Ep 296: AEW Grand Slam Mexico Recap. WWE Night of Champions Preview. All the Latest News

Episode 296: AEW hits a home run with Grand Slam Mexico.  WWE presents Night of Champions this Saturday. All the latest news and more. 








Interact with the show...

X (formerly Twitter): @PWAfterHours @RealMikeCarlyle @FranklMika

Email: [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
What's up, everybody? Welcome back. It is pro Wrestling after Hours.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm Michael Carlisle, joined as all A's by Micah Frankel.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Micah was shaking.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Man Arena Mexico as a top five wrestling experience.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yes, I would have to agree with that.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
There were a couple of things I didn't like. It's
probably more mean nitpicking than anything. It was a hell
of an atmosphere. It was a crazy crowd and there
was a lot of craziness.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
You think about Arena Mexico now, to my mind, is
rivaling Madison Square Garden, It's rivaling the Tokyo Dome.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
There's some of these arenas that you go to.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
That they sit there in the anthels of wrestling history
and you can just feel the vibrations when you go
in there. And you kind of heard that kind of
build up for Arena Mexico.

Speaker 4 (01:02):
I didn't think you could live up to those expectations.
I'll be damned. I thought it did a fine job
of doing so.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
One of the things, Mike, I thought, you know a
lot of arenas you and you brought up MSG If
you don't know and you're just tuning in all the
arenas kind of look the same arena Mexico had a
very distinct look to it, which and again, look, if

(01:29):
you watch a lot of CML, no surprise to you,
but for the vast majority of fans, at least in
the US, who probably don't watch a lot of CML,
you knew right away you weren't in a regular venue,
your typical arena, concert hall, what have you, what have you,
And that definitely stood out, you know, I brought up

(01:54):
the fans were wild all night. I thought it was
a really cool atmosphere. Obviously you don't want to burn
it out, but I hope sooner rather than later we
see AW there again.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Because I thought it was that cool.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Oh, it definitely was. It was that unique.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
The crowd reaction translated over and I did even see
Jose the assistant on social media in advance, and he
was a little concerned that AEW may have tried to
have changed around the arena and something like that, and
he was just kind of saying, it's my opinion that
I hope you keep it authentic and you don't lose

(02:34):
what makes it special.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
And I think they did a really good job at that.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
That was actually one of the things that I made
in my notes that not distracted me but concern me
the entire night. Those long steps down for the entrances.
I would have never done that, only because once in
JF or Lashly or or hang Me anybody, once somebody

(03:02):
trips going down those stairs, it's over for them. And
that's something that's gonna be shown online over and over
and over again, and something that's gonna be brought up
week after week online. I would have never done that.
But that being said, that was one of those authentic
things to the arena that you needed to keep in place.

(03:23):
So I get it, but I just know that whole
night I was like, God, don't fall, please, don't fall, please,
Oh my god. Especially, I was like, if Lashley's big
ass takes a tumble, you've killed his mystique. If Mercedes
stumbles coming out for her entrance, I don't care how
many belts she's got, you've killed her mistique.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
You know.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Again, Like I said, that's probably more anything, but that's
certainly something that's very authentic that they did keep in place,
and it was probably the right move.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
And you saw that not everyone came from the stairs.
There's quite a few people that came from around the stairs,
and I think a good amount of them did have
the longer coats and the longer ropes. And let's give
the cm L guy's credit. They take those stairs with
masks on that you can't tell what kind of feet
of balance if that is, you dare try it.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Oh, look a hundred any stairs they don't have rails,
I automatically get wonky on.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
I don't know if I've ever even told you this.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
So before you and I started going out to cover UFC,
my radio partner at the time we covered it, UFC
did a thing.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
And this was many, many years ago.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
This was pre pandemic and open workout for Francis and Ghanu.
Francis was fairly new on the scene, but there was
already a big buzz around him and they had him
hitting bags, doing.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
This, doing that and the other. They also had him
working out in an octagon.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
We got to climb up on the side of the
octagon and watch him work out what three steps little
three step thing, but there's no rail. I almost busted
my ass climbing up the stairs.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
It's just it's like a psychological.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Thing and I can't be the only one, but I
think that's why the whole stair thing stood out to
me as much as it did, because I'm like, because
my first thought was there that all right, as soon
as I bust my ass in front of all these people,
it's done nothing I can ever do well, I ever
have the respect of these people again. And unfortunately this
day and age, if you're a pro athlete and you
trip and fall on your big entrance, that's gonna be

(05:36):
all over the internet. That's gonna be online, that's gonna
be on social media. So I'm like, God, please nobody fall.
This is going to be a star. Is going to
see their light put out tonight when they trip and fall. So,
like I said, I'm sure that was more of a
me thing than anybody else.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
But I was like, oh shit, please don't fall, Please
don't fall.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
So that means the Michael Carlyle like like, we get
to go to the fanatics fan experience and do our
own entrances, but imagine we get to make it all
the way to the ring. You're telling me you're you're
hitting the you're running and you're going right under the bottom.
Hope you're doing the rain. Mysterior, the kind of slide in.
We're not taking the three steps up the steps.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
U, I'm probably doing the walk and getting there and
then just rolling my ass in.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
I don't know I'm gonna run and divey either, because
I've seen that fail spectacularly too.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
So yeah, so.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah, I'll probably I would probably just walk up and
then roll under the ring ropes.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yes, what was it? You could be a Titus O'Neill.
O'Neill his was make it a win, I think.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, And look, I don't know that Titus O'Neill.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Look he's still there. He still does a lot of
stuff for them.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
But as far as an Inn the ring character, I
don't know how big he would have ever been, but
I don't think he was ever how seriously he was
taken before as a wrestler before that move, I don't
think he was ever taken that seriously.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Again, he will not be as big as Hangman is
in Mexico, which I did not see coming.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Jorle Who the hell knew Hangman could speak? Speak pretty
fucking fluid Spanish.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
I am decent at Spanish, like not really that great
guys like, never took it in school, but I've known
enough people that speak Spanish. I understood about half of
what he was saying. I'm like, holy shit, Hangman is
conveying his feelings his character more to me.

Speaker 4 (07:35):
In Spanish than he ever did in English.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
Dude, drop the English, keep going with the Spanish.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
My thoughts on that that might have been better to
do pre show and then have him come out and
do his promo in English. That being said, it was
really cool and I totally get why they did it,
but if you were going to do it, maybe have
someone other than ex Caliber try to translate it for us,
because I picked up more on what Hangman was saying,

(08:04):
like you said, just listening than I did listening to
ex Caliber.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Try to tell us what he was saying, because I'm like, ex.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Caliber, first of all, you're kind of behind, and second
of all, you're leaving out a lot of stuff, and
three the things you are saying, I'm not sure you're
one hundred percent accurate.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
Not really, And he left out a lot of the
orderitness I mean, the two or three manuals. I love
that part. That was freaking hilarious. I think I've been
to some kitchens where that was kind of what it
felt like. Who was working with us. So that was
beautiful from Hangman and even better when they did re

(08:42):
release it on social media for the people that can't
understand Spanish.

Speaker 4 (08:45):
Where it actually did have the bottom thirds.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
You needed that on the night, you needed it ready,
You needed someone in the production truck. What the delay
able to type that quickly the closed caption, But bravo
for at least doing it the back end.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
No, for sure, since we've already gotten into it, we'll
roll with aw for the time being.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
In Grand Slam Mexico, don't worry.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
We will get tonight the champions in that preview and
everything that's led up to that, we're gonna get there.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Do not worry.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
As cool as of an opening segment as that was
to start the show, and it was cool. I don't
know why we had to have the fifty person tag
clusterfuck to start the show. I don't know why we
had to have the match at all, but that was
a bit much.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
And all right, it wasn't fifty it was only a
fourteen man.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
Tag, but that was a lot of damn people, and
there was a lot of stuff going on, and I Kobe,
if like you could have skinned that up a little bit.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
It felt traditional luchallybra to me. There was a point
where I messaged he and I said, this reminds me
of something I would have seen when I was younger
watching TRIPLEA. So it felt like there was a balancing
act between Grand Slam, where we've seen Grand Slam in
Australia and we've seen events in the UK. But with

(10:11):
Lucha Libre having such a big influence in the Mexican culture,
I think that ae W did booking in the matches
and in some of the structure of the matches just
to be more authentic to lucha libre.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Very true, but keep in mind though you're and I
get it, you were in Mexico, but broadcast purposes. Yes,
you're going all around the world. And maybe I'm gonna
sound like the dumb, stupid, angry American, but you're catering
to the American audience a six.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
Man and eight man.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
I think you could have done what you wanted to
do and maybe even done it a little better.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
No disrespect to anybody.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
I'm in an am mayor, but you could have taken
Danny Garcia out, you could have taken Fletcher out. I
get why you've got Atlantis and Atlantis Junior. I get
why you've got Dax, the acts, no Cash, apparently some
problems there getting into the country. I just but again,
I even if I didn't the things I didn't like,

(11:19):
I understood why they did them, and it made Even
if a fourteen man tag doesn't make sense, their reasoning
for it did kind of make sense. So I get it,
and you're right, Look, it was entertaining. There are a
lot of spots along the way. You also got a
nice Atlantis moment there, so I get it.

Speaker 4 (11:43):
With losing Cash, I believe.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
It was right.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Cash.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
That kind of changed things a bit because I thought
we were supposed to just get Dax and Cash versus
Atlantis and Atlantis Junior or Atlantis Junior and else Implorio.
I believe this is his tag team partner. I thought
we were just supposed to get that. But at least
some of the moving parts, how it came together, it

(12:10):
made sense with the Callous family and Hetcha Zero, So
there were some astraalons where I could say, yeah, there
was too much of a mess of bodies, but at
least they it did make sense how it came together
in a sort of fashion. But yeah, if you want
to say it was too big of a Michigasha bodies,
I'm not gonna go against you. There were so many

(12:31):
people that everyone had to be on the floor.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure, And we won't break
down every single match, but we'll touch on at least
most of them.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Uh Okata and Mark Brisco. I don't know why Mark.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Briscoe continues to surprise me week in and week out,
because all the dude does is go out and deliver.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
So I mean so, I don't necessarily mean it.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
That way, but I got a whole lot more out
of Akada and Brisco than I was expecting.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
I wrote down it was great. I didn't expect to
say it was great to be that amazed. It feels like,
if you really wanted to, you could put Jay brisco.

Speaker 4 (13:13):
He's the upper.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
End of the mid of the mid scene because he's
not in the main event, but he's like one of
those first names right outside of it for a face.
I think that they get a lot out of him,
and there's still room where as he's learning to be
a single competitor, I think you can get more.

Speaker 4 (13:30):
He's not osprey, He's.

Speaker 3 (13:33):
Not one of your top three guys, but he might
only be like four or five.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Yeah, probably Nick picking here again, But you got the
postmatch beat down.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
Nobody fucking comes out to save Mark Briscoe.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
The about to be reformed, rejuvenated conglomeration.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
I get it. Maybe you didn't have.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
The full roster there and all that because you're in Mexico,
But there wasn't somebody in the back that could come
out and save Mark Briscoe.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
In a somewhat timely manner.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
You know, it took a while for people to get
to certain visas. There's a Canadian stuck in a hospital,
and let's not just fast forward or unless you want
you to get right to the collision, because at least
then a golden lover did come back. So now brisco
has another buddy in Coda, Abuhi. So now you got Abuhi,
Omega and Briscore your international trio Delaware, Japan and Canada,

(14:30):
a traditional you know friendship.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
All right and fine and all right, Yeah people weren't
there at all, but there were at least seven people
in the match before and that one or more of
them could have come.

Speaker 4 (14:40):
Out, So yeh, yeah, let's blame Brody Lee. Really, that's
all on him.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
If anyone is gonna save a Delaware chicken farmer in
that group, it'd be the guy cheering against Ice. He's
there for everybody.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Rody King did have the Ice shirt on, Yes he did,
he did.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
But yeah, obviously that's not the first I've noticed this
with AW They'll let a good guy just get the
fuck beat out of him, and nobody comes out to
save him.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
And I'm like, Jesus, is he is?

Speaker 2 (15:08):
He an asshole to everybody backstage? Nobody would come out
and save this guy.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
AnyWho. That was just me, Mystico MJF. I enjoyed the match.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
There was one little thing that happened in the postmatch
that ruined everything for me, and I don't even know
if you called it.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
So MJF gets the win.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
A hell of a match, Mystico, I am in the
best match he's had in quite some time, at least
on US TV. They take off his mask, he covers
his face, he rolls outside, the faces immediately come out
to save him. Poor Mark Brisco is still getting his
ass beat, but they come out to save him. I
believe it was Speedball that brought out another mask after

(15:56):
they clear the ring, they give the mask to one
of the louts to go out and give the Mystico
Mistico has already gotten another mask. He's laying outside. He's
got another damn mask on. Whoever it was Volder or whomever,
I don't remember.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
Now, but hands in the mat.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
So he takes off the mask he had put on
and puts on the.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Mask that he handed it. And the match mask he
put on was just like the mask that he wore
during the match.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
I didn't maybe we weren't supposed to see all that,
and Mystico's like, I got to cover my face here
so the fans ring side don't see. And you know, well,
when they hand me the other mask, I just put
it on. And maybe that should have never been on TV.
But I don't even know if you call it that.
But that drove me crazy, man, because it made no sense.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
I caught it. It looked weird. I had more of
a problem with Bobby MVP holding the cane like a
baseball bat, and he's trying to hold off the faces, right,
he's kind of sweat, you get, yeah, And Bobby Lashly
is so desperate to reassert himself at the top of

(17:06):
the car. He basically like you saw him walk by MVP,
And I'm like, no.

Speaker 4 (17:10):
No, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
Lashly, that looks awkward. You stand behind MVP. I know
you're this big brick shit house and you're not supposed
to that cowardly, but walking past the guy swinging the
weapon just looks weird. It's a bad optic for storytelling purposes.
You could have just stoically stood there behind MVP and
it's none of the difference, but it looks weird when

(17:33):
you walk by him. So I thought there was a
few things that came out of Jade Cargill in this match.

Speaker 4 (17:39):
I mean, clunky, wow, wow.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
At least with that, and I don't know, I don't
remember now in the broadcast as they did, but you
could quickly explain that away. Bobby Lashley's so amped up
to get to anybody who wants a piece of him.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
He just stepped right in front of MVP. You know,
you could have saved that. It was really awkward. Oh,
they're giving Mistico a mask so he can cover his face.
He's got a mask on. He just took it off
to put that one on. I I yeah, again, eh, but.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
Something go ahead. I was gonna say something. I was
just gonna move forward to everything that I know you're
gonna disagree with me about. Leo Rush impressed me most
out of the competitors in the four away match.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
Ummm, I know I won't disagree with you.

Speaker 3 (18:42):
Not to say that does much for him, but just
out of the interactions, the comedy, the physicality, the acrobatics,
I thought Leo Rush impressed me most. Good for Hologram
to get the win, But I'm just kind of used
to Hologround getting wins by now, and I don't know
what they need. Do you feel seven to zero?

Speaker 2 (19:01):
You feel like every now and again, Tony CON's just like,
you know, there's this certain segment of the internet that
just gives me shit.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
No matter what, I'm gonna fuck with him a little bit.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
I'm gonna give them something that they're just gonna go
off on and it'll keep them from talking about other stuff.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
Did we really.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
Have a gosh darn mother farkin four million payos match?
That that's really what this was? A four million pasos match,
which you know, I was a little critical of ex
Caliber earlier on his translations for Hangman, but he was
really quick to point out that four million payos translates

(19:41):
to roughly two hundred eleven thousand dollars in US money.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
Two hundred eleven thousand dollars, so so so quarter million.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
No, so yes, you it wasn't even a two hundred
thousand dollars million match.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
It was a two hundred eleven thousand dollars match. That
being said, the which was way better than I thought
it was gonna be. I guess I shouldn't.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Be surprised at Hologram one, but I was surprised Hologram one.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
We shouldn't be. We just really shouldn't be. It's just
like you shouldn't be surprised if you were that. Mercedes
Monet comes out victorious, one more title on the arms
around the waist, and then she gets flung around.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
Like a rag doll by Mercedes, by Tony.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
Storm, who cut a very eloquent and pointed promo once again,
this time as the lady in red.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
I believe six belts now for Mercedes R.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
That's gonna be a lot of belts. I don't think
she's losing one soon she's done with New Japan.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, at least for now, she's already successfully defended that
CMLLL World Women's title. I suspect she's gonna go into
All In with six belts unless they find another champion
for her to beat between now and then. But I
won't be surprised if she winds up at adding a
belt coming out of All In.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Uh probably the purv in me. My big takeaway from
that Tony Storm was not wearing a bra.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
I'd agree with him.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Oh no, well, I thank you, but I know for
a fact she was not. But AnyWho, that just added
to it. Yeah, I'm not complaining about that.

Speaker 3 (21:33):
For the record, but yeah, that's kind of a theme
with some of the heels. I don't know if Mercedes
Bonet was wearing one, and I don't think that Marina
Shafir was wearing one either.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
At least they weren't wearing thin white tops or unfortunately
they weren't wearing thin white tops.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
Did Depending on you your you know what you want
out of your wrestling, I guess.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
I'm sure there's a section of our audience that's going
to appreciate you for that one. But we also had
a main event with a multi man match, and are
the the the bucks? Are they shrewd? Recruiters.

Speaker 4 (22:19):
You bring back in the Beast Mortos.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
You have parts of the Death Riders and the big
news on the internet.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
Shout out to Tony Kahan.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
The return of Beast Mortas to Arena Mexico was apparently
some very diff delicate political discussions.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yes, but he was able to make that happen. Mortas
he was filling in for Claudio.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
That's how he got to match.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yeah, yeah, who apparently also had issues getting into the country.

Speaker 4 (22:53):
Didn't he wrestle the night before?

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Did he was that? I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
I mean, so you're telling me maybe he didn't have
issues getting into the country and they just use that
for storyline purposes.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
Maybe because I swear he worked to see m l
L event itself the night before, and I was wondering
if he got injured.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
I'll take the initiative here in a minute to look
that up. You could very well be right.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
But they said on TV he had issues or travel issues,
I think is how they put it. But now that
you bring it up, I'll look.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
It up at him, and I think he did. I
think he might be right on that. He may have
wrestled the night before. That being said, I enjoyed the
main event. I thought it was good. I am more
convinced than ever that the Bucks and Hangman are in
cahoots and you're you're gonna go. My problem is, I

(23:57):
still don't see Hangman winning the title.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
But I think what it leads to.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
You've got Team Death Riders, Team we'll just call them,
Team Young Bucks, and then Team ae W. I think
it just gives you another faction. I think there's some
holes there that maybe would lead you to believe otherwise.
Like again, I don't think they're putting the belt on Hangman,

(24:22):
So this wouldn't make sense if you don't see it
through to a title change.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
But I don't know. It's a little too convenient. The
week before that, not I.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
And Swerve overhear the conversation and things like that, Like
you would think the Bucks would be smarter than that, right,
It was almost like they wanted to be overheard. I
don't know, but I digress. I enjoyed the main event.
I thought it was good. In the end, Morto's Smocksley,
the Bucks and Dah get the win.

Speaker 4 (25:00):
There's a lot of plundering, yes, plundering.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
There was plundering a plenty, A lot going on, and
I could foresee a Hangman victory for that world title
as a face. Maybe Chris Statlander gets involved. There's this
weird quarting going on between Wheeler Uda and the Death Writers,
and maybe there's a swerve where you think Statlander is

(25:27):
gonna join the Death Writers. There was John Moxley there
handing her the cell phone. Don't let anybody tell you
who you are. What if maybe we get all the
way to all In and she knows who she is
and she screws the Death Riders and somehow Hangman wins.
Maybe there's a female element to the new Elite. Maybe

(25:50):
this comes full circle, like you're saying, and you add
in the bucks with Hangman. I just wonder if there's
somehow that Statlander angle also comes back to bite the
Death Riders. It could.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
I don't know what to make of that. Like I
don't think you need another female in that group. I
think Shafir's all you need. But as much interaction as
we're getting, it's got to be going somewhere. I also think,
and I don't know who you'd use from that group
other than Yuda, But unless you're trying to soften UDA's perception,

(26:27):
up a little bit because he ain't long for.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
The group or something.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Wheeler Yuto would be the last guy I would have
interacting with stat Lander or anybody else here, because honestly,
I think he comes off goofy, and I think it
kills what they're trying to make you think Yuda is
in the Death Riders, which I think has always been
the issue with him in the group. It is like, look,

(26:54):
Moxley's imposing. Claudio may not be the biggest guy in
the world, but he's imposing. You've packed when he's out
the you know, imposing guy. I don't look at Wheeler
Uda as imposing. And then when you see him talking
to Statlander, and it's almost like an awkward, geeky guy

(27:15):
in high school trying to talk to the girl he likes,
and he's trying to flirt, but he don't want to
put himself out there and get his heart broken. To me,
it comes off as a little awkward and and whatever
toughness you're trying to portray Youda as having, I think
he goes out the window.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
I don't see him as tough. I see him as sleazy, conniving.
He's trying to become almost what you would want Thinn
ballor to look like from the judgment day more more
a Christian cage, a manipulator than a physical presence.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
I don't think that's working either, but I mean maybe, yeah,
I'm not saying you're wrong.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
I'm just saying I don't.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
I don't think you're doing you to or the Death
Writers any favors there, because he's he's the least fearsome
person in that group, right, I mean, Marina Shafer is
way more scary than he has son.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
But but again that's that you're not You're not gonna
have Claudio in that spot.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
So I mean, yeah, you're kind of limited in your options, and.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
It makes a lot of sense. They have a prior
history from the conglomeration. He left for bigger and better things.
What was he really doing as the best friend a
world trios champion for whatever that matters now as those
belts have disappeared, But he could say he moved on
for the better. That he is not carrying Trenton Chuck's

(28:46):
luggage anymore, I understand why he is the a whisper
of evil here trying to lure Statlander over. I don't
see much bad assness from what he's trying to do.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
I see it as more trying to.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
Throw confusion at stat Lander and then manipulation.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Yeah, yeah, you're probably right.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
Hangman comes out post main event, further chicanery, you know,
setting up for all In. I just feel like this
is Darby's slot, so I still have our time believe
in we could see a title change, but damn of
aw A doing a really good job of making me
believe that it could happen. I've really enjoyed the bill

(29:34):
to this, the storytelling, if.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
You will.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
It.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
You know, look, in this day and age, it's hard
to get people to buy in because we read so
much online and we know this and we know that.
But we're to the point now where I could see
a scenario where it happens.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
It's possible. I still don't know if it's the most like.
I still feel like it'd be in the essence of
the entire story having Darby Allen be such a crucial
beginning of the Death Riders and then nothing at the end,
unless maybe he comes out to help hang Man get

(30:16):
the victory at all In, it still feels like we
need the Darby Allen addition.

Speaker 4 (30:22):
And part of the story to come full circle.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
Yeah, yeah, Look, let me be clear, I'm not even
necessarily advocating old Darby's got to be the one Darby's.
It just seems like that's been in the works for
quite a while now. You know that that's what we've
been leading to up, you know, before Darby took his
sabbatical to go climb Mount Everest and all that.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
And if that's the case, I don't.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
See any reason to divert from that, even though I
think this has been a really good build. Look, if
you want to put the title on hay Man, I
got no problems with that at all, whether it helps
to prove me right on my theory about in the
Bucks or whether it doesn't, which, by the way, I
don't necessarily think it's the right thing either. I think
you got a shit ton of money in a babyface

(31:08):
Hangman page, and if you're gonna put the belt on him,
i'd actually go that route. But I think there are
a lot of different scenarios that theoretically could happen, so
that that kind of makes the built to this intriguing.
And why I say that, why I don't think they're
gonna do a title change it all in.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
They've convinced me they could.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
It's on the table more likely than I thought before.
I just if you're gonna do the title change, I
hope that there's a really sound plan moving forward what
you do with Champion hang Man this time around, because
the first time we've talked about it here before it
didn't give us much hope for why there should be

(31:55):
a second time.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yeah, no, I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
Let me ask you this, Speaking of the AW World title,
how the hell does ar Fox get a match.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
With the AW World champion on collision by being on
the winning side of a couple of cluster fu tag matches.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
I don't even think they called it a title eliminator.
They just said, hey, John mox was coming out here
to kick ar Fox's ass, and that's what happened.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah, and that's basically what happened. So, I mean it
was short and sweet, I guess. I mean, look, I
don't hate on ar Fox.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
I like ar Fox, but you know, uh, it's not
like he's rolling off this.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Massive win streak or anything.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
No, ar Fox is fine, the personality is still lacking,
and John Moxley puts him in his place. Odd spot
for the World Champions of Being opening the show on collision,
but hey, there you go.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
Cash Wheeler maybe couldn't get into Mexico, but he had
no problems getting into Seattle. The Greater Seattle Area FTR
and parts of the don Kallis family. Fletcher and Takeshka
took on Adam Cole, Roddy Strong, Daniel Garcia and Bandido.
Match was fine for what it was in the nd

(33:18):
FTR and Takeshka and Fletcher get the win.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
So the random multiman matches didn't end in Mexico when
we even got them on collision outrunners for the save
kind of weird two guys ran off four guys without
weapons that that didn't come across great to me.

Speaker 4 (33:39):
Either, But hey, I enjoyed the callous.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
FTR little cohesion. There really isn't a real need for
it though, because with don Callus having thirty seven men
now in the family, you really shouldn't need to look
outside the rings anywhere.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
That's a big family. That man's got a lot of
mouths to feed. That never mind, Christian don Kallis might
be the father of a w that's a that that
that's a big family.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
What I steal him from Seamus from Monday Night Raw.
They could be the League of Nations.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
I mean, I guess, I guess.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
Is Shane Taylor grossly underused in ae W?

Speaker 3 (34:27):
Say that again?

Speaker 2 (34:28):
Is Shane Taylor grossly underused in ae W?

Speaker 3 (34:34):
I don't know because I can't take him seriously and
I don't remember if I ever did in a Ring
of Honor before Tony Khan bought it, so I don't know.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
Look, he and Strickland's match was fine. I just like
him as a mouthpiece more than anything. But I'm surprised
they don't do more with with with him. I'm not
saying you should be in the main event picture. I'm
saying they should go out and rack up wins every week,
but Shane Taylor promotions.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Him specifically. I could see more being done with them.

Speaker 4 (35:14):
As a mouthpiece.

Speaker 3 (35:16):
Shane Taylor is really good. The Infantry has come along
a lot as a tag team. Lee Moriarty is not
a bad worker in ringwise, it's his mic skills that lack,
and that's why you have Shane Taylor. I just think
it's hard to get in where you have the Hurt Syndicate,
you have the elite, you have the callous family that

(35:40):
you have, LFI, you have so many factions, and Ricochet
looks to be building his own, which I said Gates
of Agony could be involved, and he was out there
scouting them, so it's hard to know where another heel
faction could fit in, even though you're right there's more

(36:00):
potential there than what they get out of them.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yep, yep. We had a mixed gender trios match. Can't
wait for that title to be introduced.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Willow Hologram and Mark Briscoe versus MXIM Collection and Tyavalkyrie.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
MXM Tya Vachyrie still around. This match was a short, sweet, simple,
and we saw red nut kung fu, we saw a
froggy bow, we saw a Hologram spin.

Speaker 4 (36:32):
They all got their stuff in.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
We get the official introduction of Okata as a member
of the Don Kallis family, although it stands the reason
that that was the case because otherwise, why is Don
Kallus helping him other than his hatred of Kiddie Omega.
But we get that official The Kallus family officially.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
Bigger by One.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Patriarchy come out after the Workhorsemen and Big Bill and
Brian Keith are brawling around. There should be a way
for Christian to be on TV every week.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
If Big Bill and Brian Keith just joined the Kallus family,
we have a entire softball team plus the designated hitter.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Christian proclaims that he and Nick Wayne are going to
go after the tag titles. I don't have a problem
with that.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
I could even see Yeah, I could even see them
winning them.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
But yeah, I'm surprised.

Speaker 4 (37:37):
I never saw this coming before.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
I mean, it's cool that he has little Kip now
the secondary steps on, But at some point I thought
that announcement was going to be Christian telling Nick that
he was going to be come tag team champions with
his is uncle, you know, Christian Cage Brian Cage.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
That that might be too much of a leap with
the Cages.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah, I could see that up next, Micah, this cracked
me up for some reason. We got a backstage segment
Anthony Bowens and Billy Gunn and they're talking about how
Bowen's needs.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
To keep his win streak going to climb the ladder
in aew what fucking win streak is this? Didn't we
see Bowens lose last week?

Speaker 4 (38:33):
Well we did, but before we get there.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
I did want to piggyback off of something I think
you said earlier.

Speaker 4 (38:38):
Maybe you said it to me off to the side.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
And you're right about it. What's that There needs to
be more Christian, more family cage, Yes, more patriarchy on
ae W. I was gonna bring this up real quick
and think about it this way. Collision has not really
had a focal superstar since cmpunk. They try to make
it the Copeland show. I think they've tried to make

(39:02):
it the Adam Cole Show.

Speaker 4 (39:04):
You've had the FTR Show.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
You really wanted to make it the Jay White Show,
but he got injured. I think there's some opportunity where
you really should have it the Jay Brisco Christian Cage Show.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
I don't hate that. I think that would be really good.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
And along those lines, if we're gonna keep Bowen's and
the other one apart, I can't even remember who's the
other mastor thank you, Max Caster, Sorry Max, that you'd
tell you all you need to know about this.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Singles run for both of them.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
But if we're insistent upon keeping them apart, and I
love Billy Gunn as much as anybody, but maybe Adam
Bowens or Anthony Bowens. I'm sorry, needs a father figure
like a Christian.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
I'm just saying.

Speaker 3 (39:48):
Something's gonna implode there. Bowens is egotistical. He's now obsessive
of becoming the Pride. Maybe he is just a big
cause ego maniac as Max Caster and Billy is gonna
eventually tell them they deserve each other. By the way,
Uh just me ar, not muscular wise, but just in

(40:11):
the some of the look is Billy's an age starting
to catch up with him a bit.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
I did not notice that.

Speaker 4 (40:19):
No, maybe it's just me. Maybe it's just me. The
man is still.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
Absolutely yoked for sure.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
I'll have to pay attention this week and asked me
again next week. I'll have a better answer for you.
I didn't notice it, But that doesn't mean that you're wrong,
because you could be right on that.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
You brought this up earlier.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
But Gates of Agony versus Jet speed ricochet out scouting
the Gates of Agony.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
I actually liked the team of Speedball Bailey and the
old Jet there but Night, Kevin Knight. But I.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
After the last several weeks, and I understand why you
did it. The Gates of Agony are supposed to be
a big, imposing tag team. Jet Speed got their asses kicked. Man,
they got their rumpuses handed to them.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
Well they did, and you needed to close the deal
they needed to lose. I really feel like maybe it's
going to be the thought process of Ricochet is going
to say Gates of agony. You're right there, You're right
on the cusp.

Speaker 4 (41:31):
If you just listen to me, I can take you
the rest of the way.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
But I would have rather seen it where they get
the victory and we're like, Wow, they're imposing, And that's
why Ricochet wants them, is because he's impressed by them all.

Speaker 4 (41:47):
In all, though you didn't really expect Jet Speed who.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
I think it's a surprise to most of us that
they're at tag team, as they both came in starting
to be hot singles runs. To see them as a
tag team, you're not surprised that they didn't lose. And
now that we're hearing to talk that private party could
be NXT bound.

Speaker 4 (42:05):
It's all the more.

Speaker 3 (42:06):
Necessity then for another high flying tag team that the
crowd can get behind. And there does seem to be
a natural chemistry with the two former TNA veterans.

Speaker 2 (42:17):
Right, which is maybe This just wasn't the match to
put them in, because obviously you wanted to portray the
Gates of Agony as being strong here and that Ricochet
is out scouting them and all that. But it's not
like Gates of Agony have set the world on fire
as of late. Now, if you're trying to rectify that now,
all that's good and well, But you could have had

(42:38):
them beat the hell out.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
Of the Outrunners or something and just called it a day.

Speaker 3 (42:44):
The Outrunners the workhorsemen. I think you could have went
in another direction to advance the Ricochet angle and left
Jet Speed out of it.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Say what you want about aw and Tony Kahan, but
they try to portray the women as being on the
same level as the men. These multi person for no
apparent reason tag matches. Yeah, that he's just a guy
thing your collision main event thunder Rosa, Queen Aminada and
TJ versus Athena, Thekela.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
Meghan Bain and Penelope Ford.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
This couldn't have just been a tag match between two
of the four on each side. Again, maybe maybe all right,
I'm down with the trios, but after that you start
to lose me.

Speaker 3 (43:34):
I would have told you the best iteration of this
match would have just to have had thunder Rosa challenging
Athena for the Ring of Honor Women's Roll title as
a special collision main event. That would have been the
best iteration of this match. I'm interested to see if

(43:56):
we get more Athena with Billy Starks and now Red Velvet.
What has that happened or is that more of a
tease for people that are fully invested in what's going
on and Ring of Honor. But the match had its
ties and its lows, and you could see some workers
are more veteran than others in this scenario. But Tony Kann,

(44:19):
like you said, is nothing if not fair if we
have meaningless multi men matches, we also get in the
women's division.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
Secla, I believe a little more.

Speaker 3 (44:32):
Rounded out than some of the women that we have,
So I'm interested to see where she goes because Queen
Aminada Sky Blue, there's still some greenness to them. Dekla
feels like she knows who she is, knows what she
wants to do in the ring.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
I would agree with you on that, I could easily.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
Assuming Mercedes wins it all in and has to relinquish
the TBS title, although Tony cond doesn't seem to have
too much of a problem having people with multiple multiple belts.
But I could see that Tekla if the TBS title
were to be decided in.

Speaker 1 (45:08):
A tournament or something, I could see you're winning that.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
Spider, multiple arms, multiple legs, probably do well in a tournament.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
Probably anything else AW related from the week you wanted
to hit on, I.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
Think we don't cover it everything. It is interesting that
we're only a couple of weeks away really from all
in and don't know what a lot of people are doing.
So I feel like there is multiple elements to come
together very quickly. What Swerve of doing, what's Osprey doing?

(45:43):
We know about Omega Ocada, I think.

Speaker 4 (45:47):
We quickly mentioned it.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
Codo Bushi's back. That's cool, you know what?

Speaker 1 (45:51):
Yeah, coming out, yep, yep, yep. I'm with you on that.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
The card as of now now, Tony Stormercedes Monet AW
Women's Title, Moxley and Hangman AW World Title, the winner
take All match.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
Okada in Omega. I guess we're gonna have a casino
gauntlet match. Uh. That's a good way to get ten
or more people on. Look like you said, Uh, what
of Swerve, what of the bucks?

Speaker 3 (46:29):
What?

Speaker 1 (46:29):
Uh? You know, so we'll see what of uh hert
syndicate MJF. Yeah, a lot of things to be filled out. Yeah,
a lot of things to be filled out over the
next couple of weeks for sure.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Switching over to aw Micah Night of Champions this Saturday,
as we record still scheduled for Saudi Arabia. I don't
expect that to change, but it's a volatile world. We'll
see how things play out. But we're a a betting person.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
We're going to get that as scheduled in Saudi this week.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
An interesting uh SmackDown and raw as we got those
final slots for the men's and women's King of the
Ring tournament and building to several matches for Saturday.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
Taking us back like two minutes ago you said transitioning
to ae w oh dinn. I'm so sorry. Yeah, it's
w w E NIA Champions everybody before we get fact
checked on the internet, just just throwing that one out
there real quick. I caught it. That was a slip.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
Yeah, that was my bad. Yes, sorry, we do.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
Know now King of the Ring, Queen of the Ring,
King of the Ring. Let's be honest, we've been wanting it.
We've been wanting Randy versus Cody, and now we get it.
So I don't I feel like we could have a bigger,
more dramatic lead up than what we're just gonna get
smacked down really for the two of them to come

(48:03):
to grips with meeting each other on such a high stakes,
big caliber stage.

Speaker 4 (48:09):
But I ain't mad at it.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
I am. I do not like this at all. And
here's why. There's nothing to be gained by Randy Orton
winning King of the Ring tournament.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
There's nothing to be gained by Cody Rhodes winning the
King of the Ring tournament. Much like with money in
the bank. My issue with seth Rawlins Rollins winning it
because he didn't need to. Neither one of these guys
need to win it. Use it to elevate some way.
Even if it's Jay Usso who lost on Monday Night
to Dacody in the semi finals, that's, you know, a

(48:43):
way to build him back up after dropping his belt
to Todgunther. I don't look, I ain't hate on a
Randy Orton Cody Roads match, but I am hating on
it being.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
The King of the Ring Tournament final.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
I think this was a bad decision by.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
A title shot on the line makes sense. Wanting it
get at John Cena makes sense. King Cody king Randy
doesn't really make sense. And also, am I the only
one that's still just begging for Randy Orton to turn
heel again? There's something about Randy Orton as a kind
of face where I feel like this is just like

(49:24):
a schizophrenic on Mets his theme song says, I hear
voices in my head.

Speaker 4 (49:29):
He's like, butenop, well, I'm always soleoft.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
Yeah, and see that's the thing.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
But much like with Seth winning money in the bank,
if Cody Rhodes wants a damn title match, all he's
got to do is walk out there, get in the ring,
cut a promo and say Sina I want my belt
back or Gunther I'm coming for you, and he gets
that title match.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
Same thing with Randy Orton.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
Neither one of these guys need this, much like Rollins
didn't need the money in the bank.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
But again, if you're going to make a decision, I
don't like it. I think is completely wrong.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
You could do a whole lot worse than given as
Randy Orton versus Cody rhads.

Speaker 3 (50:07):
Yeah, I'm hard pre I hear everything you're saying, and
there's so much more you could do with the two
of them, just as the story, just with the history
that they have. It's easy to build something around a
program around Orton versus Rhodes.

Speaker 4 (50:24):
But I'm not gonna hate that we're finally getting it.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Like you said, it's the probably the worst way possible, though,
to get it.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
I'm going to go out on a limb and assume
this gets us to Cody and Sina at Summerside. But again,
do this match winner's number one contender, but on Raw
next or do the King of the Ring final with
two other people and then on Raw next week Cody
comes out. You know, Scena's out there, all right. I

(50:53):
beat Punk, My retirement tour continues. I'm going to ruin
pro wrestling. Blah blah blah. All of a sudden, Cody's
music hits and he walks out out and says, John,
you and I have unfinished business.

Speaker 1 (51:03):
See you at SummerSlam, and boom, you get that title
shot for Cody.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
Meanwhile, you still could have used King of the Ring
to elevate somebody else or solidify someone else instead of
having two guys that don't need it. I'm gonna let
go of this now because again, maybe this is just
more of a me thing, but I.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
Don't like it.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
But we got it and we're gonna get it, so
we'll just deal with that.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
But I would have done that like the women's The Queen,
the Queen of the Ring Oscar and Cargill. I love this,
and I realized Oscar is a.

Speaker 2 (51:39):
Former champion, but it ain't like outside of a couple
of the women's wrestlers in WWE, most of them are
all like bunched together and they are only a couple
that separate themselves from the pack. This would give Oscar
or Cargill a chance to elevate themselves and separate from

(51:59):
the pack. Even though I don't know how good the
match is going to be, I actually like the matchup
and what it could do for the winner a lot
more than I do the.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
Men's King of the Ring.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
Well, this is gonna take us through a whole bunch
of connective tissue and get me going, Okay. I believe
that storyline purpose Jade Cargill was the right decision to
beat Rock Sand because the other stuff that I said
is starting to build into fruition where rock Sand is
becoming an ally of rockl which is gonna inevitably draw

(52:38):
attention on the relationship with Live where Live does not
trust Roxanne. We saw that building with the interaction with
Rhea Ripley being taken out. So that all makes a
lot of sense, but it doesn't from the fact that
the Rock Sand petis versus Jake Cargill match had some
atrocious moments and a lot of them felt like they

(53:01):
were on the Jade Cargill and so the fact that
she's going to go into a match with Oscar worries me.
With the language barriers there's already going to be and
her inability to evolve in some of these spots they're
putting her.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
And look, that's a very valid concern. But whether it's
her or whether it's Oscar, you're you're elevating one of them,
whether they deserve it or not, it is certainly very debatable.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
I agree with you on that.

Speaker 3 (53:33):
Again, it makes more sense from the building a queen
and giving a young performer a platform where they need
that enhancement, versus does Cody really need another accolade? Does
Randy need to be a king. They both feel really hopey,
all right.

Speaker 1 (53:50):
That being said, Who you got Orton a Rhodes Roads, Yeah, Cody,
I would be unless you're just doing everything.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
You can to keep him in Sina apart until the
end of the year. But SummerSlam seems like a good
place for Sina to drop the title and then begin
his redemption tour to carry him to the end of
the retirement tour.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
Sure, good enough. I just can't see Orton versus Sina.
We'll talk about SummerSlam when we get there. I just
can't see Orton versus Sena at SummerSlam. That's just doesn't
feel like they're gonna be like, Hey, that one's so
swimming will be the first time. Let's see that a
second time on this retirement tour. No. No. On the

(54:37):
other side, there's a lot of money invested in Jade.
There's a lot of money investa in Jade. I want
Oscar to win. I'm mount cheering Frosco, I'm pleading Frosca.
I'd rather see Osco and Oscar and Ito and the
fragmented damage control.

Speaker 1 (54:59):
I agree with you.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
I also agree with you that I think we're gonna
see Jade Cargo get the win here, and if that's
the case, I hope they do a good job of
putting her in positions to excel instead of putting her
in positions where she's going to do the opposite of excelling.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
I think if done right, like, look, it can be done.
Aw did it? They hit a lot of then now, look.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Some of it was there and we all knew she
was green. But I think you've noticed that a lot
more in WWE.

Speaker 3 (55:32):
That Rock Sam match was not good on Monday Night
in Raw, And if I had any questions creatively going
into Monday Night who I was booking to win at
Night of champions, that performance answered all of them for me.
Congratulations Oscar.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
John Cena defends the nd disputed WWE Championship against CM Punk.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
I love seem Punk.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
I'd love to see a title run for CM Punk
when Sena's title rein ends, I don't think it's ending
to CM Punk.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
I don't think it's ending to CM Punk. For Cmpunk's
crowning moment to come in Saudi Arabia, I mean, let's
just uh. Instead, he'd become HP punk Hip or HC
punk Hip, hocrit Punk. I mean, you just can't have
that moment there.

Speaker 4 (56:25):
Even if you're punk. You have to decline to want
to have it there.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
Summer Slat is bigger if Sina still has the title.
Cody Roads Sina I think is bigger than Cody Roads Punk, even.

Speaker 4 (56:37):
Though they're they're both huge.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
I have enjoyed the build up, both of them calling
each other out on most of the things that the
Internet rumors about their personalities anyway, so it's enjoyable to
both hear the fire proverbally thrown back and forth.

Speaker 4 (56:53):
Ooh the burns.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
If Vince McMahon were still in charge of WWE, seeing
Punk's absolutely winning the title in Saudi Arabia, even if
it's like a reverse screw job where Vince comes out
and then Sena immediately lays flat on his back.

Speaker 1 (57:13):
And pulls Punk on top of him and holds him
down until the ref counts three to pin himself, basically.

Speaker 3 (57:21):
Just so he has to celebrate in Saudi Arabia.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
Exactly exactly that being said, Now we may see some interference,
but one way or the other, I think John Sena
is going to retain.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
Here I go. I'm affirmatively and on board with you
on that one.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
Yep, Jacob Fatu puts the US title on the line
against Solo Socoa. I know what they should do, but
I'm not one hundred percent sure they do it. I
think you need to have Jacob Fatu retain here, further
reinforced that he's a monster.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
He's a badass. But it seems like if you believe
they've done some wrongs with Solo along the way, it
seems like they want to right those wrongs, and that
leads me to believe they might be really quick to
pull a trigger here and have Solo get the win.

(58:19):
Nothing against him.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
I really hope for Jacob faugh two's sake they don't
do that, because I think you could cut the legs
out from under him just as he's really starting to
get his footing.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
Love me some Jacob Fatu. Solo Seco is winning it,
and it's probably gonna be Hika hop Tricka tops assistance.
I don't know what they're gonna actually call that, dude,
so I'm just gonna start throwing out names. Air Samoan,
too Tall, Samoan, Bloodline three member, I don't know. It

(58:53):
used to be called Hiccoleo. I think he finally debuts.
I think it comes at this setting, and I believe
it will cost Jacob Faught to the title.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Ria Ripley and Roquel Rodriguez in a street fight. I
can't believe I'm gonna say this, but this might be
the Well, certainly, it's the first Ria Ripley.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
Match in a very long time that I just don't
care about.

Speaker 3 (59:19):
Uh, this popped up out of somewhere, kind of out
of nowhere. Surprise, it's not a tag team match where
Roquel is having a final partner and reluctantly getting Roxanne involved.
All that being said, Raquel wins thanks to Roxanne. We
have to further that alliance. We have to further alienate live.

(59:44):
Ria Ripley has hit a point where she's unfortunately almost Bailey,
you're so overt that we're gonna have you start losing. Bro.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
Yeah, I don't think you're wrong, and I think the
right thing to do here probably is to have Rocket win.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
And I'm okay with it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Another match that seemingly came out of nowhere, but I'm
actually looking forward to it. Sammy's ain Carry and Cross
just because Carry and Cross sits backstage and talks shit
and tells everybody what they're doing wrong, and.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
I think deep down, Sammy Nosey's.

Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
Right, Yeah, they're gonna have a match. I think sammy'se
Ain's gonna win. Carrying Cross says he hasn't ace up
his sleeve, but I think he's claimed to have an
ace up his sleeve the entire time on the main roster.
Uncle Howdy made him look like an ass hat. I

(01:00:41):
don't see any reason why this doesn't continue. Josh Barnett's
not booking the show. Jerry Cross only looks strong when
Barnett books.

Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
Well, that's true, but when's the last time Sammy's Ain's
look good. Don't get me wrong, the dude can work.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
But I mean, as far as look, my man's toting
a lot of losses lately.

Speaker 4 (01:01:03):
Did he win one in the King of the Ring
tournament to events where he was? Did he win a
fatal four way to get to the singles match? I
believe he did, yes, so he gets a little more loved.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
And then Karen Cross, I just I failed to believe
Caring Cross is gonna win anything of any value on
any stage against anyone that means anything until I see
it on a consistent basis, I have no clue why,
after six months in the back not wrestling, why he
will win on a p l E when he doesn't

(01:01:33):
win or even compete on Monday Night Raw.

Speaker 4 (01:01:37):
Yeah, I think it's Sammy's ain's to lose.

Speaker 2 (01:01:40):
And look, I don't disagree with you, but I'm just
saying it's almost like when he lost last week. When
Sammy lost last week to uh, did.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
He lose to Orton? Is that who beat him?

Speaker 4 (01:01:54):
Yep?

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
I felt like they were so in the seeds for
a heel turn. Sammy can't get it. Kevin Owens was right,
and Sammy.

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
Can't get it done listening to the fans, and look,
maybe this continues to lead towards that. Maybe I'm just
reading way too much into it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
I don't know, but.

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
I don't think. I think.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
I think Sammy's lost a lot lately for a reason,
and not just the losses per se, but all the
talk about I'm going to fulfill my destiny, I'm gonna
do this, I'm gonna do that, and then coming up short,
I think you're going somewhere with that, which seems counterproductive.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
To haveving beat carry and cross here.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
But I do think you're right on everything you said
about Cross, Well, what have they done with him other
than oh, he cut a quote unquote shoot promo that
wasn't really a shoot promo, you know, after WrestleMania, you know, right,
I know, shocking Up, Breaking Moon, It wasn't real. But
you know that they haven't done a lot with Cross either.

(01:03:02):
So I don't know, but I like both guys.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
I think they both can work. There took uses off,
so I expect we're gonna get a good match.

Speaker 3 (01:03:12):
I just get unemotional when you say Sammy's Zain is
gonna he'll turn again like he did before he was
a Blood Lion member, because remember he was kind of
a heel then and then sucked up to them and
then became sympathetic when they were pushing him around.

Speaker 4 (01:03:27):
A couple more heal turns and he's the big Show.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
Oh, I think he's got a long ways to go
before the big Show.

Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
But yeah, it's not like this is gonna be the
first or the second.

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
Or the third.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
Hell, but my man, Big Show turned like like four
times in a week one time, So I mean, you know,
you got to do an awful lot of turning if
you want to be in Big Show territory.

Speaker 3 (01:03:58):
Those are some big shoes to fill, but Sam Zay
can do it one holulac kind of time.

Speaker 1 (01:04:03):
I guess that's that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
I don't know if you caught it on roll this week,
but next week we got a special start time for
Raw in Pittsburgh. They're gonna start at six pm Eastern time.
So this obviously begs.

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
The question, Micah, how the fuck you getting bumped from
your time slot on Netflix?

Speaker 4 (01:04:28):
What's so important in Pittsburgh? I don't want no Monday.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
That They're like, y'all gotta get in early and out quickly.
We can't have the lights on past nine.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
I mean, I don't know of anything else going on
in the sports world. You know that the NBA Draft
is this week, the NBA playoffs are done, NHL playoffs
are done. I can't imagine it's a random Monday day
Pittsburgh Pirates game that that's causing this. And I'm certain

(01:05:05):
Netflix isn't bumping them per se, because I don't know
of any other live event they would have on a Monday.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
But I just found that really weird. Why the hell
are we doing a special start time for Row next week?

Speaker 3 (01:05:20):
Thanks for telling me now at least I would turn
in at like an hour in like I normally was like,
why is are you over? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
That's that's a lot to me.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
Also, and we talked about this a couple of weeks
ago the scuttle but had been at some point in
time SmackDown was going to go back to two hours.
And we were talking about this a couple of weeks
ago because they were still at three. Well we now
know as of July four, SmackDown will officially be a
two hour show.

Speaker 3 (01:05:49):
Once again, what do you what do we have any
more knowledge as to why they're losing an hour? What
the talk was, does this effect their contract?

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
Was this always they were never going to see Yeah
to be yeah, they were never going to stay at
three hours. USA liked it, so they kept them there
a little longer. But yeah, the plan was always at
some point to go back to two hours.

Speaker 3 (01:06:17):
Remember how we were talking about the fightened spotlight that's
going to be put on the tag team division, the
women's division, the Women's Tag Team Division. Well, now we
went from five and a half hours of WWE content
a week to four and a half hours, and that's
without commercials.

Speaker 1 (01:06:38):
Yeah, but you can get a lot of matches in
on Speed.

Speaker 4 (01:06:44):
I'm assuming if you were on drugs you could do
a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:06:47):
No no, no, no, no no.

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
The Internet show Speed goofall.

Speaker 3 (01:06:52):
I would That's not us talking about Raw or SmackDown.

Speaker 4 (01:06:57):
I'm trying to talk about things that matter year.

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
I but you were talking about the four and a
half hours of TV. I have no idea how long
Speed is because I ain't gonna lie to you. I
don't go out of my way to watch it. But
I was just adding a little more time towards your
not But yes, you know, hell, since the first Raw
on Netflix, it hasn't sniffed three hours again, which I
think is smart.

Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
I think.

Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
After two hours and your overrun, anything after that you
start drifting into that dynamite collision both back to back,
same night, four hours plus a twenty minute overrun, a
whole lot of stuff going on, and it wears out
the fans. The two hours is a sweet spot, but

(01:07:45):
to your point, you are losing an hour and that
means SmackDown's gonna have to run a little tighter.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
And yes, like we.

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
Were talking about last week, renewed focus on tag team division,
this that and the other, Uh, this is an hour
less to do that.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
I don't see where they're gonna get the creative time
to refocus in some of these areas. Looks like a
drawback from me. And I do remember times in my
life where I enjoyed a three hour Raw, So I
am disappointed that they're not confident in their ability to
put together three hours anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
It was too much even when people watched it for
that long, specifically the Monday Night Wars both shows, both Nitro.

Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
And and Raw, that that was a bit much.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
And actually, I'd have to go back and look, I
don't think Raw actually became three hours until after Nitro
went away.

Speaker 1 (01:08:44):
I think they were always two hours during the money.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
Maybe late in the Nitro the Monday Night Wars, but
for the majority of that hell that was a two
hour show. Then yeah, I mean, I totally get where
you're coming from, and it is an hour less of TV.

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
But I think you can book a.

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
Better show booking a two hour show than trying to
fill a three hour show. And let's be honest, I
never felt like they were trying to squeeze everything in
in three hours, and now maybe they wind up giving
you that fill with the two hour show. But I
always felt more like they're spacing a lot of things out.
There are a lot of unnecessary backstage segments here. There

(01:09:26):
are a lot of unnecessary things other than wrestling going on.
So I think if done correctly, you could eliminate most
of that and still get in the actual same number
of matches with.

Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
Roughly the same length of time.

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
That being said, it's going to be really easy to
use that as an excuse of why you can't focus
like you would on the tag team division if you
had that extra hour.

Speaker 3 (01:09:56):
There was about four matches in two and a half
hour I think on Monday Night Raw. So eh, they're
not that big in at giving us matches, right, And.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
Then that was my point.

Speaker 2 (01:10:10):
I think you're gonna have the same number of matches
each week on a two hour SmackDown as you did
the three hour SmackDown. I think you you trim out
a lot of that backstage stuff and look, yeah, maybe
some matches have to be a little shorter, but it's
not like they were giving you twenty minute classics TV
classics on SmackDown anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:10:31):
It's just from all the things that this that they
wanted to give a focus on with having the mid
car title, you have a women's mid car title, you
have a women's tag division. You got the.

Speaker 4 (01:10:41):
Women's and the men's main titles.

Speaker 3 (01:10:44):
Then you're trying to have other storylines on top of
the men's tag team division that you're trying to grow.
It is a lot to now pack into two hours.
Some of it was overkill, But I don't know how
you serve all these masters. Wish you weren't able to
serve in the first place. Now with less time.

Speaker 1 (01:11:02):
Quick who's the WWE Speed Champion.

Speaker 3 (01:11:08):
And trade?

Speaker 1 (01:11:09):
Nope, you're close?

Speaker 3 (01:11:15):
Is it Joaquin Phoenix.

Speaker 1 (01:11:18):
The Joker? No, No, he's not. He's not swinging for
the fences, Micah? Is his best movie? By the way,
it's El Grande Americano.

Speaker 3 (01:11:37):
Oh, I don't think the greatest bluchador of all time
work that fast.

Speaker 1 (01:11:44):
He's a very fast luta door.

Speaker 3 (01:11:46):
Well, I would say the greatest luchador of all time,
but I was like Kingo, you know, kind of put
it on disass.

Speaker 1 (01:11:53):
Uh El Raaichino cheated, Do not be smirched the good
day of our WWE Speed Champion. The Hell's wrong with you? Micah?

Speaker 3 (01:12:02):
Do you think he can carry that belt with his
left arm after Raw.

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
In the picture on the WWE website, it's over his
right arm. So yeah, I'm gonna go with no.

Speaker 4 (01:12:13):
Yeah, Penta zero Matto.

Speaker 3 (01:12:15):
Then then again that that didn't happen to Grande Americano, Right,
you have to watch speech tell me. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:12:23):
By the way, Uh, the shine is kind of off Penta,
isn't it? Hey?

Speaker 3 (01:12:33):
How much shine is there left if you combine Penta,
Russev and Alistair Black Not a lot?

Speaker 2 (01:12:41):
But I mean you were going really hard with Pentau
bron Breaker on Raw this way, and now look you
got big plans for Breaker too. I'm not saying it
was the wrong decision. Maybe it was a wrong opponent
for Braun. Have somebody else that you're not trying to
push to spear and get penned.

Speaker 3 (01:13:01):
But I'm sorry Tenta, Ray Phoenix. The addition of triple
A is probably going to be a detriment to them.
Psycho Clown's look is intriguing, and ww's talking about bringing
him up. You get what's his name, lizard guy, Iguana,

(01:13:23):
green Dust.

Speaker 4 (01:13:25):
Green dust, whatever his name is.

Speaker 3 (01:13:27):
They like him. I don't know if if Penta and
Ray are going to be as special as they once
were here very shortly.

Speaker 1 (01:13:35):
Well, it's not like they depushed Penta on raw this
week to make room for that influx of Triple A talent,
because there weren't any. But I hear you know.

Speaker 2 (01:13:46):
I I think when it suits them, they push the luchadors,
and when it doesn't, they don't.

Speaker 1 (01:13:54):
And I'm not saying they're wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:13:56):
I'm just saying I think that's like I almost think
kan is giving a little too much TV time to
the CML, So I know, and you just made that face,
like the hell you talking about?

Speaker 1 (01:14:07):
I get a little bored with it sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:14:09):
So I get why w W would do that if
I'm right on that, but yeah, it just seems like
if it doesn't suit their needs, yeah, you're.

Speaker 1 (01:14:21):
Not that important.

Speaker 3 (01:14:23):
No, that's very That's one of my gripes with them.
That's one of my displeasures with them. And as I
as my eyes popped open, I had to then remember,
I'm like, oh, yeah, you like Gunther. So it's just
a different taste.

Speaker 4 (01:14:35):
It's not a whoa whoa, whoa whoa.

Speaker 1 (01:14:38):
I have never once said I like it. I appreciate
his work.

Speaker 3 (01:14:42):
That's mean I don't.

Speaker 1 (01:14:44):
Yeah, Okay, I'm not one hundred percent sure he's a
good human being, but yeah, the guy can work.

Speaker 3 (01:14:52):
I mean you mean, like like really a good human being,
or you mean gun through the character you get human being. Well,
I'm sure I could which where the character goes. I
don't know about the man. Did you hear something I didn't?

Speaker 4 (01:15:03):
No, no, no.

Speaker 1 (01:15:06):
I was speaking more of the character. But it does
seem like they've kind of tried to distance themselves from that,
and that's probably smart. What else, Smika from the World
of Pro Wrestling this past week?

Speaker 3 (01:15:21):
Does Gunther Goldberg do anything? And are we really is
Goldberg beating Gunther?

Speaker 1 (01:15:30):
I'm ashamed to admit this, Micah, I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 2 (01:15:34):
Just look again, I was always more of a WCW guy.
I watched both shows, but I was always a WCW guy.
So Goldberg, even with his few matches these last several
years and they weren't overly impressive. There's something about Goldberg,
but at the same time, the fear of them putting

(01:15:55):
Goldberg over and either vacating the title or so then
he sticks around until he loses it. This I don't
mean this disrespectfully. I actually mean this complimentary. Towards Goldberg.
They need to end this now with his retirement match,
but that's just me.

Speaker 3 (01:16:12):
My favorite Goldberg was Goldberg on WCW versus nWo on
my N sixty four kicked ass with him hitting Speers.

Speaker 4 (01:16:20):
If you remember that, hit me on X. It's at Frankle.

Speaker 2 (01:16:23):
Micah get the show on X at PW After Hours,
you can find me at Real Mike Carlisle.

Speaker 1 (01:16:28):
We will talk to

Speaker 2 (01:16:29):
You next week for another episode of Pro Wrestling After
Hours here on the After Hours Podcast Network