Ep 312: WWE Crown Jewel Recap. AEW WrestleDream Preview. Major WWE Injury Causes Changes.

Episode 312: We look back at WWE Crown Jewel and preview AEW WrestleDream. Injury to Seth Rollins forces change.  All the latest news. 













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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
What's up everybody. Welcome back to Pro Wrestling after Hours.
I'm Michael Garlile, joined as always by Micah Frankel, Micah
or shaken.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Man, Seth Rawlin's Vision and my Wrestle Dreams.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Maybe South. We're all on shoulder too, well on that
in a little bit. Coming off of Crown Jewel, wwe
an interesting Monday night rawl. We'll look back at Crown
Jewel here in a minute. We do have AW presenting
Wrestle Dream this weekend live on pay per.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
View on the pay per view on the HBO Max.
Is it still on the Amazon? We get to quite
a few places.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
I do believe it is still on Amazon.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yes, yeah, so you can find it wherever you can
find it. There will be places to find it. And
I think it's gonna be a good card.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
It looks like a good card. We will certainly preview
that as well. Jump in, go in order. We had
Crown Jewel last week. Do that first, then get into
our AW stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well before we get there. Just totally totally something I
wanted to bring up to you because you and me
have watched this place a lot, because it's not the
first time we've looked at that Blue venue. The UFC
has been there, and I don't want to criticize Australian architecture,
but is that not one of the most uniquely set
up venues ever? With that like little triangle of people

(01:32):
that they have. It was like to the right of
the entrance way, how do you categorize the quaintness or
the confines of the RCAA arena As we saw SmackDown
Raw and Crown Jewel come from there. It just like
it's an odd looking venue to me after watching if
it's three events straight.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
It's different. I wouldn't call it quaint. Quaint would be
Daily's place, ECW Arena, things like that, but it is different,
it is unique, and yeah, I mean I didn't have
a problem with it, but like in is yeah, you know,
the last two weeks I've complained about well Daily's placement

(02:14):
justified it, complained about AW doing their residency at the
former ECW Arena. This one didn't stand You're right, it
is unique, but it didn't really stand out as being
bad or necessarily good. It just looked a little different.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Also, in the next release of ww E two K,
I hope that they make that the default home arena
for SmackDown. It is the Blue brand and there's no
more blue branded building in the world.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
It's if there's an Australian Blue Man group, they probably
have a residency there.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Just had to bring that up real quick before we
get to the Crown Jewel because that blue, that arena,
there was just something that was It was wrapping around
my mind for the last three ww.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Oh, it was rapping. It was rapping a Crown Jewel
in Perth this past Saturday, dim and early to accommodate
the Australians. That's fine, I'm good with that. Five matches
on the p l E. They kicked it off with
Roman Reigns, Bronson Reid and an Australian street.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Fight Ozzy Ozzy Ozzy. And then when I saw well
that's what I did. When I saw Roman Rains trying
to throw the rugby balls, I went, Oi, Oi, Oi,
Could you have not got any closer to Bronson Reid?
He was two feet in front of you.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
My man, my apologies. I totally ruined your sweet ass
set up for that punchline. I didn't realize you were
going there. I am so sorry.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Man. The cricket bat made sense, but he threw those
rugby balls like he's never thrown any ball in his life.
Paul Hayman almost looked like he got caught because he
wasn't sure which rate to run away from it. It was
like a ricochet coming am not trying to jump into
aw right away? Wow, look at you?

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Look at you. No surprise here. We had outside interference. Look,
I know shocking. I did not have a problem with
this match at all, mainly because regardless of how we
got there, I think the right guy won. You're trying
to build Bronson Reid. The loss doesn't hurt Roman Reigns,
especially with the outside interference, but.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Rains having better.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Opponents other people in WWE having better opponents is better
for the company. Building up Bronson Reid to be in
that role was the right move here. So even if
I didn't necessarily care for all of the outside interference,
for the purposes of the story, it all made sense,
and in the end, Bronson Reid is able to get

(04:52):
the victory.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
I told you last week, and I should have stuck
to my guns that there was something to the Azzilla
going over down under in front of his people. The match,
it made sense. The psychology was a little a little
wonky for me. The one part of the match that
I did not like. Well, besides, I've got over the
fact that Bron Breaker is character infringing on Jacob Fott too.

(05:18):
The guy is all gased, no breaks, runs through a
guardrail every three seconds. It's just what surprised me was that,
for the first time in his theology in WWE, running
through the guardrail and into another person did not eliminate
him from the match. This time, Breaker miraculously pulled himself

(05:40):
from the wreckage and stood up to help Bronson read
Is that character development or just a new wrinkle that
the same thing that the guy does every week that
eliminates him for a match didn't actually eliminate him from
this one. So I was surprised that bron read one

(06:00):
because I was like, oh screw, he is down to
a Jay Usso and a Rooman reigns. It's two on one.
He is outnumbered, and then it worked out for his advantage.
Broun even came back alive. A little bit different for me,
but I like the USO's getting evolved because they always
get involved. And for the first time in five years
it backfired on Roman. It was bound to happen once.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
It has happened before. But yeah, I'm a little tired
of the usso's Roman interactions, Like I don't dislike either separately,
but are we aren't we do your own thing? Have
my back? No, I don't want you to have my back.
Blah blah blah. Uh we need each other, bro, No,

(06:44):
we don't need each other. Bro. Why are you over
here with La night Blood? It's like a goddamn soap opera,
and I get it. A lot of people say, ooh,
pro wrestling, it's soapropera for men. Yeah, and that's fine,
but we've gone into like fucking and I guess they're
early handful of legit Soaparbera's left. But we've gone full

(07:05):
fucking days of our lives here mode with with with
Roman and the USOS.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
I just don't get how we got back here. When
we were already here, we were dysfunctional, we weren't in line.
You guys all decided that Roman Reigns makes the best
cheli in the family. He gets the necklace back that
makes him the undisputed tribal chief. Roman was given that
ability by Jimmy and Jay. There was a whole time

(07:33):
to say, hey, you know, Solo's got this this right,
you shouldn't be the leader. Now maybe it should be
one of us, not saying Solo should have been the leader.
But they all had this time to go against the
Roman reign, and they decided that's what was best for
the family. And now they're coming up with their own opinions,
doing what they want, still bickering back and forth with

(07:54):
each other. It if you're into it, great. I saw
some people on x categorizing it as this is incredible cinema.
I don't see rehashing the same bickering as incredible cinema.
I just feel like it's a storyline that they won't
let die, and we'll talk about what happened on Monday.

(08:15):
And how easy it is to actually break up a faction.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, it's it's like a toxic relationship. It's like, you
know you're bad for each other, but you can't quit
each other. It's yeah, but it's look, by the way,
this hue is going to get a lot more convoluted
before it gets unconvoluted. You could take that mean bank.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
You mean like the fact that Jimmy was the first
one to run back to Roman's side, was the last
one to leave roman side. I always believed in Roman,
and now he's the one running around trying to pull
Jay from Roman and trying to point out how wrong
everything that Roman's doing is when he was the last
one that thought the.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
First time, yeah, something like that.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
All I know is that the USOS would have been
better off being attacked team and just being suberbient to
Roman reigns once again in Romans, like the whole internet,
things like can't well without you guys? Well yeah, yeah,
four or five years, yeah exactly.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Tiffany Stratton versus Stephanie the Cure for the Crown Jewel Championship.
I think I picked Stratton to win this. She did not.
Stephanie gets the win. I didn't hate this match. I
just I don't understand the point of either of the
Crown Jewel Championships. It just seems like a waste to

(09:43):
me personally. But I enjoyed the match, and good for like,
you're getting the win.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
The better pro wrestler won the match. Tiffy followed the
lead and didn't make any blunders in this one. She
got him the mudhole stomped in her. She looks like
the lesser of two champions. This didn't look like a
collision between the two world champions. This looked like the
world champion walked out there and did a open challenge

(10:14):
and whatever snook was in the back came down there
and Tiffany got stomped on. Good for Van Kourr. She
is a great worker. Still trying to understand where her personality,
where the character is going. Is she a heel, is
she a face? What's wwe doing? She's a good enough
worker that I am very intrigued in where they're taking her.

(10:36):
But I'm just wondering where they're taking this and how
we're going to get a real title challenger there in
the women's division.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, it's interesting for sure, But yeah she won. She
was probably the more deserving of the two, like you said,
definitely the better worker. Up next, Michael, we had what
was for me anyway, the match of the night. I
think you're going to agree with that, but aj styles
John Cena. Of course, Sena gets the win after losing

(11:05):
at his last pl against brock Lesner. This was a
hell of a match, and look, I will while I
haven't liked this, Scena run a lot of that's been
more WWE and they're fed up booking Sina. When given
the right dance partner can go out and still go

(11:26):
and watching on Saturday. It felt like he was turning
back the hands of time a little bit for the
purposes of this match. I really enjoyed it. In the end,
what roughly thirty minutes In the end, Scena gets the win.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
Scena got the win. Good match. The guy that we
expected to win got the win. They both shouted out
to a lot of their former friends and foes that
they probably won't get to work with in well Seena's
last four appearances and AJ Styles. The only thing I
can hope walking away from this is that we don't
lace the last fourteen months of his career. As he says,

(12:02):
he's returning next year, so maybe we can get some
prominence for the first time again in a few years
from AJ Styles as he I won't say go out
on top, but can he go out relevant?

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah? Is this gonna become a yearly tradition now where
we just have somebody on a retirement tour?

Speaker 2 (12:25):
Possibly? I mean it was a great idea for one company,
another company likes to use it, and now another guy
is gonna throw it out there. But I speculate to
wonder if we'll have an appearance countdown for an AJ Styles,
who got his first PLV match in over a year.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah, I bet it certainly won't be on the same level,
and it probably shouldn't be. But yeah, I bet we
get a watered down version of the sceneor retirement tour
with Styles, And as long as they don't f up
the booking like with stupid heel turns for no reason
and weird stop on a dime turn him back face,

(13:06):
it might wind up being better.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
We'll see if they can do it. It's a challenge
to them. Like I said, AJ Styles, that Pro Wrestling
Noah Tour seemed to have lasted for way so long
and didn't really do him anything to bring it back
to prominence.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Here by chance, did you sit there and make a
list of all the finishers that John Cena and AJ
Styles used from other wrestlers in that match.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
No, but I've seen it on the internet. I know
that AJ Styles from what current angle stink Samo with
Joe Bobby Rude Kazarian on the John Sena side. I
know we had Randy orton edge. I'm gonna start to
run out of names here, but I know there was
like five from each guy.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
I think there were six from each guy. Look, I'm
fine with Sena doing the o MA to you know,
some of his favorite opponents, and that actually is kind
of cool. It makes a lot of sense. This not
only got a little wonky a couple of them. You're like, well,
why the fuck would you use that guy's finisher, like

(14:15):
uh Sina used uh Russef's accolade thing? What the fuck?

Speaker 2 (14:21):
What?

Speaker 1 (14:22):
Why are we paying oma? And look, I'm not knocking Russef,
but why why the fuck are we paying homage to him?

Speaker 2 (14:29):
You can't have a miss John Cena's skit on a
Monday Night Raw. He needed to use a skull crushing finale.
I get they were WrestleMania dance partners, but you couldn't
let them have a final. Foray, The only thing to
me was once we started busting out this, Myriada finishes it.
It didn't take away from the match, so to speak.

(14:50):
I just knew, inevitably, two or three AA's down the line,
Johnson is getting this victory. So I took the performance
for a solid match, inevitably knowing what the victory would
look like.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
What's next for Sena?

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Uh Boston or is it Madison Square Garden. I think
he brinds up his tour in DC, so he has
like four stops left. I'm missing one of those territories,
but yeah, he has four stops left. That's what's next.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
Who is next?

Speaker 2 (15:28):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Eh, g there whatever, gou, there's gonna be last.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
Oh Gunther's gonna be last. Who's next? I don't know.
He's throwing out homages to Randy Orton. He just rustled
Randy Orton. I don't think we can really like dive
that deeply into any of this and say, I'm for
sure know who's gonna lose to John Cena next before that,
like last match where he gives somebody a rub.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Well, the only of all the things Sena did, there
are only two people he paid homage to that he
could actually wrestle. As he winds up. We mentioned Ruse
and he did Russef's move Orton doesn't make sense because
we've had that, so that that would leave the he

(16:18):
did this the Misses skull crushing finale. I assume the
miz is going to be in the mix for one
of these final matches.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
Missus wrapped up with Carmelos. I hadn't really thought about him,
and I guess that that'd be something. It would be
an homage.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, Kabuki Warriors versus you know, Sky and Rhea Ripley.
This match wasn't bad. I just didn't care about it
going in, and nothing happened in the match to make
me care other than it was nice to see Rhea
Ripley get the wind there in Australia.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Fine match. I'd still like to know why died, but
you know, Kyrie saying pushes her out of the way,
Oscar safely lands on the apron goes down to the floor,
never to be seen again, leaving poor Kyrie there to lose.
Interesting way to get taken out of the match, being
saved from being hit by a move. Let's just get

(17:20):
through this so wwe can do whatever you're going to
do with Ito and Ria against Charlotte and Alexa.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yep, that got us to the main event. Cody Roads
seth Rollins for the men's version of the Crown Jewel Championship.
Since I said it before the women's match, let me
say it again here. Because it wasn't just a women's thing.
I don't understand the purpose of having these Crown Jewel
Championship matches, but whatever that being said, it was a
hell of a match. I enjoyed the shite out of it, Micah.

(17:52):
In the end, Rollins gets the win. So no Champ
Champ for Cody, but Rollins is your men's Crown Jewel Champion.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Well back to back years of Champ Champ because he
was already champ. I don't know how I feel about.
The belt is now actually in Acooter Mont along with
the ring, so you get the ring and the belt
and now you're can crew parade around with your world title,
that battle bowl ring and the big old chess protector
of a belt that looks like the ripoff from what
I showed you one of the members of the Rock

(18:25):
and Roll Express one from a Juggalo Battle Royal. That's
what the damn thing looks like to me. It looks
like it was a great match. It looks like Dlo
Brown designed it. You know, Delo used to love to
wear the chess protector.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
So yeah, that.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
Was my favorite match on the card. Seth versus Cody
will never cease to deliver. I understand the watch a
little too much. Theatrix of Seth is gonna not use
the watch and have morals to inevitably use the watch
either way, whatever, and I now have a new enlightenment

(19:00):
on cheating in WWE or expanding upon the rules. Well,
when the president of the company is wrapping a belt
around you with an ear to ear smile and giving
you a super Bowl ring after you just clock somebody
with a watch, all things are legal. Just go do it.
The ref is the only one that could tell you.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
It was Micah, how long have you been watching wrestling?
One thing we can all agree on, like it or not,
the referee's decision is final. So yes, you've got no
choice if you're triple H but to go out there
with a grint on your face from ear to ear
while you're strapping that belt on Seth. Plus, it's wrestling.

(19:42):
Nobody cares about the cheating anyway. It's it's It would
have been more shocking if there hadn't been cheating.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
Seth Rawlins gets a victory over Cody. It's two to
one now. Seth Rawlins did it without the vision. He
proved how his great can outshine Cody's. He got the
victory he desperately needed, and he proved it to himself.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Beautiful stuff, all right, And now here's where we will
quickly jump over to Monday Night raw All that Rolin's
proven it to himself? Does it without the Vision? Does
it without Hayman? What did that get him booted the
fuck out the Vision?

Speaker 2 (20:23):
A bron breaker who feels too big for his shoel.
Are we going with the kfab or are we talking
about the real implications or possibly real implications of why
this happened?

Speaker 1 (20:36):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Okay, so we start off with it appears that during
the Crown Jewel Maine event, seth Rawlins somehow once again
injured himself. The guy is, he's not mister Glass, but
he's quite fragile and a shoulder injury I seemed to
incur seth Rawlins, leading to a very hasty change of
direction breaking up the vision. Maybe you believe in this injury,

(21:00):
Maybe not, because it's not like they didn't just cry
a wolf with seth Rowlins five minutes ago.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
Well, right, and let's remember that five minutes ago was
crying wolf. He wasn't really hurt, So maybe it's had
unfair to call him injury prone. But yes, supposedly suffered
a shoulder injury. They won't know how serious it is,
and I guess until he gets back to the States.
But apparently nobody thinks it's good, so they apparently moved

(21:27):
ahead quicker than originally planned, with the rest of the
group turning on Seth. My issue here is, and this
is what you brought up. Look, it's wrestling, we suspend disbelief.
I got all that. But when you faked the legit
injury before and now he comes back just a few
months later in a seemingly legit injured it doesn't register

(21:51):
nearly as much.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
It doesn't register at all. Seth Rowlins needs to get
out there and perform, because that's what we're used to
him doing. I'm not sure if he's really into or not.
This feels really hasty. It felt a little weird also
because Seth Rawlins did oggle over how great all three
of them were before asserting his own greatness, which seemed

(22:13):
to piss off bron Breaker. And I would have understood
that a little bit more the psychology of it if
Seth hadn't acknowledged their rise, their elevation, their progression as
members of the Vision, and he didn't give himself even
credit for he gave each one individual credit for their

(22:34):
own greatness, for being the Azilla, for being a dodg,
for becoming the goat of managers. It felt like he
rose everyone else up before then he also rose himself up.
I feel like if he would have been a lot
more condescending towards the members and just glorifying himself during
the promo, I think the turn would have felt a
lot more organic, because this felt like a quite benevolent

(22:57):
seth Rawlins compared to if we go back to seth Rawlins,
who used to have two little short guys that he
always verbally abused next to him and a came that
he was clowning. He was a lot more venomous towards
constituents in that role, where this felt a bit more
surprising from him, like he was kind of nice to

(23:18):
you guys compared to other underlings.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
See. I think it's interesting how differently we both took
that in because I didn't feel like he was that
nice at all. Yeah, he said some complimentary things, because
that's what you're supposed to do as the leader, but
he made sure that they knew they were second fiddle.
To him, hence Bron saying fus time for the spear
ronson you make your choice now. Obviously they were on

(23:44):
the same page, Hayman's on the same page. I thought
it all made sense, even if I felt like you
could have built the drug this out longer, built it
up to be even a bigger deal. But again, if
the injury was in fact the reason they did it,
you understand. But yeah, I mean, you're not wrong in
what you're saying. He did say some nice things about them,
but then he would always go back to himself, So

(24:05):
I got it. I don't know if you've picked up
on this, but Bron breaker a lot like his uncle,
a little hot headed, maybe not the most thoughtful person
in the world. It doesn't take much to set him off.
So from that standpoint, I got it. It was fine.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
It'd be incredibly disappointing if Seth Rollins is injured because
I don't think those are that you guys are already
yet for the main events. Seeing just me saying it,
they felt like underlings when they were getting jobbed out
of the USOS two weeks ago. They felt like underlings.
I mean they attack people, they jump them from behind.
After the bell. But what's the difference between the bronze

(24:48):
and the MFTs Not damn much to me.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
You don't really think the vision is going to continue
as a two man faction, do you? Well? Two and Hayman. Uh,
they need a big daddy, maybe a a beast, a
beast incarnate if you will.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
Yeah, he can definitely show them the ropes of how
to do some things?

Speaker 1 (25:19):
Or do you throw the swerve?

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Is it?

Speaker 1 (25:23):
See him Punk?

Speaker 2 (25:29):
That draws no reaction to me? See him Punk goes
back to Paul Hayman. After Paul Hayman nuts shot at him,
everybody goes back to Paul Hayman. Another Hayman guy, right
back to Paul Hayman. Okay, don't seem psychological enough change?

Speaker 1 (25:41):
Yeah, that one actually doesn't make sense. And didn't Punk
on Raw become the number one contender for the title.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
A title that who knows how we're gonna have that
play out? Now? That seth Sender. It's so yeah, but
I mean I believe he did right.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
But so, I mean, he doesn't need Hayman. But I
brought him up because you do have that Hayman connection.
But yes, I think you probably get rock lessner as
the new leader of that group. I also I mentioned
earlier how all this was going to get way more
convoluted before it got less convoluted. So now you're looking
in a couple of months at war Games or what

(26:18):
the fuck ever Survivor Series some convoluted ass match with
Roman and the bickering USSOS. La Night involved, Punk involved,
probably on the other side with Breaker and Red Lessner
and who knows who else, depending on where La Knight's

(26:39):
at these days on you know which side of the fence,
and shit, maybe La Night winds up in the Vision,
who knows. But yeah, I think all this gets way
more convoluted before we get clarity.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
I had seen a rumor before the injury that it
was looking like WWE was talking about at a Austin
theory to the Vision and brock Lesner, and that would
have been the Survivor Series group on one side against
the Roman group, probably Sam Punk sammusein add back in
the USOS get last year's bloodline back together one more time.

(27:17):
I'm not sure how that's gonna work out or not.
There's a lot of convolutedness and kind of that's a
good way to describe all of it because things are happening,
then things keep happening. But I'm not sure how the
storyline comes together or why we care, Like, what's the

(27:39):
drawing endpoint? Besides well, there's just a lot of infighting
between everybody and we're having fun watching it.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
Yeah. Well, and that's the problem. We keep saying convoluted
like it's a bad thing. It's not necessarily a bad thing.
Now I don't think it's a good thing here because
the convolutedness seems to be going back to the past.
If theories in the mix, if somebody, if you're doing
this in a way to elevate or bring in new

(28:05):
people to freshen things up, that's one thing. But if,
like the stuff we talked about earlier with Roman and
the USOS, this is rehashed from the last seven fucking years, Well, also,
you know, we're not doing anything to freshen that up.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
Does it make sense for Brock to go back to
Paul after Paul screw Brock back to Roman. It feels
like we're just going back to something.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
Then.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
I guess there is a connection between the two of them,
and there's a friendliness, But dude, you threw me under
the Brooks for your new freaking tribal chief that you acknowledged.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
It does make sense because you've had the interactions in
the back with Lessner and Hayman. You had Lessner insists
that Hayman introduce him at the last ple when he
took on Sena, So I hear you. But whatever those
issues were, apparently they're not weighing heavy on Brock's mind.

(28:58):
So you've had that interaction action, So it does make sense.
Now again if you want to say, well, shit, yeah,
you're all against the USOS and in Roman because that's
rehashing old stuff, and this rehashing old stuff it is.
But at least there you're adding in the the read
and breaker dynamic, so it does freshen up a little bit.

(29:21):
But yeah, at its core, Lesner going back to Hayman
would be very similar in some ways to the USSOS
and Roman reigns for sure.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
And the last thing, because I already brought them up
that I want to throw out about WWE is did
you just not find it funny when the gods I'm
meeting the MFTs showed up looking like New Japan characters.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
Yeah, yeah, everything doesn't hit what it reminded me of
was a Will Osprey entrance. And now I'm not comparing
the wrestler. I'm just the entrance, the looks and all that.
Oh well, Osprey entrance at a pay per view. Who
else have we seen do superhero shit or funky video

(30:08):
game stuff, you know, stuff like that, the Swart Strickland
things like it. To me, it came off like the
WWE's attempted at that, and that was one of the
few times that WWE to me look less than.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
The biggest less them moment to me was when the
lights go out the MFT stormed the ring on the
tag team champions, and then there's this thunderous roar in
the crowd that you can obviously hear, like it's hyped
in that this is awesome because the MFTs, who haven't
been seen in two months, are in the ring staring

(30:44):
down with a uncle Howdie lists Wyatt family. I've never
seen anything less awesome.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Well there you go. Look I didn't hate Crown Jewel again.
And look, maybe this is on me, Mike. Maybe it's
on using a certain degree. Maybe we should change how
we evaluate the lesser than premium live events, And by
that I mean anything that's not Mania, Summer Slam, Survivor Series,

(31:14):
Royal Rumble, because they do all seem to follow a
certain formula down to the number of matches and how
things play out roughly the time of the show, although
it felt like this one was a little longer. But yeah,
this just seemed like another in the long line of backlash.
Whatever the fuck the last one was, whatever, the next

(31:35):
one is before Survivor series and all that, which is fine,
but I think and look, they're doing these every month.
AAW is doing what six or eight a year, so
there's a little more time. But the AW pay per views.
They feel like they try to make those more special,
whereas with WWE, the big ones they make special. The

(31:56):
other ones don't feel as special. But maybe part of
that's on us to reevaluate because WWE has let it
be known this is how we're doing our premium live events,
so you should probably get with the program.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
I will not allow a streaming service that just upped
its price to us because we were paying at most
ten dollars a month for Peacock. You just went to
thirty dollars a month, and now you're telling us lower
the bar and live with it. I cannot allow them
to do it. I will always push to exceed the
expectations or at least live up to pl E quality.
I understand TEMP poles will be bigger and more special,

(32:32):
but you guys have three days in Perth and Monday
Night Raw had the biggest moment.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
But I would tell you this is the standard of
premium live event. That's my whole point. Whether we like
it or not, outside of your TEMP pole pls, I
think this is the standard of wwepl So at one point,
at some point in time, we either decide do we
continue to complain about it or do we evaluate these
based on the bwe's criteria for what these pls actually are.

(33:04):
Let's take a.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
Pollm I figure out how to put it up on
social media. Why you, the wrestling fan are also I
guess we're the media members, we're the talking heads here.
We can have our thoughts. But why are you the
general audience all right with them lowering the bar on us?
Why do you feel that this is appropriately serving your
entertainment interests?

Speaker 1 (33:26):
Look, that's a fair question as well. I'm not to
be crude, but I'm not saying we just bend over
and take it. But I am saying, this is what
these non Big four ples are, so we should probably
grade them like that. Now, look that being said, if
you're AW, which we'll get to in a moment, and

(33:48):
their pay per view this weekend, but you got to
feel like, all right, look, WrestleMania is gonna be Mania
Survivor Seriries, SummerSlam and all that, but we're knocking it
out of the park with these other events. Even if
you don't like our product, you can't deny. Now, look,
there's also different pay structure. You're charging fifty bucks a pop,
whereas with your ESPN whatever the fuck it's called now subscription,

(34:12):
you're getting these at no added costs. So there is that.
But you know, like are already and we'll get three
or four more announces. We've already got eight to eight
matches announced for Wrestle Dream, So even if they didn't
add anything else, you're already over delivering from a match
quantity standpoint what WWE does on their non tent pole pls.

(34:35):
So I mean, from that standpoint, yeah, if you're AW,
you gotta be happy as hell with this, and you're
gonna try to continue to go out and overdeliver. The
problem is. I think most of the WWE fans have
already been conditioned to this is what we get out
of these pls, and we're happy to get it. It
look that, being said, your main event delivered. I thought

(34:58):
Roman and Bronson delivered for what it was. So you
started hot, you ended hot, your best match of the
card in the middle with Sina and Styles. For what
you got, you got a lot. I think you and
I are just conditioned to get more, and AEW gives
us that. In WWE, if not for their two night extravaganza,

(35:21):
pay per views typically don't give us more.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
Also, partly I'm a Cody cry baby. I'll admit it,
I'm not the biggest fan of Roman, So for the
last three years of having to watch the same freaking
match from Roman reigns continually, it's probably dropped the grade
of each match with its lack of uniqueness.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Micah over in ae W, they present Wrussell Dream this
Saturday live on pay per view. They will be in
Saint Louis. I said earlier, we've already got eight matches
announced for this ha, We've actually already got ten matches announced,
so we've already got double the amount of matches that
WWE had for their pl Look again, it is a

(36:05):
little bit different business model. You are asking people to
cough up fifty bucks for this, whereas if you have
the ESPN subscription, you're getting those for free, YadA, YadA YadA,
or no additional charge. So it is a little different.
But this is the way I like my wrestling pay
per views, makes them seem like a bigger deal as

(36:25):
far as the glorified version of their weekday shows or whatever.
That's just my personal preference. But yeah, already ten matches
announced for this.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
Now to backtrack the WWE, but have you extensively needed
to use the new ESPN app besides the WWE pls
for a.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Couple things, But yeah, it's yeah. I'm going to have
to reevaluate how important it is now the WWE side,
because you do have to have this. But other than that,
at this point, the plus subscription pretty much is fine

(37:10):
for me.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
I caught one PFL event for our MMA After Hours
podcast on that extra subscription platform. But that's three events
in two months that I've needed that platform for. Not
trying to not the platform, just saying that's that's how
much I've I've really needed it, so we're dividing up
that cost a little bit. But this is a dream,
this is wrestle dream. They're doing it in a beloved

(37:36):
pro wrestling city still there in the Midwest, in Saint Louis,
and here we go. Did you want to start with
our brawlboque? Did you want to jump to the main
how we work in this.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
Well, we'll start with the collision, tailgate, BBQ, brawl, barbecue brawl,
whatever you want to call it. A little convoluted FTR
getting action on the pre show, they take on Jet Speed.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
It's a story that's been building. We've seen them now
introducing the women, which we'll get to in a while,
so there has been some back and forth. It does
make sense that these two are gonna go at it.
I'm surprised there's not extra added stipulation, like a number
one contender ship for the winner or title eliminator. But

(38:22):
I'm fine with this working out. Got a figure. It's
gonna put together a fun match. I wonder if we'll
have any surprises more than stokely intervening for ftr's victory.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
Yeah, I feel like FTR needs to win here, coming
off the loss at the last pay per view to
Copeland and Christian, But we'll see we're also gonna get
on the tailgate brawl Penelope Forward, Meghan Bain versus Willow
Nightingale and Harley Cameron.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Missed opportunity that this probably should be the first round
of the inevitable women's tag team title tournament. That would
be my only disappointment with this match. It makes a
lot of sense if you were watching Collision. That's Cameron
had asked stat Lander after getting rejected by Mercedes Money

(39:15):
if she could be your tag team partner. Stat Lander said,
I think I know someone that could use a tag
team partner, and made all the sense in the world
to have Cameron become the fourth to the Jet Speed
and now put herself in the Ford Baine conundrum that
she was kind of already involved in.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Yeah, I'm going to assume Nightingale and Harley Cameron get
to win here. That solidifies them as a tag team.
Where I think you've already got Ford and Bay for
the tag team tournament should they be one of the
participants and established if you will tag team for the
women's division, so you don't have to have Nightingale and

(39:56):
Cameron win. But I think that makes them a little
bit more believable as credible threats to win the women's
tag team titles.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
I think it's also a good way to solidify that
they should be tag team partners. It feels out that
they're feeling it out, they're just chesting out the relationship.
Wouldn't even have like a a tag team name yet,
like Willow Willow Willow, Cameron Harley Nightingale. I'm not sure
what they're going to come up with, but we got
to come up with like a snappy name like ty

(40:27):
J or j Tie. How they're doing that If they
don't have a Brodido tag team name yet, it's not official,
so we gotta wait for them to have a tag
team name to become official. This is just a trial run.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
Help me out on this one. I'm not hating on
the match, and I think it's going to be a
barn Burner, but at the last PLA or maybe it's
one of the Dynamite hell I don't even remember now.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
It's been both.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
Okay, but we specifically had the Hurt Syndicate versus the
Demand in a street fight because MVP himself said I'm
not as good as I once was maybe I've lost
a step, but I can kick your ass in a
street fight, YadA, YadA, YadA, And we had that. So
now we get all three members of the Hurt Syndicate
versus all three members of the Demand.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
In a regular match, true challenge, to make me care
about why this match is happening, to pull out something
different that we haven't seen, Like you said in the
first Trios match at a pay per view or at
the Dynamite street fight, which felt like the end all,
be all blowoff. We have established the Demand as credible threats.

(41:33):
We then had the Hurt Syndicate kind of come out
on top after giving them the rub. Where do we
go from here? Do we get another member to each faction?
Something has to give to make this meaningful.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
I realized that Samoa Joe's a little busy later in
the card, but at some point in time, can't we
get a goddamn Trios title match.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
We're having one on Dynamite this week.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
Oh that's right, we are? Or aren't we?

Speaker 2 (42:01):
We are? Shabbata laid down the challenge on Collision. We're
gonna get three members of LFI against the Trios Champions
the Ops on dynamite, So we do get some trios
title action this week in lead up to what will
be at the top of the Car.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
You think they're gonna take the trios titles off the ops.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
It would it wouldn't spice up LFI coming over and
actually being meaningful to them coming to aw from Ring
of Honor. It would definitely be a shocker, and it
could then lead you to think, well, maybe they are
lining Joe up to take the title. I like that
thought process. I really don't believe that it happens, though.

(42:45):
I think that Joe's gonna choke someone out so that
he looks primed and ready to go out hanging page.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
I don't think. I think you're killing the ops if
you take the belts off of them, But that's just me,
especially if it's if it's against LFI. If it's eventually
it gets hurt Syndicate or the Demand or someone like that,
that's a little different story. But yeah, these lack of
pay per views with trios title defenses is really starting,

(43:11):
and to be fair, I think one of the last
few pay per views there was one on the pre
show that they did a title defense. But yeah, it's
that's really bugging the shit out of me. But because
so Tony con has told us these trios titles are important. Yeah,
we got tag teams, but we got trios as well. Well,
fucking put them on pay per view.

Speaker 2 (43:29):
Man, we were there live for Double or Nothing, where
the trios titles defended on the pre show there or
on the main card, because I know they ops came
back out and had a big hand later in the night,
Powerhouse Hobbs was in the main event. Maybe they didn't

(43:49):
defend them at Double or Nothing. Yeah, maybe there is.
I think you're right there may have been a lack
of trios action getting its deserve.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
I'm pretty sure two or three pay per views ago
they had a title defense on the pre show. No
that one.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
I'm pretty sure you are correct that we've at least
got a pre show, But it feels like we should
have more than then pre show ops, pre show six
man trios title.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
Yeah, no, pretty much all the ops we're in that
that uh, the plug, the Anarchy and the arena you
had yeah, yah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah, because
you had yeah, the all three were you had them
and Omega and Swerve and Willow and then you had.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
The return of hook come out, So you even had
all four?

Speaker 1 (44:37):
Yeah, exactly exactly. I digress. So I feel like the
demand needs to win here and m v P takes
the loss, and then maybe that leads us to m
v P saying you know what, boys, the mind's as
good as ever, but that the body just ain't willing anymore.
It's time to legit bring in a new member. Not

(44:59):
this MGF we tried a little while back and quickly aborted.
Let's look for a new member.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
Sounds as a good plan to me, because I'm not
sure where we're angling and what the forward momentum is
unless all of a sudden we're told number one contenders
for the trios titles in this match.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
Yeah, Jamie Hayter takes on Dekla in a women's singles match.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
I think that we're establishing Tecla as a individual, making
her seem different than the other three points of the
Triangle of Madness. That being said, those two points come
into play and we still have to have that numbers advantage,
leading to the next member of Team Hater being added.
Whoever comes out for the save after the Triangle of

(45:46):
Madness is beating down. Jamie Hayter and Queen Queen Ami
Nada will add our third member to the face faction
of our impending lead up two blooding guts.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
You don't think there's any way that Jamie Hayter is
not winning, do you?

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Oh? I think Techla's winning. I think Techla's winning. And
Triangle Madness the cheating to get over at Techla. Ooh.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
I don't think there's a chance in heck Jamie Haters
losing just because Tony Knin loves him some Jamie Hater.
She's back, she's healthy, but we'll see on that.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Look.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
I do think it'll be a good match. If I
were booking, I would probably want to try to get
Tekla to that next level. So I would be very
tempted to do that. But that's just me.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
Va to big money. Five hundred dollars on the line.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
Easy, you're going out of order here, MIKEA. No, you're wrong.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
Sorry, I'm looking at the poster I sent you.

Speaker 1 (46:50):
Matt Tag Team title Action, Brodido takes on Okata and
the brand new new Japan Heavyweight Champion Takeshka.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
There is no way that the Callous Family is adding
more gold to the cabinet I think that we have
to have friction and more disruption between the family Takeshna.
He's coming back in long layover possibly jet lag. He's
gonna be irritable. He's probably already gonna be in Okada's

(47:23):
face for Okada shutting off the zoom call during the
sixty second don Kallus Callous Family celebration in a dining
room that can only fit half the Callous Family.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
At Takeshka, not one the new Japan Belt. I would
totally think we're doing a title switch here. I think
you can tease more dissension between he and Okada. You
did add gold over the weekend, and I'm sure they'll
be talking about that on Dynamite and at the pay
per view, So you've accomplished that. And despite the odds

(47:59):
the injury to Bandido, you could come up with a
way for Brodido to get the win and retain the
belts here.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
And cause that friction between Okata and Takashna. They will
come to a head at some point.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, but I think it's gonna be
a heck of a match. I wasn't looking forward to
this one coming in because I had resigned myself to
the fact that they're taking the belts off Brodido, which
I think is a mistake right now, but I think
we found our way out that thanks to New Japan.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
So do you think there's a reason why Andrade sidetracking
has debuted and when Mia since debuting? Do you think
this was a van corp? I guess we'll call it
from now on. You know, you work without a contract
and then you disappear.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
I think no. I think assuming it's Takeshka that leaves
to get to don Kallis family, I think Andrade is
the one who beats him down when he tries to leave,
or he expresses his displeasure about Ocada and the way
Don's running the family and all that. But yeah, I

(49:10):
think he's gonna be a big part of it. He'll
be a bigger part than Rocky Romero is the don
Kallis family. Put it that way.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
Rocky Romero, Mark Davis, Mark.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
Davis Posh back up again?

Speaker 2 (49:23):
The hell al cologne all missing from the family dinner?
Were there just too many people will fit in the group?
Chat Well, Davis is back. We're going to get him
this week. Also in Trios, a look when.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
You've got a family that big. Not everybody can sit
at the main table. Some of you gonna be jettisoned
over to the kids table, the little card the fold
out card table. You know that you put up all right, kids,
keep it down, eat, don't make a mess.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
How strong are one of those chairs to hold up?

Speaker 1 (49:51):
Mark Davis, he might have been sitting in two chairs.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
Two chairs, two chair Davis.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
Speaking of the Yeah, speaking of the Don Kallas family.
Kyle Fletcher defending the T and T Championship against Mark
brisco I would love to see Mark Briscoe capture ae
W Gold and get the title, and maybe at some
point he does. But Kyle Fletcher right now has a
rocket ship strapped to his back, and the last thing

(50:20):
you're going to do to him is have him drop
the title, regardless of what funky circumstances you put him in.
Who conglomerates their way out there to combat the Kallous
family or any of that shit. I think this will
be a hell of a match. I do not see
a scenario where Kyle Fletcher is dropping the belt.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
Just like many sports broadcasters have said, and it's a
deciding match. This is the greatest thing in Sports Game five.
It's two to two. Who will take the series? Fletcher
or Brisco. It all comes down to this, Yeah, Kyle
Fletcher's probably winning. Feels like I would love to see
more elevation out of Mark Brisco because I think there's

(51:04):
untapped potential of him as a single star. But right
now this is still about the ascension of Kyle Fletcher.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
Now we get to the five hundred thousand dollars cash
prize tag team match. The Young Bucks, one of which
may or may not have a gambling problem, takes on
Jurassic Express, Jungle Boy, Jack Perry, and Lucasaurus. Let me
just say right at the start, despite Jurassic Express in

(51:35):
my heart, being the tag team equivalent of Dan Housen,
these fucking money matches in aw Man, whether they're trios matches,
four away matches, billion pesos match, one hundred thousand euro match, whatever, whatever,
This shit gets old after a while. I don't know

(51:56):
that we needed to have a stipulation for Jurassic Express
the Young Bucks. I don't know why we had to
make one of the Young Bucks a degenerate gambler. But
here we are five hundred thousand dollars on the line
Jurassic Express and the Bucks.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
And at least makes sense that he was begging for
the money match got the money match. He needs money
because he's a generative gambler. I don't know if since
broke Carbon we've needed degenerate gambler characters. Some people as
they look at you know, calling whatever the USO's and
Roman are doing is character evolution. I guess this is

(52:32):
the same shit with the Jackson. He has evolved into
a gambling.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
Wouldn't this be de evolution because he's Yeah, he's falling
down the spiral of of a gambling problem, which is
is no laughing matter.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
Micah, It's character change. It's character change either way that
you're looking at it. And I can't help but tell
myself it feels like the Bucks should come out on
top or by crook. But it's totally worth it if
they do to have brought back uh, jungle Jack and
Lucasaurus as a tag team Jurassic Express, if they're not

(53:09):
gonna be a thorn in their sides and half success,
I feel like they should win.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
This is the problem with this match. The Bucks need
to win it because they need the money. Let's be
really honest, what the fuck does a dinosaur and a
dude that until a year or two ago hung out
in the jungle and wore a loincloth. No, I get it,
he's evolved a bit. But other than to buy a
new horse trailer for Jungle Boy to haul around Lucasaurus,

(53:35):
what the fuck does Jurassic Express need five hundred thousand
dollars for?

Speaker 2 (53:40):
It would sound like, as you told me last week,
Lucasaurus needs a lot of money to make sure he
doesn't become oil or hunted into extinction.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
Well, he just needs a bunker that will survive, you know,
an end of day's scenario.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
For Joe Rogan. We know those are not cheap, they're
not and that.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
But fuck, Jack Perry's probably already built one by now.
He's very handy, you know. He also crafts his knives
that he doesn't Actually you notice this. He wears the
little sheaf thing on his side, but he doesn't have
one of his sweet hand carved knives in it. It's
just empty.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
What is he gonna do with the knife? Go call
Darby Allen and actually use it?

Speaker 1 (54:22):
I don't know, But what the hell is the point
of wearing the knife?

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Holder, because you need it when you're in the jungle.
He's not in the jungle.

Speaker 1 (54:31):
He should take it off the rustle.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
Security confiscated the knife.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
Where where the fuck security with Darby Allen's out there
with blow torches and bombs and whatever the fuck else
he takes out there rustling away the knife from Jack Perry.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Obviously that's how he gets through security. The decloy, the decoy.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
Jrexick Express should win here. But I have a feeling
the Bucks are winning, and I think you agree with Micah.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
I'm going the other way. I'm going Jurassic Express. I
think they should win. I think they're gonna be a
heel on the side, and I think we got to
find I'm still I'm still on the line that something
has to drive the Bucks further into the arms of
Don Kallis. The Cowis family is not big enough. I
want more loss and needing to sign with an agent

(55:22):
to get proper pay will lead them to Don Kallas.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
I got it. Jurassic Express wins. They're five hundred thousand
dollars richer. The young Bucks call them out on Dynamite
next week. Guys, we're in a pickle. I got some
gambling problems. Oh man, blah blah blah, please can you
lend us some money? And Jack Perry's like, you're not
gonna give you the money, but I'll give you a job.

(55:50):
I don't know if you're aware of this, but dinosaurs
shit an awful lot, and they're all really big. I'll
hire you guys to clean up Bluecasaurus is stall. Make
sure there's hay in there. Clean it out every day,
put his feed out. I assume Lucasaurus is a carnivore.
Why why not a carnivor? Laughing at you, well, right right,

(56:11):
not a carnival what's the one that eats plants? Anyhow,
he's not a meat eater. I don't know. Yeah, so
you know you probably give a lot of plants, a
lot of oats and things like that, and yeah, and
then we get vignettes of the young bucks shoveling dinosaur
shit at the Jack Perry's palatial farm where Lucisaurus lives
in a beautiful barn and all that, and yeah, so

(56:34):
there you go, and then you know that's not cutting
it either. The gambling debts continue to pile up, and
you got to go all in with no pun intended
with with Don Callis and and the bucks joining the
Callus family full time.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
Okay, I got lost in Lucisaurus living in a horse stall.
My mind just it's not it's.

Speaker 1 (56:59):
God, have dinosaur stall, Micah. Why how stupid would it
be for a dinosaur to live in a horse stall?
I mean, come on here, it's a dinosaur stall. Man,
You're right by bad.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
I think I was in a nineteen thirties black and
white movie. We're gonna see one of those anytime soon.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
It sounds like a really bad Three Stooges short, doesn't it.
It really doesn't that The bucks I poking each other
and throwing dinosaurs shit at each other and hitting each
other in the head with hammers because they're both mad.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
And blinks out source behind them.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
By the way, which one has the gambling problem? Is
it matter?

Speaker 2 (57:38):
Nick? Which one's the one that used to be blonde?

Speaker 1 (57:42):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
Well it's that one, okay, thinking Nick?

Speaker 1 (57:46):
Is that the same one?

Speaker 2 (57:47):
That?

Speaker 1 (57:48):
Is that the same one that used to be bald? Yes?
You just figured I got a fifty to fifty shot
of being right. I'm just gonna say yes, right, I've
got you know.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
Because I don't think the other one's going bald.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
Well, one has the receiving hairline, the other had a
bald spot in the back. I don't know if your
little spray hair took care of that hair implants or whatever,
but yeah, they're anyhow.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
So this is spray Yeah, this is this is the
bald Yamica versus receding hairline, yamaka.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
I like that, Chris Statlander. The fans the aw Women's
Championship against timeless Tony Storm. I feel like, I feel
like timeless Tony Storm is gonna win. But I also
feel like, I think you cheapen Chris Statlander. If she
turns around and drops the title, it makes the win

(58:40):
seem like a fluke, and what you are trying to
do to elevate her you immediately take away. So somehow
or another Statlander needs to get the win.

Speaker 2 (58:52):
Statlander turns and becomes a death rider, feeling the peril
of the title slipping through her hands, and we get
some character development in her as she does become evil
having to pull it out at the last minute.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
I think that happens, but I don't think it happens here.
Here's why I say that. If it happens here, aren't you,
whether intentionally or not, drawing Tony Storm into this whole
death rid saga because she's the victim of it. Like
I'm with you. I think it's inevitable Statlanders joining the

(59:24):
death Riders, But if you do it here, you're further
lowering Tony Storm because now she's gonna be aligning with
Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron against Schaffir as Statlander and
all that, and she's kind of drug in by proxy
into the Death Riders thing. So maybe that doesn't happen here.

(59:48):
Maybe though you continue to tease that, maybe Shaffir or
da inter fear on her behalf. She doesn't like it,
but she ain't say nope, restart the match. Let's keep
doing it. She accepts it, and we further tease it,
but maybe we don't get the full he'll turn here.

(01:00:09):
But yeah, I think it's important for the overall health
of the women's division and to further establish Statlander for
her to win.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
I understand what you're saying. I just the curiosity of reigns.
If the death Riders do get involved and Statlander doesn't
accept the assistance, right, it's like, oh, I didn't see it.
I didn't know, how do we not get to the
same point that you were just scared of where Tony
Storms hire and direction than is the death writers cost

(01:00:38):
me the title and now I'm Willow and Harley Cameron's
third going against Marina Shaffir joining Megan Bain and Willow
Ford or Penelope Ford.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
Right, because you have you do the full turn when
stat Lander's wrestling someone else, probably not a Willow or
a Harley Cameron, because unless you're just like, hey, look,
I know we're friends, but you deserve it. You should
have this title match, but against somebody else, A baying
a water Hey, I Jamie Hayter, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Well, because I think if we're gonna do the Statlander
heel term, it has to be where the adversary is
a fellow face, and that's where we're limiting ourselves. A Willow,
a hater, a Storm. There's only so many credible other
face title challenges.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
Or someone you're gonna turn face because of it, you know,
So that's possible. But yeah, I think Statlanders should win here.
I'm ninety eight percent certain she will. But I could
see aw wanting to put the belt back on Tony Storm.
But I don't think Tony needs it right now. I
really don't. Heyw World Title Match, hang Man Adam Page

(01:01:55):
defends against Samoa Joe. I actually love the build up
to this. I thought Joe's promo last week was spot on,
as was Hangman's. I just don't see them taking the
belt off Hangman Page this quickly, nor should they. I
think He's this has been much better than his first
run Micah. Joe's always a credible threat for the title,

(01:02:17):
so I expect this match to be a real banger.
But in the end, I think Hangman gets his hand
raised and maybe even gets a handshake or a fist
bump or something a passing pat on the back from
Joe at the end.

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
I didn't think it was gonna be possible coming off
of the MGF saga to turn around, like three weeks later,
have another pay per view, give us a story and
a credible challenger that we can really believe in. But
if the point did like Sniper like, words of Samoa
Joe don't read as much truth and reality to the

(01:02:53):
situation as Drew McIntyre did at points in his WWE
convict of Why Roman Reigns was evil. You gotta believe
because Joe believes in the disrespect, in the unhonorableness of
not the championship caliber that Hangman Page is in. But
I think you're right. This is where he earns that respect.

(01:03:15):
He becomes a man in Joe's eyes, and he takes
it to a man of war like Samojoe. I think
this is gonna be hard, it's gonna be violent, it's
gonna be a rough match. But I think you're right
that this is not the short side of time where
a quick story leads to a title change. Hangman Page
is finally starting to hit a stride where I still

(01:03:35):
don't know if I fully believe in a full cowboy
character in twenty twenty five, But damn if this is
not a totally not and day from his first runners champion.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
You think the Buck with the degenerate gambling problem puts
a lot of money on Hangman.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
No, he's a degenerate gambler. He's betting it all on Joe.

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
The equip match listed as your main event, and it
probably will be just because of the spectacle of it,
But we'll see on that. But I did save it
for last Darby Allen versus John Moxley. Expect a lot
of plunder, Expect a lot of interference. Expect at least
some teasing of blow torches and tasers and cattle prods

(01:04:26):
and hand grenades and God only knows what else in
this one.

Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
I almost feel like it can't reach my expectations of
Darby Allen actually does blow up a mouth off cocktail
and him and John Moxley are actually having to wrestle
in a ring of fire because those two bastards are
so crazy they might actually do it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
Damn it, Micah, you just spoken into existence. When we
end this feud, it's going to be an inferno match.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
It's going to be an inferno match. There has to
be fire, has to be fireworks, There has to be
something to make up for. I'm just glad and Eddie
Kingston with that lack of explosion that one time.

Speaker 1 (01:05:08):
I'm just lad there in an arena that, if they
so choose, Darby Allen can hang out in the rafters again.
It's been a while, you know, the the ECW arena residency,
you know, have any raft right, uh, Daily's place really
no rafters there, at least here in an arena setting
that there'll be some rafters should they choose to utilize them.

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
This is gonna be nuts, This is going to be crazy,
and John Moxley is gonna quit when a flamethrower is
pit put in his face. And I almost think that,
because that feels so obviously Darby Allen, that we cannot
have a Jack Perry remake. It has to be something
different this time to get the eye quit rather than
when we saw at Blood and Guts. That is the

(01:05:52):
challenge to them to make this a unique finish and
not one that we've already seen from their crazy shit.

Speaker 1 (01:05:59):
I don't see Moxley. I could see him passing out.
I could see Udah or Shafir throwing in the towel
for him, which, depending on which one it is, could
create its own little saga. But I don't see him quitting.
It feels like Darby gets the upper hand during the

(01:06:21):
lead up, during the shows, and then Moxley gets the
win on pay per view, and then Darby does something
in the back to get his heat back. If this
is going on last, probably not an opportunity for Darby
to do something in the back, but maybe something afterwards.
But I get the feeling Moxley's winning here.

Speaker 2 (01:06:42):
I'm going with Darby, I'm gonna go the other way
from you, which one may look.

Speaker 1 (01:06:46):
That's a good thing about this. I could see it
going both ways as well. I just maybe I'm wrong
on this. I don't see Moxley uttering the words I quit.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
I don't know what words Darby will utter, but he's
been uttering a lot this week. Stepping into reality real quick.
There was a comment that Darby made this week that
caught my attention, and I don't need to go into
the full comment because is only the first part of it.
If you have an ego about who wins at this sport,

(01:07:16):
get the fuck out of here. How do you feel
about that comment from Darby? Allen just in a general
wrestling feeling, because I feel like it's at least on
the onset, the right mindset that you should have to
be in this industry.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
First and foremost, was not directed at the person most
people think it was directed at, because they're actually friends.
That being said, at the end of the day, he's right.
This isn't MMA, this isn't boxing, this isn't football. Not
disparaging anyone here, but it is predetermined it is And

(01:07:55):
I hate even using termslats, but it is scripted. It's entertainment.
At the end of the day, go out put on
great matches. Wins and losses aren't the end all be
all the fucking Is Bobby Lashley any less of a
man if the Hurt Syndicate lose to the demand. Hell no,

(01:08:17):
Hell fucking no. Is Luciasaurus any less of a dinosaur
if they lose to the All right, bad example, But yo,
I Darby, that was funny. Darby is one hundred percent
right here. It's professional wrestling. Go out and do your job.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
Who do you think he was really talking about? Forget
all the names of people are speculating that are the
wrong ones. Do you think it's the right one?

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
I think it's the other names people are speculating, Malachi
Russeph Well, look, which is fine. Look I understand that
as well to a certain point. All right, let's use
big dude. The only way to book him is being
a monster. Right If you have me lose every week,

(01:09:06):
I can't really be a monster. But when you get
hung up on your clippings and what people say, are
you are lying? Oh this dude should be doing this,
this guy should be champion. This guy should be doing that. Look,
at the end of the day, it's all decided by
the stroke of a pen. And again, that doesn't mean
you don't have to enjoy it. You don't have to

(01:09:27):
have your favorites. But this ain't the fucking super Bowl,
you know, it's not. The World Series is about to start.
We have baseball playoffs going on. This ain't the World Series.
You're not doing a legitimate tournament to crown the best
team in baseball or to determine a pro football champion. No,
I don't think he's wrong. I think it's human nature.

(01:09:49):
We all want to do our best, and a lot
of times we equate that with wins and losses. But
at the end of the day, it ain't a real sport.
You know. Yes, you can get buried by losing every
week that there has to be some give and take.
But and that's another reason why I say I don't
think Moxley's losing here because I don't think Darby cares
that much about winning or losing. Supposedly he's told Tony Kahan, hey,

(01:10:12):
don't put a belt on me. That's fine, I don't care.
I want to go out and work every week. That's
his mindset, put on great matches, memorable moments, and if
that's his lot in life, that ain't a bad thing either.

Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
Okay, you talk me into it. Moxley wins. You're right. Oh,
you just talking me into it with the speech.

Speaker 1 (01:10:29):
Look, is Darby gonna be worse for wear with a
loss here? No? No, I think there are. Moxley may
need to win more because you got to keep a
whole group strong. But you know, look, it'll be fun
to check out this week on pay per view this Saturday.
Wrestle dreamline from Saint Louis.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
Anything Darby ever changed? Maybe be a little bit safer.
You guys, agree with me or not? Look both ways
before crossing the street.

Speaker 1 (01:10:55):
Buses man buses.

Speaker 2 (01:10:57):
But the dude survived Everest. It almost couldn't survive. I've
crossing the street right, New York. Take that into account. People.
It's frankl. Micah, last name, first name. Hit me up
on X to talk about wrestling.

Speaker 1 (01:11:07):
Get the show on ex at PW After Hours. You
can find 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.