September 6, 2025 • 21 mins
WWE Smackdown pulled out all the stops with "hot shot" booking to set the stage for their upcoming Wrestlepalooza event.
The surprise return of AJ Lee, who came to the aid of her husband, CM Punk, in a heated confrontation with Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch. While the toxic portion of the WWE fandom is ecstatic over Lee's comeback, gloating online about how it proves WWE's superiority over a struggling AEW brand that is reportedly seeing its TV ratings and viewership numbers sink to record lows, her return is ultimately a red herring.
It's designed to generate a quick, immediate buzz to distract from the real long-term narrative. The real story of the night, which will have a more lasting impact leading into Wrestlepalooza, was the shocking return of Brock Lesnar.
He brutally attacked John Cena, who had just delivered a heartfelt retirement-tour speech and was engaged in a fantastic United States Championship match with Sami Zayn. Lesnar's assault on Cena not only ended the match in a no-contest but immediately set up a massive, high-profile bout between the two at Wrestlepalooza, confirming the match for the premium live event.
The rest of the show furthered other key storylines, with Aleister Black defeating Damian Priest and Giulia retaining her WWE Women's United States Championship against Michin, but the focus remains squarely on the CM Punk/Becky Lynch and John Cena/Brock Lesnar feuds heading into the major event in two weeks.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/wrestling-is-real-wrestling-podcast--1559158/support.
Contact KOP for professional podcast production, imaging, and web design services at http://www.kingofpodcasts.com
Support KOP by subscribing to his YouTube channel and search for King Of Podcasts
Follow KOP on X and TikTok @kingofpodcasts (F Meta!)
Listen to KOP’s other programs, Podcasters Row… and the Wrestling is Real Wrestling Podcast and The Broadcasters Podcast.
Buy KOP a Coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/kingofpodcasts
Drop KOP a PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=3TAB983ZQPNVL
Drop KOP a Venmo https://account.venmo.com/u/kingofpodcasts
Drop KOP a CashApp https://cash.app/$kingofallpodcasts
The surprise return of AJ Lee, who came to the aid of her husband, CM Punk, in a heated confrontation with Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch. While the toxic portion of the WWE fandom is ecstatic over Lee's comeback, gloating online about how it proves WWE's superiority over a struggling AEW brand that is reportedly seeing its TV ratings and viewership numbers sink to record lows, her return is ultimately a red herring.
It's designed to generate a quick, immediate buzz to distract from the real long-term narrative. The real story of the night, which will have a more lasting impact leading into Wrestlepalooza, was the shocking return of Brock Lesnar.
He brutally attacked John Cena, who had just delivered a heartfelt retirement-tour speech and was engaged in a fantastic United States Championship match with Sami Zayn. Lesnar's assault on Cena not only ended the match in a no-contest but immediately set up a massive, high-profile bout between the two at Wrestlepalooza, confirming the match for the premium live event.
The rest of the show furthered other key storylines, with Aleister Black defeating Damian Priest and Giulia retaining her WWE Women's United States Championship against Michin, but the focus remains squarely on the CM Punk/Becky Lynch and John Cena/Brock Lesnar feuds heading into the major event in two weeks.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/wrestling-is-real-wrestling-podcast--1559158/support.
Contact KOP for professional podcast production, imaging, and web design services at http://www.kingofpodcasts.com
Support KOP by subscribing to his YouTube channel and search for King Of Podcasts
Follow KOP on X and TikTok @kingofpodcasts (F Meta!)
Listen to KOP’s other programs, Podcasters Row… and the Wrestling is Real Wrestling Podcast and The Broadcasters Podcast.
Buy KOP a Coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/kingofpodcasts
Drop KOP a PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=3TAB983ZQPNVL
Drop KOP a Venmo https://account.venmo.com/u/kingofpodcasts
Drop KOP a CashApp https://cash.app/$kingofallpodcasts
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Becky. This is exactly the situation I wanted to avoid
because you know, and I know, and everybody knows I
would never put my hands on a lady. Thankfully I
got somebody who will.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
And that's how we start Tonight'spressic zero podcast extra. Hey,
King of Podcasts, here with you. So the return happened,
and you know, she looks good, she's in good shape.
We'll see how she is in the ring. That match
with the rest of the news is going to be
coming up and to fruition and also John Cena and
(01:05):
Brockloser looks like the final season being set up for that.
In the meantime, Sammisz was also involved in the whole
mix of that. You know, they put that out there
because sam Z want to do a US Open challenge
like John Cena the tie and was put in the
play simple storyline to bring John Cena Samusen in And
apparently the story is that Samisz will be the last
(01:25):
opponent for John Cena on the way out in his retirement.
Take that as you will now either which way. There's
a lot of things that the toxic jugitial delusional wrestling
fandom is all gloating about tonight. You guys are very happy,
and that's good for you. Good for you. You get
(01:47):
to enjoy yourselves. I love that, but you know, enjoy
it while you can, because now we're going to have
what Russell b. Lows is going to be and how
it's going to perform. The lead up, the hype, the pops. Okay, fine,
I mean you get that part. It makes you feel good,
but the feel good part isn't going to gonna matter
(02:09):
for the business part. But business is business, and it's
also going for a great week for the company for
the fandom because of the fact that AW took a
dive on their Dynamite program in terms of the ratings,
didn't do much under five hundred dollars viewers. Shocking, but
(02:32):
they don't have any excuses for it. I'll say that
when I look at what was going up against it,
it was a pretty weak night. Besides the news channels
that are out there for cable, it was going up
against ESPN's US Open Tennis coverage, which got the book
of viewers of live sports on Wednesday night. Nothing else
(02:57):
MTV is the challenge. Eh well, no, I mean he
was about the eighteen to twenty nine viewers, sure, but
the overall viewership. Yeah, but when you look at what
they did for the show on Wednesday night as well,
they didn't start hot. And I don't have I don't
have any indifference to Tony Khn's booking, but I think
the other thing has to be understood is you also
(03:18):
got a book for the TV show, and you need
the sandwich in something that's going to be really be solid. Now.
Of course, Darby Allan is considered a pillar, but you've
had him off TV for so long, and I know
you're trying to build up the storyline with him and
the Death Riders. I get it, but that wasn't the
way to go to start. They should have started with
Mercedes Bunet and the TVs title match with Alex Windsor
(03:41):
that should have started first. I mean, I get what
they try to do. Of course, the opening segment with
Gabe Kid and Darby on and the moment where Gabe
Kid is dragged out in a body bag towed by
a truck that Darby Allen drove out of the arena,
(04:01):
I get that part. But you probably lost some viewership
right there. People catching off for that should have happened later,
not saying this segment couldn't have happened, but it should
have happened later in the night. It wasn't opening segment
material mercedesmen Ay and the TVs title that should have
started off the night. And I don't know if the match,
(04:24):
if the ratings would have gotten any better later on
the night for whatever it was, But we don't know
if there's anything else that caused it. But I'm gonna
just say listen unnominly, but they took a hit. Wasn't
good for them, and so the toxic, juvenile, delusialistic phantom
is going to be all excited and frothing and happy
(04:48):
about what's going on right now, because they're all happy now.
In the meantime, let's see if the ratings do well
for spack Down for this show that he did tonight
and what they decided to go and put together leading
up to the Rustled Bolus event. They booked a lot
of things for this show in Chicago the night apparently
the fortyth aniversary of going to Rosemunt, Illinois on a
(05:14):
regular basis. So good for them. But off the bat,
if you're looking at what they did so far in
the night scene, it comes out you get the whole
thing with him. Sammuse interrupts Big Booze for that the
US Open Challenge. The match goes on the start of
(05:36):
the night eight. I mean, for what it's worth, I
don't really care for Sam's doing his US Open Challenge
and setting that up the way it was done. But
John Seen is starting off the night is the right
way to start to tell television, you know that give
credit for that. No contest, by the way, and there's
a lot of matches they had in here that really
didn't make much of a difference that nobody really paid
(05:57):
attention to. Damian Priest Alister Black Julia against me Cheen
for the US title Women's US Title. And then later
on the night a g Lee returning and Becky Lynch
with a repeat performance of what she said to seth
Rons to see him punk on behalf of seth Wrons
(06:18):
on raw you know, paint brushing seem punk once again,
and once Seampunk goes outside this time he's like, I'm
not gonna fight because you're a lady, but I have
someone that will and q aj Lee and apparently she
signed a contract. We don't know what the contracts for.
If it's a com permanent thing. It would be really
(06:42):
astonishing if a g Lee became a regular member of
the roster. I can see a Legends contract. I can
see where she's out there working some dates, but not
an active regatar wrestler coming back after all this time.
You know, there's not a lot of stars you know
of that we'll make their way back after all this
time and just okay, ten years later, eleven years later,
(07:04):
come back and start the career, especially for women in
this space, when you see women that will come to
the space fresh off. And she had a great career
already when she decided to leave the WWE all together fine,
And I never questioned her at any dispute about what
she did in the business for herself. I thought she
had a very good career. But I just thought, as
(07:29):
for most women, you wouldn't think that they would SKay around,
you know, nearing forty and continue to go and apply
their trade into the wrestling business. She went away because
she got married, she had the children, living her life,
and she's done pretty well for herself outside of the ring,
So why come back now? Seeing Punk looks like he's
(07:50):
happy as can be to have his wife back in
there and my many things pretty easy for him to
go and see over there, but we don't know, hey
that the whole never seen everything comes in the crowd
happy about it. I don't know what this is supposed
to mean and how far this goes along in the
process for her, but Okay, they decided to go and
do this anyways out there, and I guess maybe that
(08:11):
her and Becky Lynch are gonna have something together because
you could single the fact that the inter Countinental title
was on there on the on the mat and then
when Becky Lynch ran off after being attacked by a
g lee who's trying to go and you know, put
her down because of what she was doing to see
him punk that she's skippy skippity DooDah with the air
(08:33):
Continental title belt and looking like she's gonna try to
go inclaim it for herself. So there's probably a storyline
to go in half for her here. Same thing also
goes with brock Lester, who makes an appearance. We hadn't
seen him since what Broccolas are coming back on the
second night of Summer Sam. That really put a bad
(08:53):
taste in everybody's mouth, and it's almost as if they're
trying to make Russell Baluza be a more important show
them what Summerseim was. I don't know if they're trying
to book it as such, but a lot of hot
shot booking to lead to a show in two weeks
that really doesn't have much set up yet. But nevertheless,
at this point, Ruscillpalooza still only has two matches scheduled.
(09:17):
We still haven't got anything booked or finalized for a
couple other matches were supposed to have scheduled. At least
we would think there'd be a couple more matches scheduled.
The mixed tag should be in there somewhere. We don't
know what else. So anyway, ag Lee's return brought people
too emotional highs. There was actually some tears being poured
(09:41):
out by some of the Twitch streamers I saw that
actually put clips out there. Hey, you know, some people
feel like they this was like the second coming here.
I don't know, like I was really shocked and surprise
by how people were really so overwhelmingly jubilated by seeing
a g Lee return. But there's a difference between what
(10:05):
we have with the fandom and how they're gonna feel
about this show. But the question will be will the
ratings reflect that. And I don't know if it's going
to do that or not, because if it, if it's
supposed to begetting the ratings that we're supposed to get.
If some of the of my fellow podcast wrestling brethren
(10:27):
said this was mussy TV. Okay, they put that out there,
then you gotta look at those back down ratings we've
had recently, you know, just going back, let's say, go
back just for the month of August, one point five
four four million viewers for August first, one point five
(10:49):
five seven for August eighth, one point four to three
million for August fifteenth, just going by the last here.
Then one point two five to eight for August twenty second,
and one one point one point one four to seven
for August twenty ninth, one point one four to seven
(11:11):
million viewers. And keep this in mind that tonight and
on in Live Sports, we had NFL the International game
from Brazil, the Chargers and the Chiefs, which by the way,
was a good game all the way to the end,
and on YouTube probably took some people the way just
making that point too. And I'll tell you the other
(11:33):
thing that's gotta be considered as well. I'm still waiting
to see what happens with Russell Pluca and what will
be airing during the time that Russell Bluza will be
airing live from Indianapolis. As I said before, there are
several games in college football, and by the way, for
somebody to say that, oh, because college football runs all day,
(11:54):
sure it does. But the ratings for the games that
are gonna be running at either noon or three point thirty,
which are the normal time slots for those nationally broadcast
college football games, they don't pull the ratings they do
at primetime. Everybody's pulling the best games. The best matchups
go up in primetime seven thirty seven forty five, eight o'clock.
(12:16):
And one of the marquee matches coming up this weekend
or that weekend, Week four of the college football season
will be Florida Gators visiting the Miami Hurricanes. I wouldn't
doubt it if that game was not put on ABC
or ESPN, which means it's gonna be on the ESPN
app at the same time as Russell Paluza, and it'll
(12:39):
be on either ABC or ESPN television. So for people
to go and say that we're gonna go and catch
that event. It's gonna be tough. That's gonna be tough.
The one significated game that will be going on while
AW has all out in Toronto is Michigan Nebraska, which
will won't be much of a thing. Illinois Indiana might
(12:59):
go be going on, But the thing is that also
might be going on in prime time as well, because
that is a top twenty five matchup. The team's doing
very well. Probably would be nice when they could have
a night game for themselves because it's not that cold outside,
so that game could very well be prime time. And
by the way, that's in Bloomington, Indiana, about fifty miles
(13:19):
south of Indianapolis to a lot of people are gonna
still be going to watch that game because of the
importance of that game right there up against Illinois rivalry game.
I don't see where the focus even in Indiana itself,
will be there. But that's okay, neither here nor there.
I think it would comment that I wanted to bring
(13:40):
up here from the Black Bowl five five one four,
He says, I will enjoy seeing a g lee back.
I think she may wrestle two matches of that, but
a lot of people will meanticize their career. She was
not in this all time great entering worker. She was
more known for her look and her character work. I
agree she keep that in mind too. The ag and
(14:02):
we're getting now in the ring at this point is
just Sampunk's wife. Okay, she's the compliment to see him punk.
That's what this is right here, and Seth Wrong's with
Becky Lynch is the same thing. So ag Lee, she's
not going to be the crazy character she was before.
And she definitely spoke for herself, definitely outspoken. She had
(14:26):
pretty good promise for herself and her time in w
when she was around. So there's that. I don't know
if we're gonna get that character. I mean, she looks
the same. I will give her that for being twenty
seven years old when we last saw her. To see
how she looks now thirty eight, Yeah, her body looks
exactly the same as like she has not aged. She's
(14:50):
definitely got a little older, you can tell, but like
really it's not nothing significantly different. She looks good. She
looks like what she what I would expect her to
go and look like ten years removed for the company,
you know, I mean, that's good for her, a lot
less bumps on her, you know. But this for seeing Punk,
(15:12):
he also took a lot of time away he wouldn't
have did in UFC for a little bit, and you know,
they went off and did their own things, and it's
amazing where this company now. If this were Vince McMahon,
I don't know if Seampunk would ever return, and for
that matter, a g Lee also returning as well. But
this is something where obviously seem Punk's get need the
(15:32):
advantage here. Oh, bring my wife back in. It was
a payday for her too, make that point. But I
think there's a lot of fans, a lot of girls
that really did look up to her and her look
and see how it's replicated. It used to be replicated
all the time at Halloween and that was really cool.
But it's been so long ago. I mean, yeah, I
(15:55):
guess maybe a new generation of fans are going to
catch on and find out why all these millennials are
all caught up on this. I get it. But that's all.
This is a red hearing, as I'm put in the
description of this episode tonight, a red hearing. At the most,
this is window dressing. It is so shallow compared to
(16:21):
the full breath of what's going on with Russell Palooza
as a setup, which initially only keep about because of
the pettiness of WWE because they wanted to go ahead
and counteract counterprogram aw And there's big comments out there
from the resting community. Brian Alverze actually make a couple
(16:42):
of points that one I completely disagree with and the
other one is like whatever, But there were some comments
put out there, and I do want to make that
point clear that some of the comments were being made.
I don't agree with it all. Make that point more
than anything. By the way, I didn't realize this, but yes,
(17:03):
apparently MJF and Alicia too are marrying. I guess. I
don't know they were engaged, but I guess yes they
got married. Good for them. I didn't realize that. So
Alicia toot good girl like through since going back to
TNA in the days and even a MLW that's where
they probably met. And so yeah, they're together. He's a
married man. Good on your brother, Max. Hope you enjoy
(17:27):
and hope everything goes very well. In the meantime, comments
that have been made out there from the RUSTN community
leading up to this, we got to go and talk
about By the way, I must say, Tivity Stratton in
all black leather, great look for her. I like this,
she's more it just more of a gives me like
a sable vibe. But to me a little bit more
(17:50):
better looking stable, I guess. But yeah, she's definitely not
hiding you know, her assets anymore. We're not even the assets,
but the chest. It's definitely out there front and center.
No more Barbie look for her. That's obviously a point.
And then the toxic fandom out there one person writing
(18:12):
one of the best innings in this backdown in years,
they brought up another person the dream matches. Aj Levers
is Rock Sande A g Levers Morgan ag Levers is
the US guy. A g le versus Becky A j
Levers is Ria aj Levers the seventy ve care all right,
(18:36):
And then one person writes out and says that the
fact that sammu Zain was facing John Cena is that
when sammu Zain made his main roster debut, he challenged
John Cena for the US title in the Open Challenge.
So Samisen is the US champion right now and decided
to go to return to favor and get John Zena
to accept his open challenge. That was interesting. I'm just
(18:59):
going through some things here that I had through X
to the bookmarks that I kind of held up and
looked at. So I just thought it was interesting. Now,
one last thing before we wrap things up. A report
being put out. Oh, that's right. I want to tell
you about what Brian I ever said that. Okay, because
of the fact that Tony Kahan chose to go and
move his show up to three o'clock. Because of the
(19:21):
fact Number one, he says that Tony Khan should have
just tried to see how the show would perform against
Wreussell Palooza, and Dave Meltzer said absolutely not. And I
agree with Dave Meltzer on that one. I would never
do that. Why you want to tempt yourself into the
Money Network? What are you, Eric Bischoff, What are you?
Dixie Carter? No no, no, no, no, no no no.
(19:44):
We don't do this here the second biggest wrestling promotion
out right now. Even though you might say, oh, because
of the ratings, might not be supporting that fact. Okay, whatever,
you could say that, because do whatever you want, it
doesn't make a difference to me, You're not hurting my
feelings by saying that. I'm just making the point across
that is the fact that if w was able to
(20:06):
go and get Tony Kan to move his show up
earlier in the day, then you could tell that the
WD is always gonna just keep going after this company
because they think, oh, just like the good bullies that
they are, they feel like they're going to be okay
with just kind of pushing the boundaries on these folks
and keep pushing and pushing. They're gonna do it anyway,
it doesn't matter. Last thing here. I also notice from
(20:29):
Rustican's River newsletter that the new Triple A Promotion creative
structure has been put together. Triple AH is at the top.
Main creative support will be Jeremy Borash, the Undertaker, Conan
and Dorian Rodin. So Conan and Dorrian Rodin will still
be somewhat in the booking committee basically for this, but
Undertaker and Jemmy Borash also part of this as well.
(20:52):
Key producers Matt Bloom, Pete Dunn, Chavel Grow, Junior Jacklyndezjan
Rivera or Savio Vega and Jose Cornetto Lindsey Dorado and
also one other person. Also some input from Shawn Michaels
to Triple H, but said that will shows he's not
really involved because he said so heavily invested in NXT.
(21:13):
So there you go. Triple A will become americanized, it
will change, and I think Conan will have to go
and take back the fact that Triple H Triple A
will not be the same because Triple H will make it.
So I really believe that it's just how it's going
to be. So I'm not gonna bring anything else up.
(21:37):
We'll leave it there. I had no movie to watch
the night, so I was bored and I was watching
a football game, and I also caught the clips of
Back Down, so I was like, all right, I'll talk
about it. Why not? And there we go. We'll leave
it there. Come back next Wednesday for another rest of
his real podcast, because wrestling needs us.
Becky. This is exactly the situation I wanted to avoid
because you know, and I know, and everybody knows I
would never put my hands on a lady. Thankfully I
got somebody who will.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
And that's how we start Tonight'spressic zero podcast extra. Hey,
King of Podcasts, here with you. So the return happened,
and you know, she looks good, she's in good shape.
We'll see how she is in the ring. That match
with the rest of the news is going to be
coming up and to fruition and also John Cena and
(01:05):
Brockloser looks like the final season being set up for that.
In the meantime, Sammisz was also involved in the whole
mix of that. You know, they put that out there
because sam Z want to do a US Open challenge
like John Cena the tie and was put in the
play simple storyline to bring John Cena Samusen in And
apparently the story is that Samisz will be the last
(01:25):
opponent for John Cena on the way out in his retirement.
Take that as you will now either which way. There's
a lot of things that the toxic jugitial delusional wrestling
fandom is all gloating about tonight. You guys are very happy,
and that's good for you. Good for you. You get
(01:47):
to enjoy yourselves. I love that, but you know, enjoy
it while you can, because now we're going to have
what Russell b. Lows is going to be and how
it's going to perform. The lead up, the hype, the pops. Okay, fine,
I mean you get that part. It makes you feel good,
but the feel good part isn't going to gonna matter
(02:09):
for the business part. But business is business, and it's
also going for a great week for the company for
the fandom because of the fact that AW took a
dive on their Dynamite program in terms of the ratings,
didn't do much under five hundred dollars viewers. Shocking, but
(02:32):
they don't have any excuses for it. I'll say that
when I look at what was going up against it,
it was a pretty weak night. Besides the news channels
that are out there for cable, it was going up
against ESPN's US Open Tennis coverage, which got the book
of viewers of live sports on Wednesday night. Nothing else
(02:57):
MTV is the challenge. Eh well, no, I mean he
was about the eighteen to twenty nine viewers, sure, but
the overall viewership. Yeah, but when you look at what
they did for the show on Wednesday night as well,
they didn't start hot. And I don't have I don't
have any indifference to Tony Khn's booking, but I think
the other thing has to be understood is you also
(03:18):
got a book for the TV show, and you need
the sandwich in something that's going to be really be solid. Now.
Of course, Darby Allan is considered a pillar, but you've
had him off TV for so long, and I know
you're trying to build up the storyline with him and
the Death Riders. I get it, but that wasn't the
way to go to start. They should have started with
Mercedes Bunet and the TVs title match with Alex Windsor
(03:41):
that should have started first. I mean, I get what
they try to do. Of course, the opening segment with
Gabe Kid and Darby on and the moment where Gabe
Kid is dragged out in a body bag towed by
a truck that Darby Allen drove out of the arena,
(04:01):
I get that part. But you probably lost some viewership
right there. People catching off for that should have happened later,
not saying this segment couldn't have happened, but it should
have happened later in the night. It wasn't opening segment
material mercedesmen Ay and the TVs title that should have
started off the night. And I don't know if the match,
(04:24):
if the ratings would have gotten any better later on
the night for whatever it was, But we don't know
if there's anything else that caused it. But I'm gonna
just say listen unnominly, but they took a hit. Wasn't
good for them, and so the toxic, juvenile, delusialistic phantom
is going to be all excited and frothing and happy
(04:48):
about what's going on right now, because they're all happy now.
In the meantime, let's see if the ratings do well
for spack Down for this show that he did tonight
and what they decided to go and put together leading
up to the Rustled Bolus event. They booked a lot
of things for this show in Chicago the night apparently
the fortyth aniversary of going to Rosemunt, Illinois on a
(05:14):
regular basis. So good for them. But off the bat,
if you're looking at what they did so far in
the night scene, it comes out you get the whole
thing with him. Sammuse interrupts Big Booze for that the
US Open Challenge. The match goes on the start of
(05:36):
the night eight. I mean, for what it's worth, I
don't really care for Sam's doing his US Open Challenge
and setting that up the way it was done. But
John Seen is starting off the night is the right
way to start to tell television, you know that give
credit for that. No contest, by the way, and there's
a lot of matches they had in here that really
didn't make much of a difference that nobody really paid
(05:57):
attention to. Damian Priest Alister Black Julia against me Cheen
for the US title Women's US Title. And then later
on the night a g Lee returning and Becky Lynch
with a repeat performance of what she said to seth
Rons to see him punk on behalf of seth Wrons
(06:18):
on raw you know, paint brushing seem punk once again,
and once Seampunk goes outside this time he's like, I'm
not gonna fight because you're a lady, but I have
someone that will and q aj Lee and apparently she
signed a contract. We don't know what the contracts for.
If it's a com permanent thing. It would be really
(06:42):
astonishing if a g Lee became a regular member of
the roster. I can see a Legends contract. I can
see where she's out there working some dates, but not
an active regatar wrestler coming back after all this time.
You know, there's not a lot of stars you know
of that we'll make their way back after all this
time and just okay, ten years later, eleven years later,
(07:04):
come back and start the career, especially for women in
this space, when you see women that will come to
the space fresh off. And she had a great career
already when she decided to leave the WWE all together fine,
And I never questioned her at any dispute about what
she did in the business for herself. I thought she
had a very good career. But I just thought, as
(07:29):
for most women, you wouldn't think that they would SKay around,
you know, nearing forty and continue to go and apply
their trade into the wrestling business. She went away because
she got married, she had the children, living her life,
and she's done pretty well for herself outside of the ring,
So why come back now? Seeing Punk looks like he's
(07:50):
happy as can be to have his wife back in
there and my many things pretty easy for him to
go and see over there, but we don't know, hey
that the whole never seen everything comes in the crowd
happy about it. I don't know what this is supposed
to mean and how far this goes along in the
process for her, but Okay, they decided to go and
do this anyways out there, and I guess maybe that
(08:11):
her and Becky Lynch are gonna have something together because
you could single the fact that the inter Countinental title
was on there on the on the mat and then
when Becky Lynch ran off after being attacked by a
g lee who's trying to go and you know, put
her down because of what she was doing to see
him punk that she's skippy skippity DooDah with the air
(08:33):
Continental title belt and looking like she's gonna try to
go inclaim it for herself. So there's probably a storyline
to go in half for her here. Same thing also
goes with brock Lester, who makes an appearance. We hadn't
seen him since what Broccolas are coming back on the
second night of Summer Sam. That really put a bad
(08:53):
taste in everybody's mouth, and it's almost as if they're
trying to make Russell Baluza be a more important show
them what Summerseim was. I don't know if they're trying
to book it as such, but a lot of hot
shot booking to lead to a show in two weeks
that really doesn't have much set up yet. But nevertheless,
at this point, Ruscillpalooza still only has two matches scheduled.
(09:17):
We still haven't got anything booked or finalized for a
couple other matches were supposed to have scheduled. At least
we would think there'd be a couple more matches scheduled.
The mixed tag should be in there somewhere. We don't
know what else. So anyway, ag Lee's return brought people
too emotional highs. There was actually some tears being poured
(09:41):
out by some of the Twitch streamers I saw that
actually put clips out there. Hey, you know, some people
feel like they this was like the second coming here.
I don't know, like I was really shocked and surprise
by how people were really so overwhelmingly jubilated by seeing
a g Lee return. But there's a difference between what
(10:05):
we have with the fandom and how they're gonna feel
about this show. But the question will be will the
ratings reflect that. And I don't know if it's going
to do that or not, because if it, if it's
supposed to begetting the ratings that we're supposed to get.
If some of the of my fellow podcast wrestling brethren
(10:27):
said this was mussy TV. Okay, they put that out there,
then you gotta look at those back down ratings we've
had recently, you know, just going back, let's say, go
back just for the month of August, one point five
four four million viewers for August first, one point five
(10:49):
five seven for August eighth, one point four to three
million for August fifteenth, just going by the last here.
Then one point two five to eight for August twenty second,
and one one point one point one four to seven
for August twenty ninth, one point one four to seven
(11:11):
million viewers. And keep this in mind that tonight and
on in Live Sports, we had NFL the International game
from Brazil, the Chargers and the Chiefs, which by the way,
was a good game all the way to the end,
and on YouTube probably took some people the way just
making that point too. And I'll tell you the other
(11:33):
thing that's gotta be considered as well. I'm still waiting
to see what happens with Russell Pluca and what will
be airing during the time that Russell Bluza will be
airing live from Indianapolis. As I said before, there are
several games in college football, and by the way, for
somebody to say that, oh, because college football runs all day,
(11:54):
sure it does. But the ratings for the games that
are gonna be running at either noon or three point thirty,
which are the normal time slots for those nationally broadcast
college football games, they don't pull the ratings they do
at primetime. Everybody's pulling the best games. The best matchups
go up in primetime seven thirty seven forty five, eight o'clock.
(12:16):
And one of the marquee matches coming up this weekend
or that weekend, Week four of the college football season
will be Florida Gators visiting the Miami Hurricanes. I wouldn't
doubt it if that game was not put on ABC
or ESPN, which means it's gonna be on the ESPN
app at the same time as Russell Paluza, and it'll
(12:39):
be on either ABC or ESPN television. So for people
to go and say that we're gonna go and catch
that event. It's gonna be tough. That's gonna be tough.
The one significated game that will be going on while
AW has all out in Toronto is Michigan Nebraska, which
will won't be much of a thing. Illinois Indiana might
(12:59):
go be going on, But the thing is that also
might be going on in prime time as well, because
that is a top twenty five matchup. The team's doing
very well. Probably would be nice when they could have
a night game for themselves because it's not that cold outside,
so that game could very well be prime time. And
by the way, that's in Bloomington, Indiana, about fifty miles
(13:19):
south of Indianapolis to a lot of people are gonna
still be going to watch that game because of the
importance of that game right there up against Illinois rivalry game.
I don't see where the focus even in Indiana itself,
will be there. But that's okay, neither here nor there.
I think it would comment that I wanted to bring
(13:40):
up here from the Black Bowl five five one four,
He says, I will enjoy seeing a g lee back.
I think she may wrestle two matches of that, but
a lot of people will meanticize their career. She was
not in this all time great entering worker. She was
more known for her look and her character work. I
agree she keep that in mind too. The ag and
(14:02):
we're getting now in the ring at this point is
just Sampunk's wife. Okay, she's the compliment to see him punk.
That's what this is right here, and Seth Wrong's with
Becky Lynch is the same thing. So ag Lee, she's
not going to be the crazy character she was before.
And she definitely spoke for herself, definitely outspoken. She had
(14:26):
pretty good promise for herself and her time in w
when she was around. So there's that. I don't know
if we're gonna get that character. I mean, she looks
the same. I will give her that for being twenty
seven years old when we last saw her. To see
how she looks now thirty eight, Yeah, her body looks
exactly the same as like she has not aged. She's
(14:50):
definitely got a little older, you can tell, but like
really it's not nothing significantly different. She looks good. She
looks like what she what I would expect her to
go and look like ten years removed for the company,
you know, I mean, that's good for her, a lot
less bumps on her, you know. But this for seeing Punk,
(15:12):
he also took a lot of time away he wouldn't
have did in UFC for a little bit, and you know,
they went off and did their own things, and it's
amazing where this company now. If this were Vince McMahon,
I don't know if Seampunk would ever return, and for
that matter, a g Lee also returning as well. But
this is something where obviously seem Punk's get need the
(15:32):
advantage here. Oh, bring my wife back in. It was
a payday for her too, make that point. But I
think there's a lot of fans, a lot of girls
that really did look up to her and her look
and see how it's replicated. It used to be replicated
all the time at Halloween and that was really cool.
But it's been so long ago. I mean, yeah, I
(15:55):
guess maybe a new generation of fans are going to
catch on and find out why all these millennials are
all caught up on this. I get it. But that's all.
This is a red hearing, as I'm put in the
description of this episode tonight, a red hearing. At the most,
this is window dressing. It is so shallow compared to
(16:21):
the full breath of what's going on with Russell Palooza
as a setup, which initially only keep about because of
the pettiness of WWE because they wanted to go ahead
and counteract counterprogram aw And there's big comments out there
from the resting community. Brian Alverze actually make a couple
(16:42):
of points that one I completely disagree with and the
other one is like whatever, But there were some comments
put out there, and I do want to make that
point clear that some of the comments were being made.
I don't agree with it all. Make that point more
than anything. By the way, I didn't realize this, but yes,
(17:03):
apparently MJF and Alicia too are marrying. I guess. I
don't know they were engaged, but I guess yes they
got married. Good for them. I didn't realize that. So
Alicia toot good girl like through since going back to
TNA in the days and even a MLW that's where
they probably met. And so yeah, they're together. He's a
married man. Good on your brother, Max. Hope you enjoy
(17:27):
and hope everything goes very well. In the meantime, comments
that have been made out there from the RUSTN community
leading up to this, we got to go and talk
about By the way, I must say, Tivity Stratton in
all black leather, great look for her. I like this,
she's more it just more of a gives me like
a sable vibe. But to me a little bit more
(17:50):
better looking stable, I guess. But yeah, she's definitely not
hiding you know, her assets anymore. We're not even the assets,
but the chest. It's definitely out there front and center.
No more Barbie look for her. That's obviously a point.
And then the toxic fandom out there one person writing
(18:12):
one of the best innings in this backdown in years,
they brought up another person the dream matches. Aj Levers
is Rock Sande A g Levers Morgan ag Levers is
the US guy. A g le versus Becky A j
Levers is Ria aj Levers the seventy ve care all right,
(18:36):
And then one person writes out and says that the
fact that sammu Zain was facing John Cena is that
when sammu Zain made his main roster debut, he challenged
John Cena for the US title in the Open Challenge.
So Samisen is the US champion right now and decided
to go to return to favor and get John Zena
to accept his open challenge. That was interesting. I'm just
(18:59):
going through some things here that I had through X
to the bookmarks that I kind of held up and
looked at. So I just thought it was interesting. Now,
one last thing before we wrap things up. A report
being put out. Oh, that's right. I want to tell
you about what Brian I ever said that. Okay, because
of the fact that Tony Kahan chose to go and
move his show up to three o'clock. Because of the
(19:21):
fact Number one, he says that Tony Khan should have
just tried to see how the show would perform against
Wreussell Palooza, and Dave Meltzer said absolutely not. And I
agree with Dave Meltzer on that one. I would never
do that. Why you want to tempt yourself into the
Money Network? What are you, Eric Bischoff, What are you?
Dixie Carter? No no, no, no, no, no no no.
(19:44):
We don't do this here the second biggest wrestling promotion
out right now. Even though you might say, oh, because
of the ratings, might not be supporting that fact. Okay, whatever,
you could say that, because do whatever you want, it
doesn't make a difference to me, You're not hurting my
feelings by saying that. I'm just making the point across
that is the fact that if w was able to
(20:06):
go and get Tony Kan to move his show up
earlier in the day, then you could tell that the
WD is always gonna just keep going after this company
because they think, oh, just like the good bullies that
they are, they feel like they're going to be okay
with just kind of pushing the boundaries on these folks
and keep pushing and pushing. They're gonna do it anyway,
it doesn't matter. Last thing here. I also notice from
(20:29):
Rustican's River newsletter that the new Triple A Promotion creative
structure has been put together. Triple AH is at the top.
Main creative support will be Jeremy Borash, the Undertaker, Conan
and Dorian Rodin. So Conan and Dorrian Rodin will still
be somewhat in the booking committee basically for this, but
Undertaker and Jemmy Borash also part of this as well.
(20:52):
Key producers Matt Bloom, Pete Dunn, Chavel Grow, Junior Jacklyndezjan
Rivera or Savio Vega and Jose Cornetto Lindsey Dorado and
also one other person. Also some input from Shawn Michaels
to Triple H, but said that will shows he's not
really involved because he said so heavily invested in NXT.
(21:13):
So there you go. Triple A will become americanized, it
will change, and I think Conan will have to go
and take back the fact that Triple H Triple A
will not be the same because Triple H will make it.
So I really believe that it's just how it's going
to be. So I'm not gonna bring anything else up.
(21:37):
We'll leave it there. I had no movie to watch
the night, so I was bored and I was watching
a football game, and I also caught the clips of
Back Down, so I was like, all right, I'll talk
about it. Why not? And there we go. We'll leave
it there. Come back next Wednesday for another rest of
his real podcast, because wrestling needs us.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.