Episode 293: R-Truth and Carlito gone from WWE. Mariah May done with AEW. We look at the recent roster shuffling. AEW has Fyter Fest Wednesday Night. WWE has Worlds Collide and Money in the Bank on Saturday. We preview all the shows. Latest news.
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X (formerly Twitter): @PWAfterHours @RealMikeCarlyle @FranklMika
Email: pwafterhours@gmail.com
Interact with the show...
X (formerly Twitter): @PWAfterHours @RealMikeCarlyle @FranklMika
Email: pwafterhours@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's up, everybody? Welcome back, It is pro wrestling After
Hours on Michael Carlisle joined us always by Micah Franco. Micah,
I was shaking.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Man well, because it's money in the bank time. WWE
figure they'd have the ladder to the unemployment line, shaking.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Ouch ouch right out of the gate. You got to
bring up unemployed and roster cuts and non renewals.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Look at you, well, I mean, actually, we could just
go with my top five from the WWE this week
if you wanted to jump in that deep. I mean,
the top five is an easy one. I'm pretty sure
that you guys could even guess this. We're gonna start
out with Ron Truth, and then we'll go with Awesome Truth,
(00:54):
and then we'll go with Imaginary Little Jimmy Truth and
maybe even four to seven Title Truth, and then apples
are cool again.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Parlito's apples still are not cool. I hear you on
the Our Truth and this gets us, God damn you.
Micah gets us right back into the the releases, the
non renewals. This latest round started on Sunday. Our Truth announced.
(01:26):
He used the word released. I guess technically his contract's
not going to be renewed, and there is a difference.
We also learned Carlito's contract not going to be renewed.
We found out on Monday, Sarah Logan's Contract's not going
to be renewed as we tape. Those are the three.
(01:48):
I suspect there will be others. That's just the nature
of the business. I'm not even and you may have
a different outlook on this mic, and if you do,
that's cool. I'm not even a crap on WWE for this,
because from time to time you gotta trim the roster.
It will take him in reverse order. For me, nothing
(02:09):
against her. I didn't know Sarah Logan was still on
the roster. I don't know the last time I've seen her. Carlito.
I got nothing against the guy. I don't think that's
gonna be a big loss. The art truth one does
surprise me. He just wrestled John Cena on Saturday Night's
main event a little over a week ago. Last week,
(02:32):
he had the top selling piece of merchandise on Shop
Shop WWE almost at Shop AEW with his Ron Sena shirt.
Not that he was a major player per se, but
he was someone that the fans loved. He was a
good solid hand. I've also seen some reports that they
(02:55):
offered him a contract at a greatly reduced salary and
he turned it down. Now I don't know if that's
true or not, but I have seen that floating around
out there. I could see some interest in some companies
for Our Truth. Carlito probably just go back to Puerto Rico.
As a matter of fact, he wrestled down there this
past weekend for his family's promotion. I don't know what's
(03:18):
out there for Sarah Logan. In her social media posts,
it sounds like she's probably gonna hang it up. But yes,
some names of note being let go by WWE.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I I don't know what it takes to get signed
by WWE, to get released by WWE, to be kept
around by WWE. Because you want to say, Our Truth
wasn't a major player in WWE because they didn't want
him to be when they wanted him to be. He
was the best part of the Judgment day when they
(03:54):
wanted him to be. Him in the miss We're incredible
rivals to John Cena. He was a great ally and
then adversary to John Cena at the drop of a hand.
He was probably the best comedic stylist, a professional wrestler
that the WWE has had in the last decade. He
(04:14):
was a guy that you could hand to him thirty
seconds or five minutes, and he left a lasting impression.
I feel like from his very last moment on TV
when it was asking Solo Sokoa if he had just
had a son, and damn, Jason Matteo looked husky. He
left an impression. He knocked every appearance at the plan
(04:39):
out of the park. And there is no reason that
where like this guy's taking a severely diminished role and whatnot.
He was a good soldier that was asked to do
and he could do whatever they wanted him to. So
it feels like for a veteran, a locker room leader,
it was one that hurt in the WWE community. And
(05:00):
I don't know what you do to keep your job
or lose your job when you produce like our truth
does Sarah Logan you said it. She looked to be
out the door and good with her retirement. She I
believe in that post that she's kind of running a
self sustaining farm anyway and taking care of a gangle
of kids, and that she had already felt her life
(05:24):
moving in that direction, and Carlito kind of a big deal.
On Monday Night, Raw was frequently on camera, so to
just be gone it is a little bit surprising. Was
he just comic relief? Yeah, but that's the entire aspect
(05:44):
of the judgment day, and I did feel they were
missing something without Carlito's awkward goofiness in the background.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
This past week, I didn't miss Carlito at all. And
I'm not knocking Carlito, but yeah, look, here's the hard
reality about our truth. He had been in WWE since
two thousand and eight with his latest stint, so seventeen years.
(06:15):
He's fifty three years old. You've been with company that long,
even with little more than cost of living increases. He
had topped out at what they were willing to pay
someone for that spot on the card. And at fifty
three years of age, you can find someone younger. Yeah.
Look again, I got nothing agains our truth other than
(06:35):
I think they always used him poorly. Awesome truth was
a guilty pleasure that there have been some other moments,
for sure, but you know, and I know there was
some chance on Raw. We want truth and all that.
Another week or so, the majority of the WWE audience
(06:56):
isn't going to remember Our Truth. I'm also pretty sure
Our Truth ain't going that far. Something we talked about
several weeks ago. Micah I said that they were gonna
be wrestlers that WWE doesn't have anything for, but would
like for them to be used elsewhere like TNA. Some
of them they might just loan out, like we see
(07:17):
with the NXT folks. Some of them, you're not gonna
pay a WWE salary for them to go work somewhere else,
so you'll just kind of release them with the understanding, hey,
there's another place for you to go work. Not that
aw wouldn't have a little interest in Our Truth, but
I would be shocked if as soon as he's eligible,
(07:40):
if Our Truth doesn't show up in TNA. He's a
former TNA heavyweight champion. I don't know how much of
the Our Truth character he is versus Ron the Truth
killings and all that, but I would be shocked if
Our Truth doesn't land on his feet in TNA very soon.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Now that corporate Carlisle brought up the financial aspects of
how much money TKO wants to save, the other part
about this that caught people off guard is a month
ago we had releases. I looked it up. You and
I were trying to figure out when Shatzi Blackheart was released.
She was released in May, a month ago. When we
were talking about The Good Brothers. I think that the Carlito,
(08:22):
the Sarah Logan, the our Truth layoffs come as a
surprise because we're used to a round of WWE layoffs,
not hearing that three months ago they laid off a
dozen people in the corporate office. A month later they
made a round of cuts on the roster, and a
month later they came back to make another round of
(08:43):
cuts on the roster. We're used to hearing this twice
a year. But the frequency at which it's now happening
that they're looking at cutting their corporate budget, that may
be adding to the narrative of some of the wearing
on fans, because now it feels like it's multiple months
of this narrative.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Well a couple things. I don't think they're necessarily looking
to cut the corporate budget per se, although look, let's
be honest, whenever there's talent decisions that are made, budgets
factor in for one hundred percent. But this is more
about and I don't mean this nearly as callous as
it's going to sound, but it's about cutting dead weight.
(09:24):
You've got five people that can step in and do
the Carlito role, the Sarah Logan role, even the art
truth role. Now maybe you don't do the comedicness quite
as well, but none of these are going to be missed.
These are also different than the releases in that neither
of these three are being released. Their contract's not being
(09:47):
picked up. Their contracts are expiring and they're not going
to be renewed. So that's and look, there was a
time wwe would have just said fuck it, you're released
two months ago. They kept these people around until their
contracts are up. Again. Look, nobody likes it. I'm not
saying it's okay, don't be bothered by it, but let's
(10:08):
be really honest. Other than possibly our truth, do you
see Carlito or Sarah Logan in TNA, in ae W
or anywhere else in New Japan? You see Sarah Logan
going to start them? And look, again, we can set
her aside because it sounds like she's retiring. Now, maybe
(10:29):
she changes her mind on that, but you know, point being,
I don't think any of any of these three or
you're gonna see WWE kicking themselves for letting them go.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Oh you mean they couldn't be spiteful here like they
were with Natalia, so there was no good reason to
keep them. I don't think that's a good reason. The
better reason would be and should I'll say this, you
know who? You could have cut a lot of the
guys that we don't see on TV, you know, Rays
and Waller austin theory, those feel like useless positions cutting
(11:08):
dead weight. Our truth for the last month didn't feel
like dead weight. He felt like a bright spot in
the show. You know who feels like dead weight probably
America Alpha Tag Team.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Whoever?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Those guys are that are seeing a lot less on
TV than Carlito. If you're on TV, I don't expect
that to be considered dead weight. With the amount of
talent that if we look at the roster we don't
see on Raw and SmackDown, I would consider those ones
more dead weight than ones that were utilizing camera times toward.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Okay, Waller in theory, one of them's Australian. Correct. Yes,
maybe where's Crown Jewel at in October where you got
a big right, not that they're gonna be main eventing,
but it's in per Australia, and for no other reason
(12:03):
you're keeping them around until then, just to be a
part of that card. And look, I'm not advocating, Oh
they're great, they should stay. I hear what you're saying.
There are a lot of different people you can cut,
but cutting fifty three year old Our Truth and keeping
twenty something year old Grayson Waller or whomever, or Austin theory,
(12:23):
I get that.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I don't because the WWE is full of a performance center,
full of real looking twenty seven year old And if
there's one that's had three four years on the main
roster and has made absolutely such a little impact that
Our Truth gets more camera time than him, I feel
like that's somebody that can be relegated or designated for
(12:49):
assignment down a TNA like and Our Truth is being told.
I just don't see the thought process. And I hear
the fifty three year old, But why do we have
the fifty three year having so much camera time?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Well he doesn't that way, but he doesn't have that
much camera time. Now, look outside of the little bild
to to is john sena match on Saturday Nights Made event,
which was a head scratcher to me because of how
he's used and all of a sudden, we're supposed to
buy that this guy could beat John Cena in a
non title match, but no, Look the reality is, and
(13:27):
I'm not knocking it, he got a ton of mileage
out of it. But our truth on TV all this
camera time was thinking that Shampa was triple h and
talking to his invisible little friend and shit like that.
It's not gonna be missed. It's just not. It's not
like he was going out putting on five star matches, which,
by the way, assuming the age doesn't wear him down
(13:50):
wherever he lands, he'll go out. And if they let
him be Ron Killings and not goofy ass our truth
with an invisible friend, he'll go out have great matches.
I don't doubt this at all. But the reality is
he will not be missed in WWE, and I don't
And I know that sounds so callous. I truly don't
(14:11):
mean it that way, but it's it's just a cold heart. Look,
if I'm being honest, you brought up Waller in theory, Yeah,
they probably wouldn't be missed either. I don't think you're
wrong on that, But if you're WWE, you're looking at
them with a lot more upside than you are in
Our Truth or a Carlito, you just are Well.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
There's one thing that you said there that holds true
for everybody, though they will not be missed. Triple hs
to drop dead tomorrow, and he won't be missed. The
Rock has left, John Cena has left, Stone Cold, Steve
Auston has left, Stem Punk has left and comeback. Roman
Reigns is barely even ever there. There is no one
that could leave that really overall makes a difference. I
(14:55):
think to w so wrong all that everyone at once left. Maybe,
but I don't think that their ratings go down just
because one person leaves. Because John cen has made how
many movies? The Rock has made? How many movies? We
lose Roman Reigns all the time, and this juggernaut keeps going.
(15:15):
I know that ratings can go in the hole, but
it never gets really that bad. For WWE.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Most of all those names you mentioned are missed when
they're gone. That's why every year we talk about is
Stone Cold, even at his age where he can't go
out by his own emission, and have the type of
match he would want to have. Is he gonna be
at Mania this year? What's Rock doing at Mania this year?
Sena this scena that. I get what you're saying about
those guys coming and going. I get what you're saying
(15:42):
about Roman Reigns coming and going, but they are missed
when they're not there. Cody Rhodes was missed when he's
not there. Look, it's unfortunate. I'm not saying, hey, great job,
Wwe go cut some more old people, because no, no,
I don't want to see anybody get cut, but it happens.
It happens in every single fing company. And look, ww's
(16:07):
gonna be just fine. Carlito's gonna go back to Puerto Rico.
Sarah Logan's gonna do whatever she does out on a
damn in the woods somewhere in a damn cult or
whatever it is she does there. Our truth. If he
wants to go to TNA, my guess is TNA will
open their arms for him. I suspect Tony Kahan will
(16:29):
have interest. I just think it's kind of predetermined. He's
going to TNA and he'll be Look if he's treated
more seriously, good for him. But but but if not,
I would see I could see aw having cymmetry. I
don't think they bring him in to make it world champion.
(16:50):
But if you're Tony Kahan, you're like, they use the
hell out of Ricochet. Look what I've done here, We've
let Ricochet be ricochet and this has turned out great.
Our truths pretty damn good talent. He was a hell
of a worker in TNA and a hell of a personality.
I can get that out of him here as well,
So I think our truth will be fine wherever he
winds up again. I think it's TNA, but we'll see.
(17:11):
It's a look, it is unfortunate, but it's it's part
of the business. Man.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I know you're telling them that to me, So I
guess I got to ask, how sick did it make you?
Seeing the people out there that did comment and say,
since TK has taken over WWE, and you've already went over,
it's a corporation, look at anyone's head off because it's
a corporation. But people said it feels like WWE has
lost their soul, and I think it's a company. It
(17:38):
never had a soul. But what is your reaction and
how sick. Did it make you when people were bringing
this up.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Not nearly as sick as hearing about Vince McMahon shitting
on women's heads. Yeah, that's why I thought, yeah, yeah,
if we're talking about the good old days of WWE. Yeah,
I'll be honest, that made me a lot sicker. You're
you're branching off in another territory. I'm not sure how
far we want to go on this. We can. First
(18:06):
of all, whenever a company buys another company, they're gonna
be cuts. And I'm not talking about from the talent standpoint,
although that's gonna be to be expected as well, but
the office people and things like that. I mean, that's
just a reality. I don't think they've lost their soul
per se. But you go back to their big announcement
(18:27):
right before wrestle Maani at WrestleMania is coming to New Orleans.
Here's the rock to make the announcement. This is so big.
I had to be here for all you guys. And
then a couple months later, you know, just last week,
Oh hey, guess what, guys, By the way, Wrestlemanie ain't
coming to New Orleans. Sorry, guys, We'll give you money
in the bank instead, and we'll make it up to
(18:49):
you down the line, but we're gonna go make more
money somewhere else that If you want to talk about
the soul of WWE and all that, I mean, that's
straight up to you right there. And I'm not saying
that financially it's not going to work out. But to
your point about the soul of WWE and all that
(19:09):
and how TKO runs it, they're running WWE as a business,
not as a wrestling company. Whether it's moving WrestleMania, whether
it's cutting people, whether it's eliminating office jobs in the
grand scheme of things. That doesn't concern me because that's
part of when you absorb another company. But some of
(19:33):
their business moves, and I'm not talking about talent really,
I'm just talking about the WrestleMania thing being beholden to
every quarter every ninety days. Long term, I don't know
how good this is for WWE. I'm not saying ww
is going to go away at all, but I'm just
saying the one wrestling company that has survived was run
(19:58):
by wrestling people and not by a corporation. That name me.
One wrestling company run by a corporation that had sustained success.
There isn't one. WCW would be the closest, and then
one merger later, and we don't want this on our product,
on our TV anymore. To hell with you, guys. WWE
(20:20):
was successful because they were run by Vince McMahon, a
wrestling guy, not a not a company, not a corporation.
Do I have some concerns about that? Yes? Is that
magnified because of the talent cuts? No?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
No, it's not magnified during the talent cuts. It's just
it's a conversation that I saw put out there at
this time of the talent cuts. Like you said, the
New Orleans things speaks much greater volumes to it that
I'm not in for the bad business that the WWE
abides by where they like to negotiate with athletes that
(20:58):
are currently under contract to other promotions, that they apparently
announce a contract done with the city and continue to
negotiate with another city for the very same event. I
that is soulless, and they are obviously financial mercenaries, but
their sole mission as a company is to make profit.
So what are you expecting of them? Is what I
(21:21):
want to ask the people that say they're soulless. There's
nothing in their mission statement that includes this soul that
you're talking about. They are here to make money and
that's the beginning, middle, and end of that shit.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yes, look, there's also nothing wrong with that. Now that
doesn't mean it's right, and you can justify it, but
it's also not wrong either. That's the goal of every company. Now,
some places do it differently, I think, almost to a detriment.
Tony Kah keeps people around when he might be better
off releasing some of them. But again, and I'm not
(22:00):
going to criticize a guy for caring enough about people
to leave them under contract and let them go work
indie shows until their contract runs out. No, when the
fuck's kind of along the lines of our truth, When
the fuck's the last time Dan Housen's been on TV.
You know what Dan Houses has been doing this whole time,
collecting a check every two weeks from AW So. I
(22:22):
mean Tony could have cut him and other on some
missed opportunities on merch, they wouldn't have hurt adw at all.
But he keeps people around. Again, maybe that's not always
what's best for business, but sometimes it's the right thing
to do, or it's the good thing to do. So
(22:42):
there's more than one way to do it, and more
than one right way and wrong way. So I'm not
gonna crap on WWE too much for all that, I
will say, though, some of their business moves does make
me question long term how well this is all going
to work out. We brought up Mania being moved from
New Orleans. The assumption is is going back to Vegas
(23:05):
and where. I a betting man, I'd say that's probably right.
But you talk about money and sight fees and going
where they're going to offer you, what if it's not Vegas?
What if it's Saudi Arabia. What if it's you know,
we just talked about that they moved freaking Crown Jewel
(23:26):
from Saudi to Australia. What if you wind up going
back down under it? Can you imagine and I know
they've done Toronto, but can you imagine WrestleMania being outside
not just the US but North America and on another
f in continent very easily?
Speaker 2 (23:43):
If they put up the money, WWE will do it.
Fans will take to social media, they will him and
they will haul and a bunch of people will book
the day trip around the world to get there because
I don't know if we're not get a sell out.
I don't know if the ratings are gonna drastically drop
(24:04):
so much that Peacock tells them, hey, you can never
do this again. I don't know if it happens to
a point where they sell so few tickets they're like, shit,
we can't do two nights. We have to make a
good show and only do one night. I don't see
the consequences being enough to stop anything that they're doing
(24:25):
or change what they're doing. Like, you can move WrestleMania
wherever you want, and I could very easily see it
even being a bigger draw for Australia England. Look at
how big all In was because it's the only time
AEW's in a country that magnified so much more for WWE.
(24:47):
I think they just keep on rolling, even if it's
dirty business for a local community or those of us
in the States.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Well, none of those things you just said are actually issues. Now.
Selling tickets and salty might be an issue, but the
amount of money you'd be getting from them would all
set that. But were they to go somewhere else, like
you said, London, they'll sell out two nights. They went
to Australia, they'll sell out two nights. Ratings and pay
(25:16):
per view buys, those things don't exist, my man. Ratings
exist a little bit for USA its back down. Ratings
don't exist for raw on Netflix. Ratings don't exist for
premium live events on Peacock, not even pay per view buys,
because that's free with your as long as nobody's canceling
their Peacock subscription. Peacock's happy with anything WWE gives them,
(25:41):
So none of those things even And no, and I
don't even say that flippantly. You smiled, but I'm being
dead serious.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
No, I'm being dead serious too, because it feels like
Peacock is happy with whatever WWE will hand them. You
are dead on and the fan base is happy with
whatever WWE hands them. That feels to be the same
thing because there's enough fans in multiple countries that they're
gonna sell out, they're gonna have their live audience, and
the person that's beholding to the broadcasting is happy with everything.
(26:13):
So I don't know what would stop them from doing
whatever they want. I think that they're in the ultimate
position of power, congratulatory to do whatever they want.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Well, yeah, yes, but it's not like WWE is just
handing you shit and saying eat it and like it.
Pecott knew what they were getting into with the premium
live event, with the network and all that. Their goal
is subscriptions. I don't think they really give a fuck
how many people actually tune into a premium live event.
(26:44):
As long as people bought a subscription so they have
access to that, and as long as you don't cancel
that subscription, you fight enough other stuff on there that
makes it even if you don't watch every premium live
event that you're watching poker or you're watching whatever that
Peacock has to offer, that's all they care about. Look
(27:06):
the same thing with Netflix, to be honest, because again
you look at the numbers raws drawing on Netflix. Literally
every episode has drawn either the same or less than
the one before it, and that's just a fact. It
hasn't gone up once. But as long as you're getting
the subscriptions and people aren't canceling those subscriptions, that's what matters.
(27:29):
That's the streaming world that we currently live in now. Obviously,
the SmackDown side is a little different because that's on USA,
But yeah, by and large, and look, we could talk
about this on our MMA show as well, MMA After Hours.
When we're talking about UFC, it ain't about ratings. It
ain't about pay per view buys anymore. It's about subscriptions
(27:52):
to your streaming partner and keeping those solid and hopefully
growing those over time. But yeah, the ratings game and
all that, that shit's gone.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Man, Thank you, we finally got down to the bottom
of that conversation. I was about to ask you what
the fuck was the point of what we were talking about,
and I think I got to it. The only thing
that can hurt WWE is if Netfix or Peacock lose
subscribers and they're somehow able to generate it back to them.
Other than that there, I'm not gonna say infallible, But
(28:29):
it doesn't matter who they cut, what business deal they go,
where they put on. I mean, it's as simple as
our truth was a headliner two weeks to go and
you can see him or three weeks. How long ago
was it that he was headlining a p l E.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
That match wasn't the main event priest to McIntyre was
the main event that that was a four minute match
in the middle of the show. I think it was
the second match.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
But no.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
The whole point of all that there are no fucking
ratings anymore. There are no more pay per view buys.
Your ratings now are subscriptions to your streaming partner. That's
how you're judged.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Now.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
You're not judged on quarter hours. You're not judged on
the amount of time people spend streaming the product. You're
not judged on pay per view by You're judged on
the number of subscribers. Have they dropped? Have they gone
up since said company got in bed with you? That
that's your ratings now in twenty twenty five is your subscribers?
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Okay? So then for us, the critiquers of this, how
would you then write and review a SmackDown episode or
a raw episode if we're just looking at subscriber numbers.
Are we still calling things good and bad even though
that doesn't affect them.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Well, yeah, because you're still critiquing the shows. So yeah,
And look I brought up earlier the viewership each week
and for all goes down. It ain't hard to figure
out why some weeks there's some good scene go ahead.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Was there a subscriber increase when the Raw debut happened.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Question, Yeah, I don't because most people have Netflix anyway.
So how many new subscribers now long term worldwide? And
it's more and more of ww's existing contracts in other
countries expire, and eventually Netflix becomes worldwide the home for Raw.
(30:36):
Then it becomes a little greater. But yeah, I don't know,
so I can't fully answer that. But that's what it
comes down to. Subscribers. How many you gain, how many
you didn't lose? Things like that, I mean, and quite honestly,
there may come a point in time in three years
whenever this deals up, Netflix saysh this was fun, but
(31:01):
we're gonna go in a different direction and then they'll
just hop to the next streaming partner.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, this conversation is probably more entertaining than Monday Night Raw.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Well, I don't disagree with you, Micah.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
We do call that a problem, but I don't know
how many people unsubscribed.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Well, no, look, it is a look. If you put
on a subpar product, eventually less and less people will watch.
That does become an issue because, especially if you're not
keeping your Netflix subscription. But yeah, at some point in
time if you went from five million people on the
first episode to nine hundred thousand every episode there forward,
(31:44):
And it's not quite that, but you get my point
that that big drop off and there has been a
big drop off at some point in time, Netflix does
question is this worth it? So yeah, I don't want
to say that it's just is not a problem and
it never will be. It can be. But yeah, but
you're not judged by by ratings week in and week out.
(32:05):
You're not waiting for Nielsen to come out and look
at the quarter hours, look like you were back in
the day or you were during the Monday night wars
and what worked for w CW versus this on WWE?
What work for WWE here? And what you know? All
that ship's out the window and pay per view buys,
all that ship's out the window for WWE. Yeah, it's
(32:27):
a different ballgame, and and they're adjusting to that.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Okay, So now now now we got to just dig
into it. The ratings dropping like a motherfucker.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Ah, not true?
Speaker 2 (32:40):
What does that do too? Or the views that we're getting,
like you said, from five million down to a million,
is that Augusto of a debut and they just weren't
able to keep that up. Do you think there has
been some lackluster booking? Is just the lack of wrestling
(33:01):
fans like what do you feel has led to the
less viewership for Monday night Raw that is continue to
hit a point where now it's leveling out.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
I think more than anything, it's the change to a
streaming platform, and you have to change the way you
watch it. If you watch it live or somewhat close
to live before it goes to commercial break, all right,
if you're behind, you fast forward you get to the
next segment. If not, you flip over to something else.
A little harder. When you're on your your Netflix watching
(33:35):
all right, this is boring. I want to go see
what's on Monday night football. I want to go see
what's going on in the NBA playoff game. I want
to see what's going on on fucking twenty twenty or
Celebrity Jeopardy, whatever the hell else is on on a
Monday night. So I think that's different. I think if
you're like, well, it's Netflix, I can go back and
(33:56):
watch it later. Sometimes I decide I to mind, get
to go back and watch it later. Well, hell, I
already read most of everything that's going on on social
media and on my favorite wrestling website, so I don't
have to go back and watch it now since I
know what happened. And I think that because if you
look at like where they still have ratings, snack Cow
still does very well for USA and they're pretty damn consistent.
(34:21):
So yeah, I don't think it's WWE's chasing off their
fans per se, but I think there's and it's probably
not even unexpected, but some growing pains with taking raw
to a streaming platform, and how you ingest that Probably
more so than anything.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I could see that, I could see it being part.
John Cena was off at TV a couple of weeks,
Cody Rhodes took a break. You did have that Pat
host Wrestle made me a slump and you kind of
look around and you say, well, all the guys that matter, right,
well look in and out.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
You had, Look, Roman's been gone, Cody took some time off,
You had the whole debacle of the Rock taking his
ball and going home and presumably pivoting on this whole
Scena thing, and how that. Yeah, so look, there have
been some creative hurdles as well. Let's not get ourselves there,
but I think, by and large, to your point, what
(35:21):
wireless people tuning in week in and week out on
to watch Raw on Netflix, it's it's still the growing
pains of how you watch Monday night Raw now versus
how you've watched it your entire life.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
I can see that playing into it. Yeah, looks like
something that they're obviously. I guess we'll learn to adjust
to it or see how it works out, because it's
here to stay, and I think that relationship will only deepen.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Yep. Well, we've got a busy week, Micah. We've got
AW four hours on Wednesday night with Fighter Fest. We've
got wor Else collide Saturday afternoon. We've got money in
the bank later Saturday afternoon. We got a lot to
get to. Let's get to that. And actually, Micah, real quick,
(36:08):
before we get into everything going on this week, with
all the WWE non renewals and cuts, we didn't bring
up the big news from last week. Mariah may gone
from AW. Speculation is she will be somewhere in WWE imminently.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
The rumors. I don't know if this is different from
what you saw, but much in the liking of Stephanie Vancour,
Mariah May dreamed of WWE, and she is going after
her dream. That that was the plan, and there wasn't
much diverting from that plan or any influence that Tony
(36:54):
connor another promotion could have had either one's desire, right,
I feel like that's a similarity between the two that
I saw in the narrative that's out there.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Yeah, and look, I don't begrudge her for that. That
was her goal, that's her dream. I get it. I
don't think she will be used nearly as well there,
but that's also look that that might be the end
all be all for fans, but that's not always the
end all be all for talent. Getting paid well, the schedule,
(37:27):
all these different things, time to go home and all
that look more power to her. From the aw standpoint,
I hate it because I think her and Tony Storm,
their program was phenomenal. I think were it not already
known that this was going to be her plan, we
would have seen a continuation of Mariah May and Tony Storm.
(37:50):
Certainly they would have gone back to it at some point,
worst case scenario, but yeah, no surprise here. We haven't
seen her since they had their final match where Tony
Storm's laid out on top of her and all that,
and now, at least for the time being, that's going
to be the end of the story. We've already seen
(38:11):
aw going in different directions with the women's title, and look,
this is what Miriam has always wanted. So good for
her and more power to her, and I hope it
works out well.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
The chemistry, the story, the level of artistry that Mariah
May and Tony Storm reached in that rivalry is not
easily achieved. It's not easily duplicated. It is generational. How
good that was, and to turn away from it does
(38:45):
disappoint me as a fan. I do look at it
disappointingly from the standpoint of I don't know how many
characters I've seen leave the Regional, leave the Indies, leave
a w and I could say that there's been a
full blowing enhancement of their character in WWE. I fear
(39:11):
that in some ways we won't see that Mariah May again.
And also we're talking about a women's division that now
that you're adding in Julia, Stephanie Vancour, Rock Sand on
the main roster there's more talent than there's ever been
(39:34):
for the women's division added in to what is a
really weird mix. And I'm utrigued to see what color
hair Maria may goes with, because can we really just
are we gonna have like Charlie's Angels but make all
three blonde Charlotte, Mandy, Mariah Wow, maybe Tip excuse me?
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Maybe? And look, keep in mind, and I don't know
how it's going to work out with when she's free
and clear and available, but wwe does have a little
all women's pay per view coming up in July. If
you if she's available by then, I would fully expect
her to be a part of that. In some way,
I wonder if it's a foregone conclusion she's debuting on
(40:23):
the main roster. I and I'm not saying she's not worthy,
but I could totally see her debuting in NXT and
having to go through the motions there, but before she
gets the main roster call up.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
I don't think, yeah, main roster NXT matters to be
a part of the pay per view. I think no, right,
she'll be a part of the pay per view either way,
and most likely yeah NXT, I think to start, because well,
she has to learn to be softer, she has to
learn to be gentler. We have to strip down everything
that made Mariah May and awesome physical presence in the ring,
(40:57):
and you know, WWE five that style that has to
be done in NXT. I don't think that she's gonna
catch on as she's was brought up in the Japanese
system and that is very hard.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Hitting for sure. For sure. All right, Micah busy week,
Like we talked about, AW is doing Fighter Fest Wednesday night,
WWE has Worlds Collide and money in the bank on Saturday.
We'll just take them in order. We'll start with AW
Fighterfest Wednesday night. Before the show, we were looking into
this cardon like, how the fuck is this four hours? Well,
(41:33):
keep in mind, roughly an hour is gonna be commercials,
so there's that. I'm guessing there'll be some other stuff
added as well. But I like what we've got so
far for the fighter Fest lineup. Kenny Omega, Brody King, Mascara,
Doradou Claudio in a four way for the International Championship.
(41:54):
This would be a good way to get the belt
off of Omega without having him have to take the loss.
If they were going to go that route, I would
put my money on Claudio. My guess here would be
though Mike Kenny Omega retains.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
I'm gonna go with Kenny Omega retaining, but just me
Brody King qualifying over Joss Alexander was a mini upset. Yeah,
not to mention, I'll go a step further, Mascara Dorado
over are All all of our favorite Luca Door Hetcha Zero.
(42:33):
I thought that was a bit of a surprise because
Hetcha Zero is a more seasoned worker. But I gotta
agree with you, Kenny Omega makes the most sense. Then again,
then again, then again, there is a death writer. Do
you think maybe a babe kid interaction. I think Claudio
(42:54):
is a strong possibility to increase storyline to get under
Kenny Omega's skin coming off of Anarchy and Arena, so
it would be fun.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
I could see that. You also add a second belt
to the Death Riders. So when Moxley loses, be that
it all in to Hangman or somewhere else, or it
all out to Darby Allen. You've still got a belt
in that group. That being said, I would assume Omega
retains here, but it should be a fun match. I'm
(43:27):
with you on Brody King and Dorata actually, but both
being in here a little surprising. I'd love to sit
here and tell you, oh, Brody King should win. Brodie's
King's gonna win. They're gonna do something with him. I
just I don't feel that happening, not just yet anyway.
(43:48):
Tony Storm, Mina Sherikawa versus Julia Hart and Sky Bloom.
Mercedes Monette will be on commentary for this. We know
we get Mercedes and Tony at all in but what
do you think of this tag match?
Speaker 2 (44:01):
I think that the most appropriate way to book it
is Mercedes Monette gets involved somehow and Heart and Sky
get the victory. I just don't know if Tony Khan's
willing to go down that angle. I don't know if
you do something to play upon the once friction between
Shirakawa and Tony Storm. But let's be honest, they're gonna win,
(44:23):
and they're gonna hug and they might possibly kiss.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
One can hope. I think this will be a better
match if Mercedes were teaming with someone against Julia Hart
and Sky Blue or Mina and someone else and have
Tony Storm on commentary. But that's fine as well, this
will be good. John Moxley, Mark Briscoe aw title on
(44:48):
the line. I know Tony Khan loves him, so Mark Briscoe.
I know Tony Khan was and obviously is he bought
the fucking company a big ro oh guy. But hell,
Mark Risco's beating John Moxley for the title.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
No, this should be a phenomenal match, though. I like
how their styles match up. I expect this one to
be rough, to be rugged, and if they're not both
bleeding at the end, if they're not both bleeding at
the end, come on, they both have to be bleeding
at the end.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
They might both be bleeding before this match actually starts.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
I like that thought even better.
Speaker 1 (45:24):
Yeah, I could totally see that FTR versus Atlantis Junior
and Templario or something like that. Does it matter. I
think this is a showcase for the dastardly healish FTR
in stokely Hathaway. I expect it'll be a really good match,
but anything other than FTR winning just ain't happening.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
I'm just more surprised this is obviously for boting US
or alluding to FTR is gonna fight for this C
M L L tag team titles at Grand Slam in Mexico.
I think that's what this is telling us.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
Probably so, and they're probably winning the belts they've held before,
so I could told you.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Did they held them before they held the Triple A ones.
I think this would be new.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
I thought they had them both at one point. Maybe
you could be right. Maybe I'm wrong on that. I
maybe I'm wrong U l A five versus Kevin I
Speedball Mike Bailey and Commander. Uh Kevin iic Speedball Mike
Bailey Commander winning this one.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
They probably will, but they shouldn't. Tony Kahan that the
bull give them the horns. There's an opportunity to do something.
I mean, you've left Mortos on the sideline so long.
He became white faced. You that, oh my god, color
he ate so much.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
You had the perfect mask to make you stand out.
And I know we joke a lot about Bandido's mask,
and yes, it makes him stand out, but it looks
like he's hiding the fact that he's a Balchinian men
in black. Look it up now, Mortos looks like in
old grizzled Balchinian. I don't know why the fuck he
(47:19):
changed his mask just go back to the other way.
It was cool as hell. There's no reason to change
the mask.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
The reason is because Tony Kahan is not acknowledging him,
not seeing his greatness, not giving them a victory. I
don't know what his problem is with LFI. I think
they could be a menacing faction. I mean, they at
least the scariest don Kallos family. Not talking about taking
them to some titles. But they win obvious matches, they
(47:47):
lose obvious I could be hopeful here, hopeful that they
pull out a victory, but Speedball's over there, and Speedball
kind of feels like he's taking an orange cast and
he's spot.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Yeah a little bit, a little bit, I can see that.
We also, after seeing her debut last week in impressive
fashion get the in ring debut of the Austrian Badass, Decla.
Speaker 2 (48:16):
Made quite the impression. Surprising debut heard she was out
in Arizona, going out there, making the big impression. Take
out Jamie Hayter, show the physicality. I'm gathering that she's
gonna eat up, spit someone out after the match. Hater
hits the ring and THEKLA still lays out Hater in
(48:39):
another impression of fashion.
Speaker 1 (48:41):
Yep, we'll also get an appearance by the Hurt Syndicate
and whatever else Tony Kahn ads between now and bell
time on Wednesday night.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
You know I did what I also mentioned Mascer of Dorado.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
Uh huh.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
That was some creative attire he has on the whole
purple silver transition, because from the front you cannot see
the purple. When he turns around, it's like a totally
different outfit.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
This is true. This is true. Well, the last week
or so, the luchas have been going heavy with the purple,
going back to Dynamite and collision in Albuquerque, then double
or Nothing, and then this past week in El Paso,
everybody had some form of purple and silver.
Speaker 2 (49:27):
Are you surprised that Commander is more bilingual than ar Fox?
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Yes? No, made, Yeah, I guess I can just look
at the booking.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
It's a little more obvious who understands the foreign language better.
Just That's what I'm saying, guys, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
There you go. So, yeah, so that's fighter Fest from
aaw so that's going to be dynamite and collision that
there won't be a Saturday Collision this week. So you
get the four hours on Wednesday night Saturday afternoon on
the YouTube WWE presents Worlds Collide twenty twenty five, and
(50:12):
oh thank god, since they had already announced the match,
but Vikingo finds a way to beat Alberto del Patrone
and so he in fact is now the Triple A
Mega Champion and he will defend that title that he
had already been advertised to defend before he won it
against Chad Gable.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
Did you see the in house video of Vikingo winning
the title?
Speaker 1 (50:40):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (50:41):
Did you see the WWE doctored or wait, WWE edited
enhanced enhancement of that sequence?
Speaker 1 (50:53):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (50:55):
Holy shit that they make the color and look better,
the everything more. I mean, wow, WWE and up man,
I mean that made it look great. And yay Vikingo.
I wonder if this will be in the top ten
shortest reigns for Triple A champions, because if Grande Cappuccino
(51:20):
doesn't win, I'm gonna be shocked.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
Well, Grande Americano is not on this card. He is
in the money in the bank match money in the
bank later, also in Los Angeles on Saturday. But yeah,
Chad Gable, Vikingo, Ah, you brought up the footage from
the El Patron match. This is what makes me concerned
(51:44):
about long term WWE buying Triple A. It sure seems
like they're American and up Triple A as much as
they can, which is great for the American fans if
they're any that actually came. But I think you're really
running the risk of alienating the Mexican fan base, the
(52:06):
people you're going to depend on weekend and week out
to support this promotion.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
I don't think they care about them.
Speaker 1 (52:13):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (52:13):
I don't think they understand Luca Libre. I don't think
they understand the audience that they're trying to go to.
I think they're gonna miss it. And I think that
immediately having Vikingo loose to Chad Gable is going to
feel like the right move to them. So they say, hey,
(52:35):
we're gonna take that Triple A Mega Compy Young title
just like Kenny Omega did, and put it on big
big streaming and put it on Chad Gable or Grande
Cappuccino or whoever ends up you know wearing getting might
hand it off to his buddy, let him wear it around.
And I don't think that's the right move. I think
(52:55):
that it'd be better to embrace the company and show
its greatness. Yes, and that makes it just makes me
wonder how many fifty to fifty bookings there's gonna be
some world's collide, because if it's a WWE sweep, what
is the value of watching Triple A afterwards?
Speaker 1 (53:16):
Well, that's true. Ethan Page, Laredo Kid, Ray Phoenix, Javonne
Evans for the NXT North American Championship.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
Ah.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
This screams Ray Phoenix to me. But my guess is
Ethan Page keeps the belt.
Speaker 2 (53:35):
Ethan Page should keep the belt. Eh. Maybe Ray Phoenix
takes it. They made him lesser than Panta already, so
maybe a little running NXT will be good for him. Ah.
Laredo Kid is one of two names from Cripple A
that I'm excited to see on this card. So by
(53:57):
King Goban the other one the exactly. I really don't
know or recognize many of the other ones. Some of
them I recognize the name, and I wonder, can it
still be the same dude under that mask?
Speaker 1 (54:08):
Probably not some of them, Yes, some of them though,
Like we're on like LAPARCA twelve Now I think six
man match Dragon Lea Cruz del Toro, Joaquin Wilde versus
Octagon Junior Aerostar, which I think was a really shitty
minivan and mister Iguana.
Speaker 2 (54:30):
Aerostar also gets to rejoin all of his brother from
Luca Underground that they're in WWE, sut least somebody else.
I kind of recognized that we did see in ae
W This is the one. This match because l WO
sucks balls in WWE doesn't care about it at all.
This is the match where I could see Triple A
(54:51):
getting the victory.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
But this is where you build LWO and show that
we do lucha. We know lucha. But yeah, I don't
disagree with you, but I could see WWE going in
a totally different direction. So yeah, World's Collide. Some other
matches as well. It'll be streamed on the WWE's YouTube
channel in both English and Spanish.
Speaker 2 (55:14):
More likely to lose and look bad l WO or
Logato de Fantasma both forgotten trios have trios matches, and
it's honest because they both are not that highly regarded
on mainstream TV. I could see losing which one Looking
(55:35):
at their opponents, I think you are who do you
think has a better chance of winning. OLWO A little
surprised about that, but we need the final nail and
Samthos Escobar's coffin to chase his Garza brothers over to
and yep.
Speaker 1 (55:52):
So that is eleven am Pacific time in La. So
that's two o'clock Eastern time, immediately followed by money in
the bank across town. That's at the key of four.
Money in the bank is at the adopt up up dupt.
Where the fuck is money?
Speaker 2 (56:10):
Into it Dome?
Speaker 1 (56:12):
Thank you into it Dome. I can't want to say
sofi staying, but I knew that one right. It's the
into it Dome.
Speaker 2 (56:18):
Uh. They go from one Balmer property to do the
other exactly.
Speaker 1 (56:21):
It's a big day for Steve Balmer. Uh. Too bad
the La Clippers aren't in the NBA finals. You got
your money in the bank men's and women's matches. You've
also got women's Icy title match. Lyra Valkira defending against
Becky Lynch. If Lyra wins, Becky can't challenge for the
(56:43):
Icy title again. If Becky wins, Lyra's got an eraseror
hand in victory. As long as this has been going on,
I got to assume it's time for Becky to get
a win. But if you're doing the smart thing, Lyra
wins again, and we move on for both these ladies.
At least for right.
Speaker 2 (57:00):
Now, Becky Lynch wins because you couldn't get Lyra over.
Now we recorrect it so we can come back to
it later. Make her the underdog because being the defending
champion hasn't got there. I think it's too short sided
to just say, all right, Becky Lynch came back. She
(57:22):
wants to go for this title. She can never challenge
for it again there right.
Speaker 1 (57:27):
Remember how we were talking about six matches for fight
or Fest and you said, how the fuck is this
going to be four and a half hour or four hours?
You've got four matches announced for this now, two of
them are money in the bank matches. I don't know
how the hell they're gonna get to two hours with
this fucking card. But again, i'll give you two go
ahead there.
Speaker 2 (57:45):
Two hours is easy with there's six entrances per money
in the bank match. Well, you got to go two
minutes per person entering the rink. We know we like
long entrances, and then you get a thirty minute match.
So I think those two matches probably could knock out
an hour and a half on their own.
Speaker 1 (58:04):
Maybe tag team action. John Cena, Logan Paul take on
Cody Rhoads and jay Usso you got both your world
champions and a tag match, so no world title matches
or heavyweight title matches. What do you think about Sena
and Logan Paul versus Cody and jay Uso.
Speaker 2 (58:22):
I tried really hard to not think about it. Yeah,
because my first inclination is why why are we having this?
Why are we doing this? It just it doesn't appeal
to me.
Speaker 1 (58:35):
You're having it because you're gonna do Cody Sena and
Logan Paul jay Uso at at SummerSlam, would be my guess.
But I agree with you. I don't. I don't get
the point of this at all. I can't imagine this
is what John Cena thought he was gonna get on
his big retirement tour. But here we are because we
(58:56):
got to pick somebody. I'm just gonna say, Cody and
Jay Usso win here because you want to make the
fans happy.
Speaker 2 (59:02):
No, John Cena wins because he needs to win. Logan
Paul keeps being annoying. I think it helps build them
both up better. For Cody's the underdog at Summers Slam,
jay Uso can't win, Not to mention, it puts the
presser on jay Uso going into Monday Night where he's
supposed to defend against Gun there. I like the pressure
(59:24):
on the faces. The heels win this one, and it's Hollywood.
If Logan Paul is gonna get a big victory, he
has to do it on the most yuppiest stage possible.
I think the fakest stage possible, the Hollywood stage.
Speaker 1 (59:44):
Women's Money in the Bank match Alexa Bliss, rox Sandperezria Ripley,
Gila Naomi, Stephanie lacer All in that. I'd every a
Ripley win. My guess is there's no way she wins.
Alexa Bliss.
Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Maybe it's gonna be Roxanne or or Live Morgan. Okay,
aren't they both in it?
Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
Live Morgan Roxanne is sorry.
Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
I feel like it's gonna be Roxanne. I feel like
we need to still add more cynical intentions to the
judgment day and I feel like this all ends with
literally Live stealing the brief face from Roxanne and cashing in.
But that's further down the line. But I kind of
like rock sand to do it because they like cynical
(01:00:37):
heels having the briefcase. I don't know if Muscle Mommy
stalking is the way we want to go. I mean,
she's such good friends with Ito. She basically gets the fight,
you know, anytime she asks for it. Why do you
even need money in the bank when you just get
the fight every time you'd ask for it.
Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
I guess the men's money in the bank. Excuse me
solo Sokola La nine seth, Rollins, Penta and Dorade and
El Grande Americano. I hope America El Grande Americano wins
only because after Chad Gable beats Vikingo, this sets up
a SummerSlam tag team match playing off the tag match here,
(01:01:17):
where you get El Grande Americano and Chad Gable teaming
to take on Vikingo and maybe Laredo Kid or something
at SummerSlam.
Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
Each time you say Grande Americano, I remember what my
coffee order was missing today? Damn you Starbucks, damn ouch Ouch.
Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
In all seriousness, I mean you would think Rollins, but Rolins.
Does Rolins need money in the bank? Probably not. Who
needs it is probably Solo, and that adds suited dissension
in the Bloodline B team. So I guess I'd picked
(01:01:59):
Solo to win, but something tells me it ain't gonna
be Solo.
Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
I think we finally get what we wanted, so we're
gonna do something with Andrade. I think Andrade winds it
all of a sudden, all these months of sitting in
the back at catering not doing a damn thing, looking
like a schlove us criticizing him for going back to
his now ex wife and just hanging out back there
doing nothing, it all cashes in, and that's why you
(01:02:29):
see Los Garzas get involved. We think it's gonna be
the Rawlins faction, but Garza's, after seeing Santos Escobar fail
earlier in the night, they lead and Trottie to cash
it in because Androtti is such a fool, He's gonna
(01:02:49):
cash it in. The belt on Chad Gable go after
the Triple A title for the NXT Mexico Inaugural Championship,
because I feel like there was a rumor saying that
Solo Soco was told to learn Japanese, and I feel
like he could be the next almost not the next cash.
Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
Wow, the next almost Wow, that's rough. Yeah ww shure
is uh. Look, other than maybe the guards' involvement, I
could totally see what you're saying. Happens happens. If that's
the case, Man, they sure are. I'm American and up
triple A in a hurry, and I don't think that's
(01:03:35):
gonna be a good thing.
Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
Just it feels too easy, too simple, too perfect to
do seth rawlins. Yeah, I just I shuddered to think
it's Solo's Socoa. It feels like you'd be ready made
to be Austin theory. After that, you're not cashing in.
It's not working out well. I do like the thought
process of it does intensify the scrutiny between him and Jacob,
(01:04:03):
But you cannot have Solo win it to just keep
teasing that he's gonna cash in on the US champion,
can you You can?
Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
I don't know that you do, but you can. Uh,
We're in agreement. It ain't gonna be La Night, it
ain't gonna be Penta right.
Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
No. They don't like to put it on faces, and
especially mid card faces that they haven't really elevated. Those
two are the odds on least likeliest, like I don't
even consider them.
Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
Yeah, no, I agree with you. I like the idea
of though Grande Americano. Can you see him cashing in
on Chad Gable after Gable beats VIKINGO.
Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
No, no, I just can't see that one.
Speaker 1 (01:04:55):
But they could do a cinematic match, so Chad Gable
could be both guys and you didn't have to put
somebody else under the hood. Come on, man, in all.
Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
Reality, how much work is it gonna be for Chad
Gable to carry a mask, a briefcase and the Megacampion
title go back and forth from NXT Mexico and Monday
night raw. One drink can only.
Speaker 1 (01:05:19):
Do so much, you'd be surprised. So you get money
in the bank late Saturday afternoon from the inn at Dome.
Busy week, Micah, It'll be interesting to see how everything
plays out. I think we're both up in the air
a little bit on the both the money and the
bank matches. We could see a couple of different things,
(01:05:41):
although in both matches one thing makes more sense than
the other things, So we'll see how it all plays out.
Anything else you wanted to hit.
Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
On, No, I think I'm good. I mean everybody watched
TNA where at least people still have jobs. I mean
that's their tagline, you give the fired jobs.
Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Well, they haven't given them fired any jobs yet as
far as Our Truth, but yeah, I think that's probably
where he ends up. And I think WWE knew that.
I think Our Truth knows that, and that's the way
that's gonna play.
Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
Out most likely.
Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
Most likely, I have a hard time believing that they're
just that code and callous that they have a plan
for Our Truth.
Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
It may not involve WWE raw.
Speaker 1 (01:06:36):
Or SmackDown, but maybe taking out some NXT guys in
TNA because you're pissed off at WWE make you a
tough guy.
Speaker 2 (01:06:44):
Even makes me understand less why you don't resign a
guy to contract when you're gonna send him to your
cousin's house to still work with your little brother. But
it's the WWE way of doing.
Speaker 1 (01:06:59):
Okay, because you can pay him three hundred thousand dollars
a year, or they can pay him seventy five thousand
a year. That's why it ain't that hard to figure out, men,
It's simple economics.
Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
I hate WWE's economics and the amount of time we
bring it up in this Pro Wrestling podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
But that's just me.
Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
You guys want to talk about economics, hit up him
on X. If you want to just talk about the
art that the storylines, hit me up on X. It's
at frankl Micah.
Speaker 1 (01:07:30):
Get the show on X at PW After Hours, you
can get me at Real Mike Carlisle. We will talk
to you next week for another episode of Pro Wrestling
After Hours here on the After Hours Podcast Network.
What's up, everybody? Welcome back, It is pro wrestling After
Hours on Michael Carlisle joined us always by Micah Franco. Micah,
I was shaking.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Man well, because it's money in the bank time. WWE
figure they'd have the ladder to the unemployment line, shaking.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Ouch ouch right out of the gate. You got to
bring up unemployed and roster cuts and non renewals.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Look at you, well, I mean, actually, we could just
go with my top five from the WWE this week
if you wanted to jump in that deep. I mean,
the top five is an easy one. I'm pretty sure
that you guys could even guess this. We're gonna start
out with Ron Truth, and then we'll go with Awesome Truth,
(00:54):
and then we'll go with Imaginary Little Jimmy Truth and
maybe even four to seven Title Truth, and then apples
are cool again.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Parlito's apples still are not cool. I hear you on
the Our Truth and this gets us, God damn you.
Micah gets us right back into the the releases, the
non renewals. This latest round started on Sunday. Our Truth announced.
(01:26):
He used the word released. I guess technically his contract's
not going to be renewed, and there is a difference.
We also learned Carlito's contract not going to be renewed.
We found out on Monday, Sarah Logan's Contract's not going
to be renewed as we tape. Those are the three.
(01:48):
I suspect there will be others. That's just the nature
of the business. I'm not even and you may have
a different outlook on this mic, and if you do,
that's cool. I'm not even a crap on WWE for this,
because from time to time you gotta trim the roster.
It will take him in reverse order. For me, nothing
(02:09):
against her. I didn't know Sarah Logan was still on
the roster. I don't know the last time I've seen her. Carlito.
I got nothing against the guy. I don't think that's
gonna be a big loss. The art truth one does
surprise me. He just wrestled John Cena on Saturday Night's
main event a little over a week ago. Last week,
(02:32):
he had the top selling piece of merchandise on Shop
Shop WWE almost at Shop AEW with his Ron Sena shirt.
Not that he was a major player per se, but
he was someone that the fans loved. He was a
good solid hand. I've also seen some reports that they
(02:55):
offered him a contract at a greatly reduced salary and
he turned it down. Now I don't know if that's
true or not, but I have seen that floating around
out there. I could see some interest in some companies
for Our Truth. Carlito probably just go back to Puerto Rico.
As a matter of fact, he wrestled down there this
past weekend for his family's promotion. I don't know what's
(03:18):
out there for Sarah Logan. In her social media posts,
it sounds like she's probably gonna hang it up. But yes,
some names of note being let go by WWE.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I I don't know what it takes to get signed
by WWE, to get released by WWE, to be kept
around by WWE. Because you want to say, Our Truth
wasn't a major player in WWE because they didn't want
him to be when they wanted him to be. He
was the best part of the Judgment day when they
(03:54):
wanted him to be. Him in the miss We're incredible
rivals to John Cena. He was a great ally and
then adversary to John Cena at the drop of a hand.
He was probably the best comedic stylist, a professional wrestler
that the WWE has had in the last decade. He
(04:14):
was a guy that you could hand to him thirty
seconds or five minutes, and he left a lasting impression.
I feel like from his very last moment on TV
when it was asking Solo Sokoa if he had just
had a son, and damn, Jason Matteo looked husky. He
left an impression. He knocked every appearance at the plan
(04:39):
out of the park. And there is no reason that
where like this guy's taking a severely diminished role and whatnot.
He was a good soldier that was asked to do
and he could do whatever they wanted him to. So
it feels like for a veteran, a locker room leader,
it was one that hurt in the WWE community. And
(05:00):
I don't know what you do to keep your job
or lose your job when you produce like our truth
does Sarah Logan you said it. She looked to be
out the door and good with her retirement. She I
believe in that post that she's kind of running a
self sustaining farm anyway and taking care of a gangle
of kids, and that she had already felt her life
(05:24):
moving in that direction, and Carlito kind of a big deal.
On Monday Night, Raw was frequently on camera, so to
just be gone it is a little bit surprising. Was
he just comic relief? Yeah, but that's the entire aspect
(05:44):
of the judgment day, and I did feel they were
missing something without Carlito's awkward goofiness in the background.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
This past week, I didn't miss Carlito at all. And
I'm not knocking Carlito, but yeah, look, here's the hard
reality about our truth. He had been in WWE since
two thousand and eight with his latest stint, so seventeen years.
(06:15):
He's fifty three years old. You've been with company that long,
even with little more than cost of living increases. He
had topped out at what they were willing to pay
someone for that spot on the card. And at fifty
three years of age, you can find someone younger. Yeah.
Look again, I got nothing agains our truth other than
(06:35):
I think they always used him poorly. Awesome truth was
a guilty pleasure that there have been some other moments,
for sure, but you know, and I know there was
some chance on Raw. We want truth and all that.
Another week or so, the majority of the WWE audience
(06:56):
isn't going to remember Our Truth. I'm also pretty sure
Our Truth ain't going that far. Something we talked about
several weeks ago. Micah I said that they were gonna
be wrestlers that WWE doesn't have anything for, but would
like for them to be used elsewhere like TNA. Some
of them they might just loan out, like we see
(07:17):
with the NXT folks. Some of them, you're not gonna
pay a WWE salary for them to go work somewhere else,
so you'll just kind of release them with the understanding, hey,
there's another place for you to go work. Not that
aw wouldn't have a little interest in Our Truth, but
I would be shocked if as soon as he's eligible,
(07:40):
if Our Truth doesn't show up in TNA. He's a
former TNA heavyweight champion. I don't know how much of
the Our Truth character he is versus Ron the Truth
killings and all that, but I would be shocked if
Our Truth doesn't land on his feet in TNA very soon.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Now that corporate Carlisle brought up the financial aspects of
how much money TKO wants to save, the other part
about this that caught people off guard is a month
ago we had releases. I looked it up. You and
I were trying to figure out when Shatzi Blackheart was released.
She was released in May, a month ago. When we
were talking about The Good Brothers. I think that the Carlito,
(08:22):
the Sarah Logan, the our Truth layoffs come as a
surprise because we're used to a round of WWE layoffs,
not hearing that three months ago they laid off a
dozen people in the corporate office. A month later they
made a round of cuts on the roster, and a
month later they came back to make another round of
(08:43):
cuts on the roster. We're used to hearing this twice
a year. But the frequency at which it's now happening
that they're looking at cutting their corporate budget, that may
be adding to the narrative of some of the wearing
on fans, because now it feels like it's multiple months
of this narrative.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Well a couple things. I don't think they're necessarily looking
to cut the corporate budget per se, although look, let's
be honest, whenever there's talent decisions that are made, budgets
factor in for one hundred percent. But this is more
about and I don't mean this nearly as callous as
it's going to sound, but it's about cutting dead weight.
(09:24):
You've got five people that can step in and do
the Carlito role, the Sarah Logan role, even the art
truth role. Now maybe you don't do the comedicness quite
as well, but none of these are going to be missed.
These are also different than the releases in that neither
of these three are being released. Their contract's not being
(09:47):
picked up. Their contracts are expiring and they're not going
to be renewed. So that's and look, there was a
time wwe would have just said fuck it, you're released
two months ago. They kept these people around until their
contracts are up. Again. Look, nobody likes it. I'm not
saying it's okay, don't be bothered by it, but let's
(10:08):
be really honest. Other than possibly our truth, do you
see Carlito or Sarah Logan in TNA, in ae W
or anywhere else in New Japan? You see Sarah Logan
going to start them? And look, again, we can set
her aside because it sounds like she's retiring. Now, maybe
(10:29):
she changes her mind on that, but you know, point being,
I don't think any of any of these three or
you're gonna see WWE kicking themselves for letting them go.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Oh you mean they couldn't be spiteful here like they
were with Natalia, so there was no good reason to
keep them. I don't think that's a good reason. The
better reason would be and should I'll say this, you
know who? You could have cut a lot of the
guys that we don't see on TV, you know, Rays
and Waller austin theory, those feel like useless positions cutting
(11:08):
dead weight. Our truth for the last month didn't feel
like dead weight. He felt like a bright spot in
the show. You know who feels like dead weight probably
America Alpha Tag Team.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Whoever?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Those guys are that are seeing a lot less on
TV than Carlito. If you're on TV, I don't expect
that to be considered dead weight. With the amount of
talent that if we look at the roster we don't
see on Raw and SmackDown, I would consider those ones
more dead weight than ones that were utilizing camera times toward.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Okay, Waller in theory, one of them's Australian. Correct. Yes,
maybe where's Crown Jewel at in October where you got
a big right, not that they're gonna be main eventing,
but it's in per Australia, and for no other reason
(12:03):
you're keeping them around until then, just to be a
part of that card. And look, I'm not advocating, Oh
they're great, they should stay. I hear what you're saying.
There are a lot of different people you can cut,
but cutting fifty three year old Our Truth and keeping
twenty something year old Grayson Waller or whomever, or Austin theory,
(12:23):
I get that.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I don't because the WWE is full of a performance center,
full of real looking twenty seven year old And if
there's one that's had three four years on the main
roster and has made absolutely such a little impact that
Our Truth gets more camera time than him, I feel
like that's somebody that can be relegated or designated for
(12:49):
assignment down a TNA like and Our Truth is being told.
I just don't see the thought process. And I hear
the fifty three year old, But why do we have
the fifty three year having so much camera time?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Well he doesn't that way, but he doesn't have that
much camera time. Now, look outside of the little bild
to to is john sena match on Saturday Nights Made event,
which was a head scratcher to me because of how
he's used and all of a sudden, we're supposed to
buy that this guy could beat John Cena in a
non title match, but no, Look the reality is, and
(13:27):
I'm not knocking it, he got a ton of mileage
out of it. But our truth on TV all this
camera time was thinking that Shampa was triple h and
talking to his invisible little friend and shit like that.
It's not gonna be missed. It's just not. It's not
like he was going out putting on five star matches, which,
by the way, assuming the age doesn't wear him down
(13:50):
wherever he lands, he'll go out. And if they let
him be Ron Killings and not goofy ass our truth
with an invisible friend, he'll go out have great matches.
I don't doubt this at all. But the reality is
he will not be missed in WWE, and I don't
And I know that sounds so callous. I truly don't
(14:11):
mean it that way, but it's it's just a cold heart. Look,
if I'm being honest, you brought up Waller in theory, Yeah,
they probably wouldn't be missed either. I don't think you're
wrong on that, But if you're WWE, you're looking at
them with a lot more upside than you are in
Our Truth or a Carlito, you just are Well.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
There's one thing that you said there that holds true
for everybody, though they will not be missed. Triple hs
to drop dead tomorrow, and he won't be missed. The
Rock has left, John Cena has left, Stone Cold, Steve
Auston has left, Stem Punk has left and comeback. Roman
Reigns is barely even ever there. There is no one
that could leave that really overall makes a difference. I
(14:55):
think to w so wrong all that everyone at once left. Maybe,
but I don't think that their ratings go down just
because one person leaves. Because John cen has made how
many movies? The Rock has made? How many movies? We
lose Roman Reigns all the time, and this juggernaut keeps going.
(15:15):
I know that ratings can go in the hole, but
it never gets really that bad. For WWE.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Most of all those names you mentioned are missed when
they're gone. That's why every year we talk about is
Stone Cold, even at his age where he can't go
out by his own emission, and have the type of
match he would want to have. Is he gonna be
at Mania this year? What's Rock doing at Mania this year?
Sena this scena that. I get what you're saying about
those guys coming and going. I get what you're saying
(15:42):
about Roman Reigns coming and going, but they are missed
when they're not there. Cody Rhodes was missed when he's
not there. Look, it's unfortunate. I'm not saying, hey, great job,
Wwe go cut some more old people, because no, no,
I don't want to see anybody get cut, but it happens.
It happens in every single fing company. And look, ww's
(16:07):
gonna be just fine. Carlito's gonna go back to Puerto Rico.
Sarah Logan's gonna do whatever she does out on a
damn in the woods somewhere in a damn cult or
whatever it is she does there. Our truth. If he
wants to go to TNA, my guess is TNA will
open their arms for him. I suspect Tony Kahan will
(16:29):
have interest. I just think it's kind of predetermined. He's
going to TNA and he'll be Look if he's treated
more seriously, good for him. But but but if not,
I would see I could see aw having cymmetry. I
don't think they bring him in to make it world champion.
(16:50):
But if you're Tony Kahan, you're like, they use the
hell out of Ricochet. Look what I've done here, We've
let Ricochet be ricochet and this has turned out great.
Our truths pretty damn good talent. He was a hell
of a worker in TNA and a hell of a personality.
I can get that out of him here as well,
So I think our truth will be fine wherever he
winds up again. I think it's TNA, but we'll see.
(17:11):
It's a look, it is unfortunate, but it's it's part
of the business. Man.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I know you're telling them that to me, So I
guess I got to ask, how sick did it make you?
Seeing the people out there that did comment and say,
since TK has taken over WWE, and you've already went over,
it's a corporation, look at anyone's head off because it's
a corporation. But people said it feels like WWE has
lost their soul, and I think it's a company. It
(17:38):
never had a soul. But what is your reaction and
how sick. Did it make you when people were bringing
this up.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Not nearly as sick as hearing about Vince McMahon shitting
on women's heads. Yeah, that's why I thought, yeah, yeah,
if we're talking about the good old days of WWE. Yeah,
I'll be honest, that made me a lot sicker. You're
you're branching off in another territory. I'm not sure how
far we want to go on this. We can. First
(18:06):
of all, whenever a company buys another company, they're gonna
be cuts. And I'm not talking about from the talent standpoint,
although that's gonna be to be expected as well, but
the office people and things like that. I mean, that's
just a reality. I don't think they've lost their soul
per se. But you go back to their big announcement
(18:27):
right before wrestle Maani at WrestleMania is coming to New Orleans.
Here's the rock to make the announcement. This is so big.
I had to be here for all you guys. And
then a couple months later, you know, just last week,
Oh hey, guess what, guys, By the way, Wrestlemanie ain't
coming to New Orleans. Sorry, guys, We'll give you money
in the bank instead, and we'll make it up to
(18:49):
you down the line, but we're gonna go make more
money somewhere else that If you want to talk about
the soul of WWE and all that, I mean, that's
straight up to you right there. And I'm not saying
that financially it's not going to work out. But to
your point about the soul of WWE and all that
(19:09):
and how TKO runs it, they're running WWE as a business,
not as a wrestling company. Whether it's moving WrestleMania, whether
it's cutting people, whether it's eliminating office jobs in the
grand scheme of things. That doesn't concern me because that's
part of when you absorb another company. But some of
(19:33):
their business moves, and I'm not talking about talent really,
I'm just talking about the WrestleMania thing being beholden to
every quarter every ninety days. Long term, I don't know
how good this is for WWE. I'm not saying ww
is going to go away at all, but I'm just
saying the one wrestling company that has survived was run
(19:58):
by wrestling people and not by a corporation. That name me.
One wrestling company run by a corporation that had sustained success.
There isn't one. WCW would be the closest, and then
one merger later, and we don't want this on our product,
on our TV anymore. To hell with you, guys. WWE
(20:20):
was successful because they were run by Vince McMahon, a
wrestling guy, not a not a company, not a corporation.
Do I have some concerns about that? Yes? Is that
magnified because of the talent cuts? No?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
No, it's not magnified during the talent cuts. It's just
it's a conversation that I saw put out there at
this time of the talent cuts. Like you said, the
New Orleans things speaks much greater volumes to it that
I'm not in for the bad business that the WWE
abides by where they like to negotiate with athletes that
(20:58):
are currently under contract to other promotions, that they apparently
announce a contract done with the city and continue to
negotiate with another city for the very same event. I
that is soulless, and they are obviously financial mercenaries, but
their sole mission as a company is to make profit.
So what are you expecting of them? Is what I
(21:21):
want to ask the people that say they're soulless. There's
nothing in their mission statement that includes this soul that
you're talking about. They are here to make money and
that's the beginning, middle, and end of that shit.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yes, look, there's also nothing wrong with that. Now that
doesn't mean it's right, and you can justify it, but
it's also not wrong either. That's the goal of every company. Now,
some places do it differently, I think, almost to a detriment.
Tony Kah keeps people around when he might be better
off releasing some of them. But again, and I'm not
(22:00):
going to criticize a guy for caring enough about people
to leave them under contract and let them go work
indie shows until their contract runs out. No, when the
fuck's kind of along the lines of our truth, When
the fuck's the last time Dan Housen's been on TV.
You know what Dan Houses has been doing this whole time,
collecting a check every two weeks from AW So. I
(22:22):
mean Tony could have cut him and other on some
missed opportunities on merch, they wouldn't have hurt adw at all.
But he keeps people around. Again, maybe that's not always
what's best for business, but sometimes it's the right thing
to do, or it's the good thing to do. So
(22:42):
there's more than one way to do it, and more
than one right way and wrong way. So I'm not
gonna crap on WWE too much for all that, I
will say, though, some of their business moves does make
me question long term how well this is all going
to work out. We brought up Mania being moved from
New Orleans. The assumption is is going back to Vegas
(23:05):
and where. I a betting man, I'd say that's probably right.
But you talk about money and sight fees and going
where they're going to offer you, what if it's not Vegas?
What if it's Saudi Arabia. What if it's you know,
we just talked about that they moved freaking Crown Jewel
(23:26):
from Saudi to Australia. What if you wind up going
back down under it? Can you imagine and I know
they've done Toronto, but can you imagine WrestleMania being outside
not just the US but North America and on another
f in continent very easily?
Speaker 2 (23:43):
If they put up the money, WWE will do it.
Fans will take to social media, they will him and
they will haul and a bunch of people will book
the day trip around the world to get there because
I don't know if we're not get a sell out.
I don't know if the ratings are gonna drastically drop
(24:04):
so much that Peacock tells them, hey, you can never
do this again. I don't know if it happens to
a point where they sell so few tickets they're like, shit,
we can't do two nights. We have to make a
good show and only do one night. I don't see
the consequences being enough to stop anything that they're doing
(24:25):
or change what they're doing. Like, you can move WrestleMania
wherever you want, and I could very easily see it
even being a bigger draw for Australia England. Look at
how big all In was because it's the only time
AEW's in a country that magnified so much more for WWE.
(24:47):
I think they just keep on rolling, even if it's
dirty business for a local community or those of us
in the States.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Well, none of those things you just said are actually issues. Now.
Selling tickets and salty might be an issue, but the
amount of money you'd be getting from them would all
set that. But were they to go somewhere else, like
you said, London, they'll sell out two nights. They went
to Australia, they'll sell out two nights. Ratings and pay
(25:16):
per view buys, those things don't exist, my man. Ratings
exist a little bit for USA its back down. Ratings
don't exist for raw on Netflix. Ratings don't exist for
premium live events on Peacock, not even pay per view buys,
because that's free with your as long as nobody's canceling
their Peacock subscription. Peacock's happy with anything WWE gives them,
(25:41):
So none of those things even And no, and I
don't even say that flippantly. You smiled, but I'm being
dead serious.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
No, I'm being dead serious too, because it feels like
Peacock is happy with whatever WWE will hand them. You
are dead on and the fan base is happy with
whatever WWE hands them. That feels to be the same
thing because there's enough fans in multiple countries that they're
gonna sell out, they're gonna have their live audience, and
the person that's beholding to the broadcasting is happy with everything.
(26:13):
So I don't know what would stop them from doing
whatever they want. I think that they're in the ultimate
position of power, congratulatory to do whatever they want.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Well, yeah, yes, but it's not like WWE is just
handing you shit and saying eat it and like it.
Pecott knew what they were getting into with the premium
live event, with the network and all that. Their goal
is subscriptions. I don't think they really give a fuck
how many people actually tune into a premium live event.
(26:44):
As long as people bought a subscription so they have
access to that, and as long as you don't cancel
that subscription, you fight enough other stuff on there that
makes it even if you don't watch every premium live
event that you're watching poker or you're watching whatever that
Peacock has to offer, that's all they care about. Look
(27:06):
the same thing with Netflix, to be honest, because again
you look at the numbers raws drawing on Netflix. Literally
every episode has drawn either the same or less than
the one before it, and that's just a fact. It
hasn't gone up once. But as long as you're getting
the subscriptions and people aren't canceling those subscriptions, that's what matters.
(27:29):
That's the streaming world that we currently live in now. Obviously,
the SmackDown side is a little different because that's on USA,
But yeah, by and large, and look, we could talk
about this on our MMA show as well, MMA After Hours.
When we're talking about UFC, it ain't about ratings. It
ain't about pay per view buys anymore. It's about subscriptions
(27:52):
to your streaming partner and keeping those solid and hopefully
growing those over time. But yeah, the ratings game and
all that, that shit's gone.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Man, Thank you, we finally got down to the bottom
of that conversation. I was about to ask you what
the fuck was the point of what we were talking about,
and I think I got to it. The only thing
that can hurt WWE is if Netfix or Peacock lose
subscribers and they're somehow able to generate it back to them.
Other than that there, I'm not gonna say infallible, But
(28:29):
it doesn't matter who they cut, what business deal they go,
where they put on. I mean, it's as simple as
our truth was a headliner two weeks to go and
you can see him or three weeks. How long ago
was it that he was headlining a p l E.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
That match wasn't the main event priest to McIntyre was
the main event that that was a four minute match
in the middle of the show. I think it was
the second match.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
But no.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
The whole point of all that there are no fucking
ratings anymore. There are no more pay per view buys.
Your ratings now are subscriptions to your streaming partner. That's
how you're judged.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Now.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
You're not judged on quarter hours. You're not judged on
the amount of time people spend streaming the product. You're
not judged on pay per view by You're judged on
the number of subscribers. Have they dropped? Have they gone
up since said company got in bed with you? That
that's your ratings now in twenty twenty five is your subscribers?
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Okay? So then for us, the critiquers of this, how
would you then write and review a SmackDown episode or
a raw episode if we're just looking at subscriber numbers.
Are we still calling things good and bad even though
that doesn't affect them.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Well, yeah, because you're still critiquing the shows. So yeah,
And look I brought up earlier the viewership each week
and for all goes down. It ain't hard to figure
out why some weeks there's some good scene go ahead.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Was there a subscriber increase when the Raw debut happened.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Question, Yeah, I don't because most people have Netflix anyway.
So how many new subscribers now long term worldwide? And
it's more and more of ww's existing contracts in other
countries expire, and eventually Netflix becomes worldwide the home for Raw.
(30:36):
Then it becomes a little greater. But yeah, I don't know,
so I can't fully answer that. But that's what it
comes down to. Subscribers. How many you gain, how many
you didn't lose? Things like that, I mean, and quite honestly,
there may come a point in time in three years
whenever this deals up, Netflix saysh this was fun, but
(31:01):
we're gonna go in a different direction and then they'll
just hop to the next streaming partner.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, this conversation is probably more entertaining than Monday Night Raw.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Well, I don't disagree with you, Micah.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
We do call that a problem, but I don't know
how many people unsubscribed.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Well, no, look, it is a look. If you put
on a subpar product, eventually less and less people will watch.
That does become an issue because, especially if you're not
keeping your Netflix subscription. But yeah, at some point in
time if you went from five million people on the
first episode to nine hundred thousand every episode there forward,
(31:44):
And it's not quite that, but you get my point
that that big drop off and there has been a
big drop off at some point in time, Netflix does
question is this worth it? So yeah, I don't want
to say that it's just is not a problem and
it never will be. It can be. But yeah, but
you're not judged by by ratings week in and week out.
(32:05):
You're not waiting for Nielsen to come out and look
at the quarter hours, look like you were back in
the day or you were during the Monday night wars
and what worked for w CW versus this on WWE?
What work for WWE here? And what you know? All
that ship's out the window and pay per view buys,
all that ship's out the window for WWE. Yeah, it's
(32:27):
a different ballgame, and and they're adjusting to that.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Okay, So now now now we got to just dig
into it. The ratings dropping like a motherfucker.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Ah, not true?
Speaker 2 (32:40):
What does that do too? Or the views that we're getting,
like you said, from five million down to a million,
is that Augusto of a debut and they just weren't
able to keep that up. Do you think there has
been some lackluster booking? Is just the lack of wrestling
(33:01):
fans like what do you feel has led to the
less viewership for Monday night Raw that is continue to
hit a point where now it's leveling out.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
I think more than anything, it's the change to a
streaming platform, and you have to change the way you
watch it. If you watch it live or somewhat close
to live before it goes to commercial break, all right,
if you're behind, you fast forward you get to the
next segment. If not, you flip over to something else.
A little harder. When you're on your your Netflix watching
(33:35):
all right, this is boring. I want to go see
what's on Monday night football. I want to go see
what's going on in the NBA playoff game. I want
to see what's going on on fucking twenty twenty or
Celebrity Jeopardy, whatever the hell else is on on a
Monday night. So I think that's different. I think if
you're like, well, it's Netflix, I can go back and
(33:56):
watch it later. Sometimes I decide I to mind, get
to go back and watch it later. Well, hell, I
already read most of everything that's going on on social
media and on my favorite wrestling website, so I don't
have to go back and watch it now since I
know what happened. And I think that because if you
look at like where they still have ratings, snack Cow
still does very well for USA and they're pretty damn consistent.
(34:21):
So yeah, I don't think it's WWE's chasing off their
fans per se, but I think there's and it's probably
not even unexpected, but some growing pains with taking raw
to a streaming platform, and how you ingest that Probably
more so than anything.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I could see that, I could see it being part.
John Cena was off at TV a couple of weeks,
Cody Rhodes took a break. You did have that Pat
host Wrestle made me a slump and you kind of
look around and you say, well, all the guys that matter, right,
well look in and out.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
You had, Look, Roman's been gone, Cody took some time off,
You had the whole debacle of the Rock taking his
ball and going home and presumably pivoting on this whole
Scena thing, and how that. Yeah, so look, there have
been some creative hurdles as well. Let's not get ourselves there,
but I think, by and large, to your point, what
(35:21):
wireless people tuning in week in and week out on
to watch Raw on Netflix, it's it's still the growing
pains of how you watch Monday night Raw now versus
how you've watched it your entire life.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
I can see that playing into it. Yeah, looks like
something that they're obviously. I guess we'll learn to adjust
to it or see how it works out, because it's
here to stay, and I think that relationship will only deepen.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Yep. Well, we've got a busy week, Micah. We've got
AW four hours on Wednesday night with Fighter Fest. We've
got wor Else collide Saturday afternoon. We've got money in
the bank later Saturday afternoon. We got a lot to
get to. Let's get to that. And actually, Micah, real quick,
(36:08):
before we get into everything going on this week, with
all the WWE non renewals and cuts, we didn't bring
up the big news from last week. Mariah may gone
from AW. Speculation is she will be somewhere in WWE imminently.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
The rumors. I don't know if this is different from
what you saw, but much in the liking of Stephanie Vancour,
Mariah May dreamed of WWE, and she is going after
her dream. That that was the plan, and there wasn't
much diverting from that plan or any influence that Tony
(36:54):
connor another promotion could have had either one's desire, right,
I feel like that's a similarity between the two that
I saw in the narrative that's out there.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Yeah, and look, I don't begrudge her for that. That
was her goal, that's her dream. I get it. I
don't think she will be used nearly as well there,
but that's also look that that might be the end
all be all for fans, but that's not always the
end all be all for talent. Getting paid well, the schedule,
(37:27):
all these different things, time to go home and all
that look more power to her. From the aw standpoint,
I hate it because I think her and Tony Storm,
their program was phenomenal. I think were it not already
known that this was going to be her plan, we
would have seen a continuation of Mariah May and Tony Storm.
(37:50):
Certainly they would have gone back to it at some point,
worst case scenario, but yeah, no surprise here. We haven't
seen her since they had their final match where Tony
Storm's laid out on top of her and all that,
and now, at least for the time being, that's going
to be the end of the story. We've already seen
(38:11):
aw going in different directions with the women's title, and look,
this is what Miriam has always wanted. So good for
her and more power to her, and I hope it
works out well.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
The chemistry, the story, the level of artistry that Mariah
May and Tony Storm reached in that rivalry is not
easily achieved. It's not easily duplicated. It is generational. How
good that was, and to turn away from it does
(38:45):
disappoint me as a fan. I do look at it
disappointingly from the standpoint of I don't know how many
characters I've seen leave the Regional, leave the Indies, leave
a w and I could say that there's been a
full blowing enhancement of their character in WWE. I fear
(39:11):
that in some ways we won't see that Mariah May again.
And also we're talking about a women's division that now
that you're adding in Julia, Stephanie Vancour, Rock Sand on
the main roster there's more talent than there's ever been
(39:34):
for the women's division added in to what is a
really weird mix. And I'm utrigued to see what color
hair Maria may goes with, because can we really just
are we gonna have like Charlie's Angels but make all
three blonde Charlotte, Mandy, Mariah Wow, maybe Tip excuse me?
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Maybe? And look, keep in mind, and I don't know
how it's going to work out with when she's free
and clear and available, but wwe does have a little
all women's pay per view coming up in July. If
you if she's available by then, I would fully expect
her to be a part of that. In some way,
I wonder if it's a foregone conclusion she's debuting on
(40:23):
the main roster. I and I'm not saying she's not worthy,
but I could totally see her debuting in NXT and
having to go through the motions there, but before she
gets the main roster call up.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
I don't think, yeah, main roster NXT matters to be
a part of the pay per view. I think no, right,
she'll be a part of the pay per view either way,
and most likely yeah NXT, I think to start, because well,
she has to learn to be softer, she has to
learn to be gentler. We have to strip down everything
that made Mariah May and awesome physical presence in the ring,
(40:57):
and you know, WWE five that style that has to
be done in NXT. I don't think that she's gonna
catch on as she's was brought up in the Japanese
system and that is very hard.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Hitting for sure. For sure. All right, Micah busy week,
Like we talked about, AW is doing Fighter Fest Wednesday night,
WWE has Worlds Collide and money in the bank on Saturday.
We'll just take them in order. We'll start with AW
Fighterfest Wednesday night. Before the show, we were looking into
this cardon like, how the fuck is this four hours? Well,
(41:33):
keep in mind, roughly an hour is gonna be commercials,
so there's that. I'm guessing there'll be some other stuff
added as well. But I like what we've got so
far for the fighter Fest lineup. Kenny Omega, Brody King, Mascara,
Doradou Claudio in a four way for the International Championship.
(41:54):
This would be a good way to get the belt
off of Omega without having him have to take the loss.
If they were going to go that route, I would
put my money on Claudio. My guess here would be
though Mike Kenny Omega retains.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
I'm gonna go with Kenny Omega retaining, but just me
Brody King qualifying over Joss Alexander was a mini upset. Yeah,
not to mention, I'll go a step further, Mascara Dorado
over are All all of our favorite Luca Door Hetcha Zero.
(42:33):
I thought that was a bit of a surprise because
Hetcha Zero is a more seasoned worker. But I gotta
agree with you, Kenny Omega makes the most sense. Then again,
then again, then again, there is a death writer. Do
you think maybe a babe kid interaction. I think Claudio
(42:54):
is a strong possibility to increase storyline to get under
Kenny Omega's skin coming off of Anarchy and Arena, so
it would be fun.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
I could see that. You also add a second belt
to the Death Riders. So when Moxley loses, be that
it all in to Hangman or somewhere else, or it
all out to Darby Allen. You've still got a belt
in that group. That being said, I would assume Omega
retains here, but it should be a fun match. I'm
(43:27):
with you on Brody King and Dorata actually, but both
being in here a little surprising. I'd love to sit
here and tell you, oh, Brody King should win. Brodie's
King's gonna win. They're gonna do something with him. I
just I don't feel that happening, not just yet anyway.
(43:48):
Tony Storm, Mina Sherikawa versus Julia Hart and Sky Bloom.
Mercedes Monette will be on commentary for this. We know
we get Mercedes and Tony at all in but what
do you think of this tag match?
Speaker 2 (44:01):
I think that the most appropriate way to book it
is Mercedes Monette gets involved somehow and Heart and Sky
get the victory. I just don't know if Tony Khan's
willing to go down that angle. I don't know if
you do something to play upon the once friction between
Shirakawa and Tony Storm. But let's be honest, they're gonna win,
(44:23):
and they're gonna hug and they might possibly kiss.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
One can hope. I think this will be a better
match if Mercedes were teaming with someone against Julia Hart
and Sky Blue or Mina and someone else and have
Tony Storm on commentary. But that's fine as well, this
will be good. John Moxley, Mark Briscoe aw title on
(44:48):
the line. I know Tony Khan loves him, so Mark Briscoe.
I know Tony Khan was and obviously is he bought
the fucking company a big ro oh guy. But hell,
Mark Risco's beating John Moxley for the title.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
No, this should be a phenomenal match, though. I like
how their styles match up. I expect this one to
be rough, to be rugged, and if they're not both
bleeding at the end, if they're not both bleeding at
the end, come on, they both have to be bleeding
at the end.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
They might both be bleeding before this match actually starts.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
I like that thought even better.
Speaker 1 (45:24):
Yeah, I could totally see that FTR versus Atlantis Junior
and Templario or something like that. Does it matter. I
think this is a showcase for the dastardly healish FTR
in stokely Hathaway. I expect it'll be a really good match,
but anything other than FTR winning just ain't happening.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
I'm just more surprised this is obviously for boting US
or alluding to FTR is gonna fight for this C
M L L tag team titles at Grand Slam in Mexico.
I think that's what this is telling us.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
Probably so, and they're probably winning the belts they've held before,
so I could told you.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Did they held them before they held the Triple A ones.
I think this would be new.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
I thought they had them both at one point. Maybe
you could be right. Maybe I'm wrong on that. I
maybe I'm wrong U l A five versus Kevin I
Speedball Mike Bailey and Commander. Uh Kevin iic Speedball Mike
Bailey Commander winning this one.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
They probably will, but they shouldn't. Tony Kahan that the
bull give them the horns. There's an opportunity to do something.
I mean, you've left Mortos on the sideline so long.
He became white faced. You that, oh my god, color
he ate so much.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
You had the perfect mask to make you stand out.
And I know we joke a lot about Bandido's mask,
and yes, it makes him stand out, but it looks
like he's hiding the fact that he's a Balchinian men
in black. Look it up now, Mortos looks like in
old grizzled Balchinian. I don't know why the fuck he
(47:19):
changed his mask just go back to the other way.
It was cool as hell. There's no reason to change
the mask.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
The reason is because Tony Kahan is not acknowledging him,
not seeing his greatness, not giving them a victory. I
don't know what his problem is with LFI. I think
they could be a menacing faction. I mean, they at
least the scariest don Kallos family. Not talking about taking
them to some titles. But they win obvious matches, they
(47:47):
lose obvious I could be hopeful here, hopeful that they
pull out a victory, but Speedball's over there, and Speedball
kind of feels like he's taking an orange cast and
he's spot.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Yeah a little bit, a little bit, I can see that.
We also, after seeing her debut last week in impressive
fashion get the in ring debut of the Austrian Badass, Decla.
Speaker 2 (48:16):
Made quite the impression. Surprising debut heard she was out
in Arizona, going out there, making the big impression. Take
out Jamie Hayter, show the physicality. I'm gathering that she's
gonna eat up, spit someone out after the match. Hater
hits the ring and THEKLA still lays out Hater in
(48:39):
another impression of fashion.
Speaker 1 (48:41):
Yep, we'll also get an appearance by the Hurt Syndicate
and whatever else Tony Kahn ads between now and bell
time on Wednesday night.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
You know I did what I also mentioned Mascer of Dorado.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
Uh huh.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
That was some creative attire he has on the whole
purple silver transition, because from the front you cannot see
the purple. When he turns around, it's like a totally
different outfit.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
This is true. This is true. Well, the last week
or so, the luchas have been going heavy with the purple,
going back to Dynamite and collision in Albuquerque, then double
or Nothing, and then this past week in El Paso,
everybody had some form of purple and silver.
Speaker 2 (49:27):
Are you surprised that Commander is more bilingual than ar Fox?
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Yes? No, made, Yeah, I guess I can just look
at the booking.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
It's a little more obvious who understands the foreign language better.
Just That's what I'm saying, guys, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
There you go. So, yeah, so that's fighter Fest from
aaw so that's going to be dynamite and collision that
there won't be a Saturday Collision this week. So you
get the four hours on Wednesday night Saturday afternoon on
the YouTube WWE presents Worlds Collide twenty twenty five, and
(50:12):
oh thank god, since they had already announced the match,
but Vikingo finds a way to beat Alberto del Patrone
and so he in fact is now the Triple A
Mega Champion and he will defend that title that he
had already been advertised to defend before he won it
against Chad Gable.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
Did you see the in house video of Vikingo winning
the title?
Speaker 1 (50:40):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (50:41):
Did you see the WWE doctored or wait, WWE edited
enhanced enhancement of that sequence?
Speaker 1 (50:53):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (50:55):
Holy shit that they make the color and look better,
the everything more. I mean, wow, WWE and up man,
I mean that made it look great. And yay Vikingo.
I wonder if this will be in the top ten
shortest reigns for Triple A champions, because if Grande Cappuccino
(51:20):
doesn't win, I'm gonna be shocked.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
Well, Grande Americano is not on this card. He is
in the money in the bank match money in the
bank later, also in Los Angeles on Saturday. But yeah,
Chad Gable, Vikingo, Ah, you brought up the footage from
the El Patron match. This is what makes me concerned
(51:44):
about long term WWE buying Triple A. It sure seems
like they're American and up Triple A as much as
they can, which is great for the American fans if
they're any that actually came. But I think you're really
running the risk of alienating the Mexican fan base, the
(52:06):
people you're going to depend on weekend and week out
to support this promotion.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
I don't think they care about them.
Speaker 1 (52:13):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (52:13):
I don't think they understand Luca Libre. I don't think
they understand the audience that they're trying to go to.
I think they're gonna miss it. And I think that
immediately having Vikingo loose to Chad Gable is going to
feel like the right move to them. So they say, hey,
(52:35):
we're gonna take that Triple A Mega Compy Young title
just like Kenny Omega did, and put it on big
big streaming and put it on Chad Gable or Grande
Cappuccino or whoever ends up you know wearing getting might
hand it off to his buddy, let him wear it around.
And I don't think that's the right move. I think
(52:55):
that it'd be better to embrace the company and show
its greatness. Yes, and that makes it just makes me
wonder how many fifty to fifty bookings there's gonna be
some world's collide, because if it's a WWE sweep, what
is the value of watching Triple A afterwards?
Speaker 1 (53:16):
Well, that's true. Ethan Page, Laredo Kid, Ray Phoenix, Javonne
Evans for the NXT North American Championship.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
Ah.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
This screams Ray Phoenix to me. But my guess is
Ethan Page keeps the belt.
Speaker 2 (53:35):
Ethan Page should keep the belt. Eh. Maybe Ray Phoenix
takes it. They made him lesser than Panta already, so
maybe a little running NXT will be good for him. Ah.
Laredo Kid is one of two names from Cripple A
that I'm excited to see on this card. So by
(53:57):
King Goban the other one the exactly. I really don't
know or recognize many of the other ones. Some of
them I recognize the name, and I wonder, can it
still be the same dude under that mask?
Speaker 1 (54:08):
Probably not some of them, Yes, some of them though,
Like we're on like LAPARCA twelve Now I think six
man match Dragon Lea Cruz del Toro, Joaquin Wilde versus
Octagon Junior Aerostar, which I think was a really shitty
minivan and mister Iguana.
Speaker 2 (54:30):
Aerostar also gets to rejoin all of his brother from
Luca Underground that they're in WWE, sut least somebody else.
I kind of recognized that we did see in ae
W This is the one. This match because l WO
sucks balls in WWE doesn't care about it at all.
This is the match where I could see Triple A
(54:51):
getting the victory.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
But this is where you build LWO and show that
we do lucha. We know lucha. But yeah, I don't
disagree with you, but I could see WWE going in
a totally different direction. So yeah, World's Collide. Some other
matches as well. It'll be streamed on the WWE's YouTube
channel in both English and Spanish.
Speaker 2 (55:14):
More likely to lose and look bad l WO or
Logato de Fantasma both forgotten trios have trios matches, and
it's honest because they both are not that highly regarded
on mainstream TV. I could see losing which one Looking
(55:35):
at their opponents, I think you are who do you
think has a better chance of winning. OLWO A little
surprised about that, but we need the final nail and
Samthos Escobar's coffin to chase his Garza brothers over to
and yep.
Speaker 1 (55:52):
So that is eleven am Pacific time in La. So
that's two o'clock Eastern time, immediately followed by money in
the bank across town. That's at the key of four.
Money in the bank is at the adopt up up dupt.
Where the fuck is money?
Speaker 2 (56:10):
Into it Dome?
Speaker 1 (56:12):
Thank you into it Dome. I can't want to say
sofi staying, but I knew that one right. It's the
into it Dome.
Speaker 2 (56:18):
Uh. They go from one Balmer property to do the
other exactly.
Speaker 1 (56:21):
It's a big day for Steve Balmer. Uh. Too bad
the La Clippers aren't in the NBA finals. You got
your money in the bank men's and women's matches. You've
also got women's Icy title match. Lyra Valkira defending against
Becky Lynch. If Lyra wins, Becky can't challenge for the
(56:43):
Icy title again. If Becky wins, Lyra's got an eraseror
hand in victory. As long as this has been going on,
I got to assume it's time for Becky to get
a win. But if you're doing the smart thing, Lyra
wins again, and we move on for both these ladies.
At least for right.
Speaker 2 (57:00):
Now, Becky Lynch wins because you couldn't get Lyra over.
Now we recorrect it so we can come back to
it later. Make her the underdog because being the defending
champion hasn't got there. I think it's too short sided
to just say, all right, Becky Lynch came back. She
(57:22):
wants to go for this title. She can never challenge
for it again there right.
Speaker 1 (57:27):
Remember how we were talking about six matches for fight
or Fest and you said, how the fuck is this
going to be four and a half hour or four hours?
You've got four matches announced for this now, two of
them are money in the bank matches. I don't know
how the hell they're gonna get to two hours with
this fucking card. But again, i'll give you two go
ahead there.
Speaker 2 (57:45):
Two hours is easy with there's six entrances per money
in the bank match. Well, you got to go two
minutes per person entering the rink. We know we like
long entrances, and then you get a thirty minute match.
So I think those two matches probably could knock out
an hour and a half on their own.
Speaker 1 (58:04):
Maybe tag team action. John Cena, Logan Paul take on
Cody Rhoads and jay Usso you got both your world
champions and a tag match, so no world title matches
or heavyweight title matches. What do you think about Sena
and Logan Paul versus Cody and jay Uso.
Speaker 2 (58:22):
I tried really hard to not think about it. Yeah,
because my first inclination is why why are we having this?
Why are we doing this? It just it doesn't appeal
to me.
Speaker 1 (58:35):
You're having it because you're gonna do Cody Sena and
Logan Paul jay Uso at at SummerSlam, would be my guess.
But I agree with you. I don't. I don't get
the point of this at all. I can't imagine this
is what John Cena thought he was gonna get on
his big retirement tour. But here we are because we
(58:56):
got to pick somebody. I'm just gonna say, Cody and
Jay Usso win here because you want to make the
fans happy.
Speaker 2 (59:02):
No, John Cena wins because he needs to win. Logan
Paul keeps being annoying. I think it helps build them
both up better. For Cody's the underdog at Summers Slam,
jay Uso can't win, Not to mention, it puts the
presser on jay Uso going into Monday Night where he's
supposed to defend against Gun there. I like the pressure
(59:24):
on the faces. The heels win this one, and it's Hollywood.
If Logan Paul is gonna get a big victory, he
has to do it on the most yuppiest stage possible.
I think the fakest stage possible, the Hollywood stage.
Speaker 1 (59:44):
Women's Money in the Bank match Alexa Bliss, rox Sandperezria Ripley,
Gila Naomi, Stephanie lacer All in that. I'd every a
Ripley win. My guess is there's no way she wins.
Alexa Bliss.
Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Maybe it's gonna be Roxanne or or Live Morgan. Okay,
aren't they both in it?
Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
Live Morgan Roxanne is sorry.
Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
I feel like it's gonna be Roxanne. I feel like
we need to still add more cynical intentions to the
judgment day and I feel like this all ends with
literally Live stealing the brief face from Roxanne and cashing in.
But that's further down the line. But I kind of
like rock sand to do it because they like cynical
(01:00:37):
heels having the briefcase. I don't know if Muscle Mommy
stalking is the way we want to go. I mean,
she's such good friends with Ito. She basically gets the fight,
you know, anytime she asks for it. Why do you
even need money in the bank when you just get
the fight every time you'd ask for it.
Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
I guess the men's money in the bank. Excuse me
solo Sokola La nine seth, Rollins, Penta and Dorade and
El Grande Americano. I hope America El Grande Americano wins
only because after Chad Gable beats Vikingo, this sets up
a SummerSlam tag team match playing off the tag match here,
(01:01:17):
where you get El Grande Americano and Chad Gable teaming
to take on Vikingo and maybe Laredo Kid or something
at SummerSlam.
Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
Each time you say Grande Americano, I remember what my
coffee order was missing today? Damn you Starbucks, damn ouch Ouch.
Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
In all seriousness, I mean you would think Rollins, but Rolins.
Does Rolins need money in the bank? Probably not. Who
needs it is probably Solo, and that adds suited dissension
in the Bloodline B team. So I guess I'd picked
(01:01:59):
Solo to win, but something tells me it ain't gonna
be Solo.
Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
I think we finally get what we wanted, so we're
gonna do something with Andrade. I think Andrade winds it
all of a sudden, all these months of sitting in
the back at catering not doing a damn thing, looking
like a schlove us criticizing him for going back to
his now ex wife and just hanging out back there
doing nothing, it all cashes in, and that's why you
(01:02:29):
see Los Garzas get involved. We think it's gonna be
the Rawlins faction, but Garza's, after seeing Santos Escobar fail
earlier in the night, they lead and Trottie to cash
it in because Androtti is such a fool, He's gonna
(01:02:49):
cash it in. The belt on Chad Gable go after
the Triple A title for the NXT Mexico Inaugural Championship,
because I feel like there was a rumor saying that
Solo Soco was told to learn Japanese, and I feel
like he could be the next almost not the next cash.
Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
Wow, the next almost Wow, that's rough. Yeah ww shure
is uh. Look, other than maybe the guards' involvement, I
could totally see what you're saying. Happens happens. If that's
the case, Man, they sure are. I'm American and up
triple A in a hurry, and I don't think that's
(01:03:35):
gonna be a good thing.
Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
Just it feels too easy, too simple, too perfect to
do seth rawlins. Yeah, I just I shuddered to think
it's Solo's Socoa. It feels like you'd be ready made
to be Austin theory. After that, you're not cashing in.
It's not working out well. I do like the thought
process of it does intensify the scrutiny between him and Jacob,
(01:04:03):
But you cannot have Solo win it to just keep
teasing that he's gonna cash in on the US champion,
can you You can?
Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
I don't know that you do, but you can. Uh,
We're in agreement. It ain't gonna be La Night, it
ain't gonna be Penta right.
Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
No. They don't like to put it on faces, and
especially mid card faces that they haven't really elevated. Those
two are the odds on least likeliest, like I don't
even consider them.
Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
Yeah, no, I agree with you. I like the idea
of though Grande Americano. Can you see him cashing in
on Chad Gable after Gable beats VIKINGO.
Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
No, no, I just can't see that one.
Speaker 1 (01:04:55):
But they could do a cinematic match, so Chad Gable
could be both guys and you didn't have to put
somebody else under the hood. Come on, man, in all.
Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
Reality, how much work is it gonna be for Chad
Gable to carry a mask, a briefcase and the Megacampion
title go back and forth from NXT Mexico and Monday
night raw. One drink can only.
Speaker 1 (01:05:19):
Do so much, you'd be surprised. So you get money
in the bank late Saturday afternoon from the inn at Dome.
Busy week, Micah, It'll be interesting to see how everything
plays out. I think we're both up in the air
a little bit on the both the money and the
bank matches. We could see a couple of different things,
(01:05:41):
although in both matches one thing makes more sense than
the other things, So we'll see how it all plays out.
Anything else you wanted to hit.
Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
On, No, I think I'm good. I mean everybody watched
TNA where at least people still have jobs. I mean
that's their tagline, you give the fired jobs.
Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Well, they haven't given them fired any jobs yet as
far as Our Truth, but yeah, I think that's probably
where he ends up. And I think WWE knew that.
I think Our Truth knows that, and that's the way
that's gonna play.
Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
Out most likely.
Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
Most likely, I have a hard time believing that they're
just that code and callous that they have a plan
for Our Truth.
Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
It may not involve WWE raw.
Speaker 1 (01:06:36):
Or SmackDown, but maybe taking out some NXT guys in
TNA because you're pissed off at WWE make you a
tough guy.
Speaker 2 (01:06:44):
Even makes me understand less why you don't resign a
guy to contract when you're gonna send him to your
cousin's house to still work with your little brother. But
it's the WWE way of doing.
Speaker 1 (01:06:59):
Okay, because you can pay him three hundred thousand dollars
a year, or they can pay him seventy five thousand
a year. That's why it ain't that hard to figure out, men,
It's simple economics.
Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
I hate WWE's economics and the amount of time we
bring it up in this Pro Wrestling podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
But that's just me.
Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
You guys want to talk about economics, hit up him
on X. If you want to just talk about the
art that the storylines, hit me up on X. It's
at frankl Micah.
Speaker 1 (01:07:30):
Get the show on X at PW After Hours, you
can get me at Real Mike Carlisle. We will talk
to you next week for another episode of Pro Wrestling
After Hours here on the After Hours Podcast Network.
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