Talkin’ Out the Side of Your Neck

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yeah, 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 rumor
studies more once you discovered or rather the lovers Whitney
Houston and Roman Reigns, all of the lovers and Mickey
James and Mark j All of the lovers is Sasa Banks.

(00:54):
You're them on pay silk signing your page. Allow me
to say, Lord, I just found to bless scary every
one of us. I was kind of laxe. I just
made it up the troubled Blood walking by the Faith
because I know it's right in front of UD. I
ain't with the Hey, you gotta focus on U's great
ladies and gentlemen, and step Party is on the air.
Had to drop a couple of bars just to make
you all aware. So sit bad, relax, enjoy the show.

(01:18):
You know, I go by Joe Well the wrestle.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, hey, y'all, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to a new episode

(01:59):
of Hardy Wrestling Podcast with your girl Stephanie Hardy. Happy
Monday Night. I know right now that I might be
competing with Monday Night football and my favorite football team,
the Raiders are playing at this very moment, or maybe
even a little bit later, but I'm here to talk
about some wrestling with you. Of course, I'm your girl,

(02:21):
Stephanie Hardy House and creator of this fabulous platform HWP
Extra and of course Stephanie kat talk while with Katrina
Blake of incat we Trust, contributing writing for Daily DDT
and color commentator, featured on various promotions, and I am
so happy to be before you on this night of
all nights. Like it's just a lot of craziness going

(02:44):
on in the world of professional wrestling, but I wanted
to come before you guys and discuss it. So of course,
if you guys are watching live on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter,
or any other way, shape or form, or if you're
listening or watching this later, thank you. Thank you so
very much for all the love and support and for
thinking that I'm interesting enough to listen to when it
comes to this crazy world of professional wrestling. Of course,

(03:09):
subscribe to the YouTube channel, follow on all the things,
and just continue to support your girl as she's growing.
So of course, in the midst of everything, I also
want to thank everybody for wishing me a happy birthday,
I did turn thirty two, and I had a cool
present in the form of aj Lee making her big

(03:30):
return the day after my birthday, So that was pretty
lit for the most part. And of course, if you
have not already, please go and listen and watch that
episode I did with Ella j Our the very first
HWP emergency pod talking about aj Lee's return on SmackDown.
It was nuts. We had so much fun together talking

(03:50):
about this amazing women's wrestling return and we just had
a lot of fun doing it. So please go and
watch it or listen to it if you have not already,
so as we collectively just gather and just get ready
for what this weekend has in store for us in
terms of Russell Palous and also aw All all in Toronto.

(04:16):
I'm sorry sometimes I get all In and all Out
mixed up because they're just both have all between them,
And forgive me, do not charge charge it to my
head and not to my heart. Please. But of course,
if there's anything that's on the video that resonates with you,
and if you want to chime in, of course light
up the chat and the comments and your comment might

(04:37):
show up on the screen. So of course, now we
go into the beginning of the show, which.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Is oh my god, technical difficulties, News.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
And gossip is. Of course, we're gonna talk about all
the ins and outs of professional wrestling throughout the past
week and even into today. And of course, one of
the biggest pieces of news that we got last week
into the weekend was WrestleMania's destination in twenty twenty seven.

(05:15):
Of course, if you watch that press conference this past weekend,
you know that WrestleMania forty three is going to be
in Saudi Arabia in twenty twenty seven. Of course that's
the year after next, because next year they will be
having WrestleMania in Las Vegas again. So of course I
went to Las Vegas and had, you know, a lot
of fun and everything, and a part of me was

(05:38):
kind of wondering, like, where are they going to put
WrestleMania in twenty twenty seven if they're having it in
Vegas again. There was a part of me that was
definitely looking forward to it being in New Orleans, but
then plans changed and they moved it to Las Vegas again.
And now this WrestleMania forty three is going to be
the first WrestleMania to ever take place out of the

(05:59):
United States, so this is going to be a bit different.
But of course this feeds into the deal that they've
had with Saudi Arabia for a very long time now,
and a part of me felt like it was only
a matter of time before they had WrestleMania there, considering
they're having Royal Rumble there next year. So I was like, Okay,
so I guess maybe within the next few years they'll

(06:19):
have a WrestleMania, But now it's really coming up, like
right there. And of course they put a lot of
people in their feelings. There were a lot of people
who felt a certain way here in the United States
because they felt like, well, it's not going to be
close to us. A lot of what we know surrounding WrestleMania,
and not just the event itself, is now called into question,

(06:42):
from conventions to the Indies and so many other things
that are centered around WrestleMania, isn't it is in danger
of not happening now simply because it's being moved to
a different country. You had other people who felt like
you should have gone to the UK first before it
went anywhere else. There were just there was just a
lot a lot, a lot of feelings, but I do

(07:04):
want to express my feelings because there seems to be
a lot of angry sentiment. And this might be an
unpopular opinion to some, but I wasn't upset about it, because,
like I said earlier, I felt like it was only
a matter of time before, you know, this was gonna happen.
But I just didn't think it was gonna be this quick.

(07:26):
But this is where we are, and it's gonna be
in Saudi Arabia, and it's probably gonna be the first
WrestleMania that's gonna be like early in the afternoon where
we can watch from the US, And I'm not too
angry about it. I guess they've been doing it for
so long now that it's just like, Okay, you're going
to Saudi Arabia. Great, And with all the politics and

(07:48):
stuff that's involved with it, I've tried my best not
to discuss it on here because there's a lot that
I know, but then there's also a lot that I
don't know at the very same time, and I just
don't want to be that person to say that a
country doesn't deserve something, because you know, there are so
many reasons why so many places might not deserve a thing,

(08:13):
or shouldn't have a thing, and all the above, But
at the end of the day, wrestling fans are everywhere.
The ww universe isn't just falling under people from the
United States. It's literally everybody from all around the world.
In the years where I've gone to WrestleMania and even

(08:33):
before then, there are people from every There's a person
or at least three people from every country who are
flying here to the United States to be a part
of WrestleMania because they love it so very much. And
that's real passion from all over the world. And it's
been like that for coming up on forty two years.

(08:56):
So at this rate, I mean, it might be on
the other side of the world, and it's great for
that fan base for Saudi Arabia, because I'm more than
sure there are a lot of people who wanted to
go to a Wressemania but couldn't on that side as well.
But hey, that's just where it is. And I guess
from my perspective, I guess because I'm just satisfied now

(09:20):
with you know what I've been able to see that
I'm just not too angry about it. But of course,
you know, everybody's entitled to their feelings. Everybody's feelings are
one hundred percent valid, and I will never say that
it's not. But I just know, as for me, I'm
just not too upset about it. It's just it just
is what it is. And yeah, but the only thing

(09:43):
that I am feeling a little bit very weird about
it's just the placement of all the indie shows and
all the other promotions that have shows centered around Wressemania,
like I mentioned earlier, but I'm more than sure that
since the indies have been creative and have sustained and
lasted this long, I'm more than sure that another way

(10:04):
will be found in order for them to thrive during
a weekend. During a weekend that's normal for a WrestleMania
to happen in the United States. But I know that
has to throw a wrench into a lot of people's plans.
But at the same time, you know, wrestling is not
only just a sport, it's also an art, and when
it comes to art, you have to be creative enough

(10:25):
to create a new way of doing things. So hopefully,
because of course we do have time, it's in two years,
things will be figured out by then, and everyone will
figure out a way to move about. But hey, this
is where we are. WrestleMania forty three is in Saudi Arabia,

(10:46):
and you know, I did see a lot of people
on Twitter who were sort of talking about it as
if this was the end all be all, as if
this was just going to be the last WrestleMania like ever,
as if to say, oh, well, they're never coming back
to the US, And I just don't feel like that's
the case. I just feel like, to a degree, there

(11:07):
was a lot of catastrophizing of certain things. But at
the end of the day, yeah, they've made their decision.
And a person who I once loved once upon a
time saidww doesn't care about your feelings, So hey, this
is where we're at. But in the meantime, WrestleMania is

(11:30):
still the show of shows. It's still going to be
full of grandeur and everything else, except a new fan base,
well not a new fan base, but a new country
gets to house it, and you know, that fan base
gets to have a good time with it the same
way we've had a good time with it for so long.
So yeah, that's where we're at with that now, moving

(11:53):
into more news and gossipis in terms of things involving money,
we have the UFC president. I believe his name his
last name is Shapiro, but I want to say his
first name is Mark. Please forgive me if I'm getting
this wrong. Release a statement via Goldman Sex I think
it was. And he was talking about the ticket prices
and how ww's ticket prices hadn't really capitalized on their

(12:19):
wealth in the last and over the past few decades,
and saying that the ticket prices have risen greatly due
to the fact that they're actually taking advantage, you know,
of the opportunity of you know, cashing in on what's
going on with the company and all of the above
with it being on fire and here again this put

(12:42):
a lot of wrestling fans in their feelings due to
the notion of ticket prices just being really high. Oh
I got a comment, Oh, rom button, I got a comment.
Hopefully I can get it on here. Okay, Patrick, thank
you saying Mark is his first name, you got right, Okay,
thank you very much. Mark Shapiro was talking about the

(13:04):
pricing of tickets and here, not even here lately, but
over the first part of this year, a lot of
fans had noticed and spoke out about it on social
media about how they feel like WW is pricing out
their fans because the tickets are rising. And I can
even tell a story of how when RAW was getting

(13:25):
ready to come to Birmingham in July, where there were
tickets that my friends or other people I know had
tried to purchase, and they had purchased them before but
they didn't cost as much, but this year they cost
like way above what they don't really would and they

(13:46):
don't like the idea that they can't buy those tickets
because they're not as affordable. And that breaks my heart
because with Mark Shapiro saying what he said about WW
being priced in terms of keeping families in mind, which
is what Vince in the prior, In the prior what's

(14:08):
the word am I looking for? Regime? In the prior regime,
they would always keep the families in mind, and it
doesn't seem like, you know, from a business perspective, they're
doing that with TKO, And that really sucks because for
as long as I can remember, my father was able
to build those memories with me and my sister later

(14:28):
on because he was able to buy whatever tickets he could,
you know, for us to see the show whenever we
express interest in going to the show. And I don't
want it to get to a point where families like
me and my dad and my sister and so many
other families can't go simply because it costs too much.

(14:49):
Because of course, the economy is crazy, things you know,
are higher than usual, and people are trying to, you know,
keep their heads above water. But in the midst of
us keeping our heads above w or we want to
still feel like we can still have a good time
and see the show that helps us escape from those
hard times. And if we can't do that, then what

(15:11):
hope is there or what is there to truly look
forward to. I feel like it's kind of tone dev
you know, for them to consistently say, oh, we're just
gonna raise the prices, We're just gonna raise the prices.
But at the same time, there are families, there are kids,
There are people who don't just want to watch it
on TV. They want to see it live. They want
to have that experience. They want to experience a raw

(15:33):
or a SmackDown or a poe or something like that,
or even a house show at the very least so
hopefully at some point they'll be you know, I want
there to be more collaboration instead of oh, we're gonna
do this and you're just gonna have to get over it,
because that just sort of widens the gap between rich

(15:56):
people who just don't get it because they have everything,
and people who are middle class to poor who are
trying to make ends meet but still try to have
a good time and make dreams come true. Yeah. I
just want them to do better and to think more
about their fan base as a whole. Patrick in the
comments on Facebook, thank you for watching, by the way, say,

(16:18):
I feel like WW is catering to a different demographic.
It seems like they're catering to people who are wealthy,
which is unfair. Yeah, that is unfair because, like I said,
like there are ordinary people who want to see those
shows and have a good time at those shows, and
to price out people who can't afford it, it's just
really not fair. So I'm hoping down the line that's

(16:39):
something they can consider a bit more. Even though I
know a lot of people have mentioned things about possibly
TKO being in debt, I'm not sure about that. I'm
not a business person, so I can't speak to that,
but at the same time, just be a little bit
more considerate on the little guys what I'm saying. So yeah,
we're just gonna hope for the best when it comes

(17:00):
to that. Also, I just find it interesting that in
the realm of TKO and also the announcement that they
made about WrestleMania, all of this was made on the
two year anniversary of them announcing the merger with UFC
and ww to create TKO, And I just think that
the timing the timing of things is very interesting, or

(17:21):
at least not the announcement but just the official merger
itself taking place, because they announced it like around WrestleMania
time a couple of years ago. So yeah, I just
think the timing of things is very interesting with that.
But hopefully things will get better in network cards. Also,
speaking of wrestling shows happening live, we have WOW. Of

(17:43):
course I try my best to talk about while on
Stephan Kat talk WOW most of the time, but this
was something that I just wanted to bring up on
my show just to celebrate and just be happy about.
While Women of Wrestling is having live shows and live
taping next month on October the fourteenth and the fifteenth,

(18:03):
and October the twenty first and the twenty second at
Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, because oh my god,
I'm just so happy for them. Because of course, their
fourth season did start this past weekend, even though it
was more of a recap episode, which we will get
into on Stephancat Talk While later this week. It's just
the principle of them making it to four seasons at

(18:26):
this point with this revamped version of Wow, and just
knowing that they're having, you know, these live tapings in
such an historic district of Las Vegas. It's just so
cool and I'm so happy for all of those ladies there,
and I want to go so bad. I want to
go so bad. I've been to Las Vegas one time

(18:46):
this year and I said that was it, but then
Wow said hold my beer. They said nah. And it's
just kind of like, I want to go so bad
because I just want to see my ladies. I haven't
seen them in so long. So they're having those shows
and the shows are free of charge, but you can
get tickets to meet and greets if you want to.
If you're in the Nevada area. I do suggest that

(19:09):
you do check out Wow because these are women in
wrestling kicking all kinds of butt from various forms of athleticism,
from wrestling to different sports and all the above. These
women are amazing and they will put on a good
show for you. So please please please go see them.
Go see them, Go see them. It's amazing. And of

(19:29):
course we'll talk more about it later this week. Like
I said on Stephan Kat Talk Wow. But I'm just
so happy for them, and i just want to wish
them congratulations for season four and for the taping of
these episodes in a new historic backdrop which speaks to
the history of Wow and Glow and I'm just really
happy about this, so big ups to y'all. I love

(19:50):
y'all DWN so much so it got another comment Wrestle
Paloos and match card looks good. We'll get to Resclaalos
in a minute. I'll be talking about my predictions little later.
Another interesting tidbit in the world of wrestling was the
news of Andrade's sudden release. Of course, the news broke

(20:14):
out this weekend that he had been released from the company,
but it was very quiet because they moved his name
to the alumni section and it was reported by a
fightful and also by a bodyslam dot net with Corey
my guy, Corey, Big up, SEU and all the work
that you do, Love you all the way down, Andrade
is no longer with the company, and rumors have been

(20:38):
reported by Sports Illustrated in so many other places that
a lot of it had to do with him possibly
traveling and not being able to be contacted by ww
at all. They weren't able to get in contact with him,
and it might also have to possibly do This isn't
a rumor, This is alleged, so don't take this as gospel, please,

(20:59):
that he might have had a wellness policy violation as well.
But oh my gosh, this devastated me because number one,
he's so talented, and number two, it felt like he
just got back like two years ago, because of course
he was in WWE, but then he left and he
went to aw after doing other things in wrestling, and

(21:21):
then he stayed there for a while and then left
and then came back to WWE, and the bulk of
what he did in WWE was of course fighting for
the United States Championship, which he never really won, and
then having those best of seven series matches with my
guy Carmelo Hayes, which were absolutely amazing, and if you

(21:43):
have not watched those matches, I suggest you do. Lock in,
sit down, get yours on popcorn because those matches are fantastic.
And of course, in terms of like Game six, as
what Carmelo would call it, it got interrupted by La
Night because they were all, like I said, beefing with
each other. But their last match, their last encounter was

(22:06):
at the SmackDown before wrestle Mania, where they were both
the final two and this year's Andre the Giant Memorial
Battle Royal, which freaked me out because I was there
and I was freaking out because I was just like,
oh my god, I hope Carmelo really makes it, you know,
to win this whole thing, and he made it, and
then his second person was Andro Day, and I said,

(22:27):
thank you Jesus, because I knew they were gonna tear
it down and Carmela wound up winning. And then the
last time we really saw Andrade on TV was because
of him tagging with Ray Phoenix, and then after that
point you just didn't see him anymore. And then it
also bums me out because he is one of my
boyfriend's favorites, so oh my god. It made me so sad.

(22:52):
And then there was a part of me that was
really hoping and him and Selina would have more of
an interaction to just for the one time, but it
just went end up not happening. But I do wish
him the very best in whatever it is that he
chooses to do next. I will miss him on TV,
but here again, I'm just hoping the very best for him.

(23:13):
All Right, let's go to the comments. No, thank you
pressing it ro but okay, Malcolm, Hey, thank you for watching.
He said. With WW leaving Peacock, do you think that
will open the door for TNA to join their streaming
And also, do you think ESPN fans are going to
watch WW? That's a good question, A couple of good
questions in there. Actually, I'm not entirely sure if TNA

(23:38):
will join it. I can't say because when it comes
to TNA, a lot of the people who are making
those appearances are just NXT people. So far, I'm not
sure if they'll do that just yet. I feel like
the only way TNA will join their streaming ww's streaming
platform would be if w O acquired them and I

(24:01):
don't think that's gonna happen anytime soon. But I will
say in terms of ESPN fans watching WWE, it does
expose wrestling to them, and I'm really happy for that.
So maybe they will, maybe they won't, but it will
expose them to a lot of people who are just like, oh,
I saw them on this sports thing. Maybe I'll give

(24:22):
this a try, and that would be really cool. So hey,
you never know, but I am really excited about it.
So it's gonna be cool. But like I said, big
Upsun Driiday, and I send him well wishes and good
vibes with whatever he chooses to do next. El it. Now.
Another thing that made me really happy in terms of

(24:45):
the news with Seawn Michaels as they were doing their
press for Canela versus Crawford in that fight. First of all,
congratulations to Terence Crawford for that wonderful fight becoming a
champion that he is. They were doing press in Las
Vegas and Sean Michaels made an appearance on Club Shay Shay,

(25:08):
I believe, and they asked him, Shannon Sharp asked him,
you know who reminds him the most of you know himself?
And he actually mentioned JAVONN. Evans and he gave him
lots of great praise and called him basically the future
of WWE. And this made me so happy because Javon
Evans is one of my favorites. He makes me smile

(25:30):
every time I see him because he just reminds me
so much of the younger generation that my sister comes from,
and just how energetic they can be while also being
authentically themselves and not really giving a crap what anybody
thinks about it. Like, there's just a lot that I
admire from the youth in that generation. I hope I'm

(25:51):
trying not to get emotional about it, but I feel
like people come down on them really hard a lot,
But at the same time, there's still so much that
they're getting right and Javon Evis is a part of that.
My sister is a part of that too, So I
just love seeing him blossom every week, especially with how
he performed this past Tuesday in his match against Josh Briggs.

(26:12):
He just continues to wow me every time I see him,
and I was just really happy to see that one
of my faves was actually giving him his props and
talking about how great he is. So that was amazing
and I want Javon to be NXC champion. It's so bad,
like I really do, but we just got to wait
for things. And I'm just happy that he you know,

(26:33):
bigged him up on such a big platform like that
on such a big weekend. That was really cool. So
Javon evans supremacy. And also, in speaking of press that
was done for Canelo and Crawford, Stephanie Vacerra and Bianca
Belair our Et and our La Primera were asked about

(26:57):
how they feel about Becky Lynch calling herself is female
wrestler of all time. And of course we know, as
Becky reminds us every week, that Sports Illustrated said it,
ESPN said it, your mama down the street said it,
the church said it, the everybody says it. The construction
workers at downtown said it, all the stuff. But they

(27:21):
didn't seem to have you know, they tried to keep
it cute with how they responded, and essentially what they
said was, look, she could back it up in terms
of all of her accomplishments that she's made, but of
course the jury is still out on that. When the
talent pool is just so big in WWRE and that

(27:41):
was their way of saying, no, she isn't. And I
thought that was really interesting. I love hearing that from them.
But honestly, if you asked me my opinion on it,
not just from a WWE perspective, but from a women's
wrestlings perspective, as an entire hole, Becky which is not
the greatest female wrestler of all time, She just isn't.

(28:06):
Not to me anyway, in my opinion, y'all know, it's Mercedes,
my nay, she is the greatest women's wrestler of all time.
I've said it, I've written about it with Daily DDT,
and there have been other people who have also said it,
even early in her career. And quite honestly, Becky is

(28:28):
amazing and she has accomplished a lot, but it's Mercedes
for me, and I feel like the only reason Becky
or anyone else to a degree in ww is comfortable
saying that they're the greatest female wrestler of all time
or call themselves the goat in WWE in the ramifications,

(28:48):
well not the ramifications, but in the world of WWE,
it's because Mercedes isn't there, honestly, and it's just yeah, okay, okay,
but you know, I love everyone, but at the same time,
it's always Mercedes. So yeah, Becky has a lot going

(29:09):
on of course this weekend, but we'll get into that
a little bit later. And then we have Ria Ripley,
who showed up at a concert that was sort of
centered on horror and she got taken away by Art
the Clown at an Ice nine Kills concert. She was
carried off the stage by this clown from the Terrifier series.

(29:32):
Of course, if you're into horror you know more about that.
But I have seen people online make references to her
and this clown, saying that they both gotta look similar
and that they hope that she, you know, cosplays him
at some point. But I do love seeing people going
seeing wrestlers go on side quest like this to show
that they're interested in other things outside of that and

(29:55):
just feeding into another fan base to get that fan
base into wrestling. I thought this was was very interesting,
and she looked like she belonged, so that was really cool.
She looked really scared and terrified, which was interesting considering
I don't think anything really scares her in that regard.
But yeah, this was pretty interesting to see like her

(30:16):
at this horror concert. So yeah, Ria, a lot of
people were calling for her to be cast in more
horror films because of her performance here, and I wouldn't
be against it at all, but I'm not sure if
I would watch it because I'm not a horror girl.
So yeah, but for those who are into that, I'm

(30:37):
happy that your fave got to interact with Ria or Ria,
your fath got to interact with them, So that was
pretty cool to see on socials. Also, in more sentimental
news and gossip ish, we had MVP have an interview
with Chris VanVleet, who is like one of my favorite

(31:00):
wrestling interviewers of all time and hopefully, you know, he
could be on my show or I could be on
his show. I don't know. He's very busy. Everybody wants
to talk to him because he's just so nice and everything.
But MVP was on the show, and of course he's
now with AW as part of the Hurt Syndicate with
Shelton Benjamin and Bobby Lashley, and there was a point

(31:21):
where he was talking about his reaction to Kofi Kingston
winning the WWE Championship and of course if you've been
online in the wrestling community over the past couple of years,
you've seen this video of him reacting to Kofe winning
the title alongside Shad Gaspard, who was a part of

(31:41):
the tag team known as Crime Time with JTG and
sadly he did pass away while trying to save his
son in the ocean in twenty twenty, but they had
that moment together where they were watching him win, And
in the interview with Chris Van Vliet, he was talking
about the importance of representation and how different communities had

(32:05):
different wrestlers to represent them and how growing up, MVP
didn't have that many representations that he saw growing up.
So the idea of watching someone like Kofi, you know,
reach his highest potential and then it's someone that he
loves and respects, which is something amazing for him and
hence why he was so very emotional about it. And

(32:29):
I can tell I can say one thing, It made
me very emotional, not just from a representation perspective, but
just because I just love Kofee Kingston. I know he's
off the rails now with Xavier and they of course
discarded Biggie at this point, but before all of that happened.

(32:51):
I love, I just love Kofee Kingston so much, and
I was so invested in Kofee Kingston winning the Day
Championship that I went to church and the Saturday before
that Wressemania and prayed to the Lord and asked him, look, Lord,
please let Kofee Kingson win the w W Championship. And

(33:11):
then I got baptized at same Saturday wearing a Ghana
bracelet because Kofe's from Ghana and I just wanted to
give him any level of good, good spiritual juju that
he needed for that weekend. And then that next Sunday
he won, and I screamed and I cried in my
boyfriend's lap. I've told this story before on an older

(33:32):
episode of HWP, but I could tell that story again
and again because I just love everything that the New
Day represents in terms of being your authentic self and
just having joy and just being themselves. And from watching
Kofee Kingston from his debut rise up to that high

(33:52):
of a point, which is absolutely amazing for me, and
it's something I will carry with me for the rest
of my life as a testament to what you can
reach for. And I hope that at some point before
either him or Xavier retire, either one of them gets
another shot at a larger title like that, whether it's

(34:17):
the WWE title or even the World heavyweight title. I
know that right now it's sort of tied up within
the seth rawlins of it all and the bloodline of
it all, maybe and all these other things. But in
my mind I always pictured with this new World Heavyweight

(34:41):
Championship that other people would get a chance outside of
the regular big people that we always see get a chance,
and Xavier would be perfect for it. I feel like
Kofe would be perfect for it, and in a perfect world,
Biggie would be perfect for it. But it's just hard.

(35:02):
But either way, Kofe mania is something I'll never get over.
I'll never be over it. It'll always make me happy.
And yes, to a degree, you can say that I
was thanking God for the new day before it was
popular to thank God for the new days. So yeah,
and also big ups to Biggie as well, because his

(35:22):
essay that he wrote with Players Tribune called Sour wound
up being put in a book, so that was really cool.
So it was a sports book of best sports writings
with twenty twenty five and I'm glad Forday, so yeah,
power to the black wrestlers always, and I believe that
really is all for news and gossip is And now

(35:44):
we're gonna move to the special segment where now I
will be giving my Wrestle Palooza predictions. So it's time
to put the crystal ball, crystal Ball, crystal Ball on.
So Ruspaluza is taking place in Indianapolis, I believe at
the Lucas Oil No, not Lucas Oil, at Gabridge Field

(36:07):
House maybe, yeah, that's where it's taking place. I'm really
excited about it. And then of course this is the
first POLI that will be taking place on the brand
new ESPN app. So of course if you want to
download the app, you are more than free to do that.
If you're gonna watch it any other way, you're free

(36:28):
to do that as well. I'll encourage it because times
is hard. I hear people, you know, gotta buy things.
So yeah, and of course internationally it comes on Netflix.
So first for my predictions, we have EO Sky versus
Stephanie ve Care for the vacant Women's World Championship. This

(36:52):
is hard for me because in my heart of Hearts.
I really wanted to see what a Stephanie of urcur
versus Naomi match would have been like at Clash in Paris,
considering Naomi actually retained her title, but life life in

(37:13):
a very beautiful way, and our girl is pregnant with
her first child, so she had to vacate the title,
so she vacated it, and Stephanie, who won the Battle
Royal at Evolution, didn't get a chance to fight for
the title. But then you also have EO, who was

(37:34):
promised a championship match on any episode of Raw, but
she didn't get that because of course Naomi's out. So
you have these two women having this opportunity on a
big platform like ESPN at this point, and it's huge.
There are big implications. You have EO, who wants the

(37:54):
title back that she lost that Evolution because of that
cash in, and then the title that she lost you
know here again at summers LAMB. But then you have
a very hungry Stephanie vi Care who wants to prove
herself on the main roster since she's been called up,
and she just wants to belprety Mara like we know
her to be. And I feel like the crazy X

(38:20):
factor in this is the fact that Eo Sky wants
to do this on her own, but then in the
backdrop she has a very possessive Osca who wants to
control her and keep her you know, to herself and
away from other friends and all of the above. And
even though EO calmed her down on Raw tonight, I

(38:42):
just have this weird feeling that Osca and even maybe
Kyrie to a degree, might wind up costing ill or
even maybe Rhea might even wind up closing IO and
I feel like Stephanie really might win this title. I
would love it if Stephanie won, simply because it just
give us something new. Because even tonight on Raw, we

(39:03):
had Ria walk up to Stephanie and say, look, it
doesn't matter which one of you win, I'm coming for
you in the title, and we haven't seen Stephanie Vikira
versus Ria Ripley. That's something new. Even though I know
they would continue, it would be cool for them to continue,
sort of like the story of EO and Rhea and
their friendship and how the title you know gets flung

(39:26):
into that, especially from a full circle point of view,
because they both lost the title of evolution because they
cash in and all the above, and it throws a
wrench in their friendship. I just want Stephanie to win
because because she just it would just give us something
new in terms of the title picture, and then EO

(39:47):
can figure everything out with Oscar and then figure everything
out with Ria and be friends with her and then
just be okay with that. But my prediction is that
Stephanie and Vikara is going to win and become the
new women's World Champion and have new stories and new
fights to have because I'm just really pumped by her.
I love her, She's a star, and I'm biased because

(40:11):
her name is also Stephanie, and it's just a lot.
But I'm predicting that Stephanie Vekira is going to win.
So yeah, that's my prediction for that. And of course
I know this isn't a mix This isn't really a
women's match in the traditional sense, but this is a

(40:32):
mixed tag match. We got a mixed match challenge between
the Golden Couple World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Women's
enter Continental Champion Becky Lynch going up against the grizzled
best in the world. See I'm punk and his beloved
A j Lee. My god, on today, if you had

(40:55):
told me months ago that a jay Lee would come
back after ten years and be in a match with
her husband, I would have just stared at you like
I uh uh uh. I wouldn't have believed it. But
this is where we are, and I am so happy
that this is happening. And of course we did see

(41:16):
their interaction tonight, which was pretty heated but a little
bit lightweight for the most part in terms of what they,
you know, really could say to each other, like they
could really like cut each other. But at the same time,
you know, I'm still very much enjoying what they're putting down.
And in speaking of putting down, I'm gonna need for

(41:38):
seth Rawlins to not call aj Lee a little girl, like, Okay,
you're tall and and I'm pretty sure you're big and
tall only because you're wearing high heels, So sweetie, I'm
a really need for you to chill on aj Lee
and stop acting like she isn't the reason why your wife,
you know, isn't a part of the reason why your
wife can't succeed the way she can because literally aj

(42:03):
left right before Becky made her debut with Charlotte and Mercedes,
you know, as part of the women's evolution. So I'm
gonna need for you to put some respect on AJ's name.
And then, of course he disrespected her by trying to
man's plain wrestling to her and all of the above
last week, and I'm just like, Seth, you're trash. You're

(42:26):
really trash. So I'm predicting that, See, I'm Punk and
aj Lee are gonna win. And I think that aj
Lee is really gonna impress us and show us that
even though it's been ten years since we've seen her
in a doubt ring, that she isn't rusty at all.
She's gonna show us that she has no ring rust.

(42:47):
She is still that girl, she is still mother and
I'm ready for it. I am so ready for it.
So I'm predicting Punk and Lee will win and be
the dominant wrestling couple. And I'm also predicting that eventually
or the next week, aj will challenge Becky for that
icy title and take it off of her. But we'll

(43:10):
cross that bridge when we get to it. Lee and
Punk let's go. So now we move into the men's
side of things. We have the reunited Ussos versus Bronz Squared.
That's what I'm calling them. Yeah, they're called the Vision,
but I will call them bron Squared from here on

(43:31):
out because there's just the fact that one is named
Bronson Reed and the other one is braun Breaker. It's
just like, we're y'all, how did that happen? But either way,
bron Squared now. Normally in this situation, I will go
with the Ussos based off of their chemistry because they're
one of the greatest tag teams of all time. But

(43:54):
I'm almost scared to a certain degree that Bron's Square
might actually win simply because Jay and Jimmy are just
not on the same page. They're just not and they're
getting heated at each other in a way that's very
reminiscent of like the Peak Bloodline story. And it's breaking

(44:16):
my heart because you see Jay, who wants to be
at the top of the mountain again. It's so bad
that he's almost willing to throw his brother to the
side for it. And it's just really frustrating for me, like,
y'all worked on your relationship and reunited and all this,
just for y'all to go down the same road again.

(44:37):
And I low Ki feel like it's all Roman rein's'
his fault because he put the battery in Jay's back.
To even act like this, it sucks, like it sucks
so hard, and you have the vision who's just out
here just acting all kinds of crazy, and it's just like, bruh,
what are we going to do? What are we gonna do?

(44:59):
I'm just a broken about it. Oh it's so hard.
But and I hate to even do this, but I
really feel like Team bron Squared is gonna win, and
it's gonna have to do with the USO's communication breaking
down again, and it's just gonna hurt really bad. So

(45:21):
it's gonna hurt, but I think that's really what's gonna happen. Also, Jay,
I'm gonna need you to chill and not talk to
your older brother like that. Okay, stop it. As an
older sibling, that really got to me. I was just
like ugh. And then and then when Jimmy said the
part about the ula fallow around his neck, like that

(45:43):
gagged me. But then I'm just like, now, Jimmy, if
you really wanted to get him together, you could have
seen it. I'm the oldest. But then Jay, probably would
just see it by five minutes or whatever. But you know, twins,
Oh yeah, that's what I predict. It's Bron squared. And
then of course we have Cody Rhoades, I disputed WW

(46:07):
champion going up against Drew McIntyre. I'm predicting that Cody
Rhoads is gonna win because honestly, Drew McIntyre is just
too much of a crash out to really focus and
lock in when it matters most. So I'm predicting that
Cody Roads is going to retain the title and kick
all kinds of butt and everything's gonna be fine. And

(46:30):
that's really all I have to say about that. And
also I just want to say congratulations because Cody and
Brandy had another baby, and in the midst of that time,
I wasn't really I didn't get a chance to talk
about it, but yeah, congrats to him. And also congrats
to him on that Street Fighter movie. I can't wait
to see it because that at one point was one
of my favorite video games to play with my boyfriend.

(46:53):
So you know, I think it's gonna be really cool.
So big ups. And I feel like someone in the
comments is asking about that. Okay, Malcolm said, what's your
take on Cody playing Gyle and Rama playing Akuma in
the live action Street Fighter rebook. I'm okay with it.
I'm literally okay with it. I can't wait to see
what they do. I think that these two are just rivals.

(47:18):
Their journeys are just so intertwined that I just find
it funny from a wrestling in real life perspective that
these two are in this movie together and I'm wondering
if they're gonna fight in the movie. I just I
feel like those two are like one of one of

(47:39):
the great rivalries of our lives, and I just have
to know if they're gonna fight against each other in
the movie. I just have to know. But I have
an open mind about it. I'm excited. I'm excited about it,
and because it's a reboot, I don't really know. I've
never seen the first version of Street Fighter with that movie,
I've never seen it, but I just know the video

(48:00):
game itself. But either way, I'm really excited about it
and it's gonna be cool. So yeah, prediction Cody. We're
going with Cody. He's gonna win. Drew the crash out,
he can't do it. That's it. And finally I just
want to talk about John Cena. He's wrestling at Russell Palooza,

(48:23):
but we're not talking about Bruno right now. So I
just wanted to talk and tell a story about a
funny experience me and dad had this past Friday with
talking about John Cena and my fandom of him as
a child. So me and my dad were talking and
reminiscing about how he had on how John Cena had

(48:47):
his Chain Gang Soldier T shirts, and how Dad basically
explained to me what a chain Gang Soldier was and
how I didn't care, and how basically back then I
did not give a crap what it actually meant in
the grand scheme of life, and how I just really
just wanted the T shirt because it was John Cena
and because I loved him so much and still do.

(49:10):
And he was just like, you really just did not
listen to me, and I was like, well, no, Dad,
because I wanted to be happy, and in order for
me to be happy, I just wanted you to buy
me the shirt. I didn't care. I just didn't care.
And there are just so many memories that I have
when it comes to me and my dad fighting about
John Cena that it's just it's just been my whole life,

(49:32):
and tonight it just really hurt me when he said
he only has six dates left, and I'm just not
ready for him to go, even with hearing him talk
about him playing football first of all for Springfield College,
you know, and just his journey and everything, and I'm
just like, I'm just I'm still not ready for this

(49:52):
man to leave me. I'm just not. I'm just not.
I'm not prepared. I'm not prepared for him to go.
I'm just not. I feel like when he actually does,
like wrap it up, I'm gonna cry, and I'm a
need for y'all to pray for me and send me
to your nearest dearest black therapist because I can't do it.

(50:20):
I can't do it. I just can't do it. So
those are all of my predictions for Russell Palooza. I'm
really excited about it, like I said earlier, and I
can't wait to see you know what it entails. And
it's gonna be fun. I'm really pumped about it. So
now we're gonna move into what I liked in wrestling
this week, and of course I formatted this episode to

(50:43):
talk about everything that happened last week. But of course
with me talking about RAW, I'm gonna talk about last
week's raw and this week's Raw mixed in together. So yeah,
so of course, Lyra val Lyra Valkyrie had a match
against Raquel Rodriguez last week of the Judgment Day because

(51:04):
she just wanted to fight somebody, and she wanted to
fight any member of the Judgment Day in terms of women,
because they were just getting on her nerves. And her
and Raquel had a heck of a match last week,
and I mean it was really really good. Raquel has
been operating on a level that I hadn't really seen
from her since her nx T days, and it's just

(51:27):
amazing to witness. Like She's always been a powerhouse most definitely,
but just the idea of watching her, you know, go
more into her powers as a powerhouse wrestler, it's just
really cool and I can't wait to see more of
what she has to offer. I honestly believe that at
some point she should be Women's World Champion, like she

(51:48):
really should off of the basis of her hard work
and just her presence, not just in the Judgment Day
but just as an imposing force, like she's amazing and
just with everything she's risen from her sickness and everything,
like she's just a powerhouse and a half. And then
Lyra just continues to be an amazing athlete. And of

(52:09):
course Lyra was kicking butt tonight against Roxanne because of course,
as a nerd, I did see them, you know, wrestle
at NX standon Liver in Philadelphia, and they tore the
house down, and of course Roxanne wound up beating her
for that NX Woman's title. So to see them fight
again tonight was pretty amazing. It was a technical masterpiece.

(52:31):
So and Lyra wound up winning, and she wound up
getting attacked and then Bailey wound up hugging her, which
was really cool, but well not hugging her but just
helping her and then yelling at her. But still it
was just nuts. But either way, we had two great
matches over the span of the past two weeks and
involving Lyra, Valkyria and the women of the Judgment Day

(52:53):
and I just think that's awesome, And of course we
have to send in cangreer gratulations. Well no, not congratulations,
that's not what I want to talk about here. I
just remembered there was something else that happened last week
that I that just gagged the crap out of me.
Miss Roxanne, Little Miss Roxanne is being bad. And by

(53:18):
being bad, I hope y'all know what I mean, Cause
last week Dominic was being bothered in everything by what
was going on between him and Fenn, and then she
was just like, Okay, I'll go talk to him, and
then she ran off to go talk to Dominic by themselves,

(53:39):
and then of course, he went on to win the
Triple A Mega Championship this weekend. And I'm just looking like,
what did y'all have to talk about? Were you actually
talking or were you locking lips? Like what's going on?
Like I really feel like we're really about to get
the story again and of Dominant being real dirty and

(54:03):
leaving live for Roxanne. She brought him chicken nuggets and
now she's trying to talk to him and be a
moral support or whatever, which is essentially what Finn brought
her in for in the first place. It Oh Jesus,
it's gonna be a mess and a half when it
finally blows up. But when rox Ane left and left

(54:23):
from backstage, it said, let me talk to Dom. Let
me talk to Dom. And I'm just like, girl, you
ain't talking to him. Y'all ain't talking. Y'all making trouble,
and y'all know y'all is, but we're gonna leave that
alone for now. But I see the writing on the
wall and it is ugly. It's gonna get real ugly,

(54:47):
real soon. And then, of course, last week we had
AJ's return to raw in ten years. This was a blessing.
Aj Lee is a blessing. Her entire promo was fantastic.
It was so cute how she said she came back
wearing she didn't think she would ever come back and

(55:09):
wear shorts that were two sizes too small for her.
And she talked about how she apologized for retiring first
of all, and I was like, girl, don't apologize for retiring.
You did what you thought was best at the time.
And she said, at the time she thought she had
made all her dreams come true and she didn't think
there was anything, you know, left for her to prove

(55:30):
at that point. And she did other things, but then
most importantly, she took care of her mental health and
she went to therapy and she actually started a therapy chant,
which I thought was really important and really amazing in
the grand scheme of wrestling, because there have been so
many people, you know, who have succumbed to so many

(55:52):
things in wrestling, whether or the athletes or whatever, or
even fans, and a lot of it may have may
or may not have had anything to do with mental health.
And we have to learn how to take care of
our minds the same way we take care of our
bodies and get check ups for, you know, different things
with our bodies. Our mind is a part of that,
and I'm so happy that she brought her advocacy to

(56:15):
the forefront in that way, and then for her to
do it on the same week that Ariana Grande also
talked about thanking therapy for her breakthrough in music with
her other album, I feel like therapists just really had
an all time week last week, and I just loved
that AJ was honest about it, and she talked about

(56:36):
how you know, you matter and how people you know,
religious need to stay here and just matter, and I'm
just like, that's just so amazing. I'm so happy that
she did that because if you knew her journey, my gosh,
read her book, read her book, because yo, she's been

(56:57):
through some things, but she's come out on the other
side and she is a hero. And then of course
her and Becky and Seth had their interactions or whatnot,
and he decided to man's playing wrestling to her and
she clocked him for it at the same time that
I clocked him for it because I was watching it

(57:18):
and I was just like, oh, so you're just gonna
man explain it to her, and then she said the
same thing right after me, and I was like, yes,
me and aj on the same page. I love it.
But yeah, I was just like, Seth is just being
a complete butthole to her, and he was a butthole
to her tonight, but it's okay. She popped him for it,
so we good. And in speaking of people standing and

(57:41):
just you know, you have Bailey who had on an
AJ Lee T shirt. She came to save Lyra Valkyria,
like I said, and then her hugger persona took over
and she started hugging everybody, including Corey Graves and Joe
tested Tour and Alicia and different fans and all of

(58:02):
the above, because she just has her differing personalities trying
to take over her brain at certain points, but she
wanted to make it right with Lyra, like she said
last week, so that's what she tried to do. But
then her angry crash out ding Dong Hello's side of
her screamed at Lyra tonight and she was just like, bruh,
why would you come into my locker room? Why would

(58:24):
you do that? For all you know? I could have
been dressing. What's wrong with you? And then she stormed off.
So Bailey really is kind of just crashing out and
just trying to figure out who she is. But I'm
a part of me is just hoping that she would
just stay the Hugger because tonight watching her fight with
the Judgment Day and basically give a Bailey to Bellie

(58:47):
to I can't remember if it was Raquel or Roxanne,
but she gave a Bailey to Belly to Raquel, and
then she did the who and the elbow to rock Sande.
It was just so nice to see that again because
it's been so long since we've seen that version of Bailey.

(59:08):
So a part of me like kind of just hopes
that she kind of just keeps that version because I
miss Hugger Bailey so much. But we just have to
wait and see, we really do. But Bailey is that girl,
and she you know, and she has been for a while,
and I just can't wait to see what more she
has in store for us with this crash out version

(59:29):
of herself. But I'll always have a soft spot in
my heart for Hugger Bailey because that's my girl and
that's just me. So yeah, hopefully we'll figure that out.
And then of course we have, like I mentioned earlier
in my Russel Pulouza predictions, we have Osca getting into

(59:53):
it when Nikki Bella. These two had a pretty solid
match last week, and of course Nikki was walking backstage,
but then Oscar decided to rub her face and the
fact that she be her and all the above, and
then Kyrie was just trying to hold her back and
they got into it. But then all of a sudden,
the camera you know, pans out, and then you hear
oi what's going on And it turns out to be

(01:00:15):
Rha looking like a beautiful Gothic Amazon goddess like she
always does, and she evens up the odds against Nikki
and then she defends her and everything, and the thing
that I just can't get over is just the fact
that Oscar's just being very controlling. She's coming off as

(01:00:36):
either a controlling parent or a controlling like boyfriend who's
just like or that just says no, stay away from
EO and you can't hang out with her and all
the above, and it's just so heartbreaking, Like, girl, why
are you being this possessive over someone who has autonomy
over who she decides she wants to be around, Like

(01:00:57):
it's just so crazy, Like why are you this cagy
over EO? It's just really nuts for me, It's really nuts.
But another thing that I will say is that Ria
and EO's friendship reminds me a lot of the interaction
between Kitty and Bunny from Courage to Cowardly Dog. I

(01:01:19):
feel like if you are a millennial who watched Courage
to Cowali Dog on Cartoon Network, you might specifically remember
this episode where Kitty was in this white mask and
she was beating up on Courage because she thought all
dogs were evil because her best friend Bunny was taken
away by this gangster dog, and Bunny at one point

(01:01:46):
was kind of like in love or whatever, but the dog,
the gangster dog, was just not good for her. And
so courage helped Kitty to get Bunny back, and then
they ran away together, and they ran away from the
big bully dog. And I feel like the interactions that
we've seen from Ria and EO since Evolution has definitely

(01:02:07):
been given Kitty and Bunny, and it's kind of like,
you know, I want to be friends with you, but
then you also have this avery person who's just always
in the way, and that's Oscar, and it's just so bad,
like why are you being this possessive over EO and Kyrie.
It's it's nuts. But I do like the layering of

(01:02:29):
storytelling and the layering of friendship and how they're blurring
the lines between Rhea and EO kind of coming off
as either a couple or a secret couple or like
a secret friendship. I don't know, but I do like
the way that there's this feminine friendship that's being shown
in this way, Like whoever is writing and creating this,

(01:02:53):
it's just kicking an ass at it. And I just
really love it. So but then a part of me
is worried because Rhea said, Ria told Stephanie that look,
if regardless to who wins between EO, between you and EO,
I'm coming for you. So what does this mean? Does

(01:03:14):
she value the championship more than her friendship with Io? Like,
I just don't know. It's very emotional, but I love
this form of storytelling like, I like it a lot.
And yeah, Riha and Eo are basically the kiddy and
bunny of Monday Night Raw, and I just love that

(01:03:36):
the women's stories are being pushed out to the forefront
a bit more on Monday Night Raw than ever. I
like that a lot. I appreciate it. And also, Kyrie's
outfit gagged me last week. That golden shimmery disco everything
gave me everything I needed. I loved it, Like, this

(01:03:58):
is an outfit that I would absolutely wear. I love
it so much. She looks like a mirror ball and
it's perfect. She's perfect. And I just don't want her
to be caught in the middle of this because she
suddenly she was crying tonight and I was just like, look,
don't make Kyrie cry, please stop it. But moving into

(01:04:18):
the men's side of things for Raw, aj styles isn't
a weird place when it comes to his career now.
Last week, when Raw was on commercial on Netflix for
the United states. Rather, he got on the microphone and

(01:04:40):
just started talking about how someone didn't want him here,
and I was just like, who are you talking about?
And a lot of people were speculating that it could
be somebody backstage or whatever, because the way he said
it gave off the impression that he wasn't supposed to
be saying it, and I'm I'm going to tell you

(01:05:00):
right now, I hope that isn't the case because Aj
styles has just been so excellent for so long that
it would break my heart if somebody working in WW
wouldn't want him to be there. That just doesn't make
any sense. It really doesn't, And honestly, I would prefer
he we're the one fighting a certain retiring man this weekend,

(01:05:26):
but that's neither here nor there. I also feel weird
that now you have Rusive getting into the mix of
things when it comes to the Innercondinal title and Dominick,
and you have AJ, who's been fighting too then Nail
to actually get an opportunity to beat Dominic for that title,

(01:05:47):
and yet his chances are just gone now. It just
it just bothers me to a degree. But I just
want Aj to know that I love and appreciate him,
and you know, ain't nobody breaking that red nick. I mean, seriously,
come on, let's give Aj his things now? Please? Oh

(01:06:13):
wait a minute. Sorry. And then when it comes to Jay,
like I mentioned earlier, his transformation is really scaring me.
And the reason why it's scaring me with the way
he spared La Knight, and then with him fighting with
La Knight and just being selfish and just not being

(01:06:35):
as confident in his in himself and his abilities. It's
interesting that I just really hate it because of course
he wants to be on top and everything. And I
completely understand wanting to be on top once you've tasted
that glory on your own, I get it. But like

(01:06:56):
I said earlier, you can't push away the people who
love you and the people who help you get there.
You can't push away the fans. You can't push away
your family, you can't push away the core of who
you are just because you feel like it's not working
right now. Just because it's not working right now, it
doesn't mean it can't work later. And I just don't
want Jay to just go down this dark road where

(01:07:18):
it looks like he's going down. And then I found
it very interesting that four maybe five years ago in
my Instagram memories, I shared a picture of Jay and
Roman Reigns looking at the universal title and just staring
at each other during their feud, and I was just like,

(01:07:42):
holy cow, is this where we're going now? Is this
where we're going now? Has Roman put the battery in
Jay's back to make him wanna, you know, be like
him so he could have that air again? Is Roman
just trying to get his claws back into the bloodline

(01:08:04):
so he can take control or try to like guide
j to be the top guy? Or what is happening?
What is happening? There is something cooking and it's slow
and it's nuts and it's gonna drive me insane. But
either way, it's something crazy about to happen. But ooh,

(01:08:27):
I just don't want ja to go down a dark road,
but it's looking like that's what's about to happen, and
it makes me sad. No, okay, but that was all
I liked from RAW this week and last week. So
we're just gonna move into NXT. And when it comes

(01:08:48):
to the NXT women, there's somebody that I have been
wanting to discuss for a minute, and it is Lamey reed.
She is so promising, she's so beautiful, but most of all,
she is from Alabama, just like me. I am so
happy that Lane Reid is from Alabama, just like me.

(01:09:14):
She's got that big Bama energy. So if you've been
watching NXC and you've been seeing her, of course, this
past episode, she moved forward in the Women's ww Speed
Tournament against Fabe Apache, who was distracted by Natty And
she was really excited to see her promo because within
her promo she was talking about sweet tea, you know,

(01:09:36):
and being Southern and all of the above, and it
just made me feel so good because I'm just like,
oh my god, Laney, I feel you. I feel you.
I just loved, you know, her references to certain things
I as got and I was just like, Laney, I
love you. She's from Gaston, Alabama, and of course that's

(01:09:56):
about an hour away from here, from Birmingham. So I'm
just really happy to see someone, someone else, rather from Alabama,
make it that far in wrestling. And I hope she
continues to go far because her athleticism is really great
and I just love her. So Big ups to Laney, read,
big ups to that big Bama energy, and I can't

(01:10:19):
wait to see more of what you have to offer,
because yes, ma'am Alabama, I love it now. Something that's
not Alabama, however, is Blake Monroe. In her Crash Out
Dark era, mss Mama's was in a bathtub crying her

(01:10:42):
mascara out, and she was talking about how she wants
Jordan Grace, how Jordan Grace basically unleashed a level of
hell within her that nobody ever recognized or that she
tried to bury. And when she was talking about burying that,
part of I was just thinking about all of the

(01:11:02):
evil craziness that she used to get into in aw
and how she used to just destroy people and tried
to destroy Timeless Tony Storm and how they bled all
over each other and everything. It was just carnage. And
with her in the dub like this and talking about
how she's gonna rain down hell on Jordan Grace, a

(01:11:24):
part of me was like, are we going to see
the first ever NXT hell and a cell match between
these two? I feel like that would be amazing. Even
though I know that they reserve hell and the cell
now for just very special cases, I feel like this
case actually calls for it because these two women hate

(01:11:46):
each other a lot, and they keep fighting each other.
They keep fighting each other in their crosshairs, and I
just need for them to fight in Hell and the Cell.
It would just be awesome if they did that. Or
even if it's just a steel cage, because it's NXT
and that's like a small facility, that would be great too.
But an NXT hell and a CELL match we give

(01:12:11):
me everything I need. So Hey, you never know, but
I just think that an NXC Hell and the CEL
could work for these two. I feel like that's the
only thing that's gonna settle it. Plus I want some
gold around Jordan Grace's waste, please thank you. And speaking

(01:12:35):
of gold, I'm sad because it looks like we're reaching
the end of Zoruka. I loved sol Ruka and Zoruka
and not Zoruka and Zaria together. And it looks like
with the misunderstanding that sol Ruka had with Zaria, with

(01:12:58):
that SnO, with that act cidental soul Snatcher which got
them eliminated from contention for the women's tag team titles,
it's giving. It's the end, and it makes me sad
because there were there's been two times where Zaria has
speared Soul Ruka by accident, and so Ruka has forgiven her,

(01:13:19):
whereas on social media, sold you know, apologized and said
that she was trying to call Zaria, but then Zaria
wasn't answering her calls, and that made me sad, but
it didn't surprise me because Zaria was talking about how
she wanted gold around her waist and who's the easiest target, Soul,

(01:13:41):
because she is the NXC Women's North American Champion, and
people have also been hankering for Czaria to get some
gold as well. So it's looking like it's the end.
But these two were so amazing together and it's breaking
my heart. But yeah, dang it, it sucks. And speaking

(01:14:10):
of friendships falling apart, we have Fatal Influence on the
struggle bus. These three ladies here are on the struggle
bus because last week Fatal Influence tried to also qualify
to become number one contenders for the women's tag team

(01:14:30):
titles held by Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss and with them,
you know, getting ready to fight each other. Of course,
j C. Jane, the NX Women's Champion, has been on
them and hounding them and pressuring them to be at
their best, only for them to fail. And then after
they failed, she cuts a promo on the both of

(01:14:51):
them talking about how terrible of the job they are
and how they've embarrassed her and how they will be
nothing without her, which was breaking news to me because
I could have sworn Fallon was the reason why you
are the NXC Women's Champion. It's not like you beat
Stephanie with a care on your own. That's the reason
why we were so shocked, because hello, you didn't win

(01:15:12):
it on your own. You want it with Fallon. Be serious.
And before Jasmine and Fallon could say anything to kp
up for themselves, they get interrupted by these three epic women.

(01:15:32):
Because of course, Jacy Jane put her foot in her
mouth by calling herself the greatest NXC Women's Champion of
all time and considering NXC Homecoming is tomorrow, you had
three of the best NXC women's champions pop up, one
of them being Stephanie, which of course sent Booker t

(01:15:53):
over the edge saying that he needed to pop his neck.
And then of course you had Tiffany Stratton come out,
you know, looking amazing, per huge as the women's champion,
and then Mommy comes out and everybody's like, oh my god.
But as it turns out, they announced EVA announced on
social media that Tiffany Stratton is not medically cleared after

(01:16:15):
her matches she had with Jade for the Women's Championship
and the attack on her and the attack from Naya Jacks,
so her places be taken my Lira Valkyria, which I'm
not mad about, but yeah, these three, it was like
the three most beautiful women ever getting together and form

(01:16:38):
and forming like a super team. It's like Charlie's Angels.
It was just really cool. So I love this and
I loved how they were fighting, and I loved the
first version of the match. Even though Tiffany can't fight now,
it makes me sad because that would have been awesome,
but you know, it's fine. I'm still excited about NXC
homecoming though, because it's it's gonna be. And also just

(01:17:03):
to say, the greatest NXC Women's champion was Mercedes Maney
Slash Slasher Banks, just throwing that out there. I know
other people have their opinions, but y'all know where I stand.
Mercedes is the Greatest Moving on. I loved the segment

(01:17:26):
that they did on Lolavice because of course now she
is the number one contender for the NXC Women's Championship
and she will face off against j C. Jane at
No Mercy. They did a whole thing on her talking
about her background, and she was talking about how growing
up she really didn't have a lot of friends, so
when she did have close relationships, they mean the most

(01:17:46):
to her. And then she talked a lot about her
background in martial arts, with her father also being a
martial arts instructor in Miami, so that was really cool.
And then her sister popped up in it too. It's
really amazing to see another side of Lola Ice outside
of just the fighter who dances like It was just

(01:18:08):
really cool to see her fire and her motivation and
her heart as well. And this made me want to
root for her so bad. I was just like, you
know what, because of this segment, I want Lola to win.
Let Lola win some gold, please, because I feel like
she's been trying to reach for gold for the longest
and then she's been working really hard between NXT and

(01:18:30):
Triple A. So if jac were to lose it to Lola,
I wouldn't be mad about it at all. She's great
and she's been great for a while, so I want
her to win big up. So, Lola Ice, you're amazing,
You're beautiful, You're gorgeous, and I just want you to
win super bad. So yeah, now, when it comes to

(01:18:54):
the men of NXT, when I tell you this right here,
grabbed my soul and wouldn't let it go. Y'all know,
Trick and Mellow game was my favorite in NXT two
point zero. They were my favorite favorite favorites. And seeing

(01:19:18):
them back together, if only for a short while, and
watching them get in the face of DIY, Johnny Gargano
and Tomaso Champo healed my spirit because of course DIY
and Trick were having their little back and forth. But
then Trick was like, oh, y'all think y'all the on
the ones has got NXT history. I got some history too,

(01:19:40):
and he popped up with Carmelo and I was like, yes, Lord,
this is the game I love. But what's so funny
is Trick was acting like Carmelo was just gonna be
on his side all really nearly, like everything was good,
but Carmelo was like, look, I know we've had our
differences in the but you're not gonna disrespect DIY and

(01:20:02):
everything they built, because he basically said that DIY of
course built the house that you're living in, but I
they built the foundation and you're in my house and
rent is due, and I was like, look, y'all need
to let Carmelo talk like this on SmackDown because when

(01:20:25):
he gets people together and gathers them, there is nothing
like it. And that is exactly what happened here in
NXT Trick Williams literally, which is looking like oh man, dang,
kind of like how it used to be, and because
he didn't want it to feel like how it used
to be, he kept talking over Carmelo over and over

(01:20:47):
again every time he tried to say something, and I'm
just like, Trick, stop talking over Mellow. But someone I
believe it was dra Horizon on Twitter made an observation
that I didn't think about in the moment because I
was just so hyped. Dre Horizon basically said that the

(01:21:08):
reason why Trick Williams is talking over Carmelo is because
Carmelo being there, being back in NX with him there
made him feel like the little odd one out again,
and I was like, oh my god, had I completely
forgot about that? Because Trick Williams, in my mind, has
accomplished so much that it didn't occur to me that

(01:21:29):
he would feel insecure standing next to Carmelo again. To me,
I felt like they were on an even playing field.
But to him, to Trick, he might not feel that way.
And that was and that's so crazy to me. I
told him, Like I told Dre, I was like, that's
crazy to me because Trick has done so much. He's
been an NXC champion twice, he's been a North American champion,

(01:21:50):
he's a TNA champion, Like, sweetie, why do you feel
like you need to you know, act like you some
and overcompensate like it's nuts. But and then shout out
to Dallas Cash who got to talk to Sam Roberts

(01:22:10):
about this on his podcast. Not Sam, Dallas mentioned from
Humble Roses. He mentioned the fact that these two tag
teams essentially represent two of the biggest rivalries, two of
the biggest friendships turned rivalries in NXC history. And it
makes so much sense because if you watched NX Black

(01:22:33):
and Goal, even though I know it's been over ten years.
Please do your research. Because NXC Black and Goal was
the thing. Okay, it was the thing, baby, it was
look NX Black and Goal was such a thing that
the people on the main roster would hate having to
go after them on the pay per view weekend. Keep

(01:22:57):
that in mind. But when Johnny and Tomaso fell out,
it was something to see. Like when it fell When
they fell out, it broke my heart to pieces, and
when they got back together it healed something in me.
So and when it comes to NXC two point zero,
Carmelo and Trick basically carried NXC two point oh with

(01:23:20):
their crazy shenanigans and all of the above, only for
them to fall apart and now get back together. So
it's just really amazing to see the evolution of where
NXC started and now where it is, where you have
these two different generations facing off against each other. Now,
who's gonna win? I don't know. Preferably I would hope

(01:23:40):
if Carmelo and Trick would win, but you know, I don't.
It's hard. But still, Yeah, homecoming is gonna be nuts,
and I'm very excited for this tag teamage. I'm really pumped.
There's so many layers to it, and I'm just pumped
about it. Huh, Trick and Mellow Gang. I miss y'all
so much. And also this is just my opportunity to

(01:24:04):
just thirst over Dark State because they are so hot.
They're amazing, They're an amazing faction. They're all really talented,
but they're also all really hot and it's just too
much to handle sometimes, so yeah, it's crazy. Also, let

(01:24:28):
me just say I just want to pray for a
time with Tony's Storm because she fought in a Philadelphia
street fight with Sky Blue and she got her Huha stables,
and all I hope is that she's doing okay because
the who Ha is not meant to be taken staples.

(01:24:49):
It's just not like that's not what that's made for.
So I hope that she's okay. And I think that's
all I have to say about. And also, I just
wanted to give big ups to Mercedes my Name because
not only is she carrying around nine championships at a
time in wrestling on a semi weekly basis on ADW

(01:25:13):
Dynamite in Collision, but mss Mama's is also doubling as
a fashion model for New York Fashion Week. The same
way that Naomi did as well, like you cannot say
that this isn't a multifaceted queen and a multi talented queen.
And also because the Emmys were last night, they were wrestling.

(01:25:34):
Twitter was talking about how basically her and Cope Akah
were basically the two the only two wrestlers to ever
be acknowledged by the Television Academy for their work in
other TV shows. And I'm just sick of y'all acting
like Mercedes isn't who she thinks she is. She is

(01:25:55):
exactly who she thinks she is. She is the conversation,
and she is the blueprint. She is the standard, and
she is a star. And I'm tired of y'all acting
like she isn't. I'm tired. And I'm also tired y'all
acting like she doesn't deserve to win all the titles

(01:26:15):
that she deserves to win, because I can't wait till
she wins ten of them. I literally can't now, mind you,
when she loses them. Of course, it's gonna it's you know,
it's gonna make the careers of the women who beat her.
But honestly, she can do whatever she wants. She deserves
everything as a black woman in wrestling, she deserves everything

(01:26:40):
plus and I'm a roof for her every step of
the way because that's my girl now. When it comes
to SmackDown, However, Julia being the Women's United says championship

(01:27:01):
needs some work. I love that Keanna James is her representation,
and I'm happy that Keana James is finally on television
after being drafted and all of the above. But the
idea that the United States Championship for the women is

(01:27:21):
only defended on SmackDown when we've seen the ICY title
defended multiple times on pay per views, it's just absolutely
nuts to me. And another thing that's nuts to me,
it's just the fact that, like, I just feel like

(01:27:41):
this title needs to be utilized a whole lot better.
The same way we are watching Becky uplift the Women's
IC title, we need to see that same amount of
effort for the United States Championship because since Chelsea won
it and then since Zelena won it, I feel like

(01:28:03):
we're seeing it less and less and it makes no sense.
These titles are historic for the women and there just
needs to be more effort put behind the feuds for them.
It feels kind of lazy for me, and it's like
an embarrassment to the type of talent that Julia has,

(01:28:24):
and it's an embarrassment to the other talent that's in
that SmackDown women's locker room who could very well be
going for the title in a very in a more
passionate and pointant way. Now, of course, we do have
meet Chin who wants to have an opportunity at the title,
and I love that for her because she was in
the final two of that tournament when she fought Chelsea

(01:28:45):
for that title, and I would love it if she
want it again. But I would also venture to say
that Zelena only having one chance to get that title
back really sucked, Like I would have loved for more
of a long term feud as opposed to just doing it,

(01:29:08):
as opposed to just having Julia win it and then
having that one rematch and then that's just it. I
don't know, maybe I'm biased, but there just needs to
be something more for this Women's United States Championship, and
I'm hoping that something more can happen real soon now.

(01:29:32):
Jay Cargo versus Tiffany Stratton from the Women's Championship was
really good. I felt like, this match was a little
bit better than the one that they had at Summer Slam.
It was really good, and I hope that Tiffany is okay,
because of course they did say that she's not medically
clear to compete at NX Homecoming tomorrow, and I'm just

(01:29:54):
hoping that she's doing all right. But this match was fantastic,
and I was really hoping that Jay was gonna have
an opportunity to get it because I want her to
have more Singles Gold more than anything else, because she
hasn't had Singles Gold since she was in aa W
as the TVAS champion. But she wound up losing, well,

(01:30:17):
not really losing, she was it was a double count now,
but Tiffany is still the champion. So in the midst
of all of this going on, we have Nya Jacks
coming out to pick the bones of the match and
attack both Jade and Tiffany, and this frustrated me to

(01:30:39):
a giant degree because why in the world are we
seeing Nya Jacks in the title picture. Again, I understand
that there are people who aren't there, like Bianca Belair,
who could very well, you know, add more fuel to this,
but seeing Naya attack Tiffany for the umpty time just

(01:31:00):
irritated me because I'm just like, bruh, what is the
point of even having a last woman Standing match or
even having her having Tiffany beat Naya in tag team
work when she teamed with Trish Stratus that elimination chamber,
And what was the pointed for cashing in on her
if you were just gonna make her fight her again?

(01:31:21):
And I understand that we've seen multiple matches from the
same feuds a lot of times in life, but that
doesn't necessarily make it fresh. And see and Naya attack
them just irritating me because I'm like, Okay, so you're
telling me there are no other women who could possibly

(01:31:44):
challenge Tiffany now, mind you, I don't know where Piper
Niven is because I feel like that speaks to why
Chelsea and Alba are challenging for the tag titles or
wanting to challenge for the tag titles. But how come
Chelsea isn't challenging for the Women's championship? How comes Selena
isn't challenging for the championship? Like there are other fews

(01:32:06):
that I really feel like could be explored with Tiffany.
How come Nikki Cross isn't or even how come anyone
from NXT isn't doing it just for the sole purpose
of shaking something up? Why isn't Why couldn't Lash Legend
challenge Tiffany? Like, I don't know, it's just really nuts
to me that they keep circling back to Naya after

(01:32:27):
she's beaten Nya so many times decisively over the course
of the last year. It's weird. It's really weird, and
I'm just kind of tired of it now and I
just want Jade to be champion. So I don't know.

(01:32:48):
I just don't know, but I just feel like there
there could be more improvement when it comes to the
women of Smackdale, and it's not on the athletes, but
it's on the stories that they're having him tell, because
in comparison to the stories that are happening on Raw,
it's like SmackDown is ron. SmackDown's women's stories are like
night and day. It's weird and I hope they fix

(01:33:10):
it somehow. But moving on, when it comes to the
men on SmackDown, Sammy and Ray Foinnix put on a banger,
which I feel like is what SmackDown is all about.
It's about putting on bangers like this, and these two

(01:33:31):
couldn't have had a better match. They did such a
good job, and it was a part of me where
it was a couple of moments it felt like, wait,
is Ray Phoenix about to witness? But Sammy wound up
powering through and they shook hands and everything was fine
and everything was cool. I was hoping, I was praying
that nobody was gonna attack Sammy. Nobody attacked him, so

(01:33:53):
that was good, because he did get attacked by a
lot the week before last, but nobody attacked him afterwards,
so that was good. This match was fantastic, and then
the fact that World's Collie was right after it was
just kind of nuts too, So I was like, all this,
all this yumminess, it's just really great. And then of

(01:34:15):
course Cody comes back to get and drew McIntyre's face
and put his time on the line for Russell Palooza,
and everybody was making fun of him in the way
he said Russell Palooza. But my thing is when Cody
says a word and when he is serious about it,
he is serious about it, and that is my champion.
I don't care what anybody says, I don't care how

(01:34:36):
angry people are at Cody, crybabies, whatever, hang on to
that grudge as long as you want to. I'm happy
that Cody is champion again, and I'm happy that he's
also getting swoller like because those muscles are bulging. But
either way, Cody is my dude, and I'm just happy

(01:34:57):
that he's in the mix again with the title. So yah.
And also another thing was SmackDown with the Men. That's
really driving me crazy, but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna
love it. I'm gonna love the results of it. Carmelo
is going out for himself. He's going into business for
himself when it comes to the United States Championship because

(01:35:20):
he asked Sammy Zain for an open challenge, and then
the Mess was under the impression that he was gonna
ask for a tag team title maage, but Carmelo was like, no,
I need to do this for myself, and the Mes
did not like it. He didn't like it at all.
And as much as I love Carmelo and as much
as I would love for him to win the United

(01:35:41):
States Championship more than anything else in this world, I
feel like the Mes is gonna ruin it somehow, and
they're gonna have a really big feud and it's gonna
be cool. It's gonna be cool, and we're really gonna
see some stuff out of Carmelo that we haven't seen
in a long time, and I'm pumped about it. I'm

(01:36:02):
really pumped about it. And then getting to see him
twice in one week was really cool too. Between NXT
and SmackDown, I was just like, I'm spall, Carnello, get
your things, Mello, don't miss Supremacy. Please get your things.
They're overdue, sir. And then, of course, even though I

(01:36:23):
did not watch Worlds Collide because I had to go
to sleep because I had to go to work the
next day, I'm happy that Natalia qualified to be number
one contender for the Women's World Championship of Triple A.
And then she didn't even come out as the regular Natalia.
She came out under her Natty night Heart persona and

(01:36:43):
I was like, it's about time show us the craziness.
I'm happy for her. I'm very happy for her, and
crazy enough, I am happy for Dom too that he
is now King of the Lucranors. How he gets to
drive is crazy with him being a triple A mega champion.

(01:37:04):
But I feel like my biggest mystery is just who
are these three grande Americanos? Because they popped up on
Rod and I like, who are these three? I feel
like one is Ludwig, the other one is Pete Dunn,
and the other one is a mystery dude who's just short.
So I don't know who they are, but they keep

(01:37:27):
ruining things for people, and it's just making me upset.
But congratulations, a dirty dum, You're the king of the
Lutadors and you're a double champion and that's cool, so
I love it. So that was all that I liked

(01:37:48):
in wrestling this past week, and of course we've reached
it in the right time together. So thank you guys
so much for watching live. And of course if you
want to watch this later you can on the YouTube channel.
Please to the YouTube that's the Hardy Wrestling Podcast with
the YouTube, and also share, like and subscribe to the things,

(01:38:10):
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the screen and follow the podcast, the Hardy Wrestling Podcast
on Instagram at Harty Wrestling Podcast and on Twitter at
Hardy Wrestle Pod. Also read all of my articles on

(01:38:32):
Daily DDT. I am still working on some new stuff,
but my article about aj Lee being good for the
women's roster is out, so please read that. And also
I just want to send a thank you to Rafael
for making room for my crazy writing ideas and hopefully
I can just continue to get better as we go
along and just be on the lookout because you just

(01:38:55):
never know where you might find me or what I
might be doing or whatever. It's still deep, Timber, so
I'm still celebrating being thirty two, and of course just
I'm just very grateful. So yeah, please continue to support

(01:39:16):
the show, Please continue to support women in wrestling, and
also just support anybody from any marginalized community because it
just seems like every other day there's always something stupid
going on to try to go to us into anger
and all the above. But just continue to support and
love on one another. Also, it's Hispanic Heritage Month, so

(01:39:37):
that's really great. Big up to all the amazing Hispanic
people in my life and also the ones who I
enjoy in and out of wrestling as well, And just
celebrate yourself and celebrate who you are, regardless of crazy
people trying to make you feel bad about it, because
there's because you know who we are is amazing and

(01:39:58):
that should be celebrated and not trash on. So, of
course this has been the Hardy Wrestling Podcast with your
girl Stephanie Hardy and until next time, bye y'all,

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