Ep 286: WrestleMania 41 Preview. All The Latest News

Episode 286: It's WrestleMania week! We preview the two night extravaganza, the Hall of Fame and more.  Plus all the latest news.







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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
What's up, everybody? Welcome back.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
It is pro Wrestling after Hours. I'm Michael Carlisle, joined
as always by Micah Frank Omiicah was shaking, man.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
All of Sin City is shaking. There's so much mania
around it.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
WrestleMania hits Las Vegas this week, two nights at Allegiance
Stadium Saturday and Sunday.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
We will preview the card.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
You've got aw now on their road to double or nothing.
You got the the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Men's and
Women's going on, you got injuries, you got puking, you
got this, you got that.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Start Mania.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Michael, did you want to get to I guess we'll
get right to Mania and then we can end it
up with the AEW.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
I wasn't sure if you wanted to go reverse.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Let's do that. Let's be honest.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
WrestleMania the big thing this week, two big nights in
Las Vegas, this Saturday, this Sunday from Allegiance Stadium, live
on Peacock.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Is there one match that stands out to you more
than the others? Micah?

Speaker 2 (01:14):
But before we get into the preview, just talk about
you got as we record right now, you got seven
matches scheduled for Saturday six on Sunday. I feel very
confident there's gonna be at least one more match added
this week because you gotta have something for Andy Orton.
We talk about that in a minute. But is there
one you're looking forward to more than the others? Please

(01:35):
don't say war Raiders versus New Day.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
I can say with a firmness, with a stand to it,
and it's that. No, there is nothing that wow jumps
out over the top to me. And I am such
a ba humbugger that is. I was watching Monday Night
or I'm thinking I kind of miss John Cena at

(02:01):
this moment.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
Where the hell is any pizzazz towards this.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Cody with the titles?

Speaker 4 (02:09):
It didn't do it for me. And there is actually.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
A point in Monday Night Raw when Logan Paul walks
out and I actually popped because I was like, man,
this is really shitty that we're trying to do this
whole AJ Styles Logan Paul match by building it up
with Carrion Cross and AJ Styles. I feel like I'm
not as excited for this Mania as I could be.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
To the point where Shitty.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
Paul Hayman's alliance actually mattered to me at some point
this past Monday, where I care if he's going to
stab any of these guys on the back, And I'm
trying to think, what before this was the last thing
that Paul Hayman did that made me think he's a
true asset to be aligned with an entity.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Uh, the eighty seven year title reign of Roman Reign.
I know it wasn't that long. It just seemed like
any if he really.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Was the one that leveraged all the negotiations to get
Roman reigns one hundred percent vacation days, I guess he
is worth it exactly real quick.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Since you brought up the Hayman stuff, I don't think
they do it on purpose.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
The goddamn if wwe don't have this knack of making
the least likable person, the one that makes the most sense,
and the one that should be cheered seth Rawlins is
only goddamn one who actually makes sense of those three,
and he should be the fan favorite going in it.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
He won't be. I don't think there's any chance he.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Wins unless Hayman winds up leaving with him. That looks
too obvious at this I would agree, but seth Rawlins,
you know, much like we talked about with with Cody
and Ko and some other seth Rawens actually is the
one who's making sense here.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
I think seth Rawlins will make sense. I think that
CM Punk and Paul Hayman are incahoots now, the two friends,
the two equals. I think thought Paul Haman has had
enough of being the wise man, yelled at, intimidated left
on raw for weeks.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Where were you with Solo was beating my ass?

Speaker 4 (04:11):
Yes exactly.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
I think that he aligns with his friend. But we're
doing enough to swerve everybody towards seth Rawlins. That seth
Rollins will be right.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Real quick sidebar.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
For anybody who bitches about Adam Cole's physique, take a
look seth Rowlins sometimes.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Then get back to me.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
And seam Punk.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Seampunk has always been like that.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
Seth Rollins to me, has gotten a lot smaller, a
lot smaller, but.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
That's just me. Maybe it was his sweet outfit just
made him look really thin. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
I think it's because he wears the same clothes that
Leo Rush does and they're both just so oversized.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
All right, fuck it, let's start right there your night
one main event, Roman Reigns see him Punk seth Rollins
Triple Threat match. Yes, that is your main event, not
the World Heavyweight Championship Match. We'll talk about that in
a second. Rains Punk Rollins. You think punkin' Hayman wind
up a line when this.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
Is over, Punkin Hayman end up a line. I mean,
we gotta print out as many of those OTC shirts
and as many colors as we can and move them
all week because the talk of the tribal treat Chief,
the blood line.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
I feel like this is.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
The mania where it all comes to an end, because
there's gonna be a man just left holding his uhlafalla
and no wise men, no minions, no blood line ease.
I think that this is a CM Punk Paul Hayman takeover,
that we've had these inklings of a self serving evil Sempunk.

(05:52):
I think it's signed we indulge into what chaos true
masterminds can do. When it's two puppet masters Punk and
Hayman going at the WWE universe, I think we need
to spice up who CM punk is upon this return.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
I don't hate that at all. I actually like it
a lot.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
I don't think Punk needs it, whereas I do think
Roman still needs Paul Hayman because Roman's not going to
be there weekend and week out, so you need Hayman's
presence to be there for Roman.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
If I'm splitting Roman and.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Paul Hayman, though, I'm putting him with Seth Rollins because
I think Seth needs it.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Seth needs the shot in the arm.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
The whole hating seem Punk thing has kind of made
him relevant again, but you need something else.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
To get over that. I still don't see Seth Rowins
winning this match, but I could see a scenario where
Hayman left with him. I would argue, though.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
Maybe that happens night too. I'll save that that. Maybe
you get someone all together differently that comes in int
Lean's house and Paul Hayman winds up leaving.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
It leaves all three of those guys laying.

Speaker 3 (07:17):
I just fully believe that the obvious is too obvious,
and there's been a lot of bread crumbs towards a
Seth Rawlins Paul Hayman alliance.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
Too many bread crumbs to not.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
Call it something that was just but there to throw
us off the stent. I'm really being a detective here.
I think they're throwing it off.

Speaker 4 (07:36):
This is distraction.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Distraction. I actually agree with you on that.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
I'm just saying, if I'm if I'm breaking up Hayman
in Roman, I'd put him with Rawlins instead of Punk,
because that's the one you don't see coming. But I
agree with you. I think the Rolins stuff is kind
of a red herring.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
I feel. I also think the other reason, I don't
think Hayman's actually going anywhere. He sticks with Rome. It
sure seems like seeing Punk is manipulating this. He just
so happens to run into Paul Hayman backstage waiting for
Roman as Roman finally shows up two hours and twenty
minutes into the show. It seems awful convenient.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
I think Roman that was his way of screwing with Rains,
if you will. But from a storyline purposes, Oh there
they are talking.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Oh here comes Roman. Oh more dissension. Obviously punkin Hayman
they're gonna be I don't think so. But we'll see
on that the fact that.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
We don't know for sure, and we can make an
argument with all three of those guys winding up with Hayman.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
I don't think that's a bad thing.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Do you think that CM punk dropped like an Apple
air tag in Roman's bag?

Speaker 4 (08:47):
I'm gonna show up right before here.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
I'm like, we both know this is a show, but
like you think he has lowjack on him. He called
lone star my car, my rental car was taken. I
am Roman Rains acknowledge me. Oh yes, mister Rains, we
will acknowledge you may right away tell you where you
are in this Gabe. All three make a good case,

(09:10):
but the storytelling, like I said, has got to me
so bored. Now for a moment, I'm thinking what would
be best for Paul Hayman and who would benefit from him, which,
for some reason I didn't think i'd care about because
I still don't know what the meaning of this match is.
But hey, we get three huge stars in one match.
That's gonna be quite chaotic.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
The purpose of this match is so you don't have
to have Gunher and jay Uso main event Night one, which.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
By the way, your co main event.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Gunther defends the World Heavyweight Championship against jay Uso. If
you had asked me this two months ago, Micah, if
you'd asked me this a month ago, if you'd asked
me this three weeks ago, maybe two weeks ago, my
answer would have been completely different than it's gonna be now.
But if you ask me who I think is gonna win,
Gunther needs to keep the belt here.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
Jay Usso.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
First of all, wwe did him no favors in the
lead up to this match, but he looks so much
less than and not.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Ready for this position.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
I think it would be a huge mistake to put
the belt on jay Usso here. I also think that's
part of the reason this is in the main event,
so you can get gum Thro his win here. But
and I'm not the biggest gun Thro fan in the world.
His promo on Raw this past week thought I thought
was phenomenal. He should keep the belt here. I don't

(10:36):
know that he does, But I think Gumpher should retain.

Speaker 4 (10:43):
Not ready, not ready, never gonna be ready. That's all
it is.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
Unfortunately, with jay Uso, they yeeded their way as far
as they could, and as weeks went by, when I
said where is the substance, there's a lot of flash
and palm ump and a seven minute entrance, And as
the weeks have went on, there's just a seven minute intro,

(11:07):
and they tried to tell a story and I don't
know if I was the only one that lost it
when Jay was like, I'm so scared of gun there.
I'm so scared of gun there. And then I was
watching him pommel my brother.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
I ain't scared anymore.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
He the literal embodiment of me, and I watched the
worst things that could ever happen to myself. Granted I
had to feel nothing of it because it's happening to
my brother again. Yeah, but now that took away my fear.
It might also distract people because it killed it for
me too.

Speaker 4 (11:37):
Just just go back to being romans, you know, buddy.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
If family bloodline, that's all that matters, because that's the
kind of feeling that story said again.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
For my family. And I'm like, you're kind.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
Of saying the same storyline we've already regurgitated a couple times.
There's not more to build off of with Jay, unfortunately
for Jay than where we are put it like this.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
If you didn't have the remnants of the bloodline fall
back on Jay, Uso is about five weeks away from
running into our truth in the back and our truth
saying hey, Coco, where's Frankie.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Beware of that. One happened exactly.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Oh yeah, and I'm being one hundred percent serious there.
Jay Usso is headed in the wrong direction at the
wrong time, and it's not entirely his fault, but yeah, I.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Would absolutely have gone through retain here.

Speaker 4 (12:27):
In the meanest way possible.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
It's kind of your worst fear of elevating a fifteen
year tag team veteran into a solo spotlight. We don't
know if you can carry this torch, and all of
a sudden, where it looked like he was doing great,
the weight just got too heavy.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
It's like both Jay and Jimmy or Marty Jeannetti and
WWE was hoping one of them will be Shawn Michaels.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Who's just below Shawn Michaels like like was owen Hart
on the cusp but never got to pop. Maybe Jay
So got to like owen Hart maybe and maybe never
pushed above that ceiling.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Is it a bad thing that I don't give two
shits about the WWE Women's Championship match Tiffany Stratton and
Charlotte Flair. We spent a lot of time last week
talking about what did or didn't happen oh, come on,
but even.

Speaker 4 (13:15):
The Internet did that.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Come on?

Speaker 4 (13:17):
We don't care. This is real.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
I'm well for it is so fucking not real. Please
but I.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
And again, I don't think this is neither one of
they're false. But you've got arguably the most decorated Women's
champion in WW history, still in her prime, involved in
this match, the young version of.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
Her, and I don't care. They've given me no reason
to care about this. And I don't care about off
script this and bullshit that.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
I don't care. I don't care which one wins. I
don't care which one gets cheered. I just hope this
matchhouldn't take up too much of my Saturday night.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
What could they have done to change the trajectory of
this story? We have now had the traditional I will
attack the champion, I am the heel kind of animosity,
where Charlotte has now the WW traditional run in and attack.
What do you think they could have done? Was it

(14:16):
just they over emphasized the age, the sexuality, or do
you think this was just never gonna work.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
No, Tiffany should have been your baby face in peril,
and instead she's come off more heelish than Charlotte has
so you're supposed to love one and hate the other.
Is the way WWE was trying to position this, and
it went horribly wrong. And I don't think anybody likes
either one of them, to be honest, If you ask me,

(14:46):
which one seems more sympathetic right now, it's fucking Charlotte
coming back from another injury, younger pretty or her just
you know, talking shit. Yeah, Charlotte is actually coming off
as slightly more sympathetic, and that ain't the way they
plan this out.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
Man, I hear what you're saying, but the smug look
on her face hurts me each time. Great. Oh no, no,
I still hate you too, but I thought I was
the only one that hated Tiffy. Also, you guys are
out running on Tiffy time, Like, how is that like
appealing as a you can't see me?

Speaker 4 (15:18):
And I never really got that appeal either, But you
know what I mean, I don't get where we're going there.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
And yeah, maybe Ludwick Kaiser actually gets to get involved
in the match and have a WrestleMania moment got more
pressed from this storyline than he has for many of
the ones he's been involved with.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
I bet he has a WrestleMania moment.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
After the show, La Knight defends the US title against
Jacob Fatu. If this ain't Jacob fat two time, then
there's never gonna be Jacob fot two time.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
It feels like there should be Jacob fought two time.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
But maybe I shouldn't have said Jacob fought two time
after we were just talking about Tiffy time. If this
isn't Jake Fatu's moment, Micah, Jacob Fatu is never gonna
have his moment.

Speaker 4 (16:04):
That's a good point to be made.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
I Uh, we've been waiting to see it. It feels
like there's a lot of start stop misdirections, creative moment,
creative meetings focused around what we're doing with Bloodline be.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
Team, because well it's Jacob the leader. Is Jacob not
the leader? Solo?

Speaker 3 (16:23):
Do we get Solo and Toma?

Speaker 4 (16:26):
Do we finally get the implosion?

Speaker 3 (16:27):
Here?

Speaker 4 (16:28):
Is this when Solo bungles it up so.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Bad that Jacob Fatu attacks both of them and becomes
his own man. I could see him losing the match
and still having a moment.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
Maybe Jake car Gill takes on Naomi.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
I can't help but feel like Night one is the
night of We know you don't really care about most
of these, but we got to do two nights, so
enjoy cargo, Naomi.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
Now, look, maybe I'm just the one not feeling.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
This, but I haven't been been big on Jade since
she came over to WWE. I think trying to protect
her actually highlighted how green she was. I just I'm
not into her at all, So I don't care about
anything that happened, and I don't care about her.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
Naomi.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
I had something I was gonna say and I lost it.
But it's just because this is so underwhelming. I think
Jade wins because they've invested too much in her. Yeah,
I think the story has more been about the range
of an actress that Naomi is. They finally did something
with her. I felt like this was all about Naomi.
I feel like you're into deep financially on someone that's

(17:41):
not able to put out the requisitive performance we expected.
Oh yeah, you called this the uh that we have
to have it because it's two nights.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (17:54):
How many years are we into two nights of WrestleMania?

Speaker 4 (17:56):
You feel like, what four or five? Four or five?

Speaker 1 (17:59):
I don't know. The pandemic may have changed that. I'd
have to look.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
It up, but yeah, it's we're far enough into it
it ain't changing.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Well, we knew it was never gonna change once they
did it, because we saw the receipts at the gate.
My premise more is that the big, massive juggernaut that
is WWE, the greatest wrestling promotion on Earth, the biggest one.

Speaker 4 (18:22):
Should they not be.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
Able to do a two day event and not have
a what feels like dread and this much throwaway As
we're breaking it down, like we're five years into this process,
it doesn't feel like we should have hit the this
will have done it. This is overwhelming, this is too
much portion of our trip.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
Does it feel like WWE was almost like it's Mania.
We're gonna get We're gonna sell the tickets regardless of
what we do, so we don't have to try as hard.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
There's this wishy washiness for me this year because some
of it is and isn't that way for me.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Since I'm sorry, since thirty six, so this is forty one.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
So yeah, five years our fifth year, yea, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
It feels like some of the main storylines have been
underwhelming to me this year and our lack of caring
about the secondary storylines has just inevitably hurt the product
in a way it shouldn't, because the secondary storylines are
the people that we're getting to see.

Speaker 4 (19:25):
Like, you're gonna have to remind me who Chad Gable
is again.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
The greatest wrestler in WW or are you talking about
hold on?

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Hold on?

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Are you saying are you making the accusation that Chad
Gable is El Grande Americano.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
I should have asked you who the single it wearing
luchador is. Okay, yeah, remember the greatest flution door of
all time?

Speaker 1 (19:51):
You mean yeah?

Speaker 4 (19:52):
I feel like we have.

Speaker 3 (19:53):
More hours and equity put into that story with him
and Ray Mysterio than we do with some of the
more prominent championship matches.

Speaker 2 (20:02):
And it's funny you said that because I was going
to say Night one. I care about two matches, the
main event and this one. And I'm not a Ray
Mysterio guy. So he I realize everybody else is, and
that's cool. He's not the reason I'm interested in that.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
I what's happened to Chad Gables since he was since
he rose and I realized its fin on the weekend
the bad time to use it.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
But since he got murdered by the Wyatts and then
the Wyatt's six and then magically reappeared fine the next week.
Not that everything's been main event level and all that,
but what they've done with him, his character development has
been phenomenal. In all seriousness, it's hokey as hell, but

(20:47):
I love the El Grande Americano deal here. Yeah, Night one,
I really care about two matches. There's at least one
more that I'm interested in, but that I actually care about.

Speaker 4 (20:59):
There's two.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
It's the three way main event, and it's Mysterio and
Ol Grande Americano.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
I can acknowledge they have put a lot of equity
into it. We'll see how this plays out. We'll see
over under two Las Vegas Raiders getting involved in the
Raymisterio match.

Speaker 4 (21:19):
This year.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
We kind of have a tendency for Raymisterio to pull
Eagles out of trash cans and random fans just celebrities
helping him out.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Is Max Crosby still a Raider, Yes, okay, he'd be one.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
I would do it differently.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
I would say three Raiders or one George Kittle, because
at that point I would take the one George Kittle,
but I could totally see Max Crosby.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
At the very least being there.

Speaker 4 (21:49):
Maybe a Geno Smith, Pete Carroll.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (21:52):
I don't know. We'll see what happens.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
But they have put a lot of effort into Chad Gable,
the Revolution, the Lucasian I guess of everything going on.
Who knew WW like Luchadors all of a sudden.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
They like internactional expansion.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
Micah, you're opening, at least as of now night one match.
It's for the World Tag Team Championship. The war Raiders,
Eric and Ivar take on the New Day.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yeah you announced it.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
I cared about the New Day when they were getting
hated when we were building them up and it was
kind of inconsistent while they were overseas, and we had
this random match where they earned it.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
So Biggie comes out and helps the war Raiders win.
He'll be right there because that'll be right after the
pre show wins, which I'm sure he'll be a part of.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
Works out very well.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
Nice that that's some symmetry to the storytelling. Maybe it'll
make people care about the war Raiders because WW hasn't.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Yeah, as we record one last match announced for Night two,
but it certainly seems like the bigger night. And again,
we're almost certainly gonna get Randy Orton and someone probably
Nick Oldis. I'm guessing based on last week's backdown. I
respect you, but if you don't get me a match,
I'm gonna lay you out. I think I paraphrased that

(23:18):
a little bit, wasn't the direct quote, but.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Orton, I think it's gonna wrestle. Somebody may as well
be Nick Allus I guess so yeah, but AnyWho.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
Seems like they laid that out pretty well.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
I just can't get excited because I don't think I've
seen nicholl this wrestling like four years. I'm over being
excited about nicko All. This is a wrestler well.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
Plus, WWE has gotta outdo everybody else. And if you
can randomly throw Nigel McGinnis on your biggest show ever
like AW did, then.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
God damn it, we'll just do it better.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
We'll have Nick Alldis on Mania.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
But they basically told us like Nigel. I was seriously shore,
I know, WW told us just told us this for
the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
That's because we do it better, Mike, we do it
better your main event night too. Cody Rhodes defends the
undisputed WWE Championship against John Cena. As much as I
want to say, there's no way John Cena wins, I
put the belt on John Cena in a heartbeat. Otherwise
the rest of his time is a little awkward. And

(24:27):
there's so many different ways you can go. I'm curious
your thoughts on it, because I also have an alternate theory.
But I'm curious what you think here, Cody roads John Cena.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
Does John Cena just retire at the end of the night.
Is this the end of the year long tour?

Speaker 4 (24:41):
Is the tour over? Did the tour ever.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Seem the year long tour can't end in April? Then
it's no longer a year long tour?

Speaker 1 (24:50):
So no, when did he announce it? Though?

Speaker 3 (24:52):
I swear he announced it even before he came back.
Though he announced that the tour was going to begin,
and then four months later came back.

Speaker 4 (24:58):
To start the tour.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
So the tour start.

Speaker 4 (25:00):
Eight months ago or four months ago?

Speaker 2 (25:02):
Four months you got to announce it. Fucking bands don't
announce a tour and leave the next day. Fucking Jericho
announced his next Fozzi tour months ago, and I realized
I could have done better than Fozzi.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
But yeah, the longer we get in the rear view
mirror from Hope Cogan, the worse it is to be
involved in the ho Cogan business.

Speaker 4 (25:26):
The easier it makes.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
It think that you need to get the name Rick
Flair away from the history books further and further as
far as possible. And it makes a lot of sense
looking at Alex Ovechkin and Wayne Gretzky from the NHL.
You want to have that next guy there to smile,
to be the goat, to be the legend. You want

(25:48):
John Cena still here twenty thirty years later to then
be able to usher in that next greatest guy. So
I could see John Cena getting this victory, John Seena.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
The problem.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
John Cena getting this victory accomplishes none of that stuff
you just said.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
All it does is bring Rick Flair back out of
the woodwork. Well, I actually.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
Won twenty two world championships. It's the wonky way that
they recognized titles. I did this in Japan. Me and
Harley switched the title back in New Zealand. All true
stuff but that they don't acknowledge. So I don't think
you get that happy moment. Flair comes out our heavs
of video, bows down to Sena, acknowledges him, nount no

(26:32):
pun intended, and you're the king now John enjoy it
and Rick Flair rides off in the sunset.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
I think it just brings Rick Flair out even more.

Speaker 3 (26:40):
No see, I think you have Sena so that Sena
can do that one day for the next guy, and
you just erase Flair from the record books. You don't
do the moment. You're just trying to get pass Flair,
to get away from Flair.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
You wan so he could do that for bron Breaker
in about fifteen.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
Years exactly, So Sena can do that for Breaker. We're
just getting away the long you think about real American beer,
You're gonna away from Hogan.

Speaker 4 (27:00):
We're trying to get away from Flair.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
We're just hiding the legacy of John Cena is more
what this is about, and separating the past and making
a new legend. Like you said, what is he going
to do besides turn back into John Cena. I've liked
the pivot because you can call him a sellout. We
can maybe have the Rock come out during WrestleMania. That still,

(27:25):
for me, will not make the Rock any part of
this story at all. That he was there for the
first page and then shows back up for the last page,
that doesn't really make you a main.

Speaker 4 (27:35):
Character in the book.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
I've liked the pivot of the title being the emphasis, but.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
The Rock is going to play a focal part in
this and whether that's he and Travis Scott interfering to
get seen of the wind or what I could also
think happens, and maybe we get a little bit of
a shadowing at Night one, Cody retains Rock and Travis

(28:07):
Scott come in. Sena's out down a couple of different things.
As Rock and Travis Scott are about to beat down
on Cody, Roman's music hits. He comes down, presumably to
save Cody, but instead he joins his uncle cousin whatever
the fuck he is, to the Rock with the beatdown,

(28:30):
and the guy who gets jilted by Paul Hayman on
Night one is now with family. That's one way I
could see this playing out. The other way, Sena comes up, short,
Rock comes in, they start beating down Cody. Seena's like,
oh that's enough, he had a great match, So they
start beating Seena down, and then Rock's new protege, fresh

(28:53):
off his final match for New Japan the night before,
makes his WWE debut, and this is the guy who's
going to take down Cody, this is the guy who's
going to be in the movies. This is the Rock's
handpicked successor.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
I think the.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Roman reign scenario would be more likely, But Jeff Cobb
making his WWE debut on the grandest stage is one
hell of a way to make a debut.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
Yeah, but I've never looked at Jeff Cobb, I know,
as that kind of talent that that's where you look.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
And how many of those fans are going to know
who the fuck Jeff Cobb is with all due respect.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
If this were an aw thing, yes, but how many?

Speaker 2 (29:37):
Also, by the way, did you see the Rocks Instagram
video staring at the.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
Rubik's Cube bring a New Japan.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
Yeah? Coincidence, Probably not exactly.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
I just don't know where we get massive star appeal
from Jeff Cobb, who, for the best of me, as
much as I like him, my best comp to him
is taz Oh. I was gonna do Rhino Light, thank you,
Thank you, Rhino Light exactly. He's the best enforcer possibly

(30:14):
for Johnson Somoa Joe Junior. He's he's a more ready
to be solo Socoa and was an enforcer. Instead we
turned him into a goofball side show. Yeah, that's what
Jeff Cobb is. So I don't know how that helps. Heck,
we know that Hiceleo is still somewhere also in the

(30:35):
ww Performance Institute. Depends on if they fire him yet
or not, because it appears that they keep bringing in
annoying members that well, we've seen them work on the
Independence and then they get to WWE and they end
up back on the Independence.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
Yeah, the Jeff Cobb thing makes a lot of sense.
I just don't other than being associated with the rock
and doing it at Mania, like people knew Penta was
before his debut.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
You also played it up.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Hey, Penta's making his debut this week, So if you
didn't know who he was and you were so inclined
you could figure it out. Just to have Jeff Cobb,
someone who I'm certain is unfamiliar to the majority of
the WWE universe, show up at Mania, I think there's
more confusion than excitement of course, you can just pipe

(31:25):
in some crowd noise and it'll sound really enthusiastic, I guess,
but I think that makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
I just don't think it happens in the end. I'm
taking the belt off.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
Cody for a little while, not because Cody's done anything wrong,
but I would put the belt on Sena.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
I'm guessing they're not gonna do that.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
So if you're not gonna do that, then you gotta
screw Cody, and you gotta turn.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
Sina back face immediately.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
And the only way you can do that is he
tries to tell the Rock no, no, Cody's had enough,
He's had enough, and then Scena gets.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
Beat down as well.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
Otherwise Seena is showing up on Raw or SmackDown next
week and being cheered makes no goddamn sense.

Speaker 4 (32:06):
You'd like to do that, you'd like.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
To see maybe the Rock and Sina had some friction
and we lead to seeing the turning back into John Cena.

Speaker 4 (32:16):
But the Rock hasn't been around.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
There's no reason to not continue down Evil Sena to
just come up short makes I guess John look like
a Putts. We have the whole story about seventeen. It
feels like he has to reach seventeen. Cody's overworked, he
needs a vacation. He's had the title for over a year.

(32:38):
And somewhere there's a voice in Triple Ah's head saying, well,
damn it. The universe has gotten way too used to
seeing the title belt on a weekly basis. I know
we only cuts promos, but we have to stop the
title from being on TV. John Cena will definitely take
that away from the people.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
Maybe you're well, it looks to be your covide event
triple threat for the WWE Women's Championship Eo Sky versus
Bianca bel Air versus Rhea Ripley. We're getting a title change,
but I don't think it's the one most people think.
I think Bianca actually comes out as the winner here.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
I think this feels like the perfect match for the
WWE pre show mentality. The mentality is we're gonna come
in and say, you know who's had.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
A big year, Real Ripley.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
Rea Ripley has more momentum than any woman in WWE.
And then that's when the next WWN I don't know,
is gonna come in and say, yeah, but you know,
Sky is on a roll. And somewhere throughout all of
it and be like you just said all three of
them had momentum, when I feel like none of them
have momentum. I feel like the triple threat aspect of

(33:50):
this match has actually taken away the convolutedness of the story.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
Is taken away from everything.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
First, I think the projection of who each one is
as a superstar has been detrimental to the story because
we've known it for the last year. The women's division
is nothing without Rehea Ripley, same effect as Tony Storm
and aw. If the belt is not on Ria Ripley,
it looks like less than when Edo's Sky came out

(34:19):
of nowhere, no momentum, nothing to win the title. It
was detrimental to the women's division. They should right the
wrong and have Rihia Ripley look dominant and win the title.

Speaker 4 (34:31):
But she's to the echelon.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
Of danger where being over can be a bad thing
for you because you're so over that we can use
that to build someone else up. And that's why I
like you saying Bianca, because it's felt like since she
lost the title last year, she's taken a back seat
to Jade Cargill. All of that punishment will now be
rewarded by TRIPLEH with this shining moment of we return

(34:54):
you to the pedestal of being on top. Thanks for
bearing with us. Even though this is all about Ria
Ripley is the best.

Speaker 4 (35:02):
Woman in WWE right now.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
Rhea doesn't have to have the title, and that doesn't
necessarily mean she shouldn't win it.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
But I would put the belt on Bianca.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Whatever happens, whether it's Ripley's now seeking out Bianca, Ripley
moves on to something else, I would solidify Bianca bell
Air here and put the belt on her.

Speaker 3 (35:26):
I would give it back to Ria Ripley because she
is the star and it's almost the same effect as
as Charlotte as Roman reigns at this point, if they're around,
you should.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
Probably have the belt on them.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
And that's look, that's a fair argument as well. And
I was going to try to come up with a comeback,
but that's pretty solid. I don't disagree with you at all.
I still don't know that I would do it, but
I hear you. Since City Street Fight Mike Damian Priest
versus Drew McIntyre.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
I ain't gonna lie. I don't care.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
Just because Damian Priest is a Triple H guy. I'll
say I think Priest wins McIntyre might need to win.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
Though Drew McIntyre built himself up without a lot of help.
The story was about Roman Reigns, the story was about cmpunk,
and Drew McIntyre was able to perform his role at
such an elite level that he made himself look like

(36:29):
a superstar. I feel like there can only be so
many people at the top, and unfortunately Damian Priest and
Drew McIntire have been driven back down to that mid card.

Speaker 4 (36:41):
I think you're right though.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
There's not anything that Drew McIntyre can do to overcome
that Priest is a Triple H guy, and I think
that Triple H is gonna see more value out of
his creation rather than a guy from the Independence who
just grinds away at making himself better every day.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
I feel like Drew McIntyre is dangerously close to becoming
seamous or braun Strowman. And I don't say that in
a complimentary way, and.

Speaker 4 (37:09):
I don't think it's his fault.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
I don't I think he's done either to pigeonhole himself
in this position.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
Right, And look, he's been booked in big time feuds,
but he's just come up short.

Speaker 4 (37:18):
So you look less than consistently exactly.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
But I'm with you. I think Priests gets to win.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
I'll call it now, Michael the Michael Micah the fatal
four way for the Intercontinental Championship. That's gonna be your
match of the weekend. Ron Breaker defends against Penta, Finn
balor Dominic Mysterio.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
You're gonna do one of two things here. Well, first
of all, you're gonna have a hell of a match.
Penta and Finn Baler are gonna have the working shoes on.
But you're gonna make Ron Breaker an effing star on
night two or well, and.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Or you're gonna have Dominic Mysterio flew his way into
a Intercontinental title run. But either way, I think you're
making bron Breaker a star here. And with Penta and
Ballard doing the heavy lifting, both Breaker and Dominic Mystereo
can do whatever it is they do best. And in
case of dom stand there and get booed by piped

(38:18):
in crowd noise. But he is a heat magnet and
I could see them somehow flucally putting the belt on
him briefly, but regardless, you're making bron Breaker on Sunday night.

Speaker 3 (38:29):
You know, my biggest problem with bron Breaker has been
and I've mentioned it several times, so this should be
easy for you. They stop, they start, they don't tell
us who he is. I believe in consistency, and I
believe in patterns, and I believe they do that again.
I think that we walk out with a loutador as
Intercontinental champion.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
It's either gonna be.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
Penta or it's gonna be dom Mystereo.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
I think that Finn is gonna think that he's gonna.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
Screw Dom and then Don will end up pending then
or their argument and deceit will lead to Penta getting
the wind. Because Penta is over like Rover right now.
It'd be a huge moment to put him over. And
you said they love this international expansion we just talked about.

(39:17):
There may be a WWE Mexico city coming up that's
in the works. I think we pull the trigger intercontinental
title on Penta once and for all, asserting that Penta
will dwarf Ray Phoenix.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
If I were booking this.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
And I were booking this for my own personal preferences,
I'm putting the belt on Penta.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
I don't think they're doing that.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
They love the international expansion, but you're only going so far.
My heart tells me Breakers retaining here and he's going
to spear the ever loving shite out of everybody. But
there's also something to be said for something really flukey happens,
and Dominic Mysterio wins, and then whether it's Monday, Friday

(40:08):
or the next pay per view, Ron Breaker beats the
ever loving hell out of dom and gets his belt back.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
I would go a couple more weeks because we need
it to be so much that it seeds in the
kraw a finn Balor. But more importantly, do we get
the demise of the Judgment Day or maybe the subtraction
of finn Balor from this new Judgment Day maybe after Mania?

(40:35):
Do you see any of that a possibility?

Speaker 2 (40:38):
I don't even know who the hell's in Judgment Day anymore,
except I don't know why Carlito gets paid every week,
So whatever happens there, I don't care. I used to
love that faction, and quicker than you can say, Alpha Academy,
I don't give a fuck, sorry, I just don't aj
styles Logan Paul. This is going to be really good

(41:02):
as well. I know Logan Paul's not everybody's cup of tea,
and I get that AJ Styles should get to win here,
but I have a feeling he's putting Logan Paul over.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
Yeah, I'm gonna go with you on that. I mean,
they like Logan Paul. They they've got what they've wanted
out of AJ Styles. I don't know how to find
any hope in that tunnel. Besides, hey, it's gonna be
a good looking match. They can both work, they both
are very athletic. Logan Paul's a star and celebrities usually

(41:39):
went at Rustlemania YEP.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
Kicking off Night to Live, Morgan and Roquel Rodriguez defend
the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against Bailey and Lyra Vakrea.
Which tech team match do you care less about? The
Night one opener between.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
New Day and war Raiders or this one?

Speaker 2 (42:00):
Yes, it feels like the exact same match, right, just
with four different teams.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
I just feel bad for Bailey. I don't know if
I feel worse for Bailey the Women's Intercontinental title, Lyra Valcarria.
There's just a whole lot of we don't care about you,
and how far are you from?

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Remember a couple of months ago when Nya Jackson was
an absolute fucking monster and she's gonna have to buy
a ticket if she's gonna be at WrestleMania, just saying, but.

Speaker 3 (42:27):
Jake Cargill gets a match. Yeah, you know, I don't
forget that. But Jade Cargill gets a match. Yeah, that's
where we're at with that. Live Morgan and rock Heel
Rodriguez the greatest women's tag team champions and WWE history.

Speaker 4 (42:43):
Don't take my word for it, WWE will tell you it.

Speaker 3 (42:46):
Then slapped this match together to show us how insignificant
the women's tag team division is. That you threw together
two random stars and they ran through four wins. Hey,
Wade Barrett said it best, though. They became a tag
team over the last.

Speaker 4 (43:00):
Thirty five minutes. Thirty five minutes.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
Man, they don't just win one match, they won four.

Speaker 1 (43:09):
Fuck Wade Barrett, but I'm kidding. Look, you got a
job to do.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
I get it, But come on also real quick, WWE
Hall of Fame on Friday night. If I'm being honest,
fuck it, I'll let you decide. Triple h Lex Luger,
Michelle McCool, the WrestleMania thirteen match between Brett Hard and
Stone Cold Steve Austin. Plus we're bringing back the legacy

(43:34):
wing Kamala, Dorry Funk Senior, Ivan.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
Coloff all being inducted. There your thoughts on the Hall
of Fame.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
I like those deceased wrestlers going in. I feel their
respect and the adoration for them and their families. That's
some true comic book nerds stuff from US hardcore wrestling fans.
Triple H cool. Cool for him, he's coming in. He
had a tremendous in ring career. I could assume that

(44:03):
with him leading the gorilla position that he is no
longer gonna enter the ring anymore to work. So just
does feel well deserved.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
I don't think healthwise he can enter the ring and
work anymore.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
So yeah, this feels really well deserved, rightful. Lex Luger
always was a fan of his. Good to see how
he has been able to overcome change his life around
after everything A big you know hand from Diamond Dallas Page.

Speaker 4 (44:30):
I understand those ones.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
Yeah, Luger should have went in with the four horsemen.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
If we're being completely honest and yeah, triple h Lex
Luger absolutely deserved to be there. I know some people
don't like it, but I'm cool with doing the Bret
Hart Stone Cold Steve Austin match. They're taking a page
from the UFC playbook there by inducting a match this
just isn't the match I would have done first.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
It's certainly worthy.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
It really got stone Cold to that next level. You
did the double Turn, so I'm cool with that.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
I like the legacy stuff as well.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
Honestly, Kamala and I haven't call us a fucking former
WWWF World champion. He should have been in long ago.
Kamala should have been in as well. Dory Funk Senior,
no problems there. I just feel like overall it's a
little lackluster. But you've already inducted so many damn people,
it's tough. The one I have a problem with is

(45:28):
Michelle McCool and look, I get it. We're talking about
a sports entertainment Hall of Fame. We're talking about a
Hall of Fame where there's some less than main eventors
in it.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
I get it. I'm looking at Ko kobe Ware. Sorry
not begrudging you.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
But hey, this is the second time we've brought you
up on this podcast, so you're welcome. There is one reason, Micah,
and one reason only Michelle McCool is going in the Hall.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Of Fame because someone said that they wanted her.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
In there because of the Undertaker, were she not married
to the Undertaker. And look, I don't I don't necessarily
mean this as being shitty towards her, but I guess
I do. But she she wouldn't be the only one.
No one would remember who the fuck Michelle McCool is
were she not married to the Undertaker. And the fact
that they're putting her in the Hall of Fame delegitimizes

(46:16):
what is probably already the most delegitimized.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
Hall of Fame in all of sports. I guess for
her lying of a better term.

Speaker 3 (46:23):
Literally, all these people just get in this motherfucker for
doing what they were told and doing their job.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
Well.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
I don't know that Michelle mccool's WWE job is boinking
the Undertaker, but it's why I got her in the
Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
Mark, if you're listening, I'm sorry, Please don't kill.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
Me, but your dreams.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
But yes, but i'd be like fucking Bryce Mitchell we're
talking about on MMA after hours.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
I don't get no sleep because I'm afraid of the Undertaker.
He's going to Freddy Krueger.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Be But I am, and I guess I shouldn't give
a fuck, but I am appalled that Michelle mccool's going
into a Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
I am literally appalled.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
I also found myself god Earthquake and Typhoon.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
For some reason, I didn't Mentionjoy.

Speaker 4 (47:10):
And freaking tug Boat.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Here's the problem. I would have put them both in
as singles before I put them in as the tag team.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
I I just I questioned that one. As we're getting
to uh to a point, I'm like.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
And my apologies for not mentioning that one with the
other ones.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
I did not mean to skip them. I apologize, but yeah,
I'm okay.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
I can't. I get it.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Not everybody's going to be a main eventor Georgia Animal
steals in.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
I totally get why uh Tony Atlas is in. I
get it.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Uh you know, so it's fine.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
I just I don't fucking get Michelle McCool. Seriously, no
one would remember who the she would be, Kelly Kelly
or some other female wrestler of that time that nobody remembers.
I understand again, Coco's in. I got it. He served
a purpose. I don't know as an active wrestler. What
purpose Michelle McCool served.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
And if somebody can tell me, I'm all ears, but
I don't think he can.

Speaker 3 (48:15):
Do you just not like lya cool was this something
even when she was active? Just just wondering how you've
always felt about her.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
I never thought highly of her, but she also wasn't
around long enough for me to think too much about
it all.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
That was part of my confusion. I didn't think that
she had a look, I had a long tenure.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
Yeah, I understand. We're talking about a hall of fame
that the Godfather's in for crying out loud, by the way,
at least a great character. Whatever.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
We don't need to sully our WrestleMania preview by shitting
all over Michelle Mccoolvin's probably did that.

Speaker 1 (48:52):
Oh some things don't fall far from our memories, does it.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
Oh my goodness, Sorry, I shouldn't have went there.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
Yeah. I don't get the shovel cold thing at all.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
But whatever, I'm assuming we're gonna get a Dana Warrior recipient.
But I don't think we have a celebrity You throw
Travis Scott in since presumably he's gonna be around.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
I'm sure that Gabriel and Glaciers would take a spot
for just having.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
Been in the Did you get into the celebrity wing
just by showing up at events? Don't you actually have
to do something in the ring?

Speaker 4 (49:27):
Do we just put Logan Paul in now.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
And then when he retires, you could put him in
as an actual wrestler as well, so he could be
a two time WWE Hall of Famer.

Speaker 3 (49:40):
Hey, we could put Speed in and you can come
up there with a torso cast like brown Breaker just
speared him again.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
I guess, I guess anything else Mania Hall of Fame.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
I think that's all the the WWE I can handle
in me this week. If you're there in Vegas, there's
a host of events that fought in Blue. There's the
Two Nights of WrestleMania, and I think there's even an
NXT at some point right by the way.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Not to spoil anything for anybody, but just as an FYI,
Living Color is playing a free concert on Freemont Street
on Friday night, I will bet you everything I own
Micah they play seam Punk to the Ring on Saturday Night.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
Safe bet to put on the books out. There should
be a great time WWE celebrating their product.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
I agree with you over an aew Micah.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
The fallout from the last pay per view continues, the
road to double or Nothing.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
Kicks up. We talked a lot of last week.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
About the Young Bucks and their appearance and what does
this mean. It looks like, at least for now, I
was a little wrong that there's not going to be
a perfect alignment with them and the Death Riders.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
I called it, yeah, at least not yet, but yes,
you still got the friction there.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
I don't know that I like the Bucks per se,
but the first forty minutes or so of Dynamite might
have been the best forty minutes of Dynamite outside of
a long ass will Ospray match. What you got accomplished
coming out of that the opening match, the Bucks come out,

(51:32):
Moxley leaves, you have that interaction, but then you have
everybody and their brother come out.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
That that are in that main event picture. I just
thought they did a really good job there.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
There was a lot of questions posed and a lot
of answers were still waiting on. I'm very curious what
they do with the Bucks. I don't know that I'm
all in yet, No pun intended, but I'm curious what
do you think of all that?

Speaker 3 (52:04):
Like you said, you start off with the Shabbata angle,
you get it because of the Ops and the Death Riders,
and then we open that up into the Bucks explaining
what happened trying to make friends, Kenny o'mega coming back
out to challenge his old rivals.

Speaker 4 (52:24):
You get Swerve.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
You have everything of the combustible elements coming together to
start outlining where we're going, who is and isn't aligned,
and where we might be going in the future. Feeling
like some of these players are not done yet in.

Speaker 4 (52:44):
The main event scene.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
And then we obviously go right into the match with
Pack and Swerve, and that kind of changes everything as Packing.
Cura is the real life ankle injury and still tough
through the match, but obviously something that's not gonna to
continue action for a while.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
Uh yeah, no word on how long it'll be out,
but it's out long enough that John Moxley is now
one third of the Trios Champions and they're defending this
week against the Ops.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
I guess, which also should just in case.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
Anyway, there's a lot online about Hook throwing up in
the ring, and he threw up in the ring. By
all accounts, Hook was not concussed. There may have been
some food poisoning. There may have been some dehydration.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
I noticed it when it happened. I thought he was
making himself throw up.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
In hindsight, he might have been trying to cover it
up and hold it in.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
But that was a little gross if you called it live.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
If not, I'm sure you've seen the videos of it.
But before they before uh, Claudio drops him on the chair,
Claudio literally picks him up out of a pool of
puke yew.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
Yeah, poor Hook.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
Yeah, but skip it ahead a little bit there, sorry,
But yeah. The Swerve Pack match was fine. Credit Pack
as well, going back in there and getting to the
end of the match. I'm sure they cut a bunch
of stuff out, but they could have just had the
doctor stoppage. I also think in a way it kind
of makes Swerve better.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
You know, I hurt Pack, He's out now. Look at that.
I'm out for blood. I'm out for my title.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
It kind of plays into that Swerve I'll jab you
in the mouth through the syringe.

Speaker 1 (54:25):
Or hit you with a board.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
Or you know, does return him to be the most
violent man and wrestling kind of motif.

Speaker 1 (54:31):
Yeah, exactly, so I like that.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
The the dumbest thing ever, the four hundred thousand dollars
eight man tag thing was actually entertaining. The four hundred
thousand part I thought was dumb. But Mark Brisco talking
about diversifying with his share of the money, diversifying his assets,

(54:55):
I thought was pretty funny.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
Mike Bailey finally affording shoes are the thought of Kevin
Knight going to Magic City and I don't, Nige Will
McGinnis wondering how much took its cost to get there.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Don't and poor Ricochet getting smacked on top of the
head by everybody.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
Dude, that was amazing.

Speaker 2 (55:20):
MJF coming out and sliding up beside Shelton, Benjamin standing
there with the rest of the Hurt syndicate.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
It cracked me the fuck up. Ain't even gonna lie.
I don't think it lasts.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
I think eventually m JF weasels his way in, but
we'll see. I like that dynamic though MVP wants him
in Shelton, He's gonna be loyal to Lashley, gives him
the thumbs down, but he is amused by m JF
and lastly just wanting nothing to do with it.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
It's interesting at least.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
I will MJF give the hurt business the scumbag they want?
What kind of scumbag does Bobby Lashley want? How do
you reach your consumer?

Speaker 4 (56:06):
Interesting?

Speaker 1 (56:07):
I don't think he wants us come back. I think
that's the problem. But maybe what else do we have? Oh,
Statlander and thunder Rosa.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
All I remember from that is Tony Stormy Jesus dude, phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
Dude.

Speaker 3 (56:27):
No, no, not that jump ahead to Collision when she
dissected the whole Owen Heart Woman's tournament. Yeah, I can't
even remember what she says about the thighs of Megan Bain.

Speaker 4 (56:40):
But it's just all outstanding.

Speaker 3 (56:43):
Everything that Tony storm does, she's very good.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
It looks like Jericho's going away, he snapped.

Speaker 4 (56:50):
Fozzy's on tour.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
Fozzy is on tour, coming soon into a city near you.
They're coming soon to a city near us.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
In about a week. No, it does not.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
This won't be the first time they've been in a
city near me, and I haven't gone.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
I like Big Bill and Brian Keith.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
I don't think they need Jericho anymore. You can always
revisit it if you're so inclined. But let Jericho go off,
do his tour whatever, take some time off, come back
and start a new faction, the Faction Machine.

Speaker 3 (57:30):
I do we do we see them staying together as
a time team.

Speaker 4 (57:34):
Do you think they go on the No, they stay together.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
I think I think they stay together. I still don't
get fucking Max Caster. But it's obvious you got plants
for Anthony Bowens. I would take that top thing he
wears to the ring.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
I would get rid of that. Get a heartbeat.

Speaker 2 (57:55):
But I like the music, I like the presentation. I
like that he's still with Billy Gunn. I think he
got something there. I just don't know why you had
to crucify poor Max Caster to do all this.

Speaker 4 (58:07):
You offered him TV time.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
You didn't need weeks and weeks of him losing in
twenty seconds to any and everybody in the locker room
just to keep Anthony Bowens off TV for a month
and a half and bring him back in and make
him look like a star. But they did, they did.
I just I don't know why you had to do that,
the poor Max Caster.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
I thought we got a lot more out of the
second interaction of Bowens, so I'm kind of see that
match was fun and involvement for him. But I still
don't know if I see single star superstar in Bowen's like,
I see a lot more, you know, Fletcher Takeshna, Brian Cage,

(58:49):
Big Bill, all the guys that they don't want to push,
like Brody King.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Poor Brody King. I can't wait till he's on NXT
with Ricky Saint Ethan Page. Is it Saint or Saints?
Does it matter?

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Do you think it does? Do you really think?

Speaker 3 (59:06):
I know? What I do think is if we're talking
about WWE, I think it was gonna be Alistair Black
with the smoke vignette that we're seeing.

Speaker 4 (59:13):
Yeah, that's pretty obvious now, I think.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
So that's good.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
I can't remember the last time I've cared this much
about FTR, Not that I didn't care about them before,
but I like heel FTR threatening to beat up Tony
Shavanni and Nigel Mcinni's having to go in and save
him and then berat him for not listening to him
and going in the ring in the first damn place.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
I didn't like that.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
We had to get cool hand and Matt Minard versus
FTR just to get the Garcia beat down.

Speaker 1 (59:42):
But whatever. But I do like FTR on the heelish
side of things.

Speaker 3 (59:51):
I am a little bit perplexed on how I feel
about Undisputed Kingdom getting renamed into the Paradi. I'm or
Paragon and uh Paragon, we'll see.

Speaker 4 (01:00:04):
I remember as well as Nigel McGinnis.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
Who yelled at a disputed kingdom and Chavani's trying to cover.

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
I can only assume either Bennett or Taven came up
with that. If we're not gonna use them, let's call
them something else.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
I don't know, or maybe when Bennett and Taven show
back up again, then they're the underspued kingdom.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
If it's if they're not there, it's whatever.

Speaker 4 (01:00:27):
What springs up that question to me?

Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
Why have Bennett and Tavan not been around? Why did
we spend the whole time when Cole was injured at
them being the end disputed kingdom for it to now
become Why are you confusing me, Tony Kahn.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
Because one Kyle O'Reilly is better than Bennett Taven together there,
and I'm getting wade eep in the woods here. There
might be some upsetness over the things some of the
things that Bennett's wife has said about her a e exit,
and maybe there's not a long term plan for Bennett

(01:01:04):
and Tavan. Now I don't know all speculating, but yeah,
it's a good question.

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
I don't know too.

Speaker 3 (01:01:11):
Much start and stop with that, but we'll see how
it plays out. Now having this heightened come around of
FTR with the not wanting to shake the hands of
O'Reilly and strong, I do like some of the dynamic
of where the tag team division is going with the
young Bucks back in with now the heel FTR, but

(01:01:31):
I am still perplexed when we go back to the
Hurt Syndicate that the Hurt syndikit is instead over here, okay,
random next team that wins one match, Like, I'm waiting
for the Hurt Syndicate to get to the real story.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Right right now.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
I hear you on that, I'm waiting for Kevin Knight
to realize he doesn't have to wear the Bret Hart
glasses that they actually take away and don't add. I
also feel bad for ar Fox, who I get while
you put him in there with Kevin Knight, and why
you put him in there with the people you do
because he can go and he you know, he can
more than hold up his end of the deal and
help make guys look good.

Speaker 1 (01:02:03):
But don't nothing wrong with aar Fox getting a win
every now and again. You could put him in there
with somebody that you know he can win. He can
win against I hear you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:11):
But there's just something that always sticks out to me,
like I don't like his facial expressions.

Speaker 4 (01:02:17):
Fox Fox, Okay, when he's walking out to the.

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):
Ring, it's like the very first shot we see of
him just like this like bewilderment or confusion look on
his face. I don't know. There's just not like a
strong camera presence to me, and I feel like that
might hurt him as to why we haven't seen him
getting elevated where he is someone that took his licks,
went to the doghouse and worked his way back out

(01:02:40):
after the whole passport issue from all in last year.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
Yeah, I'm with you on that. Athena beat Harley Cameron
in the Owen.

Speaker 3 (01:02:51):
She advances overall on collision Man, we had some hot
matches you had and I'm not taking a shot at
anybody withed in crowd noise, but authentic. This is awesome chess.
Authentic if you know what that word means. It was
not told to you by the production and say this.

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
And not only that, the exact opposite of WWE was
probably louder in the arena than it came off on
TV because aw does such a terrible job miking.

Speaker 3 (01:03:19):
The crowd several including a deserved from Harley Cameron versus Athena.

Speaker 4 (01:03:27):
I thought that match.

Speaker 3 (01:03:29):
Started well, somewhere around the seventy five percent line.

Speaker 4 (01:03:32):
They lost it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
It was a rough finish, but I really did think
there was a lot of great there and same thing
when we get to that main event with.

Speaker 4 (01:03:39):
We got to do it more with brody King.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
We got to do more with brody King because him
and too Keshna was absolutely phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (01:03:46):
I can't believe I'm gonna say this because it seems
like it's to kiss of death. Brody King and the
Don Kallis family might could be something, but he'd have
to be a single. You wouldn't do like a trios
with him and Archer in cage or something like that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
Brody King needs to change the scenery. It's obvious.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
Assuming Buddy shows back up at some point, that the
House of Black without Alistair or Malachi as he was there,
ain't gonna work, So you just need a clean start there.

Speaker 4 (01:04:22):
I feel you're right.

Speaker 3 (01:04:23):
The Sounds of Hell hasn't went the same same way,
and I think that Julia Hart is able to keep
up her character and go on her own where. I
think it's gonna benefit Brody to separate himself right.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
The Women's Owen Hart Tournament, our semi final is Jamie Hater,
Chris Statlander, the Mercedes Monet, and Athena You Crowd your
Owen Heart Champion at double or nothing over. On the
men's side, Osprey and Takeshka is one semi final, Kyle
Fletcher versus the winner of Hangman Page and the wildcard

(01:05:01):
entrant that match this week on Dynamite. It will take
a stab at who the wild card might be.

Speaker 4 (01:05:07):
Sort of.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
I don't think so, but maybe.

Speaker 4 (01:05:14):
I'm just taking a stab at it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
Serve.

Speaker 3 (01:05:16):
Hang Man feels like the kind of almost over overblowing
thing that Tony Khan would give us where it took
me a long time to get to it. I'm kind
of glad that we didn't see Osprey versus Jay White
at the pay per view because we know who would
have won. So I feel like Tony Kohng gives us
things too early.

Speaker 4 (01:05:36):
This week.

Speaker 3 (01:05:36):
We're getting athena Mercedes Monet just me that should have
been saved up for the finals and double or nothing.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
But you gotta have stat Lander lowse on pay per
view to the Mercedes. So yeah, but I hear you
on that. Whoever the wild card is, I don't think
they're winning unless it's like the Bucks doing something, and
I don't think it would be one of them.

Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
But you know, we saw Koda come out on Wednesday.

Speaker 2 (01:06:07):
We didn't see Jack Perry, but we might see him
this week as the wild card.

Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
But put in at the direct order of the Bucks.

Speaker 3 (01:06:15):
To go against Adam Page, I thought they were also
trying to play both sides of the fence. Did we
do did we screw swerve for ae W? Did we
screw swerve from Moxley? Did we screw swerve for our
old friend hangman?

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
They just did it to do it, But yeah, they're yeah,
sucking up the Hangman, and so I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:06:37):
If you put Jack in his path immediately, but wild Card.
It has to be somebody that's gonna pique our interest.
It can't just be Max Caster.

Speaker 1 (01:06:47):
My dear god, it was Max Caster. I may lose,
my shit.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
I'd rather it wouldn't be the worst thing Feil was Bowen's,
except you're gonna have him lose. I think what you're
doing with Bowen's right now, wrestling the Blake Christians of
the World and whatnot.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
That's that's probably the thing to do. Build him up
before you have him lose.

Speaker 3 (01:07:06):
I'd say, Yeah, he's still in the bill process. He's
not ready to be here and to be fighting among
the upper echelon.

Speaker 4 (01:07:12):
In my opinion, I agree with you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:14):
What else you got, Marolla pro Wrestling? I think we've
kind of hit everything, didn't we go around? I mean,
Tony Storm is what we live and breathe and drink
in in aw Pac is unfortunately injured, the death writers
are brewing.

Speaker 4 (01:07:29):
What are the young bucks doing?

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Gosh, FTR is nasty and the Kingdom is now under
a paragon.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
You enjoyed those Tony Storm miriam A matches right in aw.

Speaker 4 (01:07:43):
They were awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:07:43):
Yeah, commit them to memory, because you probably ain't getting
any more of.

Speaker 4 (01:07:48):
Them, Mariam a a free agent.

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
A lot of speculation about Mariah though, and her desire
to leave All Elite Wrestling. To clarify some of the
rumors out there, she still has significant time left on
her contract, at least through the end of November of
this year. There could be additional time beyond that. But
we haven't seen Mariah since Revolution, and you're probably not

(01:08:16):
gonna see her until either her contracts up or Tony
Kahan a few weeks before the contract's up, goes ahead
and releases her.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
It would appear that she has a desire to go
to WWE.

Speaker 4 (01:08:29):
Okay, just done with it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:32):
Well, I look at it like this.

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
If you're a female wrestler in AW you got Mercedes,
you got Tony Storm. Now there's a lot of wiggle
room underneath, but it's crowded, but there's probably a ceiling
you look over at AW.

Speaker 1 (01:08:50):
I mean in WWE.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
As we said earlier in our WrestleMania preview, there is
no women's division right.

Speaker 1 (01:08:57):
Now without Rhea Ripley.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
Now charl it stays healthy, maybe that changes a little bit,
but there is the opportunity for advancement.

Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
Now I might would look at what they've done with Jade,
and like, I really want to go there or not whatever.
You look at the way they treat some of the
other women.

Speaker 2 (01:09:17):
All Right, you're hot for a couple of weeks and
then they forget you exist again. But I could see
the allure of going over there and thinking that the
grass is going to be really greener over there, and
maybe it.

Speaker 1 (01:09:30):
Is, so, I mean, I understand it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:34):
I guess ash by elegance. Quite a few other women
in TNA and other places that we don't see anymore.
There's always that opportunity too. I'll miss Mariame. Everything she
did was amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
I hope Tony Knya can find a way to make
her happy or have Tony Storm find a way to
make her happy.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
Yeah, you got that, good job. But yeah, just the latest.
So if you're reading out there she's been released or whatever.
Not true at least.

Speaker 2 (01:10:10):
As of now, but significant time left on the contract.
But the rumors of her being unhappy and wanting out,
there's some there's.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
Some legitimates there.

Speaker 4 (01:10:22):
That's unfortunate.

Speaker 1 (01:10:23):
Yeah, that is unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (01:10:24):
All right, Micah, Let's get out of here, because I
do believe the WrestleMania Night one pre show is about
to start.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
I think they're doing five hours man pre show. Fucking
five hours pre show.

Speaker 3 (01:10:36):
Talk to me on AX about it at frankl Micah
and let me know what you thought of the pre show,
because I'm gonna be scanning.

Speaker 4 (01:10:42):
Through that later.

Speaker 1 (01:10:45):
I'm not even gonna do that. I'm just gonna tune in. Oh,
I'll probably catch the last half hour in the pre show,
but we'll see.

Speaker 2 (01:10:51):
Get the show on X at PW After Hours, you
can find me at Real Mike Carlisle. Enjoy both nights
of WrestleMania. Enjoy that Michelle McCool Hall of Fame induction.
Sure the Undertaker will.

Speaker 1 (01:11:02):
We'll talk to.

Speaker 2 (01:11:03):
You next week for another episode of Pro Wrestling After Hours.

Speaker 1 (01:11:06):
You're on the After Hours Podcast Network.