WWE Podcast Rewind: Previewing the 2021 Royal Rumble

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, welcome to the WWE Podcast. Thank you so
much for joining me, and tonight a huge show to
preview the Royal Rumble pay per view that takes place
tomorrow night, and I do it with co host Michael Gross.
We go in depth with every match and every possibility,
covering the show from A to Z and Z to A.

(00:22):
It is a great show. You guys are gonna love
this one, especially if you love the longer podcast. This
one's for you. So strap in and let's get everything
going right after this.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Welcome to the WWE Podcast, your number one source for
the latest in WWEE news and straightforward analysis.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
How are you ready to get this thing going?

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Hell yeah, I said, hell yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Dun Let's get this show started right now. All right, everybody,
welcome to the WWE Podcast. It is time to talk
Royal Rumble. Tomorrow night, or as you're listening to this,
probably tonight, the Royal Rumble will be in our laps

(01:12):
and ready for WrestleMania season. As we get to inevitably
watch the winners of the Royal Rumble point to the
WrestleMania sign which we all can't wait for. As fireworks
go off, so I know we're all eagerly anticipating that
very corporately required gesture by the Royal Rumble winners. But

(01:32):
Michael Gross and I just really dissect everything, almost to
just grinding it down to a fine powder, as they say,
as we completely dismantle the Royal Rumble and break down
all the possibilities possible returns. Michael has a very extensive,
exhaustive list in a good way of dark horses of

(01:54):
WWE's possible picks of his top picks. I also give you,
guys the Vegas odds of what Vegas is looking at
for who could win the Royal Rumble, both on the
men's and women's sides. So we really really just completely
dissect this thing, and I'm sure there's angles we're missing,
but we did the best that we possibly could to

(02:15):
look at the Royal Rumble in a very objective way.
So I hope that you guys take the time and
listen to this podcast in its entirety as we I mean, again,
I know it's long for audio, so maybe you can't
listen to it in one shot, but hopefully you can.
Before the Royal Rumble debuts and begins at seven pm
Eastern Standard time, on Sunday night. So once again, guys,

(02:36):
thank you for joining us. We have a full coverage
for the Royal Rumble this weekend, of course, beginning with
this podcast you're hearing right now, But I'll be tweeting
throughout the show tomorrow night at Wrestling Underscore Audio or
on you can check us on Instagram at wrestling our
WWE Underscore podcast there and we'll be live tweeting. But
tomorrow night, twenty four hours from now, I'll be recording

(02:59):
a show with none other than YouTube's The Botch Guy
as we cover the Royal Rumble in its entirety and
go through all the good and the bad inevitably of
the Royal Rumble events. So, by the way, if you
haven't gone to The Batch Guy's YouTube channel and subscribed,
you gotta do it right now. He has some great
content on there. He just previewed the Royal Rumble with
another co YouTuber, very successful one is that, So you know,

(03:23):
I think they did a great job of breaking down
their preview and predictions for the Royal Rumble. But he'll
be on this show tomorrow evening or early early Monday morning,
as you'll probably be able to listen to it to
cover the Royal Rumble. So that's super exciting. Glad to
have him back here on the ww podcast. So, by
the way, guys, if you'd like to reach out to

(03:43):
the show, give your predictions, your reactions to the Royal Rumble,
then super easy to do that. You can email us
at Real WWE podcast at gmail dot com, or you
can call the show and leave us a voicemail and
that number is five point eight nine to five two
zero two four seven, and you we'll get you on

(04:05):
the show for the mailbag portion that happens on Wednesday,
So if you'd like to, we can certainly get you
on the show on Wednesday with your thoughts and opinions.
Try to keep it PG please, this is a PG show,
so just keep that in mind. And you have three
minutes and then the mailbox will just cut you off.
I'm not sitting there listening to it and go, you know, moohaha,

(04:27):
and hit the button. It does it automatically. So one
last thing, if you guys like to support the show,
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(04:48):
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to our newest patron, Deanna, who just became a patron
of the show. Hope you enjoy it. I think for

(05:08):
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So Deana, welcome to the Patreon family. And if you'd
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So one last thing. If you go to our website
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(05:31):
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(05:51):
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is very very helpful. So alrighty, guys, let's just stop
with all the chatter. We're going to take one last
break to give some love to the sponsors of the show,
and then we're gonna get right to the content with
Michael Gross and myself for over two hours. So enjoy
the show and I'll be talking to you guys tomorrow night.

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and tonight it is a huge show because we are
reviewing the very first pay per view that is on
the road to WrestleMania. That is right. We are talking
about the Royal Rumble. We're previewing that tonight with none

(09:10):
other than the gardener, Michael Gross, who is back. You
guys love him. We love him here at the WW podcast.
We're here to talk the Royal Rumble and a ton
of stuff to go over. Of course, difficult matchups, particularly
in my estimation, just talking off air the Man's Royal Rumble.
But Mike, well, how you doing man? Welcome back, It's
great to have you here for the Royal Rumber preview

(09:30):
and prediction show.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, thank you very much. I want to say I'm
doing fantastic. It sounds like you're doing pretty well, which
that makes me happy to hear because I know you've
got a little bit of the beautiful white snow up
there and right now while I'm on work relocation in
Memphis for a little bit. We were lucky enough to
kind of miss that. But we went from sixty eight
degrees down to about forty one in a day and

(09:54):
we had some nice, I don't want to say tornatic weather,
but very torrential rainstorm, so in a slippery slope. But
I'm doing well, and as you were, saying at the
very beginning that we're on the road to WrestleMania with
the very first kickoff pay per view that sets the
pace and controls at least one of the main events.

(10:15):
I want to ask you a real quick question before
I ask you my second question. The first question, obviously,
is how are you doing? And the second question is
what was the first Royal Rumble you ever saw? Oooh?

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Love it? Love it? Okay, Well, first of all, easy,
easy answer. I'm doing good, and I know everyone just
says that, but I really am busy just like you,
and I am really really looking forward to getting out
of January and February and March so that April can
kind of bring some kind of forty to fifty degree weather,
which is when it starts up here, and we're going
to get another half foot of snow. I mean, it's
just it's insane up here. I don't know why I
live in New York, but I will say that the

(10:50):
first Royal Rumble, my first memories of the Royal Rumble,
the very first one I ever saw, and this kind
of sets the bar a little too high, is the
nineteen ninety seven Royal Rumble with Stone Cold being the
number one target and he ends up obviously winning, or
then that was that ninety eight, ninety seven, ninety eight
was stone Cold. He was like the target where everyone

(11:11):
was after him and he was the one striking first.
I think that was ninety seven, but I could be wrong. No,
ninety eight, ninety eight was that, because that led to
the nineteen ninety eight win for Stone Cold at Boston's
against Sean Michael. So what about you, I'm sure it's
a little bit, a little bit earlier than that for you.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
The very first on the USA network. I watched it
on a miniature little television. The screen couldn't have been
more than about twelve inches. I think it was I
want to say eighty eight, airy nine, whatever year was
the first where you know, heck saw Jim Dugan one.
Thank god they didn't do the WrestleMania stipulation back then,

(11:49):
but I remember watching it was a special it was
supposed to be, you know, the special event on TV.
And oh did I mention that the television was also
a black and white as you know, it was classy
class here at different times back then, and it was
just a little television from my bedroom, and I think
I was about thirteen or fourteen, almost fourteen, something like that,

(12:10):
and so you know, I turned it on and just
lucky enough to get good reception on it, and I
watched the whole thing, and I didn't know quite what
to make of it, And back then it was just
the pride of winning the Royal Rumble. I think that
was initially the experiment that Pat Patterson had come up
with because they wanted to somewhat spike the ratings with USA.

(12:32):
I've heard different stories over the years that it was
partly a ratings ploy, just so everybody would see this
a magnificent match, because USA was about to renegotiate the
contract with WWE back when it was known as Prime Time,
and so they had the special on USA. So that
I've heard that, I heard it was just the idea

(12:53):
was further down the road, obviously to make it a
pay per view. But even then, you know, the first couple,
I mean, the second one, John stud one it they
did not have that stipulation. I don't think it was
still the because the third Rumble, I believe was was
Rick Flair and it was for the championship. So I
think the fifth might have been when they started the winner,

(13:15):
and I think it was supposed to be a one
time thing. You you could correct me on this because
you would know a little bit better. But I think
it was the fifth Royal Rumble, which was the first
one that had the stipulation of going to WrestleMania, which
I think it was a one time deal, and then
it just kind of stuck after that, kind of like
when it was either hardcore Crash Holly said they were
going to defend the belt twenty four to seven, then

(13:36):
everybody did it. You know, It's just one of those
things like, well it worked once, we'll just you know,
we don't have to write now. It kind of writes itself.
So but yeah, that was my first rumble.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Wow. Yeah, I mean, well, being exactly ten years younger
than I or older than I am, that makes sense.
And I started out at the same time you did
in terms of how old we were when we were
watching wrestling. And it's funny you mentioned the Rick Flair one. Well,
I didn't actually watch it in when I first started watching. Obviously,
since I have watched that one with Rick Flair that
actually took place right here in Albandy in New York,

(14:05):
right down you know, ten minutes from where I'm at.
Uh so, yeah, I do. I remember watching it on
the network a couple of years ago. But yeah, this
is certainly one of the most exciting events. You'll hear
a lot of people say this is their favorite evend
of the year with good reason. This is the most
exciting event, one of the most unpredictable matches, one that
gets people talking. I think more than any and any

(14:27):
match that WWE does in their entire pay per view
schedule in the calendar year, is the Royal Rumble because
of so much that could happen, so many Let's know
who's number one, who's number two, who's number thirty, who's
possibly going to come back, who could make a return?
There are just just so much. This is you talk
about genius matches. Yes, Pat Patterson will be known forever

(14:47):
of the being the brain behind brains behind this operation,
and it is one of the most exciting. You can't
help but watch when that countdown starts of ten nine,
you hear the crowd. Of course this year it'll be simulated,
but I'm sure they'll be putting in crowd noise that
would make sense. So I mean, I'm looking forward to
this match. I am very, very I will say again,

(15:08):
just frustrated with how I'm going to make my picks.
I'm still up in the air up until like literally
the eleventh hour here when we get to that part
of our show. But let me ask you this though,
before we get into the Rumble, I will I will
ask you generally, how do you feel about the build
to Rumble and really like SmackDown. This past week we
saw braun Stroman return, we saw Bianca bell Air get

(15:30):
a massive win, there's the Intercontinental title mess. I mean,
there's a lot going on the Fiend and Orton. I mean,
I'm not asking to go through everything, but how are
you feeling generally about the product right now as we
get to the World Rumble tomorrow night.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
I think there's it's been a very convoluted situation because
I see and I'm sure you see it also, and
many of our listeners do that they're forcing a lot
of information on us. It's not, oh, we're gonna tease
that the Fiend is coming back. It's like, let's talk
about the Fiend every couple of minutes. Let's show Alexa
Bliss over the top, Let's show Randy Orton with this

(16:06):
goofy mask on and talk about him, talk about him.
But yet nobody's really advertised for much. Hmm, wonder what's
gonna happen. Bron Strumming comes back after we put together
an impromptu ten man just god awful match that just
did not need to happen. But that's neither here nor there.
But the point is, like, let's show all these people.

(16:28):
Let's not make them forget they are gonna be in
the Royal Rumble. I feel like it's information overload, sensory
overload that they're don't forget about this person, don't forget
about that person. You know, last time we saw Randy Orton,
you know, he was burned really badly by the Fiend.
We wonder how he's doing wink wink. So I just
feel like, even if we don't see these people, and

(16:51):
especially when they're crossing over shows from RAWD of SmackDown, Okay,
we get it. You're supposed you're supposed to be somebody
that we really look forward, you know, or look for.
In the Rumble, we get name dropping. We've got name
dropping everywhere. And I noticed, you know, they're they're trying
to show the strength of Shamus and talk about his
past with with Drew McIntyre, so oh will it be shamous?

(17:16):
But you know he can't get along with Keith Lee
and got to talk about you know that thing they
did off you know, you know that mysterious thing that
they did off camera that you know causes them to
have fights. So can't forget about Keith Lee. There's so
much information, and I just feel like, obviously, when you
when you you you throw your spaghetti against the wall,

(17:37):
one noodle is gonna stick. It's like they threw the
whole pot, you know, it's like, don't forget about this,
don't forget about that. So I just feel like it's
a lot of overload as far as who we think
might win or how they're dialing in. It's out of focus,
how about you?

Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, yeah, that's and I think that's the idea. What
you know, I don't think their their their plan was
to make it look like one or two people could
be the odds on favorites. I think their their their
idea was to kind of confuse fans in a way
that makes them go, well, well, yeah, that's true, what
about this person? So I think what your reaction to
that was the intended reaction when they put this together

(18:13):
was you know, look, Seamus has a possibility of winning,
and yeah, there's history between Seamus and Drew McIntyre. What
if you know Seamus and Dream mactyre, you know they
could main event wrestle many if Drew McIntyre retains. We'll
get to that, you know. So I think that was
the idea to confuse people. And yeah, we may be
looking at it as that was just too much, but

(18:35):
I appreciate what they were doing in trying to make
all of these distractions everywhere rather than just well it's
kind of a foregone conclusion, you know, Daniel Brian's gonna
win or whoever, and make cases for people where you
have that thought like oh maybe yeah, and they plant
that seed. So I understand what they're doing, agreed. The
ten person match that was like a singles match that

(18:57):
turned into a six man tag to turnam into ten
man that was just I mean, it was just it
was a way to kill time. It was a way
to kill like thirty five minutes of airtime that they
probably didn't know what else to do with. And I thought,
for sure, I said, oh my god, I would I
would have bet my right hand that at the end
of that match, we would have had people throwing each
other over the top rope, and then the announcers like,
if this is Sunday, they would have been eliminated. I mean,

(19:20):
because they always do that crap where or the ladder match,
you know, the TLC, and they have people climbing the
ladders and grabbing the fake championship at the top of
the ladder before the pay per view, as if that's
supposed to be symbolic. They do all that kind of stuff.
So I thought for sure that was gonna happen, and
it didn't. But I think your your reaction to it
is probably what they were intending.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
It's it's it's definitely out of focus. It's you know,
at I'm with you one hundred percent on the well,
look at the size of Strowman. Who could eliminate him
comes Sunday on pay per view. I'm afraid that if
fat Man's in the ring, nobody will move that mountain.
Like I was waiting for that, Like I could just
hear Bobby heat and turn it is great, I really could.

(20:02):
I was just waiting for just I wish Bobby Heaton
was on commentary to throw something really bad in there
to expose somebody if that came out, but unfortunately didn't
come out. Well fortunately actually because it's just so overdone. Hey,
here's the beauty. At least we didn't get a contract signing,
you know on Friday.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Okay, Well but yeah, well they auditioning out so many
just championship matches every single show. We don't need contract
signings anymore. I mean the amount of championship matches they've
given away over the last month is criminal, yes, but
so okay, we're kind of on the same pat here
as far as where things are at that the wonky
mask from Orton. We all know the Fiend is coming back.

(20:41):
It's just a matter of how and when. I think
we probably will have an idea of that as we
go on here. Yes, we have Alexa Bliss out there
as a possible winner, with some of the other top contenders.
We have Charlotte, we have people that aren't even announced,
what about NXT call ups, and there's a lot to
get to. So with all that said, though, I mean,
I'm ready to unless there's other ancillary things in terms

(21:03):
of the product that you want to discuss. If not,
we can jump into the Royal Rumble preview here.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Absolutely, what I was gonna ask you is, do you
feel that well, okay, let me rephrase, what do you
think is going to be the kickoff show? Do you
think it's just gonna be a review of the build
or do you think we're gonna get like a title situation,
a US Intercontinent bump kind of thing, or do you
feel like it's just gonna be maybe be a two

(21:31):
of five Live defense or maybe a n XT random
call up kind of showcasing.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
Well, I will say this as I'm looking at the
card right now, I don't see I see we have
the Women's SmackDown Championship, we have Tag Team Championship, the
Women's Tag Belts, So I don't see any actual tag
team championships on the line. So could Don Ziggler and
Robert Rude be in line for maybe the Street Profits

(21:59):
and get an automatic rematch for whatever reason? Yeah, I
mean I could see that being the kickoff certainly. I
think the other the Raw Tag Team Championship, could also
be defended, So that's my thought. Yeah, I think the
Tag Team Championships will come out of nowhere. They'll announcement
on Twitter and or they'll announcement on the show and
then that's the match we'll get.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah, I was kind of thinking that, of course they
want to do a crowd height, but there's no real
live crowd, so I figured it's just at home. Hey guys,
this is the last pay per view you're going to
see for a while before we merge with Peacock, and
we anger so many people who are following and can't
figure out how to you know, dual stream it. But
that's a different conversation for a little bit later in
the show.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
I was one of your thoughts on that, so yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Just shed some light on it. Okay, first of all,
I don't know how it's gonna work. I don't know.
I downloaded the free version of the Peacock app and
I don't even really play with it. I just figure
that that is going to be your conduit into getting
the WWE network, so kind of like when you have
Amazon on Prime. You could also subscribe to Stars for

(23:02):
nine to ninety nine a month, and I don't remember
when I did it, but you know, apparently I pay
nine to ninety nine a month extra. So I think
it's gonna be one of those things that might really
incur the wrath of so many network subscribers. If you
actually have to pay for Peacock and get a paid version,
there's gonna be a lot of problems. But I feel

(23:24):
in the next couple weeks they're gonna find a way
around that, because the massive amount of people who will
drop the will drop the network if they have to
get a new pay service to piggyback it off of,
are gonna be really upset. Not to mention, if our
Royal Rumble Winner or our main events go in a
sour direction, they won't know because there's no crowd because

(23:44):
they're only booking themselves at this point. But if it's
if it's a weak build, you better believe selling off
that network. What in March seventeenth, I think is the
first eighty Okay, so selling that off right before WrestleMania
is the dumbest thing. Why don't you shoot yourself in
both feet and then go for a swim.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
It's it's curious. I think their thinking is that's better
timing because then their minds it's WrestleMania, and what better
time to promote the network on a different platform than now?
Right the most cybroalls on the product. So that's that's
their thinking. I understand your position, but I'm also thinking
about from their business perspective of wait a minute, you know,
we're three weeks away from WrestleMania. Is there's no better

(24:26):
time than right now? I'm like, but is there a
better time than now? There's a case we made for
both sides. Certainly, Yes, yeah, I hear it. And that
is a good question too about do people have to
actually subscribe to Peacock itself with a paid subscription and
then also pay for the extra WWE network or can
they just get the like a premium version of Peacock

(24:47):
and the network's already included and it's not like a
two step process. That's a good question.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
I know that what we're paying, is it up to
thirteen ninety nine now, or you know, I'm not quite sure,
just automatically deducted from from my bank account. But you know,
I know the money's gone because I never never balance
as a voice. So I'm not gonna add another streaming service.
I just find that rather a name. And I also
find the fact that I mean, like I said, I've

(25:16):
got the free version of Peacock, so it just might
be Okay, through Peacock, you can watch ww network. Are
you subscribers sign it? If that's it, it's not gonna
be a big deal and it just works out so
Peacock can show us reruns or whatever else. Okay, that's
fine if it works that way. But if if it's
if it's an extra expenditure, you've got all these fans
who got that network specifically just absolutely just for wrestling,

(25:40):
so they don't want to watch all all these other reruns,
and they're gonna be upset even if it's five dollars
extra a month. It's like, I'm paying five dollars for
so much content I'm not gonna use. That's gonna be
a really big sour taste in a lot of amounts.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, big time, big time. I would think that's a
terrible business model on both ends if that's their idea,
because they know Peacock would be foolish to do, you know,
paying making wrestling fans pay twice, thinking that they'll pay
twice considering that they're paying nine ninety nine. Now, I
think it's smart if there's no if there's not two
pay walls, then there's just one paywall of say, you know,

(26:14):
whatever the stream likes four ninety nine a month, then
you've essentially cut the expense of the people who are
purchasing the network now for nine ninety nine in half
if those fans are willing to deal with the ads. Myself,
I cannot stand ads. I will pay any premium service
if I get a streaming service, which I'm trying to
cut them down because it's adding up to how much
a cable bill would be at this point. But you know,

(26:37):
if I get a streaming service like Hulu, I will
pay the extra, however much to not deal with ads.
It's so worth it to me, So I will not
be shedding any expense to me, It'll just be a
lateral move with no added expense. If there's not two
pay walls, I would again, I would think that's really
foolish on both parts. But I think there will be
a subset of fans that are willing to pay the
four ninety nine to cut their bill in half, save

(26:59):
the five bucks a month and uh and deal with
the ads. I'm sure those people are out there.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Oh absolutely. I just the thing that that about this
whole purchase or sales and purchase situation is I just
don't see for if if you've got a million point
two or a million point five subscribers that are paying
at base, it was nine to ninety nine, and whatever
it's gone up to at this point, say it's eleven

(27:26):
ninety nine. Okay, that's over eleven million dollars in revenue
that you're giving up per month. So that's that's not
just a couple of pennies. So for you to give
up that kind of money, which adds up to well
over one hundred million dollars a year, this deal with

(27:46):
Peacock had to be astronomical. It had it had to
be somewhere in the Fox billion dollar range. But at
what point do you say, okay, we we've sold it
you I would I would think that want at least
five years of what you would pull, you know, so
it's it's economically feasible. Is this one of these things

(28:06):
where Vince McMahon says, I might not be around in
five years, so I'm gonna sell it for what I'd
make in five years, thinking that this is making the
old man say it's time to retire.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
I think, here's here's my thought on it. And this
is as far as the financials go, let me answer
your question, because I did look at the specifics of
how much this deal is worth, and it is about
a billion dollars. That's two hundred million a year for
five years. And so they got their billion dollars. So
ww caunld say, we got our money, you know, and
just kind of like, you know, just walk away. But

(28:38):
you gotta also remember, is wwe maybe missing out on
adding another tier to their network of which fans are
willing to pay for maybe up up ato fourteen ninety nine,
you know, kind of do what Netflix does, and they
they slowly increase the bill every six to twelve months
of two dollars one dollar, three dollars one dollar, and
the next thing you know, you're paying you know where

(28:58):
you started at seven nine, Now you're paying fifteen ninety nine.
And they've suddenly doubled the bill. But they've done it
in a way that is slowly. It's like boiling the frog.
That analogy that people use where you put a frog
in water and you don't you know, you don't put
them in boiling water. He'll jump out. You slowly turn
up the heat and the next thing you know, before
he can get out, the water's boiling and he's dead. So,
I mean it's a little bit of a morbid analogy,

(29:20):
but it's it's kind of that same deal where you
just kind of slowly turn up the heat on people
and they just it's, what's another two dollars a month,
what's another one dollar a month, What's another three dollars?
You know? So I think WWE may be missing out
on that extra revenue if they started to tear their
network for fans that would maybe willing to pay more
for the network over those over the five years that

(29:40):
they got this billion dollars for, and maybe you know,
they would have made more than two hundred million a
year that this contract is for. It's all, you know,
they got their money. I mean a billion dollars is
a billion dollars, and now they can just bring that
that content in Peacocks the servicer they own it now.
So I honestly, I don't think it's the worst thing

(30:01):
in the world. If you have fans that deal with
four and nine a month, they're looking at looking at
it as a savings. WWE has their money. They they
don't really care how many people download the Peacock at
this point, because they just got their money from the
next five years. And Peacock is like, hey, yeah, we
paid ww a billion dollars. But they're they must have
done a hell of a lot of research into this,
into the network to say we could do better than that,

(30:23):
because otherwise they would get in a net loss in
this deal. They would they're thinking they can make more
than what they paid to WWE, So they must have
some kind of strategy to promote the absolute crazy hell
out of this to get more than two hundred million
dollars per year back over the next five years. So
there's you know, otherwise it's foolish on their part.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
So absolutely, now that you you spit all those numbers
for me, and I'll just wrap it up real quick,
because I know we had the rumble to cover. We
could do economics all day two of us. But if
you're making a little over one hundred million dollars a
year just on subscribers alone, they've got ten years worth
of money at least. So and they don't have to

(31:04):
guarantee new content, brand new. You know, they produce it.
If Peacock wants to use it, they do. If they don't,
they don't. Maybe Peacock's gonna produce their own things for it.
But I'm sure vincill still have his finger on the
pulse until he doesn't have a pulse. That there's your
morbidity from me. But so you know, honestly, if you're
getting ten years worth it and you don't have to
worry about anything, you know, as long as you tune

(31:26):
up the engine, they can drive the car.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
No, that's that's just it. And and I'm with you,
and I think ultimately I think this will be good
for everyone involved in the long run. Yes, it's a change,
and this is my final point that I promise we're
getting to the rumble too. But I think this will
be a more positive about it than you are, just
because I see it from a business perspective. And I
don't know it's because I went to school for business
or that has anything to do with it or not,
but I just see it as a win win win. Ww. Great,

(31:52):
we have a billion dollars, just walk away, you know,
let's move on. We have the fans who again assumingly
and I didn't look at that detail, could cut their
bill in half and deal with ads or it's a
lateral move and there's no change in everyone's budget, So
the fans are like, okay, fine, great, we have to
download a new app.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Big deal.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
You know, people are downloading apps all the time. It's
a minor, minor inconvenience in this first world problem. Then
you have Peacock, who is really taking the biggest risk
out of all three players here because they are they
paid a billion dollars and now they're like, okay, guys,
we got to get that money back and more over
the next five years. And they have a subscriber base
of twenty two million people. Now are those twenty two
million people all free? Obviously not, there's a subset that

(32:31):
I'm sure are free that don't pay for the premium service.
But they have a much much much bigger base than
WWE did, potential base than WWE did with those one
point three one point four that's where it would kind
of hover and they would spike around mania and drop
to about a million one point one and just very cyclical.
And there hasn't been any growth in the network over
the next over the last four year five years, and

(32:53):
since the network debut in twenty fourteen, it really has
kind of leveled. So I think the biggest risk is
on peaks part, but they have a massive subscriber base
that they could potentially use to tap into this into
the ww network and get people that parent wrestling fans
to go in there. I mean, there really is the
biggest risk on that part. But okay, let's get into

(33:14):
the Royal Rumble match Royal Rumble pay per view, I
should say, and we cover the fantasy kickoff show that
we don't know is going to exist or not, as
far as if there's a match, which I'm thinking is
gonna be just a tag team match. But let's get
into the actual card, and there are six matches as
of right now. Again, if matches get added, as they

(33:36):
always do randomly, we apologize. But there's six matches as
we see right now. So I'm gonna start it from
the bottom and obviously work our way all the way
to the men's Royal Rumble Match, and I'm gonna start
with Sasha Banks versus Carmela for the WWE smack Down
Women's Championship. Mister Gardner, go ahead and take it away

(33:58):
on this one. I'm gonna I'm gonna let you do
it first.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Okay, Carmela is the one female I've seen actually get
some kind of build that hasn't completely blown up in
her face, because usually when when you're going against one
of the four Horsewomen, unless you're another member of the
four horse Women, you kind of get pushed in the back.
You're you're Dana Brooks, your Natalia's I mean now, don't

(34:22):
get me wrong, in Italia had her time earlier, you know,
in the decades so so and so forth. But or
unless you're some really hot prospect coming up from NXT,
it's it's very hard for a woman, even though their
their work rate has gone up, to actually believe that

(34:44):
they're going to go over or have any kind of
credible character going against one of the you know, alleged
four horsewomen. Now, to me, I think Sasha Banks is
not only stunningly beautiful and I am single, Sasha. You know,
just things don't work out the Husby if if okay,
Carmela has some depth to the character, the salmonnier, the

(35:06):
whole thing. She doesn't look like a complete fool. I
don't see her winning this, but I see this continuing afterwards.
I think that this is gonna gonna go at least
one more step. And I think that the weirdest thing
we could get out of this is not a double turn.
But what's his name, Reginald? Reggie, Yeah, Reginald. I see

(35:29):
Reginald maybe leaving Carmela due to some kind of I
don't want to say, like spousal abuse, but kind of
he starts to get taken advantage of it, kind of
kicked around, kind of like the whole you know, James Elsworth,
and please, I just thought about that. It's royal rumble.
Don't let him show up and the woman's we'll get
there later. Oh no, but I cursed you. I'm sorry.

(35:51):
I'm gonna put that in my notes. Okay, But so
I I see. I think this match is gonna be
a lot better than people anticipate because car Carmela when
she first came in, and she's a stunningly beautiful girl,
but they basically saw a you know, Vince Russo. And
every time she wrestles, and as the years go by
she progresses that she gets better. Now she's definitely not

(36:12):
one of the four horsemen women women, excuse me. She's
definitely not Shanna Besler, Bianca Bella, air Ria Ripley. But
what I put her above the talents of say Lacy
Evans or anybody in the Riot squad, or even though
Ruby's coming into her own, Yes, I would. I think
that with each passing year, if she's put in a

(36:34):
top tier storyline, Carmela goes out of her way to
increase her ability in the ring. She may not necessarily
create new maneuvers to use, but she definitely gets better
at performing the ones that she has in her arsenal,
and she doesn't do it as a move set. When
you watch Carmela Russell, it's not always going to be

(36:55):
oh she does this, Oh she does that, Oh she
does this. The best I can put it is you
always knew the dd TEA was coming after Jake Roberts
short arm clothesline, which I always love that cobble with.
The point is you always knew what came next, And
in a Raven's stereo match, you're gonna get like almost
the same five or six spots in a row every match.
That's what makes it hard for me to watch him

(37:17):
for the last fifteen years because you're getting the same match.
Carmela has her moves, but it's not always set. So
I think this match is gonna be a lot better
than we think. I'm actually gonna predict on a one
to ten that this is gonna be somewhere about a
six point five. But I see Sasha retaining. I do
see it maybe spreading out to the next pay per view,
maybe even a push towards WrestleMania. But I think Reginald

(37:42):
is gonna be a key in the storyline. But then again,
a certain no chin man might just pop up out
of the sewer and get back at us. So how
about you, boss?

Speaker 1 (37:51):
Oh gosh, yeah, Well, first of all, I'm I hope
that doesn't happen. Second of all, Sasha Banks and Carmela
it's been a program that has been really on, even
for me. And when I say and even, it's not
due to the inabilities of either woman. I think both
women are absolutely capable. I think that Carmela, upon her debut,

(38:12):
has done good to very good, and then has kind
of and I think I might have mentioned this last
week the week before, she feels like she's just flatlined.
And I don't mean that as she's her character's dead.
I mean as if she's just kind of plateaued. Maybe
that's a better word. She's just kind of plateaued, and
she's got Reginald. But why are we focusing on Reginald
when it's about it should be about Carmela. You know,

(38:32):
I need more from Carmela. And there's just I like
her in ring ability. She has certainly improved. I'm glad
she's no longer our true comedy sidekick. I think that
she is completely undervalued and was undervalued in her run
as the SmackDown Women's Champion a number of years ago.
I loved it, and I think that doesn't get enough
attention or is brought up enough. But I really want

(38:54):
to see her add something to her character. Maybe it's
more Mike time. Maybe I need something be on the superficial,
arrogant blonde. There needs to be a little more. I
know it's there. I'm not doubting her. I just need
to see her and hear her add more to her
character other than again, they's just the arrogant, I drink champagne.
I'm better than you. Okay, I need more like we've

(39:16):
seen it. I get it, I'm on board with it.
But it's just as if she's kind of been just
using that over and over and over, and Okay, I
have Reginald, who's the somalier or as Corey Graves called him,
the Circa Somalier this week, which was very clever, you know,
and I need more from him other than just seeing
him get shamed and beat up by Sasha Banks every week,

(39:36):
which is completely unbelievable, by the way, like completely unbelievable
that this guy can do, you know, crazy flips and
all this stuff, but he can't take care of a
one hundred and forty pound woman. I mean, it's just
it's absurd. But we don't deal with man and woman
violence in ww even though the other way around is okay,
which again their match that happened last week where she
made him tap out, is completely just it's frustrating to

(39:58):
me when I see that, not in a way that just
makes me go I hate wrestling. It's just like this
guy can do all these acrobatic things, he can flip, flip,
fly and do all these summersaults, and he can't deal
with one hundred and forty pound woman. I mean, it's
it's just absurd to me. But I understand in WWE's
we don't do men and women violence, but the other
way is okay. I mean, it's just I can rant
about that, but this is what we're talking about. We're

(40:19):
talking about Carmela and Sasha Banks. And ultimately, here's my thought.
I think Sasha Banks does retain. I'm with you on this,
and I think it's because Sasha Banks going into WrestleMania
is a bigger name as champion, then Carmela is as
a name going into WrestleMania as champion. And yes, we
have a pay per view in between, of course, and
yes WrestleMania isn't for what another two months, roughly two

(40:40):
months in change, so yeah, we could have a title
change between now and then, and god knows, WW doesn't
wait for pay per views to do title matches. So
I think that Sasha Banks does retain. I am looking
at a good quality match. I think that Carmela has
improved in the ring, just as you said. I think
this could be a good to very good match if
all of all of the if everything's working right, then

(41:00):
I end up thinking Sasha Banks wins. Yes, Reginald's gonna
get involved, probably in a Carmela favorable way, but ultimately
I think Sasha Banks retains, and I think that they
need to make this her championship win against Bailey that
they built and built and built and Built, which I
think was a big flop. But they need to make
her championship win stick and they need to I think

(41:21):
continue it till WrestleMania with Sasha Banks again. Both beautiful women,
no question about that, but in ring ability. To me,
they are Sasha Banks. We all know what she can do.
This is time. Really, you could argue this is Carmela's
biggest match she's ever had in her career because it's
at the Rumble, it's against Sasha Banks, and it's for
the championship. So to me, I'm looking towards Carmela and

(41:44):
putting the pressure on her to have a really good
match with Sasha Banks rather than the other way around.
But I think Sasha Banks comes out on top. All right, guys,
we're gonna take a quick commercial break, show a little
love to our sponsors, and then we're gonna be right
back with more audio from Michael and myself talking Royal Rumble.
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(42:07):
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Speaker 2 (44:47):
The only thing I can say in my conclusion to
I'm actually really looking forward to this because as you
put it, this is probably Carmela's most marquee marketable match. Obviously,
Sasha is the one whose name you want to put
on on WrestleMania. So it's it's a no brainer as
far as the retention unless something really really crazy and

(45:08):
sideways happens, or unless they have some incredibly great plot
to put together a marquee women's match with Carmela at
the Helm, unless it's a hot potato situation, which we
don't need that going into WrestleMania. That's the saddest thing
you can do is have a title that has been
demeaned or pushed down its value level, you know, to

(45:29):
you know, fertilizer for a mushroom. So I really think
that I really feel that there's gonna be some some
pleasantry to this match. I really think it's going to
be a solid six point five out of ten because
I think that just depending on how hokey it is
with Reginald getting and that that's gonna be the biggest
detractor is how much he's going to play in this

(45:51):
match and if it's going to cheapen a victory for
Sasha or not. So you know, that's that's the big
thing me right there. So it is.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
And I think they want to have Sasha Sasha say
face even though she's been kind of heelish. Really, I mean,
to me, Sasha Banks is a heel in a in
a in a baby face clothing. I think in a cloak,
I should say, I'm not a I'm not a huge
proponent of the babyface Sasha Banks. I think she is
much much better at a heal, just like Charlotte. And
we'll get to her and uh, right now, so let's

(46:23):
get to the tag team match here for the Women's
Tag Team Championship OSCA and Charlotte Flair versus Naya Jacks
and Shanna Basler. Once again, I'll toss this one to you.
I'm fairly confident on this one, but maybe you have
a different thought. Go ahead.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
This one has been one of the hardest matches for
me to call to be actually, uh, completely honest with you,
because I mean, Charlotte Flair is she's she's their dominant female.
She's she's their Roman reigns. The biggest difference is she's
always naturally had that connection with the audience. There's she
can do no wrong and she could lose a million

(47:04):
matches and it wouldn't matter because when they say that,
some people just have that golden parachute and you can
erase a loss. She can go out and have one
win over somebody major after ten losses in a row,
and you would forget almost instantly about her losses. That's
how gold like dipped in gold she is. Oscar, on
the other hand, should have had that next level even

(47:25):
her reins as Women's champs. Something's not. It's just never
hit on all cylinders ever since she had that first
major loss too. Of all people, Charlotte, so you've got
you could have a turn in this one like they
couldn't get along. But they've been way too buddy, buddy,
and it's worked out way too well. I see, because
you're gonna have to have a build for russell Mania.

(47:47):
Obviously that I pushed this around. I kind of went
fifty to fifty wishy washy. I see Jackson Basler doing
this based on a couple of things. One if there's
anybody I believe could eviscerate any female and just tear
through them and leave nothing but a set of lungs
laying in the mat, it's gonna be SHANEA. Bezler because

(48:08):
it's not only the fact that she has the legit cred,
but it's the fact that she has a different look.
She looks like I wouldn't fight her. I don't know
about you. I wouldn't fight her. And she's one of
those few, like Carmela who can be put on that
level with the Four Horsewomen. She's completely a great submission wrestler.
She doesn't just rely on all UFC fighting style stuff

(48:31):
like rond Rousi. It's not it doesn't look like a
forced match like ronder Rousei. And I'm not trying to
pick on Rondo, but let's be honest. Her one year
at the top was very forgettable in my opinion, whereas
Jack's and well, okay, Basler. First of all, I'll get
back to the two of them together. But Basler, you know,
going through NXT all the way up developing in case

(48:51):
you didn't know who she was in UFC, it's been beautiful.
She looks vicious, she acts vicious, she plays the role,
she lives her gimmick. And Ni Jackson, of course, is
one of the Samoans, you know, he loves the Samoan
family and she. You've got two women who don't look
your typical role. They're not beauty queens. And I'm not

(49:11):
saying they're ugly by any stretch, because lord knows, they
might whip me, but seriously, they're not ugly women. And
that's a real statement. They're not, but they don't. They're
not silicone, they're not bleach blonde. They're not trying angles
with romance. You know. It's I look at those two
as like a almost like a female version of the Steiners,

(49:34):
Like you're gonna get hurt wrestling these women. So if
we have to believe that that Charlotte and Oscar are
gonna drop the belts, especially if you're gonna have them
potentially go in two different directions in the rumble, I
kind of see those two may be facing off, which
I also think that champions shouldn't be involved in rumbles,
but that's a different discussion for a little bit later on.

(49:55):
I really think that that Jackson Basler are gonna get this.
I think it's gonna be a between Flare and Osca,
one of those things where it's a bad blind tag.
If it's not a bad blind tag. I'm seeing a accident,
you know, one teammate accidentally hits the other, which causes
minor dissension, but you know they'll put aside their grievances

(50:16):
just to meet later on in the evening and try
to take it out on each other. But I'm seeing
the gold switch place, and I hope, honestly it does
switch place that we go on a monster tear with
Jackson Basler and they become, you know, like I said,
the female Steiners, but a darker version.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
This one. Yeah, we'll see. Now I have my pick,
and you're making me rethinking. I okay, so I'll just
say right off the bat, I have Oscar and Charlotte retaining.
Now it's for the reason that you mentioned about well,
let me say this. I agree with your logic about
Nya Jackson Shanna Basler being the female version of the

(50:57):
Steiners going on a terror and being dominant. And they
kind of did that for their first run kind of
they were you know, they're messing around with Lana whatever that,
you know, for whatever that's worth uh, you know, if
if it'll be a miracle or at least a blessing
that Nijacks doesn't injure anyone in this match. I mean,
lately she's been not on a good run, and she
always is very defensive on Twitter talking about how we're

(51:18):
all trolls and all this. She is not safe in
the ring. It's just it's clear at this point. It's
not even like an opinion. I mean, look at her,
look at a record of accidental injuries. I'm not saying
she's doing a new purpose. She she just has been
on the on the bad end of injuring or on
the interactions between stars of accidentally injuring them. It's it's

(51:41):
just a fact. So she can go on Twitter and
talk about we're all trolls and how we're we don't
know what we're talking about, but the fact of the
matter is that she is not a safe worker at times.
It's it's just a fact. But nonetheless, I think Austin
and Charlotte retain, and the reason is because I think
while what you're saying is correct about the dissension and
the accidental tag or you know, somebody gets selfish and

(52:01):
try to you know, tries to get the pin while
the other one stands on the apron or whatever. We've
seen it at all, all those kinds of miscommunications between teams,
you know we're gonna eventually disintegrate. We know what would
happen with Bailey and Sasha over the summer. We all
knew it was coming. I agree with you, but I
think they're gonna wait one more pay per view. I
think they're gonna wait one more time to have this
build from say fast Lane, which I think is the

(52:22):
next pay per view to WrestleMania. That's when I think
the breakdown is gonna happen. I don't think it's gonna
happen at the Rumble from Rumble to Mania Again. You're
looking at it like a ten week, nine week build.
It's gonna take. That's a lot of time for them
to do that, and I think that they're gonna wait
one more time to do it. I think the way
you were saying is correct. I just the timing of it,

(52:42):
I think is one more month away. So I think
Oscar and Charlotte retain. I think eventually, yeah, they could
drop it to Nijackson, Shane Basiler. I would love to
see those two run through the roster. But the question
then remains, does wwe see shaneon Basiler and Nijacks more
successful asle stars than they do as a tag team.
And I mean, if they're gonna just do nothing with

(53:05):
Shannon Basler and you know, bury her like they did
last year at WrestleMania, then I would say keep her
in the tag team if they have no plans for
her because she has a home there. If they're gonna
actually do something with Shane Bazler and make her an actual,
actual killer and make her come back and break people's
arms like she did in the Spring this year, then
hell yeah, bring back that's Shanna Basler. I'm not a

(53:26):
huge fan of Ni Jack's. I don't care that they're not,
you know, beautiful women by you know, some standards. To me,
that's actually an asset that they don't look that way,
because it's not a distraction because the fact is, like
most of the men that are most of the people
that watch wrestling are men, and most of the people
that watch wrestling are men in their like middle aged men,
younger men, even older men. I mean it's really eighteen

(53:47):
to forty is the general target Demo, and I think
so sometimes it's a distraction of how good looking some
of these women are. Whether you're you're not watching wrestling
for that, but it's distracting. And I think with these two,
and I don't mean this disrespectfully, but they aren't beautifully
distracting where it's just like you know you're watching them,
but you're just kind of like the biological part of

(54:07):
your brain or the neurons in your brain are like, man, like,
this woman's just so attractive. It's distracting. No, to me,
it's good that they're not, because it helps me focus
on their actual wrestling storyline, how they are in the ring,
you know, their character, rather than just always worrying about,
like you said, kind of the plastic part of the
whole thing. So long story, Shark, Oscar and Charlotte retain.

(54:28):
I like your logic. I just think the timing is
one more is one month removed from yours.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
Well, you know, either way, we got to see with
what happens on Sunday or tomorrow. Hello, So with what
happens to tomorrow, then you and I can start pitting
it against each other on what the build is to
WrestleMania where they think they're going, because obviously we're going
to see some kind of interaction in the rumble. It
has to happen. Now, if we go your route and

(54:59):
you think that they're just going to add a few
more side dishes before we delve into the main course,
at least it gives us something a bit more substantial
in the build up to uh up to Mania. And
I was doing some research here while while also so
do we have fast lane and elimination chamber next? Or

(55:19):
is it just going to be elimination chamber because that's
isn't that usually how they pick the other, uh, the
other candidate for whatever world titles that are not or
haven't been decided for an opponent, Yes, yes, now, but
I believe it used to be both fast lane and
elimination chamber. In in both, I think it used to

(55:41):
go fast lane.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
That's elimination chamber first. Yep. No, you're you're right, Yep.
I'm looking.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
I mean, I'm just trying to I'm trying to visualize
it because I believe you were right in saying elimination
or I mean fast laying because I think it used
to go I think WrestleMania floated between March and April
for a while. Yep, And I think, now, mind you,
it's you know, I am forty five. I think that

(56:07):
it would go fast Lane after after Rumble because it
was you know, the try the road to WrestleMania fast Lane.
It made sense, and then elimination and then uh wrestling,
I think so, but whatever, I don't know if they're
if they're cutting one out or bridging it this year,
but so then we also have to think after tomorrow's event,
I will be texting you We're going to see what

(56:28):
we think is going to be the competitors for Elimination Chamber,
and I think a lot of that is going to
come down to your final few in the Ladies Battle
Royal or excuse me, Ladies Royal Rumble, the Royal Rumble event.
That is, this is not a pay per view anymore.
So I I see your plan, and I like that
you want more death to it, and I like the

(56:50):
fact that no matter what, we both agree that that
this isn't over. This isn't just going to be, you know,
a one and done situation today. So I both both
female matches so far are going to be storyline and
scripting towards the next sixty days worth of television and
sixty days worth of pay per view and or events.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
It's right, I mean, and I did look. It did
confirm the Elimination Chambers on February twenty first, and then
fast Lane is March twenty first until a month later.
And then obviously WrestleMania is April tenth and eleventh from Tampa.
So yeah, we have three weeks now on from the
Rumble to Elimination Chamber and then four weeks between Chamber
and fast Lane. So yep, there are two pay per

(57:37):
views between Rumble and WrestleMania, so there are a couple
steps that they have still to still go before they
get to WrestleMania, which again I think kind of makes
me more confident that it could be another pay per
view before this actually happens, because I think they know
that fans know it's going to happen, and when they
think that, you know, when they know that fans know,

(57:59):
I think they liked it. Lay it where they make
fans re guess like, well they're really gonna do it?
Are they get to like when is this gonna happen?
I can't believe they didn't do it. So even if
they know when that fans are confident it's gonna happen,
they'll mess with the timing. So in this case, I
think that it's probably gonna be elimination chamber, even fascinating.
I mean, I could see them going that long. I
wouldn't to build to an Oscar Charlotte WrestleMania main event.

(58:20):
But okay, uh, let's get to the next match here,
and now we're starting to get into some some pretty
crazy ones. Drew McIntyre versus Goldberg. Good lord, I'll take
this one first. I'll be brief as I can. Okay, Now,
about three weeks ago, I said that I'm starting to

(58:43):
turn on my thoughts about Goldberg and McIntyre, where I
was like, Goldberg's no, McIntire's gont to retain. You know,
at first I said, Goldberg's no way he can win.
McIntyre has been doing so good as champion. Outside of
the three weeks that we all pretend he didn't lose
to Orton at Helen to Sell, he has been the
champion since WrestleMania. Outside those three weeks, He's been very
good as champion. He has been truly what Vince wanted

(59:07):
roman to be. Drew McIntyre has been and is a
He's a man's man. He is confident. I can't see
through his work, I can't see through his character. He is.
He's a total package. He is just excellentist, champion and
totally believable. And I said, no way, they're going to
cut that short before WrestleMania, Like how cool that be

(59:27):
to say WrestleMania to WrestleMania. He was champion again outside
of the three weeks So I said, no way. And
then Goldberg shows up and look at you know, obviously
we're we're here now, and I'm thinking about three weeks ago.
I said, oh my god. They kept drilling home and
they did it this past week again. This is, you know,
the one championship Goldberg has not had. This is the

(59:50):
one championship that has eluded Goldberg. This is the one
championship that has eluded Goldberg. And they kept drilling that
in my head. And when they do that, when they
drill that in my head, it sets the foundation and
lays the foundation for when that moment happens. You're like,
oh my god, that's right. He has never won it.
And so I'm I'm of the belief. Here's my pick.

(01:00:12):
I think Goldberg's gonna capture the WWE Championship. I don't
don't want it to happen. I think most WWE fans
do not want it to happen. I think it is
a bad, bad move by WWE. If Drew mutains, I'll
be I'll be ecstatic and I'll be the first one
to commend WWE. But I am fairly confident Goldberg is

(01:00:32):
gonna win this based on the foundation that's been laid,
and I'm I think that they think Vince thinks. I
should be very specific. I think Vince thinks Goldberg is
a bigger name, a bigger draw for Russell. It's Russell Mania.
It's gonna be Goldberg with a WWE championship. So this
is this is a product of Vince here. I'm scared

(01:00:52):
because I think Goldberg is going to capture the championship.
I think it's a shame that fans are not in
the arena to boo the holy hell of Goldberg and
this storyline. That's really the biggest crime of this whole
thing is that Vince doesn't get to hear the fans live.
He doesn't he gets to play god with the reactions
as they have been over the last several months. They

(01:01:12):
get to play god and just play however they want
and have the reactions exactly the way they want, and
they're gonna have a hell of a wake up call
whenever they get back in front of real fans, which
apparently is WrestleMania. But we'll get, you.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
Know, we'll get.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
We'll learn more about that as the week's go on.
Goldberg right now, I think is going to capture the belt.
I think fans are gonna lose their minds on Twitter.
But it's a matter of how does Goldberg win now?
Is it by a squash? Is it by several kickouts
of finishers? I would assume it's several kickouts of finishes,
because that's all this match is gonna be. It's gonna
be finish, finish, finished, kickout, finished, kickout, finish, kickout, Maybe

(01:01:46):
a puncher, a clothes line thrown in, maybe from some variety,
but this is a hard hitting I'd say under four
minutes of kickout, kickout, kickout, and then you know, on
the fourth you know, jackhammer is what takes out and
Drew McIntyre and the fans are going to lose their
freaking minds, while WWE gets to pretend that they have

(01:02:06):
fans cheering for this. So that's my pick. Sadly, very sadly,
I picked Goldberg winning the WE Championship. Do you have
a different thought.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
First of all, I was sold on Drew for a
long time as far as this is a no brainer
retention until you and I spoke last time and you
got my gears going. And this thing it reeks of
creeping death that could gag a maggot or peel paint
off a wall. I am telling you that putting the

(01:02:38):
belt on Goldberg, I hate to say, I'm going to
agree with you, and I don't know why that he
thinks that Goldberg is more of a marquee name, especially
the fact that he's playing a modified Tweener to heel
role and we don't know. I see nothing down the
road with legs for him to main event russ Romania. Now,

(01:03:00):
one of two things could happen afterwards, in the men's
main event of Royal Rumble for the second year in
a row, Drew McIntyre might win it, and then it
sets up a rematch at WrestleMania, which is pointless and
it makes no sense or I mean, I'll put it
also in some of the notes I'm going to cover

(01:03:22):
with the men's main event, who Goldberg could potentially be facing.
But the fact is, you can only go to Jurassic
Park so many times before you realize that dinosaurs eat everybody.
And Vince loves going to Jurassic Park and dusting off
these dinosaurs and having them eat this young talent is
what's killing his product, especially when they can't perform. I

(01:03:43):
don't want to see fifteen finishers in a row because
it's no longer a finisher. It's the same as punch kick,
body slam. It's a heavyweight match from nineteen eighty seven.
I don't want to see that, okay, and it will
kill Drew's momentum. The only way I can really see

(01:04:03):
any good of this is if somehow they finangle it
so Drew can win the elimination Chamber and challenge Roman Reigns.
But we'll get to that in a couple of minutes
because I think they want to rematch that situation in
the interim. I don't know what to do with Goldberg.
You put that belt on him, I have no idea
what to do with him. I am thirty five years

(01:04:26):
into my wrestling fanhood, and I couldn't tell you what
to do to basically put people in seats if it
was live. I couldn't tell you anything to pop viewers
enough to want to buy a network that you just sold.
I have no idea what the marquee or marketable value

(01:04:47):
of a man in his fifties who looks phenomenal but
has been known to botch matches left and right, and
has a skill set so limited it is nothing but
one signature match that is less than three minutes typically.
I have nothing in my plan, my agenda, my foresight.
I can't see the horizon. I can't see anything. I
could stare into the sun and go blind before I

(01:05:10):
could actually find any reason or plan or anything to
do with Goldberg going for you forward. That's where I am,
and yet I see him winning.

Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
I'm sorry to the sun. I love it. It's true,
It's so true. I want I really, I'm honestly asking,
and I asked this last time. If there's anyone in
the sound of my voice that wants to see Goldberg's champion,
I would love to know why. And I don't mean
that in a demeaning way everyone loves, you know, their
own thing in wrestling. I mean it in a truly
I want to understand why people want. If there's anybody

(01:05:43):
out there, I mean, bueller, anybody you know of Goldberg
being ww champion, I really would love to know the
logic behind it or somebody's thought process when they see
Goldberg as champion of that'd be great. No, I mean,
look it may he may tipped the needle a little
bit with ratings. Goldberg is a big name. He was

(01:06:03):
a big name though twenty freaking years ago. He's not
a big name anymore. Again, I was slightly excited when
he came back in twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen. I was like,
oh cool, he's gonna kind of avenge his terrible run
in two thousand and four that we all know ended
in one of the worst matches of all time at
WrestleMania against brock Lesner. You know, okay, come, look slightly interested,
and then every match became three minutes, okay, finish, finish, finish.

(01:06:27):
He finally beats brock Lesner, he becomes champion, Universal Champion. Wonderful,
but he also don't forget the other part of this
is Vince has not been scared to take current talent
and allow Goldberg to beat them. Albeit the Fiend the
most recent victim of the Fiend, I mean, he's the
only one that holds a victory over the Fiend, A

(01:06:47):
clean victory over the Fiend is Goldberg, if we all
remember that, And that to me still sticks in my
mind as angering nonsensical that you have a fifty some
year old man come in or a extremely part time
role and very limited in the ring of beating your
current talent and then leaving and disappearing. How does that

(01:07:08):
help anybody? You talk about hot shotting, That is hot
shotting to the nth degree. That benefits nobody, because yeah,
you may have extra eyeballs in your product. Admittedly, Goldberg
is a slight needle mover with the name value, but
at this point in his career, no, I don't think
he is anymore because and he doesn't add any value

(01:07:29):
to the current product because especially when you're you're also
making him a babyface because he comes in, he wins,
and then he leaves, and then the talent that lost
are there. The talent that lost are still there week
and week out, and now you have Goldberg just disappearing
into the abyss and coming back whenever he wants and
thinks that he's deserving of a WWE championship match. I mean,

(01:07:50):
that's you talk about a heal move and talking about
disrespect that MacIntyre had. How the hell does he know
you talk about I mean, he's the one who's saying
I'm doing this. You know it's about respect. Well, wait
a minute. If it's about respect, aren't you disrespecting the
WWE champion by thinking that you're just somehow automatically deserving
because you walk out to the ring. I mean, it's

(01:08:12):
it's it's just so backwards. I would at least accept
this slightly more if Goldberg was billed as a heel.
But they'll never do it. I just it's I want.
I can't wait to hear all the the just completely
pumped in cheers for Goldberg when he's holding that championship
over his head. It's gonna make me sick. Twitter's gonna
lose its mind. I can't wait to see it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
No, I agree. I mean I think there's gonna be
part of a wrestling revolt. And like I said, with
you picked, they picked one hell of a time to
sell the network off the peacock. And if you're gonna
go with Goldberg, you're not gonna get any new subscriptions.
You might get a couple of people who are nostalgic
from twenty years ago who flipped through the channels. They
see him, They're like, oh wow, Goldberg. Then they see

(01:08:54):
a shell of what he was and a third of
what he was years ago. And he was no he
was dynamite kid back then. You know, he was no
Dean Malanko. But with that being said, he's I mean,
the guy concusses himself, he goes into a match with
the Undertaker and and almost ruins the mystique of wrestling's

(01:09:16):
greatest big man ever. And it's for what. Yeah, there
there is you know, you could talk about there being
a catcher. There's some big payoff. I see no payoff
to this. I'm gonna continue to stare into the sun
until i get an answer because I'd rather be blind
than watch that. You're just gonna have to describe it
to me, and you could lie to me, but I'll

(01:09:37):
have to hear it too. So I've got some thistles
for my ears.

Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
That's like a perfect intro, like something like that cut
right there is like the money line. Right, I'd rather
stare into the sun than watch Goldberg be champion like that.
Somebody should take that. I mean, that's good, it's true.
I mean, at least in my perspective. Look, if you
guys are somebody out there in the sound of my voices, like,
what are you talking about? Goldberg's awesome. I want to
talk to you seriously. I'm being serious. I want to

(01:10:00):
talk to you because I want to know what's going
inside your mind. Maybe I'm missing something, But Goldberg, like
you said, has never been a great performer ever. He's
just had charisma. He's been the right guy at the
right place at the right time. He's had the look
that's it. I mean, you talk about his moves that
I could go in there and do that tomorrow night.
I mean literally, I mean again, I mean I have
the strength to do it. In terms of the jack

(01:10:21):
hammer certainly requires strength and you know, making sure you
don't drop the guy in his actual neck, of course,
But the spear, I mean, these are extremely basic moves.
He's never been a technical guy ever, and I don't
expect him to suddenly be one tomorrow night. He's going
to be exactly what he should be, because I know
WWE doesn't want to risk them trying to or having

(01:10:44):
them risk Goldberg trying something new, to just try something
new and then all of a sudden he's injuring and
killing someone in the ring. I mean, so there, he's
going to be exactly what you expect. I don't expect
any surprises, especially given what happened with the Undertaker, which was,
you know, an unmitting a disaster. So you and I
both agree, begrudgingly, sadly, that Goldberg is going to probably

(01:11:08):
become WWE champion. I wouldn't put it at one hundred percent.
I'd put it in probably eighty percent that Goldberg becomes
WWE champion, especially given they've laid the foundation of this
is the title that's eluded him. This is the title
that's eluded him. So we're all supposed to be like,
oh cool, I hope he gets it. No, I mean, like,
so Goldberg is probably going to become ww champion. Any
closing sad thoughts on this match before we move on,

(01:11:32):
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Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
Well, we're gonna go do the next match food. Let's
not forget our wildcard situation with you know, the reason
for the ratings the miss because he still has that
money in the bank. And my next thing I want
to point out is I do believe that he has
He has declared himself for the Royal Rumble. So how
is it that you automatically have a contract for any

(01:13:40):
time you want, but yet you're entered into a match
to win a WrestleMania match. It doesn't make sense. That's
that's like a double negative, but so there is a
wild card and we could explore that real quick. So
if he comes, if he comes out to face the winner,
or which we both agree is Goldberg, he and Morrison
come out and do their doofy Twins, kind of Scooby

(01:14:03):
Dumb and Scooby Dummer whole thing. I see him obviously
getting slaughtered in just like a couple of seconds, and
I don't know whether they're still going with My fear
is that they want to do something bigger with him.
But we can discuss that more once we get to
the actual Royal Rumble match. The way he's been all

(01:14:25):
over TV and you and I we see things very similarly.
He's beyond x pot heat. He is my bathroom break,
my snack break. Is he off yet? Because I'm not
even you know, I staring at the suns for Goldberg.
I think I'd just rather pour salt in my eyes
than look at the miz. But that's that's personal. There's

(01:14:45):
some people who like him, and if Matt wants to
talk to you, if you like Goldberg, you can have
a conversation with me on Twitter or you know, if
mattial Havy on the show, come on, call me we'll
talk about the miss and I'll tell you how you
were wrong if you like him. But no, really, seriously,
that's the wildcard. And I'm afraid where that wildcard could
go because you don't have the guy lose the operable, first,

(01:15:07):
lose the match to win it, to win the case
to begin with, then win it on a hokey, silly
fake court show, and then lose it on a cash
and then give it back to him. That tells me
they've got some kind of big plan and I just
don't I'm afraid to wonder what that is. So we've
got that wildcard on both the Roman match and this match.

(01:15:29):
Now there's no way they're putting the Mis over Goldberg.
And if they do, after the Goldberg went over Drew McIntyre,
Drew McIntyre might as well quit, go to aw go
to Japan, or I mean, at that point I'd probably just,
I don't know, maybe just retire and go fishing for
the rest of my life because your career's over if
it's gonna look that bad. But we can move on
to Roman if you want, unless you want to touch

(01:15:50):
on the wildcard.

Speaker 1 (01:15:52):
I'm glad you brought that up. I really am, because
I you know, I try to just push the mis
out of my brain as much as possible, and Miss
and Morrison just like they, I don't want them to exist.
So I'm glad you bought that up. I'm surprised I
missed it. But I will say this, there is only
one person on the face of this earth that I
would rather not see as champion than Goldberg, and that
is the Miss. So if Goldberg is champion and I

(01:16:13):
had two options in my hands of you have to
pick one as champion, I would pick Goldberg. And that's sad,
That is just sad, but I would. And if he
does cash in, which I don't know if he will,
because when you look at this, how often do you
have heels announce of ahead of time that they're going
to cash in the money in the bank. It almost

(01:16:34):
never happens. Ever, if you're a babyface, you do it.
John Cena did it and lost. I mean, there's examples
of it. Because you want to be an upstanding guy.
You don't want to take advantage of somebody when they're down.
You want to be you know, when they're at their
best and give you a heads up, which I totally
disagree with. But if you're a bait, which is why
it's me the heel, A heel character is built for
a money in the bank briefcase because you want to

(01:16:54):
be OPPORTUNISTSIC can hit somebody when they're down and take
the belt. So with that said, do I think Miz
is going to cash in? I don't. What I think
is gonna happen is he'll come down after maybe Goldberg
or whoever is champion, and he'll he'll pretend that he's
going to cash in. The'll be that awkwardly long, unnecessarily

(01:17:16):
long pause between when he tells the referee he was
going to cash in, and between when the referee has
to tell the ring announcer, and then the ring announcer
has to tell the the you know, the timekeeper, and
all of a sudden, it just takes twenty minutes for
somebody to ring a bell. There's always you know, this
has been going on for how many years?

Speaker 2 (01:17:31):
Now?

Speaker 1 (01:17:31):
You think there'll just be kind of the second you
hand the championship, I'm sorry, the briefcase to the referee,
the bell should ring. I mean, like, why is there
so much pause? But it's all because the failed cash in.
It should be instantaneous. But nonetheless, what's gonna happen is
the mis will either a success try or will cash
in and get immediately speared and pinned, or he will

(01:17:54):
try to get take advantage and he's gonna get speared
and not cash in. So either way, I think he's
taking a claymore or he's taking a spear. He's not
gonna become champion, and it'll either be a failed cash
in or he won't cash in because the bell never
rang and I'll still be carrying around that money in
the bank briefcase that we get to hear about on
Miz TV or Dirt Sheet the following Monday night. Yeah, yeah,

(01:18:19):
that's my thought on the wild card. Okay, let's move
on because I'm gonna get ranting on the Miz Woman
Rains versus Kevin Owens. This is like a breath of
fresh air to me and a last man standing match
for the Universal Championship. I will once again it unless
you want me to take this one first of all,
I'll let you choose. You want me to take this
one or are you comfortable and going first?

Speaker 2 (01:18:39):
I'm always comfortable. So what I'm gonna go with is
We're actually gonna go in a reverse direction. I'm gonna
start with if the wild card were to happen to
this match, I think still the Miz would be unsuccessful,
but he might be the vessel through which Kevin Owens loses.
I don't see Owen's winning this. Once again, I did
not want to see this as a three part challenge.

(01:19:00):
This is not a situation where Owens looks strong and defeat.
This is more a situation where Owens is going to
look damage. His character is going to be damaged, the
integrity of it is going to be damaged. I do
like a last man's standing match. He reminds me of
the old world class days when those things. It might
be on ESPN at four o'clock, but that one match
might last a half hour, but they told so much

(01:19:22):
more of a story and they had so much more
meaning to when they would brawl out into the crowds,
and going through a table meant a lot more when
you didn't break one every week. So I look back
at some of those old classic matches I used to
watch and I have a soft spot for it. And
then today with the circus, you know, the three ring

(01:19:42):
circus and the big lights and everything else and the
breakaway tables and you're going to break every piece of furniture.
And Owens is the babyface. So to what they think
to make him look strong is he'll get the first pin,
or he'll get the first you know, the first knockdown
to where you know, so Roman gets pinned and then
they give him till the ten count to stand up

(01:20:04):
and he makes it up at six. Well, if they
all came down to one pin, it would have been Owens.
That's their way of thinking that they're making him look
strong in defeat. But the fact is this is this
better be the big blowoff for the two of them.
If this is gonna be truly a last man standing
without fans, it's gonna be hard to sell it with

(01:20:26):
piped in booze, piped in yeats. There's gonna be a
lot of furniture. There's gonna be a lot of goofy
things under the ring that don't belong there, like kendo sticks,
and lord knows whatever they pull out from under that
the ring. These days, I get why a table might
be under there to some extent a fire extinguisher, but yeah,
you know, it's it's not like I reach under my
couch at home, and oh, there's my kendo stick. So

(01:20:49):
I see a lot of a lot of furniture, a
lot of weapons, a lot of goofy stuff. If they
brawl into the back, it's just kind of strange without
the real crowd reaction, it's almost like too quiet. You
can hear him, and sometimes you can almost hear like
the the oosa flat splat kind of thing. You know.
It's like you hear too much of them selling when

(01:21:10):
they hit something, whereas in reality they would have the
live crowd mike, so you'd hear the oh wow, cheers, jeers,
whatever else. So that's that's gonna be my hardest time
with this. It's it's too quiet, way too quiet when
they get to the backstage for this part. But we're
Roman Reigns is going over. They've got some kind of
huge plan for him going forward. Obviously, this is the

(01:21:32):
thing that that Vince has always wanted for Roman. I
love Roman's character, I love Owens, but Owens is a heel.
He is a natural heel. And while he's doing a
great job as being the besides Daniel Bryant, like the
only credible babyface on SmackDown. This is like Sasha, we
got a wolf in sheep's clothing. It just it's it's
not gonna work out in the long run, and he's

(01:21:54):
not gonna win this. What I could see is, like
I said, the wild card miscap in, and that could
start in Owen's miss feud that we don't really want
because that just waste Owen's talents and overexposes another person
we don't really want to see. But personally, I don't
know what happens after the blowoff, So I'm kind of

(01:22:14):
looking at direction because you can't do a number four.
There's no way, there's there's just absolutely no way you
can do a number four at this point, and especially
if you do another gimmick match that's just gonna that
would be a tune out, that wouldn't be tuned in TV.
That would be turn it off. I'm tired of this,
so let's just put a bullet in it. Let's let
Roman go over. Just give me a good match. I

(01:22:37):
would prefer it to stay in the ring most of
the time, and I don't really see a whole lot
of outside interference unless it's the wildcard.

Speaker 1 (01:22:46):
So how about you, Oh, good analysis? I think, uh, okay,
my prediction off the bat Roman raids, but I mean
I wouldn't bet the house on this. I think there's
a very small chance Kevin Owen's gon to become a
Universal Champion. But I don't think that with all the
work and all the stuff that they've done with Roman,
the lasts nearly six months now that they've done with Roman,

(01:23:07):
reigns needs to be blown off by Kevin Owens. And
I hate to say that because I love Kevin Owens.
I love his character, I love what he stands for.
I love that he actually has somewhat of a real promo.
I agree he is I think trending better as a heel.
I don't think he's as egregiously awkward as Charlotte is
as a babyface, but I think that he is. Yeah,

(01:23:29):
he's better suited to be a heel. It's gonna be
hard when he has the Stunner as his finish to
be hated. I mean, the Stunner is one of the
most beloved finishes of all time.

Speaker 2 (01:23:38):
Still.

Speaker 1 (01:23:38):
I mean, he could adjust that, obviously, but I think
Roman rains wins. I think it's probably because not just
of jay Uso, who is inevitably going to be involved.
Maybe Jimmy Usso, who suddenly sees the light, gets involved.
Maybe Apollo Cruz sees the light is don't forget that
conversation he had with Roman Rains a couple of weeks
ago on SmackDown that we're all just for getting about.

(01:24:00):
Maybe he gets involved. I think it's gonna be one
person after the other. As Roman Reigns is about to lose,
comes out and helps, and how's Kevin Owens gonna overcome?
Oh he does? Wait but wait, here comes the next
person to help Roman Reigns. I think there could be
a litany of people out there, not just Jay Uso
who comes out and helps Roman Reigns in this because
Kevin Owens has suffered two big losses. Yes they weren't clean,

(01:24:22):
but there's still losses. And now he gets a third shot,
which I think is his final shot. So I don't
think anybody has to worry about a fourth match here.
I think three is the magic number, which in most programs,
three is the magic number. So we're not gonna get
a Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens ongoing ongoing program. I
don't think we're gonna get a Roman Reigns and Baron

(01:24:43):
Corbin unbelievably long, like six month long program. This one's
gonna end, I think at three, and it should. But
I don't see Kevin Owens in any scenario really winning
unless they've just been. Ww management have been so wowed
by his performances at TLC and at the Christmas unexplained
cage match for the Universal Championship that we got no

(01:25:04):
explanation for. I think that you know which, I think
I really did. I loved his match at TLC. I
think it was one of his best ever to date
in WWE. But I don't think all of this said
overshadows what Roman Reigns has done over the last five
to six months, which has been nothing short of brilliant,
nothing short or brilliant. And this past week with their

(01:25:26):
interview with one another, or their last word with one another,
whatever you want to call it, Kevin Owens showed great emotion.
He's very sensitive about his family, with his father, his grandfather.
He talked about what his tattoos been on his knuckles.
Roman Reigns was very kind of just quietly angry and
annoyed and didn't want to hear the truth and he actually,
you know, just hit the remote on the TV so

(01:25:47):
to speak, which I mean a lot of it doesn't
make sense. Apparently he apparently has a remote to a camera.
He's not watching a TV screens, he's looking at a camera.
You can't just hit a remote on a camera. Go ahead,
And I just you know, I knew. I knew when
I saw that. I'm like, oh, he's gonna say something
on that, because it's just it's preposterous. It doesn't make sense.

(01:26:09):
You don't look at a TV screen and there's no
camera on the TV screen. But I know what effect
they were going for. So I'm actually willing to overlook
that just stupidness that WW does at times when they
have camera angles and places that shouldn't and you know,
so I'm sure some people didn't even like consciously pick
that up, but you know, I get the effect. I
understand the effect. So I'm willing to let it pass.

(01:26:33):
Because of Roman Reigns. The purpose of it was to
have him just completely dismiss Kevin Owens. He's not worth
my time. I don't want to hear him anymore. But
they could have at least done like, Okay, he shoves
the camera away pushes the cameraman down and walks away.
But I understand the effect they were going for. So yeah,
let me hear your thoughts on that.

Speaker 2 (01:26:53):
Well, okay, it was it was so hokey. I'm like,
all I could think is I need to get one
of those remotes. And then I thought, well where would
I put the camera? Oh, dear lord, I like your idea,
just shove the camera away, because it goes into how
vicious he is and how uncaring, and you know, you
could go like half brick rude, like you know when

(01:27:13):
he would say cut the music, like cut the camera,
you know, just yeah, and maybe someone doesn't do it
right away, and then all you have to do to
sell it is his eyes. He just you watch his
eyes cut across like he's staring at a camera man,
lower his brow just like a second bam, faded black,
like we don't want to make him angry. Shoving the
camera also works. I love that just because it just

(01:27:36):
it's just shows attitude. It just shows, you know, great
attitude just to get it out of my face. But
I like the more he he It's like Darth Vader
versus Darth Maul. When when we all watch the Phantom Menace.
We try to forget a lot of it too. But
Darth Maul was like so amazing with his lightsaber and
how and you're like, wow, Darth Vader could never stand

(01:27:57):
up to him. You know, you know if you had
a battle of the Darth and then you realize Darth
Vader walked into a room and like he just moved
his finger and he was choking people. Like it was
a whole other level. And that's what I like about
if Rain's just kind of says, you know, turn it
off and then just gives a look and it's off.
That shows me he's on upper echelon, He's at the

(01:28:19):
top of the mountain. So the remote hokey. It's it's
just bad TV. It's really bad TV. And it's a
bunch of guys in creative like we don't have to
explain it. People forget about it tomorrow. That's what it is.
That's what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:28:36):
It's just a lack of basic like production. I mean,
I look, I totally get the effect they're going for.
I agree with the effect they were going for, but
it's the methodology of that effect that I disagree with. Like,
and I know we're just talking about one small thing here.
It's just because it represents a much larger issue of
lazy production at times with WWE. I think that's really

(01:28:58):
what we're getting at with, you know. Like the biggest,
I think the biggest, most egregious thing I've seen ever
over the last like five years was when Shane McMahon
got his head put through a car window in a
parking lot by AJ Styles prior to their WrestleMania match,
and there was a camera somehow live feeding perfectly at
the angle Shane McMahon's head went through. It's just like,
I mean, god, I just that kind of stuff is

(01:29:18):
just so amateur, Like you're insulting the intelligence of your
audience at that point. But anyway, we're gonna go down
a dark road if we continue with this, So it
really is a slippery slope for hours. However, Roman Reigns
I think retains. I think he is the right choice.
You're so close to WrestleMania. I would not derail him.
I would actually have Roman rains as champion for many,

(01:29:38):
many many months, Like I would want people so angry
that he's still able to hang onto this belt. Because
Roman Reins has one thing that is really evaded most
heels in WWE. Is he has real heel heat, not
the kind of heel heat like Sammy's Ain, who really
is in a heel. You know, there's so many people
who have the heel label but they're not really heels.

(01:30:02):
And Randy Orton had it over the summer with what
he did. I think he was one of the few
to finally tap into real heel heat. I was actually
wanting to see somebody beat the holy hell out of him.
Roman Reigns I feel that same way, and I always
knew he had it in him, and so I would
not blow this off. They've got something really special with
Roman Reigns right now, and I would not stunt it
as great as Kevin Owens is. And it's really hard

(01:30:22):
for me to say. Even Kevin Owens, I don't think
having him capture the belt is worth derailing what they've
done with Roman Reigns as champion. So any final thoughts
before we get to the Women's World Rumbo.

Speaker 2 (01:30:33):
Match, No, I'm with you as far as Roman extending
his championship reign, just there's so many factors, but the
biggest factors to me is one I don't really see
a credible babyface, and we'll touch on that a little
bit more when we get to the men's rumble. But
I don't see a credible babyface to be a real

(01:30:54):
threat to him unless you have a defactor, or it's
a defector, not a defactor, a defector from raw that
comes over. I think that there's too much on his shoulders.
And I think that they found, you know, it's the
right place, right time kind of thing, and a lot
of people liking it to you know, the rock turning heel,
but the rocks was lightning in a bottle where his

(01:31:14):
reins was trial by error and it worked. It worked
in the greatest way. And it's also a benefit of
not having fans because say the fans were kind of
against it. They they made it work without the fans,
you know, defcating on it. So he's he's in a

(01:31:35):
very unique place to not have a challenger. He's in
a very unique place to embrace the character and take
it to a newer level. I think it's in a
really good place. I think could it be a couple
of clicks better, absolutely, just with small things like like
like we were talking about, you know, telling someone to
turn off a view you know, a live feed and

(01:31:57):
give them a look as opposed to using a remote
to something that doesn't exist. It's it's better writing, it's
better cleanup, and it's better character depth, it's better character texture.
You know, I wouldn't mind seeing, you know, when they
get back to life the old you know here he
comes walking in a suit like show the man in
a three piece suit, and you know, as they're following

(01:32:18):
him to you know, his dressing dressing room, he just
turns around, shoves the cameraman away and ask him where
he thinks he's going. And then you know, no, goofy miss,
just a serious look. And then instead of that slow like,
we'll fade to commercial, maybe an apology by the cameraman
and actually from the cameraman's perspective, spin the camera around,
go the other direction and then cut away, you know,

(01:32:41):
something a little bit different. Then let's leave him thinking
for over, you know, commercial break. So that's how it
could be a couple clicks better. But let him run
with that belt and whoever you find as a challenger,
let's not draw out the best of three series in
gimmicky matches just because whoever he's going against is not
at this point gonna come out looking strong and defeat.

(01:33:02):
They're just gonna look like they were defeated.

Speaker 1 (01:33:06):
Yeah, I hear you, and I don't think that. I
just it all comes down to all roads lead to
Roman Reigns, which I used to hate to say as
a babyface, but I want all roads to lead to
Roman Rains right now because he's doing He literally is
carrying the company on his back. I mean I think that, yes,
you have Jamactarr's doing great job as champion, but if
you look at the overall ascent of a star from

(01:33:27):
summer to now, Roman Reigns is at number one. I
mean he is. He has been that good with very
few to almost no missteps in my estimation. I'm sure
I can nitpick if I really tried, but I think
they've done as good as you could possibly do with
anyone for this sustained period of time. So I hate
to say it, Kevin Owens. If it was anyone else
versus Kevin Owens, anyone other than Roman Reigns, I would say,

(01:33:50):
you gotta put it on Ko. This this is his time.
He can go to Mania. Nope, and I hate to
say it. So Okay, let's get to the Women's Royal Rumble,
because these matches have so much going on with them,
and right now as it stands, I think we have
what third, I'm looking at the numbers here, A thirteen
of thirty entrants only announced for the Women's Royal Rumble match.

(01:34:10):
So this one, there are there are some possibilities here.
You know, you have Nia Jacks, you have Charlotte Flair,
you have Bianca Bella Air one of the favorites. You
have Bailey, Mandy Rose, Dana Brook, Peyton Royce, Alexa Bliss, SHANEA. Basler.
So I'll take this one first. I think, boy, this

(01:34:31):
to me is actually, as much as I may sound
like I'm struggling, to me, is easier than the men's
because the men's still has so many unknowns. My pick,
my official pick, this is gonna be. This is really,
really tough because I'm between I'll tell you what I'm
battling in my head. I'm battling between Bianca bell Air
and I'm battling between Alexa Bliss and yes, Charlotte Flair's

(01:34:54):
out there. They could say, oh, she won it twice
in a row. I think fans would not not really
be thralled. With that, and you can still get to
Alexa or I'm sorry, Osca versus Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania.
She doesn't have to win the rumble. You can get
there many many ways, elimination chamber, you can get it
just naturally happening, So you don't have to always win
the rumble to obviously main event WrestleMania. I mean, because

(01:35:15):
it's only half the story. There's still two brands. So
I'm gonna go with Alexa Bliss on this one. And
that's not easy for me to say, because everyone is
going to Beyonca bell Air. Everybody is going Bianca. Everybody's
doing Beyonca bell Air, and I understand why. And she
will certainly be in the final four, and deservingly so.

(01:35:39):
She eliminated what eight women last last year. She was
a standout last year, and you know, there's a good
good case to be made for her winning this year.
She got a massive win over Bailey this week. All
the OWWM about to say the buzzword, all the momentum
went behind Beyonca bell I know, because the momentum if
I hear that one where it's almost as bad as

(01:36:00):
hearing Michael Cole say, Boss time Er, big Dog. It's bad,
but it is Biyonca bell Air right now. She should
be the focus and she is going to be a
massive star. She's on her way. I have nothing against
Bianca Belair. I think she is a future women's champion
and she could very well win the Royal Rubble. There's
a good again, good case to be made. Charlotte Flair,

(01:36:20):
good case to be made. It's I mean, it's just
it's Charlotte Flair. She's always in the running. Anytime you're
talking championship or winning a big match, Charlotte's name is
in there, and with good reason. The rest of them
nijacks know Bailey, No, she just lost the belt and
she seems to kind of be on the descent. Dana Brook, No,
Manny Rose, no, Peyton Royce, no, Shanna Basler is in

(01:36:44):
the In the Conversation Live Morgan Ruby, Riot, Tamina Natalia.
I don't think any of those women at this current
stage are warranted a Royal Rumble victory. So Alexa Bliss.
And here's why I say Alexa Bliss. It's kind of
a couple folds here. Number one, Alexa Bliss has arguably
had the I think the biggest ascent in the women's

(01:37:06):
side of any of the women. Yes, Bianca Bella is
in the conversation, but Alexa Bliss got immediately stuck with
the Fiend, whose main event, and she has done a
brilliant job of being the extension that arm, that one
of the evil arms of the Fiend, and she's done
an awesome, I think, an awesome job of doing that.
And now we've seen the evolution of her character of

(01:37:26):
burning Randy Yorton turning into that dark kind of like
summoning her powers character that I'd love to see them
pull off and when the fans are there by the
way of just being this dark, evil character. And right
now I think she is slightly the favorite to win,
and I would love to see a championship run with
Alexa Bliss facing Sasha Banks. I mean she could go

(01:37:50):
to SmackDown. Yes, the Fiend is unwraw, I mean, there's
some moving parts here, but I think Alexa Bliss winning
the Rumble would make sense from my end because of
how good she's been and putting the belt on her
seemingly being unbeatable with the Fiend's powers again, the Fiend's powers,
I'm back and forth on because it's kind of hoky

(01:38:11):
at times and almost unbelievable that you know you can
get you can be burned alive, yet wrestling moves take
you down. I mean, it's it is preposterous. But Alexa
Bliss is kind of doing her own thing and I
like that. I want her to be in her own story,
not just all about the fiend all the time, because
then you're you're attached to what he's doing. You don't
have your own story arc. And they were doing that

(01:38:33):
for a little while with Nicky Cross and then she
just went into the abyss into nowhere. So I'm not
easily saying this, but I think Alexiblist wins Bianca bell
Air is a very very close second.

Speaker 2 (01:38:46):
What about you, Okay? So, as I was telling you before,
I put together what I believe was a top five
situation for each Roll Rumble match, as well as that
I would like to see as surprise entrance, as well
as people I believe wwe would like to see a
surprise entrance. So I'm gonna give you my top five picks,

(01:39:09):
in descending order from one to five, who I believe
has the best chance of winning the women's royal rumble.
My number one is gonna blow you away because honestly,
we don't have thirty women for royal rumbles. That means
there's gonna be a lot of call ups. And I'm
actually putting the stock in someone who used to have

(01:39:29):
the momentum, Rhea Ripley. I'm gonna give her the biggest
stepping stone she's ever had in her career because I
think she was due for this six seven months ago
before her career got side railed, ever derailed and sidetracked.
And the fact is she has every tool to hang
with every girl. She's big enough to where she looks

(01:39:52):
like she can go toe to toe with Basler. She
looks like she could take out Naya Jax Tamina. I
mean she can go. It's the biggest of the big.
But she can wrestle. She is a wrestling machine and
she has a legit character. So we have a full
meal on a plate. We don't just have some stuff
where we say the steak was okay, but the potatoes

(01:40:13):
were dry whatever else. I can't say a bad thing
about Rhea Ripley. She's had the it factor for a
long time. We've talked about the dreaded word momentum, and
I thought that's where this was coming from when you
were making your references, because Rea Ripley had all the
momentum in the world and all of a sudden, stripped
rug pulled right out from underneath your feet. And what

(01:40:34):
was the point. I mean, it was an experiment to
see if it would work, because the answer is yes,
and we all believe that we've seen the last for
an NXT and there's no other way to get her
to that next level by taking it right to the
top right away, because you have two months two months.
If it's not gonna work, you can find a way
to finesse it and make it not work, so to speak,

(01:40:56):
and put somebody else in the spot. If you have
cold feet, second and regrets and second thoughts, it could
be done. I mean, you're gonna have to have I mean,
Pat Patterson's gone, so you're gonna have to have somebody
who's got a great finish to create a great storyline
in arc to try to sculpt it. Because I really
don't want to see Ria Ripley's Ria Ripley's character deface,

(01:41:17):
demeaned or demoralized, especially if she's gonna do something as
big as which I predict and hope, and that's when
the women's royal rumble. It's an exclamation point on it. It'll
be the first time when you say anything can truly happen.
Because her name hasn't been brought up, we know, I mean,
I don't see anything left for her in NXT. It's
been pretty much known that it's been a cinar situation

(01:41:39):
for her and the fact that I don't believe she's
really been that prevalent on the programming. So not only
is it her big call up, I think it's her
big moment. And then all you have is sixty days
to tailor it, to take that pebble, put it in
the sand grinder and turn into a beautifully refined, you
know stone that it just has no no chinks in

(01:42:01):
the armor. And I think it's gonna beautiful. It's gonna
be smooth. And that's what I think. I think it's
rear Ripley, And in descending order after that, I have
Bianca bell Aire just because she seems to get that
momentum that's pushed then pulled, pushed then pulled. If she
cut off that ponytail, they couldn't pull her back, But
on a serious note, she's close. I think the thing
that's her the most has been her association with the

(01:42:24):
Street Profits because for a lot of times, especially in
their their you know, beginnings of their tag runs and
when they went from the super athletic team with so
much potential to the all of a sudden can't be
pinned tag team champions, She's always by their side. And
they went from guys who are really talented to guys

(01:42:47):
who are very irritating, and they took the bad parts
of the New Day, the who what ha ha goofiness
and the screaming during the matches and took it to
a whole new level. And you've got someone who's their cheerleader,
so to speak, who's married to one of the performers
in the ring, who's supposed to get the singles pushed.
You overexpose that person, and that was Beyonca's downfall. And

(01:43:08):
that's why that momentum I felt was pulled away because
you already had her on TV every week. Now you're
not only having her on TV, you're also feeding her
wins in her own match. So she's on two to
three segments. People are getting bored, so these become low segments.
So I've already seen Bianca for the night. Okay, So
we saw her for an interview with the Street Profits.
Then we saw her accompanying under the Ring. We saw

(01:43:30):
her maybe get involved or chase around their valet like
she did with Selena Vega. Now she's going to have
a mattress Selena Vega, and now they're going to have
a wrap up interview. Over exposure creates mediocrity, and that's
what has hurt Bianca. So that's why I think she's
my number two, but I think she's going to have
an incredibly strong showing. Then my number three is going
to be my girl Shana Basler, just because she's bound

(01:43:53):
to break out sooner or later. I put her as
one of the last three in but also my third
pick in that order of potentially a person to win
the Royal Rumble, just because she's ready for it. And
if the writing's on the wall, if Jackson Basler do
not get those titles, I really see Basler almost getting

(01:44:13):
the nod over Rhea. It's just her time to break out.
Then my number four is just sad, but I'm gonna
say it. And it also It also carries through to
the sidebar feuds Lacey Evans. I tried to mumble it,
but you know, Lacey Evans, Vince likes her. She's way

(01:44:34):
far off from being in that caliber. I honestly believe
that they could make the mistake of thinking that they
could polish her up and put a new code of
pain on her in sixty days. I really don't think so.
Just the end ring's not there yet. I'm not saying
she's terrible, it's just not there. She's not fluid. It shows,
and now her interviews are looking really choppy, and that

(01:44:55):
whole thing on Monday with her and Rick and everything,
it goes beyond. I mean, Charlotte's delivering great work. I
mean it's supposed to be emotional, but it's better just
as spiteful. You're an old man to her father, which
upsets him. But then Lacy creeping in and sneaking attack,
sneak attacking her and doing the over the top woo

(01:45:16):
and everything else. It's so scripted. It's so look at
the camera and so smile into the camera. It's so oh,
I'm creeping in. You might not want to see me
coming into it. But yet they love her and they're
exposing her, and Vince loves her and wants her, and
I don't, and I just have a bad feeling because
of everything going on with her and Charlotte, and you
have that sidebar feud if they don't have an interaction

(01:45:40):
at the Rumble, which will not kill this and end
this obviously, if Rick is involved, I see that she
might have a good shot and Rick might get involved
there too. So my number five in my last one
is Alexa Bliss. And the only reason I put her
so low is because she's a talented, talented in ring performer.
I mean, sure, she's the size of my thumb, but

(01:46:02):
the girl's amazingly talented. I never thought she'd be as
good as she was when she came out on NXT.
I'm incredibly wrong for that. I think she's one of
my favorite females on the roster. She has created this character,
she's running with this character. But the reason she's so
low is because she has developed into the fiend. Also,
she doesn't need a belt. She can bring a little
bit to it, but she does not need a belt

(01:46:22):
and all that hocus pocus goofy stuff cinematography that speaking
in demon voices. It's like you said, when we get
a live crowd back and that belts on her and
they try to do that and they booed out of
the building. They're booing her out of the building. What
Vince hears is the person, not the hokey stuff that
you're portraying on the person that is ruining them. I

(01:46:42):
rather see her with their contact lenses in acting dark,
like Nancy ben Wad did when she was known as
the Fallen Angel back in Florida in like eighty four
to eighty five with Kevin Salvan. Yeah, I went there
because I can. But instead we might get too much
smoke and mirrors that we can see through, and that
with the belt could ruin it. That's why she's so

(01:47:04):
low on it. She doesn't need that belt. And she's
going to be by the fiend. And when you're hip
to hip with somebody that polarizing and that charismatic, whether
it be positive charisma or negative charisma, it's not heat
and it's not go home heat. People want to see
what she does, so she doesn't have to have a
title around her raist and that's my five.

Speaker 1 (01:47:23):
Wow, Well I'm glad we're not We certainly are an
opposite ends of the spectrum, and that's good. I'm glad
and I did hear about Ria Ripley and I should
have brought her up, and I'm glad you did. I'm
I'm sticking by my guns just because I want to.
I think it's better that I stick by my guns.
It's more fun. But you make a good case for

(01:47:44):
Ria Ripley. She is on a lot of people's lists.
I was just looking at the confirmed entrance thirteen out
of thirty. I mean, my god, leave seventeen people who
haven't been an ouncetare or surprise whatever. So, yes, I've
heard about Ria Ripley's certainly a good case to be made,
and I'm all for Rea Ripley winning and I think
that that would uh, that would generally make people happy.

(01:48:06):
From from NXT. Even if you haven't watched an XT,
you remember Ria Ripley from last year, right like you?
You know, you remember what she did with Charlotte and
she kind of went into oblivion too, But she's she
should be returning. I don't know if there'll be any
other NXT quote call ups to the main roster. I
don't I haven't heard anything. There's also Tessa Blanchard's being

(01:48:29):
thrown around, you know, all these names. I do believe
that it's probably not going to be one of those,
you know, Ronda Rousey's returning type of things, even though
she's on Vegas odds, like people actually have and are
betting money on Ronda Rowsey winning, which I would not do.
By the way, I don't want I actually don't want
Ronda Rowsey back in the ring at all. Like I
don't want to see her ever again. I have known, Yeah,

(01:48:51):
like people, oh it's Ronda Rau, you do I want
to see her because she's completely crapped all over the product.
I don't want to hear that, Oh she's she it's
a work she worked to send too, a work that's
turned into a shoot. She's using all these insider terms
that she has no effing idea what she's talking about.
She's in the business for a year, Like I have
no interest in her coming in to pretended as to

(01:49:12):
use your word, defecate on the product just to make
it more real, because we all know what it is.
I don't need someone coming in to break the fourth
wall to make it more real for me, and really
just I don't want anything to do with Ronda Rowsey
ever again, even if it's to see her get beat up,
because seeing her get beat up in a pro wrestling

(01:49:32):
way doesn't satisfy me. I'd want to see her get
beat up in an octagon that because then I know
it's to inflict actual pain. I have no interest in
seeing her back in the WWE, because she completely disrespected
the business and all. She's a heel she's supposed to. No,
you just don't go there, right like, you don't go
there because then you're completely taking away the entire product.
What at the expense of you getting your match over?

(01:49:55):
So I'm going on Ronda Railsey rant. I would not
expect her to see her in the I hope you
don't see Ronda Rowsey in the rumble. I have no
interest in seeing her again. But I like your pick
about about uh my gosh, I lost her name again.
So yeah, Ria Ripley getting so riled up about Rondo,
who's not even on the roster. But rear Ripley is
a either very good candidate. I think she would be

(01:50:19):
an excellent addition to the roster. That's a consistent addition,
not just kind of hit and run like she did
last year. I think her being here on the roster
UH SmackDown or Raw really would be a breath of
fresh air to both rosters that I think honestly need
to shake up because I feel like we've seen all
the matchups that we can possibly see we haven't seen,

(01:50:42):
you know, like, give me, give me a matchup that
we haven't seen on both rosters. We've seen everything, and
they just kind of shuffle things around. So I think
Ree Ripley would be a nice shot in the arm
and it and yeah, I'm sticking. I'm still sticking with
Alexa Bliss. I'm not changing my pick, but I totally
get why you are choosing Rhea Ripley. That is a
very solid pick. It's a it's a quote shocking win

(01:51:05):
as somebody who hasn't even on RAAR SmackDown wins it.
And yeah, nice pick, thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:51:11):
Thank you very much. You know, hell hole, I'm here
all week. And I say that from Memphis, Tennessee.

Speaker 1 (01:51:17):
Uh, and any found thoughts on the on the Women's
World rumble before I lose my mind on Rhonda, Well.

Speaker 2 (01:51:23):
What I'm gonna do is also throw in my surprise
picks that that what would be a legit surprise and
what would be the WWE version of Ye go ahead, Okay,
So for the females, you you hit the nail and
the head. Tessa Blantern if she's in there. If she
doesn't win it, she's like second to last person to

(01:51:44):
be eliminated. And as you said on our last show,
if you don't know who she is, you got to
look her up and you've got an automatic feud between
her and Flair. I mean, you've got the daughters of
two of the founding horsemen. It's it's perfect. Tessa is
on a whole other level. And it's not like she
doesn't need NXT NXT. She she's one of the people

(01:52:05):
who should way bypass it, just like AJ styles. It's
it's some things you're just really above, and it's it's
Tesla Blancher being on a WWE product is must see TV.
It is see it live, and it's if you have
the DVR, you record it. It's it's not one of
those things where you just read about it in the
dirt sheets or YouTube, but you it's it's a moment

(01:52:27):
you really want to see because it's just going to
be that cool and it's going to be a clinic
of very good, very fluid, very solid wrestling. And if
she's in there with any of those four horse Women
or Basler or Bliss or you know, just a couple
of Ripley, the ones who can really go, We're going
to see some really awesome wrestling. And so I really

(01:52:48):
wanted that would be a legit surprise, another legit surprise
free agent currently nowhere near as good as Tessa, But
because of who her husband is, what about Tyavelker.

Speaker 1 (01:53:01):
I didn't even think about that.

Speaker 2 (01:53:02):
Yeah, John Morrison's what yep? She. I could see her
being more as a surprise entrant into the into the Rumble,
but then mainlining into NXT first. So, because like you said,
there's thirteen can confirm people it's a thirty person rumble.
So therefore I obviously know that there's gonna be a

(01:53:24):
lot of call ups. I'm actually interested in seeing Tony
Storm from NXT. I've been a big fan of hers,
Dakota Kai, I'm a big fan of, not a big
fan of Shatsi Blackheart for the way she wiggles, that
green hair and axe kind of all weird, But those
two t G knocks there's some really cool names that
I think will be fun in the rumble. Of course,

(01:53:46):
a lot of them. Definitely, they need a little bit
more season on the stake before it's ready to serve,
so you know, back to NXT they are after this,
but it'll make a great rumble. And definitely if ty
Valkyrie come in, I think she could have a decent
showing and go to the upper mid card to the
upper card of NXT before she you know, eventually gets

(01:54:08):
a call up to the main roster. I'm not all
about or excuse me, I'm not all about everybody going
you know, straight to main roster. But there's some people
I believe are above it. I just don't dig Taia
at this point is quite the household name and quite
the draw that Tessa Blanche would be. But so those
are my two what would I think would be great
surprise picks and then the WWE version of surprise picks.

(01:54:32):
I had your favorite mind, Ronda Rousey, and my my
difference is I don't want to see her either, just
because Oliver Matches looked incredibly scripted, and some people say
she did it on purpose. Other people said because she
didn't understand pro wrestling, and I go with the latter.
I think that she was the type of person who

(01:54:53):
had to remember the whole match, move by move in
her mind instead of doing what she naturally did in
the octagon. As I said before, she was so forced
down on her throats and overexposed. She was terrible on
the MIC. I mean she got verbally destroyed by Alexa
Bliss when they had their feud on the MIC. I
mean she made her look dumbfounded, inane, befuddled. I mean

(01:55:16):
she made her look really bad on the MIC. And
that was just promos and and and then ring presence
and ring psychology. She had none. She always had to
get into her octagon stance. And I get that's the
way she fought. But Basler is everything that they wanted
rond to Rouse to be. And her championship run and

(01:55:36):
her one year run was so incredibly forgettable. It's no
one talks about it except like, bring her back. You know,
I'm sure if John Jones said he retired, the first thing,
you know, everybody would say right away, bring John Jones
to w W. No. I'm tired of seeing all these
MMA people come over because all of a sudden it's
going to be no people, no wrestlers. I am for

(01:55:57):
bringing back some gimmicks, nothing, nothing over the top, no
more wrestling garbage men. I know that's always the go to,
but the point is, well, you can't have too many
of the same thing. The Undertaker was special because it
was just he and Kane. Now if we had seven
or eight Undertakers, it watered it down and destroyed it.
That's why the Ministry didn't work, because you had all
these people trying to be in the same vein. So
what happened to the acolytes they became the Apa. What

(01:56:19):
happened to the brew they separate, Egend Christian became Egend Christian,
the Goofballs, and then they became the heart throbs. Then
they became whatever they evolved. You have to evolve characters.
You can't have all the same thing. So those those
you know, basically Ronda Rousey and the other one for
the the the women's royal rumble is I'm sorry, man,

(01:56:41):
you know I was loved you. Matt James Elsworth there
I said it.

Speaker 1 (01:56:44):
Imagine and look, I would love beyond my just discuss
with that. Imagine wwe like Twitter, if that happened, if
James Elsworth. That would be like that would be like
Santina Morella winning the Women's Battle Royal ten fifteen years ago.
But you'll put that on steroids, no pun intended, and
now you would have a complete explosion against WWE. I

(01:57:07):
think because people wouldn't look at it as, oh, it's entertainment.
People would look at it as that's super disrespectful to
the women. Like people would lose their minds. So I
do not want to see James Ellsworth ever again. I
have no problem not seeing him again. The other dark
horse that I didn't even think of until just now
is Becky Lynch. Right like people and Becky Lynch. Look,

(01:57:31):
I saw the picture she put up on Instagram. She's
doing some workout routine. She looks good. I actually like
her when she doesn't have all the red hair and
makeup and stuff. She looks more normal, like a person,
you know. And so she certainly looks good. Doesn't look
like she just delivered a baby a month and a
half ago. But I've made this argument several times in
the last several weeks when people have asked me or

(01:57:53):
people have made the argument, oh, Becky Lynch, she come
back for the rumble in time from Ania. She just
gave birth six seven weeks ago. You know, even if
by some act of God she is in great ring shape,
which she's not, there's just no way. Then why wouldn't
she want to spend time with her newborn child. You know,
why would you not want to do that? You know,
this is the time to do that. They're super young.

(01:58:15):
You'd have to what get back into the wwe Yes,
you're not traveling right now, but you eventually will be,
and then maybe in the next coming year. We'll see.
But you know, yeah, you only have to go to
Orlando or Tampa and back home. So maybe that's a
little bit of a hook for her to possibly get
back in. But I don't think it would be a
good look on her just giving birth six weeks ago, either,

(01:58:38):
to all of a sudden pop back into wrestling. I
don't think it's a good look for her. I don't think.
You know, again, she's making your own decisions. It's her
own life. But if it were me, I would want
to take as much time as possible. This is the
only time you get a chance to do that with
your newborn kid, and I just would not I don't
think it's a smart move on anybody's at least from
a wrestling perspective, and how people would perceive her of

(01:59:00):
coming back so early, and I don't think it's a
good move. So what are your thoughts to my Becky
Lynch possibly coming back.

Speaker 2 (01:59:08):
Well, you can't risk exposing a newborn with a you know,
unfully yeah, well unfully developed immune system to COVID. If
she came back the only capacity I would like to
see her in a commentary role for the Women's Rumble.
I think that would be beneficial to get the commentary
of not some snide heel like I hate to say

(01:59:29):
the name of Lacy Evans again, because some of these
people don't fit the role in the right way. When
they do commentary, it's like they're they're so stuck in character,
but they don't know what to say without somebody piping
into their ear, so it comes out really really fake,
really surpy sweet. I think Becky Lynch could do a
great job, a fantastic job doing commentary, or they could

(01:59:51):
do a live remote, which I think would be really
awesome because it makes her look good as a mother.
But I don't know any mother who'd want to be
away from their child that's soon or especially with the
fact that they could expose them to a disease, but
alive remote maybe almost like a picture and picture as
commentary on her thoughts, and I think that'd be really cool.

(02:00:11):
It's showing she's still out there, showing she's okay, maybe
a quick here's the baby, Da da da dah, But
then like her sitting at a desk and her just
giving you know, her feed and what she thinks, because
I think she could add much more layers of satisfaction
in the moves and just calling stuff and you know,
if she has a little bit of free reign and

(02:00:32):
they're not piping into her ears, she could you know,
right hand. By Charlotte, I felt that before, you know,
just a little bit of an endorsement of some of
the tussles that she's had with some of the ladies
and maybe say something like I've never faced Rhea Ripley.
I can't wait to take her on. Tony Storm is
a fantastic competitor. She's from over over the pond too,
and you know, we grew up, you know with the
the Irish, you know, the the Irish English kind of

(02:00:56):
you know, civil war, so I can't wait to get
my hands on her. I think that kind of layer
could be added to it. So that's the only capacity
I would like to see her back. And I really
don't want to see her risking the health for her child. Now.
I don't think she will, but that's the only way
she could come back in a surprise capacity that I
think would be satisfaction. They're satisfactory for both the company
and for her and her family.

Speaker 1 (02:01:17):
Yeah, that is certainly into the other part is obviously health,
which is number one right now. So I'm totally with you, Yes,
all right, Well, I do want to move on to
the men's Royal Rumble. And by the way, as I
look at the current Vegas odds for the Women's Royal Rumble,
I will say the top I'll give you the top five.
The top five women that are odds on favorites in

(02:01:40):
Vegas to win the Royal Rumble are number one Beyonce
Belle Air okay, Number two Alexa Bliss. Number three is
Rhea Ripley, four is Charlotte Flair, five is Bailey, and
I'll do number six and six is Sonya Deville, which
I didn't even think of. I do want her to win.
Rondawsey is number seven, Shanon Bezers number eight. So these

(02:02:05):
are the these are the odds right now, guys, like,
let's let's take a step back. People need to be
smart with their money. But right now, man, man, oh man,
and just for hilarioty, hilarity, the the bottom three, all right,
I'm sorry, let me do the bottom I'll do the
bottom five of who are odds on favorites Chelsea Green, Tomina,

(02:02:31):
Marina Shaffir, Jessemine Duke and Stephanie McMahon is the absolute
bottom of the barrel in terms of odds to win.
So Stephanie McMahon is still out there, possibly the absolute bottom.
I mean, you're talking about a oh my god, like
a fifty thousand yeah, no, oh my god, no, no, no,

(02:02:51):
the odds are fifty thousand to one on her.

Speaker 2 (02:02:53):
So just nobody tells Stephanie because that's gonna flip up
to number one in just five seconds. It'll be a surprise.

Speaker 1 (02:02:59):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. So I just wanted to put
that out there. But okay, let's get to the men's
because we can talk about the women's forever. I'll talk
about I'll give my analysis quickly of the men and
I'll actually give the odds on favorites. Here the top
five of the Men's Royal Rumble odds on favorite right

(02:03:20):
now Vegas again Vegas. Number one is Danga Bryan, number
two is Edge, three is Keith Lee, four is brock Lesnar,
five is Big E and then it goes on to
Shinz Gage, You're McIntyre and so forth, and just also
for hilarity, the bottom the bottom five for the Men's
are Dolf Ziggler, Umberto Carreo, Robert Rude, Shane McMahon and

(02:03:46):
Vince McMahon. So they're still on there. They are the
bottom of five for the odds on favorites in Vegas.
So I will say this, if you put some money
on Vince and he ends up winning, you you will
be coming overnight millionaire. Like that's how low the odds are. Okay,
So my thoughts on the Men's Royal Rumble again, I've
been struggling so much. People have asked me on the

(02:04:07):
mail bag all week a month, who do you think
could win the Men's Royal Rumble? Who do you have?
Who do you have? And forever I have said, and
I've stayed relatively consistent that I thought, with Drew McIntyre
dropping the belt to Goldberg, that the reconciliation to that,
in Vince McMahon's eyes would be having him win the

(02:04:29):
Royal Rumble, Like, Okay, he lost the belt to Goldberg
early in the night, but the reconciliation to that is, well,
he's gonna win the Royal Rumble and then he's gonna
go on to face Roman Rains at the WrestleMania, which
I would love Roman reigns Drew McIntire WrestleMania. I wish
they couldn't have blown it off in a stupid, pointless
of Survivor Series match that still has zero implications to me,

(02:04:51):
but which I really really disliked. You know, I know
it's been a couple of months now, but that's my thought,
that was my thought for several weeks, and looking at
this now, they've done a lot of foundation building for
Daniel Bryant over the last several weeks, outside of losing
clean to Shinsky, losing clean to Cesarro, which kind of
undermines my argument of possibly Daniel Bryan winning, which is

(02:05:14):
a big deal. But he's come out the last couple
of smackdowns and talked about how you know he hasn't
He's never won the Royal Rumble, He's never won the Rumble.
Every time they say I've never done this or never
done that. Just like with Goldberg winning the ww Championship,
it's very strong possibility that Daniel Brian wins and challenges
Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. And they have a ton of

(02:05:36):
backstory with Roman and Bryan. There's a lot of backstory
that goes all the way back to twenty fourteen with
these guys, and they could draw on some real stuff
of the fans rejecting Roman reigns and wanting Daniel Brian,
which was one hundred percent true. And Daniel Brian is
one of the biggest culprits for the fans turning on

(02:05:58):
Roman because of how relatable he was. He was the
guy at the right time, in the right place, and
Roman was the perceived choice by w w A. I mean,
there's so much they could draw on from that that
it would be a very good story between Brian and
Roman leading to WrestleMania thirty seven. Certainly it could be edge. Again,

(02:06:18):
I don't think that there's a whole I'm gonna I'm
just going with the top couple here of the odds.
Edge I don't think wins the rumble, and it's because
it's about Edge and it's about Orton. Orton's not gonna
win the championship, and nor do I think Edge should
challenge for the championship at this point. He has not
yet fulfilled the story with Randy Orton. I understand Orton

(02:06:38):
is in a program with the Fiend and they should
finish that before Edge gets to Orton. It just it
would be very convoluted if Edge suddenly sticks his head
in the Fiend in Orton's business. So that has to
play itself out, which I think will at probably Elimination
Chamber be the end of it, because Orton is gonna
be in this match, and I think that we will
have the Fiend inner Field do his hocus pocus eliminade Orton,

(02:07:03):
and somehow the Fiend also gets eliminated if he's even
in the match. I mean, we don't even know if
he's in it. So it's just gonna be to me
a story to build Orton and the Fiend. We'll probably
have a tease of Edge and Orton like they'll they'll
make eye contact, or Orton will be in the ring
and Edges musical hit and you think they're gonna go
at it, and then the Fiend interferes and Orton is
gone or over the top rope. So I think they'll

(02:07:25):
definitely be an interaction between Edge and Orton, but I
think it's gonna be limited because the focus right and
the focus right now is on the Fiend and Orton.
So all that being said, my pick is Daniel Bryan.
I know it's not interesting, I know it's very predictable.
I know it's not controversial, and it's not a cool,
sexy pick, but it is I think a smart pick

(02:07:49):
given the story that they could build with ort or
with Brian and Roman reigns leading to WrestleMania thirty seven.
It's I think it's there's a lot to draw from,
and we have yet to see Daniel Bryan in a
title picture in quite some time, so I like that. Yes,
Daniel Brien is still the underdog heading into WrestleMania thirty seven.
If that happens again, you can make a case for

(02:08:12):
McIntyre winning the Rumble after losing the Belt of Goldberg.
You can make a case, I think even for brock
Lesner returning. People are talking about that he's actually number
four on the list. Here you can make a case
for since Kanna Kamura, big E, I mean, I wouldn't
want big Ee to win this early, Bray Wyatt, I
mean Seth Seth Rollins. What about a returning Seth Rollins.
You know, like there's at This is very, very difficult.

(02:08:34):
This is one of the hardest Royal Rumbles I've ever
had to predict, most difficult, complex, so many moving parts.
I'm gonna go with, unfortunately, the easy, lazy answer, but
I think it's the safe one of Daniel Brian winning
the Royal Men's Royal Rumble for twenty twenty one. What
about you, my friend?

Speaker 2 (02:08:53):
Well, once again I did the top five, and it's
going to be kind of boring compared to everything that
you said, because there's a lot of some hilarities. However,
I'm gonna tweak my number one originally was You're not
gonna believe this some guy named Daniel Bryan just I
think that his character, it's hard for me to believe
that he's gonna win it after they had him hanging

(02:09:15):
out with Chad Gable and otis doing just goofy things,
that that terrible haircut, that miss haircut that detracts from
his character. I'm sorry, the haircut's gotta go. And I
know people like, what's that have to do with anything?
Trust me, if if the Road Warriors came out with
giant afros that were pink, you'd be like, who are
these defises? Okay? What I think? And especially lost to

(02:09:39):
Cizarro just when he had multiple losses, My thought is
that they're trying to reproduce Lightning in a bottle and
build him as an underdog again. When he's transcending that
he's a legitimate star and a legitimate credible athlete, top
tier upper card. He's not mid card. He's now upper
mid card. He is a definite main eventor period a

(02:10:03):
championship caliber main eventor in fact, he spent most of
his time with a belt around his waist post retirement,
then he did prior, you know, especially on the world
title level. So with that being said, to try to
break him back down to the level where he's the
scrappy underdog again doesn't work. And if that's what they're

(02:10:24):
trying to do, to have him go into this and
then act as it's act as if it is a
surprise it's gonna blow up in their faces. And not
that I don't believe Daniel Brian should be there or
be the one for it. It's like you said, he
has legit backstory with Robin Raids since twenty fourteen. So
therefore we've got something that we can go back on
and say, Okay, look, these guys have a history. It's

(02:10:49):
never quite been settled. We've always kept these two away
from each other. Now it's time for them to settle
it once and for all. We can do that, but
with the build has been just so weak that it's
too easy for me to take him the same as you.
So I'm gonna bump this one to a pick I

(02:11:11):
do not want to make, but I'm gonna make it anyway.
And that's the person that they've been shoving down our
throats for two months now, and it's a person I'm
not a real big fan of. I think it might
be Shamus, and here's why, because they've brought up all
of his history with Drew McIntyre. If Drew McIntyre retains,

(02:11:32):
I can almost see Shamus doing this completely. They want
to build that story. Triple h is in love with
Seamus because their workout buddies. They bring up so many
facts about him in the ring. They keep talking about
his tenures multiple time world champion, which really the asterisk
should say multiple time transitional World champion, because he was
only holding that belt until they could put it on

(02:11:54):
somebody else. Always I think that him decimate two people
at the same time, always going back and forth with
Keith Lee, which hurt Keith Lee's stock. But somehow it's
not like Seamus looks good in defeat or whatever. It's
They're always trying to show you, Oh, Seamus is here,

(02:12:16):
Seamus is this shamous is that they love this guy
and wwe are the people that see him, and especially
the McMahon's and Triple h they think they have so
much stock in this guy, and I can't figure out why.
I mean, aside from his matches with Matt Riddle and
a couple other matches he had about a month ago,
his matches have been completely boring, mundane and the same

(02:12:37):
old thing, with some of the weakest looking finishers I
had seen in years. And yet this guy just keeps
getting the straps put around his waist. And I think
that's why that they've talked so much about, you know,
his his backstory with McIntyre putting him over just everything everything.
He's been all over the place over he is overexposed,

(02:13:00):
but he's exposed every show at least two segments. And
this is really funny. I don't know if you caught
this on the other day when he was wrestling John
Morrison and they had mentioned that these two went at
it again about ten years ago for the King of
the Ring Finals when Shamus best of him and then
went on for his first championship title win over Daniel Bryan.

(02:13:21):
Who do we just bring up Daniel Bryan? Are we
getting the same competitors from ten years ago? And the
statement was made that WWE fans want the same old
thing as opposed to developing new stars, and that's why
we're getting Goldberg in main events in twenty twenty one.
I just see the writing on the wall on this
one that Seamus might actually be the person. I don't

(02:13:41):
want it. I'm gonna tell you right now, I do
not want it. But he was my number two pick.
By the way that they have just been building him,
talking about him putting his face all over everything and
associating him with the champion who's gotten over. I mean,
both champions are over, but it's been way more organic
and Drew McIntyre's journey, especially how he left the company

(02:14:03):
and came back and everything just it's been way more organic,
and I think that's why it's gonna be him. My
backups after that would be number three. Seamus has won,
Daniel Bryan has been next, so then Keith Lee just
because he's up there, but I think they still want
to season him for another year. I think he's ready,
but I think in McMahon's eyes, he just doesn't think

(02:14:25):
that the public want to want to glom onto him,
especially the fact that you've got Big Ye over on
SmackDown in such a prominent role. They are so incredibly
similar in build. Obviously, big Ye has the following from
the New Day thing and Keith Lee has the incredible
athleticism and talent. His move said is way better and

(02:14:46):
he doesn't have a really lame finisher. Then my next
would be Braun Strowman. We can't believe who's gonna defeat him.
He's so huge, big man, big man, Ah, how do
you get him off his feet? Then after that, I
had Big E but two things that they get me
that I think should not be allowed is one, Drew McIntyre,

(02:15:10):
if you're a champion, regardless if you win or lose,
you shouldn't and they did it with Brockluster. You should
not be allowed to be in the Royal Rumble. It's
just silly. It's like, oh, if I win, then I
don't have to fight anybody. It's just dumb. It's it's
cheesy booking. It's it's bully mentality booking. It doesn't work
for a babyface. It's definitely heal booking, but it's also

(02:15:30):
it almost guarantees you that Drew McIntyre is gonna lose.
It becomes water thin storylines, and I don't want to
see a water thin storyline. I don't need a surprise,
but I definitely need my whole entree, not just the
main course. So once you once you put a champion
in there, it cheapens your your events that that happened

(02:15:52):
earlier that day. So if if if Drew McIntyre is
definitely set for the Rumble, you can guarantee Goldberg's gonna win.
There's no other reason for him to be in. Just
the same thing as I mean, the MI is with
the money in the bank, what you so you win
two title shots? That's that's inane, it makes no sense.
It's sloppy booking, it's sloppy storytelling, and so that that's

(02:16:14):
that's kind of like my line up. I'm gonna give
you my good surprises or these I'm gonna put these
as probable surprises, but in a good vein, okay, and
they are not for winners, but just making an appearance.
Damian Priest as his call up just because he I'm positive,
just like Ria Ripley. It's like there's that so called

(02:16:36):
senior class of NXT that's ready for the main event,
and they love Damian Priest. And it's kind of weird
because I see him as winning a world title down
the road in the not too near future, and it's
kind of weird how he looks. He's got an eerily
similar look to Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre. You kind
of notice that, from the garb to the hair to everything.

(02:16:59):
And then two more NXT of course Carrion Cross, because
that guy should have never been in NXT to begin with.
Way too talented. He's a legit character. He's a legit gimmick.
He has everything, and if the stories I heard is
true that he got main event money to go to NXT,
if he got main roster money to go to NXT

(02:17:20):
because they wanted him so bad, his NXT spell isn't
going to be that long, especially winning the World Championship
or the NXT World title off of Keith Lee in
his first takeover match, I believe, and barely being with
the company A cut a cup of coffee, and you know, Danish,
I don't think he's long for NXT. And even if

(02:17:41):
they want to have a couple more matches with him
to pass a torch that he never really had to
grab to begin with, I get it. But I see
him as definitely making an appearance in the Royal Rumble
and Finn Balord just because he transcends NXT. He should
have never went back there to begin with. I get
the fact that it was partly his choice, because you know,
it was partly company choice, because if you're going to

(02:18:03):
counteract members of the Bullet Club, you go with the
guy who started, especially if he's going to be on
there with Adam Cole who used to be part of
Bullet Club, so on, so forth, you know, you want
to get that indie look on both channels and they're
he's a tremendous performer. But you know, that's why the
company did it. He did it because it's a more
serious product and it showcases what he's worth. So if

(02:18:25):
aw is worth as much money as they say when
they want to sign him, it's going to be a
bigger contract for him to go join his old friends,
or if he wants to go to New Japan, they're
going to sign him to ridiculous money. He was the
first Universal Champion, so on, so forth, and his career
wasn't floundering by feuding with the likes of Elias or
you know in you know, Terrible barn Burners with you know,

(02:18:47):
Baron Corbyn. It's it's that that aspect is over. He's
in the serious side of their product and that's what
people are going to pay attention to and it doesn't
damage his credibility or demean his character what he's worth.
So it was our when I oh and somemojo, if
there's a time for him to get out from behind
that commentary booth and be a legit competitor, we'll know
by at the beginning of the show if he's not

(02:19:08):
part of it. I don't want to see a booker
t thing where he gets up and he's wearing the
tucks top or the suit top with the trunks underneath.
That just kind of looks hokey. I would like to
see he's not there tonight and then he becomes a participant.
He doesn't have to win, but I unfortunately, I really
do feel like Joe's in ring career is probably behind him.
It's better that he went out on a high note

(02:19:29):
than instead of going out like Taz who had the
path of rage in ECW just to come in, get
one win over Kurt Angle, have it fluked out and
then just turn into a guy who's losing to Jerry Lawler.
It was a terrible way for him to go out.
I don't want to see some Ojoe go out like that.
So if he's going out now on his own terms
as a commentator and extends his career, God bless him,

(02:19:51):
go for it. Amen. But if he comes back, this
is the time to do it WWE style if their
version of a surprise or return Alister Black, we haven't
seen him in months. What has he been up to?
Oh my lord, forgive me for this one. The man

(02:20:11):
that's gonna go after Baron corbyin to defend Rey came
ve Alaska's tried to say it fast. Sorry, no, he
killed me. I'm sorry. Uh the one that I see
this meme all over Facebook? Are you excited to see
him potentially back gender mahal, I'm surprised he's still he
still has a paycheck. Who even brought him back? Who

(02:20:33):
even thought he puts eyeballs on stuff? I don't know
why he's employed a returning legend like but just who
has no prayer? So they shouldn't be in the royal
rumble like to talk of making his way to the ring.
Just get out of the ring. But I see that,
Oh it's funny, ha ha ha. No, maybe a comedic
celebrity like a John Stewart moment or Drew Carey moment

(02:20:56):
that we all just say thanks, thanks for cheaping it.
This is supposed to be world title shot and here's
obviously a person who could never win it. They don't
have a prayer in hell, and yeah, you're gonna stick
them in there just so they run from some ginormous
human being. I don't know if John Cena is a lock.
I mean in front of a live crowd. It's a
cheap pop. But his time has come and gone, and

(02:21:18):
sticking around really wouldn't help that much. Rock Lesner, they'd
make a big deal out of it, But as far
as I know, the second his his pen hits a
paper for any kind of extended contract, it's gonna be
all over. It's too big of a name not to
blow up. But then I'm afraid that would be Lesner

(02:21:38):
versus Goldberg the rematch at WrestleMania. And that's especially with
the Peacock deal. You're just bearing viewers at that point.
That's you're just asking for people to dump your product.
And then one more comedic entry, and that would be
the number thirty. NYA Jacks tries to come out but

(02:22:00):
dead a one off, Curtis Axel jumpser and finally gets
a spot in the Royal Rumble.

Speaker 1 (02:22:07):
He's technically still in the Rumble.

Speaker 2 (02:22:09):
Yeah, exactly exactly, So to sew that one up after
all these years, that would be the comedic spot if
they didn't throw like a comedy comedic celebrity, And then
it wouldn't be one of our shows. If I didn't
say probably Lars Sullivan.

Speaker 1 (02:22:23):
Oh lord, oh lord, Lars Sullivan. I can just hear it,
the freak, I mean I can, yeah, I please, no, No,
I don't know what it is with the starting stops.
Just infatuation with Lars Sullivan. I don't know if they
just can't find him and he's too busy, you know, instagramming,
messaging married women. I don't know what he's doing. I mean,
I really don't. I don't know what Lars Sullivan is

(02:22:46):
up to. I don't I don't know if I particularly care.
I kind of lost interest after they, you know, did
the second or third time of start and stop. This
is just getting insanely ridiculous. So well, quite a thorough analysis.
I'm glad you brought up some things I didn't you know,
think of. And I will say that we can guarantee
ourselves a couple of things. We can guarantee ourselves. Number one,

(02:23:08):
that who we will have people who are eliminated and
no longer a legal part of the match, eliminate people
who are still in the match. You can guarantee that
you can guarantee that you will have people who hang
out outside the ring and don't enter the ring, of
which there should be a time limit or you were disqualified,

(02:23:29):
because otherwise, why wouldn't everyone just hang out outside the
ring and wait for other people to dis eliminate each
other and then you don't have to do any work
and you just win the match. And lastly, whoever wins
the match, both men and women are corporately required as
part of their contract to point to the WrestleMania sign.
It is, and I know Drew McIntyre tried to own

(02:23:49):
it last year as if, yeah, I know, we all
do this, but we kind of have to. And it's like, no, no,
you don't, like we're supposed to believe that you're just
this this anomaly, this guy that's you know, not controlled
bay anybody, and yet everyone still does it. So you
can guarantee that fireworks will go off while someone points
to the WrestleMania sign. So those are three guarantees, regardless
of war picks that are happening tomorrow night.

Speaker 2 (02:24:10):
I'm there with you one hundred percent. I hate the
whole point. That's so stupid. It's it made sense like
I don't know, like around like Wrestlmania eighteen, nineteen twenty,
where once in a while, but now like especially the
worst one, and we'll bring her name up again. When
Ronda Rousey did it was real stiff and just like,
oh that was terrible. What I think also something that

(02:24:33):
we didn't touch on, but will you kind of touched
on it because when I get rambling, I keep going
because you know, it keeps the stuttering factor town. But
all the sidebar fews are gonna pay pay a lot
of or they're gonna play a lot of of interaction

(02:24:54):
within the rumble matches between the men and the women.
So of course Lacy Evans and Charlie are gonna go
at it because they've got a because they don't have
a signed match that night, so we're gonna see that
as as part of an elimination, so on, so forth.
Whatever happens with the Tag Team women or the Tag
Team women's match is gonna play a factor into the
Royal Rumble in the women's side. In the men's side,

(02:25:17):
Orton's gonna be there, if the Fiend's there, they're gonna
go right for each other. So we continue that so
that we can guarantee neither of them are gonna win,
because they've already got their own thing going. But then
you also have to factor an edge, so his edge
gonna go straight for Orton or his edge and a
j gonna pick up I And the reason I also
said the good name of our own law as Sullivan,
he grows up so fast right in front of our eyes,

(02:25:41):
is the fact that if you've got a behemoth in
there size of Stroman, either you're gonna do the eight.
It takes eight people to eliminate him, which is a
boring spot because I think almost is almost whatever his
name is supposed to be in there too. I think
it's gonna come down to if Sullivan's in there, it's
gonna be Sullivan and Stroman going at it and e
limit each other at at the same time because one

(02:26:03):
they trained, they came up together, so they know each other.
Of course, at this point, with all the surprises you
find out, I think I don't think anybody truly knows
Lars Sullivan, but I can honestly say it's going to
take a behemoth to eliminate a behemoth, and then you
already have your what do we do with Stroman at WrestleMania,
So let's have these guys go at for the next

(02:26:24):
sixty days. Find some kind of slot matches. Maybe put
Stroman in the elimination chamber because he's a household name,
but have Sullivan interfere in the elimination chambers that way,
that takes care of the Stroman factor. In that it
could be Caine's style, though I don't want to see
anybody else come up from the pits of Hell, which
is under the ring next to the Kendostick. I rather

(02:26:46):
see his own way of doing it. I don't want
to see rip the door off either. That was done
by Kane. I don't want to see anything that's a retrat.
Find your own way to do it, even maybe jumping
in the back so we can't make I don't care.
But the point is, if that's going to create the build,
then we tie up two big men. So we already
have our WrestleMania situation. We don't have to have Bronze
Strowman as a baby face facing somebody the size of

(02:27:08):
Sammy's a and not making sense. And at the same time,
if you don't know what to do with Sullivan, have
someone who can throw them around, because if you act
stupid again, at least you have someone big enough who
can just kind of beat them senseless. If you need to.
So the sidebars are definitely gonna happen. We're We're obviously
gonna see Keith Lee and Shamus. If Shamus wins, I
think it'll come down to he and Keith Lee. Of course,

(02:27:29):
there's gonna be a couple of NXT surprises in there.
And here's something I've thought about, because it's not gonna
be this year. And this is another reason that I'm
writing Daniel Bryan it could be Daniel Brian again, because
we both really thought that, and you still think that,
and I know you're you're sticking to your guns, which
I appreciate that because I think it's great both he

(02:27:49):
and AJ are going to retire at the ends of
their current contracts. Something tells me that eerily it's gonna
be like a Goldberg versus Lesnar thing like it's gonna
I think they're gonna retire each other in a final match,
and I don't think it'll be This Mania. I think
it'll be Next Mania. And if so, I think that
AJ's gonna take the governor off him because it'll be
his last match. People say he's lost a step. It's

(02:28:12):
just that he doesn't do some of the same moves
he used to because he's not made a teflon anymore.
Now do I see him facing a Daniel Brian who
knows he's gonna retire, so he's gonna pull out all
the stops. I see those guys just not being told
what to do and just putting on a twenty twenty
five minute classic in their last bout, and I think
that's how they're gonna go out. So I don't think
it's gonna be this year. And that's the only other

(02:28:33):
thing that I think could push Brian above Shamus in
this Aside from that, I really wish it was Keith Lee.
But if you had to pick one person that you
just didn't see it coming that might be in the
top ten pick, I might say shins Kay Nakamura because
he's the only person who's had kind of a positive build.

(02:28:56):
Obviously it's not gonna be Adam Pierce, but that's the
only person I don't think they'd do it, just because
it'd be a second Rumble win. That would be like
the only the only person I could conceivably it's not
gonna be Otis. You know, I don't see anymore goofball.
Let's give him a push for no good reason thing.
The only person I see in that top ten tier

(02:29:17):
that might surprise me would be Shinsky again. And that's
what I got on the Rumble.

Speaker 1 (02:29:25):
Wow, No, that is a you think you guys talk
about a thorough review. We got thorough reviews right here.
I mean that a good way sol Or Czarrow. I mean,
like the other thing is a Cesarrow. You know, he
had a couple of good weeks and he's been on
commentary kind of awkwardly the last couple of weeks. He's
probably my top fifteen of Cesarro winning. I think the
fans will get behind it, but I don't think Vince

(02:29:46):
is behind it. So yeah, this has been great. I mean,
you have really given me too much to think about
in terms of angles and sub angles and you know,
pro and little things that happen in the Rumble that
are the stories within stories within st But that's what
the Rumble's about. That's why you could talk about the
Rumble for hours and hours and hours, because there's so
much going on, so many storylines interwoven, you know, the

(02:30:09):
five possibilities that could come true. I really don't feel
super confident about Daniel Bryan. I mean I know it
picked him. I know he's the odds on favorite, but
that also scares me. He's the odds on favorite because
it seems too obvious and too easy. Very rarely does
Vince go with the easy option. He usually takes kind
of a backwards way to get there, just to surprise
fans of time. So I'm not super confident. I mean,

(02:30:29):
Seth Rollins could certainly win it. Uh, you know, brock
Lessner is is brock Lesner, and I don't think brock
would win it. But you know, looking at this top
five list of Vegas odds, you can make a case
for every single one of them. This is a very,
very very difficult rumble. I would stay the hell away
from this to put money on it. I would not
go anywhere near this. Out of all the matches on

(02:30:50):
the card right now, this one scares me the most
in terms of who could win it. Even the women's
isn't great for me, and this was great. I'm glad
there's not a complete obvious answer. You know that it
that it has to be like you know, you'd look
back and Roan Rains has to win it Rome Like
in twenty fifteen, ro Wayne's gotta win it and he
won it, right like, So there's been times where it's
very obvious who's gonna win it, and this year is

(02:31:11):
extremely difficult. So uh, any final thoughts or items you'd
like to wrap up or shout out to anything.

Speaker 2 (02:31:18):
Like that, Well, do you have a couple of shouts
to throw out? But I also thought about one one
more quick thing as far as the Man's rumble goes,
is there a chance, like the three faces of Folly,
we see two to potentially three faces of Wyatt.

Speaker 1 (02:31:33):
I that's com glad you brought that up too, because
I said the same thing maybe last week of he
starts out with the fun Bray Wyatt that he goes
to the swamp cult leader and then he goes to
the Fiend.

Speaker 2 (02:31:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:31:43):
I thought about the same thing, like you know, and
you're right, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:31:49):
So that that was on my mind. Or is it?
Is it pray Wyatt you know, as like fun Bray White,
because that's supposed to be the current version. We totally
skipped the cult leader go into the Fiend and then
he comes back as his third, you know, third new persona,
which I still like the idea of the friend. I
still think I hope wwe creative is out there because

(02:32:10):
I'm lobbing you a grapefruit here. All you have to
do is knock it out of the park. Okay, it's
pretty easy. But I could see that because there's been
so many retreads with you know, the mandal Claw, with
the you know, Kevin Owen's using the Stunner like so
many things, and of course you know the belief that
people don't want change, Well, why don't they really think

(02:32:31):
that we forget this? But we don't forget. But I
could see that kind of happening. Aside from that, I
would like to do some shout outs if I could
real quick. Okay, so as everybody, as all of our
listeners know, I'm currently on work assignment here in Memphis, Tennessee,
which is my old stomping ground's been here for a
long time. Last time I was on the show, I

(02:32:51):
kind of mentioned the restaurant I was working at, which
is the Kooky Kaduck in Cordova, Tennessee, and I had
two of our listeners come and visit me, and I
just want to give him a shout out. That was
Rob Poier and Tayshaun Reid, their friends both live out
in the Germantown area their roommates, and apparently they really
really enjoyed the show, and when they found out they

(02:33:12):
could actually come meet me, they came. They had some lunch,
and we talked wrestling for about a half hour forty
five minutes. It was really cool and it was really awesome,
and so I just wanted to let them know that
I would recognize them on the show. And then just
a few people from around the town and a couple
of businesses. While I was gone, a few new businesses
opened nine oh one Comics. It's owned by a man

(02:33:34):
named Shannon Merritt. It's a great comic shop if you're
in the Memphis Cooper Young area. It's fantastic. I love
my comic books. I've known Shannon for many years and
I'm glad he also owns his own publishing label, and
they have some of their own comics that they produced themselves,
which is really cool. So you never know if somebody
you know might become a character inside of a comic
as just a kind of one off, kind of tongue

(02:33:55):
in cheek thing, which is really awesome. A couple gentlemen
who are a big wrestling fans, a man by the
name of Randy Creswell. He's a really nice guy and
he's really into all things that are kind of subculture,
which I think is really awesome. You can have conversations
with this guy all day, like you and I when
we sidebar. A gentleman by the name of Mark Tetford

(02:34:17):
I've known for many years. I hadn't seen for a
long time. Who used to when he was a teenager
sell hot dogs so he could make it to the
Mid South Coliseum and there he would sell programs for
the Old Continental and Old USWA and all the old
Memphis territories and Mid South territories. And he has a
few that I might be acquiring from him. And he

(02:34:39):
was the man who gave me the old phrase that
pro wrestling was his favorite hillbilly soap opera. So it's
something I love. And the last shout out goes to
a place called Grivet Outdoors. It's also in the Cooper
Young area. When I was visiting the comic shop, I
went there. I met the owner. It's a great outdoor store.
It's not that big. I've got a great selection of shoes,

(02:35:01):
all kinds of equipment there for anything that you want
to do. As far as hiking, kayaking, outdoors, you name it,
they've got it. And what really impressed me is that
he had a thorough stand of men's body care, such
as like every Man Jack Cremo, stuff like that. I
use a lot of that skincare product and beard balms
and things of that nature. You can say whatever, but

(02:35:23):
for forty five, I look fantastic. So I thought it
was really awesome that he had a lot of that,
especially a lot of natural soaps and think just things
of that nature. And like I said, his shoe collection
is amazing. So if you're in the area, you're in
the Memphis area and you go to Cooper Young, definitely
check it out. And I just want to let those
people know that I recognize them and it's fantastic. And

(02:35:43):
any time you folks want to reach me at Twitter,
it's at one four to four, Captain. I respond to everything.
I love getting new followers, I love following new people.
I love talking wrestling, and I love ideas. If you
have any questions or anything that for the next time
I'm on a show you would like me to answer,
feel free to send to me. I'd love to go

(02:36:04):
back and forth with Matt because he and I have
some great conversations, and that's what I got.

Speaker 1 (02:36:09):
Very good. I mean, I would say that you you
become somewhat of a celebrity now Memphis. That's pretty cool.
And Robin Taishan, right, those are the two names. Yeah, okay, cool, cool,
that's that's pretty cool that you've had. I haven't not
had that happen, although I haven't been out really outside
my house in about ten months eleven months, so, and
you know, I don't know how many people actually know
what I look like. I mean some people do. My
logo is pretty obvious. But yeah, so very good. And Michael,

(02:36:32):
thank you as always, this has been a great conversation.
We've got so much to talk about. Our listeners, I'm
sure have a lot to think about with their royal
Rumble picks, and I'm curious to see what you guys
think and email the show at real ww podcast at
gmail dot comic course, and Michael, we will be doing
this again very soon, especially post Rumble. I'm sure there's
going to be so much to discuss. I mean, it's

(02:36:53):
once we are now kicking at guys like tomorrow night
is the night that we've all been looking forward to
as wrestling fans, because yes, it's rumble and that's fun
as hell. But it is now officially WrestleMania season. It's
insane to say, given that I feel like I just
watched the two nights special from WrestleMania thirty six at
the Performance Center now the Capital City Wrestling Center, of course,

(02:37:13):
but it's crazy that it's almost been a full year.
So guys, it is WrestleMania season and I couldn't be
more excited. And Michael, thank you so much for coming
on the show and taking the time out of your
evening and we'll be in touch very very soon.

Speaker 2 (02:37:26):
Thank you very much. You have a wonderful evening, and
as always I'm humbled. Folks, Stay safe and have fun.

Speaker 1 (02:37:31):
Awesome, thanks so much. All right, good night, good night,

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