This week in WWE saw CM Punk and LA Knight go face-to-face on the mic, Alexa Bliss continue her chemistry with Charlotte Flair, Becky defend her IC Title and much more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is WWE superstar Drew McIntyre, and you're listening to
the WWE podcast show.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
The one that everybody wants me tell you. I'll stand
for sixteenth. Just what your ass is?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
My yn you can acknowledge me.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
What's going on everybody? I hope you're doing well. This
is actually Saturday, says, I'm recording this Saturday, the sixteenth
day of August. Hope everyone's doing well here on this weekend.
I normally do Sunday, a very rare Saturday recording. I
simply want to just be able to relax tomorrow night.
So I'm doing the week in review tonight and i'll
cover SmackDown on my thoughts on SmackDown anyway, I'll give
(00:55):
you a little bit more of a recap on the
Monday night raw events and where we're headed, and also
of course as Clash and Paris comes to us in
just a couple of weeks, there's a lot to unpack
there as well. But first, welcome to the show. This
is the WWE Podcast. I hope that you guys stick around.
If you like the show and want to go add
free Patreon dot com slash WWE podcast great place to
(01:19):
get started. If you want to remove those pesky ads.
All right, Well, there's a lot of talk lately before
I get into the specifics, and you guys, by the way,
can go listen to Amanda from the UK did a
great job of just breaking down SmackDown, giving her thoughts
on it from last night. So before I get into
that and get into a little bit of moneyet raw,
(01:42):
there has been and maybe it's my algorithm on social media,
I'm not sure, but there's been this chatter, this consistent
chatter that I've been seeing on social media about WWE's
current product. And there's the typical criticisms about, oh, they
don't know what they're doing. It's pretty like do you
hear that? No matter what time of year or what's
(02:02):
going on. But it's been consistent now for a couple
of weeks, and the general criticism I'm getting is that
the show feels directionless, it feels soulless. Another really bad
smack Down? Are we watching the same product? I'm not
here to blow smoke up WWE's ass. Quite the contrary.
(02:22):
If you guys have heard me over the last several years,
you know that I'm probably more nitpicky and critical than
most to the detriment of my listeners, but it is
what it is. I just don't feel like WWE is
at a really low point right now. I don't know
what people are getting at when they talk about this,
(02:42):
and maybe some of the people out there who are
saying this can inform me enlighten me here, because I'm
not sure what is going on that's exceptionally bad right now. Sure,
I mean, it's not what it used to be just
a couple of years ago, when Roman Rains was running
smack Down and we had the bloodline that was actually
(03:03):
an interesting story. We had Sammy Zain infiltrating the bloodline
that made it ultra interesting. Sure, yeah, I mean you
can't always be at a high point. It's impossible. But
I don't know what is as of late really triggering
the dislike for the product as a whole. I guess
(03:23):
it's that the big stars. When the big stars aren't there,
people again all up in arms. I've seen criticism about
brock Lesner by not being there, But what did you
guys expect with brock Lesner? Did you see his first
run in WWE from twenty twelve when he returned to
the company, Did anybody really believe he's going to be here,
(03:46):
I mean, in any respect regularly. No, He's making Roman
Rerains look like a full timer, you know, with brock
Leser's schedule. I mean, brock Leser came back a couple
weeks ago. We haven't seen or heard from him since
they paid him a whole bunch of money to be there.
So WWE is going to be clearly milking that with
(04:09):
the John Cena attack for a while. It very well
could be that Brock does appear in Paris, although I
doubt it, it's possible that Brock does show up there
and screw John Cena. It's very possible. Right to lead
to the next event, which is going to be a
September pl to counter aw's all out pay per view.
(04:32):
It is going to take place on September twentieth in Indianapolis, Indiana.
It does coincide with aw's all out pay per view scheduled.
That is going to be a bleed from the I'm
looking at it now the Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto.
So this is people are speculating it's bad Blood. It
very well could be. I'm really just I don't need
(04:55):
more pls I've been on that tirade many times. I
don't need more. More is not better, but they think
it is. And that means though that we could get
a Brock Lesner John Cena match at that pl in
Indianapolis on September twentieth, the Ergo Brock could be at
Clash in Paris or the following SmackDown whenever Johnsena's next
(05:19):
scheduled appearance is. But dates are running thin on John.
What do we have ten dates left? Eleven? Maybe like
we're getting to the very end, the very end. And
I'm curious as to how everybody thinks about John Cena's
run for the last year now. The heel run does
certainly sour a lot of people's view of this last year.
(05:43):
It without question ended up not working out. It was
not the best work of anybody. I still, regardless of
the outcome, completely agree with their decision. Even knowing what
the outcome would be, I still would have done it
so we could say we did it. But I'm curious
to hear what everyone else feels so far. If John
(06:03):
cen has run were to end now, how would you
feel about it? For the last eight months since John
Cena returned the Netflix debut and then off to the races.
Right here we go, John Cena is now eight months
in four to go ten dates, not much left brock
Lesner's next opponent presumably, and then could it be Edge?
(06:28):
Do I dare say Edge? Somehow? I keep pushing it.
Edge would be the perfect final opponent for John Cena.
I think, can somehow course Adam Copeland to come back
for a just even a special here, regardless of his
contract status. Do some kind of exemption. I don't know.
(06:50):
Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes to get Adam Copeland
to face John Cena in December, would to me be
worth it. Of course, that's me money, that's not my own,
which is incredibly easy to do. I have a problem
spending my own money, much less people's money. I don't
even know. So alrighty, that was just a quick little
thought here in the open, and let's dive into SmackDown.
(07:14):
And it opened with the MFT sorry and Solo Sokoa
leading the group there, and he said they run smack Down.
Solo boasted that they stomped out Sammy's Ain, Jimmy Usso
and Jacob Fatu, and he started to make a challenge
to anyone backstage, but he was interrupted by Sammy z
(07:37):
Ain and Solo remained in the ring while the MFT
headed a ringside. Zaye said everyone had heard him talk
about becoming a world champion, and he said that he
had beaten russevn Raw he may not have been in
the World Heavyweight Championship match at Clash in Paris, and
he said he actually felt liberated. He said that he
(07:59):
felt he he's been spitting his wheels and now could
go back to doing other things he set out to do.
He thanked Solo and said the US Championship is another
title that he hasn't held in WWE, and Solo said
that Zayin wouldn't hold it soon and told him to
get off his show and out of his ring.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Again, people just crossing brands for no reason. I will
continue to point that out. Yes. Zaine then told Solo
he's officially a SmackDown wrestler and again, how that now?
I said that this is something I'll continue to point out. Yes,
but also how did that even happen? Is there a trade?
Why did that happen? How? You know? Stud to being
(08:37):
like okay, fine, they're explaining as a SmackDown wrestler now,
which I appreciate, but also how did that happen? Was
there a trade? Is anyone going to explain this? However,
Zain said he's coming for the So for Solo and
the US title, and Solo threw a punch at Zaine
and that's when the brawl broke out. Jimmy USSO comes
out to help Talatanga knocked him down, set up for
(08:59):
a choke slam. Jacob Vatu comes to the ring and
helped clear the three Heels from the ring. And that's
as I mean, there is no tried and true method.
There is nothing more scientifically proven. Then if an even
number of Heels and babyfaces are in the open of
a show, or really in any segment of the show,
(09:20):
and they clear each other out, that the general manager
or commissioner, whoever is in charge that night, they are
contractually obligated to come out and make a tag team
match per Teddy Long's rules. It just without fail, and
it happened here with Nick All this. He comes out
and it makes a six man tag team match that
would be the main event of SmackDown. Again. Now, I'm
(09:43):
not angry with it's it's just something that is there's
nothing more pro wrestling than that. That is quintessential pro
wrestling logic. Alrighty, so zaying again, I guess he's a
part of SmackDown now, and it is kind of lame
that a guy like Sammy Zane that they are seemingly
(10:05):
still laying the foundation to chase the world title probably
later in the year or towards the beginning of next year,
with the world rumble that the fact that he's traded
to SmackDown apparently traded, Did he migrate, did he did
he use osmosis? How did he become a SmackDown wrestler.
The fact though, that regardless of how it happened to
trade or what otherwise, the fact that WWE is not
(10:26):
making a big deal out of it is a big deal.
The guy is supposed to be this underdog, he's one
of your biggest babyfaces in the company, one of and
again it seems like you're laying the foundation work for
a potential world title run and you're making his move
to SmackDown completely bland, tasteless. They should make a bigger
(10:50):
deal of it. But all right, So Alexa Bliss comes
out and she was accompanied by Charlotte Flair, so Alexa
took on Piper Niven. This match went seven and a
half minutes with Alexa beating Piper Niven as Bliss dropped
down from the rope, Look took out Alba Fire and
(11:10):
then Bliss avoided a charging Nibvin and rolled her up
to get the three count. Afterwards, the referees raised Bliss's hand,
Fire super kicked Bliss, and then Flair beat down Green
with chops, but then Niven blindsided Flair and eventually the
Heels got the better of Alexa and Charlotte to stand
(11:32):
tall as Albafire hits her finish on Bliss and then
Niven splashed her from the ropes. So this to me
was was was fine. I mean, the chemistry continues with
Alexa and Charlotte, certainly a better segment this week than
last week's forced kind of at times cringe worthy birthday
celebration for Alexi, and the fact that Piper Niven lost
(12:00):
but got her heat back with Chelsea Green was how
you do wrestling, right. The Babyfaces prevail, but they didn't.
It's not a total satisfactory win because they got their
heat back by getting beat down after and now you
want to see Charlotte and Alexa get the revenge. Even
though they won the match, or the Alexa won the match,
(12:22):
you still want to see them get revenge because of
the actions after the match. And so it's just against
just typical psychology here. I think it's fine. And Chelsea
Green and Piper and Niven have never been more relevant
than they are now. They really haven't. They're a great
duo as well. And you know what, the more that
(12:48):
Alexa and Charlotte stay together, which who knows how long
it's gonna last. It's not a long term gig. They
are single stars that are temporarily together under the guise
of a tag team. But I will say when things
like this happen, when you have two single stars, big
single stars come together for brief time to win the
(13:11):
women's tag team titles. As cursed as those titles are,
there is a benefit to having this type of scenario,
and that is that it adds legitimacy to the tag
team division. It adds star power to a desperately needed
division in need of star power. So that is the
(13:32):
upside here that you have a legitimate team I guess
legitimate as legitimate as a tag team can be in
twenty twenty five. Really they're just single stars slap together.
But fine, they're a team, and they are two big
stars that the company have in the women's side of
things that are coming together to carry those women's tag
(13:54):
team titles to add value to them and the division
as a whole. So it's really a win win win
for a win for Alexa, win for Charlotte, and a
win for WWE's tag team division on the women's side.
So okay, backstage, Nick Alta stood between Women's Champion Tiffany
(14:17):
Stratton and Jade and eventually stopped them from bickering. I
really don't like this is something I can do without.
This is something I could do without for the women's
side of things. That there's the way that a lot
of matches have happened over the last I don't know
how many decades of women's wrestling, we've seen them bickering
(14:39):
and just trying to talk over each other and then
a dude has to step in and be like ladies, ladies, ladies,
and it's almost just it's a stereotype that are these
women really doing this? Backstage? You know, it's a bit
childish of an approach, is my point, and it's an
overused approach and it's not a good look for anybody
(15:02):
talking over each other again, bickering like children. I not
my style of introducing a segment with the women involved,
and that has happened way too much. But Ni Jack
shows up the adult in the room, I guess, and
took issue with Jade wanting a rematch. Jack suggested that
Jade fall back and let her take care of Stratton
(15:24):
and said she wouldn't fall back for anyone. That's all.
Jade said, Yeah, that's it. Jade, Stratton said the result
of her facing Jack's would always be the same, said,
if Jax had to prove it before she has to
prove it to Jade, they both should bring it. And
that was that. Okay, So Tiffany and Jade and Ni
(15:45):
Jack's are entangled in a a threesome of sorts in
wrestling land anyway. Okay, So Phraxium and let's see Carmalo
Hayes and the that's it. That's what it was is
the next match here. This went to twelve minutes and
twenty seconds with Carmelo and the Miz beating Phraxium. Now
(16:09):
the finish was Fraser had Hayes pinned after hitting him
with a Phoenix splash. Mis jumped off Fraser's back to
break up the pin and then hit Axiom with the DDT.
On the way down, Hayes hit Fraser with a cutter
after both men had been on the top rope. Hayes
went to the rope, but Miz tagged himself in after
he was going to go for nothing but Net and
(16:29):
then Miz hit Fraser with the skull crushing finale and
got the victory. So Carmelo in the mi is again
beat Phraxium, Nathan Fraser in Axiom and again tag team match. Good.
This is this is a very tag team heavy show,
and that's okay, you can have that once in a while.
(16:51):
I also like the fact that you have the Mis
doing something relevant instead of just being kind of a
default backstage agent for w W at this point in
his career. And uh, does it put Carmelo and Miss
in a tag team title scenario? Potentially? Baby, But the
(17:11):
story here is tension between the Miss and Carmelo, which
was yeah, I mean you had the Miss be an
opportunitist here, spoil nothing but Net and then have him
come in and get the victory. Very heelish, so all right. Backstage,
Keana James approached Tiffany advised her to get some back up,
(17:34):
and James said there was no one better for her
than Julia, and Stratton said she's a champion already and
doesn't need backup, and James said that if Stratton isn't
with them, then she's against them and spoke about how
Julia could take the women's championship meechin yes she still
works there. Showed up after Stratton walked away and said
that if James had taken her calls, she'd know that
(17:54):
Julia's had she had Julia next, and Keana said that
would be under advisement and walked away. McIntyre then comes
out for his promo and he said people had been
asking him all week why did he claim or kick
(18:15):
Cody's head through the front of the broadcast table. He
said it was so violent he felt everyone needed to
see it again, which is funny. He then claimed that
he did not attack Cody, and he he asked Testatur
about a medical update. When Testator said there wasn't one,
(18:36):
McIntyre questioned if someone from management was hiding it because
he had taken out their Golden Boy, and McIntyre said
he doesn't hate Cody, he feels sorry for him. He
said Cody cares about what the fans and management think.
He said he was like that five years ago, but
he evolved and said he realized that the fans forget
about them once they retire, and said he does it
(18:57):
for his family in the big paycheck, but Cody needs
the WWE championship. I mean, I think there's a lot
of truth into what mcatire saying here. I mean, he
absolutely does it for his family in the paycheck. I mean,
who the hell is not there for the money. I mean,
of course you are. But he asked who Cody is
without his story. Mcatyre once again said he didn't attack Cody.
(19:18):
He said Cody attacked him and recalled Cody slamming his
face into the ring post and then clearing the broadcast
table after the match, and said Cody was going to
put him to the table and take him out, and
he said he just defended himself and said he's not
the bad guy, but he will do very violent things
if he's provoked. And a great line he said here
(19:41):
was if you provoked me I'm the real nightmare, and
mctyre said that before tossing it down and told Cody
to get better soon. So he again another really good,
strong performance here from mctyre, As it is every time
he touched the microphone. He is just the quintessential polished
(20:04):
wrestler up and down from entering that never has a
bad match to just his promos are so solid. Are
they a plus plus? No, but they are. They're so
far above a lot of the guys currently working that
he is in the top tier. I believe he can
hang with nearly everyone on the microphone. He still can
(20:27):
hold the championship and you could still build the company
temporarily around him for the next few years. He's not
the youngest guy in the world, but he's proven that
he's you know, he's fairly durable when it comes to injury.
He's not out all the time. A guy you can
rely on doesn't get the company in trouble and so on.
And I love him calling out Cody and saying that
(20:48):
who is he without his story and claiming that he's
just he acted in self defense, which again is true.
There's nothing he said he that's a lie. They are
all inconvenient facts for people trying to support Cody. And
again the way it's framed, of course, they're trying to
make Mcatyre the heel here, and I'm fine with him
(21:11):
remaining the heel. I'm not suggesting they should turn you
Tormack to our baby face by any means. I think
Drew is doing a fantastic job. It continues to to
be a heel whatever. This is, this truth telling machine,
and it's just so fun to watch, so Cody out
there again. I think it's also why people are possibly complaining,
(21:33):
is Cody wasn't there and John Cena and all the whores.
Brock Lesner, Hey, you can't have all the big guys
all the time. I know people just expect it because
we're spoiled children as wrestling fans. But I'm more than
willing to accept time off from big stars. I have
accustomed myself to that. And I think, you know, perhaps
(21:56):
today's younger generation just wants everything at this moment, all
the time, at the and it's just, you know, unfortunately,
you're setting yourself up for disappointment if you think like that.
So okay. Byron Saxson interviewed the Street Profits, who were
with b Fab backstage, and Saxon brought up their match
with DIY and asked if they felt they'd be in
line for ant of the tag team tuttle shot with
(22:16):
a win. Solo Sokoa and his group showed up. He
took issue with the Profits going after the titles and
said that if the Profits want the tag team titles,
they would have to run through him and his crew.
The Profits blew him off, and apparently they still want
the smoke. I mean, it's been so long, I mean,
why don't they just get the smoke. They've been after
(22:38):
this smoke for how long? Now? Go get it? Yeah, Okay,
you know we've heard you. We know what you want.
Go find it. Hunt this this mysterious smoke down, capture
it right, put it in a cage. You've been after
it for so long, you know. At this point itsive.
(23:00):
It's like Bigfoot. I'm being a facetious jerk, but you
get my point. I mean, the Street Profits are a
team that WWE doesn't know what the f to do
with them. They're talented, they know, they have larger than
life personalities. Montes more than his partner, but we you know,
for years, literally years now we've been waiting for Montes
(23:22):
to have his breakout moment. Angela Dawkins, can you know,
maybe he'll He'll end up being a star too. But
I understand the women's or the men's Tactem division is
also just by default in need of depth, as just
at any given moment, tag team wrestling is in need
of depth. But the Street Profits have more than had
(23:43):
their share of time in the ring and that we
want smoke stuff and the solo cups and all the rest.
They've moved beyond that. It took them too long, and
then they were part of Bobby Lashley, and then they
were heel and not hel and it got weird and
then they're back, and then the Street Profits need to
do something. They are stuck in time, frozen in time.
(24:06):
We need to pull them out, or WWE needs to
pull them out. And again, I well, what's the solution.
I don't know. I'm not being paid to come up
with that solution. I just know as a fan, when
I can see something that has been more than you know,
its shelf life was like four years ago and it's
on the shelf and it's just molding at this point,
and you're like why is no one taking this off
(24:27):
the shelf? The Street Profits. It's a little bit, you know,
a little bit dramatic to compare them to a moldy
piece of I don't know produce. But my point is,
you know remains, and that is the Street Profits need
to evolve. They have not not enough, not nearly enough,
and maybe they need to evolve apart. I don't need
(24:49):
to match with Angela Dawkins and Montes Ford. Just have
them separate. It's time maybe the draft, if that happens
this year, they can do that. So let's continue here,
we have let's see, oh, the Street Profits, as I said,
took on diy. This match went nine and a half minutes,
(25:11):
with the Street Profits getting the victory after Dawkins hit
sky high on Shampa and then Ford followed up with
the top rope frog splash and Dawkins covered Champa and
got the victory again. The matchup quality is fine. It's fun,
it's it's high flying, it's fast paced, and that's all
that's what you're looking for in this type of tag
(25:31):
team match. With these guys, it's just a matter of
we're only entertained by the in ring. We have no
actual connection with any emotional connection with any of the
wrestlers in the ring. That's the bigger problem. Okay, So
another backstage chegment again with Carmela Hayes interrupting a conversation
(25:52):
that Nick All does haves with MotorCity machine guns. But
let's continue Alisair. Black interrupted Byron Saxon's interview with Our Truth,
who was happy that John Cena was back. Black asked
about Damian Priest and said that with friends like Truth,
who needs enemies. Truth asked him how he could tell
who he is, and Black said he'd see Truth next week.
(26:14):
So Truth is back to being Truth, I guess for
the best. Backstage Sammy then spoke with Jimmy Uso and
Jacob Fatu and he thanked Fatu for having his back earlier,
and Fatu said he was helping Jimmy Zaye and Jimmy
Jane sorry. Zaye said Jimmy is his brother too and
asked if they could work together in the main event.
(26:34):
Fatu told Jimmy to make sure Zaye stays out of
his way. So then we have an advertisement for next
week for the matches and segments advertised for next week's Friday,
Friday and it's backdown in Dublin, Ireland. Q. All of
the chants I don't understand. We're back in that season
(26:56):
of sports chants and a homegrown chance that I have
no idea what they're saying or why or again just
this is coming from a boring US fan, admittedly, the
one that you know. If I go to an event,
it's going to take a lot to get me to
cheer or boo, mainly because I'm forty years old and
I feel like sometimes what they're putting out there in
(27:18):
a live event is it would be embarrassing as a
forty year old to be cheering or booing for some
of the stuff that's going on. It would have to be,
you know, something a little bit more substantial for me.
And that's just my own I guess my own issues.
I could probably do a psychoanalysis on that, but I won't.
So we have next week. We have John Cena appearing,
(27:44):
so that's going to be fun. The MotorCity Machine Guns,
Alex Shelley and Chris Saban take on Carmelo Hayes and
the Miz and Alisa Black, as I just mentioned, takes
on our truth, not Ron killings, our truth, right, We
got the tag team main event here. This match went
(28:04):
eleven minutes with Jacob, Fatu, Jimmy Uso, and Sammy Zain
taking on Solo, Jason, Matteo and Togoloa. Of course, Talatanga
is on the outside and the finish of this saw
Mateo breaking up the pin. Jacob cleared Loa from the
(28:25):
ring and then hit a top rope splash. Solo went
for the Samoan spike on Sammy, but he blocked it
and hit it with an exploder suplex. Zaane followed up
with a Halluba kick and got the victory. So the
Heels lose this match in eleven minutes. After the match,
Jimmy hugged Fatu ands Zay then mentioned for them to
(28:47):
come together, and Fatu and Zane shook hands and hugged
while the credits rolled. So there was some tension here
with Fatunzane. Are they gonna get are they gonna you know?
Are they gonna come to blows? Are they gonna be
able to get along? And the crowd really popped for
Fatu and Zane hugging it out here, and I think
this is good. Some people are concerned that it softens
(29:08):
the image of Jacob Fatu. I would argue that it
humanizes him because Jacfa two forever, I mean, he's been
known as the werewolf, right and small and werewolf. Well,
instead of just being just kind of mindless, animalistic carnivore,
it actually adds a little bit of human emotion to
him that he can actually, you know, he feels, he
(29:30):
can feel happiness, and he can bond with other wrestlers
other than just acting like a wild rabbit, you know, dog,
so to speak. And that's good. I think it's good
for everybody. Do I need to see Jacob Fatu coming
out next week and holding hands with Sammy's eight No? Right,
But if for the moment you can it's a range
of emotions, it adds just another layer, even if it's
(29:53):
a small one to Jacobatu. And that's how you build stars,
my friend, That's how you build stars. You just add
layers appropriate show that they have range, that they can
be relatable. They're telling a story here and it's not
just about pure violence, and that that was just a
good moment. So again I'm challenging. I'm challenging people that
(30:14):
it's just come to me and I'm not being a
combative or anything. I'm just being genuinely curious, why is
it for those people that have been complaining that everyone's
saying that needs to go a totally different direction and
Triple H needs to be fired and all the us like,
what is so bad that that needs to happen? And
(30:35):
if that happens, what changes do you realistically think are
going to be implemented with Triple H not there anymore?
I mean, the company is not going to change their
their their methods, how they're approaching this. It's just going
to be another face to fill the creative role that's
going to just push the mission of whatever Triple H
was pushing. The face will change, but the mission and
(30:56):
the style won't change. I don't believe that much. It's
kind of like being the manager of an MLB team.
It's really everything's driven by analytics and whatever the front
office wants. So does the manager really have control of
managing the team how he wants to see, how he
wants to No, not really. Managers are just doing the
(31:19):
bidding of the front office, so they're essentially just puppets
to the front office. They're just faces. So it's kind
of like that. And by the way, did anyone see
the picture that's floating around of Stephanie McMahon triple H
in Greece on a boat. It's not Ai. Somebody captured
(31:42):
them on a boat in Greece, in the middle of
an ocean, in bathing suits on the back of a boat.
And boy, so Stephanie, I will say, if we're just
going to comment on that, I know some people did
Stephanie looking pretty dang good for her triple H. On
the other hand, time away from the ring and focusing
(32:05):
on his his gym routine and his fitness have certainly
taken its toll. And I'm not shaming him for it.
A He's certainly he's not an in ring performer anymore.
He is a he's a suit he's in charge of creative,
he's got other priorities. He doesn't have to kill himself
(32:25):
to be in top shape, because he doesn't. He's that's
not who he is anymore. But if I was to
put a number on it, I mean, I'd say he
put on a good thirty forty pounds of just body fat.
And hey, again, who cares, because even if Stephanie did that,
I mean, neither of them are in ring wrestlers. But
(32:47):
you know, you're out in a public place and you
get a public picture taken of you. Those are my thoughts. Yeah,
so look it up if you're interested. You know, Triple
H certainly doesn't look like the game right now. Okay,
let's make a quick trip over to Monday Night Raw
and reminds you of some of the results there and
(33:09):
some of what happened over on Raw this past week.
We had CM punk open the show, if you remember,
and he said that he has a Seth Rollins problem,
and he recalled saying that, you know, don't hate the player,
hate the game, but he does hate the player Seth Rollins.
(33:31):
And he talked about how Seth won't have to pretend
to be injured anymore because he's gonna break his leg.
And La Knight comes out and there was some tension there.
Ella Knight held his own I remember talking about that
on Monday Night Raw review. He felt like he could
hang a little bit with Stampunk. He didn't seem intimidated
by Punk Ella and Night didn't fumble over his words
as he sometimes does. He felt confident. And there was
(33:56):
again some tension, some competitively healthy tension, nothing thing personal.
They just have a common enemy. And there is just
as I said on the Monday Night Raw review, but
I'll reiterate here, there is just all there's no chance
that they go into a l A. Knight CEM Punk
program right now. There's there's there's just no chance. Why
would they? Why would they? Saampunk's got his own path,
(34:20):
Lae Knight seemingly has his own path. But all right,
so we had uh Paul Hayman come out, if you remember,
with bron Breaker and Bronson Reid shoes around the neck
of Bronson Reid. Hayman mocked the French fans, which I
remember laughing at and saying he called their language a
guttural language, which really was great, and he told Knight
(34:45):
he should avoid getting in the favor business with Punk.
And it ended up with Breaker nearly snapping but Paul
Hayman pulling him back, and we got a tag team
main event for the end of the night being made.
So let's continue here, AJ Styles and Dragon Lee versus
Dom and El Grande. Wow, big week of tag team matches.
(35:08):
It was just a tag team fest the last week here.
So Dom and El Grande beat AJ and Dragonly in
sixteen minutes and forty seconds, and let's see here. We
had Seamus show up and he said to Pierce that
(35:29):
Pierce wanted to see him, and he told Seamus that
he couldn't have a repeat of what happened with him
and Russo last week. And Zane told Seamus the match
meant a lot to him and not to get involved,
so he gave him his word, and we get Russa
versus Sammy zay which went ten and a half minutes
with Sammy Zayane fighting russe Up to an o contest,
(35:53):
and that's because it was stopped by Solo Tala, Jason
Matteo and Tongo Loa, and Matteo and Loa pulled Zaane
to the floor roughed them up. Seamus comes on the
other side of the ring and attacks Russev. Seamus got
the better of Russev and ran him through a crowd
out to the arena, and Zane was still down and
(36:15):
being looked at by producers. So, yeah, this did not
have a definitive conclusion. Kind of a lame finish with
sammy' z ain fighting Russov here. This you know, this
is a program that's not going to be continuing. Here
is just a vehicle to get the the MFTs out.
And yeah, I gotta say that is one group and
(36:37):
I will concede that. And some of the heat has
been on Solo in his group. That just they're a
boring group. I have to admit they kind of are.
They're a spin off of a spin off, you know,
like they are a spin off of the bloodline, but
(36:57):
then there was a in between bloodline when Solo was
you know, when Roman left that Solo took over with
the OG bloodline, but then as those members left, it
became this bloodline. So this is a spin off of
a spinoff, usually not good. When you apply that to
any other entertainment platform or any other entertainment form of
(37:20):
entertainment like a television show or a movie, spinoffs are
often hard to be good. And then you take a
spin off of a spin off. How many spin off
of a spinoff movies or TV shows can you name
that are better than the OG Very few, very few.
So that being said, they are a boring group. I
(37:42):
will concede that. And the reason is pretty simple. It's
not hard to really break down into a fine powder.
It's the fact that there they were introduced too quickly
they also don't get a lot of time to talk.
If ever, they all blend together. There just one big
like mud mixing type of group, like they're all interchangeable,
(38:06):
outside of Tala Tongo, who's just got the size to
differentiate himself, so he automatically kind of gets your attention
a little bit more because of that. But the other
ones like Togoloa, Tamatan, like you're just they're all interchangeable
in your mind, and if they're not, you're lying they are.
No one's actually paying attention to either one of them.
(38:29):
Uh for sure, Jason Matteo of course does look a
little bit different. But even besides the size difference that
gets your attention with Tala and with Jason Matteo, and
you know, Tomatanga and Togolo are of course are the
two ones that are just invisible in that group. But
outside of that, they all of them don't have a personality.
And now is Solo continues to lose here and he
(38:52):
is not unbeatable. There was a time when Solo was
unbeatable until Cody Roads gave him his first loss I
believe was right before Russel Manya thirty nine. But Solo
Sokla does not feel unbeatable anymore. Sure, he's the United
States champion, but again, his backup don't have much to say.
They don't have a good personality. There's not a lot
(39:14):
of chemistry there. There's again the only thing bonding them
is the fact that okay, well we're all Tongans. How
about that, you know, you know, well we all come
from the same uh same bloodline. Pretty cool, huh. At
least with Jimmy and Jay and Sammy and Roman and Paul,
there was some those like storylines going on within storylines
(39:37):
and the infiltration of Sammy, and is Sammy gonna get
kicked out, He's gonna get beat up? Is he gonna
eventually soften up to Roman? Is Roman gonna turn and
like there was some fun dynamics and Sammy trying to
infiltrate from within and maybe trying to turn Jay on Roman.
And remember all that that was fun. This is just
one big vanilla version of the blood line. It is
(40:02):
a To say it's a Walmart version would be doing
too much giving it too much credit. What if people
talk about the Wish version or the there's another cheap
site that you can get like crappy knockoff products from
I can't think of. But it's like that. And can
they fix this? Can they can they mediate this? Yes
they can, they can remediate it, but it's gonna take work,
(40:24):
work that I don't know if they're willing to put in.
So I think and I can concede with that, that
the the Solo so CoA m FT bloodline three point
zero whatever this version of is the blood line of
people are burned out of it, man, because not only
is this a storyland that won't die, but also because
people don't know them, they're not connected to it. They're
(40:45):
just a bunch of tongans. That's the connection that we're
supposed to be, you know, somehow interested in that. So
then we have EO Sky versus Roxanne Perez with Roquel Rodriguez.
This match went fifteen minutes and forty seconds with Roxanne
beating EO. Again. This was a really good match from
(41:07):
what I can recall. And some tension here with Osca
and EO and Kyrie that people are speculating could lead
to a turn of Osca whatever. I've said that from
a week and a half now, like sure, turn turner whatever.
You know, she can do both all right, we have
(41:29):
Becky Lynch takes on taking on Maxine Duprix for the
Women's Intercontinental Championship defending it. The match went five and
a half minutes with Becky beating Maxine and to absolutely
nobody's surprise, afterward, in Italian Tazala checked on Duprex and
Lynch through a cheap shot at Natalia, which was funny
as hell. All right, a Bailey promo video air that
(41:53):
was just fantastic. They did this sent a way that
was a documentary style, but it felt, I mean, there
was some real, real stuff that Bailey was putting out there.
And is this is it hinting at a darker Bailey? Yes?
What kind of dark Bailey I don't know. Again, hopefully
(42:13):
not one that mimics Alexa Bliss's footsteps of carrying around
a doll I mean and sitting on a playground backstage
for a year and a half. Hopefully it's one that's
grounded in some kind of reality, one that's not like
Nicky Cross either. NICKI Cross' is just again, I don't
dislike either of these characters, but I don't need direct
(42:33):
replications of them because they have their own fatal flaws
like Nicki Cross, who is a complete knockoff of the Ring.
But whatever this is with Bailey, I'm interested. This was
very well done. The production of this segment was very
well done for Bailey, how she doesn't feel like herself
and she's never felt like she's wants more but feels
(42:57):
less and she's in a very conflicting space head and
it's fun to watch. Okay, see him Punk and La
and I take on bron Breaker and Bronson. Reid cee him.
Punk and l A Knight beat bron Breaker and Bronson
read by d Q again another kind of wonky finish.
Punk gets the hot tag, he got Breaker down, hit
(43:17):
him with the top rope elbow, and then removed his
shirt and signaled for the GTS. But Seth Rollins comes
in and attacks Punk for the DQ finish and that's
uh when Jay Usa comes out with a chair. Breaker
met Jay in the entrance asle was put and was
put down with some chair shots, and you know, it
(43:40):
just became chaos. As Adam Pierce walked on the stage
and said it would be very easy to be angry
with Rollins because he's a liar and a master manipulator
who interferes in matches and tries to injure wrestlers, and
Pierce said it wouldn't he wouldn't be angry. He looked
at it as an opportunity, and he makes a fatal
four way match for the WWE World Title at Clash
(44:04):
in Paris with La and Knight, Cmpunk, Seth Rollins and Juso.
So fun match that again. You know, it's not gonna
end with Seth Rollins dropping the belt, nor should it,
but it's gonna be fun to watch how they get there.
It's gonna be fun to watch how they get to
the point of Seth retaining. Isn't just as simple as
(44:25):
Brown Breaker and Bronson Red interfering because it's a no
DQ match because there's four people involved, because every multiperson
match has to be no DQ by default, which is stupid.
No one can logically explain that to me. I'll continue
to harp on that because this is an incredibly glaringly obvious,
embarrassing loophole in the fact that this is a every
(44:48):
multiperson match men or woman outside of tag team matches
somehow or just no DQ. Yeah, you can use weapons
because there's another person in the match. Explain that to me,
make it make sense. All right, well, that'll do it
for my weekend review. I hope you guys are enjoying
(45:11):
your weekend again a little bit early this week, so
that means tomorrow I might post kind of a re do,
a repost or a rewind from us several years ago,
and I try to make it a long form audio.
I know some of you, based on the stats, have
been enjoying just kind of hitting play and maybe falling
asleeper whatever you're doing. But yeah, those longer shows of
hour and a half two, two and a half hours,
(45:33):
I'm trying to dig those out and post them for
you guys because it's interesting to listen. Those are the
ones also that had co hosts on and they were
a lot of fun. So all righty, well, thank you everybody.
I hope you're enjoying your weekend. I'll be back in
person doing a real show barring some crazy news on
Tuesday for your raw review. But of course, between now
(45:53):
and then, look for some retro rewind shows. Thanks everybody,
and we'll talk soon.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to
subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss
a show or head to wwepodcast dot com and for
all of these shows add free head over to Patreon
dot com slash WWE podcast. Until then, we'll see you
(46:22):
next time.
This is WWE superstar Drew McIntyre, and you're listening to
the WWE podcast show.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
The one that everybody wants me tell you. I'll stand
for sixteenth. Just what your ass is?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
My yn you can acknowledge me.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
What's going on everybody? I hope you're doing well. This
is actually Saturday, says, I'm recording this Saturday, the sixteenth
day of August. Hope everyone's doing well here on this weekend.
I normally do Sunday, a very rare Saturday recording. I
simply want to just be able to relax tomorrow night.
So I'm doing the week in review tonight and i'll
cover SmackDown on my thoughts on SmackDown anyway, I'll give
(00:55):
you a little bit more of a recap on the
Monday night raw events and where we're headed, and also
of course as Clash and Paris comes to us in
just a couple of weeks, there's a lot to unpack
there as well. But first, welcome to the show. This
is the WWE Podcast. I hope that you guys stick around.
If you like the show and want to go add
free Patreon dot com slash WWE podcast great place to
(01:19):
get started. If you want to remove those pesky ads.
All right, Well, there's a lot of talk lately before
I get into the specifics, and you guys, by the way,
can go listen to Amanda from the UK did a
great job of just breaking down SmackDown, giving her thoughts
on it from last night. So before I get into
that and get into a little bit of moneyet raw,
(01:42):
there has been and maybe it's my algorithm on social media,
I'm not sure, but there's been this chatter, this consistent
chatter that I've been seeing on social media about WWE's
current product. And there's the typical criticisms about, oh, they
don't know what they're doing. It's pretty like do you
hear that? No matter what time of year or what's
(02:02):
going on. But it's been consistent now for a couple
of weeks, and the general criticism I'm getting is that
the show feels directionless, it feels soulless. Another really bad
smack Down? Are we watching the same product? I'm not
here to blow smoke up WWE's ass. Quite the contrary.
(02:22):
If you guys have heard me over the last several years,
you know that I'm probably more nitpicky and critical than
most to the detriment of my listeners, but it is
what it is. I just don't feel like WWE is
at a really low point right now. I don't know
what people are getting at when they talk about this,
(02:42):
and maybe some of the people out there who are
saying this can inform me enlighten me here, because I'm
not sure what is going on that's exceptionally bad right now. Sure,
I mean, it's not what it used to be just
a couple of years ago, when Roman Rains was running
smack Down and we had the bloodline that was actually
(03:03):
an interesting story. We had Sammy Zain infiltrating the bloodline
that made it ultra interesting. Sure, yeah, I mean you
can't always be at a high point. It's impossible. But
I don't know what is as of late really triggering
the dislike for the product as a whole. I guess
(03:23):
it's that the big stars. When the big stars aren't there,
people again all up in arms. I've seen criticism about
brock Lesner by not being there, But what did you
guys expect with brock Lesner? Did you see his first
run in WWE from twenty twelve when he returned to
the company, Did anybody really believe he's going to be here,
(03:46):
I mean, in any respect regularly. No, He's making Roman
Rerains look like a full timer, you know, with brock
Leser's schedule. I mean, brock Leser came back a couple
weeks ago. We haven't seen or heard from him since
they paid him a whole bunch of money to be there.
So WWE is going to be clearly milking that with
(04:09):
the John Cena attack for a while. It very well
could be that Brock does appear in Paris, although I
doubt it, it's possible that Brock does show up there
and screw John Cena. It's very possible. Right to lead
to the next event, which is going to be a
September pl to counter aw's all out pay per view.
(04:32):
It is going to take place on September twentieth in Indianapolis, Indiana.
It does coincide with aw's all out pay per view scheduled.
That is going to be a bleed from the I'm
looking at it now the Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto.
So this is people are speculating it's bad Blood. It
very well could be. I'm really just I don't need
(04:55):
more pls I've been on that tirade many times. I
don't need more. More is not better, but they think
it is. And that means though that we could get
a Brock Lesner John Cena match at that pl in
Indianapolis on September twentieth, the Ergo Brock could be at
Clash in Paris or the following SmackDown whenever Johnsena's next
(05:19):
scheduled appearance is. But dates are running thin on John.
What do we have ten dates left? Eleven? Maybe like
we're getting to the very end, the very end. And
I'm curious as to how everybody thinks about John Cena's
run for the last year now. The heel run does
certainly sour a lot of people's view of this last year.
(05:43):
It without question ended up not working out. It was
not the best work of anybody. I still, regardless of
the outcome, completely agree with their decision. Even knowing what
the outcome would be, I still would have done it
so we could say we did it. But I'm curious
to hear what everyone else feels so far. If John
(06:03):
cen has run were to end now, how would you
feel about it? For the last eight months since John
Cena returned the Netflix debut and then off to the races.
Right here we go, John Cena is now eight months
in four to go ten dates, not much left brock
Lesner's next opponent presumably, and then could it be Edge?
(06:28):
Do I dare say Edge? Somehow? I keep pushing it.
Edge would be the perfect final opponent for John Cena.
I think, can somehow course Adam Copeland to come back
for a just even a special here, regardless of his
contract status. Do some kind of exemption. I don't know.
(06:50):
Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes to get Adam Copeland
to face John Cena in December, would to me be
worth it. Of course, that's me money, that's not my own,
which is incredibly easy to do. I have a problem
spending my own money, much less people's money. I don't
even know. So alrighty, that was just a quick little
thought here in the open, and let's dive into SmackDown.
(07:14):
And it opened with the MFT sorry and Solo Sokoa
leading the group there, and he said they run smack Down.
Solo boasted that they stomped out Sammy's Ain, Jimmy Usso
and Jacob Fatu, and he started to make a challenge
to anyone backstage, but he was interrupted by Sammy z
(07:37):
Ain and Solo remained in the ring while the MFT
headed a ringside. Zaye said everyone had heard him talk
about becoming a world champion, and he said that he
had beaten russevn Raw he may not have been in
the World Heavyweight Championship match at Clash in Paris, and
he said he actually felt liberated. He said that he
(07:59):
felt he he's been spitting his wheels and now could
go back to doing other things he set out to do.
He thanked Solo and said the US Championship is another
title that he hasn't held in WWE, and Solo said
that Zayin wouldn't hold it soon and told him to
get off his show and out of his ring.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Again, people just crossing brands for no reason. I will
continue to point that out. Yes. Zaine then told Solo
he's officially a SmackDown wrestler and again, how that now?
I said that this is something I'll continue to point out. Yes,
but also how did that even happen? Is there a trade?
Why did that happen? How? You know? Stud to being
(08:37):
like okay, fine, they're explaining as a SmackDown wrestler now,
which I appreciate, but also how did that happen? Was
there a trade? Is anyone going to explain this? However,
Zain said he's coming for the So for Solo and
the US title, and Solo threw a punch at Zaine
and that's when the brawl broke out. Jimmy USSO comes
out to help Talatanga knocked him down, set up for
(08:59):
a choke slam. Jacob Vatu comes to the ring and
helped clear the three Heels from the ring. And that's
as I mean, there is no tried and true method.
There is nothing more scientifically proven. Then if an even
number of Heels and babyfaces are in the open of
a show, or really in any segment of the show,
(09:20):
and they clear each other out, that the general manager
or commissioner, whoever is in charge that night, they are
contractually obligated to come out and make a tag team
match per Teddy Long's rules. It just without fail, and
it happened here with Nick All this. He comes out
and it makes a six man tag team match that
would be the main event of SmackDown. Again. Now, I'm
(09:43):
not angry with it's it's just something that is there's
nothing more pro wrestling than that. That is quintessential pro
wrestling logic. Alrighty, so zaying again, I guess he's a
part of SmackDown now, and it is kind of lame
that a guy like Sammy Zane that they are seemingly
(10:05):
still laying the foundation to chase the world title probably
later in the year or towards the beginning of next year,
with the world rumble that the fact that he's traded
to SmackDown apparently traded, Did he migrate, did he did
he use osmosis? How did he become a SmackDown wrestler.
The fact though, that regardless of how it happened to
trade or what otherwise, the fact that WWE is not
(10:26):
making a big deal out of it is a big deal.
The guy is supposed to be this underdog, he's one
of your biggest babyfaces in the company, one of and
again it seems like you're laying the foundation work for
a potential world title run and you're making his move
to SmackDown completely bland, tasteless. They should make a bigger
(10:50):
deal of it. But all right, So Alexa Bliss comes
out and she was accompanied by Charlotte Flair, so Alexa
took on Piper Niven. This match went seven and a
half minutes with Alexa beating Piper Niven as Bliss dropped
down from the rope, Look took out Alba Fire and
(11:10):
then Bliss avoided a charging Nibvin and rolled her up
to get the three count. Afterwards, the referees raised Bliss's hand,
Fire super kicked Bliss, and then Flair beat down Green
with chops, but then Niven blindsided Flair and eventually the
Heels got the better of Alexa and Charlotte to stand
(11:32):
tall as Albafire hits her finish on Bliss and then
Niven splashed her from the ropes. So this to me
was was was fine. I mean, the chemistry continues with
Alexa and Charlotte, certainly a better segment this week than
last week's forced kind of at times cringe worthy birthday
celebration for Alexi, and the fact that Piper Niven lost
(12:00):
but got her heat back with Chelsea Green was how
you do wrestling, right. The Babyfaces prevail, but they didn't.
It's not a total satisfactory win because they got their
heat back by getting beat down after and now you
want to see Charlotte and Alexa get the revenge. Even
though they won the match, or the Alexa won the match,
(12:22):
you still want to see them get revenge because of
the actions after the match. And so it's just against
just typical psychology here. I think it's fine. And Chelsea
Green and Piper and Niven have never been more relevant
than they are now. They really haven't. They're a great
duo as well. And you know what, the more that
(12:48):
Alexa and Charlotte stay together, which who knows how long
it's gonna last. It's not a long term gig. They
are single stars that are temporarily together under the guise
of a tag team. But I will say when things
like this happen, when you have two single stars, big
single stars come together for brief time to win the
(13:11):
women's tag team titles. As cursed as those titles are,
there is a benefit to having this type of scenario,
and that is that it adds legitimacy to the tag
team division. It adds star power to a desperately needed
division in need of star power. So that is the
(13:32):
upside here that you have a legitimate team I guess
legitimate as legitimate as a tag team can be in
twenty twenty five. Really they're just single stars slap together.
But fine, they're a team, and they are two big
stars that the company have in the women's side of
things that are coming together to carry those women's tag
(13:54):
team titles to add value to them and the division
as a whole. So it's really a win win win
for a win for Alexa, win for Charlotte, and a
win for WWE's tag team division on the women's side.
So okay, backstage, Nick Alta stood between Women's Champion Tiffany
(14:17):
Stratton and Jade and eventually stopped them from bickering. I
really don't like this is something I can do without.
This is something I could do without for the women's
side of things. That there's the way that a lot
of matches have happened over the last I don't know
how many decades of women's wrestling, we've seen them bickering
(14:39):
and just trying to talk over each other and then
a dude has to step in and be like ladies, ladies, ladies,
and it's almost just it's a stereotype that are these
women really doing this? Backstage? You know, it's a bit
childish of an approach, is my point, and it's an
overused approach and it's not a good look for anybody
(15:02):
talking over each other again, bickering like children. I not
my style of introducing a segment with the women involved,
and that has happened way too much. But Ni Jack
shows up the adult in the room, I guess, and
took issue with Jade wanting a rematch. Jack suggested that
Jade fall back and let her take care of Stratton
(15:24):
and said she wouldn't fall back for anyone. That's all.
Jade said, Yeah, that's it. Jade, Stratton said the result
of her facing Jack's would always be the same, said,
if Jax had to prove it before she has to
prove it to Jade, they both should bring it. And
that was that. Okay, So Tiffany and Jade and Ni
(15:45):
Jack's are entangled in a a threesome of sorts in
wrestling land anyway. Okay, So Phraxium and let's see Carmalo
Hayes and the that's it. That's what it was is
the next match here. This went to twelve minutes and
twenty seconds with Carmelo and the Miz beating Phraxium. Now
(16:09):
the finish was Fraser had Hayes pinned after hitting him
with a Phoenix splash. Mis jumped off Fraser's back to
break up the pin and then hit Axiom with the DDT.
On the way down, Hayes hit Fraser with a cutter
after both men had been on the top rope. Hayes
went to the rope, but Miz tagged himself in after
he was going to go for nothing but Net and
(16:29):
then Miz hit Fraser with the skull crushing finale and
got the victory. So Carmelo in the mi is again
beat Phraxium, Nathan Fraser in Axiom and again tag team match. Good.
This is this is a very tag team heavy show,
and that's okay, you can have that once in a while.
(16:51):
I also like the fact that you have the Mis
doing something relevant instead of just being kind of a
default backstage agent for w W at this point in
his career. And uh, does it put Carmelo and Miss
in a tag team title scenario? Potentially? Baby, But the
(17:11):
story here is tension between the Miss and Carmelo, which
was yeah, I mean you had the Miss be an
opportunitist here, spoil nothing but Net and then have him
come in and get the victory. Very heelish, so all right. Backstage,
Keana James approached Tiffany advised her to get some back up,
(17:34):
and James said there was no one better for her
than Julia, and Stratton said she's a champion already and
doesn't need backup, and James said that if Stratton isn't
with them, then she's against them and spoke about how
Julia could take the women's championship meechin yes she still
works there. Showed up after Stratton walked away and said
that if James had taken her calls, she'd know that
(17:54):
Julia's had she had Julia next, and Keana said that
would be under advisement and walked away. McIntyre then comes
out for his promo and he said people had been
asking him all week why did he claim or kick
(18:15):
Cody's head through the front of the broadcast table. He
said it was so violent he felt everyone needed to
see it again, which is funny. He then claimed that
he did not attack Cody, and he he asked Testatur
about a medical update. When Testator said there wasn't one,
(18:36):
McIntyre questioned if someone from management was hiding it because
he had taken out their Golden Boy, and McIntyre said
he doesn't hate Cody, he feels sorry for him. He
said Cody cares about what the fans and management think.
He said he was like that five years ago, but
he evolved and said he realized that the fans forget
about them once they retire, and said he does it
(18:57):
for his family in the big paycheck, but Cody needs
the WWE championship. I mean, I think there's a lot
of truth into what mcatire saying here. I mean, he
absolutely does it for his family in the paycheck. I mean,
who the hell is not there for the money. I mean,
of course you are. But he asked who Cody is
without his story. Mcatyre once again said he didn't attack Cody.
(19:18):
He said Cody attacked him and recalled Cody slamming his
face into the ring post and then clearing the broadcast
table after the match, and said Cody was going to
put him to the table and take him out, and
he said he just defended himself and said he's not
the bad guy, but he will do very violent things
if he's provoked. And a great line he said here
(19:41):
was if you provoked me I'm the real nightmare, and
mctyre said that before tossing it down and told Cody
to get better soon. So he again another really good,
strong performance here from mctyre, As it is every time
he touched the microphone. He is just the quintessential polished
(20:04):
wrestler up and down from entering that never has a
bad match to just his promos are so solid. Are
they a plus plus? No, but they are. They're so
far above a lot of the guys currently working that
he is in the top tier. I believe he can
hang with nearly everyone on the microphone. He still can
(20:27):
hold the championship and you could still build the company
temporarily around him for the next few years. He's not
the youngest guy in the world, but he's proven that
he's you know, he's fairly durable when it comes to injury.
He's not out all the time. A guy you can
rely on doesn't get the company in trouble and so on.
And I love him calling out Cody and saying that
(20:48):
who is he without his story and claiming that he's
just he acted in self defense, which again is true.
There's nothing he said he that's a lie. They are
all inconvenient facts for people trying to support Cody. And
again the way it's framed, of course, they're trying to
make Mcatyre the heel here, and I'm fine with him
(21:11):
remaining the heel. I'm not suggesting they should turn you
Tormack to our baby face by any means. I think
Drew is doing a fantastic job. It continues to to
be a heel whatever. This is, this truth telling machine,
and it's just so fun to watch, so Cody out
there again. I think it's also why people are possibly complaining,
(21:33):
is Cody wasn't there and John Cena and all the whores.
Brock Lesner, Hey, you can't have all the big guys
all the time. I know people just expect it because
we're spoiled children as wrestling fans. But I'm more than
willing to accept time off from big stars. I have
accustomed myself to that. And I think, you know, perhaps
(21:56):
today's younger generation just wants everything at this moment, all
the time, at the and it's just, you know, unfortunately,
you're setting yourself up for disappointment if you think like that.
So okay. Byron Saxson interviewed the Street Profits, who were
with b Fab backstage, and Saxon brought up their match
with DIY and asked if they felt they'd be in
line for ant of the tag team tuttle shot with
(22:16):
a win. Solo Sokoa and his group showed up. He
took issue with the Profits going after the titles and
said that if the Profits want the tag team titles,
they would have to run through him and his crew.
The Profits blew him off, and apparently they still want
the smoke. I mean, it's been so long, I mean,
why don't they just get the smoke. They've been after
(22:38):
this smoke for how long? Now? Go get it? Yeah, Okay,
you know we've heard you. We know what you want.
Go find it. Hunt this this mysterious smoke down, capture
it right, put it in a cage. You've been after
it for so long, you know. At this point itsive.
(23:00):
It's like Bigfoot. I'm being a facetious jerk, but you
get my point. I mean, the Street Profits are a
team that WWE doesn't know what the f to do
with them. They're talented, they know, they have larger than
life personalities. Montes more than his partner, but we you know,
for years, literally years now we've been waiting for Montes
(23:22):
to have his breakout moment. Angela Dawkins, can you know,
maybe he'll He'll end up being a star too. But
I understand the women's or the men's Tactem division is
also just by default in need of depth, as just
at any given moment, tag team wrestling is in need
of depth. But the Street Profits have more than had
(23:43):
their share of time in the ring and that we
want smoke stuff and the solo cups and all the rest.
They've moved beyond that. It took them too long, and
then they were part of Bobby Lashley, and then they
were heel and not hel and it got weird and
then they're back, and then the Street Profits need to
do something. They are stuck in time, frozen in time.
(24:06):
We need to pull them out, or WWE needs to
pull them out. And again, I well, what's the solution.
I don't know. I'm not being paid to come up
with that solution. I just know as a fan, when
I can see something that has been more than you know,
its shelf life was like four years ago and it's
on the shelf and it's just molding at this point,
and you're like why is no one taking this off
(24:27):
the shelf? The Street Profits. It's a little bit, you know,
a little bit dramatic to compare them to a moldy
piece of I don't know produce. But my point is,
you know remains, and that is the Street Profits need
to evolve. They have not not enough, not nearly enough,
and maybe they need to evolve apart. I don't need
(24:49):
to match with Angela Dawkins and Montes Ford. Just have
them separate. It's time maybe the draft, if that happens
this year, they can do that. So let's continue here,
we have let's see, oh, the Street Profits, as I said,
took on diy. This match went nine and a half minutes,
(25:11):
with the Street Profits getting the victory after Dawkins hit
sky high on Shampa and then Ford followed up with
the top rope frog splash and Dawkins covered Champa and
got the victory again. The matchup quality is fine. It's fun,
it's it's high flying, it's fast paced, and that's all
that's what you're looking for in this type of tag
(25:31):
team match. With these guys, it's just a matter of
we're only entertained by the in ring. We have no
actual connection with any emotional connection with any of the
wrestlers in the ring. That's the bigger problem. Okay, So
another backstage chegment again with Carmela Hayes interrupting a conversation
(25:52):
that Nick All does haves with MotorCity machine guns. But
let's continue Alisair. Black interrupted Byron Saxon's interview with Our Truth,
who was happy that John Cena was back. Black asked
about Damian Priest and said that with friends like Truth,
who needs enemies. Truth asked him how he could tell
who he is, and Black said he'd see Truth next week.
(26:14):
So Truth is back to being Truth, I guess for
the best. Backstage Sammy then spoke with Jimmy Uso and
Jacob Fatu and he thanked Fatu for having his back earlier,
and Fatu said he was helping Jimmy Zaye and Jimmy
Jane sorry. Zaye said Jimmy is his brother too and
asked if they could work together in the main event.
(26:34):
Fatu told Jimmy to make sure Zaye stays out of
his way. So then we have an advertisement for next
week for the matches and segments advertised for next week's Friday,
Friday and it's backdown in Dublin, Ireland. Q. All of
the chants I don't understand. We're back in that season
(26:56):
of sports chants and a homegrown chance that I have
no idea what they're saying or why or again just
this is coming from a boring US fan, admittedly, the
one that you know. If I go to an event,
it's going to take a lot to get me to
cheer or boo, mainly because I'm forty years old and
I feel like sometimes what they're putting out there in
(27:18):
a live event is it would be embarrassing as a
forty year old to be cheering or booing for some
of the stuff that's going on. It would have to be,
you know, something a little bit more substantial for me.
And that's just my own I guess my own issues.
I could probably do a psychoanalysis on that, but I won't.
So we have next week. We have John Cena appearing,
(27:44):
so that's going to be fun. The MotorCity Machine Guns,
Alex Shelley and Chris Saban take on Carmelo Hayes and
the Miz and Alisa Black, as I just mentioned, takes
on our truth, not Ron killings, our truth, right, We
got the tag team main event here. This match went
(28:04):
eleven minutes with Jacob, Fatu, Jimmy Uso, and Sammy Zain
taking on Solo, Jason, Matteo and Togoloa. Of course, Talatanga
is on the outside and the finish of this saw
Mateo breaking up the pin. Jacob cleared Loa from the
(28:25):
ring and then hit a top rope splash. Solo went
for the Samoan spike on Sammy, but he blocked it
and hit it with an exploder suplex. Zaane followed up
with a Halluba kick and got the victory. So the
Heels lose this match in eleven minutes. After the match,
Jimmy hugged Fatu ands Zay then mentioned for them to
(28:47):
come together, and Fatu and Zane shook hands and hugged
while the credits rolled. So there was some tension here
with Fatunzane. Are they gonna get are they gonna you know?
Are they gonna come to blows? Are they gonna be
able to get along? And the crowd really popped for
Fatu and Zane hugging it out here, and I think
this is good. Some people are concerned that it softens
(29:08):
the image of Jacob Fatu. I would argue that it
humanizes him because Jacfa two forever, I mean, he's been
known as the werewolf, right and small and werewolf. Well,
instead of just being just kind of mindless, animalistic carnivore,
it actually adds a little bit of human emotion to
him that he can actually, you know, he feels, he
(29:30):
can feel happiness, and he can bond with other wrestlers
other than just acting like a wild rabbit, you know, dog,
so to speak. And that's good. I think it's good
for everybody. Do I need to see Jacob Fatu coming
out next week and holding hands with Sammy's eight No? Right,
But if for the moment you can it's a range
of emotions, it adds just another layer, even if it's
(29:53):
a small one to Jacobatu. And that's how you build stars,
my friend, That's how you build stars. You just add
layers appropriate show that they have range, that they can
be relatable. They're telling a story here and it's not
just about pure violence, and that that was just a
good moment. So again I'm challenging. I'm challenging people that
(30:14):
it's just come to me and I'm not being a
combative or anything. I'm just being genuinely curious, why is
it for those people that have been complaining that everyone's
saying that needs to go a totally different direction and
Triple H needs to be fired and all the us like,
what is so bad that that needs to happen? And
(30:35):
if that happens, what changes do you realistically think are
going to be implemented with Triple H not there anymore?
I mean, the company is not going to change their
their their methods, how they're approaching this. It's just going
to be another face to fill the creative role that's
going to just push the mission of whatever Triple H
was pushing. The face will change, but the mission and
(30:56):
the style won't change. I don't believe that much. It's
kind of like being the manager of an MLB team.
It's really everything's driven by analytics and whatever the front
office wants. So does the manager really have control of
managing the team how he wants to see, how he
wants to No, not really. Managers are just doing the
(31:19):
bidding of the front office, so they're essentially just puppets
to the front office. They're just faces. So it's kind
of like that. And by the way, did anyone see
the picture that's floating around of Stephanie McMahon triple H
in Greece on a boat. It's not Ai. Somebody captured
(31:42):
them on a boat in Greece, in the middle of
an ocean, in bathing suits on the back of a boat.
And boy, so Stephanie, I will say, if we're just
going to comment on that, I know some people did
Stephanie looking pretty dang good for her triple H. On
the other hand, time away from the ring and focusing
(32:05):
on his his gym routine and his fitness have certainly
taken its toll. And I'm not shaming him for it.
A He's certainly he's not an in ring performer anymore.
He is a he's a suit he's in charge of creative,
he's got other priorities. He doesn't have to kill himself
(32:25):
to be in top shape, because he doesn't. He's that's
not who he is anymore. But if I was to
put a number on it, I mean, I'd say he
put on a good thirty forty pounds of just body fat.
And hey, again, who cares, because even if Stephanie did that,
I mean, neither of them are in ring wrestlers. But
(32:47):
you know, you're out in a public place and you
get a public picture taken of you. Those are my thoughts. Yeah,
so look it up if you're interested. You know, Triple
H certainly doesn't look like the game right now. Okay,
let's make a quick trip over to Monday Night Raw
and reminds you of some of the results there and
(33:09):
some of what happened over on Raw this past week.
We had CM punk open the show, if you remember,
and he said that he has a Seth Rollins problem,
and he recalled saying that, you know, don't hate the player,
hate the game, but he does hate the player Seth Rollins.
(33:31):
And he talked about how Seth won't have to pretend
to be injured anymore because he's gonna break his leg.
And La Knight comes out and there was some tension there.
Ella Knight held his own I remember talking about that
on Monday Night Raw review. He felt like he could
hang a little bit with Stampunk. He didn't seem intimidated
by Punk Ella and Night didn't fumble over his words
as he sometimes does. He felt confident. And there was
(33:56):
again some tension, some competitively healthy tension, nothing thing personal.
They just have a common enemy. And there is just
as I said on the Monday Night Raw review, but
I'll reiterate here, there is just all there's no chance
that they go into a l A. Knight CEM Punk
program right now. There's there's there's just no chance. Why
would they? Why would they? Saampunk's got his own path,
(34:20):
Lae Knight seemingly has his own path. But all right,
so we had uh Paul Hayman come out, if you remember,
with bron Breaker and Bronson Reid shoes around the neck
of Bronson Reid. Hayman mocked the French fans, which I
remember laughing at and saying he called their language a
guttural language, which really was great, and he told Knight
(34:45):
he should avoid getting in the favor business with Punk.
And it ended up with Breaker nearly snapping but Paul
Hayman pulling him back, and we got a tag team
main event for the end of the night being made.
So let's continue here, AJ Styles and Dragon Lee versus
Dom and El Grande. Wow, big week of tag team matches.
(35:08):
It was just a tag team fest the last week here.
So Dom and El Grande beat AJ and Dragonly in
sixteen minutes and forty seconds, and let's see here. We
had Seamus show up and he said to Pierce that
(35:29):
Pierce wanted to see him, and he told Seamus that
he couldn't have a repeat of what happened with him
and Russo last week. And Zane told Seamus the match
meant a lot to him and not to get involved,
so he gave him his word, and we get Russa
versus Sammy zay which went ten and a half minutes
with Sammy Zayane fighting russe Up to an o contest,
(35:53):
and that's because it was stopped by Solo Tala, Jason
Matteo and Tongo Loa, and Matteo and Loa pulled Zaane
to the floor roughed them up. Seamus comes on the
other side of the ring and attacks Russev. Seamus got
the better of Russev and ran him through a crowd
out to the arena, and Zane was still down and
(36:15):
being looked at by producers. So, yeah, this did not
have a definitive conclusion. Kind of a lame finish with
sammy' z ain fighting Russov here. This you know, this
is a program that's not going to be continuing. Here
is just a vehicle to get the the MFTs out.
And yeah, I gotta say that is one group and
(36:37):
I will concede that. And some of the heat has
been on Solo in his group. That just they're a
boring group. I have to admit they kind of are.
They're a spin off of a spin off, you know,
like they are a spin off of the bloodline, but
(36:57):
then there was a in between bloodline when Solo was
you know, when Roman left that Solo took over with
the OG bloodline, but then as those members left, it
became this bloodline. So this is a spin off of
a spinoff, usually not good. When you apply that to
any other entertainment platform or any other entertainment form of
(37:20):
entertainment like a television show or a movie, spinoffs are
often hard to be good. And then you take a
spin off of a spin off. How many spin off
of a spinoff movies or TV shows can you name
that are better than the OG Very few, very few.
So that being said, they are a boring group. I
(37:42):
will concede that. And the reason is pretty simple. It's
not hard to really break down into a fine powder.
It's the fact that there they were introduced too quickly
they also don't get a lot of time to talk.
If ever, they all blend together. There just one big
like mud mixing type of group, like they're all interchangeable,
(38:06):
outside of Tala Tongo, who's just got the size to
differentiate himself, so he automatically kind of gets your attention
a little bit more because of that. But the other
ones like Togoloa, Tamatan, like you're just they're all interchangeable
in your mind, and if they're not, you're lying they are.
No one's actually paying attention to either one of them.
(38:29):
Uh for sure, Jason Matteo of course does look a
little bit different. But even besides the size difference that
gets your attention with Tala and with Jason Matteo, and
you know, Tomatanga and Togolo are of course are the
two ones that are just invisible in that group. But
outside of that, they all of them don't have a personality.
And now is Solo continues to lose here and he
(38:52):
is not unbeatable. There was a time when Solo was
unbeatable until Cody Roads gave him his first loss I
believe was right before Russel Manya thirty nine. But Solo
Sokla does not feel unbeatable anymore. Sure, he's the United
States champion, but again, his backup don't have much to say.
They don't have a good personality. There's not a lot
(39:14):
of chemistry there. There's again the only thing bonding them
is the fact that okay, well we're all Tongans. How
about that, you know, you know, well we all come
from the same uh same bloodline. Pretty cool, huh. At
least with Jimmy and Jay and Sammy and Roman and Paul,
there was some those like storylines going on within storylines
(39:37):
and the infiltration of Sammy, and is Sammy gonna get
kicked out, He's gonna get beat up? Is he gonna
eventually soften up to Roman? Is Roman gonna turn and
like there was some fun dynamics and Sammy trying to
infiltrate from within and maybe trying to turn Jay on Roman.
And remember all that that was fun. This is just
one big vanilla version of the blood line. It is
(40:02):
a To say it's a Walmart version would be doing
too much giving it too much credit. What if people
talk about the Wish version or the there's another cheap
site that you can get like crappy knockoff products from
I can't think of. But it's like that. And can
they fix this? Can they can they mediate this? Yes
they can, they can remediate it, but it's gonna take work,
(40:24):
work that I don't know if they're willing to put in.
So I think and I can concede with that, that
the the Solo so CoA m FT bloodline three point
zero whatever this version of is the blood line of
people are burned out of it, man, because not only
is this a storyland that won't die, but also because
people don't know them, they're not connected to it. They're
(40:45):
just a bunch of tongans. That's the connection that we're
supposed to be, you know, somehow interested in that. So
then we have EO Sky versus Roxanne Perez with Roquel Rodriguez.
This match went fifteen minutes and forty seconds with Roxanne
beating EO. Again. This was a really good match from
(41:07):
what I can recall. And some tension here with Osca
and EO and Kyrie that people are speculating could lead
to a turn of Osca whatever. I've said that from
a week and a half now, like sure, turn turner whatever.
You know, she can do both all right, we have
(41:29):
Becky Lynch takes on taking on Maxine Duprix for the
Women's Intercontinental Championship defending it. The match went five and
a half minutes with Becky beating Maxine and to absolutely
nobody's surprise, afterward, in Italian Tazala checked on Duprex and
Lynch through a cheap shot at Natalia, which was funny
as hell. All right, a Bailey promo video air that
(41:53):
was just fantastic. They did this sent a way that
was a documentary style, but it felt, I mean, there
was some real, real stuff that Bailey was putting out there.
And is this is it hinting at a darker Bailey? Yes?
What kind of dark Bailey I don't know. Again, hopefully
(42:13):
not one that mimics Alexa Bliss's footsteps of carrying around
a doll I mean and sitting on a playground backstage
for a year and a half. Hopefully it's one that's
grounded in some kind of reality, one that's not like
Nicky Cross either. NICKI Cross' is just again, I don't
dislike either of these characters, but I don't need direct
(42:33):
replications of them because they have their own fatal flaws
like Nicki Cross, who is a complete knockoff of the Ring.
But whatever this is with Bailey, I'm interested. This was
very well done. The production of this segment was very
well done for Bailey, how she doesn't feel like herself
and she's never felt like she's wants more but feels
(42:57):
less and she's in a very conflicting space head and
it's fun to watch. Okay, see him Punk and La
and I take on bron Breaker and Bronson. Reid cee him.
Punk and l A Knight beat bron Breaker and Bronson
read by d Q again another kind of wonky finish.
Punk gets the hot tag, he got Breaker down, hit
(43:17):
him with the top rope elbow, and then removed his
shirt and signaled for the GTS. But Seth Rollins comes
in and attacks Punk for the DQ finish and that's
uh when Jay Usa comes out with a chair. Breaker
met Jay in the entrance asle was put and was
put down with some chair shots, and you know, it
(43:40):
just became chaos. As Adam Pierce walked on the stage
and said it would be very easy to be angry
with Rollins because he's a liar and a master manipulator
who interferes in matches and tries to injure wrestlers, and
Pierce said it wouldn't he wouldn't be angry. He looked
at it as an opportunity, and he makes a fatal
four way match for the WWE World Title at Clash
(44:04):
in Paris with La and Knight, Cmpunk, Seth Rollins and Juso.
So fun match that again. You know, it's not gonna
end with Seth Rollins dropping the belt, nor should it,
but it's gonna be fun to watch how they get there.
It's gonna be fun to watch how they get to
the point of Seth retaining. Isn't just as simple as
(44:25):
Brown Breaker and Bronson Red interfering because it's a no
DQ match because there's four people involved, because every multiperson
match has to be no DQ by default, which is stupid.
No one can logically explain that to me. I'll continue
to harp on that because this is an incredibly glaringly obvious,
embarrassing loophole in the fact that this is a every
(44:48):
multiperson match men or woman outside of tag team matches
somehow or just no DQ. Yeah, you can use weapons
because there's another person in the match. Explain that to me,
make it make sense. All right, well, that'll do it
for my weekend review. I hope you guys are enjoying
(45:11):
your weekend again a little bit early this week, so
that means tomorrow I might post kind of a re do,
a repost or a rewind from us several years ago,
and I try to make it a long form audio.
I know some of you, based on the stats, have
been enjoying just kind of hitting play and maybe falling
asleeper whatever you're doing. But yeah, those longer shows of
hour and a half two, two and a half hours,
(45:33):
I'm trying to dig those out and post them for
you guys because it's interesting to listen. Those are the
ones also that had co hosts on and they were
a lot of fun. So all righty, well, thank you everybody.
I hope you're enjoying your weekend. I'll be back in
person doing a real show barring some crazy news on
Tuesday for your raw review. But of course, between now
(45:53):
and then, look for some retro rewind shows. Thanks everybody,
and we'll talk soon.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to
subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss
a show or head to wwepodcast dot com and for
all of these shows add free head over to Patreon
dot com slash WWE podcast. Until then, we'll see you
(46:22):
next time.
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