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Episode 38: Takada vs Super Vader, Mae Young Classic, NJPW's Fighting Spirit Unleashed, ROH Death Before Dishonor, etc.
57 Plays7 years ago
Come hangout with Garrett & Derrick as they discuss this weeks listener submitted match Takada vs Super Vader from UWFI! They also chat about the Mae Young Classic, NJPW's Fighting Spirit Unleashed, ROH Death Before Dishonor and more!
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Transcript
Derek's VIP Blackhawks Experience
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Predetermined, a Pro Wrestling Hangout. I'm your host, Garret Callender, and with me, as always, a man who I would say lived a childhood dream over the weekend, but it's more of a, it's more of a man dream. Derek Halpin.
00:00:15
Speaker
I'm a lucky man. Over this past weekend, I got to go into a VIP executive penthouse suite to watch the Blackhawks play their last preseason game. And after the game was over, they let me go into the locker room and take some pictures. Did you steal anything? I thought about it. I tried to convince my girlfriend to steal some of the stick tape that they had in there.
00:00:43
Speaker
Like the whole time you're like your Uncle Frank and Home Alone like put it in your purse, put it in your purse. It wasn't even so much like that but when we were leaving on the door there was some black tape sitting there like on top of like where the push thing is for like the door handle and nobody was around and I looked at her and I was like take it, come on take it, you know you want to. If they turned around and you're just holding like six jerseys in each arm
00:01:08
Speaker
He was like, I thought these were complimentary. Yeah. Maybe it's a test. Maybe they hang those up to see who has the balls to take them. And I failed the test. So if you took them, you might actually be playing for the Blackhawks right now.
00:01:20
Speaker
I don't know if I'd go that far. But I'd be very heavy in jerseys. Have you ever been on ice skates? No, I have not. I don't know how to skate. I barely know how to roller skate. Ice skating sucks. It sucks. I mean, I'm not good at it. That's why it sucks for me. You know what else we're not good at?
Show Introduction and Listener Engagement
00:01:39
Speaker
Hitting our goddamn music!
00:02:15
Speaker
actually we are pretty good at that we've done that consistently every episode so that may be one of the few things we are good at yeah but i feel like once it gets to the point where we're talking about how good we are at ice skating it is a time to hit the music so you you had the right idea we went way off track there oh it was too far hey everybody welcome back thanks for listening and uh right at the top of the show let's get some of this out of the way if you want to follow us on the social media is where we're doing all the fun things predetermined
00:02:42
Speaker
What is it? Predetermine podcast on Instagram at Wrestle Hangout on Twitter at Wrestle Hangout on Facebook. And also be sure to leave us a five star review on iTunes. Let us know you left it and you can tell us to watch whatever the hell you want us to watch. Yep. Leave us a review. I promise. I promise you we don't talk about hockey at the top of every episode.
00:03:03
Speaker
I mean, hockey season is starting, so. It is, it starts tonight, in fact. If you're listening to this episode, it started last night. If you're listening to this episode months later, I'm sorry, this is not a timely episode. This has been weird, because last week we recorded on, we normally record on Tuesdays, last week we recorded on Monday, tonight we're recording on, we're actually recording Wednesday, so this is basically gonna be completed and released straight to your ears.
00:03:32
Speaker
Yep, this will be available within a few hours after we finish recording it. Well, we did get a review this week. Should we go ahead and just kick it off with this match? Yeah, I guess so. Let's do it. So we got a review from Andrew Hedren, which I found out. Do you remember Nukahala and Carbondale?
00:03:55
Speaker
The Chinese restaurant that was basically my kitchen. I don't remember this. This was your experience, not mine. I ate there nearly every day. Andrew works there. Love that place. Andrew, you keep up the good work.
00:04:08
Speaker
Andrew, thanks for the match. Watch that today on my lunch break. Hey, me too. What were you eating when you watched this? I was having orange chicken, funny enough. Fuck yeah. Yeah, orange chicken and what, some fucking, I think I had, you're gonna have to edit this later. People need to know. Whatever, I had some orange, I had some potato wedges and some orange chicken.
00:04:38
Speaker
Well, what else we got was something that I definitely never see. We're focusing on the details that these people don't care about. But anyways, let's get into the details that Andrew asked for. He wanted us to watch Takata versus Super Vader from UWFI from, let's see, December 5th, 1993. I knew nothing about UWFI going in.
00:05:04
Speaker
Yeah, neither do I. I couldn't tell you anything now, honestly. Oh, well, I looked it up so I can. Oh, good. So it is the Union of Wrestling Forces International. Nice. Great
UWFI Wrestling Style and Matches
00:05:17
Speaker
name. Real catchy. Rolls off the tongue. Are they still around? They lasted from 1991 to 1996. So half a decade.
00:05:28
Speaker
This was a very short-lived promotion in Japan that kind of, I guess, was, you know, led into MMA a little bit. This was shoot-style wrestling. Yeah, this match was stiff as hell. Like you said about... I got a message from you saying about Takata. You said he looked like a generic wrestler from WCW versus the world, which is a very accurate way of describing how he looked.
00:05:56
Speaker
Well, yeah, he just I feel like in WCW versus the world, it was just guy and normal color tights. That's it. Yeah. For those who don't know, WCW versus the world was a PlayStation one game that had like five or six notable WCW people and then a roster full of just generic named whoever's. And like wasn't there like a fake Jushin Thunder Liger? Like you could play as almost Japanese wrestlers, but not quite.
00:06:24
Speaker
I think that's one of the luxuries you have anytime on a wrestling video game where you have like a luchador or somebody wearing a mask is that you can make it slightly different and people get who you're talking about. You get the experience of playing as Jush and Thunder Liger. Right. But this match, how long was it? Was it like probably 20 minutes, 15, 20 minutes? Yeah, it was about 20 minutes.
00:06:44
Speaker
And it was, so I had not read anything about this promotion before I started watching it. And then in one, I mean, almost immediately Vader, which he's going by a super Vader. Yes. Over at you. Oh, but also I got to start at the beginning of this. So before it starts, you know, in Japan, you always hear the the girl high pitch voice screaming the names of the wrestlers. Yes. This is this is a sensitive subject for some people.
00:07:12
Speaker
Sensitive subject. Yeah, there's a lot of like like people like you and I have talked about it before it's a very distinct aspect of watching like a match from Japan and it's not something you hear in the States obviously and I guess some people like on the on it on the interwebs as I've been known to say Get a little sensitive when people laugh about that. I Love it. I mean I can still laugh about it and enjoy that. It's a thing. You're racist. That's what that means. Oh, man, that's what the internet says
00:07:42
Speaker
So I'm not, I don't know, I like when, I like hearing a high pitched voice shout, Tana. Tana hashi! Yeah, like that? Do I have to edit that out? No, I don't think so, see that's the thing, I don't know! But I think we're coming from a place of love, I enjoy that it happens. Yeah, I don't want it to go away.
00:08:02
Speaker
but at the beginning of this match, that is happening, but it's so scattered and the room's kind of quiet, but with this happening, it sounds like the ground zero of a terrorist incident. It's just a lot of screams from all over the room, kind of a weird vibe in this room. The second the bell rings, Vader is slapping the absolute shit out of Takata.
00:08:27
Speaker
You know, and here's the thing, I don't know if you've heard stories about him. Supposedly, the guy behind Big Van Vader is a softy. He's a nice guy. His feelings are easily damaged. And to see him work this stiff, I mean, I had never seen this from Vader before.
00:08:44
Speaker
But wasn't he known as a pretty stiff wrestler? Like I thought I always heard stuff with like cactus Jack and just how he was getting the shit beat out of him by Vader. I mean, may he rest in peace. He just passed away recently. So this was kind of an appropriate match to review. I didn't see a ton of Vader stuff. And what I did see, I definitely didn't see him open palm smacking a dude in the face repeatedly while having him in a headlock.
00:09:08
Speaker
Oh while he was doing all of this, cause I mean the slapping goes on forever. Takata is really taking just some slaps and not going into this, not knowing that it was a shoot style wrestling. It's weird. Just like Jesus, he's really just, he's slapping him. He's really just, just going for that for like 10 minutes.
00:09:28
Speaker
Yeah, I it was definitely not what I expected out of this match. I mean, you kind of gave me the heads up that it was going to be it was going to be from a promotion. I didn't know anything about. So I mean, I didn't know what I expected. But at one point I was begging Takata to just roll out of the goddamn ring. I'm like powder, man. There's no there's no shame in it. Just get out. The question is, do you think Vader was capable of just dumping this guy straight on his head since that's a thing?
00:09:55
Speaker
I mean, the size difference, he absolutely could have. It's funny when we get like American wrestlers and we send them over to Japan and they just kind of get to go over there and just be like monsters, or in this case, just like out of shape monsters. Well, at this time, I believe he was the WCW champ. Was he really? Yeah, when I was looking at this and this promotion only had three champions.
00:10:19
Speaker
In the five years and five years and a Takata held the championship for 696 days. Wow. And then Vader held it Brock. Vader held it for 245 days. God damn. And then to cut then Takata got a majority of the promotions life. I think this what did this last about the same amount of time that WWE had their version of ECW.
00:10:48
Speaker
Yes, and I've seen just as many matches from both of them now. Yes.
Shawn Michaels' WWE Future Speculations
00:10:54
Speaker
I was looking through to see if there were any wrestlers out of this that we recognized. And I know they're like Norman Smiley wrestled here.
00:11:05
Speaker
Norman freakin' smile. Isn't he a trainer at the performance center now? Yeah, but that doesn't mean that him and Bob Backlund and Iron Sheik didn't go get the shit slapped out of him down in Japan. It's initiation, man. It's what you do over there. Were you surprised at the finish?
00:11:21
Speaker
Yes, I was very surprised with the finish. Okay, so this match ends... We'll post it on the Facebook page and on Twitter and stuff so you can check it out. But this match ends with an armbar. And Leon does a hell of a lot of screaming.
00:11:38
Speaker
Oh yeah. He does a little more than screaming too. He's just wailing. The whole ceremony where this guy is accepting his tiny little belt, he is just wailing. Yeah. What did you think of that little belt? Interesting. I guess it was the Lou Thez NWA title.
00:11:58
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, I've seen versions of that before, but I guess, fuck man, I don't know. It's definitely not something they would use today. I wish they brought back a tiny little title that you could fit in your pocket. Where it's basically a belt. Are you telling me that while Randy Orton was the world champ, he wasn't thinking the whole time like, I hate carrying this fucking thing around? I wish I could just shove this down the front of my tights and carry it around.
00:12:25
Speaker
Oh, God. I loved, absolutely loved the ending ceremony, because I had no clue what was happening, because obviously everything's in Japanese, so I have no idea what they're saying. Leon is in the corner just screaming murder, just like, ah! We should probably mention that Leon taps out. Big Van Vader taps out here. Yeah, because I'm pretty sure he gets his arm broken.
00:12:52
Speaker
I mean, but like you said, Leon's a sensitive guy, so if he gets his arm broken, he is going to scream for about five to six minutes. He probably did like the Allen thing from the hangover where later on when he was flying back to safety, he's like, I think he's mean.
00:13:12
Speaker
I loved, goddamn it, yeah, you're right. I don't know, Takata didn't seem mean, it seemed like he really got slapped a lot and wanted to end this fight. So he shoot, broke Leon's arm? That's how I would end it. Then Leon had to go back to WCW and explain that that happened. What happened? I went to do shoot wrestling. What the hell is shoot wrestling? Leon, that sounds like a bad idea.
00:13:38
Speaker
Well the end of the match is that Takata's gonna win, but we're gonna hit each other a lot. He really, Takata was kicking the fuck out of him. There was a point in that when he probably kicked Leon, I keep calling him Leon. We have a tendency when we attach a wrestler to their first name, it's just fun to say. We'll talk about them as a person.
00:14:01
Speaker
If he was never called Vader, he didn't have the mask on that squishes his nose in in an uncomfortable way, looking at that guy and calling him Leon, once again, makes him just a little cuter. Super Leon, that's what he should have gone by. Super Leon. But he is getting, so,
00:14:18
Speaker
Takata's basically working his leg, and he is kicking him so hard and so many times in the leg that he's trying to win by getting, you know, getting a count, or getting, what am I trying to say, like a count out? Not a count out, but a, yeah, trying to win by count out, and the count in there, pretty brisk.
00:14:38
Speaker
The ref wondered at the end. He's like we're getting this over and Leon's like fuck man And I tried to think like as many times as he got kicked in the back of the leg I knew I couldn't take him from him But it started to make me wonder how many could I take from you? Probably not nearly as many as people would guess. Oh Do people think I could take more?
00:15:02
Speaker
I think people would guess high hoping that you would try it. Thinking that this beta male persona that I put on is a gimmick? I don't know. I would feel weird about kicking you in the leg. I think we got to do it. Do we? Yeah, I mean, eventually we're going to turn on each other.
00:15:24
Speaker
Well, first of all, we got to think for the submission on the match. Thank you, Andrew. Thank you, Andrew. Actually, towards the beginning of the show is the one that recommended us Masada versus Kawada. Oh, nice. Did I say those names right? I know people get pissed when we say names wrong.
00:15:42
Speaker
Do they really? How much feedback do we get on that? Okay, and by people, we never talked about it on the show and I don't want to give these guys the time of day, so I'm not going to say their names. While we were at Starcast, we had two guys come over to me and say, hey, we reviewed your show and we gave it a good review. And I was like, thanks, man. And obviously I'm very vain, so I want to hear what they had to say about how cool we are. So you went and found out that they didn't give us the best review? No, they gave us a shitty review. They hated us.
00:16:14
Speaker
Mostly there was an episode where you and I both mispronounced somebody's name in the same episode and that drove them insane. Who was it? Do you remember? You say Oscar weird. Oscar? Like at the beginning I think you were adding a letter almost. You were saying Asaka? Yeah, I say both. And I think what had happened is I was talking about Matt Taven and I think I said Matt Tavern.
00:16:48
Speaker
That's forgivable. So if you're going to review us on your podcast, I will listen and will it hurt my feelings? Yeah. I mean, I'm going to think about it forever. Whether or not you'll hear about it on the actual podcast is debatable. I'll hear about it. I'll get a text from you at 11 PM weeping, which by the way, I actually would kick you in the back of the fucking leg after this past Sunday night.
Late Night Texts and Podcast Style
00:17:12
Speaker
After Sunday night. So, it's Sunday night, I have to get up for work at 3.15 in the morning to start my long-ass work week. And all of a sudden, between the hours of like 8.30 and 10.40, my phone starts blowing up with somebody telling me that they're watching a new Japan pay-per-view. Yeah, I was watching it live. Giving me some play-by-play as I'm trying to go to fucking bed.
00:17:39
Speaker
Well, if you had ever responded and said, I'm trying to sleep, stop doing what you're doing, maybe that could have been avoided for the rest of the entire show. You know, when I go to fucking work, you asshole, the next time I see you, I'm going to fucking curb stomp the shit out of you. Why don't you kick the back of my leg about six or seven times and see where I tap? And then and then when you drop down to a knee, which is the appropriate position to set up for said curb stomp. Skadoosh.
00:18:09
Speaker
Either way, say the names right, Derek. Yeah, Matt Taven. I'm sorry, Matt Taven. Whatever. Whose head is shaved now? He got it shaved in Mexico. Maybe my favorite thing about this podcast is how unprofessional we are. Yeah. Oh, there's no professionalism here. I mean, I don't think we ever claim to be professionals.
00:18:30
Speaker
Here's an interesting story from Starcast. Lanny Pafo, the brother of Macho Man, Randy Savage, was walking through... I probably said his name too. I said his name the wrong way too, so fuck it, whatever. Lanny, Lonnie? Is it Lanny or Lonnie? I thought it was Lanny. Is it Lanny? I don't know, man. Look at how great we sound right now. I think it's Lanny Pafo.
00:18:53
Speaker
uh anyways he stopped by our table while you were at the uh at the weigh-in and was asking questions about what kind of equipment we use and uh i had to tell him the name of our microphones he asked how many people listen to our show which was a little embarrassing
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah. What's embarrassing about hundreds of thousands of people listening to a wrestling podcast where we mispronounce names from time to time and start by talking about hockey? He has a podcast with Jay Lethal. They got some subscribers and some listeners. And I love our listeners. Don't get me wrong. Please stick around. Please subscribe if you haven't already. It seems like you don't love our listeners.
00:19:36
Speaker
How? Twist this and spin it, says Roman Reigns. It seems like you wish you had Papho numbers. It seems like you wish you had all of Papho's listeners. We don't need Papho's people. We got our own. I want the numbers. It's not the people I want to get rid of. I'm fine with our numbers. Okay. But tell a friend.
00:19:58
Speaker
That's why we're having people give us five star reviews. We're not here. We're not here for growth. Anyways, no, we're not professional on this podcast at all. But we do like to respond to our fans. That's how much we care. And you use the word fan. That's weird, right? Does that separate you from them a little bit? I mean, we definitely have some separation. Me and you have separation. We're in two different states. Yeah, we are in two different. We're in the same time zone, though.
00:20:26
Speaker
so we're basically in the same room. We're both on couches. I think this is a great opportunity since I brought up time zones.
Wrestling Content Overload and Event Previews
00:20:33
Speaker
Are you gonna get up and watch Super Showdown this weekend? Dude, I don't even know who's on the card. Oh, come on. You can try harder than that. Okay, I'll try really hard. Undertaker and Triple H is happening. There you go. I will name everything I know, and then you fill in the blanks for me. I think the shield is fighting Drew McIntyre and beef.
00:20:55
Speaker
Wait. And Dolph Ziggler, yes. Not Beef. They call him Beef on a different podcast. I can't take credit for that. Braun Strowman. Yeah, you're right.
00:21:06
Speaker
And then, I think women aren't allowed in Australia for some reason, so I don't think there's any, no women's matches. Pretty sure that's crown jewel, so. I think Terry Funk is gonna be wrestling somebody there too. So now you're being a wise guy. Yeah, I don't know who else is there. I assume that AJ Styles and some, is this a real pay-per-view? Like, are we doing it? They're treating it like one. I mean, it's getting the kind of matches that belong at a WrestleMania, I'll say that.
00:21:33
Speaker
I think we're going to have some Australian listeners in attendance. So maybe we can get a get the hot scoop from them when they get back. I mean, Charlotte, Becky is going to happen. You know, the Miz and Daniel Bryan are going to happen and that's going to be for a title shot at whoever's WWE champion coming out of that. So that could be exciting. But I'm definitely I don't think I'm going to be getting up at 4 a.m. for this show. Is it at four?
00:21:57
Speaker
I think they were saying 5 AM Eastern, which would be 4 AM Central for us. There's times that I'm willing to wake up real early to watch a pay-per-view. This isn't one of those times. Didn't you fucking stay up for that Beast in the East show on WWE Network? I did, at that time I think I was pretty much exclusively a WWE guy though. Wow.
00:22:18
Speaker
It sounds like they're getting a hell of a show. If this was at a normal time, I would definitely watch it. I'm probably gonna watch it anyway, but probably early in the morning when I watch it. I'm waking up and eating some Cheerios and watching it. I'm sleeping in though. I mean, I will get up at the crack of noon and I will- You gonna cut up some strawberries and bananas and put that in the Cheerios? You fucking old piece of shit. I'm lactose intolerant. I'm not eating cereal. Oh, so you're using silk? Shut up.
00:22:49
Speaker
or lactate or whatever you need for your, so you're just eating dry cereal out of a bowl, watching pro wrestling that you're not even enthusiastic about. What happened to you, man? And also you didn't say like, I'm eating a flavorless cereal. You can sprinkle some sugar on that, but I guess that negates the point of eating plain Cheerios. It's still good for your heart if you put sugar on it. Anyway, super showdown this weekend. Probably watch it around 10 a.m.
00:23:19
Speaker
Okay, so Super Showdown is this weekend, and then when is Evolution? I want to say it's at the end of October. Okay, and at the Evolution we get the finale to the Mae Young Classic, right? I believe so. Which, as of now, I mean, spoiler alert, if you don't know who makes it to the finals, I don't even know if you know. Oh, of the Mae Young Classic?
00:23:45
Speaker
Yeah. Have they filmed everything for that? Oh yeah, it's done. Like all they have left is the, uh, all they have left is the finale, which is going to be an evolution. Okay. Well, fair enough. I thought that what I've watched is I've just watched them complete the first round. So I didn't know that they had all the other rounds completed, but WWE evolution is on October 28th. So it's at the end of the month. Okay. So we have a, I hope they take this month to actually build this show.
00:24:13
Speaker
Yeah, I've heard a lot of complaints from people saying that they have matches booked, but they're not doing a really good job of building. Well, I remember when I was at SummerSlam getting a notification on my phone saying that Nikki Bella was facing Ronda Rousey at Evolution. Yeah. And then the next week they were buddies. And it seemed like they announced that a little too quick. And so we didn't get the betrayal that I assume we're going to get on Saturday. So here's what's interesting.
00:24:43
Speaker
They've got a lot of work to do as far as building towards evolution. Literally a few days later, like less than a week, they have crown jewel and they're going back to Saudi Arabia. How are you feeling about that? You know what? Let's do the, let's have five Wrestle manias a year. Is it getting to be too much?
00:25:05
Speaker
It's been too much for a while, but if you like this show, then you're getting your money's worth. But I'm just saying that like, like the overseas stuff, I guess I don't want to be a dick and deprive people overseas of their WWE. But as far as that, like, man, they're promoting that on the week. I mean, are they are they just flat out like international now, like full time international? I think so. I mean, if you look at the Mae Young Classic, even, I mean, they're bringing in wrestlers from all over the world. That's true.
00:25:33
Speaker
So, I mean, there's an audience for this everywhere. Yeah. I don't know. Like I said about Super Showdown, I don't think I'm going to watch it. There's stuff there I want to see. And, you know, I just wish I feel like with some of the stuff for Super Showdown, they've really like you said, they've built it like a pay-per-view.
00:25:50
Speaker
and they've actually put some effort into it. Fuck, they've put more effort into doing this rendition of Undertaker Triple H, more than they did Sino Undertaker at WrestleMania this past whatever, a few months ago. But, go ahead. Just speaking of the Undertaker Triple H stuff, they have been building it. It seems like that was the one thing they were actually building for this pay-per-view is a real story, and they've done a lot to bring Shawn Michaels back.
00:26:16
Speaker
Yeah. Where are you going with this? Are you are you hearing the same rumors I am? Well, I'm wondering if, you know, because they've asked him multiple times to come back and do a match and he says no. But if a prince in Saudi Arabia is like, I'll give you five million dollars to do this match, do you think Shawn Michaels was just like, hell yeah, man. Yeah.
00:26:39
Speaker
And that's what I'm hearing. I'm hearing rumors that he's getting ready to make a comeback. But I don't think it's going to be a comeback that we, cause you know, people wanted the dream, the dream bout of AJ Styles versus Shawn Michaels or, you know, uh, Daniel Bryan versus Shawn Michaels. I feel like we're going to get Kane versus Shawn Michaels at crown jewel. And it's going to be like a Brock Lesnar style squash match where he gets beaten like two minutes. Kane, you mean? Yeah. Oh yeah.
00:27:11
Speaker
You're not flying Sean Mike. That would be awesome if he lost his comeback match. He's like, okay, I guess I'm really done this time. I mean, it does kind of sully his actual retirement if he comes back for something like that. I would really hope if he's getting paid, he'll come back and do something worthwhile. I mean, this is just the mark in me wishing these things, but still. Well, I agree with you. There was always something special about Sean Michael's retirement that it was a true retirement. Yeah.
00:27:40
Speaker
I mean, fuck, I don't know. I mean, unless they're going to work some angle where Triple H finally beats Undertaker after not being able to beat him all these years. And because of that, Shawn Michaels' retirement is lifted. I mean, there's so many possibilities that they could do if he came out of retirement. And I know that there's probably a short list of three people, people would really love to see him wrestle. And it just, if you're going to have him come out of retirement for a match, you should have him do that, right?
00:28:06
Speaker
Not Kane, not fucking Kane. But don't, do you see what I mean though? I mean, the brothers of destruction thing is happening for some reason. He could come out at the super showdown and fuck things up and now we got Kane versus Shawn Michaels in Saudi Arabia. That would be stupid. And it's not beyond them to do something like that. So, I mean, I hope that's not what happens. I hope if, first of all, we don't even know if he's coming out of retirement, but if he is, give me Shawn Michaels versus AJ Styles, please.
00:28:38
Speaker
At this point though, would that, I mean, AJ can do good work with anyone. Yeah, AJ can carry somebody.
00:28:45
Speaker
So if he's not in the best ring shape after having all these years off, that's somebody I'd want carrying him. Why is he bald now? He shaved his head a few months back. Yeah, but he got a haircut, right? He said, why is he bald now? No, so I knew he got a haircut, and everybody was weirded out that Shawn Michaels had short hair for the first time. But then somebody said he was bald, and I said, oh, well, I mean, he just got a haircut. And when I flipped it on, I was like, holy fuck, he looks like mini Triple H.
00:29:16
Speaker
It's like Triple H's cross-eyed brother standing next to him. I hate to spoil a lot of people's fun, but I think if you're getting to the point where, like, in order to hide your age, you have to shave your fucking head, you should just retire, and just be retired. Hey, fuck you, Hulk Hogan's showing up at Crown Jewel, and he's gonna beat Andre the Giant, probably. Yeah, but it's part of his look, right? The doll hair hanging out of a doo rag. Yeah.
00:29:42
Speaker
That's his thing. I don't know, there was a period of a few years, I think we've talked about it before on this podcast. There was a period for like five or six years there where it seemed like all these people from the Attitude Era were showing up with their head shaved. It started with Kurt Angle, and then it was The Rock, and then it was Big Show, and then it was Triple H, and fuck, and then one day during the middle of a feud with Punk, I think is who it was, Undertaker showed up with his head shaved,
00:30:08
Speaker
If this became a thing where it was like, fuck, do you need a better sign that you need to get out of this business? It's not fun just looking at an entire roster of bald guys.
00:30:18
Speaker
No, that's like, you know, you're sitting there playing with like 12 stone cold action figures. Yeah, I mean, it's one thing if it's part of your look, but I also think it's gotta be a pain in the ass if you're working somebody who's bald because you're used to being able to grab somebody by their hair to kind of maneuver them around and pull them up. And then all of a sudden you're just, you're putting your hand on the back of their sweaty ass head and trying to maneuver them around like you're pushing them with their head.
00:30:48
Speaker
Anyways, so yeah, there are good things happening in WWE. This is what happens every goddamn time we start talking about WWE. No, but here's what I will say. There are good things happening. And one of the big stories out of this week has been that the radians are low again. And I think Meltzer, I know people fucking hate hearing about Meltzer sometimes, but he correctly pointed out that the way people watch WWE now has changed.
00:31:17
Speaker
that a lot of people watch it on Hulu, or they watch it online, or they watch it from their phone, and that the television ratings are kind of misleading. That's not how people, and first of all, it's fucked up that when you do watch Raw or Smackdown on Hulu, they do trim it down to make it more convenient to watch, but that does mean that somebody's time that they get to build their character, which presumably, like I said, if this is how most people are watching the show now, they miss out on their time with their audience,
00:31:47
Speaker
They've cut entire segments out before.
00:31:50
Speaker
Oh, they absolutely do. I mean, that's why I feel like there was probably a good three year span where our truth was having a match every weekend that I wasn't seeing it. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, I just I feel bad for the talent who get a spot on this three hour raw. And then all of a sudden when it gets to Hulu, which is probably where a lot of people are watching it, suddenly they're not there. But I guess at that point, you hope you're on Smackdown so you can just be on the entire show, basically.
00:32:19
Speaker
But either way, evolution's coming up. Are you excited for it, at least, even without the build? I'm excited that it's happening. I mean, if I could be there, I 100% would. I know they get out of hand by calling a lot of things firsts for this and bragging about the first. This truly seems like an important first. I guess it's not technically the first women's only pay-per-view, right? You mean ever?
00:32:47
Speaker
I mean, I'm sure that like what some of the shows from the 80s like glow. I mean, I guess those aren't paper views. Well, I mean, there's still shimmer now. Yeah. So, I mean, there are women's, you know, wrestling, but this is the first time WWE has actually done it. And I really hope we do get a good build for it because that's just as important as the show happening.
00:33:11
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I guess once they get on the other side of the super showdown, then maybe that's what will take over. And they've got some good women's feuds going on right now, so. I am probably the only person that's going to be excited to see Nikki Bella fight Ronda Rousey. Yeah, the Bells have been getting some shit recently, haven't they? Oh yeah, that happened.
00:33:32
Speaker
Yeah that happened I guess the day we recorded last week so we didn't talk about it at all. Yeah I get the big story out of last week I'm sure everybody listening to this knows by now was Brie Bella kicking Liv Morgan in the face a couple times and knocking her out. And I think she was already on a lot of people shit list just because of a couple of what the botch dives out of the ring and everything. We were yelling at Big E for about those for three years.
00:33:56
Speaker
Was it a botch or was he just fucking? Biggie can't dive. He just throws his massive frame at you. I just remember there was after that had happened to Biggie just many, many times, a pay-per-view seeing somebody hold up a sign that said, Biggie, please don't dive.
00:34:16
Speaker
So yeah, I guess, and I guess some of the heat that Brie Bell was getting, I mean, Daniel Bryan finally commented on it the other night and said, you know, stop cyberbullying, that his wife was getting too much shit for hurting another wrestler and then everyone does it. And that's true. I think that's true. I think everyone, you know, it's as they always say, it's not ballet.
Brie Bella's Wrestling Mishaps and Online Reactions
00:34:38
Speaker
I do agree with him though. I don't think, it's not like she has this huge track record of hurting people.
00:34:45
Speaker
but she also doesn't have a huge track record of wrestling recently. I think that's where a lot of people's issue is, is it feels like she has been rushed back and she's ill prepared for like a lot of what she's been doing lately. I see both sides of this, like to me. Oh, go ahead. Sorry. I was going to say like to me, like
00:35:03
Speaker
I don't think that people need to pretend that she's on the level that a lot of these other women wrestlers on the roster are, she's not. And I don't, like, I mean, just the era that she came from was not the same. And I think that's where there's actually been a clash in the last month or two between the divas era of old and the new women on the roster and the current era.
00:35:27
Speaker
and maybe it's not even between the women but it's between the fans who are excited which is good they're excited about the the direction that the women's wrestling movement is headed in and i think they're casting aside some of the old some of the older women and i think some of them are getting rubbed the wrong way by that which i get it
00:35:45
Speaker
It is what it is, though. I mean, I guess you can be mad at creative, but I mean, Brie Bella and Nikki Bella, they're sort of like the last remnants of that era on the roster right now, wouldn't you think? Yeah, when the new era started happening, though, I feel like that was kind of part of the time where you either had to just quit or try really hard to hang.
00:36:11
Speaker
And I always thought Nikki Bella was doing a pretty good job with hanging. She wasn't at the same level as all them, but she was doing pretty okay. Yeah, she was definitely respectable. And it seemed like Brie is under Nikki. No, for sure. It's like you said, it sucks that they can't all be on the same level, but in any sport you're gonna have somebody who's not as good as everyone, you know?
00:36:38
Speaker
Right. And again, I'm not going to waste my time. I'm not here to cast stones or whatever necessarily. I mean, I get a little worked up thinking about it because I get mad when I see people say things and they're they're pretending for the sake of being nice. Like don't pretend that that Brie Bella is as equally trained as a Charlotte Flair. Don't pretend that she's as safe to work with as Charlotte Flair.
00:37:04
Speaker
I'm not saying everybody has to be Charlotte Flair, but you get what I mean when I say, like, call it what it is. People have been concerned about her being a health hazard since she's been back. And so when something like this happens, it's going to get magnified. And she probably did get a lot of unfair, undeserved trash talk on the Internet from from especially like all the big male fans on the Internet who fucking still hate women's wrestling for whatever reason.
00:37:28
Speaker
All those assholes that are working out with their friends Tobin and Squee. Yeah Tobin and Squee don't like the women's evolution at all.
Mae Young Classic Highlights and Concerns
00:37:37
Speaker
We took Tobin and Squeak. But anyways, so while we're on the subject of women's wrestling, I did get caught up a little bit on some of the Mae Young classic for this episode. And I got to say, I'm a fan of some of these girls, even if they don't end up winning this thing. Obviously, you know who ends up winning it. Well, we just know who gets to the finals. Whatever. Yeah.
00:38:00
Speaker
Uh, but walked away being extremely impressed with Tanera Kanji and, um, Zaya, is it Zaya or Zia? Zaya Brookside? Zaya, I believe. Yeah. Her match wasn't very long, but I really like her look and her energy. So I made a note of that. And as far as Kanji goes.
00:38:19
Speaker
I don't know who's going to win this thing, but I hope she does. Was she the Brazilian wrestler? Yeah. In a WWE that's really pushing this mixed martial art aspect of their show now, she fits right in there if she's doing the black belt jujitsu
00:38:36
Speaker
Like, I mean, plus I just think she looks vicious. I think she has a good look. I mean, now I'm sounding like I'm a professional critiquer, but critic. Sorry. Hey, hey, you are the best critiquer I've ever met. No, thanks. But I just think I think she looks great. I think that she looks like she'll fit in. I think she's got a unique look and unique character. Same with Zaya. She keeps saying she's 19 years old.
00:39:05
Speaker
She can't even have booze yet. And don't you give her any. I'm not going to.
00:39:15
Speaker
We're gonna send her dad after you and I don't want him mad at me. No, I just think, first of all, the pastel look, she does look like a unicorn. And if she's only 19, she's gonna be great because if she sticks with this at this age, she's gonna have a long career. And she's gonna, I mean, I don't know, if they called her, if they can get her on the roster at some point, that would be great.
00:39:40
Speaker
Well and they put her up against Io Shirai. Yeah. Which is huge because that's one of WWE's most recent like big signings. Right. Do you think that like like I'll say it the right way then. Asuka do you think she paved the way for this kind of thing. For getting like the harder hidden. Foreign wrestler and yeah. Oh for sure.
00:40:04
Speaker
I mean, I bet somebody be like, fuck you, it was this person. But it's like, you know, in the looking at Oscar and the run she had where she has the longest reigning undefeated streak in WWE history, people liked that. Oscar was a good thing for this business. Yeah. And then kind of. Yeah, go ahead. Then what it got us. Fuck, why can't I think of her name? The Pirate Princess Dakota Kai.
00:40:28
Speaker
Yeah, Dakota Kai. Best elbow drop in the company. They're having no issues dipping into that Asian wrestling market right now, which is great because it's producing a lot of stars. She wasn't the only one on the show, too. I can't remember the God, what was the other one, Garrett? The other Japanese wrestler? Yeah, she wrestled.
00:40:50
Speaker
We had, let's see, shit, Io Shirai and Matsumoto is who they opened this episode with.
00:41:02
Speaker
No, I liked Isla Dawn. I liked Nicole Matthews. I mean, there's a lot of people here that I would love to see get contracts down there. One of my favorite wrestlers right now is on the show. Yeah. Who's that? Tony Storm. Tony Storm. Yes. And she got signed. She's Australian. She got signed for the I believe to be in the UK.
00:41:24
Speaker
They're on a path right now where to me, it's just a matter of time before they have a women's only show. Wouldn't you say that's fair? As I was watching, yes, yes, for sure. As I was watching the Mae Young classic, because I hadn't been watching the main show or keeping up with NXT as much as I should be. And as I was watching this, I was like, fuck, this is a really good show. And it's giving us the opportunity to see all these wrestlers that we may have never heard of.
00:41:49
Speaker
prior to this I think I think really quick I just want to point out like it's cool that people are clamoring like you're one of them too like we both agree that it would be cool if WWE could get more stars from other promotions and off the Andes into their roster a little bit more and vice versa they do a little bit that with progress
00:42:09
Speaker
And I fucking love that. I love that I could see Toni Storm as this UK women's champion that, you know, is going to be kicking ass over in progress, but then pop up on NXT now and then. Yeah, I would absolutely love that. It adds a whole different element to the show. It really helps them. And I think and what it also does, whether people want to admit it or not, when these guys work with WWE and then they go back to the Indies, it like gives them a different kind of cred. Like, wouldn't you agree with that?
00:42:37
Speaker
It's like if an arena rock band decided they wanted to just do a club tour. Right. Right. It takes them to another level and then they go back and they kind of can spread that which is I guess the whole idea of pro wrestling to begin with is giving somebody the rub. You give these guys the rub and they go back out to the Indies. They give it to whoever they work with. So.
00:42:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think it's exciting. I like that they're able to do that with the May Young Classic with a lot of the stuff I guess that they do through everything that they do down in full sail. But, you know, I loved listening to a lot of the backstories of the ladies and getting to hear who their favorite wrestlers were.
00:43:14
Speaker
or the people that inspired them. During the Tony Storm Jenny match, which Jenny, I had never seen her before, looks a lot like one of my friends, so that was fun. But also, she's kind of a posh spice, we're a wrestler. But when they were going through, they said, her biggest influence is Jushin Thunder Liger. And I'm gonna be like, holy fuck. That's not who I would have expected, but I love it and appreciate it.
00:43:41
Speaker
No, um, I guess, I mean, I hope they do this every year. I mean, I'm hoping this doesn't stop. I guess they did the cruiserweight classic ones and that's kind of done because now 205 live exists. Do you think it's possible that if the women ever do get a show that the May young classical stop?
00:43:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that seems like that would be the end of it. That's the next step. I would hope that they do, I don't know, find a way to do more of these. I'm a big fan. These tournaments that they do are so much fun to watch. The Cruiserweight Classic was great because we got to see fucking Zack Sabre Jr. in a WWE ring. Yeah.
00:44:19
Speaker
Do you mind if I spoil who goes to the finals? Go ahead. Just because it is a little bit of news because of what's going on with it. All right. It does come down to Toni Storm and EO Shirai. Okay. But Toni Storm is hurt. And she had to cancel all of her indie dates because she's hurt right now. That sucks. I really hope she's good by evolution because it would be so cool to see her on that pay-per-view. Well, she's got a couple weeks.
00:44:47
Speaker
but it comes down to two people that are both actually signed to WWE now, so. Well, that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. But it comes down to two people that already have a pretty good fan base. So, you know, they're set up for success right now, I think.
00:45:06
Speaker
How about we stop talking about WWE for a minute and cover this new Japan show over the weekend that you watched that you kept me awake briefly for. I didn't know it was going to be brought. They never broadcast these ones live. Yeah. You seem you seem like at the beginning of the weekend I had asked you about like the the pay-per-view schedule for the weekend. You weren't sure this one was going to be one you could watch.
00:45:26
Speaker
Well, any time they've been in LA doing these shows, we had to wait a day to see it because they have a TV deal with Access. So I assumed it wasn't going to broadcast like the rest of them. And I got a message from Queen of the Ring part way through the show letting me know that it was on. So I flipped it on in time to start at Will Ospreay versus Skirll.
00:45:46
Speaker
I didn't get to watch the whole show, I only got to watch a couple matches, but you could talk about, what parts did you see?
Cody's Wrestling Career and Choices
00:45:53
Speaker
Have you gone back and watched the whole show? I have not watched it from beginning to end. I started with Osprey Skurl, and I kinda got everything I wanted from there, just cause I had more stuff to watch this weekend. But from that one, that was a fun rematch from the last Osprey Skurl match, where he almost tore goddamn poor Will Osprey's head off.
00:46:13
Speaker
Like, Alex posted that on Twitter again the other day, and I was looking at that. That is nasty. That is a nasty, nasty bump. It looks like his head's about to pop off. On the side of the ring there? Yes. Yeah, that's pretty ugly. And the fact that the next, like, a few days later, he flew to New Orleans and wrestled a thousand times. Props to that guy for being as good as he is.
00:46:38
Speaker
Here's an interesting question to tie into all this and I don't know what your take is so surprise me. Do you feel like all in was a continuation of everything else? Like do you think it fits into everything else that's going on in like the new Japan ring of honor world? You mean just like, is there like a through line where all in kind of match stories and everything? Yeah. Well, the reason I asked was because I was going to say, you know, Marty had that great match with Okada.
00:47:05
Speaker
at all in.
00:47:26
Speaker
I don't know, it's hard to say because was he even in the last being the elite? He was, in fact he was the opening fucking part of being the elite where everyone was waiting in the locker room saying something was late. Marty is in a weird place for me right now because we all kind of feel like he's on his way out.
00:47:48
Speaker
Is that how everyone feels? I think it is because his girlfriend's an NXT. He lives in Orlando now.
00:47:58
Speaker
He's constantly posting on Instagram pictures of him and Chelsea Green with Deanna Parrazzo and Zack Ryder I don't like him and Zack Ryder hanging out all the time. There's something that I just like That's two different worlds colliding that you don't want to collide Yeah, and the fact that it's colliding in a way that the only way I know them together is having a photograph taken in front of the Tower of Terror.
00:48:23
Speaker
And then it's got me wondering, what are they talking about? Are they buddies or are their girlfriends buddies? So they kind of have to hang out and just, you know, they get along. Well, I got a couple of things I want to touch on while we're on this subject. One of the which you had messaged me about the other day. But the reason I ask about all in and how it fits in everything, it was so bizarre watching the show because one of the matches I did watch was Juice Robinson versus Cody. And it was so bizarre.
00:48:49
Speaker
seeing where Cody was at all in and the reaction he was getting and where his character was he was he was such an uber babyface because of everything that was happening happening watching him go back to being like a dick complete asshole heel on this show was so weird like it was hard for me to adjust I mean that's who he was before all in
00:49:14
Speaker
So is that like, I mean, he's still got a match with Nick all this and everything, right? And he's going to be baby facing that. Right. So Cody addressed this on Twitter a couple of weeks ago where somebody was asking about heels and baby faces. And he said at this point in his career, he is what he needs to be in the arena that he's in. I think that's fair.
00:49:38
Speaker
I don't know, I don't know how to feel about this because I know that one of the rumors, at least the rumors people say about WWE is that Vince doesn't believe in heels and baby faces anymore. And I've always addressed this as a cop out and it's their way of saying, well, whatever reaction the fans give us is fine. Even though we know that they don't feel that way. I know that they don't feel that way. That's what they say to make it sound like they're cool with it. But whatever, because they can't, they can't book accordingly to get the reaction they want.
00:50:08
Speaker
But I think that works on the Indies, right? I guess. If Cody shows up at New Japan, he needs to be a dick, then so be it. But if he shows up at Ring of Honor and he's over in that town, I guess he's the babyface. Well, that's like how I told you the first time you and I went to Ring of Honor together, I'm like, get ready. I'm about to boo the shit out of these young bucks. And then I get there and I'm like, oh, fuck, their babyface is here. Yeah.
00:50:35
Speaker
So I was like, well, I guess I have to cheer him now. This is where I'm at. In Chicago, the assholes are the good guys.
00:50:43
Speaker
as what you're finding out. Ah, the Black Hawks. Is that how you perceive it? Because you're just jealous? I'm just giving you crotch chops right now, but you can't see that. I can't see it because it's a podcast. That's nice. But as far as you were talking about being concerned about Marty leaving, you did inform me the other day that supposedly Hangman Page turned down a WWE contract. That's the news we're all getting is that Hangman decided to stay with his buddies.
00:51:08
Speaker
I think for the time being that's the right decision because his stocks only going to go up. Oh yeah. If he signed right now if he waited a year from now I mean this guy progressed so much in the span of one year that imagine what he's going to be able to do in the span of several years.
00:51:24
Speaker
I mean, I think people are uncomfortable talking about this because they don't want to see any of these, these guys sign with WWE mainly because they're afraid of how they'll get used. That's what I, that's what I think people's primary reason for not wanting to see them there is we did a poll a while back and I thought it was very interesting. I asked, I asked our listeners if
00:51:44
Speaker
If Vince stepped down today and Triple H took over, do you think that the Bullet Club guys would sign with WWE? And I seem to recall it being pretty overwhelming. Everyone was like, yeah, they would.
00:52:03
Speaker
And to have that definitive of an answer where everyone knows what the problem is, it's not that they don't wanna see their favorite wrestlers go up on the biggest stage and make more money and be out there in front of a bigger audience. They just don't wanna see them get fucked up in WWE, which is totally understandable. Yeah, it is one of those things where I want my guys to make money. I want them to be able to afford things.
00:52:30
Speaker
Yeah. But I also want to be able to enjoy them at the same level I'm currently enjoying them. Right. And here's the thing. If NXT is evident of one thing is that you can be in WWE and still be fucking awesome and still have awesome matches. I just think it's a matter of time before that happens on the main roster. Do you have a hard time switching? Because back and forth between watching the work rate of New Japan versus like and just like flipping over to Raw.
00:53:01
Speaker
Yes and no. I know what to expect. And I said this to you at Money in the Bank. We were watching some of the pre-match segments that they had on the Titanfron or whatever. And during that scene where it was Kevin Owens prepping the syrup and the pancakes to go try to sweet talk to New Day and helping him fight Braun Strowman, I turned to you and I said, you definitely won't see this.
00:53:26
Speaker
What were my exact words again? I was like, this is the kind of thing you won't see in New Japan. Yeah, I think you're not getting that in Japan. And I meant that sincerely that when they when they do that stuff right, they do it really, really well. And I and I love that aspect of progressing because to me, you can't just sell me on guys. Just having really good like scripted matches.
00:53:48
Speaker
Like there has to be, like to me, it's, if, if I wanted to just watch fights, I could just watch MMA. Like to me, wrestling doesn't need to be stylized. There didn't need to be storylines and characters and, um, new Japan's killing it right now on all fronts. Well, and I think this is a little interesting cause I was getting ready to say NXT existed to kind of counter ring of honor.
00:54:11
Speaker
Yeah, and the style of Ring of Honor and NXT are pretty similar. WWE and New Japan are not similar. I mean, they're similar in that they're pro wrestling, but the styles on what they're doing completely different.
00:54:23
Speaker
Correct. Do you think WWE would ever do anything to try and do something more like New Japan? Because right now, New Japan, the main event for this weekend at their next show is a triple threat match. And that's very WWE. That's not something you see over there. And you and I have talked about how much we enjoy the dynamics of a triple threat match, too. And I think this was going to be awesome.
00:54:46
Speaker
Oh, especially because it's two partner. I mean, it's three friends, but two guys who are lovers and one guy who's kind of a dick sometimes. Yeah, I'm rooting for Cody in that situation to be just a complete asshole. So he's right. It does depend on what what town you're in. Which I guess we should say, Cody defeated Juice. Yeah, Cody defeated Juice to win the IWGP United States Championship, which was awesome.
00:55:10
Speaker
which later in the month I am seeing him here in Nashville at the NWA show, I ended up getting the meet and greet package with Cody. So I'm hoping he's got both belts. Good on you. I just, I couldn't pass it up. And he said that he's donating all the proceeds from his to a cancer charity. You know how many more chances are we gonna have to meet Cody other than every single Ring of Honor show for the next while?
00:55:37
Speaker
Well make sure when you meet him you tell him I said thank you for all-in weekend because it was a once in a lifetime experience. Sincerely. I will send that. I will send that message to him and after I've said the pleasantries that obviously I have to step up and mention that I didn't think it was very nice what he did to Alex. See if he remembers.
00:55:56
Speaker
How could he forget? Maybe he spits beer on a lot of people and nobody knows it. But, yeah, no, I also watched gorillas of gorillas of destiny against the Bucks from this show this past week. And I love that from the outset of that match, Matt Jackson was selling the injured back again. I'm glad that that's back into the fold.
00:56:18
Speaker
Oh, and it happened during the match or, you know, it was healed and then something happened. And then he was just, yes, selling that back the whole match. Yeah. And I guess I guess this is the question to tie into both these. Were you surprised that the titles change hands in both of these matches? It was nice to see. I saw some people were upset that Juice Robinson didn't get to hold that title a little bit longer.
00:56:41
Speaker
It's a bummer for him for sure, but it also, you know, what we were saying with Cody all in weekend, that weekend, his stock rose so high. Correct. If you're new Japan and you've got that guy, why not put a belt on him? Well, especially, you know, his gimmick is he's the American nightmare. So it just makes so much sense to get that belt on him. Yeah. North or what is the United States title or is it the North American title? I think it's the United. I think it's the IWGP United States championship.
00:57:11
Speaker
Okay, I get all of these belts mixed up between all the promotions at this point. And then the Bucks, they have an amazing match with the original OG Bullet Club, Firing Squad, Tomatanga, Tonga Loa, and it's a great fucking match. It makes so much sense to me to put it on them right now. Tomatanga, I feel like, is at the top of his game, just being incredible in promos, just being such a shit heel on Twitter.
00:57:40
Speaker
I him having a belt and something to brag about is going to be so much fun to watch for the next. However, he was doing some serious shit talking in the match. I'm pretty sure at one point he gave Matt or Nick Nick Jackson the finger right right to his face. But no, you're right. And here's the thing. I think the big moment was seeing the Bucks win the heavyweight tag team championships.
00:58:02
Speaker
That was seeing them win it. I don't think they necessarily need it. I think they're already established enough as a tag team that they'll get them back eventually. They're going to have a million tag title reigns all over the world. So like I think to really legitimize them as far as like like putting them over like they needed the belts more than the Bucks did. So it doesn't make sense. And Tom Otonga looking at that guy, he is what Roman Reigns could be if he were cool.
00:58:29
Speaker
Yeah. Like that guy, I love the way he walks to the ring, like the strut. He just looks, uh, I don't know. Like, you know how Roman Reigns looks like he's going to fuck your girlfriend? But he's like secretive about it. Tomatanga is going to tell you to your face that he's going to fuck your girlfriend. He's going to FaceTime you while he's doing it. And you can't do anything because he's terrifying. Yeah.
00:58:56
Speaker
Yeah, no, I thought matches I watched were good. I'm still intrigued. I'm still following on. All In was such a high and I've been overloaded with wrestling lately. I've been trying to take a little bit of a break to come back to what would you call an equilibrium with it? The fallout from All In has been horrible on us. It was such a high, high that having to just go back to work the next day was brutal.
Balancing Wrestling with Other Interests
00:59:25
Speaker
I mean, I've had other things that distract me, like we said earlier, I've been getting ready for hockey season, baseball post-seasons going on, and I've been playing a lot of Spider-Man from a PlayStation 4, so I've been enjoying the shit out of that. Fuck, how good is that game? It's so good. It is so fucking... I typically buy about two video games a year. One of the games I hate and only play twice before I resell it, and the other one I end up liking. This is the one I like this year.
00:59:54
Speaker
no it's a fire pro wrestling didn't work out it seems like but uh no spider-man is totally worth picking up if you haven't i don't know i don't think you're here for video game advice but it's very similar to spider-man 2 for playstation 2 or gamecube whatever you played it on and it's like an hd remaster of that and man i just get stuck on like side quests and i'm there for hours sitting there playing it and
01:00:15
Speaker
So I've been trying to get set. I honestly haven't watched a ton of WWE the last two weeks. I've caught some stuff here and there. There seems to be some tension and Dean Ambrose maybe breaking up from the shield. We don't know. That's- Which I assume is going to happen on Saturday? Maybe, unless we're getting worked. Ooh. To pull away from WWE for a second, a big story that happened this week that we should talk about, it deserves the time of day.
01:00:44
Speaker
Joey Janela got hurt, man. Joey Janela's gonna be out for a year, at least. That sucks. It does suck. I thought about this for quite a while. And if you told me right now to pick my favorite wrestler of the year, it would have been Janela. Yeah. Well, I guess he's still gonna be hosting shows, though, at least.
01:01:05
Speaker
I hope he gets like the Dave Grohl throne from when Dave Grohl had a broken foot and played in a throne with the Foo Fighters. I hope they wheel him out in that. They need to do something fun with him not being able to walk.
01:01:15
Speaker
Yeah. It's such a bummer, man. I mean, you say that Marco Stunt had a hot, you know, month and a half. Joey Janela had a hell of a year. Yep. That's true. Like keep in mind, like all those shows that Marco like got booked on, like by chance, Janela was booked on all of those on purpose from the beginning. Yeah. So I guess we should send our condolences to the bad boy and wish him well in his recovery. Fuck. Did you watch the video of that, of him hurting it?
01:01:45
Speaker
No, I haven't seen it. Oh, it almost made me sick. It was so fucked up. He's jumping off the top rope onto a guy on the outside of the ring and just his knee completely like the whole leg just goes the wrong way at the knee. And he is on the ground for a while, but he ends up standing up and rolling the guy back in the ring and finishing the match.
01:02:09
Speaker
He is a, he is a tough son of a bitch. He is the, the Terry funk of our generation. He'll never fucking die. He's going to come back stronger than ever. I hope Penelope Ford has a great run. Well, he's, you know, on the shelf, but I hope that he keeps putting on shows. I know we have, uh, LA confidential coming up, uh, survivor series weekend. So if you are in.
01:02:31
Speaker
Los Angeles Survivor Series weekend, do not miss this Janela show at the Avalon. These things are a goddamn party and you will have more fun at this than the other two shows, I promise. It's kind of a bummer not to end the show on, don't you think? Well, let's talk about this then. So, Jeffy Wrestling and his buddy Joey, they went to the Cape, what is it, CCW in Cape Girardeau, Missouri to see PCO fight Marco Stunt.
01:03:04
Speaker
And it was awkward. It was awkward. I watched. No, no, the the situation. So Jeffy said that I bet he loves being called Jeffy as well, that I'm just like this is the opposite of calling Vader Leon.
01:03:26
Speaker
But he said that this is a promotion that normally sells out a bigger venue and this time they were in a smaller venue and there were not that many people there and When they the announcer goes out and is trying to get people pumped for the match and then basically is like how many of you know who pco is and Jeffy and Joey raised their hands. Yeah, and I heard that they were there weren't many people there who knew who he was and
01:03:54
Speaker
And the match is on YouTube. If you type in Marco Stunt, PCO, you can watch it. It's not bad at all. It just makes me wonder what it could have been if they were in front of a Janela crowd. You know, because that's totally a match you would see a promotion like that. But if you want to hear Jeffy and Joey just screaming their full heads off in the crowd, you can hear them because they're the most excited guys there. And I don't blame them. You see them get high fives.
01:04:23
Speaker
But yeah, it's PCO and Marco Stunt doing what they do. And they did talk to PCO after. And PCO was going to the top rope, I guess, to do a senton. And they were both shouting moonsault. And PCO let him know that he wasn't going to do it. And he switched it up for them.
01:04:44
Speaker
Didn't kill himself though. The moonsault looks like he's hitting it straighter and straighter. So it's getting, it's getting better. He's figuring it out. He's training on the job. Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to think what else is important to happen. We had the Ring of Honor pay-per-view this weekend. Briscoe's and the Addiction put on a great match.
01:05:07
Speaker
or SCU, Kazarian and Daniels. At one point in the match though, Kazarian busted his head open and had a huge gash. So he was out. And then it basically became a handicap match. And I have never been rooting for Chris Daniels harder than to see him win the tag titles by himself. He didn't. Yeah, I didn't see any of this.
01:05:35
Speaker
It's fine. That was kind of the highlight for me. You and I talked about this a little bit. I just don't know what they're doing with the women's division in Ring of Honor. It just seemed like Tennille would be the person to finally win the belt. She didn't. Sumi Sakai still has it. No clue what they're doing.
01:05:55
Speaker
Yeah, I well, I just recently read that they they're resigning to Neil Dashwood to a new contract. So they want to keep her around, which to me, like I said to you, it means they have some plan for her. Somebody is going to dethrone her. I don't know why they're sticking with her and why they have this long. I don't get what the appeal is. I mean, I know she was I feel weird trash talking her, but she's I guess kind of the founding member of the women's division.
01:06:24
Speaker
Right, but isn't it time for the next step? That'd be my question. Yeah, it's like this is the past, we're moving on to the future, but it seems like they just don't have anyone. Yeah. I don't know. I don't get what's going on down there. That's fine. I don't need to. But you know what, Derek? Probably should wind this down. Yeah, any final comments on this week's episode?
01:06:47
Speaker
Yeah, I would say I went to go see A Star Is Born last night, and it was fucking wonderful. So go see A Star Is Born. Yeah, I literally, you started tweeting to me about this movie the other day. I literally have not seen a trailer for it, knew nothing about it. I tried to pick a fight with you, Venom versus A Star Is Born. It didn't seem like you were super into having this internet feud with me.
01:07:13
Speaker
I really, fuck, for a movie I know nothing about, other than Lady Gaga's in it, and her fans are fucking nuts. Okay, her fans are doing some weird shit. They're going out and leaving Venom bad reviews before the movie's even out. You don't gotta do that. Just go see A Star is Born, enjoy a good movie. Yeah, to me it was an interesting feud to start, to begin with. Like, why pick a fight with that movie in particular? Ah, because they come out the same weekend.
01:07:40
Speaker
Yeah, but to me, the crossover between those two movies is not the same. Like, if you're wanting to go see Venom, you're not going to be like, oh, shit. You've made me change my mind. I want to go see the story about somebody trying to break into the music business. You get to hear Bradley Cooper sing, man. You get to hear Tom Hardy sing? Maybe. I don't know. I haven't seen it yet. Well, either way, me and Kayla from the Music City Horror Podcast went to that. Had a great time. Go see it.
01:08:10
Speaker
This is a weird place to be promoting A Star Is Born. Like, I was gonna say, you seemed adamant about promoting this. Like, is there some cause that you benefit from for promoting this? Uh, nothing. Not a goddamn thing. I have no stakes in this. I saw other movies over the weekend. I could be telling you to go see A House With The Clock In The Walls, or Hellfest, or Fahrenheit 11-9. But I'm telling you to see A Star Is Born.
01:08:36
Speaker
You're a Star Is Born activist. Hey. Hey. I like Gaga now, man. I like hearing Bradley Cooper sing. Andrew Dice Clay plays her dad. What the fuck? Uh, yeah. That's it. I don't need to talk about A Star Is Born anymore.
01:08:50
Speaker
Garrett, take us out of here, man. Hey, thanks a lot for listening, everybody. Thank you for tuning in. Tell a friend. Leave a five-star review on iTunes. If you leave that review, we will talk about whatever the fuck you want us to, whether that's your favorite match, your least favorite match, an episode of a show with a wrestler on it. I don't give a shit. Tell me what to watch. I'll do it if you leave that review. Follow us on any of the social medias. We're at Wrestle Hangout on Twitter. We're at Predetermined Podcast on Instagram, and we're at Wrestle Hangout on Facebook.
01:09:18
Speaker
Derek hit my goddamn music.