks like they are, I have no problem with
it whatsoever. Finn Baler and Damian Priests I think did
an excellent job, and I think that their follow up
match when that happens, which it will, is going to
be just.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
As good, if not better.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
So, And you're right too, hilariously or maybe not, maybe
kind of sadly with Finn Balor being completely just relegated
to the depths of w WE hell so to speak
of just being like losing match after match and as
you said, being forgotten to just bam he's US champion.
I have no problem with that. It's just just crazy

(50:33):
how from week to week things can change so drastically
to going from complete irrelevance and losing match after match
after match for months on end to boom United States champion.
So I'm a big Finn Balor fan. I think that
it's well deserved and I think that he'll have a
really nice run because Finn is too good of a
talent to be sitting backstage.

Speaker 4 (50:54):
Definitely agree with you there with Damien there. You know,
obviously we'll not answers about the whole personality deal, but
some people are curious. I mean, like some people think
that Dami had a strong reign and I think it
was like one hundred and seventy nine days there, so
half a year that he held the title, and he

(51:15):
was definitely a defending champion, So hats off to him,
I suppose, but it was just weird, and I mean,
I'm looking forward to see what Ballor can do here.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
Yeah, yeah, me too.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
I think Baller is going to have a nice run,
and it just it refreshes the belt very nicely. I
think they have paid attention to the mid tier belts
just very nicely over the last just two weeks. I mean,
the IC title got a new holder after Shinsk held
it for seemingly forever, and really at the fault of WWE,
they did nothing with him, not the false Shinsk, And
now they did the same thing with Damian Priest. So

(51:46):
it's just I mean, it's clear that they have just
somebody in a boardroom meeting said hey, we should probably
shuffle the mid tier belts, and they did the same
thing on like just a week apart. So I mean,
it's it's fine. You know, I don't have any with
it because I think both of them needed new new
holders for the time being. So all right, now we
get to the main event here. And the main event

(52:07):
was really just who's going to step up to Edge?
Who's going to be Edge's WrestleMania opponent? And I know
I had said for you know, a few weeks that
people have been speculating it could be Cody Roads, and
Edge did say something about the Roads to WrestleMania, and
he emphasized Roads, maybe on purpose or not. I think, Okay,
I thought, okay, it's Cody Roads. It's the it's main

(52:29):
event of Raw. We've we've got four weeks to wrestle Mania,
there's going to be somebody big coming out that we
haven't seen in a while, some big return. I thought
I thought it was gonna be Cody Rhods and it
was AJ Styles, and I I, you know, I have
to sadly admit that I was disappointed in seeing Aj
Styles because I think the the anticipation of Cody Roads
coming back is is is high, and having AJ come out,

(52:54):
he hasn't been established very well over the last really
year or more. He's been in the tag team with Omas.
He got beaten by Omas pretty quickly. He has not
been on a hot streak. He hasn't got much Mike time.
AJ has kind of fallen by the wayside. And that's
just a fact. And so when he comes out to
challenge Edge, you're like, oh, okay, uh AJ cool. But

(53:18):
you know, you know, you feel guilty of not being
as excited as maybe you should be because of all
the damage they did to AJ over the last year
year and a half and having to come out to
challenge Edge. I think number one of the crowd reacted
much better to AG than I thought they would. I
thought that they were kind of be lackluster, but they
seemed to be pretty excited about aj challenging Edge and

(53:38):
then the rest is history. So before I go any further,
what did you think about aj WE when he initially
his music hit? Were you disappointed? Were you hoping it
was somebody else?

Speaker 3 (53:48):
What are your thoughts?

Speaker 4 (53:50):
I can't say I was surprised. More so, I think
that the whole roads line you're quoting their I think
I definitely slept the surpross me. What's set up from
that promo more so is when you when you heard
Edge stay phenomenal, that definitely stuck out and you definitely thought,
you know, you kind of thought a J and Edge,
So when you came out, I wasn't wasn't too surprised.

(54:12):
There definitely the good, good, good reaction from the crowd.
Definitely enjoying a day's presence there. I think it's a
match that they want to see while these two stars
are you know, both a good matchup, uh, you know,
seeing what happens Edge at the end of this promo
here definitely leaves you wanting this match a lot more

(54:34):
than you than initially thought.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
Yeah, that was the job of this segment, and I
think it was a job that was accomplished. I really
do I think that they took a match that was
as cold as Ice, as big of the names as
those two are. I think that the I mean it's cold.
Nobody was sitting there going, oh my god, I got
these two neat to fight.

Speaker 4 (54:53):
No.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
I mean, you look at it beforehand, you go, yeah,
that's a nice matchup. That's a that's a pay per
view matchup, you know, But to me, it's not a
wrestle Mania matchup. But they quickly escalated that, and I
think that they have made most fans very interested in
the follow up to this and seeing AJ get revenge
on Edge because Edge turned heel. I mean, that's the

(55:15):
big story coming out of this is Yes, AJ is
Edge's opponent, but Edge turns heel, and he checks another
box off of his bucket list for his return and
now gets to write his own story of the end
of his career. We've seen Edge since Rumble of twenty
twenty be a babyface, so it's been two years of
him as a baby face. We've gotten a chance to

(55:37):
love him, We've gotten a chance to cheer for him.
He's been able to have some great matches. He's Maine
invented wrestle MANI in a triple threat last year with
Roman and Daniel Bryan.

Speaker 3 (55:46):
He has been able.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
To tag team with his wife for God's sakes, and
now I think he wants to explore the art of
turning heel again. And Edge as a heel, if you
guys have not seen it or forgotten, is brilliant. So
I am really looking forward to Edge a heel. It
did feel a bit abrupt, but I'm ready for it.
Are you do you want to did you have any
interest in seeing edgetern heel? Are you kind of you skeptical?

(56:09):
Are you concerned about Edge sterning heel here?

Speaker 4 (56:12):
I definitely I'm buying into it. Edge is great. I
don't know the last time he was heel, I mean
ever since he came back into the picture from that
neck injury and whatnot. Obviously we just cheer from him
because I mean, we love the nostalgia of our old superstars,
and he's still still good enough to put on a show.
So definitely we're getting more out of Edge here having

(56:36):
him heel. And you know, back back to the past,
I mean when I when I when I left the
picture of WW, I mean he was still I believe
heel and and then obviously you see back to the
rawlins hinting at the taking out Edge there back in
like twenty fourteen. So I just don't know the last
time he got to see this out of Edge, and

(56:56):
I think it's definitely a route that they should be
going right now.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
Yeah, it's just it's you know, two years is definitely
long enough to to get your your emotions out in
a positive way for a star before you start to
maybe get a little bit stale of it. And yes,
Edge has not been there consistently. He's not at everyday superstar.
He's there every few months to have X number of
matches a year I don't know, three four matches a
year whatever is on his contract, so he never feels

(57:20):
like he's overstaying as welcome and he does feel special
when he's there. So I think he's managed his his
contract very nicely. But he's also checking off everything he's
ever wanted to do, and he's I give him credit,
he's getting paid a lot of money to do it.
So turning heel is a nice change, and Edges expressions
throughout this entire segment of you know, hitting aj with
the low blow, that's great, hitting him with the concerto,

(57:43):
but being conflicted about it. Great storytelling from an expression standpoint,
this guy has. I mean, he could teach an entire
class on just facial expressions.

Speaker 3 (57:51):
He could.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
I mean, he's so just so good of being able
to communicate not just verbally but visually from his facial
express is just great. So I'm looking forward to seeing
what the follow up here is from AJ. And I'm
sure he won't maybe be there next week. They'll probably
sell the injury or you know, maybe he will be there,

(58:12):
but Edge won't be there. He'll be there via satellite.
They'll do a lot of that as Edge is now
playing the heel. But I'm really now I'm very interested
in this match.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
Now.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
They have gone from kind of disappointment at the initial
onset of AJ's music hitting to all right, you have me,
let's go, you know, like that's amazing in just a
few short minutes that they were able to do that.

Speaker 4 (58:36):
Yeah, definitely built up pretty quick there in the weeks
to come. I mean, yeah, I definitely I don't see
if I'll see face to face encounter because I mean
retaliation from AJ. I mean, you think it have to
be a pretty extreme So I see them both saying
promo's individually over the next couple of weeks, and then
you'll get your WrestleMania match that will definitely be something

(58:57):
fun to see.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
Yeah cool, Yeah, No, I'm just I'm impressed with w
B here in the final segment that I think that
and Edge is a lot to I'm giving a lot
of credit to Edge because this could be written on
paper for somebody. But I think Adam Copeland playing Edge
here is really the star. No pun intended that that is,
or rather straw stirring the drink. And I think that
this is going to be I think it's gonna be

(59:21):
a great match. I have no concern about this, and
now that they've shown me in one week, I'm interested
in the match that they didn't know I wanted. So
all right, well, Anthony, anything else we're earnning raw or
anything else quickly that you wanted to chat about before
we close things out.

Speaker 4 (59:37):
Nothing major. There was the little segment there with Vince
McMahon and Austin's theory, yea theory alluding to, oh what
if Pat McAfee goes in jumps you. I mean, I
definitely think they're blowing out our proportion but obviously you
see with media thinking that the Vince is going to

(59:59):
get back in the ring, which.

Speaker 3 (01:00:02):
This I'm so glad you brought that up. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
So okay, I just praise Ron And I thought overall
Raw was very good. I give Raw like a B
B plus. I'm B plus. I mean because I'm in
a good mood. I give it a B plus. And
Raw does not do that on a regular basis. So,
you know, credit to the creative, credit to everybody on Raw.
But this one was just bad. I mean, I have
not been interested in Austin theory Vince McMahon at all

(01:00:25):
from the beginning. I thought of originally when he had
the egg on his desk. Who the hell keeps a
hundred million dollars egg on their desk, by the way,
you know, And I thought it was leading to the
rock at Survivors series. I was like, all right, this
is stupid, but if it leads to the rock which
comes in confronts Roman, fine.

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
It led to none of that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
It's just led to more months of Austin theory getting
berated and belittled by Vince McMahon in his office for
no apparent reason. It's been no payoff. It's been ridiculous,
and now this week Austin Theory suddenly has something to
say and it's out of nowhere, just trying to get
in Vince's head that Pat McAfee's going to attack him

(01:01:00):
on his show. What evidence do you have, exactly, Pat,
to show us, or rather Austin Theory, what evidence is
there that you would possibly come to that conclusion other
than we got to get to a match between Vince
and Pat who It's a match nobody asked for, nobody
wants to see. I don't need to see seventy five
year old Vince McMahon in a ring. He wasn't good

(01:01:21):
at fifty five. You think he's gonna be good at
seventy five inside of a ring?

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
And what the hell experiences Pat McAfee have.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
And there's nothing to this other than Vince maybe feels
that he wants to get one more time, one more
shot at a match at WrestleMania before he dies, and
it could I think it's just complete narcissism to have
yourself on a card that has really nobody asked for
this match, Nobody wants to see it, there's zero interest
in it, and it's gonna be a guaranteed terrible matchup.

Speaker 3 (01:01:51):
Terrible.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
So and by the way, Austin Theory I tweeted this out.
He said that he said to Vince, you haven't been
on a you know, a sit down interview for Matt
in twenty years. Did he forget that he was that
Vince was part of the Stone Cold podcast in twenty fifteen.
I mean, he was the first guest on Stone Cold's
podcast on the network. So yeah, Austin Theory, you're wrong there. Okay,
that's the last time Vince, I believe, was on a show.

Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
So just so much wrong with this, so much.

Speaker 4 (01:02:18):
Yeah, I gotta say I was quite glad that when
Vince replied to Theory, he says, it's not that kind
of a show, So I don't think we'll be seeing that,
although I think there will be some sort of altercation where,
you know, maybe it would take the green Pat McAfee
there and have a Pat McAfee versus a Theory matchup,

(01:02:38):
which we're not asking for, but it's possible that we
see it. And then when you went back to the
I saw I caught that tweet and that reminded me
just a couple of weeks ago. I listened to that
very interview and I didn't know from when it was from,
but because it shows up in the feet of Apple Podcasts,
it's kind of new. And so I heard this evincec

(01:02:59):
Mann Stone Cold the podcast, but they were talking about
Bray White in it, and Vin mcmhnon was just giving
high praises product, saying there's nothing wrong with it, and
I mean they look now, I mean, there's definitely other flaws,
but they're doing you know, they're you know, the ros
definitely made a good comeback, which I can appreciate. But yeah,

(01:03:20):
we'll see what happens with the whole of Austin Theory,
Pat McAfee and whatever happens.

Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
I'd rather see, I mean, as preposterous as it is,
and no one wants to see that either. As you said,
Austin Theory and Pat McAfee, as bizarre of a match
as that would be, and one sided as it would be,
I'd rather see that because at least you'd have one
guy in the ring that can really go and it
would be at least half okay, whereas Vince McMahon and
Pat McAfee would be a total disaster. I mean, and

(01:03:45):
you know what, Maybe it's just them trolling the rumors
that have been going on over the last week or
two about this matchup of Vince versus Pat being a
part of WrestleMania. Maybe they're just trying to troll us
and it doesn't end up in anything. That they were
just trying to get us all riled up and it
doesn't result in a matchup. And if that's fine, if
that's what happens, fine, I'd rather have us try to

(01:04:05):
be trolled than actually going through with this thinking it's
something we want to see.

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
It's not.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
So anyway, Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. So
thank you for getting me all riled up. I couldn't
end the show without a rant about something I was
being too nice to WWE, so you finally pulled the
trigger on it, And thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:04:22):
So anything else, Anthony.

Speaker 4 (01:04:26):
No, it's been a pleasure. I just want to put
a quick shot out. I mean, like everybody that's you know,
been a host on this show, I mean, y'all are
doing great job. It's definitely part of my daily routine.
I mean, I love the podcast, I love the community.
I gotta get on the mail beat sometime soon. But
just enjoying the product and I'm excited for the future.

Speaker 3 (01:04:45):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
Yeah, well, I appreciate you being a part of our community.
I appreciate everybody who really takes the time out of
the day. Everybody knows there are a million other podcasts
out there, much bigger ones on ours, but we're climbing
the charts, so you know, I really do appreciate that.
And you know, I encourage anybody to get a part
to be a part of Patreon, and it's only a dollar.
You get hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of ad free
shows and discord and all that stuff. So all right, well,

(01:05:07):
thank you so much, buddy. You know, we'll definitely be
doing this again. And you enjoy your night. And I
apologize once again for having to redo the whole show
twice or at least in half, so you enjoy the
rest of your evening.

Speaker 4 (01:05:19):
You too, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:05:20):
Yep, take care.

Speaker 5 (01:05:23):
Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to
subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss
a show, or head to WWE podcast dot com. And
for all of these shows ad free, head over to
Patreon dot com. Slash WWE Podcast. Until then, we'll see

(01:05:43):
you next time.