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Episode 28: "Punish Me Daddy" Derrick Meets His Childhood Hero Scott Hall And Garrett Attends ROH Honor For All
78 Plays7 years ago
During this weeks hangout Derrick talks about meeting his first favorite wrestler, Scott Hall and Garrett talks about ROH Honor For All in Nashville as well as the ROH TV taping in Atlanta!
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Transcript
Introduction and Banter About 'Skyscraper'
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Predetermined, a pro wrestling hangout. I'm your host, Garrett Callender. And with me, as always, a man who wishes he could dangle from a tall building, half as good as Dwayne The Rock Johnson and skyscraper, Derek Halpin. I am terrified of heights. That's not really something that I'm interested in doing, Garrett. Yeah, but if you saw the situations this man put himself in, you would wish that you had those dangling powers, you know, if you were inside, inside of that situation.
00:00:29
Speaker
Yeah, but from what I hear, not too many people saw him do that because not too many people went to go see that movie. Well, hey, I went to go see that movie and I'm not I'm not saying the quality of the movie is what made me fall asleep in the theater. I think it was the recliner seat and the cool air conditioning on a hot summer day. You're turning into an old man. Yeah, I don't know how that movie ended. I have to assume he saved the day, though.
00:00:53
Speaker
He probably did. It's The Rock. Yeah. Let's just go ahead and say there's probably gonna be a sequel. There's gonna be a sequel. And hit our goddamn music.
00:01:36
Speaker
Every time the show's coming back from the music, I feel like it's the beginning part of that Gorilla song like that. I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Clint Eastwood, I think is the rapper guys waking up.
00:01:50
Speaker
Oh, that's how you feel? Yeah, finally someone's let me out of my cage. Oh, okay. You've been unleashed. Yeah, exactly. Hey, welcome back everybody. I don't know if that's
Engaging Listeners on Social Media
00:02:03
Speaker
kind of what they were expecting to hear when we came back from our music, but hey, we're here.
00:02:08
Speaker
If you haven't already, you probably have, but if you haven't already, you need to hit us up on the social media, at Wrestle Hangout on Twitter, at Wrestle Hangout on Facebook, at Predetermined Podcast on Instagram. We do a lot of fun stuff on there. We do some polls. And as you found out in the last episode, our competition for the all-in tickets is over.
00:02:29
Speaker
so we won't be plugging that anymore, but that is no excuse to not give us a rating, give us a review, and give us a subscription on iTunes, and make sure to check us out. I think we're also on Stitcher and Spotify. There's a lot of different places you can listen to this podcast, so.
Meeting Scott Hall: A Memorable Encounter
00:02:44
Speaker
Derek, I think you had a monumental occasion in your life recently. You met a childhood hero.
00:02:51
Speaker
I did. This past Thursday, I went to go see the Windy City Thunderbolts in Crestwood, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago. And obviously your childhood hero is the catcher of this team. Yeah, yeah, my favorite. It's my favorite baseball team.
00:03:06
Speaker
No. The only reason I ended up at this game in particular is because one, Scott Hall was doing an appearance there, signing autographs, taking pictures. And as I've stated before on this podcast, this was the guy who got me into pro wrestling. So I kind of made it a priority. I mean, it was, it was a cheap $7 ticket to get into this game. And I think it costs $20 for a picture, $20 for an autograph or $30 for both ended up really just getting a picture. But I got to,
00:03:36
Speaker
I got to meet Scott Hall and got to talk with him for a little bit, man. That was pretty awesome. I will say, looking at the photograph of you two, which is posted on our Twitter, it's on our Instagram, you're a large man. You're a pretty tall guy.
00:03:52
Speaker
Scott Hall makes you look like a fucking baby. And it amused me so much. I was just so delighted by this photograph. He is. I mean he's getting he's getting up there an age and he's still a big guy. I think he's six five six six. Well and you know from seeing him in all in the documentary where he's getting rolled around in a wheelchair. I mean.
00:04:11
Speaker
He's a fucking big guy. Yeah. He's a big, he's a big, big dude. And, uh, it was cool because when I got there, um, Gates opened at six and the game's supposed to start at seven, but he literally arrived there and his rent a car or whoever was driving with him right before Gates opened, like 5 55 he got there. And when he popped up out of the car, I mean, there were some people in line, but it was mostly elderly people who had like a suite in the ballpark.
00:04:39
Speaker
to themselves and then just a few wrestling fans. I saw a couple bullet club shirts. Um, but it was, I was at the time I was the only person in line wearing an NWO shirt. And when he got out of the car and started making his way up towards the gates to go into the ballpark, he got out of the car and immediately saw me. And I had this awesome moment where he looked at the line, saw me threw up a two suite and then went into the ballpark.
00:05:04
Speaker
And it was me specifically that caught that. And that felt pretty awesome. And this is before I even got to get my picture taken with him and and have a quick conversation. So we were off and rolling. It was pretty awesome. And did did you throw a two suite back? I did. Of course I did. In that moment, when he too, like, you know, throws up a two suite at you, did you feel like that Coke commercial where the football players throwing the little kid the towel?
00:05:30
Speaker
A little bit, that's a great way of putting it, but I also felt like I joined the group, like I got inducted. So that felt pretty awesome. Everybody's allowed to be an NWO, and that was your acceptance into it. Over 20 years after the group was formed, I finally joined. And all you had to do was hang onto that shirt.
00:05:48
Speaker
Yes. So yeah, they let us into the ballpark and, um, up behind home plate at the, uh, in the ballpark, they had like a table set up and I immediately was like, I don't know how long this is going to last. Like I'm assuming it's going to last most of the night. And when I, when we first got in there, there weren't a ton of people ready to go from the moment the gates open. So there was only a line of like,
00:06:10
Speaker
There were two people in front of me when I decided I'm going to hop in line because I didn't want to I didn't want to be hanging out in this line into the middle of the game. I kind of wanted to see the game and get my stuff out of the way with before the game started. So I I got in line and I think they had every intention of having him start signing right as the game was starting, like after first pitch. But he went over there and he brought it out like his eight by tens and his markers and everything. And
00:06:36
Speaker
I think he was ready to go. And I think he was telling them, like, hey, we got people waiting in line here. And so then a line started forming up behind me of, you know, even more and more people. But I was, you know, right after the thing started, I was talking to him within a couple of minutes. And I just I bought like a photo op and totally went over well. I thought the picture came out pretty good. Like you said, it's on our social media. Who took the photo? I wanted to ask you that. He had I was totally preparing my girlfriend to take the picture.
00:07:04
Speaker
So Megan didn't end up having to do that for me, thankfully. There was somebody else that they had set up there. I think it was the guy who was handling him for whatever this event was. I was going to say the guy who drove him there probably was taking those. Well, credit to this guy, he didn't go cheap on me. He took like eight pictures, like really quick in succession.
00:07:26
Speaker
and so there was you know some of them you can toss away just from you know you know how it is with pictures a couple of them you don't like for whatever peculiar reason and then there's a couple you're like oh those are fine so I kept one it looked like you went into your iPhone and color corrected the goddamn thing like it was a really good picture just taken by a stranger
00:07:46
Speaker
Yeah, no, it came out really well. And I talked to him after it was over. I said, you know, I got to tell him all the things I wanted to say. I said, you know, you were the reason I got into wrestling 20 years ago when I tuned into WCW Monday Nitro. And then he made a joke of, Oh, well, since you're into wrestling now, you owe me five bucks, which I was a little flabbergasted about. He wasn't joking. I don't.
00:08:10
Speaker
I think he knew it was going to leave me speechless, but then I was like, you know, it's probably pretty cool, you know, for you to see because Dusty Rhodes broke him into pro wrestling. And I said, I said, it's probably pretty cool for you to see his son, you know, Dustin or Cody, sorry, see his son, Cody, you know, doing the all in thing and being able to promote like the biggest indie wrestling show ever.
00:08:33
Speaker
Pointing out to him that Stark he was gonna be a part of star cast and yeah He was talking about how well pro wrestling is doing and he was excited about it I asked him about his son who's also named Cody and he used some expletive language and was like fuck I just
Wrestling Conversations with Scott Hall
00:08:46
Speaker
saw that big guy just like he said I fuck I saw that big son of a bitch just last week for the first time in a long time and if you have not
00:08:55
Speaker
Get on his Twitter and scroll back to last week. His son makes him look small. Cody Hall is taller. He's probably six, eight, six, nine.
00:09:09
Speaker
And he has a beard now. He looks a little bit like Randy Orton, but he's he's a big kid. I don't know how he's doing on the indie scene right now. I knew that when he was over in Japan, the Bullet Club kind of took him under their wings and was working with them a little bit. But I got to talk to him about that. And yeah, we we. Like, are you nervous? Did you feel like you were meeting a superhero or did you feel like you were meeting the man?
00:09:34
Speaker
I was nervous like in the 30 seconds leading up to it obviously like oh shit here it comes here it comes here it comes and then like I've met you know celebrity athletes before and this was just it immediately became that like I've met ballplayers I've met hockey players and stuff before so
00:09:51
Speaker
This was one of those situations where like as soon as I walked up, it was like all the pressure was off. He was in a good mood, which was my big concern. I was worried that he wasn't going to be happy about being at like a Frontier League baseball game and ended up working out really well. We talked for a couple of minutes and said my piece, shook his hand and got out of there. Did he just split like right when he was all done with his stuff?
00:10:12
Speaker
See, so I went off to go watch the baseball game.
Indie Wrestling Show Experience
00:10:16
Speaker
And I think by the fifth or sixth inning, I went to go check to see if he was gone or if this the line was still hopping. And when I went down to the lower level buying home plate, there was still quite a line. And I think people went through that line several times, because I think normally when you go to like a convention or something where you get to do a meet and greet, they charge, you know, 50, 60, you know, anywhere between 50 and 100 bucks a pop.
00:10:40
Speaker
And to be able to go here and do, you know, $30 for both or $20 for whatever you wanted, I think this is cheaper for most people than going to a convention to meet one of these guys. So people were taking advantage of that. I think by the seventh or the eighth when I went and checked, he was gone. He bolted us and it was over. And then I got to have the experience of a lifetime watching a little local indie wrestling federation called Wrestle League. Okay. Like an hour's show.
00:11:08
Speaker
Yeah, I saw you got to watch some very, very indie.
00:11:12
Speaker
Oh, the indiest, the indiest. It was Indiana Jones, man. It was. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and talk crap about anybody because, you know, they a lot of these guys are just getting started. This is a hobby for them. And I'm like you and I have said before, anyone who has the balls to step into a wrestling ring, you know, gets a certain amount of respect right off the bat. But I mean, these guys are just starting out. And it was what it was. It was an hour wrestling show. And
00:11:40
Speaker
Couple of the guys were pretty good. Some of them whatever. It's definitely it's one of those shows where I'm sure even the wrestlers would be like yeah it's like you know when I was doing stand up like there were times that there would be a surprise comedy show where a comedy show would be booked at a restaurant and the people that were eating there had no idea that they had
00:12:03
Speaker
chosen to eat at a place that they were now subjected to stand-up comedy they didn't ask for. And I feel like that's the exact same thing for these wrestlers where now they're like, well, half the people here aren't here for this and we have to deal with that.
00:12:19
Speaker
I will say a decent number of people stayed after the ball game was over to watch this wrestling show, but I think the biggest problem they had, and I think the people running WrestleLeague would admit this, a lot of those people who stayed behind were not full-time pro wrestling fans. And they did not know how to react. They were being loud during the matches, but they weren't reacting to anything. They were just shouting, and any time one of the wrestlers would stomp or clap to try to get the audience engaged, they would just ignore that and just watch like they were watching animals in a zoo.
00:12:48
Speaker
and so it was it was bizarre and it was frustrating and it was cool all at the same time but i will say like i said i had my girlfriend there with me she she got a kick out of it because i don't really think other than like ring of honor is the most indie thing she's been to
00:13:04
Speaker
Um, outside of, you know, she's been to WWE and ring of honor and that's it. And this was, I was explaining to her, I was like, this is, this is, this is it. Like this is where you, this is where you start. This is the beginning. This is training mode. And, uh, I mean, so, I mean, I'm not going to sit, like I said, I'll do respect. I'm not, I'm not trying to shit talk anybody. I just like, it is what it is. I think they know what they're a part of. There were some cool gimmicks there. There were a couple of them. There was a guy there called, uh,
00:13:32
Speaker
I think his nickname was the Chief of Beef. See, that's where also in very indie wrestling, I feel like when guys start, you get names like that. Yeah. And it's entirely possible that Chief of Beef didn't name himself.
00:13:47
Speaker
It's possible. There were guys that definitely got a reaction from the crowd more than others. And like I said, it was what it was. It was kind of a cool setting because I'm watching a there's a pro wrestling ring now set up on the concourse behind home plate and there's heat lightning off in the distance behind the ring and it's not super well lit. So the atmosphere was kind of cool. And when you know how it is, man, like these these guys who are working the indie scene and just getting started out, they're just looking for time.
00:14:17
Speaker
They may only get like five to eight minutes for a match. And they've probably been waiting multiple weeks for that just to get the opportunity to do some work. So I approached it from that perspective and it was cool. So yeah, that's what it was. It was it was a fun night at the ballpark, baseball and pro wrestling, which are kind of my my forte's. And you got to meet one of my childhood heroes. Yeah, chief of beef. I'll be plugging the chief of beef. His name will come to me before the end of this podcast. I will. I will tell you that.
00:14:46
Speaker
If he has another name than that, he should just drop that now. I think his name was something Cassidy. I'm trying to look it up right now. Was it Large Cassidy, the Chief of Beef? No.
00:15:04
Speaker
but uh yeah you just shot that down like it was not we will not entertain the idea that this is where big gas is wrestling now no not at all or that he would have such a good name
00:15:19
Speaker
See, I feel like for an event like this, this is where you need a menorah Suzuki. Like if this company had just been like, you know what, we're gonna throw some money at this, we're gonna get Suzuki to come in, you know, leave the G1, come wrestle at this baseball field, and really scare the shit out of some baseball fans. Like five seconds in, he's already in the crowd. He is tossing chairs, he's tipped grandma over. It is a scene, man.
00:15:49
Speaker
Yeah, I I don't know what kind of budget they were working with if they had one at all but uh chief of bait the chief of beef was definitely over and We'll see where some of these guys wind up if they wind up anywhere But it was what it was and I had fun. So but that was that was on this past Thursday You had a weekend full of shit, man
Ring of Honor in Nashville: Insights and Matches
00:16:09
Speaker
Yeah, I went to Ring of Honor here in Nashville on Friday. It was a, I guess it was a house show. I mean, they name all these shows now to make you feel like it's not a house show because it has its own individual name. Do you like that approach? I think it's clever for the honor club.
00:16:28
Speaker
to not just be like the date or like house show and then the date like give it a name so it feels like you're tuning into something but it also you know since Jay Lethal won the title at that one it feels like some of these they are starting to give you a match you know something that you can tune in for that is worth your time that you're not just tuning into a you know a normal house show. Well I think it's interesting like
00:16:52
Speaker
Ring of Honor's done a good job of making it seem like you definitely, it's not just a normal house show. That you are showing up and something could happen. So you, it wasn't like you were seeing nothing. You got some good footage, you got some good pictures while you were there too. Easily my favorite thing of the night. Well I guess let me start from the beginning on this. They were here, what was it, in like January? It was shortly after Wrestle Kingdom. When they came here, sold the place out. Awesome show. This time, substantially less people.
00:17:22
Speaker
Okay. And I'm thinking, you know, last time it was a TV taping. Last time was like coming hot off a Wrestle Kingdom. Is that what people are showing up for, though? Do people have that thought process with a show? See, to me, like a TV taping means more than just a house show. But you're right. Do people know that? Did it just sell less tickets this time?
00:17:45
Speaker
I just think it's like, I know that as a pro wrestling fan, at least with WWE, I guess I can't speak to Ring of Honor, it's never really, I've almost valued house shows more than I do television tapings because a lot of times you get lesser matches on television than you do on house shows. On house shows it's like they're practicing for pay per view, so a lot of times you get better matches.
00:18:09
Speaker
for a house show. And I'm sitting there wondering, do parents or do the people who buy tickets for these shows, do they go, well, I was going to go, but they're not putting it on TV and I'm not going to be seen on television. So I don't care. Well, I will say this out of the two shows, because the next night I went to Atlanta and I will say I think the match quality in Atlanta was a little higher.
00:18:30
Speaker
Okay, I feel like they did tone it down a little bit for the house shows like we were getting I mean It was a great show don't get me wrong I just feel like they weren't going as hard as they were the following night They're gonna take so much offense to that when they hear this podcast and they hear that you're accusing them of mailing it in Hey, hey, that's not what I said. Oh, no cuz now bully Ray heard that you motherfucker. Oh my
00:18:55
Speaker
I made some comments about Bully Ray the other day. I was afraid he was going to read it and come kick my ass. He's such a huge man. He's such a huge man. We were sitting ringside both nights and he walked by and God, like if Scott Hall made you look like a baby, then this guy makes me look like a fucking teddy bear.
00:19:16
Speaker
so tell me like okay like if you're starting from the beginning like i guess go over what you saw in nashville and then atlanta and okay so going into the place last time line was around the block to get in this time that was not the case also the line to get pictures with everybody was much shorter uh i wanted to get one with cody he wasn't there yet i guess he had some travel travel delays we didn't even know if he was going to show up to the show at all so we walked to the front of the line though just to see who's signing and
00:19:44
Speaker
I'll tell you, over at the heel tables, it was hard times, daddy. Oh yeah? No one was hanging out with the heels.
00:19:52
Speaker
Well, this is weird. I'm just saying, the kingdom standing there, not talking, just, you know, twiddling their thumbs. And because they didn't have seats, so they were standing. They were like a standing bar table. And punishment Martinez was, I mean, it really looked like he was inspecting that ceiling. It was like if you went over to him and asked him what he was doing, he would have given you the Tommy boy line. Just I'm just checking the inline specs on the rotary girder.
00:20:20
Speaker
like that that guy had nothing going on that's interesting though like you can kind of gauge where you're at and as a character or a performer based on your lines i guess is that fair to say but i mean if you're a heel should you expect less people in your line like if you're an effective heel
00:20:41
Speaker
Yeah, like from kids, I guess, but a good chunk of that audience is teens to adult males who actually tune in for the heels. So you may not have as many kids in your line, but you should still have some people. I think some people should just also know their worth. Yeah. Because they, Ring of Honor, definitely upped the prices of meeting people. Let's see, the bucks were 40 and then all singles wrestlers were $30. So it would have been 30 bucks to get a picture with punishment.
00:21:10
Speaker
not worth it in your opinion? I don't want to tell him that because he's fucking terrifying. I don't think he's gonna hear Garrett. All joking aside, I think you're safe at this point. Until we're huge in five years and he goes back and listens to this episode and then is pissed off because he's even bigger than us. So you were telling me that in our current state we're not big enough for punishment Martinez to be listening? That is correct.
00:21:38
Speaker
fuck however apparently we're big enough for the MJF well that's where I only what let that one time fuck now he that's how I gauge how well we're doing and if I I was under the impression punishment was listening yeah
00:21:53
Speaker
Anyways, go on. Okay. You went in that the lines for the autographs and pictures were not what they used to be. Yeah. Like, I mean, there were still a lot of people in line for the bucks and Marty, uh, but I feel like, you know, 30 bucks to meet, to meet punishment, a little steep. I'm saying if he knocked it down to 20, probably would have gotten a few more people. Okay. But as far as the show goes, the thing I was most looking forward to on this card was Chucky T versus Bully Ray.
00:22:23
Speaker
What did you get? I just left an opening there for me. What did you get? So, you know, you know, Bully Ray's been on his tirade recently where he's anti-millennial. He doesn't like flippy wrestlers. He doesn't like nonsense.
00:22:41
Speaker
Okay. He comes out and he cuts a really good promo on Chuck Taylor where he says, normally I come out here and you know what I say, but you, you've been in this business for 16 years. He goes, you're a veteran in this business. He said you, me and you didn't come up much different. I came up in ECW. You came up in PWG.
00:23:03
Speaker
and uh he's like for those of you don't know that's kind of uh they're very similar you know in the bingo halls and he really goes through this whole thing and really puts chuck taylor over as a veteran wrestler this sounds familiar no then no that's really uh that's he was being genuine he goes and i have no problem with you and i want to shake your hand puts his hand out you know you're ready for a kick in the dick but then chuck taylor says
00:23:27
Speaker
Everyone knows you're a bully, but I think you're a douchebag and you can shove all those nice things you set up your badass. So that got a big pop and then the match starts. Bully Ray very quickly into it gets a chain and just starts beating the shit out of Chuck Taylor with a chain and immediate DQ.
00:23:50
Speaker
Great. So I didn't really get the match I wanted. Colt Cabana comes to save Chuck, knocked out. Then Trent Beretta comes out to save the day. Trent is the other half of the best friends. Yes. And I'll tell you, I don't think a lot of the crowd knew that. And I don't think they know that he's been hurt for some time and that this was exciting and was his his end ring return as a surprise. Very lukewarm response to Trent.
00:24:17
Speaker
Nashville let you down? Nashville, you let me down a little bit on that Trent response because I was losing my mind, excited to see the best friends reunited. Oh, I do have to say at one point during the match though, before the DQ happened, Chuck Taylor did hug Bully Ray. Really? And then said his shtick or whatever. Oh no, that was mid-match. Like after they had fought a little bit, he gave him the hug he would normally give Trent. And then I think immediately got beat with a chain for hugging him.
00:24:46
Speaker
Well, that's what he gets. You know, he really did have that coming. Look, what else happened that night? I mean, the big thing of the night, you know, was Flip Gordon taking on Nick Aldis. Yeah, so much for a house show. You know, that was a big stipulation, man. They had huge implications.
00:25:08
Speaker
And I think the most surprising thing in that match though was Nick Aldis' pins flip, his foot's on the rope, Cody comes out to defend Flip Gordon and say the match needs to be restarted. Cody's working his way back into the hearts of everyone in America right now. He is just a dreamboat, isn't he? A little bit.
00:25:29
Speaker
I don't know if you saw being the elite man, but he did chuck that $25 Cracker Barrel gift card up, flips away, so. I like that he comes out to defend him but is like, hey man, you still lost though. You're still not all in. You're not all in. You can dine on me. Speaking of all in though, were you a little surprised to see that Hangman has taken on Joey Janela?
00:25:53
Speaker
I did. I mean, I didn't want to say I was disappointed, but they had done such a good job of building this Joey Ryan hangman thing. I was surprised. I was not expecting this. I don't know if this is going to be, I don't know if this is going to have quite the hype that the other match possibility could have had, but for the time being, this is what it is. So.
00:26:15
Speaker
I don't know. Do you think that just the hangman versus Joey match got or Joey Ryan the one they did in Australia? Do you think that was just like well that happened so we can't do this anymore? I don't know. It's what they've been building to for a while. Does everybody feel like oh well that's done. Is that is that the reaction throughout the wrestling world like that angle is over with. They're still playing it up on the show. Yeah. I mean I still think something's going to happen with his ghost.
00:26:41
Speaker
You never know. I'm loving the interactions between Juice Robinson and Hangman Page, though. Yeah. It feels like they've incorporated even more people onto the show lately. They are throwing, now that Kenny and Hangman are both over there, they're filming so much more stuff with all the other wrestlers. Yeah. Is there anyone from New Japan you would like to see show up on there? Oh, on being the elite? Yeah. Like, we haven't really seen any LIJ.
00:27:11
Speaker
Or Okada making an appearance or something, since he was such a significant part of Kenny's explosion and winning the IWGP championship. I don't know. Right now, a lot of people are... I'm hearing more people picking Okada to win the whole thing. Oh, really? I'm sorry, the G1. So that for Wrestle Kingdom, we get Kenny versus Okada one more time.
00:27:35
Speaker
Well, that would make some sense, I guess. I don't, they're just, I, right now I'm having a really hard time deciding who I think would win the G1. Somewhere down the road, Nido is gonna...
00:27:47
Speaker
have a shot at that.
00:28:09
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, that would be how I would handle it. I think if people want to see it, people reacted really well to them meeting in that first round. So yeah.
00:28:20
Speaker
Uh, how's Jay White doing? I think Jay White's still doing well. I mean, he had won those first couple matches. I'm trying to remember, God, there's so many matches in this goddamn thing. It's hard to remember exactly how many, you know, who's fought who. Yeah, it's hard to keep up with. It really is. You never finished your story, though. You said you went down to Atlanta after Nashville, so...
Atlanta Show: Fun with Friends
00:28:40
Speaker
Oh, thank you for keeping me on track. That's, uh... Yeah.
00:28:43
Speaker
I was going to say, what happened in Night 2? OK, Night 2. We met up with our friends Jared and Stacey. Jared, I went with him to WrestleMania this year. So we met up here. And I'll tell you, fuck security at the center stage venue in Atlanta.
00:28:58
Speaker
Okay, why? So, you know, you go through a metal detector, fine. You know, even at PWG, you get molested to get in, whatever. But this one, they tell you to take everything out of your pockets and hold it above your head as you walk through the metal detector. So the thing goes off, and he's like, you've got something metal on you. And I said, it's probably all this stuff in my hands.
00:29:24
Speaker
OK, because it probably was he's scanning and nothing's going off. He said, what's in your back pocket? I pull up my back pocket. I have a couple of lactates. We've talked about my stomach problems on this show. I can't have various. Yeah, I can't. I can't have dairy. So I always have a couple of lactates. He said, you can't have this. And I said, I can't have lactate. And he said, I don't know what that is. And I said, it's it's lactate. So I can eat dairy.
00:29:50
Speaker
And he said, and he said, well, we don't serve food here, so you don't need these. And I said, okay. And I said, okay, well, so later, if I'm out on the streets, you want me to shit my pants? Like, if I'm going to get food after this? Is this what you said? Yeah, because at first I thought he was fucking with me.
00:30:08
Speaker
But he was doubling down on the I'm not I'm not letting you have these. These are drugs. Well, no, he said you can't bring food in. I'm like, this isn't food. Read the package and basically went back and forth until he he said, OK, fine, take him. Like he was really standing his ground on you can't have not, you know, pills that allow you to eat dairy. I think he was probably skeptical. That's what they actually were, because he obviously didn't know what the fuck they were upon looking at them. So we know it pissed me off even more.
00:30:37
Speaker
They did sell food there. He said they didn't. And you know what food they sold? Only one food item, and it was fucking pizza. They didn't have hot dogs or nachos or anything? No, this is normally a concert venue, which I actually really, really like center stage as a wrestling venue. There's no floor seating, so everybody is elevated. Everything is stadium seating there, so everybody has a good view of the ring.
00:31:04
Speaker
That's nice. It's not as big of a venue, but I think it's really nice. It's a good venue. I know NXT has actually recorded a couple of times there. They kind of experimented traveling out of Florida and going there to film some of the TV tapings. You're getting off track a little bit. I gotta ask the hard-hitting question. Yeah, go for it. Were you daring and bold, and did you buy some pizza there and take your fucking lactate? Yes. Did you? Yes.
00:31:35
Speaker
Did you really? Was it a spite piece of pizza? Maybe. I don't care. I'm happy as hell. I was expecting to know. That's the best part of the show today, is finding out that you risked it all. I risked it all to spite that man who didn't want me to have it. You should have bought a slice, walked over and found him and be like, no food, huh? No food? What do you call this? I'm going to eat these pills and not shit my pants in front of you because of this.
00:32:05
Speaker
But this area, they had, the halls were way more cramped in this place where they have all the wrestlers do their signings. Same kind of situation, but this time Cody and Brandy and Bernard were all together. And that was a $40 photograph. Didn't go through with it this time. But as I walk by, it seems like you got a- Why the fuck not? We got there a little late, you know, show was gonna start. But I will- You had a chance to get a picture with Bernard and you turned it down? And Brandy and Cody? You're gonna harass me about this.
00:32:33
Speaker
Yeah. Well, you're going to harass me even more when I tell you he gave everybody a full experience. I watched a couple of the meetings like where people would go up and he starts by saying, hey, nice to meet you. Let me introduce you to my friend Bernard. Yes. So he includes like this is my wife, Brandy, and this is my business manager, Bernard.
00:32:56
Speaker
so you missed
00:33:15
Speaker
with that assassins creed you know you can push that button and just like touch your way through the crowd yeah without people noticing you he's kind of doing that but like touches a guy in the back goes oh sorry man sorry and walks by he had put a sign on the guy's back that said certified Melvin
00:33:34
Speaker
and then he circled back around to his table, got another piece of paper, and he did that the entire evening. He was doing that to keep himself entertained. And as you're walking around, you'll just see people with these on their backs that have no idea. That's pretty good. Including Marty Skirrell.
00:33:52
Speaker
That's better than staring at the ceiling. He got Marty? He got Marty. Marty was walking by like, hey man, how's it going? And Marty walks away with a certified Melvin sign on his back. That's pretty nice. And it was shocking how many people he got. I mean, he was really getting them. Did he get more than 10? I would say I saw 12. Nice. If you need me to give you an exact number.
00:34:14
Speaker
That's a lot of Melvin. But I will say, this show, couple big moments. Towards the beginning of the show, we had, it was Chris Saban from Motor City, what was I gonna say, Motor City Mystery. Which is a band that we saw when we were in high school. Yeah, I think that was a band that we saw at Philsta.
00:34:35
Speaker
It is. The tiny little village of Pleasant Hill, Illinois, located in the bluffs of Pike County. Okay, it ended up being motor city machine guns. It was Chris Saban versus Scorpio Sky, which all of SCU this weekend, very over. Yeah. Of course. Pretty much over his baby faces even. The Bucks ended the show on Friday. It was them versus SCU.
00:35:04
Speaker
Well, how I'm assuming both were equally over. Oh, yeah. And they are. Wait. Now I'm trying to remember how did it. No, no, that is how it ended. The first night was SCU. And at the end, they actually stayed out and they all talked. And no, it was Buck's SCU and Brisco's. But SCU even still said that, like, even though we hate this is the worst town we've ever been in, we love you all or, you know, something like that.
00:35:28
Speaker
Yeah. But going back, Chris Saban versus Scorpio Sky, end of the match, Alex Shelley, the other member of Motor City Machine Guns comes out and actually retires in the ring. Oh, shit.
00:35:40
Speaker
No one was expecting that. It was a really, you know, heartfelt retirement. Tears came out from both of them. He kind of told Chris Saban, my time is done. Well, he said, I'm not saying I'm done forever because this is pro wrestling and you never know. But he's like, for now, this is goodbye. But he said, don't make this be for nothing. Go out there. And he's like, I want you to start with the TV title and you work your way up here.
00:36:05
Speaker
Nice. Shelly's been around for a while, too. Yeah, same with Saban. I watched him last week when I was watching those TNA matches with Daniel and watched a couple of Chris Saban matches in there. Yeah, a lot of those guys. Fuck, man, those are prime years for TNA, too, when Shelly was over there. And Christopher Daniels. I was going to say Christopher Daniels. He was a big one then, too. But after the end of this heartfelt speech, punishment Martinez comes out and hits him both with chairs.
00:36:35
Speaker
He was mad because he didn't get enough autograph signings. Yes, sends them out. So now I guess Chris Saban can take on punishment since Alex Shelley told him to. If you don't want to see your favorite stars get assaulted with a chair, then make sure to go give Punishment Martinez your money before the show. $30. Oh, my wife really amused herself with something she wanted to say to Punishment Martinez.
Punishment Martinez: A Wife's Perspective
00:36:58
Speaker
Oh? She really, really wanted to say, punish me, daddy, and then make the V with the fingers and lick in between it, but like... She said that would really fuck him up. Like, he wouldn't know what to do. But she was also concerned with him having friends in the locker room. Okay. When she saw him standing there by himself, she was hoping that he at least has somebody to talk to backstage. So what ended up happening?
00:37:29
Speaker
Did she yell punish me, daddy? Did it happen? No, she did not. She was too afraid. And actually, I don't even think she was afraid. She had a couple drinks and I think... She was feeling pretty good. Leah? Yeah. Did you ever yell punish me, daddy? She said not yet, but that's not... I promise you she will do that. And punishment continues to look more and more like Roman Reigns every day.
00:37:57
Speaker
What you should do is next time, go pay the $30, stand up there and have her make that gesture for the picture. Do you think he smiles? And have him autograph it. Punish me, daddy.
00:38:13
Speaker
Hang that on the wall. Oh shit. So this was let's see some other big things. Jeff Cobb made his debut in Atlanta. So Jeff Cobb is now part of the Ring of Honor card or you know the Ring of Honor roster which I think is going to be huge for them. They I feel like are in need of some names right now.
Jeff Cobb's Heel Debut in ROH
00:38:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:32
Speaker
And he came out heel. They were having a little tournament with, you know, some undercard guys, like actually guys that I had never seen there. So I assume brand new guys from their dojo and Jeff Cobb interrupted both matches. No music or anything just came out, killed everybody in the ring, moved on. So I think we can expect Jeff Cobb to be doing some cool shit coming up here pretty soon. Is he going to be a big deal over there, you think?
00:38:56
Speaker
I could easily see him being the champion there. I could see him being the heel champ they need. It'll be interesting to see where they go after Jay Lethal drops the title. Because I don't know, maybe it's just me. Jay Lethal right now very much has that feeling of being a transitional champion. I don't see this being something that lasts too long. Oh, absolutely. And thank you for bringing up Jay Lethal. Because Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham, if you remember the octopus, Jonathan Gresham, they put on one of my favorite matches I've witnessed this year.
00:39:26
Speaker
Well. Deets. It was. Which is funny because it's something we discussed last week. It was the main event of you know they do like three or four tapings at one of these shows. It was. Yeah it's a long show. It was the main event of one of these tapings. It was a 30 minute Iron Man match.
00:39:43
Speaker
Oh, nice. After we just got done talking about that. Exactly. But what did we say? Like in the Iron Man match on the WWE one, they had like four pens each or some shit in 30 minutes. Yeah. It was like, it was like seven or eight falls in 30 minutes. Well, by the end, like, let's say with like five minutes left in this, there was only one, one pen. Well, that makes sense.
00:40:07
Speaker
Because it's 30 minutes. I mean you could argue that during the Rawlins Ziggler one there was a bunch of fuckery because Drew McIntyre got involved but still there were a lot of falls between two guys who don't get pinned very often so I'm still not sold I mean I get it I get all the arguments for why they would have a 30-minute Iron Man match I'm still not a fan of it
00:40:29
Speaker
Well, I would say in a few weeks when this episode finally airs, I highly recommend everyone checking out this match. It was, I mean, easily of the weekend, the best in-ring storytelling I've seen. They did such a good job of, you know, starting with grapples and just really, really building this thing and telling a story the entire time. Did you make TV, you think? Oh, yeah, I was ringside again on that one.
00:40:54
Speaker
What were you wearing? I think I was wearing a bright red Hawaiian shirt. All right. Well, if you're a Ring of Honor fan, then pay attention to look for Garrett on that episode.
00:41:06
Speaker
And I definitely made the... Actually, I'm in the first, like, three seconds of the honor for all thing from Friday that was on Honor Club. You see me and my wife, like, right at the beginning. Totally left out a big moment from Nashville, though. Partway through the show, they sit at another chair next to us, and they said, hey, we're gonna have somebody come sit next to you guys for the show. Fucking tough. Yeah, this was pretty significant. Conrad Thompson.
00:41:29
Speaker
You sat next to Conrad Thompson, which now we have to plug him when we post this episode up on our social media, right? Yeah. I mean, he was a seatmate for a couple of couple matches. So if you had a conversation with him, you said briefly he walked up during the middle of one of the matches. So I look over and was like, holy shit. And then he kind of he's like, hey, nice to meet you. I'm Conrad. Like he was just he seemed like a very, very sweet man. What did you end up talking about your podcast or star cast at all?
00:41:57
Speaker
Uh, very briefly, because he was getting ready to leave. He was basically there for the matches and was on camera a lot. So I didn't want to bother him while, you know, the camera's right in his face. But he got choked by TK from the kingdom. And then after Cody's match, Cody came over and brought Bernard the bear over and said, Bernard, give him your card. Get his information. He's important. And Conrad just says, nice to meet you, Mr. Bear.
00:42:25
Speaker
you ended up catching video of this happening and we posted it up on our on our social media kind of blew up didn't it yeah i think we we got quite a few views on that video but i was just i was so amused with hearing him say nice to meet you mr bear and such an an honest just such like it was real that was a real bear he was meeting yes i i think that's part of the reason i love ring of honor right now is it is a little silly
00:42:50
Speaker
We've talked about this before. There's always a place for comedy in wrestling. It's fine. They're making it work. It's just funny that Bernard is a main event player right now. Hell yeah. And you turned down the opportunity to get a picture with him. You know what? It wasn't just with him.
00:43:11
Speaker
I turned down Cody and Brandy as well. Well, that was the other thing. You posted a really awesome video of Brandy doing a splash from the top turnbuckle to the outside. Jesus. During the main event was the six man tag title was up. It was the kingdom versus the bucks and Cody. And that thing got wild. That was a really that was a fun young bucks style main event. You know, just.
00:43:35
Speaker
A lot of fun, high spots, some comedy, a little bit of everything. We got some social media love from Cody and Brandy. Oh yeah. Well, I caught a good video on this one. They were diving out in front of us. They were all right there. Brandy gets on the top rope to dive down to the floor on top of all of them. There were six grown men, Derek.
00:43:57
Speaker
They were sick. And Brandy took out every one of them. Well, they didn't catch her. Nice solves, but they fell. Yeah, they all fell, not touching her. And they sold it, but they let Brandy go head first into the goddamn ground. She's okay. Oh, she's fine. Like, at the end of the video, the part I love so much is that she stands up and just, like, hulks out.
00:44:22
Speaker
I think I hear you in the back room go, holy shit. Oh, you definitely did, because as she goes, all I could think is there were six grown men that could not catch this small woman.
00:44:35
Speaker
Or she's just that powerful that she really did take out everyone. And then when they stand up, you look at the other side of the ring and Bernard is shaking the ropes like Ultimate Warrior and you're thinking, oh my God, Bernard's gonna fly. We have to get there, right? Are we gonna see Bernard take like a crazy spot? There has to be a payoff with Bernard. There has to be. He's become like the mascot for all in.
00:44:59
Speaker
He has to have something happen. He's gonna put somebody through a table. We're gonna see like a moonsault or something weird happen in this Bernard suit. We've gotta see this. Yeah? The second he does any moves or throws a superkick, everyone is gonna lose their fucking mind.
00:45:16
Speaker
I'm ready for it, and I'm pissed at you for not getting a picture with the guy. I'm gonna ride that until all in, I think. That's gonna be the thing I get you for. However, I will say I am proud of you for getting a slice of pizza at a wrestling show, knowing you very well could have shit your pants. Oh, and you know what else I did at this show? Something I never do. I never start a chant guy. You did it? I started a Chuckie T. chant. Nice. I got it going, because at the Atlanta show, we had best friends versus Silas Young and Bully Ray.
00:45:46
Speaker
You're a big kid now. Oh yeah. I got it going. I had to show my support for Chucky. Hey, there's kind of a big news story that just broke
WWE 'Evolution': A Milestone for Women
00:45:57
Speaker
yesterday. I think we should talk about it a little bit.
00:46:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's that Matt Riddle might be going to WWE. Yeah, that's obviously what I'm talking about. That's pretty big, and I want to talk about that in a minute, but hit it with what you're talking about. WWE on October 28th is hosting their first women's exclusive pay-per-view. That's so fucking cool. Isn't it? We did an episode a couple months back where we talked about the possibility of women getting their own pay-per-view or their own show, and here we are just a couple months later, and it's happening.
00:46:29
Speaker
I'm really excited about it. They said it's going to be everyone from SmackDown, Raw, NXT, and the Mae Young Classic. And past stars, right? Yeah, the past stars are involved too? Well, Finn Balor says he doesn't know because those details haven't been disclosed yet. I don't know if you made it that far into Raw. I don't think so. I don't remember who, but somebody's like, isn't that crazy? Maybe I do. Do you think people from the past are going to show up? And he's like, I don't know. This is all the information I've gotten.
00:46:57
Speaker
I don't know. It seems contradictory to me if you're going to name the show evolution that you wouldn't involve people from the past. Like it's it's that's I mean they did it with the Royal Rumble. They brought it back a bunch of past stars and WWE has the money right now to bring somebody out who's retired. So you actually had a really good idea. I saw you post this on Twitter earlier for what a good not necessarily a main event match would be but a special attraction match.
00:47:23
Speaker
Oh, I think that special attraction of the match could very well be the main event. That's how big it would be. For sure. Go ahead and say it. I would like to see them do Trish Stratus versus Charlotte Flair. And I said, I mean, because there's so many different combinations of matches you can do between people on the current roster or people on the current roster versus people in NXT or across brands, all these different things that you can sit there and you can fantasy book for.
00:47:48
Speaker
I compared Trish Stratus versus Charlotte Flair. It could be like a modern day women's version of Hulk Hogan versus The Rock. And that's a big freaking deal.
00:48:00
Speaker
And it's something that I would love to see. I think it's something a lot of people would love to see. Trish Stratus was the biggest female star of her era, arguably. I think a lot some people would mention Lita. When she came back for the rumble, she looked great. Like, you know, she's she still can go. So I think that would I think you're right. I think that would be a really cool one. People would love to see that. I don't know. Obviously, you'll have Rousey in a big spot there. You may end up doing something between Sasha and Bailey. Finally.
00:48:28
Speaker
Who the hell knows if they can drag this out until October? But there's a lot of cool match-ups they can do. I'm excited, I'm glad. I know we named Dropper all the time on here. I saw that Queen of the Ring is already planning on definitely going to that show. It's out in New York. I'm gonna go ahead and tell you, if this wasn't a couple days before my wedding anniversary, I'd probably try and make that trip.
00:48:52
Speaker
Well, shit, man, you made wrestling a part of your honeymoon, so... I'm gonna go ahead and tell you that's not gonna fly this time. Yeah, I don't think so. No, but it's a big deal and good for them. And I know TNA, everyone's pointing out that TNA has done women's only pay-per-views in the past, so WWE is definitely not the first. However, they are the biggest stage in the pro wrestling world, whether you like it or not, and the fact that we've brought up before
00:49:20
Speaker
A lot of people think that they do women's wrestling the best or are to this point have done it the best. I think I honestly think they have and what gets me excited about this pay per view is so WWE does women's wrestling really well. They've got such a good roster, but they haven't been giving everyone stories. They're still kind of sticking to the only the champ gets the story.
00:49:42
Speaker
Yeah. And I think if you're gonna have an all-women's pay-per-view, to me that says all these women are gonna start getting stories a little closer to them, so does that mean we're gonna get, you know, more, not necessarily an all-women's Raw or an all-women's SmackDown, but one where they dominate it and all the dudes have to do these multi-man matches instead? I guess we'll see how they do it. My guess is that they'll wait until about a month and a half, two months before. So, what?
00:50:10
Speaker
end of August after SummerSlam. Yeah, I could see them giving the ladies more TV time, which they've earned and they deserve at least the opportunity to see what they can do. And we'll see how it pans out. I expect the pay-per-view to go over well. I'm looking forward to it, man. It's a big deal, like we said before. This is the first for WWE at least.
00:50:32
Speaker
When they made that announcement, I love when they make those announcements. Those ones that you could argue where they're patting themselves on the back for a thing they should have already been doing. But I like these announcements. I like when they do it. I like when everybody's getting the recognition. And this time, I loved that Nikki Cross was front and center. Yeah, her face was awesome when they were painting across everyone on the stage.
00:50:57
Speaker
every time she was on screen my eye couldn't stop going to her because she just had such a huge smile on her face and just like her hands like like you know really pumping that she was excited about this if I could be an asshole for one minute I will say the one thing I didn't like from what I was watching last night
00:51:14
Speaker
I could have done without the guys overselling it, the announcement. Like to them, it was cheesy. Like in character, some of these guys talking about this, like it was weird. You mean like when Braun Strowman, actually I loved when Braun Strowman came out and I still love the thing between him and Alexa Bliss. So to me that worked out fine.
00:51:38
Speaker
I don't know. I totally get them having the segment for it and I like that it was sincere. It was weird watching them have every guy have to be like, hey, just by the way, I want to get my two cents in on how awesome this thing is while they're in character. So it was bizarre. Wrestling is supposed to be a bunch of guys who are selfish and only care about themselves.
00:52:03
Speaker
different personalities. It was just weird. I don't know if I was necessarily a fan of how often they were having guys plug it. They have a couple of months to plug it and to get I don't know put it over. So well again wasn't a big deal to me. It felt more like if you're just tuning in here's the announcement that was I guess I don't like new Braun Strowman.
00:52:24
Speaker
I've come to the conclusion. What is he? Is he the corporate show that goes out there and plugs the women's pay-per-view, or is he a monster? He is not plugging the women's pay-per-view. He's plugging the pay-per-view, starring his good friend Alexa Bliss. Are they going anywhere with that, or what's the deal? They're friends. It doesn't have to go anywhere. They can mention each other once in a while. Okay. I don't wonder he says, when Harry met Sally, you're saying that men and women can't be friends?
00:52:52
Speaker
No, they're not allowed to on WWE TV. They're not allowed to fight each other either. I don't know where you've been. That is not true. They're not allowed to, man. It's against the rules. I've seen Candice LeRae give a Hurricane Rana to Adrade. You didn't see that. We're removing it from the network now. And Madison Square Garden and Chris Benoit. Hulk Hogan's back, though.
00:53:20
Speaker
you said you wanted to talk about something in today's episode and we talked about this a little bit last week but I don't know just when I start seeing
00:53:34
Speaker
a lot, I don't know, like when I saw a lot of the videos getting posted of the show in Nashville on Friday, people were saying, oh, they didn't sell out Nashville, how do they expect to sell out Madison Square Garden? It's like, well, hugely different territories, and one is also WrestleMania weekend.
00:53:52
Speaker
and they weren't it wasn't that long ago since they were last there too right yeah like it's not you know Nashville is a good wrestling city but it's not a huge wrestling city so people aren't gonna you know pay twice in the in like five months probably to to go to a Ring of Honor show they probably used to though I guess that would be the argument a lot of people would make is that back in the territory days there was probably big shows there a lot
00:54:15
Speaker
So going back to what Scott Hall told me and what I've heard multiple people say and what we've said on this podcast, we're always talking about how well pro wrestling is doing across the board. But there's this weird contradiction where you'll see WWE have attendance drop and you'll see Ring of Honor not selling out a show that was there six months prior. I don't know what the answer is to this.
00:54:36
Speaker
I like it's it's weird to sit here and talk about how good pro wrestling is doing and then we have to come up with excuses for why shows like what just bringing up Monday Night Raw I guess you know the viewership numbers were down again and have been down for a while so well but apparently that doesn't matter well while that's happening I mean I think all of pro wrestling is doing really well right now
00:55:01
Speaker
I think you know things are growing in the indies and I kind of it at this point have to lump like New Japan ring of honor indie promotions just kind of all that other stuff together I feel like all that stuff is doing better than it had been doing I guess the depth I guess it bears questioning
00:55:20
Speaker
What does it mean to be doing well? Do you mean from an artistic standpoint? Like from a creative standpoint? Like you feel like it's satisfying to be entertained by? Or do you mean from business? Like are we talking about numbers? Are we talking about attendance? Are we talking about how much money the company is bringing in? Well, if you go down to attendance and numbers, obviously WWE is just killing everybody.
00:55:43
Speaker
But that's because they are the biggest thing. And a lot of people keep telling me, we're not gonna get that competition. You're not gonna see that. I think we're already kind of there. I mean- What leads you to believe this? The way that people are talking about this feels so much like it did when we were kids. I mean, you and I were team WCW. Everyone else seemed to be WWE at that time.
00:56:07
Speaker
I guess my question and response to that would be, is that just because you're in it? Because we watch and we cover pro wrestling every week and we're in it all the time? Because when we were coming up and it was WCW versus WWF slash WWE or whatever.
00:56:24
Speaker
It was mainstream and people who weren't necessarily just diehard wrestling fans were also tuning in. When you're able to cross promote with people like Carl Malone or Jay Leno or Mike Tyson, stuff like that. It's clear to see why that was a big deal and why the wrestling was booming.
00:56:43
Speaker
But what leads you to believe that the current situation, the current wrestling climate is like that now? Is it just because we're talking about it? No, well, there's other things too. So now there's rumors that the WWE has signed Matt Riddle.
00:56:59
Speaker
We've talked about Matt Riddle a bunch on here. He's a former MMA guy. He's pretty new to pro wrestling, but he's a guy who picked it up really fast and looks really, really authentic and is just a very, very good pro wrestler. But he's got magic mushrooms tattooed down his side and is very, very open about how much he loves smoking pot. It seemed like WWE made it very clear that they were not going to sign him because of that.
00:57:26
Speaker
And I think a lot of other companies were looking at this guy and getting interest. And to me, when I see Matt Riddle, I was like, I could totally see him being a New Japan Heavyweight Champion down the road. Because he's just such a realistic looking guy, and you bring in a shoot MMA fighter in there, you could see him beating the top guy.
00:57:46
Speaker
Oh, go ahead. I was going to ask, is it just me or is it a little weird that ever since Lesnar came back? I mean, I guess they've been doing this forever with guys like Ken Shamrock and, fuck, I don't know, was Steve Blackman legit? I don't know. In my head, Steve Blackman is still legit. But my point being, it's very interesting watching them dip into this MMA market.
00:58:12
Speaker
Like, and when they bring people in like Ronda Rousey or they bring in somebody like Brock Lesnar and they immediately go, well, everyone knows that our product is a work.
00:58:22
Speaker
But we clearly have to go along with the idea that these people immediately have an edge on everyone on our roster because they were in MMA or they were in UFC or they were in Bellator. Shit, I mean, they had to drop that reference during the Lashley Reigns feud that they've been having going on because they love leaning on this. Well, they did like shoot stuff outside of WWE, which is ironic that they're bringing that up on their television because it almost undercuts their own value.
00:58:52
Speaker
these people have more value here because they did this real thing. Like they're acknowledging that their product isn't real, but then making it seem like when they transfer over to WWE, like the part that's real gets to transfer over with it.
00:59:05
Speaker
But then you have the opposite of that where when you had like Alexa Bliss out there with Ronda Rousey saying like, this isn't the MMA, honey. This is the WWE. And I was like, yeah, you guys make it sound like that's the easier one all the time when you're promoting Lesnar. Well, that's and that was the weird. I just think it's weird. Even with like Shayna Baszler. And there's a lot of people they're bringing in a lot of former MMA people. And I'm not saying I have a problem with it. I just think it's interesting.
00:59:33
Speaker
like how do you how do you take somebody who's been an independent wrestler for 18 years and everyone knows them and respects them in the world of pro wrestling and they finally make it to the WWE stage and they have a significant role and then you bring in somebody and you're like well clearly we got to shove this person to the top of the card because they were in UFC they're gonna get the push
00:59:54
Speaker
Do you see why that might rub some people the wrong way, or at least weirds out the balance on the show? I think it could, but I also think that, you know, Matt Riddle isn't well known enough that they could mention that he was an MMA and still keep him at the bottom to like work his way up. I don't think he was as big of a name in MMA as, you know, like Ronda Rousey or Lesnar, which obviously with two superstars like that, you gotta just shoot him to the top.
01:00:19
Speaker
But I think I think that is a hurdle for them, but go ahead But I'm afraid that Matt Riddle the only reason he got signed to WWE is because they don't want anyone else to have him Regardless about this before regardless of if they want him
01:00:33
Speaker
Yeah, where they covet people just so other companies can't have them, which I guess going back to your point about whether or not this feels like a Monday night war scenario between two companies. As much as WWE may say that they don't view anybody as competition, that they're secure, they do make a lot of moves that would suggest they don't want anybody advancing on them. And to me, that's what getting Matt Riddle is. That's just, I don't know. He seems like he's not their kind of guy. He's not.
01:01:01
Speaker
He doesn't have a clean cut image that would be good to have on Fox. You know, like he's a guy who smokes a lot of pot and is just he's the bro. He's a really fun wrestler. He's a great wrestler to watch. I just don't see him. I don't know. I don't see that work in there, but I don't see any other reason they'd want him other than we don't want you to have him.
01:01:23
Speaker
Do you think that's something that Paul really had to sell Vince on and the idea of keeping him down in NXT for a while? I mean, to make it work. I mean, maybe they try and get him to cover up his tattoo and not talk about pot anymore. Well, they did have RVD on the show for a long time performing the 420. So I mean, that's true, too. I mean, if it is Triple H that wanted him and this was an actual like, you know, we want him here because he's a really, really good wrestler.
01:01:50
Speaker
More power to him. But if he's only gonna be down there so that I can't watch him be good elsewhere, fuck that. I think...
01:01:58
Speaker
See, I don't think of it, when I think of the Matt Riddle thing, that doesn't remind me of this being a aggressive move similar to stealing people during the Monday Night War. If you were gonna talk about things that made it feel that way, them trying to stop Ring of Honor from having that Madison Square Garden show, that felt more personal. And of course, ultimately they have that show booked with Ring of Honor in New Japan taking over Madison Square Garden. And isn't that during Mania Weekend or something?
01:02:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's the night before WrestleMania.
01:02:41
Speaker
I think it would be, and I guess I'm just spitballing here and thinking out loud on the podcast, but if New Japan and Ring of Honor could make their networks a little bit more accessible beyond just like a laptop, if they could get that like on a PS4, an Xbox or a whatever, like... Which right now the New Japan one is on the Amazon Fire Stick. The app is...
01:03:06
Speaker
Like put it this way, if you do get it to work on that goddamn thing, never try and fast forward ever. Just count your blessings that you're watching it. Well, that's part of what I'm talking about. I think making it more user friendly. I think that would be a significant move for them. Oh, I agree. Something that, you know, at least look because obviously, WWE Network made their app look like Netflix.
01:03:28
Speaker
Yeah, they did a good job with it from the get go. Yeah. And that seems like such an a no brainer thing to me is just set it up where you can click. Like, I mean, once you figure out the new Japan network, it's not hard to navigate. They have it, you know, set by eras and they have all the recent stuff in the same spot and it's very clearly labeled English. But it still just isn't as pretty. It feels harder to navigate. I don't know.
01:03:56
Speaker
I think fixing that up would help a lot. And I guess if you think that it's the same, I don't know if I would necessarily agree, but I will say that I would love to see it get to that point. I would love to see there be a bigger war again and competition to be driven and talent being conflicted on which place they wanted to work at. And I just think it makes everything better. I hope it gets to that point. I don't know if it's there yet. And I will agree with you in the sense. I think it's significant that we're talking about it like it could be.
01:04:26
Speaker
that we could be getting back to that point. And hell, all I heard the last couple days was how good TNA's Slammiversary pay-per-view was. Same. I mean, obviously I didn't pay to watch it. I want to find it and watch it now after hearing all this about it, but they do have good people over there. I mean, they have people that I want to tune in to see. I really like Tessa Blanchard, and I like her enough that I kind of want to go out of my way to start watching this show.
01:04:55
Speaker
But can you imagine a scenario, if TNA is able to do what, in my opinion, is important, which is regain their identity and make themselves significant again, can you imagine us having to cover WWE, Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Impact, whatever the hell they're calling themselves these days, and then the indie scene on top of that?
01:05:16
Speaker
That is a lot of stuff to cover. I mean, but that's also great for pro wrestling. It is. That enough could be hard as shit for us. I mean, it kills a lot of time. But I mean, I would content man. If they start doing shows good enough that are worth me tuning in to watch.
01:05:34
Speaker
That makes me happy. I mean, that's more shit I have to watch, but at least it's there and at least these people are doing good work and, you know, proving people wrong. When we were growing up and watching WCW and WWF, they were a channel apart where we were living. I loved that. And when Monday nights were on, you could just flip back and forth freely. It was not an issue. 30 to 31, baby.
01:05:56
Speaker
And I guess you could argue, and this isn't technically true, but if you consider NXT to be its own thing, that's its own thing, apart from WWE. And I would love if NXT did become its actual own thing rather than something that everybody's got a timer over the top of them.
01:06:15
Speaker
The problem is that the NXT brand, the name of it, NXT inherently references the next generation of stars. They would probably have to rebrand under a different name, but we've talked about it before. I think that would be a way for them to go. They've got the total number of bodies in that company to make three, I guess technically four brands with 205 Live.
01:06:42
Speaker
Good Lord, they've got a lot of shit going on over there. Can you imagine if they add a women's show on top of this? I mean, I still want it to happen, though. Like, I'm just saying, like, that's what I was getting at was it used to be easy. You could flip between WWF and WCW, and then occasionally, if you were lucky, get ECW to come across your TV at two in the morning or something. But man, we are we've got a lot of content to watch. And yes, it is a good thing for Pro Wrestling that there's all these options, but
01:07:12
Speaker
I don't know man. Like it's making my fucking week harder.
01:07:16
Speaker
for having a show. I guess if you're listening to this podcast and you want to put in your two cents, like we said at the top of the show, hit us up on the social media, at Wrestle Hangout on Twitter and Facebook, and then Predetermined Podcast on Instagram. What do you think? Do you feel like we're getting ready to enter a new era of pro wrestling industry wars? Is that where we're headed? Is we going back to the territory days? What's going on? Where's this all headed? Especially with all in coming up.
01:07:43
Speaker
I'm so curious to see what happens after all and I think there's gonna I don't know at this point It feels like if there does need to be competition. It's gonna have to be three people combining It's gonna have to be like Ring of Honor Impact and New Japan all doing something together or working a little more You know, I don't know
01:08:06
Speaker
I don't know what I'm trying to say. Like get the Japanese guys over here a little bit more because I think that those Ring of Honor shows, if we knew that Naito and Okada were going to be showing up once in a while, those ones are more likely to sell out. You know, if you can get Kenny Omega over there, you know, a couple more times a year than he normally is something like that. I don't know how the contract situation works for something like that, but I definitely think that would help make every one of those shows more exciting. I don't know how legitimate that is as a possibility, but
01:08:35
Speaker
Yeah, something like that would be a big freaking deal. Well, and especially if they're trying to expand in the U.S. more, you know, yeah, throw in your guys on the show that you already have available. And I promise you, anytime you want to throw Ring of Honor, a couple of those guys, they're going to be happy to take them. Right. Right. Any any crossover stuff helps make things more exciting. So. But I. Before we get out here, I do want to say really quick, and this is kind of off the wall. I didn't give you the heads up on this. If any of you out there
01:09:03
Speaker
still watch pro wrestling and still like read comic books every now and then. I would recommend if you haven't already picking up a copy of the WWE comic book out by Boom Studios. I've been following that the last couple months. I bought one about six months ago and forgot about it and enjoyed it. And then I've been following it ever since they've been doing the Sami Zayn Kevin Owens arc.
01:09:26
Speaker
And so if you're into comic books, check one of those out. It reminds me a lot of what being the elite accomplishes. It does a lot of off screen character development that you don't normally see. I guess it's it's after the fact. So it's a little dated, but character development is fun stuff. If you like comics, check out the WWE comics.
01:09:48
Speaker
nice good recommendation i like that you compared that to like it's a little bit like being the elite because they aren't able to just do you know their their soap opera version of it and yeah i've read a couple of those and i do agree with you that's that's a that's a good suggestion uh before we leave i would feel like such an asshole if i didn't throw out a few things from the g1 that are worth watching
01:10:10
Speaker
Go for it. You have some recommendations. Yeah, there's so much stuff I've been watching lately. There were a couple surprises. I watched Toroyano versus Ibushi, which Toroyano, normally a comedy wrestler, Ibushi, obviously, you know, part of the Golden Elite. Toroyano goes over. He was not expecting that. We had Sonata versus Zack Sabre Jr. Anytime I can watch Sabre, I'm excited to be watching it. And, you know, you get to see more twisty shit there. But one of my favorites lately
01:10:38
Speaker
Naito vs Juice Robinson. I had a lot of fun with this. Juice has the broken hand, so they still set the stipulation that he gets disqualified if he uses the cast.
Naito vs Juice: A Battle of Techniques
01:10:53
Speaker
Throughout this whole match, Naito is attacking that hand in creative ways.
01:10:58
Speaker
Like he is flying all over the place, dropkick in the hand, he's doing everything. And it was, let's see, I wrote some notes on this one. Let's see. Oh my god, there was a moment in this where Juice did a fall away slam from the second rope, looked cool as shit. He gave Nido a huge fucking power bomb. Like he got him so high in the air and then just fell flat down with him. It almost looked like a vertical suplex.
01:11:23
Speaker
and just by the end of this thing these guys were going so hard and fast it really looked like two people who truly wanted to be in the main event of wrestle kingdom there's just some of these matches because you know you can take it easier on some go harder on others but I feel like Naito has just had the gas to the floor on this tournament and I think that bodes well for him winning the thing
01:11:46
Speaker
I mean, he's definitely one of several possibilities, but when you see a wrestler going that hard, it makes you believe more like this character wants this. Oh, and then how it ended, spoilers if you haven't seen any of this shit obviously, but Juice kicked out of Destino.
01:12:05
Speaker
Really? And he immediately got it a second time and didn't kick out, but I think that looks good for Juice. The fact that it took that finisher two times to get him down after, you know, a hell of a
Tomatonga's Heel Persona and Twitter Spat
01:12:18
Speaker
match. And then we got Tomatanga versus Kenny.
01:12:21
Speaker
Was that pretty hard hitting? That was. I think this is going to be a fun story and I started thinking about it like I don't think Tomatanga is going to win because he's been getting disqualified so many times. Are you into this Bullet Club Civil War that they've got going on? I am. Tomatanga seems fucking crazy.
01:12:42
Speaker
Like did you see what he was doing on Twitter yesterday? I didn't. He got badmouthed by a guy and he went fucking off. And it turned out the guy was military and he still went off on him and was calling him a pussy and like he is really like digging into this heel thing.
01:13:00
Speaker
Good for him. That's the way it should be. And there were people that were like, you realize if you worked for WWE and said this, you'd be fired now. And he's like, well, I guess it's a good fucking thing. I don't work there then, isn't it? Wow. I mean, he is digging into people. He's vicious. He's a guy that even through Twitter, I feel like his words would physically hurt me. So I'm going to leave Tomatongo alone.
G1 Tournament Updates
01:13:22
Speaker
I guess we'll be doing the second week in a row doing G1 updates.
01:13:27
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I mean, we're going to keep doing updates as this goes. I'm doing my best to watch as much of it as I can. There's just so, so many. I mean, we had Tana Hashi versus Hangman. And they're just you kind of got to pick what you want out of this, because each show is about two and a half, three hours and you just no one has time to be watching a few of those a week.
Reflecting on a Busy Wrestling Week
01:13:49
Speaker
We were supposed to talk about some TNA stuff that you watch, but I guess we'll have to save that for another time.
01:13:54
Speaker
Yeah, unfortunately, sorry to those that were looking forward to the TNA talk. I hope we didn't tease you too much with it, but we will get to that. You know what? I don't want to tell you next week, because look what happened this time. But this time, we both had attended things. We had a good pro wrestling week, and I hope you all did too. We'll get to TNA another time, though, hopefully next week.
01:14:15
Speaker
but hey thanks for listening thanks for hanging out with us uh you know we're always gonna have this spot on the couch dusted off for you we want you to join us we want you to hang out we want you to talk wrestling i think it's always exciting when we can come into an episode and we know we have a lot of stuff we have to cover that's always fun for us we hope it's fun for you to listen to and again thanks for everyone who uh did our contest to win two tickets to all in i hope you had uh
01:14:40
Speaker
I hope you had a good time writing reviews for us. You're like, I hope you had a good time not winning. You're really looking for the words in that one. I don't know what else to say. I don't know. That one's tough to sell. But we do appreciate you participating anyway. Thanks for the reviews. And keep them coming. If you haven't already, make sure to rate, review, and subscribe. It is very, very helpful to us if you rate, review, subscribe. Helps other people find the podcast. And we very, very much appreciate you listening to the show.
01:15:07
Speaker
Can't thank you enough. Follow us on all those social medias. Wrestle hang out on Twitter. Predetermine podcast on Instagram. Wrestle hang out on Facebook. Join the fun. We're always hanging out talking wrestling. Tweet at us. We respond. Garrett, anything else to add? I think I want to hit our goddamn music. Do it.