Found My Smile Unshaken

It’s a new episode of THE Hardy Wrestling Podcast! Your girl Stephanie is back to talk about the craziness that is wrestling! We got betrayals in the morning, new challenges and Mercedes Moné continuing her Golden voyage across the Women’s wrestling planet! Tune in! It’s HWP!

Program note: The title of this episode pays tribute to the late R&B and Neo-Soul legend D’Angelo.
Host: Stephanie Hardy
Follow Stephanie & HWP on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/queenstephhardy & https://www.instagram.com/hardywrestlingpodcast
Follow Stephanie & HWP on X: https://www.x.com/QueenStephHardy & https://x.com/hardywrestlepod

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, making her wait till the mic they
started dimming the lights. You started feeling all right from
Birmingham home with the teddy lungs and the room and
studies more once you discovered Paul rather of the lovers,
Whitney Houston and Roman Reigns all of the lovers, and
Mickey James and Mark Kay all of the lovers that

(01:19):
Sasha bangs, you're numb on nay silk signing and page.
Allow me to say, look, I just found the blessed
we escape every one of the fuzz I was kind
of laxed.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
I just made it up the.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Trouble blood walking by the face because I know it's
right in front of ud. I ain't with the hay
who gotta focus on much great ladies and gentlemen. Steph
Hardy's on the air. Had to drop a couple of
bars just to make you all aware. So sit bad, relax,
enjoy the show. You know why go by Joe what
the wrestle?

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Yeah, hey, y'all, welcome, Welcome, Welcome to a new episode.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
I know it's been a minute of the Hearty Wrestling
Podcast with you girl, Stephanie Hardy. Of course, if you
are listening or watching the show for the very first time.
Thank you for joining me on this ride and hopefully
we can continue to talk about and navigate the crazy
and fun world of professional wrestling together. And if this
isn't your first time listening or watching, thank you so

(02:42):
much for supporting me over the years and supporting this
beautiful platform. Of course, I'm your girl, Stephanie Hardy, Hosting, creator,
writer for Daily BDT, commentator, But most of all, I'm
that girl.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
Let me say that again.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
I'm that girl, and I hope that all of you
are having a good week and it's starting off well,
I know here in Birmingham it's Classic Week, so of
course we're leading up to the Magic City Classic, which
is the biggest game.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
Kind of put you in the mind of the Iron Bowl.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Exceptance between the two biggest HBCUs in the state, Alabama
State Alabama and m And there's a lot of celebration
in different events going on. But of course this is
just a Monday and Raw is about to come on.
So if you are watching live on either one of
my platforms, thank you, And of course if you're gonna
watch this later you definitely can. But of course there

(03:35):
is still so much to talk about in professional wrestling,
so let's get to it. We're gonna start with news
and gossip ish and there has been shocking things, so
many shocking things that have taken place within the past
week in wrestling that it was hard to know where
to start. But let's start at Friday, when we saw

(03:59):
the turning Ilia Dragonoff come back and bounce back from
a major knee injury and answer the US Title open
challenge that was opened up by Sammy Zain and of
course given permission to him by John Cena to use.
And he answered that challenge and had a barn burner
of a match with sammu Zin and then he went

(04:22):
on to win the United States Championship off of Sammy,
which was an amazing comeback story. A lot of fans
have been missing him on social media, wondering if he
was gonna come back, or is he back just as
one of the El Grande Americanos or what was going
on with him? But he came back as the maestro

(04:42):
we know him to be and gave one of the
most stunning performances of the entire year against Sammusein and won.

Speaker 4 (04:50):
The United States Championship.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
And This made a lot of people happy. It was
really cool. But then of course there was a lot
of other things that made people feels some type of
way that we will get to in a little bit.
But another thing that happened with him in terms of
newsworthy things was that after he made his return and
celebrated winning the title his he has, he became a

(05:17):
part of a new couple alert with the former Gen Tala,
who was also known as Lee Laurel from w w
LFG if you watch that show on A and E.
She was on the first season of Legens and Future Grades,
and she showed a lot of potential. She definitely was

(05:37):
absolutely beautiful. I loved seeing her and the way that
she looked in the ring and also just the way
she carried herself as a possible women's wrestling superstar in
NXT and she was on Evolve, but she was sadly
a part of the last round of cuts that they
made along with Stevie Turner in this picture as well,

(05:59):
and it was very devastating because they both showed so
much promise in their roles. But we do wish them
the very best. But in the midst of this, Lee
Laurel made her relationship with Elia dragonoff public and which
led to of course, crazy wrestling fans trying to bring
up the fact that at one point they had heard

(06:19):
that he was married, and that is true, that he
was married to someone once upon a time, but Lee
Laurel decided to set the record straight and say that
his relationship with his wife basically no longer exists, that
they broke up, and that now this is a new
relationship and that they can't wait to start, you know,

(06:41):
their lives together. And it makes me sad when people
feel like they have to come online and explain their
relationships to people, because us as wrestling fans, it's like
we will take the nugget and the small piece of
information that we are given, whether it be on social
media or documentaries or whatever, and take it to heart
and then don't ever think about the fact that these

(07:03):
wrestlers are very much people, and because they're people, things
happen to them, and just because they're in relationships does
not mean that they are obligated to stay in them
just because we remember that they were in this relationship.
It's just like the same situation that's going on with
jay Uso and Jada Parker. Of course, we saw in

(07:23):
that documentary a long time ago, that WW twenty four
that Jay Usso was in a relationship with someone who
he had been with for a long time and had
children with. But then, of course, once the pictures were
released and videos were released of him and Jada Parker together,
it became a whole notion of oh, well, he's cheating
on her and all this other stuff. No, life goes on,

(07:45):
and because life goes on and changes happen to these
people who we watched, you know, on TV on the daily,
and they have to find out ways to navigate changes,
just like us. We have to learn how to be
people first, and then wrestling fans, sex and life does
go on. But one thing that I will say is
that I am happy to see Ilia Dragon off back,

(08:08):
and I hope that he does have happiness with Lee Laurel,
and I can't wait to see how she evolved in
her no pun intended, how she evolves in her wrestling career,
and how she chooses to continue to pursue it if
she so chooses, and so the Stevie Turner as well.
So that was really an interesting nugget in the whole

(08:29):
Ilia dragonoff return situation, but yeah, new couple alert and
someone on Twitter even tweeted and said, look, the love
of your life is at the WWE Performance Center and
it made me laugh low key because there have been
lots of relationships that we've seen blossom over the years
from the Performance Center and some of them have lasted,

(08:50):
some of them have not. But either way, it's pretty interesting.
All the relationships that you see sort of coalesce from
them being in that space. But sometimes stuff happens, Relationships happen,
connections flow, and just love is a thing. So yeah,
big up to them, and I hope that they're happy
with each other. Also, another crazy piece of news that

(09:14):
came out in wrestling this week was the report from
the Wrestling Observer newsletter, which is of course ran by
Dave Meltzer, who we do have to take with a
grain of salt these days. He released a report stating
that WWE was thinking about using AI based storytelling after
hiring a senior person to be ahead of creative and

(09:37):
basically saying that they wanted to use AI to create storytelling.
And within this new venture of AI storytelling, AI decided
to pull in Bobby Lashley's name and make him into
a character that was obsessed with Japanese or Asian culture.
And it's interesting because this went viral all over Twitter

(09:58):
and all over the the internet as well, and it
just made people go crazy because they were just like, so,
WWE is coming up with all these crazy stories that
we may or may not like, and they've possibly been
using AI.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
All this time. But here's why I.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Didn't necessarily believe that story. Number One, it came from
Dave Meltzer, and he's been revealed as a person that
you could least likely trust when it comes to things,
and he's been exposed by countless wrestlers multiple times when
it comes to his reporting on different things. And then
number two, it makes no sense considering we did just

(10:42):
watch their documentary WW Unreal, where we've seen a little
bit of the process that goes into creating the stories
that we've seen in this year, like the John Cena
Hill turn, like Cody Rhoades, you know, losing at WrestleMania
this year, and like so many different stories and scenarios
that we've seen, even with the women as well. So

(11:02):
with with that rumor sort of just running wild, I
think he was just I think stories like that are
either just created or just planted, or just put out
there just to cause a whole lot of chaos that
doesn't need to be caused, to be quite honest, because
it just makes no sense. Because something that I've seen

(11:24):
a lot of is of course a lot of fans
just wondering where the storytelling is even, you know, coming from,
if there's like an end goal to the stories whenever
they happen, or are they just happening for the sake
of shock value, and just so many different critiques of
the stories. But at the same time, I just don't

(11:44):
think them utilizing that. Of course, it was reported by
Fightful that they weren't utilizing AI for the storytelling, but
only using it for a business perspective and just using
it for the sake of recounting stories as they're putting
things together together and making it make sense from a
business perspective, but not using it to create stories like that.

Speaker 4 (12:06):
So I was happy to see that part.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
But you know, sometimes stories just get loose and then
people go haywire and go crazy and just be like,
oh my god, why would this happen and why would
they do this? And it's just created just to cause chaos,
and we really just have to know that we just
cannot believe everything we see and everything we hear from
certain people who've had platforms for such a long period

(12:30):
of time, and they feel like they can just say
whatever they want to say because nobody has ever really
checked them for real. But in the midst of the
new age of social media, we've seen wrestlers come on
and check Dave Melzer for saying stuff like that. So
in the midst of all of this, let's just keep
that in mind and not feed into the chaos and

(12:52):
not be so quick to jump on things and say, oh, well,
they're making this mistake when the whole reality is that
might not even be true. So, yeah, that was crazy,
And of course, moving on with more news and gossip fish,
we have Jacob Fatu, who was written off of SmackDown

(13:15):
last week because he us sustained a non wrestling related injury,
and at first it seemed like he really was, you know,
trying to get into the undisputed w W Championship picture
with Cody Rhodes, but then he got into a bit
of a tiff with Drew McIntyre and just when it
looked like he was about to fight Drew McIntyre on Friday,
he gets attacked and it could be assumed that Drew

(13:37):
attacked him backstage, but then you know, you never know.
Considering Cody has a big target on his back, a
lot of people were thinking that maybe it was Randy
Orton who attacked him, But you can't really trust Drew
McIntyre at this point because he's a crash out, a
certified crash out at that So with them writing Jacob
Fatu off of television, with his teeth being all over

(13:59):
the car, I'm creating everything. I hope he's doing okay
with whatever the injury is, because it was also reported
that he could be out for a very long time,
and that makes me sad because we've already been without
a lot of great people this year, and Jacob fought
too is just somebody I never get bored with. And

(14:20):
plus I was just really happy to see him on
two weeks ago when he even had on his Raiders
not two weeks ago this week when he had on
his Raiders gear, Like if don't nobody love the Raiders,
he does, and I love that. So I'm really gonna
miss him. He's very energetic and he just has a
lot of fire to him and I just don't and

(14:42):
I just hope that he really does get better soon
so he can get back on TV and be all
no gas, no.

Speaker 4 (14:48):
Breaks with it.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Plus it was heartbreaking because he was getting ready to
fight Drew in his hometown, in his home state of California,
and I'm just like, you're from the Bay Area. You
could have this number one Contenders match, and now you're hurt.

Speaker 4 (15:03):
That just sucks so bad.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
But I just hope he gets better because I love
Jacob Batu Yadada. I mean, I love him so much.
And the injury bug continues to plague wrestling and even
played seth rawlins to a degree, And I'm gonna say
to a degree, because the last time we thought he
was injured, he wasn't. But it seems like this really

(15:30):
might be legitimate. It was reported that he might have
sustained a shoulder injury when he executed this amazing Coast
to Coast at Crown Jewel Perth against Cody Rhodes for
the Crown Jewel Championship for the Men. And in the
midst of him doing this and winning the championship, of course,
everything happened on Monday, last Monday morning for us with

(15:55):
that turn from Braun Breaker and Bronson Reid, and it
was supposed to have him written off television, but of
course we won't find out the answer to that until tonight.
It's rumored that the announcement and the update regarding the
World Heavyweight Championship will be at the very end of
Raw and the main event, so we got to wait

(16:15):
and see what happens with that. But if he's really
injured with his shoulder, it would make me so sad
because he works so hard character work aside, he works
so hard to get himself at the top of the ladder,
and you know, and he makes so many appearances on
sports TV and just does so much, you know, even

(16:38):
for other people. And to see him try to reach
the very top of where he feels like he should be,
only to get knocked down with another injury, it just
really bums me out, Like it really bums me out.
And hopefully we'll get more answers as to how this
feeds into the story going forward and also just leading

(17:00):
into the next year, because of course this is October,
we're heading into Survivor Series world, which means we're heading
into December as well. It leaves a lot of speculation,
it leaves a lot to think about. So we just
got to wait and see. But I'm wishing nothing but
happy thoughts and happy healing towards seth rawlins and if

(17:22):
he really is hurt, I.

Speaker 4 (17:24):
Hope that he's doing okay.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
And I will miss all of his clothes and I
will miss him, you know, being maniacal and stuff. But yeah,
I will miss him and his designer frocks. So yeah. Also,
Raymond Stereo could be finding his way back really soon
because he was reported as having getting himself together and

(17:46):
training at the Performance Center. So this was really good
to see and here because I have been missing him
to a degree and he hadn't really been wrestling. I
think the last few appearances he has made in terms
of w W were with Tree with that partnership and
the World's Collide event and so many things, because he
is the greatest loucha door of all time by some estimations,

(18:09):
and I do miss him and ringing, And there's another
part of me that kind of wants him to reconcile
with Dominick somehow, because it's like people have shifted from
booing Dominik to like cheering for Dirty Dom and it's
just kind of like, at what point are we going
to see him and Ray actually reconcile. It's like Ray

(18:30):
has seen him go from just a slimy, mean, disrespectful
guy to an actual substantial champion like this man as
of tonight, of course, because he has a match is
now the Intercontinental Champion and the Triple A Mega Champion
as well, like his son has made all these moves,
and he's watched him make all these moves himself, and

(18:52):
so a part of me wonders if somewhere down the
line they can both just sit down and.

Speaker 4 (18:56):
Just have a talk and just be like, you know what, Dad, I'm.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
Sorry, and he'll be like, you know, it's okay, and
then Neil just reconcile. But I don't know. The judgment
day and him being bad and dirty is just you know,
his thing now, and I'm just not sure how that
will work. But I am happy that Raymond Sterio is
coming back, but I wonder how he'll be interwoven into

(19:20):
the story of things. Considering the l WO to a
degree isn't a thing as much as it was anymore,
because of course, Elena Vega, we're gonna get to her
is with her husband, and then you have Dragon Lee
who's more of a presence with aj styles, and then

(19:40):
you have Cruz del Toro and Joaquin Wild who we
haven't really seen in a while too, So it's just
like he's gonna of course, we've seen him do single
work and he's fine with that, but just the idea
of the LWO not really being as much of a
presence when he comes back just kind of bums me
out a bit. But at least he'll return and then

(20:01):
he'll have something fresh to do and all the above,
So yeah, that's gonna be cool. Also, something that is
freaking me out in the world of wrestling is that
Andrade made an appearance and made his return in AAW
a few weeks ago, only for him not to be
on TV again. And it's rumored that it has to

(20:22):
do with a clause agreement with WW and how his
contract went. It was rumored that he got let go
for a pretty substantial reason, while also at the same time,
you know, him appearing on AAW and appearing.

Speaker 4 (20:40):
In other places wasn't what he was supposed to do.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
I was a little confused on it myself, because at
one point there were tweets saying that he was technically
back in WW, but then technically back in AAW and
I kind of just got tired of it. But I
think at this point, I'm just hoping that he's doing
the best he can and getting the healing that he
needs to do what he needs to do and do
what he loves to do, because at this point, he's

(21:06):
not even becoming known or being lauded for his talent anymore.
It's almost like he's being more so known for jumping
back and forth between companies and sort of losing the
luster that he once had when he was by himself
or when he was you know, in the indies and
in inn NXT and then all the above. So I'm

(21:28):
hoping he's doing okay and he's doing what he needs
to do for himself while also figuring out what the
next move is in wrestling or even.

Speaker 4 (21:36):
Outside of it.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
So it was just really nuts to hear, but I
just hope he finds a home somehow. And speaking of homes,
aj styles God a little bit of his flowers when
WW went to Japan and did their super show, and
this turned out to be one of his fine appearances

(22:00):
in Japan, because he did announce that he announced before
Crown Jewel Perth that next year would be his final
year professional wrestling as he is set to retire, and
it hurt me, But it didn't hurt me at all,
actually for a very specific reason because I feel like

(22:21):
him announcing his retirement and then him wrestling his last
match with John Cena, and with the way of how
beautiful that match went, really like it it felt like
a love letter to not only these two men, but
to the wrestling of the past twenty years, and it
really made me sit with the idea like, man, these

(22:43):
two men were really great and were pillars of wrestling
of the New Age, and they really are about to
wrap it up, and it just made me want to
just soak up whatever we have left at them with
John Cena having his four dates and then with AJ,
you know, getting ready to wrap his career up. And

(23:04):
the reason why it doesn't make me feel as sad
anymore when it comes to AJ and so many others retiring,
because Shinsky Nakamora also mentioned retirement as well, it's because
these men seem like they have the clearest mindset when
it comes to knowing when to stop. And that makes

(23:29):
me feel really good because I think in watching the
amount of documentaries that I've seen, like with Dark Sight Ring,
and reading articles and seeing so many stories about how
people's wrestling careers either end by force or their lives
end in some dark way or darker twisted way or whatever,

(23:52):
or they wind up becoming sicker due to so many
different things and.

Speaker 4 (23:56):
Bumps taken and all the above.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
It makes me great full that we now live in
a wrestling age where people can decide while they are
in their right mind to stop and value things outside
of wrestling, and value their lives outside of wrestling and
the people in their lives and live a life that

(24:21):
is fulfilling to them afterwards. And that makes me so
glad because there have been so many people who did
not get a retirement tour because as far as I know,
of course, anybody can correct me at this point, because
I know I'm still relatively young. I mean, I don't
remember hearing about Randy Savage getting a retirement tour. I
don't remember. There are so many wrestlers who decide they

(24:46):
want to walk away from wrestling due to something negative happening.
And then they come back after so many years only
to have it all fall apart, like maybe the Ultimate
Warrior or something like that. And and the idea that
these men are of a sound mind enough to understand
that their bodies can't take it anymore and they value

(25:07):
themselves that way is a blessing. It is a true blessing.
And I hope that these men get to live long, healthy,
sustainable lives that they can be proud of. And I
just thank aj Styles, and I thank Shensky and Lackimore,
and I thank John Cena a thousand thousand thousand times

(25:29):
for giving so much of themselves for our entertainment, you know,
for the love of the game, of course, but also
for our entertainment. And however they choose to move on,
I'm supportive of it because they deserve it. They deserve
to live the rest of their lives not being in
pain and enjoying everything and touching grass and doing all

(25:52):
the things. So I am just happy with that. Also
in the news, we have I show Speed talking about
possibly doing some training in the training for a WWE match.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
Now.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Of course, earlier this year we saw him make well,
we've seen him make a wrestling appearance before this year
at WrestleMania forty and then well, no, not forty, it
was WrestleMania thirty nine. I think it was thirty nine. Yeah,
it was at thirty nine where he was with Logan
Paul and whatever, and then it was forty I think.

(26:31):
And then of course he made his appearance in the
Royal Rumble, taking a place of Tazawa, and then of
course he got speared by bron Breaker and eliminated. And
he's really thinking about going into wrestling himself again. And
I'm here for it because I show speed outside of,
you know, just being a streamer. He does positive stuff

(26:52):
for the community around him and stuff like that, so
if he wants to be a wrestler.

Speaker 4 (26:58):
I'm all for it. We've also seen streams like.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Senna interact with Zelina Vega and Alistair Black as well
as they get it as she gets more into wrestling
fandom and all the aboves. So I love seeing these
people sort of get into it and just be like,
oh wow, this is actually cool. So I'm hoping and
praying that he does do it. But I'm also hoping

(27:21):
and praying for another woman streamer, rapper whatever to actually
want to get in the ring. I'm still hoping for
making a Stallion or even Cardi at this point to
get in the ring and just shake some stuff up.
So I'm definitely here for Ishow Speed joining the fun.

Speaker 4 (27:37):
It'll be cool.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
And last, but certainly not least, never least the main event,
as she deserves to be Miss ma'am. Ultimo Mercedes Money
has now broken the record of Ultimo Dragon by holding

(28:06):
twelve championships as of yesterday, twelve championships, not only her
TBS Championship with AEW and she has now won and
become the Interim Ring of Honor Women's Television Champion. She
beat Mina Shirakawa for it, even though she cheated, but

(28:29):
you know, I support my girls' rights and wrongs. She cheated,
but she won. She won that title, and of course
she is still the CMLL World Women's Championship Champion after
defeating Persephone this weekend in Mexico and an all women's event,
and she is still the Rev Pro UK undisputed British

(28:51):
Women's Champion as well as a Discovery Women's Champion, the
Winnipeg Pro Wrestling Women's Champion after beating Jody Threat at
rumbling the Burt and this woman, and I know I
am missing some but and charged to my head and
not to my heart, But baby, I just I just.

Speaker 4 (29:18):
I can't.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
As a super fan of this woman, I just cannot
believe that she is doing this. But I'm so happy
for her, because woman who discovered her in NX Tear
and fell in love with her there, and knowing just

(29:44):
from watching her that she could be a big deal
for WW if they were to let her, And then
of course watching the crazy, amazing match she had with
Bailey NX takeover Brooklyn, which of course is highly regarded
is the greatest women's wrestling match of all time, and
then her going to the main roster and winning the

(30:05):
Raw Women's Championship and only holding on to it for
so few days like this woman, I feel like something
that people aren't taking into account is the fact that
this woman only held on to the Raw Women's Championship
so few times in all of the rains that she had.
Her first reign was twenty seven days, her second reign

(30:29):
was twenty seven days, her third reign twenty days, Her
fourth reign was eight days, her fifth reign was thirty
four days. A little bit over a month and she
had won the Raw Women's Championship five times, but for

(30:50):
some weird reason which I won't get into right now,
she was never seen as a substantial champion, and then
of course she wasn't seen as a substantial champion until
she won the SmackDown Women's Championship, which she held, you know,
one time for at least over one hundred days, which

(31:12):
was amazing because she did great things with it. She
had great matches with Bailey, with Carmela and of course
with biancabell Ara over it and all the above, and
then of course they main event at WrestleMania as the
first two black women to do that. But then even
after that point, you know, when it seemed like she
could win a Royal Rumble and could contend for the

(31:32):
title again, you know, she was placing a tag team
with Naomi, which wasn't the worst thing at all, no
shade to that, because that was amazing, but it was
ruined because people didn't know how to respect her, because
people kept playing on her top like she was not
the best wrestler up and down in that company. So

(31:54):
she left and she's having fun making her dreams come true.
Putting women's wrestling on the map, no matter how many
of y'all love to talk about you know, oh, well,
what is she doing with all these titles and what
does this mean?

Speaker 4 (32:10):
And she's not.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Actually helping women's wrestling, she's just holding it back. No,
that's not true, because with all the titles that she's won,
she's putting these companies on the map and letting people
actually know that these women's titles actually exist. Number Two,
there are other women who could very well challenge her
for the idea of even fighting with her, less more

(32:31):
even defeating her for these championships, and she's putting them
on a nationally televised program. Ratings aside, because that's a
whole other conversation, a whole other can of worms. She
is putting it on a national platform. I think the
problem that you guys are having is the fact that

(32:54):
this is a black woman doing this, because I do
not recall anybody saying any of this trash when Dianna
Pirazzo was doing the belt collector thing, and I do
not recall anybody doing this when Kenny Omega was doing it.
What is the distinct difference between those people and Mercedes
Money she's a black woman. And if it's one thing

(33:17):
that I've seen when it comes to the situation and
the discourse involving Mercedes money and involving Naomi even when
she was trendy and all the above, is that a
lot of you were under the notion that every piece
of magic that was given to them was given to
them solely by WWE and not from what they contribute

(33:37):
as well. And when they decided to branch off and
do something else and not just stay under that umbrella
and stand up for themselves, y'all didn't know how to
internalize that. Y'all thought they were just supposed to just
shut up and take it. But that's not how life works.
And as much as we hear or as much as
we heard Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch say this to

(34:00):
Lee and see Am Punk during their feud and all
the above leading up to Wrestle Palooza, sometimes the best
thing isn't staying. Sometimes the very best thing is to
focus inward and leave a situation that is not good
for you. Is to leave a situation that's toxic. Staying
in a toxic relationship and waiting it out until it

(34:23):
gets better isn't always the best move for people, and
Mercedes is living proof of that right now. If she
were still in WWE, she would more than likely be
a champion, but she wouldn't be crossing the globe the
way that she is now and giving all these women
who are in the indies and wrestling for different companies
like just a chance. Y'all just aren't used to seeing

(34:48):
a black woman live life on her own terms. And
y'all just gonna have to get over it because this
is what she's doing. She's operating as the big star
that she always knew she could be. Cry about it,
I don't care because I'm happy, Like I honestly feel

(35:10):
like at this point, twelve belts isn't enough. I honestly
feel like she shouldn't have lost to Tony's Storm at
all in Texas during Evolution weekend. But that's also another
story because she's challenging Chris Statlander later. But still she
should get twenty belts just to make all of y'all man,

(35:32):
And then, of course, once she fights everybody and loses
all the titles and blah blah blah blah whatever. I
don't care because she has made making Women's wrestling better
her mission. I mean, at this point, I want her
to even go by Wow.

Speaker 4 (35:48):
And try to take a challenge for the wild World titles.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
So it's whatever at this point, but either way, I'm
happy for miss Manet. Also, while I'm biased, my latest
actually released. I had three articles published with Daily DDT
last week, one of them being about Mercedes Manet and

(36:13):
the top ten matches of her career. And I started
working on this article in June of this year because
it was already on the list.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
So I was just like, Okay, well let.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
Me start, and I thought it was gonna be easier
than it was. But then the more I really started
breaking down her matches, the more I started to see.
How I knew this in my mind, but I started
to see how technical and how methodical she is when
it comes to her in ring work and her arsenal
and so many things. So I took my time when it.

(36:48):
I watched so many matches of hers. I rewatched so
many matches of hers, and then I realized it was
gonna take some time. But the time that I took cracking,
and I don't regret because when it was out, it
was out, and I'm really.

Speaker 4 (37:03):
Happy about it.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
The thing that I did not expect, however, was miss
ma'ham seeing said article and talking about how she felt
like the article ate. So let me just blow this
picture up real quick. Mercedes the blue check is by
her name Alti mo Money saw the ranking of her

(37:28):
top ten matches of her entire career, retweeted it and said,
this ranking ate. I wrote this, and she said it ate.
And for those who don't know, when somebody says it's
something ate, it means that they think it's really good,

(37:50):
or they think it's awesome, or that it really did its.

Speaker 4 (37:53):
Thing, y'all.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
When I tell you, it took everything inside of me
knocked cry. When Samantha from Daily DDT put it in
our group chat, it took everything inside of me not
to cry because I was at work and I was
just like what.

Speaker 4 (38:12):
She saw this. She saw my.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
Article and retweeted about it on her Twitter like now.
Of course, people had their opinions about it, which I
completely understand. Lists are subjective, just like artists subjective, and
people have their opinions and I respect it. But Mercedes

(38:35):
liked my list, and I honestly don't. I don't have
I didn't have the words for it at first, and
I feel like I still don't have the words for it.
But the one thing I will say is that I've
loved Mercedes for a long time, and for those who

(38:56):
know me, you know, y'all know that she is my
favorite horsewoman, and I've ridden with her to the wheels
have fallen off at this point. And now I'm just
more motivated to do that now because it just lights
a fire under me. And knowing that the words that

(39:16):
I write actually affects people, and the fact that she
saw this list which I pained and toiled over and
then of course felt guilty about not including certain matches
and all the above, she liked it like that, and
then black women to black women in wrestling, that just
means a whole lot. So thank you, Mercedes for making

(39:40):
my life in this way. And I hope that somewhere
down the line we'll meet each other and you know,
I get to tell you what you mean to me
as a wrestler. So this was a blessing, and her
winning all these titles is a blessing. Watching her wrestle

(40:00):
more and more as blessing, and I just can't wait
to see the rest of her journey unfold because it's
gonna be great.

Speaker 4 (40:09):
So I believe that is all for news and gossip ish.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
And now we're going to move into what I liked
in wrestling this week. And I know I'm counterprogramming with
Monday Night Raw right now, so bear with me, please,
So we're gonna move into what I liked in wrestling
last week. At this point, I love Tiffany versus Stephanie

(40:40):
for Crown Jewel Perth. It was such an amazing match
and I felt like Tiffany Stratton really adapted will to
Stephanie's arsenal, but Stephanie wound up winning, and I felt
like that was the best choice for her. And I
feel like every time she makes an accomplishment, seeing her,
seeing the joy in her face and in her cheekbones

(41:02):
just makes me so happy because you can tell that
her dreams are coming true and you know, she's living
the life that she felt that she always deserved and
worked for, and it is so beautiful. She's a beautiful
woman and she seems to have a very beautiful soul.
Of course, I've never met her, you know, one on one,
but she you know, I root for her because of

(41:23):
course she and I have the same name, but I
just love watching her succeed, especially after watching her fight
with Mercedes in New Japan. So and of course, you know,
hearing her story and how she rows above certain things
to get to where she's at. I just love and
respect her so much, and I just love seeing her
get this shine and get these opportunities and make her

(41:45):
dreams come true. You can tell that the happiness is
just radiating from.

Speaker 4 (41:49):
Her spirit and I just love that for her.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
So big ups to Stephanie. It's Stephanie's supremacy and she
is an absolute battie because she wrestled this entire match
with hoop earrings on. And I'm not sure.

Speaker 4 (42:01):
If anybody noticed that, but I saw that that.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
Morning and I was like, you wrestled that whole match
with hoops A, You're a baddie.

Speaker 4 (42:10):
I love it, So that was cool.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
Congratulations to her on being this year's Crown Jewel Champion. Also,
Ria and Eo won their tag team match against the
Kabuki Warriors, and I just love watching them love on
each other because the easiest thing to do would have
been to make them continue to be enemies after evolution,

(42:36):
and they could have fought each other, but they decided
to go a completely different route and have them love
each other as sister friends. And I just love watching
their dynamic play out on television. It just it's very
multi layered. It's one of the things that I've been
sort of asking for from my women's stories that I
absolutely love. Whether they're not fighting over a man or

(42:58):
not fighting over you know, Pett, they're actually becoming friends
and you know, over their shared bond of coming up
together and having lost that big opportunity to Naomi and
just being friends with each other, and I just love that,
and them just looking out for each other.

Speaker 4 (43:17):
I just love that.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
But then in the midst of it, you have all
this craziness that happened with Kyrie taking a bullet for
Oscar with that big boot and getting a bruise, and
that just led into more drama there. But I'll just
have a soft spot in my heart for Rhea and
Eo forever. They're just amazing and just don't break them up, please,
it would just hurt my feelings. And then of course

(43:41):
you have the aj Styles and John Cena match, which
I did write about in my article about Crown Jewel
with Daily DDT. But like I said earlier, this match
was just a love letter to wrestling of the past
twenty years, all the moves that they tributed and all
the people that theytributed from TNA all the way to

(44:02):
w W and in between. It was just so beautiful
to see. And it was also great to see Aj
in his old TNA gear. Big up to him for
staying in shape enough to wear that gear again. And
just I was impressed with the amount of moves that
John Cena was able to pull off, including the Sister Abigail,

(44:25):
and that made me feel some type of way simply
because thanks to Adam Barnard, who writes for Screen Rent
and has written for other places as well, he mentioned
the idea that Bray Wyatt could be the very reason
we might see a John Cena Hill turn due to
him exploring that in the Firefly Funhouse match that they

(44:47):
had at Wrestle Media in twenty twenty. And it makes
me sad that Bray physically isn't here to wasn't here
to see that happen, but at the very least John
was a able to pay tribute to him in that
way in that match, So it was very beautiful and
if you haven't watched this match, I do recommend that

(45:08):
you do. If you were a wrestling fan and fell
off with it over the past twenty years, I suggest
you watch this match. If you play video games with
wrestling in it, watch this match. If you just internalize
anything restle related, watch this match, because it's just the
stuff that dreams are made of.

Speaker 4 (45:28):
It's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
And like I was saying earlier, as we move into
what I liked from RAW last week, which as I'm
pretty sure Raw's going on right now, Osca got mad
at Kyrie for pointing out the fact that she took
the bullet for Osca in their tag team match at
Crown Jewel. And as she's you know, saying and standing
up for herself, like Oscar, please, I took the bullet

(45:53):
for you, Oscar slaps the the ever loving dog crap
out of her, and Kyrie had this look in her
eyes that was like a mixture of fear and mad anger,
And that is just the creepiest thing I've ever the
creepiest thing I've ever seen. That was like the scariest
I'd ever seen Kyrie look in her eyes, and it

(46:15):
made me feel like there's a level of Kyrie that
we're about to see that I can't wait to see unlocked.

Speaker 4 (46:24):
Osca is just.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Being a very abusive Bulley to Kyrie because she's choosing
to stand by her while EO has decided to stand
by Rhea. And I know there is so much more
history involving this, and I feel like I'm not equipped
enough to speak about because of course there's only so
much I know. But ds Shan, who who has his

(46:48):
channel Ring the Bell, actually did a phenomenal video about
the history of Oscar, Eo, and Kyrie when it comes
to their dynamic on Raw. Go watch that. But this
is still very interesting, to say the least from an
American lens. I just just the jealousy, the anger, the possessiveness,

(47:09):
the abusive behavior, and just watching these women try to
break free from it. It's just really enthralling television and
I love it. These women are doing an excellent job,
and I just can't wait to see Kyrie stand up
for herself a bit more. And then Kyrie got put
in his match with Rhea and it was really good,

(47:33):
even though to a degree it felt like when it
first when the match was first made, Kyrie was gonna
be sort of like underhanded due to the one sided
due to the size difference, it was still a very
good and substantial match outside of Sheniinians, and I really
enjoyed it so and it was cool to see Ria
Ripley get another win in Perth in her home continent

(47:57):
slash home country, so that was really cool too. Also,
I know tonight we're gonna get Stephanie and Vikera versus
Roxanne Perez because Roxanne thinks she deserves an opportunity at
the Women's World Championship considering she was the last person.

Speaker 4 (48:14):
To penn EO.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
But Stephanie gave her the most dramatic and piercing look
and said, look, if you want to fight me, I'll
be waiting in my inferno. And that was one of
the most badass things I'd ever heard in my life. Stephanie,
You'll always be famous. And Roxanne and Raquel I wanted

(48:38):
to hold space for their matching gear last week because
it was just very beautiful and I was just like,
oh my god, they look like they're really one and
intertwined with each other, which I know is going to
cause some issues when Live Morgan comes back, But at
the same time. I just love their looks as attack team,
and I can't wait to see Roxanne versus Stephanie, so

(49:00):
it's gonna be really cool. Also, I just loved how
this took place during the last couple of days of
Hispanic Heritage months. This was amazing to watch all these
women of LATINX heritage, you know, be in this segment together.
I love my women of color, so seeing all three
of them right there together was just really beautiful. So

(49:21):
big Upseident for that representation matters and for the raw men.

Speaker 4 (49:28):
Let me just say, why didn't cum.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
Punk become the number one contender for the World Heavyweight
Championship was pretty cool because I want him to get
his lick back after Seth Rawlins cashed in his money
in the Big briefcase after fanning an injury and beating
him in his Fantastic four gear. I have a personal
vendetta against Seth Wrongs for doing that, so I'm gonna
need for cm Punk to really get his lick back.

(49:52):
But then, of course the injury happens, so we don't
know how that's gonna coalesce. But I was happy to
see cum Punk win and then his crazy so I've
decided to pinj Uzo and then take his grill afterward,
and I was just like, Philip, why, it's so crazy.

Speaker 4 (50:11):
He has to be one of the most mischievous.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
People on the planet, Like he is just so nuts,
but he looks like he's having so much fun and
I love it. But I just want to see.

Speaker 4 (50:22):
Him be champion.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
It just has to happen for me, like I want
it to happen. So hopefully we'll figure out what goes
on after that tonight. And also I just want to
send a shout out to the fan in Australia who
had to sign last week that said that she waited
nineteen years to see see him punk and they put
her on the show on Netflix and in camera shot

(50:46):
and then when she realized that, she started weeping and
it was just and it made me cry too, because
you know what I feel like when it comes to
see him punk. There's a certain kind of magic he's
had behind him in his dreams coming true. He got
to main event WrestleMania, he got to wrestle an attack
team match for the first time in years with his

(51:06):
wife aj Lee, and then he's seeing people like this
make their dreams come true. By seeing him and wanting
to see him and waiting for such a long time
to see him because he was like last time they
were in Australia, you know, he was hurt, and then
before that he wasn't really with the company, So she
waited a long time and I'm just so happy she

(51:29):
got to meet him and got to, you know, have
that moment on TV. That is the passionate stuff that
wrestling is made of. Watching her cry reminded me of
the guy that cried when he made his aw return,
because it's really real for people, like when people joke
about that.

Speaker 4 (51:46):
Video that says, it's still real to me, damn it,
Like literally.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
That's what this is, and it's it's real to me
in that same way too, Like you really, it's a
very passionate thing. So shout out to this man. She's
doing okay and having a fantastic life in Australia. I've
never been there, and I just hope that she doesn't
have to wait another nineteen years to see somebody, because

(52:10):
that is a long time, but you know, it was
worth it. And then, of course, as you were watching
Raw the yes last Monday morning for us in the
United States, I was drinking my coffee and I was
getting ready for work when I turned on when I
was watching Raw, and then the betrayal happened, and I

(52:32):
and it just shot like a level of adrenaline in
my soul that I had never felt, no fun intended.

Speaker 4 (52:39):
I was just like, WHOA, what are you?

Speaker 2 (52:41):
What do you mean? I'm drinking my Starbucks and I'm
in my happy place watching wrestling, and then all of
a sudden, broad Breaker Spears said it was just so
crazy because earlier in the night seth well, earlier in
the morning whatever he was talking about, how at first

(53:02):
he was talking about how he didn't need anybody to
help him win the title.

Speaker 4 (53:06):
And all the above and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
Even though of course Paul Hayman was definitely in the
assist of him winning at WrestleMania.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
I know I was there.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
And then on top of that, the Vision had been
doing his bidding all this time, from April all the
way up until now, and he wanted to talk about
how he didn't need anybody and all of the above,
and how he didn't even need the Vision, and it
was just nuts to hear him say that, and then
to go backstage and hear him talk about, oh well,

(53:40):
I'm so proud of everything you guys have done. It
was just it was just very twisted. So the fact
that this betrayal happened, it knocked my socks off. And
I felt like people online were just being mean about
it because they were just like, oh, well, this was
too soon and they shouldn't have done it this soon,

(54:00):
and blase blase blah, And I'm just saying here like
I feel like a lot of y'all are just saying
this because y'all didn't have the answers for once. I
feel like you guys have got to understand, no matter
how long we've been covering wrestling, watching wrestling, or all
of the above, just when you think you have the answers.

Speaker 4 (54:19):
They changed the questions.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
That falls under any wrestling company, but definitely for ww
at this point, just when you think you have the answers,
they changed the questions. And this is where we're at,
so I can't wait to see what the consequences are
gonna be.

Speaker 4 (54:41):
It was nuts.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
It was just really nuts to experience that that early
in the morning at work. But it definitely, you know,
lit some fire under my feet and gave me an
energy Burst and Loki made me wish that roll could
come on in the morning every time, but I know
that's impossible for people, so we're just gonna leave it
as Monday Night Raw. But Monday Morning Raw really hit.

(55:04):
So yeah. Now moving into stuff I like from NXT,
my girl Laney Reid, my gusting girl, my Bama girl,
my big Bama sister has officially joined Fatal Influence with
Fallon Henley and the NXT Women's Champion JC Jans And this,

(55:27):
I think this is another I think there's a common
theme that's happening here where I'm starting to support people's
rights and wrongs, and I'm supporting Mercedes' rights and wrongs,
and now I'm innocence forced to support Laney.

Speaker 4 (55:43):
Reid's rights and wrongs because.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
Her joining Fatal Influence is very It fits her, it
fits It really makes sense to me, not saying that
Jasmin Nicks didn't make sense, because it did. But and
I hate that that happened to her in these last
round of releases, and I wish her the very best
in life or whatever. But at the same time, Landy
Reed just adds something. She adds a level of spice

(56:10):
to it that's just kind of like, oh, this is interesting.
And she was already a great talent regardless. And I'm
not just saying that because she's from Alabama like me.
I'm saying it because it's true. She was already talented
enough to go up against the lights of Candle Srain
and even call her shot and challenge for the NX
Woman's title at one point before joining Fatal Influence. Like,

(56:32):
she's just so talented and she just has the attitude
for it. So I like it. I like it. My
big Bama sister went to the dark.

Speaker 4 (56:42):
Side and I'm here for it.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
So hey, big up, se Layney, big up to Fatal Influence.
They're gonna continue to recavoc and jac Je might be
champion for two years.

Speaker 4 (56:52):
I don't know. It's just nuts, but it's cool.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
And then, of course you have Soul, Ruka and Zaria
who are on the rocks right now because you have
Blake Monroe stirring the pot with them because Zaria still
isn't a champion, even though she's an amazing powerhouse. And
then you have Soul, who was in the Battle Royal
for the NX Women's title but then gave her spot

(57:20):
up to Zaria, and she is still currently holding the
Women's Speed Championship as well as the Women's North American Championship.
And Zaria is still trying to hold onto her friendship
with Seoul after of course they all they both hurt
each other in different ways in the ring by accident.
But then you have Blake Monroe, you know, trying to

(57:42):
drive their friendship apart because she knows a lot about that.
And then she's getting in the way of their opportunities
because she even came on SmackDown and got into the
head of Soul Ruka, which wound up having them lose
the women's tag team title match against Charlotte Flair and
Alexa Bliz. So this coming Tuesday, we're gonna have to

(58:06):
see how Zuruka survives this because Soul promised her like, look,
we're gonna get you a title this time, and now
they didn't because Soul wound up tapping out to the
figure A and it's just, oh my god, you hate
to see it because they were such a cute, friendly thing.

(58:27):
But Blake Monrod and broke up is trying to break
up their friendship and she's trying to challenge for the
women's North American Title at Halloween Havoc this weekend, so
it's gonna be nuts. It's gonna be quite nuts tomorrow.
And then, of course, within this Battle Royal, I was
so happy to see the moment that Lash Legend had

(58:48):
with Mara Shade formerly known as Shakhara Jackson in NXT.
This moment was very touching for me, and it kind
of reminded me of the moment between Bianca bel Air
and Naomi at The Royal Rumbling twenty twenty one where
they said, look, we gotta work together and they kept
each other in the match. That's kind of what this
reminded me of.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
And even though.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
It only lasted for a short while, it was still
very beautiful. I missed them together, I missed metaphor, I
missed them being the meta girls. They just made sense
as a tag team for me, and it just upset
me every time they had a Women's Tag Team Championship
match and they wound up losing, especially when Jade and

(59:31):
Beyonca held the titles, and even especially when Beyonca Naomi
hild them like that really could have been a passing
of the torch to the new you know, black girl
tag team but that's not what happened, and it bummed
me out.

Speaker 4 (59:45):
So.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
I just hated it.

Speaker 4 (59:48):
It just makes me so sad.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
And then, on top of that, the thing that makes
me sad or even though I love who won the
Battle Royal for the to become number one contender for
the NX Team Championship, I hate that we now are
in this weird conundrum where we still have only had

(01:00:15):
two black women to be NXC Women's Champion in Mercedes
Manet and Athena.

Speaker 4 (01:00:21):
I understand that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
Those are two amazingly talented women, but the idea that
lash Legend got eliminated the way that she did after
having such a strong showing over the past couple of months,
and Jada Parker even getting eliminated, and then Mara being eliminated,
and then Tasha Steele's not even being in the mix
of things when it comes to TNA, It's just weird

(01:00:44):
and I just hate it so much. I want a
black woman to not just hold the secondary titles in NXT,
I want them to hold the top one. And I
know some people listening to this podcast or seeing this
clip might think of this, Oh, you just want it
as a participation trophy blah blah blah. No, I want

(01:01:04):
it because these women are talented, They have attitude, they
have charisma, and they have the talent. Why are you
not awarding them with the top prize? Like, to me,
for Jada, as problematic as she has shown herself to
be at times, for Jada to have reached as many
points as she has and contended as many times as

(01:01:25):
she has, it just feels weird that she hasn't won it.
It feels weird that Lash hasn't had that many chances. Added,
I just don't understand what the deal is. And I
understand that at one point you had a lot of
talented women like Jordan Grace come in, or like Stephanu
Baker come in and Julia come in and all this stuff.
But you have these women who came through the NXC

(01:01:45):
two point zero system and after the two point zero system,
who have sustained the test of time, but yet somehow
have not won the top prize. That's still on JC James,
and I just need something to change with it because
the fact remains that there has still only been two
black women as NX Women's Champion, and that just bothers me.

(01:02:08):
We've seen all this progress in NXT when it comes
to black men holding the NX Championship, but just not
enough for the women.

Speaker 4 (01:02:15):
And it's just like I need something.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
I need something more for the black women when it
comes to the top women's title in NXT, but that's it.
But I am happy that Tatum Paxley is and I'm
more in contender now. She deserves it because she's super talented.
I enjoy watching her with Izzy Dame and just watching

(01:02:41):
her be unhinged and crazy like to me, every time
I see her, she just gives Daphne's long lost daughter,
and it saddens me that Daphne isn't here physically to
see this, because I just feel like she's just the
perfect combination of all the creepy things that we've seen,
including the screen, and I'm just happy she has this

(01:03:02):
chance to go up against JC Jane and Halloween Havoc.
It's just really cool. I'm glad that she has this,
and I'm glad that Lyra is still a presence in
NXC to the point to where she will celebrate with her.
But then of course it's causing all this drama with
Izzy Dame, who doesn't like it, and they're part of
the culoring together and it's just drama, drama, drama. I'm

(01:03:25):
almost afraid that she will cost Tandem Paxley her opportunity.
I'm really scared of that. But we'll just see what happens.
But if she is jealous enough of her, of their
friendship to like cause her opportunity, and then we're gonna
have to call their friendship into question. But yeah, Tantum

(01:03:46):
deserves that chance. And for NXT and the men, I
love watching Matt Cardona go up against Josh Briggs.

Speaker 4 (01:03:57):
Matt Cardona is.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
A sure thing. And that's not to say that he
wasn't a sure thing before when he was Zach Ryder,
because I loved him when he was Zach Ryder back
in the day.

Speaker 4 (01:04:11):
Woo woo woo. You know it. I love that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
I wanted him to carry his Bilt on TV so bad,
like I just wanted him to be more than what
they were giving him. And it made sense why he
hasn't fully come back to WW because he doesn't want
to be held back by a lot of things, and
I get it. But seeing him wrestle in NX just

(01:04:36):
felt vibrant and really cool and it was just cool
to see how he's evolved over the years from just
being Zach Ryder to being the indie god that's always ready. Like.
He did a phenomenal job, and in my opinion, he
shouldn't have lost to Josh Briggs. He should have won.
I feel like there should be more TNA talent winning

(01:04:58):
against NXT talent because TNA, of course has existed longer
than NXT has, and their talent has shown to stand
the test of time and the test of programming changes
and so many different things. And I feel like watching
their talent constantly lose to NXT talent, it's imbalanced to me.

(01:05:20):
And I know their showdown made things a little bit
more balanced, but I feel like, if you're gonna have
these TNA stars on here, the least you can do
is have them win a little bit more.

Speaker 4 (01:05:32):
So.

Speaker 2 (01:05:33):
Yeah, Matt Cardona did his thing, and I want to
see him do more of his thing if he decides
to come back. But if he doesn't decide to come back,
of course, that's his choice, because he is kicking ass
on the NDS and doing what he wants to do.
But he should have won on NXT. And I don't
care what anybody has to say about it.

Speaker 4 (01:05:51):
He was great.

Speaker 2 (01:05:54):
And then OTM came back and attacked the entire tag
team division and that was cool. I'm happy to see them,
but my dad actually mentioned, you know, where's Tyson and Tyreek?

Speaker 4 (01:06:07):
And I do miss Tyson and.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
Tyreek, but of course they were in that faction high
Rise with Wes Lee and now Desmond Xavier is no
longer with ww which bums me out because he was
definitely one of my faves as a solo star. But
I'm pretty sure Tyson and Tyreek will bounce back at
some point from it. But OTM seeing them back in
the you know, swing of things was really cool too.

(01:06:33):
And speaking of tag team stuff, we have the Hardy
Boys Party Supremacy, Let's Go, who are the TNA and
NXT Tag team Champions, have this sort of powwow with
Leon Slater, who is the TNA Exhibsion Champion, and Javon
Evans and they're talking about how Dark State attacked them

(01:06:54):
and all the above and how they just did that
just to get in their heads and to watch these
veteran high flyers speak life into these younger high flyers
just meant the world to me because because when it
comes to black men, no matter what country you're in,

(01:07:15):
because of course, you know, Javon is from North Carolina
like the Hardys, and you have Leon Slater who's from
the UK. Everybody who's a high flyer or who's a
risk taker in the Ring took inspiration from the Hardys
in any way, shape or formance Matt and Jeff, because
I feel like people always just mention Jeff and don't
mention Matt, and it's crazy to me they were inspired

(01:07:38):
by them. So to see them sort of pay it
forward in this way really.

Speaker 4 (01:07:41):
Warmed my heart.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
And it just it just reminds you of how the
culture when moments when the culture shows up in NX,
and just how amazing it is when stuff like this
is just allowed to exist and it's very authentic and
it's amazing. And I just loved it so much. And Javonne,
I'm gonna need for you to be yourself and not

(01:08:05):
let anybody get in your head about the way you speak,
because the way you speak is one hundred percent valid
and it's authentic because it's real and it comes from you,
and you sound like and when people see you sound
the way you sound, they see themselves reflected, like I said,
representation is absolutely important, and he mentioned that in an interview.

(01:08:27):
I think with black wrestling, shout out to them. I
just want him to know that who he is speaks
to so many people. It speaks even to me because
I've said before that he reminds me of the generation
that my sister comes from and hearing them in the
way they speak and it's just amazing. So never change,
Yvon Evans, never change at all, please, because you're great

(01:08:51):
the way you are. And also, even though I know
I talked about this yesterday, why wouldn't the wrestling start?
At their fourth season? And they had a match with
Nicki Nashville, who was also known as Jay Rod in
the Indies and Hollidad, who was a veteran in wrestling
as well. Their match was absolutely sharp and amazing and

(01:09:12):
hard hitting, and if you have not watched it, I
definitely suggest that you do because it was fan freak fantastic.
Tune in to WOW this season. Their production value is
going up. Their taping shows in Vegas, So if you're
in the Las Vegas area and you listen to this podcast,
go see them this week and support women's wrestling as
a whole, but definitely support WOW as they continue to

(01:09:34):
grow as another substantial wrestling alternative on television that gives
a spotlight to women. Please Please, Please Please. And then
of course we move into SmackDown and what I loved
about the women I love the Tiffany Stratton, you know,
was seeking to bounce back from her loss against Stephanie

(01:09:56):
Vaker in Perth and just she was being interviewed about
what her plans are for the future. Keana James gets
in her face and starts talking about how she knew
she couldn't manage her because she didn't have what it
took the way that Julia does and all of the above,
and then Tiffany was like, look, if you want to
get in my face like this, and if you think

(01:10:17):
that I don't have what it takes, you know, let's fight.
And they have a match this Friday, and I'm super
excited about it because it's definitely giving NXC two point
zero vibes and I love it. And anytime I get
to see Keana James fight more, I'm really pumped about
it because she is super talented.

Speaker 4 (01:10:32):
But of course.

Speaker 2 (01:10:33):
Andrey's gotten a way of things. But I can't wait
to see more of what she has to offer outside
of just being Julia's mouthpiece and manager. I'm really pumped
about seeing that. So it's gonna be cool. And miss
Ma'am's Alena. Y'all knows Selena is one of my favorites,

(01:10:58):
So I have been sort of wanting her to sort
of challenge for the United States title again because I
feel like that title is just hers and she just
looked amazing with it and she just tried to do
her very best with it, and I just wanted her.

Speaker 4 (01:11:13):
To get it back. I just want her to have gold, period.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
But she decided to suck us in the face with
this promo segment that she had with her hubby, her
love Alistair Black, and now they've both joined forces and
they've called themselves I guess the Necessary Evil. That's what
she posted with the picture of them, and they did

(01:11:37):
this whole segment with these snakes, like these live snakes,
and Zelina she's just not afraid of these snakes and
she's just so fearless and she looked so deadly, like
she just looked like a beautiful Puerto Rican Mortitia Adams.
It was just like, WHOA, what is this like? This

(01:11:57):
is a dark level of her that we it's new.
It's like her hair matches his eyes. There's just craziness
to it. And I just can't wait to see how
this unfolds. Because he blew a fireball and Damien Priest's face,
I mean, she was standing by his side like it

(01:12:18):
is just ooh, it's sexy, low.

Speaker 4 (01:12:23):
Key, and it's just oh, it's evil and.

Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
It's different and I love it so okay necessary evil.
Another thing, another moment where I support Zelena's rights and wrongs.
I'm supporting people's rights and wrongs, Mercedes Laaney and Zelena.
I'm a multi layered person. I love my girls. I

(01:12:53):
support their rights and their wrongs.

Speaker 4 (01:12:56):
They're cute.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
I love them so much. And then speaking of cute,
we got to see Charlotte Flair and a Lexiblist of
course defend their titles against Zuruka, like I mentioned earlier,
and they had on matching geared that was pink and black,
and it's just so cute. I love the fact that
they pretend like they're just allies the convenience still while

(01:13:17):
also just molding into each other like friends naturally, and
it is just one of the coolest things to see here, get.

Speaker 4 (01:13:24):
More multi layered storytelling. For the women.

Speaker 2 (01:13:27):
I love it. I love that they're there for each
other and ride for each other, even though they don't
just outright say their besties.

Speaker 4 (01:13:33):
It's just really cute and I live for it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:36):
I live I want to see them fight for the
fight for the tag titles more. But I know it's
different for different circumstances. But I just love them. I
love what they bring, their fun. I love them so much.
And let me just say this, when it comes to

(01:13:59):
this White It's six thing and this MFT thing, watching
MFT with their paint, with their face paint on from
New Japan is one of the most haunting things I've
ever seen, Like it's giving stuff gets spooky every day
in October, and this whole sex segment was that, And

(01:14:23):
it's just very powerful to witness on television, to see
it in that way. Because of course when they were
doing that in the Indies, I was not aware of
them at the time, I was still learning, So seeing
them on TV do this, it's just like WHOA Like
it's very haunting, like you know, not to mess with
these people, you know, not to mess with these MFTs.

(01:14:44):
But then you have the Ya six, who just ain't
scared of nobody because they're because because they're just not
scared of anybody because they're mystical beings. And then they
keep getting in their faces. And then you have Nikki
cross over here, who's just not afraid to get a
solo's face either, And I'm just like, Yes, this is
what I love.

Speaker 4 (01:15:03):
This is the stuff that I love.

Speaker 2 (01:15:05):
I love it. It just gets me out of my seat,
and I hope and pray that somehow or another it's
them in Wargames, Like don't I don't know how it's
gonna happen. I don't know if it's gonna happen, but
if it does, I will be seated for it because
there just looks so it's just so powerful. I just
love it. Like I wish Wargames was low key happening

(01:15:26):
this month instead of in November, because this is like
a perfect Halloween creepy, like halloweeny type of match for me.

Speaker 4 (01:15:37):
But I'll wait, I'll wait for it. I will wait
if this is happening, I will wait. If it doesn't happen,
it's okay, but if it does.

Speaker 2 (01:15:47):
Happen, I will wait for it. I will be patient,
but I love every time they have a face off.
This is only the second time it's happened, but I've
loved both times. I love it, and Nikki Cross is
a badass. I just love it so much. I'm just
having so much fun with it. Yes, and then there's
a part of me when it comes to the tag

(01:16:08):
team division. We saw all these segments on Friday with
DIY and we saw the Motor City Machine Guns come
back and celebrate their.

Speaker 4 (01:16:20):
One year anniversary of being in WW which.

Speaker 2 (01:16:22):
Is crazy that it's been a year, but it has.
And you saw these other tag teams sort of throwing
their hats in the ring, but there was no street
profits and I'm trying to figure out where are they
because they lost their last match at Perth against the
Ya Six for the tag titles and we haven't seen
them since and I think it might be addressed later on,

(01:16:44):
but it really looked like at one point they were
about to fall apart, but then they came back together
again and maybe fix things or patch things up temporarily,
but I don't know. It's Oh, it's so strange because
it was really strange to see all the tag teams
together trying to go after the tag titles and you
don't see Montez and Angelo there. It was really awkward.

(01:17:06):
It was really really awkward. So I'm hoping somewhere down
the line will see them come back again and we'll
see that story continue, because if not, I would really
hate for this to become a situation where a black
male talented act tag team or otherwise is being deflated.

(01:17:31):
And speaking of being deflated, not even deflation, because Carmelo
Hayes is always inflated because he's awesome. He attacked the
mens and I was very happy about that because as
soon as the Mess came out there and acted like
he wanted to answer the open challenge for Sammy, I
was just like, oh my god, where's Carmelo.

Speaker 4 (01:17:49):
And then when he came.

Speaker 2 (01:17:50):
Out, I was like, ken If, Carmelo, Kenef, Carmelo.

Speaker 4 (01:17:52):
Kenem and he got him.

Speaker 2 (01:17:53):
But then security wanted to break them apart, and I'm like, no,
don't break them apart. Let them fight, Let the mis
get this beating, let him get this beat down from him.
But of course security toret him apart, but then they
kept running and all of the above, and you know
it's serious because Carmelo had on that leather jacket and
we hit. When he has on that leather jacket and

(01:18:13):
choker combo with that him necklace, that's when you know
it's real. And he started beating him as his taiale.
But I was so happy for him with that, and
I am ready to see how this feud is going
to coalesce and how it's gonna, you know, take place.
But I'm not gonna lie. It did leave a bittersweet
feeling knowing that at one point Carmelo was jocking for

(01:18:38):
more of an opportunity at the United States Championship, and
then you have another call up who he came up
with in NXT in Ilia get a chance at the title,
and then he wins it. It's just it's really becoming
a point where you're wondering, why is it that Ilia
gets to be a champion after coming back from an injury,

(01:19:00):
and then how Tiffany and Braun get to enjoy the
fruits of their labor and all the above. But then
you have Carmelo, who did win the Andre the Giant
Memorial Battle Royal this year, which I feel like a
lot of people tend to forget in the discourse of
his accomplishments, but then that's the only thing he's done,

(01:19:23):
and it's just like, what's the problem, Like do you
not see this singles talent in him? Are you just
putting him through the ringer?

Speaker 4 (01:19:33):
Like? What is it?

Speaker 2 (01:19:34):
Because this seems like the type of behavior that fed
into why it took eleven years for Kobe Kingston to
get an opportunity at the WWE Championship, because he won
all those accolades but never had a chance at the
top title. And then Carmelo has his one accolade while
everybody else is getting all these other accolades and even

(01:19:55):
being touted as the future of the business in bron
always being mentioned as the future and as a future
WrestleMania main inventor, and then you have Carmelo just being
left out of that conversation. It's not fair because this
man beat braun Breaker three different times in NXT. He
defeated him for the NXT Championship. I know I was

(01:20:18):
there in LA when he did it. He became the
A champion with the North American title. He dethroned Roderick
Strong and combined the Cruise aweight title with the North
American title. He had a Match of the Year candidate
with Ricochet, who is in aaw Now, why is he
being toyed with? Why is he being played with? What
is the problem? Is it because he's black? I hope

(01:20:39):
that's not the case, But if it is the case,
then I'm gonna need for more representation and for more
people to like to open their minds and understand that
a black man can be the face.

Speaker 4 (01:20:50):
Of WW if you give them the chance.

Speaker 2 (01:20:52):
Because with that type of rumored, alleged backwards thinking, you're
gonna have talent like Trick Williams city on the wayside,
Javon Evans sitting on the wayside, and over fem Me
sitting on the wayside. And that's not fair to them
because they deserve to be invested in as much as
any other white talent. And that's just the truth. And

(01:21:15):
if you don't like what I'm saying, then well log off.

Speaker 4 (01:21:17):
I'll be fine. I'll literally be fine. It's cool.

Speaker 2 (01:21:23):
But I just want the world for Carmelo Hayes. I
always have and I always will, so yeah, but I
am interested in seeing him few with the mins though.
It's gonna be fun. And then you had Cody Rose
crashing out. He fought Drew McIntyre in a suit because
he really did think.

Speaker 4 (01:21:42):
That Drew McIntyre attacked Jacob Flatu and he.

Speaker 2 (01:21:45):
Was pissed off at him. He said, look, you want
to fight for the title, now, let's fight right now.
And he fought him in this big, expensive suit with
his church shoes long he was ready to go, but
then the match ended abruptly when he took the title
and hit Drew McIntyre upside hit with it and then
Drew one via DQ and it really made people speculate

(01:22:06):
if Cody Rose is really trying to go down the
dark side, and if he is, I'm glad that it's
gradual and not just an all in one type of thing.
But I would prefer if he just stayed the baby
face because.

Speaker 4 (01:22:21):
I'm just tired. I'm just tired of people going dark.
I want him to be my superhero. Cody, don't go
to the dark. Stay in the light. Please stay in
the light. Please.

Speaker 2 (01:22:35):
So I really think that's about it. That is everything
that I liked in wrestling from this past week. I
know I'm counter programming, but of course, if you stay
with me, if you're rocking with me, thank you so
much for doing so we've reached the end of our
time together. Actually, so thank you guys so much for

(01:22:56):
supporting the show, for being patient with me, because life
has been kicking my behind to the point to where
I've wanted and actually written out outlines four episodes to
record and hadn't had a chance to do them. And
I've just been really tired lately.

Speaker 4 (01:23:12):
So hopefully I can get back on track.

Speaker 2 (01:23:14):
And as I'm getting back on track, Bianca Addison is
officially joining HWP as a co host this week, so
we can get cracking with that, and of course, you know,
growth will continue with that, and I'm so happy that
she wants to be a part of the show, and
I'm happy that I actually get to share more of

(01:23:35):
my rains with people. There's her, and I'm glad I
get to have the show with Katrina and it's just
fun to be collaborative and not in competition with people
like we have to help each other, especially us as
black people. We have to help each other. So I'm
glad that we get to be united and talk more
about wrestling and the things that we love. If you

(01:23:56):
haven't already, check out my appearance on main event Mama's podcast.
It was so fun being on their show. Please check
them out. Shout out to them and their production with that.
It was very organized, very cool, the vibes were great,
so please check that out. Also, I'm gonna be on

(01:24:17):
another podcast tonight. Be on the lookout for that. And
also just read all of my articles from Daily DDT
because I have been working real hard in that regard
and just continue to support your girl and of course
know that. You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter
at Queen Step Party. You can follow the show the
Hardy Wrestling Podcast like it'scrolling on the bottom of the

(01:24:38):
screen at Harty Wrestling Podcast on Instagram and on Twitter
at Hardy Russell Pod. Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube
channel please, where you can get notified every time I
go live or anytime I share like a short or video,
you can see it. And anytime you see my clips,
post it anywhere on Facebook or Twitter or anywhere else.
Don't be afraid to retweet or reshare, because yeah, the

(01:25:02):
more people see the show, the more people you know,
the more people engage with the show, the more.

Speaker 4 (01:25:07):
Cool points you get.

Speaker 2 (01:25:08):
So just keep engaging with the show, listening to it
on Apple podcasts, Amazon Podcast, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Spotify, anywhere
you get your podcast, you can listen to it, and
of course subscribe to the YouTube channel so you can
watch this later. The audio should be up. And I
also just want to mention that the name of this

(01:25:30):
episode is called Found My Smile Unshaken, which is a
tribute to the late great Di Angelo, who is an
amazing R and B and neo soul legend who passed
away a few days ago. And it broke my heart.
And I loved his music and I grew up with
his music. So the title page tribute to two amazing

(01:25:53):
songs that he wrote call I Found My Smile Again
and Unshaken from the Red Deir Redemptions track. And I
just hope that if you've never heard of D'Angelo, you
would go and listen to him now and just lose
yourself in his voice and in the music, and don't
just get one idea about him. I will definitely say that.

(01:26:13):
But rest in peace to him, and prayers up to
his son who lost his father and then a few
months ago lost his mother and Angie Stone So who
is also and who was also an amazing singer as well.
So Yeah, just love each other while you can and
spend time with people you love while you can, because

(01:26:35):
you just never know life belife, and so you just
got a hold on and ride until the wills fall
off and love like you've never loved before. So this
has been the Hardy Wrestling Podcast with the Girl, Stephanie Hardy.
Enjoy Monday Night Raw and enjoy wrestling this week and
just be good to each other. By y'all. Three