The Last Time is Now: John Cena at Saturday Night’s Main Event — WWE and AEW, December 1-7 - Gimmick Infringement

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
And now Damage Infringement. Welcome everybody to the Gimmick Infringement Podcast.
I am Brad Winchester with me as always as my
tag team partner Tyler McDowell, Blank and Tyler. This is
part two of a hopefully not multi part session. The
sun is out, it's seventy one degrees. I'm in a

(00:23):
sweater representing Detroit Basketball. But this is the best time
of the year to live out in the desert. How
you do.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I'm so happy to see you. It's a great time
to be in the desert. I'm doing well. I'm grateful
we have two final weeks of the semester. I know
you and I spoke about this before we started recording.
I am proud of us. I'm proud of all of
our colleagues for making it to the end of another
glorious semester filled with joy and challenges and lots of lessons.

(00:54):
So it feels good, Man feels really good. I know
we have so much to get into on this episode
for Gimmick It Friday. First of all, I want to
thank everyone to tune into our Stranger Things Special. Thank
you to George ro Merow as well our special guests
for joining us to break down volume one that's available
here on the channel. Brad. It was a great conversation.
I'm already theorizing and and feeling giddy about all that's

(01:17):
to come in a few weeks on Christmas for volume two.
More on that at a later date, but for this episode,
we're discussing WWE Satura Yates made event is coming up
on the W side of things, Winter is coming? Is here?
Pop culture, sports, lots to get into. Just the lady
to see you man, feeling very grateful today. How you've been?

Speaker 1 (01:40):
I've been really good, Tyler. You said a phrase that
is a common phrase I think still common. I don't know.
Every time I bring up a phrase that I think
is common, my kids look at me cross eyed in
the classroom. So I have no idea, but it was.
It was this, But I'll ask you the question instead.
Do you know the etymology of by hook or by crook? Wow?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
I used that word earlier today.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I do know.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
I do not know.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
I've used it too, and I just went where's that from? Okay?
It was an English fourteenth century England, which is wild
from a custom allowing peasants to gather firewood from royal
forests using either a bill hook a cutting tool, or
a shepherd's crook like that like gaff hook looking thing.

(02:27):
That's it. You can go gather the firewood by hook
or by crook, and by hook or by crook, that's it.
I'm going to do it one way or the other right,
And yes, that's it.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Pretty certainly a common expression. I did not know the
lineage an incredibly ancient one. But yes, speaking speaking of
well studied people, I know I need to give flowers
to my dad as well. I'm going to pivot from
education talk. Proud of us made it through another semester,
glory semester. Kids are amazing and very excited for winter break.
That's a summary on work. Brad, somebody else another guy

(02:59):
in my life life who I love dearly, my pops.
Gotta give him his flowers. He met Bailey past the
raw wwe Monday night Raw made its way back to Westgate.
It was here in the valley in Glendale and now,
unfortunately I was not in attendance. We went last year,
we were not there this time, but Bailey had to

(03:20):
pop up meet and greet at the local Fries Food
and grocery. It was sponsored by Wheatley American Vodka. And
you and I have chosen careers where it's we take
our absences very seriously. We try not to miss work.
And this was a day where I had my first

(03:41):
evaluation with our principal. So the stars sometimes aligned for
us in life, especially when it comes to wrestling shows,
and other times it just does it. This happened to
be one where I really had to be at work,
had to be at school. However, my dad, which I
was so impressed with, said no, I got you. I'm
gonna go meet Bailey at Fries and so we posted
this picture to social Brad he met her, he said

(04:04):
she was incredibly kind. Lots of people, Yeah, lots of
people showed up for this event. And then fast forward
to this weekend. It's a tradition. My mom is a
Christmas Eve baby, and we see Black Nativity together as
a family. She buys a ticket, she says it's her
present to us. Really, we go for her. It's get you,
get you understand, it's always so. My point is, we

(04:26):
started the week with American Vodka, we ended the week
with Jesus. I'm grateful for all of it. It was
a really positive week, especially by the end, and I'm excited.
Like I said that we are back with the standard,
a traditional episode of GI pro wrestling pop culture. I
have questions for you. I can't wait to get into
all of it.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
You know, I was thinking about the stars aligning. I
had to check that date because I remember thinking, oh,
we saw the announcement for for Dynamite and Collision. Collision.
It's maximum carnage. We're getting maximum carnage. But Tyler, it's
in January. It's it's in the middle of Janeyuary.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
January fourteenth, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
That Wednesday, right, Yeah, the last time that we're here
coincided with rodeo break. For those of you that are uninitiated,
Tucson has a giant rodeo and most of the schools
just shut down for the end of the week, so
we get the kind of the second half off. So, uh, Thursday, Thursday,
Friday usually off, which means Wednesday, it's it's hike up
to Phoenix, usually to Glendale, sometimes in this case to

(05:25):
the Financial Theater, which was an awesome venue last time.
It's just in it's in the middle of the it's
just in the middle of a week in the middle
of a week without days off, and it would be
a difficult Thursday Friday after that for me having to
get up there and drive back and then try to sleep.
And yeah, so we'll see. We'll see if if the

(05:46):
stars are aligning for that one. If not, I'll just
white knuckle it through because I'm probably not sleeping at
that point. Anyway, full show week, I would love to
get up there and go watch another event with you,
because that's just one of my favorite things to do.
Man is is uh is go to a cool venue
and watch a fun event.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
We have.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Eight million things to talk about today. There's a lot
to be grateful for. There are so many things happening
in the world of pro wrestling, including the two most
important world words in our world, well said by me,
and that is stuff.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah. I nearly had a huge instance of fomo. I
thought to myself in the weeks leading up to RAW
visiting Glendale. If Stephanie Bacaier comes to my city and
I'm not there, is that just what do I say
to our audience, Brad when we literally have a segment

(06:42):
dedicated to her brilliance and if she is twenty to
twenty five minutes away performing I don't see her. What
does that say about me? Luckily, I don't have to
worry about these questions any longer, because, if memory serves
I'm quite sure I watched literally every minute of Raw
last week. Stephanie Baker was not on the card, she
was not wrestling. There was no promo segment. So we're

(07:04):
titling this edition of Steph Watch Life after Nicki. The
feud with Nicki Bella appears to be over. Stephanie Bakier
defeated her at Survivors Series, and this is the first
time we're addressing this on air again because we're back
to our regularly scheduled program here. So although there was
no appearance in Glenn Dale, I am incredibly happy that
she is still our women's champion. I really thought leading

(07:26):
up to that show, Oh, maybe they do put it
on Nikki. She's back, She's got merched, the heel turned.
What does this mean for lak Primera. Luckily, she is
still our champ. However, I am curious for your thoughts,
in particular Brad, in terms of who is Stephanie Baker's
next challenger? What is the next program if we are
in fact leaving Nicki Bella in the rear view Live

(07:46):
Morgan is back. We know Roxane Perez is great and
she's always there. Although I feel like we've already seen
Steph beat her once, if not twice, the real Ripley
feud feels like a WrestleMania program to me, we're still
several months away from that. We also have a package Natalia,
who was going to be making waves as soon as
tonight on Monday Night Raw. So I'm really eager and

(08:08):
would love to hear your thoughts on where the direction
is for who comes after step next.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
It's a great question because I don't have a really
good answer right now. Bianca maybe maybe I don't know.
I would love it to be full heel Bianca, but
I think it Natty would be a lot of fun.
Given what Natty's been up to in other promotions and whatnot,

(08:35):
it's been it's been pretty great and I think it
deserves a main roster moment and I just don't know
what that looks like. How long will that feud last?
Does this just carry us to the rumble? What's after
the rumble? Does she drop it? After rumble? She drops it?

(08:55):
Who's it too?

Speaker 2 (08:56):
So?

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Right now. I don't have a lot of good answers
for you. I think Roxanne Perez would be the one.
If you wanted to, like, you know, build somebody immediately,
it'd be her. But I also think to your point,
like she's she's lost so often that I don't think
it makes sense because Survivor series. This is gonna sound

(09:19):
potentially blasphemous for people that are listening Survivor series. It's
not the only reason, but it is the single biggest reason.
I immediately canceled my subscription to the ESPN gimmick because
I went, I paid for that. That was that was
some hot garbage, is what that was. I just thought,
like as wrestling, it was, it was fine, but it

(09:43):
was just like some of it didn't make any sense.
And it's just like it didn't feel like they were
living up to the moment there where it's like we're
gonna go big. This is like blood feud stuff. That's
why we have to put it in a cage and
in a ring and do all this stuff. And then
and the Steph story stopped with Nicki, and it's it's
just sort of like, well, what's what does any of

(10:05):
this look like after next week, Like, I don't feel
like there's I'm sure they'll figure it out. They always
figure it out, but like, well they usually figure it out.
But what's the future look like in general? Like, I
don't know who the biggest next threat up is. And
I know the idea has been, let's build everybody to
be a credible threat. But I feel like they've done

(10:27):
let's build nobody to be a threat to anybody at all,
and that way they're all on the same playing field.
But I don't feel like anybody's a threat at this moment.
I don't feel like anybody's worthy of a title shot
at this moment. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know
how you do this. So I got part for you.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Part of my worry, too, is for Stephanie Bacaier's first
title reign. I would hate for it to be a
complete afterthought. Yes, she's had the championship since I want
to say it was Russell Palooza in September. Was she
defeated EO Sky. Yeah, Nikki Bella has been the only
feud since then, and that was in September. So we've

(11:03):
had October November, and now we're here almost in mid December,
so got a week until mid December, but almost in
mid December, and Nikki Bella has been the only feud
and again all the vibes are given. Survivor Series was
the end of that feud at least for now. I
would just hate for And we've seen this on numerous
occasions in the women's division and in the men's division

(11:25):
frankly as well, where you have these incredibly talented performers
who are super over with the audience. They get the gold,
but then months go by. I mean we saw this
with EO when she was champed. Months go by and
there was no feud or there was no program that
you can point to and say, oh that was great.
That's a signature feud for their career in WWE. Glad

(11:47):
she had the opportunity with Niki Bella. Glad for Nikki
Bella to get her flowers coming back. But I think
this next program, it needs to be worthwhile and it
needs to be something substantive for the audience or else
I work. Stephanie back cares. I don't want to say
her popularity right, I still got my shirt. I think
people are still going to love her because she's amazing
at what she does in ring, but I think that

(12:09):
the company should really capitalize in all the momentum she's
built in twenty twenty five, and a lot is going
to be A lot is going to be determined by
who she feuds with next and how much investment they
have in that storyline, how much time they get.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
Right and we have I'm pulling it up right now,
so apologies for this. We have all these different storylines,
we have all these things going on, but then you
look at what's going on with Saturday night's main event.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
That's my question for you.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
In fact, yes, that's why I was transitioning out and
I wanted to get to that.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
True like a true pro. It's a big week of wrestling,
for sure, another.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
Big week it is, but she's not on there.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
It's an atrocity. It wasn't in Glendale. She's not going
to pull up this weekend. DC, Come on, what are
we doing?

Speaker 1 (13:01):
I just I'm glad that currently anyway, I imagine this
is gonna be the whole card, the three matches because
because of Sina, right like, but there's one women's match,
which is fine. If you're gonna have three matches, that's great,
that's you know, a third of the card is a

(13:21):
women's match. It's not for anything. I think it's just
a match for no title on the line. But it's uh,
it's just egregious not to have Stephanie in there. But
I think it's you put these things in there. There's
definitely storylines going on, but they're they're not like, I

(13:43):
don't know they I feel like WWE Creative has it
made up their mind about what company they want to be. Lately,
they're trying to be like ae W We're gonna book
the matches and the tournaments and YadA, YadA YadA, while
also trying to do the storyline stuff that's like the
typical w WE feud storylines with blood feud stuff and

(14:06):
kind of doing it halfway. You can't really have these
people that are mad because they lost to each other
in matches and that's it. Then do a Survivor Series
match that's not like a blood feud payoff thing where
the stakes feel high nothing. I don't think we'll ever
reach the height and the stakes of that Bloodline run

(14:28):
when it was the Bloodline versus like everybody they've wronged.
I just don't know that we'll ever get there again,
and it makes me wonder whether or not they should
stop doing those events, kind of like the way that
Hell in the Cell was used as an event rather
than a match to and a feud or to end
the fiend's credibility, whatever, however you want to look at that.

(14:48):
Still thinking about that one, Well, anyway, Tyler, it's egregious
that she's not on the card.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
We still have time WWE. If anyone in creative, anyone
behind the scenes is watching, we're listening to our podcast,
there is still time to write this wrong and get
lat Premira on the show. And the next time you
come to Glendale or the next time you come to Arizona.
We want Tucson to get a show at some point
as well in the next decade. You gotta put a
lot Premara on the card. Come on, now, what are
we doing? What are we doing right I can tell

(15:16):
you what we're gonna do right now, which is going
to my WWE question for you, which is very much
all about Saturday night's main event. So there is a
big show this weekend, closing out the year on a high.
We can hope. Cody Rhodes battles New NXT champion Oba
Femei Guntar in fact is challenging John Cena in the

(15:38):
latter's retirement match, and as you highlighted, Bailey is taken
on soul. Ruka, I'm gonna use my teacher brain for
this question. Actually, I have a fill in the blank
request for you. Closed answers, Yeah, yeah, exactly finish the
sentence for me, my friend. Saturday Night's main event will
be a success if.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
People watch it. Let me clarify past the Sena match.
So John Cena made it pretty clear in that recent
interview with the ringer and Bill Simmons. I believe it
was in that one because I saw a couple of
different clips from different interviews because he's on his retirement
tour here. We'll get into that later, but I believe

(16:25):
he said he wants to open and he wants to
be the first match so that everybody can see the future.
He's the past and he wants people to see the future.
Will people stay put? It reminds me very much of
the Rampage debut of CM Punk, where it was he

(16:46):
was the opening act. He was the first half of
the show essentially, and then it went into Jurassic Express
versus someone and I can't remember who it was. Was
it the Lucer brothers, I can't remember who.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
I don't remember, but I do recall John Moxley defeated
Daniel Garcia in the middle, and that was well before
Daniel Garcia was been established.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yeah, I think he was. Was he still in he
was just starting out in two point zero I think
with them, and then it.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
Was but a pre yazz right that this was really
going in the ball correct? Yeah, yeah, great analogy by you.
I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah, But it's just that, you know, how many people
kept watching. What are we gonna have left after that? Too?

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (17:32):
The emotional high or low, depending on how you look
at it. Does he leave his sneakers in the in
the ring? Does he give a speech afterward? Does he
pass the torch to anybody to goonther, to the people
in the back, to to a female wrestler. I don't know.
The dude is like unbelievably amazingly kind and empathetic and

(17:58):
giving forward to people in the business and in general.
You know, there was a story speaking of Natty where
she was being interviewed on zoom and I remember who
she was talking to. I think it was Zoom where
Sina just went to the dungeon to train with people
not that long ago, and just went there to train

(18:19):
to do some stuff. He said like, Hey, do you
want me to swing by and I can talk to
some of your some of the talent there, and she's like, yeah,
that'd be great. And he went there and worked with
him and they're all asking great questions and stuff, and
at the end he was like, what can I do
to improve? And everybody was just staring at him, like
what do you mean? What could you do to improve?
Like you're the greatest of all time. That hearing that

(18:41):
story changed I will never look at that dude in
a negative way after that unless he does something totally heinous,
just because of the way he is with his time
and with the way he thinks. And I agree with him.
His thought process behind this is it's the right one.
It's the I want to pass it forward because I'm

(19:02):
not going to be doing this anymore. The focus shouldn't
just be on me. Sure, celebrate me whatever, because I'm
done after this, but let's highlight what we got coming
up next so that people stick around to watch and
that makes the business better for the future. And I
get to pay what it gave me forward to the
people that are here now. Saturday Night's main event will

(19:24):
be a success if the viewership doesn't decline more than
fifty percent. I think. I think fifty percent is like
a huge drop off, and I can absolutely see that happening.
I don't know what it's competing against. I don't know
what's going on on Saturday. I don't know if there's
any releases happening. I have no idea other than the

(19:46):
new Knives Out movies coming out on Netflix at that point.
It's in theaters now and I really wish it could
have gone. But I will be tuning in on December twelfth.
That will be over the weekend, and maybe people will
stick around to watch that. Maybe they'll go from Peacock
to Netflix. I don't know. I don't know what the
answer is, but I know I know that casual fans
will be tuning in. Diehards will be tuning tuning in.

(20:09):
People that were like, oh man, John Sene is gonna
stop doing this. I haven't watched in ten years, They're
going to be tuning in. Will they stick around to
see the product? And I think if they can get
people to stay put, then that's a huge win for
them monetarily speaking. You know that it doesn't matter if
people watch anymore or if people are you know, showing

(20:33):
up to the arenas. We know this is a sellout.
It's John Cena's last match. It's they they plan this
year out so stupidly for him, But it's John Cena's
last match. It's sold out. People are gonna watch, millions
and millions and millions of people are gonna watch, and
it's gonna be dope. Will they say to watch Bailey
and soul Ruka for no title? Will they stay and

(20:54):
watch Cody and Obafemi, Because we're not even talking just
the future of WA. We're talking about talent that's not
on Monday Night Raw or SmackDown. We're necessarily on a
WrestleMania card, even though I would love to see both
of them on there. We've been talking about over Femi forever,
and I've been on soul Ruca since I've seen her.

(21:16):
So I will just see what happens. I guess I
don't know, but if people stick around to watch, maybe
that bumps ratings a little bit. But I think it's
about establishing a vibe for the future and if they
can get people to pay attention to it, big win.
I'm not sure how you view it. How do you
view this?

Speaker 2 (21:33):
Yeah, well, I'll give my commentary and then I'll close
with answering the question. I am very hopeful for this show.
I just saw news this morning that you shared with
us about Sina versus Gunther is going to open the show,
and like you said, I'm sure we'll get the I
was just say the pumps or the sneakers in the
ring and then the speech and the locker room coming out,

(21:54):
and I'm very excited for all of that. Bailey versus
Soul Ruca should be awesome. It's gonna be match, dude,
of course, and we.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
Know I'm more excited about that match than I am
about anything else on this card.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
And I'm not kidding.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
That's a bold statement. Respect, I respect you standing Tentto's
down on that, just.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Because I want people to see both of them wrestle.
I want people to see that. It's not that I'm
not excited for the matches, because give me a goon
thro Sena, that match is gonna effing rule. But I
just so Ruca is so good and Bailey is redible.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
She is if we look at that crowded n XT
women's roster, so many talented ladies, you know, wrestling on Tuesday.
So Ruka has really emerged as being one of the
can't miss people on NXT's roster. So I love that
she's getting the shine. Of course, we always love Bailey
getting these big moments. Not only she had babyface in

(22:47):
real life according to my pops, but also behind the scenes,
we know that she is totally invested, like John Cena,
in helping usher in the next generation and giving them
the resources and the tutor to sore. She had that event,
I think it was something Stone Loudstone Lord Stone over
the weekend, wasn't It was kind of like a camp

(23:08):
where she got together a lot of independent women in
the industry for this. I think it was like a weekend.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
I can't remember the name of it either.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah, it's basically like camp for grown folks who are
trying to really make their name in the industry. So anyway,
we love Bailey here, we love soul Ruka. I initially
would be hesitant for a three match, two hour card,
but I think the pieces are starting to come together,
and particularly for Coke. I wasna say Kobe for Cody

(23:35):
versus Oba Brat. I had this slotted in as my
WrestleMania forty five made event. The fact that we're getting
this this weekend. Olba Femi just defeated Ricky Saints at
a next deadline and now he is not only as
his title back as a two time champion n XT
World Champ, but he now earns the right to fight Cody.
I wonder what shenanigans are going to happen in this match.

(23:58):
I don't foresee Oba just straight getting hinned. I don't
know if maybe Ricky comes to Cody's defense and that's
something nefarious to help Cody win. I don't know if
there's a countout situation. But I am incredibly invested in
this match because I foresee this once more as a
future wrestling maybe a main event. The fact that we're
getting a Saturday Night's mein event, sign me up. I

(24:20):
have all the stock and obafem me. I frankly want
him to beat Cody this weekend, although I don't think
that's gonna happen. I'm gonna be locked in for that match.
I'm just excited to see what they have in store there.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
Do you think Ethan Page runs in to cost to
cost Cody and then Ricky comes in too, Like I
can see I can see some Shenanigans.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah yeah, I'm.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Just thinking, like what heel would would come in?

Speaker 2 (24:46):
Right? Right? How are they Ricky?

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Ricky showing up makes a ton of sense to be
in his corner, right. I can also see Ricky turning
on Cody because they have a good relationship, like him
him costing him.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
Sure would be proved great, presumably with Javon Evans winning
The Man's Iron Survivor and now Tony DiAngelo is back
with a totally seemingly new persona seemingly Ricky Saints is
not long for Tuesdays anymore. He's gonna be showing up
on Mondays or on Fridays. Yeah, I could see that.
I just I want them to protect Oba at all costs.

(25:19):
Not that Oba needs any protection. I mean, the man
has grown muscles since he's been back. It's I just
don't know how that's possible. The way he looks now,
it's tremendous. Not that he needs any protection literally or figuratively.
But this character is just it's so precious to me
that I don't want them to ruin it, because, as
you pointed out, Brad, this is gonna be the first
time a lot of fans are seeing Oba Femi. I

(25:41):
think they really need to get his presentation right. And
if that first match, I think a let's say, a
double count out or interference is more likely than someone
helping Oba win or you know, the debut of Oba
being secondary or tertiary storyline wise leaving the match. I

(26:02):
just I want his debut on the main roster, which
effectively is this Saturday, to be a huge deal and
to be the one or the one a story leaving
this particular match, which should be the main event. I
could see Ricky, but I just don't want. I just
don't want Oba to get lost in the shuffle of
whatever this match is going to be. I'll be tuning
in either way.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
There's a there's a possibility that they screwed up. I
don't think they will. I don't think Cody and Oba
will allow that to happen. I don't think Cody in
particular will allow that to happen because you know how
important he is to the company, and you know how
much he cares about the business and making everybody look
good that he's in the ring with I just I
think it's going to be great again. I go back

(26:44):
to will people be there to see it that aren't
watching regularly? How many new viewers will actually get eyes
on oba feme.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Right, will stay sure?

Speaker 1 (26:55):
I'm sure that's going to be the main event. Yeah,
I'm sure they're going to go see it. And then
Bailey sold.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
Maybe there's a promo or maybe yeah, maybe the vision
pulls up. Maybe we can get nice things before Christmas
and stuff.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
Sometimes might make a because that would be good for
keeping people retained.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
Right, Seampunk Seampunk could be there absolutely. Let me let
me close this part of our segment by answering my
own question. Since I promise that I try to be
a maned by word, and I've I've been saving this
bar for the past twenty five minutes. Saturday Night's main
event will be a success if no one from the

(27:32):
Trump administration is present or at least on camera. All
the good vibes, all of the excitement I'm sharing will
be washed away if within the first thirty minutes, if
during the celebration of John Cena, all that is probably
the first hour of this show. Let's be real. If
the President is on camera, if RFK is pulling up,

(27:56):
if that is a part of this production, brad Win,
I'm here to tell you I may be one of
those fans you're worried about who may tune out and
may go to Martin reruns on be et or or
something else, something on Netflix. We'll talk about Netflix actually
in a little bit. I could be one of those fans.
This is very important to me. If they're in attendance,

(28:18):
so be it. It should be just down the road.
I guess I don't know DC very well, but on
camera anything that would leave me to say the show
was not a success. There's a lot riding on this Saturday.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
As you can tell, I didn't know Martin reruns were
on BET. I might be imp be tuning in if
I can figure out how to stream it. I loved
that show Man.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
I like this classes.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
I'm so good.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
It's a class.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
Just the repetition of the name Martin over and over
for the theme song was great. You pop me. I
got nothing to add there, although I do think you're
gonna run into some problems if just Triple H comes
out to say are you ready? Because you're immediately talking
to a member of I guess it's not it is
it technically the cabinet. I don't really know, because he's

(29:06):
like the physical person. I don't know what that is.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
It's it's unfortunate.

Speaker 1 (29:11):
He's s of a strange nepotism.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
I don't Yeah, he's a member of the Health Advisory
Yeah committee committee. Yeah, I'm sure we'll see there's triple
It is probably gonna open the show and then we'll
get the John c in the match. But so be it.
What if it's the rock.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
And he announces his candidacy. All right, let's just move on, Tyler,
my question for you. So we was already alluded to
Bill Simmons and that interview. So Johnson revealed in the
recent interview with Bill Simmons on the Ringer or I
guess working for the ringer running the ringer. I'm not
really sure how that works, that he wanted to do
two hundred and twenty plus states. He wanted to do

(29:52):
a full calendar year, a full calendar year. He wanted
to do a WW schedule. This man, I'm not taking
any jobs or opportunities. I want to wrestle full time
for a year. That's important to note WWE told them
they needed him for thirty six dates. He wanted to

(30:13):
do two twenty. They give him thirty six tyle. Was
this a misstep by WWE? I have I have other thoughts,
but this is the only way I could think of
phrasing it other than or was this this flatly insulting
to John Cena's wishes for his final run?

Speaker 2 (30:34):
I would say a little bit of both. In this case. Obviously,
the more Johnsena wants to work in his last year
as a wrestler, I would suspect you want to honor that,
and you can find the creative to make that work.
When we look back on what this final year means,
I think it's important for us to remember this would

(30:54):
and this is really inheriting your question, I actually read
this was not a per thickly orchestrated final year whatsoever.
If we think back to just as recent as April,
and actually it was February, I want to say, right,
elimination chamber leading to the April WrestleMania match against Cody,
the heel turn, that was the heel turn that was

(31:16):
good until it wasn't. Yeah, is the real right, the
reveal about the dates coming out, as you just said,
and then if we forget about that that weird heel
turn period that resulted in Travis Scott playing a role
in the main event of WrestleMania, and then here we
are now finally where Johnson has a baby face and
we can sing along with with his theme song and

(31:37):
we can do all the all the rooting for johnsena
that we want. It's really perplexing. It seems insulting. I
wonder what those conversations were like, as as you pointed out,
as he expressed wanting to work more dates and perhaps
w saying now we have you penciled in for these
specific you know, three dozen or what have you. It
seems insulting. I wonder what more is there. I'm just

(32:00):
glad that they made the pivot when they did, because
I'm trying to think of a storyline that had so
much potential that went bad so quickly. Yeah, and because
they've gotten seen or right these past few months, by
and large, it's luckily put that totally in my rear view.

(32:20):
Like when I think of john seen as last year,
I don't initially think of that heel turn. I'm just
got that creatively they made that pivot because I was
insulting to fans. That was insulting to all of us
what we got all those months ago, particularly that WrestleMania
Night two main event. I'm glad they wrote that wrong
in terms of righting the wrong of scheduling him. That
seems really perplexing, does it not? I would agree with

(32:41):
you that it would seem insulting. What's say you?

Speaker 1 (32:45):
I think it's crazy. If he wanted to do it,
let him do it, because he said the only reason
he wants to do it now is because he can
still do it. He finds himself slowing down and all that.
But he's like, I can do this as at a
very high level, but I can tell like this isn't
lasting much longer. We got to wrap it up before
or I can't do it at a high level. He'll
be able to do it, but not well. And if

(33:05):
he wants to do it, let him do it. The
thing that makes me crazy, it's not like people aren't
asking to work with him in the film industry, Like
generally he's beloved. James Gunn loves working with him, like
Capital l loves working with this dude. And you know
other places are like, oh, yeah, he was actually surprisingly

(33:26):
really good. Everybody's always surprised by seeing his range when
he does stuff. I think it's about finding the director
in the role, and I think with Peacemaker it's the
perfect fit where he can show an emotional range but
also be can't be deadpan John Cena. But he said
he cleared his entire calendar, his entire schedule for a year.

(33:49):
I'm not taking anything, I'm not doing anything specifically to
wrestle for that year, and out of it he got
a month's worth of wrestling instead of the two hundred
and twenty days he asked for. Not was like, oh,
I'd be happy to do that if you ask me.
He was like, I want to do two twenty and
you're like, cool, here's thirty six what he did do.

(34:09):
And this was with I believe, with Nick Con when
he was unimpulsive. I don't know if he sagn e
clips from that interview. Nick CON's always just kind of
saying stuff. But he also said that Sina specifically would
sit down and be like, so, where are we going.
Here's my idea for merchandise for this city that we're
going to, and he planned all of that ahead of time,
because he was like, well, where are we, Oh, we're

(34:31):
at this place. This is where the Clippers place, and
no Lakers colors. We've got to make sure we do this.
Let's do Dodgers colors instead, like just being really thoughtful
and purposeful about his audience locally and about meeting as
many people in person as possible, and then you take
that away by not having him appear at all these things.

(34:51):
And I'm not saying that it would be healthy in
any way to do all of those extra dates because
you have like the Saturday night main events and Raw
and SmackDown and ples. We're looking at what twelve to
twenty pl easy year depends on which ones you're working NXT.

(35:12):
If you show up one hundred and what one hundred
and four episodes of television, you know, like the numbers
tick up really quick. Throw in Saturday Night main event
there's like four or five of those, and yeah, you're
at like one p fifty. We'll say that's still way
shy of the two twenty. He said he wanted to work.

(35:33):
You could have had him work every episode of television
and had it made sense because he was willing to
do it. I would have done that. I know that
might make the branding thing weird. But I don't know
what his contract looks like. I don't know what those
contracts look like for the television partners, so I don't
know if Netflix has exclusive rights to just certain superstars.

(35:56):
I know that that's been reported in the past about
like Roman as a Friday nights man guy who doesn't
go to raw versus Roman is a Friday night SmackDown
guy who can make appearances, you know. But John cena Is,
I think is a free agent. He's not a member
of any brand, so you could have had him at
both floating around going to NXT doing what Edge did

(36:18):
when he came back and won the Rumble and then
was going like I never won the NXT title. Maybe
that's the one I'm going to challenge for. That was
such a cool moment where he was at the performance
Center and going like I might take this title and
going like, yeah, he might. He's unhinged. He's the rated
R superstar, and I think they could have done a
lot with that. I just don't get it. I just

(36:39):
think it's I would be insulted, you know, Like he's
a patient person and I know he's like, I don't
get to make decisions. I'm not the company, But I
would be really sad if I cleared my schedule to
work and do that thing I love one last time
for as many dates as possible, and they're like, we
don't really need you for them that dates. It would

(37:02):
have been extra awesome if it was like, after those
dates are done, feel free to do whatever, and he
shows up at like Pro Wrestling Gorilla or MLW or
something like that, that would have been amazing. Maybe maybe
do some OVW events, you know that, that could have
been really cool. But of course they're not going to
do that. And maybe he makes appearances in other places

(37:23):
as John Cena, but not you know, wrestling. Obviously, I
doubt that I'll ever happen. I think he's a WW
guy forever, and I don't think he'll go to other companies.
He's a he's a corporate man, and I don't know
because of that and how much money they've made from him,
and how he kept the company afloat during some of

(37:44):
the darkest periods of the company, I I just can't
believe that in given what he asked for, even if
he might need to be protected from himself. One might say,
I don't think that he would have had a problem
doing it. I just don't.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
It's a one, one of one, easy for me to say,
career in so many aspects, Brad. Even though that reveal
had us scratching our heads, something else that had us
scratching our heads from this past week. You actually broke
the news to me about this as a matter of fact.
So I say we discuss it. It's been a minute,

(38:21):
let's play the music. It's time for what happened here?

Speaker 1 (38:34):
What happened here? Brad.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
I'm gonna toss us up. Then I'm gonna kick it
to you. I know you have many thoughts about this story.
Netflix a network that we are, a streaming platform we
are very familiar with. We have a whole special Stranger
Things Volume two review coming this Christmas. We are quite
invested in all that is Netflix. Some of our our
favorite programs, of our favorite options on streaming are a

(39:03):
part of this app Brad. Netflix is making money moves.
Last week news broke that Netflix is acquiring Warner Brothers
in a reported eighty three billion dollar deal. What do
you make of this? What happened here?

Speaker 1 (39:23):
I don't know because the number keeps fluctuating. So seventy
two was the first number. That's the one that I
sent you. Seventy two has been reported by a bunch,
and then it was eighty two, and then it was
eighty three, and now it's eighty two point seven. I
really don't know.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Round that up. Credit the New York Times, the Washington
Post for that number.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Yeah, it's just it's very like, we don't know. We
just know what's over seventy two billion dollars. I want
to remind everybody that in I had to look it
up because it's it's a famous number. It's fifty million dollars. Tyler,
do you know what this has to do with anything?
Fifty million?

Speaker 2 (40:00):
No, no, I don't.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
That was the number that Blockbuster Video rejected to as
an offer from Netflix to purchase Netflix. And they were like, nah,
we're good here. Netflix just spent all maybe eighty billion.
We don't really know, well to say, up to eighty
five billion dollars eighty five b billion dollars to buy

(40:25):
freaking Warner Brothers, like just all of it. And here's
the important part. We know Netflix is the number one
streaming platform. Do you know what Number two is by aunt, right,
I think either by not subscriber count count necessarily we'll

(40:47):
go buy subscriber count, views whatever.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
By revenue. It's not HBO.

Speaker 1 (40:54):
M.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
That's tough. I'm gonna say Hulu.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
It's it's a really hard one because it's technically not
a subscription service. It just comes with it. It's Amazon Prime.
So Amazon Prime is number two in streaming. Number three
is HBO Max. They will own the number one and
number three, or really number one and number two. If
you want to just discount or discredit Amazon as a

(41:18):
streaming platform because it's a shopping platform, they would own
the two of the three biggest platforms, would create a
obviously the biggest one. This is what anti trust laws
are designed to protect against. So I don't think for
a second that this is gonna pass. I don't think
it's gonna get approved. I think it's gonna get shut down.

(41:41):
I almost if it gets approved, then nothing is safe.
Nothing is safe. Things are gonna get gobbled up, and
we're gonna have giant monopolies all over the place. And
everything's already a cluster politically and economically that I just
don't like. Where they're working on passive laws, so presidents
can't get kicked out of office. It's just crazy right now,

(42:01):
So I uh, I think it's gonna get shut down.
So's the biggest question coming out of this is Tyler,
why would they try to make a deal they know
is going to fail?

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Yeah? That as that a rhetorical question, or you have
a thought about.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
I have a thought. So I didn't know if you did.
I didn't know if you did. I didn't see if
you can couple because.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
I'm processing all this, what does it mean for our wrestling?
If okay, Netflix, we're gonna get and okay, continue to cook?
I got you.

Speaker 1 (42:38):
Yeah, So it depends on how they branch out and brand.
Do they do a Microsoft and Windows separation because of
the monopoly thing they just all they did was separate
the companies. So Microsoft is separate from Windows, but they're like,
clearly not. It doesn't matter if they have the same
CEO or c CEO I guess, or president of the

(43:01):
company whatever, if they own both whatever, who controlled the shares?
That's really the important part there. But the idea that
Netflix would own all of Turner and Warner Bros. And
HBO products and properties.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
Number one, The entire Warner Brothers Discovery.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
Yes, number one, the prospect of access and making my
Netflix account go from what twenty bucks or whatever I'm
paying right now to thirty bucks. I don't hate it
because if it gets rid of the other subscription cool.
I got to pay thirty bucks and I have more.

(43:41):
That's all right with me. But what's going to happen
to the theater industry. The way that this will work
is if you shut down and there's a deal, this
isn't going to get finalized for a while. If it does,
it's going to be right away. Otherwise it's going to
go into like our tration, and they're going to talk
about it and all of those things for a year

(44:03):
or two, which means they can't do crap for a
year or two. Any new project that Warner Brothers Discovery
wants to do, they're not going to prove it because
of the pending offer and the pending acquisition, which means
it'll be dead in the water, which means every bit
of their assets will become devalued, so all of their

(44:25):
stuff gets lessened in value, and then they can sell
them off to other places or acquire them more cheaply
and if even if Netflix holds Warner Brothers hostage for
two years with this thing that they know isn't going
to go anywhere, they will be able to buy the
rights to certain properties because they will have the money
in the capital, while Warner's Brothers Discovery won't know if

(44:47):
they will and people won't go there, they won't be
able to shop there, and then their assets devalue and
by the time the trade or the acquisition lessons, they're
going to have to file for bankruptcy or do something
anyway and restructure and reorganize, which will then allow them
to be purchased, because once the devaluation happens, that purchase

(45:10):
can happen again. So it's like this long game of
we're gonna buy it, We're gonna force the price down
to raise the costs for everybody else, and then we'll
gobble it up. But that means Paramount has an opportunity
to get shows that that Warner Brothers aren't able to
go able to do. I don't know how this is
going to affect like DC Studios. DC Studios who has

(45:31):
a slate of films coming up which is run independently
but through Warner Brothers Discovery. It's it's kind of like,
you know, Marvel Studios, but it's Disney. So what happens
to the DC Studios projects if it's also maybe a
Netflix brand. Now do they go to mass releases or
do they just go straight to streaming or is there

(45:54):
a combination of both like the Knives out gimmick where
they're they're unit in theaters, is a limited run early
and then put it out in on Netflix. I don't
know what's going to happen. Obviously for us. The most
fascinating part of all of this is what happens with
the rights to wrestling. Will they have aw on there?
Will aw because of the deal pressure Netflix in this

(46:17):
case it would or WWE TKO Holdings pressure Netflix to
essentially say, you're not going to stream any of these.
If you do, do not put it on a you
can watch this thing and bury it in the search
or only put it unlimited places or put it on
a streaming platform. So awful to use. Shout out to
tn T and TBS apps so awful to use that

(46:39):
nobody will want to go there. Or did they just
brand out and do with like uh oh, what was
the what was the name of the company Disney had
a company, was it Touchdown? I can't remember what the
company was that that Disney ran. I'm blanking. That was
supposed to be like, they're more adult fare that was
separate from Disney. So remember one, Yeah, so you'd know

(47:02):
the well, I don't know if you know, you're you're young,
and I'm trying to think. I'll have to look it
up in a minute. But they basically did a separate
studio that didn't say Disney on it, so they could
do like more adult things. And I can see them
doing that and going like, well, we're going to have
this stuff here. HBO is going to be the HBO

(47:23):
content you know and love, and then we'll just put
like all the Discovery stuff. We can put it on
both if we want to or whatever. Keep things the
way they are, force people will know a separate subscription
model so that you have to get Netflix and Hbo
if you want both of those things. I could see
them doing all kinds of stuff if if this gets approved.

(47:45):
I just don't know if it'll get approved. I just
think it won't. But at this point, who knows what's
gonna happen. But it's according to the AI overview I
got it is a subject to regulatory rull and expected
to close in late twenty twenty six or twenty seven,
which means we probably won't know until the end this

(48:07):
time next year or later if it's gonna happen, And
because of that, Warner Brothers Discovery will be locked out
of doing anything new up to that point. So gonna
be really scary and interesting to see what happens here.
I'm gonna kick it to you and your eight pixels.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
Yeah, it absolutely will. You'll hear me.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Oh I can. I think you're about ten miles behind.
But yes, yeah, I was.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
Worried about that. Yeah, it's gonna be fascinating to track Brad.
I know we'll discuss it here, and the wrestling implications
are incredibly interesting. We shall see. Tom will tell.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
Yeah, I have no idea what's going to happen. There's
a lot of things I don't know about Tyler. We
are gonna try, though. We have aw just doing lots
and lots of different things. Right now, We're gonna talk
a couple of things, So hit me with your question.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
Yeah. Yeah, so big week not only forwe, but certainly
for a w Here's my question, winner is coming goes
down this Wednesday. Eddie Kingston looks to be throwing samo
with Joe, and the Babes of Wrath will take on
the Timeless Love Bombs to crown the inaugural aw Women's
Tag Team champions. What have you thought of the Women's

(49:26):
Tag Attorney now that it is at its conclusion and
finally who should win this match?

Speaker 1 (49:35):
I think it's been really fun. It's it's been good.
It hasn't been perfect, no, but it's been a blast
getting to see the women like in different combinations. Sure
tag team, sure, not singles. Whatever, we get to see
them on our screens. My only regret there is that
in the middle of a Penelope got hurt because I

(49:56):
freaking love her. I think the Babes of Wrath have
to win. I don't know how else to say it.
Do I think they're going to I don't know. I
just think that Tony and I'm really struggling. I really
want Babes of Wrath to win. I think both of
them benefit more from it than the other two. And

(50:19):
maybe you have them go off and have a feud
and they fight each other. I don't know. That could
be fun too. I just yeah, I have no idea, man.
I thought this tournament was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (50:30):
Me too, I've really enjoyed it. As you point out,
the injury to Penelope was devastating because I thought herd
Meghan Bane well number one. Just want everyone we root
forward to be healthy, but also because I thought Megan
Bane and Penelop before it had as strong of a
case as any team. It's unfortunate that the original teams

(50:51):
did not make it incredibly far no original teams in
the finals. Thinking of the time Mellows, the sisters of Sins,
Sisters of Sin, I should say, of the world who
have been partners for let's say at least six months
a year in the case of ti J for multiple years.
That's unfortunate, But I'm excited for the finals that we

(51:12):
have in front of us. I also would agree that
the Timeless Love Bombs are by far the favorite heading
into this match. I would love a Babes of Wrath win,
but I would argue that Timeless Love Bombs winning should
be the move here because following Mercedes Money losing as
our wage final battle to Red Velvet, this works out

(51:35):
perfectly for Mercedes Money to defend her TBS Championship at
World's End on the twenty seventh and lose two, The one,
the only, the incomparable will O Nightingale. Love that should be.
That should be the move here, sign me up for
all of this Love the Babes of Wrath. However, I

(51:57):
think during our next episode of GI we're going to
be celebrating the timeless Love Bombs victory because I believe,
well you can even make a case for Harley Cameron
being the person to show Mercedes, but I think we're
going to lean right into one can only hope Willow
challenging Mercedes in a few weeks and Willow becoming the
new TBS champ. We're going to run that match back

(52:19):
from Doublin Nothing from a few years ago, but different
victor this time. Are you here for my agenda? Do
you do you see the vision as well?

Speaker 1 (52:26):
Yes, because we also know that Willow has a win
for a belt over Mercedes Manet in New Japan, so
it's it's not out of the question for that to happen. Granted,
I don't think that was the original finish, and it
was because she got hurt in the match, but either way,
pre aw debut for Mercedes Mane. I believe right like

(52:49):
that was right before she signed out with the company
and debuted.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
I can't remember that sounds right.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
It feels like forever ago, but we'll go with that.
But that was her first singles title that we saw
her carry, especially on TV, and I think that, yeah,
I'm here for it. I think I think you're right.
I also think that I want the Babes of Wrath
to win if they're going to keep them as a
tag team. But I also think for the sake of
everything happening, like you laid out, that's the move, and

(53:17):
I think it'll be great.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
I could totally see aw pivoting though at the same time,
and Babes of Wrath I think they even though Timeless
Love Bombs are the favorite here. I could absolutely see
a world in which they get the victory and the
crowd is totally behind it. This dynamic of a baby
Face team versus another baby Face team is going to
be really interesting. I'm eager to see if the crowd
ends up leaning one way or the other. If they do,

(53:40):
I actually think they're gonna lean into Babes of Wrath,
and I don't know that they're gonna flat out Boo
the Timeless love bombs. But I'm really invested in this match.
I told you I'm invested in Oba versus Cody for WWE.
For AW, I'm incredibly invested in this match. I foresee
it'll probably open the show on Wednesday. I would love
for it to meet event. But yeah, the more I

(54:02):
think about the babies, wrath to make a lot of sense.
But I just see Willow and Mercedes running it back
at World's end. Not saying Willow can't be a double champ.
We know AW is not adverse to having people be
double champions, right shout out to Mojoe. But that's just
what I foresee on how this goes out, I think
Willow ends up taking that title off of Mercedes. It
may be hardly's there at ringside here and are on,

(54:25):
but these two are really fun together. Hope this isn't
it for them if they do, in fact end up
losing this match.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
Yeah, I can see what you're saying too, and I
think I think you're right. The tag match probably opens,
and I think Eddie and Simojo probably close with that
tagger in the middle, with Hangman and Swerve against the
other parts of the ops. So on that note, Tyler,
we got tournaments abound. Okay, we have the Women's Championship,

(54:54):
we got the Continental Classic. We got so many different
things happening here. Right, What do you think about all
these tournaments? And how are you feeling about aw right now?

Speaker 2 (55:05):
Mm hmm. I'm feeling very optimistic. The Continental Classic has
all the bones to be the best one to date.
I want to say this is their at least their third.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
I think you're right C.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
Two Maybe Therefore, if I want to say it's a third,
this has all the signs of being their best one
so far. I have thoroughly enjoyed everything that we've gotten
from it. This has to end up resulting in Kenoski
Takeshta versus Kazuco Okada speaking of World's End. If the
World's End card is going to be highlighted by Willow
versus Mercedes, Okada versus Takeshta and then Phil and I'm

(55:41):
not sure what this Samo Joe match is going to be.
Is it too soon for Joe versus Swerve? We shall see,
do we get Hangman vs. V Jo? Either way, I'm
really enjoying it. It is very tournament heavy. Right now
on TV, we're wrapping up the women's stag Attorney as
we described, and then the C two is going strong.
I'm really enjoying it. I actually think it's made the

(56:03):
weekly programs much more enjoyable. Not to be redundant, but
I think it's off to a really hot start, and
I'm feeling very optimistic heading into the new year, and
also about the C two. Brad, then I'll kick it
to you. The storylines that are woven into this tournament
have been really juicy, for lack of a better term,

(56:25):
because you also you also have the downfall of John
Moxley happening right before us, Claudio Castignoldi defeating him, spending
in the main of Yes.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
Made Double Birds the double Birds, Yeah, during the main
event of last week's Dynamite, and then there's another one.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Oh, and then you also this is third on my
power ranking here, but you also have the conglomeration Roderick
Strong not being here for any of Orange Cassidy's antics
or humor. To me, the Sea two feels a bit
unique in that we have these these storylines moving forward
as a part of the tournament, and at the same

(57:01):
time We're not making the egregious error of saying, okay,
let's have our new TNT champion enroll or insert themselves
into the C two, take a bunch of pins, and
then hope the best for their title reign after. I
love that Mark Brisco is not involved in this. I
think that was a critical error they made last year
with having Daniel Garcia take part in the C two.

(57:24):
He just had this triumphant moment right it was in
full gear, was in Jersey, not too far from his
home state of New York. He had this crowning achievement.
He became the TNT champ. I think he beat the
scapegoat Jack Perry actually to earn that title. And then
they had him pull up at the Sea two and
then he ate a bunch of pins right after winning.
I'm laughing. I'm laughing as the avoid not crying. We're

(57:46):
not yelling louder into this microphone. It doomed thee Garcia's reign. Yeah,
which was a complete unforced error. I have not seen
as many unforced errors. Kyle Fletcher's being highlighted, Kevin Knight
is being highlighted. I mean, the field is just incredible,
loaded it's loaded, and I think where we're gonna end
up this long term story, this feud of Okada and

(58:11):
Takeshta being the finale will be the perfect conclusion to
what I hope will be the best CE two yet. Now,
what's not perfect is the title implications if Takeshta. I'm sorry,
if Okada loses this tournament, is he still the continental
champion but the winner gets the other I'm a bit

(58:31):
still confused on what the title implications are. Particularly if
Okada loses, he should lose everything. He shouldn't still have
a title that I'm not loving. But in terms of
the storytelling and the grabs themselves, it's been tremendous, and
like I said, I am totally totally here for the
women's tag turnay finale. I've loved it so far by

(58:52):
and large.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
How about you, Yeah, it's weird because he has a
unified title and you can't exactly cut it in half.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
Yeah, I don't think that's how this works. Yeah, very confusing.

Speaker 1 (59:03):
Yeah, so I think they I don't know if they
just forgot I like that. I like that They're like,
it'd be really cool if you had the champion entered
because he's so confident that he thinks he's gonna win
it again. And that's fine. I guess that's the way
it's supposed to be. I just think that it's kind
of I don't know. I don't want what happened to
Danny to happen to anybody else, and I don't think

(59:23):
it will. But if if what happens, if Okada loses
during the tournament before the final, does he lose his title?
Like I I just I just uh, I don't know.
I got a lot of questions. Does he relinquish the
title and have to win it back? Like that's the

(59:44):
way that I imagine that working, But I have no idea,
but I'm here for it. I think the tournaments are great.
I love aw for doing tournaments, and then when they
have their their other matches on there, they feel more important.
Like that's where the that there's not storiestelling happening within
the tournaments, because as you laid out, there's definitely good stories.

(01:00:04):
They're very juicy, uh stories, as you said. But I
think it lets the other stuff play out a little
bit more, and you know, just feel like I guess
I can't think of any other words other than it
feels more important. Now that being said, could I do
without with without Jamie Hayter constantly fighting the Sisters of

(01:00:27):
Sin in some way? Yes, I could. I'd kind of
like to see her move on with her life, even
if it is with Chris stat Lander. We I'd also like,
we need that. I'm tired and you're a buffering So
that's good.

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
Amen, this is the case if we need after ships.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
Here, Robotie has made an appearance. We haven't seen Robotie
in a while. This is uh yeah ten ten ten
ten pick Hey there is you were you were saying.
I think it was something wants Oh yeah, you're in
your r f RFK face.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
Yea, yeah, that was exactly that was Yeah, that was
exactly it. I just was echoing, yeah, probably literally echoing
your point of Okay, Hater and stat teaming up to
still fight the Sisters of Sid. But this needs to
be a case where okay, we're friends right now, but
I need that title program between those two yeap.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
It needs to happen and then Megan Bain.

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
Ends up eating both of them and she's the next
champion by summer.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Yeah, I'm here for it. Yeah, I have no complaints.
That would be awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
She's the one, she's the one to be, Chris, Yeah,
she's the one to be. But we love Jamie Heater
as well for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
Yeah she's Yeah, I want to say she's bulletproof, but
I want her with a title in this current look. Uh,
since she's come back as seventies hater, it's it's just different.
But let's get into it. Let's point the we have
done this in a hot minute, Tyler GI at the Movies.
Let's go and now it's time for GI after movie.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
And this is a special GI at the Movies because
we have a double feature. I'll go first and I'll
kick it to ub on HBO, going back full circle
for this edition of GI. Going back to HBO. Now
available on that platform. There is a three part docu
series entitled Alex Versus a rod which spotlights the life
and career of one Alex Rodriguez. What a unique career

(01:02:36):
it's been for the retired MLB star, dating all the
way back to his childhood in New York. I forgot
that he has ties to Washington Heights, where it is
where my dad spent a lot of his youth, and
then tracking his time with the Seattle Mariners. As a rookie,
he gets the fat contract with the Texas Rangers, the
Yankee era, the PB scandals plural, It's it's a really

(01:03:02):
great in depth look into, once again, a one of
one career. We said, a one to one career for
John Cena. Alex Rodriguez, I would argue also a very
unique one of one career for different reasons. But the
talent obviously undeniable. And what's interesting to me and what
the documentary does really well is investing time into exploring

(01:03:24):
how he's remade his image. I think this has been
one of the savvyest image makeovers or image turnarounds in
media within the last decade. Obviously, he's a frequent contributor
on MLB Postgame. He's an owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
He's also a proud dad. The docuseries focuses on his

(01:03:45):
image as a dad with his two daughters, and the
documentary also explores the fact fractured I should say relationship
he being Rodriguez with his own dad and the ramifications
that has had on his career and his life. I
know people usually feel the way when they hear the
name a Rod for better or worse. But this docuseriies

(01:04:06):
really told the story of the person behind the home runs,
behind the transgressions, and it's really very much worth a watch.
I also have a memory of dressing as Alex Rodriguz
for Halloween. I don't know if I shared this with you.
I must have been maybe ten or eleven, and my family,
my parents got me the white Texas Rangers, a Rodgers

(01:04:29):
that even had the blue Texas Rangers cap with the
tea on it. And I'll never forget trick or treating
in the neighborhood and one neighbor saying, I don't know
if this was a neighbor, maybe just a fellow trick
or treater. They booed me while I was getting my
kitkats in jest, but you're overpaid, this, that and the other,
and so again. People really feel a way about a

(01:04:52):
rod back then and maybe even now. But I think
he's made a lot of inroads, and he shares as
much in the documentary of admitting his faults, unpacking what
led him to make the decisions he made, but then
also reaching a point in his life now where he's
part He's participated in therapy He's really just thought critically
about why he made the decisions he made, and it

(01:05:14):
seems like he is at peace in his life now.
Three part Docuseriies Alex versus a rod Worth a watch.
Let us know what you think if you check this out.
And I wish I still had that jersey. I wonder
if I do, maybe I can find it somewhere anyway.
Lots of memories with Arod growing up. Brad Winchester, you
saw a movie. I know you were excited about it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
Talk to us, excited is a strong word. It was
one of the days this week I was staying home
because my migraine pain had gotten to a point where
I thought my face was going to burst from the inside.
Is the easiest way I could say. I told Tyler
my eye pain was Stan Hansen thumb to Vader's eye

(01:05:54):
level eye pain in a text message, and I don't
know if it was that bad, but it was pretty rough.
So I had some downtime, and when I came to
from a medicated sleep, I saw that Jurassic Park or
Drastic World, excuse me, rebirth was available on Peacock, So
I was like, you know what I'm here? I wanted
to see it. I didn't get to see it in

(01:06:14):
the theaters because I didn't want to permanently, you know, traumatize
my child. So I watched it in the living room
by myself, solo dolo. And this movie was to the
same quality and standards as Jurassic Park three, which was

(01:06:35):
not a good movie. Well, I'm going to remind myself
of a conversation I had with my buddy in high school,
Mike Clemban. Shout out to Mike, where we went to
that movie. We went to see it live. We went
to live. We went to see it when it came out,
and we walked into it going, we know this isn't
going to be any good, but who cares dinosaurs? I

(01:06:57):
kind of felt that way. I went a scarlet. Johansson
is in this, maherschel La Ali is in this. How
bad could it possibly be? It's not that bad. People
are ragging on it like it's like apocalyptic. It's just
not good. It is pretty flat in terms of character development, storyline.

(01:07:17):
Everything just felt rehashed and repeated. There's only so many
times you can hide under a jeep from a giant
dinosaur trying to eat you. Before we go Okay, we've
seen this one before. I think all they did was
have a mutated four armed t Rex xenomorph hybrid thing

(01:07:38):
on the island that was kind of scary and threatening
and it was there for like eight seconds, really really
strangely put together film. I think they need to stop
making these at this point. If they're ever going to
do anything again, it's gonna have to be back to
Jurassic Park and start it all over and give us
like twenty years before that happens, because that's a masterpiece.

(01:08:01):
Would I recommend watching it if nothing else is on
and you're like, well dinosaurs, Yeah, turn it on. If
you have any other options, other options are better.

Speaker 2 (01:08:13):
That's what I got in retrospect. Excited me have been
a reach When I.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
I was very excited to watch it, I was, I
was all in. I didn't look. I don't look at
reviews for movies like that because I think I'm just
gonna find disappointment there, because I'm like not going in
to see high art, going in to see climbs.

Speaker 2 (01:08:30):
The Mike climbing story. It lives, it will live in
it forever. Yes, fitting truly, Tyler, I didn't miss that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:38):
But what did we miss.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
Yeah, I have a few notes for what do we miss? First,
big shout out to those who follow us on social
media at gipod nineteen, I want to show love to
three gentlemen in particular. You may recall weeks ago, Brad,
we had a conversation about Home Alone and our favorite
Christmas movies. I want to give a shout out first
at Jubari Davis. Jabbari commented on Instagram his picks for

(01:09:03):
favorite Christmas movies an annual tradition for him include Die Hard,
Friday After Next, Bad Santa, and Trading Places. What a
court to that we could always count on Jabari for
giving us picks of different genres and just always coming through. Jabari,
thank you for the love and for your contributions. There
also one more shout out for the great George Romero,

(01:09:25):
our previous guest on volume one of Stranger Things season five.
He chose The Grinch. He specifically notated in parentheses the
Grinch starring Jim Carrey. Love that for you, George. And
then finally local shout out to me here in the Valley,
Charles Schultz. Thank you Charles for contributing your thoughts on
Home Alone. Charles just gave us some affirmation. He said

(01:09:46):
home alone quote the best one ever. We love Charles.
Shout out to the Greenway High School demons. I know
his son, at least one of his sons goes there,
and we so greatly appreciate his support as well. So
that's my first one. Do we miss? And then Brad
wrestling wise, two quick notes for you. Congrats to Darius
Lockhart and the team over at ash A Wrestling as
they held their two year anniversary show in Charlotte over

(01:10:09):
the weekend. And Total NonStop Action Wrestling TNA signs with
a MC. As you may have heard, Thursday Night, Impact
will debut on AMC Network beginning January fifteen.

Speaker 1 (01:10:23):
It's about time they got a They got a major
network to get them on there and not have to
be stuck into Twitch or some streaming platform I've never
heard of. It's just, uh yeah, they're they're, they're they
those those performers deserve a better platform, and it sounds
like they're gonna get that. Uh Tyler, Uh, First of all,

(01:10:45):
I wanted to shout out you, like Gollys, I'm gonna
shout out your dad. I'm sitting here with matching k today.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:10:54):
Shout out to my Detroit Pistons and that Isaiah Stewart
block that made the round on the internet this week,
and boy was it fun to watch over and over
and over and over again. I have to shout out
you and the fan for giving me this. I just
got to show the wrestling related content on the wrestling
pod right. This is so exciting. This is such a thoughtful,

(01:11:16):
awesome gift. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much.
I want to thank everybody allow me to do stuff
this week, even though it's a lot of work. The
shout out to Amy Evans and her dance class students
who had their dance performance on Friday. It is not
a small endeavor to do something like this. There's a
lot of coordinating, a lot of effort, a lot of thought.

(01:11:38):
It's almost the same as doing a theatrical production because
you have to think about costuming, makeup, lighting, all of
that stuff. It's a lot. And to have the really
loud dance music bumping in the auditorium while there's a
game going on and the refs want the music to
be turned down, which is not going to happen. So

(01:11:59):
shout out to her shout out to that ref for
thinking he changed it. And yesterday the Mirana tree lighting
happened and I see a lot of talented kids around
the Marana area, and just I don't know how many
people showed up. I mean tens of thousands of people
were there. It was it was absolutely packed. On the

(01:12:22):
way home, we heard some ambulances. So hopefully everything turned out.
I haven't seen any news or anything, but I will say,
shout out to house of House of Brats, but it's
it's house of brats. I got a righteous brought last night.
And also I don't know the name of this place.
There's a Cajun food truck and I need the second.
When I heard the voice coming out of that truck,

(01:12:44):
I was like, I made a mistake. Even though the
brot was delicious and I look forward to whatever year.
I heard that woman's voice and I was like, oh,
I should have gone there.

Speaker 2 (01:12:51):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:12:52):
Jess did go there and I did eat half of
her food. It was incredible. So it was it was
an awesome night. I was like going to get the
food trucks and supporting the local businesses and stuff, and
it was just a lot of fun. So if you
have a local tree lighting or a local event. Go
do that, support the kids in the community. Go do
something fun for the holiday. Get out even if it's

(01:13:13):
really cold. You know what's not here. That's probably why
I enjoyed my evening so much. Lots of people in
shorts and T shirts, which I think is absolutely crazy.
I had a hoodie on and a jacket and a
couple of layers. And I lived in Michigan for half
of my life, so if I'm cold, go put on
a hoodie. That's all I got.

Speaker 2 (01:13:32):
I love. That tis the season, starting the episode with gratitude,
Brad ending the episode with gratitude as well. We will
be back next week. In the meantime, we thank you
so much for tuning in, and we will see you
next Monday. Give Me Infringement is a part of nineteen
Media Group. You can listen to us on Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio,
or wherever you find podcasts. You can also find us

(01:13:53):
on YouTube via the nineteen media group channel. Please like, subscribe,
comment and share it. Not

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The Last Time is Now: John Cena at Saturday Night’s Main Event — WWE and AEW, December 1-7

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Last Time is Now: John Cena at Saturday Night’s Main Event — WWE and AEW, December 1-7